Edward J. Gray Named Special Agent in Charge of the Oklahoma City Field Office Director Christopher Wray has named Edward J. Gray as the special agent in charge of the Oklahoma City Field Office. Mr. Gray most recently served as the deputy assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Mr. Gray joined the FBI as a special agent in 1995 and was assigned to the Enid Resident Agency of the Oklahoma City Field Office. He worked on the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and investigated crimes on Indian reservations. He also established and led multi-jurisdictional task forces that prosecuted drug traffickers and their related crimes. In 1999, Mr. Gray was transferred to the Fort Smith Resident Agency of the Little Rock Field Office in Arkansas. He worked complex financial crimes, violent crimes, organized crime drug investigations, crimes against children, and other matters. He also served on the SWAT team and as a firearms, tactical, and defensive tactics instructor. He deployed to the Salerno Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2008. Mr. Gray was promoted to supervisory senior resident agent (SSRA) and transferred to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2011. As SSRA, Mr. Gray promoted the interests of the FBI in 17 counties in western Arkansas and supervised the Fort Smith and Fayetteville resident agencies. In 2015, Mr. Gray was named assistant legal attache in Trinidad and Tobago, where he covered seven countries. He was promoted in 2017 to unit chief of the Render Safe Readiness Unit in the Critical Incident Response Group at FBI Headquarters. In 2018, he was named the assistant special agent in charge of the Mission Services Division for the Washington Field Office. Mr. Gray was selected as a section chief in the International Operations Division at Headquarters in 2019 and oversaw FBI legal attaches in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia and the Global Readiness Unit. He was promoted to deputy assistant director of CIRG in 2020. Mr. Gray earned a bachelors degree in physics from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, an MBA from John Brown University in Arkansas, and a Master of Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Gray was a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. In 1998, he earned the FBI Directors Award for Distinguished Service by a New Employee. This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Catholic Bible Podcast #1 in U.S. Again - Over NPR & New York Times Bible in a Year Podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz #1 Apple Podcast All Categories 1-4-2022 Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz Times Square Billboard, NYC Ascension Podcast with Catholic priest ended 2021 with 170M downloads, 4B minutes; Starts 2022 as #1 Show in All Categories NEWS PROVIDED BY Ascension Jan. 5, 2022 EXTON, Penn., Jan. 5, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Deja vu for 2022: America's top New Year's Resolution is once again to read the Bible with a Catholic priest. Hit podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) featuring Jeff Cavins is back in the #1 position on the U.S. Apple Charts, one year after achieving the same feat in January 2021. The show is having huge global impact, becoming the #1 podcast in Religion & Spirituality on Chartable's "Global Reach" analysis, and sitting as the #1 podcast in that category in 15 countries including Great Britain, Italy and the Philippines. This year, Ascension added the all-new Spanish-language La Biblia en un Ano podcast hosted by Fr. Sergio Serrano, OP and Fr. Dempsey Acosta to their offerings. Between the two shows, Ascension currently owns the #1 podcast in Christianity in 47 countries and appears on the Top 10 Charts overall in the United States, Canada, Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and several other countries. "The hunger for God in our culture is not a flash in the pan, but an enduring desire," comments podcast featured guest Jeff Cavins. "Interest in the Bible is expanding." "So many people listened last year, and they've inspired a whole new crowd to participate," adds Jonathan Strate, president and CEO of Ascension, the Catholic multimedia network behind the show. The Bible in a Year Podcast by the Numbers A string of awards and accomplishments evince The Bible in a Year's national impact in 2021: 4 Billion total listening minutes (2021) 170 Million total downloads (2021) 470,000 average daily downloads, 90% U.S. listeners (2021) 34,000 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts #1 Podcast in Religion & Spirituality (Apple Podcasts, 2021) To celebrate a standout year, Ascension secured a New Year's Eve billboard in Times Square promoting the podcast at 7th Ave. & 48th St., New York City. No other Catholic media offering has ever been featured on a Times Square billboard. The Priest Behind the Podcast The Bible in a Year is hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz, a popular Catholic priest whose videos on the Ascension Presents YouTube channel have amassed millions of views. Ascension Presents is the largest Catholic YouTube channel in English. "Many of us are distracted and distressed by the battles we face in the Church, in the culture and in our country. By the grace of God The Bible in a Year podcast has helped hundreds of thousands to rediscover a biblical worldview one of hope in God's love and Divine will," said Fr. Mike, chaplain for the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Duluth. About Ascension Ascension is a multimedia network and the leader in Catholic faith formation and digital content. Over the past 20 years, Ascension has helped nurture the faith of over 10 million people in over 8,000 parishes through more than 50 unique faith formation programs and the Ascension Presents media platforms. The Ascension Presents YouTube channel boasts 600,000 subscribers, 88 million total views, and is the largest Catholic YouTube channel in English. Media Contact The Bible in a Year Press Kit includes previous releases, images, and the Bible in a Year Fact Sheet. For interview requests, B-roll and media inquiries, email: LJoyce@AscensionPress.com. SOURCE Ascension CONTACT: LJoyce@AscensionPress.com Related Links https://www.ascensionpress.com The ambassadors of Singapore and Israel visited the headquarters of Spatial, a leading provider of flight crew simulators, in Ras Al Khaimah. In two separate visits, the company was visited by Amir Hayek the Ambassador of Israel, and Kamal R Vaswani the Ambassador of Singapore, and Low Pit Chen Consul General of Singapore. In a guided tour of the facility, Spatial showcased some of their current projects and gave the visitors an insight into the manufacturing process, from contract inception to the pre-logistics preparations, the company said in a statement. Managing Director Henry Robertson said: Its always a great pleasure to welcome such esteemed guests to our facility and it was wonderful to really showcase ourselves as a business. Both days were incredibly insightful and we would be honoured to share their company again at any time in the future." Spatial Composite Solutions is an ISO 9001 certified provider of cabin crew training equipment, specialising in the manufacture of cutting edge emergency evacuation, cabin service and door trainers. Additionally, the company provides consultancy services in relation to the design and fit-out of cabin crew training facilities.-TradeArabia News Service WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have known for 100 years that insulin is the body's main mechanism for controlling blood sugar levels, but researchers have now discovered a second hormone does the same job a bit differently -- and they say it could be a new target for treating diabetes. The hormone, called FGF1, is produced in the body's fat tissue. Like insulin, it swiftly lowers sugar levels in the blood, but researchers found in mice that it works independently of insulin, and by a different mechanism. Type 2 diabetes arises when the body becomes resistant to insulin, leading to chronically high blood levels of glucose (sugar). Over time, that can take a toll on the body's arteries and nerves, leading to complications like heart and kidney disease, stroke, vision problems and permanent nerve damage. In the new study, scientists found FGF1 suppresses the breakdown of fat tissue, which reduces the liver's ability to churn out glucose. Insulin also does those things, but FGF1 accomplishes it via a different "signaling pathway" in the body. And in lab mice with insulin resistance, injections of FGF1 substantially lower blood sugar. "This mechanism is basically a second loop, with all the advantages of a parallel pathway," said study author Gencer Sancar, a postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "In insulin resistance, insulin signaling is impaired," Sancar said in an institute news release. "However, with a different signaling cascade, if one is not working, the other can. That way you still have the control of [fat breakdown] and blood glucose regulation." However, whether the animal findings will ultimately translate to people with type 2 diabetes remains to be seen. One question is whether people who are insulin-resistant would also be resistant to FGF1, noted Dr. Emily Gallagher, an endocrinologist who was not involved in the study. She said it's also possible that targeting FGF1 could be effective in certain people with type 2 diabetes, but not others. "Type 2 diabetes is a complex condition where different individuals have different metabolic profiles," explained Gallagher, an assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Scientists had known something about the workings of FGF1. In past studies, the Salk researchers found that it lowered blood sugar in lab mice, and when given continually it lessened insulin resistance in the animals. The new study, published Jan. 4 in the journal Cell Metabolism, delved into exactly how the hormone works. The researchers found that, similar to insulin, FGF1 suppresses fat breakdown, which in turn helps control blood sugar. But its modus operandi is different: Insulin acts through an enzyme called PDE3B, which sets off a chain of events called a signaling pathway. FGF1 uses a different enzyme -- called PDE4. "Now that we've got a new pathway, we can figure out its role in energy homeostasis in the body and how to manipulate it," said senior study author Michael Downes, a staff scientist at Salk. Gallagher said it's "very interesting" that FGF1 can have insulin-like effects in fat tissue. But much more remains to be learned. More lab research, she said, is needed to understand the long-term effects of FGF1 on insulin signaling and insulin resistance. "And in people," Gallagher said, "it would be important to understand more about the systemic effects of administering FGF1, as FGF1 affects many organ systems -- including the inflammatory system -- and also can alter tumor growth." Whether manipulating the hormone, or the proteins it regulates, would be appropriate in people with type 2 diabetes "remains to be determined," Gallagher said. More information The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on type 2 diabetes. SOURCES: Emily Gallagher, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Cell Metabolism, Jan. 4, 2022; Salk Institute, news release, Jan. 4, 2022 You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) If giving up tobacco is one of your New Years resolutions, know that it won't be easy but don't give up. Fifty million ex-smokers in the United States are proof that it can be done. "More than 70% of smokers want to quit smoking and 40% will make an attempt this year, but only between 4% and 7% can quit without support," Jennifer Folkenroth, national senior director of tobacco programs with the American Lung Association. "Smokers and tobacco users who want to quit should make a plan to be successful such as setting a quit date, understanding smoking triggers, talking to a doctor about quit smoking medications, and finding support through family, friends and cessation programs, she suggested in a lung association news release. The lung association offers several tips to help you stay on track: Learn from your past experiences. If youve tried to stop smoking, chewing or vaping before, think through what helped you then and what youll do differently this time. Don't go it alone. Enrolling in a program such as the Lung Associations Freedom From Smoking Program can increase your chances of success by about 50%. Ask friends and family for additional support to help you. Talk to your doctor. Ask about smoking-cessation medications, which can double your chances of success. There are seven federally approved options. Its important to follow directions and use the medications for the full length of the prescription. Skip the substitutes. Quit, but dont switch to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products. Quitting will mean ending your addiction to nicotine. No e-cigarette has been found to be safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Know that its never too late to quit, enhancing the length and quality of your life, saving money and possibly inspiring others. About 40 million people Americans still smoke, and tobacco use remains the nation's leading cause of death. In Connecticut, for example, about 12.1% of adults smoke, including 28.7% of high schoolers. The American Lung Association, which has a new campaign called No Tobacco 22, offers a variety of resources to help people become ex-smokers, including a helpline and quitline at 1-800-LUNGUSA staffed with nurses and certified tobacco treatment specialists. Other programs help individuals create their own no-smoking plan, help teens with a tobacco problem and work toward vape-free schools. More information The American Lung Association has a list of support groups for folks looking to kick the tobacco habit. SOURCE: American Lung Association, news release, Jan. 4, 2022 You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. The Montana Nurses Association is alleging Missoula's Community Medical Center failed to fully pay 257 of its nurses in December. The association sent a letter to Community Medical Center CEO Bob Gomes on Tuesday outlining where paychecks have fallen short, saying nurses have been severely underpaid. Dec. 3 was the last time nurses were properly paid, the letter says. Through a survey of its members, MNA learned some nurses have been underpaid by up to $4,500. The average underpayment is averaging $1,000 per nurse, but growing. The letter attributes the lapse in pay to a ransomware attack on CMCs timekeeping software vendor, the Kronos Enterprise System. Nurses have been required to keep track of their hours manually, which they have done diligently, but CMC still has not done payroll correctly. The situation is not only a breach of employees trust, it is also illegal, the letter says. Hourly employees are bearing the burden of the pay crisis; salaried employees have not been affected, Montana Nurses Association CEO Vicky Byrd explained. CMC has been duplicating the paychecks hourly staff received on Dec. 3, essentially not taking into account any overtime, holiday, differential or hazard pay accrued. Other hospitals in the country, including some in Montana, have also experienced ramifications of the attack, but CMC appears to be the only hospital in the state that has not developed a plan to combat the payroll issues, the letter says. Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of employee underpayments are accruing as CMC sits idle wages that Montana nurses working for CMC earned, but are being unlawfully deprived of, the letter reads. Byrd has been working as a nurse for about 33 years. In that time, shes seen issues hospitals have experienced with Kronos, but they were hurdles able to be resolved manually, she said. Its absurd. (CMC) is a big, for-profit corporation, Byrd said. They need to get people on the ground and get this fixed. While the MNA represents individuals who work as nurses, Byrd said this breakdown is affecting other hourly CMC staff, like janitorial workers and surgical technicians. In a statement, CMC said its working as diligently as possible to address the challenges were experiencing because of this situation. The hospital confirmed manual data entry was implemented to ensure all Community Medical Center employees are paid for their regular hours worked as they serve our patients and community. Some employees have been overpaid and some underpaid as a result from delayed premiums and differentials, the statement said. Additionally, we know some employees have worked additional hours beyond their regular schedule, and were working with employees individually to manually address all these issues as quickly as possible. Ensuring our employees are paid accurately and timely remains our top priority. To catch employees up in the interim, we have dedicated additional resources internally to address the backlog of issues were experiencing because of this nationwide problem, the statement said. When Kronos files are made available, the hospital will perform a complete reconciliation dating back to the beginning of the cyberattack to make sure everyone is paid correctly, CMC Marketing and Community Relations Director Megan Condra said. A CMC nurse who works in the hospitals emergency room told the Missoulian she lost about $2,600 in December. She had amassed about 72 hours of critical, overtime and holiday pay she was shorted on. She was missing wages for the Dec. 17 and Dec. 31 pay periods. The nurse asked to remain anonymous out of fear of workplace retaliation. (CMC) has been so dismissive of it, like theyre doing us a favor for just paying us our wages, she said. The timing of the crisis, hitting around the holidays, severely impacted her and her family, she said. She loves what she does, and the doctors and nurses she works with, but her bank account is overdrawn and some bills unpaid. The nurses association letter demands CMC remedy the crisis by Friday or face possible legal action under Montana law, which prohibits employers failing to pay workers on time. On Tuesday, Byrd participated in a call with CMC personnel to address the situation CMC described the situation as a dumpster fire, according to the MNA letter. She was hoping for an action plan to be developed and implemented to get staff paid as quickly as possible, but nothing came to fruition. CMC did not provide a specific date for when they expect the crisis to be resolved. MNAs letter mentions CMC plans to wait for Kronos to come back online, which the software company estimates will be Jan. 28. Gomes was not present on the call. Condra attributes this to his lack of availability and short notice, but said one of CMC's executives was in attendance. The Montana Nurses Association is being represented by McConnell Law Offices, PLLC and Raph Graybill of Graybill Law Firm, PC. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 4 Angry 13 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Capital Experience, part of Tourism 365, owned by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec), has been appointed ground handler by A. World Events, a brand of the A. World organisation operated by tour operator Alena Holidays which offers special stay packages and events in the UAE. For the first time, travellers from Reunion, the French Island located in the Indian Ocean, will be able to travel directly to the UAE to discover the country and Expo 2020. Alena Holidays has chartered from Etihad Airways a Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 262 seats in Economy Class and 28 in Business Class to make 12 round trips between Reunion airport and Abu Dhabi airport with the first flight which arrived on January 3. The agreement sees Capital Experience manage the hotel accommodation, ground handling, sightseeing, excursions, tours and attractions experiences in the UAE for travellers from Reunion. Until March 2022, Capital Experience will provide the French tourists staying for six nights in the UAE the opportunity to experience the countrys main attractions including Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Burj Khalifa At The Top, Dubai Museum, Dubais traditional spice souk, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Qasr Al Watan, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Ain Dubai, desert safari experiences and more. Tourism 365 Executive Director Roula Jouny said: We are thrilled to start the new year with this partnership, which solidifies our role in strengthening UAEs position as a destination and bolstering the efforts of the tourism industry. As part of our vision to become the number one choice for travel and tourism professionals, we look forward to deliver amazing experiences to tourists, whilst also showcasing the offerings of the Emirates. A.World and Alena Group CEO Rabin Apavou said: It is an honour for our group to start this partnership with Capital Experience and be the first to open a route between the French region of Reunion Island and UAE. The population from Reunion island are all French citizens, travelling at least once a year and are looking for new destination and a new experience. "We are proud to contribute to make them discover the UAE and together with Capital Experience and Tourism 365, we see a great new opportunity for the UAE. We are also very grateful to Etihad Airways giving us this opportunity to open this new route, from Abu Dhabi to Reunion and from Reunion to the world. Launched under Tourism 365 in May 2021, the company offers travel opportunities for tourists coming to the UAE, enhancing the emirates regional and global positioning in the wider tourism industry.-TradeArabia News Service After a sideways snow flurry blasted the Missoula Valley Wednesday evening, a weather system with a lot of moving parts should bring lots more snow to western Montana on Thursday and Friday. The strong winds, low-teens temperature and steady snow Wednesday night prompted a High avalanche warning from the West Central Montana Avalanche Center on Thursday morning. "Dangerous avalanche conditions will develop today," Center forecaster Ryan Sorenson wrote in Thursday morning's advisory email. "Heavy snowfall and sustained winds continue to impact the area and build storm slabs across all elevations and aspects. Natural avalanches are likely, and human triggering is certain." The new snow was falling on a layer of low-density snow that had been gently building up through December, resulting in slabs up to 3-feet thick and "creating the perfect recipes for avalanches," Sorenson wrote. Travel in avalanche terrain was not recommended. Were looking at deep snow most areas through Thursday morning, with pockets of icy conditions Thursday and Friday, while mountains continue to get lots of snow, National Weather Service meteorologist Trent Smith said on Wednesday. Our mountains are looking to get anywhere from 2 to 4 feet (of snow). A mass of cold air moving south and west out of the Canadian plains was expected to come pouring over mountain passes Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, bringing many areas down to zero or sub-zero wind chills east of the Continental Divide, according to National Weather Service forecasts. Meanwhile, a subtropical atmospheric river from the Pacific Ocean has been pushing east across Idaho into Montana and will cause a rapid increase in snow accumulations through Thursday and Friday. In the Missoula vicinity, that could total 5 to 9 inches on Thursday. The Bitterroot Valley has 3 to 8 inches of snow in its forecast. "If there were a day to delay your discretionary travel, today is definitely that day!" a Thursday NWS forecast bulletin noted. "If you still plan to travel, prepare ahead of time with extra food, water, and something to keep you warm in the case that roads become impassible." Unfortunately, many lower valley areas could see temperatures rise on Thursday and Friday, turning the snow into rain. A mix of snow and rain is in the forecast for Thursday night and Friday early morning, followed by gusty winds and snow until 2 p.m. and mixed snow and rain again through the afternoon and evening. That warm spell is predicted to stall by Friday evening, turning precipitation back to snow Friday evening and Saturday. However, predictions are complicated by the warm, gusty air, which could either form a crust over the snow or leave it loose to blow and drift. The final stage of all this winter activity looks like a high pressure ridge settling over most of the western United States starting Saturday. For Missoula and surrounding valleys, that typically means foggy mornings and overcast days, with a strong potential for air inversions. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. On this episode, Seaborn Larson talks about the road to recreational cannabis in Montana. What route did providers, local regulators and law enforcement take as they prepared for the new cannabis landscape in Montana? This podcast from the Montana State News Bureau is created in partnership across five newsrooms the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism. A lack of signatures has ended an effort to reverse a new state law and once again require any proposed nuclear power project to be put to a public vote. Carole Mackin of the Peoples Power League, which was the driving force behind Ballot issue #7, IR-126, filed in May with the Montana secretary of states office, said there was not simply enough time to gather the nearly 35,000 signatures needed to get the referendum on the November ballot. The referendum was found insufficient Oct. 29, the Montana secretary of states office said. Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, the sponsor of House Bill 273 that the Peoples Power League opposed, said he would like to meet with Mackin to discuss nuclear power, adding he shares some of her concerns. He said he opposes uranium or plutonium reactors as well. It is win-win, and the winner there is Montana, he said. Mackin said Tuesday in an email that Republican legislators apparently had no idea that in repealing I-80, they were repealing the 50-megawatt exception it contained. She said I-80 was designed to regulate mega-Three Mile Island-type reactors. She did not comment on Skees' offer to talk. In 1978, the People's Power League got a ballot referendum passed that put proposed nuclear power plants up to a public vote. It was overturned by HB 273 in the 2021 Legislature, and the governor signed the bill into law. Skees, in arguing for HB 273, said it still leaves the decision of nuclear power plants in the hands of the Montana citizenry, but through its elected officials. He said lawmakers could have more deliberative, focused discussion. Those who opposed HB 732 said it was overreaching and went against the will of the people. He said the proposed referendum by the Peoples Power League was an example of the very thing he warned about while arguing in favor of HB 732, that radical elements on the both sides would spend money to sway voters. Mackin said in an earlier interview she had suspected from the beginning there was not enough time to get all the signatures. She also said she would focus on making nuclear reactors an election talking point, noting that Skees is running for a Public Service Commission seat. Also running for that seat are Republican Joe Dooling and Democrat Kevin Hamm, both of Helena. "I will make sure this comes up during the election," she said. Skees said Monday the nuclear power industry has made great strides in terms of safety. HB 273 was often mentioned in the same breath during the legislative session as Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Terry Gauthier, R-Helena, which required a legislative committee to review over the interim the possibility of small modular nuclear reactors. Gauthier has said the small modular nuclear reactors will fit into the footprint of the coal-fueled Colstrip Power Plant and the turbines can be fitted with the new reactors. Talen Energy and Puget Sound Energy shut down Colstrip units 1 and 2 in early 2020 because they were no longer economically viable. Units 3 and 4 remain in operation, though four of the power plant's owners face coal power bans in Washington and Oregon beginning in 2025. Gauthier's resolution states the closure of coal-fired power plants will result in negative impacts on the Colstrip community, and coal-fired boilers could be replaced by an advanced nuclear reactor that would provide clean, well-paying jobs. Skees said Colstrip is a community begging for a new type of industry and he is working with federal lawmakers on getting a federal grant to build a small, modular nuclear reactor. Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 A supermajority of customer service representatives for Google Fiber, operating out of a store in Kansas City, Missouri, have signed union cards in the hopes of bargaining their first contract with their bosses. They're organizing under the auspices of the Alphabet Workers Union, a year-old division of the Communication Workers of America which is seeking to represent employees and contractors at all level of Google's parent company. The 11 workers 10 of whom have signed cards since the union drive began in October are jointly employed by Google and a staffing agency called BDS Connected Solutions. That's not out of the ordinary, as staffing arrangements with Alphabet go: a 2019 story in the New York Times found temps and contractors made up the majority of the tech giant's workforce, while a Recode report that same year indicated that this second class of laborers earned significantly less than Google's own full-time employees. According to two BDS workers who spoke to Engadget, customer representatives had been feeling left out of key conversations about staffing and safety protocols, and communication with management has deteriorated. "We started off by just asking, 'Hey, how do you feel about this idea? Do you feel like you have enough say, in the conditions that you work in?' We basically received a unanimous 'No, I don't feel like we do,'" Emrys Adair told Engadget. "It hasn't always been like this," Mike Knox, who has been a Google Fiber representative for several years, said "the general relationship between management and the workers. It used to be closer." Kansas City was the very first market Google Fiber launched in, nearly a decade ago. What makes this push to form a bargaining unit somewhat unusual, however, has been the decision to skip straight to petitioning the National Labor Relations Board. Typically, this is the longer, more arduous option when an employer refuses to voluntarily recognize a union. But, according to Adair, Alphabet and BDS have neither attempted to quash the union drive, nor expressed a willingness to recognize it."There's been no acknowledgement, no pushback. no response at all yet," they said. Google and BDS have not responded to requests for comment from Engadget. Story continues Like many workplaces in recent years, these service representatives have cycled through closures, reduced hours and the occasional need to isolate and work remotely when a colleague tests positive for COVID-19. While they weren't keen to give too many specifics as to what they'd hope to secure in a first contract, one of the benefits they're seeking to obtain is hazard pay. "As far as the actual COVID precautions go, they've done a pretty alright, job," Adair said. "Our main concern is just that we're still working in the store in person in a pandemic, which in and of itself, no matter how you do that is a risk." It may be months or years before the NLRB makes a ruling on these workers' right to form a bargaining unit. In the meantime, Knox hopes it might spur action from others within Google Fiber. "We're really hoping that this inspires in that regard," he said. "We're hoping that's a flashpoint where other people can see that and decide to push for more input." Are you a Google employee, TVC or contractor? I'd like to hear from you. Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and text me confidentially at 646 983 9846. The attack on The U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 last year still looms over the country. The peaceful protest turned disruptive and violent. An American Air Force veteran was killed by Capitol Police. Other individuals died by natural causes. One female protester was crushed to death by the crowd. A Capitol policeman died of his injuries. Several other law enforcement officers died by suicide in the wake of the event. Was it a coup by Trump supporters to overthrow the government? Was it a largely peaceful protest gone horribly wrong? Was it an insurrection moment? And in a larger way, what does it say to us about the state of the country? It will forever remain an ugly moment in American History. The "Stop the Steal" march was an organized one. Individuals were encouraged by President Donald Trump to march on the Capitol in order to influence the certification of the 2020 vote count in the presidential election. The president said to his supporters, If you dont fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore. Marchers eventually broke through barricades at the Capitol and made their way into the building. Carrying flags supporting a Trump election and various other ideas, they proceeded into the hallowed halls where Congress does business. In response, government officials sheltered in place or were removed from their offices. Barricades were placed to protect people. More protesters entered. The scenes were raucous. Marchers made it into the tunnel where the president-elect walks to be inaugurated. Several of them formed a human battering ram and began working to break through huge doors protecting the interior of the building. To watch the scene is to be in historys Middle Ages when castle doors came down under the weight of attack. In the midst of this chaos, Trump refused to call in the National Guard; but eventually, after many hours of mayhem, spoke out and encouraged people to vacate the premises and go home. For a time, the marchers prevented the certification of Electoral College votes, but early on the morning of the next day, Joe Biden officially became the elected President of the United States. At present, a congressional committee is investigating the march to determine all the facts. People in the media and various parties want to argue about what to call it. Many conservatives shy away from calling the march an insurrection. Instead, they downplay the protests stating it didnt last very long, caused few individual injuries, and resulted in minimal damage to the building and grounds. They applaud the right of the people to march, and still have doubts about the validity of the 2020 presidential election. People who disagree with such assessments describe the event as a riot and a coup attempt. They say the marchers went too far by invading the Capitol and destroying property. True, the day marked the first time rebel flags traveled inside the Capitol. They see the protest not as an act of patriotism, but an act of subversion against a duly elected president. People watching the event on television could not help to think back to when the Capitol was attacked by British troops during the war of 1812 in the late summer of 1814. There are times when the Capitol has been breached since. Still, to see the "Peoples House" attacked in a barbarous manner evokes both patriotism and disgust. For the most part, the blame falls on the Trump, who had ample opportunity to mobilize groups at his command to protect the safety of people inside the building and the structural integrity of the Capitol. Yet, he waited hours before urging the protestors to go home. By then, the physical and moral damage was done. He validated the actions of the marchers by calling them "special." Currently, the District of Columbias Attorney General is suing several organizations such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to recoup damages from the events at the Capitol. Several hundred marchers have been arrested, and their cases should be prosecuted. It is clear the actions of Trump and some of his staff were geared toward holding power. He was not given good advice. Moreover, he did not act. Depending on how Americans weigh the twin narratives of the day will probably determine how they vote in midterm elections this year, but one thing is clear. This was no 1776 moment as some describe. Instead, it was a continuation of moments involving adrenaline and the madness of crowds. It was dangerous, mob-like and foolish. When the U.S. The Capitol was attacked in 1814, a Virginia congressman responded critically of the Madison administration by saying, America was ruled by fools and the administration opposed by knaves. The debate continues. Brent Tomberlin is a social studies instructor at South Caldwell High School and Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. Email him at coachtomberlin@gmail.com. BISMARCK, N.D. Oil and gas leasing on federal land is expected to resume early this year in North Dakota and Montana after the Biden administration halted the process nationwide last year. The federal Bureau of Land Management is planning a lease sale for the first quarter of 2022, but has not finalized details. There are 6,850 federally owned mineral acres available in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, the Bismarck Tribune reported. Oil and gas companies will bid to secure the leases and those that are successful will have a 10-year window to get a federal permit to drill. President Joe Biden halted the leasing process after he took office last January when he issued an executive order announcing a review of the program to restore balance on Americas public lands and waters to benefit current and future generations. Oil- and gas-producing states, including North Dakota and Montana, sued to try to force leasing to continue and were successful last June when a court order required the federal government to resume the sales. North Dakota has filed a separate legal challenge with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 12 at the federal courthouse in Bismarck. We have every reason to believe they will continue to hold those lease sales as theyre directed to by federal law, said Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources. But were going to continue with our court case to make sure that happens. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Butte-Silver Bow Police Officer Benjamin Russell Rauch, 46, has posted bond in the amount of $50,000 after appearing in Justice of the Peace Ben Pezdarks court on a charge of felony strangulation of a partner or family member. On Tuesday afternoon, Rauch, a 16-year veteran of the police force, was arrested while off duty at the B-SB Law Enforcement Center by agents with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. It is alleged that between 7:30 and 9 p.m. Monday, Rauch purposely or knowingly impeded the normal breathing or circulation of the blood of a partner or family member by applying pressure on the throat or neck. According to Sheriff Ed Lester, Butte police were called to a residence on Toole Street Monday night to investigate a report from a woman who said she had been assaulted at a different location. Butte police conducted the preliminary investigation into the incident, Lester said, and then requested assistance from the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Pezdark then issued a warrant for the police officer's arrest. The sheriff said Rauch has been put on paid administrative leave and that more details will be released after additional documents are filed in court. Love 4 Funny 4 Wow 17 Sad 7 Angry 27 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The state of political discourse in America is a disaster. The federal polity continues on a downward spiral that has persisted for decades. Official Washington is broken. It is a place where backbiting has supplanted statesmanship, finger-pointing has replaced statecraft, and name-calling has superseded diplomacy. Many have despaired of the ship of states ability to right itself. Is bipartisanship dead? Is compromise a quaint relic of a distant past? Is it possible for true leadership to transcend the socio-political chasms separating a polarized and suspicious electorate? Where can America look to find hope? To the West. To Western governors. Western governors are the most collegial, respectful, and pragmatic leaders currently populating this countrys political landscape. No group of elected officials more effectively collaborates to produce substantive and significant bipartisan public policy. Having recently managed a meeting of Western Governors in Coronado, California, my hopefulness for the future has been replenished. Such an assembly is inspiring. It is a place where political baggage is checked at the door, red and blue uniforms are tucked away, and a clutch of smart and savvy problem solvers turn their attention to some of the most urgent challenges facing the region and nation. With their attention so engaged, Western Governors proceed to do something that is, sadly, remarkable for its rarity. They work together, across party lines and ideological divisions, to develop common-sense policies, strategies and solutions. At their recent meeting, the Governors addressed the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, computer chip challenges in a high-tech economy, and emergency preparedness. They negotiated detailed policy resolutions on energy, air quality, cybersecurity and workforce development. And they did it all without throwing sharp elbows, calling each other names or consulting polls. Working on issues that matter, they apprehend no advantage in demonizing other governors who may be of a different party but who face the same challenges, threats and opportunities as they do. Western Governors share a number of attributes that account for their relative bipartisanship and effectiveness. For one thing, they are the chief executive officers of their states they are senior managers who need to make things work. Effective leaders of large organizations (like states) tend to be more pragmatic than ideological. In addressing complex and multidimensional problems, practicality beats political rigidity every time. For another thing, these governors are not running against each other. Regardless of party affiliation, they have all traversed similar paths and find themselves facing similar challenges whether those involve the distribution of personal protective equipment, response to catastrophic wildfires, or containment of invasive species threatening western landscapes. It is evident that Governors have much to gain by working with and collaborating with one another. They learn from each others experiences. They alert each other to issues and threats that may be just around the bend. They unabashedly appropriate innovations from each other, and they share the unusual bonhomie that comes with being members of a very small club. While the advantages of cooperation are apparent, the benefits of sniping at each other to score political points are much less so. Other elected officials across the country would do well to emulate the example of Western governors. The genius of American democracy is predicated not only upon the separation between branches of government (viz. the executive, legislature and judiciary) but also upon the division of power between the national government and states, also known as federalism. Under the American version of federalism, the powers of the federal government are narrow, enumerated and defined. The powers of the states, on the other hand, are vast and indefinite and encompass all powers of governance not specifically bestowed to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution. Over time, the balance of power has shifted dramatically toward the federal government and away from the states. This reality is reflected in the vast size, scope, cost and complexity (not to mention ungovernability) of the federal behemoth. Restoring a greater measure of authority to the states would place more decisions in the hands of governors, leaders who are closer to the people and have intimate knowledge of their states environments, economies and cultures. Also, an authentic partnership between the states and federal government would result in more effective and durable policy, resulting in a stronger and more resilient nation. Throughout the past couple of years, Western governors have been at the point of the spear of COVID-19 response, working tirelessly to protect their people and their economies. They have been called upon to make incredibly difficult decisions life and death decisions and they have borne that burden with sobriety and grace. At the same time, their other weighty responsibilities did not magically disappear. They have still had natural disasters to manage, students to educate, and budgets to balance. And through it all, they have kept their heads high and have somehow managed to maintain their optimism, energy, enthusiasm, and humor. I am confident that Western governors will emerge from their collective emergency experience stronger, more united, and more energized than ever. And I better be right about that, because governors are the last adults standing on the American political stage. Jim Ogsbury is executive director of the Western Governors Association. Prior to joining WGA in 2012, Jim served as legislative director for the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. He also has served as the clerk and staff director for the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Love 1 Funny 5 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 ARCHIVED - Numbers show that Omicron in Spain is less deadly than the flu The coronavirus variant has caused far fewer fatalities than the 2019 flu season in Spain While the Omicron variant has dominated the festive season and led to an exponential rise in coronavirus cases in Spain, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, as while primary care facilities are under pressure, the increased cases arent wreaking the same havoc on hospitals that they did last year. This is because, while certainly more transmissible, Omicron simply isnt causing the same severe symptoms or serious illnesses as previous strains, and fewer people are dying. To this end, the experts believe that the sixth wave of the pandemic may be approaching its peak and they firmly expect it to abate with the same speed as which it arrived. In fact, the latest research suggests that coronavirus is more similar to the flu virus than was once believed and has actually caused far fewer deaths in Spain than this common winter ailment. According to figures from the Carlos III Health Institute, between November 26, the date on which the WHO declared Omicron as a variant of concern , and December 30, a total of 1,163,733 coronavirus infections were registered in Spain. This figure means that in just one month, the virus caused more than double the number of cases of the flu in 2019, when 490,000 illnesses were detected. Despite this higher incidence of infections, in little more than 30 days Omicron has caused 1,450 deaths, just a quarter of the deaths (6,300) that were registered due to influenza in 2019. In another parallel to the coronavirus pandemic, during the flu season of 2018/2019 it was found that only 54% of those over the age of 60 who were admitted to hospital had received the flu jab. The WHO has recently confirmed that the vast majority of people hospitalised or deceased as a result of Covid are unvaccinated. Image: Archive article_detail By Shawn Touney | Jan 5, 2022 Murray State University will welcome W. Earl Brown for the 2022 Presidential Lecture, to take place on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. inside the CFSB Center MURRAY, Ky. Murray State University will welcome W. Earl Brown for the 2022 Presidential Lecture, to take place on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. inside the CFSB Center. Supported by the Murray State University Office of the President, Murray State University Foundation, Inc., and the Student Government Association, the event is free and open to the public. Titled A Racer Success Story, the lecture will feature Brown, who will speak of his professional career and experience at Murray State. A Q&A session will follow the lecture. Every success in my life can be traced to seeds planted in Western Kentucky, mostly at Murray State University, said Brown. It is an honor to be invited back to speak at my alma mater; it is a blessing to return home. "I've had the opportunity to know Earl for many years. He is one of the most talented individuals I have known. From acting, writing, producing or musical performance, he's one of the best in the business, Murray State President Dr. Bob Jackson said. We are very excited to have Earl back on campus to tell his story of success, hard work and perseverance which will be an exciting event for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends." Brown was born in nearby Golden Pond, Kentucky. The seeds of his career as an actor and writer were sewn there as he spent his childhood years entertaining any and all who gathered on his grandparents front porch. During his undergraduate career at Murray State, Brown, a first-generation college student, was heavily involved within the theatre, and journalism and mass communication departments. He won several awards as part of the Speech and Debate team, served as a weather anchor for MSU 11 News, was the co-creator of the MSU 11 comedy show More Strange Urges and was actively involved as an actor or director in numerous Murray State theatre productions. He graduated from Murray State in 1986 with degrees in theatre and electronic media. After graduating from Murray State, Brown received his Master of Fine Arts degree from DePaul Universitys Theatre School in 1989. After graduation, he performed in numerous plays around Chicago, but it was his performance in A View From The Bridge at the Steppenwolf Theatre that catapulted his career into television and film. His Chicago resume included Backdraft, The Babe, Excessive Force and Rookie Of The Year, along with several television roles. Having hit the proverbial glass ceiling by 1993, Brown moved to Los Angeles. Auditioning for Wes Craven cast Brown in New Nightmare, which led to Vampire In Brooklyn, which led to Scream. Two years later, Brown played the breakout role of Warren, Cameron Diaz's mentally challenged brother in Theres Something About Mary. Among his credits are the Oscar-nominated films The Master, The Sessions and Being John Malkovich. Recent films include The Highwaymen, Wild, Draft Day and Black Mass. Brown currently plays a recurring role in the breakout hit from Disney+/Lucasfilm in The Mandalorian universe. Other recent TV/streaming contract roles include AMCs Preacher, HBOs second season of True Detective, Hulus Reprisal and ABCs anthology series, American Crime. His many past guest star roles on television include shows such as Documentary Now!, Luck, American Horror Story, Justified, Six Feet Under, NYPD Blue, X-Files, CSI and Seinfeld as well as lead roles in eight pilots. Among the several TV movies he has been involved with included the starring role in VH1s Meatloaf: To Hell And Back. Brown also played Dan Dority in HBOs Deadwood. During the shows second season, the shows creator, David Milch, invited him to join the shows writing staff. In 2007, Brown earned a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for writing on a drama series and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for best drama ensemble acting. Establishing himself on a show as critically lauded as Deadwood opened doors for other writing projects. In 2011, Sony released Bloodworth, a film produced and written by Brown. In addition to his television and film work, Brown co-starred in Sonys The Last Of Us, 2014 Video Game Of The Year. He also writes music and records with Sacred Cowboys, an LA-based Americana band. Recently completed and current projects include the eight-part Hurricane Katrina series, titled Five Days at Memorial, a comedy series titled Hello Tomorrow and the character of George Wallace in the Shirley Chisholm biopic with Regina King. Browns career runs the gamut from television to film, to music, to theatre from comedy to drama to musical. He considers himself very lucky to have had the many opportunities to play so many varied and diverse characters, with such an array of talented individuals. Brown received the Murray State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2017, a prestigious honor that is presented annually to alumni who have made meaningful contributions to their profession on a local, state and national level. The award is the highest honor granted by the Murray State University Alumni Association. Also in 2017, Brown returned to his roots in Murray States theatre department to perform the role of Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof alongside theatre students while mentoring them. Brown has remained very engaged with the department, often returning to the University to lead theatre workshops and host Q&A sessions for current students. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation and air transport sector is poised for tremendous growth over the next few years and will contribute immensely to the kingdoms GDP taking the figure to more than SR280 billion ($74.5 billion) by 2030, compared to about SR80 billion in 2018, reported SPA citing a top official. The kingdom is giving thrust on the civil aviation sector as part of its new strategy to turn into a growth machine which will led to creation of several direct and indirect jobs by 2030, remarked General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Chairman Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Duailej. He pointed out that GACA was working towards its goal of making Saudi civil aviation sector the best in the region by 2030. We aim to play host to 330 million passengers annually in the next 10 years, compared to 103 million passengers in 2019, remarked Al Duailej. His comments came during the main panel discussion at the first virtual employment exhibition of the Public Transport Authority recently. GACA also has set an ambitious target to rank first in the Middle East and fifth globally in air connectivity, linking more than 250 international destinations, compared to 99 destinations in 2019, said Al Duailej. "We also aim to be ranked first in air freight in the region via increasing the capacity to 4.5 million tons, compared to about 800,000 tons in 2019," he added. Al Duailej said in line with Vision 2030, the sector was vital in providing direct and indirect jobs. In a major boost to its Saudisation drive, GACA has been able to record 50 per cent success in its new initiative to provide 10,000 jobs for locals in 2021. They are being hired in various sectors such as airport operation and safety, fire and rescue, aviation security and airport operation services. This is in addition to qualifying and classifying 29 professions specialized in the field of air transport, he added. WAPELLO Louisa County Engineer Adam Shutt assured the board of supervisors during its organizational meeting on Tuesday that improvements to the Grandview Bypass are moving forward. Shutt told the board that right of way acquisition along a short section of 160th Street north of Grandview would be done in the current fiscal year, followed by grading and rocking in fiscal year 2023. He said enough preliminary survey work had been done to determine the property required to create a 24-foot roadway with 4-foot shoulders. The question is, do you want to do the paving the next year or save up a little bit and maybe put an intermediate surface on there or something, he said. Lets look and see where we are at, said Quigley, who had been appointed board chair earlier in the meeting. Supervisor Chris Ball appeared to agree, suggesting the county finances would likely determine the improvement schedule. Well have to (look at) the budget, he said. Shutt acknowledged their positions, adding he also wanted to talk with Grandview city officials, adding he was also moving forward on redesigning County Road G44X so it would tie-in with 160th Street. A tie-in would more clearly establish the bypass as the preferred route. Shutt said drivers wishing to go into Grandview would need to make a conscious turn to continue into the community. In a related discussion involving Grandview, Shutt said the 2020 census had determined the city had lost enough population that approximately $20,000 of Farm to Market (FM) funds it had been receiving for some city streets would be transferred to the county. According to Shutt, the citys FM streets included portions of Jackson and Jefferson Streets and Cemetery Lane. Shutt also presented the board with bids for a planned overlay project involving three bridges. He said Brandt Construction, Milan, had submitted the low bid of $702,271 for the work. Shutt said his estimate for the work had been $736,840. In the remainder of his weekly department update, Shutt said the secondary roads crews had been busy plowing snow, while he had been working on project designs and completing budget work. In a discussion related to the proposed budget, Shutt asked the supervisors if they would consider using local option sales and service tax (LOST) for county road projects. The supervisors did not commit to anything, but agreed if they did allow it, any decisions would be on a case-by-case basis. The supervisors also held a public hearing for an ordinance establishing precincts for Louisa County after the 2020 census. Following the hearing, which did not draw any comments, the board approved the first reading of the ordinance and waived the remaining two hearings. The board also signed a memorandum of understanding with the city of Wapello dealing with its three political wards. In other action during the meeting, the supervisors: Approved several routine, annual resolutions dealing with bank depositories, board meetings, payment of claims and other issues; Named Shutt to complete Farm to Market business; authorized Shutt to close secondary roads in emergencies; and allowing Shutt to collect Federal Disaster Aid for secondary roads and bridges; Approved the Master Matrix system in Louisa County; Approved appointments for the auditor, treasurer and recorders offices; Accepted a $38,965 bid from Frank Millard, Burlington, for a new boiler at the County Complex; Discussed grant opportunities with emergency management services director Brian Hall. Agreed to hold a Jan. 25 public hearing on a buy-out property transfer to the city of Fredonia. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 MUSCATINE The National Pearl Button Museum at History and Industry Center has welcomed in a new exhibit this week, one its staff hopes will educate guests and spark new appreciation for one of the Mississippi Rivers most important creatures. In late 2021, the National Pearl Button Museum opened What Are Mussels and Why Mussels Matter? a new exhibit focused completely on mussels and how they attributed to the story of the pearl button industry. For museum Director Dustin Joy, who took the position in September 2020, this was his first big project for the museum. He described it as a great learning experience for him, with the exhibit taking an entire year to produce. Weve always had a small mussel exhibit here, one with just a few shells and a little bit of history, but the thing that really makes pearl buttons interesting is not so much how they were made, although thats interesting too, but what they were made from, Joy said. I think we tell the button side of the story well, but this was a small part of the story that we wanted to tell a little better. The exhibit is split into several small sections, with the first explaining the life cycle and natural purpose of mussels through their role as filter feeders. Young guests are free to look at and touch the various types of shells that were used by the pearl button industry, and can learn the difference between mussels, clams and oysters. Towards the middle of the new exhibit, there are three videos for guests to watch, followed by a section that focuses on the negative environmental impact that occurred due to the pearl button industry. The final section of the exhibit was dedicated to the modern-day efforts to repopulate the Mississippi Rivers mussel population that are currently taking place. This expanded exhibit was created through a grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, and contains information directly from both the Muscatine County Conservation Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, as well as the local Friends of the Fairport Fish Hatchery group and several other local biologists. Originally the grant was for a satellite museum out at the Fairport Fish Hatchery, Joy said. Late last year, it became apparent that we werent going to be able to pull that off because of that buildings development costs. Our options were to either return the money to Carver or persuade them to do something else with it and they were very helpful and nice about that. So this exhibit is the fruit of their money, and I hope they think it was well spent. Joy credited former museum director Terry Eagle and Office Manager Angie Weikert for applying for and getting the grant in the first place. While the museum will only be open on Fridays and Saturdays during January and February, Joy said that he hopes to not only bring in local schools for field trips in the spring, but also bring a few local biologists to give a lecture that can go along with the new exhibit. We hope that this exhibit engages kids a little bit more, Joy said. We have kids come in a lot, and not to say that the rest of the museum doesnt engage them, but its really geared towards adults. I think certain things (in this exhibit) like our videos and hands-on displays will really make it more engaging for kids. To schedule a tour at the Pearl Button Museum, call 563-263-1052 for more information. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. MUSCATINE COUNTY As one elected official decides to step down, another candidate has stepped up with hopes of winning the Iowa House District 95 seat. Iowa Representative David Kerr, a Republican, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection when his term ends this year. The seat will change from Dist. 88 to Dist. 95 due to changes in the precincts based on the 2020 census. Kerr represents Iowa House District 88, which includes all of Louisa County, a majority of Des Moines County, and the north and western sections of Muscatine County. Kerr also served as the chair of the Education Appropriations. Subcommittee and held roles on several other committees such as the Public Safety Committee and the Local Government and Appropriations Committee. In a press release, Kerr, who served for six years, said he hoped to spend more time with his family and serving his community however he could. Its been a privilege to represent my constituents in the Iowa House, Kerr said, Im proud of all that weve accomplished for the state of Iowa in my time in the Statehouse. After three terms, I am ready to step down and let a new representative take the helm. Shortly after Kerrs announcement, Taylor Collins announced he would seek the Republican nomination for the newly established Iowa House District 95, which represents Des Moines, Henry, Louisa and Muscatine counties. Although he is currently teaching economics and business at Iowa Wesleyan University, Collins has previous experience within the state government. Collins served as policy adviser to Gov. Kim Reynolds and senior adviser to Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg. In a public statement, Collins thanked Kerr for his service as state representative, referring to him as an effective advocate who is leaving big shoes to fill with his retirement. Collins, however, hopes to fill those shoes while also working hard to be just as effective as Kerr was. Theres often too much noise in Des Moines and not enough results, Collins said, Im running for this seat to bring common-sense solutions to the table and be a strong, conservative voice for Southeast Iowa. I look forward to talking with folks in this district about the issues theyre facing and earning their votes along the way. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Friendly, adaptable and enjoyable. Laid back. Challenging, memorable, fun. These are words used by our most recently inducted Phi Theta Kappa officers at Muscatine Community College to describe their college experience. At the end of the fall semester, the MCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, part of the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 3.5 million members, inducted four officers and a total of 41 members. Family and supporters were in the audience to recognize their achievements. The officers for 2021-22 are: Jobie Lekwa, president and graduate of Columbus Junction High School; Trey Wagner, vice-president and graduate of Louisa-Muscatine High School; Reagan Downing, recording officer and graduate of Louisa-Muscatine High School and Emilee Truitt, public relations officer and graduate of Louisa-Muscatine High School. We have a strong leadership team, advised by our faculty, Dr. Marie Ripslinger-Atwater and Deanna Dawson, alumna of MCC. When asked why the students decided to step up to a leadership role, Trey responded, I wanted to step up and do something with my time at MCC. Reagan added, I became a PTK officer because the club needed it and it would be a good reference to use when going to another college. We started the school year with zero officers. Im pleased to see the strength in this group today! We have among this group of students natural leaders who will leave their mark on MCC. All of the students are MCC Foundation scholarship recipients, with Reagan receiving a full-ride presidential scholarship and Trey a counselors scholarship. Both require recommendations from the high school staff. The PTK website states, We dont just recognize students academic success; we give them opportunities to develop professional and leadership skills, earn scholarships, explore career paths and make their worlds bigger." (www.ptk.org/) Attending Muscatine Community College has always been about expanding ones horizons and making our worlds bigger. One community service project already completed was collecting cards for troops stationed overseas. The club collected cards from MCC students and staff as well as Jefferson Elementary School kids which were sent to military personnel. A project planned for the spring involves sustainability and working alongside students from the University of Iowa. Of the biggest surprises when they started at MCC, the officers stated, the quality of staff for all my classes. Teachers seem very passionate about what they teach. Good way to start my continuing education. Cheaper than regent or private colleges. How relatable other students are coming from smaller schools as well, it made it easier to transition from high school to MCC. Its easy to adapt here and I didnt realize this until I came to campus for class, very grateful for how the class sizes are as well. As we enter a new year, we are grateful for the exceptional students we have at MCC, who answer the call to service. Dr. Naomi DeWinter is the President of Muscatine Community College, The Communitys College. MJC/MCC was established in 1929 and has proudly served the community for over 90 years. Contact ndewinter@eicc.edu. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close An aerial view of the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site headquarters island at Kwajalein Atoll. Three border cases of Covid were discovered earlier this week while in quarantine. Christians in Karnataka make up less than two per cent of the population but suffer the third-largest number of hate crimes in India. Civil rights bodies recorded 305 cases of hate attacks in the last year with a significant number of them against Dalit Christians. Snobar | TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles KARNATAKA The BJP-ruled state of Karnataka has emerged as the new Hindutva laboratory where Christians joined Muslims as the targets of the far-right groups, observed civil and human rights groups. In the last year, as many as 305 incidents of violence allegedly against the members of the Christian community took place till the month of November 2021. The attacks include 39 incidents of hate crime in southern Karnataka state, according to data compiled by the joint initiative of the United Christians Forum (UCF), Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and United Against Hate (UAH). According to the recently released report, the law and order machinery in most of the cases was largely ignored or remained inactive in taking action against the culprits. Most of the cases are directed against the Dalit Christians on the charges of conversion. The right-wing groups accuse the Christian missionaries of indulging in converting poor Dalits into Christianity by offering them rice bags. As a result, the far-right groups use the pejorative term against Dalits converts, calling them rice bag Christians. The recent attacks against Christians have also triggered international concern with many leading news outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian among others, raising concern on the reports of harassment and intimidation of the members of the Christian community. While many cases go unreported, few major incidents the aforementioned rights group have taken note of, but not figured in the report as they happened in the month of December-January, are sufficient to conclude that Karnataka has become a place where members of minority communities fear to tread, as phrased by one of the members involved in the compilation of the hate crime cases. Attacks in December-January A group of Hindutva organizations on December 29 allegedly attacked a Dalit family in the village of Tukkanatti in the Belagavi district, accusing the victim of converting their neighbours into Christianity. Five members of the Dalit family, including 3 women, were injured. A woman suffered a burn injury after an attacker allegedly threw hot curry on her. On January 02, journalist Imran Khan shared a video of the attack on Twitter which purportedly shows that a far-right goon beating a man, and pulling Sari off a woman. A similar attack had taken place on December 28, in Tumakuru districts Kunigal where women fought off members of the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal who allegedly barged into their house accusing the family of conversion. Earlier, in Mandya district, a group of right-wing people allegedly barged into a convent school and disrupted a small Christmas celebration, threatening school authorities. On December 23, a group of right-wing activists barged into a convent school in Karnatakas Mandya district to disrupt a small Christmas celebration taking place, threatening school authorities. On the same day, the Karnataka state assembly passed new anti-conversion legislation, called the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021. Attacks linked with conversion The recent attacks on Christians have a similar pattern, they are linked with conversion. If you look at all the attacks recently in 2021 at Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, the so-called Hindutva groups that attacked Christians and their place of worship has one thing in common which is [Conversion] as the main reason for they attacking my religion, Jeffrey Lawrence, a Christian from Kanyakumari, said. They are doing it out of fear of the Muslims combined with Christians will soon convert India to a Christian Muslim Nation, Lawrence, said. Actually, this is a phobia created by the leaders who belong to the fanatic sect called Hindutva. They are the ones responsible for brainwashing innocent Hindus to wage war against their own citizens, he added. The hate speeches given by BJP leaders like Tejasvi Surya, work to increase the attacks against minorities, Sarah, a local resident of Karnataka, said. Lawrence further said that when Indian politicians visit European countries or western countries just to show they love Christianity, some fall at the feet of the Pope in Rome and some worship Christian books in front of the Pope at Vatican and some visit Churches in America and share a good relationship with the pastors there. This is all done for photo-ops and for the fear of being criticized by Christians all over the world for badly treating their own Indian Christians back home, Lawrence said. Christians in Karnataka make up less than two per cent of the population but suffer the third-largest number of hate crimes in India. Notably, the state assembly has also passed an anti-conversion bill amid opposition from several Congress and other smaller parties. Defending the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the bills would stop forced conversion. The Christian and Muslim communities as well as members of civil rights groups oppose such laws. They alleged that these laws have been recklessly used to harass and obstruct preaching and propagation of religion, particularly by the minority community. Notably, such laws have been passed by most of the BJP-ruled states. Yaps new governor, Jesse John Salalu, was sworn into office by Chief Justice Cyprian Manmaw on Dec. 29, in the governors conference room. The results of the Q4 2021 MyBroadband Insights speed test reveal that mobile broadband speeds in South Africas top neighbourhoods are significantly higher than average fixed broadband speeds. For these results, MyBroadband Insights used data collected from MyBroadbands Android and iOS speed test apps between 1 October 2021 and 31 December 2021. MyBroadband Insights collected 470,766 fixed broadband results and 379,132 mobile broadband results during the period. MyBroadbands speed test servers are hosted in Teracos vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment. Through NAPAfrica, all network operators present at its peering points are provided with a free 10Gbps connection to the MyBroadband Speed Test platform. The report revealed that Bryanston, Randpark Ridge, and Umhlanga Ridge were the neighbourhoods with the highest average mobile broadband speed. It further showed that Bryanston, Garsfontein, and Equestria recorded the highest average fixed broadband speeds. What stood out is that the average mobile speeds in the top neighbourhoods were much higher than the average fixed broadband speeds. In Bryanston, for example, the average mobile download speed in Q4 2021 was 118Mbps much higher than the average fixed broadband speed of 55Mbps. This trend, although interesting, is not unexpected. In recent years, advances in mobile technologies, like 4G and 5G, have significantly increased the mobile broadband speeds South Africans enjoy. An even more significant contributor to the slowed fixed broadband speeds is that most consumers purchase low-end fixed broadband packages. Unlike mobile broadband, which offers the maximum speed by default, fixed broadband packages like fibre, DSL, and 5G are priced differently based on speed. Slower speeds cost less, and most households opt for the cheapest option. This, in turn, leads to lower average fixed broadband speeds. The tables below show the South African neighbourhoods with the highest average mobile and fixed broadband speeds. Best Neighbourhoods for Mobile Broadband in Q4 2021 Neighbourhood Average Download Speed (Mbps) Average Upload Speed (Mbps) Average Latency (ms) Minimum Download Speed (Mbps) Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) Bryanston 118.12 25.42 26 0.05 534.46 Randpark Ridge 101.18 23.74 37 0.84 489.04 Umhlanga Ridge 83.41 18.27 35 0.05 459.84 Weltevredenpark 74.26 20.46 28 0.34 371.90 Moreleta Park 69.79 13.27 34 0.01 522.35 Woodlands 67.20 19.45 37 0.06 422.71 Century City 66.94 15.70 41 0.09 501.81 Morningside 65.05 17.22 28 0.34 524.05 Newlands 52.69 17.60 40 0.27 488.68 Table View 48.37 12.37 28 0.02 568.64 Best Neighbourhoods for Fixed Broadband in Q4 2021 Neighbourhood Average Download Speed (Mbps) Average Upload Speed (Mbps) Average Latency (ms) Minimum Download Speed (Mbps) Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) Bryanston 55.47 47.07 48 0.64 336.2 Garsfontein 55.03 42.08 30 0.23 373.97 Equestria 54.00 33.42 19 1.12 267.57 Pierre van Ryneveld Park 52.07 36.22 26 1.03 308.42 Northriding 51.46 42.36 30 0.19 399.67 Die Hoewes 49.15 31.37 33 0.11 306.57 Brackenhurst 48.48 37.78 27 0.57 529.55 Rooihuiskraal 48.29 37.22 26 1.37 255.60 Wonderboom South 48.09 38.62 32 1.37 314.96 The Reeds 47.82 35.43 34 0.11 475.53 Now read: Where to get the fastest broadband speeds in South Africa South Africa only has one machine that can print driving licence cards to avoid giving corrupt officials a gap to flood the country with fraudulent drivers licences. This is according to the spokesperson of the Automobile Association of South Africa, Layton Beard. Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Beard said that even though the Department of Transport has been proactive in rooting out corruption at Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs), problems still exist. You dont want to have a situation where the printing of licence cards is farmed out to the DLTCs, stated Beard. You may find yourself in a worse position in terms of illegal driving license cards that are in circulation. Even though there is a lot of corruption at DLTCs, Beard said thats not to say there shouldnt be at least two machines in South Africa that process licences. Reports that South Africas only driving licence printing machine had broken down first surfaced in mid-December. The machine was reportedly damaged by an electrical short after a building adjacent to its location was flooded. Initially, the machine was expected to be repaired by the end of December. However, a Department of Transport spokesperson told Sunday newspaper Rapport that the 20-year-old machine was still broken. Beard and others have warned that this will leave hundreds of thousands of South African motorists stuck with expired driving licence cards in early 2022. According to Beard, the breakdown speaks to a broader issue. The process of obtaining not only driving license documents, but a raft of other documents that you need from driving license testing centres is very cumbersome, he said. The system that is used as the backend of this is is old and needs to be replaced. You cannot repair it; you cannot fix it. Beard said the entire system must be removed and replaced in its entirety. When you consider the fact that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)which is involved in many of these DLTCshad a surplus of R262 million in 2020, its not a question that the funds arent there, he added. Its a question of: why are we not doing this sooner rather than later? The AA believes this must be done as a matter of urgency, said Beard. Driving licences should be valid for 10 years Outa The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse agrees that South Africas archaic drivers licensing system needs an overhaul. In a recent 702/Cape Talk interview, Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage estimated there could be a backlog of 500,000 drivers licence cards due to the machines breakdown. Duvenage said Outa has already suggested to the transport department that South Africa switch from 5-year driving licences, to licences valid for 10 years. This would alleviate the current backlog overnight, Duvenage said. Duvenage said former transport minister Dipuo Peters approved this exact change in a government gazette in November 2012. However, before the changes could be promulgated in October 2013, the decision was reversed. Government and the RTMC would lose a lot of money if motorists could renew their licences less frequently. Duvenage said thats probably why government scrapped the idea. Thats the wrong reason not to introduce systems. You introduce them for efficiencies, said Duvenage. We give so many recommendations and input, and yet it all falls on deaf ears. I spent my Sunday afternoon dismantling my (artificial) Christmas tree and lovingly tucking my favorite ornaments in their box. Childhood photos of gap-toothed relatives long since grown up mounted in glittery star frames, carved wooden Santas from Vintage Home, beaded wreaths, a plastic snowglobe produced at a St. Helena Public Library arts and crafts day. The next morning I ventured downtown and realized that the wine barrel Christmas tree at Main and Hunt had been dismantled. The holidays are over and I miss them already. *** Dont forget that the Troop 1 Boy Scouts are picking up trees on Saturday, Jan. 8. For a suggested donation of $10, you can pick up a tag at Steves Hardware, Sunshine Foods or Central Valley. *** With school starting again on Monday, free COVID-19 test kits are available to all students. You can pick one up in the Vintage Hall parking lot on Thursday, Jan. 6, from 7 to 9:45 a.m. or from 2:30 to 5:15. *** The St. Helena Public Library will be closed Thursday, Jan. 6, while a new generator is installed. The upside: The library will remain fully operational during the next power outage. This is a well-deserved upgrade for a library that's always been there for us even at the worst of times. THURSDAY UPDATE: The closure has been canceled, and the library will be open Thursday from 10 to 1 and from 2 to 6. *** Has This Happened to You?! a series of short films featuring actors from the Rianda House Readers Theater, will be screened via Zoom at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18. Stick around after the show to meet the actors and ask them questions. RSVP to 963-8555 ext. 101. *** The Okinawans call it ikagai. The Nicoyans of Costa Rica call it plan de vida. We would call it why I wake up in the morning. Joaquin Razo of the Blue Zones Project will talk about how to extend your longevity by having a sense of purpose, in a Zoom presentation hosted by Rianda House at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19. RSVP to the number mentioned above. *** The January meeting of the Upper Napa Valley Republican Women Federated will be held on Monday, Jan. 10, at 311 St. Helena Highway North. The speaker will be Tom Del Beccaro, former chairman of the California Republican Party. Meet and greet at 11:30 followed by the meeting at noon. RSVP to 963-3151 by Thursday, Jan. 6. *** The date of Jan. 6 being seared into our collective memory perhaps permanently, it feels appropriate to thank the St. Helena Police Department and the other law enforcement officials who risk life and limb to keep us on the right side of the line between democracy and anarchy. Heres hoping for a year of justice, peace and truth. On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. capital, Indivisible Napa, a group of local activists will hold a candlelight vigil at Veterans Memorial Park on Main Street in downtown Napa. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: Subscribe for $5.99 per mo The vigil from 5-6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 6, is one of more than 300 events being planned across the country including in Washington, DC, according to a press release from Lisa Seran, co-founder of Indivisible Napa. Speakers will include Rev. Jay Lang from the Center for Spiritual Living Napa Valley; Charlie Toledo from the Suscol Intertribal Council; a representative from Congressman Mike Thompsons office, Devra Dallman from Healthcare For All; Linda Brown from Napa Climate Now, Michelle Erbs from Rise Up Napa and others. Supervisor Ryan Gregory is the Napa County Board of Supervisors chairperson for 2022, though it was Supervisor Belia Ramoss turn and the reason she didnt get the position was to the public at least hazy. The Board of Supervisors by a 3-2 vote named Gregory as chairperson. Supervisor Diane Dillon made the motion, citing extenuating circumstances that made the choice of Gregory in the county's best interests. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: Subscribe for $5.99 per mo During a meeting break, Dillon was asked what those extenuating circumstances are. I dont think Im at liberty to say legal issues, Dillon said. Gregory in an email after the meeting responded to the Napa Valley Register's request for more information. Every year is different and brings its own set of challenges and opportunities. Today the Board exercised its flexibility to elect officers to fit the moment. I am honored to be selected as chair for this coming year and look forward to the work ahead," he said. Ramos also responded after the meeting by email to a Napa Valley Register request for comment. "While I was prepared and willing to serve, I will move forward respecting the Boards decision of Supervisor Gregory serving as chair this year. I look forward to being chair in the future. Rest assured I am here to serve the County of Napa and my district, regardless of a ceremonial title," she said. Ramos was involved in some controversies in 2021. The Board of Supervisors ordered a third-party investigation of how the county distributed COVID-19 vaccinations, with Ramos a focus for receiving a vaccine before her age group was eligible. She said the vaccine would have otherwise been wasted at the end of the day. Then Ramos alleged that County Executive Officer Minh Tran had withheld information from the Board of Supervisors in the matter that was favorable to her. She reported Tran to the State Bar of California, which has never reported taking any action. No supervisor on Tuesday referred to this or any other past issues involving Ramos as the reason for her not becoming chairperson. The Board of Supervisors for years has rotated supervisors by district into the chairperson position. The chairperson runs meetings, is a Board of Supervisors spokesperson and helps craft meeting agendas. However, on Dec. 17, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution clarifying that any supervisor can be appointed chairperson, regardless of the rotation. The Board passed the item unanimously and without comments. Then came Tuesday, with the usually routine job of appointing the chairperson turning out to be anything but routine. I am ready, willing, and able to serve as chair, Ramos said during the meeting. The issue involves not skipping over her but skipping over her supervisorial district. The chairpersons position gives each district a chance to be lifted up and highlighted, Ramos said. "The 5th District deserves its time to serve as chair," Ramos said, whose district includes American Canyon and nearby rural areas. Dillon responded to Ramos's comments. Being chair has nothing to do with elevating your district; it has nothing to do with highlighting your district, Dillon said. Thats a red herring, frankly. Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht wanted to stick with the traditional rotation that would make Ramos chairperson. Im a huge fan of Ryan Gregory, Wagenknecht said. This isnt anything about Ryan Gregory. But, he said, he values having a thoughtful, orderly rotation for the chairpersons position. "I think we have to trust each other to be the professionals we know we can be," Wagenknecht said. Gregory, Dillon, and Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza voted to make Gregory the chairperson and Wagenknecht the vice-chairperson. Ramos and Wagenknecht dissented over the chairperson portion. As is usual for the new chairperson, Gregory talked about the year ahead. He talked about the community continuing to learn how to live with COVID-19 and returning to some normality. He mentioned an infusion of money from the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, as well as the American Rescue Plan Act. Gregory envisions a 2022 that includes acknowledging the contributions of Dillon and Wagenknecht. Both will leave the Board of Supervisors at year's end, with Wagenknecht having served 24 years and Dillon 20 years. With two new supervisors coming in 2023, Gregory said he wants to spend 2022 going through the countys to-do list of unresolved land use issues left over from the past few years. Thats my vision for the year, Gregory said. But you know what they say about plans Plans for Tuesdays meeting went momentarily awry when a man sat in a back seat without wearing a mask, in violation of county and state COVID-19-related masking laws for indoor public spaces. County officials cleared the room of more than a dozen spectators, leaving the man sitting with his arms folded across his chest in the back seat. Tran and Sheriff Oscar Ortiz tried to convince him to leave or wear a mask. The masking law is ridiculous and doesnt protect anyone, the man told them. The county wont listen, he said. I dont want to be doing this, he said. But its something I feel I have to do. After about 15 minutes, he walked out of the third-story Board chamber accompanied by two sheriffs officers who gave him the choice of stairs or elevator. Ortiz said the man wasnt charged with anything and said the approach had been "de-escalation." Then the meeting resumed with Gregory behind the gavel. As youve seen so far this morning, nothing is normal quite yet, Gregory said. Were heading in that direction, I hope. You can reach Barry Eberling at 256-2253 or beberling@napanews.com. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SACRAMENTO A Democratic lawmaker wants to use part of the state's projected $31 billion budget surplus to increase funding for schools and change how California pays for public education. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: Subscribe for $5.99 per mo A new bill by Sen. Anthony Portantino would alter schools' funding formula, shifting from one that's based on average daily attendance to one based on total enrollment. California for decades has based its school funding on student attendance, which Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, and supporters say unfairly punishes low-income districts that have higher rates of absenteeism and truancy. California is one of only six states that bases funding on attendance, along with Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi Missouri, and Texas. "If a school district enrolls 100 students, but their attendance rate is 95%., the school district must prepare as if 100 students will attend class, but only receives funding for 95," Portantino said. "This bill will remedy that inequity." Senate Bill 830 would take advantage of the state's expected budget surplus by making an additional $3 billion available to school districts, Portantino said. Certain school districts will benefit more than others based on the difference between their attendance and enrollment rates, he said. But the senator emphasized that the bill would lead to increased funding "across the board." No district would lose funding under the legislation. "We want to make sure that there's only winners with this new paradigm, there's not going to be any losers," Portantino said. The bill would also require that schools use 50% of the additional funds to address absenteeism. If passed, it would go into affect for the 2023-2024 school year. The California School Employees Association, a labor union representing more than 230,000 public employees, is co-sponsoring the bill. Association President Shane Dishman said enrollment-based funding is more helpful than attendance-based funding in addressing absenteeism. "The truth is, attendance-based funding punishes students in schools that most need the state's financial support," he said. During the 2018-2019 school year, 12.1% of California's 6 million students were chronically absent, according to state data. African American students experienced the highest rate of absenteeism, 22.5%, among their peers. Kelly Gonez, board president of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said an enrollment-based funding formula would benefit students in Los Angeles, who suffer a disproportionately higher rate of chronic absenteeism than other districts. "School districts like LA Unified, with high numbers of students in historically underserved communities, face higher levels of chronic absenteeism, and that absenteeism means that school districts have less funding just when their students need more support and more resources," Gonez said. Additional funding will help districts like LAUSD get to the "root causes" of chronic absenteeism, Gonez said. The district currently provides case management and conduct home visits, and once a year holds a "student recovery day" where volunteers throughout the district reach out to chronically absent students. Through those efforts, LAUSD was able to reach an attendance rate of about 95% prior to the pandemic. But the coronavirus has knocked that number down, closer to 91%, Gonez said. "That drop is a loss of dollars right when our students need us and need those resources the most," she said. "So I'm really hopeful that the Legislature will support SB 830 to provide supplemental funding for school districts serving high-need populations." Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Another earthquake registered on Armenian-Georgian border FLYONE ARMENIA launches regular direct flights between Yerevan and Tbilisi Georgia abolishes requirement to wear masks in closed spaces One dollar drops below AMD 450, euro also falls in Armenia Georgia PM receives Justice Minister of Armenia Armenia MFA says there is no discussion, agreement on re-demarcating border with Turkey Cavusoglu claims there is agreement to clarify Armenia-Turkey border Azerbaijan president receives Brice Roquefeuil Armenia ex-defense minister: These authorities are able to use force inside the country Police: 244 people apprehended in Yerevan as of 2pm Incident involving disobedience march participants occurs at Armenian State Pedagogical University Yerevan Police apprehend opposition MP Police: 199 people apprehended in Yerevan as of noon Armenia defense ministry refutes Azerbaijan MOD statement Resistance Movement coordinator says they will assemble at France Square in downtown Yerevan at 6pm Armenia parliament opposition faction leader: More than 200 people apprehended The Azeri Times: Azerbaijan closes airspace for Russia military aircraft to disrupt transportation to Armenia Bill Gates warns of more fertile' COVID-19 variant Police: 3 dozen intersections in Yerevan were closed off by citizens since morning Armenia PM congratulates several Arab countries leaders on Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr 3 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Journalist falls ill during scuffle at civil disobedience action in Yerevan Armenia ex-ruling party official: I assess these actions of disobedience very positively Armenia FM to head for US, will meet with Blinken Armenia Police: 189 people apprehended so far in Yerevan UN announces blocking of millions of tons of grain in Ukraine ports Small plane crashes in Canada, 4 dead 125 people taken to Yerevan police stations Erdogan says will hold talks with Putin this week Quake hits Armenia-Georgia border zone One person falls ill during oppositions peaceful disobedience action in downtown Yerevan Resistance Movement coordinator says 14 streets currently blocked by citizens in Yerevan Peaceful civil disobedience actions kick off in Yerevan early morning Hungary says 10 European countries opened bank accounts in Russia to pay for natural gas in rubles Finland to build fences along Russia border Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan: For 10 years international community said Artsakh should self-determine Putin signs decree on measures to ensure Russia information security 3rd President Serzh Sargsyan is at Yerevans France Square Opposition continues to keep France Square in downtown Yerevan closed Europe asks Russia natural gas giant to increase supplies Clashes break out between police and anarchists in Paris The Jerusalem Post: Time for Israel to not fear Turkey and to recognize Armenian Genocide Armenia opposition lawmaker: People are constantly approaching ex-president Kocharyan (VIDEO) Putin bans foreign investors from organizing regular transfers on public-private, city-private partnership basis Ex-defense minister: Prior to 44-day war it was possible to negotiate in such way that Armenia will not be at war Police dispatching additional forces to Yerevans France Square Opposition to set up tents at France Square in downtown Yerevan (PHOTOS) Armenia opposition MP: How did US, France, Russia talk about Karabakh status after war? Resistance Movement coordinator: Armenian people told whole world that they are masters of their destiny, future Huge opposition rally kicks off in downtown Yerevan Armenia former ruling party official says ex-President Serzh Sargsyan will attend today's opposition rally Russia to impose $101M fine on Google Resistance Movement marches reach French Square in Yerevan Turkey police beat, detain dozens in May Day demonstrations Armenia international airports passenger traffic doubles in first quarter of 2022 Nancy Pelosi visits Kyiv, meets with Zelenskyy Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan defense ministry disseminating disinformation Armenia ex-President Kocharyan joins opposition march to Yerevan US Embassy in Armenia: Large crowds are unpredictable Germany supports EU plans to give up Russian oil Russia MOD announces airstrike on Odessa military airport Italy cancels Covid certificates Resistance Movement marches reaching Yerevan Artsakh President receives Armenian Relief Society delegation 4 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Blinken, Kuleba discuss return of American diplomats to Ukraine Armenia PM: Thanks to joint efforts and work we were able to overcome these crisis situations Person commits suicide by hanging self in Armenias Artik US, UK hold talks to reduce risk of war with China over Taiwan 1 dead, several injured in US festival shooting Drought causes megafire in US New Mexico Biden resumes White House Correspondents' Dinner tradition, Kim Kardashian among celebrity guest Turkey expresses readiness to support UN efforts on Ukraine Survey: Erdogan's rating falls again after slight improvement China launches new remote sensing satellites Clashes between police and protesters against anti-coronavirus measures in Ottawa Denmark sends Piranha 3 APCs and heavy mortars to Ukraine Macron promises Zelenskyy to increase military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine Egyptian tricycle carrying 13 children sinks in Nile Delta killing at least 8 children Iraqi PM: Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are coming to an end Russian MFA: Dialogue with US on strategic stability is frozen Indian authorities seize 90 kg of heroin-soaked yarn worth $58 million at port Germany sues Italy to the International Court of Justice Parents of fallen soldiers protests at Armenian Prosecutor General's Office building Politico: Germany supported sanctions on uranium imports from Russia Pentagon says American soldiers in Germany began training Ukrainian soldiers Armenia confirms 2 COVID-19 new cases Ecuador declares state of emergency due to rise in crime Armenian and Georgian FMs visit Genocide memorial Armenia opposition: Tomorrow we'll start decisive stage of our struggle with nationwide rally Armenian MFA reacts to Aliyev's statements that Syunik is historical territory of Azerbaijan German authorities may get right to expropriate property of energy companies Ukraine opens criminal case against Azerbaijani ambassador to Moldova Opposition Armenia Bloc: Marches from various directions approaching border line Tesla recalls over 14,600 Model 3 electric vehicles in China due to technical issues Turkey's foreign trade deficit widens by 75% in March Panama Parliament approves law regulating use of crypto assets in country Swedish FM says her country has not yet decided to join NATO Bulgaria removes all COVID restrictions on the entry of tourists on May 1 NEWS.am digest: Armenia, Russian, Azerbaijani FMs meet on May 13; more on situation in Ukraine A Muslim couple in Bokaro, Jharkhand has alleged that they were tortured by police while in custody over allegations of theft against them. While the Minority Welfare Minister, a member of Parliament, and several rights activists have demanded an investigation into the matter, the police have refuted the allegations of torture. Sami Ahmad | TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles JHARKHAND The police tied my legs and hands and started beating me. I was hit on my sole with sticks and the nails of both my feet were plucked. They beat me brutally at regular intervals. I was released on the next day afternoon after the intervention of a local Mukhiya. If no action is taken against the SHO Nutan Modi and the rest of police staff involved, I will self-immolate along with other family members, said 47-year-old teacher Amanat Hussain from Makhdumpur, which falls under Balidih police station of Jharkhands Bokaro district, some 120 kilometres North-East of the state capital Ranchi. Amanat alleged that he was tortured on allegations of theft at his neighbour Yunus Hashmis house on December 15. Hashmi was away from home and he had requested Amanat to sleep at his house while he was away. However, Amanat had fallen sick and couldnt spend the night at Hashmis house on December 15the night the theft took place. Muslim couple physically tortured in police custody in Bokaro, Jharkhand. A 47-year-old teacher, Amanat Hussain alleged that nails of his feet were plucked and his soles were ruptured after he along with his wife Hazra Begum was brutally beaten for mere suspection of theft pic.twitter.com/1lnAMA0eMr Aarif (@aerifshaw) January 2, 2022 As per Amanat, fifteen days after the incident as police were unable to catch the culprits, they called him to the police station, where he was tortured. He has recounted the police torture in a letter addressed to the Superintendent of Police (SP) Bokaro. When the matter was raised by the Minority Welfare Minister Hafizul Hassan and Dhanbad M.P. Pashupati Nath Singhthe Superintendent of Police of Bokaro Chandan Kumar Jha constituted a team led by Dy.S.P. Mukesh Kumar to investigate this case and file a report within three days. Dy. S.P. Mukesh visited the house of Amanat on January 3 to record his statement. Hafizul Hassan had tagged @bokaropolice on Twitter and asked them to take cognizance of this episode and ensure appropriate action after investigation. M.P. Singh has written to D.I.G. Bokaro asking for necessary action in this matter. Rawshan Jahan, daughter of Amanat Hussain told TwoCircles.net over the phone that they received a phone call around 8 p.m. on December 30, asking her father to reach Balidih police station. My father was threatened to be picked up when he pleaded if he could go there the next day. So, he went there with my mother Sarwari Begam and uncle Moharram Ansari, Rawshan, a B.A. student, said. When TwoCircles.net contacted Balidih SHOs official phone number, the number was switched off. Dy. S.P. Mukesh Kumar, who is heading the investigation in this matter, told TwoCircles.net that Amanat has been named as a suspect. Dy. S.P. refused to divulge details of the allegations of torture by Balidih police. In the F.I.R. filed by Yunus Hashmi, the accused is/are unnamed. In the letter addressed to Bokaor S.P. Amanat says, As I reached the police station I was locked in a room and later my wife too was locked there. I was replying to the questions being asked by the SHO Nutan Modi and other police staff. Suddenly the became violent and started verbally abusing me in the filthiest words. My wife Sabra Begam was also tortured and she was dragged by her hairs. Amanat further alleges that he was asked to pay a bribe to get absolved in this case. The SHO threatened me that he will implicate me under serious charges, Amanat says in the letter. He writes that as the police were unable to catch the real culprit, he is being forced to confess to a crime he didnt commit. SHO Nutan Modi has dismissed the allegations levelled by Amanat. She has called the allegations false and said that he (Amanat) was not tortured. She alleged that police found his call details suspicious, and He (Amanat) is making these statements to mislead the police. M.S. Hussain, a local social activist from the area, told TwoCircles.net that the police is trying to hush up the case. He alleges that the SHO, who is accused of torture, is being protected. The injury report by the local hospital has been diluted, he said, adding that A team of Marxist Coordination Committee would meet the civil surgeon for a proper injury report. Amanats daughter Rawshan has taken to Twitter to demand justice for her father. She has released a video message on her Twitter handle requesting the states chief minister Sita Soren to help and ensure action against the erring police officials. She alleges the SHO and local officials are conspiring against them. She also addressed a tweet to Sita Soren, the chairperson of Jharkhand Women and Children Development, Jharkhand Assembly alleging police torture against her parents. A team of activists of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Jharkhand Loktantrik Morcha (JLM) visited the victims house on January 4. After meeting the victim family, Convener of JLM Ashok Varma told TwoCircles.net that this is a case of custodial torture totally violating the norms of Supreme Court. We found out that Amanat is considered a gentle person by everyone in his place. Even the complainant of the case Yunus Hashmi said that he was shocked by how police treated Amanat, Varma said. State president of APCR Razaul Ansari demanded that the family should be compensated in accordance with Supreme Court guidelines. Tamanna Begam, In-Charge of the Women-Wing of APCR, asked how can Amanats wife be detained and tortured, when the Supreme Court guidelines clearly state that no woman can be detained after the sunset and before the sunrise. Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets at @samipkb. The newly elected council of elders of Armenias Parakar village has convened its first session Wednesday, and the election the new head of this rural community is on the agenda. Many police officers and ordinary citizens are assembled at the courtyard of the Parakar village hall. But the police do not allow the people to enter the village hall building. As a result of the local elections in Parakar on December 5, the Country to Live party won ten seats in the village council, the "Davit Minasyan" bloc of partiesnine, and Armenias ruling Civil Contract Partytwo. First, Volodya Grigoryan, the candidate from the Country to Live party, was nominated for the post of village mayor, and was elected by ten votes. According to the Country to Live party, the law allows to elect by 40 percent the only candidate nominated for community leader. After that, the Parakar village council members supporting Davit Manukyans candidacy came to the council, and they elected Manukyan village mayor, with 11 voteswhich is more than 50 percent. On December 23, supporters of the Country to Live party had gathered at the courtyard of the Parakar House of Culture, where the inauguration of their candidate for village mayor was to take place. But the police had not permitted them to enter the building, and therefore this inauguration had taken place outside. But on the same day, the "Davit Minasyan" bloc of parties had filed a lawsuit demanding that the election results be declared invalid. And the Administrative Court ruled to declare invalid the results of the elections for the mayor of Parakar village. The Yatra, which will be joined by local organisations, people, and former administrative and police officers, will emphasise the need for accountability in education, health, Covid-19 management, MGNREGA, ration, pensions, human rights, mining, environment, Dalit and gender issues, PESA, and other areas. Suchitra | TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles RAJASTHAN Rajasthans Soochna Evum Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan (SR Abhiyan) launched its second Jawabdehi Yatra from Jaipur, Rajasthan on December 20, 2021, to seek an accountability law in the region. Previously, in 2016, the Abhiyan organised a 100-day Yatra to raise public knowledge about the need for a law that tracks public officials. The Yatra, which will be joined by local organisations, people, and former administrative and police officers, will emphasise the need for accountability in education, health, Covid-19 management, MGNREGA, ration, pensions, human rights, mining, environment, Dalit and gender issues, PESA, and other areas. The Bill is called RTI Part II, to strengthen citizens rights to act on the obtained information and to hold the government accountable for the achievement of their rights. Pursuant to the campaign, the Indian National Congress (INC) included the law in its 2018 Assembly Election Manifesto. However, when it came into power, the government faltered on its promise. After repeated reminders, a state-level committee was established to prepare the draft bill with inputs from civil society, which it submitted within 5 months. Renowned social activist Aruna Roy flagged off the rally from here and called the law a potent weapon to curb corruption, ensure time-bound delivery of government services and make officials accountable for citizens sufferings. Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey have been working for the law since 2011. They held a 100-day statewide campaign in 2015 for the same. Dey explained with examples how the bill would empower the last man standing who faces difficulty in getting benefits of government schemes. The yatra began at the citys police commissioner office on December 20 and is going to last 45 days, encompassing all 33 districts in the state. The goal is to remind the incumbent Congress administration of its commitments to adopt a State Transparency and Social Accountability Bill, which were contained in its 2018 election manifesto. The Yatra arrived at the historic city of Beawar on December 23, the home of the RTI movement. Chang gate bears the Soochna ka Adhikar Smarak marking its contribution to the RTI movement. The people invoked the slogan of Humaara Paisa, Humaara Hisaab, the iconic slogan of the RTI movement. The main demand is that the Rajasthan government should pass an accountability law to hold government servants, officers and leaders accountable towards citizens and allow the latter to register their grievances, participate in their redressal and grant the same in a time-bound manner, said the Abhiyan. After this, the yatra reached the grounds of SD College, where thousands of sisters of Rajasthan Unorganized Mazdoor Union met and they warmly welcomed the yatra and the whole ground resonated with the slogans of Pass the Accountability Act. Government employees and officials do not work, we labourers have to bear the brunt, Santosh Devi said. We need this accountability at all costs. The Abhiyan activists felt that the State government should adopt a rights-based approach and ensure delivery of services and redress the citizens grievances within a stipulated time frame. Suchitra is an independent journalist working on social justice, focusing primarily on gender justice. She tweets at @Suchitrawrites The community cannot be governed if there is a conflict in the council of elders, if one of the factions is boycotting, the other one is not present. President of the Union of Communities (Municipalities) of Armenia, Emin Yeritsyan, told this to reporters Wednesdayand referring to the situation in the council of elders of the enlarged rural community of Parakar. "There are three parties here. If they do not reach an agreement, there is another solution: new elections," he added. To the question why Wednesday first session of the Parakar village council, during which the new head of the community was to be elected, did not take place, although 11 of the 21 members of the council were in attendance, Yeritsyan responded: "The Country to Live Faction had not come; that is, the session had to take place with 11 people, which means that the problem is not overcome, there is a conflict. Second, the situation in the community needs to be calmed down. It is very possible that all 21 members will participate in the next session of the council of elders and that Davit Minasyan will be elected [the new mayor of Parakar]; that is, all this is just to create a solidarity situation in the community. They will meet, talk today, and depending on its results, a meeting of the council of elders will be convened tomorrow or the next day. " Yeritsyan added that the village hall staff is convening this meeting. The newly elected council of elders of Armenias Parakar village was to convene its first session Wednesday, and the election of the new head of this rural community was on the agenda. The session, however, did not take place because the "Country to Live" Faction was not in attendance. As a result of the local elections in Parakar on December 5, the Country to Live party won ten seats in the village council, the "Davit Minasyan" bloc of partiesnine, and Armenias ruling Civil Contract Partytwo. First, Volodya Grigoryan, the candidate from the Country to Live party, was nominated for the post of village mayor, and was elected by ten votes. According to the Country to Live party, the law allows to elect by 40 percent the only candidate nominated for community leader. After that, the Parakar village council members supporting Davit Manukyans candidacy came to the council, and they elected Manukyan village mayor, with 11 voteswhich is more than 50 percent. On December 23, supporters of the Country to Live party had gathered at the courtyard of the Parakar House of Culture, where the inauguration of their candidate for village mayor was to take place. But the police had not permitted them to enter the building, and therefore this inauguration had taken place outside. But on the same day, the "Davit Minasyan" bloc of parties had filed a lawsuit demanding that the election results be declared invalid. And the Administrative Court ruled to declare invalid the results of the elections for the mayor of Parakar village. Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was killed two years ago in Chirangavathi, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. His wife was responding to the news of the Supreme Court cancelling the bail of Yogesh Raj and directed him to surrender within 7 days. Aas Mohammad Kaif | TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles BULANDSHAHAR, UTTAR PRADESH Wife of slain police inspector of Bulandshahar Subodh Kumar Singh has expressed happiness over the Supreme Courts verdict to cancel bail of the accused right-wing leader involved in the killing of her husband. Our mind has finally found peace, Rajni Subodh, the wife of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh said. After Subodhs death, we endured many troubles. Many people said all my efforts were absurd. But it was Subodhs voice in my mind which continuously reminded me not to give up. I knew I was doing this for him, Rajni said. Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was killed two years ago in Chirangavathi, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. She was responding to the news of the Supreme Court cancelling the bail of Yogesh Raj and directed him to surrender within 7 days. On January 3, the Supreme Court cancelled the bail of Yogesh Raj and others from Bajrang Dal, making a historic remark about the killers of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh of the Supreme Court bench commented that it is a very serious matter that a senior police officer had been lynched. The accused took the law into their own hands. The bail is cancelled, the apex court said. Killing of a brave cop Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was brutally murdered for stopping people who were obstructing law and order. His killing saved Uttar Pradesh from riots. The involvement of leaders and workers of Bajrang Dal and BJPs Yuva Morcha was exposed in the killing of Subodh Kumar Singhwho later were sent to jail. One of the accused was Yogesh Raj, a local convener of Bajrang Dal. The killing took place during a riot and it was reported that people associated with Hindu organizations were leading the mob. The riot took place on suspicion of cow slaughter. After being arrested, the accused were released on bail. After coming out on bail, Yogesh Raj was welcomed with a garland and a procession was taken out in his favour. He even contested the election of district panchayat members, which he won. Family relieved with SC order Commenting further on the Supreme Court order, Rajni Subodh said, If I speak only in the words of my husband Subodh, then they (team of Yogesh Raj ) have been punished. No criminal involved in his (Subodhs) murder will be able to escape. His killers will now rot in jail! I salute Subodh and pay my homage to him, she said, and added, I want to thank my lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Pranjal Kishor and well-wishers. Now I can finally able to meet Subodh with pride in the afterlife. I cant describe to you my pain. We have suffered a lot. Rajni said that on the day Yogesh Raj was welcomed with a garland, no one had eaten food at their house. My kids Shrey and Abhishek were under a lot of stress. My husband Subodh is the pride of the uniform and the constitution. He was killed and took bullets and saved the state from riots and his killers are welcomed with flowers and garlands. Now, none of his killers will get bail, she said. Rajni said she had to be firm while fighting for justice. There were attempts to mislead us and even inducements were offered. Some people would say that we are not doing anything. Now (after SC cancelling bail), they would know what we were fighting for it. Immediately after the verdict came, I felt as if Subodh was smiling standing in front of me, she said. Rajni expressed anger against people who considered Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj and goons like him as heroes. Uttar Pradesh Police should set a model. There are many flaws in the system. The accused should not have come out on bail, she added. France intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the development of the territories of Karabakh under its control, Azerbaijani media reported referring to French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zacharie Gross. The French Embassy will ensure the implementation of cooperation opportunities in 2022, especially in the fields of mine clearance, assistance in identifying missing persons during the first Karabakh war, and regional development, in particular in Agdam, where France offers its experience and funding for the repair of water and energy networks, the ambassador said in a statement published on the official website of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan. Gross noted that over the past year Azerbaijan has strengthened its ties with the European Union: Azerbaijans ties with the European Union, in which France will chair for six months, have strengthened over the past year, especially during the Eastern Partnership summit on December 10. The 27 EU countries invite Azerbaijan to deepen cooperation with specific commitments in the field of regional connectivity, sustainable development, and economic diversification. This cooperation can and should be carried out at the service of a more sovereign Europe and the Republic of Azerbaijan to confront the main international challenges. " Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sent Christmas greetings to Armenians around the world on Christmas Eve. The Prime Minister's press service reports. Nikol Pashinyan congratulated his compatriots with the text of David's Psalm - a prayer in a moment of danger. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. My God, in You I trust, that I will not be shamed forever, and that my enemies will not laugh at me. For all who hope in You will not be ashamed. Let those who do iniquity be ashamed in vain. Your ways, O Lord, show me, teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God who saves me; and in You I trust every day. Remember your generosity, O Lord, and your mercies, for they are eternal. Remember me not for my youth's sins and my ignorance; in Your mercy remember me, in Your goodness, O Lord. The Lord is good and righteous, so He will give His law to those who sin on the way. He will show the truth, He will teach the meek in His ways. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth for those who seek His covenant and His revelations. For the glory of your name, O Lord, cleanse me from my sin, for it is great. Who among men fears the Lord? God will give him the law in the way prepared for him. His soul shall find bliss, and his offspring shall inherit the earth. The Lord is a stronghold for those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; For I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; And forgive all my sins. O keep my soul, and deliver me: Let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I put my trust in thee. Save Armenia and Artsakh from all sorrows, O God! Merry Christmas! Royce Mann doesnt like to sit still. Days after he came up short in securing a spot in the runoff for a seat on the Atlanta Board of Education and after antibiotics conquered a nasty sore throat the Emory University sophomore was out canvassing for two Atlanta City Council candidates vying for wins in their runoffs later this month. He and his supporters are also taking steps toward forming a nonprofit to focus on reversing the trend of abysmal youth voter turnout at local elections. Recruiting the most engaged and passionate high school and college-aged people to run for office, such as school boards, would also be a priority for the new group. We want to energize those new voters around candidates their own age, Mann says. Were the future, but we are also the present, he continues. And if we want to create the best future for our generation and generations to come then we have to have young folks at the table. Mann, an Atlanta native and Atlanta Public Schools graduate, turned 20 five days before Election Day on Nov. 2. He took the semester off from Emory to focus on his campaign but is resuming classes in the spring. Talking to voters and participating in forums were energizing and educational, Mann says. The experience continues an already impressive journey of social and political activism. In 2016, as Black Lives Matters protesters marched in cities across the country, a video of Mann performing his slam poem White Boy Privilege went viral. He was 14, an eighth grader at The Paideia School, and was inspired to write the piece after taking a course called Class, Race and Gender. Dear everyone who isnt a middle or upper-class white boy, Im sorry, he says in the piece. I have started life on the top of the ladder while you were born on the first rung. The poem led to invitations to speak at conferences and serve on panels across the country, including an invitation to the Obama Foundation Summit. He met numerous accomplished organizers and political leaders who gave him confidence in his voice to spur change. He realized he and other young people could have an impact on their communities and the world. The biggest lie that adults have been telling us isn't about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, Mann says. It's that we have to wait to have political power and to really make change. If I could have any sort of impact with my words, then the possibilities were endless if I would put my actions behind them. Advocating for change Mann soon told his family he was done with private school. He wanted to finish his high school years at Grady High School. He was very specific about why he wanted to do so it was about diversity, says his mother, Sheri Mann Stewart. But Mann wasnt prepared for the segregation he saw when he entered the Midtown school. Despite the schools diversity, it was as if there were two different schools under one roof, most visible in the cafeteria during lunchtime, he says. I simultaneously fell in love with APS and fell desperately into this sense of feeling a responsibility to try and fix the things I saw, Mann says. He became involved in student government, started a chapter of Amnesty International and was appointed by the principal to be the student member of the local school governance panel. He helped lead the student movement to successfully rename Grady High School to what is now Midtown High School. He was a lead organizer of the Atlanta March for Our Lives rally. Mann interned with the Board of Education and was appointed to the school districts LGBTQ+ task force. He became heavily invested in finding a way to get APS student representation on the Board of Education and was also part of Georgias high-profile U.S. Senate races as co-founder of Students for Ossoff and Warnock. A model of whats possible Mann was not sure what college he wanted to attend and had offers from other universities across the country. He chose to stay in his hometown and go to Emory to study political science after being awarded the universitys prestigious Woodruff Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship. The bonus as an Emory student, he knew he would run for a seat on the Atlanta Board of Education on a platform of ending segregation, ensuring equity for all students and prioritizing culturally relevant curriculum. Mann garnered nearly 10,000 votes in the election. He finished fourth out of a field of five for the open, citywide seat. Turnout was disappointing, he acknowledges. But he says many young people reached out to him to tell him they were inspired by his campaign. He hasnt ruled out a future run for public office but is not sure politics is the direction he wants to take after he graduates from Emory. The values of community service and civic engagement are traits his parents have instilled in him, no matter what career path he may pursue, he explains. I'm definitely interested in the advocacy side of things and doing work with different nonprofit groups, he says. Public education is likely to remain a passion and teaching is a possibility. Its in public schools where he sees the best opportunities to address societys inequities. Education is the great equalizer, he says, quoting Horace Mann (no relation), the politician and education reformer who advocated for American public education in the 1800s. And it can be, but when we have students coming into the same school from really diverse parts of the city and then we continue to uphold these inequities by segregating students across racial and economic lines, its clearly not being the great equalizer. Michael Leo Owens, associate professor of political science, taught Mann in his Political Science 367 Urban Politics course. The students election loss was not surprising, Owens says, because voters tend to be biased against young people and running a citywide campaign is difficult for even the most experienced politicians. But Manns knowledge of and involvement in local politics is a rarity among undergraduates. When Mann announced over Zoom during class this spring that he was running for school board, Owens says he and the other students were unsure at first if he was serious. But, yes, he was for real, Owens says. Most undergraduates don't pay any attention to local politics. So to have a young adult make it very plain that they're serious about running for local office makes them an outlier. Edmund Goode is Manns primary academic advisor as part of the Emory College Woodruff Scholars Program. The fact that he chose Emory is actually important because I think Atlanta really matters to him, Goode says. It is a theme that just sort of threads its way through everything he does. He knows Mann is disappointed he didnt win the election, but as an educator, Goode believes Manns willingness to put himself out there will contribute to his success and will impress upon his peers that they can also become involved to make change. The courageousness of what he did, the boldness, this is what we saw in Royce, Goode says. He is a model of what's possible. He is part of this programs legacy of creating a better community. Faith in the Vaccine Program The Emory OSRL Faith in the Vaccine Program will continue at least through the Fall 2021 semester. For more information or to get involved, please visit the programs web page. The day after Georgia reported its millionth case of COVID-19, a band of Emory students tested their belief that together they could make a difference in the course of the pandemic. Serving as Faith in the Vaccine Ambassadors through Emorys Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL), the students collaborated with Emory Healthcare on that August day to set up a mobile vaccination site in the parking lot of a church two miles north of the universitys quad. Could faith help bridge the hesitancy and mistrust that some communities have had toward the vaccine, which is one reason that less than half of Georgians had chosen to get it? We sought out spaces like this because churches can inspire trust, says Kimani Kiki Francois, a student in Emorys Candler School of Theology who helped organize the vaccine site at St. Bartholomews Episcopal Church. This is our opportunity to be on the ground and meet people who are unvaccinated, who can ask us questions and we can be the familiar faces, notes Francois, who is pursuing a master of divinity degree. There are people who tell us, I remember you. Maybe Ill take a look at getting it. The Faith in the Vaccine Project is part of a partnership between Emory OSRL and Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit that supports building bridges across diverse religious beliefs. OSRL applied for and received a grant to support students and recent alumni, both undergraduate and graduate/professional, to address vaccine trust, education and access. As IFYC explains, While African American, Native American and Latino/a/x communities are particularly ravaged by COVID-19, they also have less access to and in some cases are less likely to trust the vaccine. Politically and religiously conservative white communities, often evangelical, are also less likely to trust the vaccine. National research shows that individuals in these groups are more likely to be connected to religious communities, which are vast sources of trust and social capital. Reaching diverse communities In spring 2021, Emory OSRL selected 18 Emory students for the six-month paid internship. They split into teams that went on to work in specific communities in the Atlanta area, many of which students had personal connections to, such as Bosnian Muslims in Gwinnett County, and Black and Latinx queer men. Another group of ambassadors worked with Emorys Hindu chaplain in order to make connections with Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religious communities. The students connected with organizations that had cultivated trust in those communities, from mosques to churches to gay ballrooms. They brainstormed ways to serve and support, such as translating pamphlets about the vaccine and offering personalized education sessions. As the program developed, some teams also set up shots in arms clinics. In public health, the relationship between the authorities and the community has to be nurtured, or their response may not be what is expected, says Isam Vaid, OSRLs Muslim Religious Scholar, who co-led the program with Emorys dean of religious life, The Rev. Dr. Gregory McGonigle. The synergy these students created is part of the rich dynamic culture of Emory, which has had an interfaith health program between the schools of public health and theology for many years. The university is able to recruit students nationally and internationally who bring their unique perspectives to projects like this and who help connect us to communities outside the Emory bubble, through multilingual and multicultural translations of COVID-19 materials, for example, adds Vaid, an alumnus of Emorys Oxford College, Emory College and Rollins School of Public Health. Their diverse experiences combined with the access to all the resources of Emory to make a very inspiring difference. On the sweltering afternoon of the vaccine clinic at St. Bartholomews Episcopal Church, Francois and others stayed busy answering questions from people who were considering shots or waiting to get them. Doing our part Tameka Mumphrey had not questioned the vaccine, but had had a hard time scheduling it. After getting her second Pfizer dose at the drive-through clinic, she waited in her car as instructed, in case she had any reaction to the shot. Her family, she said, had been divided on getting vaccinated. Her mother does not believe that flu shots work and did not want the COVID-19 vaccine either. But after a middle-schooler in their family tested positive, and was too young for the vaccination, the family began to shift their thinking. We pray and believe in God, Mumphrey, a medical assistant, said at the event. We want to do our part. Nearby, The Rev. Dr. Lisa Heilig thanked the Emory students for this clinic and a previous one the month before. Heilig, who holds a master of divinity degree from Candler, directs the Toco Hills Community Alliance, which is located on church property and serves people who need food, clothing and other essentials in nine ZIP codes around Emory. The vaccine clinic is something we wanted to do, and when the students approached us, we were absolutely honored and privileged and jumped on it, Heilig says. We serve some of the most vulnerable populations, who have legitimate reasons to mistrust institutions. Our key value is hospitality, and we hope that because we work with them to have relationships, that trust will be there for services like this, too. Pastor-approved for the vaccine In downtown Atlanta, another ambassador, Rachael Lewis, joined forces with the Dignity Pack Project, which distributes hygiene products, and the Emory COVID-19 Relief Coalition, to reach out to people with HIV and those who lack housing. She helped distribute hygiene products in Woodruff Park while passing out her homemade flyer about a vaccine clinic. A graduate of Emory College who will earn her master of public health degree from Rollins School of Public Health next year, she also created an infographic to benefit people who got vaccinated at a church in the Grove Park neighborhood. Eleven people were vaccinated with the J&J vaccine, one of whom had never received any kind of vaccine in his whole life! she reported to her fellow ambassadors. A very exciting and encouraging experience. It was great to partner with the local church because of the trust they have within the community. While our pop-up clinic was going on, the church hosted their weekly Saturday morning clothing drive and food pantry. Some of the people that were vaccinated attended the church event primarily, but because we were conveniently there and were pastor approved, they received their COVID-19 vaccine at the same time. It was a great partnership. Selfless communal act Back at the church clinic, John Shen felt inspired by connecting with strangers who need a potentially lifesaving injection. Fluent in Spanish, he saw his role as a bridge-builder, to offer information and compassion so they would roll up their sleeves. I see vaccination as a very selfless communal act, that you are not just protecting yourself but also the people around you, says Shen, a Rollins student completing a master of science degree in public health. Shen took part in the clinic virtually from his hometown of Boston, and his face peered out from a laptop held by Le Linh, a theology student and a resident chaplain in Emory OSRL. Le is training to become a minister, and she said a big part of that role is truth-telling. Religious faith does keep a lot of people from getting vaccinated who are confused between theology and political ideology, Linh explains. There is a big population in many denominations resisting vaccinations for political reasons, not because of what they believe [religiously]. We want to help them make a distinction. For some of the Emory Healthcare staff administering the vaccine, the work bordered on the sacred. This is the best and most fulfilling job I have had in nursing, and I come from the ICU, says registered nurse Teri Korfas. This is an act of service like no other because there is a giant educational component to it. People just dont know about the vaccine. Whether its religious or moral, I feel like we are here to help each other. More shots in arms The two mobile clinics at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church resulted in 73 people getting vaccinated, and Francois was thrilled that one of them was in her family. In addition, her team created a pastoral toolkit that nonprofit organizations and the faith community can use to organize their vaccine outreach, and they offered an educational workshop about how to work with off-campus organizations to their fellow ambassadors. In September, the work of Emorys Faith in the Vaccine ambassadors was celebrated in a national rally hosted online by Interfaith Youth Core as the summer program transitioned to the fall. Francois spoke at the rally about the importance of presence and relationship, and the need to listen to and address the communitys concerns and questions. And she also stressed the importance of persistence to break down the barriers to access. We have been so blessed by the opportunity to participate in this national interfaith initiative to address COVID-19 vaccine trust, education and access at a crucial time, when we know communities of faith and meaning can do so much to support well-being in body, mind and spirit, McGonigle says. It has been beautiful to watch this interfaith cohort of students come together, find ways to serve, and learn about themselves and our region in ways that have benefited them and the community. Many people lucky enough to have grown up with doting grandmothers know that they can burnish a childs development in unique and valuable ways. Now, for the first time, scientists have scanned grandmothers brains while theyre viewing photos of their young grandchildren providing a neural snapshot of this special, intergenerational bond. Proceedings of the Royal Society B published the first study to examine grandmaternal brain function, conducted by researchers at Emory University. What really jumps out in the data is the activation in areas of the brain associated with emotional empathy, says James Rilling, lead author and professor in Emorys Department of Anthropology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. That suggests that grandmothers are geared toward feeling what their grandchildren are feeling when they interact with them. If their grandchild is smiling, theyre feeling the childs joy. And if their grandchild is crying, theyre feeling the childs pain and distress. In contrast, the study found that when grandmothers view images of their adult child, they show stronger activation in an area of the brain associated with cognitive empathy. That indicates they may be trying to cognitively understand what their adult child is thinking or feeling and why, but not as much from the emotional side. Young children have likely evolved traits to be able to manipulate not just the maternal brain, but the grand maternal brain, Rilling says. An adult child doesnt have the same cute factor, so they may not illicit the same emotional response. Co-authors of the study are Minwoo Lee, a PhD candidate in Emorys Department of Anthropology, and Amber Gonzalez, a former Emory research specialist. I can relate to this research personally because I spent a lot of time interacting with both of my grandmothers, Lee says. I still remember warmly the moments I had with them. They were always so welcoming and happy to see me. As a child, I didnt really understand why. Its relatively rare, Lee adds, for scientists to study the older human brain outside of the problems of dementia or other aging disorders. Here, were highlighting the brain functions of grandmothers that may play an important role in our social lives and development, Lee says. Its an important aspect of the human experience that has been largely left out of the field of neuroscience. Rillings lab focuses on the neural basis of human social cognition and behavior. Motherhood has been extensively studied by other neuroscientists. Rilling is a leader in researching the lesser-explored neuroscience of fatherhood. Grandmothers interacting with grandchildren offered new neural territory. Evidence is emerging in neuroscience for a global, parental caregiving system in the brain, Rilling says. We wanted to see how grandmothers might fit into that pattern. Humans are cooperative breeders, meaning that mothers get help caring for their offspring, although the sources of that help vary both across and within societies. We often assume that fathers are the most important caregivers next to mothers, but thats not always true, Rilling says. In some cases, grandmothers are the primary helper. In fact, the grandmother hypothesis posits that the reason human females tend to live long past their reproductive years is because they provide evolutionary benefits to their offspring and grandchildren. Evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a study of the traditional Hadza people of Tanzania, where foraging by grandmothers improves the nutritional status of their grandchildren. Another study of traditional communities showed that the presence of grandmothers decreases their daughters interbirth intervals and increases the number of grandchildren. And in more modern societies, evidence is accumulating that positively engaged grandmothers are associated with children having better outcomes on a range of measures, including academic, social, behavior and physical health. For the current study, the researchers wanted to understand the brains of healthy grandmothers and how that may relate to the benefits they provide to their families. The 50 participants in the study completed questionnaires about their experiences as grandmothers, providing details such as how much time they spend with their grandchildren, the activities they do together and how much affection they feel for them. They also underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure their brain function as they viewed pictures of their grandchild, an unknown child, the same-sex parent of the grandchild, and an unknown adult. The results showed that, while viewing pictures of their grandchildren, most participants showed more activity in brain areas involved with emotional empathy and movement, compared to when they were viewing the other images. Grandmothers who more strongly activated areas involved with cognitive empathy when viewing pictures of their grandchild reported in the questionnaire that they desired greater involvement in caring for the grandchild. Finally, compared with results from earlier study by the Rilling lab of fathers viewing photos of their children, grandmothers more strongly activated regions involved with emotional empathy and motivation, on average, when viewing images of their grandchildren. Our results add to the evidence that there does seem to be a global parenting caregiving system in the brain, and that grandmothers responses to their grandchildren maps onto it, Rilling says. One limitation to the study, the researchers note, is that the participants skewed towards mentally and physically healthy women who are high-functioning grandmothers. The study opens the door to many more questions to be explored. It would be interesting to also look at the neuroscience of grandfathers and how the brain functions of grandparents may differ across cultures, Lee says. An especially gratifying aspect of the project for Rilling was personally interviewing all the participants himself. It was fun, he says. I wanted to get a sense of the rewards and challenges of being a grandmother. The main challenge many of them reported was trying not to interfere when they disagreed with the parents over how their grandchildren should be raised and what values should be instilled in them. Many of them also said how nice it is to not be under as much time and financial pressure as they were when raising their children, Rilling says. They get to enjoy the experience of being a grandmother much more than they did being parents. This work was supported in part by the Silvia O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition. Undergraduate admission to Emory The deadline for Early Decision II and Regular Decision applications is Jan. 1. Learn more from the Office of Undergraduate Admission. The email was delivered Dec. 15 to 804 in-boxes scattered from Georgia to the West Coast and beyond with the news that students had been anticipating for months: they had earned Early Decision admission to Emory Universitys undergraduate Class of 2026. Out of a pool of 2,205 Early Decision I applicants, these students are the cornerstone of their class, ready to shape their dreams into reality and make the world a better place for themselves and others. In keeping with the trends of recent years, including those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Emorys Early Decision I applications increased 13% over last year and 39% from five years ago. The academic strength and diversity of students who apply also continues to grow, confirming that Emorys reputation reaches far beyond the immediate area and attracts high-caliber students from around the world. We are so pleased to see interest in an Emory education at record levels, says John F. Latting, associate vice provost for enrollment and dean of admission. The academic preparation of the Early Decision applicant pool and the diversity of their life experiences, talents and interests was exciting for us to see. One unique aspect of Emory is that first-year students choose between two options for where they will begin their Emory experience: Emory College of Arts and Sciences or Oxford College. Emory College, which shares the Atlanta campus with the universitys graduate and professional schools, offers the experience of a liberal arts college in the midst of the energy and pace of a leading research university. Oxford College, located 38 miles east of the Atlanta campus, is set on Emorys original campus. This campus, only for first- and second-year students, is a unique opportunity for students to join a close-knit community. As juniors, all Oxford students continue to the Atlanta campus, earning degrees from Emory College, Goizueta Business School or the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. This year, Emory College admitted 673 students and Oxford College admitted 325 students for Early Decision I, 194 of which were admitted to both campuses. These students may now select which campus theyd like to attend. College admission during COVID-19 Early Decision students are a foundational first step in creating Emorys Class of 2026 (students who apply to Early Decision commit to enrolling if they are admitted with adequate financial aid). Completing high school and preparing for college can be stressful under any circumstances, but particularly as the pandemic continues. Initial indicators, however, show that these students are hardworking, compassionate and creative despite less-than-ideal circumstances and they are eager to build on that foundation while at Emory. With COVID-19 still causing disruptions for many families and communities, Emory remained test optional for first-year applicants, meaning students were not required to submit ACT/SAT test scores. Those who chose to submit test scores still could, but removing the requirement alleviated one aspect of college application stress. We know that these have been difficult times for all students as they navigate through high school and on to college, and its impressive to see what students have managed to accomplish in spite of it all, Latting says. I have no doubt that our admitted class is capable of successfully stepping right into our community that values discovery and service to humanity. Multiple factors guide the admission committees decisions as they consider applicants. Academic records are important, including whether the students made the most of the academic options within the context of their high school and community. Student interests and involvement are also considered, along with letters of recommendation from teachers and school counselors and three short essays from the student. And, as COVID-19 continues to affect the world, the committee takes into account how the pandemic has impacted each applicants school, community or family. We couldnt be more pleased with their academic strengths as well as the impact and investment they've made in their communities, says Kelley Lips, assistant vice provost and dean of Oxford enrollment. The students who applied demonstrated their enthusiasm and commitment to Emory, and we reciprocate their enthusiasm. There is much to celebrate and build upon as the Class of 2026 takes shape. QuestBridge Match Scholars further strengthen the class Prior to the Early Decision announcement, on Dec. 1 Emory welcomed a new group of 61 QuestBridge Scholars to the Class of 2026, six of whom chose to enroll at Oxford College. This is the universitys largest cohort of scholars since joining QuestBridge in 2007, reinforcing Emorys commitment to providing access to higher education to talented, low-income students who might not have access to college through their own resources. The number of students who want to match with Emory says a lot about the university and the commitment to providing a stellar education to middle- and low-income students from throughout the country, says Timothy Fields, senior associate dean of admission. Increasing diversity is an institutional priority, and our relationship with QuestBridge continues to help us move forward with that across multiple areas within a class. The QuestBridge National College Match program is a nonprofit that links highly qualified students from low-income backgrounds with 45 of the nations leading universities. Through this unique partnership, QuestBridge Match Scholars receive a four-year financial aid award covering full tuition and fees; room and board; and books and supplies. Nationally, 1,674 students were matched with participating universities, with the majority 81% being among the first generation in their families to attend a four-year college in the U.S. This is one of the strongest, most diverse cohorts of QuestBridge students that weve had join Emory, Fields adds. These students continued to excel, and even thrive, inside and outside the classroom despite some of the most unfortunate circumstances. Emory boasts one of the largest QuestBridge Scholars Networks in the country, with more than 500 students currently enrolled at the Atlanta or Oxford campuses. Members include the previous years match scholars as well as other QuestBridge students who enroll through Regular Decision. This active student-run organization provides an authentic and supportive community, helping students navigate the transition to college. Overwhelmed and overjoyed to be part of Emory Being matched with Emory brings opportunities that many QuestBridge scholars might only dream of having and they fully appreciate the significance. Im so beyond grateful that I was given this opportunity, says Ajah Bowser from Pittsburgh. She plans to major in psychology and minor in sociology, possibly on her way to law school. Without QuestBridge, I wouldnt have been able to attend college due to my current financial situation. Ive always been very driven and have been involved in numerous high-achieving programs and scholar programs to assist my learning experience thus far. I am so grateful and blessed that QuestBridge and Emory invested in me. Scholars cite many reasons for their interest in Emory, ranging from the universitys commitment to sustainability and its proximity to all Atlanta has to offer to Emorys reputation among students as a community rather than a competition. I applied to Emory for many reasons, but perhaps the most important is that I wanted to go to a school where I knew Id be surrounded by bright, genuine and caring individuals and Emory provides exactly that, says Jeremy Ahn. Finding support and building relationships is part of why Ahn decided to begin his Emory studies at Oxford College. Coming from a class consisting of less than 80 students, Oxford immediately seemed like the perfect fit for me, says the Dallas, Texas, native who plans to study biology. Ive always been used to forming meaningful relationships with all my peers and professors, so Oxford will allow me to continue doing that. Saying that Emory marked all the boxes for what I was looking for in a university, Christian Pierre-Jullot is similarly excited about life on the Atlanta campus. The south Florida resident likes that Emory is in a city thats not overbearing and that the university has amazing psychology and business programs. Plus, hell be able to witness leaves changing color in the fall and maybe snow. Being a scholar has taken such a weight off my shoulders, he says. The day that the Match Day came I was very overwhelmed because this is like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, says Rigo Mendoza of Odessa, Texas, who plans to either major in biology or begin the pre-med track at Emory College. Whichever he chooses, Mendoza knows hell be an actual person to his professors rather than a name on a class roll. I cannot wait for the intellectual stimulation that will come in attending Emory, he says, as well as meeting people from so many backgrounds. I am beyond grateful to have matched to one of the top schools I wanted. Robert Jarman was born in Nairobi, Kenya, but has lived in North Carolina for most of his life. Now hell find his way to Atlanta and Emory College, where he wants to blend his studies in computer science with other fields such as entrepreneurship. My family and I were overjoyed the day we heard that I was a QuestBridge finalist and even more thrilled when I matched with Emory, Jarman says. I want to be an outstanding person that can bring significant change to my community, state, country or the world. In my heart, that chance starts with a proper college education. I know little about the college experience as a first-generation student, but I am eager to see how it will shape my future self. Editors note: All data accurate as of Dec. 14, 2021. For more information about the Emory Interfaith Center project, visit the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life website. We all have to live together, so we might as well live together happily. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University Living together at Emory, since 1836, has included spiritual life. And as the student body has grown and diversified to include students from all backgrounds and all around the world, Emory has sought to welcome and support the spiritual and religious lives of all. But as the number of spiritual communities and activities has expanded and the desire for interaction has increased, where to gather has become a growing question, and a significant answer is now in preparation: a new Emory Interfaith Center at 1707 North Decatur Road. Interfaith centers have been established on many U.S. campuses in recent years to be homes for weekly programs, special events, holiday gatherings and ongoing interactions that encourage deep interfaith engagement by students of all faiths and none, says the Rev. Dr. Gregory W. McGonigle, Emorys dean of religious life and university chaplain. Expected to open in December 2022, the new Emory Interfaith Center will invite students to practice their traditions and learn about one anothers, while collaborating through dialogue and service and social justice work, he says. When there are times of inter-religious or political tensions and challenges, the need for a space to come together has been felt, and students and alumni have expressed a strong desire for such a space at Emory for several decades. With the support of Emory President Gregory L. Fenves, the Interfaith Center project received funding to join donations from alumni and others in order to renovate the property for its new function. This renovation echoes the Emory Identity Spaces Project recently undertaken in the Alumni Memorial University Center, which has improved the feel, functionality and visibility of the Emory Black Student Union, Centro Latinx, Center for Women, Center for LGBT Life and a new identity space for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American students. One of Emorys strengths is bringing students from different backgrounds together to learn from one another and share their experiences and perspectives, Fenves says. The Emory Interfaith Center will be a community hub for dialogue and understanding empowering students to explore faith and religious traditions that can inspire them in their lives. A need for common space Among those voicing a need for an interfaith center was Mariam Hassoun 20C, who in her time on campus was a leader in the Muslim community and the founder of an Emory Interfaith Dinner Series. Its a great thing that we have such a diversity of religious organizations on campus, but they so rarely interact, she says. I think Emory would stand to gain a lot from having an interfaith center on campus. Jonna Austin 23C, a Christian student at Emory and member of the Voices of Inner Strength Gospel Choir, agrees. Even within the Christian community there are still divides, she notes. Everyone's group is kind of just doing their own thing, and there's not really any connection. The need is real, says Akshar Patel 19C, a recent alumnus who was active in the Hindu Students Association and in the Emory Inter-Religious Council. A new space will allow students of all Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist backgrounds to really be able to celebrate all the diversity in their own traditions, which may not be possible right now. McGonigle leads the Emory Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL), which currently has an office in Cannon Chapel the most active religious space on the Atlanta campus. Built in 1981, the chapel has been renovated to better serve non-Christian groups, such as the addition of Muslim ablution areas and a Hindu puja cabinet. Each week the chapel hosts some 25 prayer services and gatherings of diverse religious and spiritual communities, and it is also shared for worship and academic purposes by the Candler School of Theology. But the chapel does not accomplish the gathering space, the study space, the eating space that is really integral to many faith traditions, and when those faith traditions gather together jointly, explains the Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe 76T, Emory dean emerita of religious life and general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. The interfaith center will provide adjacent office and program space for Emorys chaplains, who represent Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. Formerly a residence, the three-story building is like a treehouse, with beautiful sunlight in the third-floor prayer spaces, McGonigle says. With input gathered through a student survey and five campus listening sessions, the architects are now designing the center, which will feature a large conference room and kitchen as well as several program spaces and student lounges. The grounds will also be used for outdoor meals and gatherings, and the interior color palette of earth tones will make connections to the Living Mandala outside Cannon Chapel. Connecting to community The new center will be located near the Bread Coffeehouse campus ministry and the University Catholic Center, and will also allow neighborhood connections with the Marcus Hillel Center, the Chabad House and other religious spaces. It is located behind the Goizuetta Business School and across from the School of Law, which will allow it to offer convenient prayer spaces for those schools. We tend to be siloed at Emory sometimes, says David Kulp 20C, a recent Jewish alumnus and a member of Hillel Internationals board of directors. The interfaith center, he says, will respond to a persistent question: How can we de-silo all of our silos and come together? In addition, the center will help Emory better connect to local spiritual resources. We have monks and visitors from the Drepung Loseling Monastery and from the Atlanta Soto Zen Center that lead us, says Meha Srivastava 22C, president of the Emory Buddhist Club. I can see so much more opportunity for such connections in an interfaith center. The idea of an interfaith center for Emory is not new, McGonigle points out. This idea has been explored since the late 1990s, when the increasing religious diversity of our campus especially from traditions beyond Christianity and Judaism began to suggest that a new space might be needed for prayers and meditations for multiple traditions, he says. The center signals Emorys commitment to supporting interfaith work, according to Isam Vaid, OSRLs Muslim Religious Scholar and co-founder of the Emory Muslim Student Association 30 years ago. You think about [other universities], where people have been engaging with interfaith centers and benefiting from them, as our world needs interfaith dialogue and cooperation around so many issues, he says. We need a space like that for our gold and our blue. Emory recently held a special reception to welcome leaders from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to campus as an early step toward honoring the Indigenous peoples as the original inhabitants and stewards of the land on which Emory now sits. A group of faculty, staff and students greeted the Muscogee (Creek) Nation delegation on Nov. 17 at an outdoor gathering on the quadrangle in front of Convocation Hall, one of the first buildings on Emorys Atlanta campus, which was constructed more than a century ago. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation delegation visit came nearly two months after Emorys Board of Trustees approved an official Land Acknowledgment recognizing the Indigenous nations who were displaced in the years before Emorys founding. Matowacipi Horse, a second-year student in Emory College who is a citizen of the Comanche Nation, read the Land Acknowledgment at the reception. Emory's motto is The wise heart seeks knowledge, said Provost Ravi V. Bellamkonda at the event. We have been seeking to understand and acknowledge our past. This has been some of the most important work we have been doing. The first step of many steps we will take together Beth Michel, associate dean of admission, is a program leader in Emorys Native American Initiative and a Tohono O'odham Nation citizen. She noted the Muscogee Nation leaders were gathering at Emorys campus nearly three years to the day from when the university held its Native American Student Symposium in 2018. [The symposium] was actually Emory positioning themselves to listen and comprehend how best to center Indigenous knowledge and support Native faculty and students, Michel said during the reception. Hosting the Muscogee Nation delegation shows the commitment from Emory to invest in our Native students and grow our Native faculty here, said Michel, who introduced the delegation at the event. Creating partnerships with universities, especially those doing the work to acknowledge their history, is a priority to ensure opportunities for Indigenous students and educators, said Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill. Second Chief of the Muscogee Nation Del Beaver said the Nation appreciates Emorys willingness to explore its history. This is not just a partnership; its also a part of a healing process, Beaver told the group. This is just the first step of many steps we will take together. I just appreciate Emory being a part of the healing process of what is sometimes a horrific story. Emory University was founded in Oxford, Georgia, in 1836 15 years after the Muscogee were forced to relinquish the land through the First Treaty of Indian Springs. We recognize the sustained oppression, land dispossession, and involuntary removals of the Muscogee and Cherokee peoples from Georgia and the Southeast, the universitys Land Acknowledgment states. Emory seeks to honor the Muscogee Nation and other Indigenous caretakers of this land by humbly seeking knowledge of their histories and committing to respectful stewardship of the land. Bellamkonda paid homage to that history when he noted how wonderful it was to hear the language of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation spoken as part of the reception. "This land, this sky, these trees rejoice to hear the language spoken again, he said. It has been far too long. Today the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, is the fourth largest tribe in the U.S., with more than 86,000 citizens. The reception concluded with an exchange of gifts. Hill gave Bellamkonda an official Muscogee Nation flag. The provost then presented Hill with a framed image of the Callicarpa americana plant (American Beautyberry). The plant is native to Georgia and other Southern states and was sourced by Emory medical ethnobotanist Cassandra Quave, who has researched its medicinal use by Muscogee and other Native American tribes. May this gift serve as a symbol of healing and hope and as a reminder of our mutual respect for each other and for the land as a source of life and learning, Bellamkonda said. Emorys commitment to learn from the Muscogee Nation President Gregory L. Fenves announced the approval of the Land Acknowledgment in September in the lead-up to the universitys In the Wake of Slavery and Dispossession symposium. The symposium highlighted the ongoing efforts and research in the areas of slavery, dispossession, and restorative justice, with a focus on the legacy of racism and its enduring effects at Emory University. Fenves also announced he was forming a Language Path Working Group that, building on the Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations recommendations, would draft a Request for Proposals for landscape and other artists to design physical reminders on the Oxford and Atlanta campuses to highlight Muscogee land and knowledge in relation to the land and history. The group is co-chaired by Malinda Maynor Lowery, Cahoon Family Professor of American History in Emory College, and the Rev. Gregory W. McGonigle, Emorys dean of religious life and university chaplain. Other task force members include students, faculty and staff. The Language Path Working Group is also charged with conducting research about Emorys history and its relation to Native American and Indigenous peoples and identifying opportunities for future programming to educate the campus community. On the evening of the Muscogee Nation leaders visit, after the official reception, the Language Path Working Group held its second meeting, during which they met with members of the delegation to seek their vision for the Language Path. The working group is expected to make its recommendations in May. McGonigle said meeting with the Muscogee Nation delegation was a crucial opportunity for our working group to hear directly from the Muscogee Nation leaders on their perspectives. There was a beautiful spirit of openness and a desire to work together to envision an exciting future, he said. Lowery, who is a member of the Lumbee Tribe, said she feels a keen responsibility to represent my own people well and ensure that Muscogee values are respected and honored. It was a gathering that I feel launched our commitment, as expressed in the Land Acknowledgment, to steward this place with knowledge that has been produced here, since time immemorial, Lowery said. The Muscogee Nation is a sovereign nation, and I am glad that Emory has taken this first step to develop a relationship with the original and ongoing stewards of this place, she said. The Rev. Chebon Kernell, executive director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan and executive secretary of Native American and Indigenous Ministries for the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, is a community representative member on the Language Path Working Group. He attended the reception and meeting of Emory and Muscogee leaders to recognize the historic nature of this moment. Emorys progress over the past year to erase the historical silencing of Native American people has been years in the making, Kernell said, and was spearheaded in large part by Craig Womack, a recently retired associate professor of English and a leading figure in Native American literary studies, who is himself Muscogee. Voices are now starting to be heard, changes are starting to occur, and Emory is the perfect example, Kernell said. After the meeting, the Language Path Working Group members and the Muscogee Nation leadership delegation visited the Michael C. Carlos Museums special exhibition Each/Other, presenting the works of Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger. As the working group continues its charge, it will seek to build on the Nov. 17 meeting with the Muscogee Nation, with the hope that the Language Path will become a gateway to future collaborations. Learn more about scholarships Students interested in learning more about the Marshall Scholarship and other prestigious awards should contact Megan Friddle in Emory's National Scholarships and Fellowships Program. Find more information or schedule an appointment through the National Scholarships and Fellowships Program website. Annie Li, a senior majoring in history and sociology in Emory College of Arts of Sciences, has been selected for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which was announced Dec. 13. Li is among 41 American students selected for the highly competitive award, which covers up to three years of graduate study at any U.K. university with funding from the British government. She is Emorys eighteenth Marshall Scholar, and the first since 2017. This honor is a reflection of the curiosity and dedication that Annie Li has displayed throughout her time at Emory, says Emory President Gregory L. Fenves. She has sought knowledge at every turn, taking a truly dynamic approach to her academic experience by fusing her faith and study of theology with a focus on racial and social justice to address challenges that shape our past, present and future. A New Jersey native, Li will pursue a masters of philosophy with a focus on Christian ethics at the University of Oxford, researching the theological motivations behind transnational social movements. The work expands on her honors thesis, which examines the motivations of Chinese-American activists from San Franciscos Presbyterian Church in Chinatown (PCC) who participated in the Civil Rights Movement in the South and the Asian American Movement in the West. Li changed her plan for a creative writing major as a sophomore, when Emory historian Carol Andersons course on the Civil Rights Movement directed Lis interest to the tension between theology and racial justice. Her time at Emory has been a deep dive into that relationship, building her understanding with formal study that included graduate classes at Emorys Candler School of Theology, conversations around campus and in the community, and projects that united them. I began to see just how differently theology has been used, from the KKK justifying violence and oppression versus the Black church finding ways to liberate people, Li says. As a person of faith, there is a compelling intellectual question of how such different perspectives exist, using the same text and same religious tradition. By her second year on campus, Li was building on that question as a fellow with the Interdisciplinary Exploration and Scholarship (IDEAS) program, which fosters cross-disciplinary conversations among undergraduates. She also worked as a teaching and research assistant in the Department of Sociology, helping senior lecturer Tracy Scott with her study examining undergraduate career culture. Scott, whose dissertation focused on the sociology of religion, encouraged Li to pursue her questions in a wide range of departments and at Candler, where she took a religion and ethics course with Robert M. Franklin Jr., Laney Professor in Moral Leadership. Annie has a strong basis for her beliefs, ethically, and is asking questions not only to learn more deeply but asking questions of what she is learning, Scott says. That has allowed her to deepen her knowledge while realizing she can have a dynamic faith and not a static faith. She wants to turn those notions of morality and justice into action. Blending curiosity with community action Lis focus on community has been central to her study. On campus, she launched Emory In Via: A Journal of Christian Thought, Emorys only undergraduate religious dialogue journal. Through IDEAS, she designed and curated a website that collected pandemic experiences from the Emory community, work that resulted in her being named an Imagining America Joy of Giving Something fellow last fall. She used the fellowship to fund an oral history project, asking people across different religious traditions how they used their faith and spirituality in their community engagement. She completed the project after working as an intern with Fair Fight Action (a national voting rights organization) during the 2020 election. That same summer brought the racial unrest from George Floyds murder and a rise in anti-Asian hate and xenophobia from the ongoing pandemic. Li drew on all those experiences and her research to propose a community speaker series about the civil rights struggles of Asian Americans in the South. Her idea was among five selected by Asian Americans Advancing Justice last summer. The project has since become an initiative with Emorys Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Activists club. I saw a moral urgency to be an ally and confront these questions about justice and equity, Li says. Within the Christian tradition, the language of love encompasses loving both your neighbors and your enemies self-sacrificially. Those are really radical ideas, so I wanted to have conversations about what that looks like in public life. Li stands apart not only for her openness about her belief and similar clarity about her struggles, says Chris Suh, assistant professor of history, who is supervising her honors thesis. She also has an ability to ask productive questions to use her faith as a vehicle for connection and community. She embodies what we like to see: connecting the liberal arts experience with making a difference in everyday society, Suh says. Its a refreshingly old-school approach to leadership, one that could have an impact about the role of policy and faith by thinking deeply about how we engage. Li aspires to become a professor and plans to pursue a PhD after her study in Britain. Though she doesnt plan to be in the ministry, she does want to work with churches and nonprofits in community-based efforts as part of her career. My time at Emory has been a process of discerning the intellectual questions that excited me and seeking opportunities to serve others, which was an ambiguous and uncertain process at times, Li says. Despite that, I am thankful for my mentors and peers who have supported and challenged my growth, she adds. I hope I can be a resource to help other people forge their own path. When Doug Shipman moved to Atlanta to attend Emory, he never thought he would one day hold one of the highest offices in city government. Shipman, a 1995 graduate of Emory College of Arts and Sciences and former president of the Emory Alumni Board, was elected president of the Atlanta City Council in the Nov. 30 runoff election. I came from a very small town in rural Arkansas and I was in awe of the size of Atlanta, Shipman recalled in an interview Dec. 2. I remember driving up the connector from the airport and just staring at the traffic and the buildings. I couldn't have imagined then the journey in Atlanta that would include serving in city government as well as leading the Woodruff Arts Center and building the Center for Civil and Human Rights. A longtime civic leader in Atlanta, Shipman is a newcomer to elected office. He will take the helm of the Atlanta City Council on Jan. 3, when new city leaders are inaugurated, including incoming Mayor Andre Dickens, also elected in Tuesdays runoff. Shipman ran for the post because it is a real crossroads moment for Atlanta and the City Council president is a consensus-building role, he explained in the final episode of his Donuts with Doug podcast. To me, my particular, extraordinary Atlanta journey of working across lines that sometimes divide us, working across the cultural community, working across private and public sectors, working with philanthropies that felt like the right skill set to try to bring the city together in new ways, he said. Shipman has built bridges with communities across Atlanta and beyond through his roles as the founding CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, which he led from 2007 to 2015, and as CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center from 2017 to 2020. He was CEO of BrightHouse Consulting from 2015 to 2017. As a volunteer, Shipman currently serves on the board of trustees of The Carter Center, which was founded in 1982 by President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory. He is also a board member for the Atlanta International School and formerly served on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Midtown Alliance and Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, among other organizations. After earning his undergraduate degree in political science and economics from Emory, Shipman continued his education with a masters degree in theology and public policy from Harvard Divinity School and a masters in public policy from Harvards Kennedy School of Government. As an Emory alumnus, he has remained deeply engaged with the university, including previously serving as a member and president of the Emory Alumni Board. He currently serves on the Emory Arts Advisory Board and co-chaired the University Task Force on the Arts with Kevin Karnes, now associate dean for the arts in Emory College. In 2019, he received the Community Impact Arts Advocate Award from the Emory College Center for Creativity and Arts. Emory: A time of exploration Shipman came to Emory in 1991 as a Woodruff Scholar. As senior class orator for Emory College in 1995, when he graduated magna cum laude, he called on his fellow graduates to honestly assess our society and use our education to rectify its injustices. Commit yourself to do more than live; challenge yourself to improve, to affect, to impact our world, he urged. What he learned at Emory helped in many ways to prepare him to do just that, both in prior roles and as Atlanta City Council president. Definitely classes regarding politics as well as data analysis set the stage for the way I think about policy and politics, Shipman said. I also studied issues of race, religion, gender, sexuality and class while at Emory all of which have long shaped my view on issues of inclusiveness, equity and history. He lists his single most important experience at Emory as taking a course on theology and the Civil Rights Movement taught by Robert Franklin then a professor at Candler School of Theology and now Laney Professor in Moral Leadership which set me on the path of connecting history, religion, politics and social justice. Shipman has often credited his Emory years with broadening his perspective, setting the stage for his future work. In a lot of ways, without Emory, I would not have been here to do this, Shipman said in a 2015 interview about the opening of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. And he learned as much outside the classroom as inside, he noted then. Growing up white in Bull Shoals, Arkansas, he had few opportunities to forge friendships with those different from him. But at Emory, he reached out to learn and build connections. To come from a small town in Arkansas with no diversity and become immersed in those conversations those are exactly the conversations we had developing the Center and the conversations we hope people have visiting the Center, Shipman said. His four years on campus even included meeting his future wife, Dr. Bijal Shah, in a macroeconomics class, he told the Emory Wheel in a 2014 interview. In addition to graduating from Emory College, Shah earned her MD from Emorys School of Medicine and is now an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and an ER physician at Grady Memorial Hospital. When the Wheel asked his advice to Emory students, Take risks! Shipman said. Emory provides the opportunity to explore new topics, take on leadership roles, meet very different kinds of people, play with ideas. It should be a time of exploration, not just professional exploration, he explained. I couldnt have seen my work coming when in college, but my intellectual exploration allowed me to lay the groundwork for professional endeavors to come. Tighten up anti-Covid measures now, experts urge Expert Gabriel Leung says the Omicron variant may already be spreading silently in up to ten invisible chains, which could lead to a fifth wave of outbreaks. File photo: RTHK Prominent medical experts have called on the government to immediately tighten social distancing measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, warning that a fifth wave of Covid-19 outbreaks could be imminent. Officials had on Tuesday reported the SARs first untraceable Covid-19 case in almost three months, and say its very likely that the Tuen Mun resident had contracted Omicron. Gabriel Leung, University of Hong Kongs dean of medicine and a government advisor on the pandemic, said stringent measures must be put in place within 24 hours, warning that there could already be multiple silent transmission chains in the community. Theres no time to waste. I think we need circuit-breaker measures and we have to be heavy-handed at the beginning when it comes to tightening social distancing measures. Otherwise we would be allowing the five to ten silent transmission chains to grow, he told an RTHK programme on Wednesday. He said the number of infections could increase exponentially if the government doesnt act now. Another government expert advisor, Ivan Hung, agreed there could be up to ten transmission chains by now, adding whether Hong Kong is already experiencing a fifth wave of outbreaks depends on whether more unlinked cases will emerge in different areas of the city in the coming few days. He says schools may have to suspend classes again if the outbreaks get out of control. If there are many cases with unknown sources, or if the fifth wave could not be curbed, then perhaps we have to resume online classes, but of course we dont want to see that, said Hung. Meanwhile, HKU microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung again called on people to be vaccinated. Some people criticised me. They say young people or children would not have serious symptoms, why do you tell them to get jabbed? We have to understand, we see in tests with guinea pigs or mice or even humans that Omicron only causes mild illnesses, but it wont last, he warned. Perhaps after six months a Pi variant may emerge and it may infect the lung. Then we will be in big trouble. Since we have not been baptised with Omicron, we wont have the [immunity] protection in the mucosa of our nose, mouth or respiratory tract. We will be repeating what we went through in the past two years, he said. He said if vaccination rate exceeds 90 percent, Hong Kong would then have the necessary conditions to open up despite the presence of Omicron, as the variant would in most cases only cause mild symptoms and further boost the immunity of the community as a whole. However, even in that scenario, he warned that it would be inevitable that some unvaccinated elderly and chronically-ill patients would die from Omicron infections. HKU epidemiologist Ben Cowling said if it becomes clear that the outbreak cannot be brought under control quickly, pushing for more unvaccinated people to get jabbed should be a top priority. I would say [we need] to have a policy now where the focus is on vaccinating older adults, rather than giving third doses to people whove already had two doses or vaccinating younger adults, because of the serious issue of the low vaccine coverage in older adults in Hong Kong, he said. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved the order on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking quashing of the Air India disinvestment process, where Tata Sons emerged as the winner of the bid. A bench comprising Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said that it will pronounce the order in the case on Thursday and directed the parties to file their notes by Wednesday. The bench said: "We will pass orders the day after." Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted the disinvestment was a policy decision, as the national carrier was running into losses. During the hearing, Swamy contended that the bidding process was unconstitutional, corrupt, and rigged in favour of the Tatas. He also pointed out that the other bidder was a consortium led by the SpiceJet owner and there was an insolvency process ongoing in the Madras High Court, which passed orders against SpiceJet, therefore it was also not entitled to bid. Swamy submitted that it leaves only one bidder and the bid cannot take place. he sought a direction to the Centre to quash the disinvestment process of Air India and also a probe into the role of respondents in the disinvestment process and submit a detailed report before the court. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Tata, submitted that the successful bidder is a 100 percent Indian company and the corruption allegations are without any basis, as there was nothing in the petition to establish corruption. Mehta maintained there was nothing surreptitious about the deal and the decision was taken in 2017. He said: "The condition was whenever we invite the bidding till that day the losses will be incurred by the government and after that by the winner of the bid." He added that proceedings against another airline, Air Asia, has nothing to do with the present disinvestment. It was argued before the court that Respondent 6, in the plea, is Talace Private Ltd which acquired Air India. "It is wholly owned by Tata Sons and has nothing to do with Air Asia. Whatever AirAsia faced in the past is completely irrelevant here," said Mehta. Salve added that from 2017, the government has been facing difficulties in selling the airline. Swamy clarified that he is not against disinvestment and free market, but his grievance was against the procedure adopted to favour Tata. After hearing detailed arguments in the matter, the high court reserved its order. In October, the government accepted the highest bid made by Tata Sons for 100 per cent equity shares of Air India and Air India Express along with a 50 percent stake in its ground-handling company named AISATS. --IANS ss/vd ( 461 Words) 2022-01-04-23:02:01 (IANS) The Directorate General of GST Intelligence's (DGGI) recent crackdown on nearly half a dozen of Cryptocurrency service providers in India has brought the focus back on the need for clarity on how cryptocurrencies and related services should be taxed. The leading Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, which has been a major focus of the DGGI crackdown, has paid Rs 49.2 crore as GST with interest and penalty. While the firms providing cryptocurrency related services have been on the radar of the tax authorities due to avoidance of taxes, Cryptocurrency exchanges say the main issue is related to clarity on regulation. "We strongly believe that regulatory clarity is the need of the hour for the Indian crypto industry. It will also provide us with more clarity on taxation so that we can work in sync with the lawmakers, and continue to be responsible industry players," said a spokesperson of Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd, that runs WazirX. Besides Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd, which runs WazirX, last week the DGGI also raided the premises of several other firms engaged in Cryptocurrency related businesses including Bitcipher Labs LLP, which runs Coinswitch Kuber, Neblio Technologies Private Limited, which runs CoinDCX, iBlock Technologies Private Limited, which runs BuyUcoin, and Unocoin Technologies Private Limited, which runs Unocoin. According to the authorities, tax evasion to the tune of Rs 70 crore has been detected. Reacting to the DGGI raids, iBlock Technologies Private Limited, which runs BuyUcoin, said: "Lack of clarity on filing procedures led to some human mistakes from our end which were flagged by the tax authorities and brought to our notice." "As soon as the matter was brought to our notice by GST officials, we obediently paid all the taxes along with incurred interest and penalty. We offer our full cooperation and support to all the regulators in creating a healthy regulatory framework for the booming crypto industry in India," iBlock Technologies Private Limited said in a statement. Issues related to cryptocurrencies have evoked wide interests and controversies. In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a complete ban on cryptocurrencies and prohibited banks, NBFCs and other financial institutions from facilitating transactions for entities related to cryptocurrenices. However, in March 2020, the Supreme Court of India quashed the central bank's order. While the Supreme Court's order has paved the way for financial institutions facilitating the trading of cryptocurrencies, there is still no clarity on taxation and other issues. There are no crypto specific provisions in the GST and income tax. A Bill concerning cryptocurrency was proposed to be presented in the Parliament during the winter session. However, the government decided to pull back the Bill. A new Bill is under consideration. The confusion related to taxation and other issues related to cryptocurrencies is likely to prevail until a regulation is passed in Parliament. (ANI) As the government readies a Bill on cryptocurrencies, YouGov's latest data shows more than a third of urban Indians (36 per cent) are not in favour of this move. Just as many (35 per cent) are unsure while three in ten (29 per cent) support this decision. The Bill that is yet to receive the cabinet's nod, has already swept India's digital currency market by a wave of nervousness and confusion. Currently, only a third of urban Indians claim to own a cryptocurrency (33 per cent) while the majority (67 per cent) do not. Data shows that opposition towards the "Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021" is higher among those who own a crypto compared to those who do not (52 per cent vs 28 per cent). Among crypto investors, the biggest concern around the Bill is about cryptos being heavily taxed (27 per cent) as well as a ban on private currencies they have invested in (26 per cent). Some (23 per cent) fear losing their invested money and just one is ten (10 per cent) are happy about the crypto market being finally legalised. Thinking about their future investments, more than half (51 per cent) of current crypto owners said they will wait for the market to stabilise before taking a decision. Half of this proportion (26 per cent) will continue or increase their investments in crypto. One in six (16 per cent) said they will stop investing and sell their digital money, while a few plan to switch to other investment tools (4 per cent). Among those optimistic about cryptocurrencies, three in five (60 per cent) think digital currency has a bright future and an early adoption of cryptocurrency will help them gain an advantage. Many think it is a good long-term investment (45 per cent) while others just want to diversify their portfolio (35 per cent). Along with seeking to regulate the crypto market in India, the Bill also aims to create an official digital currency to be issued by the RBI. This news is welcomed by urban Indians and a majority (61 per cent) said they are likely to invest in digital currency if it is launched by RBI, showing that people are not averse to the idea of investing in digital currency as long as it is legitimate. Only 11 per cent said they are unlikely to invest in RBI issued digital coins, while 27 per cent still have not made up their mind. Data was collected online by YouGov Omnibus among 1,225 respondents in the country between November 30th-December 7th, 2021 using YouGov's panel of over 15 million people worldwide. Data is representative of the adult online population in the country. --IANS san/dpb ( 469 Words) 2022-01-05-12:40:02 (IANS) Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], January 5 (ANI/PNN): Utkarsh Classes, one of India's leading institutes for competitive exams and school education, has secured the semi-naming and station branding rights of the Jaipur Sindhi Camp Metro Station from the Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation Limited, making it the first organization in the country to do so. Following the semi-naming and station branding right, the Jaipur Sindhi Camp Metro Station will now be known as 'Utkarsh Sindhi Camp Metro Station'. Bhanwari Gehlot, the mother of the founder and CEO of Utkarsh Classes, Dr. Nirmal Gehlot, inaugurated the co-branded Metro station in the presence of top management and teaching professionals, including the co-founder and CFO, Tarun Gehlot, on January 3. Dr. Satish Batra, R. K. Vaishnav, Kumar Gaurav, Akshay Gaur, S. V. Singh, Narendra Thanvi, Sahdev Sir, Mahendra Chowdhary, Jitendra Charan, Jagdeep, Sarika, Nitesh Tripathi, Ramkaran, Mukesh Dewan, Vivek Chauhan, Krishna Kumar, etc. remained present at the event. Founder and CEO of Utkarsh classes & Edutech Private Limited, Dr. Nirmal Gehlot, said, "We are pleased to inform that the Sindhi Camp Metro Station will now be known as 'Utkarsh Sindhi Camp.' It is a one-of-a-kind action by the institute that will help to elevate the brand to new heights in the educational scene. Utkarsh Sindhi Camp will be a landmark facility that would provide commuters with a unique experience." Sindhi Camp is one of the busiest locations in India, with a massive daily footfall of over lakhs of passengers. Utkarsh Classes is the first institute in Rajasthan to experiment with the semi-naming and station branding rights as a tool to showcase the credentials of the Institute to about lakhs of commuters who will travel daily from Jaipur to different locations in Rajasthan. Sushil Mishra, Deputy CEO, Utkarsh Group, says, "We don't leave any stone unturned to impart the best and quality education to help the aspirants reach their desired career destination. Similarly, Utkarsh Sindhi Camp Metro station will make no compromise in the quality and will ensure the commuters will reach their chosen terminus." "OHH (OUT-OF-HOME) advertisements are becoming more creative, especially in the metro system. Prominent brands in metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc., are already using such novel outdoor media campaigns. We are extremely proud of our association with the Utkarsh Classes and for bringing this project to life. We would also like to thank Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation, Nippon paint India, Nitesh Swami Project manager Rajasthan, Ankit bakiwala, and Yogesh Sharma for their support in executing this larger-than-life project." said Vinay Joshi, Media Owner. For further details, please visit www.utkarsh.com This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) New Delhi [India], January 5 (ANI/NewsVoir): Jaipur Watch Company (India's only bespoke watchmaker) brings to you love and celebration through their unique new creation, "The Kings Wristwear II"! A beautiful coin based watch by Jaipur Watch company. The 43mm dial is embedded with a One Pice Coin (the lowest denomination of British India coinage). The historical narrative associated with the coin makes it a unique watch. Minted between 1943 and 47, the One Pice Coin, or 1/64th of a rupee, was the lowest denomination in the King George VI coinage era. It was also the first coin with a hole in the centre. Each watch in this limited edition carries a serial number, which gives it a unique identity. The watch houses the Swiss-made Ronda 702 calibre and showcases a unique moving disc mechanism. King Wristwear II is available in new colours such as sombre black (with gold and silver variants) and salmon, to be sold in a limited edition of 50 watches, as well as Sacramento Green (with gold and silver variants), to be sold in a limited edition of 25 watches each. INR: 40,000 each. jaipur.watch. Jaipur Watch Company - India's first and only bespoke watch manufacturer. The brand is steeped in the age-old craftsmanship traditions of Jaipur and its history of regal lifestyle even as it leverages the technology evolution that is changing the business of watchmaking, through its design in Jaipur and workshop and factory in Bengaluru. Jaipur Watch Company began by using pre-British era coins, has now scaled up to introduce several unique design ideas and works with well-established craftsmanship techniques like guilloche, besides painstakingly crafting a range of gold bespoke watches. The watch brand creates unique, classic watches that resonate with Indians because of the stories of culture and traditions, history and spirituality told through the dial. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], January 5 (ANI/PRNewswire): Reiterating the government's commitment of strengthening the private sector for the holistic development of the nation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that an active and long-term public-private partnership is crucial to take the education and science sectors to a global level and make India a knowledge economy. He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Kalpana Chawla Centre for Research in Space Science & Technology (KCCRSST) at Chandigarh University, Gharuan, the first of its kind in North India. The Union Minister also launched Chandigarh University's Defence Scholarship Scheme, worth Rs 10 Crore, for the wards of Defence Personnel of the three services. Addressing the gathering, the Union Minister hailed the establishment of the KCCRSST, and said that it is only through efforts like these that India can become a leader in future technologies. Likening the Research Centre with 'pride of India' Kalpana Chawla, the Defence Minister hoped that this research facility would touch new heights of success, similar to the remarkable achievements of the late India-born astronaut who brought universal recognition to her country of origin. Established with the objective of training students in space science and satellite development and to meet future challenges in the area of space research, this state-of-the-art space centre would be the Ground Control Station (GCS) for the Chandigarh University's Student Satellite (CUSAT), an in-house developed nano-satellite being designed by the students of Chandigarh University, and a Geo Spatial Centre for research, besides other important projects. Chancellor of Chandigarh University, S. Satnam Singh Sandhu, senior vice-president Prof Himani Sood, eminent scientists, faculty and students were present during the inauguration ceremony. The Defence Minister lauded the Chandigarh University for setting records of success in research & innovation, placements and global rankings in the last few years and described the achievements of the University as a symbol of the increasing participation of the private sector in the field of education. "All these achievements of Chandigarh University are examples of the increasing importance of private sector in the education sector of our country. I believe that if the education, knowledge-science of our country has to reach the world level, and the country has to be made a 'knowledge economy', then the public and private sector of the country will have to work together, and in this direction we Moving forward fast," he said in his address, after the inauguration. Noting that space sector is deeply connected with our lives from national development to national security, Shri Singh said that the Government understands the potential of this space and is committed to take it to newer heights and give new direction to the country's progress. Remembering late India-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla, Rajnath Singh described her as a symbol of women empowerment, and urged the people to motivate their daughters to go ahead & touch unimaginable heights, echoing the Government's vision of increased participation of women in all sectors. "It is extraordinary for a university to have its own space research centre and its own satellite. This is commendable feat and I am certain that more Indians like Aryabhatta, Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and Kalpana Chawla will emerge from amongst you all if you eye different planets and constellations," the Defence Minister told the students present on the occasion. It may be mentioned here that CUSAT will be among the 75 student-built satellites to be launched into space on the eve of the 75th Independence Day in 2022. The Chandigarh University has joined the list of 13 institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, IIT Bombay and became the first university in North India to design and develop its own satellite. For the project, 75 students of the University have been working on the Chandigarh University Student Satellite Project under the guidance of eminent Indian scientists including Padma Shri Prof RM Vasagam, Padma Shri Dr Mylaswamy Annadurai, Padma Shri YS Rajan, Padma Bhushan Dr BN Suresh, Padma Shri Dr BN Dattaguru, V Mahadevan, Dr L V Muralikrishna Reddy, and Dr K Gopalakrishnan. With the launch of CUSAT, Punjab will become the first border state in India to have its own satellite in space. The launch of the university's nanosatellite-CUSAT will prove to be an important step for the country, as it will collect data related to border intrusion detection, agriculture, weather forecasting, natural disaster forecasting, which will be helpful in research and study of various problems in these areas. In addition, the GCS will help develop satellite research facilities and launch satellites in countries that do not have developed satellite technology. The GCS under the KCCRSST will monitor majority of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites including CUSAT and being a member of SatNOGS project, will be monitoring more than 380 satellites with over 810 transmitters in more than 50 Countries. Speaking on the occasion, Chancellor of Chandigarh University, S. Satnam Singh Sandhu said that ever since our inception, the university has been striving to provide quality, innovative and experiential learning to its students and establishment of this centre is one of the steps in this direction. "We have always been a pioneer in the field of Research and Development and this centre of excellence will further strengthen our position in aerospace technology. This state-of-the-art centre, will not be limited to the students of Chandigarh University. We will soon be announcing short term courses for Satellite design and development," he said. "Through this centre, which has come up at the cost of Rs 3.50 Crore, Chandigarh University will help in developing satellite research facilities in 57 countries including Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, Turkey as well as train foreign students for satellite design and development," S. Sandhu added. This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire) Over 65 lakh people have subscribed to Atal Pension Yojana during the current financial year so far taking the total number of subscribers to 3.68 crore, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. The asset under management increased to to Rs 20,000 crore. 56 per cent of the total subscribers are male while 44 per cent are female. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can be subscribed by any Indian citizen in the age group of 18-40 years having a bank account and its uniqueness is attributable to three distinctive benefits. First, it provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60 years of age, Secondly the amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to spouse on death of the subscriber and lastly, in the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee. This flagship social security scheme of the Government of India was launched on May 9, 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an objective of providing old age income security particularly to the citizen in the unorganised sectors. Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), which administers Atal Pension Yojana, said, "This feat of bringing in the most vulnerable sections of the society under the coverage of pension was possible only with the untiring efforts of public & private banks, Regional Rural Banks, Payments Banks, Small Finance Banks, Co-operative banks, Department of Posts and the support extended by the State Level Bankers' Committees." "In addition to achieving one crore enrolment during this current financial year, going forward we have the task of achieving Pension Saturation in the country and we shall continuously undertake proactive initiatives for achieving it," the PFRDA Chairman added. (ANI) Accordingly, Sensex and Nifty settled at 60,223 points and 17,925 points, up 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, from their previous close. On Wednesday, banking, financial services, oil and gas, and realty stocks rose the most. Among the stocks, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, Grasim rallied the most, rising 5.0 per cent, 4.4 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 3.4 per cent, 3.1 per cent, respectively, data showed. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Divi's Labs, and Wipro were some of the stocks that declined during the session. During the session, shares of news channel NDTV hit the 10 per cent upper circuit. According to Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities: "Now the index has reached near its good hurdle zone of 18,000-18,100 where one can look for trimming their long position. Also, if it manages to sustain the above said resistance, we may see fresh breakout and then we may inch towards previous swing high. "On the other hand, good support zone is formed near 17,800-17,700, and any dip near the mentioned support zone will be again fresh buying opportunity." The banking sector outshone other sectoral indices as few private lenders reported double-digit business growth during the third quarter, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "US and Asian markets traded weak ahead of the release of the US Fed meeting minutes while European indexes held ground," Nair said. --IANS ad/arm ( 282 Words) 2022-01-05-17:22:06 (IANS) After an 18-year-old woman was arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with the Bulli Bai app controversy, veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar expressed his opinion on the same, urging people to forgive her as the young girl reportedly lost her parents to cancer and COVID-19 recently. Akhtar, who has been actively sharing his opinions on the case, took to his Twitter handle on Wednesday to ask netizens to show compassion and forgive the girl. He tweeted, "If " bully bai" was really masterminded by an 18 year old girl who has recently lost her parents to cancer n Corona I think the women or some of them meet her and like kind elders make her understand that why what ever she did was wrong . Show her compassion and forgive her." For the unversed, on Tuesday, Akhtar had slammed a section of social media users who questioned the honour of his great-great-grandfather Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi after he questioned PM Modi and raised his voice against the ongoing 'Bulli Bai' controversy. The controversy erupted when photos of hundreds of Muslim women were collected from their social media accounts and were uploaded on an app and it would then encourage people to participate in their auction. Meanwhile, apart from the 18-year-old woman, a 21-year-old engineering student was also held in Bengaluru in a raid by a Mumbai Police team in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' row. Another person whose identity has not been disclosed yet was also arrested on Wednesday in the same case. (ANI) A picture has been doing the rounds on the internet in which Esther can be seen standing by one of her home's walls that has a huge portrait of Lord Ganesha. Isn't it surprising? Reportedly, Esther's viral pictures are snapshots from an Instagram live she did recently. Many social media users praised Esther after seeing the picture of the Hindu deity at her home. "Proud moment for India," a netizen commented. "Thank you for beautifully showcasing Indian culture in Spain," another one wrote. For the unversed, Esther played the role of Monica Gaztambide (Stockholm) in 'Money Heist'. (ANI) Neil died at the Reliance Hospital in Mumbai after a brief illness on Wednesday. After learning about the unfortunate news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his heartfelt condolences on Twitter. "Mr. Neil Nongkynrih was an outstanding mentor to the Shillong Chamber Choir, which enthralled audiences globally. I have also witnessed some of their superb performances.He left us too soon. His creativity will always be remembered. Condolences to his family and admirers. RIP," Modi said in a tweet. Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, too, mourned the death of Neil. "I am saddened beyond words by the sudden demise of Padma Shri Neil Nongkynrih, founder of the famous Shillong Chamber Choir. He was a mentor to the country's finest choir that serenaded crowds wherever they performed. We have lost a gem today," Sangma grieved. For the unversed, Neil's choir won India's Got Talent in 2010. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2015. (ANI) Television actor Shagun Pandey recalls singing folk songs with a local musician in Bikaner, Rajasthan, while shooting for a honeymoon sequence in 'Meet'. He reminisces: "The hotel I was staying in had a beautiful breakfast area and there was this old, local man who used to sit there and play some soulful music. I was so impressed by his craft that I wanted to learn from him. Even though we had early morning shoots, I made sure that I take out time, get ready half an hour early, and go sing with him." 'Tujhse Hai Raabta' actor Shagun is seen playing the character of Meet Ahlawat in the show. His character is married to Meet Hooda (played by Ashi Singh) and to make their love story more interesting, makers have included a honeymoon sequence. The actor shares further about his experience of singing with a local artiste. "We used to sing different regional folk songs together and he even helped me correct my dialect. He taught me some new songs too and I must say that I absolutely loved jamming with him, it was a great experience. The guests in our hotel also enjoyed our morning music sessions." "It has become my morning routine and while I am missing it now, I make sure to practice and sing during my free time at home or on set," he adds. 'Meet' airs on Zee TV. --IANS ila/dc/svn ( 250 Words) 2022-01-05-16:30:07 (IANS) Bihar on Tuesday reported 893 fresh Covid cases, of which Patna alone accounted for 565 infections, the state health department said. Besides Patna, 99 cases were reported from Gaya and 47 from Muzaffarpur as well. The latest additions took the state's active Covid caseload to 2,220, including 1,250 in Patna. A health department official claimed that the cases are spreading in different parts of the state. On Tuesday, the national President of JD-U, Rajiv Ranjan Singh who is popularly known as Lalan Singh, said in a tweet that he has tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier on Tuesday, Singh had inaugurated an event in the Barh sub-division in Patna district along with Deputy Chief Minister Tar Kishore Prasad. In his tweet, Singh said that he had done a RTPCR test earlier the report of which came on Tuesday. During that event, a large number of people turned out at the venue, violating all Covid protocols. Many of them were not even wearing masks. Meanwhile, 27 more junior doctors of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) tested Covid positive on Tuesday evening. With this, a total of 221 doctors and medical students of NMCH have tested positive for the virus so far. Heera Lal Mahto, Principal of NMCH, said: "These doctors are young and they used to go to the markets from where they could have contracted the disease. Rumors about infection spread during the ICMR event held in Patna last week are baseless. I was also present in that event but I have not been infected yet." --IANS ajk/arm ( 273 Words) 2022-01-04-23:06:04 (IANS) With the Omicron variant cases in Kerala touching 181, a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday decided to clamp more restrictions. Consequent to this, with immediate effect, all functions which includes marriages and such events should not more than 75 people take part when conducted indoors and in outdoor events, the gathering it should not exceed more than 150. The only solace came when the meeting decided to lift the night curfew (10 p.m. to 5 a.m.) which was in place for the past five days. Another decision taken was to ensure that very strict screening will take place at all the four airports in the state as a huge majority of the Omicron cases was reported from those who came from abroad. Vijayan informed the meeting that by now 80 per cent of the Kerala population aged above 18 have by now taken both the doses of vaccines. With the vaccination starting for children aged 15 to 18, he said by now 2 per cent of the 15.43 lakhs students have been given the first shot of vaccine. Vijayan alsosaid hat very soon the Health Department will now come out with the treatment protocols to be followed in the wake of Omicron threat, for those who prefer to isolate at home after turning Covid positive. --IANS sg/vd ( 236 Words) 2022-01-04-23:26:03 (IANS) The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 10,775 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,871,745. The DOH also reported that 58 more people died from Covid complications, bringing the country's death toll to 51,662. The positivity rate jumped to 31.7 per cent, the highest ever since the outbreak in 2020. With the most number of new and active cases, Metro Manila continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic and is now at "critical risk," Xinhua reported citing Health Secretary Francisco Duque. Duque said the number of Covid cases in the capital region has recorded a 1,475-per cent two-week growth rate. "Metro Manila saw the steepest rise in the number of cases. The capital region is at critical risk case, the highest risk classification," Duque said, adding the two regions adjacent to Metro Manila also registered a 557-per cent two-week growth rate. Citing the DOH data, Guido David of the OCTA Research Group said that the reproduction number in Metro Manila is about five and the seven-day average positivity rate is "at a critical level of 25 per cent." A high test positivity rate shows a high level of community transmission. Several cabinet members failed to physically attend a meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday because of their exposure to the virus. Some offices shut down temporarily due to a steep rise in infections among staff. Many local officials have also tested positive for the virus. To curb the spread of the virus, the government banned mass gatherings and barred unvaccinated people in Metro Manila from going to public places. Meanwhile, Duterte has ordered the deployment of police officers in quarantine facilities amid reports that some people are violating isolation protocols to be with families and friends. The country has grappled with three waves of infections. The DOH reported its highest caseload on Sept. 11, 2021, with 26,303 cases. The Philippines, which has a population of around 110 million, has tested more than 23.5 million people since the outbreak. --IANS int/sks ( 353 Words) 2022-01-05-16:08:04 (IANS) As Covid-19 and its variant Omicron tighten their grip in Maharashtra, the state government has decided to shut down all non-agricultural, technical, deemed or private universities and their affiliated colleges and students hostels till February 15, officials said here on Wednesday. The move came after Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant held a virtual conference with the Divisional Commissioners, Collectors and Vice Chancellors of various non-agricultural varsities. Samant said that considering the safety and health aspects of the students, all colleges and varsities have agreed to conduct the classes as well as the upcoming examinations online. However, in some districts like Nanded, Jalgaon, and Nandurbar which have connectivity problems, physical exams shall be conducted. All varsities have been directed to set up student helplines, and in case students miss out on the online exams on account of connectivity or power supply problems, they should be given another opportunity to write their exams, the minister assured. Similarly, if any student is unable to appear even for the online exams owing to he/she being infected by the Covid-19 or Omicron virus, or if their family members are afflicted, they will be granted a fresh opportunity to sit for the exams to ensure they don't lose an academic year. Simultaneously, the government has decided to close down all student hostels within the jurisdiction of the varsities with advance notice for specific periods, though international students shall be allowed to stay there. The move for colleges comes after several cities like Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and others decided to shut down all school for Class 1 to 9 and Class 11, till January 31 in view of the massive spread of Covid-19 and Omicron, and vaccination drive for teens aged 15-18 has been taken up in a big way across the state. --IANS qn/vd ( 314 Words) 2022-01-05-21:16:04 (IANS) Renowned social worker and Padma Shri recipient Sindhutai Sapkal passed away due to cardiac arrest at a hospital in Pune on Tuesday. Sapkal was 74 and breathed her last in Galaxy Care Hospital. "She was admitted to the hospital for more than a month and died due to heart attack at the hospital today at 8.10 pm," said Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, Medical Director, Galaxy Hospital on Tuesday. Sapkal, who was popularly referred to as "Mai", ran an orphanage in Pune where she adopted more than 1,000 orphan children. She was conferred with Padma Shri in 2021 for her contribution to society. President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the death of Sapkal. "The life of Dr Sindhutai Sapkal was an inspiring saga of courage, dedication and service. She loved & served orphaned, tribals and marginalised people. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2021, she scripted her own story with incredible grit. Condolences to her family and followers," tweeted Rashtrapati Bhavan. Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Modi said, "Dr Sindhutai Sapkal will be remembered for her noble service to society. Due to her efforts, many children could lead a better quality of life. She also did a lot of work among marginalised communities. Pained by her demise. Condolences to her family and admirers. Om Shanti." Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari also condoled the demise of Sapkal. "The demise of Sindhutai Sapkal is deeply saddening. Despite suffering difficulties in her own personal life, Sindhutai dedicated her life to the service of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children. She was an epitome of love and compassion. Her demise has orphaned all of her children. I offer my condolences to her large family and pray for eternal peace to the departed soul," Governor Koshyari said. (ANI) Six students of a government medical college in Telangana's Suryapet were suspended for one year for ragging a junior student. Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy on Tuesday issued orders suspending the second year MBBS students for one year. The students of 2019-2020 batch have been directed to vacate the hostel building. The students of Government Medical College Suryapet were suspended for ragging a first year student, a native of Hyderabad. Five of these students were booked and arrested by police on Monday under Anti-Ragging Act. The ragging incident occurred on the night of January 1. The police rescued the junior student Sai Kumar after receiving a call that some senior students were ragging him in Boys hostel of the college, located about a km from the campus. Based on the complaint of the victim, police booked the five students under four different sections of the Anti-Ragging Act. The police did not rule booking more people as the victim stated in his complaint that 25-30 seniors were present in his room during the tagging. The complainant alleged that a group of students came to his room, ordered him to take off his clothes and took video shots of him in their mobile phones. They also tried to cut his hair. The victim said he was physically and mentally tortured for two hours. He later managed to escape from them and called up his father after hiding in another room. Police found during the investigation that the college authorities had not formed anti-ragging committee as per rules. A police officer said lack of supervision by the staff concerned led to the incident. Taking a serious note of the incident, Health Minister T. Harish Rao had ordered a probe. College principal C V Sarada said a committee has been constituted to conduct an inquiry. She said based on the committee's report, further action would be taken. --IANS ms/vd ( 328 Words) 2022-01-04-21:04:02 (IANS) Tension prevailed near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Secunderabad on Tuesday evening as BJP was determined to go ahead with a candle-light rally under the leadership of the party's national President J.P. Nadda to protest against the arrest of the party's Telangana unit chief and MP Bandi Sanjay despite police refusing permission for the same. Large number of BJP workers gathered near the statue while policemen were deployed to foil any rally. The police diverted vehicular traffic in the busy area, causing inconvenience to motorists. Soon after Nadda landed at the Hyderabad Airport, a police official briefed him about the ban on rallies, meetings and public congregations in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation. The BJP chief told reporters that he assured the official that they will abide by all Covid rules. "I told him that I will be going to the Mahatma Gandhi statue to offer floral tributes. It is your responsibility to ensure that I abide by Covid norms," Nadda said, adding that democratic rights can't be taken away in the name of Covid curbs. The saffron party has planned to organise the candle-light rally from the Mahatma Gandhi statue, Ranigunj, to Paradise X Roads in Secunderabad. Several BJP leaders, including Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, G. Kishan Reddy, are to participate in the rally. Citing the orders banning public meetings and rallies in view of the Covid-19 situation, the city police refused to give permission. Sanjay was arrested in Karimnagar town on Sunday night when he was staging a night-long protest demanding the government to amend orders relating to transfer of government employees and teachers. The Karimnagar MP was booked for violating the Disaster Management Act and for reportedly attacking police personnel. A magistrate on Monday sent him and four others to judicial custody for 14 days. The BJP has called for state-wide protests for 14 days against the arrest, alleging that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is using undemocratic means to suppress peaceful protests. --IANS ms/arm ( 345 Words) 2022-01-04-21:10:03 (IANS) India and Russia on Tuesday discussed a followup of their top leaders annual summit as External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar talked to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday. "Glad to exchange New Year greetings with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov this evening. "Discussed the follow up of the Annual Summit and 2+2 Meeting. Agreed to remain in regular touch," Jaishankar said in a tweet. On the completion of five decades of the 1971 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation and two decades of Declaration on Strategic Partnership, India, on December 6, 2021, organised the 21st India-Russia annual summit in New Delhi which was jointly chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President Vladimir Putin. Back-to-back meetings of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation and the first 2+2 Dialogue of Foreign and Defense Ministers of India and Russia were also held in New Delhi on the same day. In the annual summit and 2+2 meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia. They underscored that as major powers with common responsibilities, this important relationship continues to be an anchor of global peace and stability. India and Russia positively assessed their multi-faceted relations that span various areas of cooperation including political and strategic, economy, energy, military and security, science and technology, culture and humanitarian cooperation, and noted that while the traditional areas of cooperation are being further strengthened, new drivers of growth have led to diversification and expansion of bilateral cooperation. --IANS nimish/vd ( 269 Words) 2022-01-04-22:04:01 (IANS) Pushing forward his agenda for the state for the second day in a row, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy met some more Central ministers in the national capital on Tuesday, and discussed several issues pertaining to the state. Reddt met Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, and thanked him for sanctioning various National Highway projects to Andhra Pradesh, a state government release stated. During an hour-long meeting with Gadkari, Reddy discussed preparation of a detailed project report for the proposed National Highway from Visakhapatnam Port to Bhogapuram via Rushikonda and Bheemili. He said the proposed road will be very useful for Visakhapatnam and will shorten the distance from Visakhapatnam Port to Odisha and Chhattisgarh, adding that it will be in close proximity to the beach corridor projects along the coast. He said this highway would contribute to the development of tourism in the region and also help reach the Bhogapuram International Airport easily. He also sought a six-lane highway to ease traffic congestion in Vishakhapatnam. The Chief Minister requested the Union minister to consider the state government's previous appeal to grant a bypass road on the eastern side of Vijayawada and said land acquisition will be completed as soon as possible, adding that exemption would be given on SGST and royalty to reduce the cost of the project. Reddy also requested to extend the four-lane road in Bapatla as part of construction of NH-216 of Kathipudi-Ongole Corridor as there is a possibility of traffic jams again due to proliferation of educational institutions, tourists and the air base there. Later, the Chief Minister met Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, and Union Minister for Education and Skill Development, Dharmendra Pradhan. On Monday, the chief minister had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman. --IANS pvn/arm ( 319 Words) 2022-01-04-22:04:02 (IANS) In a gruesome incident, a pregnant woman and her three-year-old son were burnt alive by her husband in Bihars Supaul district on Tuesday. The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station. The incident came to light when some neighbours spotted fire coming out from the house of Aashish Kumar. They tried to douse the flame, but by then the victims were charred to death. "The local residents informed us about the incident at 2 pm. We reached the crime scene and found the dead bodies were lying on the bed. Both the bodies and the bed were completely burnt," said Bhagwati Thakur, SDPO of Triveniganj. The deceased woman's father said in a complaint to the local police that Ashish Kumar was demanding Rs 1 lakh from them for which he was applying pressure on Ranjan Devi. "As the deceased's family was unable to pay the money, Ashish Kumar used to beat his wife. He wanted the money to pay a bribe to the agents of the Railway Recruitment Board for a Group-D job," the officer said. "Preliminary investigation reveals that Ashish Kumar's sister, mother and one more person were also involved in the crime. They are currently absconding. We will put them behind bars very soon," he said. "The bodies have been sent for post-mortem. The FSL team has also reached the spot. The reports will give some clue about the sequence of events," he said. --IANS ajk/arm ( 279 Words) 2022-01-04-22:16:04 (IANS) According to the RBI statement, the appointment of the new EDs has been made with effect from January 3, 2021. Prior to being elevated as ED, Ajay Choudhary was serving as the Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Supervision of the Central Bank. Meanwhile, Deepak Kumar was serving as the chief of the Information Technology department of RBI. Kumar, an alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics, will supervise the RBI subsidiaries including the Foreign Exchange Department, Department of Communication and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation. Choudhary, who is also a Delhi University alumnus, will look after the risk monitoring, fintech and inspection departments of RBI. (ANI) Doctors warn of new Covid-19 waves as people ignore preventive measures Doctors have expressed concern that many people are ignoring Covid-19 prevention rules after being vaccinated against the virus. Doctors have expressed concern that many people are ignoring Covid-19 prevention rules after being vaccinated against the virus. Illustrative photo. After testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, Nguyen Quoc Truong called his doctor for instructions on medicine for home treatment. The 24- year- old man in HCM City said that he was not shocked or frightened as he knew he could be infected with the virus any time and he was well enough to get over it. "Im travelling a lot and meeting many people during work after getting fully vaccinated against the virus," he said. "I'm not paying much attention to preventive measures during my daily activities because I know that the virus is not dangerous to me now." Pham Huy Cuong, 30, in Hanoi also said that he was not afraid of Coronavirus anymore after having the vaccine. "I see that some of my friends and colleagues only show mild symptoms when being infected with the virus so I'm not afraid of it anymore," Cuong said. "I'm young and healthy and I have lots of outdoor activities to join in so I shouldn't be too afraid." Speaking with Dantri/Dtinews on January 5, Doctor Than Manh Hung from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases expressed concern as a rising number of people, especially the young have become too optimistic about the pandemic. "More people have ignored virus preventive measures and this is very dangerous," Doctor Hung stressed. "We can see the number of infections is escalating in many localities, posing big threats to elderly people or those with underlying diseases who can still face serious conditions if infected. Doctor Hung said that they are still having serious cases among fully-infected patients. And the fatalities are still rising in some localities which have reported a sharp increase in the number of infections. Vietnam is still recording a rising number of Covid-19 cases in almost all localities in the country with the five localities having the highest numbers including HCM City (505,523), Binh Duong (291,061), Dong Nai (98,183), Tay Ninh (78,837), and Hanoi (54,230). Of the new cases, Ranchi reported the highest number of cases at 1,196, followed by East Singhbhum (402) and Koderma (152) districts. With the addition of new cases, the active caseload in the state mounted to 7,681. As many as 216 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. However, the new fatalities pushed the COVID-19 death toll in the state to 5,149. Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government on Tuesday mandated the COVID test at Ranchi airport for passengers coming to the state. As per the Airport authorities, this test will be free of cost. If a traveller is carrying a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test report (not more than 72 hours old) or a certificate showing his/her 'fully vaccinated' status, then they will be exempted from the test. (ANI) Uttarakhand police has searched and reunited as many as 1072 missing children, teenagers, elderly, youth and other people to their families under its three-month-long "Operation Smile". Director-General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kumar on Tuesday reviewed the programme and honoured the officials for their commendable work. "We have run Operation Smile from September 15, 2021, to December 15, 2021. During the operation, we have found 1,072 missing people and reunited them with their families. Of these, 345 were children, 397 were women, the rests were men and elderly people. The DGP said that Uttarakhand Police started Operation Smile in 2015 and about 3,255 missing people have been reunited with their families so far. "We tried to find the families of children, women, and elderlies who live in shelter homes, bus stands, railway stations and other places. We achieved these with the help of children's memories and various other means," DGP Kumar said. Sameer, whose father was missing for two months told ANI, "We had searched my father at a lot of places but could not find him. We filed a report in the nearby police station. A police officer met my father at Haridwar railway station and he took my father to his house. We got a call and today because of that officer, I found my father. I thank Uttarakhand Police. This operation should continue." Balwant Singh, who runs an Ashram, said that many of the children staying at the ashram cannot tell about their parents. "So far six children have been united with their families with the help of the police," he added. (ANI) While speaking to the media, the health minister said "Amma Mini Clinics were temporary, and the doctors who were recruited for it will be deployed by the state health department in works related to battling the third COVID-19 wave." Meanwhile, talking about the COVID-19 situation, Subramanian stated that Chief Minister MK Stalin himself distributed free masks and asked people of the state to wear them. "Chief Minister MK Stalin himself went out to distribute free masks where he urged people to wear them or else, fine will be imposed," he said. Earlier on Monday, Stalin said that though the infection rate due to Omicron is high, vaccination provides a shield from this new variant. Urging people to vaccinate themselves, CM Stalin said, "According to medical experts, Omicron is spreading fast. Though the Omicron infection rate in Tamil Nadu is high, vaccination will shield one from this virus. People should maintain social distancing and must wear masks." (ANI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that he has requested the Central government to expedite the peace parleys with the pro-talks faction of Paresh Barua-led ULFA (Independent), and also appealed to the militant outfit to refrain from giving a boycott call on Republic Day in Assam. The Chief Minister said that the central government has been in touch with ULFA-I (United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent). "I have informally requested the Union government to expedite the peace parleys with the ULFA-I before beginning formal dialogue with the outfit," he told the media at the end of a two-day conference of Superintendents of Police of 34 districts in Duliajan. Sarma's statement comes a day after the ULFA-I leaders claimed that the Centre was not serious in resolving their demands and issues. The outlawed outfit ULFA-I had announced a unilateral ceasefire for three months on May 15 immediately after the new BJP-led government headed by Sarma had assumed charge on May 10. The Chief Minister said that the debate on Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) would be over and there will be some good outcome by March this year. "You will see AFSPA is technically linked to the Army and the Army is not operating in large parts of Assam except five to six districts of Assam," he said. The current six months term of the AFSPA in Assam will end on February 28. The demand for repeal of AFSPA from the northeast region revived after 14 civilians were killed by the security forces in Mon district of Nagaland in December. The demand was made to the Centre even by the Chief Ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya. The Act is in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding seven of the 60 Assembly constituencies) and Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of the eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam, and is extended its term every six months after review of the security situation. --IANS sc/pgh ( 351 Words) 2022-01-05-01:00:05 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday handed over appointment letters of government jobs to 27 family members of the farmers who lost their lives in the agitation against the three farm laws. Calling farmers the backbone of the economic structure of the state, the Chief Minister said that the Punjab government would always undertake every possible step to ensure the welfare of the victim families. Notably, till now, the state government has disbursed Rs 5 lakh compensation each to nearly 407 families of farmers who died during the year-long agitation against the farm laws, which have now been repealed by the Centre. They have also provided jobs to 169 next-of-kin of these deceased farmers. According to an official spokesperson, Punjab government has found a total number of 407 cases of deceased farmers from all the districts where government jobs can be provided to their next-of-kin. But now 120 fresh names of the kin of the deceased farmers have been cleared by the State Level Committee, out of which 27 candidates have been provided with the offer letters of the job and the remaining 93 letters would be issued in the next couple of days. Pointing out further, the spokesperson said that it is an ongoing process and as soon as the government gets the verification report from the district level, the eligible family members are being issued appointment letters commensurate with their qualification. Punjab government has already taken a decision that the deceased farmers' mother, father, married brother or sister, married daughter, daughter-in-law and grandchildren will be eligible for employment as a one-time measure on compassionate grounds. As per the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), out of the total 27 persons who received their appointment letters 15 were from Patiala district, three from Amritsar, two from SAS Nagar (Mohali) and seven from Fatehgarh Sahib. (ANI) Congress MP DK Suresh accused Karnataka Minister CN Ashwath Narayan of trying to disturb the peace of the area through his speech at a government event in Ramanagara. "In the guise of the function, he wanted to disturb the peace of the district. He wanted to create an issue. Even Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was also present in the event, intervened twice and told Narayan not to talk about politics, but he continued," said Suresh. "I told him this is a government organised event, not a BJP event, you cannot speak things like this here," he added. In a dramatic turn of events at a public function in Ramanagara, Congress Bangalore Rural MP DK Suresh and State Minister Dr CN Ashwathnarayan got into an altercation on stage over some development work, in presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday. At the event organized by the government, Bommai had unveiled the statues of Dr B R Ambedkar and Bengaluru founder Kempegowda. It was his first visit to Ramanagara after becoming chief minister. The fight broke out when Suresh objected to Narayan's speech. As Congress MP charged towards Narayan, security and police personnel intervened. Suresh was joined by Congress' Bangalore Rural MLC S Ravi and he went on to snatch the mike to stop the minister from speaking. Amid the commotion following the incident, Suresh sat down on the stage in protest. Speaking soon after, Bommai said that he had come to contribute to the development and urged the people not to mix politics with development. (ANI) The Chief Electoral Officer, Goa held a meeting with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rajesh Garg, IPS, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Parmaditya, IPS, along with both District Magistrates and Superintendent of Police of both the districts to review the preparedness in Management of law and order in the State for the forthcoming elections. The CEO on Monday reviewed the progress of Execution of pending NBWs issued by various courts and instructed the police to execute the pending NBWs on a fast track basis. The status of vulnerability mapping and the master list of repeat offenders having cases involving extortions, violation of Arms/Explosive Acts, Offences against human bodies, drug peddling, history sheeters, mischief mongers and past electoral offences were discussed. District Magistrates and Superintendent of Police were directed to initiate necessary actions against identified persons under preventive sections of law. He also reviewed the progress of various preventive measures under sections 107, 109 and 110 of the Cr. P.C and instructions were issued to the officers to deal expeditiously with the pending cases in view of the forthcoming Elections with the daily reports to the CEO Office and State Police Nodal Officer/IGP. CEO asked the DEOs and SPs to keep a strict vigil on history sheeters and trouble mongers and enquired on the number of vulnerable locations and critical polling stations in their jurisdiction. CEO and IGP appreciates the efforts of DEO/DMs and SPs in timely completion of Vulnerability Mapping. Both DEO's and SP presented the report on the law and order status of both districts In view of elections. CEO & IGP instructed them to keep a close watch on any law & order situation and to take emergent preventive actions. The police were also directed to intensify actions against Matka Operators and increase general surveillance at border check posts and nakas. IGP Rajesh Kumar discussed the issue of a proper briefing of Flying Squads and Sector Officers on the adequate gathering of information and evidence on violation of Model Code of Conduct, The Goa Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1988 and other electoral offences to have higher conviction in the upcoming elections. CEO Kunal, IAS stressed upon creation of conducive atmosphere for conduct of the election and proper law & order maintenance is of prime importance and instructed District Election Officers & Superintendent of Police to be fully ready to implement Vulnerability Mapping and Law & Order Management guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India. Ajit Roy, Collector North, Ruchika Katiyal, Collector South; Nodal Officer, Law & Order, Harish Adconkar, Dy. CEO, Sangeeta Naik SP North, Shobit Saxena, SP Elections Bossuet Silva were present on occasion. (ANI) The accused have been identified as Jatin Gulrajani (39), secretary of the society and Raj Kumar (42), land and member facilitator, said the statement. The complainants have filed complaints against the society 'MTNL Employees House Welfare Society' in EOW alleging that they have booked flats in the society under the DDA's newly launched Land Pooling Policy, as per the statement. However, the homebuyers alleged that there was no progress regarding the construction of flats and raised concerns over possible fraud, according to the statement. (ANI) Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including two M-4 carbines and one AK series rifle had been recovered in the encounter, added the IGP. "A big success for us," said IGP Kashmir. (ANI) Hinting at a possible reconciliation with his nephew Chirag Paswan, Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras has said that if the former makes amends for his behaviour, a merger is possible with his party. After the demise of former Union food processing minister Ram Vilas Paswan, there was a split in the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) with Chirag and Paras-led factions staking claims for the party. Speaking to the reporters, Paras said, "He should first atone, only then reconciliation is possible because time is the ultimate power. He did not misbehave with an individual but his uncle, He should realize his mistake and only then a union is possible." The Election Commission of India (EC) had allotted new names and symbols to the two warring factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) - the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, led by union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, and the LJP (Ram Vilas), led by Chirag Paswan. Notably, Chirag Paswan had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to designate Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party's parliamentary party in the House. The Delhi High Court dismissed Chirag Paswan's plea on Friday stating it does not have any merit. In June 2021, Pashupati Kumar Paras, the younger brother of LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan along with five other MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and handed over a letter to him seeking the removal of Chirag Paswan as party chief and as the Lok Sabha Parliamentary party leader. Birla accepted Paras as the floor leader of the LJP in the lower house. The fallout between Paras and Chirag Paswan has been attributed to a range of issues including the former's dissatisfaction with his nephew's decision to break away from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Bihar Assembly polls. The LJP was formed by former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in 2000. Paswan, a heavyweight leader in Bihar politics, passed away in October 2020. (ANI) Baltimore has shut down in-person activities at city-operated senior centers due to the worrying rise in COVID-19 cases, effective Tuesday. Privately run senior centers arent impacted, officials said. It comes as hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the state reach dizzying heights. More than 3,000 people were hospitalized with the virus as of Tuesday morning, far more than during any other wave of the pandemic. Over roughly the past month, 1 in 25 Marylanders has tested positive for the virus. Advertisement Sandtown-Winchester Senior Center is one of seven center closed by Baltimore due to rising covid-19 cases. (Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun) The majority of the viruss victims in Maryland 67% have been 70 or older. And data shows Baltimore is experiencing one of the worst transmission rates in the state about 252 cases per 100,000 people although rates are elevated across Maryland. With senior centers closed, the citys Department of Aging Services will continue to provide services over the phone where possible, and offer to-go meals at senior centers. They will be first come, first served. The department asks residents to call their senior center to check on availability. Advertisement Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a new state-of-emergency in light of the coronavirus crisis, and executive orders establishing new testing sites, calling up the National Guard to staff them and allowing retired and out-of-state medical workers to practice in Maryland. He stopped short, however, of issuing a new mask mandate for the state, or requiring vaccinations in certain settings. Experts said that both could help slow the rapid spread of the viruss omicron variant. Baltimore is one of many jurisdictions in the state that have instituted their own mask mandate. Mayor Brandon Scott has said hes considering a vaccine passport requirement alongside other local leaders. Here are the senior centers affected by Tuesdays announcement, according to the city health department: Deputy Chief Ministers Renu Devi and Tarkishore Prasad have been tested positive for COVID-19. Excise Minister Sunil Kumar, Education and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, and Education Minister Ashok Choudhary have also been reported to be infected with the virus. "My COVID-19 test report has come positive. Currently, I am in Quarantine at my Patna residence. Please all the people who came in contact with me during this time, keep themselves in isolation and take all precautions related to their health. Take care all of you too," tweeted Tarkishore Prasad. Earlier on Tuesday, the Bihar government had imposed a fresh curb by implementing a statewide night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am from January 6 to 21. As per the Union Ministry of Health's data, there are 2,223 active cases of the virus in the state. (ANI) Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday distributed the last 10 Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) cards to the personnel of each seven forces. These cards were presented to the personnel belonging to Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG) in an event organised at the Shaurya Officer's Institute here in the national capital. The Ayushman CAPF scheme was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at CRPF's Group Centre in Guwahati on January 23 last year. The distribution of cards started on November 2 last year when the Home Minister Shah handed over Ayushman Cards to some NSG personnel. As the card distribution nears completion, the last 10 cards were presented to the personnel by MoS Nityanand Rai. Distributing the cards, the Minister said a total of 35 lakh Ayushman CAPF cards have been distributed to the personnel and their family members between November 2 to December 31 last year. Director General CRPF Kuldiep Singh said a total of 35 lakh CAPF cards have been distributed to the personnel under the scheme and the last 10 cards were presented by the MoS Nityanand Rai. Director Generals of all Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles will also be attending the ceremony. Ayushman CAPF is a convergence scheme being implemented on the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY IT platform. It is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Health Authority, which will provide cashless healthcare services to the serving CAPF personnel from all seven forces-- Assam Rifles, BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP, NSG and SSB, and their dependents through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY IT platform. Launched on January 23 last year in Assam, this 'Ayushman CAPF' scheme has been implemented across the country in a phased manner. The convergence between Ayushman Bharat and CAPF is a first of its kind initiative leveraging the strengths of the existing robust IT framework, access to the network of various private hospitals and portability of services across the country. This initiative will help in moving away from any paper-based manual process of availing healthcare benefits by CAPF personnel and their families to a paperless service at NHA's IT platform. In addition, a 24x7 call centre, online grievance management system, fraud and abuse control system, and real-time monitoring dashboards are other key features of the scheme. Serving personnel and their dependents from Assam Rifles, BSF, SSB, CRPF, CISF, NSG, and ITBP will be covered under the scheme. The beneficiary may avail of medical treatment at CAPF or government-owned facilities free of cost, as per the existing guidelines. CAPF or government-owned facilities may refer the beneficiary to the CGHS and PM-JAY empanelled private hospital wherein beneficiary may avail cashless OPD and IPD treatment, including diagnostics at CGHS or CAPF empanelled private hospitals. Additionally, beneficiaries may be available for cashless IPD treatment at other PM-JAY empanelled private hospitals. The beneficiary would be required to register at the hospital using the activated Ayushman CAPF card or ID. (ANI) Taking care of the health of CAPF jawans and their family members as well as ensuring their welfare is the top priority of the Narendra Modi government, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said on Wednesday. The Minister's statement came while he was distributing the last 10 Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) cards to the personnel of each seven forces belonging to Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG) in an event organised at the CRPF's Shaurya Officer's Institute here in the national capital. The minister said a total of 35 lakh CAPF cards have been distributed in record time to the personnel of all the CAPF personnel and their family members, terming it a great achievement that was facilities within two months. Noting that the distribution of Ayushman CAPF card was started on November 2 last year by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Rai said almost all the CAPF personnel and their family members were provided with these cards by December 31 last year. The minister said he felt great happiness while distributing the last 10 cards each to the personnel of all CAPFs. "Taking care of the health of our CAPF jawans and their family members as well as ensuring their welfare is the top priority of Narendra Modi government. With the distribution of 35 lakh CAPF cards, the personnel will take the benefit of the scheme free of cost. The CAPF personnel will also be able to avail the cashless health facility in 24,000 hospitals across the country," he said. Rai said there is no limit to the expenses incurred during the treatment of the CAPF personnel and their family members through this card. "The facility will help the family members of CAPF personnel who live in far-flung areas. This scheme is a step towards better health for CAPF personnel and their family members." Referring to the vast security arrangements being provided by the CAPF personnel in securing the country by fighting with terrorists and Maoists, the Minister said, "This step is just a move from Centre to ensure health security of their family members when they are engaged in securing the country". In the event, the Minister also announced a toll-free number 1458814588 is being run by the Ministry of Home Affairs, where issues related to getting benefits of these CAPF cards can be registered and the matters will be handled promptly. The Ayushman CAPF scheme was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at CRPF's Group Centre in Guwahati on January 23 last year. The distribution of cards started on November 2 last year when the Home Minister Shah handed over Ayushman Cards to some NSG personnel. As the card distribution nears completion, the last 10 cards were presented to the personnel by MoS Nityanand Rai. Director Generals of all Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles also attended the ceremony. Ayushman CAPF is a convergence scheme being implemented on the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY IT platform. It is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Health Authority, which will provide cashless healthcare services to the serving CAPF personnel from all seven forces-- Assam Rifles, BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP, NSG and SSB, and their dependents through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY IT platform. Launched on January 23 last year in Assam, this 'Ayushman CAPF' scheme has been implemented across the country in a phased manner. The convergence between Ayushman Bharat and CAPF is a first of its kind initiative leveraging the strengths of the existing robust IT framework, access to the network of various private hospitals and portability of services across the country. This initiative will help in moving away from any paper-based manual process of availing healthcare benefits by CAPF personnel and their families to a paperless service at NHA's IT platform. In addition, a 24x7 call centre, online grievance management system, fraud and abuse control system, and real-time monitoring dashboards are other key features of the scheme. Serving personnel and their dependents from Assam Rifles, BSF, SSB, CRPF, CISF, NSG, and ITBP will be covered under the scheme. The beneficiary may avail of medical treatment at CAPF or government-owned facilities free of cost, as per the existing guidelines. CAPF or government-owned facilities may refer the beneficiary to the CGHS and PM-JAY empanelled private hospital wherein beneficiary may avail cashless OPD and IPD treatment, including diagnostics at CGHS or CAPF empanelled private hospitals. Additionally, beneficiaries may be available for cashless IPD treatment at other PM-JAY empanelled private hospitals. The beneficiary would be required to register at the hospital using the activated Ayushman CAPF card or ID. (ANI) In a clash between two groups of fishermen at Peda Jalaripeta in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, several boats were set on fire, injuring over seven people. The clash broke out over the use of ring nets. Commissioner of Police Manish Kumar Sinha said, "More than seven people were injured and several boats were set to fire during a clash between 2 groups of fishermen at Peda Jalaripeta in Visakhapatnam. The clash broke out over the use of ring nets. We've imposed Section 144 at Vasavanipalem and Jalaripeta areas." (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party Kerala State Vice President KS Radhakrishnan on Wednesday slammed the state government for exerting political pressure on Governor Arif Mohammad Khan which made him quit from the post of Chancellor of Universities. Speaking to ANI, KS Radhakrishnan said, "Without mentioning the reason, he said openly that he was under political pressure. The position of the Chancellor has been floated by the government. So, constantly getting pressure from the government and acting as the Chancellor is a difficult task hence he demanded that the government remove him." "Also, the Higher Education Minister has no right to approach him because the Governor is always being advised by the council of ministers headed by the Chief Minister, not the ministers," he said. Further, the BJP state vice president said, "A minister is totally free to express her own idea or suggestion to the council of ministers. And if the council of ministers agrees to that suggestion, then that should be informed to the Governor by the Chief Minister." Taking a jibe at the Higher Education Minister, he stated, "Here, Dr R Bindu (higher education minister) snatched the right of the cabinet to write and has shown the audacity to write by violating all the norms to write a letter commanding him to act in a particular manner. It is absolutely wrong because only the cabinet has got this right." Radhakrishnan called this act an attempt of "belittling the position of Governor" and said that the Chief Minister willingly did it. "The Chief Minister must go and meet him. It is his duty which he has not done yet. It shows that the present government only wants to make an issue with the higher education to capture absolute powers with malicious intention," he added. Earlier on December 18, Khan slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister of Higher Education R Bindu over the issue of appointment in universities and said he is not able to work in an environment where he "find too much political interference in the working of universities." "I am not able to work in this environment where I find too much political interference in the working of the university and the autonomy of the university is being completely eroded," Khan had earlier said. Reiterating his demand that the Chief Minister should bring an ordinance to hand over the powers of the chancellor to CM himself, Khan said, "conflict comes when you assert your authority against some other authority. I have requested that you bring an ordinance, you become the chancellor, let anybody become the chancellor, but for me, it is not possible to see this kind of political interference." (ANI) For winning the third election in a row in the state, the Goa BJP has started presenting a report card of state government to people. The party workers are visiting every household with the works of the BJP government in the last ten years. A well placed source said that a campaign has been launched to reach every house in the state with the works of the BJP government in 10 years. "We have started presenting our report cards to people. Report card contains works of the BJP government in the state since 2012. The campaign started on January 1 and will continue till January 10. In these 10 days, BJP workers will reach out to each and every household in the state and tell the voters what our government has done in the last 10 years," he said. Goa Assembly polls will be held in February- March next year along with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur. The BJP has been in power in the coastal state since 2012. Apart from knocking each door in the state, the BJP workers and leaders are also meeting eminent personalities with the report card and taking their suggestions. "We are meeting eminent personalities and influencers giving details of our government in the last two terms," a party leader said. The saffron party, meanwhile, is organising meetings at different levels to activate its cadres. "Assembly level convention of the party has started and workers' meetings are also being organised across the state," he said. It has set a target to win over 25 seats in the 40-member Goa Assembly. BJP national general secretary and state in-charge, CT Ravi said that BJP will form the government for third term by winning more than 25 seats. "People have seen development in the last ten years under the BJP government and will once again elect a BJP government to further accelerate the pace of development of the state. We are going to win over 25 seats," Ravi said. --IANS ssb/shb/ ( 349 Words) 2022-01-05-10:38:02 (IANS) The Central government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that there was a "compelling need" to appoint Indian Police Service (IPS) Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner taking into consideration the national capital's "extremely challenging situations" of public order, policing issues, and their implications on national security. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), while justifying the appointment of Asthana as the Delhi Police commissioner, informed the apex court through an affidavit that Asthana was appointed police chief of Delhi as a "special case of public interest". The affidavit was filed on a plea of NGO CPIL against the Delhi High Court order of upholding Asthana's appointment as police chief. The NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' (CPIL) through its advocate Prashant Bhushan had approached the apex court in an appeal against the October 12, 2021 order of the Delhi High Court which had upheld the Centre's decision to appoint Asthana, Gujarat cadre 1984-batch IPS officer, as Delhi Police Commissioner four days before his superannuation on July 31, saying there was "no irregularity, illegality or infirmity" in his selection. In the affidavit, the Centre maintained that he was picked "to provide effective policing on the recent law and order situation which arose in the National Capital Territory of Delhi". Eight Delhi Police Commissioners had been appointed by the same procedure without any complaints from the petitioner, the Centre said while accusing the petitioner of harbouring a personal vendetta against Asthana. The affidavit stated, "Delhi is the capital of the country has a specific and special requirement which witnessed certain untoward and extremely challenging public order problems, riots, crimes which have an international implication. This necessitated the appointment of an experienced officer having diverse, multifarious experience of heading a police force in any large State, Central Investigating Agency or Para-military Security Forces, etc, to head the Delhi Police force." It sought that the petitions challenging the appointment be dismissed. Asthana also filed separate affidavits in the plea saying petitions were filed in the top court following a scathing social media campaign to malign his reputation and that the petitioner NGO and Prashant Bhushan harboured a personal vendetta against him. Meanwhile, the Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud adjourned the matter to the third week of January for a hearing. The Delhi High Court while dismissing a PIL challenging Asthana's selection had said the justification and reasons given by the Centre for appointing Asthana are plausible, calling for no interference in judicial review. Asthana, who was serving as the Director-General of Border Security Force, was appointed the Commissioner on July 27, 2021, after being shifted to the Union Territory cadre from Gujarat cadre for the tenure of one year. The NGO's petition has urged the top court to set aside the Centre's order to appoint Asthana after extending his service period. It termed the extension of Asthana's tenure as well as an appointment as "illegal" as he did not have a residual tenure of mandatory six months of service at the time of his appointment as Commissioner of Police since he was to retire within four days. The petition further claimed that the Centre's order violated the policy regarding Inter-Cadre deputation of All India Service Officers. (ANI) The 25-year-old Pakistan national, identified as Ehsan had inadvertently crossed International Border and reached the near border fence where he was apprehended by alert troops of 56 Battalion of the BSF on Tuesday. He belongs to Medo village under Nagarparkar (Sindh) region in Pakistan. BSF said the Pak Rangers approached it in search of the Pakistan national. "BSF, on humanitarian ground and as a goodwill gesture handed over the Pakistan National to Pak Rangers in a flag meeting held with them at Border Post No 1029/3-S," said the BSF, which is mandated to guard 3,323 km India-Pakistan border. (ANI) "Omicron is the predominant circulating strain in cities in the country. Mass gatherings should be avoided to lower the speed of this spread," Dr Bhargava said during the briefing of the Union Health Ministry. As per the ministry, 2,135 cases of Omicron have been reported in the country with Maharashtra registering the maximum cases followed by Delhi. The ministry has also said that Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat are States of concern where there has been a rise in COVID-19 cases. "28 districts in the country are reporting more than 10 per cent weekly positivity," Ministry has said. Notably, India on Wednesday reported 58,097 fresh COVID cases and 534 deaths while on Tuesday, the country had recorded 37,379 new COVID cases and 124 deaths. (ANI) Posting a video of rain playing spoilsport at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally, Congress Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore on Wednesday said that this was the real reason but the BJP blamed the state's first Dalit chief minister for the incident. In a tweet Tagore said, "Real reason for cancellation but Shah and Nadda says lies and wants to blame a first Dalit CM of Punjab is it fair? #ModiInPunjab." The video shared by the Congress leader showed that the Prime Minister's rally was cancelled as rain played spoilsport following which a thin crowd gathered at the rally venue. Bharatiya Janata Party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda on Wednesday said that he will not let cheap mentality hinder the progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stuck on a flyover during his Punjab visit which the Centre has termed as a security breach. Taking to Twitter, Nadda said, "It is sad that the PM's visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such cheap mentality hinder progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab." Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur was called off citing "major security lapse". The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. The MHA has taken cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM," said the statement by the MHA. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed," further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse. "The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action," the statement said.Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also announced from the stage at Ferozepur that PM Modi cancelled his scheduled visit to Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". (ANI) Maryland lawmakers and the head of a prison advocacy group are decrying the state health departments monthslong delay in notifying hundreds of people who may have received spoiled COVID-19 vaccines from a contractor. At least 28% of TrueCare24s doses were administered in state correctional facilities, which have been a hotbed for coronavirus spread, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of the vendors clinic locations and the number of shots given. Advertisement The agencys decision not to terminate a contract for TrueCare24, which the department officials knew had mishandled vaccines, and its delay in alerting those affected likely will be discussed Wednesday at a state Senate coronavirus task force meeting and are scheduled to be taken up Jan. 13 by the House Health and Government Operations Committee, legislators said. But, while legislators plan discuss the matter, they say theyre not sure what authority the General Assembly has, if any, to address the misstep. Advertisement The Department of Health, the governor, the secretary of MDH Dennis [Schrader] ... have just simply put all of these people at risk, said Democratic Del. Shane Pendergrass of Howard County, who chairs the House committee. The Maryland Department of Health is conducting a thorough review of the way it handled TrueCare24s noncompliance with state and federal health regulations, said Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, in an email. The departments clinical operations staff, which oversaw compliance at third-party vaccination clinics, notified agency officials in early September that TrueCare24 improperly stored temperature-sensitive doses in hotels and cars. While vaccine manufacturers verified that some of the incorrectly stored vaccines remained viable, TrueCare24 was unable to provide required records for much of its vaccine supply, leaving unanswered questions about how many of doses were spoiled. As of late December, the health department had not notified people who received the shots. Spokesman Andy Owen said Monday that the department had now begun contacting them. According to an email The Sun obtained, the agency estimated at least 876 people were affected. The deputy director of a Maryland Department of Health coronavirus recovery program, Jessicah Ray, had pressed agency officials to remediate the issues and notify the public. The Sun previously reported, based on documents it obtained, that she was transferred to another position and directed not to speak to former colleagues. Ray submitted a whistleblower complaint alleging that around 1,000 people may have gotten ineffective vaccine to the state health departments Office of the Inspector General, which declined to investigate and referred her to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal agency told Ray last week to take up the complaint with the state, she said. TrueCare24 is a San Francisco-based telehealth service that has conducted COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics. It has not responded to multiple phone calls and emails requesting an interview. Julie Magers, executive director of the Maryland Prisoners Rights Coalition, expressed concern in a statement over whether some doses given to inmates were ineffective and how the situation could be remedied. Advertisement [ Marylands prisons have teemed with coronavirus. Now, the most vulnerable inmates are getting COVID vaccines. ] We are extremely disappointed and unnerved with the ethics and lack of monitoring that allowed this to happen [and] which needs to be addressed, Magers said. Coronavirus infections continue to run rampant in prisons and vaccine delivery is inconsistent, she said. So, access to a replacement vaccine in time to prevent further infection could prove near impossible given the inability in a correctional facility environment to properly quarantine and distance, the already poor health conditions, and the track record of poor delivery of medical services in our jails and prisons, she said. The Maryland Department of Public Safety, which oversees state correctional operations, referred a reporters questions to the health department. Beyond the states failure to notify patients, the decision of the departments inspector general not to investigate is really concerning, said Democratic Sen. Shelly Hettleman of Baltimore County. She said it illustrates why she proposed a bill that passed the legislature last year to establish an independent IG office for the agency. The law doesnt take effect until July. Currently, the inspector generals office is a division within the department that is empowered to investigate potential fraud, waste and abuse of state funds. Advertisement We want to make sure that when there are allegations of fraud like this, there is an appropriate entity that can really be independent and follow up on these concerns, Hettleman said. Ricci said the health department is reviewing what steps are being taken to make sure it doesnt happen again. Breaking News Alerts As it happens Be informed of breaking news as it happens and notified about other don't-miss content with our free news alerts. > And we agree that such a review is warranted, he added. Pendergrass said the departments delay in notifying the public is another misstep by Hogans administration in combating a pandemic that has killed 11,706 Marylanders as of Tuesday and sickened hundreds of thousands more. Like the Korean tests, the governor has swept this under the rug and hidden it, she said. Email and other records obtained by The Sun suggest Schrader was briefed on the matter; they do not mention Hogan. Advertisement In April 2020, Hogan spent $9 million to procure 500,000 COVID-19 testing kits from a South Korean company. The tests were not approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Schrader confirmed in December 2020 that the state had swapped them for new ones at a cost of $2.5 million. He ignored the whistleblower, and what were faced with is a public health hazard of his own making, Pendergrass said of Hogan. Baltimore Sun reporters Meredith Cohn and Hallie Miller contributed to this article. "In view of the evolving COVID-19 situation and rising number of new cases in Kolkata, BJP national president JP Nadda's scheduled visit to West Bengal on 9-10 January stands postponed," said the state's BJP unit." "Fresh dates for his visit will be announced in due course," added the state BJP unit. Meanwhile, West Bengal recorded 9,073 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday taking the total cases to 16,64,301. Total active cases in West Bengal till Tuesday evening are 25,475. (ANI) The Indian Meteorological Department on Wednesday predicted that the western disturbances are likely to leave the northern region of the country on January 8 or 9, leading to improvement of weather conditions. Speaking to ANI, RK Jenamani, Senior IMD Scientist said, "Western disturbance is likely to leave on January 8 at night or by morning on January 9, but the maximum impact will be seen in Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Uttar Pradesh on January 9. There is no other western disturbance from 9 January onwards in our monitoring. After that, the weather will improve." As Delhi witnessed rain since morning today, the Scientist said that the weather will improve from tomorrow in the national capital. "The weather will improve tomorrow because the impact of western disturbances will be less. However, it will lead to bad weather again after January 7 across all the states. There are chances of light to moderate rain on January 8 as it will be the peak of the second western disturbance," he further said. Speaking about the temperature in Delhi, Jenamani said that the temperature will be around 17 to 18 degrees on January 6 and 7. "If we talk about the temperature in Delhi, the day temperature is between 15 to 17 degrees. The temperature will get improve on January 6 and January 7 which will be 17-18 degrees. The temperature will dip on January 8 again which will be 15 degrees and from January 9 onwards again, it will be improved," the IMD scientist said. Further, he said that there is no chance of cold waves for the next five days in all the states. "As I have told earlier about the warning, in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, there will be heavy rainfall and snow today as the western disturbance is very active in that region," he informed. He stated, "It will again be active on January 6 which will lead to the heavy rainfall in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and mountain regions like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand will also see heavy rainfall and snowfall." "Delhi will also witness rainfall on January 8. The night temperature will start to fall from January 9 onwards. Madhya Pradesh and East Uttar Pradesh will also see light rainfall as the western disturbance will move. The second western disturbance which is coming will hail storm in Madhya Pradesh on January 8 and January 9," he added. (ANI) With the rising number of COVID cases, the Indian Medical Association on Wednesday suggested that the Centre and state governments should limit the duty of resident doctors on COVID-19 patients to eight hours and make provision for taking care of their mental health. According to the IMA, "In the event of COVID duty doctors becoming ill, they should be admitted to government/private hospital at the earliest and in case of untimely death, the status of COVID martyr and compensation as well as casewise assistance should be arranged." "The Indian Medical Association (HQs) wants to suggest to the State Governments or the Central Government associated with the concerned medical college so that the safety of doctors from infection can be ensured to a great extent because doctors are the backbone of Indian health services in the pandemic," the statement read. If further stated that the COVID-19 duty of resident doctors should not exceed eight hours per day and seven days, after which there should be a quarantine of 10 to 14 days in the accommodation prescribed by the hospital. The association also highlighted that around 2,000 doctors died during the second wave of COVID. "The mortality rate in the country was around 1.5 per cent among the general population and around 2-3 per cent among healthcare workers. According to this estimate, COVID hit about 100,000 doctors," IMA added. Importantly, the medical association also mentioned that the mortality in the third wave is expected to be low but the Omicron variant is 5.4 times more infectious than the delta variant and due to the high exposure of healthcare to COVID patients in clinics and hospitals, doctors are expected to have 5 to 10 times more Covid infections than the general public. "In many big medical colleges or hospitals of the country, a large number of medical staff, especially doctors, have been found infected. So the health infrastructure can crumble due to the shortage of sick doctors," IMA further warned. (ANI) Hours after a security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday slammed BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda and asked him to introspect on BJP's anti-farmer attitude. The Congress leader said that the reason for canceling the rally is that there were no crowds to listen to PM Modi. Taking to Twitter, Surjewala said to Nadda, "Dear Naddaji, Stop losing cool and all sense of propriety. Please remember--1. 10,000 security personnel were deployed for PM's Rally. 2. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies. 3. Route was carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana/Rajasthan." Randeep Singh Surjewala said that PM's decision to take a road journey to Hussainiwala was not a part of his original schedule. "4. PM decided to take a road journey to Hussainiwala. It was not part of his original schedule to travel by road. 5. Kisan mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting against PM's visit and Union Minister, Gajendra Shekhawat has held two rounds of negotiation with them," the Congress leader said. Surjewala, who is also a member of the Congress working committee highlighted reasons for the protests by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. He tweeted, "6. Do u know why KMSC and Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are -: * Sack MoS Home, Ajay Misra Teni. * Withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi, and UP. * Compensation for kin of 700 Farmers who died. * Committee on MSP and a quick decision." "7. Post Farmer's agitation, Modi government chose to totally ignore these promises. 8. Finally, the reason for canceling the rally is that there were no crowds to listen to Modiji. Stop blame game and introspect on BJP's anti-farmer attitude. Hold rallies but listen to Farmers first!," he tweeted. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday sought a detailed report from the Punjab government regarding the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state. The state government has also been asked to "fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action". The action was taken after the Prime Minister's convoy during his visit to National Martyrs Memorial in Punjab via road reached a flyover where the road was blocked by some protestors. The Prime Minister was stuck on the flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the PM. Prime Minister Modi landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter.Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out, said a Home Ministry statement. (ANI) The Bulli Bai case has been transferred to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Special Cell, said KPS Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) IFSO Delhi on Wednesday. Speaking to ANI, Malhotra, said that the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) procedure in the 'Sulli' app case is completed in India and will soon be delivered to the Department of Justice. "Bulli Bai case has been transferred to us. The MLAT procedure in the 'Sulli' app case is completed in India and will soon be delivered to the Department of Justice. Details will be sought through MLAT accordingly and will be shared through Interpol," said Malhotra. Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year. Meanwhile, an engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand, and one of her friends has been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case, informed police on Wednesday. "Three people have been arrested in the 'Bulli Bai' app case, including Vishal Kumar Jha and Shweta Singh. The third accused is Shweta's friend," said Hemant Nagrale, Mumbai Police Commissioner. The Mumbai Police Commissioner also said that more people could have need involved in this case. Therefore, he requested people who have any knowledge about the case to come forward and share the details with the police. Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar told ANI that Shweta Singh, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the app, comes from a very poor family."Her father has died, it looks she did it for money," said Kumar. Reacting to personal details of the accused, the Mumbai Police Commissioner said, "We have apprehended these people from different places and some local authorities have given some versions about it, which I feel, was not required." "They were not aware of the details of the case. Generally, we don't speak about cases of other states," he added. Vishal Kumar has been sent to police custody till January 10 by a Bandra court and Shweta Singh is on a transit remand. Mumbai Police on Monday filed a first information report (FIR) against unknown persons based on complaints that doctored photographs of women were uploaded for auction on the 'Bulli Bai' application hosted on the GitHub platform. On Sunday, West Mumbai Cyber Police station registered a case against the 'Bulli Bai' app developers and Twitter handles that promoted the app. The case was registered against the unknown culprits under sections 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153(B) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act. After both the Delhi and Mumbai police lodged FIR in the matter under relevant sections, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a tweet on Sunday said, "Government of India is working with police organizations in Delhi and Mumbai on this matter." (ANI) In an official statement, the vaccine manufacturer said, "We have received feedback that certain immunization centres are recommending taking three paracetamol 500 mg tablets along with Covaxin for Children. No paracetamol or pain killers are recommended after being vaccinated with Covaxin." It further said that through our clinical trials spanning 30,000 individuals, about 10-20 per cent of individuals report side effects. "Through our clinical trials spanning 30,000 individuals, approximately 10-20 per cent of individuals report side effects. Most of these are mild, resolve within 1-2 days, and do not require medication. Medication is only recommended in consultation with a physician," it said. "Paracetamol was recommended along with certain other COVID-19 vaccines and is not recommended for Covaxin," it added. COVID-19 vaccination drive for beneficiaries in the age of 15-18 years was started from Monday across the country. Meanwhile, over one crore children in the age group of 15-18 years have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine till Wednesday afternoon, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. (ANI) Dhami also assured to solve other problems of the sanitation workers. The announcement was made by the Chief Minister during a meeting with the representatives of Uttarakhand Swachhkar Karmachari Sangh. The meeting took place under the leadership of former Chairman of Safai Karamcharis Commission, Bhagwat Prasad Bhakwana. During the meeting, Bhakwana apprised Dhami about the sanitation workers as well as many other problems of the employees. On this occasion, the state president of Uttarakhand Swachhkar Karmachari Sangh, Ram Avtar Rajour, Madan Valmiki and other officials and sanitation workers were present. (ANI) Following the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said that the Punjab government cannot provide smooth passage to the Prime Minister of the country and that too just 10 kilometres from the Pakistan border. Captain demanded immediate resignation of the current Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from his post. Taking to Twitter, Amarinder Singh wrote, "Complete failure of law and order in Punjab, CM and HM Punjab, in particular. When you cannot provide smooth passage to the Prime Minister of the country and that too just 10 km from the Pakistan border, you have no right to stay in office and should quit!" Bharatiya Janata Party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda on Wednesday said that he will not let cheap mentality hinder the progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stuck on a flyover during his Punjab visit which the Centre has termed as a security breach. Taking to Twitter, Nadda said, "It is sad that the PM's visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such cheap mentality hinder progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab." Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur was called off citing "major security lapse". The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. The MHA has taken cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government.PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM," said the statement by the MHA. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed," further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse. "The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action," the statement said.Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also announced from the stage at Ferozepur that PM Modi cancelled his scheduled visit to Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". (ANI) The results of the Congress screening committee meeting under the leadership of Ajay Maken, remained inconclusive as the leaders sat on names of probable candidates for the Punjab polls on Wednesday at the Congress war room in Delhi for the fifth time. After the meeting was over, Maken said, "Most of the seats have been discussed and soon the final decision on tickets for the upcoming Assembly polls will be taken after another round of meeting." On Wednesday, the fifth round meeting of the Punjab Congress Screening Committee ended without any result. According to Maken, the candidate list which has been discussed in the screening committee on 117 seats would be sent to the Central Election Committee (CEC) and after that, the list of candidates will be finalized. "We are scrutinising the list of the possible candidates who have the capability of winning the election. The party will only give the ticket to a person who can win the seat," he said. On how many existing MLAs to get tickets, Maken added, "It is difficult to say at the moment. And today screening committee meeting, Charanjit Singh Channi was not directly involved but was connected virtually." After the meeting was over, Navjot Singh Sidhu while talking to the media said that the meeting was conducted in a very enthusiastic and friendly atmosphere. Sidhu said, "In most of the seats, people have agreed to the decisions unanimously. All is well in Punjab Congress. The party will win the Punjab Assembly elections." Among those who attended the meeting were Maken, chairman of the screening committee, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, state Congress in-charge Harish Chaudhary and Punjab manifesto committee chairman Sunil Jakhar. Meanwhile, Jakhar said that COVID-19 protocols would be followed as far as election publicity is concerned in the wake of increasing cases. "In the next few days, we do not have any election rally". (ANI) A Delhi-based lawyer filed a complaint to NIA DG, regarding security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ferozpur, Panjab visit. Complainant requested National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General (DG) to investigate the matter and to find out if there was a conspiracy behind the security laps and take legal action. Complainant Vineet Jindal, the Delhi-based lawyer in his complaint stated that it is a matter of grave concern that how could Punjab Government be so ignorant about the security arrangements and it was undoubtedly a complete breakdown of security protocols to be followed and were to be ensured by them. Complainant also states that the incident is of a very serious nature and it's an utter shame for the Nation and needs investigation and scrutiny in a comprehensive manner by National Investing Agency in order to find out whether it was a foul play or criminal or terrorist conspiracy to be executed against the PM. "If the country fails to ensure proper security protocols for the PM, then how could common people be safe in any of the ways is a big question that has arisen with this major security lapse. The onus of lapse lies on Punjab government certainly and any detailed explanation from them would not be sufficient to evaluate the reason of this detrimental situation", stated complaint Today PM's visit to the National Martyrs Memorial in Ferozpur was scheduled via helicopter but due to rain and poor visibility, it was decided that he would proceed to travel by road after necessary confirmation of security arrangements by the Punjab Police DGP, the complaint read. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur was called off citing "major security lapse". The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. (ANI) It became the road trip from hell, but Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, didnt know that when they left their Ellicott City home around 11 a.m. Monday. Though it had snowed that morning, they figured the main roads would be clear. And skipping the trip wasnt an option. The couple leaves for Germany next week for Noes job in the Air Force. It was their last chance to visit his family in North Carolina for potentially years. Advertisement Ellicott City resident Casey Holihan was among hundreds of drivers stranded this week on I-95 during a storm. (Casey Holihan) After hours of stop-and-go traffic as they made their way south, by Monday evening, they were among the hundreds stranded at a standstill in a massive, 48-mile backup along Interstate 95 south of Washington amid a storm that froze roadways and dumped 12 inches of snow. While Virginia transportation workers struggled to clear jackknifed trucks and other accidents blocking traffic, Holihan, 23, and her husband, 24, slept overnight in their car. In the morning, they checked social media for updates on road conditions and saw nothing. Advertisement With temperatures in the teens, they and hundreds of other drivers were cold, scared and very hungry. By the light of day, Holihan realized that they were parked behind a truck for Baltimores Schmidt Baking Company. We stared at it for a long time fantasizing about bread, she said. She decided to contact Schmidts customer service line to see if there was anything on the truck, and if so, would the company be willing to give it away to the desperate travelers trapped without food for hours. After a conversation with a confused-sounding service rep, Holihan wasnt sure shed hear back. But within 20 minutes, she had the phone number for Chuck Paterakis, a co-owner of Baltimores H&S Bakery, which owns Schmidt Baking Company. Decades ago, his father, John Paterakis Sr., built H&S into the nations largest privately owned bakery; it provides much of the bread for McDonalds and Popeyes chains nationwide and also sells in stores from Virginia to Maine. Giving back is something thats in our company values and its in our culture, Paterakis said. If you dont give back to the community you as a company are not going to be able to succeed. The trucks driver, Ron Hill, had left the bakery on Belair Road the previous morning with 8,000 loaves destined for a distribution center in Norfolk, Virginia. Advertisement In his 14-year career as an independent truck driver, the 60-year-old Hill said hes never seen anything like this weeks backup on I-95. It was just different, he said. Im a veteran so Im pretty much prepared for anything. He mainly worried about running out of diesel as he kept his truck going to stay warm. He slept two hours and had nothing to eat. When morning came and there was still no sign of help, Hill said he went into the back of his truck to pray. Tears started rolling down my eyes, he said. He said he worried about all the people around him, and thought about giving out the loaves, but the bread was already accounted for. Advertisement Dish Baltimore Weekly Get the scoop on that new restaurant, learn about chef changes and discover your favorite new recipe. All your Baltimore food news is here. > It was just about then that Hill heard a knock on his trucks door. It was Holihan, with a message to call Chuck, he recalled. It was Chuck Paterakis. ... He said to pass out the bread. Ron Hill, a driver with Schmidt Baking Co., prepares to pass out bread to stranded motorists on I-95. (Casey Holihan (Handout)) He opened the back of the truck and began passing out loaves with Holihan and her husband. They slipped and skidded on the thick sheet of ice coating the road. People were thankful and grateful, said Hill, who spent Wednesday fielding calls from national media outlets from Inside Edition to Fox News as he drove to New Jersey for work. Altogether, Holihan said they passed out around 400 loaves of bread over the course of an hour. The seemingly endless and cold gridlock was one of the worst experiences of her life, but shes glad they were able to make it a little less awful for people. When the couple returned to their car, famished and tired, they realized they hadnt saved any bread for themselves. They walked back up to the truck and asked for another loaf. They received a bag of potato rolls too, and Holihan bit into one. Advertisement It was the best thing Ive ever eaten in my entire life. Following a security breach in Punjab involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy on Wednesday, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Wednesday said that the state government deliberately created a scenario to cause harm to the Prime Minister. "Never before in the history of our country, has a state government knowingly constructed a scenario where the Prime Minister will be brought to harm. We know Congress hates Modi, but today they tried to harm the Prime Minister of India," Irani said during a press conference here on Wednesday. Terming it as a breakdown of the law and order situation in Punjab, Irani said, "The DGP claims he is incapable of providing support PMO and PM security detail. The Congress must give an answer." Raising questions over the lapse in security, the Union Minister said, "The questions we as BJP workers and nation needs to ask the Congress government in Punjab that why did the DGP give an all-clear to the PM security detail or the route that the PM was to undertake? Who in the Punjab government gave information about the PM's route to individuals who planted themselves atop the flyover?" She further said that video evidence, which is now publicly available, brings such questions to the fore. PM Modi was atop the flyover for 20 minutes, she said, questioning, "Why did those who lead the security arrangements on behalf of the state government not respond to any calls or efforts to communicate to secure the PM?" Slamming the Congress-led state government, Irani said, "These are not mere charges. This is the reality of Punjab under Congress government." She further alleged that Congress leader erupted with joy after the incident asking the PM, "Who his josh (enthusiasm) was?" "My hope is that those who tried to bring the PM physical harm are met with justice," she said. PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. The Home Ministry has taken cognizance of the "serious security lapse" and has sought a detailed report from the Punjab government. The state government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action. The Home Ministry said in a statement that PM Modi landed at Bathinda on Wednesday morning from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. The statement said that when the weather did not improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than two hours. The Prime Minister proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the Prime Minister's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. (ANI) The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) on Wednesday in an emergent meeting of the Executive Committee, via video conferencing, condemned the malicious, mischievous and reprehensible act of creating, developing and hosting of the app 'Bulli Bai' allowing the users to participate in a false auction of several respectable women. The resolution passed in this matter states that DHCBA shall address a communication to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and demand immediate registration of FIR, and efficient, expeditious investigation thereafter, so that all persons found guilty of having committed the dastardly crime are punished in accordance with the law. "The said act not only tantamounts to the commission of grave criminal offences but also targets and brings disrepute to the female citizenry", states DHCBA resolution. An engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand and one of her friends has been already arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case, informed Mumbai police on Wednesday. The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday has also written to Delhi Police Commissioner regarding the Bulli Bai app case to immediately register FIR in the matter. Dehli Police has recently also sought information from Twitter about the account that first tweeted about the 'Bulli Bai' app and has asked it to remove offensive content related to the controversy, sources informed on Monday. Police has has also sought information from the GitHub platform about the 'Bulli Bai' app developer. The case registered under section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code in the Cyber Police station of South-East district has now been transferred to Delhi Police Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit. The action by Delhi Police was taken based on a complaint by a woman journalist at the Cyber police station where she alleged that her photo was uploaded on a website to target her. (ANI) A group of 32 former IFS officers and Ambassadors have slammed a motley group of activists for sustained smear campaign against the Modi government. The former IFS officers said in a statement that these activists many of them known leftists with sympathies for Maoists, joined by some former civil servants and military figures who have held the highest positions in their careers, as well as some sections of the media, have been conducting a sustained smear campaign against the present government on its presumed violations of the secular ethos of the country. The statement is signed by former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Ambassadors Veena Sikri, Lakshmi Puri, Shyamala Cowsik, Bhaswati Mukherjee, D.N. Srivastava, Ashok Kumar, J.S. Sapra, O.P. Gupta, N.P. Sharma among others. "This has taken effectively an increasingly anti-Hindu tenor under the guise of anti-Hindutva. The latter has become a convenient peg for "secular" posturing, adopting virtue-signaling "constitutional" positions, relying on bloated vocabulary of "Nazism" and "genocide" to gather international attraction and leverage it to bring odium to the Modi government. This explains the movement in US universities, for example, by elements of this assorted group to launch what are in reality anti-Hindu tirades", the statement said. The latest example of this is the manner in which these miscellaneous elements have latched on to some objectionable anti-minority statements made at a religious gathering at Haridwar in mid-December. "These should be condemned by all right thinking people no doubt, but when the import of these is exaggerated out of all proportion and the rantings by fringe elements are seen as representative of the sentiments prevailing in ruling circles, and as laying the agenda of what lies ahead at the national level, then the political leanings and moral integrity of the critics can be rightly questioned", the statement said. A tirade of accusations and calumny has been let loose in an effort to falsely portray the Haridwar speeches as a force very much larger than the fringe groups they represent. A slew of articles has appeared in the press by predictable personalities in a seemingly coordinated attempt to malign the state of affairs in the country, former IFS officers added. "Some journalists, speaking to the international media, have exposed their political bias by using terms like 'genocide' to describe the impact on a particular community. On a media platform in the Gulf countries, they have ranted about countless mosques destroyed, countless Muslims killed, the third largest Muslim population in the world targeted for 'genocide' in India and more in the same vein", the statement said. "Some others have enlarged the canvas of their politically contrived prejudices to see in this event an all-round failure of the police, the judiciary, and other constitutional bodies. Overwrought fears are expressed about an irreversible fragmentation and disintegration of the country by what is described as brazen and violent attacks against minorities throughout the North Indian heartland by supposedly not fringe elements but ones dangerously close to mainstream, and holding that the instruments of state are being bent to advance this communal agenda", the former Ambassadors said. Amazingly, the claim of historical wrongs against the Hindu community is dismissed as flimsy, and the spectre is being raised of the State eventually arbitrarily targeting any citizen irrespective of faith. The Haridwar incident is projected ridiculously as a peril for all Indians. "PM Modi's message of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas, is mocked by alleging that this is meant just for one community (the majority community), and not for all. This is line with attacks on 'majoritarianism', which is a way to question the mandate that the democratic process gives to the political party that wins elections legitimately and considers itself obliged to the electorate to implement its declared agenda lawfully", they added. "If a handful of religious figures speak of installing a Hindu Raj in the country, is that a reason for former generals, admirals, IAS, IFS and IPS officers of the highest rank to paint a crisis scenario and appeal to the President and the Prime Minister to stop a presumed developing rot in the country? Is it that they have lost so easily after retirement that sense of proportion and judgment which raised them to career heights while in service?" they asked. "Does this reflect some frustration at not having obtained what they may have aspired for as recognition and reward from the government after superannuation, or is it that they made a discovery of their hitherto dormant political affiliations only after retirement? Are they investing in a potential political change at the centre? It is not as if these well-informed individuals are unaware that communal divide and religious violence have existed in the country since independence and before, and did not suddenly emerge after 2014", the statement said. India's national security is not as much threatened, in the eyes of the signatories to the appeal, by Pakistan and China as by a handful of sundry Hindu activists saying some nasty things about the minorities in some forum of little importance and aggressively asserting their Hindu identity. As it happens, prominent seers in Haridwar have condemned their utterances as provocative, irresponsible and "damaging to the religious and social harmony of India". Action, including arrest, has been taken by the concerned state governments against the perpetrators. The redressal mechanisms are at work already, they added. They said this cabal of anti-Modi government activists deliberately ignore anything positive that the Modi government has done as it does not suit their personal and political agendas. Under PM Modi, welfare schemes for minorities have seen sharp increases in expenditure, including on rural housing, scholarships for needy students, priority sector lending by banks, the rural and urban livelihoods mission, and the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. In the first six years of the Modi administration, a total of Rs 22,000 crore was spent on minority welfare schemes, scholarships were awarded to 3.2 crore students from the minority communities, half of them girls. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said (July 2021) in a public statement at a book launch that "If anyone says Muslims should not stay in India, then he is not a Hindu...Anyone who is involved in lynching is not a Hindu". Such messaging has a powerful, widespread impact, not just on the immediate audience, and far beyond just the Hindu community. Taking note of this does not, of course, fit into the narrative that this group of feel-good activists want to disseminate, the former IFS officers said. They said that alll these attacks on the government, which seem quite orchestrated, have been completely one-sided and skewed. In the first place, they seek to blame the government in power for every statement made by any group anywhere in the country, which uses the name 'Hindu'. The statement said these arm-chair critics choose to ignore or dismiss equally virulent calls for violence and threats of violence made by not merely fringe groups, but by mainstream political figures in other communities, who have ranted about needing "only 15 minutes" to finish off the majority community. Another mainstream political party figure incited the people of one community to come together to "create four Pakistans in India". One-sided lessons to Hindus on secularism will not help build a secular India that these activists espouse. "Why is it that their fear of being accused of Islamophobia or conserving their pro minority credentials deter them from decrying the religious violence and excesses in Punjab by Khalistani elements in league with Pakistan? They, as the responsible citizens that they claim to be, should be taking more balanced positions as a measure of their commitment to a secular India", they added. --IANS san/skp/ ( 1297 Words) 2022-01-05-15:56:01 (IANS) Amid the ongoing military standoff with China, Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta on Wednesday took over as the General Officer Commanding of Leh-based Fire and Fury Corps, informed the Indian Army. He succeeded Lieutenant General PGK Menon, who completed his tenure of more than a year and represented India in the talks with China to resolve the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh on multiple occasions. Due to the sensitive nature of the corps which is looking after both the China and Pakistan borders, the new corps commander would get around 15 days with his predecessor to understand each and every facet of the area and issues related to it. The Ladakh sector includes both the Kargil sector and the Eastern Ladakh sector where enemies have shown aggression in the last two decades. The Corps is also in charge of the Siachen area which has been the world's highest and coldest battlefield for more than three decades now. India and China have been in a military standoff position for almost two years now post Chinese aggression in the Eastern Ladakh sector in the April-May timeframe last year. China has deployed more than 60,000 troops opposite Indian areas and is building infrastructure at a rapid pace. India had also made similar deployments and have deployed heavy weaponry to counter the aggression by them. Lt Gen Sengupta is presently posted in the Army Headquarters. He is from the Punjab Regiment and has also commanded a counter-terrorist force in the Kashmir valley before coming to Army headquarters. (ANI) SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was scheduled to take out Vijay Rath Yatra in Ayodhya on January 9. Yadav has been holding 'Vijay Rath Yatras' in the state ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled to be held this year. The elections to 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats will be held this year. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats. (ANI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a "personal visit" abroad ahead of assembly elections to five states, is likely to return to the country in the second week of January. The Wayanad MP has gone abroad when electoral preparations in five poll-bound states are in full swing and Congress has a crucial test not only in terms of its ability to contain the BJP but also for the space as the main challenger to the ruling party at the Centre. Among the poll-bound states, Congress is seen to have better prospects in Punjab and Uttarakhand but the situation has been complicated over a series of decisions over the past few weeks. Congress is witnessing infighting in both the states and Rahul Gandhi, who takes crucial decisions without a formal senior party position, is being seen as "missing from action". Political parties are holding meetings to decide their candidates for the polls and the Election Commission is also gearing up to declare the dates for elections. Congress sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to return to the country in the second week of January after ringing in New Year abroad. They said the party leader is in touch with the important party functionaries. Rahul Gandhi flew abroad in the last week of December. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala had earlier said that Rahul Gandhi is on "a brief personal visit". "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its media friends should not spread rumours unnecessarily," he had added. Rahul Gandhi had also travelled abroad ahead of the winter session of Parliament and is learnt to have returned a day before the commencement of the session. He had taken the crucial decision in the party in recent days including the appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab Chief Minister and Capt Amarinder Singh resigned while conveying his unhappiness with the party leadership over the way it had handled the organisational affairs in the state. The crucial meetings concerning Punjab and Uttarakhand have been held at Rahul Gandhi's residence. While the party's Punjab unit is uneasy over the apparent push by state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu that he be declared chief ministerial candidate, there are tensions in the Uttarakhand unit as well. In Uttrakhand, a prominent party leader Kishore Upadhyay, who is apparently annoyed with party leader Harish Rawat, went to meet BJP leaders in Dehradun. Sidhu has also, at times, opened a front against his own government and ministers on social media. On Tuesday, a group of Punjab leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjindar Singh Randhawa and Transport Minister Raja Warring met party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal to discuss the matters concerning the state unit. Congress was seen to have bright prospects in Punjab to retain power some months back but is now facing a stiff challenge. Not only BJP, but opposition leaders have also taken a dig at Rahul Gandhi's "frequent trips abroad". Mamata Banerjee, whose party is keen to emerge as the main challenger to BJP, had said taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and said no one can do politics by staying abroad "half the time". AAP is seeking to emerge as a force in several states where Congress has been traditionally strong. (ANI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a "personal visit" abroad ahead of assembly elections to five states, is likely to return to the country in the second week of January. The Wayanad MP has gone abroad when electoral preparations in five poll-bound states are in full swing and Congress has a crucial test not only in terms of its ability to contain the BJP but also for the space as the main challenger to the ruling party at the Centre. Among the poll-bound states, Congress is seen to have better prospects in Punjab and Uttarakhand but the situation has been complicated over series of decisions over the past few weeks. Congress is witnessing infighting in both the states and Rahul Gandhi, who takes crucial decisions without a formal senior party position, is being seen as "missing from action". Political parties are holding meetings to decide their candidates for the polls and the Election Commission is also gearing up to declare the dates for elections.Congress sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to return to the coutry in the second week of January after ringing in New Year abroad. They said the party leader is in touch with the important party functionaries.Rahul Gandhi flew abroad in the last week of December. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala had earlier said that Rahul Gandhi is on "a brief personal visit". "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its media friends should not spread rumours unnecessarily," he had added. Rahul Gandhi had also travelled abroad ahead of the winter session of Parliament and is learnt to have returned a day before the commencement of the session.He had taken crucial decision in the party in recent days including appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab Chief Minister and Capt Amarinder Singh resigned while conveying his unhappiness with the party leadership over the way it had handled the organisational affairs in the state. The crucial meetings concerning Punjab and Uttarakhand have been held at Rahul Gandhi's residence. While the party's Punjab unit is uneasy over apparent push by state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu that he be declared chief minsiterial candidate, there are tensions in the Uttarakhand unit as well. In Uttrakhand, a prominent party leader Kishore Upadhyay, who is apparently annoyed with party leader Harish Rawat, went to meet BJP leaders in Dehradun. Sidhu has also, at times, opened front against his own government and ministers on the social media. On Tuesday, a group of Punjab leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjindar Singh Randhawa and Transport Minister Raja Warring met party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal to discuss the matters concering the state unit. Congress was seen to have bright prospects in Punjab to retain power some months back but is now facing a stiff challenge. Not only BJP, opposition leaders have also taken dig at Rahul Gandhi's "frequent trips abroad". Mamata Banerjee, whose party is keen to be emerge as the main challenger to BJP, had said taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and said no one can do politics by staying abroad "half the time". AAP is seeking to emerge as a force in several states where Congress has been traditionally strong. (ANI) The test result of 832 samples is still awaited. Earlier today, samples of 1,827 passengers on board the Cordelia cruise ship were sent for COVID-19 testing after the ship arrived in Mumbai from Goa. BMC had said that those who tested positive will be sent to COVID centres or hospitals. Those who test negative will be sent for seven-day compulsory home quarantine. Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday said that out of the 2,000 samples tested onboard the Cordelia cruise ship that sailed from Mumbai to Goa, 66 passengers tested positive for COVID-19. Cordelia is the same cruise ship that was raided by Narcotics Control Bureau officials last year over an alleged drugs case in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, among others, was named. Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with the highest number of Omicron cases at 797. (ANI) The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has spiralled up and one needs to be careful in the coming days, a senior doctor at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said on Wednesday. Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said, "We are in the third wave as the number of cases has spiralled up and we have to be careful in the coming days." "The cases are increasing by the day. Also, because of the festivities like New Year celebrations, people went to different cities of the country. They have got infected over there as well. We are in the third wave. There is no doubt about it," Chatterjee said. Talking about how political rallies are contributing to the surge in COVID cases, Chatterjee said, "Obviously, in the political rallies, you see a rush. Hardly a few are seen wearing a mask. From the government point of view, they need to have restrictions. I believe that these rallies also need to stop. The transmissibility of Omicron is so high that it is spreading like wildfire." "Many people who visit different cities are found without masks. Many of them in smaller cities are not even wearing a mask. People are not scared of Omicron as they are dismissing it as a mild variant. Following this, many people are not practising social distancing now," he said. On whether the Omicron variant is a deadly variant of COVID, Chatterjee said, "Till now Omicron is not a very virulent disease. It is very transmissible but it's not virulent. It is such a highly transmissible virus. People having co-morbidities, asthmatic, diabetes might become sick. Not just because of COVID-19, all other viruses can make them sick." "Vaccination is a must. Vaccinate as early as possible and as many people as possible. The government has to monitor that people do not accumulate in a place. Citizens have to take a lot of precautions. If we take a lot of precautions, curtail our movement and only do essential stuff, I think that's the way ahead because we have seen that this virus has an immune escape phenomenon. That means people who have had infections earlier, vaccinated fully are also getting infected. So, the only way to protect yourself is masking yourself, maintaining social distancing and not going to these parties and avoiding all gatherings," he further said. India reported 58,097 fresh COVID cases, 15,389 recoveries, and 534 deaths in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. (ANI) Reacting to the lapse in security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Punjab visit, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said that the Punjab government has no right to stay in power after the incident. While speaking to reporters, Thakur said, "Punjab government has no right to stay in power after today's incident of a security breach of the Prime Minister of India. The state government failed to fulfill their responsibility to provide security to the Prime Minister." Thakur added that Narendra Modi is not only the Prime Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but he represents the country as a Prime Minister. Thakur demanded that Home Minister Amit Shah takes a strict action in the matter. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM," said the statement by the MHA. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed," further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse."The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognizance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action," the statement said. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also announced from the stage at Ferozepur that PM Modi canceled his scheduled visit to Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said, "I express regret that PM Modi had to return during his visit to Ferozepur district today. We respect our PM. We had asked them (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions & protests. We had no information of his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM visit." "If there were any security lapses during PM Modi's visit today, then we will conduct an inquiry. There was no danger to the prime minister," added Channi. (ANI) Baltimore Police will spend $17.6 million over the next 10 years for three new police helicopters, replacing four that department officials say are old and will no longer be serviceable. The departments oldest helicopter is nearly 12 years old and, due to federal regulations, the agency will no longer be permitted to be service it, Shallah Graham, the chief financial officer for the department, told members of the Board of Estimates on Wednesday. Advertisement At 12 years, theres a major overhaul with the helicopters, or they can no longer be flown because its a safety issue, she said. Graham said the department is planning to purchase only three as a cost-savings measure. We want to be financially responsible, she said. Advertisement Col. Kevin Jones, chief of patrol operations, said the helicopters are an extremely important tool for the department. The helicopters assist officers when theres a large crowd, natural disasters and vehicle pursuits, he said. Its a force-multiplier, he said. Especially in a time when we are dealing with resources shortages as a result of COVID-19 and other things. Earlier this week, a department spokeswoman said at least 300 employees, or about 12% of the department, were quarantined because they had tested positive or were awaiting COVID-19 test results. Jones said the new helicopters will be an improvement, providing additional space for up to six individuals from four in the older models. He also described the new models as a stronger, faster vehicle with the ability to stay up in the air longer. City Comptroller Bill Henry asked Graham whether the department would ask for a budget increase. Graham said the department will need an additional $1 million in the coming fiscal year 2023 to make debt service payments. But Graham said the total purchase price is expected to be lower once the department trades in its older helicopters. The Board of Estimates also approved two settlement agreements Wednesday. The city will pay $99,000 to cover attorneys fees from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that challenged the citys now-defunct surveillance plane program. The lawsuit sought an injunction to block the program from operating, and, in June, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The suit was filed on behalf of the grassroots advocacy group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; Erricka Bridgeford, co-founder of the Baltimore Ceasefire 365 project; and Kevin James, a community organizer and hip-hop musician. Advertisement The surveillance plane program was pitched initially as a tool to help police investigate murders, nonfatal shootings, armed robberies and carjackings. The Board of Estimates voted in February to terminate the citys agreement, grounding the planes. Breaking News Alerts As it happens Be informed of breaking news as it happens and notified about other don't-miss content with our free news alerts. > The board also approved an $8 million settlement Wednesday for the family of a man wrongfully convicted of murder who served 17 years in prison before his release. Malcolm J. Bryant was convicted of killing 16-year-old Toni Bullock in 1998, but his sentence was vacated in 2016 after the Maryland Innocence Project sought a court-ordered DNA test on the victims nail clippings that revealed a partial DNA profile that did not match Bryant. Bryant was released from prison in 2016 and died in early 2017 at age 42. Through 17 years of wrongful incarceration, Mr. Bryant steadfastly maintained his innocence, Bryants family attorneys, Amelia Green and Anisha Queen, said in a joint statement. While no amount can right all that Mr. Bryant and his family lost during those years, this settlement is further vindication of Mr. Bryants irrefutable innocence and that his wrongful conviction was caused by Baltimore Police Department misconduct. Advertisement The board approved the settlement with little discussion. While I understand there are facts in dispute in this case, I dont think anybody disputes this was a tragic situation, Henry said. Baltimore Sun reporter Emily Opilo contributed to this article. The 27th Kolkata International Film Festival, which was slated to be held between January 7-14, has been called off in the wake of the prevailing COVID-19 situation across West Bengal. The decision of the state government comes a day after the state minister for culture Indranil Sen had announced that there would be 50 per cent occupancy at the venues in the city where KIFF would be held along with a virtual inauguration ceremony. As per an official statement from the government, the rescheduled date of the festival will be communicated in due course of time. "After assessing the present COVID situation of the State and taking into consideration the possibility of further contamination of covid among the cine lovers and citizens and also owing to the fact that a number of cine personalities attached to film festival committee and many others have been affected by COVID, State Government, upon careful consideration to the safety of the citizens have decided to temporarily postpone the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival scheduled to be held between January 7-14, 2022. Next date of the Festival will be communicated in due course," it read. Notably, the state has witnessed a surge in COVID-19 cases. West Bengal on Wednesday reported 14,022 new COVID-19 cases, 17 deaths and 6,438 recoveries. The active cases in the state are at 33,042. According to Union Health Ministry, the state has reported 20 cases of new coronavirus variant Omicron. (ANI) Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab as 'very sad' and 'insulting'. "Prime Minister is not just a person, he is the representative of India. He is a supreme person for the constitution, democracy and democratic values. And in such a situation it is not just an insult to the Prime Minister, it is not just a security lapse, it is disrespect to the constitution of democracy and the 135 crore people of India. This is a very disgraceful and very unfortunate accident," Ramdev told ANI. The Yoga Guru also expressed concerns over the Coronavirus situation in the country and said political rallies should not be organised to curb the spread of the virus. "If these rallies are not stopped then we would not be able to contain the third wave, which will destroy everything", added Ramdev. On Surya Namaskar, that some Muslim scholars say is unislamic, Ramdev said that it is not a religious practice and purely an exercise as well as a method of physical, mental and spiritual wellness. "No mantras are chanted during Surya Namaskar", added Ramdev. "Some people want to deprive our children and our youth of the age-old physical education. Those who are opposing Surya Namaskar are disrespecting his age-old traditions. I pity them," he added. (ANI) The MoU was signed in the presence of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha and LuLu Group Chairman, Yusuff Ali MA. LG Manoj Sinha also inaugurated Jammu and Kashmir promotion week at the LuLu Hypermarket in Dubai. Speaking at the occasion, Lt Governor said, "Relations between India and UAE are long-standing and deep rooted. People-to-people contact and trade have seen momentum in the recent years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." "The world-famous GI-tagged saffron has been launched at LuLu Hypermarket, which I see as a major step towards boosting Jammu Kashmir and Dubai partnership. LuLu group is already importing apples from Jammu and Kashmir. And with saffron, we are adding Kashmir's finest spice to the basket. I am certain that this new beginning will take our trade to unprecedented levels," Sinha added. He said the MoU with LuLu Group will expand the collaboration between Jammu and Kashmir and Dubai. "Trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Dubai has remained steady, despite COVID-19 challenges and it reflects the resilience of our deep economic linkages. The MoU will further expand Jammu Kashmir-Dubai collaboration and Jammu Kashmir-LuLu Group partnership," the Lieutenant Governor said. Worth mentioning, Jammu and Kashmir ranks first in the production of saffron, apple, walnut and almond in India. The MoU with the LuLu group will help the union territory to reach out to shoppers at 190 LuLu Hypermarkets across the GCC and Egypt. (ANI) It was donated by the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association of human values. The Chief Minister appreciated the commendable services rendered by the Art of Living Foundation to the people during the pandemic and said that "the Foundation and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar not only helped the suffering humanity during the pandemic but has also educated them regarding stress management and enhancing body immunity by pranayam." The state government had also launched several online teaching programmes such as Har Ghar Pathshala, Digital Sathi Programme etc. to ensure that the studies of the students do not get affected due to the pandemic, Thakur said. He said that several NGOs, religious organizations and individuals also came forward to donate the mobiles to the poor students so that they can continue online classes. Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur also appreciated the services provided by the Art of Living Foundation. (ANI) The Delhi government has proposed the construction of twin towers at the ITO area of the national capital in order to accommodate the offices of the chief minister, his top cabinet members and officials of various departments. According to the official document of the Delhi government, it intends to "construct an iconic twin building at ITO, New Delhi comprising 30 to 35 storeys on three plots of land -- Vikas Bhawan-1, MSO and GST buildings. The total land area of the three plots is 53,603 sq metre." The government has proposed to construct the towers by 2025. According to the official document, the buildings should be designed as the office complex of the Delhi Chief Minister and the supporting staff, Office of the Deputy Chief Minister and the supporting staff, offices of the five ministers and their supporting staffs and chief secretary, and other secretaries of the government of the union territory. Worth mentioning, the offices of the Chief Minister and other ministers are presently located in the Delhi Secretariat building. The offices of the Chief Secretary and other officers are also there. Now the office of these officers will also be shifted to the new building. The new buildings will have auditoriums with a capacity to accommodate 2000, 1000 and 500 people. On being asked about the proposal for the construction of the new building, PWD Minister of Delhi Satyendar Jain told ANI, "We have an old building, which has started falling apart. That building cannot be renovated as it is in dilapidated condition. That is why a new building is being built in its place, where Delhi government offices can be accommodated." (ANI) Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is flying to India on Sunday on a four-day official visit to Gujarat to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, to be held in Gandhinagar from January 10-12. A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday sanctioned Prime Minister Deuba's visit to India, where he will be leading a 25-member delegation. Though this is Deuba's second foreign trip since he was appointed Prime Minister on July 13 last year for the fifth time, this will be his first official visit to India. In November last year, Deuba had travelled to Glasgow, Scotland, to participate in the UN climate conference. He had held an informal bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Glasgow as well. Any Nepali PM's visit to India is followed keenly, both in Kathmandu and Delhi. Deuba's visit to India comes on the heels of his comeback as a strong leader in the Nepali Congress from the party's recently-concluded general convention. "As of now, at least three Memorandums of Understanding on different sectors have been planned for signing in New Delhi," a senior government official said, adding: "Besides signing the MoUs, the Prime Minister will make a strong pitch for investment and tourism promotion during his meeting with Modi and while using the platform of the Gujarat summit." Sources said an MoU will be on importing chemical fertiliser from India under a government-to-government deal, which has been pending for quite a while now. During his meeting with Modi in November in Glasgow also, Deuba had raised the issue and urged the Indian Prime Minister to expedite the process. "Since the agenda of procuring chemical fertiliser from India has been on the table for a long time, this time we are expecting a breakthrough," said the official. Nepal is set to face a shortage of chemical fertilisers, which could spell an economic disaster. In June last year, Nepali and Indian officials had discussed the signing of a five-year deal to supply chemical fertilisers to Nepal. As per the proposed deal, Nepal can buy up to 200,000 tonnes of chemical fertilisers, mostly urea, per year from the southern neighbour without issuing a global tender. The amount will be enough to meet Nepal's 30 per cent annual fertiliser requirement. Another MoU is related to commencing the cross-border Kurtha-Jayanagar rail service that has been awaiting final approval from both sides for a long time. After signing the standard operating procedure (SOP) in October last year, India in the same month had handed over the 34.9 km Kurtha-Jayanagar section of the railway infrastructure to Nepal. The new infrastructure was built for broad gauge railway operation by replacing old infrastructure for narrow-gauge railway service, which had stopped seven-and-a-half years ago. Another MoU is about rebuilding around 137 health posts with Indian assistance that Delhi had announced in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes. Some other issues likely to figure in the meeting are Nepal's plan to sell electricity in the Indian market, providing air entry routes to Nepal crucial for operating the Bhairahawa airport close to the border, renovation of the central library at the Tribhuvan University and some economic packages that India is currently considering at the top political level, said Nepali officials. Since some heads of state, top industrialists and business leaders from India and abroad are participating in the Gujarat summit, Deuba will use the platform to attract investments to Nepal, according to officials. Due to the fast-spreading Covid variant Omicron, the Prime Minister will be leading a small delegation and he will make a stopover in New Delhi on January 9 and leave for Gandhinagar the next day. On January 10, the Prime Minister will participate in the summit, where he will meet Modi and some other leaders on the sidelines of the event, said officials who are preparing the visit. Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is a biennial event conceptualised in 2003, and the 2022 event on January 10-12 is its 10th iteration. The Prime Minister has also requested visits to some religious sites in Gujarat like Somnath Temple and Dwaraka Temple. Soon after he was appointed the Prime Minister, Deuba had received an invitation to visit India. --IANS giri/arm ( 711 Words) 2022-01-05-20:36:01 (IANS) Reviewing all the initiatives in the education sector on Wednesday, the Chief Minister directed officials to complete the mapping of school teachers under the new hierarchy of school divisions in the state. Emphasizing the importance of maintaining subject-wise teachers in every grade, Reddy said that this mapping is a top priority and should be completed swiftly. The Nadu-Nedu Program has led to increased student enrollment in government educational institutions, to maintain the schools at the promised standards, the Chief Minister directed officials to focus on maintenance of existing infrastructure and also to submit the 'Action Taken Report' on regular basis. In light of the transition of schools to CBSE and English-medium, the training and enhancement of teaching faculty are vital. The NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement) 3.0 program is ongoing in the state, NISHTHA is a capacity-building programme that was launched by the Central government to improve the quality of school education through Integrated Teacher Training (ITT). In Andhra Pradesh, NISHTHA 3.0 is currently improving foundational literacy and numeracy for 68,000 primary school teachers and 56,000 Anganwadi workers. Before this, the NISHTHA 1.0 training program was conducted for 12 weeks for 97,500 Primary School teachers, and NISHTHA 2.0 training program was conducted for 12 weeks for 72,300 Secondary School teachers. This is a CBSE model of transition into English medium, which employs assessment training. Meanwhile, discussing YSR Sampoorna Poshana, the state government is practising strict pre-dispatch stock inspections in all district's go-downs, before dispatching of eggs and nutrition kits. Through these inspections, the poor-quality stock is flagged and stopped before dispatch. This new model is proving better and more efficient than the previous system of levying penalties at a later date and rejection of stock at Anganwadi Centers. (ANI) India, a key player in the world's fight against terrorism, will now chair the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2022, and seek to ensure the global response to the menace remains "unambiguous, undivided and effective". India will be represented by its envoy to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti. "As the chair for CTC for 2022, India will make determined efforts to further enhance the role of the CTC in strengthening the multilateral response to counter-terrorism, and more importantly, ensuring that the global response to the threat of terrorism remains unambiguous, undivided, and effective," an official statement read after its election as chair of the CTC. The CTC, established by Resolution 1373 (2001) in September 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is tasked with monitoring the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001), which requested countries to implement a number of measures intended to enhance their legal and institutional ability to counter terrorist activities at home, in their regions, and around the world. It comprises all 15 members of the Security Council - the five permanent members as well as India, Vietnam, Norway, Nigeria, and Tunisia among others. Tirumurti is a career diplomat with extensive experience. Since joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1985 he has served in numerous capacities, including in the Indian Embassy in Egypt, at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Geneva, as India's first Representative of India to the Palestinian Authority, as Counsellor in the Indian Embassy in the US, as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Indian Embassy in Indonesia, and as High Commissioner of India to Malaysia. He also served as Under Secretary, Bhutan, Director in the Office of the Foreign Secretary, Joint Secretary, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka), and Joint Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Council in the Ministry of External Affairs. Prior to taking up his current position as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in May 2020, he served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, handling the Economic Relations portfolio (which included, inter alia, the Gulf and the Arab World, Africa, and India's Development Partnerships). --IANS nimish/vd ( 367 Words) 2022-01-05-22:26:02 (IANS) In a dramatic first high-profile exit from an Elon Musk-run company in India, Sanjay Bhargava, India Director for Starlink, has stepped down amid the government pressure to get necessary permission for offering satellite-based Internet services. In a highly philosophical LinkedIn post late on Tuesday, Bhargava said that "I want to live next to humans, very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumphs and who take responsibility for their actions". "In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty. Thank you all for respecting my privacy and for your kind comments," Bhargava wrote. His resignation comes after the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications in December warned Starlink to get necessary permission required to offer satellite-based Internet services in India. The Elon Musk-owned company on Tuesday informed some individuals in the country that it will refund their pre-orders. "I have stepped down as country director and chairman of the board of Starlink India for personal reasons. My last working day was December 31, 2021," said Bhargava. The Indian government had told Starlink, the satellite internet division of billionaire Musk's rocket company SpaceX, to stop "booking/rendering the satellite internet service" in the country sans a licence. Starlink later announced that it will apply for a commercial licence in India by January 31. Bhargava said: "I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures, and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be done. I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up". "My time is too short: I want the essence. My spirit is in a hurry. I do not have much candy in the package anymore". Earlier, Starlink had announced that it will focus on 10 rural Lok Sabha constituencies to provide the Internet services. "I am also keen to have 30-minute virtual conversations with MPs, ministers, secretaries to the Union government, or principal secretaries to states to see if they think 100 per cent broadband would help improve lives," Bhargava had said. Starlink shipped 100,000 terminals to customers recently. The project aims to provide global broadband connectivity via a constellation of satellites. SpaceX began satellite launches in November 2019 and opened its $99 per month beta programme for select customers around a year later. --IANS na/dpb ( 414 Words) 2022-01-05-10:16:02 (IANS) Washington DC [US], January 5 (ANI/Sputnik): The US government has condemned the seizure of a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-flagged cargo vessel off the Yemeni port of Hudaydah as it threatens international trade and regional security, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. "The United States condemns the Houthis' January 2 seizure of a UAE-flagged merchant vessel off the coast of Hudaydah, Yemen. These actions interfere with freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and threaten international trade and regional security," Price said in a press release on Tuesday. Price called on the Houthis to immediately release the tanker and crew unharmed and stop all violence interfering with the political process seeking to end the war in the Republic. Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi rebels. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab alliance, working in cooperation with Hadi's forces, has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis. The conflict has created the arguably biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. (ANI/Sputnik) Flames erupt from the roof as Baltimore firefighters work to extinguish a four-alarm fire in the Charles North apartment building Wednesday morning. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun) Firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze for over five hours after they were called to a four-story Charles North building on Wednesday morning, the Baltimore Fire Department said. Baltimore Fire Chief Roman Clark said firefighters were first called to the 100 block of W. 22nd St. just after 4:20 a.m. The departments spokesman said heavy smoke and fire was showing on multiple floors. Advertisement This is a very labor-intensive fire, he said. It was a heavy fire load with a tremendous amount of combustible things inside. Advertisement 3RD ALARM BUILDING FIRE 100 blk W 22nd St 21218#CharlesNorth@avalon1958#BMORESBravest have fire showing from the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th floors. Civilians being rescued by ladders. Temp is 25. pic.twitter.com/i0nxyJhCPX Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734 (@BCFDL734) January 5, 2022 The fire eventually worked its way up to a fourth alarm, with at least 100 firefighters dispatched to the scene, Clark said. As temperatures hovered well below freezing at around 25 degrees, firefighters evacuated the building due to the flames throughout the complex and opted to fight the blaze from the outside, the Baltimore Firefighters Union IAFF Local 734 said in a tweet. The fire was brought under control around 10 a.m. . Breaking News Alerts As it happens Be informed of breaking news as it happens and notified about other don't-miss content with our free news alerts. > The union said in tweets that the building was an apartment building and that people were being rescued by ladders. But, Clark said the building was actually abandoned and that to his knowledge, nobody required rescuing. There were reports that people were seen coming out of the building but we could not verify that, he said. 4TH ALARM BUILDING FIRE 100 blk W 22nd St 21218#CharlesNorth@avalon1958 Due to fire throughout the building, FFs have evacuated and are going to fight the fire from outside. A 4th alarm has been called. 4 alarm is 17 engines, 8 trucks, lots of support, 130 personnel pic.twitter.com/yHdb6uBSvV Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734 (@BCFDL734) January 5, 2022 Baltimore City Department of Public Works was called to the scene, which Clark said is routine, to help ensure the that the fire department was able to access the highest amount of water pressure. He also said crews were able to assist when a few caps flew off fire hydrants, forcing them to be shut off and causing firefighters to find other hydrants. The fire chief said the blip did not disrupt the response. In a statement, DPW spokesman James Bentley said crews turn off certain valves to help increase water pressure. It becomes especially important when there are multiple alarms because multiple fire units are using hydrants and that can drain pressure, he said. We make sure the pressure can be increased. Advertisement Bentley said solid waste crews will also be deployed to help pick up fire debris, like burned or charred material once the fire is extinguished. This story may be updated. The unidentified projectile is believed to have already landed, according to the Japan Coast Guard. It was fired toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the South Korean military. Meanwhile, Sputnik citing NHK TV reported that a crisis response center has been formed under the office of the Japanese Prime Minister following the possible launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea. Kyodo News Agency reported that North Korea last launched a projectile in October 2021, when it test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, adding to concerns over the nuclear-armed nation's technological advances in hard-to-intercept weapons. (ANI) The National Public Health Organization (EODY) confirmed 50,126 infections within 24 hours. The previous record was registered on New Year's Eve (40,560 cases), while a week ago there were fewer than 10,000 cases per day. Greek officials said that the returning students and teachers will be required to take more COVID-19 tests regardless of their vaccination status. More than 70 percent of the new cases in GreecGreece's daily COVID-19 cases hit new record e's five big regions are liked to the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, EODY's President Theoklis Zaoutis told a press briefing on Monday. The Omicron variant surge is expected to peak quickly and then decline by February, Gkikas Magiorkinis, a professor of epidemiology and a member of the committee of experts advising the Greek Health Ministry on the management of the COVID-19 crisis, told the Greek national news agency AMNA. Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, professor of environmental engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told the local SKAI TV that the number of new daily cases may reach 80,000 in the coming days. (ANI/Xinhua) Five People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare airplane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the PLAAF planes, reported Taiwan News. A total of nine Chinese aircraft have been spotted in Taiwan's identification zone so far this month, including five fighter jets and four spotter planes. Since September last year, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most occurrences taking place in the southwest corner of the zone. Air Defence Identification Zone(ADIZ) is an area that extends beyond a country's airspace. It is the area where aircraft are asked to identify themselves by the air traffic controllers. Gray zone conflicts are activities by a state that is harmful to another state and are sometimes considered to be acts of war, but are not legally acts of war. The number of flights is expected to increase further as tensions rise over major political events on two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 2022, Taiwan News reported. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades. Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. (ANI) Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provided "false information" regarding the party's funding to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and hid funds worth millions of rupees. The report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the party's funds was revealed on Tuesday. It said that the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) statement revealed that the party had received Rs 1.64 billion in funding, reported Geo News. According to the report, the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs 310 million to the ECP. The scrutiny committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI. The case began in 2014 when the party's founding member, Akbar S Babar, filed it. Babar alleged that the PTI received funding from illegal sources and that the party was also involved in money laundering, according to Dawn. Today, in a Twitter post, Babar thanked Allah, saying he stands "vindicated". The report lays bare the contradictions in details provided by the PTI to the ECP and actual figures, reported Geo News. According to data provided to the committee by the SBP, PTI has 26 bank accounts. From 2008 to 2013, PTI disclosed funds worth Rs 1.33 billion to the ECP, whereas a report by the SBP shows the actual amount to be Rs 1.64 billion, the report said. PTI failed to disclose details of three banks in the documentation provided to the ECP, it added. It stated that around 1,414 companies in Pakistan, 47 foreign companies and 119 potential companies provided funds to PTI, reported Geo News. PTI received USD 2.3448 million in funding from the US, but the scrutiny committee couldn't obtain access to the party's US bank accounts, the report said. Besides the US, the PTI obtained funds from Dubai, UK, Europe, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Australia and several other countries. Due to a lack of information, the committee's report said that it cannot comment on the source of the funding from any of the countries, reported Geo News. The firm that audited the PTI's accounts based their reports on the same information for five years, the report noted, adding that the PTI changed the firm in the last year but the report's contents remained the same. The report said that the committee arrived at the conclusion that there is a contradiction in the audit reports and the PTI's bank statements. The committee sent the PTI a questionnaire on the funding received from the US and other countries but obtained no clear response, the report added. (ANI) The White House has urged private companies to oppose the human rights abuses and genocide by China in Xinjiang. This comes after Tesla, a US-based vehicle manufacturer, opened a showroom in the region in China, Kyodo News reported. At a news conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that private sector companies that fail to address forced labor and human rights abuses within their supply chains face "serious legal, reputational, and customer risk," both internationally and in the US. "I can't speak to the specific situation of one company, but as a general matter, we believe the private sector should oppose the PRC's human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang," Psaki said. In recent times, the US has ramped up its campaign against China for repressing religious minorities in Xinjiang. Recently, the administration of President Joe has decided on a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next month in a show of protest over China's human rights abuses. The president in December also signed into law a bill effective banning all imports from Xinjiang due to concerns over the use of forced labor there. "The international community, including the public and private sectors, cannot look the other way when it comes to what is taking place in Xinjiang," Psaki said while warning that companies failing to address forced labor in supply chains face serious legal, reputational and customer risk around the world. According to media reports, Tesla has said it has begun operation in a showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. This has drawn widespread criticism. Last year, the US become the first country in the world to declare the Chinese actions in Xinjiang as "genocide". Both the Canadian and Dutch parliament adopted motions recognizing the Uyghur crisis as genocide in February last year. Dutch became the first parliament in Europe to do so. In April last year, the United Kingdom also declared China's ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang a "genocide". (ANI) In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that Tesla must cease what amounts to economic support for genocide. US-based Tesla opened the showroom in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi with an announcement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. "No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Elon Musk and Tesla must close this new showroom and cease what amounts to economic support for genocide." According to media reports, Tesla has said it has begun operations in a showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. This has drawn widespread criticism. US lawmakers accuse China of imprisoning as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps, where they are forced to produce textiles, electronics, food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts. Beijing, on the other hand, has repeatedly denied all accusations of being engaged in abuses in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, the White House has urged private companies to oppose the human rights abuses and genocide by China in Xinjiang. (ANI) Pakistan's troubles along its border has increased amid tension with both Afghanistan and India. The border trouble gives grave signals to its military-backed government that exporting terrorism would carry grave consequences, according to Al Arabiya. Earlier, Pakistani Rangers exchanged mortar fire with the Taliban in eastern Nangarhar province after the latter ripped away the border fence being laid by the Pakistani personnel in the third week of December last year. The local Taliban official followed it up by threatening 'a war' if the Pakistanis persisted with the border fencing. Further, Pakistani soldiers unleashed artillery in Afghanistan's Kunar province following the incident in Nangarhar province's Gushta area. This indicates that both sides have upped the ante along the disputed Durand boundary. The Durand Line forms the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a 2,670-kilometre (1,660 mi) international land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Further, the Taliban local affiliates mentioned that they have stopped the Pakistan military from erecting barbed wire fences and outposts in Afghanistan's Nimroz province, according to local media. On the other hand, around the same time in the third week of December ( 2021), Pakistan soldiers clashed with India in Jammu and Kashmir on the border when the Indians thwarted efforts to infiltrate militants. The Indian Army had formally raised the issue of Pakistan Rangers starting a construction project just across the Line of Control, opposite Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir union. But the two incidents portray Pakistan image which is obsessed with the Kashmir border dispute with India and has sought to 'normalise' the border with successive governments in Afghanistan, according to Al Arabiya. Earlier, Islamabad invested heavily in the Taliban in the mid-1990s when the latter took power in Afghanistan and, again, after they were pushed out of power following the US-led invasion in 2001. Nearly two- decades' sheltering and nurturing of the Taliban was meant to acquire "strategic depth" vis a vis the perennial enemy India. However, the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in August 2021, from securing that 'depth', has denied it even the basic peace with Afghanistan. Although landlocked and dependent upon Pakistan for reaching out to the sea, the Afghans have doggedly refused to acknowledge the British-era defined Durrand Line border according to Al Arabiya. (ANI) "@SecBlinken, @SecDef Austin, and Ambassador Emanuel will virtually meet Japanese FM Hayashi and @KishiNobuo for the 2022 U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee Meeting on Jan. 6. We will strengthen our alliance to address global challenges, tweeted US Department of State, spokesperson, Ned Price. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, joined by US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, will meet virtually with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo on January 6, for the 2022 US-Japan Security Consultative Committee ("2+2") Meeting, read a US Department of State statement. The 2+2 Meeting has long been a high-level forum for US-Japan foreign and defence policy cooperation. "During the meeting, the delegations will discuss ways the United States and Japan can strengthen our alliance to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and other global challenges," added the statement. China has been demonstrating an aggressive approach in pressing its territorial claims against its neighbours. (ANI) Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have deep diplomatic and military ties, but their relations have been strained in recent years after Islamabad reportedly refused a request by Riyadh to contribute troops to the Yemen war. Moreover, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has angered the Saudi Arabians, yet again. He hosted a recent meeting on December 28, 2021, with Saudi envoy. It underscores a given that demeanour and even sitting position can impact diplomacy, reported The Singapore Post. Receiving Ambassador Nawaf bin Said al-Malki, in Islamabad, Qureshi can be seen sitting with one leg crossed and the other pointing in Al-Malki's direction. This was deemed offensive by many Saudis who think Qureshi 'insulted' their envoy, The New Arab reported. Many Saudis took to social media to express their disapproval of the Pakistani FM's seating position stating his demeanour was 'the height of foolishness and ignorance'. "Pakistani foreign minister receives Saudi ambassador in Pakistan with unmatched hospitality," said one user sarcastically. Another one in a tone full of sarcasm, wrote, "If there is no strong reason (medical) for the Pakistani foreign minister to receive the kingdom's ambassador in this way, then this is the height of impudence and foolishness and ignorance of the basics of diplomatic protocol," reported The Singapore Post. There was no official word from either government. But the Saudi Embassy put out a photograph on social media showing the two representatives of the "brotherly countries" engaged in discussions on issues of mutual interests to their governments. The photograph did not show Qureshi's legs and sitting posture. This is not the first time Qureshi has got into Saudi crosshairs. His diatribe in mid-2020 expressing 'disappointment' at the 'failure' of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to host foreign ministers meet to discuss the Kashmir issue nearly touched off a diplomatic row. The Saudis, who have deep ties with, and hence, influence in Pakistan's affairs, were angry and despite a damage control visit by Pakistani Army Chief General Bajwa to Riyadh, demanded that Pakistan return the USD 3 billion lent to it earlier as an emergency loan. They also called off the concessional sale of petrol and gas, hurting a fledgling Pakistani economy further, reported The Singapore Post. The Saudis suspected, for some reason, that Prime Minister Imran Khan was trying to "switch sides" by getting closer to Turkey whom the Saudis and other Gulf nations view as a usurper. Khan did get cosy with President Erdogan and then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. But when the Saudis cracked the whip, he refrained from attending a conference Mahathir organised in Kuala Lumpur. Surveys by Pew Research Center, a think tank based in Washington, have shown that although Saudi-Pak relations are "brotherly" and Pakistan's ties with China are those of "iron brothers", the people of these countries do not necessarily hold the Pakistanis in high esteem. The donor-donee relationship cuts across all the high-sounding sentiments and diplomatic words, reported The Singapore Post. For any Pakistani leader, relations with Saudi Arabia, especially its royalty, are key to political acceptability at home, since Saudi Arabia is the seat of Islam's highest shrine. (ANI) "@antiguagov@AntiguaOpm HE@gastonbrownesigns framework agreement of @isolaralliance ISA in presence of HC @drkjsrini making Antigua & Barbuda 102nd country to join ISA-to catalyze global energy transition through a solar-led approach," tweeted Indian High Commission in Guyana on Wednesday. Antigua and Barbuda joined the International Solar Framework in the presence of Indian High Commissioner Dr. K. J. Srinivasa. Antigua and Barbuda has joined the ISA by signing the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement on Tuesday. Earlier, Antigua's Prime Minister Gaston Browne signed the ISA Framework agreement on behalf of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. The International Solar Alliance is conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and to provide a platform for collaboration to address the identified gaps through a common and agreed approach. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an action-oriented, member-driven, collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies as a means for bringing energy access, ensuring energy security, and driving energy transition in its member countries. Launched by India & France in 2015 to facilitate energy access, security & transition. The ISA is creating a global market system to tap the benefits of solar power by promoting clean energy applications. With 102 Member countries in the global collective, the ISA is working towards creating a multi-stakeholder ecosystem where sovereign nations, multilateral organizations, industry, policymakers and innovators are coming together to promote the common and shared goal of meeting energy demands of a secure and sustainable world. (ANI) The first production Laurel Mill Playhouse put on since closing its doors in March 2020 due to the pandemic was short and sweet and just what the theater company needed to get back into the swing of things. Running only about 70 minutes with a cast of 16, World War II Christmas Play is designed as a live radio show in the 1940s, according to director Maureen Rogers, allowing for minimal rehearsals and sparse set design. Advertisement Actors come up to the mic and read their scripts like in the old days, Rogers said. The playhouse is also planning another radio play this month. Lenny Dinerman, Jill Vanderweitand Sanjeev Dev in Laurel Mill Playhouse's "World War II Radio Christmas." - Original Credit: (Courtesy photo / HANDOUT) We didnt want to spend a lot of money, so with two radio plays, we can use the same set, Rogers said. Advertisement Unlike many theater companies, Laurel Mill Playhouse owns its own building and had to continue to pay the mortgage and utilities while its doors remained closed. People have been very kind to us, and we had a great deal of support from the city with grants, Rogers said. Our patrons all helped us out. Venus Theatre was also the recipient of grants from the City of Laurel, according to founder Deb Randall. The group returned the grant after making the difficult decision to close its C Street location in November. It was a perfect storm of awful things, said Randall, who said delays of the studios new HVAC system and an upcoming rent increase made her question her theaters future at the location. The arrival of two neighboring businesses that produce increased noise was also problematic. Now, she is taking Venus back to its roots, she said, doing pop-up shows when it makes sense and hosting retreats. We are without limits right now and are able to do anything, Randall said. Things are constantly changing and shifting. The current rise in positive COVID case numbers has Howard County Summer Theatres performance plans in limbo, according to board member Laural Clark. The [theaters] board is watching the pandemic numbers and discussing options for a summer show, Clark wrote in an email. At this time, with infections surging, we cannot make a definite decision. Advertisement In July, Silhouette Stages in Columbia decided to cancel its fall production of Something Rotten, a show that was maybe too big with the many unknowns about the pandemic still raging, according to board president Jeremy Goldman. Instead, the theater group decided to produce Little Shop of Horrors, a smaller show, in the fall. It held auditions only to decide to close the show in August. Silhouette Stages now plans to open Calendar Girls on March 18. Its been an interesting ride, Goldman said. Whats really cool is the pandemic hit one week before Calendar Girls was supposed to open. The set was built, the costumes. Now, we are opening with the same show. About 80% of the original cast is back, Goldman said, and online rehearsals have become the norm. The show features an older cast that could be a little more vulnerable, so the group is taking extra precaution to ensure everyones safety, with portable air purifiers, hand sanitizer stations, extra masks and digital thermometers. We feel like we are really well prepared, Goldman said. On stage, actors dont wear masks. As soon as they exit - masks on. Everyone seems good about it. The organization, he said, is rather unique in that it is run entirely by volunteers, and it doesnt have its own theater space, producing shows at Slayton House in Columbia. When were not doing a show, we dont have significant expenses, said Goldman, noting that Slayton House could close its stage to the group for any reason. Advertisement Its not up to us if our venue closes, Goldman said. It is certainly a risk. Rep Stage, a professional theater company in residence at Howard Community College, had to postpone its Dec. 2 production of Songs for a New World, again after canceling its original opening on Sept. 30. Howard County Times: Top stories Weekdays Daily highlights from Howard County's number one source for local news. > Songs for a New World was canceled due to the inability to make changes to the Actors Equity safety rider, Joseph Ritsch, producing artistic director of Rep Stage, wrote in an email. The safety rider had language that did not align with the colleges liability and self-insurance laws, and there were questions about HVAC inspections and requirements that Actors Equity could not clarify. We will continue to monitor the situation as Actors Equity continues to release new safety riders that may better align with the college. Audiences are ready and excited for live [theater], Ritsch said. Rep Stage hosted a successful fundraising production that was sold out in the fall. We will have information about the spring 2022 productions by the end of January, Ritsch added. After thoroughly cleaning its interior and changing its format from a buffet-style to a served dinner, Tobys Dinner Theatre in Columbia opened in December 2020 with an original holiday production featuring a limited cast and audience. It continued to offer shows throughout 2021, with successful runs of Godspell, Elf and Shrek, the Musical. Advertisement We are providing a much-needed escape for our guests who are ready to attend - guests can attend and enjoy time with loved ones and enjoy a nice meal and beautiful production, associate producer Mark Minnick said in an email. The arts are essential, especially in this time. The company is back to its buffet-style meals, and is seating at 75% capacity with each party sitting at their own table, Minnick wrote. All guests are required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, with no exceptions. We have had minimal pushback about that and our guests have complied, Minnick wrote. Our customers have expressed great appreciation for all we have done to be able to open our doors. The North launched the missile eastward at around 8.10 a.m. (S.Korea time) from a land-based platform, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without further elaboration, reported Yonhap news agency. "For additional information, the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters. South Korea's military in cooperation with the US is closely watching related North Korean movements and maintaining a readiness posture against the possibility of the North's additional launches, the JCS said. It marks the North's first projectile launch since the regime fired off a new submarine-launched ballistic missile in October last year. The latest saber-rattling came just days after the North concluded a five-day Central Committee plenary of the ruling Workers' Party on Friday, highlighting its key focus on economic issues and its pandemic response. At the plenary, participants stressed the importance of boosting their country's defence capabilities, pointing to the growing instability of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not issue any particular messages for the South or the US at the gathering, but the latest launch appears aimed partially at raising the stakes for future talks with the allies, analysts said. Wednesday's launch could also be part of the North's wintertime drills, some observers said. The launch came amid expectations the North could refrain from major strategic provocations that could undermine the mood for peace in the lead-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics slated for next month. --IANS int/dpb ( 298 Words) 2022-01-05-08:20:02 (IANS) Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar noted that the mutual benefits of the great progress in bilateral cooperation are "very visible". "Recognized the great progress in bilateral cooperation in my talk with FM @abdulla_shahid . Its mutual benefits are very visible. Conveyed my New Year's greetings to the people and Government of Maldives," tweeted S. Jaishankar. India and Maldives have in recent times expanded their strategic cooperation including focusing on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. (ANI) Seoul [South Korea], January 5 (ANI/Global Economic): Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), the parent company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, has won ship orders worth 1.67 trillion won. KSOE announced on the 4th that it has signed shipbuilding contracts with a European shipping company for six 15,000TEU LNG-powered large container ships, an Asian shipping company for a 174,000m^3 large LNG carrier, and an Oceania shipping company for three 1,800TEU container ships. The LNG-powered large container ships KSOE won this time will be constructed at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in Yeongam, Jeollanam-do, and delivered to the client from the first half of 2024. It will be equipped with LNG dual-fuel engines to meet environmental standards regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Last year, KSOE won a total of 58 LNG-powered ship orders. This is the largest in the world. It constructed LNG-powered large container ships and LNG-powered oil tankers for the first time in the world in July 2018 and September 2020, respectively, leading the global shipbuilding market. It also succeeded in receiving its first order for another eco-friendly ship. The large LNG carrier that KSOE won this time is 289.9m long, 46.1m wide, and 26.3m high. It will be constructed by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and delivered in the second half of 2024. Various eco-friendly technologies will be applied to the ship. LNG re-liquefaction system, which can maximize the economic efficiency, as well as LNG dual-fuel engines are also applied. The remaining three feeder ships that were ordered this time will be built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and delivered to the client from the second half of next year. (ANI/Global Economic) Belgium Uyghur Association along with groups of Tibet and Hong Kong protested against the Beijing Winter Olympics in front of the European Union office and also took out a protest march to the Chinese embassy in Brussels. Small demonstrations also took place in Antwerp, Brisbane, Berlin, Lucerne, and London - among others - on what has been called a "day of action" by campaigners. "Our protest today together with groups of Tibet & Hongkong in front of EU commission and 5 km march to Embassy of China in Brussels while a debate was going on regarding the #Beijing2022 in Brussels Press Club attended by @stoop_k from @UyghurCongress & @EU_today," tweeted Belgium Uyghur Association. Earlier, the Local Uyghur community in Belgium's Antwerp city protested against Beijing's action against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province and appealed to European countries to boycott the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. Led by local leaders of the Uyghur community in Antwerp, the protestors raised slogans against China and demanded that all atrocities against the Uygur community be stopped by Chinese authorities. Further, they appealed to all European countries to boycott Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing. Beijing Winter Olympics is scheduled in February and the US and many other countries have started boycotting the event and the calls for its boycott are growing louder. (ANI) It also said that it will make efforts to contribute to global denuclearization. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, "The Korean government is expecting the pledge to contribute to global denuclearization based on the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) and international peace and stability." "Korea is welcoming that five nuclear-weapon states summits agreed that there is no winner for the nuclear war, and it should never happen," said the spokesperson. "It is also hoped that nuclear-weapon states will actively participate in bilateral and multilateral meetings to implement practical nuclear disarmament and prevent military competition." In addition, the government also announced that it has been actively participating in Stockholm initiative and the Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament (CEND) initiative to discuss nuclear disarmament. It said, "We will continue to contribute to the implement NPT." The U.S. White House and the Chinese Foreign Ministry previously announced that the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, US-China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom (P5), issued a joint statement on preventing nuclear war. ( ANI/Global Economic) It is analyzed that LG Electronics showed their strong confidence over OLED TV competition as it has led the market over the past 10 years. Park Hyung-se, head of LG Electronics' HE business division, held a conference call and said, "We have not officially heard that Samsung Electronics will re-enter the OLED TV market. However, it is very welcome if it joins." "So far, more than 20 major TV producers have entered the OLED market. And if Samsung Electronics joins for the last time, it can be seen as a positive opportunity to expand the market and ecosystem," he said. "It is a positive sign that all companies recognize the potential of OLED." Park also said, "Even if additional competitors enter the OLED market, LG Electronics will continue our market dominance strategy." LG Electronics commercialized OLED TVs for the first time in the world in 2013 and has accounted for more than 60% of the global OLED TV market share. Currently, more than 90% of the total TV market is LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs, but the market for OLED TV, a high-definition TV that can generate light without a backlight, is also growing rapidly. (ANI/Global Economic) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Wednesday exchanged views on the present situation of Myanmar and Afghanistan with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. Jaishankar also agreed to take forward the bilateral ties between the two nations and to work closely in the G-20 Troika. "Good talk with FM @Menlu_RI at the beginning of the year. Agreed to take forward our bilateral ties. Exchanged views on Myanmar and Afghanistan. Will work closely in the G-20 Troika," tweeted Jaishankar. The situation in Afghanistan is in turmoil since the Taliban took control of the nation in mid-August and is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, while the military coup in Myanmar led to a major power shift in 2021, marking the end of a short-lived stint of democracy in the country, and now it seems the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon. Recently, India joined the G20 Troika in December 2021 and with this India has started the procedure for taking over the G20 presidency next year. The G20 troika refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and incoming presidencies -- Indonesia, Italy and India. India will assume the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022, from Indonesia and will convene the G20 Leaders' Summit for the first time in India in 2023. Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31, 2021 where India had raised the issue of Afghanistan's future following the takeover by the Taliban. Indonesia took over the G20 presidency from December 1, 2021, and in the coming months, Indonesia will hold rounds of discussion at various levels among the members of the G20 before convening the G20 Leaders' Summit scheduled for October 30-31, 2022. Next year's summit will be organised along the overall theme of "Recover Together, Recover Stronger". (ANI) "Due to a serious and direct threat to the citizens' safety, in order to ensure social security, restore law and order, protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, we introduce a state of emergency within the city of Nur-Sultan for the period from 16:00 p.m. of January 5, 2022 till 12 a.m. of January 19, 2022," a presidential decree read. During the state of emergency, entry and exit from Nur-Sultan will be restricted, protests will be prohibited, and weapons will be seized from individuals, according to the decree. (ANI/Sputnik) Pakistan Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Wednesday said that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is increasing at a "fast pace" in the country. During a press conference, Head of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Asad Umar urged the public to take precautionary measures and get the vaccination done. Joining him at the presser was Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan. Asad Umar said, "The masses should avoid crowded places besides also wearing a facemask and adopting other precautionary measures". He added, "The positivity ratio has reached 8.1 after the emergence of Omicron cases and those living in urban centres will be hurt the most". Giving examples of the US, UK and South Africa, he spoke of how the surge in the Omicron cases has burdened the hospitals in these countries. He further emphasized the importance of vaccination and said that vaccination can play a significant role in fighting the Omicron wave. He shared his concern on the Omicron variant and said that vaccination will lead to a lesser impact of the Omicron wave, reported ARY News. He also pointed out that the Omicron strain is more in Karachi and Lahore as 60 per cent of Omicron cases are reported from there. Asad Umar said that Karachi has seen a 940 per cent increase in cases during the last 2 weeks. Earlier on Sunday, Umar warned of the beginning of another COVID-19 wave in the country amid rising cases following the emergence of the Omicron variant. He took to his official Twitter handle and stated that genome sequencing has shown a rising proportion of Omicron, "particularly in Karachi". Notably, Sindh Government on January 2 said that the Omicron cases have reached up to 50% in the province especially in Karachi. The data collected by the provincial authorities clearly suggests that Pakistan is in the grip of the Omicron variant. A total of 351 samples of Covid-19 positive cases were collected and analysed and the data is worrisome as 175 of these samples were of Omicron variant, the provincial health authorities confirmed. Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, discussed the deteriorating health situation in Sindh with the health authorities. They apprised the Chief Minister of the rise in the cases of new variant and confirmed that the situation is challenging and worsening day by the day, reported Geo News. (ANI) "A warm conversation and New Year greetings exchange with the foreign minister of Bhutan. Assessed the continuing progress in our Development Partnership. Our unique relationship stands even stronger amid the Corona challenge.", tweeted the EAM Dr S Jaishankar. India and Bhutan share unique and exemplary bilateral relations, which are based on mutual trust, goodwill and understanding. In line with India-Bhutan unique and special relations, the Government of India ensured continuous supply of trade and essential items to Bhutan, despite COVID-19 related lockdowns. Last year, an Indian Air Force aircraft delivered the first consignment of 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Bhutan, making it the first country to receive the gift from India, which was received by Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering. There is close bilateral cooperation in the educational and cultural fields between India and Bhutan. (ANI) Former Baltimore homicide prosecutor Adam Chaudry went to extremes to monitor one ex-girlfriend, making a spreadsheet with dozens of her friends, family members and coworkers along with their ages, addresses, phones numbers and Instagram pages, prosecutors allege new court documents. He tracked her phone calls, even to her obstetrician/gynecologist, according to the records. When she traveled, he emailed the hotel manager to ask the number of beds she requested in her room. Advertisement Newly filed documents in the criminal case against Chaudry detail the lengths prosecutors allege he went to while stalking and harassing the women he dated. State prosecutors accuse Chaudry of abusing his authority as an assistant states attorney in Baltimore to issue subpoenas for the womens phone and driving records and send emails from work to ask about their comings and goings. When the first woman broke off their relationship, Chaudry subpoenaed her phone records 33 times over two years under the guise of a special investigation, according to the indictment. He allegedly told the second woman that he had been issued a gun through work, and that police would teach him how to gain back door access to private Instagram pages. Advertisement Last month, the Maryland State Prosecutor announced 88 criminal charges against Chaudry, 42, including misconduct in office, obtaining phone records without legal authorization, stalking, harassment and extortion. He worked 13 years in the Baltimore States Attorneys Office and left in June. As the investigation developed into Chaudry, Baltimore States Attorney prosecutors reassigned his cases. They found no reason to question his work as a trial attorney, an office spokeswoman said. Hes free pending trial and a hearing has been scheduled for May 11 in Baltimore Circuit Court. There are a plethora of legal issues and factual disputes that will be litigated in due course, said Patrick Seidel, his defense attorney. Breaking News Alerts As it happens Be informed of breaking news as it happens and notified about other don't-miss content with our free news alerts. > A former homicide prosecutor himself, Seidel worked alongside Chaudry in the office. Seidel has taken issue with state prosecutors for withholding facts in the case and therefore handcuffing the defense, particularly by keeping secret the identities of the women. Prosecutors identified them as Victim 1 and Victim 2 in charging documents. Seidel wrote in a court filing asking for more details about the prosecutors case that its not enough for them to wait and disclose the information close to trial. The Defendant seeks a particularized outline of the specific elements of each charge and the particularized facts that the State will offer in support of the elements of those charges. The States response that the Defendant may refer to impending discovery or to paragraphs within the indictment that clearly apply to more than one count is simply insufficient, Seidel wrote in a filing last week. There are no allegations that Chaudry physically hurt the women or took their money, his defense attorneys note. They argue the case lacks merit and suffers legal and factual errors. They also accuse prosecutors of overreaching in filing 88 criminal counts against Chaudry 48 counts for misconduct in office, 29 counts for obtaining phone records without authorization. Advertisement In the newly filed documents, prosecutors write that the first ex-girlfriend received messages that someone was trying to access her social media accounts; she suspected Chaudry. She sent him an email, pleading with him to leave her alone. While living with the second woman in early 2019, he began issuing subpoenas to the telephone company for her calls, prosecutors wrote. When they broke up, he allegedly took 95 photos of her Instagram pages. Based on the phone records that he received, Chaudry accused her of speaking to an ex-boyfriend, prosecutors wrote. The Taliban have said that in recent months use of Afghan airspace by international aircraft have been down by 80 per cent and it has impacted the earning of the Afghan government, reported local media. In twenty-four hours, sixty to seventy planes pass through the country airspace, and Afghanistan earns USD 700 from each plane passing through the country's airspace, reported TOLOnews citing Officials from Afghanistan's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MTCA). Ghulam Jailani Wafa, deputy director of the MTCA said, "In these days, the figures show that around 60 to 70 flights pass through our airspace in twenty-four hours." Officials have also said that as a foreign company takes control of the technical aspect of the country's airports, the flights over the airspace of the country will increase. The Taliban are in negotiations with foreign countries to hand over the technical management of airports in the country. "When we provide good services, it will be cheaper for the airlines to pass through Afghanistan's airspace and will pass through it," TOLOnews quoted Emamuddin Ahmadi, a spokesman of the ministry as saying. Meanwhile, a deputy minister of the former Afghan government has said that most of the international airlines do have safety issues with Afghanistan's airspace. Imamuddin Varimach, former deputy minister of transport and aviation, "Currently, the international airlines do not consider the airspace of Afghanistan safe, so they have changed all their routes." Notably, Afghanistan has six air corridors that connect South Asia to Central Asia. (ANI) The Reciprocal Access Agreement will enhance interoperability and collaboration between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Australian Defense Force, including facilitating faster deployment of defense personnel and easing restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies for joint training and disaster relief operations, Kyodo News reported. "This treaty will be a statement of our two nations' commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific," Kyodo News quoted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement. Australia will be the first country after the United States to conclude such an agreement with Japan. According to the Japanese media, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had been considering a visit to Australia in January to sign the agreement but on Tuesday he said that he would abandon the plan for an in-person summit to focus on the COVID-19 response in Japan. This came amid deteriorating relations between Canberra and Beijing. Their relations have dipped after the Chinese leadership was incensed with Canberra calling for an independent investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus. Relations had started to fray in 2018 when Australia banned Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies from building its 5G network. Canberra has also been locked in an ongoing trade war with Beijing for several months as China has slapped sanctions on various Australian products. (ANI) Cross-provincial travel hit a pause from China's Henan province after a surge was reported in the COVID-19 cases in the region. Authorities have also imposed partial lockdown and suspension of public venues have also been put in place to curb further virus spread, a media report said. Shangqiu in Henan Province has asked its residents not to leave the city unless necessary and shut down indoor public venues on Wednesday as the latest round of winter epidemic outbreak hit the city with the report of one asymptomatic case from the province's capital of Zhengzhou, reported Global Times. Zhengzhou has arranged a city-wide all-member nucleic acid test starting Wednesday, according to a notice released Wednesday morning, adding that for residents refusing to take the test, their health code will turn yellow, China's state media said further. Zhengzhou, with nearly 1.2 million population, is requiring local residents to stay at home from Monday night. Bus and taxi services are also suspended and shopping malls, museums are closed. Henan province witnessed another four confirmed local cases on Tuesday and another 18 asymptomatic cases, nine of which were from Zhengzhou. The curbs in the Chinese province are on the rise as on Wednesday morning Shangqiu city issued a notice asking all local residents not to leave the city unless it's needed. The notice also prohibited the opening of pubs, museums, cinemas, and other indoor public venues. (ANI) Out of the total confirmed cases, 370 were detected through the RT-PCR method and 65 from the antigen method, reported Khabarhub News. Kathmandu, the state with the highest number of Covid cases, reported 209 cases. Likewise, 18 cases were reported in Bhaktapur and 26 in Lalitpur. With this, the total number of Covid cases reached 253 in the past 24 hours. Earlier, the Government of Nepal urged all the Kathmandu Valley folks to vaccinate themselves against coronavirus. The Ministry of Health and Population also emphasized the importance of vaccines and urged people to get vaccinated, reported the news portal. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, there was no coronavirus-related death reported in the past 24 hours. The COVID-19 death toll in the country is 11,601 to date. As of Wednesday, there are 5,225 active cases of coronavirus in Nepal. (ANI) As per the minister in the Deuba cabinet, the proposal for his visit has been endorsed paving the way for him to start his second international visit after assuming the post of Prime Minister last year. "PM Deuba will be holding a meeting with his Indian counterpart apart from attending the Gujarat Global Summit. A cabinet meeting has also approved Deuba's visit. A formal announcement will be made by MoFA," the minister confirmed to ANI seeking anonymity. This would be the first visit to India by Deuba after being appointed as Prime Minister for the fifth time. As per the minister, the two Prime Ministers would hold a bilateral meeting in New Delhi shortly after attending the summit. "A delegation of about 20 participants would be heading for India on Sunday and would fly to Ahmedabad via New Delhi. The flight would be on the national carrier, Nepal Airlines," the minister said. Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had received an invitation to visit India in December shortly after the two Prime Ministers held a meeting on the sidelines of the Glasgow Summit last year. (ANI) UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has condemned the killing of reporter Sai Win Aung, in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, Myanmar, near the border with Thailand on 25 December 2021. She called upon the authorities to conduct a full investigation of the killing. "I condemn the killing of Sai Win Aung. Media workers like Sai Win Aung risk their lives to keep the public informed. Their work deserves to be recognized and their safety protected in line with international humanitarian law, which forbids attacks on civilians", Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General said, UNESCO published in a statement. Earlier, Paris-based NGO--Reporters Without Borders-- called on the international community to toughen its sanctions on Myanmar's military junta after Sai Win Aung who was covering the plight of refugees in the southeastern state of Kayin was killed during an army artillery attack near the border with Thailand. Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, was the second journalist to die as a result of the junta's violence in less than two weeks. He was killed instantly by a gunshot in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, a town in Myawaddy district, during an artillery attack by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's armed forces, against members of the People's Defence Force (PDF), which has been offering armed resistance to the junta. "Sai Wing Aung paid with his life for his determination to provide his fellow citizens with coverage of the terror that the armed forces have been inflicting on Myanmar's population since last February's military coup," said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "He died a hero and his fight must not be in vain. We urge the international community to impose new targeted sanctions on members of the ruling junta in order to end the current escalation in terror.", he added. Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta's hands. Held since 10 December and badly injured during interrogation, he died of his injuries on 14 December, as RSF reported the same day. Soldiers had arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. Earlier, In its annual round-up of abusive treatment and violence against journalists published, RSF reported that a record number of journalists are being detained worldwide at the end of 2021 and that Myanmar has become the world's second-biggest jailer of journalists, after China. Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index that RSF published in early 2021. (ANI) Mario Antonio Palacios, who was handed over to the US officials on Tuesday, was detained on Monday night at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, after his deportation flight from Jamaica to Colombia made a stopover. His arrest obeyed an Interpol warrant apparently requested by the US. Sources said that upon arriving in Panama, the suspect indicated his willingness to surrender to the authorities to be sent to the US, Xinhua news agency reported. Palacios was arrested in October in Jamaica, where he reportedly entered illegally from the Dominican Republic. --IANS int/sks/bg ( 142 Words) 2022-01-05-16:24:02 (IANS) Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday had to address the nation for a second time since the beginning of the protests and said that he is now in charge of the Kazakh Security Council, reported Sputnik. The President also said that that he will remain in the country's capital city no matter what and will "stay with the people". The Security Council was earlier headed by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Tokayev also admitted that the violent protests also resulted in the killing of law enforcement officers. He also emphasised that the officials intend to act as decisively as possible against offenders in the protests. In the wake of the widepspread agitations, the government had imposed an emergency but protesters turned violent and stormed government buildings and captured police vehicles. The government attempted to concede their demands including dismissing the cabinet and announcing the possible dissolution of Parliament, which would result in new elections, reported The New York Times. Notably, Kazakhstan's is witnessing a nationwide internet blackout as the country's largest telecommunication company Kazakhtelecom shut off internet access on Wednesday afternoon. Anger among the protesters filled to a new high on Sunday as Kazakhs opposed the government lifting of price caps for LPG which doubled the cost of the fuel. The massive jump in the price infuriated Kazakhs as the country is an exporter of oil and natural gases. (ANI) Taliban is facing challenges to seek recognition from the international community, however, the outfit is unlikely to change color as is evident from its actions, said a Canada-based think tank, adding that the Taliban have nothing to give to the people, except bullets. In its report, International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) said that the Taliban is focused on restricting the rights of the women of Afghanistan continues. Recently they introduced a law that states that women could be offered a place in public transport only if she was accompanied by a male relative. "While the Taliban may be in control, the humanitarian crisis looms large in Afghanistan and the people are rightly demanding food, employment, and freedom. The Taliban, however, have nothing to give to the people, except bullets. That is why Taliban security forces fired upon people in Kabul on 28, December 2021 who had been protesting and were seeking food and jobs," said the report. Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan Muhammed Zahir Agbar, in a statement, revealed that the Taliban had been granting passports to members of the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. He noted that this was a 'red signal' for the world that terrorists and terrorism were being 'legalized', according to the Canada-based think tank. Pakistan, on the other hand, is also trying to impose its terms of cooperation on Afghanistan by wanting it to use the Pak rupee instead of Afghani as the medium of exchange. But the Taliban is not willing to do so. In fact, the Taliban emphasized that those using the Pak rupee will be punished. Despite the Taliban's decline of using the Pak rupee instead of Afghani, small traders and locals in Afghanistan's border provinces with Pakistan had begun to do so. Notably, Afghani is a mandatory exchange currency under the Taliban regime. However, this is not the only bone of contention between the two countries. The two countries have been at loggerheads over the nearly 2,400 kilometers of Durand Line which have always been a matter of conflict and chaos between the two sides especially after Pakistan started erecting fences on the line. Taliban resorts to extreme measures to tackle the protestors who are out on the streets and protesting for their rights. The protestors were fired on when people gathered in front of a building that used to be the Ministry of Women's Affairs, reported the think tank. Taliban is also infamous for its treatment of women. Earlier, the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had restricted women's travel to 45 miles across the country, and drivers were recommended not to seat two women in the front seat of their cars. Taliban has been taking all sorts of repressive steps for women, be it right to education, work or travel. The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian, and security crises. A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban have plunged a country already suffering from high poverty levels into a full-blown economic crisis. The international community, from governments to non-governmental organizations, has been providing various assistance to the Afghan people. Despite receiving harsh criticism from the international community, recently, Afghanistan's hardliner and Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar recently, claimed that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has fulfilled all the conditions being put in front of them as a precondition to their recognition. Many voices surfaced to hit back on the current Taliban regime and one of them is former Afghan government official Amrullah Saleh. He tweeted (30 December 2021) "Talib doesn't own Afghanistan. I fought them with pride. Never regret it. And will continue to fight them till Afghanistan is home to all Afghans." (ANI) A new coronavirus variant B.1.640.2 also known as IHU variant has been detected in a traveller returning from Cameroon, announced the hospital IHU Mediterrannee in Marseille, France. The traveller has reportedly infected 12 people in Southern France. According to the hospital, the IHU variant was detected in early December. This new mutant has 46 mutations in an "atypical combination," according to a preprint study that has not yet been peer-reviewed, reported DW News. Due to the unavailability of data and a small number of cases nothing can be yet confirmed about the nature of the variant and the danger it poses. At the same time, nothing can be yet confirmed about the origin of this new variant. Two already known spike protein mutations N501Y and E484K are also found in the new coronavirus variant. N501Y mutation was detected in the alpha variant and it spreads easily in the body. The other mutation E484K is one of the escape mutations and thus possibly reduces the efficacy of the COVID vaccines, according to the study. It is understood that vaccination can protect us, curb the spread and also help to stop further mutation of the already present variants. Cameroon, only 2.4% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the United States, reported DW News. Earlier, Israel recorded the first case of "florona" disease, a double infection of COVID-19 and influenza, said Arab News. (ANI) WASHINGTON Long after most other lawmakers had been rushed to safety, they were on the hard marble floor, ducking for cover. Trapped in the gallery of the House, occupying balcony seats off-limits to the public because of COVID-19, roughly three dozen House Democrats were the last ones to leave the chamber on Jan. 6, bearing witness as the certification of a presidential election gave way to a violent insurrection. Advertisement As danger neared, and as the rioters were trying to break down the doors, they called their families. They scrambled for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared themselves to fight. Many thought they might die. When I looked up, I had this realization that we were trapped, said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had evacuated the House floor first. And they forgot about us. Advertisement Members of Congress shelter in the House gallery as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP photo/Andrew Harnik/AP) Bound together by circumstance, sharing a trauma uniquely their own, the lawmakers were both the witnesses and the victims of an unprecedented assault on American democracy. Along with a small number of staffers and members of the media, they remained in the chamber as Capitol Police strained to hold back the surging, shouting mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The lawmakers were finally taken to safety roughly an hour after the siege began. Interviewed by The Associated Press before this weeks anniversary of the attack, 10 of the House members who were in the gallery talked of being deeply shaken by their experience, recalling viscerally the sights and sounds amid the chaos. Vividly they remember the loud, hornetlike buzz of their gas masks. The explosive crack of tear gas in the hallways outside. The screams of officers telling them to stay down. The thunderous beating on the doors below. Glass shattering as the rioters punched through a window pane. The knobs rattling ominously on the locked doors just a few feet behind them. And most indelibly, the loud clap of a gunshot, reverberating across the cavernous chamber. Ive heard a lot of gunshots in my time, and it was very clear what that was, Crow said. I knew that things had severely escalated. The shot was fired by Officer Michael Byrd and killed Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter from California who was trying to crawl through the broken window of a door that leads to the House chamber. Both the Justice Department and Capitol Police investigated the shooting and declined to file charges. While the gunshot dispersed some of the violent mob, the lawmakers ducking in the gallery believed the worst was just beginning. Advertisement I think all of us, myself included, had images of a mass-shooting event, said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who posted video updates on Twitter as the chaos unfolded. It was terrifying in the moment. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said he could tell the gunshot had come from the back of the chamber, in the Speakers Lobby just outside, and not from the main doors on the opposite side where they could see rioters trying to break through. In that moment he realized why they couldnt leave they were surrounded. It was in stages that you realized the severity, he said. Their terror was compounded by knowledge of what the mob was after: stopping Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes that would make Joe Biden the 46th president of the United States. Mike Pence, as is customary for the vice president, had been presiding over the ceremony in the House chamber where lawmakers were gathered to hear the certified results from all 50 U.S. states and the territories. Trump had other ideas. Spouting lies about election fraud that were refuted by his own Justice Department, Trump pressured Pence to reject the electors a move that would have bucked the Constitution and thrown the House, and potentially the country, into chaos. Pence refused to do so, but Trump held a rally in Washington before the vote-counting began, telling hundreds of supporters at the Ellipse to fight like hell. Members of the mob chanted Hang Mike Pence as they forced their way into the Capitol, brutally overpowering police who stood in their way. Dozens were injured, some seriously, and four officers who were there that day later took their own lives. Advertisement Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., was among those sheltering in the gallery. She tried to remain calm, drawing on what she learned as chief of the Orlando police. But she also felt powerless, lacking a gun or any of the other weapons she always had on the beat. She shuddered when police said there had been a breach of the building. That is probably the word that I will remember about that day for the rest of my life more than any other, Demings said. I knew that meant that the police had somehow lost the line. And I also know, having been a former police officer, that they would have done everything in their power to hold that line to protect us. She says she told a colleague sheltering with her in the gallery: Just remember, were on the right side of history. If we all die today, another group will come in and certify those ballots. Congress reconvened that night, certifying Bidens election victory before sunrise. In the days after the attack, many of the lawmakers who were in the gallery started connecting on a text message chain. It quickly evolved into therapeutic group sessions and even potluck gatherings where they tried to make sense of it all. Advertisement They dubbed themselves the gallery group, and the name stuck. The Democrats were social distancing in the balcony as they waited to speak on the floor at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and those interviewed said they dont recall any Republicans sheltering alongside them. GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota was in the gallery at the beginning of the insurrection and recounted the ordeal to a local news outlet that evening. But he declined to be interviewed. A handful of other Republicans, including Reps. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Troy Nehls of Texas, helped police barricade the door below. Some of the Democrats who sheltered in the gallery are planning to spend time together at the Capitol this week, not only to remember their own experiences and honor those who protected them but also to reflect on the countrys narrow escape from a coup. We were the last people in the chamber, said Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, a former Navy helicopter pilot. I think we saw the whole thing play out in a way that is very different from anybody else on the Hill. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state helped organize the first virtual session the Sunday after the insurrection. She received multiple texts from colleagues after she spoke up on a Democratic caucus call about what the group went through and how they felt forgotten. It ended up being a three-hour Zoom, Jayapal says. It was deeply personal. People shared a lot of things about what they were going through. There were a lot of tears. There was a lot of anger. There was a lot of, you know, just how could this be? How could we be in America and have this happen in our Capitol? Advertisement Many of the members went on to seek therapy. Some were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, their struggles exacerbated by the raw tensions on Capitol Hill and an increasing number of death threats. Others said they have been more traumatized by the growing tendency among Republican lawmakers, and some in the public, to downplay or ignore the violence than they were by the attack itself. Lawmakers said the gallery group has been a refuge through it all. I think it really saved my mental health, says Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif. It just seemed like every time somebody posted something, we were all awake, no matter what time of day or night, and we were all responding to each other. So that was really powerful. Rep. Annie Kuster, who sought treatment for post-traumatic stress, says the gallery group connects almost daily on the text message chain, which moved to an encrypted app after some members raised security concerns. Sometimes its to get a ride to a vote. Sometimes its, Whos cooking, and can you bring a bottle of wine to a dinner together? And sometimes its talking about our treatment for trauma and how we can preserve our democracy. Kuster, D-N.H., was one of the first to be let out of the gallery on Jan. 6, escaping through the doors along with three other members just before the remaining lawmakers were locked inside. When Kusters group reached the hallway, a group of rioters was rushing toward them. We ducked into the elevator, Kuster said. And I said to this incredible policeman I said, oh, my God, what if the elevator doors open, and they kill us? And I will never forget this moment ... he said, Maam, I am here to protect you. And he was there to protect our democracy. Advertisement For those still in the gallery, fear was escalating. Crow was tending to Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., who was in distress after talking to a family member, while also communicating with Mullin on the floor below as he helped barricade the door. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., was shouting a prayer for peace and healing. Jayapal, who had knee replacement surgery just a few weeks earlier and was using a cane, was trying to figure out how she would escape if she had to run. She held hands with some of her female colleagues crouching beside her. Eventually, Capitol Police determined the upstairs area was clear, even as insurrectionists kept trying to break through the doors below. The lawmakers and others were rushed out of the chamber and down a warren of staircases and hallways. When they left, they could see police officers holding five or six rioters flat on the ground, guns pointed at their heads. The rioters were just inches from the doors of the gallery. Breaking News Alerts As it happens Be informed of breaking news as it happens and notified about other don't-miss content with our free news alerts. > Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., says he has tried not to dwell on what happened. But he still has searing images in his mind, including watching police drag heavy furniture in front of the main doors to the House floor as the rioters tried to beat them down. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Himes says he spends a lot of time in high-security spaces and before Jan. 6, he had assumed the Capitol was one of them. It was as though you were watching water flow uphill, Himes said. Something that you imagined was impossible is happening right in front of your eyes. Advertisement Kuster says that one of the most traumatic things for her was not being able to see what was happening outside the chamber. They could only hear the noises of the threat the pounding on the door, the shouting in the hallways. When she made it home two days later, she watched hours of video from the insurrection, including harrowing footage from the police battles outside the building. It only compounded the trauma. I remember my husband coming in, and I was just sobbing, Kuster said. And he was holding me, saying, I dont know if this is the best thing for you to see. But we have to we have to acknowledge the reality of what happened that day. And whats challenging for us is that we are both victims and witnesses to the crime on our country. The Deputy Head of Civil Aviation, Ghulam Gilani Wafa, said the Afghan side will attempt to find the best choice when signing the contract, Tolo News reported. The negotiations were held virtually due to the outbreak of the coronavirus Omicron variant. "Today, we started online negotiations and they will continue until we reach a decision on the contract. We will start face-to-face negotiations if we feel it is needed," Tolo News quoted Gilani Wafa as saying. According to the Afghan media, the officials said they negotiated with United Arab Emirate's company as well--to hand over the operations of Afghanistan's five main airports--and the Islamic Emirate will ultimately choose one of the companies. "Negotiations were held with a United Arab Emirates company as well, we talked over many issues at that time; later, Turkey and Qatar showed an interest and we will continue talks with these countries," said Gilani Wafa. This comes as international flights have not resumed with normal frequency through Kabul airport. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz on Wednesday. PM Modi congratulated Scholz on his appointment as Chancellor, exchanged New Year wishes and expressed his interest in meeting the Chancellor soon for bilateral inter-governmental consultations. According to a press release, PM Modi also expressed his appreciation for the immense contribution of former Chancellor Angela Merkel in strengthening the India-Germany Strategic Partnership and looked forward to continuing this positive momentum under the leadership of Scholz. "Prime Minister also conveyed his good wishes for the New Year to H.E. Chancellor Scholz and to the German people and looked forward to meeting him soon for the next meeting of the bilateral inter-governmental consultations," the press release read. The two leaders agreed that there was significant synergy in the governance priorities announced by the new German Government and India's own economic vision. They reviewed the potential of ongoing cooperation initiatives, including promoting investment and trade links. They also agreed on the potential for further diversifying cooperation and exchanges in new areas. In particular, they expressed the hope to commence new cooperation initiatives in the areas of Climate Action and Green Energy, to enable both countries to achieve their respective climate commitments. (ANI) Taiwan's representative office in Lithuania's chief Eric Huang has announced the USD 200 mn funds to be invested by Taipei in the Baltic nation. Taipei's move is prompted by Lithuanian companies facing difficulties at Chinese ports as the Communist regime reportedly removed the name of the Baltic nation from its customs system. Due to the move, a large number of Lithuanian exports are stranded in Chinese ports, concerning businessmen for the uncertain future of their consignments. Lithuania is being targeted by Beijing in recent months as the former nation has allowed Taiwan to open its representative office in Lithuania. The representative office of Taiwan acts as an embassy. The Lithuanian move triggered China and it received massive threats from Beijing as China claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite the island being an independent country in the world. (ANI) In a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operations were carried out in Dera Ismail Khan's Tank area and South Waziristan's Kot Kili village, Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday. Last week, four soldiers of the Pakistan Army were killed in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan tribal district, according to the Pakistani media outlet. (ANI) Lord Nazir Ahmed, the former Labour peer has been found guilty by the Sheffield Crown Court in the United Kingdom of sexual offences against two children in the 1970s, Pakistani media has reported. Geo tv on Wednesday however reported that the former Member of House of Lords of the UK announced that he will be appealing against the conviction of the court over eight counts of alleged sexual offences against him. A legal representative of Lord Nazir said that the "verdicts have gone completely against the evidence presented before the jury during the trial at the Sheffield Crown Court." "We have instructed our lawyers to appeal against the conviction," he said, as per Geo tv. According to the media outlet, the court announced that Lord Nazir has been found guilty of trying to rape a girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s. In March 2019, Lord Ahmed was charged with historical sexual offences against two children, two counts of attempted rape and one count of indecent assault in the early 1970s. The charges against Ahmed relate to two complainants - a boy and a girl - and to alleged incidents between 1971 and 1974 when he was a teenager. The indecent assault charge relates to a boy under 14. Nazir Ahmed was born in Pakistan occupied Kashmir but his political roots are in Rotherham, where he grew up and still lives. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1969 with his family to join his father who was working in steel factories in Rotherham. He joined the Labour Party in 1975 aged 18 and became a councillor in Rotherham in 1990. Educated locally, he joined the Labour party at 18 and served for a decade on Rotherham metropolitan borough council. After studying at Sheffield Hallam University, he ran a chain of shops in his home town and became a property developer. In 1998, he became one of the first Muslim peers to be appointed to the House of Lords by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. He resigned from the Labour Party in 2013. In November 2020, the British-Pakistani resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. He has been an ardent supporter of Khalistani terror groups and a critic of the Indian government's policies. Though he projected himself as a crusader of Kashmir cause yet in reality he used his position to sexually exploit Kashmiri women. The British-Pakistani resigned on November 14 but a House of Lords Conduct Committee recommended that he should have been expelled. A group of Kashmiri women in London had launched a Hollywood style #MeToo protest campaign against politicians including Nazir and faith healers who are exploiting vulnerable women in the Kashmiri community, the committee report stated. (ANI) Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has described those involved in Almaty civil unrest as "terrorist gangs" during a meeting broadcast by state television, Sputnik news agency has reported. According to Tokayev, "gangs" seized control over large objects, including planes. The President also called the protests in the country an act of aggression and an attack on citizens' safety. "The terrorist gangs are, in essence, international, they went through serious training abroad and their attack on Kazakhstan can and should be considered an act of aggression," Sputnik reported quoting Tokayev, as broadcast by Khabar 24. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev added that he had reached out to the leaders of member-states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) asking for assistance in tackling terrorist aggression in the republic. "Terrorist gangs are international, they have underwent extensive training abroad and their attack on Kazakhstan can and should be viewed as an act of aggression. ... In this regard and relying on the Collective Security Treaty, today I reached out to the heads of the CSTO member-states to assist Kazakhstan in overcoming this terrorist threat," Tokayev said as quoted by Sputnik. Nation-wide protests continued in Kazakhstan for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as thousands of people flooded streets against soaring liquefied petroleum gas prices, forcing the Central Asian country's cabinet to resign, media reports said. In the wake of the widepspread agitations, the government had imposed an emergency but protesters turned violent and stormed government buildings and captured police vehicles.The government attempted to concede their demands including dismissing the cabinet and announcing the possible dissolution of Parliament, which would result in new elections, reported The New York Times. Notably, Kazakhstan's is witnessing a nationwide internet blackout as the country's largest telecommunication company Kazakhtelecom shut off internet access on Wednesday afternoon. However, the internet resumed operation on midnight after being shut down for over seven hours, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday. Anger among the protesters filled to a new high on Sunday as Kazakhs opposed the government lifting of price caps for LPG which doubled the cost of the fuel. The massive jump in the price infuriated Kazakhs as the country is an exporter of oil and natural gases. (ANI) President Joe Biden will speak about the responsibility that he believes former President Trump had in the January 6 attacks on Thursday (local time), marking the first anniversary of the deadly event, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday. During a media briefing, Psaki was asked if the US President would address Trump's role in the riot. She responded, "yes." "I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw," Psaki as quoted by The Hill said. "And he will forcibly push back on the lie spread by the former President in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters, as well as distract from his role and what happened," she added. Biden and Vice President Harris will speak on Thursday morning at the Capitol, one year after Trump supporters stormed the building in an effort to halt the certification of Biden's 2020 victory. On January 6, a group of Trump's loyalists stormed the US Capitol building, clashing with police, damaging property, seizing the inauguration stage and occupying the rotunda. The unrest took place after Trump urged his supporters to protest what he claims is a stolen presidential election. (ANI) Seventeen Kentucky residents have been arrested as a result of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Of those 17, 11 are still facing prosecution for active federal court cases. Six have pleaded guilty and five of them have received their sentence. A former University of Kentucky student who wasnt a permanent Kentucky resident also pleaded guilty. A year after Capitol riot: 17 Ky. residents charged, 6 admit guilt. See their sentences. About 165 of all the defendants arrested in the Capitol riot have pleaded guilty, according to the Department of Justice. About 70 of them have been sentenced. Prosecutors and investigators are still working to identify more people involved in the riot. Those Kentuckians still facing charges in the riot were identified in social media videos, surveillance footage, Snapchats and more. Anonymous tips to the FBI often led to the arrests. One accused rioter said he was fighting tyrannical rule Damon Michael Beckley was allegedly filmed at the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying, we arent putting up with this tyrannical rule. If weve got to come back here and start a revolution and take all of these traitors down, which is what should be done, then we will. The video was used to help the FBI identify and charge Beckley, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. Beckleys case hasnt yet been resolved he was indicted on five charges in April. Beckley was scheduled for his next court appearance on Feb. 14. Kentucky man charged in U.S. Capitol riot apologizes for his poor behavior choices Accused of using flag pole to break glass Chad Barrett Jones case is still active and a superseding indictment was handed down in his case in November, charging him with nine federal crimes. Jones was allegedly identified by investigators as the man who broke the window on a door to the Speakers Lobby moments before Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a law enforcement officer. Jones used a flag pole to break the glass, according to court records. Story continues Chad Barrett Jones is facing charges in connection to his alleged involvement in the Capitol riot on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. This photo came from a Washington Post video and was included in an affidavit filed against Jones. Jones was charged with several federal offenses, which included accusations of violent acts and using a dangerous or deadly weapon. Jones was released from federal custody on his own recognizance and is scheduled for his next court date on March 10, according to court records. Kentucky man accused of breaking window in U.S. Capitol moments before woman was shot Kentucky man wound up in viral video featuring Capitol cop Michael Sparks case is still open and he was charged with nine federal crimes in a superseding indictment in November. Sparks is accused of being one of the first to enter the Capitol after he climbed through a window which someone else broke, according to court records. Sparks is also accused of chasing Capitol officer Eugene Goodman through building hallways and up the stairs, based off videos posted to social media which went viral. Goodman had diverted the crowd from a door to the Senate chambers and the vice presidents temporary location in an office, according to multiple reports. Sparks allegedly confronted Goodman, shouting this is our America! Sparks was turned into the FBI by tipsters, according to court records. Sparks most recent court date was in November, when he pleaded not guilty to the charges in the new indictment. Kentucky man spotted in viral videos during Capitol riot now faces charges, FBI says Another accused rioter shared his Capitol visit on Snapchat Jordan T. Revlett was arrested in Owensboro in January after the FBI received an online tip which featured Snapchat photos and videos of Revlett at the riot, according to court records. The tip showed video posted by a Snapchat user in which the person recording walked up the steps and into the U.S. Capitol, as well as a selfie with the caption Just so you guys know a capitol police officer opened the door from the inside to let us in. This capture of a Snapchat photo was included in a federal criminal complaint against Jordan Revlett, who as arrested in Owensboro. He is accused of entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. Revlett told investigators he attended Trumps rally with his parents and he never saw any signs which indicated he wasnt allowed to enter the Capitol, according to court records. He also said police never tried to prevent him from entering. Revlett faces a handful of charges related to him allegedly entering the Capitol, according to court records. Revletts next court date is scheduled for Jan. 14, according to court records. UPDATED: Kentucky man charged in U.S. Capitol riot after tipster sent Snapchats to FBI One accused Kentucky rioter was found in Pennsylvania Peter Schwartz was arrested after the FBI received a tip from a friend of Schwartz less than a week after the riot, according to court records. Schwartz was accused of spraying mace at police officers and called the Capitol riot the start of a war in a Facebook post, according to court records. A superseding indictment was handed down in Schwartzs case in October. Hes facing 11 charges. Those charges include using a dangerous weapon against officers and committing physical violence, according to court records. Schwartz was still in custody, according to court records. He was allegedly supposed to be in Owensboro for rehab at the time of the Capitol riot, according to court records. He was arrested in Pennsylvania after investigators identified him. Schwartz is scheduled for his next court appearance on Jan. 18. Kentucky man allegedly sprayed mace at cops during U.S. Capitol riot, called it war Kentucky man pulled officer down a set of stairs, FBI says Clayton Ray Mullins is still facing several charges after multiple superseding indictments have been handed down against him and others who allegedly participated in the riot. Mullins charges include committing violent acts and civil disorder, among other things. Mullins allegedly helped to drag an officer down a set of stairs outside the Capitol, according to court records. After Mullins helped to pull the officer down the stairs, the officer was then assaulted by multiple people who kicked him, struck him with poles and maced him, according to court records. The officer was injured. Clayton Mullins, a Benton resident, was arrested and accused of participating in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He allegedly pulled on an officers leg violently, causing him to be dragged down stairs, according to the FBI. Mullins was charged over the assault of two officers, according to court records. Mullins next court date is scheduled for Feb. 7, according to court records. Mullins was released from federal custody on his own recognizance and remains out of jail, according to court records. New indictment accuses Ky. man of assaulting 2 officers during U.S. Capitol attack Former sheriffs deputy was seen on Capitol surveillance Joseph Irwin was identified in a photo by a tipster who submitted information to the FBI, according to federal court records. When following up on the tip, investigators learned that Irwin used to work as a deputy at the Hardin County sheriffs office, according to court records. Officials from the sheriffs office provided investigators with photos of Irwin, which matched photos that investigators had found online and via Capitol surveillance cameras of an individual involved in the riot. One photo, which allegedly shows Irwin inside the Capitol, features him among a group of others yelling as they move through a Capitol hallway. He allegedly entered the building just before 2:45 p.m., according to court records. Irwin is facing a handful of charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct at the Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty. His next court date is scheduled for Tuesday. Hes been released on his own recognizance, according to court records. Kentucky man charged in connection with Jan. 6 invasion of U.S. Capitol It was ridiculously easy to get in, one Kentuckian says Eric Douglas Clark was arrested after the FBI found out he traveled from Louisville to Washington, D.C., to participate in a rally and protest on Jan. 6, 2021, before gaining entry to the Capitol, according to court records. The FBI received an anonymous tip more than a month after the riot which featured screenshots of Clarks Facebook page, where Clark had shared several pictures of himself at the Capitol during the riot, according to court records. Clark was also allegedly captured on Capitol surveillance video, according to court records. Another Kentuckian arrested in connection with Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol The tipster also shared text messages from Clark in which Clark said it was ridiculously easy to get in to the Capitol, according to court records. When the FBI interviewed Clarks former employer to get more information about him, they found out his last day at his job was Jan. 5, 2021. He never showed back up to work after that, according to court records. He was very vocal about the fact he was going to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, according to court records. Clark is facing several charges, including charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Hes been released from federal custody on his own recognizance, according to court records. Kentucky man was nearby when woman was shot, killed Kurt Peterson was arrested in June and has since been indicted on eight charges related to the Capitol riot, according to court records. Peterson was arrested after the FBI received a tip that he was telling others he was in the Capitol and near Ashli Babbitt when she was shot and killed inside the building, according to court records. Peterson posted on Facebook that he was at the Capitol but wanted to be peaceful while he was there, according to court records. He said he tried to stop others who stormed into the building from breaking things. Peterson alleged in his post that he wanted to render first aid to Babbitt after she was shot but no one would let him. This screen capture of video taken during the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol was included in the federal affidavit filed in the case of Kentucky resident Kurt Peterson. Investigators matched the images to Petersons drivers license picture, according to court records. He said in the Facebook post that he didnt trust the FBI and was trying to avoid being tracked, according to court records. Despite Petersons claims that he was trying to remain peaceful, the FBI alleged in court records that they identified Peterson in a video using wooden sticks and his fist to smash in a window at the Capitol while shouting this is our house. Let us in. Our house. The window would allegedly cost more than $2,700 to replace. Peterson appeared to be present in other videos from the Capitol too. Peterson was released on personal recognizance after his arrest. Latest Kentuckian charged in U.S. Capitol riot caught on video near fatal shooting Northern KY man allegedly sprayed cops with fire extinguisher Nicholas James Brockhoff, a Covington resident, was arrested after FBI agents identified him as an individual who allegedly sprayed police officers with a fire extinguisher during the riot, according to court records. Brockhoff also allegedly entered the Capitol through a broken window during the riot and wore a stolen police helmet during, according to court records. Nicholas James Brockhoff, a Covington, Ky., resident, is accused of attacking police officers with a fire extinguisher during the Capitol riot. Federal agents arrested Brockhoff, according to the FBI The FBI reviewed records of vehicles driven by Brockhoff and members of his immediate family to confirm that he went to the Washington, D.C., area on Jan. 6, according to the affidavit. The FBI also confirmed Brockhoffs identity by providing photos of him at the riot to someone who knew Brockhoff personally for five years. Since being arrested in May, Brockhoff has been indicted on eight charges related to the riot, according to court records. Hes still in federal custody. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 25. Kentucky man attacked cops with a fire extinguisher during the Capitol riot, FBI says One Kentuckian called riot f*****g fun, FBI says Stephen Chase Randolph was among those who knocked a female Capitol police officer unconscious as the rioters moved toward the Capitol building, according to federal court records. He and others were accused of pushing the officer to the ground. She hit her head and was knocked out, according to court records. Randolph allegedly assaulted other officers by pushing, grabbing and shoving them, according to court records. He was also part of a group that stormed the barricades outside the Capitol and pushed them onto officers. Undercover FBI agents spoke with Randolph at his workplace and got him to admit he was involved in the riot, according to court records. Randolph said I was in it, and It was f*****g fun referring to being in the crowd at the U.S. Capitol, a special agent wrote in an affidavit. Randolph faces nine charges in connection to the riot after a superseding indictment was handed down last month, according to court records. Randolph has been released on a personal recognizance bond. KY man knocked officer unconscious during Capitol riot, called mob fun, FBI says Ohio Cannabis Company logo COSHOCTON Almost 40 companies have filed for a medical marijuana dispensary license for a facility to be located in Coshocton. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy recently released the company names and addresses for 1,462 applicants for 73 dispensary licenses to be awarded in the coming months. About 230 entities submitted applications, with 16 submitting more than 10 applications each. A district containing Coshocton, Muskingum and Morgan counties was fifth overall with 101 licenses applied for, 38 were in Coshocton. Application cost was $5,000 each. The district has one dispensary now and one more will be added. The current dispensary is The Ohio Cannabis Company, 23024 County Road 621, Suite 1. It was announced in November that OCC was being sold to Ascend Wellness Holdings, a Boston-based company that had acquired a cultivator in Monroe County and a dispensary in Carroll County. At the time, co-owner Brian Wingfield said they would use the money to apply for more dispensary licenses in the future. Our thought was if we can take this one and apply for more and get two, we could be helping more people than we could with just the one store, Wingfield previously said. Each of the Coshocton companies listed the address as 115 N. Second St. This is the former location of the closed Family Video. It's a plaza that includes Cheap Tobacco and Little Caesar's Pizza. Closed Family Video locations accounted for 43 applications in Dayton, 32 in Springfield, 31 in Tiffin and 27 in Delphos. Ten locations were listed as the site in 20 or more applications. Applications will be reviewed to ensure they meet requirements for operations, security and other regulations. The licenses will be awarded by lottery, with a certain number allocated for each dispensary district containing a county or group of counties. The board issued 58 licenses from the initial round of applications submitted in 2017. Citizen Real Estate LLC, which does business as Klutch Cannabis, submitted the most applications with 73, followed by Nectar Markets of Ohio LLC with 38 applications and Hempnotize LLC with 37. All submitted for Coshocton. Story continues The companies submitted for Coshocton were Hempnotize LLC, Audacious OH LLC, B Cubed Operations Ohio LLC, BSCC LLC, Buzzed Ventures LLC, C21 Ohio Inc., Cannavitz Ventures LLC, Citizen Real Estate LLC, Community Greenhouse Ohio LLC, Culture Retail Partners of Ohio Inc., Curaleaf OGT Inc., Curio Holdings OH LLC, Elevated Growth OH LLC, Empowered Healing LLC, GF Ohio LLC, GNCO LLC, GreenBud LLC, Harvest Light, LLC, Healing Through Cannabis LLC, Higher Feeling LLC, InspiredOhio LLC, LMTT LLC, Loomin LLC, Mani Group LLC, Marimed OH LLC, Natures OH LLC, Natures Provider LLC, Nectar Markets of Ohio LLC, Ohio Griz LLC, Ohio Holistic Health LLC, Ohio Valley MMD LLC, OTC Ohio LLC, Pristine Oasis LLC, QS Ohio LLC, SIMPLE AG OHIO LLC, Sizzle Cannabis LLC, Tree Market LLC and Tru Roots LLC The Cincinnati Enquirer contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: 38 companies want Coshocton medical marijuana dispensary The New York Times Oleg Y. Tinkov was worth more than $9 billion in November, renowned as one of Russias few self-made business tycoons after building his fortune outside the energy and minerals industries that were the playgrounds of Russian kleptocracy. Then, last month, Tinkov, the founder of one of Russias biggest banks, criticized the war in Ukraine in a post on Instagram. The next day, he said, President Vladimir Putins administration contacted his executives and threatened to nationalize his bank if it d Maryland candidate for governor John B. King has tapped Michelle Siri, the executive director of the Womens Law Center of Maryland, to run for lieutenant governor together on a ticket later this year. King, a Democrat who served as education secretary during former President Barack Obamas second term, said Siris deep dedication to public service and our shared commitment to justice, community, and belief in the transformative power of good government made her the perfect choice to join his ticket in the campaign. Advertisement Michelle Siri is an experienced and proven leader, a tireless champion for Maryland women, and I am excited and grateful to have her as a partner on our campaign, King said in a statement announcing the decision. Siri, a 44-year-old attorney who lives in Cockeysville, has led the legal advocacy group for the past seven years and previously served as board chair of Planned Parenthood of Maryland. She also previously worked as an assistant state attorney general and a lawyer in private practice. Advertisement She said she plans to use her role in the campaign and, if elected, as lieutenant governor to push for a range of progressive womens rights and family policies that she has backed for years. Ive really tried to spend my career fighting for the women of Maryland and for families, Siri said in an interview Monday with The Baltimore Sun. This is a really amazing opportunity to take that advocacy and be part of governing around the values and principles I believe in. [ 2022 Maryland governors race: Whos in, whos out, whos on the fence ] Among those issues, Siri said, would be requiring expanded paid family leave for workers in Maryland, finding ways to narrow gender pay gaps between women and men, and further enshrining abortion rights in Maryland law. Siri, who was born in the United States but spent most of her first two years of childhood in Iran before her family fled ahead of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, said her views on womens rights were shaped in part by the repressive revolutionary regime in her mothers home country. King, Siri said, offered her the chance to be a political partner not a figurehead of a running mate and she was also drawn to the former federal cabinet officials interest in the wonky details of public policy. The pair, according to Siri, share a belief in the power of government and public institutions as a force for good in peoples lives. Siri has not previously run for elected office but said she would bring years of experience as a policy advocate pushing for legislation and the perspective of a relative political outsider to the position. King, 47, served as New Yorks state commissioner of education from 2011 to 2015 before joining the Obama administration. The Silver Spring Democrat began his career as a civics and history teacher in New York City, Puerto Rico and Boston, and also worked as a principal and school administrator. Maryland Policy & Politics Weekdays Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials. > King is one of eight Democrats contending for the partys nomination for governor in Junes primary election. Current Gov. Larry Hogan, a second-term Republican, is term-limited and not running for reelection. Advertisement Candidates have until Feb. 22 to file paperwork to run for office, including naming a running mate. King is the fourth Democrat to publicly name who will join him on a ticket for lieutenant governor. Rushern L. Baker III, a former Prince Georges County executive, has teamed up with Nancy Navarro, a member of the Montgomery County Council. Peter Franchot, the state comptroller, selected Monique Anderson-Walker, who resigned from the Prince Georges County Council after joining the campaign. And author and nonprofit executive Wes Moore picked Aruna Miller, a former state delegate and congressional candidate from Montgomery County. The other Democrats in the race are Doug Gansler, a former state attorney general; Tom Perez, a former state and federal labor secretary and former chair of the Democratic National Committee; Jon Baron, who works in public policy for a philanthropic foundation; Ashwani Jain, who held positions in the Obama White House; and Jerome Segal, who had founded the socialist Bread and Roses Party but switched his affiliation to Democrat after the party disbanded. Republican Kelly Schulz, the current state commerce secretary under Hogan, has announced plans to run for governor. So too has right-wing Del. Dan Cox, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who is running on a ticket with attorney and conservative activist Gordana Schifanelli. Perennial candidate Robin Ficker, who regularly runs for a variety of offices on an anti-tax platform, is running as a Republican as well. Baltimore County resident Joe Werner filed candidacy paperwork as a Republican with Minh Thanh Long as his running mate. Late Monday, Verizon and AT&T agreed to a two-week delay rolling out their new 5G technology. Related: Airbus and Boeing express concerns over 5G interference in US The technology was slated to launch on Wednesday, but in response to fears that the 5G service will impair airline safety and amid threats from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground or divert flights at a time when the travel industry is already playing catch-up from recent weather and Covid-related flight disruptions the telecom companies agreed to a pause. Heres what you need to know about the controversy: What is 5G? 5G is the newest generation of cellular network, following 4G, which was introduced in late 2009 and is used on most US cellphones today. Nearly every 10 years since 1980, a new generation network has arrived, offering faster speeds and expanded capabilities. At the simplest level, 1G allowed for phone calls, 2G brought messaging, and 3G provided internet access. Today, on 4G, users can download apps, stream video, and more, with relative ease and speed. The fifth generation is expected to offer new levels of speed making it possible, for example, to download a movie to ones phone in seconds and allow more devices to be connected to a network at once. The latter is increasingly important in our crowded cellular landscape. (Ever been in a concert or stadium unable to send messages?) Those types of data rates could enable virtual reality applications or autonomous driving cars, Harish Krishnaswamy, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, told Live Science. Why is the US airline industry concerned about 5G? To execute the upgrade, cellular networks plan to move operations on to a new band of radio frequencies called the C-Band. Last year, Verizon and AT&T spent a combined $67bn acquiring the C-Band spectrum licenses needed to upgrade their networks to 5G, according to Forbes. But some aircraft regulators worry that planes radio altimeters, which measure how far above ground a plane is to help pilots land their crafts in low-visibility situations and also operate on C-Band frequencies, could be disturbed by 5G. Story continues Can 5G and the aviation industry coexist? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the FAA and telecom carriers all agree that 5G and airline travel can exist together. In fact, they already do in nearly 40 countries. The telecom companies have pointed out that there have not been any accidents in other countries where 5G is operational and American airlines regularly fly to those countries. The FAA, too, has said that 5G and aviation have safely coexisted in other countries. Thats because in those regions, power levels have been reduced around airports and the industries have worked together prior to deployment, the agency said in a 3 January statement. So whats the problem in the US? The discussions over how the transition should take place in the US, however, have been brewing for years and intensified in recent months. Verizon and AT&T had initially planned to launch 5G in December and until last week, appeared unwilling to postpone it further. But amid pushes from both Steve Dickson, the head of the FAA, and the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, to delay the rollout to allow for further coordination, they relented on Monday. Both companies have proposed several measures to mitigate the possible impact of the switch to 5G, including reducing the strength of their 5G around airports and helipads, and operating 5G service at lower power levels nationwide for the first six months. The FAA has thanked the companies for those proposals, but said the pause remained necessary to create additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment. It remains unclear what specific actions will be taken in the two-week period. At Secretary Buttigiegs request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services, an AT&T spokesperson said by email. We also remain committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter. We know aviation safety and 5G can coexist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues. While the airline industry faces many challenges, 5G is not one of them, Hans Vestberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon, said in an email to employees today. In November, we agreed to pause activation until January to give the FAA more time for their analysis. We also voluntarily offered to implement a number of temporary proactive protective measures, including reducing 5G power levels near airports and directing 5G nodes away from airports Despite our efforts and the overwhelming scientific data, the FAA still has not resolved all of its questions. Columbus City Schools will return six buildings to in-person learning Wednesday with nine still remote. Note: This story has been updated to reflect changes to remote and in-person learning as of Wednesday, Jan. 5 Columbus City Schools announced that six schools will return to classes on Wednesday. In an email Tuesday, the district wrote that the following schools will return to in-person classes: Berwick Alternative PreK-8 Johnson Park Middle School Ridgeview Middle School West Mound Elementary School Whetstone High School Yorktown Middle School Eight schools will continue to be or will transition to remote learning due to staff shortages. The schools include: Eastmoor Academy Fairmoor Elementary School Independence High School Linden-McKinley STEM Academy Sherwood Middle School Woodward Park Middle School and sixth grade at Walden South High School Windsor STEM Academy Valley Forge Elementary School will continue to be remote due to a partial heating outage, which has kept students and teachers out since Monday. The district added that all practices and games for middle school athletics at remote schools will be canceled, while all high school athletics will continue. Other Columbus-area districts also have some schools doing remote learning. Westerville Central High School and Genoa Middle School pivoted to remote learning Wednesday. In Reynoldsburg City Schools, students at both high school campuses and the preschools learning remotely this week due to staffing and bus driver shortages," according to the district. In West Jefferson Local Schools, its elementary school Norwood Elementary will not return to in-person learning until Tuesday, Jan. 18 due to "a high number of staff members out. Rremote instruction officially beginning this Friday. More: Remote learning at several Columbus, Reynoldsburg schools due to staffing, other issues Columbus City Schools Superintendent Talisa Dixon addressed the staffing issues during Tuesday night's board of education meeting. Dixon said because of the rise of the omicron variant, the district "will continue to face these issues for the foreseeable future." Story continues She added that not only has COVID caused teachers to call in sick, but also the flu and seasonal sickness, resulting in the closures. The district has also placed central office staff in the schools to support buildings that are in-person. "We will continue to provide this additional support," Dixon said. "But we know that this model is not sustainable if we continue to see the increasing number of teacher and staff in our school buildings." 'Flurona': When you're hit with double whammy infections of flu, COVID-19 Dixon said that the district has provided over 40,000 KN90 and KN95 masks for district staff members. Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts said the department is encouraging schools to remain open. "So with masking universal masking with vaccinations and with cleaning and some type of social distancing to reduce interactions as well as contact tracing, I feel like our kids are at their safest place when they are at school," Roberts said via Zoom videoconferencing. "That's where they belong." In response to a question by board member Tina Pierce, Dixon said the threshold for determining whether a school is closed is being determined building-to-building, and has largely been based on staff availability. "School 'A' may have 200 students with 15 staff members, school 'B' may have a school with 300 with 10 staff, so it just depends on the staffing, which is our largest determinant," Dixon said. Other COVID news: COVID-weary nurse: Gracie the labradoodle 'gives us a moment to pause from the craziness' mylee@dispatch.com @leem386 This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City School buildings return in-person as board talks COVID Raymond Sloan, 84, talks about his in-home health sensor system developed by the University of Missouri. Raymond Sloan has sensors in every room of his apartment and one under his mattress. He has a watch that counts his steps and measures his heart rate. Sloan, 84, of Columbia, said having the data about his health is a big help. He had a stroke at 46 and uses a walker now to get around. "It makes me more aware of things," Sloan said. "It helps me feel a little more secure. It will notice if you have a heart murmur." He said the sensors aren't obtrusive. "Within a month or so, you're not even aware of it," he said. Sloan is piloting something that is being revised for around 60 senior citizens with disabilities in rural areas of the state. University of Missouri researchers are using a $2 million grant to install the sensors to monitor the activity and vital signs of the older Missourians. More: Burrell to announce details on temporary solution for mental health crisis center in Columbia Throughout Raymond Sloan's home, there are sensors that can detect if he has fallen and needs medical assistance. "This is an extension of work that's been done over two decades," said Rachel Proffitt, assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions and principal investigator for the project. Others involved in the university project are Lori Popejoy and Blaine Reeder from the Sinclair School of Nursing; Marjorie Skubic in the College of Engineering; Erin Robinson from the School of Social Work; and Richelle Koopman and Emily Leary from the School of Medicine. The work began in nursing homes, branched out into independent living homes and now is moving into residential homes, Proffitt said. The system allows older adults, their caregivers and adult children to see the health data generated. Raymond Sloan holds up a pamphlet detailing the functions of his in-home sensor system. "It's a system of multiple sensors," Proffitt said. "They don't require any actions by the person. Motion sensors will pick up only when motion is detected. A bed sensor under the mattress detects respiration rates and breathing patterns and sleep restlessness." There's also a depth sensor, which tracks walking inside the home and upper body movement and activity. Story continues "Computers are really good at looking at trends and data," Proffitt said. The sensors don't diagnose, but they can alert health care providers and allow them to make recommendations during the next office visit, she said. "This is a really nice way to connect them with health care providers," Proffitt said. "It's a really nice way to get them the services they need." There will be no intrusions on privacy, she said. The only visual data point is a 3D silhouette. "It's a pixelated image," Proffitt said. "It's not video. We're not watching people. That's creepy." Sensors can be adjusted to discern among the home's primary occupant and pets and grandchildren, she said. Although Sloan has an Amazon Echo he can ask about his health data, that won't be included in this project because of concerns about data collected by the Echo. Proffitt is working with the Central Missouri Agency on Aging and other senior citizen organizations to recruit participants. Individuals can email her at Proffittrm@missouri.edu. A camera is mounted in the corner of Raymond Sloan's living room and provides a blurred video of his home, maintaining his safety and privacy. The living room is the only one with a camera. The goal of the project is to improve the lives and health of older adults, by reducing their disabilities and improving their health care and quality of life, Proffitt said. The three-year grant project could be looked at for the best ways to scale it up if it goes statewide, she said. Sloan has had the sensors in his apartment for about 10 months. Whenever he wants to know how he's doing, he asks Alexa, the Amazon Echo voice. "It comes up: sleep, steps, respiratory," he said. "It will tell me my heart rate. It will show a graph of how I'm doing." Funding for the project is from the National Institute on Aging. rmckinney@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1719 This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri project places sensors in the homes of elderly in rural areas As a result of the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, this week saw the biggest spike in Covid case numbers since records began in March 2020, with 218,724 positive tests reported in the 24 hours to Tuesday 4 January. On Wednesday 8 December, prime minister Boris Johnson announced that England would move to Plan B. This meant that face masks became compulsory in most indoor settings once again and people were asked to work from home. People who hadnt already had the booster vaccine were encouraged to do so and we were encouraged to take regular lateral flow tests, too. Following this announcement, lateral flow tests were unavailable on the government website for two days in a row. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that due to exceptionally high demand, ordering lateral flow tests on gov.uk has been temporarily suspended to fulfil existing orders. While lateral flow tests are once again available on the government website and able to be picked up from pharmacies, how accurate are these at-home tests in determining whether or not you have Covid? According to a meta-analysis of studies by medical database the Cochrane Library, lateral flow tests detect an average of 72 per cent of symptomatic cases and 58 per cent of asymptomatic ones which could be the reason why youre testing positive one minute and negative the next. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton says: Lateral flow tests are very good at producing a positive result when you are infectious (and so able to transmit the virus). This can include the day or two before symptoms develop. Thus, they are a very good first line of inquiry, to be followed up with confirmation via the more sensitive PCR test. A study published in the Clinical Epidemiology journal in October from researchers at University College London, Liverpool University, Harvard University and the University of Bath found that lateral flow tests are more than 80 per cent effective at detecting any level of Covid-19 infection are are more than 90 per cent effective at detecting Covid when people are at their most infectious. Story continues A study from UKHSA published on Friday 17 December found that lateral flow tests are as effective at detecting the Omicron strain of the virus as they are the Delta, which means whatever strain you may have the test should be able to pick up that its Covid. A Cochrane review of 64 studies found that lateral flow tests correctly identify 72 per cent of infected people who have symptoms, and 78 per cent within the first week of becoming ill, GP Dr Gary Bartlett says. What I often tell my patients is that lateral flow tests are really useful for asymptomatic screening (testing when you have no symptoms). If you have symptoms suggestive of Covid then you must get a PCR test which are the gold standard test for Covid as they are better at detecting Covid. If you have Covid symptoms, lateral flows are less reliable as they can be associated with false negatives often leading the person to believe that they dont have covid when in fact they do. Head adds: False positive results will happen in a fraction of a per cent of occasions, but false negatives (i.e. a negative result when in fact you do have Covid-19) are more common. Therefore, if you have Covid-like symptoms but test negative on a lateral flow, it is a good idea to book in for a PCR test. A faint line on the T indicates a positive Covid test (iStock) What is the correct way to take a lateral flow test? Hussain Abdeh, Clinical Director and Superintendent Pharmacist at Medicine Direct says, if you can, you should avoid eating and drinking anything for at least half an hour before you take a lateral flow test. Similarly, do not smoke or vape for as long, he continues. Make sure the surface you are taking the test on is disinfected and make sure the kit is not damaged when you take it out of the box. Wash or sanitise your hands before handling any of the apparatus. Blow your nose then wash your hands again before starting. Each lateral flow test kit will come with instructions on how to use it. If you need to carry out a throat swab, Abdeh says to open your mouth wide and rub the swab over the back of your throat but dont let it touch your tongue, gums or teeth. Following the throat swab, insert the same swab into your nose until you feel a little resistance and swab it around for about 10 seconds. Some tests will require you to take a nose swab only. Once the swab is complete, insert the cotton end of the swab into a tube of liquid and press the swab down to the bottom of the tube. Squeeze the bottom of the tube and move the swab around so that the sample can be properly transferred into the liquid, Abdeh advises. Remove the swab from the tube, close the tubes cap and shake the liquid around a little to mix the sample with the liquid. Squeeze the stated number of drops of liquid onto the test strip and check the strip after the stated amount of time has passed. The government website says its best to leave the test for 15 to 30 minutes before checking the result. Does a faint line on the T mean youve tested positive? If the result is negative for Covid-19, there will be a singular red line next to the C mark on the lateral flow test. A positive result means there is a red line next to both the C mark and the T mark but what if the second red line is faint? When reading lateral flow test results, two lines through both the C and T, even faint lines, indicate the test is positive, a Public Health England spokesperson says. However, a T line alone indicates the test has failed and will need to be retaken. Is it possible to have a negative lateral flow test and a positive PCR test? Public Health England says lateral flow tests and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have different roles to play in controlling the virus, so we cant directly compare them. The spokesperson adds that lateral flow tests are useful for finding out if the person is infected now and able to transmit the virus to others. The level of sensitivity is high enough to detect most of these cases, they add. Lateral flow tests are less likely to return a positive result outside the infectious window. A PCR, on the other hand, is used to confirm or deny a suspected case of Covid-19 as a PCR is generally done after a person is already self-isolating following a positive lateral flow test. The higher sensitivity of PCR tests means it can identify genetic material from Covid-19 even after the active infection has passed, Public Health England adds. If you have Covid symptoms but test negative using a lateral flow test, its worth ordering a PCR to double check. How effective are lateral flow tests in combatting the spread of Covid-19? According to the NHS, one in three people with Covid-19 do not show symptoms but can still infect others, which is why taking a lateral flow test regularly even when youre vaccinated is so important in helping to stop the spread of the virus. The infection period for Covid-19 can start up to two days before symptoms begin to show and last for 10 days afterwards. Most people should take a lateral flow test twice a week but if youve been in contact with someone who has caught Covid-19 you should do a daily lateral flow test for the seven days following. Lateral flow tests are highly effective at preventing the spread of Covid, Abdeh says. First of all, you can get them ordered to your home, so if you have come into contact with someone who has tested positive, or if you are exhibiting possible symptoms, you can avoid spreading it to others by leaving the house. Lateral flow tests are easy to do and provide results in less than 30 minutes. You can take them at home and report your results instantly online through the NHS. This means that anyone who gets a positive result can begin isolating straight away. Lateral flow tests provide accurate and quick results without the need to risk infecting others. Agape Boarding School, a Christian reform school in Cedar County, is under investigation by local authorities and the Missouri Attorney General's office. David E. Smock, the Agape Boarding School physician accused of 11 felony sex crimes against children, remained in custody Tuesday at an Arkansas jail where he was booked a week ago, after several days during which he was allegedly on the run from law enforcement. Meanwhile, Smock's defense team in Missouri sought his release on bond for the second time in two days. Smock's Springfield-based attorney, Stacie Bilyeu, told a Greene County court she had not been able to speak to her client since the doctor was apprehended with the help of U.S. Marshals in Harrison, Arkansas three days after Christmas. On Monday in Cedar County, where Agape Boarding School is based, Judge Gary Troxell denied a motion from Smock's attorneys to set bond or release him on his own recognizance. Smock was charged Dec. 21 in the Cedar County case and faces eight felony charges brought by Vernon County Prosecutor Brandi L. McInroy, acting as special prosecutor for Cedar County, along with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. Last week, the Kansas City Star reported that Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither said he "knew Dr. Smock." Gaither told the Star he had attended the clinic Smock owns in Stockton for services including a flu shot, and thus Gaither believed another prosecutor should look at the Smock case. Tuesday morning, Judge Ron Carrier in Greene County delayed ruling on a separate bond motion until Smock could safely emerge from COVID-19 isolation in Arkansas. Judge Carrier said he was unwilling to hear a bond motion without the defendant being present in the courtroom. More: Missouri boarding school doctor charged with three felony sex crimes One of Smock's attorneys, Bilyeu, told Carrier that Smock had tested positive for COVID-19 around the time of his Arkansas jail booking. Smock was expected to be cleared from isolation on Wednesday, according to new CDC guidelines that call for just five days of isolation after coronavirus symptoms clear up. Story continues The Greene County court set a new bond hearing date for Jan. 13. That hearing is linked to three felonies Smock is accused of committing during a 2018 trip in which prosecutors and law enforcement say Smock brought an Agape student from Cedar County to clean up a rental property he owned in Springfield. Smock is accused of sexually abusing the boy, then age 13, during that trip. Charges include second-degree statutory sodomy; third-degree child molestation of a child younger than 14; and enticement or attempted enticement of a child younger than 15. More: Former Agape Boarding School students say FBI is now examining abuse allegations David E. Smock, a physician linked closely to Agape Boarding School in Cedar County, is accused of 11 felony sex crimes against children. In Cedar County, Smock is accused of eight other felonies: sexual misconduct involving a child under 15, four counts of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy with deviate sexual intercourse involving a person less than 14 years old, second-degree statutory sodomy, fourth-degree child molestation and first-degree stalking. The Cedar County charges cover allegations of crimes said to have taken place between summer 2018 and spring 2021. In a sign that the Smock case may turn high-profile, Judge Carrier on Tuesday granted a media request from a Springfield-area broadcast TV outlet to film court proceedings on the matter. The judge told prosecutors that if they wished to file an objection to media filming of juvenile witnesses in the case, they should plan to file with enough time to handle any issues in advance. Should Smock be found guilty of charges filed in Cedar County, he could face potential life prison terms for the four counts of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy, and terms of up to four years in prison for the other charges. The Greene County charges are serious as well, including a child enticement count with a maximum punishment of 30 years in prison. Background: Smock's son-in-law previously charged in Agape case Smock is closely linked to Agape Boarding School, as reported earlier by the Kansas City Star, the Associated Press and other news outlets. Among five defendants linked to Agape who were charged with low-level felonies in September, one man, Seth Duncan, is Smock's son-in-law. Duncan was charged with five counts of third-degree assault, punishable by up to four years in prison should he be convicted. Two former Agape students who are plaintiffs in separate civil lawsuits against the school, but not linked to any current criminal proceedings against Smock, recently told the News-Leader they witnessed or experienced behavior by Smock they regarded as inappropriate. A 19-year-old California man called Smock a "predator" and said, "Sometimes Smock would just put his hand on my thigh and like, slowly go toward my underwear and stop right there." This behavior started when the man became a student at age 12 and continued until he left Agape at age 14, the man said. A 27-year-old Michigan man told the News-Leader last week that Agape staff who took underage students off campus to Smock's walk-in clinic in Stockton weren't truthful about why the boys needed to see a doctor. "Anytime they restrained us or we got hurt, they took us to his office, and it was always reported as a sports injury or something-else injury," the man said. Agape, a 30-year-old Christian boys' reform school, has been denounced by former students who say they were subject to severe physical, emotional and sexual abuse while in the school's care. It is one of several Missouri-based unlicensed religious reform schools that have drawn scrutiny from state and local authorities and news outlets since 2020. In July, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a reform bill requiring background checks for workers who come into contact with children at these schools; the new law also allows state oversight of the schools and requires the schools to register with state authorities. In September, Missouri Attorney General Schmitt advocated that numerous charges be filed against as many as 22 Agape staffers over allegations of child abuse and other wrongdoing, a stance that brought him into public conflict with the local prosecutor, Gaither, who opted to charge just five Agape staffers. Reach News-Leader reporter Gregory Holman by emailing gholman@gannett.com. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Agape school doctor facing sex charges to remain in COVID isolation Alachua County Jail has suspended in-person visitation until further notice due to a sharp uptick of COVID-19 cases that were found within the jail. Cases began rising last week. As of Tuesday morning, there had been 81 confirmed cases 75 men and 6 women said Art Forgey, spokesperson for the Alachua County Sheriffs Office. There are a total 765 people being held within the Alachua County Jail. Those who have tested positive have been quarantined in housing pods in the jail. Some pods can hold up to 15 to 20 people, others can hold 50 or more. Forgey said it is uncertain how long the no-visitation policy would last; however, there are alternative methods of communications such as doing a video call through securus technologies a communication service that connects relatives with incarcerated people and writing letters. Prison Mail: Plan to digitize prison mail sparks outcry among inmates families, advocates Prison letters: Handwritten letters are all Florida prisoners have left. Now FDC wants to take that away There is a cost associated with securus, but Forgey was unsure of the exact amount. Forgey said jail officials became aware that there was an increase in COVID-19 cases last week. Since then, they have been testing and monitoring the situation every day. There have been efforts to get incarcerated people in the jail vaccinated as well. According to Forgey, 298 people have received their first shot, and 193 are fully vaccinated. "Many times it's difficult for that because you may offer one shot and they get out and don't get they don't get the second one," Forgey said. To help make sure everyone is fully vaccinated, the jail has received 90 Johnson and Johnson does of the vaccine from the Alachua County Health Department. Forgey said the leadership team is having daily meetings on ways to mitigate changes of infections, including limiting the arrests of non-violent crimes and misdemeanors. No-visitation policy raises objection Story continues Ernest, an incarcerated person in the Alachua County Jail, said he was booked on a non-violent offense Sept. 20. The Gainesville Sun spoke to Ernest through a phone call. He asked that his last name not be published. Newborn dies after being born in jail: A baby born in Alachua County Jail died. The mother said jail staff ignored her screams Alachua County Jail and photos: Sheriff's office responds with photos and videos in case of baby born in jail Alachua County Jail cleared: Internal investigation clears Alachua County jail staff in case of baby's birth Alachua County Jail Investigation: Gainesville racial justice group issues demands in death of baby at Alachua County jail He said it was odd that the jail implemented the no-visitation policy because there is a glass wall between the visitor and the incarcerated person. "We're sitting behind a glass, so we still don't have any contact. So that's beyond me as to why they would suspend visitation rights," Ernest said. Ernest said the jail has also suspended all classes such as substance abuse programs and GED classes. This is hindrance to Ernest, who was sentenced Nov. 8, 2021, and was ordered to complete a patient substance abuse program. He is currently waiting on a renewed evaluation from the Drug Abuse Foundation of Palm Beach County. Nevertheless, he said jail visitation is important for an incarcerated person's mental health. "You're already going through it, and you want to connect with the outside. You want to have some type of sense of reality, some type of peace because you could lose it ... to go without your family, you lose a part of yourself," Ernest said. This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: COVID surge brings policy changes to Alachua County Jail On Dec. 30, Alamogordo Municipal Judge Steven O. Lee retired from the bench. Lee worked with the City of Alamogordo for 40 years including time with the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety and, most recently, as Alamogordo municipal judge. "It has been my honor and privilege to represent the citizens of Alamogordo for 20 years," Lee said in a City of Alamogordo news release. "As judge, I felt that it was my responsibility to be the guardian of the judicial system, as such it was my duty to ensure everyone was treated equally no matter who they were. Alamogordo Municipal Judge Steven O. Lee, third from right, celebrated his retirement from the City of Alamogordo on December 30, 2021 after 28 years of service. Lee is an Alamogordo local who graduated from Alamogordo High School in 1967. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps that year serving in the Vietnam War. Lee was wounded in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart. When he was discharged from the Marines, Lee went to New Mexico State University where he got his associate degree in criminal justice. He also studied law at the Taft University School of Law, per a news release. More: Alamogordo bids farewell to Boss and Sikes, welcomes Paul Lee started working as a patrolman with the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety where he retired in 1998 after graduating from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the news release states. Its been my pleasure to work with Judge Lee during my 28 years with the City and I wish him a happy and restful retirement. He will be greatly missed, Alamogordo City Manager Brian Cesar said in the news release. Want to see more local news coverage? Why not subscribe? Click here to subscribe. Lee was elected Alamogordo Municipal Judge in 2002 and retired as of December 31, 2012 after 20 years in the judgeship. "Lee is past president of the Municipal Judges Association and was appointed by the Supreme Court to serve on the Judicial Education and Training Advisory Committee as well as numerous other committees throughout his career," the news release states. "Judge Lee was also appointed by the Supreme Court to serve on the Judicial Standards Commission and served for eight years. He was the first municipal judge to be appointed to the commission in its history." Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter. This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Alamogordo Municipal Judge Steven Lee retires after decades on the bench As Gov. Kathy Hochul's first State of the State address approaches, supporters of New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities are anxious to hear how the governor plans to address a soaring staffing shortage that reached critical proportions during the pandemic. Nonprofit leaders say they have long faced hurdles recruiting and keeping direct-care staff it's hard work with low pay but COVID-19 pushed even more out of the field. The jobs are crucial, advocates say, if New York wants to live up to its commitment to ensure disabled residents live as independently and productively as possible. But workers mostly women, often immigrants and people of color face a growing wage gap. "Our toes are at the edge of a cliff," said Sen. Mike Martucci, R-Wawayanda, whose district encompasses parts of Delaware, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties. "This is really something we have been Band-aiding for decades." The cost goes way beyond monetary, say family members like Nancy Witherell, whose sister Susan lives at Fisher House, a group home run by Jawonio, which provides support for those with developmental disabilities in the Mid-Hudson region. "We lost residents and staff alike to COVID," Witherell said during Dec. 15 virtual conference with legislators and leaders in the field. "Yet DSPs kept on showing up at risk to themselves and family. Most of these people work two jobs to make ends meet. Cant anyone discern that workers for people with disabilities deserve more than crumbs?" Shortages of Direct Support Professional staff known as DSPs top 20% across the state. About 93% of agencies say applicants for a growing number of job openings have plummeted. Half of agencies that support people with developmental disabilities say they have had to cut programs and services because they cannot find staff. Group homes are closing and consolidating, especially in the Finger Lakes and Western New York. Story continues While fast-food workers across the state will see a $15-an-hour minimum wage in 2022, the average hourly pay for DSPs those who assist people with daily tasks is $14.56. "If we cant recruit and retain workforce," Witherell asked, "what happens then? Nursing homes? Institutions? I promised our parents many years ago to be (Susan's) voice. Reading a new governor New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at an event, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in New York. Hochul has taken some significant action to help. She's also made calculations that cause concern. In November, Hochul assigned $1.5 billion of federal American Rescue Plan funding to help with retention and recruitment of DSPs. That included bonuses for those who worked through the pandemic and for staff vaccinated against COVID. And the governor recently signed a slate of bills designed to support people with developmental disabilities. One bill demands a probe of the state's response to the COVID pandemic and its impact on people with developmental disabilities. Last year, the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities directed "asymptomatic" residents back to group homes, using guidance similar to a controversial rule that sent COVID-infected people to nursing homes. OPWDD has documented 607 group home resident COVID deaths, as of Dec. 16. But Hochul vetoed legislation on Dec. 30 that would increase funding to private schools that serve children with disabilities. The schools have said they cannot retain staff or attract new teachers because of low pay. She pledged instead to include the extra funding in her budget. Some advocates expressed concern that Hochul would use the extra school funding as a way to squeeze other budget cuts out of lawmakers. Hochul, though, said when announcing the school funding plan: "People with disabilities have my commitment: as your governor, I'll always stand by your side and fight for you." Advocates laud Hochul's decision to tap Kerri Neifeld as acting commissioner of the OPWDD. Neifeld has a long history in the human services field, and elected officials and advocates alike say conversations with her have shown concern about the worker crisis. There's no guarantee Hochul will mention the staffing crisis during her Jan. 5 speech, which often provides a governor's budget plans for the next year. Hochul's office has not responded directly to requests for comment on the issue. However, Jennifer O'Sullivan, an OPWDD spokesperson, said in December that "the Hochul administration is working on multiple strategies to confront this crisis and improve the staffing situation." O'Sullivan added: OPWDD and our provider agencies, as well as most human services organizations across the country, are facing a workforce shortage of crisis proportions." Tom McAlvanah, president of New York Disability Advocates, said Hochul recognizes the community is struggling. "Im encouraged by the conversations Ive already had with her and her staff," he said during the Dec. 15 virtual conference. Omicron: Cases skyrocketing in NY, but fatality rate holds key Minimum wage: Here's where it's going up, and by how much, in New York Lasting impressions: See 2021 captured by our photographers What advocates want Advocates have called on Hochul to include the 5.4% cost-of-living pay hike in her 2023 state budget plan. While the state operates some programs and residences directly for some New Yorkers, most group homes and day rehabilitation programs are run by nonprofit agencies that receive state reimbursements. Wages are locked in by what state and federal formulas provide. In the years to come, advocates want the state to fulfill a commitment, made in 2006, to adjust DSP wages to the Consumer Price Index. Michael Seereiter, president and CEO of the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation, uses the word permanentization to describe the problem. "I find it continually frustrating that we have to fight for something thats already in there," Seereiter said. There's also a push to provide income tax credits for direct-care workers. The field should also have a "career ladder," advocates say. That would include certification and training programs through local BOCES programs, SUNY and CUNY. Family members rally outside the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities in Thiells, Thursday, July 9, 2020. Professionalizing the job, advocates say, would better reflect the responsibilities that DSPs undertake. That means raises for more responsibility. While the $1.5 billion Hochul assigned to DSP retention is widely praised, advocates call it triage "Dressing on the wound," Seereiter said. They want bonuses built in, so DSPs who stick around and advance their skills are rewarded. Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, a Democrat in Westchester County, also wants the federal government to develop what he calls a "light green card" that could help recruit workers eager to come to the U.S. "Were not going to solve these issues in a year or two," Seereiter said. "Its going to take years and years because it took years and years for it to degrade." 'Different tone' in Albany New York had been seen as a leader in the field of human care, until the shock of the Willowbrook scandal of the 1970s, when the institution's mistreatment of people with developmental disabilities was exposed. The state, as part of a federal court settlement, agreed to move Willowbrook State School residents into small group homes. Changes in laws followed and the system of large state-run institutions gave way to group homes and day habilitation programs. "Thirty years ago, a DSP was a career-track position that paid at twice the minimum wage," Seereiter said. Weve seen the direct support professional job slide from an economic perspective." Wage increases were sporadic. But any economic boost faded as DSP wages stagnated amid subsequent hikes in the minimum wage and more than a decade of failed attempts to continue cost-of-living adjustments for DSPs. The situation was exacerbated in the past decade, advocates say. "We had a governor who was not paying attention, or actively declared war on the human services field," said Abinanti, referencing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was the target of several lobbying efforts to boost DSP pay. Assemblywoman Missy Miller, R-Hempstead, recalled her days of advocacy when she traveled with her son, Oliver, to Albany to attempt a meeting with Cuomo. "Our governor wasnt even willing to meet with any of us," she said. "Hopefully our new governor will be willing to meet first hand. It makes a big difference meeting the people who are going without help." Advocates and lawmakers acknowledge that fixes will take years. I am very encouraged by the completely different tone in Albany," said Assemblyman Chris Burdick, D-Bedford, who represents parts of Westchester. We have a great opportunity now. Let us seize that opportunity this legislative season and in the upcoming budget. But advocates and family members like Miller say there's no time to wait. "Were at severe risk of people actually dying from not getting the help they need," said Miller, who recounted that her son's health deteriorated during COVID isolations and staff shortages. "You know who pays? Oliver." Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Will Hochul budget help New Yorkers with developmental disabilities? This former Toys R Us location at 877 Brevard Road is being transformed. Todays batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the Question: Toys R Us on Brevard Road is being torn down now. What's the plan for the site once the building is gone? My answer: Fingers crossed for a new hotel! Hey, I just worry that we don't have enough rooms. Real answer: Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and the building on Brevard Road has been empty for several years and occasionally plagued with graffiti. So, a new use will certainly look better than what's there. And it looks like that new use could well be a CarMax auto sales store. The company, based in Richmond, Virginia, bills itself as "the nations largest and most profitable retailer of used cars." A Dec. 3, 2021 demolition permit on file with the city of Asheville states D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. will handle the demo. The building will be torn down, but the concrete building foundation will remain. This former Toys R Us location at 877 Brevard Road is being transformed. More: Answer Man: Is 'JEWL' tag anti-Semitic? VA building lacks? A Nov. 12, 2021, permit on file is for a "standalone sign for CarMax." That permit is for the installation for four new illuminated wall signs and "three directional signs for CarMax." And a June 23, 2021, permit titled "early assistance," was for "CarMax Auto Superstores." "This request is for a permitting pre-submittal meeting for the CarMax Auto Superstores, Inc development," the permit states. "The proposed development has 8,526 square feet of building area (sales, presentation, service, carwash), on an approximately 6.1 acre site which was previously developed." That original permit, now listed as "closed," said demolition would start last June, but obviously that got delayed. I reached out to CarMax and the development company but didn't hear back by deadline. This former Toys R Us location at 877 Brevard Road is being transformed. More: Answer Man: Kmart on Brevard Road under renovation? Missing signs on I-40? Ben Woody, director of the city's Development Services Department, said, "The zoning permit (Level I approval) was approved on Nov. 12, 2021, but a pre-construction meeting must be scheduled before permit issuance." Story continues "The building permit was approved on Dec. 20, 2021, but there are several outstanding items that need to be provided by the applicant before issuance of the permit," Woody said via email. "So, they can start the demolition work whenever they're ready, and the issuance of construction permits is really in their court. They'll best be able to provide a timeline." In its quarterly fiscal report for the third quarter of 2021, CarMax reported record sales and revenue, and the company said it opened one new store in the quarter and 10 so far for the fiscal year. For the quarter, CarMax reported, "Record net revenues of $8.5 billion, up 64.5% compared with the prior year third quarter." After closing when Toys R Us went bankrupt in 2018, the Asheville store on Brevard Road was hit by graffiti vandals. CarMax, the used car company, has permits on file with Asheville to demolish the building. Also, "Combined retail and wholesale used vehicle unit sales were 415,054, an increase of 29.3% from the prior years third quarter." Those high sales were "primarily driven by solid execution, the growing demand for our online offerings, ramping inventory and staffing levels, and the continued success of vehicle sourcing directly from consumers," CarMax said. CarMax coming to town will definitely put more pressure on other used car dealers, who are already scrambling to find enough inventory to sell. CarMax said it, "Bought 383,215 vehicles from consumers in the third quarter, a 91% increase versus the prior year quarter. Approximately 194,000 of these vehicles were purchased through our nationwide online instant appraisal offerings." When CarMax and the developer get back to me, I'll provide an update. Question: In Monday's Answer Man, a reader asked a lot of questions about court costs in Buncombe County, after receiving a citation for not wearing a seatbelt. Court costs came to $155. Several questions I didn't have answers for by deadline, so I'm following up today. Here they are: How many court personnel are there? How many cases per hour per day are they processing at this amount? Where is this money going and how much are court staff paid? This must be an enormous sum of money flowing in every week. More: Answer Man: Can I get my neighbors ugly old shed removed? Toys R Us demo permit? My answer: The upshot here is to wear your daggum' seatbelt at all times. I've got one on as I type this... Real answer: To recap, the North Carolina General Assembly sets the court fees, and the proceeds go to the state's general fund. Steve Cogburn, clerk of Superior Court in Buncombe County, answered the first questions and these follow-ups. "My office has 64 people who are deputy clerks or assistant clerks," Cogburn said via email, noting that these positions in North Carolina are on a step pay plan. "Entry pay for a deputy is $31,980 and $35,650 for assistants. The maximum pay for a deputy clerk is $51,728 and $65,864 for assistants." The deputy plan has 13 steps and the assistants plan 16. "There are three assistants who are at the maximum salary," Cogburn said. "One has 25 years, one has 22 years and the last is an attorney who practiced for 20 years and has been the hearing clerk for over nine years." More: Ingles plans new store, added retail for West Asheville Two deputy clerks are at the maximum in steps, but one works part-time and the salary is pro-rata, or proportional, he added. The clerk's position is an elected one, and Cogburn noted the position in Buncombe pays $131,328. "Courts dont run without judges, district attorneys, magistrates and public defenders," Cogburn said. "We also have family court and the Juvenile Justice employee area is very large. Probation and Parole has a large office." He also noted that state appellate courts are also involved with many cases. Salaries for the Court of Appeals judges are $153,939, while Supreme Court salary is $160,581. Buncombe operates two Superior Courts and seven District Courts each day, in addition to Small Claims Court and Probate Court. "How many cases on any given day is not easy to say," Cogburn said Jan. 3. "For instance, today I am conducting 'Administrative' court, and there are over 750 cases on that calendar. There were no less than five assistant district attorneys plus staff for that one calendar." "On any given day the clerk handles estate and probate matters, foreclosures, special proceedings, as well as manning all other courts," Cogburn continued. "There are civil matters in District Court as well as domestic, child custody, child support, restraining orders and domestic violence." Cogburn also noted that District Court also handles all juvenile matters. "District court is most busy in criminal matters," he said. "Superior Court handles appeals from the clerk as well as criminal cases and civil cases." This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man follows up on prior inquiry about Buncombe County court costs Apple is releasing a special edition AirPods Pro via its online and retail stores in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, with a case engraved with a new version of the tiger emoji in honor of the Year of the Tiger. In time for Lunar New Year, which starts on Feb. 1, 2022, customers in China also went home with 12 red envelopes with the zodiac signs printed on each of them. Apple Year of the Tiger Airpods The special edition Tiger AirPods Pro are the same price as the regular ones. For instance, in Hong Kong, the Tiger AirPods cost HK$1,999 (approximately $256), similar to the standard AirPods Pro. Customers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore can receive personalized New Year greeting cards for free in-store or virtually during a Share Your Love session. They can also observe Year of the Tiger artwork and decals at certain Apple stores in China. This isnt the first time Apple has celebrated Lunar New Year through its AirPod line. Limited edition AirPods Pro were also released in 2021 for the Year of the Ox. Earlier this year, filmmaker Lulu Wang shot a short for Apple titled Nian and demonstrated what the iPhone 12 Pro Max was capable of. In 2018, Apple also released an ad titledThree Minutes,which tells the story of a female train conductor on the Nanning to Harbin line, one of Chinas longest train routes. Featured Image via Weibo Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Malaysian Girl Gets Shout Out From Rage Against the Machine Guitarist for Her Cover Vietnam Airlines become first in history to offer direct commercial flights between Vietnam and US Chinas youngest boy band forced to rebrand after being accused of child exploitation 'Sorry they gave me tickets and not you because youre poor': Streamer playing game at BTS concert angers ARMY VND3 trillion approved for railway infrastructure maintenance Transport Minister Nguyen Van The has approved VND3 trillion (USD129.31 million) for the maintenance of national railway infrastructure in 2022. Of the sum, VND2.69 trillion would be used for regular maintenance activities, VND260 billion will be for emergency repairs following the impact of natural disasters. Transport Minister Nguyen Van The has approved VND3 trillion for the maintenance of national railway infrastructure in 2022 Athens-Clarke County officials are looking to fill nine slots on the new Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board unanimously approved in November by the commission. Nine civilians would be included on this board, whose duties would be to look into alleged misconduct by employees who are in the realm of public safety as well as review, evaluate and make recommendations on policies and procedures. More: Athens-Clarke commissioners approve civilian oversight board for law enforcement More: Oversight board opposition claim it's a sign of mistrust. Advocates say it's 'a step forward.' Applications to be on the board are being accepted through Jan. 19. Applicants are asked to submit a form with their personal information and answers to questions such as their interest in being on the board, relevant experience or talents, and consider the major issues or challenges facing the board. Applicants must be a resident of Athens-Clarke County and can not have past-due obligations owed by them as an individual or as an owner of any business to Athens-Clarke County. Members of this new board will serve four-year terms and will meet monthly. These members will undergo training that includes the ACCGov Citizens Police Academy, and other training on items such as ethics training, law enforcement practices and procedures, and public records and public meetings laws. This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens' Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board taking applications MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defence and security cooperation at a virtual summit on Thursday, in the latest move to strengthen ties amid China's rising military power and economic clout in the Indo-Pacific region. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two leaders will sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will for the first time set out a framework for the two countries' defence forces to cooperate with each other. "This treaty will be a statement of our two nations commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific," Morrison said in a statement on Wednesday. The strengthened security ties expand on efforts by the United States, Japan, India and Australia - dubbed the Quad - to work on shared concerns about China, including its pressure on Taiwan, trade disputes, and freedom of navigation in the region. China responded by saying that bilateral treaties should promote regional trust, peace and stability. "It should not target or harm any third party interests," said China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, at a daily news briefing on Wednesday, when asked about the treaty. Australia and Japan also plan to discuss opportunities to strengthen government and business partnerships on clean energy, critical technologies and materials. "Our cooperation also includes an expanding agenda for the Quad with India and the United States, and our shared technology-led approach to reducing carbon emissions," Morrison said. Japan's top government spokesman said "common important challenges will be discussed in a candid manner" at the summit. "Japan-Australia relations will be further enhanced, and towards the realisation of a free and open Indo-Pacific, we will reaffirm our cooperation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Wednesday. Kishida said on Tuesday he would forgo overseas visits before the next session of parliament starts on Jan. 17 to focus on laying out anti-pandemic measures. He had previously planned to travel to Australia in person, according to media reports. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Additional reporting by Emily Chow in Beijing and Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Editing by Michael Perry and Frank Jack Daniel) A woman with her hands cuffed. (PHOTO: Getty Images) SINGAPORE A bank employee in need of cash to pay off her mounting debt embezzled funds from her company to pay a licensed moneylender who turned out to be a scammer. Over two months, Nurashikeen Sinin misappropriated cash from her employer P T Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI). By the time the 37-year-old Singaporean came clean, she had siphoned at least $628,000 25 times the loan sum she had originally sought from the fake moneylender. Nurashikeen was jailed for four years on Wednesday (5 January) after pleading guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust as a servant. A count of falsifying documents was considered for her sentencing. The Singaporean had joined BNI in 2001 and was promoted to a supervisor at the Limited Purpose Branch (LPB) of BNI by the time of the offences in 2020. She was earning a salary of $4,200. As part of her job, Nurashikeen counted cash in BNI LPBs vault at the end of the day, prepared and submitted the cash balance sheet for the day and oversaw the tellers, collecting cash and remittance documents from them. Nurashikeen was also entrusted with the discretion to decide when to transfer excess cash to the main branch of BNI. By 2020, Nurashikeen had outstanding debts of over $83,000 consisting of $34,600 from credit cards, $12,400 from licensed moneylenders, and a staff loan from BNI of $36,700. To pay off her debt, Nurashikeen turned to another moneylender. She found a moneylenders advertisement online via a URL not knowing that it was a scam. On 12 October 2020, Nurashikeen contacted the scammer via WhatsApp and was told to pay an administrative fee of $2,500 before the business could disburse a loan of $25,000. Nurashikeen made the payment but did not receive the loan. The next day she was told to pay a collateral fee of $2,500 and then $5,000 in order to secure the loan. She followed instructions but still did not get the loan. That day, under increasing pressure to settle her debts, Nurashikeen began to embezzle funds from LPB. Story continues She pocketed $5,400 in cash and gave most of it to the scammer. From then until 12 November 2020, Nurashikeen was asked to pay more fees and at times given documents purportedly from DBS Bank and the "Internal Security Department", asking for more fees. Due to her desperation and her belief that the money would be returned to her, Nurashikeen kept transferring funds which she misappropriated from LPB. She embezzled at least $628,000, in cash, which she deposited into her account before transferring to the scammer. To cover up her misdeed, Nurashikeen forged the opening and ending cash balance of LPBs daily cash balance sheets, which stated the original sums before she stole the monies. In total, she transferred $735,000 to the scammer, comprising the money she pocketed from BNI and $97,750 from her own funds. It is uncertain where she produced the leftover sum from. She never received her promised loan. On 12 November 2020, BNIs headquarters received a tip-off that Nurashikeen had been behaving unusually. A Head of Customer Service decided to conduct a surprise cash count check at LPB. Nurashikeen messaged this employee to ask to meet the next day, when she confessed to the offences. Nurashikeen was terminated on 14 November 2020. She lodged a police report against the scammer five days later. BNI was unable to recover the monies as they had been transferred to unknown accounts. Nurashikeen was unable to return any money as she is an undischarged bankrupt. When asked by District Judge Marvin Bay how she came to be in debt in the first place, Nurashikeens lawyer Suppiah Thangaveloo said, The tragic story of this is that she never really shared challenges, even with family members. Everything was handled by her, if she spoke to somebody, somebody would have said it was quite a silly thing to do, to borrow money to pay someone. The lawyer added said that Nurashikeens highest education level is N-Levels. She has been working in a bank for a long period of time, so I think she doesnt have any other exposure. Shes just a very simple person, he said. Nurashikeen had been caught in a vicious cycle. After finding out they Nurashikeen worked for a bank, the scammer had also threatened to confront her employer. DJ Bay then asked the lawyer if Nurashikeen if she had asked for loan of $25,000 and ended up paying 25 times the sum, and the lawyer replied yes. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore BENGALURU (Reuters) -India's drug regulator on Wednesday granted approval to Bharat Biotech for conducting late-stage trials of its nasal COVID-19 vaccine to be used as a booster shot, according to a Mint report, which cited ANI. The vaccine maker submitted the late-stage trial application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in December, adding that an intranasal vaccine as a booster dose will be easier to administer in mass vaccination campaigns. "DCGI's Subject Expert Committee has granted 'in principle' approval to Bharat Biotech for the conduct of 'Phase III superiority study and Phase III booster dose study' for its intranasal COVID vaccine and has asked it to submit protocols for approval," according to the report https://www.livemint.com/news/india/sec-grants-in-principle-approval-for-bharat-biotech-s-nasal-vaccine-booster-dose-11641356358999.html on Wednesday. Bharat Biotech and DCGI did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. As a precautionary measure in light of rising Omicron coronavirus variant cases across the country, India approved the administration of COVID-19 booster shots on Christmas, with healthcare and frontline workers set to receive them from Jan. 10. The country is yet to approve the use of Bharat Biotech's intranasal vaccine, BBV154. In August, BBV154 received regulatory approval for mid- to late-stage trials. Local media had reported the mid-stage trial has completed. India's inoculation drive so far has been dominated by a domestically produced version of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech's inactivated vaccine Covaxin, both administered through injections. On Wednesday, the country reported 58,097 new coronavirus cases, twice the number seen only four days ago, taking its total caseload to over 35 million. (Reporting by Shivani Singh and Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) By Simon Lewis and Madeline Chambers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Germany's top diplomats on Wednesday reiterated that they would impose consequences on Russia for an invasion of Ukraine, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressing the need for a diplomatic solution to heightened tensions between Moscow and the West. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his newly installed German counterpart met at the State Department ahead of a series of meetings https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nato-head-convenes-council-with-russia-jan-12-2022-01-04 with Russian officials in Europe next week. Alarmed by Russia's military buildup along Ukraine's border, Washington has rallied European allies to threaten Russia with sanctions to try to de-escalate the tensions. "Strong trans-Atlantic solidarity is the most effective response and most effective tool that we have in countering Russian aggression," Blinken said, repeating a pledge https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/blinken-warns-high-impact-economic-steps-if-russia-invades-ukraine-2021-12-01 to go further than any previous sanctions against Russia and "inflict very significant costs on Russia's economy and financial system" in the event Russia invades Ukraine. Baerbock said Russia was aware it was the "common position" of Europe and the United States to impose "severe consequences" in the event of an invasion, but did not specify what sanctions action Germany would take. "There is no alternative to a political solution. This has to be clear to the Russian government," Baerbock said, according to a live interpretation of her comments following her meeting with Blinken. Ukraine accuses Russia of massing around 100,000 troops in preparation for a possible invasion, raising fears that a simmering conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region could erupt into open war between the neighboring former Soviet republics. Story continues U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to continue providing military aid to Ukraine to defend itself against potential Russian aggression. Baerbock said Germany had a "different position" to the United States on the supply of arms to Ukraine, but was supporting Ukraine's armed forces through medical supplies and helping in the treatment of Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the conflict. Blinken and Baerbock said they also discussed the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would provide natural gas to Germany, bypassing existing transit routes through Ukraine. Baerbock said the new coalition government that took power in Berlin last month supported a joint statement https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-germany-deal-nord-stream-2-pipeline-draws-ire-lawmakers-both-countries-2021-07-21 signed with Washington by its predecessors in July. "We agreed on this together with European partners that we would take effective measures, together with European partners, should Russia use energy as a weapon or should it continue its aggressive acts against Ukraine," she said. (Reporting by Simon Lewis, Madeline Chambers, Caitlin Webber, Andrea Shalal and Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Jonathan Oatis) SAO PAULO (AP) Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a hospital on Wednesday morning in Sao Paulo, and addressed the press. He had been hospitalized for two days after an intestinal obstruction, which forced him to cut short his vacation. On Tuesday, the medical team accompanying him had ruled out the need for surgery. Bolsonaro, 66, has undergone four surgeries stemming from the abdominal stabbing he suffered during a 2018 campaign event. At the time, he was operated on by Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, the same doctor who has been attending to him since then. We instruct patients to chew well, avoid some foods, and we hope to keep the president like that for the next 20, 30 years, Macedo told reporters in the hospital's lobby before Bolsonaro's departure to the airport. He also recommended the president avoid intensive physical activity this week. Bolsonaro joked about the difficulty of the restrictions. I'll try to follow them, but life goes on, he said. My whole life I was an athlete, in the armed forces, a paratrooper, diver. Its hard to stay still. Walgreens, 1920 SE Washington Blvd., has been evacuated as law enforcement investigate a suspicious device in the parking lot. UPDATE 6:28 p.m.: The Tulsa Police Bomb Squad has deactivated a pipe bomb found Wednesday near the Walgreens at 1920 SE Washington Blvd., and the store's parking lot and shopping center have been reopened. The Bartlesville Police Department evacuated Walgreens and closed incoming traffic to the parking lot after receiving a call at 3:13 p.m. about a suspicious device found near the Walgreens pharmacy drive-thru. BPD Capt. Jay Hastings said the device was deactivated shortly after 5:30 p.m. and taken from the scene by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. BPD checked the area for other devices before releasing the scene. The device was initially noticed on Tuesday near a wooden privacy fence near the south entrance of the parking lot by individuals who walk in the area frequently. On Wednesday, the individuals picked up the device and moved it closer to Walgreens before BPD was called, Hastings said. The Bartlesville Police and Fire departments investigate a suspicious package in the parking lot of the shopping center on the 1900 block of SE Washington Blvd. BPD is conducting further interviews and reviewing security footage as they continue to investigate the incident, he said. ______________________________________________________________________ ORIGINAL STORY: The Tulsa Police Bomb Squad has been called to assist with a possible pipe bomb in the parking lot of Walgreens, 1920 SE Washington Blvd., where Bartlesville Police and Fire have evacuated the store and parking lot. BPD Capt. Jay Hastings said the department received a call at 3:15 p.m. about a "suspicious device" in south side of the parking lot, near the Walgreens pharmacy drive-through. Upon arrival, BPD evacuated the area, called the bomb squad and blocked off the parking lot entrances to new occupants. Hastings said citizens are advised to avoid the area. Washington Boulevard in front of the store remains open. This is an ongoing story and will be updated as more information is released. This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Pipe bomb found near Walgreens deactivated The parents of Brian Laundrie are asking the FBI to return a notebook found near his remains, arguing through family attorney Steven Bertolino that its part of Laundries formal estate. The contents of the notebook remain a mystery to all but the investigators, who seized it along with a backpack after both were discovered near Laundries skeletal remains in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida in late October. I am sure everybody is waiting to find out what, if anything, is contained in the notebook, Bertolino told People magazine after it was recovered last year, adding that Laundries parents have no inkling as to what may or may not be in there. Its unclear how much of the books contents are even legible, having likely spent weeks underwater prior to its discovery. Nevertheless, Bertolino told WFLA Laundries parents want the FBI to return it, along with other belongings of his that may be in police custody. The 23-year-old was the sole person of interest in the homicide of his fiancee, 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was discovered in Wyoming in Sept. 2021. An autopsy showed she died by strangulation. The couple had been on an extended cross-country road trip, embracing a camper van lifestyle glamorized by social media, when Petito went missing amid amid suspicious circumstances. Body camera footage released by the Moab Police Department in Utah after she was reported missing shows the couple had been in a fight on Aug. 12, during a visit to Arches National Park. Laundrie returned to his parents home in Florida on Sept. 1 without Petito and, on the advice of his attorney, refused to speak to investigators. He himself went missing soon after. A federal grand jury indicted Laundrie for bank fraud in late September, linking him to the unauthorized use of a debit card, with withdrawals worth more than $1,000 during the period Petito went missing. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Good morning Shreveport. Have you been busy catching up on all your work after the holiday season? Well so has the business world and we have your weekly roundup. From retirements to IRS guidelines we have all the top stories that made headlines this week. Caddo Career & Technology Center presents at Shreveport Rotary Club meeting During the Shreveport Rotary Club's meeting on members were greeted with the team at Caddo Career & Technology Center. The Caddo Career & Technology Center is home to over 25 programs and is a technical and career education extension of Caddo Parish high schools. This technical center serves as a remote campus for area high schools to provide hands-on experience in three-hour blocks of instruction. The Rotary Club funds the Sam Mason scholarship which gifts one lucky student at the Caddo Career and Technology Center with a scholarship. Through the involvement of key corporate and school leaders working with teachers and administrators, Caddo Career & Technology Center is working to deliver a world-class workforce. Minden to be featured on "Home Town Kickstart" next Spring Cora Lou Robinson's painting of Minden's downtown. Home Town Kickstart is a spinoff of the popular show Home Town and will be led by its hosts Ben and Erin Napier as they offer insight into revamping six small towns. Each town will have three projects that are focused on: refreshing the home of a local hero, upgrading a small business and updating a public space. Sara McDaniel and Rachel Miller sent a letter to HGTV and the home renovation network requested they send in a video as a bid for their hometown to be included. Shreveport attorney explains IRS says stolen property, bribes must be reported as income If you stole something in 2021, it is now too late to return it. You'll have to claim it as income on your taxes. Literature provided by the IRS states that any income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income taxes. This includes stolen property. Story continues The property must be reported at its fair market value in your income in the year it was stolen unless it is returned to the rightful owner in that same year. The IRS is asking individuals to report stolen or illegal activity to collect taxes. 5 tips to get your home ready for freezing winter weather Snow in Shreveport Monday afternoon, Feb 15, 2021. Here are five tips to help you prepare your home for the impending freezing temperatures. SporTran announces a push back on new route launch date Sportran in Shreveport Tuesday April, 28, 2020. SporTran announced that they will be planning for a new launch date for the new Bossier City route, the initial launch date was Jan. 3. Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler and Chief Administrative Officer Amanda Nottingham met with SporTran's executives to discuss the new route last week. SporTran has been working to get public transit expanded in South Bossier since the Northwest Council of Governments 2017 Transit Development Study for the area. Bossier City police chief announces retirement Shane McWilliams Bossier Police Chief Shane McWilliams will be retiring after 29 years of service. This retirement comes after July 2, when Chandler reassigned McWilliams to director of police operations and less than a week later placed him on administrative leave. McWilliams served as the 14th Bossier City Chief of Police and led the department through many changes and challenging times. Louisiana businessman David DeBerardinis sentenced to 15 years in prison Shreveport businessman was sentenced to 15 years in prison for committing wire fraud and defrauding individuals out of millions of dollars. DeBerardinis solicited investor funds, offering interest payments and a guaranteed return on invested principal. He allegedly used false fuel sales agreements to help him get "millions of dollars" in funding from PlainsCapital Bank. DeBerardinis pleaded guilty to the charge of wire fraud on Aug. 25, 2021. Be on the lookout Friday and Sunday for Life in the 318 and The 318 to catch up on all the best stories you might have missed. Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Business in the 318: Louisiana businessman facing 15 years of prison Brenda Walker's winning Lucky for Life ticket. A Canton woman's special set of lottery numbers finally came through for her in a big way. Brenda Walker, 77, recently played her numbers, made up of birth dates and other special dates, on the Michigan Lottery's Lucky for Life game. Her ticket matched the five white balls drawn Nov. 27 2-6-7-11-19, according to the Michigan Lottery, and won her $25,000 a year for life. Walker told the Michigan Lottery she's played the numbers for years. More: Detroit woman gets instant lottery ticket worth $1M for birthday More: Wayne County man wins $1M on instant lottery ticket "Every night after the drawing I call the winning numbers hotline and check my ticket," she told the Michigan Lottery. "When the numbers were read off, I recognized them right away and had to press the repeat option a few times to make sure I was hearing right. "When it finally sank in, I jumped up in excitement and was filled with a warm, happy, and excited feeling. I am so thankful for this prize." She purchased her ticket at the Canton Mini Mart located at 42421 Cherry Hill Road in Canton and opted to receive the winnings as a one-time, lump sum payment of $390,000 instead of annuity payments of $25,000 for 20 years or life, whichever is greater. She plans to use the money to buy a new car. Stay connected and stay informed. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press today. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Lottery: Canton woman wins $25,000 a year for life Capitol security officials laid out a lengthy list of reforms on Tuesday they say have changed the way law enforcement will protect lawmakers in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol even as theyre still working to address staffing shortages that have left police officers exhausted and overtaxed. The reforms have touched every aspect of the Capitol Polices work from intelligence gathering to riot control as officials aim to beef up security around the complex and protect against a future attack. The changes are spelled out in a 10-page report by the Capitol Police Board obtained by POLITICO. The long-awaited report marks one year since the mob attack that showed enormous gaps in the Capitols preparedness, with lawmakers demanding a slew of reforms for the police force and its other security offices. The four members of the board are House Sergeant at Arms William Walker, Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson, Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton and Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger. Manger has gone to enormous lengths this week to show the extent of those changes. In an interview with POLITICO, for instance, he detailed new tools and tactics, such as upgraded cell phones, riot gear and more regular threat assessments. He told reporters Tuesday the Capitol Police were now stronger and better prepared than they were before Jan. 6, 2021. But the police force is still grappling with a major weakness: An inadequate number of officers on the job. The current shortage is roughly 447 officers, according to the report. It presented several solutions to the departments staffing shortage, which the report described as the departments biggest challenge. The fastest option, the report said, involved the contracting of private security officers in posts where a Capitol Police officer might not be necessary or where the department needs a "tactical advantage." The use of contractors would supplement the force and free up officers for more training and leave opportunities, the report said. The Capitol Police union has criticized the proposal, though Manger told reporters Tuesday it was an "ongoing discussion. We're working with them, trying to address their concerns." Story continues The second part of the strategy involved the improvement of wellness programs on the force to retain officers. The report also said Capitol Police are close to completing a nationwide search for an intelligence chief, part of an extensive overhaul of the department in response to the failures that were exposed by the violent assault Jan. 6, 2021. Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the Capitol Police Boards report as demonstrating important continued progress to protect the Capitol, honor the sacrifice of our Capitol Police heroes and defend our American Democracy, with the release of this report. The sweeping response from Capitol Police comes as many lawmakers continue to worry about the security of both their D.C. and district offices, with threats still common against both members and their staff. Several Democrats raised the issue of security on a private call with Manger and Walker on Tuesday afternoon. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), for instance, raised questions about how to ensure security at lawmaker events back home, since members cant use their office funds to pay for private security only campaign funds. Another Democrat, House Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott (D-Va.), sought answers on the Capitols ongoing review of its firearms policy. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer had previously asked for clarification on the firearms policy from the security officials including an clear ban on firearms in hearing rooms, committee rooms and other areas of public gathering within the Capitol complex. The two security officials also detailed some of the other ideas under consideration: Such as a proposal for enhanced screening for Capitol visitors, similar to the White Houses system. They also discussed plans to beef up security at entrance checkpoints. Sarah Ferris contributed to this report. Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty On Tuesday night, the inimitable Cher called in to MSNBCs The Last Word with Lawrence ODonnell after shed complimented the shows host for his fundraising on behalf of K.I.N.D. (Kids In Need of Desks), a charity that provides desks for Malawi students. ODonnell and his viewers have helped raise $32,838,605 for K.I.N.D. since 2010. Cher admitted to being a longtime viewer of The Last Word and praised the shows herculean effort in raising money for Malawi students, given that Cher herself is also involved in a number of charitable endeavors, including Free the Wild, an international charity that attempts to stop the abuse of wild animals in captivity. I just feel kind of like a geek because Im such an avid MSNBC [viewer], Cher told ODonnell. Sometimes Im yelling at you guys, other times Im just being like, Oh, theyre so sweet and rubbing your heads. Actually, if youve ever read any of my tweets, Im so insanely political and get myself in so much trouble, but I dont care. When ODonnell asked her about the New Year after being through one year of a sane presidency under Joe Biden, Cher replied, I really wish the Democrats would just go on full-tilt and run around with their hair on fire. I know its not the nice thing to do or the genteel thing to do, but times-a-wasting, guys, and somebodys got to light a fire. Jim Gaffigan Took on Trump. Now Hes Skewering COVID and QAnon Crazies in a New Netflix Special. Then, of course, the topic of former President Donald Trump came up. ODonnell wondered whether Cher had ever crossed paths with anyone as odious as Trump, a bigot whos been accused of sexual harassment or assault by more than 20 women. Well, babe, Ive encountered some junk people and some peoplejust the worst things, think of a whole bunch of adjectivesbut Ive never encountered anyone [like Trump]. They pale in comparison. You know, the people I know, they couldnt even hes like a horse of a different color. Story continues Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Chevrolet opened a new front in the Truck Wars on Wednesday, vowing its electric Silverado EV pickup will beat the Ford F-150 Lightning on a host of key performance metrics, including driving range, towing capacity, power and passenger space. Its the first salvo as the battle for pickup supremacy shifts to a critical new theater: electric vehicles. GM CEO Mary Barra unveiled the Silverado EV scheduled to go on sale in the second quarter of 2023 in her keynote address Wednesday to the CES electronics show in Las Vegas. GM plans to stream Barras address on its Exhibit Zero website: gmexhibitzero.com/en-us. The Silverado EV will debut as a 2024 model. The first trucks built will be work models, Chevrolet vice president of marketing Steve Majoros said. Chevy hasn't said how much those initial work trucks will cost, though there will eventually be a $39,900 base model. Production of the lavishly equipped $105,000 RST First Edition a line-topping model expected to be available in fall 2023 was spoken for in just 12 minutes when Chevrolet began taking reservations at $100 apiece Wednesday. Customers can reserve other models at Chevys website. Full-size pickups like the Silverado, F-150 and Ram 1500 are U.S. automakers top selling vehicles, generating billions of dollars in profits annually. They also are among the most technically challenging vehicles to electrify. Pickup owners expect to be able to tow heavy trailers and haul cargo long distances, frequently including muddy work sites and fields. Towing is expected to reduce EV pickups range significantly, and the trucks heavy batteries may limit their usefulness off paved surfaces. Automakers that crack the code to combine the performance pickup owners demand with environmental benefits and expected low operating costs from EVs will be sitting pretty as U.S. vehicles evolve away from internal combustion engines. The lit up Chevrolet bowtie emblem on the front grill of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the Fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. GM will build the Silverado EV and other electric vehicles, including the GMC Hummer EV "super truck" and Cadillac Lyriq luxury SUV, at its $2.2 billion Factory Zero assembly plant, which straddles Detroit and Hamtramck. Story continues 2022 Lucid Air: Electric luxury sedan may be best car in the world by middle of 2022 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5: EV has crucial luxury-brand feature competitors can't match My EV pickup can whip yours The Silverado EV is a five-passenger crew cab, measuring 233 inches long, 80 inches wide and 76 inches high about the same as a current short-box Silverado crew cab. Chevrolet claims a long list of "firsts" and "bests" 24-inch tires, 10,000-pound towing capacity, 1,300-pound payload, 400-mile range and a glass roof, for a start will vault the Silverado EV to leadership among electric pickups, despite going on sale more than a year after the Rivian R1T, which is available now, and many months after Ford F-150 Lightning, expected to go on sale this spring. The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV electric pickup should go on sale in spring 2023. Silverado EV sales should begin in the second quarter of 2023. Unlike other high-profile electric vehicles Ford Mustang Mach-E, Lucid Air, R1T, every Tesla which began sales with opulent top-of-the-line models, the first Silverado EVs will be the work truck model. Its unclear what, if any, federal tax credits the Silverado EV will qualify for, because of legislative gridlock in Washington, D.C. The Silverado EV will have a 5-foot, 11-inch bed, independent suspension and either two or four motors. The cargo bed of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the Fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. Key features of the $39,900 electric work truck: 8,000-pound towing capacity A $39,900 base model with a shorter range will follow 1,200- pound payload 510 horsepower 615 pound-feet of torque The $105,000 RST first edition personal-use Silverado EV will heap on more power and features, including: 10,000-pound towing 1,300-pound payload At least 664 hp and 780 pound-feet of torque 0-60 mph in less than 4.5 seconds Four-wheel steering Automatic adaptive air suspension Multi-Flex seven-feature tailgate 17-inch infotainment touch screen 14-inch head-up display Configurable 11-inch instrument cluster Super Cruise highway hands-free driving system, with trailering capability Foldaway "midgate" that opens the cabs rear to the bed to accommodates items 9 feet long with the tailgate closed Removable rear window for open-air driving The Silverado EVs DC fast charging ability up to 350 kW or 800 volts will allow drivers to add 100 miles range in 10 minutes. The electric plug-in in the driver's rear of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the Fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. Chevrolet wont say how long it will take to DC-charge to 80%, or for a full charge at 240v, the most commonly cited competitive figures for other EVs. Designed like no other pickup The Silverado EVs exterior styling is more adventurous than the evolutionary F-150 Lighting. Both pickups share a full width LED lightbar more or less across where the front edge of the hood would be on a conventional pickup. The similarities end there. A side view of the front grill of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. While Ford took pains to make the F-150 Lighting look like conventional F-150s same cab size and profile, identical beds Chevy created a whole new pickup look for the Silverado EV. Pickups, even expensive, luxurious ones, work for a living, so the new form follows function in ways that take advantage of an EVs unique engineering. The cab is bigger than conventional Silverados, creating more passenger room and storage. The A-pillars slant sharply back for a sloping windshield and aerodynamic benefits. Our electric vehicle architecture let us rethink the whole usage of space, designer Chip Thole said. Weve got a very short front overhang and better rear legroom than any crew cab pickup. The frunk on the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. The EV architecture is so stiff thanks to the fact that the Silverados big battery pack is a structural part, linking the frame rails and filling the space between the axles that engineers made the body a single piece, eliminating the open space between cab and bed that allows current pickups to flex in response to heavy loads. That continuous profile contributes to excellent aerodynamics, reduced wind noise and the Silverado EVs unique appearance. An EV that means business The Silverado EVs interior features a pair of big LCD screens, one for instruments, the other a touch screen that controls many features. However, designers studiously retained buttons and dials for frequently used functions like volume, audio tuning, temperature and fan speed. The dash for the driver gives all kinds of information on the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. We firmly believe knobs and buttons are necessary for some functions, chief engineer Nichole Kraatz said. Other popular features like heated seats can be programmed so theyre always available at a single touch. Theres no start button or key. The Silverado EV will unlock when its key fob, or a phone or card programmed to start it, approaches. Step inside and the pickup is ready to drive away. It shuts off when you walk away and lock it. The work trucks range is TBA, but will be shorter than the expensive RSTs 400 miles. Thats not surprising. Business fleets often have more predictable service areas and hours than personal use vehicles. The rear seats in the seated position but when folded down give ample space for hauling long items that can continue through to the cargo bed of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST that was on display at Stage 3 in Warren on Dec. 21, 2021. The RST model of the all-electric pickup truck will be available in the fall of 2023 fully loaded for $105,000 with an estimated range of 400 miles on a full charge. Chevy will begin sales with the work truck for fleet or individual customers in the second quarter of 2023. The RST first edition should go on sale that fall. Regarding fleet sales, Barra said during her keynote that Enterprise rental car company and Quanta, a fleet manager, will be the first two customers to buy the Silverado EV for their fleets. Enterprise Holdings Inc. CEO Chrissy Taylor joined Barra virtually Wednesday to say the rental car company is interested in buying some of the first Silverado EVs for its fleet to help drive EV adoption. Our customer base is very diverse and we have a wide range of mobility solutions, Taylor said. Many of our renters use our vehicles as an extended test drive. Theyre looking for what is the new technology in the market, what are new vehicles in the market they may want to buy. Our position as Enterprise Rent-A-Car will really help drive awareness. A GM spokesman said the automaker is not releasing any further details on how many Silverado EVs the companies might order. In addition to the work truck, several other models will follow, including lower-priced personal use vehicles and a work truck capable of towing 20,000 pounds, well into the range of current heavy-duty pickups like the Silverado 2500 and Ford F-250. Staff writer Jamie L. LaReau contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Chevy to Ford: My electric pickup will whip yours Chicago Public Schools will cancel in-person classes Wednesday after the Chicago Teachers Union voted Tuesday to strike against in-person schooling and conduct remote instruction until the Omicron spike subsides. With 73 percent in favor, the unions 22,000 members voted to take a remote work action starting Wednesday. General membership was asked to make a final decision on the proposal after the House of Delegates, CTUs governing body, voted 55577, with 88 percent in favor, to advance the item earlier Tuesday. The suspension of in-person teaching could continue until January 18 or until the virus-infection rate in the district hits below the threshold set last year. Last years school closure threshold is a test positivity rate of 10 percent or higher that has increased for the previous seven consecutive days, each day at least one-fifth higher than the week before, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Public Schools said it would cancel classes on Wednesday, but keep schools open to provide essential services to students, in the event of an affirmative union vote. Schools had resumed in-person learning Monday following the two-week winter break. Lightfoot said at a press conference Tuesday that she had asked the CTU to delay the vote and come to the bargaining table so the city could present its updated plan for returning to schools, but the union declined the offer. We should not allow the CTU to shut down an entire school system, and for what? We dont know how long the CTU will stretch its work stoppage, she said. She clarified that if the union votes to take classes online and teachers walk out Wednesday, it will constitute an illegal collective action and those who participate will be on no-pay status. Then, classes will be canceled altogether, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez confirmed, because the district does not have the authority to go remote. That authority must come from the states governor, he specified. Story continues The mayor said that working parents are going to have to scramble to make accommodations to keep their children at home if the district is forced to cancel classes. She said she hopes the union proposal does not survive the vote and teachers still show up to school Wednesday. CTU leaders argued that the Covid-19 variant surge is putting teachers and students at risk and that it would be irresponsible to return to school. The union had demanded that all students and staff present negative Covid-19 test results after winter vacation in order to come back. On Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said shes committed to keeping schools open for the sake of students, whose education and mental health have already been severely disrupted by nearly two years of virtual schooling. She said the district is prepared to face the uptick in cases. What we have learned from this pandemic is that schools are the safest place for students to be: we have spent over a $100 million to put mitigations in place, most CPS staff members are vaccinated, and we generally see little transmission in school settings, Lightfoot said in a statement earlier this week. Keeping kids safely in school where they can learn and thrive is what we should all be focused on. Martinez has echoed Lightfoot in insisting that schools remain open. In an email to the community Sunday, Martinez said he stands firmly behind the decision to protect our students physical and mental health and promote their academic progress by keeping CPS schools safely open for in-person learning. Martinez said the media and teacher frenzy over the safety of schools is not grounded in fact. The amount of noise that is out there right now, the amount of misinformation, we have so many people that are afraid, from parents to my staff, because of the misinformation and I again, I continue to plead, lets listen to our medical professionals, he said. Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady reiterated that the virus poses minimal risk to children and therefore a reversion to school closure is unreasonable, especially given that the district plans to expand its testing regime. More from National Review Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks in front of a blue background. Updated January 6 Chicago Public Schools will keep schools closed for most students Friday as negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union continue. After initially inviting students back, the district updated that announcement, telling parents not to bring their children to school unless their principal gives the OK. A small number of schools MAY be able to offer in-person activities for students if enough staff are reporting to work, the announcement said. While nearly 4,700 teachers, substitutes and other staff members turned up for work on Thursday up from 3,985 Wednesday thats still just a fraction of the districts workforce of over 33,500 employees. Meanwhile, the union, which voted to work remotely until the 18th, advised members to continue trying to log in to their district accounts even though the district has locked them out and to document any attempts to work. Union members also gathered at a high school and began distributing flyers about COVID-19 testing to homes in the neighborhood. The district on Thursday released data showing a significant spike in cases among students and staff members following the holidays, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday night that the city still wants to take a surgical approach to closing schools. Both the district and the union have accused each other of unfair labor practices. The unions complaint argues that the district has changed health and safety practices without an agreement with the union, while the districts complaint said the unions action amounts to an illegal work stoppage and violates the collective bargaining agreement. Back in school for just two days, Chicago officials canceled classes Wednesday after almost three-fourths of teachers union members voted in favor of returning to remote learning. The union said the break from in-person school would last two weeks, unless positive COVID-19 cases declined or an agreement was reached over safety precautions. Story continues We believe that our citys classrooms are where our students should be, said the unions statement. Regrettably, the mayor and her [Chicago Public Schools] leadership have put the safety and vibrancy of our students and their educators in jeopardy. Sign up here for The 74s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. But the district called the vote a work stoppage and said teachers would lose pay if they dont show up on Wednesday. Parents were told to expect an update on how their children would continue learning by the end of the day. To be clear, what CTU is seeking cannot be counted as an instructional day under state law and guidance, the district said in a statement. Related: As COVID Cases Break Records and Thousands of Schools Close, Families and Educators Struggle Again Over Keeping Classrooms Open As districts nationally try to contain further outbreaks due to the Omicron variant, and parents once again scramble to adjust to abrupt shifts to remote learning, the standoff between the district and the union is a major test for CEO Pedro Martinez, who took over leadership of the district in late September. On Tuesday, he appealed to the union and the community, calling for a plan triggering school closures that better represents the times that were in and reflects that vaccines are now available for staff and students. He argues that cases increase when students are out of school and that closing schools would only increase community spread. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a Tuesday night press conference that returning to remote learning would harm hundreds of thousands of Chicago families. Lightfoot compared the situation to the movie Groundhog Day. There is no basis in the data, the science, or common sense for us to shut an entire system down when we can surgically do this at a school level, she said. On Tuesday, the district presented the union with a school-by-school approach to closures linked to levels of COVID-related absenteeism among teachers and students. The proposal included distributing 200,000 KN95 masks for staff, reinstating temperature checks and providing on-site testing at all schools. The union turned that down. Related: High Profile Exits Leave Uncertainty in Reform-Darling San Antonio Independent School District The union is relying on February 2021 criteria that calls for a 14-day pause on in-person learning when rates are increasing for seven days in a row or reach other thresholds. As of Monday, the district had a 10 percent positivity rate. The week after Christmas, almost 36,000 tests were completed, with 18 percent of staff and students testing positive. CTU spokesman Chris Geovanis said theres also movement toward asking for negative tests from students and requiring them to test unless parents opt out. Theyre just testing the same kids over and over again, she said, We want them to do the testing that is actually designed to [identify] COVID and keep people safe. She added that while some schools implement all COVID mitigation strategies, not all do. Geovanis said the union doesnt hold Martinez responsible for the lack of agreement and instead faults Lightfoot, who has control over the school district. It says nothing about Pedro. Hes not the boss, Geovanis said, accusing the mayor of wanting to appease parents in wealthier parts of the city. She doesnt want to piss off the business class who relies on CPS for free child care. Pedro Martinez She added that the union recognizes that parents have real child care issues and that teachers would return to school if they could safely work in person. The union is planning a Wednesday afternoon car caravan to draw attention to its demands. Flip of a switch Some parents seemed unsurprised by the latest development. Im not afraid. It is what it is, said Yolanda Williams, whose daughter Kaylynn Walker is in ninth grade at Michelle Clark Magnet High School. Shes good with her computer stuff. I just have to really make sure she gets up. But Kristin Pollock, the chief of development and external affairs at Kids First Chicago, said she thinks only about half of the districts students will likely make a smooth transition back to virtual instruction. Related: Oster Study Finds Learning Loss Far Greater in Districts that Went Fully Remote While Chicago families have more experience with remote learning and are better equipped with internet, equipment and know-how, compared to 2020-2021, most schools are not ready to pivot at the flip of a switch back to remote learning, she said. The advocacy group informally polled parents in its network over the weekend. Over half did not want to return to school considering current COVID rates, Pollock said. But in a letter to the editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Karonda Locust, a parent in the network, said kids would suffer from a retreat from in-school learning For me, the worst thing we can do is go back to remote learning, even for a short amount of time, given the harm it has caused our children and in many cases, entire families, she wrote. Related: Sign up for The 74s newsletter SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's cyber regulatory body issued on Wednesday draft rules governing mobile apps, including a requirement for security reviews of apps whose functions could influence public opinion. The proposed regulations are part of a campaign run by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) over the past year to increase oversight of the country's tech companies. The public has been invited to give feedback on the draft rules by Jan. 20. The proposals will require application providers to carry out a security assessment before launching "new technologies, new applications, and new functions" capable of influencing opinion or mobilising the public. The CAC did not specify any specific apps or outline the security assessment process other than to say it should be carried out in accordance with national regulations. The proposed rules would apply to "text, picture, voice, video and other information production", as well as instant messaging, news dissemination, forum communities, livestreaming, and e-commerce, the regulator said. The regulator added that mobile app providers must not conduct activities that endanger national security, or force users to share non-essential personal information. News apps must obtain licenses granting permission to publish news, it said. Over the past year, Chinese authorities have tightened regulations across a number of industries, ranging from gaming to real estate to education. The CAC has led a number of initiatives targeting the country's tech sector. On Tuesday, CAC announced it would implement two new rules. One rule requires platform companies with over 1 million users to undergo security assessments before listing overseas, which would take effect in February. The other rule governs companies' use of recommendation algorithms, which would take effect in March. (Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Kim Coghill & Simon Cameron-Moore) (Reuters) - Citigroup analysts on Wednesday raised their S&P 500 price target for the end of 2022, estimating it to breach the 5,000 level for the first time, as the brokerage expects strong corporate earnings to continue this year. Earnings results from S&P 500 companies in 2021 blew past analyst estimates to deliver year-on-year growth in the first three quarters of 52.8%, 96.3% and 42.6%, respectively, according to Refinitiv, which currently sees fourth-quarter annual earnings growth of 22.3%. Companies, consumers and the broader economy largely thrived in 2021, helped by several factors such as a transfer of power in the U.S. government, the "meme stock" phenomenon, generous fiscal and monetary stimulus, booming demand and price spikes. Citigroup analysts raised their price target for the S&P 500 to 5,100 from 4,900 set in October, cautioning that a U.S. Federal Reserve policy tightening could pose valuation headwinds. The S&P 500 rose about 27% in 2021, gaining more than 3% in the last two months alone. The index closed at 4793.54 on Tuesday. Upcoming quarterly results and 2022 outlook of companies could provide the cushion for growth, despite COVID-19 and supply chain woes, Citigroup analyst Scott Chronert said. (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.) Hello, neighbors! Helen Eckhard here with the Thursday copy of the St. Louis Daily. First, today's weather: Frigid; a bit of morning snow. High: 18 Low: 7. Here are the top 3 stories today in St. Louis: A Missouri appeals court confirmed Tuesday that St. Louis will be required to repay millions of dollars after an offer by the Attorney General to forgive the debt fell through. The city will spend a total of $5 million to pay back the State Legal Expense Fund for the state's share of a $14 million wrongful conviction settlement to the family of George Allen Jr. The city will also be required to pay legal fees for several other similar cases involving St. Louis police. (STLtoday.com) BJC HealthCare announced Wednesday that it will postpone all elective surgeries, citing the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The hospital system is currently contending with more than 500 COVID cases, leaving nurses and staff "stretched to their limits." Patients with procedures scheduled that are not considered urgent will be contacted by a staff member to reschedule.(Riverfront Times) A St. Louis native is a contestant on a new competitive cooking show. 34-year-old Kenny Everett will compete to win $250,000 on FOXs new program, "Next Level Chef," which was created by Gordon Ramsay. The series airs Wednesday evenings on FOX. (KTVI Fox 2 St. Louis) From our sponsor: Hey St. Louis, are you looking to buy a house, refinance or just explore your options? Check out the new Patch Mortgage Center for all your home financing needs! Today in St. Louis: Open Mic Comedy Night At Steve's Hot Dogs (7:30 PM) From my notebook: Clayton Police Department o fficers responded to 326 calls for service last week, including 12 automobile accidents, 27 calls to assist the City of Clayton Fire Department, and four fireworks complaints. (Nextdoor) Public Works Crews began salt brining city streets on Wednesday in anticipation of the possible snow moving in, concentrating on the main roads, snow routes, and hilly areas. (Nextdoor) Story continues Loving the St. Louis Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved: Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe Get your local business listed in front of readers Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday. I'll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow morning with another update! Helen Eckhard About me: Helen Eckhard is a marketing assistant at Lightning Media Partners. She is a self-professed logophile who is currently pursuing her masters degree in library science. Outside of work, you can find Helen constructing crossword puzzles, knitting, or devising increasingly crafty ways to kill off characters in her mystery novels. This article originally appeared on the St. Louis Patch VINELAND The city will cover any punitive damages a federal jury approves against a police officer sued in a case involving a local man who died shortly after being taken into custody in March 2015. The City Council, at its Dec. 28, 2021 meeting, voted to indemnify co-defendant Officer Louis Platania in the event the city loses at trial and punitive damages are assessed against Platania. The case is to go to trial shortly. In light of what is happening in the courts today, there is a concern that a jury in Camden County may ignore the facts and punish police, city Solicitor Richard Tonetta said. Tonetta said the city feels the facts of the case are in its favor, however. More: Witness challenged over account of Vineland man's arrest More: Vineland, police sued for $10M by family of Phillip White A federal lawsuit was brought in November 2016 by the mother and two children of the deceased man, Phillip George White, a resident of Walnut Road in Vineland. The family is asking for $10 million, plus unspecified punitive damages from the city and Platania. A jury trial was scheduled to start on Jan. 18 in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Camden, but it recently was postponed without a new start date due to the federal courthouse being closed for health reasons. Remaining pre-trial issues include reviewing what questions may be put to prospective jurors, with the plaintiffs submitting their list in mid-December. The citys attorney has not submitted a list as of Tuesday. The council resolution cites language from a New Jersey law allowing for additional insurance coverage for government employees in the case of punitive damages. The condition is there is no evidence that the employee committed actual fraud, actual malice, willful misconduct or an intentional wrong. The council reviewed videos of the incident and met with attorneys before deciding, Tonetta said. White, who was 32, died in an ambulance en route to a hospital after his arrest on the 100 block of West Grape Street. Police had responded to a call from a resident about a disturbance on March 31, 2015. Story continues In June 2016, the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office announced that a county grand jury had reviewed what happened and declined to issue an indictment. The Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police investigated the incident. The Prosecutors Office, at that time, also disclosed that autopsy results attributed Whites death to a toxic level of Phencyclidine in his body. The drug commonly is known as PCP. A police K-9 called Agir, paired with Platania, was loosed on White in the incident. However, a medical examiner characterized the injuries from the dog as superficial and not sufficient to have caused death. The lawsuit also named the police chief at the time, Timothy Codispoti, as a defendant, and another police officer who was at the scene, Richard Janasiak. Janasiak was dismissed as a defendant, after an unopposed motion. The plaintiffs are Pamela White, the mother of the deceased and administrator of his estate; an adult daughter, Iyonna Hannah; and a minor son. The case is assigned to Judge Joshua D. Wolson. Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey more than 30 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times. Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com. Help support local journalism with a subscription. This article originally appeared on Vineland Daily Journal: Police death case nears civil trial, officer insured against damages Pro-Trump supporters clash with Capitol Police officers on the west steps/inauguration stage of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Like many, I will remember forever where I was when the Challenger exploded, when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, when the L.A. riots began, when the Twin Towers fell and when Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary. And now, like many, I will remember forever where I was the day then-President Donald Trump incited a mob of armed supporters who then stormed the United States Capitol for the purpose of overturning the fair and democratic election of President Joe Biden. Although Jan. 6, 2021, did not result in a massive loss of life, the threat it posed to our government, physical and spiritual, made it a flashbulb memory just as vivid. Flashbulb memories" are what we call these crystal-clear recollections of autobiographical details surrounding cataclysmic events. Though the term feels outdated in this digital age, there is no video equivalent of the searing flash and crackling pop once required to fix an image into collective memory. A flashbulb was always startling, imprinting itself on the eyes of its subject, reminding them that their image, this moment was now in some way permanent. Jan. 6, 2021, is now permanent, a fixture on this countrys and the world's timeline. A year later, memories of the day still ache and chatter hot and cold like a fever, and has there ever been a time when we were more aware of the perils of a fever? That day I was at home, like most people, hunkered down in the middle of Californias first winter COVID-19 surge watching coverage of the formal election count intercut with scenes from Trump's inciting rally. After a pandemic-prolonged election filled with all manner of conspiracy theories and rhetorical tea-leaf reading from both sides, I was exhausted. Like many, I believed the rally would be raucous and paranoid but peaceful. Like many, I believed that those members of Congress who had pledged to object to the election results were doing it as theatrical appeasement; neither they nor Vice President Mike Pence had reason or authority to actually halt the transfer of power. Story continues My screen was set to PBS because, quite frankly, I could not bear another moment of political commentary I just wanted to see what happened. And I did. As reports of the rally moving down the National Mall became increasingly uneasy, I heard Lisa Desjardins remain magnificently calm as she detailed what she was seeing to anchor Judy Woodruff: protesters swarming up the steps, climbing up walls, assailing the Capitols doors, breaking the first window. I heard her voice quaver just a bit when she described the lone security guard who stood between protesters and the front door, the door being forced open, the single police officer trying to keep them out. I watched the normally unflappable Woodruff shake her head in disbelief as the reporter described the mob flooding into the building. Soon Desjardins had moved to another point in the building and continued reporting while crouching behind some sort of desk. While these two women remained unbelievably cool and professional, I, like millions of Americans, was absolutely losing my mind. The images of American citizens battering Capitol Police officers, breaking windows and forcing doors, swarming with obvious violent intent into the seat of American government felt more like some dystopian television series than reality; watching one man repeatedly strike someone with the end of an American flag, I thought for a minute he might bare his teeth to reveal fangs. But this was worse than some rage pandemic accidentally released from a secret lab; these were ordinary people infected with nothing more than politicians' lies and a belief they could do whatever they wanted to achieve their ends. Stop calling them protesters, I screamed, as if semantics were the problem, because I didnt know what else to do. I was shocked and furious and terrified for Desjardins, who I feared would be harmed before my eyes; for my colleagues and other journalists I knew were in the middle of the fray; for the police having their riot shields yanked away and turned against them; for all the members of the House and Senate, racing to safety; even for Mike Pence, who supported the man who had summoned this mob only to have it turn on him. And for this country. Because for several hours on that day, I did not know for certain that our government would survive. Suddenly it seemed possible that we would see Mike Pence hanged or a member of Congress shot on national television. Along with people in Trump pom-pom hats were others wearing body armor, carrying zip ties and weapons. A gallows had been erected outside the building; pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails were discovered at surrounding sites. The most disturbing footage did not surface until hours or days later my colleague Kent Nishimura recently posted new and disturbing video from that day but even with the broken images coming to us live, it was almost impossible to take in what was happening: the savage shiver of shoulders beating against riot shields, doors, human bodies; the animal howls of triumph when the doors were breached; the rabble streaming up and down stairways hunting members of Congress. Our house, they chanted, snapping pictures like every terrorist and coup instigator ever. Any belief that the political divisions in this country stem simply from two opposing views of American democracy died on Jan. 6. The people who stormed the Capitol, who defecated in corridors and rifled through papers, broke down doors and took selfies while police lay on the ground bleeding and members of Congress fled for their lives were not are not interested in democracy. They want at best an oligarchy and at worst a dictatorship. This group includes not just those thousands who attacked the Capitol but the millions of Americans who have made it very clear that they share their contempt for democracy. This group includes, especially, those who would now have us believe that what happened that day wasnt so bad. In the months that followed that day, people like Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) have tried to downplay what happened. As if the days horrors had not been captured by countless cameras, as if the people involved hadnt gleefully shared what they had done on social media only to be shocked when reminded it was a crime. In the months that followed that day, others have tried to justify the mobs actions by explaining that they had been told the election was stolen by the president, certain members of Congress and various media commentators. Many Republicans still believe it. The spreaders of the Big Lie have a lot to answer for and they should all be held accountable. But those who choose to believe a lie, in the face of mountains of contradictory evidence, are not seeking truth or justice; they are seeking domination and revenge. No one likes it when the person they voted for loses an election. The bitterest losses come when a candidate gets the most votes but loses the electoral college, something that has happened twice in my lifetime to Democrats. When Al Gore lost to George W. Bush by way of the Supreme Court, no one stormed the Capitol. When Hillary Clinton lost to Trump even though she had received more than a million more votes than he had, no one stormed the Capitol. There were protests, dozens of them, mostly peaceful, at which the most shocking event was the rise of the pussy hat. On Jan. 21, 2017, a women's march organized in part to protest Trump's election drew hundreds of thousands of people to downtown Los Angeles. I remember the thunder of their feet as they passed The Times building. I remember worrying because my teenage daughter was among the crowd. I had given her a laundry list of warning signs that she should leave the march: breaking glass, shoving, smoke, weapons, a crowd surge or even just an ominous shift in the mood. Many of the protesters were very angry and felt they had a right to be, but there was no violence, no destruction of property. There wasnt even that much litter. Even more amazing was the patience with which everyone sat in the hours-long gridlock after the event was over. So you can be angry, you can feel robbed, you can call into question the electoral system and even its results in a way that still honors democracy. What happened on Jan. 6 is not a political Rorschach test, open to interpretation. Anyone who tries to sell that notion does not believe in democracy. If you saw the same scenes in a movie or television series, you would know instantly what was going on: A mob of armed militia members and middle-aged moms, skinheads and yoga instructors, called up by a still-sitting president, attempted to forcibly keep him in power. And they did their best. That their best wasnt good enough does not make the attempt less than what it was. Neither does the passing of a year, or 10 years, or a hundred. The sudden flash and crackle pop of Jan. 6 was not literal, but it is burned into our eyes and memories just the same. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. OCONTO Voters will choose among multiple candidates to be mayors in Oconto and Oconto Falls in the April 5 spring election. The deadline to get on the ballot was Tuesday, but the deadline to file to enter the Oconto City Council race was extended three days to 5 p.m. Friday, after an incumbent filed a declaration of noncandidacy after the Dec. 24 deadline. City of Oconto Patrick Trepanier, Cliff Martin and John Panetti have filed to run to become Oconto mayor, being vacated by Lloyd Heier, who chose not to run for reelection after three terms. Patrick Trepanier Trepanier, 63, is semi-retired and has owned Claires Insulation Service for 37 years. He said hes running because of my love of the city. I care about what happens in Oconto. Trepanier has previously served on the citys Industrial Development Committee and the Police and Fire Commission. He also serves as Exalted Ruler the executive officer of the Oconto Elks Lodge, and has chaired the annual Oconto Fly-in since the organization took it over several years ago. Cliff Martin Martin, 70, is a semi-retired paper industry consultant. He has served on the Police and Fire Commission for six years, and is currently the panels chairperson. With that experience, Martin said he feels he has some knowledge about city government some of the other candidates dont. I can offer my years of experience in the business world and continue to help move the city forward, he said. John Panetti John Panetti, 68, is owner and president of Kaukauna-based Team Industries, which also operates plants in Oconto Falls and Port Arthur, Texas. He said he was running due to his love for the community. Id always thought a lot about Oconto, and I thought I would bring a business background to help the community grow, he said. I think it has great potential more potential Ive seen Im my lifetime. Meanwhile, the only incumbent running again for the City Council is Al Schreiber, who has served nearly three decades on the council. Story continues Joining him on the ballot as of Jan. 5 were Allen Mehlberg, Steve Stock and former alderperson John Wittkopf. On Friday, Patsy Bake also filed her nomination papers. Two other residents had filed declarations of candidacy but didn't return their nomination papers to get on the ballot. Choosing not to run again are incumbents Roger Reed, Kim Bronikowski and Dean Reed. Roger Reed is completing his sixth term, while Bronikowski and Dean Reed were first elected in 2016. City of Oconto Falls Incumbent Mayor Brad Rice is being challenged by former council member Kevin Rusch. Rice, 75, is seeking his sixth term as mayor. He was an alderperson for the previous nine years. Im just hoping to keep the city running on a good keel, Rice said. Rice, who retired in 2014 after 37 years at Peterson Ford in Oconto Falls, ran unopposed in the last four municipal elections. Rusch, 59, has operated K.W. Rusch, an Oconto Falls trucking company, since 1987. He said he was running because I think change is good. I have some ideas that Id like to promote the city with, thinking outside the box, he said. Rusch has served on the council for 14 years over three periods. He was first elected in April 2006 to represent District 3, then resigned in May 2013 because he moved. He was appointed the following month to fill a vacancy in District 2. He was elected to a full term in that seat in April 2015, but he resigned in August 2016. He ran again and was elected in the 2017 and 2019 spring elections, but chose not to run last year. No one filed to oppose the three incumbent council members running for reelection this year: Jeff McDonald in District 1, Marty Coopman in District 2 and Tim Holman in District 3. McDonald was appointed to the council in the spring of 2019 and elected to his first full term in 2020. Coopman has served since 1999, while Holman is seeking his third term. City of Gillett Mayor Joshua McCarthy is unopposed in his bid for reelection to a second term. He was appointed to the post in the fall of 2019 after first joining the council in 2017. Three people are seeking three seats on the council: Marie Blaser in Ward 1, who has served on the council since 2014; newcomer Jonathan Gildemeister in Ward 2; and Nanette Mohr in Ward 3, whos been on the council since 1991. Ward 2 incumbent Sandra Hubbard, who is completing two terms, was unable to gather enough signatures on nomination papers due to illness, but has indicated she wants to run as a write in, according to City Clerk Chelsea Anderson. Village of Lena Three candidates are running for the three seats on the Village Board. Incumbents Linda Hinds and Craig LeFebre are seeking reelection. They have served as trustees for 10 years and 33 years, respectively. Judy Patenaude, who didnt run again last spring after 12 years on the board, has also filed to return to the board. Not seeking reelection is Pauline Borchert, who was appointed to fill the remaining term of Larry Belongia, who resigned Feb. 1, 2021. Village of Suring Three candidates are running for three seats on the Village Board. Incumbents Randy Schuettpelz and Jacob School are being joined on the ballot by newcomer Richard Kramp. Schuettpelz has been on the board since 1987. School was appointed last year to replace John Fredenburgh, who resigned one year into his first term. David Kuchenbecker, who was elected in 2018, decided to not run again. Note: This story was updated to include information from the Village of Suring, and updated information from the City of Oconto and the City of Gillett. FOR MORE OCONTO COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website! Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 354-6075 or ktempus@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Contested races for mayor set in Oconto, Oconto Falls Made with Flourish What percentage of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in northern Ohio? Many of the counties in northern Ohio have COVID-19 positivity rates between 20% and 35%, with the state's rate at nearly 30%. The positivity rate is the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive out of all COVID-19 tests given. Ohio's seven-day moving average positivity rate is 29% as of Jan. 5, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. Near the beginning of the pandemic, the World Health Organization recommended the positivity rate should be 5% or lower for at least 14 days before governments considered reopening. A drive-up COVID-19 testing site behind the corporate offices of Summa Health on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, in Akron. Summa COVID testing: 'Our cases are soaring': 54% tested at Summit County drive-thru site were positive for COVID-19 Here are the seven-day positivity rates for selected northern Ohio counties, from highest to lowest, as of Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Medina: 33.78% Cuyahoga: 33.26% Portage: 32.57% Summit: 31.51% Stark: 27.49% Wayne: 25.87% Ottawa: 25.67% Richland: 25.4% Ashland: 23.57% Sandusky: 22.78% Crawford: 22.3% Tuscarawas: 20.53% To check the rate for any county in the country, visit covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker, click on "Your Community," then "County View" on the left of the screen, then select the state and county, and scroll down to view "% Positivity." Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: What are COVID-19 positivity rates by county for northern Ohio? HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba tightened border controls on Wednesday as the Caribbean island nation moved to tamp down a growing wave of coronavirus infections while keeping doors open for its economically vital tourism industry. The country will now require both a negative PCR within 72 hours and proof of vaccination of all visitors, though authorities have said they will continue to welcome tourists and keep children in school. Cuba had previously required only the vaccination card for most travelers. Daily cases on Tuesday hit 967, up more than tenfold since the weeks before Christmas, when new infections hovered at fewer than 100 per day, or just 1% of their pandemic peak on Aug. 22. Deaths from the virus, however, have not increased. Cuba detected its first case of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in early December and numbers have ticked up since. At a high-level government meeting late on Tuesday, health officials said they expected cases to increase but not deaths, thanks to the country's unusually high vaccination rate. The poor, communist-run nation is among the world's most vaccinated. More than 92% of its population has received at least one shot of its home-grown inoculations, and upwards of 85% with a full course, according to "Our World in Data." Cuba has already begun a booster campaign and said last week it hoped to cover the entire country with the additional shot by the end of January. Health officials appealed to Cubans to recover from non-severe cases of the virus by isolating themselves in their homes, noting that schools and hotels, which were previously used to temporarily care for the sick, would not be available this time around. On the streets of Havana, tourism workers said they were happy to see visitors return to the island but worried about the new strains. "We are very afraid that everything will close as before," said Denis Rosel, a doorman at a private bar in Havana. "This is a Caribbean country where there is a lot of tourism every year and so we hope...that it can go back to the way it was," he said. (Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Reuters TV; Editing by David Gregorio) John Damschroder The calendar has just turned to 2022 and already I can safely predict two of the years top stories: 1) The public corruption trials of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, and 2) The campaign for governor. Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWines close connection to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal that brought federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges against Householder and Borges, with guilty pleas already accepted from two others charged in the case and a $230 million dollar fine paid by FirstEnergy to defer prosecution, is the vulnerability opponents on both the right and left are attacking. DeWines response to the fact-based perception that Ohios state government is a sewer of graft has been so weak it earned the contempt I have shown him in this space. But, based on whats been seen so far from the candidates vying to replace him, Mike DeWine will likely limp to re-election. Democrats Nan Whaley and John Cranley open their case that Ohio needs change with attacks on the corruption in Columbus, blaming one-party rule as the cause. Of course that makes their proposed solution obvious: Elect a Democrat as governor. Whaley at least has some policy proposals to fight corruption, unlike Cranley, but theyre vague or weak and both Democrats overlook the power of their bully pulpit. Every federal criminal charge against the FirstEnergy Five has a corresponding Ohio felony law. The Franklin County prosecutor, Gary Tyack, a Democrat, would be getting pounded in the press daily by a statewide candidate committed to an all-out fight against corruption. The inaction is made possible by the silence which screams that corruption is a campaign issue, not a cause for serious reform. The best barometer for Ohios political sensibility is legislation sponsored by Cincinnati Rep. Bill Seitz, to give prosecutors in a public officials home county jurisdiction in any state public corruption trial. When elected officials are working for their campaign contributors, using their money to manipulate voters so they can avoid the political necessity to serve citizens, prosecutorial discretion is the way to solve an outbreak of crime in the capitol. Story continues But it appears there is currently no will to fight corruption with law. Anti-corruption agenda Here are steps that legislators should be taking to fight corruption: 100% disclosure of lobbying expenses. Ohioans need to see every dime spent on influence at the Statehouse and how lucrative it has become for insiders to cash in on their connections in Columbus. Require inclusion of an affidavit with lobbyist campaign contributions that the source of funds is personal money. This protects lobbyists from attempts to launder illegal corporate or personal contributions through them and makes them criminally liable if they assist a client in this manner. Ban any lobbyist from appointment to a state board. FirstEnergy lobbyist Sam Randazzo was recommended for the Public Utilities of Ohio chairman by a nominating board he served on, chaired by another FirstEnergy lobbyist. Of course this was good for FirstEnergy, until the bribery scandal, but it was antithetical to citizens interests. The scandal is that politicians of both parties are fine with this. Impose mandatory prison sentences for public corruption convictions. Judges are politicians in robes. Their hands must be tied on sentencing or theyll take care of their buddies. Require disclosure of donors to 501(c)4 organizations that make Ohio political campaign contributions. Eliminating dark money in state elections is a state issue, the corrupt federal standard doesnt need to be Ohios. Repeal prudent man investment power for Ohio pensions. Restore requirements for full transparency in public markets for all pension investments. Secret alternative investments are bleeding the pensions but enriching Ohio politicians. Both political parties benefit, while every Ohioan is hurt. Require 5% of the general fund budget go to the local government fund. Getting money out of Columbus assists every community while eliminating a source of funds for Statehouse corruption. Eliminate sovereign immunity protection for Ohio government. Insurance can protect against ordinary liability. But there would be no protection for malfeasance like blind pension investments at exorbitant fees in politically connected funds. If this happens in a corporate pension the lawsuits are immediate. Tribal Ohio ahead Since no candidate for governor has put out anything even approaching this specificity, you can be sure corruption will be a call for change rather than a call for action. Ohioans will form in their familiar tribes and Mike DeWine will limp to re-election based on party affiliation. John Damschroder, a Fremont native who worked in Gov. George Voinovichs administration, writes about business and economic development in Ohio. This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Damschroder: It's a new year and an old issue Riverside County Fire Station 37 in Desert Hot Springs was the busiest fire station operated by Riverside County Fire in 2020 and 2021, and consistently ranks as one of the county's busiest fire stations. Desert Hot Springs Fire Station 37 was in high demand throughout 2021, with its type one engine designed for urban response being sent to the most incidents out of all Riverside County Fire Department units, according to a report released Tuesday. The Riverside County Fire Department released its Year in Review summary to show the total calls and where the busiest locations of the county were in 2021. Desert Hot Springs E-37 was sent to 5,215 incidents, according to the report. The City of Desert Hot Springs has two fire stations, Station 36 and Station 37. But Station 37 on Pierson Boulevard answers the majority of the citys calls for service since Station 36 on Karen Avenue is often too far from the citys center. In 2020, Station 37 had responded to more calls than any other unit in the Riverside County Fire Department with 5,233 total calls. Robert Fish, deputy chief for east operations for Riverside County Fire, said at a June 2021 Desert Hot Springs City Council meeting that Station 37 was the busiest fire station in Riverside County. Riverside County Fire Station 37 in Desert Hot Springs was the busiest fire station operated by Riverside County Fire in 2020 and 2021. You can hear engine 37 just going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, just hammered all the time, Fish said. They are very busy, very professional, but they are certainly getting it every day." The city approved a $14 million public facilities bond for capital improvement projects last year, which included $6.6 million for a new fire station in Desert Hot Springs and $1.4 million to make improvements to Station 37. Riverside County Fire Station 37 in Desert Hot Springs was the busiest fire station operated by Riverside County Fire in 2020 and 2021, and consistently ranks as one of the county's busiest fire stations. The city recently approved a public facilities bond to fund a third fire station. According to officials, the Riverside County Fire Department responded to 183,482 incidents last year from wildfires to remote-area rescues to medical emergencies marking a 9.33% increase over 2020. The busiest day of 2021 happened to be the first one, New Years Day, when crews were dispatched to 639 incidents. The remaining top four days were as follows: Aug. 27, 626 incidents; July 4, 621 incidents; Dec. 14, 610 incidents; and Dec. 17, 592 incidents. Story continues Cal Fire firefighter and paramedic Art Villarreal reads information regarding a call while leaving Station 37 in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., on June 25, 2021. Riverside County Fire Station 37 is the busiest fire station operated by Riverside County Fire last year, and consistently ranks as one of the county's busiest fire stations. The fire truck with the greatest burden was T-2 at the Sunnymead station in Moreno Valley, which was sent on 2,299 calls, while the paramedic unit that topped all the others in that category was M-71 in Palm Desert, responding to a total of 3,362 incidents, according to the fire department. The county has contracted with Cal Fire for countywide emergency response since the 1940s. Under sub-agreements authorized by the Board of Supervisors, Cal Fire crews service 19 municipalities within the county. The city that most recently ended its fire protection agreement with the county was Canyon Lake, which started an independent fire agency on New Years Day 2022. City News Service and previous reporting by Erin Rode was used in this article. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Hot Springs fire engine 37 sent to over 5,000 incidents in 2021 Epic snowstorm set to slam B.C. coasts with up to 30 cm People in British Columbia will be waking up to the impacts of a powerful winter storm, bringing substantial amounts of snow even down to sea level, far out of character for the region. It'll be even heavier in the mountains, with travel not at all recommended and avalanche risk on the rise. Even when the snow stops falling by late Thursday, strong winds will ramp up as it departs, making for blowing snow and power outages Friday. What we know, below. THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY: WARNINGS WIDESPREAD AS HIGH IMPACT STORM SLAMS B.C. This is a very moisture-laden system, and it's encountering air cold enough to make for heavy snow at coastal areas, enough to stick in the memory for some time to come. Over the last 24 hours, forecasters have gradually revised their estimates upward, such that the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver and coastal Vancouver Island could be in the 15-30 cm of range right through Thursday uncommonly high for what is normally one of the most tepid parts of the country in January. BC South Snow As temperatures rise, we now expect a period of freezing rain before a switchover to rain over the same regions. There's a particularly high risk of freezing rain in the upper reaches of the Fraser Valley as well, another headache for drivers. Freezing rain Significant accumulations are anticipated for the southern Interior, as well. Cumulative totals for some of the mountain passes could reach 50 cm, and last through much of Thursday before ending overnight. Given the fresh snowfall on the ground and what's to come, theres a considerable-to-high risk for avalanches for several of the coastal mountain ranges according to Avalanche Canada. BC Highway Passes 2 Given this huge impact, travel is not recommended during this storm, and some provincial bridges and highways are likely to be closed at its height. "Consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve. Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots will become icy, slippery and hazardous," Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says in the winter storm warning that's in effect for the region. Story continues On top of all this, as the storm departs, the winds will be ramping up in its wake, reaching 70-80 km/h by Friday afternoon expect power outages as these strong gusts slam the region. BC winds Beyond the impacts of the next storm, the frigid pattern finally breaks down this weekend with much milder weather expected for next week. Conditions will remain unsettled at times through next week, but no major storms are expected and coastal areas wont see any snow for the next couple of weeks. Click here to view the video SOME CITIES HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED MORE THAN THEIR YEARLY SNOWFALL AVERAGE According to The Weather Network meteorologist Tyler Hamilton, Campbell River has already recorded 130 per cent of its typical annual snowfall (1980-2010) in just 29 days, with more on the way. FISRDUTWUAYILOM Port Hardy and Abbotsford, meanwhile, have already picked up 123 and 105 per cent of their annual snowfall average, respectively. MUST SEE: LIGHTNING MAY HAVE EXPLODED THIS TREE IN PACIFIC RIM NATIONAL PARK Click here to view the video Thumbnail image courtesy: Michelle Valancius/Vancouver Stay tuned to The Weather Network for the latest updates across British Columbia. Police are investigating a car that crashed into an apartment complex in Atlanta, leaving the driver dead, according to a statement from the department. The police department responded to a call at 6:42 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3 regarding a vehicle that had hit a building. When police arrived, they found the driver unconscious, according to officials. According to WSB-TV, the driver appeared to be in his late 20s. Police told Fox5 Atlanta that the victim had been driving a BMW and needed to be cut out of the vehicle and removed after the crash, which was when medics noticed he had been shot. The male was transported to a local hospital, where he later was pronounced deceased, the police said in a statement. WSB-TV reported that police recovered ballistic evidence inside the apartment complex, but have not identified what led to the shooting. According to the police, the investigation is ongoing. Falling tree kills 7-year-old in bedroom following winter storm, Tennessee police say Former UK player charged with assault at Walgreens after NFL teams division-clinching win Mom said her 1-year-old son was hit by a truck, Georgia cops say. Now shes charged Remains of woman identified decades after she was unearthed in desert, CA officials say Buck County installed its newly elected row officers Monday at the county administration building in Doylestown. Bucks County Republican Committee Vice Chairman Joe Cullen served as master of ceremonies, "pinch hitting" for both Republican County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, who was attending a family funeral, and Patricia Poprik, chair of the county Republican Committee, could not attend due to COVID. New Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran is sworn into office by Judge Denise Bowman with his fiancee Lisa DeSimone holding the Bible and his daughter Miranda Harran in attendance. DiGirolamo had been given the honor to serve as MC by the Democrat-controlled board of commissioners since all five officials who won their elected posts and were being installed are Republicans. The ceremony, by county code, needs to take place the first Monday of the New Year, so it couldn't be postponed, as was the county reorganization meeting, which will take place at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, along with the county commissioners' first regular meeting. Democratic Commissioner Bob Harvie introduced Cullen after noting that it takes a lot of courage, time and commitment "to put your name on that ballot" to run in a countywide election and sometimes to find out "exactly how many people don't like you," he said, drawing laughter from the audience. "Thank you for volunteering to serve your community." Bucks County President Judge Wallace Bateman issues the oath of office to newly re-elected District Attorney Matt Weintraub as his wife, Kathleen, hold the Bible. New Bucks County Judge Stephen Corr watches the ceremony Monday at the county administration building in Doylestown. Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub, the only row officer re-elected, cited a famous passage by Theodore Roosevelt about those who dared to make a difference as he was sworn into office for his second term by President Judge Wallace Bateman. Weintraub praised the county staff members who work with him, the men and women who, in Roosevelt's words, are "in the arena." "Our mission is not just to seek justice but to keep people safe." he said. "In Philadelphia ... some people accept violence as a a part of life there. We don't accept that here in Bucks County." In his second term, he hopes to continue working to help first-time offenders avoid repeat crimes and to reduce gun violence and straw purchases of guns. Story continues Weintraub, who in the previous administration, was the only Republican row officer, said there were no sides in Bucks government. "We're all on the same side to see justice for all individuals," he said. New Prothonotary Coleen Christian was also sworn-in. Her mother and two daughters watched her be installed while her son is serving in the Army. Her father, highly decorated Vietnam veteran David Christian, and her sister could not attend because of COVID. New Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Dan McPhillips receives congratulations from Bucks County President Judge Wallace Bateman as McPhillip's wife, Piyumika, watches during the inaugural ceremony at the county administration building Monday. Dan McPhillips was sworn-in as recorder of deeds with new wife, Piyumika, by his side. He said he was grateful for the advice Weintraub gave him in running for the county office. "I'm really excited to be your controller," said attorney Pamela Van Blunk after taking her oath, adding that she was humbled and grateful for the support she received in her run for the office that maintains oversight of the county's finances. Newly elected Sheriff Fred Harran took the oath with his fiancee Lisa DeSimone and daughter Miranda Harran next to him. As Judge Denise Bowman prepared to administer the oath to him, he quipped that both he and his daughter recently got engaged and that perhaps he could get the judges to perform marriage ceremonies then as well. When he moved to Bucks County from New York more than 30 years ago, he thought it was just a temporary stop but Harran said he has grown to love the county he now calls home. The former public safety director of Bensalem wants to bring the same skills that he used to make the township into a highly regarded police department nationally to other municipalities in his role as county sheriff. New Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr was installed in a separate judicial ceremony Monday afternoon. Though she couldn't attend the row officers' inaugural, Poprik said the day was a special one in the county. "The voters spoke in November that they wanted these people to take these positions and now they have," she said. "With them in office, we can look forward to excellent service, open offices and effective government. Congratulations to all six as they take office." To contact Peg Quann, email mquann@couriertimes.com. This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County new row officers take posts following inaugural ceremonies Quinlyn Harden stands to leave the courtroom for a recess during his retrial in Dallas on Tuesday. A jury trial began this week for a man charged with sexually abusing five children at a Polk County daycare run by his mother. This is the third time Quinlyn Harden, of Independence, has been granted a chance to have his case heard in Polk County Circuit Court in Dallas. The first time was back in 2019, and Harden was convicted of 29 counts of sexual abuse, rape, sodomy, attempted rape and unlawful sexual penetration and sentenced to 54 years and two months in prison. At the time, the jury returned split verdicts for every charge following a week-long trial and several days of deliberation. Harden, now 28, was granted a retrial last July after the U.S Supreme Court ruled nonunanimous jury verdicts were unconstitutional based on Ramos v. Louisiana. But in the retrial, only one person got to testify against Harden before Judge Monte Campbell called a mistrial due to a COVID-19 exposure. Court officials scrapped the hearing, leaving victims who attended Stinky Feet Childcare in Independence, their families and friends, to wait another six months for another trial with a new jury. The latest trial, which began Tuesday, marks the second time and for one victim, a third time victims will be testifying before a jury against Harden, leaving them to relive traumatic experiences they thought they could leave behind more than years ago. 'A kick in the gut': new trial and jury, same case Horrible. Painful. Difficult. These were the words family members used last July to describe what it was like knowing their children would have to testify again against a man accused of sexually abusing them. And when a mistrial was called after the first day, a mother of two children allegedly abused by Harden called it a kick in the gut. "The emotional toll this has put on our family is great," she previously told the Statesman Journal in a text message. It is the Statesman Journal's policy to not name child victims of sexual abuse. The Statesman is withholding the names of the family members due to privacy. Story continues "You gear yourself up for listening to all the horror stories told by all of these children," the woman said. "Now, once again we have to think about this impending doom of facing him in court." Still, she said, both her children knew testifying was the right thing to do in order to prevent the abuse from happening again. "All these children are being forced to make a choice between facing their abuser once again or letting the abuser go free to destroy the innocence of another child," she said. Judge Monte Campbell looks on as Deputy District Attorney Erin Brady delivers an opening statement to the jury during the retrial of Quinlyn Harden on Tuesday. During the first trial in October 2019, the jury returned split verdicts for each one of Harden's charges. His attorneys filed an appeal based on the 11-1 and 10-2 verdicts, initially to no avail. At the time, Louisiana and Oregon were the only two states allowing nonunanimous jury convictions. The involved families breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they could finally close the chapter. "I think we were not happy, but happy because we could forget about it and put it away," said the woman. But when the U.S Supreme Court ruled such verdicts were unconstitutional in March 2020 based on Ramos v. Louisiana, Harden's case was sent back for a retrial in Polk County Circuit Court. Harden is one of the hundreds of Oregonians who were convicted by nonunanimous juries and whose cases are now in various stages of review. Last March, Harden's case was among 11 sent back to Polk County court based on the Ramos decision; the list was whittled down to three, Polk County District Attorney Aaron Felton previously told the Statesman. There were 59 cases in Marion County as of last May. The woman and her husband said the Supreme Court's ruling is a failure on the justice system to protect the public. "It's not about the victims, it's always about the criminal," the man said. "And we are defending ourselves again." The woman added: If it wasn't for the support from district attorneys and victims' advocates, she isn't sure if her family would be back in court. Harden accused of sexual abuse, rape The first sexual abuse allegation against Harden came in 2018 from a 12-year-old girl who attended Stinky Feet Childcare in Independence. The girl disclosed the alleged abuse to a school counselor after learning about safe and unsafe touching in one of her classes. The report prompted an investigation by Independence Police and Department of Human Services officials. The girl was also interviewed about her experiences by staff at Liberty House, a child abuse assessment center that serves Marion and Polk counties. Deputy District Attorney Erin Brady delivers an opening statement to the jury during the retrial of Quinlyn Harden on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. In addition to inappropriate touching, the girl reported Harden raped her on multiple occasions since she was 5 years old. Her disclosure eventually led to Harden's arrest and the discovery of four more victims, all of who attended the daycare owned by his mother, Ceola Harden. "This was supposed to be a safe space, no one knew what was going on behind the walls of Stinky Feet daycare," Polk County prosecutor Erin Brady said Tuesday in her opening statements. Another child, who attended the daycare between the ages of 6 and 12, told Liberty House staff Harden asked her to perform oral sex and hand jobs, Brady said. The child alleged Harden raped her in a tent during a group camping trip when she was about 6 years old. "He was good at isolating them," Brady said, adding Harden often lured the alleged victims by saying that they were playing games. Defense attorney Scott Howell delivers his opening statement to the jury during the retrial of Quinlyn Harden, who was charged for sexually abusing children at his mother's daycare, in Dallas, Oregon on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. During opening statements, defense attorney Scott Howell asked jurors to consider that while victims disclosed the alleged abuse, their parents, law enforcement officials and staff at Liberty House would not be able to say that they saw the abuse occur. Howell described the case as "he said, she said." He suggested jurors pay attention to when and where the alleged abuse occurred, as well as the connections and interactions between the families who sent their children to Stinky Feet. Brady argued though all of the victims attended Stinky Feet, none of them attended the daycare together and that the families didn't know each other. She also asked jurors Tuesday to closely consider each specific act of abuse, and where and when they happened. "We're going to ask you to hold (Harden) accountable," Brady said. "He violated the trust of the parents, the children and their bodies." Harden's trial is set to take place through Jan. 10 at the Polk County Circut Court. Virginia Barreda is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesmanjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: An 'emotional toll': Stinky Feet daycare abuse trial begins for the third time "The conflict on the borders is on the verge of getting deeper and tensions have been building up with respect to the European security as a whole," Borrell told reporters. The EU has a firm stance and a strong commitment "that any military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs," he added. The Kremlin did not immediately issue a public response to Borrell's visit. Moscow has previously denied planning a new military offensive against Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of building up its own forces in the east of the country. Russia has pressed the United States for security guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion. The two sides will meet for talks in Geneva on January 9-10. By Jan Wolfe (Reuters) - Donald Trump's former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will meet on Wednesday evening with the U.S. congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Grisham was White House press secretary from July 2019 until April 2020, when she became chief of staff for Trump's wife Melania. Grisham resigned from that job on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, after mobs of the former president's supporters stormed the Capitol to try to prevent certification of President Joe Biden's November 2020 election victory. Grisham released a tell-all book last year that accused Trump of mistreating his staff and placating Russian President Vladimir Putin. Grisham's cooperation with the House of Representatives Select Committee was first reported by CNN, which said her decision followed a phone call with U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the committee, who encouraged her to meet with the panel. The investigation into the worst attack on Congress since the War of 1812 has largely played out behind closed doors so far. The Select Committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses about the violence by Trump supporters and Trumps response to it. Around 140 police officers were assaulted during the riot, according to the Department of Justice. One officer who battled rioters died the day after the attack and four who guarded the Capitol later died by suicide. Four rioters also died, including a woman who was shot by a police officer while trying to climb through a shattered window in a door inside the Capitol leading to an area known as the Speaker's Lobby. A current Trump spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, said in a Dec. 27 court filing that he has cooperated extensively with the committee, producing more than 1,700 pages of documents and provided about four hours of sworn testimony. (Corrects description of shooting of rioter in paragraph 7) (Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Boston; Editing by Scott Malone and Grant McCool) Today Partly cloudy. Gusty winds during the afternoon. High 57F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 38F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Tomorrow Windy early with showers becoming likely later in the day. High 58F. SSE winds shifting to NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Higher wind gusts possible. Law enforcement is tracking online posts promoting a violent reunion on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, and other potential threats tied to the upcoming anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, according to intelligence reports obtained by Yahoo News. The calls for violence in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 6, are detailed in a Jan. 3 Department of Homeland Security open source intelligence report, which describes flyers for the violent reunion posted online. The DHS report was sent to the FBI and other agencies on Monday for further investigation and includes copies of the flyers being circulated calling for a bloody attack on Jan. 6. The U.S. Capitol Police says it has taken steps to increase security and prevent a repeat of the riot that occurred last Jan. 6. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) This was just the beginning, says one of the flyers, which features an image of rioters in the Capitol Rotunda during the insurrection last year. The image is covered with what appears to be blood splatter and says: Reunion on Capitol Hill January 6 2022. One flyer shows Jan. 6 rioters breaching the Capitol, with superimposed images of blood, while another shows rioters breaching the Capitol last year, with calls to TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK. A number of the flyers call on people to join the Reunion on Capitol Hill on January 6 2022. The rioters got within 2 doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive. For more Immersive stories click here. This DHS report was sent to, among others, nearly a dozen law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including FBI, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department, the NSA and the CIA. This is just one of a number of potential threats that the DHS has flagged for law enforcement agencies to investigate in the days leading up to the first anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Other online posts sent to law enforcement for further review include one by a suspected extremist giving detailed instructions and tactics for conducting a sniper attack another post by a different suspected extremist giving instructions for making homemade explosives, according to intelligence reports obtained by Yahoo News. Story continues A DHS spokesperson declined to comment specifically on its raw intelligence report detailing these calls for a violent reunion. Since the violent events one year ago, DHS has enhanced its ability to detect, analyze, and respond to threats, the spokesperson wrote in a statement to Yahoo News. The men and women of our Department remain vigilant in their national security mission, and we will continue to review the threat environment and share information with the public and our partners. The FBI declined Yahoo News requests for comment. Despite those reports of potential violence, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that DHS is not aware of any specific credible threats at this point related to Jan. 6, 2022. However, the report flagging calls for a violent reunion at the Capitol seem to reflect what Mayorkas described as the DHSs heightened levels of vigilance with regard to all signs of potential domestic terrorist activity. Trump supporters clash with police and security forces on Jan. 6, 2021. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images) Mayorkas spoke to reporters Tuesday ahead of the first anniversary of Jan. 6, highlighting the role of conspiracy theories in sparking last years violence. That violent assault was borne of a false narrative, of a false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Mayorkas said, referring to the events of Jan. 6, 2021. While various investigations and audits conducted both before Jan. 6 and after have failed to produce evidence of widespread fraud, the belief that the election was stolen remains potent among many Trump supporters. We are seeing, indeed, a greater connectivity between misinformation and false narratives propagated on social media and the threat landscape, Mayorkas said, citing the example of bogus election fraud claims in particular. The recent calls for violence on the anniversary Jan. 6 include claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, with flyers circulating on social media with bloody images of the Capitol attack with messages like ""TRUMP WON BIG," and "FREE FAIR PEACEFUL ELECTION, according to images included in the DHS Open Source Intelligence Report. Rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images) Mayorkas spoke about the steps the DHS has taken over the past year in order to better prevent and respond to threats related to domestic violent extremism. He listed several measures, including increases to federal funding for grant programs dedicated to violence prevention, as well as the creation in May of a domestic terrorism branch within the DHSs Office of Intelligence and Analysis, as part of the departments efforts to improve information sharing about potential threats. These efforts are in line with the U.S. governments first national strategy for combating domestic terrorism, which the Biden administration released back in June. Over the past year, Mayorkas said that the DHS has hosted more than 50 calls with state and local law enforcement as well as a variety of other stakeholders at the national level, to discuss emerging threats. We have also issued an unprecedented number of threat bulletins and advisories, he said, citing a total of 80 intelligence products focused on the threat of domestic violent extremism, including four National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletins. While law enforcement assesses the credibility of potential threats like the calls for a violent reunion on Capitol Hill, the DHS is sharing raw intelligence with state, local and federal partners as it comes in. Former FBI agent Mike German told Yahoo News that the barrage of information may end up overwhelming local law enforcement and dull their response to credible threats. I dont think theres ever been a shortage of intelligence advisories, said German, now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. German said telling law enforcement that millions of bad things that could happen just renders the warnings meaningless. Information untethered from evidence of actual crime or threat isnt helpful, he said, and clogs the system in a way that creates white noise that makes it harder to see what is an actual threat. BEIJING (Reuters) - Walmart Inc arm Sam's Club, responding to the furore in China over what local media said was its deliberate removal of Xinjiang-sourced products from its app, denied the move in a call with analysts and termed it "a misunderstanding". Chinese social media users and local news outlets criticised Sam's Club, a members only warehouse club that offers products and services, last week for the removal of the products from its domestic online stores. China's anti-graft agency accused the U.S. retailer and Sam's Club of "stupidity and short-sightedness" over the matter. A Sam's Club representative told local analysts in a call organised by a domestic securities firm last week that Chinese consumers failed to find products from Xinjiang because the app does not support searches for products based on names of places. The call, a full recording of which was shared with Reuters by a participant, introduced the representative as Sam's Club regional e-commerce leader surnamed Zhang. "This matter is a misunderstanding," Zhang said on the call. "We didn't defend ourselves, because, there is no reason to be afraid of things we haven't done," Zhang added. A second participant corroborated Zhang's comments made on the call, which also talked about Sam's Club's plans in China. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment. Neither Walmart nor Sam's Club has commented publicly so far on the backlash against them in China and Zhang did not comment on the situation at Walmart, which was also accused of removing products from the far western Chinese region, from both its offline stores and app. The controversy, which prompted a wave of Sam's Club shoppers in China to cancel their memberships, underscores the tightrope foreign companies walk in China as they balance geopolitical tensions between China and the west with China's importance as a market and supply base. Story continues Xinjiang has become a growing point of conflict between Western governments and China, as U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in camps there. China has rejected accusations of forced labour or any other abuses in Xinjiang, describing the camps as vocational centres designed to combat extremism, and in late 2019 said all people in the camps had "graduated". MEMBERSHIPS CANCELLED Besides Walmart, Swedish fashion retailer H&M and U.S. chipmaker Intel have come under fire in China in recent months for making adjustments to their businesses over Xinjiang. In contrast, Tesla was criticised by U.S. rights groups for opening a showroom in Xinjiang on Dec. 31. Chinese social media users turned against Sam's Club shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation on Dec. 23 banning imports from Xinjiang over concerns about forced labour. Zhang said that Sam's Club, which has 4.4 million members in China, saw around 500 shoppers cancel their membership cards in its central region. He did not give a nationwide number. "It has negative impact on our membership base, but time will prove everything in the future," he said. "We think the potential in China is very big." China is a huge market for Walmart, generating revenue of $11.43 billion during the company's fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. Of 423 retail units Walmart operates in China, 36 are Sam's Club stores, according to its website. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) TALLAHASSEE, FL As positive cases of coronavirus continue to skyrocket in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling on the Biden administration to release its "stranglehold" on what he describes as "lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments." The day before Christmas, the Biden administration announced it was pausing distribution of Regeneron and Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody treatments to states after federal health experts concluded they're unlikely to be effective against the latest coronavirus variant sweeping the nation, the omicron variant. Regeneron and Eli Lillys monoclonal antibody treatment were hailed by medical professionals as a critical tool in preventing hospitalizations and deaths during the surge of the delta variant over the summer. However, clinical trials indicate the treatments are ineffective against the omicron variant, which is now the dominant strain in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions latest estimates, omicron cases make up 58.6 percent of cases across the U.S. and 78 percent of the cases in the Southeast, including Florida. In a news release issued Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency concurred that the omicron variant may be resistant to these widely used monoclonal antibody treatments hailed by DeSantis as Florida's saving grace. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, however, said the currently used antibody treatments shouldn't be entirely ruled out. "In some areas where the omicron variant is less prevalent, current supplies of the two existing monoclonal antibody treatments may still be appropriate," the DHHS said. However, a new monoclonal antibody treatment called sotrovimab recently developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology Inc. looks much more promising, the FDA said. Although supplies are still limited, the FDA said 55,000 doses of sotrovimab are now being shipped to all states. An additional 300,000 doses of sotrovimab will be available for distribution in January, the FDA said. Story continues DeSantis Stands By Validity Of Antibody Treatments Following a Dec. 28 letter from Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reversed the Department of Health and Human Service's decision to limit supplies of the widely used Regeneron and Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody treatments to states. But with Florida's coronavirus positivity rate at 26.5 percent with 51,644 new cases on Monday alone DeSantis said the state needs at least 30,000 more doses of the Regeneron and Eli Lilly treatments per week than is being allocated. He wants to expand capacity at existing monoclonal antibody treatment sites and open new sites to treat 250 to 300 more patients a day at each site. "Prior to the federal government takeover of the monoclonal market, Florida successfully distributed approximately 30,000 doses per week when we managed our own supply, DeSantis said Monday. The state has more than $800 million available to quickly deploy monoclonal antibody treatments throughout the state, and the only thing holding us back is the insufficient supply of treatment from the federal government," he said. DeSantis already tried an end run around Biden after the president had his administration take control of the distribution of the treatments so they'd be available to all states. DeSantis responded by negotiating a private agreement with GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals to directly purchase thousands of doses of monoclonal antibody treatments for Florida. Biden quickly quashed attempts by states to privately purchase treatments, as DeSantis accused Biden of attempting to thwart Florida's lifesaving efforts by taking control of the supply of the antibody treatments and dramatically cutting Florida's allotment. DeSantis pooh-poohed critics who said the state shouldn't be wasting funds on treatments that health experts say aren't effective against the omicron variant. Instead, during October's special legislative session, he urged the Florida Legislature to approve additional funding to expand the monoclonal antibody treatment program. The Republican-dominated Legislature complied by approving an additional $888 million in appropriations including funds that can be used to bypass the federal government and purchase monoclonal antibody treatments directly from the pharmaceutical companies "once the state is permitted to directly purchase monoclonal antibody treatments from the distributor," DeSantis added. DeSantis' dogged perseverance earned accolades from Ladapo and Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie. "Direct access to early treatment is essential to saving lives," Ladapo said at a news conference Monday. "It is not an option nor should it be barricaded by bureaucracy." The division knows how important increasing access to this treatment is and we stand ready to mobilize sites as quickly as possible," Guthrie said. Testing Tensions In the meantime, Florida counties are scurrying to reopen coronavirus testing sites that were shut down after the summer surge attributed to the delta variant. The omicron variant has proven much more contagious especially to children than the delta variant, prompting fearful residents to mob testing sites and pharmacies selling self-testing kits before they gathered with loved ones for the holidays. With fewer testing facilities remaining open and attracting long lines of cars, self-testing kits have flown off pharmacy shelves. "When your local CVS Pharmacy has to post a sign like this outside the store, you realize once again that our response to the pandemic has failed. Why cant there be enough Rapid Tests available and affordable in the middle of a huge surge?" asked Dr. Carlos del Rio, international secretary for the National Academy of Medicine and executive associate dean at Grady Hospital and Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta. (Photo via Dr. Carlos del Rio) Biden addressed the shortage of tests and testing facilities at a news conference Tuesday. "I know this remains frustrating believe me, its frustrating to me but were making improvements," Biden said. "In the last two weeks, weve set up federal testing sites all over the country, and were adding more each and every day." He said residents should soon see online sites and pharmacy shelves stocked with self-testing kits and shorter waiting lines at testing sites. "Next week, our requirement that your insurance company reimburse you for at-home tests takes effect," he said. "So, if youre insured, you can buy the test and get paid for it." Additionally, he said the federal government is launching a website this month that will allow residents to order and have tests shipped to their homes for free. DeSantis and Ladapo also addressed residents' frustrations about the dearth of testing facilities and self-testing kits this week. Ladapo blamed the shortage on asymptomatic, paranoid residents who are snapping up testing appointments and self-testing kits when they have no evidence that they've been infected. If you dont have symptoms, you are not a case," Ladapo said. He also criticized health professionals who are advising people to test frequently so they know whether they have the virus before symptoms appear and can self-quarantine early to protect co-workers, family members and other members of the community. Ladapo said testing without outward symptoms is a waste of precious resources. We are trying to focus on high-value testing of people who are at high risk, he said. Outraged, Harvard School of Public Health assistant professor and epidemiologist Michael Mina was quick to respond to Ladapo's comments on Twitter. WHAT!??!FL Surgeon Gen standing in front of an "EARLY Treatment Saves Live" podium saying we need to stop testingEARLY treatment is only possible if we test and diagnose early. Else our treatments are useless.A test is not some conspiracy - it is how we see the virus! https://t.co/hXfE4W9DeO Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) January 3, 2022 State Rep. Carlos G. Smith was equally incensed by Ladapo's comments. There is NOT a shortage of COVID-19 testing supply in Florida. There IS a shortage of leadership. Less testing + less prevention is NOT the answer," he said. If you are a REAL qualified doctor who believes that LESS TESTING is a BAD strategy for handling Omicron......as a sitting member of the House Pandemics & Public Emergencies Committee, I'd like to hear from you too! carlos.smith@myfloridahouse.gov https://t.co/sqPWdP91Ct Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) January 5, 2022 See related story: 142K COVID Cases Reported In FL Over New Year's Eve Weekend: CDC This article originally appeared on the Tampa Patch Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried speaks at a press conference at Punta Rassa boat ramp on Monday, August 2, 2021. Fried was in Southwest Florida to announce changes and updates to the departments agricultural water policies. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said her agency is working to hold farmers accountable for improving water quality at a Wednesday morning roundtable. Speaking at Keepsake Plants on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River in Alva, Fried said her office has been focusing on what are called best management practices after coming into a situation she called a mess. In recent years, Florida agricultural producers have taken a lot of heat for what critics have called an outsized role in contributing to the pollution that can help feed harmful algal blooms and water weed overgrowth. Curbing discharges from farm fields is one way to help the state clean up its water by using commonsense methods like pinpointed fertilizer application and retention basins. It's clear that our state has multiple water practices that are threatening our ecosystem, our economy, and unfortunately our way of life, Fried said. That's why it is so critical that we come together to take action, protecting our natural resources for current and future generations. Our farmers, our agriculture industry, and my department are committed to working together to do just that. Related: New bill advances non-chemical solutions to troublesome water weeds that can choke and pollute Lake O, surrounding waterways Best management practices, developed with help from Florida's universities, farmers, water management districts, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other stakeholders, conserve and improve water quality by reducing the amount of pollutants like fertilizer, pesticide and manure getting into the state's waterways. Having more specific data on how much and what is flowing from farms will help agencies and scientists working to improve their health, Fried said. In the past farmers were welcome and encouraged to adopt the practices, but it was on the honor system. Frieds office has aimed to change that. For the past two years, its navigated the fraught territory using a combination of outreach and mandates. Story continues While acknowledging Wednesday that none of this would happen without buy-in from producers, said Fried, who is running for governor. Agriculture is the best steward of the land." Nikki Fried, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture speaks with area producers at Keepsake Plants in Alva on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. She held a roundtable to discuss water quality and FDACS Best Management Practices. She also urged support of two proposed bills to update Floridas water quality rules. Her departments Clean Water Initiative, announced in August, is a start, Fried said, but the legislation would support and expand the effort. Senate bill 904, sponsored by Fort Lauderdale Sen. Gary Farmer, and House bill 807, sponsored by St. Petersburg Rep. Michele Rayner, would create landmark action, Fried said It requires, rather than authorizes the department to make rules on best management practices to reduce pollution while providing financial help for farmers implementing them and fines for those who dont. Gone would be the honor system, as self-reporting would be replaced by mandatory recordkeeping and inspections. The changes would increase transparency and accountability, as well as producing the necessary data to make sound, science-based management decisions, she said. Nikki Fried, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture speaks at a press conference at Keepsake Plants in Alva on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. She held a roundtable discussion with area producers to discuss water quality and FDACS Best Management Practices. Though he said hes been impressed with the field staffs efforts, Brandon Lynn, of Florida Agri-Management, said the new system has been a challenge for some well-meaning but technologically challenged farmers. Elders, like his 85-year-old cattlewoman grandmother, can have trouble navigating the world of computers and digital filing. Its that older generation that doesnt understand how to use the electronics, that needs extra help. I dont know how you bridge that gap. Frieds agricultural water policy director, Chris Pettit, said his office was working on outreach and getting help to farmers who need it. Opinion: Nikki Fried is a Florida Leader walking the walk on the environment Another change would be a shift in enforcement responsibility. Previously, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been the one leading that effort, but the new rules would give Frieds department the ability to enforce rules and take action. In the meantime, the agency has been updating its best management practices manuals for ag sectors like citrus, livestock and row crops. The guidelines these 10 handbooks lay out must be approved by the DEP. So far, just two of the 10 Water Quality Best Management Practices manuals (for cattle and sod) needing to be updated have been shared with DEP, wrote spokeswoman Alexandra Kuchta in an email, and It is important to note, FDACS has not finalized these manuals. They have yet to be transmitted to partner agencies for further review or to the public for comment. Kuchta said her department is ready to review the other manuals and will keep working with Frieds agency to implement science-based solutions to water pollution from agricultural lands. In the past, theres been tension between the two agencies. Currently, if ag inspectors find violations, theyre forwarded to the states environmental protection department, which reports to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, unlike Fried, a Democrat, whose office is independent. Pettit and Fried emphasized that theyre trying to improve the partnership. We're still working on that relationship, she said, But it is nice to see at least that there is communication, which had not always been the case previously. Pettit called DEP staffers hardworking, dedicated folks working to come up with the memorandums of agreement to implement the statutory requirements we've been tasked with. Overall, those relationships are very positive, he said. Bottom line, its the farmers who are truly the stewards of the land to protect our state's most valuable resource, Fried said. Our economy depends on clean water. This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Nikki Fried: Farmers, FL ag agency, must work together on water quality An explosion caused by a police munition is seen while supporters of President Donald Trump riot in front of the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. Leah Millis/Reuters A father and son pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a felony charge related to the January 6 insurrection. The duo rushed law-enforcement officers to allow rioters to enter the capitol, court documents said. They then posted on Snapchat and Facebook. They face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A father and son each pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a civil-disorder felony charge related to the January 6 Capitol insurrection after posting about the events on social media. Almost one year ago today, 51-year-old Daryl Johnson and his 29-year-old son Daniel Johnson unlawfully entered the Capitol through a broken window by the Senate Wing, court documents said. Once inside, the Department of Justice said, the pair and others rushed law-enforcement officers to allow rioters to breach the Capitol. Both men posted about their participation in the insurrection on social media, authorities said. Daniel messaged a friend on Snapchat that day and said he was "one of the first ones inside," the DOJ said. On January 7, Daryl posted about the Capitol attack on Facebook, the Justice Department said: "if [we] can get 50+ year old men and women upset enough to spend thousands of $ to come to a rally what happens when those same people decide to throw out the 'elected officials.' It will be hangings on the front lawn of the capitol," Johnson wrote. Plans to storm the Capitol circulated on Facebook, Twitter, and Parler days before the attack took place. Over the past year, internet sleuths and federal investigators alike have used photos and videos of the siege posted to social media as a way to identify potential suspects. In August, the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection demanded that 15 social-media companies including Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Snapchat turn over records to lawmakers. The father-son pair joins over 725 people arrested and charged with crimes related to the January 6 insurrection, 165 of whom have pleaded guilty. Twenty-two individuals have pleaded guilty to felony charges. Story continues At least 49 people were also accused of trying to delete evidence from their phones and social-media accounts, according to the Associated Press' review of court records. Daryl and Daniel are scheduled to be sentenced on April 12, and each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Read the original article on Business Insider At least seven historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats, on Tuesday, leading to the schools administrations evacuating each campus. Howard University in Washington was one of the institutions targeted. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Howard University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, and the nations only historically Black and Catholic university, Xavier University of Louisiana, all alerted authorities of bomb threats on Jan. 4. Howard University students said theyve seen an increase in local residents encroaching on their safe spaces on campus. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images) In response to the threat, the targeted HBCUs issued evacuation and/or lockdown notices on their campuses to the faculty and students. The News & Observer detailed how the administration at the North Carolina HBCU handled the alarm. At 5:34 p.m., North Carolina Central University (NCCU) sounded an alert to those on campus instructing them to proceed immediately to the nearest exit and vacate the building. Students who were not able to return to their homes were secured in the Hillside High Schools parking lot. Teachers and administrators were also released. #EagleAlert: All students who require transportation off campus to the evacuation point should report to the Lower Lot of the Mary Townes Science Complex parking lot. #EagleAlert: All students who require transportation off campus to the evacuation point should report to the Lower Lot of the Mary Townes Science Complex parking lot. N.C. Central University (@NCCU) January 4, 2022 In efforts to make sure that the campus was clear, NCCU Police, Durham Police, Durham County Sheriffs Office, Durham Fire Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Durham City/County Emergency Management were brought in to canvas the HBCUs campus. Story continues Both of neighboring N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill Police Departments were also contacted to assist in making sure that the school was safe. Metropolitan Police Department notified Howard about a threat phoned in to MPD about a pair of bombs being left in the schools administration building. The school, often referred to as The Mecca, worked with MPD to search for the bombs. After a thorough investigation into the explosives threat, the universities released statements to the public communicating that the schools are safe. The Mighty Green and Gold, Norfolk University tweeted an All Clear announcement in the middle of the night. Howard University tweeted, All clear. Howards Department of Public Safety (DPS) and MPD responded to a potential bomb threat on campus this afternoon. The perimeter was secured and searched. No active devices were found and the area has been cleared. All clear. Howards Department of Public Safety (DPS) and MPD responded to a potential bomb threat on campus this afternoon. The perimeter was secured and searched. No active devices were found and the area has been cleared. Howard University (@HowardU) January 4, 2022 Each school determined that the threats were unfounded and authorities were not able to determine if the hoaxes were racially motivated. However, social media was not as confident with that assessment. Social historian and Director at the Derek Olivier Research Institute Edmond Davis tweeted his suspicions, Keep praying as hate is more contagious than COVID & the day before Jan. 6? HBCUs are already under fiscal threat.. Cmon haters 6 HBCUs have bomb threats! Headed to my campus at ABC as we dont. Keep praying as hate is more contagious than COVID & the day before Jan. 6? HBCUs are already under fiscal threat..Cmon haters#ProfDavisSays @WHI_HBCUs @HBCUBuzz @HBCU_Lifestyle @HBCUstory @HBCUPrideNation Edmond Davis @Edmondwdavis @eddavisw (@davis_edmond) January 5, 2022 Many HBCUs got bomb threats yesterday. White supremacy is real, is dangerous, and is a growing threat, one Twitter user @leftandleaving7 tweeted. Bomb threats??? MehStill aint gonna stop the visibility of HBCUs and the expanding reach of the HBCU Mission, user Herbert L. Seward III triumphantly tweeted. Bomb threats??? MehStill aint gonna stop the visibility of HBCUs and the expanding reach of the HBCU Mission. Feds need to be on the clock to catch these folks, thoughIJS Herbert L. Seward III (@hhlseward3) January 5, 2022 Still, he petitioned authorities to be on alert, Feds need to be on the clock to catch these folks, thoughIJS. The Washington Post also reports at the end of last year, three Ivy League schools received similar threats, noting that while the frequency of bomb threats in America has gone down actual bombings are on arise. More news from our partners: Texas and North Carolina Deal with Racial Gerrymandering Lawsuits As Republicans Claim They Drew Maps Race-Blind Ex-Disney Duo Buy Stake in Will and Jada Smiths Company People Are Just Piling On NowThat Never Happened | Urban Meyer Denies Using Trayvon Martin Photo In No Hood Policy The big story: School districts across Florida and the nation have struggled with bus driver shortages all year. Some, like Pinellas County, have offered students free public transit passes to help ease the load. Others have boosted driver wages and paid signing bonuses. Pasco County schools took one of the most unusual and drastic steps in the effort to get children to campuses on time. The district changed all school start times and bus routes. The effort began on Tuesday. We asked residents to share their first-day experiences via Facebook. They revealed some successes, as well as some need for continued improvement. Heres a sampling: First day of this entire year all my (John Long Middle) students were present and on time. I have two children, one to Gulf High and one to Gulf Middle and both of their buses were on time. My son goes to (Land O Lakes High) and nothing changed but the time. Traffic was awful. We left 40 minutes early and still 15 minutes late. My 8th grader also goes to (River Ridge Middle). Our bus was supposed to be there at 6:19 and didnt get there until 7:05! Talk about being late for school. District officials said they anticipated a need to work out logistics during the first week or so, and had not expected perfection right away. As with the first day of a new school year, they figured most of the kinks would be resolved as everyone becomes more familiar with the times and routes. Still, the issue of finding enough bus drivers in Pasco and elsewhere remains. Its a concern that could intensify if some start to call in sick, as occurred in Duval County, WJXT reports. The federal government took steps Tuesday to make it easier for schools to hire drivers, by reducing some licensing requirements if the states agree. No word yet on whether Florida will take that step. In other school news Its not just a shortage of bus drivers that has school leaders concerned. They might encounter some struggle to keep schools open if too many teachers are required to isolate because of the coronavirus, Politico reports. It started happening one day into the new semester in parts of the state, with thousands of school employees calling in sick, Politico Florida reports. Many of the problems were in south Florida, the Miami Herald reports. Officials in other regions warned of similar concerns, including Orange County, as WFTV reports. School districts are trying to prepare for that eventuality, WPLG reports. More from Bay News 9, WPTV. Story continues Officials are looking for ways to slow the spread, without violating new state laws that tie their hands. Leon County schools joined a growing list requiring adults to wear masks in indoor areas where they cannot socially distance, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. Strict student mask mandates are no longer legal in public schools, though private schools do not appear to face the same restrictions. Floridas private universities are announcing theyll start the new semester virtually, while public universities are sticking with in-person classes, Florida Phoenix reports. High school graduation rates are up again. A second year of the state waiving some key testing requirements because of the pandemic helped, the Orlando Sentinel reports. In the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas County led the way with a 92 percent rate, followed by Pasco County at 91 percent and Hillsborough County at 89.2 percent. See the state report on 2020-21 graduation rates here. Charter schools are here to stay. The Pasco County school district is looking to collaborate with some of the successful local charters as it copes with rapid enrollment growth. Stop making threats. The Lee County school district is approaching a record number of threats of violence against campuses, WINK reports. Officials said they have zero tolerance for such actions, even if they turn out to be false threats. Missed a story? You might find it in yesterdays roundup. Before you go ... Weve had Grover Washington Jr. on replay lately. Hes been gone since 1999, but not forgotten. Heres a hot track from one of his Jacksonville performances back in the day. Enjoy. Sign up for the Gradebook newsletter! Every Thursday, get the latest updates on whats happening in Tampa Bay area schools from Times education reporter Jeffrey S. Solochek. Click here to sign up. Maryland experienced record COVID-19 hospitalizations and testing positivity rates Wednesday as Gov. Larry Hogan confirmed locally what was already known on the national level: The highly contagious omicron variant has become by far the dominant strain in the state. The Republican governor said 88.5% of recent coronavirus samples sent for further lab analysis were found to be the omicron variant. Moreover, the labs confirmed that 91% of the samples from patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were omicron, Hogan said. Advertisement Omicron is now clearly the dominant variant among our states, Hogan said at the start of the Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday morning. Despite an overwhelming demand for COVID-19 rapid tests in Maryland and beyond, Hogan said he learned during a White House briefing that relief in the way of more such tests from the federal government remained several weeks away. The development followed his declaration Tuesday of a 30-day state of emergency designed to mitigate the coronavirus crisis, in part, by expanding Marylands testing infrastructure. Advertisement Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., both Democrats, followed suit Wednesday with plans to test more people in their jurisdictions to deal with the unprecedented surge of infections and hospitalizations statewide and in their particularly hard-hit localities. People are tested at the drive-up or walk-up COVID-19 testing site at 3500 W. Northern Parkway as Mayor Brandon M. Scott holds a news conference with Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun ) Along with 43,000 new test results Wednesday, the state reported a record seven-day average testing positivity rate for the second day in a row. The average proportion of COVID-19 tests in Maryland that are coming back positive, 28.56%, is higher than at any point during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the health department. Both Tuesdays and Wednesdays rates topped previous pandemic peaks established in April 2020, just weeks after the first coronavirus cases were detected in Maryland and when tests were exceptionally scarce, the data shows. [ How are Maryland COVID cases, vaccinations and other metrics trending? Here are the latest numbers. [GRAPHICS] ] Health officials also reported almost 100 new COVID-19 fatalities Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the states death toll from the virus to 11,755, according to the health department. The state confirmed 10,286 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, pushing the pandemic case count to more than 776,000 as of Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Marylands hospitals continued to struggle to care for the record-setting influx of patients, which has pushed many past capacity and forced some to adopt crisis standards of care. The health department reported Wednesday that 61 more hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients statewide. Hospitals are caring for some 3,118 coronavirus patients, after eclipsing 3,000 for the first time Tuesday during the pandemic. Of those reported hospitalized Wednesday in Maryland, 41 were pediatric patients, including 10 children who required intensive care. Advertisement If theres any good news from the data, its that were seeing more hospitalizations for those needing acute care compared to earlier in the pandemic when ICU cases were overwhelming area hospitals, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said at a news conference Wednesday with Scott. But on the downside, with the spread of the omicron variant, as reported nationwide, Baltimore City is also experiencing increases in pediatric hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Data from the University of Maryland Medical System found that 74% of its COVID-19 patients over the past 30 days were not vaccinated, while 24% had completed a two-dose course or gotten the single-shot inoculation, Hogan said. About 2% of the patients hospitalized over that time had received their booster shot, he added. Hogan, Scott and Olszewski echoed various public health experts in continuing to promote the urgency of getting a booster shot, which provides the best protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death. The state reported roughly 13,100 booster shots administered over the past 24 hours, bringing the proportion of Marylands total population that has gotten one to about 27%, the data shows. Hogans emergency initiatives Tuesday included mobilizing 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to assist with testing and ordering that 20 new coronavirus testing sites be opened adjacent to hospitals, where emergency departments are overflowing with people seeking care and walk-in testing. Breaking News Alerts As it happens When big news breaks in our area, be the first to know. > Scott and Olszewski saw the need to expand testing in the city and county. Baltimore has the fourth-highest average case rate per 100,000 residents and the fifth-highest daily testing positivity rate; Baltimore County has the eighth-highest case rate and sixth-highest positivity, according to state health department data. Advertisement [ Maryland lawmakers, prison advocates condemn delay in notifying hundreds who received mishandled COVID-19 vaccines ] Olszewski unveiled plans Wednesday to open a large scale testing site in White Marsh on Monday and said the county would begin to distribute 100,000 rapid tests among residents the same day. Across our state we continue to see long lines of those who want to get tested, Olszewski said. We even saw people standing out in the middle of the snowstorm earlier this week to get tested. Scott called a news conference at Baltimores new drive-thru COVID testing site near Pimlico Race Course, where a line of cars stretched beyond a city block. He announced the citys purchase of 200,000 rapid tests to distribute to neighborhoods with high rates of infection and low vaccine coverage. An additional 100,000 tests would go to city schools along with 80,000 N95 masks to ensure students continue to learn in their classrooms safely, Scott said. Dzirasa and Scott asked residents to heed public health precautions in light of the threat of omicrons contagiousness. They urged residents to get vaccinated and boosted, avoid large crowds and mask in indoor public settings. Do not put others at risk for your small, simple convenience, Scott said. Baltimore Sun reporter McKenna Oxenden contributed to this article. A former Springfield district employee was charged Tuesday, one day after he allegedly threatened to shoot up a school. Brian Phillip Price, 40, of Springfield, was charged with making a terroristic threat, which is a felony. Price was a part-time custodian for the district, scheduled as needed and assigned to various buildings. Court documents used to charge Price said he made a call to the Missouri Department of Unemployment at noon Monday to discuss benefits. Following the 38-minute recorded call, the employee assisting Price called 911. The employee told police that Price reportedly became agitated and made "threatening statements" against Springfield Public Schools, including that he was going to go shoot a school, court documents said. More: Springfield Public Schools resumes classes Tuesday with new masking, quarantine rules During the call, he allegedly told the state employee he had a firearm. The Springfield police officer assigned to the case quickly responded to a district office building on Chestnut Expressway, which served as a home base for Price and similar employees. Much of the district was closed Monday classes did not resume until Tuesday and the officer found the employees who were working in that building had been notified of the alleged threat and were evacuating. Price was arrested Monday and booked into the Greene County Jail, where he remains. His bond was set at $25,000. During the arraignment, he entered a plea of not guilty. He did not yet have an attorney listed, according to an online court database. More: Springfield teacher charged with participating in Jan. 6 riot at U.S. Capitol A detention hearing is scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday in front of Judge Todd Myers. Court documents said no weapon was found during a search of his home. In a message to central office staff, including those at Kraft Administrative Center, the district explained it was taking extra steps following the incident. The message read, in part: "This includes a temporary increase to building security. Please be mindful of our buildings security protocols by ensuring all exterior doors remain closed and by directing all visitors, including non-KAC assigned SPS employees, to enter through the front door for check-in." Story continues Hired in January 2020, Price last worked on Dec. 28. Following the incident this week, he was fired by the district. If convicted of the felony charge, Price faces up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ex-Springfield Schools employee charged with making terrorist threat White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham listens as US President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One while flying between El Paso, Texas, and Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on August 7, 2019. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will meet with the January 6 committee. Grisham previously had a long phone call with one of the committee's members about what happened at the White House on January 6, according to CNN. Grisham left her post in the wake of the deadly riot last year. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Wednesday evening will meet with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, she confirmed to Insider. Grisham previously spoke on the phone with one of the panel's members, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who encouraged her to meet with the congressional committee, according to CNN, which first reported the news. The two shared a lengthy phone call about what happened at the White House on January 6, including conversations that former President Donald Trump was involved in, CNN reported. The meeting comes as the committee continues to dig into knowledge of Trump's behavior on January 6 as part of its probe. Earlier this week, the panel revealed it has obtained first-hand testimony that Trump was sitting in the White House dining room, watching the insurrection unfold on TV and resisting pleas to take immediate action to stop the violence. One of those pleas came from his daughter and then-senior advisor, Ivanka Trump, who tried at least twice to get her father to quell the riot, according to the January 6 committee. Grisham first served on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign before landing several gigs in his administration. She was former first lady Melania Trump's press secretary, then moved on to become White House press secretary and communications director. She left that post in April 2020 and returned to work for Melania Trump as chief of staff until her resignation last year in the wake of the Capitol attack. Since leaving her top post at the White House, Grisham has been openly critical of Trump and his administration. She detailed her regret over working for him in a tell-all memoir released last fall and has issued warnings about him potentially running again in 2024. Story continues A spokesperson for Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the January 6 committee, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. This report has been updated with comments from Grisham. Read the original article on Business Insider An image of Fresno Police K9, Odin A Fresno Police Department K-9 handler shot and killed his department-owned police dog, a Fresno Police news release stated Tuesday. The officer opened gunfire when the animal attacked him while the dog was about to be taken to a veterinarian for euthanization. Odin, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, worked for the Fresno Police Department for about three years. In October, Odin attacked his handler, police said in the news release. After weeks of evaluation, a veterinarian diagnosed Odin with a possible neurological issue that made him aggressive. The department and the veterinarian decided to euthanize Odin for the safety of officers and the public, the news release said. On Tuesday, members of the K-9 unit gathered to say goodbye to Odin before the animal's euthanization. After the dog was given sedatives, an agitated and aggressive Odin bit and wouldn't let go of his handler's arm. The officer, unable to detach Odin from his arm, shot and killed the dog with his sidearm, the release said. Odin seriously injured and hospitalized his partner after the incident, police said. Members of the Fresno Police Department are truly saddened with this incident, and we will be forever grateful for his years of service to our community, the release said. James Ward covers entertainment, news, sports, and lifestyles for the Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register. Follow him on Twitter. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Fresno Police officer shoots, kills K-9 partner after dog attacks him BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is travelling to Washington to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, said she would reaffirm the importance of dialogue with Russia to prevent conflict over Ukraine. "With regard to Russia, the common message from Europeans and the U.S. government is clear: Russian actions come with a clear price tag, and the only way out of the crisis is through dialogue," Baerbock said in a statement. "We are entering a decisive phase in which important talks at different levels are imminent. And even if the formats of the talks vary, our messages as transatlantic partners to the government in Moscow are always the same." Alarmed by Russia's military build-up along Ukraine's border, U.S. and Russian officials are due to hold security talks on Jan. 10 in Geneva and NATO has scheduled a meeting of allied ambassadors and top Russian officials for Jan. 12. (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Robert Birsel) By Andreas Rinke and Riham Alkousaa BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany is considering shortening COVID-19 self-isolation periods over fears that critical services could grind to a halt as the highly infectious Omicron variant takes hold, a health ministry plan showed on Wednesday. Workers in critical sectors, such as hospitals or electricity suppliers, would be able to end their isolation after five days, provided they test PCR negative for the virus, under the draft proposals being sent to regional leaders. The current isolation period is 14 days for everyone. For the general population, the isolation period would be reduced to seven days with a negative PCR test, according to the draft document prepared for the leaders, who will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday to discuss how to respond to the spread of the Omicron variant. People who show no symptoms after 10 days of isolation will be allowed to leave their homes without a test, under the plan. "We are moving towards having a very secure solution but at the same time keeping the critical infrastructure working," Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told ZDF television. Daily infections were declining in December after Germany introduced measures such as demanding proof of vaccination for many indoor activities, but started rising again a week ago. The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 58,912 new infections on Wednesday, up 47% from the same day a week ago. The country recorded another 346 deaths, taking the pandemic total to 112,925. The health ministry said the Omicron variant was causing a quarter of all new COVID-19 cases in Germany and was likely to become the dominant variant in a matter of days. Lauterbach also said tighter restrictions would be necessary to counter the jump in infections. "I believe we have to talk again about limiting contacts before the big Omicron wave we are trying to avert or mitigate. I think that is necessary," Lauterbach told ZDF television, adding the measures should be proportionate. Story continues Lauterbach said he wanted more than 80% of those who are fully vaccinated to receive a booster - or about 56% of the population: "The booster shot is the best protection from the Omicron variant," he said. Germany has a low rate of vaccination compared with some other western European countries: 71.3% of the population is fully vaccinated and 39.3% have received a booster shot. (Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson, Madeline Chambers; Editing by Miranda Murray, Tomasz Janowski, Pravin Char and Aurora Ellis) An independent coffee shop is cleared to open in Evans Towne Center later this year. The owners and operators of Goat Kick Coffee Co. can proceed after the Columbia County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to change development stipulations on property behind the countys new Performing Arts Center. A commercial strip planned at the corner of Ronald Reagan Drive and North Belair Road includes space for a coffee shop with a drive-thru window on one condition: If the space is ever used for anything else, no drive-thru will be allowed. This color rendering shows a proposed restaurant and coffee shop at the corner of Ronald Reagan Drive and North Belair Road in Evans. The frontages in the picture face the back of the new Columbia County Performing Arts Center. One thing I want to make sure we point out to you about this parcel is that covenants on this land say you can have a drive-thru only for a coffee shop, Deputy County Manager Matt Schlachter told commissioners. They have a proposed coffee shop going in. They do show a drive-thru. If the coffee shop leaves the drive-thru has to leave. We explained that in quite a lot of detail. Debate then turned to whether a coffee shop can be quantifiably defined. What if they start selling ice cream too? District 1 Commissioner Connie Melear asked. Is it still a coffee shop? Schlachter said commissioners would be welcome to place such a defining use on the property, though he added it would be tough to audit coffee sales for a business that doesn't yet exist. Deputy County Manager Glenn Kennedy recommended a practical approach, pointing out that chains such as Starbucks sell food but its stores are considered coffee shops. If a self-proclaimed coffee shop isnt doing that, he said, it's going to become apparent pretty quick if you start passing chicken out the window. I think its common sense, as opposed to saying, Put in a numerical quantifier. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Bojescul, who owns the property intended for Goat Kick, said after Tuesdays meeting that the business would almost assuredly sell 90% coffee. Goat Kick Coffee is leasing property at 106 N. Belair Road to perfect the shops roasting, grinding and brewing techniques for signature coffee. Goat Kick is leasing property at 106 N. Belair Road to perfect the shops roasting, grinding and brewing techniques for signature coffee that its owners expect to start selling at Evans Towne Center as early as November, Bojescul said. Story continues The shops name is derived from the mythical story of a 9th century Ethiopian goatherd who noticed increased energy among animals in his flock that nibbled berries off a coffee bush, he said. Many independent coffee places in recent years have borrowed the goat motif in their brands, and the name of the legendary goatherd, Kaldi. Goat Kick is expected to add to the growing number of both chain and independent coffee shops in Columbia County including a Starbucks inside discount retailer Target in Evans thats less than 500 feet from a free-standing Starbucks on Washington Road. This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Goat Kick Coffee hoofing it to Evans Town Center in Columbia County With many hundreds of people stranded in their cars for more than 24 hours in a 48-mile traffic jam south of Washington DC, stories have begun to emerge of acts of kindness as food and water ran out in the freezing conditions. Drivers had been stuck on Interstate-95 since Monday after a crash involving six tractor-trailers blocked the roadway during a snowstorm that saw up to 11-inches of snow pile up across the Commonwealth of Virginia. As the hours ticked by many ran out of any provisions they may have had in their vehicles, and worse they also began to run out of fuel to heat their cars as temperatures plummeted to just 16F (-9C). With no sign of authorities reaching those trapped, it was up to people to help their fellow drivers. Much of this help came from truck drivers, who are well-provisioned for their long journeys behind the wheel. A truck driver named Matthew Marchand told the Insider that he had been sharing his supplies with nearby drivers as it became clear that they would be there for a long time. He noted that no one driving on I-95, the East Coasts most important north-south road would expect to be stranded for so long and therefore would not be prepared as they would in more remote or northerly regions. Truck driver Michele Rusher told the outlet that many trucks are well-stocked with food and water and that people should not be afraid to ask for help or food if needed. Speaking to NBC 4 Washington, Emily Clementson, another truck driver, also suggested people ask truck drivers if they have extra supplies, such as snacks or water bottles. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine was among those trapped in the stationary bumper-to-bumper traffic having set out from Richmon on what was supposed to be a two-hour drive to Washington. He tweeted that at one point in the middle of the night a family from Connecticut returning from a trip to Florida handed out oranges to the surrounding drivers Bless them! he said. Connecticut governor Ned Lamont responded on Twitter: Connecticut values extend well beyond our states boundaries. Story continues He added: This familys generosity meant much more than just a snack. It was a friendly reminder that were all in this together. #Connecticut values extend well beyond our states boundaries. This familys generosity meant much more than just a snack. It was a friendly reminder that were all in this together. https://t.co/qFFQdgldKK Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) January 4, 2022 In an interview with WTOP, Mr Kaine described a nice camaraderie among the travellers who were stuck, with people sharing food and drinks. Drew Wilder, a reporter for NBC covering northern Virginia, tweeted quotes from people stranded in their cars. My kids havent eaten in 26 hours, said one person. I had to get out of my and use the restroom in the middle of the road at 4am, said another. The tow trucks arent coming and the hotels are full, said a third. Mr Wilder also spoke with a Maryland mother who was worried her children would freeze when their car ran out of gas after being two hours away from home for 36 hours. A Maryland mother was worried her kids were going to freeze when they ran out of gas after being 2 hours away from home for 36 hours. A firefighter found them and let them sleep in an ambulance last night. They are still stranded without fuel. pic.twitter.com/Bsgzn1DDUO Drew Wilder (@DrewWilderTV) January 4, 2022 They were found by a firefighter who let them sleep in an ambulance on Monday night, but they are still stranded. Governor Ralph Northam told NBC 4 that Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and other state officials and crews were working nonstop to help people stranded in the gridlock. This has been a difficult night for a lot of folks. Im very sorry that people have been stranded. Were doing everything we can to get to these individuals, whether it be [giving them] water or a place to be warm, Mr Northam said on Tuesday morning. Just before 6pm on Tuesday evening, no one remained stranded on the highway. We have often imagined the panic Napoleon Bonaparte III caused in 1855 when he asked wine merchants to rank the 62 chateaus of Bordeaux. The idea was to showcase the best wines from the worlds most renown region in advance of an international expo, but there must have been considerable angst among the judges on which chateaus to include. Despite the pressure, the wine negociants declared only four chateaus as first growths Chateaus Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion. A fifth Mouton Rothschild was added in 1973, but with that exception the 1855 Bordeaux Classification has withstood the test of time. Advertisement Nowhere else is there such a classification system that has endured the test of time. But, what if merchants or master sommeliers were asked to classify, say, the wines of Napa Valley. Which five would be classified first growth? We asked several merchants for their thoughts and the choices ranged from the historic properties, such as Chateau Montelena, Beaulieu Vineyards, Heitz and Ridge to relative newcomers, such as Screaming Eagle, Abreu, MacDonald, Colgin and Harlan. A consensus is impossible, but here are some thoughts to keep the conversation going: Advertisement There are several Napa Valley pioneers who got the wine industry started, but their wines today are not the same as the wines they made in the mid-80s. New owners focused on the bottom line, new winemakers and new sources of fruit have lessened their appeal and complexity. New styles of winemaking have emerged as well. We remember those wines of the mid-1980s and 90s. They were tannic, long-lived and winning awards when tasted against their French counterparts. Lets remember the 1976 Judgment in Paris in which Stags Leap Wine Cellars cabernet sauvignon was ranked better than Bordeaux grand cru in a blind tasting. Iconic Napa winemakers such as Andre Tchelistcheff stressed balance and elegance over power. These wines had good acidity and what winemakers often call tension. Unfortunately, these wines required age for the wine to shed its tannin, so to make their wines more appealing to consumers who wanted instant gratification, they softened them. Around 1990, Napa Valley winemakers began to introduce new clones when they replanted vineyards. The new grapes were sugar factories. As the climate warmed to add even more sugar, the wines became more extracted, high in alcohol, low in acidity and jammy enough to lick off a knife. Some even had to add tartaric acid to provide balance. Although Europeans found California wines unbalanced, the new style gained footing thanks largely to American critics who lavished high scores on them. Today, these heady wines are garnering $500 to $1,500 a bottle. Even producers of inexpensive wines infuse their wines with grape concentrate to make these sugar monsters. Never before have we seen so many cabernet sauvignons cost so much. Screaming Eagle, a poster child for excess, has a 10-year waiting list of consumers willing to pay $1,100 a bottle. In the 2018 vintage, Colgin sells for $675, Dalla Valle for $450, Harlan Estate for $1,620 and Paul Hobbs for $500. Opus One raised a few eyebrows when it was the first Napa wine to set the price at $50 in the mid-1980s. Today it sells for more than $350 a bottle. These producers think of their wines as Napa first growths. We dont get much opportunity to taste the uber-expensive wines from Napa Valley, but we found a few that are worth noting. Roy Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($265). Only 554 cases are made from vineyards on the volcanic hillsides of the Vaca Mountains in southern Napa Valley. Winemaker Philippe Melka unabashedly calls this a grand cru because of its unique terroir. Only 6% petit verdot is added to the cabernet sauvignon to produce ripe plum and dark cherry flavors with layers of herbs, baking spices and mocha. Good structure and tannins make it a wine for the ages. Advertisement Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 ($175). This historic property has managed to maintain its reputation over the years. Although founded in 1882, the estate didnt take off until 1968 when co-owners Bo and Jim Barrett hired Mike Grgich and replanted the vineyard. The 2016 has very opulent floral aromas with ripe, rich blackberry and plum flavors with hints of toffee and spice. Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($235). From vineyards that embrace green viticultural practices, this dynamic wine balances elegance with power a fine needle to thread for a winemaker. Supported by a nearly perfect vintage, winemaker Aron Weinkauf has crafted a wine with black cherry and plum notes with fine tannins and delicate floral aromas. This wine will last for more than a decade in the cellar. Coeur de Vigne Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 ($90). Andre Tchelistcheff advised his friend James ONeil Sullivan to plant cabernet sauvignon on this 26-acre site in 1978. It has been producing grapes for some excellent wines since but the estate has made even better strides since it was purchased in 2018 by a family-driven group led by Juan Pablo Torres Padilla. This wine with classic structure is blended with merlot and malbec, which gives it more dimension and texture. Rich and ripe black cherry flavors, clove and pepper with oak-inspired hints of chocolate and vanilla. Tannins are round. Faust Napa Valley The Pact 2018 ($125). When the Huneeus family purchased this 121-acre plot in 1998, he created a buzz for this newly recognized Coombsville district. Benefiting from cooling breezes from San Pablo Bay, Faust has an expressive cabernet sauvignon without the need for any other grape varieties. Silky, elegant in style with currant and cherry aromas, dark fruit flavors and a dash of mint and cedar. Darioush Napa Valley Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($110). This is a full-bodied wine from vineyards in Coombsville and Mount Veeder. Black fruit notes, dense, tannic and showing hints of lead pencil and spice. A very solid performance from a well-respected producer. Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford 2018 ($105). The Rutherford region remains one of the best and most historic regions for classic cabernet sauvignon. This wine shows off dense and juicy dark fruit flavors with good structure. Advertisement Mathew Bruno Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 ($120). This is a producer worth watching if this full-body wine is any indication. Using grapes from a Rutherford vineyard that was originally planted in 1895, this cabernet sauvignon sees a lot of oak: 100 percent new French and American oak barrels. The best lots are selected after 22 months of oak aging. Classic plum and black cherry notes with layers of spice and herbs. The Bruno label debuted in 2009. Brandlin Estate ThS Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($135). Named after owner Thomas Schmidheiny, the ThS is all cabernet sauvignon even though previous vintages have been Bordeaux blends. That says a lot about the winemakers confidence in cabernet sauvignon in 2018. These mountain-grown grapes have produced an extraordinarily powerful wine with floral, tea aromas and black currant, blackberry and boysenberry flavors. Long finish. Priest Ranch Snake Oil Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($110). Grapes from three special hillside blocks of the Somerston Estate were chosen for this very special cabernet sauvignon. Dense and layered raspberry and plum flavors with hints of cassis, cocoa and mineral. Complex, full body and fine tannins. The old Salvation Army building at 835 Commerce Street has five groups bidding for it. It last operated as a men's homeless shelter before closing in 2017. PETESBURG - The old Salvation Army building on Commerce Street - formerly a men's homeless shelter - is generating a lot of interest from potential investors. City Council hasn't yet made a decision but Ward 5 Councilor W. Howard Myers indicated his preference for the future of the building which lies within his ward. Five different entities submitted proposals for the building. They range from for-profit businesses to nonprofits. Proposals came in from the following groups. More: Council Preview: Five groups bidding for the old Salvation Army building on Commerce Street Quality Trailers - A trailer manufacturer seeking to establish five stores across the East Coast within the next five years. Northside Gourmet Market - Richmond-based market looking to expand to Petersburg with a modular co-working space for indoor farming, fermentation and local food storage and distribution. Southside Community Development and Housing Corporation - SCDHC wants to establish a communal living space for 12 market-rate studio apartments targeting people on the pathway to homeownership. Tri-Cities Habitat for Humanity - Habitat proposed to use the property as an expansion for its ReStore Paradise Trust LLC - A minority-owned manufacturer of death care products like caskets and embalming tables. Quality Trailers says it would create around 25 full-time jobs paying about $18 an hour, with further part-time positions. SCHDC would make seven jobs paying around $22 an hour. Habitat told the city it would hire a director at around $40,000 per year, with the rest of the staff making around $10 an hour. Northside Gourmet would be able to host five to 10 entrepreneurs. When asked for a preference by city staff, Myers said it was his intention to support the proposal from the Tri-Cities Habitat for Humanity. Habitat currently operates out of the building adjacent to the old Salvation Army property. The two properties are even connected by a hallway. Habitat has so far completed 34 homes through renovation and construction to help low-income residents becomes homeowners. Story continues "I cant see any more honorable thing to support than those who volunteer to do things for the city of Petersburg and have been operating here for many years." Other councilors however wanted more information or urged caution over the current list of applicants. Ward 4 Councilor Charlie Cuthbert said that he would prefer to hold off on making any recommendations until council had more information. One proposal from Paradise Trust LLC was incomplete before the start of the meeting. The final result will still require a public hearing at a later meeting in January. The economic development office's recommendation rejected all five proposals because they failed to meet a minimum amount for purchase price. Petersburg's recently enacted guidelines for selling a property set a minimum purchase price at half of the assessed value for a city-owned property. The old Salvation Army Building at 835 Commerce Street was just reassessed at a value of $431,000 as of Dec. 11, 2021. The minimum price to satisfy the city's property disposition guidelines would be about $215,000. The four purchase prices stated were between $100,000 and $185,000. Paradise Trust had not yet indicated whether it wanted to purchase or lease the property. The highest purchase price came from SCHDC. Habitat's proposed purchase price was $155,000. Ward 1 Councilor Treska Wilson-Smith indicated that she would prefer the council entertain offers which meet the guidelines set by the city. Myers continued to explain his support for the Habitat proposal saying, "If you negotiate the right price then you may win the prize. And thats with any real estate transaction, its about negotiation." City Manager Stuart Turille said it was his recommendation that the council entertain bids closer to the 50% threshold, or wait until the incoming economic development director begins to determine the property's "highest and best use." "Highest and best use is not necessarily the highest price but also the best fit for the community in that area," Turille said. "The sale should fit with the vision and goals for that neighborhood and the community as a whole." The decision will be made after a public hearing scheduled on Jan. 18, where all five proposals will be presented to city residents. You can reach Sean Jones at sjones@progress-index.com. Follow him at @SeanJones_PI. Follow The Progress-Index on Twitter at @ProgressIndex. This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Habitat proposal is front-runner for former homeless shelter building New Hanover County students will once again be required to wear masks in schools beginning at the start of the semester this week. School board members voted 5-2 to reinstate the mask mandate at school and indoor school-sponsored events, such as basketball games, except for athletes actively participating in a sport. Board members Pete Wildeboer and Nelson Beaulieu were the two opponents to the decision. I hope everyone remembers how far behind our students are, said board member Hugh McManus. God knows they need to be in school. If a mask mandate keeps them in school who in Gods world doesnt want them in school? This comes as the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly, with a positivity rate in New Hanover County reaching over 20% this week. Without masks, any student exposed to another individual who tested positive for the virus would have to quarantine. Board members noted this was especially concerning if teachers and other staff were required to stay home, creating a lack of teaching staff. Wildeboer suggested looking toward other options, like rapid testing offered in schools, to mitigate the spread. Board members ultimately said masks were the best tool they have at this time to stop students and staff from mandatory quarantine times. Weve got to protect everybody, said board member Judy Justice. The reality is we have to have people in the classrooms teaching. Wildeboer also put forward a motion to hold off on the monthly required vote on masks until after the health and human services board meets later this month and then following its guidance. That failed in a 2-5 vote, with Wildeboer and Beaulieu voting in favor. Following high travel rates during the holidays, the county has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases as the omicron variant continues to spread. Health director David Howard told board members he estimates omicron makes up more than 90% of new cases in the county. While the variant is showing less severe symptoms, especially in those who are vaccinated and boosted, the variant is spreading much quicker and easier throughout the community. Story continues He said the hospital is also reporting more admissions of people under 18 with COVID-19. The hospital reported Monday it had 57 total patients with the coronavirus, including six in the intensive care unit and five on ventilators. All of those in the ICU are unvaccinated. New Hanover County also saw three deaths in the last week from COVID-19. The school board will reconvene in February to reconsider the mask mandate in a monthly vote required by the state. Board members said they hope they can return to a mask optional model, but for now, they need to do what they can to keep students and staff in school as much as possible. Our responsibility is the school system, keeping our students in school, board member Stefanie Adams said. Reporter Sydney Hoover can be reached at 910-343-2339 or shoover@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover County NC schools require COVID masks for students again J.K. Rowling told Alan Rickman secrets about Snape long before the last film. Warner Bros. Pictures Alan Rickman knew Snape's future during early "Harry Potter" filming, Daniel Radcliffe said. Not even director Chris Columbus knew what was going to happen, Radcliffe said. When asked about acting choices tied to Snape's fate, Rickman would say "I'll tell you later." Alan Rickman was one of the only people to know what laid ahead for his "Harry Potter" character Severus Snape, Daniel Radcliffe said. During a conversation with Gary Oldman, who played Sirius Black, in the "Return to Hogwarts" 20th anniversary reunion special on HBO Max, Radcliffe said that Rickman had the "inside line" into Snape's future during the filming of the first two "Harry Potter" films. While Snape spends much of the series as an antagonist who Harry and his friends constantly suspect of colluding with Voldemort, he reveals himself later to have been a double agent who helped protect Harry out of love for his mother, Lily. Video: World's best experiences for 'Harry Potter' fans Oldman said that he wished he would have had the "full picture" while filming, and asked if Radcliffe had a deeper understanding than other actors given that he played the series' titular character. According to Radcliffe, only Rickman did, with regards to his character. "He very very early said to [J.K. Rowling], 'I think I need to know what happens,'" the actor said. Radcliffe said that Rickman didn't tell anyone on set, including "Sorcerer's Stone" and "Chamber of Secrets" director Chris Columbus. When Columbus asked Rickman about an acting choice, Radcliffe recalled, Rickman would say, "I'll tell you later." In 2011, Rickman said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he knew that Snape was a "double agent... and a very good one at that" from the start, despite the fact that Rowling had only written three of the books at the time "Sorcerer's Stone," the first film in the series was released. In 2016, Rowling clarified on Twitter what she had told Rickman in order to give him a more nuanced understanding of his character: the meaning of the word "always," which Snape says after Dumbledore asks him if he still loves Lily Potter "after all this time." The special paid subtle tribute to Rickman, who died in 2016 at age 69, by ending on that line. Read the original article on Insider NEW ORLEANS Homer Plessy's name was cleared Wednesday more than a century after his ejection from a whites-only train triggered the "separate but equal" Supreme Court ruling that institutionalized racism in America for decades. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards granted the pardon for what he called an "unjust criminal conviction" during a ceremony near the site of the arrest that was attended by relatives of Plessy and John Ferguson, the judge who handled the original case. "The stroke of my pen on this pardon, while momentous, it doesn't erase generations of pain and discrimination. It doesn't eradicate all the wrongs brought by the Plessy court or fix all of our present challenges," Edwards said. "But this pardon is a step in the right direction." The governors office said this was the first pardon under Louisianas 2006 Avery Alexander Act, which allows people to be pardoned who were convicted under laws that were intended to discriminate. The state pardon board in November unanimously recommended the pardon at the request of both Plessy and Ferguson's families. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards shows one of many copies of a posthumous pardon he signed,Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in New Orleans, for Homer Plessy. Plessy was a Black man who could have passed for white but stated his race and refused to leave a "whites only" train car in 1892, in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn a Jim Crow law segregating trains in Louisiana. "I just feel gratitude for my ancestor who stood up and set an example for generations of civil rights activists who would follow him," said Keith Plessy, a cousin of Homer Plessy, in an interview with USA TODAY Network. "Sometimes I don't feel like my feet are on the ground because my ancestors are carrying me," he said. "I'm holding back tears because I'm too happy to cry." Phoebe Ferguson, a descendant of the judge who ruled against Plessy, said the pardon "feels like a new dawn for civil rights." "This doesn't erase the wrong," Ferguson said. "We can't undo the wrongs of the past, but we can learn from them and keep them from happening in the future." Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, descendants of the principals in the Plessy v. Ferguson court case, visit a historical marker in New Orleans in 2011. More: Claudette Colvin's 1955 arrest record for refusing to give up bus seat to white person expunged Story continues Although the Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted anyone born in the United States the same rights as white Americans, including freed slaves, Southern states including Louisiana began enacting "Black Codes" that restricted the places Black Americans could work, travel and eat as Reconstruction failed. Plessy, a light-skinned Black shoemaker, decided to deliberately violate Louisiana's Separate Car Act, which mandated that Black and white people sit separately, in an attempt to get the law overturned. He was arrested for refusing to move, pleaded not guilty and appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The landmark 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, institutionalized racism across the United States and "led to generations of inequity and left a stain on the fabric of our country and on the state and on the city," Edwards said. "If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane," the court said at the time. 'It's long overdue': Board recommends pardon for Homer Plessy Plessy pleaded guilty in 1897 and was fined $25; he died in 1925. The case was part of what drove activists to form the NAACP in 1909 and inspired Rosa Parks to refuse to give up her seat on a segregated public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. The Supreme Court decision wasn't overturned until 1954 when a different group of justices ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Discrimination based on race, sex, color and more protected characteristics was officially prohibited with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On Wednesday, New York cellist Kate Dillingham the great-great-granddaughter of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Hareland Marshall Harlan, the only dissenting judge in the ruling opened the ceremony at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts by performing "Lift Every Voice and Sing." "It's a very emotional, very important thing we're doing today and long overdue," said Dillingham, who chose the song because "it felt like an appropriate hymn" for the occasion. Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY; The Associated Press. Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter at @GregHilburn1. N'dea Yancey-Bragg covers race and diversity issues for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter at @NdeaYanceyBragg. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Homer Plessy of 'separate but equal ruling' pardoned by La. governor HOMEWOOD, IL An elementary school district in Homewood held free COVID-19 testing for students and staff before the first day back to school in light of a recent case surge across the south suburbs. District No. 153 officials conducted testing on Monday before the district's Tuesday start date. According to a social media post, the tests were supplied by SHIELD Illinois, a program through the University of Illinois which administers saliva-based COVID-19 tests to K-12 schools in the state. Testing was only available for students who had previously opted into the SHIELD program. Family members and students who were not previously tested were not allowed join in due to the district's short timeline and need for quick turnaround, a spokeswoman for the school told Patch. "We hope to have the results back before school begins on Tuesday morning but that is out of our control," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "We will call only if there is a positive result." As of Tuesday, officials from the district did not have a final number of students who tested positive. If a student tested positive during the Jan. 3 test day, they would not be allowed to return to class until Friday, Jan. 14 as the school followed state health quarantine guidelines. This article originally appeared on the Homewood-Flossmoor Patch DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland will no longer require vaccinated arriving travellers to present a negative COVID-19 test, Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday. A government spokesman said the change will take effect on Thursday. Unvaccinated travellers will still be required to show a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival. Ireland introduced the testing measure a month ago to slow the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant. Omicron now accounts for almost all Irish infections, which have rocketed to record levels in the last two weeks. Martin also said he believed Ireland's current restrictions to slow the spread of infection are effective and that it remained to be seen whether health chiefs will suggest any changes later this week. The government tightened COVID-19 restrictions last month, shutting nightclubs and ordering pubs and restaurants to close at 8 p.m. "There will be a challenging number of weeks in January. The next week or ten days will give us more evidence in terms of the impact of this variant on severity of illness and that will inform decisions on a broad range of issues," Martin told a news conference. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Jon Boyle, Kirsten Donovan and Cynthia Osterman) AMMAN (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz met Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman on Wednesday to discuss regional stability and bilateral ties in the latest high-level visit since relations between the two neighbours improved, officials from both countries said. At peace since 1994, Jordan is a security ally for Israel but relations have suffered in recent years over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But ties have steadily improved since a cross-partisan coalition ousted long-serving conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government, under whose tenure relations plummeted. "Our meeting reflected the enduring ties and excellent cooperation between our countries. We are committed to working together for the security and prosperity of our nations," Gantz said in a tweet following the meeting in the royal palace. Abdullah told Gantz that maintaining calm in Palestinian territories was crucial and stressed there was no alternative to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians to bring a "comprehensive and just" end to the conflict, a royal palace statement said. Jordanian officials say the shift in U.S. policy under President Joe Biden towards a more traditional commitment to a two-state solution has relieved pressure on Jordan, where a majority of the population of 10 million are Palestinians. Israel has in recent months increased water supplies to Jordan and there has been revived talk about regional projects and a pickup in cross-border trade that had been stagnant for years, officials say. (Writing by Dan Williams, Additional Reporting by Suleiman al Khalidi in Amman and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Editing by Angus MacSwan) Happy New Year! After some time off, Im back with this weeks newsletter. One person who didnt get New Years Day off is Jacksonville celebrity chef Kenny Gilbert. Because when Oprah wants something special for New Years brunch, she gets something special for New Years brunch. And Oprah wanted Gilberts Flavor Bomb Chicken Sandwich on freshly baked cheddar biscuits. In a video shared on Instagram, Oprah, gal-pal Gayle King and a roomful of others gushed over Gilberts brunch menu, especially the chicken sandwich. Gilbert and his wife, Anna, own and operate Silkies Chicken & Champagne Bar in historic Springfield. See the video and read more using the link below. From Arden's to Wine Cellar to Zodiac: These Jacksonville-area restaurants closed in 2021 Looking ahead: After a busy dining scene in 2021, Jacksonville is set to welcome several notable restaurants in 2022. Well take a look at some of those later this month, but one that a lot of people are looking forward to is the arrival of Bitty & Beaus Coffee in Jacksonville. Born with Down syndrome, the coffee shops namesakes are the (adorable) faces of the company that employs people with developmental disabilities who take orders, make drinks and socialize with guests. We are trying to change the way that people see people with disabilities, their mother, Amy Wright, told the Times-Union's Teresa Stepzinski. In just five years, Bitty and Beaus has grown from one coffee shop in Wilmington, N.C., to more than 20 across 11 states. Another 13, including one in Jacksonville, are in development. Expect an official location announcement in the coming weeks. Read more on Bitty & Beaus and other dining news below. Cheers! Gary Mills Deputy Managing Editor The Florida Times-Union Email: gmills@jacksonville.com Twitter: @garytmills This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville chef Kenny Gilbert makes one of Oprah's favorite things The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol wants Fox News host Sean Hannity to voluntarily cooperate with its investigation, citing newly released communications that it says show he had detailed discussions with the White House around the time of the attack. "The Select Committee now has information in its possession ... indicating that you had advance knowledge regarding President Trumps and his legal teams planning for January 6th. It also appears that you were expressing concerns and providing advice to the President and certain White House staff regarding that planning," committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a letter to Hannity that was made public Tuesday night. "You also had relevant communications while the riot was underway, and in the days thereafter," the letter goes on to say, adding that the panel has "dozens of text messages you sent to and received from former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows and others related to the 2020 election and President Trumps efforts to contest the outcome of the vote." The letter included what it described as a text Hannity sent to Meadows on Jan. 5, when he said he was very worried about the next 48 hours. "It also appears from other text messages that you may have had a conversation directly with President Trump on the evening of January 5th (and perhaps at other times) regarding his planning for January 6th," Thompson and Cheney wrote. Another text message the committee released Tuesday showed that Hannity and Trump weren't on the same page about Trump's false claims that the election had been stolen from him. "He cant mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, Im not sure what is left to do or say," Hannity said in a text to Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Jan. 10, according to the letter. Story continues Thompson and Cheney said they would also like to ask Hannity about "any conversations you had with Mr. Meadows or others about any effort to remove the President under the 25th Amendment." "We have no doubt that you love our country and respect our Constitution. Now is the time to step forward and serve the interests of your country," they wrote. Axios first reported that the committee would seek Hannity's cooperation. Asked for comment, a representative for Fox News referred to a statement Hannity lawyer Jay Sekulow gave to Axios. Sekulow told Axios that any request for cooperation would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press. Hannity did not directly address the committee's request on his show Tuesday evening; instead, he sharply criticized Democrats and the media, calling them "swamp creatures" and "sycophants." Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Tuesday described Hannity's close relationship with Trump. "He has information that would be relevant to our committee. He was more than a Fox host. He was also a confidant, adviser, campaigner for the former president. And I would hope that if asked by the committee ... he would cooperate with us," Schiff, a member of the Jan. 6 panel, told Hallie Jackson in an interview on MSNBC. The committee has previously released text messages from Hannity to Meadows urging Trump to take action during the riot. "Can he make a statement asking people to leave the Capitol?" Hannity asked in one message. Hannity, who criticized the rioters on the night of attack, acknowledged having sent that text on his Dec. 14 show, saying it was "one of" the messages he sent to Meadows around that time. He then blasted the committee, saying the release of the messages was an invasion of privacy. I am an honest, straightforward person. I say the same thing in private that I say to all of you. Liz Cheney knows this. She doesnt seem to care. Shes interested in one thing and one thing only smearing Donald Trump and purging him from the party, Hannity said on his show last month. The committee also signaled Tuesday that it would like to speak with former Vice President Mike Pence, who officiated at the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6 and was among those who were evacuated when the violence erupted. "We have not formally asked," a committee spokesperson said Tuesday. "But if he offered, we'd gladly accept. Everything is under consideration." Pence hasn't signaled whether he would cooperate, but some of his former aides have engaged with the House panel. Thompson told CNN in an interview that aired Tuesday that he hopes Pence testifies "voluntarily." "I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee," Thompson said. Baltimore Police will spend $17.6 million over the next 10 years for three new police helicopters, replacing four that department officials say are old and will no longer be serviceable. The departments oldest helicopter is nearly 12 years old and, due to federal regulations, the agency will no longer be permitted to be service it, Shallah Graham, the chief financial officer for the department, told members of the Board of Estimates on Wednesday. Advertisement At 12 years, theres a major overhaul with the helicopters, or they can no longer be flown because its a safety issue, she said. Graham said the department is planning to purchase only three as a cost-savings measure. We want to be financially responsible, she said. Advertisement Col. Kevin Jones, chief of patrol operations, said the helicopters are an extremely important tool for the department. The helicopters assist officers when theres a large crowd, natural disasters and vehicle pursuits, he said. Its a force-multiplier, he said. Especially in a time when we are dealing with resources shortages as a result of COVID-19 and other things. Earlier this week, a department spokeswoman said at least 300 employees, or about 12% of the department, were quarantined because they had tested positive or were awaiting COVID-19 test results. Jones said the new helicopters will be an improvement, providing additional space for up to six individuals from four in the older models. He also described the new models as a stronger, faster vehicle with the ability to stay up in the air longer. City Comptroller Bill Henry asked Graham whether the department would ask for a budget increase. Graham said the department will need an additional $1 million in the coming fiscal year 2023 to make debt service payments. But Graham said the total purchase price is expected to be lower once the department trades in its older helicopters. The Board of Estimates also approved two settlement agreements Wednesday. The city will pay $99,000 to cover attorneys fees from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that challenged the citys now-defunct surveillance plane program. The lawsuit sought an injunction to block the program from operating, and, in June, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The suit was filed on behalf of the grassroots advocacy group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; Erricka Bridgeford, co-founder of the Baltimore Ceasefire 365 project; and Kevin James, a community organizer and hip-hop musician. Advertisement The surveillance plane program was pitched initially as a tool to help police investigate murders, nonfatal shootings, armed robberies and carjackings. The Board of Estimates voted in February to terminate the citys agreement, grounding the planes. Afternoon Update Weekdays Updating you on the day's biggest news before the evening commute. > The board also approved an $8 million settlement Wednesday for the family of a man wrongfully convicted of murder who served 17 years in prison before his release. Malcolm J. Bryant was convicted of killing 16-year-old Toni Bullock in 1998, but his sentence was vacated in 2016 after the Maryland Innocence Project sought a court-ordered DNA test on the victims nail clippings that revealed a partial DNA profile that did not match Bryant. Bryant was released from prison in 2016 and died in early 2017 at age 42. Through 17 years of wrongful incarceration, Mr. Bryant steadfastly maintained his innocence, Bryants family attorneys, Amelia Green and Anisha Queen, said in a joint statement. While no amount can right all that Mr. Bryant and his family lost during those years, this settlement is further vindication of Mr. Bryants irrefutable innocence and that his wrongful conviction was caused by Baltimore Police Department misconduct. Advertisement The board approved the settlement with little discussion. While I understand there are facts in dispute in this case, I dont think anybody disputes this was a tragic situation, Henry said. Baltimore Sun reporter Emily Opilo contributed to this article. On Sept. 9, 2018, 29-year-old Krystil Kincaid was driving north on Warren Road to her home in Hemet. It was a Sunday. She was talking with her husband, Zach, on her minivans Bluetooth as he sat in a hotel room 450 miles north on a business trip. Krystil was eight months pregnant with the couples fifth child, Avalynn. That Sunday was to have been one of her last days of work before going on maternity leave. Warren Road is one of those treacherous, one-lane-in-each-direction thoroughfares where drivers routinely speed and pass across double yellow lines. I have driven it hundreds of times. The speed limit is 55 mph. The last communication Zach heard from his wife was a loud scream, followed by a monstrous impact. For hours, his phone line to Krystil still open, he could hear the sounds of civilians, police and firefighters working desperately to free his wife from the wreckage. Krystils scream probably only lasted two seconds, Zach told me at a court hearing, but it replays in my mind very, very slowly. Marcos Forestal-Coutin, a 28-year-old professional boxer, had been drinking and was driving south on Warren at 85 mph when he crossed the center line and slammed head-on into Krystil's car. Born in Cuba and living in Burbank, Forestal-Coutin was one of the best super-bantamweight fighters in the world. His blood alcohol level was .118%, one-and-a-half times the legal limit. Forestal-Coutin suffered only minor injuries. After the collision, he livestreamed a video on Facebook from the accident scene. Look what happened to me, gentlemen, he said. I got a car in the front and look what happened to my car. As Forestal-Coutin narrates, Krystils minivan is burning in the background. Avalynn died in the accident. Fewer than 24 hours later, the doctors declared Krystil Kincaid brain-dead. She was kept on life support long enough for her organs to be donated. Mark "M.E." Johnson I was the Superior Court judge presiding over the case. Forestal-Coutin was charged with one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the killing of Krystil. He pleaded guilty. I sentenced him to the maximum, which was 10 years in state prison. Story continues Because the charge against Forestal-Coutin was manslaughter and not murder, he was not charged with any crime in Avalynns death. The wording of state law explains why, and I think the Legislature should consider changing it. Since 1981, homicides committed by people driving under the influence are sometimes charged as second-degree murder. Murder requires a killing with malice, which is defined as the intent to kill. But in the landmark 1981 California Supreme Court case of People v. Watson, the court upheld a second-degree murder conviction against Robert Watson, who killed while driving under the influence. Watsons crime was deemed a murder under the concept of implied malice. When a defendant intentionally engages in an act that they are aware might naturally and probably be dangerous to human life, they can be convicted of murder. Watson murders are only charged in driving-under-the-influence homicides when the prosecution can prove the defendant knew of the dangers of DUI. In practice, prosecutors only charge murder when the defendant has already been convicted of a DUI, which shows they knew of the danger. The penalty for second-degree murder is 15 years to life in prison. Watson had prior convictions for driving under the influence and had attended classes on the dangers of DUI. Those facts convinced a jury he knew of the dangers of DUI. Forestal-Coutin had no prior convictions, DUI or otherwise. For that reason, he was not charged with murder. I am not criticizing the prosecutions charging decision. The injustice in this case came from how our homicide laws are drafted. For, if Forestal-Coutins crime could have been charged as a murder, the prosecution could have charged Avalynns death as a second crime. The California Legislature formulated its version of a fetal protection statute in 1970 by designating a fetus as a potential victim of murder. The statute reads that Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought. This law does not apply to legal abortions. California law defines a fetus as an unborn human being that has progressed beyond the embryonic stage after major structures have been outlined, which typically occurs at seven to eight weeks after fertilization. The defendant does not have to even know the woman is pregnant to be guilty of murdering her fetus. But fetal protection never was extended to manslaughter. According to the California Penal Code, Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. Fetuses are not included. As a result, in California, an eight-week-old fetus can be the victim of murder. Yet the killing of Avalynn, a viable baby girl in her eighth month of gestation, was not a crime. Zach insisted that Forestal-Coutin, when he pleaded guilty, verbally admit to taking two lives even though he only was charged with Krystals death. Zach vowed to lobby the California legislature to change the law so that his daughters death might perhaps make a difference in someone elses life. Thus far, nothing has changed. As part of a victim-impact statement at the sentencing hearing, I was given a photo of Krystil in her casket holding Avalynn. It was beautiful and horrible. As a judge, I interpret the law. I do not write it. But it is my obligation to bring to the attention of the Legislature matters that will improve the administration of justice in California. Zach Kincaid and his four living children believe our justice system failed them. I ask our Legislature to please listen to them. Mark "M. E." Johnson has been a judge in Riverside County Superior Court since 2009. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Why Riverside County judge couldn't punish killing of an unborn child Montgomery police charged a juvenile with making terrorist threats after a post on Instagram implied there would be a shooting at Goodwyn Middle School. A juvenile male has been released into the custody of a guardian following threats made between Saturday and Tuesday, according to Montgomery Police spokesperson Cpt. Saba Coleman. The Instagram post included an image of a rifle and bullets, with a threat against the middle school allegedly planned for Wednesday. The juvenile was taken into custody Tuesday. This charge comes after Goodwyn Middle School was locked down last month for a gun found on school property. Read More: Gun found on grounds of Goodwyn Middle School; student in custody Jemma Stephenson is the children and education reporter at the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at jstephenson@gannett.com or 334-261-1569. This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Juvenile charged with terrorist threats after threatening Goodwyn Middle Smoke rises from the city hall building during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan's government resigned on Wednesday as demonstrators set fire to the capital in protest of rising fuel prices and the political hold of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Videos throughout the country showed protesters yelling "Old man, go away!," and gunshots were heard while public buildings were burned in the city of Almaty, Reuters reported. All Cabinet members resigned in response to the outburst, but protesters still left a path of destruction. Police were seen using water cannons and stun grenades against demonstrators. The protests were triggered by a spike in fuel prices and the three-decade rule of Nazarbayev, who still has control over his party and is in charge of the Security Council. Current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was picked by Nazarbayev, Reuters noted. "Calls to attack premises of civilian and military agencies are absolutely illegal. This is a crime and legal punishment may follow," Tokayev said in response to the protests, according to The Wall Street Journal. Almaty's police chief, Kanat Taymerdenov, said in a statement 120 vehicles have been burned, 500 civilians have been injured and dozens of businesses have been destroyed. A two-week curfew, including a ban on mass gatherings, has been implemented for the city and surrounding areas. Tokayev said he has appointed an acting prime minister and will work to reduce fuel prices amid the unrest. "Our main goal is to prevent further escalation of violence and radicalism," Taymerdenov said. By Olzhas Auyezov ALMATY (Reuters) -A Russia-led security alliance of ex-Soviet states will send peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan, Armenia's prime minister said on Thursday, after the Kazakh president appealed for their help in quelling violent and deadly protests. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook that an unspecified number of peacekeepers would go to Kazakhstan for a limited period to stabilise the situation after state buildings were torched and the Almaty international airport was seized. Eight police and national guard troops were killed in the unrest on Tuesday and Wednesday, Russia's state-owned Sputnik agency quoted the Kazakh interior ministry as saying on Wednesday. Russian news agencies, quoting Kazakh media, later said two soldiers had also been killed in what they described as an anti-terrorist operation at Almaty airport. Initially sparked by anger at a fuel price rise https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/why-niche-fuel-market-reform-triggered-major-kazakh-protests-2022-01-05, the protests have quickly spread to take in wider opposition to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/powerful-ex-leader-nazarbayev-is-main-target-kazakhs-anger-2022-01-05, who retained significant power despite quitting in 2019 after a nearly three-decade rule. Nazarbayev, 81, has been widely seen as the main political force in Nur-Sultan, the purpose-built capital which bears his name. His family is believed to control much of the economy, the largest in Central Asia. He has not been seen or heard from since the protests began. The Central Asian nation's reputation for stability under Nazarbayev helped attract hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries. But a younger generation is demanding the liberalisation seen in other former satellite states of the Soviet Union. The protests are the worst in Kazakhstan https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/key-facts-about-kazakhstan-2022-01-05 - a country five times the size of France with a population of nearly 19 million people - in over a decade. Story continues Apparently seeking to appease public ire, Tokayev sacked Nazarbayev as head of the powerful Security Council on Wednesday, and took it over himself. He also appointed a new head of the State Security Committee, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, and removed Nazarbayev's nephew from the No. 2 position on the committee. Tokayev's Cabinet also resigned. But protests continued, with demonstrators taking control of the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan's biggest city, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Flights were cancelled. Interfax quoted an official as saying the airport had subsequently been cleared of protesters. Reuters was not able to independently confirm the report. Earlier, riot police used teargas and flash grenades against protesters in Almaty but then appeared to withdraw. A SECOND TOKAYEV TV APPEARANCE In the early hours of Thursday, in his second televised speech within hours, Tokayev said that he had appealed for help to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. He said foreign-trained "terrorist" gangs were seizing buildings, infrastructure and weapons, and had taken five aircraft, including foreign ones, at Almaty airport. "It is an undermining of the integrity of the state and most importantly it is an attack on our citizens who are asking me... to help them urgently," Tokayev said. "Almaty was attacked, destroyed, vandalised, the residents of Almaty became victims of attacks by terrorists, bandits. Therefore it is our duty... to take all possible actions to protect our state." Russian news agencies quoted Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, as saying security had been strengthened around key installations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which Russia uses for space launches. 'COMPLETE ANARCHY' A resident of Almaty who mingled with the protesters on Wednesday said most of those he met appeared to come from the city's impoverished outskirts or nearby villages. At the main square, vodka was being distributed and some people were discussing whether to head towards the city bazaar or a wealthy area for possible looting, the resident said. "There is complete anarchy in the street," he said. Footage posted on the internet showed protesters chanting below a giant bronze statue of Nazarbayev, strung with ropes in an apparent attempt to pull it down. A woman who posted it said it was filmed in the eastern city of Taldykorgan. Early on Wednesday, Reuters journalists had seen thousands of protesters pressing towards Almaty city centre, while in the city of Aqtobe, protesters gathered shouting: "Old Man, go away!" A video online showed police using water cannon and stun grenades near the mayor's office. States of emergency were declared in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, and westerly Mangistau province. The internet was shut down. After accepting the Cabinet's resignation, Tokayev ordered acting ministers to reverse the fuel price rise, which doubled the cost of liquefied petroleum gas widely used for vehicles in Kazakhstan. The Kremlin has said it expected Kazakhstan, a close ally, to quickly resolve its internal problems, warning other countries against interfering. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Russian accusations that the United States had instigated the unrest were false. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov, Pavel Mikheyev, Maria Gordeyeva, Tamara Vaal and Karin Strohecker; Writing by Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Cawthorne and Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Howard Goller) Riot police walk to block demonstrators during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan on January 5, 2022. AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov Kazakhstan is being rocked by violent protests over rising fuel prices. The country's internet was blacked out, according to internet-monitoring body Netblocks. The government resigned Wednesday, deepening the chaos. Kazakhstan's entire internet has been blacked out amid massive protests over fuel prices. Netblocks, a website that monitors internet around the world, said Wednesday that Kazakhstan was "in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout." Many of the country's news websites were not accessible on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. Protests started in one of the country's provinces on Sunday and have since spread nationwide, resulting in a government resignation, as Insider's Bill Bostock reported. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kazakhstan's president, accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Videos showed protesters throwing projectiles at armoured vehicles and forcing them to turn back. The protests were sparked after the government removed a price cap on liquefied petroleum gas, resulting in a price surge. The president reversed the price rise on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Read the original article on Business Insider A 6-year-old girl died early Wednesday after being struck by a pickup truck while crossing U.S. 92, according to Auburndale police. The Police Department said Ra'Nesha Jackson, a kindergartner at Auburndale Central Elementary, was in the median of Havendale Boulevard where it intersects with U.S. 92 about 6:30 a.m. She ran north from the median trying to cross U.S. 92 and was hit by the right front bumper of a Ford F150 pickup truck that was driving east in the outside lane. Police said the driver, Kyle Anker, 36, of Lakeland, didn't know that he hit someone and continued toward Lake Alfred, where another driver let him know he hit a pedestrian. He went back to the scene immediately to cooperate with the investigation, police said. "One of our officers actually saw the child cross the street as he was turning on Havendale Boulevard," Auburndale Police Chief Andy Ray said at a news conference. "He went down, made a U-turn and came back to find out why the child was out at that hour and make sure the child was OK." During the time the Auburndale officer made the U-turn to check on the child, Ray said the girl was hit by the pickup truck. Ray said Anker works for a company that has on-board video recording. "The video indicates, pretty much, what the scene shows. There's not any excessive speeding," Ray said at a press conference about the crash. "He was actually below the speed limit at the time the crash occurred." Ray said a tractor-trailer that was ahead of the pickup truck could've contributed to the crash. In case you missed it: 3 die in Polk crashes over New Year's weekend; man arrested in fatal August crash Prior to New Year's: 'It was total carnage': 8 dead in Polk crashes in 44 hours. Many involve alcohol. The agency said there were no signs that Anker was impaired. It was still dark at the time of the crash, though there is street lighting in the area. Story continues Ray told The Ledger that there were no crossing guards in the area at the time because elementary schools don't start that early. He said crossing guards arrive to their posts about an hour after the time of the crash. According to Auburndale Central Elementary, students must be seated in class by 8 a.m. and aren't allowed on campus any earlier than 7:30 a.m. because there are no adults on campus before that time. The nearest intersection with a crosswalk that would have had a crossing guard later in the morning is one block west of where the child was hit, at U.S. 92 and Bennett Street. There is no crosswalk at the junction of U.S. 92 and Havendale. "It's a hard time for us and it's a super hard time for the family," Ray said. "And it's a hard time for the driver of the pickup truck as well. He's understandably upset." While the investigation was underway, police said Ra'Nesha's father came on-scene and was told what happened. "From what I know, she was attempting to locate her mother who had left the house," Ray said at the press conference. "And that it's possible, at this point, that it followed some sort of dispute in the home." Ray said Ra'Nesha's mother told officers that there was no violence involved in the domestic dispute but these are things detectives are investigating and the biggest question for them is why Ra'Nesha was out at 6:30 a.m. in the dark alone. "That's concerning for us, and we will get to the bottom of it," Ray said. "We are continuing with interviews, research and with our investigation." At the news conference, Ray said police have been called to the child's home in the past and that the Department of Children and Families has been involved in the child's life before. Auburndale police were last called to the residence in September 2020. He said there are at least two other children that live in Ra'Nesha's home. Auburndale police notified DCF of the incident, Ray said. Ray said the mother left the home walking, then at some point the father left and the agency doesn't know why. Ray said they also don't know if the mother was back home when the father left. "For us, in the business we're in, we're always most troubled by the cases that involve children," Ray said at the conference. "It's always hard to see a child who's hurt and very traumatic for us to see a child who's deceased. So the things that led up to it, we're still unpacking." Officials said the Polk County School Board and the elementary school administrators were notified of the students death. Ray said he didn't anticipate any charges at the time of the press conference. All roadways in the area are reopened. This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Kindergartner killed by pickup in Auburndale SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Koreas military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean surveillance cameras detected the person scaling a barbed-wire fence at the border on Saturday, triggering alarms and prompting a team of six soldiers to move to the area. But the troops failed to find any trace of the person, Lt. Gen. Jeon Dong-jin, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers. He said officials checked the recorded video from the surveillance cameras but were unable to find the person immediately because the time in the video was incorrectly set. A thermal observation device later spotted the person again, but officers initially thought it was a North Korean trying to defect to South Korea, rather than one returning to the North. The officers later revised their assessment and again dispatched troops, who failed to catch the person before he or she entered North Korean territory, Jeon said. Jeon said the military will boost the readiness of front-line troops and upgrade surveillance systems along the border. "I am really sorry for causing concerns to the people because of this incident, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Won In-choul, told the lawmakers. I promise to make every effort so there is no recurrence of similar incidents. President Moon Jae-in called the incident a grave failure in surveillance that the military must not repeat. He ordered a special inspection of the militarys overall security posture, according to his spokesperson, Park Kyung-mee. The Defense Ministry said the person who crossed the border is likely a defector who had walked across the frontier in the other direction in late 2020 to settle in South Korea. Ministry officials said the appearance of the person in the security video matches that defector. Story continues After arriving in South Korea, the defector identified himself as a former gymnast and said he crawled over border fences before being found by South Korean troops, ministry officials said. Defecting via the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, is rare since it is guarded by land mines, tank traps and combat troops on both sides in addition to barbed-wire fences. South Koreas military has come under massive public criticism whenever someone is able to cross the border undetected. The fate of the person who crossed into North Korea on Saturday is unknown. The Defense Ministry said North Korea hasnt responded to its request that the persons safety be assured. While in South Korea, the defector struggled to adjust to his new life, complained to people around him and told them about his desire to return to North Korea, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-scholar in Seoul. Ahn, citing unidentified friends of the man, said he worked for a small janitorial service but was bullied by colleagues and lived alone at a government-provided apartment in Seoul. He said the defector had fled to South Korea after suffering abuses from his stepfather in North Korea. About 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in search of better lives since the late 1990s, and about 30 have returned home in the past 10 years, according to South Korean government records. Observers say the returnees likely suffered cultural shock and discrimination, had large debts or were blackmailed by North Korean agents who threatened to harm their loved ones if they didnt return. The Kremlin on Wednesday said it is monitoring the situation in Kazakhstan and warned against outside interference after the country's government resigned in response to violent protests in the capital. "We advocate the peaceful resolution of all problems within the constitutional and legal framework and dialogue, rather than through street riots and the violation of laws," Russia's foreign ministry said, according to Reuters. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kazakhstan could handle its own problems and that the country, a former member of the Soviet Union, has so far not requested help from Russia. Reuters noted that Russia is sensitive to the goings-on of former Soviet nations that it regards as within its sphere of influence. The foreign ministry appeared to place its support behind Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his efforts to "to stabilize the situation and resolve existing problems quickly, including those contained in the legitimate demands of the protesters." Security forces struggled to control protesters in Kazakhstan's biggest city even after the government's resignation https://t.co/sPadaD4lLX pic.twitter.com/ZX74DqJ8zA - Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022 Protesters led a fiery march through the Kazakh city of Almaty on Wednesday in response to spiking fuel prices as well as former President Nursultan Nazarbayev's decades-long hold on power in the country. Hundreds of civilians have been injured in the protests, according to city officials. Tokayev announced on Wednesday that he has removed Nazarbayev from his position as head of Kazakhstan's Security Council and appointed an acting prime minister as he works to reduce fuel prices. LANSING Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed a bill that allows schools to pull from administrative staff to address the substitute teacher shortage. The new law temporarily allows trusted staff members such as secretaries, paraprofessionals and others to work as substitute teachers until the end of the current school year, according to a news release from the governors office. Local superintendents welcome the move but add that it is a Band-Aid approach to address a wider problem. This is a welcomed and important, short-term fix to a difficult problem, and I am happy about it. We need to also see measures that will fix the bigger issue of encouraging people to seek teaching as a profession again, Superintendent of Tecumseh Public Schools Rick Hilderley said in an email. Things like better starting pay, class size reduction and accountability measures will need to be addressed in the coming months. Tecumseh Public Schools Superintendent Rick Hilderley Superintendent of Britton-Deerfield Schools Stacy Johnson agreed. Britton Deerfield Superintendent Stacy Johnson Although this does address the immediate need, it doesnt address the issue in the long term. Our secretaries, paraprofessionals and other staff members are certainly adults who can be entrusted with our students in the classroom. These individuals are familiar with our students and are well versed in the daily operations of the school. I dont have one member of my support staff that I would hesitate to place in a classroom with our children, Johnson said in an email. However, delivering new instruction and managing a classroom on a daily basis requires highly qualified, content specific certified staff. The bottom line is teachers and educators need to be paid their worth and education needs to continue to be placed at the forefront. Funding one of the most important facets of our society education cant be a one or two year deal. It needs to happen every year, every district, every childcontinuously. We have to pay highly qualified educators their worth. We have to fund public schools. Until that happens placing a sub in a classroom puts a bandaid on the issue. Whitmer said in the news release that education is her top priority. Story continues Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Making sure every child in Michigan has access to a high-quality public education is my top priority, which is why this year we made the largest investment in K-12 public schools in Michigan history without raising taxes, she said. The pandemic has been challenging for our children, teachers, and parents, and our educators have gone above and beyond to ensure Michigans children have a bright future. Allowing schools to employ school staff that students know as substitute teachers will help keep school doors open and students learning in the classroom the rest of the school year. I am committed to working with the legislature to develop high-quality solutions to address these staff shortages long-term so that we can ensure that every child is able to access a quality education. COVID-19 issues continue to play a role in the substitute teacher shortage in school districts throughout the state, educators said. But there was already a shortage before the pandemic began. Michigan already faced a severe educator shortage prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Paul Liabenow, executive director of the Michigan Elementary & Middle School Principals Association, said in the release. The pandemic has only exacerbated that shortage by further hindering school districts abilities to fill vacant positions and keep buildings open, placing undue stress on educators already working tirelessly every day to ensure all students in Michigan receive quality, in-person instruction. House Bill 4294 will provide districts with additional flexibility to fill substitute teaching vacancies so students can continue to learn in a safe, supportive environment. Morenci Area Schools Superintendent Mike McAran said in an email that his district is already pulling administrative staff into the classroom and has raised the substitute pay rate. Tecumseh has also raised its substitute teacher pay rate. Morenci Area Schools Superintendent Mike McAran I find it ironic that the State of Michigan finally realizes that a shortage exists, McAran said. Morenci Area Schools has raised its sub rate to $140.00 and advertised for full time substitutes, had teachers teach on their planning periods, and pulled principals into the classroom. This is a stopgap solution but by no means does it solve the problems facing schools in hiring and keeping teachers. Superintendent of Adrian Public Schools Bob Behnke agreed in an email that this measure by no means is a permanent fix to the problem, but a welcome short-term solution. Adrian Public Schools Superintendent Bob Behnke We have been fortunate in most cases to maintain a solid line of substitute teachers this year at APS. While this new law is a quick fix and short term band-aid, I am happy of some added flexibility to continue to provide in-person instruction for students, Behnke said. I do not anticipate many changes, if any for APS under this law. This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Law on substitute teacher shortage seen as a short-term approach BURTONSVILLE, Md. (AP) Two women and a man were killed and another person was in serious condition after an SUV crashed into the back of a snowplow in Maryland on Monday evening, police said. The crash happened on northbound Route 29 in Burtonsville, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northeast of Washington, D.C., around 6:45 p.m. Monday when a black Cadillac SRX hit the back of a white Peterbilt snowplow dump truck, Montgomery County Police said in a news release Tuesday. The crash happened hours after a snowstorm dumped about 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow in that area of Montgomery County, according to reports to the National Weather Service. Advertisement When officers arrived, they determined that three of the people inside the Cadillac were dead. The fourth person was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, police said. The plow driver wasnt hurt and remained on the scene. Police identified the three people killed in the crash as Shawde Ajee Nayonta Wicks, 27, of Clinton; Natasha Ann Hunter, 41, of Baltimore; and Gary Eugene Early, 52, of Baltimore. The surviving passenger was listed in serious condition, police said Tuesday afternoon. Advertisement The cause of the crash is under investigation and police said it may take several weeks. Dallas Cowboys rookie linebacker Micah Parsons apologized to fans on social media Wednesday after it was announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. Parsons is likely to miss the Cowboys season finale Saturday night against the Eagles in Philadelphia. [Im] saddened by the news, Parsons posted on Twitter. I feel like I let my team down and Dallas cowboys nation! Ill be back better than ever!! Im only going to be more hungry! See you soon. I saddened by the news I feel like I let my team down and Dallas cowboys nation! Ill be back better than ever!! Im only going to be more hungry! See you soon #lion Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) January 5, 2022 Parsons included his trademark lion emoji in the message. Parsons, who leads NFL rookies with 13 sacks, attended the Mavericks game at American Airlines Center on Monday night. A reader said former President Trump is partly to blame for the uptick in road rage incidents. (Los Angeles Times) To the editor: Although there is evidence that pandemic stress has led to a sharp rise in road rage, a more likely reason for people's violent and abusive behavior is the former president's attitude of disrespect and encouragement of aggression. Recall his actions on the campaign trail, where he saw nothing wrong with mocking a disabled person or suggesting that supporters use physical violence on protestors at his rallies. When the president of the United States dismisses normal acts of decency and care for others, some take that as a green light to engage in the worst kind of activity. I don't blame Laguna Niguel resident Jordana Berzansky for her fear after being the target of recent road rage incidents. When you live in an area where hooligans waving huge American flags and shouting epithets drive like maniacs, you can't help but wonder where normal behavior has gone. The former president has changed the common attitude of decency and respect to the lowest, worst form of group angst. Paul Elder, Malibu .. To the editor: A couple of weeks ago in a Costco parking lot, my sister was loading her items into her car when a woman who wanted her space started honking and would not stop. My sister, a petite Asian woman, was doing her best to finish, but the woman got out of her car, came over and said that "her kind always goes slow on purpose." My sister was frightened but quickly finished up and started recording with her smartphone in case this woman became physically abusive. As my sister drove away, she noticed there was a child sitting in the woman's car. It's not only on the freeways and streets that people are going ballistic. Being mindful of others does not guarantee one's safety from those who feel entitled to vent their frustration and anger at others. Cynthia Kokawa Lerner, Los Angeles This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. PEARL RIVER For the third time this academic year, LGBTQ symbols were destroyed at Pearl River High School. The Orangetown police have been contacted about the incident. The most recent act, which was discovered the day school resumed after winter recess, occurred in a teachers classroom. Items that displayed LGBTQ supportive symbols, including two flags and a pencil, were damaged. Pearl River Superintendent Marco Pochintesta said Tuesday that the incident violates the district's Code of Conduct. "Each member of the PRSD community has the obligation to respect one another's beliefs and opinions," Pochintesta said. "Although this latest incident is upsetting and unfortunate, it reminds us that the work of building a lasting culture that fully embraces respect, understanding and safety for all must continue. COVID 2022: Teacher, bus driver, staff absences already posing a challenge to schools See what changed: Rockland flips on enforcing state's COVID indoor mask rules COVID: Stony Point's Patriot Hills golf club offers antigen testing Kevin OConnor, president of the Pearl River Teachers Association, believes the administration is taking the incident seriously. "We support the districts commitment to hold those who are responsible to account under the district Code of conduct and make clear that this behavior will not be tolerated," he said. "Thats an important step." This was the third reported incident targeting LGBTQ community symbols during the 2021-2022 academic year. A bulletin board for the Gay Straight Trans Alliance was vandalized twice first on Sept. 3, just two days after school opened, and again on Sept. 10. After the second act, teachers at the school created their own billboard that displayed support for LGBTQ students. The teacher-created board displayed the words "You have allies" with pictures of faculty and staff. LGBT+ bulletin board replaced at Pearl River High School Pearl River High School Principal Robert Zegarelli said in a letter to parents that the incident was reported to the school resource officer, Orangetown Police Officer Mark Durney. Story continues Orangetown Police Captain Michael Shannon said Durney filed a standard incident report, but the school is currently handling its investigation. Were not involved in it until the school asks us to be involved, Shannon said. Brooke Malloy, executive director of the Phyllis B. Frank Pride Center of Rockland County, called the repeated destruction of LGBTQ displays alarming. "This type of targeted violence creates a hostile learning environment for LGBTQ+ students," she said. "It also creates a hostile workplace for LGBTQ+ teachers and staff." O'Connor said intentional acts like this have a negative effect on the entire school community. "We believe that a school should be a place where all staff and students feel physically and emotionally safe," O'Connor said. "Clearly, there continues to be a need for us to work as a school community to foster a more inclusive environment, where all staff and students are respected and are no longer targets of such hateful behavior. Pearl River Schools Superintendent Marco Pochintesta with a bulletin board made by teachers and staff in support of LGBTQ+ students at Pearl River High School Sept. 23, 2021. Public schools are covered under New York's Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act. GENDA added gender identity and expression to the protections in New York's human rights law in 2019. When harassment or violence occurs at any school, It is important that a student, parent or staff member file a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights at 1-888-392-3644, Malloy said. Discrimination and hate aimed at the LGBTQ community is endemic, Malloy said. Trevor Projects 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 75% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime; 42% reported seriously considering attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth. Respondents were age 13 to 24. The Trevor Project offers a text and chat 24/7 hotline at 1-866-488-7386. "Preventing hate requires changing a school's culture. Schools can improve their culture by developing policies to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students and staff, holding mandatory training for all staff, and educating the school community about relevant laws," Malloy said. "The Rockland Pride Center can help schools make these life-saving changes." For local programs, contact the Rockland Pride Center at pride@rocklandpridecenter.org. Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland. Want the angle on what's up in Rockland? Get our newsletter, the Rockland Angle, sent to your inbox every Monday evening. Subscribe here. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland County high school LGBTQ symbols vandalized again A major lawsuit in the collapse of a Florida beachfront condominium building that killed 98 people will go to trial in March 2023, a judge said Wednesday. That's about six months later than Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman had originally planned, but lawyers in the complex and unusual case said experts need more time to evaluate what caused the 12-story Champlain Towers South building to fall in June 2021. That is a firm deadline, ladies and gentlemen, Hanzman said during a hearing held virtually. This case will be going to trial in March 2023. The collapse of Champlain Towers, located in Surfside, Florida, was one of the worst building disasters in U.S. history. Federal and state agencies are investigating what happened, but likely won't reach a conclusion for many months. The main lawsuit filed in November contends that work on an adjacent luxury condo building, known as Eighty Seven Park, damaged and destabilized an aging Champlain Towers building already in dire need of major structural repair. Lawyers for insurance companies, the adjacent building's developers and other entities said the initial plan for a September trial date wouldn't allow engineers and other experts to fully evaluate what happened. It will be impossible to try this case in the fall, said Michael Goldberg, a court-appointed receiver for the Champlain Towers condo association. The lawsuit contends that excavation, pile-driving and other work at Eighty Seven Park, just across the city line in Miami Beach, between 2016 and 2019 caused vibrations that weakened the shaky structure next door. In addition, groundwater was funneled from the new building to the Champlain Towers basement after developers bought a small road separating the two, the lawsuit says. The defendants have denied that construction of the 18-story Eighty Seven Park building was responsible for the collapse. They contended in a prior statement that Champlain Towers was improperly designed, poorly constructed, significantly underfunded and inadequately maintained. Story continues The property where the now-demolished Champlain Towers South once stood is up for sale with bidding for the prime oceanfront land currently at about $120 million. Plans are also in the works for a nearby memorial to those who perished. The lawsuit does not demand a specific dollar amount in damages but lawyers say it could run into hundreds of millions of dollars. All of this would go to wrongful death claims and to compensate people who lost their condos and belongings in the collapse. Hanzman told lawyers not to expect any further delays beyond March of next year. This court is not working under some leisurely schedule, the judge said. This case will not be continued. MARIN COUNTY, CA The Marin County Board of Supervisors have elected a new leader. Katie Rice, who has served on the Board since 2012, was elected president by her peers for what will be her third one-year term. Rice has represented the Ross Valley and parts of San Rafael on the Board. At Tuesdays meeting, the first of the new year, District 4 Supervisor Dennis Rodoni handed the gavel to Rice after the official Board reorganization vote the reverse of what took place in January 2021. Also during Tuesdays meeting, District 3 Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters was voted First Vice President and Rodoni was named Second Vice President. Rice is a Mill Valley native and a San Anselmo resident for the past 25 years. As difficult as the past two years have been, Marin has shown itself to be resourceful, responsible and truly community minded, Rice said. I have no doubt 2022 will bring its own set of challenges, but I have confidence as well that we will rise to those challenges, learn from them, and ultimately be that much more resilient and ready for the next. Before the reorganization, Rodoni said it was an honor to serve as Board President for the first time and talked about what it was like leading the County during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rodoni, an Olema resident and West Marin native, has served as a Supervisor since January, 2017. It has been a very demanding but rewarding year, Rodoni said. We collectively continued the good work of County government while being challenged at every step. In the end, we did the work, many times in new ways with success and pride. I am proud of what we achieved in 2021. As Board President, Rice will run the Boards meetings, work with county staff to set meeting agendas. The President speaks for the Board once the Board has acted on policy or other matters. This article originally appeared on the San Rafael Patch Mathilda Nassar stands in front of a building in downtown South Bend where her new pole dancing studio, Soma Pole Studio, will open in early 2021. Here are some key updates from the local retail and restaurant scene, courtesy of Market Basket columnist Mary Shown. Soma Pole Studio will celebrate its one-year anniversary with an open house from 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8. The fitness studio will then offer pop up intro classes throughout January. More information is available at somapolestudio.com. Bit of background: Soma Pole Studio aims to open in downtown South Bend in 2021 Hans Westerink, from left, Meg Stevens, Lauren Barry and Mandy Krause at the Cloud Walking Cafe in South Bend. The Cloud Walking Collective which includes businesses Cloud Walking Coffee, Violet Sky, Love and Macarons and The Elder Bread co-operate is closed this week while it moves equipment into its newly renovated building at 1215 Mishawaka Ave. in South Bend. The group will host a grand opening Jan. 14. From the beginning: Notable bread, chocolate, coffee and pastry businesses open under one roof Owners of El Rancho Viejo have plans to open their downtown South Bend location, at 123 W. Washington St., by the end of January. The group also has plans to open in the former Hob Nob Bistro building, 1109 S. 11th St., in two months. Both new locations will be under the same concept as the Goshen and Mishawaka locations. The Popeyes at 306 S. 11th St. in Niles opened Dec. 27. According to its website, its hours are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Contact Mary Shown at 574-235-6244 and mshown@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @maryshownSBT and @marketbasketSBT. This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Market Basket: Pole studio anniversary, Cloud Walking announces opening Sokhary Chau was sworn in as mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts, on Monday. Chau, 49, is a Cambodian refugee and came to the U.S. at a young age to escape the Khmer Rouge. He became a Lowell city council member in 2019, and he was unanimously picked by the city council members to be mayor on Monday, according to the Associated Press (AP). He is the first Asian American mayor of Lowell and the first Cambodian American mayor in the country. Lowell is home to 115,000 citizens, 25% of whom are Asian, as well as the nations second-largest Cambodian community, according to AP. While Cambodian Americans have served on local boards and state legislatures nationwide, none have been elected mayor, according to the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. Refugee journey God bless America, right? I was a refugee, now Im mayor of a major city in Massachusetts, Chau said hours after he was officially sworn in. I dont know if that could happen anywhere else in the world. Im still trying to absorb it. In his inaugural speech, Chau reflected on how his family escaped Cambodia and made the journey to the U.S. His father, a captain in the Cambodian army, was executed by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975 during the civil war. Chaus mother, who died late last year, managed to keep her seven children alive for four years, surviving landmines, jungles, hunger, sickness and uncertainty before delivering them safely to the U.S., he said. As a proud Cambodian American, I am standing on the shoulders of many immigrants who came before me to build this city, Chau said. Chau told the Associated Press he was only 9 years old when his family arrived in Pittsburgh with the help of the Catholic Church. His family found their way to Lowell in the mid-1980s, where some of his older siblings sought employment while he continued his studies. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover on scholarship and studied economics and political science at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, also on a scholarship. Governmental representation Before running for office, Chau ran a mortgage lending company in Lowell with his wife and also worked for the Social Security Administration. Just four years ago, the citys elected officials were all white and largely unresponsive to the needs of the citys communities of color, he said. Chau claimed he can make a difference in the community by ensuring better representation in the city, acknowledging that his election is especially notable for Cambodian refugees. We can no longer be just victims, Chau said as he closed his inaugural remarks. It is our time now to be leaders and to succeed. Featured Image via LTCLowellMA Story continues Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! South Korea and US 'effectively' agree on draft to end Korean War Maryland Gov. Hogan announces initiatives to combat anti-Asian hate Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene mentions 'yellow people' in speech about GOP diversity Palo Alto legislator warns California's redistricting plans will dilute Asian American voting power Support local journalism. Unlock unlimited digital access to floridatoday.com Click here and subscribe today. A Merritt Island woman was arrested less than an hour before midnight New Year's Eve after she threw a party at her house where underage children were drinking alcoholic beverages, a deputy said in an arrest affidavit. A Brevard County Sheriff's Office deputy responded to a call about a disturbance at 9300 S. Tropical Trail at about 11:10 p.m. New Year's Eve, according to the arrest affidavit. The deputy said he observed dozens of vehicles parked near the house, loud music and voices coming from the house and "dozens of juveniles consuming alcoholic beverages" as they walked to and from the house. The deputy spoke to Valorie Houk, 56, at her front door, the affidavit said. She told the deputy there were no minors consuming alcohol and tried to go back into her house. The deputy asked that she remove any underage people from her house and told her that there were children "actively consuming alcohol in marked alcoholic beverage containers in clear view." She continued to deny any minors were consuming alcohol, the affidavit said. The deputy told Houk if she didn't remove the minors from her house, she would be arrested for holding an open house party, the affidavit said. She told him he could not enter her house and tried to shut the door while he was standing "in the threshold of the outwardly opening front door." Man hit by car, dies Tuesday: Hit-and-run near Melbourne Beach kills bicyclist Tuesday morning, troopers say BPS prepares for spring amid omicron surge: Omicron spread draws concerns as Brevard students head back to school this week She was placed under arrest. Houk and her son then gave permission for the deputy to enter the house, and the deputy found alcohol being consumed and strewn around the house, the affidavit said. Houk was charged with holding an open house party and had a bond of $250. She bonded out of Brevard County Jail at about 2:20 p.m. New Year's Day. Story continues The first offense for open house party, during which no minors are physically injured, is a second-degree misdemeanor and is punishable by up to 60 days in jail, six months of probation and/or a $500 fine. Any subsequent violation is a first-degree misdemeanor and is punishable by up to a year in jail, a year of probation and/or a $1,000 fine, according to Florida statutes. Houk could not be reached Wednesday and court documents did not list an attorney representing her. Finch Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker Support local journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: House party on New Year's Eve ends with Merritt Island woman arrested Aberdeen Middle School will switch to virtual learning for two weeks starting Thursday due to a staffing shortage. School will be dismissed three hours early on Wednesday so teachers and staff can prepare for virtual instruction. The announcement was made in a letter sent home to parents Tuesday and posted on the schools website. Advertisement We do not make the decision to transition to virtual instruction lightly, Principal Regina Jones said in the letter, adding that the move is necessary at this time to ensure valuable instruction continues to take place. Jones said the school has used substitute teachers and staff from other schools in the district to compensate for several staff members who are out. She did not specify if the absenteeism is due to COVID-19. Advertisement Harford County Education Association President Chrystie Crawford-Smick said many staff members are out for COVID-related reasons but she doesnt have exact numbers. She also said this is the first school shes aware of thats had to move to virtual learning this academic year. I have asked if there are other schools that are closed and I have not been provided that information, Crawford-Smick said. Students were told to bring home their assigned school laptops, chargers, and hot spots, for those who were assigned one, when they leave school Wednesday. Parents were also given the option of signing up for meal kits from the Food and Nutrition department. Virtual learning will continue through Jan.14, a previously scheduled early dismissal day. Students are scheduled to return for in-person instruction on Jan. 18. Jones said the building will remain open for limited services and teachers may work from their classroom, or meet with parents or students, as needed. Morning, neighbors! Welcome back to The Roseville Daily, where you can get all the news you need to start your day in the 'Ville. Let's get to it! First, today's weather: Were looking another mostly cloudy day today with possible light rain after midnight tonight. Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 54 degrees and an overnight low of 48. Winds should be light and variable at about 5-8 mph and humidity remains high at around 93% during the day. Here are the top five stories today in Roseville: Mikuni will relocate to a larger building (good news for those of us who hate long waits for our sushi!) in The Fountains at Roseville in February, if all goes as planned. The current location at 1194 Roseville Parkway will remain open until then. Supply delivery delays and a shortage of workers caused the popular eatery to push back its previous October target date for the move. Besides being larger, the new spot (where McCormick and Schmick used to be) will have outside seating for 200 customers and banquet rooms for private parties. (Subscription: Sacramento Business Journal) Cal Fire has determined that last summers Dixie Fire was sparked by a tree hitting Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) electrical distribution lines. The contact occurred west of the Cresta Dam located in the Plumas National Forest. The Dixie Fire was the single largest wildfire in Californias history, scorching over 963,309 acres and destroying 1,329 structures across five counties. PG&E had already admitted its equipment may have been a factor in the blaze and is currently facing legal action for several other fires. (ABC 10) Coronavirus has surged across the nation, but hospitalizations, while up in recent weeks, are growing at slower pace. This is good news for hospitals and intensive care units. Though they still feel the stress from the extra patients, the numbers are not what they feared as holiday gatherings and the omicron variant converged in late December. Locally, most of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 continue to be the unvaccinated. Specific numbers for the nation, and Placer County hospitals specifically, are detailed in this article. (Patch.com) In response to the recent surge in COVID cases, and in an effort to keep our hospitals running efficiently, Placer County Public Health is urging residents to upgrade cloth masks to more effective, high-quality surgical, KN94, KN95 or N95s. They also urge residents who completed their first COVID vaccinations series more than six months ago to get a booster. (Placer County news release) Relief is on the way for California homeowners behind on their payments due to COVID-related difficulties. The application process for the California Mortgage Relief Plan opened yesterday with $1 billion in funds available from the federal American Rescue Plans Homeowner Assistance Fund. Payments can be for up to $80,000 for applicants at or below the poverty line (by county), who own a single-family home, and have faced pandemic-related hardship after January 1st, 2020. (KCRA 3) From our sponsor: Story continues Hey Roseville, are you looking to buy a house, refinance or just explore your options? Check out the new Patch Mortgage Center for all your home financing needs! Today in Roseville: The January-May edition of Experience PRL , the City of Roseville s parks, recreation and events guide, is online today . Take a browse and figure what fun things you want to sign up for! Registration begins Tuesday, January 11th . Today The Hefty Gyros food truck is at Lava Ridge Court for lunch today . Order ahead online to skip the wait and enjoy some of this Greek goodness . 11:00 am - 1:00 pm If you are interested in Leadership, Friendship and Fun, the Rotary Club of Roseville wants to meet you! This great local service organization invites prospective members to come for its weekly Luncheon Meeting today at Sierra View Country Club . Lunch is complimentary for your first meeting just be sure to check in at the front table. 12:00 noon January is your last chance to weigh in on our new city election boundary proposals . The Roseville Independent Redistricting Commission has six different maps for consideration and is holding six Public Meetings this month to get citizen input before the final map is chosen on January 24th . The first of these meetings is at the Maidu Community Center tonight . 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Sample some of Sacramentos finest restaurants with special three-course, prix fixe menus during Sacramento Dine Downtown. There are 30 participating restaurants offering the best of the Farm to Fork Capitol for every price range. The feast begins Friday, so make your reservations now. January 7th-17th From my notebook: Get an inside look at the home base of our Sacramento River Cats , including the clubhouse , for free ! Sutter Health Ball Park VIP Tours are approximately 45 minutes with appointments available Monday-Friday , 9:00 am - 5:00 pm on non-game days. (milb.com) Emily Zentner of Cap Radio News breaks down the reason our state has been catching fire (not in a good way) more often and more intensely the past few summers in this informative series of posts on the last 100 years of California wildfire history . (Twitter) This post pretty much sums up what most of us are hoping for May 2022 be the Toyota Corolla of years: reliable, boring, physically incapable of drama, high mileage, affordable and fun for the whole family. By the way, the comments on this are hilarious. Enjoy the new year/motor vehicle humor! (Facebook) Loving the Roseville Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved: Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe Get your local business listed in front of readers Send me a news tip or suggestion at kellymrisse@gmail.com You're officially in the loop for today! I'll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow morning with a new update. Kelly Risse About me: My name is Kelly Mays Risse, and I have lived in Roseville just about all my life. I graduated from Roseville High School and majored in Journalism at CSU Sacramento. My husband and I loved growing up and raising our three boys here in the 'Ville. I have watched Roseville evolve from a cheerful little railroad town to a large and diverse city. I love where we live, from the hiking trails to the hip new restaurants, and I love the people who live here. I am excited to bring the highlights to you in The Roseville Daily! This article originally appeared on the Roseville Patch A student at Mishawaka High School who threatened to carry out a shooting at the school in retaliation for being disciplined admitted to making the threats Wednesday in juvenile court. The 17-year-old said in court that he was angry with a Mishawaka High School assistant principal who suspended him and sent her an email on Dec. 20 in which he threatened to shoot her and the school. The teenager will be sentenced by St. Joseph Probate Court Magistrate Graham Polando next month. The student was charged with two counts of intimidation, though prosecutors dismissed one count as a condition of him admitting to the offense. Mark James, an attorney representing the student, said the teenager never intended, or had the ability, to actually carry out a shooting and was simply acting out of frustration for being disciplined. More: 2 girls accused of using social media to make death threats aimed at LaVille students "There was no intent," James said. "His response is typical for being suspended from school. He went a little far." School went virtual due to threats The threats caused the school to close and move to virtual learning for three days in a row before Christmas break as police and school administrators investigated the threat. Mishawaka police arrested the teenager on Dec. 27 and he remained in detention until prosecutors filed a petition for delinquency Monday. Polando must still decide whether the student will stay in detention until his sentencing. James argued the Mishawaka High School students were not greatly affected by the closure, as they are used to virtual learning during "COVID days." In-person learning to resume at Mishawaka Mishawaka High School will be back to in-person learning when classes resume Thursday, School City of Mishawaka superintendent Wayne Barker announced in a letter to district families. "Making a threat to any public school is never a joke," Barker wrote in the letter. "It can have severe legal and financial consequences, and at the very least, it disrupts the learning environment for students and consumes staff resources." Story continues The student's mother also asked Polando to release her son until sentencing, saying he now realizes the severity of his actions. "I know the seriousness of what he did with everything going on," she said. "I don't think he realized how much trouble he could get into for doing that. He's not a troubled kid." The student is currently in juvenile, or probate, court, which typically has less severe sentences than adult, or superior, court. Sentences, or dispositions, in probate courts are often focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka High School shooting threat: Student pleads guilty Missouri state Rep. Justin Hill (R) announced he will resign from his current position to start a new job with a Florida-based consulting firm. In a statement posted on Facebook, Hill shared that his last day as an acting member of Missouri's House will be on Wednesday, the first day of the 2022 legislative session. "It is with heartfelt gratitude to my constituents and supporters that I announce my resignation as Representative of the 108th District in the Missouri House of Representatives," Hill said in his statement. "Late last year, I realized the best way to continue these efforts over the long term is to step down from public office and continue my efforts within the private sector." Hill's departure from the legislature means there will no longer be enough GOP representatives to override any possible vetoes from Gov. Mike Parson (R) without Democratic lawmakers' support, according to The Associated Press. There are currently 110 Republican lawmakers in the state legislature, with the threshold being 109 lawmakers to override vetoes. This comes shortly after Hill's colleague state Rep. Aaron Griesheimer (R) told eMissourian last month that he's resigning from his position for another job. Hill gained notoriety last year for skipping his own inauguration to head to D.C. to oppose the electoral college victory of President Biden, although Hill said he did not join other supports of former President Trump during the Capitol insurrection, the AP reported. With the two lawmakers' departure, there are currently 108 Republican lawmakers in the state's legislature, the newswire noted. MOORESTOWN, NJ The Moorestown Public School District is in good shape to remain open amid a spike in COVID-19 cases that has forced many school districts to go virtual, according to Superintendent of Schools Michael Volpe. If the district were forced to close, Volpe would alert the community immediately, he said during Tuesday nights annual reorganization meeting of the Moorestown Public School Districts Board of Education. We could be in situations where we closed individual schools due to staffing and transmission, and the rest of the district was open, Volpe said. It really depends on who is out and when and where and why. This is irregular and not predictable, but you can count on me communicating it as soon as we know things. As of Wednesday morning, Burlington County remained at high risk for COVID-19 transmission, according to the New Jersey Department of Healths weekly activity report. Countywide, 11,766 new cases were reported between Dec. 22 and Jan. 4. But the number that matters most when it comes to closing schools is the rate of in-school transmission, Volpe said. If that is high enough, the board of health could recommend shutting down schools. As of Wednesday morning, there were 119 active positive cases among students in the district, and 26 active cases among staff members, according to the district's online COVID-19 dashboard. There were 256 students and 39 staff members in quarantine. The second reason (to shut down) would be that my dedicated teaching staff would be mandated to quarantine for some reason, and we might not have enough substitutes to come in and cover for them, Volpe said. We would have a lack of staffing at that point because the teachers dont have any choice as to whether or not they would want to quarantine if they were positive. Volpe said members of the community could help by becoming substitute teachers. As I have looked at the substitute rolls over the last three years, it has gone down and down and down, Volpe said. The more substitutes we have, the more likely we are to cover everything that we need to do. Story continues Volpe said he is thankful for the substitutes the district currently has, as well as the willingness of new substitutes to come on board. "Additionally, I am so impressed with the spirit of my staff and their eagerness to help keep schools open," Volpe said in an email to Patch Wednesday morning. "Finally, on a daily basis, my administrative team and support staff plan creatively and effectively to make sure absences can be covered and students can receive instruction in school." If the district does have to close specific schools or the whole district, the board approved a plan in the fall for virtual instruction. Details of that plan can be found on the district's website. The only students who are learning virtually right now are those who have to quarantine, as every effort is being made to keep schools open. Earlier this week, Gov. Phil Murphy reiterated that the state has no plans to shut down schools the way it did in March 2020.Read more here: Close NJ Schools? Murphy Says No Amid COVID-19 'Tsunami' The state has made it very clear that it would like to have in-person learning as much as possible for our students, Volpe said. Theres no one person that makes the right decision on all this. The state has put forth a process, and we will follow that process to try to keep our students in person or make informed decisions if we have to close. This article originally appeared on the Moorestown Patch Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a question beside Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general, during a Jacksonville news conference on monoclonal antibody treatment availability. Jacksonville will be able to open additional monoclonal antibody treatment sites for COVID-19 if the state gets an additional 30,000 doses it is requesting from the federal government, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. Tuesday's announcement of added antibody treatment availability statewide, which the governor had called on the Biden administration to release on Monday, was delayed over an hour by a community protest where the original briefing was scheduled at the Duval County Health Department. That included police officers leading Northside Coalition of Jacksonville head Ben Frazier away in handcuffs, cited with trespassing after warnings but not arrested, the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office said. The news briefing was moved to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement building nearby, where DeSantis said he had "no idea" what happened at the protest. Following comments saying President Joe Biden's allocation system for the Regeneron and Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody treatments was shortchanging Florida, DeSantis said Jacksonville officials asked for the state's help in expanding them. That came after centers that offered it began cutting back in recent weeks. COVID treatment: Florida scales back monoclonal sites, but Jacksonville will remain longest-running clinic 'It will save your life': Northeast Florida woman in viral photo praises Regeneron DeSantis announced it will only take a day to open a new Jacksonville site if the president sends more doses to Florida, as he has urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to do. Saying the department is not supplying enough doses to meet the state's demand, he said other sites will also open in the three South Florida counties that have the highest numbers when more arrives. The governor said federal officials "don't believe" in the treatment, which is one possible reason why more access hasn't been allocated to Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with his son, Mason, join Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo (left) and other state and local officials on Tuesday to discuss COVID-19 testing policy and monoclonal antibody treatment availability. "We want the treatments. We are here to help all across the state," DeSantis said. "... If the federal government is taking control of this, why didn't they ensure that there would be plentiful supplies of this to be able to keep people from being hospitalized because of COVID? Why were they asleep at the switch on that?" Story continues The Health and Human Services Department announced on Dec. 23 it would pause shipments of Regeneron and Eli Lilly COVID-19 treatments after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said they were likely ineffective against the latest virus variant, omicron. But on Thursday, the HHS reversed course, acknowledging that the delta variant still accounts for a sizable share of infections in some parts of the country. Omicron surge: Florida moves up on Top 10 list of states where COVID-19 is spreading the fastest Coronavirus testing: Jacksonville eyes spending more for COVID-19 testing at high-demand Neptune Beach site At odds with the current federal government Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said the state needs at least 30,000 more doses per week than it is receiving through the federal allocation system to expand capacity at existing treatment sites and open new ones to treat 250 to 300 patients per day at each. At least the new omicron variant of the virus is less virulent, if more transmissible, he said. Jacksonville opened its first monoclonal antibody site in August at the Main Library, relocating it last month to the Joseph Lee Center at 5120 Perry St. DeSantis said the "vast majority" of people who get the antibody treatments have been vaccinated, pointing to Miami-Dade County's numbers that show "it is always, two-, three- or four-to-one vaxxed to un-vaxxed," he said. "We are not seeing vaccinations stop the spread of omicron," DeSantis said. Monoclonal antibodies are made in a laboratory and are given to patients directly through an infusion. When administered promptly, they make it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and cause harm, according to a Palm Beach Post story. Studies have shown that two of the three approved drugs for coronavirus antibody treatment including the ones DeSantis wants do little to counter the effects of the omicron variant. The third approved treatment, manufactured by the London-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoKlineSmith, is effective but is in short supply, the Post reported. But since the beginning of nationwide vaccine rollouts, doctors and scientists have emphasized that although the virus can infect inoculated people, they offer the best protection from severe illness. Then DeSantis repeated his concerns about "heavy-handed policies" from the federal government that once suggested people had to be vaccinated in order to be allowed to hold certain jobs. Clearly, he said, those did not work. Coronavirus: Jacksonville health system to offer monoclonal antibody treatment 'for some high-risk patients' COVID and Regeneron clinic in Jacksonville: Long lines of people waiting He also said federal policies that included mask mandates have "been a disaster." The fact that Florida decided to approach COVID-19 restrictions differently, banning mask mandates and other restrictions, should not be a basis to deny treatment to Floridians who may need it, DeSantis said. Disrupted venue, differing viewpoints The governor's news conference was delayed after five people demanded to speak with him in the original room where it was to be held. Frazier decried DeSantis' stance on COVID-19 measures, saying he had been "asleep at the wheel" in recent weeks as the numbers of people infected and hospitalized had risen. He noted they were in a public building and they had a right to be there. But state staff said it was not open to the public and was for credentialed media only. If they did not leave, the protesters were told they would be charged with trespassing. Then members of the governor's staff tried to set up a later meeting with protesters, but they refused to leave. Ben Frazier, Northside Coalition of Jacksonville president, is handcuffed by a member of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office after refusing to leave Tuesday's news conference scheduled by Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Department of Children and Families office. Frazier and protesters wanted to address the governor on his COVID-19 policies. The briefing was moved to another location. Frazier was put in handcuffs and escorted out, with his motorized wheelchair brought behind him by officers. Taken to a police cruiser, he demanded to know why he was being arrested as protesters yelled, "Shame, shame." He received a notice to appear later before a judge on the trespassing citation and was released, the Sheriff's Office said. COVID-19 vaccine: In Jacksonville, here's where you can get a shot Governor: DeSantis downplays COVID-19 vaccines, pushes antibody treatment unproven against omicron This was DeSantis' second news conference this year. Prior to that, his last public appearance was on Dec. 17 to address his administration's plan to fight the virus. In the week leading up to that day, Florida added an average of about 5,300 new infections. In the past seven days, the number of new infections have skyrocketed to nearly 52,000, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549 This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: DeSantis touts monoclonal treatment sites during Jacksonville briefing Jacob Chansley screams as he and other intruders maraud through the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 (AP) A year ago this week, a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol as Congress voted to certify Joe Bidens election victory. It was unique in modern US history. Five people died, Congress went into hiding, and the country briefly teetered on the edge of a coup detat. Over the course of the attack and its aftermath, a few viral images became seared in the national memory. Here are some of them. Qanon Shaman roars in triumph Jacob Chansley screams Freedom inside the Senate chamber on 6 January, 2021 (Win McNamee, Getty Images) A number of the rioters wore strange outfits, but few looked as bizarre as Jacob Chansley. The out-of-work actor, 34, infamously donned an animal headdress, horns, and red-white-and-blue face paint as he marauded through the Senate chamber. Readers quickly dubbed him the QAnon Shaman, in homage to the conspiracy theory espoused by many of the rioters. As photos of Chansley spread across the internet, one stood out from the rest: a closeup of the horned rioter screaming Freedom! taken by Getty photographer Win McNamee. Chansley was eventually arrested and convicted of obstructing a congressional proceeding, and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. Prosecutors described him as the public face of the Capitol riot. Heroic officer diverts mob away from Congress Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman cleverly led a mob of intruders away from the Senate chamber, which had not yet been sealed (Igor Bobic) One rare bit of inspiring imagery to emerge from the insurrection was a video of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who bravely diverted a mob away from Congress. The video, captured by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic, shows Mr Goodman glancing at the entrance to the Senate chamber as a crowd of intruders chases him up some stairs. As the officer appears to retreat, he cleverly baits the man leading the mob occasionally pushing him into following him instead of entering the senate, which had not yet been sealed off to protect lawmakers. Eventually, he leads them to an area with more police officers. Mr Goodman was later awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his actions. Story continues Congressman comforts terrified colleagues Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., comforts Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., while taking cover as protesters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote (Tom Williams, AP) Another viral image was of Rep Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, comforting a fellow lawmaker as the rioters closed in. In the now-famous photo by AP photographer Tom Williams, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania can be seen lying on the floor in a state of terror. Right after we were told to get down, I started hearing shots and breaking glass and didnt really know what was going on, except that it was terrifying, Ms Wild later told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr Crow, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, gave her his hand. I got into ranger mode a little bit, Mr Crow, a former Army Ranger, told The Denver Post. I wasnt going to leave the House floor until every member was gone, so I waited until we were able to get everybody out. Officer Goodman leads Mitt Romney to safety Mitt Romney (right) is urged by Officer Eugene Goodman to run as rioters get closer (US Senate handout via Reuters) A second video of Officer Goodman shows him in another act of heroism: leading Senator Mitt Romney away from the violent mob, just minutes before it arrived where he was standing. In the surveillance footage, Mr Romney is seen walking toward the rioters, apparently oblivious, as Mr Goodman runs toward him from the other direction. As he passes, Mr Goodman taps the senator on the shoulder and alerts him to the approaching intruders. Mr Romney then turns around and begins to run as well. I was very fortunate indeed that officer Goodman was there to get me in the right direction, Mr Romney later told reporters. Congressman cleans up debris Rep Andy Kim, D-NJ, cleans up debris and trash on the morning of 7 Janurary, 2021, after rioters stormed the Capitol (Andrew Harnik, AP) Perhaps the most poignant image of the riots aftermath is of a single congressman kneeling on the rotundas floor, picking up garbage. On the morning after the riot, Congress returned to the Capitol to find it in shambles. Shocking images showed furniture and windows broken, water bottles littering the ground, offices vandalised, and flags dumped in the dustbins. As workers picked up the debris, Rep Andy Kim of New Jersey decided to join them and AP photographer Andrew Harnik snapped a picture. When you see something you love thats broken you want to fix it, Mr Kim later told the Associated Press. I love the Capitol. Im honoured to be there. Like many Americans, Mr Kim felt horrified by the desecration of the temple of democracy. This building is extraordinary and the rotunda in particular is just awe-inspiring, Mr Kim said. How many countless generations have been inspired in that room? It really broke my heart and I just felt compelled to do something What else could I do? MacKenzie and Marshall McWilliams of Monroe listen to their teachers during virtual class sessions Wednesday morning. Monroe Public Schools logo Marshall McWilliams, 6, answers a question during a virtual class Wednesday morning. MacKenzie McWilliams, a second grader at Arborwood North Elementary raises her hand to ask a question during a virtual class session Wednesday morning. All Monroe Public Schools buildings returned to remote learning this week due to a spike in COVID-19 cases among students and staff. Monroe Public Schools returned to remote learning Wednesday due to a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff and students. The move is scheduled to run through January 14, MPS Supt. Dr. Julie Everly said in an email sent to all district families Tuesday night. Everly said the district had received 132 calls on its COVID hotline reporting close to 150 positive cases since Monday afternoon. "In order for a day to be counted as an official school day in Michigan, 75 percent student attendance is required," she said. "(On Tuesday), our district had 75.1 percent of students in attendance." EVERLY In addition, more than 70 employees were absent Tuesday - the district's first day of school after winter break - due to illness. "Our goal continues to be safe, in-person learning," Everly said. "Unfortunately, the spike in COVID-19 cases resulting in student and staff absences and quarantines has greatly limited the district's ability to staff classrooms, schools, and other essential departments." Everly said that the district's goal with remote learning is "to continue the enriching academic and social experiences present in our classrooms," while simultaneously allowing in-person staffing levels to be restored as ill staff recovers at home. "This transition will also allow COVID positive students and staff, who are able, to join remote classrooms and continue their studies," she said. In keeping with State of Michigan guidelines, school schedules, start and end times, and course content will remain the same as what students and staff were accustomed to with in-person learning. Students are expected to be present and participate in their scheduled remote classrooms just as they would be if those classes were bing held in-person. Additional information about remote learning and food distribution will be sent to families via email. Arborwood North Elementary students MacKenzie and Marshall McWilliams were disappointed they could not attend school in-person Wednesday. Story continues MacKenzie, a second grader, will turn eight years old Friday and was planning on a birthday celebration with her classmates. "She is bummed," said the children's mother, Megan. "But both MacKenzie and Marshall will go with the flow. They are both good students and love their teachers." Marshall, a kindergartner in Alexandra Snyder's class, joined a combined class with Amanda McGovern's students for Wednesday's virtual session. I am lucky I am home with the kids, Megan said. Hopefully this will be a short break of not being in the classroom. The kids love to go to school. Monroe News Photojournalist Tom Hawley contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe Public Schools returns to remote learning The College of Western Idaho chose the founding dean of Boise State Universitys College of Innovation and Design to serve as its next president. Gordon Jones who was extended an offer after the colleges Board of Trustees vote last month will begin his new role Monday, CWI announced in a Tuesday news release. He is succeeding former President Bert Glandon, who retired in May. Im thrilled to serve students and brighten the future of our communities as the next president of CWI, Jones said in a news release. As growth in the Treasure Valley continues to accelerate, Im honored to join faculty and staff to deliver transformative learning opportunities and skills that empower students to thrive in our community and beyond. Jones had been at Boise State since 2015. Before that, he served as the Evans Family Foundation managing director for the Harvard Innovation Lab at Harvard University. CWI conducted a nationwide search for its next president and limited it down to four finalists before voting to offer the job to Jones. The board is enthusiastic to welcome President Jones to the College, said Molly Lenty, who chairs CWIs Board of Trustees, in the news release. His expertise in leveraging education and innovation to connect students with the workforce is exceptional. Becca Savransky covers education for the Idaho Statesman in partnership with Report for America. The position is partly funded through community support. Click here to donate. Nicolas Cage Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images Nicolas Cage probably won't be seen on Carpool Karaoke anytime soon. The National Treasure star in a Hollywood Reporter actor's roundtable interview revealed he used to love karaoke, but he gave it up after a video of him singing "Purple Rain" went viral a few years ago. "For me, karaoke was like therapy until someone videotaped my punk-rock version of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and it went everywhere and I said, 'I'm not going to karaoke anymore,'" Cage said. The video in question can be seen on YouTube under the brutal title of "Nicolas Cage Ruins Prince's 'Purple Rain' During Bizarre Karaoke Session." When it went viral in 2019, TMZ wrote up Cage's "emotional" rendition of the song and speculated "the performance was fueled by his desire to annul his recent marriage of four days." In the Hollywood Reporter discussion, Cage opined that "singing is therapy," adding, "Karaoke's supposed to be private. It's like a prayer." But Andrew Garfield, who also took part in the roundtable discussion, did his best to convince Cage to come out of karaoke retirement for the good of the planet, telling him, "Don't steal the gift from the world. You need to keep giving." You may also like Paraguayan soldier dies after being gored by deer on grounds of presidential residence Seth Meyers tests positive for COVID-19, cancels show for the rest of the week Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of 4 of 11 counts, faces likely prison term A map showing the location of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut east of Los Angeles The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigated a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday, finding nothing in a multihour search of the Walnut campus. The incident began just before 1 p.m., with the search ending by 5:30 p.m., sheriff's officials said. Authorities used K9 units to search the 420-acre campus. The college announced the search on social media, saying the campus was evacuated and in-person classes canceled for the rest of the day. Mt. San Antonio serves approximately 50,000 students, according to its website. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Poor teenager receives community support following work accident A teenager in Lai Chau Province has received over VND700 million (USD 30,434) to cover medical treatment for serious injuries caused by a work accident. Dantri/Dtinews on January 4 transferred VND 421,337,137 which readers sent to the newspaper's charity fund to support Cheo A Truong after his story was recently published by the newspaper. Dantri/Dtinews on January 4 transferred VND 421,337,137 which readers sent to the newspaper's charity fund to support Cheo A Truong (right) The 16-year-old boy left his home in Sin Ho District last year to seek a job in Hanoi after his parents divorced and were both sent to prison for trading drugs. He wanted to earn some money to support his small sister who was sent to live with their grandmother. Truong was happy when accepted to work at a construction site in Hanoi in May. But just a short time after that his work was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He faced lots of difficulties when stuck in Hanoi for several months during social distancing. He returned to work in October and had a serious accident just a few days later, falling from the scaffold while working on the fourth floor. Truong was rushed to a nearby hospital and stayed there for a week. Then he returned to his hometown to continue treatment to save money. However, due to his serious condition, doctors at Lai Chau Provincial General Hospital had to transfer Truong to the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi for better treatment. Hearing about his financial difficulties, some people helped pay the transport cost for Truong and his aunt who went to take care of him at the hospital. According to doctor Bui Hai Nam at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, Truong suffered from various injuries in his spine, stomach, and legs of which the spinal injury was the most serious. Truong had undergone several costly operations. A file photo of Truong while staying at the hospital After the hospital and Dantri/Dtinews called for support for Truong, the boy has received lots of donations from the public. Truong said that he had also received over VND 300 million sent to the accounts of his aunt and the hospital. "I have VND165 million left after paying the hospital fee," the boy said. "I will deposit that sum and the additional money I receive today to the bank to support my sister and elderly grandmother. I want to send my sincere thanks for the valuable support from many kind donors during this hard time. I hope I can return to work soon after a full recovery." The Visit Harford Board of Directors selected Matthew Scales as the organizations new executive director, according to a December news release. He replaces Greg Pizzuto, who had been with the organization since 2015. Visit Harford Board of Directors announced in December the selection of Matthew Scales as their new executive director Scales comes to Visit Harford from the Maryland Office of Tourism. Prior to that, he was a marketing and sales representative for the Maryland Port Authority. Advertisement [Scales] career in tourism, as well as being a lifelong resident of Harford County, will be a valuable asset to Visit Harford and our tourism efforts for years to come, said Jay Ellenby, chair of the Visit Harford Board of Directors, in the release. We will certainly miss Greg Pizzuto and his dedication to Visit Harford and wish him well in his retirement. Greg will not be easily replaced. However, I am certain we found the right person to continue to lead us forward. Gregory Pizzuto is retiring from the role of executive director of Visit Harford. Scales most recently served as the public relations specialist with the Maryland Office of Tourism where he secured regional, national and international third-party editorial coverage for Maryland tourism, according to the release. He served as the broadcast spokesperson as well as managing several strategic communications initiatives. Scales is currently the chair-elect of the Mid-Atlantic Tourism Public Relations Alliance, which represents five states. Advertisement I would like to thank the Board of Directors for my selection to serve as the executive director of Visit Harford, said Scales in the release. Greg Pizzuto and I have collaborated on numerous tourism initiatives, and it is with the greatest respect that I look forward to the challenge of succeeding Greg upon his retirement and helping to continue to raise tourism awareness for Harford County. People are going to try to take everything I say and distort it, said Adams, the newly-inducted mayor of New York City, after catching flack for his earlier statements. The newly-inducted mayor of New York City is catching flack for recent comments made about the citys low-skill workers during the pandemic. But he meant low-wage. At a press conference at Brooklyn Borough Hall Monday, held in response to the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the metropolis, Mayor Eric Adams called for big banks to move up their current timelines to return to in-office work. Currently, staffers at JP Morgan and Citigroup are starting to work remotely due to the rising number of coronavirus cases. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is catching heat for his comments about its low-skill workers in response to rising cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) Adams urged larger businesses such as those to encourage their employees to come into their New York offices at least a few days a week in order to support those toiling at smaller operations that rely on commuters. I dont know if my businesses are sharing with their employees, You are part of the ecosystem of this city, Adams told those assembled. My low-skill workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe shine people, those that work in Dunkin Donuts, they dont have the academic skills to sit in the corner office. They need this. Eric Adams just said Low skill workers like cooks, messengers and Dunkin Donuts employees dont have the academic skills to sit in a corner office pic.twitter.com/KaoY9MNZ8J Achmat X (@AchmatX) January 4, 2022 That accountant I need him to go to the cleaners. I need him to go down to Dunkin Donuts. I need him to go to the restaurant. I need him to bring in the business traveling, Adams maintained, per Newsweek. And if we say that, Well, I dont have to go in. Im still getting my salary, then you are not helping those New Yorkers who need us to come in. Story continues The mayors comments continue to earn him criticism on Twitter. One user pointed out the irony of the shift in language when discussing frontline workers during the 2-year pandemic: 2020: essential workers 2022: low skilled workers.' Another person pointed out Adams use of personal pronouns: Eric Adams constant use of possessive pronouns is already exhausting. My workers, my schools, this dude really think he kingpin. Eric Adams is about to run NYC like hes Principal Joe Clark in Lean on Me, another wrote. Hopes were shared by another that the new mayor learns from his choice of words: Low Skill Workers is such a demeaning thing to say about people who work in essential jobs such as food service, retail, delivery, hospitality, etc. These are some of the hardest working people & they get paid low wages. I hope Eric Adams never says that about anyone ever again. On Wednesday, Adams, a retired NYPD police captain, appeared on CBS This Morning, where he addressed the criticism against him by attempting to clarify his comments. He said the dishwashers, the workers in New York to whom he was referring, can not work remotely. The goal is we need to open the city so low-wage employees are able to survive, he asserted. Adams said that he too had worked in a restaurant, and if people hadnt come in, he would not have been able to do his job. People are going to try to take everything I say and distort it, he contended, but Im focused, Im disciplined, and Im grinding to bring my city back. Have you subscribed to theGrio podcasts Dear Culture or Acting Up? Download our newest episodes now! TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today! The post NY Mayor Adams reacts to criticisms over comments about low-skill workers and their academic background appeared first on TheGrio. Oklahoma's COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging again, and experts warned that they expect those numbers to keep rising even as health care workers and hospitals are already under strain. The state's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday was 2,990 even higher than the peak of the delta variant wave in late summer of 2021. More: Is Oklahoma really No. 1 in 2021 COVID-19 deaths? Breaking down the states death rate Surging cases are being seen across the country: the U.S. recorded more than 1 million new COVID-19 cases Monday, likely the result of the highly contagious omicron variant that has taken hold across the country and a holiday weekend backlog in reporting. Experts have urged vaccinations, booster doses and other precautions to slow the spread of the virus and prevent deaths and severe illness from COVID-19. Over 90% of hospitalizations are still among the unvaccinated, state data shows. Hospitalizations statewide for COVID-19 hit 1,015 Tuesday, a jump of over 100 admissions from the day before. While that's still lower than the height of hospitalizations during the delta variant wave earlier this year, Oklahoma hasn't had COVID-19 hospitalizations rise over 1,000 since since October. More: Where can I get a COVID-19 test in and around Oklahoma City? Aaron Wendelboe, an epidemiologist with the University of Oklahoma's College of Public Health, said Tuesday that his COVID-19 transmission model is projecting increases in both cases and hospitalizations through mid-February, though the peak could happen sooner if the state follows patterns seen in South Africa and the U.K. ICUs struggle as COVID cases rise again Climbing hospitalizations are cause for concern as the already strapped health care workforce juggles COVID-19, a flu uptick and other illnesses. Staffing is still a struggle for hospitals, and intensive-care unit beds are "very tight" again, said Patti Davis, president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association. As soon as one opens up, it's filled by another waiting patient, she said. Story continues "While our admissions are not as high yet as what they've been at the peak times in surge one and surge two, let me make this very clear: Our hospitals are very full," she said on a Healthier Oklahoma Coalition call. Hospitalizations typically follow rises in the positivity rate by about two weeks, Davis said. And Oklahoma is seeing its fastest rise ever in the positivity rate, said Dr. David Kendrick, founder and CEO of MyHealth Access Network, a health information exchange. More Oklahomans using at-home COVID tests Data in MyHealth shows the state's positivity rate is 28% tied for its highest ever rate in January 2021, Kendrick said. But data in MyHealth and from the state Health Department don't reflect at-home COVID-19 testing, which there has been great demand for recently. "What makes me most concerned about that is many of the tests and maybe even most of the tests that are being performed are happening not in a healthcare delivery system, but at home," Kendrick said. That means there are more COVID-19 infections than can be officially reported. More: Why has Oklahoma ranked last in COVID-19 sequencing for months? Totals mask some recent progress Interim Health Commissioner Keith Reed encouraged Oklahomans who feel ill to schedule a COVID-19 test and stay home while waiting for results and for their symptoms to clear. The state Health Department expanded COVID-19 testing hours at local county health departments across the state in response to the surge and increased demand for tests. The omicron variant, which officials have said is even more transmissible than the delta variant, made up about 57% of 306 recently sequenced cases across Oklahoma, state health officials said Tuesday. The rest, 43%, were the delta variant. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations again see sharp rise in Oklahoma Omicron is surging in Shelby and DeSoto Counties. Along with the rapid rise in case numbers comes a familiar set of challenges for any business or institution that has public-facing staffers. In both counties, restaurant and retail workers are eyeing omicrons rapid spread with a combination of wariness and resignation. It's deja vu, but workers' familiarity with pandemic protocols doesn't necessarily equate to complacency. In some cases, it means a renewed sense of anxiety. Beans & Leaves, a coffee shop and restaurant in Silo Square, opened at the start of December, right before the omicron wave began. Margarita LeBlanc, the owner, said that while the opening has gone well and they have seen plenty of support from the community, the new wave of COVID-19 cases has caused some unexpected difficulties. "It's tough, obviously. Are there concerns? Sure, absolutely," LeBlanc said. "One of the things we've done, is we've been vaccinated. But you know, we're just being precautious." Beans & Leaves has been able to keep its doors open so far and hopes the precautions they have taken, with parts of the staff being fully vaccinated, will help the store stay open through the winter. Silo Square development in Southaven, Miss. on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. "We're going to see how it goes. We're just being alert, being aware, and being conscious," LeBlanc said. "It's all we can do at this point. With a new business, it's not like I can really close my doors." On Monday, the Walmart in Hernando announced the store would be closed on Monday and Tuesday, in part to provide "extra time for a third-party specialist to further sanitize the store." The store plans to reopen at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Dr. Sherman L. Helton, the senior pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in Southaven, places an emphasis on his congregation taking all the precautions they can to prevent the spread, including getting vaccinated. "We're trying to do all we can to encourage people to get vaccinated and do those things that have been given down to us," Helton said. "Wear the mask, and things of that nature." Story continues Helton points to CDC data indicating that being vaccinated can decrease the likelihood of severe symptoms, even if someone were to get COVID-19. As of the end of 2021, about 56 percent of Mississippians were not fully vaccinated. New Hope Baptist Church is continuing to take precautions they have been taking throughout the pandemic, including seating every other row for services and providing a virtual service option. People wearing face masks as a preventive measures as they enter Crosstown Concourse on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. For some businesses, like Books-A-Million in Southaven, the surge in COVID-19 cases has proven to be beneficial. As more people decide to stay inside, there has been an increase in need for things like books and board games. "We've got more people coming in to get stuff to read at home then being out," Tony, a worker at Books-A-Million, said. "So business is pretty good with us, that way." In addition, a recent job fair that Books-A-Million was at has allowed the retailer to be fully staffed, preventing them from having to close their doors. There, the curbside pick-up option has also helped with sales. "We were doing that just shortly before COVID-19 started and that has really helped," Tony said. "We've done quite a bit with the curbside." Jennifer Molliere, a service industry veteran that works in Midtown, said the rising case numbers of omicron have once again disrupted already-shaky staffing at her place of work. Mollieres manager requested that she not disclose where she works. Staffing is [expletive] right now, Molliere said. It helps some, she said, that January is typically a slower season for bars and restaurants. But servers have been getting sick with their public-facing jobs; the absence of one or two means disruption When asked about whether omicron concerns her more or the same as previous variants, Molliere shrugs. I dont know how to be scared of one variant more than the other. All of them are potentially lethal. But, I have to work through it. I cant not work. Over at Sunrise Bakery in the Medical District, manager Ross Vego admits hes welcoming the annual post-holiday slowdown. It might be a chance for the staff to collectively take a breath. Omicrons arrival means extended absences of workers. And at a breakfast spot as popular as Sunrise, the crowds arent always forgiving of staffing shortages. During Christmas, I remember there was one day where it was warm and sunny outside. We were down to five people working. Five. The line was down the street with customers and tourists. Some were yelling at us, Why didnt you answer your phone? Vego said. People really need to be kind right now. Vego is vaccinated and boosted. Omicron, he said, doesnt worry him quite as much as previous variants. But still, he said, someone within his own circle recently died from COVID in December. Catching the virus is something he worries about. Im also scared of getting shot on the interstate, Vego said, but I still sometimes have to drive on it. Maggies Pharm, the decades-old gift shop in Overton Square, bustles with customers seeking stocking stuffers during the holiday season. Longtime employee Gina Epperson said she is not thrilled about the arrival of a new variant. Does it scare me? It scares me because Im [expletive] old. And Im married to someone who is old, Epperson said, citing omicrons high rate of transmission as a worrying factor. Maggies Pharm COVID-19 protocols have adapted throughout the course of the pandemic; they arent as stringent as they once were. In the beginning, we were lowering orders down to customers in little baskets, Epperson said. The shops front door is a flight of stairs up from the parking lot. The shop now allows masked customers inside, only five are allowed at a time in the small shop. The holiday shoppers, Epperson said, Did not like that at all. In Orange Mound, My Cup of Tea is still welcoming in shoppers, with a couple of caveats. They must be masked, and they must stay in the front room of the converted house that serves as retail space. Owner and CEO Carey Moore said omicron hasnt ripped through staff yet, but more than one of her family members has contracted COVID-19 in the Christmas season. I just sense that its right around the corner here, too. Im trying to reinforce some of the protocols that weve been aligning with going on two years, Moore said. My Cup of Tea is both a retail enterprise and a social service nonprofit. The business end, Moore said, is on its post-holiday season pause as they work to restore inventory, which means fewer shoppers in and out of the doors. During the pandemic, Moore said, employees and volunteers have fallen ill with COVID-19. One employee had to be hospitalized, and remained weakened. The virus has been a consistent worry. That omicron is surging just as retail demand is subsiding is a bit of a blessing, Moore said. We are, by Gods grace, in a place right now where we are not cranking out sales through the door, Moore said, So, hallelujah. Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com. Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: omicron in Memphis and DeSoto County means service industry shortage Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. As we approach the first anniversary of the deadly attack on our Capitol, the horrific images of the insurrection are forever seared in our collective conscience: a white man brandishing a symbol of racial oppression the Confederate flag in the hallways; a horn-helmeted man commandeering the Senate dais; the menacing mob beating overwhelmed police officers with makeshift weapons; rioters shattering windows and doors; our elected leaders huddling in fear and then running for their lives. The mayhem was born of a brazen lie about election fraud that continues to be repeated by unscrupulous media outlets, politicians and the defeated president. The vivid videos documenting the desecration continue to shock us. We know what we saw. The ensuing months have brought some clarity to how and why it happened, and who was involved. Thankfully, justice is slowly being meted out. Ordinary Americans performed a civic duty by reporting those who participated in the riot to law enforcement, resulting in the arrest and ongoing prosecution of dozens of insurrectionists. Matthew Greene, a member of the Proud Boys, has pleaded guilty to charges related to his involvement, and has agreed to help with the governments investigation of the uprising. Former President Donald Trump, who fired his own election cybersecurity official for correctly declaring that the 2020 election "was the most secure in American history," was impeached on a bipartisan vote for his role in inciting the violence. Social media platforms admitted their contribution to the spread of false information and have begun to institute policies to address the problem. Vice President Mike Pence hands the electoral certificate from the state of Arizona to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as he presides over a joint session of Congress as it convenes to count the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP) Now, a House committee continues its investigation, in part to make recommendations for reform. The committee is considering much-needed change to the Electoral Count Act that served as the basis for Trumps multi-pronged effort to nullify the 2020 election results, including his specious argument that his own vice president could overturn the Electoral College and steal the election from the American people. This law was passed a decade after the disputed 1876 election when several states submitted conflicting slates of electors, and Congress deadlocked over the outcome for weeks. Clearly, the law as written is susceptible to nefarious interpretation. Story continues Earlier this year, the National Task Force on Election Crises, a bipartisan panel of experts, proposed several amendments to clarify the law and close loopholes. Key recommendations include: Precisely specifying legitimate grounds for Congress members objections to state electoral votes (disgruntlement about losing is not enough). Raising the threshold for objections to more than just one member from each house of Congress (two people cannot thwart our entire election process). Clarifying the vice presidents role in presiding over the joint session of Congress during the certification of Electoral College votes (the VP does not have the authority to cancel millions of votes). Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reads an objection to the counting of the certificate of vote from the state of Michigan during a joint session of Congress after the session resumed following a pro-Trump insurrection at the Capitol in Washington, DC, early on Jan. 7, 2021. Members of Congress returned to the House Chamber after being evacuated when rioters stormed the Capitol and disrupted a joint session to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Trump. A recent poll sponsored by nonpartisan organizations revealed that 62% of Americans, including 52% of Republicans, support these changes. It is crucial that Congress protect American democracy by passing reforms that reject patently fraudulent attempts to nullify the will of the voters. Rob Baker teaches political science at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Rob Baker This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: Electoral Count Act needs reform to clarify interpretations It's Tuesday, welcome to Overnight Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup. A federal judge has blocked the Navy from taking "any adverse action" against sailors who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. More on the ruling, plus a historic deployment for the USS Abraham Lincoln and Republicans going after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for not updating them on the vetting of Afghan refugees. For The Hill, I'm Jordan Williams. Write me with tips at jwilliams@thehill.com. Let's get to it. Navy can't take 'adverse action' for un-vaxxed A judge on Monday blocked the Pentagon from taking "any adverse action" against Navy sailors who have refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for religious reasons. The Navy required all active-duty sailors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 28, or else face potential discharge. Last month, the branch announced that it had given commanders guidance to move forward with issuing administrative separations for service members who did not get vaccinated. What the judge said: Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas called the Navy's religious accommodation process "by all accounts ... theater," adding the branch "merely rubber stamps each denial." "Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect," O'Connor wrote. "The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution," he added. About the lawsuit: A group of 35 Navy Special Warfare service members - including SEALs, special warfare combatant craft crewmen, divers and an explosive ordnance disposal technician - filed a lawsuit challenging the Navy's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Nov. 9, contending that the Navy's COVID-19 vaccine mandate breached their religious freedom. Story continues The plaintiffs had the backing of 47 Republican lawmakers, who filed an amicus brief last month in support of the plaintiffs. The lawsuit named President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and the Pentagon. The Pentagon told The Hill that it is studying the decision and referred questions to the Justice Department "as this matter involves litigation." Read the full story here Texas governor sues over vaccine mandate Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that he is suing the Biden administration to block the Pentagon's vaccine mandate for his state's National Guard. In a letter to Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, Adjutant General of the Texas Military Department, Abbott said he is suing because the federal government has put his state's Guard members in a "difficult position." "As the commander-in-chief of Texas's militia, I have issued a straightforward order to every member of the Texas National Guard within my chain of command: Do not punish any guardsman for choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine," the governor wrote. "Although my order has been in effect for months now, President Biden has muddied the waters with a vaccine mandate from the U.S. Department of Defense," he said. The second lawsuit: Abbott is one of seven GOP governors who have protested the vaccine mandate for National Guards members. However, he is the second governor to file a lawsuit over the requirement. Abbott's lawsuit comes just a week after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) lost an appeal seeking to block the Pentagon's vaccine mandate for National Guard members. Stitt was the first GOP governor to sue the Pentagon over the mandate in December, after Austin denied his request to exempt his state's Guard members from the mandate. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot said in a ruling last Tuesday that the claims made in that suit were "without merit." Meanwhile, five other GOP governors have urged Austin to exempt the National Guard from the vaccine. Read more about that here AIRCRAFT CARRIER MAKES HISTORIC DEPLOYMENT A nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier deployed on Monday for the first time with a woman in command. The USS Abraham Lincoln departed from San Diego on a regularly scheduled deployment under the command of Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt, who is the first woman to lead one of the Navy's 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. "These Sailors are incredible professionals who have trained exceptionally hard to ensure they are ready for any operational obligations required of us on deployment," Bauernschmidt said in a statement on the deployment. "They are absolutely prepared for today's deployment, and I have no doubt they will represent our nation proudly as we defend our national interests," she continued. More on the captain: Bauernschmidt graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in May 1994, the first graduating class in which women were allowed to serve aboard combatant ships and aircraftShe was designated as a Naval Aviator in 1996 and served on several helicopter squadrons. She previously commanded the "Spartans" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 70 and amphibious transport dock USS San Diego. Bauernschmidt served as executive officer aboard the Lincoln from 2016 to 2019 -making her the first woman to serve as the executive officer aboard an aircraft carrier. Bauernschmidt took command of the Lincoln in August, relieving Capt. Walt Slaughter after 26 months in command. Read the full story here. GOP: Mayorkas didn't deliver Afghan report Afghan refugees arrive at a US military base Republican senators criticized the Biden administration for failing to deliver a report meant to detail the vetting of more than 78,000 Afghans evacuated amid the chaotic exit of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in August. In a statement released Monday, Republican senators said they have yet to receive a response from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on an overdue report to Congress detailing the agency's vetting process for Afghans evacuated amid the Taliban's takeover of the capital city of Kabul. "The report requested by Congress on the composition and vetting of the more than 78,000 [Afghans] evacuated by U.S. forces is more than a month delayed. We need answers, but more than anything, we need [Department of Homeland Security] to fully cooperate," tweeted Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Who was evacuated? Biden's full exit from Afghanistan on Aug. 31 came under intense scrutiny and criticism from both parties in Congress. While the administration said it evacuated more than 124,000 people amid the chaos of the Taliban's takeover, hundreds of American citizens and tens of thousands of special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants were left behind, raising questions about who was actually evacuated. Of the 74,000 Afghans who were evacuated through the government's "Operation Allies Welcome," the name for the evacuation effort that began following the Taliban's takeover in mid-August, more than 40 percent of those who have come to the U.S. are eligible for SIVs, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a December update. More than 38,000 Afghans, American citizens and lawful permanent residents have been relocated from military bases in the U.S. to new communities across the country, Blinken said in the statement. And 3,000 more individuals at overseas transit locations are undergoing processing to enter the U.S. Read the full story here. ON TAP FOR TOMORROW WHAT WE'RE READING Well, That's it for today! Check out The Hill's defense and national security pages for latest coverage. We'll see you tomorrow. By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Pandemic may be affecting infants' brains Coronavirus infection during pregnancy does not appear to affect infants' brain function, but the pandemic itself may be having an impact, a study published on Tuesday in JAMA Pediatrics suggests. Researchers in New York City tracked 255 full-term infants born during the pandemic, including 114 whose mothers had COVID-19 during pregnancy. When the babies were six months old, the researchers saw "absolutely no effect of maternal infection with SARS-CoV-2" on neurodevelopment, said Dr. Dani Dumitriu of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute. But overall, compared with 62 infants born before the pandemic, the babies born during the health crisis had slightly lower scores on tasks involving large muscles, tasks requiring small muscle movements, and personal interactions. The findings do not necessarily mean these infants will suffer long-term consequences, Dumitriu said. Assessments at six months are poor predictors of long-term outcomes, she added. If additional research confirms that birth during the pandemic negatively impacts neurodevelopment, she said, "because this is such an early time point there are lots of opportunities to intervene and get these babies onto the right developmental trajectory." Coronavirus can trigger kidney scarring The coronavirus can directly damage the kidneys by initiating a cascade of molecular events that leads to scarring, new laboratory research found. The resulting scar tissue could have long-term impacts on survivors' kidney function, according to a report published in Cell Stem Cell. The researchers exposed tiny replicas of kidneys to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in test tubes. They found the virus could infect multiple types of kidney cells and trigger "a molecular switch" that starts the scarring process. The findings suggest that high rates of kidney function decline seen in a separate study of more than 90,000 COVID-19 survivors might be due to scarring of the kidney by the virus, the researchers said. Story continues Jitske Jansen of Radboud University Medical Center in The Netherlands said in a statement that her team had found another "piece of the puzzle showing the deleterious effects the virus can have in the body." Lower COVID-19 risks seen after weight-loss surgery Weight-loss surgery may reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 even if the infected person is still obese after losing weight, according to a report in JAMA Surgery. Researchers studied 20,212 obese adults, including 5,053 who had undergone bariatric surgery before the pandemic and lost a substantial amount of weight. On average, the people in the surgery group, while still technically obese, weighed about 44 pounds (20 kg) less than study participants who had not undergone the surgery. Although the two groups had similar rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection at about 9%, infected patients with prior weight-loss surgery had a 49% lower risk of hospitalization, a 63% lower risk of need for supplemental oxygen, and a 60% lower risk of becoming critically ill or dying compared to the non-surgery group. Obesity is well known to be a risk factor for poor COVID-19 outcomes, but as the study was not a randomized trial it cannot prove weight-loss surgery caused the better outcomes. Still, the authors said, patients who underwent weight-loss surgery were likely healthier when they became infected. The results "support the reversibility of the health consequences of obesity" for patients with COVID-19, coauthor Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement. "This study suggests that an emphasis on weight loss as a public health strategy can improve outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic... That is a very important finding considering that 40% of Americans have obesity. " Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development. (Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Megan Brooks; Editing by Bill Berkrot) A video of two siblings helping their little brother escape from his crib is melting hearts. Dad Jason Eadie shared the footage on TikTok last month, after watching the scene unfold on his sons baby monitor. I know Im biased, but its the honestly the sweetest thing Ive ever seen, Eadie, of Delray Beach, Florida, told TODAY Parents. In the clip, that has more than 29 million views, Brooklyn 4, and Blake, 3, work together to free 2-year-old Bryson. Do you want to get out of your crib and play with me? I can teach you, Blake tells Bryson. He then instructs the toddler to use his dresser to climb out. But Bryson, who was sound asleep, appears uninterested. He just wants to go back to bed. Bryce, you have to, Blake says, to which a grumpy Bryson responds, "No." Moments later, sister Brooklyn appears. You want out? she asks. Suddenly, Bryson has a change of heart and stands up. You got it, youre a big boy, she says. You got this. And he does. Bryson steps out on to the dresser as Blake and Brooklyn cheer him on. They help him down and the three begin playing together. We call them the triplets, Eadie said. Theyre very close in age and love doing everything together. I love listening to their conversations. So does Kristen Bell. The actor shared Eadie's video on her Instagram Monday. The curiosity, the patience, the laziness, the protection, the encouragement, the second chances, the teamwork the slow determination, she wrote. This entire video is the energy Ill bring to 2022. Related: Up and at 'em, Patchogue! Let's get this Thursday started. Here are the most important things happening around town today. First, today's weather: Some sun, then clouds. High: 40, low: 30. Here are the top 4 stories in Patchogue today: Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts presents "Jokes on Main" comedy series. Among other comedians, the show will feature Michael Somerville, who has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman and Motts Pelazza, and who has been in the field performing in comedy clubs and theatres throughout the country for over 35 years. Tickets are available at the Theater Window or click on the link to purchased it online. (Patchogue Theater) Village of Patchogue continues to host in person board meetings. Village Hall is open to the public during all board meetings. Next meeting will happen on Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Village Hall located at 14 Baker St., Patchogue. Non-vaccinated attendees will need to wear a mask as per NYS COVID-19 guidelines and all attendees are encouraged to follow the recommendations. (Patchogue Village) Patchogue-Medford Public Library offers citizenship classes. For all preparing to obtain American citizenship, the library offers free classes to help you prepare for the United States Naturalization Test. Classes are available on Thursdays, from 7-8:30 p.m. Register online or call: 631-654-4700 x152. (Patchogue Public Library) Nearby News: More Long Island schools shift to remote learning. Long Beach, Lynbrook, and Baldwin went remote after confirmation of COVID-19 cases among students and teachers. On Tuesday, Jan. 4, schools in Glen Cove and Brentwood started to discuss a plan to transition to distance learning, with more districts potentially following suit as officials monitor the spread of the virus. (Daily Voice) Today's Patchogue Daily is brought to you in part by Newrez, a leading nationwide mortgage lender. Make a smart move for your future and refinance with Newrez today. Call 844-979-1707 to connect with a Newrez loan officer. Newrez, LLC (NMLS #3013) Story continues Today in Patchogue: CAN Movie Night Patchogue-Medford High School. (6 p.m.) HS ENL Parent Workshop Patchogue-Medford High School. (6:30 p.m.) From my notebook: Patchogue-Medford School District: "Inside the Classroom: Students from Ms. Cunninghams photography class at Pat-Med High School collaborated during a photo shoot while learning about studio lighting." (Facebook) Holy Angels Regional School - Patchogue: "Pre-K & kindergarten artists enjoyed creating their own color wheel using items they found around their house. Mrs. Rahner had fun too!" (Facebook) Patchogue-Medford Youth & Community Services: "Thank you to our friends at LIV & N (Long Island Veterans and Neighbors)." (Facebook) Nextdoor Neighbor, Lower East Patchogue: "I called AAA to jump start my battery at about 7 p.m. last night. Everything was fine (I'd left my lights on after driving home in the afternoon's quick but intense snow shower)." (Nextdoor) Nextdoor Neighbor, Lower East Patchogue: "Anyone been to Lidls lately. My wife gave me a shopping list of four items: shredded carrots, canned pineapple, soy sauce, and Saucy Susan. I went to Lidls not expecting theyd have Saucy Susan." (Nextdoor) More from our sponsors thanks for supporting local news! Events: Announcements: Behind The Scoreboard Horses Can Guide The Blind (Details) Add your announcement Gigs & services: Loving the Patchogue Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved: Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe Get your local business listed in front of readers Send me a news tip or suggestion at Patchogue@Patch.com You're officially in the loop for today! See you tomorrow for another update. Debora Whitehead About me: Debora Whitehead is a dedicated wife and homeschooling mom from Coram, NY. She has a bachelor's degree in Education and loves to teach and write. Her passion for the community reflects on her volunteering work at the "Mariposa Ministry, " a nonprofit family assistance program. One of her strongest believes is Jesus Christ and when she is not parenting, teaching or reading, she is writing. One of her favorites quotes is: " The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."- Eleanor Roosevelt. This article originally appeared on the Patchogue Patch In an effort to relieve lines at COVID-19 testing sites, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced Tuesday that the Roger Carter Community Center in Ellicott City will now offer PCR and rapid tests for county employees and their families. The site will be operated by Ally Health from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., on Wednesdays. Advertisement There is an urgent need for quick and effective testing, Ball said. By adding this site for employees we hope to help the system overall and reduce the wait times throughout our entire county. About 15,000 employees and their families are eligible to go to the site, including employees of the Howard County States Attorneys Office, the Howard County Sheriffs Office, the library system and staff at Howard Community College, Ball said. Appointments will be required with proper ID. Advertisement The public school system, Ball said, is working with a different contractor to provide a site for its employees. We are in ongoing conversations to see how we can be helpful, Ball said. Afternoon Update Weekdays Updating you on the day's biggest news before the evening commute. > Howard Countys COVID-19 metrics reached all time highs this week, with a positivity rate of 27.8% and a case rate of 185 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Maryland Department of Health. The county reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases last week, compared to 280 new cases in the first week of December. You should assume when you go out that COVID-19 is everywhere, Ball said. Testing is vital to fighting this pandemic. Our actions today are a critical step to keeping the essential services we need open for our county and our state. Howard County Health Officer Dr. Maura Rossman said that testing was just one tool to protect against COVID-19 spread. She stressed that everyone should get vaccinated and receive their booster shots. Masks should be worn indoors and while out in public, Rossman said, and people should stay home when feeling ill. Now is the time to make sure you and your loved ones are receiving full protection from the vaccine, Rossman said. We are working diligently to expand more testing and vaccination clinic hours to meet the growing demand. Representatives from the county states attorney office and the sheriffs office thanked Ball during the public announcement for opening the clinic for county employees. There are certain sectors of government that are essential and must continue to operate regardless of the challenges the pandemic poses to us, said States Attorney Rich Gibson. Services like police, fire, emergency services and the States Attorneys Office cannot cease to function without horrific consequences to our community. Our office is not immune; and weve been dealing with the impact of the virus on our staff as well. Thats why we are extremely grateful that County Executive Ball, who clearly appreciates the need to have testing readily available to county government employees and their family members, is also offering that same testing to our staff so critical services can, hopefully, continue uninterrupted without any crippling consequences created by staffing shortages. Advertisement Lynn Coleman, interim president of Howard Community College, said the college is working with the county health department to offer a vaccine clinic during the spring semester to reach anyone who needs a shot. A proposed map of Missouri's new congressional districts would likely keep the state's partisan alignment the same but it could also have an impact on the primary field for southwest Missouri's U.S. House election. The lines submitted by redistricting committees in the House and Senate last week were filed as a bill and will face debate in the weeks to come as lawmakers return to Jefferson City on Wednesday for their annual session. If the map is approved as it is currently drawn, Missouri will likely continue to be represented by six Republicans and two Democrats for the foreseeable future. FiveThirtyEight's redistricting tracker estimates that U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City will go from a 12-point Democratic advantage to a 19-point Democratic advantage. It also increases the Republican skew by 5 points in U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner's St. Louis County district, bringing it to R+13. Wagner has been the most vulnerable Missouri Republican in recent years, winning just 51.9 percent of the vote in 2020. A proposed map of congressional districts by House and Senate redistricting committees released Dec. 30, 2021. Lawmakers will consider the map when the legislative session starts Wednesday. The proposed map also makes changes to southwest Missouri's 7th district, currently held by U.S. Rep. Billy Long but up for grabs as he runs for U.S. Senate. The new 7th district would cut out the entirety of Polk County and expand to include all of Webster County. Right now, the district includes only a small slice of southwest Webster. The new 7th district would include only part of Taney County, stopping just east of Branson; the current district includes the entirety of Taney. While Branson is the most populous portion of the county, voters east of the new new district line will be incorporated into the southeastern 8th district. That change may have electoral implications in the primary contest to succeed Long in the 7th district. State Sen. Mike Moon, who is running for the Republican nomination, represents the entirety of Taney County in Jefferson City's higher chamber and would lose potential primary voters east of the new district line. Story continues Southwest MO congressional race: Who's running? Missouri's current congressional districts. Moon is facing Dr. Sam Alexander, former state Sen. Jay Wasson, Audrey Richards and fellow state Sen. Eric Burlison in the Republican primary. Burlison "is staying out of the debate on the congressional maps" because of his active candidacy and did not have any comment on the matter, his chief of staff Steve Helms said Tuesday. Moon did not respond to an interview request. The partisan skew of the 7th district remains largely the same, according to FiveThirtyEight from a 48-point Republican favorite to a 47-point one. There remains some appetite among Burlison and Moon's allies in the Senate Conservative Caucus to push for a map that would undercut Cleaver, strengthen Wagner and result in seven Republican-leaning districts. Sens. Bill Eigel and Bob Onder, of Weldon Spring and Lake St. Louis, have been outspoken on social media about their desire for a 7-1 map, calling Republican leadership "RINOs" that are "appeasing Democrats." The proposed 7th congressional district in southwest Missouri under a plan by House and Senate redistricting committees. It would include the entirety of Webster County while removing Polk County and Taney County east of Branson. The Republican chairs of the redistricting committees, however, are confident in their proposed map. Sen. Mike Bernskoetter of Jefferson City said it was "drawn to achieve the greatest amount of consensus possible," and Rep. Dan Shaul of Imperial encouraged the General Assembly to deliver the map to Gov. Mike Parson's desk "without delay." Missouri's five other districts remain non-competitive under the proposed map, according to FiveThirtyEight. U.S. Rep. Cori Bush's 1st district in St. Louis City favors Democrats by 53 points. The 3rd and 4th districts that converge in mid-Missouri favor Republicans by 41 and 39 points, respectively. The northern 6th district leans red by 39 points. U.S. Rep. Jason Smith's southeast 8th district will become one of the strongest Republican strongholds in the country with a 62-point lean. Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: MO's proposed congressional district map may affect 7th district race WARSAW (Reuters) - Belarus summoned the Polish charge d'affaires in Minsk to inform him about the expulsion of a Polish diplomat, Warsaw said on Wednesday. Tensions have been running high between the neighbours over a migrant crisis that the European Union and Poland say was engineered by Belarus, a charge Minsk denies. Warsaw also accuses President Alexander Lukashenko's government of oppressing Belarus' small Polish ethnic minority. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the fact that the charge d'affaires was called in a case related to the expulsion of a Polish consul," spokesman Lukasz Jasina said in a statement. Jasina said the expelled diplomat was the Polish consul in the border city of Brest. The Belarusian foreign ministry said the consul's expulsion is related to the diplomat's efforts to help a Polish citizen, suspected in the death of two people in a road accident, to leave Belarus. It gave no more details on the incident. The Polish citizen was detained by Belarusian border guards on Monday, the ministry's spokesman, Anatoly Glaz, said in a statement. "We have established that the escape attempt was initiated and organised by the employees of the Consulate General of Poland in Brest," Glaz said. "We sincerely hope that this is an isolated case that does not characterise the Polish Foreign Ministry as a whole. At the same time, we do not see an opportunity to continue the work of such a consular officer on the territory of Belarus," he said. Polish officials say they are trying to verify the information. (Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Editing by Alex Richardson, Gareth Jones and Leslie Adler) (Reuters) - Nursultan Nazarbayev, stripped on Wednesday of his role as head of Kazakhstan's powerful Security Council amid violent street protests, has dominated his vast oil-producing Central Asian nation since before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Some protesters have chanted slogans against the 81-year-old former president during days of unrest https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/kazakhstan-government-resigns-after-violent-protests-over-fuel-price-2022-01-05 triggered by a fuel price rise that on Wednesday brought the Cabinet's resignation. Despite quitting the presidency in 2019 and bequeathing power to a hand-picked successor, Nazarbayev remained the real power in the land. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced in a televised address on Wednesday that he would now head the State Security Committee but made no mention of Nazarbayev, who has not been seen or heard from for days. Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan with an iron hand for nearly three decades, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in the energy and metal sectors and skilfully balancing ties with powerful neighbours Russia and China. But the former steelworker brooked no dissent and drew criticism from Western countries and human rights groups who accused him of rolling back post-Soviet democratic freedoms. His family is believed to control much of the Kazakh economy. MAN OF STEEL Born in 1940, Nazarbayev rose through the ranks of the Communist Party, becoming a Politburo member in 1990 just before the Soviet Union collapsed. He appealed to many Kazakhs with his down-to-earth promises of stability and welfare, in a volatile central Asian region which borders Afghanistan and is rocked by radical Islam, regional clans, ethnic tensions and the drugs trade. "Ours was a generation of steely character, unbreakable will and purpose," he once said during a visit to the city of Temirtau, home to the steel mill where he once worked. Story continues "These qualities have allowed us to overcome even the most difficult of tasks and to conquer any peak." After independence, he won kudos in the West by voluntarily giving up the country's nuclear arsenal. Abandoning efforts to reintegrate the economy with Russia's, he appointed reformers who created a strong financial system. Nazarbayev said foreign capital was needed to rescue ailing industry in the post-Soviet period. Many credit him for strong economic growth and for mostly avoiding social tensions that afflicted poorer neighbours, at least in the first two decades of his rule. In 2010 he was given the title "Leader of the Nation" after parliament granted him immunity from prosecution and the right to shape policy even after retirement. He also built a new capital in the northern steppes, Astana, later renamed Nur-Sultan in his honour. Critics long accused Nazarbayev of appointing family members and allies to key jobs in government and industry and of stifling press freedoms. Kazakhstan has never held elections judged free and fair by international observers. Nazarbayev has three daughters - Dariga, Dinara and Aliya - and no sons. (Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) Protests in Kazakhstan ABDUAZIZ MADYAROV/AFP via Getty Images Protesters breached Kazakhstan's largest airport Wednesday, sending staff fleeing and disrupting flights, BBC reports. They also set fire to Kazakhstan's presidential residence Wednesday as protests continued to intensify. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has threatened to "to act with maximum severity" against rioters. Kazakhstan also appears to be experiencing an internet blackout. The central Asian nation's interior ministry claims that eight law enforcement officers and national guard members have been killed in the unrest and over 300 injured. No casualty figures for the protesters have been released. According to The Wall Street Journal, Tokayev announced Tuesday that he had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Askar Mamin and his cabinet and installed an acting cabinet in its place. Protests erupted Sunday and quickly spread throughout the country after the government announced that the price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG), which many Kazakhs use for automotive fuel, would nearly double in the country's western Mangistau region. Tokayev announced late Tuesday that he was reimplementing the price controls on LPG, which hold the going rate to less than half the market price. It appears, though, that this was too little too late. Protesters had begun demanding political reforms, chanting "Old man out!" in reference to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, an authoritarian leader who remains influential behind the scenes. Tokayav succeeded Nazarbayev in 2019 after an election international observers regarded as highly corrupt. The party to which both belong holds more than 80 percent of the seats in Kazakhstan's parliament. Tokayev removed Nazarbayev from his Security Council chairmanship Wednesday, but the move appears to have done nothing to quell the protests, Reuters reported. Tokayev himself now chairs the Security Council. According to Yahoo! Finance, Russia, which maintains close ties to Kazakhstan, has so far ignored Tokayev's pleas for help. Story continues You may also like California deputy DA opposed to vaccine mandates dies of COVID-19 Paraguayan soldier dies after being gored by deer on grounds of presidential residence Seth Meyers tests positive for COVID-19, cancels show for the rest of the week A Putnam County man facing a new trial in the 1994 slaying of a 12-year-old girl is seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor, arguing the win-at-all-costs attitude of the Putnam District Attorneys Office runs counter to its primary purpose of seeking justice. The retrial of Andrew Krivak, whose 1997 conviction in the rape and murder of Josette Wright was overturned nearly three years ago, had been scheduled for this month. But his lawyers argue that he cannot get a fair trial if District Attorney Robert Tendy and his staff remains on the case. They cite numerous instances of prosecutors failing to turn over evidence in a timely manner or at all that could have proved Krivaks innocence. They assail Tendy for ending a conviction integrity probe of the case by his predecessor and the state Attorney Generals Office. Andrew Krivak is overcome with emotion after a judge threw out his 1997 conviction in the rape and murder of 12-year-old Josette Wright and was granted a new trial, May 9, 2019 in Putnam County Court in Carmel. They argue that Tendys outspoken criticism of Putnam Countys $12 million settlement with Krivaks co-defendant Anthony DiPippo was improper for a prosecutor. And they accuse the DAs Office of refusing to accept evidence that a Connecticut sex offender, Howard Gombert, was Wrights killer. This is not the behavior of an objective and disinterested prosecutorial office intent on seeking justice, the lawyers, Oscar Michelen and Karen Newirth, wrote. Rather, it is the behavior of one that is so biased against Mr. Krivak that it is willing to do anything at all to secure a conviction, irrespective of whether Mr. Krivak is in fact innocent. Freed: Krivak released to await retrial in Putnam murder case Krivak: Judge rejects bid to disqualify defense lawyers in murder case Guilty: Santoro pleads guilty to extortion plot in Putnam murder case Case law they rely on limits the circumstances in which a prosecutor can be replaced to instances when a defendant faces actual prejudice because of a conflict of interest or there is a substantial risk that the publics confidence in the judicial system will be undermined. Story continues A judge on Monday cleared the way for the motion to be considered by directing the DAs Office to answer why they should not be replaced. Tendy declined to discuss specifics of the motion, saying his office is preparing its response. "We are confident there is no basis for the motion and that it will not be successful, he said. Krivak and Anthony DiPippo were arrested in 1996 and convicted the following year in the October 1994 rape and murder of Wright, whose remains were discovered in woods off Field Lane in Patterson in November 1995. Krivak, who spent 24 years in prison until his release on bail 14 months ago, never got a new trial until now. But DiPippo was acquitted at his third trial in 2016 when the defense was finally allowed to present evidence about Gombert. The key witness against them was always Denise Rose, a girlfriend of DiPippos, who claimed she was in Krivaks van with the two men when they took turns raping Wright before carrying her lifeless body into the woods. But the defense has hammered away at Roses credibility over the years and how she was fed details of the crime by investigators who had threatened to charge her as well. They now highlight how a top Tendy assistant did not immediately reveal that Rose acknowledged lying in a deposition in DiPippos civil lawsuit in 2018 when she claimed for the first time that he had a gun while Wright was being raped. Krivaks lawyers call his case extraordinary because Putnam prosecutors are pursuing it even though his co-defendant has not only been acquitted but has also been compensated for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Their ultimate goal is that a special prosecutor will not retry Krivak but will drop the case once it pursues the thorough investigation they said Tendy should have done. The motion to disqualify Tendy and his office came after prosecutors sought unsuccessfully to boot Michelen and Newirth from the case over their role exposing an extortion plot by a key defense witness. Joseph Santoro helped acquit DiPippo and win Krivak a new trial after he revealed that convicted sex offender Howard Gombert implicated himself in the Wright killing when he and Santoro were inmates in a Connecticut prison 12 years ago. But last year Santoro threatened to recant his account if he wasnt paid more than $1 million to continue testifying for Krivak. Michelen reported the demands to the FBI. Santoro has since pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge and is awaiting sentencing. The prosecution points to that case in continuing to challenge Santoros credibility and argue he made up Gomberts admissions. But the defense motion cites several recorded conversations Santoro had from jail that make clear he was standing by his original testimony. Krivaks lawyers argue the prosecution was monitoring the phone calls so was aware of the extortion plot and Santoros insistence he hadnt lied about Gombert. Among the evidence the defense claimed was only turned over in recent years were notes of investigators' interviews with Wright's mother when the girl's body was discovered. Susan Wright told them she suspected Gombert was likely her daughter's killer although for a quarter of a century now she has blamed DiPippo and Krivak and supported their convictions. The defense suspects that investigators might have withheld the document from prosecutors before the 1997 trials. But they fault Tendy for downplaying it as only "supposedly" exculpatory material. They suggest that the DA's bias in the case is evident from that and his insistence that the document might have been turned over to the defense years earlier even though First Assistant District Attorney Larry Glasser, who tried DiPippo in 2016, said he was unfamiliar with it when he found it and turned it over last year. Twitter: @jonbandler This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Krivak defense seeks removal of Putnam DA in 1994 murder case LAS CRUCES - The City of Las Cruces Economic Development Department, in partnership with the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, will conduct a two-day seminar for businesses and residents interested in learning more about the cannabis industry in New Mexico. The free seminar will be from 10 a.m. until noon Wednesday, Jan. 5 and Thursday, Jan. 6 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St. State, city and Dona Ana County officials will provide information about updates to rules, regulations and application requirements, and answer questions. The Jan. 5 seminar will include presentations by the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, the New Mexico Economic Development Department, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, financial institutions including New Mexico Angels, Southwest Capital Bank, and Aery Group and Seedcrest, and the New Mexico Small Business Development Center. Jan. 6 seminar presentations will be from city departments including Community Development, Planning and Zoning, the Las Cruces Fire Department, the Las Cruces Police Department, Las Cruces Utilities, Economic Development and Visit Las Cruces, Dona Ana County Planning and Zoning, and the New Mexico Small Business Development Center. More cannabis coverage: The seminar also will be available on Zoom. People interested in participating in any of the events via Zoom can register by going to https://bit.ly/3HxM5KI. For information about the seminar, contact Irene Parra, Interim Business Development Administrator, at 575-528-3475 or by email at irparra@las-cruces.org. This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Have questions about cannabis? State, county, city officials to provide answers. Rep. Brenda Lawrence announced Tuesday night she would not seek reelection to her Detroit-area district, becoming the 25th House Democrat to retire this cycle. The four-term Michigan lawmaker had climbed the ranks of the powerful House Appropriations panel, as well as the Congressional Black Caucus, since arriving in the Capitol in 2015. She also narrowly lost an election for a caucus-wide leadership election two years ago, so her decision to step aside first reported by the Detroit News surprised some of her colleagues. Today, after reflecting on my journey and oh, my goodness, what a journey and having conversations with my family, I am announcing that I will not be seeking reelection to Congress, Lawrence said in a video to supporters on Tuesday night. But the former mayor of Southfield, Mich., had raised some suspicion that she wouldnt run again, after the states new congressional map ditched its two majority-minority districts virtually eliminating her current seat. In the reshuffle, Lawrences hometown of Southfield had been redrawn into a district now represented by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). While Dingell said she would seek a new district in Ann Arbor, Lawrence had privately told colleagues that she wasnt certain about running in Dingells previous district, complaining about how the map divided majority-Black neighborhoods, according to Democratic sources. Lawrence is the only Black member of Michigans congressional delegation. A number of Black Michigan state legislators say they are suing the states independent redistricting commission, asking a court to throw out the new congressional map over the redrawing of the Detroit areas seats. Lawrence spent Tuesday making calls to her colleagues as she mulled whether or not to run again in November, sources familiar with the conversations said. She informed leadership of her decision Tuesday evening. Nicholas Wu and Ally Mutnick contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Most Republican lawmakers arent planning to attend official events marking the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, one of the darkest days in American democracy. As with everything in Congress these days, the question of whether to mark the anniversary of an attack on democracy itself is splitting along ideological lines. Thursdays commemorative events will feature lawmakers testimonials about their experiences that day, a prayer vigil on the steps of the Capitol, and a panel discussion with historians in order to establish and preserve the narrative of Jan. 6. These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a letter to colleagues last week. The House is still on recess and very few GOP representatives are expected to attend, however. The possible exceptions include the two members of the House committee probing the attack, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.). Senate Republicans are also steering clear of the events at the Capitol, accusing Democrats of trying to politicize the attack and score political points. I do think that there will be attempts by the Democrats obviously to ... get some political advantage out of it, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters. A number of Senate Republicans are planning to travel to Georgia instead to pay their respects to former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who died last month and whose funeral services are being held on Thursday. The longtime senator was highly respected among his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Those expected to attend Isaksons funeral include Thune and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Not every senator is planning to attend Isaksons funeral on Thursday, however. With no votes scheduled, some are simply heading back to their home states. I dont think theres much reason to stick around here, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. I dont think its inappropriate to acknowledge the anniversary. I would hope it doesnt become an annual event. Story continues Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he planned to participate in media interviews regarding the Jan. 6 attack from South Dakota. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also said he planned to mark the event from home in Connecticut Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said he doubted any Republican would attend. All of us from the get-go have known it was going to be taken to this level and run with. To me it looks like its being taken to the hilt, he said. U.S. Capitol Police are monitoring potential threats to the Capitol complex on the anniversary of the riot, but they dont anticipate any problems, citing better preparations to the department than one year ago. Theres no intelligence that indicates that there would be any problems, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said Tuesday. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Chris Howard, president of Robert Morris University. MOON TWP. Robert Morris University President Chris Howard announced Tuesday he is leaving the university to move across the county and take on a new role with Arizona State University, effective immediately. Howard, who became the eighth president in the history of Robert Morris back in 2016, will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the ASU Enterprise in early February, according to a press release from RMU. In addition to taking a new role with ASU, Howard's wife, Barbara, will join the university in Tempe as a university fellow for a nonprofit leadership role. To say that it has been both an honor and a privilege to serve as the eighth president of Robert Morris University these past six years would be a gross understatement," Howard said in a statement announcing his departure. "Barbara and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time working with the amazing faculty, staff, administration, board of trustees, and especially the students and their families. Our lives as well those of our sons, Cohen and Joshua, have been enriched by the kindness the entire RMU and greater Pittsburgh community have extended to us during our over half a decade tenure. RMU's board of trustees has appointed Mary Ann Rafoth, currently provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, as the university's interim president. Howard will join ASU President Michael Crow and other ASU executive vice presidents as part of the ASU Enterprise leadership team to design, build and oversee a new model for a national university dedicated to access, excellence and impact, according to the news release from RMU. During his five years as president, the university completed the largest fundraising campaign in its 100-year history, Ready to Rise, which reached its $100 million goal a year ahead of schedule and which closed Dec. 31 with a grand total of $113.25 million raised. That campaign funded the UPMC Events Center; the expansion of the John Jay Center for the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science; numerous scholarships and endowed professorships and new research and teaching centers on campus. Story continues Additionally, RMU appeared on the U.S. News and World Report list of Best National Universities for the first time, and in September was ranked by U.S. News as a Top 50 Best Value School in America for academic quality and affordability. Howard also helped guide the university through the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the university increase freshman enrollment by 23% during that time. Chris Howards vision and leadership has guided RMU through a turbulent time in higher education and during a global pandemic that has disrupted nearly every aspect of our lives, said Morgan K. OBrien, chairman of the RMU Board of Trustees, in the news release regarding Howard's departure. In spite of those challenges, RMU achieved many of its strategic goals and is positioned for success in an increasingly competitive market. The search to replace Howard is already underway with a national search firm, according to RMU. Chairing the Presidential Search Committee will be Carrie Coghill, vice chairwoman of the board of trustees and president and CEO of Coghill Investment Strategies, the university announced. Coghill is a 2008 RMU graduate. Robert Morris University remains in the hands of a talented, seasoned leadership team with a capable and committed board. They are willing and able to innovate, a much-needed trait in todays ever-changing higher education landscape, said Howard. RMU will continue to thrive during the next 100 years just as it has during the previous 100. Contact Joshua Carney at jcarney@gannett.com or 724-681-9136. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @ByJoshCarney. This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: RMU President Chris Howard announces departure from university Maryland State Police airlifted a crew member aboard an oil and chemical tanker underway in the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday for a medical emergency, police said. The 28-year-old crew member was aboard the Chem Jupiter, a 462-foot tanker flagged out of Liberia and headed to Baltimore, when he required immediate medical assistance, according to a state police news release. A Maryland State Police helicopter crew conducted a host extraction from the boat and transported the man to Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. Advertisement The U.S. Coast Guard requested aerial assistance around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday and told police the patients condition made transport to a smaller Coast Guard Vessel unfeasible. A trooper who is a trained paramedic flew from a base at Easton Airport in Talbot County and lowered onto the ship deck by aircraft hoist. The trooper used a screamer suit style harness that strapped the patient and trooper together, and both were pulled back to the helicopter, the release states. Advertisement Maryland State Police said its aviation command is made up of 10 AW-139 helicopters stationed at seven bases throughout the state and has been operating since 1970. U.S. officials in recent weeks had warned that they expected an uptick in attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, in part because of the second anniversary of the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. A similar attack was foiled on Monday (January 3), when Iraqi air defences downed two drones as they approached a base hosting U.S. forces near Baghdad's international airport. Separately, another coalition official told Reuters that the coalition had carried out strikes against an "imminent threat" after they saw several rocket launch sites near the Green Village in Syria. While this official did not say which country in the coalition carried out the strikes or who was responsible for the launch sites, Iranian-backed militia forces have occasionally targeted U.S. forces in both Iraq and Syria. (Bloomberg) -- IRobot Corp. told a U.S. trade judge that it developed robotic vacuum features too good to be true only to have them copied and sold at a lower price by SharkNinja, which should be blocked from the U.S. market as punishment. Most Read from Bloomberg In opening arguments Wednesday at the International Trade Commission in Washington, the Roomba makers lawyer said JS Global Lifestyle Co.s SharkNinja infringes four of its patents for enabling robot vacuums and hybrid vacuum-moppers to map rooms and floors, better navigate cleaning areas and last longer through improved energy management. How do you make a robot do all of these things? A lot of engineers and a lot of programmers and a lot of time in the labs, iRobot lawyer Gregg LoCascio of Kirkland & Ellis said. He likened the Roomba to when Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone in 2007, and it all seems pretty obvious now. SharkNinja, which denies infringing the patents and maintains that they dont even cover new ideas, accused iRobot of launching the legal attack only because its losing sales to a rival product thats equally innovative. Theyre both great robots, for different reasons, said SharkNinja lawyer, Brian Rosenthal of Gibson Dunn. Were the only ones to take serious market share. The trial is iRobots latest effort in a years-long battle to curb the rising threat from SharkNinja products -- this time by seeking an import ban on models including the Shark ION, IQ, and AI wet/dry VacMop robotic floor cleaners. Rosenthal said the SharkNinja began selling Series 3 models Jan. 1 that omits any of the features that are in the ITC case, to ensure it wont be cut out of the market even if it loses the case. Story continues While she is presiding over the trial, International Trade Commission Judge MaryJoan McNamara also described herself to the lawyers as one of the consumers that is watching this with fascination. McNamara is scheduled to release her findings by the end of April, with a final decision by the agency expected on Aug. 29. While the commission often pushes back its deadlines, the current time frame would mean that a loss for SharkNinja would see its products halted at the U.S. border and pulled off store shelves before the 2022 holiday shopping season. By using its patents to squeeze SharkNinja out of the lucrative U.S. robot-vacuum market, iRobot could take more of the estimated $145 million in annual high-end U.S. product sales its missing out on, Tamlin Bason, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a Dec. 29 note. IRobot shares dropped 18% in 2021, compared with a 29% rise in the S&P 500 Index, as the company lowered its guidance for the year. The company said it struggled with a challenging supply chain environment, including a shortage in semiconductor chips, and saw SharkNinja win some key battles to invalidate iRobot patents. IRobot turned to the trade agency after failing to hobble SharkNinja with an earlier lawsuit closer to home. A federal judge in Boston in 2019 rebuffed iRobots request to order SharkNinja to stop selling its products while a lawsuit was pending. It claims SharkNinja purposefully used iRobot inventions in lower-quality imitations. LoCascio said the Roomba has been cited as the ultimate performance robot and best in class in reviews of robotic vacuums. Whats the cheapest? Thats not us, LoCascio told McNamara. Rosenthal acknowledged that SharkNinja, which had been in the upright vacuum market for years before the iRobot, had developed a strategy paper to take on the Roomba, which it labeled the Kingslayer. This is what people are supposed to do when they enter the market, he told the judge. They are supposed to say How can I build a better product? Sharks vacuums have quickly become the second-biggest in the market in part by advertising its lower price. The iRobot i7 costs about $600 -- newer Roomba models can cost more than $1,000 -- while the Shark Ion Wi-Fi connected vacuum sells for less than $350. IRobot argued that it pioneered the technology. We practically created the robotic cleaner market, Jennifer Lichtenheim, iRobots general manager for the Americas, testified. Consumers didnt believe a robot could vacuum the way they would. IRobot, founded in the 1990s by alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Artificial Intelligence Lab, started life as a defense contractor making robots for the military and space exploration. The first Roomba floor vacuum was introduced in 2002 and quickly took off with consumers. By 2016, iRobot shed its defense and security business to focus exclusively on the home consumer market. SharkNinja began in the 1990s as a Canadian R&D firm called Euro-Pro but now has its U.S. headquarters in the Boston suburb of Needham, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from iRobots home base. The companys name came from a combination of its Shark home cleaning products and the popular Ninja cooking appliances. Hong Kong-based JS Global, which makes the Joyoung-branded kitchen appliance for the Chinese market and went public in 2019, bought SharkNinja in 2017. Both companies have been aggressive in using patents to protect their brands from competitors, including a now-settled 2019 lawsuit SharkNinja filed against celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse over a rival to its Ninja Foodi appliance that combines a pressure cooker and air fryer. The ITC is a popular forum for companies looking to hamstring rivals. IRobots earlier patent cases at the agency forced Stanley Black & Decker Inc. to stop selling home robotic vacuums and won import bans on other firms, including Techtronic Industries Co.s Hoover and Shenzhen Silver Star. The case is In the Matter of Certain Robotic Cleaning Devices, 337-3530, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington). Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. CAIRO (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on targets in Yemen's capital Sana'a in response to drone attacks launched by the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthi movement earlier this week, Saudi state TV said early on Wednesday. The coalition also said on Wednesday it destroyed workshops and warehouses for drones, urging civilians to avoid the area. Saudi Arabian air defenses intercepted and destroyed five drones launched by the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthi movement toward the kingdom on Monday. Yemen has been mired in violence since the Houthis ousted the government from Sana'a, prompting the coalition to intervene months later in March 2015 in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. (Reporting by Lilian Wagdy; writing by Yomna Ehab; editing by Chris Reese and Sam Holmes) Sean Hannity texted Trump's chief of staff on Jan. 5 2021 saying he was worried about the next day. On January 6, a Trump rally spilled over into the attack on the US Capitol. Hannity's texts were released by the House committee investigating the riot. Fox News host Sean Hannity was "very worried" about what would unfold in Washington on January 6, according to newly released texts he sent a day before the Capitol riot. The House select committee probing the January 6 attack on the Capitol building described texts sent by Hannity in a letter on Tuesday asking for Hannity's cooperation with their investigation. The text messages show Hannity appeared highly concerned about Trump's efforts to challenge the election. The letter stated that on the evening of January 5, Hannity "sent and received a stream of texts" including one in which he said he was "very worried about the next 48 hours." The committee did not specify who he had the text exchange with, although it said many of his messages had been sent to Mark Meadows, Trump's former White House chief of staff. The letter said that the texts it had obtained showed that Hannity had "advance knowledge regarding President Trump's and his legal team's planning for January 6." "It also appears that you were expressing concerns and providing advice to the President and certain White House staff regarding that planning," the letter said. In his texts to Mark Meadows, Hannity appeared further to demonstrate his concern about planning by Trump and his aides for January 6, Insider's Matthew Loh reported. "I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told," Hannity said. He suggested that Trump instead move to Florida, lead efforts to "reform voter integrity," and "watch Joe [Biden] mess up daily." The committee last month released other texts from Hannity to Meadows sent after the riot had begun, Insider's Oma Seddiq and Jake Lahut reported. Story continues "Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol," Hannity texted Meadows as the violence unfolded. Hannity's attorney Jay Sekulow told CNN: "We are reviewing the committee's letter and will respond as appropriate." Read the original article on Business Insider KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine The Maine Central Model Railroad will be relocating to a new home at Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine in 2022, with thanks to a very generous donation from the Wyss Medical Foundation. Helen Beal (Jonesport, Maine), designed, built and operated the Maine Central Model Railroad with husband Harold Buz Beal for the past four decades. Helen is standing in front of a model her husband made of their own Jonesport home (green). The beautifully crafted model railroad layout was built by Helen and Harold Buz Beal in Jonesport, Maine. For decades, the couple opened their home to guests from all over the world to view one of Maines largest layouts in HO-scale. From Quoddy Lighthouse to the mountains of Maine, to the paper mills and Dragon Cement, street blocks representing the communities the Maine Central Model Railroad operated through and several roundhouses, tunnels, rivers and the ocean, the layout has it all. Best-selling author Steven King even provided the designs of his Victorian home in Bangor to the Beals, and they replicated it expertly. Best-selling Author Steven King provided the designs of his Victorian home in Bangor to the Beals to recreate the home in their model railroad layout. Upon Buzs passing in 2013, Helen continued to curate the layout while looking for another model club or nonprofit to resume ownership. Because of the layouts impressive size, no one could accept the donation without taking the model apart and making the layout much smaller. One small section of the Maine Central Model Railroad, soon relocating to Kennebunkport Maine from its current home in Jonesport, Maine. Downtown Bangor is pictured in the foreground, modeled after its appearance in the mid-1900s. Hansjoerg Wyss, a friend of the Beals and a rail enthusiast and philanthropist, approached Seashore Trolley Museum in 2020 to ask if they might consider providing a home for the layout. Like the other groups approached, the museum did not have the space to display such a large model. The museum researched the layout for months to determine how the layout could be kept as intact as possible and relocated to Kennebunkport, and what type of facility would be needed to house such an artifact. Coastal towns are also depicted in the Maine Central Model Railroad layout, including Lubec, Maine and the Quoddy Lighthouse. A custom-building design was developed by Museum friend and architect Herb Fremin. Fremin also helped the museum determine the most minimal way to adapt the model to meet Kennebunkport building codes and ADA compliance, in particular widening all the aisles to modern standards. Builders and engineers were approached for quotes to help the museum identify how much funding would be needed. The museum also put together a 10-year operating budget for the new building, including the new full-time staff and volunteers needed for the same period. Story continues A Rendering of Seashore Trolley Museums new Maine Central Model Railroad building designed by architect Herb Fremin, with construction beginning later this year. Wyss invited the Museum to present a preliminary plan and he gave the go-ahead. All costs will be covered by his foundation! The total value of the construction, relocation, and 10-year costs will likely be in excess of $2.6 millionthe largest gift in Seashore Trolley Museums 82-year history. The building project is currently in the pre-construction phase with Sheridan Construction of Fairfield, Maine. Sebago Technics (South Portland) is providing the site and civil engineering for the building. RW Gillespie (Biddeford) is providing geotechnical services. Seashore Trolley Museum also developed a new staff positionConstruction Managerand following a thorough search brought Steve Berg on in November to help navigate the complete construction process. The new model building design calls for a large, open space for the layout, office space for volunteers and staff, a combined workshop/conference room; a retail location so the museum can bring in additional revenue through model sales; and a mezzanine viewing gallery that has potential for community programming and other activities with elevator access. The location of the building will be across from the museums current Visitors Center. The museum hopes to break ground late spring/early summer 2022. After the building is complete, a professional model railroad layout moving company will help set up the layout in its new home, and add the new sections needed. Museum volunteers and a future Model Railroad Club for all ages housed at the museum will help refresh the layout and build the landscape and new buildings on the new sections, most likely adding in trolley lines to even better connect the layout to the museums overall mission. The most exciting benefit to the museum of all is that after serving the community and the world for 82 years, once the building is completed and the layout is live, the museum will be open year-round for all to enjoy for the first time in history! Seashore Trolley Museum would like to thank Helen Beal and the Beal Family, the Wyss Medical Foundation, and the stakeholders who have helped behind the scenes to make this donation possible. Located at 195 Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, the Seashore Trolley Museum is the worlds first and largest electric railway and transit museum. The museum will open for its 83rd season on May 1, 2022. To learn more about Seashore Trolley Museum, please visit www.trolleymuseum.org. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seashore Trolley Museum receives huge donation to relocate model railroad layout PROVIDENCE, RI At least three colleges and universities in Rhode Island will start the 2022 spring semester virtually, as COVID-19 cases soar. The Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and Johnson and Wales all delayed the start of in-person classes. On Wednesday, CCRI said it anticipates transitioning to in-person classes by Feb. 14, the start of the Late Start semester. Classes that were scheduled to start in-person Jan. 18 will be held synchronously, online. While classes are online, the campus will remain open, the college said, including all student services and offices. Starting with the new semester, all eligible students and staff will be required to get a COVID-19 booster shot. Those who are not yet eligible will have 30 days from their eligibility date to get their shot. Johnson and Wales, meanwhile, will begin classes online Jan. 10, with the plan to move to in-person learning Jan. 18, after the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday. Despite the delayed start, students will be expected to move back into residence halls before the start of classes. All students, staff and faculty will be asked to get tested for COVID-19 before coming back to campus. Rhode Island College said that classes will begin as scheduled Jan. 18, though they will be "predominantly remote" for the first three weeks. The college is also requiring eligible students and staff to get a COVID-19 booster. COVID-19 surges in Rhode Island: Read more This article originally appeared on the Cranston Patch Ghost Doctor (Viu) Every month, we tell you about all the new shows on terrestrial and cable channels, as well as whats streaming on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Go, Viu, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video BBC Player, and iQiyi. Highlights If you liked The Suicide Squad, then you'll happy to see spin-off Peacemaker on HBO Go this month. For action buffs, there's action thriller The Tourist debuting on BBC First and Snowpiercer returning for a third season on Netflix. But if 2021 got you down, then comedy murder-mystery The Afterparty might just tickle you on Apple TV+. D&D players will rejoice at Amazon Prime Video's adult fantasy animation The Legend of Vox Machina. And K-drama folks, you've got Ghost Doctor on Viu to sate those cravings. The Tourist (2 Jan) BBC First (StarHub Ch 502) This mystery thriller, follows an amnesiac British man (Jamie Dornan) who wakes up in a hospital after being followed by a vast tanker truck trying to drive him off the road in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback. But his killers are still after him, and it's up to this stranger to find out who he really is in order to survive. Will he find out who he was and more importantly, will he find out who he is now? Yes, that's Fifty Shades' Jamie Dornan in the lead role of The Man (because he's amnesiac and hence doesn't know his true identity). While such mystery dramas are always fun for the audience, who get to learn about the protagonist alongside him, what makes this show a bit more interesting is the choice of setting. Characters in the Australian outback certainly aren't going to be ready for assassins on the loose (far deadlier things lurk in nature), so how will they end up helping the main character? Ghost Doctor (4 Jan) Viu, tvN (Singtel TV Ch 518, StarHub TV Ch 824, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9.15pm) This drama revolves around Cha Young-min (Rain), whos the arrogant and selfish star doctor at a hospital. At the same hospital is Go Seung-tak (Kim Bum), a new resident doctor who happens to be the son of the hospital's chairman. But when disaster befalls Cha Young-min, he ends up possessing Go Seung-tak's body with hilarious results. Story continues Remember when Rain was trying to make it big in Hollywood in the 2010s? Fortunately, he's turned his sights back to Korea, which has been great for everyone (including him). I'm not very sure he can convincingly portray a master surgeon (controlling precise finger movements for surgery certainly doesn't seem like something that you can do with joysticks, as seen in the trailer), but then again he doesn't need to his character is possessing someone else, after all. Peacemaker (HBO Go) Peacemaker (13 Jan) HBO Go This superhero action drama will explore the origins of violent and vainglorious character Peacemaker, who believes in achieving peace at any cost. It's a spinoff from 2021's The Suicide Squad. But when you believe that peace is worth it no matter how people have to die, just how peaceful of a character can you truly be? It also stars Danielle Brooks as Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante, Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Steve Agee as Economos, Chukwudi Iwuji as Murn, and Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith. As the trailer says, Peacemaker is a "clown... but there's something about him that's sad." I think that sums up the Peacemaker character, which is why he's so entertaining to watch. But we get to delve into Peacemaker's character here, and it's a chance for John Cena to stretch his acting chops (rather than his muscles). Will we get to see a different side of Cena in this series? I hope so! Snowpiercer (Season 3) (25 Jan) Netflix Snowpiercer (Netflix) This post-apocalyptic science fiction dystopian thriller returns for a third season. It centres around the titular Snowpiercer, a massive train that circles the globe in a world where Earth has become a frozen wasteland. Season 3 picks up with Layton (Diggs) and his inner circle commanding a small 10-car pirate train in search of Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) and a possible warm location to restart civilization; while back on Snowpiercer, Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) is consolidating power, awaiting Laytons return. So it looks like Melanie may have survived (remember she sacrificed herself at the end of Season 2?). And what's this mysterious "New Eden" mentioned in the trailer? Could it be that Melanie found the last vestiges of humanity and there's hope for the world? Only the next season can tell us what happens next. The Afterparty (28 Jan) Apple TV+ This murder-mystery comedy series is centred on a death at a high school reunion, with each episode exploring a different characters account of the fateful evening in question. Detective Danner (Tiffany Hadish) must interview all the suspects to find out what really happened. It boasts a star-studded cast of comedians including Sam Richardson, Zoe Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou, and Dave Franco. Shows with unreliable narrators are always intriguing (which parts are objective and which parts are prejudiced?), which is what this show promises. But given that everyone's unreliability is grounded in comedy, it looks like it's going to be a riot. And since all the characters look like egomaniacs, watching the veritable clash of the titans (in terms of pride) will be fun. The Legend of Vox Machina (28 Jan) Amazon Prime Video The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon Prime Video) This adult fantasy animation is based on the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. It shows the origin of the seven-member Vox Machina team as they go on a quest to save the realm from terrifying monsters and dark magical forces. The adventurers will face undead giants, overthrow a sinister necromancer, and confront a powerful curse has taken root inside their own group. Through it all, they learn how to function as a team, and discover theyre much more than that: theyre family. If you're a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) player (or any type of tabletop RPG, really), you're going to want to watch this series. Fantasy series are aplenty, but one that adheres to the D&D rules system and shows you evocative ways that your powers work? Sign me up for it! The fact that it's not kid-oriented, unlike the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons animated series, makes it an interesting sell. There's a market for adult animation (get your head out of the gutter, not that kind!), and this show proves that. Terrestrial Suria X (2 Jan, Sundays 8.30pm) U Turn Ke Syurga (2 Jan, Sundays 9.30pm) Dualiti (6 Jan, Thurdays 11pm) Lesung vs Blender (9 Jan, Sundays 10.30pm) Cable Animax (StarHub Ch 542; Singtel Ch 342) Orient (Part 1) (6 Jan, Thursdays 7.30pm) Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy (31 Jan, Mondays to Tuesdays 10pm) AXN (StarHub CCH 511; Singtel Ch 304) Amazing Race (Season 33) (6 Jan, Thursdays 7.55pm) The Red Road (6 Jan, Thursdays 9.45pm) Hudson & Rex (Season 3) (10 Jan, Mondays to Wednesdays 8.50pm) BBC Earth (StarHub CH 407) Chasing Monsters (Season 5) (30 Jan, Sundays 9pm) The Green Planet (10 Jan, Mondays 8.05pm) One Cup: A Thousand Stories (release date TBA) BBC First (StarHub Ch 502) Doctor Who: New Year Day's Special (2 Jan) The Tourist (2 Jan) Annika (7 Jan) Father Brown (Season 9) (21 Jan) Midsomer Murders (22 Jan) BBC Lifestyle (StarHub Ch 432) The Great British Bake Off (Season 2) (1 Jan, Saturdays 10.50am) Extraordinary Places To Eat (Season 2) (17 Jan, Mondays 7.25pm) CBeebies (StarHub Ch 303) Number 1 Newton Avenue (3 Jan, Mondays 8.15pm) CinemaWorld (StarHub Ch 613) The Order of Things (9 Jan, Sunday 9pm) The Wallet (23 Jan. Sunday 8.40pm) GEM (StarHub Ch 814; Singtel Ch 519) Bananaman's Gotcha Gourmet! (21 Jan, Fridays 8.15pm) Duty and Revenge (22 Jan, Saturdays 8.40pm) Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi To Akashic Records (11 Jan, Mondays to Fridays 11.4opm) Tokyo Revengers (27 Jan, Mondays to Fridays 11.4opm) tvN (Singtel TV Ch 518, StarHub TV Ch 824) Ghost Doctor (4 Jan, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9.15pm) HBO The Gilded Age (25 Jan, Tuesdays 10am and 10pm) National Geographic (StarHub Ch 411; Singtel Ch 201) Narco Wars: The Mob (7 Jan, Fridays 11pm) Disaster Engineered (Season 2) (10 Jan, Mondays 9pm) The 80s Top Ten (21 Jan, Fridays 9pm) Airport Security: Madrid (Season 2) (23 Jan, Thursdays 11pm) Nat Geo Wild (StarHub Ch 413; Singtel Ch 207) On The Brink (Season 2) (Sundays 8.30pm & 9pm) Dog Impossible: Never Too Late (19 Jan, Wednesdays 8.30pm) ONE (StarHub 823 [Mandarin], StarHub 124 [Malay]; Singtel Ch 513 [Mandarin], Singtel Ch 604 [Malay]) 2021 SBS Gayo Daejun (1 Jan, Saturday 5pm) Unasked Family (3 Jan, Mondays 6pm) 2021 SBD Drama Awards (6 Jan, Thursdays 8.10pm) Through the Darkness (15 Jan, Saturdays 9.45pm) Streaming Amazon Prime Video The Tender Bar (7 Jan) Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (14 Jan) The Legend of Vox Machina (28 Jan) Apple TV+ El Deafo (7 Jan) The Tragedy of Macbeth (movie) (14 Jan) Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (21 Jan) Servant (Season 3) (21 Jan) The Afterparty (28 Jan) BBC Player The Cleaner (1 Jan) Disney+ The Faraway Paladin (5 Jan) Chibi Tiny Tales (12 Jan) Called To The Wild (12 Jan) The John Dykes Show (14 Jan) The Informant: Fear And Faith In The Homeland (21 Jan) Hit Monkey (26 Jan) The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (28 Jan) The Sinfluener of Soho (28 Jan) HBO Go Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts (1 Jan) Peacemaker (13 Jan) Netflix The Hook Up Plan (Season 3) (1 Jan) Rebelde (5 Jan) Dota: Dragon's Blood (Season 2) (6 Jan) The Wasteland (movie) (6 Jan) Hype House (7 Jan) Mother/Android (movie) (7 Jan) Undercover (Season 3) (10 Jan) How I Fell In Love With A Gangster (movie) (12 Jan) Chosen (13 Jan) Photocopier (movie) (13 Jan) The Journalist (13 Jan) After Life (Season 3) (14 Jan) Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (14 Jan) The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman (18 Jan) Heavenly Bites: Mexico (19 Jan) Juanpis Gonzalez - The Series (19 Jan) Too Hot To Handle (Season 3) (19 Jan) Midnight Asia: Eat Dance Dream (20 Jan) Munich - The Edge Of War (movie) (21 Jan) That Girl Lay Lay (21 Jan) Ada Twist, Scientist (Season 2) (25 Jan) Neymar: The Perfect Chaos (25 Jan) Snowpiercer (Season 3) (25 Jan) The Sinner (Season 4: Percy) (26 Jan) Framed! A Sicilian Murder Mystery (27 Jan) Angry Birds: Summer Madness (28 Jan) Feria: The Darkest Light (28 Jan) Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness (28 Jan) Home Team (movie) (28 Jan) The Orbital Children - (28 Jan) The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window (28 Jan) All Of Us Are Dead (release date TBA) I Am Georgina (release date TBA) Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein (release date TBA) Viu Ghost Doctor (4 Jan) Don't Go Too Far (movie) (7 Jan) The Suspect (movie) (7 Jan) Memories Of The Sword (movie) (7 Jan) Through The Darkness (15 Jan) Get more TV and movie news from Yahoo Life on our Entertainment page. Araceli Zavala, 30 (back center), with kids Areli, 12 (right); Ashley, 6 (front middle); and Marcos, 9. Zavala overcame a troubled childhood by focusing on her education. As a single mom, she hopes to complete it one day. When recent family illnesses caused her to miss work and fall behind, Season of Sharing helped her catch up in time for Christmas. For as long as Araceli Zavala can remember, a hunger for education burned like a fire in her belly. It spurred her as a child, between field work and the cable lash. It steered her into the laundry closet to study after midnight. And it pushed her as a teen to leave home to stay in school. Now at age 30 and a single mom fatigued and overwhelmed she clings to the fires embers, hoping one day soon to stoke them fully, to fan them into a glorious blaze before they can burn out. Season of Sharing: Sarasota school psychologist hit by wave of loss and grief is helped by Season of Sharing More: Season of Sharing helps after a devastating accident impacts large Arcadia family Zavala recalls like yesterday her younger self at age 10, a girl in a classroom, lost and confused in a maelstrom of words. It was 2001, and her parents had just brought her and her little brother from Mexico to Arcadia to work in the orange groves. Zavala didnt know any English, and no one around her in school spoke Spanish. Persistent and eager, she fought to stay atop math and other subjects with her classmates in fifth grade. But one area vexed her: reading. To help, teachers let her sit in with third graders for that class. I had the ability, she said. I wanted to learn. Within three months, Zavala was reading aloud for the class in English grasping the language at a wicked-fast pace. Soon she was getting straight As in all her classes. Few at the school knew the price that she paid. At home, she said, where she lived in a trailer with her brother and parents, her mother expected her to clean, cook and tend to the home. Zavala was left with no time to study, told that education was wasted on a girl. She wanted me to help with responsibilities that were not mine, Zavala said of her mother. But Zavala envisioned more for her life, something far from her mother and the fields where she and her brother worked with their parents on weekends. If Zavala were late or slipped up on chores before or after school, she said, her mother would administer a whooping with a cable, the blows coming down across her arms and back. Story continues Zavala started wearing long-sleeve shirts to school to hide the bruises. But one woman did take notice of the troubled young girl. Her name was Sister Teresa Gomez, who worked with Catholic Charities in Arcadia. At the time, the agency ran a transport van to its after-school programs, and Sister Teresa saw to it that Zavala and her brother got permission to attend. Season of Sharing: North Port nurse and single mom overcomes troubled past; gets boost from Season of Sharing More: Stories untold: abuse survivors and vulnerable children helped by Season of Sharing Zavala basked in the warmth and attention the nun showed her, the womans affection standing in for the maternal support she so badly sought. For the first time, Zavala said, she felt loved. But two years later Sister Teresa moved, and Zavala lost her advocate. Transport to Catholic Charities programs was also cut. Heading into middle school, Zavala continued to get top marks and stay on the honor roll. Teachers, though, thought her English needed improvement and encouraged after-school tutoring. Her mother, she said, wouldnt allow it. In high school, Zavalas responsibilities grew after her father got sick. She and her brother not only worked with their mother in the fields on weekends. Now many times they also had to miss school on weekdays, laboring in the groves from 5 in the morning until 7 at night. Between it all, Zavala still carried the burden in the home cooking, cleaning, washing and drying the familys laundry. Zavala pushed harder than ever at her studies, knowing it was her way out. After her parents and brother went to bed, she locked herself in the laundry closet until 1 or 2 a.m. with her books. I was doing my homework while everyone slept, she said. I fought a lot for my education. Despite the demands at home, she still made it to the honor roll, repeatedly winning commendations as student of the month. She watched with an ache as friends mothers attended their awards ceremonies and field trips. By contrast, her own mother, she said, talked for years of pulling her out of school to work more. If it wasnt for the law, I wouldnt have been able to finish, she said. But once Zavala turned 18 in her junior year, her mother insisted she had to quit. Zavalas father, who supported her education, said no. Her parents argued about it, but Zavala had enough. Fearing what might come next if she stayed, she moved out of the home and into an apartment with a boyfriend four years older. That was the only solution I could find to keep going to school, she said. By her senior year, she was pregnant. Still, she didnt stop, dropping off baby Areli at a Head Start daycare center before getting to her own classes before the first bell. At 19, when she walked across the stage for her high school diploma, Areli, by then 1, was in the audience. But when the relationship with Arelis father fell apart, Zavala moved back in with her parents. Dreams of continuing her education were put on hold while she worked harvesting watermelons. The living arrangement lasted less than a year, when her parents talked of getting custody of Areli. Zavala moved out once more, again to the home of a boyfriend, repeating a pattern. When I got with somebody, it was to run away from the reality Im facing, she said. With the second boyfriend, they had two children together Marcos and Ashley. As the three kids grew older and her boyfriend worked a father figure to all the children Zavala was a stay-at-home mom, throwing herself into the role. I wanted to give them a childhood I didnt have, she said. She lavished her daughters and son with hugs and kisses. She attended so many of their school field trips and activities that teachers hinted that it would be good to give the kids some space. Season of Sharing: Sarasota Schools instructor with dreams of art juggles crushing family health bills More: Sarasota social worker used to helping others gets rent help through Season of Sharing What I am with my kids, thats the mom I wanted, she said. Zavala hung her old school commendations on the walls over the years, not forgetting her dreams. While employed at a daycare for RCMA a nonprofit that operates 66 child development centers serving underprivileged children she realized her passion: to work in family support. For this she would need to go back to school, and RCMA was known to help its employees with professional development. But by now, her relationship was unraveling. Haunted by old patterns and the scars of her own childhood, Zavala sought therapy with her boyfriend. What my mom has done to me has marked me my whole life, she said. In the end, despite their efforts, they separated two years ago, and Zavala and the children moved into a three-bedroom house at Casa San Juan Bosco, the affordable farmworker housing units run by Catholic Charities. Zavala took a full-time job at a meatpacking plant near Sarasota where she had already been picking up part-time shifts. As a single mom the last two years, she is exhausted. Her commute can drag out to two hours one way, with traffic. Often she gets home after 9 p.m., relieving the babysitter and tending to the kids Areli, now 12; Marcos, 9; and Ashley, about to turn 6. Her long hours mean she often cant make the kids events, including a recent school ceremony where Ashley was honored for her high marks. That killed me, Zavala said. When the kids get sick which they often do, with Marcos heart condition and Ashleys frequent ear infections she must miss work to take them to the doctor. Recently, her father had a stroke and moved in with them, causing her to lose more work hours for his doctor visits. (She no longer speaks to her mother.) With no vacation or paid sick leave, Zavala started falling behind on bills ahead of the holidays. To help, Catholic Charities stepped in. Sister Ann De Nicolo, director of prevention support services for Catholic Charities in Arcadia, tapped Season of Sharing to cover Decembers rent and utilities, a total of almost $700. Season of Sharing: Help your neighbors in need by donating now She is an incredible young woman, De Nicolo said of Zavala and everything that she has overcome. She really knows what she wants and she goes for it. Zavala said she also received gift cards to buy the kids toys and other items for Christmas, including a princess castle that Areli spent two hours putting together for her little sister. The aid gave Zavala room to breathe, allowing her to purchase additional presents for the kids in the way of clothes. Fatigue tugging at her face one recent morning, Zavala said though she has taken down her high school commendations that once hung on the wall, she still holds onto her educational dreams. She would love to resume a job with RCMA. But if she leaves an agriculture post, she will stop qualifying for farmworker housing at Casa. Rents for similar-sized houses, she knows, would cost three times as much in the current real estate market, and she cant afford it. She currently works with authorization under the immigration policy known as DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. She hopes to be a citizen someday and believes shell reach her educational goals, even if it takes her into her 40s. When I finish my role with my kids, I will go back for my education, she said. For now, they are the fire that keeps her going, though she hasnt given up on her own. The day you stop dreaming is the day that life ends. How to help Season of Sharing was created 21 years ago as a partnership between the Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to get emergency funds to individuals and families on the brink of homelessness in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. There are no administrative fees and no red tape every dollar donated goes to families in need to help with rental assistance, utility bills, child care and other expenses. Donations to Season of Sharing may be made online at cfsarasota.org/donors/support-season-of-sharing, or by sending a check (payable to the Community Foundation of Sarasota County) to Attn. Season of Sharing, 2635 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, FL 34237. Contact the foundation at 941-955-3000 for more information or to request a credit card form. All donations are tax-deductible. This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Single mom dreaming of an education helped by Season of Sharing Sony unveiled its Vision-S 02 SUV at CES Tuesday and said it can connect remotely to a PlayStation. The seven-seater vehicle also features 360-degree surround-sound capability, Sony said. Sony's CEO said the company is creating a new subsidiary, Sony Mobility, to crack the EV market. Sony on Tuesday unveiled a prototype SUV that can connect remotely to a PlayStation console, as it announced it's setting up a new company to crack the booming electric vehicle market. In a presentation at the CES tech show, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said his company will launch a new subsidiary, Sony Mobility, this spring. In a press release on its website, Sony said it intends to use Sony Mobility to "explore entry into the EV market." During his presentation at CES, Yoshida showed off a prototype 7-seater electric SUV called the Vision-S 02. He said the car features 360-degree surround-sound and gaming capabilities. Sony said the Vision-S 02 can connect remotely to a PlayStation console at home, to be played on the vehicle's front panoramic screen or individual rear-seat displays. PlayStation is owned by Sony. In 2020, Sony unveiled its Vision-S prototype to showcase the batteries and sensors it sells to other automakers. Sony did not immediately respond to Insider's request for details about how big Sony Mobility will be and where it will be based. Watch the Vision-S 02 concept movie: Read the original article on Business Insider On Jan. 17, the nation will celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember how long it took to get Dr. Kings birthday to become a state holiday and then a national one. Advertisement Dr. King was assassinated in 1968; that same year the late U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., of Michigan, first introduced a bill take make his birthday a national holiday. Meanwhile, in Maryland, I worked with late state Del. Kenneth L. Webster to make Kings birthday a state holiday. We achieved this in 1974, and Maryland became the second state to honor Dr. King with a holiday. Advertisement The late Del. Aris T. Allen Sr., an African American, was the only delegate from Anne Arundel County to vote for that bill. The other delegates from the county either abstained or voted no. When a reluctant President Ronald Reagan signed legislation for the national holiday in 1983, for many of us it was a great milestone. So much has happened over the years since that historic moment. One of the lessons I learned from those decades of struggle is the importance of controlling the narrative and telling your own story in your own way. I will never forget that I had an opportunity to ask the late Rosa Parks a question at First Baptist Church in Annapolis, and I have never forgotten her answer. If you ask most people why was Rosa Parks arrested, they usually answer, She was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955. When I asked Mrs. Parks why she arrested she said. For refusing to give up my dignity. Advertisement I knew right then the importance of controlling the narrative. It is important that we take the time to teach our children who Martin Luther King Jr. was. Also, it is important to explain to them why he was murdered. Over the years, my admiration for Dr. King, Malcolm X and that generation of leaders has increased tremendously. I realized the sacrifices that they made. I know the price that they paid. This year, the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial breakfast will be held virtually because of the pandemic, on Jan. 17. The 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner will be at 6 p.m., Jan. 14 in Linthicum Heights. Attending the dinner will U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen Jr., U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown, Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby, County Executive Steuart Pittman, and Mayor Gavin Buckley. Advertisement You may purchase tickets for the dinner at www.mlkjrmd.org, and for the breakfast you may call Eugene Peterson at 301-538-0887. I end this with one of my favorite Dr. King quotes, " If you cant fly, then run, if you cant run, then walk, if you cant walk, then crawl, but whatever you do keep moving forward. The main hangar at Spaceport America in Sierra County, N.M., nicknamed "the Gateway to Space," is pictured on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. Racketeering, securities fraud and whistleblower persecutions are just the top notes in a sweeping civil complaint filed against the state of New Mexico with explicit references to state officials, Spaceport America staff and others by the facility's former chief financial officer. In a 250-page complaint filed in the state's first judicial district in Santa Fe, Zach De Gregorio alleges he was effectively terminated after he filed a whistleblower complaint that triggered a 2020 investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement, ethical violations and abuse of power by the spaceport's former director, Dan Hicks. Hicks, who did not comment publicly on the claims, was terminated in 2021 and succeeded by Scott McLaughlin. Spaceport America, constructed in Sierra County with public funds between 2006 and 2012, is on state trust land close to White Sands Missile Range and also maintains business offices in Las Cruces. The civil complaint seeks damages De Gregorio claims to have suffered in the aftermath of protected whistleblower activity, while aiming numerous accusations of criminal violations at elected officers and state officials. The request seeks a jury trial on his claims. De Gregorio appears to be representing himself in the matter. He also published a video statement about his allegations on YouTube. He did not immediately respond to an interview request from the Las Cruces Sun-News. Spaceport America declined to comment on his complaint Tuesday. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office said it would not comment on pending litigation. Besides seeking to clear his name and push back on claims about his own actions at the spaceport, De Gregorio is alleging the refinancing of spaceport tax bonds after his departure was a fraud against taxpayers and investors amounting to more than $200 million. Former Spaceport America CFO Zach De Gregorio is seen in a portrait provided by his office. De Gregorio, who now resides in Arizona, alleges a broad conspiracy involving Lujan Grisham, state auditor Brian Colon, state Attorney General Hector Balderas, spaceport personnel and the New Mexico Finance Authority "to commit procurement fraud, commit securities fraud, break multiple Federal laws, and commit violations of the NM Whistleblower Protection Act." Story continues While the filing states several complaints about Colon's office, the state auditor noted that only "the state of New Mexico" is named as a party to the case as initially filed. On that basis, he said, "Im not named in the complaint, my office has not been named in the complaint and I have yet to be served." Reached by phone, Colon did not respond further to the pending litigation but said of his office, "We take confidentiality with the gravity it deserves, 100 percent of the time." De Gregorio called the investigative report prepared for the state auditor's office by the Albuquerque forensic accounting firm McHard "deeply flawed" and a prop in a "smear campaign" against him. McHard managing partner Beth Mohr responded to the Sun-News: "Our professional standards of client confidentiality preclude discussing client business." McHard's November 2020 report scrutinized De Gregorio's activities as well, alleging that he assisted Hicks in circumventing procurement code, evading internal controls and it recommended investigating possible violations of professional standards for certified public accountants. Dan Hicks, the former executive director of Spaceport America, speaks at New Mexico State University on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Hicks was terminated the following year over an investigation into financial practices and allegations of mismanagement at New Mexico's spaceport. De Gregorio's complaint vehemently denies those findings and claims he was targeted for whistleblowing and suffered long-term damage to his professional reputation. In the complaint, De Gregorio alleges he faced retaliation after submitting his report to the governor's office and the state Economic Development Department, which oversees the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The complaint presents his June 2020 resignation as an effective termination in the midst of a hostile work environment at the spaceport, which developed even before his whistleblower report was publicized in news reports. In addition to his previously reported complaints about Hicks, he states he had reported actions by state Economic Development Secretary Alicia Keyes, who chairs the board of directors governing the spaceport. He alleges that procurement violations continued after he left, including even the procurement of McHard's investigation, for which he argues payment was divided among separate purchase orders to avoid competitive bidding, including a falsified voucher for $79,000. New Mexico Secretary of Economic Development Alicia Keyes speaks at a Virgin Galactic press conference in Santa Fe on Friday, May 10, 2019. Besides violations of state whistleblower protections, De Gregorio alleges the governor's office met confidentially with the spaceport's anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, to discuss additional staff support for the company's activities at the expense of the spaceport's other tenants and customers, which would violate the state constitution's anti-donation clause. The Sun-News has reached out to Virgin Galactic for a response. Accusations against Keyes Among his accusations against Keyes, De Gregorio accuses her of ordering him to alter a report that projected the spaceport's economic impact at almost $1 billion between 2016 and 2025, an order he stated he refused and reported. From left, Dan Hicks appears with John Tysseling of Moss Adams at a press conference at the New Mexico state capitol in Santa Fe. Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. In a new lawsuit, the spaceport's former CFO alleges he was asked to revise the report's projections and refused to do so. The projections were announced at the state Capitol in January 2020, prior to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent delays in Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceflight program. De Gregorio also alleges Keyes improperly interfered with efforts to refinance gross receipts tax bonds valued at $47 million in an effort to save taxpayer money. By refinancing the bonds through the New Mexico Finance Authority without a competitive request for proposals, De Gregorio claims the spaceport authority committed securities fraud and cheated taxpayers, issuing bonds with disclosure statements that were fraudulent. He argues this was a motive behind forcing him out and silencing him. Sierra and Dona Ana counties both enacted local taxes to help repay bonds that funded construction of the spaceport. Reports of excess revenue being used to help cover operational costs at the spaceport led to controversy among state lawmakers and local officials. Expanding on previous allegations The complaint also expands on previous allegations that Hicks pressured De Gregorio to circumvent procurement rules and financial controls, and accessed staff members' email accounts. A sign is posted on a fence at Spaceport America on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Elaborating in the complaint, De Gregorio claims senior spaceport staff pressured and retaliated against him, while engaging in sex discrimination against female accounting staff members and conspiring to conceal information on the agency's spending from Santa Fe. Further, he implicates management in procurement fraud and resisting his advice as CFO. The complaint names the spaceport's new director, McLaughlin, as a participant in these actions. McLaughlin succeeded Hicks as the spaceport's director last year. De Gregorio also alleges that spaceport staff resisted acting on reports of a spaceport customer, who was allegedly quarantining on the property during the COVID-19 emergency, receiving and ingesting illegal psychedelic drugs while there. He states that after he communicated his concerns about the spaceport's management to longtime board member Rick Holdridge, a former chairman, Holdridge was "suddenly removed from the board" by Lujan Grisham ahead of a meeting where the investigation was discussed and action taken on Hicks' employment. Pointing to the law creating the spaceport authority, De Gregorio alleges Holdridge's removal was illegal and calls for him to be reinstated. The law states that board members "shall be residents of the state and shall serve for terms of four years." Rick Holdridge After Hicks was placed on administrative leave and spaceport general counsel Melissa Force was briefly named acting CEO, De Gregorio says spaceport management used the investigation to target De Gregorio himself, threatening him with termination and potential criminal referrals. CFO claims state retaliated against him Taking aim at the state auditor, De Gregorio alleges that Colon intentionally publicized findings from the investigation that recommended further investigation of potential wrongdoing by De Gregorio as part of a conspiracy to smear him and shield the agency and state officials from accountability. De Gregorio states that he "found himself jobless during a global pandemic and economic recession," forcing him to leave New Mexico, and has had to answer to news coverage of the spaceport investigation and his own actions in employment interviews. His complaint includes one email from an employer stating outright that he would not be considered for a job because of the scandal. The main hangar at Spaceport America is pictured at the remote southern New Mexico facility on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. Implicating Balderas in the alleged conspiracy, De Gregorio disputes an informal opinion letter the Attorney General's Office issued regarding gross receipts taxes, in which the office stated that use of excess revenues for operational expenses was improper. He states that a follow-up letter from the AG's Office, issued the following day and stating that "no conclusion has been reached" regarding individual criminal liability over the spaceport investigation, was evidence of collusion in a plot to smear him and cover up fraud in the refinancing of the bonds. In a statement, the Attorney General's Office said, "Our office is familiar with the complaint and it is unclear as to whether or not it raises any new allegations, but we are reviewing the complaint and will respond accordingly." De Gregorio is seeking back pay dating to his June 2020 departure, lost future earnings and other financial damages as well as punitive damages and legal costs. His complaint also asks the court for numerous other actions, including a declaration that the bond refinancing is invalid, a public apology, an order barring state officials "from making any further negative public statements" about him and scrubbing the McHard investigation from state websites. Read the complaint here: Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Spaceport America's former CFO sues New Mexico over 2020 investigation KEWAUNEE COUNTY - The Kewaunee County Board won't see many new faces following the spring elections, which has just one contested race, but the city of Kewaunee will have a new mayor and Algoma's longtime mayor will face a challenge from a past mayor. At the county level, 17 of its 20 incumbent board members filed nomination papers by Tuesday evening's deadline to seek reelection in the April 5 election, and all 17 will run unopposed. Three board members filed papers saying they won't seek reelection: Doak Baker in District 4, Matthew Piesler in District 5 and John Wochos in District 10. The only one of these seats being contested is in District 4 (covering the Town of Luxemburg, Ward 2, and Town of Red River, Ward 3), with longtime local veterans' advocates Nelly DeBaker and Dennis Langteau each submitting nomination papers. Scott D. Browne filed papers to run for Wochos' seat in District 10 (Town of Franklin), while no one has filed for District 5 (Village of Luxemburg, Wards 4-5). Also at the county level is a race for circuit court judge with Jeff Wisnicky and Kimberly Hardtke vying to replace Judge Keith Mehn, who decided to not seek reelection after serving one six-year term before he died of cancer Dec. 25. Wisnicky, who lost to Mehn in the 2016 election for the bench, has served as Kewaunee County's Corporation Counsel since 2007 and was named the county's human resources director in 2021. Hardtke has served in the Brown County District Attorneys office since 2016, first as a special prosecutor before being named assistant district attorney in 2017. Algoma Voters in Algoma will have two contested races for city offices. Wayne Schmidt, mayor since 2012 and before that from 1994 to 2002, faces a challenge for a sixth term from Virginia Haske, who served as mayor from 2003 to 2012 and currently represents District 16 on the County Board. All four City Council members whose terms are up this April are seeking reelection: Kevin Schmidt in District 1, Scott Meverden (District 2), Casey Buhr (District 3) and Jake Maring (District 4), but Eric Dean is challenging Buhr in District 3. Story continues Kewaunee Mayor Jason Jelinek chose to not seek reelection after completing one term in office. Current 1st District Common Council member Jeff Vollenweider will be the only candidate on the ballot to replace Jelinek. The four council races also are all uncontested, with incumbents James Brewster and Janita Zimmerman nominated in Districts 2 and 3, Kathy Brown nominated to replace Vollenweider in District 1 and Eric Wisnicky the only candidate in District 4 after council member Dan Stangel chose to not seek another term. Luxemburg Three village trustee seats will be on the ballot in April, but all three incumbents Daniel Olson, Dan Porath and Lori Hurley are seeing reelection and unopposed. Casco Two candidates are registered to run for the two seats up for election on the village board: incumbent Tim Kinnard and Chad Cochart. Trustee Francis Gilson is not seeking another term. Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com. Our subscribers make this coverage possible. Subscribe to a USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin site today with one of our special offers support local journalism. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County elections: Algoma mayor challenged by former mayor STAMFORD, CT In an effort to help curb the spread of COVID-19, K-12 schools statewide have received COVID-19 tests from the Connecticut Departments of Education and Public Health. During Mayor Caroline Simmons' bi-weekly COVID-19 update Tuesday, Superintendent of Stamford Public Schools Dr. Tamu Lucero said the district picked up "numerous test kits" for students and staff. Lucero did not disclose how many tests the district received. Overall on Tuesday, 670,000 iHealth and FlexFlow tests were sent to public and private K-12 schools and early childcare providers statewide. Each district has been allocated a predetermined number of kits based on a percentage of total students and staff. Gov. Ned Lamont said this allocation is the first phase of his administration's distribution of self-tests for schools and early childcare providers, and he anticipates additional allocations to be announced in the coming days as the state continues securing more tests from vendors. The CT Department of Education provided school officials with guidance recommending that the tests be used under three circumstances: If a child or staff person exhibits symptoms and needs to be screened for COVID-19. If a child or staff member has a direct exposure to an individual with COVID-19. If a class or program is experiencing multiple cases of COVID-19, a school may want to distribute tests to all students in that classroom if they have difficulty accessing tests. "We're really excited that now when we have a student or staff members who are having symptoms and we're sending them home, we cannot say to them, 'So please be tested. Find a test on your own.' We'll be able to hand them a test and they'll be able to take that test when they get home and make some determinations on whether or not they tested positive for COVID," Lucero said, calling the fight against COVID-19 a collaborative effort. "I'm so proud of the work all of our staff and our teachers and our administrators are doing to support students, because we know in-person learning is the best learning that can happen. Story continues "Anything this community can do to make sure we're all working really hard to wear our masks and really be safe, I think it'll make it better for all of us, especially for our students so we can make sure they get back to school in a really normal fashion in the next few weeks," Lucero added. Lamont said the tests will help ensure students stay in school. "Keeping students in school in a safe and healthy learning environment has been one of my top priorities, and providing these self-tests to schools and early childcare providers will be another component in our efforts toward getting this done," Lamont said in a news release Tuesday. "Amid a worldwide scramble to obtain tests, our administration is continuing to work with vendors to get as many tests here as possible, and we will continue working with our school districts to help fulfill these needs." This article originally appeared on the Stamford Patch Richard Marcinko in an undated photo. Facebook Richard Marcinko, founder and first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six, died on Christmas Day. Marcinko had a long and unique career, earning attention for his leadership and unconventional style. Despite the blemishes on his record, Marcinko is remembered by many as a special-operations visionary. As a turbulent year ended, the Navy SEAL community lost one of its most influential and controversial members. Retired Cmdr. Richard "Dick" Marcinko, the founder and first commanding officer of the elite SEAL Team Six, died at 81 on Christmas Day. The famous Navy SEAL's military career got off to a rough start. When a young Marcinko went to his local Marine Corps recruiting office to enlist, he was shown the door for not having a high-school diploma. But the Navy accepted an eager Marcinko as a radioman. Hungry for adventure and hardship, Marcinko volunteered for Naval Special Warfare and graduated from the grueling Underwater Demolition training, getting assigned to Underwater Demolition Team 21. Seeing his natural leadership and promise, his superiors recommended Marcinko for the Navy's Officer Candidate School, and soon he became an officer. He later deployed to Vietnam with SEAL Team Two. Marcinko, then a US Navy commander, in 1978 US Navy "Demo Dick," as he became known, was highly decorated, earning the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor under fire, and four Bronze Stars, as well as the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry during his two combat tours in Vietnam. The North Vietnamese so feared him that they put a bounty on his head. After the Vietnam War, Marcinko was the commanding officer of SEAL Team Two from 1974 to 1976. In that role, he started developing a counterterrorism capability for Naval Special Warfare. At the start, it was only a cell, known as "Mobility 6," within SEAL Team Two. But when the Iranian hostage crisis highlighted the need for a dedicated counterterrorism force, the Navy tasked Marcinko with developing an equivalent to the Army's Delta Force. Story continues SEAL Team 6 Richard Marcinko. YouTube/AUMAlumni There were only two SEAL teams at the time, but Marcinko, a natural bluffer, chose to call the new unit SEAL Team Six to fool Soviet intelligence services into thinking there were several teams. When creating SEAL Team Six later renamed Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) Marcinko handpicked his operators from the cream of the crop of Naval Special Warfare, choosing SEALs with combat experience. The unit's plank owners included Navy SEAL legends such as Medal of Honor recipient Mike Thornton. During the unit's early days, Marcinko fired one of his junior officers. That's not an uncommon occurrence, but it wasn't the last the SEALs saw of that junior officer, who was named William McRaven. McRaven bounced back from what could have been a career-ending development and went on to lead US Special Operations Command and its subcommand, Joint Special Operations Command, both of which oversee SEAL Team Six. McRaven also commanded Operation Neptune Spear, the SEAL Team Six mission that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011. Marcinko was successful in establishing the Navy's counterterrorism unit, but his controversial ways soon clashed with Navy and SOCOM leadership. SEAL Team Six operators were effective but looked more like pirates than professional troops. "Marcinko was really the first famous SEAL. He worked hard and partied hard. He carried his unconventional ways in anything he did, and he was largely successful if you look at it in hindsight," a Navy SEAL operator, who was not authorized to speak to the press, told Insider. "Some might say that he 'poisoned' the unit he created, but that was Dick. Whatever his vices, Dick Marcinko left his mark on SEAL history and shaped it like few others," the SEAL said. In 1983, Marcinko relinquished command of his unit and moved onto the "Red Cell," a small unit designed to test and find vulnerabilities in some of the Pentagon's most classified facilities. Marcinko was "a team guy through and through" but earned a mixed reputation, a former Navy SEAL officer said. "On the one hand, he created Development Group [SEAL Team Six], but on the other hand he encouraged the wrong culture. We recently saw the ugly aspects of that culture all over the news." Controversy followed Marcinko out of the service. In 1989, he was accused of receiving $100,000 from an arms dealer in order to secure a contract with the Navy for hand grenades. The former frogman denied the charges but ended up serving 15 months of a 21-month sentence in federal prison. Despite the blemishes on his record, Marcinko left a mark on the US special-operations community and is remembered by many as a visionary who knew how to play the system and deal with red tape. "Whatever your opinion of him, the man was a leader, no question about it. He had that leadership aura that moves people to do things, to act. That's natural leadership you can't teach," a former Navy SEAL officer told Insider. "Those few fortunate to have it immediately stand out." Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. Read the original article on Business Insider On New Years Eve, with few people watching, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that 246 people died in the February 2021 winter storm that took down much of the states power grid. The new figure is 36 higher than the states previous count but is still almost certainly wrong. According to an analysis of excess deaths in the week of the power outages by BuzzFeed News, the true number is likely more than 750. Independent reports suggest this is a gross undercount and that over 700 died, tweeted Beto ORourke on Tuesday in a reference to our investigation. ORourke is a former Democratic member of Congress from El Paso who is now running to be Texas governor. He went on to blame his Republican opponent, Gov. Greg Abbott, for the deaths. They were killed by the incompetence and corruption of Abbott who was warned repeatedly about the grid's vulnerabilities but did nothing, ORourke said. And after the grid failed and hundreds died, he still did nothing. We could see more tragedy the next time Texas experiences extreme weather. Its pretty telling that the Abbott administration would try to bury these findings by releasing them on New Years Eve, ORourke told BuzzFeed News by email. Every single Texan who lost a loved one because of the power grid failure deserves an answer from Governor Abbott, and that must start with the Abbott administration acknowledging the true human toll. Abbotts office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. This was a largely avoidable disaster, federal officials reported in November. After a previous winter storm in 2011, in which the states power grid narrowly avoided a similar calamity, the federal government warned Texas that its power infrastructure was vulnerable to failure in extreme cold. Yet little had been done to winterize the grid and correct the problem in the intervening decade. In the new report on the storms death toll, the Texas health department says it searched for death certificate narratives that mentioned the winter storm as well as for suggestive language such as icy or freezing weather. It also looked for death records with causes such as hypothermia or carbon monoxide poisoning which happened as people desperately tried to keep warm when the power went off by running generators, barbecue grills, or their cars in enclosed spaces. Story continues Specifically, the report found that 161 people died from extreme cold exposure, 22 died in vehicle accidents, 19 died from carbon monoxide poisoning, 10 from fires, and nine from injuries linked to falls. Officials also concluded that 25 people died from exacerbation of pre-existing illness during the storm and its aftermath, including five from cardiovascular disease. A Department of State Health Services spokesperson told BuzzFeed News by email that it evaluated actual causes of death rather than coming up with a vague estimate of the total number. As noted in the report, we follow national standards to do so, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions for direct, indirect, and possible related disaster deaths for case ascertainment, the spokesperson said. But as BuzzFeed Newss reporting and academic studies have shown, death certificates are often inaccurate or incomplete. Only about a dozen of the 254 counties in Texas have their own medical examiners offices. Elsewhere in the state, confirming the cause of death is ultimately the responsibility of elected officials who must contract out to medical examiners in larger counties if they want a more extensive examination. The states investigation will have captured some of the deaths from the storm and power outages, but not all. For example, our analysis of death certificate data collated from the state by the CDC shows there was a clear anomaly in deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease in the week following the storm and power outages, with a spike of some 200 deaths attributed to this cause in the week ending Feb. 20 compared to the previous and following weeks. Deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease in Texas For people with underlying cardiovascular disease, its hard even for expert forensic pathologists to recognize deaths from hypothermia unless the person is found before death with a dangerously low core body temperature. So some of these people almost certainly died from unrecorded hypothermia. Scientists have also consistently found that extreme cold can push people with cardiovascular disease over the edge, which means that the states conclusion that just five people with these preexisting conditions were killed by the storm stretches credibility. We have a huge body of epidemiologic literature that shows cold temperatures are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hospitalizations, and mortality, Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, told BuzzFeed News in May as we first reported on the full toll from the storm and power outages. In the wake of last years storm, Texas legislators passed bills designed to keep the grid working during future cold spells. But those provisions were criticized for being inadequate. Almost half of Texass electricity is generated in plants fired by natural gas. But when cold weather returned to the state in December, natural gas providers curbed their production, a Bloomberg Green analysis found, suggesting they still arent able to operate smoothly in cold weather. UPDATE Jan. 05, 2022, at 19:55 PM More on this (Jade Cuevas / Los Angeles Times; Getty Images) TikTok videos with the hashtag #mentalhealth have accumulated more than 20 billion views. And that's not counting #anxiety, which has almost 11 billion views, or #adhd, with close to 9 billion. The short-video app may be known for trendy dances and goofy humor. But TikTok has also become a place for young people to share their mental health struggles, learn from therapists and find community with others facing similar challenges. In early December, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued a public health advisory calling attention to adolescent mental health challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Data from the World Health Organization shows that in 2021, one in seven adolescents ages 10 to 19 struggled with mental health challenges. That group is a key part of TikTok's audience. Nearly half of the app's active users are 10 to 29 years old. Evan Lieberman, a licensed social worker known as Evan the Counselor to his more than 1 million followers on TikTok, recognizes that social media is often responsible for the dissemination of incorrect information. But he said the benefits of more people learning and talking about mental health outweigh the potential negatives. Here's how TikTok can help people with mental health challenges but also what its limits and potential negative effects are and when it's time to seek professional help. What can TikTok mental health videos do for you? Education One of the main benefits of talking about mental health on TikTok is that users are exposed to people with different conditions, said Peter Wallerich-Neils, who's known as Peter Hyphen to his more than 416,000 followers on TikTok, where he initially began posting to discuss his diagnosis with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This helps people learn terminology, and when they find other people with their own issues, they can start a dialogue about their symptoms. But also, Wallerich-Neils said, "It's kind of holding a mirror up to themselves and they can realize, 'Oh, my gosh, I didn't realize that this is something that I thought only I dealt with' knowing that there could be a name for it. And 'I am part of this community that I didn't even know existed.'" Story continues Validation Those who may be feeling alone in their struggles often can find the validation they need, Wallerich-Neils said. Like many others, he took to social media at the beginning of the pandemic to fill the void created by the lockdowns. On TikTok, he began to analyze and share the ways that his ADHD diagnosis affected his everyday life and found that many connected with his journey. Community Dr. Kojo Sarfo, a mental health nurse practitioner and psychotherapist with more than 1.9 million followers on TikTok, said the app creates spaces where those with mental health conditions can feel that they belong. This connection is especially important for communities where mental health is rarely talked about or is even considered a taboo subject. John Piacentini, a professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, said the weight of the pandemic is heavy for adolescents. Teens and young adults have an increased need for peer interaction and a higher sensitivity to social exclusion. Lockdowns, online learning and social distancing mandates have disrupted their lives. Social media, Piacentini said, has helped to fill those gaps, and TikTok has become a new coping strategy. As our lives become more destabilized, its natural for us to seek out comfort and like-minded people. For adolescents, he said, finding community and validation on the app is not only normal but necessary for their development. What cant TikTok mental health videos do for you? The information isn't always accurate. Piacentini warns that users need to be critical of the content theyre absorbing. TikTok is a very effective platform to communicate with, but just be aware of whats being communicated, he said. Seeing a video on TikTok that you identify with can be the first step in your mental health journey, but always do more research. Consider each person's expertise and understand whether someone is giving advice based on personal experience or from a clinician's point of view. Sarfo said that even users like him, who are medical professionals, should be fact-checked. It can exacerbate symptoms. Piacentini said that some patients at the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety and Tic Disorders Clinic and Tourette Assn. Center of Excellence have been exhibiting worsened symptoms that he and other professionals believe may be a result of watching content online. He recommends avoiding anything with negative messaging or what appears to be exaggerated symptoms. While Piacentini doesn't believe that this type of content is being made maliciously, not everyone is a professional. Research shows that more frequent use of TikTok and other social media can lead to negative effects. The cyberbullying, social exclusion and drama that can occur on these networks have been associated with higher rates of mental health issues in adolescents. It's not enough information for a self-diagnosis. No two people are the same, Lieberman said, and its important to figure out what you're experiencing and not assume that you're having the same issue as someone else. If you start to identify with symptoms you see in videos, he recommended trying to learn coping skills to manage the individual symptoms rather than clumping them all together and adopting a diagnosis. Our brains are wired to imitate, like how babies learn by watching adults, Piacentini said. This means that users can begin to imitate the things theyre seeing on TikTok. In some cases, this can cause people to adopt symptoms or change their behaviors to match what's being presented on the app. Having a basic understanding of whats going on with you is important to your overall mental health, but try to keep an open mind, Wallerich-Neils said. Just because you're presenting certain symptoms doesn't mean you have that particular mental health condition. When it comes to taking on an actual diagnosis or making any major life changes such as medicating consult a mental health professional. A good place to start, Sarfo said, is with your primary care physician or pediatrician. Because mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD and burnout are so common, most general practitioners are comfortable treating and monitoring your condition. And if they aren't, they can refer you to an appropriate specialist. When to seek professional help While social media can provide some relief, it might be time to consult a professional if you notice sharp changes in your behavior, mood or relationships. David W. Bond, director of behavioral health for Blue Shield of California, told The Times that if a teen has intense feelings that last more than two weeks or has the intense feelings for most of a two-week period, thats a sign of something more serious afoot. Getting a formal diagnosis is important, but not everybody has access to mental healthcare, Wallerich-Neils said. For adolescents, who often cant get care without an adults permission, treatment can feel even further out of reach. Minors who don't feel comfortable talking to their parents should consider confiding in another trusted adult or a counselor at school. While there are exceptions for example, if the student poses a danger to themselves or others school counselors are obligated to protect confidential information received from students. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The texts from Fox News host Sean Hannity, a prominent supporter of Trump, indicate he had direct knowledge of the former president's plans for January 6 and harbored concerns for them, the Jan 6 committee said. Ethan Miller/Getty Images Sean Hannity expressed deep concern about Trump's actions before, during, and after the Capitol riot. Text messages released by the Jan. 6 committee show the extent to which he went to try to get Trump to stop the violence. But he struck a different tone on the airwaves, defending Trump and spreading conspiracy theories about the riot. The bipartisan House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot has made public a series of text messages that show how "worried" Fox News host Sean Hannity was about then-President Donald Trump's actions leading up to the insurrection. They also reveal how far Hannity went to try to get Trump to change his post-election strategy and stop the violence that unfolded at the Capitol following his "Save America" rally on January 6. On December 31, 2020 , a week before the insurrection, Hannity texted Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, expressing deep concern that Trump's efforts to overturn the election could result in mass resignations: "We can't lose the entire WH counsel's office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6 th. [sic] He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voter integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen." On the evening of January 5, 2021 , Hannity again texted Meadows warning against Trump's pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence to nullify Joe Biden's victory: "I'm very worried about the next 48 hours." He added: "Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave." As the violence was unfolding on January 6, 2021, Hannity texted Meadows about Trump calling off the mob of frenzied supporters who stormed the Capitol: "Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol," he said in one message. Hannity added: "Ask people to peacefully leave the Capitol." On January 10, 2021, when the House of Representatives was on the cusp of impeaching Trump for inciting the insurrection, Hannity said he was "not sure what is left to do or say" to stop Trump from talking about the election: "Guys, we have to clear a path to land the plane in nine days," Hannity wrote to Meadows and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. "He can't mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I'm not sure what is left to do or say, and I don't like not knowing if it's truly understood. Ideas?" Story continues The messages reflect another fissure in Hannity's relationship with Trump after the two reportedly had a falling out because Hannity was "disgusted" with Trump's lies about the election. But the Fox News host struck a vastly different tone on the airwaves. Although he condemned the violence, he repeatedly endorsed the bogus conspiracy theory that "radical groups" like antifa infiltrated the mob of Trump supporters to sow chaos at the Capitol. "Then we had the reports that groups like antifa, other radical groups I don't know the names of all of them that they were there to cause trouble," Hannity said on his radio show. The host defended Trump as recently as last month, after the House committee released an initial batch of his frantic texts to Meadows urging him to rein Trump in before, during, and after the January 6 riot. "This was a riot that was unleashed, incited and inspired by the president of the United States," commentator Geraldo Rivera said on Hannity's Fox News show. But Hannity cut in and appeared to deflect blame from Trump, saying the president had sent tweets asking rioters to behave "peacefully" hours after the siege began. Rivera replied by reminding Hannity of his own texts to Meadows, which the January 6 committee had released the previous day. "I beg you, Sean, to remember the frame of mind you were in when you wrote that text on January 6," Rivera said. Hannity's messages were included in 9,000 pages of documents Meadows turned over to the committee in response to a subpoena. Though he initially cooperated with the investigation, he's since reversed course, refusing any further help and filing a lawsuit asking a court to invalidate the committee's subpoenas to him. In a letter to Hannity on Tuesday, the leaders of the committee requested that he voluntarily cooperate with the investigation. They wrote that Hannity's communications with Trump and his top aides suggest that he had advance knowledge about "President Trump's and his legal team's planning for January 6th" and "knowledge of concerns by President Trump's White House Counsel's Office regarding the legality of the former President's plans for January 6th." The committee said it has obtained "dozens of text messages" sent between Hannity and Trump's top staffers and advisors concerning January 6. Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney urged Hannity to comply with their request out of a sense of patriotism. "We have no doubt that you love our country and respect our Constitution," they wrote. "Now is the time to step forward and serve the interests of your country." Hannity's attorney, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement to multiple media outlets that the committee's request raises First Amendment and press freedom concerns. "We are evaluating the letter from the committee," Sekulow said. "We remain very concerned about the constitutional implications especially as it relates to the First Amendment. We will respond as appropriate." Hannity was not the only Fox News host or close Trump ally to urge the former president's top aides to get him to take action to stop the Capitol riot. Fellow Fox News primetime hosts Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade also texted Meadows during the riot. "Mark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy," Ingraham wrote. Kilmeade similarly texted, "Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished." Trump's eldest son and one of his most devoted loyalists, Donald Trump Jr., also begged Meadows to appeal to Trump. "He's got to condemn this shit ASAP," Trump Jr. wrote in a text. "The Capitol Police tweet is not enough." He added: "We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand." A Fox News spokesperson referred Insider to Sekulow's statement. Jake Lahut contributed to this story. Read the original article on Business Insider This story was republished on Jan. 4, 2022 to make it free for all readers As you prepare to rent an apartment, there are a number of things to know before signing the lease, including whether there are electrical issues. In Milwaukee, it is unlikely a rental unit has been inspected by city inspectors or another government agency, even if you are receiving a rent subsidy. Electrical fires present a deadly and hidden risk that falls especially hard on low-income renters, a Journal Sentinel investigation found. That burden in Milwaukee falls disproportionately on Black renters in the city's most distressed ZIP code, 53206. But suspected electrical fires are not thoroughly investigated, masking the extent of the problem. Programs that helped keep renters safe have been eliminated in recent years. More: Electrical fires hit Milwaukee's Black renters hardest. Nobody is held accountable. Check that outlets work Use a cellphone or hair dryer to check if the outlets work before you sign the lease. Note any loose outlets or ones that are taped or show burn marks. Plugs should fit snugly into outlets. Count outlets in each room Older homes may have just one outlet per room, leading to the need for extension cords which experts agree is dangerous. Note and question any missing outlet covers. Turn on each light switch Turn on each light switch and note if lights flicker, spark or do not work and if you hear a crackling or buzzing sound. Check to ensure light fixture sockets work with a light bulb. Question any fixtures without light bulbs. Review the basement As you examine the basement, check that the electrical service box is accessible, has a panel cover and does not have unsecured wires coming from it. Also note any open junction boxes or unsecured wires overhead in the basement. Do not touch such wires. Check for any violations Check online whether the property has any current or past violations. In Milwaukee, the website is https://itmdapps.milwaukee.gov/MyMilwaukeeHome/indexSidebar.jsp Story continues Know your rights Under state law, landlords must disclose unresolved housing code violations and reveal structural defects, including electrical problems. The landlord also must disclose if the house is not served by electricity, or the wiring, fixtures or other components of the electrical system are not in safe operating condition. For more tips on electrical safety in a rental unit or home, go here: https://www.safety.com/tips-for-electrical-safety-at-home-checklist/ What to do if you have a problem If you discover problems after you have signed the lease, the first step is to contact your landlord. It is against the law for a landlord to evict you or raise rent based on any complaints that lead to the city issuing the owner a code violation. If your landlord is unresponsive, you can pursue filing a complaint with the municipal authority. Do not try to fix electrical issues on your own. Sources: Bruce Janczak, master electrician and owner of Best Electric; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Electrical Safety Foundation International; Community Advocates http://files.esfi.org/file/Give-Your-Home-an-Electrical-Safety-Checkup.pdf https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/LT-LandlordTenantGuide497.pdf Contact John Diedrich at (414) 224-2408 or jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @john_diedrich, Instagram at @john_diedrich, LinkedIn or Facebook. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tips for renters to avoid dangerous electrical fires Former President Trump is scrapping a planned news conference on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The former president had planned to use the Thursday news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., as counterprogramming for a scheduled prayer service at the Capitol to commemorate the events of Jan. 6. In a statement, Trump blamed the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 riot for the cancellation. He said he would instead touch on many of the themes he had planned to discuss at the news conference during a rally in Arizona set for Jan. 15. "In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona - It will be a big crowd!" he said. Trump was expected to use the Thursday news conference to reiterate his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud and to criticize the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers met to certify President Biden's electoral win. His remarks were expected to serve as a split screen to a solemn prayer service in Washington that will mark the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol in centuries. While Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP and its voters, his planned news conference stirred anxiety among some Republicans who feared that the party and its candidates could be forced to relitigate the 2020 election and the former president's false claim of fraud as the 2022 midterm elections near. But some of his most loyal supporters stood behind Trump's decision to mark Jan. 6 with a news conference on the 2020 election. In an interview with Fox News's Laura Ingraham on Monday, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he welcomed Trump's remarks. "President Trump has important things to say on Thursday, on Jan. 6," Banks said. "And like so many others, I'm looking forward to hearing what President Trump has to say." Still, the news conference may have carried some political risk for Trump, who is said to be weighing another run for the White House in 2024. While his baseless claim that he was robbed of victory in 2020 has caught fire among Republican voters, polling shows that most Americans believe Biden's victory was legitimate. Maryland candidate for governor John B. King has tapped Michelle Siri, the executive director of the Womens Law Center of Maryland, to run for lieutenant governor together on a ticket later this year. King, a Democrat who served as education secretary during former President Barack Obamas second term, said Siris deep dedication to public service and our shared commitment to justice, community, and belief in the transformative power of good government made her the perfect choice to join his ticket in the campaign. Advertisement Michelle Siri is an experienced and proven leader, a tireless champion for Maryland women, and I am excited and grateful to have her as a partner on our campaign, King said in a statement announcing the decision. Siri, a 44-year-old attorney who lives in Cockeysville, has led the legal advocacy group for the past seven years and previously served as board chair of Planned Parenthood of Maryland. She also previously worked as an assistant state attorney general and a lawyer in private practice. Advertisement She said she plans to use her role in the campaign and, if elected, as lieutenant governor to push for a range of progressive womens rights and family policies that she has backed for years. Ive really tried to spend my career fighting for the women of Maryland and for families, Siri said in an interview Monday with The Baltimore Sun. This is a really amazing opportunity to take that advocacy and be part of governing around the values and principles I believe in. [ 2022 Maryland governors race: Whos in, whos out, whos on the fence ] Among those issues, Siri said, would be requiring expanded paid family leave for workers in Maryland, finding ways to narrow gender pay gaps between women and men, and further enshrining abortion rights in Maryland law. Siri, who was born in the United States but spent most of her first two years of childhood in Iran before her family fled ahead of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, said her views on womens rights were shaped in part by the repressive revolutionary regime in her mothers home country. King, Siri said, offered her the chance to be a political partner not a figurehead of a running mate and she was also drawn to the former federal cabinet officials interest in the wonky details of public policy. The pair, according to Siri, share a belief in the power of government and public institutions as a force for good in peoples lives. Siri has not previously run for elected office but said she would bring years of experience as a policy advocate pushing for legislation and the perspective of a relative political outsider to the position. King, 47, served as New Yorks state commissioner of education from 2011 to 2015 before joining the Obama administration. The Silver Spring Democrat began his career as a civics and history teacher in New York City, Puerto Rico and Boston, and also worked as a principal and school administrator. Breaking News Alerts As it happens When big news breaks in our area, be the first to know. > King is one of eight Democrats contending for the partys nomination for governor in Junes primary election. Current Gov. Larry Hogan, a second-term Republican, is term-limited and not running for reelection. Advertisement Candidates have until Feb. 22 to file paperwork to run for office, including naming a running mate. King is the fourth Democrat to publicly name who will join him on a ticket for lieutenant governor. Rushern L. Baker III, a former Prince Georges County executive, has teamed up with Nancy Navarro, a member of the Montgomery County Council. Peter Franchot, the state comptroller, selected Monique Anderson-Walker, who resigned from the Prince Georges County Council after joining the campaign. And author and nonprofit executive Wes Moore picked Aruna Miller, a former state delegate and congressional candidate from Montgomery County. The other Democrats in the race are Doug Gansler, a former state attorney general; Tom Perez, a former state and federal labor secretary and former chair of the Democratic National Committee; Jon Baron, who works in public policy for a philanthropic foundation; Ashwani Jain, who held positions in the Obama White House; and Jerome Segal, who had founded the socialist Bread and Roses Party but switched his affiliation to Democrat after the party disbanded. Republican Kelly Schulz, the current state commerce secretary under Hogan, has announced plans to run for governor. So too has right-wing Del. Dan Cox, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who is running on a ticket with attorney and conservative activist Gordana Schifanelli. Perennial candidate Robin Ficker, who regularly runs for a variety of offices on an anti-tax platform, is running as a Republican as well. Baltimore County resident Joe Werner filed candidacy paperwork as a Republican with Minh Thanh Long as his running mate. Donald Trump. Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock I'm very much in favor of treating the conventional political wisdom with a healthy dose of skepticism, so I was eager to read a recent, short tweet thread from Nick Gillespie, an editor at large for the libertarian magazine Reason, asserting former President Donald Trump will not be the GOP nominee in 2024. That's a dissenting line I expect to hear with increasing frequency as we approach the next presidential election cycle. A defeated one-term president doesn't often receive his party's nomination after his loss. But Trump isn't a standard presidential candidate. For one thing, he's managed to forge a powerful and seemingly lasting bond with a sizable faction of his party's voters. For another, he claims and seems to have convinced an awful lot of Republicans that he actually won the 2020 election. In that story, he's a winner out for revenge rather than a loser who rather pathetically refuses to accept his own defeat. Yet Gillespie isn't buying it. In his view, Trump never came close to winning a majority of the popular vote; he's damaged his brand further with his lies about election fraud in 2020; and his hold over the Republican base is waning. As evidence of that last point, Gillespie points to some boos Trump recently received from a staunchly anti-vax crowd when he announced he'd received his booster shot and bragged about his administration's role in bringing the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines swiftly and safely to market. Add in "rising stars in the GOP," like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will give Trump voters "95 percent of what they want," and it makes sense to conclude "Trump is as overcooked as one of his steaks." The only problem with this analysis is ... there's no data to support it. An aggregation of early GOP primary polls has Trump pulling 52.4 percent of the vote, with the second-place DeSantis coming in with less than a third of that (16.4 percent) and everyone else deep into single digits. That's not a close race, and much stronger than Trump's polling through the entirety of the GOP primaries in 2016. Story continues Moreover, when the polls are re-run without Trump included, the results show no similar consolidation around any alternative to Trump. DeSantis pulls in around 28 percent, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at 16 percent, Donald Trump Jr. at 12 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 9.5 percent, and everyone else at 5 percent or lower. That's not a picture of a party rallying around a substitute standard-bearer. But the least convincing thing of all about Gillespie's thread is his opening contention that after the 2022 midterms, GOP "leaders will cut [Trump] loose." If the past six years have taught us anything, it's that there is no safer bet in Washington than wagering against Republican leadership taking Trump down. That's because the party's leadership responds to the voters, and the voters want Trump. Until that changes, Trump will be on an easy track to win the Republican nomination if he wants it. You may also like Another Hong Kong news site shutters amid ongoing crackdown by Beijing White House pledges $1 billion to bolster independent meat producers and drive down prices Senate Democrats reportedly eyeing reinvigorated voting rights push ahead of Jan. 6 anniversary ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey recorded 66,467 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure on record, health ministry data showed on Wednesday, as infections surge due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. It also recorded 143 COVID-related deaths in the same period, the data showed. Cases in Turkey have more than doubled in just over a week as the Omicron variant became dominant in the country. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said the government was not considering new restrictions for now, urging citizens to get vaccinated and increase personal safety measures. Officials have also said schools would remain open. "Despite the rise in infections due to the Omicron variant, there is no worrying rise in hospitalisation rates," Koca said on Twitter on Wednesday. In a statement after meeting his coronavirus science council later on Wednesday, Koca urged citizens to avoid crowded places, locations without ventilation, and long gatherings, adding there was no reason for concern yet. He also announced a revision to COVID-19 quarantine periods. "The quarantine period for positive cases has been set as 7 days. After 7 days, those showing light or no symptoms will end their quarantine period. In the event positive cases get tested on the fifth day and if they turn negative, their quarantine ends," he said. He said those who had contacted an infected individual would be exempt from quarantining if they have received a booster shot or contracted the virus in the last three months. Turkey has administered some 130 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines using shots developed by China's Sinovac Biotech and by Pfizer/. It also started administering booster shots, and began rolling out its domestically-produced vaccine, Turkovac, last week. President Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said his government would make Turkovac available globally, but Ankara has yet to release detailed information about the vaccine's efficacy or results from clinical trials. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu Editing by Alistair Bell) Thursday, Jan. 6 Women of the Movement debut, 8-10 p.m., ABC. Once a star student, Mamie Till became a young mother in Chicago. In the summer of 1955, she reluctantly let her son Emmett, 14, visit his cousins in Mississippi; he was soon abducted and killed, in a case that spurred the civil rights movement. His mother became a teacher (with bachelor and master degrees) and an activist; her story is told in this six-hour, three-week mini-series and in a documentary at 10:01 p.m. Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union, 9 p.m., PBS. After briefly discussing the Capitol attack a year ago, this film says weve been there before. George Washington needed troops to force whiskey-makers to pay taxes; other presidents had close calls. This scattered-but-interesting film is one of several documentaries about Jan. 6. One new one streams on Paramount+, another streams on both Hulu and ABC News Live. A rerun is on HBO Max and at 5:30 p.m. on HBO2. More about Jan. 6. The anniversary will dominate morning shows, newscasts and news channels, including C-SPAN. That starts with a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris speech at 9 a.m. ET and continues through an afternoon of congressional events; a Donald Trump news conference, however, was canceled. At night, the CBSN streamer has specials at 5 and 8 p.m. ET, C-SPAN has a wrap-up at 6 and CNN has a special from 8-10 p.m., with 10 Congress people, three of them on the Jan. 6 committee. B Positive, 9:30 p.m., CBS. Its a night of serious TV; even a comedy involves mourning. B Positive has always managed to be both warm and funny; early this season, Harry (Hector Elizondo) acknowledged that his wife was dying. Now the retirement home celebrates her memory. ALSO: Joe Millionaire debuts from 8-10 p.m., with a variation on dating shows: One bachelor is rich, one isnt, but the women (and the viewers) dont know which is which. Meanwhile, cable movies cover the extremes, from the brilliant Bonnie and Clyde (1967, 9:30 p.m., Turner Classic Movies), No. 42 on the American Film Institutes all-time list, to Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021, 8 p.m. HBO), which belongs near the bottom of any list. This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Thursday's TV's Best Bets Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger testifies Wednesday before the Senate Rules Committee that his force had improved security in the past year. (Tom Williams / Pool Photo) Nearly a year to the day after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, the U.S. Capitol Police force is struggling to recruit and retain officers even as threats to lawmakers are on the rise, the department's new chief testified before Congress on Wednesday. Chief J. Thomas Manger, who was tapped in July to lead the force, told the Senate Rules Committee that his department is understaffed by 440 officers and the shortfall is hampering the department's ability to protect the Capitol complex. That shortage comes as threats against lawmakers have skyrocketed from 902 in 2016 to 9,600 last year, officials say. "The biggest challenge I think we have is keeping up with the number of threats," Manger testified, noting the department has doubled the number of officers assigned to investigate such threats. "If they continue to go up the way they have, clearly we're going to need additional officers to assign to this responsibility." Manger said he hoped to hire 280 officers annually over the next few years to address the staffing shortage. Manger also said the department was looking to temporarily plug the gap with contractors at posts where armed officers are not needed, a disclosure that has met resistance from the union representing Manger's officers. Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the U.S. Capitol Police union, had previously in a statement called this plan a recipe for disaster, saying the department needed more sworn officers, not temporary contractors. "The last thing we need are private security contractors who are not trained to our standards," Papathanasiou said. Despite the staffing shortage, Manger testified, his force has significantly improved security at the Capitol since a mob supporting then-President Trump stormed the building on Jan. 6, broke through police lines, battled officers, forced the evacuation of lawmakers and delayed the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory as president. Story continues More than 100 police officers were injured, and authorities say the melee contributed to the deaths of five people, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Capitol Police officials consider his death to have come in the line of duty, though a medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes. Of the 103 recommendations issued by Michael A. Bolton, inspector general for Capitol Police, the department has implemented or addressed more than 90, Manger testified. The siege "exposed critical deficiencies with operational planning, intelligence, staffing and equipment," Manger testified. "I recognize those issues have to be addressed, and that is what we are doing." Manger said it was key for lawmakers to increase the department's upcoming budget so that it could hire more officers, improve their training and be better able to analyze threats. Manger said the department plans to hire a new deputy chief to lead intelligence. The chief and his department received bipartisan praise from lawmakers who thanked officers for protecting them during the siege. "These officers were the true heroes of Jan. 6. They defended the Capitol, and everyone who works here, bravely and without hesitation," allowing senators to "finish our work," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "We were able to show the world that when our system is tested, it will prevail," Blunt added. Democrats also complimented Capitol police for protecting lawmakers during the assault while seeking to highlight Trump's alleged role in inciting the insurrection. "I never thought I'd see a day like that: a violent mob driven by the rhetoric and the lies of a disgraceful former president of the United States," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who last year announced his retirement after nearly five decades in Congress. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in December, pointing to underlying labor market strength, but skyrocketing COVID-19 infections could slow momentum in the months ahead. The surge in private hiring in the ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday was based on data collected in mid-December just as the Omicron variant was sweeping across the country, causing some events and hundreds of flights to be canceled. "The labor market continues to recover," said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "However, the Omicron variant is a substantial downside risk to the near-term labor market recovery." Private payrolls jumped by 807,000 jobs last month, the most in seven months, after rising by 505,000 in November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls would increase by 400,000 jobs. The ADP report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics and was published ahead of the Labor Department's more comprehensive and closely watched employment report for December on Friday. It has, however, a poor record predicting the private payrolls count in the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report because of methodology differences. Economists anticipate some disruption from the winter wave of infections, though not on the scale of last summer. The hit to the labor market is expected to show in the January data. The United States reported nearly 1 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, the highest daily tally of any country in the world. Airlines have canceled flights and some school districts have suspended in-person learning as workers called in sick. "Most of those absentees will still be paid and therefore counted as employed this month," said Michael Pearce, a senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics in New York. "But a significant minority who do not have access to paid sick leave will not, potentially knocking hundreds of thousands off the official non-farm payrolls tally in January." Story continues Stocks on Wall Street were trading mixed. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies. Yields on shorter-dated U.S. Treasuries rose. BROAD INCREASE Still, demand for labor is strong amid an acute shortage of workers. The broad increase in private hiring last month was led by a rise of 246,000 in the leisure and hospitality industry. Professional and business services added 130,000 jobs. Manufacturing hired 74,000 more workers and construction payrolls increased by 62,000 jobs. Hiring at construction sites is being supported by a strong housing market, though rising mortgage rates could slow demand. A separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday showed applications for loans to buy a home declined over the past two weeks. Though the data can be volatile around holidays, it was in line with other indicators that have suggested the housing market could be losing steam. Contracts to purchase a previously owned home fell in November. Despite the ADP report's spotty track record in predicting the private payrolls component of the Labor Department's monthly employment release, last month's jump was another sign that job growth probably accelerated in December. The government also surveyed businesses and households for last month's employment report in mid-December. Economists at Goldman Sachs raised their December payrolls estimate by 50,000 to 500,000 after the ADP release. "But the ADP report is at least broadly supportive of our view that the labor market is continuing to tighten despite the recent COVID spread and some signs that consumer activity has weakened lately," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. First-time applications for unemployment benefits declined significantly between mid-November and mid-December. The Institute for Supply Management's measure of factory employment rose to an eight-month high in December, with manufacturers noting an improvement in labor supply. According to a Reuters survey of economists, private payrolls likely increased by 365,000 jobs in December. Overall nonfarm payrolls are forecast to rise by 400,000 jobs. The economy created 210,000 jobs in November. But worker shortages are constraining the labor market's recovery. The government reported on Tuesday that there were 10.6 million job openings at the end of November. There were signs in November that unemployed Americans were starting to slowly return to the workforce, but the rising coronavirus infections could force some to stay home. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao) HAVANA (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said late on Tuesday it had returned 119 Cuban migrants to their island home after picking them up at sea, marking a growing trend of migration by water from the poor, communist-run country to its wealthy northern neighbor. The migrants, swept up in 12 operations that took place over just three days in the South Florida Straits from the Bahamas to the Florida Keys, were found in boats adrift offshore, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. Cuban state media said Tuesday's repatriation was the largest in four years. Footage from the docks on Cuba's north shore showed masked health workers clad in white receiving the migrants, who had been delivered by boat by U.S. authorities. A growing group of migrants are trying their luck at sea in recent months as Cuba's economy is battered by mounting U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hobbled international tourism vital for foreign exchange on the Caribbean island. Related video: Coast Guard praises 'Good Samaritan' crew for rescue of Cubans migrants The dangerous crossing, complicated by swift ocean currents, relentless sun and wind and shoddy vessels, has claimed the lives of many Cubans over decades. Coast Guard figures show 586 Cuban migrants have attempted to illegally migrate to the United States in the first three months of fiscal year 2022 alone, a far faster clip than in 2021, when the Coast Guard repatriated 838 Cubans all year. The number of Cubans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border also hit its highest in a decade between October 2020 and May 2021, according to U.S. immigration statistics, as many Cubans turn to overland routes to attempt to enter the United States. Cuba says it advocates legal, orderly and safe migration, and has blamed the United States for the uptick in illegal migration, saying the country's policies, including the Cold War-era embargo, encourage Cubans to risk their lives to leave the island. U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said last year following unprecedented protests in Cuba that Cubans leaving the island "will not come to the United States." (Reporting by Anett Rios and Dave Sherwood; editing by Barbara Lewis) Mustafaa Shabazz is the owner of Ujamaa Bookstore on East Livingston Avenue. Open since 1997, the shop stocks the work of Black authors and subject matter as well as clothing, gifts and accessories. The fourth principal of Kwanzaa is ujamaa, the Swahili word for cooperative economics. Beyond sharing the name, Ujamaa Bookstore is a fitting representation of the practice. For instance, Mustafaa Shabazz opened the Driving Park shop in 1997 with money he earned from running youth programs in the community. Community members supported the bookstore, generating seed money for the Juneteenth Ohio Festival, which Shabazz ran for more than 20 years on the Near East Side and later Downtown. And the money from the festival was invested back into the business. The owner gets to choose the course that he'd like to take his readers on, said Shabazz, 61, of the Far East Side. That's the magic of it. Black Business Spotlight: FishBurger to continue legacy of entrepreneurship in Driving Park As an African American bookstore, Ujamaa centers Black readers as the subject of their reality, Shabazz said. And its goal is to use literacy to build strong families in the Black community. The shop opened in its own space at the end of a strip of businesses on East Livingston Avenue, but has since downsized. It now shares a space with Willis Beauty Supply in that same strip. Ujamaa Bookstore has operated on East Livingston Avenue since 1997. The shop stocks the work of Black authors and subject matter as well as clothing, gifts and accessories. When Amazon came, sales plummeted, Shabazz said. It was a hard decision to make; either you close down, or you merge. But it was genius. It worked. Ujamaa is one of few brick-and-mortar, Black-owned bookstores in the city and state. Nationwide estimates have hovered below 150. The African American Literature Book Club directory features 114 physical stores, while Oprah.coms official directory lists 125including online shops. Shabazz has maximized his new space with a wealth of fiction and non-fiction books on everything from financial literacy and healthy eating to ancient Egyptian history and Moorish rule in Spain. He said he sources most of his books directly from authors, who have become his friends. And customers eagerly line up for some of the authors who would visit the store for book signings. Story continues Josephine Copeland said she first learned about the bookstore from her mother, who was a regular shopper. There are so many books to choose from, said Copeland, 42, of Hanford Village, who began to shop for herself in college. I always tell the owner, OK, I have a money limit and I'm not going to be here longer than 30 minutes, but Im always in there spending like hours and hours just either talking or skimming through some of the books. He has a wealth of knowledge and its always a warm atmosphere. I love going in there. Copeland also said its nice to have a Black-owned bookstore up the street, especially considering there arent many in Columbus. It doesn't get the praise or acknowledgement that it should, she said. We just need to be more aware of what we have. Both Shabazz, Copeland and another longtime customer, Terry Elliott, have served on the Livingston Avenue Area Commission. Elliott said it was Shabazz who inspired her to join. I would go in there and talk to him about things like the crime and the house values, said Elliott, 68, of Driving Park. He was knowledgeable about all those things. And then he said, Well, maybe you need to get involved so you can make a difference.' Elliott also said she appreciates how Shabazz interacts with people in the community. He does stuff like pay the little boys to clean that lot, she said. He can impart into them what it is to be a young Black boy growing into a young Black man, teaching them about the value of making your own dollar. I'm impressed with what he does with the people he comes into contact with. He is knowledgeable about people taking control of their lives and building wealth for themselves. Shabazz also is a member of the Livingston Avenue Business Association. Mustafaa Shabazz, owner of Ujamaa Bookstore on East Livingston Avenue, presents, "In the Meantime," by local author and financial planner Shehara L. Wooten. Open since 1997, the shop stocks the work of Black authors and subject matter as well as clothing, gifts and accessories. He remembers when it was difficult to find books on Black figures. When he was a student at Ohio State University in the late 1970s, his English class was assigned to write a paper on their heroes. Shabazz was interested in Marcus Garvey, but failed to find any books on the activist at local stores. I'm like, When I grow up, I'm going to put a Black bookstore here, he said. Shabazzs interest in Black history and empowerment was developed even earlier in his hometown of Toledo. Each morning before school, he and his sister would attend the Black Panthers breakfast program, which nourished both their bodies and minds. They were teaching you about Black history, he said. By the time Shabazz opened Ujamaa, there had been an academic movement in the U.S. known as Afrocentricity, which centered the experiences and contributions of African and African Americans in world history. The movement not only impacted literature but early hip-hop. But over time, Shabazz noticed a change in customer interest; readers began seeking out a genre known as urban fiction, which often depicts some darker aspects of inner-city life. As a bookstore, we weren't going in that direction, Shabazz said. So, we lost a lot of that business. Bookstores: 14 independent bookstores you can support in the Columbus area Today, the bookstore remains a resource for knowledge, especially for children. Just recently, an elementary teacher came in to buy a book on Kwanzaa because her students didnt know about the holiday, Shabazz said. He wishes local schools would be more willing to partner with the business. They just don't order, he said. All I can tell you is teachers do come in and they buy out of their own pocket. They could massively order Kwanzaa books every year in public schools, but they just don'tat least not from us. Dispatch Mobile Newsroom: Telling stories in Columbus neighborhoods Shabazz said that doing a better job of reaching children by the time they are 10 years old would help prevent them from going down the wrong path. Memoirs and biographies sit on a shelf in Ujamaa Bookstore on East Livingston Avenue. Open since 1997, the shop stocks the work of Black authors and subject matter as well as clothing, gifts and accessories. Our children need to be literate in who they are, he said. Its simple. If you get the right kind of books in the kids' hands at the right time, you're going to change the society. This story is part of the Dispatch's Mobile Newsroom initiative, which is currently focused on Driving Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Visit our reporters at the Driving Park branch library. ethompson@dispatch.com @miss_ethompson This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Black-owned bookstore Ujamaa lifts up Driving Park families LONDON (AP) Health authorities across the U.K. simplified COVID-19 testing requirements on Wednesday, a move designed to cut isolation times for many people and that may ease the staffing shortages that are hitting public services from hospitals to garbage collection amid an omicron-fueled surge in infections. In another effort to bolster the economy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that pre-departure tests for people traveling to England will no longer be required because the omicron variant is so prevalent that travel restrictions meant to contain its spread are now meaningless. The tests had discouraged people from traveling overseas for fear they would get stuck abroad. The moves came as the Cabinet backed Johnson's decision not to impose any further restrictions despite record COVID-19 infection levels. With indications that omicron is less severe than earlier variants and widespread vaccination curtailing serious illnesses, the government is sticking with light-touch controls imposed in mid-December. All these measures are balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with COVID without letting our guard down," Johnson told lawmakers. The U.K. Health Security Agency said that from Jan. 11 people in England who test positive using a rapid lateral flow test will no longer need to confirm the result with a PCR test if they are asymptomatic. The temporary move, which also was used early last year, will cut the time people who record a positive lateral flow test but don't have COVID-19 symptoms need to self-isolate. They will no longer need to wait for the result of a PCR test and then begin another seven days of isolation. While cases of COVID continue to rise, this tried-and-tested approach means that LFDs (lateral flow devices) can be used confidently to indicate COVID-19 infection without the need for PCR confirmation," said Jenny Harries, the agency's chief executive. Story continues Health authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland quickly followed suit, with Northern Ireland making the change immediately. Scotland and Wales plan to introduce it starting Thursday. Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the move made sense. When the prevalence is high, and it is incredibly high at the moment, almost everyone who tests positive with a lateral flow test will be a true positive," Edmunds said. There is really no need to confirm this with a PCR, a step that not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere." But he cautioned that the change will mean authorities have less data about the spread of different variants as PCR swabs are used for genotyping and sequencing to identify different mutations. The change also will mean that daily updates on confirmed cases which come from PCR tests "may need more careful interpretation, he said. Confirmed new infections over the last seven days jumped 40% from a week earlier, according to the latest government statistics. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, tested positive for the coronavirus and missed the chance to grill Johnson about the governments COVID-19 policies on Wednesday. A string of National Health Service local organizations have declared "critical incidents" in recent days amid staff shortages. Hospitals in the Greater Manchester region said they would pause some non-urgent surgeries amid the rising impact of COVID-19 and worker absences. Gillian Keegan, a junior minister at the U.K. Ministry of Health, acknowledged the strain in an interview with the BBC. Right now, they are under extreme pressure with the omicron variant, with the number of positive cases and the increase in hospitalizations, and at this point in (winter) time when they always have extreme pressure," Keegan said. There have also been cuts to train services and garbage is piling up on some city streets because of sanitation staff shortages. NHS Confederation Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told the BBC he would support the new testing regime if scientists deem it safe. Hospitals who have declared critical incidents, for example, are essentially reaching out to staff who are on leave, on rest days or even recently retired and asking them to come back to wards, so the situation is desperate," Taylor said. "Any way of getting staff back into hospital is a good thing." An ambulance service in northeast England began advising patients with non-life-threatening conditions over the New Year's weekend to ask a relative to drive them to a hospital as waiting times for ambulances rose because of staff shortages and extra demand. It is still taking us too long to get an ambulance to patients. Unfortunately, due to this, patients remain at risk, which is unacceptable," North East Ambulance Service medical director Mathew Beattie said Wednesday. He stressed, however, that "we would never ask anyone to drive themselves to hospital with a life-threatening illness. Opposition politicians and some public health experts have pressed the government to tighten restrictions on business and personal interactions as omicron sweeps across the country. Johnson has resisted their calls after almost 100 of his partys lawmakers opposed mask requirements and other infection-control measures imposed last month. ___ Mike Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Employees of a Starbucks store in upstate New York who voted to unionize last month walked off the job Wednesday, saying they lacked the staff and resources to work safely amid surging COVID-19 cases. Six employees who had been scheduled to work formed a picket line outside the Buffalo store, leading Starbucks to close it for the day, the company said. Three other employees had remained inside. Pressure to go to work is being put on many of us, when some of us already have other health issues. The company has again shown that they continue to put profits above people, Starbucks Workers United said in a statement. All of the Buffalo-area stores have been operating as grab-and-go locations since Monday, Starbucks said. More than 15,000 people have tested positive in Erie County over the past week, the highest seven-day total to date. Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges said the company has met and exceeded CDC and expert guidelines and offered vaccine and isolation pay. Over and above that, all leaders are empowered to make whatever changes make sense for their neighborhood, which includes shortening store hours or moving to 100% takeout only, which is the case in Buffalo, he said. The employees said they will return to work when they feel the store is fully staffed and safe, possibly on Monday. About a third of the staff is out because of illness or exposure, the union said. With Sudan's fragile transition to democracy derailed, the United States and Europe have issued a stark warning to the Sudanese military against appointing a new government "without the involvement of a broad range of civilian stakeholders." "Unilateral action to appoint a new Prime Minister and Cabinet would undermine those institutions' credibility and risks plunging the nation into conflict," Norway, the U.K., the U.S. and the European Union said in a joint statement Tuesday. "In the absence of progress, we would look to accelerate efforts to hold those actors impeding the democratic process accountable." Sudan has been seen as a powerful example of democratic hope after a 2019 revolution forced the military's overthrow of the Islamist regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, an alleged war criminal and former military officer who seized power of the North African nation in 1989. The popular uprising was marked by iconic images of protesters, especially women, going viral on social media and garnering support from celebrities around the world. After al-Bashir was ousted, Sudanese military and civilian leaders came together to form a transitional government and agreed on a 39-month process to return to democratic, civilian rule. That progress came to a grinding halt on Oct. 25, 2021, when the military took power, dissolved the transitional government and expelled the civilian members. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was appointed by the transitional government in 2019, was placed under house arrest along with a number of other senior politicians. Mass protests as well as pressure from the international community, including the U.S. government withholding $700 million in economic aid, ushered in a deal that reinstated Hamdok as prime minister on Nov. 21, 2021. PHOTO: Sudanese demonstrators burn tires during a protest demanding civilian rule in the 'Street 40' in Omdurman, Sudan, Jan. 4, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images) But Hamdok resigned on Sunday, after the military refused to loosen its grip on power. "I tried as much as I could to avoid our country slipping into a catastrophe, and now our country is going through a dangerous turning point that may threaten its entire survival if it is not remedied soon," Hamdok said in a televised national address. "The major crisis today in the homeland is primarily a political crisis, but it is gradually changing to include all aspects of economic and social life and is on its way to becoming a comprehensive crisis." Story continues "The key word towards a solution to this dilemma that has persisted for more than six decades in the history of the country is to rely on dialogue at a round table in which all groups of Sudanese society and the state are represented to agree on a national charter and to draw a roadmap to complete the civil democratic transformation," he added. MORE: US 'deeply alarmed' at reports of military takeover in Sudan, calls for PM's release Thousands of pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the country to denounce the military takeover and demand civilian rule. Sudanese security forces have used violent means to disperse protesters, killing at least 57 of them and injuring hundreds of others since October, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement. Meanwhile, the United Nations has expressed grave concern about reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment against women and girls by Sudanese security forces during protests in December. PHOTO: Abdallah Hamdok speaks after being sworn in as Sudan's interim prime minister in Khartoum, Aug. 21, 2019. (Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images, FILE) The U.S. government has repeatedly called for accountability in the wake of the reported atrocities but has yet to penalize the Sudanese military. When asked why the Sudanese military hasn't been sanctioned, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Tuesday: "We don't preview sanctions designations, but we are exploring all available options to support Sudan's transition." However, some analysts argued that now is the time for action, not more warnings and threats. MORE: Secretary of State Antony Blinken making 1st trip to Africa amid growing crises in Ethiopia, Sudan Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, a think-tank in Washington, D.C., said the U.S. government "must move beyond tired bromides claiming to 'stand with the people of Sudan' and unabashedly throw its weight behind the country's pro-democracy movement in tangible and meaningful ways that will begin to swing the balance of power more in the protesters' favor." "Sudan's formal transition to democracy is over, even though its revolution lives on in the hearts of millions of peaceful pro-democracy protesters," Hudson wrote Monday in a post for the Atlantic Council's blog. "Washington and its international partners have now lost the final pretense of what allowed them -- for too long -- to frame their engagement in terms of supporting a 'civilian-led transitional government.'" "With no political agreement or civilian leader left to undermine, Washington and its allies should now pursue a more hardline approach toward the military that holds it accountable for the October coup and the deadly response to peaceful protests since then," he added before noting "that should mean sanctions." PHOTO: People chant slogans during a protest to denounce the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum, Sudan, Jan. 4, 2022. (Marwan Ali/AP) It remains unclear whether freezing the assets of Sudanese military leaders would have any impact, especially since allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates continue to back them and Sudan previously found a way to manage under nearly 20 years of U.S. sanctions. Some analysts argued that regional allies have little to gain from an unstable Sudan. Camille Lons, a Bahrain-based research associate for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in London, said the "spill-over effects -- such as economic repercussions, refugee flows, terrorism threats and arms smuggling -- are perceived as highly problematic." "Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as Egypt, continue to favour the military in Sudan. But that does not mean that they view the coup positively," Lons wrote in an analysis posted on Nov. 16. "Several Gulf and Egyptian diplomats and officials have privately expressed their surprise and concern over what they see as a reckless move." "But as the US shows growing signs of disengagement in the region," she added, "Arab Gulf countries will increasingly have to take care of their own regional security and stability, albeit with more pragmatism." In the absence of assertive pressure from the international community, the situation in Sudan is becoming dark and uncertain. In the war-torn Darfur region, where a genocide sparked global outrage, escalating violence has displaced thousands of people since November. There have also been "alarming reports" of villages being destroyed, sexual violence and livestock rustling, according to the United Nations. Moreover, Sudan under al-Bashir had concerning ties to terrorism that include giving safe haven to al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and being implicated in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, for which al-Qaida claimed responsibility. But Hudson said the Sudanese military "appears intent" to keep the country off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. "The military, for all its faults and abuses, has been a reasonably reliable ally in the fight against terrorism and has its own reasons to be concerned by jihadists taking up residence in Sudan," Hudson told ABC News on Wednesday. But diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and others to pressure Sudanese military leadership may be complicated by the departure of a senior U.S. diplomat. Reuters, citing sources, reported Wednesday that the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is leaving his post at the end of the month amid the growing chaos in Sudan and neighboring Ethiopia, and that he will be replaced by David Satterfield, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Turkey. The U.S. Department of State declined ABC News' request for comment. Hudson told ABC News that Feltman's departure would not be "particularly surprising, as he was only there as a stopgap to help the administration respond early on to the unfolding crises in Ethiopia and Sudan." "Most critical now is that the U.S. maintain a strong and consistent level of diplomatic engagement in the region at this critical moment," he added, noting that an announcement of a replacement for Feltman would suggest that "this will be the case and should be welcomed." US, Europe warn Sudan's military as democratic transition unravels originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) leave the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon for a vote in the Senate Chamber on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Congressional lawmakers have begun discussions on potentially issuing another round of COVID-19 stimulus payments for businesses. Sources told The Washington Post, which was the first to report on the talks, that the discussions - led by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) - have largely focused on authorizing billions in aid for businesses, including restaurants, gyms, minor league sport teams and entertainment venues. A source close to the matter confirmed to The Hill that Cardin and Wicker are working to gather bipartisan support for additional aid for restaurants and other businesses. Cardin serves as the chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, and Wicker is currently the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. According to the Post, Cardin and Wicker last month put together a $68 billion proposal which includes new spending as well plans to repurpose unspent funds from other stimulus packages. Cardin and Wicker's offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. The two lawmakers have spoken with other members of the Senate about the potential stimulus package, including Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). However, a senior Biden administration official told CNN that there are no plans for any further stimulus packages. "No. There might be something small for restaurants. But the economy is booming, there are millions of open jobs, and we do not believe people should be sitting at home if they are vaccinated and boosted, as most adults are," they said. "So we are not going to write checks to incentivize people to sit at home, and we are not going to bail out businesses if the economy seems strong." White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed these reports on Wednesday during a press briefing. "We did a major relief package that included helping restaurants just last year," Psaki said. "We are in constant discussions with Congress and leadership about the needs of the American people, whether they are small businesses or restaurants or people sitting in their homes as we continue to fight the pandemic, but don't have any new pending request or specific requests and wouldn't predict that at this moment in time." Updated at 3:50 p.m. The Triangle Lake area and Triangle Lake Charter School will benefit from Lane County's slice of the $5.2 billion the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced will be spent on rural infrastructure. The USDA will send $8.2 million for rural infrastructure to Oregon to be disbursed in Lane, Polk, Sherman and Wasco counties, according to the announcement. The money will be spent in Lane County on expanding broadband access for rural area residents. Lane County will receive $3 million, the second-largest chunk from Oregon's share of USDA funding, to be spent on 40 miles of broadband internet expansion. Rebuilding deep, reliable connectivity: How Blue River is rebuilding internet after fires Pioneer Telephone Cooperative will use the grant to build a 40-mile fiber-to-the premises system in part of the Triangle Lake area. The grant also funds at least two years of free Internet access at a local community center. Pioneer will contribute more than $700,000 to the project, according to the announcement. Were thrilled to be expanding our fiber-to-the-home network with the help of this grant, and its an exciting time for rural communities, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative General Manager Jim Rennard said in a news release. The new fiber network will allow the Triangle Lake Charter School to move forward with its goal to eventually bring to the community direct services, such as mental health counseling, career counseling and additional distance learning opportunities. Not only will this project change the way our community stays connected, but it will also shape our growth as a district for years to come, Blachly School District Superintendent Adam Watkins said in a news release. Recognition: Lane County, tech volunteer group OIR recognized for returning internet post-wildfire The USDA funding will support rural infrastructure projects in 46 states and Puerto Rico focused on providing access to high-speed internet, clean water and reliable electricity. Story continues Broadband and municipal water infrastructure are non-negotiables for quality of life, and I will continue to fight to ensure every Oregon family can benefit from infrastructure, regardless of ZIP code, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said in a news release. The remaining USDA funding for Oregon will go to: $1.2 million for water system in Biggs Junction in Sherman County, including a pump station for well controls and water treatment, and a 400,000-gallon reservoir. $4 million for a wastewater treatment system in the city of Dufur in Wasco County. $30,000 for a preliminary engineering report to evaluate repairs needed for the aging wastewater system in Falls City in Polk County. Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR. This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: USDA grant will support better rural internet access in Lane County's Triangle Lake area By Deisy Buitrago and Mayela Armas CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition must abandon hypocrisy and recognize its mistakes if it wants to restart talks with the ruling party, which were suspended in October, National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez said on Wednesday. Negotiations in Mexico between Venezuela's government and opposition politicians ground to a halt late last year after Colombian businessman Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, was extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges. Talks can begin once Alex Saab is released and when control of foreign assets is returned to the government, Rodriguez said at the opening of the ruling party-controlled assembly's new session. "Enough with the hypocrisy of dialogue ... if you want talks, show respect, if you want talks free Alex Saab, if you want talks return our gold which you stole," said Rodrigo, who led the government delegation in Mexico. Earlier on Wednesday, opposition leader Juan Guaido had urged a restart to talks to establish fairness guarantees for voters ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. "Free and fair elections won't come alone or for the false words of Jorge Rodriguez," Guaido said. The ruling party took control of the National Assembly in elections last year, but Guaido and an opposition commission drawn from those elected to parliament in 2015, who enacted reforms to extend their own mandate, continue to control Venezuela's assets abroad, such as U.S. oil refiner Citgo and Colombian fertilizer manufacturer, Monomeros. Maduro this week ordered the National Assembly to investigate the opposition politicians who widened the commission's mandate. The opposition alleges Maduro's election in 2018 was fraudulent and he is an illegitimate leader. The extension was backed by Maduro's bete noir, the United States, which ramped up sanctions against the government two years ago. Dozens of western countries originally supported Guaido as Venezuela's leader, but since 2021 legislative elections a number of countries and the European Union back him only as a leading opposition figure. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago and Mayela Armas; writing by Oliver Griffin; editing by Richard Pullin) Victorville Councilwoman Blanca Gomez. Victorville Councilwoman Blanca Gomez was arraigned in court on several misdemeanor charges stemming from two incidents in 2021, including one in which she was arrested during a City Council meeting. Gomez pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of obstructing or resisting a public officer, one count of disturbing a public meeting, one count of battery, and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime. Court records show she was not present during the hearing and her attorney, Rajan Maline, entered the pleas for her. Gomez was arrested last year after a fracas erupted in Victorville City Hall in July. The filmed altercation occurred toward the end of a council meeting after Mayor Debra Jones asked a masked man, Robert Rodriguez, be removed from the chambers. Jones believed Rodriguez had been recording with a cell phone her husband, who was also sitting near the front of the dais. Gomez stepped in, and deputies could later be seen restraining both her and Rodriguez in an adjoining lobby. The San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office charged the councilwoman with resisting arrest against two peace officers and disturbing a public meeting. The Panera Bread in Victorville. The month before her July 20 arrest, Gomez live-streamed an encounter between San Bernardino County Sheriffs deputies and Rodriguez at a Panera Bread off Amargosa Road. In the June 2 video, Rodriguez can be seen speaking with the officers inside the restaurant when they ask him to step outside. He doesnt appear to want to leave. Sheriffs spokesperson Cindy Bachman said at the time that deputies were called by an employee who reported a male subject was causing a disturbance with other customers and vaping in the restaurant; he was asked to leave and refused. Gomez can be seen swinging her camera around to a restaurant employee who immediately puts her hand up and tells Gomez not to videotape her. Yes, I can, Gomez responds. My right. The employee then puts her hand on the camera, and Gomez accuses the employee of touching her, saying she could press charges as a citizen. Story continues In a complaint, the DAs Office charged Gomez with battery on a person who according to their LinkedIn profile works for the restaurant. Later in the video, both Gomez and Rodriguez are told by a deputy not to come back to the Panera Bread per the managers request or be arrested. Prosecutors later charged Rodriguez who has several previous felony convictions for trespassing. He was sentenced Monday to 270 days in county jail, with credit for time served, after a jury convicted him of the trespassing charge and disturbing a public meeting. The jurors acquitted him of another count of disturbing a public meeting. A San Bernardino Superior Court judge found insufficient evidence to charge him with conspiracy to commit a crime. Maline who has a law practice in Riverside represented Charles Chase Merritt, who was sentenced to death in 2020. Merritt was convicted of killing a family of four whose bodies were found in 2013 in the desert near Victorville. Daily Press reporter Martin Estacio may be reached at 760-955-5358 or MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio. This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Victorville Councilwoman Blanca Gomez pleads not guilty to charges For Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., the Jan. 6 Capitol riot continues to be a difficult topic to broach with his two young Asian American children. Hes struggled to find the right words. When I saw my kids for the first time after Jan. 6, my oldest came up to me and hugged me and asked me if Im doing OK. They know something happened, but I havent really talked to them about it, Kim said. Thats sort of the question now: How does Jan. 6 fall into the broader story of this country? How are we going to talk about it? A photo of Kim cleaning up the Capitol rotunda on his own following the riot went viral. The internet hailed the act as a moment of hope after hours of chaos. A year later, hes still processing his thoughts as the son of Korean immigrants who uprooted their lives in search of a strong, secure country to call home that was not evident that day, he told NBC Asian America. But the events, he said, also uncovered a sense of fierce protectiveness over the country his parents sought. I do feel like that sense of being a caretaker is something that my parents very much shaped in my mind love of country and service to this country, taking care, trying to preserve it, Kim said. Whether thats the big things I tried to do, like voting that night on Jan. 6 to affirm the Electoral College vote, or the simple gestures of cleaning up the floor of the rotunda. Thats all the same to me. Thats all being a caretaker for our democracy. Then-candidate Andy Kim plays a word-game with his son as his wife, Kammy Lai, looks on with their younger son outside a polling place in Bordentown, N.J., on Nov. 6, 2018. (Mel Evans / AP file) In the year since Kim found himself clearing the damage in the Capitol, more than 700 of former President Donald Trumps supporters, including many who aimed to overturn the election results, are now facing criminal charges related to the attack. A House committee tasked with investigating the events is preparing to present its findings in the coming months. Remnants of that day have also been collected and donated to the Smithsonian Institution for historical documentation, including the blue J. Crew suit Kim wore as he emptied debris into garbage bags. Story continues The congressman said he now feels an even stronger sense of love for this country and patriotism in part, he said, because of the reflecting hes done on his parents and their chosen home. Kim, the son of a scientist and a nurse, said his familys American dream never involved private jets or rockets to outer space. Rather, his parents longed for a life of dignity and decency, he said. Much of how they felt toward their new country, he remembered, was mirrored in his mothers reaction on a family trip to Washington, D.C., when he was a kid. They felt like we could walk in there. We had every bit as much of a right to walk into the building the Capitol, the White House as anyone else, he said. Decades later, as Kim gathered plastic bottles from the ground after the rioters deserted the rotunda, he said he was reminded once again of his parents awe of the country when he came across a plaque on the wall that read, Beneath this tablet the cornerstone of the United States of America was laid by George Washington. Then-candidate Andy Kim holds his son as he finishes voting onNov. 6, 2018, in Bordentown, N.J. (Mel Evans / AP file) That kind of took me out of the moment for a second on Jan. 6 and reminded me of this buildings history, and that it was generations before me that built and preserved the Capitol building, he said. And there will be generations after me that will continue to do the work of this country. The memories, Kim said, have prompted him to look at his work through a different lens, shifting his focus to how to heal from the events. The idea that they traveled halfway around the world to live in a place that didnt speak their language, didnt have any friends and family it was something else that drew them, Kim said. I hope that Jan. 6 reminds us of what it is that drew our families here and reminds us that that is worth fighting for. That is worth trying to preserve. But as passionate as Kim said he feels, he also mentioned that hes concerned with how the country and government has reacted to the riot. He said hes unsure that the stability his immigrant family sought will be there for his children. For him, the riot represented long-standing fractures in the nation on topics ranging from climate change to the pandemic. The issue wasnt just about the storming of the Capitol. It was about just the divisions in our country, he said. And the fact that we live in a country where that type of violence against each other is possible. I actually think were in a worse situation than we were a year ago. I think the Jan. 6 tragedy didnt bring us together as a country. Americans were divided on the events, from the immediate aftermath to the months that followed, research shows. A survey that Pew Research Center conducted in the days following the riot revealed that 48 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents expressed disappointment, disbelief or fear, compared to 27 percent of their Republican counterparts. And 95 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners placed some blame on Trump, while roughly half of Republicans felt the same way. Nearly the same percentage of conservatives did not feel Trump played any part in the events. As time went on, Republican officials, some of whom publicly condemned Trump in the wake of the events, became less open to criticism of him from their own party. The percentage of Republicans who said their party should be not too or not at all accepting of those who criticized Trump rose from 56 percent in March to 63 percent in September, Pew found. It just makes me so upset that people who were there, my colleagues and others, that some of them decided to, to spread lies about what happened for their own political and personal benefits, Kim said. We are at a place where we cannot even have a shared truth about what happened that day. As Kim looks back on the events, he said the most critical takeaway is the fragility of American democracy, something he feels cannot be taken for granted. Theres not a day that goes by when Im at the Capitol, where I walk around that building, and it doesnt hit me that Jan. 6 occurred. I see it every day, Kim said. What Im trying to do is to channel that experience into something productive towards a goal of never having something like that ever happen again. EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh tells theGrio that the Biden-Harris administration will be aggressive at remedying the economic challenges for Black and Brown Americans. COVID-19 is raging and the latest round of the deadly virus has pushed the focus not only on physical health but the health of the economy. This moment comes during what is known as the Great Resignation, a labor occurrence in recent months that has seen a large number of Americans walking away from their jobs. Worker wearing a mask to protect against coronavirus, holds an unemployment benefit application form as she waits for a client at the state WIN job center in Pearl, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) In October 2021, 4.2 million people quit their jobs and in November 2021 a record 4.5 million Americans left their employment. Looking at the economic numbers on a broader scale there is confusion and conflicting data that offers two different scenarios of the current state of the economy. In an exclusive interview with theGrio, U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh cataloged, from his vantage point, whats at play for working Americans across the country. A lot of people left work One is, I think because of the fear of the pandemic and fear of getting COVID, so many of them are taking care of their kids and their family members at home, Secretary Walsh told theGrio. And some people are saying, Wait a second, I was working in a job that I wasnt satisfied in. I wasnt making enough money for my need to raise my family. The U.S. unemployment rate remains low at 4.2%, according to Labor Department data the lowest its been since before the U.S. pandemic shutdown in March 2020. Meanwhile, the Black jobless claims stand at 6.7% from November 2021 compared to 10.3% for the same month a year prior. The Biden White House says these numbers are a sign that the economy is getting better even as the coronavirus is worsening. U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House on April 2, 2021 in Washington, DC. According to the U.S. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Yet, the Black jobless numbers have been and are still a concern as the economy could shift for the worse at any moment in this pandemic season. Leon Russell, chair of the National Board of the NAACP told theGrio, The response to COVID for Black America is a catch 22. On the one hand we are the most disproportionately impacted community when it comes to the serious effects of the virus. On the other hand Black workers are also disproportionately represented in the designation essential workers. Story continues Russell added, This means that until we deal with economic/pay disparities and the negative impacts of institutional or structural racism, the Black community will suffer and therefore the economy will suffer. These are challenges that must be faced by our nations leader and that must be addressed now, before the next national crisis. So what is the Biden-Harris administration doing to provide a safety net and or a softer landing for Black America and bridging the economic and pay disparity gaps, particularly during the pandemic? Walsh said the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021, plays a big part in that cushion and safety net for minority economics. U.S. President Joe Biden (3rd-R) talks to Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (2nd-R) as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (R) and Vice President Kamala Harris (L) look on after signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as he is surrounded by lawmakers and members of his Cabinet during a ceremony on the South Lawn at the White House on November 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) [President Biden] wants to make sure that equity is at the center of that in that bill. What does that mean? That means that these jobs, these construction jobs, these architecture jobs, these jobs in offices, that the communities of color have access to these jobs, said Walsh. The administration is looking at lessons learned from the past that did not fully capture the work and value of minorities. Walsh contends, the president has asked his cabinet myself and other folks in the cabinet to make sure that this time is different, that the recovery is different, that everyone has access to it. Part of the administrations strategy is ensuring Black and Brown Americans can access good jobs. Walsh explained that the safety net is making sure that were doing everything we can to keep the job site safe, to make sure that people are getting vaccinated, to make sure that people are wearing masks, make sure people are getting tested, making sure that not only is where people are working safe, but they can be safe going back home to their families. The labor secretary, who is a former mayor of Boston, added, even though the unemployment rate in America right now is 4.2%, the Black unemployment rate is still higher and we have work to do there. For the record, the Black unemployment rate has always been higher than the national rate, and in some instances, it has doubled that of the White unemployment rate. When it comes to doing better with Black unemployment, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, there is a call for safety nets for Black America as they serve disproportionately as frontline workers. A USPS worker wheels mail in Williamsburg as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on August 20, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images) We acknowledge that at the beginning of the pandemic our essential workers were our grocery store workers, were our delivery drivers, were our bus drivers, our first responders many of those folks are from the African-American community, Black and Brown community, Labor Secretary Walsh told theGrio. We have to continue to acknowledge that this is not over and theyre still at the frontlines. And they have been the entire pandemic. Walsh added that the administration will be aggressive at the top of this year with priority agenda items that help create positive economic movement and parity. He noted that there is crucial funding in the Build Back Better bill, currently stalled in the U.S. Senate, that could provide needed economic support for Black and Brown communities. There is money in there for child care theres money in there to expand the child tax credit to end child poverty [and] elder care, said Walsh, who emphasized the need for the administration and Democrats to work to ensure the comprehensive legislation is passed. Nine families that are benefiting from the Child Tax Credit listen to U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris deliver remarks on July 15, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) There is a lot of safety nets in these bills, and when I say safety nets I mean investments, that were going to make in America and that will help communities across our country, particularly the African American community, Latino community and other communities of color, said Walsh. Theres a lot in the legislative agenda. The Voting Rights Act that the president is pushing, making sure that immigration reform that the president is pushing and some of these other investments, he added. Were going to be very aggressive in the beginning of the year looking to make sure we pass some of this good legislation. Have you subscribed to theGrio podcasts Dear Culture or Acting Up? Download our newest episodes now! TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today! The post As virus rages on, Biden White House vows to address unemployment, economic woes in Black communities appeared first on TheGrio. The York Board of Selectmen approved two separate contracts in December 2021, one with the York Village Fire Department and the other with the York Beach Volunteer Fire Department. YORK, Maine The town has reached agreements with its two fire departments to classify volunteer firefighters as part-time town employees. The agreements are significant both practically and symbolically, Town Manager Steven Burns said. This is the first time that the town has formally tethered itself to its firefighting volunteers in this way since the two departments formed more than 100 years ago, he said. 'Total loss': York Beach house fire draws firefighters from 5 local departments Multiple fire departments responded Friday, July 23, 2021, to a home fire in the York Village Fire Department District. The fire appeared to be caused by a furnace issue, according to the York Beach Fire Department. There were no reported injuries to occupants or fire personnel. The York Board of Selectmen approved two separate contracts last month, one with the York Village Fire Department and the other with the York Beach Volunteer Fire Department. The agreements were necessary after voters approved a plan in 2019 to pay York volunteer firefighters a stipend, according to meeting documents. Voters then approved to pay volunteer firefighters an hourly wage, which in turn made them town employees, Burns said. The agreement is seen as a good thing by York Beach Fire Chief Jeff Welch, who said there are currently three full-time firefighters and 25-30 paid on-call firefighters at YBFD, while YVFD has three full-time employees and about 35-40 paid on-call firefighters. Firefighters with the York Beach Fire Department and York Village Fire Department respond to a structure fire at 51 Spruce St. about 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, in York, Maine, with support from firefighters in Ogunquit, Kittery and South Berwick. An investigation was being conducted by the Maine State Fire Marshal. As far as the services we provide, or the way we operate, that doesn't change, Welch said Monday, Jan 3. Now when we bring a call firefighter on, once they meet a certain threshold of training and requirements, they become an official employee of the town. 'He proved himself': Keith Bishop, retired York fire captain, remembered fondly A few things have changed as a result of the new agreement. Before, fire chiefs would go to the towns human resources department for guidance on a personnel issue with a volunteer, Welch said. Now, human resources will be fully responsible for all personnel matters for firefighters, according to the contract. Burns said he now has the authority to hire and fire employees, and the contract states that Burns must approve all new hires. All members will be covered by the towns workers compensation insurance policy. Story continues The York Board of Selectmen approved two separate contracts in December 2021, one with the York Village Fire Department and the other with the York Beach Volunteer Fire Department. Welch said the departments still allow volunteers who choose not to receive pay and are therefore not subject to becoming a town employee, although that could change. "We're still in the infancy of this agreement," Welch said. York Beach Fire Department is currently seeking applicants for volunteer firefighters. If youre interested, contact Chief Jeff Welch at 207-363-1014. York Village Fire Chief Chris Balentine did not respond to request for comment. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York ME volunteer firefighters are now town employees Marking the second time in the past six years, nearly the entire hatch of endangered winter-run chinook salmon were wiped out in 2021 due in part to high water temperatures in the Sacramento River in the Redding area. Fisheries officials said a vitamin deficiency in adult fish also likely contributed to the deaths of their offspring. Only about 2.6% of the wild winter-run salmon that hatched in the river survived long enough to make it to Red Bluff, according to a memo from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. And then less than half of the fish that made it to Red Bluff also survived to make it out to the San Joaquin Delta. It was one of the worst years on record for winter-run survival, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. "Clearly, it was a grim year for winter-run chinook. The temperatures were not favorable in the river, which obviously was a result of the low water (in Lake Shasta) and the high temperatures" in the Sacramento River, said Michael Milstein, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Even before the past two years of drought, the winter-run were having a rough go of it. The winter-run are an endangered species, and nearly all the fish spawn in the in the river and tributaries in the Redding area. Open the Golden Gate: Young salmon hitch ride to the Pacific But warm river temperatures and the drought were only partly to blame for the fish die-off, Milstein said. A diet-based thiamine deficiency among female adult fish in the ocean was passed on to the young fish and also contributed to their deaths, he said. Winter-run juvenile Chinook salmon are prepared for release at Coleman National Fish Hatchery in March 2018. (Photo: Steve Martarano/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) Debate over Shasta Dam water releases John McManus, president of the Golden State Salmon Association, said federal and state agencies were to blame for letting too much water out of Shasta Dam and leaving warm water in the river that killed the young fish. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates Shasta Dam, received permission from the State Water Board to continue to supply water to farmers south of Redding, McManus said. Story continues "And the change we'd like to see is before the state board grants permission to violate the rules, they first require the big water operators to reduce deliveries of water to the agricultural sector so that everybody is sharing in the pain and it doesn't just all fall on the salmon fishery," McManus said. During last year's drought, those with junior water rights, such as the Bella Vista Water District in Redding and Clear Creek Community Service's District in Happy Valley, had their allocations from the bureau severely reduced. Those agencies with senior water rights, such as the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District and some irrigation agencies south of Red Bluff, had their allocations cut 25%. The city of Redding, which has both junior and senior water rights, had water cuts ranging from 25% to 75%. "So I've got no beef with delivering water to Redding. You've got a bunch of people there that need water. But downstream, it's a long way down to the Delta. And there's quite a bit of water that was released out of Lake Shasta last year that never made it as far as the Delta. And it didn't go to urban areas. It didn't go to human health and safety and it sure as heck didn't go to keep the salmon fishery afloat," McManus said. But Don Bader, Redding area manager for the bureau, disputed McManus' claims about violating state and federal water-use rules. Fish ears: Here's how the bones in salmon ears reveal clues to the fish's survival tactics He said irrigation agencies south of Redding did have their water allocations cut back. In 2021, the bureau faced very low levels in Lake Shasta and little rain for the second year in a row, Bader said. "So we started out in a very, very tough situation going into the spring and summer, and then based on that, in May, we developed the best available temperature management plan in coordination with both state and federal agencies. Given these dire conditions, and I want to emphasize, we did not run out of cold water (in Lake Shasta) based on this plan that was developed in May," Bader said. Cold water needed to protect fish Cold water is necessary for winter-run salmon eggs to hatch and the newborns, called fry, to survive. Before Keswick and Shasta dams were built, the winter run used to spawn in the rivers and creeks upstream of where Lake Shasta is now. Fisheries biologists say the winter-run need the type of cold water they used to spawn in before the dams were built. So operators at Shasta Dam try to release cold water from lower levels in the lake to ensure the salmon eggs and young hatches survive. The young fish start to die when the water temperature in the river exceeds about 57 degrees. In a letter to National Marine Fisheries Service and state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials, Erica M. Meyers chairperson, Winter-Run Project Work Team for the state, said the water temperatures in the river at times were too warm. More: In historic drought year, water shortages predicted for these Shasta County communities "Winter-run Chinook Salmon in 2021 spawned during one of the warmest and driest years on record, and Sacramento River water temperatures during the majority of the incubation period exceeded limits for safe egg incubation," Meyers wrote. Most of the salmon caught in the ocean and in fresh water streams are raised in hatcheries, including Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson. But McManus said when the winter-run suffers, it affects the entire fishery and there can be restrictions on the number of salmon that can be caught. Still "tough sledding ahead" There are four species of salmon that spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries: the winter run, fall run, late fall and spring run. Milstein said that in light of the past two years of drought, fisheries officials with his agency predicted about 25% of the young fish would make it to Red Bluff. In 2014 and 2015, more than 90% of salmon hatches died in the river before reaching Red Bluff. That die-off was due to warm water in the Sacramento River, officials said. The Livingston Stone Fish Hatchery near Shasta Dam does raise winter-run chinook salmon to help ensure the species survival. In the long run, state and federal officials are trying to get winter run to spawn in other North State streams, so the fish aren't completely dependent on the Sacramento River in the Redding area, Milstein said. There are plans underway to truck winter-run salmon around Shasta and Keswick dams and reintroduce them to the McCloud River for spawning there, he said. The bureau is also working on removing barriers on Battle Creek that would allow fish to spawn upstream of Coleman fish hatchery. Bader said that despite the recent rains in December, Lake Shasta was still very low for this time of year and the state could face more drought conditions in 2022. "We're still at the lowest level on Jan. 4 for Lake Shasta on record, so we still have some really, really tough sledding ahead of us if we don't get more rain," he said. Damon Arthur is part of a team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834 by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today! This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Warm water leads to thousands of salmon deaths in the Sacramento River Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is seen during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing to discuss oversight of the CARES Act within the Federal Reserve and Department of Treasury on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged Google to drop its efforts seeking the recusal of Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter from cases involving the company. In a letter sent Wednesday, the two Democrats slammed Google's efforts to push Kanter off cases involving Google as "misguided" and a reflection of "what appears to be a willful misunderstanding and misrepresentation of federal ethics mandates." "These efforts to bully regulators and avoid accountability-which are similar to those of Facebook and Amazon earlier this year-are untethered to federal ethics law and regulations, and we urge you to cease them immediately," the Democrats wrote. Facebook and Amazon sought to have Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan recuse herself from cases involving their companies based on her past critical comments about the tech giants before she was confirmed to the FTC. An attorney for Google sent a letter to the DOJ in November, shortly after Kanter was confirmed by the Senate, asking the department to examine whether Kanter should be recused from the DOJ's investigations and litigation against Google. Google's attorney questioned if Kanter is "impartial" based on his prior work representing companies, including Yelp, in lawsuits against Google. Warren and Jayapal said Kanter meets none of the required reasons for a recusal. They dismissed Google's attempt to question Kanter's impartiality given that his "prior work has aligned with the federal government's interest in robust enforcement of antitrust law." "Google's logic would neuter federal enforcement activity," the Democrats said. A Google spokesperson sent a statement released at the time the initial letter was sent, but did not directly respond to the Democrat's request to drop the effort. "Mr. Kanter's past statements and work representing competitors who have advocated for the cases brought by the Department raise serious concerns about his ability to be impartial," the spokesperson said in the statement. Google's push to seek Kanter's recusal comes amid a DOJ lawsuit against the company, launched under the Trump administration. The department charged Google with illegally maintaining a monopoly on search and search advertising. Google has denied the allegations. - Updated at 1:55 p.m. NorthShore University HealthSystem and Edward-Elmhurst Health have officially merged, creating a nine-hospital system that spans Chicagos northern and western suburbs. The new system will be called NorthShore Edward-Elmhurst Health. The merger closed Jan. 1. Advertisement The head of NorthShore, J.P. Gallagher, is leading the new parent organization, which includes: Evanston, Skokie, Glenbrook and Highland Park hospitals; Swedish Hospital on Chicagos North Side; Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights; Edward Hospital in Naperville; Elmhurst Hospital; and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, which has a campus in Naperville. Patients likely wont notice any immediate differences in care or services related to the merger, said Gallagher, who is president and CEO of NorthShore Edward-Elmhurst. But over time, the ways they can access our system will expand, he said. Advertisement The new system hopes to open more outpatient sites, potentially for services such as urgent care, primary care and procedures that dont require overnight hospital stays. Exactly how many new sites and where they may be located is a work in progress, as the new system takes inventory of what it has and whats needed, Gallagher said. With the merger, patients may also see expanded access to specialty services and surgeries, he said. The merger is the latest in a string of deals and acquisitions by health systems in Illinois and across the country in recent years that hospital leaders say are aimed at reaching more patients, keeping up with changing technologies and improving access to more types of high-quality care. Some researchers have found that hospital consolidation often results in higher prices for insurance companies, and those costs can be passed along to consumers through higher premiums and other payments. Its a notion, however, with which hospitals have long disagreed, with the head of the American Hospital Association recently writing in a letter to federal officials that mergers lead to cost savings and quality improvement. The merger between NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst is not expected to drive up costs of care for insurance companies or patients within the new system, said Mary Lou Mastro, who was president and CEO of Edward-Elmhurst and will be CEO of the new systems South Region. Both organizations have been highly focused on delivering quality care at lower costs, Mastro said. Were all aware of the fact that health care costs are going up. Right now were experiencing double digit increases in costs of supplies, pharmaceuticals and labor costs. Our costs may go up over the next year, but not related to the merger. The merger also comes as hospitals across the state struggle with record numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and industrywide staffing shortages. Area hospital systems including NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst have paused or slowed elective surgeries to ensure they have enough space for the sickest patients. In recent weeks, NorthShore has sometimes closed its immediate care centers to additional patients early, after all its scheduled patient slots filled early in the day. Mastro said that, against that backdrop, the process of integrating the two systems may go more slowly than in a typical merger. Advertisement Being sensitive to the work environment were in ... we will make changes based on the ability of our teams to implement those changes, she said. Mastro said Edward-Elmhurst had been looking for another health system to partner with for years. NorthShore seemed to be a good fit, partly because of both systems commitments to care for patients within their own communities. NorthShore has also been actively working to grow in recent years. NorthShore acquired Swedish Hospital in 2020, and then scooped up Northwest Community in 2021. NorthShore also attempted to expand several years ago through a planned merger with Advocate Health Care. But the two systems walked away from that deal in 2017 after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission, which had argued that the two systems together would have had enough leverage to impose price increases on Illinois health insurers. Advocate later merged with Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin. In all, NorthShore Edward-Elmhurst will have 25,000 employees and 6,000 doctors. With the merger, NorthShore Edward-Elmhurst joins the ranks of Illinois other large hospital systems in the state, including Advocate Aurora Health, which has 10 hospitals in Illinois; Northwestern Medicine, which has 11 hospitals; and Amita Health, which has 19 hospitals in Illinois. Amita Health, however, announced last year that it planned to split into two, with the organizations behind Amita AdventHealth and Ascension deciding to unwind their partnership. Advertisement As part of the NorthShore Edward-Elmhurst merger, the two hospital systems agreed to each commit $100 million toward investing in their communities. The $200 million fund is expected to generate about $6 million to $12 million in interest annually, which will be used to support partnerships with groups helping their communities. lschencker@chicagotribune.com Most of the 64 Pennsylvanians arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol remain in criminal limbo, awaiting trials or plea hearings, but one of the most infamous among them asked for money to defend himself - and blamed others for his predicament. A fundraising page for Zach Rehl, a Proud Boys leader from Philadelphia and the son of a city police officer, claims "the Proud Boys of course had nothing to do with the attacks on police or battles with police" on Jan. 6. The fundraising page - now disabled - is titled "Help US Capitol Police injured on January 6 2021." The page, created by Rehl's attorney Jonathon Moseley, pleads for assistance for officers injured the day of the rioting. However, in a court motion filed by Moseley, the attorney was also raising funds to pay for Rehl's defense. Rehl has been in prison since his arrest. In the court motion, Moseley said he has spent "considerable time raising money for his client's legal defense, including a page on the Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo, which has permitted donations that other sites have refused. "It is overwhelmingly obvious that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser put the U.S. Capitol Police in this dangerous situation," the fundraising page states. The Southern Poverty Law Center defines the Proud Boys as a "hate group. " "Rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric," according to the SPLC. Enrique Tarrio, a Proud Boys leader, raised more than $113,000 in one week on GiveSendGo after he was arrested en route to the Jan. 6 events in Washington, D.C., according to the Washington Post. Three other Pennsylvania members of the Proud Boys were recently arrested for involvement in the Jan. 6 rioting: Brian Healion, Freedom Vy and Isaiah Giddings, all from the Philadelphia area. Story continues More: Proud Boys saw wave of contributions from Chinese diaspora before Capitol attack Protesters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington. In the 10 months since Jan. 6, more than 700 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Those defendants charged with assaulting officers are expected to face some of the most serious consequences. In Pennsylvania, those currently arrested for involvement with police are: Alan William Byerly, 54, Berks County; Michael James Dickinson, 30, Philadelphia; Julian Khater, 32, State College; Samuel Lazar, 36, Ephrata; Michael John Lopatic Sr., 57, Lancaster County; Robert Morss, Allegheny County; Marshall Neefe, 25, Newville; Howard Charles Richardson, 71, King of Prussia; Ryan Stephen Samsel, 37, Bristol Borough, Bucks County; Robert Sanford, 55, Boothwyn, Delaware County; Peter Schwartz, 47, Unionville, Chester County; and Barton Shively, 53, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County. Riley June Williams, 22, of Harrisburg, was among the first Pennsylvanians to be arrested for the rioting. She is accused of stealing a laptop from Pelosi's office that day. Originally detained in jail, she was put in her mother's custody and later indicted by a grand jury, after her arrest. She has not pleaded to those charges or been tried. Rachel Marie Powell, known as the "bullhorn lady," has been offered a plea deal and has about one more week to make a decision on it. She allegedly used a pole to force her way into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. More: Details on arrests across the country These are all of the arrests and charges among the 64 Pennsylvania residents connected to the insurrection: Mark Roderick Aungst, Williamsport Charges: Violent entry and disorderly conduct in the Capitol; parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in an restricted building or grounds. Dawn Bancroft, a Pennsylvania gym owner, and Diana Santos-Smith are among those charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Bancroft recorded and shared a selfie video as they were caught up in a bottleneck of rioters trying to leave the Capitol, and the video was tipped to the FBI, court records show. Dawn Bancroft, 59, Bucks County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct in any restricted building or grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. She pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Pauline Bauer, 53, Kane, McKean County Charges: Obstruction of justice; entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and violent entry of a restricted building. Craig Bingert, Slatington, Lehigh County Charge: Certain acts during civil disorder. The FBI used this photograph of William Blauser to identify in other photographs taken inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Blauser and Pauline Bauer, both of Kane, Pennsylvania, were arrested May 19 in connection with the insurrection. William Blauser, 65, Kane, McKean County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and violent entry. He pleaded guilty Nov. 16 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. L. Brent Bozell IV, 41, Palmyra, Lebanon County Charges: Obstruction of an official proceeding; destruction of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in the Capitol; act of physical violence in the Capitol; and parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol. Tammy Bronsburg (aka Tammy Butry), 49, Williamsport, Lycoming County Charges: Violent entry and disorderly conduct in the Capitol; parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in an restricted building or grounds. Terry Brown, 69, Myerstown, Lebanon County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced on Dec. 1 to 36 months probation with the first month as home detention; $500 restitution; and 60 hours community service. Alan William Byerly, 54, Berks County Charges: Assault on a federal officer; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; entering a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and assault. Christy Clark, Lewistown, Mifflin County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct that impedes the orderly conduct of government business. Matthew Clark, Lewistown, Mifflin County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct that impedes the orderly conduct of government business. Michael James Dickinson, 30, Philadelphia Charges; Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain police officers; entering a restricted building; impeding or disrupting the orderly conduct of government; engaging in an act of violence inside a restricted building; and disorderly conduct inside the Capitol. Gary Edwards, 68, Churchville, Bucks County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct; disruption of official business. He pleaded guilty Sept. 27 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Joseph Fischer was a police officer in Lebanon County before his arrest for allegedly participating in the U.S. Capitol riot. Joseph Fischer, 54, Lebanon County Charges: Obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and obstruction of justice/Congress. Samuel Christopher Fox, Westmoreland County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct inside the Capitol; violent entry into the Capitol; and parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol. He pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Raechel Genco, 38, Bristol Township, Bucks County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. Michael Gianos, 33, Philadelphia Charges: Entering a restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct. Isaiah Giddings, 29, Philadelphia Charges: Unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds; violent entry; and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Kenneth Grayson, 51, Bridgeville, Allegheny County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct which impedes the conduct of government business; disruptive conduct in the Capitol buildings; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol buildings; obstructing or impeding any official proceeding. Brian Gundersen, 26, State College, Centre County Charges: Impeding an official preceding of Congress; assaulting, impeding or resisting police officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in the Capitol; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building; violence inside the Capitol; and parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol. Brian Healion, 31, Upper Darby, Delaware County Charges: Unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds; violent entry; and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Jennifer Heinl, 55, Pittsburgh Charges: Entering or remaining in a restricted building; intending to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business; and disorderly conduct. She pleaded guilty Nov. 2 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. The FBI included this photo of Annie Howell of Swoyersville, Luzerne County, in its criminal complaint charging her with involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. This photo was taken earlier that day and helped to identify her clothing with other photos and videos of her inside the Capitol, according to the FBI. Annie C. Howell, 30, Luzerne County Charges: Entering a restricted building; intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business; uttering loud, threatening or abusive language or engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. She pleaded guilty on Dec. 2 to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building. Her sentencing is set for March 2. As part of her plea agreement, she must cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating other cases. Julian Khater, 32, State College, Centre County Charges: Conspiracy to injure an officer; three counts of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon; one count of civil disorder; one count of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding; one count of physical violence on restricted grounds, while carrying dangerous weapon and resulting in significant bodily injury; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct, act of physical violence on Capitol grounds. Jackson Kostolsky, Allentown Charges: Entering a restricted building or grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Samuel Lazar, 36, Ephrata, Lancaster County Charges: Assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and entering or remaining in a restricted building. Deborah Lynn Lee, 55, Olyphant, Lackawanna County Charges: Disorderly conduct in the Capitol building; uttering loud, threatening or abusive language in the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt Congress; and entering a federal building. Michael John Lopatic Sr. of Lancaster County was captured In this body camera picture, allegedly beating a police officer during the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Consider a danger to the community, the federal government is requesting that he is placed in prison until his trial on several federal charges. Michael John Lopatic Sr., 57, Lancaster County Charges: Assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers; civil disorder; disorderly conduct; entering a restricted building and grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building and grounds; and violent entry into a restricted building and grounds. Debra J. Maimone, 27, New Castle, Lawrence County Charges: Theft of property; knowingly entering a restricted building; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Edward McAlanis, 41, Stevens, Lancaster County Charges: Entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Richard Michetti, Delaware County Charges: Entering or remaining in a restricted building; intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government; disorderly conduct; and demonstrating inside a federal building. Jordan R. Mink, Oakdale, Allegheny County Charges: Unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds; unlawful injury to property; violent entry, destruction of government property valued at over $1,000; theft of government property, aiding and abetting. Anthony Richard Moat, 35, arrested in Philadelphia County Charges: Entering and remaining in a restricted building unlawfully; and violent entry and disorderly conduct in a restricted building. The FBI used this photograph, captured from video, in the arrest warrant affidavit they filed against Robert Morss, an Allegheny County man, who appears in this photograph to have a pair of scissors and a knife in his vest on the day of the Capitol riot. The FBI circled those items in red. Robert Morss, Allegheny County Charges: Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; robbery of U.S. personal property; and obstruction of an official proceeding. Rachel Myers, 30, Philadelphia Charges: Restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct Marshall Neefe, 25, Newville Charges: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; act of physical violence in the capitol building or grounds; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Kelly McFadden OBrien, Allentown Charges: Entering a restricted building; intending to impede or disrupt official government business; and disorderly or disruptive conduct in the Capitol. Matthew Perna, Sharon Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Perna pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to an indictment that charged him with obstruction of Congress, a felony, and three related misdemeanor charges. Nicholas J. Perretta (circled in red by the FBI) and Mitchell Paul Vukich, both of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, surrendered to the FBI June 23 for several charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Nicholas J. Perretta, Beaver County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct inside the Capitol; disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; theft of government property; and parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 15 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Russell James Peterson, 34, Beaver County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct which impedes the conduct of government business; disruptive conduct in the Capitol buildings; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol buildings. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Rachel Marie Powell, 40, Sandy Lake, Mercer County Charges: Obstruction of an official proceeding; destruction of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. In this photo, provided by the FBI in court documents, these Proud Boys militia members are in U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley's U.S. Capitol office on Jan. 6. They are, from left to right, Brian Healion, Freedom Vy, Zachary Rehl and Isaiah Giddings, all from the Philadelphia area. The gesture they're using is considered by the Anti-Defamation League to be a "hoax." They have all been arrested. Zach Rehl, 35, Philadelphia Charges: Rehl is named along with three other Proud Boys' members for committing the following crimes: Conspiracy; obstruction of an official proceeding; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; destruction of federal property; entering and remaining in a restricted building; and disorderly conduct in a restricted building. Howard Charles Richardson, 71, King of Prussia Charges: Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct. Leonard Pearso Ridge IV, 19, Lower Southampton, Bucks County Charges: Obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building and grounds; disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty in October to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. His sentence, set on Jan. 4, is 14 days in jail. Michael Joseph Rusyn, 64, Lackawanna County Charges: Entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in the Capitol; parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 13 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Federal authorities said Ryan Samsel, of Bristol, assaulted an officer during the insurrection at the Capitol last month. Ryan Stephen Samsel, 37, Bristol Borough, Bucks County Charges: Forcibly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, or interfered with a federal agent while they are engaged in their official duties; committed or attempt to commit any act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with any fireman or law enforcement officer lawfully engage in the lawful performance of his official duties; obstructed, influenced, or impeded any official proceeding, or attempt to do so. Robert Sanford, 55, Boothwyn, Delaware County Charges; Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers while engaged in the performance of official duties. Diana Santos-Smith, 31, Bucks County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct in any restricted building or grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. She pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Frank Scavo Frank Scavo III, 59, Old Forge, Lackawanna County Charges: Knowingly entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in the Capitol; parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced on Nov. 22 to 60 days in prison, $5,000 fine and $500 restitution. Peter Schwartz, 47, Unionville, Chester County Charges: Forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds. Dale Jeremiah DJ Shalvey, 36, Washington County Charges: Obstructing an official proceeding; entering a restricted building; entering the U.S. Senate floor to disrupt official business; disrupting business; and demonstrating inside the Capitol. Barton Shively, 53, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County Charges: Aiding and abetting; civil disorder; forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any officer or employee of the United States or of any agency in any branch of the United States government while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties; restricted building or grounds; violent entry, obstruct or impede passage, engage in physical violence on grounds or any of the Capitol buildings. Julia Jeanette Sizer, Lawrence County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in the Capitol; and parading or demonstrating in the Capitol. She pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Charles Bradford Smith, 25, Shippensburg Charges: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; impeding ingress and egress in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting; unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds or buildings; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings; aiding and abetting. Paul Spigelmyer is among those arrested and charged for their participation in the Capitol riot. Paul Spigelmyer, Lewistown, Mifflin County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct that impedes the orderly conduct of government business. He was arrested Feb. 10. Brian Stenz, 51, Norristown, Montgomery County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; violent entry or disorderly conduct; and parading or demonstrating in the Capitol. He pleaded guilty Nov. 12 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Philip C. Vogel II, 33, New Castle, Lawrence County Charges: Theft of property; knowingly entering a restricted building; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Jeremy J. Vorous, 43, Venango, Crawford County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol ground; obstruction of an official proceeding. Mitchell Paul Vukich of New Brighton traveled with a friend to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 6 rally for then-President Donald Trump. They have both been charged on multiple violations, including stealing Congressional papers, according to the FBI. Mitchell Paul Vukich, Beaver County Charges: Entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct inside the Capitol; disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; theft of government property; and parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 15 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Freedom Vy, 36, Philadelphia Charges: Unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds; violent entry; and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. This photo appeared in the FBI's criminal complaint against Pauline Bauer (left). With her are state Rep. Frank Ryan and Sandra Weyer on Jan. 5, Swearing-in Day at the Pennsylvania Capitol. Both Weyer and Bauer were charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. In a statement, Ryan said: "I have no relationship with either person in the photograph, and I was not in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. I believe strongly in the publics right to peaceful protest and that it is critical to our republic. However, I do not and have not supported the actions of Jan. 6. Sandra Pomeroy Weyer, Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County Charges: Obstruction of an official proceeding; disorderly and disruptive conduct; parading and demonstrating, and violent entry into the U.S. Capitol. Gary Laird Wickersham, 80, West Chester Charges: Entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct inside a restricted building. He pleaded guilty Oct. 15 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Riley June Williams, 22, Harrisburg, Dauphin County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in an restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Andrew Wrigley, 50, Jim Thorpe, Carbon County Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry; and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced Dec. 2 to 18 months probation, a $2,000 fine and $500 restitution. Kim Strong can be reached at kstrong@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: 64 Pennsylvania residents arrested for U.S. Capitol rioting Williamson County has administered more than 913,315 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of Jan. 4, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. That's up 1.66% from the previous week's tally of 898,431 COVID-19 doses administered. In Williamson County, 72% of people living in Williamson County are fully vaccinated as of Jan. 4. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after they've been given a single-dose shot (Johnson & Johnson) or a second shot (either Pfizer or Moderna). More: Fact-check: Can vaccinated people spread COVID-19? Texas reported 4,804,721 total cases of coronavirus, an increase of 6% from the week before. The five counties with the highest percentage of their population fully vaccinated in Texas as of Jan. 4 are Webb County (82%), Presidio County (82%), Maverick County (79%), Hudspeth County (77%) and Starr County (77%). Here are the latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Williamson County as of Jan. 4: How many people in Williamson County have received a COVID-19 vaccine? 82% of people in Williamson County have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 434,395 people 72% of people in Williamson County are fully vaccinated, for a total of 381,458 people For a county-by-county look at the vaccination rollout, see our COVID-19 vaccine tracker, which is updated daily. How many people in Texas have been vaccinated so far? 70% of people in Texas have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 19,475,019 people 59% of people in Texas are fully vaccinated, for a total of 16,576,843 people COVID vaccinations for kids and boosters The percentages in this story reflect the total share of the population that has received vaccines. That now includes people as young as 5 years old, for whom vaccines have been authorized. These weekly stories will be updated as more data on vaccination rates in children, as well as booster vaccination rates, are released. Story continues More: Travis County COVID-19 vaccine tracker: 70% of people fully vaccinated We pull data on local vaccine distribution on a weekly basis. Check back for our next weekly update mid-week for the latest numbers. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson County Texas vaccine rate: How many people are vaccinated? Brayton Willis, chairman of the Brunswick County NAACP's environmental and climate justice committee, speaks during a press conference at Battleship Park in Wilmington, N.C., Wednesday, January 5, 2022. The event was organized to voice opposition to the text amendment for the proposed Villages at Battleship Point development on the west bank of the Cape Fear River. A coalition of Wilmington-area groups gathered on the deck of Battleship North Carolina on Wednesday to voice their opposition to a text amendment that would allow a new development to move forward on the Cape Fear River's west bank. The proposed site of the residential and commercial development is sometimes referred to as Point Peter and lies just north of the battleship. It was visible from the battleship's deck as representatives of various nonprofit groups spoke about the potential challenges a development could create, including burdens on infrastructure, environmental concerns and the destruction of cultural resources. Travis Gilbert, the executive director of the Historic Wilmington Foundation, said the groups are looking to "make it evident that it is not a good idea to rezone Point Peter." More: In 'last grasp' effort, Cape Fear west bank developers hope to appeal recent project denial The opposition to the text amendment comes just days before it's set to be considered by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. The amendment would establish the Riverfront Urban Mixed Use district, a new zoning designation. The new district is needed for the currently proposed project to move forward, according project developer KFJ Development Group. "We don't fit in anything else," Frank Pasquale, the group's technical director, told the New Hanover County Planning Board in November. Initial plans for the project, dubbed the Villages at Battleship Point, included hundreds of condos and apartments along with space for restaurants, retail and a "high-end hospitality venue." Developers are looking to build on an 8.4 acre site located at 1100 Point Harbor Road, which is situated just across the river from the northern end of downtown Wilmington. The planning board denied the group's request to establish the zoning district at their Dec. 2 meeting. KFJ Development Group appealed the decision and the item has been placed on the agenda of the Jan. 10 meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners. Story continues Because the land is situated at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and the Northeast Cape Fear River, it is vulnerable to the forces of the water around it, according to Kemp Burdette, a Cape Fear Riverkeeper with Cape Fear River Watch. More: Groups voice opposition to the proposed Villages at Battleship Point development "Point Peter is at the mercy of the water that surrounds it," he said. "All of that water is rising in one way or another." Burdette said high tide flooding is becoming more common and the area will see more water in the future as sea levels rise. Burdette pointed to a photograph taken on Jan. 3 that showed water surrounding the proposed development site, making it unfit for the proposed project, he said. "The rezoning request ... would allow high-density development in an area remarkably unsuited for the project they have planned," he said. "To allow this kind of development on Point Peter or anywhere along the western bank of the river is sheer folly." Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette speaks during a press conference at Battleship Park in Wilmington, N.C., Wednesday, January 5, 2022. The event was organized to voice opposition to the text amendment for the proposed Villages at Battleship Point development on the west bank of the Cape Fear River. Brayton Willis, who chairs the Brunswick County NAACP's environmental and climate justice committee, said the project would worsen flooding in the area, which is already "becoming the norm." On Wednesday, several inches of water covered wide swaths of the parking lot and road leading to Battleship North Carolina. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects between one and three feet of sea level rise in Wilmington by 2060, according to information provided by the coalition. Willis also discussed ways the proposed development clashes with flooding considerations and other standards outlined in Article 9 of New Hanover County's Unified Development Ordinance. Gilbert said the proposed project would block views of Battleship North Carolina, one of two national landmarks in New Hanover County. Brayton Willis, chairman of the Brunswick County NAACP's environmental and climate justice committee, speaks during a press conference at Battleship Park in Wilmington, N.C., Wednesday, January 5, 2022. The event was organized to voice opposition to the text amendment for the proposed Villages at Battleship Point development on the west bank of the Cape Fear River. "It would be extremely disappointing ... to have a 240-foot wall impede views of this memorial," he said. The Historic Wilmington Foundation would support a rezoning of the site that would protect viewsheds of Battleship North Carolina and would also protect archeological resources previously recorded on the site. The rezoning could include height restrictions and setback requirements, Gilbert said. Although some west bank parcels are zoned for industrial or commercial development, Willis said citizens could step in to help low impact development come to the area. "Just the same as the developer requested a rezoning, the citizens could do the same thing," he said. Travis John Gilbert, Executive Director of the Historic Wilmington Foundation, speaks during a press conference at Battleship Park in Wilmington, N.C., Wednesday, January 5, 2022. The event was organized to voice opposition to the text amendment for the proposed Villages at Battleship Point development on the west bank of the Cape Fear River. Groups represented at the press conference included the Brunswick County Chapter of the NAACP, Cape Fear Group of the Sierra Club, Cape Fear River Assembly, Cape Fear River Watch, Coastal Plain Conservation Group, Historic Wilmington Foundation, Lower Cape Fear League of Women Voters, New Hanover County Chapter of the NAACP, and the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Members of the public can submit comments about the proposed project to the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners until noon on Jan.9. Comments can be submitted online at planning.nhcgov.com/public-comment-form. Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at 910-343-2096 or edill@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington groups voice concern about west bank development The grieving owner is planning to sue Southwest Airlines. Scott Olson/Getty Images, Courtesy of Evan Oshan A woman says her dog died on a Southwest flight because crew wouldn't let him out of his carrier. Courtney Cipar believes Charlie suffered from heatstroke and a seizure, and plans to sue the airline. Southwest Airlines told TMZ that it's the airline's policy that pets must remain in their carriers. A woman says her dog died during a recent Southwest Airlines flight after cabin crew refused to let her take him out of his dog carrier, as TMZ first reported on Tuesday. The passenger, Courtney Cipar, told the outlet she is an X-ray technician and traveled across the US with her 3-year-old support dog, Charlie, to comfort patients suffering from COVID-19. Video: Pilots debunk 11 flying myths Charlie, a French Bulldog, died on December 21 on board a Philadelphia-bound Southwest Airlines flight from Pensacola after a layover in Nashville, according to a statement from Cipar's attorney, Evan Oshan of the personal-injury firm Oshan & Associates. Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, though in a statement to TMZ, a representative for the airline said they were "disheartened to learn about the passing of this customer's pet and have been in contact with her to learn more." Oshan told Insider the airline reached out to Cipar to offer a free flight ticket, but had not contacted his client since. The attorney said Cipar plans to sue the airline over Charlie's death and the grievance caused. Courtney told TMZ Charlie was healthy before the flight. Courtesy of Evan Oshan Cipar told TMZ she believes her dog died from heatstroke and a seizure, and that Charlie had had no prior health issues. Speaking to Insider, Oshan said there are no details about Charlie's official cause of death, and that it is unclear whether a necropsy has been conducted. "While on the flight my travel companion Charlie began having breathing problems," Cipar said in the statement from her attorney, adding that the pet was in his dog carrier and that she had paid for him as a passenger. Story continues "When I attempted to take Charlie out of the carrier or even open the carrier the Southwest airline personnel threatened to turn the plane back and that I would have consequences," she added. "As Charlie moaned for air I was unable to help him and he died." "The Southwest airline staff essentially allowed my Charlie to die," she said. In its statement to TMZ, Southwest Airlines said that "tens of thousands of Customers travel with cats and dogs every month," and that it requires pets to "remain in their well-ventilated carriers at all times for the comfort and safety of fellow Customers." Courtney said she believes 3-year-old Charlie died from heatstroke and breathing problems. Courtesy of Evan Oshan Oshan told Insider that dogs and other pets traveling with their owners have the right to be treated with the same respect and dignity as any other paying passenger. "Once again the airlines have not taken our four legged family members into account," he said. "Charlie was a paying passenger and desired to be allowed to breathe," he added. "His travel companion a health care worker was bullied and not allowed to help him." Read the original article on Insider The U.S. Mint will begin circulating quarters honoring five women this year as part of a four-year series celebrating contributions women have made to the United States. Among the diverse group of women being honored are a celebrated poet and civil rights activist, the first American woman in space, the first Chinese American movie star, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and the first woman to serve as superintendent of the Santa Fe public schools. "Each time we redesign our currency, we have the chance to say something about our country what we value, and how we've progressed as a society. I'm very proud that these coins celebrate the contributions of some of America's most remarkable women, including Maya Angelou" said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who had final approval over the choices. The women being honored were selected following an expansive selection process. Last year, the National Women's History Museum website launched a portal allowing people to submit names of women they would like to see honored. More than 11,000 names were submitted in four months. The recommendations served as part of the list the mint, working with other groups such as the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, National Women's History Museum and Congressional Bipartisan Women's Caucus, considered when looking for potential honorees. The goal is for quarters to feature women who have made contributions in a variety of fields including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space and the arts. The effort also aims to select women from racially, ethnically and geographically diverse backgrounds. No living woman can be selected. The American Women Quarters Program will continue through 2025 with the release of up to five quarters each year. Maya Angelou The U.S. Mint is honoring writer and poet Maya Angelou with a quarter. / Credit: U. S. Mint The first quarters, already being shipped to the Federal Reserve this month for distribution to the public, will feature writer and poet, performer and activist Maya Angelou. Angelou rose to prominence with her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." She went on to publish more than two dozen best-selling works including poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Story continues In 1993, Angelou read "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, making her the first African American and woman to recite poetry at a presidential inauguration. As an activist, Angelou served as a coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Angelou also appeared in plays on and off-Broadway. Sally Ride The U.S. Mint is honoring astronaut Sally Ride with a quarter. / Credit: U.S. Mint Quarters featuring the first American woman in space, Sally Ride, are expected to begin circulation in February. In 1983, Ride was aboard the shuttle Challenger for its six-day mission in space, making her the first woman and, at 32, the youngest American in space at the time. It was the first of two flights into space aboard the shuttle for Ride, who left NASA in 1987. Ride went on to focus her career on educating young people, co-authoring six science books, as well as launching an organization focused on inspiring young people in STEM. She died of cancer in 2012. Wilma Mankiller The U.S. Mint is honoring Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller with a quarter. / Credit: U.S. Mint Quarters featuring the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and women's rights activist Wilma Mankiller will begin circulating this spring. Mankiller founded the Community Development Department for the Cherokee Nation, which focused on improving housing and water. In 1983, she was named running mate in the re-election bid of Principal Chief Ross Swimmer. The win made her the first woman elected deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation. She was elected chief in 1987 and left office in 1995. In 1998, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Nina Otero-Warren The U.S. Mint is honoring activist Nina Otero-Warren with a quarter. / Credit: U.S. Mint Quarters with Nina Otero-Warren will be distributed this summer. Otero-Warren was a leader in New Mexico's suffrage movement, spearheading efforts for the state to ratify the 19th Amendment recognizing women's right to vote. During her efforts, she insisted literature be published in English and Spanish. Otero-Warren was also the first woman to serve as superintendent of the Santa Fe public schools from 1918 to 1929, where she advocated for both Spanish and English in schools, despite an English-only federal mandate. She also was a critic of the government's Indian school system, advocating for better conditions. Anna May Wong The U.S. Mint is honoring actress Anna May Wong with a quarter. / Credit: U.S. Mint The final quarter as part of this year's series features Anna May Wong, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood. Wong appeared in more than 60 movies, including one of the first films made in Technicolor, achieving international recognition. In 1951, she was also the first Asian American to lead a U.S. television show. Over the next four years, the mint will continue to meet with partners to decide on potential honorees. There are several more steps to finalize the recommendations before they are sent to the Treasury Secretary for approval. The legislation creating the program in commemoration of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California in 2019 and passed in 2020. It was signed into law in January 2021. While each of the five quarters this year will honor a prominent American woman, the "heads" sides of the coins will continue to feature the portrait of President George Washington. How to make healthy habits stick throughout 2022 Officials push for schools to continue in-person learning amid COVID-19 Omicron surge Meet the history-making women being honored on quarters in 2022 A Virginia Tech student found guilty of cheating in one of his engineering classes by the universitys honor system is taking his case to a higher court. Identified only as John Doe in lawsuit filed in Roanokes federal court, the student is asking a judge to overturn an F he received in the class and to remove a finding of academic misconduct from his record. In taking the rare step of filing a legal challenge to a failing grade, the student argues that he is the victim of unclear policies regarding the use of online sources for a class taught remotely via Zoom during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The student was one of about 60 members of a computer coding class who were accused of cheating in December 2020, in part through their use of Chegg.com, an online learning platform designed to help students with their homework. In the rush to accuse so many students, Mr. Doe was lumped together with others who had signed up with a Chegg.com account, according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 27. Doe admitted that he used Chegg to check his answer on one of his virtual assignments, but denied cheating or plagiarizing. Chegg is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The publicly held company based in Santa Clara, California, says it offers legitimate help to millions of students through a variety of online platforms. We take any attempts to cheat, or otherwise use our platform improperly, seriously, Candace Sue, director of academic relations, wrote in an email Monday. But with surge of online teaching, the company has faced criticism of its homework help website, which allows users to post a question and receive an answer from a Chegg-identified expert within half a hour. A study published by the International Journal for Academic Integrity found that questions submitted from students in five fields of study computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics and chemistry increased by nearly 200% from April to August of 2020, compared to the same time period a year earlier. The growing number of requests indicates that students are using Chegg for assessment and exam help frequently and in a way that is not considered permissible by universities, an abstract of the study posted on the journals website states. In Does case, Tech professor Brian Vick filed a complaint with the Office of Undergraduate Academic Integrity. Doe contested the cheating allegation. But he was denied a fair hearing, the lawsuit contends, in part because Vick did not appear at the proceeding and was unavailable to answer questions. Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski declined to comment Monday, saying the school had not received a copy of the lawsuit. The complaint, filed against Tech and President Tim Sands, asserts that Does due process rights were violated. It asks a judge to issue a preliminary injunction lifting his F grade and removing a finding of academic misconduct. Doe is also seeking a permanent injunction that would allow him to receive credit for the course, and to receive compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial for disruption of Mr. Does educational progress. Because the class is a prerequisite for higher courses, the third-year student says he would lose an entire semester by having to retake it, delaying his graduation by a year. Doe, who sued anonymously because of the highly sensitive and personal nature of the case, was accused of cheating on five assignments. He argues in the lawsuit that Vicks teaching assistant used an online portal called Discord to help students with assignments and indicated that it was OK to rely on resources such as Google and YouTube, according to the lawsuit. As for Chegg.com, Doe acknowledged that he used the site one time to check an answer for an assignment, and asked that he receive a failing grade only for that portion of the class. It took a honor system panel composed of four students and two faculty members more than 10 months to schedule a hearing, and Doe complains in the lawsuit that he was denied an opportunity to present visual aids or to confront his professor during the proceeding. Mr. Doe faces significant and severe consequences as a result of the universitys decision to impose a failing grade and effectively suspend him, the lawsuit states. It was not clear what became of the 60-some other students who were accused of cheating in Vicks class. Robert Dean, a Roanoke attorney who filed the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment. A southwestern Japan hospital where women can give birth anonymously said Tuesday that a teenage girl who gave birth in December has become the first person to use the system, the only one of its kind in the country. Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture, which became the first facility in Japan to offer so-called confidential births in December 2019, said the girl only disclosed her identity to the head counselor of the hospital and has already been discharged. The hospital decided to introduce anonymous births amid a rising number of women choosing to deliver without medical assistance to keep their pregnancies a secret. But the system has yet to be legislated in Japan due to numerous issues such as how to register the child. The hospital said that the girl, who lives in western Japan, had expressed hope the child would be raised by another person through special adoption. She left an envelope containing copies of her identification cards for the child to open in the future if he or she wished, as well as a letter addressed to the child, it said. The girl exhibited strong love for her child and her intention to return to the hospital, leaving the possibility that she may reveal her identity in the future, according to the hospital. The girl had consulted the hospital last November over concerns that her relationship with her mother would be severed if her mother found out about the child. Japanese Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo says a projectile presumed to be a ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Wednesday morning flew about 500 kilometers and likely fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. Kishi told reporters on Wednesday that the North fired the presumed ballistic missile eastward from an inland platform at around 8:07 a.m. He said no damage to Japanese aircraft or ships had been confirmed so far. Kishi said a detailed analysis was underway. He said based on instructions from Prime Minister Kishida Fumio he had told the defense ministry and the Self-Defense Forces to continue taking all possible measures to gather information and monitor the situation. Kishi said he will work closely with relevant countries including the US and South Korea. He added that he was determined to protect people's lives and livelihood. Kishi said the North has made about 40 launches since May 2019 and was apparently aiming to improve its missile technology. He went on to say the repeated launches in recent years are a serious concern for Japan and the international community. Kishi also said that based on the latest launch, the government will consider all possible options, including possessing the ability to strike enemy bases. He reiterated that the government will continue to make efforts to drastically boost its defense capabilities. Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defence and security cooperation at a virtual summit on Thursday, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cancelled trips to Australia and the United States due a surge in COVID-19 cases. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two leaders will sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will for the first time set out a framework for the two countries' defence forces to cooperate with each other. "This treaty will be a statement of our two nations commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific," Morrison said in a statement. The strengthened security ties expand on efforts by the United States, Japan, India and Australia - dubbed the Quad - to work on shared concerns about China in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia and Japan also plan to discuss opportunities to strengthen government and business partnerships on clean energy, critical technologies and materials. "Our cooperation also includes an expanding agenda for the Quad with India and the United States, and our shared technology-led approach to reducing carbon emissions," Morrison said. The affordable housing lottery has launched for Alvista Towers II, a newly built 25-story mixed-use building at 147-25 94th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. Designed by GF55 Partners and developed by Artimus NYC, the structure yields 543 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 353 units for residents at 50 to 165 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $25,920 to $212,685. Residents will have access to a wide range of amenities including a 24-hour attended lobby, an on-site resident manager, a fifth-floor recreational terrace, rooftop lounge, fitness center, yoga room, kids center, art room, music room, bicycle storage, dog washing station, shared laundry room, lounge area, and on-site parking. Units come equipped with large windows, PTAC heating/cooling units, dishwashers, energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures, name-brand appliances and finishes, and patios or balconies. At 50 percent of the AMI, there are 33 studios with a monthly rent of $683 for incomes ranging from $25,920 to $47,750; 85 one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $865 for incomes ranging from $32,503 to $53,700; and 45 two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $2,705 for incomes ranging from $92,743 to $167,570. At 120 percent of the AMI, there are 34 studios with a monthly rent of $1,532 for incomes ranging from $55,029 to $114,600; 84 one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,926 for incomes ranging from $68,880 to $128,880; and 34 two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $2,705 for incomes ranging from $92,743 to $167,570. At 165 percent of the AMI, there are six studios with a monthly rent of $1,853 for incomes ranging from $66,035 to $157,575 and 44 two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $2,323 for incomes ranging from $83,383 to $154,680. Prospective renters must meet income and household size requirements to apply for these apartments. Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than February 27, 2022. Subscribe to YIMBYs daily e-mail Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates Like YIMBY on Facebook Follow YIMBYs Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews At Laurel Hill Elementary School in Hanover Park, music teacher Lynne Schefke,who normally works at Huff Elementary School in Elgin, high-fives student Angel Herrera in a dual language kindergarten classroom while working as a substitute on Jan. 4, 2022. A surge of COVID-19 cases forced Elgin-based Unit School District 46 to close five of its 57 schools because of staffing shortages, including Huff Elementary. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) Even remote learning is not an option for some students at a growing number of suburban schools, where the spike in COVID-19 cases this week has sidelined teachers and staff, suspending classroom instruction amid a critical statewide shortfall of school employees. At Elgin-based Community Unit School District 46 the second largest school district in Illinois officials announced that five of its 57 schools were closed Tuesday because of staffing shortages, which unlike previous classroom shutdowns, does not include pivoting to online instruction. Advertisement A total of 525 District 46 employees were absent Tuesday, including 394 teachers, with 178 positions left unfilled by substitutes, Superintendent Tony Sanders said. The district employs about 6,000 people, including full- and part-time workers, certified, and non-certified staff. Wed rather get as many kids as possible in school safely, because with COVID-19, theyre certainly safer in school than out in the community, Sanders said. Advertisement We are disappointed we had to make the call to close five schools, but we had too many unfilled positions, and not enough substitutes to stay open, Sanders said. In a letter to parents, Sanders apologized for the inconvenience caused by the school closures, and advised that no remote instruction will be provided at these schools. The northwest suburban district enrolls around 36,000 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade, nearly 60% of whom are from low-income families. Teachers and other staff who are not ill at the closed schools, which include Highland, Huff, Parkwood and Ridge Circle elementary schools, and Independence Early Learning Center, were asked to volunteer to fill in at schools that reopened Tuesday, Sanders said. At Laurel Hill Elementary School in Hanover Park, music teacher Lynne Schefke, who normally works at Huff Elementary School in Elgin, dismisses her students after subbing in a dual language kindergarten classroom on Jan. 4, 2022. (Chicago Tribune) We will be reviewing staffing levels day by day in making determinations of whether these, or other, schools may have to be closed in the coming days and weeks, Sanders added. Staffing shortages due to COVID-19 also forced officials at Niles Township School District 219 to halt their plans to resume in-person, classroom instruction this week, and instead, the district will move to a remote learning, adaptive pause through Jan. 14. Advertisement In a letter to parents posted on the districts website, officials said Tuesday was designated as an asynchronous, independent remote learning day, which is intended to provide students, teachers, and staff the flexibility to get tested for COVID-19 if needed. SHIELD testing will also be conducted at the high school buildings for staff and students, officials said. Throughout this period of remote learning, we will strongly encourage cameras on for all students to maximize learning and engagement for all, officials said. The district is also planning to distribute meals for pickup by students on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next two weeks at Niles North and Niles West high schools. Staffing shortages across New Lenox-based Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 also prompted officials to close buildings, and switch to online instruction through Friday. In a parent letter posted on the districts website, officials said the districts difficult decision to transition to remote learning and follow the districts emergency e-learning plan through the end of the week is only a temporary disruption to in-person learning. Advertisement A state law that predates the pandemic allows Illinois school districts to use preapproved e-learning plans for a maximum of five school days in the case of emergencies, including snow days. But officials at the Illinois State Board of Education said Tuesday that school districts should not declare an adaptive pause due to staffing shortages. If the school is following guidance regarding masking, testing, and identifying and excluding COVID-19 cases and their close contacts, then an adaptive pause should not be necessary to mitigate an outbreak, and students are best served by continuing to provide in-person instruction, ISBE Superintendent Carmen Ayala said in a Tuesday statement. Please note that an adaptive pause means a temporary shift to remote learning for attendance days, Ayala said. Alternatively, schools may choose to take nonattendance days at any time for any reason and make up those attendance days later in the year. A school or school district may only enter into an adaptive pause with remote learning in consultation with the local health department and consistent with guidance or requirements from such local health department. Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said the union remains hopeful school districts can get through the next few weeks with as much in-person student learning as possible, but remote learning at some schools might be needed for the short term. No one thinks its better to have remote instruction than in person, and our teachers, students and parents hate it, but we might need to tolerate it for a week or so until we get this latest wave of the omicron down, and are on the other side of it, Montgomery said. Advertisement Educators say the trajectory of the latest virus spike will likely determine the severity and longevity of the current school staffing shortages. The big question right now is, when will this latest surge go down? said John Burkey, executive director of the Large Unit District Association, and the former superintendent of Huntley Community School District 158. But its not just educators that are dealing with this, but the whole society, Burkey said. It looks like were all going to be facing a tough couple of weeks, but I think were all hoping this latest surge will go down as quickly as it went up. kcullotta@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kcullotta Pottawattamie County has taken over ownership of Mt. Crescent Ski Area north of Council Bluffs. The county said it was able to receive ownership with the help of the Iowa West Foundation and Mt. Crescent owners Korby and Samantha Fleischer. The deal was finalized on Dec. 30, 2021. The county purchased the business for about $3.5 million, paying for it with an Iowa West grant of around $1.4 million and American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to Pottawattamie County Supervisor Justin Schultz. We are beyond pleased to partner with the county and the Fleischers to support the transition of this regional destination Brenda Mainwaring, president and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, said in a press release. The last two years have reminded us just how important outdoor recreational spaces are to our communities. By providing the additional support needed to make this transition a reality, we know that the County can continue to support conservation and recreation in our region for years to come. Mt. Crescent first opened in 1962, and has continuously been in operation for 60 years. The Fleischers have owned and operated the ski area since 2008. Schultz said the board examined the criteria of the American Rescue Plan and "determined we were able to leverage that money" for the purchase. "This is big news for Mt. Crescent and our county," he said. The ski area, which sits adjacent to the Hitchcock Nature Center, will continue to be managed by the Fleischers through the remainder of the current season. From there, the Fleischers will have the right of first refusal for operations contracts for two years, Schultz said. Korby Fleischer said they can see themselves continue managing it. I think we can all come together with the county and the vision that Pottawattamie has for a four seasons destination, he said. We would love to help and advise for that to happen. We have our ideas and we would love to see the feasibility study done to see how all our ideas can come together. We want to help out more than 100% to make this a little DisneyLand in the Midwest. A lot of changes and updates have been made since the Fleischers took over, but Korby said a lot of them are underground or not specific updates you can see. Changes have been made to the piping, electric, snow-making machines, chair lift upgrades and other general improvements. We have been lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to operate a popular ski area for the past 13 years and to be surrounded by dedicated staff, wonderful ski and snowboard enthusiasts and the best volunteer Ski Patrol around, the Fleischers said together in the release. We are confident and excited that Pottawattamie County will protect and expand upon what our family has worked so hard to create. Once the management of the property has been transitioned, the county may begin exploring the feasibility of further recreational development of the area, the release said. Schultz said the county is using $100,000 from the Iowa West grant on a study looking at additional options to make it "an even bigger revenue generator." "This will always be a ski hill," he said. Schultz said the purchase is part of a long-term plan to purchase the entire bluff in the Hitchcock Nature Center area, noting, "Getting Mt. Crescent is a big part of that." "This was several years in the making," he said, noting that negotiations broke down a few years ago before both parties came back to the table to finalize a deal. Mt. Crescent is located at 17026 Snowhill Lane in Honey Creek. For more information on hours and activities go to skicrescent.com. Iowa Reps. Jon Jacobsen, R-Council Bluffs, and Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, are promoting a bill that would ban employers from requiring workers to receive COVID-19 or other vaccinations and ban discriminating against employees, job candidates or customers based on their vaccination status. The bill would also bar businesses from requiring face coverings. Republican party leadership has said they want to see how mandates play out in the courts before moving forward. The two lawmakers plan to introduce the bill when the Iowa Legislature convenes on Jan. 10. Jacobsen visited The Daily Nonpareil Tuesday morning with a group of people who support the bill. It embraces the standards weve had going back to the Nuremberg code in the 1940s, Jacobsen said, highlighting the prohibition on people being coerced into receiving medical treatment or being treated without their informed consent. What were saying with employer mandates is, theyre using this as a one-size-fits-all, he said. One size does not fit all. Jacobsen characterized vaccine mandates as a form of discrimination or even enslavement. If were working for an employer that has control over our bodies, thats no longer an employer-employee relationship, he said. Its slavery. Some people are being denied medical or religious exemptions to vaccination mandates, he said. While Jacobsen sees federal action to require vaccination mandates for large employers as government overreach, others may feel that a state government law that interferes with people doing business in Iowa is government overreach. If approved, the bill would prohibit a person or business from inquiring about or maintaining records of an individuals medical treatment status (including vaccinations), except for the purpose of providing treatment and care to that individual, according to a press release distributed by Jacobsen and Cisneros. It would also make it unlawful for someone, based on their vaccination status, to be: Fired (or not hired) Provided incentives or disincentives Segregated from others or discriminated against Denied goods or services Businesses that do not comply could lose their license, permit or other state authorization that permits them to conduct their business within the state, Jacobsens press release states. The bill would make employers liable for any adverse reactions, injury, disability or death that occurs as a result of the mandated vaccination. In response to a question, Jacobsen said he still considers himself a pro-business Republican. Eileen Smith, who supports the bill, was among a group that spoke to the Nonpareil with Jacobsen. She said her daughter had developed a bleeding problem after receiving one of the vaccines. Several people said the COVID-19 vaccines were being pushed, but drugs available to treat the infection were not being utilized. They arm-wrestle you to get the vaccine, but when you get sick, they wont help you, Smith said. Jim Koch said he had gotten COVID-19, and his doctor prescribed treatment with ivermectin. One pharmacist wouldnt fill the prescription, but he did find a pharmacy that would. I came out of it great, he said. Ivermectin worked. Jacobsen said Big Pharma had too much influence on government guidelines and recommendations. Youve got these corporate moguls running health care, he said. This is about money and about suppressing medical science. Ivermectin tablets are approved in specific doses by the FDA to treat some parasites, and there are topical formulations for treating head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea, according to an FDA statement. Both the FDA and Merck, which manufactures the ivermectin drug Stromectol, say there is not enough evidence that ivermectin is safe and effective against COVID-19, although there are multiple trials seeking to determine whether it is. We do not believe the data available support the safety and efficacy of ivermectin beyond the doses and populations indicated in the regulatory agency-approved prescribing information, Merck said in a statement on its website. Acknowledging the growing off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19, the FDA said, If your health care provider prescribes ivermectin, have it filled by a legitimate source (pharmacy) and take exactly as prescribed. The agency warns people never to take a larger dose or use any medication intended for animals. The legislators proposal raises many questions about how it would apply to different kinds of employers; whether it would be used as a premise to seek abolishment of all vaccine mandates, including those that have been in place for generations for schoolchildren; etc. Health and safety has consistently fallen under state purview to address, Cisneros said in the press release. We dont need to wait for any more court rulings, because by law, that power is given to the local elected officials of the Iowa Legislature. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get these necessary protections in Iowa law. The bill is supported by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, who chairs the House committee on state government. Were certainly not anti-vax. Were just for medical freedom, Jacobsen said during a news conference at the Iowa Capitol. Kaufmann presented the proposal in a similar light. He said he believes Iowans should be free to get the COVID-19 vaccine if they choose, but said Iowans should not be required to get it. We are pushing medical freedom, Kaufmann said. Thats what the crux of the bill is. Hopefully this thing can become law. Infectious disease and public health experts have said the COVID-19 vaccines are the best tool to reducing the impact of the pandemic, which is nearing its two-year anniversary in Iowa. Some businesses particularly in the health care industry, like hospitals are already requiring their workers to receive the virus vaccine. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and other GOP legislative leaders, who have agenda-setting majorities in the Iowa Legislature, said earlier Tuesday that they believe it is prudent to await court decisions on several challenges to federal vaccine mandates before state lawmakers begin pursuing state-level legislation. Reynolds, House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, and Senate Majority Whip Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, discussed potential vaccine mandate legislation at a legislative preview forum hosted by the Iowa Capitol Press Association. I think we need to wait, Reynolds said. Jacobsen said he believes that time will arrive sooner than later anyway, that the courts will soon rule on those federal mandates. The mandates proposed by Democratic President Joe Bidens administration, which are being challenged in the courts, would require all health care workers, all federal contractors and all workers at businesses with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or else be tested regularly. Jacobsen said his proposed legislation would not impact schools, which he said would still be allowed to require some vaccinations as they do already for young students. Erin Murphy of the Gazette Des Moines Bureau contributed. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Former Iowa Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa of Council Bluffs has ended her Congressional bid and will instead run for state auditor. With the encouragement of many Iowans, today Im announcing my campaign for state auditor, the Republican said in a release. I will be a taxpayer watchdog for Iowans and make sure that governments across our great state are using funds appropriately. State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, announced in December that he would seek a second term. Hanusa had been running for Iowas 3rd Congressional District seat, currently held by Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne. With redistricting moving Council Bluffs to the 4th District, a seat held by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, Hanusa said she ultimately decided to shift her focus. After the lines were redrawn, I had people who said they wanted me to run in the 3rd. I did look at the possibility of moving into the 3rd, Hanusa told the Nonpareil. But for a variety of reasons, it wasnt going to work. It just wasnt a good fit. Hanusa said she was approached in the fall about running for auditor and after talking to a number of people in local and state politics, she decided this was something Id be qualified for. Hanusa pointed to her 10 years in the Iowa Legislature when asked about the experience thats prepared her for the auditor role. Her time in office included two years on the House Government Oversight Committee, and in announcing her run she also pointed to work helping balance the state budget, working to increase transparency and supporting those with mental health needs. The Auditors Office is one of oversight of state government. There are a team of folks who perform audits on state and local and county governmental entities. Its a matter of having someone there that will watch carefully, oversee a team that makes sure Iowans tax dollars are well spent and spent appropriately, she said. Iowans work hard. We want those dollars to be used wisely. In announcing her run for state auditor, Hanusa highlighted endorsements from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. In the release, Reynolds commended Hanusa for working hard fighting for the people of Iowa. Grassley said, She will work hard to protect Iowans hard-earned money and help make sure government is accountable to the people. Ernst said Hanusa is a proven leader when it comes to protecting Iowans taxpayer dollars. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Former Iowa Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa of Council Bluffs has ended her Congressional bid and will instead run for state auditor. "With the encouragement of many Iowans, today Im announcing my campaign for state auditor, the Republican said in a release. I will be a taxpayer watchdog for Iowans and make sure that governments across our great state are using funds appropriately." State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, announced in December that he would run for a second term. Hanusa had been running for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District seat, currently held by Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne. With redistricting moving Council Bluffs to the 4th District, a seat held by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, Hanusa said she ultimately decided to shift her focus. "After the lines were redrawn, I had people who said they wanted me to run in the 3rd. I did look at the possibility of moving into the 3rd," Hanusa said. "But for a variety of reasons, it wasn't going to work. It just wasn't a good fit." Hanusa said she was approached in the fall about running for auditor and after talking to a number of people in local and state politics, she "decided this was something I'd be qualified for." Hanusa pointed to her 10 years in the Iowa Legislature when asked about the experience that's prepared her for the auditor role. Her time in office included two years on the House Government Oversight Committee, and in announcing her run she also pointed to work helping balance the state budget, working to increase transparency and supporting those with mental health needs. "The Auditor's Office is one of oversight of state government. There are a team of folks who perform audits on state and local and county governmental entities. It's a matter of having someone there that will watch carefully, oversee a team that makes sure Iowans' tax dollars are well spent and spent appropriately," she said. "Iowans work hard. We want those dollars to be used wisely." In announcing her run for state auditor, Hanusa highlighted endorsements from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. In the release, Reynolds commended Hanusa for working "hard fighting for the people of Iowa," while Grassley said, "She will work hard to protect Iowans' hard-earned money and help make sure government is accountable to the people." Ernst said Hanusa is "a proven leader when it comes to protecting Iowans' taxpayer dollars." We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Morocco invited bids for a study concerning the setting up of LNG infrastructure and a floating storage and regasification unit in the port of Mohammedia, the port agency said. January 25 was set as a deadline for the bid which aims at helping the port agency upgrade the port to host LNG and FSRU infrastructure. Energy Minister Leila Benali had told MPs last month that her ministry was looking at the setting up of LNG infrastructure and the launch of an FSRU that would supply the country with all gas needs. Morocco used to rely on Algeria for most of its gas needs until the latter unilaterally decided to halt the flow of gas through a pipeline last October in a series of hostile measures. Benali said Moroccos gas consumption would increase from 1 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 3 billion cubic meters in 2040. Moroccos domestic gas production is expected at 110 million cubic meters this year but promising prospects await the country with the successful wells discovered by British companies Sound Energy, Chariot, and Sdx energy across the country. Morocco has revised upwards its renewable energy targets to 70% of the energy mix by 2040 and 80% by 2080 in a bid to meet its low-carbon goals. Moroccan authorities look at LNG as a clean source of energy suitable for the carbon-free transition. Tunisia has pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to freeze salaries and recruitments in public sector from next three years until 2024, local powerful NGO I Watch has revealed, citing a leaked document about the ongoing negotiations for a loan between the North African country and the Washington-based lender. Tunisia is talks with the IMF for a multiple-million loan needed to support the 2022 national budget short of around $2.8 billion. The talks according to the governor of Tunisias central bank, Marouane Abasi, will be completed in the first quarter of this year. I Watch, the national chapter of the Transparency International, on its Facebook page indicated Tunisia has agreed to freeze salaries and refrain from recruiting in the public sector until 2024 to meet IMF demands. The demands, also include the gradual lifting of energy subsidies in order to achieve true pricing by 2026 and increased electricity rates for households as well as definition of a plan for the financial recovery of public enterprises and the clearance of arrears, as well as the disengagement of the State from non-strategic activities. The NGO also denounced the Tunisian states lack of communication on the talks. The revelations come amid rumors that the Tunisian government is contemplating a cut in salaries. Noureddine Taboubi, the Secretary General of the countrys powerful workers union, UGTT, last month indicated that his organization had been urged to back the government plan to cut salaries in the public sector by 10 per cent and freeze them for five years. Hfaiedh Hfaiedh, Taboubis deputy however on Tuesday debunked I Watch argued that national budget presented last week does not plan any salary cut but rather an increase of the total payroll. Posted by North Africa Post North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers. Morocco and China signed the implementation agreement of the Belt and Road Initiative providing for further Chinese investments in the Kingdom. In a ceremony chaired by foreign minister Nasser Bourita and Vice President of Chinas committee for reform and development (NDRC) Ning Jizhe, the two countries vowed to add momentum to bilateral cooperation. The new deal provides for increased Chinese investments in Morocco and a facilitated access to Chinese funding within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI. It also paves the way for the setting up of joint ventures in the fields of industry and renewable energy and aims to encourage Chinese investments in infrastructure and well as technology transfer and research and development in high-tech areas. Morocco and China gave their bilateral ties a strategic dimension following a visit by King Mohammed VI to China in 2016. Bourita said trade between the two countries grew 50% from 4 billion dollars in 2016 to 6 billion in 2021, adding that Chinese companies have implemented 80 projects in the country. The number of Chinese tourists also grew from 10,000 in 2015 to 200,000 in 2018, said Bourita who highlighted the close cooperation between Morocco and China in terms of vaccine procurement and manufacturing. Star-driven movies are back, baby! Oh, and were all gonna die. Advertisement A long way from Anchorman, but not as far as all that, screenwriter and director Adam McKays jaunty disaster film Dont Look Up is The Tiger King of early 2022 the Netflix-and-gaaaah! phenomenon of the moment. It imagines our planet threatened by a nine-kilometer-wide comet in the sky, and science-denying Americans on the ground. Netflixs property stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, and it just wrapped its hugely popular second week on the platform. (It also played a limited theatrical release last month and currently lingers on a single screen in the Chicago area, at the Landmark Renaissance Place in Highland Park.) Advertisement The first weeks viewership on Netflix tallied 111 million hours of collective viewing. The second week, ending Jan. 2, exceeded that by 37% with 152 million hours in 94 countries during the biggest week of views in Netflix history. This suggests a novel backward/forward sort of smash. Its an old-school spend from the perspective of top-line salary: a $100 million picture where DiCaprio and Lawrences salaries reportedly account for more than half the production budget. Jonah Hill, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence in the end-of-the-world disaster comedy "Don't Look Up." (Niko Tavernise / AP) Its also a new-school streaming entity, blessed with optimal COVID surge timing. Millions who were interested a month ago to see something in a theater now, once again, find themselves back on the couch. Whatever one thinks of it I wish I liked it more, but well wait a bit on that Dont Look Up succeeds as a black comedy with just enough sincerity of intention to click with a broad audience. It concerns a Michigan State University Ph.D. candidate (Lawrence), working with her astronomy professor (DiCaprio). She discovers a comet hurtling toward Earth. Earth has six months to mobilize and come together before this planet-killer strikes. With the collaboration of the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office head (Rob Morgan, the movies steady if underutilized voice of reason), these characters soon realize their sense of urgency is not shared by the presumptively Republican president (Meryl Streep), whose wormy chief of staff (Jonah Hill) is also her son. McKay deploys the incoming comet as a handily apolitical metaphor for many things, all of them innately political. Its a stand-in for climate change and our willful ruination of the environment. Its the stunt double for the global pandemic were currently mishandling. The movies title refers to the fictional presidents adopted slogan, tailored to appease science deniers across the land. Its easy to suss out which way a movie would vote, if movies had the vote, and I belong to the same political party as Dont Look Up. But thats a dead-end antidote to the pleasures of filmmaking, or any kind of artistic expression. Either way: Why dont I like McKays film more? Advertisement Ive struggled with McKays serious/funny work for three movies now. And I think its because its possible to nod your head one way with what a movies saying and swivel it the other way, side-to-side, based on how its saying it. Dont Look Up joins McKays previous, extended wisecracks of political and social despair, The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018), upping the dramatic stakes and trading recent historical events and figures for a fictional calamity. Vapid media pundits; credulous, double-dealing journalists; an Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos/Mark Zuckerberg/Steve Jobs-inspired tech zillionaire (played by Mark Rylance): All come under fire and rattle around in McKays story. McKays kidding!/serious! gyrations feel wobbly to me. Hes a serious satirist, in that he believes in what his chosen subjects tell us about how were paving our roads to ruin, whether its geopolitical (Vice) or economic (The Big Short) or sociopolitical. Dont Look Up addresses all three; all those films do, in the end. Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr. Randall Mindy and Jennifer Lawrence as Kate Dibiasky in a scene from "Don't Look Up." (Niko Tavernise/AP) On Facebook and everywhere else, many friends of mine embrace both the cause and the methods of Dont Look Up, and find it wickedly funny with a point. Its a rallying cry for science, sanity and a better, longer future than McKays film envisions. There are clever elements and sharp details, in writing and performance. Lawrence comes closest to the right mixture of dramatic anguish and comic panic. Some of the fictional President Orleans phrasing has true wit, and only about 10% exaggeration, which makes it funnier: At one point, at a political rally, Streeps character ends a speech with May Jesus Christ bless every single one of you. Especially the honorable members of my own party. Advertisement McKay recently told Vanity Fair that while he made Dont Look Up to be populist, he believes America, right now, no longer accommodates consensus movies meaning, prestigious and commercially successful dark satires on the order of Network (1976) or the 1964 film to which McKays has been compared most freely, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Slim Pickens co-stars in "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), a film many have compared to Adam McKay's end-of-the-world disaster comedy "Don't Look Up." (

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

) Yet here we are: Dont Look Up has become one of those topical consensus hits. Were living in a time and a world, rife with real-world catastrophe both viral and political, where McKays jittery apocalyptic joke reflex is really hitting the sweet spot. Some of these same friends of mine who love Dont Look Up had no patience with The Lost Daughter, also on Netflix, because its too unsettling. We can handle the end of the world, apparently, as long as the right, reassuring lessons about family and community are learned before the comet hits. We just cant handle a movie about the challenges of motherhood. Dont Look Up captures this riven divide in American and global life in more ways than one. On the review aggregation site metacritic.com, its scoring a dead-middle 50 out of 100, without a lot of actual mixed reviews. Satire so lumbering that its enough to turn a tree hugger in to a pro-fracker, wrote Alonso Duralde, critic for The Wrap. On the other hand, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post: When its on-pace, it feels absolutely on point in an era awash in mutual mistrust and willed disbelief. One popular Chicago area master of deadpan satire, who declined to express any specific opinions on Dont Look Up, offered some thoughts on effective black comedy and satire in broader terms. I think once you get into actual advocacy its the death of satire, said Peter Sagal, host of the National Public Radio news quiz Wait Wait Dont Tell Me! Satires great for a lot of things, but its not good at inspiring people to action. Theres nothing funny about advocacy. Also, condescending outrage only takes you so far, Sagal added: You cant make someone agree with you by calling them an idiot. What weve got here, as Strother Martin said to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, is failure to communicate. McKays perfect satire for our current moment, as one critical essay-adjacent posted on Netflixs self-promotional website Tudum headlines it, reminds us that well be the architects of our own downfall. While theres time to change, that change feels extraordinarily unlikely. Thats the dire message, in McKays hands, that goes down very, very easily. The films second-week streaming metrics prove as much. Advertisement The timing is just atrocious, Streeps fictional U.S. president moans early on in Dont Look Up, given the comets arrival so close to midterm elections. For McKays movie, on the other hand, the timing is perfect. Were here, stuck, divided and up for a couple of hours offering some massive talents, a few laughs, a profoundly serious point to make and a frustratingly glib and hectoring way of making it. Dont Look Up is streaming on Netflix. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic. mjphillips@chicagotribune.com Twitter @phillipstribune Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. Samia Errazouki, a US-Moroccan citizen and former journalist, used Foreign Policy to spit her venom on its motherland (Morocco) paying lip service to the inaudible Algerian lobby in Washington. In a hateful article entitled, Moroccos Diplomatic Morass, Errazouki usurped the position of a Foreign Policy journalist in seeking comments from the anti-Moroccan Algerian lobby in Washington. Foreign Policy is a magazine that is known for publishing op-eds that only reflect the stands of their writers. But Errazouki chose to attribute her hatred to her homeland to a privileged US publication as shown in the paragraph below. There is a general consensus among former and current diplomats that the state of Moroccan diplomacy has reached its lowest point since independence, said a veteran Moroccan diplomat, who spoke to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, wrote Errazouki. She talked to Algerian lobbyists including Republican Senator Jim Inhofe and former pro-Polisario UN envoy Christopher Ross. The only pro-separatist figurehead who was missing in her diatribe was Jhon Bolton. She downplayed all Moroccos inroads to win international support for its sovereignty over the Sahara territory echoing the views of Inhofe and Ross, while deploring that the Biden administration maintained the Presidential proclamation under the Trump administration recognizing Moroccos sovereignty over the southern provinces. She claimed that Moroccan diplomacy is isolated, in denial of a momentum in favor of Moroccos territorial integrity. Someone has to remind her that over 20 countries opened consulates in the southern provinces. A quick check in US official documents on the region shows Moroccos full Map with the Sahara territory included. The US State Department has made it clear recently that the autonomy plan is the only solution and that the Sahara conflict is a Moroccan-Algerian issue, a position in support of Moroccos official stand on the dispute. The only pro-Morocco figure Errazouki sites was Rabbi Haim Pinto. She only mentioned him in her story/diatribe for defamation purposes. Errazouki mentions a rift with Germany and failed to update herself on the standoff with Berlin, which has recently expressed support for Moroccos autonomy initiative and lauded the countrys contribution towards finding a solution to the conflict within the framework of the UN. She failed to read the most recent UN Security Council resolution that describes the autonomy plan as serious and credible. She defends colonial borders denying Morocco its rights as a nation that did not wait for a colonial power to define it. In adamantly sidelining with Algeria and the Polisario, Errazouki is not only betraying her homeland, she also defends the colonial legacy. Blinded by a visceral loathing of the homeland of her parents, Errazouki blames Morocco for the recent tension with Algeria and accuses Rabat of steering the region to a future of conflict and instability. She could have criticized aspects of Moroccos diplomatic action without paying lip service to Algeria and its Polisario puppets, had she been a fair and unbiased journalist. But a look at her twitter shows her pro-Polisario positions and her advocacy of the separatist makes her an enemy of Moroccos territorial integrity and a mouthpiece serving the Algerian military regime. Fourteen area communities will benefit from grants to increase the availability of high-speed internet across Nebraska. The 60 grants awarded statewide Tuesday total nearly $18 million and are part of the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program, according to a Nebraska Public Service Commission media release. Created by the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act, the program provides up to $40 million over two grant cycles for the deployment of broadband networks capable of at least 100/100 Mbps in unserved and underserved areas of the state. In the 2021 grant cycle, the PSC received 76 applications for funding through the NBBP. Sixty grants, submitted by 19 providers, were ultimately awarded for a total of $17,771,964.39. Applicants that were denied due to a challenge to only part of the project area will be given the chance to apply for the remaining $2.02 million in funding for the 2022 grant cycle. Projects funded through Tuesdays awards must be completed by July 5, 2023. Providers may apply for one six-month extension. The area grants were awarded to: ATC Communications Big Springs ($259,775). Consolidated Telco Inc. Madrid ($93,585), Maywood ($93,585), Wallace ($139,101). Consolidated Telecom, Inc. Eustis ($140,799) Consolidated Telephone Co. Hyannis ($129,667), Mullen ($253,069), Thedford ($111,439). Elsie Communications Inc. Elsie and Grainton ($255,827). Nebraska Central Telephone Company Ansley ($131,673), Sargent ($143,012). Pinpoint Communications, Inc. Gothenburg East ($222,159), McCook North East ($181,141.25). The exponential growth of Trego-Dugan Aviation has prompted a move of its corporate operations to the First National Bank of Omaha building in downtown North Platte. The company currently operates in 42 locations throughout the country and employs 1,800 with plans to grow. The company was founded in North Platte 55 years ago. President Vince Dugan said the company could no longer run its operations from its offices at the North Platte Regional Airport. This is now our world headquarters, Dugan said. What happened is that we had offices that were attached to one of the hangars at the airport. Over the last two years as the company grew, Dugan said, there just wasnt enough room. The problem is that we want to have as many jobs here (in North Platte) as possible, Dugan said, centralized to run our corporation. He said the company had to base people in other cities because of the lack of space. As part of everything thats happening at the airport, we were in a position where we had to do something different, Dugan said. The city is considering annexation of the airport, and Dugan said the plans would impact the company in terms of space. We will be building a new hangar and offices out there, Dugan said, but there would still not be enough space for the corporate operations. He said the North Platte Chamber & Development Corp. and the city strongly indicated they wanted Trego-Dugan to keep its headquarters in North Platte. They were not necessarily directly involved, Dugan said, but they wanted us to stay. Trego-Dugan is leasing half of the top floor of the bank at 201 N. Dewey St., with options to grow more, Dugan said. We currently have 13-14 people in the office here, but we intend to double that in the next 18 months. As people based in other cities move on, Dugan said, the company will bring their replacements into the new offices. We want to move those positions to North Platte, which is great for the community, Dugan said. Its great for the company as well. Dugan said there is a challenge, however, in hiring at this time. Weve had three people who took jobs but were looking for suitable housing, and they couldnt find anything and they are not coming, Dugan said. Its catastrophic because were wanting to grow and wanting to add jobs here and we are stymied because of the housing shortage. Its a real issue. The positions being offered pay in the six-figure range, and the potential employees are looking at housing in the $300,000 to $400,000 market. Were adding people in the $45,000 to $100,000 range too, Dugan said. We have room for 30 employees, so were just going to have to work through the housing thing. He said the company is excited to be able to keep its headquarters in North Platte. We just love our new location, Dugan said. This is not a short-term thing; this is long-term. More by Job Vigil Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. HOLDREGE The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Districts board of directors approved an agreement Monday to accept a grant award from the Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund and to move forward on a project to install a new siphon on the E-65 Canal to convey water into Elwood Reservoir. A new siphon alignment has been designed to replace the original infrastructure at an estimated cost of $16 million, according to a press release. Central sought funding assistance from the states Water Sustainability Fund and was awarded a grant of $8,982,946. Central will be responsible for the balance of the cost. The current three siphons, part of the original project construction in the late 1930s, have been in service since 1941. They are essential to conveying water to 150 irrigation customers at 414 separate turn-out points serving more than 42,000 acres, according to CNPPID. After 80 years of service, the existing siphons are deteriorating, requiring numerous expensive repairs. The new siphon will be approximately 5,400 feet long and consist of high-density polyethylene pipe. Another approximately 5,300 feet of open canal sections will be part of the project. Installation of this new siphon will secure uninterrupted long-term delivery of water in the E-65 system and ensure that irrigation, recharge, recreation and wildlife benefits are sustained in the future, CNPPID says. The new siphon will also eliminate the need for costly pumping into Elwood Reservoir. Central General Manager Devin Brundage told the board, This project is one major piece of a thoughtful, progressive approach to continuing to maintain and develop the infrastructure necessary for our district to maximize all the benefits we provide, not only today but into the future. Timeline of the project begins right away with landowner discussions and the selection of engineering firms. It is expected that the bidding will be completed this year and construction finished the following year. Also at Mondays meeting: The directors approved an agreement with HDR Engineering of Omaha to develop a Section 404 Clean Water Act permit application. The permit is necessary to assist in maintenance dredging at Centrals diversion dam. The board awarded bids to Murphy Tractor of North Platte to furnish a 2020 John Deere track loader for $288,437; and to Road Builders of Grand Island to furnish a new Crawler dozer for $365,880. Hydraulic Project Operations Manager Cory Steinke told the board that painting of the outlet structures at Lake McConaughy will be wrapping up for the winter this week and traffic control will be removed. He expects workers to return late February or early March to complete the project. The board approved the inclusion of 1,157 acres in the 2022 Water Leasing Program. In exchange for payment of $100 an acre, irrigation customers who submit acres for the program agree to not irrigate the acres. Instead, the Platte River Recovery Program leases the water, which is added to the Environmental Account in Lake McConaughy and is available to benefit wildlife habitat along the Platte River Civil engineer Tyler Thulin reported that Lake McConaughys elevation as of Monday morning was 3,239.7 feet (1.08 million acre-feet and 62% capacity) which is up 1 foot in the last month. Current releases were about 420 cubic feet per second with inflow readings unavailable due to frozen river gauges. He added that snowpack accumulation in the South Platte River Basin was about 108% of average, the Upper North Platte River Basin at 115%, 54% in the Lower North Platte Basin and 107% in the Laramie Basin. Snowmelt runoff in these basins is an important part of the water supply for Centrals hydro-irrigation project. Nebraskans wanting to keep close tabs on the Legislature face one adjustment as the 2022 session opens Wednesday. People wanting to submit comments as part of a bills public hearing record now must do so through that bills webpage at nebraskalegislature.gov, Speaker Mike Hilgers of Lincoln said last week. That ends a longtime practice of accepting hand-delivered or emailed letters or comments to be included in Unicameral committees hearing records. State residents still may use those methods as a viable option for communicating your views with an individual senator, says a note on the Public Hearings page of the Unicameral website. But their names and views wont be included in official hearing records unless they either testify in person or use the online submission method, it adds. Heres how to do the latter: Go to Search Current Bills in the upper right-hand corner of the Legislatures homepage. Enter the number of the measure youre interested in. Use drop-down menus on either side to specify its type. Then click the search button. Most measures are legislative bills (LB), but some bill numbers are followed by an A to show theyre an appropriation bill tied to the main bill. Legislative resolutions (LR) usually are nonbinding statements, not would-be laws. (When senators acknowledge a state champion team, for example, they usually do so through such a resolution.) Proposed state constitutional amendments, however, have LR before their number and CA after it. Each bills web page includes records of official votes and links to copies of the bill, proposed amendments, debate transcripts and other related documents. Click on Submit Written Comments to bring up a page for typing your comments, stating your position (for, against or neutral) and choosing whether you want your name and comments in the official hearing record. Comments are limited to 500 words. The Legislatures other methods of keeping up with its doings from outside Lincoln remain in place, too. Nebraska Public Media offers live coverage of floor debates through the Unicameral website and its NE-W (formerly NET2) cable channel (Allo Communications Channel 11 or Spectrum Channel 190 in North Platte). Committee hearings and floor debates may be viewed via NPMs Live Video Streaming box on the website. Click there for daily schedules. The nebraskalegislature.gov page offers links to even more information, including quick link pages tailored to citizens, students and teachers, lawyers, lobbyists and state employees. The Find Your Senator link lets you identify your lawmaker by entering your street address. Each senator has an individual webpage with contact information, links to his or her bills and columns for constituents. Search Laws lets anyone look up a current Nebraska law by keyword or statute number. Unicameral Update offers articles summarizing committee and floor action on various bills. Online users can arrange to have stories emailed to them. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon expects to take on two controversial issues with national overtones once lawmakers begin introducing new 2022 bills Wednesday. The District 43 senator and retired U.S. Army colonel said hell push for a statewide constitutional carry firearms law and offer another bill to ensure the security of Nebraskas election machinery. Both likely will face obstacles, Brewer said, though he himself chairs the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee that will take them up first. Highlights among west central Nebraska senators 2022 bill agendas also include a fresh push by Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman to replace the states three major taxes with state and local consumption taxes. Erdman and North Platte Sen. Mike Groene, both veterans of the Legislatures hottest rhetorical battles, both said theyll engage again on behalf of issues such as Brewers. With only the new 60-day session left to him, however, Groene said hell focus on improving his 2020 microTIF law, seeking more state funds for Lincoln County economic projects and taking final shots at issues on which success has been elusive. Groene said hes glad his eight Unicameral years are almost over. Ive never backstabbed anybody (in the Legislature), which has happened to me, he said. Though hes ready for a change of scenery away from Lincoln, Ill be a citizen of the area after his District 42 term ends next January, he said. He and his wife, Barb, currently rent a home in North Platte. Brewer said his gun bill reworks the original language of Legislative Bill 236, which he introduced as the 2021 session began. It would have let Nebraskas 90 nonmetro counties allow residents to carry firearms without permits whether concealed or in the open unless theyre personally banned from doing so under state or federal law. Brewer set aside LB 236s original text after a state attorney generals opinion said it would unconstitutionally delegate state authority to counties. The bill was rewritten to address other firearms matters and passed. His new bill, Brewer said, simply would let eligible Nebraskans carry weapons without permits. People now must clear a criminal background check, pay $100 and complete an eight- to 16-hour class on safe gun handling to get a concealed-weapon permit. This is the Second Amendment, Brewer said. Its a constitutional right. But he said his bill wouldnt let Nebraskans take concealed weapons into public places where theyre banned notably bars, schools, hospitals and courtrooms. It also would require people carrying firearms to notify law enforcement officers or first responders of that fact when contacted by them, Brewer said. The election bill hes considering, he said, would aim to ensure that Nebraskas election machines especially at the state level are not affected by outside electronics with which hackers could alter vote tallies. There needs to be a bit more transparency about how that works, he said. Brewer added that he believes elections are being run by the book by Nebraskas nonmetro county clerks, who typically double as election commissioners. But Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties account for the majority of the vote in Nebraska, he said. Obviously theres a concern there. Groene said he may introduce his own election bills just to give people a platform so they can come down and testify about their concerns in public hearings. I dont agree with the stolen election, he added, meaning ongoing allegations by former President Donald Trump that voter fraud enabled current President Joe Biden to defeat him in 2020. But nothings hurt by making people feel more secure about elections, Groene added. Regarding other bills planned by west central Nebraska senators: Erdman said hell introduce a fresh constitutional amendment and companion bill to replace income, sales and property taxes with state and local consumption taxes. His previous constitutional amendment (LR11CA) fell two votes short of first-round approval last spring, while its companion bill (LB 133) never left committee. Erdman said his new versions will incorporate an attorney generals opinion on whether his originals violate the Nebraska Constitutions requirement that each legislative measure cover just one subject. He remains ready to launch a consumption-tax petition drive, he added. When people sit down and see how it will work, they support it. Groene said the follow-up to his microTIF law, approved 49-0 in 2020, would raise its maximum taxable values for rehabilitated older single-family, multifamily and business buildings and add more time to recapture property taxes from rehab projects. It also would allow microTIF when building on vacant lots, he said. Ive got a lot of communities where a house burned down 40 years ago and theyve been vacant since. Groene said hell also introduce a bill favored by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry to allocate more state matching funds for helping Nebraska cities building industrial rail parks. His LB 40, which won 49-0 final approval last May, provided an initial $10 million over two years. The North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corp., which worked with Groene on LB 40, submitted its application Monday for matching funds for its rail-park project just outside Hershey. Sens. Dan Hughes of Venango and Matt Williams of Gothenburg said theyll mostly introduce bills related to their respective roles as chairmen of the Executive Board and the Banking, Insurance and Commerce Committee. Williams said hell also offer a bill to solidify long-term funding for the Rural Workforce Housing Fund, created when lawmakers passed his LB 518 in 2017. Like Groene, Hughes and Williams both were initially elected in 2014 and are term-limited after the 2022 session. Williams is running to succeed the retiring Bob Phares of North Platte on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Hughes, however, said he doesnt plan to seek another elective office. I do have a full-time job that I truly enjoy, he said, meaning his Perkins County farm. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. Justin Smith and Ben Smith. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer. Photos: Getty Images Ben Smith was only there for a good time, not for a long time. I do think theres probably some limit to the length of time you can write a media column, because youre stewing in your own juices, he tells me, although I didnt feel Id hit that limit or anything, but I do think if you arent David Carr, its probably like, it shouldnt be a tenure. And yet the New York Times masthead was gobsmacked by Smiths departure after two years for a news start-up cooked up by and, for now, funded by another Smith Justin B. Smith, who was CEO of Bloomberg Media. Some top editors, such as Dean Baquet and Carolyn Ryan, were told shortly in advance of today, but others were astonished to find out this morning. It wasnt just the leadership. The Times where I worked for four years, albeit far from Smith, in the Washington bureau had become a juggernaut in the Trump years, floated along by a subscription boom, while many VC-backed media start-ups Ben Smith had come over from BuzzFeed struggled. Top-level defections, once common, have become rare. Institutionalists at the Gray Lady were predictably disapproving of his lack of loyalty: The paper throws a life raft to a new-media pirate steering a sinking sloop, who then comes aboard, uses the vaunted pages to polish his brand, and promptly jumps ship. Some speculated that perhaps he only did so because of a deadline which had been extended by the Times until February 2022 to divest his BuzzFeed stock options. The paper and Smith denied the timing was related to the options. He just wanted to get back into the pirate game. I had an incredible experience at the Times and Im just so totally grateful to them, says Smith. Ive had the opportunity and luck to start things at a couple stages in my career, and I just think there are huge advantages to starting from scratch. Such as? You get to sort of take a breath and think about the world as it is right now and not as it was when your institution was founded, meaning what are the important stories, how do people consume news, things like that, in a world thats changing really fast. He says, Justin and I honestly have been talking not planning this but talking for years about the news business and where opportunities are and what we could do, but it got really serious in the last couple of months. The other Mr. Smith, who speaks French and once worked for the U.S. State Department in West Africa, began his media career at the International Herald Tribune (then co-published by the Times and the Washington Post). Next he worked at The Economist and then The Week, founded Breaking Media (whose websites include Above the Law and Dealbreaker), and ran Atlantic Media (where he launched Quartz) and, finally, Bloomberg. When he departed Atlantic Media, David Bradley wrote in a note to staff, Like Mary Poppins, if a little more euro, Justin came, changed the family and, when the work was done, moved on. I will miss him. Justin tells me this new venture has been a lifelong dream. When he was running The Atlantic, he says he tried to hire Ben away from Politico but was unsuccessful. Howd he woo him this time? He saw my vision, and he helped me make my vision better, and I said, Do you want to be editor-in-chief? Justin splits his time between New York and Washington he has dated Uma Thurman, lives in the same neighborhood as the postWhite House Obamas, and throws a hell of a dinner party and his new operation will as well with an international bureau or two thrown in. Who is paying for this thing? Ill be personally funding the business and will be funding it for the near future, says Justin. Were also talking to a number of key investors, but since Im funding it, were really being very careful and deliberate about who we want to bring on as investors. And I would say its a project thats defined by its long-term perspective. The North Star down the line, the end state vision, is the worlds leading global news brand. That cant happen overnight. Thats going to take a decade or more, and Ben and I are committed to that, so were looking for investors who have a similar mind-set. He wants it to be general interest, not strictly financial news, and sees it competing with the Times or CNN or the Washington Post or the BBC. But he says the problem with news outlets in that space now is that they have increasingly been polarized politically, theyve been increasingly partisan, and are also very regional in their outlook. They are really domestic brands that are sort of repackaging their domestic content for a global audience in an unthoughtful way. Ben Smith says, Social media really radically changed news over the last decade in complicated ways, for better and for worse, but I think were kind of leaving that era. He adds: The values of social media have bled really deeply into a lot of media institutions. Curious, coming from someone who surfed those values at BuzzFeed and critiqued institutionalists like the Washington Posts former editor Marty Baron for not being able to understand them. Twitter raised a collective eyebrow at a quote Smith gave to the Times while announcing his exit: There are 200 million people who are college educated, who read in English, but who no one is really treating like an audience, but who talk to each other and talk to us Thats who we see as our audience. (Anyone else confused by this? asked his soon-to-be-erstwhile colleague Nikole Hannah-Jones.) But nobody, really, thought Smith was going to be a Times lifer. Smith gets bored easily, Clare Malone wrote in this magazine when she profiled him in 2020. As the Times deputy managing editor, Carolyn Ryan, who directly edits Ben, told me: Ben has been a phenomenal columnist, and were proud of the fact that the Times is a place where people can come and elevate their careers, and I congratulate him on returning to his passion of working at a start-up. Alice Sara Ott, the lively young German-Japanese pianist, made her Chicago debut Sunday afternoon at Orchestra Hall in a short program that showed an unruffled virtuoso sprinting. She dispatched a set of Mozart variations and a Schubert sonata so briskly that it suggested she scarcely could wait to begin barnstorming in an all-Liszt second half. Advertisement But guess what? Ott played Liszt's six "Grandes etudes de Paganini" with a finesse that went beyond the rush we were primed to expect. And, suddenly, the 24-year-old revealed herself an artist instead of the I-can-do-anything technician content with crowd-rousing thunder. Ott's etudes were still some distance from conveying the teasing, self-amused quality that shows a player's enjoyment in making so much empty noise so brilliantly. They also had little of the demonic sweep that carries away listeners despite better judgment. However, what they did have, in addition to impeccable cleanliness and fine tone, was a sensitivity to gentler expressive markings that shade the race over the keyboard, bringing touches of sentiment to what otherwise is mechanical mastery. Advertisement Where Ott's Mozart and Schubert had a dispassionate sense of getting-on, her Liszt showed more affectionate ebb and flow. The variety of her touch in the Third and Sixth Etudes gave different degrees of warmth. And if you don't go to these pieces for delicacy, once Ott fulfilled Liszt's demands for lightness and sweetness, you realized just how much delicacy is there, seductively singing. The lack of a singing quality marred Ott's D-major Sonata by Schubert, particularly in the wistful, musing second movement. There and in the following Scherzo, she seemed intent on crispness and an absolute clarity of rhythm that urged the music forward. Had she observed any of the repeats, the impression of streamlining might have been tempered at least a little. Her opening Mozart "Duport" Variations, without repeats, had finely chiseled runs and crystalline grace notes but also some unmarked ritards. They went, momentarily and unconvincingly, against the animation that made for a generally chill purity. Ott's single encore, Beethoven's "Fur Elise," was showy about simplicity, presenting the miniature as a series of polished effects that drew more attention to the performer's realization than the invention of the composer. ctc-arts@tribune.com Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Jason Scott Jones/THE CITY It took only a few days before Rachel Ramirez started feeling sick after a nearby co-worker came down with COVID this past fall. Ramirez has lupus, which weakens her immune system, so she sought out a testing site near her Queens apartment that took her insurance. After a little bit of searching, she made an appointment at an upstart doctors office that recently opened between a discount pet-supply store and a bubble-tea joint on Steinway Street: CareCube. While sitting in the waiting room, Ramirez noticed two receptionists were giving different rates to patients as they walked in. They were telling people $175. It was outrageous. One person came in, and the representative looked at this persons insurance card and said $275. The number kept varying for people, she recalled. When it was her turn, however, the receptionist told Ramirez she didnt owe anything: As with most COVID tests, insurance would cover it. After getting swabbed, Ramirez asked for a bill in writing that said she owed nothing out of pocket but was told it wasnt necessary, so she left. Ramirez didnt think much about CareCube after she got her negative test result until the company sent her a $125 invoice a few weeks later. You provide us your Insurance policy which was not covered covid-19 testing at the date of service, the email said. An insurance representative told her that, contrary to the email, her insurance did cover a test for exposure it was just that CareCube had told the insurance company that the reason she got tested was to return to work. That seemingly small distinction just so happens to be one of the few reasons that exempts insurers from paying for the tests. For the next 16 days, Ramirezs attempts to get the charge reversed were met with varying levels of resistance and silence, including, she said, a CareCube representative wrongly telling her she wont get the money back because the CDC doesnt recommend tests for vaccinated patients. It wasnt until after she left a bad review online and sent an email threatening to tell the media about the incident that her charge was zeroed out. I dont want to pay this money to these folks, she said. Theyre clearly scamming people, and theyre not very transparent about their pricing, or how theyre billing your insurance, or how they even work with your insurance company. Getting surprise medical bills is one of the many grim realities of the U.S. health-care system and one that was legal until recently. Three former CareCube employees say, however, that the company crossed the line by purposely lying to insurers and customers like Ramirez in order to charge them unnecessary payments. The employees, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, say CareCube management conspired to use complicated billing procedures to exploit little-known exemptions in federal law, which requires that most COVID tests be given free of cost to patients, and then charged both parties for the same test. They say customers and insurers complained of fraudulent billing practices and that upper management has been aware of the complaints, which go back more than a year. The allegations have quietly drawn attention from federal investigators, who have interviewed at least one former employee about the alleged scheme. The U.S. Attorneys Office in Manhattan declined to comment, and neither CareCube nor any of its employees has been charged with a crime. Health-care billing is a maddeningly complicated business even when everything is done correctly. At the core of it, a provider negotiates rates with insurers for a range of procedures, and those prices can vary widely depending on the insurer and how much leverage the provider has. When it comes to COVID treatment, things were supposed to be much simpler. In 2020, President Trump signed into law two bills that required insurance companies to pay all costs for COVID testing, with two exceptions: if people need to test to return to work or as part of a general virus-surveillance requirement, like international airline passengers. The majority of such tests costs insurers $149 or less, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, but because rates are negotiated, prices can vary to wild extremes, with some testing regimens having cost as much as a year of tuition at a private university. While the amount of money brought in per test is typically small, the sheer volume of tests can be a boon. So when the pandemic struck, businesses such as CareCube found themselves in the middle of an unexpected gold rush: All of a sudden, millions of people needed tests. CareCube got into the business last March and over the next nine months performed more than 72,000 tests, according to the states health department. CareCube multiplied from one location in Brooklyn three years ago to 20 locations throughout the city and just about as quickly gained a reputation for surprise billing, as The City reported in August. That month, thenCity Councilmember Brad Lander asked State Attorney General Letitia James to thoroughly investigate CareCubes practices to ensure that they cannot mislead the public. (On January 6, the day after this story was originally published, Jamess office announced that it was investigating CareCube for wrongfully billing patients.) There is little public information about who owns CareCube, but public records and former employees say its run by a physician named Dr. Niranjan K. Mittal, a cardiologist educated in India and licensed to practice medicine in New York since 1985. A former clinical instructor at Mount Sinai, he opened his own practice in Bay Ridge. He has also been hit with lawsuits in state court that go back to at least 2008, accusing him of malpractice, stiffing employees out of their wages, and firing a woman for being pregnant all claims he is still fighting, though he has previously paid $100,000 on summary judgment in another suit for unspecified damages and had a case for wrongful death dismissed with prejudice. Under Mittal, former employees detailed a business driven by getting as much revenue and keeping expenses as low as possible. Employees accused CareCube in lawsuits and interviews of skimming their pay by denying them overtime. I point blank was upset because I was working over 70 hours a week and was not paid overtime, one former employee said in a declaration in a related discrimination suit. One former receptionist said she was pressured to swab patients but declined to do so since she had no medical training. And two ex-employees said Mittal would also pressure staff to perform other invasive, and lucrative, procedures, like peripheral angiograms, which typically require inserting a catheter into the groin to check for arterial blockages. They said patients were referred from several CareCube sites in the Bronx and Brooklyn to a related practice, CareCube Cardiology in Bay Ridge, and would bring in about $7,000 to $10,000 per procedure. A lot of patients always complained, I dont want to do the procedure; the last time I had the procedure, my leg was still hurting. I dont want to go back there anymore, another former employee said. When it came to COVID testing, CareCube allegedly doubled its profits by taking advantage of loopholes in the law to charge both patients and insurers for the same test, with patients billed after insurers had paid CareCube. The former receptionist said she was required to send photos of patients insurance cards via Slack to a team in India that would send back a price to charge the patient. (Another employee who was aware of the practice said this was to save money, but its not clear why a receptionist wasnt able to do this like at other medical offices.) Patients and insurers frequently raised on phone calls and in letters how tests were coded on official forms, employees said. While Ramirezs forms were mislabeled for returning to work rather than for exposure, CareCube allegedly did the opposite in some cases, charging others up front and then submitting paperwork saying something different that would trigger a payout from insurance companies. If the patient is exposed to COVID through someone they know, the insurance is responsible for paying, one ex-employee said. Even after the patient said that they were traveling, they will bill the insurance, but they also charged the patient. When patients complained, they were usually directed to a billing department that didnt respond to queries. Another ex-employee said a separate team of ten in a call center would hear about 30 complaints a day about over- and double billing. (Medicare and Medicaid patients were never charged.) Three former employees told me the companys management has been aware of the persistent double-billing complaints, with some going back over a year. They know that this was a fraud. They knew it because they were getting letters from patients and not only patients but also insurance, one ex-employee said. I remember opening up letters coming from the insurance stating that they were billing the insurance, but the patient had reached out to the insurance saying that they knew that they paid for a COVID test. CareCube has previously defended its billing practices by saying that patients are not being charged for tests but rather being charged for doctors visits, which it says are medically necessary for determining the reason for a test. (The Biden administration updated guidance last year that would prevent doctors from doing that.) On the companys website, a chatbot said plans and issuers are not required to provide coverage of testing such as for public health surveillance or employment purposes and that rates for tests can vary from $200 to $225 each. A woman who answered the phone at the Bay Ridge office declined to make Mittal available for an interview and demanded that I pass along questions to her when I identified myself as a reporter. How would you like somebody writing a story about you? she asked. A lawyer for Mittal didnt return requests for comment. This past summer, law enforcement had started to look into CareCubes practices. FBI agents went to one former employees house and asked about Mittal as well as two other administrators, according to text messages reviewed by Intelligencer. I am aware that the U.S. Attorneys office in the Southern District of New York is conducting some kind of investigation, Joel Glaser, an attorney for a man who is suing Mittal for malpractice unrelated to COVID testing, told Intelligencer. Theyve been calling around to various individuals who have claims against Dr. Mittal, myself included. Its unclear if the Justice Department is still investigating Mittal or CareCube. However, the companys billing practices appear to be ongoing. After The City published its report about CareCubes billing practices, the company temporarily stopped double billing patients, another ex-employee said, but soon started back up again: They were saying, Okay, no matter the insurance, all of that is going to be fully covered by insurance. But that was just for two weeks. After two weeks, I guess they thought that everything was calmed down. They started to charge again. Photo: Getty Images Former president Donald Trump hasnt historically been too keen on listening to non-legislative critiques from Senate Republicans. This time around, the grumbling has to do with his press conference scheduled for January 6, the anniversary of the insurrection he incited that briefly made him a pariah within the GOP. Politico on Tuesday published an omnibus of polite comments from lawmakers suggesting that Trump maybe not draw attention to the event that resulted in his second impeachment and the lowest-ever approval rating for a president exiting office. I dont think thats a good idea, said West Virginias Shelley Moore Capito. Its a free country, said John Cornyn, invoking the spirit of his home state, Texas. Pennsylvanias Pat Toomey was a little more pensive, saying that it was not a terribly good idea, but what am I going to do about it? Apparently, the airing of grievances may have helped. On Tuesday night, Trump took to his non-Twitter to announce: In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. Instead, he will discuss many of those important topics he intended to touch on during the address at a rally scheduled in Arizona on January 15. While the senators concerns that Trumps comments on the anniversary would be a distraction may have influenced the former presidents decision, the New York Times reported a reason for cancellation TV ratings that is more consistent with past behavior. Realizing that the presser would not attract full-on cable-news coverage, his advisers recommended he call the whole thing off. Digital money has become more and more popular in the past three years. (Source: Getty) Mexicos central bank will have its own digital currency by 2024, the Mexican government announced on social media, although the development was not confirmed by the monetary authority, known locally as Banxico. This development is likely to happen towards 2024, putting the country on the list of nations studying, or planning to release, their own central bank digital currency (CBDC). "Banxico reports that by 2024 it will have its own digital currency in circulation, considering these new technologies and the next-generation payment infrastructure are extremely important as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country," the government tweeted. However, an anonymous senior central bank source told Reuters last week the government announcement was not official". Neither Banxico nor the Mexican government replied to Reuters' requests for comment. In a report published on December 17, Banxico said it was, "working on the study and development of a platform aimed at the implementation of a digital currency, but it gave no details on timing. The project has among its objectives the opening of accounts for the registration of a digital currency for both banked and unbanked people, thereby contributing to financial inclusion, the report added. So far, Ecuador, Senegal, Singapore, Tunisia, Estonia, Japan, Palestine, Russia and Sweden have launched their own digital currencies. China is also moving closer to its own launch of a digital currency. According to the South China Morning Post, the country launched a second trial of electronic cash with more than $3 million worth of e-yuan distributed among 100,000 residents in the tech hub of Shenzhen. The residents have until 17 January to use a phone app to spend the digital cash at selected stores and on some online platforms. Story continues Digital currencies are the future (Source: Getty) Several more central banks worldwide are exploring the launch of digital currencies, concerned that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could weaken government control of monetary policy. These include Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Cambodia. These countries have also announced they are looking at introducing digital currencies in the near future. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter. Rapid antigen tests are offered through different schemes around the world. (Sources: Getty) Rapid antigen tests can provide results indicating whether a person has COVID-19 within 15 minutes, however Australians are finding it increasingly difficult to find and afford the tests. Shoppers have complained of retailers running out of test stock, while others have reported suspected price gouging as individual tests sell for up to $55. Despite pushes from the Australian Medical Association, unions and social services groups, the Federal Government has so far resisted calls to make the diagnostic instruments free for all. More on rapid antigen tests: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he doesnt want to undercut businesses, and that Australia was at the stage of the pandemic where the Government cant make everything free. Morrison has since proposed a system in which welfare recipients apply through an online portal for a payment to cover the cost of some tests. Heres how six other countries reduce rapid test costs, or provide them for free: UK: Free rapid tests and people register results The UK offers free tests from pharmacies, schools and other community collection hubs, and tests are also mailed out to homes. People who use the tests are encouraged to register results with the National Health System. However, the UK has also struggled with supply as the Omicron variant swept across the country. Germany: People eligible for one free test a week In Germany, people are eligible for one free rapid test a week following an announcement in November by Health Minister Jens Spahn. Germany has more than 15,000 pop-up rapid test centres people can visit, while Germans can also pick up rapid tests for around 1.50 ($2.30). However, the country has faced its own shortages. Portugal: Four free rapid tests a month Portugal offers everyone four free rapid tests a month, which are carried out at pharmacies. Story continues People can also pick up rapid tests for around 2.805 ($4.40$7.80), with profit margins capped at 15 per cent for retailers. In Lisbon I went out for a meal. I had to have proof of a Covid test *that day*, but didnt. So the restaurant sold me a Lateral flow test for 2.50. I went in & enjoyed my meal, with all the other tested customers. Pretty simple really. No fuss and no arguing about freedoms. pic.twitter.com/dLqXPIL7CU Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) January 2, 2022 France: Price caps French people can buy tests from supermarkets, which are subject to price caps keeping them 6 (AU$9.40) or cheaper per test. Singapore: Three free tests for close contacts People who have been deemed close contacts can access up to three free testing kits from one of the 100 test-kit vending machines. Singapore has also provided two rounds of free rapid testing to households, and people can pick up tests for around $6 a kit. The government has also supplied free tests to employers who then pass them onto workers, with more than 11,000 businesses now having signed up to the scheme. USA: Plans to send 500 million kits to households US President Joe Biden said the government will distribute the 500 million kits to households free of charge, although the first delivery isnt expected until later this month. The USA has experienced similar shortages to Australia, as Omicron and holiday travel strained the supply chain. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter. Grayton on Dean Apartments in Auburn has been sold to Brookhaven Property Group from New Jersey for $30.25 million. The previous owner, Brentwood Real Estate Capital (BRECAP) from Tennessee, has another investment in Alabama, Brixworth at Bridge Street in Huntsville. Grayton on Dean is a 240-unit multi-family property with each unit selling for $126,042, according to a press release from Cushman & Wakefield, the Chicago-based real estate firm that represented BRECAP in the transaction. The apartments, located on 420 North Dean Road in Auburn, were built in 1964, 1984 and 1986. At the time of sale, Cushman & Wakefield said the apartment complex was 95% leased. The property was sold to Brookhaven Property Group from Lakewood, N.J., which will be the companys eighth asset in Alabama. Grayton on Dean came to market fully renovated with high-end finishes, new interiors, a new clubhouse and a very high rent growth, positioning it to perform well in the future, Jimmy Adams, Executive Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield, said in the release. The recent renovations of the property include walk-in closets, modern kitchens and new amenities. The apartment community offers a pickleball court, a fitness center, two swimming pools, a barbeque area and on-site laundry. The property is also in the Auburn market, which has experience in credible momentum in recent years fueled by a highly educated workforce and the renowned University, Adams said. Auburns plan to redistrict its voting wards has been delayed again, to the City Councils next meeting, as the city evaluates an alternative map from the local NAACP branch, but this time the plan wasnt without new concern from some residents. Multiple Auburn residents voiced their worries at Tuesdays City Council about two things: the redistricting consultant on retainer by the city attorney and the existence of multiple polling places per voter. The comments came as council members voted unanimously to postpone both the public hearing and the vote on redistricting to their Jan. 18 meeting. Auburn City Attorney Rick Davidson brought on Balch and Bingham attorney Dorman Walker to act as a consultant for Auburns redistricting, but Walkers past correspondence with the late Thomas Hofeller was raised at the council meeting. Hofeller was a political strategist who gained notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s by gerrymandering to allegedly reduce Black voter power and simplify elections for Republicans, according to the New York Times. Hofeller contacted Walker during Alabamas state redistricting process in 2011, which saw federal courts rule against the state as legislators had applied race in drawing a dozen voting districts, per a Montgomery Advertiser article in 2019. Warren Tidwell, community resilence and outreach director for the Hometown Organizing Project, spoke before the City Council to say Walkers past associations with Hofeller muddy the nonpartisan aim of the citys redistricting. I have followed the state governments redistricting process closely this year and have been appalled at the lack of transparency, accountability and brazen partisanship, Tidwell told council members on Tuesday. One committee member said they didnt think it was possible to have a nonpartisan redistricting effort and not have politics be a part of it. That committee member was attorney Dorman Walker. City Manager Megan Crouch said in a rebuttal to Tidwells comments that Walker had no role in drawing the City of Auburns proposed redistricted map and that it was drawn internally by city staff. The staff drew the districts based on data and data only in the federal law that I have repeatedly informed the council that we have followed, Crouch told the council. The only role Walker has played is being on retainer of the city attorney, which we retain consultants every day of the week to do city business. His role has been to tell us whether the districts meet the law. Crouch said the redistricting plan is not her offices plan but is the citys plan by state law which the City Council is considering. She added that the council does not have the ability to fire consultants. The retention of Walker is only through the city attorney, she said. I did not surf the internet and seek out redistricting consultants this was based on a discussion that happened over the summer about getting it right, and I believe we have gotten it right and proposed an absolute, very solid redistricting plan in meeting the law. On the voting effects of redistricting, Carolyn Carr, an Auburn resident with a history of serving as a chief inspector of local polling places, told council members she wants the city to better collaborate with Lee County to ensure citizens can have more consistency in where they vote. She said citizens are often assigned to a different polling location depending on whether an election is local, county, state or federal. Ten years ago, the city redistricted our wards without working with the county to shim up the lines between the beats and the boxes and the actual ward boundaries so they no longer matched. This led to some real problems, Carr told the council. In the first election after that redistricting, we had so many people coming in confused about where they were supposed to be voting. Carr said she and other concerned citizens have brought up the issue to city officials since 2010 but it hadnt been addressed as late as the 2020 presidential election. She said in this years redistricting, shes more concerned about the city and county working together to ensure the situation is resolved over the boundaries of the wards. I really have a feeling that weve lived through a stupid decision 10 years ago and we may be heading into another similar decision of having these various polling places, Carr said. Crouch later addressed Carr and said the City of Auburn has been in touch with Judge Bill English, chair of the Lee County Commission, in its handling of the citys redistricting after the commission adopted a county redistricting in late November. However, she said the city cant base city ward boundaries on the county map and has to finish its redistricting process before evaluating polling places. Were growing rapidly and things in Auburn are changing, Crouch said. People may think Joe Lovvorn represents them, (but) it now may be Pebblin Warren or it may be other things. As best we can well do multiple postcard mailings, (but) I cannot guarantee polling locations are going to align. The city is working with Auburn University to set up a polling location on campus for future elections, which Crouch said may help alignment with the county in joining voters in multiple wards. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Students in Alabama can study to be physical therapy assistants at seven community colleges across the state, with one now being Southern Union State, which has launched its PTA program this year and begins classes Wednesday after an orientation Tuesday. The community colleges Valley campus has begun offering associates degrees in physical therapy assistance following an accreditation process that Dr. Jeff Leatherman, director of the new program, described as rigorous. The program spans a full year and includes technical classes and clinical work after students complete their core classes their first year of college. PTA is a career choice, much like a physicians assistant. You can treat your own caseload, you can go out and work with folks in home health (but) you just cant do an initial (physical therapy) evaluation and you dont do the discharge visit, said Leatherman, who is a licensed physical therapist. With everything else in between, PTAs are fully capable (and) we know several PTAs around here who are directors of rehab facilities. Southern Union graduated 17 students in a trial program that ended last semester and served as a final hurdle to accreditation, and it now has 22 moving through the fully accredited program this year, according to Leatherman. Leatherman said the recent graduates have already had job offers from local medical facilities like Hughston Clinic as well as hospital and rehab facility offers in Columbus, Ga., and Newnan, Ga. Southern Union says PTAs often help patients whose abilities have been impaired by an accident, injury, illness, disease or other health-related conditions that limit movement and functional abilities. In Southern Unions program, students will take classes instructing them on exercise programs, gait training, functional activities and patient education among other topics, according to the community college. Students can come straight out of high school and take 29 hours of prerequisites in their first two semesters, Leatherman said. Then, they can apply to our program and we go straight through, not taking any breaks or anything like that. We start in January and they graduate in December. Leatherman said the PTAs can anticipate earning about $40,000-45,000 a year after receiving their associates degree in physical therapy assistance, with the national average for the career at about $59,000 a year. Previously, anyone interested in becoming a PTA in east Alabama would have had to enroll at South University in Montgomery, a private institution, or Wallace Community College in Dothan, so Leatherman said the program helps to fill an educational void as systems such as East Alabama Health are expanding. It was such a need in this area (and) were really glad to serve that need, Leatherman said. People are living longer and getting joint replacements, and the growth of health care in the area has been huge. Southern Unions physical therapy assistant program is now training its second cohort of students to complete their degrees in December, and applications for current Southern Union students to enter the third cohort of students in 2023 will open Oct. 15. Tuition and fees for the year-long program cost about $11,500, according to the community college. Those interested in reading more about the program may visit Southern Unions website at https://www.suscc.edu/programs/ptaprograminfo.cms. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Washington, PA (15301) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 67F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 47F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Vietnamese field hospital, MSF save lives in South Sudan Staff members of Vietnam's third level-two field hospital at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have recently assisted doctors at a hospital run by the Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in conducting a successful caesarean section for a mother with severe kyphosis. Staff member of level-two field hospital No. 3 in a training session. (Photo: VNA) Receiving a request from the MSF hospital for support on January 3, an operation team of four Vietnamese doctors was immediately sent to the scene. The 35-week pregnant woman, 22, was having a fetal distress. Her kyphosis condition as the sequelae of spinal tuberculosis made it hard for doctors to perform the surgical operation. The patient could neither lie on her back in the normal position nor receive spinal anesthesia. Therefore, doctors decided to employ endotracheal anesthesia using a rudimentary ventilator system, with the anesthesiologist team continuously squeezing the balloon by hand during the nearly two hour surgery. The surgical team delivered a 4kg baby boy who did not cry. After 15 minutes of active neonatal resuscitation, he finally cried out, filling the operation room with joy. The 4kg South Sudanese baby boy is crying following 15 minutes of active neonatal resuscitation after his birth. (Source: Vietnam's third level-two field hospital at UNMISS) According to Nguyen Thanh Nam, head of the surgical department of the third level-two field hospital, his hospital was facing many challenges due to a shortage of human resources. Some members with COVID-19 were being isolated for treatment and one quarter of the staff was on leave. Pou James, a staff member at the operating room of the MSF hospital, said he is very impressed with the Vietnamese surgical team for their professional manner and willingness to save the lives of local people. The UNMISS Chief Medical Officer sent a letter to acknowledge the contribution of Vietnam's level-two field hospital No. 3, asking the facility to continue assisting the MSF hospital in other surgeries. On October 1, 2018, Vietnam deployed its first level-two field hospital with 63 staff members to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan in October 2018. The third hospital of this kind began their mission in April last year. The Goodman Theatre said Wednesday that it is postponing its planned world-premiere production of The Outsiders, a musical based on the novel by S.E. Hinton and the Francis Ford Coppola movie. With a book by Adam Rapp and music by Jamestown Revival, the show has Broadway aspirations. A Goodman spokesman said it is now expected next season. As a new addition to the current season, the Goodman said it will stage the world premiere of Swing State, a timely new play by Rebecca Gilman set in Wisconsin. Running just from April 1 through May 1 in the Owen Theatre, the show will be directed by artistic director Robert Falls. Advertisement The Goodman also will stage the Canadian musical Life After, a piece with book, music and lyrics by Britta Johnson and centered on a young woman searching for the truth about her family. The 95-minute Life After was seen at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2019; the new Goodman production, under the direction of Annie Tippe, will run from June 11 to July 17 on the Albert mainstage. The postponement of Outsiders is due to scheduling issues related to COVID. One more show is still to be announced for the current season. Advertisement Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@chicagotribune.com Ugh, just ban this man from everywhere Reply Thread Link Someone take a tennis racket to his backside until he sees sense. Reply Thread Link What kills me in all of this is if he had shut up and pretended to be vaccinated when he got the exemption, he would have had no backlash. Reply Parent Thread Link Really too dumb to wipe his own nose. Reply Parent Thread Link He 100 percent wanted to flex that he was not vaxxed and still allowed entry. Reply Parent Thread Link does this man have to idk stage a daylight bank robbery in Melbourne city centre without a disguise to get booted from that fucking tournament? Why is he so speciaaaal. Reply Thread Link The Victorian Government. I'm imaging these people are denying the visa like 'No good sir, you may not enter' Also unrelated but I'm fully cackling at. I'm imaging these people are denying the visa like 'No good sir, you may not enter' Reply Thread Link Aye and the people that live in that state are called Victorians so those there in the 1800s were Victorian Victorians. Reply Parent Thread Link Hard time and place to be a girl named after Queen Vic Reply Parent Thread Expand Link If Novaxx was granted the exemption for having Covid in the last six months, that means this mf has had it twice at least already. He first had it in April 2020 when he staged a tournament in Serbia with no social distancing, most of the players who went also caught Covid. Reply Thread Link I don't get why that would be grounds for exemption since you can get reinfected. Also, does he plan to keep getting COVID in six month intervals to skirt the vaxx requirements of some countries? Reply Parent Thread Link I think after you get it you can 'delay' getting the vaccine which is where this comes from. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I believe that most countries will grant you entry if you show a vaccination certificate or a recovery certificate thats within 6 months. I think 6 months is like the norm? That antidotes are still in your body or something?? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link "If Novaxx was granted the exemption for having Covid in the last six months, that means this mf has had it twice at least already." or he paid a doctor to make it look like he had it. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I think people should boycott watching his ass. Reply Thread Link Hes playing in their face and theyre letting him Reply Thread Link I hope the Australian crowds boo him tbh. He sucks so bad. Reply Thread Link Oh they will. Reply Parent Thread Link They will, but unfortunately he'll use that to motivate himself. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh Im sure in his head he makes himself out to be the martyr, the poor victim, the underdog, etc etc. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm still amazed that when he had the crowd on his side at USO after all that wanting to be loved, he fell to pieces. Reply Parent Thread Link his father is threatening to fight them in the street. I want to see THAT. Reply Parent Thread Link I could not hate that fucking man more, honestly. Reply Thread Link Dear Orthodox Santa, please let this man slip on a banana peel or something. Thank you, me Reply Thread Link Vaistinu hahahaha Reply Parent Thread Link This is so bizarre. I have no other words. Don't let the man play, simple as that. Reply Thread Link ffs Reply Thread Link How many more mistakes and bad decisions will he be allowed to bypass because he's a champion? Reply Thread Link The Omicron Variant is now Accounting for 95 Percent of new U.S. Covid-19 Cases Statistics from several countries prove Omicron is taking over. The Omicron variant caused 95.4 percent of new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. last week significantly higher than the previous week, according to estimates posted Tuesday by the CDC. The Delta variant makes up almost all of the rest of cases. A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine boosts a persons antibodies in the space of a weeks, a study shows. According to an article,* the study is preliminary and has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal. This is good news, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who embraced the decision to recommend it. Thats an indicator of a very high likelihood that the fourth dose will protect vaccinated people to a great degree against infection [and] to some degree against severe symptoms. Data suggests that about to 10 to 15 percent of Omicron cases in the United Kingdom are reinfections, according to the country's top scientist Dr. Neil Ferguson, who is a member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE). The fact that the variant is "substantially less severe" has helped the UK "undoubtedly. "We would be seeing much higher case numbers in hospital otherwise. And vaccines are holding up against severe disease and against severe outcomes well, but that doesnt mean its not going to be difficult few weeks for the NHS," he said. Ferguson also said he is "cautiously optimistic" that cases in London may have plateaued. He added that it is too early to say fully whether cases are going down. The cities of Mumbai and New Delhi collectively recorded at least 16,341 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to officials. New Delhi currently has a positivity rate of 8.37 percent with 5,481 new cases and the government announced further restrictions Tuesday afternoon. Beyond charging speed, a massive buildout in EV charging capacity will require more power and more grid capacity to supply them. Fast chargers are needed, because the amount of time it takes to charge a vehicle is another factor influencing the decision to purchase an electric vehicle. Last month the Biden administration released a plan to build a network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country. President Biden considers this an essential part of the fight against climate change by enabling the continued rollout of electric vehicles. In announcing the plan, Vice President Kamala Harris noted, When we ask people what is the biggest barrier for them to buy an electric car, the answer is almost always figuring out where and how to charge it. The plan emphasizes standardization as the charging network expands from the current patchwork of 100,000 public charging outlets. EV owners are well aware of the challenges of navigating the current fractured EV charging network, which have different outlets, payment options, and hardware hookups. President Biden had sought $15 billion for the plan, but Congress cut that amount in half in the recently-passed infrastructure bill. Nevertheless, the Administration has stuck to the original plan, with $5 billion deployed to states, territories and the District of Columbia. The remaining $2.5 billion will be targeted at putting charging stations in rural areas. Faster Charging Required Fast chargers are needed, because the amount of time it takes to charge a vehicle is another factor influencing the decision to purchase an electric vehicle. But the reduced funding likely means more slower charging stations. Level 2 charging stations require 2-10 hours to fully recharge a depleted battery. Higher power and more expensive Level 3 charging stations can achieve this in 30 minutes. This means most EV customers will likely need to do most of their charging overnight at home. But the faster Level 3 charging stations will need to be strategically located along major highways and interstates to serve drivers on long-distance trips a necessity especially if EVs are to play a larger role in commercial transportation. Presently there are vast stretches of EV deserts across the U.S. Midwest and South, and that is a major hindrance for those wanting to buy an EV. A Strain on the Grid Beyond the charging speed, a massive buildout in EV charging capacity will require more power and more grid capacity to supply them. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that by 2030 EVs could require between 525 terawatt-hours (TWh) and 860 TWh of electricity globally, up from 80 TWh last year. This is equivalent to more than three times the current power consumption of California. The California state government is facing a formidable challenge, given its increasing reliance on renewables while facing extreme climate conditions that severely strain the grid. Current rates of new power plant commissioning are slower than what would be needed to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2045, as set out by the California Energy Commission, while not all power plants newly in operation are using clean resources. A case in point are the temporary gas plants to avoid blackouts during summer. Innovative Solutions are Coming Even so, California home to nearly half of all EVs in the U.S. is at the forefront of vehicle-grid integration. The state intends to stop selling gasoline-powered passenger cars by 2035, so it has launched a number of initiatives to ensure that EVs dont overwhelm the states electric utility infrastructure. Southern California Edison has launched a $436 million program to install 38,000 electric car chargers over the next five years. The program will incentivize smart charging during the day when solar energy is at its peak, and power is cheapest as a result. But there are other innovative solutions being developed by several start-ups, which could help. L-Charge, for example, has developed a charging station thats off the grid entirely and can charge 100 km (roughly 60 miles) in just 5-10 minutes. The company has developed both a stationary and mobile version of its chargers. The stationary version can be located in conventional locations, but the mobile version can actually travel around a city and charge vehicles on demand. Meanwhile, Amazon-backed startup Span has developed a smart electrical panel, capable of being paired with a Level 2 EV charger. Span panel can be paired with Amazons voice recognition interface, Alexa. This integration will make it easier for homeowners to identify the largest power users in the home at any given time. In turn, that could help balance the energy load and charge EVs only when theres spare electricity capacity. In many areas, tapping into the grid means charging an EV with fossil fuel-generated power. But the mobile charging station developed by L-Charge, which runs on relatively low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG) or hydrogen, also offers a solution that doesnt involve additional strain on the grid. This is an important innovation in a world in which demands on the grid are expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. In the long run, electric vehicles may both accelerate the shift to renewable energy and help stabilize the grid. Many homeowners will increasingly rely on solar power they generate themselves to charge their EVs, and this could displace significant fossil fuel power sources over the next decade. But if this transition is going to proceed on an aggressive schedule, the Biden administrations plan will need to be supplemented by investment in faster-charging stations and in bolstering the electrical grid or developing off-grid solutions. By Robert Rapier More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A new law passed by the country aims to attract new investment while also ensuring Guyanas citizens and local economy benefit from its oil boom Guyanas recent oil discoveries could not have come at a better time for the country, with international companies looking to move away from traditional oil-producing states The context for oil in Guyana is looking even more favorable thanks to the passing of a landmark local content law last week. With greater opportunities for exploration in Guyanas waters, as well as already strong investments by some of the worlds supermajors, the Caribbean is set to be the oil-producing region of the future. Many companies have started their movement away from traditional oil-producing states, particularly in Europe and North America for several reasons. Firstly, several countries in these regions are currently developing policies for the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives, leading to unfavorable regulatory frameworks for new exploration projects. Secondly, many companies have been driven to Africa and the Caribbean thanks to new oil discoveries and the prospect of lower-cost operations. And, thirdly, while oil in some regions is drying up, these new oil regions offer the possibility of large untapped resources where oil firms can commence long-term, lower-carbon operations. And last week, Guyana made it that much easier for international oil firms to gain access to these resources. President Mohamed Irfaan Ali signed a local content bill into law at the end of 2021, which will offer international oil companies the opportunity to bid on several exploration blocks in the second half of 2022. The Guyanese president hopes this will help the country to benefit from its new oil discoveries, rather than losing out to international players. Ali stated, This local content bill gives us the opportunity to win. It sets the framework for Guyanese to win and that is what we are interested in. The law also makes it compulsory for certain goods and services to be provided by Guyanese companies, including engineering and machinery as well as immigration and environmental services. The government also intends to promote associated social and economic development through the law, such as supporting the tourism and real estate sectors. Since the first sale of its oil by ExxonMobil in 2019, the citizens of the country have been asking the government to ensure the oil revenues are pumped back into the national economy, benefitting the whole country. The new law aims to fulfill this objective. Related: Oil Tops $80 After OPEC+ Sticks To Plan To Ease Cuts To date, international oil companies have made discoveries of 10 billion barrels of oil and gas. In a country of just 800,000, this could have a huge economic impact. Its GDP grew over 43 percent last year alone, while most other states were battling Covid-related economic downturns. Much like oil-rich countries like Norway and the UAE, Guyana has set up a Natural Resources Fund to manage oil revenues as high as a projected $130 billion over the next two decades. While Guyana stands to profit from the new law, greater exploration adds to the already promising outlook for international investors. In December, Exxon moved ahead with new exploration drilling activities in the Stabroek block. The oil major hopes to find more hydrocarbons in the Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells. Exxon is also carrying out appraisal drilling through the Tripletail-2 and Turbot-2 wells in the same block. ExxonMobil is currently seeing output of around 120,000 barrels per day from its Liza oilfield in the Stabroek block. The firm contracted a second floating production system, the Liza Unity FPSO, to support operations in the field, which set sail from the Keppel shipyard in Singapore in September. With the potential to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, this will significantly enhance Exxons operations in the region. The facility will also be capable of storing 2 million barrels of crude oil. A third vessel, Prosperity FPSO, currently under construction, will join the others by 2024. Guyana can expect an oil output as high as 750,000 barrels per day by 2026, according to Exxon. While American oil firm Hess believes production could total 1 million bpd by 2027. In December, Exxon also announced the construction of a supply depot, which would bring its total investment to $30 billion. It hopes that this supply base will support the creation of local construction and long-term oil-related jobs. The firm has also hinted at other developments in the country, such as a gas-to-energy project, which would decrease the cost of electricity. An Exxon-led consortium, alongside Hess Corp and CNOOC, currently employs 3,200 national workers across its operations. It seems that Exxon is putting all its eggs in one basket, moving the vast majority of its offshore operations to Guyana from previous projects in the United States, Brazil, and Trinidad and Tobago. This is largely due to the reasons stated earlier, with Guyana offering brighter prospects for the future of low-cost, lower carbon oil operations that will not dry up any time soon. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The UK government believes it has until April to find a solution to ease the burden of surging natural gas and energy prices on utilities and households, although no immediate fixes have been adopted. As a result of the energy crunch, households in the UK will face much higher electricity prices beginning in April, as the government prepares to raise the so-called cap on utility bills. The UKs energy regulator Ofgem is expected to announce the new price cap on energy prices in early February, but the effect on household bills will be felt as of April 1. The UK government believes it has two more months after February to assess whether some consumers will need assistance or relief to blunt the impact of the surge in energy bills, a source with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. Earlier this month, 20 Conservative Members of Parliament and peers called on the UKs Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a letter to Sunday Telegraph to have the value added tax (VAT) and the environmental levies on energy bills removed. Johnson, however, dismissed on Tuesday those calls, despite a pledge during the Brexit Leave campaign that without the EU, the UK would be able to scrap the VAT on energy bills. Removing VAT on utility bills could result in assisting a lot of people who perhaps dont need the support, he said. While UK households face steep rises in energy bills, energy providers are going out of business by the dozens. Two dozen power and gas suppliers in the UK had already exited the retail energy market as of the end of November, and more are likely to do so. Another 20 energy providers in the UK could go bust in what looks like a massacre in the coming months unless the government reviews the energy price cap, Keith Anderson, chief executive at one of the largest providers, ScottishPower, said in November. The energy cap will be reviewed and raised as of April 1, but this will significantly increase the cost of living for Britons. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: European benchmark natural gas prices rose on Wednesday for the third day in a row, as gas deliveries from Russia via Ukraine and Poland continue to be low while another cold snap is headed to Europe. On Wednesday, natural gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark for European gas, rose by 6 percent by mid-day, following a 30-percent jump on Tuesday. European gas prices reflect growing concerns that Russian natural gas flows to Europe via Ukraine and Poland have been abnormally low in recent days. Russian gas supply to Europe via Ukraine dropped earlier this week to the lowest daily volume since January 2020. Daily gas transit flows from Russia westward to Europe via Ukraine on Monday were half the amount Russia had booked for that day, Sergiy Makogon, chief executive officer at Ukraine's transmission system operator Gas TSO wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, adding that the drop in transit gas volumes was expected to continue. This is the lowest transit volume of gas Russia has sent via Ukraine since January 2020, Makogon said. Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberately withholding gas supplies to Europe during the winter months to try to force an approval of the controversial Gazprom-led gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2. At the end of December, Ukraine's transmission system operator sent a letter to the German Ministry of Economy, in which it says, "we firmly believe that Nord Stream 2 endangers the security of the European Union's gas supply." Nord Stream 2 awaits approval in Germany and then a review from the EU, which will likely push the in-service date of the pipeline well beyond the current winter heating season in Europe. Meanwhile, due to the lower transit volumes via Ukraine and the 16th consecutive day on which gas the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Belarus to Poland and Germany flows in the reverse direction from Germany to Poland, natural gas prices in Europe continued to rise on Wednesday. "There is growing nervousness on the European gas market again... This is chiefly due to faltering pipeline deliveries via Ukraine from Russia," Barbara Lambrecht, an analyst at Commerzbank, wrote in a note cited by Reuters. "EU gas trades higher for a third day on weak supplies from Russia's Gazprom via Poland and Ukraine, just as temperatures has started to fall again. Watch the March-April TTF spread for signs of storage stress," said Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Unrest in oil and gas-rich Kazakhstan continued on Wednesday, even after the government resigned on Tuesday following protests over increased fuel prices. In a rare protest in tightly-controlled Kazakhstana major oil producer and part of the non-OPEC group in the OPEC+ alliancepeople took to the streets earlier this week to protest against higher fuel prices. The government had lifted price controls on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which many Kazakhs use to fuel their LPG-converted vehicles because its cheaper than gasoline. The rise in fuel prices also resulted in a surge in consumer goods. The rise in fuel prices sparked violent protests on Tuesday in which almost 100 police officers were injured, and police used tear gas and stun grenades to dispel hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Kazakhstans biggest city Almaty. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Tuesday that the government had decided to decrease the price of LPG in the western province of Mangistau in order to ensure stability in the country. Tokayev accepted the resignation of the government on Wednesday and said the lower price of LPG would be restored. The president also declared a state of emergency in Almaty and in the Mangistau province. Despite the governments resignation and the state of emergency, protests and violence continued on Wednesday as protesters stormed the mayors office. Government buildings in cities other than Almaty, such as Shymkent and Taraz in the south, were also attacked by protesters. During the two days of clashes, cars have been burnt, while attacks on shops, restaurants, and banks have also been reported in Almaty. Authorities in the city have urged residents to stay at home. Kazakhstan produces around 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, and it was called out by the OPEC+ meeting on Tuesday for low compliance with the cuts. For February, the quota for Kazakhstan is 1.589 million bpd, per the groups decision and production table. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: ExxonMobil has made two more discoveries in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, which add to the previously announced 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels recoverable resource estimate for the block, the U.S. supermajor said on Wednesday. Exxon struck high-quality oil and hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs at the Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells in the block off Guyana, which continues to be one of the U.S. corporations priority exploration and production areas for the next few years. Both discoveries increase our understanding of the resource, our continued confidence in the blocks exploration potential, and our view that the many discoveries to date could result in up to 10 development projects, said Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil. Since 2015, when it first struck oil offshore Guyana, Exxon has made more than 20 discoveries in the waters of the South American nation. Now Guyana wants to capitalize on the large oil and gas discoveries over the past half-decade to build up an economy powered by its own energy resources. The South American nation became a crude oil exporter in early 2020, thanks to Exxons huge discoveries offshore Guyana. Over the past two years, the U.S. supermajor and Hess Corp, its partner in the prolific Stabroek Block, have made a dozen more discoveries, while the Liza Phase 1 project is very profitable for the oil corporations and for Guyana. Liza Phase 1 and 2 developments break even at around $35 a barrel and $25 per barrel Brent, respectively, Hess says. Liza Phase 2 start-up is expected in the middle of 2022 via a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Exxon also said today that the hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel, the third project on the Stabroek block at the Payara field, is complete, and topside construction activities are ongoing in Singapore for planned production start-up in 2024. The Field Development Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment for the fourth potential project, Yellowtail, have been submitted for government and regulatory review. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The United States became the worlds largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in December as deliveries of the superchilled fuel to energy-starved Europe surged. According to Bloomberg calculations, the U.S. dethroned Qatar as the top LNG exporter in the world after a substantial jump in LNG production from Cheniere Energys Sabine Pass plant, which in turn followed the launch of a new liquefaction unit. A veritable fleet of U.S. LNG cargo carriers sailed for Europe last month as the price differentials between the continent and Asia became more favorable to Europe, motivating U.S. exporters to send cargos there. The U.S. is seen retaining the top spot in LNG exports this year as well, but in the medium term, Qatar may overtake it as it boosts its LNG production capacity from 77 million tons annually to over 100 million tons. Qatar and the U.S. will be vying for being the largest LNG producers in the world over the next decade, said Muqsit Ashraf, senior managing director of global energy practice at Accenture. Thanks to a growing number of U.S. LNG export projects coming into service, by the end of 2022, U.S. nominal capacity will increase to 11.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) and peak capacity to 13.9 Bcf/d across 7 LNG export facilities and 44 liquefaction trains, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in December last year. Thanks to liquefaction trains at Sabine Pass, Cove Point, Corpus Christi, Cameron, Elba Island, Freeport, and Calcasieu Pass, Americas export capacity will exceed in 2022 that of the two current largest global LNG exporters, Australia (11.4 Bcf/d) and Qatar (10.3 Bcf/d). The current increase in LNG exports even caused a stir in Congress, with Senator Elizabeth Warren accusing the industry of keeping production of natural gas low and hiking exports, and gaming the system. This corporate greed is inexcusable, and represents the results of a rigged system that enriches energy company executives and investors, and leaves American families struggling to pay the bills, Senator Warren wrote in a letter to several energy companies last year. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The White House applauded OPEC+s decision to continue adding 400,000 bpd to global supply next month as well, with Reuters reporting the administration cited close coordination with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. OPEC and its partners, led by Russia, yesterday decided to stay the course of adding oil production in line with original intentions after the worst of the pandemic was over. The cartel remains confident that demand for crude is strong enough to keep prices elevated even with the supply additions. However, many members of the group have been struggling to add as much production as their quotas call for. In November 2021, the members of the OPEC+ agreement complied with the production cuts at 117 percent, Amena Bakr, Deputy Bureau Chief and Chief Opec Correspondent at Energy Intelligence, reported on Tuesday, quoting delegates at the monthly OPEC+ meeting. The high conformity level with the cutsover 100 percentsuggests that OPEC+ is actually producing lower volumes overall than the collective quotas. The ten OPEC members bound by the OPEC+ pactand excluding exempted producers Iran, Venezuela, and Libyacomplied with the cuts at a massive 122 percent, while the conformity level of the non-OPEC members led by Russia was 107 percent, Energy Intelligences Bakr notes. Other analysts have also expressed slight worry that OPEC is overcomplying with the cuts, therefore undercomplying with output addition quotas. The reasons for this are the lack of field and equipment maintenance in some members who have had other problems to tackle over the last few years, including Iraq, Nigeria, and Angola. The bigger worry is that with these members struggling to boost production, the spare capacity of those who can produce more will run out more quickly than previously anticipated with the regular production additions. This means that the White Houses enthusiasm about the continuance of OPEC+s policy may be a little premature if demand remains strong throughout the year. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: It is with some trepidation that I gaze upon the 2022 dance calendar. As the omicron variant rips through the performing arts scene, COVID-19 rears its ugly head (again), forcing cancellations and even closures this winter. But the promise of spring draws thoughts of hope and rejuvenation. With cautious optimism and fingers crossed, here are the top dance happenings in early 2022. Trinity Irish Dance Company: Far more than jigs and reels, this hometown troupe is the standard-bearer for theatrical Irish dance. In recent seasons, founder Mark Howard and associate director (and heir apparent) Chelsea Hoy have effectively pushed a message of female empowerment and cross-cultural connections in their rep themes that have always been present as a meaningful undercurrent to the glitz and glam of Trinitys high-quality productions. Youll want to buy tickets early this one almost always sells out. Feb. 5 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive; tickets $38-$84 at 312-341-2310 and auditoriumtheatre.org Advertisement Ballet Folklorico de Amalia Hernandez: Lovingly preserved Mexican folkloric and theatrical dances, created decades ago by the late cultural ambassador Amalia Hernandez, are as fresh and vibrant as the day they were made. Ballet Folkloricos invigorating repertoire spans ancient Azteca to the modern era, and everything in between. Dont be surprised to discover a few mariachis in the aisles! Feb. 12-13 at Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive; tickets $38-$88 at 312-341-2310 and auditoriumtheatre.org Amanda Assucena and Alberto Velazquez in Joffrey Ballets "Don Quixote." (Todd Rosenberg photo / HANDOUT) Joffrey Ballets Don Quixote: Yuri Possokhovs playful interpretation of the classic ballet Don Quixote takes audiences for a ride along with the Man of La Mancha and his bumbling, lovable sidekick Sancho Panza. The pair embark on a fantastically fun and funny journey, backed by Ludwig Minkus rousing score. Feb. 16-27 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; tickets $35-$184 at 312-386-8905 and joffrey.org Advertisement Chicago Tap Theatres For the Love of Tap: A stripped down repertory concert features new works by Mark Yonally, Sterling Harris and Molly Smith, plus returning favorites like Yonallys percussive take on Beethovens Moonlight Sonata. The evenings cornerstone is tap icon Brenda Bufalinos Flying Turtles, revived after a decade on the shelf. Flying Turtles is inspired by how turtles look as they swim. That sounds silly, but Turtles is a sophisticated modern masterpiece of layered meters and beats flourished by CTTs fantastic hoofers. Feb. 19 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; tickets $26-$65 at chicagotaptheatre.com Jeffrey Cirio and Akram Khan in a rehearsal for English National Ballets "Creature." (Laurent Liotardo photo / HANDOUT) English National Ballets Creature: A cargo backlog bungled what was to be Akram Khans Xenos at the Harris last fall more reason to secure your seats for his latest full-length work, performed by English National Ballets indescribably adept dancers. If you loved Khans Giselle in 2019, you are likely to fall for Creature too, although the two ballets are remarkably distinct. Here, Khan dives deeper (and darker) into the psyche, pulling from Promethean tales by Mary Shelley and Georg Buchner. Feb. 24-26 at the Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph St.; tickets $35-$140 at 312-334-7777 and harristheaterchicago.org Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Aileys annual Chicago pilgrimage resumes with three programs dedicated to key figures from the companys history. An all-Ailey evening includes fresh new productions of Reflections in D and The River, while a retrospective of Robert Battles works celebrates his 10th anniversary as artistic director. Rennie Harris joyful noise, Lazarus, caps the series, with Revelations, as the closer, every time. March 2-6 at Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive; tickets $48-$112 at 312-341-2310 and auditoriumtheatre.org Hubbard Street dancers Kevin J. Shannon, Alyssa Allen, Alysia Johnson, and Andrew Murdock in "Jardi Tancat" by Nacho Duato. (Michelle Reid photo / HANDOUT) Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: Hubbard Street returns to the MCA after a five-year absence from one of the citys best small dance venues. Jardi Tancat and The Seen, from Novembers gorgeous season opener, are joined by new works from two highly sought choreographers, Darrell Grand Moultrie and Amy Hall Garner both making their Hubbard Street debuts. Lar Lubovitchs Little Rhapsodies is the cherry atop this sweet two-program set, last seen here in 2019 and among the prolific Chicago natives best short works. March 2-13 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; tickets $15-$110 at hubbardstreetdance.com Ballet Hispanicos Dona Peron: Chicago appearances from this powerhouse company are rare; that is reason enough to buy tickets. Even better, theyre bringing Annabelle Lopez Ochoas Dona Peron, a choreographic sketch on Eva Perons unlikely rise to power, becoming Argentinas most recognized (and outspoken) first lady. Ochoa is routinely masterful at folding dazzling movement invention into unique narratives. With these dancers as her muse, its hard to imagine the evening will be anything other than extraordinary. March 26-27 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive; tickets $37-$83 at 312-341-2310 and auditoriumtheatre.org Onjelee Phomthirath, Rosario Guillen and Erina Ueda in "Take a Gambol" (2018) by Giordano Dance Chicago. (Todd Rosenberg photo / HANDOUT) Giordano Dance Chicago: You could think of a Giordano evening like the dance version of your favorite power ballad you know, the kind that makes you run for your hairbrush and burst into enthusiastic air guitar. Ramping up toward their 60th season, the legacy jazz dance company sticks to its roots with feel-good fun and full-tilt dancing, including Ray Leepers Feelin Good Sweet, Kiesha Lalamas Alegria, and new works by Joshua Blake Carter and Autumn Eckman. April 1-2 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; tickets $20-$90 at 312-334-7777 and harristheaterchicago.org Sara Julis Burnt-Out Wife: Performer Juli made her solo show Burnt-Out Wife before the pandemic, but this homage to marriage fatigue and burn out of all kinds sure feels apropos after lockdowns with our loved ones. Her sardonic take is laugh-out-loud funny, but pokes at universal truths to which all can relate married or not. April 22-23 at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.; tickets $30 at 312-369-8330 and dance.colum.edu In the last few weeks, some people have scrambled to find rapid at-home tests to screen for COVID-19. The tests can be hard to come by. Several popular brands are listed as out of stock on Amazon.com and pharmacy websites. To help meet demand for the tests, President Joe Bidens administration announced late last month that it would give away a half-million test kits to households that request them beginning sometime this month. But one concern with the at-home tests is that most of the results positive or negative are not reported to or recorded by local and state health departments. Teresa Anderson, director of the Grand Island-based Central District Health Department, said she and her staff have no way of knowing the results of most at-home tests because there is no mechanism to report them to Nebraskas disease-tracking system. One exception, she said, is the results of the Abbott BinaxNOW tests used by long-term care facilities. The facilities results are reported to the state through the Nebraska Infection Control Assessment and Promotion Program. But if residents of the district, which includes Hall, Hamilton and Merrick Counties, call to report results from their tests as some occasionally do Andersons staff cant add them to state systems. We really just dont know whats going on in the home-testing world, she said. Dr. Anne OKeefe, the Douglas County Health Departments senior epidemiologist, said no mechanism exists to add the results to health departments systems. The department likely would have to track at-home tests separately so that they dont skew the positivity rates used to help determine testing needs and case trends. (While people may call with positive results, theyre not likely to do so with negative ones.) OKeefe said in most cases, the tests should not be used as a substitute for a lab test. The best use may be in situations where its difficult to quickly find a lab-run test. But she and Anderson said the at-home tests do offer people an opportunity to find out whether theyre COVID positive so they can take the appropriate steps to avoid infecting others. At least the people doing them know and can act on the information, OKeefe said. Both health districts are seeing increased demand for testing and an increase in positive cases. Anderson said the Nomi Health testing site in Grand Island, which she can see from her office window, conducted 280 tests Monday. The Douglas County department reported 1,038 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday from tests collected Monday. The department reported its highest weekly count of the pandemic for the week ending Saturday. Previously, some experts have raised concerns that at-home tests dont allow for contact tracing because of the lack of reporting. But OKeefe said the health department currently doesnt have the capacity to do all the contact tracing it conducted last year, even with a contract in place for contact tracing services. Case counts, she said, are too high. Instead, she said, the health department has focused on providing more information about what people should do if they have a positive test. That includes how to quarantine and isolate, how to determine when people may have exposed others, and what to tell close contacts. Douglas County residents who test positive at home or at a testing center and have questions should call the health departments COVID information line at 402-444-3400. Thats good information to get out because were not able to do it one on one, OKeefe said. Those who test positive on a home test dont need to have the results confirmed with another test, she said. But those who get negative results, either after an exposure or before or after a gathering, should repeat the test within 24 to 48 hours, OKeefe said. Many of the tests come in two-packs and instruct users to repeat the initial test at a prescribed interval. It will be much more predictive if you do the serial testing, she said. A person planning a visit to a relative in a nursing home, for instance, could test a couple of days beforehand and then repeat the test right before the visit. Dr. James Lawler, a co-executive director of the University of Nebraska Medical Centers Global Center for Health Security, said the U.S. has had issues throughout the pandemic with accurately assessing case numbers, with cases undercounted throughout. Now, in addition to most home test results not being reported, he said, many of the at-home tests available in the United States are less sensitive in picking up the omicron variant. The Food and Drug Administration noted Dec. 28 that early data, based on lab tests on patient samples conducted by National Institutes of Health researchers, indicate that the tests detect omicron but may have reduced sensitivity. More research is underway. Most of the rapid at-home tests available in the U.S. are antigen tests, which detect viral proteins. Using them typically involves swirling a nasal swab inside the nasal cavities. The swabs are shorter and dont go as far back as those typically used to collect samples for PCR tests, which amplify and detect the viruss genetic material. Nationally, some experts have suggested swabbing the nose and the throat as a way to increase the sensitivity of the at-home tests. Lawler said the suggestion makes sense intuitively, as it appears the omicron virus may be concentrated more in saliva. But tests are optimized for the samples they are designed to test. He advised caution in using the tests in ways other than their approved use until data are available to back that up. Omicron accounted for 52% of the positive samples sequenced over the past two weeks in Nebraska, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. While the incidence of omicron varies across the state, health officials wrote, it is likely the variant soon will become predominant. Lawler said the next concern will be fielding enough testing to keep up with omicron. Were about to take off like a rocket, he said. Were clearly not going to have enough access to testing over the next month. Our health system is already close to a tipping point, and its not going to take much to push us over. OKeefe said it will be good to have the Biden at-home tests available. In addition, testing companies are expanding and hiring more people. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. An Omaha man who set fire to his familys home, critically injuring his wife, which led to her death years later, pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday. Carl Bohm, now 68, pleaded guilty to first-degree arson and attempted first-degree assault. He faces a maximum of 70 years in prison when he is sentenced in February. On Feb. 25, 2019, Bohm started a fire at the family home near 39th Street and Himebaugh Avenue. I will hurt you more than you ever will know, Amanda Bohm has recounted that her father said before he flicked a lighter onto a puddle of gasoline on the garage floor. Amanda, then an Omaha North High senior, suffered second-degree burns. Her mother, Janet Franks-Bohm, was required to have at least 30 surgeries to repair third-degree burns that covered more than 60% of her body. Franks-Bohm died in October, and a coroner in Colorado concluded that her death was directly related to the injuries she suffered in the fire. Because of that, she is recorded in police records as one of the 32 homicides in 2021. She was 59 years old. Bohm has faced charges of arson and two counts of assault since July 2019, when he was released from the hospital. The start of his trial had been delayed until Monday, as prosecutors considered upgrading charges after learning of Franks-Bohms death. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said his office met with Franks-Bohms family, and they wanted to reach a plea deal so that no one would have to testify at trial and without restarting the process to add a murder charge. They were appreciative and thankful we got the case to plea, and satisfied with that, Kleine said. Amanda Bohm couldnt immediately be reached for comment. If you ask anyone, my moms my best friend, Amanda said in 2019 when her mom was still recovering in the burn unit at a Lincoln hospital. Its really hard, and I miss her a lot. Kleine didnt provide an exact number of years in prison that prosecutors will seek at sentencing, but said they want to make sure the case is treated as a homicide. Carl Bohm appeared at the hearing Wednesday in a wheelchair and was medically transported to the courthouse, Kleine said. Were going to ask for a sentence that would keep him in prison for the rest of his life, Kleine said. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The last inhabitant of one of Omahas largest homeless encampments sat in his tent and tarp shelter Tuesday as the sound of heavy machinery rolled closer. He refused to leave the campsite hed shared with a handful of others, set at the bottom of a steep incline among snow-covered brush, even as Union Pacific began to clear its property Tuesday morning. Homeless individuals have for years sheltered on the property, which spans multiple blocks along railroad tracks beyond a thicket of brush and trees east of 16th Street and south of Locust Street. Signs along the propertys perimeter mark the site as closed with a warning that trespassers could be prosecuted. The population there fluctuates throughout the year. At its peak from March to October, more than 30 people were living at the site full time, according to a local advocacy group. On Monday afternoon, only three men remained. All three said they were unaware of a sign found posted on the property and shared on Twitter that stated Union Pacific planned to remove all items from the area, including trees and brush. Tuesday morning, a private contractor hired by Union Pacific to clear the property used heavy equipment to scoop up debris and belongings scattered among the brush and the snow. By 2 p.m., Omaha police officers were called to remove the only person who remained in his makeshift shelter. The man was arrested on outstanding warrants, an officer at the scene said. Robynn Tysver, a Union Pacific spokesperson, cited safety concerns, complaints from area residents and dangerously cold temperatures as reasons for the clear-out. But the advocacy group Omaha Autonomous, which has provided aid to people in the encampment since March, expressed concern over the timing of the cleanup. This is a space outside of public view and allows unhoused people the ability to keep warm by a fire as well as providing a sense of safety that comes from a chosen community among others in similar situations, the group said in a written statement. By choosing to sweep this area during the coldest months of the year, it demonstrates a clear lack of compassion on the part of Union Pacific. The encampment was a source of contention in the fall as Omaha police cleared people out after receiving complaints from nearby businesses and homeowners. Keith Williamson, who at the time was captain of Omahas Northeast precinct, called for Union Pacific to take steps to deter homeless people from camping on the property. Advocates argued that clearing the camp wouldnt solve the underlying issues leading to homelessness, nor would it help the individuals from being displaced to other locations in the city. Its unclear how long the clear-out will take, Tysver said. Tuesday afternoon, two large dumpsters were dropped off in the area, soon to be loaded with debris left behind by homeless individuals and furniture and tires illegally dumped down the incline. As officers removed the last inhabitant of the encampment, members of Omaha Autonomous gathered the mans belongings before they could be swept away by contractors. We will never not be disappointed at the lack of compassion and empathy in these decisions, the group said in a statement. Before the cleanup began, Union Pacific worked with police to help individuals find safer alternatives to the encampment, Tysver said. Homelessness is a challenging issue for not only Union Pacific, but for city, county and state agencies, Tysver said. Due to the wintry weather, many have already left the site. Jay Leavitt, captain of Omahas Northeast police precinct, said Union Pacific advised police of the cleanup before it began. The area is registered as closed property under a city ordinance, which allows police to respond to trespassers on the property. Our intent will be to ensure they are aware of local shelters in the area and would only make arrests as a last resort, Leavitt said. Supporting initiatives that work to provide affordable housing is the most impactful way to prevent homelessness, said Lisa Fox, interim executive director of the Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless (MACCH). Its always very scary when you have a large group of people that are unsheltered, Fox said. Especially this time of year. In October, MACCH estimated that about 900 people on any given day are on a list seeking housing in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties, and of those 300 to 400 are chronically homeless. The situation, Fox said, emphasizes that the lack of affordable housing in our community is a critical issue. World-Herald photographer Anna Reed contributed to this report. Omaha World-Herald: Afternoon Update The latest headlines sent at 4:45 p.m. daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Jessica Wade Jessica Wade covers breaking news, crime and the Omaha zoo. Follow her on Twitter @Jess_Wade_OWH. Phone: 402-444-1067 Follow Jessica Wade Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Subconsciously, I'll wager, they felt threatened. Here was a writer who could throw around references to Margaret Mead and Joan Baez, Fidel Castro and Jean Genet, Willy Loman and Daniel Boone, who could spit out a line like "You like the wrong part of Thoreau." Here was a playwright who was a master of dramatic structure but would not let it contain her. Watching this piece Monday, it felt to me like Hansberry herself whose work, as you may have noticed, I deeply admire was about to bust out of her own play half a century after her death, an Englewood High School graduate posthumously receiving the key to the city of her youth. Her presence is that vivid in Kauffman's loving production. LINCOLN Saying that now is the time for big ideas and assertive leadership, two North Omaha state senators unveiled a plan Tuesday to use nearly $440 million of federal COVID relief money to help their neighborhoods emerge stronger after the pandemic. In a statement, State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Justin Wayne said their North Omaha 2022 Recovery Plan would take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime funding opportunity to help North Omaha recover from the pandemic and improve the lives of all area residents. When were dealing with problems that started before my lifetime, we understand that change will not happen overnight, but we cannot wait any longer, McKinney said. This plan is a pro-wealth building recovery plan that ensures North Omaha emerges from this pandemic as a more vibrant and resilient community. Wayne said he looks forward to getting support from the City of Omaha and from Douglas County for projects that will make tangible and measurable progress in North Omaha. Now is the time to act decisively, he said, adding that the federal American Rescue Plan Act offers transformational funding. Nebraska is in line to get $1.04 billion from that federal legislation. Deciding how to use those funds will be a major focus of the 2022 legislative session, which kicks off Wednesday. Leaders have said the money needs to go for one-time uses, rather than ongoing programs that would have to rely on state funds to continue. The North Omaha proposal likely will face fierce competition. At a public hearing in the fall, representatives of business, agriculture, education and numerous other interests offered ideas and proposals that totaled well over the amount available. But McKinney and Wayne said studies show that the pandemic hit particularly hard on communities like North Omaha, where people with low incomes and people of color have disproportionately experienced job loss and severe health challenges during the pandemic. While Nebraska as a whole recorded its lowest ever unemployment rate in November, at 1.8%, the unemployment rate for Black Omaha residents remained at nearly 12%, or levels not seen since the 2008 recession. Black Nebraska residents are disproportionately likely to have gotten COVID and been hospitalized with it. The North Omaha plan details 39 projects addressing sectors of the community hardest hit by COVID-19, including housing and homelessness, community and small-business recovery, community well-being, and community assistance and programming. Some of the projects call for matching funds from the city, county or private sources. Among the proposals: Building 100 homes, rehabbing 200 more and constructing two mixed use developments. Getting 500 people graduated from high-demand job training programs and providing financial support for 1,000 interns to help them graduate on time. Stabilizing and assisting 100 small businesses, creating an industrial park adjacent to the existing Airport Business Park and creating a North Omaha business generator. Developing a state-of-the-art mental health treatment center and supporting crime and gang prevention and violence intervention programs Expanding access to parks and trails and making improvements to tourism sites. McKinney represents Legislative District 11, which runs from about California Street north to Redick Avenue and from North 48th Street east to Carter Lake. Waynes District 13 extends north from Redick Avenue to the Douglas County line and encompasses neighborhoods between North 96th Street and the Missouri River. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LINCOLN Nebraska lawmakers will launch a session Wednesday that some predict could be transformative for the state, but others suspect it could devolve into a forum for grandstanding and political theater. During the next 60 legislative days, state senators will weigh proposals to allocate more than $1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money, along with deciding what to do with flush state coffers. Theyll consider measures related to criminal justice reform, tax relief and education funding. Theyll entertain hot-button issues like abortion, vaccine mandates and whether to call for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution. Theyll do it with the latest COVID-19 variant pushing case numbers higher. And theyll do it with 12 term-limited senators facing the end of their legislative careers, eight running for other political offices and as many as a dozen others seeking reelection. That will add a little bit of intrigue, said State Sen. John Stinner of Gering, longtime chair of the Appropriations Committee. It should be really interesting, and it might even be entertaining. Stinner is among the senators, many of whom have built reputations for their nonpartisanship and willingness to compromise, who will leave the Legislature at the end of the year. Legislators are limited to two consecutive four-year terms, but can return after sitting out at least one term. Theres been talk of extending those limits another term, and theres a proposed constitutional amendment that would do so sitting in the Legislatures Executive Board. Heading into this session, Nebraskas 49 lawmakers have 248 years of combined experience just over five years, on average. Losing a wealth of institutional knowledge at once causes consternation for some. I think it points out the problem with term limits, said Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, who is term-limited. Theres a significant amount of leadership among those 12. Some legislators see the impending loss of these senators as a call to action. Among them, Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont said lawmakers need to take advantage of the departing senators experience and willingness to work across party lines to get things done. We better make this a session to remember, said Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln, adding that the Legislature is going to lose some really incredible minds. Veteran lobbyist Walt Radcliffe said he expects some senators will be looking to leave their mark, given how many legislators are facing either term limits or reelection. Itll be a fun year, he said. There will be a lot of people with big agendas. But Stinner said the legislation most important to him has already been passed. Term-limited Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, who chairs the Executive Board, similarly said hes approaching this session like any other. Im not gonna have a big push to do some special legislation, he said. If I havent got it done by now, what have I been doing the last seven years? But many point to office-seekers as a potential source of drama. The session is going to be a platform for some campaigning, said Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings. Perre Neilan, a Lincoln-based lobbyist, predicted that everything that happens in the 2022 session will be viewed through a political lens. Legislators running for higher office include Sens. Carol Blood of Bellevue and Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, who are campaigning for governor. Blood is the lone Democratic candidate so far, while Lindstrom faces a crowded GOP primary. Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha is running as a Democrat for U.S. Rep. Don Bacons 2nd District seat, while Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln looks to unseat U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry in the 1st District. Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln, speaker of the Legislature, has announced a bid for attorney general AG Doug Peterson is not seeking reelection. Sens. Matt Hansen and Adam Morfeld, both of Lincoln, are running for positions in Lancaster County, and Williams is running for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Up to a dozen others could run to keep their seats. Not all have announced their intentions yet. They have until Feb. 15 to file. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha predicted itll prompt people to either go big or clam up. Its either gonna make people be bold or too scared to do anything, he said. There wont be people sitting on the fence like there usually are. Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, whos running for reelection, said he wouldnt be surprised if theres some posturing as senators try to drive home that theyre fighting for their district. It does put a little extra zeal into some senators to try to do more, and that could slow things down quite a bit, he said. One issue that Hilgers doesnt expect to slow the Legislature down this session: the pandemic. At the advent of COVID-19, the 2020 session was suspended for four months in mid-March. Lawmakers reconvened later in the year but with plastic dividers between their desks, limits on access to the legislative chamber, restrictions on lobbying activities and daily temperature screenings. Those measures carried over into the 2021 session, but eased a bit for the special session held for redistricting in the fall. Hilgers announced last week that operations will edge even closer to normal this session, though some restrictions will stay in place. One pandemic-driven innovation an online public comment system on bills will remain and people can choose whether those comments become part of the official record. The pandemic is in a vastly different state than it was in early 2020 chiefly, there are vaccines that have proven effective at protecting people from the most severe effects of COVID-19. Its not clear how many of the states lawmakers are vaccinated. Hilgers said senators are entitled to keep that information private, but he has a general sense from conversations with lawmakers that a large percentage of them are vaccinated. However, cases are climbing in Nebraska and elsewhere, with the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus causing particular concern. Nebraska just recorded its highest COVID-19 caseload in more than a year for the week ending Saturday. Hilgers said the most important factor here is for the Legislature to be able to continue its work. Twenty-five legislators are required for the Legislature to get anything done if the pandemic prevents them from meeting that mark, that could trigger a suspension, he said. Directed health measures from the state also could have an influence. And he expects to continue consulting with Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez. But Hilgers doesnt anticipate an interruption. I expect us to be able to get through the session this year, Hilgers said. We were able to do it last year, and last year we did not have vaccines for a good portion of our population for a good portion of the session. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sara Gentzler State Government reporter Follow Sara Gentzler Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today What if the federal government took your land, paid your neighbor for the land it just took from you, then let your neighbor use it? That is bad enough, but what if your ancestors already paid for that land with their lives and despair? The average American would lose their mind and could not even conceive of this happening to them, but this is exactly what is happening right now to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Most people know that tribes did not exactly get a fair deal when it comes to the land in our country. The Winnebago Tribe once held a large portion of Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The ceded land now includes the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. Between the 1830s and 1860s, the Winnebago Tribe was forced to sign a series of one-sided treaties, but had finally found a home in the rich farming land of southern Minnesota. However, in 1863, the Winnebago people were forced by the military to leave our home after the Sioux had an uprising in the state. We arent the Sioux and did not have anything to do with the uprising, but that really didnt matter. The land we occupied was very valuable and coveted by non-Indian farmers. The uprising became a pretext to take our land. Our people were placed on a riverboat and dropped off in central South Dakota right before winter. Hundreds of our people died from starvation and disease. In desperation, we ended up seeking refuge with the Omaha Tribe in Nebraska. Official federal reports from the era casually discuss the level of poverty and specifically mention how we survived the cold winter by living in ravines and ditches with tree branches over our heads. In 1865, we purchased the northern half of present-day Thurston County from the Omaha Tribe and we have lived here since. Our land extended to the Missouri River, but back then, the river meandered after floods. Large amounts of our land ended up on the Iowa side of the river. In the 1950s, the Army Corps of Engineers began condemning land all along the Missouri River to control flooding. It is not a coincidence that the dams along the Missouri River were built on tribal lands. Tribal land was easy and convenient to take because tribes did not have a powerful voice. In 1970, the Army Corps of Engineers took a few thousand acres of our land on both the Iowa and Nebraska sides of the river. After 16 years of legal fighting, we won our land back on the Nebraska side, but not the parcels in Iowa, which total roughly 1,500 acres. The court actually said the Corps did not have the right to take the land from the tribe in the first place. But because the appeal on these Iowa parcels was not filed in time, we still lost it due to a legal technicality. Thirty years after we lost our legal battle we are still fighting for our land. Even if the Army Corps wanted to give our land back, it couldnt. The problem is that the Army Corps easily took our land but has no power to give it back. This is not a metaphor: It literally takes an act of Congress to get our land back. For over 15 years, we have been trying to get Congress to pass a law to return our land. It was introduced a couple of times by former Iowa Congressmen Steve King, but he left office without getting it done. The bill to return our land has been introduced again by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry from Nebraska, and is co-sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa and others, but not much more has happened. I am 53 years old. We have been fighting this particular injustice for 51 of those years. The land is just sandy earth covered in timber, and serves as a large habitat for wildlife. We dont plan on changing anything and have promised to let non-Indians continue to use it for hunting and recreational use. This land has no great value to anyone but us. It is our land. It was paid for in blood and tears. It was legally stolen from us in the modern era. Justice demands its return to the Winnebago people. Lance Morgan is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Harvard Law School. Andy Cohen "really regrets" criticising Ryan Seacrest's New Year's Eve show on live TV. The 53-year-old star caused a stir with his drunken comments while co-hosting CNN's 'New Year's Eve Live' special on Friday (31.12.21) with his friend Anderson Cooper and although it was his rant against New York City's outgoing mayor, Bill de Blasio, that attracted the most attention, the 'Watch What Happens Live' star admitted the only thing he wishes he hadn't done was launch a barrage of negative remarks about ABC's rival programme 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' and its host. He said on his SiriusXM show 'Andy Cohen Live': "The only thing that I regret saying, the only thing is that I slammed the ABC broadcast and I really like Ryan Seacrest and he's a great guy. And I really regret saying that, and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it." During the broadcast, Andy criticised the "group of losers" performing on ABC's show, including Journey, Ashanti and Ja Rule. He said: "There's lots of smoke coming from Ryan Seacrest's group of losers that are performing behind us. I mean, with all due [respect] if you've been watching ABC tonight, you've seen nothing. I'm sorry. It's true. "I just got doused in confetti from the fake Journey appearing on ABC. If its not Steve Perry, it doesnt count! You get it? Its not Journey! Its propaganda! Its propaganda! Its not Journey! Its not Journey! No, that was not Journey. Steve Perry is Journey. No!" And on reflection, the Bravo star admitted he got carried away. He said on his radio programme: "I was continuing the Journey rant and I just kept talking and I shouldn't have. I felt bad about that. So that is the only thing. It's the only thing... That is what I really regret. I really do." Andy's co-host, John Hill, noted the "headline was what sucked" in the subsequent coverage of his pal's rant because it appeared he was taking aim at Ryan himself. He noted: "I thought in the moment you understood the context." Andy agreed: "Exactly, that's the problem. Yeah. The headlines about Ryan Seacrest are all like I trash Ryan Seacrest. I hope he hears the clip." Throughout the New Year's Eve broadcast, Andy and Anderson sank tequila shots and he joked afterwards he had been "over-served", even though he was helping himself. He wrote on Instagram on Saturday (01.01.22): "I was a hair over-served last night, but man, did I have fun! I hope you did too. Happy New Year everybody." Meanwhile, a CNN spokesperson has dismissed speculation Andy won't be covering the occasion for them next year following his performance. The representative said: "I can confirm that Andy Cohen will be back to co-host NYE on CNN next year." Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. Gal Gadot says her version of Cleopatra will be both "sexy" and "smart". The 36-year-old star will play the ruler of Ancient Egypt in a new movie that will be producer by her 'Wonder Woman' director Patty Jenkins and gave fans a teaser of what to expect from her take on the character. Speaking to InStyle magazine, Gal said: "I can't reveal a lot, but I can tell you that we're going to celebrate the Cleopatra story. We're going to show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we're living in today." The historical figure has been portrayed on the big screen a number of times most notably by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 movie 'Cleopatra' but Gal says that Kari Skogland's project will be different from those that have come before. She explained: "I've watched all the Cleopatra movies throughout history but I feel like we're telling the story the world needs to hear now." The casting of the Israeli actress caused a backlash when it was announced, as people argued that an Arab or African star should have taken on the part. Gal hit back at the critics by insisting that Cleopatra whose race has been subject to debate amongst historians was actually from Macedonia but the right Macedonian actress "wasn't there". The 'Red Notice' star said: "First of all, if you want to be true to the facts, then Cleopatra was Macedonian. "We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasnt there. And I was very passionate about Cleopatra. "I have friends from across the globe, whether theyre Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish, of course People are people. And with me, I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honour this amazing historic icon that I admire so much." Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. BLOOMINGTON A 20-year-old Bloomington man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for firearm charges stemming from an August 2020 shooting in Bloomington. Nathaniel A. Butler pleaded guilty in September to aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied building, a Class 1 felony, and unlawful possession of a firearm without a valid firearm owners identification card, a Class 3 felony. Those charges derive from about a 1 a.m. shooting Aug. 20, 2020, in the 600 block of West Mulberry Street, Bloomington, when a house was struck by gunfire. Bloomington police Det. Curt Maas testified Tuesday that police located 11 shell casings at the scene of that shooting. The detective said there were four shootings reported between Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, 2020, and that one of which struck a driver in the arm. He said Butler and others quickly became suspects of the shootings. Butler was arrested Aug. 23, 2020, with co-defendant, Tony E. Powell, 21. Powell was sentenced in December 2020 to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to one count each of attempted aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Butler was initially charged with one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied building, aggravated discharge of a gun into an occupied vehicle, aggravated assault, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, mob action, and two counts of battery. Also part of the seven-year prison sentence imposed Tuesday was one count of unlawful possession of a firearm without a valid FOID card, which was charged in March 2020. McLean County Assistant States Attorney Emily Young asked the court to impose a total 10-year prison sentence, while defense attorney Michael Doubet asked the judge to impose a total of four years in prison and a term of probation. Judge Casey Costigan said probation would be inconsistent with the ends of justice. The judge agreed with the prosecutor, saying Butlers conduct caused and threatened serious harm. This wasnt about a group or rivalries that was taking place, but it was about the community as a whole, and when those shots were fired, the entire community was jeopardized and it created serious threat and harm to the entire community, as well as those individuals who were in the direct line of fire, Costigan said. Butler received credit for 475 days already served in jail for one of the FOID card violations and 502 days previously served in jail for the discharge of a firearm and other FOID card violation charges. Contact Kade Heather at 309-820-3256. Follow him on Twitter: @kadeheather Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LINCOLN Lincoln College is adding a week to its winter break due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in Logan County and Illinois, the school announced on Tuesday. Traditional courses will now resume on Jan. 18, rather than next Monday as originally planned. The schools Accelerated Bridge to Education classes will start as planned via online learning on Jan. 10. Offices and facilities will remain open under normal operating hours. We have significant concerns the highly-transmissible Omicron variant could overwhelm our campus community, said President David Gerlach in the schools press release. Our number one priority is the health and safety of our students and employees. Lincoln College joins Illinois State University in delaying the start of in-person classes. Illinois State announced last month that it would use remote learning for the first two weeks of its semester, starting on Jan. 10 with classes expected to start in-person on Jan. 24. Peoria's K-12 district announced on Monday that it would be extending its winter break due to the COVID surge as well. Illinois Wesleyan University classes are expected to resume in-person on Wednesday. The school is requiring testing before students return to campus and has given professors the option to use remote learning if their content allows. Students who are unable to be tested before they return to campus are being asked to not attend in-person classes until they have a negative test. Lincoln is following the state mandate for unvaccinated students and employees to be tested at least weekly, said spokesperson Lauren Grenlund. Testing is not being required before students return to campus, but is available for students and employees as desired. Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A southwestern Illinois state representative has proposed legislation to create a special license plate for United States Space Force members. Founded in 2019, the force is the space branch of the U.S. armed services organized under the Air Force. It has ties to Scott Air Force Base, where guardians the name for members of the Space Force have been stationed. State Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, said it was a constituent's idea to make a Space Force license plate for Illinoisans. "They're very proud of their service and that's how they want people to know either they're serving or have served," Friess said. If the bill (HB 4325) passes, the Illinois Secretary of State would ultimately have control over how the license plate appears, but Friess is sure people will have suggestions. "I guarantee there's going to be a lot of ideas," he said. "I'm excited about it." The legislature meets this week for an abbreviated session, but Friess said he wasn't sure if his bill would be considered. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 SOUTH ROXANA, Ill. The police chief of a village in Madison County has asked the Illinois State Police to investigate after a police officer shot and wounded a man Tuesday. South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles said the man is expected to survive. "I can't get into why he was shot," the chief said in a brief phone interview Wednesday. The unidentified man was shot about 8 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Rose Avenue, east of Highway 111 and along South Roxana's northern border. Coles said the man was shot after a disturbance but he declined to elaborate. A woman had called 911 to report that someone was at the home on Rose "hunting someone," according to a dispatchers, who alerted officers that a man was barricaded in the back of a home on Rose and had access to knives. Police haven't said what happened next or why police shot the man. Dispatchers then updated surrounding agencies to say that shots were fired and that South Roxana needed backup. As police from neighboring jurisdictions learned about the shooting, officers rushed to a staging area near Jarrett Industries, at Rose Avenue and Madison Street. A woman who lives two houses away said she saw police running up and down the street. She said she heard the gunfire but didn't see what happened. The chief said Wednesday that everything he's seen so far tells him that police were justified in shooting the man, but he's asked the Illinois State Police to handle the investigation. Officers suffered sprains and other injuries while arresting the man, the chief said. He said "multiple departments" were involved in the arrest but he declined to say more. Elbert Jennings, a master sergeant with the Illinois State Police, referred a reporter Wednesday to the Illinois State Police public information office, which has not yet released any details. South Roxana is a village of about 2,000 residents in Madison County, Illinois. Kim Bell 314-340-8115 @kbellpd on Twitter kbell@post-dispatch.com Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Naperville marijuana shops generated roughly $1.7 million in sales tax revenue for the city in 2021, $700,000 more than budgeted, according to estimates from the mayor. Because of the strong showing, Mayor Steve Chirico said he'd consider adding a fourth dispensary. The sale of adult use marijuana in Illinois more than doubled from $669 million in 2020 to $1.38 billion in 2021. Determining Naperville's share of the heavily taxed consumable has been a challenge for city officials when budgeting because the state does not provide municipalities with a detailed breakdown of sales tax revenue for marijuana sales, saying that to do so would be a breach of confidentiality. "It'd be nice if we were actually given a breakout, but that's just not how it works," Chirico said. But it is possible to extrapolate a ballpark amount by using available data, he said. Given that Illinois' 109 dispensaries broke $1.3 billion mark for adult use cannabis sales for 2021, Naperville's three dispensaries likely contributed 2.75%, or about $35.8 million, he said. Applying the city's cannabis tax rate of 4.75% to $35.8 million, Chirico calculated the city should clear at least $1.7 million in 2021. "It's not exact science," he said. "You have to make a couple of assumptions, one of them being that we're average. But other than that, the numbers are pretty accurate." The city budgeted $1 million in sales tax revenue from pot sales in 2021 and 2022. Chirico said when the state legalized marijuana he saw the financial benefit for Naperville. "A lot of people questioned it, didn't believe it was going to be as large as what we were predicting," he said. By comparison, sales tax revenue generated by one Costco warehouse is about $2 million and all of Naperville's Downtown Business District is about $1.7 million, Chirico said. Opponents say the revenue boon isn't worth the harm marijuana, which is illegal at the federal level, is causing to the community. Kevin Coyne, founder of the political action committee Safe Suburbs USA and a former councilman, said public safety concerns have risen across the state and country and Naperville isn't immune. Marijuana use often precedes of other harder, addictive drugs, Coyne said. If the pot stores have contributed to public safety or health issues in even a marginal way, the revenue received from the dispensaries isn't worth the cost, he said. "Is a million bucks worth that trade off? I would say that it's not," Coyne said. "I would say that any parent that has had a kid get addicted to drugs would say that it's not." Chirico said fears that the dispensaries would create a crime wave never materialized. "If you just look at the crime data, it's down. The only item that's actually up in the last couple years is internet crimes, and it's up a lot," he said. In order to open a fourth shop in the city, the Naperville City Council would need to raise the current cap of three, the mayor said. Additionally, the locations available to a four dispensary business would be limited because of the restrictions in place, he said. Those restrictions dictate that dispensaries cannot operate with a mile distance of each other and must be at least 1,000 feet from a primary or secondary school and 250 feet from a residential area. Additionally, they can only operate in areas zoned for business or for office, commercial and institutional space and in districts created for industrial, health services, and research and development use. "There are only couple of locations that would fit those criteria, and that's on Route 59 in south Naperville," Chirico said. Both Bolingbrook and Plainfield, the communities to the south, do not allow the sale of marijuana. "That, for sure, would be a draw," he said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Dear Amy: My friend is a drunk. This is disgusting to watch. At several points over the years, when I have traveled with her, she has found ways to drink while a passenger in my car often from a water bottle that has vodka in it. Advertisement If I were stopped by police and they found open liquor within reach inside my car, I would be immediately fired from my job. I have discussed this with my friend, but she has still violated my trust. Advertisement She has gone to rehab, tried cold turkey, and been hospitalized. She lost her job due to her alcoholism. She is an educated, vivacious, loving, caring friend who stood at my side when life kicked me in the head and heart as I dealt with the loss of my mother, and as other friends backed away. I love our friendship. I recently hosted a holiday celebration. I thought I was on alert, but I didnt notice how much she was drinking. I looked across the table and saw (once again) the half-mast eyes, mouth agape with food dribbling out, down her dress, and onto the floor. Her face was almost in her plate. She spent the night passed out on my couch. I have reached my limit. I spoke with her the next morning. She apologized profusely, but I realize that means nothing. I would be mortified to be in that state of inebriation, but she doesnt seem to have any shame at all. I want to include her when I entertain or go out with other friends, but I dont want to watch her get drunk or have to take care of a drunk. Advertisement I dont want to have to lock up my liquor when she is at my home. I shouldnt have to be the liquor police with her. What is there left to do? Disgusted Dear Disgusted: You say that your friend has no shame, and yet you seem determined to shame her. Think of her as an addict, not a drunk. Shelve your disgust and replace it with compassion for someone who has a disorder which is currently raging out of control. Look at all she has lost! Advertisement Yes, you should lock up your liquor when she is at your home. You should not drink in front of her or with her. You should not serve alcohol to her, or have it accessible, and expect her to be able to control her drinking. Because she obviously cannot. You cannot save her from her addiction. But you neednt enable it, either. Stop chastising her. Tell her that you love her and that you value the gift of her friendship, but that she has relapsed, and you are worried about her. (Relapse is extremely common). She needs professional help and rehab, as well as your ongoing compassion. Offer to research options with her and encourage her to enter a program. Dear Amy: I am blessed to have retired before the age of 50. I am now in my mid-50s, and my life is great, but my in-laws think I should go back to work. Advertisement We had a fairly OK relationship before my retirement, but now when I am around them, they tell me I am too young to retire, and this has caused a disconnect in our relationship. I didnt know there was an age requirement on retiring, as long as you are financially secure. How can I respond to this? Enjoying Retirement Dear Enjoying: I suggest you respond with a version of, Arent you sweet? before transitioning your in-laws away from you as the topic of conversation. One way to do this is to ask a question, Do you remember how old your own parents were when they retired? They might say, Our folks never retired! which would give you some insight into their backstory and point of view. Advertisement There is nothing wrong with a little disconnect between the generations, but I hope you wont let this difference of opinion grow into anything more than that. Dear Amy: Thank you for your Book on Every Bed column. I love this idea. I recently returned to the workforce, working with low-income preschoolers. Each day before rest time I read the same very sweet book. Ask Amy Daily No-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning. For a limited time, sign up for the Ask Amy newsletter and get the book Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from Americas Favorite Advice Columnist for $5. > For the holidays, I gave each of my students their own copy. Advertisement I hope I have helped instill the love of reading and a good book. Happy With my Little Ones Dear Happy: Your preschoolers will treasure this book. Thank you for encouraging literacy. Got a question for Amy? Enter it here and well send it to her. Sign up here to receive the Ask Amy newsletter to get advice e-mailed to your inbox every morning, and for a limited time get the book "Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from Americas Favorite Advice Columnist" for $5. 2021 Amy Dickinson. The global impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection is still growing one year after the attack. Most Americans dont realize the shock felt by our foreign friends, and the glee of our adversaries, at watching mobs of MAGA vandals storm the Capitol of the worlds greatest democracy. Even when European and Asian allies disagreed with American policies, they still looked to the United States as the leader of the community of democratic nations. Especially given the growing strength of China and the muscle-flexing of Russia. The coup attempt on Jan. 6, along with its continuing reverberations, has shaken our allies faith in Americas future. Despite the Biden administrations success in strengthening alliances Trump rebuffed and building new ones in Asia foreign officials now worry about the stability of the United States. They watch with astonishment as the former president continues to promote his Big Lie about election fraud in 2020 and as most GOP leaders support his falsehoods. They wonder whether Trump will try again to steal the election in 2024, and whether more of his supporters will use violence. No NATO ally could have conceived of such a scenario before Trump incited the coup attempt at the Capitol on Jan. 6. This is a year in which the crisis of American democracy has become incredibly visible to all, the noted British columnist Martin Wolf told a Financial Times podcast in late December. And that is a singularly disturbing fact for those of us who live in what we used to think of as the free world. European and Asian leaders wonder whether the partisan madness eating away at Americas democratic institutions will undercut any effective U.S. foreign policy. This is a time when our country needs to be united against Chinas advances and Russias aggression. Moreover, NATO allies know they cant handle these threats alone, and are looking for solid U.S. leadership in pushing back against Moscow and Beijing. Instead, foreigners watch with amazement (or glee in Beijing) as Trump, his congressional acolytes and pro-Trump media shatter the most sacred principle of democracy: the commitment to free and fair elections in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins and the loser steps aside. Never mind that audit after audit, court decision after court decision, debunks GOP claims that votes were altered, voting machines fixed, or absentee ballots misused. Never mind that a monthslong study by The Associated Press of every potential case of voter fraud in six key battleground states found fewer than 475 individual cases of potential fraud out of 25.5 million votes cast. In foreign capitals, they are already imagining the domestic U.S. political chaos if the GOP refuses to accept the results in the 2024 presidential ballot. They also worry about bitter U.S. domestic conflicts in the long run-up to 2024 elections, especially if the GOP wins a House majority in 2022 and makes clear its plans to upend 2024 results it dislikes. No wonder Americas friends wonder whether our country is on its way to destroying itself. No wonder our adversaries believe this to be the case. Indeed, Chinese state media, and political leaders, point to the chaos of Jan. 6 at the Capitol as proof their system of governance is superior to Americas. The divisiveness that paralyzes American politics increases their self-confidence in their authoritarian order, and their conviction that the United States is in decline. Trudy Rubin is a columnist for the The Philadelphia Inquirer. trubin@phillynews.com. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Pressure is mounting on the Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly to pull down its newly constructed office complex situated on a reserved zone at Dansoman Sharp Curve in Accra. The Department of Urban Roads (DUR) and the National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) have asked the assembly to comply with their orders to pull down the building situated on the reserved shoulder of the road. Last Thursday, officials from the NECT stormed the assembly to demand the demolition of the building. But the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Kofi Ofori, said the assembly would hold a management meeting next week to take a decision on the demand by the two bodies. If we have to demolish, we will demolish, but since the structure is government property, we have to meet to take that decision, he said in an interview. The assembly had been served twice by the NECT to pull down the building, but they have not been complied with. 150 feet distance According to the NECT, the problem was widespread, as all assemblies were flouting the 150-feet distance rule set by the government. We wrote to the assembly in 2020 to demolish the building, and again wrote to it in 2021, but neither of the letters was acknowledged by the assembly, Mr Alex Kwadwo Asamoah, the officer in charge of Acquisition and Utilities Coordination at the DUR, said. The Chairman of the NECT, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, said it was a shame that the assembly was flouting its own laws. The NECT, which was established 25 years ago, is made up of 37 institutions, including the utility companies and other government institutions, ministries, departments and agencies. A meeting was held on Wednesday, December 29, 2021 between the various agencies and the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe, on the action of the assemblies, including the Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly. According to Mr Ashigbey, the minister had promised to remedy the situation. Rezoning He cautioned against the rezoning of road reservations by metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. He said the rezoning and encroachment on reserved spaces had rendered future development and expansion of roads difficult, for which the government had paid compensation. Mr Ashigbey noted that between 2020 and 2021, over GH100 million was paid as compensation by the utility companies to individuals who had encroached on their space. He said the widespread encroachment on reservations had affected underground utility lines, including those built by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the telecom companies. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Members of Parliament (MPs) must trust one another to build consensus and reconcile the House, the Most Reverend Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, has said. He expressed regret over chaotic incidents that characterised some proceedings of the House last year and said consensus building was the surest way to redeem the image of the House. "Ghana will not burn. Our Parliament will reconcile," he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the Watch Night Service of the Calvary Methodist Church, Adabraka,last Saturday dawn. Chaos Parliament has come under fierce criticisms following the chaos that broke out on the night of Monday, December 20, 2021 during deliberations on the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill, 2021. The incident has been widely condemned by all, including the international community, with Parliament itself expressing regret over the conduct of the House. Deliberations on the bill, which seeks to impose a 1.75 per cent levy on electronic transactions, have since been suspended by the House. The deliberation has been halted to allow for broader consultations on the proposed electronic transaction levy, announced during the 2022 Budget presentation by the Finance Minister on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Differences In a New Year message, Most Rev. Dr Boafo said MPs must move beyond their differences and party affiliations and help build consensus in the interest of national development. I believe that they should sit down and look at what has happened so it doesnt reoccur. ...We should trust one another, bring them on board, respect one another so that together whatever bill is to be debated, we all agree for the good of the nation, Most Rev. Dr Boafo said. He urged the citizenry to eschew bad practices such as bribery and corruption that impeded the progress of the nation last year. 2022 He said the Year 2022 presented an opportunity for the nation to move away from the old ways of work and develop new working ethics that would be for the good of the nation. We must move away from the evil that we did; corruption, bribery and all the things that we talked about as a nation, which are impeding our progress. These are new opportunities. Lets move away from it (evil) and move into the New Year so that our nation can grow and grow well, he said. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Founder and Leader of Prophetic Hill Chapel, Prophet Nigel Gaisie says he is ready to go "blow for blow" with the Member of Parliament(MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong. The renowned Prophet has invited Hon. Kennedy Agyapong to bring it on this year 2022 as he won't sit idle for the politician cum business mogul to run his name through the mud, stressing "if he says one thing this year, I will reply with a thousand words''. Prophet Nigel Gaisie, in a corrosive tone during an interview with Kofi Adoma on Kofi TV, alluded to some disparaging remarks and lies that he says Hon. Kennedy Agyapong said about him last year, where the former claimed he (Nigel Gaisie) had murdered a certain female member of his church and also held him responsible for the death of the late Ebony among other allegations. Without mincing words, he stated emphatically that he has cursed Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, his family and all his generations. "Tell Kennedy Agyapong that I pray against him each day that I wake up. I pour oil on him and rise against him because he has laid his hands on me when I have done nothing to him. I was silent because it was election year. If he tries to come at me again, we will wear one pair of shorts in this country . . . I have cursed him!", he warned. Watch video below: Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Actress Lydia Forson has been slammed for having double standards for failing to put Shatta Wale in check over rape comments on Twitter. This emanated during the ongoing feud between the dancehall artiste and Nigerias Burna Boy when he (Shatta Wale) admitted a rape act in his tweet. Shatta tweeted and accused the Nigerian act of rape, stating, Because he is a rapist. He is jealous I did the same to his girl cuz thats his job. Raping jealousy. Social media users did not take his tweet likely as they came at him for laughing when confessing to being a rapist. Others called on the Inspector General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare, to take the dancehall act on for such condemning utterance. Since rape has been one of the issues being tackled in the country. Actress Lydia Forson, on the other hand, was accused of failing to put Shatta Wale in check over the rape comment for her advocacy role for rape victims and against rape culture. Lydia, over the years, has reiterated that rapists should not be made to justify their actions, adding that she will block any of such individuals. Rape apologists. Rape Jokes. BLOCK. You dont even get to defend yourself. Block Block Block. She said in a tweet in 2018. However, Tweeps were surprised when the same Lydia revealed details of her conversation with Shatta Wale concerning his rape tweet. She said: I just got off the phone with @shattawalegh- We spoke at length about his tweets, especially on rape. Its been a long conversation. Whiles, were not entirely on the same page (hopefully, we will be eventually). It was important to me that I spoke to him about this; he listened. She continued, I was very deliberate about my tweet because and didnt want to say too much because I understand how easily people run with things here. The rape tweets from both sides triggered me (Ive stated as much). It wasnt enough to just tweet it-I needed a conversation. Last on this-those tweets were problematic, triggering, to say the least. I tweeted as much. (for those who care to go through) But if you have access to anyone, you believe has disturbing views, you go beyond registering your displeasure online-you say it to them too! Source: twitter/3news.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video " " John Dillinger and his gang were responsible for 10 deaths, three jail breaks and more than 20 bank robberies before he was finally gunned down by law enforcement on July 22, 1934, just two months after Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed by law enforcement in Louisiana. Wikimedia Commons/HowStuffWorks They had John Dillinger behind bars in the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana. His jailers boasted that their facility was escape-proof. But Dillinger hadn't become a successful criminal by accident. Ruthless, ingenious and hard-boiled, he whiled away his time carving a piece of wood into a replica of a small handgun and painting it with shoe polish. Unbelievably, he was able to use the fake gun to trick his captors and managed to escape. By the time he was done, Dillinger's gang was responsible for 10 deaths, three jail breaks and more than 20 bank robberies. He became America's first true celebrity criminal and was named the country's Public Enemy No. 1. Advertisement Dillinger liked fast cars a lot. He stole or bought them at regular intervals and used them to outrun the cops in their four-cylinder rattletraps. There's some evidence that he even penned a letter of appreciation to Henry Ford for building such fast machines. Roaring across state borders, he covered vast territories and left local law enforcement in the dust. In an interview, Dary Matera, the author of "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal" says that at the time, J. Edgar Hoover was trying to convince the government to give him the money to turn the Bureau of Investigation into a truly effective national police force. He used Dillinger's interstate outrages to point out the need and his campaign worked. Hoover's first order of business was to deal with Dillinger. But how? He caught a break when a woman named Ana Cumpanas contacted the Bureau. Cumpanas was Romanian immigrant who ran a brothel in Gary, Indiana. One of the prostitutes who worked for her was dating Dillinger. Threatened with deportation, Cumpanas wanted to cut a deal with the FBI. She would tell them where Dillinger was if they would make sure she wasn't sent back to Romania. The FBI agreed to help her as best they could and Cumpanas decided to work with them. On July 22, 1934, FBI agents staked out the Biograph Theater in Chicago. According to Matera, most FBI agents were "pencil pushers, or, as I like to call them, Hoover's army of geeks. They couldn't shoot, so Hoover hired a couple of military assassins." Together, says Matera, the geeks and the assassins loitered outside the theater until the show was over and Dillinger emerged. He'd recently had plastic surgery and believed himself so unrecognizable he could wander the streets with impunity. But he'd also been in and out of prison for much of his life and it took him no time at all to clock the law. He headed into an alley to evade them and, according to the FBI agents, drew a weapon as he ran. One of the geeks fired wildly and hit two women in the crowd that was emerging from the movie theater. "The assassins got Dillinger in their sights. The bullet that killed him entered the back of his neck and exited under his right eye," Matera says. It was "an execution shot. They'd been sent there with orders to kill Dillinger and that's what they did. Hoover had no intention of putting him on trial." " " The crowd was in a celebratory mood outside Chicago's Biograph Theater on the night John Dillinger was killed there by police. Wikimedia Commons One reason for this, Matera believes, is that a trial could have been very messy. Not only was Dillinger an admired folk hero by the time he died, he might also have had information that some powerful people didn't want to emerge. There were undoubtedly policemen and politicians he'd bribed, not to mention bank officials who might have hired him. One widely believed rumor, says Matera, is that in some cases bank officials would hire Dillinger to rob their banks. He might steal $10,000, but they would claim he'd taken $50,000 and keep the difference when their insurance claim came through. One way or another, says Matera, it really was Dillinger they got. As with many celebrity deaths, rumors persist that the man they killed that night was actually a double. But, Matera says, doubles never run. They don't want to get shot. Also, he points out, Dillinger was enamored of his celebrity. "He couldn't live without his fame. If he'd truly survived, he would have resurfaced somewhere in Mexico and thumbed his nose at the FBI." That said, two of Dillingers descendants claim that they doubt it's really his body that's buried under his headstone. In September 2019 they plan to disinter the corpse and use DNA to determine its true identity. As far as Matera is concerned, "It's just a publicity stunt." Time will tell. NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Despite her collaboration with Hoover's FBI, Ana Cumpanas was deported anyway. As for Hoover, he might have forgotten to help out his key informant, but he never forgot the man he used to build the FBI. A death mask was made of Dillinger's face and, according to Matera, it hung outside Hoover's office, not unlike a hunting trophy, for the rest of his very long career. Dillinger's brain, however, has gone missing. A tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility is seen in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Jan. 26, 2018. U.S. public health officials on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, began investigating how civilians have been affected by the leakage of petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water from a Navy fuel storage facility. The Hawaii state Department of Health said it asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to conduct the study. Credit: U.S. Navy via AP, File U.S. public health officials on Tuesday began investigating how civilians have been affected by the leakage of petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water from a Navy fuel storage facility. The Hawaii state Department of Health said it asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to conduct the study. The department said the officials will survey civilians living in homes served by the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water distribution system. They will also try to reach people who may have been exposed to contaminated water at work or school. The Navy's water system serves some 93,000 people in residential homes, offices, elementary schools and businesses in and around Pearl Harbor. Starting in late November, about 1,000 people complained that their tap water smelled like fuel or reported physical ailments like nausea and rashes after ingesting it. Shortly after the Navy said it detected petroleum in a drinking well that serves its water system. Navy officials say they believe leaks from its Red Hill tank farm near Pearl Harbor polluted the well. Dr. Diana Felton, the state toxicologist, said it's vital that authorities track how the incident affected all Hawaii residents. Meanwhile, Hawaii's congressional delegation urged the Navy to comply with a Monday order from the Hawaii Department of Health to drain fuel from the tanks to protect Oahu's drinking water. "Defueling safely will require a coordinated effort, and the delegation will do everything possible to support this effort," they said in a statement. "Clean drinking water is essential to our health and safety, and our futurewe all agree this cannot be compromised for anything." The delegation consists of four members, all Democrats: U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono and U.S. Reps. Ed Case and Kaiali'i Kahele. So far only the Navy's water system has been affected by the contamination. But Honolulu's water utility draws from the same aquifer as the Navy, and Hawaii officials are concerned leaks will contaminate its water too. The Red Hill facility holds 20 giant underground tanks built into the side of a mountain during World War II. Each tank is roughly the height of a 25-story building. Collectively, they can hold up to 250 million gallons (946 million liters) of fuel, though two of the tanks are now empty. The tank farm sits just 100 feet (30 meters) above the aquifer shared by the Navy and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. It supplies petroleum to all branches of the military. Explore further Huge Navy fuel tanks worry Hawaii farmers, utility officials 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: CC0 Public Domain As part of an experiment to measureto an extremely precise degreethe charge-to-mass ratios of protons and antiprotons, the RIKEN-led BASE collaboration at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, has found that, within the uncertainty of the experiment, matter and antimatter respond to gravity in the same way. Matter and antimatter create some of the most interesting problems in physics today. They are essentially equivalent, except that where a particle has a positive charge its antiparticle has a negative one. In other respects they seem equivalent. However, one of the great mysteries of physics today, known as "baryon asymmetry," is that, despite the fact that they seem equivalent, the universe seems made up entirely of matter, with very little antimatter. Naturally, scientists around the world are trying hard to find something different between the two, which could explain why we exist. As part of this quest, scientists have explored whether matter and antimatter interact similarly with gravity, or whether antimatter would experience gravity in a different way than matter, which would violate Einstein's weak equivalence principle. Now, the BASE collaboration has shown, within strict boundaries, that antimatter does in fact respond to gravity in the same way as matter. The finding, published in Nature, actually came from a different experiment, which was examining the charge-to-mass ratios of protons and antiprotons, one of the other important measurements that could determine the key difference between the two. This work involved 18 months of work at CERN's antimatter factory. To make the measurements, the team confined antiprotons and negatively charged hydrogen ions, which they used as a proxy for protons, in a Penning trap. In this device, a particle follows a cyclical trajectory with a frequency, close to the cyclotron frequency, that scales with the trap's magnetic-field strength and the particle's charge-to-mass ratio. By feeding antiprotons and negatively charged hydrogen ions into the trap, one at a time, they were able to measure, under identical conditions, the cyclotron frequencies of the two particle types, comparing their charge-to-mass ratios. According to Stefan Ulmer, the leader of the project, "By doing this, we were able to obtain a result that they are essentially equivalent, to a degree four times more precise than previous measures. To this level of CPT invariance, causality and locality hold in the relativistic quantum field theories of the Standard Model." Interestingly, the group used the measurements to test a fundamental physics law known as the weak equivalence principle. According to this principle, different bodies in the same gravitational field should undergo the same acceleration in the absence of frictional forces. Because the BASE experiment was placed on the surface of the Earth, the proton and antiproton cyclotron-frequency measurements were made in the gravitational field on the Earth's surface, and any difference between the gravitational interaction of protons and antiprotons would result in a difference between the cyclotron frequencies. By sampling the gravitational field of the Earth as the planet orbited the Sun, the scientists found that matter and antimatter responded to gravity in the same way up to a degree of three parts in 100, which means that the gravitational acceleration of matter and antimatter are identical within 97% of the experienced acceleration. Ulmer adds that these measurements could lead to new physics. He says, "The 3% accuracy of the gravitational interaction obtained in this study is comparable to the accuracy goal of the gravitational interaction between antimatter and matter that other research groups plan to measure using free-falling anti-hydrogen atoms. If the results of our study differ from those of the other groups, it could lead to the dawn of a completely new physics." Explore further Protons and antiprotons appear to be true mirror images More information: Stefan Ulmer, A 16-parts-per-trillion measurement of the antiproton-to-proton chargemass ratio, Nature (2022). Journal information: Nature Stefan Ulmer, A 16-parts-per-trillion measurement of the antiproton-to-proton chargemass ratio,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04203-w Farmers may be able to promote insect-eating species like this tree swallow by installing nest boxes without increasing food safety risks. Credit: Daniel Karp/UC Davis Concerns over foodborne risk from birds may not be as severe as once thought by produce farmers, according to research from the University of California, Davis, that found low instances of E. coli and Salmonella prevalence. While the research found that the risk is often low, it varies depending on species. Birds like starlings that flock in large numbers and forage on the ground near cattle are more likely to spread pathogenic bacteria to crops like lettuce, spinach and broccoli, according to the study of food safety risk and bird pathogens. In contrast, insect-eating species were less likely to carry pathogens. The findings, published in the journal Ecological Applications, suggest that current practice of removing bird habitats around produce growers' farms over concerns the animals could bring foodborne pathogens into their fields may not solve the problem. "Farmers are increasingly concerned that birds may be spreading foodborne diseases to their crops," said Daniel Karp, the senior author on the study and an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "Yet not all bird species are equally risky." Only one foodborne disease outbreak in produce has been conclusively traced to birds: a Campylobacter outbreak in peas from Alaska. While the bacteria can cause diarrhea and other foodborne illness in humans, it's less of a concern to growers than E. coli and Salmonella, which have been responsible for multiple outbreaks across the nation. In this study, researchers compiled more than 11,000 bacteria tests of wild bird feces and found that Campylobacter was detected in 8 percent of samples. But pathogenic E. Coli and Salmonella were only found in very rare cases (less than 0.5%). In addition to the bacteria tests, researchers conducted roughly 1,500 bird surveys across 350 fresh produce fields in Western states and collected more than 1,200 fecal samples from fields. They then modeled the prevalence of pathogens in feces, interactions with crops, and the likelihood of different bird species to defecate on crops to determine risk. Insect-eating birds pose lower risk Based on the data, insect-eating birds, such as swallows, present a lower risk, while birds that flock near livestock, such as blackbirds and starlings, are more likely to transmit pathogens. The data can help the agricultural industry determine risk and take action, such as separating produce crops from cattle lands. They also don't need to treat all birds the same. "Maybe farmers don't need to be quite as concerned about all types of birds," Karp said. "Our data suggest that some of the pest-eating birds that can really benefit crop production may not be so risky from a food-safety perspective." Removing habitat can backfire This study and the authors' prior work indicate that removing habitat around farms may actually benefit the species that pose more risk and harm the beneficial, pest-eating ones that are less risky to food safety. This is because many prolific insect-eaters may visit crop fields to eat pests but need nearby natural habitats to survive. In contrast, many of the bird species that most commonly carry foodborne pathogens readily thrive on both cattle farms and produce farms without natural habitat nearby. Other findings Insect-eating birds that forage in the tree canopy pose minimal threat because they are less likely to carry foodborne pathogens and come into direct contact with produce. They can also be valuable parts of the ecosystem, particularly if they eat pests that can harm crops. Installing bird boxes could attract the pest-eaters, as well as help with conservation efforts. "We basically didn't know which birds were problematic," said lead author Olivia Smith, a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University who was at University of Georgia when the paper was written. "I think this is a good step forward for the field." More information: Olivia M. Smith et al, A traitbased framework for predicting foodborne pathogen risk from wild birds, Ecological Applications (2021). Journal information: Ecological Applications Olivia M. Smith et al, A traitbased framework for predicting foodborne pathogen risk from wild birds,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/eap.2523 Scientists have long believed that today's snakes, like the one pictured, lost their limbs through evolution. Credit: Donald Tong/Pexels It all started with a grand claim: scientists had discovered the first known four-legged snake fossil from Brazil. The specimen, named Tetrapodophis amplectus, was smallabout the size of a pencilwith tiny limbs. It was considered a significant discovery that offered paleontologists a major clue into the link between lizards and snakes. Scientists have long believed that snakes lost their limbs through evolution, and UTM biology professor Robert Reisz says there is a very rich fossil record of snakes that have the cranial adaptations of a snake, and still have remnants of limbs. But the conclusion of this latest discovery didn't sit well with him and his colleagues. "I was so upset about this kind of poor science making it into a top journal in the sciences," says Reisz, who along with Michael Caldwell from the University of Alberta, demanded to see the fossil in-person. "Soon after the original publication (in 2015), we secured access to the specimen by raising hell and then we were able to study it. And we basically went and did our detective work properly and we came up with a much more plausible alternative explanation that this is not a snake, but a little lizard." Reisz says the way in which the fossil was first obtained raised red flags. Around the mid-20th century, Brazil had outlawed fossil exportsbut this artifact was illegally exported and bought by a private collector who allowed researchers to publish the article about it. "It was quite unethical," he says. "There are laws in place now to protect (these national treasures) and we should respect those and work within the system rather than be tempted by the attraction of an exciting fossil you get through unethical means." Reisz and Caldwell went to Germany to look over the artifact, which was housed in a small, private museum that exhibits materials from the region, including Jurassic reptiles and dinosaurs. "We re-studied it, spent a couple days with it, and found that the available evidence was much better than was presented by (the authors) because in addition to the actual fossil, there was also extensive impression," Reisz says, adding that he and Caldwell got a lot of information from the impression of the specimen's skull. He explains that when a fossil forms, it forms between layers of rock. The impression it creates as it becomes rock, together with sediments, is extremely valuable because of its precision. Fossil of Tetrapodophis amplectus. Credit: Robert Reisz In this case, the rock that the fossil was extracted from was splitwith the skeleton and skull on opposite sides of the slab. The shape of each was preserved as an impression on the opposite side. The original study overlooked the natural impression that showed that the skull was "more lizard-like than snake-like." Reisz says snakes have an extremely mobile skull where many bones are reduced and others are loosely connected to each otherparticularly around the back end of the skull and jaw joint. He adds that snakes can also move several bones out of the way, while still connected to each other in the skull, to swallow prey whole. Reisz and Caldwell also discovered that the original authors' claims about the arrangement of the specimen's teeth were false. He explains that a snake's teeth are designed to allow prey to go in one direction down the mouth, but they are strongly curved to prevent any movement of the mouth. "The way they interpreted the fossil was wrong in the way they interpreted the teeth as well," Reisz says. "So not only was the skull more lizard-like than snake-like, but the teeth were more lizard-like than snake-like." While he and his colleagues found that the Tetrapodophis amplectus wasn't a snake, Reisz says it's still a significant fossil in a way. The team found that the anatomy was consistent with the anatomy of dolichosaursan extinct marine lizard from the Cretaceous period. It shows yet another example of the way lizards evolved and reduced their limbs to adapt to their environment, he says. Reisz adds that the story also serves as a reminder that "science is a quest for truth, and the closer we get to the truth, the better. "We want to find out, and get as close to, the truth as possible," he says. "Every time we find yet another interesting fossil, it gets us closer to that. We find out more about life before us." Explore further Paleontologists debunk fossil thought to be missing link between lizards and first snakes WASHINGTON The 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump did so with the same conviction that a president of their party deserved to be charged with inciting insurrection Jan. 6, 2021 and the same hope that his role in doing so would finally persuade the GOP to repudiate him. But in the year since the deadliest attack on the Capitol in centuries, none of the 10 lawmakers have been able to avoid the consequences of a fundamental miscalculation about the direction of their party. The former president is very much the leader of the Republicans, and it is those who stood against him whom the party has thrust into the role of pariah. Advertisement Since they cast their impeachment votes Jan. 13, Reps. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois have announced their retirements amid death threats from voters and hostility from colleagues. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has gone from a star in the House Republican leadership to an exiled party gadfly and truth teller. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Fred Upton of Michigan have Trump-endorsed primary challengers on their heels and uncertain political futures. Four others John Katko of New York, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Tom Rice of South Carolina and David Valadao of California have gone to ground, silent if not silenced, in the apparent hope that the entire episode will be forgotten. Advertisement The fate of the 10 over the past year has offered a bracing reality check about the nature of todays Republican Party, one that has fully embraced the lie of a stolen election and its main purveyor, and sidelined the few remaining members who have dared to publicly question Trump or his actions. Theres been this waiting game and an arbitrage between an individuals political future and the trajectory of that guy, assuming the apex has passed, Meijer said in a lengthy interview, referring to Trump. The view among some was that this would be essentially a self-correcting issue and that Trumps power would fade. I think thats proven overly optimistic, Meijer added. The 10 could be forgiven for believing that their votes last January would not leave them so exposed. In the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, some of Trumps most stalwart allies quit the government in disgust. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, voted against impeachment but declared, The president bears responsibility for Wednesdays attack on Congress by mob rioters. Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), left, and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) participate in the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 19, 2021. (Al Drago/The New York Times) The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, orchestrated Trumps acquittal after a hasty Senate impeachment trial. But he had let it be known that he considered the president culpable and said as much in a scathing speech afterward: Theres no question none that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. But the rhetorical cover fire proved as ephemeral as it was useless. Gonzalez, deluged with threats and fearing for the safety of his wife and children, announced in September that he would not seek reelection and called Trump a cancer for the country. A Cuban American who starred as a wide receiver at Ohio State University, Gonzalez had been considered the kind of politician who would ensure the Republican Partys future in a multiethnic, multiracial country after his election in 2018. But he found little support from the party that recruited him into politics once Trump endorsed a primary challenger and the threats began. Kinzinger, who announced his retirement in October, has faced similar threats. But he has turned his opposition to Trump into a capstone of his career, defying Republican leaders to join the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, laying into Trump and his defenders at every opportunity, and promising not to leave the political stage once his House career ends this year. Advertisement The 2020 election was not stolen, Kinzinger said in a lengthy video message Wednesday for the anniversary of Jan. 6. Joe Biden won, and Donald Trump lost. We have to admit it. But the leadership of the Republican Party wont. They lied to the American people and continue to push the big lie and echo the conspiracy theories that line their pockets, keeping them in power. Upton has never been one for flash, yet his future is no more secure, despite 35 years in the House. He could face Steve Carra, a state representative endorsed by Trump, who would have to move homes to mount a primary challenge against Upton because of new congressional maps drafted by a bipartisan commission. Im 100% running for Congress, its an honor to have President Trumps endorsement, and Fred Upton will not be a congressman in 2023, Carra said in a text message. Even if Upton does not have to face Carra, his impeachment vote has placed him at risk. The new map pushed Upton into the same district as Bill Huizenga, a more conservative congressman who voted against impeachment. Under the circumstances, Upton is showing clear signs of fatigue. Youve got metal detectors now going on the House floor. We get really nasty threats at home. The tone gets, you know, tougher and tougher, and its a pretty toxic place, he said last month on CNN. Ive never seen anything like this before. Advertisement None of the 10 have fallen so far in the Republican firmament as Cheney nor risen so high in the esteem of many in both parties who fear and loathe Trump. The daughter of a former vice president who was once the embodiment of confrontational conservatism, for better or worse, Cheney started 2021 as the chair of the House Republican Conference, a political knife fighter believed by many to be destined for the speakership. Her vote to impeach and her outspoken denunciations of the lie pushed by Trump and embraced by many of her colleagues that the 2020 election was stolen, cost her dearly. She was ousted from her leadership post, ejected from the Wyoming Republican Party and targeted repeatedly by the former president, who has tried to unite Wyoming voters around the primary opponent he has endorsed, Harriet Hageman. Cheney has soldiered on, becoming the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the riot, the face of Republican resistance to Trumpism and a one-woman wrecking crew for McCarthys ambitions to become speaker next year if the party retakes control of the House. Looking back, Cheney said that her fall from Republican leadership was inevitable as long as she had to share the stage with McCarthy, whose brief denunciation of Trump after Jan. 6 quickly gave way to a resumption of fealty. It was increasingly clear that staying as conference chair was going to require me to perpetuate the lie about the election, Cheney said. I was simply not willing to look the other way and accept what he did. McCarthy, by contrast, visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, near the end of January, making it pretty clear the path that he had chosen, Cheney added. It was one that was not faithful to the Constitution. Advertisement Never one to let bygones be bygones, Trump has relentlessly pursued retribution against those who voted to impeach him. In September, he endorsed a square-jawed, Army Special Forces veteran, Joe Kent, to challenge Herrera Beutler, who before her vote had revealed one of the most damning vignettes of Jan. 6 for Trump. She recounted a phone call in which McCarthy had personally pleaded with the president to call off the rioters during the assault. Trump had responded, Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. Kent has heartily embraced the lie that Trump won the 2020 election and has said that the former president bears no responsibility for the attack. Hageman, the candidate whom Trump endorsed to unseat Cheney, is more of a political insider: She was part of the Republican resistance to his ascent in 2016. But she has since embraced him, calling Trump the greatest president of her lifetime and claiming that there are legitimate questions about the outcome of the 2020 election. John Gibbs, Trumps choice to unseat Meijer, was the former presidents pick to lead the Office of Personnel Management. But his nomination stalled after CNN uncovered tweets that he posted promoting the conspiracy theory that John Podesta, Hillary Rodham Clintons 2016 presidential campaign chair, took part in a satanic ritual and defending the antisemitic Twitter account of alt-right figure Ricky Vaughn. Despite the threat, Meijer a political neophyte who cast what may prove to be the most consequential vote of his career days after he was sworn in says he has no regrets about his vote to impeach. He has spoken frankly about the sinister forces in his party that gave rise to the Capitol riot. Advertisement Based on demonstrated public behavior, of course Jan. 6 was a step toward authoritarianism, Meijer said. But he has tempered such statements with criticism of Democrats, saying, authoritarian populism is alive and well in both parties. The system is not providing the recourse that we need, Meijer said, tying together Jan. 6 and racial justice protests in 2020 that sometimes turned violent. Thats the throughline between the riots of last summer, Jan. 6 and now. The system itself has been delegitimized. Cheney, by contrast, laid the responsibility with Republicans alone. Our party has to choose, Cheney said. We can either be loyal to Donald Trump, or we can be loyal to the Constitution, but we cannot be both. And right now, there are far too many Republicans who are trying to enable the former president, embrace the former president, look the other way and hope that the former president goes away. For now, he is very much present. Senate Republicans had an opportunity to banish Trump permanently from politics; if 17 of them had joined Democrats in voting to convict him at this impeachment trial, it would have yielded the two-thirds majority needed to remove him and paved the way for a separate vote to bar him from office. But only seven Republicans voted to convict. One of them, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, lamented that in her partys haste to get this behind us, Republicans lost the opportunity to do just that. Advertisement Like so many of her House Republican counterparts, Murkowski is facing a primary challenge this year from a Trump-endorsed candidate. I am ever the optimist when it comes to the greatness of our country, and I want to continue to have that level of optimism, that when we get too close to the brink, we have the ability to pull ourselves back, she said. Thats one of the reasons that Im signing up to run again because I feel its important to be one of those voices that hopefully can pull us back. c.2021 The New York Times Company Dairy farmsespecially in the Northeastare increasingly subject to more stringent regulations to reduce nutrient losses. With expected warmer conditions that will result in increased ammonia volatilization from manure and more frequent and more severe storms that will cause more soluble phosphorus runoff, new strategies such as manure injection (shown) are needed to limit nitrogen and phosphorus losses from crop fields. Credit: Robert Meinen Dairy farmers in the Northeastfacing a warming climate that exacerbates nutrient pollution but lengthens the growing seasoncan reduce the environmental impact of their operations and maximize revenues by double cropping and injecting manure into the soil, rather than broadcasting it. That's the conclusion of a team of researchers, led by Penn State agroecologists, whose new study evaluated whole-farm production and the environmental and economic impacts of adopting these practices on a representative dairy farm in central Pennsylvania under recent historical and projected mid-century climate. The research is important, according to Heather Karsten, associate professor of crop production/ecology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, because dairy farmsespecially in the Northeastare increasingly subject to more stringent regulations to reduce nutrient losses. With expected warmer conditions that will result in increased ammonia volatilization from manure and more frequent and more severe storms that will cause more soluble phosphorus runoff, new strategies are needed to limit nitrogen and phosphorus losses from crop fields. To reach their conclusions, researchers simulated farm management strategies using the Integrated Farm System Model developed by C. Alan Rotz, an agricultural engineer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. The strategies were informed by a long-running, dairy cropping systems experiment at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, supported by the USDA. That simulation enabled the scientists to determine the effects on crop yields, feed production, nitrogen losses, sediment erosion, sediment-bound and soluble losses of phosphorus, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy use, and production costs. The difference between a field treated with injected liquid manure (left) and broadcasted manure is obvious in this comparison photo. Injecting manure reduces ammonia volatilization and soluble phosphorus runoff from crop fields. Credit: Robert Meinen, Penn State In findings recently published in Agricultural Systems, the researchers reported that double cropping and subsurface injection of manure reduced total nitrogen losses by 12%-18% and total phosphorus losses by 16%-19%. Adoption of these strategies, they noted, provided a feasible adaptation and mitigation approach for future climate by reducing projected increases in soluble phosphorus runoff and ammonia emissions caused by warmer temperatures and greater precipitation. Significantly, these benefits can be achieved while maintaining and potentially reducing total farm-production costs, Karsten pointed out. Environmental benefits of double cropping and manure injection can be achieved while maintaining and potentially reducing total farm-production costs. Credit: Heather Karsten, Penn State "There's a lot of interest in double cropping among Northeast dairy farmers," she said. "I think farmers are realizing they have a longer growing season, and there are more precipitation events in spring that make getting into the field to do any operation more challenging. Our results demonstrate that adoption of these strategies can help mitigate dairy farm environmental impacts now and even more in the future." Jose Castano-Sanchez, former postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Plant Science at Penn State, currently a postdoctoral research associate at New Mexico State University and the USDA, and Rotz contributed to the research. Explore further Manure application changes with winter crop can cut nitrogen loss, boost profits More information: Jose P. Castano-Sanchez et al, Double cropping and manure management mitigate the environmental impact of a dairy farm under present and future climate, Agricultural Systems (2021). Jose P. Castano-Sanchez et al, Double cropping and manure management mitigate the environmental impact of a dairy farm under present and future climate,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103326 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Yet more earthquakes have struck near South Carolina's capital city, the ninth and tenth in a series of rumblings that have caused geologists to wonder how long the convulsions might last, or if they could possibly portend future, more serious seismic activity. Early Wednesday, a 2.6-magnitude earthquake struck near Elgin, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Columbia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was measured at a depth of 0.5 kilometers, officials said. About 7 hours later, another earthquake hit the area, this one with a magnitude of 1.5, according to officials. That area, a community of fewer than 2,000 residents near the border of Richland and Kershaw counties, has become the epicenter of a spate of recent seismic activity, starting with a 3.3-magnitude earthquake on Dec. 27. That quake clattered glass windows and doors in their frames, sounding like a heavy piece of construction equipment or concrete truck rumbling down the road. Since then, a total of nine more earthquakes have been recorded nearby, ranging from 1.5 to Wednesday morning's 2.6 quake. No injuries or damage have been reported. According to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, the state typically averages up to 20 quakes each year. Clusters often happen, like six small earthquakes in just more than a week last year near Jenkinsville, about 38 miles (61 kilometers) west of the most recent group of tremors. Earthquakes are nothing new to South Carolina, although most tend to happen closer to the coast. According to emergency management officials, about 70% of South Carolina earthquakes are located in the Middleton Place-Summerville Seismic Zone, about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) northwest of Charleston. In 1886, that historic coastal city was home to the largest recorded earthquake in the history of the southeastern United States, according to seismic officials. The quake, thought to have had a magnitude of at least 7, left dozens of people dead and destroyed hundreds of buildings. That event was preceded by a series of smaller tremors over several days, although it was not known that the foreshocks were necessarily leading up to something more catastrophic until after the major quake. Frustratingly, there's no way to know if smaller quakes are foreshadowing something more dire, according to Steven Jaume, a College of Charleston geology professor who characterized the foreshocks ahead of Charleston's 1886 disaster as "rare." "You can't see it coming," Jaume told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "There isn't anything obvious moving or changing that you can put your finger on that you can say, 'This is leading to this.'" Typically, Jaume said that the recent quakes near Elginwhich lies along a large fault system that extends from Georgia through the Carolinas and into Virginiawould be characterized as aftershocks of the Dec. 27 event, since the subsequent quakes have all been smaller than the first. But the fact that the events keep popping up more than a week after the initial one, Jaume said, has caused consternation among the experts who study these events. "They're not dying away the way we would expect them to," Jaume said. "What does that mean? I don't know." Explore further Strong quake hits off Taiwan's eastern coast 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Set amidst a bitter, divisive U.S. presidential election and a steadily-growing Black Lives Matter movement, actor Jussie Smollett exploded onto center stage in early 2019 after claiming he was the target of a late-night beating at the hands two racist, homophobic Trump supporters. The former "Empire" TV star awaits sentencing after a Chicago jury found him guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct for staging the attack, which could mean up to three years in prison. Even as the details emerge, many are still confused as to why the 39-year-old lied about a vicious hate crime, something that remains a constant reality for those in the LGBTQ community and those who are Black or Asian. "As humans, we like to look for certain types of explanations of behavior. It's something that we engage in all the time," says Rory Smead, an associate professor of philosophy at Northeastern who studies spite. "There are really only two kinds of explanations that people find satisfying. Either they did it out of some ethical or moral good, like when somebody jumps in the river to save somebody. The only other reason we find compelling is a selfish reason, that there's some kind of personal gain or something," Smead says. Smollett claimed he was attacked at 2 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2019 by two men wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats, the ones often sported by backers of former President Donald Trump. Smollett said they poured bleach on him, put a noose around his neck, and beat him up while yelling homophobic and racist slurs. When Chicago police arrived at his apartment more than six hours later, the police bodycam footage showed Smollett wearing the noose. Andre Hope, the lone Black juror in Smollett's trial, told WLS-TV that Smollett's claims defied common sense. He remains baffled as to why the actor faked the attack. "I still have not figured out a motive for why he did it, why this even had to happen. He was a star," Hope says. The noose Smollett claimed his attackers put around his neck became a sticking point for both Hope and former Chicago Police Chief Eddie Johnson. "As an African American person, I'm not putting that noose back on at all," says Hope. Smollett maintains his innocence and his attorney said he will appeal the jury's decision. Smollett's high-profile staged attack and subsequent conviction makes him the latest in a list of headline-grabbing people who have pretended to be victims. Some do it in order to obtain some sort of personal or financial gain. Others claim to have a deadly illness, such as cancer. One woman pretended to be a 9/11 victim, although she never took any money from the many 9/11 victims' funds. "It's common to use well-known events or items like the 'Make America Great Again' hat because there's instant recognition. Everybody knows about 9/11, and everybody knows about MAGA caps," says Marc Feldman, a psychologist who specializes in a personality disorder called factitious disorder, which he believes Smollett could have. "It's a shortcut to getting the attention that these people are after and the sympathy, because there's that immediate recognition," says Feldman, who has not met or treated Smollett. Those who fake victimization for personal gain such as money can be diagnosed as malingerers, says Hilmar von Strunck, visiting associate teaching professor of psychology at Northeastern. The medical diagnosis describes people who deceive others, usually physicians, for tangible, understandable gains, such as avoiding military duty or work. But those with factitious disorder, a similar psychological diagnosis, don't appear to get financial or personal gainwhich is a little harder to understand. "As humans, we really are very social animals, and we need that human touch and connection. Sometimes when they don't get that attention, factitious disorder emerges so they can get that care they're seeking," says von Strunck, who commented on the disorder and not on Smollett's particular case. People with factitious disorder are often looking for intangible things like attention, sympathy, and care that they feel unable to get in other, more appropriate ways, says von Strunck. "This shows a lot of the conditioning that happens in psychology, like making associations between two stimuli. The person with factitious disorder connects being sick in a hospital with getting a lot of attention," says von Strunck. The fact that Smollet continues to claim his innocence is also in line with the disorder, says Feldman, who has written five books about factitious disorder. "I'm aware of literally a couple dozen factitious cancer cases, and most of them don't ever confess to telling a lie. They'll change their claims over time. One year they'll say they have terminal cancer, and three years later they're still posting about it. Sometimes they'll claim a miraculous cure. They evoke God, and say God cured them, and to question their story is to question God," says Feldman. "That's how people have wormed their way out of these lies in a surprising number of cases." Brooks Ayers, a man who dated one of the women on the "Real Housewives of Orange County," claimed to be diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2013. Despite later admitting he faked chemotherapy bills that he had used as proof of his illness, Ayers continues to suggest that he was diagnosed with cancer. "There's no face-saving way for them to exit a situation like this," says Feldman, pointing out that Smollett had no logical alternative explanation for his actions. "So, barring any other avenue for escape, he's sticking to his story. And it seems that he may have repeated the story so many times, with so much detail, that it's become what I've called quasi-delusional. He may start to believe elements of it himself." That leaves former celebrity defenders of Smollett, such as CNN's Don Lemon, to try and distance themselves from the star's dizzying tangle of tall tales. "He had to make up too many lies," in order to explain his assault story to police, said Lemon on "Don Lemon Tonight" shortly after Smollett's conviction. Lemon, who's been criticized for his involvement in the case, pivoted to another damaging aspect of Smollett's claims. "Here's what folks are concerned aboutthat what he did might undermine future victims, legitimate victims of hate crimes," says Lemon. D. Sarah Stamps. Credit: Mike Lee The Earth's surface is ever incrementally moving and changing shape, breaking apart and forming new land masses and oceans. In the billions of years of history of planet Earth there have been 10 supercontinents, the most famous and recent being Pangaea breaking apart about 175 million years ago. Africa itself is slowly separating into several large and small tectonic blocks along the diverging East African Rift System, which includes Madagascarthe long island just off the coast of Southeast Africathat itself will also break apart into smaller islands. The culprit is the region's rich and deep intrusions of magma. Yet, Africa is also seeing continental rifts, the separations, in areas where there is no evidence of magma intrusions. These types of continent rifts are known as magma-poor or "dry" rifts. In short, if this were a mystery the culprit's identity is unknown. D. Sarah Stamps, an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science wants to put her expertise in continental rifting to find the villain. Stamps recently was awarded a $3 million National Science Foundation grant for the DRIAR project (that's short for Dry Rifting In the Albertine-Rhino Graben, Uganda) to help spur her efforts. "You can think of the breakup of eastern Africa as the continuation of the breakup of Pangaea," said Stamps, leader of the Geodesy and Tectonophysics Laboratory. "Eastern Africa is actively breaking up, and if it continues, we'll see new oceans forming. In the northern parts of East Africa, like in Ethiopia and the Afar region, it's already extended to the point of forming baby oceanic areas. The spreading has already created new oceanic crust. The land is subsiding, and the first stages of new ocean basin formation is underway." Further south in the central East African Rift System, the breakup of the continent is less intense. This is where Stamps has spent much of her research career. For this effort, Stamps is leading a large team of experts. From the U.S., her collaborators come from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the University of Kansas, Northwestern University, the University of California, Davis, and Midwestern State University in Texas. In Uganda, the team is working directly with the government's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and with Makerere University in Uganda. "This team and I are very interested in understanding the physics of how a continent can break apart when there's no surface expression of magma as volcanoes," Stamps said. The team will focus on the Northern Western Branch of the East African Rift System located in Uganda, East Africa where magma-poor rifting is taking place. A wide range of geophysical, geological, and geochemical observations will be collected, and numerical modeling of the region will be performed to understand how the magma-poor rifts form and evolve. Among the answers Stamps and her collaborators seek to answer: In magma-rich rifts, is strain accommodated through lithospheric weakening from melt?; In magma-poor rifts, is melt present below the surface weakening the lithosphere such that strain is accommodated during upper crustal extension?; And in magma-poor rifts, what if there is no melt at depth and strain is accommodated along fluid-filled faults or pre-existing structures such as inherited compositional, structural, and rheological lithospheric heterogeneities? "I hope there will definitely be impacts on our understanding of the physics of continental rifting," Stamps said. "But we also have a lot of broader impacts with respect to capacity building in Uganda. So, we're going to conduct field schools in Uganda to teach people how to use the equipment and analyze the data." Working with Stamps are three scientists, a Ph.D. student in geosciences and a native of Uganda, Asenath Kwagalakwe, and two undergraduate students from the Academy of Data Sciences' computational modeling and data analytics program, Esha Islam, a third-year student, and third-year student Crystal Lee. The Academy of Data Science is also part of the College of Science. "I am working on the Albertine-Rhino Graben, which is the northernmost rift in the Western branch of the East African Rift System. My research interests are in investigating the physics of strain accommodation in the magma-poor Albertine-Rhino Graben of the East African Rift System using geodynamic modeling and GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System] geodesy," said Kwagalakwe. Islam, for her part, took an elective geosciences course, and greatly enjoyed Stamps' presence as a professor in the classroom. Islam asked Stamps about research opportunities. "Data science is very flexible in what it can be applied to and coding is used in most STEM-related fields, so even though I didn't have any notable geoscience background, Dr. Stamps was willing to offer me a spot," she said. "Currently, my job is to rerun test models of other graduate students to determine that we all get the same results." Added Lee, "I was brought into the project through my friend, Esha Islam, who has been working with Dr. Stamps for some time and is also a peer in my major. I was interested in joining the project when she talked to me about it because I wanted to expand upon my experience with data processing and modeling." Lee will be analyzing GNSS data collected in Uganda. Among the benefits from the study, in addition to better understanding continental rifting, Stamps points to improving estimates of carbon dioxide transfer into the atmosphere that occurs during continental rifting, advancing rifting models used for exploring natural resources, and creating new insights into seismic hazards associated with active faulting. Explore further East African Rift System is slowly breaking away, with Madagascar splitting into pieces Credit: Peter Griffin/public domain Studies suggest that religion can help prisoners cope with prison life and that it may affect the likelihood of recidivism. A new longitudinal study examined how male prisoners' religious beliefs affected their reentry into the community. The study found that men with stable or increasing religious beliefs did not have better reentry-related outcomes than men with decreasing religious beliefs. The study, by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University and Florida State University (FSU), appears in Justice Quarterly, a publication of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. "Numerous barriers, including finding and maintaining jobs, securing housing, renewing ties with family and others, prevent religion from effectively supporting the reentry process for many incarcerated men, which can encourage relapse," says Iman Said, a doctoral candidate in sociology and criminology at Penn State, who led the study. "Our findings call into question prison-based religious programs as the sole way to reduce recidivism and boost post-release success and suggest a lack of a relationship between religious beliefs and recidivism." Studies on religion and prisoners have focused on religion as a possible catalyst for transforming identityhelping individuals come to terms with their prior criminal self and move toward an aspirational future self, which inspires them to not reoffend. Other studies have looked at religion as a source of informal social control, with its influence stemming from being part of a religious group and having religious friends, which can lessen the likelihood of reoffending. Scholars have begun merging these two pathways, recognizing that network ties are often the impetus for transforming identity and that the influence of informal social control relies on some degree of agency and identity change. In this study, researchers used longitudinal data from men in a therapeutic community (a program for men with substance-use disorders) in a Pennsylvania prison, as well as information from in-prison and post-prison life, to explore the impact of religion on reentry (for the quantitative analysis, 174 men were studied; for the qualitative, 51). They examined how religion acts on behavior in and out of prison, the protective effect of religion on recidivism, and the usefulness of religion in surmounting structural barriers upon reentry. Religiosity was measured through interviews that included questions about frequency of participation in religious activities before, during, and after prison. The relationship between religion and desistance (stopping offending or other antisocial behavior) may be complicated by structural barriers to reentry and high rates of substance use among incarcerated populations. The study also examined the effect of substance use among incarcerated populations and the difficulty of simultaneous reentry and recovery, an important issue given the prevalence of religion in recovery programs. At various points in the history of the U.S. criminal justice system, faith-based programming accounted for most programs; the men in this study had regular access to religious services, faith-based programs, and a full-time chaplain. The study found that incarcerated people with stable or increasing religious beliefs used religion to reconcile past mistakes and create an aspirational future self; this is consistent with studies that have identified religion as a potential catalyst for transforming identity. Many respondents said they practiced religion independent of organized programs, with some spending time reading the Bible or engaging in self-reflection, for example. Incarcerated people with decreasing religious beliefs had a more despairing attitude toward their imprisonment and did not trust other incarcerated people. They tended not to see religion as a personal experience but as something that could be used to fill time. Therefore, religion's role during prison may depend on individuals' initial openness to positive change, the authors suggest. Regarding post-release outcomes, the potential for religion to spur identity transformation lies in its use as a signal to family members that the individual is ready to change and as a driver that motivates the individual to stick to his goalsbut even this becomes insufficient over time, the study found. Despite the importance of religious beliefs in motivating incarcerated people to transform their identity and lead a more prosocial life, religion was insufficient for overcoming barriers to successful reentry and recovery, the study found. Thus, contrary to expectations, individuals who reported increasing or stable religious beliefs did not have better reentry outcomes than individuals who reported decreasing religious beliefs. Many found they did not have time to attend religious services or take part in self-reflection, and many returned to substance use. The study also identified some prisoners as stably nonreligious. These men were more likely to be White and younger, to report opioid use, and to recidivate. They had lower levels of engagement in their prison-based treatment program and had a fatalistic view of their capacity to change. Coming of age in the opioid crisis, suggest the authors, made these men lose their faith in the capacity for effective intervention. Although analyses showed that increased or stable religiosity could reduce the likelihood of recidivism, these categories did not reach statistical significance in this study. In contrast, men in the stably nonreligious group had a greater likelihood of recidivating, and this relationship was the only one that was statistically significant. But in other analyses, none of the men in the religious group had a strong statistical relationship with recidivism, suggesting that there is no relationship between religion and reoffending. "The study's findings have implications for prison-based programming," according to Kim Davidson, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at FSU, who coauthored the study. "Religious programs are popular with the public and with policymakers, many of whom believe that religion can change the disposition of incarcerated people, resulting in a prosocial person who will successfully reenter society. But these programs may not improve individuals' reentry into the community." Among the study's limitations are that its data come from one institution and from a small number of participants in a therapeutic community, and that it did not address potential differences between religiosity and spirituality. Explore further Domestic violence goes unrecognized in faith communities More information: Iman Said et al, A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Role of Religion in Desistance and Reentry, Justice Quarterly (2022). Journal information: Justice Quarterly Iman Said et al, A Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Role of Religion in Desistance and Reentry,(2022). Provided by Crime and Justice Research Alliance Credit: CC0 Public Domain Many companies today use experiments to gather the data that drives their strategies. That's how Facebook knows whether a newsfeed change increased user engagement, or how a bank knows whether its new promotional strategy increased deposits. But a phenomenon called interference has always made getting to that clear cause-and-effect difficult. Now researchers at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin have designed a new method that illuminates how interference affects the results of these randomized control trials, enabling social and behavioral researchers to account for interference across a broad range of applications. Whenever an experimental treatment can change the behavior of the units outside the treatment group, there's interference, and it muddies causal inferencethe important cause-and-effect conclusions researchers draw. "This phenomenon occurs any time I run a randomized experiment and my experimental units are connected with each other in some wayin social networks, friend groups, households, trade networks, and city streets," said lead researcher David Puelz, UT McCombs School of Business clinical assistant professor of finance. In social media research, people in the treatment and control groups may be friends. In e-commerce research, people in each study group may live in the same household. "Without accounting for interference, estimates of causal effects will be very wrong," Puelz said. "But if incorporated into a statistical analysis in the right way, interference can be a blessing. So we designed a method that has network interference directly baked in." The findings are published online in advance in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. The research team included Guillaume Basse of Stanford University, Avi Feller of the University of California-Berkeley, and Panos Toulis of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. The new method can test directly for interference effects, such as spillovers and peer effects in social networks. For example, Facebook can test whether a newsfeed change affects not only the user, but also friends of that user. Policymakers can test whether mask wearing alters viral spread within and across households, and human resources divisions in companies can investigate whether wellness programs change health outcomes among groups of employees. The research focused on spatial interference, drawing on data from a large-scale policing experiment conducted by a separate team in Medellin, Colombia, in 2015. That team measured crime on all the city's streets, identified hotspots, and then asked whether extra police patrols on hotspot streets affected crime on adjacent streets. Did the intervention reduce crime or just shift it to another street? To find out, the researchers constructed a graph that encoded information about the interference structure of Medellin's street segments and every possible combination of policing assignments. Their method then uses this novel graph construct with a new algorithm to break it up into two relevant subsets: Spillover units that weren't treated but may be linked to a treated unit, and pure control units that weren't treated or linked. On this smaller graph, they can then perform what's called a Fisher randomization test to determine whether there is a spillover effectwhether crime on streets near policed streets differed from those far away from policed streets. The research confirmed previous findings that extra patrolling on one street reduces crime on adjacent streets. But beyond crime in Medellin, the computational approach Puelz and team created has application potential for any research that is confounded by network interference. "It can also be used at Facebook and Google in all of the thousands of experiments that they're conducting every single day, or at any other company conducting A/B tests and internal experiments to improve operations," Puelz said. Explore further Research team demonstrates angular-spectrum-dependent interference More information: David Puelz et al, A graphtheoretic approach to randomization tests of causal effects under general interference, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology) (2021). David Puelz et al, A graphtheoretic approach to randomization tests of causal effects under general interference,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/rssb.12478 The reed warbler is one of many birds that use the Earths magnetic field to navigate. Credit: Gary Tate/Wikimedia At Christmas, thousands of greetings cards feature the iconic winter plumage of the robin. But not all the robins you might find in your backyard are permanent natives to your country. In the UK, for example, some will have migrated from Germany and Russia, and like millions of other animals all over the world, will return back to their breeding grounds next spring. This ebb and flow of birds, mammals, fish and insects is a key part of the Earth's biodiversity. Migration is a challenging strategy. For small animals like songbirds to be able to return from Africa or southern Europe to areas where they can successfully breed, they need to be able to repeatedly navigate to precisely the same place. How they do this is a question that has vexed scientists for over 60 years. But recent evidence is shedding light on how tiny animalswith correspondingly tiny brainscan cross mountains, oceans and deserts without getting lost. It seems that birds use external cues available in their environment, like the stars and the Earth's magnetic field, to provide them with the equivalent of a map and a compass. But how they combine these cues is only now starting to become clear. Our research group's recent paper focuses on how reed warblers, a small Eurasian songbird, navigate. First, we disrupted the birds' ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field by attaching a small magnet to their forehead. We found that when we also obscured their view of the stars, the birds were unable to find the right direction to migrate in. Once their view of the stars was returned, however, they were able to find their way again. Like a careful engineer, the evolutionary process of natural selection has built in a fail-safe to birds' navigation systems, making sure there are backup orientation devices available for when the skies are cloudy. This is an example of a funnel used to test birds orientation. Birds feet leave ink marks on the funnel paper when taking off, indicating their flight direction. Credit: L Shyamal/Wikipedia Magnetic fields Another study by our research group has shown how these same reed warblers can work out exactly where they are when migrating, as well as how they deal with being blown off course or needing to detour around barriers like the Alps. We put reed warblers in an artificial magnetic field that matched the natural magnetic field of a place far northwest of the birds' migration route. We then tested their sense of direction in an orientation cagea small funnel 30cm in diameter that allows us to measure the direction a bird wants to take off in by analyzing where it hops inside the cage. We found that when placed in this artificial field, birds changed their orientation from southeast to southwest, suggesting they had recognized the magnetic field signature as foreign and were trying to get back to their route. We call this technique "virtual displacement", as the bird itself never actually leaves the site where it's captured for testing. It's become a new tool for understanding how animals sense and use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. What was even more remarkable was that the artificial magnetic field we created is not one that the birds would have previously encountered on their migrations. That means they weren't reacting to magnetic field cues that they had learned. Instead, the birds had used their instinctive awareness of how the Earth's magnetic field changes with distance to work out that they were northwest of their route. Not bad for those tiny bird brains. Clearly, both the starfield and the magnetic field are important cues for birds to migrate. But human activity has the potential to disrupt these. Artificial light at night from cities reduces visibility of the stars and moon. In other animals, such as dung beetles and sandhoppers, this has been shown to negatively affect navigation abilities. What's more, artificial electromagnetic signalssuch as those coming from radio towers or even from electric currents that power everyday devices such as kettlescan also confuse birds' ability to detect the natural magnetic field. We may be giving birds a double dose of pollution that even their fail-safe systems can't overcome. We don't fully understand how these pollutants affect migratory birds yet, but as we come to understand more about nature's GPS, it's vital to understand the risks human activity poses to this remarkable system of navigation. Explore further Birds use massive magnetic maps to migratesome could cover the whole world More information: Florian Packmor et al, A magnet attached to the forehead disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory songbird, Journal of Experimental Biology (2021). Journal information: Journal of Experimental Biology Florian Packmor et al, A magnet attached to the forehead disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory songbird,(2021). DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243337 This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A rock sample used to reexamine Earth's pre-GOE "whiff of oxygen" spans the Archean and Paleoproterozoic time periods. This illustration depicts what the Earth might have looked like billions of years ago. Credit: Ozark Museum of Natural History Evidence arguing for a "whiff of oxygen" before the Earth's Great Oxygenation Event 2.3 billion years ago are chemical signatures that were probably introduced at a much later time, according to research published in Science Advances. The result rewinds previous research findings that atmospheric oxygen existed prior to the so-called Great Oxygenation Eventknown to researchers as "GOE" and has the potential to rewrite what is known of the planet's past. "Without the whiff of oxygen reported by a series of earlier studies, the scientific community needs to critically reevaluate its understanding of the first half of Earth's history," said Sarah Slotznick, an assistant professor of earth sciences at Dartmouth and first author of the study. The study indicates that the chemical data originally determined to suggest atmospheric oxygen earlier in Earth's history may have been introduced by events hundreds of millions of years later. Additional analysis conducted as part of the study reconfirms that Earth's atmosphere featured exceedingly low oxygen levels prior to 2.3 billion years ago. "We used new tools to investigate the origins of the signals of trace oxygen," said Jena Johnson, an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan and co-author of the study. "We found that a series of changes after the sediments were deposited on the seafloor were likely responsible for the chemical evidence of oxygen." The Initiation of Oxygenation For decades, scientists have debated when measurable levels of oxygen first appeared in Earth's atmosphere. The idea of the Great Oxygenation Event has developed over the last century and is thought to be when oxygen levels began to increase over 2 billion years ago, paving the way for the rise of complex cells, animals, and eventually humans. More recently, however, research on chemical signals correlated to oxygen has suggested earlier transient appearances of oxygen, known as "whiffs." In 2007, two parallel studies found evidence of such a whiff of oxygen based on samples of the 2.5-billion-year-old Mount McRae Shale, part of a heavily studied 2004 drill core collected in Western Australia by the NASA Astrobiology Drilling Program. "When the results came out a decade ago, they were startling," said Joseph Kirschvink, professor of geobiology at Caltech, a member of the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a co-author of the new study. "The findings seemed to contradict abundant evidence from other geological indicators that argued against the presence of free oxygen before the Great Oxygenation Event." A Research Origin Story The 2007 studies were based on evidence of oxidation and reduction of molybdenum and sulfur, two elements that are widely used to test for the presence of atmospheric oxygen since it cannot be measured directly in rock. The findings raised fundamental questions about the early evolution of life on Earth. The observation of early oxygen was taken by some research groups to support earlier findings that microscopic cyanobacteriaearly innovators in photosynthesispumped oxygen into the ancient atmosphere but that other Earth processes kept oxygen levels low. The 2007 studies, including their implications about the origin of life and its evolution, have been widely accepted and have served as the basis for a series of other research papers over the last 14 years. Electron microscopy revealed that the Mount McRae Shale is made of volcanic glass shards (light grey, left), which could be a source of the molybdenum concentrated in the whiff interval during later fluid flow events that have previously been taken to indicate early atmospheric oxygen. These events are recorded in the iron-sulfur mineral pyrite within the dark grey shale of the whiff interval; here a scanned image (right) shows both early-formed round nodules with diffuse halos and parallel lines of tiny crystals that formed during later fluid flow. Credit: From Science Advances, Slotznick et al., Re-examination of 2.5 Ga Whiff of Oxygen Interval Points to Anoxic Ocean Before GOE, January 5, 2022. This work is licensed under CC BY-NC (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). The new study dates back to 2009, when a Caltech-led team began efforts to conduct additional analysis. The team, some of whom have since moved to other institutions, took over a decade to collect and analyze data, resulting now in the first published study that directly refutes the finding of a whiff of early oxygen. "Rocks this old tell a complicated story that goes beyond what the world was like when the mud was deposited," said Woodward Fischer, a professor of geobiology at Caltech and co-author of the study. "These samples also contain minerals that formed long after their deposition when ancient environmental signals were mixed with younger ones, confusing interpretations of the conditions on ancient Earth." A Matter of Approach The 2007 research papers that found the whiff of oxygen prior to Earth's full oxygenation used bulk analysis techniques featuring geochemical assessments of powdered samples sourced from throughout the Mount McRae Shale. Rather than conducting a chemical analysis on powder, the new research inspected specimens of the rock using a series of high-resolution techniques. For the new study, the research team recorded images of the 2004 drill core on a flatbed optical scanner. Based on those observations, they then collected thin samples for additional analyses. The suite of approaches used on the physical specimens, including synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, gave the team additional insight into the geology and chemistry of the samples as well as the relative timing of processes that were identified. According to the research paper: "Our collective observations suggest that the bulk chemical datasets pointing toward a 'whiff' of oxygen developed during post-depositional events." The new analysis shows that the Mount McRae Shale formed from organic carbon and volcanic dust. The research indicates that molybdenum came from volcanoes and subsequently concentrated during what has been previously characterized as the whiff interval. During a series of chemical and physical changes that turned these sediments into rock, fracturing created pathways for several distinct fluids to carry in signals of oxidation hundreds of millions of years after the rocks formed. "Our observations of abundant pyroclastic glass shards and intercalated tuff beds, paired with the recent insight that volcanic glass is a major host of [molybdenum], offers a new explanation for the [molybdenum] enrichments in the 'whiff' interval," the paper says. Looking Back to Point a Way Forward If the molybdenum was not from oxygen-based weathering of rocks on land and concentration in the ocean, its presence does not support the original finding of early atmospheric oxygen. By using a totally different methodology than that used in the first studies that found a whiff of oxygen, the new research also calls into question research that followed from those studies using the same style of bulk techniques. "Our new, high-resolution data clearly indicates that the sedimentary context of chemical signals has to be carefully considered in all ancient records," said Johnson. In addition to providing an alternate explanation for oxygen proxies that were found in the Mount McRae Shale, the team confirmed that the level of atmospheric oxygen at the time before the Great Oxygenation Event was very low, calling it "negligible" in the approximate period 150 million years before the abrupt change. The findings call into question the early existence of cyanobacteria, instead supporting other hypotheses that oxygen-generating photosynthesis evolved only shortly before the Great Oxygenation Event. "We expect that our research will generate interest both from those studying Earth and those looking beyond at other planets," said Slotznick. "We hope that it stimulates further conversation and thought about how we analyze chemical signatures in rocks that are billions of years old." Birger Rasmussen, of the University of Western Australia and China University of Geosciences; Timothy D. Raub, of the University of St Andrews and the Geoheritage Research Institute; Samuel Webb, of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; and Jian-Wei Zi, of the China University of Geosciences, all contributed to the study. More information: Sarah P. Slotznick, Reexamination of 2.5-Ga "whiff" of oxygen interval points to anoxic ocean before GOE, Science Advances (2022). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj7190 Sarah P. Slotznick, Reexamination of 2.5-Ga "whiff" of oxygen interval points to anoxic ocean before GOE,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj7190 Original 2007 research papers suggesting a "whiff of oxygen": A. D. Anbar, Y. Duan, T.W. Lyons, G. L. Arnold, B. Kendall, R. A. Creaser, A. J. Kaufman, G. W. Gordon, C. Scott, J. Garvin, R. Buick, "A whiff of oxygen before the great oxidation event?" Science 317, 1903-1906 (2007). A. J. Kaufman, D. T. Johnston, J. Farquhar, A. L. Masterson, T. W. Lyons, S. Bates, A. D. Anbar, G. L. Arnold, J. Garvin, R. Buick, "Late archean biospheric oxygenation and atmospheric evolution." Science 317, 1900-1903 (2007). Journal information: Science Advances , Science Mohsen Hosseini and William Ducker's contest-winning image, titled "Lotus on Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Coating." Credit: Mohsen Hosseini and William Ducker At extremely small scales, looks can be deceiving. While at first glance you might see lily pads floating on a tranquil pond, this image is actually a clever adaptation of a snapshot taken on a scanning electron microscope. In reality, the green spots are only a few micrometers acrosssmaller than width of a human hair. They make up a surface coating that was developed to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The coating is composed of a silver-based material applied to a glass surface. The lotus flower, though, was some added artistic flair courtesy of image-editing software. Mohsen Hosseini, Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, and William Ducker, professor of chemical engineering, recently won an award in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) image contest with this image. Both Hosseini and Ducker are affiliated with the Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII). Their win was in the category "most whimsical." "As part of the rigor involved in scientific research, I am always careful to maintain the accuracy of my original results," said Hosseini. "However, this competition was very freeing. It gave me a chance to take my scanning electron microscopy results and legitimately alter it in any way that I chose. It was liberating and fun to express my artistic style. The result isn't a Monet, but I am glad people liked it." The image contest, titled "Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom," is hosted annually by NNCI in celebration of National Nano Day, which occurred on Oct. 9, 2021. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the NNCI is a network of 16 sites around the country that are dedicated to supporting nanoscience and nanotechnology research and development. Virginia Tech's NanoEarth center is part of that network, working to advance earth and environmental nanotechnology infrastructure. This image was captured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that is part of the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL) in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. This SEM is the latest addition to the instrument suite at the NCFL, which is an initiative of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. The NCFL gives researchers across the University access to advanced instrumentation including state-of-the-art electron microscopes, optical microscopes, and several spectroscopic techniques. Mohsen Hosseini views the images produced by the JEOL IT500 scanning electron microscope, located in the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory. Photo by Reilly Henson for Virginia Tech. The development of the protective surface coating began more than a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic was in its early stages. Working on a team that included another doctoral student, Saeed Behzadinasab, the researchers' goal was to find a way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 via contaminated surfaces. The coating they produced can successfully inactivate the virus (SARS-CoV-2) when it lands on a solid surface, so that when a person later touches the surface, the virus is unable to infect them. In studying how their surface coating behaves and performs, the researchers captured images of it at the micro scale. Hosseini explained, "The NNCI contest invitation motivated me to select one of the scanning electron microscope images of my coatings, and edit it according to the contest's criteria. My brain was filled with ideas since I had recently designed a front cover that was awarded to our paper published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. I came up with a lotus idea in minutes and that worked very well." Interestingly, the researchers had originally developed a brown coating that showed a great deal of promise. However, after conducting tests with consumers, it became clear that the public would be more likely to use a coating that was clear, instead of brown. Ducker's research group was inspired to produce another coating, which this time would be transparent. As Hosseini put it, "It's ironic that the invisible coating ended up being the subject of visual art, and even got an award for it." Ducker and Hosseini teamed up with Joseph Falkinham and Myra Williams from the Department of Biological Sciences to test the coating on a variety of other illness-causing microorganisms. It proved particularly effective against several bacteria including MRSA, a troublesome antibiotic-resistant bacterium that plagues hospitals. With its transparent appearance and its broad antimicrobial effectiveness, the coating is now a strong candidate for commercialization. Indeed, Ducker has founded a company dedicated to pursuing the production of this surface coating on a larger scale. Hosseini and Ducker are proud to have their image shared with the national nanoscience community. The recognition shows an appreciation for their hard work, in addition to their whimsical perspective. According to NanoEarth assistant director Tonya Pruitt, "Virginia Tech has had some excellent submissions to the NNCI image contest over the years, but this is the first year we've had a winner." More information: Mohsen Hosseini et al, Reduction of Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by Zinc Oxide Coatings, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2021). Mohsen Hosseini et al, Reduction of Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by Zinc Oxide Coatings,(2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c01076 Artists rendering of Sedna. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech) Object 90377 Sednaa distant trans-Neptunian object known best for its highly elliptical, 11,390-year long orbitis currently on its way toward perihelion (its closest approach to the sun) in 2076. After that, Sedna will swing out into deep space again and won't be back for millennia, making this flyby a once-in-a-lifetime (or, once in ~113 lifetimes) opportunity to study an object from the far reaches of our solar system. There are no missions to Sedna in the works just yet, but astronomers are beginning to plan for the possibility, and the ideal launch date for such a mission is approaching fast, with two of the best launch windows coming up in 2029 and 2034. Sedna was discovered in 2003 by Caltech astronomer Mike Brown and his team, and was one of a series of potential dwarf planets (alongside similar-sized bodies like Haumea, Makemake, and Eris) whose discovery led to the demotion of Pluto in 2006. As best we can tell from a distance, Sedna is about the same size as Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, but its composition and origins are different. Its chemical makeup suggests it may be covered in deep reddish organic compounds known as tholins, the same material seen on Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects. Unlike Pluto, it is usually too cold for the methane abundant on its surface to evaporate and fall back as snow, though Sedna may briefly gain an atmosphere of nitrogen as it approaches the sun. What really sets Sedna apart from the other known dwarf planet candidates is its enormous orbit, which takes it out toward the inner edge of the Oort cloud, the most distant region of the solar system, where long-period comets lurk. There are several competing theories to explain how Sedna ended up in this position. Perhaps the most high-profile theory is the possibility that a yet unknown ninth planet, perhaps 10 times the size of Earth, disrupted Sedna's orbit and swept it and several other objects out into highly elongated orbits. Visiting Sedna probably won't solve this particular mystery, but it will tell us a lot about the composition of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects. The orbit of dwarf planet candidate 90377 Sedna (red) compared to Jupiter (orange), Saturn (yellow), Uranus (green), Neptune (blue), and Pluto (purple). Credit: Szczureq/kheider/NASA Reaching Sedna with a spacecraft won't be a simple task. Even at its closest approach, Sedna will only come about 76AU from the sun. For comparison, Neptune is about 30AU, and the Voyager missions, launched in 1977, are just now crossing 150AU and 125AU respectively. That means the time to launch is sooner, rather than later. In planning a mission to Sedna, the Voyager spacecraft are not bad places to look for inspiration. They famously took advantage of a lucky alignment of planets to take a grand tour of the outer solar system, stealing energy from Jupiter to pick up speed and reach their more distant targets. Similar gravity assists will be required to make the trip to Sedna manageable. A team of scientists led by Vladislav Zubko from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences recently modeled a series of possible trajectories to Sedna, favoring a 2029 launch date as the most feasible option. The 2029 trajectory, they determined, would take the spacecraft to Venus first, then back to Earth (twice), before passing Jupiter on the way to Sedna, with flight times as short as 20 years, but more optimally in the 30-year range. The longer flight time would increase the altitude of the spacecraft over Jupiter during the gravity assist, reducing the time spent exposed to the gas giant's harmful radiation. 90377 Sedna as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. Credit: NASA A 30-year flight plan would also mean passing by Sedna more slowly, providing more time to gather data on the object. Choosing this option would give the spacecraft a relative velocity of 13.70km/s as it passed Sedna, comparable to the speed at which New Horizons approached Pluto in 2015. As a bonus, this trajectory would also take the spacecraft past a 145-km diameter asteroid named Massalia, providing the team with an additional scientific target to study, as well as a chance to test the spacecraft's systems. A second trajectory proposed by the team would consist of a 2034 launch, and would provide a similar additional flyby, this time of the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. At the moment, it's unclear whether a mission to Sedna will actually make it to the launch pad with all the competing options available to mission planners in the coming decade, but as it's our only chance in the next 11,000 years, the idea is sure to be given due diligence. More information: Vladislav Zubko et al, Analysis of Mission Opportunities to Sedna in 20292034. arXiv:2112.13017v1 [astro-ph.EP], Vladislav Zubko et al, Analysis of Mission Opportunities to Sedna in 20292034. arXiv:2112.13017v1 [astro-ph.EP], arxiv.org/abs/2112.13017 Bradley Police Department Sergeant Marlene Rittmanic, 49, of Kankakee, Illinois, was killed in the line-of-duty on Dec. 29, 2021 at the Comfort Inn on Rt 50 in Bradley, Illinois. (Bradley Police Department) Two suspects in the shooting death of a Bradley police sergeant and the wounding of another officer, may face the death penalty if convicted, Kankakee County prosecutors said Wednesday. Darius Sullivan, 25, and Xandria Harris 26, were being held without bond in the death of Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and wounding of Officer Tyler Bailey, said Illinois State Police Capt. Richard Wilk during a briefing at the Bradley police station. Advertisement Kankakee County States Attorney Jim Rowe said his office is pursuing a federal death penalty case against both defendants. Additionally, the state is looking to prosecute anyone else involved in assisting the suspects, Rowe said. In 2011, Illinois became the 16th state to stop using capital punishment, but Rowes request would have the cases reviewed at the federal level. Advertisement They should feel the full force and weight of the law, Rowe said in the company of several Bradley and state law enforcement officials. Sullivan has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated battery with a firearm while Harris has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, Rowe said. Bailey, 27, has continued to fight for his life since the shooting, and is progressing in a positive manner, though he remains in critical condition, Bradley Deputy Chief Craig Anderson said. Rittmanic, 49, and Bailey were shot at a hotel in Bradley last week. Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic was killed while on duty on Dec. 29, 2021. (Bradley Police Department) Rittmanic died at a nearby hospital. Authorities arrested Sullivan in Indiana on Friday, and Harris later turned herself into police, according to earlier reports. The officers death was the most unnecessary, heartbreaking, painful, deplorable, tragic loss of our lives, her family said in a statement read during the briefing. These alleged acts, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said, were cowardly acts of evil. Advertisement oolander@chicagotribune.com GLENS FALLS On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Saratoga-Warren-Washington Progressive Action group will hold a vigil at Centennial Circle. The vigil will take place on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The vigil will be one of more than 150 similar events that will take place across the country, including in Albany and at the U.S. Capitol, according to a news release. Joe Seeman, co-chair of the group and co-organizer of the vigil, said it has taken the year since the event for peoples concerns to take shape. But everyone involved with putting the vigil together has been working for about a month. Its been almost a year since an attack, an attempt to overthrow the republic itself, Seeman said. He said that to frame peoples thoughts about the insurrection as concerns is not a strong enough way to say it. There was an assault on the democracy and that may be taken for granted from time to time, he said. U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, was putting fuel on the fire just days before Jan. 6 by pushing the so-called big lie about the presidential election outcome, Seeman said. She issues a statement full of lies claiming that there were 140,000 dead or illegal votes in one county in Georgia, and all kinds of lies that have been refuted, that have been thrown out by all of the judges, he said. Seeman said that to this day Stefanik is still pushing the big lie. He also called her the biggest ally in the House of Representatives to former President Donald Trump. The vigil will be a nonviolent, respectful calling out of Stefanik for her role in the events of Jan. 6, Seeman said. Stefaniks office on Tuesday did not respond to a Post-Star email seeking comment. A news release sent out by Christine Nicols, co-chair of the Saratoga-Warren-Washington Progressive Action, said the vigil will also serve as a remembrance of Capital Police Officer Brian Sicknick who lost his life on the day. The vigil will also serve as a calling out of all accomplices of the attack to be held accountable and for Congress as a whole to take action to protect voting rights. We will be out there nonviolently and respectfully calling out Stefanik for her role, and demanding that Congress take action to stop the ongoing efforts that are going on across America to be able to overturn the will of the voters, Seeman said. Seeman said that everyone will wear face masks and will be socially distant outdoors for the vigil. Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at (518) 742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com. Love 4 Funny 15 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 3 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GLENS FALLS Jody Tanner was crocheting a scarf in the dining room at the Open Door Mission during Code Blue hours. She used to have a studio called Twisted Sisters on Cooper Street with a friend of hers. Tanner loves to crochet. She will make anything from hats to scarves, booties to mittens and even blankets. Her friend would make jewelry and Tanner would crochet. She said that they would bring her crocheted items to the hospital to donate. When her friend moved to Florida, Tanner couldnt afford the rent for the studio by herself so she ended up losing the space about seven years ago. Tanner was in a relationship for nine years. She said that everything was perfect, until she found out that the man she was with was in another relationship. I was in love with this man. Ridiculously in love, she said. She gave him another chance, but it didnt work out. They separated around two years ago, and after a period of time Tanner realized that she wouldnt be able to afford her rent of $750 per month, which she said included no utilities. She started cutting back to save for her rent. That meant no air conditioning, no cable. You know, cut some corners, Tanner said. She said that she couldnt find something smaller, citing the winter as being a difficult time to find a new place and move. Tanner is still good friends with her ex. She said that he brings her dog, which stays with him sometimes while she is at the shelter, at dinnertime. He also helps her out when she needs it. I can call him right now and say I need yarn, and hed bring it over, she said. Tanner has been using the Open Door Mission for Code Blue for a few months after she used the remainder of her funds to stay at places like the Budget Inn. She said she has friends who have helped her out during these difficult times. Before going to the mission, Tanner would sleep on the streets. She would hang out at the library until it closed. You just kind of hang out, and its really cold out right now, she said as tears began to fall from her eyes. She pointed to one of the men in the Open Door Mission dining room who wished to remain anonymous and said that one time he split a room with her at a hotel because she didnt have enough money for herself. It was awesome; we ate popcorn, watched horror movies. They had a pool. It was all right, Tanner said. A hot tub, the man said in response. Yes, a hot tub, Tanner replied. Open Door Mission President and CEO Kim Cook described Code Blue as a policy. The mission began offering Code Blue in 2014. When the temperature drops to 32 degrees or colder, or there is a foot of precipitation, the mission allows anyone to enter and have a roof over their head. (Shelters) suspend some of their rules and let people in just to keep them alive, she said. Cook said in an interview in November that in Albany every shelter abides by Code Blue. Locally, Open Door Mission is the only shelter that participates in Code Blue. On average, the mission has had 12 people per night for Code Blue, but Cook said that number will increase during January and February as the nights continue to get colder. The most the shelter has had in a single night so far this season was 22. The most they have ever had in a single night was 32, which Cook said was two years ago. Code Blue is separate from the program that the Open Door Mission offers. For Code Blue, anyone can come in. For the missions program you have to remain sober. We take them whether theyre under the influence or whatever, Cook said in November. They can come in, they get a mat on the floor, a hot meal. We give them whatever services we can. Cook said that the mission starts talking about and preparing for Code Blue in August or September. In Glens Falls. Code Blue typically goes into effect starting in late October, but starts becoming more frequent in November and runs until the colder months come to a close. We were well prepared for that this year, she said. Tanner had been seeing a therapist prior to walking into Open Door Mission for the first time. Tanner said that her therapist helped her get back to church. Her therapist recommended that she check out the mission. Tanner began seeing the therapist because she was depressed. She said that everything was happening to her in a row. One thing led into another, and it was too much for her. The brain, the heart and the soul cannot handle all of that at one time, she said. Having a place locally for the people who need it when the temperature gets too cold or there is too much precipitation means the world to Tanner. Having that support is important to her. The staff is wonderful. You can get up in the middle of the night and say, I cant be alone right now, and theyll say, Well sit here and read a book. Ill go get your crochet stuff or Ill open up the kitchen and well have a cup of tea, she said. It isnt just the staff. Tanner has met people through the mission and she said that she can talk to them any time. She said that things may not have been going her way in the past year, but she has high hopes for the future. Something good will happen. It already happened, she said as she knocked on the dining room table she was sitting at. Because I have a roof over my head, people to talk to any time, and Ive met wonderful people here. Cook sat at one of the dining room tables talking with some of the people there for Code Blue. She doesnt usually have the opportunity to speak with them and hear their stories. She said when she hears some of their stories she cant imagine living through what they have. She listened as Tanner told her story. She also listened as a woman talked about how the people and staff at the mission came through for her during Christmas. Through the holidays Ive really tried to connect with more and more of the people that are here and I keep hearing, The staff is so good to me, or, The food is so great, and that just warms my heart because it really is what we are trying to do here, she said. Its important to start there and build relationships. Its building trust. Tanners relationship with God helps her keep a positive outlook on things. God didnt put me on this earth to stick me in this corner. Everybodys gotta sit in the corner once in a while, but its up to you to get out of it, she said. Hes not gonna do it all for ya. Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at (518) 742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Ben Rogers, president and director of local sales and marketing at The Post-Star, has been appointed president of a South Dakota-based media group by Lee Enterprises, The Post-Stars parent company. Chris White, president of Lees Western Media Group, made the announcement Wednesday. Rogers will serve as president of the Rapid City Media Group and will work with market leadership at Lee news properties in Bismarck, North Dakota; Casper, Wyoming; and Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Rogers joined The Post-Star in October 2019. Prior to joining Lee, he was with Swift Communications, where he served in multiple leadership roles including publisher of the Sierra Sun and North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. Under Rogers leadership, Glens Falls transitioned from a traditional sales approach to a full-service strategic marketing team. A search is ongoing and we expect to announce a new president in Glens Falls in the near future, said Cathy Hughes, president of the Lee Enterprises Community Media Group. Brian Corcoran, former publisher of The Post-Star and current senior finance director for Lee Enterprises, is still based in Glens Falls and will be overseeing day-to-day operations until Rogers successor is named. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Warren and Washington counties reported COVID-related deaths on Tuesday. The Washington County Public Health Department reported a COVID-related death of a 74-year-old resident. The county stated the resident died on Monday after being hospitalized with the virus and was vaccinated. Washington County officials sent their thoughts and prayers to the loved ones of the deceased, in a news release. Warren County Health Services reported the COVID-related death of a resident in their 50s. The county stated the person lived at home before being hospitalized with the virus. This individual was fully vaccinated, according to the report. The Warren County Board of Supervisors offered condolences to the loved ones of the deceased resident, in a news release. Warren County Warren County Health Services reported a new record high in daily COVID cases, with 157 cases on Tuesday. The county also reported 49 additional recoveries. Of the new cases, 90 involved vaccinated individuals. Health Services is now monitoring 989 active cases, with 965 experiencing mild illness. Warren County now has 1,214 residents under mandatory quarantine for COVID exposure. The news release stated 10 Warren County residents are now hospitalized, with three patients in the ICU. All of the critically ill patients are unvaccinated. Overall, five out of 10 of the hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. The report stated 13 residents are moderately ill outside of the hospital and one person is critically ill. Glens Falls Hospital spokesman Ray Agnew reported on Tuesday morning 21 COVID patients, with two in the ICU and five now off isolation. As of Tuesday, 50,500 Warren County residents have received one dose of the vaccine series and 46,928 residents, or 73% of the population, have been fully vaccinated. Health Services stated 1,434 Warren County children under 11 have received one dose of the vaccine series. The seven-day rolling positivity rate was at 14.5% on Tuesday, compared to the Capital Regions 16.1% positivity rate. Washington County The Washington County Public Health Department on Tuesday reported 85 new COVID cases that were received on Monday, as well as 51 recoveries. The Public Health Department is now monitoring 338 active cases, with 1,385 persons under monitoring due to COVID exposure. Washington County reported an extreme surge in new cases in the news release and urged residents to consider vaccination. County officials stated they have not yet received the community allotment of at-home test kits from the state, but each school in the county has received test kits to be distributed to students. Currently, Washington County has 10 residents in the hospital. The seven-day rolling positivity rate was at 13.4% on Tuesday morning. Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. QUEENSBURY Warren County will receive $380,338 through state grants for four projects to help protect the countys environment, determine housing needs and promote recreation. According to a news release, $40,000 of the funding will be used toward an $80,000 project to develop an Organics Management Plan. The plan will be designed to increase collection of organic material to keep it out of the waste stream. The goal with that project is to reduce the solid waste stream in Warren County. The second project will assess housing needs across the county. A total of $46,000 of the state funding will be used for a joint project involving Warren County Planning, the Economic Development Corp. of Warren County and the Warren County Local Development Corp. to undertake an assessment of housing needs in the county. According to the news release, the information will be integral in determining how to move forward to improve housing opportunities for residents in Warren County. There will be a grant of $251,838 that will help fund a collaborative effort that includes $50,000 in local funding to help purchase a mobile boat decontamination unit and expand outreach to Schroon Lake visitors. This will improve boat inspection and decontamination programs on the lake. The fourth project will create a plan to leverage growth in the countys outdoor recreation economy. A total of $42,500 of the state funding will go toward the $100,000 project to develop a countywide plan to maximize the use of recreational opportunities, including identifying underutilized assets in order to grow the industry. The Warren County Planning Department applied for the grants. The countys planning director, Wayne Lamothe, said he was happy to see the state recognize the value of the four projects. He believes that the funding reflects an accomplishment in addressing needs in Warren County. These awards through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application program represent the culmination of many hours of staff time across multiple departments here in Warren County, Lamothe said. Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at (518) 742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 8 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. New Jerseyans likely will not have to worry about at-home testing shortages from Vault Health after a supply strain forced the company to limit its usual daily cap. Over the holiday weekend, Vault, which is partnering with the state Department of Health to offer at-home tests, temporarily capped its daily test supply at 10,000 because UPS halted shipping over the weekend. Tests are usually capped at 30,000 daily per state, company spokesperson Kate Brickman said. New Jersey wasnt the only state affected by the change, Brickman said. Utilizing a daily cap to manage orders overwhelming the shipping system is something we do from time to time to ensure we can continue to deliver all tests next-day and dont create a bottleneck, said. Vault monitors its cap limits and demand daily. If demand outpaces the cap, the companys limit will be adjusted to meet it. Vineland students return to classrooms Wednesday VINELAND City schools will return to in-person instruction Wednesday after their students The caps are only for at-home testing since theyre dependent on shipping. The companys in-person testing sites will continue, with additional sites forthcoming, Brickman said. State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli acknowledged the cap Monday. Persichilli advised New Jersey residents seeking at-home tests from Vault to request to try again the following day if they encounter Vaults cap limit. The state Department of Health announced its partnership with Vault, a medical supply company, last month as a way to help more New Jerseyans get tested for COVID-19, especially as the omicron variant continues to infect more residents, leading to an increase in daily cases. Vault typically provides results for its at-home tests within 24 to 48 hours, Persichilli has said. New Jerseyans seeking a test through Vault can visit learn.vaulthealth.com/nj. New Jersey stresses vigilance as 'omicron tsunami' continues State health officials say New Jersey may be only one week away from the peak of the COVID-1 State health administrators last week unveiled the location of a new surge testing site in East Orange, Essex County, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gov. Phil Murphy, during his Monday media briefing on the pandemic, said he and others hope another could be set up in the state, particularly in the southern region. Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ATLANTIC CITY City Council will hold a special meeting Friday to consider the possible removal of Municipal Utilities Authority Chairman John Devlin over misconduct allegations. If passed, a resolution on the agenda would authorize a hearing be held on the allegations and Devlin would be notified 10 days ahead of the hearing date. This is a far-fetched plan to unseat a political rival, Devlin said Wednesday. Devlin is also a longtime school board member and an admitted foe of Mayor Marty Small Sr. I dont agree with his (Smalls) government, and I dont support him, said Devlin, who is about halfway through a five-year appointment to the ACMUA board. Small declined comment Wednesday. ACMUA board members are paid, not volunteers. According to a resolution posted on the citys website, misconduct allegations have been made to the state Department of Community Affairs, claiming Devlin has interfered with ACMUA employees and contractors. A spokesperson from the DCA could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. Devlin said he has heard nothing about any misconduct allegations from the city or state, and he will retain counsel and fight if the resolution passes. This to me is retaliation. The mayor does not like me. Im not a rubber stamp, said Devlin, who said he has been on the school board for about 17 years. They didnt like what I did at the school board level. Devlin, a retired Atlantic City police officer, has been critical of the school districts handling of the child pornography case involving substitute teacher Kayan Frazier, who is a cousin of Smalls wife, LaQuetta. LaQuetta Small, formerly a principal at district schools, began her new job as the Atlantic City schools superintendent Jan. 1. They couldnt vote me out from the school board, now they come up with this, Devlin said. Sixth ward Councilman Jesse Kurtz, who appointed Devlin to the ACMUA, also declined comment Wednesday. Kurtz said he is still gathering information. Devlin is not the first official to claim retaliation. Last week, Councilwoman LaToya Dunston filed a $1 million tort claim against the state, claiming Small and other council members conspired against her in an illegal meeting unknown to the public and have harassed her in various ways. Dunston, who represents the 2nd Ward, seeks general, compensatory and punitive damages over deprivation of my constitutional due process rights under the 14th Amendment and the rights afforded me under the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. In the claim, Dunston alleges that on Nov. 23, Small and other members of the council met at Mortons The Steakhouse at Caesars Atlantic City to discuss how to remove Dunston from council without providing legally required notice either to the public or to her. It was no meeting. I held a holiday party for supporters, Small said Sunday in a text answer to questions. REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-272-7219 mpost@pressofac.com Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ATLANTIC CITY Travis Lunn, a veteran casino executive, was named Wednesday as the new president of Atlantic Citys Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. He most recently served as the southeast group president and chief operating officer for MGM Resorts, where he led Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica, Mississippi. Lunn succeeds former Borgata President Melonie Johnson, who is returning to MGMs National Harbor casino as president and chief operating officer, a job she held before joining Borgata in 2020. The move reduces the number of women in charge of Atlantic City casinos to one; less than a year and a half ago, there were four. The lone remaining female casino boss here is Jacqueline Grace at Tropicana Atlantic City, where she serves as senior vice president and general manager. MGM said the two Mississippi casinos Lund oversaw last year achieved record gambling revenue for multiple months while instituting strict COVID-19-related health and safety protocols. Its an honor to be joining this incredibly talented team, Lunn said in a statement. Borgata is a world-class resort destination with a brand recognized nationwide for its spectacular accommodations, culinary program and entertainment offerings. I cant wait to jump in and connect with all of the employees, guests and local community members. Borgata is Atlantic Citys top-performing casino. Over the first 11 months of last year, it won more than $1 billion in total gambling revenue, including in-person table and slot winnings, internet gambling and sports betting. That is more than twice the revenue of its closest competitor. Lunn previously led MGM Grand Las Vegas as general manager and senior vice president of operations. Before joining MGM Resorts, he served as vice president of operations for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and general manager of hotel operations for The Venetian and The Palazzo resorts. Lunn holds a bachelors degree in hotel administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mayor Lori Lightfoot addresses news media about COVID-19 and Chicago Public Schools during a news conference at City Hall on Jan. 5, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Classes are canceled in Chicago Public Schools on Thursday after district officials and the teachers union again failed to come to terms on COVID-19 safety measures. It will be the second day of what Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday angrily called an unlawful, unilateral strike by the Chicago Teachers Union a reference to the unions vote earlier this week to refuse in-person learning until its demands for enhanced coronavirus mitigations are implemented. Advertisement If you care about our students, if you care about our families, as we do, we will not relent. Enough is enough. We are standing firm and we are going to fight to get our kids back to in-person learning. Period. Full stop, Lightfoot said Wednesday, again insisting schools are safe despite spiking case numbers in the city. We owe that to our children who suffered learning loss. As for the prospect of in-person classes Friday, the district said thats going to be determined on a school-by-school basis. Advertisement Some schools have enough staff reporting to work to return to in-person instruction as soon as Friday, CPS said in a letter released late Wednesday. Other schools have more limited capacity, and may provide learning packets and other materials for students to use during this illegal work stoppage. Individual principals will communicate those plans with families, the letter said. Officials noted absenteeism is already high because of students and staff members who have COVID-19 or are quarantining because of a close contact, and that some schools may need to make a full return to remote learning depending on their numbers. District officials had canceled Wednesday classes after the union endorsed the work action Tuesday to refuse to work in person during a city spike in infections. The union, using the hashtag #LoriLockout, tweeted Wednesday that its been inundated with calls and emails this morning from educators who say theyve been unable to log into their CPS accounts to teach remotely, as was the CTUs stated intention. Teacher Stuart Abram holds a sign in support of the Chicago Teachers Union before a caravan from Union Park to City Hall on Jan. 5, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) CPS have not confirmed whether staff members have been locked out or how many, though Lightfoot had warned late Tuesday that teachers who did not show up will be docked pay. Until Wednesday evening, it remained unclear if classes in person or otherwise would take place Thursday. In an impassioned speech late Wednesday, Lightfoot said she opposes any plan that closes Chicago schools systemwide and that she wants to focus on handling outbreaks classroom by classroom. She also ripped the teachers union for the dispute, which she said is hurting families, and vowed to get students back to in-person learning. Lightfoot also said the union isnt bargaining with enough urgency, a recurring criticism shes made of the union and vice versa during the districts labor disputes. Advertisement Lightfoot has also accused the union, which supported her opponent in the 2019 election, of politically motivated opposition. I will not allow them to take our children hostage. ... Why are we here again when we know that the safest place for our children is in school? Why are we here again when we know that our schools are safe? Lightfoot said, citing the school districts spending on COVID mitigation strategies. The stalemate made national news Wednesday, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki saying the nation is more than equipped to ensure schools are open ... including in Chicago. Former President Donald Trump said that what is happening in Chicago with all the school closures is devastating. Educate our children in person or give every dollar spent on education directly to the students so they can get out of these failing government schools! Trump said in a statement. [ Friction with the Chicago Teachers Union has been a hallmark of Mayor Lori Lightfoots term often at the expense of put-out parents ] At a virtual news conference Wednesday morning, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said negotiators were headed back to the bargaining table. Advertisement We are going to talk to them as much as we need to, around the clock when necessary, he said. The CTU measure, which won 73% of the vote, is to work remotely from Wednesday to Jan. 18 unless a safety agreement with CPS is reached or the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge subsides. Sharkey said nearly 20,000 of the unions 25,000 rank-and-file members submitted an electronic ballot Tuesday. Students and parents leave Darwin Elementary in Logan Square on Monday, the first day back to school from winter break for Chicago Public Schools. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) CPS and CTU did not negotiate a safety agreement for this school year after having one in place last year. The sides have yet to come to terms on a metric that would move an individual school to remote learning; expanded testing in schools; and the distribution of N95 masks. Advertisement We are being inundated with calls and emails this morning from educators who attempted to log into their platforms to connect with their students and teach remotely, and safely, but are being locked out by Mayor Lightfoot. #LoriLockout ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) January 5, 2022 CTUs proposal submitted last week called for a negative test result to return to buildings and an expansion of the in-school weekly testing program thats mandatory for unvaccinated staff members and voluntary for students. About 33,000 tests were administered the last week of school before winter break, with district officials promising for months that capacity would reach 40,000 weekly tests. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez expressed frustration again Wednesday that the testing program has not grown faster. Lightfoot said Wednesday that the CTU wants the program mandatory for all, unless parents opt out, a plan she opposes because its morally repugnant to take the decision out of parents hands. COVID testing, she said, is a quasi-medical procedure. As of late last month, 41,690 students and 24,933 staff members were registered for the testing program, according to the district. CPS officials said some students may have registered before getting vaccinated in the fall and decided later not to show up for weekly testing. The union also asked for N95 or equivalent masks to be provided to students and staff members and an increase in vaccination opportunities at schools. Short of that, the CTU demanded the district transition to remote learning for two weeks. Signs in support of the Chicago Teachers Union are handed out before a caravan from Union Park to City Hall on Jan. 5, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) CPS submitted a proposal to the union Tuesday promising to provide 200,000 KN95 masks to staff members, and Martinez said Wednesday students will receive similar masks as well. Under the CPS proposal, the district would offer at least 30,000 screening tests in schools per week; and transition a school to virtual instruction if 40% or more of a schools classroom teachers are absent for two consecutive days because they tested positive for COVID, among other scenarios. Advertisement What Im trying to understand is, how many adults need to be in the school building in order for education and supervision to be adequate? All this week we have been getting reports of classes being doubled up, tripled up in large spaces, cafeterias, auditoriums with a warm body. We dont have staffing, CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said at Wednesdays news conference. Their proposal still falls short, to be perfectly honest with you, because it says that you could be missing 40% of grown-ups in the school building and you can still be in session. How does that work? Thats almost half. CPS students and staff members returned to school buildings Monday after a two-week winter break. District representatives said 82% of teachers reported to work Monday and 84% of teachers on Tuesday. Martinez said 200,000 children attended schools on Monday, with that number rising quite a bit on Tuesday. Martinez said about 10% of teachers came to buildings Wednesday. A survey of 225 schools by the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association determined more than half the kids were absent Monday at 24 of these schools. The district runs around 515 schools. The principals group recommends the district go remote for one or two weeks this month to ensure a safe return to in-person learning. More than 20% of staff was absent at 61 of the surveyed schools, with one school reporting 85% of its staff absent. Advertisement Martinez on Wednesday drew attention to Park Manor Elementary School, a South Side school that struggled with COVID-19 cases just before winter break. Some teachers vowed not to work in person early this week as part of a CTU press event. Martinez said 20 out of 21 teachers did not show up to work, and nearly all of the schools 250 students were absent. Five kids in kindergarten was the largest Park Manor class at one point, he said. Imagine if that kind of power was used to help our children get vaccinated, Martinez said about the unions strength at Park Manor. As of Wednesday evening, about 9,000 CPS students and a record 2,300 staff members were in isolation because they tested positive for COVID-19 or quarantine because they came in close contact with someone who had. Fully vaccinated, asymptomatic staff members and students are not required to quarantine. About 11% of the 11,000 people who participated in the in-school testing program this week have tested positive, according to district data, a much higher percentage than usual. CPS says about 91% of its staff is fully vaccinated. Just over half of CPS students aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the district, with about a quarter of the students 5 to 11 years old having received at least one dose. More than 330,000 students are enrolled in CPS, the nations third-largest school district. The Illinois State Board of Education says school districts may not pause in-person learning without first consulting with their local health department. Remote learning days must be offered for the duration. City public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Wednesday that CPS has taken a conservative approach to COVID-19. The risk of in-school transmission remains low and few Chicago kids are hospitalized with COVID-19, she said. Advertisement tswartz@tribpub.com gpratt@chicagotribune.com PLEASANTVILLE People from across the city came together Tuesday night to put students on the path to success and find solutions to what many consider long-standing problems born of systemic inequality, violence and, of late, the COVID-19 pandemic. About 100 people attended a virtual town hall to discuss the issues facing the local school district. The event was organized in collaboration with Mount Zion Baptist Church and held via Zoom. Tamar LaSure-Owens, a first-grade teacher at Leeds Avenue Elementary School, moderated the event. She said it was important to gather city stakeholders in one setting where they could openly discuss how to improve Pleasantville schools and advance the interests of their students. The Rev. Willie Francois III, the senior pastor at Mount Zion Baptist, emphasized the need for speakers to find ways to provide students with community support. It has been part of my mantra as a leader here, as a part of this community, that all children belong to all of us, and that is really whats at the heart of why we are here, Francois said. Parents and residents asked school officials about educational outcomes, academic resources and outbreaks of violence that injure and traumatize students during the past few school board meetings. Speakers at the town hall, which lasted about two hours, were asked how they would work to improve opportunities and school safety for the citys youth. Pleasantville teacher wins award for promotion of equity in education A Pleasantville teacher is leading the way on state efforts to make New Jersey education mor Mayor Judy Ward, answering a question about how to boost student engagement, said two students from Pleasantville High School would be attending City Council meetings. The students, to be appointed by Pleasantville High School Principal Lapell Chapman, will act as liaisons for the district and help ensure student voices are represented in the public policy process. I think thats really important, because we need to know what the youth are thinking, Ward said. A lot of the times we make decisions because we think we know what they want, but in their minds, its something completely different. Christine Ruth, founder of the Atlantic County Collaborative for Educational Equity, said local and state governments would need to intervene to expand opportunity for Pleasantville students. There was a particularly important need, she said, for students to access honors courses that give them the confidence to apply for college. Dawn Rice-Bivens, a co-founder of the Future Leaders Organization, talked about the need to ensure students are connected to affordable opportunities to attend college as well as vocational schools where they can learn a trade. These calls for more expansive opportunities were echoed by religious leaders at the town hall. We must give them as many opportunities and choice, so that they will be able to have those areas that will be available to them, so they can be successful in whatever field or endeavor that they feel like they want to pursue, said the Rev. John Martin, a pastor at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Snowstorm forcing several schools to close Tuesday as well The snow storm Monday is continuing to impact school schedules across South Jersey. In addition to expanding educational opportunities, speakers addressed strategies for keeping students safe from violence. Acting police Chief James Williams said he was authorized to place Class III officers within schools and on school grounds. The officers are intended as a deterrent to violent behavior and as a network keeping police informed about potential school conflicts that could escalate into violence. Capt. Matthew Hartman said stationing police within the school helps the force keep the finger on the pulse of the school environment. He said the force stations officers around school grounds during drop-off and dismissal, going on patrol as students make their way to and from school. Pleasantville parents were recently alarmed by a Dec. 2 sexual assault on a girl on her way to school. Horece McZeke, 44, of Galloway Township, was charged in that case later that month. School board President Julio Sanchez, while not opposed to the idea of stationing police in school, said final approval for stationing officers in school would have to be given by the board. Hartman said he did not believe the police could provide the best response in all scenarios. There was a crucial role for community leaders and others in preventing violence. I think it will go a lot further than just a bunch of police cars and officers showing up every day at dismissal, Hartman said. Galloway council set for shift to GOP in Tuesday reorganization meeting GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP In an area where the partisan makeup of local governing bodies can stay Francois said both violence and poor education outcomes are driven by poverty and inequality, which in turn are driven by structural racism. He said popular pressure needed to be applied to change a statewide education system that has deprived schools with predominantly Black and Hispanic student bodies of resources. We have to also start having these conversations around the structural inequalities and the structural problems that are actually dashing opportunities, Francois said. He insisted that sufficient mental-health treatment be made available, both in light of outbreaks of violence and the ongoing pandemic. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a December report warning about the effects the pandemic and attendant school shutdowns have had on the mental health of American youth. Francois encouraged those who wanted to effect change to embrace radical, nonviolent protest to place pressure on elected officials. Other panelists encouraged people to make sure they vote in state elections as well as local school board contests. LaSure-Owens, who recently won an NJEA Urban Education Activist award, said plans to improve the lives of students in Pleasantville could be discussed in more depth at future meetings. This is not the last town hall, but this is just the first of those to come, because this is something that the community has asked for, LaSure-Owens said. Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Augustana College is encouraging vaccinated members of its community to get the COVID-19 booster in anticipation of public health officials adding it to the definition of what it means to be fully vaccinated. Steve Bahls, the colleges president, spoke about the expectation during a briefing Wednesday about Augustanas efforts to mitigate the COVID-19s impact on its campus. We anticipate that the CDC will soon change its definition of fully vaccinated to include a requirement of boosters for those who are six months out from their original vaccination, Bahls said. When the definition is changed, Augustana will require those boosters, Bahls said. So get those boosters now if you are eligible, Bahls said. Vaccinations and boosters are effective in minimizing the effects of COVID-19, Wes Brooks, Augustanas vice president and dean of student life, said. They help keep you out of the emergency room and the ICU, Brooks said. Mitigation strategies were still in place on campus, including limitations on gathering sizes and a mask requirement, Brooks said. Brooks said that some face coverings are better than others for limiting the spread of coronavirus. For those wearing cloth masks, Brooks suggested double masking but said that was not a requirement as of Wednesday. The college has ordered 10,000 KN95 masks and plans to make them available free to the campus community, Brooks said. The college tested 155 people on Monday, almost all unvaccinated, and 18 students and two staff were positive, Bahls said. Rock Island County health officials have reported 651 new cases of COVID-19 between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3, Bahls said. As of Monday, 91 people in the county were in the hospital because of the coronavirus. The number of hospitalizations is concerning to me and concerning to local healthcare partners, Bahls said. While patients are not being turned away with coronavirus hospitalizations at that level, the healthcare infrastructure was being strained by it, Bahls said. Numbers in the Chicago area, where many Augustana students are from, were also high, he said. Public health officials from around the country report that more than 90% of those requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, Bahls said. Bahls asked unvaccinated members of the campus community to get vaccinated. We are proud of our 92% vaccination rate, but there is room for improvement, Bahls said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The reaction by local Republicans to last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol largely reflected divisions in the party nationally. While many members of the GOP continue to support former president Donald Trump, others resent his influence, especially related to the insurrection. Dave Millage was chairman of the Scott County Republican Party on Jan. 6, 2021, and instantly was appalled by the violence that erupted at the capitol. "I was working at Republican headquarters that day. I sat there dumbfounded," he said this week. "Another person in the office that day was also watching and said, 'This needed to happen.' "Republicans are supposed to be the party of law and order." ICKES: Congresswoman Bustos: 'It was a bleak, horrible moment in our history' Until he got the text message Wednesday afternoon, the sheriff had no idea his congresswoman wife was hiding from armed rioters on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. By the following day, Millage had called for Trump's impeachment. "I got about 20 notes from people who were glad I stood up and asked, 'When are we going to take the party back?'" he said. "There were more people who were upset. "Those who were upset wanted me to apologize. That's why I resigned." Millage left the county chairmanship, which he already planned to do when his term was set to expire the following month. He doesn't regret it. "To have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, that's what they're going to need," he said. "He's a cancer to the party. I'm still partisan. I'm still a Republican. "I was appalled by what occurred on 1-6, and I couldn't believe everyone else wasn't appalled." Millage's counterpart in Rock Island County, Republican Party Chairman Drue Mielke, referred to those who attacked the capitol as "terrorists." He said it was "infiltrators, possibly antifa," that were responsible. Short for anti-fascists, antifa is a group of far-left-leaning activists who endorse peaceful political protest as well as confrontation against racism. A year later, Mielke continues to deny the direct involvement of Trump supporters in the siege. While more than 700 people have been identified and charged with breaching the capitol and with other crimes, Mielke maintains he hasn't seen connections between those people and the former president. "I want to know who those 725 people are," he said. "Do we know they're not antifa? I don't know that." In the weeks following the riot, the FBI directly denied the conspiracy theory and said there was "no indication" that antifa was involved. Some of those who have been charged have specifically indicated in court that they took part in the attack at the behest of the former president. It appeared from Mielke's comments the day after the insurrection that he was aware that Trump supporters had likely led the charge. In response to Millage's call for impeachment, Mielke said, "If we want to divide the country and anger the Trump supporters more, then that's what we should do." In addition to denying the role of Trump or his supporters in the January 6 attack, Mielke also continues to bolster the belief some supporters had legitimate election-related grounds to lash out. He said, "there was a lot of voter fraud," especially in DuPage County, Illinois, and in Georgia. But he said he and other Rock Island County Republicans do not endorse the claims by others in the party that the election was stolen. "I'm not working on the 2020 election; we have a new election to win," he said this week. "My solution has always been to work toward reform." However, Mielke continued to assert there was widespread voter fraud in 2020. When asked for specific instances in which fraud has been proven, he said, "I can't go into detail now. "I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm just saying it's a concern." For Millage, the repeatedly disproved stolen-election theories that continue to circulate in his party are another reason to discredit the former president. "I think Trump has succeeded in brainwashing people into thinking the election was stolen," he said. "Four dead people voted in Georgia. That doesn't change the outcome." The two local Republicans agree on one aspect of the capitol riots: An investigation should have followed, but the January 6 commission as it stands is a partisan body with partisan intent. Two Republicans sit on the commission, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who represents Illinois' 16th Congressional district. "It's become a Democrat witch hunt," Millage said. However, Millage said he is relieved that an increasing number of other Republicans now are willing to acknowledge the riot at the capitol complex took place, which has been widely denied. "The problem is, people are still trying to sweep it under the rug," he said. "(The attack) has dimmed in the memory. We haven't learned anything, even though Trump's been a crook all his life." Mielke said some of the rioters may have been Trump supporters, but that doesn't make them Republicans. "Some are viewed as radicalized," he said. "Those people were acting out of anger. Our party doesn't act out of anger." Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 3 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Easter Bunny was representing the prosecution in several hundred Polk County criminal cases.At least thats what Iowa Courts Online, the court systems official, statewide web-based repository of court records, indicated for most of April.On April 4, the online docket sheets for hundreds of Polk County cases primarily misdemeanors and drunken-driving cases were revised to indicate the prosecution of those cases had been transferred from one particular assistant county attorney, Kailey Gray, to another prosecutor in the county attorneys office by the name of Easter Santa Bunny.And thats where the cases remained as of Thursday morning.Bret Lucas, an assistant county attorney, said Thursday the situation stemmed from a recent realignment of cases within the county attorneys office. Gray took over a colleagues cases, and Iowa Courts Online accurately reflects the transfer of those cases. But Grays old cases, he said, were transferred to the Easter Bunny until all of the work on the digital case transfer could be completed.We had contacted the Judicial Branch and they worked with their information technology department to facilitate the mass transfer of cases, Lucas said. Apparently, the Judicial Branch and the IT department decided to put that placeholder in there because, obviously, no one else would have that name. So they were all aware of that, and it sounds like they must still be in the middle of that transfer process.Stacy Curtis, a supervisor for the criminal division of the Polk County Clerk of Courts Office, said the references to the Easter Bunny should not be visible to the public either through a name search or in the docket sheets for the individual cases. She said the office took extra steps to make sure members of the public didnt see any reference to the Easter Bunny and only clerks, lawyers, judges and others with higher security clearance could see it. It appears that the opposite may have occurred, as the Easter Bunny references could be seen by members of the public who werent even logged into the site.This has been a nightmare for me, Curtis said. We moved everything from Kaylie to the Easter Bunny, and those should have all been cleaned up so you wouldnt be able to see that.Many of the cases that were publicly assigned to the Easter Bunny are open, active cases, but hundreds of others are dormant, though not technically closed because of probationary sentences that have yet to be completed or fines that have yet to be paid.The only practical effect of the Easter Bunny designation is that some defendants may see that information online and not know who to contact at the county attorneys office about their case.After being contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch on Thursday, court officials were working to erase from the website any mention of the Easter Bunny, and by late afternoon it appeared they had succeeded.Santa bailed out by RudolphThe Easter Bunny cases are not the only criminal matters listed on the court systems official website to have featured nonexistent lawyers or defendants. In what appear to be training exercises for clerical staff, fictitious test cases are sometimes created and then posted to the public website but never removed.For example, a December 1997 case shows Santa Claus being convicted of felony burglary and kidnapping, with a charge of assault on a peace officer dismissed by the court. The court records indicate a sentence of 999 years in prison was imposed.As part of that same test case, the court imposed a no-contact order prohibiting Santa from having any contact with Mickey Mouse. Santas bail listed as one million bucks in a possible punning reference to Santas reindeer is stated to have been posted by Rudolph.In 2014, Santa Claus was charged with second-degree robbery in Scott County, according to the Iowa Courts Online site. Although theres no record of a conviction in that case, Claus right to carry a gun was revoked.The court systems website also shows that in 2014, Mickey Mouse filed a small claims case against Donald Duck in Marion County.For more information, visit iowacapitaldispatch.com. A cyberattack at an obscure, quasi-state agency over the summer stripped millions of dollars from the accounts of two auto insurance companies under liquidation through wrongful wire transfers, Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration confirmed. The breach, which is under investigation by the FBI, led to losses of $6.85 million, although a portion of that has been recovered, administration officials said. The cyberattack was carried out at the little-known Office of the Special Deputy Receiver, a nonprofit that works with the director of the Illinois Department of Insurance and exists largely to protect creditors and policyholders of financially troubled or insolvent insurance companies. While state officials were saying little about the cyberattack, the offices former chief financial officer, Douglas Harrell, told the Chicago Tribune that his email was hijacked by hackers who then directed others how to invest money with what appeared to be approval of his superiors. Harrell said a quick call to bank officials blocked a significant amount of the $6.85 million from being lost before all transactions became final. The agency learned of the breach July 15 and contacted the Pritzker administration and the Illinois State Police, Harrell said. The Department of Insurance places financially troubled or insolvent insurance companies with the Office of the Special Deputy Receiver to oversee receiverships, where remaining assets and distributions are handled with court oversight. The special deputy receiver was formed as a nonprofit in 1991 to administer the estates of insolvent or financially troubled Illinois insurance companies placed in judicially supervised receiverships, according to the Illinois Department of Insurance. The basic leftover pieces of these companies and their policyholders are put into what are called estates. The estates of two car insurance companies Gateway Insurance Co. and Affirmative Insurance Co. were victims of the cyberattack by a criminal actor, said Caron Brookens, insurance department spokeswoman. The Gateway Insurance estate suffered a loss of $2,148,728 resulting from wrongful wire transfers, officials said. The Affirmative Insurance estate initially suffered a loss of $4,700,500 as a result of wrongful wire transfers, but $2,870,500 of Affirmatives money has been recovered, according to state officials and a company report. The theft is the latest example of how online scammers see agencies in and around state government as fertile targets. Cyberattacks may have diverted more than a billion dollars in unemployment checks intended for people laid off during the coronavirus pandemic in Illinois alone. A ransomware attack in April crippled computer systems in Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raouls office, costing taxpayers millions to upgrade the office as it sought to regain its footing. Other attacks have involved whats known as SMS phishing or smishing, in which fake messages went to cellphones seeking to lure Illinois residents into clicking on phony warnings about drivers licenses so they would unwittingly fall victim to computer viruses. In an interview, Harrell said an internal review of what happened at the Office of the Special Deputy Receiver showed that cybercriminals had taken over his email and spied on him for two or three weeks. They controlled my email and gave directions, Harrell said. My folks thought I was directing them to invest in a certain way and that his bosses had approved the transactions, he said. Harrell said he spotted the wrongful transactions right away and called everybody within two minutes to address the matter with senior management, including the top technology officials and lawyers. He said he quickly called bankers handling the transactions and was able to halt the activity for some of the wires, allowing them to recall some of the funds before transactions were completed. Whats really a shame is criminals just taking advantage of COVID, said Harrell, saying he and others were working from home because of the virus. Without a cybersecurity expert at our shop ... we werent prepared. We just didnt know how to protect ourselves properly from cyberhackers, particularly away from the office. Its just fraud through and through, Harrell said. Had Harrell and others been working in the office, he said, their face-to-face communication could have prevented the fraudulent activity the cybercriminals directed by using fake emails. I was a victim, Harrell said. Harrell said he stayed with the agency a few months to help address the matter but also eventually offered, as the highest-ranking financial person, to resign along with another top official, Joe Harris, who was controller. The Department of Insurance declined to give any details of the cyberattack, and would not say how the money was recovered, saying it could compromise any investigation. Brookens confirmed Harrell and Harris no longer worked at the Office of Special Deputy Receiver but declined to give any more information on why they had left the agency. People familiar with the way the agency has worked over the years said one person would be able to initiate a wire transfer, but the process would take several steps on an account protected by a password. Another person would have to confirm the transaction. Gateway sold commercial auto insurance, such as for taxis and limousines, and Affirmative sold personal auto insurance, Brookens wrote in response to Tribune inquiries. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Despite the cyberattack, policyholders may come out OK. The majority of the policyholders claims are covered under the Illinois or other state guaranty funds and will therefore not be impacted, Brookens wrote. Because the companies are in receivership and determination of final policyholder liability will take several years, the total number of policyholders potentially impacted is unknown. Insurance companies under liquidation are backed by a guaranty fund that gets its money from active insurance companies, which are generally obliged to make up for losses from insolvent firms. This guaranty fund covers consumers insurance related-losses. The Office of the Special Deputy Receiver has insurance for cyber fraud, and recovery efforts are ongoing, Brookens said. Any exposed vulnerability has been assessed and (the receivers office) has added additional protocol and controls to ensure that it can best safeguard against any future criminal cyberattacks, Brookens said. Brookens also said the Office of Special Deputy Receiver has taken appropriate steps to mitigate the breach and prevent it from happening again. Even so, Rockford Republican Sen. Dave Syverson, minority spokesman for the upper chambers Insurance Committee, said hearings should be held to review how the cyberattack happened and what can be done to prevent future problems. Buckle Corp. of Jersey City, New Jersey, bought the charter of Gateway Insurance Co. for $4.2 million in 2020 through a court-supervised auction in Cook County, according to Marty Young, Buckles co-founder and CEO. The new company did not take over the assets or the liabilities of the Gateway estate, giving a fresh start to the new firm. As of its Sept. 30 report, company officials said, the new Gateway Insurance Co. has 20,000 to 25,000 customers, across the country, including about 2% in Illinois. Only about 100 of the old companys customers are among the current customers in the new company, according to Buckle. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush receives applause after announcing that he will not be running for reelection when his term ends next year after 30 years in Congress, Jan. 4, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush announced Tuesday he will conclude a three-decade congressional career next January, but said he would continue a lifetime in public service and activism by turning to his higher calling as a Baptist pastor to help shape minds and hearts. You can own your public service, but you can never own public office, said the South Side Democrat who started out as a political activist by cofounding the Illinois Black Panther party before winning a City Council seat in 1983 and becoming a member of Congress a decade later. Advertisement For me, I have a higher calling and I am answering that calling, said Rush, dean of the states congressional delegation. The calling of my faith predominates my entire being. The decision by Rush to step down at the end of his 15th term set off a scramble among the South Side and south suburban elected officials in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District, which runs from Chicagos South Side through south and southwest suburbs and continues nearly to Kankakee. Advertisement An open seat in Congress is a rare event and the districts solid Democratic demographics virtually ensures the winner can serve for years without challenge. U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush announces that he will not be running for reelection when his term ends next year after 30 years in Congress, Jan. 4, 2022. Rush, 75, made his announcement at Bronzevilles Roberts Temple Church of God In Christ where the funeral for Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was killed in Mississippi, was held in 1955. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Rush said he would make an endorsement of a potential successor in the June 28 Democratic primary but did not name a preferred candidate. He said making an endorsement was a show of leadership and that I think my appeal to my voters will have an affect on their decision when they go to the polls. Rush made his announcement at the historic Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, where the mutilated body of 14-year-old Emmett Till was displayed in an open casket after he was lynched while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955. Rush said he chose the church because it was a sacred place that shaped the contours of my own life and the lives of generations. He said he would continue to pursue a federal anti-lynching law as a top priority in his remaining days in Congress. The 75-year-old Rush said his decision to leave Congress was not a matter of cutting and running and that he would continue to speak out from the pulpit of his Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ on the South Side. The battlefield is my home and I will remain on the front lines of the battlefield, the congressman said, adding that he would preach with a priority on commonality over division. Rush criticized the polarized political climate in Washington but said it, like other aspects of life, has become rooted in an unending quest for power. Its not just Congress. Its in our faith community. Its in the business community. Everybody is looking for their advantage and the other person, disadvantage. Its all about whos in power, who isnt in power, he said. Advertisement U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, right, and his son Flynn Rush greet people after announcing that he will not be running for reelection when his term ends next year after 30 years in Congress, Jan. 4, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) This power, narcotic, drug, that we find ourselves lapping up every day in our media and our lives and our culture, thats leading to the demise of our nation, he said. I lament the fact that we are such a partisan power-drunk government institution and thats one of the things that I want to try to do is to prioritize our commonality rather than our division. At the same time, Rush said that, away from the glare of TV cameras, we are some awesome people in Congress, and that he considers Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia one of my best friends in the Republican Party. Rush famously handed future President Barack Obama his only election loss in 2000 when the university professor and community activist challenged the veteran congressman. Rush said that knowing Obama was a better orator and perhaps more handsome, he avoided debating the young state senator during that campaign, which preceded an election he won by 30 percentage points. But noting that Obama is a former president with significant personal wealth, Rush jokingly asked, Who really won? Rush also spent some time talking about his early years in public life, saying he thought he would be dead before I was 30 as a result of his activism in the Black Panthers. He said he was supposed to have been at the groups West Side headquarters on Dec. 4, 1969, when a raid led by local prosecutors and state and federal law enforcement led to the assassinations of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Advertisement In a nod to the citys latest surge in violent crime, Rush said he plans to take a message to the gangways and alleyways and the streets of the city and tell young people, Dont give up hope, that you can survive, that there is a life in front of you. While the 1st Congressional District has been redrawn significantly over the decades, it has a storied place in Chicago and Illinois political history. Rush defeated labor leader Charles Hayes to take the seat. Hayes succeeded Harold Washington, later Chicagos first Black mayor. Others to represent the district include Ralph Metcalfe and William Dawson. The names of more than a dozen prospective candidates to succeed Rush have surfaced. Among them are members of the legislature and Chicago City Council. Legislative candidates face a greater risk in going for the seat, since all seats in the General Assembly are up for election this year and a state legislator would have to give up a chance for reelection to run in the congressional primary. Chicago aldermen arent up for reelection until 2023. Chris Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the safest political seats in the nation are typically U.S. House seats in reasonably homogenous urban or rural districts. The reelection rate for U.S. House members has long been over 90% often well over, Mooney said. As a result of long-term incumbency, it creates a pent-up demand among politicos living in a given congressional district. Advertisement Each district holds countless school board members, mayors, city councilpersons, state legislators and other government officials who have demonstrated political ambition. In addition, there is also an unknown number of leaders of business, labor, social movements, etc., who might want to run for Congress, he said. And when a longtime member of Congress retires or dies, each of these people knows that it is perhaps now or never for their congressional ambitions. Mooney said he expects a full-blown scrum of contenders. Even if Rush backs a candidate later, the momentum of those other ambitious candidates will mean that the district is likely going to see a large, bloody and unpredictable primary for this seat, he said. rap30@aol.com Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. SPRINGFIELD We live in a society that extols the virtues of degrees and diplomas but not life-long learning. In Springfield, we honor Abraham Lincoln, our state's native son, who despite having little formal schooling was able to teach himself and become our greatest president. But today when it comes to politicians, Americans have a different standard. We haven't had a president without a college diploma since Harry Truman. In 2020, the New York Times reported 95% of todays House members and 100% of the Senates have a bachelors degree or higher. But only about one-third of Americans are college graduates. According to the Congressional Research Service, more than one third of the House and more than half the Senate have law degrees. Roughly a fifth of senators and representatives have their masters. Four senators and 21 House members have medical degrees and an identical number in each body (four, 21) have some kind of doctoral degree. Does that mean we have a really good Congress? Well, I have seen little evidence over the past decade to support such a proposition. Whether led by Republicans or Democrats, our nations legislative bodies have few independent thinkers. Group think and deadlock seem to prevail. Things arent much different in Illinois. We havent had a governor without a bachelors degree since 1932 when Louis Lincoln Emmerson left office. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison rose to be titans of high tech without obtaining a college degree. Movie director Steven Spielberg didn't receive his college degree until 35 years after he started at California State University in Long Beach. He was famous and successful by the time he was handed his sheepskin. Unfortunately, a college diploma has become a litmus test for some voters on whether they will support a candidate. This year, two of the four Republicans seeking their partys nomination havent earned a bachelors degree. If either state Sen. Darren Bailey, of Xenia, or Gary Rabine, of Bull Valley, were to win the governorship, it would be the first time in 88 years that someone without at least a bachelors degree held that office. Rabine has only a high school diploma and Bailey has an associates degree in agriculture production from Lake Land College. Their opponents in the primary not only have degrees, but ones dripping with prestige. Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo graduated from Annapolis and later snagged a law degree from Southern Illinois University. And Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg has masters degrees from Oxford and Stanford. There are things I like about Bailey and Rabine and plenty I dont. But one thing I wouldnt lose a moment's sleep over is their lack of academic credentials. I'm much more concerned about a person's willingness to learn and their life experiences. Look no further than the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois. He never held a college degree but had a long and honorable career in politics and higher education. Even without a college degree, Simon was able to found the graduate program where I received my master's degree. He later went on to found what is now the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. While Simon didn't have a diploma nailed to his wall, he was well educated. He read Greek philosophers in his free time. As a young man, he went into business for himself and eventually owned a chain of 14 newspapers. That's an education in its own right. He was someone who not only read books but wrote them. Before Joe Biden, we had five consecutive presidents with degrees from Ivy League universities. And we still managed to get enmeshed in stupid wars, make staggeringly stupid economic decisions and witness personal moral lapses in the White House that had the rest of us shaking our heads. Do I care if a politician has a college diploma? Nope. But should they be educated? You betcha. Scott Reeder is a longtime statehouse reporter. He lives in the Springfield area and can be reached at scottreeder1965@gmail.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Time for you to ask these questions with a truthful answer! Do you believe everything Biden and his administration tell you? Is it time for Biden to resign? Is the border safe or we in danger of more crime? Why should student loan debt be cancelled; is it fair for those who paid for their children's education? Have we ventured extremely into climate control without proper knowledge of the consequences? Do you believe in the extreme left Democrat party and their beliefs? Is Biden capable to turn around inflation? Should the oil pipelines be turned-on and America becomes energy independent? Will you buy an electric car in the next 2 years at a cost of over $50,000? Do you want term limits in all government? Do you like WOKE? Can you vote for what is good for America rather than be a party junkie? Should the crazy state of California leave the union? Would we be better off if it did leave the union? Do you want definition of sex to be male or female, not some made-up definition? Do you want parents to voice their opinion to schools, colleges, on what is appropriate subjects? You need to count the positives and the negatives within yourself with truth and integrity. There are many philosophies, but what is of basic importance is compassion for others, concern for others suffering, and reduction of selfishness! Vote your conscience for the good of all that is true and safe for all Americans! The reaction by local Republicans to last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol largely reflected divisions in the party nationally. While many members of the GOP continue to support former president Donald Trump, others resent his influence, especially related to the insurrection. Dave Millage was chairman of the Scott County Republican Party on Jan. 6, 2021, and instantly was appalled by the violence that erupted at the capitol. "I was working at Republican headquarters that day. I sat there dumbfounded," he said this week. "Another person in the office that day was also watching and said, 'This needed to happen.' "Republicans are supposed to be the party of law and order." By the following day, Millage had called for Trump's impeachment. "I got about 20 notes from people who were glad I stood up and asked, 'When are we going to take the party back?'" he said. "There were more people who were upset. "Those who were upset wanted me to apologize. That's why I resigned." Millage left the county chairmanship, which he already planned to do when his term was set to expire the following month. He doesn't regret it. "To have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, that's what they're going to need," he said. "He's a cancer to the party. I'm still partisan. I'm still a Republican. "I was appalled by what occurred on 1-6, and I couldn't believe everyone else wasn't appalled." Millage's counterpart in Rock Island County, Republican Party Chairman Drue Mielke, referred to those who attacked the capitol as "terrorists." He said it was "infiltrators, possibly antifa," that were responsible. Short for anti-fascists, antifa is a group of far-left-leaning activists who endorse peaceful political protest as well as confrontation against racism. A year later, Mielke continues to deny the direct involvement of Trump supporters in the siege. While more than 700 people have been identified and charged with breaching the capitol and with other crimes, Mielke maintains he hasn't seen connections between those people and the former president. "I want to know who those 725 people are," he said. "Do we know they're not antifa? I don't know that." In the weeks following the riot, the FBI directly denied the conspiracy theory and said there was "no indication" that antifa was involved. Some of those who have been charged have specifically indicated in court that they took part in the attack at the behest of the former president. It appeared from Mielke's comments the day after the insurrection that he was aware that Trump supporters had likely led the charge. In response to Millage's call for impeachment, Mielke said, "If we want to divide the country and anger the Trump supporters more, then that's what we should do." In addition to denying the role of Trump or his supporters in the January 6 attack, Mielke also continues to bolster the belief some supporters had legitimate election-related grounds to lash out. He said, "there was a lot of voter fraud," especially in DuPage County, Illinois, and in Georgia. But he said he and other Rock Island County Republicans do not endorse the claims by others in the party that the election was stolen. "I'm not working on the 2020 election; we have a new election to win," he said this week. "My solution has always been to work toward reform." However, Mielke continued to assert there was widespread voter fraud in 2020. When asked for specific instances in which fraud has been proven, he said, "I can't go into detail now. "I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm just saying it's a concern." For Millage, the repeatedly disproved stolen-election theories that continue to circulate in his party are another reason to discredit the former president. "I think Trump has succeeded in brainwashing people into thinking the election was stolen," he said. "Four dead people voted in Georgia. That doesn't change the outcome." The two local Republicans agree on one aspect of the capitol riots: An investigation should have followed, but the January 6 commission as it stands is a partisan body with partisan intent. Two Republicans sit on the commission, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who represents Illinois' 16th Congressional district. "It's become a Democrat witch hunt," Millage said. However, Millage said he is relieved that an increasing number of other Republicans now are willing to acknowledge the riot at the capitol complex took place, which has been widely denied. "The problem is, people are still trying to sweep it under the rug," he said. "(The attack) has dimmed in the memory. We haven't learned anything, even though Trump's been a crook all his life." Mielke said some of the rioters may have been Trump supporters, but that doesn't make them Republicans. "Some are viewed as radicalized," he said. "Those people were acting out of anger. Our party doesn't act out of anger." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 11 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. After Chicago experienced its worst year of violent crime in more than two decades, Mayor Lori Lightfoot again sought to reassure residents that their safety is her top priority while also criticizing Cook County judges for pretrial releases of some alleged offenders. We must do more, Lightfoot said at police headquarters, after meeting with the Chicago Police Departments top brass. Our residents have a right to expect that they are gonna be safe in their home, in their car, while theyre at work, while theyre shopping, and while theyre living their daily lives. Lightfoot has repeatedly acknowledged that many Chicagoans dont feel safe, a dynamic that threatens public safety, residents mental health and the citys economy. But the mayors comments, which largely echoed a December address she gave on crime, did not break new ground or offer fresh strategies. Instead, Lightfoot and Chicago police Superintendent David Brown hit a series of familiar themes as they discussed spiking violence. In a 75-minute news conference, Lightfoot and Brown talked about the need to improve living conditions in neighborhoods, hire detectives to help solve crimes and work more closely with federal agents on investigations. Lightfoot also repeatedly criticized Cook County judges and bond reform, saying that there are too many violent criminals being let out on the street and reoffending, repeating her call from her December address for a moratorium on the use of electronic monitoring. That form of pretrial release uses ankle bracelets to keep track of defendants in criminal cases, some of whom the mayor has described as violent dangerous offenders. When is the criminal justice system in this county going to wake up? Lightfoot said. The mayor followed up on the request in a letter to Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans, which was obtained Tuesday by the Tribune. In the letter, dated Dec. 29, Lightfoot argues that while a mix of tactics must be used to address what causes violence, the ballooning release of violent and dangerous people on EM (electronic monitoring) is definitely one of those drivers. When Lightfoot first announced her request for the moratorium, the idea was immediately decried as unconstitutional by leaders in the criminal justice system, who also raised doubts that targeting this population of offenders would address Chicagos deeply entrenched crime problem, which is also understood to be a public health crisis. Those criticisms continued Tuesday. Evans, who said he received the letter over the holidays, issued his first public response, citing constitutional concerns around listing certain charges for which charged defendants could not be released. The mayors request seems to suggest that those who currently are put on electronic monitoring for certain accusations should instead be held in jail until trial, Evans said. Under the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions, a judge cannot hold someone pretrial without a finding that the defendant poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person. This must be found by clear and convincing evidence and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. The mayors proposal seems to require that defendants facing certain allegations be considered guilty until proven innocent. In the letter, Lightfoot, citing the most recent information available from the sheriffs office, said 3,400 people are currently released on electronic monitoring and that 2,300 have a crime of violence as their lead offense, including 90 accused of murder and 40 of attempted murder. The breakdown of charges also includes 1,480 gun possession cases, though most appear to include aggravating circumstances like being a felon in possession of a weapon. The letter also states that since the start of 2021, Chicago police have counted 130 cases in which people charged with violent crimes were released on monitoring and charged with another act of violence, including murder and vehicular carjacking. Included in that total is the person accused in the murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams. Evans, in his response, said he has asked Lightfoot for details on the 130 cases. But he also said that assuming that these numbers are accurate, they represent about 1 percent of all cases filings for violent and weapons offenses in Chicago in 2021. Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell also issued a statement. This idea that people on electronic monitoring are responsible for the violence in the city is just untrue, Mitchell said. The vast majority of people on electronic monitoring in Cook County are successful. They show up for their court appearances. They dont violate the terms of their pretrial release. They are not rearrested. Lightfoots meeting with police leaders and her subsequent speech on Tuesday were an attempt to hit the reset button after a bloody 2021. At police headquarters, Lightfoot said she told the departments leaders, No one can be comfortable with the way we ended the year. Lightfoot started last year with a similar message to the departments brass after an especially violent 2020. On New Years Day last year, Lightfoot sent an email expressing support for police leadership and a pledge to reduce crime. I think we all know that we must do exponentially better in this new year, and I am confident we will. My confidence is grounded in many things, but fundamentally it is grounded in my confidence in all of you, Lightfoot wrote in the email to Brown and other police officials, previously reported on by the Tribune. Far from improving, however, the city recorded even worse numbers in 2021. According to case data from the medical examiner released Monday, that office handled more than 1,000 homicides last year, including 836 in the city of Chicago. It was the first time the office had handled that many homicides since 1994. According to CPD, a total of 797 people were killed in the city, a figure not seen since 798 were slain in 1996. But that figure did not include cases of people shot and killed on city expressways, which are the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police, a number that pushed the Chicago statistic to the 800 mark at least. All told, there were at least 4,300 gunshot victims in the city in 2021, including those who suffered both fatal and nonfatal injuries, according to CPD data. Chicago aldermen have repeatedly expressed concerns , though they have sometimes clashed over how to best address the issue. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly texted Lightfoot in September that the city is losing downtown. The mayor has also faced pressure from high-ranking staff. Susan Lee, a top adviser to Lightfoot and former deputy mayor for public safety, resigned in August while raising concerns about the citys ability to keep moving the ball forward on its violence prevention efforts and the Police Departments consent-decree implementation. A month after Lee resigned, she co-wrote an article with Southwest Side Ald. Matt OShea in which they declared Chicago a city in crisis. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CHICAGO Leaders of Chicago Public Schools canceled classes Wednesday after the teachers union voted to refuse in-person instruction and switch to remote learning due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the latest development in an escalating battle over pandemic safety protocols in the nation's third-largest school district. Chicago has rejected a districtwide return to remote instruction, saying it was disastrous for children's learning and mental health, and the status of instruction for the rest of the week was in limbo. The union argued that the district's safety protocols are lacking, and teachers and students are vulnerable. Children in the roughly 350,000-student district returned to class Monday after a two-week winter break with COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations fueled by the omicron variant at record levels. School districts nationwide have grappled with the same issue, with most opting to stay open while ramping up virus testing, tweaking protocols and making other real-time adjustments in response to the shifting pandemic. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said the union planned to meet with district officials Wednesday afternoon. But he said teachers don't want to return to in-person instruction until the current surge has subsided. "We'd rather be in our classes teaching, we'd rather have the schools open. What we are saying though is that right now we're in the middle of a major surge, it is breaking all the records and hospitals are full," he said during a Wednesday morning news conference with other union officials, teachers and parents. The union's action, approved by 73% of members, called for remote instruction until "cases substantially subside" or union leaders approve an agreement for safety protocols with the district. The district said early Tuesday that classes would be canceled Wednesday if the union voted not to return to in-person instruction. Devices were not distributed to students ahead of the union vote, which was announced just before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Union members who tried to log into teaching systems Wednesday said they were locked out. District officials blamed the union for the late cancellation, saying despite safety measures including a high teacher vaccination rate, "our teachers are not willing to report to work." "We are deeply concerned about this decision but even more concerned about its impact on the health, safety, and well-being of our students and families," the district said in a statement. CPS leaders said a plan would come later Wednesday to "continue student learning" in the district, where students are largely low income and Black and Latino. School officials labeled the union action an "illegal work stoppage" and said those who did not report to schools Wednesday would not be compensated. Last year during a similar debate, the district punished teachers who did not come to schools. Keyonna Payton, a teacher at Park Manor Elementary School who also chairs its safety committee, said she taught remotely Monday and Tuesday because most of her students were at home under quarantine. Payton said she is vaccinated and boosted, and she has a child who attends classes in the district who is also vaccinated, but she's fearful of the variant spreading to her family, including her 91-year-old grandmother. "I'm doing my part to try to protect my children. However, I am afraid of this virus and variant because of how fast it is moving and spreading," she said during the Wednesday news conference. Danelda Craig, a parent who also spoke at the news conference, said she was "taken aback" by a suggestion from the city's public health commissioner that people could wear two masks to improve protection. Craig said most children struggle with one. "We want them to go to school," she said. "What we don't want is COVID with it." Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday that an increase in hospitalizations due to COVID has been driven by unvaccinated adults, and child hospitalizations remain "very rare." In a city with roughly 550,000 residents age 17 or younger, there was an average of seven daily hospitalizations in that age group between Thanksgiving and Dec. 29, she said. Of the 55 people age 5 to 17 hospitalized during that time, 46 were unvaccinated. There were no vaccinated youths age 5 to 11 hospitalized and no child deaths, Arwady said. Roughly 100,000 students and 91% of CPS' more than 47,000 staff in the district are vaccinated, according to the district. In Illinois, masks are required in indoor settings, including schools. While some significantly smaller, neighboring school districts have returned or plan to return to class this week, others have temporarily returned to remote learning. Niles Township High School District 219 in Skokie, just north of Chicago, switched to remote learning for the first two weeks of January due to staffing shortages, while the Lincoln Way district southwest of Chicago did so for one week, also due to staffing. In Chicago, the district proposed guidelines for individual school closures, saying safety measures like required masks, availability of vaccines and improved ventilation make schools among the safest places for kids to be. But the union, with roughly 25,000 members, has proposed metrics for districtwide closure, citing risks to students and teachers. A fierce battle took place last January over similar issues. The district said it has provided 200,000 KN95 masks to teachers, would allow schools to resume daily health screening questions for students and building visitors and would spell out metrics for closing individual schools. Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said buildings would remain open for "essential services," but not instruction. The district said food service and COVID-19 testing would be available at schools but after-school activities would be canceled. Associated Press writers Sara Burnett in Chicago and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DES MOINES With Iowas workforce still lagging behind the pre-pandemic level of filling jobs, lawmakers feel compelled to take action when they return next week to the Capitol for the 2022 legislative session but just how theyll do that is yet unknown. Legislative leaders acknowledged the need for more workers, which is an issue not unique to Iowa. They also acknowledged many different ways they could attempt to help address it: job training and preparation programs, boosting access to affordable housing and child care, cutting taxes or coaxing Iowans off unemployment and food assistance programs. But details were scarce in interviews with the governor and legislative leaders on how to proceed. Any plans, apparently, will have to wait to cement during the legislative session. I dont go anywhere, and the members of the (Iowa House Republican) caucus dont go anywhere, where that isnt probably the No. 1 topic of conversation Republican, Democrat, independent all across the state, said Pat Grassley, the Republican House speaker from New Hartford. Ive said any idea that anyone has needs to be looked at, Grassley said. That doesnt mean theyre all going to happen. That doesnt mean theyre all good ideas. But we have to be putting ideas on the table. While a shortage in filling jobs is not unique to Iowa, the issue persists here. In January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there were 1.68 million Iowans in the workforce, and the share of Iowans working was 70 percent, according to state workforce data. In November 2021, the last month for which state workforce data is available, there were 85,600 fewer Iowans in the workforce, and the share of Iowans working was down more than 3 percentage points, to 66.8 percent. It is a No. 1 issue that we hear when we travel the state, when we talk to Iowans, and we certainly want to do whatever we can from a legislative perspective to help that, said Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny. Whatever we can do to try to help those that dont have jobs get into the workforce, into jobs that are not just jobs but careers, that they can be successful. Gov. Kim Reynolds said she plans to introduce what she called a comprehensive bill to address the states workforce. That is all business and industry talked to me about when traveling the state, and in communities, I dont care what size, small, medium or large, Reynolds said. Workforce is by far their biggest issue. Reynolds announced her pending legislative proposal Tuesday during a session forum hosted by the Iowa Capitol Press Association. But said she does not intend to offer any details until next Tuesdays annual Condition of the State address. Its just an overall theme, because its impacting everything we do, Reynolds said. Reynolds did say her plan will involve working with refugee communities; helping underrepresented Iowans get job skills; supporting adult education; addressing access to affordable child care, housing and broadband internet; and making further changes to the states unemployment system. Reynolds and the state workforce development department already have implemented some changes to the unemployment system. Iowans receiving jobless benefits must now conduct more work search activities and work with a case manager, who will help Iowans receiving benefits conduct those work searches. A spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend said the department will defer to Reynolds on potential legislative solutions until after the governors address. Our goal with (the new unemployment program) is to give unemployed workers both extra help and extra incentive to find a new career path as quickly as possible, Townsend said in a statement issued with the earlier changes. Iowa needs its people working, and well do whatever we can to help get you there. Whitver said one way Senate Republicans will attempt to address a shortage is through the groups ongoing effort to get Iowans off government assistance and into the workforce. Republicans say the changes will help employers find workers and help those Iowans get jobs that will improve their lives. But critics contend changes to those programs could push out people who need that assistance in order to survive. Thats one thing that weve been big on for five years now, but its even more appropriate now, or more needed now with the lack of workers in almost every field, Whitver said. Jennifer Konfrst, the Democratic House minority leader from Windsor Heights, said lawmakers should put more funding into programs designed to help child care centers create more openings, support child care workers and create more access to affordable housing. Konfrst also criticized majority Republicans for over the past five years pursuing a conservative agenda that, she alleges, has made Iowa appear unwelcoming to people from other states who may have considered moving here. Workforce isnt something that gets fixed by one magic bullet solution. It gets fixed by making Iowa a place people want to move and people want to work, Konfrst said. Its not just one thing. And over the years, especially recently, the Legislature has introduced bills that make Iowa an unwelcoming place. Zach Wahls, the Democratic Senate minority leader from Coralville, also highlighted housing issues including at mobile home parks where rent has increased dramatically in recent years and child care. He also said Senate Democrats will advocate for continued investment in job training and preparation programs. Were going to focus on career and technical education, apprenticeships, making sure that we are investing in the last-dollar scholarship and community colleges, Wahls said. Those job preparation (programs), that bucket is a big one. The 2022 session of the Iowa Legislature is scheduled to begin Monday. The session does not have a defined end date, but funding for legislators travel and lodging expenses expires after April 19, the 100th day of the session. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 KANKAKEE A police officer who was killed at a northern Illinois hotel pleaded for her life before a man allegedly shot her with her own gun after she was disarmed during a struggle, a prosecutor said. Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, were shot on Dec. 29 while investigating a noise complaint regarding dogs barking in a parked car outside a Comfort Inn. Bailey remained hospitalized Monday and is fighting for his life, Kankakee County States Attorney Jim Rowe said during a bond hearing for Xandria Harris. Rowe said during Monday's hearing that Harris' co-defendant, 25-year-old Darius Sullivan, had his own gun and used it to shoot Bailey in the head after the officers knocked on the pair's hotel room door, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Rowe said Sullivan then allegedly shot at Rittmanic as she tried to run away before he chased her down a hallway and pinned her against a door. As Sullivan and Rittmanic scuffled, he said Sullivan called out to Harris and she helped him disarm Rittmanic. Rowe said the encounter was captured on Rittmanics body camera. He said Sullivan and Harris then allegedly stood over Rittmanic pointing guns at her as she lay on the floor, already shot once. Sgt. Rittmanic was pleading with them to, Just leave, you dont have to do this, please just go, please dont, please dont, Rowe said. She was desperately pleading for her life. While Harris held Sullivans gun, Sullivan allegedly fired two shots from what prosecutors believe to be Rittmanics gun, striking the sergeant in the neck area, Rowe said. Sullivan and Harris are charged with fatally shooting Rittmanic, 49, and critically wounding Bailey, 27. Sullivan, who was arrested in Indiana, is fighting extradition to Illinois. Rowe said his office will seek life sentences on the state charges. He has asked the Justice Department to review the case with the intention of pursuing federal death penalty charges. Illinois is not a death penalty state. Rowe said in a news release that there is recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty for the murder of a law enforcement officer and also precedent for pursuing it in non-death penalty states. A message seeking additional comment was left for Rowe on Tuesday by The Associated Press. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 After Chicago experienced its worst year of violent crime in more than two decades, Mayor Lori Lightfoot again sought to reassure residents that their safety is her top priority while also criticizing Cook County judges for pretrial releases of some alleged offenders. We must do more, Lightfoot said at police headquarters, after meeting with the Chicago Police Departments top brass. Our residents have a right to expect that they are gonna be safe in their home, in their car, while theyre at work, while theyre shopping, and while theyre living their daily lives. Advertisement Lightfoot has repeatedly acknowledged that many Chicagoans dont feel safe, a dynamic that threatens public safety, residents mental health and the citys economy. But the mayors comments, which largely echoed a December address she gave on crime, did not break new ground or offer fresh strategies. Instead, Lightfoot and Chicago police Superintendent David Brown hit a series of familiar themes as they discussed spiking violence. In a 75-minute news conference, Lightfoot and Brown talked about the need to improve living conditions in neighborhoods, hire detectives to help solve crimes and work more closely with federal agents on investigations. Advertisement Lightfoot also repeatedly criticized Cook County judges and bond reform, saying that there are too many violent criminals being let out on the street and reoffending, repeating her call from her December address for a moratorium on the use of electronic monitoring. That form of pretrial release uses ankle bracelets to keep track of defendants in criminal cases, some of whom the mayor has described as violent dangerous offenders. Chicago police Superintendent David Brown speaks on Jan. 4, 2022, at Chicago Police headquarters. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) When is the criminal justice system in this county going to wake up? Lightfoot said. The mayor followed up on the request in a letter to Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans, which was obtained Tuesday by the Tribune. In the letter, dated Dec. 29, Lightfoot argues that while a mix of tactics must be used to address what causes violence, the ballooning release of violent and dangerous people on EM (electronic monitoring) is definitely one of those drivers. When Lightfoot first announced her request for the moratorium, the idea was immediately decried as unconstitutional by leaders in the criminal justice system, who also raised doubts that targeting this population of offenders would address Chicagos deeply entrenched crime problem, which is also understood to be a public health crisis. Those criticisms continued Tuesday. Evans, who said he received the letter over the holidays, issued his first public response, citing constitutional concerns around listing certain charges for which charged defendants could not be released. The mayors request seems to suggest that those who currently are put on electronic monitoring for certain accusations should instead be held in jail until trial, Evans said. Under the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions, a judge cannot hold someone pretrial without a finding that the defendant poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person. This must be found by clear and convincing evidence and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. The mayors proposal seems to require that defendants facing certain allegations be considered guilty until proven innocent. Advertisement In the letter, Lightfoot, citing the most recent information available from the sheriffs office, said 3,400 people are currently released on electronic monitoring and that 2,300 have a crime of violence as their lead offense, including 90 accused of murder and 40 of attempted murder. The breakdown of charges also includes 1,480 gun possession cases, though most appear to include aggravating circumstances like being a felon in possession of a weapon. The letter also states that since the start of 2021, Chicago police have counted 130 cases in which people charged with violent crimes were released on monitoring and charged with another act of violence, including murder and vehicular carjacking. Included in that total is the person accused in the murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams. Evans, in his response, said he has asked Lightfoot for details on the 130 cases. But he also said that assuming that these numbers are accurate, they represent about 1 percent of all cases filings for violent and weapons offenses in Chicago in 2021. Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell also issued a statement. This idea that people on electronic monitoring are responsible for the violence in the city is just untrue, Mitchell said. The vast majority of people on electronic monitoring in Cook County are successful. They show up for their court appearances. They dont violate the terms of their pretrial release. They are not rearrested. Advertisement Lightfoots meeting with police leaders and her subsequent speech on Tuesday were an attempt to hit the reset button after a bloody 2021. At police headquarters, Lightfoot said she told the departments leaders, No one can be comfortable with the way we ended the year. Lightfoot started last year with a similar message to the departments brass after an especially violent 2020. On New Years Day last year, Lightfoot sent an email expressing support for police leadership and a pledge to reduce crime. I think we all know that we must do exponentially better in this new year, and I am confident we will. My confidence is grounded in many things, but fundamentally it is grounded in my confidence in all of you, Lightfoot wrote in the email to Brown and other police officials, previously reported on by the Tribune. Far from improving, however, the city recorded even worse numbers in 2021. According to case data from the medical examiner released Monday, that office handled more than 1,000 homicides last year, including 836 in the city of Chicago. It was the first time the office had handled that many homicides since 1994. Advertisement According to CPD, a total of 797 people were killed in the city, a figure not seen since 798 were slain in 1996. But that figure did not include cases of people shot and killed on city expressways, which are the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police, a number that pushed the Chicago statistic to the 800 mark at least. All told, there were at least 4,300 gunshot victims in the city in 2021, including those who suffered both fatal and nonfatal injuries, according to CPD data. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Advertisement Chicago aldermen have repeatedly expressed concerns , though they have sometimes clashed over how to best address the issue. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly texted Lightfoot in September that the city is losing downtown. The mayor has also faced pressure from high-ranking staff. Susan Lee, a top adviser to Lightfoot and former deputy mayor for public safety, resigned in August while raising concerns about the citys ability to keep moving the ball forward on its violence prevention efforts and the Police Departments consent-decree implementation. A month after Lee resigned, she co-wrote an article with Southwest Side Ald. Matt OShea in which they declared Chicago a city in crisis. DES MOINES Expressing frustration and overwhelming disappointment with the process, Ras Smith on Wednesday announced he was ending his campaign for governor of Iowa. Smith, a Democratic state legislator from Waterloo, in June 2021 became the first person to announce his bid to become the partys nominee to face Republican incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds in this falls general election. In his official campaign statement announcing the suspension of his campaign, Smith cited a drastic disconnect between the current political system and the people. I think frustration (with the process) may be like a symptom of the overwhelming disappointment, Smith said in an interview later Wednesday. Smith expressed frustration with the need to raise, at bare minimum, tens of thousands of dollars to run a statewide campaign, and how that requires a candidate to have access to donors who can contribute large sums of money to a campaign. That creates a system in which a small number of donors play an outsized role in determining which statewide candidates are given an opportunity to be competitive in a campaign, he said. Folks do not want the donor class making all the decisions as to whos viable, whos not, what race is worth investing in, Smith said. For me, what weve seen are things you can only see from the ground in a campaign. Smith said the process especially frustrated him as a Democrat because, he said, the party proclaims to have policies that support the working class and desires to produce working-class candidates for office. The people have to have a say, and it cant be pay-to-play, otherwise well find ourselves in circumstances where were not connecting with people, he said. It excludes so many people from not only the table, but from the story. We cant just have a few decision-makers at the table deciding whos winnable and whos not. It leaves no space at the table for new people or new ideas. Smiths exit leaves Deidre DeJear, a Des Moines businessperson and former candidate for Iowa secretary of state, as the lone Democratic candidate with statewide name recognition. Other candidates include Kim West, a lawyer and Democrat from Des Moines, and Robert Bond, an independent from Des Moines. While working with (Smith) over the past few years, I have seen his incredible commitment to public service and creating a better Iowa for all. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Ras has dedicated his life to public service and through his campaign he invited Iowans in and lifted up the voices of so many in our state, DeJear said Wednesday in a series of social media posts. As Ras heads back to the legislature next week, I am looking forward to the great work I know he will continue to do to move our state forward. Reynolds, the states first female governor, was promoted to the post in 2017 and won a full term in 2018 by just less than 3 percentage points. National political forecasters consider the race to start in her favor. Smith said he will turn his immediate focus to the 2022 session of the Iowa Legislature, which will begin Monday. He said he will decide his political future at a later date. Through redistricting, Smith was drawn into the same statehouse district as fellow Democratic Iowa Rep. Timi Brown-Powers. The next thing is cooking dinner for my family tonight. Ive got quite a bit of husband, dad and dad-dog duty to catch up on, Smith said. Ill spend some time with my family, have those conversations and figure out whats next. Chris Hall, a Democratic state legislator from Sioux City, has been rumored to be considering a run for governor. When reached Wednesday, Hall praised Smith but declined to comment on his own political plans. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush announced Tuesday he will conclude a three-decade congressional career next January, but said he would continue a lifetime in public service and activism by turning to his higher calling as a Baptist pastor to help shape minds and hearts. You can own your public service, but you can never own public office, said the South Side Democrat who started out as a political activist by cofounding the Illinois Black Panther party before winning a City Council seat in 1983 and becoming a member of Congress a decade later. For me, I have a higher calling and I am answering that calling, said Rush, dean of the states congressional delegation. The calling of my faith predominates my entire being. The decision by Rush to step down at the end of his 15th term set off a scramble among the South Side and south suburban elected officials in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District, which runs from Chicagos South Side through south and southwest suburbs and continues nearly to Kankakee. An open seat in Congress is a rare event and the districts solid Democratic demographics virtually ensures the winner can serve for years without challenge. Rush said he would make an endorsement of a potential successor in the June 28 Democratic primary but did not name a preferred candidate. He said making an endorsement was a show of leadership and that I think my appeal to my voters will have an affect on their decision when they go to the polls. Rush made his announcement at the historic Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, where the mutilated body of 14-year-old Emmett Till was displayed in an open casket after he was lynched while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955. Rush said he chose the church because it was a sacred place that shaped the contours of my own life and the lives of generations. He said he would continue to pursue a federal anti-lynching law as a top priority in his remaining days in Congress. The 75-year-old Rush said his decision to leave Congress was not a matter of cutting and running and that he would continue to speak out from the pulpit of his Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ on the South Side. The battlefield is my home and I will remain on the front lines of the battlefield, the congressman said, adding that he would preach with a priority on commonality over division. Rush criticized the polarized political climate in Washington but said it, like other aspects of life, has become rooted in an unending quest for power. Its not just Congress. Its in our faith community. Its in the business community. Everybody is looking for their advantage and the other person, disadvantage. Its all about whos in power, who isnt in power, he said. This power, narcotic, drug, that we find ourselves lapping up every day in our media and our lives and our culture, thats leading to the demise of our nation, he said. I lament the fact that we are such a partisan power-drunk government institution and thats one of the things that I want to try to do is to prioritize our commonality rather than our division. At the same time, Rush said that, away from the glare of TV cameras, we are some awesome people in Congress, and that he considers Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia one of my best friends in the Republican Party. Rush famously handed future President Barack Obama his only election loss in 2000 when the university professor and community activist challenged the veteran congressman. Rush said that knowing Obama was a better orator and perhaps more handsome, he avoided debating the young state senator during that campaign, which preceded an election he won by 30 percentage points. But noting that Obama is a former president with significant personal wealth, Rush jokingly asked, Who really won? Rush also spent some time talking about his early years in public life, saying he thought he would be dead before I was 30 as a result of his activism in the Black Panthers. He said he was supposed to have been at the groups West Side headquarters on Dec. 4, 1969, when a raid led by local prosecutors and state and federal law enforcement led to the assassinations of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. In a nod to the citys latest surge in violent crime, Rush said he plans to take a message to the gangways and alleyways and the streets of the city and tell young people, Dont give up hope, that you can survive, that there is a life in front of you. While the 1st Congressional District has been redrawn significantly over the decades, it has a storied place in Chicago and Illinois political history. Rush defeated labor leader Charles Hayes to take the seat. Hayes succeeded Harold Washington, later Chicagos first Black mayor. Others to represent the district include Ralph Metcalfe and William Dawson. The names of more than a dozen prospective candidates to succeed Rush have surfaced. Among them are members of the legislature and Chicago City Council. Legislative candidates face a greater risk in going for the seat, since all seats in the General Assembly are up for election this year and a state legislator would have to give up a chance for reelection to run in the congressional primary. Chicago aldermen arent up for reelection until 2023. Chris Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the safest political seats in the nation are typically U.S. House seats in reasonably homogenous urban or rural districts. The reelection rate for U.S. House members has long been over 90% often well over, Mooney said. As a result of long-term incumbency, it creates a pent-up demand among politicos living in a given congressional district. Each district holds countless school board members, mayors, city councilpersons, state legislators and other government officials who have demonstrated political ambition. In addition, there is also an unknown number of leaders of business, labor, social movements, etc., who might want to run for Congress, he said. And when a longtime member of Congress retires or dies, each of these people knows that it is perhaps now or never for their congressional ambitions. Mooney said he expects a full-blown scrum of contenders. Even if Rush backs a candidate later, the momentum of those other ambitious candidates will mean that the district is likely going to see a large, bloody and unpredictable primary for this seat, he said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 SPRINGFIELD Former U.S. Attorney John Milhiser announced Tuesday that he will seek the Republican nomination for Illinois Secretary of State, becoming the second member of his party and sixth candidate overall to jump into the race to succeed retiring Democratic incumbent Jesse White. Milhiser is believed to have the backing of billionaire Ken Griffin and other wealthy GOP donors, who plan to finance a slate of statewide candidates against Democratic incumbents in the 2022 election. "I am running because we can do better in Illinois," Milhiser said in a news release. "We can have good government. We can have safe communities, and we can rebuild trust in our leaders. As the next Secretary of State, I will continue to work to end the culture of corruption that has been fostered for decades in this state." Prior to that, Milhiser was the twice-elected Sangamon County state's attorney. He started his legal career in that office in 1997 and spent time in the juvenile, civil and felony divisions before entering private practice in 2003. He returned to the states attorneys office in 2008 as the first assistant. He was appointed to the top job in 2010 and elected in 2012 and 2016. Milhiser's entry means that both party's nominations for the office will now be contested. State Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican, announced his candidacy for the office in November. In response to Milhiser's entry, Brady released a list of more than 40 Republican state lawmakers who have endorsed his campaign. Brady also has the backing of U.S. Reps. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro; Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville; and Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap. Having Republican lawmakers support and guidance behind me is significant, Brady said. Their support will allow us to build an effective campaign infrastructure from Cairo to Waukegan as I prepare to share my message with voters in the months ahead. On the other side, four Democrats are vying for their party's nomination. They are former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias; Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia; Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell and Chicago Ald. David Moore. Valencia announced Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has endorsed her campaign, giving her the support of both of Illinois' senators. Sen. Tammy Duckworth endorsed her campaign last July. "Anna is an exceptional candidate, and I trust her to effectively lead an office which touches all of our lives," Durbin said. It's a boost for Valencia, who has fallen behind Giannoulias in money and endorsements from major unions and elected officials. But it isn't a huge surprise she was Durbin's campaign manager in 2014. Historically, the Secretary of State's office has been a stepping stone position for candidates seeking higher office, with two former officeholders, Republicans Jim Edgar and George Ryan, going on to become governor. Another, Democrat Alan Dixon, went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate. It is the most prominent statewide office outside the governors office, controlling more than 4,000 jobs and touching the lives of nearly every Illinois resident by issuing drivers licenses and registering motor vehicles. Other responsibilities include keeping official state records, maintaining the 20-building Capitol Complex and overseeing the state library. White has held the office since 1999, an unprecedented run. Though he considered retirement previously, the popular Democrat was convinced to stay on a few times, thus saving his party from an expensive open statewide race. Democrats, eager to hold the office this coming year, were quick to pounce on Milhiser's entry, calling the former prosecutor "the first pawn in the latest political game from Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin." "Rauner and Griffin are most famous for waging a disastrous four-year war on good government in Illinois, decimating our social safety net and nearly plunging our state into junk status," said Abby Witt, executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois. "Rauner and Griffin are now back, choosing their own slate of handpicked puppets instead of letting voters to have their say." Lee Enterprises and other outlets reported last month that Griffin has agreed to help fund a slate of candidates to the tune of $200 million to $300 million. A spokesman for Griffin did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday. Milhiser will likely lean into his prosecutorial background in the campaign, which could be an effective strategy as several Illinois elected officials as well as people connected with former House Speaker Michael Madigan stand trial on various corruption charges this year. Last year, Milhiser's office brought forward a litany charges against former state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, related to his alleged misuse of campaign money for personal expenses. McCann pleaded not guilty and will likely stand trial in 2022. State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, who succeeded McCann and previously worked under Milhiser in the state's attorney's office, said his former boss is "not afraid of confrontation for the public good." "John is definitely a skilled attorney and he was a very good boss," McClure said. "We're friends and he's done a lot of really great things including going after corruption in state government. The most prime example that, of course, is Sam McCann." McClure, however, is among the majority of Republican state elected officials who has endorsed Brady, saying he was not aware Milhiser planned to run before pledging his support. Milhiser did not return requests for additional comment Tuesday. He has yet to open a fundraising account for his latest campaign. Candidates for office can begin gathering signatures to get on the June 28 primary ballot later this month. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Former Iowa Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa of Council Bluffs has ended her Congressional bid and will instead run for state auditor. "With the encouragement of many Iowans, today Im announcing my campaign for state auditor, the Republican said in a release. I will be a taxpayer watchdog for Iowans and make sure that governments across our great state are using funds appropriately." State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, announced in December that he would run for a second term. Hanusa had been running for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District seat, currently held by Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne. With redistricting moving Council Bluffs to the 4th District, a seat held by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, Hanusa said she ultimately decided to shift her focus. "After the lines were redrawn, I had people who said they wanted me to run in the 3rd. I did look at the possibility of moving into the 3rd," Hanusa said. "But for a variety of reasons, it wasn't going to work. It just wasn't a good fit." Hanusa said she was approached in the fall about running for auditor and after talking to a number of people in local and state politics, she "decided this was something I'd be qualified for." Hanusa pointed to her 10 years in the Iowa Legislature when asked about the experience that's prepared her for the auditor role. Her time in office included two years on the House Government Oversight Committee, and in announcing her run she also pointed to work helping balance the state budget, working to increase transparency and supporting those with mental health needs. "The Auditor's Office is one of oversight of state government. There are a team of folks who perform audits on state and local and county governmental entities. It's a matter of having someone there that will watch carefully, oversee a team that makes sure Iowans' tax dollars are well spent and spent appropriately," she said. "Iowans work hard. We want those dollars to be used wisely." In announcing her run for state auditor, Hanusa highlighted endorsements from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. In the release, Reynolds commended Hanusa for working "hard fighting for the people of Iowa," while Grassley said, "She will work hard to protect Iowans' hard-earned money and help make sure government is accountable to the people." Ernst said Hanusa is "a proven leader when it comes to protecting Iowans' taxpayer dollars." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 (CNN) Pope Francis has criticized couples who choose to have pets instead of children as selfish, arguing that their decision to forgo parenthood leads to a loss of "humanity" and is a detriment to civilization. The pope made the comments Wednesday while speaking to a general audience about Saint Joseph, Jesus' earthly father. Francis was lauding Joseph's decision to bring up Jesus as "among the highest forms of love" when he veered into the topic of adoption and orphaned children today. He then turned his focus to couples who opt for animals instead of children. "We see that people do not want to have children, or just one and no more. And many, many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one, but they have two dogs, two cats ... Yes, dogs and cats take the place of children," the pope said. "Yes, it's funny, I understand, but it is the reality. And this denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity. And in this way civilization becomes aged and without humanity, because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood. And our homeland suffers, as it does not have children." The pope's remarks, though surprising coming from a progressive pontiff, echo the Catholic Church's teachings about the importance of couples either bearing or raising children and the potential demographic consequences of not doing so. Francis said that couples who cannot biologically have children should consider adoption. "How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them," Francis said. "Having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption. But it is riskier not to have them. It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual." Francis has had several animal-related dust-ups during his papacy. He made similar remarks about couples prioritizing pets in 2014. Comments he made in 2016 were interpreted as a pronouncement that animals go to heaven, but that analysis was later called into question. The pope has, however, been photographed with many animals over the years. He's been seen petting dogs, a koala and a tiger, holding birds and carrying a lamb on his shoulders. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Iowans are growing more frustrated with high property taxes. A majority of Iowans, 63.4%, believe that property taxes are too high. The concern over property taxes surpasses the rural-urban divide and political party identification. Taxpayers are often left wondering why they never see property tax relief or why their inquiries about high taxation go answered. Policymakers have an opportunity to finally address high property taxes and deliver tax relief by implementing a Truth-in-Taxation law. Utah and Kansas serve as the gold standard for taxpayer friendly Truth-in-Taxation laws. Kansas, which passed their law in 2021, is already seeing amazing results. Instead of collecting big increases from valuation changes, local officials must vote on and take responsibility for the entire tax increase they impose. Each year, the mill rate is reduced so that the new valuations deliver the same dollar amount of property tax revenue to local governments. If they want more, they must notify taxpayers of their intent in a mailing, hold a hearing to get public feedback, and then they must vote for the entire tax increase they impose. More than half of all cities, counties, townships, school districts, and special tax districts in Kansas decided to not increase property tax this year. Now that they must be honest about tax increases, officials presiding over 1,900 local government entities suddenly decided they could provide services a little more efficiently. Thats the power of honesty and transparency. There are no exceptions and no loopholes in the Kansas law. Local officials must go on record voting for a property tax increase if they want one. Iowa taxpayers will save hundreds of millions over time, just like taxpayers in Utah. According to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the owner of a commercial property in Des Moines valued at $1 million pays about $41,000 in property tax; that same property in Salt Lake City only pays $14,000. The owner of a $150,000 home in rural Hampton pays over $2,800 but that same home in rural Utah pays a little over $1,000. Too often, local governments claim a windfall from increased assessments, and the taxpayer is left wondering why their tax bill is higher. When questioned, local government officials argue that they are not to blame because they have not increased property tax rates. Too often blame is shifted to assessors and the true culprit in driving high property taxes is local government spending. Truth-in-Taxation corrects the "honesty gap" and forces local governments to justify why they need to increase taxes for higher spending. Prior to the passage of Truth-in-Taxation, Kansas had a property tax "lid," which was intended to control spending and tax increases, but too many budget lines were exempt, which made it inconsequential. Now, the new law prohibits backdoor increases from valuation and does not allow any exceptions or loopholes. This even includes new growth. In 2019, Iowa passed a property tax transparency and accountability measure, which was unfortunately referred to as a Truth-in-Taxation law. This law was a good reform, but in the most charitable form it could be considered a weak version of Truth-in-Taxation. The law only slightly improved transparency, while creating a low threshold for counties and cities to surpass the 2% soft budget cap. School districts were also exempt, which are the leading driver of property tax bills. Truth-in-Taxation applies to all local taxing authorities in Kansas and Utah. For too long property taxpayers have been ignored. It is time to restore honesty to the property tax process. Local officials will offer up a lot of objections to Truth-in-Taxation, but they are surely at least as capable as officials in Kansas, and they can make this work if they want. Ask them this: why shouldnt you have to be honest about the entire property tax increase you impose? John Hendrickson serves as policy director for Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation and Dave Trabert is the chief executive officer of the Kansas Policy Institute and author of "What was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan." Love 7 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A bill for the upcoming legislative session gives students the ability to take school districts to court if they encounter someone of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room or restroom. District 4 Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Florence, is the prime sponsor of the bill. Rapid City state legislators District 33 Rep. Taffy Howard, District 35 Rep. Tina Mulally and District 30 Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller are three of the nine lawmakers listed as sponsors of HB 1005. The bill would give students the ability to sue a school district if: The student encounters a member of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room, or restroom located in a public school building that has been designated for exclusive use by members of the students sex. An employee of the district gave the member of the opposite sex express permission to use the shower room, changing room, or restroom. The use was permitted in accordance with a school district policy. If a student were to prevail in court, they would be entitled to recover economic and non-economic damages, together with costs and reasonable attorney's fees, the bill reads. The same concept would apply to hotel rooms used during school activities. If students are required to be provided overnight sleeping accommodations for a school district sponsored or sanctioned event, rooms must be designated for use by members of the same sex. If any student is unable or unwilling, for any reason, to use a multi-occupancy room for overnight sleeping accommodations, in accordance with the designation set forth in this section, that student may file, with the school administrator, a request for reasonable accommodation. For purposes of this section, a reasonable accommodation includes assigning the student to a single room for overnight sleeping accommodations, the bill states. Nothing in this section precludes the use of a room for overnight accommodations by members of the same immediate family. HB 1005 gives a student private cause of action against a school district (that) expressly permits a student of the opposite sex to utilize, for overnight sleeping accommodations, a room that has been designated for use exclusively by members of the same sex. The bill states that any student unable or unwilling to use one of the designated multi-occupancy (spaces) has the option to file a request for a reasonable accommodation, which includes access to a single-occupancy shower room, changing room, or restroom, but does not include access to a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room, or rest room, which has been designated for the exclusive use of members of the opposite sex. Students whose requests for a reasonable accommodation are denied may appeal the decision to the school districts superintendent, then further appeal that decision to the school board. When contacted for comment on the proposed legislation, neither Deutsch, Howard, Mulally or Frye-Mueller could be reached. The legislative session begins on Jan.11. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 1 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 7 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A teacher and counselor at a high school for students with special needs is charged with sexually assaulting a girl after being discovered in a vehicle with her behind a vacant building in Arlington Heights, police announced in a news release Tuesday. Paul Castelli, 45, of the 1300 block of Carol Lane, Des Plaines, is charged with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, both Class 1 felonies, according to the release from the Arlington Heights Police Department. Advertisement On Jan. 2, Arlington Heights police officers were patrolling the area of Algonquin and Arlington Heights roads at approximately 6:45 p.m. when they saw a suspicious vehicle behind a vacant office building, the release states. Officers approached the vehicle and observed a man in the drivers seat, and also noticed a female in the back seat who appeared to be crying while in a state of undress, according to the release. Advertisement Police learned the man was 45 years old and the female was a minor, and immediately took the man into custody, the release states. We dont know what preceded this incident, said police Commander Joseph Pinnello. We dont have information on how long inappropriate relations went on between the teacher and the student. A Glenbrook High School District 225 official confirmed that Castelli works at the districts Glenbrook Off Campus School described on the SD225 website as a small day school for students with special needs. As of Tuesday afternoon, the site listed Castelli among eight Teachers/Case Managers at the school. A district spokeswoman told Pioneer Press that Superintendent Charles Johns sent a notice to GBOC parents stating that SD225 was made aware of the arrest by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Jan. 3 and immediately began an investigation. The superintendent stated in the notification the District is disturbed by this incident and arrest. The teacher has worked for the District for 5 years and has not been on campus since the incident and is currently on administrative leave. Staff is currently reaching out to all GBOC families by phone, Johns said in the notification. In addition, our school psychologists plan to meet with students to provide guidance and support. Pinnello said the girl had no other physical injuries that required medical attention. We dont have any other information to lead us to believe there are any other victims, Pinnello said when asked if this was an isolated incident. Advertisement Bond for Castelli was set at $50,000, and Cook County sheriffs office officials said he posted 10% and was released from jail. He is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 28 at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse. The superintendent said in the statement that SD225 is currently conducting its own internal investigation. In hiring employees, the District conducts a thorough review process that includes both state and federal background and fingerprinting checks. District 225 will continue to review its hiring and staff training processes to ensure that staff is fully aware of the Districts professional expectations, the law and their ethical obligation to safeguard children, Johns said in the notification. Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer. A second person has died from injuries sustained in a single vehicle crash on Christmas Day. Jade Fenhaus, 20, died Jan. 2. He was one of three occupants in an SUV when it crashed into a pole after leaving the roadway near the intersection of E. Highway 44 and Center Street. Another Rapid City man, 31-year-old Jamie Sayler, was also killed in the crash. Sayler was deceased upon arrival, according to the Rapid City Police Department. A third occupant was seriously injured in the crash and was transported to a hospital. The crash is under investigation and it is believed that alcohol and drugs are factors, according to a news release from the Rapid City Police Department. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 3 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Tucker Bedford will leave behind his wife of six months to spend almost a year with prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Bedford, a military police specialist with the South Dakota National Guard from Rapid City, will go on his first deployment with 110 other soldiers Thursday to take care of prisoners and be internal security at the detention facility in Cuba. Theres a lot of changes in my life, I moved and got married in June, so Im getting all that stuff prepared, Bedford said. Its hard with family stuff, trying to say goodbyes, but everybodys so supportive and it makes it so much easier with a lot of support. The soldiers will start their mission in Fort Bliss, Texas, and stay for about a month to get validated. The troops will spend about nine months in Guantanamo Bay, then head back to Fort Bliss for another month to check on the soldiers physical and mental health, and if they are ready to reenter the civilian world or the National Guard with "off of active duty" orders. Unit commander Capt. Patrick Moran said they received orders about 16 months ago and went into training. During a deployment ceremony Wednesday morning at The Monument in Rapid City, Moran said the 235th Military Police Company has been busy since 2020. The company prepared to deploy in June 2020 to assist in Minneapolis, but were not sent. They ended up providing security for riot control in Pierre, Sioux Falls and Rapid City. In July, they worked with the Air National Guard security forces and local law enforcement for President Donald Trumps July 3 visit. Moran said thats the first time South Dakota National Guard soldiers were armed in the United States since the 1970s. The company was also placed on active duties for medical transport teams and vaccination mission teams in November, then deployed to the presidential inauguration in January 2021. Moran said no South Dakota unit has ever gone on mission to Guantanamo Bay, but knows theres no task too difficult the 235th Company, which has the motto "Guardians Over Glory," cant handle. Gov. Kristi Noem, along with U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender, spoke at the ceremony. Noem said she knows the company will serve with excellence and treat people with respect. You will do your job and you will make sure that you never lose sight of the fact that what youre doing by securing that location is that youre keeping America safe and youre keeping South Dakota safe, she said. Noem, Johnson and Allender all thanked the soldiers for their service, and thanked employers and families for their support. Were sitting amongst warriors, were sitting amongst patriots who are going and willing to sacrifice everything for us, Noem said. Lets find what we can do in the next several months to go above and beyond to be warriors for the people around us to serve them, to help support them and support the family members who will be missing a very important part of their family through these coming months. Johnson said he knows no words can fully convey the depth of his gratitude, but hopes the soldiers can sense how thankful and appreciative he is for their service. Moran said the companys mission wont involve dodging bullets across the battlefield, but it will involve battling complacency, mental health challenges, striving for attention to detail, and awareness on a daily basis. Were down there by ourselves, you cant have visitors, you cant have a cell phone when youre in the facility, youre disconnected from all the technology (in the) world that we live in, he said. That plays a little bit on soldiers nowadays and we have to kind of battle that complacency of doing the same thing over and over again. Bedford said he heard it will be a difficult deployment, but knows the 235th is a good unit that has close friendships. That really helps, and theres always people to talk through any hard feelings or any hard times that youre having, he said. The 235th is anticipated to return to South Dakota in November. Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Makayla Oligmueller, a registered nurse at Monument Health Rapid City Hospital Pediatrics, has received the national DAISY Award, according to a news release from Monument Health. The award is presented to nurses who go above and beyond for their patients and community. She was nominated by a patient. During the patients stay in the hospital, she felt like she was in a very dark place, according to the account from Monument Health. The patient had been going through some difficult times, and her daughter called the nurses' station to express her concern. Makayla spoke with the patient, listening as she explained some of her experiences, then opening up about some of her own. She told me she was off the next three days, but if I needed her, I just had to tell one of the nurses and she would come in, wrote the patient. The fact that someone that didnt even know me would do that for me made me reach way down and find the strength to find my way back. The patient also went on to write, Ive had several surgeries and Ive never had nurses that made me feel so cared for. The DAISY Award recognizes the outstanding professionalism and compassion that nurses bring to patients and families every day. It was established by the DAISY Foundation in California in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 of an autoimmune disease. DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system. Nurses in Rapid City are selected 12 times a year for this recognition. Nurses are also honored in Custer, Lead-Deadwood, Spearfish and Sturgis. To nominate someone, visit monument.health/daisy. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to move to a 10-point grading scale beginning next school year. The vote followed comments from five members of the public about the impending vote, four of whom expressed support for the change. The boards two current student representatives, Abby Rutan from Rapid City High School and Hayden Bentz from Stevens High School, also expressed support for the new grading scale. Student representatives are not voting members of the board. The new scale will replace the districts current seven-point grading scale. A 10-point grading scale will mean that a student moves into the "A" range with a 90%, a "B" range with an 80%, and so on. It is what the majority of students, parents and staff would like to go to, said board member Amy Policky. And as I have researched, it seems like the 10-point scale is more common across the United States. The district has reported surveys conducted last school year and this past fall indicating a majority of teachers in favor of the change. Addressing one of the arguments against the 10-point scale, Policky added: I dont think changing our grading scale necessarily changes our desire for a culture of excellence. I think changing the way we think about learning and helping students learn and using grades to inform their learning is really what creates a culture of excellence. Rutan said that the 10-point scale offered more clarity than the current seven-point scale. Its easier to follow and understand, she said. Talking with learners at Rapid City High School, Ive heard a lot of support for this change. Bentz said the change could fuel greater motivation among students whose performance lies on the border, between grades. In terms of motivation, perhaps theres a case to be made that theres more motivation for a student who was maybe a B student but who could now be an A student, he said. They may now have motivation to reach that level of academic excellence. Several board members, referring to a discussion last fall about grading, expressed a desire to go beyond the movement to a 10-point scale and also to examine grading practices. Valerie Seales, director of teaching, learning, and innovation for the district, told the board that the decision regarding the grading scale provided a necessary first step for further changes. She said she intended, with other district staff members, to address a broader set of grading practices. We wanted to have a final answer on the grading scale before we went on to the rest of the policy, which is the grading practices, as I would call it, she said. After the meeting, Seales explained more about the next steps. Practices under consideration, she said, included the ways in which late or missing work is handled. A more expansive approach to such work may be necessary, she said, especially considering the extended illnesses weve been experiencing. She also cited a re-examination of assigning zeroes for assignments. Both issues along with several others were discussed at a Board of Education study session last fall. Well try to implement those into the policy, Seales said on Tuesday. Ill take them to my senior leadership team first for review, and then it goes to a board policy committee. She said such changes may appear on a Board of Education agenda in about a month, now that the movement to a 10-point grading scale has been established. The changes, she said, will take place at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year. The board passed a number of other measures Tuesday, including the establishment of the upcoming school board election for June 7. These positions are scheduled to be up for a vote: the representative for Area 3 for a 3-year term, the representative for Area 6 for a 3-year term, and the representative for Area 2 for a 2-year term. Nominating petitions may be obtained from the school business office between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. beginning March 1, according to a report from the school district thats attached to Tuesdays meeting agenda. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. What started out as a routine traffic stop for an expired dealer's tag turned into a potentially life-threatening situation for a Rapid City police officer, who was dragged by the vehicle for a short distance after one of the vehicle's occupants attempted to flee the scene. The incident happened around 2:50 p.m. on Sunday in the area of E. Boulevard and Omaha Street after officers pulled over an SUV, according to a news release from the Rapid City Police Department. The officers then asked the driver of the SUV, Amanda Hoftiernan of Rapid City, and her passenger, John Challender of Box Elder, to exit the vehicle after discovering vehicle's registration to be altered and forged. Hoftiernan refused to exit the vehicle and had to be removed by officers, at which time Challender slid into the driver's seat and attempted to flee, according to the release. "While trying to stop the male from fleeing, the officer was dragged by the vehicle a short distance," the release states. "The officer was able to free himself from the vehicle when it struck a curb; however, the vehicle ran over the officer's legs." The vehicle was stopped a short distance away where officers arrested Challender for aggravated assault on law enforcement, obstruction, impersonation to deceive law enforcement, and two counts of possession of a methamphetamine. Challender also had six outstanding arrest warrants. Hoftiernan was also arrested for obstruction, alteration of registration card, and no proof of insurance. Brendyn Medina, spokesperson for the Rapid City Police Department, said the injured officer escaped with only a few scratches from the incident. "This is another example of just how quickly a routine traffic stop can escalate to a life-or-death scenario for our officers," Medina said. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 7 Sad 0 Angry 7 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The United Way of the Black Hills has extended its fundraising deadline to Jan. 31 for its 2021-2022 campaign. The campaigns goal is to raise $2,112,000 to benefit nonprofit organizations in the Black Hills. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Black Hills community in their support of our campaign thus far. Right now, we are $150,000 short of our goal for the year, which means we wont be able to help as many organizations that serve our friends and neighbors in the Black Hills every day, said Jamie Toennies, UWBH executive director. UWBH serves Rapid City, Sturgis, Northern Hills (Belle Fourche, Deadwood/Lead and Spearfish) and the Southern Hills (Custer, Edgemont, Hill City, Hot Springs and Keystone). By region, UWBHs 2021-2022 fundraising goals are: Rapid City $1,800,000; Sturgis $93,000; Northern Hills $130,000; and Southern Hills $89,000. All funds raised stay in the Black Hills. Donations to UWBHs 2021-2022 fundraising campaign can be made online at unitedwayblackhills.org/, by mailing donations to the UWBH office, 621 6th St., Suite 100, Rapid City, SD 57701, by calling 605-343-5872 to make a donation over the phone, or by texting UWBH to 40403 to donate. If theyd like to make a pledge they pay off (in 2022), they can call us or send in a note to that effect and we can bill them monthly, quarterly or annually. Theres several ways to give to help support the community, Toennies said. Donations to UWBH support more than 50 organizations and resources that serve the Black Hills area through mental health services, affordable housing, financial education and literacy, access to quality and affordable early childhood education, emergency shelter for domestic violence victims and more. These are community dollars we reinvest back into our local community. We support nonprofit organizations and libraries and schools who are helping meet our communitys greatest needs, Toennies said. Funds raised aid individuals and families in the Black Hills such as Melissa. Melissa visited the Community Health Center of the Black Hills because of a health issue. At the time, she was unemployed and homeless sometimes staying in a tent, in her car and or a motel with her multiple children. In addition to helping with her health, CHC staff connected her with resources at other nonprofits like Feeding South Dakota. Today, Melissa has an apartment, a job, and shes started receiving consistent medical care at CHC. We recognize this has been a unique and trying year for so many, and we want to be able to help as much as we can. This is only possible if we hit our fundraising goal, so we have extended our campaign deadline to Jan. 31 in the hopes that individuals will find it in their hearts to give just a bit more to make a difference in someones life, like Melissa, Toennies said. After nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofits continue to adapt and find new ways to fulfill their missions and serve their clients, Toennies said. The strain of the uncertainties are still there (for nonprofits and clients). Many nonprofits are still seeing an increase in demand for services. Its a lingering impact. The nonprofits are amazingly resilient. They are finding innovative and amazing ways to serve communities in spite of the pandemic, she said. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Canada geese perch on ice shelves along the Clark Fork River and fluff up their down jackets against the cold. Its been quieter in recent weeks for geese and men along the stretch of river near Perkins Lane. Phase 3 of Superfund cleanup began there in spring and will move incrementally along the river and eventually end about half-way to the Galen Road. Phase 3 work continued through summer and fall and just recently paused for the Christmas and New Years holidays. The project is said to be ahead of schedule, but with a lot of excavation and hauling remaining. During summer and fall, trucks fitted with side dump trailers waited as excavator operators filled the trailers with contaminated soils. The trailer loads were hauled a comparatively short distance and dumped in a repository in the Opportunity Ponds. The company doing the work was Missouri River Contractors and its employees labored long hours during the summer days of prolonged light. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is the lead agency for the Clark Fork site. It consults with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and coordinates with the state Natural Resource Damage Program. Tim Reilly, an environmental scientist with DEQ, is the new project manager for the upper Clark Fork cleanup. He reported Tuesday that about 260,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils and materials have been transported to the repository in the Opportunity Ponds. Roughly 300,000 cubic yards remain to be removed, Reilly reported. The contractor is currently ahead of schedule, he said. DEQ anticipates completing Phase 3 cleanup in 2022. Longtime DEQ employee Joel Chavez has served as project manager of the Clark Fork cleanup. He also supervised the remediation of Silver Bow Creek west of Butte, a project whose outcome was generally celebrated transforming a nearly lifeless stream to a recovering ecosystem. Chavez retired Dec. 31. There has been controversy about previously completed cleanup work along the Clark Fork River. Some observers have felt the DEQs approach has been too aggressive, leading to removal of metals-tolerant riparian vegetation and of stream bank structures favored by the rivers declining population of brown trout. The DEQ has responded by saying the agency saves vegetation and river structures conducive to trout habitat when and where it can, noting, however, that its primary mission is to remove contamination. The EPAs Clark Fork River Operable Unit stretches from the rivers headwaters near Warm Springs to the former Milltown Reservoir east of Missoula. But the majority of the cleanup will occur from Warm Springs downstream to Garrison a section of roughly 45 miles referred to as Reach A. Pollutants include heavy metals cadmium, copper, zinc and lead and arsenic. A catastrophic flood in 1908 washed contaminants downstream. The target is removal of tailings in the streambanks and floodplain that harbor the contamination from historic mining, milling and smelting activities upstream by the Anaconda Company. The tailings and toxic sediments have accumulated along the river for more than 100 years. Atlantic Richfield purchased the Anaconda Co. in 1977. Three years later, Congress passed the legislation creating the federal Superfund program. And Atlantic Richfield became responsible for addressing the massive pollution left behind by the once-powerful company that mined and smelted ore. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A lack of signatures has ended an effort to reverse a new state law and once again require any proposed nuclear power project to be put to a public vote. Carole Mackin of the Peoples Power League, which was the driving force behind Ballot issue #7, IR-126, filed in May with the Montana secretary of states office, said there was not simply enough time to gather the nearly 35,000 signatures needed to get the referendum on the November ballot. The referendum was found insufficient Oct. 29, the Montana secretary of states office said. Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, the sponsor of House Bill 273 that the Peoples Power League opposed, said he would like to meet with Mackin to discuss nuclear power, adding he shares some of her concerns. He said he opposes uranium or plutonium reactors as well. It is win-win, and the winner there is Montana, he said. Mackin said Tuesday in an email that Republican legislators apparently had no idea that in repealing I-80, they were repealing the 50-megawatt exception it contained. She said I-80 was designed to regulate mega-Three Mile Island-type reactors. She did not comment on Skees' offer to talk. In 1978, the People's Power League got a ballot referendum passed that put proposed nuclear power plants up to a public vote. It was overturned by HB 273 in the 2021 Legislature, and the governor signed the bill into law. Skees, in arguing for HB 273, said it still leaves the decision of nuclear power plants in the hands of the Montana citizenry, but through its elected officials. He said lawmakers could have more deliberative, focused discussion. Those who opposed HB 732 said it was overreaching and went against the will of the people. He said the proposed referendum by the Peoples Power League was an example of the very thing he warned about while arguing in favor of HB 732, that radical elements on the both sides would spend money to sway voters. Mackin said in an earlier interview she had suspected from the beginning there was not enough time to get all the signatures. She also said she would focus on making nuclear reactors an election talking point, noting that Skees is running for a Public Service Commission seat. Also running for that seat are Republican Joe Dooling and Democrat Kevin Hamm, both of Helena. "I will make sure this comes up during the election," she said. Skees said Monday the nuclear power industry has made great strides in terms of safety. HB 273 was often mentioned in the same breath during the legislative session as Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Terry Gauthier, R-Helena, which required a legislative committee to review over the interim the possibility of small modular nuclear reactors. Gauthier has said the small modular nuclear reactors will fit into the footprint of the coal-fueled Colstrip Power Plant and the turbines can be fitted with the new reactors. Talen Energy and Puget Sound Energy shut down Colstrip units 1 and 2 in early 2020 because they were no longer economically viable. Units 3 and 4 remain in operation, though four of the power plant's owners face coal power bans in Washington and Oregon beginning in 2025. Gauthier's resolution states the closure of coal-fired power plants will result in negative impacts on the Colstrip community, and coal-fired boilers could be replaced by an advanced nuclear reactor that would provide clean, well-paying jobs. Skees said Colstrip is a community begging for a new type of industry and he is working with federal lawmakers on getting a federal grant to build a small, modular nuclear reactor. Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 China to practice list-based management for all items requiring administrative approval, implement category-based management of corporate credit risks Xinhua) 08:30, January 05, 2022 BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China will practice list-based management for all items requiring administrative approval, to regulate the exercise of power and provide more benefits for enterprises and more accessible services to the public, as decided at the State Council's Executive Meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday. The meeting also decided to implement category-based management of corporate credit risks to make oversight fairer and more efficient. "Both decisions are aimed at fostering a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, continuing to deepen the reform of government functions and lowering government-imposed transaction costs, which are of great significance," Li said. "They are also required by the urgent needs at present as the market expectations now are relatively weak." The meeting adopted the List of Items Requiring Administrative Approval Stipulated by Laws, Administrative Regulations and State Council Decisions (2022 Edition). The meeting required all provinces, cities and counties to complete compiling their own lists of items by the end of the year, which shall put on the lists all the items requiring administrative approval as stipulated by law. The essential information elements covered by the lists should be broadly unified across the country to see that the same approval item will be processed according to the same standards across different regions. The list compiled by a locality should not go beyond the scope of the list made by its higher authorities. The meeting stressed that governments at all levels and competent departments must strictly follow the lists in exercising administrative approval. Procedures will be open and transparent, to allow companies to shape sound expectations. Implementation protocols shall be formulated for each and every item on the lists. Approval requirements, application materials, approval procedures and charging rates shall be clearly identified and released to the public. No additional conditions or restrictions should be imposed during implementation. No administrative approval shall be required or implemented against the law over any item outside the lists. Disguised approval requirements in various names shall be overhauled, and the people responsible will be held to account. Oversight will be intensified as stipulated by laws and regulations. Efforts will be made to specify, under each administrative approval item on the lists, the overseeing entities, key links, regulatory rules and standards. Priority will be given to oversight in the areas directly concerning public safety and health or possessing major potential risks. Service efficiency will be bolstered. Practices including notification and commitment, integrated services and one-stop on-line services will be promoted in implementing administrative approval, to make it easier for businesses and citizens to access government services. "Lower and predictable government-imposed transaction costs will enhance public confidence in the market and better unlock market vitality and social creativity. Rolling out these two polices now are enabled by the groundwork laid in the past," Li said. "We must stringently implement list-based management and ensure that market players are not disturbed over any item outside the lists, so that they can compete on a level-playing field in an open and transparent market environment." To foster a market climate of honesty, good faith and fair competition, category-based management of corporate credit risks will be pursued in accordance with laws and regulations. Well-calibrated regulatory measures including oversight conducted through the random selection of both inspectors and inspection targets and the prompt release of results will be adopted to see that regulation will not stand in the way of honest businesses while making those of bad faith pay the price. "Credit is the cornerstone of a market economy. Regulation will not stand in the way of honest businesses. Market entities of bad faith or with a poor credit record will face more frequent and stringent regulation and supervision," Li said. A sound system of indicators for categorizing corporate credit risks will be formulated. Information will be collected in a timely manner involving business registration, record filing, administrative approval, administrative penalties and inclusion in the catalogue of business anomalies and the list of entities with serious acts of bad faith. On that basis, enterprises of all forms of ownership will be categorized according to their levels of credit risks on an equal basis. The results of categorization will be used to make regulation more effective and to guard against behaving irresponsibly and arbitrary law enforcement. The proportion and frequency of sampled inspections will be reduced for enterprises with low risks, while those with high risks or with poor credit records will face targeted, increased random checks and on-site inspections. Inter-agency coordination will be intensified, to exercise whole-process supervision on a priority basis over sectors that bear on public health and safety, such as food, drug and special equipment. Sound and effective oversight of new industries and new business forms and models will be explored, to leave room for their growth while ensuring full safety and security. Risk monitoring and early warning will be enhanced. Big data analysis, monitoring of key indicators and other methods will be employed to identify anomalies and risks of enterprises as early as possible, alert the enterprises concerned as appropriate and front-load regulation and supervision, to defuse latent risks. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Du Mingming) Sunlight shines through sheets of ice on the shore of Jackson Park Outer Harbor in Chicago on Jan. 11, 2022. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) Bundle up, Chicago. A cold front on Wednesday will bring temperatures in the upper teens and a wind chill factor in the single digits that will last until the weekend, forecasters say. Wind gusts of 25 to 30 mph and temperatures around 32 degrees were expected Tuesday evening, but by Wednesday morning, temperatures will drop into the upper teens, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Leatherwood. Advertisement The cold front coming overnight Wednesday may also bring snow flurries. The main concern is that we have possible blowing snow that may cause restrictions to visibility, Leatherwood said. Advertisement Though the temperatures will be in the upper teens on Wednesday, Leatherwood said some wind chill factors will bring temperatures down to the lower single digits, possibly approaching zero. The cold temperatures are going to be here awhile in the single digits, Leatherwood said. Towards Rockford, there may be wind chills around minus 5 to 7 (degrees). On Thursday, temperatures will remain in the single digits with a high in the midteens, according to Leatherwood. Winds and cold air will continue. By Friday morning, the temperature will be zero and may fall below zero, with high temperatures in the lower teens, according to Leatherwood. A lot of cold air is going to be moving in over the next few days into the weekend, Leatherwood said. There may be a slight warming trend and when I say slight, I mean temperatures that may be barely above freezing. Richmond police seized 12 firearms and made 10 arrests on New Years Eve as part of a larger operation aimed at stopping violent crime. Operation Red Ball, the designation given to the 90-day initiative, was prompted by a drive-by shooting in November that killed 14-year-old Rahquan Ompa Logan and 9-year-old Abdul Bani-Ahmad and wounded two men outside OMG Convenience Store at the corner of Creighton and Nine Mile roads. So far, the operation has netted 87 felony charges, 19 misdemeanors and 40 guns, according to Maj. Ronnie Armstead, including those from the various incidents on Dec. 31. All we did was go from hotspot to hotspot, to different locations, targeting violent individuals, targeting violent crimes, targeting weapons, Armstead said in a Zoom interview Tuesday explaining the operations name, Red Ball, which has been used by the department in the past for similar targeted enforcement efforts. Idea was to put a stop to it ... like a red light. Armstead said the 12-officer task force has worked 20 days of the 90-day period, which continues into 2022. Richmond ended 2021 with the highest number of homicides 91 in 17 years, according to law enforcement officials. However, the total number of slayings in 2021 is 101, including what police consider justified or self-defense killings or accidental deaths. In an interview last month, Police Chief Gerald Smith said the operation would focus on combating retaliatory violence between neighborhoods. The deadly quadruple shooting that launched the operation involved conflict between Mosby and Creighton courts, according to law enforcement officials. The New Years Eve incidents show a broader reach into neighborhoods across the city. At least three of the arrests stemmed from calls for celebratory gunfire, Armstead said. Locations ranged from Walmsley Boulevard and Hillside Court in South Richmond to Creighton and Whitcomb courts, public housing neighborhoods in Richmonds East End. These are high-crime areas, high-violence areas, said Armstead, adding that they would continue to target these areas for the duration of the operation. AR-style rifles and multiple handguns, some equipped with extended magazines and clips, as well as drugs and cash were seized on Dec. 31, according to the department. Charges ranged from carrying a concealed weapon and reckless handling of a firearm to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possessing a firearm while in the possession of narcotics, Armstead said. But police would not provide the names of those charged, nor list all of the specific charges, citing the ongoing investigation. Armstead encouraged community members to report illegal firearms to the police, and said tipsters could earn up to $1,000 through the GUN250 program. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000. After allowing some unvaccinated students to remain on campus last semester, Virginia Commonwealth University is starting the spring semester with a tougher policy: Students must be vaccinated against COVID-19, including booster shots, unless they have an exemption. Last fall, VCU allowed unvaccinated, unexempt students to take in-person classes and live in dormitories if they completed weekly testing. But that option wont be available this semester when classes start Jan. 18. Students who arent fully vaccinated and dont have a religious or medical exemption are barred from registering for classes. Though most colleges across the states are planning to start the spring semester on time and in person, the omicron variant is challenging their ability to do so. Some classes may begin remotely if students or professors cant attend in person, and schedules are subject to change. When VCU announced a vaccine mandate for students and employees last summer, it came with a caveat: Students who didnt comply with the policy wouldnt be withdrawn from the school. Instead, a hold would be placed on their account, restricting them from adding or dropping classes. Student who had their schedule set could continue with fall classes unvaccinated. This move generated some pushback from faculty, some of whom said they were hesitant to enter a classroom with unvaccinated students. In response, VCU adjusted its policy, allowing noncompliant students to stay on campus if they completed weekly COVID testing. In early September, there were 450 students who either lived on campus or attended in-person classes who also did not have a vaccine or approved medical or religious exemption, which is less than 2% of the school population. Still, not every student agreed to be tested, and VCU withdrew 70 students from the university for not completing testing, university spokesperson Michael Porter said this week. Those students are eligible to return if they agree to the universitys vaccine and testing policies. About 200 students stayed in compliance throughout the fall semester by undergoing mandatory testing, Porter said. When the fall semester ended, 95% of students were fully vaccinated, and 4% had received exemptions. The university announced last week that students and staff eligible for booster shots must receive one and report it to VCU by Feb. 1. Evidence suggests that patients who receive booster shots experience a more mild illness than those without boosters. This semester, masks will still be required indoors, and unvaccinated, exempt students will have to undergo weekly tests. Adding a booster requirement was a popular move made by Virginia colleges. The University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, the College of William & Mary and Virginia State University added the requirement in the past two weeks. Virginia Union has not announced a booster requirement. As we shift from a pandemic to an endemic state, we will need to retool in a way that allows us to live with the reality of the virus, said Amy Sebring, chief operating officer of William & Mary. Academic schedules arent set in stone. Randolph-Macon College, which originally planned to begin in-person classes for its January term Wednesday, pushed back its schedule by a week. To make matters worse, the snow impeded the university from receiving all its COVID test results on time. The aggressive, highly contagious omicron variant is proving to be as formidable as we feared, already causing our best-laid plans to go somewhat awry, Macon president Bob Lindgren wrote to the community. Macon said recently it is still considering a booster requirement. While John Tyler Community College, which is changing its name to Brightpoint, wont begin its semester until Jan. 18, it plans to operate largely in a remote fashion until then, the college announced Wednesday. The University of Richmond is not requiring boosters for all students, but it is asking students who have gotten one to report it to the university. While UR says it requires students and employees to be vaccinated, it allows an exemption based on personal convictions strongly and sincerely held by the person seeking the exemption. UR will require students to test negative before moving on campus. It will accept a PCR test taken within three days of arriving to campus or a rapid antigen test taken within two days of arrival. URs spring semester begins Monday, and the university acknowledged that obtaining a COVID test can be difficult now. Rapid take-home tests are hard to find in Richmond-area stores, PCR tests at pharmacies often must be scheduled a week in advance, and mass testing events sometimes requiring waiting in an hours-long line. We do not want access to a test to prevent students from returning to campus on time, three administrators wrote to students this week. Students unable to find a test, despite their best efforts can contact the school for help. And because the positivity rate is so high right now currently above 30% its possible students wont be able to immediately attend in-person classes. Classes might have so many students absent that remote teaching may be the better option for a particular class session, the administrators wrote. UR also asked students to limit their social gatherings and not attend off-campus events for at least three weeks into the semester. Team Henry Enterprises, the Newport News-based contractor that recently finished dismantling the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, will soon take down the A.P. Hill statue and up to nine other monument pedestals in the city. After issuing a request for bids last month, the city on Wednesday published a notice saying it will award the contract to Team Henry, which bid $1.5 million on the project. Procurement records say the project will involve the removal of the A.P. Hill monument, his buried remains underneath it, and up to nine other monument pedestals. The documents specifically mention the monuments of Confederate Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Libby Hill Park and the statue of Williams Carter Wickham that protesters toppled in Monroe Park in 2020. Monuments and pedestals to be removed A.P. Hill Monument Stonewall Jackson Monument Jefferson Davis Monument Confederate Cannons - Cannon delineating the inner defensive ring of the city located in the median east of the intersection of Monument Avenue and North Davis Avenue; and - Cannon delineating the outer defensive ring of the city located in the median west of the intersection of Monument Avenue and Roseneath Road. J.E.B. Stuart Monument The Soldiers and Sailors Monument 1st Virginia Regiment Monument Williams Carter Wickham Monument Another company, Washington-based contractor Stratified Inc., said it could do the job for $1 million. The city was preparing to award the company the contract, but later found that it did not have a Class A contractors license with the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. A city official familiar with the procurement process said Team Henry protested the citys plans to award the contract to the lower bidder, citing the state license. Stratified CEO Clive Diaz said Wednesday that he had intended to acquire the state contractor license immediately, but that lawyers he consulted told him that the city had the right to reject his bid without it. The city in 2020 awarded a $1.8 million contract to a shell company associated with Team Henry to take down the citys Confederate statues, shortly after Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and Gov. Ralph Northam ordered their removal following weeks of protests over the police killing of George Floyd. The move led to a state police investigation after former Councilwoman Kim Gray raised concerns about how the contract was awarded to the company, whose owner, Devon Henry, had previously donated $4,000 to Stoneys election campaign and political action committee. A special prosecutor assigned to the case ended the investigation last summer after finding no evidence of public corruption. Lincoln Saunders, the citys chief administrative officer, said Wednesday that state officials in the summer of 2020 had suggested Henry as a potential contractor for the project, as they had already engaged him to remove the Lee monument. Saunders said the recommendation came as the city was struggling to find a contractor willing to accept the controversial job. Thats how they first came to our attention as a contractor for this work, he said. Team Henry wasnt someone our team had thought to call prior to the state identifying them. Henry has said that he formed a shell company for the city contract as a safety matter, as contractors involved in the removal of Confederate monuments elsewhere had been threatened or subject to violence. Saunders said the mayor and administration officials last year were reluctant to explain how the state had recommended Henry, fearing that it would paint a brighter target on him. State and city officials last week announced that Richmond will take ownership of the Lee monument before transferring it and the other Confederate monuments to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Spokespeople for Northam and the Department of General Services did not respond to questions Wednesday about how much the state paid Team Henry for the removal of the Lee monument. Television stations WRIC and WWBT in October reported that state officials projected it would cost $2 million. The Black History Museum, according to officials, will work with the Valentine museum and other local cultural institutions to engage the public and decide the final disposition of the monuments. The city in 2020 received about two dozen offers for the monuments from a variety of museums and institutions. Council staff working with the mayors administration, however, had been slow to act, as other localities weathered public criticism over where they sent their Confederate monuments. The Charlottesville City Council, for example, is facing legal action after voting last month to give its own statue of Robert E. Lee to a local museum that plans to melt it down for a new public art project. In neighboring Albemarle County, area residents criticized the county government when it gave its own Confederate tribute to a battlefield association in Shenandoah, alleging that it would be used to present a narrative that neglects the Confederacys intention to maintain the enslavement of Black people. In a special Richmond City Council meeting Wednesday evening, where legislation to accept the Lee monument from the state was introduced, 8th Councilwoman Reva Trammell questioned why officials had suddenly announced the transfer plans right as Northams term as governor nears its end. Why dont we just wait for the new governor to come in and decide what to do with these statues? Trammell said. Why dont we let him decide rather than us doing it? Why not let the mayor decide? Sources close to the governor and mayor have said that both officials feel it is important to finalize the transfer of the Lee monument prior to Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkins inauguration. In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch last month, Stoney did not deny that officials are hurrying out of fear that Youngkin would pursue an objectionable plan for the Lee monument. The City Council is set to formally accept the Lee monument in a meeting next Wednesday, three days before Youngkin is slated to be sworn into office. With a change of power looming in Richmond, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, is asking Gov. Ralph Northam and Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin for a state investigation of a nearly 50-mile backup that left travelers stranded for more than a day on an ice-bound section of Interstate 95 in the heart of the newly created congressional district she is running to represent. Spanberger urged the current and incoming governors on Wednesday to conduct a full-scale, multi-agency After Action Report detailing the events, decisions, factors, and challenges leading up to and following the storm, with a full accounting of what went wrong and what went right, and recommendations for process improvement. The two-term congresswoman, who is running for re-election this year in a radically different 7th Congressional District, jumped squarely into the public furor over what went wrong to cause the backup that began during an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm on Monday morning and lasted until Tuesday night, with thousands of people stuck in their vehicles in sub-freezing temperatures. While we cannot prevent or change the weather, we can take active steps to learn from this weeks worst-case scenario realize and ensure we know what caused, predicated and/or allowed this catastrophe on I-95 to occur so that we can prevent it from happening again, she said in a one-page letter to Northam and Youngkin. The Department of Transportation already is preparing to begin a rapid review of the entire incident, and Northams office promised a thorough investigation of what happened. The Virginia emergency response team does exhaustive after-action reviews of these types of incidents to determine what went well and what could have been done differently the governor has made it clear he expects that will happen in this case, spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said Wednesday in response to the letter. As the governor has said repeatedly, he recognizes the fear and frustration of these drivers and is deeply grateful to the first responders for ensuring there were zero injuries, Yarmosky said. Right now, she said, Initial reports indicate that this was caused by trucks jackknifing in quickly escalating weather conditions, which caused a chain reaction and made it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through. The backup occurred between the Dumfries exit on I-95 in eastern Prince William County and the Ruther Glen exit in Caroline County, with the Fredericksburg area in the middle. All of it lies within the new 7th Congressional District that the Virginia Supreme Court approved last month, moving the boundaries far north of Spanbergers current home in western Henrico County. Spanberger announced last week that she intends to run for re-election in the new 7th, rather than challenge Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, who now represents western Henrico and western Chesterfield County constituents who currently reside in the 7th. The new 7th District includes Caroline, Spotsylvania, King George and Stafford counties, the city of Fredericksburg and part of Prince William County. To the west it also includes Greene, Madison, Orange and Culpeper counties. In her letter, she expressed my grave concerns over the immense and egregious delays along the nearly 50-mile stretch of interstate and recounted harrowing stories from Seventh District constituents stranded in these conditions. Among those trapped included families with infants, Virginians on their way to parents funerals, and commuters just trying to get to or home from work, she wrote. During this ordeal, they reported receiving no guidance, information, or support for hours; as they attempted to ration gas, stay warm, and calm their scared children. With Youngkin to be inaugurated on Jan. 15, Spanberger asked him and Northam to work together to ensure there is a clear understanding of what events and decisions led to or created the circumstances whereby a major transportation artery along the East Coast of the United States was at a standstill for more than 24 hours. In July 2011, Liu Yelong, a then 22-year-old student who had just graduated from Nanjing Agricultural University, arrived in Meigu county of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan province. His trip to the remote mountainous area had nothing to do with rest or recreation. With a major in labor and social security under his belt, Liu had participated in some charity work and did research on rural development. During his second year at university, he went to a school in rural Anhui province as a volunteer teacher, which inspired him to continue the role after graduation. He had planned to teach at a school in Meigu county for two years and then either return to academia to further his study and gain a master's degree or prepare for the civil servant exam and get a stable job. However, Liu didn't expect that, 10 years later, he would still be teaching in the county. He also didn't expect to uncover the musical talent of his students, nor that he would found a band, called Shiguangzhe Jihua, comprised of six high school studentsthree boys and three girls. On Nov 25, during the New Year of the Yi ethnic group, which was celebrated from Nov 23 to 27, the band released an album, titled Shiguangde Shengyin, or The Sounds of Time. It features four original songs written by the band members that express their thoughts and emotions about growing up, and two songs adapted from Yi folk songs, one of which is about a traditional wedding and the other a ballad about a shepherd. Since July 2019, when Liu first shared their music on social media, the band has gained a large fan base. Their first video, which saw Liu's students singing Yi folk songs while playing the guitar and hand drums, sitting by a campfire dressed in traditional garb, earned the band over 10,000 fans in one day and has been viewed 250,000 times. To date, the band has performed over 100 Yi folk songs, sharing them online with their 180,000 followers. In July, the band was crowned champions of the fifth season of China Yi Singing Competition, produced by the TV Station of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture. Advocates for jobless Virginians have reached an agreement with the Virginia Employment Commission on ending a federal lawsuit against the state for failing to promptly settle unemployment claims and pay benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five legal advocacy groups that sued the state agency last April filed a motion in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to dismiss the case at the direction of Judge Henry Hudson, who has actively monitored efforts to speed the settlement of claims, improve state communication with those seeking help and bolster a system overwhelmed during the pandemic. Hudson, who has not yet signed the dismissal, directed the groups and the state to prepare an order to dismiss the case during a telephone conference meeting with the parties on Dec. 14. Pat Levy-Lavelle, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, acknowledged that the pending dismissal of the lawsuit does not end efforts by his and the other advocacy organizations to help Virginians still struggling to return to the workforce or receive jobless benefits during the ongoing pandemic. It doesnt take away at all from the fact that a lot of people are still out there suffering, Levy-Lavelle said. We know there is a lot of unfinished business. The VEC declined to comment until the judge signs the order. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission concluded in early November that the VEC was unprepared for the pandemic and slow to respond to a surge of almost 2 million claims for unemployment assistance. Significant weaknesses in VECs operations particularly its deficient staffing levels, antiquated UI [unemployment insurance] IT system, performance monitoring, and oversight were revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic, states the 200-page report by JLARC, the states legislative watchdog agency over government agencies and operations. The result was backlogs of tens of thousands of unemployed Virginians awaiting adjudication of claims deemed ineligible, primarily because employers hadnt reported why they lost their jobs, or waiting on hearings on appeals of their claims. Millions of calls went unanswered from frantic people seeking answers about their claims because they were unable to find them online in the states outdated IT system. The proposed order filed in federal court finds that the disputed issues have been substantially resolved, and says the court has been encouraged and satisfied with the changes made and actions taken during the long dispute it mediated. The order commends the state for meeting performance goals established in a settlement agreement last May that required the VEC to eliminate a backlog of more than 92,000 cases awaiting adjudication to determine eligibility for benefits. The settlement also required the state to expand and improve operations of customer service centers overwhelmed by calls from tens of thousands of people seeking information about the status of their claims for benefits. The order would dismiss the claims of five Virginia women named in the lawsuit because the VEC promptly settled them, while leaving open potential litigation for others in similar situations that have not been resolved. The proposed order praises the work of the advocacy organizations three nonprofit legal advocates and two private law firms as instrumental in raising awareness about the obstacles facing Virginians seeking state and federal unemployment insurance benefits. It also credits them for encouraging improvements in the processing of unemployment claims. It credits the VEC for significant progress in processing and adjudicating unemployment claims, including taking additional steps to improve communication with claimants and hiring additional agency or contract staff to address pending claims. The proposed order does not resolve one disputed issue whether the three nonprofit advocacy groups are entitled to recover attorneys fees and other costs. In addition to the Legal Aid Justice Center, the suit was filed by the Virginia Poverty Law Center in Richmond and Legal Aid Works in Fredericksburg, and two private law firms, Consumer Litigation Associates in Newport News and Kelly Guzzo PLC of Fairfax. The private firms have agreed to donate their work on a pro bono basis and will not seek attorneys fees or costs for themselves. The court does not here decide that issue, states the proposed order, which sets a Feb. 1 deadline for the organizations to file further motions on the issue and a March 1 deadline for the VEC to file a formal response. The order also cites a joint status report, filed by advocates and the VEC on Nov. 5, as a guide that set forth a path to resolve remaining issues and established appropriate benchmarks. The joint status report documents that VEC had completed adjudication of all unpaid unemployment claims that were part of the settlement in May and committed to resolving unpaid claims filed with the agency since then. It commends the states decision to contract with Deloitte, a national management consulting firm, to establish an additional customer call center, staffed with 300 employees. These new call center agents, which are in addition to the approximately 200 VEC employees assigned to the call centers, have improved customer service, and made it more accessible to the public, the report states. One of the continuing concerns is a backlog of cases awaiting the first level of appeal after claims were denied. The VEC committed to hiring more examiners to handle appeals and promised to use best efforts to improve the resolution rate for pending first-level appeals. The VEC also agreed to continue meeting with advocates on a regular basis through July 31 to exchange information and facilitate communication regarding these remaining issues. Levy-Lavelle acknowledges that the leadership of the agency is likely to change under the administration of Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 15. Youngkin was critical of the VEC during the campaign. He has not announced whom he will appoint to lead the agency or serve as secretary of labor in his Cabinet. Our north star is working toward justice for claimants, Levy-Lavelle said, and were willing to talk to anybody to get there. Virginia Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver, who has led the states health agency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, will step down from the post next week at the urging of Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. Oliver, who in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch had expressed interest in continuing to run the Virginia Department of Health into the new administration, told staffers during a call Wednesday that he had been formally notified of Youngkins decision by the incoming governors transition. Oliver will leave his post on Jan. 14, the day before Youngkins inauguration, according to two people familiar with the call. Its not clear who will replace Oliver, or who will serve as the next health secretary. Youngkins transition did not respond to a request for comment. Virginia, like the rest of the nation, is facing a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths fueled by the highly infectious omicron variant. The decision is not entirely surprising given Youngkins criticisms of the states handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he has described as heavy-handed. Youngkin opposes vaccine mandates and has criticized mask mandates, public restrictions on businesses and curfews. Oliver was a key adviser to Gov. Ralph Northam as the administration weighed its public restrictions. In line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oliver in August issued a mask mandate for the states K-12 schools, which Youngkin has criticized and vowed to undo even as COVID-19 cases surge. Despite their differences, Oliver said in an interview last month that he wished to remain in his job to provide continuity at the VDH as the pandemic continues to rage, and to finish overseeing key operational improvements at the agency, including technical improvements in the way it analyzes public health data. Were now in a position where that work really needs to continue with the pandemic still raging, Oliver said last month. Were also thinking about ways to improve public health and build the public health system that this state deserves. I feel thats work I started and that Id like to see through to the end. Oliver and the states health agency have fielded significant criticism over the handling of the pandemic. Still, Virginia has fared better than other states, particularly its neighbors to the south when it comes to rates of infection and death. Early on, a lack of coordination with private testing vendors stunted the states ability to test enough Virginians for the virus, which left the state in the dark about the spread of the virus and about deadly consequences in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Throughout 2020, the state faced criticism from the business community over restrictions that it thought changed too suddenly, and without much clarity. The state later stumbled as it began to distribute vaccines at a slower rate than any of its neighbors and almost every other state delaying safety for vulnerable Virginians. Consistently, people of color had a harder time accessing resources and information to fend off illness or economic struggle. Among its successes, Virginia now ranks 10th among states in people who are fully vaccinated, and hospitals in the state have not overflowed to the point of deploying the states emergency plan for alternate health care facilities. In a statement, Oliver said it had been an honor to serve as commissioner. For the past two years, Virginia has faced the biggest public health crisis of our lifetime, he said. My sincerest thanks to the thousands of Virginia Department of Health employees who have labored day in and day out during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep the Commonwealth safe. My sincerest thanks to Governor Northam for his leadership and for making sure we had the tools to do our job. We are working with Governor-elect Youngkins team to ensure an orderly transition. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday named Andrew Wheeler, who rolled back environmental safeguards as head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump, as secretary of natural resources. The choice drew outrage from Democrats and environmental groups. Youngkin, who takes office on Jan. 15, also announced he wants Michael Rolband, founder of the company Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc., as his choice to head the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is under the natural resources secretary. Andrew and Michael share my vision in finding new ways to innovate and use our natural resources to provide Virginia with a stable, dependable, and growing power supply that will meet Virginias power demands without passing the costs on to the consumer, Youngkin said in a statement. One Democratic senator, Scott Surovell of Fairfax County, suggested that Republicans should join Democrats in the Senate in killing the nomination, the incoming GOP governors first Cabinet pick to draw controversy. First reaction is its an outright oddity to appoint an inside-the-D.C.-Beltway coal lobbyist in a state that produces virtually zero coal, said Walton Shepherd, a senior staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Virginia. Governor-elect Youngkin could accelerate progress on clean air, clean water, clean energy, but this is a ham-handed appointment that only assures hell get nothing done. ... It really is over the top. Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement: Youngkins pick for Secretary of Natural Resources is simply unacceptable. As head of EPA under former President Trump, Wheeler did nothing more than cater to corporate polluter interests time and time again, putting their welfare ahead of our environment and Americans health. This is hands down the most extreme nomination for an environmental post in Virginias history and the absolute worst pick that the Governor-elect could make. Surovell tweeted: I know hes new to Virginia government and all but @GlennYoungkin does understand cabinet secretaries require General Assembly approval right? In an interview, Surovell noted that three former EPA administrators who served under Republican presidents expressed concerns in 2019 about the agencys close ties to industry, including Wheelers status as a former coal lobbyist in charge of the agency. I would hope in Virginia there would be bipartisan opposition to choosing him, Surovell said. Kate West, director of the Sierra Clubs Virginia chapter, urged Democrats to block Wheeler if Youngkin does not withdraw the nomination, saying: A vote for Andrew Wheeler is a vote against Virginians clean air, safe drinking water and sustainable energy. Democrats hold a 21-19 edge in the state Senate. Republicans will take control of the House on Jan. 12, with a 52-48 edge. Wheeler is on Youngkins natural resources transition committee, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland. Stuart said he didnt know much about Wheeler but found him qualified through their personal interactions in working on the committee. He is incredibly competent, smart and very qualified, Stuart said. Now, Ive already heard from some of my Democratic colleagues and friends on the other side of the aisle. But it seems to me their objection is he worked for President Trump. Id like to hear the objections about his character, qualifications, ability vs. that he was appointed by Trump to the EPA. Im impressed with him. I cant speak to his background because I really dont know anything about his background. It is rare, but not unprecedented, for the legislature to reject a governors appointee. In 2006, House Republicans rejected Gov. Tim Kaines choice of Daniel LeBlanc, former head of the state AFL-CIO, as secretary of the commonwealth. LeBlanc opposed the states right-to-work law. In February 2014, Republicans in the legislature rejected Gov. Terry McAuliffes nomination of Boyd Marcus for a spot on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Marcus, a longtime GOP strategist, worked for Democrat McAuliffes campaign in 2013. Matthew Strickler was the natural resources secretary during most of Democratic Gov. Ralph Northams term. Rolband will replace David Paylor as DEQ director. Environmentalists frequently complained that the DEQ under Paylor was a rubber stamp for permit requests, including from the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project and the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. Paylor was first appointed to the job in 2006 by Kaine and served under four governors. Youngkin, in his statement, commended Paylor as an invaluable public servant and wished him well. Rep. Don Beyer, D-8th, was among Democrats upset by the Wheeler announcement. Andrew Wheeler is one of the worst people the Governor-elect could have chosen for this job, Beyer said in a statement. Wheeler led the implementation of an EPA dirty air initiative his own agency estimated would lead to 1,400 premature deaths and breathing problems in thousands of people, many of them children. He led the Trump Administrations efforts to dismantle environmental protections, selling out the American people and the EPAs very mission to benefit corporate polluters. Virginias outgoing attorney general, Democrat Mark Herring, joined in at least six lawsuits against the EPA and Wheeler over environmental rollbacks. Those include lawsuits over Chesapeake Bay protections, clean car standards, and a rule that sought to allow power plants to release more mercury and toxins into the air. The Union of Concerned Scientists in 2019 created a list of 80 Trump administration attacks on science and called Wheeler a driving force behind many. Youngkin in December announced that he wants to use executive power to withdraw Virginia from a program called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, although its unclear if he could legally do that without legislative approval. Youngkin has said he wants Virginia to fight sea level rise and coastal flooding, but that he finds the Virginia Clean Economy Act unworkable. Youngkin has said he wants to embrace all aspects of power generation, including wind, solar, nuclear and natural gas. pwilson@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6061 Twitter: @patrickmwilson Staff writer Andrew Cain contributed to this report. An attorney for Earl Washington Jr., who came within days of being executed in Virginia for a murder he didnt commit, filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against a state agency on Tuesday because it is withholding records the attorney believes will show that authorities at the time could have gotten the right suspect. Fairfax attorney Robert T. Hall filed the lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court against the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, which refused to turn over the documents that Hall believes are the last set of facts that need to be revealed in how the state came close to killing an innocent man. Washington, with an IQ of 69, narrowly escaped being executed in 1985 after police led him into a false confession by giving him details of a killing. Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Frank Green reported last year that undoing Washingtons conviction took an all-star team of experts from across the country who donated years of legal, scientific, psychiatric and other assistance; and the intervention of three sitting governors. DNA proved that another man, and not Washington, raped and murdered Rebecca Lynn Williams in her Culpeper apartment in 1982. Gov. Ralph Northam last year cited the case when signing legislation to abolish the death penalty in Virginia. Hall has represented Washington since August 1985. Theres an open question hes trying to answer, and it relates to the man who actually killed Williams, Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, who is now deceased. The Department of Forensic Science has documents that could answer that question, and Hall wants the public to have access to them. According to Halls lawsuit: Police found a bloodstain on a baby blanket at the crime scene which they believed came from the killer. Investigators and state lab technicians found that the bloodstain contained a unique blood marker. After Washingtons arrest in 1983, a blood test showed he did not have this unique marker. The state lab then amended its records to say that testing for the unique blood marker on the baby blanket was inconclusive. Washington was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984. Tinsley, the actual killer, was charged and convicted for a separate rape in 1984. The state lab tested Tinsleys blood that year. According to a news release issued by Halls attorney, Hall suspects that those test results will show that Tinsley had the unique blood marker found on the baby blanket, which investigators knew Washington did not have. Hall believes the lab results were changed for the convenience of prosecutors and that deprived law enforcement of a 1984 opportunity to connect Tinsley to the Williams murder at a time Mr. Washington was awaiting his 1985 execution. So Hall sent a FOIA request to the Department of Forensic Science in January 2021 asking for the blood results that were done on Tinsley. Amy C. Jenkins, the departments general counsel, wrote back to Hall to say that the department had documents on Tinsleys blood results, but was opting not to release them because of a FOIA exemption for criminal records. In other words, the state could release the records if it wanted, but the law also allowed the state to withhold those records at its discretion, and the department was choosing not to provide them. But later in 2021, the General Assembly passed a bill that opened up closed investigative files that police agencies generally withheld from the public. The new law took effect July 1 and expanded the type of records that must be released. Hall made another FOIA request in November to the Department of Forensic Science for the records he wants. This time, the department denied the request by saying it doesnt have to turn over the records because its not a law enforcement agency. Hall wrote in his lawsuit that the new law doesnt just apply to law enforcement agencies but to all public bodies, and called the departments position wholly without merit. Asked for this news story why she didnt turn over the records since nothing in the law prevented release, Linda Jackson, director of the Department of Forensic Science, declined to answer. A deputy responded that she had no comment. Attorney General Mark Herrings office is now representing the agency in its desire to keep the records secret, and a court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11. Herring leaves office on Jan. 15. The lawsuit asks a judge to find that Jenkins and Jackson violated the Freedom of Information Act, order them to stop claiming they are exempt from the section of FOIA in question, order them to turn over the records, award attorneys fees, and impose a civil penalty of $2,000 on each, as allowed by law. Megan Rhyne, executive director of the nonprofit Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said it was mind-boggling that the state would be trying to hide the information. In a case that has such a long history of injustice, it just seems so strange to prolong the story even further by not releasing the records, she said. Halls attorney, Mark Dix, said it was unfortunate Herring wouldnt simply tell the agency to release the records. Herring has made many public statements about the importance of shining a light on Virginias dark history, and its a shame that as hes leaving office, hes not following through on such statements but is instead seeking to sweep this under the rug. A Virginia Tech student found guilty of cheating in one of his engineering classes by the universitys honor system is taking his case to a higher court. Identified only as John Doe in lawsuit filed in Roanokes federal court, the student is asking a judge to overturn an F he received in the class and to remove a finding of academic misconduct from his record. In taking the rare step of filing a legal challenge to a failing grade, the student argues that he is the victim of unclear policies regarding the use of online sources for a class taught remotely via Zoom during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The student was one of about 60 members of a computer coding class who were accused of cheating in December 2020, in part through their use of Chegg.com, an online learning platform designed to help students with their homework. In the rush to accuse so many students, Mr. Doe was lumped together with others who had signed up with a Chegg.com account, according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 27. Doe admitted that he used Chegg to check his answer on one of his virtual assignments, but denied cheating or plagiarizing. Chegg is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The publicly held company based in Santa Clara, California, says it offers legitimate help to millions of students through a variety of online platforms. We take any attempts to cheat, or otherwise use our platform improperly, seriously, Candace Sue, director of academic relations, wrote in an email Monday. But with surge of online teaching, the company has faced criticism of its homework help website, which allows users to post a question and receive an answer from a Chegg-identified expert within half a hour. A study published by the International Journal for Academic Integrity found that questions submitted from students in five fields of study computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics and chemistry increased by nearly 200% from April to August of 2020, compared to the same time period a year earlier. The growing number of requests indicates that students are using Chegg for assessment and exam help frequently and in a way that is not considered permissible by universities, an abstract of the study posted on the journals website states. In Does case, Tech professor Brian Vick filed a complaint with the Office of Undergraduate Academic Integrity. Doe contested the cheating allegation. But he was denied a fair hearing, the lawsuit contends, in part because Vick did not appear at the proceeding and was unavailable to answer questions. Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski declined to comment Monday, saying the school had not received a copy of the lawsuit. The complaint, filed against Tech and President Tim Sands, asserts that Does due process rights were violated. It asks a judge to issue a preliminary injunction lifting his F grade and removing a finding of academic misconduct. Doe is also seeking a permanent injunction that would allow him to receive credit for the course, and to receive compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial for disruption of Mr. Does educational progress. Because the class is a prerequisite for higher courses, the third-year student says he would lose an entire semester by having to retake it, delaying his graduation by a year. Doe, who sued anonymously because of the highly sensitive and personal nature of the case, was accused of cheating on five assignments. He argues in the lawsuit that Vicks teaching assistant used an online portal called Discord to help students with assignments and indicated that it was OK to rely on resources such as Google and YouTube, according to the lawsuit. As for Chegg.com, Doe acknowledged that he used the site one time to check an answer for an assignment, and asked that he receive a failing grade only for that portion of the class. It took a honor system panel composed of four students and two faculty members more than 10 months to schedule a hearing, and Doe complains in the lawsuit that he was denied an opportunity to present visual aids or to confront his professor during the proceeding. Mr. Doe faces significant and severe consequences as a result of the universitys decision to impose a failing grade and effectively suspend him, the lawsuit states. Healing, humility and hope Editor, Times-Dispatch: The recent death of the admired writer Joan Didion drew me back to my first experience with her magnetic writing. "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," a book of her essays published in the 1968, takes its title from a 1919 poem by William Butler Yeats, which vividly describes the emergence of an apocalyptic presence. The lines of the poem that have remained with me since my first reading 20 years ago: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold, and "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity." 2021 will haunt our memories in many ways: a deadly pandemic that only seems to be carrying its curse into another year without a respite; challenges to our cherished hope of a true democracy persist and intensify as totalitarian regimes and beliefs take hold; a divided society turning away and inward instead of reaching out to find paths to compromise. It seems that Yeats' apocalyptic vision is slouching toward us again: Things are falling apart, and indeed, the center looks as though it cannot hold. A wise Richmond Times-Dispatch reader wrote the following in response to a 2021 Letter to the Editor: "For many of us, healing will require a good deal of humility. Hope begins with the same letter." My hope for 2022 is that we together will follow his advice, embrace humility and hope, and quell the apocalyptic presence that, at times, seems to be creeping ever closer. Grant Revell. UPDATE 5:30 PM, 1/5/2022: No substantial changes on Thursday's snowfall potential. Still looks like widespread 1-3 inches Roanoke and westward/northward, probably closer to 1 at Roanoke and more to the north and west. Planning a fresh update early Thursday to see if there are trends that might indicate more/less snow in our region. It certainly doesn't look like a major event for us -- more so in West Virginia, and Virginia areas west of I-77 -- but could cause travel difficulties Thursday night and Friday morning. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg has raised winter weather advisories in anticipation of the snow. END UPDATE ---- Winter, seemingly the farthest thing from our minds a week ago, appears ready to deliver a second blow in four days to Western Virginia. A low-pressure system tracking just south and east of our region will lift moisture into recharging cold air Thursday night and early Friday, leading to the likelihood of a period of light to moderate snow for a few hours. There may be some rain to start, as temperatures get back into the 40s both today and Thursday, near seasonal norms. Snowfall amounts of 1-3 inches appear likely from the Blue Ridge westward, including most of the Roanoke and New River valleys, with trace to 2 inch amounts east of the Blue Ridge, but as usual, this is subject to some change as the track, intensity and timing of the storm system is fine-tuned over the next 24-36 hours. The largest amounts are expected in West Virginia, where winter storm watches are out for 4+ snowfall potential. Some of that may bleed into Virginia's westernmost counties and the areas west of Interstate 77. A renewed shot of Arctic air behind the storm system and associated cold front will lead to some of our region's coldest temperatures in at least three years, with single digits to lower teens expected by Saturday morning. And there may be yet another tease of wintry precipitation early Sunday, though it will come on the front end of a quick warmup and likely change to rain with highs in the 40s to near 50, followed by more cold air next week. The surface will be much colder for this round of snow than it was a week ago, so even lighter amounts will more readily stick to pavement than occurred with Monday's winter storm, which required heavy snowfall rates to overcome a stout melt rate to accumulate on highways. Long-term trends suggest a weather pattern that will often be cold but rarely bitterly cold and will waver up and down some with temperatures, but one that may guide some storm systems on tracks that pose wintry precipitation chances in the weeks ahead. After a blazing warm December, January is looking pretty typical as it stands now. Contact Kevin Myatt at kevin.myatt@roanoke.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevinmyattwx. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Appalachian Power Co. plans to use more of the sun and wind to generate its electricity, but it could cost the average residential customer an extra $2.37 on their monthly bill. The utility detailed how it will comply with Virginias renewable energy mandates in a recent report to the State Corporation Commission. Passed by the General Assembly last year, the Clean Economy Act requires Appalachian to provide its 530,000-some customers in Western Virginia with all carbon-free electricity by 2050. Over the next three years, Appalachian will add nearly 500 megawatts of solar and wind power to its energy portfolio, almost half of that from a wind farm in Illinois that will be operational by December 2024. The purchase of several solar facilities, including a 150-megawatt operation in Pittsylvania County and a smaller one in Amherst County, are also in the works. This is our companys most extensive filing yet, Appalachian president and chief operating officer Chris Beam said in a news release Tuesday. The update filed with state regulators reflects the in-depth analysis necessary to ensure sufficient resources are in place to provide affordable and reliable power for our customers, while continuing to build our renewables portfolio and meet our VCEA requirements. The filing also includes plans for an energy storage project in Southwest Virginia and the purchase of renewable energy certificates, which are market-based instruments that can be sold after the owner has fed the energy into the grid. To cover the costs of its investment in green energy, the company will seek approval of a rate increase from the SCC. An exact amount is dependent on a number of factors such as customer class, usage and regulatory outcomes, according to the news release. But if approved as requested, the proposal would mean that residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month will see an increase of $2.37. That would be on top of about a half-dozen rate increases that Appalachian has sought over the past two years. Taken together, residential bills would go up by about $27 a month if all of the requests are approved. The SCC approved three rate major increases last year one to recover transmission costs, a second to pay for environmental upgrades to two coal-burning power plants and the third to cover the higher cost of coal and natural gas that will amount to about $16 a month for the average residential customer. Those increases followed a denial by the regulatory agency in November 2020 of a base rate hike that would have boosted the bill by about $10. Appalachian has appealed that ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court, where it remains pending. The investor-owned company says its rates remained flat for a decade before the increases, and that its customers still pay less than the national average. However, more increases are expected as the Clean Economy Act pushes Appalachian to shed its long-held reliance on fossil fuels. As of Sept. 30, 2021, 64.5% of the power generated or purchased by Appalachian came from coal, and natural gas provided another 19.1%, according to spokeswoman Teresa Hall. Wind and hydro-electric power accounted for the remaining 16.4%. Those numbers were calculated before the companys first solar project, in Henry County, went online late last year, Hall said. Smaller solar panels installed on the rooftops and property of homeowners and businesses do not generate enough electricity to factor into the equation. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. China has released a plan for the development of financial technology from 2022 to 2025 under efforts to spur the digital economy with an improved modern financial system, according to the country's central bank on Tuesday. The plan, released by the People's Bank of China, stressed the importance of the role of digital technology in financial services and business operations. It outlined major tasks in eight areas, including strengthening financial technology governance, boosting data capacity, building green data centers with high availability, and deepening the application of digital technology in the financial sector. China will work to bring about a great leap forward in the overall level and core competence of its financial technology by 2025, according to the plan. Retired Lt. Col. Carroll Edwin Swain, who sternly advocated for improved public safety and fiscal common sense as a Roanoke city councilman in the 1990s, has died. Swain died at home in Salem on Dec. 31, according to his obituary, which gave his age as 94. Swain, elected as a Democrat in 1996, served for four years on the council in his late 60s and early 70s, and was by then a retired Roanoke school official and retired U.S. Army officer, as well as a husband and father. While serving as a military policeman at a resort in Italy after World War II, he was assigned to protect the tourist trade from the antics of rowdy GIs. The Army figured that by putting police where the problems were, they could be more successful. Swain thought the same thing could work in Roanoke and pushed for satellite police offices in neighborhoods to deter crime. A few were established, though not fast enough. The Colonel, as he was known, grew intense during a 1998 council meeting over a media report about three robberies, two involving the shooting of store clerks, that occurred the prior weekend in Northwest Roanoke. We need a crime reduction now, he told then City Manager Bob Herbert. Im not waiting on the chief. Im holding you responsible. In his last year in office, Swain also examined retirement paychecks for a select group of former city executives including Herbert who had received sweetened benefits through the citys infamous 2-for-1 pension scandal several decades ago. Swain argued that they should not receive cost-of living increases along with other rank-and-file city pensioners. Fellow council members agreed. Swain remained outspoken in the first few years after he left council, at one point defending then City Manager Darlene Burcham as she was criticized by candidates and groups involved in the 2004 council race. Darlene Burcham has ripped up the good ol boy network, he said. She makes people work and shes made some changes that have saved the taxpayers money. Thats what she should be doing. But not everyone adored Swains style. Mayor Sherman Lea, who sat on the school board while Swain was on council and said they talked frequently, described Swain as having a rough edge. Lea caveated his remark by saying he thought that Swain always acted from a place of caring about people and trying to get things done. Former Councilwoman Linda Wyatt, who served with Swain, said her former colleague brought the best of what he was as a military man to council in the way he approached issues and dealt with problems. That manner was direct and forceful, she said, contrasting herself as someone who favored exploring a range of options and thinking outside the box. They could combine efforts to greater effect, she suggested. I dont think a council that had all Carroll Swains on it or all Linda Wyatts would either one be effective. It takes that combination, she said. Swains obituary said he championed a variety of causes beyond good government, including economic development, education, the cleanliness of the city and the contributions of African Americans to the development of the railroad industry and Norfolk and Western. You never know the full weight of the influence you might have on others, so you should always be at your best, a quote attributed to Swain reads. A Roanoke native, Carroll Edwin Swain graduated from Lucy Addison High School in 1945. His stint in the military police followed, but was short-lived. He returned to Roanoke and worked for Norfolk and Western, but decided to further his education at Hampton University. He earned a bachelors degree in biology and physical education and masters degree in education, In 1953, with college complete, he pivoted to a regular appointment as a second lieutenant in the army as an artillery officer, his obituary said. During the next 18 years, he became a commissioned officer and received a variety of command and staff assignments. These included serving as an assistant professor of military science, a counterintelligence corps agent and a figure in an army security agency, his obituary said. In another assignment, he helped develop guidance, discipline and courses to improve race relations in the Army, his obituary said. By the end of his service, he was a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote that while he was a ranking military officer in Vietnam in 1968, Powell encountered Swain, then inspector general of the Armys American Division. Swain had come to inspect Powells unit and gave it high marks, according to Powells book, My American Journey. Powell called Swain a scrupulous but fair officer, according to the book. Back in Roanoke in 1971, Swain worked in city schools as a guidance counselor, assistant principal and director of school plants, retiring in 1992, according to his obituary. He remained active through his adult life in Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which he had joined at Hampton University, and held all the various officer positions in the Roanoke chapter at one time or another. He was a leader, a commanding leader, said Sherman Lea Jr., current chapter president, who added, even to his death. I spoke to him two weeks ago. Swain advised Lea that a good leader reaches out to all constituents and obtains input so that everyone feels a part of the process, Lea said. Swain was married for 67 years. Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home in Roanoke is in charge of arrangements. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Hundreds of cars snaked around the Salem Civic Center parking lot Tuesday as people waited for COVID-19 tests following a surge of infections during the past two weeks. Demand for testing has overwhelmed private providers and local health departments. The Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts have hosted testing events each Tuesday at the Salem Civic Center. Two weeks ago, the event drew only two dozen people, but the last two events attracted hundreds and the department ran out of tests. Thats just the demand we have right now, said Christie Wills, the health districts communications officer. This is reflective of where we are. Virginia reported 15,449 new COVID-19 infections Tuesday. About two weeks ago the state reported under 3,500. The Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts reported 2,277 new cases in the past week, the highest increase since the pandemic began in early 2020. The newest COVID-19 variant, omicron, is highly transmissible. Virginia confirmed the first case of omicron on Dec. 9. Although no local cases have been confirmed to be omicron, health department officials said many of the new infections are likely due to the new variant. Dr. Laurie Forlano, deputy director of the office of epidemiology at the Virginia Department of Health, said multiple factors have created a perfect storm for the surge in test demand. Omicron is partly to blame for an increased level of transmission, which has led to more cases and exposures. The holidays brought more travel and family gatherings, which can lead to a greater risk of exposure and also a higher need for testing. National supply chain issues for rapid antigen tests have also created shortages. Forlano said the state submitted orders for rapid tests months ago that have still not been fulfilled because manufacturers are struggling to keep pace with demand. She said as soon as the state health department receives tests, they are sent out. The state and local health departments have access to PCR tests, but they need to be sent to labs and results can take a few days. Meanwhile, people are asked to stay isolated while they await their results. Rapid tests return results in a matter of minutes. Wills said many people seek rapid tests so they can make decisions about isolation and quarantine for their families. The Salem Civic Center events use PCR tests, but the department will hold another event if it receives a supply of rapid tests, Wills said. The next testing event will be 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 10 at the same location. Although the omicron variant is believed to be less severe than previous variants, local hospitalizations have also risen this week. The local health department reported 83 new hospitalizations for a total of 115. The majority of new cases and hospitalizations are among people who are unvaccinated. According to the health department, people in Virginia who were not vaccinated developed COVID-19 at 12 times the rate as people who were fully vaccinated. They were hospitalized at 24 times the rate of fully vaccinated people. Everyone aged 5 or older has been approved to receive a vaccine, which are available at the community vaccination center in the former Sears store at Valley View Mall, located at 4812 Valley View Blvd. People can make appointments at vaccinate.virginia.gov or by calling 877-829-4682. Walk-ins are also open. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday it is updating its recommendation for when people can receive a booster shot. For people who received a Pfizer vaccine, the interval has been shortened from six months to five months. The recommendation has not changed for the Johnson & Johnson or Moderna vaccines. The CDC is also recommending that moderately or severely immunocompromised 5- to 11-year-olds receive an additional dose of the vaccine 28 days after their second shot. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Virginia Health Commissioner Norman Oliver, who has led the states health agency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, will step down from the post next week at the urging of Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. Oliver, who had expressed interest in continuing to run the Virginia Department Health into the new administration in an interview with the Times-Dispatch, told staffers during a call Wednesday he had been formally notified of Youngkins decision by his transition. Oliver will leave his post Jan. 14, the day before Youngkins inauguration, according to two people familiar with the call. Its not clear who will replace Oliver, or who will serve as the next health secretary. Youngkins transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Virginia, like the rest of the nation, is facing a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths fueled by the highly infectious Omicron variant. The decision is not entirely surprising given Youngkins criticisms of the states handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he has described as heavy-handed. Youngkin opposes vaccine mandates and has criticized mask mandates, public restrictions on businesses and curfews. Oliver was a key advisor to Northam as the administration weighed its public restrictions. In line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Oliver in August issued a mask mandate for the states K-12 schools, which Youngkin has criticized and vowed to undoeven as COVID-19 cases surge here. Despite their differences, Oliver said in an interview last month that he wished to remain in his job to provide continuity at VDH as the pandemic continues to rage, and to finish overseeing key operational improvements at the agency, including technical improvements the way it analyzes public health data. Were now in a position where that work really reeds to continue with the pandemic still raging, Oliver said last month. Were also thinking about ways to improve public health and build the public health system that this state deserves. I feel thats work I started and that Id like to see through to the end. Oliver and the states health agency have fielded significant criticism over its handling of the pandemic. Early on, a lack of coordination with private testing vendors stunted the states ability to test enough Virginians for the virus, which left the state in the dark about its spread and about deadly consequences in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Throughout 2020, the state faced criticism from the business community over restrictions that it thought changed too suddenly, and without much clarity. The state later stumbled as it began to distribute vaccines at a slower rate than any of its neighbors and almost every other state delaying safety for vulnerable Virginians. Consistently, people of color had a harder time accessing resources and information to fend off illness or economic struggle. All told, Virginia has fared better than other states, particularly its neighbors to the south when it comes to rates of infection and death. Virginia ranks 10th among states in people who are fully vaccinated. In 1990, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev dismantled the Soviet Union peacefully, convinced by the promise of U.S. and allies that NATO would not expand one inch to the east. He also agreed to withdraw all Warsaw Pact troops from East Germany and accept its unification with West Germany. That promise was never kept. After a ruinous U.S.-encouraged implementation of capitalist shock therapy that helped create a corrupt oligarchy and brought Russia to ruin, there followed 25 years of U.S.-NATO expansion near to and on Russias borders, the placement of missiles and troops on those borders, a 2008 promise to expand NATO even further to include Ukraine and Georgia, and in 2014 an anti-Russia coup in Ukraine supported by the U.S. Like all great powers, Russia has its vital red lines. It could not allow its major warm water port in Crimea to be threatened by a government which could kick Russia out and allow installation of a U.S. naval base on the banks of the strategic Black Sea. So, Russia responded by supporting a referendum in Ukraines Crimean Peninsula where it has had a vital military presence for over 200 years. The referendum showed a large percentage of Crimean voters, most of Russian origin, opting out of Ukraine. In short, Barack Obamas effort to slip Ukraine into NATO gave Vladimir Putin the opportunity to play the democrat and call a referendum anyone with an ounce of sense knew he would win fair and square. Since then, many polls, as reported in the Washington Post in 2020, prove the referendum reflected the real views of Crimean citizens, with 80% or more consistently approving of joining Russia. The current NATO-Russia dispute in Ukraine is supposedly about the buildup of Russian troops on its border with the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. This region, like Crimea, favors leaving Ukraine for Russia or at a minimum having some degree of autonomy from the central Kiev government as called for in the Minsk-II Protocol. Like Crimea, the population of Donbas is largely ethnically Russian and its economy is oriented towards Russia. Russias buildup is a response to four things: the Ukrainian governments earlier attacks on the breakaway region and current buildup of troops at the buffer zone around the Donbas; the historic economic and cultural ties of the Donbas that Russia feels bound to protect; the reluctance of Ukraine to implement, by negotiated agreement, the provision of the Minsk-II protocol concerning autonomy for the Donbas, something Crimea had since it was dumped into Ukraine in 1954; and the Ukraine governments repeated intention to drive for complete sovereignty over not just Donbas but Crimea too. Now comes Washington Post foreign policy savant David Ignatius to the op-ed page of the Roanoke Times (At Ukrainian border, Putin stands on the edge of a precipice, Dec. 12). He arrogantly threatens Russia by offering a path off the ledge that hes stepped onto along the border with Ukraine, warning Russia to support the Minsk-II protocols. But never a mention of Ukraines rejection of the key Minsk-II provision on autonomy, instead blaming Russia for the hang-up; never a mention of Ukraines attacks on the Donbas and civilian casualties there; never a mention of U.S. provisions of defensive arms to Ukraine which encourage Ukraine to attack rebels in the Donbas; but repeated references to Crimea. Ignatius says: By massing nearly 100,000 troops on the border, [Putin] disdained the gray-zone tactics of the hybrid warthe green men that swiftly seized key targets in Crimea. That is a distortion: Russia has had its own troops its green menlegally in Crimea for centuries at its naval base there. Whether intentional or not, Ignatiuss agitprop is a sorry example of manufacturing consent for a dangerous poke in Russias eye which President Biden appears so far to be resisting. By conflating Crimea with the Donbas, he encourages Ukrainian extremists who want to reverse Crimeas democratic decision to return to Russia. The Washington Post presents itself and other heavies of the mainstream media as the protectors of truth and trusted opponents of fake news. But Ignatiuss aggressive and contrived views, promoted by the Post, proves we must look elsewhere to understand what the U.S. national security state is up to. It is high time to put NATOs self-serving New Cold War to rest, starting with adherence to the 1990 promise rejecting NATO expansion. And keeping Ukraine out of this all for one alliance is a sine qua non to avoid an unnecessary and dangerous conflict. Munley is a retired physics professor who lives in Salem. Ed Kohinkes Dec. 17 letter, Can the party that brought us the insurrection be trusted with education? begs for response. First, the criminal clowns who invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6 dont represent the Republican Party any more than antifa arsonists epitomize the Democratic. So lets temper the Robespierre screed and dig under the surface. Second, Kohinke says that the GOP is unqualified to run public schools. He takes umbrage over the GOPs preference for charter and private schools. Well, what else would a parent want if the public school teachers were powerless, wedded to the latest fads in schools where profane insults to teachers were the norm, dope sales were open, and student competence uncommon? Third, the writer says education is a search for truth. No; it is a transmission of facts and abilities useful in everyday life. Actually, since various versions of supposed truths are freely available, that search is for the students themselves. We see that whenever educrats attempt to preach a truth, students usually rebel and try to enforce their own priorities and truths upon the system. If you really think todays students are competent to retain or search for truth, hear this 2007 declaration from a teacher friend of mine in a Fairfax high school: Most of these kids cannot string together a coherent sentence. No political party can own education in Virginia. That should be for the parents in each county. The school boards should work for the parents, not for the latest fads. Robert A. Young, Roanoke County Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Its time to be honest. Despite all the scientific chatter, nobody yet has a handle on the COVID-19 crisis. No one can pinpoint for certain where or how it started. No one knows when it will end. The possibility COVID may be with us for some time (despite predictions by Dr. Anthony Fauci and others that we can expect positive news sometime in 2023) is real. By then, if Fauci and others are right, well have learned to live with it, managing the inevitable outbreaks similar to how we handle the flu. That, however, will require planning, making changes to the healthcare device and pharmaceutical approval process, and a reliance on technology. Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administrations initiative to cut federal red tape and get the pharmaceutical industry to work finding a coronavirus vaccine, was a game-changer. It gave every American hope that a solution was on the horizon. The vaccines it produced have largely been effective, however, theres still uncertainty about their efficacy long-term. The current thinking is that at least one booster shot will be needed. The emergence of the Delta variant has been a setback, triggering calls for mandates including masks, vaccines and special travel passports. Uncertainty lingers, making it incumbent on leaders in the political, scientific, and media arenas to stay focused on innovative ways to address Americans concerns. The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization both say now that COVID is transmitted through tiny droplets and aerosols spread through indoor spaces. Fighting that means thinking differently. To accomplish this, we should rely on private industry initiatives to develop ways to eliminate airborne pathogens and limit the possibility of surface transmissions. When one comes along, we should talk about it and celebrate it because, like the vaccines produced through Operation Warp Speed, it provides hope as well as an added layer of protection. One technology showing great promise is an air purification system known as ActivePure, originally developed by NASA. The technology seeks out pathogens through a process known as advanced photocatalysis, which sends out submicroscopic particles in real time to deactivate pathogens, including COVID-19 and other viruses. ActivePures proactive air defense system is already being used in high-risk indoor environments including the Cleveland Clinic, The Texas State Capitol, and Philadelphias public schools. Additionally, groups like ThermoFisher Scientific are in the process of rolling out new aerosol sensor monitoring technology, potentially allowing hospitals, nursing homes, and schools to track for the presence of the virus, providing critical knowledge to inform mitigation strategies. Innovators are hard at work creating solutions for retailers as well. Intels RealSense TCS, a touchless control software that converts kiosks into touchless interfaces without radically modifying the intuitive user experience. These changes are helping get brick and mortar establishments back in business safely. No one can predict the future. Americas leadership in the health sciences is a vital part of the process of exploration that will produce novel approaches to block the spread of the pathogens leading to outbreaks of COVID-19 and other viruses. The lockdowns throughout 2020 did not work as intended and severely hurt a booming economy. A different strategy is required for the next outbreak. This will require the government to expedite the regulatory approval process in key areas, and partner with forward-thinking start-ups, while embracing new innovations to prepare for the next national health emergency. Peter Roff is a former UPI and U.S. News & World Report columnist who is now affiliated with several Washington-D.C.-based public policy organizations. Contact Roff at RoffColumns@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff. You are here: China Beijing made a breakthrough in its air pollution treatment as the city reached the national air quality standard, local authorities said Tuesday. The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 33 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, the lowest level since records began in 2013, Yu Jianhua, deputy director of the Beijing municipal ecology and environment bureau, told a press briefing. The PM2.5 reading is a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter, which can penetrate deep into people's lungs. The metropolis also saw its average ozone concentration decreasing to 149 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, marking the first time the readings for PM2.5 and ozone of the city reached the level-II national standard simultaneously. The average concentrations of PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide in Beijing were respectively 55, 26, and 3 micrograms per cubic meter last year, said Yu. The city saw 288 days of good air quality last year, up by 112 days from 2013, and only eight days of heavy air pollution. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). Cities and states are shelling out serious cash to lure remote workers. Tulsa, Oklahoma, will pay you $10,000 to move there and telework. West Virginia is offering $12,000 and two years of free outdoor gear rental. Move to Maine, and the state will help you pay off your student loans. These incentives are appealing, especially for newly minted remote workers who want to capitalize on their newfound flexibility. But a snap decision could cost more than the money youre chasing. Read the program fine print, talk to your employer and assess your own deal breakers before you pack your bags and head to Topeka, Kansas, where remote workers can get up to $10,000. Understand the process, requirements Most remote relocation programs have an application process with several rounds of interviews to screen prospective residents. Only a fraction of applicants are accepted. Tulsa Remote accepted just 3% of its 30,000 applicants in 2021, according to Justin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote. The Opportunity Maine Tax Credit doesnt cap participation, but it does have a host of other stipulations. Whether the tax credit is refundable, for example, depends on the year you graduated and your field of study. And the Ascend West Virginia program only accepts applicants for certain cities, at certain times of the year. Relocation incentives are designed to boost the local tax base, so most programs pay the benefit over a year or two. And many encourage you to put down roots. Tulsa Remote will pay the $10,000 in a lump sum if you buy a home (the cash is otherwise spread out over the first year). In Topeka, remote work applicants need to buy a home to get the full $10,000. And dont forget, any bonus may be taxed as income, so you need to set some money aside for the IRS. Assess impact to your current, future employment Remote work still has some limits. Understand your employers expectations before applying or moving, as certain things can impact your quality of life in your new locale. If your company and colleagues are all on the West Coast, for example, you may be expected to keep those hours, even if you relocate to Maine. That can make for some late nights. Your new city may have a lower cost of living than your current home base thats typically part of the appeal. Will your company adjust your salary to your new cost of living? You want to be crystal clear on that before taking the leap. Financially, you should be prepared to take a pay cut if you're relocating from a major city to somewhere less costly, says Tina Hawk, senior vice president of human resources at GoodHire, which provides employee screening and background checks for businesses. Most relocation programs are only open to those who already have full-time employment with an out-of-state company (Maine is an exception). But no job is guaranteed forever, so you need to research the local job market. How easy will it be to find a new gig if you are laid off? Are there opportunities locally if you outgrow your current company? If you dream of someday starting a business, is your potential new home friendly to entrepreneurs? Determine your deal breakers While money is important, its not what makes a place liveable. Take stock of whats important to you things like restaurants, networking, walkability or outdoor activities and identify your deal breakers. The incentive can get your attention, but the meat of the matter is, when you get there, you gotta stay, says Nate Wildes, executive director of Live + Work in Maine. Even Vacationland is not for everyone, Wildes admits. Were a four-season place. If you hate snow and you hate snow shoveling, look somewhere else, please. Dont just assume youll like or dislike a place. Experience it firsthand to get a true sense of the citys vibe. You might be surprised. Maria Kim, 28, certainly was. The former Washington, D.C., resident moved to Tulsa as part of the Tulsa Remote program in March 2021. Initially on the fence, Kim decided to take the leap after visiting the city and meeting with other members of the program, which puts a strong emphasis on networking and community. Ive been pleasantly surprised, says Kim, who freelances full time as a copywriter. The city is busy. Youre able to get the small-town benefits with big-city energy, and you can explore without so much excess. *** Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 AURELIA, Iowa -- A construction worker was flown to a Sioux City hospital Tuesday after he was hurt while repairing a grain elevator in Aurelia. Emergency personnel responded to the accident at 11:15 a.m. at First Cooperative, 100 S. Main St. Aurelia Police Chief Brian Flikeid said Wednesday the worker had been struck by something and suffered potential head and neck injuries. The man worked for a contractor performing repairs to the elevator, which was damaged during a Dec. 15 tornado. The worker was located on a silo ladder not easily accessible by rescuers, so the Cherokee Fire Department was called to the scene with an aerial ladder truck. Firefighters and Cherokee Regional Medical Center EMS were able to make contact with the worker and provide initial treatment before he could be lowered to the ground, where he was put in an ambulance and driven to a waiting medical helicopter, which transported him to MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in Sioux City. Flikeid said he did not have an update on the worker's condition. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. We are grateful and impressed about Nebraskas economic state at this stage of the coronavirus pandemic but also recognize warning signs that dare not be ignored. We have jobs for workers, but not enough workers for our jobs. How can Nebraskans not crow about the lowest-ever U.S. state unemployment rate since data collection began in 1976? Novembers 1.8% jobless level down even from Octobers record 1.9% comes with one of the nations highest workforce participation rates. Urban joblessness, not seasonally adjusted as the state number is, clocks in even lower. We agree with Gov. Pete Ricketts assessment that the record reflects the unwavering resilience and work ethic that define us as Nebraskans. Its hard not to celebrate this, including the fact that it reflects sufficient diversity in the states economy to weather downturns. But we also agree with economists including Creighton Universitys Ernie Goss, who told The World-Herald earlier this month, Were below whats optimal, in my view, in Nebraska. In other words, we probably would like to see a higher unemployment rate. Its healthy to see people move from one job to another, Goss said, and to see turnover in the labor market. Full employment is generally regarded as 3% to 4% joblessness, allowing for transitions between jobs or after completing a level of schooling, for example. University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson thinks a 2.5% jobless rate would be healthier for the state. Clearly, our microscopic jobless rate reflects the states acute labor shortage, which was a challenge before the pandemic. Heres the mismatch today: 18,127 Nebraskans were among the ranks of the unemployed in November, actively seeking work. At the same time, state data showed 50,546 job openings. That makes it extremely difficult, at best, for an individual business or the states economy to grow significantly. We see the impact in our daily lives, with restaurants limiting hours or closing. Nebraska must attract workers, full stop. When the Legislature convenes next week for a 60-day session, among its critical tasks is allocating a federal COVID relief windfall topping $1 billion. Policy-makers can find ways to use some of that money to take proactive steps that can attract and accommodate new workers, such as affordable housing and broadband needs. They must avoid immersing themselves and the state in divisive culture war issues that are not relevant to economic advancement. Nebraska is an underappreciated, grounded and solid center of the nation. We must hold to the center and show that this is a wonderful place to work and live. Which it is. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Two years of pandemic have us primed to panic at every headline. A new variant, a new complication, a new baffling policy move. Now, headlines have brought an alarmingly exotic new word to stoke our fears: flurona. On Sunday the Times of Israel published an article with the headline, Flurona: Israel Records Its First Case of Patient With COVID and Flu at Same Time. The first wave of follow-up aggregation articles in other outlets was staid, merely repeating the report. But soon enough the combination of anxiety and pandemic exhaustion led headline writers into a strange cutesy fearmongering: The Daily Beast grimly christened flurona 2022s Hottest New Illness and the Cuts headline asked, What Fresh Hell Is Flurona? Advertisement The thing is, though, its not a fresh hell at all. (And sure enough, most articles about flurona get to that fact a few paragraphs in.) The Atlantic reported on flu-COVID coinfections in November, tracing them back as far as February 2020, among the first cases of COVID in the U.S. In addition to not being particularly fresh, its not much of a hell at all, comparatively. Israels first flu-COVID case, the story that triggered this latest wave of reporting, was mild even though the patient was unvaccinated and pregnant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The name flurona suggests a new disease, but its not at all, just two familiar infections at once. And this is just a thing that viruses do. Laurel Bristow, an infectious disease clinical researcher coordinator at Emory University studying COVID therapeutics and immune response, pointed out that viruses are opportunists, and in the case of flurona they just found the same opportunity in one unfortunate person. She said shes seen patients with COVID and flu, COVID and strep, RSV and rhinovirus, on and on. One pathogen wont take [precedence] over another, she told me over email, in the same way you can stub your toe and still bite your tongue. Advertisement Advertisement Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham & Womens Hospital, told me over email, I figure its only a matter of time before we start seeing a variety of co-infections, be it flurona, corona-rsv, metapneumo-rona, et cetera. (Metapneumorona does have a certain ring to it, unpleasant as that co-infection would probably be.) But if flurona seems new, that may be because it isnt always even worth looking for. Amita Sudhir, associate professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia, told me over email, I dont always test patients who are being discharged [after COVID treatment] for the flu because it often doesnt change what they would do at home. Things are different in the case of children, who if they are admitted to the hospital are tested for a long list of respiratory viruses all at once. I did have one patient who was simultaneously infected with four, Sudhir wrote, but none of them were COVID. Advertisement Advertisement The good newsand there is good newsis that protecting yourself from flurona is very similar to protecting yourself from COVID: masks (good ones), avoiding crowded gatherings, vaccination. COVID isnt just another virus yet, but everything weve practiced protecting ourselves does apply more broadly. I told my husband I was writing about flurona. He paused on his way up the stairs. Is that the new variant in France? he asked. No, not that (and you dont really have to worry about that variant, either). Is it some new pandemic we need to worry about? No, I said, its when you get flu and COVID at the same time. And he shrugged and kept going upstairs. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The omicron variant is surging in the U.S. By the Washington Posts calculations, a month ago the U.S. was averaging about 100,000 cases per day. Now its about 500,000 cases per day. The seven-day rolling average hospitalization rate is nearly double. And even though omicron seems to be less severe than previous COVID surges, the fact that its more contagious means the mortality rate could still go up, fast. On Wednesdays episode of What Next, I talked to Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond about what to make of the omicron wave, why its important for hospitals to know which variant a patient has, and how the pandemic could end. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Advertisement Mary Harris: Do we know that the surge in cases and hospitalizations is all omicron at this point? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dan Diamond: Its not all omicron, and it depends where you are in the country. Parts of the U.S. were still dealing with a serious delta wave, this previous variant that was proven to be not only fast-moving but pretty severe. I was in the Midwest a few days ago, and hospitals say they are still seeing many patients coming in because of delta. And are they testing? Trying to sort out whos omicron, who isnt? They are testing, but its hard to do it in the moment. You can look back and do this genomic sequencing, and there are hospitals that Ive talked to, Houston Methodist in Texas, which has done this really comprehensive tracking of, OK, this week we had 15 percent of patients were omicron, this week we have 30 percent, this week 50 percentand Im saying weeks, but really it was a matter of days. Omicron moved very, very quickly and is up over 90 percent of the cases now at this hospital system in Texas. But its also hard to know if youre in the emergency room or youre in the ICU, youve got this patient presenting with COVID who might need immediate help. You cant tell if that persons omicron or that persons delta, and that makes a real difference when youre trying to figure out what treatments to administer, because some things that work for delta dont work for omicron, and theres a limited supply of these things. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Like what? Like the monoclonal antibodies, which essentially youre infusing, youre giving someone antibodies immediately to fight off these infections. But the monoclonal antibody treatments that weve had for some time now, most of them dont work for omicron. So if a patients showing up and needs monoclonal antibodies, its kind of a twofer of if you give an omicron patient these antibodies, youre not making any difference in fighting omicron and youre losing the opportunity to give it to someone who has a delta infection. Advertisement Advertisement This wave seems to be milder. Do we know if its milder just for people whove been vaccinated or vaccinated and boosted, or whether its milder for anybody who encounters this new variant? Advertisement Theres evidence that it seems to be somewhat milder than previous variants for everybody, but mild is such a fraught word here. Ive spoken to people who are vaccinated, who are boosted, who are young and healthy and they get omicron and theyre laid up in bed for days and its the worst sickness, cold, that theyve had, certainly the past couple years, and in some cases one of the worst colds they ever remember having. And then they still feel bad for days or potentially weeks to come. So omicron is no picnic, and thats for people with protection. People who arent vaccinated, who dont have previous infections and dont have some immunity built in to fend off omicron, it may be somewhat easier than delta, but that doesnt mean that its going to be so easy that theyre not landing in the hospital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the last week or two, the CDC has released some guidance that I think has confused people, certainly generated a lot of controversy. Its basically guidance thats shortening isolation time after infection with COVID and saying, once symptoms have resolved, people can go back into the world while wearing a mask, even if they dont have a negative test result. And I think a lot of people heard that and they just thought this is nuts. These guidelinesare they based on science? Do we know why they made these new recommendations? Theyre based on a mix of factorsscience in part, but also economic considerations, real-world impact. The new guidance has been confusing, its been frustrating to lots of health workers Ive spoken to. With omicron, it does move faster through the population, through your system. You develop symptoms faster, generally by the third dayopposed to delta, which was more like four or five days. Earlier COVID variants took even longer. So it does move up this timeline. And yes, to make that change abruptly has left not only workers confused, but other folks in the government confused. CDC sometimes is making these decisions in ways that come as a surprise even to other senior officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So is that a CDC problem, like they messed up their process? Or is this just how it goes sometimes? I think CDC has stumbled over its communication for a couple years in this pandemic. During the Trump administration, they stumbled in part because the Trump administration kept stepping on what CDC was trying to do, trying to influence what CDC was saying. That was obviously bad. The Biden administration in many ways has overcorrected. Theyve tried to let CDC have such a free hand that, as a result, the White House keeps getting surprised because its letting CDC do its thing. Theres probably a happy medium that the government has not figured out yet. The Mayo Clinic and a number of other hospitals took out a full-page ad in a newspaper, basically begging folks to get vaccinated and take precautions. Why did they feel the need to do that? Advertisement So they took out an ad, hospitals in Cleveland took out an ad, hospitals in the Chicago, Wisconsin, area have taken out ads. This is not just a Minnesota thing. This is a real problem across the Midwest, where the delta variant appears to still be landing people in hospitals. And now omicron is layering on top of that a new wave of demand. Hospitals are putting off procedures. They are canceling scheduled surgeries. And this isnt just in the Midwest, its around the country: If youre an ambulance with an emergency patient, you might be shopping around trying to find a hospital that will take you, because so many beds are taken up right now. And also, so many workers at hospitals are having their own omicron infections. Theyre not coming in to work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the shortage fears are overblown. There was a claim that circulated last month in the Atlantic magazine and elsewhere that 1 in 5 health workers have quit the industry during the pandemic. That does not appear to be true. But even if just 1 in 25 workers has left over the past year and wasnt replaced, that means more work for the remaining 24. And that gets more noticeable when youre already burned out, when youre swamped with new patients, and when four or five of your colleagues are out sick with omicron. Advertisement Advertisement Its also the fact that people are just stretched, and that has its own impact on how well theyre able to care for patients. Advertisement Oh, yeah. We dont have a national report on total procedures delayed for reasons of COVID. Thats just not something thats tracked. But it is clear that hospitals are dealing with real shortagesthat data is shared. And the number of hospitals that are reporting a critical staff shortage to the federal government, that I believe is at its highest level of the pandemic, on par with where we were a year ago, which was seen as the worst part of the pandemic to this point. Advertisement Ive heard that scientists are now saying omicron could peak as soon as this month. How will we know that this latest surge is making a turn? Well see it in the data. Weve seen the huge explosion in omicron cases overseas, in South Africa. We then saw the U-turn where it very quickly began to fall, too. So hopefully well see something like that in America. Im a little pessimistic that it will be as fast, only in that the U.S., its so much bigger than South Africa. Its so much bigger than the U.K. And even if omicron is hitting everywhere, it still is going to take longer to make its way through this country than it did in a smaller place like South Africa. Advertisement I want to ask about whether scientists youre talking to are talking about omicron as a way that a pandemic could end. This seems to be a virus that is taking over delta, yet milder. Maybe this is how a pandemic fades away, where the virus evolves enough that it becomes something thats less of a threat. Are doctors youre talking to thinking about it that way? Or do they not want to say that out loud? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theyre thinking about it, and some are definitely saying it out loud. That is the hope, that this tough omicron wave is going to pass and leave us with more immunity across the population. Omicron is challenging us because of its mutations, and it is evading the antibodies that would have been able to latch on and block earlier forms of COVID. But it does appear that if you are infected with omicron, you are left with now more protection against whatever next variant comes, including potentially delta, this earlier variant. So that is the hope, that if its going to tear through the population, if some people are going to have serious symptoms but many people have relatively mild symptoms, now theres this new coat of armor around the world. Advertisement And this is not our first bout with coronavirus. There have been coronaviruses plaguing the world for years, but we know them as common colds. There is a theory that those coronaviruses that circulate the world now, maybe they were pandemic strains once upon a time, centuries ago, and humanity evolved to have enough immune protection that when you get infected with one of these old coronaviruses, you might feel lousy for a day or two. You might have the sniffles. But could that be where COVID eventually heads, if we have enough general immunity and we have other treatments to defang it? Absolutely. So that is still the hope above all hopes. Advertisement I wonder if part of the reason youre optimistic is because of where we are with treatments, like there are a number of treatments coming down the pipeline, including monoclonal antibodies that could protect people for maybe six months at a go, that seemed to be about ready to come out in the next few months. Does that also make you think, OK, maybe were getting some traction here? Advertisement Advertisement Im excited about the new interventions. I also am cautious because theyre coming generally in short supply. So the one that folks are most excited about is this Pfizer antiviral. Its called a game changer because it appears to keep lots of people out of the hospital when you give it early in the course of infection. The challenge is theres not a lot of Pfizer pill to go around right now. Tens of thousands of doses were distributed across the country last month, at a time when millions of people are getting sick. It just takes a long time to ramp this stuff up. Its not in January of 2022 unfortunately. Subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts Get more news from Mary Harris every weekday. China has maintained its top place as the most attractive destination for global investment by securing 1 trillion yuan ($156.85 billion) in the first 11 months of 2021, which is more than the entire 2020 FDI inflow. The investment further demonstrates the rising interest among global investors in the country's service sector. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in services has shown robust growth over the past 15 years, according to the latest reported data in the Chinese mainstream media. For example, services received a mere 24.7% of China's total FDI in 2005, increasing to over 50% in 2011 and 77.7% in 2020. In the first 11 months of 2021, FDI in the service industry accounted for around 80% of total investment in the first 11 months of the year. This trend is in part likely due to China's huge service sector demands, particularly in the field of high-tech services and modern services, as well as the optimism held by service-oriented multinational entities. There are various reasons for the shift in the interest of global entrepreneurs from the manufacturing to service industries, and one of the reasons lies in the fact that China's economic priorities have shifted to its service sector. China is still the global workshop when it comes to both small and large-scale manufacturing, and that growth ultimately results in a boom in various service sectors linked to manufacturing, such as legal, consulting, insurance, banking, and human resource industries. After unhindered growth in development industries over the last four decades, China's service sector is naturally poised for a boom. In the first 11 months of 2021, its high-tech services sector relating to manufacturing sub-sectors witnessed a 20% increase in FDI, affirming the fact that investors' appetites are shifting from manufacturing to services. Another reason for the increase in the share of service industries in FDI is due to their role in China's net GDP. For example, the service industry contributed 50.5% to China's GDP for the first time in 2015, highlighting its role in the years to come. When COVID-19 hit traditional sectors, services benefitted, and in the first three quarters of 2021, the sector contributed 54.2% to the overall growth of the country. Investors' change in attitude has also been necessitated by the importance of research and development (R&D), which is closely linked with the manufacturing sector. Most big businesses need cutting-edge technologies and development models to spearhead their growth. Investors already in China or even those planning to invest in manufacturing need allied R&D services to compete in the market. Reportedly, U.S. giant Dow has already set up a research and development center in Shanghai ahead of its planned $250 million investment in the manufacturing hubs of Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. The paradigm shift in FDI has been witnessed in almost all developed nations, which first epitomized their growth through manufacturing and then slowly shifted to the service sector. China is progressing through this transformation faster than most, which has been the hallmark of its overall development over the decades. The shift began after its adoption of the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, which has been wisely calibrated to suit its development ever since. As promised on various occasions, China has continued the opening-up of its financial services sub-sector by removing restrictions on FDI caps on securities, fund management, future capital, and life insurance companies in 2020. It is further widening access to the service sector via pilot free trade zones. The FDI increase in China's service sector is proof of its opening-up upgrading and deepening reform in its industrial structure. Fast-track growth of the service sector in China, ranging from modern finance and intelligent logistics to the digital economy, and medical treatment and old-age care, now offers more opportunities for foreign companies to tap the country's market potential in a more open business environment. Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. Carry your driving licence on your mobile in Spain Step-by-step guide to downloading your licence from the DGT The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has launched a new initiative in Spain whereby it is possible to save your driving licence on your mobile. The free MiDGT app can be downloaded and authorities have confirmed that the document has the same validity as a physical licence within Spain. The new app should remove the headache of always having to carry a driving licence and the fear of losing it. However, drivers have been advised to continue to keep their physical licence on their person for the time being, as mobile verification is currently only available to agents of the Traffic Division of the Guardia Civil, although plans are in place to extend this to the rest of the traffic bodies in the near future. Step-by-step instructions to install a driving licence on a mobile 1. Download the 'MiDGT' app to your mobile iPhone users can now use this app fully, while it is still in the testing phase on Android. 2. Access the 'MiDGT' app Once you have the app on your mobile, you will have to identify yourself by using one of the following: DNIe An electronic certificate Cl@ve PIN The electronic identity Cl@ve 3. Using the MiDGT licence app Once registered on the app, the drivers name and licence will appear on the home page, as well as additional data such as which vehicles are registered to their name, how many points are left on the licence and current DGT news. 4. On the home screen, drivers can access the following information: Official driving licence Electronic data sheet of your vehicle, as well as ITV and insurance details Penalty points Drivers personal details that are in the DGT records Relevant news, alerts and notices about traffic and road safety. New features In the coming months, the app will begin to incorporate new functionalities designed to make life easier. Some of these features include: Requesting an appointment at the closest DGT office Obtaining the vehicle report Notice and payment of penalties Identification of the driver in case of complaint Verification of official documents Communication of the usual driver of the vehicle Checking of driving test results Vehicle registration Transfer of ownership of vehicles Image: DGT ARCHIVED - President of Spain accused of overusing state aircraft for business trips The full details of Sanchezs trips will not be divulged because of security reasons The Spanish government has caused a stir by refusing to reveal details of the trips President Pedro Sanchez made aboard both Army and Air Force aircraft during 2021, claiming that the leaders movements are a particularly sensitive matter, for security reasons. The president has been ridiculed for what many consider his overuse of military aircraft, especially given the fact that he has proposed outlawing short haul flights within Spain in an effort to combat climate change, since shorter air journeys are known to be the biggest contributors to aviation emissions in Europe. Last November, the PP spokesperson in the Senate, Javier Maroto, took advantage of a government control session to question Mr Sanchez about his trips in the Falcon and Superpuma to regional PSOE conferences. However, he lamented that the president would say not a single word about his trips with the money of all Spaniards and accused Mr Sanchez of being the president who pollutes the most. Do not put the pin on the 2030 Agenda again until you begin to respect the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr Maroto chastised. As a result of the embarrassing events, right wing Vox has called on the government to prohibit the use of the Falcon for flights of less than 250 kilometres, except when there is an imperative duly justified need. The conservatives thus seek to regulate the use of the official fleet for government purposes in order to end what it views as the private or partisan abuse carried out by Pedro Sanchezs administration. Image: Moncloa Maros Zilinkas office sent 35 fundamental objections. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The General Prosecutors Office has objections to the agreement that allows the American air force to use Slovak military airports and potentially other facilities. The office run by General Prosecutor Maros Zilinka submitted 35 fundamental objections to the draft defence agreement between the US and Slovakia in the interdepartmental review procedure. The office has refused the draft agreement as a whole, Zilinka announced on Facebook. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The Defence Ministry said that they are aware of the objections. We will deal with them, similarly to the objections of the other reviewing subjects, said Martina Koval Kakascikova, spokesperson for the ministry, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The defence agreement between the US and Slovakia should allow American air forces to use the military airports of Malacky-Kuchyna and Sliac, possibly other agreed facilities and premises. Slovakia is supposed to offer these sites without a request of rental payment, with a validity of ten years. The agreement would remain valid following this period and it would also be possible to cancel it with a year's notice period, TASR wrote. The agreement should permit the use of funds in favour of the Slovak armed forces. Any infrastructure built using US finance will be Slovakias property. The American armed forces can use the infrastructure as long as necessary. Worries about constitutional rights PM Heger will mark one year in his post. Observers agree he is most likely to stay. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Last year saw a major political crisis in Slovakia, which resulted in the resignation of the prime minister. 2022 is unlikely to see a similar event, political observers agree. Even so, this may still turn out to be a turbulent year for the Slovak political scene. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Political analysts see Eduard Heger's position in the prime ministerial chair as steady and the survival of the ruling coalition as very likely, given that it is in the interest of all those involved. Early elections are thus an unlikely development; but in autumn of 2022 voters will still be asked to turn out in the polling stations for two elections, which will hint at the mood in the country and possible future alliances at national-level politics. The development may be turbulent given the broad-spectrum coalition and the pandemic situation, political analyst Michal Cirner of Presov University, told The Slovak Spectator. He expects the autumn elections to be the political highlight of the year on the Slovak political scene, while 2022 will also be a year of struggle for the reforms within the EU Recovery Plan. Analysts cite the ongoing investigation and prosecution of major corruption cases among the expected highlights. Some also worry about growing extremist tendencies and predict that conflicts among society are likely to deepen. Maintenance PM to stay PM Eduard Heger will mark his first year in the post on April 1, 2022. In 2021, he swapped positions with Igor Matovic, who took over as finance minister after Heger, as a solution to the political crisis that followed the purchase of the EMA-unapproved Sputnik vaccine. Heger has been described as the prime minister of compromises and reconciliation. Entering 2022, political analyst of the Institute for Public Affairs think tank, Grigorij Meseznikov, sees no political reasons for Hegers departure, exchange or withdrawal. Some politicians want theatres, cinemas and concert halls open for those fully vaccinated and recently recovered from Covid. Unlike other facilities, theatres and other cultural sites have not reopened yet. (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Theatres, cinemas and other cultural facilities are among the few that have not reopened to the public since the lockdown measures were applied late last year. Our paywall policy The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. In response, several initiatives have called on the government to reopen them. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement This includes the junior coalition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) which is calling for the reopening of cultural facilities for those fully vaccinated against Covid and those who have recently recovered from the disease (i.e. within the past 180 days). The return to the traffic light system for cultural events is a key condition for saving culture in Slovakia, said SaS MP Roman Foltin, as quoted by the SITA newswire. If gastronomic facilities or churches can be open in a restricted regime, we see no reason to discriminate against theatres, cinemas and concert halls. Permitting the entry of the vaccinated and recovered with FFP2 respirators on during the performance certainly poses fewer risks than a visit to the fitness centre or beauty salons. Another SaS MP Radovan Kazda said that the closed cultural facilities struggle for survival, and the decision not to open them will have devastating impacts on the entire cultural sector and families active in the industry. Calls for reopening them also came from Za Ludi chair and Investments Minister Veronika Remisova, and opposition MP Lubica Lassakova, who in the past served as the culture minister for Smer (she has since moved to the Hlas party). Online petition launched The Lets Open Culture initiative is also calling for cultural facilities to reopen, claiming that theatres, cinemas, concert halls and clubs are epidemiologically safer than gastronomic facilities. Night curfew ends on January 10, most measures to remain in place Read more It launched an online petition asking authorities to return to the cultural traffic light system as soon as possible. The petition has been signed by around 3,000 people as of January 4. The initiative, launched by people active in culture and art, points to the fact that they are the only ones who are still closed since the national emergency was declared in late November 2020. We as the representatives of the cultural sector, theatres, cinemas and music, consider this state unacceptable and inequitable, the initiative said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Gastronomy facilities open for recovered and vaccinated people, lockdown to be reconsidered Read more Even though the initiative does not want to ignore the dangers of the current situation and the impacts the new Omicron variant may have, it is calling for clear rules that will be similar to the past, when cultural facilities could open and followed the traffic light system. It is also requesting to have a representative in the group of experts that serves as an advisory body to the Health Ministry, as reported by TASR. Meanwhile, several actors have published video messages on social networks, asking both the culture minister and the prime minister to explain why these facilities need to be closed when other services are open. Culture Minister Natalia Milanova says the new traffic lights system for culture is ready and conditions for mass events for the vaccinated are being improved, according to the TASR newswire. More on coronavirus development in Slovakia: If Jim Harbaugh returns to the University of Michigan next season, it will mark his eighth in Ann Arbor, which would qualify as twice as long as any of his previous coaching stops in college or the NFL. Does he want that? With Harbaugh, you never know. The Athletic reported Tuesday that Harbaugh might be tempted to leave the Wolverines and return to the NFL, which is vague but solidly accurate. Harbaugh has always been willing to be tempted to return to the NFL, especially this year if a good Las Vegas team or his old franchise, the Chicago Bears, come calling. And the Athletic reporter, Bruce Feldman, likely had someone in the Harbaugh camp give him a nod. This all may be a power play by the coach, although its not like the school needed to be pushed to set up a long-term contract. He just won the Wolverines their first Big Ten title since 2004 and best victory (over hated Ohio State) since, what, the 1998 Rose Bowl? Still, you never know where this is headed, only that its never dull around Jim Harbaugh. The only thing thats predictable is the unpredictability. Harbaugh, 58, has always burned hot and burned bridges. His 14 seasons playing in the NFL is best recalled for his comebacks and clashes with coaches (Mike Ditka, most notably). As a college and pro coach, there is no questioning his ability, only that despite the enormous success he tends to wear out many people around him. Perhaps thats a flaw. Perhaps thats the secret to success. Either way, its real. Was one victory vs. Ohio State enough for Jim Harbaugh to stick around Ann Arbor? (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) Harbaugh went 22-2 in the final two of his three seasons at non-scholarship University of San Diego. He turned long dormant Stanford into a force in four years flat. He went to three NFC title games and a Super Bowl in his first three years with the San Francisco 49ers, but was pushed out after season No. 4. Hes the rare coach who can float between the pros and the college ranks and win games. Does he want to float back? It was a surprise that Harbaugh returned to the college ranks in 2015. From 2011-2013, he went 36-11-1 and led the Niners to three playoff appearances, where he won five postseason games. He lost the Super Bowl on a goal-line stand, a conference championship game on a Richard Sherman batted pass and another in overtime. Story continues Yet the 49ers brass was so exhausted by him that by Week 5 of his fourth season, despite a 3-2 record, speculation began that he wouldnt be back. By December, he effectively resigned pending the end of the season, citing that management had given up on him. Generally, NFL coaches with NFL possibilities, dont willingly go back to college football. However, Michigan was his alma mater located in the town he grew up in as the son of a Bo Schembechler assistant. He was entrusted in righting the Wolverine ship it had gone 24-32 in Big Ten play under Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke the previous seven years. It took longer than expected, but he settled most family business four 10-win seasons, the schools first league title since 2004 and finally a long-awaited vanquishing of the Buckeyes. Yet his guaranteed pay was cut in half last year after a 2-4 pandemic-shortened season. It was replaced by an incentive-laden deal, which saw Harbaugh donate his bonus money (nearly $3 million) to the athletic department to repay workers who took pay cuts during COVID. His at-times difficult, at-times aloof ways have continued. Thats him. Yet make no mistake, Michigan would love to have Harbaugh back, and with a renegotiated contract likely more in line with the $8 million-to-$10 million per year that other Big Ten coaches are making. But seven years of Harbaugh is still seven years of Harbaugh. The choice is his. And it may include NFL options by Monday. That includes the Raiders, who could make the playoffs despite a tumultuous season that saw head coach Jon Gruden fired and star receiver Henry Ruggs charged with DUI resulting in death. Its a ready-made situation if the team doesnt give the job to interim coach Rich Bisaccia. Or it could be the Bears, Harbaughs old team, which has a young QB in Justin Fields and an excellent defense to work with, but has struggled to win under Matt Nagy. Or it could be someone else. There arent a lot of Super Bowl coaches out on the market. And since the NFL is a season-to-season, week-to-week proposition, worries about how long a franchise can handle Harbaugh don't matter so much. Can he win now? Yeah, probably. Will he go? Harbaugh spoke of how this season, particularly the win over Ohio State, felt like a new beginning and the start of something. He revamped his staff last offseason to include younger assistants and improve recruiting. The program has energy, a lot of young talent, plus a five-star quarterback, Dante Moore, just down the road in Detroit, who could represent a transformative recruiting victory in the Class of 2023. There are plenty of reasons to stay put. But seven years is seven years and Jim Harbaugh has never been one to stay anywhere too long, whether the choice is his or someone else's. If he wants another crack at the NFL, itll probably be there. He did what he promised to do in Ann Arbor. Maybe hell want to do more. Or maybe hell be gone, again, seeking another new challenge. https://sputniknews.com/20220104/air-raid-sirens-sound-off-in-baghdad-amid-reports-of-strike-toward-us-base-1092025645.html Videos: Sirens Sound Near Baghdad Airport Amid Reports Rockets Landed Near Diplomatic Centre Videos: Sirens Sound Near Baghdad Airport Amid Reports Rockets Landed Near Diplomatic Centre Rockets launched from Karkh, in the western half of Baghdad, prompted air raid sirens to sound at the Baghdad airport early on Wednesday morning, local time. 2022-01-04T22:46+0000 2022-01-04T22:46+0000 2022-01-05T07:03+0000 baghdad us military base sirens /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107854/38/1078543829_0:69:3399:1981_1920x0_80_0_0_201a68c1fd9a74bbc52a6ea9f805abc8.jpg Reports indicated that rockets had landed near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Centre (BDSC), which is located in the Baghdad International Airport. The rockets are said to have hit the tarmac but did not cause any casualties. The BDSC is a diplomatic location and part of the US Embassy, hosting American diplomatic personnel and troops. Initial reports had suggested that up to four Katyusha rockets were launched towards Camp Victory, and that a fire reportedly broke out on the base due to the strike. Videos have emerged on social media appearing to capture the moment the base was targeted.The base itself is approximately five miles from the Baghdad International Airport. It has not been reported who is responsible for the attack. Camp Victory was the lead base for US military operations during the Iraq war, before being handed over to the Iraqi government in 2011. The attack comes near the anniversary of a US drone strike at the Baghdad International Airport that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces. US forces had been warned that an uptick in attacks might occur over this period. On Monday, two armed drones were shot down at Baghdad International Airport, on the anniversary of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani's assassination. There were no reported damages or injuries from the incident. According to sources, one of the wings of the suicide drones from Monday's attack had "Soleimani's revenge" painted on it. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. US-coalition forces had carried out strikes against targets in Syria on Tuesday. It is unknown if the rocket fire in Baghdad is related. baghdad Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Nevin Brown Nevin Brown News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Nevin Brown baghdad, us military base, sirens https://sputniknews.com/20220104/cruz-gop-has-multiple-grounds-to-consider-for-impeachment-of-biden-if-republicans-win-house--1092025270.html Cruz: GOP Has 'Multiple Grounds to Consider for Impeachment of Biden', If Republicans Win House Cruz: GOP Has 'Multiple Grounds to Consider for Impeachment of Biden', If Republicans Win House Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) believes there are "multiple grounds" for the impeachment of US President Joe Biden, especially following a historic two impeachments for Trump, according to the American lawmaker's recent remarks. 2022-01-04T23:03+0000 2022-01-04T23:03+0000 2022-01-05T04:30+0000 joe biden donald trump us ted cruz us-mexico border impeachment political tools southern border biden administration /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/04/1092023795_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_eab45d4b39da3bb67a076a1d74e174ca.jpg Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) believes there are "multiple grounds" for the impeachment of US President Joe Biden, especially following a historic two impeachments for Trump, according to the American lawmaker's recent remarks.The move would require Republicans to win a House majority in the 2022 midterm elections. Speaking to conservative political commentator Michael Knowles, Cruz claimed that he is "very optimistic" about the GOP's position ahead of the November election. He declared that Republicans have a 90% chance of taking the House in 2022, although chances "may even be higher than that".Cruz was less optimistic about the GOP taking control of the US Senate, which is presently comprised of 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. "I put our odds at 50/50", he said. The US senator from Texas claimed that Democrats had "crossed the line" by bringing Trump up on multiple impeachment charges during his presidency. During Trump's first impeachment, in December 2019, the House voted in favour of impeaching him on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The second impeachment saw an "incitement of insurrection" charge from the House, which found that Trump had incited his supporters prior to their storming of the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021. In the first case, the GOP-majority US Senate voted to acquit Trump of the impeachment article adopted by the House. In the second case, the Senate voted in favour of the charges against Trump, but was 10 votes short needed to convict the president.According to Cruz, who was born in Canada, one potential article of impeachment against Biden could relate to what the former characterised as the "utter lawlessness" of the presidential administration's "refusal to enforce the [US-Mexico] border".Cruz and other Republicans have been consistently critical of Biden's handling of the US southern border crisis amid a surge of migrant detentions. In March 2021, Cruz tweeted several images from a migrant detention facility in Donna, Texas, showing overcrowding of children and teens in the centre.At the time, Cruz called the situation "a humanitarian and public health crisis".Following a recent court order, the Biden administration reinstated a Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy, which forces non-Mexican asylum seekers at the southern US border to be returned to Mexico as immigration officials review their claims. Biden previously critiqued the policy as a "dangerous" and "inhumane" immigration programme. us southern border Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Evan Craighead Evan Craighead News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Evan Craighead joe biden, donald trump, us, ted cruz, us-mexico border, impeachment, political tools, southern border, biden administration https://sputniknews.com/20220104/majority-of-americans-are-not-interested-in-traveling-to-the-moon-poll-finds-1092026257.html Majority of Americans Are Not Interested in Traveling to the Moon, Poll Finds Majority of Americans Are Not Interested in Traveling to the Moon, Poll Finds A new Axios/Momentive poll recently determined that 61% of surveyed adults would not be interested in visiting the moon, even if money were not a factor. 2022-01-04T23:39+0000 2022-01-04T23:39+0000 2022-01-04T23:39+0000 moon poll space travel /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/10/1082650838_0:175:2809:1755_1920x0_80_0_0_81f987209486ae7804b13b0b2d95c265.jpg Survey findings from an Axios/Momentive poll revealed that the least interested in lunar travel were those 65 and older. Only 18% reportedly voiced interest in human spaceflight. The most interested being those aged 18 to 34.In a similar survey conducted by Pew Research Center, the biggest draw for Millennials to travel to space would be to experience something unique. Older Americans indicated they were uninterested because their health might not allow it, or because they believe space travel would be too scary.At present, space tourism is only possible for the ultra-wealthy, an issue that has led backlash against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who launched into space in July during what some call a joyride. Bezos, who is worth $177 billion after multiplying his wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, has largely been criticized by the public, wealth inequality and environmental activists, and his own employees.Although Bezos thanked his employees after the launch of his Blue Origin spacecraft, Amazon workers were not exactly thrilled. Activist and former Amazon fulfillment center worker Chris Smalls referred to Bezos thanks to his employees and customers as a slap in the face.Smalls had been reportedly handing out water bottles to former colleagues at an Amazon warehouse in New Yorks Staten Island while Bezos was lifting off in his Blue Origin flight.At the time, the 1970 poem Whitey on the Moon by Gil Scott-Heron started trending on social media during the Blue Origin launch. The poem was originally written in response to government spending on the first space race in the 1960s while Black Americans were left behind on Earth, fighting for equal freedoms and civil rights. Smalls, who is Black, referred to Bezos space launch as whitewashed.However, former Mexican astronaut Jose Hernandez says space race projects may bring positive effects to the economy, such as high-paying engineering jobs in the US.Virgin Galactic, whose mission is to open space to everybody is offering tickets at a cost of $250,000. However, its worth noting that 40% of Americans arent able to produce just $400 if an emergency were to occur, according to a Federal Reserve report. Of the 27% who were surveyed, most would have to sell a personal belonging or borrow the money to cover emergency costs. https://sputniknews.com/20211217/jeff-bezos-should-spend-less-time-in-hot-tub-more-time-at-blue-origin-elon-musk-says-1091612177.html Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 moon, poll, space travel https://sputniknews.com/20220104/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-toward-east-sea---joint-chiefs-of-staff-1092025952.html DPRK Fires Unidentified Projectile Toward East Sea - South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff DPRK Fires Unidentified Projectile Toward East Sea - South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff South Korea's top military leaders said on Wednesday morning that the North had fired what they believed to be a ballistic missile. 2022-01-04T23:19+0000 2022-01-04T23:19+0000 2022-01-05T07:07+0000 projectiles north korea sea of japan missile test asia-pacific /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107851/48/1078514898_0:0:3101:1745_1920x0_80_0_0_5056ec090cde089de4c2bbd830a9824f.jpg South Korea's top military leaders said on Wednesday morning that the North had fired what they believed to be a ballistic missile. The Japanese Coast Guard also said it had detected the launch, but was unable to identify the projectile. The missile is believed to have fallen outside of Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.Japanese Defence Chief Nobuo Kishi has since indicated that the projectile flew over a standard trajectory for roughly 500 kilometres. He further stated there were no reports of damages caused by the launch.It was the first missile test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since October, when it fired off a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).Japan's NHK TV reported that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had created a crisis response centre under his office after receiving news of the launch.Hours after reports first emerged of the launch, Japanese Chief Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a Wednesday conference that the incident posed a threat to both security and peace in the region, underscoring that it serves as a "serious problem" for the globe.The launch comes days after the conclusion of a plenary session of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) at which DPRK leader Kim Jong-un hailed plans to boost economic development and improving people's lives in the face of what he called a "great life-and-death struggle". The country faces severe economic sanctions by Washington intended to compel it into giving up its nuclear weapons, however, Pyongyang says it needs the weapons to guarantee its security against attack until a permanent peace treaty is arrived at with the US and South Korea.Separately on Monday, a presumed defector from the DPRK to the South crossed the demilitarised zone separating the two countries to return to the North, having failed to make a living in the capitalist country. asia-pacific Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg projectiles, north korea, sea of japan, missile test, asia-pacific Flash Although most people recover from COVID-19 within five to seven days of the onset of symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) still recommends a 14-day quarantine, an official from the organization told a press briefing on Tuesday. However, said Abdi Mahamud from WHO's COVID-19 Incident Management Support Team, states must make decisions about the duration of quarantine based on their individual situations. In countries with low infections, a longer quarantine time could help keep case numbers as low as possible, he explained. In places with runaway cases, however, shorter quarantines may be justified in order to keep countries running, he added. The WHO official told journalists that it was possible to be infected by both influenza and COVID-19. However, since the two are separate viruses that attack the body in different ways, there is "little risk" of them combining into a new virus. According to the WHO, as of Dec. 29, 2021, some 128 countries had reported cases of the Omicron variant. In South Africa, which had seen a sharp increase in cases followed by a relatively rapid drop-off, hospitalization and death rates have remained low. However, the situation will not be the same in other countries, Mahamud said. "While the latest studies all point to the fact that the Omicron variant affects the upper respiratory system rather than the lungs, which is good news, high-risk individuals and the unvaccinated could still get gravely ill from that variant," he added. Mahamud said that the Omicron variant could overtake other strains in a matter of weeks, especially in areas with a large number of susceptible people - primarily those who are unvaccinated. In Denmark, he said, it had taken two weeks for case numbers to double with the Alpha variant, whereas with the Omicron variant, it had taken just two days. "The world has never seen such a transmissible virus," he said. The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization is set to meet on Jan. 19 to review the situation. Topics on the agenda for discussion include the timing of boosters, the mixing of vaccines and the composition of future vaccines. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/austin-blinken-to-testify-before-private-senate-panel-about-afghanistan-pullout-disaster-1092048331.html Austin, Blinken to Testify Before Private Senate Panel About Afghanistan Pullout Disaster Austin, Blinken to Testify Before Private Senate Panel About Afghanistan Pullout Disaster Two top Biden administration officials are set to testify in private before a Senate panel next week as lawmakers seek additional answers about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. 2022-01-05T22:01+0000 2022-01-05T22:01+0000 2022-01-05T22:01+0000 testify us senate us lloyd austin afghanistan antony blinken /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/1f/1083758225_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_e2e66917439397a36fc03900249f134c.jpg The Senates Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees have posted an event scheduled for 10 am on January 11 at which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify. The hearing is closed and will not be webcast, and no further details have been released about the event.Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) indicated at the time that he was willing to compel Austin to testify about the fatally flawed withdrawal, saying that a full accounting of the US response to this crisis is not complete without the Pentagon - especially when it comes to understanding the complete collapse of the U.S. trained and funded Afghan military.We need to consider some uncomfortable truths: that we did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in their senior ranks, we didnt grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by [Afghan] President Ghani of his commanders, we did not anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban* commanders struck with local leaders, Austin also said.However, Austin recently tested positive for COVID-19, and the 68-year-old former Army general has been experiencing mild symptoms. His quarantine period ends on Friday, according to new US Center for Disease Control and Prevention rules, although he has been participating in virtual meetings while working from home, as well.Were Going to Have to Go BackThe US left Afghanistan after negotiating a ceasefire with the Taliban in February 2020 that omitted the US-backed government in Kabul. An anticipated separate ceasefire between the Taliban and Afghan government never materialized, though, and in May 2021 the Taliban launched a new offensive that quickly conquered much of the Central Asian state. By the end of July, experts in Washington expected the Kabul government might not last the year, but in fact it didnt even last the month, folding just two weeks later when the Taliban reached the capitals outskirts.Those two weeks were a chaotic, deadly mess, as thousands crowded outside Kabuls main airport looking for a chance to escape Taliban rule. Daesh-Khorasan** staged a deadly terrorist attack on the crowd, killing at least 180 civilians and 13 US service members. Further tragedy followed, when a US drone strike against what was claimed to be another Daesh carbomber instead struck a vehicle driven by an employee of a US non-governmental organization (NGO), killing him and nine members of his family, including children as young as two.The final US transport aircraft departed at the end of the month, carrying not just US military equipment and soldiers, but 79,000 civilians as well, many of whom had been collaborators with the 20-year-long US occupation.Austin and Blinken will likely be further grilled about these many failings, as well as the claim that al-Qaeda***, the terrorist group whose attacks in New York and Virginia on September 11, 2001, had set the stage for the US invasion a month later, was permanently weakened in Afghanistan. If al-Qaeda did come back, the US would be able to manage the problem with over-the-horizon capability like drone strikes, US President Joe Biden said in August.Just weeks after the US pullout was complete, top US officials were already saying al-Qaeda was likely to reconstitute itself and threaten the US in as little as one to two years, according to Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.* The Taliban is an organization under United Nations sanctions for terrorist activities.** Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.*** Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. us afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg testify, us senate, us, lloyd austin, afghanistan, antony blinken https://sputniknews.com/20220105/biden-will-say-in-speech-trump-has-singular-responsibility-for-january-6-events-1092044952.html Biden Will Say in Speech Trump Has 'Singular Responsibility' for January 6 Events Biden Will Say in Speech Trump Has 'Singular Responsibility' for January 6 Events President Joe Biden will talk in his upcoming speech about former president Donald Trumps "singular responsibility" for the events at the US Capitol on January 6, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday. 2022-01-05T18:30+0000 2022-01-05T18:30+0000 2022-01-05T18:30+0000 joe biden donald trump us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092044899_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_69dddaa2f713d3f880beff521cab0407.jpg "So just as you heard him say on January 6 of last year, I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw, and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters," Psaki said during a press briefing.Biden is personally connected to the events of January 6 as someone who served in the US Senate for decades, and that will be reflected in his speech, Psaki said.The US president is involved in the writing of any major speech he gives, she added.On January 6, a group of Trump supporters entered the US Capitol complex to protest lawmakers who were verifying the 2020 presidential election results from several US states that Trump claimed were fraudulent. The gathering resulted in one unarmed protester being shot dead by Capitol police and numerous injuries to demonstrators and law enforcement officers. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/ex-trump-adviser-navarro-says-capitol-riot-undermined-plans-to-overthrow-2020-election-results-1092042214.html Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 joe biden, donald trump, us https://sputniknews.com/20220105/bulli-bai-app-case-mumbai-police-arrest-student-for-listing-muslim-women-for-auction-1092036852.html 'Bulli Bai' App Case: Mumbai Police Arrest Student for Listing Muslim Women for 'Auction' 'Bulli Bai' App Case: Mumbai Police Arrest Student for Listing Muslim Women for 'Auction' On Tuesday, an 18-year-old girl, Shweta Singh, from India's Uttarakhand state and a 21-year-old engineering student, Vishal Kumar Jha, from Karnataka state's... 05.01.2022, Sputnik International 2022-01-05T16:08+0000 2022-01-05T16:08+0000 2022-01-05T16:08+0000 muslim anti-muslim anti-muslim india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105428/71/1054287163_0:270:5184:3186_1920x0_80_0_0_3b77531bc47e30c3666afb7aac261195.jpg Mumbai Police on Wednesday made a third arrest in the controversial "Bulli Bai" app case by taking a 21-year-old science student from India's Uttarakhand state into custody for allegedly listing hundreds of Muslim women for online auction.Rawat was reportedly pursuing a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in chemistry from a Delhi University college. He returned to his hometown due to rising coronavirus cases in Delhi and was remotely studying. Police have revealed that Rawat is a friend of an 18-year-old girl from Uttarakhand, Shweta Singh, who was arrested on Tuesday.The police said that Singh seems to be the mastermind of the crime and she allegedly uploaded pictures of Muslim women on the app hosted on the GitHub platform, using three different accounts. She was allegedly using a fake Twitter handle with the name JattKhalsa07 to upload hate posts, objectionable photos, and comments.The police also said that Singh lost her father to COVID-19 last year and her mother to cancer before she appears to have gotten involved in the "Bulli Bai" case to earn money. While investigating the case, the Mumbai Police also apprehended on Tuesday a 21-year-old engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha from Bengaluru city of Karnataka state. He has been brought to Mumbai for questioning and will remain in police custody until 10 January.Jha's lawyer D. Prajapati told the Indian media on Tuesday that his client has been falsely implicated in this case.The "Bulli Bai" controversy kicked off on 1 January after hundreds of Muslim women found themselves listed in an online auction on the app hosted by GitHub platform.Photographs were sourced and published on the app without the individuals' permission, in an apparent attempt to target and harass Muslim women.The "Bulli Bai" app was also promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai which was suspended after people reported it.The app appears to be a clone of a similar app, "Sulli Deals", that sparked uproar in July 2021 after photos of dozens of Muslim women were uploaded for auction as the deal of the day."Sulli" and "Bulli" are derogatory words used by some Hindus to describe Muslim women.In the case of Bulli Bai, several police complaints have been filed in three different states Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana, as well as in the Union Territory of Delhi.The Delhi Police have transferred the Bulli Bai case to its Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) unit which is also probing the "Sulli Deals" case. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sangeeta Yadav https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/1b/1080292803_0:121:960:1081_100x100_80_0_0_7490b319dab9611e309056b177265184.jpg Sangeeta Yadav https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/1b/1080292803_0:121:960:1081_100x100_80_0_0_7490b319dab9611e309056b177265184.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sangeeta Yadav https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/1b/1080292803_0:121:960:1081_100x100_80_0_0_7490b319dab9611e309056b177265184.jpg muslim, anti-muslim, anti-muslim, india https://sputniknews.com/20220105/chinese-fm-wang-tells-eritrea-beijing-opposes-external-interference-in-africa-amid-us-meddling-1092026874.html Chinese FM Wang Tells Eritrea Beijing Opposes External Interference in Africa Amid US Meddling Chinese FM Wang Tells Eritrea Beijing Opposes External Interference in Africa Amid US Meddling Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicked off 2022 with a visit to three African nations starting with Eritrea, a country declared a pariah by the US, but which has recently joined the Belt and Road Initiative. 2022-01-05T00:18+0000 2022-01-05T00:18+0000 2022-01-05T00:18+0000 ethiopia eritrea china africa external interference belt and road initiative /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/04/1092026789_0:0:1008:568_1920x0_80_0_0_934146b3891805d4f79c75f5e54d900c.jpg Wang arrived in Eritrea on Tuesday for a two-day official visit, meeting with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and other senior officials before meeting with Eritrean President Isiaias Afwerki. He will later continue to Kenya and then Comoros.The Chinese foreign ministry gave no further details about Wangs visit. However, friendship between the two nations has been deepening recently, and Beijing has also moved to strike a stark contrast between its policies toward Africa and those of the United States, which has accused China of meddling in African affairs and forcing nations into its orbit via so-called debt trap diplomacy.Chinas relationship with Eritrea goes back decades, with China supporting the Eritrean Liberation Front fighting for independence from Ethiopia, and even giving Isaias special training in 1967. However, it later dropped this support when Ethiopia switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1971. China was among the first to recognize Eritrea after independence in 1993, and has coordinated several projects, including building a hospital in Asmara and the furnishing of technical assistance in the health sector.Regional countries know best the problems within the region and it's up to the people of a country to properly handle its internal affairs, he added.His comments come a month after visiting Addis Ababa, where he told Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen that China adheres to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.We do not meddle in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, and we also oppose any external forces' interference in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, and in particular disagree with the practice of some external forces to pressure Ethiopia for their own political purposes, Wang said. He called for dialogue between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), a rebel group designated a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian parliament that has waged a 13-month uprising aimed at reversing the loss of its longtime dominance of Ethiopian affairs. After a lengthy offensive into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions by the TPLF, the group was pushed back into Tigray late last year, and an uneasy stalemate has set it.His visit also comes as the US is putting heavy pressure on Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed for having suspended his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, following accusations Roble had interfered in a corruption probe against himself. The US said Mohamed was attempting to subvert the democratic process Roble has been overseeing.Eritrea was pulled into the conflict in Tigray just days after it began in November 2020, when in retaliation for giving shelter to Ethiopian government forces forced to retreat from Tigray, the TPLF launched ballistic missiles at the Eritrean capital of Asmara. The TPLF had separately waged a catastrophic war against Eritrea since 1998 that killed 120,000 people, but when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, he quickly made peace with Eritrea, for which he was given a Nobel Peace Prize.By contrast, that same month, Eritrea also joined Chinas BRI, a globe-spanning infrastructure megaproject. China has helped build highways, railroads, ports, power plants, and other structures of public use across Africa; nearby in the Horn, China has helped finance the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, a new railway from Addis to Djibouti, and several ports in Djibouti.Like Djibouti, Eritrea sits on the African coast of the Red Sea, an important waterway through which more than 10% of global trade passes in a given year. However, unlike Djibouti, Eritrea has hungered for investment since independence and struggled to recover from the war with Ethiopia, including the loss of one-quarter of its productive land to landmines. ethiopia eritrea china africa Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg ethiopia, eritrea, china, africa, external interference, belt and road initiative https://sputniknews.com/20220105/ending-long-wait-india-vaccinates-its-young-population-against-covid-19-1092029496.html Ending Long Wait: India Vaccinates Its Young Population Against COVID-19 Ending Long Wait: India Vaccinates Its Young Population Against COVID-19 India on 3 January started inoculating its adolescent population aged between 15-18. On the first day of the drive, the nation vaccinated about four million of... 05.01.2022, Sputnik International 2022-01-05T11:46+0000 2022-01-05T11:46+0000 2022-01-05T11:46+0000 new delhi delhi india vaccine children vaccine children india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092036335_0:195:2949:1853_1920x0_80_0_0_1d8fe0a5382de21b50a4d1517be7916d.jpg When COVID-19 hit India in 2020, one of the first things it affected was education. The routine of in-class study was called off as masking and social distancing norms were yet to be made mandatory to curb the spread of the contagious virus.In various cities, many children haven't even been to a school once in these two years, and parents are bothered about their children's education and outdoor activities.On 25 December, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would start an inoculation drive for young people aged between 15-18 years, it brought a sense of relief and hope to parents and children for a relatively safer time ahead.On Monday and Tuesday, many children dressed up in school uniforms, were seen standing in queues at schools and vaccination centres in Delhi.At present, India is only giving children the domestic vaccine from Bharat Biotech, Covaxin.Aakash Sahotra, 17, seemed excited after getting inculated along with his classmates at Sarvodaya Bal School in the city's Lakshmi Nagar area. "We were waiting for this for so long"."Everyone in my family is vaccinated, I'm the youngest one and this vaccine makes me as strong as anyone else in my family", another student, Jagjeet Singh, said cheerfully.Last week, amid a surge in coronavirus cases, the Delhi government ordered the complete closure of schools and all educational institutions. No directive or guidelines about the reopening of schools in the near future has been issued.In recent weeks, several countries, including the United States and Britain, have seen a rise in infections among children, and experts have urged parents to get their children vaccinated. More than 40 nations worldwide have already started vaccinations for children above 12 years.Talking to Sputnik, Dr Veena Verma, head of immunisation in East Delhi, said: "When we started the vaccination drive for adults last year, there was hesitancy. I don't see it now".As per government data, India has more than 120 million people aged between 15 and 19 and the largest population of adolescents globally, as per the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF)."I was waiting for this for a long time. Now, my parents will have mental peace that we're (their children) vaccinated and can attend outdoor activities", said 16-year-old Shivanshi, a skating champion at her school, who hasn't been able to practice for two years.There has been a debate over the merits of vaccinating children who do not have underlying conditions, as the chances of them developing a severe illness from COVID-19 are quite low, and this has to be balanced against the vaccine's potential side effects. new delhi delhi india Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg new delhi, delhi, india, vaccine, children, vaccine, children, india https://sputniknews.com/20220105/ex-trump-adviser-navarro-says-capitol-riot-undermined-plans-to-overthrow-2020-election-results-1092042214.html Ex-Trump Adviser Navarro Says Capitol Riot Undermined Plans to Overthrow 2020 Election Results Ex-Trump Adviser Navarro Says Capitol Riot Undermined Plans to Overthrow 2020 Election Results Former adviser of ex-US President Donald Trump, Peter Navarro released a memoir dubbed "In Trump Time" in November, elaborating on "the story of a President who worked night and day for the American people." 2022-01-05T16:24+0000 2022-01-05T16:24+0000 2022-01-05T16:24+0000 donald trump us peter navarro /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107969/35/1079693555_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_f2fc1dbf19a4d18793c8e0b07fd4a0d5.jpg Former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro expressed frustration over how the violence during the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 disrupted the GOP's plans to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.During a Tuesday interview with MSNBC, Navarro shared details about the plan that Donald Trump's legal circle was said to have in order to challenge the outcome of the 2020 White House race, dubbed "Green Bay sweep".However, the former adviser said, the purported plan required "peace and calm on Capitol Hill" - the opposite of what occurred on 6 January.Navarro also praised Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Paul Gosar for "beautifully" objecting to the results of the 2020 election as members of Congress gathered to certify the votes of the Electoral College.The plan envisaged putting pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to stall the certification for as long as possible so that he would be forced to put the certification of the election on ice for at least another several weeks, according to his book "In Trump Time" cited by Rolling Stone. Navarro described the plan as last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats jaws of deceit.However, things took a different turn. On 6 January, protesters stormed into the US Capitol, calling for the dismissal of the election results. Former President Donald Trump was accused of inciting the insurrection, but vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Following his unprecedented second impeachment over the accusations, the Senate acquitted Trump after his presidential tenure had ended. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Daria Bedenko Daria Bedenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Daria Bedenko donald trump, us, peter navarro https://sputniknews.com/20220105/five-major-powers-sign-nuclear-war-statement-eu-meetings-to-start-on-russian-security-demands-1092027201.html Five Major Powers Sign Nuclear War Statement; EU Meetings to Start on Russian Security Demands Five Major Powers Sign Nuclear War Statement; EU Meetings to Start on Russian Security Demands The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have come together to state that war must be avoided between nuclear states. 05.01.2022, Sputnik International 2022-01-05T07:36+0000 2022-01-05T07:36+0000 2022-01-05T11:38+0000 chuck schumer europe china houthi gitmo nuclear agreement the critical hour radio /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092027132_33:0:1277:700_1920x0_80_0_0_5eb14f9849244d67fbd4d40b90bb74d7.png Five Major Powers Sign Nuclear War Statement; EU Meetings to Start On Russian Security Demands The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have come together to state that war must be avoided between nuclear states. Dr. David Oualaalou, author and international security analyst, joins us to discuss Russia's security demands. Many European leaders are coming together to meet with each other, and Russian diplomats in a move to negotiate over Russia's recent security demands. Germany's Chancellor seems to be taking a lead as he has announced that his assistant will meet with Ukrainian, French, and Russian representatives.Gary Flowers, host of The Gary Flowers Show on radio station Rejoice WREJ-AM 990, joins us to discuss domestic politics. Democrats are getting significant pressure to change the Senate rules to address voting rights. Also, several groups are again asking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to address the filibuster, but few expect him to move on their plea.Scott Ritter, former UN weapon inspector in Iraq, joins us to discuss a recent nuclear statement. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have come together to state that war must be avoided between nuclear states. Reportedly, Moscow was the main driver behind the statement.Dr. Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss the economy. The child tax credit has expired, and many economists are predicting a dramatic increase in child poverty as a result. The Build Back Better legislation was stripped of desperately needed social spending and ultimately died at the hands of a very conservative Democratic Party.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Houthi fighters have seized a UAE flagged ship that is full of military supplies. The Saudi-led coalition had claimed that the ship was carrying medical supplies. Also, Syrian Jihadis supported by the US empire are looking to gain political power through election manipulation.Niko House, political activist, independent journalist, and podcaster, joins us to discuss the US media. We review the absurdity of the Western media when reporting on Russia and China by going over the headlines. Regarding China, every headline is followed by questioning the cost, and regarding Russia, the headlines are claims of Russia weaponizing everything.Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist, joins us to discuss GITMO. In what appears to be another u-turn on campaign promises, the Biden administration is building, rather than closing, facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Biden is building a new secret court facility that will only allow members of the intelligence community and those with special clearances.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss the Global South. Venezuelan President Maduro is saying that the United States deliberately sabotaged the Mexican talks by kidnapping diplomat Alex Saab.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com europe china gitmo Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Garland Nixon https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg Garland Nixon https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Garland Nixon https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg chuck schumer, europe, china, houthi, gitmo, nuclear agreement, the critical hour, , radio https://sputniknews.com/20220105/india-slaps-almost-88-million-tax-evasion-notice-on-chinese-mobile-firm-xiaomi-1092039838.html India Slaps Almost $88 Million Tax Evasion Notice on Chinese Mobile Firm Xiaomi India Slaps Almost $88 Million Tax Evasion Notice on Chinese Mobile Firm Xiaomi Last December, India's tax sleuths raided over 24 premises linked to the Chinese mobile firms Xiaomi, Oppo, and OnePlus, which have a combined market share of... 05.01.2022, Sputnik International 2022-01-05T15:38+0000 2022-01-05T15:38+0000 2022-01-05T15:38+0000 trade chinese foreign ministry china customs duty income tax xiaomi india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092041716_0:28:3137:1793_1920x0_80_0_0_7930b488c2abf57705bea40452273152.jpg India on Wednesday imposed an $87.8 million fine on the local unit of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi after an investigation found that the company had evaded custom duties.A statement issued by the Indian Finance Ministry said that Xiaomi India's payments of royalty and licence fees to Qualcomm USA and Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd were not added to the transaction value of imports by the company and its contract manufacturers.During the investigation carried out by the revenue intelligence unit, one of the directors of Xiaomi India confirmed the payments to the US and a Chinese firm.The ministry added that three show-cause notices have been issued to Xiaomi for the tax demand and recovery of 6.53 billion rupees ($87.8 million) from April 2017 to June 2020.Xiaomi India has issued a statement saying it is currently reviewing the notice in detail. Last month, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi said it was "concerned" about raids by Indian tax inspectors on the offices of Chinese mobile firms. The Chinese official further asked the Indian authorities to ensure an "open, fair and a non-discriminatory business environment" for Chinese enterprises operating in the south Asian nation. china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg trade, chinese foreign ministry, china, customs duty, income tax, xiaomi, india https://sputniknews.com/20220105/israel-uae-trade-expected-to-hit-2-billion-in-2022-but-might-the-honeymoon-be-disrupted-1092029665.html Israel-UAE Trade Expected to Hit $2 Billion in 2022, But Might the Honeymoon Be Disrupted? Israel-UAE Trade Expected to Hit $2 Billion in 2022, But Might the Honeymoon Be Disrupted? In 2021, just one year into the Abraham Accords that saw Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalise ties, bilateral trade exceeded half a billion dollars. 2022-01-05T05:35+0000 2022-01-05T05:35+0000 2022-01-05T05:35+0000 middle east uae israel /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/0f/1080182677_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_c18894c417e653dffdb2865fde87d5a8.jpg In 2021, just one year into the Abraham Accords that saw Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalise ties, bilateral trade exceeded half a billion dollars.Trade to FlourishBut Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council, says trade is only expected to jump in 2022.According to estimates by the Business Council, a body that brings together more than 6,000 Emirati and Israeli businesspeople, 2022 will see a 50 percent increase in trade and is forecast to reach $2 billion.That trade and cooperation encompass a wide range of areas. In terms of renewable energy, the two nations signed a major deal, according to which the UAE will set up a plant in Jordan that will supply Israel with electricity. In exchange, the Jewish state will provide the Hashemite kingdom with desalinated water.The diamond industry has also seen a major boost, as did aerospace, defence cooperation, agriculture, and tourism. Last October, it was reported that more than 250,000 Israelis had visited the UAE since the historic agreement was signed. Right now, the exchange of tourists is bogged down by the raging coronavirus pandemic. The UAE is regarded as a red-zone country in Israel, meaning travelling to and from the nation is forbidden. But Hassan-Nahoum is hopeful that once the situation calms down a quarter of a million Emiratis will visit Israel too.Challenges on the Horizon?Yet, at times that excitement has been overshadowed by challenges. Hassan-Nahoum says that one of those has to do with the "cultural differences" between the nations. Another is the Israel-UAE pipeline project that doesn't seem to be getting off the ground.The aforementioned deal stipulated that the UAE would be able to unload its oil tankers in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on the shores of the Red Sea. From there, the crude would be transported to Europe via an existing pipeline.Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry has long objected to the project, arguing that oil spills could damage the environment and cause irreversible damage to the area's coral reef.That statement has reportedly caused concern in the UAE, and the Israeli press has gone as far as to suggest that the cancellation of the deal would put the Abraham Accords to a test.Hassan-Nahoum, however, is certain that bilateral ties are much stronger than any deal.Even without the pipeline deal, bilateral trade turnover is set to hit $2 billion in 2022 but the Business Council is hopeful that the new year will exceed their expectations. But for that to happen, Hassan-Nahoum says they need "more investment funds, more incentives, and more support from their governments". uae Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Elizabeth Blade Elizabeth Blade News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Elizabeth Blade middle east, uae, israel https://sputniknews.com/20220105/israels-intel-chief-says-revival-of-iran-nuclear-deal-better-than-collapse-of-jcpoa-talks-report-1092033270.html Israel's Intel Chief Says Revival of Iran Nuclear Deal Better Than Collapse of JCPOA Talks: Report Israel's Intel Chief Says Revival of Iran Nuclear Deal Better Than Collapse of JCPOA Talks: Report Aharon Haliva, head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF)'s Operations Directorate, reportedly believes that a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is better for Tel Aviv than the collapse of the Vienna talks on the accord. 2022-01-05T09:57+0000 2022-01-05T09:57+0000 2022-01-05T09:57+0000 iran talks agreement israel joint comprehensive plan of action (jcpoa) /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107627/45/1076274587_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_d95b3e3493aa35ea46883f6b65533a3c.jpg Aharon Haliva, head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF)'s Operations Directorate, reportedly believes that a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is better for Tel Aviv than the collapse of the Vienna talks on the accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).According to Walla, the comments by the IDF intelligence head were in response to Mossad chief David Barnea, who continues to oppose the JCPOA and insists there is still time to influence the US concerning the terms of the Iran deal.The remarks came after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid stressed that Tel Aviv has "no problem" with the JCPOA in principle and that "a good deal is a good thing"."Second best would be no deal but tightening the sanctions and making sure Iran cannot go forward. And the third and worst is a bad deal". In late November, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made it clear that his country will maintain its freedom of action if a new nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers is reached at the Vienna talks.The latest round of talks on the JCPOA began in the Austrian capital after a short pause on Monday, with the US State Department reportedly saying that Iran should "add real urgency" to the Vienna negotiations or risk losing any chance of the accord being revived.Iran expects the US to "offer a tangible text", in which case an agreement can be reached "in the shortest possible time", the spokesman said.In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 group of countries the US, China, France, Russia, the UK plus Germany and the EU. The agreement obligated Tehran to scale back its nuclear programme and significantly decrease its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of an arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption.In May 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran a year later to announce that it was starting to scale back its own JCPOA commitments. The Biden administration signalled its readiness to return to the agreement, with Iran saying that the White House should first scrap all sanctions against the Islamic Republic. https://sputniknews.com/20211215/iaea-chief-says-2015-nuclear-deal-needs-adjustments-in-2022-for-a-very-different-iran-1091555965.html https://sputniknews.com/20211013/there-should-be-a-possibility-to-negotiate-deal-stronger-than-jcpoa-us-special-envoy-to-iran-says-1089895962.html iran Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg iran, talks, agreement, israel, joint comprehensive plan of action (jcpoa) Flash As the United States sees new records of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations with the surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, large parts of the country are increasingly intimidated by the virus and schools are caught in a predicament. Alarming figures More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, according to official data, the highest number since late summer when the Delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases. The figure reflected the 27 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week. Average daily new deaths from COVID-19 declined by 8 percent. Hospitalization numbers better capture the pandemic's impact than infection figures, Anthony Fauci, the U.S. president's chief medical adviser, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. The worst day of the pandemic for hospitalizations was Jan. 14, 2021, with more than 142,000. Also on Monday, the United States shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and government decisions to ease prevention and control measures in the country. As of 0500 GMT Tuesday, the country registered about 1.07 million confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Wall Street Journal reported that "the U.S. reported a record 1.08 million COVID-19 infections on Monday as most states worked to clear backlogs after pausing during the New Year's holiday." The new record pushed the seven-day average of daily reported infections to 480,273, nearly double the peak reached at the height of last winter's case surge. So far, the United States has remained the country worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths. Southern surge The United States is heading into the third year of the coronavirus pandemic with the extremely contagious Omicron variant poised to ignite a firestorm of infection across the Southeast after exploding through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, reported The Washington Post on Tuesday. "Lower vaccination rates and fewer mask and vaccine mandates have created a much different environment for the Omicron variant to spread in the South, leaving experts unsure whether outbreaks will end up deadlier than in the North," said the report. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the states experiencing the sharpest increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations since Christmas, and "the situation may only get worse, as initial outbreaks in metropolitan areas spread to more poorly vaccinated rural regions," it said. Georgia has shattered records, with nearly 1 in 3 tests coming back positive in the last week of December, and in metro Atlanta, nearly half of tests were positive. New daily infections in Florida have hit an average of about 43,000, far above the peak of 23,000 reached during the Delta variant surge in the summer. In the meantime, Louisiana also has surpassed daily infection records set during its summer surge, with 12,500 cases reported on Thursday, which state officials said was nearly twice the record established in August. David Rubin, who monitors coronavirus trends nationally for PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he expects the Southeast to be a major driver of the nation's cases this month. "We are going to continue to have waves in the new year that I think will become lesser in amplitude over time," said Rubin. School reopening Amid the pandemic surge, the first physical CES electronics show in two years will kick off this week in Las Vegas, though organizers have shortened the tech event by a day, and several major companies have pulled out. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds, and shortened to five months the time required between the second dose of the vaccine and a booster. Amid the booster stimulus, a majority of schools across the country are reopening for in-person learning this week despite the Omicron surge, mindful of the academic, logistical and social-emotional disruptions that remote education inflicted last year and determined to avoid a repeat. However, "the Omicron surge threatens to upend any sense of peace in the nation's education system," reported The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that after a holiday break that saw COVID-19 cases spike unrelentingly, a small but growing list of districts moved temporarily to remote learning for more than 450,000 children. "Districtwide closures, even those that last for a week or two, are a step backward after months in which classrooms largely remained open," said the report. There were growing fears from parents and educators that more districts would soon turn to remote learning, even though in-school transmission of COVID-19 has been limited. Official data last week showed that pediatric hospital admissions had reached a record high in the United States. The hospitalizations are primarily among unvaccinated people -- cumulative hospitalization rates through November are about 10 times higher for unvaccinated children ages 12 to 17. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/nato-and-russia-agree-to-meet-january-12th-1092026618.html NATO and Russia Agree to Meet January 12th NATO and Russia Agree to Meet January 12th On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events including Rand Paul quits YouTube, and Tennis star... 05.01.2022, Sputnik International 2022-01-05T07:33+0000 2022-01-05T07:33+0000 2022-01-05T11:33+0000 us national security democrats kremlin censorship covid-19 the backstory gettr radio /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/04/1092026492_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_4b87d8caff69469d2c7ee7ebedbf134e.jpg NATO and Russia Agree to Meet January 12th On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events including Rand Paul quits YouTube, and Tennis star Novak Djokovic being criticized for his medical exemption from COVID vaccines, to play in the Australian Grand Slam. GUESTMark Sleboda - International Relations and Security Analyst | Putin- Biden Phone Call, US Media Ignoring Biden - Putin Phone Call, and NATO-Russia SummitKim Iversen - Independent Journalist and Host of The Kim Iversen Show | Blue State Mandates, Culture Wars, and 2024 ElectionIn the first hour, Lee and John spoke with Mark Sleboda about NATO ready to meet with Russia, the military conflict in Ukraine, and the Russian media. Mark spoke about the Russian military and President Putin's warning about a "Cuban missile crisis" situation over Ukraine tensions. Mark discussed the feelings of Russian citizens and their view of President Putin's performance on national security.In the second hour, Lee and John spoke with Kim Iversen about the Democratic party goal of zero COVID, Dr. Robert Malone censored, and California COVID restrictions. Kim talked about Joe Rogan having eleven million viewers on average and Dr. Robert Malone trending on social media. Kim discussed the media use of the January 6th riot and the lack of regard for the 2020 riots.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com us kremlin Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Lee Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png Lee Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Lee Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png us, national security, democrats, kremlin, censorship, covid-19, the backstory, gettr, , radio https://sputniknews.com/20220105/new-netflix-k-drama-killer-series-reveals-lead-cast-1092016818.html New Netflix K-Drama Killer Series Reveals Lead Cast New Netflix K-Drama Killer Series Reveals Lead Cast After the success of 'Squid Game', various prominent names in the South Korean TV industry have begun to garner more attention. 2022-01-05T01:40+0000 2022-01-05T01:40+0000 2022-01-05T01:41+0000 south korea netflix society tv series /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/03/03/1082242438_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_49a4dea4b5e3cd10d6d73bea32d2d45a.jpg Big names in the South Korean film industry have joined the new Netflix project, with Jeon Do-yeon and Sol Kyung-gu to star in an upcoming Netflix thriller 'Kill Bok-soon' (working title), according to media reports on January 4.The action movie will include actors Esom and Goo Kyo-hwan, and will tell the story of a hitman working under the name 'Kill' (Jeon Do-yeon). A legendary and ruthless killer by contract, she is also a single mom to a teenage girl. Sol Kyung-gu will play Cha Min-kyu, the CEO of the assassins' organization, M.K., who guides Kill through her professional career. The two actors are working together for a third time, having earlier portrayed romantic partners in 'I Wish I Had a Wife' (2001) and a married couple in 'Birthday' (2019). Director Byun Sung-hyun earlier made 'The Merciless', which was invited as a midnight screening at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. His new political drama film, 'Kingmaker', with Sol Kyung-gu, is set to release on January 26. Jeon Do-young is a South Korean actress widely revered by K-drama lovers for her acting skills. She is the first Korean actress to win a Best Actress award at Cannes, for her role in 'Secret Sunshine', which was directed by Lee Chang-dong. Sol Kyung-gu started his career in the mid-1990s and has since crafted a long list of works, including 'Peppermint Candy', 'Public Enemy', 'Oasis' and 'The Merciless'. south korea Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Martha Yiling https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1a/1081573806_0:0:404:404_100x100_80_0_0_4dc70f9169ad4580a8dff86e9af042ca.jpg Martha Yiling https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1a/1081573806_0:0:404:404_100x100_80_0_0_4dc70f9169ad4580a8dff86e9af042ca.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Martha Yiling https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1a/1081573806_0:0:404:404_100x100_80_0_0_4dc70f9169ad4580a8dff86e9af042ca.jpg south korea, netflix, society, tv series https://sputniknews.com/20220105/north-korea-says-wednesday-launch-was-hypersonic-missile-state-media-report-1092048823.html Wednesday's DPRK Launch Was Second Test of Hwasong-8 Hypersonic Missile, Ruling Workers Party Says Wednesday's DPRK Launch Was Second Test of Hwasong-8 Hypersonic Missile, Ruling Workers Party Says A Wednesday missile launch into the Sea of Japan by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was of a hypersonic weapon, state media reported Thursday morning. 2022-01-05T22:03+0000 2022-01-05T22:03+0000 2022-01-05T23:08+0000 dprk hypersonic missiles test ballistic missiles /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/06/0d/1083136546_0:161:3069:1887_1920x0_80_0_0_e0a7fb20e24637ce6ed25be1f6a644c7.jpg According to Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, the Wednesday test accelerated the task of "modernizing the national strategic force."The paper says the test verified the ability of the fuel ampoule system to operate "under winter weather conditions" and demonstrated an increased ability to stabilize and control the hypersonic glide vehicle, "which combined a multi-stage gliding jump flight and a strong lateral movement." The glide vehicle is boosted by a rocket engine during the initial stage of a hypersonic weapon's launch before detaching and gliding toward its target, adopting an unpredictable flight path to avoid interception."Having detached after its launch, the missile made a 120 km lateral movement in the flight distance of the hypersonic gliding warhead from the initial launch azimuth to the target azimuth and precisely hit the target 700 km away," it added.The Wednesday launch was the DPRK's second test of a hypersonic weapon. The first was held in September, timed to coincide with the socialist nation's envoy to the United Nations taking the podium at the General Assembly in New York to speak about the DPRK's right to self-defense but willingness to talk peace, which has eluded the peninsula for 72 years. The weapon is named Hwasong-8.The DPRK has maintained a unilateral ban on long-range ballistic missile tests since demonstrating it has a working intercontinental ballistic missile in 2018. However, it has tested a variety of shorter-range weapons that don't violate United Nations resolutions. Many are designed to evade South Korean air defenses in various ways, whether by depressed trajectories or, in the case of the Hwasong-8, simply being too fast and unpredictable for them to shoot down. However, it has also tested air defense missiles, too.The DPRK has been at war with South Korea and the US since 1950, when the US orchestrated a UN intervention in a civil war in Korea that the South was badly losing. A ceasefire ended the war in 1953 after more than 2 million people had been killed, but no permanent peace followed, and a demilitarized zone has separated the two countries since. The US claims the DPRK's missile and nuclear weapons are a threat to the region, but Pyongyang says it only has the weapons to ensure its security until a peace treaty is signed and the 28,500 US troops in South Korea are withdrawn. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg dprk, hypersonic missiles, test, ballistic missiles https://sputniknews.com/20220105/peru-prosecutors-office-launches-corruption-probe-against-president-castillo---reports-1092027810.html Peru Prosecutor's Office Launches Corruption Probe Against President Castillo - Reports Peru Prosecutor's Office Launches Corruption Probe Against President Castillo - Reports Peruvian Prosecutor General Zoraida Avalos began preliminary investigation against President Pedro Castillo on suspicion of corruption, Peru's newspaper La Republica reported on Tuesday. 2022-01-05T02:47+0000 2022-01-05T02:47+0000 2022-01-05T02:47+0000 peru investigation prosecutor corruption /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/06/08/1083103109_0:228:2833:1821_1920x0_80_0_0_ae6c8606bf3b5ad3f79b5c03c3bcf4a0.jpg On December 18, Peruvian Attorney General Daniel Soria appealed to the prosecutor's office accusing Castillo of alleged illegal patronage and abuse of power. Soria stated that the president had secret meetings with entrepreneur Karelim Lopez, the assistant to a consortium that won a $58 million contract on roadworks in the country. Soria mentioned it was most likely that the purpose of these meetings was to assist the consortium in winning the contract. Lopez herself is under the investigation over alleged corruption.La Republica reported that Avalos decided to begin a preliminary investigation against Castillo on charges of abuse of power and collusion. Castillo is reported to conclude a contract with Lopez for the purchase of a large batch of biodiesel, as well as a contract for the construction of the Tarat road bridge across the Huallaga river.In the end of December, Castillo refuted all accusations and voluntarily gave access to his bank accounts and phone conversations and asked the prosecutor's office to summon him for questioning ahead of schedule.Per the Peruvian constitution, the incumbent president can only be accused of treason, obstructing elections, dissolving and obstructing the work of the congress and the electoral system. It means that the investigation will be postponed until the end of his presidential term in July 2026. peru Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 peru, investigation, prosecutor, corruption https://sputniknews.com/20220105/photos-greek-divers-uncover-wreckage-of-italian-wwii-submarine-in-aegean-sea-1092027396.html Photos: Greek Divers Uncover Wreckage of Italian WWII Submarine in Aegean Sea Photos: Greek Divers Uncover Wreckage of Italian WWII Submarine in Aegean Sea Eighty years ago an Italian submarine was sunk off the coast of Greece during World War II. In a recent interview with Reuters, Greek diver Kostas Thoctarides confirmed that he and his team members found the Italian submarine in November. 2022-01-05T00:51+0000 2022-01-05T00:51+0000 2022-01-05T00:51+0000 greece world war ii italy /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092027371_0:225:2843:1824_1920x0_80_0_0_bfb6590d1051d8bfb18de16c53d9ef08.jpg Records indicate that 48 crew members were aboard when the submarine was hit by British torpedoes in July 1941. Only six sailors were able to swim to the Greek island of Delos, near Mykonos, after the blast.Italys Naval History Office confirmed that the 80-year-old wreckage was in fact the Jantina, which was originally built for the Royal Italian Navy in the 1930s, and was used in the Spanish Civil War in support of Spanish Nationalists before its use in WWII.The wreck and the surrounding area was treated with respect as a wet grave, wrote Thoctarides on Facebook.The submerged vessel was discovered using the ROV Super Achilles, capturing detailed images of the wreckage. The submarine was found resting at a depth of more than 300 feet.According to the diver, the Jantina was about 200 feet long with speeds of up to 14 knots (16 mph) and a maximum depth of about 262 feet.This is the fourth submarine accredited to the findings of Thoctarides. greece Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 greece, world war ii, italy https://sputniknews.com/20220105/polands-president-andrzej-duda-tests-positive-for-covid-19-1092035155.html Poland's President Andrzej Duda Tests Positive For COVID-19 Poland's President Andrzej Duda Tests Positive For COVID-19 A top aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda told the state news agency PAP on Wednesday that Duda had tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in isolation. 2022-01-05T11:01+0000 2022-01-05T11:01+0000 2022-01-05T11:53+0000 poland andrzej duda coronavirus covid-19 /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/103714/20/1037142095_0:255:4931:3028_1920x0_80_0_0_8e03defebc4e01744f1c47da5f29e8b3.jpg A top aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda told the state news agency PAP on Wednesday that Duda had tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in isolation.Duda previously tested positive for the coronavirus in October 2020, when the Polish president tweeted that he was experiencing no COVID-19 symptoms, but that "unfortunately, the test result is absolutely unambiguous".As for Wednesday's announcement, it comes a few days after Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told local radio station RMF FM that he does not rule out more COVID restrictions to tackle the spread of the new Omicron variant.More than 4.1 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Poland since the start of the pandemic, with 98,034 fatalities in the country, according to the World Health Organisation's latest situation report.In December, Polish authorities tightened the screws on COVID curbs amid an ongoing surge in cases of the Omicron variant in the country. https://sputniknews.com/20201206/eu-may-exclude-poland-hungary-from-covid-19-recovery-plan-french-minister-for-europe-warns-1081374489.html poland Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Oleg Burunov https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg poland, andrzej duda, coronavirus, covid-19 https://sputniknews.com/20220105/president-tokaev-says-hes-now-in-charge-of-kazakh-security-council-will-stay-with-the-people-1092038876.html President Tokayev Says He's Now in Charge of Kazakh Security Council, 'Will Stay With the People' President Tokayev Says He's Now in Charge of Kazakh Security Council, 'Will Stay With the People' Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is addressing the nation for a second time since the beginning of nationwide protests triggered by surging gas prices. 2022-01-05T13:03+0000 2022-01-05T13:03+0000 2022-01-06T10:48+0000 asia & pacific protests kazakhstan kassym-jomart tokayev protests in kazakhstan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107576/05/1075760503_0:0:2895:1629_1920x0_80_0_0_e0c0f14da1b10d93d54645d04b2cbf35.jpg President Tokayev said on Wednesday that he is now in charge of the Kazakh Security Council, noting that he will remain in the country's capital city no matter what and "stay with the people".The country's Security Council was earlier headed by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.Noting that the violent protests had resulted in the killing of law enforcement officers, Tokayev underlined that the authorities intend to act as decisively as possible against offenders in the protests.Additionally, Tokayev pledged to roll out a new package of proposals in the near future in the wake of the demonstrations.The Kazakh president also asserted that there is a group of "financially motivated" plotters with a carefully masterminded plan behind the ongoing unrest in the country.His second address comes as Kazakhstan is being rattled by protests against surging gas prices, with a state of emergency declared in the regions of Almaty and Mangystau, along with the capital city Nur-Sultan. According to estimations by the country's Interior Ministry, over 200 people have been detained during the nationwide protests. More than 100 law enforcement officers and over 50 civilians have been injured so far.In his first speech, Tokayev said that "power will not fall", strongly advising against calling to attack civilian and military offices. He also called for "mutual trust and dialogue" rather than conflict.The ongoing unrest in Kazakhstan has drawn the attention of several members of the global community, among them chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Zbigniew Rau, who called for de-escalation and the start of a dialogue.Russia has also commented on the situation in Kazakhstan, saying that it believes the country will deal with its problems on its own and underlining the importance of no foreign interference. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/whats-going-on-in-kazakhstan-and-what-are-protesters-demanding-amid-surging-gas-prices-1092033565.html kazakhstan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Daria Bedenko Daria Bedenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Daria Bedenko asia & pacific, protests, kazakhstan, kassym-jomart tokayev https://sputniknews.com/20220105/state-of-emergency-declared-across-kazakhstan-1092043345.html State of Emergency Declared Across Kazakhstan Amid Ongoing Violent Protests State of Emergency Declared Across Kazakhstan Amid Ongoing Violent Protests Mass protests have been ongoing across the country since the early days of 2022, triggered by a dramatic increase of gas prices. Earlier, a state of emergency was declared in the regions of Almaty and Mangystau, along with the capital city of Nur-Sultan. 2022-01-05T16:52+0000 2022-01-05T16:52+0000 2022-01-06T10:50+0000 kazakhstan asia & pacific protests in kazakhstan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092043754_0:161:3071:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_5d395be1c53100516a997a13218ad649.jpg A state of emergency was declared across all of Kazakhstan late on Wednesday, a Sputnik correspondent reported.State media has announced a state of emergency on air.Earlier in the day, a state of emergency was declared in the regions of Almaty and Mangystau, along with the capital city of Nur-Sultan. The state of emergency is expected to remain in place until 19 January. The new rules restrict the freedom of movement, including transport. Residents will be prohibited from mass gatherings and events, among them family gatherings related to births, weddings, and deaths.The announcement comes as multiple cities in the country are rattled by protests that began in the south-western Mangystau region after a surge in gas prices. During the early days of 2022, the demonstrations spread over to other cities, particularly the city of Almaty, which saw escalated tensions on Wednesday.Several important buildings in the city were set on fire, including the city administration, the prosecutor's office, and an office of the national TV channel Qazaqstan. The protesters are also reportedly storming the office of the city's interior ministry, according to the Vlast news outlet.Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has already addressed the nation twice amid the protests. In his most recent address, he announced that he had assumed control over the country's Security Council - previously headed by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev - and said the authorities intend to act as harsh as possible against offenders in the protests.It was estimated that more than 100 law enforcement officers and over 50 civilians sustained injuries during the protests in Almaty. Over 200 people are said to have been detained amid the ongoing unrest.Reaction in the WorldCalls for de-escalation amid the ongoing protests have already emerged, particularly voiced by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Zbigniew Rau. The United Nations has expressed "concerns" over the situation in Kazakhstan, calling all parties to refrain from violence and engage in a dialogue. The United States has closed its Consulate General in Almaty for visitors and ordered its employees to work remotely, a Sputnik correspondent has reported.The White House said it is closely monitoring the situation in Kazakhstan, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki denying the allegations of any US involvement in the unrest in the country.Flights CancelledAs the unrest engulfs the country, several airlines have already announced delays or cancellations of Kazakhstan-bound flights. Particularly, several flights from Minsk, Tbilisi, Bishkek have been cancelled. Kazakh flagship airline Air Astana announced earlier on Wednesday that the airport in the city of Aktau (the capital of the Mangystau region where the protests began) had stopped working.Sputniks correspondent also reported that Almaty's airport had been seized by the protesters, who kicked passengers out of the terminal. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/whats-going-on-in-kazakhstan-and-what-are-protesters-demanding-amid-surging-gas-prices-1092033565.html kazakhstan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Daria Bedenko Daria Bedenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Daria Bedenko kazakhstan, asia & pacific https://sputniknews.com/20220105/us-vp-kamala-harris-ridiculed-for-moving-again-remark-during-enormous-traffic-jam-on-i-95-1092035412.html US VP Kamala Harris Ridiculed for 'Moving Again' Remark During Enormous Traffic Jam on I-95 US VP Kamala Harris Ridiculed for 'Moving Again' Remark During Enormous Traffic Jam on I-95 Timing is so vital that even a harmless statement about a piece of legislation aimed at improving infrastructure in the United States can become the subject of anger and criticism when made at the wrong moment. 2022-01-05T11:31+0000 2022-01-05T11:31+0000 2022-01-05T11:31+0000 us traffic jam kamala harris viral /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/17/1083691990_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_b59263c64f906fb1f1c55e3c6ca068c0.jpg Timing is so vital that even a harmless statement about a piece of legislation aimed at improving infrastructure in the United States can become the subject of anger and criticism when made at the wrong moment. This is what happened to US Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been ridiculed online after she posted a statement about America "moving again" thanks to a recently-adopted infrastructure law. The second-in-command tweeted when thousands of motorists were stranded on Interstate 95 in Virginia due to a car accident caused by a snowstorm.Harris' post prompted a torrent of negative comments.Even supporters of the vice president were unhappy.Many users accused the vice president of bad timing.Others posted videos and photos of the traffic jam.Some netizens even tagged Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) who was stuck in the traffic jam.Still others contended that the US has far more pressing problems than infrastructure.There have been no reports of injuries or deaths from the calamity, but many motorists ran out of gas in freezing temperatures after spending more than 24 hours in the traffic jams.Some ran out of water as they were waiting for the logjam to clear.The traffic pile up was caused by a road accident, involving multiple trucks on the highway, which, in turn, was caused by a powerful snow storm that hit parts of the US. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has defended the actions of local officials describing the situation as an "incredibly unusual event". Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Max Gorbachev Max Gorbachev News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Max Gorbachev us, traffic jam, kamala harris, viral https://sputniknews.com/20220105/whats-going-on-in-kazakhstan-and-what-are-protesters-demanding-amid-surging-gas-prices-1092033565.html What's Going on in Kazakhstan and What Are Protesters Demanding? What's Going on in Kazakhstan and What Are Protesters Demanding? Protests in several Kazakh cities erupted on 2 January due to surging gas prices in the country, with clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officers occurring between late 4 January and early 5 January in the city of Almaty. 2022-01-05T11:16+0000 2022-01-05T11:16+0000 2022-01-06T10:50+0000 protests asia & pacific demonstrations kazakhstan protests in kazakhstan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/01/05/1092034467_0:203:2921:1846_1920x0_80_0_0_1dce3a9fb46da6c64f9422eb96615edf.jpg As of Wednesday, at least 137 police officers and 53 civilians were injured during mass protests in Almaty, with the country's largest city facing crowds of demonstrators attempting to storm the mayor's office as law enforcement officers try to hold them back.The mayor's office has been set on fire by the protesters, and gunshots have also been heard near the building, according to a Sputnik correspondent reporting from the scene.Several videos have since emerged on social media appearing to show protesters storming the mayor's office, with some entering the building, and another group reportedly heading to the old presidential residence.It has been estimated that there are around three thousand people attempting to storm the mayor's office. Law enforcement officers are using light grenades, along with sticks and shields, to hold the protesters back.What Do the Protesters Want?The ongoing unrest in Kazakhstan has been ignited by a surge in gas prices that followed the government's new liquified gas pricing policy. Since 1 January, prices have skyrocketed, initially rising from around 60 tenges to 80 and then up to 120 tenges (around $3) per litre, prompting the residents of Aktau and Zhanaozen in the southwestern Mangystau Region to take to the streets, demanding the prices be lowered.The economy of these southwestern regions of the country is closely tied to oil and gas, and this is not the first time unrest has erupted in the area. In 2011, Zhanaozen saw a mass demonstration of people engaged in the sector that escalated into deadly protests and claimed 15 lives and left hundreds injured.Now, the very same region is seeing mass protests again, with the calls to lower gas prices evolving into political demands such as introducing elections for the heads of the nation's regions and cities and the return of the 1993 Constitution.Gov't ResponseShortly after the protests erupted, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev ordered a commission to resolve the issue, with the government promising to lower gas prices. On Wednesday, Tokaev accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Askar Mamin, underlining that "the government was especially to blame for allowing a protest situation". Aside from this, the president ordered the state regulation of liquefied gas (LNG) prices for six months.It was earlier announced that Kazakhstan will postpone the transition to the sale of LNG through an electronic trading platform for one year. The authorities have also been tasked with conducting an investigation into price collusion and other "anti-competitive actions" in the sale of liquefied gas.Local media outlets in Kazakhstan reported that the head of the Mangystau gas processing plant was detained for allegedly increasing gas prices for no reason. Additionally, the head of an electronic trading platform was also reportedly detained.Recent DevelopmentsDespite the government's promises regarding gas prices, the protests have spread from the southwest to large cities, including the capital Nur-Sultan. A state of emergency was introduced in the regions of Almaty and Mangystau, where the protests originated, and is expected to remain in place until 19 January. The Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan later on Wednesday also declared a state of emergency.Later in the day, a state of emergency was declared across all of Kazakhstan.Currently, Almaty appears to be the flashpoint of the Kazakh protests, with clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers continuing. Aside from the mayor's office, Almaty's prosecutor's office was also set on fire, according to a Sputnik correspondent.The unrest has undermined the work of public health services, with protesters injuring medics and even storming into hospitals. According to public health authorities in Almaty, 5 ambulance workers were injured during the unrest, and 2 ambulance vehicles have been destroyed.Across the country, over 200 people have been detained, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. https://sputniknews.com/20220105/live-updates-over-200-people-detained-in-fuel-price-protests-in-kazakhstan-1092031106.html kazakhstan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Daria Bedenko Daria Bedenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Daria Bedenko protests, asia & pacific, demonstrations, kazakhstan Flash King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden have tested positive for COVID-19, the Royal Court said on Tuesday. Both have had three vaccine doses and their symptoms are reportedly mild. "The royal couple have isolated themselves at home in accordance with the rules, and contact tracing is ongoing," the Royal Court said in a statement. Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel tested positive for COVID-19 in March last year. In November 2020, Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia also tested positive. On Dec. 23, Sweden tightened restrictions in response to the rising number of new infections. During the week of Dec. 20, the Omicron variant of coronavirus was already the dominant strain in some of Sweden's regions. On Dec. 30, 11,507 new cases were confirmed among the population of 10.4 million -- the highest number since the start of the pandemic. The cumulative number of confirmed infections is approaching 1.358 million, and a total of 15,330 deaths have been recorded. Also, the number of hospitalized patients, most of them unvaccinated, has increased considerably in the past few weeks and many of the country's regions now report that their hospitals are operating at full capacity. Steve Gibson of Mechanicsburg, Ohio has been named the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association Outstanding Groom for 2021. Gibson works for and was nominated by trainer Kim Dailey. Dailey says Gibson is dedicated, dependable and willing to do anything that is needed. Steve is almost always the first person in the barn every day and the last out. He knows each of his horses on a personal level no matter their earnings. Gibson is the last of the Bill Dailey Stable grooms and Dailey says he has become more than an employee. He has stuck next to our family during very uncertain times. He has seen the barn full at 80 horse and down to eight. No reward can repay him for his loyalty. Gibson was introduced to the sport of harness racing at an early age by his father and stepfather. He sat behind his first horse when he was nine years old and has made it his livelihood. The longest he has been away from racehorses has been three weeks. Gibson says he enjoys being around the horses. I like watching the babies grow and get to the racetrack. It doesnt matter if they are a claimer or a Sires Stakes horse, I dont treat them any differently. Gibson says he appreciates the Dailey family for nominating him. Even to be nominated means a lot. I really appreciate it. Gibson will be honoured at the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association Annual Awards Banquet January 15, 2022, at the Hilton Columbus-Polaris in Columbus, Ohio. (Ohio Harness Horsemens Association) WASHINGTON (AP) The first time Celeste Norris laid eyes on Ashli Babbitt, the future insurrectionist had just rammed her vehicle three times with an SUV and was pounding on the window, challenging her to a fight. Norris says the bad blood between them began in 2015, when Babbitt engaged in a monthslong extramarital affair with Norris' longtime live-in boyfriend. When she learned of the relationship, Norris called Babbitt's husband and told him she was cheating. "She pulls up yelling and screaming," Norris said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, recounting the July 29, 2016, road-rage incident in Prince Frederick, Maryland. "It took me a good 30 seconds to figure out who she was. Just all sorts of expletives, telling me to get out of the car, that she was going to beat my ass." Terrified and confused, Norris dialed 911 and waited for law enforcement. Babbitt was later charged with numerous misdemeanors. The attack on Norris is an example of erratic and sometimes threatening behavior by Babbitt, who was shot by a police officer while at the vanguard of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Former President Donald Trump and his supporters have sought to portray her as a righteous martyr who was unjustly killed. Trump has called her "an incredible person" and he even taped a posthumous birthday greeting to her in October. Trump has also demanded the Justice Department reinvestigate Babbitt's death, though the officer who shot her was cleared of any wrongdoing by two prior federal investigations. But the life of the Air Force veteran from California, who died while wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, is far more complicated than the heroic portrait presented by Trump and his allies. In the months before her death, Babbitt had become consumed by pro-Trump conspiracy theories and posted angry screeds on social media. She also had a history of making violent threats. Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby inside the Capitol, where police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the mob supporting Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She was one of five people who died during or immediately after the riot, including a Capitol Police officer. On social media, Babbitt identified as a Libertarian and ardent supporter of the Second Amendment. Her posts included videos of profane rants against Democrats, COVID-19 mask mandates and illegal immigration. Her Twitter account, which was taken down after her death, was rife with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the baseless belief that Trump has secretly battled deep-state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshiping cannibals that includes prominent Democrats who operate a child sex trafficking ring. "Nothing will stop us," Babbitt tweeted Jan. 5. "They can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours....dark to light!" Among Q followers, "The Storm" refers to the predicted day Trump would finally unmask the pedophile cabal, arrest and execute those deemed traitors and restore America to greatness. Trump has repeatedly insisted Babbitt was murdered, and she has achieved martyr status among Trump supporters. Her name and likeness now appear on T-shirts and flags at pro-Trump rallies. A Maryland personal injury lawyer representing Babbitt's husband, Aaron Babbitt, has raised $375,000 through a Christian crowdfunding site and has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Capitol Police. Key to that wrongful death claim is the contention that Babbitt, a former military police officer who was 5-foot-2 and weighed 115 pounds, would have peacefully surrendered had Capitol officers attempted to arrest her. Aaron Babbitt declined to comment in October when a reporter knocked on the door of the San Diego apartment he shared with Ashli and another woman. In a June interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News, Babbitt said he has been sickened by some of what he has seen written about his deceased wife. "There's never been a person who Ashli ran across in her daily life that didn't love her," said Babbitt, 40. That is not how Norris felt about her. MORE JAN. 6 COVERAGE ONE YEAR LATER Court records involving the violent 2016 confrontation between Babbitt and Norris have previously been reported by media outlets, including the AP. But Norris, now 39, agreed to speak about it publicly for the first time in an interview with the AP and shared previously unreported details. She also provided documents and photos from the crash scene to support her account. Norris was in a six-year relationship with Aaron Babbitt when she said she learned he was cheating on her with a married co-worker from his job as a security guard at a nuclear power plant near the Chesapeake Bay. She eventually found out the other woman was Ashli McEntee, who at the time went by the last name of her then-husband. "He was telling me about this foulmouthed chick that's on his shift, blah, blah, blah," Norris recounted. "Come to find out a few months later ... they were basically having this relationship while they were at work." When she learned of the affair, she reached out to Babbitt's husband, Timothy McEntee. "You know, I was trying to keep my home life together," she said. Norris said she tried for a few months to salvage her relationship with Aaron Babbitt before finally deciding to move out of their house. Within days, Norris said, Ashli moved in. A few weeks later, Norris was waiting at a stop sign in Prince Frederick, about an hour southeast of Washington, D.C., when she says a white Ford Explorer passed her going the other direction. Norris saw the SUV pulling a U-turn before speeding up behind her. She recounts that the SUV's driver began swerving erratically, laying on the horn and attempting to pass a Chevrolet Suburban that was in between them on the narrow two-lane road. When the driver of the Chevy pulled over, Norris said the white Ford SUV accelerated and rammed into her rear bumper. She said the SUV rammed her a second time and then a third, all while the vehicles continued to roll down the road. After Norris dialed 911, an emergency dispatcher advised her to pull over to the shoulder and stop. As she waited for help, Babbitt got out of her vehicle and came up to Norris' driver's-side window, banging on the glass. Norris said the force of the impact caused her seatbelt to lock tight, preventing her from getting out of her car. Within minutes, deputies arrived. A case report from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office obtained by the AP shows Ashli Babbitt was issued a criminal summons on charges of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor defined under Maryland law as engaging in conduct "that creates a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another" and punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. She was also charged with malicious destruction of property for the damage to Norris' vehicle. Court records show those charges were later updated to include traffic offenses reckless driving, negligent driving and failure to control a vehicle's speed to avoid a collision. Photos from the scene provided to the AP by Norris show Babbitt's white Ford Explorer with its front bumper smashed in. The SUV's grill is also pushed in and the hood dented. The rear bumper of Norris' Escape is pushed in on the passenger side, with the detached Maryland license plate from the front bumper of Babbitt's SUV wedged into it. Following the altercation, Norris and a friend went to the courthouse in neighboring St. Mary's County, where she lived at the time, and petitioned for a peace order, a type of restraining order, against Ashli Babbitt. The resulting judicial order barred Ashli Babbitt from attempting to contact Norris, committing further acts of violence against her and going to her home or workplace. A copy of the order, dated the same day as the altercation, contains Norris' contemporaneous account of what occurred, as written down by her friend. Norris' hands were still shaking so badly she couldn't write down what happened for herself, according to a note on the document. In the weeks after the incident, Norris said, Babbitt falsely claimed to authorities that the collisions had occurred when Norris repeatedly backed her vehicle into Babbitt's SUV. But when the case went to trial, Norris said, Babbitt changed her story, admitting under oath that she had collided with Norris' vehicle but portraying it as an accident. No transcript from the hearing was available, but Norris said the lawyer defending Babbitt made repeated references to her employment at the local nuclear power plant and years of military service, which included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Babbitt served on active duty with the U.S. Air Force, and then in the reserves and the Air National Guard until 2016. A judge acquitted Babbitt on the criminal charges. In February 2017, records show Norris asked for and received a second peace order against Ashli Babbitt, citing ongoing harassment and stalking. In a handwritten petition, Norris says that Babbitt had recently followed her home from work and that she had also received repeated calls in the middle of the night from an unlisted number. "I lived in fear because I didn't know what she was capable of," Norris told the AP. "I was constantly looking over my shoulder." In 2019, Norris filed a personal injury lawsuit against Ashli Babbitt, seeking $74,500 in damages, and she said she settled out of court with Babbitt's insurance carrier for an undisclosed sum. By then, Aaron and Ashli had moved to California, where she grew up and still had family. Timothy McEntee was granted a divorce in Maryland in May 2019. McEntee did not respond to voicemails and messages left at his home. Ashli posted on Facebook that she married Aaron Babbitt the following month. Records show the couple owned a pool cleaning service with Ashli's brother. When a reporter visited the business the day after her death, a large sign on the locked door declared the building to be "Mask Free Autonomous Zone Better Known as America." In the year since Babbitt's death, Trump and many Republicans in Congress have sought to recast the Jan. 6 insurrection as nonviolent a contention directly contradicted by hours of video footage and the public testimony of Capitol Police officers, 140 of whom were injured in the melee. In his video on Babbitt's birthday, Trump also said: "Together we grieve her terrible loss. There was no reason Ashli should have lost her life that day. We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family, so on this solemn occasion as we celebrate her life, we renew our call for a fair and nonpartisan investigation into the death of Ashli Babbitt." Aaron Babbitt's lawyer, Terrell Roberts III, did not respond to numerous phone messages and emails seeking comment. But in written statements to the media, he has said her shooting "was tantamount to an execution without trial." "Given her background as a 14-year veteran of the Air Force, it is likely that Ashli would have complied with simple verbal commands, thereby making the use of any force unnecessary," Roberts said. The Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt, Lt. Michael Byrd, said in a televised interview in August that he fired as a "last resort." When he pulled the trigger, he said, he had no idea whether the person jumping through the window was armed. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia cleared Byrd of wrongdoing in April, concluding that he acted in self-defense and in the defense of members of Congress. The U.S. Capitol Police announced in August that they had also cleared Byrd. "I tried to wait as long as I could," Byrd said. "I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers." *** Associated Press correspondent Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. Follow AP Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck Contact AP's global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org. Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! 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of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe It began with a charge of murder in late August of 1889 and ended in a courtroom acquittal more than eight months later. The victim was a young man from Seven Mile Ford in Smyth County, a telegraph operator for the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company. His accused killer was the son of a wealthy Bristol merchant. The event that lead to the death and trial? A horse trade apparently gone wrong. At high noon on Aug. 27, 1889, E.A. Gus Burson, of Bristol, and Stephen F. Bonham, of Seven Mile Ford, became involved in a personal encounter about a horse trade, which ended in the death of the latter from a pistol shot fired by the former, according to a news article published on Aug. 30 in the Clinch Valley News of Tazewell. Bonham was the son of William P. Bonham, who was, at the time, the proprietor of the Central Hotel in Marion. Burson was described as a young man of good moral character and was regarded as a quiet, peaceable citizen. Nonetheless, he was arrested on a charge of murder and jailed. Therein began a long legal battle that included, mostly, wrangling over whether the accused murderer should be allowed bail due to poor jail conditions and claims by his attorneys that his health was so bad that he might die if the judge did not release him on bond. Extant court minute book records show that within two days of the killing, Burson was indicted by a Washington County grand jury for the murder of Bonham. Apparently Burson had friends in high places, for the judge in the case George W. Ward Jr. called upon Judge George W. Richardson of Smyth County to preside over the initial case, as Ward was so situated as to render it improper in his opinion to sit in the trial of the case. This likely meant that Ward was close friends with the Burson family. The case was contentious from the start. Attorneys for Burson objected to their client being arraigned at all and, after arguments were heard, the arraignment took place as planned. Bursons counsel then immediately demanded that their client be tried in the Washington County Circuit Court and that he be granted a secured recognizance bond. More arguments followed, with the judge overruling on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction of the matter on account of Defendant having elected to be tried in the Circuit Court. Burson was then sent to jail, having been bound over for a court appearance on the fourth Monday of September of 1889. By all accounts, Burson was still in jail the following October, when The Comet newspaper in Johnson City, Tennessee, published an article on Oct. 10 in which it reported that Bursons trial was to be postponed until the next term of court. The counsel for the defendant are trying to get bail for the prisoner on the ground that he is affected with heart disease, and that imprisonment is very injurious to his health. (Burson was only about 25 years of age at the time.) The news article noted that Judge Kelly has not yet made a decision on the issue of bail. More than three months later, in early January of 1890, the accused murderer Burson was still in jail. By then, the judge continued to refuse bail, but had agreed to let a committee of about 15 physicians examine the prisoner and report the condition of his health back to the court. The Richmond Dispatch, on Jan. 12, reported that the committee of doctors appointed to examine Burson included some who declared the prisoner a right sick man, while others stated he could remain in jail without any deleterious effects.According to a Jan. 17 article published in the Clinch Valley News: That report justified the judge in releasing Burson upon a bond of $30,000. (Compared to 1890 dollars, this amount was close to $900,000 by 2020 currency values.) However, since no material witnesses appeared at the appointed court date, the judge again refused Bursons request for bail and the case was continued to the next term. E.A. Burson did not stand trial before a jury of his peers until early May of 1890. Newspapers of the day reported that the case was moving forward with the selection of jurors. As the examination of witnesses proceeded, Burson even took the stand to insist he had killed Stephen F. Bonham in self-defense. Newspaper accounts, from the beginning of the case to its conclusion, gave no details regarding the death of Stephen Bonham or how it occurred. Public opinion at the time was fragmented. There are those who think he ought to hang and those who think otherwise. It is claimed by some that the prosecution has been badly managed in the case and that if he is acquitted it will be on that account, stated the Chattanooga Daily Times of Tennessee in an article dated May 9, 1890. A gentleman who is in Abingdon sent a special here last night in which states that he is afraid Burson will be acquitted. He was. Knoxvilles Journal & Tribune reported the news on May 13, 1890: Gus Burson was acquitted. The jurors and a large number of persons shook his hand and congratulated him. Oddly enough, the jury had been split eight to four in favor of acquittal earlier in deliberations. The article stated that two jurors had decided to join the eight, followed by the remaining two holdouts eventually agreeing to a not guilty verdict. Their holding out was due to misapprehension as to the instructions of the court, the article stated. In a move that never would be allowed in a modern trial, The jury presented Burson with the pen with which they wrote the verdict. Perhaps all but forgotten in the nearly eight months since his death, was Stephen F. Bonham, the young man who had died at the hand of E.A. Burson. Newspaper reports show that Bonhams father and one of his brothers attended at least one of Bursons early trial appearances in October of 1889. There is no mention of William P. Bonham or other family members attending the May 1890 trial that resulted in Bursons acquittal. Stephen F. Bonham lies buried in Round Hill Cemetery in Marion beneath a small obelisk that is badly aged by time and air pollution. Early newspaper articles described him as being 25 years of age at the time of his death, but his cemetery monument gives his birth date as Dec. 11, 1867, placing his age at the time of his death at only 21 years. His mother was the former Missouri E. Cormany. Bonhams paternal grandparents were Hezekiah and Sarah Kinser Bonham, who were married in Wythe County in 1824. (The authors great-great-grandfather, James Harvey Bonham Sr., was Stephen F. Bonhams paternal uncle and a brother to William P. Bonham.) William P. Bonham, the father of the murdered man, was no stranger to tragedy. His brother, Addison Augustus Bonham (A.A. Bonham), was murdered near Marion in September of 1878 by a man named Alfred Gold or Golds, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to a year in prison. Eugene Augustus Gus Burson was the son of Major Zachariah L. and Nannie J. Burson. He inherited land in Florida from his father when Zachariah died in 1894 and Burson was living there as late as 1918. He married Maude Garatt. Burson eventually relocated to Marion County, Ohio, where he died and was buried in 1946. William A. Bill Veselik lives in Marion and is an archivist for the F.B. Kegley Library in Wytheville. A California man who admitted to fatally shooting his Longview landlord in 2019 received about 55 years in prison Tuesday in Cowlitz County Superior Court, following tearful statements from the victims sons and a recount of the defendants traumatic life from his attorney. David James Eugene Daniel, 27, pleaded guilty in December 2021, to eight charges, including first-degree premeditated murder, when he admitted to shooting Arthur Mahlum, 73, in the head in the 2000 block of Birch Street in October 2019 and stealing his pickup, bank card and three firearms, according to court records. Stealing a life Mahlums three adult sons spoke at the sentencing, describing their father as a hard-working family man, who often opened his home to people in need. Zac Mahlum said his father once invited a Nepali tour guide he befriended on a trip to live in his home while he settled into the United States. Arthur Mahlum mentored the now-U.S. citizen, his son said, and helped the man get his first job. Chris Mahlum said his father, a military veteran, rented rooms out of his Longview home to people like Daniel, who court records show never finished high school, in order to give them a leg up. But Daniel took advantage of the longtime Weyerhaeuser supervisors generosity, he added. Travis Fryback said Daniel murdered his stepfather in his own bedroom and stole more than just possessions. This person also stole a giving member of the local community, Fryback said. He stole a father of three sons. He stole a grandfather to six kids. Zac Mahlum added his father died before he could attend his wedding or meet his 7-month-old daughter. Cowlitz County Prosecutor Eric Bentson read texts Daniel sent before the murder in which he described his plans. Once the crime was committed, Daniel texted he had smoked someone, Bentson said. Daniel was arrested in California after authorities found Author Mahlums bank card had been used. Court records show Daniel was convicted of two crimes in California: burglary in 2015 and taking a motor vehicle without permission in 2019. Done things differently At the sentencing, Daniel apologized to the family. He said committing the crime, and even moving to Longview from California, was a mistake. I wish I could have done things differently, Daniel said. Im sorry for the family for what occurred. His public defender, Ian Maher, said Daniels life was fraught with trauma before he reached 20 years old, and like people who experience trauma, his pattern of flight-or-fight responses returned in October 2019. Daniel came to Longview for a new lease on life, Maher said, but his views on right and wrong, good and bad were distorted from years of abuse. Maher said his innocence was taken from him at the age of 7 by someone close to Daniel. In his early teens, the state placed Daniel in a home, Maher added, where he was sexually and physically abused. At 16, he decided to be homeless, Maher said, rather than continue to endure the abuse. Eventually a group of skinheads took him in, Maher added. Maher said Daniel ran away from his trauma in California and was running back to California in 2019. I was left with no choices and I felt hopeless, Daniel said. Daniel pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm enhancement, first-degree robbery, motor vehicle theft, second-degree identity theft, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of firearm theft. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 3 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Fraud A person in Longview reported around $15,000 was fraudulently cashed using checks from a business. Assault 1600 Louisiana Street, Longview. Monday. Report of possible assault of supervisor by employee. Burglaries 300 block of Hazel Street, Kelso. Monday. Report of sliding door to business broken and tools missing. 100 block of River Ridge Lane, Kalama. Monday. 1300 block of Elm Place, Kelso. Monday. 1300 block of Walnut Street, Kelso. Monday. 2800 block of 30th Avenue, Longview. Monday. Stolen vehicles 1200 block of Maxwell Lane, Kelso. Monday. White Honda Civic. Four-door sedan with black rims. Washington BXM2157. 200 block of Fourth Avenue, Kelso. Monday. Purple 1997 Honda Civic. Washington ACC3441. 1500 block of Commerce Avenue, Longview. Monday. Black 1992 Infiniti. Washington BDD9136. 2500 block of 30th Avenue, Longview. Monday. Silver Volkswagen Jetta. Theft 1600 block of Eighth Avenue, Longview. Monday. Signature stamp. Vandalism/malicious mischief 2100 block of Third Avenue, Kelso. Monday. Report of hearing glass breaking. 900 block of Fourth Avenue, Kelso. Report of windows shot out of Chevrolet Suburban the night before. Vehicle prowls 6100 block of Willow Grove Road, Longview. Monday. 100 block of Camelot Drive, Castle Rock. Monday. 1200 block of 12th Avenue, Longview. Monday. Report of finding a Sawzall and jack under a vehicle after a grinding noise was heard and two suspects left the scene. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Sex offender Longview officers Tuesday arrested Skyler Goldwater, 23, address unknown, on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender. Criminal impersonation Kelso officers Tuesday arrested Jacob Gregory, 31, of Longview, on suspicion of first-degree criminal impersonation. Assault, harassment Longview officers Tuesday arrested Antonio Guzman, 35, of Longview, on suspicion of second-degree assault, harassment and fourth-degree assault. Drugs, gun Longview officers Tuesday arrested Joshua Roden, 36, of Longview, on suspicion of possession of methamphetamines with the intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a firearm. Assault, protection order Sheriff deputies Tuesday arrested Juan Rodriguez, 44, of Kelso, on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and violating a protection order. Assault 1800 block of Terrace Way, Kelso. Tuesday. Burglary 200 block of Teresa Way, Kelso. Tuesday. Report of residential burglary. Stolen vehicles Rose Valley Road and Old Pacific Highway. Tuesday. Silver 2012 Interstate Trailer with built-in tailgate ramp, 6 feet by 12 feet. Washington 1556WQ. 1200 12th Avenue, Longview. Tuesday. Silver 1997 Honda Civic. 1600 Delaware Street, Longview. White 1995 Toyota 4Runner. Thefts 700 block Lone Oak Road, Longview. Tuesday. Blue 2021 Yamaha TT-R230. Reported to be stolen between Nov. 16 and 23. 1300 block of Seventh Avenue, Kelso. Tuesday. Social Security checks. 300 block of Three Rivers Drive, Kelso. Tuesday. Shoplifting. 1800 block of Washington Way, Longview. Tuesday. Phone and $900. 3200 block of Laurel Road, Longview. Tuesday. Sunglasses and $1,000. 2000 block of 28th Avenue, Longview. Tuesday. Camera footage of shoes being taken off porch. 1200 block of Goerig Street, Woodland. Tuesday. Vandalism/malicious mischief 100 block of Pacific Avenue Spur, Kelso. Tuesday. Report of vandalism to breaker box. 500 block of Oregon Way, Longview. Tuesday. 1800 block of Schurman Way, Woodland. Tuesday. Report of gas line cut on work vehicle. Vehicle prowl 200 block of 20th Avenue, Longview. Tuesday. Report of man trying to open car doors. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Kelso School Board started the new year with a look to safety as the school board passed updates to school emergency, health and safety policies Monday night. The district emergency policy update refreshed older language and clearly laid out each step to be taken in the event of evacuations, lockdowns, shelter-in-place situations, earthquakes, fires, pandemics and bomb threats. A plan for reuniting students with their families and notifying families of emergencies also was included in the updates. School resource officers and other school safety staff saw changes to training requirements under new state law, and that are reflected in changes to the district school resource officer policy passed by the board. Chief Financial and Operations Officer Scott Westlund said state law now requires the districts security officer gets training along with the school resource officer from the Kelso Police Department. That training includes sections on constitutional and civil rights of children, child and adolescent development, trauma-informed approaches to working with youth, youth mental health issues, the relationship of disability to behavior, collateral consequences of arrest or court involvement, resources in the community for youth, local and national disparities in the use of force and arrest of children, de-escalation techniques, bias-free policing and restorative justice principles. Westlund said the district already started that training this year. Other changes to the policy include broadening language beyond just the school resource officer to include all safety and security staff and a compliant resolution process that starts with a formal, written complaint to the district. The policy also includes annual data collection and reporting on all incidents that result in discipline, use of force or arrest. The policy on student fees, fines and charges also was modified in line with new state guidance that students with outstanding fees cannot have their grades or transcripts withheld, only their diplomas. Director of Student Services Don Iverson reminded parents and staff that despite recent updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changing quarantine lengths, the schools still are following the Washington State Department of Health and older lengths until further notice. Its confusing how the new CDC guidelines apply to schools, he said. Were still waiting for guidance. He said he thinks the state will have clearer instructions for schools by the end of the week and reminded parents to reach out to heath-care providers or the schools with questions. We know the next couple days will be a little confusing, as we have two different systems and will be following Department of Health older guidelines, not the CDC, he said. Parents can help schools stay open and safe by being in tune with their bodies and childrens health. If kids are sick, they need to stay home or get tested at school testing centers, Iverson said. Those centers in Kelso are averaging 25 to 30 walk-ins from teachers or others in the schools per day, he said, on top of required testing for athletes. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. You are here: World Flash The police in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir Tuesday said on Tuesday that two militants were killed in a gunfight in the region. The gunfight, according to the police, broke out at village Okay of Kulgam district, about 80 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Today a gunfight broke out at village Okay in which two militants were gunned down," a police official said. The operation, according to the police, was launched on a specific intelligence operation suggesting the presence of militants. The police said the government forces have not suffered any damage in the stand-off. On Monday two militants were killed in Srinagar. There has been a surge in the gunfights in the region over the past two weeks. Daryle Artley, of Woodland, was 21 years old when he was killed at Pearl Harbor. Nearly 80 years later, his remains have come home. Artley was a U.S. Navy quartermaster second class when he was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma. The battleship was stationed off Ford Island at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when it was struck by eight torpedoes within 10 minutes quickly causing it to capsize. Artley died in the attack and was placed in an unmarked grave until modern forensic science identified his body in 2019. An intimate group of family members and local veterans organizations gathered Monday in Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver to honor the fallen sailor at a repatriation service. Adam Dunn, Artleys great-nephew, attended the ceremony with his wife, mother and children. He said seeing Artley brought home re-established a sense of relief for his family. Although Artleys descendants never knew him, Dunn gained an understanding of what his great-uncle was like. Through family accounts, Dunn learned Artley could do it all: play music, dance and play sports. He was a golden boy. It was comforting to know he would be buried next to his parents, Maude and Robert, Dunn said. Artleys journey home originally was scheduled for May 2020, but was delayed because of flight restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. He officially was brought back to the Pacific Northwest on Dec. 31. The Navy honor guard paid tribute to Artley and was joined by local veterans organizations. Motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders bore American flags and saluted Artley and his family. Members from the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors attended the service on behalf of family members from other Pearl Harbor service members. If we can make the small sacrifice to be out here on a rainy day to see the internment of one of my shipmates come back home is well worth it, Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors Chaplain Anne Beaton said. Penny Ross, secretary of SDPHS, said losing someone and never knowing where they are is devastating for the fallen service members family. The descendants of Pearl Harbor military personnel aim to ensure others dont forget the sacrifices the sailors and soldiers made to uphold democracy, she said. The overwhelming respect and support the local organizations showed for Artley made Dunn emotional. Until (that day), theyve never even heard the mans name, he said. The sailor Artley was born in Maywood, Nebraska, and moved to Woodland when he was a teenager. He and his younger brother, Richard, both served in the U.S. Navy with their friend Francis Dick. All the men were from Woodland and served aboard the USS Oklahoma. Only Richard survived. Out of more than 1,200 crew members, Artley and 428 other men were killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma. In the years following the attack, those who died were buried in the Halawa and Nuuanu cemeteries in Honolulu. Only 41 crewmen were identified and had marked graves. The rest, including Artley, were buried without anyone knowing their names and were placed in plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. They remained in the unmarked graves, in a place that wasnt home. However, the Department of Defense approved a disinterment of the crew members in 2015; this time, forensic scientists were able to discover new identities through modern DNA technology. Out of the 394 left to be identified, 346 were given back their names. Artley was one of them. For him to finally come home is wonderful, Ross said. At least this is a closure to today. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 China Mobile was removed from the New York Stock Exchange following an executive order by former president Donald Trump. China Mobile shares ended with slight gains on Wednesday in their debut on the Shanghai stock exchange after the telecoms giant was delisted in New York as tensions soared between Beijing and Washington. The stock had jumped as much as 9.4 percent at the start of tradingedging toward the 10 percent limit that triggers a trading halt in Chinabefore steadily falling back through the day. It ended at 57.88 yuan, a gain of 0.52 percent. The share issue is expected to raise $8.8 billion after the company exercises an over-allotment option, Bloomberg News said, making it the largest on China's domestic stock markets in more than a decade. China's biggest wireless carrier by revenue was removed from the New York Stock Exchange last year along with fellow state-owned telecoms firms China Telecom and China Unicom. That followed an executive order by former president Donald Trump banning Americans from investing in a range of companies deemed to be supplying or supporting China's military and security apparatus. China Mobile has said funds raised through the flotation will go towards building 5G infrastructure, as well as "smart home" projects and other initiatives. Some of China's biggest tech and telecom firms listed on US stock markets in recent decades as they sought access to funding on more developed capital markets. But the tide turned as tensions between Beijing and Washington soared in recent years. China's government has been encouraging companies to list on domestic exchanges as part of a push to keep big tech players closer to home and develop the country's capital markets. China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line operator, debuted in Shanghai last August after raising $7.3 billion in its IPO. China Unicom has listed shares of a subsidiary in Shanghai since 2002. In October, US officials told China Mobile to discontinue its services in the country, ending nearly two decades of operations, in a move that Beijing called "malicious suppression" of Chinese companies. The US Federal Communications Commission said the firm's "ownership and control by the Chinese government raise significant national security and law enforcement risks". Explore further China Mobile gets nod for Shanghai debut after US delisting 2022 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain A portfolio of 44 battery storage systems across San Diego County aimed at adding more emissions-free energy to California's electric grid is about to roll out, with one location in Chula Vista and another in El Cajon poised to break ground within the next month. EnerSmart Storage, a renewable energy company based in San Diego, will design, construct and operate the systems. When completed, 12 sites across the county will enhance grid reliability and increase energy efficiency. The entire portfolio will account for 165 megawatts and 336 megawatt-hours of battery storage electricityenough to power 110,000 homes for two hours. "We're super excited about it just because it's something that is really helping the growth of renewable energy," said EnerSmart managing partner James Beach, who said the portfolio will assist the San Diego Gas & Electric distribution system. "It's helping local residents and businesses by having this backup power available." The El Cajon site is one of two locations that will deploy zinc battery storage technology manufactured by EOS Energy. The Chula Vista location is one of 10 sites that will use lithium-iron phosphate batteries made by BYD, a multinational based in China whose North American headquarters is in downtown Los Angeles. BYD's iron phosphate batteries are considered less flammable than the widely used lithium-ion batteries often seen in electric vehicles and utility-scale battery storage systems. The North American Development Bank and Siemens Financial Services have provided the financing for the BYD projects for EnerSmart. Beach said the total loan is $90 million to $100 million. "We're really excited to have these projects going and having strong banks behind us to help put them together," Beach said. The North American Development Bank, based in San Antonio, Texas, and known as the NADB for short, is a binational institution established by the U.S. and Mexican governments to finance environmental and energy infrastructure projects that are located within 60 miles of the border. According to the NABD, the San Diego energy storage project will displace the emissions of 31,100 metric tons of carbon per year. "The new battery storage project helps meet current infrastructure needs and contributes to increasing our global competitiveness and transition to a green economy," San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Jerry Sanders said in a statement. "We applaud the bank's commitment." The El Cajon and Chula Vista locations are scheduled to begin commercial operations April 1. Beach said he hopes all 12 sites in the portfolio will be up and running by the end of 2023. The locations with the biggest systems will be in Ramona, which will store 39 megawatts and 78 megawatt-hours of electricity, and Rancho Penasquitos, storing 30 megawatts and 60 megawatt-hours. Both will use BYD's iron phosphate batteries. Energy storage is taking on a larger role in California's power mix. Under the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, 60 percent of California's electricity must come from renewable sources by 2030. By 2045, if not earlier, 100 percent must come from carbon-free sources. Solar production in California is so abundant during the day that the California Independent System Operator, the nonprofit that manages the grid for about 80 percent of the state, often has to send the excess to adjacent states like Arizona or curtail it all together. But when the sun goes down, solar production disappears. Storage can help solve the problem by taking that excess solar generation, saving it via batteries or other means and then sending it to the grid at night, or at other times when the electric system needs it. Any extra megawatts can also come in handy when the grid comes under extreme stress due to increased demandmost often seen in California when extreme heat waves lead consumers to crank up their air conditioners. If things get dire, grid operators have to consider instituting rotating power outages, as they did in August 2020. California accounted for 506 megawatts of battery storage power capacitythe maximum amount of power batteries can discharge at a given momentas of December 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration. That's by the far the largest amount of any state in the nation. In the aftermath of the 2020 rolling blackouts, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered power companies to accelerate the deployment of more battery storage projects, as part of a larger mission to ensure there is adequate electricity to meet demand. Critics of energy storage point to their relatively high cost compared to conventional sources of power. In the early 1990s, for example, lithium-ion battery projects cost about $10,000 per kilowatt-hour. Prices have gone down dramatically, though, and earlier this year an analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory projected storage costs for four-hour systems ranging from $143 per kilowatt-hour to $248 by 2030. The industry's breakthrough price is generally considered to be about $100 per kilowatt-hour. Beach of EnerSmart estimated the price for the San Diego portfolio will come to about $300 per kilowatt-hour. 2021 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The guard of honour of the Swiss Army stands ready for the arrival of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the Lohn residence of the Swiss government in Kehrsatz, Switzerland, Sept. 18, 2020. The Swiss army has ordered its ranks to stop using foreign instant-messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram for official communications, opting for a Swiss alternative in part over concerns about legislation in Washington that governs how U.S. authorities can access information held by tech companies. Army leaders called for use of the Swiss instant messaging service Threema, and a promotion for the service was posted Dec. 29, 2021 on the Swiss army's page on Facebookwhich, like WhatsApp, is owned by the U.S. company now known as Meta. Credit: Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP, file The Swiss army has told its ranks to stop using foreign instant-messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram for official communications. Instead, it's opting for a Swiss alternativein part over concerns about legislation in Washington that governs how U.S. authorities can access information held by tech companies. Army leaders, in a letter to top commanders last month, called for use of the Swiss instant messaging service Threema, and a promotion for the service was posted Dec. 29 on the Swiss army's page on Facebook, which, like WhatsApp, is owned by the U.S. company now known as Meta. Officials have cited an enhanced need for secure communications as Swiss soldiers have fanned out to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Alpine country. A letter sent to army chiefs last month said Threema "must be used for all service communications," adding that "no other messaging service will be authorized." Army spokeswoman Delphine Schwab-Allemand, in an e-mail on Wednesday confirming reports on the issue in Swiss media, seemed to soften the army's position, saying that there was a "recommendation" that troops use Threema. It took effect on Jan. 1. She added that the army cannot and does not want to tell troops to use a particular app on their private devices. As Threema is a Swiss-based company, information it holds isn't subject to the U.S. Cloud Act, she said, referring to legislation passed in a 2018 spending bill that governs how U.S. authorities can get electronic communications held by technology companies. Some leading privacy groups opposed it. The Swiss army says the Threema app adheres to regulations in Europe about data protection. Unlike many other messaging services, Threema doesn't require users to provide a phone number or email address. The Swiss army said it will reimburse soldiers for the 4-franc (about $4.40) annual cost for use of the Swiss app. 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Orlando restaurateur Robert Earl plans to offer eateries a chance to serve a delivery-only menu based on trends from the popular short video app TikTok in 2022, just the latest twist in the growing virtual restaurant trend. Virtual restaurants offer menus that existing restaurants can add with different names on delivery apps such as Uber Eats without the expense of additional physical space for a new business. Expected to launch in March, TikTok Kitchen's menu will be based on viral food from TikTok, including baked feta pasta and Korean hot dogs. Earl said the intent is to switch out menu items based on new trends from the app. Earl said TikTok Kitchen solves the problem of how to market virtual restaurants. TikTok has more than a billion users globally. "This answers some of the ... outstanding questions about the longevity of virtual," Earl said in an interview. "How do we have something that keeps your interest and is ever-changing? And how do we have a brand that even though it doesn't have any what we call brick-and-mortar physical buildings, that you feel attached to it?" Earl isn't alone in creating new virtual restaurants even as people are starting to eat out more again after opting to stay home for much of the pandemic. Winter Park-based Tijuana Flats recently launched its own Smack Wings virtual restaurant. Earl's Orlando company, Virtual Dining Concepts, has several virtual restaurants including NASCAR Refuel and MrBeast Burger where the food is prepared at Earl's restaurants such as Buca di Beppo or at eateries owned by others. TikTok Kitchen will be the latest entry in that vein. Earl anticipates having it in about 300 restaurants across the country on opening day, and eventually 2,000 in the United States and Canada. It will be available on delivery apps such as Grubhub. The Orlando area could start with four restaurants offering TikTok Kitchen. Earl said TikTok and delivery apps share an audience. "They actually have an identical profile, not even similar, identical," Earl said. "They're the most desired audiences for the third-party platforms. They're the most frequent users of delivery." Earl said his most successful virtual restaurant so far has been MrBeast Burger, a partnership with YouTube celebrity Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. Earl said the brand is in 1,500 restaurants and served more than 5 million burgers and sandwiches in its first year. "It's an amazing achievement," Earl said. Elsewhere, Tijuana Flats launched its Smack Wings virtual restaurant in November, which is now in 105 company restaurants and 18 franchise locations. The delivery-only wings menu features 10 sauces and rubs from traditional Buffalo to Thai sweet and spicy on apps DoorDash, Uber Eats, Postmates and Bite Squad. It is Tijuana Flats' first virtual restaurant as the company sticks its toes in the water, CEO Brian Wright said. "The world of virtual brands really exploded over the last 12 to 24 months," Wright said. Tijuana Flats expected third-party delivery business would slow coming out of the pandemic, but it has only increased, Wright said. For just Tijuana Flats, third-party delivery was in the neighborhood of 5% to 7% of business when Wright arrived in 2019, but now he said it is in excess of 20% and closer to 25%. "People just got used to this as a way of life," Wright said. Earl, who is also behind Planet Hollywood and other national brands, points to the growth in delivery before the pandemic as well as its projected growth. "When I look at the complete picture, online delivery is the fastest-growing sector by far of our restaurant industry," Earl said. "I think that the virtual side is the big growth area. ... My view is it continues to grow. If anyone is going to suffer it might be one less meal that you cook yourself." Earl added his brands have partners that can market the menus to their audiences. MrBeast has more than 86 million YouTube subscribers. Earl said his Orlando-based Virtual Dining Concepts has more than 100 employees. "I think I reflect the confidence in the space from very sophisticated investors," Earl said. More restaurants were opening before the onset of coronavirus, and they all needed extra sales, Earl said. Virtual restaurants are a way to generate that business. Virtual restaurants have thrust the industry deeper into the internet age, he said. "I think that the digitization in the restaurant, hospitality industry has been slower than most other industries," Earl said. "It's arrived now, and one of the beauties is what it's done for restaurants on delivery." Explore further Online ordering boom gives rise to virtual restaurants 2021 Orlando Sentinel. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. South Hills (15301) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 67F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 47F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chow Hang-tung jailed for 15 months for incitement of unauthorized assembly in Hong Kong Xinhua) 08:36, January 05, 2022 HONG KONG, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chow Hang-tung, former head of a disbanded anti-China group in Hong Kong, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for inciting others to join an unauthorized assembly in Hong Kong last year. Chow, former vice-chair of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was convicted and handed down the sentence on Tuesday at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. She incited and called on people to participate in an unauthorized assembly through her articles published on social media from May 29 to June 4, 2021, according to the court. Ten months of Chow's prison term in her fresh sentence are to be served separately to an earlier sentence for another two cases, meaning she will spend a total of 22 months behind bars. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Du Mingming) Flash What the United States really cares about is no more than the rules that meet its needs and serve its interests, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. According to reports, the Iranian public recently gathered at events to honor Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was killed in a U.S. airstrike two years ago. Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) previously condemned the U.S. assassination as an act of state terrorism. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the people responsible should face justice for their actions. In response, spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news briefing that the assassination of Qassem Soleimani is another example of how the United States has wantonly undermined the norms governing international relations based on the UN Charter. It is also one of the war crimes the United States has committed through abuse of force. The United States could go as far as performing the "targeted killing" of a sovereign state's military leader through terrorist means in violation of international law, and also killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians around the world. All these illegal and brutal acts in the eyes of people around the world have been hidden by the United States behind the facade of "the rules-based international order" as it claims, Wang said. He stressed that the United States repeats the mantra of "upholding the rules-based international order," but facts have proved time and again that what the U.S. side really cares about is no more than the rules that meet its needs and serve its interests. "What it is committed to is nothing but an order that maintains the U.S. hegemony and enables it to override the international community. But such rules and order that violate international law will not be accepted by the people in Iran, the Middle East and the rest of the world," Wang said. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The number of active COVID-19 cases in Brazos County topped 1,000 for the first time since October on Friday, with county health officials reporting 305 new cases. It was the highest number of new cases reported in a single day in Brazos County since Oct. 6. County health officials reported 850 new cases of COVID-19 this week. The number of active cases in the county, at 1,008 on Friday, has more than tripled in the past nine days. Health officials said 1,269 cases of the virus reported by health care systems and testing centers were awaiting confirmation Friday. Brazos County officials have confirmed 34,697 cases of COVID-19 in the county since the pandemic began in March 2020. Officials with the Brazos County Health District said 33,321 cases were considered recovered as of Friday; health officials classify all cases older than two weeks as recovered. Twenty Brazos County residents were hospitalized Friday for treatment of symptoms related to the virus, officials said. The percentage of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the states Trauma Service Area N Brazos County and six surrounding counties was 7.2% on Wednesday, the last date for which figures were reported. Other counties in the Brazos Valley region are Burleson, Robertson, Grimes, Madison, Washington and Leon. There were 39 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the seven-county Brazos Valley region Thursday, with eight new patients admitted in the past 24 hours, according to the Department of State Health Services. Four COVID-19 patients were on ventilators in the region, and there were no intensive care unit beds available in the region. Of the 542 staffed hospital beds in the region, 69 were available Thursday, according to state figures. Across the state, 5,523 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Thursday. Brazos Countys positivity rate the percent of positive cases to tests was 7.92% on Friday. Health officials said 438,160 tests for COVID-19 had been administered by Brazos County health care providers since the pandemic began. There were no new probable COVID-19 cases reported in Brazos County on Friday. To date, health officials have reported 5,840 total probable cases. To date, 368 Brazos County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19, according to health department figures. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19 last week, his campaign said Monday. In a short news release, Patrick senior adviser Allen Blakemore said the lieutenant governor experienced mild symptoms and tested positive for the virus last week but has subsequently tested negative and is completing his quarantine period. "His symptoms were mild and no one else in the household was infected," Blakemore said. "He continues working from home and will return to a public schedule by the end of the week." The release did not say what day Patrick received the positive test or why it was not disclosed earlier. When Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 in August, his office disclosed that information the same day. Abbott isolated at the Governor's Mansion and received Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment. His office notified everyone he'd been in close contact with. Abbott had attended a "standing room only" campaign event in Collin County the night before his positive test. Four days after later, Abbott tested negative and credited his vaccination for keeping the infection "brief and mild." Patrick tweeted in November that he was vaccinated and encouraged "others to do their own research." Like Abbott, his public statements have been more focused on fighting mandates than promoting immunization. Patrick's infection came as the state was running out sotrovimab, the only monoclonal antibody treatment known to be effective against the omicron variant, and Abbott called on federal authorities to send more doses of the treatment to the state and open up new COVID-19 testing sites. Texas is in the midst of an omicron surge that began last month. As of Wednesday, the state's positivity rate was 26.5%. During the height of the pandemic, state officials had said a positivity rate of more than 10% was cause for concern. Differently drawn political districts are destined to impact state elections in 2023, but current lawmakers have time to decide how they might react to newly overlapping territories. Sens. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, have served together for more than five years in the state Senate, but that coexistence is at odds with new district maps approved last week by the Virginia Supreme Court. Both legislators now live in the new Senate District 4. With a 60-day lawmaking session set to start Jan. 12, Suetterlein, who turns 37 this week, said in a written statement Thursday that now is no time for announcements regarding elections almost two years away. But I hope to continue to serve our community, and am preparing accordingly, Suetterlein said in the statement. And although Im a Realtor, that does not include plans to put my home on the market. According to Virginia law, elected state senators and members of the House of Delegates must live in the district they serve. Edwards did not respond to a request for comment on whether he might choose to run in 2023. Edwards, a 78-year-old attorney, has served in the Virginia Senate since 1996. Also, Dels. Austin Terry and Chris Head, both Botetourt County Republicans, are grouped into the new House of Delegates District 37. Though both will serve out their presently elected terms for former House Districts 19 and 17, respectively, neither delegate has indicated whether he might run in 2023. In similar straits is a pair of first-term lawmakers, Del.-elect Marie March, R-Floyd, and Del.-elect Wren Williams, R-Patrick, whose home counties now share common ground in the new House District 47. Neither of them responded to The Roanoke Times requests for comment last week. With plenty of time for incumbents to decide where or if they will file next for another term in office, political scientists across the state are making sense of what the new electoral districts mean for Virginia voters. Though voters in 2020 elected for a commission to take charge of redistricting Virginias 11 U.S. congressional districts and 140 Virginia General Assembly districts, the resulting 16-member panel spent most of 2021 in partisan deadlock. As a result, the once-per-decade job of redistricting, which in years past was left up to elected politicians, fell to Virginia Supreme Court justices, who appointed two special masters to draw maps that define the states electoral districts through 2030. At Hollins University, Edward Lynch is a professor and chair of political science. He said that in the special masters own words, they created maps that slightly favor Democrats. They seem to have been working on the presumption that Virginia is a solid blue state and trending in that direction, but the most recent election results in Virginia were anything but, Lynch said during a phone call Thursday. It was a clean sweep for the Republicans in the statewide races, taking over the House of Delegates. While the blue trend might have appeared true using 2020 data, Virginia voters turned out quite differently in 2021. In that regard, people will find the maps are outdated, Lynch said. The minute theyre issued, theyre out of date, he said. Its kind of like buying a new computer. That immediate obsolescence highlights what a difficult job it is to determine which voters share political districts. Redistricting is a monstrously complex project, Lynch said. Because it is so complex, its almost impossible to keep political considerations out of it. If identifying and deciding on communities of interest is not difficult enough on its own, districts must also include roughly the same number of constituents. We have not killed gerrymandering. Redrawing district lines is an inherently and unavoidably political process. It always has been, Lynch said. The only difference between this year and other years is that the people who are creating the district lines are completely unaccountable to the people of Virginia. For that reason, Lynch said he is less concerned about gerrymandering, and more interested in accountability for the people who decide political boundaries. In this case, Virginia Supreme Court justices and court-appointed experts are not elected by voters. I dont know that the politicians did a demonstrably worse job of drawing lines than the experts and the judges did, Lynch said. 10 years ago, they didnt strike me as being obviously gerrymandered to favor one party or the other. Another political scientist, Mark Rozell, is dean of the policy and government school at George Mason University. He said during a phone call Thursday that the two special masters who drew this decades map did well to create compact districts and avoid incumbent interests. In the past, there was so much emphasis on protecting the people who are already in office. These two individuals who took control of the process apparently didnt think about that, Rozell said. They were more concerned with creating compact communities of interest than they were in the effects on incumbents. In other states, nonpartisan redistricting commissions have successfully redrawn political maps, Rozell said, listing Iowa as an example. So why did Virginias inaugural redistricting commission fail, and what could be done differently in the next decade? Where the Virginia case went south is in allowing incumbent legislators and other partisans to be a part of the nonpartisan redistricting commission, Rozell said. That was just a bad idea to begin with. It went against the spirit of the principle of having a nonpartisan commission. In my view, it was destined to fail. At the congressional level, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, will again live just outside the boundaries of the 9th Congressional District he represents, but there is no law specifying federal officials must reside in their elected district. Griffith lived in the 6th District when he was first elected in 2010, Lynch said. Neither Lynch nor Rozell expected much difference to come from redistricting in Southwest Virginias 6th and 9th Congressional Districts, both of which tend to vote overwhelmingly Republican. The town of Rocky Mount is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims a former police officer was forced to resign after supporting two female employees who said they were harassed by the police chief. Justin Smith failed to state specific allegations to support his claim of retaliation, James Daniel, an attorney for the town, wrote in court papers. At a scheduling conference Monday, Judge Michael Urbanski set a hearing of Jan. 10 on the motion. Not long after Smith went to work for the police department in 2017, he learned that then-police chief Ken Criner had made terribly inappropriate and offensive comments concerning female employees, he claimed in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Among the allegations: Criner used derogatory terms for the women, said he wanted to get rid of them so he could hire some hotties, and accused one of them who was suffering from an aggressive form of breast cancer of taking advantage of sick leave. Smith complained to his superiors and helped the employees file complaints with the town officials and discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In asking that the lawsuit be dismissed, the town did not address the underlying allegations against Criner. Instead, it argued that Smith failed to make sufficient claims that would allow the case to move forward under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The plaintiff merely submits naked assertions without providing the actual factual basis legally required, Daniel wrote. Criner who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit was placed on administrative leave for five weeks, two of them without pay. He retired last September after seven years as police chief and more than 30 years in law enforcement. Smiths attorney, Terry Grimes, argues that Criner retaliated against Smith after he came to suspect that the officer was behind the complaints involving the treatment of the two female employees, who worked in the departments records division. On May 20, 2020, he suspended overtime pay for employees, which resulted in a loss of income for Smith, the lawsuit states. At the same time, the town said in a letter to the complaining employees that its investigation of the case had been costly. Ten days later, The Roanoke Times published a story detailing the complaints against Criner, which until then were not publicly known. The town manager suspected that Smith was a source for the newspaper, the lawsuit alleges, and two days later Criner demoted him as an investigator and reassigned him to patrol duty. Smith left the department the following month as a result of the harassment and retaliation, according to the lawsuit. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Zhaparov, on Wednesday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China and Kyrgyzstan have always upheld the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, as well as win-win cooperation, and achieved rapid development of bilateral relations. The two countries, he added, have reached a new height of their comprehensive strategic partnership, and set a good example for the international community in fostering a new type of international relations. The development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations not only benefits the two countries and their people, but also contributes to peace and stability in Central Asia, Xi said. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations, and stands ready to maintain close contact with Zhaparov and further promote bilateral ties. He suggested that the two sides take the 30th anniversary as a new starting point to enhance their strategic mutual trust, deepen Belt and Road cooperation, and lift the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels. In his message, Zhaparov said that in the past 30 years, the two countries have successfully established a comprehensive strategic partnership and made remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields. The Chinese government has provided important support for Kyrgyzstan's efforts to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, he noted. Zhaparov also thanked Xi for his personal attention to the development of the Kyrgyzstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership, saying that he is ready to work with China to further deepen bilateral ties, and spare no effort to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation. A Lincoln man who assaulted a Grand Island Police officer and a hospital worker as he resisted arrest in April has been sentenced to three to five years in jail. On Dec. 15, Hall County District Court Judge Teresa Luther sentenced Seith Wiemers to three to five years for first-degree criminal attempt at assault on a peace officer. He also was sentenced to 24 to 30 months each for strangulation, third-degree assault of an officer or health care professional, criminal attempt at escape and for criminal attempt at second-degree assault. The sentences will be served concurrently. Wiemers was given credit for 215 days on the strangulation offense, 208 days for the criminal attempt at second-degree assault and 250 days on the other crimes. The individuals were assaulted when Wiemers resisted arrest following a case of domestic assault on April 15. GIPD reported Wiemers, now 28, resisted arrest both at 2208 Grand Island Ave., and at CHI Health St. Francis. Wiemers entered and remained in the residence on Grand Island Avenue where his former girlfriend lives. Before entering the residence, Wiemers threatened to assault the woman and attempted to steal her property. When officers attempted to contact Wiemers in the residence, he fled by jumping from a second-story window and running. After he was captured, GIPD indicated, Wiemers struck an officer in the face, fracturing his orbital socket and giving him a concussion. He also pushed medical machinery at hospital staff members. The court affidavit shows Wiemers assaulted officer Chrystian Banuelos and a hospital worker and attempted to assault investigator Ryan Sullivan. Last year, Nebraska farmers produced more than 1.8 billion bushels of corn and 344 million bushels of soybeans. There are many factors that go into producing a good crop. Along with good management practices, moisture, weather, fertilizers also are an important contributor to the success of any crop. Fertilizers provide crops with nutrients like potassium and phosphorus. Nitrogen allow crops to grow bigger, faster, and to produce more food. But a large rise in fertilizer prices going into the new planting year could affect both farmers and input suppliers, according to a recent report from CoBanks Knowledge Exchange. CoBank reports that fertilizer prices are expected to remain elevated throughout the 2022 planting season. The report also suggests that while U.S. soybean acres will rise nominally compared to 2021 as a result of higher fertilizer prices, the total volume of soybean acres will not exceed corn acres in 2022. Soybeans are rich in nitrogen. The sharp rise in fertilizer prices has fueled speculation about a major acreage shift away from corn, said Kenneth Scott Zuckerberg, lead grain and farm supply economist with CoBank. Zuckerberg is skeptical about the shift away from corn, though. One factor for that, he said, is demand for corn among U.S. ethanol producers is expected to remain strong this year. Nebraska is the nations second leading producer of ethanol with more than 40% of the states corn crop going in to making ethanol. CoBank reported that farmers and their input suppliers are concerned about high fuel prices, shortages of agrochemicals due to COVID-related disruptions, along with the rising price of fertilizer. CoBank said several factors have played a role in affecting the supply-demand imbalance for fertilizers, such as nitrogen production shocks, tight global supplies, rising natural gas input costs, and steady demand are pushing up prices. CoBank said fertilizer export restrictions by China and Russia, and countervailing tariffs on urea ammonium nitrate solution imports to the United States from Russia (as well as Trinidad and Tobago), combined with economic sanctions placed on potash imports from Belorussia. The American Farm Bureau Federation said fertilizer is a global commodity and can be influenced by many market factors beyond the control of U.S. producers as 44% of all fertilizer materials are exported to a different country and can affect fertilizer prices as fertilizer production is not only influenced by what is occurring where it is produced or the cost of production in that country, but also affected by the numerous other countries demanding fertilizer products and the transportation rates to get the fertilizer to its final destination. Two-thirds of global fertilizer demand is driven primarily by six crops. Globally, corn represents about 16% of the farm-use fertilizer demand, with wheat a close second, representing about 15% of global farm-use fertilizer demand. Rice represents about 14% of global farm-use fertilizer demand, followed by vegetables at 9%, fruits at 7% and soybeans at 5%. As a large producer of corn, soybeans and wheat, Farm Bureau said the U.S. is a large consumer of fertilizer, though with increased technology and innovation for on-farm products, the use of fertilizer in the U.S. has decreased, despite increased planted acres of these crops. Corn represents about 49% of the share of U.S. nutrient use, while wheat accounts for about 11% and soybeans account for 10%. Cumulatively, those three crops account for about 70% of U.S. fertilizer consumption. In the 1960s, the U.S. accounted for 25% of global nutrient use. Today, the U.S. only accounts for about 10% of global use, with U.S. farmers representing only 2% of that share. According to the Farm Bureau, the U.S. is the third-largest producer of fertilizer globally, however, it still requires the importation of all three nutrients, especially nitrogen and potash, to fully meet demand. This means that U.S. fertilizer dealers and U.S. producers are required to pay the price defined by the global market for fertilizer and fertilizer materials, plus transportation. The U.S. is not a major fertilizer exporter. The U.S. holds a share of about 4.6% of the nitrogen exports, ranking seventh. Russia is first, with a share of 16.5% of exported nitrogen, followed by China with about 11.2% of a share in nitrogen exports, and Saudi Arabia, which holds a share of 6.4% of nitrogen exports. Natural gas is the primary building block for most nitrogen fertilizers, according to Farm Bureau. It takes about 33 million metric British thermal units (MMBtu) per material ton of ammonia to make the conversion. This accounts for 70% to 90% of the production variable costs in the synthesis process. According to Farm Bureau, fertilizer prices are expected to remain high through springtime, which may compel some farmers to shift planted acres away from corn to commodities that use fertilizer at a lower rate, like soybeans or wheat. Farm Bureau reported that with the price of ammonia about 85% correlated with the price of corn, farmers must consider whether the increased cost of fertilizer and other inputs can be recovered by cash receipts from crop revenues in order to break even. Farm Bureau also said there are expectations retailers will have to turn customers away because they will not be able to deliver fertilizer products on time, increasing the need for supply chain and infrastructure improvements. Farm Bureau said fertilizer costs account for approximately 15% of total cash costs in the U.S. All major crop production nutrients have experienced increased prices when compared to September 2020: ammonia has increased more than 210%; liquid nitrogen has increased more than 159%; urea is up 155%; MAP has increased 125%; DAP is up over 100%; and potash has risen above 134%. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Nebraska lawmakers are expected to spend much of the 60-day session deliberating how to spend more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money. On the first day of the 2022 lawmaking session, senators began crowding around the funding spigot with their ideas of how to spend what some have called "once-in-a-lifetime" money. The projects ranged from helping pay for new University of Nebraska facilities, providing grants to farmers and ranchers, retaining teachers and furthering cancer research. Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, who is running for the NU Board of Regents to represent western Nebraska, introduced a bill (LB703) appropriating $25 million in federal funds for an "agricultural innovation facility" to be built at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. That facility, which NU President Ted Carter said could become home to the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Agriculture if approved, would serve as a companion to a 100,000-square-foot U.S. Department of Agricultural Research Center approved by Congress. Williams' bill stipulates the funds would not be appropriated unless NU provided a match, either from private donations or other sources. Omaha Sen. Robert Hilkemann also sponsored legislation (LB721) requesting $60 million in federal stimulus funds to help establish a University of Nebraska Medical Center Rural Health Complex in Kearney. NU has pledged to raise $25 million in private funds to support what Carter has called "UNMC West," which would be located at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward introduced a bill (LB766) with 20 co-sponsors requesting $15 million for pancreatic cancer research at UNMC. Kolterman's wife, Suzanne, died of pancreatic cancer in 2017. Several senators sponsored bills designating money for agriculture. Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams wants to appropriate $10 million to expand precision agriculture in Nebraska (LB761) by creating a grant program for farmers wishing to expand the use of wireless equipment, or deploy smarter irrigation and livestock systems, or use drones. Dorn also requested a $5 million appropriation of federal funds to the Department of Health and Human Services (LB760) for the purchase of one-time equipment like ambulances, defibrillators and other lifesaving-equipment for rural rescue squads. Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth introduced a bill (LB755) that would direct $10 million to the Department of Agriculture to help small and midsize meat processors expand their operations. A $75 million grant program (LB783) proposed by Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte would help pay for construction of new beef slaughter and packing plants. Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue sponsored a bill (LB696) to appropriate an unspecified amount of stimulus money to the Nebraska Department of Education to help retain educators across the state. Kolterman entered a bill (LB699) to direct $100 million to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development "for enhancing innovation and technology infrastructure." Other legislation introduced on Wednesday: CONSENT: Blood sponsored a bill (LB692) creating a civil penalty for individuals who did not receive verbal consent to remove a condom during sexual intercourse. ALTEN: The Bellevue senator also sponsored two bills in response to the environmental crisis at AltEn, the ethanol plant near Mead that used pesticide treated seed as a biofuel source. The first (LB694) extends the statute of limitations for action to be brought following injuries or deaths caused by toxic chemicals, while the second (LB695) would prohibit cities and counties from granting conditional use permits to property owners who are delinquent on their property taxes. GLUCOSE MONITORING: Kolterman sponsored a bill (LB698) adding glucose monitoring devices to the list of devices covered by Medicaid. TAX INCREMENT FINANCING: Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk introduced a bill (LB713) prohibiting TIF from being used in redevelopment projects where a casino or licensed horse racing track is going to be built. ABORTION ACCESS: Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt sponsored a bill (LB715) ending the prohibition of insurance coverage for abortion care, as well as legislation (LB716) allowing qualified medical practitioners to perform abortions. ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling brought a bill (LB781) banning abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected during an ultrasound. LINE OF DUTY: The compensation for public safety officers killed in the line of duty in 2022 would be raised from $50,000 to $250,000, under a bill (LB717) from Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld. TAX DEDUCTION FOR RENTERS: Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington entered a bill (LB740) giving renters an income tax deduction equal to rent paid on their primary residence up to $3,000. MARRIAGE LICENSES: Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill (LB745) removing reference to "husband" and "wife" on marriage licenses and certificates issued by Nebraska and replacing them with "Spouse 1" and "Spouse 2." STEM CELLS: Health care workers would be required to tell patients receiving stem cell treatments that those treatments are "not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," under a bill (LB753) introduced by Sen. John Arch of La Vista. COLLECTIONS REFERRAL: Sen. Jen Day of Gretna brought a bill (LB772) prohibiting health care providers from referring a bill stemming from a sexual assault-related examination or treatment to a collection agency. CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon introduced a bill (LB773) that would allow Nebraskans to carry a concealed handgun without requiring them to complete a background check, pay a fee, or take a class. WIND TURBINE DISPOSAL: Brewer also sponsored a bill (LB774) making it illegal to dispose of wind turbine blades and their components in a landfill. DIGITAL ARCHIVE: Brewer also introduced a bill (LB777) requiring the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission to create and maintain a digital archive of legislative coverage. EARLY VOTING: The period for early voting or requesting an absentee ballot would be reduced from 35 days to 22 days before a statewide primary or general election, under a bill (LB785) from Groene. Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS CARBONDALE Some local hospitals have announced changes to visitation policies due to the record increase in COVID-19 positivity rates. Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) will adjust its visitation policy. All inpatient adults at SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, SIH Herrin Hospital, SIH St. Joseph Memorial Hospital and Harrisburg Medical Center may have one designated visitor for the day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. This change began on Wednesday, Jan. 5. The visitor policy for The Birthing Center and Pediatrics at SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and comfort or end-of-life care will not change. All visitors will be required to wear approved procedure masks (provided at each location). No cloth masks will be allowed. SSM Health in Illinois will change its visitation policy at local care sites, including Good Samaritan Hospital Mount Vernon and St. Marys in Centralia, on Thursday, Jan. 6. One support person will be allowed per day to visit between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. For the health and safety of patients and employees, rotating additional guests in patient rooms will not be allowed. Obstetrics patients will be allowed two designated people to offer support for the duration of their stay. Pediatric patients also will be allowed up to two designated visitors. Patients who are positive for COVID-19 or under investigation for the virus will remain under a strict, no visitors policy. Visitors must be age 18 or older and follow these rules, including: Wearing approved face coverings, even when in the patient room. All individuals must be screened for symptoms upon arrival. Everyone must wash their hands or use hand sanitizer upon entering and leaving a patients room. Always stay at least six feet away from the patient (social distance). If you plan to visit a patient in another hospital, it is recommended to check their current visitation policy. Policies vary throughout the region. Many hospitals list their current visitation policies on the homepage of their websites, including Heartland Regional Medical Center, Marshall Browning Hospital in Du Quoin and Union County Hospital in Anna. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CARBONDALE Dianah McGreehan, president of Graduate and Professional Student Council, SIU Student Trustee Shaylee Clinton and Isaiah Overton, president of Undergraduate Student Government, say students want a safe return to in-person learning for spring semester. Students want to be safe and confident when returning to school somewhere, but the best way is to go virtual the first week or first two weeks of the semester, Clinton said Tuesday afternoon. Each student stressed that they have not polled their constituents or talked to a lot of students, but that this is their own opinions with input from students who contacted them. Students want the best school experience possible, but they want to do that safely, Overton said. In a Dec. 22 email to the campus, SIU Chancellor Austin A. Lane announced the university would be requiring testing of all students, faculty and staff, even for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before they could return for classes. On Dec. 30, SIU announced it was adding a day for COVID testing to accommodate the need to test all on-campus employees and students. The testing schedule for the first two weeks of January is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Faculty, staff and students who are vaccinated must test once. Those who are not vaccinated will be required to test each week, per the governors executive order. McGreehan was tested Monday for COVID-19 at SIU. They tested 1,500 people yesterday. At one point, 150 people were in line, she said. McGreehan said at that pace, that would only be 4,500 people tested over three days ahead of the first day of school next week. SIU has about 11,000 students. That number does not include faculty and staff. Do the math. It just doesnt add up, McGreehan said. She said that problem does not include the students who have not checked their emails for instructions, especially undergraduates. They may not know what needs to happen as soon as they return to campus. McGreehan has looked at what other campuses are doing to return to in-person learning for spring semester. She said University of Illinois, Illinois State and other universities are opening virtually the first week or two of the semester to allow everyone to be tested for COVID. These student leaders hope SIU will do the same thing. Many of the students McGreehan represents also serve as university faculty or staff. They not only want to get tested quickly, they want their classrooms to be safe. She said the first week of classes tend to be going over the class syllabus and expectations and an introductory lesson or two. Those items are more easily done virtually. McGreehan quickly added some professors believe they need to teach face to face, such as automotive or dance professors. Exceptions can be made to allow those classes to meet in person. SIUC Faculty Association, Non-Tenure Track Union and Graduate Associates United met with administrators Monday for impact bargaining on the conditions of reopening for spring semester. They will meet again Wednesday. Student leaders believe the extra time before in-person learning will give everyone the chance to be tested. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Kaelyn Watson no longer lives in Galatia where she grew up. Today, she lives in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. We followed Watson in 2015, as she graduated from Galatia High School, left home to attend Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and finished her first semester of college as part of the Brain Drain series, a look at how young people continuously left the region for education and better-paying jobs. The series also analyzed how well-paying manufacturing jobs have shipped overseas and populations in small towns from West Virginia to Wyoming have stagnated. In some cases, populations plummeted. In 2015, Watson expected to have her bachelors and masters of science in nursing degrees in seven years. She knew there would be few options for pediatric nursing, her job goal, living in Galatia. It sounds bad, but I dont want to be held back by this community, Watson said in 2015. I know its a good community, but at the same time, Im not going to get the opportunities to do what I want. Im kind of being forced to leave to be able to be successful in the way I want." Just before Christmas, Watson was driving back to Nashville from a visit with her mom in Galatia. I work as a pediatric cardiology nurse. I got lucky, she said. Watson said it is hard to get into pediatric nursing. For her first year as a nurse, she worked at St. Louis University Hospital before taking a job in the pediatric cardiology unit at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. Its been an amazing learning experience, she said. She is taking care of babies from birth to one year old and calls that part of the job special. The best part of working at the hospital is seeing a child get a heart transplant. One patient received a heart transplant during the previous week (ending Dec. 17), and she wondered if that patient would have been discharged before she returned. The hospital also has a second young patient waiting for another heart. That patient has been in the hospital 110 days. We want him to get his new heart, too, Watson said. Watson generally works three night shifts in a row. The nurses work 12-hour shifts. Working nights is hard on your body, she said. During the pandemic, she has worked as a floating nurse, working wherever the hospital needed her. She spent part of those days in the COVID unit. It was closed before Christmas. The pediatric cardiology unit works to stay as clean as possible. Our patients dont need to deal with more, Watson said. In December 2015, she told The Southern she missed her home in Galatia. More than the town, she missed her old friends, mother and little sister. When I first graduated, I didnt want to go to SIUE, Watson said. Her mother forced her to go to Edwardsville instead of to the college she first chose. While at SIUE, she made what she calls the absolute best friends, and she talks to them each week. God has a funny way of doing things, she said. Moving to Nashville brought more changes than her job. When she first moved to Nashville, she did not have a roommate like she did in Edwardsville. So, Watson landed in Belle View because it was a little cheaper than Nashville. Her brother, Kobe, also lived in the Nashville area. During the pandemic, he moved in with her. She has a dog and gets to read for enjoyment, something she did not do during college. She wants the opportunity to explore different areas and is thinking about travel nursing to help her see more of the country. I feel like my life is not that exciting. I cant imagine what its like to be a heart kids parent, Watson said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Southern Illinois University Carbondales Touch of Nature Environmental Center is hosting two intensive wilderness medical training workshops this month to prepare people to effectively handle emergencies when assistance may not be readily available. A Wilderness First Responder Full Certification Course will be Jan. 6-14, 2022, and the recertification course is Jan. 15-17, with both sessions at Touch of Nature, located about eight miles south of Carbondale off Giant City Road. All outdoor activities leaders and enthusiasts will find the course beneficial, according to organizers. The Wilderness First Responder Full Certification Course covers a wide range of topics, including patient assessment, body systems, trauma, environmental medicine, toxins, back-country medicine, wilderness rescue and much more. The fast-paced format features instruction each morning and practical skills practice each afternoon and evening, covering skills ranging from constructing a makeshift stretcher to full-scale rescue simulations. Upon completion of the courses, participants will be prepared to handle emergencies involving prolonged patient care in harsh environments using improvised equipment. Students will receive a three-year certification from Wilderness Medical Associates, the wilderness medical training company that provides professional instructors for the course. Darren Stokes, a certified wilderness medical technician with more than 30 years for experience as a professional outdoor guide and instructor will teach the sessions. Recertification registration is open The full course is $750 and the deadline to sign up was Jan. 2. The recertification class is $375; register at wildmed.com/course/open-recertification-215 by Jan. 7. Class size is limited. SIU is committed to protecting the community, so all those attending the training sessions must follow current campus and state pandemic safety protocols and wear masks in shared indoor spaces. Registered participants will receive email with instructions about registering with Touch of Nature for meals and lodging. For more information, contact Erik Oberg at 618-453-3945 or eriko@siu.edu. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 I was Alderman of Ward 2 in Grand Tower. I was told by the mayor to check out a situation with a large company that had blocked a public street. An arrangement was made for a meeting with them and they sent three men for this purpose. We proceeded to the site on 20th Street which connects to the park road on the river side of backbone. The meeting was cordially conducted by both parties on Jan. 19, 2007. I started the meeting by saying that we, the City of Grand Tower, were not trying to be hard to get along with, but that the company's actions had created a great problem for us. We didn't want to be involved with legal action, but would as a last resort. Before this meeting when they were first contacted about this situation, they stated that this gate had been put up for security purposes. I immediately pointed out that what they had done in the name of security provided no security at all. There were many other ways to enter the property if someone wanted to do damage to it. They all agreed. I called attention to the fact that while providing no security for them, they had cut off one of our historical sites and recreational areas, Oven Rock, a place that many people visited and fished at. 20th street was platted and numbered in the 1800s and remained the same to date. This street ran to the river's edge, and no records anywhere show it had ever changed. One of the company representatives stated that they had, from a very reliable source, been told that a (Middle-Eastern) person was seen with a tripod and camera attached thereto taking pictures at the pipeline location. I ask who told him this, and he stated he was not allowed to say. It seemed strange to me that he couldnt say. I explained to him that no matter what the person taking pictures looked like, this has been going on for many years by people of all races, as Oven Rock attracts many people and makes a very photogenic picture. I said this picture-taking started long before the pipeline was here. Certainly, the pipeline bridge had many pictures taken of it as it is a very attractive structure. I pointed out to them that in 1955, the company published its company magazine giving all the data about the pipeline bridge and pictures thereof. Any terrorist that needed info on this structure or pictures certainly could obtain such information from this magazine. This meeting lasted about an hour with no good conclusion. It was my opinion, and fairly obvious, that someone for some reason wanted this road closed and used a hoax by telling the company that some terrorist was out to do harm to it, as ridiculous as this might seem. Anyone who wanted to harm this facility could go across the river and everything is wide open with no houses close by. If my conclusion was correct, I would remind the one who concocted this hoax that under the Home Security Act, such an act is punishable by law. Such action is a means of spreading fear and anyone that engages in such a hoax is no better than a terrorist. I recommended to the city mayor and council to apply an old and unused Illinois law that was still on the books called, Self-Help. An attorney friend had told me about this law a few months ago. This they did, and the city council took action by breaking the lock off and removing the gate. The city notified the company where the gate was and what action had been taken by the city. I was later told by my attorney friend that this old outdated law had since been removed from the Illinois law books. Maybe the attention this incident brought was the reason it was taken off the books. This gate was never put back. Charles F. Burdick is a lifelong resident of Grand Tower. After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Navy and then went on to a 42-year Maritime career including 35 years as Master Pilot. He has been retired for 27 years and enjoys local history and writing poetry. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 A 19-year-old Orangeburg man has been identified as the person who was shot to death on Dec. 27 in Cordova. Alton Hair Jr. of Kennerly Road, Orangeburg, died of a gunshot wound, according to Orangeburg County Chief Deputy Coroner Sean Fogle. Hairs death is under investigation as a homicide. Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office spokesman Richard Walker said on Tuesday that no one has been arrested in the death. Deputies were called to 148 Petunia Court at 9:39 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 27 for a report of gunfire, Walker said. As a deputy responded to the scene, he radioed to Orangeburg Department of Public Safety officers for backup. The deputy reported someone was still shooting as officers were on their way. Officers found Hair on the ground in the doorway of a silver Honda Accord, according to an ODPS incident report. The Accord had several bullet holes. Orangeburg County EMS transported Hair to the Regional Medical Center, where he died of his injures. In addition, a 17-year-old had a gunshot wound to his arm. The 17-year-old and another man were standing on the porch of a nearby home when officers arrived. They yelled to officers that someone tried to rob them and then gave a description of the person. In addition, a 17-year-old had an abrasion to his head, reports say. One of the people at the shooting scene reported another person was injured, but deputies could not locate him, the sheriffs office report said. If anyone has information about the shooting incident, they are asked to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. Callers dont have to give their names. Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 11 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. American Red Cross volunteers are assisting an Olar family of three whose homes, located on 4th Street, were damaged by weather on Tuesday afternoon. The Red Cross is helping by providing financial assistance for food, clothing and other essentials, and comfort kits containing personal hygiene items. Find out how to help the Red Cross assist families by visiting www.redcross.org/HometownHero. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster wants to beef up a pair of watchdogs that investigate government misconduct, make the Palmetto States scandal-scarred sheriffs attend ethics training, and shine more light on special interests that secretly influence city and county councils. The Columbia Republican will package those proposals into his soon-to-be-unveiled executive budget, calling on lawmakers to spend some $3.4 million more per year on measures meant to repair South Carolinians faith in their government. The governor's agenda would tackle some of the problems exposed over the past year by Uncovered, a project in which The Post and Courier has teamed up with 17 other newspapers across the state to investigate public corruption and expose the systems of oversight that fail to hold politicians accountable. More than 120 S.C. public officials have been arrested on criminal charges related to their government work over the past seven years, the investigation found. The states sheriffs keep getting arrested for breaking the laws they swore to uphold more than a dozen have been charged with crimes while in office since 2010. But as newspapers and other watchdogs have declined, many other officials in small-town South Carolina have evaded scrutiny. The governors proposals come ahead of a budget cycle where lawmakers will have a mountain of cash to spend. The Legislature expects the state budget to grow by nearly $900 million next year and will have nearly $2.2 million to spend on one-time projects, making McMasters request a drop in the bucket. The governor doesnt think there is any more worthy investment than making sure government is more accountable to the people and transparent, McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes told The Post and Courier. Strengthening watchdogs McMasters proposed budget would more than double the budgets of the State Ethics Commission and Office of Inspector General, giving the pair of government watchdogs more money to hire investigators and enforce laws that are already on the books. Both could use the help. The State Ethics Commission has a staff of just 18 to monitor campaign spending and fundraising, track lobbying activity at the Statehouse, and investigate complaints of misconduct against politicians and public officials. In part because it employs just four investigators, the agency has historically let public officials off the hook with warnings and minimal fines after investigations that sometimes disregard serious allegations, an Uncovered investigation found last year. And even when it does fine politicians, it has trouble forcing them to pay up, another Uncovered story revealed. UNCOVERED: Shedding light on questionable government conduct The Post and Courier of Charleston has launched Uncovered, a project to cast new light on questionable government conduct, especially in sma The Office of Inspector General, an eight-person agency, also has its hands full with investigating fraud, abuse, waste and misconduct within the states 106 executive agencies. Led by former FBI investigator Brian Lamkin, the agency typically fields hundreds of complaints a year against state employees and programs. In one high-profile case last year, the Inspector Generals Office determined that a former state agency executive director helped her husband win a $600,000 contract with her agency. In another, the office investigated and scolded the Governors School for Agriculture at John de la Howe after an Uncovered report first revealed ethical breaches and questionable spending there. In addition to giving the Inspector General's Office at least three more investigators, the governor also wants to expand the agency's jurisdiction beyond just state agencies, his office said. McMaster will support efforts to empower the office to investigate any agency or group that gets state tax dollars, his office said. That includes school districts, cities, counties even nonprofits that get state grants. The states 170 legislators havent seen the governors proposed budget yet. But two necessary allies, the chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees, told The Post and Courier they support the idea of strengthening the Ethics Commission and Inspector Generals Office. Ive spent my entire Senate career fighting for efficiency and accountability in government, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, a Gaffney Republican who was first elected to the Senate in 1980. While I havent seen the details of the governors proposals, they will be strongly considered if they lead to those two items. Local scrutiny McMaster also wants the states 46 sheriffs to undergo annual ethics training, a response to a steady stream of arrests and criminal convictions of the states top lawmen. The Post and Couriers 2019 series Above the Law showed that one in four of South Carolinas counties in the past decade had seen their sheriffs accused of breaking laws. By the end of that year, three more sheriffs had been indicted and removed from office. In all, 15 sheriffs since 2010 have been arrested on charges ranging from drug dealing to driving under the influence. Ex-Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood is currently awaiting sentencing after his federal conviction on corruption and abuse of power charges. Meanwhile, Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon was indicted last month and suspended from office on charges of ordering a deputy to repeatedly jolt a suspect with a Taser in the county jail. The governors budget requests $200,000 to pay for the training. It also calls for a public listing of which sheriffs attend and which skip out. UNCOVERED: Shedding light on questionable government conduct The Post and Courier of Charleston has launched Uncovered, a project to cast new light on questionable government conduct, especially in sma Over the years, we have seen far too many instances of sheriffs abusing their office, said Symmes, McMasters spokesman. House budget committee Chairman Murrell Smith said he likes that idea. The Sumter Republican would even support expanding ethics training to all public officials across the state. Smith, a lawyer, noted that even after graduating law school and passing the bar exam, attorneys are required to receive regular training. He thinks politicians should do the same, especially in an age where technology has made it easier than ever for everyday taxpayers to scrutinize elected officials' dealings. "There is more scrutiny on people about their ethics than there was 20 or 30 years ago, Smith said. Its time for us to make sure that we put more emphasis on ethics and compliance and training. McMaster's ethics agenda also calls for more scrutiny of local government. Currently, political operatives who are paid to influence decisions at the Statehouse have to register as lobbyists with the Ethics Commission. But no such requirement exists at the local levels. That allows businesses and special interests to wine and dine city and county council members free of oversight. As he has in the past, McMaster will call on lawmakers to close that loophole by requiring local lobbyists to register with the state. McMaster's executive budget is just the first step in a long legislative process where proposals can be fine-tuned or outright rejected. The governor can also make his case at the Jan. 19 State of the State address, a speech in which governors typically tout their achievements and lay out their priorities for the year ahead. Glenn Smith contributed to this report from Charleston. Joseph Cranney contributed from Columbia. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 We had high hopes for the future of U.S.-Russian relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago. The Cold War had ended, and Russia seemed for a time to be moving in the direction of openness and democracy. But those hopes were soon dashed. Under Vladimir Putin, who has effectively been in charge for over 20 years, Russia has turned increasingly hostile toward the West and aggressive toward its neighbors. Its not that America hasnt tried to get along. I cannot remember a U.S. administration that didnt start its tenure with hopes of improving relations with Russia. Inevitably, they were disappointed. Today the relationship has reached a low point in a tense standoff over Ukraine that some observers are calling the worst security crisis in Europe since the Cold War. Russia has amassed up to 175,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, prompting fears of an invasion. Meanwhile, Russia has turned increasingly authoritarian at home. Putin and his allies have restricted protests and detained journalists and critics. Human rights advocates hold Russia responsible for the 2020 poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is serving a sentence in a prison camp near Moscow. In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine, leading the U.S. and other Western nations to impose economic sanctions. Russia supports separatists who have been fighting an insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. This spring, President Joe Biden imposed a new round of sanctions over Russian meddling in American elections and cyberattacks that breached U.S. government computer networks. Its worth noting there are many areas in which U.S. and Russian interests are or could be compatible. Nuclear arms control is an obvious example: The United States and Russia control most of the worlds nuclear weapons, and its in everyones interest to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. We have mutual interests in stability in Afghanistan, the status of Irans nuclear program and the operation of the International Space Station. But the Ukraine impasse, which recalls conflicts of the Cold War era, is getting in the way of progress. Russia and Ukraine, which were the largest and most important republics of the Soviet Union, have cultural, economic and political ties that go back centuries. Important Soviet leaders and Russian writers were from Ukraine, an important agricultural, industrial and military region. Many Russians seem to see the split with Ukraine, which became independent in 1991, as a tragedy. Putin has emphasized the countries ethnic and historic connections and suggested Russia needs a friendly Ukraine as a buffer against the West. Ukraines leaders and much of its population, however, have turned increasingly westward, even applying to join the NATO alliance, which Russia takes as a provocation. That was the setting when Biden and Putin met Dec. 7 for a one-on-one video conference, a session that both sides described as tense but productive. According to a White House statement, Biden expressed deep concerns about Russias actions toward Ukraine and warned there would be strong economic and other measures if Russia further escalated the situation. U.S. officials have been vague about what those other measures could be. The risk of war with Russia strikes me as low. But this is a difficult, volatile moment; it is no time for us to avert our attention. Going forward, we should cooperate with Russia where we can. We should welcome educational, cultural and business exchanges where appropriate. And we should continue to warn Putin about the dangers of his aggressive stance toward Ukraine. Above all, we should keep talking, but we need to remain clear-eyed about how difficult and tension-filled this relationship is. We need to make every effort to keep the conflict from spiraling out of control. Lee Hamilton is a senior adviser for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 For Russian President Vladimir Putin, history requires that Russia invade and control Ukraine. Putin perceives Ukraine as a vital buffer for Russian security. Twice in the last two centuries, invaders from Europe have ravaged Russia. In 1812, Napoleon led some 500,000 soldiers into Russia, defeating the Russian Army at the brutal Battle of Borodino and occupying a burning Moscow before his catastrophic retreat through the Russian winter. In June 1941 an unsuspecting Stalin, who had secretly allied with Hitler two years earlier to partition Poland with Germany upon Germanys 1939 invasion of Poland, was stunned when Hitler launched a massive multi-pronged savage invasion of the Soviet Union. One of the main thrusts of the German invasion was into Ukraine, which Germany quickly overran, corralling some 500,000 Soviet troops in a pincer movement east of and around Kiev. In spring 1942, the Soviet Army incurred major losses in the Second Battle of Kharkov, Ukraine. Ukraine was then a launching point for Hitlers attack on Stalingrad, where at last the Soviets stopped and began to finally reverse the German onslaught. The Russian Republic of the Soviet Union alone lost an estimated 6,750,000 soldiers and over 7 million civilians in World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Putin was born in 1952. His father and mother suffered greatly in the German siege of Leningrad. His older brother perished. Other family members died in the war. For centuries, Germany was divided into multiple principalities. While Prussia achieved military prominence, a splintered Germany generally did not threaten neighbors. After Otto Von Bismarck united Germany in the late 1800s, World War I followed in 1914 with costly losses for Russia. Left united after its defeat in that war, some 20 years later Germany again launched war on its neighbors, with catastrophic consequences for Russia. From the perspective of the victorious Soviet Union, Germany had to be dismembered to remove a future threat. The Soviet Union ensured Germanys dismemberment until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of East Germany in 1989-90. Stalin also buffered his nation with the Iron Curtain of central and eastern European nations, which is now gone along with the Soviet Unions Warsaw Pact alliance that countered NATO. Russia historically has and still perceives NATO as hostile. Russia is wary of a reunited Germany. Putin has declared that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. For Putin, the parting of Ukraine and other former Soviet Republics was a great tragedy that insulted 1,000 years of Russian history. He presumably views the breakup as a weak, illegitimate capitulation by Yeltsin and Gorbachev, the latter allegedly having received an ignored oral commitment that with Gorbachevs agreement to unify Germany, NATO would not expand eastward. For Putin, Ukraine is an essential part of Russia. Ukraines application to be a NATO member must be seen against this backdrop. For Putin, Russias security demands that an increasingly strong and independent Ukraine be forcefully brought back under Russian control. For him, now is the time to do it. Russia is no longer the militarily weakened remnant of the Soviet Union that around 2000 itself sought an invitation to join NATO. America is likely seen as politically weak, divided and fumbling in its recent defeat in Afghanistan. Europe reels from the Trump years. Ukraines military will only be stronger and better equipped in the future. Russia can handle Ukrainian guerrillas. It always has. Belarus is a seemingly willing invasion partner, but may not be in the future. Russia reportedly has been preparing to manage western sanctions. Russia reportedly has already moved medical and other war-making logistical support to sustain its troops massed on Ukraines border. Russia intends to invade Ukraine. In response, the West has publicly eschewed the use of military force. The West wont even say, depending on developments all options are on the table for fear of provoking Putin. What more can the West do? First, expressly make the statement that all options are on the table. Second, support that declaration with an urgent increase now (not after the invasion) and immediate forward positioning in NATO nations adjacent to Ukraine of American and NATO troops and capabilities. Third, publicly explain that the militaristic conduct of Russia and Belarus mandates attention to the protection of NATO borders and interests. Are these steps overly provocative? They cannot provoke an invasion that would be coming anyway, but they stand a good chance of preventing it. Daniel O. Jamison is a retired attorney who writes on military affairs and other issues. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 This subscription will allow existing subscribers of The World to access all of our online content, including the E-Editions area. NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please email us at admin@countrymedia.net or call us at 1-541 266 6047. When Montanans talk about public lands, in the abstract, usually theres a very specific place that has impressed on them what public lands are a place theyve formed an emotional attachment with, be it from hiking, camping, fishing, hunting or cowboying. And so it is with Montanan Tracy Stone-Manning, who, as the new director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, suddenly has 245 million acres of America in her care. Its two places, for me, she said. Its the entire Blackfoot river corridor. Thats a very deeply personal place for me, and of course I had a professional connection to it in my role with the Clark Fork Coalition. Its near and very dear. And, no particular acre, but I feel the same about the prairie, the country around the Missouri Breaks. That ground is so breathtaking and beautiful. I love places that make me feel small, and the Breaks are like that. Fifty years from now, she said, I want a reporter to be asking the BLM director that same question. If weve done it right we will have made it possible for future generations to have that same kind of relationship with our public lands. As of today, Stone-Manning has a pretty large to-do list: Reform BLMs oil and gas leasing system and achieve the agencys energy mission largely through the use of renewables. Promulgate new rules governing grazing leases that are fair and good for the landscape. Ensure that recreationists will still be able to find beauty, quiet and solitude. In short, she says, manage for outcome leaving both the agency and the vast land it manages in better shape than they were when she started. In the following answers to my questions, Stone-Manning set out the way she intends to go about that: Q. Might as well begin at the beginning. Your bruising confirmation fight did it leave a mark on your ability to lead the agency? How is your relationship with Congress? A. I think people saw that confirmation process for what it is, a sign of our times. Ive had nothing but a warm welcome here at the agency. People are relieved to have a confirmed director and they are ready to go. This agency had five years without a confirmed director. A confirmed director brings stability and an understanding that there wont be transition from acting to acting to acting. People here are hungry and ready for that. Q. The previous administration moved the BLMs headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. That move forced the retirements of many top BLM staff. Was there a huge brain drain at the agency? What are you doing about it? (Before Stone-Manning took the reins, the Department of Interior announced that BLM headquarters would move back to Washington, leaving the Grand Junction office open as the Western office of the headquarters.) A. It was a really unfortunate loss. Hundreds of people chose to leave or retire from headquarters. Also, when the headquarters moved to Grand Junction the agency suffered at the state level. People then working in the state went to work at headquarters. The entire thing was destabilizing. The other day I was standing next to a BLM guy at an oil rig outside Farmington in New Mexico. He was an enforcement guy, not law enforcement but on the regulatory side. He said to me, Tracy, the day before you were confirmed, everybody above me in the chain of command was in an acting position. We have a huge job ahead of us in stabilizing and growing this organization. Again, people are hungry for that and excited that it is happening. Q. A lot of that move was supposedly about BLMs energy mission. Where do the Biden Administrations goals clash with the previous administrations plans? Is oil and gas leasing reform going to happen on your watch, and whats it going to look like? A. The president has been abundantly clear that he wants to build the bridge to a clean energy future, and a huge portion of that work happens through the Bureau of Land Management and our public lands. We have a giant focus on renewable energy. The Energy Act of 2020 calls for 25 gigawatts of energy from public lands by 2025. As were building this new energy economy its important that we do it right. And as we are building this new energy economy that were going to do right, we cannot leave behind states and people who were dependent on the fossil fuel economy. We have to bring those folks along. Thats the hard work. Some initial steps youll see in first-quarter lease sales. Were analyzing draft environmental assessments now. The final assessments will be out at end of January. We have to ensure getting a fair return and ensure that the leasing we go forward with is responsible development as opposed to the willy-nilly, put-it-anywhere development weve seen. I think you know that the Administrations pause on the sale of new oil and gas leases on federal land was taken to court, and the judge told us we couldnt just pause lease sales that required congressional approval. Were appealing, but honoring that decision. Q. What does that process look like when youre done with it, if all goes the way you want it to? A. The priority is already shifted to renewable energy development. I want to be able to prove up on that, to show we can power this country well with renewable energy. And as for the development that is continuing as a result of existing rights, I want to ensure that those doing the developing are paying their fair share for resources that come out of the ground that we all own together, and ensure that the siting is responsibly done. Theres been so much speculation in oil and gas leasing on public lands. There are 20 million acres are under lease, and half of that is not being used. That kind of speculation shouldnt be the priority for how we manage our lands going forward, given other the other uses we have recreation, restoration, renewables. We are a multiple-use agency and we have not always acted like it. The last Administration said it had an energy-dominant agenda for public lands. We need to get back to our true calling, under the law, of being a multiple-use agency. Addressing conservation and climate change is part of that multiple use. Q. What about grazing policy? The current lease rate of $1.35 an animal unit month for BLM-managed lands is a fraction of the going rate on private lands, which average over $20 per AUM, and overgrazing is also an issue. What needs to change? How do you see this happening in the current environment? Grazing rates have been literally a hill to die on for former BLM managers. A. (laughs) Thats a full hour-plus interview right there. Lets unpack it a little. There are a couple things at play here. In my travels around the west before I came to the agency I heard from ranchers working off grazing permits that were 10 years outdated, and thats not okay. We need to rebuild this agency to meet the needs of the 245 million acres it manages, and the people who live there and use the lands. We are going to come forward with a draft grazing rule. The goal is that it be informed by science, by users of public lands, and by the ranchers who lease those public lands. Were in the midst of what some people call a megadrought and others call the new normal. We have to figure out how to manage for the health of the landscape. In many cases cows can help us do that if were really smart about how we use the tool that we call grazing. Outcome-based grazing is the new effort at the agency. The thought behind it is exactly where we need to go: Determine the outcome were looking for on the landscape and graze accordingly. Its going to require a lot of hard and honest conversations with people who are rightly concerned about whats happening on the landscape. Ranchers know better than anybody what this drought means. We just reduced AUMs in Phillips County by 25 percent because we had to. There wasnt blowback because producers understand the problem. When nature is dictating terms like that we have to have hard conversations. The flip side is were excited about investments coming to the agency from the bipartisan infrastructure bill for restoration. Decisions have not been made about where those resources go within the Department of the Interior, but there is $900 million to restore public lands that is coming to Interior. Were now doing the work across the agencies within the department about where best to leverage that investment. But for example a huge priority is tackling cheat grass and other invasive species with ranchers. When we do that, not only is it obviously the right thing to do for the health of landscape and the wildlife, but natural systems are more resilient to changing climate conditions. For example, an intact sagebrush environment does not burn as furiously as one thats been invaded by cheat grass, which is a remarkable ladder fuel. In the natural state, an environment will be more resilient to wildfire. I havent read the draft of the grazing rule, but I know its coming. What I do know is what I mentioned earlier: If the health of the landscape drives the outcome, not pounds per animal or dollars per AUM, we will have done our jobs. The most important outcome is what we leave behind what the landscape looks like after we use the management tool of the cow. Q. What about the American Prairie Reserve and the idea of a buffalo commons along the Missouri? What is BLM going to do to enable or inhibit that vision? A. I think you know the request is pending with the state BLM office in Montana on livestock leases and enabling the Prairie Reserve to run bison with its leases. We expect that decision early in the year. Our job is to manage for the health of landscape and implement the law. Were certainly aware of the sensitivities of that cultural question. But thats what it is, a cultural question. We dont manage culture, we manage landscape outcomes. Q. The Infrastructure Bill included $21 billion for Superfund and brownfield cleanups. What share of that will go to BLM sites? Whats BLMs priority? How will your Montana DEQ experience inform what you see happening with federal toxic-waste cleanup? A. While I certainly have a lot of personal interest in this, as there are sites contiguous to BLM land and on BLM land, it will be administered by EPA, so Im not going to be able to speak to that. But what we are overseeing is the program to cap abandoned oil and gas wells. There is $250 million for capping oil and gas wells on federal land and were really thrilled about being able to put to rest some of these old sites that have long needed capping. Its good in a myriad of ways. First, it puts people to work, and they are good jobs. Second, many if not all of these sites typically release methane. Thats a big climate change component, harming us all and serving no none. Also typically there are groundwater issues associated with abandoned wells. For communities nearby, we are solving a real pollution problem. Third, these sites are typically littered with equipment things literally abandoned on the landscape. Taking those hazards away is good for people and good for wildlife. Q. As youve said, BLM may play a crucial role in national climate-change policy, on landscapes dominated by people personally affected by wildfires, drought and extreme weather, but also politically polarized by the idea that climate change is a blue issue. How do you shape policy initiatives in that environment and has that process begun? A. Climate change isnt blue or red, its affecting us all in the West. Every Montanan breathed wildfire smoke last summer. Every rancher is seeing impacts of drought on the landscape. One thing that typically unites Americans is that we solve problems. My focus is going to be consistently on trying to solve problems with people who are willing to come to the table to work on them. The only way through the polarization is to be frank and transparent and not to step into the fray but to acknowledge it. I like the river analogy. When youre going down a raging river and you see a giant hole, one of the fun things to do is plunge into it and see if you survive. But on the other hand, you can call out, hole on the left and work together to skirt it. Thats what the polarization is to me a hole on the left situation. Lets acknowledge it and work around it to get to the goal, which is downstream, boat right side up. Q. The Pendley steps on recreation areas and recreation advisory committee authority in your view does that work have to be uprooted and redone, or is some kind of course correction possible without losing time? A. We are course-correcting as we speak. standing up resource advisory councils all over the West because we see the deep value of people who live in places helping advise us on how to manage those places. Packages of names are going forward, heading to the federal register. That work is happening. Recreation being able to find true solitude on public lands is gong to get harder and harder as demand increases. We began to see that during COVID. But we must manage for it. We have to make sure that no matter the size of your checkbook, you can have access to wild places. Q. Okay, this is a softball question, but its important: How is it to work with Deb Haaland? Are there particular issues youre spending the most time on with her? A. The Secretary is a remarkable woman. She is grounded and her north star shines really brightly. For people like that, decision-making comes easily and thats what I appreciate about working with her. Shes also a genuinely kind human being. Consistently, no matter who shes talking to at the agency, she clearly recognizes and is filled with gratitude about the amount of work people are doing. Its lovely to watch her lead. Q. Do you feel a sense of urgency to get things done before the midterms in 2022 given current projections, and of course before 2024 given the presidents approval ratings? A. I feel urgency to get things done because they need doing. Obviously everybody understands the time constraints of a political appointment. But theres just so much to do. Im not an impatient person, but Im finding myself impatient to get all this done. Yes, one sees the constraints of politics big hole on the left but part of what that does is make me focus and prioritize on the things (about which) I want to be able to say, When it was my time to lead this agency, we accomplished that together. For example, I want to know that we have done the work to turn the corner toward being carbon neutral by 2050. And at the same time, we have to mine for critical minerals to make the green economy work. Every time we make those sorts of decisions on land use we have to remember the desired outcome for the land. I want to leave behind a robust, growing, functional agency. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 4 Free 55-pound blocks of butter available at 6708 Zero Road, Casper, Wyoming, said the post. 4 p.m. Take as much as you want. No further explanation needed. On The Hook Towing became the unexpected proprietor of hundreds of enormous butter cubes after the company was called to pick up a downed semi-truck in Sinclair on Dec. 29. The truck had been transporting them when it wiped out. On The Hooks owner, Bob Maxwell, said the company didnt have details about exactly what happened to the truck, where it was going or who was driving it. Simply put, we were hired by their insurance company to dispose of the trucks contents and tow the trailer to the salvage auction, Maxwell said in an email. A request for more information about the incident wasnt returned by Wyoming Highway Patrol in time for publication. So the truck was fated for salvage auction. But what of the cargo? It was doomed to waste away in a landfill somewhere, Maxwell said. He took to Facebook that same day to see if anyone in Casper could take some of it off their hands. A picture included in the post, which is now deleted, showed six piles of the stuff strapped to the truck trailer. Before they knew it, hundreds of people had lined up. The supply went quickly some made off with five, six blocks of it but the line kept growing. In Facebook comments, some Casperites said they waited in line over a half hour for their share. On The Hook Towing ended up taking down the post to try to stem the flow of visitors. Once we were all out, people were still coming by, said Kristen Moore, who works for the company. Nanci Benson, who lives in Casper, scored three cubes that day. After learning about the giveaway on Facebook, she called up a friend to see if they were game to wait in line with her. I said, Hey, are you doing anything? she said. There wasnt much left when they got there. Any free giveaway is bound to inspire a bit of a craze, Benson said. She recalled the line still being about half a mile long by the time they left. Caught up in the moment, Benson said she missed the 55-pound boxes part of Maxwells post. She was shocked to discover she was not taking home sticks, nor tubs, but blocks just under a cubic foot in volume. In the days after the giveaway, locals shared on Facebook how theyre rationing out their supply. Butter can last up to a year in the freezer, if stored properly. But did you know, for instance, that canned butter has a shelf life of at least three years? Others clarified their stock into ghee, which can be kept in the fridge or pantry. Unsurprisingly, the cubes were frozen solid when Benson took them home. It took some patience and elbow grease to cut them down into more manageable portions. Benson had to heat kitchen tools in hot water to make a dent. Some she flavored some with honey and cinnamon (her take on the well-known Texas Roadhouse spread), and some with garlic, parsley and onion for baked potatoes. Shes been giving a lot of it away to friends and neighbors buttering them up, if you will, she said with a laugh. Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DOUGLAS A group of hospital employees in Douglas and Cheyenne filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 22 against their respective employers seeking to halt policies related to COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. Two Cheyenne Regional Medical Center employees recently fired nurse Christie Higgins and CNA Robert Shaffer along with six Memorial Hospital of Converse County staffers nurses Roni VanOsdol, Sharie Beller, Kaylonn Amundson and Tonya Middleton, CNA Anita Casperson and medical lab scientist Jennifer Sherfey are seeking a preliminary injunction against their employers over their respective COVID vaccination policies and asking the court for a declaratory judgment in their favor. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for Wyoming in Cheyenne and was assigned to Judge Nancy Freudenthal. The lawsuit is among numerous such cases filed across the country fighting the federal vaccination mandates imposed on health workers through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and on private employers with more than 100 employees through the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments about the CMS and OSHA cases on Friday, and how that plays out may impact the individual cases filed across the country in federal and state courts, including the recent one in Cheyenne. Neither the plaintiffs attorney, Nick Beduhn of Buffalo, nor the attorney for the two county-owned hospitals, Bradley Cave of Holland & Hart Law Offices of Cheyenne, responded to the Douglas Budgets request for comment on the lawsuit Monday. MHCC CEO Matt Dammeyer, who is travelling out of town this week, referred most comments to Cave but said he was aware of the lawsuit and had expected one to be filed based on the reaction from some employees over the hospital board policy, even though the original version and deadline of Dec. 5 was softened and moved to Jan. 1 and now has been pushed back to Jan. 30. Itll be interesting to see how the (district) court responds, he said, noting the Supreme Court oral arguments are this week on related cases. Beduhn, in the civil rights lawsuit, said they are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the defendants refusal and neglectfulness actions to conform and comply with the provisions, requirements and duties set forth of Section 564 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) ..., which has resulted in many and repeated violations of state and federal law, and of the rights of the Plaintiffs secured by both the state and federal constitutions. To that end, and as set forth infra, Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment vacating, voiding, and annulling any and all orders, policies, requirements that are based on internal arbitrary decisions contrary to Section 564; and an injunction prohibiting (d)efendants from establishing or enforcing any policies that are not in conformity with the criteria ... He said Higgins is a registered nurse who had worked for CRMC for more than 10 years when she was terminated on Dec. 18. Higgins had received the Pfizer shots in April of 2021 and almost immediately began suffering from side effects of the vaccine injection. In May, her health further deteriorated as she began having tremors and extreme weakness. A neurologist subsequently diagnosed Higgins with Covid-19 vaccine related neurological disorder, according to the complaint. Beduhn contends, Higgins situation is widely known throughout CRMC employees and is one of the reasons many other employees are hesitant or have decided to not receive the vaccine. These employees are all facing termination. Shaffer is refusing the vaccine on legal, ethical, scientific and strong religious grounds, even though he has been informed he will be terminated by CRMC if he persists. As for the six MHCC employees in the lawsuit, five of them VanOsdol, Sherfey, Amundson, Beller and Middleton are refusing the vaccine for legal, ethical and scientific grounds. Caspersons status is not mentioned. In each of the cases except Caspersons, Beduhn stated, Like all of MHCCs employees, she has been informed that if she persists in his decision to refuse the covid vaccine that she will be terminated. The attorney, in his court filing, argued that even after multiple injunctions that were issued against the Biden administrations CMS mandatory vaccination plan, the two public hospitals set policies that outright ignore and are in direct contradiction to ... obvious and clear statement and the provisions and criteria in federal rules and laws under the Emergency Use Authorization Act, which the vaccines fall under currently. Among the requirements, he argues, is one for consent for treatment and a prohibition against mandating its use. The lawsuit argues, In other words, there is currently NO FDA approved Covid-19 injection available anywhere in the United States. Every Covid shot in America remains under the EUA law and thus people have the option to accept or refuse them; and Even when an FDA approved Covid shot becomes available, individuals are protected by federal law and many states laws from being forced to get these shots based on their sincere religious beliefs or conscience rights. ... As an attempt to get full compliance of employees to get vaccinated, the ... employers issued policies that require mandatory and constant testing using tests that only have EUA status. The FDA has approved the Pfizer vaccine for people 16 years and older. Additionally, Beduhn contends, is the threat of termination for some employees. Worse yet are the nurses that are injecting the vaccines. Many have been told by their employer that they cannot say anything negative about the vaccines with the treat (sic) of termination if they do. These nurses are required by federal law and regulation to fully inform the patient; and yet face being fired if they comply ... They are literally in a situation that they must risk their license; or be fired. Those situations describes above, he argues, are in violation of the U.S. and Wyoming constitutions which provide rights to making personal health care decisions and to pursuing work to support your family. Besides asking for an injunction to halt the policies being enforced, the plaintiffs are seeking costs and attorney fees. Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 NIDCO (the National Infrastructure Development Company) says it has not initiated any tender or award of contract process with regard to the Toco Port. In a news release, the company said the issuance of any letters of award or contracts relating to the Toco Port project is fraudulent and not authorised by Nidco. A pregnant mother and her family affected by the Quarry Street New Years Day fire say they felt pressured to accept an Oropune Gardens apartment as a permanent home after their years long efforts to find secure housing. The family, who had previously spent months surrounded by debris and without electricity, told the Express they felt as though they were being pushed to mortgage the apartment as a quick fix to their problem. The fact that 106 police killings dating from January 2019 to now are under investigation by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is staggering. Whether the number reflects an actual increase in fatal police shootings, or is the result of greater public willingness to file complaints, growing public confidence in the PCA or the PCAs own willingness to initiate investigations, would require more than bald figures. However, it underscores the PCAs importance as an independent authority with the power to hold the police to account. Sentinel Monitoring Systems, a Tucson-based company that makes systems for monitoring microbial levels in water, has been acquired by a Philadelphia-area company. Suez Water Technologies & Solutions, part of a Paris-based water and wastewater services provider known simply as Suez, announced Wednesday that it had completed its acquisition of Sentinel without disclosing terms of the deal. Suez will retain all nine of Sentinels current employees, who will stay in Tucson under Suez Water Technologies & Solutions Analytical Instruments business division, said Geert Verstraeten, general manager of the Analytical Instruments division. Founded in 2014 and headquartered on South Research Loop on Tucsons south side, Sentinel makes instruments that can detect microbial activity in water in real-time or near-real-time, for medical and industrial uses. Suez Water Technologies, based in the Philadelphia suburb of Trevose, Pennsylvania, plans to fold Sentinel into its existing portfolio of water analytics including an array of water-monitoring products and services for the life-sciences, industrial and environmental markets. Sentinels spectroscopic analyzers can detect individual microorganisms 150 times faster than conventional methods, reducing the risk of microbial contamination and allowing manufacturers to respond quickly to control risk and minimize harm, the company says. Sentinel was among 10 awardees in the 2020 Arizona Innovation Challenge, a state-sponsored business-plan competition. Sentinel was co-founded by Bill Puent and University of Arizona alumnus Terry Long, who previously were executives with Tucson-based Instant Bioscan, which also makes rapid microbial-detection systems. Instant Bioscan was acquired in 2014 by analytical instrument maker Mettler-Toledo International in a deal worth up to $30 million. Suez, a major international water utility and services provider, created Suez Water Technologies & Solutions in 2017 after it acquired GE Water & Process Technologies from General Electric for $3.4 billion. Contact senior reporter David Wichner at dwichner@tucson.com or 520-573-4181. On Twitter: @dwichner. On Facebook: Facebook.com/DailyStarBiz Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 0005227160-01 TS No. 2022-00060-AZ NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE The following legally described trust property will be sold, pursuant to the power of sale under that certain Deed of Trust dated 12/21/2009 and recorded on 12/31/2009 as Instrument No. 20092510236, Book 13716 Page 1373 and rerecorded on as in the official records of Pima County, Arizona, NOTICE! IF YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A DEFENSE TO THE TRUSTEE SALE OR IF YOU HAVE AN OBJECTION TO THE TRUSTEE SALE, YOU MUST FILE AN ACTION AND OBTAIN A COURT ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 65, ARIZONA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, STOPPING THE SALE NO LATER THAN 5:00 P.M. MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME OF THE LAST BUSINESS DAY BEFORE THE SCHEDULED DATE OF THE SALE, OR YOU MAY HAVE WAIVED ANY DEFENSES OR OBJECTIONS TO THE SALE. UNLESS YOU OBTAIN AN ORDER, THE SALE WILL BE FINAL AND WILL OCCUR at public auction to the highest bidder Courts Building, On the steps outside the East entrance of the Courts Building, 110 West Congress, Tucson, AZ 85701, in Pima County, on 06/09/2022 at 10:30 AM of said day: Legal Description: The land referred to herein below is situated in the county of Pima, state of Arizona, and is described as follows: Lot 49 of picture rocks west subdivision, Pima county, Arizona, according to the map of record in the office of the county recorder, in book 47 of maps and plats, page 2. Except all coal and other minerals as reserved by the United States of America in deed book 214, page 631. Includes the manufactured housing unit as part of the real property described as: YEAR: 1998 MAKE: PALM HARBOR MANUFACTURER: FREEDOM HOMES INC SIZE: 28 X 68 VIN NUMBER: PH0223901U & PH0223901X Purported Street Address: 11090 W OLD PECOS PL, TUCSON, AZ 85743 Tax Parcel Number 213-03-2990 Original Principal Balance: $137,464.00 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE Name and Address of Current Beneficiary: PHH Mortgage Corporation c/o PHH Mortgage Corporation 1 Mortgage Way, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054 Name and Address of Original Trustor: HARRY BURLESON AND JUANITA J BURLESON, HUSBAND AND WIFE 11090 W OLD PECOS PL, TUCSON, AZ 85743 Name, Address and Telephone Number of Trustee: Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. Northpark Town Center 1000 Abernathy Rd NE; Bldg 400, Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30328 (866) 960-8299 TERMS OF SALE: The trustee is only able to accept cash or a cash equivalent, like a cashier's check or certified check NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE SALE INFORMATION: Sales Line: (866) 960-8299 Website: https://www.altisource.com/loginpage.aspx If the sale is set aside for any reason, including if the Trustee is unable to convey title, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the monies paid to the Trustee. This shall be the Purchaser's sole and exclusive remedy. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Trustor, the Trustee, the Beneficiary, the Beneficiary's Agent, or the Beneficiary's Attorney Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. DATED: April 24, 2022 /s/ Glenda Hamilton Trustee Sale Assistant Pursuant to A.R.S. 33 - 803(A)(6), the trustee herein qualifies as a trustee of the Deed of Trust in the trustee's capacity as a corporation all the stock of which is owned by Premium Title Agency, Inc., an escrow agent in the state of Arizona. The regulators of Premium Title Agency are the Arizona Department of Insurance and the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. Western Progressive - Arizona, Inc. is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission. STATE OF Georgia COUNTY OF Fulton On February 24, 2022, before me, Iman Walcott, personally appeared Glenda Hamilton, who proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledge to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature (s) on the instrument the person(s) or the entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument. WITNESS my hand and official seal. /s/Iman Walcott Iman Walcott NOTARY PUBLIC Published April 25 & May 2, 9, 16, 2022 Arizona Daily Star Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey is doubling down in his fight with public schools over their virus policies, offering cash to parents to send their kids to private or parochial schools if a school or even a classroom has to shut down for even one day because of an outbreak of COVID-19. In what his office describes as preemptive action, Ducey announced Tuesday his Open for Learning Recovery Benefit program to provide up to $7,000 for parents who face financial and educational barriers due to unexpected school closures. It can be used for things like child care and online tutoring. But the money, taken from federal COVID-relief programs, also can be used for tuition so parents can send their children to a private school, covering what gubernatorial press aide C.J. Karamargin said are any charges from the school: tuition, books, uniforms if required. The new $10 million program is a variant of one announced by Ducey last year to give what amounted to $7,000 vouchers for private schools to parents who want to pull their child out of a school solely because it has a mask mandate. Ducey also divided up $163 million in federal aid that is under his control to schools but only to districts that do not require students and staff to wear face coverings. Both of those already have drawn threats from the U.S. Treasury to take back the money that federal officials said were designed to finance evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. But so far there has been no action against the state. Karamargin said the idea of this new program is not necessarily to give out more money. Its that parents have options, he said. But there is a message there. That the closing of schools should not be an option, he said. And Karamargin acknowledged that the audience for the new order is not just parents but school districts who get state aid based on the number of students enrolled. Im not saying theres no impact, he said. The move comes as the state and the nation continue to see a spike in COVID-19 infections, driven in part by the highly transmissible omicron variant. An additional 7,212 cases and 154 deaths were reported Tuesday in Arizona; the states death toll is now 24,509. Data from The New York Times shows that, in the past seven days, only four states have a higher COVID-19 death rate on a per-capita basis than Arizona: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Chris Kotterman, lobbyist for the Arizona School Boards Association, said his association agrees with Duceys basic premise. We want to keep schools open, he said. But the governor keeps on playing both sides of the fence. On one hand, Kotterman said, theres the message to keep schools open. But then the governor tells schools that they cant do the things designed to protect the health of students and teachers like mask mandates. In our opinion, its to placate a political base, he said. It doesnt do anything to help the problem, Kotterman continued. But it does further politicize the issue. Pima County School Superintendent Dustin Williams said Duceys actions regarding the pandemic and education are more divisive than unifying. The Open for Learning Recovery Benefit Program sounds well in theory but still ignores the fact that this infectious disease is running rampant through our communities and is the underlying cause for potential school or classroom closures. I encourage the governor to focus more on mitigation strategies and create programs that benefit all schools in our state, Williams said. Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, said there is a positive side to what the governor has ordered. There will definitely be classroom or school closures periodically early in the spring semester, mostly I think because of teachers being out with breakthrough cases, he said. And, of course, there are not enough substitutes to handles whats coming in terms of teacher absences, Humble said. So this might help some families. But the former state health director said this really doesnt address the problem. This order fits perfectly with Duceys modus operandi: focus on a cosmetic response while being actively hostile to core proven measures to prevent classroom or school closures, Humble said. He also agreed with Kotterman that this is more about politics. Humble said Ducey who actually ordered face coverings for those in school in 2020 wont impose things like that now to keep kids safe in school because it would hurt his chances of still being somebody in 362 days when his term as governor is up. Karamargin said the state will post an online application form this coming week for parents to use when a school is shuttered due to COVID. Eligibility, like Duceys earlier program for grants due to mask mandates, is limited to families making no more than 350% of the federal poverty level. That is $76,860 for a family of three and $92,750 for a family of four, with progressively higher amounts for larger families. Karamargin said applications will be processed promptly to ensure that families spending money on anything from child care to private school tuition get reimbursed in a timely manner. But they will need to spend the money up front, as parents will need to provide receipts. The governor appears to be angling to avoid a similar threat of loss of federal funds for his latest action, saying he is in step even with President Biden. As recently as Tuesday, Biden said he is committed to keeping schools open even despite the latest surge in virus cases. We know that our kids can be safe when in school, the president said. Thats why I believe that schools should remain open. Biden pointed out that Congress has previously approved funding to keep our students safe and schools open. That money went to states, he said. I encourage the states and school districts to use the funding you still have to protect your children and keep the schools open. But some of the dollars that Arizona was given were in that $163 million Ducey divided up last year and withheld from schools with mask mandates. Karamargin said the other part of Duceys last plan the one to give $7,000 vouchers to parents of kids hit with mask mandates in public schools generated interest from 85 families, with the state giving out $595,000 so the youngsters could transfer, at public expense, to private or parochial schools. He said that program, which also was funded at $10 million, remains available to parents as several Arizona schools announced plans to impose new mask mandates due to the omicron outbreak. On Twitter: @azcapmedia Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. They were the object of ridicule in late 2020. Some Arizona Republicans would not accept Donald Trumps defeat in the presidential election. So they held a big public meeting in Phoenix Nov. 30. And the state GOP certified its own slate of electors on Dec. 14, the same day the states official electoral votes were cast for Joe Biden. One Arizona Republic columnist wrote mockingly: On Monday, the state GOPs 11 fake electors met, as required by no one, and cast their nonexistent votes for Trump, as required by their desperate need to continue to live in fantasyland. It felt like a joke at the time to me, too. But what seemed pitiful then seems sinister in retrospect and continues to endanger our democratic system going forward. Its the attempt by an electoral minority, propelled by a profound sense of grievance, to seize power they feel they deserve though they could not win it. State Rep. Mark Finchem, the Oro Valley Republican, embodies that powerful persecution complex, as well as its potential. He hosted the Nov. 30 meeting that featured Rudy Giuliani and other members of the small group that propelled the Big Lie forward in December 2020, consulting with the White House and ultimately helping to foment the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Among that cabals key strategies, we now know, was this: Have the state parties or legislatures propose alternative slates of electors. Congress could then reject the certified election results and consider alternative electors. John Eastman, a lawyer advising the Trump team, laid out the strategy for the Jan. 6, 2021, meeting of Congress in a now-infamous memo: 1. VP Pence, presiding over the joint session (or Senate Pro Tempore Grassley, if Pence recuses himself), begins to open and count the ballots, starting with Alabama (without conceding that the procedure, specified by the Electoral Count Act, of going through the States alphabetically is required). 2. When he gets to Arizona, he announces that he has multiple slates of electors, and so is going to defer decision on that until finishing the other States. This would be the first break with the procedure set out in the Act. 3. At the end, he announces that because of the ongoing disputes in the 7 States, there are no electors that can be deemed validly appointed in those States. That means the total number of electors appointed the language of the 12th Amendment is 454. This reading of the 12th Amendment has also been advanced by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe. A majority of the electors appointed would therefore be 228. There are at this point 232 votes for Trump, 222 votes for Biden. Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected. To a significant degree, Arizona brought the country Jan. 6. Finchem promoted and attended events at the Capitol Jan. 5 and 6, though he says he did not break any laws there, and U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs worked with event organizer Ali Alexander, as Alexander has said. Trump, president at the time, heralded those who attended his Jan. 6 speech before the march to the Capitol as real people as if the tens of millions of Americans who voted against him were fake. They try and demean everybody having to do with us, he said. And youre the real people, youre the people that built this nation. Youre not the people that tore down our nation. But then they did tear things down. On Twitter that afternoon, Finchem celebrated the people entering Capitol grounds as What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud. In the Capitol, shortly before members of Congress were evacuated, Gosar asked Pence not to accept Arizonas electors. Remand the slate back to the governor with the following instructions, he said. Until a full and complete electoral forensic audit is allowed by the secretary of state, the electors currently certified will not be counted. Soon, hell broke loose. Among the first 377 people arrested for acts at the Capitol that day, most were not members of big right-wing groups like the Oath Keepers, a group that Finchem has belonged to. Nor were they emissaries from Trump strongholds nationwide. Nor were they unemployed or desperate. The University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats analyzed that group of arrestees and found most were white, male, employed and came from counties either won by Biden or closely contested. The most outstanding demographic feature of those counties is that they are places where the white population is declining fastest compared to the nonwhite population. It all might have ended on Jan. 6, ignominiously, as a shameful and failed effort to thwart the will of the American people as a whole. But instead, the action picked back up in Arizona. Motivated by calls from Republican constituents, state Senate President Karen Fann agreed to a review of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County. That subset of Americans that Trump called real people had seized control of the story again. It turned out to be exactly the pointless and polarizing experience that was predicted. The self-proclaimed experts Finchem had called together in Phoenix in November floundered as they attempted something they did not have the expertise to achieve: an election audit. Still, the process did achieve one thing. While polls have found most Americans believe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, most Republicans do not. And they continue to govern Arizona. So now at least we can see that all this is neither comical nor pitiful. Its simply dangerous an effort by a disappointed and aggrieved minority to seize power even if it means destroying our democratic system. Tim Steller is an opinion columnist. A 25-year veteran of reporting and editing, he digs into issues and stories that matter in the Tucson area, reports the results and tells you his conclusions. Contact him at tsteller@tucson.com or 520-807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NEW ORLEANS (AP) Louisiana's governor on Wednesday posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy, the Black man whose arrest for refusing to leave a whites-only railroad car in 1892 to protest racial segregation sparked the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cemented "separate but equal" into law for half a century. The state Board of Pardons in November recommended the pardon for Plessy, who boarded the rail car as a member of a small civil rights group hoping to overturn a state law segregating trains. Instead, the protest led to the 1896 ruling known as Plessy v. Ferguson, solidifying whites-only spaces in public accommodations such as transportation, hotels and schools for decades. At a ceremony held near the spot near where Plessy was arrested, Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was "beyond grateful" to help restore Plessy's "legacy of the rightness of his cause undefiled by the wrongness of his conviction." Keith Plessy, whose great-great-grandfather was Plessy's cousin, called the event "truly a blessed day for our ancestors and for children not yet born." Since the pardon board vote, "I've had the feeling that my feet are not touching the ground because my ancestors are carrying me," he said. Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote in the 7-1 decision: "Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences." Justice John Harlan was the only dissenting voice, writing that he believed the ruling "will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case" an 1857 decision that said no Black person who had been enslaved or was descended from a slave could ever become a U.S. citizen. The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling allowing racial segregation across American life stood as the law of the land until the Supreme Court unanimously overruled it in 1954, in Brown v. the Board of Education. Both cases argued that segregation laws violated the 14th Amendment's right to equal protection. The Brown decision led to widespread public school desegregation and the eventual stripping away of Jim Crow laws that discriminated against Black Americans. Plessy was a member of the Citizens Committee, a New Orleans group trying to overcome laws that rolled back post-Civil War advances in equality. The 30-year-old shoemaker lacked the business, political and educational accomplishments of most of the other members, Keith Weldon Medley wrote in the book "We As Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson." But his light skin court papers described him as someone whose "one eighth African blood" was "not discernable" positioned him for the train car protest. "His one attribute was being white enough to gain access to the train and black enough to be arrested for doing so," Medley wrote. Eight months after the ruling in his case, Plessy pleaded guilty and was fined $25 at a time when 25 cents would buy a pound of round steak and 10 pounds of potatoes. He died in 1925 with the conviction on his record. Keith Plessy said donations collected by the committee paid the fine and other legal costs. But Plessy returned to obscurity, and never returned to shoemaking. He worked alternately as a laborer, warehouse worker and clerk before becoming a collector for the Black-owned People's Life Insurance Company, Medley wrote. He died in 1925 with the conviction on his record. Relatives of Plessy and John Howard Ferguson, the judge who oversaw his case in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, became friends decades later and formed a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights education. The purpose of the pardon "is not to erase what happened 125 years ago but to acknowledge the wrong that was done," said Phoebe Ferguson, the great-great-granddaughter of the judge. Other recent efforts have acknowledged Plessy's role in history, including a 2018 vote by the New Orleans City Council to rename a section of the street where he tried to board the train in his honor. The governor's office described this as the first pardon under Louisiana's 2006 Avery Alexander Act, which allows pardons for people convicted under laws that were intended to discriminate. Former state Sen. Edwin Murray said he originally wrote the act to automatically pardon anyone convicted of breaking a law written to encode discrimination. He said he made it optional after people arrested for civil rights protests told him they considered the arrests a badge of honor. Dont sugarcoat it: How to talk to your kids honestly about racism Helping your childs health Talk to your child honestly The appearance of impropriety When a child enters school Reaching out to other families Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. WASHINGTON (AP) Long after most other lawmakers had been rushed to safety, they were on the hard marble floor, ducking for cover. Trapped in the gallery of the House, occupying balcony seats off-limits to the public because of COVID-19, roughly three dozen House Democrats were the last ones to leave the chamber on Jan. 6, bearing witness as the certification of a presidential election gave way to a violent insurrection. As danger neared, and as the rioters were trying to break down the doors, they called their families. They scrambled for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared themselves to fight. Many thought they might die. "When I looked up, I had this realization that we were trapped," said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They had evacuated the House floor first. And they forgot about us." ... Keep scrolling for more first-hand accounts from House lawmakers. Bound together by circumstance, sharing a trauma uniquely their own, the lawmakers were both the witnesses and the victims of an unprecedented assault on American democracy. Along with a small number of staffers and members of the media, they remained in the chamber as Capitol Police strained to hold back the surging, shouting mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The lawmakers were finally taken to safety roughly an hour after the siege began. Interviewed by The Associated Press before this week's anniversary of the attack, 10 of the House members who were in the gallery talked of being deeply shaken by their experience, recalling viscerally the sights and sounds amid the chaos. Read the full story here: *** IN THEIR OWN WORDS In their own words: House lawmakers remember Jan. 6 Vermont Rep. Peter Welch Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal Colorado Rep. Jason Crow Florida Rep. Val Demings Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes California Rep. Norma Torres New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley *** PHOTO ARCHIVE Photos: Scenes from Jan. 6 Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. A recent customer to the latest restaurant concept from the McNellies Group complimented the staff on what he saw as the obvious in-depth culinary research the company had done to come up with the shops name. I asked him why he said that, said Brian Fontaine, vice president at McNellies, and he told us that the name Dracula Sandwich had to refer to the fact that we have several sandwiches that have pastrami, because pastrami originated in Romania. It is true that the preparation of seasoned, brined, roasted and smoked beef brisket now known as pastrami got its start in the eastern European country of Romania, and that Transylvania the legendary homeland of the seemingly immortal Count Dracula occupies a great deal of central Romania. We kind of laughed and said, Right, good one, you figured it out thats exactly what we did, Fontaine said, laughing. The fact is, the name Dracula Sandwich came out of a kind of free-association session among McNellies personnel. Almost from the moment we came up with that name, we were coming up with names for sandwiches that would fit, like Steak Through the Heart, said Jim OConnor, chief operating officer for McNellies. It spoke to the sort of whimsical approach we wanted to take to have a little fun while at the same time putting out a quality product. Dracula Sandwich opened a little more than a month ago in the space that McNellies uses for its catering operation. It also is home to Ghost Dragon Express, which originally was a delivery-only ghost kitchen operation, offering twists on Chinese-American dishes such as kung pao chicken, beef with broccoli, egg drop soup and steamed dumplings. The space has been fitted out with a dining area, with wood- and glass-topped tables with bright yellow metal chairs. Refrigerator cases hold a selection of meats, condiments, cheeses, beverages and other items from local and regional farms and producers. An outdoor seating area is also available. Delivery remains an option for both Ghost Dragon and Dracula Sandwich, but OConnor said the decision to create the dining space was to give those still working in the downtown area a new lunchtime option. When we started this, we realized that there really wasnt a place like this in downtown, that was offering an elevated sandwich menu, he said. The challenge for us was to take something like the traditional deli sandwich, and make a statement with it, to take everything up to the next level. One way of attaining that next level, he said, was to pack as much meat as two slices of bread could contain into each of the signature sandwiches. Take, for example, Dracula Sandwichs version of the turkey sandwich, here known as the Louis, named for one of the main characters in the late Anne Rices novel Interview with the Vampire ($14). Slices of tomato and Nueske-brand bacon grace about a two-inch thick pile of thinly shaved and densely packed smoked turkey breast, with everything more or less held in place on the slices of rye sourdough bread with a Mornay sauce accented with Swiss and Gruyere cheeses. Its an intensely flavorful, and intensely messy, creation. The Steak Through the Heart ($15 or $8 for half) is Dracula Sandwichs riff on the Philly cheesesteak, with shaved brisket, sauteed peppers and onions with the Swiss-Gruyere sauce in place of the orange stuff usually whizzed onto such a sandwich. A surprise amongst all this are some strategically placed Funyun onion rings to give a bit of salty, oniony crunch. Ben (Alexander) likes to add a bit of junk food to haute cuisine, Fontaine said. The Transylvania ($15) was easily our favorite of the sandwiches sampled, primarily because of the pastrami used. According to Fontaine, its the result of a 90-day brine that produces a meltingly tender pastrami, that also carries a pronounced yet balanced smoke flavor. Quarter-inch slices of pastrami are dressed with mustard and crispy onions, topped with the Swiss-Gruyere sauce and served on marble rye. The pastrami is also available on the Dracula ($13), a take on the classic Reuben sandwich; and the Stoker (as in Bram, author of the novel Dracula), which also includes smoked sausage, Irish cheddar and a black garlic slaw ($16). Dracula Sandwich also has a fried chicken sandwich, the Mirrors & Sunlight, with an Asian flavor profile; a meatball sandwich called the Ward Off ($16; $8 for half); and a vegetarian option, A Vine Between, with tofu, pickled cucumber and a kimchi aioli ($13; $8 half). Dracula Sandwich also offers a range of more prosaically named hoagies, such as turkey and Swiss, ham and cheddar, and a build-your-own option ($15; $8 half), among other choices. All sandwiches come with a hefty spear of dill pickle. Sides include chips ($1), smoked potato salad and Brussels sprout slaw ($1.50 each), mac and cheese ($3), a soup of the day and chicken and dumplings ($3-$5) Sandwiches that come served on hoagie rolls are available in half-size portions; sandwiches on the house-made rye sourdough and other breads are only available in full portions. The rye sourdough came about as part of a research trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when the Dracula Sandwich concept was being birthed. Zingermans Deli in Ann Arbor is considered one of the best delis in the country, OConnor said. We went there to see what they did, and how we might use what we experienced for what we wanted to do. One of the things we had there was this bread that had a very unusual flavor, and we came up with our rye sourdough recipe from that. DRACULA SANDWICH 608 E. Third St. 918-727-8696 Food: 3 stars Service: 3 stars Atmosphere: 2 stars (on a scale of 0 to 5 stars) Vegetarian/Vegan options: Yes 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday-Saturday. All major credit cards accepted. COVID-19 INFORMATION: Staff wears masks and gets temperature checks. Surfaces disinfected between uses. Takeaway and delivery available. What the Ale: Cabin Boys Brewery gets a grain silo Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Its easy to understand why someone like Linda Jones would be skeptical about discussing solutions to all that ails her neighborhood around 61st Street and Peoria Avenue. Shes heard the talk before, talked the talk herself, only to see little change in the past decade. But that didnt keep her from participating in the first meeting of the 61st and Peoria Collaboration organized by Tulsa Crime Stoppers. Everybody has meetings, and nobody does anything, Jones said near the end of the hour-plus Zoom meeting. They say what they are going to do, and nobody implements anything. I feel like the Lone Ranger. Karen Gilbert, executive director of Tulsa Crime Stoppers, had a ready response for Jones that succinctly summarized what the meeting was all about. We are here to partner with you, Gilbert said. The meeting brought together property managers from a half-dozen apartment complexes, city councilors, Tulsa police officers and other stakeholders. The goal was for participants to get to know each other and to begin mapping a strategy for how they could work together to make the neighborhood safer. The reason I wanted to be involved in this is I have gotten to know a lot of people in that community, said Lonny Barker, who works for a private security firm with clients in the area. I am a father of five and a grandfather of four, and family means everything to me, and I see a lot of families that are just trying to do their best just to get by. And having to walk out of their house and be afraid that something might happen to them just by going to the corner store is not a way to live. The 61st Street and Peoria Avenue neighborhood has long been plagued by poverty and violent crime, including six homicides in the past year, according to a Tulsa Police Department official who participated in Tuesdays meeting. Maj. Luther Breashears, commander of the Riverside Division, said police believe most of the violent crime happening in the neighborhood is being done by people who dont live there. Asked what he thought was at the root of the violent crime in the area, Breashears said it was young people resolving their disputes with guns. Sometimes people come to visit or bring people with them, and there are arguments, and sometimes those arguments are settled with firearms, Breashears said. The Police Department has responded to the recent uptick in violence by increasing its presence in the neighborhood, Breashears said. That includes making sure officers stay in the neighborhood even when it comes time to fill out reports. Because if you are visible, then that is also a deterrent, Breashears said. Jones urged the police to do better, saying the neighborhood has suffered since it lost its full-time community resource officer. The position, which provided a consistent TPD presence focused on community engagement in the neighborhood, was funded by a grant that has expired. They (young people) dont even have anybody out here who they feel comfortable with talking to, Jones said. They used to call him and say, Hey, this is going to go on and this is going to go on. They dont have that anymore. Breashears acknowledged the loss of the position but noted that the program has not gone away completely, and he said Police Chief Wendell Franklin is working to ensure that such engagement is a routine part of policing across the city. What you are saying is getting up to the chiefs office, Breashears told Jones. I also expect an officer who is dressed in blue, like me today, in full uniform, to also have that relationship with people in the area, not just one officer. That is our goal in the department. Tulsa Crime Stoppers has held similar events for the neighborhoods around 51st Street and Yale Avenue and for businesses along the commercial corridor at 71st Street and Memorial Drive. Gilbert said the goal has been the same at every meeting to bring people together to help prevent crime. At the end of Tuesdays meeting, she acknowledged that that takes time. This is not going to be once, twice or three times, Gilbert said of the meetings. Instead, the group plans to meet monthly. That came as welcome news to Alicia Clark, property manager at Tamarack Place apartments, who said the neighborhood has been in grave need of attention for too long. They dont go to, you know, the nice neighborhoods and commit these crimes and shootouts, Clark said. They come to the 61st and Peoria and Riverside area because they feel like this is a no mans land, a way for them to come out here and express themselves violently, and they know if they come to this area, they can do that. That is my opinion. I feel like we need to have more of a community presence, so what we are doing here is awesome. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. More than half of recent specimens genomically sequenced in Oklahomas COVID-19 surveillance effort were the omicron variant as cases skyrocket and hospitalizations jump statewide. The Oklahoma State Department of Health said Tuesday that its sequencing found 57% omicron variant versus 43% delta variant over the holidays. Oklahomas State Health Department was among the last to identify omicron within a states borders, which at least in part has prompted public health officials to reach for other means to get an idea of variant spread in Oklahoma. Dr. Dale Bratzler said OU Health, using a proxy method, found Monday that about 80% of cases in the Oklahoma City metro area are likely omicron. Omicron was 37.5% of OU Healths sampling last week. Bratzler, the University of Oklahomas chief COVID officer, explained that a second and different PCR test is performed on a random sampling of positive specimens to look for a gene dropout PCR tests look for three gene targets to identify the virus that is highly suggestive of the omicron variant rather than delta. So were pretty convinced at least in the Oklahoma City metro that most of the cases that were seeing are with omicron variant, Bratzler said. OU Health announced Dec. 22 that a significant number of Tulsans are infected with the omicron variant, which was detected Dec. 17 in a broad sampling of sewage representative of more than 30% of the states population. OSDH says 175 samples sequenced in its most recent batches were omicron versus 131 that were delta. The agency didnt provide a beginning or end date of when those specimens were collected. Experts dont expect this surge to subside soon. Dr. Aaron Wendelboe, an OU epidemiologist and former lead epidemiologist for the state, said his model projects rises in cases and hospitalizations to persist through at least mid-February. Watching what has played out with omicron outbreaks in South Africa and the U.K., Wendelboe said Oklahoma might see a peak sooner, though, because of how fast the variant spreads through a population. He noted that his confidence level isnt super high in his projection yet but that he hopes to be able to gather more data soon to improve his model. Unfortunately the data especially for Oklahoma is still quite poor, Wendelboe said. Oklahomas seven-day average of confirmed cases has eclipsed the delta waves peak. The latest average was 2,990 cases reported Tuesday, which tops the 2,806 summer high reported Aug. 30. The seven-day average has more than doubled from a week ago, when it was 1,462. The latest wave has had more daily totals above 4,000 three so far since Thursday than the delta waves single instance on Aug. 26. Daily case totals of 4,166 reported Thursday, 4,154 reported Saturday and 4,110 reported Tuesday are the three times the 4,000 mark has been surpassed as omicron takes over in Oklahoma and the U.S. Statewide COVID hospitalizations, while climbing rapidly recently, arent as high as during the worst of the delta surge. The states three-day average jumped to 1,015 inpatients Tuesday up 113 or 12.5% in only one day from 902 reported Monday. The delta peak saw an average of 1,607 inpatients reported Aug. 26. COVID hospitalizations are up 25% from a week ago (810), 47% from two weeks ago (691) and 99% from a month ago (510). About 25% of current inpatients 261 are in intensive-care units. Bratzler said he thinks that case rates rising faster than hospitalization and death rates in the U.S. is reflective of omicrons characteristics: highly contagious but a severity of disease that is lesser to some degree. Dr. David Kendrick, department chair of medical informatics at the OU School of Community Medicine, added that vaccination likely is contributing to a blunting in the rate of hospitalizations and deaths, too. Wendelboe said it appears that omicron can cause quite severe disease in people who are unvaccinated and never previously infected. State data show that 91% of COVID hospitalizations in the most recent 30 days are of unvaccinated individuals. These variants are mutating to find a population thats most susceptible, Wendelboe said. Unfortunately, our children are a susceptible group, so we are seeing actually a higher portion of unvaccinated kids getting hospitalized with omicron. Video: How will COVID mutations affect us during transition to endemic disease? Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SKIATOOK As everyone was looking toward the new year and celebrations were happening all over the world, Skiatook came to a halt. The community had joined together when Josh Frederick needed help, and his dog, Valentine, became Skiatooks sweetheart. But the light they brought to many peoples lives went out on New Years Eve when the two were fatally struck by a vehicle. The pair known to many as Josh and Valentine could often be seen walking the streets of Skiatook. Those who met the two were forever changed. While traveling through Skiatook over the summer, Josh was left behind by his companions at the Tastee Freeze. He had nothing but another mouth to feed in Valentine. People started to see Josh and Valentine at Walmart or Caseys convenience store. He soon found out what a small-town community with a big heart can do. When Sam Thomison stopped to talk with Josh, he learned that the mans parents had died and that he had since been living in a house without running water or heat. Trina Gonzalez started a donation drive for Josh, and the Skiatook community came together to help. But on New Years Eve, Josh and Valentine didnt make it home. They had dinner with friends at Bulldog Pizza and then headed off a little before 8 p.m. A truck crossing the street between the Sonic and Taco Bell struck Josh and Valentine, and both died. It is unclear whether a criminal complaint will result for the driver, who left the scene but reportedly surrendered to authorities within 15 minutes. An online crowdfunding campaign has been set up to help pay funeral expenses for Josh and Valentine. The two will be cremated and buried together. A vigil was held Tuesday evening in Skiatook. Josh was easy to talk to, Stella Brand said. I told him how sorry I was that his ride abandoned him in Skiatook with nothing. He looked at me, and with a little chuckle he said, I feel like they blessed me! And Im so grateful because look, look at the miracle Im living! He meant it! He didnt have a judgmental bone in his body, Brand said. I feel blessed to have met him and to receive one of the most tender and honest hugs ever. Blake Bales said of Josh: Great guy. Had many talks with him. He would give you the shirt off his back if needed. So hard to hear this. Youll be missed, buddy. Josh changed lives, opened minds, helped people not judge the surface of things and instead look deeper for compassion and empathy, Jessica Morgan said. Featured video: Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has suggested the Ministry of Transport seek government approval to accept passengers COVID-19 test results using the real-time RT-PCR method issued before international flights in accordance with common practice, instead of rapid testing. The aviation watchdog put forward the proposal in its report on international flights to Vietnam between January 1 and 3, the first three days of the nations resumption of regular international flights, to the transport ministry on Tuesday. During this period, the CAAV received requests from many airlines to abandon rapid testing passengers before and after international flights, which is one of the regulations currently in effect at Vietnamese airports. Instead, a negative test result for COVID-19 using the real-time RT-PCR technique issued within 48 hours of departure time as the way many other countries and territories have been applying will be the alternative. If the requirement of rapid tests is to be maintained, the CAAV suggests testing fees be collected directly from passengers while foreign cabin crews will be tested only once at either the airport upon their arrival or at their hotels. The CAAV also said in Tuesdays report that as many as 1,753 passengers from abroad came to Vietnam on 17 flights between January 1 and 3. The passengers arrived at the international airports of Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang, and Can Tho. The flights were conducted by four Vietnamese airlines -- Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, and Pacific Airlines -- and seven foreign carriers, including Thai Vietjet of Thailand, Singapore Airlines of Singapore, Turkish Airlines of Turkey, Starlux Airlines and China Airlines of Taiwan, Emirates of the UAE, and Asiana Airlines of South Korea. The CAAV reported that authorities in Taiwan agreed to increase the frequency of weekly flights between the two sides to five trips per way from previously four, while the Korea Office of Civil Aviation (KOCA) approved four flights a week between Vietnam and South Korea, with a vision to raise the air routes frequency to six flights a week. Vietnam closed its doors to foreign tourists and grounded international flights in March last year, allowing entry only to Vietnamese repatriates, foreign experts, investors, and highly-skilled workers, among others. The government has just resumed commercial air links with the U.S., Singapore, Bangkok in Thailand, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Vientiane in Laos, Beijing in mainland China, Tokyo in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, and Taipei in Taiwan, starting January 1. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The tourism sector in Vietnam is eyeing a recovery during the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) festival as well as in the first quarter of 2022 thanks to the promising signs observed during the recent New Year holiday. Many travel agents have already begun selling tours for the Lunar New Year festivities, which fall around late January and early February. A representative from Ho Chi Minh City-based TSTtourist Company stated that the firm plans to introduce approximately 20 tours to various destinations across the country. Thanks to the promising signs during the New Year holiday last weekend, more tourists are willing to travel to further destinations, the representative added. Other companies in the southern metropolis have also prepared tours to northern destinations such as Dien Bien, Sa Pa, and Quang Ninh. There was a rise in travel demand during the New Year holiday thanks to favorable weather, fair tour prices, and attractive discounts, according to Tran Bao Thu, director of marketing and communications at Fiditour Travel JSC. Hopefully, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be well controlled during the Lunar New Year, allowing the tourism market to further prosper and helping businesses recover, Thu elaborated. Meanwhile, Saigontourist has collaborated with national carrier Vietnam Airlines to carry out several flash sales of hotel room and plane ticket combos. Shocking deals Southern Kien Giang Province welcomed about 37,000 visitors during the New Year holiday, said Bui Quoc Thai, director of the provincial Department of Tourism. Among them, 26,000 came to Phu Quoc Island, Thai added. Tran Quoc Vuong, general director of Saigon Phu Quoc Resort & Spa, stated that the resort is offering 'shocking' discounts of up to 50 percent per room to lure even more tourists during the upcoming Tet holiday. Vo Thi Tuyet Ngoa, an official from the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, said that the locality had welcomed more than 27,000 visitors between January 1 and 3. Local tourist sites and attractions are working out new decorations and landscapes to serve travelers during the upcoming Lunar New Year, Ngoa added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! MELBOURNE -- Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defence and security cooperation at a virtual summit on Thursday, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cancelled trips to Australia and the United States due a surge in COVID-19 cases. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two leaders will sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will for the first time set out a framework for the two countries' defence forces to cooperate with each other. "This treaty will be a statement of our two nations commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific," Morrison said in a statement. The strengthened security ties expand on efforts by the United States, Japan, India and Australia - dubbed the Quad - to work on shared concerns about China in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia and Japan also plan to discuss opportunities to strengthen government and business partnerships on clean energy, critical technologies and materials. "Our cooperation also includes an expanding agenda for the Quad with India and the United States, and our shared technology-led approach to reducing carbon emissions," Morrison said. Kishida said on Tuesday he would forgo overseas visitsbefore the next session of parliament starts on Jan. 17 to focus on laying out anti-pandemic measures. Thailand has reopened Maya Bay, a white sand beach made famous by the 2000 film "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, more than three years after closing it to allow its ecosystem to recover from the impact of thousands of visitors each day. The beach, surrounded by 100-metre (328-ft) high cliffs, lies on the island of Phi Phi Leh in the Andaman Sea, and is only accessible by boats from nearby spots such as the islands of Phuket or Phi Phi, or mainland Krabi. Tourists visit Maya Bay as Thailand reopens its world-famous beach after closing it for more than three years to allow its ecosystem to recover from the impact of overtourism, at Krabi province, Thailand, January 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters Authorities shut the whole of Maya Bay to the public in 2018, saying coral reefs and beach areas had been damaged by constant tourist activities. But since the start of this year some visitors have been allowed to return. "The sharks have come back, coral reefs are regrowing, and the water is clear again," Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told Reuters. "These things show that nature will heal if we give it time, and we have to work to keep it that way too." To ensure it remains protected, authorities said only up to 375 visitors will be allowed to visit at one time and swimming will be prohibited for now. Boats will only be allowed to dock at a designated location at the back of the bay to avoid damaging coral reefs, they said. A tourist poses at Maya Bay as Thailand reopens its world-famous beach after closing it for more than three years to allow its ecosystem to recover from the impact of overtourism, at Krabi province, Thailand, January 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters Before the coronavirus pandemic, tourism accounted for about 12% of Thailand's economy and was a key driver of growth, with the country attracting 40 million visitors in 2019. But mass tourism has often come at a cost to the environment in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asian, with once-beautiful tropical beaches becoming polluted and strewn with garbage. "Maya Bay is beautiful, it's a marvellous place," said Manuele Panin, a 40-year-old tourist from Italy, who was visiting the beach. "I think it is fine that it has been closed all this time to protect the nature and allow it to restore and recover." A tourist visits Maya Bay as Thailand reopens its world-famous beach after closing it for more than three years to allow its ecosystem to recover from the impact of overtourism, at Krabi province, Thailand, January 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters The United States reported nearly 1 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, the highest daily tally of any country in the world and nearly double the previous U.S. peak set a week ago as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen nearly 50% in the last week and now exceeds 100,000, according to data collected by Reuters, marking the first time that threshold has been reached in a year. The latest surge, which forced waves of cancellations from commercial airlines flights to Broadway shows in recent weeks, was disrupting plans for public schools to welcome students back from winter vacation. In Chicago, union leaders were urging teachers in the nation's third-largest school district to stay home as classrooms were reopening. In Los Angeles County, the presiding judge of one of the country's largest court systems ordered a general two-week postponement of criminal trials due to the latest wave of COVID-19 infections. More than two dozen cars wait in line to take a COVID-19 test during a free drive-thru testing site in the parking lot of Frederick Douglass High School as students will go remote for a week to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as cases of the Omicron variant continue to surge in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters Nationally, the United States has seen a daily average of 486,000 new cases over the last week, a rate that has doubled in seven days and far outstrips that of any other country. The 978,856 new infections documented on Monday including some cases tallied on Saturday and Sunday, when many states do not report. The average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths has remained fairly steady throughout December and into early January at about 1,300 a day, according to a Reuters tally, though deaths typically lag behind case numbers and hospitalizations. Omicron appears to be far more easily transmitted than previous iterations of the virus. The new variant was estimated to account for 95.4% of the coronavirus cases identified in the United States as of Jan. 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that evidence thus far suggests Omicron is causing less severe illness. Nevertheless, public health officials have warned that the sheer volume of Omicron cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals, some of which are already struggling to handle a wave of COVID-19 patients, primarily among the unvaccinated. People wait in long lines at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing and vaccines, as the Omicron variant continues to spread in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., December 29, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Photo: Reuters Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a 30-day state of emergency on Tuesday and mobilized 1,000 National Guard members to pandemic response operations as COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state hit a record high of more than 3,000, up more than five-fold in the last seven weeks, Hogan said. "The truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic," Hogan told reporters. He said projections show COVID hospitalizations could surpass 5,000, far higher than Maryland's previous peak of 1,952 last year. Delaware, Illinois, Ohio and Washington, D.C., also have reported record numbers of hospitalized COVID patients in recent days. Signage outside of Frederick Wilson Benteen Elementary School encourages parents to seek COVID-19 testing as students will go remote for a week to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as cases of the Omicron variant continue to surge in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., January 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters 'Unlike anything we've seen' In Kentucky, where Tuesday's total of 6,915 new cases was the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic, Governor Andy Beshear urged residents to get vaccinated and wear masks. "Omicron is causing a surge unlike anything we've seen and at this rate our hospitals will fill up," he wrote on Twitter. The unrelenting surge has prompted more than 3,200 schools to close their buildings this week, according to the website Burbio, which tracks school disruptions. Schools that have remained open are facing staff shortages and renewed concerns about virus spread. In Boston, where more than 54,000 students returned to class on Tuesday following the holiday break, Superintendent of Schools Brenda Cassellius told reporters there were 1,000 staff members out, including 461 teachers and 52 bus drivers. "It does make for a difficult start to the day," she said. The governing body of the Chicago Teachers Union on Tuesday urged its members to stay out of the classroom and work remotely through July 18, or until the city reaches minimum health-safety thresholds set last year as a condition for in-person learning, whichever comes first. People line up in cold winter temperatures to be tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Everett, Massachusetts, U.S., January 4, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. Photo: Reuters The union's House of Delegates voted 88% in favor of the resolution, sending it to the 27,000 rank-and-file teachers and support staff to ratify by electronic ballot on Tuesday night. The union has called for more rigorous COVID-19 safety protocols, including school-based coronavirus testing and mandatory student vaccinations. District chief executive officer Pedro Martinez said the school system would agree to further COVID-19 safety measures. But he said classes for Chicago's 340,000 students would be canceled on Wednesday if teachers voted against reporting to work, with no remote instruction being made immediately available. The union has cited data showing that vaccination rates remained especially low among minority students - with just 7% of Black youngsters and 13% of Latino children aged 5-11 fully inoculated. But school officials said hospitalization rates for children in Chicago are very low. More than 325,000 COVID-19 cases among children were reported in the United States for the week ending Dec. 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, a new high and almost double the count from the previous two weeks. The Biden administration was finalizing contracts for 500 million rapid coronavirus tests it plans to distribute for free to Americans, the White House said on Tuesday. The initiative is intended to help alleviate a testing crunch that has led to inadequate supplies and long lines in many places. Police in Ho Chi Minh City have added two prosecutions for murder and concealment of a crime in the shocking case where a woman tortured her fiances eight-year-old daughter to death at home. Police officers have instituted legal proceedings against Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang, 26, for torturing others and murder and Nguyen Kim Trung Thai, 36, for abusing others and a crime cover-up. All documents related to the case have been submitted to the municipal Peoples Procuracy. On December 22, 2021, Thai took his eight-year-old daughter, N.T.V.A., to Vinmec hospital in Binh Thanh District, where doctors determined that the girl had suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and had died before her hospitalization. His fiancee, Trang, was arrested a day later, following a hospital report on the unusual wounds and injuries on A.s body, before being prosecuted on charges of torturing others on December 28, 2021. Thai was detained on December 31, 2021 on suspicion of committing the same crime as Trangs. Police in Binh Thanh District then transferred the case to the municipal Department of Public Security for further investigation on January 1 due to its serious nature. At the police station, Thai said that Trang had sometimes beaten and yelled at A. during their time living together at the Saigon Pearl apartment building in Binh Thanh District since May 2020. The situation turned worse since she started tutoring the child in online lessons in October 2021, with the woman using hands, feet, wooden sticks, iron sticks, plastic pipes, and rattan whips to beat the girl. Thai admitted he had also beaten his daughter several times. This collage, supplied by Ho Chi Minh City police officers, shows Nguyen Vo Quynh Trang, the wounds caused by her violence on N.T.V.A.s body, and the tools she used to beat the girl. Despite acknowledging that Trang repeatedly cursed at A. and brutally battered the girl, the man took no action against the womans brutalization. Thai told investigators that he did not witness Trang hitting his daughter on December 22, the date of A.s death, but he saw A. faint when he came home from work that day. The man said he applied first aid on the girl but she remained unresponsive, so he took her to the hospital. While waiting for A.s emergency treatment at the hospital on December 22, Trang told Thai about her assault on the girl that day. Thai did not report Trangs brutalization but removed the home camera footage related to the crime to cover it up. According to Vietnams 2015 Penal Code, a person who murders another under 16 years of age with thug nature or despicable motives can face imprisonment from 12 to 20 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty. Imprisonment from one to three years is the punishment for a person who cruelly treats or humiliates his or her dependents, who are under 16 years old, the elderly, weak, sick or defenseless. A person can be subjected to non-custodial rehabilitation for up to three years or imprisonment from six months to five years for concealing crimes. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Ministry of Health documented 17,017 COVID-19 cases in Vietnam on Wednesday, alongside 22,662 recoveries and 230 deaths. The latest infections, including 20 imported and 16,997 domestic transmissions, were detected in all 63 provinces and cities, the ministry said, adding that 12,299 patients caught the virus in the community. Hanoi recorded 2,505 of the newest local cases, Tay Ninh Province 862, Hai Phong City 792, Khanh Hoa Province 782, Ca Mau Province 687, Vinh Long Province 657, Ben Tre Province 499, Ho Chi Minh City 448, Bac Ninh Province 365, Quang Ninh Province 337, Binh Thuan Province 329, Can Tho City 282, Thua Thien-Hue Province 260, Da Nang 245, Lam Dong Province 228, Bac Giang Province 187, Quang Nam Province 180, Dong Nai Province 103, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 81, and Binh Duong Province 66. Vietnam had reported 21,696 domestically-acquired infections on Tuesday. The country has confirmed 1,811,863 community transmissions in all its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave erupted on April 27, 2021. A combined 1,433,229 of them have recovered from COVID-19. Ho Chi Minh City has been heavily affected with 505,971 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 291,127, Dong Nai Province with 98,286, Tay Ninh Province with 79,699, Hanoi with 56,937, Dong Thap Province with 45,133, Can Tho City with 42,054, Long An Province with 40,587, Khanh Hoa Province with 36,935, Tien Giang Province with 34,278, An Giang Province with 33,554, Binh Thuan Province with 26,707, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 26,692, and Da Nang with 12,236. Vietnam logged merely 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves. The health ministry announced 22,662 recovered patients on Wednesday, elevating the total to 1,436,046. The toll has risen to 33,475 fatalities after the ministry confirmed 230 deaths on the same day, including 25 in Ho Chi Minh City, 30 in Dong Nai Province, 17 in An Giang Province, 17 in Tay Ninh Province, 15 in Binh Duong Province, 14 in Vinh Long Province, 12 in Hanoi, and the remaining in 20 other provinces and cities. Vietnam has confirmed 1,817,721 patients, including 25 imported Omicron infections, since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country in early 2020. Health workers have administered more than 155 million vaccine doses, including 752,474 shots on Tuesday, since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8, 2021. Upwards of 77.9 million of the countrys 98 million people have received at least one dose while over 69.8 million have been injected twice. The number of third doses including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cubas Abdala vaccine has increased to 7,407,700. Many provinces and cities are immunizing children aged 12-17 against COVID-19, using Pfizer-BioNTech shots. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A group of Vietnamese doctors, who are serving the Vietnamese level-2 field hospital under the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, have successfully performed a cesarean section to save a pregnant South Sudanese woman with fetal distress and severe scoliosis, as well as her fetus. The Vietnamese level-2 field hospital No. 3 dispatched the group of doctors to the charity hospital Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Bentiu on Monday afternoon, right after receiving the latters call for help over the case of a 22-year-old South Sudanese woman in the 35th week of her second pregnancy. While the pregnant woman showed signs of labor, her babys head did not engage, leading to fetal distress. After examining the patient, Lieutenant and obstetrician Tong Van Anh determined that this was a difficult case and immediately prescribed an emergency cesarean section as fetal distress could cause fetal heart failure. The patients medical history of severe kyphoscoliosis, which is the sequelae of spinal tuberculosis, made the surgery more difficult as the doctors were unable to use spinal anesthesia. The surgical team had to use the endotracheal anesthesia technique, along with a simple ventilator system. The anesthesiologists had to keep squeezing the manual resuscitator by hand throughout the nearly-two-hour operation, after which a four-kilogram baby boy was delivered. Doctors welcome a baby boy after a C-section on a woman with fetal distress in South Sudan, January 3, 2022. Photo: Vietnamese level-2 field hospital No. 3 However, at that time, the baby did not cry, had weak movements, and depended on the bag valve mask. After about 15 minutes of active neonatal resuscitation, the baby was able to cry and make his first movements. His mother was also in a good condition. This is the first cesarean section where I have stood as chief surgeon in the poor conditions of a field hospital in South Sudan, said Dr. Anh. I felt pitiful for the 22-year-old patient, who is short and hunched due to kyphoscoliosis, and thus motivated to save both the woman and her baby. Major and Dr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, head of the Department of Surgery at the Vietnamese level-2 field hospital No. 3, said that the hospital tried its best to help with the aforesaid case despite facing a shortage of human resources after a number of staff had been infected with COVID-19. The doctors and nurses are always determined to respond to the local hospitals calls for help, contributing to introducing the good image and values of Vietnamese people to international friends, Dr. Nam added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Details for next weeks Golden Globe Awards have finally been trickling out, having been very elusive given no broadcaster and rising COVID cases in the USA. The event is indeed proceeding next Monday (Australian time) but will look quite different at the Beverly Hilton. There will be no red carpet, no accredited media, no celebrity presenters, nominees or even winners. Only select Hollywood Foreign press Assoc. members and philanthropy grantees will be present in the room. The HFPA is still determining whether there will be a livestream or how winners will be announced on social media. Proof of vaccination and booster shot, along with a negative PCR test within 48 hours, is required for entry into the Beverly Hilton ballroom. All guests will be masked and socially distanced at all times. HFPA chief diversity officer Neil Phillips will also take the stage to detail the organisations efforts to be more inclusive in both its growing membership and its approach to Hollywood creatives and content. It will be the first time since 1979 that the event has no telecast and the first since the 2008 writers strike without a traditional ceremony. One way or another winners should begin to be announced after midday next Monday. Update: HFPA confirms there will be no livestream with winners to be announced on social media. Source: Variety, Deadline Tyler, TX (75702) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Demonstrators have burst into the Almaty administration building, and gunfire can be heard. Protesters are breaking into the city administration HQ through doors and smashed windows, an Interfax correspondent reported. The sounds that can now be heard indicate that they are smashing equipment inside the building. Policemen who tried to contain demonstrators storming the building are now trying to run away, but protesters are beating them up. Gunfire can be heard. Police patrol cars previously parked around the administration building have now left. Black smoke is billowing from the building's roof, the correspondent said. Rallies against a sharp rise in liquefied gas prices first started in Zhanaozen, a city in the Mangistau region in western Kazakhstan, on January 2, then escalating into mass protests with economic and political demands across the country. Clashes between protesters and the police occurred in Almaty on January 4. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree early on Wednesday morning, introducing a state of emergency and a curfew, from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., in Almaty and the Mangistau and Almaty region until January 19. The Kazakh government resigned in the early hours of Wednesday as well. By Emma Kraft, School of Engineering communications intern Exciting projects are in the works at the University of Dayton School of Engineering through S.U.R.E., our Summer Undergraduate Research Experience 2022. S.U.R.E. gives undergraduate engineering students an opportunity to engage in hands-on research with an engineering faculty member. Rising undergraduate sophomores through seniors are eligible for this ten-week summer research program. Past S.U.R.E. experiences and projects Nathan Brelage, mechanical engineering Nathan Brelage worked in Dr. Megan Reissmans lab during summer 2021. Their goal was to dive deeper into what pilots do to control their aircraft. Brelage said, The hope is that this data will allow us to better understand the motions and behaviors of pilots. Eventually, this could lead to improved training techniques or areas of new focus for pilot training. Skyler Miller, mechanical engineering Skyler Miller worked in Dr. Reissmans lab during the summer 2021, and they focused on the influence of sensory perturbations on gait speed with a variable speed. The goal of their research was characterizing human-machine interaction. Peter Fabe, mechanical engineering Peter Fabe followed a sustainability route and worked on two projects: one through The ETHOS Center and the other through the Hanley Sustainability Institute. His ETHOS project was through a partnership with MinVayu, a non-profit based out of Auroville, India. He says he spent the summer of 2019 seeking to use a sustainable slurry to print pottery and other architectural structures. Fabe expanded, My work for MinVayu consisted of developing an affordable, easy to use plastic washer that can be powered without electricity and assisting them remotely with machine design and troubleshooting for their printer. His second project with the Hanley Sustainability Institute followed a similar path, where he investigated the viability of plastic waste reclamation for sustainable reproduction in additive manufacturing. In regards to the future, Fabe says, My hope is to continue my research here at UD in graduate school and further my research and machine development for a low cost, open-source desktop 3D printer that will be able to print with locally processed 100% recycled thermoplastics. Megan Oleksik, civil engineering Megan Oleksik worked with Drs. Erick Vasquez, Kenya Crosson, and Garry Crosson for her research in the Summer of 2021. They investigated the synthesis of metal-organic framework hydrogel beads to engender a sustainable and efficient way to desalinate water. Vasquez and Kenya Crosson said this project targeted desalination processes through surface-modification techniques that could enhance 1) the evaporation processes and remove salts, or 2) the production of functionalized nanomembranes. Suheil Salih, engineering technology Suheil Salih says, The S.U.R.E. program fosters growth and an appreciation for research, and I would highly recommend it as a valuable experience. Salih worked with UD professors, Sharon Bommer and Hugh Salehi, as well as a student from the University of Pittsburgh. Together, they examined a literature review and researched nursing cognitive workload and the relation to hospital acquired infections. Their goal was to discover any missing gaps in the literature. Braeden Windham, mechanical engineering Braeden Windham worked in the Behavior of Advanced Materials and Structures (BAMS) lab with Dr. Robert Lowe during the summer of 2021. He said, Were characterizing the mechanics of digital lights processing (DLP) printed elastomeric materials. The goal of our research is to experimentally determine the mechanical properties of these materials to facilitate numerical simulations for virtually engineering next-gen soft robots. In his work, Windham designed custom fixtures for the universal testing machine, along with implementing a new resin on the commercial DLP printers at UDRI. Fellowship Application S.U.R.E. student fellowship application is now OPEN! Application deadline: January 31, 2022 Eligibility The program is open to those who will be students during the summer of 2022. Internal candidates must have completed their first year at UD or the Sinclair Academy. Visit the S.U.R.E. website for more information and for the application process. Face masks could avoid exam disruption (PA Media) Face masks in schools will help prevent disruption to childrens learning, London education bosses have said. Academy trust chief executives have welcomed the reintroduction of face coverings in secondary schools in England, which is set to continue until at least January 26. It comes as six school staff unions have issued a demand for urgent action to limit the spread of the virus and warned that exams would be put at risk without further measures. Many fear that high staff absences could worsen as the new term continues, causing significant disruption to childrens education. School leaders have said that while face masks in classrooms are far from ideal, they want to prevent teacher and pupil absences and school closures, which could jeopardise this years national exams, including GCSEs and A Levels. Sir Daniel Moynihan, who runs the Harris Federation which educates 36,000 children in and around London, said face coverings in schools are clearly not ideal but its the lesser of two evils. He told the Standard: It is a crisis in education, a lot of damage has been done. We are in a pandemic and anything we can do that will help keep children in school has got to be right. Secondary school students are now required to wear face coverings in class, unless exempt (PA Wire) If you think about the Year 13 that are due to do their exams this summer, if those exams are cancelled for any reason, then that year group will have done no public exams of any kind in secondary school, he said. There is a risk that exams will be cancelled, we are all praying they wont be, but schools have been advised to undertake mock exams to generate predicated grades with evidence. Secondary schools across the country are planning to do those in January, and if masks allow us to keep more children in school so we can get that evidence, in case exams are cancelled, then thats really important. He stressed that summer exams being cancelled is unlikely but said that if a lockdown or large number of schools closing for an extended period of time were to happen then that would make doing exams very difficult. Story continues Sir Daniel added: At the moment, the Government has rightly said it wants to keep schools open and masks are one of the measures its taking to help achieve that, so as long as schools can be kept open and the majority of children attend most of the time those exams will go ahead. All secondary school pupils must wear a face covering while in class as well as in communal areas unless exempt in a bid to help tackle the spread of Omicron. Teachers will not have to wear them under the new guidelines. Students do lateral flow tests as new term starts (Jeremy Selwyn) Students will also be expected to take a Covid test on-site and complete a test twice a week from home under the updated government advice. Sir Hamid Patel, chief executive of Star Academies which runs a network of primary and secondary schools in east London and across the UK, also welcomed the reintroduction of face coverings. Face coverings may not be ideal, but the alternative - closing schools - is more detrimental to young peoples wellbeing and education, Sir Hamid said. He said that everything must be done to ensure summer exams go ahead and that measures including face masks, regular testing, vaccination and adequate ventilation all play a vital part in protecting our most vulnerable and ensuring that we keep schools open. We are confident that exams will go ahead. Even if they do not, our priority is to deliver high quality learning so that our students are ready for the next stage in their learning, he continued. It comes as the four main teaching unions covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland - ASCL, NAHT, NEU and NASUWT - plus the GMB and Unison, issued a joint statement calling for urgent steps to help schools. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi (PA Wire) It said schools needed to avoid exam disruption for a third successive year, and remove uncertainty and additional workloads for students and teachers. Meanwhile, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi defended the move, saying that secondary pupils in England will wear masks in classrooms not for a day longer than necessary. The Department for Education has said that they are planning for exams to go ahead this year including the VTQs in January, and have put measures and support in place for students who have had disruption to their learning. Nicola Sturgeon is due to give a coronavirus update on Wednesday (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Archive) Nicola Sturgeon will update the Scottish Parliament on any possible change to the self-isolation period as opposition parties call for the 10-day rule to be adjusted. The First Minister will address Parliament virtually on Wednesday at 2pm to give an update on the Covid-19 situation as the Omicron variant sweeps across the country. Last week Ms Sturgeon said she hoped to give an update on any changes to the self-isolation period, which is currently 10 days. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has pressed the First Minister on the issue on four separate occasions in Parliament in recent weeks. Scotland has the strictest self-isolation rules anywhere in the United Kingdom Scottish Tory Leader Douglas Ross He has called for the 10-day isolation period to be cut to seven days if someone has tested negative twice. Mr Ross has also called for an end to household contacts having to isolate if they receive a negative PCR test. Deputy First Minister John Swinney said on Tuesday the Government is still actively considering the move. He added that the First Minister will provide further details on Wednesday on the changes which have been made by Wales and Northern Ireland in the past week. People who test positive for coronavirus in Wales can leave isolation after seven days if they return two negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven. Scotland has the strictest self-isolation rules anywhere in the United Kingdom, Mr Ross said. We understand the need for caution, but Nicola Sturgeons dithering and delaying is continuing to have a major impact on frontline services and the wider economy, due to the sheer numbers having to isolate. She must finally confirm in her latest update that the period of isolation will be cut to seven days for those who have tested negative twice. Deputy First Minister said the Government is still actively considering reducing the self-isolation period (Fraser Bremner/Daily Mail/PA) (PA Wire) Mr Rosss comments were echoed by Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie. Ms Baillie, who is also the partys health spokeswoman, said: The SNP must use this update to confirm whether they will change self-isolation requirements in line with the latest evidence, to stop staff absences piling yet more pressure on businesses and services this winter. Story continues She pushed for an increase in testing capacity after Scots faced trouble booking PCR tests during the festive period. Ms Baillie said: Scotlands testing system is showing signs of considerable strain, leaving people across the country facing impossible decisions. Before any new restrictions can be justified the Government must act to ensure our testing system is working properly and demonstrate the evidence that new rules would meet the unique challenges of Omicron. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotlands Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday, Mr Swinney said: Further details will be shared with Parliament in its virtual session on Wednesday. We are obviously looking at the clinical advice that is crucial in the handling of this because, as Ive indicated before in these discussions, we do not in any way, shape or form serve anybodys interest if we ignore the clinical dimension of this issue and the risk of transmissibility of allowing individuals to return to the workplace if theyre still carrying the virus. Kazakhstan's president has appealed to a Russian-led military alliance for help in quelling the mass protests gripping the Central Asian country, promising to use force to put down the unrest. President Kassym-Jopart Tokayev in a televised speech Wednesday said he had appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a security alliance of former Soviet countries dominated by Russia, to assist Kazakhstan with suppressing the protests which he claimed were being led by foreign terrorists. The alliance has agreed to send a joint force of "peace-keepers" to Kazakhstan to help restore order, according to Armenia's prime minister, which is part of the alliance. Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said the force would deploy to Kazakhstan for a "limited period," with the goal of "stabilising and normalising the situation in the country." The CSTO includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan's two neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The announcement raises the prospect that foreign and potentially Russian troops may now help violently put down the unprecedented protests that have spread across Kazakhstan. First triggered by anger over a hike in fuel prices, they have escalated into a unprecedented challenge to the authoritarian regime of Nursultan Nazarbayev, that has dominated the former Soviet country for three decades and is a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin" target="_blank">Vladimir Putin. PHOTO: Riot police officers hold their weapons ready as they try to stop demonstrators during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. (Vladimir Tretyakov/AP) Thousands of protesters on Wednesday stormed government buildings in several cities, including the largest city and former capital Almaty. There, protesters broke into the city administration office, set fire to other key buildings, and overran the airport. Security forces trying to violently disperse the crowds there and in several other cities appeared overwhelmed, with videos posted by local media showing protesters forcing military armored vehicles to flee and riding in police vehicles. Kazakhstan's interior ministry said at least eight police officers had been killed. Story continues Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the country and internet access for the country was shut down on Wednesday. MORE: Biden, Putin hold call amid heightened tensions over Ukraine Tokayev on Wednesday tried to calm the protests with concessions, reversing the fuel price rise, dismissing his cabinet and announcing he would take over from Nazarbayev as head of the national security council. But after the protests continued, late Wednesday Tokayev announced he was now seeking assistance from the Russian military alliance. PHOTO: Protesters attend a rally in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 4, 2022, after energy price hikes. (Abduaziz Madyarov/AFP via Getty Images) Tokayev claimed "international terrorist groups" had seized parts of Almaty, saying that should be considered an "act of aggression" and he was therefore invoking the CSTO's collective security guarantees. "Considering the given terrorist groups are in essence international -- they've undergone serious training abroad -- their attack on Kazakhstan can and must be considered as an act of aggression. In connection with that, as set out by the treaty on collective security, I today am appealing to the heads of state of the CSTO for help," Tokayev said in his speech to officials. The CSTO alliance also includes Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Tajikistan, but its driving force is Russia. The alliance's treaty guarantees assistance to members when their security or stability is threatened. Tokayev made the announcement after calls with Putin and Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko. After Tokayev spoke, authorities in Almaty said security forces were conducting a "counter-terrorist operation" in the city, warning residents to remain indoors. PHOTO: Demonstrators try to block a police bus during a protest in the center of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 4, 2022. (Vladimir Tretyakov/AP) Kazakhstan is a major energy exporter and its authoritarian government is an important ally for the Kremlin, which has a stable and productive relationship with Tokayev's government. It is the second time in a year and a half that a long-time former Soviet leader of one of Russia's key neighbors has faced a massive uprising after the failed protests in Belarus year. Before Tokayev's request for help on Wednesday, the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia believed the crisis could resolved internally and warned others against outside intervention. PHOTO: Protesters attend a rally in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 4, 2022, after energy price hikes. (Ruslan Pryanikov/AFP via Getty Images) Dissatisfaction has been growing in Kazakhstan in recent years over worsening living standards and rising prices, and resentment at corruption among its ruling elite. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened those economic problems. The protests began four days ago in the Western oil region of Mangystau, sparked by a sharp rise in the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) widely used in vehicles. But since Tuesday, unrest has spread across the country and broadened into a movement calling for an end to the regime built around Nazarbayev. MORE: Belarus jails husband of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for 18 years Kazakhstan has been dominated by Nazarbayev since it became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, thirty years ago. In 2019, the ailing 81-year-old handed the presidency to the younger Tokayev, but Nazarbayev retained power behind the scenes by moving to become chairman of Kazakhstan's national security council. Tokayev on Wednesday announced he was now heading the council, in an apparent concession. Tokayev did not mention Nazarbayev by name or refer to him, and it was unclear what it meant for Nazarbayev's future role in the country. "And so I, as head of state and from today chairman of the Security Council, am determined to act with maximum harshness," Tokayev said in the address broadcast on state news channels. "Whatever happens I will stay in the capital," he said. Russian-led alliance says it will send 'peacekeepers' to Kazakhstan over protests originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The sun rises over the city on a polluted morning in Beijing BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese capital Beijing met state air quality standards for the first time last year, officials said on Tuesday, following a concerted effort to cut coal consumption, reduce transportation emissions and relocate heavy industry. China declared war on pollution in 2014 after a series of hazardous smog build-ups in Beijing and elsewhere triggered widespread public anger. Average readings of small, hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5 reached 33 micrograms per cubic metre in Beijing over the whole of 2021, down 13% compared to a year earlier and meeting China's interim standard of 35 micrograms for the first time on record, officials said during a briefing on Tuesday. The annual average of 33 micrograms remains much higher than the recommended World Health Organization level of 5 micrograms. Yu Jianhua, deputy head of Beijing's environmental protection bureau, described the city's efforts over the last decade, as well as the speed of its improvements, as "unprecedented". "All regions and all departments worked together and organised the whole society to achieve comprehensive improvements in Beijing's air quality," he said. Beijing residents enjoyed nearly four months more of clear skies last year compared to 2013, he added. Beijing promised in 2015 that it would use its staging of the Winter Olympics in 2022 to help drive improvements in its environment, with Chinese President Xi Jinping vowing to host a "green" Games. As a measure of the progress made, in 2016 average PM2.5 readings stood at 71 micrograms, but frequently approached 500 micrograms during the winter months, when coal-dominated heating systems were switched on throughout the region. Beijing and the surrounding province of Hebei have since made efforts to switch to cleaner natural gas and also planted vast numbers of trees across the region. They have also imposed tough new fuel standards on cars and forced steel mills and other industrial facilities to install equipment aimed at controlling emissions. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom and David Stanway; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Wound not healing two years after U.S. killed Iran's Soleimani Xinhua) 08:42, January 05, 2022 Iranian people attend a gathering to mark top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani's second martyrdom anniversary in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2022. (Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua) TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- "I come here not because of my duty, but out of my heart," Iman Abniki, a young member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Monday when attending an event to mark the second anniversary of an American drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Abniki, who didn't wear his uniform, entered the venue at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Mosalla more than an hour earlier than 2:00 p.m., when the ceremony was scheduled to start. He silently sat down against a pillar and waited, with hands folded on his knees, and his head bowed. "Soleimani was truly kind to those working with him, who returned him with love and respect," he said. The U.S. assassination of him promoted the commander to become "a bigger hero," leading to greater solidarity among the soldiers, Abniki added. Like the young soldier, a large crowd as well as top Iranian officials and military figures, such as President Ebrahim Raisi, gathered to honor the martyred general and mourn his absence in Tehran. Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was assassinated along with his companions by the United States near Baghdad International Airport on Jan. 3, 2020, because he "helped mobilize grassroots movements against U.S. military presence in the West Asia region," as said by Iran's Tehran Times. On online maps, the streets leading to the Imam Khomeini Mosalla all featured a red color, indicative of the number of people who had gathered to honor Soleimani's memory. In the venue, many held the portraits of Soleimani and waved the Iranian flag. Children, dressed in mini military uniforms with red bandages on heads, were particularly eye-catching, especially when they waved taller-than-themselves flagpoles around. With the crowd chanting slogans such as "Soleimani is a hero," Raisi boarded the podium. In an address to mourners, the Iranian president said U.S. officials have to beware of Iran's revenge for Soleimani's assassination if those involved in and behind the "criminal act" are not prosecuted through a just mechanism. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a gathering to mark top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani's second martyrdom anniversary in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2022. (Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua) Raisi said former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must be "prosecuted for their criminal activity" through a fair mechanism and be punished. The Iranian president added Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has correctly said that "Martyr Soleimani" is more dangerous to the enemy than "General Soleimani," because the likes of Soleimani will rise in the future. Two days earlier, on the first day of this new year, Khamenei met with the family of Soleimani. He told them the reality of large crowds in Soleimani's burial ceremony shows that he "was and still is the most popular person in the nation." Two years ago, Khamenei wept while leading mourners in prayer for the funeral of the slain military commander. Now in 2022, the sorrow persists. When Khamenei recalled his experience in the hospital waiting for Soleimani's grandchildren to undergo surgery, he once had to pause for a while to calm his emotions. Even though he was wearing a mask, the sadness can be found in his eyes and through the tone of voice. "Today, thanks to the blessings from that invaluable, innocent blood, the United States has fled from Afghanistan," the top leader of Iran said, adding that the "resistance and anti-imperialist movement in the region is moving forward in a stronger, more dynamic, more hopeful way than two years ago." Also on Monday, in Soleimani's home city Kerman, southeastern Iran, which has also come to host the general's burial place, thousands of people marked the second anniversary of Soleimani's martyrdom by holding a march and chanting anti-America slogans. Over the past few days, various events featuring speeches, conferences and rallies have been held across Iran and even outside the country to commemorate the second martyrdom anniversary of Soleimani. Iranian people attend a gathering to mark top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani's second martyrdom anniversary in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Wencheng) During the huge ceremony on Monday in Tehran, the culmination of the commendations, the most emotional came when the crowd cried loudly with threnody. Grief echoed throughout the hall and surrounded the audience, including the Iranian general's daughter, Zeinab Soleimani. During a vigil at the Baghdad airport on Sunday night on the eve of the martyrdom anniversary, she renewed her pledge to avenge her father's assassination. "We vow to move closer, hand in hand and step by step, to the horizon of exacting 'harsh revenge' on enemies whose hands are stained with their blood," she stressed, adding that "the tears of sorrow would soon turn into joyous tears of victory when dear Iraq and all the countries in the region are purged of the filth of the presence of American invaders." (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming) Chief Justice John Roberts backed calls for the federal courts policymaking body to review rules that have led to a concentration of patent cases in a Waco court criticized by Silicon Valley heavyweights like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google. In his annual year-end report on the judiciary, Roberts said the Judicial Conference of the U.S. is going to review the issue of judicial assignment and venue for patent cases in federal trial courts. Roberts had asked the director of the Administrative Office, who serves as the secretary of the Judicial Conference, to present the issue after members of Congress from both parties complained that a quarter of all patent cases in the nation are concentrated before a single judge in Waco. Roberts said a study of the arcane but important matter of judicial administration is a good example of a matter that self-governing bodies of judges from the front lines are in the best position to study and solve and to work in partnership with Congress in the event change in the law is necessary. That the patent forum issue was one of just three agenda items in Roberts annual report the other two were financial disclosures and workplace harassment illustrates the pressure the judicial branch has come under to address the issue. Courts in Waco in the Western District of Texas and Marshall in the Eastern District have long been the bane of tech companies. In the first year that most courts around the country were closed because of the pandemic, juries in the two districts slapped companies like Apple and Intel Corp. with more than $3.7 billion in damages, including a $2.2 billion hit against Intel in Waco. Troll The Texas courts are particularly favored by patent-licensing firms, often called the pejorative troll, whose sole purpose is to collect royalties. The companies dont make products, nor in many cases are they the original inventors of the patented technology. The firms often file dozens or even hundreds of lawsuits against tech developers, manufacturers and retailers in hopes of a quick payoff. The much-criticized actions of those firms has enabled tech companies to lob the troll word at almost any patent owner that sues them, including universities, research firms and struggling business that argue theyve been overwhelmed by the power of Silicon Valley. The review by the Judicial Conference, which could issue its report by May 1, will focus on the Western District, where local rules allow litigants to select the particular courthouse where they want to file their cases. District Court Judge Alan Albright, a former patent litigator, is the only judge in Waco, and patent owners have flocked to his court since he was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018. Albright declined comment to the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the nations top patent court, has repeatedly rebuked Albright for refusing to let cases out of his court, in several instances ordering him to transfer suits to California where the tech companies are based. In response, Albright has moved some cases to Austin, also in the Western District, where the suits were then assigned to other judges. Two prosecution witnesses who tested positive for COVID-19 and a third who is quarantined after exposure to the virus forced the postponement of McLennan Countys first criminal trial of the new year. A 19th State District Court jury was selected Monday to hear the case against Fernando Rey Torres, a 36-year-old auto mechanic charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. However, Judge Thomas West informed jurors Tuesday morning he was postponing the start of testimony until Jan. 18 because at least three critical prosecution witnesses were not available this week to participate in the trial. In addition to those witnesses, a member of the alleged victims family also has been exposed to COVID-19 and would not be able to attend the trial, prosecutor Sydney Tuggle said. McLennan County judges, mindful of the surge in COVID-19 cases, remain anxious to try to get the countys stagnant criminal justice system back to a semblance of normality while following strict health-related protocols. As jury trials have resumed, county officials have limited the process to selecting only one or two juries per week to observe social distancing measures as much as possible. A defendant charged with injury to a child was set for trial in Wests court Monday. However, multiple tests indicated the defendant had a fever of 100 degrees or more and he was not allowed in the courthouse. Meanwhile, at the McLennan County Jail, Maj. Ricky Armstrong said Tuesday the number of new COVID-19 cases there appears to be mimicking the overall surging activity in the county. On Tuesday, there were 28 active cases among inmates and 20 among staff members, Armstrong said. Current totals remain lower than the peak total of 54 active cases among inmates when regular testing started in early 2020, he said. The Waco-McLennan County Public Health District reported 440 new COVID-19 cases among McLennan County residents Tuesday, with 2,008 active cases. The seven-day average positivity rate for tests was 31%. The health district reported 77 COVID-19 patients in local hospitals, up from 49 a week ago and 31 two weeks ago. One new COVID-19 death of a McLennan County resident was reported Tuesday, bringing the total to 749. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WATERLOO An Illinois man accused of shooting at a Waterloo home in December 2020 has pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges. Dillon David Grundman, 23, of Inverness, formerly of Cedar Falls, pleaded to one count of being a drug user in possession of a firearm Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Sentencing will be at a later date, and he remains in custody until then. Authorities were investigating gunfire that damaged a home at 618 Independence Ave. while people were inside Dec. 12, 2020. Police found that Grundman had sent a SnapChat picture of the back of the house, where the shots came from, shortly before the shooting. Officers stopped a vehicle he was traveling in and found a spent shell casing. The following day, police stopped a vehicle leaving a home where Grundman had been staying and found a 9 mm Honor Defense Guard pistol and a 9 mm Beretta APX handgun in the vehicle. They also found a 9 mm Ruger Security 9 handgun in the house where he was staying, according to court records. The Ruger had Grundmans DNA and was missing a serial number, records state. Investigators found photos of firearms and marijuana on Grundmans phone. Grundman faces up to 10 years in prison on the federal gun charge, and he is also awaiting trial in state court for intimidation with a weapon, assault and stalking for allegedly shooting at the Independence Avenue home. While out on bond, he allegedly missed a June 2021 court date and disappeared before surfacing in Wisconsin a month later. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Waterloo police arrested Amarri Ray Nash, 18, 3242 E. Shaulis Road, on Tuesday for one count of intimidation with a weapon. He also was arrested for criminal mischief after he allegedly damaged a squad car when he was detained. A Parkersburg woman told police she was driving in the 800 block of Broadway Street shortly before 8 p.m. Dec. 31 when a vehicle in front of her began slowing down and speeding up. A passenger in the other car told her to pull over while pointing a gun at her and then threw something at her window, breaking it, and threatened to shoot her. WATERLOO Waterloo Community Schools cash reserves ballooned this past year thanks to an infusion of federal dollars, a financial audit shows. The Board of Education recently received and placed on file the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30. The districts unassigned general fund balance grew by about $11.77 million to $26.95 million during 2020-21. The unassigned general fund balance represents money available for emergencies and is often considered a measure of financial stability. Based on 2021 spending levels, those funds equal just over two months, or 18.9%, of expenditures. Michael Coughlin, Waterloo Schools chief financial officer, told the board one of the big things that changed from the previous fiscal year was the amount of federal revenues received by the district. Three rounds of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic brought it $52.31 million in aid. The last two rounds responsible for the bulk of the money occurred during the 2020-21 fiscal year. Weve always been around $10 million-$12 million for federal funds (annually). But then when ESSER money kicked in, we saw a pretty big jump, he said. Our federal revenue because of ESSER went up over $12 million and the expenditures stayed relatively the same. Expenses were about $3 million higher ... than the year before, Coughlin explained. So thats why you see the revenue over the expenditures in 21. There was a difference of a positive $10 million, he said. General fund revenues were $152.58 million with expenditures of $142.31 million. On a different matter, the audit showed an increase in Waterloo Schools long-term liabilities of revenue bonds and premiums as well as compensated absences, going from $71.54 million to $92.15 million. That increase is almost entirely due to construction financing of the new Lowell Elementary School, which opened to students on Monday. In October 2020, the board approved issuing $22.6 million in 1% sales tax revenue bonds for the project. Those bonds will be repaid with proceeds from the districts portion of the statewide sales tax for schools. Regarding other debt obligations, the districts net pension liability grew from $60.36 million to $72.29 million. Liability for other post-employment benefits increased from $11.55 million to $12.53 million. School districts are required to have an audit conducted by a third party each year to ensure they fairly state their financial position. Auditors also point out potential violations of Iowa law or significant deficiencies in accounting procedures. BerganKDV of St. Cloud, Minn., completed the districts audit. The report found no instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported under government auditing standards. An unmodified opinion is the best opinion an auditor can issue, said Coughlin. So, it means that all of the reports and schedules and narrative and the financial statements are all presented fairly. That if anybody looks at it, studies it ... it is a fair representation of the financial condition of the district. Board member Sue Flynn, who is on the districts finance committee added, We were very happy with the way the audit turned out and the lack of findings and the collaboration of our staff in getting information to the auditors. Auditors did find minor concerns with certified enrollment data and fixed asset representations that have been corrected. We were off by two kids, Coughlin said, on enrollment. By state rules, the auditors have to put in any discrepancy, any correction on enrollment. So thats why you see it even when its a tiny little number out of almost 11,000 kids. The fixed asset issue related to demolition of the old Lowell school. The building and any additions are each considered a separate asset and Coughlin said the value of one was not taken off the books when torn down. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CEDAR FALLS Mayor Rob Green appointed Councilor Simon Harding mayor pro tempore Monday night for a second year in a row. Two councilors voiced slight objections. If Green is unable to perform certain duties as mayor, like chairing a City Council meeting, Harding, who began his first council term in 2020, will step into the role. Im honored, and I appreciate it, Harding, co-owner of a local musical instrument repair shop, said in a telephone interview. Ill do my best with the job. Whenever the mayor makes a decision involving you, its an honor. Having the authority to appoint the pro tempore without council input, Green stood firm on his choice and denied Councilor Daryl Kruses request he consider someone else at the first meeting of the year. Kruse and Councilor Susan deBuhr formalized their discontent with Greens selection by voting against the receiving and filing of the Dec. 28 memo communicating the appointment to council. The other five councilors, including newcomers Gil Schultz and Dustin Ganfield, voted for it. Kruse and deBuhr questioned the mayors decision, alleging Green previously said hed rotate which councilor served in the role. About a year ago, we had gotten an email from the mayor saying that you were going to be rotating this position, and Im curious why you chose not to rotate it, said deBuhr, the longest serving councilor who began her tenure in 2004. I do recall that you did say you were going to rotate the mayor pro tem position so that everybody could get experience and be well-rounded in our views of the city and running the city, Kruse added. Something to that effect. Green initially said he didnt recall the email. After acknowledging the councilors statements, he neither confirmed nor denied the email, and simply noted: I didnt do it. I apologize. I do feel very comfortable with Councilmember Harding as pro tem, however, so I would not look to change that, Green said. According to Harding, he had one opportunity last year, when Green wasnt available, to chair a work session and the committee of the whole and council meetings, on the same day. Also, he attended a Liberian Association induction ceremony, and Grow Cedar Valley Economic Diversity & Inclusion Conference on behalf of the mayor. In addition, the pro tem helps interview potential new members interested in serving on the citys commissions and boards, Harding said. The role requires a bit more time than you would think, he said. I view pro tem as a supporting role. Whatever the city needs, Ill do whatever it is to the best of my abilities. Another responsibility is being next in line to implement the citys Emergency Operations Plan, which he said he never had to take on, but is ready in case a situation, like a natural disaster, were to arise. Asked about the comments from Kruse and deBuhr, he said, I dont mind if they feel that way. I respect their feelings. While he couldnt say whether there was an email from the mayor about rotating who serves as pro tem. He said possibly there was one, but it didnt indicate a desire to have it happen every year. Frank Darrah, a former councilor who was ousted in the November election by Ganfield, served as the pro tem in 2020 the first year of Greens tenure as mayor. Green began his second two-year term as mayor Monday. He previously noted he was not interested in running for a third term. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CEDAR FALLS A majority of the City Council is willing to entertain the possibility of property acquisition for a new road addressing traffic and safety concerns surrounding Aldrich Elementary School. Councilor Dave Sires has identified the road as one of his two top priorities heading into 2022, and provided councilors Monday with a professionally drawn rendering of an extension of Arbors Drive, or what would be another direct access road, north of the school, that connects to Greenhill Road. The council agreed to hold a closed session, potentially at its Jan. 18 meeting, to discuss the real estate prospects. The reason that this is always on my mind is every morning when I get up, I look out my front window, and I can see Aldrich School, Sires said. Sires, who has two grandchildren attending the school, has brought up the issue on numerous occasions, and expressed confidence it will eventually be resolved. A traffic bottleneck to the south of the school is a result of the road a developer was not required to build, Sires said. It has led to well-documented bus and walker concerns along Erik Road since the school opened in 2018. The safety of these kids is my top issue besides having a separate fire department, said Sires, who ran for mayor but lost to incumbent Rob Green in November, in a later interview. If one child dies because of this road not being constructed, well, I couldnt even fathom how bad that would be. Sires said the rendering, along with cost estimates, were produced by friends who work at engineering and street paving companies and have decades of experience related to road construction. He declined to name the companies. Staff werent directed to do anything specific at the Monday meeting. However, City Administrator Ron Gaines, in a telephone interview, acknowledged three of four different solutions have been considered by his staff, and negotiations are ongoing between attorneys of the city and property owners. I understand the concerns with traffic on Erik Road, and feel some connection will alleviate some of them, said Gaines. Limited by Iowa code in regards to what can be publicly disclosed when talking about potential real estate transactions, Gaines had no further comment about the possible solutions, and whether one of them was similar to what Sires has pitched. Cedar Falls mayor appoints Harding as pro tem for second year in a row Councilors Susan deBuhr and Daryl Kruse questioned the decision, alleging Green previously said hed "rotate" who served in the role. At the Monday meeting, Sires said the construction of a 43 foot wide road with a curb, gutter and storm sewer is estimated to cost $1.5 million. That figure doesnt include the cost to acquire the easement. He hopes the cost will come down if the private owner of the land is willing to cover the cost of the curb, gutter and storm sewer in light of the vacant area around the proposed road being capable of supporting development in the future. All in all, he said, it wouldnt cost a tremendous amount of money. Now is the time to get this done, said Sires. We can get it done at a cheaper rate, since no one is in that area, and truly the (citys proposed) alternatives dont solve the problem because traffic still ends up on Erik Road. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DES MOINES With Iowas workforce still lagging behind the pre-pandemic level, lawmakers feel compelled to take action when they return next week to the Capitol for the 2022 legislative session but just how theyll do that is unknown. Legislative leaders acknowledged the need for more workers, an issue not unique to Iowa. They also acknowledged ways to address it: job training, boosting access to affordable housing and child care, cutting taxes or coaxing Iowans off unemployment and food assistance programs. But details were scarce in interviews with the governor and legislative leaders. Any plans, apparently, will have to wait for the legislative session. I dont go anywhere, and the members of the (Iowa House Republican) caucus dont go anywhere, where that isnt probably the No. 1 topic of conversation - Republican, Democrat, independent - all across the state, said Pat Grassley, the Republican House speaker from New Hartford. Ive said any idea that anyone has needs to be looked at, Grassley said. That doesnt mean theyre all going to happen. That doesnt mean theyre all good ideas. But we have to be putting ideas on the table. In January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there were 1.68 million Iowans in the workforce, and the share of Iowans working was 70%, according to state workforce data. In November 2021, the last month for which data is available, there were 85,600 fewer Iowans in the workforce, and the share of Iowans working was 66.8%. It is a No. 1 issue that we hear when we travel the state, when we talk to Iowans, and we certainly want to do whatever we can from a legislative perspective to help that, said Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny. Gov. Kim Reynolds said she plans to introduce what she called a comprehensive bill to address the states workforce. That is all business and industry talked to me about when traveling the state, and in communities, I dont care what size, small, medium or large, Reynolds said. Workforce is by far their biggest issue. Reynolds announced her pending proposal Tuesday during a session forum hosted by the Iowa Capitol Press Association. But she will not offer details until next Tuesdays annual Condition of the State address. Reynolds did say her plan will involve working with refugee communities; helping underrepresented Iowans get job skills; supporting adult education; addressing access to affordable child care, housing and broadband internet; and making further changes to the states unemployment system. Reynolds and the state workforce development department already have implemented changes to the unemployment system. Iowans receiving jobless benefits must now conduct more work searches and work with a case manager. Whitver said one way Senate Republicans will attempt to address a shortage is by getting Iowans off government assistance. Republicans say the changes will help employers find workers. But critics contend changes to those programs could push out people who need that assistance to survive. Thats one thing that weve been big on for five years now, but its even more appropriate now, or more needed now with the lack of workers in almost every field, Whitver said. Jennifer Konfrst, the Democratic House minority leader from Windsor Heights, said lawmakers should provide more funding for child care and affordable housing. Konfrst criticized Republicans for pursuing a conservative agenda over the past five years that she says makes Iowa appear unwelcoming to people from other states. Workforce isnt something that gets fixed by one magic bullet solution. It gets fixed by making Iowa a place people want to move and people want to work, Konfrst said. Its not just one thing. And over the years, especially recently, the Legislature has introduced bills that make Iowa an unwelcoming place. Zach Wahls, the Democratic Senate minority leader from Coralville, also highlighted housing issues - including at mobile home parks where rent has increased dramatically in recent years - and child care. He said Senate Democrats will advocate for continued investment in job training programs. Were going to focus on career and technical education, apprenticeships, making sure that we are investing in the last-dollar scholarship and community colleges, Wahls said. Those job preparation (programs), that bucket is a big one. The 2022 session of the Iowa Legislature is scheduled to begin Monday. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CEDAR FALLS A majority of the City Council is open to discussing the future of the public safety director position, despite at least three councilors previously voicing opposition to changing the Public Safety Officer model. Councilor Susan deBuhr, one of those past protesters, was the lone vote against a motion Monday to hold a future work session on the topic. It was made by Councilor Simon Harding and passed 6-1. At the first council meeting of the year, the dais had a new look. New councilors Gil Schultz and Dustin Ganfield took their seats for the first time, replacing Mark Miller and Frank Darrah, respectively. No public swearing-in ceremony was held. Cedar Falls is possibly the only big Iowa city not to hold a public swearing-in ceremony Some family was in attendance at the swearing-in of the newly elected officials, but the event came without public notice or any pomp and circumstance. Hardings motion included a discussion on possible ways to gain data in order to evaluate the current public safety model. It is a tough subject, I realize that, said Harding, but Im not up here saying, Burn it (the PSO model) to the ground. I just said lets talk about the future of that position, and lets talk about ways to gather data, look at it, and we go from there. Thats where the work session starts, Harding said. Mayor Rob Green said the work session should take place sooner rather than later within the next month or so because of the issues with the public safety director position and needing to have some clarity before Public Safety Director Jeff Olson retires March 11. Administrator Rob Gaines told councilors hed wait for direction from them before moving forward with identifying a possible replacement for Olson. According to Gaines, the hiring process for the director position involves advertising for and subsequently interviewing candidates. Along with himself, Gaines said the mayor, mayor pro tem, administration committee chair, and other department heads would be involved in making the personnel recommendation to council. Right now, with the way the public safety program is and the controversy thats been publicly displayed, I dont want to actually start advertising right now if the councils going to discuss it and discuss the future of it, because I dont believe that we would get qualified applicants, said Gaines. DeBuhr objected to holding a work session before a July update by the Public Safety Department to the council that supposedly would include any recommended changes by the Public Safety Department. Harding disputed her point because Olsons retirement makes the issue time sensitive. Councilors current, future and outgoing met in December with staff to discuss goals for the upcoming fiscal year. When it came to the PSO model and whether to open it up for possible changes, the unofficial votes cast by those who would serve on council in 2022 were split 3-3. The seventh vote, Councilor Dave Sires, who lost his bid for mayor and campaigned on separating the department into separate fire and police divisions, was absent due to illness. Im all about conversation, said Councilor Kelly Dunn, who previously opposed considering change, at the Monday meeting. This issue obviously doesnt seem to be going anywhere, and many have since told me theyre tired of this issue tearing our city apart, so lets just dive into it. In addition to deBuhr and Dunn, Daryl Kruse was the third vote against change in December. One reason cited by the trio that evening was the departments experts are continually monitoring the PSO model and would recommend any changes if they felt they were needed. Just because we want to open it up doesnt mean we dont support the public safety officers. I dont feel unsafe, and I appreciate them. I just want to make sure that we continue looking at things, said Harding at the time. Now-former councilors Mark Miller and Frank Darrah, who both were present at the goal setting sessions, backed the PSO model. We dont have any proof that the people arent safe, Darrah said. Ill tell you if I was one of these PSOs, I dont know if Id want to go to work when they think half the community doesnt trust them. I know thats not the case, but thats the rhetoric thats out there, he added. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WATERLOO UnityPoint Health, in partnership with Black Hawk County Public Health, now will travel to homes in Black Hawk County to administer COVID-19 vaccines. To schedule an appointment, call (319) 226-2600. Available times may vary. The vaccine has been approved for anyone age five and older with booster doses approved for anyone age 16 and older who completed the first series of doses more than six months ago. Between May and August, a mobile vaccination vehicle was deployed and administered 625 doses at homes and businesses. UnityPoint Health continues to encourage everyone who is eligible to get the vaccine. For more information, visit unitypoint.org and click the COVID-19 Vaccine dark blue button on the homepage. Although significant progress continues in the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, its important to practice COVID-19 safety measures for the foreseeable future, UnityPoint officials say. Even after a person is vaccinated, they should continue to stay home when sick and wear a mask and social distance when near others, they said. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Extreme climate events led the news in 2021. Among the rarest events, an unprecedented heat wave in the Northwest that busted all records. Portland was scorched by an average high temperature of 112 degrees Farenheit from June 26-28, when normal high temperatures are in the 70s. Seattle, Washington, set an all-time heat record of 104 F on June 27. The next day the record was obliterated by a high temperature of 108 F. Prior to that Seattle had recorded only 3 days with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in more than a century. In 2021, climate records were not simply broken, they were shattered. Canada couldnt escape the heat either. Lytton, British Columbia, broke the all-time high temperature record for the entire country of Canada on June 29 at 121 F. Imagine, fracturing the high temperature record for the entire country by 8 degrees Fahrenheit! Iowas highest statewide temperature dates back to July 14, 1936, at 108.8 F. Thus, Lytton, B.C., was more than 12 degrees hotter than Iowa ever has experienced in recorded history, even though Lytton is more than 500 miles further north. Climate experts determined that this heat wave was virtually impossible without man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Broken records were not limited to heat waves in 2021. On December 10-11, 2021, six states in the U.S. experienced a family of tornadoes that was by far the worst ever recorded so late in the year. Hardest-hit was Kentucky, which experienced an EF-4 long-track tornado traveling over 165 miles with gusts of wind up to 190 mph. Mayfield, Kentucky, was destroyed. In all, more than 80 people died. Later that week, Iowa was not spared when a rare derecho swept through the state Dec. 15. The second derecho in Iowa in 16 months and the first-ever derecho in December anywhere in the U.S., it spawned 92 tornadoes, including 43 in Iowa, the most twisters in a single day in the states historical record. Who analyzes the trends of climate change? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its sixth report (AR6) on the physical science basis for climate change. Each report since 1990 has become more sobering (and certain) that these extreme climate events are a result of human-induced warming. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the report a code red for humanity. Authors stated with high confidence, Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones has strengthened since the last report, 2013. Multiple lines of evidence document that Earths climate is changing beyond the realm in which human civilization developed over the past 10,000 years. Just decades remain to mitigate and/or adapt to its effects. In December, diplomats from 197 countries including 120 heads of state met in Glasgow, Scotland, for the UNs 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26). They agreed to transition to a low-carbon economy, but progress fell short of ensuring the goals: a 45% decline in human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions in 2050, which would limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 F). Unfortunately, we are not on a path towards meeting those goals. While the average level of planetary warming is currently 1.1 C (2.0 F), we are following a scenario towards 2.7 C (4.9 F) in coming decades, more than twice what we have experienced so far. Indeed, the stakes are very high. We still have time to stabilize our climate, but we must act soon. Climate science should be a part of every college curriculum each student should be knowledgeable of how it will affect their world for decades to come. Jerry Schnoor is professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The party of FDR, Harry S. Truman, JFK, et al., continues its drift toward the tenets of communism, whose doctrine is founded on the principles of the so-called dialectic materialism taught by Karl Marx. This doctrine proclaims the existence of only one universal reality formed by blind and hidden forces, which through natural evolution is transformed into plants, animals and men. By the same token they claim human society is nothing but an appearance or form of matter which gradually evolves and, through an inexorable need and a perpetual conflict of forces, tends to a final synthesis: a classless society. This system has no place for the very idea of God; there is no difference at all between spirit and matter, soul and body; the soul does not survive after death, nor is there any life after this one. The communists, insisting on dialectic materialism, maintain that men are able to hasten the conflict that will lead to the final synthesis. This is why they strive to promote class struggle by exacerbating antagonisms among social classes. Roger Smith, Waterloo Revere life Gregory Hoekstra's recent letter (Dec. 26) to the editor compels refutation. Hoekstra states: "Abortion is about the birds and the bees." The phrase "birds and bees" suggests a creative act. Abortion, by definition, is destructive. Hoekstra acknowledges the humanity of an unborn child while simultaneously defending abortion. He culminates this dichotomy with the rhetorical statement: "I must be a defender of killing a human being." Despite Hoekstra's generalizations, there are women for whom having an abortion is as inconsequential as discarding the day's garbage. And there are men traumatized to learn that a partner chose abortion rather than carrying the child to term. I passionately oppose legislation legalizing abortion; however, my opposition is not, as Hoekstra implies, grounded in a demonization of women who've chosen abortion. I oppose the legalization solely because I revere life. Marcia Bauer, Waterloo Fight the coup Jan. 6th is the anniversary of the worst domestic terrorism attack against the United States of America. One year later Donald Trump still lies about the election he lost by 74 electoral and 7 million popular votes. He still hasnt been jailed for the Trump riot and failed coup attempt. After a year of investigations, and arrests of more than 700 thugs, terrorists, and traitors, very few in the GOP have the courage to stand up for the Constitution and against an attempt to replace democracy with dictatorship. What Trump attempted and failed at succeeded in 1930s Europe when fascists and Nazis seized power. These fine folks later murdered millions. We now know while the stormtrumpers attacked the Capitol, repeated attempts were made by those close to Trump for him to go on television and call off his attack, yet he he did nothing for hours. The lives of every federally elected official, including Vice President Mike Pence, were put into jeopardy. Trump only cares about himself and power and will lie, cheat, and steal to get it. He should be arrested for sedition and obstruction, or exiled to Russia. People like him should be kept as far from power as possible. Russell Broadway, Waterloo Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Kollywood actor, Karthi secured a huge hit in Telugu with Naa Peru Siva in 2010. The film is a dubbed version of Naan Mahan Alla produced by KE Gnanavel Raja under the banner Studio Green. Now, the makers have planned to release the actors Tamil hit movie, Madras, released back in 2014, in Telugu. The producers have titled the Telugu dubbed version as Naa Peru Siva 2. Studio Green is planning to release the movie in January 2022. Directed by Pa Ranjith, the movie has Catherine Tresa and Kalaiyarasan in prominent roles. Santhosh Narayanan has scored the music for this movie. Articles that might interest you: Weather Alert ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...West winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph expected. Locally stronger gusts in wind prone locations. Sierra ridge wind gusts near 100 mph. Waves 2 to 4 feet on Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. * WHERE...Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Greater Reno-Carson City- Minden Area and Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake. * WHEN...From 11 AM this morning to 8 PM PDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Choppy conditions for Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake with waves 2 to 4 feet expected. Travel restrictions for high profile vehicles are possible. Check with CalTrans and NDOT for the latest on road conditions. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Now is the time to secure loose outdoor items such as patio furniture, holiday decorations, and trash cans before winds increase which could blow these items away. The best thing to do is prepare ahead of time by making sure you have extra food and water on hand, flashlights with spare batteries and/or candles in the event of a power outage. && Law enforcement and federal authorities in the Washington area are stepping up security efforts in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Vango Response to ZAG Opinion on WA Court Decision Sydney, Jan 5, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vango Mining Limited ( ASX:VAN ) refers to the announcement made on 4 January 2022 by Zuleika Gold Limited ( ASX:ZAG ) titled "Correction to VAN announcement re WA Supreme Court Action".Vango stands by its market announcement of 17 December 2021 reproduced below:"WA Court's Decision on Billabong Gold Matter ReceivedVango Mining Limited ( ASX:VAN ) ("Vango" or "Company") wishes to advise the market of what is, for Vango, a very pleasing outcome from the proceedings brought before His Honour Justice Martin by Superior Gold (through its subsidiary, Billabong Gold Pty Ltd) in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.On 14 December 2021 Justice Martin handed down his decision which provided for Billabong Gold to be offered, in essence, the Binding Term Sheet that had previously been offered to Billabong Gold by the Company. This result means that, in effect, Billabong Gold has spent the last 2 years of time and money pursuing what had already been offered to them.All other claims made by Billabong Gold were unsuccessful, including its claim to an agreement which would have enabled them to obtain forty percent of Vango's tenements.His Honour also noted Zuleika Gold's claims against Vango and, having noted his comments, Vango looks forward to meeting Zuleika in court as soon as possible in 2022.The above result allows Vango to confidently move on with business."The Company's shareholders should consider the context of Justice Martin's FULL JUDGEMENT, which can be read at:under citation "BILLABONG GOLD PTY LTD -v- VANGO MINING LTD [No 2] [2021] WASC 459".About Vango Mining Limited Vango Mining Limited (ASX:VAN) is a minerals exploration mining company with ambitions of becoming a high-grade WA gold miner by developing the 100% owned Marymia Gold Project (Marymia) in the mid-west region of Western Australia. The Project comprises 45 granted mining leases over 300km. It has an established high-grade resource of 1Moz @ 3g/t Au, underpinned by the Trident Deposit, whose resource is 410koz @ 8g/t Au, with immediate extensions open at depth/along strike. The Marymia Project has the potential to become one of Australia's largest high-grade producers. The Greenstone Belt in the Marymia region includes six major gold corridors, which remain largely un-tested beyond 100m depth - supported with an extensive drilling and geophysical database. Previous mining between 1992-2001, produced 580,000 ounces of gold almost entirely from open-pits. Vango is focused on growing its high-grade gold resource to support a proposed stand-alone gold mining and production operation at Marymia. The Project is located along strike, immediately to the north of Superior Gold's (CVE:SGI) Plutonic Gold Mine which has produced more than 5.5Moz of gold. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal Detectives have released the names of several people killed over the past month in separate incidents across Albuquerque. Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, identified the deceased as Michael Sanchez, 38; Emilio Gonzales, 28; Christopher Pino, 32; David Brown, 33; Casey Valdez, 31; Nicholas Nikki Turrietta, 31; and Rochelle Dedman, 36. Only the Dec. 9 killing of Sanchez has resulted in an arrest. Police say just before midnight Sanchez, a homeless man, was shot by Patrick Saavedra, 38, in Downtown Albuquerque during an altercation between Saavedra and security guards. Saavedra is currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center. On Dec. 20, officers found Gonzales fatally shot in the 200 block of 63rd NW, near Coors and Central. He later died at the hospital. On Dec. 23, police found Pino shot to death at the Bluewater Village apartment complex, just north of Central and Coors NW. Pinos mother, Jacklyn Pino, said her son was always there for everybody and always had a smile, displayed in every picture she had of him. This is like a different hurt for a mother, its much stronger, she said. The whole family is torn up. At the time of his death Christopher Pino, one of four siblings, was opening a business in Rio Rancho with his father to help rescue people who get stuck while four-wheeling. On Dec. 24, officers found Brown dead inside a vehicle in the 530 block of Ortiz SE, near Zuni and San Mateo. His mother, Dustie Brown, said she has been overtaken by grief ever since. Its kind of surreal, she said. He just loved everybody, big heart, he was just always trying to help people. Dustie Brown said her son was known as computer Dave for his skills designing websites. She said he was highly intelligent and handsome as all get-out. Its kind of surreal, she said. He just loved everybody, big heart, he was just always trying to help people. Dustie Brown said she hopes someone will come forward with information to help solve her sons homicide. On Dec. 30, police found Valdez fatally shot at a home in the 2500 block of Los Compadres NW, and detained the shooter, a woman. Police spokesman Gallegos said detectives have not filed charges against the woman and are working with the District Attorneys Office on the case. On Dec. 31, officers found Turrietta a transgender woman who went by Nikki inside a home near Mountain and Broadway NE after friends reported seeing her unconscious through the window. Police initially believed Turrietta died from an overdose but an autopsy found a gunshot wound under her hair. Then, on Sunday, officers found Dedmans body inside the apartment of an acquaintance at the Dorado Apartments, near Montgomery and Juan Tabo NE. Police say the acquaintance had called 911 and investigators observed details that made them think her death was a homicide. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal A former New Mexico sheriff serving a three-year prison term for helping a friend avoid arrest pleaded guilty to another criminal misdemeanor last week for protecting the same man in a separate incident. James Lujan, 70, stepped down as Rio Arriba County sheriff last month after a jury found him guilty of two felonies for helping conceal Phillip Chacon, a former Espanola city councilor, who was being sought by Espanola police. A 1st Judicial District Court jury found Lujan guilty Dec. 1 of felony charges of harboring a felon. The jury also convicted Lujan of intimidating a witness for ordering one of his deputies to withhold information from other officers about Chacons whereabouts. Judge Kathleen Ellenwood sentenced Lujan on Dec. 2 to three years in prison, saying elected officials must be held to a higher standard. On Wednesday, Dec. 29, Lujan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for interfering with Espanola police after they set up a perimeter around Chacons home in March 2020. Lujan pleaded guilty to one count of resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, according to court records. A plea agreement calls for Lujan to serve 364 days in prison, with the sentence to run concurrent to the three-year sentence he received last month, meaning he will not serve additional time in prison. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Espanola police allege that Lujan tried to interfere with a police investigation involving Chacon, according to a criminal complaint filed in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court. Police had set up a secure perimeter around Chacons residence on March 21, 2020, when Lujan arrived and demanded that police leave the scene, the complaint said. Lujan also entered the perimeter and refused to leave when ordered to by Espanolas interim police chief, it said. Lujan is the second Rio Arriba County sheriff convicted of two felony charges and sentenced to a term in prison in recent years. In 2015, former sheriff Tommy Rodella was sentenced to 10 years and one month for convictions on two federal counts related to a 2014 road rage incident, according to an indictment filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office in Albuquerque. Rodella remains in custody in a federal prison in Texas, according to federal prison records. LAS VEGAS A 57-year-old ex-felon who was found in Las Vegas with a severed head and body parts in his allegedly stolen vehicle has lost his bid to get out of jail while facing a murder charge. Eric Hollands public defender, David Westbrook, argued in court Tuesday that his client might have been a hapless car thief who just picked the wrong car and the prosecution had to prove that not only was there a body in the car but that he knew it was there and that he actually caused the death. Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia responded with a terse order keeping Holland behind bars at least until a preliminary hearing of more evidence in the case, scheduled for Jan. 27. Proof is evident and the presumption is great that Mr. Holland committed murder, the judge said. Holland was arrested Dec. 23 while driving a vehicle with the dismembered remains of a man later identified as Richard P. Miller, 65, of Las Vegas. The Clark County coroner said Miller died Dec. 23 from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the case a homicide. Police and prosecutors said Miller and Holland were acquainted, but have not described a motive for the killing. Westbrook said outside court his client intends to plead not guilty. In court he conceded that his client was caught while running from police, but challenged police searches of coolers found taped closed in the bed of the 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche that Holland was found driving. Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci showed photos to the judge of Millers head and questioned two police detectives who testified that along with three handguns, police found receipts for a power saw, construction-grade plastic bags and heavy-duty tape among Hollands possessions. Pesci said bullets from at least one of the guns were found in Millers head and body parts. Detective Tate Sanborn testified that home improvement store video also showed a person who looked like Holland buying a saw and other items. Westbrook asked Ricardo Auerbach, the police detective who found Millers head in a cooler, if he first obtained a warrant to search the Avalanche. Auerbach responded that he was conducting a standard inventory check before the vehicle was impounded and towed away as evidence. Auerbach said he opened the cooler after noticing a smell like decay or fish. Sanborn said he later obtained a warrant for a more thorough search. Pesci has said Holland had prior felony and federal criminal convictions dating to the 1980s in states including California, Texas and Nevada under names including Eric John Holland and Eric Allen Holland. Nevada prison records say Holland used names including John Carl Hall, Phil Whidden, Robert Daniel Lauer and Steven Tauber. Outside court, Westbrook told reporters that prosecutors had yet to show that Holland knew when fled from police in an allegedly stolen 2018 Toyota Tundra and then switched vehicles to the Avalanche that he had knowledge of what was in the Avalanche, and that he intentionally led police to the evidence. Why would he do that? the defense attorney asked. AT&T and Verizon have agreed to delay the launch of a new slice of 5G service by two weeks after airlines and the nations aviation regulator complained about potential interference with systems on board planes. President Joe Biden said the agreement reached Monday will help avoid further disrupting flights that bad weather and the surging coronavirus have already delayed and canceled by the thousands over the past several days. The telecom giants agreed to delay Wednesdays planned launch of the new C-Band strand of 5G, which promises faster speeds for customers, in order to implement changes around airports. They still dismiss concerns that it could negatively affect aviation equipment. The companies already postponed the C-Band rollout by a month when, over the weekend, they rejected a request by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to delay the launch again. Under Mondays agreement, the companies also agreed to reduce the power of their new networks near major airports for six months. That will give the FAA more time to study potential interference with aviation. This agreement ensures that there will be no disruptions to air operations over the next two weeks and puts us on track to substantially reduce disruptions to air operations when AT&T and Verizon launch 5G on January 19th, Biden said in a statement Tuesday. Heres a look at what happened and what comes next for wireless customers and air travelers. HOW IMPORTANT IS THE NEW SERVICE FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES? So far, 5G service from AT&T and Verizon has not been very different from existing 4G service for most customers. The new segment of radio frequencies called C-Band, a mid-brand spectrum, could mean faster signals over wide areas for many customers. T-Mobile already has huge swaths of mid-band spectrum. Over the past few years, wireless carriers have spent tens of billions of dollars to license spectrum from the government and roll out 5G service. However, their plan to use C-Band ran into fierce opposition from airlines and aviation groups. WHAT DID THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY SAY ABOUT THE NEW 5G SERVICE? U.S. airlines say wireless use of the C-Band segment of the spectrum could interfere with altimeters, radio devices that measures a planes height above the ground. The trade group Airlines for America said airlines could be forced to cancel or divert thousands of flights as a safety measure. WHOSE SIDE IS THE GOVERNMENT ON? Both. The Federal Communications Commission, which runs the auctions of radio spectrum, determined that C-Band could be used safely in the vicinity of air traffic. The FCC in 2020 set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use to resolve any safety concerns. But Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson, whose agency is responsible for aviation safety, saw a potential problem. On Friday, they asked AT&T and Verizon to hold off activating C-Band 5G near an undetermined number of priority airports while the FAA conducted further study. HOW DID AT&T AND VERIZON RESPOND? They dismissed the concerns. The wireless industry trade group CTIA notes that about 40 countries have deployed the C-Band strand of 5G without reports of harmful interference with aviation equipment. But AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg did offer to reduce the power of their 5G networks near airports, as France has done. The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France, Stankey and Vestberg said in a letter Sunday to Buttigieg and Dickson. If U.S. airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States. Although they took steps to soothe the federal officials, the telecoms are still bickering with airlines, which have canceled more than 10,000 U.S. flights since Christmas Eve because of bad weather and labor shortages caused by COVID-19. While the airline industry faces many challenges, 5G is not one of them, Vestberg said in a company memo Tuesday. HOW MANY PLANES DOES THIS AFFECT? Under the agreement, the FAA will conduct a survey to find out. The FAA will allow planes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate around high-power 5G. But planes with older altimeters will not be allowed to make landings under low-visibility conditions. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS? The two-week postponement will give the FAA and the companies time to implement the agreement. AT&T and Verizon will be allowed to launch C-Band service this month under already-granted FCC licenses. The airlines have until Friday to give the companies a list of up to 50 airports where they believe the power of C-Band service should be reduced through July 5. Until July, the telecoms will talk to the FAA and airlines about potential long-term measures regarding 5G service near airports. However, under terms of the agreement with the FAA, AT&T and Verizon will have sole power to decide if any changes in service will be made. We felt that it was the right thing to do for the flying public, which includes our customers and all of us, to give the FAA a little time to work out its issues with the aviation community and therefore avoid further inconveniencing passengers with additional flight delays, Vestberg said in his memo. Nicholas Calio, president of the airline trade group, was more muted in his comments about the agreement, although he thanked federal officials for reaching the deal with AT&T and Verizon. Safety is and always will be the top priority of U.S. airlines. We will continue to work with all stakeholders to help ensure that new 5G service can coexist with aviation safely, Calio said. The FAA issued a brief statement about the two-week delay, saying it looks forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexico would distribute free high-quality masks and COVID-19 test kits to the public under a $60 million plan prefiled ahead of the upcoming legislative session. The proposal would tap into the states allocation of federal funds to provide $10 million for KN95 or equivalent masks and $50 million for at-home tests. The push for better masks and increased testing comes as New Mexico prepares for a spike in cases fueled by the omicron variant. The states test positivity rate for the last seven days reached 19.8% on Tuesday, about 8 percentage points higher than a week ago. State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee, said its important for more New Mexicans to upgrade from cloth masks to N95 or KN95 masks offering more protection. He said his legislation would draw on unspent federal relief funds sent to New Mexico. This funding can help provide some of the most powerful tools we have to limit the spread of COVID, and thats high-quality masks, and convenient accessible tests, Steinborn said in a written statement. Lawmakers are set to begin a 30-day session Jan. 18 dedicated largely to budget and finance legislation. Steinborns proposal would call for the Department of Health to distribute masks and at-home test kits with $60 million in funding. The agency would also launch a statewide education campaign on the importance and proper usage of masks. Hospitalizations up The Department of Health on Tuesday reported 1,654 new COVID-19 cases. The state also announced 31 more COVID-19 deaths, 20 of them in Bernalillo County. Twenty-three of the fatalities happened in the last 30 days, and eight happened earlier but their death certificates werent processed until recently. The official statewide death toll is now 5,897 residents. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 also ticked upward. The state reported 493 patients hospitalized for the disease Tuesday, a 4% increase over Monday. New Mexico hasnt yet seen the explosive growth facing other states hit by the omicron surge. New Mexico, in fact, ranks in the lower half of states for recent COVID-19 cases per capita, according to federal data. New Mexico had 564 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days 14th lowest out of 50 states. Quicker boosters The states vaccination rate is relatively strong, ranking among the top 15 in some categories. About 76% of New Mexico adults have completed their initial vaccination series and about 36% have received a booster shot. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday shortened the booster timeline for people who received the Pfizer vaccine. Individuals who got their second Pfizer dose at least five months ago are now eligible for a booster shot, rather than having to wait six months. Recommendations for the other vaccines remain the same two months after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or six months after the Moderna one. People who arent fully vaccinated have made up a disproportionate share of New Mexicos infections. They comprised 70% of new cases, 84% of hospitalizations and 84% of deaths in the most recent four-week period with data available, according to a state epidemiology report released Dec. 27. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal The Albuquerque police officer who shot an armed 16-year-old suspect fleeing an apartment in early December was a rookie a little more than a month into on-the-job training. APD officials held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to release details, four lapel camera videos and a 911 call regarding the Dec. 2 shooting in Northwest Albuquerque. They said Jesus Lopez, carrying two guns, was struck in the torso region as he ran by the officers. Lopezs attorney told the Journal the bullet punctured his lungs and he has had several surgeries. Lopez remains hospitalized and has not been charged in connection with the incident. Police Chief Harold Medina said Lopez could have been considered a threat even though he did not actually point a gun at officers. The officer (who shot Lopez) talked about this person running, closing distance with the firearm, on an officer that was on the other side of them, he said. The Force Review Board will determine whether that was appropriate or not. People need to remember that an offender doesnt have to sit there and literally point the firearm at somebody they just need to present through their actions a danger that something is imminently going to happen. Officer Dillon Sather had graduated from the Albuquerque Police Department academy Oct. 22. The shooting was the first he was involved in, and he had been training with another officer at the time. Lopez was wanted on a bench warrant for failing to appear at a pretrial hearing in Sandoval County in mid-November. He had been charged in childrens court with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon against a household member. According to court documents, he touched or applied force against his mother with a kitchen knife. ShotSpotter detects gunfire Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock of the Criminal Investigations Division said officers first became aware of Lopez when they were called to the Villa Hermosa apartment complex at 2600 Americare NW, near Coors and Quail. The ShotSpotter gunshot detection system had alerted police to gunfire, and within minutes multiple callers had reported gunshots to 911 as well. When officers arrived they were told the gunfire had originated from a specific apartment and after checking police reports and other records, they determined Lopez was known to stay there and was wanted on a warrant. Hartsock said the apartment was rented by one of Lopezs family members. From 7:50 a.m. about the time they arrived, until 9:27 a.m. when the shooting occurred officers conducted research on this individual and on the individuals inside the apartment, Hartsock said. They waited for more resources to show up from the police department to make sure the area was safe and secured. And they near nonstop asked all the occupants of the apartment to please exit and surrender peacefully. Eventually two occupants came out, Hartsock said. He said officers could see Lopez through a window and told him he was wanted on a warrant and to surrender, but instead he retreated into the home. Then a young woman or teenage girl came out and talked to officers and at that point, Lopez ran from the apartment. Lapel camera video shows Lopez run by Sather and two other officers including another trainee and in the direction of another officer who was stationed behind a police SUV. At that point, Sather fired. Officer Sather stated in his interview that he felt Mr. Lopez was going to shoot the officer who was now behind the police vehicle as Mr. Lopez was running, or that he was going to shoot at the three officers stationed by the building which could strike them or possibly strike any of the occupants inside the apartment complex, Hartsock said. Video shows a bloodied Lopez yell out that he had been hit and asked to go to the hospital as Sather handcuffed him and checked him for injuries. While initially Lopez was kneeling and talking, he eventually appeared to lose consciousness. Hartsock showed a photo of two guns he said Lopez was armed with when he was shot and said that preliminary analysis showed that one of them is linked to several gun crimes in the city over the past several months. Medina said the history of the gun was very interesting and police would get into that more later since its part of an active investigation. Lopez faces juvenile detention Investigators are still trying to determine if one of the guns was what sparked the initial ShotSpotter call. After Lopez is released from the hospital he will be booked into a juvenile detention center on his warrant. Sather has returned to work in the same area command and is scheduled to complete his training in February. As per policy, the Internal Affairs Force Division will investigate the shooting to see if any policies were violated, and a multiagency task force made up of area law enforcement will investigate and turn over the case to the District Attorneys Office for possible prosecution. The shooting was the ninth by APD in 2021. Four were fatal. Ryan Villa, who is representing Lopez in the domestic violence case, said he has been told his clients lungs were severely damaged and he has had several surgeries, and had a chest tube put in. He said he has talked to Lopezs sister, since his mother primarily speaks Spanish. The family is very distraught, Villa said. The hardest part is not being able to talk to Jesus. Hes in custody because of the warrant and so he hasnt been able to talk to his mom or his sister, even on the phone. Villa was appointed as Lopezs attorney after the shooting and said that since then he has also been trying to help the family navigate what to do. The little bit that I know about the criminal case is his mom does want to work it out and help her son, Villa said. I havent questioned her about what happened, most of the discussions weve had has been to explain to her the legal process thats going on now next steps, how were going to get the information to investigate what happened in Albuquerque. Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway was idle Tuesday as staff worked to repair cables that were fouled Friday night, trapping 21 people on tram cars until Saturday afternoon. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) James "Augie" Eischen, left, director of maintenance for Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway, and General Manager Michael Donovan talk about cable repairs Tuesday after a mishap left people trapped in tram cars. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office pilots Fred Beers, left, and Larry Korean were part of the team that helped rescue 21 people trapped overnight Friday and into Saturday inside Sandia Peak tram cars. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Michael Donovan, General Manager of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway, used binoculars Tuesday to check the progress of repairs on the tram's cables. Icy weather caused the cables to tangle late Friday, stranding 21 people until Saturday afternoon. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 4 Next Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal Even in the best conditions, Benny Abruzzo admits that striding from one of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway towers onto the top of a tram car is a gulp step. But what if you have just climbed up that towers 80-foot ladder in slippery, frigid conditions in an effort to rescue 20 people who have been trapped in that car, dangling at an elevation of 8,750 feet, for hours. That tower was covered in six inches of ice, said Abruzzo, 63, owner of the tramway, the Sandia Peak Ski Area and Sandia Peaks TEN 3 restaurant. I had to break the ice free of the rungs, and the winds are blowing it into your face so you turn into this big frozen thing. The people trapped in the car were 19 employees of TEN 3 and a tram operator. They were descending on the tram late Friday night when icy weather caused the tram cables to tangle, stalling the tram cars. Also trapped was a single tramway employee on his way up to the peak in another car. Abruzzo and Paul Johnson, area manager of Sandia Peak Ski Area, started hiking up to the tramways No. 2 tower before dawn on Saturday. Abruzzo said they reached the tower some time between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Abruzzo made that two-foot step from the tower onto the roof of the car and opened the hatch on the cars roof. They were kind of surprised and very happy to see the boss open the hatch, Abruzzo said. I said, We got you. They all cheered and roared. There was laughter. Plans in place Larry Koren is undersheriff and a helicopter pilot with the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office. He was on his morning walk at 6 a.m. Saturday when he was notified about the people trapped on the tram cars. I got a ride back to my house and I was at the (helicopter) hangar at Double Eagle II Airport about 7 a.m., Koren, 54, said. For several years, BCSO has worked with the tramway to devise rescue tactics to deal with tram cars hung up on the tram cables. One such strategy involves moving people from the car onto a helicopter in flight. But Saturdays conditions would not allow that. There were high winds, low visibility and icing, Koren said. Those are real concerns for flying operations. Koren found a place to land the copter about 100 feet or so from the base of the No. 2 tower. The plan was now to lower the trapped passengers on a rope 65 feet to the ground. From there, they would walk to the copter, which would transport them to the tramway parking area at the base of the Sandias. Meanwhile, Abruzzos son, Ben, 43, and mountain guide John Kear had joined Benny Abruzzo and Johnson in the rescue effort. Benny Abruzzo said the people trapped in the car were cold, thirsty and hungry. We brought everything you can imagine food, water, blankets, jackets, hot tea, Benny Abruzzo said. They ate all the food, drank all the water. My son and I were the last out of car one and there was just one (protein) bar, a couple of waters and a down jacket left. He said the trapped passengers ranged in age from teenagers and those in their early 20s to people in their 50s. They were servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers and people in senior management. Secured in a harness, they stepped one by one out of the tram car door and were lowered to the ground by rescue workers. Some were waving, some were taking pictures, Benny Abruzzo said. Koren said the distance from the No. 2 tower to the copter was not far, but it was steep and slippery. Once those rescued from the first tram car arrived, he began flying them to the base parking lot in twos, threes and fours. They were in great spirits, Koren said. Ive never seen a happier group of people. It took about 45 minutes to get those 20 people off (the mountain). We got that done about 1 p.m. One to go But there was still the one person, the tramway employee, to get down. He was way up, mid-span between the towers, Koren said. He was in worse condition than the others because he did not have the benefit of people around him for warmth and morale. And then the weather turned sour again. We got socked in with that weather and had to put down and wait a bit, Koren said. The weather was crazy, Benny Abruzzo said. In all my years, I have never seen a storm with that kind of punch and have never seen that ice development. The Sandia cliff faces were plastered in ice. The time during which the weather kept the copter on the ground was actually needed to move the second car to the No. 2 tower. The cars could go backward, but not forward. We were moving it inches at a time, Benny Abruzzo said. We had to creep that car back and get him out of there. He had at least been equipped with warm clothes and a sleeping bag. It was OK, but not great. By 3:45 p.m., the tramway employee had been lowered from the second tram car and taken by helicopter to safety. This was an effort by a lot of search and rescue stakeholders, Koren said. We have had more urgent missions, people with broken legs, broken backs, heart attacks. But this was a mission that was important to accomplish. Benny Abruzzo is the son of the late Benjamin L. Ben Abruzzo, who was part of the three-man team that made the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon in 1978. Benny said Saturdays rescue was a job that called on skills he has developed throughout his life. I am an ice climber, a rock climber and a mountaineer, and all those skills came in handy, he said. It was difficult, but well within the things I have done before. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexicans who face eviction during the pandemic may have an alternative that provides landlords with another option when rent is not paid, the New Mexico Supreme Court said Tuesday in a court order. An Eviction Prevention and Diversion Program will start as a pilot program in the 9th Judicial District in Curry and Roosevelt counties on Feb. 1. It will be expanded statewide in March. It provides facilitators trained in eviction cases who can help resolve rental payment disputes. The goal is to negotiate a settlement acceptable to property owners and renters, allowing people to remain in their homes while fairly compensating the property owners through emergency rental assistance, Chief Justice Michael Vigil said in a statement. According to the statement, under the program, after a tenant gets a legal notice of an eviction petition they will also receive information on access to legal services, financial assistance for rent and utilities and rehousing for those in danger of losing their home or who already have. This initiative to help financially vulnerable New Mexicans was developed collaboratively with input from courts, state agencies, local governments, property owners, housing advocates and providers of legal services, Justice C. Shannon Bacon said in a news release. Judges will advise the tenant and landlord at the start of any proceeding about the program and the availability of state-administered federally funded emergency rental assistance. If parties agree to participate, the case will be put on hold for a minimum of 60 days while negotiations with a court-appointed settlement facilitator are underway with the possibility of an additional 30 days of negotiations. The case is dismissed if there is a settlement, or it proceeds with no settlement and a judge can issue an eviction order. If evicted, tenants have access to rehousing assistance through the program. Early in the pandemic in March 2020, the Supreme Court paused evictions for tenants who provided a judge with sufficient evidence of their inability to pay rent during the pandemic, the statement said. A stay on evictions for nonpayment of rent will be lifted in Curry and Roosevelt counties when the program begins there, under the order issued Tuesday. If landlords obtained a judgment during the time evictions were on hold, they must return to court and file a new form requesting a post-judgment eviction order to have the case move forward, the statement said. SANTA FE With the arrival of the new year, new laws are taking effect in New Mexico that aim to bolster access to health insurance and eliminate many court fines against juveniles that are viewed as counterproductive. One bill approved by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the states Democrat-led Legislature adds a 2.75% surtax on health insurance premiums the upfront payments made on behalf of an individual or family to keep insurance active starting Jan. 1, 2022. The current surtax is set at 1% of premiums. The tax increase will be used in large part to underwrite health-exchange insurance offerings for low- and moderate-income individuals, along with employees at small businesses, starting in 2023. Insurance Superintendent Russell Toal says the surtax will provide a crucial subsidy when Medicaid coverage under special federal pandemic provisions expires for an estimated 85,000 residents. Many patients who leave Medicaid are likely to seek out policies on the state insurance exchange. Separately, New Mexico is eliminating many fines and fees in the juvenile justice system that are viewed as potentially harmful and expensive to administer. Under the legislation from Democratic state Reps. Roger Montoya of Velarde and Gail Chasey of Albuquerque, the state will no longer collect a $10 application fee for assignment of a public defender in delinquency cases. The new law also eliminates fines for possession of marijuana by a minor and limits community service requirements to 48 hours for minors caught with pot. New Mexico in late June legalized nonmedical cannabis for adults 21 and older and authorized retail sales of recreational marijuana by April 1, 2022. Regarding the states new surtax, several legislators Republican and Democratic have worried a tax increase on policies would be passed on to businesses and consumers by health insurance companies. Insurance officials say nearly 90% of the tax increase will fall on managed care organizations that provide Medicaid insurance. State officials also hope to use a portion of the new tax proceeds to attract more federal matching funds for local Medicaid providers. Toal says it is still up to the Legislature in 2022 to approve spending that reduces costs at the state health insurance exchange and helps small businesses. Lawmakers convene Jan. 18 for a 30-day session that focuses primarily on budgetary matters. DENVER Maryland repealed its half-century-old Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights. Washington state reformed use-of-force policies and created a new agency to investigate when officers use deadly force. And California overcame objections from police unions to make sure officers fired in one jurisdiction couldnt be hired in another. Those are some of the far-reaching policing changes passed this year in response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But the first full year of state legislative sessions since his death sparked a summer of racial justice protests produced a far more mixed response in the rest of the country. A number of states implemented incremental reforms, such as banning chokeholds or tightening rules around use of body cameras, while several Republican-led states responded by granting police even greater authority and passing laws that cracked down on protesters. The state action on both sides of the debate came as Congress failed to implement policing reforms aimed at boosting officer accountability. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed the U.S. House without a single Republican vote and then collapsed in the evenly divided Senate. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents more than 356,000 law enforcement officers, said he thinks its still possible for Congress to pass police reform, but perhaps only after another deadly case captures the nations attention. Sadly, the only thing we know for sure, it will be a tragedy that will precipitate change, Pasco said. He said the trend of states passing their own policing measures depending on their politics is creating more divisions in an already fractured country. Partisan leanings were in play in Maryland, which 50 years ago became the first state to pass an officers bill of rights that provided job protections in the police disciplinary process, measures that eventually spread to about 20 other states. This year, it became the first to repeal those rights after lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly overrode the veto of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. They replaced the bill of rights with new procedures that give civilians a role in police discipline. Democratic lawmakers also united to pass other reforms over Hogans objections or without his signature, including expanding public access to police disciplinary records and creating a unit in the state attorney generals office to investigate police-involved deaths. Other states can use this legislation as a blueprint for creating meaningful police reform, said Rashawn Ray, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute. In Washington state, an ambitious series of reforms will ban police from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants, create a new state agency to investigate police use of deadly force and change the threshold for when officers can use force. Some law enforcement officials have said they are not clear about what theyre required to do, which has led to discrepancies about how to respond to certain situations. California created a statewide certification system for officers, in part to prevent police fired in one jurisdiction from getting a job somewhere else. The bill stalled in the legislature last year and struggled to gain support again this year in the face of opposition from police unions. It passed after it was amended to allow for the option of an officers license being suspended as a lesser punishment and to include other safeguards. This is not an anti-police bill. This is an accountability bill, said Democratic state Assemblywoman Akilah Weber, who carried the legislation in that chamber. Without any accountability, we lose the integrity of the badge, and the bond with the community is broken. California also required the state attorney generals office to investigate all fatal shootings by police of unarmed civilians, specified when officers have a duty to intervene to prevent or report excessive force, and increased the minimum age to become a police officer from 18 to 21. The state reform bills passed in 2021 are important because they help promote accountability for police, which can shift officer behavior as long as the changes are enforced, said Puneet Cheema, manager of the Justice in Public Safety Project at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. To try to prevent violent encounters with the police in the first place, she said governments need to limit what police are asked to do such as whether or not they should respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis or make certain traffic stops. That is a longer-term shift that will lead to the broadest changes in police violence and the role that police play in peoples lives, Cheema said. Even some states with divided governments were able to agree on certain reforms. In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, signed a partial ban on no-knock warrants approved by the Legislature, where Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities. The bill was passed after months of demonstrations over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville home during a botched police raid last year. It permits no-knock warrants if there is clear and convincing evidence that the crime being investigated would qualify a person, if convicted, as a violent offender. Many protesters and some Democratic lawmakers had sought a full ban, but the law does not prevent cities and towns from banning the warrants completely. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed a bill passed by the Republican-led legislature that creates a public database where anyone can check whether an officers certification has been suspended or revoked. It also creates another confidential database showing cases in which an officer kills or seriously injures someone that is only accessible to law enforcement agencies. In Louisiana, the Democratic governor and lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Legislature placed new restrictions on the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants, required detailed policies for body camera and dash camera use, boosted law enforcement agencies minority recruitment efforts and required anti-bias training. They also agreed to require suspension or revocation of a police officers state certification if the officer committed misconduct. Some states controlled fully by Republicans moved in the opposition direction and expanded the rights of police officers or cracked down on protesters. In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced measures at the start of this years legislative session to ban racial profiling by police and establish a system to track racial data for police stops. But lawmakers dropped those sections of her proposal and instead passed the Back the Blue Act, which Reynolds signed in June. The law makes it harder to sue and win monetary damages from police accused of misconduct, made rioting a felony and provides legal protection from lawsuits for the driver of a vehicle who might strike a protester. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that increased penalties for blocking roadways and granting immunity to drivers who kill or injure rioters. It was prompted by an incident in Tulsa last year in which the driver of a pickup truck drove through a crowd gathered on an interstate as part of a protest against Floyds killing. In Ohio, people attending a rally who are accused of violating an anti-riot law could be targeted with a provision normally used against terrorist activity under proposed GOP legislation. Florida also passed a law cracking down on violent protests that had been championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, but a federal judge has blocked it from taking effect, calling the law vague and overbroad. ___ Associated Press writers Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Don Thompson in Sacramento, California; and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Around three dozen Democrats were trapped in the House gallery on Jan. 6 after the rest of their colleagues had been evacuated, ducking beneath their seats as supporters of then-President Donald Trump laid siege. The insurrection interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Bidens victory. The Democrats were unable to leave as rioters surrounded the chamber and tried to beat down the doors. Capitol Police eventually evacuated the group unharmed, and Congress resumed the electoral count that evening. But many say the trauma of the experience lingers. In interviews with The Associated Press, 10 of the lawmakers who were there described their experiences in the House gallery and the aftermath: ___ Vermont Rep. Peter Welch, who was posting video updates to Twitter: A police officer came to the floor and told us the Capitol had been breached and to get out the gas masks. In my time in Congress, Ive never, ever heard anyone other than a member or a clerk speak (from the rostrum). To have a Capitol Police officer was stunning. It was so unusual that I began to do some recording of what was happening. And it was partly a way of recording it, partly a way of just giving myself something to do when I was pretty scared about what was going on, and whats going to happen here. And that video reflected the sobriety of the moment and just the uncertainty that all of us were facing. ___ Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol: I didnt quite know exactly the seriousness of it until I got a call from my wife, who said, Where are you? I said, Im in the Capitol. She said, Dont you know theyre breaking in? So you know, again, it doesnt register. I said, You cant break in. I mean, theres police and barricades and a lot of things out there. She said, But Im watching people climbing over the wall right now, breaking into the Capitol. And about that time, somebody said, Put on the gas mask.' ___ Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who was recovering from knee replacement surgery: It was terrifying. Somebody (in the gallery) was saying, Do you have a key? Does anybody have a key to the doors? Because we didnt know if the doors could be locked. And so I was focused on planning my escape if I had to get out. I had stretched out on the ground because I couldnt bend my knee. Im not even sure how I got from the chair to the ground I think I rolled and so I was stretched out, and I had my gas mask in one hand and my cane in the other hand. I wasnt sure I could get up off the floor, but I had a whole plan that I was going to whack an insurrectionist in the knee with the gas mask and then whack them in the other knee with the cane. Thats what I was concerned about is, you know, were we going to get out? Were we going to survive? Were they going to come after us? ___ Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan: So I started to kind of view this in a tactical way. You need to get everyone together, need to get in a defensive position. You dont want people spread out. You dont want people to be able to be pulled away from a mob you need to get in a tight group. So as we were moving to do that, I heard the gunshot (that killed Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter). And of course Ive heard a lot of gunshots in my time, and it was very clear what that was. And it came from the Speakers Lobby, which told me I didnt know whether it was an officer or a member of the mob, but I knew that things had severely escalated. It also told me that we were totally surrounded. ___ Florida Rep. Val Demings, former chief of the Orlando Police Department: My police career flashed through my mind because I came from a job where I went to work every day thinking I might not make it back home. I used to tidy up my apartment or my house before I went to work, thinking, OK, if Im killed today, then I dont want my co-workers coming into my house to get my gear and see it all. And so to be there in that moment and thinking really in the midst of complete chaos I reserved myself to the fact that, yeah, I could die today. But Im just like a cop. Im here doing the right thing, protecting and serving my nation by being here for this process, a peaceful transfer of power. ___ Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes: We probably didnt fully appreciate how violent it had gotten until the Capitol Police started moving furniture in front of the main door there. In this world of massive security apparatus, its going to be a 19th-century desk in front of a door that saves my life? Are you freaking kidding me? And, I mean, seriously I sat there thinking, oh, my God, you know, we spend billions and billions of dollars on satellites and guns and weapons and aircraft carriers and artificial intelligence. Its gonna be a freaking desk that saves my life? ___ California Rep. Norma Torres: I really thought, were not going to be evacuated. Were going to die here. And, you know, through that process I think a lot about it now, (Democrats) plus three majority They could at any point take any three members either hostage or kill any three members, and that would have prevented us from certifying the election. ___ New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster: Honestly, we thought we were being chased (as we were evacuating). And my son called right in the middle of it as were running through the tunnels, and he says, Mom! Mom! hes watching on television. And I said, Im alive, honey, I cant talk right now, were running for our lives. Ill call you right back. But Im gonna be OK.' ___ New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot: I remember the hallways were quiet (when we were evacuating). I was listening so carefully because I was so afraid that we would turn a corner and there would be the rioters carefully kind of looking around corners as were trying to egress the building. And listening so carefully to hear is there anybody ahead of us? Is this a safe hallway? Has this been secured? ___ Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley: Weve been told in our security briefings that the threats have quadrupled. They know who we are. Our addresses are public record. We all go to public events on a daily basis in the district. I think theres a sense that, if they want you, they can get you. But you have to do the work, right? We had to go back and vote that night because you cant let these people win. You cant be afraid. I dont want any of them to think Im afraid. Were going to continue to function. If they want to commit acts of terrorism, I just I cant let that deter us. WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. Navajo President Jonathan Nez has signed legislation to provide $557 million in hardship assistance to tribal members amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nez approved the bill late Tuesday to send $2,000 checks to adult tribal members and $600 for each child using federal virus relief funding. The Navajo Nation doesnt issue per capita payments to tribal members, which made the widespread financial assistance rare and highly anticipated. Nez urged tribal members to use the money responsibly, including to help the elderly, students and veterans or pay outstanding bills. Remember, were not out of this pandemic yet, Nez said Wednesday morning. So dont go and spend all this money. Put some aside, the pandemic is still here. Plan. Later Wednesday, Navajo Nation health officials reported 168 new confirmed COVID-19 cases along with two more deaths. The numbers pushed the totals to 41,971 cases and 1,592 deaths on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah since the pandemic began. The Navajo Nation Council voted to tap some of the $2.1 billion the tribe received from the American Rescue Plan Act that President Joe Biden signed last year. The money will be sent automatically to tribal members who applied a year ago for relief funds under a previous round of hardship assistance. An estimated 250,000 adults each will receive $2,000 payments, and the parents or guardians of 95,000 tribal members under the age of 18 will receive $600 for each child. Nez previously approved $300 checks for tribal residents age 60 and older who showed they needed extra assistance under separate legislation. The tribe was up against a deadline to spend the $16 million it had from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act approved by former President Donald Trump, or have it revert to the federal government. The Navajo Nation also used CARES Act funding to send the first round of hardship assistance payments. Navajos clamored to enroll or fix their records to apply for the funding, boosting the tribes rolls from about 306,000 members to nearly 400,000. That figure briefly put the Navajo Nation in the No. 1 spot for enrollment among all 574 federally recognized tribes before being topped again by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. The tribe paid out about $360 million to 312,000 applicants, according to the tribal controllers office said. Adults received up to $1,350 and children up to $450. Other tribes around the country also used federal relief funding to issue hardship payments to tribal members. Navajo leaders say they now will turn to funding infrastructure projects, including electricity, broadband, water lines and roads. Celebrity Arianna's father Derrick Delane says her daughter was asleep when their apartment in Houston was hit several times by gunfire on New Year's Day, but police didn't arrive until four hours later. Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - George Floyd's niece has become a victim of a senseless act of violence. Four-year-old Arianna Delane was injured after she was shot while sleeping at her home in Houston on New Year's Day. The young girl was shot in the torso and is currently in stable condition after an emergency surgery, police said. The bullet punctured her lung and liver and also broke three ribs, ABC 13 Houston reports. The shooting occurred just before 3 A.M. in the 3300 block of Yellowstone Boulevard when several shots fired from outside came into an apartment, the Houston Police Department said. Arianna was among two adults and two children who were inside. The police did not release the name of the girl, but her family has identified that she is George's niece. Arianna's father Derrick Delane recalled the incident, "My daughter jumped up and said, 'Daddy, I've been hit' and I was shocked until I seen the blood and I realized my 4-year-old daughter was really hit. She didn't know what was going on. She was asleep." Arianna's family told ABC13 they know the shooter. Derrick said he has reason to believe their home was targeted. "Why would my house get shot up? My daughter don't know. I can't explain that to her. As the father, you're supposed to protect the kids," the father said. Arianna's mother drove her to the hospital where she underwent surgery. Derrick said police didn't arrive until 7 A.M., more than four hours after the shooting. George Floyd's niece Arianna is on the mend after getting shot at home on New Year's Day. Responding to the delayed response, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a statement, "I am aware and have concerns regarding the delayed response time in this incident and have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation. I ask the city continue to pray for the child's full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible." Police said they do not know if one person or multiple people were firing the shots. Cops currently have no suspects and don't know a possible motive. Arianna's family often brought the girl to marches and rallies calling for justice for her late uncle. Her mother is George's sister, LaTonya. Instagram Celebrity The actor, who is known for his role in various Adam Sandler films, also calls the hostess 'garbage' in a video that sees him standing by a 'No Mask No Entry' sign outside of a Los Angeles Korean BBQ resto. Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - Peter Dante has a tantrum over a Los Angeles restaurant mask rules. The Gee Grenouille depicter in "Waterboy" angrily called waitress "c**t" after he was not allowed to enter the resto without his face mask on on Monday, January 3. In a video obtained by TMZ, the 53-year-old actor was seen standing by a "No Mask No Entry" sign outside of Quarters Korean BBQ in the city's Koreatown near other waiting diners, demanding to be let in. After an employee refused him service because he was not wearing a mask, he told her, "You know you're garbage, right?" "Go back to where the f**k you go back to school. Where's your boss?" Peter continued. The "50 First Dates" actor also said, "Yeah, where's your boss? Bring your boss over here right now." The manager then told Peter that she would not speak to him without a face covering. Shortly after, the "Big Daddy" actor, who dressed in a white shirt emblazoned with a cannabis leaf and what appeared to be pajama pants with pot leaf patterns, walked away from the restaurant. It's not the first time Peter, who is known for his role in various Adam Sandler films, has been called out for bad behavior. He was arrested last September for threatening to kill his neighbor after an argument over construction noise in the area. At the time, Peter also harmed his neighbor's "wife and their kids" because he was very upset over the loud construction noise that was coming from the neighbor's home. According to reports, police officers spoke to everyone involved and decided to arrest him for "making felony criminal threats." However, after posting bail, he was released from police custody. Back in 2013, Peter was thrown out of a Los Angeles hotel after allegedly making violent threats and using racial slurs. At the time, the "Grandma's Boy" actor was allegedly kicked out of the J.W. Marriott in Santa Monica after screaming at the staff members. The incident started after Peter demanded a new room key around 1 A.M. and was upset staff members didn't recognize him. A staff member tried to help him, but the actor apparently exploded and dropped slurs at the person. "You better tell this n***a to give me my f**king room key before I f**k him uphe clearly doesn't know who the f**k I am," Peter fumed. He continued, "N***a do you know who I am? I'm a black belt and you're a black person, I will f**k you up." He then reportedly continued spewing harsh remarks at a Latino parking valet employee, saying, "Hey Mexican, this is Santa Monica, do you know where you are? We don't need you." Facebook Music Judge Fernando Olguin dismisses the suit filed by Spencer Elden 'with leave to amend' and gives the man, who's featured on the 1991 album's cover when he was a baby, a chance to refile a new complaint. Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - Nirvana has scored a win in a child exploitation lawsuit for the nude baby photo on their "Nevermind" album cover. A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, the man who was featured on the album's cover when he was a baby, against the surviving members of the band, including Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic as well as Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love. Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed the case in California District Court on Monday, January 3 after lawyers for Spencer missed the deadline to file an opposition to the Nirvana estate's request to dismiss in December. At the time, the attorneys stated that Spencer had "spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed 'Nirvana Baby'." However, Judge Fernando's dismissal was made "with leave to amend." Therefore, although the lawsuit has been dismissed, Spencer has been given a second chance to refile a new complaint, one which makes good the "defects" alleged in the defendants' motion to dismiss, such as the allegation that the suit is time-barred. If Spencer misses the new deadline of January 13, the suit will be dismissed "without prejudice" and the matter will be considered closed. In Spencer's initial suit, he seeks $150,000 from each of the defendants or unspecified damages to be determined at trial. In addition, he requests "attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred" to be covered. "Spencer's true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day," the court documents read. "Neither Spencer nor his legal guardians ever signed a release authorizing the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him." Spencer went on to argue that the band "failed to take reasonable steps to protect him and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking." As a result, he "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages." Though Spencer recreated the image multiple times over the years and had the word "Nevermind" tattooed on his chest, in a 2016 interview with GQ Australia, he revealed that he had recently become unhappy about the "Nevermind" artwork. "It's f**ked up," he confessed. "I'm pissed off about it, to be honest." In response, lawyers for Nirvana stated that Spencer once appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying nude-colored onesie. The attorneys added that he had "used the connection to try to pick up women." The legal team said that the statute of limitations had expired and that Spencer's claims were too "absurd" to even consider. "A brief examination of the photograph, or Elden's own conduct (not to mention the photograph's presence in the homes of millions of Americans who, on Elden's theory, are guilty of felony possession of child pornography) makes that clear," the lawyers continued. Instagram Celebrity After Jennifer Hough accuses her of offering $500,000 to rescind her story, the 39-year-old Trinidadian femcee insists that she 'never offered her any money in return for a statement.' Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - Nicki Minaj continued to fire back at Kenneth Petty's sexual assault victim. Having been accused of trying to bribe Jennifer Hough in a harassment case, the "Anaconda" hitmaker denied the allegations. For the record, Jennifer filed her lawsuit against Nicki and Kenneth in August. She accused the married couple of intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment as well as witness intimidation. Jennifer also claimed that Nicki sent her lawyers to her home to pressure her into withdrawing her rape allegations with a $500,000 offer. Now, in her filing, the "Starships" femcee set the record straight. "During the call, I never asked her to change her story; I never offered her any money in return for a statement, and I did not threaten her with any type of harm if she chose not to provide a statement," the hip-hop star stated. "In fact, I emphatically told her that I did not want her to lie about anything and to tell the truth about what she had just revealed to me only if she was comfortable with doing so." Jennifer allegedly told Nicki that the rape allegations could have been a "misunderstanding." Thus, the Grammy nominee assumed that Jennifer was open to a financial payoff. Nicki quoted Jennifer as saying, "I'm not saying it didn't happen, but maybe it was just a misunderstanding." "I could not believe what I had just heard," Nicki explained in the filing. "I could not believe that it was so easy for this woman to imply that she may have exaggerated or lied after how much this man had suffered through as such a young boy." Nicki herself has shut down Jennifer's other claim suggesting that she and her husband were affiliated with the Makk Balla Brims gang based in Queens, New York. "I was quickly surrounded by my fans, particularly in this instance because my pink Rolls Royce was in the direct sightline of apartment buildings across the street from where I had stopped," she shared. "While my husband and I recognized a few friends and acquaintances from the neighborhood that night, including Rico Danna, an artist whom I intend to sign to my label, none of them belong to any gang," she continued. "Neither I, my husband, nor anyone I knew made any 'gang' signs that night." Instagram Celebrity The former star of '19 Kids and Counting' is spotted making a payment for the amount of $890 on My Fine Payment website ahead of her initial court appearance. Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - Jana Duggar has ended her child endangerment case. After being charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, the "19 Kids and Counting" alum reportedly has settled the legal issue out of court. According to My Fine Payment website, the sister of disgraced star Josh Duggar has made a payment for the amount of $890 under her own name. The former reality star, who turns 32 this month, was initially scheduled to be in court on January 10 after pleading not guilty to the misdemeanor on September 9. However, Fox News reported that the charge has been adjudicated, meaning she will no longer appear in court next week. My Fine Payment website lists a payment made by Jana Duggar for the amount of $890. Jana had been cited for the misdemeanor in September, days after Josh's porn conviction. She was released on $430 bail, according to the Arkansas court filing. Though she initially pleaded not guilty, the confirmation of an out-of-court settlement and the record of an $890 fine paid suggested that she might have changed her plea. Jana took to her Instagram Story last month to clear the air on the "accident," claiming that it occurred while she was babysitting. "I'm only sharing this because the media has been having a field day with it all," the former "Counting On" star wrote about the misdemeanor offense. "I prefer a more private life, but I know my last name means that everything I do is open to the public criticism and interest, especially during this time." "The raw facts: I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone. A passerby who saw the child called the police," Jana continued. She added that it resulted in "a written citation, as well as a follow-up with child welfare who concluded that it was an accident." Jana, who got upset at herself following the incident, further explained that the child was "unharmed." She said, "They recognized it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment. It all happened so quickly and was scary." Instagram Music The 'Save Your Tears' hitmaker, who collaborates with the likes of Lil Wayne and Tyler, the Creator for the upcoming projects, will hold an online listening session one day before he releases the album. Jan 5, 2022 AceShowbiz - The Weeknd continued to give fans special treats ahead of the release of his new album. Taking to social media, the Canadian crooner shared the cover art for "Dawn FM" in which he transformed into an old man. The 31-year-old crooner, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, let out the album cover on his Instagram account. In the photo, he was seen rocking gray hair and beard as he looked straight at the camera. Hours later, The Weeknd announced that he's having an exclusive listening session on Amazon Music's Twitch Channel. The listening party will take place on Thursday, January 6 at 9 P.M. PT. He simply captioned the announcement by writing, "together." The "Save Your Tears" hitmaker unveiled the release date of "Dawn FM" on Monday, January 3. He uploaded a trailer that teased "a new sonic universe from the mind of The Weeknd." The video also revealed the list of The Weeknd's collaborators, including Jim Carrey, Quincy Jones, Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, as well as Oneohtrix Point Never. Alongside the one-minute-long footage, he wrote, "new album : dawn FM // january 7th." Also promoting the forthcoming project was Jim. Quote-retweeting the musician's post, he raved, "I listened to Dawn FM with my good friend Abel @theweeknd last night. It was deep and elegant and it danced me around the room. I'm thrilled to play a part in his symphony." The "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" actor's praise didn't go unnoticed by the ex-boyfriend of Selena Gomez. Thanking the comedian, he wrote, "Thank you for being a part of this. It's kismet. Full circle." "Dawn FM" will follow The Weeknd's fourth album, "After Hours". Though he did not receive any nominations for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards with the set, The Weeknd managed to win the Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Album, the Juno Awards for Album of the Year and Contemporary R&B/Soul Recording of the Year with the album. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Zee Zest has been a leader on Television since its launch with more than 45% viewership share and is now gearing up to lead the digital space by launching its new offering called ZeeZest.com. The website with its unique and differentiated content, has led to 3 million+ users in its soft launch phase. ZeeZest.com is where one can UNLIMIT Life. It is a guide on lifestyle news and trends available on every screen, on every platform that leads discerning users to make informed choices. The channel brings highly popular and iconic global shows to India along with original shows like From Fit Fab Feast with Huma Qureshi to Indias 50 Best with Chef Ajay Chopra, Goan Gullies with Rocky and Mayur and Grand Trunk Rasoi. Within weeks of its launch Zee Zest has successfully created a niche and secured the no.1 position. With an aim to provide glocal content across core lifestyle genres thats not only informative but entertaining, the website will pivot content based on national and international pop-culture trends. Going beyond television, ZeeZest.com will offer insights across categories - Food, Travel, Health, Culture, Style & Beauty and Homes. Spread across multi-formats such as shows, recipes, articles, original videos, web stories, multilinguals; it aims at generating curiosity and making the aspirational lifestyle more accessible. While the most consumed content format remains videos, the millennial-friendly web platform will aim at catering to consumer needs through a variety of content with focus on upcoming digital-first IPs. Along with access to Zee Zest shows, the website will also host contests on an on-going basis to engage with users. Amit Nair, Business Head, Zee Zest said, Over the last few years we have seen a major growth in lifestyle content consumption with people wanting to express their individuality and seeking to live a higher quality life. ZeeZest.com is uniquely positioned to be that guide for the urban millennial and the youth to express themselves sharply whether its food/travel/homes and health. The strategy of having a strong TV+ digital presence helps to capture a sizable user base that spends on the diverse categories to always stay several notches ahead. The future sees multiple India Originals for TV, Digital first ideas and initiatives that will raise the bar for lifestyle content delivering immersive and engaging IPs with key focus on user and revenue growth. Curated by in-house and contributing authors, well researched and informative stories are the foundation for ZeeZest.com . The website features articles on leading Bollywood celebrities such as Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Aditi Rao Hydari, Dino Morea, Sonu Sood; and popular influencers such as Shenaz Treasury, Yohani, Tesher and Sejal Kumar. In the health and nutrition space, renowned faces such as Luke Coutinho have been roped in to share their expertise. With a varied talent roster of influencers across categories such as Sucheta Pal, Anunay Sood, Sonam Babani, Namrata Soni, Parth Bajaj, among others, the platform also offers Influencer marketing solutions to brands. Amit Shah, Chief Cluster Officer - West, North and Premium at Zee Zest quoted, With the phenomenal success garnered by Zee Zest within a span of just one year, we are now thrilled to launch the website that will house original and quality content across lifestyle categories. Digital will play an important role in our overall strategy and we will be a unique brand that will have both linear, digital and social presence and thereby be an attractive option for advertisers. With the ambitious goal of being the top 5 publishers in lifestyle the path is clearly chalked out for the next 3-5 years of bringing together content, community and commerce. FoxyMoron, the full-service creative and performance agency under the Zoo Media network has won the full-funnel digital performance media mandate for Schwarzkopf Professional. The business will be handled by the agencys Mumbai office. FoxyMoron will be handling the brands strategic content and design across all social media platforms as well as performance media. Schwarzkopf Professional is a part of the global Henkel Group. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Schwarzkopf Professional is a leading beauty brand and part of the global powerhouse, Henkel Beauty Care. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Schwarzkopf Professional holds multiple innovative and cutting edge products in the hair category, across coloration, care, Texture, and styling, and is one of the world's leading market players in professional hair and establishing Hair fashion trends. Prachi Bali, National Head Partnerships and Business Head, North, FoxyMoron (Zoo Media), said, The beauty category is one of FoxyMorons strongest fortes as weve delivered multiple integrated campaigns that have generated positive business impact over the last decade. We look forward to working with the Schwarzkopf Professional group and using our expertise to help them achieve their business objectives. iD Fresh Food, Indias one of the fastest growing and innovative fresh food start-ups, announced the closing of its INR 507cr Series D round of funding today. In one of the largest deals in the food start-up space, the round was led by NewQuest Capital Partner, Asias leading secondary private equity firm along with the existing investor, Premji Invest. iDs constantendeavour to create a fresh and healthy revolution in the fresh food space, coupled with its iconic and consumer friendly innovations, have made the company one of the most popular brands in the country and overseas. Testimony to iDs incredible growth story is Helion Ventures exit with a multi-bagger 10X return. Kotak Mahindra Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the company and Helion. The strategic fund raise reflects the brands ambition to further strengthen its market leadership in the fresh foods business, foster product innovation, build capacities and expand its presence across key markets in India, the UAE, and the US. As part of its global expansion plans, the company plans to extend its presence to Singapore, Malaysia and other markets in the near future. Founded by PC Musthafa, Abdul Naser and his brothers in 2005, iD had secured US$5.2 million in Series A funding from Helion Ventures in 2014 and US$25 million from Premji Invest in 2017. From humble beginnings, iD has grown to becoming one of Indias most loved food brands and has been recognized by its innovative yet simple solutions to problems faced by people in the kitchen. The company has witnessed unprecedented growth across all its categories and channels and is on track to achieve INR 500 crores in revenue (run-rate) for the current fiscal year, despite the pandemic and related challenges in the last two years. Last year, the company launched the worlds largest idli-dosa factory at Anekal in Karnataka with capex investment of close to INR 50 crore. Its fully automated Giant Kitchen produces over one lakh kg batter and three lakh parotas per day. Commenting on the fund raise, PC Musthafa, Co-founder and CEO, iD Fresh Food said, iD is a peoples brand, driven by high ethical standards. Values are vital to our growth. Im grateful to our loyal customers for their constant love and support. iD is what it is today because of them, and because of the strong commitment of our team to find solutions to common, everyday problems. The fund raise is yet another milestone in our journey but the ride has just begun. In the coming years, we will expand our presence across channels and geographies, strengthen our supply chain practices and introduce innovative products that will redefine the packaged fresh food space not just in India, but across the globe. Im pleased to have NewQuest Partners as our new investor on board, and thank Premji Invest for continuing to support iD in its journey. I believe that their confidence in us is testimony to iDs continued growth and commitment towards building a sustainable and healthy future for all. I also thank the team at Helion for their constant support all these years and believing in us during tough times, added PC. While there is a large opportunity set in the fresh food space, iD has a clear edge as a market leader with its deep understanding of consumer preferences and ability to innovate real-time and define industry benchmarks. Its undisputable leadership position is a testament to the quality of the founding team and the innovative and people-oriented business they have created. Were excited to be a part of their journey and a part of the consumer revolution that theyre driving, said Amit Gupta, Partner and Head of India and Southeast Asia, NewQuest Capital Partners. At a time when businesses across the globe are trying to navigate the economic recovery, iD is among the few companies that has stayed true to its purpose despite all odds. Over the years, iD has been consistently delivering strong revenue retention metrics against a robust corporate governance model. Our solid growth fundamentals and market dominance in flagship categories make iD an undisputed leader. Were well poised for an aggressive phase of growth with plans to launch an IPO in the next few years, creating a billion-dollar enterprise and solidifying our longstanding leadership position in the fresh food category. Were confident that we will continue to grow and provide immense value to our patrons and investors, said Jaipal Singal, Chief Financial Officer, iD Fresh Food. To unlock the billion-dollar opportunity in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space, iD has been pivoting and transforming its distribution model and investing heavily in fostering its online presence. iDs sales from ecommerce have grown by 300%reflecting the massive growth opportunity that D2C promises. To provide consumers with broader access to iDs products, iD has also partnered with BigBasket to launch a co-branded label, iD Fresho. The company intends to reach a million households in India with its D2C business and leverage its superior unit economics compared to all fresh food companies including the ones in the D2C space. It is well positioned tocontinue building on all its channels and platforms in creating a seamless and delightful experience for its customers globally, said Rahul Garg, Partner, Premji Invest. Talking about Helions exit, Rajiv Kataria said, We identified the potential of iD early on. We were very impressed with the team at ID. Were glad that we could create substantial value in our association with them. We wish them luck and are sure that they will continue to delight their customers with innovative products. Since its inception in 2005, iD has used common sense to be at the forefront of innovation to revolutionise the way customers consume fresh food at home. Currently, iD caters to over 45 cites, across 30,000 retail stores in India, UAE and US. The Bengaluru-based brands extensive natural and healthy product range includes Idly and Dosa Batter, Ragi Idly and Dosa Batter, Rice Rava Idly Batter, Malabar Parota, Wheat Parota, Wheat Chapati, Soft & Creamy Paneer, Creamy Thick Curd, Squeeze and Fry Vada Batter, Instant Filter Coffee Liquid, Sandwich White Bread and Wheat Sliced Bread. Currently, the company has manufacturing plants in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and UAE. iDs manufacturing plant in the US is in the pipeline. The pandemic has brought into focus the need for personal hygiene for all. Fighting the pandemic from the front line, ITC Savlon has led with innovation and a consumer centric focus to deliver superior hygiene solutions to address evolving consumer needs. The brand has roped in youth icon, actor Tara Sutaria as the brand ambassador for Savlon Glycerine Soap, a unique offering from ITC Savlon that addresses the dual need of soft skin along with germ protection. The soaps segment in the health space has witnessed an influx of new consumers over the past two years who were looking for efficacious germ protection. This has led to a significant increase in consumption of health soaps and at the same time, has brought about a change in consumer expectations. Consumers today arent satisfied with just germ protection, but also expect their soap to provide effective care for their skin. Infused with glycerine, in addition to 99.9% Germ protection* efficacy, the Savlon Glycerine soap has been designed to offer effective defence against harmful germs while leaving the skin feeling soft. A new film has been launched featuring brand ambassador Tara Sutaria which depicts a humorous competition between the actor and her dog on who is the real Softy. The TVC represents a slice of life narrative of a relaxed day for Tara Sutaria, which brings alive the intangible nuance of touch as one of the senses. The film draws a parallel using creative visuals to depict softness of skin in everyday life. The soap is positioned as an all-round solution for hygiene, skincare and protection, that comes with the trusted equity of ITC Savlon. Glycerine, the hero ingredient of the product, is known to be a skin conditioner and has inherent skin moisturizing properties. The film with its creative narration and visuals communicates product characteristics from a functional and lifestyle perspective, in a spirited manner. yY6PumWw-pk?autoplay=0&rel=0" frameborder="0"> Speaking on the new film, Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive, Personal Care Products Business Division, ITC Limited said, Savlon has been the front runner in addressing evolving consumer needs through innovation. The health soap category has seen a robust growth over the past two years. While hygiene has become a way of life for all, with consumer needs evolving, personal hygiene has progressed from providing protection only to ensuring value-added skin care benefits as well. Taras partnership with the brand brings with her a vibrant & fresh feel to the category that the Savlon soap encompasses. Expressing her thoughts, actress Tara Sutaria comments on the launch, I feel privileged to be associated with Savlon, a brand that is consumer focused and solution oriented with its innovative product offerings. I am a great proponent of using a trusted name for protection against germs for the safety of my family and myself. Like many of us, I have also struggled to choose between effective protection and skin care. It came as a pleasant surprise, with Savlon Glycerin soap, which makes my skin feel soft with a germ protection trust of over 50 yrs. The Savlon soap has become my go to. The soap is available across retail outlets & e-commerce platforms. Kainaz Karmakar & Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India, commented on the film, the concept of Softy is a light, endearing way to establish the beauty credentials of this soap. The film is a product demo but told as a story. It makes a sharp point about what the soap can do for your skin and this will not be missed. The interaction between Tara and the dog is what will make the film memorable and we believe the audience will enjoy watching it again and again. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, ITC Savlon has worked extensively to build a robust portfolio that addresses the need gaps of hygiene, disinfection, and sanitization in the market. This is evident in the launch of product launches including Savlon Hexa Hand Sanitizer for Quick and Persistent Action and Savlon Hexa Advanced Soap and Bodywash with Hexa pro power are scientifically designed with experts to provide anti-viral and anti-bacterial protection. The personal hygiene portfolio is in addition to the brands robust portfolio of Surface Disinfectant Sprays,, Germ Protection Wipes, Masks and Antiseptic Liquid categories. It is the end of Popcorn Time. The infamous app that illegally enabled streaming pirated movies and TV series has been shut down. Popcorn Time's popularity has of late been skyrocketing. It was in 2014 that the app came into the scene and it soon became one of the most popular platforms for consuming unauthorised video content. In a financial report released in 2015, Netflix Inc. warned investors about the rise of Popcorn Time, and CEO Reed Hastings stated: "Piracy continues to be one of our largest rivals." The service's developers abandoned it soon after its launch, and emails leaked following a Sony Group Corp. attack suggested law enforcement might have been the reason. However, because the code for the app was open-source, other developers rushed in to produce fresh versions. The app's creators wrote to the reporters on Tuesday, announcing the app's demise. Popcorn Time's goodbye letter announces "R.I.P." at the top of the page, with an illustration of a bag of movie theatre popcorn with X marks for eyes. A chart indicating interest over time based on internet searches for the app is also available on the site, similar to the one Netflix released to investors in 2015. Also read: "Mapping the piracy scourge. A four-part series" Netflix is concerned not only about HBO, but also about pirates. Netflix stated in a letter to shareholders that piracy is one of its "greatest rivals," and it particularly mentions one pirate service that has piqued its interest: Popcorn Time. The Popcorn Time software is designed to make pirating movies as simple as watching them on Netflix. The programme lets you explore an iTunes-like inventory of movies and TV episodes by their posters, choose one for additional information, and then begin streaming it after a brief buffering time. It is so simple to use that anyone should be able to pick it up and start viewing it right away. Netflix referred to a Google Trends graph that compares the popularity of Netflix, HBO, and Popcorn Time search in the Netherlands. The graph shows Popcorn Time's popularity skyrocketing in the last six months, to the point where it is now on a level with Netflix and much ahead of HBO. The data is "sobering," according to Netflix. With strong signs of economic recovery supported by increasing vaccination numbers, India at large seems to be getting back to clocking overall economic growth with Tier-II towns and cities emerging as the new engine of this growth curve, reports Just Dial Consumer Insights. As per latest Just Dial insights, right from the onset of the festive season till the year-end festivities, Tier-II cities have been driving consumption growth and are at par or in some instances have surpassed Tier - I in terms of overall demand cutting across products and services in various areas. Higher disposable incomes and a wider exposure coupled with deeper internet penetration and access, Indias Tier II cities seem to have taken a mammoth leap to grab the front-seat in steering the countrys demand surge and thereby trigger economic growth. During the Navratras, Tier-II cities witnessed robust demand growth for demand for caterers compared to Tier-I cities. The ensuing Dhanteras also saw a high demand surge for precious metals gold, silver, and diamond - in Tier-II cities vis-a-vis Tier-I. Commenting on this interesting trend, Prasun Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer at Just Dial said: Covid-induced lockdowns have increased online adoption of services across Tier-II cities as well. Hence, we are witnessing a demand growth on Just Dial across Indias Tier-II towns and cities for a host of services and products. This increasing demand growth across smaller towns and cities augurs well for Indias overall socio-economic growth. For the wedding season, demand rise for a host of services in Tier-II cities was almost 2X of Indias overall growth rate. Even for the holiday season, growth rate of searches across travel and tourism related categories have shot up by 51% across India but the rate remained higher in Tier-II cities vis-a-vis Tier-I cities. The demand growth in Tier-II cities was at 54% ahead of Tier-I cities, where the rate of growth was 49%. The rise in service sector across Indias smaller towns and cities benefits the flourishing gig economy and indicates that the overall economy is recalibrating well. There is an increasing online demand for a host of services in Tier-II towns and cities. This indicates that the gig economy in sectors like wedding, food delivery, and tourism is flourishing well. With access to quality education and internet, Tier II cities are increasingly becoming digital that also benefits big and small businesses alike. Just Dial looks forward to leading this trend by enabling local businesses to get online build the future discourse of the Indian economy, said Kumar. Tier-II cities witnessed robust growth during the festivities of Navratri and Durga Puja with demand for caterers registering a significant rise across Tier-II cities compared to Tier-I. Trivandrum, a Tier-II city, saw the maximum demand, while Tier-III cities Kangra, and Saharanpur were second and third respectively across the country. Demand for wedding services across the country grew by 49.7% QoQ with most of this demand being generated by Tier-II cities that saw a growth of 106% benefitting the growing gig economy at large. The demand surge for precious metals too remained higher in Tier-II cities. In terms of gold, demand growth rate in Tier-II towns (24%) remained marginally ahead of Tier-I cities (22%). For silver, Tier-II cities (40%) saw 2X growth rate vis-a-vis Tier- 1 (20%) while demand for diamond as well remained higher in Tier-II cities (38%) compared to Tier-1 cities (14%). The demand growth for budget hotels, picnic spots, local tourist attractions and farmhouses have been on a rise as Just Dial witnessed a 51% YOY growth in searches for all travel and tourism-related searches. This demand growth was higher in Tier-II cities at 54% ahead compared to Tier-I cities, where the rate of growth was 49%. Just Dial compared consumer trends for the Oct-Nov 2021 period vis-a-vis the same period in 2020 when unlocking was taking place in a phased manner to analyse the demand trends in the domestic travel and tourism sector. Similarly, Tier-II cities saw tremendous growth over Tier-I cities during winter festivities. Demand for restaurants, pubs, food delivery services in tier-II cities has witnessed a surge of 95% over tier-I which saw 21%. In Tier-II cities, Surat, Kozhikode, Kakinada, Malappuram, and Srinagar were the leading five cities with maximum demand for food delivery services while Lucknow, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Kanpur, and Jaipur were the top 5 cities that saw maximum demand for pubs in the Tier-II category. The demand for sarees too witnessed a huge surge and Banarasi and Bengali Taant topped the maximum online searches for sarees in India. Banarasi sarees dominated almost 25% of the searches pan-India with Tier-II cities generating more demand (40%) than their Tier-I peers (26%). Unicommerce, one of Indias leading e-commerce focused supply-chain SaaS technology platform, has announced its association with Mensa Brands, Indias leading tech-led house of global brands. Unicommerce will be providing Mensa Brands with the technology solutions to strengthen the supply chain and streamline operations for their digital brand portfolio. Mensa Brands will be leveraging Unicommerces order management and warehouse management solution for 10 brands and will be adding more brands in the coming months. Unicommerce solutions will empower all the brands with technology to streamline supply-chain by improving warehouse efficiency and ensure faster order processing leading to accurate and faster deliveries to the end consumers. Unicommerces sector-agnostic solution makes it a perfect choice for Mensa Brands diverse products of multiple brands across Fashion, Home Beauty & personal care, and the food segments. Unicommerce supply-chain SaaS platform will assist Mensa brands in elevating the post-purchase experience and bring operational efficiency to achieve cost optimization. Unicommerces order management solution will allow the company to automatically allocate orders to the nearest warehouse and intimate the logistic partners to ensure faster order processing and offer a robust return management process. The warehouse management solution will enable brands to automate all the crucial tasks at warehouses providing full visibility of inventory at multiple warehouses across the country. Speaking about the partnership, Kapil Makhija, CEO of Unicommerce, said Mensa Brands is revolutionizing Indias e-commerce and D2C ecosystem and we are delighted to partner with them and support their digital brand portfolio in their next phase of e-commerce journey. We have believed in staying ahead of the curve and our partnership with Mensa brands is a testimony of Unicommerce working with some of the upcoming and promising brands of India. Mensa brands have a stellar team and great brand portfolio, and through this partnership, we will provide them with a centralized platform to manage operations for multiple brands on a single platform. As Mensa Brands continues to expand, they can seamlessly integrate their brand portfolio with Unicommerce to continue to achieve business efficiency. The Unicommerce solution comes with 150+ hassle-free integrations which include global marketplaces, website platforms, logistics providers, ERP, and POS systems. At 1 million+ daily transactions, Unicommerce clocks over USD 5 billion GMV annually. Moreover, the e-commerce automation platform currently processes over 20% of Indias total volume of shipments. Considering its rapid growth in the last few years, the company plans to increase its workforce by over 60% to fuel its future agendas. Note: The New York Times story here isn't simply that a teacher performed a medical procedure in her home on a minor child.... well, maybe it is. While most of the comments agree that there are many problems with a lay teacher having a Covid vaccine at home AND administering it to a minor, many of the comments on Facebook are pretzel logic at its twistiest. If this teacher had had sex with the boy, parents would (mostly) have been appalled. Had the teacher slapped the boy's face, commenters would be appalled. Had the teacher given the boy cocaine, commenters would be appalled. If the teacher had prevented the boy from getting a vaccine, commenters would be rabid. If the thread says "Whoo! Go Laura, vax that boy, his parents must be stupid anti-vaxxers who deserve to have their parental rights shattered and ignored," that's A-OK. Pass the mustard. The story is here, behind a paywall. A Long Island Teacher Is Accused of Giving a Teenager a Covid Shot ### A Long Island teacher is accused of giving a teenager a Covid shot without permission. A 54-year-old public-school science teacher on Long Island was arrested on New Years Eve after being accused of giving a teenager an injection of what appeared to be Covid-19 vaccine without his parents consent, the Nassau County police said. The police said that the teacher, Laura Parker Russo, administered a shot of what appeared to be a coronavirus vaccine to 17-year-old boy in her house in Sea Cliff, N.Y. The youth later went home and told his mother, who called the police and said she had not authorized the vaccination. Ms. Russo was charged with unauthorized practice of a profession, the police said. She has been removed from her classroom in the Herricks Public Schools system in New Hyde Park and reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation, schools officials said in a statement. A school website, which has been taken down, said Ms. Russo teaches at Herricks High School. Ms. Russo did not respond immediately to an email sent by The New York Times. She was released after her arrest and is scheduled to appear in criminal court on Jan. 21, the police said. Unauthorized practice of a profession is a felony under the state education law that carries a penalty of up to four years in prison." I think when comes to stupid, this really gets the prize, charging someone for vaccinating a 17 year old, to actually save their life. We need to get real if we are going to survive this pandemic. A 17 year old should be able to get a vaccine on their own without parental consent. "A 17-year-old student whose parents have fringe and incorrect beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine feared for their health and safety and reached out to a teacher that provided they help they needed" Fixed your teaser text for ya. have a hard time getting too upset about this one. EDIT: I am worried about HOW the teacher even HAD a vaccine, and whether it had been stored correctly, but I am NOT upset that a 17-year-old decided to get vaccinated. Weird mixture of right and wrong. Of all the things a teacher could be doing to an under aged student at his/her home this sounds not as bad as it could have been What if said student had anti-vaxxer parents and wanted to stay safe from Omicron? Not saying it's right, but in a few months the kid would be old enough to enlist and die for the country . . . Well the sad thing about it's the students no longer have the teacher that cares about them. We already have a shortage of teachers. Her heart was there but her common sense wasn't Eight hundred miles west of her hometown of Aitkin, Minn., Raija (pronounced Rya) Gustin found a cattle mentorship program that suited her well the Northern International Livestock Expo (NILE) Merit Heifer Program. Coordinated with the NILE in Billings, Mont., the NILE Merit Heifer Program offers youth the opportunity to get started in the beef industry by awarding a weaned heifer calf to 20-25 recipients based on merit. Each selected 12-16-year-old youth is responsible for care and management of the heifer. They arrange for breeding, complete recordkeeping, send monthly reports to the NILE staff, and travel to Billings to participate in the NILE Merit Heifer Show. Its a long haul, said Raija, 16. Without stops, its 13 hours to get from our house to Billings. She wasnt complaining. I love Montana, she continued. Last fall we went out there and watched the NILE Merit Heifer Show so I could be more prepared for what it was going to be like. Not limited to Montana residents Raija is the daughter of TJ and Tiffany Gustin. She loves animals and hopes to become a veterinarian. I started out in 2014 showing turkeys. I brought four turkeys to the Aitkin County Fair, and I liked it, she said. Ready to head back to the county fair with more turkeys in 2015, the 4-Her couldnt show because of an avian flu outbreak. One of our neighbors said I could show a calf of his, she said. I was expecting a little, tiny, cute thing that would follow me around. Instead, it was a bred yearling heifer. With a natural flair for the show ring, Raija had fun training, fitting, and showing the heifer. She brought that neighbors heifer with calf by her side, back to the Aitkin County Fair for the next few years. She exhibited the cows calf as a prospect steer at the Minnesota Beef Expo in October 2018, but what she really wanted was to buy her own heifer. I had been talking about it for quite a while and my parents didnt think it was a really great idea, since I didnt have a barn or a fence or anything like that, she said. I convinced them somehow to do it. Her mother challenged her to solve four problems to proceed. She had to find someone who would loan her the money; her uncle agreed. She had to find a job; her other uncle managed the grocery store, and she could start working there when she turned 14 in less than a month. She had to get a ride home for her heifer; easy get a ride home with other Aitkin County exhibitors. She had to find the heifer a place to stay; the neighbor who got her started agreed to keep the heifer at his farm. Already resourceful at age 13, Raija only needed about 10 minutes on the phone to meet the challenge. My mom went back to the camper. I dont think she could quite handle that Id figured that all out, she said. My dad and I went to the auction. After looking at a couple of heifers that sold for well over her budget, Raija purchased a purebred Registered Shorthorn for $2,000, which she paid off in just five months. The heifers name was Storm. There were big hopes for Storm, but instead, Raija learned lessons in beef production. After being unsuccessful with AI breeding, Raija put Storm out to pasture with the neighbors Angus bull. A Shorthorn plus bull calf, named Kevin, was born in June 2020. Raija showed Storm and Kevin virtually in 2020 at the Aitkin County Fair and the Minnesota State Fair because of COVID shelter-in-place requirements. The Minnesota Beef Expo was cancelled, too, and with it the 2020 Minnesota Youth Beef Experience Program (MYBEP) that matches youth with heifers. In 2020, Storm also got sick and had to be put down. Kevin was banded and finished out. Raijas beef project wasnt moving forward, and that needed to change. It was a tough time for Raija and her family. Then, Tiffany, the executive secretary of the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs, learned from a friend on the Minnesota State Fair Board about the NILE Merit Heifer Program. They were still having that program, so I applied, made a video, wrote a paper, and filled out the application, Raija said. She also lined up three references for her application and received letters from three additional references. She was awarded a heifer. The application very clearly says that applicants may live outside of Montana. Recipients hail from Montana and surrounding states, such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, or other states, but as far back as the NILE staff can remember, Raija is the first youth from Minnesota to receive a heifer. The NILE Merit Heifer adventure begins Raija received a letter in the mail from Shelby Shaw, NILE Merit Heifer Coordinator, that a Hereford breeder from Staples, Minn., agreed to donate a heifer. I spent some time out in Montana when I was younger, so I knew what the NILE was, and had always wanted to get there, said Mike Sams, the Hereford breeder who stepped forward. With a common Genex connection, Mike had been contacted by Dwain Hould, NILE Merit Heifer Program Director. Dwain said they had an application from a young lady, and that she was in Aitkin, Minn. He didnt know anybody that he could try to match up with this young gal for the NILE Merit Heifer Program, Mike said. That was the beginning of it. Mike and his wife, Mary, understood about western tradition and rodeo, and they had western-style Herefords. They also knew how difficult it can be to get started in the beef business. They had started building their own herd in 1989, but Mike was called to active duty in Iraq in 2004. They decided the best thing to do was disperse the herd. When he came back in 2006, they began building their herd again. For the most part, business has gone well at Mike and Marys farm, Y4 Livestock. The farm is predominantly a commercial cow/calf operation, with over 150 head, including about 30 Registered Herefords. Working with his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Mike sells most of his cattle via video online sales at Tri County Livestock in Motley, Minn. The three operations market almost 400 head together. One unique thing about the Sams family: the couple completes most of their cattle chores, haying, and veterinary work with the help of draft horses. This year, our days might be numbered in business with the amount of feed we have available (due to the drought), but well see what happens, he said. The drought has made things difficult, but Raija and her heifer project have been a ray of sunshine. Mike and Mary allowed Raija to select the heifer she wanted out of about 15 head. She named her Lucy and earned reserve champion breeding heifer at the Aitkin County Fair. Lucy competed in the 2021 Minnesota State Fair 4-H Livestock Show, too. Shes put a lot of work into it, just a phenomenal amount of work, he said. We have nothing but praise for that young lady. A trifold network Raija and her family, Y4 Ranch, and the NILE Merit Heifer Program is a winning team. Miss Shaw explained that each month, the youth have a zoom meeting where they learn about all facets of the beef industry. They are required to write monthly reports that are graded, interview with industry professionals while at NILE, and complete a record book in addition to the daily care of the heifer. The final requirement before the now-bred heifer is given to the youth is attending the NILE Stock Show in October and participating in the NILE Merit Heifer Show. Attending the 2021 NILE was a sacrifice, but one that Raija and her family wanted to make as did Mike and Mary who planned to attend NILE for five days, as well. Mike finally got his trip to see the NILE Rodeo. Raija asked her parents to build a 30- by 40-foot barn with calving pens and fitting area. She also purchased a bred Registered Shorthorn, Murphy, from the family who sold her Storm at the Minnesota Beef Expo in 2018. Murphy had a bull calf, named Bruce, who was also banded. Eventually, Id like to have a cow/calf operation, but I dont have a whole lot of space right now, or money. I have two jobs to help pay for my animals, Raija said. Shes off to a good start learning about the level of commitment required to raise cattle, courtesy of the NILE Merit Heifer Program. Hopefully, down the road, she will have some cattle, and she can return the favor to another youth, Mike said. If shes asked to participate, that she would pay it forward and pass it along. That would be the hope. Farm & Ranch Guide Weekly Update Get the latest agriculture news delivered to your inbox from Farm & Ranch Guide. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Container ships are berthed along with the port at Singapore's Pasir Panjang Container Terminal on Aug 11, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] As world's largest free trade deal now in force, analysts confident on gains The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which took effect on Saturday, will spur economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region as it opens up markets and counters protectionism, experts say. Consisting of 15 Asia-Pacific countries, the RCEP forms the world's largest free trade area. It is made up of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Covering about 30 percent of the world's population, as well as its gross domestic product and trade volume, the agreement ushers in greater economic integration among Asia-Pacific countries and marks a victory for multilateralism and free trade, observers said. "It will play a role in creating some degree of confidence that trade integration-at least in moderate terms-will continue," said Manu Bhaskaran, chief executive of Centennial Asia Advisors, a think tank in Singapore. "In an age of growing protectionism and inward-looking policies, this is welcome." Francis Chua, founding chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, said the RCEP is expected to consolidate the position of ASEAN members within a larger grouping built on "a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement". The regional bloc comprises Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos; some of the ASEAN members are yet to ratify the pact. In an online report, the ASEAN Secretariat said the entry into force of the RCEP "is a manifestation of the region's resolve to keep markets open; strengthen regional economic integration; support an open, free, fair, inclusive, and rules-based multilateral trading system; and, ultimately, contribute to global post-pandemic recovery efforts". "The ASEAN Secretariat remains committed to support the RCEP process in ensuring its effective and efficient implementation," the report says. Chua said the pact will ensure the opening of markets and strengthen supply chains and, this way, support an economic rebound. Apart from requiring the trade partners to cut tariffs, he said, the RCEP will enhance the harmonization of non-tariff measures such as product standards for food safety, packaging and labeling requirements. Sanjay Mathur, chief economist for Southeast Asia and India at ANZ Bank, cited China's huge economy and how it will serve as the "pivotal market" for all RCEP members. The pact's members "will now have (increased) access to the second-largest economy in the world, so that is a huge step forward", he said. Bhaskaran said that China, as a leading nation in Asia, can nudge the RCEP members to adopt "broader and deeper integration "in the region. At the same time, some analysts have pointed out that the RCEP's promise of unfettered trade and its many benefits will take time as the tariff reductions will take place gradually over the next 20 years. Job opportunities Asian Development Bank economists have estimated that by 2030, the trade agreement will increase the income of the participating economies by 0.6 percent and create 2.8 million jobs. They also see a rise in intra-RCEP investment. This is because the pact prohibits performance requirements-like a specific percentage of domestic content or technology transfer-being placed on investors as conditions for market access. The RCEP is now being implemented in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It will take effect in the ROK on Feb 1. Indonesia's parliament commission that supervises trade has given the pact the green light but full ratification by the legislature is needed. Josua Pardede, an industry and regional analyst at the Jakarta-based Permata Bank, said the RCEP will accelerate the entry of smaller Indonesian enterprises into the global value chain, but these businesses also face competition from imports as they largely depend on domestic markets. Pardede said that in principle, any trade agreements-particularly large ones like the RCEP-have the potential to increase trade value and attract investments into member countries because of a decrease in trade barriers. Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, has some concerns for the agricultural sector in his country, which has yet to ratify the pact. While he believes the trade pact will open up markets for Philippine products, the Philippines also has to allow in more imports-a risky proposition for the nation's farm sector. He points out that unlike their counterparts in some other countries, Filipino farmers do not enjoy big government subsidies, huge tracts of land or extensive access to credit. This has long been a problem for those engaged in farming, as the sector has not been among the priorities for the government, Fausto said. Leonardus Jegho in Jakarta and Xinhua contributed to this story. After conducting business virtually a year ago, Bob Noble says it was good to shake hands and meet in person at the Iowa Catttlemens Association annual meeting Dec. 16 in Altoona. I think most were pretty upbeat, and being able to meet in person was part of that, says Noble, who was recently elected ICA president. He farms near Riceville in Mitchell County. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, last years meeting was held virtually. Noble says improving prices across the board have helped lift the spirits of ICA members. Margins have all been good, depending on feed costs, he says. One of the topics discussed at the meeting was market transparency. Noble is hopeful that a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will get a hearing in the Senate soon. Known as the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, the legislation seeks to establish regional mandatory minimum thresholds of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trades based on each regions 18-month average trade to enable price discovery in cattle marketing regions, according to a release from Grassleys office, The bill will also require the USDA to create and maintain a publicly available library of marketing contracts between packers and producers in a manner that ensures confidentiality, prohibit USDA from using confidentiality as a justification for not reporting, and require more timely reporting of cattle carcass weights as well as requiring a packer to report the number of cattle scheduled to be delivered for slaughter each day for the next 14 days. We are really hoping the Senate will have a hearing on this soon, Noble says. He says producers are also upbeat about plans for two new packing plants in Iowa and Missouri, as well as the planned expansion of the National Beef plant in Tama, Iowa. Those plants are going to give producers more leverage when it comes to marketing, Noble says. These new plants shouldnt come as a surprise. The incentive is there for more capacity. He says members also discussed Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, or MCOOL. Noble chaired a task force that spent the past two years sorting through the logistics of MCOOL. We had a lively discussion, and we passed a resolution to support MCOOL as long as it was in compliance with the WTO (World Trade Organization), he says. The ICA also committed to policies regarding Waters of the United States regulations and Product of the USA beef labeling, as well as renewing policies related to tax issues and market reform. Members also passed resolutions supporting additional funding for rural broadband, as well as supporting research related to cattles impact on the climate and the development of a science-based carbon credit program. CropWatch Weekly Update Get the Iowa and Illinois CropWatchers report delivered to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Arboretum at South Mountain at I-10 and Chandler Bouelvard in Ahwatukee sold last month for $118.3 million more than twice what the 24-year-old complex sold for four years earlier. Esther M., 89, of Grove City. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednes-day (4-20-22) and 10 a.m. until the time of service Thursday (4-21-22) in CUNNINGHAM FUNERAL HOME Inc., 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City. Funeral service: 11 a.m. Thursday in the funeral home. Online condolences at cunninghamfhgc.com. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The backward Wright Flyer that was at the center of an embarrassing license plate mistake in Ohio last year flew through the approval process with little to no discussion, records show. Designers at the Ohio Department of Public Safety fussed over such issues as color saturation, centering and image placement. The Ohio State Highway Patrol tested the license plate's lettering for readability. Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, controlled the imagery's overall messaging from its rural and urban themes, to its nods to Ohio's water resources and history, to the breed of the plate's playful pup. The flipped around plane dragging a "Birthplace of Aviation" banner from its front, rather than its back end appeared to be there from the outset, according to emails and images from the 15-month design process provided to The Associated Press through a public records request. Greg Wyatt, the department's visual communications manager, declined an AP request for comment on the plate or the design process. The Wright brothers' historic aircraft was intended as a proud symbol of Ohio's place in aviation history, but it turned into a punchline in October, after the new plate design was unveiled and people immediately noticed it was oriented incorrectly. "Y'all leave Ohio alone," tweeted the Department of Transportation in North Carolina, where the Ohio-bred Wright brothers took their famous first flight in 1903. "They wouldn't know. They weren't there." The flyer is unusually shaped by modern aircraft standards, with what could be mistaken for a tail, or rudder, at the front and its big wings at the rear. The mistake was fixed immediately once it was discovered. The new "Sunrise in Ohio" plate became available to the public last week. It is the state's 76th new plate and its first since 2013. Some 35,000 plates were produced before the wrong Wright Flyer was caught. The plane's orientation wasn't discussed in any unredacted portions of the emails provided. Its only mention was in the context of a problem on an earlier plate. The 2009 "Beautiful Ohio" plate on which the faulty one was loosely based used clipart of the plane that wasn't approved for commercial use, according to the emails. Lawyers worked the issue out, though their specific advice was redacted. The Republican governor conceded when unveiling the plate this fall that he and the first lady "probably drove them crazy" at the Public Safety Department with all their input. In a Jan. 17 email, Wyatt listed the plane as the governor's first priority. At the plate's release, DeWine said he and Fran had a "particular interest" in the Wright brothers. That's because the famous brothers' early flight tests took place in their county, at Huffman Prairie less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the DeWines' Cedarville home. TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay will ask the Kansas Supreme court to review a decision that overturned the conviction of a former prison dentist for having sexual relations with a female inmate. The Kansas Court of Appeals last month overturned the January 2020 conviction of Tomas Co., who was accused of repeatedly touching the inmate at the Topeka Correctional Center. The appeals court said Co's touching the inmate on her leg and thighs was inappropriate but did not meet the legal definition of lewd, which was required for a conviction on the charge he faced. Kagey said if the Kansas Supreme Court doesn't overrule the appeals court finding, he will seek a legislative change to the relevant law, The Topeka Capital Journal reported. Co supervised a dental lab at Topeka Correctional Facility, where the female inmates made dental products. Prosecutors alleged that Co molested six inmates at the prison between 2011 and 2018 but he was found guilty on only one count. QUITO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso estimated Tuesday that the country would achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 in March after it applies the vaccine booster dose to over 13.4 million people, or 85 percent of the target population. "At this rate, I calculate that by mid-February, 85 percent will have received two doses," he said in an interview with local media, "by around March, we will reach the desired 85 percent with the booster dose." Lasso said the target population in the country is 16.1 million people aged five years old and up, with more than 85.5 percent having received one dose so far. Some 12.6 million people have received two doses, equivalent to 79 percent of the target population, while 7 percent have gotten their booster shot. "There is still a very big job ahead, as the number of people who require the booster shot is close to 12 million Ecuadorians," the president said, adding that Ecuador has allocated about additional 60 million U.S. dollars to buy 5.5 million vaccine doses to complete the booster application. The South American country has an inventory of about 5 million vaccines, with over 3.7 million vaccines expected to arrive by Jan. 31, Lasso said. In Ecuador, vaccination against COVID-19 is mandatory in order to better contain the pandemic as well as to protect people against COVID-19 and its variants. Enditem MISSION, Kan. (AP) Kansas health officials warned of a "dangerous moment" as one school district reimposed masks and another eased up on them during a meeting so contentious that the audience was removed. In the Manhattan-Ogden district, the school board voted Monday to reinstate a districtwide mask mandate, changing a policy that had been in place since Nov. 1 that made masks optional for high schoolers. The board will revisit the decision early next month. Meanwhile, the board for the 27,000-student Shawnee Mission school district narrowly voted to allow a mask-optional policy to take effect for middle- and high-schoolers when classes resume Wednesday. The crowd interrupted so frequently that the board president twice shut the meeting down before kicking out the audience. Superintendent Michelle Hubbard described the contentiousness of the meeting in a briefing Tuesday as "disappointing, to say the least" and noted that the board has been under tremendous pressure. Hubbard said the district started the academic year 250 employees short and has struggled to find enough bus drivers, food service workers and substitute teachers. The situation is expected to get worse as omicron takes hold, she said. "It'll be all hands on deck for the next month," she said. "There are times when the people at the district office have to roll into schools and roll up their sleeves and support our teachers so that they can support kids in the classroom." She noted that the district's policy allows the district to require masks if case numbers and quarantines in a school surpass 3%. The board's vote came after more than 200 local health professionals sent a letter asking Johnson County commissioners and school districts to keep in place a mask mandate. Commissioners in Johnson County, which is the state's most populous, are prepared to decide Thursday whether to scrap their mandate for elementary schoolchildren. The letter noted that the U.S. has been "shattering" case records and said, "Now is not the time to let our guard down." The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, is treating 120 COVID-19 patients, up from 40 on Dec. 1. Fifteen patients all unvaccinated are on ventilators. "This is a dangerous moment for us," said Dr. Steve Stites, the hospital's chief medical officer, during a briefing Tuesday. "There are a lot of kids who aren't vaccinated. There are a lot of teachers who may not be vaccinated. And the problem is going to be that if you have too many kids out of the classroom, if you have too many teachers who can't teach and not enough administrators, you can't run the program. You're going to struggle." Purchasing Submission: Conditions, Power, and Freedom, by Philip Hamburger, 336 pp Hardcover $35 Kindle $33.25, ISBN-13 978-0674258235, Harvard University Press, 2021. Professor of Law Philip Hamburger of Columbia University has been campaigning for years to measure, define and condemn the growth of a powerful administrative state in America. The late, great Angelo Codevilla rang the alarm about the excesses of centralized oligarchic statism and an army of unelected bureaucrats eating away at liberty for citizens under the constitution in his essay, "Scientific Pretense and Democracy," followed on by another wellreceived 2010 essay "The Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution," about the growth of an unelected totalitarian ruling class, whose influence and power are derived from "expertise" that allowed them to exert power over and intimidate the citizenry as the self-anointed oligarchy. Professor Hamburger, Friedman Professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia, caught my attention with a short monographic book, The Administrative Threat, that summarized the points of his erudite 650-page 2014 book, Is the Administrative State Unlawful? The short book is a great summary but the long book is magisterial and explains why the political geniuses of the American Founding wrote a Constitution that intentionally hobbled the power of the executive branch and created competing branches to distribute power and prevent tyrannical grasping of power by any branch, along with a federal plan to distribute power to the states. The Founders were well aware of the history of tyranny in England -- crown edicts, Star Chamber prosecutions and other abuses that flourished in the first half of the 17th century -- ending with a civil war and regicide of Charles I. These events were fresh in their 18th century minds and they were serious students of political theory. Hamburger wrote his two books from the maw of the liberal political establishment, Columbia University in Upper West Side Manhattan, but he obviously has his legal head on straight. He writes about administrative state growth and abuses that had emanated from that growth of a regulatory state. His recently published book Purchasing Submission is his effort to show another way that the US Constitution is diminished and liberty suffers: the purchase of submission by means of government distribution of benefits and rewards to private entities, citizens, businesses, lesser governmental entities from the state down, so that the government can expand its power under another method of tyrantsincentives and rewards. In the lingua of politicians and bureaucrats, carrots as an alternative to sticks. The Administrative Threat (2017) is short but packed with legal good sense, full of powerful and well framed arguments. Hamburger's longer book, Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (2014), provides a longer and more thorough going review of the main tenets of Hamburger's thesis: that the legislative and judicial powers and authority exercised by agencies and officials of the executive branch are clearly a usurpation of the powers of the other branches -- and clearly illegal and unconstitutional. Hamburger writes a damning indictment of the administrative state, and he makes his case carefully and with attention to detail. Executive agencies cannot and must not create laws and regulations, as they do presently, and do not have the authority to determine if citizens have violated the law. Executive Branch agencies and authority are restricted to enforcement of the law, but now agencies make law and regulations and determine compliance and assess punishment for non-compliance after making judgments that citizens have committed violations in administrative proceedings. Thats the stick. Government can achieve control and power and diminish liberty by way of rewards and benefitsnothing but a form of bribes to get citizens to give up their liberties. Thats the carrot and it is the favorite tool for legislators but is also for executive branch agencies. There is no better way to get what you want in politics than to hand out favors. Since the beginning of time, rewards have been offered to the populace by those who sought power and control, and force or threat of force was used as an unavoidable or imperative alternative (think Machiavelli). Professor Hamburger sets up the themes of his book on how governments eat up the liberties of citizens: Government agency favors and inducements and threats that substitute for properly imposed legislative laws passed by the congress Government agency actions and activities enforce and impose unconstitutional diktats created by executive agencies and not the Congress; Continuing activities by agency apparatchiks that create a new and aggressive legislative regime imposed by agencies and not by a political process that originates in the Congress; Agency adjudications of disputes and enforcements invade the province of the judiciary and are intended to avoid judicial review and be another usurpation of legislative and judicial prerogatives. The professors 320-page book Purchasing Submission spares no effort to explain how the government can abridge and nullify civil rights of citizens and tear down the constitutional protections by the Founders in matters of law making and law enforcement. The book jumps into the fray as only Professor Hamburger can: The highjacking of civil rights requires an analysis of the arguments from the Constitution, legal precedent and common sense/utility; Legal precedents on matters of conditions, nudging, privileging, rewards are all over the place, because courts have not been attentive to the problem; The focus on protecting civil rights is lost in the confusion of efforts to influence, create compliance, contentment and ultimately submission; Courts have ignored the impact of these new methods of governance that include what amount to bribes for submission; States have been victims of the influence peddling with grants in aid programs that have incentives and compliance orders attached; Conditions, considerations, privileges and rewards have been used in federal laws to intimidate and cajole states, private entities, and citizens to submit to what in many cases are restrictions of civil rights; In matters of public speech federal agencies have restricted civil rights that impact broadcast and print and educational entities; Federal agencies have recruited with incentives private entities and educational institutions to act as agents enforcing agency policy; States and private entities have been commandeered to be enforcers of federal policy. The point is that Professor Hamburger has written an incisive and thorough book on the federal governments campaign to impose an Orwellian dystopian and totalitarian regime on the populace. The book is easy to read and to the pointand at the end Hamburger proposes ways to identify and neutralize the problem of laws that violate the constitution and how citizens can combat the tyranny, Warriors in this civil rights war have to know the enemy. John Dale Dunn, MD JD is a physician and non-practicing lawyer in Brownwood, Texas In a 2020 poll conducted by the BBC History magazine, the crown for the greatest historical mystery was given to the disappearance or murder of the princes in the Tower of London in 1483. The general belief was that the Duke of Gloucester, soon to be Richard III, murdered the two princes, Edward V, aged 12. and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, aged nine. The basic facts are clear if complex. In 1483 King Edward IV died unexpectedly, leaving his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protector. Edwards two sons were due to inherit the throne, but the marriage of their parents was declared invalid and the children were thus barred from getting the throne. Instead, the two boys were locked in the Tower, and never seen again, by their uncle who was crowned King Richard III at Westminster Abbey. In 1485 Henry Tudor, who had been in exile in Brittany and France, invaded Britain with an army of 5,000 and flying the Welsh flag of the red dragon. He fought and beat the force of 8,000 of King Richard at Bosworth field in Leicestershire. Richard was killed in the battle, the last king of England to die on the battlefield, the last king of the House of York, and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. This battle ended the bloody dynastic Wars of the Roses over control of the British throne. Henry Tudor, whose legal claim to the throne was weak, became Henry VII, king by right of conquest, and united the two houses, the White Rose of York and the Red of Lancaster by marriage to the daughter of the former Queen Elizabeth. The image of Richard III has largely been popularized by Shakespeare, who portrays him as a ruthless villain, one determined to prove a villain, though one of wit and courage. Incorrect views have been passed on as fanciful history, the fabrication of Tudor propaganda and the writings of Thomas More and Holinsheds Chronicles. Starting with the 1951 crime novel The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, attempts have been made to refute the allegation Richard III was a murderer or he was a deformed hunchback, and to rehabilitate him as a ruler who was concerned with peace, stability, and order, and that he had blue eyes and fair hair. The body of Richard III was buried without ceremony in a church in the Franciscan Greyfriars friary in Leicester, which was later destroyed. The historian Philippa Langley headed a team in Leicester in August 2012 that was looking for Richard and uncovered a skeleton with spinal curvature under a car park on the site of a church of Greyfriars parish, and concluded through DNA analysis that they were the remains of Richard III. The skeleton showing the person had suffered scoliosis of the spine, which would have made one of his shoulders slightly higher than the other. It was identified as the result of radiocarbon dating, and comparison with the DNA of descendants of his sister, Anne. After the remains of the body were found, disputes arose over how to rebury a king. Finally, the high court agreed that reinternment of the body should be in Leicester Cathedral. No conclusive evidence of the bodies of the two princes has ever been found, though suggestions have been made. In 1674 two small skeletons were found in the Tower of London, and two others were found in 1789 in the chapel in Windsor Castle, but these have not been identified as remains of the princes. In December 2021 Langley organized a research team, a Missing Princes Project, that concluded it had uncovered what it believed are clues to the survival of one of the princes, Edward, who would have become King Edward V, in the village of Coldridge in Devon. The team followed a paper trail including medieval documents that led them to this small town Coldridge, where the local church has royal Yorkish symbols carved in the walls. For centuries, Richard III has been suspected, though never formally accused, of murdering the two boys to seize the throne for himself, though other suspects have been nominated: Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, who had a disputed claim to the throne; Henry himself; Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham; and Sir James Tyrrell, the English knight who confessed to the murders. Now comes the assertion that the princes were never killed, and that at least one of them may have been allowed to live under a false name. The new alleged discovery is that the former Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, mother of Edward, the heir to the throne, reached an agreement with King Richard to allow her 12-year-old son Edward to leave the Tower, to travel south and live in a farm a secluded life under an alias John Evans, in the rural village of Coldridge where he built a chantry at the local church. These new allegations are reminiscent of the story of Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code, presenting a series of clues about a conspiracy relating to the possibility of a secret marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and as a byproduct that the Merovingian kings of France are descended from their offspring. Like the character in Browns book, the Richard team followed a paper trail including secret symbols and medieval documents, one that led them to Coldridge. Evidence includes a rare portrait in the Coldridge church. This is claimed to be one of Edward, and is like an effigy of John Evans with a scar on his chin. This effigy is similar to a face in a stained-glass window that depicts Edward V holding a royal crown. Were clues left in the church for future generations to find? The debate on the fate of the two princes and the true nature of Richard III continues. Image: Pixabay By the time solar energy reaches Earth's surface, it is spread very thin even midday sunshine will not boil the billy or make toast. And solar collectors will convert only about 20% of that weak energy into electricity. Thus, thousands of solar panels are needed to collect significant energy, and lots more to charge the expensive batteries needed to maintain electricity supply overnight and during cloudy weather. Despite these disadvantages, force-feeding of "green" energy by all levels of government has given Australia nearly three million solar collectors (mainly imported from China). It requires scads of land to generate significant electricity from the sun's weak rays. But even in sunny weather, they produce nothing for sixteen hours every day. And a sprinkling of dust, pollen, ash, or salt, or a few splatters of poop from birds or flying foxes, can reduce output by 50%, while night, snow, or heavy cloud cover snuffs them out. Solar energy collection is maximized if the panels face the sun exactly and follow the daily and seasonal movements of the sun across the sky. No rooftop collectors and only 40% of ground facilities can do this. Thus, to produce the planned energy requires an even bigger area of collector panels, covering even more land. More interested in propaganda than science, greens call land-based arrays "solar farms," suggesting that they are plant-friendly places. However, solar panels steal sunlight, leaving real plants beneath them to die. Solar "farms" have nothing in common with real farms except the need for large areas of open countryside usually consuming valuable flattish cleared farmland or open grassland. In fact growing plants are a liability to solar "farms" because they can block solar energy, so the operators must prevent grass, weeds and bushes from shadowing the panels and stealing their sunshine. Thus, most plant life in solar "farms" is killed by the blocking of the sun or by regular applications of herbicide or by roadways. A big solar "farm" in Australia could contain one million solar panels and smother 2,000 acres of land. Each operation also needs miles of cleared access roads and transmission lines to maintain the facility, collect the electricity, and transmit it to urban demand centers. Most of the time, these transmission lines are operating well below capacity, creating an expensive web of inefficient maintenance liabilities. Australia is also a world leader in installing subsidized rooftop solar. But a quick drive around the suburbs will show that few panels have the size, the ideal orientation, or the cleanliness to be efficient collectors of solar energy they are green status symbols designed to collect subsidies. Many will fail to recover the real cost of manufacture, transport, installation, and restoration. They destabilize the electricity network and elevate average electricity prices for industry and for those who cannot afford a house, let alone one with its own solar panels. All for zero climate benefits. The picture here illustrates what is wrong with rooftop solar. Random panel orientation plus a cloudy sky equals negligible solar electricity. Intermittent "green" energy forces coal and gas plants to operate at full capacity to cover peak demands around sunrise and sunset, but to wind back or shut down when solar energy pours into the system around midday. Recently, in just one week in South Australia (Australia's green energy guinea pig), electricity generation went from "over 130% renewables to less than 4% renewables with everything in between." Despite South Australia being home to "the biggest battery in the world," the energy regulator has been forced to lease diesel back-up generators and to order gas-fired plants to stand by in case the wind suddenly drops. This encourages mechanical and financial breakdowns and high electricity costs. Europe has also gone out on the green energy limb, but this is no comfort for Australians who cannot import nuclear power from France, gas from Russia, or hydro power from Scandinavia. Every solar installation consumes energy to mine metals; manufacture, transport, and erect panels; and build access roads and transmission lines over long distances. Careful analysis will show an energy deficit over their short lifetimes. And when an earthquake, hailstorm, cyclone, or hurricane smashes these exposed rows of solar panels, dumps of mangled trash will be left. Most of this debris cannot be recycled, and tons of metals, glass, and plastic are destined to end their life as toxic, non-degradable landfill. Bureaucrats will try to force solar operators to clean up, but smart operators will have bankruptcy petitions prepared for such emergencies. Here's a solar "farm" after a cyclone or typhoon. Proven and reliable electricity generators, driven by coal, gas, hydro, or nuclear, with a small land footprint and housed in storm-proof structures, are far less damaging to the green environment than these landscapes of inefficient, intermittent, expensive plant-killing "farms." Where are the Green objectors now? More Food for Thought: Solar Energy in Australia: https://list.solar/plants/largest-plants/australia/ https://www.csiro.au/en/news/News-releases/2021/Australia-installs-record-breaking-number-of-rooftop-solar-panels The Effects of Dust on Solar Panels: http://www.alionenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Effects-of-Dust-on-the-Performance-of-PV-Panels.pdf The Growing Solar Panel Waste Problem: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/solar/the-mounting-solar-panel-waste-problem/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/ Paving Virginia with solar slabs is bad law: by David Wojick https://www.cfact.org/2021/12/27/paving-virginia-with-solar-slabs-is-a-bad-law/ Australia's looming energy security disaster: https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2017/06/looming-disaster-energy-security/ https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/australian-energy-council-warns-on-electricity-market-intervention/news-story/af00cdd9300e6a2df7621782b7e9bdd0 Concentrated Solar Power another Solar Scam: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/01/yet_another_solar_scam.html World's Biggest Battery becomes World's biggest Joke: https://iowaclimate.org/2021/09/26/worlds-biggest-renewable-energy-battery-becomes-worlds-biggest-joke/ Image via Pxhere. Andre Burnett, a Chicago resident, just got arrested for the 78th time. That is not a typo. This is a man who's probably spent more time in Chicago courtrooms than many regular employees have. He is yet another symptom of a completely broken justice system. In pre-modern England, property crimes were treated with the same level of seriousness as crimes against the person. Over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, British criminal law created around 220 crimes justifying the death penalty. Murder and treason, of course, were obvious death-penalty crimes, but so were spending a month with the gypsies, poaching, pickpocketing, shoplifting, stealing farm animals, and ordinary theft. As a practical matter, many of those sentenced to death for property crimes weren't actually executed. Instead, sentences were commuted entirely for various reasons (pardons, pregnancy, military duty), or, quite commonly, the condemned people were shipped out of England. In the very early years of England's colonization of North America, criminals might find themselves shipped across the Atlantic. In later years, Australia became the penal colony of choice. In large part because of Evangelical Christianity, by the early 19th century, Britain began to reform her excessively punitive laws for property crimes. By 1832, thieves would no longer be hanged, and in 1837, forging wills and powers of attorney also stopped being a hanging offense. By 1861, there were no property crimes that carried a capital penalty. In America, the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment served, for the most part, to limit the death penalty to convictions for first-degree murder. (Lynchings, including the rough justice in the Wild West, don't count in this reckoning because they occurred outside the judicial system.) I believe that an ordered, prosperous society protects people's private property. Without that promise of protection, people either stop working to acquire property, which drags down the economy, or vigilante "justice" becomes the norm. Vigilantes will freely kill those they believe committed property crimes. The rule of law, after all, protects not only honest citizens, but criminals as well. However, I strongly agree with the American tradition that does not impose the death penalty for property crimes. Prison time should be a sufficient deterrent. But what happens when even imprisonment isn't brought to bear against someone guilty of property crimes? In that case, you end up with 56-year-old Andre Burnett: Image: Andre Burnett. Chicago P.D. mug shot. On Sunday, prosecutors charged Burnett with shoplifting from a Magnificent Mile department store. It was his 78th arrest. "You're a nuisance to the system, Mr. Burnett," Judge Mary Marubio told the 56-year-old. "And a drain on the system." Police arrested Burnett on New Year's Day at Saks Fifth Avenue, 700 North Michigan. Prosecutors said he took a $1,250 jacket from a display, put it on, and walked out the door. He was also carrying a so-called "booster bag," which is a bag wrapped in aluminum foil that's designed to defeat the store's security measures, according to prosecutors. He's charged with felony retail theft. Prosecutors said most of his 12 felony convictions are also for theft and retail theft. The public defender asked that, because Burnett's crime was not violent, he be released without paying a cash bond. Judge Marubio rejected that request and, instead, set bail at $1,500 and required Burnett to post 10% of that to walk free. However, the system in Chicago is set up so that, for each day in jail, Burnett will earn a $30 credit. Thus, after five days at Hotel Jail, Burnett again walks out of the courthouse. It's true that Burnett apparently has never committed a violent crime against a person or property. He steals things. However, in the aggregate, he is damaging society. He makes products more expensive, he reduces trust between citizens, and he burns up criminal justice resources. For a functional society, there should be a penalty for that. I would argue that, after 78 arrests that resulted in 12 felony convictions, Burnett should be looking at an extended vacation in Club Jail. But the justice system in Democrat-run communities isn't concerned with justice. For those working in the system, high crime promises full employment for them and their children, and maybe their grandchildren, too. For Democrat politicians, going soft on crime allows virtue signaling about social justice and equity. And for ordinary citizens...well, they elected these people. If you want to see how insanely out of control crime is in Democrat-run Chicago, I highly recommend CWB Chicago. You'll read headline after headline about people with long criminal records who are out on the streets continuing to commit violent, often deadly, crimes. 6. CRT is not taught in schools After Critical Race Theory became a key issue in the Virginia gubernatorial race, corporate media outlets such as CNN started to claim that Critical Race Theory was not taught in school at all despite it being publicly promoted by the Virginia Department of Education. Multiple show hosts from MSNBC and CNN continued to push the lie that CRT does not exist at all. 5. 60 Minutes deceptively edited Ron DeSantis interview CBS News's 60 Minutes deceptively edited a clip from a press conference that Florida governor Ron DeSantis gave about the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The misleading clip suggests that DeSantis had awarded Publix, a popular supermarket chain in Florida, with the opportunity to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines because of the campaign donations he received from the corporation. CBS removed all the parts DeSantis spent explaining that Publix had actually been selected due to the hundreds of locations it had across the state, leaving only the part he calls the accusations "fake narrative." CBS never apologized or retracted the video. 4. Border patrol agents whipping migrants In September, the corporate media started publishing stories and photos of a group of border patrol agents in horses whipping Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Multiple Democrat politicians were quick to condemn the "horrifying" acts. The border patrol agents clarified that the "whips" in those photos were only the reins of their horses. The photographer who took the photos also publicly said he did not see any agent carrying a whip. 3. Ma'Khia Bryant was murdered by a racist police officer In April, a police officer shot Ma'Khia Bryant, a black teenager in Columbus, Ohio, as she was trying to stab another girl. The footage from the officer's body camera made it very clear that the shooting was justified and the officer acted to save the woman's life. The corporate media ran with the story that Ma'Khia Bryant had been murdered by a police officer because of her race. Many outlets, such as the New York Times and The Daily Beast, even claimed she was unarmed at the moment of the shooting. 2. Officer Brian Sicknick Was Killed By January 6 Rioters After the January 6 riots in Washington D.C., many corporate media outlets such as the New York Times started to claim that Officer Brian Sicknick was killed by protesters after being struck with a fire extinguisher during the riot. Medical examiners revealed in April that Sicknick had actually died from natural causes the day after the event. 1. Kyle Rittenhouse is a white supremacist who shot black people Kyle Rittenhouse was a 17-year-old teenager who shot three men in self-defense during a Black Lives Matter riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His trial took place in November of 2021. Video evidence made it clear that Rittenhouse had acted in self-defense. All the looters he shot were white. The facts did not stop the media from trying to portray Rittenhouse as a white supremacist who "crossed state lines" to murder black people. Despite having the entire mainstream media playing against him, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. Rittenhouse has said he is looking into the possibility of suing the corporate media for defamation. Honorable mention: Let's go, Brandon Note: This is an unpdated version of the piece that appeared early this morning. Image: PxHere. Unlike their Western counterparts, many Muslims are fond of their heroes of the past particularly the jihadist types who for centuries thrived on terrorizing the West. This was recently underscored by Barbaros: Sword of the Mediterranean, a television series, written and produced in Turkey, that aired late last year and is dedicated to highlighting the clash between Islam and Christendom in a way, of course, that demonizes the latter and extols the former. The highly fictionalized series revolves around four Muslim brothers and their naval exploits and battles against the Christian maritime states of the Mediterranean. While the series portrays the brothers as great heroes who sacrificed much to "defend" the Ottoman Empire against Christian Europe, history real, actual, recorded history has a different tale to tell. In brief, the four brothers began life as common Barbary pirates ("corsairs"). The eldest of these brothers, Oruch, was notoriously sadistic, and once "ripped out the throat of a Christian with his teeth and ate the tongue," to quote historian Roger Crowley in Empires of the Sea. He also "tied the head of a Hospitaller knight to a rope and twirled it like a globe until the eyeballs popped. In Spain and southern Italy people crossed themselves at his name." Due to the brothers' many successful exploits against and slave raids on Europe, they eventually caught the eye of Ottoman sultan Suleiman "the Great." Around 1520, the sultan took one of these Barbary brother pirates, Khair al-Din Barbarossa (d. 1546), whom the series is named after, into his service and helped him prosecute an especially ferocious jihad on Europe. Claiming that "Allah had made him to frighten Christians," Barbarossa wrought havoc along the Christian Mediterranean, rarely withdrawing without thousands of captives. In one instance, on the island of Minorca, in the midst of fire and devastation, he left a message pinned to the tail of a horse in which he vowed that he would not rest "until I have killed the last one of you and enslaved your women, your daughters, and your children." Over the following two decades, hundreds of thousands of Europeans were enslaved, so that, by 1541, "Algiers teemed with Christian captives, and it became a common saying that a Christian slave was scarce a fair barter for an onion." This, apparently, is what Turkey is proud of Muslims who "defend" Islam by invading Western lands to terrorize, slaughter, and enslave its people on the "grievance" that the unrepentant Christians are infidels who refuse the summons of Islam. Nor is this sentiment limited to an obscure movie producer and a few Turks; it's shared all the way at the top of the Turkish hierarchy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan habitually praises those Turkish heroes and sultans of the past who most terrorized, slaughtered, and enslaved Europeans, such as Muhammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople and a notorious pedophile to boot, as both Turkish and European chronicles attest. The message could not be clearer: invading and conquering neighboring peoples not due to any real grievances, but because they are non-Muslim with all the attending atrocities, rapes, destruction, and mass slavery, is a laudable thing, apparently to be imitated once convenient. Nor is such thinking limited to Turkey. As one report states, "[t]he television series was a Turkish and Algerian collaboration and is also being aired in Pakistan, spreading the Islam versus Christian rhetoric to other parts of the Muslim world." As such, perhaps now is a good and fitting time to announce my latest book: Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam. It represents, in two primary ways, the antithesis of what regularly comes out of Turkey and other Muslim nations concerning the history between Islam and the West. First, it deals with Christian heroes who actually stood their ground against Islam, often in defiant terms so that they are often seen as the greatest enemies of Islam's heroes. Second, it actually offers facts, not propaganda (the book contains over one thousand end note citations, mostly to primary source references). Preorder Defenders of the West here. Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Image via Max Pixel. Expats in Xi'an stay sanguine amid COVID-19 resurgence Xinhua) 08:44, January 05, 2022 -- Xi'an, an ancient city in northwest China, is currently battling a COVID-19 resurgence, with more than 1,700 cases reported since Dec. 9, 2021. -- Authorities have taken strict measures to curb the spread of the virus, and more than 5,000 nucleic acid testing sites have been set up across the city. -- Everyone in the megacity of 13 million people -- the natives, the migrants and the expats -- has joined hands to surmount these trying times. XI'AN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Sandrine, a French national living in Xi'an, an ancient city in northwest China, decided to ring in 2022 in a slightly different way -- volunteering for the city's epidemic control and prevention work. The city is currently battling a COVID-19 resurgence, with more than 1,700 cases reported since Dec. 9, 2021, while authorities have taken strict measures to curb the spread of the virus. Everyone in the megacity of 13 million people -- the natives, the migrants and the expats -- has joined hands to surmount these trying times. Residents queue up for nucleic acid test at a testing site in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Dec. 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Yibo) FRENCH EXPAT ON LAST DAY OF 2021 Sandrine has been a resident of Xi'an for nearly a decade and is mostly known by her Chinese name, "Wu Hong." Before night fell, she arrived at a nucleic acid testing site in Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), put on protective clothing, a mask and goggles, and began her work. Since the resurgence of the epidemic, more than 5,000 nucleic acid testing sites have been set up across the city, with over 100,000 medics, community staff and volunteers relaying on the sites to safeguard the city. "We have to work together to control the epidemic, and there is nothing more important than this at present," said Sandrine, who teaches calculus and other maths-related subjects in NPU. "As part of the school community, I feel obliged to join the fight against the epidemic," she added. "As a teacher, I should stand up and protect my students as well." Though the campus is closed for epidemic control, Sandrine's life remains the same; the only exception is that classes have moved online. Watching students listen attentively and take notes on the other side of the screen, she is relieved to find that students have not been greatly affected by the epidemic and the closure of the campus. Sandrine, a French national mostly known by her Chinese name "Wu Hong," works as a volunteer at a nucleic acid testing site in Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Dec. 29, 2021. (Xinhua) She believes that it is necessary for Xi'an to adopt strict control measures. "Not being free now is for real freedom later. The epidemic should be brought under control as soon as possible through strict measures," Sandrine said. The university started recruiting volunteers on Dec. 29, and Sandrine signed up in no time. To her surprise, her colleagues were also "jostling" to be volunteers. "If you are slow, you may not get a chance," she said. As a volunteer, Sandrine is tasked with scanning QR codes, checking information, handling test tubes, among others. Even after more than three hours of volunteer work, she was not done yet. She went to the west gate of the campus to help with security management. After winding up her volunteer work at around 10:00 p.m., Sandrine returned to her apartment and made a video call to her family in France to greet them on the new year. "My family is not worried about my safety in Xi'an, for they know that China has done a good job in anti-epidemic work," she said. Sandrine's New Year's resolution is clear -- "May Xi'an be safe; may the world be safe." STICKING TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY Dev Raturi, a 45-year-old Indian, has stayed in China for 17 years. In 2012, he opened his first restaurant in Xi'an. Since Dec. 23, 2021, residential compounds have been in lockdown, and Raturi deems it a blessing in disguise as it has allowed him to spend quality time at home. "This is the best time to learn, do some exercise and have fun with my family." Dev Raturi, a 45-year-old Indian, cooks at home during quarantine in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Dec. 27, 2021. (Xinhua) Although they are confined indoors during this period, their lives have not been much affected. "We have to undergo nucleic acid testing almost on a daily basis so that we can know about our health conditions," Raturi said, adding that community staff members are in charge of delivering food and other essentials. Raturi owns five restaurants in Xi'an and all of them have been temporarily closed. "It's a big loss, but only a short-time loss. If you don't control it (the epidemic), it will be a long-term loss, and we have to close the restaurants forever," he said. Kwon Min Ho, from the Republic of Korea, is visibly impressed by the role that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays in battling the epidemic. A student at the Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, 27-year-old Kwon noticed the therapeutic effects of TCM at the beginning of 2020 after COVID-19 patients found relief through TCM. A pharmacist prepares ingredients to produce traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoctions at Xi'an TCM hospital in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Yibo) "In addition to treatment, TCM can also boost the immunity in susceptible people and help in disease prevention," Kwon said. His university is currently under closed-off management and classes have moved online. The school has distributed epidemic prevention materials to the students. "My university mates take turns as volunteers to help maintain order during the epidemic. We have trust in the Chinese government's ability to control the outbreak and won't panic," he said. "A college-age boy and his mother who are our immediate neighbors have also volunteered. Everybody is cooperating, nobody is complaining. Everything is just fine," said John Carmichael, a Canadian who works as a CTO in a Xi'an-based cloud data company. Carmichael believes that the best way to accomplish anything is through solidarity. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming) by Xinhua writers Yan Jie, Liu Kai MANILA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Li Jinxin, a 26-year-old Chinese woman, has found her dream of returning home come true after battling a devastating illness for almost two and a half years in the Philippines that nearly cost her life. Li spent 904 days bedridden in Medical City in Metro Manila due to a brain hemorrhage. Her neurologist, Kim Alfred Inting, said Li was admitted to the hospital on July 16, 2019 due to severe headaches, weakness, and paralysis of the left arm and leg. "After CT scan, we found a blood clot on the right side of the brain, so we did surgery on her," Inting said. After staying in the intensive care unit for several months, Li, whose vital signs gradually became stable, was transferred to a general ward and had since been taken care of by Sherricka Mae Navalta, one of the nurses in the hospital. Recalling the days spent with Li, Navalta, who prefers to call Li's English name "Coco", said the Chinese patient is the longest hospitalized patient she had cared for as a nurse. There were too many touching and unforgettable moments while taking care of Li, Navalta added. "Coco is away from her family, so we treat her as one of our young relatives or sisters. I feed her, clean her body, check her temperature, diaper, and vital signs whenever I'm on duty. On her birthday last July, I posted a happy birthday greeting. Even though she can't speak, there's a smile on her face," Navalta said. Navalta said she was concerned and distraught when they found out that Li tested positive for COVID-19 in October last year while at the hospital despite the strict coronavirus restrictions. "We were worried when she had to be transferred to an isolated unit because we were not allowed to take care of her in the COVID-19 ward," Navalta told Xinhua. "We were concerned about Li's condition at the time because of many COVID-19 patients dying." Thanks to the treatment and care of Filipino medics, Li woke up last summer after spending almost two years bedridden and finally recovered from COVID-19. Li can now interact and communicate with the doctors and nurses by nodding and shaking her head, frowning, and even making a finger heart to express her gratitude. As Li's health improved, she was advised to be discharged from the hospital and allowed to travel back home to China to be reunited with her family. A mixed feeling struck Navalta. "I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, we are sad that Coco is leaving the hospital. But on the other hand, we are happy that she has recovered and will be reunited with her family in China," Navalta said. "I know that she is eager to be with her family in China because when we ask her if she wants to go back to China, she always gives a positive answer," Navalta added. As planned, Li will be accompanied by attending physician Jenina Paculan to fly to north China's Tianjin Municipality to undergo medical observation in quarantine at first, and then travel back home to central China's Hubei province. "We are not expecting anything unusual during the trip. We just want her to be back home safe," Paculan said. Enditem (Image source from: Timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Indian Omicron Case Tally Crosses 2000 Mark:- Despite the Indian government taking all the steps and screening the international travelers, the new and dangerous Omicron variant is present in all the states and union territories of the country. With 153 new Omicron cases reported in the country, the total tally of Omicron cases climbed to 2043. There is a 56 percent spike in the new cases of coronavirus in the country in the last one day. The new cases reported today are 20,000 higher than yesterday and the tally reported yesterday was 37,123. The positivity rate in the country also touched 5 percent mark which is alarming and hints about the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The Health experts say that the Omicron variant is responsible for the huge spike and is responsible for 80 percent of the new cases. As per the tally, more than 85 lakh teenagers aged between 15 and 18 received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine in the last 2 days in the country. Several states imposed night curfews and weekend restrictions after a sudden rise in the new cases of coronavirus. The states of Maharashtra, West Bengal, New Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been reporting huge number of new cases. The entire film industry is heading for a closure. The situations are still under control across the Telugu states. Google has a slew of CES 2022 announcements hitting the wire today, including quite a few for the car. Starting with Android Automotive, we have some new apps coming to the platform. That is really great to see, since Android Automotive is pretty lacking, when it comes to apps. According to Google, well be seeing Sygic, Flitsmeister, ChargePoint, PlugShare, SpotHero, and ParkWhiz coming to Android Automotive. Its interesting that Google is highlighting ChargePoint when I used the app on Android Automotive back in August when I checked out the Volvo XC40 Recharge. YouTube will be available in some models, but youll need to be parked for it to actually play video in the car. Advertisement Google is also adding more features to Assistant in Android Automotive vehicles. So youll be able to change more things in your vehicle by using your voice. Google is also adding this functionality to other vehicles that are not Android Automotive. It plans to launch a program that will allow car makers to add remote actions to Assistant. So instead of opening the app, or physically making the change yourself, you can ask Assistant to do it. Digital car keys are finally launching As announced at Google I/O last year, Google is launching UWB car keys for devices like the Pixel 6 and Galaxy S21. Itll only work with BMW at launch, but that will come to more cars in the future. It is currently limited to phones that have UWB or Ultra Wideband support. And no, we do not mean Verizons name for its 5G network. We will also see more phones coming with UWB support in the near future. Advertisement Essentially, this will allow you to use your phone as a car key for supported vehicles. So you can walk up to your car with your phone in your pocket, get in and drive off. Samsung has released the Android 12 update to more Galaxy smartphones in the US. The Galaxy Note 20 series is the latest to join the party. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is also now receiving the stable One UI 4.0 update widely in the country. As of this writing, the Android 12 update for the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is rolling out to the Verizon units of the phones. The update comes with firmware version N981USQU2EULE and N986USQU2EULE for the two models respectively. Units on other wireless providers should also make the jump soon. This update for the Galaxy Note 20 duo bundles the December 2021 Android security patch. It isnt the latest available since January 2022 SMR (security maintenance release) has already rolled out to a few Samsung Galaxy smartphones. But we arent complaining. After all, the company has done incredibly well to bring the big Android update to its devices so fast. Advertisement Over the past couple of weeks, over a dozen Galaxy smartphones and tablets have received the stable Android 12-based One UI 4.0 update. These include all eligible flagship models and a few mid-rangers. More devices will join the party in the coming weeks. Android 12 update for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 now widely available in the US Verizon was also the first US carrier to release the stable One UI 4.0 update to the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. The rollout began last week. Starting today, it is available to the former on Comcast and Xfinity Mobiles networks as well. The new firmware version is F711USQS2BUL7. Unlocked Galaxy Z Flip 3 units are receiving the update with the firmware version F711U1UES2BUL7. This update also bundles last months security patch. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 were among the first Samsung phones to receive the big Android update. The rollout began early last month, a couple of weeks after the Galaxy S21 series. Since then, the new foldables have picked up the update in several countries around the world, including the US. Now, more users stateside are getting the taste of it. Advertisement As always, you will receive a notification about the OTA (over the air) update once it becomes available for your phone. If you didnt receive any notification, you can also manually check for updates from the Settings app, under the Software update menu. We advise you to create a backup of important files before installing One UI 4.0 to avoid unwanted data loss. The Samsung Odyssey G9 and Odyssey Neo G9 have long been the sought-after kings of immersive gaming monitor tech, but they both have a new contender, Samsungs own Odyssey Ark. A new monitor which it just announced this morning during CES 2022. The Samsung Odyssey Ark is in some ways the same as the Odyssey G9 monitors. It has an aggressive curvature like those two, and its a display thats entirely too massive for its own good for some setups. But it also differs by having an increased display size and featuring both horizontal and vertical formats. Yes, the Odyssey Ark can be swiveled to view it vertically if you for any reason need it do so. Going from an ultrawide beast to a towering behemoth with a swift turn. But for its size and extra features, theres no doubt it will cost even more than both the G9 and Neo G9. The latter of which currently goes for around $1,300 on Amazon. Advertisement The Samsung Odyssey Ark has a massive 55-inch display So, how big is the display? A whopping 55-inches of 4K UHD goodness. Its using Samsungs flexible display tech, obviously, and carries a 16:9 aspect ratio as well. Which makes it incredibly large regardless of which way you have it positioned. The interesting part is how much the curve actually causes the display to arc over your head if its positioned vertically. If youre sitting close enough to the monitor it more or less curves over your head just a little bit. That being said, you probably dont want to sit too close to it. Doing so might feel like when youre stuck sitting in the front row of a movie theater and have to bend your neck up just to see the theater screen. Advertisement Now, while this is definitely a monitor designed for gaming, Samsung clarifies that its not just for gaming. Its also designed for those who need a multitasking display. You might also think that its carrying less of a gamer aesthetic than the Odyssey G9 and Odyssey Neo G9. Seeing as theres no RGB lighting on the back like with those two. But Samsung simply moved the RGB lighting to the top and bottom of the monitor. Or the left and right if you have it turned on its side. Right now theres no details on pricing or availability. But it will surely be expensive and it should be arriving sometime this year. This also might not be the best display for gamers that want a fast refresh rate for more competitive gaming. In that regard you might something along the lines of the new monitors announced by ASUS. PLEASE NOTE: ALL ONLINE PURCHASES ARE AUTOMATIC RENEWALS UNLESS YOU EMAIL JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM OR CONTACT CUSTOMER SERVICE @ 256-235-9253.... Purchase an online subscription to our website for $7.99 a month with automatic renewal. Each online subscription gives you full access to all of our newspaper websites and mobile applications. To cancel you may contact Customer Service @ 256-235-9253 or email JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM *NEW SUBSCRIBERS ONLY join with a NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is just $59.99 for the first year. Existing customers do not qualify for the specials! AMEX is not accepted through this site. After the first year, well automatically renew your subscription to continue your access at the regular price of $69.99 per year. Please note *Your Subscription will Automatically Renew unless you contact Customer Service To Cancel* Anniston, AL (36206) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. (ANSA) - ROME, JAN 4 - The number of electric cars on Italy's roads more than doubled in 2021, the electric mobility stakeholder group Motus-E said Tuesday. The number of Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) rose by 128.4% to 136,754 registrations, said the group, which is currently campaigning against the government's failure to renew incentives for the sector. In 2021, it said, some 67,255 battery-charged electric cars were registered, 107% up on 2020, and 69,499 hybrid PHEVs, up 153.75% on 2020. Plug-in cars accounted for 9.35% of the total market, up from 4.33% in 2020, said Motus-E. (ANSA). Omicron: Slovenia, variant confirmed in almost all regions Only exception the western Goriska area (ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 22 - The Omicron variant has been identified across entire Slovenia, except for the western Goriska region, but it is only a matter of time before it is detected nationwide, the Slovenian news agency STA reported today, quoting Slovenia's chief epidemiologist Mario Fafangel. Fafangel said there is now local transmission of Omicron in Slovenia, with 51 Omicron cases confirmed " in all the regions but Goriska." Slovenia reported 1,555 coronavirus cases for Monday, (-9% week-on-week), five peope died from Covid. Of the 4,973 PCR tests performed yesterday 31% were positive, STA informed. (ANSA). Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved DUBAI - Italian Education Undersecretary Rossano Sasso said Wednesday that Expo 2020 Dubai was generating "innovative ideas" for education that "the political world must consider". "The political sphere must keep up with the times and what we offer in terms of education and training must be up to that of the rest of the world," Sasso, who was accompanied by Italy's Expo Commissioner Paolo Glisenti as he visited the Italian pavilion, told ANSA. Sasso expressed "pride" at the Italy pavilion, saying it showed the country's "tradition, innovation, richness and culture. "I thank Commissioner Glisenti for having done an excellent job," he added. "I discovered many things during the visit, but the best thing is the young volunteers, 60 male and female Italian students who bear witness to our greatness. "I felt proud to be Italian today". Returning to the innovative ideas on education to emerge at Expo, he said "we absolutely must upgrade what we offer. "When I was speaking to the commissioner, I explained that I was honoured to be the first signatory of legislation that abolished the 1938 royal decree and finally makes a double degree possible in Italy too," the commissioner continued. "Whereas previously a student who wanted to study engineering and medicine at the same time had to go abroad, it has been possible for some weeks to do this in Italy too. "But this is just one small element to show the whole political world that Italy must move fast because the rest of the world is a train that is moving forward". Libya: Parliament grants Commission more time on elections HNEC must liaise with other authorities on obstacles to voting (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JANUARY 5 - The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) suspended a session to discuss the postponement of presidential elections with the head of the Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC), Emad El-Sayeh, according to the website of daily The Libya Observer. Parliament spokesman Abdullah Bliheg said the reason for Wednesday's decision is that the HoR wants to give the Commission the necessary time to liaise with the competent authorities in order to revoke the state of force majeure that justified the postponement and to set a new voting date. The session on Wednesday was dedicated to a hearing with the head of the HNEC and its members, who informed the MPs of the reasons that led to the postponement of the elections. The HNEC had previously announced a proposal to postpone the elections by one month to January 24. However, observers consider that date unrealistic because the same obstacles exist that caused the date of 24 December to be postponed indefinitely, said The Libya Observer.(ANSAmed). TUNIS - Noureddine Bhiri, vice-president of the Islamic party Ennahda, has been in hospital since last Saturday in Bizerte and is now allegedly in serious condition, "between life and death", according to Ennahda attorney Samir Dilou, a member of the Bhiri Defence Collective. At a press conference, Dilou cited medical sources close to Bhiri, a former Tunisian justice minister. Bhiri was placed under house arrest on December 31 in a secret location and began a hunger strike the following day, refusing any medical treatment. Tunisian Interior Minister Toufik Charfeddine on Monday said Bhiri's arrest was due to suspicions of terrorism, and assured that Bhiri, who was hospitalised for refusing food and medicine, is "treated well". " "There was fear of a terrorist act that would jeopardise the security of the country; it was therefore necessary to react," Charfeddine told the press. Charfeddine said he had sent reports to the justice ministry and the prosecutor, but said they were slow to take measures. Charfeddine said he then decided to quickly enact judicial surveillance of 63-year-old Bhiri, and said he did so in compliance with Tunisian law. Bhiri is accused of producing and delivering false identity documents and citizenship certificates for a Syrian couple, among others. The attorney, Dilou, said Charfeddine's charges against Bhiri are without merit and said even the attorney general expressed astonishment over the charges. NAPLES - Rain that reached 120 millimetres in some areas of Oman is creating waterfalls attracting tourists from across the country, with some driving more than an hour and a half to see them, said Emirati daily The National. Meanwhile, the wet weather is helping farmers as a natural irrigation system. "It is amazing; the waterfalls are fantastic to watch," a mechanical engineer told The National. "The water from the rocks is very pleasing. We have been driving for over 90 minutes from Muscat to Misfat Al Abriyeen and it is worth it," he said. Other tourists, however, said some of the roads to reach the areas with the new waterfalls were dangerous to travel. The area is Jabal Shams, a mountain that at 3,009 metres is the tallest peak in the Gulf region, located in the western Hajar mountains about 250 kilometres from Muscat. "Everything is coming back to life," said Rashid Al Toki, a resident of the Batnah region. "The valleys have now been transformed to water parks. It is greening up and we even see animals coming, both wild as well as herdsmen bringing their sheep". The rains, which started on December 31, 2021, have so far killed six people, while the meteorological office said moderate to heavy rains would continue until January 5. A body believed to be missing 20-year-old Harvey Parker has been recovered from the River Thames by the Metropolitan Police. The force was alerted to reports of a body in the Thames near Embankment, central London, by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at 11.51am on Tuesday. Mr Parker was last seen on Friday after leaving Heaven nightclub near Charing Cross railway station in Westminster, central London at around 2.15am. Officers from the Mets marine support unit recovered the body. The death is being treated as unexplained and formal identification is yet to take place, but detectives searching for Mr Parker have been alerted and family liaison officers have informed his relatives. Harvey Parker (Family/PA) Detective Chief Inspector Lucy OConnor, of the Central South Command Unit, said: Sadly a body has been recovered from the Thames near where Harvey was last seen. We are providing Harveys family with all the available information. We are also asking for media to please respect the familys privacy at this challenging and difficult time. CCTV footage showed Mr Parker walking into Craven Street and then south towards the Embankment, and he has not been seen since. A friend said the University of York music student had been to a Little Simz concert in Brixton, south London before going to the nightclub. On Wednesday the Metropolitan Police said that investigators had viewed CCTV near the Golden Jubilee Bridge and believe Mr Parker, who is a member of front of house staff at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, may have entered the water there. The force said that there was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved. Boris Johnson has insisted he was right to stick with Englands Plan B coronavirus measures despite rapidly rising hospital admissions, soaring case rates and staff shortages hitting the NHS. The Prime Minister told MPs the Cabinet had agreed to keep the existing domestic restrictions but eased travel testing rules. He also confirmed plans being implemented across the UK to end the requirement for confirmatory PCR tests for asymptomatic people who test positive using a lateral flow device (LFD). An estimated 3.7 million people in the UK had Covid-19 in the week ending December 31, up from 2.3 million in the week to December 23 and the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In England around one in 15 people in private households had Covid-19, according to ONS estimates a level rising to one in 10 in London. NHS England figures showed 15,659 people were in hospital with Covid-19 on Wednesday morning, an increase of 615 on 24 hours earlier, although the number of patients requiring mechanical ventilation was down 28 to 769. In the Commons, Mr Johnson said hospital admissions were doubling around every nine days and were experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases weve ever known. Cases were doubling every week among the over-60s, he added. But he said the Plan B measures including wider use of face masks and guidance to work from home were helping to take the edge off the Omicron wave, slowing the spread, easing pressure on the NHS and buying time for the booster campaign to take effect. He said Plan B and the testing changes were balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with Covid without letting our guard down. (PA Graphics) The restrictions will be reviewed again before they are scheduled to expire on January 26. The changes in testing procedures are aimed at freeing up laboratory capacity for PCR tests, with the requirement for confirmatory tests suspended in asymptomatic people until the current high levels of infections subside. The change was being introduced in Northern Ireland on Wednesday, Scotland and Wales on Thursday and in England from January 11. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said while levels of Covid-19 are high, the vast majority of people with positive LFD results can be confident they have the virus. People who have Covid-19 symptoms should still get a PCR test, the UKHSA said. UKHSA chief executive Dame Jenny Harries said: While cases of Covid continue to rise, this tried and tested approach means that LFDs can be used confidently to indicate Covid-19 infection without the need for PCR confirmation. (PA Graphics) She said it remained important that people with symptoms self-isolate immediately and order a PCR test. Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Governments Sage scientific advisory panel, backed the move, saying a confirmatory PCR not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere. But he said there were downsides because it would give researchers slightly less information on the different variants in circulation because PCR swabs can undergo sequencing to determine which strain of coronavirus is present. Exemptions to the new rules include people eligible for the 500 test and trace support payment, who will still require a confirmatory PCR to access the help. PCRs will also be required for people participating in research and surveillance programmes and those at risk of becoming seriously ill, who have been identified as potentially eligible for new treatments. Ministers also approved changes to the travel regime for England, with the requirement for pre-departure tests scrapped from 4am on Friday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Commons (House of Commons/PA) Mr Johnson also said the requirement to self-isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR test on arrival was being scrapped, returning instead to the system in place in October last year, where travellers need to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of day two after arriving in England, with a PCR if they are positive. The Omicron-driven surge in coronavirus cases and the knock-on effect of staff absences is already causing major problems in public services. The Fire Brigades Union said that almost a third of Londons fire engines had been out of action during the last week, while almost 10% of operational firefighters in the capital had either tested positive or were self-isolating. A series of hospital trusts have declared critical incidents, while the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) is still asking patients suffering from suspected strokes or heart attacks to get relatives to drive them to hospital following pressures on staff due to coronavirus and new year demand. (PA Graphics) NEAS medical director Dr Matthew Beattie said: Where it is safe, we will continue to ask patients to make their own way to hospital, however we would never ask anyone to drive themselves to hospital with a life-threatening illness. In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon cut the self-isolation period to seven days, as long as people have two negative lateral flow tests, broadly in line with the measures in place in England. But restrictions on large gatherings and hospitality and leisure businesses will remain until at least January 17 in Scotland, she added. Former US talk show host Jon Stewart says comments he made about the Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone film were meant to be light-hearted and he was not accusing author JK Rowling of antisemitism. The comedian said news outlets had piled into this ridiculously out of context nonsense, and he did not want the franchise censored in any way. It comes after a clip emerged of Stewart discussing scenes from the film set in the magical bank Gringotts, run by goblins, on the podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart. In it, Stewart made comparisons between caricatures from antisemitic literature and the folks that run the bank. Speaking in a video posted on Twitter, he said: There is no reasonable person that could have watched it and not seen it as a light-hearted conversation amongst colleagues and chums. Having a laugh, enjoying ourselves about Harry Potter and my experience watching for the first time in the theatre as Jewish guy and how some tropes are so embedded in society that theyre basically invisible even in a considered process like movie-making. This morning I wake up, its trending on Twitter, and heres the headline Jon Stewart accuses JK Rowling of antisemitism. He added: So let me just say this super clearly, as clearly as I can. Hello, my name is Jon Stewart. I do not think JK Rowling is antisemitic. I do not think the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic. I really love the Harry Potter movies, probably too much for a gentleman of my considerable age. I cannot stress this enough I am not accusing JK Rowling of being antisemitic. She need not answer to any of it. I dont want the Harry Potter movies censored in any way. It was a light-hearted conversation. Representatives for Rowling said the author would not be commenting on Stewarts remarks. In her world-famous books, the goblins that run Gringotts Bank are depicted as ill-tempered, diminutive creatures who are the guardians of the gold. The first book describes one as about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard, and Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. Accusations that the characters are antisemitic have rumbled on for several years. Rowling, who has previously spoken out publicly against antisemitism, had an active involvement in the film series and has a producer credit on the final two, as well as the Fantastic Beasts spin-offs. She was featured in a recent 20th anniversary Harry Potter reunion special, but only in archive video clips. Since the films were released, she has become a controversial figure over her comments on gender identity and attracted criticism from many, including franchise stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe. Kanye Wests tenth studio album Donda was the most searched for album cover of 2021 worldwide, new research has shown. The sprawling 27-track album, which is named after Wests late mother, went straight to the top of the charts following its release in August. It is Wests third UK number one album and features material from controversial figures Marilyn Manson and DaBaby. The record, which suffered multiple release delays, was searched for a total of 27,600 across the world last year, data gathered by DesignBundles found. Donda earned 20,000 chart sales and secured about 33.4 million streams in its first week, according to the Official Charts Company. It was released with just a black square as its cover art. The second most searched for album cover was Sour by Olivia Rodrigo which was searched for 22,800 times following its release in May of this year. The cover pictures the 18 year-old pop star with several stickers on her face with a purple backdrop. Sour was recently announced as the fourth best selling album of 2021 in the UK by the BPI. With 9,600 annual searches, Taylor Swifts album Evermore was the third most searched for album cover (Ian West/ PA) With 9,600 annual searches, Taylor Swifts album Evermore was the third most searched for album cover. The record was released in December 2020 and shows Swift from behind dressed in a checked jacket, with a french plait in a woodland setting. Ffion Barnett was put in an induced coma for five days after testing positive for Covid. (Reach) A student in her 20s has urged more young people to get jabbed after she spent five days in a coma with COVID. Ffion Barnett found out she had COVID just two days after her 22nd birthday, but thought she was young and healthy enough to avoid becoming seriously unwell. But not long after testing positive she began struggling to breathe and needed an urgent admission to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, Wales. The marketing student was soon put in an induced coma for five days and had to re-learn how to walk, talk, eat and sleep during her recovery. Barnett said she wasnt vaccinated because as she was young with no health conditions she felt safe. But after her experience she said she wants to raise awareness of the importance of the vaccine and how COVID can affect anyone. Ffion Barnett lost her hair following her stay in ICU. (Reach) Barnett, who works in a cafe and lives in Tonypandy, Rhondda, said she wasn't particularly worried after testing positive for coronavirus. But when her breathing became increasingly laboured, she was admitted to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital on 12 August last year a week after testing positive. She said: "I spoke to my mother who works at the hospital as a bank nurse. She knew that my breathing was very heavy and told me to go straight to hospital They [medics] did all my observations and stats and put me straight on oxygen. I then remember being taken to ward three where I spent the night. I had a funny turn there where I couldn't get up or walk. After being admitted to ICU, Barnett was put in an induced coma as doctors grew increasingly concerned about her high heart rate which they thought could result in her going into cardiac arrest. She was also struck down with Covid-induced pneumonia. Ffion Barnett recovered from Covid in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Wales. (Creative Commons/Chris Hodcroft/Geograph) Barnett said she was given "every machine going" to try and improve her oxygen levels, but they wouldn't work. Eventually she turned a corner after a 12-day spell in intensive care and was put back on a ward. She ended up spending two weeks and five days in hospital and towards the end of her stay she had to learn how to talk, walk and eat properly again. "When I did manage to talk it just wasn't my voice. Then when I got home I needed looking after. I needed help bathing, people had to make my food for me," she added. A government advert urges people to get Covid vaccine booster shots on a bus stop in King's Cross, London. (Getty) One unusual side-effect from the trauma of being in ICU was Ffion losing all her hair. Barnett, who has now had her Covid vaccinations, said she has almost fully recovered from the disease but remains lethargic all the time. Figures released on Tuesday showed there had been more than 400,000 booster and third doses of the Covid vaccine recorded across the UK during the four-day New Year period. A total of 34,363,986 extra doses had been delivered as of 3 January, while around 64% of all adults in the UK have now received a booster or third dose. UK ministers have shown weakness when negotiating new trade deals which other countries will seek to exploit in future, Labour has warned. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan updated MPs about the UK and Australias trade agreement, which will cut tariffs on imports of wine and surfboards and make it easier for young Britons to work Down Under. Ms Trevelyan described it as a landmark deal and said it showed the UK is reaching out to seize the opportunities of the future. The International Trade Secretary also faced accusations of making overly-optimistic estimates about the deals impact on the UK economy, but gave reassurances that the agreement had robust protections to prevent UK farmers being undermined. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan (James Manning/PA) Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds raised concerns over the impact on British farmers, telling the Commons: We will not hold the Government to impossible standards, but we will hold ministers to what they have promised people they will deliver from the negotiations. Those promises make it even more important that ministers show strength at the negotiating table and defend UK interests to the utmost, because other countries in future negotiations will look at what was conceded to the Australian negotiators and take that as a starting point. We already have a UK-Japan trade deal that benefits Japanese exporters five times as much as it does UK exporters, and there does seem to be a worrying pattern emerging of not standing up for UK interests. Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) said: When you compare the original assessment of the economic impact of the Australia deal which was released back in the summer with the Governments impact assessment that was published last month, there has been a 1,000% increase in the estimated boost to UK GDP. But the small print makes clear that this is because the Government has changed the economic model that they are using to analyse the trade deal to one which produces a higher estimate of GDP. Can the Trade Secretary present any justification for this change or is it simply a case of cooking the books? The International Trade Secretary said the older estimate was a snapshot at the time, and invited Ms Olney to meet with civil servants to discuss the changes since then. A general view of the Opera House in Sydney, Australia (Steve Parsons/PA) SNP foreign affairs spokesman Alyn Smith told MPs there was a complete dearth of proper consultation with the farming and food sector across the UK ahead of the deal. He added: While we are not against free trade, this deal appears to be very one-sided with little to no advantage for Scottish farmers. Surely Covid and Brexit, if they have taught us anything, they have taught us that indigenous food production across these islands, indeed across this continent, and short supply chains are vital to a national security and indeed national resilience, however we are defining national. Ms Trevelyan said robust safeguards had been built into the deal for farmers after anxieties were raised through extensive consultation with many, many partners in the food and drinks industry. Sir David Attenborough has hailed the revolution in global attitudes towards plants and says there has been an awakening to the importance of the natural world. The veteran broadcaster said people had become plant conscious ahead of the release of his latest BBC One documentary The Green Planet. Speaking to the One Show about the series, the 95-year-old naturalist said: The world has certainly become plant conscious. We can't wait for #TheGreenPlanet this Sunday! Here's a One Show Exclusive with Sir David Attenborough. Stream on @BBCiPlayer https://t.co/E216i5HDnl#TheOneShow pic.twitter.com/iwxooGplXI BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) January 5, 2022 There has been a revolution in world wide attitudes to the natural world in my lifetime, an awakening and awareness of how important the natural world is to us. An awareness that we would starve without plants and we literally wouldnt be able to breathe without plants. The world is green and yet peoples understanding about plants has not kept up with that and I think this (series) will bring it home. It was recently revealed that Sir David was stabbed by a cactus with needles like glass while filming the series in California. Despite wearing heavy protective gear, including a Kevlar under-glove and a welding glove, he was hurt by spicules of glass while reaching inside the dangerous Cholla plant. The new documentary from the BBCs Natural History Unit uses ground-breaking filming techniques to show viewers the intricate lives of plants and the ecosystems that flourish around them and the ways in which they are just as aggressive as animals. It comes 26 years after Sir Davids The Private Life Of Plants aired on BBC One in 1995. Comparing the programmes he said: The thing that really is new is that, whereas in Private Life Of Plants, you were stuck with all this very heavy primitive equipment in one place we can now take it anywhere. The Green Planet uses groundbreaking filming techniques to show viewers the intricate world of plants (Jane Barlow/PA) In a clip from the show, he is shown to be operating a piece of high-tech equipment with a device that looks like a games console controller. With slight trepidation, they hand me the controls, he is heard to say on a voiceover. Laughing, he adds: I think I better hand it over to the experts. Sir David said that the new technology used in the series allowed them to see plants in ways weve never seen before, which to him has a hypnotic appeal. The Green Planet will see Sir David travel across the globe, from the US to Costa Rica and across Europe to different terrains including deserts, water worlds, tropical forests and the frozen north. In November, the series had its global premiere in Glasgow in conjunction with the Cop26 summit on tackling climate change. The series begins on BBC One on January 9. Critics calling for former prime minister Sir Tony Blairs knighthood to be removed are being disrespectful to the Queen, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has suggested. Accusing the former Labour leader of war crimes in Iraq, a petition demanding the honour be rescinded has passed 700,000 signatures. But Sir Ed defended the Queens right to appoint Sir Tony to the Order of the Garter, which is the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry. The former energy secretary, who was knighted in 2016 for political and public service, told the PA news agency: If the Queen wants to knight a politician or someone out of politics in any walk of life, I think we should respect Her Majesty. Demonstrators protest in London as Tony Blair was due to give evidence at the Iraq war inquiry (Stefan Rousseau/PA) And Im rather worried that people are being disrespectful to Her Majesty. The knighthood has provoked debate about the honours system, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer saying Boris Johnson has not earned the right of a knighthood after leaving office. But Sir Keir insisted his predecessor at the top of the Labour Party had earned his knighthood, having argued he made Britain a better country. Sir Tonys actions surrounding the Iraq war were also coming under renewed scrutiny. His former defence secretary Geoff Hoon wrote in his recent memoir that his office was ordered by Downing Street to burn a secret memo saying the 2003 Iraq invasion could be illegal, according to the Daily Mail. The Change.org online petition calling for the knighthood to be removed, accusing the former prime minister of being personally responsible for countless deaths in wars, surpassed 713,000 signatures. Ashley Judd is returning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo nearly one year after her near-fatal accident there. The actor and humanitarian, 53, shared on social media that she's "feeling ready" to go back after shattering her leg in four places during a catastrophic fall there in February 2021. It took Judd, who was working at a bonobo research camp, 55 hours to get to a hospital and have her leg saved with various surgeries. It took her six months to walk again. But "all that is in the past," she now says. Ashley Judd being carried out of the Congo rainforest in February 2021 after tripping over a fallen tree, in the dark, and breaking her leg in four places. She had a 55-hour journey to the hospital. (Photo: Ashley Judd via Instagram) "Good greetings, 2022," the Norma Jean & Marilyn star posted to Instagram Wednesday. "It is nice to see you, on this, the 11 month anniversary of having broken my leg in four places and paralyzing my foot (not to mention nearly hemorrhaging to death)." Judd, who lives in Tennessee, said she recently finished a 25-mile hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the wilderness pro regularly goes on long backcountry camping trips. She also made her annual New Year's trip hiking in the Swiss Alps. "All this has me feeling ready. For what? Yes. #Congo," she wrote. "I return now. My heart is open and eager. I do not yet know what I will feel, I know only that I will feel, and I am ready to greet the experience with curiosity, wonder, and an abundance of gratitude for every life-saving sister and brother who stroked my face, carried my make shift hammock through the rain forest for hours, wept alongside my agony, or simply laid beside me as I bit a stick while in shock." Judd continued, "All that is in the past now. What is here, now, is a leg that works (with a wee limp and a some knee stiffness at times), a spirit that won't let anything hold it back, and a desire to show up for the fullness of a beautiful life and that life includes the endangered, egalitarian bonobos who live free from coercion. And you. Thank you for walking with me. Peace be with you." Prior to her accident, the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador regularly visited Congo twice a year, for four to six weeks at a time. Her partner, Martin Surbeck, heads a research camp studying the endangered apes. Judd was out at 4:30 a.m. with two trackers working, which she said is her normal routine there. Her headlamp wasn't functioning properly and she walked a tree on the path at a "powerful stride," leading to the injury. She spent five hours on the rainforest ground, howling like a "wild animal" and in shock with no pain medication, while one tracker went back to the camp for help. Once help arrived, she had to be carried out in a hammock a three-hour trip. Getting to the hospital also entailed a six-hour motorbike ride (in which she held together her leg), a bush plane flight and an overnight stay on the floor of a hut. KFC (YUM) is going above and Beyond...Meat, that is, as plant-based items continue to encroach on fast food's turf. Late Tuesday, KFC announced the nationwide debut of Beyond Fried Chicken, after a two-year testing period. The anticipated menu item will be available to purchase at participating KFC locations in the U.S. beginning January 10. Customers can order the item as KFCs first ever plant-based combo meal or a la carte in six or 12-piece orders. Created in partnership with Beyond Meat (BYND), the limited-time meal recently made headlines in September, after KFC U.S. President Kevin Hochman revealed that the chain was working hard to perfect the new plant-based offering. "What were trying to replicate is a tenderloin where you actually have the muscle fibers. The texture is a bit more pleasing than what wed call a chewed-and-glued. Its a different technology," Hochman told business outlet "Fortune" at the time. (Courtesy: KFC) KFC first tested its Beyond Meat plant-based chicken in August 2019 with a limited-run test in Atlanta. The item sold out in under five hours. Fast forward one year later, KFC and Beyond Meat launched expanded tests in Nashville, Charlotte and Southern California. Since then, Hochman has doubled down on the plant-based boom claiming that meatless alternatives will be the wave of the future. Younger people tend to be the ones that want to eat more plant-based, Hochman told Bloomberg in an interview. We envision this trend to continue to grow. Were pretty bullish on that. We dont think that plant-based is a fad, we think thats something thats going to continue to grow over time, the executive added. In a new campaign celebrating the partnership, KFC and Beyond Meat teamed up with actress, producer and creator Liza Koshy, who swoops in to reveal the Kentucky Fried Miracle of plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken. Plant-based revolution hits fast food U.S. plant-based food sales grew two times as fast as animal-based food sales in 2020, totaling $7 billion, according to the latest Good Food Institute industry report. Within that category, plant-based meat crossed the billion-dollar mark, expanding by 45% in dollar sales from 2019. Fast food giants have hopped on the plant-based trend in recent years, with Beyond Meat serving as the go-to partner for numerous retailers. In addition to KFC, Beyond Meat has struck up alliances with McDonald's (MCD), Taco Bell, Costco (COST), Subway, TGI Fridays, Dunkin, Pizza Hut, and more. The McPlant burger, which analysts say could hit nationwide Golden Arches stores this year, has been viewed as one of the most-anticipated plant-based rollouts. An expanded release could help lift not only Beyond Meat's bottom line, but plant-based meat makers overall. Other competitors like Impossible Foods have searched to secure viable partnerships of their own. In 2020, Impossible landed a mega deal with Disney (DIS) that would sell meatless items at high-traffic locations including Disneyland in Anaheim, Disney World in Orlando, and the Disney Cruise Line. That same year, Starbucks (SBUX) announced that it would offer an Impossible Sausage breakfast sandwich at stores nationwide, and Burger King unveiled an Impossible Whopper (QSR), which hit the fast food chain to much fanfare in 2019. Alexandra is a Producer & Entertainment Correspondent at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will on Thursday mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6 assault at the U.S. Capitol by honoring the bravery of law enforcement on the scene, and outlining the unfinished work the nation needs to do to strengthen its democracy, the White House said. "On Thursday, the president is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, in the first preview of the president's remarks. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, will speak on Thursday morning at the U.S. Capitol, one year after a mob loyal to former President Donald Trump raided the complex in a failed attempt to stop the counting of Electoral College votes that officially delivered Biden's election victory. Later Tuesday, Trump canceled a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that had been scheduled for the evening of Jan. 6, saying he would address many of the same topics at a rally Jan. 15 instead. Trump, some fellow Republicans and right-wing media personalities have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the Jan. 6 attack, calling it a non-violent protest or blaming left-wing activists. Four people died on the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the day after defending Congress. Dozens of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught by Trump supporters, and four officers have since taken their own lives. Biden will put an extra spotlight on the role of Capitol Police and others on the scene on Jan. 6, Psaki said. "Because of their efforts, our democracy withstood an attack from a mob, and the will of more than 150 million people who voted in the presidential election was ultimately registered by Congress," Psaki said. Psaki was asked what the president's message will be to the many Republicans who believe Biden stole the election from Trump, despite overwhelming contrary evidence. "What he's going to continue to do is speak to everyone in the country. Those who didn't vote for him, those who may not believe he is the legitimate president, about what he wants to do to make their lives better," Psaki said. The White House is struggling to get voting rights legislation through the U.S. Senate that would counter new laws in Republican-led states Democrats say would limit left-leaning voters. Two sources told Reuters that Biden and Harris don't plan to use the Jan. 6 event to push for voting rights legislation. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw; additonal reporting by Nandita Bose and Merdie Nzanga; Editing by Heather Timmons and Rosalba O'Brien) FILE - Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, descendants of the principals in the Plessy V. Ferguson court case, pose for a photograph in front of a historical marker in New Orleans, on Tuesday, June 7, 2011. Homer Plessy, the namesake of the U.S. Supreme Courts 1896 separate but equal ruling, is being considered for a posthumous pardon. The Creole man of color died with a conviction still on his record for refusing to leave a whites-only train car in New Orleans in 1892. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File) NEW ORLEANS (AP) Louisianas governor planned to posthumously pardon Homer Plessy on Wednesday, more than a century after the Black man was arrested in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow a Jim Crow law creating whites-only train cars. The Plessy v Ferguson case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ushered in a half-century of laws calling for separate but equal accommodations that kept Black people in segregated schools, housing, theaters and other venues. Gov. John Bel Edwards scheduled the pardon ceremony for a spot near where Plessy was arrested in 1892 for breaking a Louisiana law requiring Black people to ride in cars that the law described as equal but separate from those for white customers. The date is close to the 125th anniversary of Plessys guilty plea in New Orleans. Relatives of both Plessy and the judge who convicted him were expected to attend. It spotlights New Orleans as the cradle of the civil rights movement, said Keith Plessy, whose great-great-grandfather was Plessy's cousin Homer Plessy had no children. "Hopefully, this will give some relief to generations who have suffered under discriminatory laws," said Phoebe Ferguson, the judge's great-great-granddaughter. The state Board of Pardons recommended the pardon on Nov. 12 for Plessy, who was a 30-year-old shoemaker when he boarded the train car as a member of a small civil rights group hoping to overturn the law. Instead, the 1896 ruling solidified whites-only spaces in public accommodations until a later Supreme Court unanimously overturned it in Brown v Board of Education in 1954. Both cases argued that segregation laws violated the 14th Amendment's right to equal protection. In Plessy, Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote for the 7-1 majority: Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences. Justice John Harlan, the dissenter, wrote that he believed the ruling will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case." That 1857 decision said no Black person who had been enslaved or was descended from a slave could ever become a U.S. citizen. It was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments, passed in 1865 and 1866. Plessy lacked the business, political and educational accomplishments of most other members of the group trying to strike down the segregation law, Keith Weldon Medley wrote in the book We As Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson. But his light skin court papers described him as someone whose one eighth African blood was not discernable positioned him for the train car protest. His one attribute was being white enough to gain access to the train and black enough to be arrested for doing so, Medley wrote. Five blocks of the street where he was arrested, renamed Homer Plessy Way in 2018, runs through the campus of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where the ceremony was to be held outdoors for COVID-19 safety. Eight months after the ruling in his case, Plessy pleaded guilty on Jan. 11, 1897. He was fined $25 at a time when 25 cents would buy a pound of round steak and 10 pounds of potatoes. He died in 1925 with the conviction on his record. Relatives of Plessy and John Howard Ferguson, the judge who oversaw his case in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, became friends decades later and formed a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights education. A firefighter is dwarfed by a plume of the Dixie fire in August near Janesville, Calif. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) State investigators have determined that a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power line was responsible for sparking last year's massive Dixie fire, which torched more than 960,000 acres in five Northern California counties as it burned clear across the Sierra Nevada. According to a statement by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, investigators found that the fire was caused by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric located west of Cresta Dam." The department's investigative report was forwarded to the Butte County district attorney's office, according to Tuesday's statement. Cal Fire officials referred all questions regarding the report to prosecutors. The district attorney's office could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. PG&E said in a statement Tuesday night that "a large tree struck one of our normally operating lines," noting that it had discussed the incident in a July news briefing and that the tree was one of 8 million within striking distance of its lines. The utility said it has committed to burying 10,000 miles of lines in addition to the risk reduction efforts included in its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan. "Regardless of todays finding, we will continue to be tenacious in our efforts to stop fire ignitions from our equipment and to ensure that everyone and everything is always safe," the statement said. The Dixie fire is not the first wildfire state investigators have traced to the utility company's equipment. In December, PG&E agreed to pay $125 million in fines and penalties under a settlement reached with state regulators after Cal Fire found that a faulty transmission line sparked the Kincade fire, which tore through more than 77,000 acres of Northern California wine country in 2019. Earlier last year, PG&E emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with former Chief Executive Bill Johnson promising it would be "reimagined" after wildfires ignited by the utility's equipment in 2017 and 2018 killed more than 100 people. The vast majority were killed in the Camp fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2019 to shield itself from tens of billions of dollars in potential liabilities due to its role in the fires. The company pleaded guilty last year to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Camp fire and agreed to pay the maximum criminal fine of $3.5 million plus $500,000 for the cost of the investigation. The Dixie fire, which started July 13, 2021, burned 963,309 acres and destroyed more than 1,400 structures, Cal Fire said. By the time it was contained Oct. 25, it had become the second-largest fire on record in California, surpassed only by the 2020 August Complex, which scorched 1,032,648 acres in Northern California, the state fire agency said. In August of last year, the Dixie fire roared through Greenville, a Gold Rush town of about 1,200 people. The inferno reduced a large swath of the town to rubble and ash. The fire grew large and intense enough to produce its own lighting and, along with the Caldor fire that tore through the Lake Tahoe Basin, became the first fire to burn from one side of the Sierra to the other in what authorities called an unprecedented fire season. Officials pointed to several factors that helped 2021's fires intensify rapidly. Some burned in areas with terrain challenging enough to hamper firefighting efforts from the ground. High winds acted as bellows, causing the fires to spread through the unusually dry trees and grass with shocking speed. Challenging conditions persisted for weeks until firefighters caught a break with the weather. Rain and slower winds allowed crews to get ahead of the flaming fronts, and when the Dixie fire reached less steep terrain, firefighters were able to attack with bulldozers and hoses, officials said. Previous prescribed burns in some areas also helped by starving the blaze of fuel. By December, a series of powerful storms dumped record-breaking amounts of snow and rain over California, replenishing reservoirs and raising the snowpack to 160% of its average for that time of year. But officials warn that the danger isn't over. After two of California's driest years on record, more snow and rain will be needed to break the drought. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Large bolts remain where a bronze streetlight once stood on the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct on Monday. Twenty-two lights have been stolen, and the L.A. Bureau of Street Lighting has removed an additional 18 lights for safeguarding. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) For nearly a century, dozens of silent sentinels have stood guard along the road between Atwater Village and Silver Lake. Clad in the green patina of weathered bronze, the lampposts lining the historic Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct warded off the darkness that would otherwise engulf the spans. But in recent months, several of the lampposts have been stolen, reportedly sawed down and hauled away by unidentified thieves, some as recently as this week. According to the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, 22 of the historic streetlights are missing. City crews have taken down an additional 18 lights and stored them. On Wednesday, after this article was initially published, the city announced it would remove and store all the remaining lights as a precaution, said Elena Stern, the department's senior public information director. The fixtures will be replaced by temporary lighting. "We believe there were/are roughly 60 to 70 historic lights along the bridge, which leaves about 20 to 30 lights left on the bridge," Stern said. "Because the thefts have been continuing, preserving the remaining iconic lights is the right thing to do." The city's Bureau of Street Lighting first learned of the thefts Sept. 18, Stern said. Three lights were reported stolen over three nights. Crews went to inspect the bridge three days later and discovered seven lights missing, she said. One of the remaining bronze streetlights on the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) And the thefts have continued despite an ongoing Los Angeles police investigation. The most recent occurred sometime between Dec. 27 and Tuesday, Stern said. The stolen lampposts were installed in 1926 and made of bronze, Stern said, and no replacements are immediately available. "Replicas would have to be manufactured from scratch to replace," she said. "The city is contemplating a future retrofit of the bridge for seismic and mobility purposes, which may provide an opportunity in the future to replicate elements that were stolen." For Glen Norman, a self-described streetlight historian who has been photographing and documenting historic fixtures in Los Angeles since the 1960s, the pilfered lampposts are more than a nighttime public safety risk. "Its just a tragic loss of some of the citys history," Norman said. "Old streetlights add character to the area. Theyve disappeared over the years. For me, as kind of a streetlight historian or detective, I like seeing the old lights because it gives me a sense of the L.A. that I grew up in." History hidden in plain sight The Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct was completed in either late 1928 or 1929, "during the apex of all the World War I memorials going up around the country," said Courtland Jindra, an amateur historian who served as a co-director of the California World War I Centennial Task Force. It was among nine L.A. River bridges designed by longtime city engineer Merrill Butler and built in the 1920s and 30s along with those at 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th streets; Spring Street; Cesar E. Chavez Avenue; and Olympic Boulevard. One span of the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct was dedicated as a World War I memorial on May 30, 1930, Jindra said. Grand plans for a 3-acre park with a fountain and a proposed renaming of the Riverside Drive span to Victory Bridge never materialized, he said, but the memorial section is still visible today at the end of the Glendale Boulevard off-ramp from the northbound 5 Freeway. A large tree obscures a part of the inscription. "Its hidden in plain sight," Jindra said. "You can read the Victory Memorial if youre coming in the right direction. Its just one of those things. Most people dont look for it." For streetlight enthusiasts such as Norman, Los Angeles' myriad aging lampposts are key parts of that history. The city saw a big expansion in electric street lighting around 1924, when it started buying models from Union Metal, which is still in operation in Canton, Ohio. "The 20s were probably the golden age of the decorative streetlights in L.A.," Norman said. Large bolts and wiring remain where a streetlight was stolen from the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Jack Feldman, a retired L.A. Department of Water and Power engineer, has a personal connection to that history. One of his first jobs was in the department's streetlight design section. "Im fascinated by how streetlights evolved from gas lamps on Main Street," Feldman said. "How they produced the gas from La Brea Tar Pits and made the gas, how [Thomas] Edison came up with the lightbulb. Within two years all the major cities wanted them." Electric lighting in Los Angeles has evolved from the first 150-foot-tall streetlight poles that illuminated a whole block at a time into the ornate designs of the early 20th century and then the modernist and utilitarian fixtures that dominate most of L.A. today. "If you've seen some of these, they're beautiful," Feldman said of the city's classic lampposts. "It really identifies a time period in the history of L.A. when the city was growing. Beautiful streetlights followed the wealthy areas and commercial areas." Today, Feldman runs a virtual museum for Water and Power Associates, a nonprofit organization focusing on energy and water issues, and on preserving L.A.'s regional water and electricity history. Feldman and Norman were both saddened by the continuing loss of the Glendale-Hyperion lampposts. "Its very, very sad, very angering actually," Norman said. "I can see why someone would do it for the meltdown value, but I just cant see how someone would do it." Feldman said he wasn't shocked by the thefts but feels the lights' loss nonetheless. "When you light up the streets, there's a purpose for it," he said. "It's illumination, crime deterrence." But streetlight design was an art form at one time, Feldman said, and although the lights on the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct were not as ornate as others around the city, he and others recognize their significance. "Its a work of art," he said. "It all goes together. Its part and parcel of the history of L.A. It's just a shame [the thefts] happen." Community presses for answers The Bureau of Street Lighting is continuing to work with police on the thefts, said Stern, the Department of Public Works spokeswoman. It is also working on measures to protect the remaining lights and ensure public safety, she said. Though the stolen streetlights could be replaced in a future project, the 14-foot and 17-foot fluted bronze poles are not used anywhere else in the city. Police were not able to answer questions from The Times on the exact timeline of the thefts and whether any suspects have been identified. Anyone with information about the thefts can submit an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Dan Halden, a spokesman for City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, whose district includes Atwater Village, called the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct a beloved part of the community and a historic resource. "Councilmember O'Farrell applauds the Bureau of Street Lighting for its efforts to proactively safeguard a number of lampposts on the bridge, and for partnering with the Department of Water and Power to install temporary lighting," Halden said. Meanwhile, Silver Lake and Atwater Village residents, along with a community of L.A. history enthusiasts, are continuing to press authorities for answers. "People are stealing these, but who's buying them, which metal yards?" asked Richard Schave, who along with his wife, Kim Cooper, runs the L.A. tour company Esotouric. "I don't know what the solution is. I'm glad [the Bureau of Street Lighting] has taken some down, but it's dark. The streetlights are out everywhere." Late on the first Monday of 2022, a handful of cars drove across the viaduct. The bright streetlights and cheery neon signs of Atwater Village lay behind. Ahead, many lampposts were missing. All but a few of the historic lights were out, and the fading beams from fixtures near the bridge failed to illuminate the way on a bridge cloaked in darkness. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, its first public weapons launch in about two months and a signal that Pyongyang isn't interested in rejoining denuclearization talks anytime soon and would rather focus on boosting its weapons arsenal. The latest launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further boost his military capability without disclosing any new policies toward the United States or South Korea at a high-profile ruling party conference last week. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Wednesday morning. It said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were trying to analyze more information about the launch. The Japanese Defense Ministry also detected the North Korean launch, saying the country likely fired a missile. We find it truly regrettable that North Korea has continued to fire missiles from last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. Kishida said other details about the North Korean launch werent immediately available, including where the suspected missile landed and whether there had been any damage. He said he ordered officials to confirm the safety of ships and planes in the area where the suspected missile likely flew and fell. Wednesdays launch was the first such firing since North Korea tested a series of newly developed weapons between September and November including nuclear-capable missiles that place South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies in the region, within striking distance. Some experts said North Korea was applying more pressure on its rivals to accept it as a nuclear power state in the hopes of winning relief from economic sanctions on the country. The Biden administration has repeatedly said it is open to resuming nuclear diplomacy with North Korea anywhere and at any time without preconditions. The North has so far rebuffed such overtures, saying U.S. hostility remains unchanged. Outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in his New Years address Tuesday that he would continue to seek ways to restore ties with North Korea and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula until his single five-year term ends in May. He has recently pushed for a political, symbolic declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to reduce animosities. U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to wrangling over how much sanctions relief should be given to the North in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step. Kim has since threatened to enlarge his nuclear arsenal, though his countrys economy has suffered major setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, persistent U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement. Rather than expressing willingness for denuclearization talks or interest in an end-of-war declaration, North Korea is signaling that neither the omicron variant nor domestic food shortages will stop its aggressive missile development, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said that North Korea might have tested a developmental hypersonic missile or a nuclear-capable KN-23 missile with a highly maneuverable and lower-trajectory flight. He said North Korea would likely move forward with its military build-up plans. During last weeks plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers Party, Kim repeated his vows to boost his countrys military capacity and ordered the production of more powerful, sophisticated weapons systems. State media reports on the meeting said North Korea set forth tactical directions for North Koreas external relations including with South Korea, but didnt elaborate. It made no mention of the United States. Last month, Kim marked 10 years in power. Since assuming control after his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Ils death in December 2011, Kim Jong Un has established absolute power at home and staged an unusually large number of weapons tests as part of efforts to build nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the American mainland. During Kim's 10-year rule, North Korea has performed 62 rounds of ballistic missile tests, compared with nine rounds during his grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sungs 46-year rule, and 22 rounds during Kim Jong Ils 17-year rule, according to South Korean and U.S. figures. Four of the Norths six nuclear tests and its three intercontinental ballistic missile launches all occurred under Kim Jong Uns rule. _ Associated Press Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. (Photo illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; Photos by Alex Wong, Tasos Katopodis, Jon Cherry, Tom Williams/Getty Images) In the hours after the attack on the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy seemed united as they spoke on the House floor. The Democratic and Republican lawmakers vowed to defy the insurrectionist mob's attempt to block certification of the presidential election results. The Californians hinted that the trauma of the day could help bridge the partisan divide in Congress. They even agreed that President Trump through actions or inaction bore significant responsibility for the Capitol riot. But over the last year, a chasm has grown between the two leaders over how to move forward from the attack and how to hold those responsible accountable. It is a divide that reflects a larger split in America, as more people inside and outside of Washington seek to write and rewrite the history of last Jan. 6. Through a second impeachment and the House select committee investigation, Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has focused on Trump, his allies and those who attempted to overturn the election results. McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), meanwhile, has sought to block the Democratic-led investigations and increasingly backed away from his early criticism of the former president, looking instead to shift the blame and connect the attack to broader civil unrest in the country. As the congressional investigation searches for answers about why the Jan. 6 attack happened, most Republican lawmakers dismiss it as a partisan effort to reopen political wounds and smear their party. Underlying it all is the lie the former president and his allies first began seeding in the months leading up to his loss in November 2020: that the election was illegitimate. Below is a timeline of the nation's yearlong journey, as told through the words of Pelosi and McCarthy. (Greg Nash / Associated Press; Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images; Samuel Corum / Getty Images) Jan. 6, 12:17 p.m. President Trump holds a "Save America" rally at the Ellipse outside the White House, near the Washington Monument. He tells supporters he will join them in walking to the Capitol. Trump: "And after this, were going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, were going to walk down we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and -women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Jan. 6, 12:53 p.m. Pro-Trump rioters clash with police officers before storming the Capitol. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Trump supporters begin to attack the Capitol, breaking through barricades and windows and disrupting the certification of the presidential election results. Pelosi issues a statement urging Trump to help end the attack, while McCarthy calls Trump directly. McCarthy: I condemn any of this. This is appalling. This is un-American. This should never happen in our nation, and whatever is going on right now needs to stop. They broke windows, they overran the building. We had to stop our proceedings in the middle of it. As a nation I know we sit back and were appalled by what were seeing. But I want everybody to take a deep breath and understand that we all have some responsibility here. .@SenSchumer and I are calling on President Trump to demand that all protestors leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol grounds immediately. pic.twitter.com/z6D8qb6bpe Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 6, 2021 Jan. 6, 4:17 p.m. Following calls from McCarthy, White House aides and conservative media hosts urging Trump to act, the president releases a video on Twitter telling his followers to go home. In the tweet, he reiterates false claims that the election was stolen. "I know how you feel," he tells his followers rioting at the Capitol. "We love you, you're very special ... go home in peace." Within days the president will be banned or suspended from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Jan. 6, 8:06 p.m. Congress reconvenes to complete the counting of electoral votes. Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the reconvened joint session of Congress to certify the election result. (Associated Press) Pelosi: Our purpose will be accomplished. We must and we will show to the country, and indeed to the world, that we will not be diverted from our duty, that we will respect our responsibility to the Constitution and to the American people. McCarthy: We will not falter, we will not bend and we will not shrink from our duty. Let me be very clear: Mobs don't rule America; laws rule America. It was true when our cities were burning this summer, and it's true now. Jan. 7 Democratic leaders urge Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Pelosi: In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I joined the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment. If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. Jan. 13 The House votes 232 to 197 to impeach President Trump for the second time, one day after passing a resolution calling on Pence to mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment. McCarthy calls for a censure instead. Pelosi talks with Democratic colleagues after the House voted to impeach President Trump on Jan. 13, 2021, for his role in the Capitol attack the week before. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Pelosi: Our country is divided. We all know that. There are lies abroad in the land, spread by a desperate president who feels his power slipping away. We know that too. But I know this as well, that we here in this House have a sacred obligation to stand for truth, to stand up for the Constitution, to stand as guardians of the republic. McCarthy: Some say the riots were cause by antifa. There's absolutely no evidence of that, and conservatives should be the first to say it. ... Most Americans want neither inaction nor retribution. They want durable, bipartisan justice. That path is still available, but it is not the path we are on today. That doesnt mean the president is free from fault. The president bears responsibility for Wednesdays attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. Jan. 21 During back-to-back news conferences, reporters ask McCarthy if President Trump provoked rioters to go to the Capitol, and ask Pelosi if impeachment would undercut unity. McCarthy: I don't believe he provoked if you listened to what he said at the rally. Pelosi: The fact is, the president of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don't think it's very unifying to say, Oh, let's just forget it and move on. That's not how you unify. Joe Biden said it beautifully: If you're going to unite, you must remember. Jan. 28 McCarthy meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach while fundraising in Florida. Weeks later, he defends the meeting, saying: "I can talk to anyone." McCarthy: Today, President Trump committed to helping elect Republicans in the House and Senate in 2022. ... A united conservative movement will strengthen the bonds of our citizens and uphold the freedoms our country was founded on. Feb. 9 The impeachment trial of former President Trump begins in the Senate. Feb. 13 The Senate votes to acquit Trump, 57 to 43. Seven Republican senators vote with Democrats, but the chamber fails to reach the required two-thirds majority to convict. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press; Jon Cherry / Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images) April 25 McCarthy is asked about his Jan. 6 phone call with Trump during a Fox News interview. He defends Trumps response on the day of the attack. McCarthy: "I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on. He didn't see it. What he ended the call [with] was saying telling me, he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did, he put a video out later." May 12 As McCarthy leaves a meeting with Pelosi and President Biden at the White House, he's asked whether he has concerns about replacing Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York in the GOP leadership considering Stefanik has cast doubts on the election results. McCarthy: "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We're sitting here with the president today." McCarthy, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), talks to reporters outside the White House after meeting with President Biden on May 12. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) May 13 Rep. Andrew S. Clyde, a Georgia Republican, says during a House Oversight Committee meeting that TV footage of the Capitol attack looked like "a normal tourist visit." Pelosi arrives for a news conference on May 12. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Pelosi: "Well, I don't know on a normal day around here where people are threatening to hang the vice president of the United States or shoot the speaker in the forehead. ... The denial about what happened that day, denial for the need for more security to make sure it doesn't happen again, and the denial of finding the truth is what we have to deal with." May 19 The House votes to form a 9/11-style independent commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection. McCarthy joins most Republicans in voting no, arguing that the commission should be free to investigate political violence more broadly and that other government groups are engaged in similar work. The commission dies in the Senate. McCarthy: Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the speakers shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation. Pelosi: In the interest of bipartisanship, we yielded on many points, which we thought would be important. We wouldnt budge on the purpose: to examine what happened on Jan. 6. June 23 A day before Pelosi announces a House select committee to investigate Jan. 6, McCarthy again argues the scope of the investigation should be broader. McCarthy: I have real concern, though, especially the scope of where were going to go. Just like in [the 9/11 independent commission], they didnt just study what happened [on] 9/11, they studied what built up to it. So why wouldnt we study what built up in the summer? Why wouldnt we analyze and get to the bottom of why the National Guard were not here? Did things that happened in the summer prevent people from bringing the National Guard here earlier? Did the speaker make some comments in regard to that? I think those are the things that all should come forward. June 30 The House votes 222 to 190 to form a select committee to investigate the insurrection. Just two Republicans vote in favor. Pelosi: Every member here knows that Jan. 6 was an attempt to subvert our democracy, but many across the aisle refuse to admit the truth.... They refused to admit the truth when they called that day a normal tourist visit. And today, when many will vote against establishing a select committee to investigate that day, they will again refuse to admit this truth. July 21 Pelosi announces that she will block two of McCarthys appointees to the select committee, both staunch Trump allies who voted against certifying Bidens election. McCarthy then pulls all of his nominees. Pelosi: With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Reps. [Jim] Banks [of Indiana] and [Jim] Jordan [of Ohio] to the select committee. The unprecedented nature of Jan. 6 demands this unprecedented decision. McCarthy: This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution. Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts. July 27 As the House select committee holds its first hearing, McCarthy references the false claim that Pelosi blocked the National Guard from protecting the Capitol. As House speaker, Pelosi does not direct the the National Guard. McCarthy: Theres questions into the leadership within the structure of the speakers office, where they denied the ability to bring the National Guard here. Aug. 30 The Jan. 6 committee asks 35 telecommunications and social media companies to preserve phone records and other information relevant to its investigation. McCarthy warns telecommunications companies that comply with the order: "a Republican majority will not forget." My statement on Democrats asking companies to violate federal law: pic.twitter.com/XELEVNbx65 Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 31, 2021 Oct. 19 Trump sues the Jan. 6 committee, arguing that his White House records are protected by executive privilege. Oct. 21 The House votes 229 to 202 to hold Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon, who helped promote the Jan. 6 rally before the insurrection, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the select committee to testify about his role. Following a November indictment, Bannon is set to go on trial in July 2022. McCarthy: "Issuing an invalid subpoena weakens our power, not if somebody votes against it. [Bannon] has the right to go to the court to see if he has executive privilege or not. I dont know if he does or not, but neither does the committee. So theyre weakening the power of Congress itself by issuing invalid subpoena." The vote for the criminal contempt of Congress resolution today goes beyond Bannon. It was a vote for the system of checks and balances and the Constitution. The genius of our Constitution, the separation of powers, our system of checks and balances, was upheld by todays vote. Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) October 22, 2021 Dec. 8 Pelosi is asked at a news conference about the breakdown of civility in the House. Pelosi: I'll never forgive president [the] former president of the United States and his lackeys and his bullies that he sent to the Capitol for the trauma that was exerted on our staff. ... You cannot erase that. Dec. 23 With Trump's effort to block the Jan. 6 committee's request for his White House documents rejected by lower courts, he appeals to the Supreme Court. Dec. 30 Pelosi sends a letter to her Democratic colleagues about the House's plans to observe the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack. Pelosi: "The patriotism and courage of our Members as we prepare for this difficult day is an inspiration, for which I sincerely thank you." Jan. 2, 2022 McCarthy sends a letter to the House Republican caucus marking the start of 2022 and the anniversary of the Capitol attack. McCarthy: "As we have said from the start, the actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be. Our Capitol should never be compromised and those who broke the law deserve to face legal repercussions and full accountability. Unfortunately, one year later, the majority party seems no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again. Instead, they are using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country." Photo illustration of U.S. Capitol building with blue clouds. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. FILE - Travelers check departure screens for their flight status at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. Better weather is helping some travelers get home after the New Year's holiday, but airlines are still canceling a high number of flights. By late Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, on the East Coast, airlines had scrubbed more than 1,200 flights for the day. Thats a very high number but not compared with Mondays disruptions. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File) Clearing weather over much of the eastern United States raised hopes that air-travel disruptions will ease after a dreadful start to the new year. By early Tuesday evening on the East Coast, airlines had scrubbed about 1,500 flights for the day. That's a very high number but well below Monday's disruptions, which included more than 3,200 canceled flights. Southwest Airlines canceled about 400 flights, or 12% of its schedule Tuesday. Airlines had already canceled nearly 500 U.S. flights for Wednesday, according to FlightAware. The number of canceled flights began rising Dec. 24, and several airlines blamed it on crew shortages due to the spreading omicron variant of COVID-19. Over the weekend, the sickouts were compounded by winter storms that swept across the country. About 2,700 U.S. flights were canceled on Saturday and a similar number were grounded Sunday. Thousands more were delayed. In all, about 20,000 U.S. flights have been canceled since Christmas Eve, according to FlightAware figures. Airlines often canceled flights long before storms hit, based on weather forecasts. Airlines think that by operating a reduced schedule they will avoid having planes and crews trapped in the wrong cities, but it frustrates passengers whose flights get canceled while it's still sunny outside. Its disheartening to see how domestic violence has caused so much pain in the lives of many Jamaicans. A local newspaper in 2018 told the sad tale of a woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by her husband (The Gleaner,2018). Once again, another victim of domestic violence. What caught my interest was the report of her professing to be a daughter of the living God on her Facebook page. I took this news very hard. I never believed that an alleged Christian could have suffered such a terrible death. The wrestle of reconciliation As one who has been a victim of domestic violence, I have to wrestle with the contrary desires of wanting to cut all ties with the perpetrator and seeking reconciliation. Many would ask why this is a struggle. Why would you want to reconcile with someone who abused you? However, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am constantly challenged by the Holy Spirit to love, forgive and reconcile. Often, my desire to cut ties with the perpetrator is rebutted by the word, which challenges me to honor the individual (Ephesians chapter 6, verse 2). This tends to leave me in tears as my heart is telling me that the individual isnt deserving of my respect and submission, but the scriptures and the Holy Spirit is suggesting otherwise. One day I asked God this question; are all relationships reconcilable? This question came to mind as I thought about what counsel I would give to another who is experiencing domestic violence. However, upon further reflection, I asked a further two questions; will all relationships be reconciled? And how do I know whether to leave the relationship, or stay and seek reconciliation? Are all relationships reconcilable? Yes! The cross represents the greatest act of reconciliation known to all creation. (2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18) tells us that God not only reconciled us to Himself, but He also entrusts us with the ministry of reconciliation. However, finding meaning in this verse can prove a challenge amid the abuse. I found it impossible to reconcile with someone who abuses others physically, verbally and sexually. There is nothing in them which suggest they are worth reconciling with. However, with man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. (Mathew chapter 19, verse 26). I have learnt that for reconciliation to be possible, Jesus must be at the center of our efforts. Only he can allow us to see these individuals as sinners in need of his grace and direction and empower us to love them. Also, He is the only one who can heal our broken heart (Psalm chapter 147, verse 3) from the aftermath of domestic violence. There is no doubt that the pain of living through domestic violence is hard to digest; but, when our souls are weary of sorrow, God is more than willing to strengthen us with his word (Psalm chapter 119, verse 28). Yet. Will all relationships be reconciled? Sadly, No! Mans heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9); that is our reality under the sun. There are some individuals who wont change. They even go as far as using our shortcomings to justify their actions. David experienced a hostile relationship with Saul. Saul, out of envy, intensely disliked David. As a result, David had to temporarily leave Israel as Saul purposed in his heart to kill him (1 Samuel chapter 19). Wow! Thats tough. Saul was Davids Father-in-law and king. I can only imagine the conflict in Davids heart as this was someone whom God required him to honor and submit to, yet he was a threat to his life. From Davids story, God has taught me two lessons in leaving hostile relationships. Firstly, we always leave room for Gods wrath (Romans chapter 12, verse 19). Then, we cleave as graciously as possible with the door wisely open for reconciliation. This is easier said than done as leaving can be hard, inconvenient and sometimes life-threatening. However, we fear not (less) because God is with us. We press on believing that Gods peace and comfort can overcome any thoughts of regret, revenge or bitterness that fight for the throne of our hearts. So How do I know whether to leave the relationship, or stay and seek reconciliation? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom... (Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7). I believe that Gods wisdom must take precedence over any feelings we have or any advice we get from friends or lobby group, but these must never be ignored. God is Sovereign! He is more than capable of humbling the one who constantly abuses you; however, he is just as capable of changing their heart. For me, the internal conflict described earlier persists. Yet, through it all, God has thought and challenged me a lot; and he continues to provide friends and a loving church community. I encourage you to pray, wait and believe when unsure as to what to do. Persistently pray to God expressing your heart and concerns to him. Humbly wait for God to respond to your cries knowing that He cares about them. Finally, believe in Gods promise to be with, sustain and empower us to the end, irrespective of the path he is leading us to. Finally, remain steadfast in prayer, resist the devil and humbly submit to God, and love hard even when its hard. A shirtless man, his face painted red, white and blue, wearing a horned Viking hat and carrying a spear, yelling "Freedom!" on the floor of the Senate. A smiling man in a knit Trump hat, waving to photographers as he drags House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern through the Capitol Rotunda. A man with his feet up on a desk in Pelosis office, a stun gun peeking out from his pants. A man carrying the Confederate battle flag over his shoulder as he strolls through the halls of the Capitol. A bearded man seen walking through the corridors wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt. A woman in a red parka and blue MAGA tights with a sign reading "The children cry out for justice," standing next to the vice presidents desk in the Senate chamber. A man in military-style tactical gear holding zip ties while climbing over seats in the Senate chamber. The rioters got within two doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive. For more Immersive stories click here. Those were just some of the images that went viral on Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building as Congress was certifying the 2020 election results. Five people died in connection to the attack, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber, and a Capitol Police officer who died from a stroke one day after being pepper-sprayed during the riot. More than 140 other police officers were injured defending the Capitol, four of whom have since taken their own lives. According to the FBI, more than 725 people have been criminally charged including those who went viral and more are expected to be arrested. Here is what the people in those viral images were charged with, and where the cases against them stand, nearly a year since the deadly insurrection. The QAnon Shaman (Jacob Chansley) Jacob Chansley inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his mugshot (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images, Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP) Of the countless images that emerged from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, few have been more indelible than those featuring Jacob Chansley the shirtless, spear-toting man seen storming the halls of Congress in a horned, fur headdress, his face painted red, white and blue. Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman, was among the first group of rioters to enter the Capitol while the election certification was under way. According to prosecutors, once inside the building, Chansley used a bullhorn to rile up the crowd and demand that lawmakers be brought out, before making his way into the Senate chamber. He was photographed sitting in Vice President Mike Pences chair on the Senate dais, where, prosecutors said, he left a note that read: Its Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming! Photos of 34-year-old Chansley were among the first to circulate on social media as rioters ransacked the Capitol; some Trump allies soon tried to use them as proof that antifa leftists were responsible for the violence, rather than the presidents own supporters. But such claims were easily debunked, in part because Chansleys distinct tattoos and unmistakable getup were quickly recognized from various right-wing political rallies in Arizona over the previous year where Chansley, a prominent promoter of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory group, had been a regular fixture. It was later reported that he had served in the U.S. Navy from 2005 to 2007. According to the Justice Department, Chansley called the FBIs Washington field office on Jan. 7 and confirmed that he was, in fact, the man in the face paint and horns seen during the Capitol attack. He said hed traveled from Arizona at the request of Trump, who urged all patriots to go to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to protest the certification of the Electoral College results. Two days later, he was taken into custody and charged with obstruction, civil disorder, demonstrating in a Capitol building, and violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. Chansley has remained behind bars throughout his court proceedings, but that hasnt kept him out of the spotlight. He made headlines by demanding to be served organic meals in jail and then sat for an interview with 60 Minutes in March in which he said his actions on Jan. 6 were not an attack but an attempt to bring God back into the Senate. His attorney, Al Watkins, also gave a number of high-profile interviews in the days after Chansley's arrest, insisting that his clients behavior during the riot was peaceful and that Trump was to blame for his presence at the Capitol, calling on the outgoing president to pardon Chansley and other supporters whod since been arrested. When no pardon came, Watkins said Chansley would be willing to testify against the former president during his second impeachment trial. [Poll: Share of Trump voters who believe Biden 'won fair and square' falls to 9%] Chansleys attitude appears to have evolved significantly over the last several months, much of which he spent in solitary confinement. In September, he agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of obstructing an official proceeding. At his sentencing hearing at the federal district court in Washington in November, he apologized for his role in the Capitol attack in a lengthy speech that featured quotes from Jesus and Gandhi and references to the popular 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, a prison drama. Though Judge Royce Lamberth praised Chansleys comments, telling him, "I think you are genuine in your remorse and heartfelt," he denied Watkinss request to sentence Chansley to time served. What you did is terrible, Lamberth told Chansley before sentencing him to 41 months, or roughly three and a half years, in prison. At the time, Chansleys sentence was tied for the harshest handed down so far in connection with the Jan. 6 riot (that title is now held by the 63-month prison term given to Robert Palmer more on him below). After all, Lamberth said, Chansley "made himself the image of the riot. Despite telling the judge he wanted to take accountability for his actions, Chansley has since hired new lawyers and filed a notice of appeal, seeking to overturn his conviction and prison sentence. It was not immediately clear on what grounds the appeal will be based, but Chansleys options are limited under the conditions of his plea agreement. His new lawyers one of whom briefly represented Kyle Rittenhouse have suggested they may pursue a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel against Watkins, Chansleys former attorney. Chansleys new attorney, John Pierce, declined a request for comment from Yahoo News. In an email to Yahoo News, Watkins confirmed that he is no longer representing Chansley, writing, as such, I am not in a position to comment on his case. Mr. Chansley is a very gentle, intelligent and kind man, Watkinss email continued. I sincerely wish him all the best in his life. The suspect with the fire extinguisher (Robert Palmer) Robert Palmer sprays a fire extinguisher toward police on Jan. 6, 2021, and a closeup (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Lev Radin/Pacific Press via ZUMA Wire) In the days and weeks after Jan. 6, video footage continued to emerge from the Capitol that, along with firsthand accounts from police officers who were at the scene, painted a clearer picture of the brutality encountered by law enforcement that day. It soon became evident that one of the most violent clashes between police and members of the pro-Trump mob took place near the Lower West Terrace entrance to the Capitol, where rioters were seen dragging two officers into the crowd and beating them with an array of objects, including metal pipes, barricades, fire extinguishers and flagpoles, in what one Capitol Police officer later described as something out of a medieval battle. Among those involved in the hours-long melee on the Lower West Terrace was 54-year-old Robert Palmer of Largo, Fla. According to prosecutors, Palmer made his way to the Capitol on Jan. 6 after attending Trumps rally near the White House earlier that afternoon. Visible in an American flag jacket and a red Florida for Trump hat, Palmer can be seen in a variety of photos and videos of the mob, which prosecutors used to trace his movements at the Capitol. According to court records, Palmer was initially spotted around 4 p.m. leaning over a railing on the Capitols Upper West Terrace, where he held a sign that read Biden is a pedophile and cheered on the mob attacking police on the terrace below. Palmer observed the fighting from above for about 50 minutes before making his way down to the Lower West Terrace, where, prosecutors said, he threw a wooden plank at officers, hitting a riot shield. He then proceeded to move further into the heart of the battle, joining the front line of rioters attacking police who were attempting to block access to a tunnel leading from the terrace into the building. Video footage captured Palmer spraying a fire extinguisher at the officers at close range and then hurling the empty canister at them twice, along with an orange traffic barrier. After the crowd had been cleared from the terrace, Palmer and others continued to confront police on the plaza below, where at approximately 5:15 p.m. he obtained a 4- to 5-foot pole. After ignoring warnings from Virginia State Police officers to drop the pole, prosecutors said, Palmer began screaming obscenities and threw the pole like a spear at the officers, prompting a state trooper to fire a rubber bullet, hitting Palmer in the stomach. After a few minutes on the ground, video footage documents Palmer walking around showing off a bruise. Attempting to portray himself as the victim rather than the aggressor, Palmer pointed at his abdomen, shouting, This is the United States. This is what our country is doing to its citizens, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. Although no specific police injury was tied to Palmers conduct at the Capitol, prosecutors said that based on the size and weight of the plank and fire extinguisher, and the speed and force with which Palmer threw them, the objects were capable of inflicting serious bodily injury. Despite all the footage of Palmers actions on Jan. 6, he was not arrested for his role in the riot until March 17, after he was identified by an online sleuth and named publicly in an article by HuffPost. In the piece, Palmer claimed he didnt do anything wrong at the Capitol. On Oct. 4, however, he pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, and last month he was sentenced to 63 months, or more than five years, in federal prison the longest sentence to date resulting from the criminal investigation of the Jan. 6 attack. He was the first Capitol defendant to be sentenced on the charge of assaulting officers using a dangerous or deadly weapon. [Jan. 6 Capitol riot: One year later, key numbers to know] Palmer attempted to express remorse for his actions ahead of his sentencing, which, under his original plea agreement, called for a prison term ranging from 46 to 57 months. I realize that we, meaning Trump supporters, were lied to by those that at the time who had great power, meaning the sitting president as well as those acting on his behalf, Palmer wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan last month. At his sentencing hearing he told the judge that while he was in jail, he watched footage of himself on Jan. 6 on an MSNBC news segment and was horrified, absolutely devastated to see myself on there. Im really, really ashamed of what I did, Palmer said. While federal prosecutors acknowledged in their sentencing memo that Palmer should get credit for turning himself in and cooperating with the FBI, they also argued that his statements both on January 6 and up to the present, even after his guilty plea, suggest a distinct lack of remorse for his conduct, a tenuous relationship with truth, and a willingness to repeat falsehoods for personal benefit. In particular, prosecutors pointed to an online fundraiser for Palmers legal defense that had been created at his direction, after hed pleaded guilty and been taken to jail in D.C., in which he claimed he did go on the defense and throw a fire extinguisher at the police only after being shot with tear gas and rubber bullets. Prosecutors argued that this statement, which Palmer later admitted in court was a lie, reflected a failure to accept responsibility for his actions, and Chutkan agreed, increasing the range of his sentence to 63 to 78 months. I dont know if your remorse now is genuine or not, Chuktan said before handing down the sentence. It sounds like it is. Your actions after your plea undercut that argument. The men and women who kept democracy functioning that day, and saved lives, they deserve the thanks of the nation, the judge told Palmer. They didnt deserve to have fire extinguishers thrown at them; they didnt deserve to be spat on. Perhaps, having seen yourself on videotape and media coverage, you understand how terrified the rest of this country must have been. In an interview with Yahoo News, Palmers attorney, Bjorn Brunvand, said theres no doubt his clients online fundraising request had detrimental effect on his ultimate sentence. But, Brunvand continued, I think hes remorseful regardless of what was said during that attempt at fundraising, adding that Palmer immediately refunded the money and removed the post. I think he did that at a moment when he was feeling really down and desperate, he said. Brunvand also told Yahoo News that while Palmer received a strong sentence, it certainly couldve been a lot worse, noting that his client had been facing up to 20 years in prison for Jan. 6-related charges. Palmer, he said, is still being held at the D.C. jail while awaiting a transfer to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility, where hell begin serving his sentence. The man who put his feet up in Pelosis office (Richard Barnett) Richard Barnett sits at the desk of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and his mugshot (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images, Washington County Sheriff's Office via AP) As hundreds of Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Richard Barnett, 61, of Gravette, Ark., was photographed inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, smiling with his feet up on a desk, an American flag draped across a nearby credenza, a stun gun visible in his pants. Unsurprisingly, the images were widely shared. Barnett emerged from the Capitol with a personalized envelope he took from Pelosis office, insisting to a New York Times reporter that he didn't steal it. I left a quarter on her desk, Barnett said, "even though she aint f***ing worth it. He also left a note for her, using an expletive to refer to the speaker. Two days later, Barnett was taken into custody near his northwest Arkansas home and charged with numerous offenses, including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, theft of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Barnett faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. During a March hearing, Barnett screamed at the judge for detaining him. He was released in April and ordered to wear an ankle monitor, turn over his passport and not leave his home. He is currently awaiting trial. His attorney, Joseph McBride, did not return a request for comment. In June, Barnett began selling signed copies of the photo of him inside Pelosis office for $100 to help pay his legal fees. Richard Barnett's picture at Speaker Pelosis desk has become the face of the new anti-federalist movement, a note on a fundraising website reads. We will not go gently into that good night. Last month, Barnett gave an interview to a local television station, saying he felt his actions on Jan. 6 were justified. I think more than anything I just wanted to feel like I was closer to the seat of power, he said. When youre talking about the type of charges many of us got filed against us and the extremes theyve gone to, its out of the ordinary, he continued. Its not normal. At that time I was shocked, Barnett said of his jail stint. I mean, now, a lot of time has passed, and in retrospect you go, Wow, is this what our country is really all about? As far as apologies or regret, no comment, he added. You can pretty much guess how I feel, but I cant comment on it. The man who stole Pelosi's lectern (Adam Johnson) Adam Johnson carries the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi through the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6, and his mugshot (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images,Pinellas County Sheriff's Office/via Reuters) Another Capitol rioter who achieved viral fame was Adam Johnson, a 36-year-old from Florida who was seen in a knit Trump hat smiling and waving to photographers as he dragged Pelosi's lectern through the Capitol Rotunda. (The lectern was reported missing but found the next day in a hallway on the Senate side of the Capitol.) Johnson subsequently posted to Facebook a different photo of himself taken inside the Capitol that day, and a caller to the FBIs National Threat Operations Center tip line said they recognized him in the viral image because they shared a mutual friend. On Jan. 8, Johnson was arrested near his home in Parrish, Fla., and charged with three counts: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of government property. Johnson initially pleaded not guilty. Shortly after his arrest, his attorneys, David Bigney and Dan Eckhart, insisted their client simply got swept up in the moment. He is a family man, Eckhart told CNN. His wife is a physician. He has five children. There is nothing in his background or his past that would attribute any type of violence or this type of rebellious behavior to him. It is an anomaly, an unusual situation for him. "He wasn't involved in any coup," Bigney added. Things got out of hand. You saw the pictures. He was not there for any destruction, any treason. He was just there to witness history. But late last month, Johnson agreed to plead guilty to one count entering or remaining in a restricted building which carries a maximum of up to one year in prison and a fine of $100,000. Johnson, though, is expected to receive less than six months in prison, and as part of his plea, he will pay $500 to the architect of the Capitol. He is due to be sentenced on Feb. 25. The man in the "Camp Auschwitz" hoodie (Robert Keith Packer) Robert Keith Packer inside the Capitol, and his mugshot (inset) (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Western Tidewater Regional Jail via AP, ITN/DOJ) In another widely circulated photo taken during the riot, several Trump supporters are depicted in a corridor holding a shard of a broken sign with Pelosis name on it. To their right is a man wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the words Camp Auschwitz, a reference to the network of extermination camps run by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Underneath those words is an image of a human skull and the phrase Work brings freedom. (That is the approximate English translation of a sign on Auschwitz's gate reading "Arbeit macht frei.") The man, identified as Robert Keith Packer, 57, of Virginia, was arrested near his home on Jan. 13. According to a criminal complaint, a store owner in Newport News, Va., recognized Packer as a customer and contacted law enforcement. Surveillance cameras at the store captured Packer about a month before the siege wearing the same Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt, and authorities used that information to help identify and locate him. Packer was charged with two counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building, and violent entry and disorderly conduct and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a personal recognizance bond on the condition that he stay away from Washington, D.C. Pelosi has rarely singled out any of the Capitol rioters when discussing the events of Jan. 6. But she admitted that she couldnt help but be overcome with anger when she saw Packer in his Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt. To see this punk with that shirt on, Pelosi said during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill a week after the insurrection, and his anti-Semitism that he has bragged about, to be a part of this white supremacist raid on this Capitol requires us to have an after-action review to assign responsibility to those who were part of organizing it and incentivizing it. In August, Packer was offered a plea deal by the Justice Department, part of an effort to resolve lower-level cases stemming from the attack. Federal prosecutors didn't provide details about the offer during a brief hearing that month, but other rioters who have been charged with nonviolent offenses have been offered similar plea deals many ending with jail sentences of six months or less. But Packer has yet to accept the offer. The Confederate flag suspect (Kevin Seefried) Kevin Seefried at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and a closeup (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images, Mike Theiler/Reuters) Kevin Seefried, 51, came to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 with his 23-year-old son Hunter to hear Trump speak. He brought with him a Confederate battle flag that he normally displays outside his home in Wilmington, Del. Seefried and his son were among those who participated in the march from the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse to the Capitol, which was led by an individual with a bullhorn, according to court documents. Video footage showed the two men entering the Senate building through a window that Hunter helped break at 2:13 p.m. ET, according to the FBI. A short time later, Kevin Seefried was photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag through the halls of the Capitol, past a portrait of Charles Sumner, an abolitionist senator from Massachusetts during the Civil War. It was a visceral image that drew immediate anger, particularly among historians who found the juxtaposition jarring. The Confederate flag made it deeper into Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, than it did during the Civil War, William Blair, professor emeritus of history at Penn State, later told the New York Times. Once inside, Kevin and Hunter Seefried were part of a large group that verbally confronted several Capitol Police officers, court documents say. Hunter was also seen in video footage taking a selfie. According to the documents, Kevin Seefried was identified after a co-worker of Hunter Seefried's told the FBI that he had bragged about being inside the Capitol with his father that day. The father and son were both arrested in Delaware on Jan. 14 and charged with five counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Hunter Seefried was indicted on three additional counts: knowingly engaging in an act of physical violence against property, destruction of government property, and violence within the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. They each pleaded not guilty to all counts, and a June 15 trial date has been set. The zip-tie guy (Eric Gavelek Munchel) Eric Gavelek Munchel and his mother, Lisa Marie Eisenhart, in the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, and their mugshots (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images, Metro Nashville Police Department via AP) Among the more chilling images to surface from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 is a photograph of a man in black tactical gear climbing over seats in the Senate chamber with a fist full of white flex cuffs, or zip ties. His face was almost entirely covered by a black, balaclava-style ski mask under a black baseball cap, but it seemed clear almost immediately that the man in this photo, who would soon be dubbed zip-tie guy on social media, was not a law enforcement officer responding to the breach of the Capitol but a member of the mob. Before the zip-tie guy had even been identified, some counterterrorism experts speculated that the flex cuffs seen in the photograph might be indicative of a plot by rioters to hold politicians hostage. After the riot, social media sleuths helped the FBI identify the man as 30-year-old Eric Gavelek Munchel of Nashville. Eleven days after the breach of the Capitol, federal prosecutors in Washington filed a criminal complaint with an arrest warrant for Munchel as well as his mother, Atlanta-area nurse Lisa Marie Eisenhart, who, they said, was seen alongside Munchel in several photos and videos taken inside the Capitol complex on Jan. 6. Munchel and Eisenhart were both initially indicted on charges of entering a restricted building or grounds, obstructing an official proceeding, and violent entry or disorderly conduct for their alleged activities during the insurrection. But in June, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment, charging the pair with eight total counts, including carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon inside the U.S. Capitol. The weapon in question was a Taser, which prosecutors have said Munchel was carrying in a holster on his camouflage pants. Both Munchel and Eisenhart have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Other evidence cited by the Justice Department includes interviews that Munchel and Eisenhart gave to the Times of London in the immediate aftermath of the attack, as well as footage obtained from Munchels cellphone, which he wore mounted on his vest during the riot. Among the key moments prosecutors say were captured in that Jan. 6 recording is the one in which Munchel found the plastic handcuffs, or zip ties, that made him go viral. At one point, Munchel spots plastic handcuffs on a table inside a hallway in the Capitol, attorneys with the DOJ wrote in a pretrial detention memo in January. Munchel exclaims, Zipties. I need to get me some of them [expletive], and grabs several white plastic handcuffs from on top of a cabinet. Prosecutors said Munchels cellphone footage also captured a conversation between the mother-son duo in which they decided to stash unspecified weapons in a backpack outside the Capitol before entering the building. Munchel and Eisenhart were jailed for two months without bond after their initial arrests, but in March, Judge Royce Lamberth the same D.C. District Court judge who oversaw Jacob Chansleys case ordered both of them to be released on bond and placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring. Munchel was originally placed under the supervision of a friend who allowed him to sleep on the couch of her Nashville apartment before kicking him out, prompting prosecutors to accuse him of violating his bond conditions. In a court filing, Justice Department lawyers asked the judge to place Munchel in the custody of his older brother and to prohibit him from consuming alcohol, arguing that his behavior contributed to his prior eviction. [The unanswered questions about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot] As with other Jan. 6 defendants, Munchels lawyer has blamed Trump for her client's participation in the insurrection at the Capitol. In a February court filing arguing that Munchel should be released from jail ahead of his trial, attorney Sandra Roland cited the former presidents efforts to discredit the outcome of the 2020 presidential election as motivation for Munchels actions on Jan. 6. Beginning in 2020, parts of the United States government first and foremost the President of the United States of America told the public that the only way President Donald Trump could lose the presidential election was if the election was rigged, Roland wrote. After President Trump lost the election, he and other government officials aligned with him said the presidency had been stolen from him by widespread election fraud. She went on to write that that it wasnt until Jan. 4 that Munchel agreed to accompany his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, to President Trumps Save America rally to be held on January 6, 2021, noting that Munchel is not affiliated with any militant groups or hate groups or anti-government groups, or any groups who planned to do anything on January 6th beyond attending a rally to protest what they perceived as the steal. Roland declined Yahoo News request for comment. An attorney representing Eisenhart did not respond to requests for comment. A trial date has not yet been set for either Munchel or Eisenhart. The woman carrying The children cry out for justice sign (Christine Priola) Christine Priola with a fellow rioter in the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, and a school ID photo (inset). (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images, Cleveland Metropolitan School District via AP) She was hard to miss on Jan. 6: the woman in a red winter parka and MAGA-emblazoned pants with a sign reading The children cry out for justice, standing on the floor of the Senate chamber pointing her cellphone where Vice President Mike Pence had been standing minutes before. Twitter users quickly identified the woman as Christine Priola, a 49-year-old school occupational therapist from Cleveland. The FBI in Cleveland received an anonymous tip that she was employed by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Priola submitted her letter of resignation the day after she learned she was under investigation. In the letter, she cited three reasons for resignation, including beliefs that are in line with the QAnon conspiracy theories espoused by some Trump supporters who took part in the riot: 1. I will not be taking the corona virus 19 vaccine in order to return to in person learning. 2. I will be switching paths to expose the global evil of human trafficking and pedophilia, including in our government and childrens services agencies. 3. I do not agree with my union dues which help fund people and groups that support the killing of unborn children. (Her third reason, its worth noting, highlighted the underreported link between the Capitol riot and anti-abortion extremism prevalent among supporters of QAnon.) The school board accepted her resignation shortly after she submitted it, stating that while the board supported the right of any individual to peacefully protest, it condemned the actions taken by hundreds on Jan. 6. The right of peaceful protest, as protected by the First Amendment, is a foundation of our democracy, a spokeswoman for the school board said in a statement. The forcible takeover and willful destruction of our government is not. A day later, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Priolas Willoughby, Ohio, home, where they recovered a laptop, two desktop computers, several thumb drives and an iPhone, which was apparently wiped clean of data during the riot. However, agents were able to uncover location data from 4:23 p.m. that day, which according to Google Maps corresponded to a location just northeast of the U.S. Capitol. Priola was arrested on Jan. 14 and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and unlawful activities on Capitol grounds, parades, assemblages and display of flags. She was released on a $20,000 bond, subject to home detention and electronic home monitoring. (She arrived back at her home wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt with the slogan Save our children written on it.) Priolas case has been granted numerous continuations, with the government citing the enormous volume of discovery in her case and in other Jan. 6 cases. Her next court date is scheduled for Feb. 1. WASHINGTON (AP) Long after most other lawmakers had been rushed to safety, they were on the hard marble floor, ducking for cover. Trapped in the gallery of the House, occupying balcony seats off-limits to the public because of COVID-19, roughly three dozen House Democrats were the last ones to leave the chamber on Jan. 6, bearing witness as the certification of a presidential election gave way to a violent insurrection. As danger neared, and as the rioters were trying to break down the doors, they called their families. They scrambled for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared themselves to fight. Many thought they might die. When I looked up, I had this realization that we were trapped, said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had evacuated the House floor first. And they forgot about us. Bound together by circumstance, sharing a trauma uniquely their own, the lawmakers were both the witnesses and the victims of an unprecedented assault on American democracy. Along with a small number of staffers and members of the media, they remained in the chamber as Capitol Police strained to hold back the surging, shouting mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The lawmakers were finally taken to safety roughly an hour after the siege began. Interviewed by The Associated Press before this weeks anniversary of the attack, 10 of the House members who were in the gallery talked of being deeply shaken by their experience, recalling viscerally the sights and sounds amid the chaos. Members of Congress shelter in the House gallery as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Vividly they remember the loud, hornetlike buzz of their gas masks. The explosive crack of tear gas in the hallways outside. The screams of officers telling them to stay down. The thunderous beating on the doors below. Glass shattering as the rioters punched through a window pane. The knobs rattling ominously on the locked doors just a few feet behind them. And most indelibly, the loud clap of a gunshot, reverberating across the cavernous chamber. Ive heard a lot of gunshots in my time, and it was very clear what that was, Crow said. I knew that things had severely escalated. The shot was fired by Officer Michael Byrd and killed Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter from California who was trying to crawl through the broken window of a door that leads to the House chamber. Both the Justice Department and Capitol Police investigated the shooting and declined to file charges. While the gunshot dispersed some of the violent mob, the lawmakers ducking in the gallery believed the worst was just beginning. I think all of us, myself included, had images of a mass-shooting event, said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who posted video updates on Twitter as the chaos unfolded. It was terrifying in the moment. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said he could tell the gunshot had come from the back of the chamber, in the Speaker's Lobby just outside, and not from the main doors on the opposite side where they could see rioters trying to break through. In that moment he realized why they couldnt leave they were surrounded. It was in stages that you realized the severity, he said. Their terror was compounded by knowledge of what the mob was after: stopping Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes that would make Joe Biden the 46th president of the United States. Mike Pence, as is customary for the vice president, had been presiding over the ceremony in the House chamber where lawmakers were gathered to hear the certified results from all 50 U.S. states and the territories. Trump had other ideas. Spouting lies about election fraud that were refuted by his own Justice Department, Trump pressured Pence to reject the electors a move that would have bucked the Constitution and thrown the House, and potentially the country, into chaos. Pence refused to do so, but Trump held a rally in Washington before the vote-counting began, telling hundreds of supporters at the Ellipse to fight like hell. Members of the mob chanted Hang Mike Pence as they forced their way into the Capitol, brutally overpowering police who stood in their way. Dozens were injured, some seriously, and four officers who were there that day later took their own lives. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., was among those sheltering in the gallery. She tried to remain calm, drawing on what she learned as chief of the Orlando police. But she also felt powerless, lacking a gun or any of the other weapons she always had on the beat. She shuddered when police said there had been a breach of the building. That is probably the word that I will remember about that day for the rest of my life more than any other, Demings said. I knew that meant that the police had somehow lost the line. And I also know, having been a former police officer, that they would have done everything in their power to hold that line to protect us. House of Representatives members leave the floor of the House chamber as protesters try to break into the chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) She says she told a colleague sheltering with her in the gallery: Just remember, were on the right side of history. If we all die today, another group will come in and certify those ballots. Congress reconvened that night, certifying Bidens election victory before sunrise. In the days after the attack, many of the lawmakers who were in the gallery started connecting on a text message chain. It quickly evolved into therapeutic group sessions and even potluck gatherings where they tried to make sense of it all. They dubbed themselves the gallery group, and the name stuck. The Democrats were social distancing in the balcony as they waited to speak on the floor at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and those interviewed said they dont recall any Republicans sheltering alongside them. GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota was in the gallery at the beginning of the insurrection and recounted the ordeal to a local news outlet that evening. But he declined to be interviewed. A handful of other Republicans, including Reps. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Troy Nehls of Texas, helped police barricade the door below. Some of the Democrats who sheltered in the gallery are planning to spend time together at the Capitol this week, not only to remember their own experiences and honor those who protected them but also to reflect on the countrys narrow escape from a coup. We were the last people in the chamber, said Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, a former Navy helicopter pilot. I think we saw the whole thing play out in a way that is very different from anybody else on the Hill. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state helped organize the first virtual session the Sunday after the insurrection. She received multiple texts from colleagues after she spoke up on a Democratic caucus call about what the group went through and how they felt forgotten. It ended up being a three-hour Zoom, Jayapal says. It was deeply personal. People shared a lot of things about what they were going through. There were a lot of tears. There was a lot of anger. There was a lot of, you know, just how could this be? How could we be in America and have this happen in our Capitol? Many of the members went on to seek therapy. Some were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, their struggles exacerbated by the raw tensions on Capitol Hill and an increasing number of death threats. Others said they have been more traumatized by the growing tendency among Republican lawmakers, and some in the public, to downplay or ignore the violence than they were by the attack itself. Lawmakers said the gallery group has been a refuge through it all. I think it really saved my mental health, says Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif. It just seemed like every time somebody posted something, we were all awake, no matter what time of day or night, and we were all responding to each other. So that was really powerful. Rep. Annie Kuster, who sought treatment for post-traumatic stress, says the gallery group connects almost daily on the text message chain, which moved to an encrypted app after some members raised security concerns. Sometimes its to get a ride to a vote. Sometimes its, Whos cooking, and can you bring a bottle of wine to a dinner together? And sometimes its talking about our treatment for trauma and how we can preserve our democracy. Kuster, D-N.H., was one of the first to be let out of the gallery on Jan. 6, escaping through the doors along with three other members just before the remaining lawmakers were locked inside. When Kusters group reached the hallway, a group of rioters was rushing toward them. We ducked into the elevator, Kuster said. And I said to this incredible policeman I said, oh, my God, what if the elevator doors open, and they kill us? And I will never forget this moment ... he said, Maam, I am here to protect you. And he was there to protect our democracy. For those still in the gallery, fear was escalating. Crow was tending to Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., who was in distress after talking to a family member, while also communicating with Mullin on the floor below as he helped barricade the door. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., was shouting a prayer for peace and healing. Jayapal, who had knee replacement surgery just a few weeks earlier and was using a cane, was trying to figure out how she would escape if she had to run. She held hands with some of her female colleagues crouching beside her. Eventually, Capitol Police determined the upstairs area was clear, even as insurrectionists kept trying to break through the doors below. The lawmakers and others were rushed out of the chamber and down a warren of staircases and hallways. When they left, they could see police officers holding five or six rioters flat on the ground, guns pointed at their heads. The rioters were just inches from the doors of the gallery. Papers and gas masks are left behind after House of Representatives members left the floor of the House chamber as rioters try to break into the chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., says he has tried not to dwell on what happened. But he still has searing images in his mind, including watching police drag heavy furniture in front of the main doors to the House floor as the rioters tried to beat them down. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Himes says he spends a lot of time in high-security spaces and before Jan. 6, he had assumed the Capitol was one of them. It was as though you were watching water flow uphill, Himes said. Something that you imagined was impossible is happening right in front of your eyes. Kuster says that one of the most traumatic things for her was not being able to see what was happening outside the chamber. They could only hear the noises of the threat the pounding on the door, the shouting in the hallways. When she made it home two days later, she watched hours of video from the insurrection, including harrowing footage from the police battles outside the building. It only compounded the trauma. I remember my husband coming in, and I was just sobbing, Kuster said. And he was holding me, saying, I dont know if this is the best thing for you to see. But we have to we have to acknowledge the reality of what happened that day. And whats challenging for us is that we are both victims and witnesses to the crime on our country. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday formally dismissed the federal government's criminal case against two Manhattan jail guards who admitted to falsifying records on the night that financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself during their shifts. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan dismissed claims against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, after prosecutors said both complied with the six-month deferred prosecution agreements they had agreed to last May. Epstein killed himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Video: Jeffrey Epstein's jail guards avoid prison Noel and Thomas were accused of falling asleep and surfing the internet that night rather than checking on Epstein every 30 minutes, and they acknowledged having falsified records to make it seem they were monitoring Epstein properly. Both cooperated with a federal probe arising from Epstein's death. William Barr, the U.S. attorney general at the time, had been angered that a high-profile inmate like Epstein was able to kill himself while in federal custody. In a statement, Noel's lawyer Jason Foy said the case was "managed differently" by the government because of Epstein's "infamous" status, and said his client cooperated by providing insight into the "toxic culture, subpar training, staffing shortages, and dysfunctional management" of the now-closed jail. Thomas' lawyer said last week that his client was happy the case was being dismissed, and looked forward to putting the matter behind him. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler) Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com). On Jan. 5, 1949, the U.N. passed a resolution recognizing the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the global body. Each year, Kashmiri on both sides of the Line of Control mark this day as the Right to Self-Determination Day. Pakistan strongly condemns the despicable and totally unacceptable harassment and insult of Muslim women on the internet and purpose-built online application in India. In a completely obnoxious and repugnant act, aimed at humiliating, harassing, and insulting Muslim women, their doctored images have been placed on the internet application with outrageous captions for auction. Hate-mongering followers of such applications attacked the dignity of nearly 100 influential Muslim women by bidding on them with deeply offensive remarks. This is the newest low in the violent streak of hate attacks against minorities in India whereby cyberspace with a purpose-built online platform(s) and social media has been used yet again, to demean and harass women, particularly Muslim women, to create a feeling of fear and shame amongst the Muslim community. These horrifying occurrences have left Muslim women traumatized and in deep fear. Under the Hindutva-inspired BJP-RSS combine dispensation in New Delhi, space for minorities particularly Muslims is continuously shrinking in India. It is reprehensible that no action has been taken against the perpetrators of a similar abhorrent act six months ago auctioning dozens of influential Muslim women in India on a social media platform. The deafening silence of the BJP leadership and absence of discernible action against Hindutva proponents openly calling for the genocide of Muslims should send alarm bells across the international community about the gross and systematic human rights violations of minorities particularly Muslims in India. Pakistan reiterates its calls on the international community, particularly the United Nations and relevant international human rights and humanitarian organizations to fulfill their responsibilities to stop the rising xenophobia, Islamophobia, and violent attacks against minorities in India and ensure their safety, security, and well-being. India's occupation of Jammu and Kashmir is illegal, with Delhis brutality intensifying after it scrapped the disputed regions special autonomy on Aug. 5, 2019. Around 900,000 occupation forces have converted the region into the largest prison in the world. Around 8 million people are under siege. It is the largest curfew which has halted the life of 8 million people. Post-Aug. 5, 2019, India has unleashed a new reign of terror in India Occupied Kashmir, locking the region down and abusing the human rights of innocent people especially women, children, and the elderly with impunity. Kashmir is completely blackout and isolated from the rest of the world. Internet and mobile phone services have been suspended. No journalist or foreigner is allowed to travel to Kashmir. Before imposing Curfew on the 5th of August, India has asked all visitors and tourists to leave Kashmir. Kashmiri people on both sides of the line of control are the same people and bonded with blood relations, which was divided by force by Indian troops. Pakistan has a firm commitment to extend moral and political and diplomatic support on humanitarian grounds to just struggle of Kashmiri people for their right of self-determination, which was granted by the United Nation. Indian action on the 5th of August 2019, the suspension of the legal status of Kashmir is against the UNSC resolution, against the spirit of the Simla Agreement, and against any norms of the international community. Kashmir is a recognized disputed territory among China, Pakistan, and India. Unilateral action by India is considered a severe violation of International law. India used all dirty tactics to suppress the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination, including excessive use of force. Around 1 million Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, but, for the last 73 years, India failed to change the mindset of the Kashmiri people, and could not succeed to suppress their struggle. India must have learned the lesson that the People of Kashmir cannot be suppressed. Sooner or later India has to surrender and leave Kashmir for Kashmiris. The sooner is the better. The people of Kashmir appealed to the international community, particularly the United Nations, to conduct an impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir so that the Kashmiris can decide their future themselves. The APHC also condemned the continued lockdown of the territory by the Indian government. Trust, nations, and individuals with human consciousness may raise their voice in favor of Kashmiris and their suffering may reach an end soon. Immediate lifting of the curfew, withdrawal of one million troops from Kashmir, and stopping the violation of human rights in Kashmir, are the urgent steps to be taken by India. (ASIA PACIFIC DAILY) Online Access for Print Subscribers. Do you have a print subscription with the Argus-Press? If yes, then click here to enjoy complimentary access to our Online Content! This artwork is a continuation of my last painting in my digital art series called Heaven Invades. In the last piece it showed a silhouette in the clouds of a rider of a horse over seeing the drama of the world underneath. This piece is the big reveal of the one that is riding that horse. This piece heaven invades is a response to the hurting world right now on many fronts. I believe that the only only one that can't straighten out the chaos and mess of the world is Jesus. Here in my painting Christ the redeeming figure is charging on the white horse ready to take up battle as he invades earth from the heavenly places and he is one warrior not to be messed with. Inspired by Revelation Chapter 19 and my prayer for Jesus the interventionist God to enter our mess and to take up the fight for us and to bring order, peace and hope to our broken world. Our job is to get on our knees and be in reverent fear of the Lord and to cry out for the victory that only He can bring. Reminder from his word to do exactly as I said Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 As Laurent Lagneau writes in Zone Militaire (opex360), when Russia says it wants the end of NATO's enlargement at its borders, Russia is aiming first at Ukraine and Georgia, two formerly member countries of the USSR, but also to Finland, a country which, as an autonomous Grand Duchy, was under its control between 1809 and 1917 and with which it shares a 1,300 km long border. Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish government leader Sanna Marin stated: Let it be said once again: Finland's room for maneuver and freedom of choice includes also the possibility of a military alignment and of requesting the adhesion to NATO, if we decide it ourselves (Picture source: Finnish MoD) During the Cold War, Finland followed a policy of strict neutrality between NATO and the Soviet Union. In 1995, it ended up joining the European Union and started a rapprochement with NATO, without however taking the step of membership, only participating, like Sweden, in the "Partnership for Peace". "[PPP] proposed by it. "Finland's accession without Sweden would create a strategically delicate situation of an outpost without territorial continuity with NATO" while "if Sweden takes the sole decision to join NATO, then Finland would be more exposed and vulnerable than today, explained the authors of this document. However, as Laurent Lagneau recalls, the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 was a game-changer. Both in Sweden and in Finland, the question of finally joining NATO began to be debated. At the same time, these two countries have strengthened their military cooperation, while getting closer to the United States, and even the United Kingdom, as part of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), created by London. In 2016, a report submitted to the Finnish government estimated that Helsinki's accession to NATO would only be relevant if Stockholm did the same. The debate was relaunched in 2021 by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish government leader Sanna Marin: Let it be said once again: Finland's room for maneuver and freedom of choice includes also the possibility of a military alignment and of requesting the adhesion to NATO, if we decide it ourselves, declared Mr. Niinisto during his speech for the new year 2022, Sanna Marin said exactly the same thing in her 2022 New Years post: Finland retains the possibility of applying for NATO membership. [] We must defend this freedom of choice and ensure that it remains a reality because it is part of the right of each country to decide on its own security policies, she argued, before ensuring that Helsinki will continue "to intensify its European cooperation in the field of security and defense". The remarks came as Russian diplomacy warned Finland and Sweden of "serious consequences" for NATO membership. NATO and Finland relationship NATO and Finland share common values, conduct an open and regular political dialogue and engage in a wide range of practical cooperation. NATO and Finland actively cooperate in peace-support operations, exercise together and exchange analysis and information. An important priority is to ensure interoperable capabilities, maintaining the ability of the Finnish armed forces to work with those of NATO and other partner countries in multinational peace-support operations. Finnish cooperation with NATO is based on its policy of military non-alignment and a firm national political consensus. The cooperation began when Finland joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1994 and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (a multilateral forum for dialogue that brings together all Allies and partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic area) in 1997. An Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP), which is jointly agreed upon for a two-year period, lays out the programme of cooperation between Finland and NATO. Notice that Finland is one of NATO's most active partners and has been a valued contributor to NATO-led operations and missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Finland is one of six countries (known as 'Enhanced Opportunity Partners'1 under the Partnership Interoperability Initiative) that make particularly significant contributions to NATO operations and other Alliance objectives. As such, the country has enhanced opportunities for dialogue and cooperation with the Allies. In the current security context of heightened concerns about Russian military and nonmilitary activities, NATO has stepped up cooperation with partner countries Finland and Sweden, with a particular focus on ensuring security in the Baltic Sea region. This includes regular political dialogue and consultations; exchanges of information on hybrid warfare; coordinating training and exercises; and developing better joint situational awareness to address common threats and develop joint actions, if needed. Both partners participate in the enhanced NATO Response Force (NRF) in a supplementary role and subject to national decisions. Additionally, both partners have signed a memorandum of understanding on Host Nation Support which, subject to a national decision, allows for logistical support to Allied forces located on, or in transit through, their territory during exercises or in a crisis. Finland's cooperation with NATO is mutually beneficial and includes various aspects Building capabilities and interoperability Finland participates in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) and the Operational Capabilities Concept, two frameworks that assist the country with planning and evaluating the readiness of its contributions to NATO-led peace-support operations. Finland participates in NATO and PfP exercises and has declared a variety of infantry, engineering, naval, and air units as potentially available for exercises and operations. Finland regularly contributes to European Union (EU) Battlegroups, and is cooperating with other countries to develop a multinational rapid-reaction force for EU-led peace-support operations. Finland participates in two strategic airlift initiatives: the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) programme and the Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS). In 2017, Finland created the Helsinki European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. The centre is open to participating states and supported by NATO and the EU. Since 2014, under the Partnership Interoperability Initiative, Finland has participated in the Interoperability Platform, which brings Allies together with 24 selected partners that are active contributors to NATO's operations. Finland and NATO signed a Political Framework Arrangement in 2017 for cooperation on cyber defence. The country also participates in the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, NATO cyber defence exercises, and cyber-related 'Smart Defence' projects. In July 2001, NATO formally recognised the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre (FINCENT) as a PfP Training Centre. FINCENT provides training on military crisis management for staff employed by international organisations such as NATO, the United Nations (UN) and the EU. Finland has close ties with other Nordic countries and participates in Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO), a regional defence initiative that promotes collaboration between Nordic armed forces. Support for NATO-led operations and missions Finland first participated in a NATO-led operation in 1996 when it contributed a battalion to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 2002, Finnish soldiers worked alongside Allied forces in Afghanistan first as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which completed its mission at the end of 2014, and later as part of the follow-on Resolute Support Mission (RSM) to further train, assist and advise the Afghan security forces and institutions. Finland also contributed over USD 14 million to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund. Finland provides personnel to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR). Finland also participates in NATO Mission Iraq (NMI), NATO's advisory, training and capacity-building mission in Iraq. Wider cooperation between NATO and Finland Finland engages with NATO's Civil Emergency Planning Committee and cooperates with Allies on regional assessments, security of supply, critical infrastructure protection, and in providing mutual support in dealing with the consequences of a major accident or disaster in the Euro-Atlantic area. Finnish civil resources have been listed with NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) and Finland has contributed to NATO's pool of preparedness experts. Finland has also provided civil preparedness training to Allies and other partners. Current practical cooperation under the Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme focuses on activities pertaining to counter-terrorism, cyber defence, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence, environmental security, and advanced technology. Among them, noteworthy is the participation of Finland in the DEXTER Programme, which is developing an integrated system to detect explosives and firearms in public spaces. Moreover, cyber experts from Finland are training artificial intelligence systems to recognise potential cyber-attacks. Finnish scientists are also involved in the development of low-cost optical sensors for the detection of airborne chemical and biological agents. Finland actively supports the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), and since 2008 has developed successive National Action Plans in support of the WPS agenda. Finland is an active supporter of NATO Trust Fund projects in other partner countries and has contributed to nearly a dozen so far, including many that fall under NATO's Defence and Related Security Capacity Building (DCB) Initiative. Currently, it is supporting the DCB Trust Fund, and projects in Georgia, Jordan, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. According to Murtala Abdullahi in HumanAngleMedia, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed the national budget for the fiscal year 2022, which allocates over N1 trillion for defense operations, procurement and upgrade of capabilities, and infrastructure. The defence sector budget appropriation alongside funding for other security actors in the country was approved as part of the N17.126 trillion Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability signed into law on Dec. 31, 2021 by the President. Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link Locally-made Light Patrol Vehicle in the streets of Kaduna during Nigerias governorship and state assembly elections, on March 9, 2019. (Picture source: Twiter account Marko Babic) During the presentation of the proposed budget earlier in October 2021, President Buhari had stated that security would continue to be top priority. The budget 2022, Murtala Abdullahi notices, represents an increase of N735.85 billion as against the initial proposal for a total expenditure of N16.391 trillion. The President also stated that he would revert to the Parliament with a request for amendment and/or virement as soon as they resume. The defence budget comprised expenditures of the various institutions including the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Headquarters, Army, Air Force, and Navy, in addition to other organisations such as Defence Intelligence, College, Missions and Industries. Auxiliary budgets are often used by the government to purchase military equipment and to improve or fill capability gaps. The Ministry of Defence section included funding for rehabilitation of barracks, purchase of defence equipment and motor vehicles, and the ongoing assessment of APCs, equipment and facilities in the Nigerian Army, while the Defence Headquarters devoted funding for the procurement of military equipment, utility vehicles, kits, arms and ammunition. Nigeria already produces several local armored vehicles, such as the Igirigi manufactured by the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) (Picture source: naptu2) The Army Headquarters had generic lines mentioning construction projects, procurement of defense and security equipment. The Navy assigned funds for projects such as the completion of helicopter hangars, construction of jetties, and establishment of Special Operations Command for Special Operations Forces, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), and diving unit. Other projects included the procurement of SDB, Landing Ship Tank, utility vehicles, troop carriers, fast patrol boats, and rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs). The Air Force is making a balance payment for the periodic depot maintenance of three L-39ZA aircraft. Over the years, the service has invested in maintenance and overhaul of the aircraft which are used for pilot training as well as reconnaissance and ground attack missions. As underlined by Murtala Abdullahi, funding is also assigned for aircraft arms and ammunition, and balance payment for periodic depot maintenance of C-130H (NAF 918) transport aircraft, in addition to balance payment for procurement of two AW109 Trekker helicopters to replace the order for one AW139 helicopter and three JF-7 thunder aircraft. Its unclear if the JF-17 deal is for a new batch or part of an existing deal that has appeared in recent budgets. In May, the Air Force inducted three JF-17 Thunder multiple fighter jets, jointly manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. Part payment was designated for reactivation of two AS332 Super Puma helicopters, maintenance and upgrade of three MiI helicopters and purchase of two KingAir 360, spares and support equipment which will serve as likely attrition replacement for the two Beechcraft KingAir B350i lost in February and May 2021, Murtala Abdullahi concludes. The World Bank reckons that its share of the gross domestic product dropped from 43 per cent in 1967 to 16 per cent in 2019 Once the scene of tumultuous protests and massive rallies, the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana was deserted at the years end. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha firebrands who had roared defiance at the government were nowhere to be seen. Few remembered the 35-year-old farm worker whose hand was chopped off and his body was strung up on a barricade allegedly for desecrating the Sikh scriptures. The traffic to Jaipur flowed smoothly again. Even the police had left. With elections looming ahead in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought peace by dropping the three controversial agricultural reform laws against which lakhs of farmers had rampaged for 15 months because they were thought to benefit influential corporations at the expense of the cultivators. The dusty emptiness they left behind recalled the hollow men whose world ends not with a bang but a whimper. Over it hung a tantalising question mark. Why did Mr Modi, of the massive 56-inch chest (as Union home minister Amit Shah again reminded listeners), not spurn his challengers? Could this first instance of the Prime Minister caving in to pressure mean that a new economic chapter will unfold in the new year? The prospect bears consideration. Some of last years other images brought little comfort. Five former chiefs of staff of the armed forces and over a hundred prominent citizens reminded President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Modi of the saffron-draped savants baying for the blood of more than 200 million Muslims. They also warned of a large number of persons [who] gathered in Delhi and publicly took an oath resolving to make India a Hindu nation, by fighting and killing if necessary, and that more such seditious meetings are being organised in other places. Resplendent in red and gold, his forehead massively smeared with vermillion, Kalicharan Maharaj, a Hindu preacher, was arrested for allegedly insulting Mahatma Gandhi. Smoke billowing from rows of blazing pyres that consumed the bodies of countless Covid-19 victims will darken the communal Armageddon that is the nightmare of the future. How many corpses were burned or dumped in rivers we shall never know. How many more will die remains unclear as the Omicron variant threatens a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, defying a New Years Eve stirring of hope from South Africa. Safety precautions like social distancing and masks were for the janata, not netas, as Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut pointed out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells people to wear masks, but he himself doesnt wear one I follow the Prime Minister and do not wear a mask, and people dont wear masks. It was tit for tat for West Bengals chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who refused to cancel the Ganga Sagar mela, snapping at journalists: Why are you interested in only the Ganga Sagar Mela, ask [about] Kumbh Mela! The globalisation of politics and personalisation of global developments ensured that attention didnt stray too far or for too long from the gripping drama at home. American President Joe Bidens withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan plunged that unhappy land into even worse turmoil, but Pakistan and Kashmir almost reduced the Taliban into another Indian domestic terrorist gang. As for Mr Bidens audacious bid to induct Australia into nuclear deterrence, it enraged France (which felt cheated out of a $65.7 billion deal), incensed China, and prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and even India to wonder whether a whites-only defensive core would dominate what former President Donald Trump called the Indo-Pacific. Given his own megalomania, Mr Trump catered better to visiting egos as the 2019 Howdy Modi spectacular in Houston demonstrated. Mr Bidens handsome amends by making the Prime Minister one of 12 stellar speakers at his Summit for Democracy in December prompted NDTVs researchers to report a massive surge in prosecutions against the National Democratic Alliance governments political rivals, civil rights workers and even legal and bureaucratic critics. Some 570 cases were launched against them in contrast to the 85 by Dr Manmohan Singhs United Progressive Alliance government. The UPAs first seven years recorded an annual growth rate of 8.4 per cent; it was only 4.8 per cent during the NDAs first seven years. But India reported the third highest number of billionaires worldwide, whose combined wealth of $596 billion was nearly double last years $313 billion. The 100 richest Indians have never been richer with infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani, who nearly tripled his fortune to $74.8 billion, in the second position for the third year running, and reportedly narrowing the gap with Reliance Industries fellow-Gujarati chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose $92.7 billion fortune makes him leader of the pack. Farmers who burned the effigies of the two tycoons as well as of Mr Modi fear that the new laws will somehow enable Mr Adani and Mr Ambani to muscle into agricultural marketing. Although there was little evidence to support their suspicions, Reliances telecom towers were vandalised, and hashtags like #BoycottReliance, #BoycottJio, and #BoycottAdani circulated on Twitter, alongside hashtags backing the farmers and demanding official support for guaranteed minimum prices that ensure a base level of profit for cultivators. The Economist warned that most alarmingly, in India some of the rich have become super-rich by using their heft to crush smaller competitors and thus corner multiple chunks of the economy. The tilt in fortunes has rewarded not so much technical innovation or productivity growth or the opening of new markets as the wielding of political influence and privileged access to capital to capture and protect existing markets. The real problem is that the Atma Nirbhar Bharat, of which Mr Modi boasts and which resembles Jawaharlal Nehrus import substitution but with a special role for big business, has failed to boost manufacturing. Slogans like Make in India and Make for the World have not improved capability or changed consumer preference. What Arvind Subramanian, Mr Modis former chief economic adviser, calls new welfarism is largely a populist distributive strategy to entice voters. Agricultures role has been shrinking for decades. The World Bank reckons that its share of the gross domestic product dropped from 43 per cent in 1967 to 16 per cent in 2019, while seeds, fertilisers and other essential inputs all cost more. Some 60 per cent of Indians who still depend financially on farming struggle with debt, bankruptcy and endemic suicide. They may present the government with its biggest challenge after Covid-19 and the dangerous surge in aggressive religiosity in the new year. The silence at the Singhu border indicates a truce, not peace. The probe team has already completed its investigation into the crash of the Russian-origin Mi-17V5 helicopter, they said The Court of Inquiry into the crash was headed by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh. (Photo:AFP) New Delhi: The Indian Air Force on Wednesday apprised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh about the findings of the tri-services investigation into the December 8 chopper crash that killed CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others, people familiar with the development said. The probe team has already completed its investigation into the crash of the Russian-origin Mi-17V5 helicopter, they said. Earlier, sources suggested that the crash was not a result of any technical error in the helicopter of the Indian Air Force. However, there is no official confirmation on it. The Court of Inquiry into the crash was headed by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh. Gen Rawat's wife Madhulika, his defence advisor Brigadier LS Lidder, staff officer to the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Col Harjinder Singh and decorated pilot Group Captain Varun Singh were among 13 others killed in the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. It is learnt that the probe team examined all likely scenarios for the crash, including possible human error or whether it was a case of disorientation of crew when the helicopter was preparing for landing. Air Marshal Singh, currently heading the Bengaluru-headquartered Training Command of the IAF, is known to be one of the best air crash investigators in the country. Before taking the reins of the Training Command, the Air Marshal was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at the Air headquarters and developed various protocols for flight safety while serving in the post. The latest provocation from China had emerged after it came up with its own names for over a dozen places in Arunachal Pradesh Indian Army soldiers pose for a photograph with the national flag on the occasion of New Year 2022, at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. China released a video of their troops with their flag at the Galwan Valley, on Saturday. (PTI Photo) New Delhi: Countering the Chinese militarys propaganda, the Indian security establishment on Tuesday released photographs showing Indian troops holding the tricolour in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh at the dawn of the New Year. This follows Chinese state-affiliated accounts three days ago posting on the social media videos of PLA soldiers allegedly unfurling the Chinese flag on New Year in what it claimed was the Galwan Valley. The video part of the Chinese psy-ops tried to demonstrate that PLA soldiers still occupied the point where the deadly clash between the two sides took place in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley. However, sources had said the video was taken on the Chinese side of the LAC, not in the demilitarised zone in the Galwan Valley created following the June 15, 2020 clashes. In one of the photos, released by the Indian security establishment on Tuesday, around 30 Indian soldiers were seen with the national flag. Another photo showed the group, with four of them holding the flag, and another tricolour flying high on a flagpole near a temporary observation post. In both the photographs, the Indian soldiers are seen with their newly-acquired US-made Sig Sauer advanced assault rifles. The Chinese propaganda video had also become a political issue after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had raised it. Only the Indian tricolour looks good in Galwan. India must give a fitting reply to China. Modiji, break your silence, Mr Gandhi had tweeted. The latest provocation from China had emerged after it came up with its own names for over a dozen places in Arunachal Pradesh. The 13th round of the India-China corps commander-level military talks in October had ended in a stalemate, with the Indian Army saying the constructive suggestions made by it were not agreeable to the Chinese side. In their virtual diplomatic talks on November 18, India and China agreed to hold the 14th round of military talks at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh. However, the Chinese side is yet to respond or agree on a date for the next round of military talks. There is no let-up in Chinese activity at the LAC. They are continuously upgrading their infrastructure at the LAC and placing a large number of troops and heavy weapons on the front line with India. The SEC has asked the Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer to submit its revised protocol for trials The COVID-19 booster intranasal vaccine will be given to those who have taken both the doses of Covaxin and Covishield. (Photo: PTI/Representational) New Delhi: The Subject Experts Committee (SEC) of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Wednesday granted approval to Bharat Biotech for conducting intranasal phase 3 trials and heterologous trials for COVID-19 booster intranasal vaccine for those who have taken both the doses of Covaxin and Covishield. The SEC has asked the Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer to submit its revised protocol for trials. "After detailed deliberation, the SEC 'in principle' agreed for the conduct of both phase 3 superiority study and phase 3 booster dose study in parallel in the light of the pandemic situation. Accordingly, Bharat Biotech has been asked to submit the protocol(s) as recommended for approval," reads the SEC minutes of the meeting. The vaccine manufacturer plans to conduct clinical trials on 5,000 healthy individuals, 50 per cent of whom have received Covishield and the other 50 per cent have been inoculated with Covaxin. The report submitted by Bharat Biotech also recommended inoculating the COVID-19 Booster dose after 6 months of getting both the primary doses. The company had applied for permission sometime around mid-December to conduct clinical trials for its intranasal booster dose vaccine. Charges include genocide, torture, rape and crimes against humanity. The action follows inaction by international bodies. Turkish citizens are among the Uyghurs imprisoned in China. The initiative will have little practical effect, but it creates a political problem for Erdogan. Beijing (AsiaNews) A group of 19 Uyghurs living in Turkey have filed a criminal complaint against Chinese officials for genocide, torture, rape and crimes against humanity. The Chinese government is accused by many parties of atrocities against Turkic-speaking Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and other provinces of China. The petition, which was presented to a Turkish prosecutor, concerns the fate of 116 Uyghurs, including Turkish citizens, who, according to the applicants, are held in Chinese prisons. It demands that 112 Chinese nationals be put on trial, including Chinese Communist Party officials, directors and officers in charge of prison camps. Lawyer Gulden Sonmez said the move was necessary because international bodies have failed to act so far, Reuters reports. According to the United Nations, several humanitarian organisations and world media, since 2017 Chinese authorities have imprisoned about 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz in Xinjiang concentration camps. The claims are based on official Chinese documents and direct testimony from former inmates and prison guards. They cite a range of human rights violations, such as torture and other inhuman treatment, forced sterilisation, rape and forced separation of minors. China has rejected the accusations, claiming that the camps in Xinjiang are vocational centres, part of a programme to reduce poverty and fight terrorism and separatism. Although Turkish law recognises universal jurisdiction, the complaint brought by the group of Uyghur exiles will have no practical effect, as China will refuse to cooperate. But it could have political repercussions for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. About 50,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey. The Turkish government has been accused of deporting Uyghur refugees to China in exchange for financial aid from Beijing, which Erdogan denies. Due to his ambiguous policy vis-a-vis Uyghurs in China, the Turkish leader is often under attack from the opposition. In October however, Turkey together with 42 other countries signed a statement to the United Nations condemning China for its actions in Xinjiang. This is the first time that the Turkey has supported such a declaration. by Fady Noun A symposium on "John Paul II and Lebanon on 2-3 February provides the Holy Sees top diplomat with a venue to organise the trip, which could take place between the countrys legislative and presidential elections in May and October respectively, if stability and security are ensured. Now it's up to the Lebanese, a source said. Beirut (AsiaNews) Cardinal Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States, will travel to Lebanon in early February to prepare a papal visit, this according to various sources. Card Gallagher will be at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), north of Beirut, where he will inaugurate a symposium on the topic John Paul II and Lebanon on 2-3 February 2022. The university is part of the Lebanese Maronite Order. The Vatican diplomat will discuss with the country's top officials the possibility of a pastoral visit to Lebanon by Pope Francis in 2022, a country in crisis that the Supreme Pontiff has repeatedly said he wants to visit. During his 26 years of reign (1978-2005), the "great pope" John Paul II described Lebanon as more than a country, a message of pluralism and tolerance for East and West", in an appeal made to the bishops of the whole world on 7 September 1989. Overused and faded, the slogan Lebanon as a message has lost its depth and impact. To regain its power, the Vatican, the Lebanese Ambassador to the Holy See Farid el-Khazen and Holy Spirit University of Kaslik are jointly organising a symposium centred on John Paul II and Lebanon on 2-3 February at USEK campus with Card Paul Gallagher as the guest of honour. The idea for the symposium dates back to 2020, Ambassador Farid el-Khazen said. The initial purpose was to mark the 25th anniversary of the special assembly of the Synod of Bishops consecrated to Lebanon (1995) and John Paul II's visit to Lebanon in May 1997 to hand over the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation to the local Church. The commemoration was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but, barring any surprises, the symposium will take place next month. As for a possible papal visit to Lebanon, a reliable source suggests that if it is to take place, it will be between Lebanons two elections scheduled for this year, i.e., the parliamentary election in May and the presidential election in October, if the conditions for political and security stability are met that is. Now it's up to the Lebanese, the source added. The symposium itself will start with a look at the past, followed by sessions devoted to Islamic-Christian relations, living together, education, culture and freedoms, ending with the document on human fraternity in Abu Dhabi (2019) and Lebanons historical vocation. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of any political news, in particular the proposal by Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi for Lebanese neutrality. For Lebanons ambassador to the Holy See, the spirit rather than the letter of "living together" will be at the heart of the symposium, where living together relies on the notions of civic equality and cultural community, as Card Jean-Marie Lustiger, then archbishop of Paris, defined it. John Paul II sent Card Lustiger to Lebanon in April 2000. "But it's not just about words," the diplomat said. While admitting that without an effort from the international community in the current geopolitical context, Lebanon cannot regain its free decision, he believes that the Lebanese must still "carry out their own duties at home. They must remember that during his visit to Lebanon, John Paul II said: "Lebanese, you ask me for miracles; it is up to you to perform them. The importance given by John Paul II to the Lebanese model has not changed, despite the important developments since the 1990s, the ambassador stressed. Pope Francis has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, visiting the Holy Land, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and, lastly, Iraq last year, before the ecumenical day of prayer on 1 July 2021 at the Vatican, to which the heads of the Eastern Churches were invited. Echoing the three key words of John Paul II's formula, message, tolerance and pluralism, Pope Francis ended the meeting saying that Lebanon was a universal message of peace and fraternity arising from the Middle East whose vocation is to be a land of tolerance and pluralism, an oasis of fraternity where different religions and confessions meet, where different communities live together, putting the common good before their individual interests. This a toll order for a country in crisis, seeking constantly how to turn its rich and complex identity into viable institutions. by Thanh Tao About 2,000 Vietnamese children suffered violence in the past two years, usually by family members or acquaintances. For experts, accepting violence as an educational tool is wrong. Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - Violence against minors has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. In the past two years, about 2,000 children have suffered psychological abuse; and in 97 per cent of the cases, the perpetrators were relatives or acquaintances of the victims. Presently, more than 10 million Vietnamese children are not in school, forced to follow distance learning. This puts some of them at risk of dying if stay home; like an eight-year-old girl who was recently beaten by her father's partner and died in hospital from her injuries. After divorcing his wife, Mr Thai went to live with Ms Trang in a luxury apartment in Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Thanh district. The latter admitted to whipping the little girl for making mistakes in her homework. In another case, the uncle of a little girl who is in fifth grade saw her drunk father beat her for no reason. "Last week, when my niece was doing her homework, suddenly her father appeared and punched her in the face," said the man who lives in Thanh Hoa province. My niece was very scared. I managed to intervene in time, but the father beats his daughter regularly even when he is not drunk. According to the Research Institute for Sustainable Development many still believe that parents have the right to educate their children by punishing and spanking them. Violence against minors causes psychological trauma and negatively affects childrens development. The problem, according to experts, lies in the normalisation of cruelty towards children, which raises the risk of greater violence in families and society. War, in its essence, has never been good. No doubt, it is an absolute necessity in many cases- to procure the liberty of nations, contain evil, preserve lives, and protect the weak. However, war has always involved damages, casualties, and suffering. War brings out the worst of humanity. It never has good endings for those who get involved. The long and dreadful war in Afghanistan has brought suffering and destruction to the people of Afghanistan and failed to achieve peace. In short, war is evil. Yet, in 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul writes, Fight the good fight of faith. There is only one good fight, and it is the Christian warfare. It is the fight of the soul. Here are three reasons why the Christian warfare is good. 1. We fight the enemies within and without It is good to fight because if we dont, the enemies will destroy us. We are fighting on two fronts: the outer front and the inner front. On the inner front, we are battling against our flesh. In 1 Peter 2:11, Peter writes, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Peter personifies the passions of the flesh as an army of rebels or guerrillas who search out and try to destroy our joy and usefulness. Therefore, as a soldier of the army of the gospel, we must abstain from the desires of the flesh to impact the world with the word of God. John Owen writes, Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. We fight not only the battle within but also the battle outside of us or the outer front. It is the battle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12). This enemy is cunning and crafty. It has its schemes to deceive us (Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11). It prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8). Therefore, we must fight. 2. We fight with the best weapon It is a good fight because we fight with the best weapons. The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4). We have the armor of God that can enable us to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13). We have the sword of truth, which is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus used the word of God as the weapon against the temptation of Satan, and He succeeded (Matthew chapter 4). Millions of sinners like you and me have used spiritual weapons, and they have never failed. Therefore, let us operate the best weapons that God gives us against the lies and schemes of the devils. 3. We fight the war in which victory is assured We fight under the command of our Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will lead us to the final victory, and the Chief Shepherd (First Peter chapter 5 verse 4). Let me remind you of the words of Martin Luther in A Mighty Fortress is Our God: Did we in our own strength confide, Our Striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of Gods choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth is His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the battle. No doubt, the battle is going to be raging, painful, and costly. There will be wounds, bruises, and struggles. However, Jesus shall win the battle for us, and we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8 verse 37). What should motivate us in this fight is the promise of final victory. God will make His enemies a footstool (Psalm 110 verse 1). He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians chapter 1 verse 6). Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, Of those whom You gave me, I have lost none (John 18:9). No soldiers of Christ shall be lost or left dead on the battlefield. Therefore, we can be confident that this fight is good for those who participate in it. Brothers and sisters, we are fighting an irreconcilable war, but it is a war where victory is assured. Press on. Note: The article is inspired by The Fight in Holiness by J.C. Ryle. Today's headlines: China plans 40 space missions this year. Covid canels Philippine "Black Nazzareno" parade. US coalition attacks in Syria. Fake app selling Muslim women uncovered in India. Kazakhstan declares a state of emergency. The water crisis in Crimea continues. NORTH KOREA Kim Jong-un's regime has launched an unidentified missile into the Sea of Japan, report South Korean and Japanese authorities. It is believed to be a ballistic missile. UN resolutions prohibit the North Koreans from conducting missile and nuclear tests. This morning's is the first launch in 2022. CHINA In an apparent challenge to the United States, Beijing plans 40 space missions this year. The first goal of the program is to complete the Tiangong orbital station. The Chinese also aim to conclude a five-year cooperation agreement with Russia. PHILIPPINES Due to an increase in Covid-19 infections, the Philippine government has canceled the "Black Nazzareno" procession for the second year in a row. The religious festival that attracts millions of Catholic worshippers, is held on Jan. 9. In the past two weeks, cases of infection in the country have risen from 200 to 5,400 a day. SYRIA The U.S.-led coalition struck a series of missile positions in eastern Syria. Washington did not specify whether these were missile launchers of the Syrian government or its allied Iranian militias. The U.S. explained that the operation was intended to prevent an attack on its units east of the Euphrates River. INDIA Indian police arrested an 18-year-old woman responsible for a web app by which she offered fake sales of Muslim women. The app, called Bulli Bai, featured photos of 100 people who were actually well-known activists and journalists of the Islamic faith. This is the second arrest made so far in this case. KAZAKHSTAN Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev this morning declared a two-week state of emergency to contain protests that have broken out in various parts of the country. The population has revolted over the increase in fuel prices decided by the government. As a result of the riots, the executive resigned en bloc. RUSSIA-UKRAINE A geologist has revealed the dramatic situation of the Suuk-Su River, the longest in Crimea, which despite December rains is almost completely dry. The peninsula has suffered from water shortages since Russian annexation in 2014, and its other rivers are also no longer able to feed themselves due to the closure of Ukrainian water sources. The 400 block of East Hyman Avenue in 2019, when Annettes Mountain Bake Shoppe occupied the commercial space at the 420 address. On Tuesday, the Aspen Planning & Zoning Commission voted 3-2 to allow Banana Republic, which is interested in taking over the space, to combine two separate spaces in the building via a land-use variance. Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder Janice Vos Caudill stands in front of the county administration building on Tuesday afternoon. Hours earlier, she told county commissioners she will retire in three months. Last elected in November 2018, the longtime elected official has one year remaining in her fourth four-year term. It can be quite depressing to hear all that is happening around the world against Christians, even though we know that God is good and is all-powerful. I think its important to know that there are groups whose whole raison detre is to do all they can to support these people and to bring to the worlds attention what is happening to them. Here are some brief snapshots of some of these groups. Open Doors was started by Brother Andrew of Bible-smuggling fame. The non-denominational ministry is based in Ermelo, The Netherlands, and continues to provide Bibles and other Christian literature to Eastern Europe, Russia, China and other countries. Its aims are to raise awareness of persecution around the world and mobilize support for the persecuted church. Worldwide, the ministry has trained more than 3.8 million persecuted Christians through leadership and discipleship courses, trauma care training and persecution survival seminars, as well as providing emergency relief, community development, education and medical care. Open Doors hold an International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church as well as continual prayer for the needs in the world. Our prayers can go where we cannot says Brother Andrew. Advocacy on behalf of the persecuted is another aspect of this ministry, having access from the White House to the UK Parliament, from the EU to the UN. Open Doors also compiles a World Watch List of the countries where it is most dangerous to follow Jesus. Each country on the list has a link that describes specifically what the issues are in that country and the severity of the persecution. It is sobering reading for those of us in our comfortable affluence. Their introductory statement: Not Alone. Not Forgotten. Not Ever. More than 340 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. Thats 1 in 8 worldwide, 1 in 6 in Africa, 2 out of 5 in Asia, and 1 in 12 in Latin America. We stand with them. The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is a nonprofit, interdenominational missions organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Romanian pastors Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM serves persecuted Christians with practical and spiritual assistance and leads Christians in the free world into fellowship with persecuted believers. The concept for the ministry arose out ofRichards own experience ofimprisonment for 14 years in Communist Romania for his faith in Christ. It is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfil His Great Commission. Each mission in different countries is autonomous with its own focus and management, although there is cooperation through the International Christian Association. VOM International works in 68 Countries. In 2020 VOM Australia provided Bibles and Life Packs in Pakistan, Iran, China, Philippines, India, Myanmar, Egypt, North Korea, Brunei and Malaysia. There is also a weekly radio program with news, interviews and updates on our Christian brothers and sisters in restricted nations. This ministry is inspired by Hebrews Chapter 13, verse 3, Remember the prisoners as if chained with them those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also. Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) is an advocacy group whose mission statement is Alerting governments to the suffering of persecuted Christians, defending the freedom to practise and proclaim the Christian faith. The mission statement encompasses raising awareness of persecution in different government and human rights forums, accurate and courageous commentary on world events and calling for prayer. Through advocacy, aid and prayer the ministry aims to alleviate the suffering of those who are persecuted by oppressive governments and individuals because of their faith in Christ. They have assisted Christians as culturally diverse as the Christians of the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, the Coptic Christians of Egypt, the Karen tribes of Burma, the Christians of Pakistan, India and Africa, the Underground Churches of China and the Middle East. CFF publishes up to date information about persecution around the world, specifically in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin is compiled by Elizabeth Kendall, who has served as CFF Director of Advocacy since January 2013. Morning Star News First Light Before the Dawn Morning Star News is an independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians around the world. Founded by former Compass Direct News editor Jeff M. Sellers on Sept. 30, 2012, the news services mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering. Bitter Winter Bitter Winter was launched in May 2018 as an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China published by CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, headquartered in Torino, Italy. Massimo Introvigne is the editor-in-chief. Scholars, journalists, and human rights activists from different countries started working together to give voice for the voiceless by publishing news, documents, and testimonies about persecutions against all religions in China. Bitter Winter is independent of any religious or political organization and is mostly the fruit of volunteer work. It has a network of correspondents in all Chinese provinces, who supply information at the risk of their own lives. From December 1, 2020, Bitter Winter added an international section covering religious liberty worldwide. We continuously expand our coverage to new countries and new issues. Praise and prayer Praise God that there are people who seek to see justice done in the world and who are willing to stand with and support persecuted Christians. We need to pray for these groups, that they may remain faithful to their calling and continue to bring us information to fuel our prayers. While some Hot Wheels collectors are already opening up the newest 2022 cases, for most people, the 2021 collection is still an interesting topic. According to your current location, there might still be stores that haven't sold all of their 2021 stock. And that means that you still have a chance to find the rarest of the mainline models that were released last year. This story can aid you in your quest to identify those particular cars.A total of 15 Treasure Hunt models were available throughout 2021. If you're curious to know how rare a Treasure Hunt model is, that's a bit difficult to answer. You'll see various numbers provided by different people, but one thing is for sure: throughout 2021, I've only managed to find a single Treasure Hunt car. I've seen some people finding as many as 3 to 5 of these vehicles. Sure, some of the hardcore collectors have them all lined up.But that's rarely the case if you don't go out shopping at least twice a week through every single store that sells Hot Wheels in your area. The Super Treasure Hunt cars are rarer and more valuable as a consequence, but hey, either option is pretty good. If you need one easy tip on finding these vehicles, just look for the "circle flame" symbol. The first TH model of 2021 was the Baja Bone Shaker, a car that has "Treasure Haunt" written on the sides.The Bone Shaker is always a classic, albeit not to everyone's taste. Next up, a cast I've never really liked or understood. Who wants to have a hotdog on wheels anyway? A friend of mine gifted me a regular version a few years ago, but I always keep it away from sight. I've never met someone who has a passion for the Street Wiener, but hey, to each his own.The Custom '77 Dodge Van was a nice addition to the line-up, and this diecast goes as far back as 2008. The Motosaurus is up next, and it feels strange to see a TH inspired by a Stegosaurus joining this list. But this probably works well for kids that haven't yet celebrated their 10th birthday. The Skull Shaker isn't all that bad, and the bubblehead skull reminds me of Dick Dastardly for some reason.Mattel included a motorcycle on the TH list, but the Tred Shredder is somehow less than memorable. Creating 1/64 scale motorcycles doesn't feel like the way to go, but this might still have an audience. The Deora II is the only TH I came across in 2021. I feel sorry I decided to let it go, especially considering the history behind this particular model.Number 8 on the list is a Ford Mustang Funny car, and this is a diecast any quarter-mile (402 meters) enthusiast can get behind. This is, without doubt, one of the coolest cars on the list. At least it feels more exciting than the Chrysler Pacifica. But then again, that cast was introduced in 2019. And that makes it slightly more special than the Funny Car.At one point, I think I saw over 10 people bragging about finding the TH 1991 Mazda MX-5 Miata. The 1/64 scale car is as popular as its real-life counterpart, and this one is even more so. We're nearing the end of the 2021 TH list, and the "Asteroid Interceptor" Ollie Rocket is not something collectors would go crazy about. Still, if you insist on getting every single vehicle Mattel launches each year, then go ahead.Just be sure you have the extra space needed to hoard them all. If you aren't paying attention, you might even overlook the 1978 Dodge Red Express Truck and perhaps even the Justice League Batmobile. But the one car you are bound to love at first sight is the 1965 Ford Galaxie, with 21 written on the sides.These can sell for as much as $20, depending on the seller. The Lamborghini Countach Police Car is the last vehicle on the list, and although it isn't Mattel's coolest looking Lambo, it's still nice to have one sitting on the shelf. Oh, and if you're keen on getting all these vehicles at the same time, you might want to check out the eBay auctions Were still hours away from BMWs presentation at CES but we already have the first videos of the promised color-changing paint that the German carmaker promised earlier. It looks like this is indeed able to change the cars color at the touch of a button, but we dont quite comprehend this technologys utility, beyond playing pranks on police officers. 7 photos BEV SUV kW As part of the Stellantis group, which includes other European brands, Chrysler had access to new researches and technologies from its partners. So even though Peugeot and Fiat already had a few battery-electric vehicles on the market, the American brand didn't rush to take a platform and put a Chrysler badge on it. But now, at 2022 CES, it unveiled the Airflow concept and its intentions to bring a productionon the market by 2025.The Airflow nameplate was used for the first time in 1934 on an aerodynamical vehicle with unibody construction. It was so revolutionary that the customers were reluctant to it. This time, Chrysler took a careful approach and used the nameplate on anthat promises a 350-400 miles (563 643 km) range. For the drivetrain, Chrysler prepared two electric 150(201 hp) motors for each axle. The level 3 autonomous driving system is present as well.Like its 1934 predecessor, it counts on an aerodynamic shape but with an electric powertrain. Chris Feuell, Chrysler brand CEO - Stellantis, says, "The Chrysler Airflow Concept represents the future direction of the Chrysler brand, providing a peek at the dynamic design, advanced technologies and seamless connectivity that will characterize the full-electric portfolio we plan to reach by 2028."Inside, the users will have access to three screens: one in front of the driver in the instrument cluster, a main infotainment touch-screen atop the center console, and a third one placed in front of the front passenger. The Airflow features a panoramic glass roof to make any trip more pleasant. And don't mind about the leather-wrapped seats since they are vegetable-based, just like the floor mats.Even though the production version won't be here before 2025, according to Chrysler, the Airflow offers a promising look for the American brand's first BEV. This goal is up to each government, but at least two European countries have already officially announced their intention to make domestic flights fossil fuel free within the decade. The most recent one to proclaim this ambitious plan is Denmark.In her New Years address , Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed that Denmark wants to cut overall carbon emissions by 70%, compared to the levels in 1990, and to achieve this by 2030.An important part of that will be to make flying green, specifically by making sure that all domestic flights become fossil fuel free. The Prime Minister also addressed the fact that it wont be an easy goal to accomplish, because technology solutions arent yet widely available.However, this European nation wants to play a leading role in promoting green aviation. When other countries in the world are too slow, then Denmark must take the lead and raise the bar even more," stated Frederiksen, quoted by BBC. Swedens government also announced a similar target, and one of the measures it will implement has to do with taxes just like fossil fuel cars, high-polluting airplanes will have to cover higher airport fees. France, on the other hand, has a different approach and announced it would ban domestic flights for journeys that can be done by train, in less than two-and-a-half hours.Denmarks Prime Minister also acknowledged the fact that researchers and industry partners are working on developing the solutions required for green aviation. Airbus and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are two major players that have joined forces to study hydrogen-powered aircraft, considered one of the best long-term solutions for decarbonizing flights. kWh The PnD modular platform combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware, with everything neatly packaged together. The steering wheel unit can turn 360 degrees thanks to an actuator that allows for infinite wheel rotation. In turn, this enables something called holonomic movement, - think figure skaters. Meanwhile, LiDAR and camera sensors allow the platform to move around autonomously.The PnD Module is adaptive and expandable to match human needs. Because in the world to come, you wont move your things they will move around you, said Dong Jin Hyun, VP and head of Robotics at Hyundai. PnD makes normally inanimate objects mobile. Its this ability that makes changing practically any space possible. Its a way to configure spaces on demand.According to Hyun, the module can be especially useful in office sharing, which is now a billion-dollar industry. The PnD could allow entire companies to modify and use workspace on demand. The platforms flexibility can also individualize public transportation . For example, a personal mobility module could attach to a mother shuttle for most of its journey, before detaching for the last mile in order to take an occupant to their destination.At CES, Hyundai exhibited a total of four application concept models using a PnD platform, including Personal Mobility, Service Mobility, Logistics Mobility and L7. The first one is a platform-based application fitted with four 5.5-inch PnD modules. It is configured to use space efficiently by applying a rotary opening and closing method.Meanwhile, the Service Mobility and Logistic Mobility concepts use the same platform but with a storage space that opens and closes like a drawer. The former could be used for transporting luggage in hotels, while the latter could move goods from warehouses.As for the L7 concept, it features a 12-inch enlarged PnD module, where the seat rotates so that the passengers can get off easily. It can also be operated freely with a joystick.Another novelty presented by Hyundai at this years Consumer Electronics Show is the MobED (Mobile Eccentric Droid) small mobility platform, which can be used for service robots that can operate both indoors and outdoors. It packs a 2-battery and can reach a maximum speed of 30 kph (18.6 mph).The MobED and the PnD module were both exhibited alongside Boston Dynamics Spot and Atlas robots. Cars got a lot smarter in the past years and this means they are more aware of their surroundings than their drivers are. This is troublesome for a lot of people, but with all the texting and the big screens in the cars, distraction has become a problem and a major factor in accident statistics. First-line responders are especially at risk, as the number of accidents involving emergency vehicles is on the rise. Sadly, 63 emergency responders were killed last year in these types of crashes in the U.S., according to the Emergency Responder Safety Institute.To prevent these accidents from happening, Stellantis has implemented a feature that displays a warning message in the car dashboard when an emergency vehicle is approaching or the car drives towards one. The Emergency Vehicle Alert System (EVAS) will initially be available in North America to more than 4 million drivers of Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge vehicles. Stellantis could roll it out across the 14 brands the automaker sells around the world, but the new system needs support from the emergency services, so it will be on a country-by-country basis.In North America, EVAS will be implemented with the help of the HAAS Alert, which works with more than 1,000 emergency responder fleets in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The system knows the location of the first responder, and it knows where our vehicle is, explains Mamatha Chamarthi, Stellantis head of software business and product management. Alerts are geofenced, so they only get to the drivers close to emergency vehicles and not to those on the opposite-direction side of divided highways.The system was announced as a limited trial in September alongside another vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications system. Now, Stellantis thinks the system is prime-time ready. The Company will officially announce the new system during CES in the next days followed by the large-scale deployment by the end of the month.To us, it sounds a lot like the one implemented in Michigan in cooperation with Waze two years ago . The Waze integration is better in our opinion, as it allows to warn drivers of all car makes and models, no matter how old the car is. HP Jeremiah Burton of Donut media looks at Harley-Davidson's new engine, the Revolution Max , and explains why it might have saved the conservative motorcycle company.Harley-Davidson has been around for quite some time, and because of this, they have accumulated generations of followers. Their motorcycles have a distinct old-style design, unique exhaust notes, and heavy engines.In 2022, moto-companies are moving from heavy, unreliable engines to efficient, reliable, silent ones, which have almost never been part of Harley-Davidson's resume.Having 118-years under your belt in a competitive market gives you an edge - survival. And Harley-Davidson has mastered this art. The Revolution Max engine comes packed with the latest tech.This revolutionary motor's design helps make Harleys lighter, more refined, and, best of all, more powerful than ever.So, what makes up a Harley-Davidson? Most people will say it's a unique exhaust note, but it's the iconic V-twin engine in the structure. However, the new Rev Max is unlike anything they have ever produced, and as a bonus, makes more power than almost any Harley to date at 150This revolutionary engine comes in two models, the Sportster S and Pan America . Both these models have the bike tied together by the motor. Also, unlike a Harley-Davidson engine of the past that used a cradle frame, the Revolution Max has a stress frame member.Therefore, the front frame, mid-frame, and tail section all bolt directly to the engine at different points. Instead of getting supported by a separate structure, the engine is a structural load-bearing part of the frame. Consequently, the bike is lighter, the chassis stiffer, eliminating flex that leads to poor handling. Overall, the Rev Max has better acceleration, braking, and fuel economy.Stress member frames are not new to Harley-Davidson, though. According to Burton, they have been in Harleys since 1919 on their Model W.Unlike previous Harley engines, the Rev max features dual overhead cams, liquid cooling, and four valves per cylinder. This engine makes so much power because it can rev to high RPMs - something unknown in Harleys, attaining peak power at 9,500 Rpm.With the Rev Max, the new motorcycles produces an un-Harley rumble. Something that doesnt go down too well with its core followers. But Harley understands that to survive; you cant rely on your heritage alone. They are looking to attract new buyers and move with the times - a risk they sadly cannot avoid. On Indiegogo, the project was backed by more than 52,000 users, with the total donations to support its development getting close to $4.8 million.Motorola has apparently spotted the potential of this market, so the company today unveiled its very own adapter that does pretty much the same thing.Simple called Wireless Car Adapter for Android Auto and known as model number MA1, the new device does exactly what its name suggests: it converts Android Auto from wired to wireless.The design of this adapter is rather simple, and this is exactly the way it should be anyway. Users only need to plug it into the USB port of their cars and then have their phones paired with it for a wireless experience with Android Auto.Motorolas device uses Bluetooth 5.0 and supports 5 GHz Wi-Fi. The company says it tips the scales at just 31 grams, so once you plug it into the USB port of your car, you can forget its there.There are no special requirements, though Motorola explains that its device should work with the majority of vehicles out there. However, if you currently own a Mitsubishi, Motorola says this brand is currently unsupported and its not clear if this could change in the coming updates.As for the Android version that your device must be running in order to connect to the adapter, Motorola hasnt provided such information, though it says Android 11 is fully supported. In other words, if youre already on Android 11 or Android 12, everything should work flawlessly.The new adapter is scheduled to hit the shelves in the United States on January 30, and it will cost $89.95. This means itll be priced similarly to the existing products already on the market, so itll be interesting to see how many people give it a try. SUV Already the rise of electric vehicles is causing a major shift in the automotive industry, not only from a production standpoint, but also in terms of how the cars are marketed and sold , or updated and even serviced.One of the companies that were quick to jump in the new car tech bandwagon is Volvo. Already on the market with a number of EVs and planning even more for the future, the Swedes got in bed in recent years with a number of technology leaders to come up with the best solutions for what lies ahead.The most recent announcement from Volvo on this front is the fact it is now expanding its collaboration with Qualcomm in the hopes of coming up with a much faster and more responsive Android Automotive-based infotainment system dedicated to its cars.Taking advantage of the capabilities of Qualcomms Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms, the company plans to design systems capable of supporting "highly demanding graphics, audio and artificial intelligence requirements" in its future cars, first in the upcoming Polestar 3 and a new VolvoApart from the fact it should be at least two times as fast as the limited, current application of Android Automotive, the company did not release additional details on the new capabilities.As Qualcomm already revealed , Volvo is not the only company using its tech to come up with improved infotainment solutions. Honda and Renault are on board too, with the Japanese looking to come up with a better infotainment system, and the French for better connectivity and driver assistance features. Your car catching fire is a terrifying experience nobody wants to go through. And yet many Chevy Bolt owners found their car on fire while many others feared theyll be next. The problem stemmed from a manufacturing problem on LGs side, and even today Chevrolet is not aware of how many cars are affected. Many of these cars have received battery replacements in the recall.The story seems to have a happy ending for Bolt owners that still have their car intact and with a new battery, but things are far from over. Many have reported their cars are banned from entering garages and even parking lots, for fears they will be a danger to other cars. This is a bummer, especially as Chevrolet still recommends Bolt owners not to park their cars inside the house garage or next to other cars for safety reasons.According to Detroit News , Chevrolet decided to start sending Bolt owners Chevrolet Certified window clings. Each cling will feature a QR code that will allow parking lot attendants and commercial garage owners to scan the Bolts, confirming that the vehicle has been serviced by a Chevy dealer and has received an updated LG battery. It is a Chevrolet certification saying your Bolt is not a hazard to other cars.We are not sure garage owners and attendants will take the trouble to read what a Chevrolet Certified Bolt means, as long as they already know Bolt=fire hazard. In the meantime, Chevrolet has pushed back plans to restart Bolt production at the Orion, Michigan plant well into February. As far as some are concerned, the Chevrolet Bolt is a doomed car model, no matter how safe GM will make it. We tend to only focus on the privileges that royalty offers, but it also implies bigger risks and potentially huge losses. Prince Fahad Bin Sultan, governor of the Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, is having legal trouble because of his superyacht and luxury mansion. According to Bloomberg , Credit Suisse Group, one of the largest banks in Europe, has filed a lawsuit in London, asking the prince to pay back a whopping $78 million he allegedly owes in interest and loans.Apparently, Fahad Bin Sultan took out a loan to refinance his megayacht and mansion in London. He was the guarantor for the loans that two companies took out and the beneficiary of the assets. According to the bank documents, the companies failed to pay interest and fees for the British Virgin Islands-based yacht , as well as providing evidence that the prince possessed at least $25 million in liquid assets, as it had been agreed.Similarly, the prince allegedly failed to pay part of the loan, plus interest, for the property estate outside London, estimated at $47 million.The superyacht at the center of this legal scandal is called Sarafsa, a luxury vessel that was custom-built 15 years ago. At 269 feet (82 meters), the megayacht has enough room for up to 12 guests, across six luxurious cabins, with a huge crew of 20 people catering to their needs. Built by Devonport, Sarafsa features exterior and interior design by the world-famous British brand Winch Design.In addition to a large swimming pool and beauty salon, this luxury yacht also boasts an impressive range of 6,000 nautical miles (6,900 miles/11,100 km). Its interior and other assets remain a mystery because Sarafsa has never been shared but enjoyed exclusively by its royal owner.Its too early to say whether the prince risks losing his superyacht unless he repays the $78 million that Credit Suisse demands. It would be a shame to see Sarafsa on the market after so many years of private ownership. More often than not, however, the most convenient approach comes from tech companies themselves, and today, chip expert Qualcomm has announced a major partnership with a trio of car manufacturers.Volvo, Honda , and Renault will all use Qualcomms so-called Digital Chassis, a suite of automotive solutions specifically developed to overhaul the driving experience with new-gen technology.The three carmakers have already pledged to use Android Automotive on their new models, though in the case of Renault, its purpose is to use the Digital Chassis for more advanced capabilities. The French company is seeking improved connectivity, cloud services, and driver assistance features powered by Qualcomms solutions.Renault has already announced that its upcoming Megane E-Tech will use Android Automotive.On the other hand, Honda and Volvo will work together with Qualcomm on their infotainment systems. Once again, the experience is powered by Android Automotive, Googles car-optimized operating system offering more advanced integration of services like Google Assistant and Google Maps.The Digital Chassis comprises four different modules, each with its very own goal.The first of them is called Snapdragon Ride, and its purpose is to power technology related to driver assistance and automated driving. Then, its the Snapdragon Auto Connectivity, which comes with a pretty straightforward name, so its goal is to bring fast connectivity (LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi) to new-gen cars.The Snapdragon Car-to-Cloud Services serve as the foundation of cloud-powered capabilities, such as OTA and the subscriptions that nobody likes. And last but not least, the Digital Chassis includes the Snapdragon Cockpit, whose main responsibility is to make the multimedia experience possible in a car where Qualcomms platform is installed. With its gorgeous styling and rev-happy engine, the Honda CB350G is the kind of bike that doesnt need any fancy tech or massive power output digits to put a smile on your face. What youre looking at here is a museum-quality 1973 model with 14k miles (22,500 km) on the odometer, sporting top-grade Duro tires, modern fueling hardware and a shiny pair of aftermarket mufflers.In addition, the machines electrics were overhauled using new spark plugs and a fresh battery, while the valve clearances, ignition timing and cam chain tension have all been optimized as of May, 2021. Lastly, the makeover was purposefully concluded with the installation of a premium drive chain and a higher-spec throttle cable.Before we tell you whats the deal with this superb 73 MY CB350G, lets take a minute to peek at its technical specifications. Hondas classic gem comes to life thanks to an air-cooled 326cc parallel-twin powerhouse, with two valves per cylinder head, dual Keihin carbs and a compression ratio of 9.5:1.By delivering 36 hp at 10,500 rpm and 18 pound-feet of torque at 9,500 spins, the mill enables its possessor to hit speeds of up to 102 mph (164 kph). When its 2.7-gallon (10-liter) fuel tank is full, the Japanese predator will tip the scales at a mere 375 pounds (170 kg). The entire structure sits on 33 mm telescopic forks up north and dual preload-adjustable shock absorbers on the other end.The front wheel is brought to a halt by a single hydraulic brake disc, while the rear unit features a traditional drum setup. This CB350G is going under the hammer at no reserve, and youve got until Monday afternoon (January 10) to place your bids on Bring A Trailer . Currently, the top bidder is willing to spend a little over 1,400 bones on Hondas head-turner, so you might be able to snatch it for less than two grand! Last year, Japanese car manufacturers 2.3 million auto sales ranked the highest in the U.S., up 10% from 2020. This sudden shift in market position highlights the ongoing impact of the semiconductor shortage.According to General Motors, its 43% fourth-quarter sales decline and 13% stumble for 2021 was due to the semiconductor shortage. As a result, the race for the top spot could have been a supply-chain affair, giving an upper hand to whoever could best sweet-talk chip producers for more products.Its not been an easy race for the auto industry in the wake of chip shortage, and more so for U.S. automakers. While General Motors sales dipped, Honda Motor Co., Toyota, and Nissan registered gains.Toyota had the privilege of being the worlds largest automaker, and has the scale to lock in orders of scarce computer chips. Its global dominance has also allowed it to soldier on despite a worldwide pandemic. American automakers like GM, on the other hand, did not share the same luxuries and faced production delays in the third quarter due to insufficient chip supplies.According to National Review, chip shortages leading to supply chain issues have pushed the price of the average car up by 15% to a record $45,872 in one year. These price measure fluctuations hit American automaker GM hard, with the company recording an industry-high average price of more than $50,000 per unit vehicle.On a conference call, Jack Hollis, senior vice president of U.S. Toyota sales, told reporters that the Japanese automaker might not be number one for long. He stated that the Japanese car manufacturer outselling GM is not sustainable without elaborating.General Motors agreed, stating that it would increase sales in 2022. Many auto companies reported their fourth-quarter U.S. sales on Tuesday. Ford is to release its figures on Wednesday. Because nothing makes for better escapism than a look over to the glamorous side, where the grass reallygreener, BBC Two has a new docuseries called Inside Dubai: Playground of the Rich. Dubai is a very rich city with incredibly rich people, so the series, which premiered this week, delivered exactly the kind of content you were probably expecting: rich men and women showing off their lavish lifestyles, including designer collections and automotive fleets.Of them was a businessman called Abu Sabah, who boasted on camera that he was the owner of the worlds most expensive license plate . That claim isnt technically true because the title goes to the 1 license plate, but its close enough: Sabah owns the single-digit plate 5, which he bought for $9 million. He told the producers that he bought it because hed been turned away from a hotel because his pretty nice car didnt have a nice enough plate on it.He was also informed that a nicer plate would have been a double-digit one, so he went out and got himself several of them: 48, 49 and 27. The single-digit 5 is the most valuable in his collection and the one hes most proud of, he said. The $800,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom that wears it is cheap by comparison.As you can imagine, viewers at home didnt exactly sympathize with the pain he mustve felt when he was turned away from a hotel for not having the right license plate on his expensive car. The money was his to spend, but maybe bragging about it to the world isnt wise least of all not when so much good could have been carried out with that amount, theyre saying on Twitter, under the #InsideDubai hashtag.Abu Sabah is actually Balwinder Sahni, the Chairman and CEO of RSG International, and his story of the 5 license plate is different from the one he told in 2016, when he bought it at auction. The only constant is that he paid $9 million for it. Back then, he claimed to have bought it because D5, which is what the plate reads, is the number 9. As it so happens, 9 is his lucky number.Also then, Sahni took issue with people criticizing him for his collection of license plates. I did not get the special number for publicity sake. It is my passion, and as charity, I enjoy it, he told Alarabya News then. How can people judge me? Let them come and meet me and know who I am as a person. I never wanted to announce this. I have kept quiet about the charities I have done for the last 10 years.So much for not wanting publicity for his lavish purchase. Palmdale, CA (93550) Today Sunny skies. Becoming windy late. High 82F. W winds at 10 to 15 mph, increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Mainly clear skies. Low 53F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. The U.S. and Germany's top diplomats issued a joint warning to Russia ahead of high-level security talks in Europe next week, pledging "massive" economic consequences if Vladimir Putin proceeds with an invasion of Ukraine. Why it matters: With Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border and questions swirling about how far Germany is prepared to go to deter Putin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and new German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock presented a united front at their first press conference together in Washington. The big picture: President Biden told Putin last week that there are two paths for dealing with the Ukraine crisis a path of "diplomacy" or a path of "deterrence," which would entail sanctions and more military support to NATO's eastern flank. Top U.S. and Russian officials will meet on Jan. 10 for a "strategic stability dialogue," which Blinken said would only cover bilateral issues. That will be followed by meetings of the NATO-Russia Council on Jan. 12 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation on Jan. 13. Russia has stressed that it needs to see "concrete" and swift results in response to its security demands, which include legal guarantees that NATO will not expand to the east. What they're saying: "I believe that if Russia is serious about pursuing diplomacy and de-escalation, that there are things that all of us can do relatively quickly to build greater confidence and to reduce some of the concerns that we have," Blinken said at the press conference. "It's very hard to make actual progress in any of these areas in an atmosphere of escalation and threat, with a gun pointed to Ukraine's head," he added. Blinken condemned Russia's "false narrative" that Ukraine is seeking to provoke a conflict, telling reporters: "Thats a little bit like the fox saying it had no choice but to attack the henhouse because somehow the hens presented a threat." Between the lines: Blinken and Baerbock were both asked repeatedly about Nord Stream 2, a controversial pipeline that would circumvent Ukraine and deliver Russian gas directly to Germany. The Biden administration opposes the pipeline and views it as a potential geopolitical weapon, but opted not to impose sanctions last spring to block its completion, citing the need for good relations with Germany. "Some may see Nord Stream 2 as leverage that Russia can use against Europe; in fact, its leverage for Europe to use against Russia," Blinken argued. He said it would be "difficult" to see the pipeline becoming operational if Russia renews its aggression toward Ukraine. Baerbock opposed Nord Stream 2 on Germany's campaign trail, but now governs in a coalition whose leading party supports the pipeline. She said the new German government wants to take "effective measures" on Nord Stream 2 if Russia invades Ukraine, but did not specify whether the project would be suspended. What to watch: As Europe's biggest economic power and Russia's second-largest trade partner, Germany plays a crucial role in managing EU-Russia relations. It's not yet clear what the new government's approach to the Kremlin will be. The Jan. 6 select committee has requested Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity voluntarily cooperate with its investigation of the assault on the U.S. Capitol, a source with direct knowledge of the plan told Axios and the committee later confirmed. Why it matters: Hannity is one of the most prominent media figures in America and was a close adviser to Donald Trump throughout his presidency. The committee revealed last month that Hannity texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the riot to urge him to get Trump to stop his supporters. Driving the news: In a letter to Hannity, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote that they seek "voluntary cooperation on a specific and narrow range of factual questions" and are not seeking "information regarding any of your broadcasts, or your political views or commentary." Jay Sekulow, counsel to Sean Hannity, told Axios, If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press. Between the lines: Hannity condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying on his show on the night after the riot that "all of today's perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted." But Hannity has never criticized Trump for his role in ginning up the crowd in D.C. that day. And he has criticized the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6. Details: Axios has not yet been able to establish the nature of the cooperation the committee plans to ask of Hannity. Committee officials have said Hannity was among several Fox News hosts who were texting Meadows during the riot. The letter cited text conversations with Meadows, in which Hannity said, "I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told." He instead advocated for Trump to go to Florida and focus on election reform. Two other Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, the host of the 10pm show "The Ingraham Angle," and Brian Kilmeade, a host of the morning show "Fox & Friends" also weighed in with Meadows in real time as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory. Behind the scenes: Hannity was much more than a TV host during the Trump presidency. He was a friend, supporter and informal adviser in frequent phone calls with the former president. One former Trump aide sarcastically referred to Hannity as the "real chief of staff." That was a gross overstatement, but it spoke to Hannity's special access to Trump. Such was Hannity's influence with Trump that officials who wanted to persuade him often turned to the Fox News host to help get their ideas or action items across the line. A phone call from Hannity to Trump carried more sway than a conversation between the president and many members of his own Cabinet. Go deeper: Trump cancels Jan. 6 press conference Editor's note: This story has been updated with a letter the committee sent to Hannity as well as new texts made available by the committee. Correction: This chart was changed to show leisure and hospitality was the industry with a 6.4% quit rate, not health care and social assistance. Data: BLS; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November, according to government data released Tuesday morning. Why it matters: The numbers, from the Labor Departments Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, are the latest sign that the job market is red hot for workers, particularly for employees in lower-wage industries. Americas quits rate is now 3%, matching the highest in the two decades the government has kept records. But sectors like accommodation and food services and retail are seeing workers quit at much higher rates 6.9% and 4.4%, respectively. Between the lines: These workers werent quitting the labor force entirely: 6.7 million people were hired in November, similar to the month prior. Job openings dipped to 10.6 million from 11 million. (That's still higher than at any point before the pandemic hit.) The bottom line: Its not understood in the broader public discussion, people arent quitting their jobs to leave the labor force they are quitting their jobs to take other jobs, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the progressive Economic Policy Institute. What to watch: These numbers pre-date the emergence of the Omicron variant, which has added a new level of uncertainty in the job market that's still shaking out. Starting from January 1, Armenian supermarkets, smaller shops and kiosks are not allowed to display cigarette packs on their shelves. Nor can they advertise tobacco brands, e-cigarettes and vaporizers in any way. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stressed the importance of the ban at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. Pashinian said relevant government inspectorates must ensure retailers compliance with it. We are doing everything to get people to forget about buying cigarettes, he said. Health Minister Anahit Avanesian said the new restrictions should specifically help to prevent many minors and other young Armenians from becoming smokers. Davit Melik-Nubarian, a public health expert, welcomed the measure. This is the right path, he told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. Those who have travelled abroad must have noticed that such regulations are in force in Russia and European Union countries and they are really effective. Armenia is a nation of heavy smokers, with few restrictions on tobacco sales and use enforced to date. According to the Ministry of Health, 28 percent of the countrys adult population are regular smokers. Medics blame this for a high incidence of lung cancer among Armenians. A study jointly conducted by the ministry, the United Nations and other international organizations found that each year smoking-related diseases kill about 5,500 people in the country of about 3 million. The sales restrictions stem from a law drafted by the Ministry of Health and passed by the Armenian parliament about two years ago. The law also banned smoking in cafes, restaurants and all other indoor public places. The bans entry into force was delayed until March 2022. Melik-Nubarian said the government should also sharply raise taxes on tobacco. Unfortunately, cigarette prices in Armenia are the lowest in the region, he said. The ban, effective from January 1, stems from a 2020 law aimed at reducing plastic waste and its serious damage to the environment. It means that shoppers can get only single-use bags made from recycled paper or other organic materials. There was little evidence in Yerevan of retailers compliance with the new requirement. Supermarket chains and grocery stores across the city clearly did not abandon plastic bags. No, they didnt offer me any alternative, a man carrying groceries in such a bag told RFE/RLs Armenian Service as he left a shop. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Environment Minister Hakob Simidian touted the bans entry into force during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. But they seemed to acknowledge problems with its enforcement. Pashinian stressed that it is local government bodies, rather than state inspectorates subordinate to the central government, that are supposed to ensure retailers compliance with the requirement. He told Minister for Territorial Administration Gnel Sanosian and provincial governors to make this clear to city mayors and other community heads. Pashinian warned that the government will task its inspectorates with enforcing the ban if local authorities fail to do the job. Kazakhstans President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday as thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings in the oil-rich Central Asian nation for the third consecutive day. Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire to a presidential residence and the mayors office in the countrys largest city, Almaty, Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful. Kazakhstans Interior Ministry said eight police and National Guard troops have been killed and 317 people wounded during the unprecedented unrest. Toqaev said that he has appealed to the CSTO, a security bloc comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and three other ex-Soviet states, to assist his government in responding to what he called a terrorist threat. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, whose country is the current holder of the CSTOs rotating presidency, spoke with Toqaev by phone and announced shortly after midnight that he will also hold consultations with the leaders of CSTO members. In a statement issued about two hours later, Pashinian said they have decided to dispatch collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan for the purpose of stabilizing and normalizing the situation in that country. He said that the unrest erupted as a result of unspecified foreign intervention and put Kazakhstans national security and sovereignty at serious risk. Pashinian did not specify the number and composition of CSTO troops that will be deployed in Kazakhstan. Nor did he say whether Armenian soldiers will also join the contingent. Russia did not immediately comment on the deployment. Robust emissions trading to help foster green growth By OUYANG SHIJIA and LIU ZHIHUA (China Daily) 08:51, January 05, 2022 A wind power plant in Dingxi, Gansu province. (Photo/Xinhua) China's emissions trading system recorded trading volume of 179 million metric tons in 2021, injecting new impetus into the country's ongoing efforts to foster green, low-carbon development, according to experts. The trading system, which was launched on July 16 and follows the cap-and-trade principle, is an effective tool for energy conservation, emissions reduction and carbon control, the experts said. It will also help the country meet its targets of reaching peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, they added. The trading system made considerable advances last year. The turnover of carbon trading was 7.66 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) over 114 trading days last year, according to the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange. The price of the carbon emission allowance, which companies can buy or trade under the system, closed at 54.22 yuan per ton on Dec 31, up 12.96 percent from the opening price of the first trading day. The average daily trading volume of the allowance topped 1.25 million tons, which was 22 times and 53 times of its counterparts in the European Union and South Korea, respectively. Experts said that adopting a market-based mechanism has shown the government's determination to step up decarbonization efforts as well as promote a global response to climate change. Lin Boqiang, head of Xiamen University's China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, said China's carbon trading market is an effective tool to control carbon emissions and has made impressive achievements. However, Lin said the relatively small value of total trading was largely due to the limited number of emitters included in the trading system and the low price of the carbon emission allowance. The system is currently limited to more than 2,000 enterprises involved in the power industry, but will be expanded to other industries in the future. "To propel trade activity on the market, its coverage of industries and trading entities should be expanded, and adjustments are also needed to optimize the pricing system so that efforts by enterprises to control carbon can be effectively rewarded," Lin said. "More energy-intensive industries, such as cement and electrolytic aluminum, will likely be included in the trading system during the second half of 2022," Lin added. Lai Xiaoming, chairman of the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, said the emissions trading market is in the early stage of development and has some structural deficiencies compared with other markets, such as the EU. Lai said in a recent interview with Shanghai Securities News that the exchange will add more participants to the trading system and the market will be extended to include more carbon-emitting industries. Greater efforts will also be made to roll out derivative products. Guo Haifei, deputy director of the Green Innovation Center of the Investment Consulting Special Committee of the Investment Association of China, said the development of the system and growth of China's carbon trading market will contribute to the fostering of a green and low-carbon circular economic system globally. Shi Jing in Shanghai contributed to this story. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming) There are a few unexpected sights that hikers pass as they travel the Appalachian Trail (AT) in New York: A trailside zoo near Bear Mountain (the first and oldest section of the trail); a boardwalk that traverses the Great Swamp in Pawling; and a dedicated Appalachian Trail Metro North station nearby. But a mounted phone in the middle of the woods may be the most unusual. The whole AT is a blur to me, said Justin Dinardo, who came upon the phone this summer in Putnam Countys Fahnestock State Park on his way to completing the 2,190-mile trail. I remember that pretty vividly. This was not an ordinary phone, though. For starters, its not connected to a land line. Its technology is not even from this century. A sign posted next to the rotary phone announces it as a Telephone of the Wind, a type of phone that has popped up around the world, first in Japan, and recently in Washington and Rhode Island, to call loved ones who have passed away. A poetic passage next to the Fahnestock wind phone Though Ive lost you, I feel you here/in this shrine of trees in natures sanctuary serves as a prompt to use to phone to connect with those you have lost. To feel the comfort of their memory. When I saw that, said Dinardo, who had been hiking from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in order to make miles, pausing only for food and to rest, I saw it as an invitation to sort of stop and collect myself. Standing a quarter mile off of Route 301, above the Canopus Creek gurgling below, he picked up the putty-colored phone which, when you place it to your ears, sounds like a swoosh of empty air and placed a call to his grandmother, whom he had lost around a year earlier, during a week when he also experienced the passing of his aunt, great aunt and a family friend (none from COVID). All the loss had been hard to process all at once. Ive heard people say that theres no timeline for grief. You might not grieve right away or you know, it might come up a year later, 10 years later. It doesnt matter, he said. And the sense that I got was, even though it was a year removed, you can still channel that grief and you can let those things come up. And being where I was, I was in a very safe place to feel anything. Theres no distractions. Im by myself. Im not worried about how I look to everybody else. Theres nothing external theres just me in the middle of the woods, so it was kind of cathartic to have that invitation of emotions, and to let them kind of come, and then go and then just be on my way. Dialing for solace For Millet Israeli, creator of Fahnestocks Telephone of the Wind, her disconnected rotary phone worked exactly the way it should. The grief therapist, who splits her time between New York City and Brewster with her family, knew of the original wind phone when it was first introduced in 2010 by a man in Otsuchi, Japan who had lost his cousin to cancer and fashioned a phone booth with a rotary phone to call him. It became widely used after the tsunami devastated the country the next year. The Japanese town alone lost 10 percent of its population, and thousands of people make an annual pilgrimage there to call lost relatives and friends. Then, in January of this year, Israeli read about a rogue wind phone in an Olympia, Washington park, installed in honor of a mom who had lost her 4-year-old. And when I saw that, it crystallized immediately that that was something that was absolutely necessary, particularly in New York, or near New York City, because of how intensely the area experienced a loss in the early parts of the pandemic. As a grief counselor, Israeli was acutely involved in the processing of grief during pandemic working with clients, speaking and writing about how the lockdown was going to impact people who couldnt be with their loved ones. Her practice doubled compared to pre-pandemic times. I just felt like there was this pull to create something that would give some people the opportunity to have a release valve for that. Placing it the woods made sense to her, having just discovered the balm of being in nature during the pandemic. Like many others in New York City, where she and her family were living full-time prior to the pandemic, they decided to escape to the Hudson Valley, first temporarily resettling in Bedford before closing on a second home in Brewster in the summer of 2020. Along the way, Israeli took many hikes: to Minnewaska, Fahnestock, Bear Mountain, Harriman, the Hudson Highlands. It became her therapy. Ive had moments where Im like, There should be a wind phone everywhere, said Israeli. Even Times Square, though she admits it probably wouldnt last very long. But Ive really become passionate about spending time walking in the woods. It feels like a sanctuary, using a word from her invitation to hikers to pick up the wind phone. Its almost like a confessional in a way. Its almost like church. She emailed a few different parks and conservation groups. The Friends of Fahnestock and Hudson Highlands State Parks was the first to write back to her. Though it wasnt a consideration at the time, siting it in Fahnestock held historical meaning. The park was bequeathed by a man to New York State on the condition that it be named after his brother, Dr. Clarence Fahnestock, a WWI major who succumbed to pneumonia due to the Spanish flu, COVIDs pandemic predecessor. Over Facebook, Linda Cooper, Regional Director at New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, messaged Israeli to say she liked the idea and wanted to hear more. Shortly after, Israeli got the green light. It was actually really incredible how open they were to it and how little bureaucratic issues I had to deal with to get it done, Israeli said. Once Israeli found the 1960s phone on eBay, she mounted it to some wood along with an outdoor glass enclosure to place her prompts on using the phone and the details of her Instagram account, @wind.phone.ny where she solicits stories from those who have dialed their friends and relatives. Then she gave the phone to Fahnestock and Hudson Highlands Park Manager Evan Thompson, who helped choose the right location for it. A perfect audience for a grief telephone For the past 12 years, Thompson has managed both Hudson Highlands and Fahnestock, where he lives. Hudson Highlands, he thought, would be too busy for the phone heavily trafficked trails like Breakneck Ridge have train stops that drop day trippers right to the trailheads there, and he worried it might be vandalized. A trail in Fahnestock that attracts families was another possibility. But then, you know, I started thinking about who would be interested in this phone and I thought of the Appalachian Trail, just because a lot of people who go on the trail go to find themselves, [or] have some sadness in their lives theyre trying to get away from. The AT passes through five state parks in New York Harriman and Bear Mountain are two of them and Fahnestock is a popular attraction for the estimated 1,000-plus people who complete the AT each year. (Multiple sections of the trail were closed in 2020 due to the pandemic, and hiking it was frowned upon). Five times as many people register for the hike, which most begin in Georgia en route to Maine, but many give up along the way, making it hard to tally the exact number of hikers on the trail each year. Those who make it to Fahnestock, which is just before the halfway point of the AT, typically arrive by the summer so they can reach its endpoint, Mount Katahdin in Maine, before it gets too cold. These AT thru-hikers get to camp in Fahnestock for free and eat food from the concession at Canopus Beach, one of the few spots on the trail that is easily accessible to a meal not made on a camp stove. Thompson has spoken to many of them. Some are young college grads who see the AT as a challenge, he says, or who dont know what else to do at that life juncture. Others are retirees who always wanted to do the AT but never the time when they were working. Still others, he says, do it after experiencing a loss. I have talked to people in the past who have lost their wife or they lost a family member. Theres a lot of military people who do it, who experienced a lot of pain or sadness through their military service and are just looking for a way to get away from everything and kind of regather themselves and figure out what they want to do. Theres a different story for every person. JR Littleton is one of those military servicepeople who passed through Fahnestock this summer. He had wanted to hike the AT with his roommate and younger brother Joe, also an Army vet, but it wasnt to be. Joe took his life in 2020. This year, Littleton hiked the trail with Joes ashes, scattering them in each state he crossed. He said he spoke to his brother every day, so he didnt need the wind phone to communicate with him. But coming upon it in person was more cathartic than hed anticipated. I have my brothers number memorized you know, and it was very nice to take that time to enter his number It was definitely healing for me, Littleton said. A spirit phone, made concrete The idea of contacting the deceased through a telephone has been around since its invention in the late 19th century. Mystics thought the technology could be used to communicate with spirits. Even Thomas Edison reportedly worked upon a spirit phone, though his inspiration was more theoretical than the very human desire to talk again with someone who has passed. There is this desperate craving, when someone dies, to be able to have one more conversation, said Israeli, explaining the draw of the wind phone. To be able to have some way of connecting to them. People use psychic mediums. Theres such a hunger for it and as we know it's not entirely feasible. She continued: And one of the things thats really painful about grief is the impossibility of fixing this thing. And so I think part of [the appeal] is that it represents this idea of an opportunity to connect, you know, cause we really do associate telephones with connection. The other aspect of the wind phone that makes it so powerful for people, she theorizes, is that it takes something so hard to process, and puts it into a form that those of us still living in the material world can easily grasp. It's easier to talk into something, than to just talk aloud to no one, Israeli said. And while I would like everyone to come talk to a grief therapist to process their grief, not everyone has the opportunity or the resources or the wherewithal to do that. This free therapy doesnt come without some effort: it takes an 874-mile hike from Georgia, or a drive to Fahnestock followed by a quarter mile hike north on the AT. But it is undeniably magical. Its a little bubble in the woods where you can fantasize about this connection that you can still have to this person, says Israeli, which at the end of the day, you really still do. Beaumont ISD seems to have been largely spared by a shortage of COVID-19 tests that in other parts of the country has caused some schools to resume virtual learning to shut down immediately after the semester began. And despite a skyrocketing number of local positive cases of COVID-19, likely due in part to the omicron variant coupled with the recent burst of holiday travel, BISD is prepared for the potential increase in tests needed by students and staff. Having readily-available tests for a student or staff member may be the difference in their attendance at school that day, BISD Health Services Coordinator Julie Nezat said in an email to The Enterprise. Knowing a student (or) staff members COVID-19 status as early as possible will prevent them from attending school and spreading the virus to others. BISD orders tests as needed using funding from a grant offered by the Texas Education Agency and partnering companies. Nezat said tests are ordered based on the volume of people tested the month prior. At the end of November, the most recent order placed by the district, it purchased about 3,000 CareStart COVID-19 antigen tests. The district has been providing tests for a little more than a year. We began testing staff on December 3, 2020, Nezat said. Students were piloted shortly after and implemented fully the following week. BISD offers testing only to students and staff through their respective campuses, mainly focusing on symptomatic individuals and those that have been exposed to a positive individual in the home, Nezat said. Those who are interested can talk to a nurse or supervisor to be tested. Our testing had drastically decreased prior to Thanksgiving, she said. After the Thanksgiving break, we have seen an uptick in testing - results vary each day. The district does not require an additional test for a student or staff member who previously tested positive after they have completed the 10-day quarantine period. On Monday, the city of Beaumont reported 994 new COVID cases, totaled from the three-day New Years weekend, according to the citys data. Comparatively, the city reported just over 1,400 cases last week. As of Tuesday afternoon, BISD was reporting 99 active cases of COVID-19. We want to remind our families that wearing a mask is highly encouraged to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to monitor their students symptoms daily before sending them to school, Nezat said. The district relaxed its mask mandate in November but may reinstate it if local cases significantly increase. Nezat also reiterated that COVID-19 vaccines are available for certain school-aged children. The (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) announced that boosters will be available to 12 to 15 year olds five months after their second dose, she said. Children aged 5-11 with immune deficiencies would be able to receive the booster shot as well. Boosters have already been approved for those 16 and older. For more information or to schedule a vaccine appointment with the Beaumont Public Health Department, call 409-654-3647. COVID vaccinations are free. To stay up-to-date on active COVID cases within BISD, visit their COVID-19 Tracker located on their website at bmtisd.com. olivia.malick@hearst.com twitter.com/oliviamalick A third COVID-recovered senior inmate death has been reported at a low-security federal prison in Jefferson County. FCI Beaumont Low inmate Lee Cormier, 71, died at a local hospital on Dec. 28, according to a Wednesday news release from the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. His death marks the fifth federal inmate death reported in Beaumont in less than a year. Cormier was evaluated by the federal correction institutes medical staff for shortness of breath and taken to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment on Dec. 21, the release said. Cormier tested positive for the novel coronavirus the year prior. He was immediately placed in medical isolation on Nov. 6, 2020. Cormier had pre-existing medical conditions, which the CDC lists as risk factors for developing more severe COVID-19 disease, the release said. On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Mr. Cormier was converted to a status of recovered, following the completion of medical isolation and presenting with no symptoms, the release said. Cormier was sentenced in the Western District of Louisiana to a nearly 25-year-long sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He had been in custody at FCI Beaumont since April 10, 2015. FCI Beaumont Low currently houses 1,575 male offenders. Four other inmate deaths previously were reported in 2021 two of which were reported at the FCI Beaumont Low facility. Cormier is not only the fifth inmate death and the third inmate to die at this specific facility, but the third senior to die as well, according to previous reports by The Enterprise. Armando Ramirez, 71, died on March 27, 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19 in on December 17, 2020. He was placed in medical isolation that day. Similar to Cormier, he was released based on CDC guidelines on Dec. 28 after being converted to the status of recovered and presenting no symptoms. He returned to the prisons staff with shortness of breath on March 27 and was taken to the hospital where he died that same day. He had pre-existing medical conditions. The facility housed 1,486 male offenders at the time. Related: BOP releases information about inmates death in Beaumont prison Robert Neal Hatchell, 63, died on September 6, 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19 on November 6, 2020the same day as the late Cormier. Hatchell was immediately placed in medical isolation and his medical status was changed on November 17, 2020 in accordance with CDC guidelines. He returned to staff on Sept. 3 with abdominal symptoms and was taken to the hospital where he died three days later. He had long-term, pre-existing medical conditions. The facility housed 1,457 male offenders at the time. Related: Second senior, COVID recovered federal inmate dies in Beaumont Two other inmates died at different federal prison facilities in Beaumont last year. Rafael Salas, 40, was found unresponsive at the Beaumont Medium security prison on Sept. 8. Related: Second federal inmate in less than a month dies in Beaumont Michael Fossler, 33, was found unresponsive late Aug. 9 at the United States Penitentiary a high-security facility in Beaumont with just one-quarter of his sentence remaining. He too later was later pronounced dead at a local hospital following staff and EMSs life-saving efforts. Related: Federal inmate dies with just one-quarter of sentence remaining meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com Larry Ferlazzo, who has taught at Luther Burbank High School for the past 19 years, for a decade has written a column making annual education predictions. It's time for him to look into his crystal ball for 2022. In addition to being a full-time teacher, Ferlazzo has written or edited two books on education, writes a weekly teacher advice column for Education Week, and hosts a popular resource-sharing blog. Here's Ferlazzo's look into the future: - There will be a big increase in teacher retirements in the spring/summer, leading to a teacher shortage that will make this school year look like a picnic. Then, in an advance prediction for 2023, the stress created by that staff shortage will result in an equal number of departures the following year. These losses, combined with a similarly alarming drop in numbers of students enrolling in teacher-preparation programs, will result in an awful downward spiral. Districts with skilled leadership will have already developed "grow your own" and "teacher-residency" programs to recruit new students, and programs to support those educators who choose to stay. But, as the pandemic has shown, those kinds of districts are definitely not the majority. - Mask mandates in many schools will continue through the fall and will, in fact, increase in numbers. The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus will have successors, and we will all learn the Greek alphabet. The vast majority of school districts, however, will not be choosing to return to distance learning - even with high community transmission rates. Parent pushback would be too great, and many schools have learned the hard way how to reduce transmission risk. Of course, there are also some states that will continue to do little or nothing to reduce those risks. - State standardized test scores will be down. Many schools officials will NOT see that a major cause for these drops will be that the districts are only giving lip service to social-emotional learning, mental health support and genuine accelerated learning. Instead they will put their money and energy behind remediation and double down on adding instructional time and "drill-and-kill." They will continue to appear dumbfounded that what they are doing is not working, and conclude that they should add more of the same. Welcome to another downward spiral. - Attacks on teaching about systemic racism will intensify leading up to the November midterm elections as Republicans continue to believe it will be a hot-button issue to galvanize voter turnout. It generally won't be successful in that Republican aim, but the attacks will hurt students, their families and teachers as educators will self-censor themselves. After the election and polls find that these attacks on critical race theory - an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism - didn't expand the Republican base. Conservative strategists will forget about the issue, but damaging laws passed by Republican-dominated state legislatures restricting how teachers deal with race and other issues will remain on the books, and their impact will continue. - There will be some major consolidations in the educational technology world more educators conclude that yes, our students need more personalized learning and, no, technology might not be the only, and not even main, vehicle through which to provide it. Smaller class sizes, listening, connecting to student interests, building relationships can lead to better learning. Bye, bye unicorns. - President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan - or some version of it - will eventually pass. It's unclear whether it will universal prekindergarten and a child-tax credit extension. As countless studies have found, outside factors such as child poverty have a much greater impact on student achievement than we teachers do, and the child tax credit has already done an impressive job at reducing child poverty. Quality pre-K programs have also been found to positively influence later academic performance. So these two efforts could end up being the most effective school improvement efforts done in many years - if they actually happen. - Despite recent school shootings, efforts to reduce police presence in schools will continue. A high priority will be made to twin these changes with an increase in other harm reduction and safety strategies, including restorative practices. Major experiments and research on how to implement these strategies, particularly in secondary schools, will take place and their results widely disseminated. - Private foundations like Gates and Chan Zuckerberg will continue coming up with ideas about what schools should do, finding people who will accept their money to do them, and then concluding that it didn't work. Their staff will continue believing they are the smartest people in the room, and not bother listening to ideas from educators who actually teach in classrooms every day. - I borrow this last one from educator Bill Ivey every year. He predicts that "each and every school day will bring tens of thousands of reasons to celebrate in schools across the country." Despite anything the pandemic can throw at us, I think this is still going to be the case. A firefighter extinguishes flames in a police vehicle amid clashes between supporters of a candidate from the ruling Awami League and an independent candidate during the Union Council election, in Bakshiganj, Jamalpur, in northern Bangladesh, Jan. 5, 2022. The death toll from violence around Union Council elections in Bangladesh surpassed 100 on Wednesday, as at least 10 people were killed in the latest stage of polling, including some by police gunfire, local authorities and an NGO said. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other main parties are not participating in the polls, which have been unfolding in stages since June but been marred by violence, including infighting among the countrys ruling Awami League and between supporters of that party and independents. Of those killed on Wednesday, five were in the northern Bogura district alone, with four of them dying in firing by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Zia Latiful Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station where the incident occurred, told BenarNews. BGB opened fire after some people engaged in a clash at the Kalaihata Government Primary School polling station, he said. Separately on Wednesday, two people were killed in poll-related violence in Chandpur district, and one each in Chattogram, Manikganj, and Gaibandha districts, according to information gathered from the Election Commission, the police and local hospitals. Clashes were also reported in the Savar sub-district of Dhaka, Brahmanbaria, Cumilla, Noakhali, Munshiganj, and Jashore. Violence in these rural administrative elections that are held every five years has risen sharply since 2016 when parties began to contest these polls, unlike earlier on when they were non-partisan, according to electoral violence data compiled by Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik, a local NGO. Its figures show that 23 people were killed during the 2003 union council polls; 10 during the 2011 elections; and 143 in the last rural council election. Wednesdays round of voting was the fifth of a seven-stage election, which is scheduled to end next month. Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar said such clashes had become a part of Union Council elections. In the so-called vote battle, there are only battles now, no voting, he told a press conference on Wednesday. Talukdar also pointed to some irregularities he had witnessed at polling centers he visited. The vote is being cast openly in front of presiding officers. Witnesses and journalists have observed this but no measure has been taken. Police and RAB [Rapid Action Battalion officers] are on the spot but did not take any action. What election are we holding? he said after visiting several polling centers in Ashulia, a Dhaka suburb. The opposition BNP said it was not contesting these elections because, in its view, the Election Commission had lost its credibility to hold a fair election. Such huge violence in the ongoing local body polls justifies BNPs decision not to join in the polls under the Election Commission as well as the government, BNP official Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told BenarNews. The ruling Awami League people want to capture power at any positions to the point where they are now fighting against their own party people, he said. Rizvi added that the violence could have been more widespread if the BNP and other opposition had been contesting. Humayun Kabir Khandaker, secretary for the Election Commission, refuted all allegations against the commission at a press conference in Dhaka, saying the elections were largely peaceful bar some isolated incidents. The Election Commission is not responsible for such deaths or electoral violence, he said when asked about the killings. I am requesting all candidates and supporters not to be emotional and show respect for each other. When asked about the violence, A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim, the Awami Leagues joint general secretary, replied: Violence in local government body elections in Bangladesh is not a new thing. We are not expecting a loss of any life so we are requesting all concerned to act more carefully to prevent violence in the polls, he told BenarNews. Badiul Alam Majumder, an expert on elections and governance, sees no hope in the future for free, fair and non-violent elections in the country. The total electoral system has been ruined in Bangladesh, while massive violence and irregularities in the ongoing local body polls have become the last nail in the coffin of the electoral system, he told BenarNews. Not only the next general election, all kinds of polls will suffer in the future as democratic institutions, including the Election Commission, have become loyal to the ruling party. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League has been in power uninterrupted since 2009 and has won four general elections. Fishing boats are anchored at Masinloc on the west coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines where residents complain catches are smaller because of Chinese activities around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, Sept. 6, 2019. A collapse of fishery stocks in the South China Sea caused by overfishing and climate change could fuel serious tensions and even armed conflict, one of the authors of a new report on the topic has warned. The simmering conflict that we see in the South China Sea is mostly because of fish even though countries dont say it out loud, Rashid Sumaila, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, told BenarNews on Wednesday. Sumaila, from the universitys Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and its School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, co-authored a report titled Sink or Swim: The Future Of Fisheries In the East And South China Sea. He and other fisheries scientists and economists examined the impacts of climate change and overfishing in the regions oceans. The report said under a scenario in which global temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, the South China Sea is likely to experience significant declines in key commercial fish and invertebrate species, placing many regional fishing economies at risk of devastating failure. Regional fisheries in the South China Sea are estimated to generate $100 billion annually, supporting the livelihoods of about 3.7 million people, which the report says will be at risk. Chinas growing need for fish-based feed, not just fish for human consumption, is a key driver of overfishing in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, according to the report. Fishery is one of the reasons China is entangled in disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea, Sumaila said. The reports researchers urged immediate action to reduce fishing. They called for increased international cooperation to prevent the catastrophic fisheries collapse they are predicting. A man works at a seafood stall in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2020. [Reuters] Fighting over fish The link between overfishing and maritime conflicts has been witnessed all over the world. One of the more notable incidents was the cod war between the United Kingdom and Iceland that continued for nearly 20 years beginning in 1958. Navies from both countries were deployed to protect rival fishermen until government leaders reached an agreement in 1976 through diplomacy. More recently, increased attacks by pirates in the waters off the coast of the East African nation of Somalia were attributed to the depletion of seafood resources through illegal fishing. Some researchers including John Quiggin, professor of economics at the University of Queensland, have a different perspective that it is disputes and lawlessness that put pressure on fish stocks. Unresolved conflict increases risk of overfishing and collapse, Quiggin said. As the Iceland-U.K. cod war and the Somali episode both showed, the optimal solution is for states to regulate exclusive economic zones (EEZs) with catch quotas, he said. Best outcome in South China Sea would be for a negotiated agreement. Sumaila, meanwhile, said the best thing the countries sharing the South China Sea can do is to recognize the immense value of the fisheries of this sea and to cooperate to manage the fisheries sustainably. They could learn from Norway and Russia, who have decided to manage Barents Sea cod fisheries cooperatively even during the Cold War between the then-Soviet Union and the West because they recognized how important this fishery is to their citizens. I believe this can be done for the South China Sea too, Sumaila said. Philippine Coast Guard personnel aboard rubber boats patrol past Chinese ships at Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea, April 14, 2021. [Philippine Coast Guard/AFP] Illegal fishing Separately, the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Chinese think tank, has alleged that illegal fishing, in particular by Vietnamese fishermen, has seriously undermined regional mutual trust-building and posed a huge threat and challenge to maritime cooperation, conservation of fishery resources and security of neighboring countries. In a new report, the SCSPI said Vietnam operates about 9,000 fishing boats in the South China Sea and got into fishing conflicts with China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Vietnamese authorities were not available for comment but Vietnamese media have reported on the governments efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, especially after the European Commission issued a yellow card warning against Vietnams fishing violations in 2017. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had ordered local governments to stamp out IUU fishing by the end of 2021 and leaders of Vietnams 28 coastal provinces committed to stop fishing boats from encroaching on foreign waters. China, however, is still ahead of other countries in terms of IUU fishing. A Global Illegal Fishing Index created by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime ranked China the worst offender in 2019. With up to 800,000 vessels, Chinas fishing fleet is by far the largest in the world and Chinese fishermen, having exhausted domestic grounds, are known to have traveled to distant waters such as the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa or the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador for their catches. In the South China Sea, China has been accused of operating a fleet of armed fishing militia to enforce its sweeping sovereignty claims which are disputed by its neighbors, including Vietnam. The RAND Corp., a U.S. think tank, said China has been carrying out classic gray zone operations designed to win without fighting by overwhelming the adversary with swarms of fishing boats usually bolstered from the rear by coast guard and possibly naval ships. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered police to be deployed to hundreds of hotels and other COVID-19 quarantine sites in Metro Manila after a hotel guest who had arrived from the United States skipped isolation and tested positive following her return three days later. Duterte, who said hotels are not adequately equipped to enforce quarantine measures, ordered the interior department to assign police officers in shifts to prevent such incidents from happening again. The police can guard hotels, and if they [guests] insist on going out, there will be a ruckus, Duterte said during his nationally televised meeting with cabinet officials which aired late Tuesday. Two policemen are assigned to quarantine hotels and they have to be mindful of their duty to advise the person, Duterte said. They have the power to arrest them, no doubt about it. Meanwhile on Wednesday, Catholic Church leaders again canceled the annual procession of the Black Nazarene, a festival that can draw more than 1 million devotees, because of the pandemic. Following Dutertes address, presidential aides on Wednesday said at least two officers would be assigned to nearly 300 quarantine facilities and hotels in Metro Manila while additional officers are expected to be deployed later across the country. Dutertes order came after the tourism department suspended Berjaya Makati Hotel because a guest broke quarantine rules. The tourism department identified the guest as Gwyneth Chua, a Filipina, who left the hotel on Dec. 22, returned on Christmas Day and tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 26. The department said the woman was spotted on since-deleted social media posts at a bar in a party district. Berjaya staff said Chua, who was to quarantine until Dec. 27 following her arrival, left the hotel 15 minutes after checking in, according to the tourism department. Neither did the hotel security personnel nor the front lobby call attention to her, and neither was there any effort to report the incident to the Bureau of Quarantine even after her return three days later, it said in a news release. Philippine media reported police filed complaints against Chua, her parents, a friend and five hotel staffers over the incident. The media also noted that some of Chuas contacts have tested positive for COVID-19 as well. The hotel, which publicly apologized for the incident, was fined the equivalent of twice its most expensive room rate and has been suspended as an accredited hotel, meaning it no longer has a license to operate pending resolution of the case, according to the tourism department. The hotel has 15 working days to appeal the decision, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported. In calling for the police presence, Duterte said hotel owners and staff cannot be in a position to legally stop hotel guests from breaking quarantine protocols. The hotel owners or whoever is working there cannot be tasked with the burden of enforcing the rules of quarantine because only the government can enforce it, he said. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, meanwhile, cited a law that empowers personnel in a quarantine mandated area. The law prohibits acts that include non-cooperation of persons and entities that should report or respond to notifiable diseases or health events of public concern, Guevarra said. 10,775 infections The Philippines recorded 10,775 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to the Department of Health, nearly double the 5,434 infections a day earlier. The last time the country recorded more daily cases 12,159 was on Oct. 10. More recently, the Philippines posted just 22 infections on Dec. 19. The health department recorded 58 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the toll to 51,662 since the pandemic began. In addition, the country has confirmed more than 2.87 million COVID-19 cases, second only to Indonesia in the region. The spike resulted from the increase in movement and social mixing over the holiday period. The DOH also earlier attributed the increase to the possibility of the local spread of the Omicron variant, the health department said. Earlier this week, authorities expanded COVID-19 restrictions in Metro Manila and provinces surrounding the capital region because of the spike. Devotees surround the carriage of the Black Nazarene during the annual procession in Manila, Jan. 9, 2020. [AP] Black Nazarene procession canceled On Wednesday, Catholic Church leaders canceled the annual procession of the Black Nazarene, a wooden statue of Jesus Christ, after local health officials and the World Health Organization expressed concern it could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases. The procession was scheduled for Jan. 9. The Black Nazarene was carved and brought to the Philippines in 1606 when it was a Spanish colony. The procession called Traslacion, one of the countrys largest religious festivals, typically draws more than 1 million barefoot Catholic devotees of the black wooden statue, believed to be miraculous, to walk through the streets of Manila. The governments task force on COVID-19 also ordered the Quiapo Church, home of the Black Nazarene, to be closed this week and for masses to be aired online instead. We have witnessed this past holiday season how fast, how rapid the rise has been of COVID-19 because of social gatherings, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement on Wednesday. We would like to remind everyone to be vigilant and continue practicing the necessary health protocols amid the impending threat of the Omicron variant and the continued rise in cases these past days. In light of these, we are calling for a suspension of all mass gatherings. Our alarming situation calls for safer ways to celebrate traditions. We appeal to devotees please stay at home to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. Doing so is an act of kindness. We need to protect each other, especially our elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, he said. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Teflon coating equipment is shown in the former ChemFab Corp. factory in North Bennington in a photo taken during the 1970s. PFOA contamination from the operation affected hundreds of wells in the Bennington area, leading to a 2016 class-action suit in federal court. Suit plaintiffs are invited to Zoom sessions starting this month to discuss details of a $34.15 million suit settlement agreement. Features Editor Jennifer Huberdeau is The Eagle's features editor. Prior to The Eagle, she worked at The North Adams Transcript. She is a 2021 Rabkin Award Winner, 2020 New England First Amendment Institute Fellow and a 2010 BCBS Health Care Fellow. A Williams College student is tested for COVID-19 as she returns to campus in August 2020. Students returning for the winter session this week are again being screened and so far at least 40 have tested positive. PITTSFIELD In a sober message to parents, students and staff members on Wednesday, Pittsfield schools Superintendent Joseph Curtis warned that the day may soon be approaching when the district will need to close a school or all schools due to rising numbers of COVID cases throughout the district. But should that day come, he said, any missed days would be made up later in-person rather than returning to a remote learning model. During the 3-minute video message sent out shortly after 11 a.m., Curtis told families that any closures would likely be the result of increasing cases among staff members that could interfere with our ability to safely supervise students. Our school leaders, teachers and support staff clearly understand how school closure or remote learning has impacted our students and staff, he said. I can assure you that our entire staff is going above and beyond to keep our schools open. The superintendent said in his message to families that if the need arises for an emergency closure, the school will treat the closure like a snow or weather day and make up the time away from school at the end of the year. He made no mention of plans to return to remote learning during potential closures, and has previously made clear that the district was not considering remote learning as a viable option for students this school year. Students and staff return to Pittsfield schools on Monday. Here's what awaits them While life in the classroom will continue as before the holiday break, the district is implementing new state guidelines around isolation and quarantining to Pittsfield schools' coronavirus safety policies and offering staff testing kits to use to check for the virus before returning to work on Monday. We must take every mitigation measure to ensure that our students remain in in-person school for the entire school year, Curtis said during a School Committee meeting in August. We cannot have another school year where our students are going back and forth between hybrid learning and remote learning. School principals are reportedly maintaining running lists of the number of staff members who are out sick and communicating with administrators each night and early morning when they have concerns about staffing levels, he said. Staff cases are highest at Taconic High School where as of Wednesday morning 10 staff members were out of work with the coronavirus. Prior to this week no school had reported more than 4 staff cases at one time. There is no threshold or number that drives a decision to close, rather an analysis of each schools staffing levels and the ability to operate school safely, Curtis said. Coronavirus cases among students and staff members reached their highest point this school year on Wednesday with 73 students and 35 staff members reporting active coronavirus cases districtwide. Student cases more than quadrupled between Saturday and Monday rising from 15 to 73 cases as the holiday break ended. District staff reported an additional 15 cases in that same time period. The prior peak in school district coronavirus cases was Nov. 20 when 71 students and 7 staff members were out sick with the virus. That peak was brought on by an outbreak at Morningside Community School. The outbreak caused district leaders to close second grade classrooms at the school for the week leading up to the Thanksgiving break. Massachusetts needed nursing home reform even before the pandemic, people say. Now, the stakes are higher. State Sen. Patricia Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, said she believes the pandemic has moved legislative leaders to pursue changes. Even so, addressing long-term care problems in Berkshire County and across the state demands different solutions. Better wages for workers, improved reimbursements for facilities and increased support for nursing home alternatives are all on the table, Jehlen said. 'Get me out of here.' Inside the staffing crisis at Berkshire nursing homes EAGLE INVESTIGATIONS: Poor staffing ratios have festered for more than a decade in the majority of Berkshire County nursing facilities, and continue today. Our investigation puts faces to those numbers. I certainly want to do something, and I think everything is connected, Jehlen said. This is the time that we have a chance because of what happened at the beginning of the pandemic. Jehlen and state Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton, worked with SEIU Local 1199 and the Massachusetts chapter of the AARP to file a bill that tackles nursing homes low staffing levels, which predate the pandemic, head-on. Their proposal would require Massachusetts facilities to meet the minimum of 4.1 hours of care per resident per day and 0.75 registered nurse hours recommended by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In addition, the proposal would require facilities to adopt outbreak response plans and social isolation prevention policies. And it would start a career ladder program to improve worker retention and care quality. Task force report In 2019, a wave of nursing home closures led the Massachusetts Legislature to establish a 15-member task force to investigate the industrys financial stability. The groups February 2020 report recommended four policy strategies agreed upon by task force members, which included lawmakers, labor leaders, industry executives and state secretaries. The task force recommended that the state seek to close low-quality and low-occupancy nursing facilities, implement a revised reimbursement rate structure, incentivize high-quality care and ensure adequate pay for workers across the continuum. Gov. Charlie Bakers administration acted upon some of those recommendations. In 2020, the Baker administration restructured reimbursement rates. To receive the increased rates, facilities had to meet a minimum of 3.58 hours of care per resident per day, which still falls below the CMS recommendation of 4.1 hours, and had to spend at least 75 percent of revenue on their care workforce. More recently, an August law established a special commission to study the state Department of Healths nursing home licensing process. The commission is required to submit a report and recommendations by October 2023. Yet, both Jehlen and Balser say their proposal should accompany additional legislation that addresses wages, reimbursement rates and other issues. Its not only requiring a higher number of hours, which is a necessary but not sufficient reform, Balser said. Theres a big issue with salaries for those folks who work in nursing homes, and theres also working conditions. Theres a lot of issues. Pushback from industry Jehlen said she hopes two categories of legislation can pass this session. One would expand Massachusetts residents access to nursing home alternatives on the long-term care continuum, which includes assisted living facilities, home health care and other options that offer greater independence. The other would address nursing homes themselves. Dignity Alliance Massachusetts, a coalition of disability and senior advocacy groups, has endorsed 67 bills in the Legislature this session, including Jehlen and Balsers proposal to increase staffing levels, it says on its website. The group representing the states nursing homes, however, has expressed its reservations. Massachusetts Senior Care Association President Tara Gregorio warned at a June hearing that proposals before the elder affairs committee would create unfunded mandates, although she added that industry leaders agree in concept with the reforms. Gregorio estimates that Jehlen and Balsers proposal to increase staffing levels would cost $170 million per year, she said in an email to The Eagle. Nursing facilities simply cannot afford these increases under the states existing reimbursement formula, Gregorio said, adding that costs for temporary nursing agency staff have grown. We continue to believe that any staffing mandate must be accompanied with a statutory provision that requires recognition of the new costs by MassHealth. The elder affairs committee is weighing the associations testimony along with the support that the Dignity Alliance and its member organizations have provided for the bill, said state Rep. Thomas Stanley, D-Waltham, who co-chairs the committee with Jehlen. Thats the job of the committee, and thats what were doing right now, Stanley said. One side says one thing, another side says another. And its our job to dig into the arguments and find out what is accurate and what can be changed in order to make the system work better. The Massachusetts Senior Care Associations top priority is the establishment of a stable and skilled workforce, Gregorio said, identifying two bills as critically necessary. Those proposals sit before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, which heard testimony on them in September. While 70 percent of nursing home residents have their care paid by MassHealth, the state Medicaid program provides reimbursements that fall $30 short per day of covering the cost of care for each resident, Gregorio said. A nursing home quality jobs initiative would require MassHealth to fund a living wage rate add-on for care workers, and another bill seeks to stabilize nursing facilities finances. Former state Sen. Richard Moore, who serves as Dignity Alliances legislative chair, said the coalition has reviewed those proposals and declined to support them due to the potential for cost-shifting that would increase profits for facility operators. If MassHealth picked up the cost, are the savings going to be passed on as a profit to the owners? Moore asked. Weve been working with some folks from the SEIU that represent some of the workers in nursing homes, and I think they tend to have the interests of the workers in mind more than management does. Long-term care continuum Even before the pandemic, Massachusetts residents had been showing greater interest in alternatives to nursing homes. More older adults are choosing to age in community or age in place rather than seek institutional care in nursing homes, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services reported in 2019. One in six nursing homes in the state, it found, had low occupancy, defined as filling below 80 percent of available beds. Still, some regulations and restrictions prevent people who may not need nursing care from accessing more independent alternatives, Jehlen said. There are people in nursing homes who dont need to be there if we strengthen the rest of the continuum, she said. In order to pay adequate rates for people who need that care, we need to strengthen the less expensive and less restrictive services. Stanley worked on a commission that made recommendations for establishing a statewide licensing process for home health care agencies. Licensing more home care providers can provide quality assurance to families, he said. Quote I think its incredibly frustrating for consumers to find the right and appropriate care for their loved ones when the time comes." State Rep. Thomas Stanley, D-Saugus I think its incredibly frustrating for consumers to find the right and appropriate care for their loved ones when the time comes, and we want to ensure that home care agencies are licensed and trained properly and that consumers know what theyre getting, Stanley said. Another priority is to right-size the nursing home industry so that nursing homes can be financially sustainable and that sufficient funds can go toward supporting care workers and expanding community-based services, Stanley said. Jehlen has filed a bill to improve reimbursements for home health services, but regulations can also pose a barrier. Many people living with HIV or AIDS, for example, must enter nursing homes if they are not old enough to qualify for home care, Jehlen said. While most residents must be 60 or older to qualify for home care people diagnosed with Alzheimers are eligible if they are younger than 60 one Jehlen bill would make home care available to anyone diagnosed with HIV or AIDS regardless of age. Another Jehlen bill would authorize staff in assisted living residences to provide common sense health services, such as administering injections and applying ointments or drops. Some families have had to travel to assisted living facilities to administer insulin injections themselves because staff were not allowed to do so, Jehlen said. Assisted living facilities have temporary authorization to provide those services, but the authorization is set to expire Feb. 1. Jehlen said she expects the complexity of problems facing long-term care facilities will require continued focus from lawmakers beyond this session. Its rare that we solve all problems at once, she said. Susan Dunn is a professor of humanities at Williams College and the author of Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light and Jeffersons Second Revolution. To be a candidate or not to be? Ever Wondered What is Selah? I hum along to the strains of How Great Thou Art pouring from the living room speaker. As the song ends, I hustle to the CD player and press a small black button reluctant to surrender my time in worship to the demands of a full tutoring schedule. Turning away from the console, I notice a slim, midnight blue sleeve. I recognize the bands familiar name displayed on the cover Selah. I know selah was included in the last line of Anita Diamants book, The Red Tent, and that it has been used as a girls name in both literature and church circles, but what does selah mean in the Bible? What Does Selah Mean in the Bible? The word selah is as mysterious as it is beautiful. While its exact meaning has been debated since the second century, Strongs concordance provides multiple definitions. When used as a noun, selah refers to a cliff or crag. In verb form, though, it means to lift up, exalt a fitting definition for both the soring cliffs of Petra and the omnipotent God of Psalms. Pronounced say-luh, scholars are unsure of the words origin. Some believe it was derived from the Hebrew word calah which meant valued or hangs. We read this word in Job 28:19 (KJV), The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued [calah] in pure gold. Here, Job has concluded that wisdom is of incomparable value. When it hangs in the balance, wisdom outweighs wealth. Drawing on the frequency of selahs position at the end of a poetic verse or phrase, many Bible students have concluded that selah was a musical term that meant to pause or contemplate similar to the current rest notation used in a musical score. Instrumentalists, for instance, might have continued playing while the chorus or congregation stopped briefly. Other scholars contend that selah meant forever or that it was designed to prompt congregants to contemplate their relationship with the Lord. As the Amplified version of Psalm 3:4 reflects, With my voice I cry to the Lord, and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! Unlike most Biblical words, selah is not directly translated. Instead, it is transliterated, or written to represent its sound in the original language. Jason Soroski shares more about transliteration in his article, What Does Selah Mean in the Bible and Why Is it Important?. Where Is Selah Used in the Bible? The first reference to selah appears in 2 Kings 14:7. Here, we read that Jehoash, king of Israel, captured Selah along with ten thousand Edomites. In this instance, Selah was a specific city possibly though not likely, modern-day Petra a stronghold and the capital of Edom. Selah is also mentioned in Isaiah 16:1(NIV), Send lambs as tributefrom selah. and Obadiah 1:3 (AMPC), The pride of your heart has deceived you, you dweller in the refuges of the rock [Petra, Edoms capital] In each of the instances above, selah specifies a place surrounded by or made of rock. In the prophetic song of Habakkuk, selah is referenced three times in Chapter 3. "God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah." (Habakkuk 3:3 NKJ) " Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah." (Habakkuk 3:9 NKJ) "You struck the head by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah." (Habakkuk 3:18 NKJ) The poetic verses are somewhat like those in the Psalms many of the lines that include selah use it as a conclusion or break in the stanza. In fact, selah is included seventy-one times within thirty-nine Psalms. Thirty-one of these were directed to the choirmaster or director. It is easy to understand, then, why many people believe selah is a type of musical instruction. Both King David and the Sons of Korah penned selah into their Psalms, suggesting it was a familiar term not only to musicians but also to worshippers. Some have suggested selah might have been an Old Testament equivalent to amen or hallelujah used to emphasize an important point in the Psalm. Selah is even listed as an interjection in Strongs concordance. Perhaps we will never have a clear understanding of the lyrical selah, but we can apply what we know to our lives as an act of worship. How Do We Live a Life of Selah in the Day-to-Day? In a world routed by Covid restrictions, pipeline shortages, and mask mandates, we can forget God is sovereign. Despite our overwhelm, he is unsurprised by our circumstances. With its multiple meanings, selah can enrich our worship and embolden our faith as we learn to trust in the Lord even in these challenging times. Lets review 2 Kings 14:7. This verse could be transliterated as the king took the rock by war. I love the multiple meanings assigned to selah, especially this definition rock. God, who is our heavenly rock and stronghold, is multifaceted and unchanging. Because the Bible reveals His beauty and character to us, the simplest way to live a life of selah is to study scripture. We can also develop a mindset of gratitude. Recent studies indicate that gratitude improves mood, decreases depression, and improves sleep. Our bodies were designed to give praise and thanks to God. By living a life of selah, or one in which we lift up the Lord, the blessing we give him returns to us. A third way to implement selah is to pause in the frenetic pace of the day to nurture relationship with Christ. Like Mary, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and choose what is better (Luke 10:42 NIV). Practical Tips for Studying Selah in Scripture Because many of the Psalms include selah, they are a natural place to begin reading and reflecting on the Lord. Some of these include Psalms 3, 4, 7, and 9. You can search for the Psalms that reference selah, or if you would like to receive a weekly selah study prompt, click here. While reading each of the Psalms, consider the following: - What were the different emotions and thoughts the Psalmist expressed? Do you share your emotions and thoughts with the Lord in the same way? Why or why not? - What were the Psalmist's circumstances? - Consider reading and praying through the selah Psalms aloud. - As you pronounce selah, pause, and remember that God is your fortress and strength. Then, exalt and praise his name for a specific gift in your life. - Record the action verb in each Psalm. How does it relate to your life? Invite the Holy Spirit to teach you from each specific verse. - Memorize each selah verse. A Prayer for Christians to Live a Life Focused on Selah Lord, Your word tells us that your greatness is unsearchable, and much about you remains a mystery. But you have revealed yourself to us through scripture as well as the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We long to know you more fully and pray the Holy Spirit will provide insight and wisdom as we seek to understand that which is beyond us. Father, help us to pause and remember you are sovereign when fear or anxiety threaten to overwhelm us. Teach us to rest securely in you the solid, everlasting rock, and give you all the praise and glory. Selah. Photo Credit: Unsplash Tammy Kennington is a writer and speaker familiar with the impact of trauma, chronic illness, and parenting in the hard places. Her heart is to lead women from hardship to hope. You can meet with Tammy at her blog www.tammykennington.com where shell send you her e-book, Moving from Pain to Peace-A Journey Toward Hope When the Past Holds You Captive. BOISE - A refinery fire in Texas and some distribution snags in the Pacific Northwest are putting upward pressure on pump prices as 2022 begins, according to AAA. Over the last week, the national average for regular fuel increased slightly by half a cent to $3.29 a gallon. Meanwhile, Oregon saw the biggest jump of any state in the nation, with the average price of fuel jumping six cents to $3.83. In Idaho, the average price per gallon sits at $3.56, one cent lower than this time last week and nine cents lower than one month ago. The national average price for fuel is also down eight cents from one month ago. Oregon and Washington are the only two states in the nation with higher prices now than one month ago. The west coast region continues to have the most expensive pump prices in the nation, with all seven states in the region landing in the top 10. For the 50th week in a row, California was the most expensive state for fuel, with an average price of $4.66. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have higher prices now than a year ago, and 26 states and D.C. have a current average thats a dollar or more higher than a year ago. AAA says a pre-Christmas fire at the Exxon Mobil Corp plant in Baytown, TX, is causing reduced output. The plant is the nations fourth-biggest oil refinery, with the capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude. In addition to the refinery and terminal issues, the Omicron variant is also influencing oil and fuel prices, as fears of the economic impact create uncertainty, says Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho. Investors worry that the surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant will lead to reduced future global oil consumption. Crude oil dropped to $68 per barrel on December 20, then climbed above $75 per barrel on December 27 and has remained above that mark since then. Heres a look at Idaho gas prices as of Tuesday, January 4, 2022: MOSCOW - Mothers who have recently been infected with coronavirus and breastfeed their infants can provide antibodies that can provide their little one natural protection against COVID-19, according to a study. The new report expands on earlier findings that showed the milk of breastfeeding women infected with SARS-CoV-2 did not contain the virus. According to researchers, these results support recommendations encouraging lactating women to continue breastfeeding during and after COVID-19 illness. "The expanded study included more than 60 women who provided samples up to two months after their COVID-19 diagnoses," said Michelle K. Shelley McGuire of the University of Idaho. She led the study along with University of Rochester Medical Center colleague Antti E. Seppo. The full team included researchers from the U of I; Washington State University; University of Rochester Medical Center; University of California, San Francisco; Brigham and Womens Hospital; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; and Tulane University. The journal Frontiers in Immunology published the report December 23. What was really important was those antibodies remained elevated in most of those women for up to two months, McGuire said. It just added confidence that even if you have COVID, breastfeeding is the right thing to do. The team tested the breastmilk samples for immunoglobulin A antibodies specific to the spike protein in the novel coronavirus responsible for the pandemic. The tests showed three-quarters of the women continued to produce the antibodies in breastmilk for up to two months with some beginning as early as within a week of their COVID-19 diagnosis. The researchers said the antibodies in breastmilk likely provided the womens infants with a lasting source of passive immunity. The women also submitted swabs from breast skin before and after washing. Although no SARS CoV-2 virus was detected in milk, 29% of skin swabs tested positive for SARS CoV-2 genetic material (RNA) before washing. Only two of 29 swabs, 6%, tested positive after washing. The researchers attributed the presence of the viral RNA to coughing by the women or household sources. The researchers stressed that they found no evidence of live virus or reason to be concerned about this finding. "The bottom line stayed the same: Breastfeeding during COVID-19 is not only safe for infants, it is likely protective," McGuire said. MECOSTA COUNTY With a return to school from winter break comes new possibilities for COVID-19 cases to rise, and Mecosta County school districts are reinforcing the protocols they are currently utilizing to mitigate the spread of the virus. Prior to winter break, several districts faced issues with illness caseloads and confusion regarding quarantine policy, including Morley Stanwood and Big Rapids schools. In letter to parents in November, Morley Stanwood Superintendent Roger Cole said keeping track of any sickness is key to a safe return. While we are still experiencing positive cases here at school, both students and staff, our numbers the first day back are not out of control, Cole said. Because of that, parents do not always think of COVID when their son or daughter has the sniffles. Reasonably so, they think of an allergy or the common cold as the cause for the onset of the symptoms. We have found that the most contagious folk are contagious a day or two prior to the onset of symptoms and up through the first four or five days after they test positive, he added. If we can catch things early, we can help keep our numbers under control better. Prior to students returning for classes, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and Michigan Department of Education (MDE) sent a letter to superintendents urging schools to reinforce actions that can help alleviate the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions are particularly in anticipation of the highly transmissible omicron variant. The guidance is intended to keep school buildings open and allow students and staff to return to school safely after winter break. MDHHS continues to reinforce that vaccination remains the best public health measure to protect Michiganders from COVID-19. Currently, children ages five and up are eligible to be vaccinated. According to the health officials, the most effective way to prevent transmission within school buildings and reduce prolonged disruptions to in-person learning is to layer multiple prevention strategies as recommended by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Big Rapids Public Schools has also faced closures and is aiming to mitigate the spread with students coming back to the buildings. Superintendent Tim Haist said the schools administrations hopes to have a smooth transition back to school. When were transitioning back its really going to be about focusing on reassessing our students from where they ended and make sure we get them started in the right direction for the school year, Haist said. We want to make sure that they are feeling safe and comfortable both socially, emotionally and academically in our buildings. "Were always concerned about the potential impact that COVID may have on our school and we continue to take the extra precautions weve taken all year long. Well continue to follow protocols and procedures as we return from the holiday break to do our best to make sure were able to stay in person for our students and staff. As far as the rest of the year goes, were still wrapping up some of our bond projects, and some potential projects for our sinking fund that well plan to pursue over the next summer," he added. "I think most importantly were looking forward to trying to stay in person and having a successful second half to our school year. The CDC and MDHHS strongly recommend universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors, age 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status. As Michigan remains in high community transmission, the CDC reaffirmed that universal indoor masking is a critical prevention strategy for all school districts to allow students to maintain in-person learning. Cole said Morley Stanwood will see some new changes in the new year and that the administration will continue to be vigilant about illness cases. Building and staff-wise, educationally about two weeks from now our new principal Richard Wiersma will be starting and were looking forward to that transition, Cole said. Itll be a little different here mid-year with the new change, and also because Mr. Nelson has been here a while, and this is his 11th year. Thatll be a change, and people will get to know someone different, but maintaining the direction were going is important. Right now, my concern is that well be seeing a spike in cases as we saw after Thanksgiving break for a few weeks, Cole said. Well certainly continue with what weve been doing, and if individuals want to wear masks in our buildings they can. Well be following protocols for close contacts and potential contacts as well as encouraging vaccination. Our goal is to maintain the safety of our students and staff as always. Increases capabilities serving the high growth cell and gene therapy market Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has completed acquisition of PeproTech for a total cash purchase price of approximately $1.85 billion. Based in Cranbury, New Jersey, PeproTech is a privately held provider of bioscience reagents known as recombinant proteins, including cytokines and growth factors. Recombinant proteins are used in the development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies as well as in broader cell culture applications, especially for use in cellular research models. PeproTech's recombinant proteins portfolio complements Thermo Fisher's cell culture media products and will enable Thermo Fisher to provide customers significant benefits through an integrated offering. PeproTech will become part of the biosciences business within Thermo Fisher and will be integrated into the Life Sciences Solutions Segment. In her BizTrends2022 session, Nicola Cooper, founder of Nicola Cooper and Associates, academic and analyst, teacher, speaker and brand consultant. With a well-known presence in Africa's fashion and lifestyle landscapes, Cooper has her gaze set on ever-shifting futures, charting trends and behaviour on the hyperlocal and international scale What constitutes a trend for you? Can you share a bit about what audiences can expect from your presentation? You are the founder of Nicola Cooper and Associates - what was the inspiration behind starting this company? What value lies in spotting trends in the fashion lifestyle landscape? Why do you think nurturing the youth of Africa is a valuable thing to invest in? How has the narrative changed in this landscape from when you started until now? Could you share any key lessons you have learned along the way? What is your least favourite social media platform? Speaking at the virtual conference, scheduled to take place on 2 February 2022, Cooper will share how business is changing in dynamic and how businesses can adopt new methods and practices at BizTrends 02.02.2022A trend is a shift, a movement driven by key technological, socio-political, environmental and economic influence - and how those shifts, either subtle or exaggerated, impacts your business, consumers or industry.We hope to show our audiences that business is changing in dynamic - in exciting ways - and how they can adopt new methods of practices that open critical change and opportunity.The inspiration behind NC+A was that there was no fundamental groundwork and unearthing of critical business intelligence for Africas fashion, lifestyle, and pop/youth cultural landscape.Trends or cultural information was often defined from the outside looking in rather than ground-level information. We wanted to offer clients critical and appropriate information for African businesses rather than the global, Americanised, Eurocentric or Auto-Exotic gaze.We believe it is vital to humanise data, provide accurate and valuable insights to ensure our clients can make informed decisions to drive growth, sales and the bottom line.As someone who has specialised in identity formation within African cultures, including sub and counter cultures, I was aware of the diversity within the African continent and the importance of identifying the golden thread that connects our consumers and communities.Once we can explore these narratives, we can empower brands, businesses, or creatives to own their narratives and impact the local and the global market.We must assist our clients in understanding their value, their point of differentiation and how that can be used to cut through the noise to bring a new, fresh spin to their market.Our continent is the youngest on the planet; when we gauge the median age of other countries, we begin to understand how young we are.Africa has been defined from outside of its borders for far too long. It is thrilling to observe Africans taking that power back and slowly beginning to understand that it is their story to tell, and they get to define what African is to the world.Seeing African brands, businesses, and professionals step into their power is goosebumps material in a continent with a tumultuous past.Obviously, as trend analysts, futurists and strategists, we have seen this coming for a long time; it has been interesting to experience the shift with our clients and how seeing our predictions come into fruition allows for trust and the opportunity to be innovative and to make tremendous change within our industries.Many game changers have been laying the groundwork, and it is always fulfilling to see the growth of seeds planted.It is not a lesson but more an observation along NC+As path. Patience and trust are critical in our role, change is never easy with large corporations, and our services are new.It is imperative to understand a clients business in its present and the company's aspirations and know that it is not a one size fits all.Our role is to arm our clients with vital insights and business intelligence to ensure that they can grow. That we are in business to make money, not all trends apply to every business. Our role is to deliver information that is not just cool but valuable business tools to help companies reach their full potential and shift with the zeitgeist.My least favourite social media platform is Instagram. The shift from a personal space to express your thoughts and our identity to an overtly curated and monetised platform has removed a sense of differentiation and drew what I love about the diversity of our world.The sameness and overly polished approach have left the platform with many beautiful advertisements but little substance, which removes the layers and depth of what makes people individual and unique.Bring me Twitter any day! French President Emmanuel Macron launched a tirade against the unvaccinated today. Macron No Longer Views Unvaxxed as French Please consider Macron No Longer Views Unvaxxed as French, Vows to 'Piss Them Off' and 'Reduce' Them French President Emmanuel Macron told one of the nations leading newspapers that he no longer considers the unvaccinated to be French citizens, and that his primary COVID-19 strategy is to continue to piss them off until they submit to his COVID-19 mandates. The remark from Macron, delivered during an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, has divided French politicians, and even has the countrys Communist Party candidate questioning Macrons motives. I am not about pissing off the French people, Macron told the readers of Le Parisien on Tuesday. But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy. He declared that worst enemies of democracy are lies and stupidity, then declared that his government is putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life. Macrons government claims that 90% of its citizens are vaccinated. He promised to reduce this minority with further restrictions. Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Here is a link to the Original Article on Le Parisien, translated, but unfortunately it's Paywalled. Parliament Suspended After Macron's Comments In an article not paywalled, Le Parisien reports "Pissing off the unvaccinated": the debates on the vaccine pass suspended after the words of Emmanuel Macron. After a first surprise suspension on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the examination of the bill strengthening the tools for managing the health crisis was again stopped this night after our interview with the president. Decidedly, it is now written that nothing will go as planned with the examination of the bill supposed to introduce the vaccine pass. Rarely has the atmosphere been so electric at the Palais Bourbon. This is the direct consequence of the interview granted by the President of the Republic to our readers, published Tuesday evening on our website. The elected representatives of the opposition did not support the words of Emmanuel Macron, addressed to the French who have to date still not received a single dose of vaccine. "The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off," Emmanuel Macron said in our columns. "A president cannot keep the remarks which were made", launched Christian Jacob, president of the Republicans. "I cannot support a text which aims to piss off the French". For his part, the communist Fabien Roussel, candidate for the presidential election, questioned the real intentions of the government. The bill on the health pass "is it a text to piss off more? or less piss off? The French, he asked. A little before 2 am, the debates were finally able to resume in the Assembly but anger was still strong in the ranks of the opposition. The deputy Damien Abad immediately denounced the remarks "premeditated, of a childish cynicism" of the President of the Republic ... Before calling once again for the coming of the Prime Minister and asking for a new suspension. Request legitimately granted by the chairman of the session. Finally, the deputy Marc Le Fur, who chaired the debates, announced at 2 am the adjournment of the meeting. It must resume this Wednesday at 3 p.m. In an atmosphere which promises to be already very tense Wow This could easily cost Macron the 2022 Presidential election in April-May. Vowing to "Piss Off" a full 10% of the population hardly seems like the right thing to do. Hello President Macron Researchers from the COVID-19-linked Wuhan Institute of Virology and disgraced researcher Peter Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance have carried out new research on recombinant coronaviruses in rodents, a recently published paper reveals. The paper lists the Chinese regime as well as Joe Bidens International Development department as funders and supporters of the dangerous work. The October document A Novel Potentially Recombinant Rodent Coronavirus with a Polybasic Cleavage Site in the Spike Protein describes how researchers sampled rodents and shrews collected from the wild for coronavirus prevalence. In the years preceding COVID-19, the Wuhan Institute of Virology carried out similar expeditions to gather data on bats. Using the samples collected, researchers from the Wuhan lab in collaboration with the American non-profit EcoHealth Alliance discovered killer viruses that they bragged were capable of direct human infection. The new paper, which counts researchers from seven Chinese state-run scientific institutions including one person affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virologys Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, is authored by three EcoHealth Alliance Researchers including President Peter Daszak. The National Pulse has previously revealed Daszaks extensive relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, prompting his removal from the Lancets COVID-19 commission due to conflicts of interest. South Africa: Dept of Water and Sanitation welcomes new Director-General The Department of Water and Sanitation has welcomed newly appointed Director-General, Dr Sean Phillips, who started on Monday. This was after the approval of his appointment late last year by Cabinet. Minister Senzo Mchunu, along with Deputy Ministers Dikeledi Magadzi and David Mahlobo, formally introduced him to senior managers within the department. According to the statement released on Tuesday, Phillips is an engineer by profession with more than 20 years in senior management positions in government. He also has expertise in service delivery improvement, public service governance and administration, infrastructure procurement and delivery management, project and programme management, as well as operations management. The department has been without a permanent Director-General for a while leading to instability within the department and its entities. In separating the Ministry of Water and Sanitation from Human Settlements, the President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, emphasised the need to have a dedicated focus on water and such will require a stable, efficient, and effective department, the Minister said. I do not doubt that with the appointment of the new Director-General, and with the right mindset and commitment to purpose, we will be able to deliver on our mandate. Our people demand nothing less but our best. We dare not fail, Mchunu added. The Minister said he looked forward to working with him and the department officials in pursuit of a better life for all people. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Wang Yi's new year visit to Africa follows diplomatic tradition, eyes 'fighting pandemic, peace building' By Yang Sheng (Global Times) 08:54, January 05, 2022 China continues its diplomatic tradition of 32 years by making Africa the first destination of its foreign minister in a new year. Analysts said that the visit will further strengthen China's ties with the continent to deepen existing cooperation under the frame of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and also eye urgent issues like fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and handling a humanitarian crisis caused by the civil war in Ethiopia. A 32-year tradition: Chinese FM's new year begins with trip to Africa. (Graphic:Huo Siyu/Global Times) According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday, continuing the tradition of Chinese foreign ministers, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Eritrea, Kenya and the Comoros from January 4 to 7. He will then visit the Maldives and Sri Lanka. "The three African countries have a traditional friendship with China," said Liu Qinghai, a professor at the Institute of African Studies of Zhejiang Normal University, noting that Eritrea built its diplomatic ties with China on the first day of its independence on May 24, 1993 and the two countries have made a series of pragmatic cooperation in the past decades. "Since November 2020, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, which borders Eritrea, a civil war has been ongoing, and the conflict is still far from ending, which has caused a serious humanitarian crisis, and Eritrea has been affected. So Wang's visit will also contribute to peace building and conflict mediation for the region, and help the countries affected by the war solve their urgent problems," Liu told the Global Times on Tuesday. China Global Television Network reported on Monday that the conflict between Ethiopia's army and the regional Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has left countless dead, forced millions from their homes and plunged the country to the edge of famine. Analysts said the conflict has impacted many countries in the region, and in order to restore peace and stability, the assistance from a major power outside the region is significant. The second leg of Wang's Africa trip is Kenya, "which is a key partner of China in East Africa and also an example of China-Africa cooperation to jointly build the Belt and Road," said Liu, noting that Kenya is also actively participating in conflict mediation in Ethiopia. Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has benefited many African countries. In Kenya, the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway is playing a key role in boosting regional interconnectivity, and the successful experiences could be expanded to more countries in the region. Wang Yi visited Kenya in January 2020, and he said that "China regards Kenya as a trusted and sincere friend and partner, and has always viewed and developed relations between the two countries from a strategic and long-term perspective." The Chinese foreign minister's trip to Kenya this year will focus on some urgent issues including coordination with Kenya on how to solve the crisis in Ethiopia, Liu noted. The Comoros is an island country in the Indian Ocean and China was the first country to recognize the independence of the Comoros and build diplomatic ties with it, and the Chinese foreign minister hasn't visited the country in more than 10 years. So the visit is a natural arrangement for the two sides to deepen existing relations, and shows China's diplomatic principle of treating all countries, big or small, equally, Liu said. Apart from boosting economic and infrastructure cooperation and assisting in peace building, the COVID-19 pandemic will also be a key topic for China-Africa cooperation, and China will implement its promise to help African countries and other developing countries worldwide fight the pandemic by offering vaccines and medical materials, as well as send medical teams to assist the ones in need, said analysts. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming) Sherrian Howe has been missing from her Manchester home for two weeks. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call police at 860-645-5500. (Manchester Police Department) Sherrian Howe, 21, does not look her age, a relative said Wednesday of the petite woman who has been missing from Manchester for two weeks. Howe is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs about 105 pounds. She also is very timid, her sister, Anthea Howe-Denize, said. Advertisement Shes not an assertive type of person, Howe-Denize said. And if you see her, she looks like a 13- or 14-year old. Police boosted the case to a silver alert on Dec. 29, Manchester police spokesman Lt. Ryan Shea said, after information was recovered which led investigators to believe she may have had suicidal ideations at some point prior to her disappearance. Advertisement A pharmacy technician who works at a Walgreens in Manchester, Sherrian was attending college in Hartford with the goal of becoming a pharmacist. She was living with her brother in Manchester, close to her job, family members said. (Courtesy of Anthea Howe-Denize) Sherrians brother was supposed to drop her off along with his son at Howe-Denizes Springfield home on Dec. 21 for a holiday visit, but she was nowhere to be found and did not answer phone calls or emails. The last communication was an email sent to family members on Dec. 22 at 12:42 p.m. A screenshot of the email that Howe-Denize shared showed the message from Sherrians account, Im fine just need a break from everything. Howe-Denize replied, Thanks for reaching out. Be careful out there but come home soon please. Sherrian was not in a relationship, her sister and sister-in-law, Nyesha Howe, said. (Courtesy of Anthea Howe-Denize) The 2008 Nissan Versa that Howe-Denize said she bought for her sister last year was found on Dec. 28 in a parking lot off Main Street in Windsor Locks, police said. Sherrians laptop and other belongings were found at a nearby hotel in Windsor Locks, Howe-Denize said. Breaking News As it happens Get the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut > Nyesha Howe reported Sherrian missing on Dec. 21. She said Sherrian had worsening depression and was not eating well. Nyesha Howe said she had access to information that allowed her to track Sherrians credit card purchases and found that between Dec. 21-23, a card was billed for $35 for Dominos Pizza and another $35 at a seafood place in East Windsor. She wouldnt be buying $35 worth of Dominos, Nyesha Howe said. She agreed with Anthea Howes description of Sherrian as timid and also said she had no social life. Also, Sherrian left messages on Christmas cards for loved ones that seemed out of character, Nyesha Howe said, including one that said, I hope you have a good life. Advertisement Nyesha said police will not answer questions and she fears they are not devoting enough resources to the search. But Shea said, Were doing everything we can with the information we have. He urged anyone with information to call police at 860-645-5500. Asked if she thinks her sister is safe, Howe-Denize said, I honestly dont think she is. Her phones off. Its been two weeks. Were very concerned, she said. This is not like her. Shes never done anything like this. Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com Plans to build a natural gas plant in Killingly have been scuttled by federal regulators who approved a request by New Englands electric grid operator to cancel a power generating agreement. This is a rendering of the proposed plant. (courtesy Killingly Energy Center) Plans to build a natural gas plant in Killingly have been scuttled by federal regulators at the request of New Englands electric grid operator. The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to cancel a power-generating agreement delivers a long-sought victory for environmentalists who are fighting the use of fossil fuels. Advertisement [ Environmentalists clash with Lamont as natural gas plant set for Killingly tests Connecticuts promise to address climate change ] Regulators agreed with ISO-New England, the Holyoke, Massachusetts-based grid operator, that the Killingly plant will not be ready to begin operations until after June 1, 2024, more than two years after it was committed to start. ISO said in November the Killingly project failed to meet its target established when it agreed in February 2019 to generate power. In an emailed statement, NTE Energy, the St. Augustine, Florida, company that had planned to build the more than $500 million plant, said its very disappointed. Advertisement The Killingly Energy Center is important for grid reliability and we will continue to work to be the bridge for the regions carbon-free future, it said. The proposal had received certification from the state Siting Council and an air permit from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. NTE told federal regulators that ISOs request to terminate the deal is premature and based on faulty assumptions. It said it was delayed by challenges from other generators and environmentalists. It also blamed COVID-19 for sidelining employees who were forced to remain at home and disrupting supply chains and access to construction labor and other services and materials needed to start the project. The Connecticut Chapter of the Sierra Club, which fiercely opposed the plant, called the federal decision a bit of cheer as we start the New Year. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection considers plans for Killingly dead. This closes the chapter on the project and it is now time to focus on market changes that will support a clean and reliable grid of the future, spokesman Will Healey said in an emailed statement. News @3 Daily Catch up on the days top headlines sent directly to your inbox weekdays at 3 p.m > Environmentalists put Gov. Ned Lamont and Katie Dykes, his energy commissioner, on the defensive over the Killingly plant. Samantha Dynowski, state director of Sierra Club Connecticut, told them at a September 2019 meeting she was concerned that Connecticut is the only New England state expanding natural gas, knowing that methane is the chief component of natural gas, the most destructive greenhouse gas we have. Dykes replied by saying natural gas is a bridge from coal and oil, which emit more carbon. Advertisement In November, when ISO-New England asked FERC to approve its request to terminate the deal, Dykes said the grid operator had reduced its forecast of how much power generation New England needs. Separate and apart from the viability of this particular project, it kind of raises the question about how much the region needs this particular facility to meet reliability needs of the electricity grid, she said. Matt Kakley, a spokesman for ISO-New England, said forecasts for electricity demand are developed through a full stakeholder process that includes representatives from Connecticut. The ISO regularly updates its forecasts, accounting for changes in consumer demand patterns, energy efficiency and the use of solar panels, he said. In addition, periodic power purchase auctions account for updated demand forecasts and the status of projects being developed, Kakley said. Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com. Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. Most kindergarten to Grade 12 students in Manitoba will kick off the first week of their winter semester from home, the province announced Tuesday. Advertisement Advertise With Us MIKAELA MACKENZIE/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Education Minister Cliff Cullen (left), deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal (on screen) and Premier Heather Stefanson (right) announced Tuesday that some students will return to remote learning on Jan. 10. Most kindergarten to Grade 12 students in Manitoba will kick off the first week of their winter semester from home, the province announced Tuesday. Online classes wont apply to K-6 students of critical service workers, high-risk students and students with special learning needs, who can all attend school in person if no alternative care is available. However, the rest of Manitobas student population will attend virtual classes for the week in order to give school officials and health-care workers more time to prepare for the return of widespread in-person learning on Jan. 17. "This phased-in approach will allow school divisions and schools to have more time to prepare operational plans, including planning for potential staffing shortages and expected absenteeism due to isolation requirements," Education Minister Cliff Cullen said at Tuesdays news conference. Throughout the week of remote learning, child-care facilities that offer 12 months of service, including centres in schools, will remain open. However, these licensed centres and child-care homes can also apply for additional funding starting Jan. 10 to offset the loss of parent fees. In December, Cullen pushed the return to school to Jan. 10, telling the public the province needs a couple of extra days to assess the impact of the highly infectious omicron variant. Now that the province has reported more than 7,000 COVID-19 cases since Friday, deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal said Tuesday that the time was right to put these additional safety measures in place. "We know in-person learning is best for students, but we are still learning about how the omicron variant will affect our health-care system and Manitobans in the long term," he said. "Given that so much is still unknown about the omicron variant, we are moving quickly on the return to school option to give parents the time they need to make plans for remote learning next week." When asked about why the province didnt institute remote learning before the winter break when chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin was already forecasting more than 1,000 cases a day for January Atwal replied by saying they didnt have enough information to make that call until now. "We were hoping we would have a lot of information even by now, even by last week actually," he said. "But it looks like it will take another week to really tease out some of that important information we need in relation to severe outcomes and omicron." Premier Heather Stefanson, who also attended Tuesdays news conference, defended her governments overall response to the emergence of the omicron variant, characterizing the approach as being "proactive." "Our governments No. 1 priority is to protect the health and well-being of all Manitobans, especially our most vulnerable," she said. "As a mother of two, nothing matters more than the health and safety and education of my children. As parents, we want to give our children every opportunity to learn, create, play [and] chase their dreams safely." Tuesdays announcement comes mere days after Quebec and Ontario announced similar back-to-school plans for January. However, not everyone is happy with the Manitoba governments latest shift to remote learning. A Brandon School Division teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sun following Tuesdays announcement that one week is simply not enough time to properly prepare for in-person learning under the shadow of omicron. "We still have a few classrooms that are not strict on mask-wearing," the teacher wrote in a Facebook message. "Not everyone is on the same page. I work at two different schools in the division. Teachers are still doing a vast majority of their own cleaning. I want students in school learning I just dont know how we can go about that in a safe [manner] when schools are packed to the brim." Meanwhile, parent Rana Wilkinson has mixed feelings about Tuesdays announcement, since her six-year-old daughter, who attends Valleyview Centennial School, does not thrive in a remote learning environment. Having already endured a couple of rounds of remote learning since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Wilkinson said she believes the benefits of physically attending class including improved academic performance and mental health outweigh the risks of omicron. "In-person learning is where our children need to be," she said over the phone. "However, I can understand people who have an immunocompromised family member or something else that makes them not want their child to go to school. They should be able to have that choice as well." Last January, the province mandated a two-week remote learning period for students in grades 7 to 12 for the beginning of that winter semester. Schools in Brandon and Winnipeg capped off the 2020-21 academic year in remote learning due to the third wave of the pandemic, with the province planning a return to full in-person learning in the fall. Manitoba has recorded at least 2,937 COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools since the current school year began on Sept. 7, 2021. More than 80 per cent of these cases (2,361) involve students. kdarbyson@brandonsun.com Twitter:@KyleDarbyson To ensure the continued preservation of a historical landmark in Brandon, repairs worth six figures to a million dollars are needed according to a delegation presenting at Brandon City Council on Tuesday evening. Advertisement Advertise With Us FILE Pilots at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum conduct an inspection on a late 1930s Stinson 105. The museum is seeking financial assistance from the City of Brandon for its preservation efforts. To ensure the continued preservation of a historical landmark in Brandon, repairs worth six figures to a million dollars are needed according to a delegation presenting at Brandon City Council on Tuesday evening. Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum president John McNarry, vice-president Art Brown and executive director Stephen Hayter joined the proceedings virtually to provide an annual update on the museums activities and make requests as the city fast approaches its annual budget deliberations. After returning to council chambers for in-person meetings during a portion of last year, Tuesday's council meeting was held entirely online via networking platform Microsoft Teams with COVID-19 case counts on the rise. The vintage airplane hangar, Brown explained, has not received any kind of major refresh or renovation in the approximately 40 years since it was opened as the only museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Commonwealths efforts to train pilots for the Second World War in Canada. To improve the facility and preserve the national, provincial and municipal heritage site, Brown said the museum is looking to the city to help install fire protection in Hangar No. 1, work to preserve its long-term structural integrity, expand its exhibit footprint, increase available space to restore and protect artifacts, enhance accessibility and improve the museums parking lot. "It is one of the few remaining BCATP [British Commonwealth Air Training Plan] hangars in its original condition," Brown said. "As you can imagine, because we try to maintain it in that original condition, there is a considerable amount of maintenance that needs to be done every year to maintain it." Further work needed on that historic hangar include repairs to the hangar door trusses, retrofitting its overhead supports, installations of new electrical and heating systems, renovating the exterior of the hangar to repair weather damage from over the years and moving what was supposed to be a temporary work space to a new location." Installing a new fire protection system would allow the hangar to become a federally recognized Class 1 facility, which would allow for aircraft from the countrys national collection to be displayed. "We feel that if we lose that hangar, we basically lose the museum and lose everything inside," Brown said. To accomplish some of these goals, the museum is requesting that the city take responsibility for work needed to maintain the hangars structural integrity, including the installation of the fire suppression system and work with museum staff to lobby the federal and provincial governments for funding for long-term improvements. After the presentation, Coun. Shaun Cameron (University) asked Brown what time frame the museum wants these improvement done by and if there was a rough estimate on what the cost would be. "The structural issues with the hangar, I think, are imperative and we would want to see them done in the next year," Brown replied. "A rough cost estimate is to be prepared, but I understand it could be certainly in the six-figure area up to a million dollars." The fire suppression system issue is complicated, according to McNarry, by the fact that the museum is still fed water from the same six-inch water mains it was using during the Second World War. "When I talk to fire suppression people who are in that business, they say its not possible unless you put a large cistern in," McNarry said. Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) acknowledged the museums importance and said council would get city staff to dig into the issue and see what can be done. In response to the high price tag for the work, Coun. Bruce Luebke (South Centre) said that number is a bit shocking for a municipality given the current financial challenges posed by the pandemic. Brown said the museum has had success with securing grants before, which is why assistance applying for new grants is part of the museums request. cslark@brandonsun.com Twitter: @ColinSlark Westman residents should prepare for another couple days of frigid temperatures, according to an extreme cold warning that Environment Canada issued on Wednesday morning. Advertisement Advertise With Us Frost clings to the balaclava of Brian (no last name given) as he walks in downtown Brandon in February 2021. (File) Westman residents should prepare for another couple days of frigid temperatures, according to an extreme cold warning that Environment Canada issued on Wednesday morning. This weather update revealed that severely cold wind chill values, hovering around -40 C overnight, are currently impacting a variety of communities in the region thanks to some arctic air that recently moved into Manitoba as a ridge of high pressure builds over the Prairies. Affected Westman communities include: Brandon, Glenboro, South Cypress, Treherne, North Cypress, Neepawa, Carberry, Austin, MacGregor, Sidney, Wawanesa, Elton, Forrest, Holland and Cypress River. For most municipalities, these extreme cold wind chill values will continue through to Friday morning, with temperatures slightly warming up during the daytime. Because of this, Environment Canada is advising residents to watch out for cold-related symptoms, including: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain, weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes. To stave off the chance of catching frostbite or hypothermia, the federal government is advising residents to keep emergency supplies, such as extra blankets and jumper cables, in their vehicles at all times. Environment Canada is also encouraging residents who witness severe weather over the next couple days to report it by sending an email to MBstorm@ec.gc.ca or composing a Tweet using #MBStorm. The Brandon Sun This is a rapidly evolving situation. I think were going to continue to look at where were at and where we might end up being. If things change, they will be announced. "This is a rapidly evolving situation. I think were going to continue to look at where were at and where we might end up being. If things change, they will be announced." Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer, Tuesday afternoon "We need to go to code red. We need new, different and better income supports for individuals as well as organizations and businesses as well as mental health supports. Every dollar we put into keeping a business running or making sure that people can pay their bills will ultimately be paid back. Its an investment in recovery." Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont, Tuesday morning It is a curious situation we find ourselves in here in Manitoba this week. On Tuesday, the province reported 1,757 new cases of COVID-19 most of these in Winnipeg, and 73 in Prairie Mountain Health along with two more deaths from the virus. In fact, since Friday, the province has recorded more than 7,100 new COVID-19 cases, a dramatic surge in number that far outstrips anything we have seen during this pandemic in any wave prior. As of yesterday, Manitoba has recorded 1,400 deaths from the virus, and the provincial governments COVID-19 dashboard states there are currently 17,076 active cases. CBC also reported that 251 people are in Manitoba hospitals due to the virus, up from 228 on Monday, with 32 of them in Manitoba ICUs. Note also that as of midnight Tuesday, there were 94 COVID and non-COVID patients in intensive care the normal pre-COVID baseline capacity is 72 patients. With this in mind, its a worthy question to ask why Manitoba is not in a code red right now. At the end of October 2020, Winnipeg and the districts surrounding Manitobas capital were moved to the provinces red (critical) level, the highest stage of the provinces pandemic response system. At that time, Manitoba had a "record high" test positivity rate of 8.6 per cent, with 104 people in hospital due to COVID-19 and only 19 COVID-infected patients filling intensive care beds. "The numbers today will strike fear in many Manitobans," Shared Health chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa told media the day code red measures were announced. Keep in mind that just yesterday, the province reported that Manitoba had a five-day test positivity rate of 39.5 per cent provincially even higher than the 37.9 per cent reported only a day earlier. And yet the province hasnt activated code red and is not enacting lockdowns. So why is the governments response so different in this most recent wave of the virus? There are a few explanations, of course. Although omicron, the latest variant of COVID-19, is substantially more infectious than previous versions, early evidence suggests it is less severe overall. As the New York Times reported this week, scientists measure the severity of a coronavirus variant "by examining how many people infected by it end up in the hospital." And while the delta variant was far more severe than earlier iterations, the reverse is true for omicron, with the risk of hospitalization due to omicron about half that of delta, according to a U.K.-based study. As a society, were also better protected than we were in 2020. The vaccines that rolled out in early 2021 have given most Manitobans a strong level of protection, even as booster shots are being promoted by government health officials to keep that protection strong against omicron, delta and any other new variants likely to come by. At least 71 per cent of eligible Manitobans have been given either two or three doses of vaccine, with a further six per cent of us having had just one dose. Still, that leaves more than 22 per cent of Manitobans without any vaccine protection whatsoever. And therein lies the danger, and why it still appears that the province is abdicating its responsibility to public health and safety. In spite of the fact that Premier Heather Stefanson told media yesterday that her government has been "proactive," it really hasnt. Since the very beginning, health officials were mostly concerned with the possibility that an explosion of COVID-19 cases would overwhelm Manitoba hospitals, and they pleaded with Manitobans to heed public health orders. And while there were certainly problems in our health system at the start of the pandemic, we were arguably in a far better position than we are now. There is a drastic nursing shortage in this province, as the two-year battle has prompted exhausted and burnt-out nurses to seek early retirements, quit outright or find work elsewhere in the profession. Over the holidays, a shortage of nursing staff contributed to several rural Manitoba emergency departments being closed, including eight here in western and southwestern Manitoba. With the number of hospitalized patients growing in harmony with the exponential growth in omicron cases, there is a real danger of hospitals being overwhelmed. If and when the omicron variant catches up to our health-care system, the province will have no excuse, as weve seen this happen before in three previous waves. So, which "proactive" steps are Stefanson and her team taking? Handing out N95 masks at liquor stores and through MLA constituency offices, while being concerned that theyre undermining business interests by doing so? Just yesterday, Education Minister Cliff Cullen bought educators and his government another week of grace by delaying the return of students to classrooms until Jan. 17 and imposing remote learning for a full week until that date. Either the Stefanson government has lost the will to do what is necessary in the face of mounting public anger at yet another go-round on the COVID-19 roller-coaster, or they have information that theyre not disclosing to parents and the public at large. The mealy-mouthed explanations we were given by Stefanson, Atwal and Cullen yesterday simply dont cut it. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Conveyancer Natalie Fisher still feels violated when she thinks about the criminals who watched her for weeks or months, taking note of her digital mannerisms while plotting an attack. Fishers business email was hacked in March after someone in her team fell victim to a phishing scam and clicked on a document that installed malware. The malware enabled the hackers to monitor Fishers systems to become familiar with the way she interacts with clients and normal processes that could be tweaked and exploited. Natalie Fisher says cyber insurance has now become an essential part of running a business. Credit: Simon Schluter Once the hackers had access to the systems, they diverted client emails and responded on Fishers behalf. It was like a three-way conversion that I was no longer a part of any more, she says. In what is now known as business email compromise, this style of cyber attack is on the rise. The hackers emails often use the target companys exact branding and writing style so the victims are none the wiser. One of Fishers unsuspecting clients bought a property and was expecting to make a transfer of about $50,000 to complete the purchase. The hacker intervened and instructed the client to send the money to a trust account. Advertisement As a first home buyer, the client trusted his conveyancer so transferred the money immediately. One week later, he called Fisher to enquire about the property when the penny dropped. I said forward me the emails so I can understand what youre talking about, she says. When I saw the emails and he told me what hed done, I felt so sick. Immediately, Fisher asked her IT team to scour through the systems to find the extent of the fraud. Another client had transferred $280,000 but, thankfully, it was early enough to ask the banks to block the transaction. Loading Six months earlier, Fisher had forked out more than $2000 to buy cyber insurance. After putting in a claim, her clients were fully refunded as were associated costs, such as temporary accommodation and fines. Now, Fisher says there needs to be more education to encourage all conveyancers to buy cyber insurance. If I didnt have this policy, it would have ruined me. Not just financially but, my reputation, everything, Fisher says. Advertisement The coronavirus pandemic has led to an explosion in online scams, fraud and cyber attacks. The proliferation of remote working has coincided with the mass release of cheap malware on the dark web, which has created a perfect storm for an uptick in illegal online activity. According to the latest data from the Australian Cyber Security Centre, one cyber crime is reported in Australia every eight minutes, a 13 per cent increase from last year. Total yearly losses have reached $33 billion but under-reporting means the actual figure is likely to be much higher. As a result, businesses are increasingly seeking to insure themselves against cyber attacks. Normal professional indemnity insurance often excludes cyber crime, leaving businesses owners on the hook for hefty payments if they fall foul of hackers. Loading Insurance broker Marshs head of cyber Kelly Butler says there has been a major rise in the number of Australian businesses with cyber insurance over the past three years. She estimates that between 15 to 20 per cent of small businesses are now covered and up to 70 per cent of larger ASX-listed firms. But as demand grows, Butler says the industry has had to adapt quickly. All insurers are currently grappling with how they write cyber, Butler says. The biggest issue for them is the systemic nature of cyber. There are no borders Advertisement Insurance companies are in the business of pricing risk. Premiums are calculated using historical data patterns to estimate the size and cost of claims. Insurers have well-established processes for vehicle and property damage, but with cyber, Butler says the rules are largely unwritten. I always relate this back to hurricane season in America. They know its coming, they know its contained to a certain area from a weather front perspective, she says. But when it comes to cyber, there are no boundaries. There are no borders. In Australia, Butler says premiums have gone up between 50 and 150 per cent over the past 12 months, after the proliferation in ransomware attacks caused losses to multiply. If they can get onto it quickly, they can assist in minimising the extent of the loss. Todd Arnold, Cornerstone Insurance Group Many insurers have introduced limits on payouts and created eligibility criteria to ensure policyholders have basic defences in place, such as multi-factor authentication, data backups and staff training. Its a real challenge for insurers, but reinsurers as well, she says. Theyre soul searching at the moment. Insurers are looking back at their models, how they underwrite, is the coverage too broad? Have they priced it correctly? Insurance broker Todd Arnold, who runs Cornerstone Insurance Group, says the largest player in the Australian market is Chubb, which covers large corporates, while the Insurance Australia Group services the small business market. Advertisement Arnold explains cyber policies can be tailored to specific business operations, but generally include access to an incident response team, consisting of cyber defence experts, lawyers and consultants who are available around the clock. If they can get onto it quickly, they can assist in minimising the extent of the loss, he says. Typical cyber policies cover losses associated with the attack, such as lost income and assets, but can extend to public relations work needed to limit the reputational fallout or associated lawsuits and fines from regulators. Controversially, these policies often cover the costs of paying a ransom. There are circumstances where paying the bitcoin to unlock the system is the only answer so they [insurers] will pay the ransom, Arnold says. Ransomware attacks made global headlines this year when US oil pipeline Colonial Pipeline paid $US4.4 million to Russian criminals in May to get its systems back online. The following month, meat processor JBS paid a $US11 million ransom to end the attack on its operations that caused global supply chain blockages. Loading The federal government is planning to introduce new laws to force certain companies to disclose ransom payments, as the lack of transparency creates an unregulated space where criminals operate without recourse. Nigel Phair, the director of the University of New South Wales Institute for Cyber Security, says insurers paying ransoms is a vexed issue. Advertisement The healthcare sectors carbon footprint may not be the first thing that springs to mind for investors but after facing a devastating pandemic, Australias heavyweight operators now have to tackle the climate crisis. As emissions reduction plans spring up across corporate Australia, the healthcare sector is under pressure to reveal its net-zero targets. Healthcare operators are regularly included in ethical portfolios and the social benefits of biotech companies are well established in the COVID-19 era. More and more companies are revealing net-zero emissions targets but many ASX companies, particularly healthcare heavyweights, have not yet revealed these two investors. Credit:AP Despite this, experts warn that the path to carbon-neutral healthcare is critical for a range of reasons. According to the World Health Organisations (WHO) COP26 Health Program, healthcare operators account for about 4.6 per cent of the worlds carbon emissions. In Australia, it is estimated the sector accounts for 7 per cent of the nations emissions. Losses from an Australian-based trading scheme that sponsored British football team Sheffield United have hit $345 million, marking it as one of the biggest broker collapses in years. Liquidators to Union Standard International Group, known as USG or USGFX, are now working through a substantial volume of claims submitted by investors with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority over breaches by the allegedly rogue trading house. Australian trading house Union Standard, or USGFX, were once the sponsors of English Premier League team Sheffield United. Credit:Getty USG sold high risk financial betting products known as contracts for difference and was so successful it even signed a $100 million sponsorship deal with Sheffield United when the club was promoted to the English Premier League for the 2018-2019 season. Liquidators from BRI Ferrier said in a report in April last year that they suspect criminal elements may have been involved in the group. BRI Ferrier has so far received claims from investors totalling $345 million but suspect more than $500 million may have been lost in the scheme by customers. The groups handling of investor money was so poor it counted some investor funds as profits and paid $4.5 million in tax on those profits. Liquidators have since received a credit from the tax office for the company. Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for COVID-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patients two-thirds in some places are testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons. Advertisement At the same time, hospitals say the patients arent as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units arent as full, and ventilators arent needed as much as they were before. The pressures are neverthless prompting hospitals to scale back non-emergency surgeries and close wards, while National Guard troops have been sent in in several states to help at medical centers and testing sites. Advertisement Nearly two years into the pandemic, frustration and exhaustion are running high among health care workers. This is getting very tiring, and Im being very polite in saying that, said Dr. Robert Glasgow of University of Utah Health, which has hundreds of workers out sick or in isolation. About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year. But the hospitalization numbers do not tell the whole story. Some cases in the official count involve COVID-19 infections that werent what put the patients in the hospital in the first place. Dr. Fritz Francois, chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said about 65% of patients admitted to that system with COVID-19 recently were primarily hospitalized for something else and were incidentally found to have the virus. At two large Seattle hospitals over the past two weeks, three-quarters of the 64 patients testing positive for the coronavirus were admitted with a primary diagnosis other than COVID-19. Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said the rising number of cases like that is both good and bad. The lack of symptoms shows vaccines, boosters and natural immunity from prior infections are working, she said. The bad news is that the numbers mean the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, and some percentage of those people will wind up needing hospitalization. Advertisement This week, 36% of California hospitals reported critical staffing shortages. And 40% are expecting such shortages. Some hospitals are reporting as much as one quarter of their staff out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill, the California Hospital Associations vice president for policy and leader on pandemic matters. In response, hospitals are turning to temporary staffing agencies or transferring patients out. University of Utah Health plans to keep more than 50 beds open because it doesnt have enough nurses. It is also rescheduling surgeries that arent urgent. In Florida, a hospital temporarily closed its maternity ward because of staff shortages. In Alabama, where most of the population is unvaccinated, UAB Health in Birmingham put out an urgent request for people to go elsewhere for COVID-19 tests or minor symptoms and stay home for all but true emergencies. Treatment rooms were so crowded that some patients had to be evaluated in hallways and closets. As of Monday, New York state had just over 10,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19, including 5,500 in New York City. Thats the most in either the city or state since the disastrous spring of 2020. Advertisement New York City hospital officials, though, reported that things havent become dire. Generally, the patients arent as sick as they were back then. Of the patients hospitalized in New York City, around 600 were in ICU beds. Were not even halfway to what we were in April 2020, said Dr. David Battinelli, the physician-in-chief for Northwell Health, New York states largest hospital system. Similarly, in Washington state, the number of COVID-19-infected people on ventilators increased over the past two weeks, but the share of patients needing such equipment dropped. In South Carolina, which is seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases and a sharp rise in hospitalizations, Gov. Henry McMaster took note of the seemingly less-serious variant and said: Theres no need to panic. Be calm. Be happy. Amid the omicron-triggered surge in demand for COVID-19 testing across the U.S., New York Citys Fire Department is asking people not to call for ambulance just because they are having trouble finding a test. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new or expanded testing sites in nine cities to steer test-seekers away from ERs. About 300 National Guard members are being sent to help out at those centers. Advertisement In Connecticut, many ER patients are in beds in hallways, and nurses are often working double shifts because of staffing shortages, said Sherri Dayton, a nurse at the Backus Plainfield Emergency Care Center. Many emergency rooms have hours-long waiting times, she said. We are drowning. We are exhausted, Dayton said. Doctors and nurses are complaining about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a crisis, despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases. In the past, we didnt have the vaccine, so it was us all hands together, all the support. But that support has kind of dwindled from the community, and people seem to be moving on without us, said Rachel Chamberlin, a nurse at New Hampshires Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Edward Merrens, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, said more than 85% of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. Breaking News As it happens Get the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut > Several patients in the hospitals COVID-19 ICU unit were on ventilators, a breathing tube down their throats. In one room, staff members made preparations for what they feared would be the final family visit for a dying patient. Advertisement One of the unvaccinated was Fred Rutherford, a 55-year-old from Claremont, New Hampshire. His son carried him out of the house when he became sick and took him to the hospital, where he needed a breathing tube for a while and feared he might die. If he returns home, he said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so too. I probably thought I was immortal, that I was tough, Rutherford said, speaking from his hospital bed behind a window, his voice weak and shaky. But he added: I will do anything I can to be the voice of people that dont understand youve got to get vaccinated. Youve got to get it done to protect each other. ___ Casey reported from Boston and Thompson from Sacramento. Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Bobby Calvan in New York City contributed to this report. Stand on the steps of The Royal Exchange in the heart of the City of London and you can picture the churn of people 200 years ago or more in what was becoming the worlds preeminent financial hub. Stock jobbers, traders and financiers would stream between its great limestone columns with the Bank of England to one side and all surrounded by offices of bankers or trading houses and alleyways to the ever-busy coffee shops. The exchange was where transactions happened, but the coffee shops played an equally important role in the lifeblood of markets as information centres. People hung out there for refreshment and gossip but also all the details of supply and demand. [T]he coffee men vied with each other in maintaining the supply of a wide variety of domestic and foreign newspapers, news-sheets, journals and bulletins, customs entry forms, auction notices, price-current lists, etc, according to David Kynastons City of London: The History. The COVID pandemic showed just how little physical location now matters for many jobs and businesses in finance and gave executives confidence that more operations could be managed remotely. Credit:Bloomberg Today, Londons future as a global financial hub is under threat. In the popular discourse, thats largely due to Britains exit from the European Union and the ongoing fights over trade and regulations. But Brexit is barely half the story, and New York faces similar threats. While, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is expanding its Paris office with new trading floors, Goldman Sachs Group is doing the same in Miami and has been hunting for space in Dallas. What links these moves is the ways technology and regulations have dramatically changed the flow of information in just the past couple of decades. The COVID pandemic showed just how little physical location now matters for many jobs and businesses in finance and gave executives confidence that more operations could be managed remotely. If I were a Liberal dark arts operative, one Labor sceptic warned, Id have that cavoodle-cuddling Insta footage on high rotation where coal seat voters cant miss it, every day between now and the election. Doubters got a tap on the nose this week, however, when Buddy and Scott hit TikTok and Insta with that cheery New Years message together. A former state Liberal Party director mired in the minutia of how to win elections, Scott is a well-known data obsessive. Him mimicking Labors petfluencer gambit can mean only one thing: its working, and showing up in the Liberals internal polling as a plus for the Labor leader. Albanese often says people underestimate him. His petfluencer ploy may be an example. Morrison copying it shows the Labor leader a step ahead of #ScottyFromMarketing. Who knew? Its a small but psychologically not insignificant win for the red corner just as the election draws near. So whats with the cute, curly-haired dog cuddling? Petfluencing is all about eyeballs. Which social media post are you more likely to pay attention to: the one with the politician, or the one with the politician and the cute, curly-haired dog? The one with the dog. So first up, its about getting attention. Scott and Buddy vs Anthony and Toto. Credit:Illustration by Dionne Gain Secondly, its about likeability. Animals have symbolic meanings, and marketing research shows that people pictured with them get a spillover glow from those meanings. Dogs are associated with loyalty, trustworthiness and, when theyre as cute as Toto and Buddy, likeability too. Humans hanging out with them seem more trustworthy and likable by association. Its worked subtly on me, transforming two hard-nosed politicians in my head into Anthony and Scott. What a pushover! Thirdly, its about approachability. Dogs are catalysts for social interactions, as they say in the psychology literature. A stranger approaches you on the street, and you hesitate to interact. The same stranger has a cute dog on a lead, and suddenly youre chatting like old friends, as though the dog is an ironclad character reference. So cute dogs make us drop our guard. The effect is most pronounced when the stranger is a man and the person approached is a woman. This is gold for politicians who want to disarm and win voters over. If the petfluencer ploy is a plus for Albanese, does Morrison copying it negate the advantage? Possibly at least until diligent voters start comparing the two leaders social media posts. Toto and Anthony always look fully at ease together. Not so Buddy and Scott. In their New Year TikTok post, Buddy maniacally chews a soft toy while Scott holds him in an ambiguous mixture of cuddling and containment. Telling, really. Will this make a difference to the election result? Its not a big deal in itself but in tight elections as many federal elections in Australia are the accumulation of lots of little things like this can impact. People queue for COVID-19 tests. Credit:Joe Armao Until this week most pundits would have said the forthcoming election will be tight, perhaps even resulting in a hung parliament. However, the COVID-19 blowout presided over by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, backed by Scotts BYO if you can afford and find one attitude to COVID tests, could tip the balance and generate a decisive result. COVID-19 cases are climbing in NSW aged care facilities, with concerns about infection control, staffing shortages and the mental health of locked-down residents as the sector struggles to provide care in the Omicron surge. There were 652 active COVID-19 cases in residents of NSW aged care facilities by Tuesday, an increase of nearly 100 in four days. Aged care facilities in Sydney are continuing to lock down in response to virus outbreaks. Credit:Alamy Although the federal government has not released its weekly report on the number of cases in aged care facilities since December 23, information from families and providers indicate significant outbreaks have developed as facilities face the highly transmissible Omicron variant. A spokesperson for Bupa Clemton Park, in Sydneys south-west, said there were 38 COVID-positive residents at the facility and 25 infected staff. NSW residents have been warned to brace themselves for challenging weeks ahead after the state reported a record 35,054 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as experts and the federal opposition called on the Morrison government to make rapid antigen tests free to ease pressure on testing sites. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the state would spare no expense to fund the tests if it could reach a financial agreement with the federal government. NSW residents are still facing long waits for PCR tests. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone Wednesdays case numbers represented an increase of more than 50 per cent or almost 12,000 infections on the previous record of 23,131 reported on Tuesday. The state reported eight new deaths and the number of people in hospital with the virus rose to 1491. Of those, 119 are in intensive care units. Victoria has reported a record 17,636 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, as the state government considers additional public health measures to stem the spread of the virus and testing sites continue to be overwhelmed. Wednesdays case numbers eclipsed the previous record of 14,020, set on Tuesday. Overwhelming testing demand in Victoria has created long queues and forced several sites to shut. Credit:Justin McManus There are at least 51,317 active COVID-19 cases around Victoria, although health authorities say the number of cases is undoubtedly under-reported as people have struggled to access strained PCR testing sites. NSW has reported 35,054 new coronavirus cases. An elderly man accused of kidnapping his partner from her aged care home and attempting to drive her through regional WA, bound for Queensland, has been granted bail. WA Police issued a public plea to help find Carol Lisle, 84, and her partner Ralph Terry Gibbs, 80, on Monday after they were last seen leaving Mandurah the previous day. Ms Lisle has Parkinsons disease and dementia, and uses a wheelchair while Mr Gibbs usually walks with the aid of a hospital crutch. Mr Gibbs was brought before Perth Magistrates Court in a wheelchair on Wednesday. There is this rapid increase in the demand for these tests in an Omicron pandemic, which was different to what was occurring in the Delta pandemic, and as a result, the challenges we are facing here are the same and similar to the many other countries like Australia elsewhere in the world, he said. National cabinet agreed on Wednesday afternoon to give 10 free peace of mind tests over three months to concession card holders through pharmacies, which Mr Morrison said would affect about 6.6 million people. Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly says hospitalisations from COVID are comparatively decreasing. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen But tests will not be free for everyone. Universal free access was not considered the right policy response by all of the states and territories in attendance today, and the Commonwealth, Mr Morrison said. But Mr Morrison said he didnt want symptomatic people to go to pharmacies to get tests. You get a free test at the testing centre. If you are symptomatic [or] a close contact, you can go to the testing centre as many times as you need to. All of those tests are free, he said. The details of the subsidised tests will be worked out within the next fortnight. Mr Morrison said the national back-to-school plan would be finalised in the same period. We are all very shared in our view that schools go back and stay back, on day one of term one, Mr Morrison said. [So] we dont have schools opening and closing, opening and closing and the disruption that would cause. National cabinet also removed the requirement to get a PCR test to confirm a positive rapid antigen test, and the requirement for a test before going into a hospital for treatment. You will likely be given one when you are there, but you dont need to go and line up in these queues because you are going to get hospital treatment, Mr Morrison said. All states and territories are moving away from requiring a negative rapid antigen test to cross borders, except for Western Australia, which did not attend the meeting. Rapid antigen tests will now be subject to price-gouging regulations, meaning they cannot be sold for more than 120 per cent of the wholesale price. But Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid said targeted subsidies could be difficult to implement. We need to harness the goodwill in the community to use RAT kits and free access for everybody, he said. In a joint statement, the AMA and the Public Health Association of Australia said the federal government must also fund a highly effective and multilingual communication campaign advising people how and when they should use the tests. RATs do, and must continue to play, an essential role in a pandemic that is looking increasingly out of control, Public Health Association chief executive Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin said. Loading With the difficulty of getting a PCR test, many people just want to be confident they dont have the virus before they interact with others. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said there was an economic cost to the failure to make rapid tests free. He said small businesses were not able to open because they cant get staff. Labor calls upon the government today to ensure that rapid antigen tests are available and are free, Mr Albanese said. Its clear that the costs of tests are dwarfed by the costs of inaction that is occurring as a result of Scott Morrisons failure to do his job. Toronto: The Canadian government has reached $CAD40 billion ($43 billion) in agreements in principle with Indigenous groups to compensate First Nations children who were unnecessarily taken from their homes and put into the child welfare system, a major development in a dispute thats long been a sticking point in Ottawas efforts to advance reconciliation with Indigenous people. Under the agreements, half of the money would go to children and families harmed by an underfunded and discriminatory child welfare system on First Nations reserves and in the Yukon, while the rest would be earmarked for long-term reforms over five years, the Indigenous Services Ministry said in a statement. People sing as drummers play during a Tkemlups te Secwepemc ceremony to honour residential school survivors and mark the first Canadian National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2022. Credit:The Canadian Press/AP Final details are to be settled between the government and Indigenous advocates over the coming months. A final agreement will be submitted to a federal court and human rights tribunal for approval. The dispute, which includes a human rights complaint and several class-action lawsuits, has spanned 14 years and several federal governments. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who came to power in 2015 vowing to put reconciliation with Indigenous people at the core of his agenda, has drawn criticism for his handling of it. Latest News Vaucluse trophy home splashes on to market Harbour-view property expected to fetch over $40 million Is mortgage lending competitive in Australia? New analysis looks into the current state of mortgage lending competition The closing of borders did little to thwart foreign investors from gobbling up the Australian property market in 2021. According to Australias Foreign Investment Review Board, the total number of residential properties with a level of foreign ownership totalled 7,482 with a value of $6 billion from when the country closed its international borders in March 2020. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland accounted for 92.1% of the total purchases, with the longest-locked-down city of Victoria outperforming its neighbours with 3,215 properties. It was a far cry from New South Wales 1,950 and Queenslands 1,416. However, looking at the statistics from a macro picture is an entirely different matter. Foreign investment went down by 80% since it peaked in 2015-2016, especially after Chinese investors who make up a large part of foreign homebuyers pulled out of the market when tensions rose between Beijing and Canberra over trade disputes in 2020. According to Real Capital Analytics (RCA), Australian property investments from Chinese state-owned and private enterprises alone reached $935 million in 2019. This fell to $664 million in 2020 and $22.7 million in the first quarter of 2021. Some experts have also expressed concerns over the possibility of stricter border controls and foreign investment regulations as the country grapples with the Omicron variant. Despite record cases, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said lockdowns are a thing of the past, which would mean continued foreign activity. Still, Martin North, principal of Digital Finance Analytics, said the previous highs of 2015-2016 cannot be expected anytime soon. I don't see the naked investment we had, say, five years ago, particularly from the South-East Asian nations, being the same again," North told the ABC. The world has changed, the political landscape has changed, the financial landscape has changed. The Iron Horse Inn in Simsbury is being converted to luxury apartments. Photograph by Mark Mirko | mmirko@courant.com (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant) The Iron Horse Inn in Simsbury has shut down and developer Luke Florian will convert the building into 25 luxury apartments. The two-story motel operated along busy Hopmeadow Street for about 50 years, but closed early last month just days before Florians Freedom Horse LLC bought it for $875,000. Advertisement The company plans extensive interior renovations over the next half-year so that leasing can begin in late summer or early fall. Florian said hes convinced that a modern apartment complex with high-tech features and green amenities will be a big draw. Advertisement An artist's rendering of what the Iron Horse Inn of Simsbury will look like after its converted to luxury apartments. (Courtesy of Freedom Horse LLC) The demand makes this project work, he said Tuesday. When the pandemic hit, people were moving in with their families. Now theyre tired of that, they want to get out. So many millennials all these people my age or younger are sick of living at home. Our residents are going to be people whove gone to college and come back. Theyre working in or around the professional office buildings or medical buildings, they want to live in Simsbury but they cant afford the rents or a $400,000 single-family house, he said. Florian also predicts that tenants will include Simsbury residents whove sold their homes and moved but want a summer location for visits, and in parents of students at nearby Westminster School. The development will have 21 one-bedroom apartments ranging from 450 to 750 square feet, with rents roughly in the $1,700 to $2,500 range. Some will have balconies facing Talcott Mountain. Four studio units will be priced around $1,400 to $1,500. Developer Luke Florian (Courtesy of Freedom Horse LLC) Features will include stainless steel appliances, keyless fob entry, large windows, custom tile backsplashes in the bathrooms and kitchen, and in-unit washers and dryers. Freedom Properties plans additional parking as well as a large patio for outdoor entertaining. The pandemic and competition from Airbnb have pressured small, independent motels like the Iron Horse in recent years, said Florian. Five Things You Need To Know Daily We're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. > This property was referred to me by a friend a few years ago. The timing wasnt right, the market wasnt right, financing wasnt favorable, he said. Now the market is going crazy, we need new units. And were seeing these smaller motels and hotels having a tougher time now. Advertisement Florian, a Southington High School graduate, has rebuilt and resold single-family and multifamily homes in central Connecticut for the past decade, and estimates his company does about 25 of those projects a year. He has also remodeled a 24-unit apartment building in Plainville and a fire-damaged 12-unit building in Norwich. A credit card flag hangs on a light post at The Iron Horse Inn in Simsbury which is being converted to luxury apartments. Photograph by Mark Mirko | mmirko@courant.com (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant) I like repurposing a perfectly good building theres less redevelopment cost, its good for the environment, youre throwing away less, he said. And I like this kind of project; its easier to do one large project in one location. The Iron Horse had 28 rooms and a massive first-floor owners suite; Freedom Horse will remodel interior spaces including hallways and a storage area to yield 25 apartments. Connecticut-based Enviro Power will install its SmartWatt Boiler hot water system. It produces onsite electricity in addition to hot water, providing low cost and low emission heat and power, Freedom Horse said. I find it exciting that a newly renovated and energy-forward property will bring a new living community right to our main street, First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis said in a statement. Housing is critical for a vibrant, walkable downtown and thats why projects like these are so important, said Sarah Nielsen, executive director of the Simsbury Main Street Partnership. Ltd. has won a contract to supply overseas coal to Indias top electricity generator as the nation aims to avoid a repeat of last years energy crisis, according to people familiar with the matter. Adani, Indias largest trader of imported thermal coal, will deliver 1 million tons to state-run NTPC Ltd., which in October issued its first tender for coal imports in more than two years, the people said, requesting anonymity as the details are still private. Kolkata-based Damodar Valley Corp. Ltd., also state-owned, is examining a proposal from Adani for the supply of the same volume to its power plants, the people said. Adani, NTPC and DVC didnt respond to requests seeking comment. Indian power producers are under pressure to bolster coal stockpiles after supply disruptions and rising demand left the country grappling with shortages in the second half of 2021, leading to outages in some provinces and curbs on energy-hungry industries. The decision to purchase coal from overseas comes despite the governments commitment to reduce reliance on fuel imports. Coal accounts for about 70% of Indias electricity generation, and consumption is forecast to rise in the next few years, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a huge push to add renewables. Adani last month began shipping the first export cargo from its controversial Carmichael coal mine in Australia. The shipment is headed to India, one of the people said, without giving details of buyers. Benchmark seaborne coal prices hit a record in October though have since pared those gains, helping to boost the case for imports. platform Bolo Live on Wednesday said it has raised USD 2.4 million (about Rs 18 crore) as a precursor to the Series A funding round led by Orios Venture Partners. SOSV, Tremis Capital, LPA Ventures and other HNIs also participated in its first VC round, including existing investors Eagle 10 Ventures. The company plans to use the newly raised funds to accelerate the product development, strengthen the team and accelerate penetration in the Indian and South Asia markets. "We are delighted to have Orios Venture Partners join us as our first institutional investors in our journey to build a large social live-streaming platform out of India. Their experience with world-class startups from India shall help us accelerate our path towards making Bolo Live a household name," Varun Saxena, Co-founder and CEO Bolo Live, said in a statement. The fresh fundraise takes the total capital raised by the company to USD 3.5 million. Launched in May 2019, Bolo Live claims to have over 1 lakh content creators monetising on the platform. The live streaming platform claims to have registered over 3 times increase in net revenue over the last 6 months and is clocking more than USD 1 million net revenue run rate. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Competition Commission of India (CCI) told the Karnataka High Court that it will take 60 days to complete the ongoing investigation against . At the hearing today, Additional Solicitor General Venkataraman, appearing on behalf of the competition watchdog, made the submission that its investigation arm Director General (DG) has given an assurance that they will complete the ongoing investigation against within 60 days. had filed a writ in Karnataka HC on December 27 seeking more time to respond to the queries from Competition Commission of India (CCI) regarding the investigation on the use of Googles Play Store payment system for in-app purchases and paid apps. Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director, ADIF said Googles consistent attempts throughout have been to implement their mandatory PlayStore billing policy and to also delay or evade any antitrust indictment. By conveying to the Court that the is expected to complete their investigation in 60 days, the antitrust regulator has essentially checkmated Googles attempt to delay the overall antitrust investigation process by exploiting legal challenges. According to media reports, Googles counsel Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium said the company has cooperated with the and will continue to do so. Google in December had stated that it is extending timelines for developers to integrate with the Play store's billing system to 31 October 2022, from the 31 March 2022 deadline earlier. in 2020 had directed a probe into Play Stores payment system. As part of the probe CCI had asked Google to respond to its queries by November 19, 2021. The US internet giant had then asked for eight weeks time to respond. Indian start-ups and unicorns have been claiming since then that Google abuses its monopoly, enforcing the billing system, and takes a 30 per cent commission on the transactions. All apps distributed on the Google Play Store, that offer in-app purchases of digital goods, need to use Google Plays billing system. BENGALURU (Reuters) -Shares in fell on Wednesday, a day after an Indian court dismissed Future Retail's appeal to declare arbitration proceedings with now estranged partner Amazon.com Inc as illegal. Justice Amit Bansal at the Delhi High Court said on Tuesday that Future's filings were dismissed. The arbitration proceedings are set to resume this week. Future Retail on Wednesday appealed again in the Delhi High Court, seeking to declare the proceedings illegal. The case is likely to be heard by a two-judge bench later in the day. Future Lifestyle Fashions, Future Consumer, Future Retail and Future Enterprises fell as much as between 3.6% and 5.8% in a marginally strong Mumbai market. The Delhi court's decision is the latest legal twist in the Future-Amazon saga and comes after Future urged a New Delhi judge that given India's antitrust agency had suspended a 2019 deal used by Amazon to assert rights over Future, there was no legal basis for the arbitration between the company and Amazon to continue. Amazon had successfully for months used the terms of its $200 million investment in Future in 2019 to block the Kishore Biyani-owned company's attempt to sell retail assets to Reliance Industries, until the antitrust agency's suspension of the 2019 deal last December. Since August 2019, when Amazon announced its investment in Future, shares of Future Retail have slid about 87%. Future Group, Amazon and Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Uttaresh.V) (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese phone maker Xiaomi's India unit has been slapped with a Rs 653 crore notice for alleged evasion of import duty, as per an official statement. A show-cause notice has been slapped on India following recovery of documents during searches on its premises that indicated remittance of royalty and licence fee to US and Chinese firms under contractual obligations, the union finance ministry said on Wednesday. Replying to an email query, a spokesperson said, "At India, we give utmost importance to ensuring we comply with all Indian laws. We are currently reviewing the notice in detail. As a responsible company, we will support the authorities with all necessary documentation." Evidence gathered during investigations by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) indicated that neither Xiaomi India nor its contract manufacturers were including the amount of royalty paid by the firm in the assessable value of the goods imported by the company and its contract manufacturers, which is in violation of the customs law, the ministry said. By not adding "royalty and licence fee" in the transaction value, Xiaomi India was evading customs duty, being the beneficial owner of such imported mobile phones, the parts and components thereof, it added. "After completion of the investigation by the DRI, three show cause notices have been issued to M/s Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited for demand and recovery of duty amounting to Rs. 653 crore for the period April 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962," the finance ministry said. During the investigations, it further emerged that the "royalty and licence fee" paid by Xiaomi India to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd, China (related party of Xiaomi India) were not being added in the transaction value of the goods imported by the firm and its contract manufacturers. Investigations further showed that Xiaomi India is engaged in the sale of MI brand mobile phones and these mobile phones are either imported by the company or assembled in India by importing components of mobile phones by contract manufacturers of Xiaomi India. The MI brand mobile phones manufactured by the contract manufacturers are sold exclusively to Xiaomi India, in terms of the contract agreement. The DRI officials had received intelligence input that M/s Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited (Xiaomi India) was evading customs duty by way of undervaluation, following which an investigation was initiated by DRI against the company and its contract manufacturers. During the investigation, searches were conducted by DRI at the premises of Xiaomi India, and the issue of remitting royalty and licence fee to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd came to light. Statements of key persons of Xiaomi India and its contract manufacturers were recorded, during which one of the directors of Xiaomi India confirmed the said payments, it said. During probe,searches were conducted by DRI at Xiaomi India,which led to recovery of incriminating documents indicating that Xiaomi India was remitting royalty & licence fee to Qualcomm USA &to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co. Ltd.,under contractual obligation: Finance Ministry ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Wednesday said its heavy engineering arm has won significant contracts for its various business segments in the third quarter of the ongoing financial year. The modification, revamp and upgrade (MRU) business of L&T Heavy Engineering has been awarded an important contract by a key hydrocarbon sector customer in the Middle East, the company said in a statement. It covers detailed engineering, supply of critical equipment and components, leading into multi-disciplinary site work involving multiple staggered shutdowns during which the revamp work would be carried out. The MRU business has also been awarded a project for revamp of the FCC (fluid catalytic cracking) system for another important hydrocarbon sector customer in the Middle East. These wins strengthen L&T Heavy Engineering's position as a key player in the global MRU market. In the domestic market, the MRU business has been awarded the project for RFCC (residue fluid catalytic cracking) revamp as part of the expansion of the Barauni Refinery (BR-9) by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. The RFCC units are being commissioned and operated to convert hydrotreated and straight-run residue to maximise the yield of propylene, which will be used to produce polypropylene in the downstream petrochemical unit. "We are delighted to receive these prestigious orders from global as well as domestic customers. It is a testimony of our ability to render uninterrupted reliable customer service even during the pandemic," Anil Parab, member (L&T executive committee) and senior VP and head (heavy engineering), said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - Electronics Co Ltd is likely to post a record fourth-quarter profit thanks to solid demand for server memory chips and higher margins in contract manufacturing, analysts' estimates showed. Operating profit for the world's biggest memory chip and smartphone maker likely hit 15.2 trillion won ($12.7 billion) in the quarter ended December, according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 14 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate. That would be up 68% from 9.05 trillion won a year earlier and narrowly beat the previous Q4 record profit of 15.15 trillion won reported in 2017. Electronics' shares have climbed about 12% in the last two months in anticipation of higher memory chip prices this year, boosted by new data centres and demand for videos, games, conferencing and other streaming services. "Contrary to previous concerns, the semiconductor industry is likely to see demand increase significantly from customers in both memory and non-memory sectors," said Jeff Kim, analyst at KB Securities. "As of December, major data centre in North America such as Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have steadily increased their memory chip orders ... And Samsung's foundry business appears to have won two years' worth of orders until 2023." This view was supported by its peer Micron Technology Inc's stronger-than-expected earnings results in December and its positive forecast for the following quarter. Samsung's chip contract manufacturing business, which competes with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has also seen sharply improved profitability from the previous quarter to reach an operating margin between 10% and 20% due to more deliveries and higher prices, analysts said. Samsung's overall Q4 chip profit is likely to reach 9.7 trillion won, more than double the previous year's 3.85 trillion won, according to an average forecast of five analysts. The South Korean tech giant will announce preliminary results on Friday. For Samsung's mobile business, which was recently merged into a single Device Experience (DX) division with TV and home appliances, analysts said shipments likely rose slightly from the previous quarter due to easing component shortages. The mobile business likely reported an operating profit of about 3 trillion won, up about 24%, according to five analysts' averaged forecasts. Market participants will be tuning into Samsung's full results later this month for any updated impact on its Xian NAND flash chip manufacturing facilities, after the company said it would temporarily adjust operations there due to strict COVID-19 curbs in the Chinese city. Data firm TrendForce said last week Samsung's Xian plant was manufacturing without significant disruptions for now. ($1 = 1,193.0000 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Stephen Coates) (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State Rep. Brandon McGee, shown in this 2020 file photo, is stepping down from the legislature to take a senior role with Gov. Ned Lamont's reelection campaign. (Kassi Jackson/The Hartford Courant) Democratic state Rep. Brandon McGee is leaving the legislature to take a senior role with Gov. Ned Lamonts reelection campaign. McGee, a Democrat who has represented Hartford and Windsor in the House of Representatives since 2013, will step down Friday. A special election will be held to fill the rest of his term, which runs through January 2023. Advertisement Its hard to put into words how much I have enjoyed working with Brandon,' House Speaker Matt Ritter said. He is a close, personal friend and amazing colleague. I know he will be a real asset to Gov. Lamont and his team. McGee is the second member of the House Democratic caucus to step down in recent weeks, following the resignation of Rep. Caroline Simmons in late 2021 after her election as mayor of Stamford. Advertisement After losing Caroline and Brandon, our caucus is down a few great legislators so we all need to head into 2022 prepared to work hard to fill their mighty big shoes,' Ritter added. FILE - New Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford speaks in a mostly empty legislative chamber due to pandemic protocols, during opening session at the State Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Hartford, Conn. Gov. Ned Lamont has scheduled a special election on Jan. 25, 2022, for the Connecticut House of Representatives seat vacated by Caroline Simmons, who resigned after being elected mayor of Stamford. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) (Jessica Hill/AP) Dan Morrocco, Lamonts campaign manager, called McGee is a public servant with deep ties across the state.' McGee first met Lamont in 2006, when the Greenwich Democrat was running for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman. I walked the streets of Hartford with him,' McGee recalled. McGee was in his final year at Alabama State University at the time but even as a college student, he had already accrued political experience. He worked with the Alabama NAACP as state youth and college division president. He also held a paid job doing constituent service for John F Knight, a longtime member of the Alabama legislature, and helped organize college students for President Barack Obamas presidential campaign. McGee, 37, was born in Hartford. He cites his father as a role model, despite his struggles with addiction. He always took care of his family,' McGee said. McGees inaugural race for the 5th District Assembly seat was a wild one: He won the 2012 Democratic primary against longtime labor leader Leo Canty of Windsor by 153 votes after two recounts, an election complaint and hours in court. Canty was a longtime political insider who won the partys endorsement; McGee was making his first run for elective office. It was a very lively entrance into the state legislature for me,' McGee said. As a member of the House, McGee championed legislation that addresses structural inequities. He was the immediate past chairman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and advocated for provisions in the cannabis legalization bill that sought to repair the damage done by the war on drugs. He also provided key support for measures that expand access to the ballot and a bill that declared racism a public health hazard. Advertisement McGee serves as co-chairman of the legislatures housing committee, and said one of his proudest achievements was shepherding through a bill that ensures residents facing eviction have an attorney to represent them in court. McGee will be the No. 2 staffer with the Lamont campaign, with the title of political director. Im very excited to get to work,' he said. The Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) has terminated the arbitration proceedings in the Amazon-Future dispute scheduled between January 5 and 8 after a stay order was passed by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. A Delhi High Court division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh stayed the Amazon-Future arbitration over the appeals filed by Future Retail and its promoters. The tribunal is adjudicating Amazon's objections to Future Retail's Rs 24,500-crore deal with Reliance. "In view of this order, the Singapore International Arbitration Center has terminated the arbitration proceedings scheduled between January 5 and 8, 2022, until further orders," said Future Retail in a regulatory filing. The Delhi High Court issued a notice to .com NV Investment Holdings LLC on the appeals filed by Future Retail Ltd and Future Coupons Pvt Ltd. The matter has been adjourned to February 1 for hearing. "In the meantime, the division bench of the Delhi High Court has stayed the order dated January 4, 2022, passed by the Single Judge of the Delhi High Court and also stayed the arbitration proceedings till the next date of hearing," Future Retail said. The order was pronounced in the court and a copy of same is awaited, it added. SIAC is adjudicating Amazon's objections to Future Group's deal with Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Ltd, announced in August 2020 for sale of the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing business. On Tuesday, the single-member bench of Justice Amit Bansal said it was not for the court to interfere with the scheduling of the arbitration proceedings and no grounds for interference were made out in the present petitions. He said the tribunal has already fixed January 8 as the date for hearing the termination application after cutting short the scheduled four-day hearing of the expert witnesses. This order was challenged by Future Retail and its promoters before the division bench on Wednesday. and Future have been locked in a bitter legal tussle after the US e-commerce giant dragged to arbitration at the SIAC in October 2020, arguing that Future Retail Ltd had violated their contract by entering into a deal for the sale of its assets to billionaire Mukesh Ambani''s Reliance Retail on a slump sale basis for Rs 24,500 crore. In December, the Competition Commission of India suspended its over-two-year-old approval for Amazon's deal to acquire a 49-per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), Future Retail Ltd's promoter, and also slapped a penalty of Rs 202 crore on the e-commerce major. is objecting to the sell-off plans, accusing of breaching its 2019 investment pact. Future Coupons was founded in 2008 and is engaged in the business of marketing and distribution of gift cards, loyalty cards and other reward programmes to corporate customers. Several issues arising from the Amazon-Future legal battle are pending before the Supreme Court. Reliance Retail Ventures had for the second time extended the timeline for completing its Rs 24,713 crore deal with to March 31, 2022, as it still awaits regulatory and judicial clearances. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturing major has appointed Venkat Viswanathan as the technical advisor for its electric mobility division. Viswanathan is currently an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and is a global leader in advanced batteries for electric mobility. The company said that Viswanathan will bring expertise in energy storage and Li-ion batteries, specifically for and planes. This association will significantly enhance TVS Motor Companys battery technology capabilities and strengthen its commitment to offer best-in-class green mobility globally, it said. Sudarshan Venu, joint managing director, TVS Motor Company, said, Viswanathan is a thought leader in the field of innovations of advanced battery technology. I am confident that this association with Viswanathan will further reinforce our commitment to electrification. His major strides in battery technology will give us a competitive edge in delivering value for money, superior technology, and aspirational to meet the fast-evolving customer needs. Viswanathan is a recipient of numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award, Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, ONR Young Investigator Award and MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Finalist. I am excited to associate with to be a part of their vision to build a strong EV ecosystem. I look forward to working in great synergy with the company known for its pioneering technologies in future mobility. Together we will go miles to create a more sustainable EV ecosystem, Viswanathan said. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, he received his PhD at Stanford University and did postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his professorship, he serves as a technical advisor and Scientific Advisory Board Member at QuantumScape, a company developing next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles, and chief scientist at Aionics, a company, bringing cutting-edge machine-learning methods for battery materials innovation. The electric mobility business at has made significant strides towards developing new products and technologies. The company has committed Rs 1,000 crore in that direction, a good portion of which has already been invested. In order to lead the way to electrification, the company is readying a complete portfolio of two and three-wheelers in the range of 5-25kW, all of which will be in the market within the next 24 months. The company has announced strategic tie-ups with government bodies like CESL and public charging partners like Tata Power as a step towards enabling a greener future and building a network of world-class public charging infrastructure. Additionally, the company acquired majority stakes in EGO Movement, the European e-bike company reaffirming its commitment towards electrification and its broader sustainability agenda globally. The company also recently announced the extension and expansion of a long-term partnership with BMW Motorrad for the joint development of new platforms and future technologies, including Electric Vehicles, specific to the two only. Nearly 160 resident doctors of hospitals in Mumbai run by the Maharashtra government and the local civic corporation have tested positive for in the last three days, a senior office-bearer of their association said on Wednesday. Ganesh Solunke, president of the JJ Hospital chapter of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said 62 resident physicians of the state-run hospital in central Mumbai have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 72 hours. Besides, he said 40 resident doctors in King Edward Memorial Hospital, 50 in Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and another seven in R N Cooper Hospital have also contracted (bringing the total to 159). All three hospitals are run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Also, at the Thane Municipal Corporation-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in the adjoining city, eight resident doctors have been diagnosed with the disease, he added. On Tuesday, the MARD had said more than 170 resident doctors in hospitals run by the Maharashtra government and civic corporations had tested positive for in the last two days. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Any lapse in the security of the prime minister is unacceptable, the said on Wednesday after Narendra Modi's visit was cut short as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters. AAP spokesperson and co-in charge of the party's political affairs in Raghav Chadha also said every state government should rise above all political differences and provide "the highest level of security" to the prime minister. Modi, who landed in Punjab's Bathinda and had to take the road route to Hussainiwala in Ferozepur because of inclement weather, was stuck on a flyover due to a blockade by some farmers, an incident the Union Home Ministry described as a "major lapse" in his security. The prime minister was scheduled to address a rally in Ferozepur, which was cancelled after the incident. "Any lapse in security of the prime minister is unacceptable. Whatever our differences may be, every state government must provide (the) highest level of security for the prime minister, Chadha tweeted. The incident has kicked up a massive political row with BJP alleging that the ruling Congress in "tried to physically harm" the prime minister, while other parties too attacked the state government over the law and order issue. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed regret but asserted that there was no security lapse. The Congress accused the BJP of enacting a petty political drama over a "so-called breach" in the prime minister's security. Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the prime minister had to cancel his rally in Ferozepur as "there was no crowd at the event and no one wanted to listen to him". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) registered its highest single day spike in six months on Wednesday when 1659 people tested positive causing the active caseload to shoot past the 3000 mark, an official said. The number of fresh cases is nearly twice as much as a day ago and the active caseload, which stands at 3,881, has grown by more than 50 per cent since the previous day, he said. Sharing the figures, Pratyay Amrit, the additional chief secretary to the departments of health and disaster management, told reporters that only 63 COVID patients were hospitalized while the rest were in home isolation. "The low rate of hospitalization so far is no reason for complacency. The elderly continue to be more vulnerable. An 85-year-old lady admitted to AIIMS, Patna, has been put on ventilation," he said. Amrit said the low hospitalization rate could be because a large number of people have taken vaccines, "which may not protect fully against the contagion but serve as a bulwark against the severity of infection". The additional chief secretary urged the people to get their wards vaccinated and said that since Monday 4.5 lakh minors have been jabbed in the state. Asked about the number of Omicron cases in the state, which has so far reported only a single confirmed case, Amrit said the first genome sequencing facility in the state became operational two days ago. "It takes nearly a week for the reports to come. The general behavior of the contagion as of now suggests that the current spike is largely due to Omicron though there may also be some cases of Delta and Delta plus variants", he said. Meanwhile, the state government undertook yet another drastic revision of the death toll confirming 13,786 fatalities. The figure was shared by Special Secretary Upendra Nath Pandey after a meeting of the state cabinet. He attributed the rise in the toll to "1699 fresh applications" received from those who have lost a family member to and are eligible for compensation from the state government. government had last year decided to give ex-gratia of Rs four lakh to the next of the kin of each deceased, while another Rs 50,000 will be paid to every beneficiary "in accordance with a direction from the union home ministry," Pandey said. To this end, release of Rs 125 crore from the Contingency Fund was approved by the state cabinet. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The probing 'Bulli Bai' app have arrested the third accused behind the controversy. The police said that they have arrested one 21-year-old Mayank Rawal and have also detected links to Nepal. Earlier, the police had arrested one engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha and one Shweta Singh. According to the police, Shweta was the mastermind behind the controversy. She was in touch with a handle, which is being operated from Nepal. On his instructions, she made a Twitter handle with the name of @jattkhalsa07 and started uploading photos of women of a particular religion. Her friend Giyou whom she met on social media was asking her to do all this. He is based in Nepal. The has recorded the statement of Shweta Singh and Vishal Kumar Jha. Jha is on police remand till January 10 while Shweta's remand will end on January 5. The have confronted Shweta and Vishal. They both reportedly knew each other through social media sites. Now Mayank Rawal will also be confronted with Shweta and Vishal. A source said that more arrests in the case are likely to happen. Who is shweta? Shweta is a Class 10 pass out girl from Uttrakhand. She has lost her parents in recent years. Her father died of Covid while her mother died of cancer in 2011. She was preparing for engineering. She has two sisters and the family is earning around Rs 13,000 per month. They get Rs 3,000 from the Vatsalya Yojana, a scheme of the Uttarakhand government for Covid orphan kids. Her father worked with a manufacturing unit which provided the family Rs 10,000 rs per month. --IANS atk/dpb (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) No technical snag or sabotage and bad weather leading to a phenomenon called Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) is believed to have been identified as the prime reason for the crash of the IAF helicopter near Coonoor that killed CDS Gen and 13 others, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday. Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh who headed the tri-service investigation into the crash apprised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the findings of the probe on Wednesday. The people cited above said the investigators have ruled out any possibility of technical snag or sabotage in the crash of the Russian-origin twin-engine Mi-17V5 helicopter that was flying from Sulur airbase to Wellington on December 8. According to experts, the CFIT refers to a phenomenon when an aircraft under control is piloted into the ground, water or other terrains largely due to bad weather or pilot error. The CFIT generally takes place in bad weather conditions or when a flight is landing. There is no official comment on the probe report either by the Indian Air Force or by the defence ministry. According to the IATA (International Air Transport Association), CFIT refers to accidents in which there was a collision with terrain, water, or obstacle, without indication of loss of control of the aircraft. "The critical distinction in these types of accidents is the fact that the aircraft is under the control of the flight crew," it said. The Federal Aviation Administration of the US government described CFIT as an unintentional collision with terrain (the ground, a mountain, a body of water, or an obstacle) while an aircraft is under positive control. "Most often, the pilot or crew is unaware of the looming disaster until it is too late," it said. The people cited above said a sudden cloud cover could have resulted in the CFIT. "At times, a pilot may lose situational awareness when there is a visual disruption," said an aviation expert. Visuals of the helicopter captured by locals before the crash had shown that the chopper was flying at a low altitude. The chopper had crashed around eight minutes before its scheduled landing at Wellington. The people said the probe team examined all likely scenarios for the crash including possible human error or whether it was a case of disorientation by the crew when the helicopter was preparing for landing. Gen Rawat's wife Madhulika, his defence advisor Brigadier LS Lidder, staff officer to the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Col Harjinder Singh and decorated pilot Group Captain Varun Singh were among 13 others killed in the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. Air Marshal Singh, who headed the probe team, is currently serving as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Bengaluru-headquartered Training Command of the IAF. He is known to be one of the best air crash investigators in the country. Before taking the reins of the Training Command, the Air Marshal was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at the Air headquarters and developed various protocols for flight safety while serving in the post. Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and a number of senior officials of the ministry were present when the IAF officials briefed the defence minister. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After one case in Manipur, five cases of the variant of Covid-19 were detected in on Tuesday, health officials said. Health and Family Welfare Department Director Aman War said that of the five cases of variant, three people were detected with the new variant of in the three localities of Shillong and two at Saiden village in Ri-Bhoi district. All the five people had recently returned to the state from the other states of India. A 48-year-old man from Manipur, who had recently visited Tanzania, has tested positive for last week, becoming the first case of the new Covid-19 variant in the northeast region. In Meghalaya, a total of 84,881 people have been infected with 32 more people testing positive for the disease on Tuesday, while one more person died, taking the death toll to 1,485. The hill state has 97 active cases on Tuesday while 83,299 people have recovered from the disease so far. government on Monday decided to regulate entry of people inthe state from outside and imposed certain other restrictions from January 5, to prevent spread of Omicron. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Tuesday reviewed the Covid-19 related scenario. "Keeping in mind the economic activities of the people, the government would come up with some restrictions in the next few days in the state," he told the media later. --IANS sc/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In view of steady increase in COVID-19 cases, the government on Tuesday ordered closure of all schools up to Class 10 till January 15 and extended the night curfew by two hours. In the districts where the number of active cases exceeds 1,000, not more than 100 people will be allowed at marriage ceremonies and other events. Public places like gyms, spas, cinema halls, banquet halls and restaurants will operate at 50 per cent capacity. The night curfew will be imposed from 10 pm to 6 am from Thursday, according to a statement. Presently, the night curfew is being implemented from 11 pm to 5 am. The decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on a day the state reported 992 new infection cases. Currently, no UP district has more that 1,000 cases. The CM said genome sequencing has confirmed 23 variant cases in the state. Tracing and testing of those who came in contact with them should be done, the CM said. He directed that it should be made mandatory for devotees coming to Prayagraj Magh Mela to produce a negative RT-PCR test report, which should not be older that 24 hours. According to an official release, 992 new cases were detected on Tuesday in the state. The number of active cases in the state stood at 3,173, the release said, adding that the highest 174 cases were found in Ghaziabad, followed by 165 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 150 in Lucknow and 102 in Meerut. No death was reported in the state in the past 24 hours. The death toll stood at 22,916. So far, more than 3.5 lakh teens have got the vaccine in the state. A drive in this regard started on January 3. The chief minister said there is no need to panic. Alertness and caution are needed. People should be encouraged to wear masks, take vaccine and practice social distancing. This is the best first aid measure," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cellular immunity elicited by existing Covid-19 vaccines can fight the Covid variant, according to a study. The yet to be peer-reviewed study, which focussed on Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson's Covid shots, showed that vaccines will protect against severe disease even if the antibody responses against the strain are not as strong or durable, the Financial Times reported. "These data suggest that current vaccines may provide considerable protection against severe disease with the Sars-Cov-2 variant despite the substantial reduction of neutralising antibody responses," the researchers from Harvard medical school wrote in the study. Previous evidence suggests that the existing vaccines lose antibody response when pitted against . A third shot at least partially restores that antibody protection, and countries have been racing to scale up their booster programmes to avoid new restrictions. But vaccines are still expected to protect against severe disease, and health authorities have said they would closely examine evidence such as the one contained in the new study to decide whether a switch to Omicron-targeted vaccines is necessary, the report said. Early findings from studies in South Africa, the US, and the UK suggest that Omicron spreads faster but appears to be milder than previous variants. However, it is not clear yet if this is because of the variant itself, or because most of the world has either been infected or vaccinated, or a combination of the two factors. However, scientists have said that its high transmissibility, coupled with uneven vaccine coverage, could still mean health systems worldwide come under pressure as many more people get infected. The World Health Organisation has repeatedly called for a more equitable distribution of vaccines. The global health body has set a target of 70 per cent coverage in all nations by mid-2022. --IANS rvt/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cut Bank, MT (59427) Today Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High 63F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 37F. E winds shifting to NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has completed refurbishing work on the British-era runway built during World War- II transforming it into a modern one operational for commercial use. International Airport Limited (DIAL) has completed the rehabilitation work on the runway previously used in war and handed it over to Air a traffic Control (ATC) for operations. Deputy Managing Director, GMR Group, I Prabhakar Rao said, "DIAL has successfully completed the rehabilitation work of Runway 09/27 and its taxiways. The British-era runway was rehabilitated and made operational for commercial operations as part of DIAL's effort to enhance the infrastructure and passenger experience at Airport to make it future-ready." "The newly rehabilitated runway will have a design life of 20 years and would be instrumental in handling the increased air traffic movements (ATMs) once pre-pandemic level traffic return to Airport," he added. The 09/27 runway of the Delhi airport was the airport's first-ever runway. The DIAL has now updated the runway with the new and latest equipment, complying with Category-I (CAT-I) Instrument Landing System (ILS), which assists pilots to land during low visibility conditions too. As per data available with DIAL, the British constructed the 2,816 metre-long and 60 metre-wide runway in the pre- Independence era and used it during World War II. Now all the existing lights of the runway and taxiways, around 850 in number, have been upgraded from normal lights to LED systems for higher efficiency and reliability as a part of rehabilitation work. Delhi Airport is confident that after completing the refurbishment of the runway, "its passenger handling capacity would increase to 100 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and the airside capacity will enhance to handle 140 MPPA," DIAL said. Meanwhile, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport Runway 09/27 which is on the Northern side, has a network of a total of nine taxiways out of which six are connecting taxiways and three are rapid exit taxiways (RETs). (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The IAF is likely to apprise Defence Minister in the next couple of days about the findings of the tri-services probe into the December 8 chopper crash in which Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others were killed, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday. The probe team has already completed its investigation into the crash and the report has almost been finalised, they said. Top officials of the Indian Air Force, including the head of the Court of Inquiry Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, are set to make a presentation before the defence minister about the outcome of the probe. It is learnt that the probe team led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh examined all likely scenarios for the crash including possible human error or whether it was a case of disorientation by the crew when the helicopter was preparing for landing. Sources suggested that the crash was not a result of any technical error in the Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force. However, there is no official confirmation on it. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TS Tirumurti, India's permanent representative to the was named the new Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) on Tuesday (local time). Prior to taking up his current position as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, in May 2020, Tirumurti served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, handling the Economic Relations portfolio (which included, inter alia, the Gulf and the Arab World, Africa, and India's Development Partnership), according to UNSC statement. Tirumurti previously served at the Embassy of India to Egypt, in Cairo; at the Permanent Mission of India to the in Geneva; as the first Representative of India to the Palestinian Authority, in Gaza; as Counsellor in the Embassy of India to the United States, in Washington. DC; as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India to Indonesia, in Jakarta; and as High Commissioner of India to Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, the statement further said. Tirumurti also served as Under Secretary (Bhutan), Director (Office of the Foreign Secretary), Joint Secretary (Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka), and Joint Secretary ( Economic and Social Council) during his service in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi, it added. India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January. This Committee was formed in September 2001 soon after the tragic terrorist attack of 9/11 in New York, while India had chaired this Committee in the Security Council in 2011-12. In 2021, India has been asked to Chair three important Committees of the Security Council, which include the Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counterterrorism Committee, and the Libyan Sanctions Committee. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor New Covid-19 cases in India surged to 58,097 on Wednesday, a doubling of the daily tally over the past four days, as health experts called for preparations to ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed by a new wave of patients. While doctors fretted, politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appeared less concerned by the rising case numbers with many of them holding rallies ahead of assembly elections in several states. Infections have been increasing sharply in cities, with the fast-spreading variant of the virus becoming dominant in places like New Delhi, authorities said. India has confirmed nearly 2,000 cases of the variant with many more expected, lending an urgency to calls for hospitals to get ready. "With infections expected to be skyrocketing we need: clear communication about self-care to prevent panic-driven trips to the hospitals," Bhramar Mukherjee, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, wrote on Twitter. "Scale up hospital capacity and optimise care to those who really need it," she said. New Delhi's premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences cancelled a winter holiday for staff between Jan. 5 and 10. Many doctors and nurses have contracted the virus in recent days. "Ensure maximum preparedness against a possible surge in cases," the health ministry told state authorities on Tuesday. Authorities, especially in Delhi, have repeatedly said only those who actually need round-the-clock monitoring should go to hospital while others should recover at home. Delhi tightened up virus mitigation measures on Tuesday, ordering people to stay home on the weekends, in addition to a night curfew. Many other cities have announced curfews but politicians have not called off their election rallies, at which few people wear masks. Such gatherings last March and April helped the Delta variant infect millions of people in India, killing tens of thousands of them. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday he had tested positive a day after attending an election rally where none of the people on a dais, including him, could be seen wearing a mask. Modi will on Wednesday attend the inauguration of various projects in Punjab state, his latest visit to several states holding elections in coming weeks. Health ministry officials have said COVID-safety measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing apply to all, including politicians, though few seem to heed the advice. India has had more than 35 million cases, the second highest tally after the United States. The health ministry reported 534 new deaths on Wednesday, taking that toll to 482,551. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former minister K T Rajenthra Bhalaji was arrested in a case involving alleged job scam on Wednesday in Karnataka and brought to Tamil Nadu, police said. Three others who allegedly helped him have also been arrested. The former Minister, whose anticipatory bail application was dismissed by the Madras High Court last month, was arrested in connection with the scam, a police official here said. The police case here on job scam is against Bhalaji, two of his personal assistants and an associate. Two separate FIRs were registered previously by the Virudhunagar police following complaints. At least 23 victims were identified and a total of Rs 1.40 crore was collected from them allegedly for securing . They were promised various in the state government departments/undertakings including in the state-run dairy cooperative 'Aavin.' Conspiracy, cheating, criminal intimidation are among the IPC sections invoked against them. Bhalaji held the milk and dairy development portfolio in the previous government (2016-21). Dismissing the anticipatory bail petition of Bhalaji and others, the High Court had said in cases of job racketeering, the court finds innocents are being cheated, lured and their future becomes questionable... "job aspirants not only lose their money, they also lose their future." "This case is one of job racketeering. Hence, this court is not inclined to show any leniency on the petitioners." After the plea was rejected, police had formed special teams to apprehend him. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Merck's antiviral drug molnupiravir, which several Indian companies are in the process of launching, has serious safety concerns, and thus has not been included in the national Covid-19 task force recommended clinical protocol, the chief of Indias apex health research organisation said on Wednesday. Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), told the media the task force has debated twice whether to include the drug in the protocol, but decided against it. The US has approved it based only on 1,433 patients with a 3 per cent reduction in moderate disease when given in mild cases. However, we have to remember that this drug has major safety concerns. It can cause teratogenicity (the ability to cause defects in a developing foetus), mutagenicity , and it can also cause cartilage damage and can also be damaging to muscles, he explained. Mutagenicity refers to permanent transmissible changes in the structure of genetic material of cells. Bhargava added that more importantly, if someone is prescribed molnupiravir, the person no matter what their gender has to be put on contraception for three months because the child born will be problematic with teratogenic influences. Therefore, it is not included in the national clinical protocol, the WHO has not included it, nor has the UK, he added. Bhargava said they are concerned about children, pregnant and lactating women, those in reproductive age, those with soft tissue injury, and with history of infections and vaccinations when this drug is being prescribed. Whatever benefit was to those 1,433 individuals who were unvaccinated... and only 3 per cent reduction in mild to moderate disease he said. Companies have started to launch the drug in India and despatches have begun to several districts already. Amid the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases, a total of 61 resident doctors were found COVID-19 positive at the JJ hospital in Mumbai, informed Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors. Meanwhile, samples of 1,827 passengers on board the Cordelia cruise ship were sent for COVID-19 testing on Wednesday after the ship arrived in Mumbai from Goa with 66 passengers having tested positive for the infection, informed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. "Samples of their swabs were taken by two laboratories. Five ambulances with a capacity of 17 seats have been deployed for transporting the affected patients," said BMC officials. Test reports are expected today. After which, those who test positive will be sent to COVID centres or hospitals. Those who test negative will be sent for seven-day compulsory home quarantine. On Tuesday, Maharashtra reported 18,466 new COVID-19 cases, taking the active caseload of the state to 66,308. The cases of the new Omicron variant of have gone up to 653. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit next week as part of his four-day visit to India. Prime Minister Modi is hosting the Summit from January 10 to 13 in Gujarat. Deuba is set to leave for India on January 9 to attend the global summit, according to sources at the Prime Minister's private secretariat. The prime minister's four-day trip to India has been finalised and preparations for the same are underway, the sources said. However, an official announcement regarding details of the visit is yet to be made. This will be Deuba's first official visit to India after assuming power in July. This would be Prime Minister Deuba's second meeting with Modi. Earlier, the two leaders met briefly during the Glasgow Climate Summit in November. Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was conceptualised in 2003. It has now evolved into one of the most reputed global forums for business networking, knowledge sharing and strategic partnerships for inclusive socio-economic development. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid reports that has symptoms akin to a common cold, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday warned that it is not a common cold and should not be taken lightly. The four most common symptoms of the variant are cough, fatigue, congestion and runny nose, according to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis. A recent study by UK-based Zoe Covid app added nausea and loss of appetite to the category. Several studies from South Africa, the US and the UK have shown that the infections caused by the highly transmissible variant are generally mild, with less hospitalisation required. " is not the common cold," epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said in a tweet. "While some reports show a reduced risk of hospitalisation of Omicron compared to Delta, there are still far too many people infected, in hospital sick and dying from Omicron (and Delta)," she added. The UK has reportedly seen about 14 deaths due to the Omicron variant, while the US and South Korea have seen one death each. The deaths occured majorly in unvaccinated persons. "Omicron is not the common cold! Health systems can get overwhelmed," reiterated WHO's chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Twitter. It is "important to have systems to test, advise and monitor large numbers of patients as the surge can be sudden and huge," she warned. Kerkhove stated that "we can prevent infections, save lives now" by ensuring vaccine equity. Meanwhile, on Tuesday also stated that emerging evidence reveals that the Omicron is affecting the upper respiratory tract, causing milder symptoms than previous variants. "We are seeing more and more studies pointing out that Omicron is infecting the upper part of the body. Unlike the other ones, that could cause severe pneumonia," Incident Manager Abdi Mahamud told Geneva-based journalists. At the same time, the global health body warned that soaring infections due to Omicron across the world could lead to the emergence of new variants, media reports said. The more variant spreads, the more it can replicate and bring out a new variant that can be more lethal. France has detected a new variant, named IHU. The new variant, with 46 mutations, has already infected 12 people, both vaccinated and unvaccinated.A While it may pose a greater risk than Omicron, touted as highly transmissible but mild in infections and less lethal than previous the Delta variant, researchers said, "it is too early to speculate on virological, epidemiological or clinical features of this IHU variant based on (just) 12 cases". --IANS rvt/dpb (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The booster dose, which the Centre is calling precautionary dose, will have to be the same as the first two Covid19 vaccine jabs, the announced on Wednesday ruling out a combination strategy for now. The drive for the third vaccine dose will take off on January 10, starting with healthcare and frontline workers as well as people over 60 years of age with comorbidities. The much-awaited announcement on booster dose coincided with India witnessing an exponential increase in cases. Daily infections have risen 6.3 times in the last eight days. The country reported 58,097 fresh cases on Wednesday, taking the total active cases to 214,004. The daily positivity rate has touched 5 per cent. At least one death, in Rajasthan, was also confirmed by the . On the positive side, more than 10 million teenagers, between the age of 15 and 18 years, have received their first jab, making it 14 per cent of the eligible category. The government move to allow homologous or the same third dose as the first two has come as a shot in the arm for Serum Institute of India (SII) which is sitting on 500 million doses of Covishield inventory in its Pune plant. At present, the Pune site has 250 million finished formulations, and another 250 million in bulk form. We need 80 days to process the bulk into finished doses, a company source said. In the overall vaccination drive so far, more than 88 per cent doses have been Covishield. All arrangements to start this process are on track. As more information comes on mixing or the heterologous approach, we will keep an eye on it, said V K Paul, chairman of the national Covid task force and member-health Niti Aayog. Bharat Biotech said it would start to produce 80 million monthly doses of Covaxin in January. This would be available in the market by around March-April. Currently, the company is making 55-60 million doses a month. Earlier this week, Bharat Biotechs project lead for Covid19 vaccines Raches Ella had questioned the effectiveness of a third Covishield (AstraZeneca) vaccine dose. Ella had said in a tweet that inactivated and subunit vaccines are best for homologous or heterologous boosting. Nearly 30 million healthcare and frontline workers will be eligible for a precaution shot. As for the elderly, India has 138 million people above 60 years of age. They would be eligible for the third dose after nine months of the second shot. Vaccination for the elderly had begun in March 2021. Shahid Jameel, Senior Research Fellow at Green Templeton College at Oxford University had recently said that Covovax would be the ideal booster vaccine for almost 90 per cent of Indians who had received Covishield. Rising cases, positivity. Twenty-eight districts in India are reporting more than 10 per cent weekly positivity rate. There are eight emerging states of concern which indicate a surge in cases across the country, the said. These are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat. Six of these, except Jharkhand and Gujarat, have more than 10,000 active cases currently. Paul said theres clearly a steep rise in cases due to the variant and the government teams are watching the pandemic dynamics closely, especially in large cities. India is also reporting a sharp increase in case positivity from 0.79 per cent on December 29, 2021, to 5.03 per cent as on January 5, 2022. While there has been a sharp surge in cases across countries, hospitalizations have remained relatively lower as compared to earlier surges, said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry. End isolation after 7 days With most patients reporting mild symptoms, the health ministry has also issued new guidelines for home isolation, bringing down the quarantine period after testing positive from ten days to seven, with three successive days without fever. There is no need for a re-test after the home isolation period is over. Health ministry has also said that patient should at all times use triple layer medical mask and discard mask after 8 hours of use. Mask should be discarded by cutting them into pieces and putting them in a paper bag for a minimum of 72 hrs. The threshold for oxygen saturation has been revised to "SpO2 93 per cent on room air" from the earlier guideline of 94 per cent level. PM on Wednesday cancelled his scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur, said . "Today morning PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out: MHA "When the weather didnt improve, it was decided that he would visit the Marytrs Memorial via road, which would take more than two hours. He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Police," said MHA. Around 30 kms away from Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PMs convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM, the ministry added. "The PMs schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. "Also in view of the contingency plan Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport," said MHA. MHA said it is taking cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. State government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action. "I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Punjab today. At a programme in Ferozepur, foundation stones for development works worth Rs 42,750 crore will be laid, which will improve the quality of life for the people," Modi had said in a tweet earlier on Wednesday The weather was inclement in many parts of Punjab, including Bathinda and Ferozepur on Wednesday. Modi is visiting poll-bound Punjab after a gap of two years and it is his first trip to the state after repeal of the farm laws by his government. The three legislations had led to a year-long farmers' stir at Delhi borders. The prime minister was supposed to lay the foundation stones of development projects, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway and a PGIMER satellite centre. The projects also include four-laning of the Amritsar-Una section, Mukerian-Talwara broad gauge railway line and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. Modi was also scheduled to address a rally in the district. #WATCH | PM Narendra Modi cancels his scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons", Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announces from the stage pic.twitter.com/j9Ykcmv9KA ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 It is sad that PMs visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted... State Police was instructed to prevent people from attending the rally... CM Channi refused to get on phone to either address the matter or solve it: BJP chief JP Nadda pic.twitter.com/x1GMIn7Wj6 ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 Prime Minister will visit Ferozepur in on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. These projects include the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway; four laning of Amritsar - Una section; Mukerian - Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line; PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, according to Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The consistent endeavour of the Prime Minister to improve connectivity all across the country has led to multiple national highway development initiatives being taken up in the state of . It has resulted in more than doubling the total length of National Highways in the state from about 1700 kilometres in 2014 to more than 4100 kilometres in 2021, said the PMO. In continuation of such efforts, the foundation stone of two major road corridors will be laid in . This will also be a step towards fulfilling the Prime Minister's vision to enhance accessibility to major religious centres, it added. As per the PMO, the 669-kilometre long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway will be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore. It will halve travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra. The Greenfield Expressway will connect key Sikh religious sites at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the holy Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra. The expressway will also connect key economic centres like Ambala Chandigarh, Mohali, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in the three states/UTs of Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The four-laning of the Amritsar - Una section will be done at the cost of around 1700 crore. The 77-kilometre long section is part of the larger Amritsar to Bhota corridor spanning across the longitudinal expanse of Northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, connecting four major national highways, namely Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar Economic Corridor, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, North-South Corridor and Kangra-Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla Corridor, stated the PMO. It will help in improving the connectivity of religious sites at Ghoman, Shri Hargobindpur and Pulpukta Town (home to the famous Gurudwara Pulpukta Sahib), added the PMO. The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of a new Broad Gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara of around 27 Km in length, to be built at a cost of over Rs 410 crore. The railway line will be an extension of the Nangal Dam-Daulatpur Chowk railway section. It will provide an all-weathered means of transportation in the area. This project also holds strategic importance as it will serve as an alternative route to Jammu and Kashmir, joining the existing Jalandhar-Jammu Railway line at Mukerian. The project will prove especially beneficial for the people of Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Una in Himachal Pradesh. It will give a boost to tourism in the region, and provide ease of connectivity to hill stations as well as to places of religious importance. In line with the Prime Minister's endeavour to provide world-class medical facilities in all parts of the country, the foundation stone of new medical infrastructure in three towns of Punjab will be laid. The 100 Bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur, will be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. It will provide services in 10 specialities including Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology, ENT and Psychiatry-Drug De-addiction. The satellite centre will provide world-class medical facilities at Ferozepur and the nearby areas. Two Medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur will be developed at a cost of around Rs 325 crore each and with a capacity of about 100 seats. These colleges have been approved in Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme 'Establishment of new medical colleges attached with district/referral hospitals'. A total of three Medical Colleges have been approved for Punjab under this Scheme. The college approved at SAS Nagar in Phase-I is already functional. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a major security lapse, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur on Wednesday after which he returned from poll-bound without attending any event, including a rally. The Union Home Ministry directed the state government to file an immediate report, saying it did not ensure the required deployment, while Home Minister Amit Shah said that such dereliction of the security procedure during the prime minister's visit is totally unacceptable and accountability will be fixed. The incident triggered a major political row as the BJP alleged the ruling in "tried to physically harm" the prime minister, while other parties too attacked the state government over the law and order issue. On the defensive, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi at a press conference denied there was any security lapse or political motive behind it and said his government was ready for an inquiry. The said there was no security lapse and accused the BJP of enacting a petty political drama. In Delhi, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed Modi skipped the rally in Ferozepur as there were no crowds and asked the saffron party to introspect. Channi, too, claimed that the turnout was low at the Ferozepur rally. Modi who landed in Bathinda had to take the road route to the Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala in Ferozepur because of inclement weather. When the convoy reached near village Piareana on Ferozepur-Moga road, around 30 km away from the Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, some protestors blocked the road following which the PM's cavalcade was halted for almost 15-20 minutes on a flyover. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Ferozepur) Inderbir Singh said around 100 farmers suddenly arrived on the spot and blocked the road. A decision was taken to take the PM's convoy back to Bathinda airport after protestors started gathering on the other side of the flyover which could pose a huge security risk, he said. Farmers had blocked roads at several other places including Tarn Taran, Faridkot and Amritsar. In the statement, the home ministry said that in view of the contingency plan the has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The precaution dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be given to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities will be the same as that of the first two jabs, the government said on Wednesday. All arrangements are on track to start inoculating the beneficiaries in these categories from January 10, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said, addressing the weekly briefing on COVID-19. "The precautionary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine that will be given to healthcare workers, frontline workers as well as those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities will be of the same vaccine as was given to them previously. "Those who have received the primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield and those who had received Covaxin would be administered Covaxin," Paul said. He further said a tab is being kept on the emerging information, science and data on mixing of vaccines and heterologous approaches. According to the "Guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of children between 15-18 years and precaution dose to HCWs, FLWs and 60+ population with comorbidities" issued by the health ministry recently, prioritisation and sequencing of the precaution dose for the beneficiaries would be based on the completion of nine months from the date of administration of the second dose, which is 39 weeks. They will be able to access vaccination for the precaution dose through their existing CoWIN account, the guidelines that will come into effect from January 3 said. The eligibility for the precaution dose will be based on the date of administration of the second dose as recorded in the CoWIN system, which will send a text message for availing the precaution dose when it becomes due, the guidelines stated. Meanwhile, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) gave its approval to Bharat Biotech on Tuesday for conducting the phase-3 superiority and booster dose trial for its intranasal Covid vaccine to participants previously vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin, sources said. The SEC had, on December 10, said the Serum Institute of India (SII) should submit the local clinical trial data and a proposal, along with a justification, for the booster dose approval. On November 30, in an application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Prakash Kumar Singh, director of government and regulatory affairs at the SII, had sought an approval for Covishield to be used for booster doses, citing an adequate stock of the vaccine in the country and a demand for booster shots due to the emergence of new variants. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister on Wednesday said the government should apologise to the people of the country for the "serious lapse" in the security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state. Modi's visit to poll-bound was cut short earlier in the day after a "major security lapse" as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes, prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek an immediate report from the state government and strict action against those responsible. Speaking to reporters about the incident, Adityanath said, "What has happened in is an example of the chaos and disorder prevailing in the state. The government of the Congress-ruled state should apologise to the people of the country for this." "The Congress has always been contemptuous of the constitutional system of the country. The country has once again seen an example of this," he said. This kind of "serious lapse in security" of the prime minister is "unforgivable", he added. Modi, who landed in Bathinda and had to take the road route to Hussainiwala in Ferozepur because of the inclement weather, was stuck on the flyover due to blockade by some protesters. After the serious lapse in security, the prime minister's convoy decided to return without attending an event at a martyrs' memorial, the home ministry statement said. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed regret over the incident, but asserted that there was no security lapse. Modi was scheduled to lay the foundation stones of development projects worth over Rs 42,750 crore, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway and a PGIMER satellite centre. The projects also included four-laning of the Amritsar-Una section, Mukerian-Talwara broad gauge railway line and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Wednesday said people need to be cautious for the next four to six weeks to control a possible third wave of COVID-19 and the spread of Omicron variant in the state. The minister called on the people to follow the guidelines and containment measures announced by the government and cooperate with the administration. "New COVID guidelines have been released after a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. My appeal to the people is, four to six weeks is crucial. As we have observed worldwide, it is declining in five to six weeks. This wave will not be for too long, like in the first and second wave that was for three to four months," Sudhakar said. Speaking to reports here, he said the latest wave spreads fast and will also decline in the same phase. "If we remain cautious for at least four to six weeks, we will be able to control it," he said, adding that there is no need to worry in case of infections. The Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to impose curfew on weekends and restrict public gatherings to fight the third wave of COVID-19 till January 19. Also, the daily night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, which is supposed to end January 7, will continue for two more weeks. Noting that the Omicron variant of enters the throat through the nose, but entering the lungs is very rare, the minister, who is also a medical professional, said. This is the reason why the cases requiring oxygen, ventilators and ICU are very less this time, he added. "But, its effect may be more on those who have not taken both the doses of COVID vaccination. So, I request people with folded hands to get vaccinated with both doses mandatorily," Sudhakar said. Those above 60 years and with comorbidities will be given the third preventive dose of vaccination from January 10 along with health workers and front line COVID warriors, he said adding that "our fast phase vaccination effort has helped Karnataka to control the large scale spread of the virus." Speaking about the ongoing vaccination drive for those between the age group of 15-18 years that was rolled out on January 3, Sudhakar said Karnataka is at the third place in the country by covering about 25 per cent of the age group in the state. "One in every four children (adolescents) in this age group have been vaccinated so far. It is happening at a fast phase," he said, adding that the vaccine drive is on track to with the government's target to cover the entire population in the age group within 10 to 15 days. Covaxin is being administered to adolescents between 15-18 years as per central government guidelines and the second dose will be given after a gap of 28 days. The minister also sought cooperation from all stakeholders, including opposition parties and organisations, to join hands with the government in containing the spread of the virus. To a question on Congress organising the Mekedatu padayatra (march) from January 9 amid the outbreak of cases and government imposing restrictions, he said, "People will decide. They are watching everything. We (the government) have not released the guideline without any malice." "We are seeing the COVID spread before us. I hope Congress will understand, as they too want to protect the public interest. They too have been in government for long," Sudhakar added. Asked if there will be any action on violations, he said, "Law will take its course." The Congress is organising the march from Mekedatu to Bengaluru, covering a distance of over 100 kilometres, demanding the implementation of the Mekedatu project across Cauvery river, which is being opposed by neighbouring Tamil Nadu. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister on Wednesday termed the "security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to a "criminal conspiracy" and said the people of the country will never forgive Congress over the incident. In a statement, Chouhan alleged that the way the Congress, the Congress government and the Gandhi family have played with the Prime Minister's security, is something that has never happened in this country. It is the responsibility of state governments to provide security to the Prime Minister. They have not played with the security of the PM, but that of the nation. It is a criminal conspiracy and the people of the country will never forgive Congress for it, Chouhan said. Chouhan stated that he was thankful to God for "ensuring" that PM Modi is safe. The Congress, the Congress government and the Gandhi family would have left no stone unturned. The way they have played with the Prime Minister's security is something that has never happened in this country. Does Congress, the Congress government and the Gandhi family harbour so much hatred that they even played with the Prime Minister's security?" he asked. The blessings of crores of people in the country are with the Prime Minister, Chouhan said. The prime minister, who was travelling by road in on Wednesday, was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to a blockade by some protesters, an incident the Union home ministry described as a "major lapse" in his security. president Vishnu Dutt Sharma also strongly condemned the incident of the "security lapse". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United Kingdom has reported 218,724 COVID-19 cases in the latest 24-hour period, exceeding 200,000 daily cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Xinhua News Agency reported citing official figures on Tuesday. According to the news agency, this brought the total number of cases in the country to 13,641,520. The country also reported a further 48 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 148,941, with 14,126 COVID-19 patients still in hospital, as per the official release cited by Xinhua News Agency. Earlier on Tuesday, British Health Secretary told Sky News that there's nothing in data at this point that suggests that Britain needs to move away from Plan B, which includes guidance to work from home and mandatory face masks in most public indoor venues. The British government is not planning to cut the isolation period from seven days to five days, as the United States has done, he said. More than 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and around 82 per cent have received both doses, according to the latest figures cited by Xinhua News Agency. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Britain's Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer has tested positive for Covid for a second time and is now isolating, a Labour Party spokesman said on Wednesday. The 59-year-old Labour Party leader will miss the year's first House of Commons showdown with Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) as the UK Parliament returns from its Christmas recess on Wednesday. This is the second time Starmer has missed a major Parliament session due to a positive COVID test, having missed out on the Budget session last October. "The Labour Leader has tested positive for coronavirus, a party spokesperson said. Starmer is not believed to have any symptoms of the virus and the infection was detected as part of his regular testing routine. It marks his sixth period of isolation due to COVID, having isolated after coming in contact with someone who later tested positive in other instances. Keir's latest positive test comes after the UK reported its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic, with 218,724 announced on Tuesday. It comes a day after he delivered a major party policy speech at an event in Birmingham setting out what he called his new "contract with the British people" and his vision for a future Labour government. After his speech, Starmer went on a tour of a green energy and decarbonisation research site in the Tyseley area of Birmingham. A small group of Birmingham Labour MPs, including British Sikh MP and shadow minister for international development Preet Kaur Gill, were with him during Tuesday's visit and may now have to isolate. The event was seen as Starmer's attempt at capitalising the Labour Party's lead over the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls after recent stories of alleged rule-breaking in Downing Street at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Labour's Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, will stand in for Starmer at PMQs, where the focus will be on the government's strategy to cope with the continued Omicron surge in the country. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalised by Covid in spring 2020, spending three nights in intensive care. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Patrick O'Carroll, with halibut, left, and cod fish and chips, opened a second location for his Irish and English-themed restaurant, The Chipper, in the Arrowhead section of Virginia Beach. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot) Virginia Beach Irish and British people commonly refer to their favorite fish and chip shop as a chipper. Advertisement And in Hampton Roads, The Chipper is where locals can stop in for beer-battered fish and thick-cut french fries called chips. The name, referencing the slang, was fitting when Patrick OCarroll, who hails from Dublin, Ireland, opened his restaurant in the summer of 2018 at 5619 George Washington Memorial Highway in York County featuring his homelands fancied fare. Advertisement The name has as much of a recognition, say, as 7-Eleven over here, OCarroll said. After continual coaxing by a loyal following of customers who drove to the Peninsula restaurant, OCarroll acquiesced and expanded with a second location in South Hampton Roads. The newest Chipper restaurant opened Nov. 10 at 5604 Princess Anne Road in Virginia Beachs Arrowhead neighborhood. OCarroll hopes to make fish and chips as popular here as overseas by expanding The Chipper through a franchise model. Londoner Liam Mitchell-Bennett became the first franchisee purchasing the York County location at the start of 2021 and OCarroll is looking for someone to take on the Virginia Beach spot next. No stranger to the food industry, OCarrolls career began more than four decades ago at age 15 working in a pub in his native country. We have a three-year apprenticeship at home for the bar trade when I finished that I came to America, OCarroll said of his emigration in the 1980s. Ive been in the business since in just about every capacity. He opened his first pub, Dicey Rileys, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1994. Advertisement Once settled in Virginia, OCarroll opened the Irish American pub, Patriots Grill in Gloucester. The patrons favored the fish and chips the most, and after he sold the restaurant, he decided to make that fare his next focus. Other expats, military personnel and civilians who have traveled abroad are always eager to enjoy that taste again. It was only after we opened the doors that we realized it was a big draw, he said. Cris Spurlock used to drive from Norfolk to the York County location at least once a month to get her fix of fish and chips. Now, the Manchester, England, native happily makes the 15-minute drive to The Chipper in Virginia Beach where she lends a helping hand as an employee. Inside Business Weekdays Business news for the Hampton Roads region > Spurlock managed the Hampton Inn Oceanfront for 30 years and ran a British tea room on-site. I was brought up on fish and chips, Spurlock said. My mum worked at a chippy when I was little so its like our whole lives are around the fish and chips shop. Im so glad weve got one now. Advertisement Authenticity is key to OCarroll, who said everything is made fresh in-house and many items, including battered sausage, curry sauce, mushy peas, Heinz baked beans, and Lucozade and Irn-Bru drinks, are imported from overseas. For those more inclined to lean toward American classics, burgers and chicken tenders round out the menu. By the end of 2022, OCarroll plans to introduce a third location and hopes to bring more and more chippers to the region. Its everywhere at home every parish and area has a couple, he said. Its interwoven in the community. Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com Union Minister for Industries Pashupati Kumar Paras on Wednesday launched six brands, including Kashmiri chilli, developed as part of the 'One District-One Product' (ODOP) approach under a central scheme PMFMES. These six brands are out of 10 that the ministry has signed up with cooperative NAFED for branding and marketing of ODOPs under the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Enterprises Scheme (PMFMES). The central scheme PMFMES aims to provide financial, technical and business support for upgradation/ setting up of two lakh micro units based on the ODOP approach in a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore. Minister of the State for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel was also present at the launch. In a statement, the six brands have been launched under selected districts in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Jammu and Kashmir. The six brands launched are Amrit Phal, Cori Gold, Kashmiri Mantra, Madhu Mantra, Somdana, and Whole Wheat Cookies of Dilli Bakes. The brand Amrit Phal for amla juice has been exclusively developed under the ODOP concept for Gurugram, Haryana. The product contains pure amla juice and is a natural elixir with added lemon for a unique taste and health benefits. The 500 ml bottle is competitively priced at Rs 120. Cori Gold brand has been developed for coriander powder which is the identified ODOP for Kota, Rajasthan. The product has a distinct flavour and brings forth a regional speciality. The 100-gram pack is competitively priced at Rs 34. Brand Kashmiri Mantra brings out the essence of spices from Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmiri Lal Mirch product has been developed under the ODOP component for spices for Jammu and Kashmir. The product has a distinct flavour and the 100 g pack is priced at Rs 75. Brand Madhu Mantra has been developed under the ODOP concept for honey from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The multiflora honey has been collected by free-range bees and the 500-gram glass bottle is competitively priced at Rs 185. Whole wheat cookies is the second product developed under the brand Dilli Bakes. The brand and the product have been developed under the bakery ODOP concept for Delhi. According to NAFED, the whole wheat cookie is a unique product as it is made with whole wheat, jaggery instead of sugar, and contains butter instead of vanaspati. The 380-gram pack is competitively priced at Rs 175. Brand Somdana has been developed under the ODOP concept of millets from Thane, Maharashtra. The ragi flour is a unique product as it is gluten-free, rich in iron, fibre, and calcium. The 500-gram pack is priced at Rs 60. NAFED said all the products come in unique and attractive packaging that keeps moisture and sunlight at bay, thus ensuring a longer shelf life of the product and keeping it fresh. Each product has been developed based on the extensive knowledge and legacy of the marketing expertise of NAFED as well as its capabilities and experience in processing, packaging, supply and logistics, it said in a statement. All the products will be available at NAFED Bazaars, e-commerce platforms and prominent retail stores across India. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking extension of the credit guarantee scheme for micro lenders till FY 2022-23 with an amount of Rs 15,000 crore. Of the amount, at least 75 per cent should be earmarked for small and medium-sized MFIs, Sa- Dhan, a self-regulatory organisation for the microfinance sector, wrote to the finance minister in its pre-Budget expectations. The government is scheduled to present the Budget 2022-23 next month. The industry body said smaller are finding it difficult to mobilise additional/new investment and hence requested support with subordinated debt having 5 to 7 years of tenure. It also said SIDBI and NABARD should be allowed to issue tax-free social bonds for five years to exclusively provide debt /equity to operating in semi urban or rural areas. Around 30 per cent of these funds can be in the form of equity and rest being debt. Besides, the micro lenders have requested setting up of a Microfinance Development Fund of Rs 1,000 crore in NABARD to support not-for-profit with grant as well as revolving fund/refinance support. "The Microfinance sector disbursed Rs 2,03,262 lakh crore last fiscal, which is close to 1.5 per cent of India's GDP. Therefore, the sector, if supported adequately in the upcoming Union Budget, can play pivotal role in reviving and steering growth and consumption, Sa-Dhan Executive Director P Satish said. He said the government has supported the sector through various measures, including the credit guarantee scheme, during the challenging times of the ongoing pandemic. However, the sector still faces few challenges in terms of higher credit costs and access to low-cost long-term funds, Satish added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Centre on Tuesday clarified that it has released 50 per cent of funds earmarked for States and Union Territories, and not 26.14 per cent as claimed in some media reports. The Centre further added that the funds were released by August 24 and not in November, as claimed. The Union Health Ministry, in a press release, said, "A channel has recently made a claim that the Union Government has only disbursed 26.14 per cent of the Emergency COVID Response Plans-II (ECRP-II) funds to the states. The channel further claims that funds were disbursed by the Centre by November 2021 and states have utilized 60 per cent of the approved funds." "The report is misinformed and claims are false, misleading and based on misrepresented facts," it added. The Ministry further informed that the Cabinet approved the " Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package - Phase-II" (ECRP-Phase-II) on July 8, 2021 for an amount of Rs 23,123 crores (Central Share - Rs 15,000 Crore and State Share - Rs 8,123 Crore) to be implemented from 1st July 2021 to 31st March 2022. The scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) with some Central Sector (CS) components. The scheme is aimed to prevent, detect and respond to the continuing threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthen national health systems for emergency response and preparedness across the country, said the Ministry. "Under the scheme, Rs 20,308.70 crores are to be spent by states out of which Rs 12,185.70 crore is to be provided by the central government and Rs 8,123 crore is to be provided by state governments," the Ministry further informed. Highlighting the factual errors in the report of the news channel, the Ministry said that as opposed to claims out of the Rs 6075.85 crore made available by the Union Government, Rs. 1679.05, crore, (i.e. 27.13 per cent), have been spent by States as on December 31, 2021, and not 60 per cent as claimed in the news report. AS per the release, immediately after approval of the scheme, the Union Government released 15 per cent of the central share to States/UTs on July 22, 2021 to enable them to quickly undertake the preparatory activities for implementation of ECRP-II. "The second instalment of funds was released soon after as advance to the States in the month of August 2021. A total amount of Rs 6075.85 Crore (50 per cent of central share) has already been released to States/UTs through the National Health Mission (NHM) by August 24, 2021. State-wise central share release and expenditure till date can be seen at Annexure I. So far, expenditure of Rs 1,679.05 Crore has been incurred by the 36 States/UTs under ECRP-II," it added. Further, the Ministry said that the remaining funds will be released to states based on the progress and utilisation of at least 50 per cent of the funds already released. "So far, five states have reported expenditure of more than 50 per cent," they said. The release further read: "Central Government is actively pursuing with states with speedy implementation of the ECRP-II package. Two meetings have been conducted by Union Health Minister with State Health Minister, and Union Health Secretary has conducted at least three meetings with State Health Secretaries. Both the physical progress and expenditure are being monitored at the Union Health Ministry on a daily basis. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sa-Dhan, the self-regulatory organisation for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), has sought an extension of the credit guarantee scheme till the next fiscal year (FY23) with an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore, at least 75 per cent of which should be earmarked for small and mid-size MFIs. This is a part of their recommendation to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the upcoming Union Budget. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. has reported another incursion by Chinese warplanes as seven military aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) enter the self-ruled island's air defense identification zone (ADIZ)on Tuesday. Five People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare airplane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, sent aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the PLAAF planes, reported News. A total of nine Chinese aircraft have been spotted in Taiwan's identification zone so far this month, including five fighter jets and four spotter planes. Since September last year, has increased its use of gray zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most occurrences taking place in the southwest corner of the zone. Air Defence Identification Zone(ADIZ) is an area that extends beyond a country's airspace. It is the area where aircraft are asked to identify themselves by the air traffic controllers. Gray zone conflicts are activities by a state that is harmful to another state and are sometimes considered to be acts of war, but are not legally acts of war. The number of flights is expected to increase further as tensions rise over major political events on two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 2022, Taiwan News reported. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades. Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State on Tuesday (local time) discussed the buildup of Russian military near the border with in a call with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. "Secretary Blinken and Sheikh Abdullah discussed Russia's military buildup near Ukraine's borders as well as other bilateral and regional issues, including developments in Yemen, Ethiopia, and Sudan," Price said in a statement. Blinken also congratulated the UAE for assuming a seat on the UN Security Council earlier this month, Price said in the readout. In addition, Blinken discussed the buildup near with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud during a call on Tuesday, Price said in a separate statement. Both the diplomates also discussed other bilateral and regional security issues, including Yemen and Sudan, Price added. Russian and US officials are set to meet in person in Geneva on January 10 amid a Russian military buildup on the border and ongoing tensions. The US and NATO have voiced concerns over Russia's alleged preparations for invading Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying that has the right to relocate the troops within its territory at its own discretion, while NATO's military activity near Russian borders poses a threat to its security. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister on Wednesday sought to dismiss the notion that visa norms are set to be relaxed for Indians in pursuit of a agreement (FTA) with India. During the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, Johnson was asked by one of his Conservative Party MPs to comment on reports that emerged in the UK media over the weekend about easier visas for Indian professionals and students to make an FTA more attractive to India. Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh asked Johnson if a relaxation of visa controls from India was in the works to secure a trade agreement. I don't recognise the account he's given at all. We don't do deals on that basis, said Johnson. Net immigration since we took back control (Brexit) has gone down our new Borders Bill currently in the House of Lords enables us properly to take back control of our borders and to tackle illegal immigration, he said. Free movement of people from within the European Union (EU) was a key issue during the 2016 Brexit referendum, with Johnson pledging to take back control to create a fairer visa regime for applicants from within and outside of the EU post-Brexit. Apparently the government is thinking of relaxing visa controls from India in order to get a deal. Whilst a free trade deal is valuable in itself, we should not be held to ransom, said Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh in the Commons. Would he agree with me that our new working class voters who voted Brexit did not vote to replace immigration from Europe with more immigration from the rest of the world...will he convince us that he is determined to connect to our supporters and control immigration, he questioned. His question in the Commons follows reports that UK Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is expected to travel to Delhi later this month to kick-start FTA talks and is expected to offer a visa scheme similar to that agreed as part of the UK's FTA with Australia. Such a scheme would allow young Indians the chance to come and work in the UK for up to three years. Another option reportedly being considered would be to cut visa fees for students and allow them to stay in Britain for a period after they graduate, possibly building upon the Graduate Route visa under the points-based immigration rules currently in place. India is projected to become the world's third largest economy by 2050 and a free trade agreement will open up huge opportunities for UK businesses to trade with India's GBP 2.25 trillion economy, said a Department for Trade spokesperson, without confirming or denying the reports of a visa scheme linked with an FTA. Companies up and down the country can look forward to the benefits, from manufacturers in the West Midlands to tech experts in Belfast, and we look forward to launching negotiations early this year, the spokesperson said. The UK government's stated priority for the FTA talks is a broad and comprehensive FTA, which achieves short and long-term benefits for British businesses. DIT sources said that a range of measures will be under consideration to enable British business to achieve maximum benefits from any deal. The UK's target will be on reduced tariffs from up to 150 per cent on key exports such as cars and Scotch whisky to make UK goods more competitive in the Indian market. Back in May 2021, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and clinched an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) during a virtual summit, with the goal to double bilateral trade to GBP 50 billion by 2030. The FTA is seen as the next step in the bilateral engagement. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To decrease hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, the US administration is going to double its order of treatment courses, President said on Tuesday (local time). "Today, I am directing my team to work with to double our order from 10 million to 20 million treatment courses to be delivered in the months ahead," Biden said during the meeting with members of the White House COVID-19 response team, Sputnik News Agency reported. This move will allow to dramatically decrease hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, he added. Biden also warned that the coming weeks will be challenging, but the US has tools to combat the pandemic. announced earlier on Tuesday (local time) that the US government has committed to purchasing an additional 10 million treatment courses of its COVID-19 oral therapy named PAXLOVID, as per Sputnik. The President also said that he believed that school should remain open. "Look, we have no reason to think at this point that Omicron is worse for children than previous variants," Biden told a White House media briefing. "We know that our kids can be safe when in school. By the way, that's why I believe school should remain open," Sputnik reported. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German energy giant Uniper SE was forced to borrow billions to pay down margin calls -- the collateral that exchanges require to back up trades -- as European gas and electricity prices rallied. Uniper got additional loans totaling 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion) from its Finnish parent Fortum Oyj and KfW IPEX-Bank, the company said in a statement after the close of trading on Tuesday. The borrowing facilities correspond to about two-thirds of the companys market value of just over 15 billion euros. With gas and power prices repeatedly rising to records since July, many that had fixed energy prices are now having to post more collateral to guarantee those trades. Still, any losses from those hedges might be offset by higher realized prices in the spot market. RBC Capital analysts said Wednesday they expect no real impact on near-term earnings for Uniper. The reason for these additional financial instruments is the unprecedented price increases of -- in some cases -- several hundred percent within a few months, Uniper Chief Financial Officer Tiina Tuomela said in a separate statement. The European gas market had its most volatile year on record in 2021, with prices surging as much as 40% in just one day in October. The enormous gains meant some had to tap extra funds, while several small energy suppliers folded. RWE AG also had additional liquidity requirements, Chief Financial Officer Michael Muller said in November. Uniper got an 8 billion-euro credit line from Fortum on Dec. 22, part of which has already been used. The company has also fully drawn the existing 1.8 billion-euro credit facility it has with its core banks. It further tapped 2 billion from KfW on Jan. 4 as a back-up facility in case of further extreme commodity market developments. Power Hedging This is the second time in less than six months that the company has been forced to prop up liquidity as energy prices climb. The utility first disclosed additional capital needs in its third-quarter earnings in November. At the time it said it had hedged 90% of German power for 2022 at 49 euros a megawatt-hour and 90% for 2023 at 51 euros. Since then, prices soared. German electricity for 2022 expired at almost 220 euros, more than four times the price that Uniper had sold at. The contract for 2023 delivery is currently trading at 135 euros. Uniper stressed that the high commodity prices increase the value of its gas and power assets, and as a result structural earnings prospects are not adversely impacted. The shares fell 2.4% as of 12:42 p.m. in Frankfurt, in line with a broader decline in European utility stocks. The quantum of these facilities shows how extreme recent commodity price movements have been and the impact on the margining payments for Unipers sold forward volumes, analysts at RBC said in a note. Commodities trader Gunvor Group Ltd. also faced about $1 billion in margin calls last year, according to people familiar with the matter. The largest independent LNG trader in December signed a $1.14 billion loan to trade the fuel shortly after with lenders including Rabobank and Societe Generale SA. It now has a specific pool of funds to finance purchases, transport and sales of the super-chilled fuel. Energy firms were also faced with extreme volatility at the end of last year, when gas prices surged all the way through March 2023. The fuel for delivery in the summer -- when gas is usually cheap -- exceeded 100 euros a megawatt-hour at one point in December, the highest on record. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Monetary Fund will release its World Economic Outlook on Jan. 25, a week later than planned, to factor in the latest COVID-19 developments, a spokesperson for the global lender said on Tuesday, amid signs another downgrade is coming. "The World Economic Outlook update will be launched on January 25 to allow our teams to incorporate the latest developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic into the economic forecasts," the spokesperson said. spokesperson Gerry Rice last month told reporters to expect the update on Jan. 19. Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last month told the Reuters Next conference that the was likely to further downgrade its global economic growth projections in January to reflect the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. In October, the had forecast global economic growth of 5.9% in 2021 and 4.9% this year, while underscoring the uncertainty posed by the new coronavirus variants. The coronavirus has killed nearly 5.8 million people worldwide over the past two years. Economists expect the IMF to cut its economic forecast for the United States, the world's largest economy, given the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, as well as the failure of Congress to pass U.S. President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion social and climate spending package. In October, it had already slashed its forecast for U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth in 2021 by a full percentage point to 6%, citing supply chain disruptions and a labor crunch, while forecasting growth of 5.2% in 2022. Since then, the pandemic has surged again, and divisions in Congress have deepened. The United States set a global record of almost 1 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, and its daily average has totalled 486,000 cases over the last week, a rate higher than that of any other country. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by David Lawder) (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) USS Constitution fires her canons while underway, Friday, May 21, 2021, in Boston. The ship will reopen to the public on Friday and celebrated with her first underway in more than a year due to COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) (Michael Dwyer/AP) From serving as executive officer on the Norfolk-based guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg to command of the worlds oldest commissioned naval vessel marks a step into history. Cmdr. Billie Farrell is about to take command of USS Constitution Old Ironsides the first woman to do so in the ships 224 years. Advertisement Launched in 1797, the Constitution saw action against pirates in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812, where it won its Old Ironsides title as astonished sailors watched British cannonballs bounce off its wooden hull. Advertisement USS Constitution defended American interests at sea for decades after that, retiring in 1855 after serving in anti-slaving patrols with the Africa squadron. Old Ironsides captured or sank 33 enemy vessels, and was never defeated in battle. Farrell called USS Constitution an iconic warship that dates back to the roots of both our nation and our Navy,. Cmdr. Billie J. Farrell will take command of Old Ironsides this month (US Navy photo) She said she hopes the strengthen the warships legacy by telling her story and connecting it to the rich heritage of the United States Navy and the warships serving in the fleet today. While Farrell will be Old Ironsides first female commanding officer, it was another woman officer, Lt. Cmdr. Claire V. Bloom, who as executive officer and led the warships historic 1997 sail, the first time it sailed under its own power since 1881. Women now comprise more than a third of USS Constitutions 80-strong ships company. Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com The has urged private companies to oppose the human rights abuses and genocide by China in Xinjiang. This comes after Tesla, a US-based vehicle manufacturer, opened a showroom in the region in China, Kyodo News reported. At a news conference, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that private sector companies that fail to address forced labor and human rights abuses within their supply chains face "serious legal, reputational, and customer risk," both internationally and in the US. "I can't speak to the specific situation of one company, but as a general matter, we believe the private sector should oppose the PRC's human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang," Psaki said. In recent times, the US has ramped up its campaign against China for repressing religious minorities in Xinjiang. Recently, the administration of President Joe has decided on a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next month in a show of protest over China's human rights abuses. The president in December also signed into law a bill effective banning all imports from Xinjiang due to concerns over the use of forced labor there. "The community, including the public and private sectors, cannot look the other way when it comes to what is taking place in Xinjiang," Psaki said while warning that companies failing to address forced labor in supply chains face serious legal, reputational and customer risk around the world. According to media reports, has said it has begun operation in a showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. This has drawn widespread criticism. Last year, the US become the first country in the world to declare the Chinese actions in Xinjiang as "genocide". Both the Canadian and Dutch parliament adopted motions recognizing the Uyghur crisis as genocide in February last year. Dutch became the first parliament in Europe to do so. In April last year, the United Kingdom also declared China's ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang a "genocide". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) across will reopen on Jan. 10 as planned under strict health protocols, the government said on Tuesday, as the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country hit a record high. The National Public Health Organization (EODY) confirmed 50,126 infections within 24 hours. The previous record was registered on New Year's Eve (40,560 cases), while a week ago there were fewer than 10,000 cases per day. Greek officials said that the returning students and teachers will be required to take more COVID-19 tests regardless of their vaccination status. More than 70 percent of the new cases in GreecGreece's daily COVID-19 cases hit new record e's five big regions are liked to the highly contagious Omicron variant, EODY's President Theoklis Zaoutis told a press briefing on Monday. The Omicron variant surge is expected to peak quickly and then decline by February, Gkikas Magiorkinis, a professor of epidemiology and a member of the committee of experts advising the Greek Health Ministry on the management of the COVID-19 crisis, told the Greek national news agency AMNA. Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, professor of environmental engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told the local SKAI TV that the number of new daily cases may reach 80,000 in the coming days. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's senior diplomat Zhang Ming has taken charge as the new Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in which India is a member. Zhang has taken charge from Vladimir Norov, former Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan from January 1 for a three-year term. He was until recently China's ambassador to the European Union. The Beijing headquartered SCO is an eight-member economic and security bloc consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. Commenting on his appointment, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Wednesday that he "is a veteran diplomat with great experience in multilateral diplomacy,". I am sure like his predecessors, he will achieve new progress," he said. As the host country of the SCO secretariat, will continue to support the secretariat and the Secretary-General, and will work with other parties to uphold the Shanghai spirit, deepen political security, trade, connectivity and cultural cooperation and forge a closer SCO community relations in the future, and contribute to SCO strength in promoting regional, global peace and development," Wang said. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister has said he hopes England can "ride out" the current wave of Covid-19 without further restrictions. He, however, acknowledged parts of the NHS would feel "temporarily overwhelmed" amid a surge of cases, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The Prime Minister said there was a "good chance" he would not impose fresh measures and would recommend continuing the government's "Plan B" strategy in England to ministers on Wednesday. He also announced plans for 100,000 critical workers to take daily tests. The testing regime from January 10 will be for key industries including food processing, transport and the border force, in order to reduce the spread of the virus to colleagues. The Prime Minister said at a Downing Street briefing he will recommended England sticks with Plan B restrictions, when cabinet ministers meet to discuss extending them. The measures - which include working from home where possible, mask wearing in most public settings and Covid passports in some venues - are currently due to run out on 28 January. As daily Covid case figures exceeded 200,000 for the first time with the spread of the variant, Johnson said people who believed the pandemic to be over were "profoundly wrong". The daily cases include a backlog of two days of cases from Wales and four days in Northern Ireland. He said this was a moment for caution but also that the UK's position was different from other waves, as is milder than previous variants and booster vaccines have been rolled out. Johnson said the country had a chance to "ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again". "We can keep our schools and our businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus," he said. Johnson acknowledged the weeks ahead would be "challenging" with "some services disrupted by staff absences". But he promised to "fortify" the NHS to withstand pressure. The assurances come as many industries are facing staffing problems over the number of workers self isolating with Covid or as contacts of cases, while many people have struggled to get tests over Christmas amid supply and demand issues. --IANS int/pgh (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Allegiant Air is poised to order 50 jets worth $5 billion at list prices, people familiar with the matter said, rejecting offers by traditional supplier Airbus as the no-frills carrier seeks to capture a boom in post-pandemic U.S. tourism. The surprise deal stems a series of setbacks for Boeing Co and overturns the airline's previous strategy of picking up second-hand jets at bargain prices, which had helped it accumulate over 100 jets built by Boeing's European rival. The switch of suppliers is the third such airline defection in as many weeks, this time working in Boeing's favor after the U.S. planemaker lost hard-fought medium-haul contests to Airbus at Dutch KLM and Australia's Qantas. Such "flips" are rare due to the cost of retraining pilots, but reflect fierce competition for new business as the aerospace industry seeks to recover from its worst-ever recession. Boeing, Airbus and Allegiant Air, a unit of Allegiant Travel Co, all declined to comment. The deal is the latest sign of accelerated growth among "ultra-low-cost" carriers that combine rock-bottom fares with optional charges. Carriers like these are expected to emerge in a position of relative strength from the COVID-19 pandemic. "The leisure market is coming back in droves relative to the business market," said one of the people familiar with Allegiant's plans. ORDER RACE The Las Vegas-based carrier operates a total of 122 A319 or A320 jets, only 13 of which were ordered directly from Airbus, according to European data. The 737 MAX planes will help Allegiant's growth strategy and replace aging aircraft over the coming years, though it will continue to be an Airbus operator. The order comes after a contest waged at least partially between the 737 MAX 7 and the Airbus A220, two of the people said, though some larger 8200 variants may also be involved. "This is huge. Allegiant was in line to order the A220," Leeham Co analyst Scott Hamilton said, adding that the outcome suggested Allegiant had received a "screaming deal" from Boeing as well as the ability to get deliveries more quickly. The new Boeing planes would replace retired jets and feed Allegiant's growth plans over the coming years. Mexico's Viva Aerobus in December announced a commercial alliance with Allegiant to offer flights between the and Mexico. The deal, which is likely to be counted in December's orders for Boeing, caps a tight annual order race with Airbus. Boeing bounced back from a safety crisis to sell some 700 MAX through end-November, only to lose two of the industry's most widely watched contests to rival Airbus at Qantas and various subsidiaries of Franco-Dutch group Air France-KLM. Both planemakers are due to publish 2021 data next week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has explained the scientific rationale for shortening its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, and clarified that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults. The CDC on Tuesday also maintained that, for people who catch COVID-19, testing is not required to emerge from five days of isolation despite hints from other federal officials that the agency was reconsidering that. The agency announced the changes last week, halving the isolation time for Americans who catch the and have no symptoms or only brief illnesses. Isolation should only end if a person has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and if other symptoms are resolving, the CDC added. It similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine, from 10 days to five. CDC officials previously said the changes were in keeping with evidence that people with the are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop. Some experts have questioned how the new recommendations were crafted and why they were changed amid a spike in cases driven largely by the highly contagious variant. Some also expressed dismay that the guidelines allowed people to leave isolation without getting tested to see if they were still infectious. On Tuesday, the CDC posted documents designed to address those and other questions about the latest recommendations. The new guidance applies to school children as well as adults, the CDC said, responding to questions raised by school leaders around the country. In laying out the scientific basis for the revisions, the agency said more than 100 studies from 17 countries indicate that most transmission happens early in an infection. The CDC acknowledged the data come from research done when delta and other pre- variants were causing the most infections. But the agency also pointed to limited, early data from the US and South Korea that suggests the time between exposure and the appearance of symptoms may be shorter for than for earlier variants. The CDC also took up the question of why it didn't call for a negative test before people emerge from isolation. On Sunday, Dr Anthony Fauci the White House's top medical adviser said the CDC was considering including the negative test as part of its guidance. The agency said lab tests can show positive results long after someone stops being contagious, and that a negative at-home test may not necessarily indicate there is no threat. That's why, the agency said, it was recommending that people wears masks everywhere for the five days after isolation ends. It did offer tips for those who have access to the tests and want to check themselves before leaving isolation. Dr Eric Topol, the head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, accused the agency of furthering confusion. He agreed that it is appropriate to shorten isolation time, but only with testing. We do need to come up with a strategy that limits isolation time, but we don't want it to be one that's adding to the spread of the virus and unwittingly leading to the virus circulating, he said. The CDC also suggests that people exposed to the virus quarantine for five days, unless they have gotten booster shots or recently received their initial vaccine doses. The agency said anyone exposed regardless of vaccination status should get tested five days later, if possible. The agency also admitted that many people weren't following the previous isolation and quarantine recommendations anyway. Research suggests only 25% to 30% of people were isolating for a full 10 days under the older guidance, the CDC said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US- Security Consultative Committee "2+2" Meeting, 2022 will be held on January 6 to strengthen the alliance and to address global challenges amid Chinese assertiveness in the region. "@SecBlinken, @SecDef Austin, and Ambassador Emanuel will virtually meet Japanese FM Hayashi and @KishiNobuo for the 2022 U.S.- Security Consultative Committee Meeting on Jan. 6. We will strengthen our alliance to address global challenges, tweeted US Department of State, spokesperson, Ned Price. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, joined by US Ambassador to Rahm Emanuel, will meet virtually with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo on January 6, for the 2022 US-Japan Security Consultative Committee ("2+2") Meeting, read a US Department of State statement. The 2+2 Meeting has long been a high-level forum for US-Japan foreign and defence policy cooperation. "During the meeting, the delegations will discuss ways the and Japan can strengthen our alliance to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and other global challenges," added the statement. has been demonstrating an aggressive approach in pressing its territorial claims against its neighbours. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Although most people recover from COVID-19 within five to seven days of the onset of symptoms, the World Organization (WHO) still recommends a 14-day quarantine, an official from the organization told a press briefing on Tuesday. However, said Abdi Mahamud from WHO's COVID-19 Incident Management Support Team, states must make decisions about the duration of quarantine based on their individual situations. In countries with low infections, a longer quarantine time could help keep case numbers as low as possible, he explained. In places with runaway cases, however, shorter quarantines may be justified in order to keep countries running, he added. The official told journalists that it was possible to be infected by both influenza and COVID-19. However, since the two are separate viruses that attack the body in different ways, there is "little risk" of them combining into a new virus. According to the WHO, as of December 29, 2021, some 128 countries had reported cases of the Omicron variant. In South Africa, which had seen a sharp increase in cases followed by a relatively rapid drop-off, hospitalization and death rates have remained low. However, the situation will not be the same in other countries, Mahamud said. "While the latest studies all point to the fact that the Omicron variant affects the upper respiratory system rather than the lungs, which is good news, high-risk individuals and the unvaccinated could still get gravely ill from that variant," he added. Mahamud said that the Omicron variant could overtake other strains in a matter of weeks, especially in areas with a large number of susceptible people - primarily those are unvaccinated. In Denmark, he said, it had taken two weeks for case numbers to double with the Alpha variant, whereas with the Omicron variant, it had taken just two days. "The world has never seen such a transmissible virus," he said. The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization is set to meet on Jan. 19 to review the situation. Topics on the agenda for discussion include the timing of boosters, the mixing of vaccines and the composition of future vaccines. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of ( up 4 per cent at Rs 7,659) and (up 5 per cent at Rs 18,044) gained up to 5 per cent on the BSE in Wednesdays intra-day trade after reported healthy customer acquisition with 2.6 million new customers added during the October-December quarter (Q3FY22). Customer franchise, as on Q3FY22, stood at 55.4 million, as compared to 46.3 million at the end of Q3FY21. Bajaj Finance, a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv, is a non-banking financial company (NBFC). In the past three months, has underperformed the market by falling 1 per cent, as compared to a 0.76 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Bajaj Finserv, meanwhile, was up 0.9 per cent during the same period. In Q3FY22, Bajaj Finances assets under management (AUM) grew 8.6 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) to Rs 1.81 trillion (+26 per cent YoY). AUM, in the reported quarter, adjusted for IPO financing receivable grew by approximately Rs 14,500 crore, Bajaj Finance said in its Q3 business update. The company said it has not witnessed any adverse impact on its NPA position due to transition to a new method of NPA recognition as clarified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in November 2021. Brokerage ICICI Securities believes that a spur in loans, customer addition and no adverse impact of transition on asset quality will be beneficial for the company and reflect in its Q3FY22 earnings as well. In our view, the company has witnessed healthy traction across product segments (except maybe auto finance where the company has been intentionally slowing down). Absolute customer acquisition run-rate surpassing pre-COVID levels while the quarterly run-rate growth of the total customer franchise was broadly at the same levels as the last four quarters, said Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Q3FY22 business update seems to suggest that there has been a rapid normalization across business segments and this trajectory could continue in Q4FY22 as well (even though a major third COVID wave could play a spoiler), the brokerage firm said. After having logged strong gains in the last three straight trading sessions, the key benchmark indices may once again start trade on a quiet note as per the indications from the SGX Nifty. At 08:00 AM, the SGX Nifty January futures were quoted at 17,812 as against the spot Nifty close of 17,805 on Tuesday. The market players have been sidelining Covid-19 related flow and focusing on the buying momentum in the on hopes of lower economic impact from the so-called third wave. Meanwhile, here are the for trade on Wednesday. Reliance Industries: Mukesh Ambanis telecom arm - Reliance Jio, Indias plans its biggest ever rupee bond sale for gaining market share. The company plans to raise up to $671 million by way of issuing notes maturing in five years at a coupon of 6.20 per cent, according to people familiar with the matter. READ MORE Bharti Airtel: Indias second largest mobile service provider Bharti Airtel has shelved plans to amalgamate its digital businesses into the listed entity and de-merge its core telecom business into a separate subsidiary. READ MORE Meanwhile, the telecom companys payment arm - Airtel Payments Bank has been categorised as a scheduled bank by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, Airtel Payments Bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and primary auctions and undertake both central and state government business, besides participating in government-operated welfare schemes, the company said in a release. Hindustan Unilever (HUL): Distributors in Maharashtra have decided to call off their agitation against the FMCG major for the next three months. This comes after HUL assured them that it will correct the price disparity between traditional trade and the organised distribution channel. However, distributors are not selling Colgate-Palmolive Indias (Colgate Indias) MaxFresh range of products in Maharashtra as the company has not yet come forward to discuss the issue. READ MORE Future Group stocks: In a setback to the Future Group, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the Groups petitions seeking a direction to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) -- adjudicating Amazon's objections against Future's deal with Reliance. READ MORE Pharma stocks: Drug makers have started dispatching oral Covid pill Molnupiravir all over the country, and are likely to hit retail stores this week itself. Meanwhile, a price war is on among several companies launching Mercks antiviral drug. Mankind Pharma and Dr.Reddys are reportedly going to sell the 40 capsules pack for Rs 1,400 each. READ MORE DB Realty: The companys board has approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 130.50 crore by way of issue of convertible warrants to promoters and non-promoters on a preferential basis. Steel stocks: The governments thrust on infrastructure, coupled with an increase in demand from the construction, engineering, and other sectors, is expected to push up domestic steel consumption in 2022, according to brokerages and rating agencies. The US recently announced a $1-trillion infrastructure spending, which could substantially boost the country's steel consumption, thereby keeping steel prices firm in the US market, brokerages said. READ MORE SBI: The state-run bank has invested $20 million in Pine Labs. The latter in 2021, had raised $600 million from a marquee set of new investors and followed it up with a $100-million fundraise from US-based Invesco Developing Fund. Pine Labs competes with other fintech companies such as BharatPe, Mswipe, Paytm and Razorpay. READ MORE Textiles: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the government is making efforts towards gaining access to new and getting concessional duties on textile products through free-trade agreements, with countries like the UK, the UAE, Canada, the European Union and Australia. Earnings Watch: Spandana Sphoorty Financial to announce its results today. Mystic Electronics: The companys board has approved a proposal for stock split in 10:1 ratio. Subsequently, each equity share with a face value of Rs 10 will be sub-divided into 10 equity shares with a face value of Re 1. each. Stocks in F&O ban: There is not a single stock in the F&O ban period today. Norfolk State University police are investigating a bomb threat and so are several other historically Black colleges and universities according to a statement from the school. No injuries are reported, and NSU Police Chief Brian Covington said in the statement that officers relocated students, faculty and staff to another location while police clear the campus. Advertisement According to media reports, Howard University in Washington, D.C., along with North Carolina Central were among the HBCUs receiving threats. A dispatcher with Hampton Universitys police department said the school had not received any bomb threats as of 11:30 p.m. Norfolk police and the Norfolk FBI office are assisting in the investigation, and the school is offering counseling services to students, faculty and staff affected by the incident. Advertisement Anyone with information is asked to call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP. This is a developing story. Check PilotOnline.com later updates. Shares of Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, hit a record high of Rs 1,542, and rallied 9 per cent on the BSE in Wednesdays intra-day trade. The stock of the Tata Group firm surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,540 touched on October 19, 2021. It was included in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from December 31, 2021. On Tuesday, and Zain KSA announced that they had entered a strategic engagement to fuel digital transformation journeys of enterprises and government organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Zain KSA is a leading telecom provider established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With this collaboration, the combined ecosystems will deliver solutions and platforms to remodel cities with smart street lighting, smart waste management, connected workplace, healthcare and connected cars, said in a press release. This strategic engagement will serve Saudis enterprises and government institutions with advanced technologies such as IoT, 5G, Low Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN specification), Managed Security Services, SDWAN and many others. It will also support environmental sustainability measures and digital transformation of the region, it said. For July-September quarter (Q2FY22), the company had delivered a sequential growth after three quarters of decline, which was a positive indicator. The management had said the second quarter of FY22 was marked by recovery with favorable underlying trends as economic activities normalized. The companys performance in the second quarter demonstrated a continued improvement in revenue supported by improvement in profitability and build-up of free cash flow, the management said. Meanwhile, IIFL Securities has initiated coverage on with a target price of Rs 1,568 (SoTP based) and an ADD rating. Tata Communications is in the process of moving up the enterprise ICT stack, from being only a provider of connectivity and network services into becoming a digital solutions player offering cloud, hosting, security and IoT services, it said. "After enduring a difficult period that saw FCF losses and subdued return ratios, Tata Communications has exited a few loss making, capex-heavy businesses. Under the new management, it has seen robust Ebitda margin expansion, healthy FCF generation and significant improvement in return ratios in the past 18 months. Revenue growth has remained elusive, though double-digit order book growth in 1HFY22 has been encouraging", the brokerage firm added in a report dated December 15, 2021. Japan share market finished session marginally higher after fluctuating around the unchanged line on Wednesday, 05 January 2022, with sentiment brightened by yen depreciation to lower 116-range against greenback. However, market gains were limited as investors locked in gains in reaction to healthy gains made in Tokyo in the previous session as well as growing concerns on a resurgence of COVID-19 after Japan reported over 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 30.37 points, or 0.1%, to 29,322.16. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 9.05 points, or 0.45%, to 2,039.27. Shares of exporters gained on the yen's weakness versus its major counterparts as overseas profits are augmented when repatriated and overall competitiveness enhanced. Among export-oriented issues, automaker Mitsubishi Motors added 2.1%, Honda Motor gained 2.6%, and Toyota Motor jumped 2.6%. Sony Group soared 3.7%, after announcing it would set up a new unit in the spring to develop electric vehicles. Shares of eateries-related companies notably lower amid concerns about the resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Torikizoku Holdings dropped 3.4%, and Kushikatsu Tanaka Holdings fell 2.7%. CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 116.03 per dollar, compared with 116.07-17 in New York and 115.73-75 in Tokyo on Tuesday. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Heavy Engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro has won significant contracts for its various business segments in Q3 of FY22. As per the company's project classification, these orders are valued in range of Rs 1000 crore to Rs 2500 crore. The Modification, Revamp and Upgrade (MRU) Business of L&T Heavy Engineering has been awarded an important contract by a key hydrocarbon sector customer in the Middle East. It covers Detailed Engineering, Supply of critical equipment & components, leading into multidisciplinary site work involving multiple staggered shutdowns during which the revamp work would be carried out. The Modification, Revamp and Upgrade (MRU) Business of L&T Heavy Engineering has been awarded an important contract by a key hydrocarbon sector customer in the Middle East. It covers Detailed Engineering, Supply of critical equipment & components, leading into multidisciplinary site work involving multiple staggered shutdowns during which the revamp work would be carried out. The Modification, Revamp and Upgrade (MRU) Business of L&T Heavy Engineering has been awarded an important contract by a key hydrocarbon sector customer in the Middle East. It covers Detailed Engineering, Supply of critical equipment & components, leading into multidisciplinary site work involving multiple staggered shutdowns during which the revamp work would be carried out. The project mainly includes capacity augmentation of existing RFCC Unit and conversion of this existing unit into INDMAX FCC unit, to maximize propylene yield. The expansion will enhance the crude processing capacity of the Barauni Refinery from 6.0 MMTPA to 9.0 MMTPA. This order is a testimony of IOCL's faith in L&T Heavy Engineering's capabilities for engineering, manufacturing, and integration of technology intensive revamps in this sector. Other orders secured by L&T Heavy Engineering include Critical Hydrocracker and Hydrotreater Reactors for the Residue Processing and Treating Unit of the Numaligarh Refinery; Ethylene Oxide Reactors for a Mono-ethylene Glycol (MEG) project in Poland from a European client; Ethylene Oxide Reactor for another MEG Project in Uzbekistan; Waste Heat Boiler packages for an Ammonia Plant in Israel & High-Pressure Heat Exchangers for IOCL Barauni Refinery. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The surge in new infections has increased risks for the ongoing economic recovery. A rapid rise in cases has forced state governments to bring back restrictions on public mobility. The Delhi government, for instance, has decided to impose the curfew during weekends, aside from other restrictions. A surge in cases and lower public mobility are bound to affect economic activity. Although, as witnessed during the second wave in 2021, the impact may not be as severe as that in 2020, it would still result in output loss and weaken the overall recovery. As more clarity emerges in the coming ... BJP president JP Nadda postponed his West Bengal visit amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state on Wednesday. "In view of the evolving COVID-19 situation and rising number of new cases in Kolkata, BJP president JP Nadda's scheduled visit to West Bengal on 9-10 January stands postponed," said the state's BJP unit." "Fresh dates for his visit will be announced in due course," added the state BJP unit. Meanwhile, West Bengal recorded 9,073 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday taking the total cases to 16,64,301. Total active cases in West Bengal till Tuesday evening are 25,475. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The (ED) on Wednesday told a special court here that former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh cannot be granted default bail as the agency had filed a chargesheet in the within the stipulated period of 60 days from his arrest. The agency submitted an affidavit before a special court designated to hear cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in response to a plea filed by Deshmukh seeking default bail on the ground that the court had not taken cognisance of the chargesheet. The ED stated that the question of the court taking cognisance of the chargesheet was not relevant for ascertaining the right of the accused person under section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code to default bail. The anti-money laundering agency urged the court to dismiss Deshmukh's bail plea terming it completely devoid of merits. The affidavit said that the concept of default bail cannot be considered once the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet had been filed. The supplementary prosecution complaint (charge sheet) against the applicant (Deshmukh) and 11 others was filed on December 29, 2021 that is within 60 days from the date of his arrest that is November 2, 2021, the affidavit said. The question of cognisance is not relevant for ascertaining the right of default bail of the accused persons as under section 167 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (as) only the investigation needs to be completed within the stipulated period, the agency said. Default bail cannot be granted merely on the ground that cognisance has not yet been taken within the statutorily prescribed period even though the report (charge sheet) and the complaint have been filed, the affidavit said. The special court will hear Deshmukh's bail plea on January 7. Deshmukh was arrested by the ED on November 2 last year. He is currently in judicial custody. In a plea filed on Tuesday through advocate Aniket Nikam, Deshmukh said that the special court had not taken cognisance of the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) filed by the ED before remanding him to further judicial custody. Deshmukh said he had been in custody for 60 days, and since the court has not yet taken cognisance of the chargesheet, he should be granted default bail under the provisions of Section 167 of the CrPC. As per section 167 of the CrPC, if a chargesheet is not filed and its cognisance is not taken within 60 days from a person's arrest, then he/she can seek default bail. The ED had filed a 7,000-page supplementary chargesheet against Deshmukh and his sons on December 29 last year. The agency had earlier filed a chargesheet against 14 people, including Deshmukh's private secretary (an additional collector-rank officer) Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde. The had launched a probe against Deshmukh and others after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against the senior NCP leader in April 2021 on charges of corruption and misuse of official position. The ED's case is that while serving as state home minister, Deshmukh allegedly misused his official position and through Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze (now dismissed) collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai. Waze is currently behind bars in the 'Antilia' bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran killing cases. As per the prosecution, Deshmukh and his family members owned several companies which were used to launder the money. Deshmukh, who resigned from the post of state home minister in April 2021, has repeatedly denied the charges against him. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister on Wednesday wished a speedy recovery to her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, who has tested positive for COVID-19. In a message on Twitter, Kejriwal on Tuesday said he has tested positive for the viral disease and has "mild symptoms". He also said he has isolated himself at home. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader urged those who came in contact with him in the last few days to quarantine themselves and get tested for Covid. "I pray for your speedy recovery, @ArvindKejriwal ji. Get well soon and take care of yourself!" Banerjee tweeted, responding to Kejriwal's message on the microblogging website. Earlier in the day, the Delhi chief minister greeted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief on her birthday. "A very happy birthday @MamataOfficial didi. May God bless u wid (with) all happiness, success, health and long life," he said in a tweet. According to officials, this is the first time that Kejriwal has tested positive for COVID-19. In April last year, his wife Sunita Kejriwal had tested positive for the coronavirus infection and while the AAP national convenor had developed symptoms, he had tested negative. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister and senior BJP leader on Wednesday said that today Congress tried to harm the Prime Minister of India. She was addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach during his Punjab visit. The union minister asked why the Director General of Police (DGP) give the all-clear to the Prime Minister's security detail about the route that he was to take. Irani said "We know Congress hates Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but today, they tried to harm the Prime Minister of India. Such is the breakdown of law and order in Punjab that the DGP, Police claims he's incapable of providing security support to the Prime Minister's Office and security detail." "Never before in the history of our country were police functionaries in a state directed and convenienced to breach the security of a Prime Minister and bring him harm," she said. Hitting out at the Punjab government, Irani said, "Such is the state of administration in Punjab that a security detail and run that is a protocol administratively to be followed by a state head was dismantled so that Prime Minister Modi could be brought to harm. The questions we, as BJP karyakartas (workers) and the nation, need to ask the Congress government in Punjab is why the DGP Police give an all-clear to the PM's security detail for the route that the Prime Minister was to take. Who in the Punjab government gave information about the Prime Minister's route to individuals who planted themselves atop the flyover? Video evidence, now publicly available, brings such questions to the fore," she said. She asked why those who lead the security on behalf of the state government did not respond to any call or efforts to secure the Prime Minister. Without naming anyone, she said, "When Prime Minister Modi had his security breached, Congress leaders erupted with joy, asking him how his Josh was! Prime Minister Modi, magnanimous as ever, on his way back, communicated 'Zinda laut raha hoon!' (Returning alive)." She said that the Congress must realise became Prime Minister with the blessings of the people of India. --IANS ssb/bg (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The on Tuesday transferred the 'Bulli Bai' case to its Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit and is planning to get a nod for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty procedure to seek information about the app from its foreign-based hosting platform, officials said. Police said the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) unit is also probing the 'Sulli Deals' mobile application case that emerged in July last year. About the probe into the 'Sulli Deals' case, a police officer said the IFSCO unit on Tuesday got a nod for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) procedure in criminal matters from the Centre. Hundreds of were listed for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year. The on Saturday registered an FIR against unknown persons for allegedly uploading a doctored picture of a woman journalist on a website. The journalist had lodged a complaint and shared a copy on Twitter. "A case was registered in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' mobile app after a complaint was received on January 1. The probe is underway. We have also approached the hosting platform which is based abroad and are awaiting their reply for further investigation into the matter," a senior police officer said. Another officer said, "The 'Bulli Bai' case has been transferred to the IFSCO unit and as per protocol we are planning to write to authorities concerned to seek approval for MLAT even as an investigation into the matter is underway." The cyber cell of the Mumbai Police, which is also probing the app case, has arrested a 19-year-old woman, alleged to be the main culprit, from Uttarakhand, and a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru. Vishal Kumar Jha, the student, and co-accused Shweta Singh reportedly knew each other. According to the police, more arrests are likely. As far as the 'Sulli Deals' case is concerned, the officer said, "We had sought approval for MLAT in the matter last year. It is a long process involving various procedures. Today, we got approval for it from the Government of India. The investigation is in progress." On Monday, the Delhi Police had said that it has sought details from the GitHub platform about the developer of the controversial mobile application and had also written to Twitter for information about the account handler who first posted about the app. The city police also asked Twitter to block and remove on the microblogging platform any "offensive content" shared from the 'Bulli Bai' app which had put up pictures of hundreds of Muslim women, including prominent personalities, for "auction". According to a senior police officer, the case has been registered under sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 354 A ( and punishment for harassment) of the Indian Penal Code. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Tuesday recorded another sharp rise in cases at 18,466 of which alone reported 10,860, the highest daily count since April 7, 2021 in the state capital, with the city mayor warning of a lockdown if cases top 20,000 and shutting down schools. The state reported 75 new cases of Omicron, taking the tally of those infected with the new variant to 653, the health department said. Twenty fatalities linked to were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall toll to 1,41,573, the department said. With addition of 18,466 cases, Maharashtra's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 67,30,494, it said. As the cases spiralled across the state over the last 10 days, the active tally stood at 66,308. According to a health department bulletin, alone has 47,476 active cases followed by 7,593 in Thane district. Pune, another district with a large urban population, has 4,202 active cases. According to Avinash Dahiphale, president of the Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), 170 resident doctors have tested positive for since last the 48 hours. State minister Eknath Shinde, BJP's Goregaon MLA Vidya Thakur and South MP Arvind Sawant have also tested positive for coronavirus. More than 10 ministers and at least 20 MLAs have tested positive for coronavirus so far, Deputy Chief Minister had said last week. On Monday, the city had recorded 8,082 COVID-19 cases and the latest daily tally showed an increase of 2,778, or 34.37 per cent. The financial capital has reported five-digit COVID-19 cases for the first time since April 7, 2021, when it had reported 10,428 cases and 23 fatalities during the second wave of the pandemic. Talking to reporters at her office in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters, Mayor Kishori Pednekar suggested that citizens wear triple-layer face masks while travelling in public buses and suburban trains. The mayor said BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has been keeping a close watch on the situation, and he has already hinted at a lockdown if the daily COVID-19 cases in the city rise over 20,000. Today, no one wants a lockdown and it certainly shouldn't be imposed, as just now everyone is recovering from it. If the lockdown is enforced again, it will badly affect everyone. But, if the daily COVID-19 cases cross the 20,000-mark, a lockdown will be implemented by the civic body and the state government as per the Union government's rules, Pednekar said. Chief Minister might address the citizens in a couple of days, she said. To a query, Pednekar said the BMC will carry out RT-PCR tests of people returning from Goa by a cruise ship and quarantine them at civic centres or in hotels if they are ready to pay for it. The ship arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. So far, Mumbai has clocked five-digit daily COVID-19 cases only three times since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Also, this (10,860) is the second highest COVID-19 cases reported in Mumbai since the outbreak of the pandemic. The metropolis had logged the highest-ever 11,163 COVID-19 cases on April 4, 2021. Out of the 10,860 new cases, 9,665 (89 per cent) patients are asymptomatic and only 834 people have been admitted to hospitals, while just 52 are on oxygen support, according to the civic body. It said only 4,491 out of 30,565 hospital beds, or 14.7 per cent of the total, are currently occupied by coronavirus patients in the city. With a spurt in cases in the city, the infection growth rate increased to 0.63 per cent between December 28, 2021 and January 3, 2022, while the case doubling rate slipped to 110 days, as per the bulletin. In Pune, the rise in cases prompted the administration to shut schools for Classes 1 to 8 in the district till January 30. Urging people to take the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, said that directions have been issued to the administration to implement the "no vaccine, no entry" policy at malls, hotels, restaurants, bars, cinema halls, government offices, public and private establishments. The overall COVID-19 situation is becoming critical. As the cases were rapidly increasing in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, the respective civic authorities took a decision to shut schools, said Pawar, who is also the guardian minister of district. Pawar said state Health Minister Rajesh Tope spoke to ICMR director Balram Bhargav while taking the decision. According to him (Bhargav), if the positivity rate has gone above 10 per cent, a decision regarding closure of schools can be taken," Pawar said, adding that the positivity rate in city has risen to 18 per cent. was spreading rapidly and it is being discussed that there could be an explosion of cases in the next 30 to 45 days. In Maharashtra, cases have been reported in 11 districts, he said. There are currently 3,950 active cases in Pune city, of which 88 patients are on oxygen support and 36 are on ventilators, the Pawar said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese, Kyrgyz presidents exchange congratulations on 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties Xinhua) 09:15, January 05, 2022 BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Zhaparov, on Wednesday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China and Kyrgyzstan have always upheld the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, as well as win-win cooperation, and achieved rapid development of bilateral relations. The two countries, he added, have reached a new height of their comprehensive strategic partnership, and set a good example for the international community in fostering a new type of international relations. The development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations not only benefits the two countries and their people, but also contributes to peace and stability in Central Asia, Xi said. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations, and stands ready to maintain close contact with Zhaparov and further promote bilateral ties. He suggested that the two sides take the 30th anniversary as a new starting point to enhance their strategic mutual trust, deepen Belt and Road cooperation, and lift the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels. In his message, Zhaparov said that in the past 30 years, the two countries have successfully established a comprehensive strategic partnership and made remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields. The Chinese government has provided important support for Kyrgyzstan's efforts to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, he noted. Zhaparov also thanked Xi for his personal attention to the development of the Kyrgyzstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership, saying that he is ready to work with China to further deepen bilateral ties, and spare no effort to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu) Many universities across Virginia pushed back spring semester classes to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Some institutions will require booster shots as students and employees return to campus this month. Public health experts expected another winter surge since a viral infection is more likely to thrive in cooler weather, leading people to stay indoors. But then, there was the highly transmissible omicron variant, and the spike in cases following holiday gatherings caused higher education officials to swiftly adjust their COVID-19 protocols hoping to prevent future outbreaks. Advertisement [ How will COVID end? Omicron variant blurs possibilities for pandemic endgame ] The decision to mandate booster shots comes after recent updated federal guidance for institutions for higher education. Health and universities officials echoed that getting vaccinated is one way to protect people from severe illness and help mitigate the virus. Booster shots are recommended for adults after their initial one or two-dose regimen. When someone is eligible to get a booster depends on which vaccine they received. Advertisement Below are the universities that have announced booster requirements for students, along with the latest information about their COVID-19 response plans: ___ College of William & Mary Eligible students and teachers must show proof of their booster vaccination by Jan. 18. For those who have not reached the six-month mark, theyre expected to receive a booster within the first month they are eligible. People can verify their vaccination status using the universitys Kallaco portal. Students who do not comply risk being disenrolled for the spring semester, and employees will receive 30 days of unpaid leave, unless they are exempt, followed by termination. Faculty and staff with an exemption still have to undergo testing. International students having issues accessing a booster or in need of a deferral can contact International Students, Scholars & Programs, or email HealthyTogether@wm.edu, for assistance. W&M updated their quarantine and isolation guidelines to align with federal guidance. More information can be found on the colleges website. ___ Christopher Newport University The university will require students to receive a booster by Feb. 15, unless they have medical or religious exemptions. New students will also be exempt. Advertisement Employees are not required to get vaccinated, but university officials urge them to do so, and get a booster if they are eligible. Anyone who is not fully vaccinated will be tested weekly, and if they develop symptoms, their vaccination status will determine how long theyll need to quarantine or isolate. Christopher Newport updated their quarantine and isolation guidelines to align with federal guidance. More information can be found on the universitys website. Student, faculty, staff and visitors will still be required to wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. ___ George Mason University Students and employees are required to show proof of a booster by Feb. 15. Unless they are exempt, students must prove theyre fully vaccinated by Jan. 5 by uploading documentation to the universitys online portal, followed by booster verification the following month. Advertisement Students will also need to take a COVID-19 test before they return to campus, on move-in day, and 48 hours after they move in. The university will also provide tests. International students having issues getting a vaccine can contact the university at immunize@gmu.edu. Faculty and staff who work in-person must complete a test the week of Jan. 17. More information on George Masons COVID-19 response can be found on the universitys website. ___ Hampton University Students must receive a vaccine by Jan. 14 before they move in on campus and continue enrollment. Advertisement The university said students can schedule an appointment where one is available and upload proof of vaccination using Hamptons medical clearance platform. ___ Norfolk State University Students and employees must show proof of a booster by Feb. 4, unless they have an exemption. People waiting for the six-month mark to get boosted will be required to receive one when they are eligible. More information on NSUs COVID-19 response can be found on the universitys website. ___ Old Dominion University Students and employees must get a booster shot and show proof through the universitys wellness portal by Feb. 10. For those still waiting to be eligible, they must show proof of a booster within a week from six months after their last dose. Advertisement Students must test negative no more than 72 hours before moving in on-campus. All other students and employees are encouraged to get a COVID-19 test before returning for the spring semester. More information on ODUs COVID-19 response can be found on the universitys website. ___ University of Virginia Students and employees must receive their booster shot by Feb. 1. Anyone who is not eligible by that day must show proof 30 days after the first day they are able to get a booster. Teachers can verify their vaccination status using Workday, students will use HealthyHoos. More information on UVAs COVID-19 response can be found on the universitys website. ___ Virginia Commonwealth University Students must receive their booster shot by Feb. 1. Those eligible after that day will need to show proof 30 days after the first day they are able to get a booster. Students should expect updates on how to upload documentation and testing requirements for those living on-campus. Advertisement VCU updated their quarantine and isolation guidelines to align with federal guidance. More information can be found on the universitys website. Daywatch Weekdays Start your morning with today's local news > ___ Virginia State University Students and employees must receive their booster shot by Feb. 1, unless they are exempt. Anyone eligible after that day will need to show proof 30 days after the first day they are able to get a booster. The university will have opportunities for the campus community to get the additional dose from Jan. 11 through Jan. 16. People should expect updates to register. Testing clinics will also be available at Daniels Gymnasium on Jan. 11 as students and employees are required to take a COVID-19 test before returning to campus. ___ Virginia Tech Students and employees must receive their booster shot by Feb. 1, unless they are exempt. Those eligible after that day are encouraged to get the additional dose when they are able. Anyone who is not vaccinated will undergo weekly testing. Advertisement Residential students must test negative no more than 72 hours before moving in on-campus. The university will provide those students with a test if they have trouble finding at-home kits or scheduling an appointment. All other students and employees are encouraged to get a COVID-19 test before returning for the spring semester. More information on Virginia Techs COVID-19 response can be found on the universitys website. Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 5 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Chairman of Ma Foi Group, K. Pandiarajan announces the launch of Job-Ready Talent Solutions for Corporates in collaboration with Mikro Grafeio Services, a Global Workspace & Workforce Solution Provider. CIEL HR Services is set to launch 242+ MCC (Ma Foi Career Centres) by May 2023 at Mikro Grafeio's range of facilities encompassing managed office spaces and training centres in India. The career centres will be shared services operations serving Skill India Mission, with an aim to build the diversified Indian workforce as 'contributors' and 'innovators' for the future. This will also provide CIEL HR Services access to Mikro Grafeio's unique space solutions such as exclusive women spaces, WOHO (Work from Hotel) centres and campus spaces in 242+ locations. This collaboration is the first of its kind in India and promises nationwide talent sourcing, training, and placement to provide job-ready talent to corporates specifically in Tier 2 and 3 cities, bundled with satellite office solutions. This integrated solution enables companies to rapidly scale, hire talent and expand operations at the click of a button. It addresses the global challenge of hiring and scaling by providing access to the right talent combined with flexible workspace solutions. A large population of Tier 2 and 3 cities will now have the opportunity to work with global companies closer to their homes. Mikro Grafeio's hybrid workspace solutions combined with talent availability across India will change how corporates operate in the new distributed hybrid work model. Speaking on the occasion, Santhosh Mahalingam, CEO of Mikro Grafeio Services shared his views on this mutually beneficial partnership. "Our vision is to empower local economies by breaking the digital divide and providing universal access to entrepreneurial and professional opportunities. With this workspace talent partnership, we are disrupting the distributed workspace model, with a unique user experience for corporates, employees, and entrepreneurs that ensures business continuity and puts efficiency, safety and security first. Furthermore, we expect this collaboration to reach those in Tier 2 & 3 cities who will get fair opportunities to showcase their competence, among other things, with the comfort of work closer to home." K. Pandiarajan, Chairman - Ma Foi Group and CIEL HR Services added," With MCC, our primary goal is to provide a platform, for the rural youth, that is dedicated to skilling and reskilling for a changing economy and to strengthen India's economy by connecting people with good job opportunities. Considering skills development is not a time-limited and onetime only transfer of knowledge, I am confident that MCC will play its role and help strengthen our economy, build a resilient workforce, and help workers get skills for good jobs and, ultimately, thriving careers." This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 5 (ANI/PNN): Hundreds of students from Gujarat's oldest university, the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) in Vadodara, have pledged to participate as "environmental fighters" in Surat's Greenman, Viral Desai's "Satyagraha against pollution" movement to protect the environment and address the state's climate change problem. Viral Desai, a textile businessman, and environmentalist was invited as the chief guest at the MSU Department of Geography's 'Bhoomi Fest.' Thousands of students from MSU's numerous departments participated in several exciting inter-university competitions. Desai addressed a large crowd of students at the MSU in Vadodara, urging them to join his 'Satyagraha against pollution' campaign and become 'environmental fighters.' His clarion call was favourably welcomed by the students, with hundreds of them stepping forward to join the effort. "The pupils were given in-depth information on how they may contribute their part to environmental conservation as individuals," Desai said. "I am optimistic that MS University students will carry the torch for my campaign and take concrete actions to protect the environment." Head of the Department of Geography, MSU, Dr. Bindu Bhatt, ensured that the students of MSU will become the environmental fighters to protect the environment and work diligently towards the climate change issue. The students of MSU were made to take an oath for environmental protection and were made 'environmental fighters' and that trees were planted to commemorate the occasion. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Commercial photographer Qin Xiao focuses his lens on the variety of overalls people have worn on the streets of Shanghai, as part of efforts to showcase the diverse dressing styles of city dwellers. For this series, his subjects are typically people in their work attire. The 34-year-old photographer has been engaged in street photography since 2011, and held several exhibitions on the theme of Senior Fashion Hub, a series on fashionable senior citizens. May 02, 2022 05:44 PM Norfolk A Norfolk physician who sued Sentara Healthcare over its ban on administering ivermectin to COVID-19 patients resigned from his position at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Paul Marik announced his departure Tuesday in a news release from the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, an organization he co-founded with other critical care doctors at the start of the pandemic. Marik resigned to spend more time on multiple causes including the FLCCC according to the release. Advertisement This was not an easy decision to make, but I felt it was time to focus my attention and energy to other interests in both academia and public health, Marik said in a statement. Mariks resignation as professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at EVMS was effective Dec. 31, according to a spokesman for the institution. The release did not make clear whether Marik would continue to work in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital; his lawyer could not be reached Wednesday evening. Advertisement Marik, a critical care doctor, sued Sentara Healthcare in November, arguing that the healthcare system was endangering COVID patients lives by preventing him from using his treatment protocol. The treatment plan, known as MATH+ protocol, involves ivermectin, among other medications. [ Norfolk doctor sues Sentara over ban on administering ivermectin, other medicines to COVID-19 patients ] The drug is an anti-parasitic approved to treat people with infections caused by some parasitic worms, as well as head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency hasnt authorized ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 in humans or animals, warning that it has not been shown to be safe or effective for such use. The American Medical Association strongly opposes the prescription of ivermectin to treat the coronavirus outside clinical trials. The FLCCC was formed at the start of the pandemic to come up with treatments for COVID-19. By October 2020, ivermectin had become a core medication in their protocols. Sentara temporarily suspended Mariks hospital privileges in November. That same month, the Journal of Intensive Care Medicines editorial board retracted an article Marik co-authored about the MATH+ protocol. The retraction was made after Sentara Healthcare questioned the accuracy of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital data the authors used to make their conclusions. 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By initiating this transaction, the submitter assumes any and all liability associated with publication of the submitted content (e.g., infringement, licensing) and agrees to defend and hold the Publisher harmless. Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday heard a petition on the transfer of some powers of gram panchayat sarpanches and secretaries to the village revenue officers, and posted the case for January 20. A single-judge bench headed by Justice Battu Devanand heard the petition challenging GO No. 2 issued on March 25, pertaining to transfer of powers of gram panchayat sarpanches and secretaries to the VROs. Government pleader Sivaji submitted to the court that the government required more time to take a decision on GO No. 2. The court accepted the request. Earlier, the court had issued an interim order suspending GO No. 2. Drivers wait for the traffic to be cleared as cars and trucks are stranded on sections of Interstate 95 Tuesday Jan. 4, 2022, in Carmel Church, Va. Close to 48 miles of the Interstate was closed due to ice and snow. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) FILE - In this July 25, 2020, file photo, police pepper spray protesters, near Seattle Central College in Seattle, during a march and protest in support of Black Lives Matter. Democratic lawmakers in California, Maryland and Washington passed far-reaching policing reforms this year in response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. But the first full year of state legislative sessions since the killing sparked a summer of racial justice protests produced a far more mixed response in the rest of the country. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) People gather near the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Glen, NH (03838) Today Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 59F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Cloudy with showers. Low 43F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Indian Army soldiers pose for a photograph with the national flag on the occasion of New Year 2022, at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. China released a video of their troops with their flag at the Galwan Valley, on Saturday. (PTI Photo) New Delhi: Countering the Chinese militarys propaganda, the Indian security establishment on Tuesday released photographs showing Indian troops holding the tricolour in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh at the dawn of the New Year. This follows Chinese state-affiliated accounts three days ago posting on the social media videos of PLA soldiers allegedly unfurling the Chinese flag on New Year in what it claimed was the Galwan Valley. The video part of the Chinese psy-ops tried to demonstrate that PLA soldiers still occupied the point where the deadly clash between the two sides took place in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley. However, sources had said the video was taken on the Chinese side of the LAC, not in the demilitarised zone in the Galwan Valley created following the June 15, 2020 clashes. In one of the photos, released by the Indian security establishment on Tuesday, around 30 Indian soldiers were seen with the national flag. Another photo showed the group, with four of them holding the flag, and another tricolour flying high on a flagpole near a temporary observation post. In both the photographs, the Indian soldiers are seen with their newly-acquired US-made Sig Sauer advanced assault rifles. The Chinese propaganda video had also become a political issue after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had raised it. Only the Indian tricolour looks good in Galwan. India must give a fitting reply to China. Modiji, break your silence, Mr Gandhi had tweeted. The latest provocation from China had emerged after it came up with its own names for over a dozen places in Arunachal Pradesh. The 13th round of the India-China corps commander-level military talks in October had ended in a stalemate, with the Indian Army saying the constructive suggestions made by it were not agreeable to the Chinese side. In their virtual diplomatic talks on November 18, India and China agreed to hold the 14th round of military talks at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh. However, the Chinese side is yet to respond or agree on a date for the next round of military talks. There is no let-up in Chinese activity at the LAC. They are continuously upgrading their infrastructure at the LAC and placing a large number of troops and heavy weapons on the front line with India. Carroll, IA (51401) Today Cloudy skies with periods of rain this afternoon. High 46F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 38F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. A voter casts her ballot in Tunisia. As online interference increasingly has real-word consequences for elections in many countries, The Carter Center is looking at multiple ways to mitigate threats. (Photo: The Carter Center) Two and a half years ago, recognizing that things that take place in the online world were increasingly having real-world consequences, The Carter Center launched the Digital Threats to Democracy Project. Following a pilot project to monitor social media for things like hate speech and disinformation during South Africas 2019 election, the Center went on to conduct digital monitoring activities in Tunisia, Cote dIvoire, Myanmar, Bolivia, Honduras, Ethiopia, and, recently, the United States. "In recent years, weve seen how online activity can undermine democracy and human rights and increase political polarization and the likelihood of violence," said Michael Baldassaro, who heads the Digital Threats project. "If we want to safeguard democracy, weve got to address issues like disinformation, hate speech, online genderbased violence, and government cybersurveillance and internet shutdowns." We asked Baldassaro to talk about what The Carter Center has done and plans to do to help protect democracy, human rights, and the rule of law: Q. First, what constitutes a digital threat? I tend to say that anything that touches the internet and can cause harm is a digital threat, but when the Center talks about digital threats, its referring to: Systematic efforts to spread disinformation online. Unchecked hate speech and online genderbased violence on social media platforms. Measures taken by governments to restrict access to online information. Unlawful cybersurveillance that undermines the right to privacy. Cyberattacks that disrupt services and expose personal data. Q. Can you tell us a little about some of the Centers past efforts in this area? In Ethiopia, we collaborated with the Georgia Institute of Technology to provide training and tools to help a local partner monitor and identify disinformation and hate speech in real time and flag content for Facebook so it could downrank or remove it. In Myanmar, we collaborated with Privacy International to analyze the laws governing data protection and cybersecurity and identify weaknesses that need to be addressed to safeguard personal data, which we then advocated for in our election observation statements. In Bolivia, we partnered with Chequea Bolivia, a nonpartisan fact-checking organization, to debunk content that could undermine trust in the election process or suppress voter participation. We also collaborated with the cybersecurity company Cloudflare to support the development of a tool to monitor online traffic patterns around the world to identify internet shutdowns that restrict freedom of expression and access to information. Q. What kinds of activities are you planning now? We are constantly establishing new partnerships and developing new tools. For example, we are collaborating with the International Fact Checking Network and Lead Stories to help nascent fact-checking initiatives around the world professionalize and establish formal relationships with social media platforms to reduce the visibility and reach of debunked content. Weve just entered a partnership with Microsoft to develop an artificial intelligence model that can quickly identify potentially false and misleading narratives that require attention by platforms and fact-checkers. And were planning to develop media literacy and digital security educational curriculums that could be used globally to help individuals critically evaluate information and sources and practice good cyber hygiene to protect their privacy and safety online. Q. How does this work strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law? By helping organizations around the world better identify disinformation, hate speech, and online gender-based violence, we can help blunt the reach and visibility of harmful content that could undermine elections or trigger conflict. By shining a light on government internet shutdowns, we can help deter those who seek to silence human rights defenders and perpetrate violence. And we see our upcoming media literacy and digital security modules as ways to empower citizens to inoculate themselves against potential harms, rather than simply relying on governments and tech companies to protect them. Its worth saying that none of these activities alone will fix these problems, and new and unforeseen threats emerge all the time. Were going to have to work together as a society to develop solutions that protect the truth and uphold democratic norms without infringing on freedom of expression or the right to privacy. Related Resources Story | Carter Center Analyzes Misleading Content on Facebook Report | The Big Lie and Big Tech (PDF) Press Release | The Carter Center Releases 'The Big Lie and Big Tech' Learn more about the Center's Democracy Program Learn more about the Center's Human Rights Program ATLANTA The Carter Center, together with the Ethiopia Onchocerciasis Elimination Expert Advisory Committee (EOEEAC), is pleased to further amplify Ethiopias Ministry of Health press release, which went out earlier this week. For two decades, Ethiopia has been a leader in river blindness elimination and we congratulate them on interrupting transmission of river blindness in three districts in the Oromia region, the countrys most recent stop treatment decision. Oromia region once reported some of the Ethiopias highest levels of river blindness and, historically, is the countrys largest endemic area with the most people at risk. This announcement is not only significant for the worlds third most onchocerciasis-endemic country, but the global elimination campaign. In accordance with World Health Organization guidelines, Ethiopia will conduct at least three years of post-treatment surveillance starting in 2022, to assure that transmission of the infection does not resume. If this is achieved, these Oromia districts will be on track to declare elimination of transmission. This is the countrys second major achievement against the neglected disease, moving the country another step closer to nationwide elimination. Thrilled to be able to able to share positive news in this holiday season. Wishing you and yours health and happiness. Congratulations, Ethiopia! Contact: The Carter Center, Atlanta: Emily Staub, Emily.Staub@cartercenter.org Related Resources Photo: The Canadian Press A Sunwing Airlines jet prepares to take off at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, Friday, March 20, 2020. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he has asked Transport Canada to investigate reports of "unacceptable" behaviour on a recent Sunwing Airlines flight to Cancun, Mexico.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has asked Transport Canada to investigate reports of "unacceptable" behaviour on a recent Sunwing Airlines flight to Cancun, Mexico. Videos of the Dec. 30 flight shared on social media appear to show passengers not wearing masks as they gather in close proximity, singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats. In one video, a large bottle of vodka appears to be passed among passengers, and later a woman appears to be smoking an electronic cigarette on the plane. According to reports, the plane had been chartered and some of the passengers were cast members from Quebec reality television shows. "I have asked Transport Canada to investigate the matter," Alghabra wrote in a post on Twitter. "We must take the risks of COVID seriously!" Rena Kisfalvi, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local that represents about 1,000 Sunwing flight attendants, also called the passengers' behaviour "unacceptable" and expressed sympathy for the crew on the Cancun flight. "There's a point where if you lose the control, you can't get it back sometimes, she said in a phone interview. Compliance with mask rules has been a massive issue over the past year that has caused a tremendous amount of aggressive behaviour from passengers toward cabin crews, she said. I'm not sure where Transport Canada is on this. Why haven't you done more? Kisfalvi asked, at around the same time Alghabra put out his Twitter post. These passengers that are not complying, are they being charged? Are they being denied boarding in the future? Are they placed on a no-fly list? Maybe we as a government have to take that step to show the travelling public, Look, we mean business here. Sunwing Airlines did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon. On Instagram, 111 Private Club took credit for the flight, describing the all-inclusive New Year's trip to Mexico it organized as the "best event of the year." It posted a screenshot of a newspaper article about the flight with the caption, "we made the news." James William Awad, who operates 111 Private Club, did not respond to a request for comment sent through Facebook. A message sent to the 111 Private Club account also received no reply. Photo: pixabay "That is an urban myth." That's B.C.'s top doctor commenting on the widely circulating story that there are "millions of rapid tests" in a warehouse somewhere in the province. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told reporters in a press briefing Tuesday (Jan. 4) afternoon that the province is not hoarding the coronavirus tests in any building. "We've made rapid tests in their various forms available to long-term care for many months," she said, highlighting when B.C. mandated all long-term care staff to get vaccinated and rapid tests were used in the period before employees received their second dose. "So they have been available," she underscored. Additionally, B.C. has also designated lateral flow rapid tests specifically for visitors to long-term care facilities. "There's over 100,000 [that have been] distributed to long-term care homes across the province." Health officials recently announced that the province was again restricting visitors to long-term care homes; only essential visitors are allowed in. We need to decrease the number of people coming into our long-term care homes so that we can best protect the seniors and elders in our long-term care homes and ensure that health-care workers in those settings are able to manage and cope, Henry said in a previous briefing. The health officer said she hopes to have the restriction in place for as short a term as possible, and she'll reevaluate the measure, along with a number of other restrictions, on Jan. 18. The province reported record-breaking COVID-19 daily case numbers heading into the holiday season and continues to see staggering daily figures in the new year. As a result, Henry said employers should anticipate seeing significant staff shortages due to illness from the Omicron variant. With files from Chuck Chiang Photo: ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST Veronica Strong-Boag and dog Annie walk past the container ship SM Busan at Ogden Point docks on Tuesday. Crews aboard a Korean container ship started draining oil from the massive vessel on Monday so crucial mechanical repairs can get underway, said a spokesman for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. The 304-metre-long, 40-metre-wide SM Busan, stacked high with shipping containers, has been docked at Ogden Point since Sunday after encountering mechanical problems in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the ships containers are empty, as the ship was heading back to South Korea, according to SM Busans agent. The SM Busan has a carrying capacity of 6,662 TEU, an acronym for Twenty-Foot Equivalent, the standard measurement used for 20-foot steel cargo containers. The ships average draught is 11.4 metres. While travelling from Portland to South Korea, the SM Busan lost full power on Christmas Eve and had been drifting for two days before tug boats escorted the vessel to Constance Bank and then Ogden Point after high winds died down. The SM Busan is tied to Ogden Points Pier B mooring dolphin extension the first vessel to use the new infrastructure originally installed in 2020 for cruise ships. At least two semi-truck oil tankers were on the pier alongside the ship Monday to take on the offloaded oil and other fuels. The harbour authority said the ships crews were doing the emergency repair work and safety and environmental protocols were being followed while the fuels were offloaded. The ship could be in port for up to a month, said the harbour authority. It isnt immediately known how many crew members are on board. The SM Busan, built in 2007 and sailing under the flag of South Korea, left Long Beach, California, on Dec. 14, according to vesseltracker.com website, then travelled to Portland. It had encountered fuel problems and was not running optimally or able to run at full speed. Transport Canada requires vessels experiencing troubles to be escorted by a tug to ensure safe arrival. The container ship slowly headed toward Victoria, travelling at about 3.9 knots, on Saturday evening. It was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Ltd. and the owner is listed as Hanjin Shipping, South Korea, according to Baltic Shipping. Photo: The Canadian Press Assessed values of properties in British Columbia are up again, but the pricey Vancouver area has been upstaged by small towns where value estimates rose by more than 40 per cent. Data posted on the BC Assessment website this week shows market value as of July 1, 2021, increased more than 40 per cent in the communities of Hope, Port Alberni, Lake Cowichan and other rural areas, while Vancouver was up 16 per cent. Condos and townhomes in Vancouver showed even lower assessed values at seven per cent, rising from an average assessed value of $711,000 in July 2020 to $759,000 last July. "Most of the province is up, but when you get outside of the Lower Mainland, it's the smaller towns where it's up most it seems," Bryan Murao, BC Assessment's deputy assessor, said in an interview on Tuesday. The 16 per cent increase in a single-family home in Vancouver raised the average value to almost $2 million, but assessed property values soared in suburban communities further east, he said. Assessed single-family home values were up 39 per cent in Langley, 38 per cent in Abbotsford and 40 per cent in Chilliwack, Murao said. "Throughout the rest of the province, what we saw is a lot of the single-family homes in smaller communities actually were up quite a bit as well," he said. Property value estimates in Hope, located about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver, rose 45 per cent, from $428,000 to $620,000 for the average price of a single-family home. In Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, property assessments were up 47 per cent and increased 48 per cent in Keremeos in the Interior. BC Assessment officials appraise property values and are not economists, but Murao said during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic they are anecdotally seeing people leaving the cities to work remotely or retire in communities where homes are more affordable. "There's a little more of an opportunity for people to work from wherever now," he said. "You don't need to be in a specific place to work in a lot of jobs. I think that's opened up opportunities for a lot of people to move throughout the province," he said. The movement of people to smaller communities appears to be a nationwide trend, said Murao. The change has resulted in higher property values in B.C.'s smaller towns and rural areas as more people look for homes outside of the Vancouver area, he said. The assessments indicate B.C.'s real estate market remains resilient and homeowners provincewide can expect higher assessment values for 2022. The large increases in values don't always mean corresponding property tax increases, Murao said. "You can't perfectly predict what the impact on property taxation is going to be, but for the most part really what's important is how your property changed relative to other residential properties within that same taxing jurisdiction," he said. The total value of real estate in B.C. is about $2.44 trillion, an increase of nearly 22 per cent from 2021, he said. Photo: The Canadian Press Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, descendants of the principals in the Plessy V. Ferguson court case. Louisianas governor on Wednesday posthumously pardoned Homer Plessy, the Black man whose arrest for refusing to leave a whites-only railroad car in 1892 to protest racial segregation sparked the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cemented separate but equal into law for half a century. The state Board of Pardons in November recommended the pardon for Plessy, who boarded the rail car as a member of a small civil rights group hoping to overturn a state law segregating trains. Instead, the protest led to the 1896 ruling known as Plessy v. Ferguson, solidifying whites-only spaces in public accommodations such as transportation, hotels and schools for decades. Gov. John Bel Edwards held the pardon ceremony near the spot near where Plessy was arrested. The purpose is not to erase what happened 125 years ago but to acknowledge the wrong that was done, Phoebe Ferguson, the great-great-granddaughter of the county judge who imposed Plessy's punishment, said during the ceremony. Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote in the 7-1 decision: Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences. Justice John Harlan was the only dissenting voice, writing that he believed the ruling will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case an 1857 decision that said no Black person who had been enslaved or was descended from a slave could ever become a U.S. citizen. The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling allowing racial segregation across American life stood as the law of the land until the Supreme Court unanimously overruled it in 1954, in Brown v. the Board of Education. Both cases argued that segregation laws violated the 14th Amendments right to equal protection. The Brown decision led to widespread public school desegregation and the eventual stripping away of Jim Crow laws that discriminated against Black Americans. Plessy was a member of the Citizens Committee, a New Orleans group trying to overcome laws that rolled back post-Civil War advances in equality. The 30-year-old shoemaker lacked the business, political and educational accomplishments of most of the other members, Keith Weldon Medley wrote in the book We As Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson. But his light skin court papers described him as someone whose one eighth African blood was not discernable positioned him for the train car protest. His one attribute was being white enough to gain access to the train and black enough to be arrested for doing so, Medley wrote. Eight months after the ruling in his case, Plessy pleaded guilty and was fined $25 at a time when 25 cents would buy a pound of round steak and 10 pounds of potatoes. He died in 1925 with the conviction on his record. Keith Plessy, whose great-great-grandfather was Plessys cousin, said donations collected by the committee paid the fine and other legal costs. But Plessy returned to obscurity, and never returned to shoemaking. He worked alternately as a laborer, warehouse worker and clerk before becoming a collector for the Black-owned Peoples Life Insurance Company, Medley wrote. He died in 1925 with the conviction on his record. Relatives of Plessy and John Howard Ferguson, the judge who oversaw his case in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, became friends decades later and formed a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights education. Other recent efforts have acknowledged Plessys role in history, including a 2018 vote by the New Orleans City Council to rename a section of the street where he tried to board the train in his honor. The governors office described this as the first pardon under Louisianas 2006 Avery Alexander Act, which allows pardons for people convicted under laws that were intended to discriminate. Virudhunagar: K T Rajenthra Bhalaji, former Minister during the previous AIADMK regime, was arrested on Wednesday near Hosur in Krishnagiri district, police said. The former Minister, whose anticipatory bail application was dismissed by the Madras High Court last month, was arrested in connection with a job scam, a police official here said. At least two separate FIRs have been registered by the Virudhunagar police following complaints. Photo: The Canadian Press Snow-covered houses and the downtown skyline are seen with the North Shore mountains in the distance in Vancouver on Thursday, December 30, 2021. Those who own a home in British Columbia valued at just under $2 million will still be eligible for the annual homeowner grant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Homeowners in British Columbia whose property is valued at just under $2 million will still be eligible for the annual homeowner grant. The provincial government announced Wednesday it has raised the grant threshold to $1.975 million for this year. The government says in a news release that the new cap will ensure 92 per cent of residential properties are covered, lowering the amount of taxes people pay on their principal residence. Those who own and live in their homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Capital Regional districts are eligible for the $570 basic grant, or up to $845 for those with a disability or who are 65 and older. The basic grant for those in northern and rural areas is $770, or $1,045 for those who are disabled or over 65. The B.C. assessment authority released property valuations this week, showing increases in almost every part of the province. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh on Wednesday blasted the Congress-led Government in Punjab for a major security lapse ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ferozepur and said that both Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the state's Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu are acting on the instructions of Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). Chugh squarely blamed Channi and Sidhu for joining hands with subversive and anti-national forces to foil the democratic right of the Prime Minister and the BJP to address public meetings. Chugh further held Channi and Sidhu responsible for causing security threats to the Prime Minister. "Channi and Sidhu are dancing to the tunes of Pakistan ISI. Time has come for Punjab to wake up to nefarious designs of the two," said Chugh. He further said, "It is a matter of shame for the State government for not allowing the Prime Minister to address the public meeting." "It was the responsibility of the Congress Government to ensure law and order for the PM's visit but entire Punjab is hanging its head in shame today," he added. He further said that the Prime Minister had been always thinking of the welfare of farmers and it was with due respect to them that he decided to repeal the agriculture laws. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur was called off citing "major security lapse". The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. The MHA has taken cognizance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM," said the statement by the MHA. "The PM's schedule and travel plan were communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed," further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse. "The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognizance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action," the statement said. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also announced from the stage at Ferozepur that PM Modi canceled his scheduled visit to Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". (ANI) Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provided "false information" regarding the party's funding to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and hid funds worth millions of rupees. The report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the party's funds was revealed on Tuesday. It said that the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) statement revealed that the party had received Rs 1.64 billion in funding, reported Geo News. According to the report, the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs 310 million to the ECP. The scrutiny committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI. The case began in 2014 when the party's founding member, Akbar S Babar, filed it. Babar alleged that the PTI received funding from illegal sources and that the party was also involved in money laundering, according to Dawn. Today, in a Twitter post, Babar thanked Allah, saying he stands "vindicated". The report lays bare the contradictions in details provided by the PTI to the ECP and actual figures, reported Geo News. According to data provided to the committee by the SBP, PTI has 26 bank accounts. From 2008 to 2013, PTI disclosed funds worth Rs 1.33 billion to the ECP, whereas a report by the SBP shows the actual amount to be Rs 1.64 billion, the report said. PTI failed to disclose details of three banks in the documentation provided to the ECP, it added. It stated that around 1,414 companies in Pakistan, 47 foreign companies and 119 potential companies provided funds to PTI, reported Geo News. PTI received USD 2.3448 million in funding from the US, but the scrutiny committee couldn't obtain access to the party's US bank accounts, the report said. Besides the US, the PTI obtained funds from Dubai, UK, Europe, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Australia and several other countries. Due to a lack of information, the committee's report said that it cannot comment on the source of the funding from any of the countries, reported Geo News. The firm that audited the PTI's accounts based their reports on the same information for five years, the report noted, adding that the PTI changed the firm in the last year but the report's contents remained the same. The report said that the committee arrived at the conclusion that there is a contradiction in the audit reports and the PTI's bank statements. The committee sent the PTI a questionnaire on the funding received from the US and other countries but obtained no clear response, the report added. (ANI) Also Read: 7 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan's air defence zone A new continuing education course for real estate agents explains how radon can enter a home and cause lung cancer and how homes can be tested for radon. Through this course, real estate agents learn how to inform home buyers about the benefits of testing for radon. Cigarette smoke is the main cause of lung cancer. But other things can cause this disease. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that forms in rocks, soil, and water. It cannot be seen, tasted, or smelled. When radon gets into homes or buildings through cracks or holes, it can get trapped and build up in the air inside. People who live or work in these homes and buildings breathe in high radon levels. Over long periods of time, radon can cause lung cancer. The only way to know if you have unsafe levels of radon in your home or office is by testing. About 400 people in North Carolina die each year from lung cancer caused by radon. Comprehensive cancer control programs bring organizations together to lower the number of people who get cancer. The North Carolina Comprehensive Cancer Control Programexternal icon worked with the North Carolina Radon Programexternal icon to educate people about radon, so fewer people in the state would get lung cancer. Most North Carolina residents think that radon only affects our mountain region, but it is a statewide issue, said Sarah Arthur, program coordinator for the North Carolina Comprehensive Cancer Control Program. The programs developed the fact sheet Safe at Home: Preventing Lung Cancer by Reducing Radon in the Home pdf icon[PDF-492KB]external icon and other materials. But they wanted to do more. Teaching Real Estate Agents About Radon Most people hire a real estate agent or broker when they buy or sell a house. These professionals can explain why its important to test homes for radon. So the comprehensive cancer control program and the radon program worked together to develop a new continuing education course for real estate agents. To encourage more people to get their home tested for radon, we felt the best first step was at the point of sale, Ms. Arthur said. The Radon in Real Estate course teaches real estate agents how radon can enter a home and how homes can be tested for radon. The course also explains that radon can cause lung cancer. Students learn how to help home buyers and sellers hire a radon professional to fix their home if the radon level is high. The Radon in Real Estate course was first offered in 2021, and 387 real estate agents have taken it. To find out if the course was helpful, students were asked to test their knowledge about radon before and after the course. The average score increased from 67% to 88%. Now, staff from the North Carolina Radon Program teach the course in person. In the future, the program hopes to develop an interactive course that students can take online. The comprehensive cancer control and radon programs hope this course will increase the number of homes in North Carolina that have been tested for radon and fixed. Sharing Radon Education Nationwide The North Carolina programs want to help programs in other states teach real estate agents about radon. They plan to develop a Radon in Real Estate continuing education course toolkit. The toolkit will include step-by-step guidance for developing a course, resources, and suggested partnerships. Through training courses like the one in North Carolina, real estate agents nationwide may get access to expert information about radon and learn how to inform home buyers about the benefits of testing for radon. Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and High School Principals: Steps to College 2022 Event and Scholarship Opportunity On behalf of the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento, we are pleased to invite you, your students, and their families to the 11th Annual Steps to College (STC). The STC is the largest bilingual and binational University Fair in Northern California and will be held under a hybrid program, virtually on February 5, 2022, and face-to-face on February 12, 2022. This unique University Fair is a long-term educational project organized on a yearly basis by the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento in partnership with the CDE, the California Student Aid Commission, the University of California System, the California State University System, the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, the Community College System, Mexican Universities, the Cien Amigos advocacy group, and the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California. Since its implementation, STC has served more than 15,000 students from Northern California through specialized workshops on how to apply to college and access financial aid. The students have also benefited from personalized support from counselors and Cash for College advisors, as well as legal and health experts. Our goal for this 11th Annual STC Fair is to take advantage of a microsite containing valuable information; live virtual workshops; online personal consulting; and hosting over 6,000 students. Additionally, we will provide educational and legal advice and free assistance in applying for financial aid. We aim to reach school districts in rural areas and motivate higher participation of these students, many of them dreamers from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. We ask that you please share this information with your students. In the meantime, please visit the STC website at https://stepstocollegesac.org/ for the latest information. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Yuriko Garces, Consul for Political Affairs, by phone at 916-329-3516 or by email at ygarces@sre.gob.mx. Sincerely, Tony Thurmond State Superintendent of Public Instruction Liliana Ferrer Consul General of Mexico This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions A Chattanooga man has been arrested after he killed a dog by bludgeoning it with a sledgehammer. Michael Justin Wall, 41, of 9404 Seasons Dr., was charged with aggravated animal cruelty. In the incident early Tuesday morning, Wall said he needed to kill the dog because it was having seizures. He said he turned to the sledgehammer after tries with Tylenol PM and with suffocating the dog with a plastic bag failed. A deputy went to the Wall residence at 3 a.m. on a noise complaint. The backyard neighbor said she had heard heavy breathing and what she thought were three shots from the Walls residence. The deputy found the garage door open and the door to the house ajar. When no one answered, the deputy went to the back yard and found the dog lying on the back porch in a pool of blood. The neighbor said a loud noise had woken everyone up. The deputy was later able to get Wall to the door. He said he had to put the dog down because it was suffering from the seizures. Wall was then taken to the Silverdale Detention Center. A woman on Mill Road told police she was scammed on Facebook. She saw an ad under the name Keanu Reeves selling CBD Gummies. She was communicating with them through messaging and agreed to buy three bottles for $49.99 but she was actually charged $249.99 with no way to cancel the order. She said she had paid with her Citi Bank Mastercard and she then called the bank and they told her the order was actually charged to Bailey Enterprises and they gave her their phone number and told her that she would have to speak with Bailey Enterprises before they could cancel the transaction. She then called them and they told her that they couldnt cancel it. She said she later saw where Facebook took the Keanu Reeves account down and now it's back up this morning. She is worried more people will get scammed. * * * Police initiated a traffic stop on 4500 Amnicola Highway on a silver Nissan Altima bearing a TN tag because the registration returned to a Hyundai sedan. Police spoke with the driver who said she hasn't been able to get her car registered, but did give insurance paperwork and proper documentation showing she was the owner. The woman said the tag is from a previous vehicle she owned. * * * Police spoke with a man at Speedway at 2245 Hickory Valley Road. He said he was from out of town, cold and homeless. The officer transported the man to the Community Kitchen downtown for shelter. * * * A woman on Sheridan Avenue told police her surveillance camera system caught a young man going into her son's vehicle that was parked in front of her residence. She said the car was left unlocked and the suspect took $10 and fled the scene on foot north on Sheridan Avenue. * * * An employee of the Little Theatre at 400 River St. said a homeless white male with long hair was standing near the business and began screaming and yelling for no reason. The man then threw a plastic water bottle at the window and walked towards the walking bridge. Police canvassed the area but the man had already left the scene. The employee was asked to call back should he return. * * * An employee of Regions Bank at 5515 Brainerd Road told police a white male with a tear drop tattoo came inside the bank. The employee said the homeless man began asking clients and workers for money. The employee told him to vacate the premises or he would call police. The man then told the employee that he just got out of prison and left the bank. Police told the employee to contact dispatch if he returned and police would trespass the individual. * * * An officer stopped a blue 2013 Ford Mustang on Highway 153 and gave the driver a warning for speeding. He had valid insurance but had not updated his registration and drivers license with his new address. He apologized for his aggressive driving behavior. * * * A man on East 11th Street said his back door alarm activated and he initially thought someone had broken in. He later realized his girlfriend set off the alarm along with a power outage which caused it to be delayed. * * * A woman at Walmart at 2020 Gunbarrel Road told police someone took her purse after she laid it down inside her shopping cart. She said she was trying on a sweater when the theft occurred. Her car keys were inside of her purse at the time of the theft. The officer checked the parking lot and found her vehicle was still there, locked and secured. The officer transported the woman to her residence to get her spare key to her car. Upon arrival at her residence, the woman said she could not find her spare house key and would have her neighbor take her to her daughter's residence who has an extra key for her. * * * An employee at Tobacco Mart at 480 Greenway View Dr. said a man came into the store and became mad because the tobacco vapor juice sold to him had a seal tear. The employee said she got out her pepper spray because she was afraid he might try and hurt her. At this point, the man left the store. Police told the man he was trespassed and it might be best for him to find another tobacco outlet. Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland, declared a 30-day State of Emergency on Tuesday after seeing predictions the COVID flu could see over 5,000 people hospitalized in coming weeks in his state. The very same thing could soon happen to a state near you 34.4 percent of corona tests in Tennessee are now coming back positive. That means one in every three tests in Tennessee is positive. There is no room to doubt the worst is yet to come. Marylands tests are 48.4 percent positive, virtually one in every two. This is a state of 6 million people, and a record 82,660 new cases last week have overwhelmed its hospitals. The State of Emergency allows Governor Hogan to call out the National Guard to deploy to hospitals and emergency centers. Tennessees population (6.9M) is larger than Maryland and had 41,642 new cases in the last week but with the raging omicron variant so highly contagious, the tell-tale signs are foreboding. With this new surge of omicron, its important for Marylanders to go back to using common sense and doing the things that will keep us safe: avoiding crowds, keeping your distance, washing your hands, and yes, once again, wearing the damn masks, Governor Hogan said. He added he wouldnt call for a statewide mask mandate because it would be too hard to enforce. Maryland health official reported a record 3,057 persons hospitalized with COVID yesterday - an increase of 500 percent in just the last seven weeks. The Tennessee Department of Health reported 94,029 active cases as of Jan. 2 - a 152 percent increase from the week before. (The Hamilton County Health Department announced 1,014 new cases on Tuesday.) The Tennessee count is a pandemic record for the state which eclipses 65,382 (Dec. 13-19, 2020), and the winter surge is causing graphs to spike in almost every state. As omicron spreads so quickly - a month ago we had barely heard of it - it is viciously attacking those who have chosen not to be vaccinated. There are also a good number of break-through infections (vaccinated persons), but doctors are finding the symptoms are milder. * * * USA HAS OVER ONE MILLION NEW CASES IN ONE DAY FROM NPR: The U.S. reported a record 1,082,549 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. It's the latest in a series of staggering milestones brought on by the highly transmissible omicron variant, which is sweeping across the U.S. and around the world. The U.S. has broken several of its own COVID-19 records in recent days. Last week Johns Hopkins reported more than 480,000 new cases in a single day, more than double the number of daily cases reported during the peak of the delta surge. The seven-day average topped 280,000. These are the numbers health officials are watching at this point in the pandemic For reference: The country was averaging about 70,000 cases a day in early November. * * * OVER 100,000 IN HOSPITALS WITH COVID FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, according to Washington Post figures, the highest number since late summer, when the delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases. The figure reflects a 27 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week, while the daily average of new cases during the same period more than doubled. Average daily new deaths from COVID-19 declined by eight percent. * -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Tuesday that recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine get booster doses five months after their second shots, shortening the interval by one month. * -- A fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine generated a five-fold jump in antibodies a week after the shot, according to preliminary results of a study released Tuesday by the Israeli government. * -- More than 826,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S., and more than 57,078,000 cases have been reported. * -- Per 100K, there has been a 110 percent rise in new cases during the last seven days in the U.S. with 147. Tennessee is 138 percent in the last week per 100K * * * THE OMICRON SURGE IS REALLY DIFFERENT FROM NBC-NEW YORK: As COVID-19 infections with the omicron variant of the virus surge out of control nationwide, emergency rooms are filling up again - and one well-known New York City doctor says what they're seeing now is much different than the last two years of the pandemic. Manhattan emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer took to Twitter late Monday night to explain how the current surge is different - both in who's coming to the ER and how they're being affected by the highly contagious virus. "Today it seemed like everyone had COVID. Like, so many. And yes, like before, there were some really short of breath and needing oxygen. But for most, COVID seemed to topple a delicate balance of an underlying illness. Its making people really sick in a different way," Spencer wrote. Spencer cited a few examples - diabetic being tipped into ketoacidosis, the elderly who were so weak from being ill that they couldn't get out of bed, etc. "Whats also different now is those COVID cases are often in beds next to patients whove done everything to avoid the virus, and for whom an infection might have a dramatic toll. The cancer patient on chemotherapy. Those immuno-compromised or severely sick with something else," Spencer said. He acknowledged, as studies around the world have concluded, that the omicron variant seems to cause milder disease than the delta variant that tore through the country last summer. But at the same time, with so many more people infected, for hospital purposes it ends up not really mattering. "But theres just SO much of it and its impacting patients in different ways. So even if just a tiny portion of cases need to stay in the hospital, it can turn into a huge influx," Spencer tweeted. Spencer, a Manhattan ER doctor affiliated with Columbia University who became a Twitter superstar in the early days of the pandemic for his running commentary on the battle against the virus, recently shared a detailed breakdown of what the omicron cases he and his colleagues have encountered look like so far. "Every patient Ive seen with COVID thats had a 3rd booster dose has had mild symptoms. By mild I mean mostly sore throat. Lots of sore throat. Also, some fatigue, maybe some muscle pain. No difficulty breathing. No shortness of breath. All a little uncomfortable, but fine," Spencer wrote. From there, it goes downhill, depending on your vaccination status or lack thereof. * * * 99 PERCENT OF TODAYS COVID CASES ARE OMICRON FROM NBC-NEW YORK: New York COVID hospitalizations surpassed the 10,000-mark and then some Tuesday, totaling their highest levels since early May 2020 as new estimates released by the CDC estimate omicron's regional prevalence to be as high as 99 percent. The variant's estimated share of current U.S. COVID-19 cases is at least 92 percent or higher, according to the federal health agency. Both reflect sharp increases over last week, especially at the national level, and come as New York and America battle record-shattering caseloads almost daily along with soaring virus hospitalizations. The data are almost hard to fathom. More than one in five New York tests are coming back positive these days, and that number is expected to bounce up considerably Wednesday after Governor Kathy Hochul said holiday weekend reporting lags were likely behind "misleading" daily case counts in the 51,000-53,000 range over the last two days after nearing a record 90,000 on the first day of the new year. There's nothing misleading about the skyrocketing statewide hospitalization numbers, however. Statewide hospitalizations stood at 10,411 as of Tuesday, the highest total since April 30, 2020, when the total was 10,993. The level of increase over the last two days alone (1,638), for comparative purposes, is just 238 admissions shy of the total hospitalized statewide exactly three months ago. royexum@aol.com Charles Bruce Spencer passed away on January 1, 2022, at Parkridge East Hospital. He was born on November 3, 1931 in Chattanooga. He was raised and educated in Chattanooga and graduated from Chattanooga High School, where he was a Golden Gloves Boxer. He became a Golden Gloves Champion while at CHS. He attended the University of Chattanooga before going into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After an honorable discharge from the service, he married the late Gloria Jean Ledford and they moved to Athens Georgia, where he attended the University of Georgia and graduated with a B.A. in Journalism. He was a member of Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity while at UGA. He and Gloria moved back to Chattanooga after the birth of their son Wesley. He worked with Arcade Advertising and Lithography, and after their daughter Cheri was born, he started his own advertising agency in 1960. In 1963, Bruce went into the publishing business after purchasing a small magazine, Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He grew the magazine into the industry leading authority on Walking Horses. He was also part owner of Battleground Stables in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia with Glorias dad, the late L.O. Sheriff Ledford. The family owned and showed Walking Horses for several years during this time. He was on the board of directors of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders & Exhibitors Association and served two terms on the Horse Industry Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1970, he testified before a U.S. Senate committee and was instrumental in the formation of the regulatory board for the Walking Horse Industry. He was also owner of the Tri-State Auto Auction in Fort Oglethorpe, GA. He published the Voice magazine and several other regional and national magazines until 1976 when he sold the company. In 1982, he formed an association for pipe smokers and began publishing Pipe Collectors International magazine. The magazine had subscribers in 50 states and 42 foreign countries. He was a published author in the World Book Encyclopedia on pipe smoking and collecting. While still running the association, Bruce, with Glorias well wishes, went back to college in his mid 50s to earned his masters degree in Psychology/Community Counseling from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In 1989, he sold the Pipe Collectors Association and magazine, and became a case manager and psychotherapist at Parkridge Medical Centers Christian Counseling Center. For the next 13 years, Bruce worked at Parkridge and Valley Hospitals. He was well known for his Christian counseling, community outreach, family seminars, lectures and television appearances on a variety of mental health subjects. He was on the Board of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies and the Board of the Mental Health Association. He retired in 2003 from HCA. He was a Board Member at Hickory Creek Townhome Association and was the manager there from 2005-2008. He also continued to conduct seminars and lecture to area churches and community organizations. Bruce was a cradle Episcopalian and was active in the Diocese of East Tennessee. He was a member of Grace Episcopal Church and St. Martins Episcopal Church. He was a Lay Reader, Chalice Bearer, Lay Eucharist Minister and served on the Vestry of both churches. He helped to publish Salty Christians, a book on the history of Grace Episcopal Church. After years in the Episcopal Church, Bruce and Gloria changed denominations and joined Covenant Presbyterian Church. He remained an active member there until his passing. He was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria, his parents, James W. Spencer and Joscelyn C. Spencer, and his brothers George and Dale Spencer. Survivors include his children, son, Wes (Kathy) Spencer and daughter, Cheri (Robbie) Taylor, grandchildren, Logan (Ashley) Spencer and Ashton Spencer, Ryan (Julie) Taylor and Sydney (Ryan) Williams, and great-grandchildren, Malachi, Milana, Taylor, Breck, Calin, Kama, Harper, Kaiden, Jaxon and Tatum. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you please make a contribution to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Funeral services will be at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 10, at Covenant Presbyterian Church with Pastor Eric Mullinax and Pastor Render Caines officiating at 8451 E. Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. Interment will follow the services at Chattanooga National Cemetery with military honors. Family will receive friends from 10:30 a.m. until time of service at the church. Please share you memories of Bruce with the family at www.chattanoogaeastbrainerdchapel.com Arrangements are by the East Brainerd Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, 8214 E. Brainerd Rd., Chattanooga, Tn. 37421. Pam Ladd, hired by the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults (Partnership) as chief operating officer in 2015 and promoted to chief executive officer in 2016, has announced that she will retire on Aug. 24 of this year.Under Ms. Ladds leadership, the Partnership saw a significant reduction in administrative costs. Ms. Ladd ended programs duplicated by other local organizations, created others that aligned with the agencys mission and filled gaps in its offerings, expanded grant revenue and sold an underused facility.Serving Partnership has been one of the greatest honors of my career. The accomplishments achieved were the result of a strong relationship with the board of directors, dedication and compassion of staff and support of corporations and private donors.This is an extensive and complex nonprofit organization that requires cooperation with the community and other local non-profits. This combination led us to where we are today. I am most proud of the staff, who unwaveringly served as front-line workers in the face of COVID-19 to ensure services were delivered to our most vulnerable populations throughout our 25-county service area. said Ms. Ladd.Ms. Ladd, an active Rotarian, holds an M.S. in industrial organizational psychology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Before joining the Partnership, she served as manager of Custodial Services at Tennessee Valley Authority and as assistant vice-president of Support Services at Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. She then founded and operated Custom Custodial Inc., an industrial cleaning service. She also is a retired real estate agent with local firm, Real Estate Partners, and served as City Council representative for District 3 Chattanooga.We will be so sorry to lose Pam as our CEO, said Partnership Board President and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration at UTC Tyler Forrest. I know I speak for the board and staff when I say that she was a pleasure to work with and that the Partnership benefited from her leadership style and business acumen. Our Search Committee is seeking someone equally committed to our mission and values. The Boards Executive Committee is serving as the Search Committee. They are partnering with Buffkin/Baker, a Nashville based executive search firm, to complete the search. Interested applicants can apply via the Buffkin/Baker career portal at https://buffkinbaker.com/leadersfirst-career-portal/career-portal/.I will support the Search Committee and my successor in any way I can, added Ms. Ladd. Im also confident that the Committee will make a great decision for the future of the Partnership.The CEO job description will be posted at www.partnershipfca.com/careers on Wednesday. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply by Feb. 1. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), as an initial step in the process for the development of a new federal courthouse in Chattanooga, is seeking to receive Expressions of Interest (EOI) for potential sites within the city limits. As part of its due diligence process, and in furtherance of the governments market research, GSA is seeking a site of between approximately two to five acres to accommodate a building of approximately 186,000 gross square feet, but may consider other sites of different sizes. Officials said, "This is the start of a complex process and is subject to Congressional authorization and availability of funds. The current courthouse does not meet the Judiciary's requirements for courthouses. As the project proceeds, GSA will determine the best use and reuse opportunities for the current courthouse. "GSA reserves the right to select a site (including a site other than those offered in response to this REOI) that GSA believes is the most advantageous to the Government, all factors considered, without regard to 41 U.S.C. 3101 et seq. "This REOI shall not be construed in any manner to create an obligation on the part of GSA to enter into any agreement, nor to implement any of the actions contemplated herein, nor to serve as the basis for any claim whatsoever for reimbursement of costs for efforts expended in preparing a response." EOI INSTRUCTIONS: EOI may be submitted by site owners or their agents. In the case of an agent, the EOI must be accompanied by written evidence of the agent's authority to represent the owner. GSA shall not be responsible for payment of commissions and/or broker fees related to sale of the property. EOI should include: site address or location parcel identification number (if applicable) contact information and e-mail address of the site owner or their agent an accurate description and sketch of the site offered. EOI should be sent to Sheri DeMartino at sheri.demartino@gsa.gov by Monday, January 31, 2022. GSAs Southeast Sunbelt Region oversees the delivery of real estate, technology and procurement solutions to government and the American people in eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee Chattanooga District 9 City Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod has been appointed to the National League of Cities (NLC) 2022 Public Safety and Crime Prevention (PSCP) Federal Advocacy Committee. Councilwoman Coonrod was elected to a one-year term and will provide strategic direction and guidance for NLCs federal advocacy agenda and policy priorities. The appointment was announced by NLC President Mayor Vince Williams of Union City, Ga. Im humbled by this recognition and look forward to working through these tough issues on behalf of Chattanooga residents as we push for real solutions to the public safety challenges that affect each and every one of us, Ms. Coonrod said. The whole community must play a role in crime prevention, from how we raise our kids, to the education they receive, to the training and job opportunities that they have access to as they grow up. Only together can we make a difference. As a member of NLCs PSCP committee, Councilwoman Coonrod will play a key role among a diverse group of local leaders in shaping NLCs policy positions and advocating on behalf of Americas municipalities before Congress, with the administration and at home. NLCs federal advocacy committees are a key tool for gathering insights directly from the communities that our members serve, said NLC President Mayor Vince Williams of Union City, Georgia. I am excited to have Councilwoman Coonrod serve on the PSCP committee and look forward to working with her to fulfill the promise of Americas cities, towns and villages. The full leadership of this years committee will consist of Chair Joel Navarro, council member in Tempe, Az., Vice Chair Brian Kazy, council member in Cleveland, Oh., and Vice Chair Willie Lightfoot, council vice president of Rochester, N.Y. For more information on NLCs federal advocacy committees, visit: www.nlc.org/advocacy/committees. On Jan. 4, Big Hit Music announced that Jin and RM of BTS recovered from the coronavirus (COVID-19). The news of Jin and RMs recovery comes the day after Big Hit Music told fans that Suga of BTS also recovered from the coronavirus. The three BTS members tested positive for the coronavirus after returning to South Korea following the bands trip to Los Angeles. (L-R) Jin and RM of BTS | The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images Jin and RM made full recoveries from the coronavirus Big Hit Music posted a Weverse announcement for ARMY on Jan. 4. The new Weverse post shared that RM and Jin both made full recoveries after receiving treatment at home. In the Weverse post, Big Hit Music wrote: We would like to inform you that BTS members RM and Jin have made full recoveries from COVID-19 and his quarantine has concluded as of today at noon, January 4. RM and Jin who had been receiving treatment from home for the past ten days from Saturday, December 25 are now able to return to their daily activities. Neither member exhibited any particular symptoms during their quarantine. Jin had a slight fever when he first began treatment at home but has since made a full recovery. We would like to thank all fans who have shown concerns for the artists health as well as those in the medical field who are doing their best to overcome COVID-19. RELATED: BTS: Jimin Wants to Attend the 2022 Grammy Awards in Person We Want to Be There RM was diagnosed with the coronavirus after BTS trip to LA On Nov. 27, Nov. 28, Dec. 1, and Dec. 2, 2021, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook of BTS put on four concerts at SoFi Stadium in LA. Following the Permission to Dance On Stage LA concerts, Big Hit Music announced that the seven members will go on a brief vacation until the bands Permission to Dance On Stage Seoul concerts in March. Some members of BTS elected to return to South Korea shortly after the concerts, while other members stayed in the U.S. for the start of their vacation. On Dec. 25, 2021, Big Hit Music announced on Weverse that both Jin and RM tested positive for the coronavirus. For RM, Big Hit Music wrote: After returning on Friday the 17th from the United States following his personal schedule as part of his official vacation period, RM immediately underwent PCR testing, was found negative and entered into self-quarantine in his home as mandated by COVID-19 control procedures. However, he underwent PCR testing today before his scheduled release from quarantine and was found to be positive for COVID-19; he is currently exhibiting no particular symptoms. RELATED: BTS Share Special New Years Messages for ARMY Jin experienced mild coronavirus symptoms While RM tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after returning to South Korea, Jin did not begin experiencing symptoms until after being released from quarantine. Jin returned to Korea on Monday, December 6 and underwent PCR testing immediately after his return and again before his release from self-quarantine, and was found negative on both occasions, Big Hit Music wrote on Weverse. The Weverse announcement continued, However, feeling flu-like symptoms this afternoon he underwent PCR testing and was found positive for COVID-19 late this evening. He is exhibiting mild symptoms including light fever, and is undergoing self-treatment at home. RELATED: BTS Will Go on an Extended Period of Rest Before Releasing a New Album The Matrix Reloaded didnt get the same love that the original sci-fi movie did. Lana and Lilly Wachowski returned to write and direct the sequel, although audiences now hold it to a different standard. However, The Matrix Reloaded has a freeway chase scene is one of the most high-adrenaline car chases in film history. However, getting the scene just right nearly incited a revolt. The Matrix Reloaded freeway chase scene is iconic Keanu Reeves | L. Cohen/WireImage 2003s The Matrix Reloaded follows Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). They pick up their duties to lead the fight against the Machine Army. The trio brings their entire array of incredible fighting skills and weapons to fight back in the hopes of saving the human race. The legendary freeway chase scene finds Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus seeking to save the Keymaker from the Twins, Agent Johnson, Agent Jackson, and Agent Thomas. Neo needs the Keymaker to lead him to the Source, where the Machine mainframe exists. Ultimately, they succeed in rescuing the Keymaker, who tells them about the three ships and the system of the Portal. The legendary freeway chase scene nearly incited a revolt Brian J. Robb writes about Reeves and his career in Keanu Reeves: An Excellent Adventure. The Matrix franchise is a significant time in Reeves filmography. It further established him as a major star worth keeping an eye on. The Matrix Reloaded truly impressed audiences with the freeway chase scene. However, Robb explains that the Wachowskis had difficulty finding a freeway that adequately fit what they were envisioning for the big action set-piece. The final product would prove rather expensive. Failing to find a freeway with the required sense of doom, the Wachowskis decided to build their own, ending up with a two-mile loop on the defunct Alameda navy base in California, Robb wrote. The road cost $300,000 per quarter-mile to build and almost incited revolt among the construction crew who thought the ambition of the project was mad. Robb continued: However, filming on this purpose-built set gave the [Wachowskis] the levels of control and secrecy they required for shooting. After seven weeks on the purpose-built freeway, filming shifted to Sydney, Australia for a mammoth 270-day shoot, with the pair of films costing in excess of $300 million (the combined budget for the three Lord of the Rings movies). Other Matrix Reloaded visual tricks Seven separate special effects studios worked on The Matrix Reloaded, completing a staggering 2,500 shots in total. Robb explained how The Matrix Reloaded set a new standard for virtual cinematography. This allowed the film to get away with more impressive visual tricks. Effects artist John Gaeta explained how virtual cinematography would allow him to remove any visual difference between the real and digital elements of the picture. As a result, It allows Keanus Neo to fly at 2,000mph through a giant metropolis, one of the films dramatic images, Robb explained. RELATED: The Matrix Cast Reminisces About the Franchises Biggest Scenes That Changed Their Lives Forever Can The Matrix Resurrections Do That For a New Generation? Kim Kardashian West and Pete Davidson are taking their romance international with a New Years trip to the Bahamas. Here are all the details we know about the hot new couples trip so far, including what the reality stars husband, Kanye West, is doing. Kim Kardashian West and Pete Davidson have been dating amid her divorce from Kanye West Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian West hit it off when the reality star hosted Saturday Night Live on Oct. 9, 2021. Fans started speculating on a romance between the two when they shared an on-screen kiss during a skit. Since then, Davidson and Kardashian West have been spotted together multiple times. They have gone on dates in California, where Kardashian West lives with her four children, and in Davidsons hometown of Staten Island, New York. Kardashian West is in the process of divorcing rapper Kanye West, who has made several public pleas for the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star to take him back. But court documents related to their divorce say, Irreconcilable differences have led to the irremediable breakdown of the marriage, and there is no possibility of saving the marriage through counseling or other means. Exclusive: Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson take a private jet to the Bahamas https://t.co/n6Sur7jg6E Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) January 4, 2022 Kim Kardashian West and Pete Davidson are reportedly on vacation in the Bahamas The SNL star and the SKIMS founder are taking their romance international. The couple was spotted boarding a plane to the Bahamas on Monday, Jan. 3. They are getting some time away together after allegedly spending New Years Eve apart. Kim and Pete are on vacation spending time together, a source told ET. The two werent able to ring in the new year since she was with her family in California and Pete was hosting his NYE special in Miami. The source shared that the pair may not get to spend a lot of time together in the upcoming months. They have a busy couple of months coming up with her company rebrand and Pete filming various projects, the source revealed. So they wanted to take some time to spend together before things ramp up. Kim Kardashian West | Gotham/GC Images Kanye West is busy dating Uncut Gems star Julia Fox Until recently, rapper Kanye West was making public pleas for Kim Kardashian West to reconcile with him. He said that God would reunite him with the shapewear mogul and that Kardashian West is still legally his wife since the divorce process hasnt ended yet. But it seems like West has decided to move on in the New Year. On Jan. 1, he was spotted dining out in Miami with actor Julia Fox. The 31-year-old is best known for starring in the 2019 Adam Sandler comedy-crime drama Uncut Gems. According to TMZ, a source said that Wests date with Fox was nothing serious, but the Donda rapper is embracing single life and seems happier now than he has in a long, long time. RELATED: Kim Kardashian West and Pete Davidson Double Date With Scott Disick and a Mystery Woman to See Spider-Man Movie Love After Lockup is a popular reality show that premiered on We TV in 2018. The series, which chronicles the lives of those recently released from incarceration and their significant others, can always be counted on to bring the drama. Many fans are invested in Love After Lockup, and to this day, the series remains popular with viewers of all ages. WE tv celebrates the return of Love After Lockup with panel, Real Love: Relationship Reality TVs Past, Present & Future | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images One of the most high-profile stars of Love After Lockup is Michael Simmons, whose dramatic love triangle made headlines for months. These days, fans are following Simmons story for a whole new reason the reality star was recently found guilty of felony child neglect. Michael Simmons is a star of Love After Lockup and Life After Lockup Michael Simmons was first introduced to viewers on Love After Lockup when he was serving time behind bars for parole violations. The drama started with Simmons when he got involved in a love triangle that involved Simmons, his then-wife, Sarah Simmons, and his new girlfriend, Megan Nash. Fans watched as Simmons pursued Nash hotly, all while Sarah Simmons was pregnant with his child and planning on reuniting with him after his release from jail. Sarah screams at Michael & accuses him of not caring about their kids in this exclusive #LifeAfterLockup preview: https://t.co/DD28dZXbcG pic.twitter.com/o6GUzar8w5 HollywoodLife (@HollywoodLife) February 14, 2020 Throughout the third season of Love After Lockup, Simmons continued the romance with both women. When Simmons got released from jail, he showed up at Nashs home, intent on maintaining his affair with her with his relationship with Sarah Simmons growing ever more volatile in the process. Michael Simmons was recently found guilty of felony child neglect Tonights the season finale weve all been waiting for! Whats in store for your favorite couples from @LuvAfterLockup. Youll have to tune in to @WEtv's hit series #LifeAfterLockup to find out! Life After Lockup airs TONIGHT at 9/8c on WE tv. pic.twitter.com/k319cyndFx Radar Online (@radar_online) August 10, 2019 Ultimately, Michael and Sarah Simmons decided that they wanted to work through their differences for the sake of their two young daughters. Still, Michael Simmons has remained in and out of trouble with the law, which has caused problems with his relationship with Sarah Simmons. In November 2020, Simmons found himself in hot water once again, this time in a situation involving a young child. According to Starcasm, Simmons was ultimately found guilty of felony child neglect in the summer of 2021, a third-degree felony in Florida that resulted in several days behind bars and a fine of $769. As Starcasm reported, there appeared to be no additional punishment levied on Simmons, in spite of the fact that Simmons apparently left a young male child alone in a hotel for upwards of five hours, during which time witnesses watched the young boy wander the grounds completely unsupervised. While Simmons would later claim that he only left the child alone in order to get snacks for the boy, hotel staff was alarmed enough by the unsupervised child to call 911 to report the situation. Whats next for Michael Simmons? #LoveAfterLockup Michael Simmons was arrested in Florida on Wednesday after a series of live streamed antics. Watch the video and check out Michael's latest mug shot. #LifeAfterLockup #LockupAfterLoveAfterLockup https://t.co/yfgNUgaxnQ Starcasm (@starcasm) December 30, 2021 Fans were shocked by the details of Michael Simmons child neglect charge, in particular, the fact that the reality star wasnt mandated to take any parenting classes by the court. Its also unclear how Simmons is related to the child in question since that information was redacted from court documents, according to All About the Tea. In fact, Sarah Simmons, his estranged wife, took to social media in the days following Michael Simmons arrest, clarifying that she is not the mother of the child and that she and her two children with Simmons were not involved. With Simmons back in the spotlight due to his many legal troubles, it seems likely that more information will come to light over the next few months. As to Simmons future on reality TV, the jury is out although if theres one thing that he has proven, its that he has a knack of getting second chances. RELATED: Life After Lockup Premiere: Where are the Love After Lockup Couples Now? Prince Charles has been speaking out about environmental issues, and he recently penned an article urging for more actions to combat climate change. The Prince of Wales also commended his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, for their work in this field. Prince Harry, Prince Charles, and Prince William | John Stillwell WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Charles has been advocating for the environment since the 1970s Charles late father, Prince Philip, was passionate about various environmental causes. Philip even helped found the World Wildlife Fund in the 1960s, which has gone on to become the worlds largest conservation organization. In the 1970s, Charles also began speaking out about climate change. Although he occasionally gets criticized for allegedly being political, Charles continues to promote causes such as sustainability and conservation. He even told Vanity Fair in 2010, I am absolutely determined to be the defender of nature. Full stop. Thats what the rest of my life is going to be concerned with. In a speech at the World Economic Forum, Charles also declared, We are in the midst of a crisis that is now, I hope, well understood. Global warming, climate change, the devastating loss of biodiversity are the greatest threats that humanity has ever faced and one largely of our own creation. Prince Charles recently acknowledged his sons efforts in fighting climate change "The time is now. The eyes of our children and grandchildren are judging us. Let ours be the generation that can. And does." Exclusive: Prince Charles says "our children are judging us" on climate change https://t.co/ehNowMuat6 pic.twitter.com/8pjLiLtVio Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 4, 2022 RELATED: Prince William and Prince Harry Are Absolutely Sick Prince Charles Wants Camilla Parker Bowles to Have Queen Title Destined for Princess Diana, Royal Author Says Like his father before him, Charles has passed his love for the environment to his sons. In recent years, William and Harry have been making their marks on the world, and the two of them are also trying to continue the fight against climate change. Sixty years ago, my late father identified the damage humankind was inflicting on the planet and helped to found the World Wildlife Fund, Charles wrote in a recent article for Newsweek. A decade later, when I first spoke publicly about the environment, many wondered if my sense of urgency was misplaced. That view has shifted in the intervening decades, though all too slowly, and, even today, lacks the urgency needed. Charles added, As a father, I am proud that my sons have recognised this threat. Most recently, my elder son, William, launched the prestigious Earthshot Prize to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years by identifying and investing in the technologies that can make a difference. And my younger son, Harry, has passionately highlighted the impact of climate change, especially in relation to Africa, and committed his charity to being net zero. Charles went on to urge people to adopt a We mentality and work together to tackle some of the difficult challenges humanity is facing. How is Prince Charles and Prince Harrys relationship? RELATED: Prince Harry and Prince Charles Used to Talk for Hours and Hours Before Their Relationship Went Downhill In early 2021, there were many reports that Charles and Harry had a falling out. Around that time, Harry publicly spoke to media outlets to share grievances about royal life and even criticized Charles parenting skills However, it seems the father-son duo is on better terms now. In December, sources, including royal expert Stewart Pierce, told Us Weekly that Charles and Harry have been communicating and trying to resolve their differences. Trisha Yearwood is proud to say she hails from Georgia in the town of Monticello. Yearwood loves to recreate the food traditions she learned as a young girl from her dad Jack and mother Gwen. Many of these recipes have been featured in her Food Network series Trishas Southern Kitchen. Other than Yearwood, another famous export from the state are sweet, luscious peaches. Yearwood uses these tasty fruits to create all types of luscious and sweet desserts, but perhaps her favorite is Peach Cobbler. Trisha Yearwood | Theo Wargo/Getty Images Peaches are Georgias State Fruit The U.S. Department of Agriculture ranks Georgia as one of the top four peach-producing states along with California, South Carolina, and New Jersey, reported the website Explore Georgia. However, there are other surprising facts about peaches that not everyone is familiar with. Did you know that peaches are a member of the rose family? This relationship is likely why their sugary sweet filling and smell are likened to a floral scent. Georgias peaches mainly grow in Crawford, Taylor, Macon, and Peach counties. The state is known for creating the worlds largest peach cobbler. It is made each year at the Georgia Peach Festival in Fort Valley and is 11 by 5 feet in width and about eight inches deep. While Yearwoods cobbler is not that large, it is just as tasty. The recipe for Easy Peach Cobbler is a cinch to make Trisha Yearwood also uses peaches in her Georgia Peach Cheesecakes. If you have some canned peaches, butter, self-rising flour, sugar, and milk, you can make Yearwoods peach cobbler. Self-rising flour is needed to create the crust above the canned peaches. It makes a sweet topping that gives the cobbler a cake-like consistency. If you do not have self-rising flour at home, it is easy to pull it together with pantry staples. Just mix ordinary flour with baking powder and salt. Trisha Yearwood also makes a mean Peach Melba Pie in a cast iron skillet Yearwood also features her home states fruit in a skillet dessert called Peach Melba Pie, featured on the Food Network website. This particular recipe includes the creation of a dough, which takes a bit more time to make than the cobbler, as mentioned above. However, if you have the extra time, it is well worth the effort for this showstopper of a dessert. The filling includes butter, peach preserves, brandy ginger, lemon juice, fresh peaches, and raspberries. The whole recipe for Easy Georgia Cobbler is available on the Food Network website. Trishas Southern Kitchen airs Saturdays at noon EST on the Food Network. RELATED: Trisha Yearwoods Chicken Tortilla Soup Is a Warm Make-Ahead Marvel: Dinners Done When Calls the Heart star Erin Krakow promises that season 9 of the Hallmark Channel series will feature plenty of romance plus a few steamy scenes when it airs in 2022. Season 8 of the period drama ended with Krakows character Elizabeth finally deciding to pursue a relationship with saloon owner Lucas Bouchard (Chris McNally). Fans can look forward to seeing the pairs relationship further evolve next season. Erin Krakow hints at whats to come in When Calls the Heart Season 9 Chris McNally and Erin Krakow in the When Calls the Heart Season 8 finale | 2021 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: RELATED: When Calls the Heart: Chris McNally Shares First Season 9 Photo of Lucas and Elizabeth, and Fans Cant Handle It Krakow, who grew up in Florida, recently spoke with Palm Beach Illustrated about When Calls the Heart and her acting career. We will have more romance and steamy scenes in season 9, she said. My role as Elizabeth keeps me challenged as she delves into fresh adventures. The Army Wives alum has said that shes eager for fans to see whats in store for her and Lucas. I cant wait for everyone to finally see our characters, Elizabeth and Lucas, together as a couple in the new season, Krakow said while introducing a season 9 teaser with her co-star (via Hallmark Channel). Lucas takes Elizabeth on a hot air balloon ride in season 9 clip Fans have already gotten a taste of what to expect from the new episodes. In a season 9 clip shared by Hallmark Channel, Lucas whisks Elizabeth away on a romantic hot air balloon ride. In another teaser, the couple shares a sweet moment together when Lucas meets Elizabeth outside the Hope Valley library. This could be one of those little moments that we can keep on sharing, he says as he walks her home. You realize that by pointing out the little moments you do in fact make them big moments? she replies. Well, regardless, Im looking forward to having more time for all types of moments, he says before kissing her hand. While its not clear what prompted Lucas comment about little moments, it sounds like he and Elizabeth might have had a conversation about his tendency to make grand romantic gestures. Perhaps shes suggested that he doesnt always need to show his love in an over-the-top way. When Calls the Heart Season 9 is all about love Romance and love will be a theme throughout When Calls the Heart Season 9, and not just for Elizabeth and Lucas. Love is in the air, said Pascale Hutton, who plays Rosemary Coulter, in a first look video for Hallmark Channel. Theres new love, theres young love, theres newlywed love, theres mature love. Love. Love is what is happening. That is the storyline for this season. Evan Nathan Grant (Kevin McGarry), who was left heartbroken at the end of season 8 when Elizabeth chose Lucas, may have a new woman in his life. Another clip shows him meeting Mei Suo (Amanda Wong), whos new to Hope Valley in season 9. The two share a flirty moment that suggests romance could be in store for the Mountie and the mystery woman. When Calls the Heart Season 9 airs in 2022 on Hallmark Channel. Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook! RELATED: When Calls the Heart Season 9: Erin Krakow Promises More Drama, Adventure, and Romance The Heubach Group and SK Capital Partners announced the completion of the acquisition of Clariants Global Colorants Business (Clariant Pigments). The combined business will operate under the Heubach brand, creating a global pigment technology and industry leader. The newly combined Heubach Group (the Company) is a leading global provider of comprehensive color solutions, supplying a broad portfolio of organic, inorganic, and anti-corrosive pigments, pigment preparations, dyes, colorants and specialty materials. The Company operates its global business from 19 manufacturing facilities across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, employing approximately 3,000 people. The headquarters of the Heubach Group will be established in Vienna, Austria. Johann Heubach of the Heubach Group, stated The new Heubach is a world-class organization with great talent, technology and assets. For us, product excellence and sustainability are core. We are well-positioned to create significant value for our customers and business partners across the many industries we serve. Aaron Davenport, a Managing Director of SK Capital, noted The combination of Heubach and Clariant Pigments creates an industry leader committed to the highest standards in manufacturing, quality and service. We look forward to supporting management in the growth and improvement of the Company by investing into talent, innovation and market expansion. The Heubach Group is excited to announce the appointment of Stefan Doboczky as Chief Executive Officer of the Heubach Group, effective January 10, 2022. Mr. Doboczky joins the Heubach Group having most recently served as CEO of Lenzing AG, a global leader of cellulosic fibers and biochemicals. Prior to Lenzing, Mr. Doboczky was member of the Managing Board of Royal DSM, the Dutch Life Science and Material Science Group, where he spent almost two decades in various general management roles. Mr. Doboczky holds a PhD in Natural Science from the Technical University of Vienna (A), as well as an MBA from IMD in Lausanne (CH). Stefan Doboczky noted I am very excited to join the new Heubach Group. I am convinced that by combining these successful businesses we will create a powerful offering for our customers in the pigment and colorant space. Pneumococcal pneumonia, the most common type of bacterial pneumonia, is caused by bacteria that can be spread through coughing and close contact with an infected person and is a greater risk to older adults. 5 missing teen girls found, 30 arrested in 'Operation Boo Dat' Five missing and endangered teenage girls were found and 30 individuals were arrested as part of a recent lengthy U.S. Marshals endeavor in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area known as Operation Boo Dat. The operation took place from mid-October until Christmas Eve and resulted in five girls being found, according to a U.S. Marshals announcement released last week. The Marshals New Orleans Task Force coordinated their efforts with the New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, and the Louisiana State Police. The five teenage girls, ages 14 to 17, were found by authorities, and 30 arrests, including 17 that were for felony sex offender registration violations, were made. U.S. Marshal Scott Illing of the Eastern District of Louisiana said in a statement quoted in the announcement that the operation made the area safer, and credited law enforcement teamwork for their success. This work was accomplished during an interrupted period shortly after the death of one of our areas USMS Senior Inspectors, Jared Keyworth, who died in a line of duty automobile accident in Mississippi, and during post Hurricane Ida recovery and continuing COVID-19 issues, said Illing. We believe that Senior Inspector Keyworth would be proud of the continuing work to reduce violent crime across the nation and dedicate the results of Operation Boo Dat 2021 to his memory. Operation Boo Dat is an annual operation conducted by the Marshals and New Orleans law enforcement, with the 2020 endeavor resulting in the recovery of four missing or endangered children and 32 arrests. According to a press release from 2020, that years operation went from Oct. 19 to Dec. 11, and included more than 100 sex offender compliance checks in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes. Sex Offender compliance checks require law enforcement officers to go to the sex offenders reported address of residence to verify that the person still lives at the provided address, stated the Marshals in 2020. Often times countless hours of follow up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check. In February of last year, authorities in Arizona arrested 37 people accused of child sex crimes and large-scale human trafficking as part of Operation Broken Hearts. Adored Michigan priest dies in crash day after 53rd birthday Barely a day after celebrating his 53rd birthday on Sunday, Fr. David Hudgins, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Lansing and pastor of the St. Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn, Michigan, was killed in a car crash Monday, devastating family, friends and parishioners who absolutely adored him. The Diocese of Lansing announced his death in a statement on Facebook Monday evening, calling for prayers. Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Father David Hudgins, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Lansing and Pastor of Saint Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn, who was killed in a car accident this morning, the diocese said, noting that the crash occurred just before 8:30 a.m. on U.S. 127 between Page Avenue and South Street in Jackson County. Michael Jester, director of public safety for Blackman-Leoni Township, told Daily Telegram that Hudgins, who was a resident of Brooklyn, was on his way to pick up a family member from the airport when the crash happened. Jester said the pastor, who was driving a 1999 Dodge Ram pickup northbound, lost control of the vehicle on the icy roads, went through a median, rolled over, then landed in the southbound lanes of U.S. 127. He was pronounced dead at the scene and was the only occupant of the vehicle. Officials at the Saint Joseph Shrine were not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Wednesday, but friends like fellow Michigan priest, Fr. Joseph Krupp, shared warm memories on him online. We shared a rectory for 3 years & they were amazing years because of his goodness. He was filled with joy, fueled by prayer & humbly obscured his razor sharp intellect with great humor. We are devastated by this loss in our diocese, Krupp said in a tweet on Monday in which he also recalled how much Hudgins parishioners absolutely adored him. He loved the Eucharist. He was crazy about Chesterton & Tolkien. His parishioners absolutely adored him. I know with all my heart that this morning, a voice he knew & loved all his life said to him Well done, good & faithful servant, Krupp added. Please pray for our Bishop @BishopBoyea. Pray for the soul of Fr. David. Pray for his parishes. Ill miss you, brother; I hope to see you in the clearing at the end of the path. Until that day, pray that Im a good priest. The Catholic Charities of Jackson Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties also expressed sadness about Hudgins passing, noting how he was a strong supporter of their work. We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our friend Fr. David Hudgins, the group began in a statement on Facebook. Fr. Dave was a former Board member at Catholic Charities, a member of our St. Teresa of Calcutta Giving Society, and a tremendous supporter of our work. He will be greatly missed by us all. May the angels welcome him this day to paradise. Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. There will be a visitation on Jan. 7 from 2-7 p.m. at St. Joseph Shrine Church. His funeral will take place on Jan. 8 at 10 a.m., at St. Mary Cathedral located at 219 Seymour Ave. in Lansing. Big Daddy Weaves Jay Weaver dies from COVID-19: My heart's broke for my family' Big Daddy Weaves Jason Weaver, better known as Jay, has died from complications due to COVID-19 after many years of battling other health conditions. Big Daddy Weave frontman Mike Weaver took to Facebook on Sunday to announce that his younger brother and bandmate went to be with Jesus on Jan. 2. He was 42. The late artist was a founding member of the band. He played bass guitar and sang with the Christian group. Even though COVID may have taken his last breath, Jesus was right there to catch him, Weaver shared in the video announcement. While noticeably broken up about his loss, Weaver said he is celebrating the fact that his brother is in Heaven. Hes seeing things now that I long to see. My hearts broke for my family but we all just really wanted to thank you for walking with us through so much for so long, he continued. The Lord used Jay in mighty ways, Weaver testified. The musician is survived by his wife, Emily, and their three children. According to a previous message posted by Big Daddy Weave, Jay Weaver was in the hospital for at least five days fighting a tough battle against COVID. Emily Weaver also released a statement at the time that said, I just want my best friend/everything to get better. Her husband died the following day. Jay Weaver had diabetes for 20 years, and the illness severely weakened his bodys immune system and ability to stave off infection, which resulted in the amputation of both of his feet. He remained in the band for five years following the amputations. However, shortly before his death, the bassist announced hed made the difficult decision to come off the road with Big Daddy Weave for a time to focus on his health. In August 2021, Big Daddy Weave said that the younger Weaver had suffered side effects from his dialysis treatments that led to him being admitted into the intensive care unit. However, God answered their prayers and he recovered. Prayers for healing can now turn into prayers of thanksgiving that Jay is with the Lord! Mike Weaver concluded in his video message on Sunday. Hollywood actor Nathaniel Buzolic compares Dubai's Burj Khalifa to Tower of Babel, shares Gospel Actor Nathaniel Buzolic, known for his roles in Hacksaw Ridge and Vampire Diaries, used a recent visit to Dubai to share a Bible lesson and the Gospel with his 2 million online followers. Buzolic, an outspoken Christian, posted a photo of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai over the holidays and used the account in Genesis of the Tower of Babel to share about the Savior of the world. Come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its tops in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves, he quoted on Instagram along with the photo of the famous building. This was mans plan in the book of Genesis, this was mans desire from long ago. This plan was not to glorify God but to glorify self. To not honor Gods glory but to rival Gods glory with His own. Though he's a mainstream movie star, the Australian entertainer regularly uses his platform to share the Gospel. God will disperse the nations and choose one man after this event, Buzolic continued, speaking of the Tower of Babel. And through that one man God will make a people for himself. A people who would be instructed to honor God, follow God and bring God to all the nations once more. And from Abraham, One man will come from Israel who will tower above all men. For this man was promised by God and sent by God the messiah. The 38 year old then encouraged his followers to trust solely in God. There is only one name in heaven or on earth which can bring about salvation from mans curse of sin. Mans initial desire to glorify self. This name is Yeshua. Jesus of Nazareth, Buzolic wrote. Glory to God in the highest. He ended his post with a description of the photo. Pictured currently the tallest tower in the world the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Stretching as close as it can to the heavens. In recent days, Buzolic has posted several photos of Israel along with Bible messages. In one post, he spoke of Jesus as a healer. The Originals star also shared about Satan tempting Christ in the wilderness. In every message shared, he pointed back to the Word of God and his strong Christian faith. In an interview with Insights in 2018, Buzolic talked about how he navigates being a Christian while working in Hollywood and the television industry. Buzolic explained that his faith is helpful in enabling me to disconnect from a business that is based on how you look, how much money you make, how relevant you are and how many followers you have. Look at the teachings of Jesus. It is an absolute upside-down kingdom where the person who is last is first, the person who serves is considered greatest in the kingdom of God, he added. During that interview, he also declared that the world does not need another star. Instead, it needs to start listening to the truth of what Jesus said. Buzolic came to know Jesus Christ as his Savior at 27, after running into a bunch of dead ends in his life. I saw a huge difference, he said after making the decision to follow Jesus. Since coming to faith, Buzolic revealed he's shared Christ with others on television and movie sets. He noted that when talking to people in show business, what you start to realize is that people who are so against it havent really had a chance to have explained who Jesus is and what He represents very well. Along with acting, Buzolic founded Palm Sundays Co., an apparel and clothing company inspired by the Gospel. Over 100 Christian colleges have ties to Planned Parenthood: report A new report reveals that more than 100 Christian colleges and universities in the United States have had ties to Planned Parenthood, the nations largest abortion business, in the past two years. The Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, a project of the pro-life group Students for Life of America, released a report detailing Planned Parenthoods relationship with Christian Colleges & Universities in the U.S. over the past two years. Specifically, the report, released last month, analyzed all 784 colleges and universities in the U.S. that are affiliated with a Christian church, finding that 103 of the colleges had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood. The report is part of SFLAs Christian Schools Project, designed to raise public awareness of Christian schools maintaining relationships with Planned Parenthood in order to encourage infracting schools to restore their Christian values by cutting ties with the abortion giant. According to the report, a relationship with Planned Parenthood represents an endorsement of abortion violence and an alarming departure from the Christian tradition and biblical values. In addition to the report, SFLA published a detailed document providing evidence of the schools relationships with Planned Parenthood. In the report, schools received a grade on a scale from A+ to F based on the degree of their respective relationships with Planned Parenthood. Schools with four or more infractions received an F, while schools with no infractions received an A. A letter grade was docked for each additional infraction up to four. Schools that took the added step of promoting pro-life pregnancy centers as an alternative to Planned Parenthood were awarded an A+. The research conducted by Students for Life of America revealed that the promotion of Planned Parenthood as a student resource constituted 56% of all infractions. For example, Trinity Washington University, a Catholic school in Washington, D.C., includes Planned Parenthood as a Womens Health resource on its website. The Presbyterian-affiliated Illinois College lists Planned Parenthood as an example of where students can put their gender and womens studies degrees into practice. An additional 31% of infractions arose from schools listing of Planned Parenthood as an active internship opportunity where students can receive course credit. The report cited Luther College, a Lutheran institution located in Iowa, as an example of a Christian school allowing students to intern at Planned Parenthood. The remaining types of infractions were partnering with Planned Parenthood for at least one event in the preceding year (6%), listing the abortion provider as an example of a future career opportunity (4%), touting the organization as a volunteer opportunity (2%) and advertising Planned Parenthood events on the school website (1%). Of the 103 schools with at least one infraction, 22% received an F rating, 20% received a D rating, 19% received a C rating, and a plurality (39%) received a B rating. Schools that received an F rating, indicating a committed relationship with Planned Parenthood, included Duke University, associated with the United Methodist Church, and Emory University, affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Duke lists Planned Parenthood as an option for family planning services, advertised the position of public affairs intern at the abortion provider, and includes a web exhibit of Planned Parenthood featuring links to its social media accounts and website. Emorys Rollins School of Public Health includes Planned Parenthood as a resource, and the nearby Planned Parenthood of Atlanta serves as a rotation site for medical students studying gynecology. The 27 schools with F ratings were primarily affiliated with Protestant denominations. Only one Catholic school, St. Michaels College in Vermont, received the lowest possible rating. Three prominent Catholic schools, Marymount University, Sacred Heart University and St. John Fisher College, received D ratings, along with 12 schools affiliated with Protestant denominations. Thirteen schools, all affiliated with Protestant denominations, received a grade of C. Baylor University, a prominent Baptist school in Texas, received a B rating, as did the Washington, D.C.-based American University, which is affiliated with the Methodist Church. The overwhelming majority of Christian schools examined (666) received a grade of A. Methodist-affiliated schools accounted for a little under one-third of the share of Christian schools with a grade of B or lower, followed by 15 Presbyterian-affiliated schools, 14 Lutheran-affiliated schools, eight Catholic schools and two schools affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Schools affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the Church of the Brethren, the Moravian Church, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ accounted for one infracted school apiece. Arizona Christian University, home to the Cultural Research Center that conducts polling and analysis of the state of American culture and the beliefs of Americans, the non-denominational Hillsdale College, the notable evangelical institutions Liberty University and Regent University, and the Catholic Church-affiliated Villanova University are among the 49 schools with A+ ratings. While 69 Christian schools had a grade lower than A at the time of the reports publication, an additional 34 schools were also determined to have infractions. However, these schools ultimately severed their relationships with Planned Parenthood after Students for Life of America reached out to them. Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola University and the University of Notre Dame were among the schools that took Planned Parenthood off their websites and broke ties with the abortion giant after being notified of the relationship on their websites. All four schools now find themselves among the group of A-rated institutions. The SFLA report also cites Planned Parenthoods annual report, which states that the organization performed 354,871 abortions in 2020, before lamenting that the abortion provider had developed relationships with schools that identify as Christian institutions, despite the fact that scripture and Christian tradition are soundly anti-abortion. In a statement announcing the project earlier this year, SFLA President Kristan Hawkins slammed the unholy partnership between a number of Christian schools and the abortion industry. It is crucial that colleges and universities that claim an affiliation with the Christian faith and biblical values do not contradict those values by partnering with or promoting perpetrators of abortion violence, she added. Ransom paid for all missionaries kidnapped in Haiti but gang was divided on release: family member A family member of several of the formerly kidnapped Christian Aid Ministries missionaries in Hait said a ransom had already been paid for their release but the gang refused to set everyone free before the remaining 12 managed to escape. There had been a ransom agreement reached with the hostage-takers, and to my understanding that ransom was actually delivered the Sunday night that my wife and son and the other lady were released, Michigan resident and missionary, Ray Noecker, told MLive in an interview published Monday. The final 12 of 17 missionaries reportedly staged a daring escape from the clutches of the 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti last month while their kidnappers were busy making sure their phones were charged, WZZM reported. The daring escape of the 12 missionaries on Dec. 15, after two months in captivity, came just 11 days after the release of three others on Dec. 5, including Noeckers wife, Cheryl, and his 6-year-old son, Sheldon. His four other children, Cherilyn, 27; Courtney, 18; Brandon, 16; and Kosandra, now 14, were among the Dec. 15 escapees. Two weeks prior to that, the gang released the first two of the missionaries, reportedly for medical reasons. While he doesnt know how much money was paid and who paid for the release of the missionaries, Noecker insisted that payment was made for the entire group kidnapped on Oct. 16. The ransom agreement was for the entire group but there was some division within the gang so they were not able to release all of them at that time (Dec. 5), Noecker said. So that would be one of the reasons the gang would have told the group that were in captivity that they were being released because of the sores, the medical condition of my wife and the other lady. A source with knowledge of the first two releases told The Miami Herald that no ransom was paid even though the 400 Mawozo gang leader, Wilson Joseph, had threatened to kill all the missionaries if his gang didn't receive $1 million each for their release. Christian Aid Ministries previously shared how the group of kidnapped missionaries repeatedly plotted and prayed about their escape and waited for the right signs from God. During a luncheon and prayer vigil celebrating the safe return of his family at West Michigan Research Center, Noecker explained in a WZZM report how rain opened up a window for four of his children and the other missionaries to escape on Dec. 15. Noecker, who was preparing for a day of teaching pastors when the missionaries were abducted, explained that the guards who watched them at night usually gathered around an extension cord to charge their phones. Heavy rains on the night of their escape put the cord under water and forced the guards to move the charging of their phones to the opposite side of the building, opening the door for their eventual escape. Last month, CAM spokesman Weston Showalter said once the missionaries were away from the hostage camp, they moved toward a mountain feature identified as a landmark and journeyed Northwest under starlight. With Gods help, protection, and leading, they quickly made their way through the night. They walked for possibly as much as 10 miles, traveling through woods and thickets, working through thorns and briars. One of the hostages said, Two hours [of the walk] were through fierce brambles. We were in gang territory the whole hike, Showalter noted. The moon provided light for their path. During times they werent sure which way to go, they stopped and prayed, asking God to show them. Noecker said when he was first reunited with his entire family after the kidnapping he yodeled. I just started yodeling, he recalled. On Sunday, just days after the missionary and his family returned to West Michigan, their community came out to thank God and celebrate their safe return. "We just want to celebrate what God did," Pastor Ryan Vanderzwah said. "We prayed and He answered." Despite the kidnapping in Haiti, Noecker told WZZM that if God calls his family to go back and minister there he plans to answer that call. "God calls us to minister to the hurting people," he said. "So that would be why we went as a family, because there was a need and an opportunity to make a difference in peoples lives." Ray Bentley, author and Maranatha Chapel founder, dies from COVID-19 complications Ray Bentley, an author, radio broadcaster and pastor who helped to found the influential Evangelical megachurch, Maranatha Chapel of California, died from COVID-19 complications. In an announcement posted on Facebook Tuesday, Maranatha Chapel said Bentley died at age 64 that afternoon following complications from the coronavirus. We are all in shock and heartbroken, stated the church. We find comfort in knowing that he is rejoicing in heaven with his beloved Jesus. Please pray for [his wife] Vicki and their family and for our church. More information will follow, but for now we needed to let you know and ask for prayer. Greg Laurie, author and senior pastor of the California-based megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship, took to Twitter to offer his condolences. So sad to hear that my friend, Pastor Ray Bentley died due to complications from COVID, tweeted Laurie on Wednesday morning. Death does not have the final word, Christ does! Ray is alive and well in Heaven! He will be deeply missed. Monica Dean, a news anchor with NBC 7 San Diego, whose family was baptized by Bentley, gave her condolences on Facebook, calling him a spiritual leader, a profound biblical teacher, an inspired author, a mentor. He was a shepherd to a global congregation. He loved others with the heart of Jesus and reminded us regularly God is good all the time, said Dean. I am praying for the comfort and peace of the Bentley family may the Lord bless and keep you, make His face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you peace. Joel C. Rosenberg, a bestselling Evangelical author who serves as president and CEO of Near East Media who lives in Israel, took to Twitter to pay his respects to Bentley. Im so grateful for his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, his passion for the Bible and the gospel & his deep love for Israel. Praying for Vicki and family, tweeted Rosenberg. According to his ministry website, Bentley founded Maranatha Chapel in 1984, with the congregation eventually growing to serve approximately 7,000 people a week. Bentley also had a daily radio program on Maranathas Radio Show, wrote six books, and frequently discussed issues of biblical prophecy and history. Bentley was married to his wife for more than 40 years, and the couple had two grown, married children, as well as six grandchildren, according to his ministry website. Lysa TerKeurst announces divorce after battling to save marriage, standing 'firm' in faith despite pain Bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst has announced she and her husband, Art, will be ending their marriage of nearly 30 years after he engaged in chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage. TerKeurst, the founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries and author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, including Its Not Supposed to Be This Way and Forgiving What You Cant Forget, shared the news on social media on Saturday. The 52-year-old said that though she and her husband renewed their marriage vows three years ago after a painful separation, he has since broken those vows. It has crushed my heart to know he has broken those vows, she wrote. Over the past several years, I have fought really hard to not just save my marriage, but to survive the devastation of what consistent deception of one spouse does to the other. Its brutal and heart crushing to constantly fear the hurtful choices of someone you love. Ive had to learn the hard way theres a big difference between mistakes (which we all make) and chosen patterns of behavior that dishonor God and the biblical covenant of marriage. TerKeust, who has five children, said she believes the wisest (and hardest) choice I can make is to stop fighting to save my marriage of 29 years and, instead, accept reality. While there is clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage, I am choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for our children and grandchildren, and to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal, she wrote. In 2017, TerKeurst revealed she would be pursuing a divorce from her husband due to his infidelity and struggles with addiction. In an interview with The Christian Post, she described the experience as an excruciatingly painful time in her life. However, the couple renewed their vows just over a year later after working to restore their marriage. At the time, TerKeurst told CP that while the process of fighting for their marriage was "so, so hard, it was one we want to do. "And we want to give it the necessary time so that trust can be rebuilt, and trust takes an incredible amount of time, she said. Over the years, TerKeurst has openly discussed the emotional turmoil she experienced due to her husbands actions and Gods continued presence in her life. She previously told CP that she strives to share the perspectives and life wisdom that shes gained to highlight the evidence of God's faithfulness that shes witnessed even in the midst of really deep heartbreak. I would just encourage anybody who's walking through stuff there's someone else who needs to hear your story," she said in a 2021 interview. "I think everyone has life wisdom, evidence of God's faithfulness and experiences. ... And I think when we share our stories, if we focus on those things rather than the details of how we were hurt, that's where it becomes really helpful for other people. However, over the years, she kept details of her situation private. And in her latest post, the speaker and author explained that while there is clear biblical justification for my decision to end this marriage, she is again choosing to hold most of the details private out of respect for the couples children and grandchildren and to give space and privacy for my family and me to continue to heal. Its hard to face a future that looks nothing like what I desperately and constantly prayed it would look like, she wrote. I dont like this reality, but the truth is, relationship restoration doesnt always work. Ive cried and grieved over this and waited years hoping this wouldnt be our story. But even when restoration doesnt work, forgiveness always does. The ministry leader said that despite her circumstances, she has never been more grateful for the healing redemption God has done in my heart through the power of forgiveness. "Bitterness and resentment could be eating me alive. But, miraculously, thats not where Im at. With time, prayer, and lots of counseling, my heart is healing, she wrote. Sometimes the culmination of all our efforts and the answer to our prayers is that God restores us in relationships, TerKeurst concluded her post. And sometimes He rescues us out of relationships. I dont understand why circumstances sometimes go the way my story is now going. But Im standing firm in my faith and trusting God with every step. My family and I treasure your prayers and your compassion. A New Years resolution for American pastors Each new year we take time to reflect on where we want to focus our time, money and effort in the coming 365 days. We look at what is most important and what we can accomplish. Pastors do the same, reflecting on their churchs mission and ministry goals. We ask ourselves, where can our churches make a difference for people in our community and around the world? As we step into 2022, we need to consider the challenges facing some of our youngest worldwide. Due to COVID-19, at least 1.8 million children lost a parent, grandparent or caregiver as of May 2021, and that number continues to rise every day. It's a hidden epidemic that should grieve each of us. Additionally, studies are finding that families are struggling to care for their children with a rise in extreme poverty globally, mental health challenges, and increased stress on households. This is a solemn reality. Vulnerable children around the world and their families are in desperate need of support. Pastors, while there are many challenges our churches are facing today and as you are considering your New Years resolutions this month, I urge you to add one more: commit to supporting these children. And also commit to doing it better than we have in the past. Our approaches must focus on strengthening families around the world so they can care well for orphaned and vulnerable children. Historically, churches have rushed to build or support residential care facilities like orphanages after similar crises. My church may have responded in the same way just a few years ago. After 18 years of supporting a residential care facility for street children in Kenya, we thought we understood orphanages. We came to the realization that we didnt. In 2016, we began to ask questions about the effectiveness of our missions programming. Amidst that process, I sat down with a member of our congregation who asked the church to consider another partnership with an orphanage in a developing nation. He had tremendous praise for the orphanage. Of course our childrens home is great! Weve made it so nice, I would even send my children there. This moment was a wake-up call for me. While this person had the best of intentions, I realized then that our church had a lot of work to do. This conversation brought to the surface a deep, and perhaps intuitive, understanding that all children belong in families. I humbly shared my conviction that God designed children to thrive in families, not orphanages. That conversation was a turning point. Over the last two years, our missions department has shepherded our church through the arduous transition from supporting residential care to family care for vulnerable children. Our church used to support an orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya. Now, we partner with Agape Childrens Ministry, an organization that reunifies street children with their families in that same town. With the help of World Orphans, we also partner with a local church in Ethiopia that cares for 20 widowed mothers in their community. Weve had the privilege of witnessing the life-changing power of family strengthening. These mothers and their children are thriving together with support. Through these partnerships, weve come to understand that family separation is often preventable. And when it cant be prevented, like in the heartbreaking case of COVID orphans, other forms of family care make a way for every child to grow up in the setting God designed. When the pandemic hit, we were surprised that orphanages around the world were being shut down, including in Kenya. Members of our congregation wanted to know where the children went. The children went home to their families. The startling reality is that approximately 80 percent of children in orphanages have a living parent, and most of the remaining children have family members who are willing to care for them. However, these families often need support. As children were sent home from orphanages to avoid the spread of COVID-19, some of these families may not have been prepared to care for them, potentially leaving the children in risky situations. Its a sobering truth that emphasizes the need for programs that strengthen families. However, thats where we as Christians come in. Church leaders have an opportunity to play a key role in establishing family care as the leading solution for orphaned and vulnerable children. As Christ-followers, we need to be confident in Gods heart for the orphaned and vulnerable as found in our Holy Scripture and be prepared to say, thank you but no to ministries that do not support family care for children. We must pay attention to the over 30 years of research that prove the adverse effects of residential care. We must also be willing to forsake the traditional short-term mission model of visiting orphanages to hold babies and play with children. Pastors and elders are called by Christ to be shepherds of His flock and equip the saints for the work of ministry. We accomplish this when we are willing to repent of our past mistakes and trust a gracious Father who loves the orphaned and vulnerable more than we do. In 2022, I challenge all of you to evaluate the effectiveness of your churchs support for vulnerable children. The pandemic has placed us at one of the most pivotal moments in history, and children who have lost parents and other caregivers to COVID-19 need our support. We can follow our tradition of supporting orphanages, or we can look to Jesus for a new vision of tending to His sheep. Heading into this new year, my churchs focus on supporting family care has given me a renewed sense of peace in knowing that I am part of a larger movement doing the hard work of family restoration. We have a Savior who is in the business of restoration and my hope is that you will choose to be a part of it too. This week in Christian history: Granada conquered, Methodist missionary born Throughout the extensive history of the Church, there have been numerous events of lasting significance. Each week brings anniversaries of impressive milestones, unforgettable tragedies, amazing triumphs, memorable births, notable deaths and everything in between. Some of the events drawn from over 2,000 years of history might be familiar, while other happenings might be previously unknown by most people. This week Jan. 2-8 marks the anniversary of the birth of accomplished Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones and the completion of the Christian reconquest of Spain. 1 2 3 Next Actor Chris Tucker turns down over $10 million for movie role over religious objections to content Rapper Ice Cube has revealed that actor Chris Tucker, his co-star in the popular 1995 film Friday, didnt appear in the sequels because of his Christian faith, turning down a $10 million to $12 million offer to portray a character known for cussing and smoking marijuana. Ice Cube shared the information on social media after being asked if Tucker quit because the comedy actor, who portrayed the character Smokey in Friday, was underpaid. We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons, he tweeted. He didnt want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore. In an interview with All Urban Central last November, Tucker, who is best known for his role in the Rush Hour film franchise, had hinted at the reason why he refused to appear in the sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next. Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didnt do the second one was because of the weed. Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I dont want everybody smoking weed and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didnt do it. Because I said, I don't wanna represent everybody smoking weed. He added, And thats one of the reasons why I said, Nah. I didnt wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies. Tucker has publicly spoken about his Christian faith. In 2018, he told Piers Morgan, who was co-host of ITV's Good Morning Britain at the time, that he prayed for former President Donald Trump. I hope he does a good job, because I pray for him. I hope he does a great job, because we need a good president, he said. We need a lot of things to happen in our country, America. So I hope tomorrow he wakes up and just does the right thing. Tucker also explained why he didnt make fun of Trump. I say a little bit of stuff, but I try and encourage him to do the right thing, he said. Im not a comedian that dogs people out. I want you to do that right thing. Hopefully, we can be friends one day and we can talk. I want him to be successful. I want him to do that right thing. Thats my whole attitude and, in my show, thats what I talk about. In 2014, Tucker told the Canadian newspaper Straight that he returned to stand-up comedy because of his faith. Being a Christian helps me in comedy, he said. I have to talk about other stuff. Normally, most comics talk about stuff thats easy maybe cussing or saying something raunchy. I have to dig deeper to find something thats still funny and not raunchy. Its harder. I like the challenge. Tucker was raised Pentecostal and regularly attended church, according to FaithWire, which says the actor abandoned his faith after becoming famous but later became a born-again Christian after moving back to Atlanta in the late 1990s. Platform behind 'The Chosen' releases season 2 of clean sitcom 'Freelancers': 'People really want to laugh' At a time when clean sitcoms are hard to come by, the streaming platform behind The Chosen has released the second season of the popular, family-friendly crowdfunded series Freelancers. The online comedy show on Angel App, the new platform from Angel Studios, follows five best friends trying to make it as filmmakers and start a production company with no budget, one terrible job at a time. On the heels of the success of season one of the Freelancers which received over 7 million organic views the cast is back for a second season. In season two, we find our freelancers evicted from their house but not from friendship, notes the press release. After finding a new place ... they make videos for teens, daycare centers, local barbers, and even a magically enchanted theme park. They work hard together as best friends to make a dollar. Hopefully. Natalie Madsen, the executive producer of "Freelancers," told The Christian Post that with season two of the show, viewers can expect more of what we delivered in season one but leveled up. Crazy and lovable characters, terrible jobs, and lots of love. And of course, all family-friendly. The series features alums from BYUtvs viral sketch-comedy show, Studio C, who had gone on to create JK! Studios and is driven largely by women. I think we are an excellent show that happens to be run by women, Madsen said. Women, of course, have a unique view of the world, so that informs our comedy. We hope to be thought of as just funny leaders, regardless of our gender. I think female comedians are getting more and more recognition, which makes me happy. But women have always been funny and always been leaders. Exciting that we get the chance to do that now. Angel Studios the Provo-based group behind The Chosen and "Dry Bar Comedy" launched the Angel app to help creators crowdfund and distribute content that amplifies positive, family-friendly content. JK! Studios, which focuses on making family-friendly comedy, created season one of the show with a tiny production budget and no marketing money, yet it still got viewed millions of times, they said. But for season two, creators partnered with Angel Studios to crowdfund. The studios other projects have garnered billions of views worldwide. Dallas Jenkins, the creator of "The Chosen," previously explained to CP that though operating outside of traditional Hollywood structures has its challenges particularly regarding distribution and funding doing so allows creators to produce family-friendly content without backlash. We cant be canceled. Were owned by nobody. We dont have to alter our message whatsoever to please anybody. We play by our own rules, he said. And the support for Freelancers, Madsen said, is overwhelming; creators raised more than $1 million in funding for season two. It shows me that people really want to laugh, and laugh together. There is a need in the world and we are so lucky that we can fill it, she said, later adding: We have been so happy with how its been received and hope to grow the audience even more in 2022. Season two debuted in November, with new episodes released each week until mid-December. Already, Madsen said the response from viewers has been amazing and JK! Studios hopes to do two more seasons and possibly a "Freelancers" movie, in the future. Show creators, she added, are motivated by the idea that they can provide some levity for viewers at the end of what has been a particularly difficult year for many. The stories we hear from fans about watching it together during hard times, Madsen shared. Kids saying they watch us during chemo treatments, families watching it together after a parent has a lost a job. Helping people laugh when its hard to laugh. Thats what its all about. Freelancers season one and two are both available on Angel. Catholic college responds after student gets zero on assignment for using gendered language A Catholic college in New Hampshire has responded to a report claiming that a student in a theology class was given a zero for using gendered language such as "man" and "mankind" when completing an assignment on the book of Genesis. St. Anselm College Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Paul Pronovost told The Christian Post that a report published last week by the conservative youth organization Young America's Foundation mischaracterized grading reports in a Biblical studies course this semester. Students are not asked to change Biblical passages when quoting the Bible directly, and are not marked down when doing so, regardless of the language used in the quoted text," Pronovost said. "In making critical analysis of Biblical texts in their own writing, students in the course are expected to choose words that most accurately convey the meaning of the text, and are assessed accordingly based on how well they meet this expectation. He said that as a Benedictine college, St. Anselm "provides all students with a liberal arts education that encourages the lifelong pursuit of the truth and fosters intellectual, moral and spiritual growth." The college's statement comes after Young Americas Foundation shared a student's screenshots of comments made by Gilberto Ruiz, an associate professor of theology. The student, who asked to remain anonymous citing fear of retribution, sent it to YAFs Campus Bias Tipline. The assignment asked the student to read two passages in the Old Testaments book of Genesis using the NABRE translation and list similarities and differences between them. Both of these readings share a picture of what earth was like before God finished his creation and before God created man, the student wrote in the assignment. According to Ruiz, the students use of the word man violated a portion of the assignments rubric requiring the use of inclusive language, unless exclusive language is used to reflect the biblical texts perspective. In a comment, Ruiz urged the student to instead, use terms like humankind, humanity, human beings, people, and so forth" when referring to the human species. The professor also took issue with the students use of the word mankind when listing the differences between the two Bible passages. According to YAF, the assignment was graded as all-or-nothing. Therefore, the student received a zero for the assignment because it did not use inclusive language. According to the rubric, the student also did not use direct quotations from the NABRE translation, which uses gender-neutral language. Ruiz did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview with CP, YAF spokesman Spencer Brown cited what happened to the St. Anselm student as an example demonstrating that many Catholic colleges have gone very far to the left and sort of bought into the same liberal orthodoxy that we see at larger, liberal colleges. Its sad to see that even courses dealing with biblical text have been corrupted by the lefts influence in higher education, he said. Earlier this summer, another concerned student reached out to the YAF campus bias tipline to share a syllabus from an English class at Iowa State University that warned of retributions for students who used language or made arguments she disagreed with. The professor banned students from committing any instances of othering such as racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, sorophobia, transphobia, classism, mocking of mental health issues, (and) body shaming in class, citing the aforementioned offenses as grounds for dismissal from the classroom. She also banned students from making arguments against gay marriage, abortion, [and] Black Lives Matter. Emporia, KS (66801) Today Rain. Thunderstorms possible...mainly in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 61F. Winds ESE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible. Parents sue Catholic school to nullify $1.35M donation pledge over woke culture School labels couple's claims 'false and unsubstantiated' A Florida couple has filed a lawsuit against a Catholic school, claiming that the academic institution has a woke climate at odds with its claims of being a Catholic entity and wants their $1.35 million donation pledge voided. Anthony and Barbara Scarpo filed the complaint last month against the Academy of the Holy Names of Tampa and its leadership. Adam S. Levine, a law professor and attorney for the Scarpos, provided The Christian Post with a copy of the complaint filed in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Hillsborough County. The complaint charges the academy with several counts of breach of contract related to the familys belief that the school provides the antithesis of a Catholic education by focusing solely on the new, politically correct, woke culture. Defendant Academy used Plaintiffs names, images, and personal relationships to raise funds including 1.35 million dollars from Plaintiffs where 1 million dollars was a testamentary pledge and $350,000.00 was a cash gift pledge, stated the complaint. Plaintiffs here sue Defendants seeking further declaration that their 1.35-million-dollar gift pledge be held null and void, that all pending testamentary and cash gift pledges be cancelled, that any already paid funds be returned, and that tuition be refunded and donated to Tampa Bay Catholic Charities designated by Plaintiffs. In an interview with CP Friday, Levine said that the Scarpo family wanted to provide a Catholic education for their two daughters at the Academy of the Holy Names. They were promised a Catholic Education. The Scarpos became enamored with the school and ultimately pledged $1.35 million when a capital campaign was announced, Levine explained. The President, Art Raimo then asked the Scarpos to lead the campaign. The Scarpos became the face of the schools fundraising campaign. According to Levine, the Scarpos had a change of heart when the school invited a radical-left speaker for a school assembly. The speaker reportedly told the students that they were too white and essentially that they should be guilty because their parents could afford to send them to the Academy. The Scarpos tried over the course of two years to resolve the Academys dramatic shift towards its virtue-signaling of being woke. And the president and board all refused to meet with them claiming, as they do now, that they provide a Catholic education, he continued. Neither the Scarpos nor I care not about publicity or building a brand. Rather the Scarpos seek to require the school to either adhere to its Catholic name and educate its students in Catholicism or cease advertising itself as a Catholic school. The lawsuit states that at some point during the Scarpo children's tenure at the academy, "the Academy lost its way." The complaint argues that the school is "embracing the new, politically correct, divisive and 'woke' culture where gender identity, human sexuality, and pregnancy termination among other 'hot-button issues,' took center stage ..." "... Catholicism and the Catholic Catechism were relegated to what was billed as an unfortunate past deserving of its Students guilt for not having been 'woke' sooner," the lawsuit claims. The academy's communications director, Emily Wise, told CP on Friday that while the school could not comment on the litigation, they consider the allegations to be false and unsubstantiated. The Academys curriculum is, and always has been, based on Catholic values and rigorous academic standards. Our graduates have earned admittance to many of the best colleges and universities in America and matriculate prepared for rich and rewarding lives, Wise stated. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, the schools founding order, are dedicated to the full development of the human person through education, social justice, contemplation and the arts. Wise provided CP with a copy of a letter sent in late June on behalf of the school by Tampa lawyer Gregory A. Hearing, contending that the lawsuit was a publicity stunt." The letter expressed plans to file a motion to dismiss. Hearing added that for a court to delve into whether the substance of matters taught by a Catholic school are consistent with a Catholic education would entangle the court excessively in religious matters, and thereby violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Over 42.6M abortions conducted in 2020, surpassing world's leading causes of death Over 42 million abortions occurred in 2020, far surpassing the totals of people who perished as a result of the worlds leading causes of death. According to data compiled by the Worldometer, a reference website that monitors statistics on health, the global population, the use of resources and deaths in real-time, over 40 million abortions are performed worldwide annually. The website tabulates statistics on abortion made available from the World Health Organization. The last available snapshot of the Worldometer as it appeared on New Years Eve, captured by the internet archive tool The Wayback Machine, reveals that more than 42.6 million abortions were performed worldwide in 2020. By comparison, communicable diseases killed more than 13 million people worldwide in 2020. About 8.2 million people worldwide lost their lives to cancer while nearly 5.1 million people and 2.5 million people succumbed to death as a result of smoking and alcohol, respectively. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 1.8 million people worldwide died of coronavirus in 2020. Other leading causes of death in 2020 included road traffic accident fatalities, of which there were nearly 1.4 million. Additionally, suicides are responsible for nearly 1.1 million deaths across the globe. The total number of deaths worldwide in 2020, excluding abortions, was nearly 59 million. But if abortions were counted as a cause of death rather than just another health statistic, the global death toll in 2020 would increase to more than 100 million. The number of pregnancies terminated worldwide in 2020 is greater than the total number of people that succumbed to all other leading causes of death listed. The year 2020 is not the first where the total number of abortions has surpassed the totals of people who died from the leading causes of death. As previously reported, Worldometer reported that there were about 42.4 million abortions that occurred in 2019. While abortion is the leading cause of death worldwide, it has also been the leading cause of death in the United States in recent years. According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 862,320 abortions were performed in the U.S. in 2017. That same year, heart disease which is frequently cited as the leading cause of death in the U.S., took the lives of 647,457 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2017, the total number of deaths in the United States, excluding abortions, was 2,813,503. Already in 2021, Worldometer shows that there have been over 435,000 abortions since the beginning of the new year worldwide as of Monday evening. As abortion remained the leading cause of death worldwide in 2020, countries across the world elected to take drastically different public policy approaches regarding the polarizing issue. Last week, Argentinas legislature passed a bill allowing elective abortions to take place during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Previously, the South American country only allowed abortions if a woman was raped or if her life was in jeopardy as a result of the pregnancy. In October 2020, Polands Constitutional Tribunal, the countrys equivalent of a supreme court, ruled that a law permitting abortions based on fetal defects violated the countrys constitution. The ruling had the effect of making abortions legal in Poland only in cases of rape or incest or if the mothers life or health were at risk. A survey conducted last year by Ipsos found that support for abortion has dropped in most countries worldwide since Ipsos first began tracking the worlds attitudes about abortion in 2014. Worldwide, the support for abortion dropped from 72% in 2014 to 70% in 2020. The strongest decline in support for abortion was recorded in Germany, where support decreased by 9%. Other countries where support for abortion dropped in that time period included Sweden, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. While Belgium, Australia, Canada and Argentina saw support for abortion increase from 2014 to 2020, no country saw as pronounced an increase as South Korea, where support rose by 20%. Sadie Robertson Huff encourages young adults to find God-centered identity at Passion 2022 Speaker and author Sadie Robertson Huff encouraged young believers to find their identity in Christ and not in what the world or personality tests tell them in order to live God-glorifying lives and discover their purpose. I want to remind you of who you are tonight. I want to talk about identity, which should be a great conversation, right?" the 24-year-old "Duck Dynasty" star told thousands of young adults gathered for Passion 2022 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 2. "As a culture, we love to talk about identity. Were obsessed with our identity," she continued. "We love to talk about who we are. But also, its kind of strange because although we are obsessed with talking about who we are, nobody likes to actually be hit with the question, 'Who are you? For many, there is "anxiety and insecurity" around the question, "Who am I?" Huff contended. Because truthfully, youre sitting here right now and I know there are thousands of you in this room thinking the same thing: I have no clue who I am.' ... That is a hard place to be, friends, but you're not alone, she added. Other times, people tend to be confused about who they are because they identify with many different things instead of finding fulfillment in their God-given identity. A few weeks ago, Huff said, she wrote a post on Instagram which asked her followers the question: "What do you identify yourself with?" The first group of respondents identified external factors such as "my looks" and "my sexuality." The second group of people, however, responded with confidence," "I am who [God] says I am." Although Huff said she finds the second group of people's answers to be awesome, she said, she imagines that some of the people at the Passion conference sent answers from both groups. Thats awesome that you know the answer to that question, she said. Has that actually changed who you are? Has who He says that you are actually changed the nature of who you are? Because we can say it all day long and we can even say it with confidence, but that doesnt mean were a confident person. Huff shared how, in the past, she was "insecure," afraid" and "living in shame" despite understanding what God said about her. "What He said about me didnt actually change me, she said. Friends, you can know everything He says about you, but what ultimately matters is who He is to you. If Hes not on the throne of your life, then what He says about you isnt actually going to change who you are." The Live Original author read from Matthew 16:13, where Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say I am?" In response, the Apostle Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Then, Jesus responds by saying: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "Notice, when Peter recognized who Jesus was, Jesus in return told Peter who he was, Huff explained. Peters identity was not found in who Peter found himself to be," she continued. "Peters identity was not found in who other people told Peter that he was or what they thought of him. Peters identity was found in who Jesus said he was, after first establishing that Jesus is God. Thats the most important question you can answer tonight, friends: Who is God to you? Whoever is on the throne of someones life dictates who they are, she stressed. Therefore, it's important for Christians to know their identity, because who a Christian believes they are will directly impact their actions. After Peter was given his identity, he then was given his mission to build a church. So we have to understand who God is, to understand who we are, to understand what we are called to do," she declared. Many times, Huff said, Christians in society look to the world or personality tests more than they look to Jesus in order to find their identity. "Were trying to take all these personality tests to lead us and guide us through our lives instead of leaning on the Holy Spirit," she lamented. Were scrolling through social media trying to figure out answers to these massive questions about who we are, looking at TikTok, looking at Snapchat articles, trying to figure out, 'Who am I? instead of really leaning into the voice of God, Huff said. She added that though she appreciates personality tests like the Enneagram and MyersBriggs, she understands that none of those things can tell her more about who she is than the One who knit her together in her mother's womb. Because what happens is, when I say that those things are what I identify with, it excuses me to not have to be what Im called to be," she said. "I'll say I have a very fearful personality. Im just going to be afraid because thats who I am. Thats how I was created. This is my identity.' But the Word of God said: Youve not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control. Some biblical principles "don't feel natural," Huff said, such as the concept of "turning the other cheek" or resisting sexual temptation. "But Im going to tell you something that culture will never tell you: Although it may be legitimate to have those feelings, more legitimate than that, is the truth of what God says that you are," she said. At a time when the word "truth" has lost its meaning, Huff encouraged audiences to remember that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. "We want to be our own version of truth," she continued. "We want to be loved. We want to be power. We want to get control over our life. And we're trying to take on all these attributes of God. What we're not considering is trying to carry the weight of who God is. You also have to consider that you've got to carry the weight of your sin." Every person is created "original," Huff said, but "we can't go find out more about our originality and our identity by who the world says we are." "We have to find that in who God is, who He created us to be, based off the nature of who He is," she declared. When believers "get a good look at who God is" and know who they are in Christ, the "enemy will no longer try to intimidate you because he's intimidated by who God is within you," she declared. Huff quoted what the Bible says about the character and nature of God, reminding attendees that He is "our Savior, our guide, our peace, our Lord." "When you fall, He will lift you up. When you fail, He will forgive you. When you're weak, He is strong. When you're afraid, He is your courage," she emphasized. "If you believe that that is who your God is, you will not be confused by who you are, because He's not confused by who He is, and He is not confused on the purpose of your life." Launched by Louie Giglio in 1997, the Passion movement "has a singular mission calling students and leaders from campuses across the nation and cities around the world to live for what matters most," reads the event website. Other speakers at this years two-day event included Tim Tebow, David Platt, Jackie Hill-Perry, Christine Caine and others. Students for Life releases first list of Christian colleges with ties to Planned Parenthood A pro-life group has released its first list of Christian colleges and universities in the United States that have ties to Planned Parenthood. On Wednesday, Students for Life of America announced in a press release the preliminary findings of its ongoing investigation into more than 700 Christian colleges and universities across the U.S., which found that as many as 100 have "quiet relationships" with Planned Parenthood that "fly under the radar. The first list names 23 colleges that partner with the abortion giant in some form. Two schools that were on the initial list of 25 have since severed ties with the nation's largest abortion business. Christian colleges found to have relationships with Planned Parenthood in Students for Life's first wave of research include: four Catholic institutions, five Lutheran schools, six universities affiliated with the United Methodist Church, two Methodist institutions, two colleges affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, one Methodist Episcopal university, one university affiliated with the United Church of Christ, one university affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, and a theological seminary affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. Students for Life also provides a map of the U.S. showing the locations of colleges and universities that have ties to Planned Parenthood. The map will be updated as more institutions of higher learning are added or removed. The types of connections Christian colleges' were found to have with Planned Parenthood include such things as " ... advertising Planned Parenthood internships and career postings; referring students to Planned Parenthood as a resource; incorporating Planned Parenthood into medical school rotations; and hosting events for students with the abortion giant. There is an unholy partnership between a number of Christian schools and the abortion industry, said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life. We want to equip pro-life advocates to take action and encourage schools to disentangle themselves from Big Abortion," she added. "It is crucial that colleges and universities that claim an affiliation with the Christian faith and biblical values do not contradict those values by partnering with or promoting perpetrators of abortion violence. In an interview with The Christian Post, Hawkins explained that, surprisingly, many Christian colleges are hostile to the idea of a Students for Life group on campus. The hardest places for us to start a Students for Life group is often on a private school campus and particularly Christian school campuses where we dont have the same First Amendment rights as you would on a public school to be able to a launch a Students for Life, pro-life group on campus. We have to make the case to Christian schools why we need to have a Students for Life, she added. The majority of women who seek an abortion are self-proclaimed Christians. There are abortion facilities, 600 of them operating in the United States, many of them are across the street or within neighborhoods of an active church or parish. So Christians need to speak out against the atrocity of abortion. Hawkins told CP that Students for Life has worked to make the colleges aware of their relationships with Planned Parenthood and asked them to cut ties with the organization. Two of the 25 colleges identified as having relationships with Planned Parenthood in the first released list and then decided to cut their ties with the abortion giant were Messiah College and St. Francis University, both based in Pennsylvania. The two institutions reversed course after being contacted by pro-life advocates. According to Hawkins, some Christian colleges are openly enthusiastic about their association with Planned Parenthood. In some cases, we had situations where the school openly supported Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry and was obstinate in their response to us. And that to me, I think, was the most surprising, she recalled. Hawkins specifically mentioned a correspondence Students for Life had with the campus minister of a college in Minnesota, who talked about how much she supported Planned Parenthood and a womans right to have an abortion, and they were proud to be partners with Planned Parenthood on campus. The list of colleges with ties to Planned Parenthood is just the first of several more to be released by the organization in the coming months. Hawkins said there will be two more waves of schools before the Students for Life Institute for Pro-Life Advancement publishes a full report on the schools found to have ties with Planned Parenthood later this year, most likely in August or September. UN agency publishes guidance pushing controversial' sex education The United Nations Population Fund has released new guidance on comprehensive sexuality education, providing a sex education framework for school-aged children outside of the classroom setting. But some have raised concerns over it. Dr. Rebecca Oas, director of research for the socially conservative Center for Family and Human Rights, believes the International Technical and Programmatic Guidance on Out-of-School Comprehensive Sexuality Education is part of an effort to ensure that students around the world receive the U.N.s controversial sex education, wherever they are. This particular guidance is about taking that type of education and packaging it in ways where it can be given to students both outside and inside the formal education system, she told The Christian Post. If youre a parent who keeps an eye on these things in school and maybe opts your child out of a class where theyre going to be teaching things that you dont agree with but then you send them to a summer camp and they receive that same education there, its about making it that much more inescapable. One of the major problems with this is that comprehensive sexuality education is trying to teach a comprehensive education through the realms of sexuality as opposed to teaching a comprehensive education of which that is a part. Not everything comes back to that, she explained. But in the end, really, what it comes down to is we need parents to be aware and be vigilant, to decide what kind of influences their children are receiving and to remember that they as parents are the primary educators of their children. The guidance is not binding on any country, she noted, and is more a matter of giving suggestions that people who like the type of educational materials can pick up at the local level as well as at the government level. While acknowledging that the family plays a significant role in educating children and young people about sexuality and that parents prefer to be the source of information on sexuality, the U.N. guidance contends that parents or guardians often lack the competencies to provide evidence-based, age-appropriate sexuality education to their children. Parent-focused approaches to sexuality education are offered as a remedy, where parents/guardians are educated or trained to provide sexuality education to their own children. After listing a variety of scenarios where parents/guardians learn comprehensive sexuality education alongside their children and/or train other parents in such curriculum, the guidance expresses concern that parents wish their children to conform to prevailing gender norms (which are usually unequal), stressing that programmes must therefore help parents/guardians to model more equal gender attitudes and norms. Out-of-school CSE can also include challenging topics and promote a rights-based approach rooted in gender equality and empowerment in a way that may not always be feasible or acceptable in school settings, the guidance suggests. Out-of-school programmes may be better able to provide sexual and reproductive health commodities and link children and young people to services, mentors and other forms of support. The guidance suggests that out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education can contribute to broader goals such as contributing to policy change by influencing governments to pass laws ensuring young peoples access to sexual and reproductive health services. When laying out approaches to teaching and learning that facilitators can use when teaching, the guidance suggests critical pedagogy as an empowerment approach that can empower children and young people belonging to oppressed groups. A glossary definition describes critical pedagogy as a teaching approach, based on the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, that guides marginalized or oppressed learners to question and challenge prevailing power dynamics and domination and empowers them to take action to change their own situations. According to Oas, Freire was a Marxist scholar. The guidance provides targeted sex education curriculum for gender-specific groups, young people with disabilities, young people in humanitarian settings, young indigenous people, young lesbians, gays and bisexuals, young transgender people, young intersex people, young people with HIV, young people who use drugs, young people who sell sex and young people in detention. Those teaching transgender youth comprehensive sexuality education are advised to label diagrams of the male and female anatomies inclusively by not using gender-specific language and not assigning body parts to one particular gender. Oas, a former practicing biologist, referred to that provision of the guidance as off-putting. The guidance rejects the idea of gender as a biological fact, with its glossary defining gender as socially constructed characteristics ascribed to women or men, such as norms, roles, attributes and relationships between groups of women and men and girls and boys, adding these characteristics are learned through socialization processes. All out-of-school CSE programmes should include content to promote understanding of gender, diversity and human rights to challenge harmful gender stereotypes based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, the guidance asserts. Gender identity is defined as a persons deeply felt internal experience of their own gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth. Estimates from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization finding that globally 263 million children are out of school, including 63 million children of primary-school age, 61 million of lower secondary-school age, and 139 million of upper secondary-school age were cited as the justification behind the need for out-of-school sex education. Possible settings for out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education include community organizations, health clinics, summer camps, religious institutions, families, workplaces, jails and detention centers as well as refugee camps. United Kingdom had record number of abortions in 2019: report More abortions were performed in the United Kingdom in 2019 than in any previous year since the procedure was legalized in 1967, according to a new report. The U.K. Department of Health and Social Care released its annual update on abortion procedure statistics for England and Wales last Thursday. According to the report, there were 207,384 abortions performed on women living in England and Wales in 2019, the largest number since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed. Compared to 2018, the rate of abortions has increased for women over the age of 35 while remaining basically the same for women under the age of 18. The age which saw the highest abortion rate in 2019 was 22, with a reported 31.6 per 1,000 women. This is a slight increase from 2018, in which those aged 21 had the highest abortion rate, with 30.7 per 1,000. Minors seeking abortions have declined over the past several years, according to the report, even though the numbers remained about the same from 2018 to 2019. The decline since 2009 is particularly marked in the under 16 age group, where the rates have decreased from 4.0 per 1,000 women in 2009 to 1.4 per 1,000 women in 2019, explained the report. The abortion rate for 18-19 year olds has also declined from 31.6 per 1,000 women to 23.8 per 1,000 women in the same period. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a British pro-life group, released a statement declaring the latest statistics a national tragedy. This appalling figure shows us that abortion is becoming more and more normalised. Propaganda telling women that abortion is simple and safe coupled with easier access to abortion pills is driving up abortion numbers, stated Antonia Tully, SPUC director of campaigns. But behind the figures are real women who have taken an irreversible step and who are likely to be suffering physically or emotionally. Jonathan Lord, medical director of Marie Stopes U.K., a major British abortion provider, argued that the uptick in abortions might be due to a lack of good access to contraceptives. The contraceptive needs of women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, including those who already have children, have been sadly neglected, stated Lord, as reported by The Guardian. Lack of investment in contraceptive services has led to poor access and unacceptable waits, particularly for the most effective long-acting methods, such as the implant and coil. In England, Wales, and Scotland, elective abortions are legal for up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, with later abortions permitted provided they fall under certain circumstances. Last October, Northern Ireland had its law prohibiting abortions save when medically necessary overturned, allowing for broader access to the procedure. Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out after suspensions from Twitter and Facebook Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called Twitter an enemy to America after her personal account on the social media platform was permanently suspended on Sunday for allegedly violating the companys COVID-19 misleading information policy. She revealed Monday that shes also been suspended by Facebook for 24 hours due to a similar violation. Facebook has joined Twitter in censoring me. This is beyond censorship of speech. Im an elected Member of Congress representing over 700,000 US tax paying citizens and I represent their voices, values, defend their freedoms, and protect the Constitution. But apparently they too think the CDC managed #VAERS system on our own government websites are misinformation, Greene noted on the social platform GETTR Monday. To date there has been ZERO investigation into reported Covid deaths from government mandated #covid vaccines. Who appointed Twitter and Facebook to be the authorities of information and misinformation? When Big Tech decides what political speech of elected members is accepted and whats not then they are working against our government and against the interest of our people. Twitter permanently suspended Greene after she shared information on Saturday alleging extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths. In her tweet, she included a chart from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a government database that keeps track of claims of complications from vaccines submitted by members of the American public. Many have pointed to the VAERS database to voice concerns about the potential effects of the coronavirus vaccines. The project is jointly managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to serve as an "early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines." Anyone can report to the database and healthcare professionals are required to report certain adverse events. Manufacturers are required to report adverse events that come to their attention. A disclosure on the website says that the database is not "designed to determine if a vaccine caused a health problem, but is especially useful for detecting unusual or unexpected patterns of adverse event reporting that might indicate a possible safety problem with a vaccine." A Twitter spokesperson told The New York Times that the tweet marked Greenes fifth time violating its COVID-19 misinformation policies, thereby earning her the permanent suspension. Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy, Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough told the publication. The ruling can be appealed if the post in question is later determined to be true. The CDC maintains that COVID-19 vaccines "are safe and effective" and recommended for anyone ages 5 or older. Critics contend that opponents of vaccines misinterpret the VAERS data to make false claims about vaccines. Greene pushed back on the assertion that she had used all five strikes in a GETTR post Monday: Twitter forgot about the two times they accidentally suspended my account this past year. That means Ive only had 3 strikes in their 5 strike system. Twitter has to reinstate my account immediately. In a Facebook post published Sunday after her suspension, Greene called the company an enemy to America that cant handle the truth. Additionally, Greene alleged a double standard in the enforcement of the Twitter rules: Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out Black Lives Matter terrorists on Twitter, CNN and the rest of the Democrat Propaganda Media can spread Russian collusion lies, and just yesterday, the Chief spokesman for terrorist IRGC can tweet mourning Soleimani, but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics. She also claimed on GETTR that Twitter will be irrelevant by the end of 2022. By the end of this year, Twitter will be irrelevant and will lose its grip on American politics. The arrogant puppet masters should have learned over this last year that silly punishments like kicking me off committees and permanent Twitter bans dont work on me, they only make me more determined, stronger, & effective, she wrote. Im not here for the club, Im only here for the People, which the elites in our government and all powerful media/big tech, and their Communist Global partners just want to abuse and control. They will fail and the People will win, she continued. When Im pushed out, Im able to see very clearly the problems, how to fix the broken system, and more importantly who are the ones to blame. Yesterday started very big things. The sun is setting on Twitter. Greene, who presents herself as a strong Christian in Congress, does not shy away from confrontational politics. In September, she got into a heated exchange with Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., over what it means to be a good Christian shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would codify the right to abortion into federal law. Record number of abortion restrictions passed in 2021, Guttmacher Institute reports A pro-abortion think tank is decrying 2021 as the worst year for abortion rights in nearly 50 years as dozens of laws aimed at restricting access to abortion have passed at the state level in 2021. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research organization formerly affiliated with Planned Parenthood, released a report earlier this month titled State Policy Trends 2021: The Worst Year for Abortion Rights in Almost Half a Century. The report is the latest of several Guttmacher Institute publications highlighting the passage of numerous laws at the state level this year, which the organization and other pro-choice advocates characterize as setbacks for abortion rights in the United States. Authored by policy associate Elizabeth Nash, the report notes that 106 abortion restrictions had been enacted in 19 states during 2021, marking the highest total in any year since abortion rights were affirmed by the US Supreme Court in 1973. The number of pro-life laws passed in 2021 exceeded the previous record of 89 abortion restrictions enacted in 2011, Nash states. In 2021, many states enacted legislation limiting abortions after a certain point in pregnancy, ranging from heartbeat bills restricting abortions to the first six weeks of pregnancy to the more traditional pain-capable bans on abortions after 20 or 24 weeks gestation. Additional laws that took effect this year include a ban on abortions of an unborn baby based on a Down syndrome diagnosis and a similar law in Arizona that prohibits abortions of unborn babies who have genetic abnormalities. Other states took action to liberalize their abortion laws in 2021. Many cited the concern that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. Abortion advocates fear that a ruling in the case could alter longstanding abortion jurisprudence. Delaware and New Mexico repealed unenforceable abortion bans passed before Roe. New Jersey and Hawaii repealed laws that required doctors to perform abortions instead of other medical professionals such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, thereby expanding the pool of people qualified to perform the procedure. Washington state began requiring college health insurance plans that cover maternity care to cover abortions, while Colorado allowed Medicaid to cover the abortions sought by sexual assault survivors. But the Guttmacher Institute contends that the number of pro-life laws passed in 2021 far exceeds the number of abortion protections enacted (10). A report published by the Guttmacher Institute in October noted that the state with the most new restrictions is Arkansas (20), followed by Oklahoma (16), then Indiana, Montana and South Dakota (nine each). [T]he damage to abortion rights is profound, the report reads. Abortion access is already very limited for many people, including Black and Brown people, low-income individuals, LGBTQ individuals and young people, as well as those living in the South, the Plains and the Midwest. Many states in these regions have enacted bans that violate the US Constitution in the hope that the Supreme Court will soon eliminate federal constitutional protections for abortion. Kristan Hawkins, the president of the pro-life campus outreach group Students for Life of America, said in an email to supporters on Christmas Eve that she believes "2022 will blow this past year right out of the water as there is much to do as we prepare for the end of Roe v. Wade on our campuses and in our communities." "[A]nd you can expect the pro-abortion movement and their allies in government and media are going to try to stop us at every step of the way," she stressed. "But Im honored to alongside you and the rest of the Pro-Life Generation as we work to become the first Post Roe Generation." The Supreme Court is scheduled to rule in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization by June. The state of Mississippi is asking the justices to overturn a lower court decision finding that the ban on abortions after 15 weeks gestation violated the U.S. Constitution. Lawyers arguing on behalf of abortion providers and the Biden administration want to see the lower court decision affirmed. A ruling in favor of Mississippi would significantly weaken the precedent set by Roe and the subsequent decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey. But the central finding of Roe, that a woman has a right to obtain an abortion at some point in her pregnancy, could remain in place. While the law at the center of the Dobbs case was passed three years ago, another law that took effect this year has also faced legal challenges. On Sept. 1, Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect, banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually at around six weeks gestation. The law remains in effect as litigation continues. Other states have sought to implement near-total abortion bans that have not passed muster with the courts in 2021, including Arkansas and Oklahoma. The abortion ban in Arkansas provides an exception for life endangerment, and the Oklahoma abortion ban has an exception for serious threats to the patients health. As the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the U.S., abortion activists pushed for the loosening of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies for abortion pills, also known as a chemical or medication abortion. The REMS previously required women to see a doctor in person before taking the abortion-inducing drugs. The Food and Drug Administration recently eliminated the requirement for chemical abortion to be administered in person, allowing women to obtain abortion drugs by mail. Eight states worked to counter the federal push to ease safety protocols for chemical abortions by implementing their own restrictions on medication abortions: Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas. In addition to the states passing pro-life legislation, 25 cities supported the pro-life movement by declaring themselves Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, bringing the total number of towns outlawing abortion within the city limits to 41. The Biden administration has worked to reverse many of the Trump administrations policies related to abortion. After taking office in January, President Joe Biden reversed the Mexico City Policy, which prevented taxpayer dollars from funding nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas. The administration rolled back the Trump administrations Protect Life rule that prevented abortion providers from receiving family planning funding under Title X. Miracle no deaths have been reported as Colorado fire destroys at least 500 homes The governor of Colorado said it will be a New Year miracle if reports continue to say that everyone survived the Marshall fire that broke out in Boulder County, leaving many families with only minutes to evacuate. A rare urban wildfire fueled by strong winds destroyed at least 500 homes and possibly up to 1,000 north of Denver, according to early estimates on the last day of 2021. On Saturday, however, Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for the Boulder Office of Emergency Management, said it's believed that two people are missing, according to the Colorado Sun. Driven by wind gusts of 105 miles per hour, the Marshall Fire briskly spread to about 6,000 acres, destroying at least 500 homes and might have burned down up to 1,000 in heavily populated areas of Superior and Louisville in Boulder County, authorities said, according to Reuters, which added that at least six people were injured, but no loss of life had been reported as of Friday. We might have our very own New Years miracle on our hands, if it holds up that there was no loss of life, Gov. Jared Polis was quoted as saying during a press briefing. We know that many people had just minutes to evacuate. Hundreds of evacuees came back to their neighborhoods Friday after authorities said the fire was no longer considered an immediate threat, The Associated Press reported, adding that winds created a mosaic burn pattern due to which some homes remained untouched next to the ones reduced to smoking ruins. Its unbelievable when you look at the devastation that we dont have a list of 100 missing persons, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said, according to the newswire. Just one person had been reported missing but was later found, The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal reported. By the time I got up here, the houses were completely engulfed, a resident, David Marks, was quoted as saying. I mean, it happened so quickly. Ive never seen anything like that. Just house after house, fences, just stuff flying through the air, just caught on fire. The country sheriff said late Friday that two people had gone missing as a result of the wildfire, according to 9News. One of the missing people has been identified as Nadine Turnbull, a grandmother. They tried to go out the front door with the neighbor. It was engulfed. Check the back door, it was engulfed, Hutch Armstrong, who reported that Grandma Nadine Turnbull had gone missing, was quoted as saying. Their cousin tried to go back for Nadine, but firefighters pulled her away, Armstrong continued. She says two times she was right behind me right behind me. According to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management, while some downed powerlines were initially reported to have caught fire, officials found no downed powerlines where the fire started. Alabama woman charged with murder after stray bullet kills pastors wife at Bible study Police have arrested and charged a 26-year-old Alabama woman with the murder of a pastor's wife after a stray bullet killed her as she attended a church Bible study. Police in Prichard, Mobile County, arrested the suspect, Kaillyn Christine Howard Harris, on charges of firing the shot that killed 65-year-old Grace Carter, the wife of a pastor at Sunlight Missionary Baptist Church, Fox 10 reported. Grace Carter was inside the Everlasting Life Holiness Church Tuesday night when she was shot in the chest. I just dont think that people should be shooting in places where you dont know where a stray bullet could do, the victim's husband, Cecil Carter, who's pastor-elect at a separate church, was quoted as saying. Police said they went to the church after 7 p.m. and began CPR on the victim but could not resuscitate her, WKRG reported. An investigator noticed a bullet hole in a door at the church and found she had been shot on her upper right chest. The church shooting was real gut-wrenching for us last night, Lt. Robert Martin with Prichard Police was quoted as saying. Anytime anyone is killed in our jurisdiction or any municipality, it touches the offices in a real compassionate way, and were just really fed up with it. Cecil Carter lost his wife while he was awaiting his installation as pastor at the church. She was really looking forward to it, he said about his wife of 35 years. "She was very proud" of him, he continued. But right now, the emptiness of her not being here for the installation is going to be hard for me. He added, Right now, Im getting strength from knowing that God is able, and knowing that my wife is in a better place with the Lord. And no doubt about it that she loved the Lord. So I have to be strong for her, and myself, and for my family, my children and all. This is the third homicide in the city since Christmas Eve, according to media reports. Its more of a retirement community. Ive been over here at night, no gunfire, no nothing. So its a big shock to hear, a neighbor was quoted as saying. Its sad and I hate that it happened to the church. Like I said, this is a quiet neighborhood and Ive actually met the neighbors; theyre good people, old-fashioned people. Police have said the incident doesnt appear to be an intentional shooting. What to expect from China's science, tech in 2022 Xinhua) 09:34, January 05, 2022 BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The construction of the space station, a stronger supercomputer, new medicines and low-carbon tech are set to define China's science and technology sector in 2022. SPACE EXPLORATION This year, Chinese astronauts will see their single-room studio extended into a "penthouse." After the launch of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, two cargo spacecraft and two crewed spaceships, China's new outpost in space will take shape. More than a dozen experiment racks and an extravehicular experiment platform will be installed to support hundreds of research projects in fields such as astronomy, space life science, biotechnology, microgravity, basic physics and space materials. The nation is hoping to boost global collaboration in this regard. Furthermore, China's first solar exploration satellite, launched into space in October last year, is sending data on solar flares back to Earth. It can help deepen our understanding of the sun. Back on Earth, an observatory in southwest China's Sichuan Province is expected to reveal more secrets of the universe. LHAASO has already detected in 2021, its first year of service, ultra-high-energy cosmic accelerators within the Milky Way, a find that is rewriting our understanding of the galaxy. More finds are expected in 2022, fueled by the prospect of further international collaboration. COMPUTING CAPACITY China is mulling the launch of a faster supercomputer. The Chinese team that won the 2021 Gordon Bell Prize described in their winning paper a yet-to-be-published powerful machine that can achieve a sustained performance of 1.2 exaflops of single-precision computing power. Such a device could be used to screen out therapeutical molecules and to simulate the chaotic planet climate which could help slow down global warming. Although the quantum computer is still incapable of solving any problems in the real world, its performance continues to rapidly improve. In 2021, Chinese scientists launched two superconducting quantum computing systems, Zuchongzhi and Zuchongzhi 2.1 within a half year, making China one of the world leaders in the field. The global race to maneuver more entangled qubits will be intense in the new year. BRAND-NEW MEDICINE A pair of original drug candidates in China are currently in the pipeline. They are expected to produce inspiring results this year. Two domestically developed anti-coronavirus candidates, VV116 and FB2001, have been approved for clinical trials respectively in Uzbekistan and the United States. Also, a medicine hoped to treat solid tumors developed by BeiGene, a Beijing-based pharma, is being tested clinically. It is a potential "first-in-class" candidate that uses a new and unique mechanism for treating disease. It came after RemeGen, a Yantai-based pharma, obtained the marketing permit last year for its brand-new drug for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). China's sci-tech innovation board STAR was launched in 2019 and it funded Chinese biotechs with badly needed R&D investment. Today, these startups are starting to change the country's pharmaceutical landscape. LOW-CARBON TECH As China is aiming to peak its CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, technology reducing carbon emissions is in high demand. While the country's drive to develop renewable energy is in full swing, its smokestack and power-intensive industries are being overhauled to make them more eco-friendly. Last year, a test project in northeast China's Liaohe oil field injected 3,200 tonnes of CO2 into a well to pump more oil while fixing the carbon into the soil. Such win-win techniques will be applied more in the coming years, translating China's carbon-reduction promises into lucrative opportunities. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Hongyu) This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. New Year's resolutions about a relationship with God are popular among young Americans: Poll A relationship with God is among the three most common subjects of New Years resolutions, particularly among younger Americans, according to a new Lifeway Research survey. The online survey, released Tuesday, questioned 1,005 Americans about the topics they have addressed with a New Years Resolution in the past. The survey, conducted between Sept. 3 and 14, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. The Lifeway Research poll found that 44% of respondents said theyve made a resolution about their health in the past. Additionally, 29% said theyve made a resolution about their relationship with God, and another 29% have made a resolution about their finances. Those ages 18-34 (35%) and 35-49 (35%) were more likely to make faith the subject of their New Years resolutions than those 50-64 (25%) and 65 and older (17%). About half (48%) of Christians who attend a worship service at least four times a month said theyve made a resolution about their relationship with God. By contrast, just 20% of those who attend less than once a month have done so. Black Americans (41%) are more likely to have made a resolution about God than white Americans (27%), and the religiously unaffiliated were much more likely to have made a resolution about money (36%), time (29%) or work (22%) than about God (14%). New Years resolutions reflect the changes people aspire to make, asserted Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell in a statement. The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced or encouraged more people to make changes outside of the annual reminder a new year brings. But a New Years resolution is still something most Americans have made at some point in their lives. Making a New Years resolution doesnt reveal who or what a person is relying on to make that change in their life, nor how successful such resolutions are, McConnell added. But higher numbers seen among younger adults, those who attended at least some college, and church-going Christians indicate they have higher motivation to make such changes at least in the form of New Years resolutions. Among all Americans, other popular resolution topics include those about relationships with a family member (26%), use of time (22%), work (18%) and relationships with a friend (15%). The Lifeway Survey comes on the heels of an earlier study conducted this year by Evangelical pollster George Barna and the Family Research Council, which found that only 6% of Americans have a biblical worldview. A previous study conducted last year revealed that the most common religious identity among young adults in the U.S. is none, and that the majority of Americans do not see a belief in God as necessary for someone to be moral and have good values. However, amid the pandemic, more Americans were likely to say that the outbreak bolstered their religious faith, Pew Research found. Nearly three in 10 Americans (28%) reported stronger personal faith because of the pandemic. Bible sales also increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Lifeway Christian Resources. David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, and host of the radio program Turning Point, told The Christian Post in a previous interview that amid the pandemic, the Church is more responsive now than I can ever remember except for the possible exception of 9/11. What weve learned from all of this is God doesnt need a building for there to be a church, he said. When everything in which we have trusted is taken away and we are left with ourselves, we have to ask the hard questions. If this is it, what happens to me now? Theres a renewed interest in the Gospel and a desire to know what the Bible has to say. 'Fear itself' is now Americas great problem On March 4, 1933, incoming President Franklin Roosevelt delivered one of the most famous inaugural addresses in history. The nation had plunged into what became known as the Great Depression, with unemployment skyrocketing, banks failing, and despair and fear gripping the nation. At the start of the Great Depression on October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday), roughly 16 million shares of stock were sold on the New York Stock exchange, bankrupting thousands of investors. The economy worsened through 1933. News sources continually highlighted and hyped the catastrophe and fed further fears, paralyzing the economy. Roosevelt famously warned Americans: So, first of all, let me assert my firm believe that the only thing we have to fear is. fear itself nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. After the last two years of hyperbolic fear-peddling causing panic and paralysis, its time we listened to Roosevelts exhortation. Similar to the consequences of Black Tuesday, the COVID-19 epidemic was a shock to the system. The last nationwide epidemic, the Spanish Flu, occurred over a century ago and was overshadowed by World War I. In the century since the Spanish Flu, scientists had been able to prevent epidemics from ravaging America. Generations lived without pandemics, and during that time Americans developed profound faith in scientists to control any outbreaks within the nations borders. COVID-19 shattered that complacency. Faith in scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci remained high in early 2020, and most Americans accepted the initial shut-downs and quarantines. The rationale for the first temporary shut-down was to flatten the curve and prevent a spike of infections medical resources could not handle. This quickly morphed into semi-permanent shut-downs and mandates, causing division between those worried about the loss of Constitutionally protected freedom and those worried solely about the perceived dangers of COVID-19. Vaccines appeared to offer a way out of COVID-19, but then Americans learned COVID could still spread by the vaccinated. In the early stages of the vaccine, many scientists and media allies promised the vaccine would stop the spread of COVID. Additionally, the vaccines were to end the masking requirements, but that also quickly fell apart. In many Blue states, businesses and schools that had opened were again closed. On top of the persistent fear of COVID and the rising despair and fear of the future, other fears and divisions were being exacerbated. After over six months of left-wing rioting throughout various parts of the nation over George Floyd, the January 6 riot hit the Capitol. After January 6, Democrat pundits and supporting media warned of a national right-wing conspiracy. That didnt transpire, but the fear-mongering about January 6 continues. Progressive media and even Democrat-aligned retired flag officers demonize tens of millions of Americans who voted for Trump. Like what Roosevelt described, the current fear is unreasoned, unjustified terror, completely disproportionate to the alleged threats. According to WebMD, the first and only COVID Omicron variant death was not reported until December 24 (the same day the CDC claimed Omicron made up 73% of the new COVID cases). The data shows the new variant to be relatively benign, and potentially helpful to fighting off COVID through the antibodies generated. Many scientists have noted the much higher infection rates with Omicron, while also noting the potential beneficial effects. Disregarding the facts about Omicron, many in the mainstream media continue hyping up an alleged catastrophic horror. Multiple polls have shown mainstream media viewers to believe COVID death rates and hospitalization rates are well beyond the actual numbers. This dynamic brings overreactions like closing schools, transportation, and business. Disproportionate mandates cause not only paralysis but social and economic harm (which correlates with physical harm and death). The same type of unreasoned, unjustified terror creeps into the fear-mongering about fellow citizens. The political left and supporting media have ratcheted hyperbole about conservatives being an alleged threat to democracy and even a terror threat. Vice President Kamala Harris claimed her greatest fear about national security is this alleged conservative threat to democracy. Three Democrat-leaning retired flag officers, including MG Paul Eaton, a perennial left-wing MSNBC commentator, went so far as to opine in The Washington Post, we are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time. That statement is ridiculous, considering, The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn (the election). There was no coup attempt on January 6, so retired generals, of all people, should not claim to be chilled to the bone about one in 2024. Our nation has spent almost two years being chilled to the bone by fear-mongering. Fear is killing us and must stop. During previous times of national emergency, America put its ultimate faith in God and kept fear under control with faith. In 1933, Roosevelt reminded Americans of that characteristic defining our success and demanded we shed fear. Our nation is fraying, but we can come back. If we can shed our fear and put our primary faith in God. China ramps up new restrictions on Christian content on the internet The Chinese Communist Party, which has been criticized for targeting Christians and wielding its power of internet censorship through big tech companies, is putting even more restrictions on the religious freedom of its citizens with a new law regulating online religious content, according to a report. The new legislation, known as Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services, which was promulgated last month, will be enacted on March 1, reports Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Center for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China. The law mandates an Internet Religious Information Service License for any religious group that wants to disseminate religious content on the internet. But it says only legally established organizations can do so, which practically means only groups that are part of the five authorized religions in China can use the internet to distribute religious content. Open Doors USA, which covers persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that China has more than 97 million Christians, many of whom worship in unregistered or so-called illegal underground churches. The five state-sanctioned religious groups in China are the Buddhist Association of China, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Islamic Association of China, the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Even the organizations within the five authorized religions are subject to surveillance and limitations, Bitter Winter reports. As per the new law: [T]hey can broadcast sermons and lessons, but these would be checked by the authorities for their Sinicized content, making sure they promote socialist values and support the party, and are not intended as proselytization tools. Religious universities and colleges may disseminate content via the internet only to their students. Any attempt to spread religious content to minors or induce minors to believe in religion will lead to the termination of the license. Without the license, it will be severely prohibited to share images or comments on religious ceremonies such as worshiping Buddha, burning incense, taking ordination, chanting, worship, mass and baptisms. The law follows complaints by President Xi Jinping that prohibitions on the use of the internet to advertise religion are not enough to prevent religious propaganda. Last May, when another set of regulations on religion went into effect in China, communist authorities removed Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts, including Gospel League and Life Quarterly, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported at the time. Bookstores owned by the state-sanctioned Three-self churches had increasingly been selling books that promote President Xi Jinpings thoughts and communist ideology, ICC added. In October 2020, internet censorship targeting Christians in China became so severe that even official government-sanctioned Christian groups started using the Chinese Pinyin initials JD to replace Chinese characters for Christ, China Aid reported at the time. In 2018, the Chinese government banned the sale of Bibles at online bookstores across the country to comply with a white paper that dictated compliance with the core values of socialism. Australia's ABC News reported at the time that copies of the Gospels had been removed from online retailers following the release of a regime document titled Chinas Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief. The white paper declared that Chinese faith communities should adhere to the direction of localizing the religion, practice the core values of socialism, develop and expand the fine Chinese tradition and actively explore the religious thought which accords with China's national circumstances. China ranks as the 17th-worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List. Most violent year for Christians in India: Persecution watchdog For Indias Christians, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history, according to a report, which says at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution were reported in the year. In almost all incidents reported across India, vigilante mobs composed of religious extremists have been seen to either barge into a prayer gathering or round up individuals that they believe are involved in forcible religious conversions, says the report by the United Christian Forum, which recorded 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution, topping the previous record of 328 incidents in 2019. The UCF attributes the high incidence of Christian persecution to impunity, due to which such mobs criminally threaten, physically assault people in prayer, before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions. Police registered formal complaints in only 34 of the 486 cases, according to the UCF, which added: Often communal sloganeering is witnessed outside police stations, where the police stand as mute spectators. While Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, the countrys radical Hindu nationalists have been carrying out attacks on Christians under the pretext of punishing the minority for allegedly using monetary rewards to convert Hindus to Christianity. Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List had warned that since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in India in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities had increased. In 2021, the UCF recorded 274 incidents of violence against Christians in four states in north India alone: Uttar Pradesh (102), Chhattisgarh (90), Jharkhand (44) and Madhya Pradesh (38). There is also one Southern State which is also witnessing a high number of incidents of violence against Christians that is Karnataka with 59 incidents, the report says. Days before Christmas, Karnataka became the 10th state in India to pass an anti-conversion law, which presumes that Christians force or give financial benefits to Hindus to convert them to Christianity. While some of these laws have been in place for decades in some states, no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity. These laws, however, allow Hindu nationalist groups to make false charges against Christians and launch attacks on them under the pretext of the alleged forced conversion. The law states that no one is allowed to use the threat of divine displeasure, meaning Christians cannot talk about Heaven or Hell, as that would be seen as forcing someone to convert. And if snacks or meals are served to Hindus after an evangelistic meeting, that could be seen as an inducement. India ranks as the 10th worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the U.S. State Department to label India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations. Open Doors USA has also reported earlier that Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences. Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities. The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern warns that the pace of Christian persecution only seems to be accelerating with the arrival of 2022, and adds, Whether 2022 will be as violent of a year as 2021 is yet to be seen. Nigerian priest killed after leading Christmas Eve mass as Christians' concerns of insecurity grow A 37-year-old Catholic priest, who was shot dead by gunmen while returning home after leading a mass on Christmas Eve in Nigeria, was buried Friday as the countrys Christians continue to express concerns about their insecurity. Father Luke Mewhenu Adeleke from the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta in Nigerias Ogun State was buried at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Abeokuta, according to Nigeria Catholic Network. The outlet reported that he was driving when unknown gunmen fired at him and bullets struck his legs. The priest lost a lot of blood and died in his car in the Obafemi Owode local government area. The latest murder furthers the concerns Christian leaders in Africas most populous nation have been expressing about insecurity in the country that seems to target followers of Jesus Christ, writes The Association for Catholic Information in Africa. While the murder in Ogun took place in southern Nigeria, much of Nigerias violence has occurred in the countrys Middle Belt states, where radicalized Fulani herders have been accused of carrying out countless attacks on predominantly Christian farming communities, killing thousands in recent years as limited natural resources have led to increased violence. In Nigerias northeast, Islamic terror groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province have killed thousands and displaced millions. The U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern warns that the Nigerian government continues to deny any religious motivation behind the attacks and has recently convinced the U.S. Department of State to do the same. In November, the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the U.S. State Departments list of countries of particular concern, a designation reserved for the countries that tolerate or engage in some of the world's worst violations of religious freedom. Nigeria was added to the CPC list in December 2020 during the final months of the Trump administration. ICC identified the African country as one of its 2021 Persecutors of the Year in a report published last November. Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on Earth for Christians, as 50,000 to 70,000 have been killed since 2000, the ICC Persecutor of the Year report states. Watchdog group Open Doors USA ranks Nigeria as the ninth-worst country when it comes to Christian persecution. In late November, heavily armed jihadist Fulani herders stormed a village in Plateau state, set fire to over 100 homes and killed 10 Christians, including children aged 4, 6 and 8, and set fire to 100 homes. David Curry, the CEO of Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, suggested that the exclusion of Nigeria from the list of CPCs was not only a baffling error but likely in direct violation of the International Religious Freedom Act, the law that requires these designations to be made in the first place. Open Doors USA has documented thousands of targeted killings of Nigerian Christians every year for more than a decade, Curry said. In no other country on earth do we see such a sustained level of outright violence directed towards a Christian community, and the situation has only deteriorated over the past 12 months, Curry stated. The Nigerian government has stubbornly refused to address this violence. The removal of Nigeria from this list will embolden bad actors and strongly deter efforts to bring peace to the region. Critics have warned that the governments lack of action in the Middle Belt could lead to a religious genocide similar to those seen in Darfur or Rwanda. However, the Nigerian government has pushed back on such assertions, claiming violence in the Middle Belt is part of decades-old farmer-herder clashes. home World Release International lists hotspots where Christian persecution is expected to get worse in 2022: report Islamic extremists are gaining ground in Africas Sahel region and Afghanistan, which are set to become hotspots for Christian persecution in 2022, religious freedom charity Release International warns in a report, which says India and North Korea are also countries of growing concern. Its not just Nigeria, but the larger Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa where Islamic extremism is growing, as the persecution of Christians is also rapidly increasing in India and North Korea, says the charitys report Persecution Trends 2022. The Sahel region includes Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. The situation facing Christians in Burkina Faso is now similar to Nigeria, a partner of the charity adds in the report. In 2021, jihadists targeted Christians in the north of Burkina Faso, forcing churches to close and meet in secret, the report points out, explaining that attacks ranged from bombings, killings, kidnappings and school burnings to assaults on religious leaders and places of worship. Pressure in the region is likely to continue in 2022, particularly following the drawdown of French troops in the area. The al-Qaeda and Islamic State terror groups have been launching attacks in West Africa since last January. In May, suspected jihadists ambushed a baptism ceremony where they killed 15 Christians in northern Burkina Fasos Oudalan province near the Mali border. Similar pressure is building in neighboring Nigeria, where attacks by Boko Haram terrorists, [Islamic State] fighters and Fulani militia continued throughout 2021, says the report, quoting a partner of the charity as saying, Fulani militants destroyed more than 50 villages and displaced nearly 5,000 Christians. The attacks by the Fulani now include kidnappings for ransom. Churches, church leaders and Christian communities remain the primary targets. The charity warns that attacks could escalate in 2022, as political campaigning gets underway ahead of the 2023 general election, just as attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani extremists have increased over election periods in the past. The report adds that tensions are also likely to exacerbate Afghanistan and North Korea, which are already major persecutors of Christians. In 2022, there is a very real threat of higher levels of violent persecution in Afghanistan, says the CEO of Release International, Paul Robinson, referring to the Talibans takeover of the South Asian country. Our partners tell us that Christians who are unable to follow the outward forms of Islam, such as praying at the mosque and saying the shahada, the Islamic profession of faith, will stand out more clearly, he adds. This increases their vulnerability to persecution and the pressure on them to conform. The report also draws attention to India, where attacks against Christians are rising and more states are imposing anti-conversion laws. Hindu nationalism is on the rise in India. Militant Hindus have called for religious conversion from Hinduism to be made illegal across the country, the report notes. While Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, the countrys radical Hindu nationalists have been carrying out attacks on Christians under the pretext of punishing the minority for allegedly using monetary rewards to convert Hindus to Christianity. The anti-conversion laws presume that Christians force or give financial benefits to Hindus to lure them into converting to Christianity. While some of these laws have been in place for decades, no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity. Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List warns that since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased. The number of violent attacks on Christians in India rose nearly 75% to 486 in 2021, up from 279 in 2020, according to a new report by the United Christian Forum, which says 2021 was the most violent year for the Christian minority since the countrys Independence in 1947. Originally published in The Christian Post. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. AJG has acquired Risk Transfer Insurance Agency, LLC. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Orlando, FL-based Risk Transfer Insurance, founded in 2000, is a full-service commercial property/casualty agency and program administrator. This company provides tailor-made insurance solutions and risk management services to professional employer organizations (PEOs) and temporary staffing firms. Thus, the addition will help the acquirer strengthen its presence in the growing PEO industry. Arthur J. Gallagher boasts an impressive inorganic story. The recent buyout is its first acquisition in 2022. The company has a strong merger and acquisition pipeline. Arthur J. Gallagher has made 19 buyouts, representing $190 million in estimated annual revenues in the first three quarters of 2021 and another 18 in the fourth quarter. Arthur J. Gallaghers revenues are geographically diversified with strong domestic and international operations and a compelling product and service portfolio. A solid capital position supports AJG in its growth initiatives and it thus remains focused on continuing its tuck-in mergers and acquisitions. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) insurance broker remains focused on long-term growth strategies for delivering organic revenue improvement and pursuing strategic mergers and acquisitions. AJG is focused on productivity improvements and quality enhancements that should help it post sturdy numbers in the future. Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher have gained 40.2% in a year, outperforming the industrys 29% increase. The efforts to ramp up its growth profile and capital position should continue to drive the share price higher. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Given the insurance industrys adequate capital level, players like Brown and Brown Inc. BRO, Stewart Information Services Corporation STC and HCI Group Inc. HCI are pursuing strategic mergers and acquisitions. Brown & Browns subsidiary Brown & Brown Lone Star Insurance Services has purchased HARCO to boost its presence in Texas. Brown & Brown and its subsidiaries continuously make strategic acquisitions to expand globally, add capabilities and boost operations. Also, these strategic buyouts help Brown & Brown increase commissions and fees, which, in turn, drive revenues. Stewart Information has acquired Devon Title Agency to expand in Michigan. Stewart Information has a sizable merger and acquisition pipeline. It boasts a strong balance sheet with $585 million over regulatory requirements and $74 million on an existing line of credit facility supporting growth initiatives. Stewart Information remains focused on improving operational efficiencies by adding scale, investing in priority markets and strengthening core business with real estate technology and services. HCI Group has agreed to acquire United Insurance Holdings personal lines insurance business in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to expand into new geographies. Well-performing Homeowners Choice and TypTap coupled with conservative reserving practice should continue to support HCIs growth story. Shares of Brown and Brown, Stewart Information and HCI Group have gained 49.2%, 62.8% and 56.6%, respectively, in a years time. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made. The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest? Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 5 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG): Free Stock Analysis Report Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO): Free Stock Analysis Report Stewart Information Services Corporation (STC): Free Stock Analysis Report HCI Group, Inc. (HCI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Growth investors focus on stocks that are seeing above-average financial growth, as this feature helps these securities garner the market's attention and deliver solid returns. But finding a growth stock that can live up to its true potential can be a tough task. That's because, these stocks usually carry above-average risk and volatility. In fact, betting on a stock for which the growth story is actually over or nearing its end could lead to significant loss. However, it's pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects. EastGroup Properties (EGP) is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank. Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And returns are even better for stocks that possess the combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this real estate investment trust a great growth pick right now. Earnings Growth Arguably nothing is more important than earnings growth, as surging profit levels is what most investors are after. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration. While the historical EPS growth rate for EastGroup Properties is 7.9%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 8.8% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 8.7%. Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio Asset utilization ratio -- also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio -- is often overlooked by investors, but it is an important indicator in growth investing. This metric exhibits how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales. Right now, EastGroup Properties has an S/TA ratio of 0.14, which means that the company gets $0.14 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.12, it can be said that the company is more efficient. While the level of efficiency in generating sales matters a lot, so does the sales growth of a company. And EastGroup Properties looks attractive from a sales growth perspective as well. The company's sales are expected to grow 9.2% this year versus the industry average of 8.4%. Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions Superiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements. There have been upward revisions in current-year earnings estimates for EastGroup Properties. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 1.1% over the past month. Bottom Line EastGroup Properties has not only earned a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #2 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. This combination positions EastGroup Properties well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it. Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made. The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest? Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 5 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report EastGroup Properties, Inc. (EGP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Teradyne (TER) closed the most recent trading day at $166.38, moving +0.16% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.06%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.59%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.3%. Coming into today, shares of the maker of wireless products, data storage and equipment to test semiconductors had gained 8.85% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 4.06%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.76%. Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Teradyne as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.29, up 17.27% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $867.39 million, up 14.29% from the year-ago period. Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Teradyne. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook. Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system. The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.5% higher within the past month. Teradyne is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. Looking at its valuation, Teradyne is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 26.27. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 26.79. Investors should also note that TER has a PEG ratio of 1.76 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. TER's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.1 as of yesterday's close. The Electronics - Testing Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 124, putting it in the top 49% of all 250+ industries. The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com. Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made. The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest? Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 7 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Teradyne, Inc. (TER): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved If you already subscribe to our print edition, sign up for FREE to view the newspaper online! Enter all nine digits of your zip code, without a hyphen. Last Name needs to be in all caps. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL January 5, 2022 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Apple AAPL, Alphabet GOOGL, Microsoft MSFT, Amazon AMZN and Meta Platforms FB. Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog: Should You Buy Apple (AAPL) at a $3 Trillion Market Cap? Apple briefly crossed $3 trillion in market cap in intraday trading on Jan 3, becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit this much-coveted milestone. Shares of the iPhone-maker increased 2.5% to finally close at $182.01, with total market capitalization at $2.986 trillion. Apple reached $1 trillion in market capitalization in mid-2018 and achieved a $2-trillion valuation in August 2020, becoming the first U.S. company to achieve that milestone. Apples robust outperformance can be attributed to strong demand for its iPhone. The companys 5G-supported iPhone has witnessed robust demand despite coronavirus-induced supply chain headwinds and short supply of chips. Apple has benefited from the coronavirus-induced work-from-home and online-learning waves, which drove demand for iPad and Mac personal computers. Since March 2020, when coronavirus first sent the world into lockdown, Apples shares have outperformed its MAMAA peers that include Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms. The term MAMAA has been coined by Mad Moneys Jim Cramer in replacement of FAANG after Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms. Apple shares have returned 166.4% since Feb 28, 2020 in contrast to Alphabets, Microsofts, Amazons and Meta Platforms returns of 116.6%, 106.7%, 81% and 75.9%, respectively. Apple shares have also outperformed the Zacks Computer- Mini Computers industry. Prospects Remain Robust Apples 2022 prospects remain strong thanks to a continuous iPhone upgrade cycle and strong growth of the Services business. According to latest Strategy Analytics data cited by 9TO5 Mac, Apple is dominating the 5G smartphone space in terms of global 5G shipment share, thanks to strong demand for iPhone 13. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is now speculated to add a 48 mega-pixel lens for its upcoming iPhone in 2022 and periscope lens in 2023, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Apple is now expected to manufacture 259 million iPhones in 2022, up 9% year over year, per estimates by Mizuho Securities analyst Yasuo Nakane. Other notable expectations are a new 27-inch iMac powered by Apple Silicon, a redesigned MacBook Air, a new generation of iPad Pro and Apple Watch that promises a new design, body temperature sensor, as well as new additional health and fitness tracking. Apples augmented-reality headset is the most anticipated product in 2022. The iPhone-maker is now rumored to launch its first AR headset in the second half of 2022. Per 9TO5 Mac, which cited a Digitimes report, the rumored AR headset has completed the second phase of prototype testing and is expected to be in production in the second quarter of 2022. This high-end commercial-purpose device is expected to cost more than $2000. Meanwhile, renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple to release a new helmet-type headset with Micro-OLED displays and AR/VR capabilities in 2022. This headset is expected to comprise 15 camera modules, of which eight will be dedicated for AR video experiences. AR glasses from Apple, once available, will intensify competition for the likes of Meta and Alphabet division Google. Meta recently announced its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, developed in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica. Apples Services and Wearables businesses are expected to drive top-line growth in fiscal 2022 and beyond. Although Apples business primarily runs around its flagship iPhone, the Services portfolio has emerged as the companys new cash cow. Apples endeavors to open up its ecosystem through partnerships with the likes of Samsung and Amazon are positive for the Services segment. Apple currently has more than 745 million paid subscribers across its Services portfolio. The App Store continues to draw the attention of prominent developers from around the world, helping the company offer appealing new apps that drive App Store traffic. Increasing Regulation is a Concern However, Apple, along with its big tech peers like Google, is facing regulatory headwinds. Both Google and Apple continue to face strict regulatory pressure against their unfair trade practices with small local businesses. Allegedly, both companies have exploited small app makers by charging a significant chunk of their sales and discarding the apps anytime. Apart from this, Apple is accused of abusing its control over its mobile devices, harming competition and inflating prices via iPhone app sales. Apple is now facing regulatory issues in the U.S. and India over its App store practices. In India, Apple will face an investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the chief national competition regulator in India, over allegations of violating certain antitrust laws. CCI ordered the probe following a non-profit organization, Together We Fight Societys, complaint against the tech giants App Store payment rules. Zacks Top Picks to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence This world-changing technology is projected to generate $100s of billions by 2025. From self-driving cars to consumer data analysis, people are relying on machines more than we ever have before. Now is the time to capitalize on the 4th Industrial Revolution. Zacks urgent special report reveals 6 AI picks investors need to know about today. See 6 Artificial Intelligence Stocks With Extreme Upside Potential>> Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made. The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest? Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 5 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report Meta Platforms, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR is well poised to grow on the back of strategic acquisitions and premium growth at both Casualty and Specialty plus Property businesses. Its diversified business and efforts to boost shareholder value bode well. RenaissanceRe with a market cap of $7.7 billion primarily provides property-catastrophe reinsurance to insurers and reinsurers globally. Headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda, RenaissanceRe also provides certain specialty reinsurance coverage on accident, health, aviation, and satellite concerns, and others in various parts of the United States. Courtesy of solid prospects, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is worth holding on to at the moment. Rising Estimates The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RenaissanceRes 2021 earnings is pegged at 75 cents per share, indicating a massive year-over-year rise from 12 cents. The company beat earnings estimates twice in the last four quarters and missed the same on the other two occasions. The consensus estimate for 2021 revenuesstands at $5.5 billion, suggesting a 27% year-over-year rise. Growth Drivers RenaissanceRe has been witnessing a positive trend in gross premiums written, which have doubled over a span of five years, driven by premium growth at both its Casualty and Specialty plus Property segments. During 2020 and the first nine months of 2021, gross premiums written improved 20.8% and 33.9%, respectively, year over year. This consistent growth in premiums is likely to drive top-line growth for RenaissanceRe. The company focuses on acquisitions and business expansions, which provide growth opportunities. It bought Tokio Millennium Re for $1.5 billion to increase the scale and boost the companys portfolio. In the first nine months of 2021, RNR spent $880.9 million on acquisitions. Also, management doesnt shy away from divesting non-core assets to streamline its operations. RNR has been undertaking divestitures by getting rid of low-return high-risk businesses. It sold off its U.S-based weather and weather-related energy risk management unit to save the company from the associated uncertainties. We expect such strategic initiatives to enable RNR to focus and grow its core operating business. RNR has a strong balance sheet. The companys total debt represents 14.4% of its capital, lower than the industry average of 19.5%. As of Sep 30, 2021, it had cash and cash equivalents worth $1.4 billion, higher than the debt level of $1.1 billion. The company effectively reduced its debt from the 2020-end level. Also, RNR doesnt have any additional debt maturity until 2025. Thus, the companys solvency position looks solid. RenaissanceRe focuses on boosting shareholder value. It has been raising dividends for the past several years and is expected to keep doing so. In February 2021, the companys board of directors approved a 2.9% hike in the quarterly dividend. Also, during the first nine months of 2021, it repurchased $704.5 million worth of shares. Furthermore, it has a share buyback program of $500 million. Key Concerns There are a few factors that are impeding the growth of the stock lately. Increasing costs are eating into its profits. Total costs and expenses for the first nine months of 2021 were $4,304.9 million, up 45.3% from the year-ago period. Also, it remains exposed to high severity loss associated with catastrophic events on a worldwide basis, which has been affecting its underwriting results. Nevertheless, we believe that a systematic and strategic plan of action will drive long-term growth. Better-Ranked Players Some better-ranked players in the Finance space include Ryan Specialty Group Holdings, Inc. RYAN, Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO, and Houlihan Lokey, Inc. HLI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Based in Chicago, IL, Ryan Specialty provides numerous specialty products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents, and others. It acts as a wholesale broker and managing underwriter to provide risk management services. Ryan Specialtys bottom line for the next year is expected to jump 12.6% year over year to $1.21 per share. RYAN has witnessed two upward estimate revisions in the past 60 days and no movement in the opposite direction. Headquartered in Daytona Beach, FL, Brown & Brown boasts impressive growth potential driven by organic means and a prudent inorganic story. Its strategic efforts continue to drive commission and fees, and sturdy performance is boosting cash flows. Brown & Browns 2022 earnings per share are expected to rise 5.1% year over year to $2.27. It has witnessed one upward estimate revision in the past 30 days compared with none in the opposite direction. BRO beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average of 18.3%. Houlihan Lokey headquartered in Los Angeles, CA provides multiple financial services to clients all over the world. Its growing footprint in Europe and Asias investment banking services field will help HLI boost strategic and shareholder value in the coming days. Rising average transaction fees will help HLI increase corporate finance revenues. The full-year 2022 bottom line of Houlihan Lokey is expected to rise 37.7% year over year to $6.36 per share. In the past 30 days, it has witnessed one upward estimate revision and no downward movement. HLI beat earnings estimates in all the last four quarters, with an average of 39.5%. Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made. The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest? Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 5 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR): Free Stock Analysis Report Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO): Free Stock Analysis Report Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (HLI): Free Stock Analysis Report Ryan Specialty Group Holdings, Inc. (RYAN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The historic December storms that drenched California and dropped record-setting snow on the Sierra also destroyed a centuries-old landmark an iconic stone arch on a secluded beach that has been cherished for generations. The arch, perched on a beach bluff at Spooner's Cove near Montana de Oro State Park in San Luis Obispo County, was first reported missing on Christmas Eve after days of rain and heavy surf. This led to many on social media sharing family photos in front of the landmark and mourning its loss. "I have many fond memories wading across the water and hanging out under there watching the waves crash on the rocks," Instagram user Shane Yee wrote. Its actually kind of sad, Im really sad that its gone it really outlaid the area heavily," park visitor Jacob Lyons told KSBY News. "I look at that and thats what I think when I think about Montana de Oro, but now it just looks like the rest of the walls." The California State Parks Department told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that the collapse was likely due to heavy surf after a series of winter storms at the end of the year. Dan Krieger, a history professor at Cal Poly, told the Tribune that the arch was an icon. It was very much as much as Morro Rock is a symbol of the Central Coast. It was one of those hidden jewels that the lucky traveler who discovers Montana de Oro State Park would have as one more treat. And now that is no more." Kreiger said that records show the arch had been standing since the earliest days of Anglo Saxon settlement in the region 500 years ago. The cove was first inhabited by the Chumash and Salinan people around 11,000 years ago. The Houston Health Department will soon open a giant COVID-19 testing center at the site of a former Dave & Buster's near the Galleria, the latest addition of COVID headlines reminiscent of a pre-apocalyptic tragicomedy. Workers at the site, located at 6010 Richmond Ave., will administer tests from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, according to the health department. The site opens for the first time Thursday morning. A second new testing site in the Kingwood Community Center at 4102 Rustic Woods Dr. also opens Thursday with the same hours. The sites are expected to remain open until at least the end of January. The new sites add a combined capacity of 1,800 tests per day, which puts the city's total testing capacity near 30,000 tests per day across four megasites and several smaller neighborhood sites. "Every Houstonian deserves to have access to testing, especially those in our most vulnerable communities," Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement Wednesday. "As we continue to navigate this crisis, I ask Houstonians to keep each other safe by getting tested, vaccinated, and boosted." COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the state and Houston region. Across Harris County, authorities tallied 4,100 new cases Tuesday alone, according to data published by the Houston Chronicle (Chron and the Houston Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another). That spike has prompted Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo to potentially raise the county's COVID threat level to its highest, Threat Level 1. Hospitalizations also continue to rise. As of Tuesday, there were more than 2,200 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Houston medical centers up from fewer than 500 in November, according to the Chronicle's data. Houston hospitalizations accounted for approximately 28 percent of the 8,219 COVID hospitalizations reported statewide by Texas officials Tuesday. "The bad news is that cases are through the roof," Hidalgo said in the Chronicle. "The good news is that hospitalizations are rising, but not as much as they had in previous waves relative to cases." Appointments aren't necessary but can be scheduled by visiting this city of Houston website hosted by the city's Emergency Operations Center. For those in the county, appointments can be scheduled through Harris County Public Health. Houston Heights-area restaurant Preslee's is facing backlash this week over a pair of messages mocking leading Democratic party members on the large marquee overlooking the W. 20th Street establishment. Both signs mentioned California Democratic congresswoman and sitting speaker of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and one featured the popular anti-Joe Biden phrase "Let's Go Brandon." The first sign, a large and brightly lit dig at Pelosi's physical appearance, was captured by the Houston Chronicle's Alison Cook on December 30. The popular Southern-style hangout located in north downtown punctuated its first "No mask needed" with the tag "Unless you look like Nancy Pelosi." It was a particularly busy year for Laredoans, with another boil water notice, border developments and many notable deaths among the top storylines of 2021. But all of them once again occurred in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continued to impact many families lives throughout the year. While many aspects of life returned to as close to normal as possible, COVID remained such a major event that the virus itself led to some of the biggest stories of the year. Thus, well take a look at some of the overall narratives that COVID caused in Part 4 before diving more specifically into the numbers in Part 5. Below are some of the highlights from a busy 2021 that stemmed directly from the pandemic: Problematic initial vaccine rollout As 2021 opened, spirits were high as the COVID-19 vaccine was starting to be distributed. But the simple fact was that unfortunately many were unable to receive it. Demand was extremely high early on. After first responders got the initial doses near the end of 2020, Laredoans lined up for miles with the opportunity to receive their first dose of the vaccine so that they could start to finally have a little more peace of mind following a long and worrisome year. The first major vaccination event took place at TAMIU on Jan. 3 as cars began to wait as early as 3:30 a.m. And the city stated that by 7:30 in the morning, anyone showing up was being turned away. Cars waited with a line from the university spanning all the way to around the Saunders Street exit just for the hope of a vaccine, only for many to find out that their time waiting all day in a vehicle would be for nothing. This was particularly problematic as the eligible category of those who were waiting for the dose were primarially people over the age of 65 and individuals with chronic health conditions. Understandably, this upset many. Adding fuel to the fire were rumors around the area that preferential treatment was also being given at these locations. Some had stated that they saw others receiving the vaccine despite not being in the current qualified categories. Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz criticized the rollout, stating that it needs to get better coordinated. So the city created a public health order to implement rules and make the city a central agency for all local vaccine providers, which were then required to notify the Laredo Health Department daily of the total number of vaccines in their inventory and notify the city if any non-eligible recipients received the vaccine and why. Laredo pivoted to a website, vaccinatelaredo.com, to instead book appointments. However, after opening on Jan. 11 at 8 a.m., the city reported that it had ran out of spots for the whole week in just nine minutes. Again, complaints were heard as some said time slots were not just exhausted but would expire while individuals were filling out their information. Additionally, concerns also grew over the elderly population getting appointments with the site being reduced to an online scramble to input information. Appointments booked specifically via phone were eventually added. Antibody infusion center While vaccines were making their way to the people, another avenue to help protect Laredoans from COVID-19 was also on its way. On Jan. 11, a monoclonal antibody infusion center opened for COVID-19 patients in Laredo. This was an initiative that strived to minimize future hospitalizations and deaths in the community. The infusion procedure meant for people with a mild to moderate case of COVID-19 and who had underlying conditions that put them at higher risk for experiencing severe symptoms featured doses of bamlanivimab, casirivimab and imdevimab all monoclonal antibodies which are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune systems ability to fight off pathogens such as viruses. These drugs are designed to block COVID-19s attachment and entry into human cells. While Laredos hospitals did have access to these medicines, they were not able to use them for a large number of people. Thus the center helped get this treatment to more individuals in need. Frustrations rise as situation worsens As these steps were being taken to help locals battle COVID-19, January and February were well on their way to being the worst months for the virus the city has seen. While having state assistance, an alternate care center was needed, according to Laredo Health Authority Dr. Victor Trevino, due to Laredo Medical Center expanding their first and second floor intensive care units to be all COVID ICU beds. This left no room for any other type of ICU patients to enter the hospital. Officials were getting frustrated. COVID hospitalizations had eclipsed 230, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had informed the state that curfews for restaurants and bars were barred. The city discussed taking a similar route as Austin and just enacting a curfew anyway, but that city was sued and the Supreme Court sided with the state. Its like a hurricane that never stops, Trevino said. Hospitalizations reached over 240 COVID patients less than a week later, and Laredo set its all-time record for COVID cases in a day soon after with over 2,000. The city began automated calls, emergency alert messages and social media warnings. The messages begged citizens to stay at home, citing that lives are at stake. Trevino soon after pleaded with locals to take all necessary safety steps, stating the city was at a critical point and the community would be medically overrun if the virus spread wasnt stopped. And soon after with over 80 patients in the ICU, Trevino described the situation as COVID hell. And then came the news which really underscored how bad the situation was. The New York Times reported that Laredo was quite literally the largest hotspot in the United States for new COVID cases. Meanwhile, the COVID vaccine continued to be an issue. While Laredo was in perhaps the toughest COVID situation in the country, the vaccines were not coming. The issue centered around how the state distributed vaccines, choosing to tie the countys allotment to the amount of medical personnel it has. As Laredo has long been medically underserved, Laredo was getting much fewer vaccines compared to counties of similar size. New vaccine systems arrive When the winter storm hit Texas in February, many feared the combination of Laredos spiraling COVID situation combined with the impact of the freeze. However, the timing ended up working out favorably as cases plummeted. Whether the storm forced individuals to stay home or it coincided with the end of the virus current push, the situation ended up leading to the end of the second wave locally. In the wake of the storm, Laredo emerged with a new system for vaccine distribution. This time around, the city would create a major waiting list on vaccinatelaredo.com. Individuals would then be sorted by priority by their respective phases, and they would then be contacted when it was their turn. The idea may have been a good one in theory, but it didnt last long. The first day saw the site gather more than 1.4 million hits in an hour. And just a few days later, the waitlist was closed. This time around, the closure was due to a new partnership with Curative. The company that was already operating free testing kiosks around the city would now organize vaccine drives going forward. Some success found, health care worker shortage follows Following the end of the second wave, Laredo found itself in a much more manageable situation. Gone were the days of leading the country in COVID metrics and being a mainstay at the top of the states hospitalization rate. In fact, Laredo actually improved significantly, eventually even having the top hospitalization rate in Texas. In the coming months, Laredo went on to lead the state in vaccinations breaking 50% fully vaccinated in May and thus greatly neutralized the virus third wave when it eventually arrived. Despite the success, local hospitals started facing severe staffing shortages as the state was able to lure health care staff to work for them during the pandemic by paying about three times more than they were making at the hospitals. Due to these shortages, the city was concerned over the states demobilization efforts. A request was made to pause them as the city was lacking in health care workers, but the state denied the request. Still, cases continued to dwindle, and Laredo scaled back near the end of May to updating COVID figures just once a week as they touted the success of their vaccination efforts in regards to the lower cases. It scaled back even further in July despite the third wave starting to emerge and the discovery of the first variant in Laredo. While cases increased in the third wave, they were nowhere near the heights of the second. However, Laredo did feel it was at a tipping point of a public health crisis in August due to so few medical staffers. While only around 40 persons were hospitalized due to COVID at the time, overflow areas were already being utilized. Remembering those who were lost While COVIDs impact has been less significant the second half of 2021, plenty of lives had been lost to the disease locally. Laredoans gathered to remember the 841 people who at the time had died from Laredo during the City of Laredos Lights of Hope Remembrance Walk at Uni-Trade Stadium. The event coincided with Memorial Day, as many felt it was appropriate to honor all those who had died not only in war but in the worlds war against the COVID-19 virus. Laredo ended the year with 986 deaths reported. Focus shifts to children Classes returned for Laredos youth in August as children showed up to campuses wearing their face masks. There was some slight pushback, especially in light of the states efforts to eliminate mask mandates, but overall districts reported that as a whole students were willing to wear masks. In October, Laredo reported its first death from a pediatric patient due to COVID. An 18-year-old unvaccinated individual died due to a convergence of COVID and the flu. Laredos vaccination numbers reached an impressive 90% fully vaccinated and the elderly eclipsed 100%, with both happening in October. As a reminder on how the latter is possible, officials have stated that its eligible population figures are based off U.S. Census data, and due to the citys past of having its population undercounted, its true 100% figure may be more difficult to identify. In November, the age 5-11 population were finally able to be vaccinated as well. Trevino stated that the demand was high as parents had been very interested in finally getting their children vaccinated. The City of Laredo ended 2021 with concern regarding the omicron variant and cases increasing significantly. Still, local health leaders stated that being fully vaccinated and even getting a booster shot were strongly encouraged to increase defenses against initial infection. zdavis@lmtonline.com A woman tried smuggling a girl via the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge claiming she was her sister, according to an arrest affidavit. The case unfolded at about 9:43 p.m. Dec. 27, when Daisy Johana Maldonado-Gonzalez and a girl arrived at the bridge as passengers in a bus. Maldonado-Gonzalez claimed the child was her sister, according to court documents. She presented a U.S. passport on behalf of the girl. French President Emmanuel Macron got scoured by his critics for replacing the traditional French flag on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. These were right-wing protests who thought using something other than the national flag was not unconstitutional. Many bloc members have misgivings of recent actions, like Poland, that weren't welcome. French flag replaced with EU's President Macron triggered right-wing protests that were outraged after replacing the French national flag that has long decorated the Soldiers Tomb with the European Union's flag. In several member countries, not everyone supports the EU, reported the Express UK. Macron's presidential rival, Marine Le Pen, called for the immediate takedown of the EU flag. In commemorating the presidency at the Council of the European Union, one of the bodies responsible decided to hang the EU flag. The Arc de Triomphe has projected the blue EU flag with 12 gold stars during the affair. The EU flag was also projected on French government buildings and cultural landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame Church, including the Louvre, which drew more protests. Le Pen called it a travesty to have French landmarks covered with the EU's colors and not the national one as a serious assault on the national identity, cited Wion. Adding the monuments and soldiers' graves is part of France, and they should be covered in the national colors. It should not be the bloc's identity. Identified as a far-right politician who said that the French president is going against his presidency and ignoring history, all for personal ambition, noted Techno-Charger. Macron should have regarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with more delicate considerations. Read Also: Britain Angered by Joe Biden's Attempt to Appease France Regarding the French, Brexit Fishing Row As Another Misstep in Foreign Policy French presidential aspirants' reactions Le Pen, who is viewed as the primary challenger in this year's presidential race, alleged the French leader had given a "clear signal" to replace the flag. In New Year's tweet, Macron's rival told the president to restore the French tricolor to the Arc de Triomphe. If the EU flag is not removed, Le Pen stated that she'd appeal to the state council, a legal adviser to the executive body, if he would not do as requested. Replacing the French flag is a violation, according to her. Poland said that Brussels overreach should not intrude on the French constitution and its articles. But one more rightist presidential aspirant Eric Zemmour also added to the uproar. He called the replacement of the flag a travesty. Clement Beaune, a junior European Affairs Minister, downplayed the controversy by insisting that the exhibit was temporary. He wrote on Twitter, "The National flag has not been replaced. The electoral campaign is not a free ticket for trivial lies and controversy." Embarking on the body's leadership, the French leader has announced a program that will occupy the half-year tenure of Paris. It will define what he has done as the leader of France. The year 2022 will be as he announced the historic turnaround for the bloc. According to the far right, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier should be recognized as French, not of the bloc, as Macron is in the sights of his opponents. Related Article: Is French Sovereignty at Stake with Joe Biden's Interference in Fishing Row Between UK, France After AUKUS Deal Fallout? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. France and Germany are in hot water for not including easing out Ukraine in talks with Moscow, prompting accusations of fronting an EU plan in their favor. Prior to this, the US and Russia assumed a cold war arrangement that excluded Brussels from a seat at the table. Financial Times journalist Henry Foy disagrees that Ukraine is an outsider in determining the nation's direction. Normandy Format meeting held without Ukraine Germany is trying for a diplomatic solution to the standoff, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's adviser meeting with counterparts from France and Russia this week. However, without Ukraine at the bench, reported the Express UK. Foy posted on social media what he thought of the plan, and he called what France and Germany entered a Normandy Format meeting. Moscow is the third party to decide on the fate of the border, with the lack of Kiev representation being most lamentable. Also, the move will allow bigger countries to determine the destiny of smaller ones, based on the number of tanks and military power, not the GDP. The Normandy Format refers to negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany to end the eight-year-old conflict. The German government spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, has also refused to confirm the information of a possible meeting between Mr. Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin, although Bild stated that the two leaders would convene this month cited Brinkwire. He told the press that Jens Plotner, an adviser to the German Chancellor, is scheduled for a meeting this week. This eased out Ukraine in the attempts to have a better position. Read Also: Joe Biden Outmaneuvered by Putin Regarding the Ukraine Border; Russia at an Upper Hand Advantage That Washington Will Regret Dialogues at NATO Nevertheless, last Tuesday, the White House released transcripts of a call between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising doubts regarding Paris and Berlin's judgment. According to a White House statement, the president underlined the adherence of the United States and its allies and partners to the principle of not excluding important parties. Washington gave Kiev a rock-hard commitment to act if Russia invaded Ukraine. Both leaders are also said to have expressed support for diplomatic endeavors that are set to begin next week with a bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue at NATO by the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, noted Radio Free Europe. Zelensky declared at such a press conference last December, indicated Ukraine was ready for discussions in the Normandy Format. He said that Kiev wants sanctions on Moscow to happen before more tensions arise. While France's and Germany's leaders sought to resume dialogue with Moscow despite keeping pressure on the Kremlin to prevent what the West suspects were rehearsals for a new attack on Ukrainian territory. On the fringes of an EU summit in Brussels, French President Macron, Scholz, and Zelensky sat down and discussed ways to revive discussions in the Normandy Format. Upwards of 100,000 Russian troops and weapons and armored vehicles have been amassed across the Ukraine borders. Anne Applebaum mentions in an article that warns that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pre-empting an invasion by warning NATO, although Kiev is not as alarmed. Another development is that Finland is thinking of joining NATO against a warning of NATO expansion. Foy is worried about how talks can be held if Ukraine participates in both NATO and the US are jockeying to have a better position if the time comes. Related Article: Russia Redirects Gas Supplies From Poland as an Economic Transaction That Is Not Politically Motivated by the European Union @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jason Farmer, a 34-year-old registered sex offender, is behind bars charged with manslaughter, accused of strangling his fiancees sister last week during sex. Angela Montante, 23, was found Friday in a motel room in southwest Houston after Farmer allegedly called police and reported the death. Farmer told police it was consensual sex gone awry, a common defense when an intimate partner is killed during sex. It is the second time Farmer, a registered sex offender, has been accused of choking an intimate partner, and the alleged manslaughter happened just days before Farmer was expected to go on trial for the alleged molestation of two girls. The escalation of violence that allegedly led to Montantes death is a trend prosecutors are trying to slow through a new initiative with law enforcement agencies to aggressively go after suspects who choke or strangle intimate partners but dont kill them. Montante was the countys fifth victim of fatal domestic violence this year including strangulations and shootings a troubling statistic for prosecutors. A person who can strangle an intimate partner is determined to maintain power and control over their victims, said Carvana Cloud, a chief prosecutor in Harris County District Attorneys Office who recently created a strangulation task force. So they look for victims who are susceptible or vulnerable to their manipulation and abuse. Its a different type of rage that a strangler has to have. A non-fatal strangulation is often the last step before domestic violence turns deadly, usually in a fatal shooting, according to prosecutors and experts. Harris County leads the state in the number of domestic violence homicides, Cloud said. We need to punish these offenders and hold them accountable. In the escalation of violence from strangulation theres only one thing left, and thats homicide. Cloud, after taking over the Family Criminal Law Division under DA Kim Oggs administration, put together a strangulation task force that includes experts in domestic violence and representatives from law enforcement agencies, including the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriffs Office, to address domestic violence deaths. The group, which meets monthly, realized that first responders have not been trained to look for all the signs to record, or the right questions to ask, when filing paperwork in a felony case. Because only about half of women who have been strangled have easily observable marks around their neck, many cases filed as misdemeanor assault or not filed at all could have been filed as felonies. Police had not known to look for symptoms commonly observed when the flow of blood or oxygen is obstructed. There are signs that police can ask about, Cloud said. Like raspiness in the throat, a sore throat, ringing in the ears, or if she says she lost consciousness or she says she couldnt see or she says she saw stars. She noted that strangling a domestic partner was not generally filed as a felony until 2009, when legislators passed a bill to strengthen existing law and make obstructing breath or blood by restricting the neck a more serious form of domestic violence. But police usually just looked for the telltale red marks on the neck. By training law enforcement officers and prosecutors that there are more observable signs of strangulation than just red marks, felony filings in domestic violence cases rose by almost 1,000 last year. History of assault Before the DAs initiative, felonies were difficult to prosecute because of a lack of recorded evidence and the unfortunate fact that many victims recant out of fear or even go back to their attacker, hoping it doesnt happen again. We were either dismissing them or reducing them down to a lesser offense at a rate of about half, Cloud said. And its really not a good idea ever to let these guys off with a slap on the wrist. Defense attorneys said they welcome more training for officers, especially in identifying evidence that may be conclusive in high-stakes cases. So many of these cases are the proverbial he said, she said with no evidence, said Tucker Graves president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. If theyre going to take the time to single out these cases, they need to train these officers to make sure theyre investigating them properly. In Farmers case, he spent three years in prison for a 2009 rape at knife point of a woman in her home. After confronting her with a knife, he put his hand around the womans throat to get her into a bedroom where he raped her while her small children remained in the living room. It took her three days to come forward because she was so terrified, court records show. Farmer was arrested for a first-degree felony, a charge that was reduced to a second-degree felony when he pleaded guilty in exchange for three years in prison. After getting out of prison, he apparently lived with friends and family and allegedly continued sexually abusing people around him. A 10-year-old he knew said she woke up near him on a couch one evening in 2013 and realized his hand was under her shirt, a violation that left the girl sobbing. There apparently was not enough evidence to arrest him, so investigators continued to interview the girl and one of her family members, a 13-year-old girl. Almost two years later, the older girl allegedly told investigators that Farmer continually sexually assaulted her for eight months beginning in 2012. She told police he offered her money not to tell and when she refused, he said he would burn down her familys house if she told, according to court records. She said he once gave her a slush that tasted weird that made her sleepy and she woke up to find him sexually assaulting her. In addition to her ordeal as a victim of sexual assault, the young girl learned she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Farmer, when he was arrested Friday for manslaughter, was free on a total of $200,000 bond after being charged with indecency with a child and continuous sexual abuse of a child, accused of repeatedly molesting the 13-year-old victim. He was scheduled to go to trial Monday, where he faced a minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of life if convicted. He remains in the Harris County jail, in lieu of a $1,000,000 bail. His court-appointed attorney, Miranda Meador, did not return calls for comment. Farmer apparently called the HPD officers about 7 p.m. Friday and said he killed a woman between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday. When police got to the Americas Inn in the 8200 block of Southwest Freeway, Farmer allegedly said he had killed his fiances sister and took officers to the womans body inside the motel room he rented. He told police that he choked Montante while they were having sex, prosecutors said. Farmer told police that Montante panicked and he stopped choking her while she continued to freak out. Her body went limp three to five minutes later. Common defense The rough sex defense, such as that offered by Farmer, is common in similar cases, said prosecutors and experts who do not believe it. Theres no way she consented to that strangulation, said Kelsey McKay, an expert in domestic violence strangulation cases who worked as a prosecutor in Austin for 12 years. During rough sex, if you strangle someone, they go unconscious in about 10 seconds. It takes another 60 to 111 seconds for them to then die. So, their body would be limp and unconscious and you would have to continue that pressure up to two and half more minutes. That defense is such B.S. McKay has been working with the DAs office to increase awareness among law enforcement. A tangible result of the task force has been the creation of checklist for police and first responders that is the size of a business card. McKay, Cloud and others are teaming up to train law enforcement officers to look for evidence of strangulation to get more domestic abusers off the street. Studies show that after one non-fatal strangulation, the offender is eight times more likely to murder (the woman), McKay said. When you look at an intimate partner homicide, 43 percent of the women who were killed by an intimate partner were strangled in the year leading up to it. Its a mission for McKay who said research shows that men who commit domestic violence, especially stranglers, are linked to serial killings, mass shootings and shooting police officers. These are the kinds of perpetrators who are more violent and have more disregard for human life, and they are the ones who go on to be serial killers and mass shooters, she said. A strangulation means you like to feel what its like to kill someone, you are feeling the pulse in their body go limp, you are playing God. Serial killers like to play God. She acknowledged that not everyone who strangles someone is a serial killer, but said serial killers grow out of that action. Still, when a man is accused of killing a woman during sex, the defense is often that rough sex got out of hand. Women are not consenting to strangulation in sex like people want to think they are, McKay said. Its because theyre dead and perpetrators have to come up with something thats mitigating, and they use that all the time. Theyre outsmarting the criminal justice system over and over and over. Houstonians were shocked in 2014 when 18-year-old Eddie Herrera was arrested for strangling 17-year-old Jacqueline Gomez during sex in a hotel room after her prom at Aldines MacArthur High School. She was found dead the next morning in the hotel bed. Herrera told police he and his mother worked together to rent the hotel room, get two bottles of whiskey and at least 20 pills of hydrocodone, a prescription painkiller. He told detectives that he and Gomez drank a bottle and a half of whiskey and took most of the pills before having consensual sex. It was during sex, he told police, that she asked him to squeeze her neck. Prosecutors at trial told jurors Herrera choked Gomez past the point where she was unconscious during a brutal episode of rough sex. He then passed out next to her and woke to find her dead. Herrera was later convicted of assault and faced life in prison. Jurors sentenced him to 25 years in prison. One of the members of the strangulation task force, Barbie Brashear with the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, said the recent emphasis on raising awareness is important to increase safety for survivors across Harris County. Brashear said her agency conducted a study that showed systemic problems in how the DAs staff handled the prosecution of domestic violence cases, including critical protections such as obtaining restraining orders against a violent partner. We found some pretty glaringly obvious changes that needed to be made, Brashear said. With this administration, weve seen a willingness to listen and to work together. With the rapidly-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus making its way through the United States, many schools across the country are moving to remote learning for the first week of the spring semester. The decision could be extended, depending on case numbers moving forward, schools said. The University of Texas at Austin, which saw a weekly positive rate of 8.1% for the last week of the fall semester, a marked increase from its 0.9% average since June 1, 2020, is requesting all students to get tested within 72 hours prior to return to campus. Texas State University is requesting the same thing. Texas Tech has not announced any changes as of yet, but Texas Tech is strongly recommending that all faculty and staff be vaccinated for COVID-19 and face masks are strongly encouraged in classrooms and all other public indoor settings on campus. Face masks are also required for all visitors to the Student Health Clinic. "As we move forward, we will continue to provide educational opportunities online, face-to-face on campus and through a hybrid combination of these, depending on the course," Lamar University said on their website. "Face coverings are required on campus whenever it is not feasible to maintain six feet of social distancing from another person not in the same household." Texas A&M University asked faculty and staff to work remotely due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state and in Brazos County, which will continue until Jan. 7. The university said they will continue to monitor the situation and make changes as needed as more information is gathered. Texas A&M is encouraging students, staff and faculty to get fully immunized against the coronavirus and to get the booster shot. Lamar has also not announced any changes to the start of the spring semester as of yet, nor has Laredo College. Trinity University in San Antonio won't return to class until Jan. 31 to allow time for eligible students and staff to get booster shots and has directed most employees to work remotely for the first two weeks of the semester. Rice University in Houston will start as scheduled but will offer instruction online for the first two weeks of the semester and is requiring vaccine boosters for all employees and students, effective Jan. 10. Rice is also strongly encouraging students to wait to return to campus and on-campus housing until two weeks into the semester. Additionally, the University of Houston said they continue to monitor the situation but return to campus began on Jan. 3, although the university said it was important to continue taking appropriate precautions, including vaccines, boosters and masks. Texas Christian University said they are prepared to reopen as planned on Jan. 5 and to start in-person classes on Jan. 10. The university said they are conducting contact tracing and offering COVID-19 vaccines, boosters and testing to their community. Southern Methodist University has not yet announced any changes for the spring semester and neither has Stephen F. Austin State University, which says it is strongly encouraging everyone who can get vaccinated to be inoculated, wear a mask in public indoor settings, frequently wash hands and maintain physical distance when possible. These precautions are not required, the university said. This article was updated on Jan. 5 to include additional information about reopening plans and scheduling at TCU, Laredo, TAMU, the University of Houston and Stephen F. Austin State University. The prevention of nuclear Armageddon by Russia, China, the UK, the US, and France is the message as the proliferation of nukes, preventing mutually assured destruction is what they are all working for. It doesn't help as the age of ultrasonic or hypersonic weapons can be armed with a nuke or standard warhead, which is virtually unstoppable. But the most powerful nations have pledged to place controls on the most destructive weapons made by mankind. Superpowers pledge to stop the spread of nuclear weapons To avoid a devastating nuclear Holocaust, the superpowers put aside their differences and pledged to restrict the spread of atomic weapons, reported the Sun UK. Despite heightened tensions worldwide, these five countries, who are all permanent members of the UN Security Council, issued an astonishing declaration soothing fear of disastrous aftermath. Last Monday, the joint declaration stated the disastrous consequences faced if a nuclear conflict arises. Nuclear arms are destructive and capable of worldwide havoc, whose use should be avoided at all costs. The White House published the statement in English that discusses what should be creating global security to preserve world peace by limiting it. It also emphasized a need to respond with imminent proliferation and preserve and comply with non-proliferation, denuclearization, and arms control accords, the Print. Additionally, the statement says that keeping and bolstering national measures to control the use of atomic arms from the wrong hands could be disastrous. To underscore the desire to work with all states to promote a security situation that is more favorable to disarmament progress and stopping nuclear Armageddon. An ultimate aim of a borderless world free of nuclear weapons and peaceful for all. Read Also: China Warns Biden To Stop Meddling in Taiwan Affairs To Avoid Consequences Paris published the accord to address the ongoing efforts to keep nuclear arms control and disarmament. The goal will do all measures to maintain a cap on nuclear arms. Declaration released to avoid catastrophic nuclear war This pronouncement comes as the United Nations postponed a vital conference on nuclear weapons caused by an increase in coronavirus cases. Dignitaries are expected to evaluate the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which sought to end nuclear weapons proliferation. Most nations could keep their nuclear stash while concentrating efforts to move in the direction of the eventual abandonment of these weapons of mutually assured destruction. One nation with the most nuclear warheads is Russia, with 6,375 in a closely guarded stockpile, with the US a close a second with 5,800 of them. Since the end of World War Two, they have competed to develop the most advanced tech for weapons seen. Another is how they've been at it since the end of the Cold War that has added China in three corner rings, with India coming up soon. A bright spot is that none of the five, Russia, China, the UK, France, and the US, want to start a devastating WW3, so they are policing themselves and keeping off the red button. They have pledged to abide by nuclear accords that keep their hands tied and stop anyone firing a single nuke. Hearing the declaration gives many nations a sigh of relief, but Ukraine is a nuclear powder keg. Nuclear Armageddon could end civilization, but squabbles worsen, and only calmer heads prevail in the east and west hemispheres. Related Article: Vladimir Putin Threatens Placing Nuclear Missiles on EU Border if US, NATO Continue Provocation @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Midland County Records A week after being extradited from Mexico, Julio Cesar Lopez-Beltran has been booked into Midland County Jail. Lopez-Beltran, of Chihuahua, Mexico, is being charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with a shooting that occurred June 21, 2018, at the Whataburger on East Interstate 20. JamesBrey, Contributor / Getty Images HOUSTON (AP) The oldest Texas death row inmate is to be executed in April for killing a Houston police officer more than 30 years ago, prosecutors said Tuesday. A Houston state judge scheduled the execution of Carl Wayne Buntion, 77, for April 21 during a Tuesday court hearing. Luis Alvarez/Getty Images As the post-holiday demand for COVID-19 testing rises amid the omicron surge, San Antonio's Metro Health Department is warning against phony swabbing sites. San Antonians have been sharing their experiences with sketchy locations online and now health officials are sharing some tips to safeguard against rogue operations. "We have just been made aware that fake testing sites are popping up in the Bexar County area and are addressing this issue," Cleo Garcia with Metro Health tells MySA. A geodesic home in Texas has made a recent roundup highlighting the best Airbnb rentals in the United States. The mid-century rental property in Leander has made a list put together by Conde Nasts Traveler publication. Each of the 52 properties featured on the list is run by a Superhost with a rating of 4.8 or higher, according to the publication. Kitschy as the 1970s kit-built exterior may look, this five-bedroom geodome is stuffed with modern amenities like soaking tubs and high-end appliances, the article by Conde Nast reads. At $913 per night, the Texas home is one of the pricier rentals on the list. In addition to the five bedrooms, it also features three full baths, a full kitchen and an observation tower loft library with 360-degree views, according to the official Airbnb listing. Photo provided/Airbnb While the property provides a retreat from city life, it is also only a 30-minute drive from Austin, so there is no shortage of activities for people looking to get out and about. "Originally built in the 90's from the popular geodesic dome home building kits of the 1970s, The Geodome was completely remodeled in 2020 with Wifi-enabled and fully integrated smart devices throughout the entire house," the listing on the Airbnb site reads. The 3,500 square foot home next to Lake Travis has what is described as a "speakeasy" lounge on the bottom floor, a fireplace and 55-inch smart television on the main floor and a spiral staircase leading from the third-floor bedrooms into the observation tower library. If the amenities aren't enough, the photo opportunities might just serve as the icing on the cake. "Throughout the entire house are fun design Easter eggs that will bring a smile to your face and make a great IG post. The elements of natural wood and trend-setting industrial design and MCM furniture will immediately captivate your attention and help you feel right at home," the Airbnb listing reads. For more information on the property, contact the property owner through the Airbnb listing page. F-22 Raptors are considered to be the best plane, but its days are numbered as a new hypersonic infrared missile will keep it at bay. Stealth is good, but as long as it gets close to its target but it's become moot with a projectile that could kill it in seconds after launch. It forms another layer of the missile shield that the PLA is developing and proving a hard nut to crack even in theory. New weapons affecting the old battlefield After several tests performed last year, the Chinese have made a remarkable claim about their superfast missile development. R ushed with unprecedented speed towards obtaining and developing hypersonic weapons in a modern-day arms race, reported the EurAsian Times. They have told the world of advances in next-generation hypersonic armament, an infrared heat seeker that tracks jet exhaust and homes in on it; at Mach 3+. The US is still lagging until 2025, cited the South China Morning Post. According to the scientist, the advanced heat seeker will keep the missiles on target and maintain accuracy and speed. Perfect for hitting the F-35 or F-22 and any vehicle with astonishing speed. Many claims by Chinese military experts have made the US defense establishment worry about how serious they are. F-22 Raptor at brink of dominance Expert says the ground-to-air hypersonic infrared missile would take many of the F-22 Raptors once unloading its ordnance. A kill assured with no escape since it can only affect radar. Read Also: What Makes the F-22 Raptor Tick, and Why It's So Hard to Beat Based on the US Air Force, Heat-seeking missiles killed about 90% of all warplanes downed in the 1980s, and stealth fighters could be targets because the composition of the material warms up easily while in flight. The plane's stealth has doomed it inadvertently. The F-22 Raptor is a lethal American fighter who is also a key unit of the Global Strike Task Force. It is in charge of mobilizing combat-ready forces for nuclear deterrence and worldwide strike missions. America depends on its stealth fighters as advanced units to destroy the missile defense of China especially. It would be a severe blow to the US forces that the superfast heat seekers lock out their stealth jets. If these heat seekers negate stealth, the Chinese levels more than the theatre of war make the plight of the US forces worse. Previously the US military adopted an approach of keeping its assets spread out and harassing the PLA if needed with their F-22 or F-35 fighters. This means the Pentagon will have more work on its hands. Locking onto heat where the superfast missile sensor can find it a low flying level; this lower altitude generates more friction and heat on the stealth jets skin. The next-generation Chinese heat seeker will home in and kill the American plane. At the Zhuhai airshow, a game-changing radar that will detect stealth aircraft is called YLC-8E. The system is very versatile and would give the US headaches to no end, limiting stealth. The days of the F-22 Raptor are numbered if the Chinese hypersonic infrared missile is in full production, limiting the use of the US forces prized asset will be debilitating to its force projection. Related Article: Israel Wants to Buy Ultimate DogfighterF-22 Raptor @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Florida, US (34429) Today Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 88F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Canadian authorities have reached agreements-in-principle to pledge $31.5 billion as compensation for Indigenous children who were discriminated against and put into the welfare system. The federal government announced the news after Indigenous advocates spent years fighting for justice and reform related to the controversy. On Tuesday, Canadian authorities released a statement which stated that roughly $15.75 billion of the total funding would be distributed to First Nations children who were forcibly removed from their homes and those who did not receive or faced delays in accessing services. Massive Compensation The other half of the massive fund will be set aside for long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services program, which includes funding for young adults aging out of the child welfare system. In a statement, Canada's Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu said that, for too long, the Canadian government did not adequately fund or support the wellness of First Nations families and children, Aljazeera reported. Hajdu added that First Nations children thrive when they are able to stay with their family and loved ones, in their communities, while being surrounded by their culture. They said that there was no amount of compensation that could make up for the trauma that victims have experienced in the past, but they noted that the agreement-in-principle acknowledged survivors and their families and the harm and pain done to them. Read Also: US Sets Alarming Milestone of 1 Million Coronavirus Cases Amid Omicron Surge as Vaccines Race To Protect Younger People Later on, the government and Indigenous advocates will settle the final details of the agreement for the next few months. Once a final agreement has been detailed, it will be submitted to a federal court and human rights tribunal for approval. For nearly 15 years, the dispute has been debated over and includes a human rights complaint and several class-action lawsuits against several federal governments. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was elected in 2015 and pledged to establish reconciliation with Indigenous people at the core of his agenda, has received criticism for his handling of the issue, The Washington Post reported. Indigenous Children During a news conference in Ottawa, Canada's Crown-Indigenous relations minister, Marc Miller, said that, while the recent settlement is the largest in the history of the country, historic injustices required historic reparations. The Manitoba regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, Cindy Woodhouse, said that the agreements-in-principle was a "long time coming." She told reporters that First Nations from across Canada have had to struggle to this day to provide redress for monumental wrongs against their people and their children. Woodhouse added that the wrongs were fueled by an inherently biased system. The dispute began in 2007 when several Indigenous advocacy groups claimed in a human rights complaint that the federal government's "inequitable and insufficient" funding of child welfare services on First Nations reserves was discriminatory. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, in 2016, agreed with the advocates, saying the federal government's funding formula was based on "flawed assumptions about children in care." They said that the situation resulted in a system that incentivized the removal of First Nations children from their homes and their cultures, the New York Times reported. Related Article: Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush Says He Won't Seek Reelection as Congressman After 15 Terms in Office @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access You will receive 5-day a week delivery of the Citizen Tribune newspaper to your home or business, plus full, ad-free access to CitizenTribune.com as well as full access to the Electronic Edition of the newspaper. ONLY $13.99 per month for the first 3 months! Only $16.00 per month after promotional period. Or ONLY $169.99 for a full year Only $192.00 per year after promotional period. Oklahoma City, OK (73106) Today Windy with thunderstorms, possibly strong during the afternoon hours. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 83F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms, some strong this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low near 45F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Cruse Bereavement Care has dropped the word care from its name and replaced it with support as part of a brand refresh. The charity made the name switch because it wanted to use more active language that reflects the services it delivers. Cruse Bereavement Support has also outlined a new values focus about being genuine, kind, ambitious and inclusive. As part of the rebrand process it worked with an agency, Red Stone, and brand consultant, Dan Dufour, who conducted research with bereaved people accessing support, the people providing the support, the charitys 4,000 volunteers and staff, and people who had not heard of Cruse. New website Its new brand coincides with the launch of a new website, which includes a new grief self-assessment tool. To fund the new website development it received a grant of nearly 500,000 from the National Lottery Community Development Fund. Need will increase The charity said that being inclusive and reaching people who need support is more important as it expects demand to rise we emerge from the pandemic. Steven Wibberley, chief executive of Cruse Bereavement Support, said: This is an important step for Cruse. As the UKs leading bereavement charity, over the past 60 years we have supported hundreds of thousands of grieving people. As we emerge from the pandemic, the need for bereavement support will increase in the future. We now have a brand that everyone in Cruse can feel proud of. A brand that everyone had an opportunity to feed in to. And a brand that will leave a legacy of supporting and reaching more grieving people than ever before. sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, Nevada has agreed to back a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving lawsuits against three large drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, the states attorney general said on Tuesday. Nevada was among a handful of states that until now was not participating in the landmark agreements to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits against J&J, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc. The settlements backers had agreed to extend to Jan. 26 a deadline for cities and counties in states that backed the proposal to opt-in to the settlements, citing the potential for more states to join. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said he was optimistic the states local governments would join the settlements, allowing Nevada to receive more than $285 million. There is no question that the opioid epidemic has devastated Nevada and money is needed now to address comprehensive statewide remediation, he said in a statement. J&J said it agreed to a $63 million settlement with Nevada consistent with its proposal to pay up to $5 billion to resolve cases against it nationally. AmerisourceBergen and McKesson declined to comment. Cardinal Health did not respond to requests for comment. More than 3,300 lawsuits largely by state and local governments are pending seeking to hold those and other companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis that led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths over two decades. The companies deny wrongdoing. The distributors said in September that 42 states, five territories and Washington, D.C., had agreed to participate in their $21 billion settlement. A similar number backed J&Js proposal. The extent state and local governments participate will shape how much the companies ultimately must pay and how much outstanding litigation they face. New Mexico, another holdout state, on Dec. 7 signed on. President Joe Biden attempted to calm fears about the Omicron coronavirus variant on Tuesday, emphasizing that COVID-19 vaccines protect against serious diseases caused by the virus. Speaking before a meeting with his COVID-19 advisers at the White House, Biden said the United States has the capabilities to protect Americans from serious disease caused by the virus. He also pushed for keeping schools open at a time when the number of cases is on the rise; some school systems are electing to restart the school year remotely. US COVID-19 cases soar to more than 1 million a day On Monday, the United States recorded over 1 million COVID-19 instances, owing in part to backlogs over the New Year's vacation. COVID-19 infections are currently averaging over 480,000 per day in the United States. Hospitals in several areas have been overburdened, prompting the federal government to dispatch workers to assist with the influx of patients, The Hill reported. However, there is some encouraging news regarding the protection provided by COVID-19 vaccinations against omicron. Vaccines and booster doses have been demonstrated to protect against severe illness caused by the Omicron variant. That's why Biden and government health officials are urging people who haven't been vaccinated to get one as soon as possible, as well as those who are eligible for booster shots. Approximately 66 percent of eligible adult Americans have received a full COVID-19 vaccination, with nearly a third receiving a booster shot, according to the CDC. President Joe Biden stated on Tuesday that coronavirus danger has been greatly decreased thanks to vaccinations and treatment medications. Although the US has given out over 500 COVID-19 vaccines, only 62 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated. The news comes as the United States has quadrupled its order for Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral therapy. Paxlovid will now be procured in 20 million courses, with four million ready by the end of January, according to the drugmaker and the White House. Read Also: Chuck Schumer Threatens to Change Filibuster Rules If GOP Blocks Voting Rights Bill Again Joe Biden erroneously states it's '2020' Per Sky News, it was proven to be approximately 90% effective in reducing mortality and hospitalization among high-risk individuals in a clinical experiment. It was previously allowed for those above the age of 12, and another pill, molnupiravir, was approved in the United States only last month. In the United States, the Omicron variant, which spreads more easily but appears to be less severe than Delta, is the most common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it accounted for 95% of new cases last week. As individuals rush to get their hands on tests, the White House announced on Tuesday that it was finalizing negotiations to purchase 500 million of them for free distribution to the general population. President Biden reassured Americans on Tuesday that there was reason to be optimistic about "2020" - four days into 2022, he misspoke and said the wrong year. Biden's post-New Year's gaffe came as the president urged people to keep wearing masks and get COVID-19 vaccines, citing the Omicron variant's record-high infection rates. Biden's political opponents frequently claim that he is becoming senile, and during the 2020 campaign, former President Donald Trump accused Biden of being "mentally shot." Biden's defenders argue that he's just prone to making mistakes, citing decades of examples. Biden, 79, is the oldest president; and his mental abilities are increasingly being questioned. Last month, Biden made the same mistake he had made twice before when referring to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as "President Harris," as per NY Post. Related Article: Online Critics Mock Joe Biden as He Gets Stuck on Air Force One After Presidential Jet Lands in Snowstorm @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A decision by a California appellate court last month allows both Allstate and State Farm to pursue lawsuits seeking penalties against an Orange County pain-management doctor who is accused of over-billing insurers. Californias Insurance Fraud Prevention Act allows insurers or other parties to file whistleblower lawsuits called qui tam actions that can result in awards of three times the amount charged plus penalties of $5,000 to $10,000 for each fraudulent bill. The law includes a first-to-file rule, which generally means no other actions can follow after an initial lawsuit is filed. A panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal decided Dec. 14 that the first-to-file rule does not prevent two insurers from filing separate actions seeking penalties for separate sets of false claims. The panel reversed a decision by the Orange County Superior court that dismissed a lawsuit filed by State Farm because Allstate had already filed a lawsuit alleging the same fraudulent scheme. Allstate Northbrook Indemnity Co. in September 2019 filed a qui tam suit against Dr. Sonny Rubin of Newport Beach, seeking penalties for false claims made against it after treating auto-accident claimants. A month later, State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. filed an action against Rubin describing a similar over-billing scheme and seeking penalties for all false claims made to any insurer. The 4th District panel noted that the two lawsuits involve separate pools of victims. Allstate is the only overlapping victim, the published opinion says. Thus, even if the two complaints allege the same fraud, State Farm is only precluded from pursuing IFPA penalties for the false claims that defendants billed to Allstate. Even though the IFPA was enacted by the state legislature in 1993, the court said State Farms appeal marked the first time it was asked to consider the question of whether two insurers can pursue separate qui tam actions for the same fraud scheme. Barry Zalma, a former attorney who now runs an insurance consulting firm, noted the significance of the decision in his insurance fraud newsletter. Its just a great thing that insurers are being proactive since the state is lethargic in prosecution of frauds, he said in an email to the Claims Journal. Both lawsuits allege that Rubin over-billed for procedures purportedly performed at the Newport Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery. The Allstate lawsuit says Rubin orchestrates fraudulent conduct in which he routinely recommends predetermined one-size-fits-all treatment plans without regard to medical necessity or patient safety, to fraudulently increase the value of the patients claims and to maximize his own revenue, profit, and income. The insurer said when treating patients referred to him by lawyers and chiropractors, Rubin would unbundle Current Procedural Codes to make it appear more treatment was rendered than actually occurred. State Farms lawsuit describes a similar scheme and gives greater detail. The suit says Rubin collected up to $4,095 in professional fees for each procedure and the ambulatory surgery center he owns an extra $2,000 in facility fees by fraudulently billing for diagnostic procedures and magnetic-resonance imaging scan interpretations that were either not performed or not medically necessary. Allstate is asking the court to award it at least $34,110,000 for violations of the Insurance Code. State Farm alleges that it paid $6 million for Rubins fraudulent billings, but it is also seeking damages for fraudulent claims made to other insurers, other than Allstate. Attorneys with the Khouri law firm, who represent Rubin, did not respond to requests for comment. Rubins lawyers persuaded Orange County Superior Court Judge William Claster to dismiss State Farms lawsuit, called a demurrer in California, based on the first-to-file rule. After State Farm appealed, both the state Department of Insurance and Allstate filed briefs supporting State Farms effort to pursue its own lawsuit. Interestingly, State Farm and Allstate argued different theories before the appellate court. Allstate argued in an amicus brief that the State Farm lawsuit should not have been dismissed because it involved a different set of victims, while State Farm argued that the identity of the victims was irrelevant. The appellate panel said that it usually does not allow arguments to be made on appeal if they werent made at trial, but it decided to consider Allstates brief because of important policy issues. The court ruled that Allstate was correct: The identity of the specific victims underlying a relators request for penalties is material in an IFPA action, the opinion says. Because the purpose of the IFPA is to disgorge unlawful profits, a separate lawsuit that alleges the same fraudulent scheme but a different set of victims should be allowed, the panel decided. The additional funds recovered from such lawsuits will assist the governments efforts in fighting insurance fraud, the opinion says. The California Department of Insurance also filed a brief in support of State Farms position. The law enhances our ability to protect the public given limited investigative resources. The Department of Insurance filed a statement of interest in the Court of Appeal after the case was dismissed by a lower court because the commissioner has an interest in ensuring that the statute is applied in a consistent manner, true to its text and legislative intent, and we believe this suit should be allowed to move forward in the public interest, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Michael Soller said in a statement. BOULDER, Colo. (AP)Federal and state investigators have interviewed dozens of people in their search for the cause of a destructive Colorado wildfire, but the results of that investigationand even a progress reportcould take days, if not weeks, the Boulder County sheriff warned. Declaring that the stakes are huge, Sheriff Joe Pelle said he would not release details on the probe until he was ready to announce some progressperhaps that may be a week, perhaps that may be a month. Getting it right, he told reporters Monday, was more important than the urge for speed that a lot of folks are feeling right now. The wind-whipped inferno erupted Thursday, destroying nearly 1,000 homes and other structures and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate in a rapidly-growing suburban area pockmarked by grasslands between the cities of Boulder and Denver. Two people were missing, and crews sifted two locations by hand and used small tools in their search for any remains. Experts say the winter fire was rare but that similar events will become more common as climate change warms the planet and suburbs grow in fire-prone areas. The blaze broke out following months of drought that included a dry fall and a winter with little snow so far. The investigation into the fires origin is focused on an area near Boulder where a passer-by captured video of a burning shed on the day the fire began, Pelle told a news briefing Monday. He said dozens of people have been interviewed thus far and that experts from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Forest Service were involved. Authorities say no downed power lines were found in the area. Known as Marshall Mesa, the area in unincorporated Boulder County is near the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills and overlooks the more heavily populated suburbs to the east that were devastated by the fast-moving fire. The area is surrounded by tinder-dry public open space and private grasslands. A sheriffs official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that several properties were under investigation, including one in the Marshall Mesa area, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) west of the hard-hit town of Superior. A National Guard Humvee blocked access to the neighborhood on Monday. Over the weekend, authorities executed a search warrant, but the sheriff declined to elaborate and did not comment on whether he thought the fire was arson. In the search for the missing, crews were looking for a woman in the town of Superior and a man from the nearby community of Marshall. Louisville Police Chief Dave Hayes said authorities used cadaver dogs to re-check destroyed properties as a precaution. He said no one was reported missing in the heavily damaged city, but that doesnt mean we wont find something. Hayes told reporters after the briefing that he lost his own home and was wearing a change of clothes he asked someone to buy for him. While homes that burned to the foundations were still smoldering in some places, the blaze was no longer considered a threat, especially after a blanket of snow and frigid temperatures tampered flames Saturday. Most of the 991 buildings destroyed by the fire were homes. But the blaze also burned through eight businesses at a shopping center in Louisville, including a nail salon and a Subway restaurant. In neighboring Superior, 12 businesses were damaged, including a Target, a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria, a Tesla car dealership, a hotel and the town hall. Among the homes that were still intact, utility crews went door to door to check if natural gas and electricity could be safely restored. What a relief, uttered Louisville resident Carl Johns as a utility worker turned on a gas valve and went inside Johns home of 21 years to make sure appliances were lighting up. He had been living with friends since Thursday, when police drove through the neighborhood and urged everyone by loudspeaker to evacuate. Some of his neighbors werent so lucky. Down the street stood a row of burned homes. That just blows me away, Johns said. The houses arent there, and you cant recognize your own block. About the photo: A catastrophe response team truck sits in front of the Costco damaged by the Marshall wildfire, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in Superior, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The wildfire that ignited on Dec. 30 in Boulder County, Colorado destroyed 1,000 structures and caused insured losses of about $1 billion, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co. said Wednesday. The blaze, called the Marshall Fire because it it started off of Marshall Road, was contained after the area received about 10 inches of snow on Dec. 31. But by that time the inferno had become the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, KC&C said. The previous record belonged the East Troublesome Fire of October 2020, which destroyed over 500 structures and cost nearly $500 million in insured losses. KC&C said Colorado has experienced seven major loss producing fires since 2010. Other notable destructive fires include the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012, which resulted in around $450 million in insured losses, and the Black Forest Fire of 2013, which resulted in nearly $400 million in insured losses. Months of unusually warm and dry weather along the Colorado Front Range primed the environment for the fast-spreading Marshall Fire, KC&C said. Precipitation had been at record lows in the region since July, and Denver had just experienced its second warmest fall season on record. The unseasonably hot and dry weather led to desiccated vegetation throughout the state, which can easily ignite and spread fire. The exact cause of the Marshall Fire is still under investigation, but KC&C said an intense, downslope wind event that impacted the Colorado Front Range assisted the fast rate of spread. On the morning of Dec. 30, strong winds were flowing nearly due east across the high peaks of the Colorado Rockies in the mid-levels of the atmosphere. By midday, an amplified mountain wave had developed over the Front Range and began to bring those strong mid-level winds to the surface, where gusts of over 100 mph were reported. Downslope wind events of that magnitude are uncommon, but not unprecedented, in Colorado. In fact, a 110 mph wind gust had been recorded in Boulder County during another downslope wind event less than a week before the Marshall Fire, KC&C said. As is typical of downslope winds, the air flowing into Boulder County from the mountains during this event was hot and dry, enhancing the potential for rapid fire spread. The wildfire season does not typically extend into the winter in Colorado because of the usual snow cover and cold temperatures. But KC&C said the Marshall Fire is part of a general trend of a lengthening fire season and drier fuels in the Western United States due to global warming. The Marshall fire burned approximately 6,000 acres and devastated entire subdivisions throughout Superior, Louisville, and unincorporated Boulder County, Colorado, the catastrophe modeler said. Heres a breakdown of the destruction, according to the Boulder County Sheriffs Office: Louisville: 553 destroyed, 45 damaged. Superior: 332 destroyed, 60 damaged. Unincorporated Boulder County: 106 destroyed, 22 damaged. In Louisville, a suburban area about 20 miles northwest of Denver, hundreds of homes and a large commercial area, including a shopping center and a hotel, were among the destroyed structures. Source: Karen Clark & Co. About the photo: Ron Damario peers into what remains of his charred safe, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in Louisville, Colo. Damario lost his home after a fire ripped through Boulder County on Thursday. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Claremore, OK (74018) Today Showers and thunderstorms - possibly severe during the afternoon hours. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. When it comes to leaving their parents for extended periods of time, being homesick is inevitable for some kids. Summer camp staff members may encounter this from time to time and it is good for them to be prepared to comfort children when those types of situations present themselves. The US has charged a retired Colombian commando with involvement in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, making him the first suspect to face charges in the country. According to federal prosecutors, Mario Palacios was apprehended at a Panamanian airport on Monday and was brought to Miami after previously promising to assist with US law police. He was charged with planning to kidnap or kill someone outside the United States when he appeared before a federal court on Tuesday. He was not reprimanded in custody. Colombian suspect may plead not guilty in Haiti President's assassination Per NY Times, Palacios's lawyer, Alfredo Izaguirre, predicted that the client would most likely plead not guilty at a pre-trial session planned for later this month. He might receive a life sentence, according to the US Attorney's Office. Based on conversations with their families and Haitian police, Palacios, 43, was one of two dozen veteran Colombian military special forces personnel who came to Haiti as private security contractors recruited by a Miami-based organization named CTU Security between May and June. According to Haitian police, the US Department of Justice, and Colombian intelligence, their purpose progressively shifted from providing protection to local guests to attacking the presidential home, resulting in Moise's death. Haitian President's wife Martine Moise, who was injured in the incident, said Moise was killed down in his bedroom on July 7 by assassins who spoke Spanish. However, the specific identities of the assassins, the circumstances surrounding Moise's death, and the plot's final mastermind remain unclear although it appears to have been organized in part in the United States. Palacios might be able to offer some light on some of these issues. According to the first investigative report by Haitian police, he was one of five Colombian ex-soldiers who were part of the "Delta Team" who entered his home during the attack. Read Also: China Hits New High Temperature Since 1961, Including Extreme Weather in 2021; Experiment of Artificial Sun Burns 5x Than Real One Haiti PM urges local authorities to work with the US He was the only one of his comrades to flee Haitian police after the attack. He ultimately made his way to Jamaica, where he was apprehended for breaking immigration regulations. According to an affidavit released in Miami on Tuesday, Palacios opted to cooperate with US law officials in Jamaica, delivering various written statements. Per USA Today, the prime minister's office released a short statement, stating merely that it hoped for justice in the killing of Moise at his private property on July 7. Additional queries, such as whether the government was still attempting to prosecute Palacios or deport him to Haiti, were not answered by the office. Former Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph said the United States taking custody of Palacios was a positive move, but he asked local authorities to work with the US to extradite him so he could face justice in his own country. Palacios was one of over a dozen former Colombian soldiers charged with Moise's murder. According to the Colombian authorities, the bulk of the ex-soldiers were tricked into believing they were on a legal mission to offer safety, with only a handful realizing it was a criminal expedition. More than 40 people, including 19 former Colombian military, have been apprehended. Palacios, a 20-year veteran of Colombia's military, is one of them. According to the Justice Department, Palacios traveled to the United States on June 28, 2021, with a co-conspirator to seek assistance in carrying out the killing. Palacios's travel companion, a Haitian-American citizen, was apprehended by Haitian police and is now being held there. Palacios escaped arrest, according to US officials, and fled to Jamaica. He consented to fly to the United States after being deported from Jamaica and during a stopover in Panama, as per Big News Network. Related Article: Haiti Prime Minister Names New Cabinet Amid Ongoing Disorder; Armed Gangs Challenge His Rule @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Beijing is adamant that the US and Russia should have an accord to regulate and reduce nuclear warheads as part of the arrangement in good faith. Compared to China, the stockpiles of the two superpowers are more plentiful, which worries the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) whether they would be used or not. The third superpower has a No First Use (NFU) policy that prevents it from unleashing its nuclear arsenal. If it loses in a conventional conflict, both the US and Russia must commit to not using them, especially the US. Superpowers agree to control the spread of atomic weapons The risk of nuclear Armageddon prompted a declaration last Monday by the top countries in the east and west to control the unbridling tensions. Specially confirming not to resort to nukes and lessen the spread of atomic energy-based weapons to avoid even a limited nuclear conflict, reported the Express UK. Nuclear tension has arisen after the AUKUS deal that would have atomic submarines developed for Australia by the US and UK. A bring spot is the declaration calls for a future disarming of nuclear arsenals. Due to the unpredictability of the United States regarding treaties, as mentioned by Vladimir Putin noted Foreign Policy, Beijing has specially asked Washington, including Moscow, to lessen their current stockpiles. The Director-General of Arms Control in the Foreign Ministry of China, Fu Cong, stated that Russia and the US have 90 percent of today's total atomic weapons. Stressing only the most legally binding agreement will hold the two nations accountable. He denied the US claims that China is increasing its present stockpiles instead of regulating and reducing nuclear warheads as dictated by the accord. Read Also: Ex-Australian PM Blasts Trilateral Nuclear Submarine Deal With US, UK; Doubts Biden's Credibility To Stand Up to China Cong said the NFU policy stands and has not attempted to increase its power for national defense. He disagrees that the US has vastly more, but that's questionable when Beijing's need for security. He called these weapons of mass destruction as the most effective deterrent, not for fighting wars. Adding that Beijing would develop its stockpile to defend itself and safety measures while in storage. 'No First Use' policy China is bothered by the Claims of the US that it wants to increase its warheads to 700 by 2027, then to 1,000 in 2030, cited NDTV. The joint statement on nuclear weapons was due to a review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a cornerstone of arms control. It is said that a nuclear war will have no winners and should be avoided at all costs. Adding to the number of nuclear warheads on earth should be stopped. Removal of all nukes is the vow under the 1970 NPT, as the end all and be all of the accords. Entering the office, the ex-vice president was expected to lessen the funding for nuclear arms, ex-president Donald Trump allotted funds. Biden also was for an NFU policy only if attacked. He echoed Mr. Cong's sentiment that it was deterrence and striking back if no option was present for its leader. Added that it would be used in conjunction with allies. The NPT is under stress China and Russia are challenging the limits of when to fire the nukes. Both countries are remarkably composed as the US seems to lose its grip under President Biden. Beijing is keen to regulate and reduce nuclear warheads with its NFU policy and is looking to what the west will do, more than Russia. Related Article: Australia, France Row Over the Conventional Submarine Deal; Affects European Union Backing Macron @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. BEDFORDSHIRE [mdash]Michael A. Litchfield, Age 73, passed away April 23 in Bedfordshire, England. He is survived by his wife Vivian, 2 daughters Donna and Michelle , 4 grandchildren, 2 brothers Alan and Philip, 3 sisters Janet and Karen of Bedfordshire and Patricia Cramer of Clinton. He was Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The Department of the Interior and Local Government supports the proposal to impose stiff penalties against quarantine violators amid the recent reports of arriving passengers who skipped their hotel quarantine. In this time of pandemic, I will support that strongly. Buhay ang pinagu-usapan natin dito (We are talking about lives here), Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano told CNN Philippines The Source on Wednesday. Its really putting the lives at risk. We dont know the person na mahahawaan kung may comorbidity siya o ano mangyayari sa kanya (We are not sure who will be infected, whether they have comorbidity or what would happen to them). Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill which seeks to amend the Republic Act No. 11332, or Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act. If enacted into law, the proposed measure seeks to impose P500,000 to P1 million fine, or imprisonment of one to six years. Ano said there were passengers who really find ways to skip quarantine upon their arrival in the country. Mostly kasi yung mga arriving passengers, naghahanap sila ng way para makatakas ng quarantine, he said. Minsan nape-pressure din sila sa mga family members na gusto na makita agad, gustong lumabas agad. [Translation: Most of the arriving passengers, they are looking for ways to skip the quarantine. Sometimes they are pressured by their family members who want to see them already.] The Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has filed a complaint against Poblacion Girl and eight others including her parents - for allegedly breaching quarantine protocols. Ano said that Gwyneth Chuas parents helped her skipped her quarantine in a Makati hotel after arriving from the United States. Yung mga kababayan natin na may darating na kamag-anak, kayo na mismo sana ang mag-push na tapusin ang quarantine protocol. Its a law. Akala nila ordinaryong quarantine protocol lang ito, he said. [Translation: Im asking everyone who have arriving relatives from abroad to remind them to finish their quarantine. Its a law. They think this is just an ordinary protocol.] Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The country could see up to 11,000 COVID-19 cases today, and the number could double next week before it begins to decline, an OCTA Research expert has warned. "We're expecting mga...10 to 11,000 cases today sa buong Pilipinas. Mga 8,000 sa Metro Manila," OCTA Research fellow Guido David told Wednesday's Laging Handa briefing. [Translation: We's expecting around 10 to 11,000 cases nationwide today. Around 8,000 in Metro Manila.] He added the number of new cases would still climb in the next few days. "By next week, most likely madadagdagan pa 'yan," David said. "Posibleng dumoble pa yan aabot mga 20,000 plus. Pero...kung susundan natin yung South Africa experience at marami tayong bakunado, may chance na pagdating ng kalagitnaan ng January dun na natin makikita yung peak at magsisimula nang bumaba." [Translation: By next week, the number will likely be more. It could double reaching 20,000 plus. But if we follow the South Africa experience and a lot of people are vaccinated, there is a chance that we will see the peak by mid-January and it will start to decrease.] On Jan. 4, the country saw 5,434 new infections, raising the nationwide tally to 2,861,119. The Department of Health also said the National Capital Region was at critical risk for COVID-19 with a 1,475% two-week growth rate and an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 8.79. South China's Hainan issues first RCEP Certificate of Origin CGTN) 10:12, January 05, 2022 On New Year's Day, an enterprise from China's Hainan Free Trade Port started processing goods under the massive free-trade deal the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Haikou customs issued the first RCEP Certificate of origin on January 1, the day when the RCEP officially came into force. Hainan Yanghang Industrial Company said it will export a batch of aluminum sulfate worth over 46 thousand yuan (about $7.26 thousand) to Japan with zero tariffs and tax reductions of about 2,315 yuan. "As the RCEP takes effect, it adds price advantages to our product, and it also enhances the close partnership between export enterprises and foreign customers," said Li Xiaotao, the general manager of Hainan Yanghang Industrial. Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries signed the RCEP agreement in November 2020, comprising 10 ASEAN members and five of their largest trading partners: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. "Within the 15 countries, China accounts for 58 percent of the economy and other countries will have easier access to the Chinese market through RCEP, allowing them to share the benefits of China's growth," said Cui Fan, a professor of School of International Trade and Economics at University of International Business and Economics. "To some extent, it can also improve the level of the economic integration of the whole region." Bounleuth Luangpaseuth, the Vice President of Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "RCEP would open a new chapter for regional economic and trade ties. It will also put Laos in the global spotlight." According to China's Ministry of Commerce, over 90 percent of the goods traded between the RCEP signatories will eventually achieve zero tariffs. "The implementation of the RCEP, together with the China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement that also came into effect on Saturday, brings the number of free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements in China to 19," said Peng Weiyan, an official at Haikou Port Customs. "In the next step, customs will take the initiative to provide services and guidance for enterprises in conjunction with the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and to promote the high-quality development of Hainan's foreign trade," said Peng. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu) Kelly Meggs, the alleged head of the right-wing militia organization Oath Keepers, has filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attempting to prevent the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot from acquiring certain phone data. Verizon was ordered to provide overall call and text message information about Kelly Meggs's wife, Connie Meggs, cell phones from November 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, by the panel. Connie Meggs said in a complaint filed on Monday that the subpoena violated her constitutional right to a fair trial by tainting the jury pool and breaking marital communications privilege by exposing discussions she had with her husband. Jan. 6 committee seeks phone records of two Oath Keepers Kelly and Connie Meggs are accused of plotting to prevent President Joe Biden's election victory from being certified, Newsweek via MSN reported. According to court papers obtained by Newsweek, Kelly Meggs was reportedly "looking for" Pelosi during the Capitol disturbance over a year ago. On the evening of January 6, 2021, someone sent Kelly Meggs a message claiming he was "hoping to see Nancy's head rolling down the front steps," to which Kelly Meggs replied, "we looked forward to," a message Judge Amit Mehta considered very probably a mistake and meant to be looking for Pelosi. Connie Meggs is said to have been part of the "stack" of persons that made their way up the Capitol steps toward the building. Prosecutors said that this "stack," in which numerous defendants moved in a line with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them, was proof of a planned effort to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. The Meggs are two of nearly 20 people accused of conspiring to riot, the most serious accusation facing any of the suspected rioters. The subpoena issued by the committee on January 6 was unduly wide, according to the couple's lawsuit, and included "obviously irrelevant periods." It's an argument Donald Trump used to try to keep information from being given over to the committee, which has been looking for papers from the former president since April 2020. While the House of Representatives' general counsel, Douglas Letter, admitted the records may not offer any evidence, he maintained that they were required to assess the "atmosphere" that led to the Capitol incident. Read Also: Joe Biden Urges Concern But Not Alarm as Omicron Variant Cases Rise; President Doubles Order for Pfizer's Paxlovid Pill Pelosi is concealing information about her culpability According to the complaint, the House committee served Verizon with a subpoena on December 18 for information related to Ms. Meggs' Verizon Account, which also includes Mr. Meggs' cellular telephone number on a family account plan for the period of November 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021, which phone is used by Mrs. Meggs and a family. Per Law & Crime, the subpoena also purports to demand the names and addresses of account holders, as well as phone numbers, length of service, and other details, as well as call and message logs. It is "overly broad and excessively discriminatory," according to the complaint. Pelosi is stonewalling, according to Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis. He is the ranking Republican on the House Administration Committee, which is in charge of the Capitol's administration, as per The Washington Times. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday, he restated House Republicans' demand for the release of papers and correspondence related to the decision not to deploy the National Guard for the planned major protests on that day. Davis's letter was dubbed "pure revisionist fiction" by House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, and another attempt by Republicans to "distract and divert" from the Jan. 6 chaos. Related Article: Trump Plans Speech on Jan. 6; Raising Concerns Among Republicans of Potential Fraud Election Claims @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) Laguna is next to tighten its community restrictions, after the Inter-Agency Task Force placed the province under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 7 to 15. In a statement, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said the IATF approved the recommendation of the Sub-technical Working Group on Data Analytics on Wednesday to escalate Laguna to Alert Level 3 due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The province is the latest addition to the list of areas under the heightened classification following Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal. Under Alert Level 3, physical activities like face-to-face classes, contact sports, funfairs, live voice and wind instrument events are not allowed. Intrazonal and interzonal travel will be allowed subject to guidelines set by the local government unit of destination. Allowable capacity for certain establishments will also be limited to 30% for indoor venues and 50% for outdoor venues. Gatherings for necrological services, wakes, inurnment, and funerals would still be allowed. Operations of casinos are still prohibited. Gatherings in residences of individuals not belonging to the same household are also not allowed. The countrys COVID-19 cases have been continuously increasing for the past few days and surging to 10,775 on Wednesday -- almost twice the number logged the day before. The Department of Health said it is already assuming that the feared Omicron variant is spreading in communities because of the sudden spike in cases. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said more quarantine facilities in Metro Manila were opened amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. During an online forum Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wednesday, Abalos said from 48 facilities with 4.73% occupancy rate on December 1, there are now 95 quarantine facilities open with a 35.15% occupancy rate. The MMDA chairman is expecting these facilities to be at full capacity soon, which is why he is suggesting having a home quarantine option again. "Baka mapuno ulit itong mga isolation (facilities) natin, tingnan natin yung home quarantine. Baka pwede sa bahay ka na lang, magpagaling ka na lang doon," said Abalos. [Translation: Isolation facilities may be filled up again, so lets consider home quarantine. Maybe you can just stay at home and recover there.] There are some local government units in Metro Manila that do not allow COVID-19 patients to isolate at home. Abalos said he already talked to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon regarding home quarantine, and that the health department may soon come up with an announcement. Increasing COVID-19 cases among MMDA employees From six active cases on Tuesday, the MMDA reported around 70 COVID-positive employees as of Jan. 5. MMDA General Manager Romando Artes said over 60 employees out of 100 who underwent RT-PCR testing on Tuesday tested positive for the virus. Artes said most of these employees showed symptoms, prompting the swab tests. "Kalimitan naman po, mild and asymptomatic ang ating mga breakthrough infections dahil na siguro ang ating mga empleyado, halos 100% vaccinated," Artes said. [Translation: Our breakthrough infections are mostly mild and asymptomatic cases perhaps because almost 100% of our employees are vaccinated.] He explained the affected employees have a high exposure rate to the virus since most of them are in the front line services of the agency. "Rest assured na lahat po yan ay [that all those infected are] currently in isolation, and we are doing intensive contact tracing to isolate yung mga employees na na-expose [exposed employees]," said Artes. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The national government is eyeing to place more areas in Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions under Alert Level 3, Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano said Wednesday. We are looking at other areas in Region 4-A and Region 3 dahil malapit lang sila sa NCR and probably some key cities also, Ano told CNN Philippines The Source. [Translation: We are looking at areas in Region 4-A and Region 3 because they are just nearby NCR, and probably some key cities also.] But the DILG chief said that escalating some areas to a stricter alert level would depend on the trend of infections. Depende sa ating trend [] With our latest interventions, bababa yan, but not immediately. We expect siguro kung tuloy-tuloy tayo, mga second or third week of January, mapababa natin yung numero. For the meantime, kailangan natin yung tulong ng bawat isa, he said. [Translation: It depends on our trend [] With our latest interventions, the numbers will go down, but not immediately. We expect, if we keep going, we can lower the numbers by second or third week of January. For the meantime, we need to help each other.] Meanwhile, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said the government will not hesitate to place an area under Alert Level 3 if needed. "Any time na tumama siya sa parameters for Alert Level 3 or higher [Any time an area meets the parameters for Alert Level 3 or higher], then we will immediately escalate," he said in a press briefing. Ano said the Inter-Agency Task Force will meet on Thursday afternoon to discuss if more places will be placed under Alert Level 3. Areas under Alert Level 3 have high and increasing case counts, with the bed and intensive care unit utilization rate also increasing. The national government earlier decided to place the NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal under a stricter Alert Level 3 until January 15 due to the rising COVID-19 cases and threat of the Omicron variant. The countrys COVID-19 cases went back to four-digits since December 30. On January 5, the number of fresh cases spiked to 5,434, with recorded active cases of 29,809. The NCR is now deemed "high risk" following the significant increase of COVID-19 cases. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The Palace expressed support for the Commission on Human Rights move to pursue legislative measures for the establishment of Human Rights Institute after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed it in this years 5.024 trillion national budget. Yes, by all means, if they want to pursue legislation, then let them do so, said Dutertes acting spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Wednesday. Nograles went on to clarify why the chief executive issued a direct veto on the institutes creation, emphasizing the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) also looks into whether budget was requested for it in the first place. Mayroon tayong budget call na isinasagawa," he explained. "Dapat doon po sa budget call pa lamang ay nire-request na po ito. But if pinapasok or ini-insert sa budget, but if it is deemed a rider, then we do not want riders in the budget because the budget, as with any law, pinagbabawalan po yung mga riders. [Translation: We do what is called a budget call where projects should be requested by then. But if this is just inserted in the budget, but if it is deemed a rider, then we do not want riders in the budget because the budget, as with any law, forbids riders.] Its much better if they pursue legislation separately from a national budget, Nograles added. The CHR on Tuesday said it will keep pursuing the institutes establishment through further discussions with the DBM, along with Congress for proposed legislation. The institute will not cause additional burden to the state as it will use the bodys current resources, it added. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) With certain brands of paracetamol going out of stock in some drugstores, a pharmaceutical group has assured efforts are in place to immediately replenish supply. The organization and its members are already exerting extra efforts to make sure that demand for paracetamols specifically will be met, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) vice president Jannette Jakosalem told CNN Philippines on Wednesday. In fact, some of them are already looking at airlifting from different parts of the world where they will be able to source the medicines, she added. The Department of Trade and Industry also assured the situation is temporary, given the sudden spike in demand which had surpassed usual inventory levels in drugstores. In particular, popular brands Biogesic and Decolgen (which are paracetamol and analgesics of Unilab) were temporarily out of stock as the increased demand occurred right after their delivery cut-off in December. DTI has already received reports of deliveries coming in this week, read the agencys advisory. The PHAP official also emphasized the organizations members would not be selling the over-the-counter painkiller more expensively despite the shortage. We will not be increasing prices on account of the current situation. Its already been tested during the time of COVID-19. Our organization is composed of very highly ethical members, said Jakosalem, who also serves as Zuellig Pharma managing director. She also advised the public to use generics while the supply is temporarily low, upon consultation with a doctor for the right medicine, dosage and advice. The DTI, meanwhile, noted that some brands and generics have ample supply in outlets. Rhea Generics product lines are supplied by major companies and we are also assured of continuous supply, said the Trade Department, while urging all drugstores to limit purchase quantity and take measures needed to prevent panic buying. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) An event which typically gathers millions of devotees the Traslacion or grand procession of the Black Nazarene is cancelled this year amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The National Task Force has approved the resolution suspending physical activities related to the annual religious feast, which was agreed upon by Manila authorities and Quiapo Church officials, Malacanang confirmed on Wednesday. Heres a rundown of what to expect during this years celebration: No physical masses, processions The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo Church) will be closed from Jan. 7 to 9, according to the document issued by the task force. No masses shall be physically conducted on these dates, it added. Manila Mayor Isko Moreno also confirmed there will be no processions this year. Livestreaming Masses shall instead be aired online nationwide. Moreno said the Quiapo Church will be providing a livestream of the celebration. Sarado ang simbahan, online mass tayo [The church is closed, well have an online mass], he said. Checkpoints The Manila police and the Joint Task Force COVID Shield shall establish checkpoints along concerned areas in the city. Officers will also be deployed to help manage the crowd that may gather near the Church. Liquor ban Moreno said there will be a strict implementation of City Ordinance No. 5555 which bans the sale of alcoholic beverages and drinking of liquor in areas part of the jurisdiction of the Black Nazarene feast. The Traslacion, which was also canceled last year, draws millions of barefoot devotees every Jan. 9, as they flock to the heart of Manila to witness the traditional transfer of the venerated image of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church. Filipino Catholics believe the Black Nazarene image can bring miracles, as it has endured fires that destroyed its home church, two earthquakes, floods, and even bombings during World War II. Government officials and health experts have urged devotees to safely celebrate the feast at home. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian on Wednesday said he contracted COVID-19, becoming the third Metro Manila local chief executive to announce infection this week. I wish to inform my fellow Valenzuelanos that I have tested positive for COVID-19 after recently undergoing routine work safety testing at City Hall, he wrote in a social media post. Gatchalian said he is experiencing very mild symptoms. He added he is currently staying at one of the citys isolation units where he will continue his work as mayor. Rest assured the services of City Hall will continue without any hitches. Vice Mayor Lorie Natividad Borja as well as the whole management team of City Hall will also be in full force physically running the affairs of the city, he said. On Sunday, both Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano and Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco also bared they have caught the highly contagious virus. It is the second time for Rubiano, who also fell ill with COVID-19 in February 2021. Amid the surge in cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday said Metro Manila is now at critical risk for COVID-19 transmission, with a whopping 1,475% two-week growth rate. READ: DOH: NCR now at critical risk, Region 4A under high-risk Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) The Department of Health is currently in talks with US drug manufacturer Pfizer to procure its antiviral COVID-19 pill Paxlovid. Ang team ng DOH nakipagpulong, nakipag-ugnayan kay [US] Ambassador Babes Romualdez at kasama ang kinatawan ng Pfizer para naman doon sa ating pag-angkat ng Paxlovid, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a Wednesday briefing. [Translation: The DOH team has coordinated and is in talks with Ambassador Babes Romualdez and Pfizer representatives for the procurement of Paxlovid.] Paxlovid is the first antiviral drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19. According to Pfizers latest study, Paxlovid was able to cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms. Duque assured they are fast tracking the process of securing supply, noting that feedback appears to be positive based on the meeting between the department led by DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire and Pfizer representatives. In a separate forum, the Health chief said the Philippine FDA has been ordered to immediately coordinate with Pfizer to expedite the processing of Paxlovids emergency use authorization once he signs the confidentiality disclosure agreement. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) Presidential aspirant Leody De Guzman slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for saying the latter will never apologize for the thousands killed in his bloody drug war. Ang paglala ng mga problema sa droga at korapsyon ang pamana ng rehimeng Duterte sa susunod na henerasyon ng mamamayang Pilipino, he said in a statement. [Translation: The worsening drug situation and corruption problems are the Duterte regime's legacy to the next generation of Filipinos.] In his weekly briefing for the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, Duterte said he will never, never apologize for the deaths of possible victims of his drug war, adding it is his duty to protect the country. De Guzman said these issues helped put Duterte in office which is why he will never let these go even if he clearly failed to eradicate these. Imbes na magpakumbaba sa takipsilim ng kanyang miserableng termino, hindi siya humihingi ng kapatawaran sa libo-libong pinatay ng kanyang kontra-mahirap na gyera sa droga at sa bilyon-bilyong pisong patuloy na nawawala sa katiwalian taon-taon, De Guzman said. [Translation: Instead of being humble in the twilight of his miserable term, he did not ask for forgiveness from people killed by his anti-poor drug war and the billions of pesos lost due to corruption yearly.] The President is only using these issues to avoid becoming a lame duck, the labor leader added. During the briefing, Duterte also reiterated he will not face the International Criminal Court, insisting that it has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. The ICCs pre-trial chamber authorized the start of the investigation into the administration's controversial drug war. However, this was later suspended upon the request of the Philippine government, noting that local authorities are already conducting investigations for all reported deaths. READ: ICC asks PH government for proof of 'genuine' drug war investigation If you have not already registered (created a username and password) then click on the link below to register. If you have already registered (you already have a username and password), please click on the Get Started below. Your account number is located in the upper left hand corner on your address label on the Enterprise you receive in the mail or on the renewal form you received. The last name must read exactly as it is printed on your label. Enter the account number WITHOUT the leading zeros on the label. Separate investigations into the actions of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration have been and are anticipated to be discontinued by two district attorneys in the state, shattering the charges brought against him in his last months in office. Cuomo, who was in his third term as governor, stepped down in August after a slew of scandals over the previous year, prompting New York Attorney General Letitia James to launch investigations into both his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and sexual harassment allegations leveled against him. Albany DA declines to prosecute former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Cuomo's office was the subject of James's first investigation in 2020, following accusations that his administration minimized the seriousness of the outbreak in state nursing facilities. Cuomo's administration undercounted COVID-related fatalities in nursing homes by up to 50%, according to her research, which was issued in January of last year, Newsweek via MSN reported. While the findings had little effect on the overall number of fatalities in New York, they did reignite criticism of Cuomo's policy on nursing facilities during the early stages of the pandemic. On Monday, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office abandoned its investigation against Cuomo over charges that he mismanaged nursing homes during the original coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo was also got off the hook by the Westchester County district attorney last week after being accused of improperly groping a female state trooper and kissing a random lady while in office. Brittany Commisso, a former Cuomo staffer and a current state employee who filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo with the Albany Sheriff's Office for groping her in the Executive Mansion in Albany, met with the Albany District Attorney's office on Monday and was told the case would not be prosecuted, according to sources. Read Also: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver Officially Divorced 10 Years After Separation; Division of $400 Million Wealth Remains Confidential Cuomo's sexual assault accusations Cuomo resigned in August, a week after state Attorney General Letitia James issued a 168-page bombshell report accusing him of sexually harassing 11 women, including nine current or former state workers, as a result of the possibility of impeachment. The report featured Commisso's allegations against the governor, albeit the specific date of the alleged grope was murky, as it said in one part that it occurred on November 16, but also included a footnote stating that Commisso couldn't recall the exact date. Rita Glavin, Cuomo's personal attorney, has attempted to discredit Commisso's charges by pointing up a mismatch in the timeframe mentioned in James's report, as per NY Post. However, evidence discovered by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which probed Cuomo's accusations, clarified the timeframe, particularly with regard to a December text that Commisso assisted the governor in sending to another staffer around the time of the alleged occurrence. Cuomo was charged with sexual harassment by 11 women, according to a report by the New York Attorney General's office. Two additional prosecutor's offices, in Westchester County and Nassau County, declined to press charges against Cuomo based on claims made in their areas. The former governor was accused of groping Brittany Commisso's breast during a meet in the governor's residence, according to Commisso. Per ABC News, Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing. Commisso worked in Cuomo's office as an executive assistant. According to a report from the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee, "She alleged a pattern of inappropriate conduct that began with flirtatious and sexually suggestive comments and escalated to hugging her tightly, kissing her on the cheek, occasionally turning his head to brush her lips, touching her buttocks on multiple occasions, massaging her buttocks while taking a'selfie' with her, and finally reaching under her shirt and groping her breast." Related Article: New York Prosecutor Declines To Charge Ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo Despite Credible Allegations That He Kissed Two Women Against Their Will @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday. Former state Rep. Cole Wist of Centennial, who spent two years as assistant House Minority Leader in the 2017-18 sessions, announced Tuesday via Twitter that he's leaving the GOP and becoming an unaffiliated voter. Its been 1 year since Jan. 6, 2021. All downhill from there. Election lies, vaccine misinformation, making it harder to vote, excusing Jan. 6 thuggery, conspiracy theories galore.I tried. I encouraged reason. I urged a pivot from Trump. I failed.Im out. #Unaffiliated Cole Wist (@colewist) January 4, 2022 Wist has not been shy about expressing his frustration with the Republican Party, which he accused of abandoning its conservative principles to follow former President Donald Trump. He went on to become a board member of The Lincoln Project, which worked to defeat Trump in the 2020 election. In a 2020 interview with Colorado Politics, Wist said his relationship with the GOP at the time was "complicated." "While I have no intention of leaving the party, there is no secret that I am not happy with the current trajectory of the GOP," he said. Wist referred to himself as a Reagan conservative and said leaders like Reagan and John McCain showed how people can differ on policy and "yet treat each other with respect." "During my time in the legislature, I took great pride in working across the aisle to find workable solutions for our states problems. I believe folks are elected to serve the people, not a party," he said. As for Trump, Wist said he does not believe him to be a conservative. Wist said Trump was damaging the Republican brand, that the then-president had abandoned "enduring American principles that have guided our country since its founding." Wist was first appointed to his House seat in January, 2016, replacing Jack Tate, who was appointed to the state Senate. Wist was once a Democrat, running for the state House in 1996 when he lived in Paonia. He lost that election to Rep. Kay Alexander, R-Montrose. Wist ran afoul of conservatives when he sponsored the first red flag legislation in the 2018 session with Rep. Alec Garnett, D-Denver. The bill failed in the GOP-controlled Republican state Senate. He lost his re-election bid to Democrat Rep. Tom Sullivan of Centennial, in part because Wist was attacked by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. Wist also spoke against the group when it made an aborted attempt to recall Sullivan in 2019. Wist is now of counsel with Squire Patton Boggs and was appointed to the state's ethics commission in 2021. Wist is not the only prominent Colorado Republican to leave the party. Former Rep. Rob Witwer, who served in the General Assembly from 2005 to 2009, left the GOP and became unaffiliated in 2019. State Sen. Ellen Robert, R-Durango, who was viewed as a potential challenger for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in 2016, left the GOP about 10 months after she stepped down from the Colorado Senate in 2017. Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to label a new strain called IHU as a COVID-19 variant days after it was detected in France. According to reports, the WHO will only label a strain as a variant once it shows an increase in transmissibility, or increase in virulence, or a decrease in vaccine effectiveness. According to AL, IHU contains 46 mutations, and it also carries the E484K and N501Y mutations that could be more resistant to vaccines and could become more transmissible. As of press writing, 12 people residing near Marseille have tested positive for IHU. WHO officials urge the public not to panic On Tuesday, WHO incident manager Abdi Mahamud said that IHU has been on their radar, and it also has a chance to pick up. IHU scientists also confirmed that the first person identified with the IHU strain just returned from Cameroon and is fully vaccinated. In their paper, the scientists said that it's still too early to speculate whether the strain can be classified as a COVID-19 variant, according to the Times of India. Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding posted a lengthy tweet confirming that the new strain is being monitored to determine how infectious and dangerous it is. Read Also: COVID-19 Pandemic Could End This Year If People Would Get Vaccinated, WHO Says "There are scores of new variants discovered all the time, but it does not necessarily mean they will be more dangerous. What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus," Feigl-Ding said via The Independent. Feigl-Ding added that a strain becomes a variant of concern when it is able to mutate far more than the original virus. The same can be said about Omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. Omicron still the dominant variant in the US Two months ago, the first case of Omicron was detected in South Africa. Within hours, the number of active cases in the country doubled. It didn't take long before other countries reported Omicron cases in different states and cities. In the United States, 1 million cases were reported on Monday. But out of all the states, Washington and Florida had the biggest jump inactive cases in the last two weeks. According to NBC News, COVID-19 cases in Washington increased by 902 percent in the last two weeks. And in Florida, the number of active cases increased by 744 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 95 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the United States is Omicron, while the other 5 percent is from the delta variant. Omicron, Delta combined could lead to a tsunami of cases Last month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, said that the omicron and delta variants fuel an alarming trend. On Wednesday, he said that the combined omicron and delta cases have resulted in a tsunami of cases. In other parts of the world, thousands of omicron cases have also been reported. Last month, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Denmark were named as the four countries with the highest number of omicron cases, according to Business Insider. Related Article: FDA Announces Shorter Waiting Period for 12 to 15-Year-Olds Getting Booster Shots @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jared Gendron is an interactive copy editor and reporter at the Columbia Missourian. He has reported on higher education and community. He can be reached at jpgk7z@umsystem.edu or in the newsroom at 573-882-5720. Follow this search Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Danville, IL (61832) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 68F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Rain. Low 57F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-283-2144 or email circ@oelweindailyregister.com. Donald Trump won't push through with his Jan. 6 press conference to commemorate the Capitol riot amid fears that he won't get enough TV coverage. According to reports, the ex-POTUS was scheduled to host the press conference from his home in Mar-a-Lago, and other officials like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will also appear on a split-screen. Donald Trump releases statement But just two days before the virtual event, Trump made his surprise announcement through his post-presidency PAC. "In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona -It will be a big crowd!" he said via the Huffington Post. Following his announcement, reporter Maggie Haberman claimed that Trump's advisers urged him not to push through with the press conference because most TV stations won't likely cover his speech live. Sean Hannity urged to cooperate in the Capitol riot investigation Trump's announcement also came in the heels of the House select committee urging Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Text messages sent by Hannity revealed that he expressed some concerns ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In one of his text messages, he specifically said that he's worried about the next 48 hours. Read Also: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris To Address the Nation During Capitol Riot's First Anniversary; House Won't Be in Session He also told Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that he doesn't see the Jan. 6 Capitol riot happening the way it's being discussed. The Fox News host also, sarcastically, encouraged Trump to accept his defeat and return home to Florida so that he could watch Biden fail as president every single day. Last month, Hannity's name was also dragged into the ongoing investigations after his text message to Meadows was also released, according to Yahoo! News. In his text, he urged Meadows to instruct Trump to talk to his supporters via a telecast and force them to return home in peace. However, the ex-POTUS did not do as he was told. US Capitol police chief talks about their preparations Instead, Trump reportedly watched the riot unfold on television while he was in the dining room of the White House. The upcoming first anniversary of the Capitol riot has also forced some of those involved to detail their harrowing experiences. US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said they wouldn't be taking any chance, especially on Jan. 6. After all, his task is to protect the building where members of Congress report for work. Manger also said that his agency is now in a much better position to protect the US Capitol. After all, Biden just signed a law that would allow the Capitol police chief to contact the National Guard in case of an emergency. When asked how the officers' morale was ahead of the Capitol riot anniversary, Manger said that it's different for everyone. After all, some officers got hurt during the riot but are now back to work. And there are also those who were killed or committed suicide due to the trauma they experienced, according to WTOP. Related Article: Conservative Attorney Warns Americans Against Donald Trump Staging a Coup in 2024, Says Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Was Just a Rehearsal @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. New COVID strain IHU has more mutations than Omicron France has detected a COVID variant named IHU, which scientists said that it has more mutations than the Omicron variant. The Omicron variant has infected nearly 1,900 people in India. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@JagranEnglish The new variant, which probably originated in Cameroon, as per a study, harbours both substitutions N501Y and E484K in the spike protein. As many as 12 cases of the new variant were reported near Marseilles, and have been linked to travel to the African country Cameroon. "The mutation set and phylogenetic position of the genomes obtained here indicate based on our previous definition a new variant we named IHU," the authors of the study said. "These data are another example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and of their introduction in a given geographical area from abroad," they added. The B.1.640.2 has not been spotted in other countries or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organisation (WHO). According to a paper posted on medRxiv, the genomes were obtained by next-generation sequencing with Oxford Nanopore Technologies on GridION instruments. Fourteen amino acid substitutions, including N501Y and E484K, and 9 deletions are located in the spike protein. This genotype pattern led to create a new Pangolin lineage named B.1.640.2, which is a phylogenetic sister group to the old B.1.640 lineage renamed B.1.640.1, the research paper said. Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding tweeted that the new variants keep emerging but it does not necessarily mean they will be more dangerous. What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus, he said. This is when it becomes a "variant of concern" - like Omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall, the doctor further said. The Omicron variant has infected nearly 1,900 people in India. Disney on Ices Mickeys Search Party World-class skating, high-flying acrobatics and unexpected stunts will be on display in a search for Tinker Bell through the immersive worlds of Coco, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Aladdin, Toy Story and The Little Mermaid. Thu.-Fri. 7 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m., 3 & 7 p.m.; Sun. noon & 4 p.m. Tickets start at $19. XL Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Hartford. 860-249-6333. Fri., Jan. 7 WWE SmackDown! The hard-hitting wrestling show returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena after a three-year absence. Headlining the evening will be a three-way fight between Drew McIntyre and The New Days Kofi Kingston and King Woods, and Roman Reigns and SmackDown tag team champions The Usos. Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville. D.A. Foster & The Shaboo All-Stars An iconic figure in Connecticut roots music, D.A. Foster is best known as one of the owners of the legendary Shaboo Inn in Willimantic, which brought some of blues-based musics biggest stars to eastern Connecticut in the 70s and 80s. 8 p.m. $35-$50. Infinity Music Hall, 2 Greenwoods Road, Norfolk. 866-666-6306. Sat., Jan. 8 Eddie Griffin The funnyman-turned-actor, known for the 90s sitcom Malcolm & Eddie and, more recently, movies like A Star Is Born, brings his unfiltered comedy to Foxwoods. 8 p.m. $37-$62. Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket. ONGOING Mummies of the World This traveling exhibition is the largest collection of real mummies (40) and artifacts (85) ever assembled. The assemblage includes ancient mummies from South America, Europe and ancient Egypt, dating as far back as 4,500 years. Connecticut Science Center, 250 Columbus Blvd., Hartford. 860-520-2160. Through Jan. 09 Peace on Earth holiday art show Spectrum Art Gallery presents its annual Peace on Earth holiday show, featuring representational and abstract art, mixed media, sculpture and photography, all with a message of hope and peace. An artisans store will offer fine crafts. Hours: Wed.-Sat. noon-6 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m. Spectrum Art Gallery, 61 Main St., Centerbrook, 860-767-0742 Through Jan. 31 Seasons by Thomas Adkins An exhibit of recent works by the Southbury landscape painter showing plein-air paintings of rural northwestern Connecticut scenes that capture his imagination, as well as works from trips to Vermont and Monhegan Island and the Midcoast of Maine. Gregory James Gallery, 93 Park Lane Road (Route 202), New Milford. 860-354-3436. Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Chicago public schools and the teachers union have been going back and forth between holding in-person or virtual classes for students. According to reports, the public schools from the Chicago district were forced to postpone face-to-face classes following a sudden surge of COVID-19 cases. However, they initially refused to do so by saying that they have proper regulations in place to combat the virus. Chicago's teachers' union wants children's safety to be prioritized But the teacher's union insisted that the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases is alarming. And the health and safety of the students and the entire community should be everyone's top priority. For their part, the Chicago public schools are saying that the lack of in-person classes was disastrous for the children's learning and mental health. Chicago public school district believe teachers don't want to work In their statement, the schools also suggested that some teachers just didn't want to report to work even though there is a relatively high vaccination rate in the schools. "This decision was made with a heavy heart and a singular focus on student and community safety. We are deeply concerned about this decision but even more concerned about its impact on the health, safety, and well-being of our students and families," they said via the Huffington Post. Since the decision not to hold in-person classes was only made on Tuesday night, some students still went to school on Monday. Read Also: Illinois Reports 12,000 New COVID-19 Cases Daily; New Infections Could Lead to 'Super Immunity' Chicago schools will remain open for COVID-19 testing Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said that the schools would remain open for administrators, staff, and essential services. However, classes won't occur within the school premises until further notice. District officials will also offer food service, and the grounds will be available for COVID-19 testing. Mayor Lori Lightfoot supports Chicago public school district Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot seemingly sided with the Chicago public school district by saying that the cancelation of classes is unnecessary and unacceptable. In her statement, she said that no one signs up to be a home-schooler at the last minute. She also noted that virtual learning is difficult for the students and for their parents who need to work while tending to their children's needs. According to the New York Times, Lightfoot urged teachers in Chicago to report to work immediately and suggested that they were considering an illegal work stoppage. Out of all the people who participated in the voting, 73 percent said they favored pausing in-person classes until stricter measures were imposed. However, some public schools in other states insist that they won't revert to virtual learning. New York refuses to cancel in-person classes New York Mayor Eric Adams said that they would keep schools open and ensure that all the children are in a safe environment. A mom from New York also said that her son could get the virus outside of school, so the risk is the same regardless of whether he's attending face-to-face or virtual classes, according to NBC Chicago. The teachers union in New York has also urged the mayor to postpone in-person classes. But he insists that the mask and vaccination mandates are enough to keep children and teachers safe. Related Article: Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush Says He Won't Seek Reelection as Congressman After 15 Terms in Office @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sue B. Donnelly, 87, of Crossville, passed away at her home on April 26, 2022. She was born on May 18, 1934, in Crossville, Tennessee, daughter of the late James T. Brandon and Clara (Hamby) Brandon. Sue was the owner of Boats and Harbors and of the Baptist Faith. She is survived by her chil Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, publicly slammed the ex-POTUS again after it was revealed that his daughter, Ivanka Trump urged him to stop the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. During a recent interview, Mary shared why she thinks the ex-POTUS didn't heed his daughter's request. "He was getting off on it, and there was no way he was going to stop anything because he was enjoying it too much and he probably wanted it to get worse. You know, the only reason people like Ivanka and others were telling him to stop it is that, in their view, it had gotten out of control," Mary said via Yahoo! News. Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. can't stop their dad She also said that Ivanka and Trump's son, Donny Jr., and the ex-president's former aides all thought that they could stop the monster they created. But it didn't take them long to realize that there's really no stopping Trump. Mary went on to say that her uncle must have thought it was fun to watch his supporters being murderous toward each other on his behalf. And Trump must have also considered that a coup is what would've kept him in power. Last month, Mary also shared why she thinks Trump's eldest son texted Mark Meadows instead of his father to ask him to stop the Capitol riot. She said that Donny was a coward for not contacting his dad directly. She also said that her cousin was scared to send his dad a message that he didn't want to hear, according to the Huffington Post. Read Also: House Select Committee Approves Donald Trump's Request Not To Release Some Documents Irrelevant to Capitol Riot Investigation Liz Cheney, Bennie Thompson detail Ivanka Trump's text to her dad Earlier this week, House select committee vice-chair Liz Cheney confirmed that the panel has firsthand testimony that Ivanka asked her dad to intervene. Chairman Bennie Thompson added that the White House was also asked to do something, according to CNN. Thompson added that it seems unusual for a person in charge to watch a riot unfold and not do anything to stop it. So, the House select committee is more determined than ever to figure out what Trump's real involvement in the riot was. When asked if he thinks that what Trump did during the insurrection warrants a criminal referral, he said he doesn't know because the investigations are still taking place. But Thompson stressed that they would do exactly that if they find information that they believe warrants a criminal referral. Donald Trump cancels Jan. 6 Capitol riot anniversary appearance Days before the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Trump announced that he would no longer hold a virtual conference in Mar-a-Lago. Instead, the ex-POTUS said he would talk about the insurrection during a rally on Jan. 15. Prior to his announcement, reports revealed that Trump and Joe Biden are scheduled to appear on a split-screen to address the nation. However, this will no longer push through. Instead, Biden and Kamala Harris will push through with their plans to address the nation. A prayer vigil, a moment of silence, and other events will also be held on Jan. 6. Related Article: Mary Trump Explains Why Donald Trump Jr. Texted Mark Meadows, Not Donald Trump To Stop the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Gov. Ned Lamont and other top state officials on Tuesday voiced their unwavering commitment to in-person learning despite an unprecedented surge in COVID infections that have stressed the public school system. This message from the Lamont administration comes on the fifth day of record positivity rates in Connecticut. According to the state data on Tuesday, 10,602 new COVID cases were found in 44,449 tests for a positivity rate of 23.85 percent, which is the highest since widespread testing started in the spring of 2020. If I have a message for you, its: 24 percent infection rate is lousy and it may get worse before it gets better. But we have the tools in place provided you take advantage of the tools, the masks, the vaccinations and then the testing we have the tools to keep you going safe and keep going about your lives, Lamont said Tuesday during a press conference on how the state plans to keep schools open amid the surge. COVID hospitalizations also jumped by a net of 110 patients for a total of 1,562 the most since May 1, 2020 when it was 1,590. Of those hospitalized on Tuesday, 32 percent 500 patients are fully vaccinated. In light of these staggering statistics, Lamont, along with the states education and public health commissioners, attempted on Tuesday to instill confidence in parents and educators as they reiterated their commitment to in-person learning. You have to build confidence every day to give teachers, give parents the confidence we are doing everything we can to keep schools open safely, Lamont said. However, its not yet known on the state level how many students and staff members have missed school so far this week with COVID after the holiday break. Staffing shortages have caused some schools to close, including in Ansonia, where classes are not expected to resume until at least next Monday and the days will be made up at the end of the year. However, Lamont said returning to broad remote learning is not an option and will not count toward the 180-day school calendar. I am going to do everything I can to keep kids in the classroom safely, he said. Theres nothing that compares to a great teacher in the classroom. While facing a tenuous situation as the daily COVID positivity rate rose to nearly 24 percent on Tuesday, officials said it remains critical to offer students the in-person learning experience that they lost during the early months of the pandemic. We also know that schools provide critical supports, mental health supports, social emotional supports, nutrition these supports have grown even more critical during the pandemic, state Department of Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said. The press conference, held on the second day since students returned from holiday break, focused on new state guidance meant to keep children out of school for fewer days if they contract COVID-19 or face a potential exposure. The guidance, which the state Department of Public Health stressed on Monday was optional, offers much shorter quarantines for students with confirmed cases of COVID-19, and also eases isolation requirements for people with known exposures to the virus but no symptoms. In most cases, students and staff with a confirmed case of COVID-19 would only need to quarantine for five days before returning to class on the sixth day, which mirrors a recent update to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidance on the matter. If you are sick, stay home, get tested. If you have COVID-19, you at least know you must stay there for at least five days. If you dont, you can return sooner if your symptoms resolve and youre fever-free, Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said. DPH also suggested that school districts pivot away from contact tracing, given how widely COVID-19 is spreading right now through communities. Because individual-level contact tracing is a tool that becomes less effective when community transmission levels are high, DPH recommends that schools begin to refocus the activities of health staff away from the investigation of relatively low risk in-school exposures and toward the identification, early isolation, and clinical management of students and staff with active symptoms that could be related to COVID-19, the department said in the guidance. The guidance comes as Connecticut is experiencing some of the worst COVID-19 spread since the onset of the pandemic. While both infections and hospitalizations have spiked in the recent weeks, children have been among those impacted. Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital and Connecticut Childrens Medical Center have also reported increases in pediatric COVID hospitalizations in the past month. With this rise in cases, a groundswell of new COVID-19 infections among the general population, and concerns of adequate support, the states teachers unions sent a unified message on Monday that more stringent safety measures are needed. The unions requested measures such as more aggressive testing protocols, access to testing, N95 masks and vaccines, and prohibiting combining classes for staff shortages and dual teaching. Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, the states largest teachers union, said Mondays return to classes saw many student and teacher absences, along with limited access to N95 masks and COVID-19 testing. That wasnt the agreement, she said. That doesnt feel safe, it doesnt feel cared for, it doesnt feel responsible. State officials detailed on Tuesday how they are earmarking hundreds of thousands of at-home tests and N95 masks for school districts. A total of 620,000 tests were being sent to schools, and an additional 50,000 were set aside for early child care facilities, according to the governors office. Deliveries and pickups of these tests started Tuesday morning. Officials hope these deliveries can help bridge the gap before the federal government starts to provide test kits to residents across the country. We are still more committed than ever to keeping our schools open, said Josh Geballe, Lamonts chief operating officer. Two men dedicated to preserving and honoring the culture of the Quinnipiac people one an eccentric Stony Creek-based collector of artifacts and the other a Guilford school teacher have made it possible for us to learn about these Native Americans and see those historic items. As a result of their efforts, which have led to increased public interest in the Quinnipiacs, the Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum, kept in the loft of a barn at the Dudley Farm Museum in Guilford, will soon get a new, larger home at the farm. The Stony Creeker who built the collection was Gordon Brainerd. He spent more than 40 years seeking out projectile points (arrowheads) and other Quinnipiac remnants in the woods, fields and beaches of Branford and adjoining towns. Brainerd, a beekeeper by trade who died last August, was never able to establish a bloodline connection to the Quinnipiacs. Nevertheless, he became known as Gordon Fox Running Brainerd. Gordon was not a Quinnipiac, says Jim Powers, the retired school teacher who now oversees the collection. But I think he was Quinnipiac in his soul. He was incredibly dedicated to the idea of preserving the history of the Quinnipiacs, Powers adds. He scrounged around Branford, Madison, Guilford, North Haven, New Haven and West Haven. He wasnt an archaeologist but did have an archaeologists eye. He was self-taught. Hed walk along the shoreline at low tide. Hed go to fields when they were first plowed and he knew the best places in the woods. People would also come to him and say, Gordon, weve got some arrowheads in our backyard. Powers befriended Brainerd in the 1990s when the two men discovered they had a shared interest in the Quinnipiacs. It was Gordons passion for their history that we at the Dudley Museum really hooked into. Brainerd donated his collection to the museum in 2003. Beth Payne, the Dudley Farm Museums director, says, Im pleased were able to do something that would have made Gordon so pleased, and that people are interested in the Quinnipiac collection and his lifes work. Shes also absolutely thrilled that Powers is carrying on Brainerds mission. Jim has the expertise as well as the enthusiasm. Hes on top of it and will make sure its done correctly. Its been a lifelong journey for Powers. As a kid playing in the woods, when my friends and I played cowboys and Indians, I had to be an Indian. I was drawn to it. I found their culture, the little I knew about it, fascinating. Powers took courses in Native American culture at Wesleyan University, where he majored in European history. While at Wesleyan he became friends with Native American students. And when the student later became a teacher at Guilford High School, Powers created the course Local History Through Archaeology. He retired in 2017. Powers then wrote Shadows Over Dawnland, a novel about a Quinnipiac youth whose life is upended by the arrival of English settlers. The Quinnipiacs called their region Dawnland because it was the first place where the dawns light appeared every morning. Powers notes the Quinnipiacs, like most native peoples, welcomed the Europeans. At their peak there were 2,000 to 3,000 Quinnipiac people, Powers estimates. They lived in villages in New Haven, Branford, North Haven and Guilford. But the Europeans brought with them smallpox. The disease spread rapidly through the Quinnipiacs, who had no immunity to it. An epidemic in 163334 wiped out about 80 percent of the Quinnipiac population. For thousands of years up until then, Powers notes, the Quinnipiacs had creatively adapted to changes in the environment, including climate change. They had to be really attuned to their environment. We could learn from native people. Powers says we should also realize how long Indigenous people lived here: perhaps about 14,000 years, compared to just 400 years for European settlers and their descendants. Many of us have lost a sense of place, a connection to where we live, Powers says, and who the people were that lived here thousands of years ago, and the impact they had. Honoring the legacy of Native American groups is important. Some people are starting to understand this. Quinnipiac University student Daniel Galvet is taking a course entitled Practicing Archaeology, which explores our relationship to the Quinnipiac people. The average Quinnipiac student today does not think very much at all about the people the school is named after, Galvet says in an email. I have heard many students say they were not even aware that the name Quinnipiac refers to the Indigenous people of this area. Galvet is trying to find Quinnipiac descendants, as is Powers. Gordon used to tell me Theyre hiding in plain sight, they merged with the general population. Those people are here. Were hoping they come forward. We want to work with them to keep their legacy alive. During a November open house at the farm, one of the visitors to the loft was Shannon Zich of Granby. After seeing the Dawnland collection, she said: I think its really cool. I like that it exists. So many important historical items are lost. Here you see the way people used to do things. And the artwork is beautiful. The tools and projectile points are supplemented by modern-day paintings of Native Americans. There is also a canoe made by Boy Scouts and a large papier-mache head of a Quinnipiac man, created by middle school students. You can also see the ceremonial headdress Brainerd made and used when he blessed public gatherings. One of Powers favorite parts of the collection is an array of projectile points Brainerd collected from different periods. They reflect the evolution of the culture and technology based on the climate. In the future, visitors to the Dawnland collection will no longer have to navigate the staircase to the loft. The museum has received an anonymous gift of $50,000 to build a new structure nearby that will showcase the collection. Powers and Payne are optimistic construction will begin in the spring. Theyre also planning to apply for a Connecticut Humanities grant to hire a consultant who would design the exhibits, adding visual aids. Powers is encouraged by another sign of increased interest in the first residents of Connecticut: Many people are coming forward who want to donate the artifacts they have found. To view the collection: The Dudley Farm Museum (dudleyfarm.com) is open from June through October. For tours of the farm, including the Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum, email Beth Payne at director@dudleyfarm.com. 99 cent introductory offer Includes everything we offer online for 24-7 news. This option allows you to read unlimited stories at ctnewsonline.com, and access our e-Edition (digital replicate of the daily newspaper). $7.99 per month after the introductory offer. This service comes with a complimentary CT Select Card allowing for local discounts. Rates are subject to change. According to top Taliban officials, the Taliban, which has been sanctioned by the United Nations for terrorism, has begun talks with neighboring countries about recovering Afghan planes that Afghan pilots used to flee to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan after the Taliban took control in August. The exact number of Afghan planes that have flown to Central Asian nations is unknown, but according to certain estimates, there are over 164 planes. In August, the Taliban organization recaptured control in Afghanistan after weeks of the triumphant march on Kabul with little to no resistance. In early September, the Taliban resurrected the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, commanded by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a significant player in the first Taliban administration. Thousands of Afghans sought to flee the country, fearing vengeance from the Taliban and denial of their basic rights and freedoms, Big News Network reported. Taliban admits tensions against Pakistan The Taliban recognized Pakistani tensions on Tuesday, saying that "issues" with Islamabad will be resolved through diplomatic channels. The Taliban government's Foreign Ministry spokesperson acknowledged that there have been few incidents along the Durand Line between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months, just days after Pakistan's Foreign Minister admitted that there are "complications" regarding the Pak-Afghan border fencing along the Durand Line. It's important to remember that Pakistan and Afghanistan have traditionally had a tense relationship over the almost 2,600-kilometer Durand Line, which has been a source of friction and strife between them since Islamabad began installing walls along the border. Despite Pakistan's assertions that it has walled most of its borderlands, the situation continues to be troublesome. Notably, the problem persisted throughout Ashraf Ghani's prior administration. Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said earlier this week that the Pak-Afghan border barrier has "some challenges," and that the issue is being discussed with the Taliban, as per Republic World. According to Qureshi, "some miscreants" have exaggerated the incident. His remarks come after a video surfaced showing Taliban gunmen removing a section of the Pak-Afghan border barrier on their side of the border. Read Also: US Arrests, Charges Ex-Colombian Soldier Suspect in Assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise Taliban orders to behead mannequins Meanwhile, the Taliban is said to have ordered the beheading of mannequins in Afghan clothing stores, saying that the dolls violate Islamic norms. The directive is alleged to have been issued by Afghanistan's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in the western province of Herat. The Taliban's decision to outlaw mannequins has been criticized by local businessmen. The new laws, according to commentators, would make things much more difficult for businesses, which are already struggling to remain afloat under the Taliban's new administration. The mannequins were referred to as "statues" by Aziz Rahman, the head of the ministry's local arm, who accused people of worshipping them in violation of Islamic law. Those who disobey the decision, according to Rahman, would suffer severe consequences. Marzia Babakarkhail, an Afghan family court judge who now resides in the United Kingdom, told The Independent that the Taliban's order to remove the heads of mannequins indicates "who they truly are." Related Article: Pakistan, Taliban Militants Agree on Ceasefire After Weeks of Negotiations @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. FAIRFIELD First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said shes not planning to reinstate the towns mask mandate despite rising cases based on health officials guidance. During Mondays Board of Selectmen meeting, Kupchick said about 30 people have emailed her asking her to reinstate a mask mandate. She said she and other town leaders posed the questions to the state Department of Public Health during the two statewide COVID calls last week and were told it wasnt needed at this time. I know that people feel that if a mask mandate is on, then all of a sudden the transmission is going to go down dramatically and thats not what were hearing from public health officials, she said. I keep trying to remind residents in our town that I am not a public health official. I take the guidance of public health officials. Fairfield reported 1,036 cases between Dec. 12 and 25 for a positivity rate of 119.3 cases per 100,000 people, according to the most recent state data. Kupchick still encouraged residents to take all of the necessary precautions to keep themselves and their families safe. She also said people are able to leave the store and shop elsewhere if they dont feel comfortable though officials are not seeing the bulk of the transmission happening in stores. Kupchick said contact tracers have found that most of the positive cases are happening in private gatherings and not at stores where the mask mandate would apply. She said shes received some phone calls from residents about people not wearing masks in grocery stores and while she understands their concerns, she reminded people health officials said the greater chance of getting COVID happens if people are unmasked within six feet of each other for at least 15 minutes. What our contact tracers have said over the past many months is that the majority of our positive cases are not where someone goes into a grocery store and someone two aisles away doesnt have a mask on, Kupchick said. Its coming from Thanksgiving events, holiday parties, dinner parties, kids having parties at their homes or just getting together. Thats where this thing is really spreading. Masks are still required for various situations under an existing gubernatorial executive order for schools, hospitals, public transportation and unvaccinated individuals. Certain towns have also brought back mask mandates for town buildings. Gov. Ned Lamont has said hes not bringing back a statewide mask mandate beyond that because of the enforcement component. The government is instead giving out 6 million free N95 masks to encourage people to wear them indoors. Faifield is also set to receive a shipment of free masks from the state. Kupchick said the health department is advising people to continue to take the necessary precautions and encouraged people to get vaccinated because those who are unvaccinated are more vulnerable. Vaccinated people are also showing less severe symptoms. We all know what we need to do wash our hands, take care of yourselves, if youre not feeling well stay away from other people and make sure youre not exposing, she said, adding this is especially true because what someone thinks are allergies could actually be COVID. She said the number of cases in South Africa where the omicron variant was first reported, have plateaued and hopefully that will soon be seen in the U.S. and Fairfield too. The Zoom chat went wild with messages of support when panelist Jill Nowacki, CEO of Humanidei + ORourke suggested during the first-ever CUES RealTalk! program that organizations could set the tone for gender equity by throwing baby showers for expecting dads. In addition, several participants said they had already done so. They contributed their experiences and best advice to this article. Mortgage Services Teams Fun Committee Has Long Hosted Showers The 130-employee mortgage services team at Mountain America Credit Union has been hosting baby showers for all employees for at least 12 yearsas long as CUES member Jennifer Bass has been a part of it. Cullman, AL (35055) Today A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. STORY LINK Pound US Dollar Exchange Rate News: GBP/USD Dips from Seven-Week High as Coronavirus Continues to Spread GBP/USD Mixed as Coronavirus Continues to Dominate Global Stage Pound (GBP) Rangebound amid Increase in Coronavirus Cases US Dollar (USD) Directionless as Investors Await FOMC Minutes GBP/USD Exchange Rate Forecast: Will USD be Supported by Fed Minutes? Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues: The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is trading flat in the beginning of todays session in response to coronavirus cases remaining high.At the time of writing, the GBP/USD exchange rate is trading at approximately $1.3539, with minimal market movement.The Pound (GBP) is muted against the US Dollar (USD) at the beginning of todays session, despite refreshing a 7-week high earlier this morning, as coronavirus cases continue to spread across the UK.According to the latest figures, there are 15,044 patients in hospitals across England suffering with Covid-19.On Tuesday, it was reported that the UK had set another record high, reaching 218,726 cases within 24 hours. This is up by 51% from the previous week.In spite of the increase in case numbers, UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson insisted that the UK should ride out the Omicron wave, and has since faced some backlash.Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group, said:The problem, of course, is that if you're thinking about introducing controls, once you're beyond the peak of the infection, then that has much less effect.The next few days will be really, really key for us to try to identify that - children are going back to school, we've had sort of differences in mixing patterns over the Christmas period and we are yet to see what happens in the data as a result of that.On the other hand, Johnsons suggestion than no further restrictions are likely to be reinstated in England offers some support to GBP exchange rates this morning.Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) is trading flat against the Pound (GBP) as investors await the publication of the minutes from the Federal Reserves latest policy meeting.The release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes this evening may shed more light on the Feds policy plans for 2022, with USD investors seeking to gauge whether a March rate hike may be on the cards.Moreover, demand for the Greenback is also being supressed by a pullback in US Treasury yields this morning.On the other hand, the high case numbers of the Omicron variant across the US, having reached a global high of 1 million cases per day, may be underpinning USD as it weighs on market risk appetite.Looking ahead, the Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is likely to be weighed on by US data releases and coronavirus advancements.USD is likely to remain mostly directionless until the release of FOMC minutes this evening. Will a hawkish outlook from the FOMC bolster USD exchange rates?Elsewhere the ISM non-manufacturing PMI for December is scheduled for release on Thursday, with the index forecast to slip from a record high of 69.1 to 66.9, but likely underpinning USD as this will still be a strong result for the US service sector.Meanwhile, the UKs final reading for Decembers services PMI is forecast to drop from 58.5 to 53.2, showing a slowing of growth in the UKs vital services sector. International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements. TAGS: Pound Dollar Forecasts A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday that China's widely used coronavirus vaccine, Sinopharm and Sinovac, still offer some protection against severe illness caused by the infection despite contradicting information spreading worldwide. The official said that the Chinese treatments can also reduce hospitalization and death rates caused by the spreading Omicron variant despite a decline in protective antibodies. The WHO official, identified as incident manager Abdi Mahamud, made his assessment just days after several preliminary laboratory studies. Sinovac Against Omicron The scientific reviews indicated that three doses of Sinovac did not produce sufficient antibodies to prevent infection from the highly transmissible new variant of the coronavirus. One study conducted by researchers from Yale University, the Dominican Republic's health ministry, and other institutions concluded that two doses of the Sinovac vaccine and a booster shot from Pfizer were not enough to stop a person from being infected with the Omicron variant. On Tuesday, Mahamud said that, while the Omicron variant was evasive of antibodies and could still cause infection, evidence suggested that the vaccines still provided protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, the South China Morning Post reported. The situation comes after researchers from the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted a study that found three doses of the Sinovac vaccine did not provide enough antibodies to fight off the Omicron variant. The analysis revealed that Pfizer-BioNTech was much more effective in keeping the infection at bay. Read Also: 12 People in France Infected With Possible COVID-19 Variant IHU; New Strain Has 46 Mutations The researchers found that a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine administered after two initial doses of the Sinovac vaccine provided "protective levels" of antibody against the Omicron variant. Authorities from Pfizer and BioNTech said that their vaccine was able to neutralize the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test using a three-shot course. The recent study was funded by the Health and Medical Research Fund and the Government of Hong Kong. The released statement did not specify how many samples were used in the study and Sinovac did not immediately provide comments regarding the issue, Reuters reported. Efficacy of the Vaccine Another study, conducted by the Pontifical Catholic University in Chile (UC), showed that the Sinovac vaccine booster dose had the potential to activate cellular immunity against the Omicron variant on subjects who were previously given two doses of the same vaccine. Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy director Prof. Dr. Alexis M. Kalergis led the study whose objective was to assess whether the immunity activated by the Chinese coronavirus vaccine booster was able to identify the Omicron variant. In a statement released by Pharmaniaga on Saturday, Dr. Kalergis said that people who received the Sinovac vaccine booster had T-cell levels that were activated against the new variant. "This shows that the vaccine contains antigens that are found in the Omicron variant. The results show that when T-lymphocytes come in contact with the Omicron variant, they are able to produce gamma interferon which is capable of killing the dangerous virus," said Alexis, The Star reported. It was also found that Chile researchers cooperated with the Catholic University, the University of Chile, the La Jolla Institute of Immunology in California, and Sinovac in China. Related Article: US Sets Alarming Milestone of 1 Million Coronavirus Cases Amid Omicron Surge as Vaccines Race To Protect Younger People @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A judge debating whether Virginia Giuffre's sexual abuse lawsuit should go to trial has grilled Prince Andrew's attorneys. In her legal action, Giuffre claims that, when she was 17, she was forced to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein's pals, including the Duke of York. The charges have been strenuously disputed by Prince Andrew, 61, who believes Giuffre is looking for a "payday at his cost." Judge questions Prince Andrew's move to dismiss sexual abuse case During the hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for both sides argued over whether a $500,000 settlement agreement struck in 2009 between Epstein and Giuffre - which was unsealed on Monday - could free Prince Andrew of culpability. The complaint did not identify Prince Andrew as a defendant, but it did include a release for any other person or entity who may have been listed as a possible defendant. The prince's lawyer Andrew Brettler said that the suit's accusations were unclear and didn't indicate when or where the alleged assault occurred, The Independent reported. Brettler went on to state that the lawsuit did not detail the prince's alleged misbehavior. Giuffre's attorney David Boise argued that the 2009 agreement should not apply to Prince Andrew since it covered unrelated claims. Shortly after, Judge Kaplan adjourned the remote session and promised a decision soon. Read Also: QUEEN-IN-WAITING: How Kate Middleton Prepares For the Throne Prince Andrew was mocked for hiding behind Jeffrey Epstein's payout According to Newsweek, Prince Andrew's attempts to get his sexual assault case dismissed have prompted outrage on social media in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Andrew Brettler, the Duke of York's counsel, had a tense debate with a court on Tuesday over whether Virginia Giuffre had the legal right to sue him. According to the prince's legal team, his accuser agreed to a $500,000 deal with Jeffrey Epstein in which "other prospective defendants" were absolved from responsibility. The court, however, suggested that owing to a phrase stating that the document was "not meant to be utilized by any other person," he may not be able to enforce it. The report intends to have further tarnished Prince Andrew's reputation on both sides of the Atlantic, with pundits disgusted by his reliance on Epstein's payoff. Judge Lewis Kaplan did not reach a ruling at the end of the session but hinted one would come "very soon." Prince Andrew's reliance on the Epstein settlement was not the only thing that grabbed notice; his attorneys also claimed that a time extension to the New York Child Victims Act was illegal. Yesterday's hearing was viewed as one of Prince Andrew's final chances to get the civil complaint dismissed before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year, which would be overshadowed by a trial this autumn. His side maintained that the 2009 agreement Giuffre made with Epstein absolved the duke of any culpability. Virginia Giuffre seeks monetary damages However, Judge Kaplan appeared to dismiss this part of the argument, saying that "potential" was a word that neither he nor Brettler could "find any meaning at all." He went on to say that the "real question" is what Giuffre and Epstein intended when they signed the settlement; and the financier, who committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on additional child sex charges, was not around to say. The arrangement, according to Giuffres' team, does not provide Prince Andrew with any protection. The prince is thought to have listened in on the Windsor hearing. Giuffre is suing the Queen's son, alleging that he sexually assaulted her as a teenager. She is seeking specific monetary damages although it is expected to be in the millions of dollars. She alleged that Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew while she was 17 years old and a minor in the United States. All of the charges have been refuted by Prince Andrew. During the hearing, the definition of "possible defendant" was debated, with Brettler telling Judge Kaplan that it meant "someone who was not listed as a defendant but might have been." Per Daily Mail, Giuffre knew she had "claims against" when she launched the complaint in 2009 against infamous billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, whose former lover Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted this week of soliciting adolescent prostitutes for him. Related Article: Prince Andrew's Accuser Speaks Out After Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict; What The Trial Means for the Duke? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ryan Anderson/Daily Citizen-News "We're a family here, and there's not a time when someone doesn't respond to a need," said Paula Wheeler, Varnell Elementary School's first-year principal. "It was very humbling and wonderful" to receive so many congratulations from the school's staff when they learned she'd be the new principal, and "I'm so excited and thankful to be here every single day." After recently moving from Yucatan, Mexico, to Eugene to live with extended family, 19-year-old Beto Solis and his family members went out to lunch at El Torito Meat & Grocery Store. He ordered a burrito his favorite dish and a horchata, and started to feel at home. The decorations and layout in El Torito reminded him of the supermarkets he grew up with in Mexico. It is laid out exactly as it would be in Mexico, Solis said. It is very authentic. El Torito Meat & Grocery Store is more than a corner market of dulce de leche and tamarind candies it is a carniceria, which means butcher shop in Spanish, with multicultural meat preparations, a queseria, a cheese shop and a taqueria a restaurant that serves tacos accompanied by agua frescas and salsas. On Saturdays and Sundays, the smell of grilling chicken on the outdoor stoves greets people as they arrive at the store with their grocery lists. The stores walls have colorful banners and streamers and an array of pan dulces, Mexican sweet breads, at the front entrance. Employees offer assistance to those who are curious about the diverse Central American, South American and Middle Eastern food options available. El Torito is a chain based in the Willamette Valley. El Torito owners Alfredo Mendez and Liliana Perez opened their Eugene location in 2019. They also have locations in Salem, Woodburn and Lincoln City, Oregon. Rosita Rivera, the store manager of two years, said the grocery store is important for the Eugene community because it offers a lot of various products from regions other than Mexico, such as Peru and the Middle East. The food options range from fresh plantains, empanada dough and regional candies. Rivera enjoys listening to customers when they want to make a food request on a product not found in a store. We always want to hear from the customers on what product they are looking for so we can bring it in, Rivera said. Ivan Mariscal, a butcher in the carniceria for over a year, said he purchases meat from the store to make carnitas tacos or beef stew at home. Mariscal recommends that customers check out the carniceria because of its high-quality products. He is in charge of creating different beef, pork and fish cuts for the display case. I like to work at the butcher shop because of the customer service and making different kinds of cuts of meat, Mariscal said. I enjoy this store because the food is versatile, Jewels Metzner, a local customer, said. Metzner and her husband visited the store to stock up on tamale husks and dried chilies for salsas before their Christmas road trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Metzner likes to make all her foods from scratch during the holidays. I dont necessarily come here a lot, but it usually has what we need for Mexican meals, Metzner said. I am originally from Arizona. You cant go to Albertsons here and get the tortillas or husks you need. Rivera's business succeeded despite the pandemic's effects on the economy. The store was able to meet its growing demands by increasing the menus in the carniceria and adding more diverse products. Rivera also credits the stores success to the employees hospitality. It is a very friendly and helpful atmosphere, Rivera said. The employees always answer a lot of questions. We try our best to answer the best way we can, and if we cant, we will try to find an answer for you. El Torito is a local destination for the expert traveler or the Instagram foodie who do not want to go far to eat their favorite dishes. The staff serve a big part in sharing Latin American cuisine with the local community and dedicate themselves through laborious food preparations. El Torito takes customers out of Eugene, Oregon, and places them into a typical marketplace one would find in Latin America. El Torito is located at West 7th Avenue and Polk Street. It is open all week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Business promotions and updates can be found on their Facebook page. Carolyn Caudill Tipton, age 83, of Corbin, KY, passed away on Saturday April 30, 2022, in Corbin She was born in Ashland, KY, a daughter of the late Rexford & Mollie DeBord Caudill. Carolyn was a retired nursing home LPN. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her child More teenagers were stabbed or shot to death in London in 2021 than ever before. Two of the total of 30 were killed last Thursday night a talented 15-year-old musician in South London and a boy just one year older in Boris Johnson's Uxbridge constituency. It's an appalling toll, one that shames Britain and brings untold grief to families. And, while we may not ever know for certain the reasons behind these tragic deaths, it is an inescapable fact that in a vast number of cases, the cannabis trade is to blame. Sadiq Khan reportedly wants to end the prosecution of young people caught with cannabis Some of these dead children are members of drugs gangs, others are innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time, or victims of mistaken identity. But the burgeoning drugs economy is the real killer. Yet the response of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has not been to crack down on drugs and protect the citizens in his charge, but to do the opposite and start to decriminalise these substances. Delusional Under a new scheme, police in Lewisham, Bexley and Greenwich boroughs will be told not to arrest young people caught in possession of cannabis. It is also understood that the amnesty may extend to all class B drugs, including ketamine and dangerous amphetamines like 'speed'. I cannot fathom what Khan thinks he is doing. It staggers me. Perhaps he imagines he can break London's endless cycle of crime he seems unable to get a grip on by simply decriminalising the peddling of drugs because if it's no longer illegal, the pushers by definition will not be criminals. But that is plainly delusional. The reality is that criminal gangs will see their turnover soar as trade increases. And that will attract more crime, not less. The gangs already control a highly organised network stretching across the whole of Britain, the so-called County Lines gangs which rely on children to transport the drugs out to the provinces. Khan's policy will only encourage and strengthen them. As head of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), I am no advocate of hardline, bring back-flogging punishment. We have argued for a long time that heavy-handed sentencing is a completely impractical solution to drug crime. For young offenders, like those on the fringe of gangs, the best answer is to encourage them into better lives through rehabilitation, education and family support. All the evidence shows that young people with full-time jobs have immeasurably better life chances. But it is impossible to steer people on to that right path if the alternative is being openly promoted as legal and attractive by London's mayor and its police the very people who should be enforcing the law. I know how destructive cannabis is because, for 12 years, I ran a charity in the Midlands called Twenty Twenty. Targeting disadvantaged young people with broken lives from the poorest parts of Derby, Leicester and Loughborough, we did everything we could to turn their lives around. At best, it was a difficult job. But when the kids turned up stoned, it was impossible. Under a new scheme, police in Lewisham, Bexley and Greenwich boroughs will be told not to arrest young people caught in possession of cannabis (stock photo) A report in the statistical journal Significance in 2013 listed symptoms of cannabis psychosis: 'Hallucinations, difficulty thinking, a reduced ability to solve problems, apathy and a distorted sense of reality.' There is also a wealth of evidence linking the drug to increased risk of heart attacks, infertility, and a range of other psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. That mirrors exactly what we saw, witnessing the enormous damage it could do, both in the disruption to the daily slog of school and in the long-term damage to young brains. I used to visit the inner city estates and discuss individual problems with the families, especially the mothers. Their frustration and despair was heartbreaking. Many told me that, if they ever caught their children with drugs, they would 'go ballistic'. But what use was that when the police were turning a blind eye? Families often expressed a desire to see more stop-and-search on the streets. Their children were dying. Far better for teens to be subjected to the inconvenience of a search if that meant there were fewer knives and handguns. Mr Khan's big idea runs directly counter to what those families wanted and needed. It will amount to no more than a wishy-washy, middle class pipe-dream imposed on communities that often feel powerless to protect their own children and desperately desire more help from the police, not less. A major deterrent to drug abuse is the threat of legal penalties. If people fear the chance of arrest, some will, of course, ignore it but many will think twice. Addictive A 2018 survey by the CSJ found that if cannabis is decriminalised in Britain, as it has been in some U.S. states such as Colorado and Oregon, around a million new people will try it. They don't currently use it, and the chief deterrent is the fact that it is illegal. Figures differ on how addictive cannabis can be. Our data suggests about one in ten users become hooked, but that is a cautious estimate a survey by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found one in five teenagers who smoked the drug casually for three years developed an addiction. A proposed pilot programme would see young adults caught with the Class B drug offered speeding course-style classes or counselling instead of arrest. . Pictured: In April, thousands of marijuana fans flocked to Hyde Park to openly smoke cannabis as they celebrated '420 day' Even at the lower end of those projections, that means decriminalisation equates to roughly 100,000 new addicts, putting a greater burden on our already overstretched health service. The only people who would benefit from Khan's plan are the gangs. Families suffer, young people see their prospects and their health wrecked, and society bears the cost. It is hard enough for youths with limited job prospects and no money as it is: they see a chance to earn more cash than they could ever imagine, in a way that won't affect their benefits, and they do not understand or care how dangerous it could be. Dramatic But if you believe that if the police catch you, you will have a criminal record and you could even go to prison perhaps some will think it's not worth it. The power of that argument is wiped out by the mayor's plan. Other countries have tried this experiment and suffered the repercussions. In a public clean-up campaign in 2020, Amsterdam's coffee shops famed for decades for trading in cannabis and a popular attraction for tourists were barred from selling to non-residents. The effect on public safety was dramatic. The shops had started drawing undesirable visitors to the city what a Dutch government report called 'a motley crew of drugs criminals, a ring of hustlers and parasites, middle-men and extortionists'. Khan's plans risk attracting exactly that kind of drug tourist to London. He seems to feel it is a risk worth taking. But he has not spent the years I have meeting children and young adults in addiction clinics and pupil referral units, or in police and prison cells their lives destroyed by drugs. And those are the ones lucky enough to be alive. Any policy that promotes drug use is a risk too great to take. And when faced with the reality of those damning teenage murder statistics the reality of lives cut short and families ripped apart is that really too hard to understand? A Holocaust survivor who endured the horror of multiple Nazi concentration camps before dedicating her life to telling her survival story to children around the UK has died at the age of 98. Freda Wineman, who was born in France but emigrated to London in 1950, survived periods in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald's Ragun, and Theresienstadt before being liberated in May 1945. During her ordeal, in which her parents and brother were killed, Wineman came face-to-face with Josef Mengele, survived brutal conditions including being forced to sort through possessions of dead prisoners. After marrying and moving to the UK following the end of the Second World War, she spent her life telling her story at schools across the country. In 2018, she was awarded the British Empire Medal for her service to Holocaust education. Scroll down for video Freda Wineman, who was born in France but emigrated to London in 1950, survived periods in Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald's Ragun and Theresienstadt before being liberated in May 1945 The Holocaust educator, pictured in 2015, spent her life after the Second World War telling her story at schools across the UK. In 2018, she was awarded the British Empire Medal for her service to Holocaust education Many people have paid tribute to Wineman's work on social media, with the Holocaust Educational Trust describing her as 'a special woman' who 'touched all of our hearts' while Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a 'privilege to meet her. May her memory be a blessing.' Born in September, 1923, in Metz, France, Wineman was eight when she moved with her parents and three brothers to Sarreguemines - near the French border. As the Second World War loomed in August 1939, the family evacuated to the south west of the country with nothing but the clothes on their backs - and when German forces invaded a year later, life quickly became difficult for them. Wineman's terrified mother turned to a convent in Le Puy for help but before they were able to go into hiding the family were arrested and sent to Drancy, an internment camp on the outskirts of Paris. Recalling the ordeal as part of the British Library's National Life Stories collection, she said: 'We didn't know what would happen to us. It was only my mother... my mother had lost confidence, she said, "It's finished." Once she was arrested, for her, there was no more hope.' New life in the UK: Wineman is pictured after emigrating to London in 1950. She married a British man called David and had two children The family were quickly sent in a cattle car - with 125 people crammed into one wagon - to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Nazi-occupied Poland. 'From time to time they gave you a drop of water', she said of her time in the death camp. 'You know, and there were already terrible scenes, you know, because people had to release themselves, there were no facilities.' When the family arrived at Auschwitz after around three or four days of travelling, they immediately faced the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, for selection - either for the work camps or gas chambers. Wineman recounted that her mother was told by Mengele to hold the baby of a 'beautiful' young Dutch woman, with guards lying that she would be looking after children in the camp. She remembered: 'He said, "You go with the young ones over there. The young ones are going to work, and the older ones will look after the children". Campaigner: Wineman is pictured in 2013 with then Prime Minister David Cameron signing the Book of Commitment ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day 'He looked a terribly smart, well-groomed officer, with a big smile on his face and full of confidence. My mother said, "You know, it's finished, this is the end." Her mother was sent to the gas chamber with her young son Marcel while her father and brothers were sent to work on the male camp. Wineman was ordered to go with other young women who had been selected to work in the camp, soon being stripped of her possessions, shaved, branded with the number A.7181 and set to work digging trenches in front of the crematorium. As Jews were murdered and their bodies burned, Wineman described Birkenau's sky as 'black' from the smoke, adding: 'we thought it was night time all the time'. What was the 1944 Sonderkommando revolt? On October 7th, 1944, the Sonderkommando work units of Nazi death camp prisoners attacked their SS guards in Auschwitz. The plan was carefully thought out and saw female Jewish prisoners smuggle gunpowder from the munitions factory to create makeshift bombs and grenades. The group hid tiny packages of powder in the false bottoms of food trays and in corpses being sent to the crematoria. During a roll call one of the prisoners walked up to a Nazi officer and struck him with a hammer - ensuing chaos. The SS were attacked with hammers, knives and explosives and some prisoners tried to cut the wire fences to escape while guards opened fire with machine guns. Three SS men were killed and around a dozen injured. The prisoners who escaped were captured and executed along with hundreds of Sonderkommando prisoners and the women who assisted them. Advertisement After two months, she was forced to work as Kanada Kommando - sorting through belongings of prisoners and murder victims whose valuable possessions would be sold on to fund the Nazis. Wineman would smuggle clothing back for the other girls - but when three of her friends were caught and hanged, she was moved back to the trenches. 'We had to stand there, and we had to witness how these three friends of ours had been killed, she said. 'From that day onwards, we were not allowed to work there any more, and we were also put into a punishing group, and that was a time when we were terribly depressed from losing our friends, we were punished ourselves, having the SS around us with the dogs, having to dig trenches, and being beaten up and given no food.' Wineman also recalled the terrifying weekly selections, where Mengele would pick which prisoners would survive and who would be sent to the gas chambers. She said the second a prisoner looked too weak to work they would be selected to die. 'I can assure you that when you pass Mengele, you didn't look him in the eyes, I can assure you, you couldn't pass quick enough, because, you knew if he points his finger, that was your death sentence, you had it', she said. When the Sonderkommando revolt occurred in October 1944 - which saw prisoners attack SS guards, killing three and injuring a dozen Nazis - Wineman was moved from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen. Conditions at the camp were so poor and crowded that she developed an abscess on her stomach after another prisoner scratched her with a dirty toenail while she slept. The Holocaust educator said prisoners didn't work at Bergen-Belsen and were woken up daily by being beaten with a stick. Food was scarce and conditions were so poor that many died of starvation and lack of medical treatment. She remained in Bergen-Belsen until February 1945 when she was sent to a sub-camp of Buchenwald to work in an aeroplane factory with 750 other women. When she arrived at the camp, called Ragun, a finger abscess had become infested with worms and another prisoner was forced to cut the tip of her finger off with scissors. Wineman was once again moved, this time to Theresienstadt in the now Czech Republic as the Allies advanced. Wineman is pictured with Boris Johnson in 2015 as he hosts Holocaust Memorial Day at City Hall, London in 2015 On May 9, 1945, she was liberated by Soviet troops and discovered that her father and brother Marcel, had been murdered at Auschwitz. On June 4th, she returned to Lyon where she was hospitalised with typhoid before finally being reunited with her remaining brothers David and Armand in August 1945. Five years later, she married her husband David and moved to the UK, having two children and working to spread awareness of the Holocaust. Wineman, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2018 for her service to Holocaust education, continued to live in London until her death this week, having dedicated her life to sharing testimony with students across the UK. Sebastian Gorka, a pro-Trump commentator and radio host, filed a lawsuit to block a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee responsible for investigating the events leading up to the unprecedented Capitol Hill riot last year. The individual filed the suit on Tuesday where he accused the committee of overstepping its authorities and requesting a court to stop Verizon from turning over his phone records. The lawsuit argues that the committee did not ask Gorka to answer questions or provide any other documents, Politico reported. Sebastian Gorka's Subpoena Gorka said that he had only been asked to speak at a Jan. 6 rally that was meant to be held in front of the Supreme Court. However, his speech was canceled with him saying that he was merely a spectator for the other events that were observed on that horrifying day. The radio host's attorneys said in the suit that their client was neither a member nor a leader of any organization that sponsored any events on Jan. 6. They added that Gorka was not present at the Capitol on the day that the mob of loyal Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. The House Select Committee did not previously show signs of having Gorka as a person of interest with regards to the Capitol Hill siege. Other high profile individuals who have been issued subpoenas by the committee, including former United States President Donald Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows, all filed suit against the panel to block subpoenas as well, the Daily Beast reported. The situation comes as the committee plans to have open, televised hearings on the attempted coup that will be held within "months, if not weeks." The news was announced by the senior Democrat and Republican on the committee. Read Also: Trump Plans Speech on Jan. 6; Raising Concerns Among Republicans of Potential Fraud Election Claims Members of the panel said that they had substantial evidence of the personal involvement of former President Trump in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill attack. The two officials in question, Committee Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney appeared on several Sunday morning television interview programs. Attack on Capitol Hill The programs focused on the nearing anniversary of the violent attack that involved protesters claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. The mob attempted to stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden's presidential win and keep the Republican businessman in the office. NBC's "Meet the Press" program focused entirely on Jan. 6 and started with a lengthy and biting video that depicted the preparation and carrying out of the insurrection. The show also detailed the level of involvement of the former president. The host of the narrative, Chuck Todd, was seen to be unusually explicit when he described the attack as a "violent effort to overturn a free and fair election. He said that the actions were made in support of "unconstitutional legal strategies to declare President Trump re-elected" that the hose said that devised by the Republican businessman's own political advisers and aides. Todd said that the insurrection was not only a show of violence among Trump supporters that were rallied outside the White House. He added that it was the result of "post-election planning by anti-democratic forces at the highest level, up to and including the then-sitting president of the United States, to overturn the election and subvert the will of the American people," the World Socialist Web Site reported. Related Article: Joe Biden Too Old and Ineffective Costing the US Confidence With His Lackadaisical Performance on the Domestic, International Stage @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Supermodel Kate Moss is kicking off 2022 with a bang by starring in a striking new beauty campaign that sees her showing off her incredibly youthful complexion while throwing a smoldering stare at the camera. The 47-year-old fashion icon lends her famous features to a new photo and video campaign, which celebrates the launch of her longtime friend Charlotte Tilbury's latest makeup product, the Beautiful Skin Foundation ($44), and also stars Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor and model Jourdan Dunn. In the campaign, all three women are seen posing for individual portraits, flaunting their picture-perfect complexions while modeling their chosen shade of the foundation - which promises wearers a 'glowing real-skin finish'. For her portrait, Moss ensured her complexion took center stage, modeling a simple gold silk camisole that revealed plenty of skin, flashing a bronzed shoulder towards the camera while tipping her head back to allow her wavy blonde locks to tumble down her back. As well as stepping in front of the camera to help promote Tilbury's new product, Moss also shared an intimate anecdote about what 'makes her feel beautiful', with the starlet admitting that she truly feels her best when she is 'in love'. Supermodel Kate Moss shows off her incredibly youthful complexion in a new beauty campaign for her longtime friend Charlotte Tilbury's eponymous brand The 47-year-old puts her ageless features on full display for the photo and video ads, which see her pouting up a storm for the camera Moss' appearance in the campaign comes almost three decades after she and Tilbury met at the age of 19 Behind-the-scenes video shot during the photo shoot shows Moss holding up a bottle of the new Beautiful Skin Foundation, which promises wearers a 'glowing real-skin finish' 'Being in love makes me feel beautiful,' Moss - who has been dating 34-year-old photographer Count Nikolai von Bismarck since 2015 - shared. News of Moss' romance with von Bismarck first surfaced more than six years ago, with reports revealing that the pair struck up a relationship after first bonding as friends - having met when the model formed a friendship with her future beau's mother. The new Charlotte Tilbury campaign marks the second time that Moss has stepped into the spotlight as a spokesmodel for Tilbury - who praised the fashion star's 'hypnotic, magical magnetism' while opening up about the star-studded photo shoot. As part of the campaign, Moss also opened up about what makes her 'feel beautiful', with the model explaining that she feels her best when she is 'in love'. The mother-of-one has been dating Count Nikolai von Bismarck (pictured together in September) since 2015 'I am thrilled to have my talented, inspiring and iconic friend and brand muse Kate Moss starring in my new Beautiful Skin Foundation campaign!' Tilbury said in a statement about the foundation launch. 'Ive known Kate since the very beginning of my career we met for the first time both aged 19, on a Dazed shoot in the 90s, and have been friends ever since! Kate supported me from the start of my journey from makeup artist to beauty entrepreneur and is always one of the first to try my products before they launch. 'Kate has been trialing my Beautiful Skin Foundation in secret for a long time now and loves it, so it was the perfect opportunity for us to work together and the perfect product for us to launch to the world! 'Kate is a beauty icon - she has a hypnotic, magical magnetism that changes the frequency when she walks into the room.' Moss was quick to return the gushing praise in her own statement, describing Tilbury as a 'great friend' while waxing lyrical about her new foundation. 'Ive known Charlotte forever, weve worked together on countless covers, campaigns, runways, red carpets and shared many personal moments over the years,' Moss said. Moss is joined in the campaign by Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor who was unveiled as Charlotte Tilbury's first-ever official celebrity brand ambassador in October Dynevor, 26, proved herself to be a natural in front of the camera during the shoot, with a behind-the-scenes video capturing her posing like a pro while brandishing the foundation Dynevor ensured that all eyes were on her complexion in the images, choosing to model a simple ivory slip dress the complemented her porcelain features Describing her own views on beauty, Dynevor said that she believes the feeling is all about 'confidence and feeling good from the inside out' 'She is a great friend, and her makeup chair is one of my favorite places to be! We have so much fun on set laughing and dancing non-stop, and I trust her implicitly so its always easy working together. 'Its been really special to work with Charlotte for the launch of her Beautiful Skin Foundation. What I love the most about Beautiful Skin Foundation is that it gives you an amazing natural glow, when Im wearing it, my skin still looks like my skin but better. 'Ive been obsessed since she first gave me the samples to try on holiday! Its so easy to use yourself, it makes me feel my most beautiful, confident self, every day. No one does beautiful makeup and skin like Charlotte I am really happy to be part of this campaign.' Meanwhile Dynevor, 26, who shot to fame last year while featuring as Daphne Bridgerton in the hit Netflix series, explained that beauty to her is all about feeling confident on the inside and out. 'Beauty to me means confidence and feeling good from the inside out,' she explained. Dynevor was first unveiled the first-ever celebrity brand ambassador for Charlotte Tilbury in October, when she starred alongside Dunn in the company's 2021 holiday campaign, modeling a bold red lip and a dazzling gold dress. However her latest turn in front of the Charlotte Tilbury cameras sees her taking on a more demure look, with the actress donning a simple and chic ivory silk slip dress that emphasized her porcelain features - and, of course, drew plenty of attention to her flawless complexion. Model Jourdan Dunn is also featured in the campaign - having previously starred alongside Dynevor in Charlotte Tilbury's 2021 holiday ad, which was released in October Dunn, 31, also opened up about her beauty ethos, explaining: 'For me, having a beautiful soul and a beautiful presence equals a beautiful person' All three campaign stars have been using the foundation in secret for months, with Dunn revealing that she recently wore it on the red carpet at the British Fashion Awards Much like Moss, the actress was full of praise for the new beauty launch, explaining that she loves the 'natural, healthy glow' that it leaves her with. 'I always think of Charlotte Tilbury as synonymous with beautiful makeup,' the Netflix star said. 'She creates products that are easy to use and flattering for everyone, and Beautiful Skin Foundation is no exception. When I first tried this on set of the campaign last summer, I was instantly hooked. 'Ive worn this on the red carpet and day to day and it gives my skin a natural, healthy glow.' Dunn, 31, revealed that she has also been using the foundation formula - which launches on January 6 - secretly for months, and even modeled the product on the red carpet at the British Fashion Awards in November. 'I wear it for everything now!' she said, adding: 'As I have a busy lifestyle its now my go-to foundation for everyday use because it always performs with such little effort.' For her turn in front of the cameras, Dunn followed in her campaign co-stars' footsteps by wearing a simple silk number, while the behind-the-scenes clip also shows her sporting a figure-flattering black tank top. A 12-year-old girl who earned her high school diploma at age nine has become the youngest student to graduate from Broward College in the school's 61-year history. Sawsan Ahmed of Weston, Florida, graduated from the college in Fort Lauderdale with an associate's degree with a concentration in biological science on December 15 after earning a 4.0 GPA. The pre-teen will continue her education this spring at the University of Florida, where she plans to study computer programming, chemistry, and biology. 'Their courses with Python programming through biology really caught my interest,' Sawsan told ABC News. 'It's an amazing place for really studying those topics so it's really cool that I was accepted I get to go there next semester.' Sawsan Ahmed, 12, from Weston, Florida, graduated from Broward College in Fort Lauderdale with an associate's degree and a 4.0 GPA on December 15 She is the youngest student to graduate from Broward College in the school's 61-year history The pre-teen's family realized she was gifted academically when she advanced to a curriculum that was several years ahead of her grade level while she was being homeschooled. Sawsans mother, Jeena Santos Ahmed, told the news outlet that her daughter has been in charge of her education from day one, saying they did their best to encourage her interests. 'We talked to her about new developments that we read about, we let her listen to NPR and learn about new scientific discoveries,' she said. Sawsan was just nine when she earned her high school diploma and passed the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT), a placement test that Florida uses to determine whether a student is ready for college-level course work. Sawsan (pictured with her father, Wesam Ahmed, and mother, Jeena Santos Ahmed) was nine when she earned her high school diploma The pre-teen also passed the state's Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT), which determines whether a student is ready for college-level coursework At age 10, Sawsan enrolled in classes at Broward College, starting with one per semester until she adjusted to the more advanced curriculum By the time she was 10, she was attending in-person classes at Broward College. She started with one class per semester to give herself time to adjust to the more advanced curriculum, but she quickly excelled. 'At the very beginning, everyone was helping me, calling me "honey," "sweetie," things like that," she recalled of the students in her science lab. 'But by the end of the semester, all of the other students were asking me for help on questions.' After the COVID-19 pandemic led to her extracurricular activities being moved online or canceled, she had more free time to take multiple college classes at once. Sawsan and her family found out she was accepted into the University of Florida last summer. Her father, Wesam Ahmed, a physician at the Cleveland Clinics cancer center in Abu Dhabi, would like to see her enter the field of medicine one day. During the pandemic, she was able to take multiple classes at once as she worked towards her associate's degree Sawsan is pictured with Broward College President Gregory Adam Haile, commencement speaker and CEO of Magic Leap, Peggy Johnson, and her mom (left to right) Sawsan will continue her education this spring at the University of Florida, where she plans to study computer programming, chemistry, and biology 'Physicians like my dad save lives one at a time, but if I invented technology that can work in medicine it could save many lives at once,' she said. The college student explained that she is inspired by strong women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), saying Andrea Gellatly a biomedical engineer and team leader on the competition series Battlebots is one of her role models. When she's not studying science, she enjoys art, music, watching Disney movies, and playing video games, just like any other kid her age. Sawsan hasn't even started classes at the University of Florida yet, but she already has big plans for her future. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she would like to earn a medical degree or doctorate. 'Shoot for the stars and don't underestimate yourself,' she advised. 'That mentality is what brought me here.' Advertisement Perched above the sandy beaches of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula is a spectacular luxury mansion with uninterrupted ocean views, its own helipad, dune buggy track, two living rooms and spa deck. Just an hour and 45 minutes from Adelaide's CBD in Nalyappa, the incredible home, dubbed The Dunes, is a luxurious seaside retreat designed with the environment in mind and is completely off-grid. The Dunes is a sprawling 273-acre property packed with luxury features including a bespoke aquaponics geo-dome that can grow vegetables and herbs and has a 45000 litre fish pond home to over 60 edible Silver Perch. Perched on the beach on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula is a magnificent luxury off-grid mansion that has hit the market The sprawling 273-acre property, dubbed The Dunes, is packed with luxury features including its own purpose-built helipad, dune buggy track, and an enormous workshop and garage Just an hour and 45 minutes from Adelaide's CBD in Nalyappa, The Dunes is a luxurious seaside retreat designed with the environment in mind and is completely off-grid A glass corridor and a series of courtyards connect the three structures that make up the six bedroom, five bathroom home. Floor to ceiling double-glazed windows and glass doors wrap around the house and showcase the picturesque surrounding bushland and panoramic ocean views. There are two spacious lounge rooms to relax in, one with its own theatre-style projector screen and a high-end chef's kitchen with a massive pantry and scullery. A glass corridor and a series of courtyards connect the three structures that make up the six bedroom, five bathroom home Floor to ceiling double-glazed windows and glass doors wrap around the house and showcase the picturesque surrounding bushland and panoramic ocean views There is a bespoke aquaponics geo-dome that can grow vegetables and herbs all year round and has a 45000 litre fish pond home to over 60 edible Silver Perch. The primary bedroom has a luxe freestanding bathtub, a huge walk-in robe perfect for any fashion lover and its own ensuite. Outside, there is a spa deck with a sauna, expansive sun deck perfect for lounging and a vine covered alfresco area with a feature stone fireplace. The Dunes is completely off-the-grid and self-sufficient with solar panelling, a rain water tank and a honey-producing apiary. There are two spacious lounge rooms to relax in, one with its own theatre-style projector screen and a high-end chef's kitchen with a massive pantry and scullery. The primary bedroom has a luxe freestanding bathtub, a huge walk-in robe perfect for any fashion lover and its own ensuite. The home has been enjoyed by its owner, Peter Mitchell, since it was constructed in 2014 in a collaborative effort between him and architect Max Pritchard Outside, there is a spa deck with a sauna, expansive sun deck perfect for lounging and a vine covered alfresco area with a feature stone fireplace That year, it caught the eye of judges at the Australia Institute of Architecture Awards and received a commendation in the new residential home category Timber boardwalks wind through the property, leading to the home and to the 2km exclusive beach. The home has been enjoyed by its owner, Peter Mitchell, since it was constructed in 2014 in a collaborative effort between him and architect Max Pritchard. That year, it caught the eye of judges at the Australia Institute of Architecture Awards and received a commendation in the new residential home category. The property is currently listed for sale for the first time in seven years with a price on application. To view the listing head to the realestate.com.au website. A man has warned Australians to double-check for second lines on Covid-19 rapid antigen tests (RAT) after his own positive result was extremely faint. The anonymous Victorian man, who runs the online community 'Covid Pete', shared an image of his test result on Facebook with the second red line barely visible. He then visited a Covid-19 PCR testing clinic which later confirmed he was positive. The Victorian man who runs the online community 'Covid Pete' shared an image of the positive test result on Facebook, and the second red line below the first is barely visible (pictured) 'When I started having symptoms and others who were around me starting testing positive with their RAT test, I decided to do mine. As you can see the second line of mine is very faint,' the caption read. 'You must take that second faint line as a positive test!!! It was confirmed a few days later that I was positive via PCR.' He warned others to be 'aware and cautious of your surroundings' and to get PCR tested even if the faintest line is noticed on RAT home kits. The second line on Covid-19 RAT tests indicate a positive result (left). A woman also revealed how to use photo editing tools to help see faint lines A woman has also explained how to use editing tools on an iPhone to identify faint positives. After taking a photo of the test, she suggested increasing the black point and contrast to 100 per cent 'You can also invert the colours and this will often help you see faint lines,' she wrote. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is set to make a decision on subsidising RATs for Australians on low incomes. The plan, set for discussion at National Cabinet on Wednesday, will see welfare recipients and pensioners get cash payments for up to five rapid tests, or even more if states also put money on the table. They would need to meet eligibility requirements to qualify for the subsidy. The Prime Minister may also announce that the Federal Government will provide millions of free RAT kits to be handed out at state and territory testing centres. The national cabinet is meeting for the first time this year to discuss community concerns around access to the kits, which have been difficult to source and have risen steeply in price. What should I do if the RAT test is positive? 1. Isolate at home for at least 7 days from the day you had your PCR test. If you have symptoms at Day 6, have another PCR test at a walk in or drive through testing clinic. 2. If test is positive you must stay at home until symptoms are gone or have a negative PCR test. If you have symptoms at Day 12, have a PCR or RAT self-test. 3. Notify your household, school or employer that you have COVID-19. 4. If you have no symptoms at Day 7, you can return to normal living and leave your home. You do not need a further test. Wear a mask when leaving the home and avoid visiting high-risk settings for at least 7 days following negative test or end of symptoms. Source: health.gov.au Advertisement Infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said the proposed measures would help alleviate pressure on testing clinics, but they should be made free for everyone - not just those on low incomes. 'We can't have a system that doesn't work, we need to be able to test people by PCR if they have got symptoms or if they are a very close contact,' he told the Nine Network on Wednesday. 'We need to do something and rapid antigen tests are the solution.' The consumer watchdog on Tuesday acknowledged community concerns some retailers were price gouging on the tests due to their scarcity and asked the community to report pricing anomalies. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims warned the authority would 'name and shame' retailers doing the wrong thing. Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes has heard of some retailers selling the rapid tests for $100, and urged for free tests. A mother lines up for a PCR test in Brisbane. Infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said RATs should be made free for everyone - not just those on low incomes. Covid cases in NSW spiked to 35,054 while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight but ICU admissions in both states remain steady. Wednesday's numbers in NSW are the highest daily total recorded for any Australian state since the beginning of the pandemic - and are a large jump from the 23,131 infections announced on Tuesday. The number of people in hospital has risen to 1491, from 1344 reported on Tuesday. Of those, 119 are in intensive care units, an increase of 14 in 24 hours. While ICU numbers are rising, the tally is short of the peak of 244 seen in September. Victoria's hospitalisations are at 591, a jump from 516 on Tuesday, with ICU rates dropping by three to 53. Eight more people in NSW lost their lives with the virus while Victoria had 11 deaths. Jana Duggar's charge of endangering the welfare of a child has reportedly been settled out of court. Jana, who turns 32 this month, was scheduled to be in court on January 10 after pleading not guilty to the misdemeanor on September 9. But according to Fox News, the charge has been adjudicated, meaning she will no longer appear in court next week. The My Fine Payment website lists a payment made by Jana My Fine Payment for the amount of $890. After news of the charge broke last month following her brother Josh's conviction on child pornography charges, Jana took to Instagram to defend herself, insisting that the child in question was unharmed but had slipped out of the house and someone had called the police. Jana Duggar's charge of endangering the welfare of a child has reportedly been settled out of court. She was scheduled to be in court on January 10 after pleading not guilty to the misdemeanor on September 9 The My Fine Payment website lists a payment made by Jana My Fine Payment for the amount of $890 According to an Elm Springs, Arkansas court filing, Jana had been cited for the misdemeanor in September and released on $430 bail. Though she initially pleaded not guilty, the confirmation of an out-of-court settlement and the record of an $890 fine paid suggests that she may have changed her plea. The initial court filing did not offer any more details on the circumstances of the citation, leading to widespread speculation so on December 14, Jana shared her version of the events on Instagram. 'I'm only sharing this because the media has been having a field day with it all,' Jana wrote on her Instagram stories this morning. 'I prefer a more private life, but I know my last name means that everything we do is open to public criticism and interest, especially during this time. 'The raw facts: I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone. A passerby who saw the child called the police. 'This resulted in a written citation, as well as a follow-up with child welfare who concluded that it was an accident and the child was unharmed. They recognized that it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment. After news of the charge broke last month, Jana took to Instagram to defend herself She insisted that the child in question was unharmed but had slipped out of the house and someone had called the police 'It all happened so quickly and was scary. I am grateful for law enforcement and those who protect and serve out community. 'I was certainly never arrested like some may have implied. In the end I was just upset at myself that it had happened at all, but so thankful it all ended safely and that's truly what mattered the most to me.' It is unclear whose child slipped out of the house. Jana's younger siblings are all age 12 and older, but she frequently cares for several of her 22 nieces and nephews, who range in age from six weeks to 12 years old. There has been rampant speculation online, with Without a Crystal Ball's Katie Joy claiming a source told her that Josh and Anna's 22-month-old daughter Maryella was allegedly the one to wander out of the house. Josh, 33, is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography last month. When news of Jana's citation made headlines, several family members defended her on social media. 'I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone. A passerby who saw the child called the police,' she explained While Jana has no children of her own, she is frequently tasked with caring for her younger siblings, nieces, and nephews (pictured with a niece and nephew, plus her dad Jim Bob) Though her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle who had released a statement that they loved their son Josh after his conviction didn't speak out on her behalf, Jana's sister Jessa did. 'Getting messages about headlines about Jana. Bottom line it was an innocent mistake,' Jessa, 29, wrote. 'She was babysitting and one of the kids slipped out the door unnoticed, but it ended safely. Could've happened to anyone. 'The media is sensationalizing this because of other current family circumstances and it makes me so mad,' she went on, a rare instance of Jessa straying from the family's motto of 'keeping sweet.' 'She's without question one of the most amazing woman I know and I'd trust her with my kids any day of the week. Do me a favor give the girl a break, and all you perfect humans go back to living your lives,' she said. Jessa, who is married to Ben Seewald, has four children: Spurgeon, 6, Henry, 4, Ivy, 2, and Fern, 5 months. Support has also come from two of her younger brothers. Jana's younger sister Jessa, 29, released her own statement on Instagram in defense of her sister Support also came in from two of her younger brothers. James, 20, shared a photo of Jana with the words 'I support Jana Duggar' The post was also shared by Jason, 21, who added the words: 'Bro, same!' Finally, cousin Amy Duggar King - who has been quite vocal in condemning Josh for his 'disgusting' crimes - came to Jana's defense as well James, 20, shared a photo of Jana with the words 'I support Jana Duggar' which was also shared by Jason, 21, who added the words: 'Bro, same!' Jason was one of Jana's 'buddies' in the family's buddy system, which Michelle implimented to help keep track of her children. Each of the older girls Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger was assigned two to three younger 'buddies' that they were in charge of taking care of. Finally, cousin Amy Duggar King who has been quite vocal in condeming Josh for his 'disgusting' crimes came to Jana's defense as well. 'I will call out what is right and I will call out what is wrong,' Amy, 35, wrote in an Instagram Story. 'This couldn't have been intentional. Thank God the child was OK and found!' 'I bet you were exhausted, stressed and just emotionally worn out,' Amy went on. 'Watching multiple kids is hard! Bc there's so many of them and you only have two eyes! It's a very sad situation going on and my heart goes out to @janamduggar love you.' A woman has called out Kim Kardashian for the 'troubling' sizing of her SKIMS line after being gifted a thong that was so small she couldn't pull the shapewear up past her thighs. Jasmine Alexandria, who is known as @jj_alexandria on TikTok, shared her outrage in a viral video that has been viewed more than 10.3 million times, explaining that she was given the brand's core control thong in a size Large/X-Large. 'Now Kim, Kim Kardashian, we're going to need to have a f**king conversation because I got SKIMS for Christmas,' the 29-year-old from California griped. 'Let me just show you what I got, and let me talk about the sizing because the sizing is whats really troubling me.' Scroll down for video Jasmine Alexandria, who is known as @jj_alexandria on TikTok, bashed Kim Kardashian's SKIMS shapewear line for being too small in a viral video The 29-year-old from California explained that she was given the brand's core control thong in a size Large/X-Large for Christmas Alexandria pulled the thong out of its box to show viewers how tiny is, saying she couldn't get it past her thigh because it doesn't have any stretch Alexandria then pulled the thong out of its box to show viewers how tiny is, insisting that it hardly has any elasticity. 'This is a Large/Extra Large and b***h this does not stretch,' she said. 'It does not stretch. When I tell you I couldnt even get this past up my thigh...' Alexandria went on to accuse the Kardashians of having plastic surgery to achieve their famous curves while bashing the brand. 'Its crazy to me because with the Kardashians, its like you guys buy your bodies, right? You know what I'm saying?' she continued. 'You bought that a**. You bought them t****s. So, you know damn well this ain't going to do anything. 'My question to you, Kim Kardashian, is: What size are you wearing in your line?' she asked. 'Because you are not wearing a Large/Extra Large.' In a follow-up clip, she demonstrated her struggle to pull up the tiny shapewear The SKIMS website states that its core control thong 'intentionally runs smaller for a compressive look and feel.' Customers are advised to 'size up' for more comfort Kim, pictured modeling pieces from her line, previously revealed that she wears a size medium in her SKIMS line Kim previously revealed that she wears a size medium in her SKIMS line, which ranges from XXS to a 5X. The SKIMS website states that its core control thong 'intentionally runs smaller for a compressive look and feel.' Customers are advised to 'size up' if they 'prefer more comfort for everyday wear.' However, the brand has received plenty of flack over its wonky sizing over the years, and a number of commenters agreed that the shapewear is ridiculously small. 'I wear a size 6 jeans and a small dress. I wear a 4X in Skims,' one person wrote, while another added: 'Im a size medium. 2xl skims were too small for me.' 'I bought some as well and it's an xl and it fits comfortably on my 16 year old size 0 teenager,' someone else shared. 'These aren't for women for sure. I was mad.' After a commenter refused to believe that Alexandria's tiny SKIMS thong was a size Large/X-Large, she filmed a follow-up video showing the inside of the tag. Before Alexandria tried pulling the thong up, she warned that she didn't want to stretch the underwear too much or rip them because she planned on taking them back 'Oh my god, it hurts,' she said as she struggled to pull up the thong. 'Its cutting off my circulation' After jumping around and working up a sweat trying to get them up, she gave up and took the thong off In a third clip, she demonstrated how difficult it was for her to pull the shapewear over her thighs after a commenter insisted she would look 'snatched' if she put them on. She pointed out that she was wearing SKIMS leggings and a matching bra in a size Large, which fit her decently well. She also warned that she didn't want to stretch the underwear too much or rip them because she planned on taking them back. 'Oh my god, it hurts,' she said as she struggled to pull up the thong. 'Its cutting off my circulation.' Alexandria started jumping up and down to try to wiggle them up without avail, saying she couldn't get them any farther. '[If I had] a team of three to five people at each angle of the drawers pulling them up for me, yes they would fit,' she said at the end of the video, but I'm ain't doing all that to get into shapewear.' Thousands of Australians responded to an urgent call for carers for a sweet elderly Labrador in need of a new home. In a post to their Facebook page yesterday morning, rescue organisation Animals in Need Brisbane put out the special request for someone to foster to adopt 13-year-old Echo. Animals in Need Brisbane said they have now found a carer for Echo after receiving many applications and are now looking for transport to get the senior lab to his new home in the Brisbane suburb of Carindale. Thousands of animal lovers responded to Animals in Need Brisbane's urgent call for a home for a sweet 13-year-old Labrador called Echo Their page's posts usually receive a handful of likes but Echo seemed to tug at the heartstrings of thousands of animal lovers with his friendly face and racked up more than 500 hundred shares. There were also dozens of comments from people from across the country keen to help and have Echo be part of their family. 'If only you were in Tassie sweet boy, youd be coming home with me,' one woman responded. 'Application submitted. We have 2 labs, live in the country on our own property and have the room, love and spare spot beside the fire in winter for a senior to live out their days,' wrote another. Animals in Need Brisbane said they have now found a carer for Echo after receiving many applications and are now looking for transport to get the senior lab to his new home in the Brisbane suburb of Carindale According to his listing, Echo is friendly with other dogs, is not aggressive in anyway and just wants pats from everyone he meets. Echo is an indoor dog who 'just loves to sit with you and to be around people'. To see more pets in need of a home head to the Animals in Need Brisbane Facebook page. One of Britain's most successful influencers has seen her followers plummet after it emerged she'd written a series of racist tweets over ten years ago. Elle Darby, 26, from Wiltshire, who launched her own clothing brand on the back of her success as a social media star, has lost nearly 100,000 followers since tweets she wrote as a teenager resurfaced last week. In the tweets, mother-of-one Ms Darby, who is in a relationship with fellow influencer Connor Swift, called foreigners 'meatheads' who 'speak in grunts', and said she 'hates Polish people and Indians really'. Darby has since published an apology video on her YouTube channel - but some fans have suggested that the influencer comes across as 'insincere' and 'irritated' in the three-minute clip. Scroll down for video Social media star Elle Darby, 26, from Wiltshire, pictured with her partner and fellow influencer Connor Smith, has enjoyed huge success since she began posting content on YouTube and Instagram. However, the emergence of racist tweets written by Darby in 2011 have seen her lose nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube this week Darby, pictured with her young son, Saint, had called foreigners 'meatheads' who 'speak in grunts', and said she 'hates Polish people and Indians really' on an old Twitter account, which has since been deleted Ms Darby apologised in a three-minute video for the tweets, saying she feels ashamed of her historic posts, adding that she wants to 'take responsibility' for her actions' Before the tweets were published, Darby enjoyed more than 785,000 Instagram followers but the social media star now has 716,000. On YouTube, a subscriber count of 611,000 has now dropped to 585,000. Comments are currently turned off on the influencer's platforms. MailOnline has contacted Elle Darby's management for comment. Darby's name trended on Twitter after disappointed fans watched the video, with many saying they were less than convinced by it. @hralexandra1x wrote: 'Elle Darbys apology video is so insincere.' @charlcurry96 added: 'Just watched Elle Darbys Im sorry video and she literally looks and sounds like the most insincere, unsorry person Ive ever seen.' @xjodyhayton_ wrote: 'I've always loved Elle Darby but more and more tweets are being leaked now and each one is worse and worse! I don't I'm the only person who is disappointed, regardless if it was 10 years ago.' @georgiahwo added: 'Seeing those Elle Darby and Connor tweets actually made me so upset. I was not a perfect teen, neither any of my friends but never did racism, fat shaming or derogatory terms leave our mouths. Ive noticed a lot of influencers are the same with resurfaced tweets. Disappointed.' Darby, 26, had written a series of 'shameful' messages when she was a teenager, using racial slurs and insulting several ethnic groups The star posted an apology video on YouTube - but fans have said she appeared 'irritated' and 'insincere' in the clip Disappointed fans have said they were left 'hurt' and 'angry' by the tweets Darby's partner Connor Swift published a second written apology for racist tweets he'd sent in the past @bendingtheruIes penned: 'The whole Elle Darby & Connor Swift situation makes me so angry & upset. Angry at how they thought it would be okay to tweet such despicable things. Upset that I spent yrs looking up to them as they were my comfort YouTubers. Disappointed & enraged doesnt even cover it right now.' @KatieRB99 added: 'Considering I thought Elle Darby was one of the most genuine people I watched for years. Her apology video which shows no remorse or genuine apology proves otherwise. I wont send her hate as that makes me part of the problem, however Im sad shes not the person we looked up to.' Connor Swift, Darby's partner, also issued two written apologies to his Instagram after racist tweets he'd written surfaced too. One screenshot posted online appeared to show him tweeting: 'Looked like a black man after work, through all the dust I collected. #StillLookedhot.' He told his 175,000 followers: 'Ive learnt now more than ever before that the words we use are so beyond powerful but I will show that my actions will forever speak louder moving forward. I want to make it clear that I am sorry, to everyone my tweets have affected and caused pain upon.' In 2018, Darby hit the headlines after she wrote to Paul Stenson, the owner of the White Moose Cafe and Charleville Lodge Hotel in Dublin. She asked about a 'possible collaboration' involving free accommodation for her and Swift, who were planning to visit for an early Valentine's Day weekend. But her note was greeted with disdain by Mr Stenson, who not only poured scorn on the request but also posted the exchange online - and vowed to ban bloggers from his hotel. The Duchess of Cornwall is set to follow in the Prince of Wales' footsteps and guest edit Country Life magazine for her 75th birthday. Camilla, who will turn 75 on July 17, is expected to discuss her love of horses and dogs in the issue and her favourite recipes as well as serious topics, including violence against women and loneliness. The issue will be available from July 13 and will also commemorate the magazine's 125th anniversary. The Prince of Wales guest-edited the magazine in November 2013 on the occasion of his 65th birthday, and five years later in 2018 when he turned 70. This second issue was one of the magazine's biggest-selling issues. The Duchess of Cornwall, 74, is set to guest edited the July editor of Country Life magazine to mark her 75th birthday (pictured with her dog Bluebell) The Princess Royal also guest edited the magazine for her 70th, which became a best-seller as well. While Camilla will champion country life in the edition, a source told the Telegraph she will also touch on grittier subject matters. 'She loves the country life, but it wont be just horses and dogs and lovely countryside,' they said. 'There is that slightly confronting side of the difficult issues the countryside faces. The Prince of Wales guest-edited the magazine in November 2013 on the occasion of his 65th birthday (pictured) 'She wants to have a bit more about the challenges facing people, particularly for women,' they added. A spokesperson for Camilla added: 'The edition will also focus on the work of the Duchess as patron of over 90 charities, from Barnardos to The Royal School of Needlework and The Royal Society of Literature.' Meanwhile magazine bosses hailed the duchess' involvement a 'great honour'. Editor Mark Hedges said: 'It is a great honour that the Duchess of Cornwall has agreed to guest edit Country Life in July. 'Her Royal Highness is a passionate countrywoman and we are delighted that she follows her husband in presiding over this commemorative edition.' Meanwhile Camilla's son, food writer Tom Parker Bowles, joked he hoped his temporary boss wouldn't have too many problems with his regular column for the issue. He said: 'As a columnist for Country Life, Im delighted my mother will be guest editing a special issue. But rather hoping she wont try to muck about with my copy.' In 2018, then aged 70th, the heir-to-the-throne once again edited the country publication for his birthday The Prince of Wales first guest edited Country Life in 2013 on the occasion of his 65th birthday, pictured Camila will discuss 'difficult' issues such as violence against women in the magazine (pictured at the Christmas Day morning church service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on December 25) The new year is off to a great start for the Duchess, after it was announced the Queen will be personally awarding her with the highest honour possible thanks to her 'service to the sovereign.' Camilla is to be made a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior of the Orders of Chivalry in Britain, Buckingham Palace said. The appointment will be seen as a royal seal of approval for the loyalty and discretion Camilla has shown since her marriage to the Prince of Wales in 2005. It sparked renewed speculation that the 95-year-old monarch may yet endorse Camilla to be Queen when she dies and Prince Charles accedes to the throne. Clarence House said the 'intention' is for the duchess to become Princess Consort, showing sensitivity to previously negative public opinion over Camilla's role in the breakdown of Charles and Diana's marriage. But Charles has never made any secret of his desire for Camilla to become queen by his side. One week after my 16th birthday, my mother informed me she was leaving me and my father. They had a turbulent relationship and although she had threatened to go numerous times, I never thought shed do it. But when I arrived home from my Saturday job the next day, the house was empty she had taken her precious face creams, china and pictures with her. In her wardrobe, the hangers lay bare and motionless. Her shoes no longer lined the bottom shelves. My body went into shock. I felt extinguished, as if my own life had evaporated into thin air. She hadnt disappeared completely, however. I knew exactly where she was. She had simply followed through on her threat and abandoned us for a life with three young male lodgers, living in the house shed secretly bought next door. Diane Danvers Simmons had celebrated her 16th birthday just a week before her 60-year-old mother walked away. Pictured: Diane with her mother, Mary That afternoon, I plucked up the courage to walk from our home, No 49, with its white stucco walls and baby-blue door, to No 47, which was cream-coloured and had a green door. Her new home. I stood outside both houses for a moment, looking back and forth between them. Two houses, two doors, two parents . . . and one me. I felt scared and alone as I rang the bell. Mum opened her door formally, as if she were expecting the Queen over for tea no affection, no expression, and absolutely no guilt. When I asked her what was happening, she sighed and said: Diane, Ive given you and your father 16 years of my life and Im done. Youre big and ugly enough to take care of yourself. She added: Im not asking you to choose. Ive made the decision for you. Im not taking you. Im leaving you with your dad. This distressed me. Wasnt a mother supposed to take her child if she left? How did Dad take it? I asked, in misery and disbelief. Whos going to tell him? For a second, her swagger wavered. You are, she replied. She hadnt even bothered to tell him. This smart, self-centred, narcissistic coward expected me to break the news to my own father. Mum had planned her departure meticulously. A few years earlier she had sold the West London house she had been renting out and, without telling Dad, bought the house next door to us, ostensibly as an investment, negotiating a contract with a local college to rent out the rooms to students. Now, she had the independence and freedom shed been craving and none of the boring drudgery of marriage or motherhood. Diane (pictured) said her mother had been a fiercely independent woman who didn't want to be tied down by yet another child, when her parents hastily married and got on with bringing her up That day, I solemnly vowed never to do to my future children what my mother had done to me. But then, decades later, when my own daughter turned 16, I found myself standing in my mothers shoes and I realised there were worrying parallels. My parents marriage had been one of convenience or, rather, inconvenience, when I came along by accident. Mum, whose name was Mary, was 44 and dating my dad, Lou, who was then 60, when she became pregnant. When the doctor told her she was expecting, she assumed it was some mischievous prank cooked up by Lou and the GP, a pal of his. A recently divorced Catholic woman, she already had two children from her first marriage, then 18 and 14, while he was the widowed father of a 14-year-old. This fiercely independent woman didnt want to be tied down by yet another child, but it was 1959 and there was no other solution. They hastily married and got on with bringing me up. She left Dad and me to live in the house shed bought next door We were a comfortably-off, middle-class family, enjoying holidays on the Continent twice a year. Dad was a self-employed business owner who had at one time been in line to be the mayor of Ealing, in London. When I was five, we moved to the suburbs. Isleworth was idyllic to me, but Mum was miserable, having been plucked from her network of friends, family, and the world she knew. To make matters much worse, Dad, a traditionalist, had forbidden her to work. A working wife was a black mark against his name. But my mother had already raised two kids and had enjoyed a busy life of working in a members bar, managing a newsagent, and acting as landlord to her various properties. Now she felt her spirit was being crushed. Diane said because her mother left her own childhood home when she was 16, to her mind she was a grown woman at that age. Pictured: Diane with her mother, Mary Her courage had given her the strength to leave Ireland in the 1930s, when she was just 16, to start a new life in England alone. And she again found that same strength to unapologetically leave her first husband in the 1950s, against the beliefs of her Catholic Church. Railing against the constraints of her second marriage, she frequently lashed out. I remember a lot of God help me and Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The words depressed and menopause werent bandied about the way they are now, so no one understood her mood swings. She loved to work it gave her a sense of fulfilment and interaction with other people. And, worse, she felt Dad didnt appreciate her. So, when I was 16 and she was 60, her identity in a spiral and her situation not helped by a narcissistic personality, she did the only thing she felt she could: she walked away. This felt horribly familiar, but something inside me was missing Because shed left her own childhood home when she was 16, to her mind I was a grown woman at that age. She refused to see that I was an innocent child and totally unprepared for life without her. Divorce was comparatively rare in the UK, and there were no counsellors at school to help. I kept my abandonment a secret from even my closest friends, compartmentalising my life: school and school friends were my normal, and my best friends home was my refuge. Sport and dance were my salvation, enabling me to release the pain and stress. Thankfully, Dad, then 77, was loving and caring. For the next few years, we lived at No 49 with me running the home, sorting the laundry and cooking his meals. I dutifully dropped in on Mum most days after school. Mum presented the arrangement which suited her, and only her as a perfectly natural way to live. Diane (pictured, age 17) said her mother loved to be the centre of attention and never acknowledged or accepted her wrongdoing Id often find her in her new kitchen preparing food, wearing her favourite pinny, vegetables ready to boil for the lodgers, and a cake tin on the counter. I would be served a cocktail of humiliation and hurt as my mother jested and jousted with the lads. She was a 4 ft 11 in Irish pistol, who could cut you in two with a lash of her tongue and then in the next breath, charm you with her hospitality. Mum loved to be the centre of attention and she was getting far more attention at No 47 than she ever had at home. She treated those boys like nephews or young sons, taking care of them without a shred of remorse. At least having the boys around added levity to my visits. Mum never got into a foul mood if there was company. But her ambivalence towards the situation shed put me in made me feel neglected, inconsequential. My occasional outbursts (I dont know how to run a house! How am I ever going to have time to do my homework, or see my friends?) were ignored. Mum let me flounder. There was never any acknowledgment or acceptance of her wrongdoing. On one visit, she laid into me: Ive wasted 16 years raising you, doing everything for you, and being married to that ungrateful b******. With every ounce of energy I could rally, I challenged her: In other words, what youre really trying to say, Mother, is that I ruined your life, and you wish I was never born? Yes, it would have been better if you werent, she countered. Diane (pictured) said she became seduced by the idea of 'having it all' in her late 20s, but quit her job when daughter Natalie was just three months old At that sledgehammer blow, the emotions Id worked so hard to control since her departure flooded out. I felt valueless to her. Looking at photos of me from that time, there is an unbearable sadness in my eyes. Over the years, my mothers behaviour became increasingly erratic: one moment a love bomb, saving me when I was in debt, the next making grand promises shed retract without explanation. I was 23 when my father died, and Mum encouraged me to stay living next door, although overpowering memories of him (I even thought I saw his ghost) forced me to leave. Finally, at the age of 27, I moved to America to take up a role with an advertising agency in the Saatchi & Saatchi group. It was my fresh start far from the past and Mums shenanigans. She was thrilled. It was all she had wanted I was having the career shed wanted for herself. Perhaps not surprisingly, I had no intentions of becoming a mother myself. I was delighted to be running free from all the family responsibility Id felt so burdened by during my teens. My mother had left because she felt constrained by motherhood and I never wanted to feel that way. Then, in my late 20s, I became seduced by the idea of having it all. Surely I could continue my career as senior vice president of an advertising agency and employ nannies to help with my children? I married Bill at 32 and our daughter, Natalie, was born a year later. But I returned to work when she was just three months old and realised with shock and clarity that I didnt want to be that kind of mother. So I quit. However, being a full-time mum was hard. When Natalie was a year old, I was approached to go back to work and I agreed to return as a consultant, provided I could be home to enjoy dinner with my children and put them to bed (Natalies brother, Nick, came along three-and-a-half years later). Diane said she was in her late-40s and Natalie (pictured) was close to the age she was when her mother left, as she found herself wondering where that fearless career woman had gone Id been living in America for more than 15 years when I flew back with my children to see Mum. On that visit, however, I managed to anger her by staying with my half-sister from her first marriage, from whom she was bitterly estranged, so she retaliated by telling me that Lou, the man I had always known and loved as Dad, might not be my father after all. It was the last straw and it spurred me to see a therapist. That was the first time I heard the words: What your mother did was wrong. You dont need to make excuses for her any more. When Natalie was close to the age I was when Mum left, and I was in my late-40s, I went through a crisis myself. I started asking: Who am I? Id built my life around my family and now I found myself wondering where that fearless career woman had gone. It all seemed so horribly familiar. Now, I too felt as if something inside me was missing, and I had to find a way to spread my wings again without throwing my children out in the process. Bill and I seemed to be going in different directions. We tried living separately, with Bill in a house around the corner but working as a family and getting together for holidays and family events. The irony of this unconventional living arrangement is not lost on me. I was very much in danger of repeating my mothers pattern, and that worried me deeply. The only way to move forwards was to try to forgive my mother for what shed done. So, I went back to the UK and talked to my sister and friends about what had really happened when I was 16. I decided I would share my story the heartbreak, madness, love and hate in a book. Plumbing the depths of my trauma and writing this story has enabled me to feel new-found gratitude, understanding and even, though this may be surprising, admiration for my mother. Shed had a tough life, and, ultimately, her behaviour toughened me up for the world, instilling in me the courage and ambition that set me on the path to a successful career. I cant change what she did, but I can take the good from it and live my life as best I can. The truth is, love is messy, but it is all that matters: the last words my mother said to me before she died were the ones Id always needed to hear: I love you Diane, I always have. Bill and I are happily back under the same roof and I am extremely close with my children. Natalie, now 28, and I have huge fun recording a podcast together, called Mothers & Daughters Unfiltered. Writing about my experiences as a teenager and trying to understand how my mother became the woman next door has given me a greater capacity for empathy, love and, yes, even forgiveness. Adapted by LOUISE ATKINSON from My Mother Next Door by Diane Danvers Simmons, published by Koehler Books at 12.99. Diane Danvers Simmons 2021. Island province expands coconut business By MA ZHIPING in Wenchang, Hainan (China Daily) 10:18, January 05, 2022 An aerial view of a coconut grove in Wenchang, Hainan province. [Photo provided to China Daily] Hainan province plans to build a high-quality and competitive industrial chain for coconuts in the next five years to satisfy the rapidly expanding domestic market, according to a local government report. The tropical island province, being the country's main producer, grows 232 million coconuts a year, 99 percent of China's total output yet only 0.42 percent of the world's production, which is far from meeting the country's needs. Development of Hainan as an international tourism consumption destination, initiated by the central authorities in 2018, is expected to lead to a further uptick in demand. Trips by visitors are projected to reach 100 million annually by 2025, according to experts from Hainan's tourism departments. They said that if a visitor consumes five fresh coconuts during each stay in Hainan, market demand would be about 500 million coconuts a year, while the annual demand in the Chinese mainland market is about 1 billion coconuts. The total demand would be 1.5 billion, or some 6.47 times China's existing production of coconuts. The gap becomes much greater if national processing needs are considered. China's coconut imports make it the leader among 80 coconut importing countries. The nation accounts for about 16.3 percent of the global total, while the United States follows with 12.7 percent, according to the provincial government. In its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for the High-Quality Development of the Coconut Industry, the province plans to expand the area planted with coconuts by 16,670 hectares through promoting new coconut tree varieties developed by Chinese scientists. The current area is about 34,526.7 hectares. Wenye coconut tree, a new dwarf variety developed by experts in Wenchang in northeastern Hainan, produces about 43.35 percent of Hainan's coconuts, and plans call for it to be promoted as a high priority, the plan said. The trees, developed over two generations of scientists, make it much easier for farmers to pick the fruit, which are within reach, while the coconuts on other trees may be more than 10 meters above the ground, said Zhang Yufeng, an official at the Coconut Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. "What is important and remarkable is that the dwarf coconut trees will help increase output. They bear fruit in three and a half years, four years earlier than the traditional tall varieties, and they are more productive, yielding 120 to 140 coconuts in their peak years under standard management, while a tall coconut tree bears only 60 to 80 on average," Zhang said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu) 38F 38F Oneill (68763) Today Light rain. High 38F. Wind NE at 10 to 17 mph. Tonight Snow, light rain, overcast clouds. Low 34F. Wind NNE at 10 to 23 mph. Updated May 02, 2022 8:27 am Full Forecast New York state reported 53,276 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the state continues to see high case numbers driven by the Omicron variant. The new report is a significant drop from case reports last week. The state reported close to 90,000 cases in a day on December 31. However, Governor Kathy Hochul warned at a recent press release that cases could increase later this week, as testing sites were closed over the holiday weekend, causing delays in case reports. Hospitalizations in New York have increased past 10,000 Covid patients, the highest level since the spring 2020 surge NYC hospitals are rescheduling elective surgeries as patients fill beds and large numbers of staff go out sick. New York state reported 53,276 new Covid cases on Tuesday - a decrease from last week, but Governor Hochul warned that case reports in the coming days may be higher During the spring 2020 surge, New York peaked at about 10,000 new cases a day. This was prior to widespread testing availability, however, so true numbers were likely higher In December, New York became a hotspot for the Omicron variant. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Omicron was spreading rapidly in New York and New Jersey before it arrived in other regions of the country. An anime convention held in New York City in late November may have been a superspreading event for the variant, as a number of Omicron cases were tied to the event. As of January 1, Omicron was causing an estimated 98 percent of new Covid cases in the New York and New Jersey region, per the CDC. The state of New York has reported record Covid cases in recent weeks - higher than at any other time during the pandemic. Cases quadrupled in the last two weeks of December, from a daily average of 75 new cases for every 100,000 state residents on December 17 to almost 300 new cases per 100,000 on December 31. On December 31, New York state reported a record 85,000 Covid cases in a single day. During the spring 2020 surge, the state's peak record was closer to 10,000 cases a day - though many cases were going unreported at that time due to limited testing. So far, case reports for New York in the new year have been lower than late December records. On Tuesday, the state reported 53,276 new cases - following reports of 51,698 new cases on Monday and 62,526 new cases on Sunday. However, Governor Kathy Hochul warned in a Monday press conference that the 'numbers are misleading' and 'a result of the holiday weekend.' Covid case numbers typically drop during and after holidays, as testing sites are closed and the public health workers who compile case reports take days off. Many New Yorkers with mild Covid symptoms may also be deterred from testing by the huge lines that have formed outside clinics in recent weeks, as temperatures plunge. Interpreting Covid case data in late December and early January can be particularly tricky, as Christmas and New Years both cause reporting delays. 'Those numbers are probably going to be much higher tomorrow. They didn't go from nearly 90,000 to 51,000,' Governor Hochul said on Monday. 'That is simply a function of people not getting tested over the weekend. So, my concern is that trend that you see there is going to continue going up.' Case numbers may increase in the coming days, as more people are able to get tested at sites that closed over New Years, Governor Hochul said. Pictured: People line up for testing in the Financial District, Manhattan, December 2021 In New York City, case rates have remained high in recent days, with almost 30,000 new cases reported on January 4. According to city data, NYC has reported 2,879 new cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending January 1. In other words, roughly one in every 35 NYC residents tested positive for Covid in the space of a week. These high numbers are still likely significant undercounts, as NYC's data don't include residents who tested positive on at-home rapid tests. The city's test positivity rate is about 35 percent as of January 4, indicating that a number of positive cases are not counted in the official data. Statewide, the test positivity rate is about 22 percent - still much higher than the five percent threshold considered concerning by the CDC. In NYC, roughly one in every 35 residents has tested positive for Covid in the week ending January 1, according to city data The case numbers in NYC are likely significant undercounts as they don't include rapid at-home tests. The city's test positivity rate is over 30% Meanwhile, New York is facing rapidly increasing hospitalization numbers. The state reported 10,411 current Covid patients on Tuesday - the highest number since the spring 2020 surge. During that surge, statewide hospitalizations peaked at 10,993 patients on April 30, 2020, according to NBC New York. Some major hospitals in NYC are rescheduling elective surgeries and taking other measures to address their high capacities. Mount Sinai in South Nassau, one such hospital, told NBC New York that its number of Covid-positive patients reached 100 on Tuesday - filling about one-third of all available beds. At the same time, almost 200 of the hospital's employees were out sick due to Covid cases or exposures. 'The best way to protect ourselves and our children from getting hospitalized with COVID is with the vaccine and booster,' Governor Hochul said in a statement on Tuesday. 'As we continue to fight the winter surge, let's continue to use these tools: Get your second dose and booster when eligible, get your children vaccinated, remember to wear a mask and stay home if you're not feeling well.' 'If we don't, many more New Yorkers will continue to get sick.' A life-extending prostate cancer drug has been rejected for use on the NHS after officials ruled it is not worth the money. The innovative drug is the first precision treatment for the disease, which treats men based on the genetic make-up of their cancer. It has already been approved for use in Scotland but will not be available to men in England and Wales. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said evidence on the benefits of olaparib is uncertain and approving it would not be a good use of NHS funds. The drug has a list price of 2,317.50 per pack of 56 tablets - enough for 14 days use - and an average course of treatment costs 37,491. Roughly 50,000 men in the UK each year are diagnosed with cancer of the prostate a gland found just below the bladder. Eight in ten survive a decade or more. Pictured: Stock image The 2019 PROfound trial found that men treated with olaparib lived 7.4 months before their cancer progressed, compared with 3.6 months when they received one size fits all hormonal treatments. Dr Matthew Hobbs, of Prostate Cancer UK, said the charity was extremely disappointed but was working with Nice on the issues raised. Johann De Bono, professor of experimental cancer medicine at the ICR and leader of the PROfound trial, said: Olaparib is a precision drug that can extend life for men with some mutations in their tumours while sparing them the side-effects of chemotherapy. I was delighted when olaparib was approved for NHS patients in Scotland earlier this year - and its disappointing that this decision means their counterparts in England and Wales will miss out on such a valuable new treatment option. Its an example of the barriers that exist to making innovative drugs available at prices that the NHS can afford and is going to result in postcode prescribing across the UK. Nice looked at people who had already had treatment with the hormone therapies abiraterone or enzalutamide. The current treatment for prostate cancer that has spread and no longer responds to hormone therapy is chemotherapy with docetaxel, cabazitaxel or radium-223 dichloride. Nice said that clinical trial evidence shows that people taking olaparib have more time before their disease gets worse and live longer overall than people having retreatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide. However, it said retreatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide is not considered effective and is not standard care in the NHS. Nice also said it is uncertain how effective olaparib is compared with docetaxel, cabazitaxel, or radium-223 dichloride because there is no evidence directly comparing the medicines. An indirect comparison suggests that olaparib increases how long people who have had docetaxel live compared with cabazitaxel, but this is also uncertain, the watchdog said. Prostate Cancer UK is concerned that Nice has reviewed the same evidence as the Scottish Medicine Consortium, which approved the drug last year, and come to a different decision. By not taking into account the unavoidable uncertainty involved in developing new treatments like this, there is a risk that other new treatments will also be held back in future, the charity added. With the cost of living in Britain soaring, getting a pay rise at work will be at the top of many employees' to-do lists this year. The pandemic has prompted millions of people up and down the country to revaluate their lives, with swathes switching jobs or quitting work for good. Job-to-job moves totalled 979,000 between July and September, figures from the Office for National Statistics in November revealed. In November last year, a survey of 6,000 workers by recruitment group Randstad UK found that 69 per cent were feeling confident about moving to a new role in the next few months, with 24 per cent planning a change within three to six months. Get it done: With the cost of living in Britain soaring, getting a pay rise at work will be at the top of many employees' to-do lists this year Workers who change employer typically add 7.3 per cent to their earnings, which is more than double the 3 per cent pay growth seen by the average employee who stays put, according to jobs website Indeed. But, before deciding to quit a job and move to a new company, if you are happy in your current role, it is worth trying to negotiate a pay rise with your existing employer. There's no magic wand that can be waved to get a pay rise, but Indeed and This is Money have five key tips to securing a pay boost in 2022. 1. Know when to ask for a rise Deciding when to negotiate your salary can be just as important as the conversation itself, according to Indeed. Good times to ask include after you have gained a promotion or further qualifications, when you are taking on a fresh leadership role or when your experience level no longer matches your salary. You could also use online tools, like Indeed's salary checker, to find out if average salaries in your sector have increased. If your current pay packet is out of kilter with industry norms or your experience levels, then you should explain this to your boss during your discussion about a pay rise. It is probably not a good idea to ask for a pay rise after swathing job losses or cuts have been announced at your company. But, if it has just announced a decent profit, you stand in good stead for asking for an increase to your pay packet. 2. Do your research beforehand Research the market you are working in carefully and calculate your individual value to the company you work at before going into any salary negotiation. If you have been with a company for a number of years, your experience will be valuable and your employer may be willing to compensate you for it, Indeed suggests. Plus, when researching job vacancies similar to yours, check the required qualifications and experience are genuinely comparable to your own. 3. Have reasons to hand Identify clear reasons why you deserve a pay rise, and rehearse your negotiation pitch beforehand so you feel as comfortable as possible going into the conversation. Be ready to justify your case for meriting a better salary and consider rehearsing different scenarios and outcomes, such as rebuttals, questions or negotiation offers from your employer. While you cannot be prepared for every scenario, having a written note detailing all the points you want to raise during the meeting will prove invaluable. 4. Be prepared to compromise Be flexible and willing to collaborate with your employer on a solution or compromise when it comes to your salary. Be prepared: Identify clear reasons why you deserve a pay rise, and rehearse your negotiation pitch beforehand According to Indeed, an employer might offer you a different salary package, with more holiday pay or more convenient working hours, if they cannot directly raise the amount of money you are paid. Evaluate carefully whether such incentives might in fact be more beneficial to you than a higher basic salary. 5. Ditch and switch if necessary Do not be afraid to walk away from the negotiations, particularly if you have already been able to secure a new higher paying job elsewhere. But, first ensure that you have tried all different avenues, such as asking for more holiday time or more flexible working hours if that is what is important to you. You may also be able to pause the negotiations and come back to the conversation at a later date, after each party has had a chance to consider everything fully. Mikaela Elliott, senior manager of employer insights at Indeed, said: 'Salary remains the single most important consideration when it comes to a job - be that with their current employer or when they are searching for a new role. 'When it comes to negotiating, either with your current employer or with a would-be boss, doing your research beforehand will set you up for a productive conversation.' She added: 'Not all employers will be able to match your salary expectations, but they may be able to offer other forms of compensation, such as additional holiday days or more flexible working. 'It is a good idea to weigh up the total package before making a final decision, as those extra days off may end up being more valuable to you than a little bit more money. 'Often the best way of securing a raise is to switch jobs. In fact, research suggests workers can double their earnings growth by heading to pastures new. So do not be afraid to walk away from pay negotiations if your employers offer does not fairly meet your expectations.' A British mother took a 13-hour road trip to Italy with her nine-year-old daughter so she could get the Covid vaccine, saying she was 'much happier to gamble on that' than with the virus. Alice Colombo made the 800-mile journey to Milan with her child, who has dual Italian citizenship, in the car to avoid mixing on planes and public transport. Her daughter is currently ineligible for a jab in England as it is currently only available for vulnerable children under the age of 12. So Ms Colombo, from Maidstone in Kent, made the lengthy road trip to protect 'the most precious thing in the world to me'. Alice Colombo took a 13-hour road trip to Italy with her nine-year-old daughter so she could get the Covid vaccine. Pictured: A child receives Covid-19 vaccine in Italy (file pictured) What are the risks of Covid and vaccines to children? Covid Most children only experience mild symptoms after being infected with Covid. Just one in 300,000 children who test positive for Covid die, according to UK Government data. And the risk of being hospitalised and getting admitted to ICU is similarly low. But the risk is higher to children with serious underlying conditions. The JCVI has yet to release its updated guidance on vaccinating children aged 11 and under, but is understood to be 'urgently' reviewing data, with a decision expected before Christmas. But its latest advice on recommending first jabs to over-12s suggested one Pfizer dose only prevents 131 hospital admissions per million 12-15-year-olds. And second doses only prevent nine hospital admissions for every million dished out to the age group. The figures are likely to be less for five- to eleven-year-old, who are less vulnerable to the virus. Previously, the JCVI said the use of vaccines for healthy children could not be recommended on the bases of health alone. However, as more data has become available on the use of vaccines on the age group in the US, and the emergency of the Omicron variant, the benefits have become more compelling. Vaccines Myocarditis an ultrarare form of heart inflammation is the main side effect of the Pfizer vaccine that concerns experts. Data shows the risk is slightly higher in adolescents than adults, particularly in boys. The JCVI has not released data on how many cases are expected in children aged five to 11 but studies show children in younger age groups are less at risk than teenagers. It found myocarditis cases in between 2.6 to 17.7 million first vaccine doses in children aged 12 to 15. And the condition was found in between 20.9 to 42.2 children in the age group per million second doses dished out. Advertisement She told BBC South East: 'I'd much rather as a parent run the risk of getting my daughter a vaccine that we know a fair amount about and that has been very safely rolled out in a number of different countries. 'Over eight million children in her age group have now received at least a first jab and the reported side effects have actually been far lower than in the adult population. 'I was much happier to gamble on that than to take pot luck with a virus about which we know very little - particularly about its long term effects. 'We know far more about the vaccine and its safety than we do about the virus itself. 'This is something that is continually mutating and each mutation brings slightly different symptoms. We have very, very little data on the long term effects of this. 'Why would I not give protection to the most precious thing in the world to me, my daughter, rather than run the risk of her turning round to me in five, 10, 15 years' time, saying 'Mum, I've got heart problems, I've got brain problems, I've got lung problems, why didn't you do all you could at the time to protect me'?' The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged five to 11 in November. The majority of children in that age group are deemed to be at very low risk of becoming seriously ill with coronavirus. But that didn't stop the United States, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Spain, Greece and Hungary rolling out jabs for the youngsters. Ms Colombo, who works in public health herself, criticised the UK Government for not following suit and vaccinating children to help stop Covid spreading through schools. She added: 'I think we're not doing enough to mitigate the spread, per say, particularly in schools and in primary schools, we can do significantly more in terms of prevention. 'Sometimes this debate gets presented in a very binary fashion. People who are in favour of increased measures, like me, would favour a lockdown. Absolutely not. 'I want my daughter in school but I want her in school safely. I feel incredibly, incredibly sorry for all those other parents who share my opinion and would like to get their children vaccinated.' In Italy, acrobats dressed as superheroes rappelled down the walls of a hospital in Milan as the city prepared to join the new vaccine rollout. Wearing capes and bodysuits, they stopped to greet patients through the windows at a pandemic ward and other children at a pediatric wing. Meanwhile, doctors at the San Gerardo Hospital in the city of Monza donned hats and colourful fancy dress as they began their vaccine drive. In Italy, acrobats dressed as superheroes rappelled down the walls of a hospital in Milan as the city prepared to join the new vaccine rollout last month. Wearing capes, they stopped to greet patients through the windows at a pandemic ward and other children at a pediatric wing Ministers say further advice regarding vaccination for five to 11-year-olds will be issued in due course after considering scientific data. Two doses are currently being offered to 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK 'to give them the best protection against COVID-19'. Billionaire Dole Food heir Justin Murdock was arrested for allegedly slugging his model girlfriend in the face, leaving her with a nasty black eye at his mansion following a Halloween party they attended at the Scarface mansion in Beverly Hills, DailyMail.com has learned. The 49-year-old's argument with 24-year-old Talia Skye began when she demanded to leave the party early, it was alleged. On her way back to his home in the ritzy Bel-Air enclave of Los Angeles, she texted a girlfriend to come pick her up, expressing concern that he might hurt her. Murdock is the sole surviving heir of David Murdock, his 98-year-old father who is former chairman of Dole Food Products. He allegedly punched Skye before her friend arrived. 'When I got there, she was laying on the driveway crying,' her friend, DailyMail.com will identify as Juliana, told DailyMail.com. 'I picked her off the ground and I saw her face. It was completely swollen, with a green-blue color.' Justin Murdock began dating Talia Skye in August. For their first date, he invited her to his father's sprawling ranch, a source told DailyMail.com. DailyMail.com obtained a horrific photo of Skye's battered and bruised face Billionaire Dole Food heir Justin Murdock, 49, was arrested for allegedly punching his model girlfriend Talia Skye, 24, in the face. They're pictured seated at a table together The incident took place October 29, 2021, at his LA mansion after they left a Halloween party Murdock began dating Skye in August. For their first date, he invited her to his father's sprawling ranch, a source told DailyMail.com. DailyMail.com obtained a horrific photo of Skye's battered and bruised face 'She was crying really hard, not saying anything,' Juliana recalled. She said she saw Murdock standing nearby, shirtless and flailing his arms. The incident took place October 29, 2021, at his LA mansion after they left a Halloween party 'I asked him what happened, and he told me she's crazy and drunk and that she must have done that to herself,' Juliana said. 'He was hysterical. He was screaming at me, saying 'I don't hit women.' After they drove off, Skye reported the alleged assault to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who arrested him later that morning. He posted $50,000 bail and is due back in court March 2. The district attorney's office has yet to charge him, as the police investigation continues. Murdock's lawyer, James E. Silverstein, told DailyMail.com that his client believes this was all a setup, that her wound was 'self-inflicted' and that this was nothing more than a ploy to extort him. Silverstein said that shortly after the arrest, Skye's lawyer Duncan Levin called him and 'carefully suggested that this could all go away in exchange for a large sum of money and that his client would not leak this story to the media if the sum was paid. 'Murdock refused to pay any such sums because he is innocent and will not be blackmailed, even though he realized that this horrendous and damaging claim would then be made public,' Silverstein said. He also said that his side has shared video, audio and photo evidence and presented 'independent third-party witnesses' who will 'prove that this woman's facial injury was self-inflicted.' The lawyer put DailyMail.com in touch with two witnesses, both friends of Murdock. Neither was present when the alleged assault took place, but both said they saw them at the party and that she appeared intoxicated, bumping into people on the dance floor. The defense witnesses said that after the couple left, Murdock called, asking them to come over to his mansion because Skye was acting up and that he feared he was being set up. One of his friends, a female, said that when she arrived, Skye was leaving with her friend. 'I asked her what happened,' the woman told DailyMail.com. 'She said she'd hurt her head, but I didn't see any marks on her.' Skye reported the alleged assault to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who arrested him later that morning. He posted $50,000 bail and is due back in court March 2 Murdock is the sole surviving heir of David Murdock, his 98-year-old father who is former chairman of Dole Food Products. Father and son are pictured together in 2002 Skye, a model and artist, has 138,000 followers on Instagram where she regularly posts racy photos of herself The Murdock family fortune and misfortunes Justin Murdock, 49, is the son of David Murdock, 98. David made his $2.4 billion fortune at the helm of the Dole Food Company, a fresh fruit producer and marketer. He came from humble beginnings, moving to Los Angeles in the 80s and working as a real estate developer. In 1985 Murdock took over the nearly bankrupt Hawaiian firm Castle & Cooke, which owned Dole Food Company - turning Dole into the world's largest producer of fruits and vegetables. He has been married six times, has three children and has had a life marred with tragedy. His wife Gabriele was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1983 and died in 1985. A year later, his son Eugene died after hitting his head while swimming in the family estate's swimming pool. In 2004 his son David Jr. died in an auto accident on the Santa Monica Freeway. His remaining son Justin is the CEO of Activate Immunotherapy, formerly NovaRx, and previously served as vice president of investments at Castle & Cooke Inc. and on the board of directors at Dole Food Company. In 2011, Forbes ranked David Sr. as the 190th-richest person in the 'Forbes 400' list and 613th in the 'World's Billionaires' list, with a net worth of 2.4 billion as of March 2013. Advertisement Murdock is the CEO of Activate Immunotherapy, formerly NovaRx, and previously served as vice president of investments at Castle & Cooke Inc. and on the board of directors at Dole Food Company. He's also an uber-wealthy playboy, who's reportedly dated Avril Lavigne and Lana Del Ray, and a reputed bad boy. He once got into a bar brawl with oil heir Brandon Davis in Hollywood. In 2010, a former employee at Castle & Cooke filed a sexual harassment suit against Murdock, accusing him of regularly debasing her and other women, including ordering her to book sex dates for him on her credit cards and threatening to fire or kill her if she objected, according to a report at the time in the New York Post. He also allegedly forced her to create a Facebook account for him under the name 'Cobra McJingleballs,' and filled it with raunchy and occasionally racist images, the Post reported. Murdock's lawyer, however, told DailyMail.com that the suit was dismissed. Murdock and Skye met through a mutual friend in July. Skye, a model and artist, has 138,000 followers on Instagram where she regularly posts racy photos of herself. She was previously rumored to be dating Justin Bieber, who posted a photo of himself in 2015 cozying up to the then-teenager, his hand holding her waist, according to Hollywood Life, a gossip site that reposted the picture. Bieber was also rumored to have dated Skye's cousin Chantel Jeffries, who was reportedly with him when he got arrested for drag racing in Miami in 2014. Murdock began dating Skye in August. For their first date, he invited her to his father's sprawling ranch in Thousand Oaks, California, a source told DailyMail.com. Skye's close friend Juliana said Murdock was anything but a gentleman when she'd see them together. She described him as 'extremely aggressive and nasty' toward Skye and also her. 'He would make gross sexual comments toward me which I didn't appreciate,' Juliana told DailyMail.com. 'He'd ask me how many men I'd had sex with and what I like in bed, things of that nature.' Murdock is an uber-wealthy playboy, who's reportedly dated Avril Lavigne and Lana Del Ray. He's pictured in Lana Del Rey in 2012 Skye was previously rumored to be dating Justin Bieber, according posted a photo of himself in 2015 cozying up to the then-teenager, his hand holding her waist Justin Murdock is a notorious playboy and has been seen getting cozy with Ashley Shelton (left) and Jamie Lynn Sigler (right) The Halloween party was held the night of October 29 at the mansion featured in the movie Scarface. A source close to Skye told DailyMail.com that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to leave while the party was still raging. They started arguing as soon as they got into the car, the source said. Juliana said Skye texted her to pick her up at his house, where she'd left her car. Upon returning to his mansion, Murdock grew angrier when he saw Skye texting her friend, yelling and shoving her toward the door, a source said. Skye got into her car to wait for her friend. Murdock then stormed over to her and grabbed her keys and phone, the source alleged. A short time later, Juliana arrived with another friend and drove her home. Skye reported the incident to police later that morning and went to the hospital the next day. Reached by DailyMail.com, Skye declined to comment, fearing Murdock might follow through on a threat to sue her for defamation if she spoke out. Her lawyer, Duncan Levin, also wouldn't comment, other than to say, 'My client is grateful to law enforcement authorities who are actively investigating this serious matter.' A rural Alaska man who threatened to kill the state's two US senators in a series of violent, profanity-laced voicemail messages has pleaded guilty. Jay Allen Johnson, 65, of Delta Junction, entered guilty pleas Monday in federal court in Fairbanks to two counts of threatening to kill a US official after leaving messages at their offices in Washington, DC. '(I'll take my) .50 caliber out. I will be having a GoFundMe page for f****** shells. And I'm coming with a vengeance,' one terrifying message said. 'You ever seen what that does to a human head?' 'I will find out all your properties, and I will burn everything you hope to have, and I will burn everything you hope to own,' he said in another message. 'Just like ... Antifa.' He faces up 10 years in jail on each charge and will be under a protective order for three years not to contact either US Senators Lisa Murkowski or Dan Sullivan, any of their family members or staff. Johnson's wife, Catherine Pousson-Johnson, testified during her husband's detention hearing in October that he was recovering from recent surgeries. 'He's in pain right now. My husband is an old man, and he gets very angry listening to politics on the news,' she said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, leave the chamber after a vote. Jay Allen Johnson, 65, pleaded guilty to sending a series of threats to the two senators US Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, is one of two US officials that received violent threats from Jay Allen Johnson between April and September Johnson was charged after leaving 17 threatening voicemail messages between April and September, as outlined in both Johnson's indictment and in the plea agreement. In one message left September 2 for Murkowski, he said, 'You, my dear, are not welcomed in the state of Alaska,' and vowed to shut her down. He then claimed he could tap his skills as a 'veteran,' using a .50 caliber shell. However, prosecutors said they found no evidence that Johnson served in the US military, confirming what the services earlier told The Associated Press, that they could find no record for him. Later that month, he left another voicemail for Murkowski, claiming he would hire an assassin for $5,000 to kill her. 'Just resign or get the f*** gone,' he said. In another September call, this time to Sullivan's office, Johnson said he was tired of politicians continuing to destroy the country, before again threatening to use a .50 caliber firearm against him. Pictured: a Barrett .50-caliber firearm, which Johnson specifically mentioned in his threats to two US Senators from his state of Alaska. 'You ever seen what that does to a human head?' Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, speaks at a hearing on the federal coronavirus response. Sen. Dan Sullivan, right, speaks during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Johnson must forfeit two pistols, three revolvers, a shotgun and a rifle found at his home in the small community of Delta Junction. He's not legally able to own handguns because he's a felon for repeated drunken driving convictions. In exchange for his guilty plea to the two counts, the government agreed to drop four other charges against Johnson, including making interstate threats and threatening to damage property by fire or explosives. 'Threatening public officials in an attempt to interfere with the performance of their duties is antithetical to our democratic system of governance,' John E. Kuhn Jr., the US attorney for the District of Alaska, said in a statement. 'To protect the functions of our government institutions and our public officials themselves, the Department of Justice will work to ensure our elected officials can serve without fear of harm.' Murkowski did not have an immediate comment, her spokesperson said in an email to the AP. Messages seeking comment left Tuesday for Sullivan and Johnson's attorney were not immediately returned. During several court appearances, and often against the advice of his attorney, Johnson spoke in open court. At one hearing, Johnson said he is 'a senior citizen and I am highly disabled and I will not be carrying out any of these threats.' 'I just apologize to everybody,' he said later at the same hearing. Federal prosecutor Ryan Tansey later asked Pousson-Johnson if she was aware her husband was making threats against two US senators. 'Who hasn't?' she replied. US District Judge Ralph Beistline accepted Johnson's pleas and set sentencing for April 8. Johnson, who has been in custody since his arrest October 4, has since asked for an earlier sentencing. Three people are in police custody after a shooting outside an Illinois high school left two teenagers injured. Police said three people were arrested after a boy and girl, both 17, were shot Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot at Auburn High School in Rockford, located about 90 miles from Chicago. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd told reporters the teenage boy suffered 'serious' injuries while the teenage girl suffered 'non-life threatening injuries' in the shooting. Three people were arrested after a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were shot Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot at Auburn High School in Rockford Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd said the teenage boy suffered 'serious' injuries while the teenage girl suffered 'non-life threatening injuries' in the shooting Chief Redd said that following the shooting a car fled the scene but was located by police a half an hour later. When officers tracked the vehicle three people ran away from the car but were soon captured and taken into custody as 'persons of interest' in the shooting. Two guns were recovered from the incident, police said. 'The gun violence has to stop, it's ridiculous,' Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd (pictured) said on Tuesday The shooting took place in the parking lot at Auburn High School in Rockford, located about 90 miles from Chicago Chief Redd also added that the shooting was not random, saying the shooters 'knew who they were going after,' and that the injured teens were 'international targets' to the gunfire. 'The gun violence has to stop, it's ridiculous,' Chief Redd said. In the aftermath of the shooting Rockford Public Schools and surrounding schools were placed on lockdown for several hours as a precaution. Soaring demand for rapid antigen Covid tests is making them increasingly hard to find - and they're now popping up for sale in unusual places and at exorbitant prices. One Adelaide burger joint has been accused of cashing in by selling a two-pack of the tests for $50 on UberEats alongside their usual menu items. 'You should not be selling these tests full stop. No one should be capitalising on a pandemic,' one person wrote on the cafe's social media. The Big Grill issued an explanation on their Facebook page on Tuesday after a series of bad reviews and defended selling the item saying the cost was in line with 'current market prices'. The Big Grill in Adelaide's north was charging up to $50 for a two pack of rapid antigen tests on Uber Eats (pictured) but have removed the item amid backlash The at-home tests have been available in Australia since early November (file image) 'We sell a 2 pack of Rapid Antigen Tests for $40 in store and we sell a 2 Pack of Rapid Antigen Tests for $50 through our delivery partners,' the store said. 'The price increase is due to their exorbitant fees. 'We are aware of multiple posts being shared with misinformation and in regards to our pricing and requesting people leave poor reviews on our social media and Google. 'We would like to apologise for the confusion caused and hope this resolves any issues and concerns.' The Big Grill the only business selling the tests through UberEats with a number of others also listing the item. Crystal Mart Waterloo in NSW is selling a two-pack of tests for $60, while another convenience store Ready To Go in Hurlstone Park was listing them for $65. Electronics retailer Dick Smith is selling the a single rapid antigen test through its online store for $44 and a two pack for $84. Ready To Go Convenience in Hurlstone Park in Sydney's inner-west was charging $65 for a pack of two rapid antigen tests Health workers hand out rapid antigen tests at Firbank Grammar School in Brighton, Victoria (pictured) On Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would investigate claims of price gouging in regards to the tests after receiving more than 100 complaints. The consumer watchdog said they had establish a team to contact retailers and suppliers and warned they must be able to substantiate any statements about the reason for higher prices. 'We won't be shy to name and shame suppliers and retailers we consider to be doing the wrong thing,' ACCC chair Rod Sims said. 'The ACCC is monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action under its existing powers,' he added. There are calls for rapid antigen tests to be free as demand soars amid the Omicron outbreak (pictured, an out of stock sign at a Sydney pharmacy) The Big Grill was forced to defend selling the item on Tuesday before they eventually removed the tests from sale Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday his government would not provide free rapid antigen tests to the public. 'We're now in a stage of the pandemic where you can't just go around making everything free,' he told Sunrise on Monday. 'When someone tells you they want to make something free, someone's always going to pay for it, and it's going to be you,' he added. He also said his government didn't want to undercut private businesses selling the test such as supermarkets and chemists. PCR testing clinics have been inundated with demand through the holiday season (pictured: a Sydney testing facility on December 28) But peak body for chemists, Professional Pharmacists Australia on Tuesday said they wanted the government to provide free tests. 'We represent the vast majority of pharmacists in Australia, and we're calling on the Federal Government to act urgently and provide the tests free to all given the surge in cases and the change in testing regimes,' said PPA chief executive Jill McCabe. 'We should be protecting the health and safety of all workers and their families, not just those who can afford to buy the tests Most Australians find the cost of testing their family prohibitive if they're able to find testing kits at all.' 'They're paying up to $20 [for each test] that's $100 for a family of five.' The UK is providing the tests free to their citizens who are able to collect two packs of seven tests from community location such as libraries or have them delivered to their door. Capitol Police officers are said to be unhappy that a black colleague who became a figurehead in the wake of the January 6 riots talks too much about being racially-abused during the violence. The officers have grown uneasy with Sgt. Harry Dunn's self-appointed role as an advocate for the force. Those unnamed cops saying he is too focused on racial issues given two of the officers who died after the attack were white, the New York Times reported, and that Dunn is making the violence 'all about race.' Dunn testified to the January 6 House Select Committee that rioters had called him the n-word and made other racist remarks towards him. He has also made several media appearances where he addressed the alleged racism of January 6, 2020, but also applauded the bravery of the entire police force. However, numerous officers are not thrilled that he has become the voice speaking for the entire Capitol Police force. They allege he has grown 'increasingly despondent' since the attack and often eats his lunch alone in his car. Some Capitol Police officer have complained that Sgt. Harry Dunn (pictured testifying in July) has made the January 6 insurrection 'all about race' Dunn - someone was usually extroverted and spoke his mind - grew depressed after last year's riots at the US Capitol. He was reportedly bothered by accusations from critics who alleged the police were sympathizers to the riots and 'desperately wanted to offer the contrary facts'. The sergeant alleged officers were overwhelmed by the riot and, although there were a few instances of poor judgement, had 'generally acted heroically and were not complicit' in the attacks. Days after the attack, he conducted an anonymous interview with Buzzfeed, recounting the incidents on January 6 and crying out 'is this America?' in the Capitol rotunda. After receiving clearance from officials, Dunn began making more media appearances and even testified in front of the January 6 panel. Dunn alleged rioters yelled racial slurs at him during the Jan. 6 insurrection (Pictured: Police and Capitol rioters facing off on Jan. 6, 2020) The chaos on January 6 (pictured) erupted as the Senate and House of Representatives met to certify Joe Biden's victory in November's presidential election. Dunn said, during his testimony, he instructed a group of rioters to leave the Capitol and was told: 'This is our house. Trump invited us here. We're here to stop the steal.' The rioters allegedly told him 'nobody voted for Joe Biden' and that former President Donald Trump had actually won the 2020 presidential election. 'Well, I voted for Joe Biden. Does my vote not count? Am I nobody?' Dunn told the protestors. He claims a woman in a pink MAGA shirt responded: 'You hear that, guys, this n***** voted for Joe Biden!' The crowd alleged started chanting: 'Boo! F*****g n*****!' 'No one had ever called me a n***** while wearing the uniform of a Capitol Police officer,' Dunn said, adding that several other black officers had reported similar incidents. The sergeant has continued to share his story despite the alleged criticisms from his colleagues. He claims they are only focusing on the one portion of his on-air discussions and are ignoring how he commends the force for their bravery. The officers have grown uneasy with Sgt. Harry Dunn's (right) self-appointed role as an advocate for the force, saying he is too focused on racial issues given two of the officers who died after the attack were white (Pictured: Officers testifying in July to the Jan. 6 panel) The chaos on January 6 erupted as the Senate and House of Representatives met to certify Joe Biden's victory in November's presidential election. In what was said to be the most violent attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812, supporters of the defeated Republican president forced lawmakers and Trump's own vice president, Mike Pence, to scramble for safety. Five people died in connection to the riot, and at least 100 law enforcement agents were injured. More than 700 people have been arrested for their alleged roles in the riots. A commemoration will be held at the US Capitol on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of January 6th insurrection. There will be a series of events organized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in 'solemn observance' for the officers who died protecting the Capitol from the rioters. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks at the memorial. New New York City Mayor Eric Adams publicly demanded Wall Street banks and other big-time Big Apple employers bring their workers back to the office to save the city's small businesses. Adams, speaking with CNN's Brianna Keilar Tuesday, said he was unhappy with many places like Goldmann Sachs and JP Morgan beginning 2022 with remote work after return to office dates were pushed back by the COVID Omicron variant. 'We have to open up,' Adams said. 'I need my city to open. And we have to be safe, we have to double down on vaccinations and booster shots. We have to double down on testing. But we have to reshape our thinking of how do we live with Covid.' Recently, Goldmann, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Jefferies have all changed their return-to-office plans due to the spread of the Omicron variant. New New York City Mayor Eric Adams (pictured) publicly demanded Wall Street banks and other big-time Big Apple employers bring their workers back to the office on CNN Tuesday Recently, Goldmann, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Jefferies have all changed their return-to-office plans due to the spread of the Omicron variant Some of the banks have told their workers to remain remote, while JPMorgan and others made it optional Some of them have told their workers to remain remote while JPMorgan and others made it optional. Wall Street has been pushing for workers to return to their desks as soon as possible. Adams believes that these policies could hurt surrounding businesses, many of them independently owned and staffed by low wage workers, who rely on Wall Street customers and business travelers for their income. 'We have low-skilled employees who can't do remote employment from home, or telecommuting,' Adams said. 'It is time to open up, and feed our ecosystem, our financial ecosystem.' Adams - a former police officer, state senator and most recently, Brooklyn's Borough President - said that he understood the danger of Omicron despite this push. Adams - a former police officer, state senator and most recently, Brooklyn's Borough President - said that he understood the danger of Omicron despite this push 'We must get open. Let me tell you why,' Adams said. 'That accountant from a bank that sits in an office, it's not only him. It feeds our financial ecosystem. He goes to the cleaners to get his suits cleaned. He goes to the restaurant' 'I know how hard it is,' Adams noted. 'I was on the ground when Covid hit the city. I watched the morgues outside of hospitals. I watched family members dropping loved ones off to never see them again.' The new mayor, who was sworn in just after midnight on January 1, did an interview Monday where he further explained what's going on in talks with the big banks. 'We must get open. Let me tell you why,' he said. 'That accountant from a bank that sits in an office, it's not only him. It feeds our financial ecosystem. He goes to the cleaners to get his suits cleaned. He goes to the restaurant. He brings in a business traveler, which is 70 percent of our hotel occupancy. He buys a hot dog on our streets, I hope a vegan hot dog, but he participates in the economy.' The banks have all refrained from comment on Adams' remarks. JPMorgan has insisted that they still plan to return employees to the office 'no later' than February 1. 'You can't run New York City from home,' Adams said. 'We must have everyone participating in our financial system to allow the low-skilled and unskilled and ... hourly employees to actually be part of our ecosystem.' 'Covid is a moving target. It's a formidable opponent,' he added. 'But Covid doesn't realize New Yorkers are a formidable opponent. We're resilient.' Users should be careful when downloading Telegram for desktop. Researchers recently discovered a hacking scheme that pretends to be the legitimate Telegram installers but drops malicious files instead. Even worse, this Purple Fox malware threat is hard to detect once installed. Adding malicious files in counterfeit installers is a popular hacking strategy. However, researchers have raised the alert against the newly discovered threat. They explained that Purple Fox is a highly sophisticated malware that launches multiple attacks. Telegram Installers Infected by Purple Fox Malware Experts from Minerva explained the steps of the attack. They emphasized that the threat has a very low detection rate because it separates the attack into several small files. The final stage of the attack leads to rootkit infection. The malicious Telegram installer is a compiled AutoIt script called "Telegram Desktop.exe." Once installed, the AutoIt script creates a new folder called "TextInputh" on the file path "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\." The file drops a legitimate Telegram installer, which fools users with its authenticity. While users download their Telegram, the malware also starts downloading small but dangerous files. Two of these dangerous files will be hidden in a new folder named "1640618495" on file path "C:\Users\Public\Videos\ directory." These files will ensure that any other malicious payloads downloaded and executed will be undetected to 360 AV. After everything is discreetly executed, the hacker should have backend access to an infected device. Minerva researchers said they found a number of malicious installers using the same strategy. They said Purple Fox malware is also being delivered via emails and phishing websites. Although there are indicators for the attack, a lot of other users might be unaware that their device is already being infected. Read Also: NASA Hubble Names Spiral Galaxy Image as Best Photo of 2021; Celebrates Incredible 1 Billion Seconds Milestone How to Stay Safe Against Purple Fox Malware Scams and malware attacks are becoming more frequent in these last few months. This is because malicious attackers are taking advantage of the digital systems due to the digital lifestyle amid the pandemic. Users are recommended to be responsible for their own safety by watching out for indicators of malware. According to an earlier article, most scam strategies are delivered to end-users via mobile virus scams, SMS phishing and voice mail scams. Also, be warned that dangerous links from suspicious internet websites can be an inventory for malicious files. Users should watch out for three scam strategies that try to entice users to download a malicious file. These are: Urgency or threat: Scammers often take advantage of users' fears by using topics like "your account has been hacked" or "the offer will soon expire." Scammers often take advantage of users' fears by using topics like "your account has been hacked" or "the offer will soon expire." Empathy: Scammers use this strategy to make it hard for a user to reject the request. This strategy uses tactics like "one-click installation" or "easy access" to premium services. Scammers use this strategy to make it hard for a user to reject the request. This strategy uses tactics like "one-click installation" or "easy access" to premium services. Grand promises: On the flip side of the first strategy, scammers try to appease users with deals that are too good to be true. These are topics like "winning a new promo" or a "special discount." Whenever users face this kind of offers, they are recommended to ignore it. Instead, only download necessary files from the internet from secure and legitimate websites. Related Article: Ethereum Users Fall Victim to EtherWrapped Scam; Lose Over $200,000 After YEAR Token Airdrop Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tore into Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the New York Democrat's desire to get rid of the filibuster to pass voting rights bills. 'It appears as if the majority leader is hellbend to try to break the Senate,' McConnell said at a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday. 'His argument is that somehow state legislatures across the country are busily at work trying to make it more difficult for people to vote.' McConnell said that simply wasn't true. 'Of course that's not happening anywhere in America,' the Kentucky Republican said. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tore into Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the New York Democrat's desire to get rid of the filibuster to pass voting rights bills Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pitched changing the rules so there's a carve-out for the voting rights bills, though he's getting resistance from moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin On the Senate floor Tuesday McConnell also offered, 'Most Washington Democrats want to appoint themselves a nationwide Board of Elections on steroids.' He also said that the Democrats had their own 'big lie' - which was that 'democracy is dying because Democrats sometimes lose elections.' 'Our democracy is not in crisis. Repeating this rhetoric doesn't make it factual. The 2020 election saw the highest turnout in more than 100 years,' McConnell argued. After Democrats won back the White House in 2020 with the election of now President Joe Biden, Republican-run states like Georgia and Arizona have pushed back and made things like mail-in voting more difficult. Mail-in ballots were widely used in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats have also voiced concerns about Republicans pushing voter ID provisions - which often impact young people and voters of color who tilt more Democratic - and GOP legislatures politicizing state election boards. House Democrats have passed two voting bills, but they've been stuck in the Senate as 60 votes are needed to overrule a GOP-led filibuster. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris utilized as the tie-breaking vote. Schumer has pitched changing the rules so there's a carve-out for the voting rights bills, though he's getting resistance from moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. He needs every Democratic senator to support the move. Speaking from the Capitol Tuesday night, Manchin said the 'filibuster needs to stay in place any way, shape or form that we can do it,' according to Punchbowl News. Manchin was meeting with Schumer. Manchin, however, remained open to some rules changes and while he supported a bipartisan vote to change the rules, he didn't close the door on joining just Democrats in the maneuver. Champion Australian surfer Taj Burrow has blasted Covid vaccines and said he refuses to give his children the jab in a bizarre online rant. The ex-athlete, who shares two young daughters with his wife Rebecca, said he still has doubts about the vaccine in a 20-second Instagram video. 'When it comes to our children and this injection I have lots of questions,' he said while speaking to the camera in front of a plain white background. 'We do not want to get it wrong these are our children. Until my questions are answered, I say no.' Burrow, 43, did not say exactly what his questions are about the vaccine, which has been approved by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation for children between the ages of five and 11. His wife is a former Australia's Next Top Model contestant who has openly criticised coronavirus vaccines. Champion Australian surfer Taj Burrow pictured with his wife Rebecca and daughters Arabella Rose (centre) and Robbie Lou (right) The video was filmed in partnership with the organisation Parents With Questions. The advocacy group's website urges parents to do their own research about Covid vaccinations for children and 'say "no" until we are 100 per cent sure'. 'Almost all of us have vaccinated our kids against measles, mumps, rubella and others,' the website reads. 'These treatments have endured decades of scrutiny into every conceivable short and long term side effect. 'Can the same be said for the Covid-19 vaccines?' Australian children from the age of five to eleven will start getting Covid jabs from January 10. Burrow, a legendary Australian surfer, and his now-wife Rebecca at the World Surfing Awards on February 25, 2015 Burrow with his family. The 43-year-old did not say exactly what his questions are about the Covid vaccine, which has been proven to be safe and effective Burrow's wife Rebecca (pictured with the couple's two daughters) said the criticism aimed at anti-vaxxers during the pandemic was 'really unfair' AUSTRALIA'S COVID VACCINE ROLLOUT IN CHILDREN FIVE TO ELEVEN Children as young as five will be eligible for vaccination against Covid-19 from January 10. Polling by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne shows about half of parents surveyed intend to get their children aged between five and 11 vaccinated. One-quarter of 1259 parents surveyed in July were against it while almost one-third were unsure. Side effects, convenience and accessibility were key factors influencing parents' willingness to vaccinate their children. Pfizer vaccines to be given to children contain one-third of the standard dose following final approval from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. Advertisement Polling by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne shows about half of parents surveyed intend to get their children aged between five and 11 vaccinated. Burrow married his wife Rebecca in 2018 and they have daughters - Arabella Rose and Robbie Lou. Last August, Burrow's wife said the criticism aimed at anti-vaxxers during the pandemic was 'really unfair'. 'Just because people are advocates for medical freedom without Australia and are against restrictions being made to our civil human rights... does not mean they dont also care about the state of the rest of the world,' she said. An alleged plot to smuggle 99kg of meth into Australia came to a dramatic end when the getaway van crashed into police car. Cops dragged three burly, tattooed men out of the upturned vehicle on a patch of grass in southeast Perth and arrested them on December 30. Little did the trio know they were allegedly racing away from police without a single gram of drugs on board after border agent swapped out the drugs day before. Joseph Davids, 32, Darren Dexter Fletcher, 35, and Reece Raymond Neil OConnor, 31, likely didn't learn the truth until they were hauled before court the next day. They rung in the new year behind bars charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported drugs, facing life in jail. Three men have been charged for allegedly attempting to deliver almost $1million worth of methamphetamine into Australia ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations Border Force officers were first alerted to the delivery when a 550kg shipment of latex pillows arrived in Fremantle on a container ship on December 17. The consignment was loaded onto the ship in Asia, however investigations will continue into the source of the drugs. Officers searched the delivery and discovered a 'crystal-like substance' stuffed inside the pillows. It was given to the Australian Federal Police for testing, coming back as positive to meth. Forensic specialists estimated there was about 99kg of meth inside the pillows, with a street value of at least $100 million. The meth was replaced with a harmless substance and repacked before the cargo was released to be collected and the sting was on. The shipment was seized as the men left a property in Maddington, about 20km southeast of Perth, where the drugs were allegedly kept in a shipping container ABF officers were first alerted to the alleged drugs when a 550kg shipment of latex pillows (pictured) arrived in Fremantle on a container ship on December 17 On the morning of December 29, two men arrived to allegedly pick up the boxes of pillows and take them back to a house in Maddington. The pick-up was witnessed by officers from the ABF, the AFP, and Western Australian police officers who were assisted by Home Affairs and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. The two men were met then met another group, who then allegedly helped to unload the boxes of latex pillows into a shipping container at the property. Three men returned to the house the following evening and entered the shipping container to access the boxes. AFP and ABF officers swooped on the trio as they left the site in a white van, resulting in a dramatic collision after the men allegedly tried to evade police. AFP and ABF officers swooped on the trio as they left the site in a white van, resulting in a dramatic collision after the men allegedly tried to evade police The trio were arrested by members of the Australian Federal Police on December 30 after the Australian Border Force discovered the drugs almost two weeks earlier Police said the 99kg of meth - estimated to be worth about $100million - could have been sold to a million people in individual street deals. AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner John Tanti said the price of the illicit substance skyrocketed in WA due to border closures that restricted the supply. 'Criminal syndicates are looking to exploit this demand and sell methamphetamine in WA to maximise their profits, they do not care about the immense harm that this drug causes,' Acting Assistant Commissioner Tanti said. 'We believe it is also no coincidence that the drugs had arrived in Perth just in time for New Year's Eve celebrations one of the busiest nights of the year for drug and alcohol fuelled harm.' He said the estimated cost of the drugs entering the West Australian community would have been $22.65 million through crime, increased healthcare and justice costs, and loss of productivity. Police have stated the 99kg of meth - estimated to be worth about $100million - could have been sold to one million people in individual street deals The men face a potential life sentence if convicted of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs Australian Border Force Acting Assistant Commissioner West James Copeman said this had been a 'significant detection' by officers using 'sophisticated technology'. Assistant Commissioner Copeman said ABF officers had seized about 5.2 tonnes of meth at Australian borders through 1,745 detections in the 2020-21 financial year. The trio faced Perth Magistrate's Court on 31 December and were remanded in custody to reappear on Wednesday. The men face a potential life sentence if convicted. Former President Donald Trump mysteriously canceled his January 6 Mar-a-Lago press conference, sending out a statement Tuesday night that he would be discussing 'those topics' instead at his January 15 Arizona rally. 'In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona,' he wrote, adding, 'It will be a big crowd!' The ex-president was to face reporters at his Palm Beach resort on the anniversary of the deadly Capitol attack, while in Washington President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders are expected to make solemn tributes on the one-year anniversary of Trump's MAGA mob storming the Capitol Building. Former President Donald Trump, photographed on New Year's Eve, mysteriously canceled his January 6 Mar-a-Lago press conference, sending out a statement Tuesday night that he would be discussing 'those topics' instead at his January 15 Arizona rally Trump was supposed to host reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Janaury 6, which marks the one-year anniversary of the MAGA mob storming the U.S. Capitol. Instead he said Tuesday night that he'll address 'those topics' at his January 15 Arizona rally Axios reported Tuesday night that several of Trump's key allies - including GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham - questioned whether holding a press conference on the anniversary was smart. Graham told Axios that he and Trump discussed the forthcoming press conference during a game of golf over the weekend. Graham said he told the ex-president, who brought the press conference up, 'there could be peril in doing a news conference. ... Best to focus on election reform instead.' Axios also reported that Republican Congressional leaders viewed the Trump press conference as a political headache. Ingraham had asked GOP Rep. Jim Banks, a Trump ally, a leading question on whether he thought it was 'smart for President Trump to do a rally on particular day, versus next week or the week before?' Banks said he was looking forward to the press conference. Trump claimed Tuesday that he scratched the press event because it has 'become more and more obvious to ALL' that the 'LameStream Media will not report the facts.' The ex-president then, again, peddled a false claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Capitol Sergeant-at-Arms denied requests from the D.C. National Guard and the military to be present at the Capitol that day. Last month, Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill told USA Today that her office was not consulted or contacted in regards to any National Guard requests ahead of January 6 - the day lawmakers gathered to certify Biden's election. Hammill added that Pelosi doesn't have the power to reject that type of request. 'This is the Democrats' Great Cover-Up Committee and the Media is complicit,' Trump charged. Trump also accused Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the Democratic members of the committee and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of changing a statement made by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally. The committee had previously said that a graphic created for Schiff of a text message sent by Jordan included a period added 'inadvertently.' 'Why will Crazy Nancy Pelosi not provide her communications with the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the House Chief Administrative Officer, or promise to retain these vital messages, which many feel she has already destroyedperhaps illegally?' Trump also asked. 'Also, why is the primary reason for the people coming to Washington D.C., which is the fraud of the 2020 Presidential Election, not the primary topic of the Unselect Committee's investigation?' he continued. 'This was, indeed, the Crime of the Century.' Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden, but continues to push the so-called 'big lie' - that he was robbed a second term due to election fraud. 'I look forward to seeing our Great American patriots in Arizona next weekend for a big rally to Save America!' Trump added. The January 15 rally, which coincides with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, will take place in Florence, a small town outside of Phoenix. Representatives from MLK's family will be in Phoenix on January 15 holding a rally pushing for federal voting rights protections, bills that Trump doesn't support. Schools faced delayed deliveries of Covid tests for the start of term yesterday as some reported one in five teachers calling in sick with the virus. As pupils began their return after Christmas, heads warned of testing chaos as some still had not received supplies. And problems were deepened as the Department for Education (DfE) gave schools short of tests a 5pm deadline yesterday to order more or face a two-week wait. Issues were compounded by staff absences caused by Covid, as Ian Bauckham, the boss of exams regulator Ofqual, said schools could suspend subjects like music to cope with shortages. As pupils began their return after Christmas, heads warned of testing chaos as some still had not received supplies (File image) A school in Swansea Valley, Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera, asked Years 7 and 8 to learn remotely until January 10. In north London, Evelyn Forde, head of Copthall School, said 13 staff were absent and four children tested positive for Covid on-site. Staffing is looking pretty horrendous, she added. Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust, which has 52 schools across England, said early indicators suggested 20 per cent of his staff could be absent. All secondary pupils are being tested for Covid this week, but for some the lateral flow tests failed to arrive in time (File image) Last night it emerged a secondary school was segregating children who do not wear face masks or fail to test twice a week. Walton High, an academy in Buckinghamshire, said any pupils exempt from wearing face masks will be seated at the back of classrooms at the furthest point from the teacher. Michelle Currie, executive principal, also told parents that if their child had not yet been vaccinated, this could have consequences, including that it may limit their career options later in life, according to The Daily Telegraph. All secondary pupils are being tested for Covid this week, but for some the lateral flow tests failed to arrive in time. Geoff Barton, general secretary of heads union ASCL, said: It is clearly imperative that schools and colleges have enough test kits to follow the government guidance. A DfE spokesman added: A further 17.6 million test kits will be delivered by the end of next week. Canada's transportation minister is investigating after a chartered Sunwing plane filled with maskless passengers became the scene of a booze-filled party. Shocking footage of the trip from Montreal to Cancun was shared online as Canada battles a surge of new Covid cases that are overwhelming hospitals and prompting school closures in Quebec and neighboring Ontario. The passengers -reportedly social media 'influencers' were filmed vaping, dancing, and snapping selfies in violation of numerous air transport rules. They now face fines and potential flight bans, Le Journal de Montreal reported, and have all been barred from traveling home with Sunwing. Canada's transport Minister Omar Alghabra said on Twitter he had asked regulator Transport Canada to investigate the wild December 30 scene. Unmasked revelers were filmed partying on a plane from Montreal to Cancun, sparking a probe by Canadian government A group of rowdy Quebecois passengers defied numerous aviation rules December 30 while partying maskless on a chartered Sunwing airplane from Montreal to Cancun. One woman even filmed herself vaping while in the air This man appeared to be enjoying the party vibe - but he and everyone else aboard the flight have had their return trip axed by Sunwing 'I am aware of the reports of unacceptable behavior on a Sunwing flight,' Alghabra said. It's not clear where the flight crew was during the ruckus. The Toronto-headquartered leisure operator said by email that the behavior of a group of passengers on the private charter flight 'was unruly and contravened several Canadian aviation regulations as well as public health regulations.' Passengers were seen in video footage taking gulps from a bottle of Grey Goose vodka Passengers in one video could be soon sharing a large bottle of Grey Goose vodka; in another, they took turns speaking to passengers over the plane's intercom system. A group called 111 Private Club took credit for the party on Instagram, the Toronto Star reported. The group's social media account includes video footage of passengers cheering and screaming. Sunwing said it has canceled the group's return flight to Montreal scheduled for January 5 as a result of the carrier's investigation and due to a refusal by the group to accept all terms of carriage. Sunwing said the flight to Cancun triggered an investigation by its security department and an initial notification to Transport Canada. The Canadian regulator was not immediately available for comment. 'This is unacceptable behavior from passengers that puts our cabin crew at enormous risk,' said Rena Kisfalvi, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local which represents Sunwing flight attendants. 'We need the airlines and the federal government to support and protect our members against this kind of mob behavior and make sure it never happens again.' Canadians flocked to social media to express their dismay over the party held as Canucks on the ground returned to lockdown, with gyms and other non-essential businesses once again shutting. Canadians flocked to social media to express their dismay over the party held as Canucks on the ground returned to lockdown A number of Canadians, including Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, took to Twitter to condone the behavior 'If you ever wondered why so many Mexicans detest Canadian tourists, it's because they've adopted what used to be solely American behaviours,' tweeted @DaGorro. 'It only gets worse once the plane lands in Cancun.' Added another user: 'In case youre wondering why Sunwing is trending No, it didnt go out of business (yet). Moronic Quebec influencers decided to turn a Cancun-bound plane into their own personal nightclub.' Another social media user claimed flight attendants were forced to hide out during the flight. 'These fools acted like wild animals on their flight south, even the flight attendants hid away from them, there was zero control,' @MarieCh48003039 tweeted. 'The latest? Pending criminal charges/bans from airlines and Sunwing has cancelled their return home.' South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has been labelled 'out of touch' by frustrated hospitality owners after he declared the 'tills are still ringing' despite enforcing measures onto the industry. Just days before the New Year, Mr Marshall brought back a string of Covid-19 restrictions which left owners of pubs and restaurants reeling. Dining density limits were scaled back to one person per 4sqm indoors and one person per 2sqm outdoors, forcing many venues to close altogether. Simone Douglas, publican of the Duke of Brunswick in Adelaide and co-founder of Hospo Owners Collective said she was 'in disbelief' to hear the state leader's comments which she thought were 'out of touch'. An Adelaide publican has slammed South Australian Premier Steven Marshall after he said the 'tills were still ringing' while hospitality industries face Covid-19 restrictions 'It takes a certain level of arrogance and indifference to make a statement like that that you know is going to go out to people who are affected,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's a bit like giving us the two fingers.' Ms Douglas said that in just three weeks she estimates she lost around $120,000 in revenue due to Covid measures and the amount of residents isolating. She said it was frustrating to see other industries such as retail not be given the same restrictions those in hospitality were, and even worse that South Australia was the worst hit despite having significantly less Covid cases than Victoria and NSW. 'There's a perception that we are whinging but the reality is we are just trying to keep our staff employed so they can pay rent,' she said. Dining density limits for pubs and restaurants in SA were scaled back to one person per 4sqm indoors and one person per 2sqm outdoors, forcing many venues to close altogether 'We have the toughest restrictions in the country yet we have the least cases and the smallest population density.' Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Marshall said the government wasn't 'taking our health advice from the hospitality sector', but from medical professionals. Ms Douglas said the 'bare minimum' for hospitality industries to survive was to have 50 per cent capacity indoors - a lot higher than the current 25 per cent. She added that while she doesn't expect density limits to change anytime soon, some greater financial assistance from the government would not go astray. The publican is calling for 75 per cent of fixed overheads to be covered for venues which have had to limit customers to 25 per cent capacity indoors. Businesses such as gyms, tourism and hospitality venues have been offered cash grants of $3,000 with an additional $7,000 offered for those with turnover above $2million. 'Retail is running at 50 per cent, the casino is operating at 50 per cent - cut the little guys a break,' Ms Douglas said. 'Hindsight's a wonderful thing. Clearly opening the borders was a mistake if it was going to have this kind of impact at large and on state's economy.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted the premier's office for comment. A North Carolina State Trooper killed his cop brother and a driver after accidentally smashing into his sibling's cruiser while helping him respond to a traffic stop. North Carolina State Trooper John Horton was killed in Rutherford County on Monday after his brother, Trooper James Horton, accidentally crashed into John's parked cruiser, sending it flying into James and driver Dusty Luke Beck, 26. John, a 15 year veteran cop, had pulled Beck, a father-of-three, over for undisclosed reasons, with James - who is also known as Nick - crashing while traveling to assist his brother. Trooper John Horton of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol was killed on Monday when his brother lost control and collided with him during a traffic stop While on his way to to assist, State Highway Patrol Trooper James Horton (pictured bottom) lost control of his vehicle and collided with his brother's (pictured top) parked patrol vehicle 26-year-old Dusty Luke Beck (pictured) was also killed in the collision on Monday Flowers were placed at the scene of the collision on Tuesday in honor of the victims in Rutherford County The State Bureau of Investigation is currently looking into the cause of the deadly accident Trooper John Horton was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries while Beck was pronounced dead at the scene. Trooper James Horton suffered minor injuries in the accident. The State Bureau of Investigation is currently looking into the cause of the accident. The State Highway Patrol said they plan to stand along side Horton's family- which includes his wife Ashley and their six children. 'Our hearts are broken with the loss of our friend and our brother, Trooper John Horton,' Colonel Freddy L. Johnson Jr., commander of the State Highway Patrol, said in a statement. 'For all involved in this tragic event the coming days will undoubtedly be difficult, but we are committed to stand alongside with them with our thoughts, prayers and unwavering support.' Trooper John Horton of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol pictured with his wife Ashley and their six children Trooper John S. Horton pictured with his wife Ashley. The pair shared six children together North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper John Horton pictured at the departments 3rd Annual Christmas Charity Coyote Hunt Family and friends are mourning Dusty Luke Beck, the 26-year-old father of three from South Carolina The tragic incident has left community members, who remembers Horton as a 'friendly guy', shaken as well. 'It has been pretty somber,' Tommy Baldwin, a friend of Horton and the owner of Earl's Short Stop Inc told WBTV. 'Normally, you know, people coming in and out are always laughing and joking. It's not quite that right now. Everybody is upset. People that knew him and people that didn't know him.' Also being mourned is Beck, who is being remembered as a loving father to three children who was 'full of life.' 'I've seen so much about the officer who was killed but this sweet soul needs to be remembered also,' a friend of Beck's posted on Facebook. 'Dusty was so full of life. I remember seeing him so much during my teenage years. He was such a character!! And so full of life!! He's a son, a brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, and father!! My heart breaks for them all during this! His life was taken too. And he is going to be missed terribly!! I pray for everyone involved in this horrific accident but Dusty's name needs to be out there too,' Multiple fundraisers have been set up for the victims, including a GoFundMe for the Horton's family that has raised over $15,000 in a day, and a GoFundMe set up by Beck's family to help with funeral costs that has raised over $1,000. The four-year-old great-niece of George Floyd has been shot in her bed, during a 'targeted attack' on her Texas apartment in the middle of the night. Arianna Delane is expected to survive but had to undergo surgery in Houston over the weekend after bullets punctures her lung and liver, leaving her with three broken ribs. So far, police have not revealed a motive nor have they provided a description of the shooter. But the family have said they know who opened fire, and have suggested the shooting was targeted, without commenting further on a possible motive. George Floyd's four-year-old niece, Arianna Delane, was shot at her home in South Houston over the weekend. She is pictured making a recovery in hospital 'My daughter jumped up and said, 'Daddy, I been hit,'' her father, Derrick Delane, pictured, said Delane showed the media where the home had been hit by various bulletholes Several bullets struck the home leaving holes in various walls and doors to the building Gunshots were fired randomly by suspects into the family home on the second floor at around 3am on Saturday night. At the time of the shooting there were six people inside the property in south Houston with four adults and two children all asleep, with Arianna in her bed in a front bedroom. 'My daughter jumped up and said, 'Daddy, I been hit,'' her father, Derrick Delane told ABC 13. 'I was shocked until I seen the blood and I realized my four-year-old daughter was really hit,' Delane recalled. 'She didn't know what was going on. She was asleep.' Arianna was shot in the torso while she was asleep in her bed leaving her with a punctured lung and liver together with three broken ribs The little girl was asleep in a front bedroom of the apartment on the second floor when the attack occurred The attack took place at the home in South Houston over the weekend Delane said that he hoped his daughter would still be able to achieve her dream of becoming a dancer or cheerleader. 'Why would my house get shot up?' Delane asked. 'My daughter don't know. I can't explain that to her. As the father, you're supposed to protect the kids. 'She's healing very fast. The last time I checked on her she was breathing on her own. She was doing really great,' Delane said speaking of her recovery. The family have also claimed that the police did not arrive until 7am - four hours after the incident occurred. An investigation is now underway to examine why the police response was so delayed. 'I am aware and have concerns regarding the delayed response time in this incident and have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation. I ask the city continue to pray for the child's full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible,' Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a statement. Arianna was one of two children asleep inside the home at the time of the shooting A woman stands in front of a mural of George Floyd on May 25, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota Arianna had been seen at several Black Lives Matter protests the followed the killing of her great uncle, George Floyd. She was related to George through her grandmother, LaTonya, who was his sister. Video emerged of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck as he lay on the ground for nine minutes during his arrest Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, having been arrested for allegedly attempting to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store. His triggered protests around the globe against racism and police brutality. Shortly after the incident, video emerged of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck as he lay on the ground for nine minutes. Floyd cried out, 'I can't breathe!' over and over. His words became a rallying cry for demonstrators the world over. Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death. Three other officers, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng, were fired from the police department who did nothing to intervene while witnessing Floyd's death. Women are nearly a third more likely to die when operated on by a male surgeon, a study has found. Female patients are also at higher risk of complications and readmission and are more likely to stay in hospital longer when a man carries out their surgery, researchers said. However, when female surgeons operated on men the outcomes were unchanged, if not improved suggesting the link is one sided. And while the reasons are unclear, scientists warn the findings 'sound the alarm for urgent action'. A team from the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, looked at more than 1.3million patient records involving nearly 3,000 surgeons. Out of all the female patients, 93,000 had a female surgeon while 667,000 had a male surgeon. And out of all male patients, 510,000 had a male surgeon and 50,000 had a female surgeon. Female patients are also at higher risk of complications and readmission and are more likely to stay in hospital longer when a man carries out their surgery, researchers said (stock image) The analysis of the data, which was published in the journal Jama Surgery, found that women were 32 per cent more likely to die when a man rather than a woman carried out their operation. They were also 15 per cent more likely to suffer a bad outcome, had a 16 per cent greater risk of complications, had an 11 per cent greater risk of readmission and were 20 per cent more likely to have to stay in hospital longer. This was true for many of the 21 types of common surgery analysed, the researchers said. For example, when women had heart or lung surgery their chance of dying after an operation by a female surgeon was 1 per cent. When a male surgeon carried out the operation this rose to 1.4 per cent. For neurosurgery, the chance of death increased from 0.9 per cent with a female surgeon to 1.2 per cent with a male surgeon. Dr Angela Jerath, co-author of the study, said male and female surgeons undergo the same training, but implicit 'sex biases', in which surgeons 'act on subconscious, deeply ingrained biases, stereotypes and attitudes', could be one explanation for the results. The analysis of the data, which was published in the journal Jama Surgery, found that women were 32 per cent more likely to die when a man rather than a woman carried out their operation (stock image) Previous studies have suggested that doctors, particularly men, underrate the severity of symptoms in female patients. Other analysis indicates patients may be less likely to report post-operative pain to male surgeons. Commenting on the latest study, Andrea Riner, from the University of Florida College of Medicine, said the findings 'sound the alarm for urgent action'. She said: 'Although the underlying reasons for this disparity are not fully understood, action should be taken immediately. 'Sex disparity in surgery is not unique to Ontario. Efforts to recruit women into surgery need to be ramped up.' In Britain, women account for 41 per cent of surgeons in the earlier stages of the career but only 14 per cent of senior surgeons. Experts have warned that this could be due to a lack of flexibility in training schedules and rotas. InWith Corporation is preparing to present what might be the ultimate way to enter the metaverse. Instead of heavy and bulky goggles, they developed futuristic contact lenses that should be capable of tunable and augmented vision. It is super lightweight, virtually invisible and possibly worth millions of dollars! InWith corporation is a private company that specializes in patent technology over smart contact lenses and implants. On Monday, they announced their latest project, a wearable contact lens for the metaverse. Many fans expect InWith to demonstrate their wearable contact lenses at CES 2022. The presentation should take place in Las Vegas, sometime on Wednesday. InWith Company: The Metaverse Contact Lens Sources from Cision researched and explained the technology behind the contact lens. They said InWith used patented key techniques to integrate solid components and circuits into hydrogel materials which expand and contract on the manufacturing process. The end result is a stretchable electronic circuitry and augmented vision display chip embedded on soft hydrogel contact lenses. InWith emphasized that the design was meant for easy transition from the real world to the metaverse. The lens will provide a fully immersive metaverse viewing, seamlessly going back and forth between the real world. Ideally, the contact lenses are a big improvement compared to AR and VR goggles. Users will no longer worry about heavy headgear and battery issues. Users can also avoid unfortunate incidents like hitting furniture or slamming to the wall because they cannot "see" what's in front of them. However, fans should keep in mind that the InWith lens is still in the announcement phase. Experts and other related industries have yet to test the contact lens' efficiency and reliability. For now, readers are advised to take in these speculations with a grain of salt and a level of skepticism. Read Also: Purple Fox Malware Spreads Through Malicious Telegram Installers; Steals Data, Hacks Your Device How to Join the Metaverse: InWith Company and Meta According to Electronics 360, InWith plans to apply for FDA approval sometime this year. Once recognized, the team will put their cutting-edge technologies on the market. InWith said they are confident in their unique contact lenses, per TVB Europe. InWith emphasized that they are the only company capable of integrating the component circuitry in modern contact lens, which is recognized by the top Fortune 50 companies. The situation is still progressing, and InWith has yet to present the full details of their contact lenses. Afterward, other companies still have to decide whether they would adopt this unique technology or not. For now, the potential of this project is undeniable. Fans are looking forward to these easy-to-wear contact lenses, which could promote immediate AR and XR applications. More details on this exciting piece of technology should be made available in the coming days. Fans are recommended to monitor InWith contact lens development on the CES 2022 program. Related Article: NASA Hubble Names Spiral Galaxy Image as Best Photo of 2021; Celebrates Incredible 1 Billion Seconds Milestone People have been evacuated from Oldham town centre after a man entered a police station and assaulted a police officer. Reinforcements rushed to the scene after the man gained entry to the grounds of Oldham Police Station just before 10pm. The man, who assaulted a police officer, was arrested by officers who used a taser on him. People have been evacuated from Oldham town centre after a man entered a police station and assaulted a police officer GMP Oldham said they were dealing with an incident in Oldham town centre and a cordon was in place He has now been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, assault of a police officer and being found on enclosed premises. It is not known if the police officer was injured in the incident. The centre of Oldham was sealed off and businesses evacuated as officers examined a car believed to be linked to the suspect. A cordon is now in place in the region as specialist officers examine a suspicious vehicle which is believed to have belonged to the man. Police sealed off the area while they examined a car believed to be linked to the arrested man A large cordon was in place in the centre of Oldham for several hours while a car was probed A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: 'Just before 10pm tonight (Tuesday 4 January 2022), a male gained entry to the grounds of Oldham Police Station. 'The male was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, assault of a police officer and being found on enclosed premises. During the arrest the male was tasered. 'A vehicle found nearby is believed to belong to the man. 'A precautionary cordon is in place while the contents of the vehicle are examined by specialist GMP officers. 'There are a number of road closures are in place and some premises have been evacuated.' The cordon was lifted after around four hours. The prestigious Mayo Clinic fired 700 employees who refused to comply with the hospital's COVID-19 vaccine policy. Workers had until Monday to get their first shot or obtain a medical or religious exemption to the healthcare system's vaccine mandate. The clinic, which is the largest employer in its home state of Minnesota, reportedly granted the majority of exemption requests. 'While Mayo Clinic is saddened to lose valuable employees, we need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe,' the clinic told the Star Tribune. 'If individuals released from employment choose to get vaccinated at a later date, the opportunity exists for them to apply and return to Mayo Clinic for future job openings.' The prestigious Mayo Clinic fired 700 employees who refused to comply with the hospital's COVID-19 vaccine policy Mayo Clinic, which first informed employees about the vaccine mandate last July, has faced heavy criticism over the vaccination requirement. While primarily associated with Minnesota, where it was founded, the healthcare system also operates hospitals in Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin. A group of 38 lawmakers issued a letter to the hospital last month listing several reasons they should nix the policy, arguing the 'heavy-handed, all-or-none employee policy does not fit the reputation or image we know the Mayo Clinic to have'. On Monday, after learning of the firings, Minnesota Rep. Peggy Bennett - who orchestrated December's letter - slammed the policy, which the clinic claims was made 'based on science and data'. 'We're in a precarious situation and we need to look at this reasonably, rationally and with common sense,' Bennett told KTTC. 'Common sense tells me if everybody can catch it and spread it then why are we firing these employees?' Rep. Tina Liebling, however, applauded the policy, saying: 'Mayo Clinic is making these decisions based on its needs and I think that should be respected. I think Mayo should be able to make these decisions, it's a private business. A group of 38 lawmakers issued a letter to the hospital last month listing several reasons they should nix the policy, arguing the 'heavy-handed, all-or-none employee policy does not fit the reputation or image we know the Mayo Clinic to have' Mayo Clinic introduced its vaccine policy last year, claiming it was essential to providing the safest environment at the hospital. On Monday, the organization echoed their prior sentiment and touted the benefits of getting vaccinated. Minnesota Rep. Peggy Bennett (pictured) - who orchestrated December's letter - slammed the policy, which the clinic claims was made 'based on science and data'. 'Based on science and data, it's clear that vaccination keeps people out of the hospital and saves lives,' the hospital said in a statement. 'That's true for everyone in our communities and it's especially true for the many patients with serious or complex diseases who seek care at Mayo Clinic each day.' Nearly 99 percent of staff across all Mayo Clinic location have complied with the requirement, meaning they were either vaccinated or received an exemption. 'This means that approximately 1 percent of staff across all locations will be released from employment as a result of the required vaccination program,' the clinic said. 'This is comparable to what other health care organizations have experienced in implementing similar vaccine requirement programs.' Mayo Clinic LPN Kim Ristau, who spoke to the TV station, said while she supports personal choice, she believes the mandating vaccines was the correct choice. 'Within our entire department, we are losing some very valuable nurses and we absolutely hate to see them go, but again they have a responsibility as healthcare workers, in my opinion, to do the right thing and be vaccinated,' she said. Healthcare professionals prepare to screen people for COVID at a testing site erected in a parking lot at Mayo Clinic on April 02, 2020 in Phoenix, Mayo Clinic LPN Kim Ristau (pictured) said while she supports personal choice, she believes the mandating vaccines was the correct choice. 'I do understand the whole my body my choice and I can respect that, but to work in the healthcare industry, you have to comply.' Vaccine mandates have caused controversy across the nation as the Omicron variant continues to surge. Last month, the Society for Human Resource Management revealed that a quarter of large US employers - including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing and several airlines, among others - were requiring workers be vaccinated against COVID. The issue of mandates has been highly polarizing, causing some employees to leave their organizations while others say the requirement makes them feel safe. 'As we've seen, an organization's vaccination policy can be a polarizing issue,' William F. Ziebell, CEO of Gallagher's benefits and HR consulting division, said in December. A record-high number of cases in the US was reported Monday, when 1,082,549 Americans tested positive for the virus More than 56 million Americans have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic, which has killed more than 827,000 people throughout the nation 'Some employees may end up leaving due to a vaccination policy, while others may leave over safety concerns. Conversely, some employees may be attracted to an employer who mandates the vaccine as a sign that their personal values are aligned with the organization,' he added. Meanwhile, the US recorded a million new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, shattering the global record it previously set, and making the U.S. by far the hardest-hit nation of the pandemic. There have now been 827,753 deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19. There were 826,065 deaths during the same time frame analysis performed by DailyMail.com, meaning fatalities increased by 1,688 over the same timespan that infections surged by one million. Monday's number is almost double the previous record of about 590,000 set just four days ago in the U.S., which itself was a doubling from the prior week. Outside the U.S., the highest number of cases recorded in a single day was in India, when more than 414,000 people were diagnosed on May 7, 2021. Record-breaking Jeopardy! contestant Amy Schneider fell victim an armed robbery close to her Oakland home, which saw her phone, credit cards and ID stolen. Schneider, 42, revealed she'd suffered upsetting crime on her Twitter account on Monday, shortly before she was seen on TV later on the same evening scoring her 24th straight victory on the iconic game show. 'Hi all! So, first off: I'm fine,' she tweeted earlier on Monday. 'But I got robbed yesterday, lost my ID, credit cards, and phone. I then couldn't really sleep last night, and have been dragging myself around all day trying to replace everything.' Schneider is transgender, although there is not yet any suggestion that the robbery in crime-ridden Oakland was hate-related, and no arrests have been made. It is also unclear if she was targeted because of her fame and burgeoning bank balance. In a second tweet, Schneider wrote that she doubted whether she'll 'start writing tonight's game thread', where she updates fans on what went on behind the scenes, because of the robbery. 'And if I keep winning, it may take a bit for me to get caught up,' she added. 'Thanks for your patience!' Amy Schneider, 42, made the announcement to her 52,000 followers on Twitter on Monday evening Clearly affected by the robbery, the 25-game winning champion said it would be unlikely that she would 'start writing tonight's game thread' on Monday's show of Jeopardy! The woman with the highest earnings in the show's history lost her valuables including her ID, credit cards and phone, shortly before she was seen on TV later on the same evening scoring her 24th straight victory on the iconic game show. Schneider was robbed close to the Oakland apartment building where she lives, pictured Schneider was referring to her habit of sharing her highs and lows of each game via threads after games with her 52k followers. However, she said the robbery would likely prevent her from finishing up a recap of Monday night's game when she earned her 24th victory and increased her earnings to $897,600, the fourth biggest amount in the show's regular-season's play. Oakland Police shared a statement today that officers were investigating an armed robbery that took place on Lenox Avenue on Sunday shortly after 3.30p.m, close to Schneider's home. They didn't name Schneider as the victim, but both the San Francisco Chronicle and NBC News have reported that she is the victim. Two unidentified robbers one armed with a gun Schneider and ordered her to give them their belongings. She passed on their items before the thieves fled the scene, officials said. As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests have been made. Schneider will appear on Tuesday evening's show to win her 25th game, with The Jeopardy Fan website suggesting that if she keeps on winning at the rate she's currently on, then she could win more than $1million in earnings this week, putting her outside the podium, behind no. 3 winner Matt Amodio, who had a total of $1,518,601 by 38 regular-season games in early October. With her Christmas Eve victory, Schneider's hot run has earned the contestant more money than any other woman in the show's history, overtaking Larissa Kelly's earnings of $660,930 in 2008. Schneider overtook Larissa Kelly's earnings of $660,930 in 2008 on Christmas Eve to become the woman with the highest total in the show's history at $855,600 Schneider has also been targeted by social media trolls since her recent rise to stardom, including those commenting about her identity. In a New Year's Eve tweet, she responded to transphobic comments she was mentioned in after finishing first in the winnings for women players The Ohio native is also active on social media, engaging with her followers on Twitter on being a transgender woman. She knows that her journey as the first transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions on the show, where the best players from each season compete against one another, means a lot to others in the trans community. 'I am from Ohio where the only trans people I thought of were drag queens or prostitutes.' Schneider told NBC News, although she doesn't see herself as being 'special' regarding her gender identity change. 'I don't actually think about it that much,' she told Yahoo. 'I was definitely aware, going on the show, that being a trans person in the spotlight could be an interesting thing. But, you know, it's just what I am, and there's sort of, like, nothing to do about it. It's just who I am.' Schneider has also become a target of social media trolls since her recent rise to stardom, including those commenting about her identity. In a New Year's Eve tweet, she responded to transphobic comments she was mentioned in after finishing first in the winnings for women players. 'I'd like to thank all the people who have taken the time, during this busy holiday season, to reach out and explain to me that, actually, I'm a man,' Schneider said. 'Every single one of you is the first person ever to make that very clever point, which had never once before crossed my mind.' Murders in Oakland rose by 70 per cent between 2019 and 2021, and rocketed past 131 in mid-December, the highest number since 2006. The California city - which sits across a bay from violence-plagued San Francisco - initially moved to defund its police in the wake of George Floyd's murder, but is now frantically trying to hire more cops to stem its soaring crime levels. French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday he wanted to 'p*** off' the unvaccinated by introducing fresh legislation to ban them from public venues. The cutting remark prompted howls of condemnation from opposition rivals less than four months before the next presidential election. Macron, 44, was responding to a nurse during a question and answer session with readers of Le Parisien when he addressed how the government will handle non-vaccinated people. 'By and Im sorry for putting it this way by p***ing them off even more,' Macron said. 'Im generally opposed to the French being p****d off. I complain all the time about administrative blockages. But when it comes to the non-vaccinated, Im very keen to p them off. So were going to do it, the end. Thats our strategy.' France last year put in place a health pass that prevents people without a PCR test or proof of vaccination from entering restaurants, cafes and other venues. The government wants to turn it into a vaccine passport that means only the vaccinated can have a health pass. The legislation will remove the option of showing a negative test, effectively barring unvaccinated people from hospitality venues or trains. The plans have faced fierce resistance from anti-vaccination campaigners and far-right and far-left groups, but is backed by the government which has a majority in parliament. French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday he wanted to 'p*** off' the non-vaccinated. The plans for a vaccine pass in France have received considerable backlash from far-left and far-right groups, but the legislation is backed by the government which has a majority in parliament (protest against Covid-19 sanitary pass in Paris, August 2021) In a particularly snarky interview, the French president said he aims to irritate the unvaccinated into submission, rather than round them up and prosecute them. 'I won't send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I won't vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you won't be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won't be able to down one, won't be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema...' Macron's use of a very informal French phrase, which can be translated as 'to p*** them off', prompted immediate criticism by rivals on social media. 'A president shouldn't say that,' far right leader Marine Le Pen said on Twitter. 'Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.' Until now France has enforced a COVID-19 health pass, which means in order to get into restaurants, cafes or cinemas or board trains, people need to either show a fresh negative test, or proof of vaccination. But the new legislation to effectively ban the unvaccinated from many public venues is set to be ushered in on January 15. French government officials yesterday vowed to enact the law as planned by mid-January despite the legislation hitting a procedural hitch in parliament overnight. 'January 15 remains our goal,' for the law coming into force, European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told LCI television. Protesters hold posters reading 'Freedom' and 'No To Health Pass' during a demonstration held last year by right-wing party 'Les Patriotes' against the COVID-19 sanitary pass which grants vaccinated individuals greater ease of access to venues in France, in Paris, France Until now France has enforced a COVID-19 health pass, which means in order to get into restaurants, cafes or cinemas or board trains, people need to either show a fresh negative test, or proof of vaccination. But the new legislation to effectively ban the unvaccinated from many public venues is set to be ushered in on January 15. French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate for the 2022 French presidential election Marine Le Pen said of Macron's comments: 'A president shouldn't say that. Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.' In the detailed interview, Macron's first in the new year, the president also said he had a good mind to run for re-election in April, but did not explicitly announce his intention to run. 'I would like to do it,' Macron said. As the clear favourite in the polls, Macron has not yet officially said he was running, although his lieutenants are already preparing a campaign. Macron also announced yesterday that France would not see fresh Covid restrictions amid a surge of new infections ahead of a government meeting today. France registered around 270,00 new daily cases earlier on Tuesday, a new record. The French president has been criticised in the past for off-the-cuff remarks which many French people said came across as arrogant, cutting or scornful. He has later expressed contrition on several occasions. Ghislaine Maxwell could lodge a claim of mistrial after it emerged one of the jurors who convicted her was a victim of child sex abuse. Scotty David said he had helped the other members of the jury understand things from a victim's point of view. He also claimed the five guilty verdicts returned last week, possibly condemning Maxwell to spend the rest of her life behind bars, were for 'all the victims'. But legal experts said if he did not disclose his past experiences before the jury deliberations, Maxwell could have grounds to claim a mistrial and have her convictions quashed. Moira Penza, a former federal prosecutor in New York, said: 'I certainly hope the juror disclosed this fully on his questionnaire. Scotty David said he had helped the other members of the jury understand things from a victim's point of view. Pictured: A sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell in court at her trial in New York 'A little strange the defence didn't strike him. It could definitely be an issue. 'In the first instance it would likely form the basis for a motion to Judge [Alison] Nathan for a new trial.' The jury took 40 hours to reach their decision and convict Maxwell on five of the six counts against her. She is facing up to 65 years in jail. She was convicted of trafficking young girls to be abused by her paedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. Mr David told the Independent: 'I'm glad Maxwell has been held accountable.' Channel Nine news producers have been left red-faced after showing a map of Australia with Adelaide mislabeled by almost 700km. The map was used for a segment about housing prices in each capital city but wrongly pointed to Adelaide being next to Melbourne instead of in South Australia. The gaffe was shared to Reddit with many poking fun at the mishap, with some declaring new cities such as 'Adeelong' and 'Geelongaide'. Nine News has been left red-faced after showing a map of Australia with Adelaide incorrectly labelled in Victoria 'The secret is out. The plane just goes around in circles and pretends to cross the border,' one person joked. 'First they steal the Grand Prix, then they steal the whole city,' said another. 'Typical Victoria having two capital cities,' one wrote. Many poked fun at the news channel for the obvious gaffe Others said it was even worse as it was the Melbourne office who produced the map, with some suggesting the Victoria capital city was also too far south-east. 'New state of South Victoria? What's the capital city.... Adelbourne or Melbaide?' commented one. Nine News has been contacted for comment. American academics want ubiquitous Australian phrase 'no worries' banned because they don't understand how to use it properly. Lake Superior State University in Michigan revealed its annual list of 'banished words' in 2022, with 'no worries' making the list at number two - leaving Aussies outraged. 'Wait, what?', ranked in at number one while 'asking for a friend' and 'circle back', also made the list for being either overused, nonsensical, or just plain annoying. Lake Superior State University (LSSU) in Michigan has compiled its annual list of banished words in 2022 with 'wait, what?' ranking number one (pictured, stock) The top 10 were chosen from more than 1,250 submissions across the globe and has been an annual exercise for LSSU since 1976. 'Most people speak through informal discourse. Most people shouldn't misspeak through informal discourse,' executive director of marketing and communications Peter Szatmary said. 'That's the distinction nominators far and wide made, and our judges agreed with them.' While Covid-related phrases like 'new normal', 'you're on mute' and 'supply chain' made the list, 'no worries' ranked at number two. A phrase made popular by Australian icons Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin was targeted for its 'misuse and overuse', according to the LSSU. Judges claimed the phrase was an incorrect substitute for 'you're welcome' when someone said 'thank you', deeming the phrase as 'meaningless'. An Aussie favourite 'no worries' came in at close second for being misused and overused (pictured, stock photo) 'If I'm not worried, I don't want anyone telling me not to worry,' a nominator said. 'If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset.' But language researcher Tim Webb and chair of the ABC's English usage committee argues the phrase 'no worries' is misunderstood due to its increase in popularity. '"No worries" is a victim of its own success, and has since become naturalised in America, that is, stripped of specific Australian connotations,' Mr Webb told The Guardian. 'In my view the compilers of the Banished Words list at LSSU are idiotically mistaken to view "no worries" as misused, overused, or incorrect.' Postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie University Lauren Sadow, who has a background in linguistics, suggests the list misunderstands the phrase's usage in Australian English. 'Although it is used in the same place as 'you're welcome', the meaning is quite different,' she said. Ms Sadow pointed out the term is actually very similar, in fact essentially identical, to American's use of the phrase 'no problem'. 'I would say that its usage has been misunderstood by people who do not have it in their own idiolect,' she said. The university releases its list of banned words and phrases every year since 1976, each year on New Years Eve to 'start the New Year on the right foot, er, tongue'. Over the past year, people submitted more than 1,250 suggestions for consideration, with nominations coming in from the US, Norway, Belgium, England, Scotland, Australia, and Canada. Ministers are set to scrap pre-departure Covid traveller tests today in a massive boost for winter sunseekers and the beleaguered tourism industry. As fear subsides about the Omicron variant, concern is growing about travel firms going bust due to beefed-up testing rules. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is thought to be pushing for relaxed measures. The 'Covid O' Cabinet meeting is likely to see pre-departure tests scrapped. The meeting will also discuss down-grading post-arrival tests from costly PCR swabs to cheaper rapid lateral flow swabs. This is less likely as health officials favour PCRs, which can be sequenced to detect variants of concern. However, the airline industry is today demanding the government goes a step further and axes all travel tests. Ministers are set to scrap pre-departure Covid traveller tests today in a massive boost for winter sunseekers and the beleaguered tourism industry (stock image) Testing regime that may be scrapped as the Omicron threat dwindles: Travelling home from another country has been a nightmare for may due to new restrictions amid Omicron. The rules for the fully vaccinated, which are likely to change, are... Before travel: Take a test in the 2 days before travel to England Book a PCR test to be taken after you arrive in England Complete a passenger locator form On arrival: Take a PCR test Take the test any time after arrival and before the end of day 2 Quarantine in your home or the place you are staying Advertisement The Manchester Airports Group funded and commissioned a study into the matter, which its chief of staff Tim Hawkins says provides evidence to scrap all testing. 'We were really encouraged last month as the Health Secretary was very clear that restrictions would be removed if they stopped playing a useful role in limiting the spread of the virus,' he told BBC Radio Four's Today programme. 'This research shows that with more than two million cases already in England, we're definitely past that point now and testing isn't an effective or sensible way to try and limit the peak number of cases or the pressure on the NHS. 'The government was clear they saw a temporary role for those tests. 'If you're able to restrict the number of international arrivals and limit the entry of a virus in the early stages there is some force behind that argument you can slow down the arrival and provide some breathing space. 'But what this research is showing now is we're well beyond that pointif there's no benefit to it, we shouldn't be doing it and we should take those measures out. 'This research shows there'd be a basis for taking out all tests, not just pre-departure but post-arrival is equally playing no role in managing case number and hospitalisations in the UK, so that is what we are asking the government to take the opportunity to do today.' Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, added: 'With the Omicron variant now representing 90% of Covid-19 cases in the UK, there is no justification for pre-departure test before travel to the UK, nor costly PCR testing upon arrival. 'New modelling, conducted by Oxera and Edge Health on behalf of Manchester Airport Group, shows that the introduction of these measures did very little to protect the UK against Omicron transmission and that the removal of all travel testing in January would have no impact on the prevalence of the variant in the community, but would deny the British public the opportunity to connect with loved ones and for business to grow. 'We call on HMG to follow the science and data and remove all travel testing requirements on January 5th, allowing for frictionless air travel and the reallocation of vital testing capacity to where it is needed the most - in hospitals, schools and crucial infrastructure.' However, Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation (LTIO), the trade association for testing companies and laboratories, hit back at the pleas from the travel industry. A spokesman for the LTIO said: 'It is irresponsible for some in the travel industry to call for the abandonment of all testing. 'Vaccination alongside testing provides the best protection against new, dangerous variants from entering the UK. 'We strongly believe that PCR tests are the best way to protect our population from the dangers of COVID-19, especially to detect new variants that could be brought into the UK from those travelling from abroad. 'That is not just our view, but the view of Dr Jenny Harries, the Chief Executive of UKHSA, who told the Transport Select Committee that travel PCR tests meant that they 'found Omicron very quickly and acted extremely quickly'. 'She added that 'a PCR test allow us to sequence that test and therefore keep an eye on other variants that might pop up as well. This is why it is quite critical to the health security of the nation'. 'Given the likelihood that there will be more variants this year, it would be a serious error to simply abandon testing. Such a decision would leave our country exposed to any new variants and risk further restrictions and infections.' Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (pictured) is thought to be pushing for relaxed measures The UK is the only country in Europe demanding that even fully-vaccinated holidaymakers take two tests when returning home. Under the current rules, one rapid swab must be taken pre-return within 72 hours of travel to the UK and a post-arrival PCR test by day two. Travellers must self-isolate until the results of this latter test are received, and can be stuck in quarantine for days if results are delayed. Ministers will also discuss the need for quarantine today. The rules were beefed-up at the end of November in a bid to stem the importation of Omicron. They added hundreds of pounds in testing bills to the cost of foreign breaks for families. They also increased fears about being stranded abroad if pre-return test results are positive. As a result travel firms reported mass cancellations. Prior to the November changes, travellers were required to take just one rapid test post-arrival by day two. But there is 'no official' update yet on whether testing rules will be changed in England so that those who test positive in lateral flow tests will not need a confirmatory PCR, according to a health minister. Gillian Keegan told BBC Breakfast: 'The teams are looking constantly at what makes sense and what works, etc, but I don't have any official news or updates for you this morning.' Pressed on whether the rule change was being brought in for those who are asymptomatic, the minister replied: 'As I say, I don't have any official news on that but I know that the teams are looking at testing and testing regimes. 'We've introduced so many lateral flow tests now and they are very accurate - they are really accurate if people are infectious, so I guess they are looking at the regime all the time in terms of what makes sense. 'I don't have any official news but the teams will announce it once they have come to their conclusions.' Asked whether the announcement could come today, she said: 'You may be able to expect some news - I don't know when.' Returning to one post-arrival test will likely boost bookings and confidence among would-be travellers to press ahead with plans for foreign holidays or reuniting with relatives abroad. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents major carriers such as British Airways, Jet2 and easyJet, said it would also boost domestic tourism businesses because laxer rules will attract more foreign visitors. He said: 'This isn't just about outbound holidays. 'We're losing billions in revenue from people who ordinarily would want to travel to the UK to spend money, including in our shops and restaurants. 'This is a competition at the end of the day - we need to attract people to the UK, not put up a big 'closed for business' sign. 'We can't have international travel - and the hundreds of thousands of jobs and livelihoods that depend on it - being treated differently to hospitality and other domestic sectors. 'If Omicron doesn't warrant further restrictions at home, then the case for continuing with the emergency testing requirements for aviation is undermined, especially now it is the dominant variant in the UK.' Under the current rules, one rapid swab must be taken pre-return within 72 hours of travel to the UK and a post-arrival PCR test by day two (stock image) Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), told BBC Breakfast that lateral flows were very accurate when it came to recording a positive result. 'Of course, with a PCR test what happens is a number of those can get sent away for sequencing and then you get more information regarding the virus itself. 'So, that sort of information may potentially be lost, but only a subset of those PCR tests are sent away for sequencing anyway, so, hopefully, we won't be losing the levels of information that we already have in this country that enables us to identify variants and so forth.' He said it was 'very, very important' that if any changes were brought in regarding dropping some PCRs that people still recorded their results from lateral flows. Regarding the potential change to travel testing requirements, he said when there were very high numbers of cases in the UK, testing upon entry to the UK 'becomes less important' as cases are already circulating. ' So, again, that's probably why the change is coming in to support the travel industry and reduce a lot of the testing requirements.' Mr Hawkins added that the restrictions had a significant effect on the number of travellers using its services. 'We have seen passenger numbers fall back by about a third between October and November,' he said. 'Passengers responded to the lifting of travel restrictions very positively and we saw a good level of recovery coming through but the new measures at the end of November and December knocked that back by about a third. 'We were at about 60% of travel levels compared to 2019 and we fell back to just above 40%. 'We are seeing higher absences along with most other businesses and transport providers and it's putting them under a certain amount of pressure. 'But January is generally a quieter month for us anyway, and the testing requirements have knocked back by our recovery by a third. 'So we do have some headroom to absorb those kinds of pressures at the moment, but we're keeping a very close eye on absence levels and trends over the coming weeks.' Australia is heading into a summer washout after the glorious weather that started the year turns into a five day steamy soaking. Hordes of Sydneysiders lapped up the sunshine at popular Bondi Beach on Tuesday but woke up on Wednesday to a drenching - and it's only going to get worse. Hot and humid temperatures are predicted with the arrival of thunderstorms and heavy rain in the next few days. There will be some muggy nights ahead in Sydney with temperatures not getting below 22C while daytime temperatures remain up to 30C despite the rain. Sydneysiders flocked to Bondi Beach (pictured) on Tuesday to enjoy the warm weather Victoria and NSW can expect rain over the next week as the burst of warm summer weather is set to end (pictured: Sydney in December) After weeks of rain surfers and sunseekers have been heading to the beach in droves (pictured: Bondi on Tuesday) Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard told Daily Mail Australia the ex-tropical cyclone Seth causing chaos in Queensland will be to blame for the wet conditions. Mr Pippard said the weather system was 'feeding moisture' into a large trough heading towards Victoria and the middle of NSW. He predicted the deluge in both of the eastern states would begin to deepen on Wednesday and would linger until next Monday. 'We'll start to see heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms across a fairly broad region which includes Melbourne,' the meteorologist said. Bondi Beach was packed with sunseekers desperate to make the most out of the good weather before the rain moved in While Victoria will be hit with rain and thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday, NSW will only receive the 'peripherals' of the wild conditions until Friday. Mr Pippard explained that this is when the trough will start to track across the Sydney region bringing with it sticky temperatures and humidity. Sydney is expected to receive anywhere from 5mm to 25mm of rain on Wednesday, with about 10mm to 15mm forecast for the following day. In Queensland, the lasting effects of ex-tropical cyclone Seth continue to be felt as the weather system edges closer to the coast. The cyclone has seen the closure of 40 beaches along the Gold Coast with Surf Life Saving Queensland deeming the conditions too dangerous for swimmers. Beach-goers were advised to stay out of the water as hazardous surf conditions lashed large parts of the coast and giant waves were measured at 9m. Mr Pippard said the region between Byron Bay and Bundaberg would receive moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. Rain is set to develop for NSW and Victoria over the next week as a cyclone moves over Queensland A cyclone in the Queensland will 'feed moisture' into the southern states over the next week leading to wet and humid conditions Hordes of Sydneysiders were seen soaking up the rays at the popular Bondi Beach during the first days of 2022 on what could be the last sunny day for a week Another tropical low forming in the far north of the Sunshine State near Cooktown could see wet conditions in Cairns and heavy rain in the northern tropics. As for the rest of the country, the meteorologist said the interior of the country would remain dry with most of the deluge hitting the eastern states. Some thunderstorms are forecast around the interior of Western Australia stretching from the Kimberley to the central areas with storms moving north to south. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned water levels could reach or go over the highest tide of the year by at least 0.1metres in northern NSW on Wednesday. Sydney really turned up the heat on Tuesday with thousands of punters flocking to the sand to soak up some rays It wasn't easy work for the life guards with a sea of people swarming the sand and the water at Bondi on Tuesday Areas that could be affected include Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, Ballina, Evans Head, Yamba, Woolgoolga, Settlement Point, Southwest Rocks, Forster and Sawtell. On Monday, a 47-year-old woman tragically drowned at Park Beach in Coffs Harbour, on the NSW Mid-North Coast during a trip with her family. NSW Ambulance Inspector Joel Casey said just before 1pm there were reports of a woman unconscious in the water. Surf Life Saving volunteers found the swimmer struggled in the 'very severe water conditions' and gave her CPR until emergency crews arrived. 'Unfortunately, even with all the resources down here at the beach the 47-year-old has passed away, she was unable to be revived,' Inspector Casey said. Many were in need of the water to cool down as temperatures soared but sadly, the beach plans will have to be put on hold next week Beachgoers braved the sizzling temperatures on Tuesday to work on their tans and take a quick dip Dame Helen Mirren has been criticised after she was cast as Israel's former prime minister Golda Meir despite not being Jewish. Actress Dame Maureen Lipman said Dame Helen should not have been asked to play the Israeli leader, adding that she was uncomfortable with the casting. A publicity image of the film Golda, where Dame Helen portrayed Ms Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, showed Dame Helen covered in prosthetic to look more like the politician. Dame Maureen told the Jewish Chronicle: 'The Jewishness of the character is so integral. I'm sure she will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn't even go there.' Ms Meir was the fourth prime minister of Israel and held the position from 1969 until 1974. It comes after Tamsin Greig told The Daily Telegraph last month she 'probably shouldn't' have played a Jewish mother in Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner. Ms Greig is a practising Christian, although does have Jewish ancestry. Actress Dame Maureen Lipman (left) said Dame Helen Mirren (right) should not have been asked to play the Israeli leader Golda Meir, adding that she was uncomfortable with the casting A publicity image of the film Golda, where Dame Helen portrayed Ms Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, showed Dame Helen covered in prosthetic to look more like the politician. But Patrick Marber, the playwright who directed Sir Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, said he did not think 'lived experience' should be taken into consideration when casting for roles. He said to force actors to have experienced lives similar to the characters they play would deny the actor the challenge and right to impersonate someone else. Sarah Silverman, the US comedian, has previously slammed the casting of non-Jewish actress Kathryn Hahn as Joan Rivers, calling it 'Jewface'. Elliot Levey, who is currently playing a German Jew in Cabaret in the West End, called the argument a 'dystopian nightmare' as he criticised the idea of 'people showing their papers to authenticate Jewish ancestry'. Dame Helen is a supporter of Israel, adding her name to an open letter rejecting a cultural boycott of the country. While promoting her film The Debt, in which she played a retired Mossad agent, she was asked by The New York Times whether she might be 'a secret Jew'. Ms Meir (pictured in 1969) was the fourth prime minister of Israel and held the position from 1969 until 1974 She said she 'wouldn't be surprised'. Last year internet trolls branded Dame Helen racist and described her as a well known Zionist and Israel-worshipper after taking on the role of wartime prime minister Ms Meir. The film, Golda, is set during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 when Arab states attacked Israel. Dame Helen described Meir as a formidable, intransigent and powerful leader and said it was a great challenge to portray her at the most difficult moment of her extraordinary life. But critics on social media described the production as fascism, sick and tasteless. One Twitter user, who said they were Palestinian and proud, wrote: How sick making a biopic on criminal Golda Meir and yes no surprise Helen Mirren the racist is happy to portray the pure distorted version of a disgusting individual. Another wrote: Helen Mirren doing a film about the first female prime minister of Israel is a slap in the face to all the people of Palestine, they are literally celebrating taking over Palestine and taking families out of their homes, murdering children, families! Tasteless film! It comes after Tamsin Greig (pictured right) told The Daily Telegraph last month she 'probably shouldn't' have played a Jewish mother in Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner. Ms Greig is a practising Christian, although does have Jewish ancestry One social-media user said it was hugely disappointing that Helen Mirren is volunteering for this role, while another wrote: More fascism to show how wonderful Israel is. Born in Ukraine in 1898 before moving to the US as a child, Meir made history in 1969 as Israels first female prime minister. She soon provoked international controversy, saying: There were no such thing as Palestinians. Meir faced huge criticism in Israel for failing to adequately prepare for the threat of war, despite receiving word that Syrian forces were gathering for an attack. Following the backlash for her handling of the war, Meir announced her resignation in 1974. She died in 1978 aged 80. Dame Helen has faced criticism in the past for saying that she was a believer in Israel and that she rejected calls to boycott the country. The film also stars Call My Agent! actress Camille Cottin as Meirs personal assistant and Israeli Lior Ashkenazi as her chief of staff. South Korean rapper Dok2 has appealed a court ruling ordering him to pay an unpaid bill to a jeweler in Los Angeles, court officials said Wednesday. Last month, the 31-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Lee Joon-kyung, was ordered by the Seoul Southern District Court to pay 41.2 million won ($34,740) and interest on the unpaid bill. The jeweler sued Dok2 in September 2020, claiming the rapper had not paid that amount of money when he purchased seven pieces of jewelry worth $206,000 in 2018. The jeweler previously filed a complaint against Illionaire Records, a local record label co-founded by Dok2, in October 2019 but lost the suit, as the court did not hold the hip-hop label responsible for the rapper's debt. Dok2 stepped down as the CEO of the now-closed Illionaire Records in November 2019 and left the label in February 2020. Last year, Dok2 signed with Last Kings Records, a record label established by American rapper Tyga, and said he plans to make music in the United States. (Yonhap) Australia is signing an historic defence pact with Japan to counter China's aggression just six weeks before the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a treaty would be signed between the two nations during a virtual leaders' summit on January 6. His new Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida will be adding his signature just three months after he took over as Prime Minister, following Yoshihide Suga's troubled one-year stint as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The signing of the defence and security co-operation agreement is occurring six weeks before the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, commemorating February 19, 1942. During World War II, Japan was Australia's most ferocious enemy, dropping bombs on Darwin during 64 air raids between February 1942 and November 1943 that killed 252 Allied soldiers and civilians. Australia is signing an historic defence pact with Japan to counter China's aggression just six weeks before the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. Fumio Kishida (pictured) will be adding his signature just three months after he took over as Japan's Prime Minister, following Yoshihide Suga troubled one-year stint as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Despite that history, and the torture and forced labour of Australian prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma railway after the fall of Singapore, Mr Morrison said 'Australia and Japan are the closest of friends'. Since the end of the war, Japan has been restricted to only using its military for self-defence purposes but its defence capabilities are being tested as China militarises the South China Sea. 'This landmark treaty will underpin greater and more complex practical engagement between the Australian Defence Force and the Japanese Self-Defence Forces,' Mr Morrison said in a statement. 'It will, for the first time, provide a clear framework for enhanced interoperability and co-operation between our two forces.' An in-principle Reciprocal Access Agreement between Australia and Japan was agreed to in November 2020, to enable more defence co-operation. The treaty signing on Thursday will formalise that. Mr Morrison and Mr Kishida, as leaders of centre-right political parties, are negotiating closer defence ties to counter the rise of a more assertive China under the Communist leadership of President Xi Jinping. 'Our Special Strategic Partnership is stronger than it has ever been, reflecting our shared values, our commitment to democracy and human rights, and our common interests in a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific region,' Mr Morrison said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a treaty would be signed between the two nations during a virtual leaders' summit on January 6 (he is pictured in Washington on September 24, 2021 attending a Quad summit with the US, India and Japan) The signing of the defence and security co-operation agreement is occurring less than six weeks before the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. During World War II, Japan was Australia's most ferocious enemy, dropping bombs on Darwin during 64 air raids between February 1942 (the remains of burning ship 80 years ago, pictured) and November 1943 that killed 252 Allied soldiers and civilians China wasn't mentioned in Mr Morrison's media statement but he mentioned the Quad arrangement with Japan, India and the United States to advance renewable energy technology. Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said the treaty would see Australia and Japan access each others military facilities along with ports and air strips. Mr Jennings said a defence pact between Australia and Japan would stymie China's attempts to move Association of Southeast Asian Nation members away from the world's democracies to 'weaken their regional cooperation'. Now Mr Morrison and Mr Fumio, as leaders of centre-right political parties, are negotiating closer defence ties to counter the rise of a more assertive China under the Communist leadership of President Xi Jinping (pictured are People's Liberation Army soldiers standing in front of a giant screen of the Chinese Communist Party leader) 'By aligning our diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia, we strengthen our chances to stop Beijing turning the region into a series of isolated client states,' he said in an opinion piece. From 1967 to 2008, Japan was Australia's biggest trading partner until China took over that role. Almost a century ago, Japan was the aggressor in Asia culminating in the 1931 invasion of Manchuria in China. Now there are fears China could military invade Taiwan, an autonomous democratic island state, to bring it under its direct control. It's an expression used by younger generations in place of the perfectly serviceable phrase youre welcome. No worries has now been included in an annual list of sayings that academics argue should be banished for being ineffective, baffling or irritating. They took particular aim at the Australian saying, which was popularised by the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee. Despite describing the phrase as meaningless, academics said that it now enjoys such widespread use that Googles predictive text function even suggests users write it in emails. No worries has now been included in an annual list of sayings that academics argue should be banished for being ineffective, baffling or irritating After choosing from entries submitted by pedants across the globe, judges from Lake Superior State University, in Michigan, also added the phrase at the end of the day as well as you are not alone to its top ten. A contributor to the list said: If Im not worried, I dont want anyone telling me not to worry. If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset. The US university received more than 1,250 nominations for bothersome phrases. University president Rodney S Hanley said: Say what you mean and mean what you say. Cant get any easier, or harder, than that. While last years list was dominated by phrases related to the pandemic, most of this years entries are conversational. Judges picked the phrase wait, what? as the most offensive term, saying the two words should never be used together. Widely used on social media, the panel said the phrase was misused and overused as a response to a statement to express astonishment, misunderstanding, or disbelief. No worries was first recorded in 1965 in the Australian magazine, Oz, and experts say that the phrase became popular after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and through the TV work of zookeeper Steve Irwin. It is now widely used in both the UK and US. The rollout of the Covid vaccine for kids between the ages of five and 11 has begun in Australia as authorities battle to contain rising transmission rates among children. Covid-19 vaccines will go into the arms of five to 11-year-olds across the country from Monday, but as of Wednesday parents can start booking their children in for their vaccine online or over the phone. The new vaccination drive comes amid rising cases of the virus in children, with infection rates in Victoria increasing from 2 per cent to 30 per cent in just a month. There were also 325 childcare centres closed due to exposure to Covid in NSW on Wednesday. The rollout of the Covid vaccine for kids between the ages of five and 11 has begun in Australia as bookings for the weakened jab opens to the public (file image) A Covid-19 testing station in Hindmarsh, Adelaide. The new vaccination drive comes amid rising cases of the virus in children How to book your child a vaccine appointment: Those wanting to book in their child for a vaccination are encouraged to visit the Vaccine Clinic Finder website Once there, parents can type in their address and find the nearest clinic which offers the jabs. Alternatively those in each state can visit their local GPs or health clinics NSW: Visit a NSW Health clinic or find a location near you on the Vaccine Clinic Finder Victoria: Bookings are available at Victorian GPs and pharmacies using the Australian Governments Vaccine Clinic Finder and at state vaccination centres ACT: Parents can ring (02) 5124 7700, between 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week to book in their child at a vaccination centre or use the Vaccine Clinic Finder to book in at a GP WA: Parents can register for their children to book a vaccination online through the VaccinateWA site SA: Appointments can be booked on the state government's website and are available at most GPs, pharmacies and clinics NT: Bookings are available online through the state government's Covid-19 website Tasmania: Parents can book appointments for special childrens clinics by visiting the booking page or calling the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738. Queensland: Parents can create a 'dependent person' in the Queensland Health vaccine booking system and use the Vaccine Clinic Finder to book their child in Advertisement Children in the five to 11 age bracket will be given two doses eight weeks apart. Each dose will be a third as strong as the vaccines given to those over the age of 12. In Victoria, 18 state-run vaccination centres have created nature and animal-themed areas for the children to make them more comfortable while getting the jab. The vaccine is a special formulation and will be delivered in doses small enough to generate an immune response that's as strong as a full adult dose. The aim is to prevent them from developing severe illness or transmitting the virus to another person. 'I know many parents will be very keen to get their children vaccinated so they can join the rest of us and face a future with more confidence,' Victoria's Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said. NSW Chief Paediatrician Matthew O'Meara said the weakened vaccine has been tested on thousands of children first and second doses have been given in other countries and is safe for children aged between five and 11. Dr O'Meara said any side effects were minor. 'Many kids complain about a bit of a sore arm for a day or two afterwards,' he said. 'But the headache, muscle ache, fever, chills and nausea ... is pretty uncommon in children and can be managed with the usual pain-relieving medications.' Dr O'Meara acknowledged parents may be weighing up the risks and benefits of giving a young child a vaccine but stressed Covid-19 was usually mild in children. 'In fact, many children will have no symptoms at all and a large number will have mild symptoms of a cough, cold, runny nose and fever that lasts up to five days.' But some children can become seriously ill and require hospitalisation if they aren't vaccinated. About one or two in every 100 would need to go to hospital and one in 1000 would end up in intensive care. 'We expect those numbers to be lower with the Omicron strain but it's still not an entirely benign disease,' Dr O'Meara said. Premier Dominic Premier says the rollout will ensure schools open on time for the first day of the new term in 2022. 'We want a seamless transition back into the school year,' he added. Currently, vaccinations are offered to children aged 12 to 15 and so far 81.4 per cent have had their first dose and 78 per cent have had two. Minister for Health Greg Hunt. Covid-19 vaccines will go into the arms of five to 11-year-olds from Monday In the 16 years and older cohort - which includes adults - 95 per cent have had one dose and 93.6 per cent have had two. NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said the vaccine take-up in the 12-15 years group had been 'really rapid' and she'd like to see the same again in the five- to 11-year-old cohort. Those wishing to book a vaccine for their children online can visit this website here. Compare the relative magnitude of these Prime Ministerial wrongdoings. Boris Johnson allowed a couple of cheese and wine parties to be held at Downing Street, in possible contravention of Covid restrictions. Tony Blair, via his chief of staff Jonathan Powell, allegedly ordered ministers to destroy advice from the attorney-general that the Iraq war could be illegal. He then gulled Parliament into backing military action via a 'dodgy dossier' of doctored evidence a deception that ultimately cost countless lives. And the upshot? Mr Johnson's howling critics say he should resign. Mr Blair has been elevated to the Order of the Garter and is now entitled to call himself Sir Tony. Tony Blair, via his chief of staff Jonathan Powell, allegedly ordered ministers to destroy advice from the attorney-general that the Iraq war could be illegal What bizarre times we live in. We don't seek to absolve Mr Johnson. Those who make the rules must abide by them. But his crime was essentially carelessness. Mr Blair's was a deliberate plot to mislead the country into backing an illegal war. So by what twisted logic could he possibly deserve Britain's highest chivalric honour? In a poignant letter to the Queen, the mothers of five soldiers killed in Afghanistan (Mr Blair's other ill-fated war) beg her to rescind the knighthood, which they say 'tramples on our sons' sacrifice'. If he had a shred of dignity, he would give it up voluntarily. But of course he won't, because he refuses to acknowledge the enormity of his sins. Ex-defence secretary Geoff Hoon (pictured), who says he was one of those ordered to destroy the Iraq legal advice, also accuses the Downing Street press office, then run by Alastair Campbell, of bolstering the case for war by telling newspapers Saddam could fire missiles into UK bases in Cyprus within 45 minutes a claim later demolished Ex-defence secretary Geoff Hoon, who says he was one of those ordered to destroy the Iraq legal advice, also accuses the Downing Street press office, then run by Alastair Campbell, of bolstering the case for war by telling newspapers Saddam could fire missiles into UK bases in Cyprus within 45 minutes a claim later demolished. Last month, that same Mr Campbell launched a searing Twitter attack on Mr Johnson. He wrote: 'When you elect a liar as PM, and when those who work for him have to lie to cover up his lies, it will eventually unravel.' Well, if anyone should know, it's him. Going to pot on drugs Insanity, Einstein said, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In which case, London mayor Sadiq Khan's plan to decriminalise cannabis possession is surely a descent into madness. A similar scheme was tried in Lambeth some years ago with baleful effect. The police stood off, dealers took control of the streets and 'drug tourists' flocked into the area. Residents suffered a sharp spike in crime and demanded action. The police had to recant and enforce a strict zero-tolerance policy on drugs to restore order. Insanity, Einstein said, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In which case, London mayor Sadiq Khan's plan to decriminalise cannabis possession is surely a descent into madness Cannabis is not a 'soft' drug. Countless studies have linked it especially in its stronger forms to severe mental illness. Decriminalisation would be an act of extreme recklessness. Ironically, Mr Khan made his announcement on the very day his party leader Sir Keir Starmer was promising in a keynote speech to make people feel safer in the streets. As history shows, this hare-brained scheme would do exactly the opposite. Cut this house arrest Soaring infections (218,724 yesterday) alongside falling death rates perfectly illustrate how staff shortages in key areas are becoming a bigger problem than coronavirus itself. Several hospital trusts are struggling, not primarily because of a surge in Covid patients, but as so many staff are having to isolate, many with trivial symptoms. With absenteeism rising dangerously across all industries and services, it's surely time to reassess the quarantine period. It has already been cut from ten days to seven. Shouldn't we emulate the US, France and Greece and reduce it to five for those who test negative? A senior minister sacked by Boris Johnson has pleaded with Tory MPs not to force the Prime Minister out. Former trade secretary Liam Fox said it was the wrong time to launch a leadership challenge that would result in division and paralysis. This is a time for the whole Government to concentrate its efforts on the substantial tasks at hand rather than engaging in a bout of navel-gazing, Dr Fox wrote on the Conservative Home website. In a swipe at those around Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who are said to be plotting to overthrow Boris Johnson, he added: We do not need potential candidates forming shadow campaign teams. Former trade secretary Liam Fox (pictured) said it was the wrong time to launch a leadership challenge that would result in division and paralysis His intervention came as an Ipsos Mori poll found an overwhelming majority of voters believe the Government is doing a bad job on the NHS, crime, borders and the economy. Respondents said the Prime Minister was failing to manage the economy, handle Brexit and solve issues of immigration after being elected in 2019. The one positive was that those surveyed said ministers were doing a good job of ensuring the public are vaccinated against Covid. The polling found that 70 per cent of people said they were doing a bad job on the NHS. On handling immigration 73per cent of those polled said the Government had done a bad job of managing immigration, while just 14 per cent said it had done a good job. Well over half of respondents said Mr Johnsons administration had done a bad job of dealing with crime (59 per cent), handling Brexit (57 per cent) and pursuing its levelling up agenda (66 per cent). His intervention came as an Ipsos Mori poll found an overwhelming majority of voters believe the Government is doing a bad job on the NHS, crime, borders and the economy The Government also fared badly on the economy (49per cent), taxation (58per cent) and education (55 per cent). But despite these negative impressions, voters have responded positively to the UKs Covid vaccine roll-out. Eighty-four per cent of the 1,005 people polled between December 3 and 10 said the Government had done a good job on the vaccine roll-out, with only 11 per cent saying it had done a bad job. It comes after weeks of bad headlines following claims a series of Christmas parties were held in Number 10 and Government departments despite the public being banned from holding their own, and sleaze allegations about ministers. A Philadelphia man has been freed after spending 37 years in prison after police offered a witness sex and drugs in exchange for a false testimony which they used to close a murder case. Willie Stokes, 61, was convicted of murder in 1984 and freed Tuesday after an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorneys office revealed a key witness lied during his trial and, subsequently, Stokes did not get due process. 'Hes only known for a half hour he was going to be released, this isnt something that we expected,' his attorney Michael Diamondstein told CBS 3 outside the prison. 'Today is a tremendous day. We're all very thankful. However, it's also a sad day, because it reminds us of how lawless, unfair and unjust Philadelphia law enforcement was for so long.' When Stokes walked out of the state prison Tuesday, he was reportedly eager to hug his mother and enjoy a corned beef hoagie. His mother, unfortunately, was not present for his release because she was 'too nervous' to come after several earlier disappointments. Stokes, however, was greeted by other family members instead. Willie Stokes, 61, was freed from a Pennsylvania state prison after serving 37 years for murder Last month, a federal court found that Franklin Lee, a key witness in Stokes' murder trial, had lied in court after detectives allegedly offered a witness sex and drugs at police headquarters in 1983 in exchange for false testimony. Lee was charged with perjury just days after Stokes was convicted of murder in 1984, but Stokes didn't learn about the perjury plea until 2015, decades into a life sentence. 'The homicide prosecutors that used Franklin Lee's testimony to convict Willie Stokes then prosecuted Franklin Lee for lying on Willie Stokes. And they never told Willie Stokes,' Diamondstein argued at the November hearing in federal court. The US magistrate who heard the appeal called the omission an 'egregious violation of (Stokes') constitutional rights,' and a US district judge agreed, overturning the conviction last week. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose office has championed about two dozen exoneration cases, supports Stokes but has not yet formally decided whether to retry him. That decision should come before a scheduled Jan. 26 hearing in state court, a spokesperson said. Stokes (seen leaving the prison on Tuesday) was convicted of murder in 1984 and freed Tuesday after an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorneys office revealed a key witness lied during his trial and, subsequently, Stokes did not get due process The witness was charged with perjury just days after Stokes (pictured Tuesday) was convicted of murder in 1984, but Stokes didn't learn about the perjury plea until 2015, decades into a life sentence Meanwhile, both officers who allegedly offered Lee the sex-for-lies deal are now deceased. The one surviving prosecutor, now in private practice, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday. However, he has given a statement saying he doesn't remember either case, according to court files. Philadelphia police offered no immediate comment on the case. Lee was in custody on unrelated rape and murder charges at the time of Stokes' trial, and said he was also promised a light sentence for providing the false testimony, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which first reported on the case. 'I fell weak and went along with the offer,' Lee told a federal judge in November, recalling his testimony at a May 1984 preliminary hearing when he claimed Stokes, a neighborhood friend, had confessed to killing a man during a dice game named Leslie Campbell. His attorney Michael Diamondstein (left) argued during appeal process that Stokes (center) was never told the witness had committed perjury. The US magistrate who heard the appeal called the omission an 'egregious violation of Stokes' constitutional rights' In federal court testimony last November, Lee said his girlfriend - who detectives summoned to have sex with him at police headquarters back in 1983 and who was allowed to bring marijuana and a few dozen opioid pills - told his mother about the deal he'd struck. His mother told the woman not to go down to the station again. Instead, police secured him a sex worker the next time, Lee said. 'Once I talked to my mother, she told me, "I didn't raise you like that, to lie on a man because you got yourself in a jam,''' Lee testified, according to the transcript. 'She said, "I couldn't care if they give you 1,000 years. Go in there and tell the truth." And that's what I did.' Despite the fact that Lee recanted the confession story at Stokes' murder trial in August 1984, Stokes was still convicted and sent to prison for life. Stokes said he was eager to hug his mother, Gloria Stokes (pictured at her Philadelphia home waiting for her son to be released), and enjoy a corned beef hoagie Stokes (center) walks from a state prison in Chester, Pennsylvania on Tuesday after his 1984 murder conviction was overturned because of perjured witness testimony Days later, Philadelphia prosecutors charged Lee with perjury - not over his trial testimony, but over the initial testimony he'd given at the preliminary hearing. Lee pleaded guilty, admitting he'd made up the confession, and was sentenced to a maximum seven-year prison term. He ended up serving 35 years on the rape, murder and perjury charges. He got out of prison two years ago and now works as an assembly line supervisor. Lee apologized to Stokes last November in court 'for the problem I caused.' 'I'm going to take his tears to indicate he's accepting the apology,' US Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells said. Experts fear true number of infections is higher after dozens failed to get tested At least 17 private testing clinics failed to open as planned causing major delays Sunshine State recorded 6,781 new cases up from 5,699 detected on Tuesday Covid-19 cases have risen again in Queensland with 265 people in hospital Queensland has recorded 6,781 new Covid-19 cases, a significant uptick from the 5,699 cases detected on Tuesday. There are now 32,000 active cases across the Sunshine State, but health authorities say the figure is much higher due to queues at testing clinics and the time it is taking to receive results. There are currently 265 people in hospital with the virus including 10 patients in ICU, a positive sign the number of admissions remains steady. Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard reassured Queenslanders that the majority would only experience mild symptoms as case numbers explode across the state. 'The vast majority of us, particularly if we are young and healthy and don't have underlying immune disorders, or major medical conditions, will have a mild illness when we acquire Covid-19,' Dr Gerrard said on Wednesday. Queensland has recorded 6,781 new Covid-19 cases, a significant uptick from the 5,699 cases detected on Tuesday (pictured, a woman leaves a testing site on Tuesday) There are now 32,000 active cases across the Sunshine State, but health authorities say that figure is much higher due to queues at testing clinics and test wait times (pictured, queues outside a testing clinic in Annerley on Sunday) The rise in cases comes as huge lines formed at Queensland Health testing clinics for a second consecutive day after a number of private hubs remain shut. At least 17 private testing clinics failed to open as planned on Tuesday morning, putting public sites under pressure. It is understood two QML testing sites, at Boondall in northern Brisbane and Robina on the Gold Coast, have again closed on Wednesday. Queensland Health said it didn't have information about which private clinics were shut or the waiting times at clinics run by individual hospital and health services. 'It's really important to highlight the spread of the virus and that of course, we will see an increase in testing as a result of how infectious Omicron is,' a spokesman said. There are currently 265 people in hospital with the virus and only 10 patients in ICU (pictured, people shield themselves from the sun while waiting to get tested in Brisbane) At least 17 private testing clinics failed to open as planned on Tuesday morning, putting public hubs under pressure (pictured, locals are tested in Brisbane) Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said a 'significant' number of people were lining up and queueing in traffic for tests in the southeast, where temperatures are set to reach 29C. 'But what we're asking, of course, is that the community tries to exercise patience,' he told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning. 'As I said, those people I saw this morning are probably in for a long wait, and it's pretty hot. It's important they get tested but they need to exercise patience.' Health Minister Yvette D'Ath on Tuesday said it was extremely hard to ramp up capacity at public clinics because staff would need to be taken out of hospitals. Ms D'ath expressed frustration at private clinics which failed to advise the government that they wouldn't be opening. Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said it was extremely hard to ramp up capacity at public clinics because staff would need to be taken out of hospitals (pictured, queues at Brisbane sites) Pathology group QML closed eight drive-through clinics due to staff shortages while other resources were redirected to emergency testing at aged care sites. The health minister said the miscommunication left authorities unprepared and caused extensive wait times for residents wishing to get tested. 'We reached out to them to see how many were opening and if they could open of course we want them opening up as quickly as possible,' she said. 'My understanding is that we reached out to all the private pathologists to talk about them opening up after the Christmas break.' Ms D'Ath urged residents to come forward for their second jab after stating the state's second dose rate 'should be higher right now'. 'There are some people in Queensland now who are eligible for their second dose who have not come forward,' she said. When the Sunshine State hits the 90 per cent double-dose rate, unrestricted interstate and international travel will become available for those who are vaccinated. As of Wednesday, 86.9 per cent of Queenslanders were fully vaccinated. Residents have been asked to exercise patients while waiting in testing lines across Queensland (pictured, residents wait to get swabbed in Brisbane suburb of Annerley) It comes after Dr Gerrard revealed the highly-contagious Omicron variant had forced health authorities back to the drawing board to come up with a new approach. 'The Omicron strain really has changed everything,' he said. 'I know it sounds like a cliche, but that has completely changed all the planning. 'When one person is on average infecting between seven and 10 others that bares no resemblance to the Covid we've been dealing with right up until now.' Epidemiologists warned Wednesday's 6,781 new cases is just fraction of the active cases in the community after hundreds struggled to get a PCR test this week. Dr Gerrard reported 23 per cent of the tests conducted at state-run clinics were coming back positive which indicates a high level of community transmission. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared a two-week state of emergency in the Central Asian nation's biggest city Almaty and in the western Mangistau province where protests over rising energy prices turned violent, his office said today. The move includes an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, movement restrictions, and a ban on mass gatherings, according to documents published on the president's website. 'Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal,' Tokayev said in a video address a few hours earlier. 'The government will not fall, but we want mutual trust and dialogue rather than conflict.' The southeastern city of Almaty, Kazakhstan's financial capital, was in chaos from late on Tuesday as police fired tear gas and stun grenades to quell unrest that began in the west of the country over a spike in local prices for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). The oil-rich country's government announced late on Tuesday it was restoring some price caps on LPG, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared a two-week state of emergency in the Central Asian nation's biggest city Almaty and in the western Mangistau province where protests turned violent, his office said early on Wednesday. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades in a bid to break up an unprecedented thousands-strong march in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, after protests that began over fuel prices threatened to spiral out of control A police car was set on fire on fire during clashes between protesters and law enforcement in the centre of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022 Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1. After the price of the fuel spiked, rallies involving thousands of people erupted on Jan. 2 in the town of Zhanaozen. Zhanaozen was the scene of the deadliest unrest since the republic gained independence in 1991, when at least 14 striking oil workers were killed in 2011 as police crushed a protest over pay and working conditions. Demonstrations spread to other parts of surrounding Mangistau province and western Kazakhstan, including provincial centre Aktau and a worker camp used by sub-contractors of Kazakhstan's biggest oil producer, Tengizchevroil. The Chevron-led venture said output had not been affected. Messenger apps Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp were all unavailable in the Central Asian country on Wednesday, while two independent media websites that reported on the protests appeared to have been blocked. Smaller protests had been staged in cities across the republic of 19 million people from Sunday. Demonstrators try to block a police bus during a protest in the centre of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 A view shows a burning police car during a protest against LPG cost rise following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022 In Almaty, police appeared to have taken control of the main square shortly after deploying flashbang grenades, according to online video streams from the area. But explosions were heard for hours on nearby streets and in other parts of the city. Videos published online showed torched police cars in the city, as well as armoured vehicles moving through one of its main thoroughfares. On Tuesday evening, the government announced it was restoring the price cap of 50 tenge (11 cents) per litre, or less than half the market price, in Mangistau province. Public protests are illegal in the country of 19 million unless their organisers file a notice in advance. Tokayev, the hand-picked successor of Soviet-era Communist boss Nursultan Nazarbayev who stepped down in 2019, faces no political opposition in parliament. The president said on Twitter on Tuesday that he would hold a government meeting the following day to discuss the protesters' demands. He urged protesters to behave responsibly. Protesters attend a rally in Almaty on January 4, 2022, after energy price hikes Tokayev took office in 2019, handpicked as a successor by Nazarbayev, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. But Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989, retains control over the country as chairman of the security council and 'Leader of the Nation' -- a constitutional role that affords him unique policymaking privileges as well as immunity from prosecution. Spontaneous, unsanctioned protests are illegal in Kazakhstan despite a law that passed last year easing some restrictions of freedom of assembly in the authoritarian state. A massive 2.8trillion would be added to the savings of Britain's workforce if more people were automatically given company pensions, a report claims today. Current 'auto-enrolment' rules should be expanded to include all employees over 18 rather than 22 as well as those who earn under 10,000, the Onward think-tank argues. It claims the move would help huge numbers of part-time workers and young apprentices. Tory MP Richard Holden is bringing draft legislation today to make the reform happen years before the Government plans. Tory MP Richard Holden (pictured) is bringing draft legislation today to make the reform happen years before the Government plans He said: 'Auto-enrolment has been one of the massive hidden triumphs of the last decade in the UK, but sadly millions of hard-working British people aren't benefitting because they're under 22 or simply not working enough hours. I want to change that. 'In 2017 the Government said that it would look at extending auto-enrolment by the mid-2020s but to hit those dates we need legislation now to make it happen and allow business time to phase in these important changes. That's what my Bill will do. 'Nothing could show clearer intent towards long-term levelling up than ensuring that everyone who works hard will see a safer and more secure retirement and I hope that the Government backs my campaign for action now.' Under the policy - introduced in 2012 - to automatically enrol millions of workers into pension schemes run by their employers unless they opt out, the proportion of people with private savings has soared from under half to more than three-quarters. But it is limited to staff aged 22 and above and who earn more than 10,000 a year, which excludes large numbers of part-time workers as well as young employees who miss out on several years of contributions to their retirement savings. The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Bill will be set out in the Commons today but is unlikely to become law unless it gains Ministerial support - and the Department for Work and Pensions does not plan to expand automatic enrolment until the mid-2020s. Hare coursing will attract tougher sentences of up to six months in prison as part of a crackdown. The act of hunting brown hares, a declining species, with dogs is associated with theft, criminal damage, violence and intimidation of landowners who challenge the criminals. Proposed legislation includes unlimited fines and for the first time a prison sentence of up to six months. A dog chases a hare on the first day of the Waterloo Cup hare coursing event at Altcar, in 2005. As a result of anti-hunting laws it was one of Britain's last major hare coursing events Courts will have new powers to ensure police are reimbursed for kennelling dogs and to disqualify convicted offenders from owning or keeping a dog. Tim Bonner, Countryside Alliance chief executive, said hare poaching has been a blight on rural communities for far too long. He added: Despite their best efforts, police forces across the country struggle to tackle hare poachers and we have long campaigned to give them and the courts additional powers. The measures will apply to England. There will be discussions with the Welsh government over their application there. Those most severely affected by the illegal activity are farmers. Coursing can cause immense damage to the farm as coursers illegally often damage fences and security features, once on the land crops can be trampled and damaged, livestock will be spooked or chased, and fields can be spoiled by both car tracks and discarded hare carcases. Environment Secretary George Eustice said: There are persistent groups who illegally perpetuate hare coursing, creating challenges for the police. The act of hunting brown hares, a declining species, with dogs is associated with theft, criminal damage, violence and intimidation of landowners who challenge the criminals These new measures will give the police the additional powers to bring prosecutions and confiscate dogs from owners involved in hare coursing. Home Secretary Priti Patel said: Illegal hare coursing has blighted rural communities for too long, resulting in criminal damage, threating violence and intimidation against farmers and landowners. Those responsible are often involved in other criminal activities - including drugs and firearms offences. I have been a longstanding supporter for essential reforms to our laws to stop hare coursing which is why we will act to prevent more people from suffering as a result of the actions of a law-breaking minority. The cast of the musical, "The Lion King" / Courtesy of S&Co By Park Ji-won This year's event schedule for theatrical performances is filled with large-scale musicals, as well as new works that have been waiting for the right time to be presented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original musical, "Lion King," of Disney fame, one of the most successful stage shows in history, will embark on its Seoul tour between Jan. 26 and March 18 at the Seoul Arts Center, followed by Busan in April. The original songs of the musical, composed by Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, and featuring other works by musicians, such as African composer Lebo, first presented its international tour in Korea in 2018 and tickets sold out. This tour will be the musical's first international run since it was presented in Auckland, New Zealand, last year. The original French production of the musical, "Notre Dame de Paris," which has been running since November of last year, will hit the stage again in Korea between February and April at Blue Square Shinhancard Hall in Seoul as an encore show. Cirque du Soleil's "Alegria" will be also presented at Jamsil Olympic Stadium from Oct. 21 to Jan. 3. EMK, one of the leading production companies here, will premiere the musical, "Frida," portraying the life of painter Frida Kahlo, at the Sejong Center for the Performing arts from February to May, as part of its efforts to make more musicals for smaller theaters. The licensed musical, "Jekyll Hyde," based on the 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, has been running from Oct. 19 to May. 8 at Charlotte Theater in Jamsil, Seoul. The Korean production of "West Side Story," the landmark musical inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, will premiere in November at Chungmu Arts Center in Seoul. Kim Dong-yeon will direct the performance jointly with Julio Monge. The musical adaptation of "Crash Landing on You," the megahit Netflix original Korean series, will also premiere at COEX Artium, Seoul, from Sept. 15 to Nov. 6. "Hotel del Luna," the tvN drama, will also be adapted into musical format within this year. The poster for the play, "Freud's Last Session" / Courtesy of Park Company A group of beekeepers were arrested in Chile when police officers were stung at a protest calling for support for the beleaguered industry. The keepers swarmed the presidential palace in the capital, Santiago, demanding government help after a prolonged drought, which has ravaged the industry. Seven officers were stung after being sent in to clear some 60 hives containing around 10,000 bees set up to block a main road. Passers-by were forced to duck and flee as bees escaped when police officers tried to move them. Beekeepers in Chile who demanded government measures to face the persistent drought that affects the country are detained by riot police The beekeepers want government reform to improve honey prices or to provide subsidies to honey producers. They have asked to meet with President Sebastian Pinera. One of the beekeepers, Jose Iturra, told local reporters that the drought in the Colina commune north of Santiago was killing the local bee population. 'Bees are dying,' Mr Iturra said. 'There would be no life if the bees die. That's what we wanted to highlight with this demonstration.' A representative for the Ministry of Agriculture in the Santiago region said the agency was also concerned about the effect the drought was having on the bees. The government has been providing aid for months to 20 communities experiencing severe water shortages, Omar Guzman, the regional agricultural secretary, told reporters. Bees fly around riot police during the protest outside the presidential palace in Santiago, Chile Some passers-by were alarmed by the risk the bees posed to the public. 'It's dangerous for the people who are allergic (to bees) because they can cause death,' one local said. Seven national police officers, called Carabiniers, were stung trying to arrest the beekeepers and move the beehives out of the street, police officials said, and were taken to the hospital. Droughts and rising temperatures from climate change have affected bee populations worldwide. A 2020 study published in the journal Science found that populations fell by around 50% in North America and 17% in Europe in one generation. Controversial US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has called on Republicans to quit Twitter after she was banned from the social media network - and accused it of 'declaring war' on the GOP. Speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News on Tuesday night, Greene urged her followers to leave the social network and to follow her on other platforms instead such as Gab and Gettr. 'We don't have control right now so Republicans in congress can't do anything for these American people that are sitting silent. 'But when a private company that is not elected by anyone in this country declares war on a sitting member of congress and a sitting president that both happen to be both from the Republican party it is up to leadership to do something about this,' Greene, 47, started. Marjorie Taylor Greene has said her Twitter ban means the platform has declared war on the GOP 'I'm asking everybody to leave Twitter. Twitter has declared war on our party. Are we just going to sit there and say let's wait until we get the majority back? When we get full control of the going to pass laws to stop this? Nothing's been done in the past and nothing is being done now,' she continued. 'I went to Gettr, Gab and Telegram. I think everybody should leave and I am asking my entire conference to do it. You don't keep eating bad food at a restaurant. When you do, you get up and leave and go somewhere else where you are treated well. 'The reason why I'm going about this on my own is because I care about the American people. I think they should do the same thing. We can make Twitter powerless if we all decide to leave.' Greene appeared on Tucker Carlson where she urged her followers to join her on Gab, Gettr and Telegram social media platforms Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene joins @TuckerCarlson to talk about Twitters decision to permanently suspend her. pic.twitter.com/mDUcftxIGi Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 5, 2022 Greene's personal Twitter account was permanently banned after she shared COVID misinformation last week. The Georgia GOP rep's account - @mtgreenee - was ultimately axed on Sunday. The Georgia Rep's personal account was suspended Sunday, Twitter confirmed Greene's personal account was suspended on Sunday, as seen in this grab, after Twitter previously said On Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a statement supporting Greene. 'Diversity of opinion is the lifeblood of our democracy,' claimed McCarthy, R-Calif. 'And yet that fundamental American value is under assault by Big Tech entities that have amassed more power and more control over more speech than any other institution in history.' 'Their recent decisions to silence Americans including a sitting member of Congress and renowned physicians who share views different from the political and media elite have real world costs.' 'In fact, as we get more information on the virus it is clear many of the views once demonized by technology companies and the political elite are turning out to be true. The doctrines of lockdowns, school closures, and the threat of covid-19 illness according to age groups and previous infection are currently being reversed,' said McCarthy. Her official work account remains live but she has not tweeted from it since December 24 Greene's final tweets show her railing at what she blasted as government overreach about COVID and discussing how life had changed since the virus hit US shores. Greene, who is also known for espousing QAnon conspiracy theories, still has access to her work account, @RepMTG, where she last posted on Christmas Eve. 'Twitter is an enemy to America and cant handle the truth. That's fine, Ill show America we dont need them and its time to defeat our enemies,' she said in a statement on the encrypted messaging app Telegram sent to the media by her communications director, Nick Dyer. Greene added: 'Social media platforms cant stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech cant stop the truth. Communist Democrats cant stop the truth. 'I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!' This is the fifth strike for Greene on Twitter who was last suspended in August for saying that vaccines were 'failing' to reduce the spread of COVID and that the FDA shouldn't have approved them. She got her third strike in July after tweeting that COVID wasn't dangerous. She was also suspended in January, days after the Capitol riot, for tweets echoing conspiracy theories about voter fraud in her home state of Georgia. Two or three strikes earn a 12-hour account lock; four strikes prompt a weeklong suspension, and five or more strikes can get someone permanently removed from Twitter. Twitter has a five-strike policy for users who spread COVID-19 misinformation. The latest strike appears to have been her last Greene, 47, has faced repeated criticism over her use of social media to spread misinformation Greene tweeted in August that the FDA should not approve the COVID vaccines because there were 'too many reports' of breakthrough cases. Twitter marked the tweet misleading and blocked users from interacting with it A Twitter spokesperson said: 'We permanently suspended @mtrgreene for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. Weve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.' In a statement released by her office, Greene said she was suspended for sharing a tweet citing numbers from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a self-reporting tool for vaccine side effects managed by the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration. Greene's suspension comes almost a year after Donald Trump was permanently suspended days after the January 6 riot. Last month, Greene, 47, compared COVID to cancer in a four tweet thread calling for Americans to take a more laid back attitude to the virus. Greene has also taken repeated aim at White House COVID tsar Dr Anthony Fauci, and even shared snaps of herself wearing a face mask emblazoned with the words 'Fire Fauci.' When her account was suspended in August 2021, a Twitter spokesperson said: 'The account will be in read-only mode for a week due to repeated violations of the Twitter rules' but now it is appears her suspension is for the foreseeable future. Sir Chris Whitty said he was 'saddened' by proportion of unvaccinated in ICU A requirement for booster jabs to travel to other countries is likely to come into force within weeks, Boris Johnson has warned. Speaking at the Downing St press briefing last night, the Prime Minister said a third dose to enter foreign countries was likely to become 'the norm' very soon - as he urged people to come forward and get vaccinated. He added that the Government would 'give people plenty of time' before requiring a third jab for vaccine passports in the UK. 'It's already the case that to travel to some countries you need a booster to be considered fully vaccinated,' Mr Johnson added, saying: 'It's likely that within weeks this will increasingly become the norm.' The booster jab, which can provide extra protection against Omicron, was already planned to be made a requirement for vaccine passports when everyone in the UK was offered one. The Prime Minister has said a third dose to enter foreign countries was likely to become 'the norm' very soon - as he urged people to come forward and get vaccinated. It comes as ministers are set to scrap pre-departure Covid traveller tests today in a massive boost for winter sunseekers and the beleaguered tourism industry (stock image) That deadline has now been met, but there are still nine million eligible people in Britain who are yet to receive theirs. Mr Johnson added that it was 'crazy' there were two millions appointments available this week alone. The slowing rate of take up is concerning health ministers after the NHS almost hit 1 million vaccinations a day on December 21. Countries including Croatia, Austria and Switzerland have not mandated a third jab for entry, but have said they will limit the validity of vaccine passports for travellers 'fully vaccinated' for one year after their second dose or booster jab, CN Traveller reported. It comes as ministers are set to scrap pre-departure Covid traveller tests in a boost for winter sunseekers and the beleaguered tourism industry. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is thought to be pushing for relaxed measures. The 'Covid O' Cabinet meeting is likely to see pre-departure tests scrapped. The meeting will also discuss down-grading post-arrival tests from costly PCR swabs to cheaper rapid lateral flow swabs. This is less likely as health officials favour PCRs, which can be sequenced to detect variants of concern. The UK is the only country in Europe demanding that even fully-vaccinated holidaymakers take two tests when returning home. Under the current rules, one rapid swab must be taken pre-return within 72 hours of travel to the UK and a post-arrival PCR test by day two. Travellers must self-isolate until the results of this latter test are received, and can be stuck in quarantine for days if results are delayed. Travel abroad has been severely limited for the unvaccinated, with quarantine stays in place at some destinations for those who have not been fully jabbed. At the press briefing, England's chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said he has been left 'saddened' by the proportion of unvaccinated patients in intensive care. England's chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said he has been left 'saddened' by the proportion of unvaccinated patients in intensive care Sir Chris 'the great majority' of those who were in intensive care and had not been jabbed were 'not anti-vaxxers in the ordinary sense with some really weird ideas' but had been taken advantage of by those seeking to misinform them online. He said 'misinformation' on the internet, 'a lot of it deliberately placed', about potential side effects from jabs was fuelling fears about whether Covid-19 was important enough to warrant vaccination, as well as whether the vaccines were effective against the disease. 'Insofar as I am frustrated it is simply people deliberately trying to scare away fellow citizens from something that is potentially going to be life-saving for them,' he said. Sir Chris said the booster provided around 88% overall protection against being admitted to hospital. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was 'absolutely crazy' that people were ending up in intensive care with Covid because they had not been vaccinated. 'How absolutely crazy it is, absolutely crazy, that there are two million slots this week for people to get vaccinated and yet the majority of people in ICU for Covid are not vaccinated - 61 per cent,' he told the press conference. 'It is sad but it is also a huge opportunity for us to correct it.' Mr Johnson added: 'There are still almost nine million people eligible, who haven't had their booster. 'It's absolutely heartbreaking that as many as 90% of those in intensive care with Covid have not had their booster, and over 60% of those in intensive care who have Covid have not had any vaccination at all. 'People are dying needlessly because they haven't had their jabs, they haven't had that booster.' Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said there were 'extraordinarily high levels of infection at the moment' in the UK. Hospital pressures would depend on how Omicron impacted on the older generation, he said. The press conference was held on the day a further 218,724 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in England and Scotland. It was the first time the daily recorded figure has passed 200,000, though the number will have been inflated by some delayed reporting from over the holiday period. A shocking new report has found Australians are spending $3 billion on substituted, mislabelled, and fraudulent food. AgriFutures Australia found Australians are deceptively being sold products containing low-quality ingredients compared to what they advertise. While there isn't an agreed upon worldwide definition of food fraud, the issue costs up to $50-billion-a-year globally and is a $3 billion problem in Australia. A recent report found Australians are spending $3billion on substituted, mislabelled and fraudulent food products (pictured, stock photo) Co-author of the report and Deakin University Professor Rebecca Lester told The Age the full scope of the problem in Australia is still 'largely unknown'. 'It's difficult to tell how big a problem it is within Australia because there are just not a lot of studies that actually test,' she said. 'We don't have common commercial labs that are doing this on a regular basis, so most examples are from overseas, or from specific research projects.' Professor Lester warned 'potentially anything' could be faked from dairy products, meat, vegetables, herbs, and even honey and oil. The study looked at six fraudulent practices involving adulteration, concealment, counterfeiting, dilution, mislabelling, and substitution of products. Marketing products as 'organic' and 'halal' when they are not is considered` concealment while dilution is a common practice with milk, juices, and wine. Wine (pictured, stock photo) was also found to be subject to adulteration - where an undeclared ingredient is included to reduce production costs Beef, seafood and wine industries were found to be high risk to substitution with the use of fillers to increase volume and mislabelling to forge provenance and quality. Food fraud involving seafood mostly involved species substitution along with mislabelling on whether produce was farmed, wild caught, frozen, or fresh. Wine was also found to be subject to adulteration, where an undeclared ingredient is included to reduce production costs, or incorrect grape varieties listed. The report found products were most vulnerable to fraud where there was a large difference in value depending on where the product was from or if it was organic. Verifying labelling claims also prove more difficult when meat is sold in cuts rather than a whole recognisable item. The report found products are most vulnerable to fraud where there is a large difference in value depending on where the product is from or if it is organic The findings also suggest fraudsters may be more inclined to cut corners when laws and control systems are ineffective in deterring fraudulent practices. Professor Lester said some industries and businesses are choosing to bury their heads in the sand as product fraud remains largely unregulated in Australia. She added increased consumer awareness was important in getting businesses to take action and advised shoppers to buy local to help shorten the supply chain. 'A banana is a banana but as soon as it's packaged and mixed with other things, there are opportunities for fraud,' she said. Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday. The blaze was caused by a tree hitting electrical distribution lines west of Cresta Dam in the Sierra Nevada, where the blaze began on July 13, according to investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Cal Fire said its investigative report was sent to the Butte County district attorney's office, which will determine whether criminal charges should be filed. The finding was no surprise. PG&E already had indicated its equipment may have been involved in the Dixie Fire, which burned nearly 1 million acres (3,900 square kilometers) in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties. It was the second-largest fire in state history. 'This tree was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines,' PG&E said in a statement. 'Regardless of todays finding, we will continue to be tenacious in our efforts to stop fire ignitions from our equipment and to ensure that everyone and everything is always safe.' This Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, aerial photo provided by the United States Forest Service Lassen National Forest shows the Great Basin Team 1 Air Attack operations on the Dixie Fire on the Horton Ridge in Plumas County, Calif. Fire officials have now announced that Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California The company said it has committed to burying 10,000 miles (16,100 kilometers) of power lines and taking other measures to help prevent wildfires. Those have included shutting off power to thousands - and in one case, millions - of customers during periods of hot, dry weather coupled with high winds that can knock down trees or hurl branches into power lines. A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires fiercer and harder to fight in the American West. PG&E equipment has been blamed for several of California's largest and deadliest wildfires in recent years. Last September, PG&E was charged with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes because its equipment sparked the Zogg Fire in September 2020 that killed four people and burned about 200 homes west of Redding. Investigators blamed a pine tree that fell onto a PG&E distribution line. The company could be heavily fined if convicted. Pictured: A home is engulfed in flames as the Dixie fire rages south of Janesville in Northern California, on August 16, 2021 A strike team works a line after more structures were burned overnight in Indian Valley, California, U.S., August 10, 2021 Shasta and Tehama counties have sued the utility alleging negligence, saying PG&E had failed to remove the tree even though it had been marked for removal two years earlier. The utility said the tree was subsequently cleared to stay. In November, PG&E acknowledged that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney's office seeking documents related to the Dixie Fire, and the Californian utility expected to take a loss of $1.15 billion. It was one in a slew of legal actions against the nations largest utility, which has an estimated 16 million customers in central and Northern California. The utility pleaded guilty in 2019 to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for a 2018 blaze ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid that nearly destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. PG&E also filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after that blaze and others were blamed on its ageing equipment. The utility emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 and negotiated a $13.5 billion settlement with some wildfire victims. Pictured: Pacific Gas & Electric vehicles are parked at the PG&E Oakland Service Center in Oakland, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 Pictured: A map showing the scale of the Dixie fire on September 13, 2021, around the time when the fire was at its largest. The fire wouldn't be fully contained until late October But it still faces both civil and criminal actions from other fires. The company has pleaded not guilty to Sonoma County criminal charges over the 2019 Kincade fire, which injured six firefighters, choked local skies for two weeks and forced nearly 200,000 residents from their homes. Last fall, PG&E reached a $125 million settlement agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission over that fire. California Public Utilities Commission had voted unanimously in April last year to toughen oversight of PG&E, saying the utility had largely failed to perform required tree-trimming work near power lines in areas with the highest risk of wildfires. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday backed its week-old guidance halving COVID-19 isolation for people who test positive to five days and refused to add a testing mandate. The agency had been pressured by health experts to institute a test requirement after it cut in half its guidance last week for people to isolate after a COVID-19 infection to five days from 10, but refused to do so. It said the move was based on science around transmission of the virus. On Tuesday, the CDC added an explanation on its website, saying that a review of 113 studies from 17 countries showed that most transmission occurs early in the course of infection. It said the average period of infectiousness and risk of transmission was 'between 2-3 days before and 8 days after symptom onset.' Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease official and President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, in television interviews on Sunday said officials were considering asking people to get tested after a five-day quarantine period - but that suggestion now appears to be dead in the water. The requirement was dramatically cut back as the Omicron variant triggered a record 1.08 million new infections on Monday, the vast majority of them mild. 'If an individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the five-day isolation period,' the agency said. The CDC issued an explanation of why it had halved the isolation period for infected Americans from ten days to five on its website on Tuesday CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told Stephen Colbert on his late night show on Monday that people can take an antigen test after isolating for five days and go out once more if they test negative The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen nearly 50 percent in the last week and now exceeds 100,000, according to data collected by John Hopkins, marking the first time that threshold has been reached in a year The isolation period should be followed by strict mask use for an additional five days, the CDC said last week and again on Tuesday. However, if an individual tests positive after five days, they should isolate for the full 10 days, it said. The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread rapidly, leading to worker shortages at airlines, schools and businesses. Delta Airlines and others had publicly pressured the CDC to cut the isolation period. The CDC subsequently shortened the recommended isolation time. Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told CNN that the CDC had heard the complaints. 'They have certainly received feedback and questions about the role of testing in shortening that quarantine period and they're actually working right now on issuing a clarification on that,' he said. The policy is in line with comments CDC Director Rochelle Walensky made late on Monday. If people have access to a rapid antigen test, they can go ahead and take it five days after testing positive if their symptoms are gone and they feel well, she told CBS' 'The Late Show' program. 'If it's positive, stay home for another five days,' she said. 'If it's negative, I would say you still really need to wear a mask' because the infection could still spread, she added. 'You still should probably not visit grandma, you shouldn't get on an airplane and you still should be pretty careful when you're with other people.' The United States reported nearly one million new coronavirus infections on Monday, the highest daily tally of any country in the world and nearly double the previous U.S. peak set a week ago as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen nearly 50 percent in the last week and now exceeds 100,000, according to data collected by John Hopkins, marking the first time that threshold has been reached in a year. A dozen lucky Australians are millions of dollars richer and they don't even know it yet, because they haven't checked their lotto tickets. There are 23 division one or major lottery prizes valued almost $25 million that have gone unclaimed for weeks, months, or even years after the draws. Nine people each in Queensland and NSW, two in ACT, and one each in Victoria and South Australia have yet to claim their prizes. Aussies urged to check their old Lotto ticket as there are currently 23 division one or major lottery prizes valued almost $25 million that have gone unclaimed by winners (stock) Lotto Australia encouraged players to keep an eye out for old tickets and check them while entering this week's Powerball draw. One in six Australians are expected to enter the $60 million Powerball draw on Thursday, the first big draw of 2022. 'As one of the first big jackpots of 2022, we're expecting up to one-in-six Australian adults to have an entry in their hands for this week's Powerball draw,' The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart said. 'With $60 million on the table, it's a chance to start the year as a multi-millionaire. Lotto Australia spokesperson Matt Hart (above) has encouraged people to keep an eye out for old tickets and check them while entering this week's Powerball draw 'I'm sure many Aussies are dreaming about what the rest of 2022 and the rest of their lives might look like with a prize of this magnitude.' Mr Hart reminded players that unclaimed winnings have different expirations dates depending on the state they were bought in. 'In Queensland, people have seven years to claim their lottery prizes, but in Victoria, players have only six months to claim their prizes directly from us after this time they can claim their prizes from the Victorian Government,' he said. The table above shows the 23 unclaimed major lottery prizes across Australia as of January 5 2022 'The oldest unclaimed division one win is in Queensland in June 2015, a ticket purchased in Morayfield won a Saturday Gold Lotto prize worth $1 million. 'One of the most recent unclaimed division one wins was from just last month a ticket purchased in Cobber Pedy won a Monday X Lotto prize of $1 million. 'The biggest unclaimed lottery win is a $4.8 million Set for Life win from April last year from an entry purchased in Woden in the ACT.' The two week search is continuing for missing Afghan girl Lina Sadar Khil, 3 An FBI dive team has joined the search for a three year-old Afghan refugee girl who vanished close to her San Antonio home on December 20 while her mother allegedly left her unattended. Lina Sardar Khil was last seen in the playground of a northwest San Antonio apartment complex during the late afternoon of December 20. The 12-member FBI Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team flew in from Washington, D.C., Monday night and searched water bodies near the girl's family's apartment all day Tuesday, Police Chief William McManus said. Appearing downcast, McManus said the team was merely checking a lead, of which there have been few. 'Anything we get that has any kind of potential at all, we're following it up. I wish I could be more uplifting. I know this looks like we're really onto something. But all we're doing here is following up,' he said at a briefing at the search site. He refused to comment further on the lead that had led divers to the body of water. Law enforcement have also been searching a field a few miles from the apartment complex where the girl disappeared. 'Anything we get that has any kind of potential at all, we're following it up. I wish I could be more uplifting. I know this looks like we're really onto something. But all we're doing here is following up,' Police Chief William McManus said at a briefing at the search site Police in San Antonio looking for little Lina, who vanished from an apartment complex's playground on the afternoon of December 20 Lina was last seen wearing a red dress, black jacket and black shoes and had her brown hair in a ponytail, police said. The child's family had reported that she was at the playground with her mother, who had walked away briefly and found the child missing upon her return. Last Friday, McManus spoke at a press conference at the Islamic Center of San Antonio pleading for anyone with more information on Khil's whereabouts to come forward. 'We need your assistance, if you know anything, even if you think it may not help,' McManus said. An FBI dive team has now joined the search for the three-year-old San Antonio girl Khil is four-feet-tall and weighs 55 pounds, with brown eyes and straight, shoulder-length brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, a red dress and black shoes Appearing downcast, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the team was merely checking a lead, of which there have been few 'We want you to call us and give us any information that you may have.' He also ensured their safety and protection of identity in exchange of any valuable information. As part of the search effort, the Islamic Center of San Antonio is offering a $100,000 reward and Crime Stoppers of San Antonio is offering $50,000 in exchange for information. The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) also released a statement on Friday to publicly announce their continuing search efforts. 'While there have been no substantial updates to report, we continue to deploy an all hands on deck approach to ensure no evidence, witness statement or clues are left undiscovered,' the statement posted to Facebook read. The child was last seen in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road between 5 and 6pm on Monday, December 20 Over the course of the investigation, SAPD and other departments have refused to exhaust their attempts to find Lina as they have looked through other apartments in the family's complex, utilized search dogs and have collected surveillance footage from surrounding areas. Despite the consistent search efforts, McManus had said the department is becoming 'less hopeful' as the investigation continues. 'Unfortunately, I have to say that the longer the time lapses, the less hopeful we become,' McManus said. The young girl's father, Riaz Sardar Khil, and the rest of the family has still remained hopeful throughout the search. 'I'm hopeful that my daughter will be back,' he told the San Antonio Express-News. Riaz Khil, the father of the missing three-year-old, says the family believe she may have been abducted 'I know there is a good person among us whose prayer will be heard by God, and that will be the cause for the safe return of my daughter.' The family moved to the U.S. in 2019 from Afghanistan after fleeing from 'threats that were posed to us,' Linas father, Riaz Sardar Khil, told KENS-TV. Although police say they do not have a description of a possible kidnapping suspect, they are investigating the case as a child abduction Khil said through a translator that his wife, who is pregnant, was watching their daughter at the playground between 5 and 6pm that day, when the three-year-old walked over to a nearby path and suddenly vanished. Lina's mother initially thought she may have returned to the family's apartment, but she was not there. The family then thought Lina may have left the playground with another Afghan family but now believe she may have been abducted. 'During our entire lives we have not been as saddened as we were yesterday and today,' Riaz Khil said. The father said that the FBI have questioned him and his wife for several hours. Lina is four-feet-tall and weighs 55 pounds, with brown eyes and straight, shoulder-length brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, a red dress and black shoes. Anyone with more information on Lina's disappearance is asked to call SAPD Missing Person's Unit at 210-207-7660. Angry travelers were asking on Tuesday night how it was possible to be so woefully abandoned by America's private and public transport providers, after thousands of people were stranded following Monday's snow storm on the East Coast. Train passengers traveling from New Orleans to New York City on Amtrak's Crescent Train 20 endured delays of such magnitude that their 30-hour journey arrived one day, six hours, and 34 minutes late. Passengers were stuck for so long near Lynchburg, Virginia, that the toilets overflowed and they ran out of food. Motorists driving through Virginia along the I-95 were stuck in their cars for over 20 hours amid ferocious snow storms that swept the area on Sunday night and through Monday. Many were asking why the delays could not have been foreseen, with trains cancelled well in advance and roads closed as soon as the accidents happened - ideally before. Furthermore, how was it possible that a country with such wealth and technology ground to a halt following an expected winter storm? One of the biggest problems was communications on board Amtrak. Passengers are seen disembarking in New York City after a terrible Amtrak journey, with a 28-hour delay Snow storm Frida knocked down trees on top of railways in Virginia on Monday, causing Amtrak trains to stall, some for up to 30 hours Amtrak said the trains would resume once the tracks have been cleared up Riders aboard the two delayed trains expressed their frustration on Twitter Lavita Booker (left) said she and about 200 other passengers aboard the Amtrak Crescent were stuck for more than 30 hours in Lynchburg, Virginia Passengers complained about being left in the dark, with little information about what was happening. Amtrak on December 30 reduced its schedule until January 6, citing poor weather and COVID-19 cases among employees, despite 97 per cent of workers being vaccinated. That likely impacted the staff who'd otherwise have been able to brief the stranded passengers on what happened, and help try to organize a rescue more promptly. Executives warned Congress last month that a coronavirus vaccination mandate threatened to leave it short-staffed, and the mandate was suspended on December 14. A broader labor shortage was also posing challenges as Amtrak tries to recover from the pandemic's downturn in travel. Amtrak, funded by taxpayers, is chronically under-resourced as it maintains its network of unprofitable rail lines - only the Northeast Corridor routes are economically viable. Since 1971, when Amtrak was founded, federal law has required Amtrak operate a national passenger rail system that includes long distance routes. Joe Biden, an Amtrak devotee from his time commuting by train from his Delaware home to Washington DC, has allocated $66 billion in new funding for rail, as part of his Build Back Better plan. The money is designed to address Amtrak's maintenance backlog, along with upgrading the high-traffic Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston. But the money is yet to be felt. William Flynn, the CEO of Amtrak, is stepping down on January 17. He is pictured during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing in October 2020, titled 'Passenger and Freight Rail: The Current Status of the Rail Network and the Track Ahead' Furthermore, Amtrak is in the midst of a leadership change, with William Flynn, chief executive officer, stepping down on January 17. He will be replaced at the head of the $5 billion-a-year organization by Stephen Gardner - currently Amtrak's president, leading the railroad's day-to-day operations, customer growth initiatives and strategies to modernize Amtrak's products, services, infrastructure and fleet. Amtrak's struggles - in particular their communication failures - are not the only factor in the chaos this week. America's rail network is a complex patchwork of ownership and responsibilities. Responsibility for maintaining the train system is jointly between federal, state and private companies. Congress is yet to confirm the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, leaving the agency - part of Pete Buttigieg's Department of Transport - in limbo. In April, Amit Bose was nominated by Biden for the role of administrator. In October the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted to approve his candidacy, but there has not been a full vote to confirm his position. He remains the acting administrator. At the state level, the Railroad Regulation section is in charge of Virginia's train tracks. Part of the Division of Utility and Railroad Safety, according to the state website it 'conducts inspections of railroad facilities including track and equipment to ensure safe operation of jurisdictional railroads within Virginia.' In March last year, the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, announced a $3.7 billion investment which will see Amtrak, rail company CSX - which operates 20,000 route miles of track in 23 states - and Virginia Railway Express work together to expand and improve passenger, commuter, and freight rail in Virginia. It was unclear who out of Amtrak, CSX and Virginia's own rail agencies had responsibilities for clearing the tracks. In November, CSX said that they had struggled with staffing, but said their hiring had improved. The transport company was among the myriad of industries hard-hit by 'the great resignation', as workers quit their jobs. The pandemic has also caused problems. 'Train crew shortages that have affected service on Class I railroads this year also have cropped up on short lines, as rail workers seek greener pastures and new hires are hard to find,' reported Trains.com in November. 'CSX and Norfolk Southern appear to be hardest hit among the big systems.' For the motorists stuck on the I-95, Northam said it was simply due to the weather. 'This was a perfect storm,' Northam said. 'We were prepared for a few inches of snow but got a foot. I certainly understand the frustration.' The terrible storm also caused similar delays along the I-95 in Virginia The snowy pile-up between Dumfries Road, which is nearly an hour to Washington, DC, and Carmel Church, only 8mi from the Capitol, began after a six-vehicle crash in Stafford As travelers reached their 24th hour without food and water, they grew desperate for the National Guard to help them As of Tuesday morning, Virginia State Police had responded to more than 2,000 traffic crashes and disabled vehicles statewide, state transportation officials said. 'First we had rain, which meant that we couldn't adequately pretreat the roads,' he told reporters on Tuesday. 'Then we had slushy snow that fell a lot faster than our snow plows could move it. 'And then, as night fell, the temperatures dropped below freezing. All those together created the perfect storm for what happened on I-95.' In addition to the preliminary conditions, multiple tractor-trailers that jackknifed on the highway, further complicated cleanup efforts. 'When that happens, it's going to create a mess, and it's going to take time to clean up, whether it happens in a winter storm or on a sunny summer day,' Northam said. Yet suspicion remained that there had been systemic failures. 'I am feeling frustrated more than anything,' said Sean Brocato, 35, who was stuck until Tuesday afternoon as he was trying to drive south to Raleigh, North Carolina. 'The problem with the entire situation is that the Virginia Department of Transportation did nothing to keep drivers informed,' he told NBC. 'Was VDOT unaware of the snowstorm? Did they not realize the road conditions?' In 2018 the Virginia Department of Transportation was exposed as a den of corruption and vice, amid an astonishing trial based on FBI wiretaps. Seven defendants were convicted, and all said that the corruption was endemic to the culture and more extensive than the scheme that put them behind bars. 'It is happening now, it will happen in the future,' contractor John Williamson said before being sentenced to three months in jail. 'It is rampant, and it is part of the culture of the agency.' Prosecutor Samantha Bateman told the court that 'this is a more pervasive problem in the Virginia Department of Transportation than is known.' The court heard that officials demanded bribes from snowplow drivers in exchange for work, with one regional manager, Anthony Willie, booking into a hotel during a snow storm and trying to get contractors to send women to his room. He even tried to get one female snowplow driver to pay him a visit, telling her: 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Because I do extra for who you're working for and make sure you are going to get yours.' Willie, the former superintendent of the Virginia Department of Transportation's Burke Area Headquarters, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in a bribery scheme involving the awarding of nearly $11 million in snow removal work over the course of more than five years. In a tweet liked almost 2,000 times, one woman noted: 'Given the potentially life-threatening situation on I-95 in Virginia, I'd like to remind you that VA DOT is plagued by corruption. 'In 2018, seven employees pleaded guilty for their roles in an $11 million bribery scheme related to snow removal contracts.' Australia could see a return to panic buying as a surge in Omicron cases causes a shortage of supermarket goods and fewer staff to serve customers. Hundreds of abattoir workers have been put into home isolation, adding to an already strained supply chain. Shelves at Coles and Woolworths have been stripped bare as supermarkets struggle to refill their stores after the Christmas and New Year shopping rush. The surge in Omicron cases is coinciding with a shortage of the diesel additive AdBlue, which is needed for modern truck engines to start. Michael Donovan, the Victorian secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, feared customers would become aggressive again to retail workers as they fiercely competed for goods in short supply. 'We don't want people to start panic buying and see the tremendous impact on retail workers,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video Australia could see a return to panic buying as a surge in Omicron cases causes a shortage of supermarket goods and fewer staff to serve customers (pictured is a Coles on Queensland's Sunshine Coast) 'There's an enormous spike in aggression and both customer abuse and at times violence - our members experienced that last year, some terrible behaviour and we certainly don't want to see another episode like that.' Mr Donovan said supermarkets could also be short of staff should more workers test positive to Covid and be made to self isolate. 'We're speculating at this stage. I don't want to contribute to people panic buying,' he said. 'Anybody who is unfortunate enough to catch Covid should be able to have time off - that should be time off with pay. 'Many of the companies provide that but the federal government should make it as a uniform entitlement under the national employment standards that everyone can have paid leave separate from sick leave.' Without this sick leave, a state leader of Australia's biggest trade union said many workers could end up not getting a Covid test and turning up to work infecting other people. 'That's one of the impacts, they may go to work if they are unwell,' he said. Matthew Swindells, the chief operating officer at supermarket giant Coles, said shoppers would suffer a 'couple of difficult weeks' during January as Omicron worsened existing labour shortages. 'We were facing a number of supply chain challenges already - a shortage of pallets and a shortage of truck drivers,' he told the Today show. The Victorian secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, feared customers would become aggressive again to retail workers as they fiercely competed for goods in short supply. 'We're somewhat on the back foot trying to make sure that we can keep the food supply lines going. 'We've got probably another couple difficult weeks.' The supermarket executive warned shoppers they may need to change brand to find their favourite products. 'You might have to change brand or buy a different pack size,' he said. 'As it's a new year, try something different. 'It will take us a few weeks to fully recover from this and importantly, we need to get those team member numbers that are isolating back into the workforce to recover all of those food supplies.' The Omicron variant has meant as much as 70 per cent of factory and farm workers are unable to go to work. Mr Donovan said supermarkets could also be short of staff should more workers test positive to Covid and be made to self isolate The Australian Meat Industry Council is calling for rapid antigen tests for workers, with the peak body's chief executive Patrick Hutchinson fearing meat would run out by Australia Day on January 26. Michael Donovan, the Victorian secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, wants all employers to provide separate paid Covid leave to existing sick leave 'We're now seeing a large amount of meat workers who actually can't get to work,' he told Seven News. 'There's hundreds and hundreds of staff up and down the eastern seaboard, certainly Queensland, NSW and VIC who aren't able to get to work at this stage.' 'I'm actually concerned we will have a shortage because we just won't have the people on site over the next month to six weeks to be able to process anything.' Energy Minister Angus Taylor on December 9 declared Australia only had enough AdBlue to last five weeks, or until the middle of January. Shipments of the diesel additive bound for Australia would add another two weeks. With Australia due to run out of AdBlue by the start of February, the federal Department of Industry and Energy is giving Incitec Pivot a $29.4million grant to produce 5,000 tonnes a month of technical grade urea, from the end of January 2022, for domestic AdBlue manufacturers. This ramping up of production would be sufficient to produce 15million to 17million litres of AdBlue to meet the usual monthly demand in Australia. gettyimagesbank By Anna J. Park The year 2021 logged the all-time record high of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the Korean market, with the transactional amount standing at some $181 billion in 3,423 M&A deals. According to Bloomberg data, it was a record amount, since the data was first compiled in 1998. This year is expected to see the M&A boom continue in the local market as well. Various mega deals worth trillions of won are waiting in line to close this year in diverse sectors. The first major deal of this year was marked by MBK Partners. The private equity firm completed the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in Dongjin Textile earlier this week, a month and a half since the two parties signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) in mid-November. Dongjin is a footwear textile supplier to global firms, including Nike and Adidas. The price for the acquisition is known to be about 780 billion won ($650 million). Another private equity firm, VIG Partners, also signed a SPA deal early this week, in which it agreed to resell its 51.03 percent stake and the management rights to Star Vision to its original founder. Star Vision operates some 280 colored contact lens stores called "O-Lens." The firm also has the sunglasses brand "CARIN." Following the PE firm having acquired the stake in June 2018, it is expected to walk away with more than double its original investment. Hanon Systems, a local auto parts supplier, is expected to be one of the major deals this year. Hahn & Co. acquired a 50.5 percent stake in the auto parts company in 2014 for 2.8 trillion won, and has been trying to sell it off since last year. It is estimated that the selling price could be as high as 8 trillion won. Various rumors swirled around the Hanon Systems deal throughout last year, yet nothing seems to have been confirmed since. Hyundai LNG Shipping, currently owned by IMM Private Equity and IMM Investment, is also currently up for sale in the market, with a price tag of between 1.5 trillion won and 2 trillion won. The IMM consortium owns a 100 percent stake in the shipping company, having acquired the shipping company for some 1 trillion won in 2014. ECO Management Korea (EMK) is considered another sale item by IMM Investment, with an estimated price tag of 1 trillion won. IMM Investment acquired EMK for 390 billion won from JPMorgan in 2017. Burger King and Ministop Korea are also seeking new owners. Affinity Equity Partners tapped Goldman Sachs recently as the sales manager for selling a 100 percent stake in Burger King Korea and Burger King Japan. Burger King Korea's price is estimated at around 600 billion won. The acquisition of Ministop Korea, the country's fifth-largest convenience store brand, has drawn the interest of various PE companies as well as Emart24, the fourth-largest convenience store brand here. The recent M&A market boom is not limited to Korea. The annual global M&A market size has reached its all-time high of over $5.6 trillion, way higher than the previous peak of 4.4 trillion won set in 2007, according to figures of Dealogic. The U.S. showed the highest year-on-year increase rate of nearly 100 percent last year, much higher than Europe's year-on-year increase rate of 47 percent or Asia's 37 percent. A dog in New Hampshire was being hailed as a real-life 'Lassie' Tuesday after leading police to the scene of a serious car crash that left her owner injured and suffering from hypothermia. The one-year-old dog, a breed known as a Shiloh Shepherd called Tinsley, ran down where Interstates 89 and 91 meet, in Hartford, on the New Hampshire border with Vermont late Monday, prompting motorists to alert the highway patrol. Cops arrived at the scene and initially mistook Tinsley for a stray. But when they tried to catch her, she kept running and led them into Vermont, where the officers spotted a gap in the guard rail and discovered a badly damaged pickup truck that had rolled over. Two people, including Tinsley's owner, Cam Laundry, 31, had been thrown from the vehicle and were already suffering from the onset of hypothermia. The passenger was Justin Connors, 40, who is described as 'fine,' having escaped with minor injuries. Tinsley, a one-year-old Shiloh Shephard, ran to New Hampshire State Police on Monday to bring them where her owner and another passenger were injured and suffering from hypothermia after their truck had flipped over in Hartford, New Hampshire The scene of the severe car crash, where 31-year-old Cam Laundry, Tinsley's owner and Justin Connors, 40 were found injured and suffering from hypothermia on Monday on New Hampshire's border with Vermont 'It quickly became apparent that Tinsley led (law enforcement) to the crash site and injured occupants,' New Hampshire police said in a statement on their Facebook page. 'They could tell the dog was trying to show them something because she kept trying to get away from them but didn't run away totally,' New Hampshire police officer Daniel Baldassarre told local news channel WCVB. 'It was kind of, 'Follow me. Follow me.' And they did that and, to their surprise, to see the guardrail damaged and to look down to where the dog is looking at, they were almost in disbelief.' 'I kind of compare it to, for those who remember, a real-life 'Lassie' story, where the people are in distress and the dog goes and gets help and brings them right to where the person is,' said Baldassarre. As emergency rescue workers began their medical care of the injured, the dog 'sat there nice and calm right next to its owner,' said Captain Jack Hedges of the Hartford fire department. Tinsley's owner said she would be highly rewarded with venison for her potentially life-saving deed Laundry was not seriously hurt in the crash, and said Tinsley would be highly rewarded with venison for showing such intelligence and devotion. 'She's my little guardian angel' he told WCVB. 'It's a miracle that she had that kind of intelligence to do what she did.' Vermont State Police are opening an investigation on what led up to the crash, according to a VSP spokesman. Laundry said an interview that he had some drinks earlier that night, but he added that he didn't think he had too much to affect his driving. 'It definitely was a wake-up call,' Laundry said. 'It all could've been a lot worse.' Western Australia has locked out Tasmanian and ACT residents with even the most compelling compassionate cases after a spike in Covid infections. Both will be classified as 'extreme risk' from 12.01am on Saturday and even grieving family members banned from arriving in the state. Only certain 'certain government and specialist workers' will be allowed in under any circumstances until the WA hard border finally ends on February 5. Those who do get in will need to complete a 14 day hotel quarantine and undergo Covid testing with 24 hours of arrival as well as days 5 and 13. From 12:01am on January 8 visitors from Tasmania and the ACT to WA will be limited to 'certain Government and specialist workers' and will need to complete 14 days hotel quarantine WA Premiere Mark McGowan warned West Australians in other states to come home before the deadline or risk being locked out By Saturday, the Northern Territory will be the only state not classified in the 'extreme risk' category by Western Australia. WA Premier Mark McGowan warned anyone who had an exemption, which are almost impossible to obtain as it is, to fly in immediately. 'Because once the reclassification takes effect, they will not be able to do so, except for the most extraordinary circumstances,' he said. Mr McGowan threw the two jurisdictions into the highest risk category after Tasmania recorded 867 new Covid cases on Wednesday and the ACT had 810. 'This means travel will not be permitted to WA except in extraordinary circumstances,' Deputy Premier Roger Cook said. 'Exemptions will be limited to travelers who meet the following criteria - Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, diplomats, specialists or extraordinary circumstances determined by the state emergency coordinator or chief health officer.' By Saturday the Northern Territory will be the only state not classified in the 'extreme risk' category by Western Australia WA itself had five new cases, all but one from its very small Delta outbreak kicked off by an unvaccinated French backpacker who arrived from Queensland. Mr Cook said two of the cases were in the community while infectious, one while working at The Lucky Shag bar in Perth's CBD. WA is also investigating the close contacts of a hotel security guard who tested positive to the Omicron variant earlier this week. Mr Cook said WA needed to brace itself for more exposure sites to appear. Anyone who visited an exposure site is urged to isolate and test if symptoms appear. Western Australia did not partake in National Cabinet's decision to redefine 'close contacts' last week. The news comes as five new local covid cases were identified overnight, including two cases that had been in the community while infectious WA did not partake in National Cabinet's decision to redefine 'close contacts' last week that saw other states define a close contact only as someone who had been in a household setting with a positive case for more than four hours Other Australian states have chosen to define people that have been in a 'household like setting' for more than four hours with a positive case as close contacts. WA Covid vaccine commander Chris Dawson admitted it would not be possible to eradicate the outbreak before February 5 and the plan was just to keep a lid on it. 'I wouldn't share a lot of confidence we'll keep Omicron out, because one, we've already got it here so to totally eradicate it would be fanciful,' he said. 'What we do know and it's very compelling is that the third dose is particularly important in the extra layer of protection for the Omicron variant but there are still some members in our community who haven't had a first dose.' A cocaine-addicted Nevada psychologist was imprisoned for 10 years for killing his wife with antifreeze and making it look like a suicide in order to obtain a $1 million life insurance policy to pay off his drug debts. On Tuesday 59-year-old Gregory 'Brent' Dennis Henderson struck a plea deal which saw him enter an Alford plea to the voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 killing of his 48-year-old attorney wife Susan Winters. That means he agrees there is sufficient evidence to convict him of killing Winters. Winters was found dead with a deadly amount of oxycodone and antifreeze in her system. Her killer also stood to benefit from a $1 million life insurance policy taken out in his spouse's name, as well as a $1 million inheritance she planned to bequeath him. Gregory 'Brent' Dennis Henderson, 59, (pictured) pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 killing of his 48-year-old attorney wife Susan Winters Investigators discovered that the pair (pictured together) were on the verge of separation and Dennis was also in the midst of a cocaine addiction and he was in debt Dennis worked as a psychologist until his license expired in 2020 despite admitting to the board in 2017 that he occasionally used cocaine and methamphetamine prior to meeting with his patients, 8NewsNow.com reported. He initially told police that he was not aware there was antifreeze in the house but then only hours later showed them some bottles in the garage, which police photographed without taking into evidence, 8NewsNow reported. Dennis told police that he believed Susan had ingested antifreeze because of her supposed internet search history seeking information on antifreeze poisoning made the night before her death. But months later investigators later found that the last of the searches on antifreeze poisoning was done at 5:15 am when Winters was already unconscious and nearly dead. Police initially ruled her death a suicide until local news began reporting on her death and her family hired private investigators. On Tuesday Dennis (pictured) entered an Alford plea in which he does not admit guilt but concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to prove his guilt Susa Winters (pictured) was found dead in 2015 with a deadly amount of oxycodone and antifreeze in her system After police reopened the case Dennis was charged with murder in February 2017. Investigators discovered that at the time of Winters' death, the pair were on the verge of separation, prosecutors said. Dennis was also in the midst of a cocaine addiction that led him into debt and he was poised to gain $1 million in life insurance money if Winters died. On Tuesday Dennis, who has remained free on a $250,000 bail, entered an Alford plea in which he does not admit guilt but concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to prove his guilt. Dennis will be formally charged by a judge in May and faces between 3-10 years in prison. 'Brent Dennis resolved this case without making any admission of guilt in order to eventually return his life to normalcy,' Dennis defense attorney, Richard Schonfel told the Review Journal in a statement. Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo agreed that because of his age, a ten-year sentence 'is a fairly reasonable solution.' 'For him it was all or nothing he goes to trial, jury convicts him, he goes to prison for the absolute rest of his life,' prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told the Review Journal. Crazy queues for Covid lab tests, which have seen lines snaking several kilometres as people wait up to eight hours, could now be over as the government announces anyone with a positive rapid test will no longer need to get a PCR. Previously, anyone who tested positive to RAT had to get a proper viral swab to confirm their infection - but now will be treated as Covid positive without having to get further confirmation. Scott Morrison made the change on Wednesday afternoon, which should reduce the unpopular spectacle of anxious Aussies waiting hours to get PCR lab tests. Millions of low-income and vulnerable Australians will now able to get rapid tests free from chemists, while all Aussies who have symptoms or are close contacts can also collect them for free - but from a designated queue at testing centres. Covid testing systems are under massive pressure with new infections dramatically rising in Sydney and Melbourne. Crazy queues for Covid-19 testing look set to end as Scott Morrison announced people will no longer need a PCR to confirm if they have Covid if they've had a positive rapid test What happens if my RAT shows positive? You no longer need to obtain a PCR test. A positive rapid antigen test (RAT) result is sufficient. The PM suggested people who test positive with a RAT 'call their GP' to inform them of the positive test. You can also contact the National Coronavirus hotline on 1800 020 080. Official NSW Health advice says most fully-vaccinated people aged under 65 'can safely manage COVID-19 at home' - provided you don't suffer from any chronic health conditions and are not pregnant. 'Most people with COVID-19 will have a mild illness and will recover in a few days or so. Some people may not have any symptoms at all.' But if you develop severe symptoms (particularly severe headache or dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pressure or pain) you should call Triple Zero (000) immediately and tell the ambulance staff that you have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Advertisement New Covid cases in NSW spiked to 35,054 on Wednesday while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections, although ICU admissions in both states remained steady. The 6.6 million most vulnerable Australians will now be given free rapid Covid tests after an emergency National Cabinet on Wednesday agreed to make stark changes to improve the chaotic testing system. In an emergency press conference shortly after National Cabinet, Mr Morrison confirmed Australians will no longer need to seek a PCR test if they test positive on a rapid antigen test, and should count themselves as Covid positive. He also agreed to provide low income earners, welfare recipients and pensioners with 10 free RATs over a three-month period which can be collected from pharmacies. Mr Morrison confirmed holders of Commonwealth seniors health cards, healthcare cards, low income cards, pension concession cards, DVA Gold cards or a DVA white cards could get the RATs without charge. The Commonwealth will provide 10 million RATs to be distributed throughout the states and territories for eligible Aussies. Mr Morrison also announced a $66,000 fine or five years in prison for anyone attempting to sell RATs at more than 20 per cent above cost price. The change is unlikely to end the frustrating Covid testing queues entirely though. Photos and video posted to social media showed hundreds of Australians queuing to get hold of RAT kits from chemists at Dee Why and Bondi on Wednesday. Scott Morrison made the change on Wednesday afternoon, which should reduce the unpopular spectacle of anxious Aussies waiting for hours to get PCR lab tests to see if they have Omicron (pictured, queues in Melbourne on Wednesday) Massive lines were spotted snaking from chemists as Aussies desperately try to get their hands on rapid Covid tests. Pictured is a queue outside a Bondi chemist on Wednesday The images emerged before the PM made the latest change to the testing regime. There were even reports people were so desperate to get hold of rapid test kits, which have been in short supply, that after they swarmed on a Sydney chemist police had to be called. There are mounting concerns Australia's active Covid cases could be higher than reported as people refuse to wait in hours-long queues for a PCR test after receiving a positive result on the rapid antigen kits. The new system is likely to only exacerbate this problem. Civil servants in Belgium will no longer have to answer work calls from their bosses outside of normal working hours. From February 1, federal employees will have the 'right to disconnect' enshrined in law. It is expected the move will be rolled out to the private sector, while a move to a four-day working week is also being considered to instill a 'culture change' in Belgian business. Civil servants in Belgium will no longer have to answer work calls from their bosses outside of normal working hours (file image) Staff may only be contacted 'in the event of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances requiring action that cannot wait until the next working period', the memo seen by De Morgen from the Minister of the Civil Service, Petra De Sutter, states. A civil servant 'should not be disadvantaged by not answering the phone or reading work-related messages outside normal working hours', according to the new measures. De Sutter said the change will help fight 'excessive work stress and burnout', particularly at a time when working from home has blurred the lines between the professional and social life. She explained in her circular that disconnecting 'is linked to positive well-being outcomes such as better focus, better recuperation and a more sustainable energy level'. The minister added: 'The computer stays on, you keep reading the e-mails you receive on your smartphone To better protect people against this, we now give them the legal right to disconnect.' The exceptional and unforeseen circumstances that allow a work call have not been made explicitly clear under the new rules. Iceland's four-year experiment with a 'four-day working week' has been dubbed an 'overwhelming success' by researchers who want the model adopted elsewhere (file) But agreements can be made between managers and their staff or trade unions to put measures in place. A spokesperson for Federal Labour Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne told The Brussels Times that a similar arrangement is in place for the private sector. This would come into effect with the introduction of the four-day week, he said. That proposal was tabled by the liberals in October, suggesting full-time employees would still work 38 to 40 hours a week but spread over four days instead of five. But the socialist trade union has already spoken out against the move, saying staff should be working fewer hours per week. Iceland trialled a four-day week and results published last year deemed it an 'overwhelming success'. Workers were less stressed and had a better work-life balance while bosses saw no significant drop-off in productivity or provision of services, analysts said As a result of the experiment, which ran from 2015 to 2019, some 86 per cent of Icelandic workers have now negotiated contracts with permanently shortened hours. A 21-year-old woman who vanished three days ago has been found safe and well following a police appeal. Seema Patel was last seen around the Astley Bridge area of Bolton just after midnight on Sunday, January 2 before disappearing, sparking desperate pleas to find her. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) described her as an Asian woman, 5ft 6ins tall, of medium build and with shoulder-length black hair, who drives a silver Toyota Yaris and has links to the Preston and Chorley areas. A spokesman for GMP today told MailOnline: 'Seema has been found safe and well.' Seema Patel was last seen around the Astley Bridge area of Bolton just after midnight on Sunday, January 2 before disappearing, sparking desperate pleas to find her GMP said in an appeal on Tuesday: 'Officers are becoming increasingly concerned about Seema and want to make sure she is safe and well' GMP had said in an appeal on Tuesday: 'Officers are becoming increasingly concerned about Seema and want to make sure she is safe and well. 'Anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact police on 0161 856 5748.' An appeal on Facebook was shared more than 2,300 times, and concerned social media users wished for her safe return. One said: 'Let's hope Seema is found safe and well, 21 is no age, come on Seema if you're out there make contact.' Another wrote: 'Hope the young lady is found soon and safe.' Schools across the UK are closing or telling entire year groups to study remotely as some areas have reported as many as one in five teachers calling in sick with Covid. Meanwhile, heads have warned of chaos after facing delayed deliveries of Covid tests following the return of pupils after Christmas yesterday. Those pupils who have been allowed to return, but did not bring masks, were segregated and sat at the back of classrooms in some schools yesterday. Today, a number of schools have been partially shut due to outbreaks of the virus. This included King Charles I School in Kidderminster is closed to Years 7 and 8 and Outwood Academy in Ormesby, Middlesbrough warned Years 9 and 10 pupils to stay away. Elsewhere, classes for six out of the seven year groups at Thorpe Primary School in Bradford have been shut, while Haveley Hey Community School in Wythenshawe, Manchester, told its two Year 6 classes to stay at home yesterday. In Scotland today, Kincardine O'Neil School and Wallacestone Primary School in Falkirk are not open to any pupils due to Covid, while Drumblade, Catterline and Kinneff - all in Aberdeenshire - are also shut, but owing to issues with heating and power. Furthermore, a school in Swansea Valley, Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera, has asked Years 7 and 8 to learn remotely until January 10. While in north London, Evelyn Forde, head of Copthall School, said 13 staff were absent and four children tested positive for Covid on-site. She added: 'Staffing is looking pretty horrendous'. Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust, which has 52 schools across England, said early indicators suggested 20 per cent of his staff could be absent. In Scotland today, Kincardine O'Neil School (pictured) and Wallacestone Primary School in Falkirk are not open to any pupils due to Covid Classes for six out of the seven year groups at Thorpe Primary School in Bradford (pictured) have been shut Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust, which has 52 schools across England, said early indicators suggested 20 per cent of his staff could be absent Meanwhile, problems with testing were deepened as the Department for Education (DfE) gave schools short of tests a 5pm deadline yesterday to order more or face a two-week wait. Issues were compounded by staff absences caused by Covid, as Ian Bauckham, the boss of exams regulator Ofqual, said schools could suspend subjects like music to cope with shortages. Last night it emerged a secondary school was segregating children who do not wear face masks or fail to test twice a week. Walton High, an academy in Buckinghamshire, said any pupils exempt from wearing face masks 'will be seated at the back of classrooms at the furthest point from the teacher'. Michelle Currie, executive principal, also told parents that if their child had not yet been vaccinated, this could have 'consequences', including that it 'may limit their career options later in life', according to The Daily Telegraph. All secondary pupils are being tested for Covid this week, but for some the lateral flow tests failed to arrive in time. Geoff Barton, general secretary of heads' union ASCL, said: 'It is clearly imperative that schools and colleges have enough test kits to follow the government guidance.' A DfE spokesman added: 'A further 17.6 million test kits will be delivered by the end of next week.' As pupils began their return after Christmas, heads warned of testing chaos as some still had not received supplies (File image) Dishing out fourth Covid vaccines may only offer a small benefit, according to early research. Israel has already announced over-60s and health workers will get a second booster jab in an effort to 'protect ourselves' from Omicron. Preliminary results of a trial, carried out before the country pressed ahead with the scheme, showed extra jab led to a five-fold increase in antibody levels. For comparison, this is half the level recorded in similar studies following a third jab. Developed nations rolling out Covid boosters when many people around the world have yet to receive a first dose has become increasingly controversial. And UK experts have repeatedly questioned the idea of repeatedly dishing out jabs every few months, labelling the idea 'untenable'. Sir Patrick Vallance, No10's chief scientific adviser, last night said the inoculation drive would soon 'settle' into a yearly programme, like for flu. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett unveiled the findings by academics at Sheba Medical Center last night. 'A week into the fourth dose, we know to a higher degree of certainty that the fourth dose is safe,' he said. 'We know a week after administration of a fourth dose, we see a five-fold increase in the number of antibodies in the vaccinated person. 'This most likely means a significant increase against infection and... hospitalisation and (severe) symptoms.' Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said a preliminary study on the effectiveness of a fourth Covid vaccine showed antibody levels increased five-fold a week after being administered The graph shows the countries who have given the highest total number of vaccine doses and boosters per 100 population. It demonstrates how a number of nations are now, on average exceeding two doses per person. The UK is a mid tier performer in the lower cohort of the top 20 performers while the US doesn't even manage to make the cut This map shows the number of vaccines administered per 100 people, Africa, where Omicron was first identified and is believed to have emerged, has, as a continent, among the lowest number of vaccinated people in proportion to its population in the world. Developing countries like the UK and Israel rolling out boosters while so many people globally have yet to receive their first dose has been criticised by experts and the World Health Organization Universal Covid vaccine moves one step closer A Covid vaccine booster designed to take on multiple variants has shown promising results, early data suggests. Results of a phase one trial showed the jab, made by California-based biotechnology firm Gritstone, triggered high levels of neutralising antibodies. The proteins help the body to fight off the virus, stopping it from infecting cells and taking hold. The immune response was similar to already-approved mRNA vaccines, created by Pfizer and Moderna. But the team did, however, find antibody levels were up to 10 times lower among its volunteers. Data also showed the vaccine, scientifically called GRT-R910, was also generally safe and well-tolerated. The jab was initially trialled on 10 individuals but the researchers want to expand the study to include 120 over-60s, who are in good health and have previously received two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. A universal Covid vaccine is a highly-coveted 'Holy Grail' among the pharmaceutical industry, with several candidates already in development. Advertisement The Sheba Medical Center data is taken from its staff who were involved in a trial of fourth jabs during a nationwide surge of Omicron infections. Israel became the first country in the world to roll-out a second round of boosters, in response to fears that immunity wanes among the vulnerable and elderly. Both the UK and US will eventually face pressure to follow suit, but both nations have insisted there are no plans to administer fourth doses yet. But the country often hailed for having a world-beating inoculation drive has embarked on a different programme to the UK. For example Britain spaced out the first and second dose by 12 weeks and used three different types of Covid jabs, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna. Israel on the other hand stuck to three weeks for the primary course and has thus far relied entirely on Pfizer jabs. Some experts have argued that a longer gap between jabs primes the immune system better. The UK originally began offering Pfizer boosters after six months, before chopping the gap down to three months to help ward off Omicron. Experts believe the mix-and-match approach may offer bigger benefits compared to sticking to the same jab. Israel has opted for a three month gap for its booster followed by a fourth month gap for another additional dose in certain demographics. There has been speculation that rolling out booster jabs so quickly may come with diminishing returns. A previous study, from the Sheba Medical Center, on the impact of a third Covid jab appears to indicate this. Published in September, it recorded a 10-fold increase in antibodies among medical staff after a third Covid jab. Other studies from vaccine manufactures Pfizer and Moderna have also seen higher antibody boosts following a third jab in tests against the Omicron variant. The latest Sheba Medical Center research began on December 27 and involved 150 medical workers who had received their third jab four-to-five months ago. A separate group of staff is set to receive Moderna's vaccine for their fourth dose this week. Antibodies form only one part of the immune system, and primarily prevent people becoming infected with Covid in the first place. Israel, like the UK, has experienced a growing number of Omicron cases since mid-December according to Oxford University backed data. As of January 3 Israel recorded 627 daily new Covid cases per million people and the UK recorded 2,742 cases per million people Sir Patrick Vallance says giving out Covid jabs every six months is 'untenable' Sir Patrick Vallance says giving out Covid jabs every six months is 'untenable' and the vaccination drive will soon 'settle' into a yearly inoculation programme similar to that for flu. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference yesterday, England's chief scientific adviser said jabs were being dished out so often because the virus was relatively new and people were still building up immunity. But once adequate protection emerges, it is likely that several jabs a year will no longer be needed. Sir Patrick said that every time someone is vaccinated or catches the virus their immunity is broadened, making it better at fighting off current and future variants. He added that it 'isn't tenable' to keep rolling out Covid vaccines several times a year, and that this was not the 'long-term plan'. It comes after Professor Andrew Pollard, who was part of the team that developed the Oxford Covid jab, warned administering booster vaccines to everyone every six months was 'not sustainable'. Advertisement While levels are boosted following a vaccination or infection, they are known to wane over time. But this does not mean someone is completely susceptible to the virus, or becoming severely ill. Another part of the body's natural defence, T cells, help fight off the virus once an infection occurs. They last much longer than antibodies but are harder to detect. One expert who has slammed the idea of rolling out booster jabs every few months is England's chief scientific Sir Patrick. At a Downing Street press conference yesterday, he said giving out Covid jabs every six months is 'untenable' and that the vaccination drive will soon 'settle' into a yearly inoculation programme similar to that for flu. He added that Covid jabs were currently being dished out so often because the virus was relatively new and people were still building up immunity. But once adequate protection emerges, it is likely people will no longer need several jabs a year. He added that it 'isn't tenable' to keep rolling out Covid vaccines several times a year, and that this was not the 'long-term plan'. A recent analysis by the UK Health Security Agency found two doses a Covid vaccine still reduced the chances of being hospitalised with the virus by 72 per cent and a booster further reduced this to 88 per cent. Israel, like the UK, is currently experiencing a high number of Covid cases following the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Daily infections in the country have increased 10-fold over the past month. Incidences of severe illness has also increased but at a far slower pace, according to Health Ministry data. Statistics compiled by the Oxford University-based research platform Our World in Data recorded that as of January 3 Israel had 627 daily new Covid cases per million people. In comparison, the UK recorded 2,742 cases per million people on the same date. Around 60 per cent of the Israel's 9.4million population are fully vaccinated, similar to the UK in terms of proportion vaccinated. Advertisement One of the Government's leading Covid modellers today appeared to back Boris Johnson's plan to 'ride out' the Omicron wave as he claimed that imposing more restrictions now would have little effect. Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) which feeds into SAGE, said 'we're starting to see things turn around'. He claimed that if measures had been imposed before Christmas they may have reduced the number of infections but admitted restrictions would be 'much less effective' now the outbreak may be peaking. However, he refused to rule out needing more curbs if the wave starts to grow again. Dr Tildesley pointed to Omicron hotspot London, where infections and hospital admissions appear to be flatlining already, as reason to be optimistic about how the epidemic will play out in the rest of the country. There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, the latest day with data, down 7 per cent compared to the previous week. It is the second day in a row admissions have fallen week-on-week. It comes after the Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference last night that England had a 'chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country' because it is milder than older strains. While daily infections are running at record levels 218,000 people tested positive yesterday the number of Covid patients in hospital is still a fraction of previous peaks. There are 15,000 Covid inpatients now compared to nearly 40,000 last January and about a third of current patients are not primarily sick with the virus. Fewer sufferers are also requiring ventilation. Dr Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, told BBC Breakfast: 'It does look like we may be in a situation where we're getting cases very, very high but there's early evidence that things might be turning around in London. 'The problem, of course, is that if you're thinking about introducing controls, once you're beyond the peak of the infection, then that has much less effect. 'So, our modelling work that was done before Christmas did suggest that early interventions would have had some impact in reducing the number of cases and reducing the pressure on hospitals. 'But at this point, talking in the early new year when we're starting to see things turn around, the impact of any interventions being introduced now would be that much less effective.' Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) which feeds into SAGE, questioned the need for more curbs when 'we're starting to see things turn around' The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday that England had a 'chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country' because it is milder than older strains There are 15,000 Covid inpatients now compared to nearly 40,000 last January, with Omicron sufferers being admitted quicker and presenting with milder illness More than a quarter of Covid inpatients on December 28 were not primarily sick with the virus. Fewer sufferers are also requiring ventilation The above graph shows the proportion of Covid patients needing ventilators while Delta was dominant (November) and after Omicron took hold (late December). It shows the proportion has halved, in yet another sign the disease is milder Dr Tildesley's modelling before Christmas was heavily criticised for being too pessimistic after projecting thousands of daily deaths without any curbs. 'The next few days will be really, really key for us to try to identify that children are going back to school, we've had sort of differences in mixing patterns over the Christmas period and we are yet to see what happens in the data as a result of that,' he said. Omicron isolation crisis: Warning disruption could last for WEEKS with one in 10 workers off sick as bin collections, care homes and shops continue to be hit by milder wave Commuters heading into the office in Britain faced travel disruption again during the morning rush hour today with hundreds of trains cancelled as Covid self-isolation rules wreaked havoc on essential services. The misery of staff shortages that has led to reduced timetables across the UK was compounded by faults with trains and points this morning for those travelling to work across London and Birmingham. One in ten NHS staff are now off sick or self-isolating with the milder but more contagious Omicron variant - and bin collections have been disrupted in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Cheshire, Essex and Cumbria. Meanwhile a care home group boss in Yorkshire said the staffing challenge 'is now at the worst it has been throughout the pandemic', and school leaders told of their worries that staff shortages could worsen. And shoppers have described long queues due to a lack of checkout staff and some empty shelves, especially for fresh items such as milk - with Iceland saying its number of staff self -isolating is now 1,000 up on a week ago. The continuing shortage of HGV drivers is also causing problems, leading to fears that some stores may have to shut. On the trains, there was disruption for those using TfL Rail services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington in West London due to a points failure between Hanwell and Southall which was blocking some lines. There were also delays on the Circle line on the London Underground today due to train cancellations. Those using Greater Anglia trains from Essex as well as TfL Rail services in East London also faced delays this morning between Romford and London Liverpool Street due to a fault on a train at Stratford. And in the West Midlands this morning there was disruption on CrossCountry and West Midlands Railway services between Birmingham New Street and Redditch due to a broken down train. Most operators around Britain have already been forced to slash dozens of daily services due to around one in ten rail staff calling in sick and some train firms will now run reduced services for several weeks. TransPennine Express cancelled 24 trains yesterday, and CrossCountry has cut around 50 daily services until next week. LNER has removed 12 services a day on the East Coast Main Line between London and Leeds until Friday. Southern is not running any services in and out of London Victoria until next Monday while the Gatwick Express, which resumed only three weeks ago after an 18-month closure, has been suspended indefinitely. ScotRail will cut around 160 trains from its normal 2,000 a day until January 28, meaning fewer services in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Meanwhile Transport for Wales cancelled almost 100 trains, including services between Newport and Crosskeys and Chester and Liverpool Lime Street. Advertisement 'The next week or two we'll have a real indication as to whether we really have peaked and things are starting to turn around, then we'll have much more information as to what the effectiveness of interventions may or may not have been at this point.' Dr Tildesley said it was 'really important that in the longer term we do need to think about living with the virus', rather than relying on damaging restrictions. He added: 'We can't be having a conversation in two years time about putting in lockdown to deal with whatever might be circulating. 'We do need to get more into the mindset of how are we going to manage living with the virus and continuing with our lives. 'Now, the Omicron variant when it emerged of course it was a real concern because it's very transmissible, which obviously is a huge worry, but much less severe than the Delta variant. 'If that is the pattern that we will see in the future, then hopefully we will be more into a situation of Covid circulating endemically in the UK, hopefully much milder. He added: 'And maybe we have to have vaccination campaigns to protect the vulnerable similar to what we have to do with flu every winter, but we can do this without any restrictions. 'I don't think we're quite there yet, but hopefully once we get beyond this winter wave we can start to think more like that as we move further into 2022.' There is now an acceptance that Omicron is unlikely to overwhelm the NHS directly, however the sheer volume of people testing positive is putting strain on vital services and businesses. Business chiefs have begged the Prime Minister to cut self-isolation as around 1.3million people languish under house arrest and rail services and bin collections grind to a halt. Mr Johnson is facing mounting pressure to trim the quarantine period again from seven days to five after he gathered his Cabinet ministers to sign off on sticking to 'Plan B' restrictions today. As Parliament returns from its Christmas break, Mr Johnson will face a PMQs grilling this afternoon before making a Covid statement to the House. Testing rules are set to be loosened in an effort to reduce the pressure on the system, with people who are positive on lateral flows spared having to do a confirmatory PCR. Meanwhile, travel regulations are also due to be overhauled, axing the requirement for tests before arriving in the UK. However, the PM has up to now batted away calls for a change on self-isolation, voicing concern it could make the problems worse. Staff absences are threatening to cripple the country after infections hit another record daily high of 218,000 - meaning nearly 1.3million people have been positive in the past week. Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland supermarket chain, warned that although it is coping so far the absentee chart is now 'almost vertical' - with levels more than double the peak of the 'Pingdemic' last year. 'I think it is fair to say that business is under strain as never before. This new variant seems to be a lot more contagious and that is having a big impact,' he told Sky News. 'My call on government would be firstly to prioritise lateral flow tests for key workers including food retail front line shop workers, but also to revisit the onerous isolation rules. 'Seven days is a long time for people who are triple jabbed when the symptoms are for the vast majority of people not more than a common cold or mild flu.' Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, also suggested he would support the move as long as it is science-led. 'If the science says it is possible for people to go back to work earlier, then of course NHS leaders will want that to be possible,' Mr Taylor said. The NHS has been hard hit by absences and rising hospitalisations, with Mr Johnson declaring at a Downing Street press conference last night that it is on a 'war footing' and a slew of trusts declaring serious incidents. The PM said now is the moment for 'utmost caution', but made clear he is determined to avoid fresh restrictions -stressing Omicron is milder and cases are not translating into the same intensive care demand as previous waves. The government is expected to say that only people with symptoms should take PCR tests, although those who are asymptomatic and positive on lateral flows should still isolate for at least seven days. Under the existing rules people are freed at that point as long as they return negative results at least 24 hours apart on days six and seven. The change appears designed to ease the pressure on labs rather than free up the workforce - as the isolation period begins when asymptomatic individuals are positive on a lateral flow, not when they get a PCR. Hawkish ministers have hailed Mr Johnson's resolve in refusing to bow to calls for more restrictions before Christmas. One Cabinet minister told MailOnline the public would give him credit for 'bravery'. 'I think the PM took the right decision. It was the brave decision. He was right about Freedom Day and now this.' Pointing to a poll suggesting the Tories recovering ground over the past fortnight, the minister said: 'The public like people to take brave decisions. I think they are giving him credit for Christmas.' But there is increasing pressure for action to ease pressure on workforces. Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses said: 'Five-day isolation would help tackle some of the staff absences that we are seeing now really climb.' A mother with terminal cancer has taken out a Times Square billboard to help find her daughter a boyfriend. Beth Davies was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, and was treated with chemotherapy. However, in June 2020, doctors informed her she had developed metastatic breast cancer, which had spread to her bones. Now, the 61-year-old from Boston is on a quest to see her daughter Molly down the aisle before it is too late, and 'to know I am leaving her in good hands.' Last week, a 47-by-25-foot advertisement went up at New York's famous crossroads, with a photo of her 30-year-old daughter Molly and a URL to her dating profile. Last week, a 47-by-25-foot advertisement went up at New York's famous crossroads, with a photo of Beth's 30-year-old daughter Molly and a URL to her dating profile (pictured today) Along with her 62-year-old husband Rick, Beth is determined to walk her daughter down the aisle. 'I would like to see my daughter well-settled,' Beth told the New York Post. She is currently being treated with Ibrance tablets, which she hopes will keep the cancer under control for at least two years. 'Considering that I have serious health issues, there is urgency,' she added. Pictured: The billboard seen in NYC's Times Square on January 5 Pictured: The billboard seen in NYC's Times Square on January 5 She took to dating app 'Wingman' which sees friends and family provide testimony to users, in an effort to pitch them as a suitable partner. Molly told The Post that the app and billboard 'cases a wider net'. She said: 'I want someone who adores me and someone I adore as well. I want someone who adds to my life. If this broadcasts that, it will all be worth it.' Beth agreed. 'It is only fair since Molly acted as my wingman, escorting me to various oncology appointments,' she told the newspaper. Since the billboard went up, Beth and Molly have been together to visit Times Square, with Beth taking photos of them together smiling beneath it, and putting them on Facebook. Since the billboard went up, Beth and Molly have been together to visit Times Square, with Beth taking photos of them together smiling beneath it, and putting them on Facebook The mother said that some friends have told her their daughters would 'kill them' if they had done the same thing. However, Molly said she appreciated her mother's judgement and her mission to find her a good partner. Of her daughter, Beth told NBC news: 'She wakes up every day, just trying to make the lives of others better.' 'I'm hoping that the right person is confident enough to not be dissuaded by the unorthodox,' Molly added. On the billboard, she said: 'It's such a trip. Especially up there next to Gen-Z icon Olivia Rodrigo.' Molly's profile caught the attention of Wingman's founder Tina Wilson, who was the one who arranged for the billboard to be put up in Times Square. 'She still is focused with love and attention for her daughter and so I wanted to help her accelerate that search and find someone great,' Wilson told NBC. North Korea launched an unidentified projectile toward the East Sea, Wednesday, South Korea's military said, in the reclusive regime's first show of force this year. The North launched the missile eastward at around 8:10 a.m. from a land-based platform, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without further elaboration. "For additional information, the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters. South Korea's military in cooperation with the U.S. is closely watching related North Korean movements and maintaining a readiness posture against the possibility of additional launches, the JCS said. It marks the North's first launch since the regime fired off a new submarine-launched ballistic missile in October last year. The latest saber-rattling came just days after the North concluded a five-day Central Committee plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, Friday, highlighting its key focus on economic issues and its pandemic response. During the meetings, participants stressed the importance of boosting their country's defense capabilities, pointing to the growing instability of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not issue any particular messages for the South or the United States at the gathering, but the latest launch appears aimed partially at raising the stakes for future talks with the allies, analysts said. Wednesday's launch could also be part of the North's wintertime drills, some observers said. The launch came amid expectations the North could refrain from major strategic provocations that could undermine the mood for peace in the lead-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics slated for next month. (Yonhap) Advertisement Dramatic drone images show a massive cliff fall next to a holiday park full of hundreds of caravans - leaving many close to the edge. The pictures reveal a huge landslide next to the caravan park in Sandy Bay in Exmouth, Devon. They were captured by Ziggy Austin at Rock Solid Coasteering on Monday - with some caravans appearing just metres away from the edge. It follows a number of cliff falls in the area over the last 18 months, with Exmouth and Sidmouth seeing some of the most severe. These pictures show a massive cliff fall next to a campsite - leaving hundreds of caravans close to the edge The pictures were captured by Ziggy Austin at Rock Solid Coasteering on Monday - with some caravans appearing just metres away from the edge The drone images show the huge landslide next to the caravan park in Sandy Bay in Exmouth, Devon Serious coastal erosion near Sandy Bay caravan park near Exmouth, capturing the extent of east Devon's cliff falls It follows a number of cliff falls in the area over the last six months. In a statement on Facebook last year, the local Beer Coastguard Rescue Team said: 'Cliff falls this morning, please stay away from the base of cliffs and take note of the signs, they are there for a reason' In August, the cliffside endured five huge falls in just one morning, Devon Live reported. Crumbling clay fell from the cliffs between Sidmouth and Salcombe Mouth, prompting the Beer Coastguard Rescue Team to issue a warning. In a statement made on Facebook, a spokesperson had said: 'Cliff falls this morning, please stay away from the base of cliffs and take note of the signs, they are there for a reason.' It came just one month after a number of beach-goers were pictured sitting directly under crumbling cliffs there, despite an enormous sign warning them. Revellers were seen near Sandy Bay as Britons rushed to the coast to take advantage of the heatwave. Beach-goers were pictured beside a yellow sign which reads 'DANGER - beware of falling rocks'. The drone images show the huge landslide next to the caravan park in Sandy Bay in Exmouth, Devon Virginia Giuffre's ex-boyfriend has told of his fears over her sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew as the Duke's lawyers battle to dismiss the case on a 'technicality'. Anthony Figueroa, who was in a relationship with Ms Giuffre at the time of the allegations in 2001, says he hopes the prince 'has to face everything he is accused of'. Ms Giuffre, 38, is one of billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's most high-profile victims and claims she was trafficked by him and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions when she was 17. However, the prince's legal team are bidding to have the case thrown out on the basis that she waived her right to to sue him when she signed an earlier 370,000 ($500,000) legal settlement with Epstein. The duke, 61, vehemently denies the claims and says Ms Giuffre is after 'another payday at his expense'. Judge Lewis Kaplan told his lawyer at a hearing in New York on Tuesday that he would 'have the decision pretty soon'. Mr Figueroa appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain today to give his reaction to the hearing, raising his concerns that 'somebody is going to get away with it'. He said: 'Until I see him face the music about any of this, I honestly feel like more than likely somebody is going to get away with it. 'He [Prince Andrew] is royalty, so out of anybody, I imagine he would probably be one of them to not have to deal with any of this. 'Then again, I have no clue. I hope he does end up having to face everything he is accused of.' Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts, aged 17 at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London, in March 2001 Prince Andrew came under fire after he was spotted taking a stroll through New York's Central Park with Epstein following his prison term in 2011 Virginia Roberts holds a photo of herself at age 16, when she says Jeffrey Epstein began abusing her sexually Ghislaine Maxwell's house in Belgravia, London, where Virginia Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, Duke of York Virginia Roberts's, who is suing Prince Andrew under her married name Giuffre, ex-boyfriend Anthony Figueroa on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday morning Mr Figueroa pictured alongside Ms Giuffre. He said today he hopes Prince Andrew 'faces everything he is accused of' How Andrew is trying to have sex assault case thrown out Prince Andrew's lawyers appeared at a New York court Tuesday to try to get his sex assault case dismissed. Virginia Giuffre, 38, claims she was 17 when she slept with Andrew three times in 2001 under orders from Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of the duke. She is suing for claims of battery and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Andrew has called her accusations 'baseless' and repeatedly denied them, claiming that she is seeking a 'payday at his expense'. His lawyers are using details of a $500,000 settlement reached in 2009 between Ms Giuffre and Epstein to block the case against the duke. They will argue that Andrew was essentially identified as a defendant in that settlement and so Ms Giuffre signed away the right to sue him. The unsealed court papers revealed that she agreed to 'release, acquit, satisfy and for ever discharge' Epstein and 'any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant'. Andrew is not named in the settlement but his lawyers believe he is covered as a 'potential defendant'. The document also references the term 'royalty', something the duke's lawyers also suggest gives them 'strong legal ground' to dismiss the case. It says: 'In addition to being continually exploited to satisfy the defendant's every sexual whim, (she) was also required to be sexually exploited by (Epstein's) adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen, and/or other professional and personal acquaintances.' His lawyers believe the document gives him a strong case to have the claims against him dismissed, though experts say its wording is 'vague'. If unsuccessful, Andrew faces the prospect of a lengthy discovery and deposition process that could involve close members of family and his police protection officers, ahead of a trial in the autumn. Advertisement The ex-boyfriend also recounted finding out about Ms Giuffre's trip to London in 2001, where she alleges she was sexually assaulted. He said: 'She had told me before that she was going to meet him [Prince Andrew in London] with Jeffrey Epstein. 'When they were on their trip she called me and she was talking about that she knew what they wanted her to do. She was really nervous and scared because she didn't know how to react to it. 'I had explained to her that "you're out the country and there's nothing I can do to help you, you need to do whatever you can do to feel safe. If there's anything that's going to happen, it is completely out of my hands." I wanted her to be safe.' And asked if he wanted to intervene upon hearing of Ms Giuffre's abuse claims at the time, Mr Figueroa added that he felt 'powerless'. He said: 'What could I have done? I was 19 at the time. They were billionaires and had way more power than I did. 'I was basically powerless. I couldn't really do anything.' His interview came just hours Prince Andrew's hopes of getting the case by his US sex accuser thrown out of court were said to be hanging by a thread last night following a 'brutal' hearing in New York. Judge Kaplan put his legal team through a bruising encounter before telling the royal he would find out 'pretty soon' - most likely within days - of his bid to have the lawsuit dismissed would be successful. One legal expert said that the hearing 'could not have gone worse' and pointed out that the fact that his lawyers were reduced to saying they 'respectfully disagree' with the judge did not bode well- adding 'respectfully disagreeing with the judge means you are about to lose.' The prince denies the claims and says he has no recollection of even meeting her. Judge Kaplan, though, appeared mostly dismissive of the arguments by the duke's lawyer, Andrew Brettler. He said that part of the 2009 settlement protecting 'other potential defendants' that Andrew's lawyers had appeared to be leaning on was 'unclear' and pointed to two sentences in the text that seemed to suggest it could not be used by Andrew. Judge Kaplan also pointed to language in the agreement stating it is 'not intended to be used by any other person' to protect themselves from lawsuits without the agreement of Miss Roberts and Epstein - again suggesting Andrew could not rely on it. While he did not immediately rule at the end of the hearing, he made clear that he was not leaning Andrew's way as he rejected much of the reasoning offered by Mr Brettler, who said the case 'should absolutely be dismissed'. The hearing is seen as one of Andrew's last opportunities to get the civil lawsuit thrown out before a trial this autumn, which would potentially overshadow the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year. His side argued that the deal Ms Giuffre cut with Epstein in 2009 released the duke from any liability. The settlement saw Ms Giuffre agree to 'release, acquit, satisfy and forever discharge' not only Epstein but also 'any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant'. However, Ms Giuffre's team say the deal offers Andrew no protection. She is seeking unspecified damages, but there is speculation the sum could be millions of dollars. The Ministry of Defence has been accused of blowing 13billion of taxpayers money over the past decade on a litany of delayed or scrapped programmes. A wide-ranging 'dossier of waste' compiled by Labour claims that the cash was blown on cancelled contracts, projects that went over-budget and investments in programs that later had to be written off. The opposition claims that the amount wasted since current Defence Secretary Ben Wallace took over in 2019 is 4billion, enough to build four new Type 45 destroyers for the Royal Navy. Among the cash spent was 5.7million on earplugs for personnel later found to be unsuitable for use on military operations. It comes at a time when the MoD has complained of a funding black hole of up to 17.4 billion, with cuts to the British Army's manpower and tank forces. Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'The MoD is a uniquely failing department, yet ministers have taken no serious steps to secure value for taxpayers' money. 'This scale of waste is totally unacceptable. Ministers are failing British troops and British taxpayers.' Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'The MoD is a uniquely failing department, yet ministers have taken no serious steps to secure value for taxpayers' money.' The opposition claims that the amount wasted since current Defence Secretary Ben Wallace took over in 2019 is 4billion That would be enough to build four new Type 45 destroyers for the Royal Navy at 1billion a time (HMS Diamond pictured) In the 16-page dossier the opposition identified 67 cases of 'waste' since 2010. The money lost includes 4.8billion on cancelled contracts, 5.6billion on project overspends and 2.5billion of written-off investments. Labour argues that this money lost would have filled in a sizeable chunk of the MoD's black hole. The Army's manpower is set to fall to 72,500 by 2025, while its tank numbers are set to be cut by a third from 227 to 148. Labour's dossier argues that the waste identified in 2019-2020 (406million) alone could have almost paid to maintain tank numbers at the higher level (430million). Among other cases it identifies from publics sources are: A 1billion overspend on building the Mensa nuclear warhead facility near Reading A 1billion overspend on the Astute attack submarine programme A 325million overspend on the Protector drone project A 333million overspend on a new nuclear submarine core facility in Derby The cancellation of planned modernisation of the Warrior armoured vehicle fleet at a cost of 595million The 231million cost of writing off land vehicle used in previous deployments, including Mastiff, Ridgeback and Wolfhound armoured vehicles. Last year the National Autdit Office (NAO) labelled the military's equipment plan - covering projects from jet fighters to frigates - as 'unaffordable' for the fourth consecutive year. The equipment plan covers the period from 2020 to 2030 and has an estimated cost of 197.4 billion, covering equipment already in use such as the F-35 Lightning II jets and projects still in development including the Type 26 frigate. While the MoD estimates the shortfall in funding as being 7.3 billion, it could be as high as 17.4 billion in a worst-case scenario. Last November the Public Accounts Committee said that the MoD defence equipment systems were 'broken and repeatedly wasting billions of taxpayers' money' An MoD spokeswoman said: 'This government is serious about investing in defence modernisation to ensure the UK armed forces have the relevant capabilities to face today's threats. 'That means taking tough decisions to replace old equipment and halt programmes that no longer fit requirements.' An eight-year-old girl has died after strong winds lifted up a bouncy castle at a Spanish fairground, leaving eight other children injured. The girl died was playing on the inflatable in Mislata near Valencia when it was lifted several feet into the air before she landed on her head when it hit the ground. She died 12 hours later after she was rushed to La Fe Hospital in Valencia. An eight-year-old girl has died after strong winds lifted up a bouncy castle at a Spanish fairground, leaving eight other children injured The girl died was playing on the inflatable in Mislata near Valencia when it was lifted several feet into the air Another girl aged four was also seriously injured and remains in hospital. Seven other youngsters were hurt and required hospital treatment although their injuries were mostly described as non-serious. A police investigation is now underway to ascertain whether the incident was linked to any negligence. Mislata's mayor Carlos Fernandez Bielsa said: 'It will be up to the police to determine what has happened.' A spokesman for local firefighters, who attended the scene along with police and paramedics, announced the news of the girl's death. Seven other youngsters were hurt and required hospital treatment although their injuries were mostly described as non-serious A police investigation is now underway to ascertain whether the incident was linked to any negligence They said: 'Several children have been assisted by paramedics following an incident involving a bouncy castle in Mislata. 'We have checked the structure to make sure there were no other minors beneath it and rule out anyone being trapped.' Mislata Town Hall said in a statement after learning of the death: 'Following the tragic incident last night, we have declared a period of official mourning until January 7 because of the death of one of the girls involved. 'We would like to transmit our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the youngster who lost her life. She was only eight years old.' A spokesman for local firefighters, who attended the scene along with police and paramedics, announced the news of the girl's death It also announced it was suspending a scheduled Three Kings Day parade. A similar incident in Australia last month caused the deaths of six children aged 11 and 12. Chace Harrison became the sixth youngster to die of his injuries after his life support was switched off at a Hobart Hospital on December 19. He was among nine students who fell 32 feet from an inflatable castle when it was lifted up by wind at a school fair in Devonport, Tasmania. The other five children who lost their lives have been named as 11-year-old Addison Stewart, and 12-year-olds Zane Mellor, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, and Peter Dodt. The socialite and former husband of heiress Petra Ecclestone, James Stunt, has appeared in court to face money laundering charges. Stunt appeared for a hearing at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday. The 39-year-old is charged with money laundering and forgery and is due to go on trial with seven other people on April 25. Stunt was wheeling a suitcase as he went into the court building, accompanied by his girlfriend, Helena Robinson. The defendant married Ms Ecclestone, daughter of F1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, in Italy in 2011. They had three children together a daughter followed by twin boys but divorced in 2017. James Stunt, pictured this morning appearing at Leeds Crown Court with his girlfriend Helena Robinson where he is on trial accused of money laundering and forgery Stunt, pictured, who is Bernie Ecclestone's former son-in-law, has been charged with money laundering and forgery Earlier, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: 'The CPS has made a decision to charge James Stunt with offences of money laundering contrary to section 327 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and forgery contrary to section one of Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, following an investigation by West Yorkshire Police.' Stunt, who is on bail, is due to appear remotely at the same crown court on Friday for a further hearing. He arrived at court on Wednesday wearing a navy blue three-piece suit, a white shirt and lighter blue tie. Stunt has strenuously denied the claims ahead of today's hearing. The businessman had earlier said he intends contesting both charges at Leeds Crown Court Stunt, pictured right, had three children with Pera Ecclestone, left. The couple, pictured at the Serpentine Gallery in July 2010 divorced in 2017 following six year's of marriage His legal team, commenting in May 2020 said: 'Our client denies any criminality and will be contesting the charges.' Stunt later told his 90,000 followers on Instagram: 'So what's the headline? 'A man they have arrested got charged with money laundering'? I will be tendering a defence. 'I hope this goes to trial and you can explain how James Stunt, the biggest clueless guy ever, is not a money launderer. 'I have to now prove my innocence, and I won't just use my photographic memory. 'James Stunt is prosecuted for money laundering this is the biggest miscarriage of justice.' Advertisement Covid cases in Omicron hotspot London are now only going up in over-60s, official figures show amid warnings that the outbreak may not have peaked in the capital. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) statistics showing that infections in the city began to fall before Christmas sparked hopes that the worst was over. But rates are only tumbling in under-60s currently, according to the same dataset which doesn't yet reflect New Year's Eve celebrations. Cases in over-60s, who are more vulnerable to the virus, have yet to slow down since the extremely-infectious variant took off. Sir Chris Whitty last night said it was too early to say London's crisis had peaked because hospital pressures were likely to worsen over the coming weeks because of the trajectory. However, other experts expect the trend in over-60s to follow that of younger adults and begin falling in the next week or so, mirroring the trend in South Africa the first country in the world to fall victim to the variant, where infections now appear to be in freefall. Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline that infection numbers are 'bumpy' over the festive period because of reporting delays and fewer testes being carried out. He said: 'Nonetheless, the rate is the under-60s does look to have peaked and be falling convincingly. 'This pattern of a short sharp peak is what you would expect from Omicrons increased transmissibility [and] it also tallies with South African experience.' Growth rates already suggest that the infection rate in older people is slowing down. Professor Livermore added: 'I would expect a similar peak and drop off, within a week or thereabouts, among the over 60s.' UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show Covid cases in Omicron hotspot London are now only going up in people aged 60 and above. Graph shows: The case rate per 100,000 in people aged 60 and above (yellow line) and under-60 (red line). Cases have started to drop in under-60s, though the rate still remains above the more vulnerable older age groups UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show confirmed infections have fallen week-on-week on seven of the eight days leading up to December 30 - the latest date regional data is available for - in people aged 59 or below. Graph shows: The week-on-week rate of growth in average cases in under-60s (red line) and people aged 60 and above (yellow line). Cases are falling in under-60s and the rate of growth is slowing in over-60s Graph shows: Covid cases across the capital from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Official testing data shows there was a drop in the run-up to Christmas HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS: The number of patients being admitted to hospital with Covid dipped 7.22 per cent from 374 on December 26 to 347 on January 2, the latest date data is available for HOSPITAL PATIENTS: The number of patients in hospital with Covid is still increasing, jumping 32 per cent to 3,993 yesterday PATIENTS ON MECHANICAL VENTILATOR BEDS: The number of patients requiring critical care has remained relatively stable since September, remaining unaffected by increased in admissions and cases caused by Omicron so far DEATHS: The number of people dying within 28 days of a positive Covid test is also remaining flat in the capital, rising nine per cent in a week from 21 to 23 on December 30 Even NHS chiefs back cutting self-isolation period to five days amid staffing crisis An NHS leader today revealed he would support slashing Covid self-isolation to five days amid an escalating staffing crisis that has engulfed hospitals and led some to cancel routine operations. Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation an organisation which represents trusts, said two more days should be shaved off the period as long as it was backed up by the science. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the situation was 'desperate' and any way of getting staff back into work was a 'good thing'. But he said it would be 'completely counterproductive' to have infectious staff return to wards because it would exacerbate the spread of Omicron. Last month ministers cut the self-isolation period to seven days, providing someone tested negative using a lateral flow on days six and seven. But pressure is mounting on Boris Johnson to follow the US, which has squeezed quarantine to only five days for anyone without symptoms. One in ten NHS employees are currently thought to be off sick or self-isolating, and Boris Johnson yesterday revealed plans are being drawn up to call in the Army if the crisis continues to worsen. One ambulance trust began asking patients with life-threatening heart attacks and strokes to get a lift to hospital because it did not have enough paramedics. Advertisement Overall, cases in London fell 10 per cent from 27,820 on December 23 to 25,038, the latest date official statistics are available for. Government data showed the number of positive tests had dropped in the run up to Christmas, with a slight blip in the days immediately following festivities, before the trend resumed. And MailOnline yesterday revealed cases were now falling in two-thirds of London's neighbourhoods. It prompted 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson an influential No10 adviser whose grim death projections spooked ministers into adopting draconian restrictions back in spring 2020 to say he is 'cautiously optimistic' that the capital's cases were plateauing, and could fall nationally within as little as a week. But the raw case numbers are unreliable because fewer tests are being carried out and the positivity rate shows no signs of slowing down yet. However, separate figures show hospitalisation rates are already falling in London. Ministers are believed to be watching admissions in the capital closely, with 400-a-day thought to be a tipping point that requires nationwide intervention, given that London has acted as the canary in the coalmine for the UK's Omicron crisis. Latest data shows daily hospital admissions are falling in the capital, dipping 7.22 per cent from 374 on December 26 to 347 on January 2, the latest date data is available for. They were only above 400 for four days. Meanwhile, the number of infected patients in hospital rose by nearly a third over the course of a week to 3,993 yesterday, roughly half the level seen during the darkest days of the second wave. Critics argue the figures are over-inflated because they include 'incidental' cases, meaning people who've been admitted for unrelated problems like a broken leg. Critical care bed occupancy which paints a clearer picture about the true state of the Omicron outbreak has barely risen over the same time-frame, according to statistics proving the fight against Covid is significantly different to last year. The number of patients on mechanical ventilator beds remains low, rising 13 per cent to 245 yesterday, compared to highs of more than 1,200 last January. But there are fears this could increase now that cases are only going up in over-60s, even if there are overall fewer cases being detected currently. Slide me The above map shows the Covid infection rates across London's almost 1,000 neighbourhoods for the week ending December 22 (left) and December 29 (right). Areas coloured black have an infection rate of more than 1,600 cases per 100,000 people, while areas coloured dark purple have an infection rate between 800 and 1,599. The areas coloured purple have an infection rate between 400 and 799. This shows the percentage drop in Covid cases across 20 London MSOAs out of almost 1,000. Some 25 per cent of these areas saw their cases drop by more than a third Data from the ZOE Covid Symptom study pictured above also suggests that Covid cases are falling in London. This relies on daily reports from almost a million Britons on whether they are unwell and if they have tested positive for Covid Number of Covid patients on intensive care wards is HALF its peak level 12 months ago, data shows Intensive care admissions are half the levels of previous peaks with Boris Johnson insisting this means he is confident the NHS will not be overwhelmed. Despite record cases and soaring admissions, the number of patients in intensive care units has remained flat since Omicron arrived in the UK. Just five per cent of patients in hospital with Covid-19 are on mechanical ventilators, compared with 11 per cent at the peak of the pandemic last January. The Prime Minister said Omicron is milder than previous variants and keeps people in hospital for a shorter period. He told a Downing Street press conference yesterday: While hospital admissions are rising quickly, this is not yet thankfully translating into the same numbers needing intensive care that we saw in previous waves. Advertisement Hospitals in the capital are already in crisis mode amid fears up to one in 10 staff are off sick. Non-urgent operations are being cancelled across the country to cope with staff absences and Boris Johnson last night revealed plans to call in the Army if the situation escalates further. The Government data shows the weekly case rate per 100,000 people in under-60s fell from a peak of 2,279 on December 21 to 1,842 on December 30. For comparison, the rate increased from 701 to 1,212 in people aged 60 and over the same period. Covid cases have fallen week-on-week for seven out of the last eight days in under-60s. This compares to record week-on-week increases of more than 200 per cent in the middle of December, when the mutant strain took off in the capital. Confirmed infections are still rising in over-60s, but their average rate of growth fell consistently from December 17. Cases were rising by 191 per cent week-on-week on that date but now were only increasing by 40 per cent on December 27, suggesting growth may be slowing. Data is not available over the last week so it is not possible to discern the current trends. Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'Every epidemic has to peak eventually as you would run out of people to infect. 'The question is always when will it peak and how high will the peak be. 'Although infections are still increasing in the over 60s in London it does look like this is starting to slow already but of course there is a problem with Christmas affecting reporting so we cant be certain. 'It will be next week before the Christmas effect gets removed from the recent data.' The number of people dying within 28 days of getting a positive Covid test is also remaining flat in the capital, hovering at around 20. Professor Livermore said: 'A major point to highlight is that were now 21 days from when the rate in the over 60s took off on December 14 to 15. 'Thats longer than the typical period around 19 days between infection and death for those who are going to succumb. Yet theres no significant uptick in deaths. 'This supports the view that Omicron is less able to cause severe disease, or that its severity has been blunted by widespread vaccination and prior infection. I think were now at the beginning of the end.' A teenage refugee who killed himself was struggling with alcoholism, traumatised by his friend's suicide and worried about his application to stay in the UK, an inquest has heard. Alexander Tekle, from Eritrea, East Africa, was found dead in Mitcham, south London, in December 2017, less than a year after arriving in the UK and shortly after his 18th birthday, Westminster Coroner's Court heard. While staying at a hostel for adult asylum seekers in London, Alexander, known as Alex, was assaulted and stabbed in the street in a random attack, MyLondon reported. The inquest was told that Alexander was struggling with alcoholism and was stressed by his 'uncertain' immigration status, while his girlfriend said he 'regretted ever coming to the UK'. Alexander Tekle (pictured), from Eritrea, East Africa, was found dead in south London, in December 2017, less than a year after arriving in the UK, Westminster Coroner's Court heard His friends told the court they believed drinking was how he dealt with the trauma he had experienced, including his close friend's suicide, who was also an Eritrean asylum seeker. While trekking across the desert from Eritrea, Alex saw women and children die before he lived in a tent in Calais' Jungle camp for around a year, the inquest heard. Alex, then 17, was rejected by the Home Office to come to the UK legally after the camp was cleared, and Alex smuggled himself into the country in the back of a lorry at the end of 2016. His girlfriend Luul Mohamed said in a statement that Alex had told her that he had seen people die in front of him while walking through the desert. Ms Mohamed told the court that Alex had an alcohol problem and would become 'angry and violent' after drinking, while he was normally 'calm and quiet'. She said his 'uncertain' immigration status caused him 'a lot of stress', saying he told her that he didn't know why he 'bothered' to come to the UK because he couldn't get his papers. Benny Hunter (left), a British charity worker, said his friend Alex slept in the woods in Calais when he was rejected for asylum in the UK, before coming to the country in the back of a lorry She added: 'He said he regretted ever coming to the UK. Alex thought no-one wanted to help him.' In a statement, Alex's father Tecle Sium Tesfamichel described his son, who wanted to be a professional cyclist, as a 'loveable and sociable young man' who was always 'looking after other people'. He continued: 'Although he didn't say much about how he was feeling, I know he must have been very scared about what he saw. 'When he arrived in the UK at the end of 2016 he was so relieved. He missed his family desperately and told his sisters he hoped they would join him in the UK and go to school there. He wanted to find a job and send money to help and support us. 'When I think of Alex and the hopes for his life in the UK and know he has gone, I feel deeply sad. I didn't know much about the problems Alex had in the UK at the time.' His devastated father said that he still doesn't understand what happened to his son and said he believed Alex would be 'safe' in the UK. He added: 'I hope the inquest will help me understand what happened leading up to Alex's death and if any lessons can be learnt to help protect this from happening to other young people.' Benny Hunter, a British charity worker who became friends with Alex, also gave evidence to the court and said Alex slept in the woods in Calais when he was rejected for asylum in the UK. Mr Hunter said he was told by police in December 2016 that Alex had made it into the UK in the back of a refrigerated lorry, and was staying at a children's immigration centre in Ashford, Kent. The inquest was told that Alexander, known as Alex, (pictured) was struggling with alcoholism and was stressed by his immigration status, saying he 'regretted ever coming to the UK' But the inquest heard there was a dispute over Alex's age as he initially told a social worker he turned 18 a few weeks later, but official documents said he would turn 18 in August. Alex was moved to a hostel for adult asylum seekers in London after Kent social services ruled it would be 'unsafe' for him to stay in children's accommodation, the inquest was told. The teenager was assaulted at the adult hostel and became homeless. He developed a drinking problem and was admitted to hospital on several occasions with hypoglycaemia - a low blood sugar level which can be caused by heavy drinking and not eating enough. Alex's inquest is the fourth to be heard into the suicides of four Eritrean asylum seekers, who all died within a 16-month period. Their deaths raised concerns over how young refugees are being treated in the UK, as the boys were at an age where they were not eligible for support and were unable to work. Alex, Filmon Yemane, 18, Mulubrhane Medhane Kfleyosus and Osman Ahmed Nur all took their own lives after being smuggled across the Channel from Calais' Jungle camp. The inquest continues. For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details. Advertisement South Africa's Omicron wave has completely collapsed and the country has reached the 'turning point in the pandemic', a doctor on the frontline in Johannesburg claimed today amid growing hopes that Britain's outbreak will also be short-lived. Professor Shabir Madhi, a vaccine expert at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the variant was 'very much subsiding' and had already 'pretty much subsided' in Gauteng the first province to fall victim to the extremely-infectious variant. He estimated up to 50 per cent of the country's 58.8million people caught Omicron since it first emerged, despite just 500,000 infections being recorded since the strain was first spotted on November 23. While Covid infections soared to an 'unprecedented' level, Professor Madhi said there was a 'complete uncoupling' of hospitalisation and deaths. Figures show hospitalisations barely reached a third of rates seen in previous peaks, while fatalities stayed 10 times lower. Professor Madhi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we are in a good place in South Africa and I think we've reached the turning point in this pandemic.' It comes after another 8,078 cases were recorded in South Africa yesterday, a rise of 12 per cent in a week, after tumbling for 17 days in a row. Officially, daily cases peaked at nearly 27,000 on December 15. Hospital admissions also rose 8 per cent with 309 reported, however they have also been trending downwards for the past fortnight. Deaths the biggest lagging indicator rose to 139, the highest since the Omicron wave took off. But they are still a far cry from the 600 per day at the peak of the Delta wave. The shrinking wave comes despite only a quarter of South Africans being double-jabbed. There is growing hope that Britain's variant-fuelled outbreak will follow a similar trajectory, where more than 70 per cent have had two jabs and half have had three. In London the UK's Omicron epicentre infections and hospitalisations appear to be flatlining already. There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, the latest day with data, down 7 per cent compared to the previous week. It is the second day in a row admissions have fallen week-on-week. While daily infections nationally are running at record levels 218,000 Britons tested positive yesterday the number of Covid patients in hospital is still a fraction of previous peaks. There are 15,000 Covid inpatients now compared to nearly 40,000 last January and about a third of current patients are not primarily sick with the virus. Fewer sufferers are also requiring ventilation. Covid cases rose 12 per cent in South Africa yesterday but have been tumbling for 17 days in a row after appearing to peak at 26,976 on December 15 Professor Madhi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Across the country the wave is very much subsiding. 'Certainly, what was initially the epicentre Gauteng, the wave has pretty much subsided and what weve experienced is an unprecedented number of cases compared to what was experienced in the past. UK daily Covid cases hit record 218,000 Britain's daily Covid cases hit a new record high of 218,000 yesterday, according to official figures released just moments before Boris Johnson held a 5pm Downing Street press conference. The new infection number represents a 58 per cent rise compared to last week but includes several days of backlogged cases in Wales and Northern Ireland. Hospitalisations also continued to rise yesterday with England recording 1,819 on January 1, the latest date with data, marking a 42 per cent rise on the previous week. But the statistics do not differentiate between patients that were admitted primarily for Covid and those who were admitted for a different illness and tested positive after admission. So-called 'incidental' admissions now make up about a third of all Covid inpatients, and fewer patients primarily sick with Covid are needing to be hooked up to ventilators. Despite the rising figures, the Prime Minister did not announce any further curbs at a press conference last night and instead encouraged more people to come forward for their booster jabs. Ministers have taken confidence from the fact that hospital admissions already appear to be falling in Omicron hotspot London, which is two weeks ahead of the rest of the country in its outbreak. There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, down 7 per cent. Advertisement 'But weve also seen a complete uncoupling of the hospitalisation and death rates. 'So the hospitalisation rate this time round is about one third relative to what was experienced during the course of the delta variant wave and the death rate is around about 10 per cent of what was experienced during the course of the Delta variant wave. 'So weve seen a complete uncoupling of infections and severe disease.' But he said Omicron infections only plateaued and fell after up to half of the population became infected. Professor Madhi said: 'This time around its probably been a greater proportion of the population that has been infected. 'South Africa does about one fourteenth of UK testing. So when we report about 25,000 cases per day you could probably multiply that by about 14. 'My estimate is it is about 40 to 50 per cent of people in South Africa possibly have been infected during the course of this particular wave.' High levels of immunity among the population from previous Covid infections prevented further cases and drove down transmission, he said. But Professor Madhi warned South Africa's experience with Omicron may not be replicated in the UK and other countries that do not have high levels of natural immunity. Around three-quarters of South Africans are thought to have been infected before Omicron emerged, but just 25 per cent have had a least one Covid jab. Experts estimate less than half of people in the UK have had Covid, while 90 per cent of over-12s have had at least one jab. He said: 'The big question is whether immunity primarily through vaccination plays the same role against protecting against severe disease as does natural infection-derived immunity. And I believe it does.' Professor Madhi said it is 'certainly unpredictable as to what the next variant will look like' but T-cell protection from infection and vaccination protects against severe disease and is 'relatively well-preserved'. 'So I think we are in a good place in South Africa and I think we've reached the turning point in this pandemic,' he added. It comes after Britain's daily Covid cases hit a new record high of 218,000 yesterday. The new infection number represents a 58 per cent rise compared to last week but includes several days of backlogged cases in Wales and Northern Ireland. Data from South Africa's National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) shows the number of daily confirmed Covid cases since the pandemic began (blue bars) and the cumulative cases (orange line). Some 3.4million cases have been detected across South Africa since the pandemic began, more than half a million of which have been recorded since Omicron was first detected The NICD graph shows the number of infections recorded per province since March 2020. Gauteng (grey line), the epicentre of the Omicron outbreak, recorded the biggest spike in cases in the most recent Omicron wave NICD data displays the number of positive Covid tests recorded per age group, showing that 20 to 39-year-olds (green line) and those aged 40 to 59 (light blue line), fuelled the most recent outbreak Business chiefs beg Boris to cut Covid isolation to five days Business chiefs today begged Boris Johnson to cut self-isolation as around 1.3million people languish under house arrest and rail services and bin collections grind to a halt. The PM is facing mounting pressure to trim the quarantine period again from seven days to five after he gathered his Cabinet ministers to sign off on sticking to 'Plan B' restrictions. The PM has up to now batted away calls for a change on self-isolation, voicing concern it could make the problems worse. Staff absences are threatening to cripple the country after infections hit another record daily high of 218,000 - meaning nearly 1.3million people have been positive in the past week. Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland supermarket chain, warned that although it is coping so far the absentee chart is now 'almost vertical' - with levels more than double the peak of the 'Pingdemic' last year. 'I think it is fair to say that business is under strain as never before. This new variant seems to be a lot more contagious and that is having a big impact,' he told Sky News. 'My call on government would be firstly to prioritise lateral flow tests for key workers including food retail front line shop workers, but also to revisit the onerous isolation rules. 'Seven days is a long time for people who are triple jabbed when the symptoms are for the vast majority of people not more than a common cold or mild flu.' Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, also suggested he would support the move as long as it is science-led. 'If the science says it is possible for people to go back to work earlier, then of course NHS leaders will want that to be possible,' Mr Taylor said. Advertisement Hospitalisations also continued to rise yesterday with England recording 1,819 on January 1, the latest date with data, marking a 42 per cent rise on the previous week. But the statistics do not differentiate between patients that were admitted primarily for Covid and those who were admitted for a different illness and tested positive after admission. So-called 'incidental' admissions now make up about a third of all Covid inpatients, and fewer patients primarily sick with Covid are needing to be hooked up to ventilators. Despite the rising figures, the Prime Minister did not announce any further curbs at a press conference last night and instead encouraged more people to come forward for their booster jabs. Ministers have taken confidence from the fact that hospital admissions already appear to be falling in Omicron hotspot London, which is two weeks ahead of the rest of the country in its outbreak. There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, down 7 per cent. But sustained high daily cases across the UK - which have exceeded 100,000 for nearly two weeks - has left 1.3million people isolating at home. Business chiefs today begged Mr Johnson to cut the self-isolation period from seven days to five days as rail services and bin collections ground to a halt. Testing rules are set to be loosened in an effort to reduce the pressure on the system, with people who are positive on lateral flows spared having to do a confirmatory PCR. Meanwhile, travel regulations are also due to be overhauled, axing the requirement for tests before arriving in the UK. However, the PM has up to now batted away calls for a change on self-isolation, voicing concern it could make the problems worse. Staff absences are threatening to cripple the country after infections hit another record daily high of 218,000 - meaning nearly 1.3million people have been positive in the past week. Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland supermarket chain, warned that although it is coping so far the absentee chart is now 'almost vertical' - with levels more than double the peak of the 'Pingdemic' last year. 'I think it is fair to say that business is under strain as never before. This new variant seems to be a lot more contagious and that is having a big impact,' he told Sky News. 'My call on government would be firstly to prioritise lateral flow tests for key workers including food retail front line shop workers, but also to revisit the onerous isolation rules. 'Seven days is a long time for people who are triple jabbed when the symptoms are for the vast majority of people not more than a common cold or mild flu.' Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, also suggested he would support the move as long as it is science-led. 'If the science says it is possible for people to go back to work earlier, then of course NHS leaders will want that to be possible,' Mr Taylor said. A once glorious mansion used as the backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters - including Batman Begins and Eyes Wide Shut - has been captured in a sad state of decay in a series of photographs taken by an urban explorer. Mentmore Towers, built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore, in Buckinghamshire, is seen practically derelict and with a collapsing roof in a series of photos taken by the Instagram account @places_forgotten. The sprawling home features a revival of late 16th and early 17th century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles and was originally created as a display case for Baron Meyer de Rothschild's huge fine art collection. Its grandiose furnishings and lavish architectural details made it the perfect filming location for films, including the Mummy Returns, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Mentmore Towers (pictured) was built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore, in Buckinghamshire Actor Christian Bale walks down the steps of Mentmore Towers in Batman Begins It is now seen practically derelict and with a collapsing roof in a series of photos taken by the Instagram account @places_forgotten (Pictured: The vaulted hall used in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut) An iconic scene from Eyes Wide Shut was filmed in the vaulted hall of Mentmore Towers The sprawling home features a revival of late 16th and early 17th century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles (Pictured: Vaulted room used in Eyes Wide Shut) The mansion's grandiose furnishings and lavish architectural details made it the perfect filming location for flicks (Pictured: A living room adorned with gold leaf detailing) Others may recognise parts of the property as Wayne Manor, the home of Bruce Wayne in the 2005 film Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale (Pictured: Library with secret rooms behind the bookcases, which featured in the film) The pad also provided the backdrop to Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Philip Kaufman's Marquis de Sade biographical film Quills and as the PM's residence Chequers in Ali G Indahouse in 2002 Ex-billionaire's plan to turn Mentmore Towers into UK's first six-star hotel quashed by financial crash and bankruptcy Mentmore Towers was bought by Syrian-born property tycoon Simon Halabi, 63, in 1997. He had plans to turn the 25million estate into Britain's first ever six-star luxury hotel. It would have featured 171 suites, including 122 in a new wing on the slope below the house. But the plans were delayed after a local resident pushed for a judicial review of the planning permission. The challenge was defeated but the global financial crash of 2008 saw the project stall. Mr Halabi - once worth 3 billion and once Britain's richest man - then declared bankruptcy in 2010 and the property has fallen into decay ever since. In 2007, Halabi appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List and owned the city headquarters of JP Morgan, Aviva and Old Mutual. His property portfolio included a 3million house in Mayfair, the Naval and Military Club in Piccadilly and a chateaux in France. He also owned a fleet of Bentleys and Rolls Royce Phantoms, a 130-ft yacht and a vineyard in France. He was also one of the original developers of the Shard, but pulled out after a disagreement with business partners. However, the tycoon fell on hard times during the credit crunch before he was declared bankrupt in 2010. He failed to pay back a 56million bank loan and was later sued for divorce by his Lithuanian born wife Urte. Advertisement The vaulted hall used in Stanley Kubrick's 1999 epic Eyes Wide Shut starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise can also be clearly seen in the images. Others may recognise parts of the property as Wayne Manor, the home of Bruce Wayne in the 2005 film Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale. The pad also provided the backdrop to Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Philip Kaufman's Marquis de Sade biographical film Quills and as the PM's residence Chequers in Ali G Indahouse in 2002. And even the Spice Girls visited in 1998 to film the music video for Goodbye, following in the footsteps of other artists, including Roxy Music, Mike Oldfield and Enya. However after a deal to turn the site into a hotel fell through, it now lies derelict and crumbling, with water pouring through the roof, some of which has now collapsed. In fact, it is now languishing on English Heritage's 'At Risk' register, with its condition described as poor and there being 'immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric.' Much of the house's parkland was sold off in 1944 but the house remained in the family until the mid 1970s when the contents were auctioned and it was sold to the Maharishi Foundation, which plugs meditation. But in 1999 it was purchased by investor Simon Halabi who planned to turn it into a hotel, however the plans fell through and it has been empty ever since. The hotel would have featured 171 suites, including 122 in a new wing on the slope below the house. But the plans were delayed after a local resident pushed for a judicial review of the planning permission. The challenge was defeated but the global financial crash of 2008 saw the project stall. Mr Halabi - once worth 3 billion and once Britain's richest man - then declared bankruptcy in 2010 and the property has fallen into decay ever since. Pictures of the manor house taken by an urban explorer and photographer show the heartbreaking state of its decline. Water has come through ceilings in the kitchen quarters while wallpaper has shrivelled and is falling from walls and tapestries are still clinging on in some rooms. However, grand furniture still remains in the main hall - seen in an iconic scene in Eyes Wide Shut - and huge entertaining rooms are covered in gold leaf. After a deal to turn the site into a hotel fell through, it now lies derelict and crumbling, with water pouring through the roof, some of which has now collapsed (pictured) The home is now languishing on English Heritage's 'At Risk' register, with its condition described as poor and there being 'immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric' In 1999 it was purchased by investor Simon Halabi who planned to turn it into a hotel, however the plans fell through and it has been empty ever since (Pictured: Grandiose hallway which has featured in several blockbuster films) Pictures of the manor house taken by an urban explorer and photographer show the heartbreaking state of its decline A red carpet runs through a stone-walled hallway of the once glorious Mentmore Towers Clothes and old furniture can be seen stuffed inside one of the rooms and the now derelict Mentmore Towers The photographer who snapped the scenes inside the house and runs the Instagram account @places-forgotten, said: 'Sadly now most of it is falling apart and needs gutting, which is such a shame. 'Ceilings are falling down. It's hard to see how anyone will be able to do anything with it because it would cost too much money. 'There is a library with secret rooms behind bookcases. I recognised it from the Batman film. 'It's sad when you think of its history and what has been filmed there as it is such a beautiful house.' A Rabbi has today defended Dame Helen Mirren amid a 'Jewface' row over her casting as Israel's former prime minister Golda Meir. Rabbi Jonathan Romain, director of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, today took to Twitter to express his view, saying: 'You don't have to be Jewish to play a Jew'. His comments come after Dame Maureen Lipman, who is Jewish, said Dame Helen, 76, should not have been asked to play the late Ms Meir in her latest film 'Golda'. Dame Maureen told the Jewish Chronicle she felt the uncomfortable at the casting of the multi award-winning actress, who is not Jewish, because the 'Jewishness of (Meir's) character is so integral'. Fans today pointed out that Olivier prize winner, Dame Maureen, 75, once starred as a Church of England vicar in a comedy special of The Vicar of Dibley. Meanwhile, prominent Jewish figures in the UK have also defended Dame Helen's casting, including Rabbi Romain and Jewish Chronicle editor-at-large Stephen Pollard. Taking to Twitter, Rabbi Romain, 67, wrote: 'We had a discussion on this at Maidenhead Synagogue two weeks ago; the unanimous verdict was that actors should act - that's what is their skill. 'You don't have to be Jewish to play a Jew or orphaned to be an orphan. But it's wise to have an adviser from whatever is the context.' A publicity image of the film Golda, where Dame Helen portrayed Ms Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, showed Dame Helen covered in prosthetic to look more like the politician. Actress Dame Maureen Lipman (left) said Dame Helen Mirren (right) should not have been asked to play the Israeli leader Golda Meir, adding that she was uncomfortable with the casting Dame Maureen's comments sparked fans to point out that she herself had played a vicar in a 2015 Red Nose Day special of the Vicar of Dibley. In the comedy special, Dame Maureen's character (pictured centre) competed with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Emma Watson and Ruth Jones, Annette Crosbie for the job of archbishop Ms Meir (pictured in 1969) was the fourth prime minister of Israel and held the position from 1969 until 1974 Rabbi Jonathan Romain, director of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, today took to Twitter to express his view on the row, saying: 'You don't have to be Jewish to play a Jew' Meanwhile, Mr Pollard, who was up until last month the editor of the weekly newspaper, Tweeted: 'I adore Maureen Lipman but she couldn't be more wrong on this. 'The logic of her position is that the only character any actor can play is themselves.' However journalist Nicole Lambert, responded to say the position is 'more nuanced'. She wrote: 'I think a more nuanced take is that sometimes these roles of brilliant Jewish women should sometimes be played by Jewish women. And they never are.' The row comes after Dame Maureen spoke to the Jewish Chronicle and gave her view on the casting. In November a publicity image of the film Golda, where Dame Helen portrayed Ms Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, showed Dame Helen covered in prosthetic to look more like the politician. Ms Meir was the fourth prime minister of Israel and held the position from 1969 until 1974. During her time as premier she faced dealing with the fourth Israel-Arab conflict - which came to be known as the Yom Kippur War. The short 19 day war ended in a Israel victory. But her government became plagued by infighting and questions over Israel's lack of preparation for conflict. Her party won the next election, but her coalition government lost seats and was unable to form a majority, leading to her resignation. The times that Dame Maureen Lipman has played non-Jewish characters Up the Junction (1968) - Sylvie - A working class girl who befriends a wealthy young heiress The Smashing Bird I Used to Know (1969) - Sarah - A lesbian prisoner who befriends an inmate from a middle-class background On Your Way, Riley (1985) - Kitty McShane - A fictional version of the real-life Irish actress Educating Rita (1983) - Trish - A room mate of the titular character Rita Water (1985) - Margaret Thatcher - A fictional version of the real-life British prime minister Bookmark (1992) - Enid Blyton - A fictional version of the real life English writer Coronation Street (2002) - Lillian Spencer - A relief manager who helps run the Rovers Return Inn Doctor Who (2006) - The Wire - An energy being villain that takes the souls of TV-watching Britons during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation Holby City (2011) - Bonnie Walters - A patient at Holby City Hospital The Vicar of Dibley (2015) - Alicia - A Church of England vicar competing with five other women to become an archbishop Coronation Street (2018 to Present) - Evelyn Plummer - the grandmother of established character Tyrone Dobbs Advertisement Two years later, in 1975, Meir was awarded the Israel Prize for her special contribution to society and the State of Israel. Speaking about the casting of Dame Helen for the role of Golda, Dame Maureen said: 'The Jewishness of the character is so integral. 'I'm sure she will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn't even go there.' Dame Maureen's comments sparked fans to point out that she herself had played a vicar in a 2015 Red Nose Day special of the Vicar of Dibley. In the comedy special, Dame Maureen's character competed with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Emma Watson and Ruth Jones, Annette Crosbie for the job of archbishop. It is later revealed there are five positions open and Dawn French's character is the only one not to be selected. She returns to find she has been replaced in her Dibley role by another vicar, played by presenter Fiona Bruce. It comes after Tamsin Greig told The Daily Telegraph last month she 'probably shouldn't' have played a Jewish mother in Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner. Ms Greig is a practising Christian, although does have Jewish ancestry. But Patrick Marber, the playwright who directed Sir Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, said he did not think 'lived experience' should be taken into consideration when casting for roles. He said to force actors to have experienced lives similar to the characters they play would deny the actor the challenge and right to impersonate someone else. Sarah Silverman, the US comedian, has previously slammed the casting of non-Jewish actress Kathryn Hahn as Joan Rivers, calling it 'Jewface'. Elliot Levey, who is currently playing a German Jew in Cabaret in the West End, called the argument a 'dystopian nightmare' as he criticised the idea of 'people showing their papers to authenticate Jewish ancestry'. Dame Helen is a supporter of Israel, adding her name to an open letter rejecting a cultural boycott of the country. While promoting her film The Debt, in which she played a retired Mossad agent, she was asked by The New York Times whether she might be 'a secret Jew'. She said she 'wouldn't be surprised'. Last year internet trolls branded Dame Helen 'racist' and described her as a 'well known Zionist and Israel-worshipper' after taking on the role of wartime prime minister Ms Meir. The film, Golda, is set during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 when Arab states attacked Israel. Dame Helen described Meir as 'a formidable, intransigent and powerful leader' and said it was 'a great challenge to portray her at the most difficult moment of her extraordinary life'. It comes after Tamsin Greig (pictured right) told The Daily Telegraph last month she 'probably shouldn't' have played a Jewish mother in Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner. Ms Greig is a practising Christian, although does have Jewish ancestry But critics on social media described the production as 'fascism', 'sick' and 'tasteless'. One Twitter user, who said they were 'Palestinian and proud', wrote: 'How sick making a biopic on criminal Golda Meir and yes no surprise Helen Mirren the racist is happy to portray the pure distorted version of a disgusting individual.' Another wrote: 'Helen Mirren doing a film about the first female prime minister of Israel is a slap in the face to all the people of Palestine, they are literally celebrating taking over Palestine and taking families out of their homes, murdering children, families! Tasteless film!' One social-media user said it was 'hugely disappointing that Helen Mirren is volunteering for this role', while another wrote: 'More fascism to show how 'wonderful' Israel is.' Born in Ukraine in 1898 before moving to the US as a child, Meir made history in 1969 as Israel's first female prime minister. She soon provoked international controversy, saying: 'There were no such thing as Palestinians.' Meir faced huge criticism in Israel for failing to adequately prepare for the threat of war, despite receiving word that Arab forces were gathering for an attack. Following the backlash for her handling of the war, Meir announced her resignation in 1974. She died in 1978 aged 80. Dame Helen has faced criticism in the past for saying that she was a 'believer' in Israel and that she rejected calls to boycott the country. The film also stars Call My Agent! actress Camille Cottin as Meir's personal assistant and Israeli Lior Ashkenazi as her chief of staff. People watch a TV screen showing an image of North Korea's launch of a missile during a news program at Seoul Station, Jan. 5. Yonhap The presidential National Security Council (NSC) expressed concerns Wednesday over North Korea's launch of a suspected ballistic missile and called for resuming talks to ease tensions. A pilot has been forced to make an emergency 'belly landing' in a South Korean F-35A fighter jet after suffering a malfunction in the air. Landing gear on the jet failed to extend but instead of ejecting, the pilot decided to land the 75million US-made craft at an airbase on its belly. It is the latest in a series of incidents for the stealth fighter after a British F-35 toppled into the sea during a failed takeoff from HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean. A pilot has been forced to make an emergency 'belly landing' in a South Korean F-35A fighter jet after suffering a malfunction in the air. Pictured: A South Korean fighter jet lands in Chungju in 2019 The jet has been involved in seven other incidents including a pilot who was forced to eject after a crash on landing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The US Air Force said the pilot and plane systems were at fault for the crash. A Japanese F-35 also crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Japan, which killed its pilot in 2019. Officials blamed the crash on spatial disorientation. In the latest crash, the first in South Korea, the equipment failed due to electronic issues, a South Korean Air Force spokesman said, forcing the pilot to take the unprecedented action. A military official refused to confirm if the jet suffered any damage in the incident but the pilot walked away uninjured. It comes just months after another F-35 jet in the British Armed Forces toppled into the sea during a failed takeoff from HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean Sea He said: 'The jet did an emergency landing as the landing gear did not extend. This would mean the jet did the 'belly landing'.' In response, South Korea has grounded its entire fleet of advanced F-35 fighter jets pending a probe into the dramatic landing. 'With the investigation under way, the entire (F-35) fleet is suspended from flying,' a defence ministry official told AFP. South Korea ordered 40 F-35A variants from its American maker Lockheed Martin in 2014, receiving the first batch five years later. Republic of Korea Air Force vice chief of staff Shin Ok-chul shared the dramatic details at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday. The jet is seen disappearing over the edge of the aircraft carrier and the pilot's parachute floats into view in leaked footage of the crash The F-35A was flying at low altitude when the pilot heard bangs, prompting him to check aircraft systems, Shin told lawmakers. 'All systems had stopped working except flight controls and the engine,' he said, adding that the pilot then chose not to eject and decided to attempt a belly landing. The military sprayed a special foam on the runway at the air force base to prevent an explosion from the friction caused by the plane making contact with the surface at high speed, Shin said. He said it was the first time a belly landing was attempted in an F-35. The supersonic F-35 Lightning II is one of the most potent and agile fighters in the world, featuring stealth technology and advanced communications. Its three variants are designed for a wide variety of missions. And while its per-unit cost has come down in recent years, it is considered the most expensive weapons system ever developed by the United States. A US pilot was forced to eject midair after an F-35 jet crashed in South Carolina in 2018, destroying the aircraft Japan's Coast Guard searches the wreckage of an F-35 jet after it crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2019 The programme has also been plagued by numerous delays, cost overruns and technical setbacks. Before the South Korean incident, the jet's most recent accident involved a British F-35B plunging into the Mediterranean during takeoff from the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in November. The jet accelerated up the ramp of HMS Queen Elizabeth's flight deck, before the pilot ejected when the plane reached the top. The incident triggered a frantic underwater race to find the wreckage of the stealth jet and secure the crash site a mile below the surface before Russian divers could get there first. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but it is thought that a red plastic rain cover for the jet was accidentally left on and sucked into an engine. Lockheed Martin says the F-35 'is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft in the world, giving pilots an advantage against any adversary and enabling them to execute their mission and come home safe.' Robert de Niro has claimed his ex-assistant used his frequent flyer miles worth $300,000 and paid for dog-sitting, Pilates classes and hotels using a company credit card, according to new court documents. The actor, 78, is suing Graham Chase Robinson for $6 million, claiming she helped herself to cash in a four-year spending spree while working for his company Canal Productions. Robinson has launched her own legal action against de Niro which seeks $12 million in damages, alleging that the Raging Bull star was verbally abusive, made 'sexually charged comments,' and subjected her to 'unwanted physical contact.' In newly-filed court documents obtained by RadarOnline, de Niro has included a 2019 letter from his lawyer to his ex-employee who had worked her way up from personal assistant to Vice President of Production and Finance. 'I was asked to respond to your recent emails addressed to Bob. Please note that Bob does not wish to communicate with you. As such, please direct correspondence regarding this matter to me,' the letter states. Robert De Niro as 'Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran on the set of The Irishman on September 21, 2017 in New York City (left) and his ex-assistant Graham Chase Robinson It went on to accuse Robinson of using the company American Express card to buy food, Uber trips, dog sitting, groceries, cameras, iPhones, Pilates classes, dry-cleaning, and flowers, and also alleged she had 'helped' herself to petty cash. The former staff member was also accused of having converted over 7 million Delta SkyMiles over a two-year period, using three million for personal travel and transferring an additional 4.5 million to a personal account. The letter also claimed Robinson improperly used Canal's credit cards to buy taxis and cover her food costs while on vacation in London, and alleged she charged $2,600 for a stay at the Montage Hotel on a trip to Los Angeles, as well as $156 for dinner at Nobu, $604 on a second meal at the upmarket eatery, $729 on a rental car and several hundred dollars more on cabs, despite having the rented vehicle at her disposal. Robinson has denied she improperly used the credit cards and calls into question whether she made all the purchases mentioned. In her own lawsuit accusing de Niro of gender discrimination, Robinson claims that the actor only launched his legal action to premeditate hers. 'De Niro was enraged at the prospect of Ms. Robinson bringing a lawsuit challenging his behavior. So, he retaliated and struck first,' the complaint says. In her own court documents, she alleged the Casino actor forced her to endure a toxic workplace where he branded her a 'b****' and spoke to her in a 'hostile, abusive and intimidating manner.' The actor has previously branded the lawsuit 'completely absurd.' But in a 2012 voicemail leaked last year De Niro can be heard shouting at Robinson, calling her a 'spoiled brat,' saying 'how dare you f***ing disrespect me,' and threatening her, saying 'you're f***ing history.' Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen attend The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on January 08, 2020 in New York City She claims such behavior wasn't unusual for the iconic actor, who is alleged to have abused his employee on multiple occasions. 'It was a routine occurrence for Mr. De Niro, when intoxicated, to call Ms. Robinson -- to call her names, to berate her, to curse at her,' her lawyer Alexandra Harwin told Fox Business in January 2020. Harwin also alleged that Robinson 'was asked to do things that her male colleagues were never asked to do, like scratch Mr. De Niro's back, button his buttons, tie his ties.' The lawsuit also states that she was directed to wake him when he was in bed and imagine him on the toilet. Both lawsuits are ongoing. Advertisement Motorists have been warned to take extra care in the morning rush hour as overnight temperatures plummeted to -12C in Scotland and -6C in parts of London. The Met Office warned of dangerous weather conditions on Thursday and Friday with as much as 10cm of snow falling on the highest ground, as well as the risk of dangerous icy patches and of lightning strikes from isolated thunderstorms. Meteorologists say Britons will be feeling the cold overnight as temperatures are set to quickly fall after dark, bringing a widespread frost. Forecasters issued a yellow weather 'snow and ice' warning for Thursday, covering much of western Scotland, down through Manchester in the north-west of England and even reaching the edge of Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands, along with the western half on Northern Ireland. Frequent sleet, hail and snow showers could 'lead to some disruption to travel during Thursday night and Friday morning', meteorologists said, warning that roads and railways are likely to be affected. Some 'brief power outages are possible', the Met Office said, adding there was a risk of 'isolated lightning strikes'. The snow and ice warning runs from 8pm tomorrow to 11am on Friday. Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: 'As we go into the overnight period temperatures will start to drop and in some of the sheltered glens in Scotland we could see minus 10C or even colder temperatures recorded. Across the UK there is not going to be many places that will remain above freezing.' The Met Office later posted an update on Twitter, saying: 'It's going to be cold tonight, temperatures will quickly fall after dark giving a widespread #frost. Rural spots will be even colder, -12C is possible in rural Scotland.' As winter begins to bite after a record-breaking mild new year, in the early hours of Thursday temperatures could feel as cold as -4C in Glasgow while in Edinburgh the Met Office has said commuters would face temperatures as low as -3C. In Braemar, Aberdeenshire, the mercury could plunge to -8C in the early hours, and when the wind is taken into account it could feel as cold as -11C. Snow covered fields and rooftops in Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland yesterday Huge waves tower above Tynemouth lighthouse in North Tyneside yesterday as the Met Office warns of dangerous weather conditions ahead Frequent sleet, hail and snow showers could 'lead to some disruption to travel during Thursday night and Friday morning', meteorologists said, warning that roads and railways are likely to be affected Water levels rise and land remains flooded after the Faversham Creek burst its banks this week after a large tidal surge A motorist attempted to make their way across a flooded road after the Faversham Creek burst its banks yesterday Huge waves were seen in North Tyneside this evening as the country gears up for colder and harsher weather conditions A van tries to make its way along the flooded road around the Shepherd Neame Brewery after the Faversham Creek bursts its bank First snow fall on the Beacon Lickey Hills in Birmingham today. In Braemar, Aberdeenshire, the mercury could plunge to -8C in the early hours, and when the wind is taken into account it could feel as cold as -11C Faversham Creek burst its banks following a large tidal surge and the Environment Agency are monitoring the situation Water splash against the Tynemouth lighthouse this evening as the cold weather begins to set in and temperatures begin to fall Pictured left: The Met Office's prediction of sub-zero temperatures across most of the country overnight - with London facing a brisk -3C. Temperatures were set to rise slightly by 5am on Thursday (pictured right) The Met Office warned of dangerous weather conditions on Thursday and Friday with as much as 10cm of snow falling on the highest ground, as well as the risk of dangerous icy patches and of lightning strikes from isolated thunderstorms. Pictured: Skier on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland Traffic passes the A470 in Brecon Beacons, South Wales yesterday. On Thursday, the Met Office issued a separate warning of snow, which stretches from the Highlands, through Glasgow and Edinburgh, and into the north of England, and warned of disruption to roads A car in a ditch at the side of Holmfirth road, heading towards Oldham after spinning out due to an ice patch Castle Hill, West Yorkshire yesterday. Forecasters issued a yellow weather 'snow and ice' warning for Thursday, covering much of western Scotland, down through Manchester in the north-west of England and even reaching the edge of Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands, along with the western half on Northern Ireland The Met Office issued a yellow weather 'snow and ice' warning for Thursday, covering much of western Scotland, down through Manchester in the north-west of England and even reaching the edge of Stoke-on-Trent, along with the western half on Northern Ireland What is thundersnow? Thunder and lightning are more usually associated with warmer climates but under certain conditions they can occur in cold ones too. Thundersnow starts out like a summer thunderstorm - the sun heats the ground and pushes masses of warm, moist air upward, creating unstable air columns. As it rises, the moisture condenses to form clouds, which are jostled by internal turbulence. Lightning is caused by this rubbing of the clouds against each other - thunder is the sound of lightning but as sound moves more slowly than light we hear it later. The tricky part for thundersnow is creating that atmospheric instability in the winter. When it is cold, and particularly in air conducive to snowfall, the lower atmosphere is dry, cold and very stable. For thundersnow to occur there needs to be a precise set of circumstances - the air layer closer to the ground has to be warmer than the layers above, but still cold enough to create snow. When this happens warm air rises, snow falls and thunder, lightning and snow all occur at the same time. Advertisement On Thursday, the Met Office issued a separate warning of snow, which stretches from the Highlands, through Glasgow and Edinburgh, and into the north of England, and warned of disruption to roads. It said many areas would see one to two hours of snow, with a risk of temporary slushy accumulations above 100-150m, with snow leading to difficult travel conditions. On higher routes, forecasters have predicted strong winds could lead to drifting and temporary blizzard conditions, and the alert is in place from 10am to 4pm. Grahame Madge, spokesman at the Met Office, said: 'We have got an area of high pressure across the UK, that will remain in situ until the early hours of tomorrow morning. Then we will start to see the weather front coming in. 'As conditions get cold tonight, we're seeing temperatures drop down to freezing quite widely. As we get the cold air, that will bring the temperatures right down, we've got the weather front coming in from the west and that moisture is going to bump into the cold air and where you get that you will get snow.' The forecaster added that the prospect of thundersnow was driven by the same conditions which cause thunder in the summer, the difference in temperature between the ground and the air surrounding it. 'Because you have got that differential it's possible, quite easily, for warm air at ground level when it heats up to start to rise very quickly up through the cold air and that's what creates the potential for thunderstorms, so we are likely to see along with the other wintery showers, likely to see hail and snow,' he said. Thundersnow is not meteorologically different to thunder in the summer, but rather than hail or rain there is snow which can affect the acoustics of the thunder, the forecaster said. In advance of the freezing temperatures, Traffic Scotland has urged people to drive with care because of the risk of ice. A skier on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland yesterday morning A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland yesterday morning Pictured left: Met Office prediction for 6am Thursday. Right: Temperatures for 2pm yesterday. As winter begins to bite after a record-breaking mild new year, in the early hours of Thursday temperatures could feel as cold as -4C in Glasgow while in Edinburgh the Met Office has said commuters would face temperatures as low as -3C A swimmer makes their way into the sea as the sun rises over Boscombe beach in Dorset yesterday morning A swan looks for food on the River Thames in Windsor yesterday morning. On Thursday, the Met Office issued a separate warning of snow, which stretches from the Highlands, through Glasgow and Edinburgh, and into the north of England, and warned of disruption to roads Deer in the Great Park in Windsor yesterday. Temperatures in northern England could fall to around -6C tonight, and it could be -4C (25F) in the south A woman walking her dog in the snow at Lickey Hills, Birmingham yesterday morning. Forecasters have now issued a yellow weather 'snow and ice' warning for Thursday, covering much of western Scotland, down through Manchester in the north-west of England and even reaching the edge of Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands, along with the western half on Northern Ireland Fudge the dog running through the snow at Lickey Hills, Birmingham this morning. On Thursday, the Met Office issued a separate warning of snow, which stretches from the Highlands, through Glasgow and Edinburgh, and into the north of England, and warned of disruption to roads England may be escaping the worst of the snow and ice, but it bears the brunt of 11 government flood warnings - meaning flooding is 'expected' - and 47 flood alerts, warning that they are 'possible'. The flood warnings cluster largely around eastern England Another yellow weather warning for snow was also issued, running from 10am tomorrow until 4pm that afternoon, overlapping with much of the terrain covered in the later warning, but generally more inland and further east People jog along Boscombe beach in Dorset today. Temperatures in northern England could fall to around -6C tonight, and it could be -4C (25F) in the south It comes a week after a record-breaking balmy New Year weather in recent days saw the mercury hit 16.3C (61.3F), but Britain now now faces bitterly cold conditions as sub-zero temperatures and wintry showers are expected to dominate for most of the week. Temperatures in northern England could fall to around -6C tonight, and it could be -4C (25F) in the south. Forecasters have warned of winds reaching 80mph in the Highlands with up to 6in (15cm) of snow potentially causing blizzard conditions. England may be escaping the worst of the snow and ice, but it bears the brunt of 11 government flood warnings - meaning flooding is 'expected' - and 47 flood alerts, warning that they are 'possible'. The flood warnings cluster largely around eastern England. Tonight in Scotland, the mercury could drop to -8C (17F) or even lower. Boris Johnson today suffered a cross-party battering over the cost of living crisis as MPs said the Prime Minister should be doing 'much, much more' to prevent 'millions of people going hungry and cold this year'. Mr Johnson faced a number of bruising exchanges over rising energy bills and soaring inflation as he was grilled during PMQs in the House of Commons this afternoon. Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the PM should be taking greater action now because many families are 'already afraid even to open their heating bills' ahead of further price rises in April. Tory MP and former minister John Penrose said the crisis requires a major overhaul of the energy price cap to protect households as he told Mr Johnson the UK must get to a position of energy self-sufficiency in order to 'uncouple us' from Russian gas. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused the PM of failing to take the threat of spiking inflation seriously enough as she warned households are facing 'ballooning prices'. Meanwhile, the Tory chairman of the Education Select Committee, Rob Halfon, called on Mr Johnson to suspend green levies to cut household energy bills. It came as Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was due to hold crunch talks with energy industry chiefs to discuss how the Government could help protect consumers from surging prices and prevent more firms from going under. The meeting comes after Rishi Sunak is said to have told colleagues that there is a limit to how much the Government can do to combat rising energy bills. The Chancellor believes any help from the Government should be targeted towards people who need it the most. Labour has urged the Government to slash VAT on energy bills to help struggling households but Mr Johnson last night poured cold water on the calls as he described it as a 'blunt instrument'. Boris Johnson today suffered a cross-party battering over the cost of living crisis as MPs said the Prime Minister should be doing 'much, much more' to prevent 'millions of people going hungry and cold this year' Kwasi Kwarteng was due to hold crunch talks today with energy industry chiefs amid mounting pressure on the Government to do more to tackle the cost of living crisis The energy price cap is due to be reviewed in April and experts expect it to rise by more than 50 per cent The wholesale price of gas spiked at the end of 2021 because of high demand around the world. Predictions have suggested that bills could increase by more than 50 per cent in April when a review of the energy price cap is conducted. The cap is currently set at an already record-beating 1,277 but analysts believe it could go up to 1,995. Sir Ed told Mr Johnson at PMQs: 'People's already high heating bills are about to jump by over 50 per cent with average energy bills rising by nearly 700 a year. 'Gas price rises will push millions more families into fuel poverty when we know many are already afraid even to open their heating bills. 'Does the Prime Minister accept that he could be doing much, much more than he is doing to prevent millions of people going hungry and cold this year while he remains, for now at least, in the warmth and comfort of Number 10.' Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle had mistakenly called the Lib Dem leader 'Ed Balls' when he was called to ask his question. Sir Ed had also asked Mr Johnson to welcome Helen Morgan, the new Lib Dem MP for North Shropshire, to the Commons after the party defeated the Tories at a recent by-election. The PM said: 'Of course I welcome the honourable lady to her place but for the rest of what he had to say, I think balls was the word. You were right first time, your word Mr Speaker, not mine.' Ms Rayner, who was standing in at PMQs for Sir Keir Starmer who is self-isolating, criticised Mr Johnson over rising inflation as she said: 'In October, the Prime Minister said that fears about inflation were unfounded. 'But working people across the country are starting the New Year facing rising bills and ballooning prices. So how did he get it so wrong?' Mr Johnson replied: 'Of course I said no such thing because inflation is always something that we have to be careful about. 'But what we are doing is making sure that we protect the people of this country throughout what is unquestionably going to be a difficult period.' Mr Penrose told Mr Johnson that 'the biggest factor driving up our fuel bills and cost of living is the skyrocketing international price of gas which is currently dancing to a tune set in Moscow'. He said the current crisis 'demands structural reform to the energy price cap rather than just resetting it later this year and energy self-sufficiency to uncouple us from Russian gas as well'. Mr Johnson said Mr Penrose was 'completely right, and that is why this Government is taking the tough decisions to invest in the long term future of our energy supply'. Meanwhile, Mr Halfon called for green levies on energy bills to be suspended to help alleviate pressure on families. He told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme that the move could provide consumers with a saving of almost 200 on their annual bills. He said the green levies are an 'elephant in the room' and ministers should 'at least suspend' them while global gas prices are high. The Government is considering a range of options for how it could prevent a large surge in energy bills and to support the wider industry. Options which have been looked at by Whitehall officials include cutting VAT on bills, boosting help for vulnerable households and handing loans to firms to help them spread the cost of elevated gas prices over a longer period. The energy industry is pressing for the Government to take action now after numerous firms collapsed at the end of last year because of the surging price of gas. But there are fears inside Whitehall that elevated energy prices could last for a lengthy period of time and there would be pressure on the Government to keep in place any measures until there is a dip, potentially resulting in a massive bill for the Treasury. Mr Sunak is said to be of the view that any support should be targeted, with an ally of the Chancellor telling the Financial Times: 'There's only so much the government can do.' Rishi Sunak is said to have told colleagues that there is a limit to how much the Government can do to combat rising energy bills Labour has repeatedly urged the Government to cut VAT on fuel bills to provide some respite to households. Mr Johnson last night said ministers have not ruled out further assistance for families. But he suggested scrapping VAT would not be the most effective way to help those under the greatest pressure. He told a Downing Street press conference: 'I'm not ruling out further measures. The argument is that it's a bit of a blunt instrument. 'And the difficulty is that you end up also cutting fuel bills for a lot of people who perhaps don't need the support in quite the direct way that we need to give it.' Families of soldiers killed in the Iraq war have vowed to hand back their medals to the Queen in protest over the decision to award Tony Blair a knighthood - as a petition to strip the former Prime Minister of the honour passes 700,000 signatures. Mr Blair, 68, was made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in the Queen's New Year Honours list - a knighthood bestowed upon all bar one of his predecessors. However, the honour has been met with disgust from anti-war campaigners and the families of soldiers who lost their lives during the Iraq campaign. More than 700,000 people have also signed a petition calling for Mr Blair's knighthood to be rescinded in less than a week. Kevin Thompson, 21, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Basra, Iraq, in 2007. His father, Mark, has said he would return his Elizabeth Cross to the Queen - an honour given to bereaved families in recognition of their sacrifice. He told the Sun: 'I dont think the Queen has thought how this decision will upset the families. My son died because of Tony Blairs lies. 'Ill go to Windsor and give the medal to a guard and they can give it to the Queen.' Rose Gentle, 58, whose son Gordon, 19, was also killed by an IED in 2004, said she will also return her Elizabeth Cross. Ms Gentle set up the Justice 4 Gordon Gentle campaign following his death, before setting up Military Families Against the War. She told the Daily Record: 'Instead of standing in front of the Queen being made a Sir with that stupid grin on his face, hed be better going to the cemetery and standing in front of my sons grave to see what hes done. 'I was gutted when I heard hes to be knighted. Its disgusting. He should have been locked up a long time ago.' Five 'heartbroken' mothers who lost their soldier sons during the war in Afghanistan have also written to the Queen urging her to strip Mr Blair of his knighthood. However, Sir Ed Davey said today that those calling for the honour to be removed are being 'disrespectful' to the Queen. The Liberal Democrat leader, who was knighted in 2016, said: 'If the Queen wants to knight a politician or someone out of politics in any walk of life, I think we should respect Her Majesty. 'And Im rather worried that people are being disrespectful to Her Majesty.' Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has long faced criticism over his decision to lead the UK into war with Iraq in 2003 Rose Gentle, 58, whose teenage son Gordon was killed by an IED in 2004, says she will return her Elizabeth Cross. Above, she is pictured following the release of the Chilcot Report A petition calling for Mr Blair's knighthood to be rescinded has now received more than 700,000 signatures on Change.org Carol Valentine (centre), from Bedworth, Warwickshire, whose son, Sergeant Simon Valentine, 29, was killed in Afghanistan in August 2009 - pictured with her son Zak Valentine (left) and daughter Kelly Valentine (right) Anti-war protesters are seen massed in Hyde Park during a demonstration against war with Iraq in London on February 15, 2003 Then Prime Minister Tony Blair (second from right) talks with Major General Richard Shirreff CBE (second from left) as he visits British troops in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2006 The Elizabeth Cross is awarded to bereaved families in recognition of their sacrifice The human cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars The ex-Prime Minister has long faced criticism for sending troops into Afghanistan and Iraq, a decision which culminated in a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot in 2016 which found he overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. A total of 179 British Armed Forces personnel and Ministry of Defence civilians died serving during the Iraq campaign, which began in March 2003. A further 457 were killed during deployment to Afghanistan. UK service personnel withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years in August, but the Taliban retook control of the country within a matter of days. The astonishing collapse of the Afghan regime prompted the families of British soldiers who died fighting in the country to say they felt like their loved ones had laid down their lives for nothing. Advertisement In a desperate letter to the Queen yesterday, Carol Valentine, Hazel Hunt, Caroline Whitaker, Caroline Jane Munday-Baker and Helen Perry, pleaded with her to overturn the decision to award him the honour. Some of the mothers also joined threats to send back the Elizabeth Crosses. Their open letter said: As mums, we were destroyed by the loss of our children at war, but now we are further devastated to learn that the man responsible for sending them to their deaths is to receive the highest honour in the land. It makes a mockery of our childrens lives, and we are struggling to cope. It added: He has caused untold misery while making himself a multi-millionaire at the same time. We do not view him as a man of peace on the contrary, we maintain he has the deaths of all our soldiers on his hands. This has left us all enraged, bewildered, and heartbroken and we beg you to revoke his knighthood which we believe tramples on our sons sacrifices. Mr Blair has long faced criticism for sending troops into Afghanistan and Iraq, a decision which culminated in a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot in 2016 which found he overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. A total of 179 British Armed Forces personnel and Ministry of Defence civilians died serving during the Iraq campaign, while a further 457 were killed during deployment to Afghanistan. On Thursday, a petition calling for the knighthood to be rescinded passed 700,000 signatures - becoming one of the most signed on Change.org. Angus Scott, 55, the man who created the petiton, said he was 'astonished' by the response. The voice artist and presenter told The Metro: 'Although I knew deep down in this country there is a huge, seething resentment of Tony Blair, I only expected a few thousand signatures from people who felt the same way as me. 'Ironically, he has at last united the nation on a subject, which is that people are very passionately angry about this one man.' Sir Tony's predecessors bar one were all appointed to the Order of the Garter just after leaving office. However, it took more than 14 years for his own appointment to occur after his time as prime minister of the UK. Claims have been made that his strained relationship with the Queen during his office might have contributed to the 'snub.' Following the outcry, Downing Street insisted the knighthood was a 'matter for the Queen'. No10 denied that Boris Johnson had 'any input' on the decision to elevate the former Prime Minister to the Order of the Garter - one of the highest honours that can be bestowed. But the spokesman appeared to endorse the move by pointing out every other ex-premier before Sir Tony had been offered the Order of the Garter or the Scottish equivalent Order of the Thistle. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who opposed the Iraq war in 2003, also said Mr Blair was a 'very successful prime minister' and 'made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country'. Hit explosive as he was driving: Trooper James Munday, 21, (left) son of Caroline Jane Munday-Baker (right), served alongside Princes William and Harry in D Squadron of The Household Cavalry. Both royals said they were deeply saddened to hear news of the exceptional soldiers death in October 2008. Known as Magpie, the rugby fan died at the scene when the Jackal armoured vehicle he was driving hit an explosive device while on routine patrol in Helmand Province. In tributes, senior officers described Munday, from Birmingham, as among the best of his generation. Fatally wounded while on patrol: Private Richard Hunt (left), son of Hazel Hunt (right), had been in the Army less than two years when he became the 200th British soldier to die in the war in Afghanistan. He was fatally wounded when his armoured vehicle was blown up while on patrol near Musa Qala in Helmand Province. Private Hunt, of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, served with the Royal Welsh Regiment. The 21-year-old, known as Hunty, died from his injuries at the Royal College of Defence Medicine in Selly Oak, Birmingham, on August 15, 2009, two days after the explosion. Killed trying to clear landmines: Sergeant Simon Valentine (left), son of Carol Valentine (right), was killed on August 15, 2009, while trying to clear landmines on foot patrol near Sangin, Helmand Province. The 29-year-old was an experienced soldier, from Bedworth, Warwickshire. He had survived tours in Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Iraq, during his time with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Married to his wife Gemma, he was described as a born leader who was loved by his troops. Shot in friendly fire incident: Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard (left), son of Helen Perry (right), was killed in a friendly fire incident in Sangin on December 20, 2009. The 22-year-old soldier, of the 4th Regiment, Royal Military Police, was born in Maidstone, Kent, but lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex. He had been deployed to an observation post to check Taliban fighters were not planting IEDs (improvised explosive devices) on a road. It is thought that another British soldier fired at him thinking that L/Cpl Pritchard was an insurgent, an inquest heard. Gunned down by rogue policeman: Sergeant Gareth Thursby, 29, (left) son of Caroline Whitaker (right), was shot dead by a rogue Afghan policeman alongside another British soldier at a checkpoint in Helmand Province on September 15, 2012. The married father of two from Skipton, North Yorkshire, served in the 3rd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment. He was an inspirational leader known to his men as Dad. An inquest heard that no motive was found for the lethal attack. And speaking on LBC today, Health Minister Gillian Keegan said: 'Its not unusual for somebody who served their country as prime minister to be honoured and recognised by the Queen.' However, anti-war campaigners have said the honour is a 'kick in the teeth for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, said last week: 'I think its pretty incredible given that this year, weve seen the collapse of Afghanistan, which [was] Tony Blairs first major war in the war on terror. 'We have 8 million people on the edge of starvation in Afghanistan now. We have Iraq in a terrible state now, nearly 20 years after the invasion. 'And I think its a kick in the teeth for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a kick in the teeth for all the people who protested against the war in Iraq and who have been proved right.' Heartbreaking tributes have been paid to a 'wonderful and loving' mother who was found dead at a house with her 'beautiful' baby son. The bodies of Natalie Kane, 27, and one-year-old Harry were discovered by police after they were called to concerns for her welfare on December 30. Cumbria Constabulary said they were sent to a house in Whitehaven at 2.52pm when officers tragically found their bodies. Neighbours near the property told MailOnline they heard running water just before the bodies were found. A spokesman for the force said there are no suspicious circumstances at this time. Post-mortems are set to take place next week. Last night, a neighbour said: 'She was a lovely lass and absolutely doted on that little boy, he was beautiful and this is such a tragedy. Natalie Kane, 27, and her one-year-old son Harry, were found by police officers at an address in Wellington Row, Whitehaven, on December 30 Tributes have been paid to the 'wonderful and loving' mother and her baby son after they were found by officers 'The police haven't told us what happened, just that Natalie and Harry were found dead in her flat. 'There was nothing alarming beforehand, the only unusual thing was that there seemed to be water constantly running down the waste pipe. 'It sounded as though a bath or sink had perhaps been overflowing. 'The police were asking neighbours if they had seen Natalie and the next thing I knew there were police officers and paramedics running into the flat. 'When they told us they'd both died it was heartbreaking.' The police have not confirmed the identity of the pair, but they have been named locally as well-wishers paid tributes to a 'lovely mother devoted to her one-year-old little boy'. A fundraising page has been set up by close friends Ashton Graham and Stacey Hackett to help towards the pair's funeral. Ashton said: 'I just want to say what a brilliant mam she was and how proud we all are of her. 'She's touched a lot of hearts and she'll never know how truly loved and special she and baby Harry are. 'When people say your best friend can be your soulmate, I truly truly believe that's what you are. 'A part of me has died with you, my life will never ever be the same without you, nothing will be the same again. 'He (Harry) was such a happy baby. You were such a brilliant little mam, protected him from any harm, made sure he had everything he needed. 'You gave him the best life, he was the making of you.' Officers arrived to the property after concerns were raised for the welfare of a woman. Pictured: GV of Wellington Row More than 3,000 has so far been donated by well-wishers wanting to help Natalie's family. A statement on the fundraising page reads: 'We would like to give Natalie's family a big help by contributing to this as this is what they deserve. 'We're not asking for the full amount but every little helps and if were to receive more than expected Natalie's brother Shane's chosen charity is Women Out West. 'This charity helped Natalie out so much and Shane is so pleased that they were there for Natalie that this is the best way to say thank you.' A balloon release has now been planned in Natalie's home town of Maryport, Cumbria, in tribute to her and Harry on January 7. Cumbria Police have confirmed that they are not treating the deaths as suspicious. In a statement they said: 'Police attended an address in Wellington Row, Whitehaven, after being made aware at 2.52pm on December 30 of a concern for the welfare of a woman. 'Sadly, two people were found deceased in the address - a woman in her twenties and a one-year-old child. 'There are no suspicious circumstances at this time. The coroner has been contacted.' Advertisement Covid deaths rose for the first time since in over a month last week in England and Wales, according to official figures that show early signs of Omicron's impact on fatalities. Office for National Statistics data revealed the number of people dying with the virus climbed 12 per cent in the seven days up to Christmas Eve, from 755 to 852. The virus was the underlying cause of death in 85 per cent of the new fatalities (723). The original ONS report incorrectly stated that Covid deaths had dropped to their lowest since August but revised figures were reissued after the error was spotted. Separate data from the ONS show England saw a record 3.3million people one in 15 infected with the virus on any given day in the week up to New Year's Eve. Experts fear record case numbers across the UK could cause unsustainable pressure on the NHS once they have had time to manifest as severe disease despite a host of studies showing the super-mutant strain causes less intensive care admissions. Adviser says we may be 'starting to see thing turn around' as admissions peak in hotspot London One of the Government's leading Covid modellers today appeared to back Boris Johnson's plan to 'ride out' the Omicron wave as he claimed that imposing more restrictions now would have little effect. Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) which feeds into SAGE, said 'we're starting to see things turn around'. He claimed that if measures had been imposed before Christmas they may have reduced the number of infections but admitted restrictions would be 'much less effective' now the outbreak may be peaking. However, he refused to rule out needing more curbs if the wave starts to grow again. Dr Tildesley pointed to Omicron hotspot London, where infections and hospital admissions appear to be flatlining already, as reason to be optimistic about how the epidemic will play out in the rest of the country. There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, the latest day with data, down 7 per cent compared to the previous week. It is the second day in a row admissions have fallen week-on-week. It comes after the Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference last night that England had a 'chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country' because it is milder than older strains. While daily infections are running at record levels 218,000 people tested positive yesterday the number of Covid patients in hospital is still a fraction of previous peaks. There are 15,000 Covid inpatients now compared to nearly 40,000 last January and about a third of current patients are not primarily sick with the virus. Fewer sufferers are also requiring ventilation. Advertisement The number of weekly registered coronavirus deaths in England and Wales was revised upwards by more than 250 after a coding error. Some 261 deaths registered in the week to December 24 were mistakenly not recorded as having involved the virus. It took the total number of registered deaths that week, where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, to 852, up from 591. The ONS said an issue with its automated coding system meant the causes and contributory factors for some deaths were coded late. It means deaths involving coronavirus registered in the week to December 24 rose 12.8 per cent from the previous seven days the first rise in six weeks. Covid accounted for 6.5 per cent of deaths from all causes registered that week. Registered care home resident deaths were revised upwards by 23. There were 78 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 registered over the week up from the 55 initially recorded and up from 60 registered in the previous week. It represents the first weekly rise in care home deaths for two months. The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes. It comes after official data showed cases in are now only going up in over-60s in London. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) statistics showing that infections in the city began to fall before Christmas sparked hopes that the worst was over. But rates are only tumbling in under-60s currently, according to the same dataset which doesn't yet reflect New Year's Eve celebrations. Cases in over-60s, who are more vulnerable to the virus, have yet to slow down since the extremely-infectious variant took off. Sir Chris Whitty last night said it was too early to say London's crisis had peaked because hospital pressures were likely to worsen over the coming weeks because of the trajectory. However, other experts expect the trend in over-60s to follow that of younger adults and begin falling in the next week or so, mirroring the trend in South Africa the first country in the world to fall victim to the variant, where infections now appear to be in freefall. Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline that infection numbers are 'bumpy' over the festive period because of reporting delays and fewer testes being carried out. He said: 'Nonetheless, the rate is the under-60s does look to have peaked and be falling convincingly. 'This pattern of a short sharp peak is what you would expect from Omicrons increased transmissibility [and] it also tallies with South African experience.' Growth rates already suggest that the infection rate in older people is slowing down. Professor Livermore added: 'I would expect a similar peak and drop off, within a week or thereabouts, among the over 60s.' Separate ONS data today showed a shocking one in 10 Londoners were estimated to have Covid on New Year's Eve but the statisticians said there were 'early signs' that infections had peaked in the capital, which has been hit hardest by Omicron. The ONS' weekly infection survey is regarded as the most reliable indicator of the UK's outbreak because it uses random sampling of around 100,000 people, rather than relying on people coming forward to be tested. The report, used by ministers to guide Covid policy, is normally published on Friday but its release was moved while infections run at unprecedented levels. Today's findings show that around one in 20 people had the virus by New Year's Eve in Wales and Scotland, both up from one in 40. In Northern Ireland, prevalence has increased from one in 40 to one in 25. In total, an estimated 3.7million people in all four UK nations had Covid in the most recent week. An earlier version of this article reported the original figures published by the ONS, which showed that Covid deaths had dropped to their lowest since August. These figures have since been retracted by the ONS, who say they were issued following an issue with their automated coding system. We are happy to set the record straight. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show Covid cases in Omicron hotspot London are now only going up in people aged 60 and above. Graph shows: The case rate per 100,000 in people aged 60 and above (yellow line) and under-60 (red line). Cases have started to drop in under-60s, though the rate still remains above the more vulnerable older age groups The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still hunting 350 people involved in the deadly siege of the Capitol a year ago. The agency are still seeking to identify 250 people seen on video assaulting Capitol police, including a man who appears to have used an electric prod disguised as a cane on a cop, after the riot. Another 100 have been identified but not yet apprehended for multiple crimes tied to January 6. The investigation has been a massive undertaking for federal law enforcement who have charged more than 700 people. But hundreds more remain on the loose including a man, seen wearing a grey tracksuit and hoodie, who allegedly planted bombs at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees the night before the riot. Investigators have talked to more than 900 people and collected 39,000 video files just to find the suspect, who also wore a face mask and gloves, who appeared to place an explosive under a bench outside the Democratic National Committee. The person - authorities don't yet know if it's a man or a woman - was also captured walking in an alley near the Republican National Committee before a bomb was placed there. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol. The bombs were rendered safe and no one was hurt. Scroll down for video Authorities are still searching for a suspect who planted two bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committees the day before the January 6 riot. Above, the suspect walking in an alley near the RNC before the bomb was placed The FBI still doesn't know if it's a man or a woman. Above, the suspect in a grey hoodie and a mask after planting the explosives, which were rendered safe the next day More than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the January 6, 2021 riot, including 225 people accused of attacking or interfering with officers On January 5, 2021, the bomb suspect was covered from head to toe, skulking through the dark streets of the nation's capital before methodically placing two explosives outside the committee buildings. Only 17 hours later - and just before the Capitol was stormed by a sea of pro-Trump rioters - were the pipe bombs discovered. It quickly became one of the highest-priority investigations for the FBI and the Justice Department. 'In normal times, like if this wasn't COVID, a person walking down the street in DC covered from head to toe with a mask on, glasses and gloves would have been a red flag,' said Steven D'Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office in Washington. But the trail grew cold almost immediately. A year later, federal investigators are no closer to learning the person's identity. And a key question remains: Was there a connection between the pipe bombs and the riot at the Capitol? The suspect is among hundreds of people still being sought by the FBI following last January's deadly insurrection, perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump who sought to stop Congress from certifying the election results in favor of President Joe Biden. 'This investigation takes time because it is a lot of lot of work, a lot of painstaking work that they look at the video kind of frame by frame,' said Steven D'Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office in Washington Robert Palmer, 54 was sentenced to 63 months in December for his involvement in the riot Palmer threw wooden boards, a pole and a fire extinguisher at police Jacob Chansley, 34, has the second-longest sentence with 41 months A few weeks ago, a Florida man who sprayed police officers with a fire extinguisher before throwing it at them during the riot was given the harshest sentence yet - more than five years. Robert Palmer, 54, from Largo, Florida, pushed himself to the front of the crowd and threw wooden boards at police before retreating after being pepper sprayed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman. Jacob Chansley, 34, the so-called QAnon Shaman, has the second-longest sentence with 41 months. But for the FBI agents working on the cases, the job is far from over. Agents and investigative analysts have been poring over thousands of hours of surveillance video, going second by second in each video to try to capture clear images of people who attacked officers inside the Capitol. Police body cam footage captured a man using a cane with electric prods on the end to shock officers. He has still not been identified 'This investigation takes time because it is a lot of lot of work, a lot of painstaking work that they look at the video kind of frame by frame,' D'Antuono said. In one case, police body camera footage captures a man using a cane with electric prods on the end jabbing at officers and shocking them as they fight to hold back the riotous crowd trying to break through a barricaded line of officers at one of the doors of the Capitol. The crackling sound of the electricity can be heard as he prods his cane into one of the officers. The man, known only as 'AFO114' - using shorthand for 'assaulting a federal officer' - is still being sought. This image from an FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on January 5, 2021. It is still unknown if the incident was related to the riot the next day The unidentified suspects above are still wanted for assaulting officers during the Capitol riot 'The assaults against the police officers are extremely serious,' D'Antuono said. More than 100 police officers were attacked by rioters on Jan. 6, some attacked by multiple people and some attacked multiple times, he said. More than 225 people have been accused of attacking or interfering with officers, according to the New York Times. Officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes the day after the riot, according to NPR. He had been sprayed with chemical irritants during the demonstration, but they don't appear to have been a factor in his death. Separately, four police officers who were defending the Capitol from the rioters died by suicide in the months after the event, CNBC reports. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes the day after the riot In one video from the riot, a man is seen repeatedly bashing a police officer over the head with a 6 ft (1.8-meter) metal pole as he tries to push his way into the Capitol. And a third shows a man spraying some kind of chemical from a can into the faces of other officers. 'There is still a lot of work to be done on this,' D'Antuono said. 'There were a lot of people up there at the Capitol, a lot of people that either committed violence up there did other unlawful actions up there.' In the search for the person who left the pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC offices, investigators have interviewed more than 900 people, collected 39,000 video files and examined more than 400 leads. They have dived into the components of the explosives and have been working to try to discern anything they can about the suspect, from analyzing the person's gait to trying to collect information about purchases of the distinctive Nike sneakers the person wore. But they are still no closer to finding the suspect's identity and are hoping renewed attention on the video of the person may spark a tip to crack the case. Jeffrey McKellop was pictured wearing a paramilitary bulletproof vest and helmet, with a gas mask with a patch of the Georgia national flag A MPD captain prepared to deploy the riot-control spray at McKellop and the crowd when the Army veteran picks up a flagpole from the ground and shoves it into the captain's face An MPD police captain is pictured after being jabbed with the flag pole during the Capitol riot The explosive devices were placed outside the two buildings between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on January 5, 2021, but weren't located by law enforcement until the next day. Capitol Police and agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called to the Republican National Committee's office around 12.45pm on January 6. About 30 minutes later, as the agents and bomb technicians were still investigating at the RNC, another call came in for a similar explosive device found at the Democratic National Committee headquarters nearby. No one was hurt by the bombs. The suspect, caught in various videos, wore black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers with a yellow logo. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed the 2020 election had been rigged against him before his supporters attacked the Capitol Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, has been charged with contempt of Congress after refusing to sit down with lawmakers investigating the January 6 riot 'We've used and continue to use every investigative tool that we lawfully have to find this individual,' DAntuono said. But, a year later, investigators still don't know whether the suspect is a man or a woman. The person carried the bombs - made of threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder - in a backpack. 'We're still nose to the grindstone here and trying to find this individual, trying to bring the person to justice,' D'Antuono said. 'But there is hopefully maybe somebody still out there that knows the person or sees the video again.' It is unclear whether the bombs were related to planning for the insurrection or whether they were unrelated to the deadly riot. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol. The government has charged more than 700 people in the riot, but authorities estimate that at least 2,500 people took part in it, the New York Times reports. A Democratic-led select House committee is investigating the riot, including its origins. Two aides to former President Donald Trump, who claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from him in the days leading up to the riot, have been charged with obstruction of Congress for refusing to sit down with lawmakers. 'River Dave' has been arrested again after returning to the woods where his cabin was burnt down to make a new home out of a nearby shed. David Lidstone was first arrested in July after living on the land for 30 years, accused of squatting in a cabin on the New Hampshire property owned by a Vermont man. However, while he was jailed and going through the court system his cabin burnt down and he was released by the judge saying he no longer had a reason to return. He has now been charged again - this time with trespassing - after he turned a shed that survived the fire into a makeshift home outfitted with a wood stove. 'River Dave' (pictured on August 10, 2021) has been arrested again after returning to the woods where his cabin was burnt down, before he made a new home out of a nearby shed. The former hermit's cabin in New Hampshire was burnt down after he spent nearly three decades on the property that he was ordered to leave There had been an outpouring of support for Lidstone, 81 - better known as 'River Dave' - since he was arrested in July and accused of squatting the property. His cabin burned down in August while he was jailed. Lidstone was a local celebrity to boaters and kayakers on the Merrimack River before his property dispute caught the attention of the masses, bringing in over $200,000 in donations to help him start a new, law-abiding life. Lidstone, who was grateful for the support, had secured temporary housing as he figured out where to live next and believed he could not go back to being a hermit. But he returned to the site in Canterbury in late November, turning the wood shed into a home. He was arrested on a trespassing charge December 14 and faces a court hearing in March. 'Sometimes, you have to stand up for what is right,' Lidstone told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the site on Tuesday. 'I'm 81, I've got nothing to lose.' Lidstone is a logger by trade who chopped his firewood and grew his food in the woods along the river. There had been an outpouring of support for David Lidstone, 81 (pictured in August, 2021) - better known as 'River Dave' - since he was arrested in July and accused of squatting on property owned by a Vermont man. His cabin burned down in August while he was jailed David Lidstone, 81, speaks with reporters during an interview on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, in Boscawen, N.H 'River Dave,' leaves a status conference hearing in Merrimack County Superior Court, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in Concord, N.H. Lidstone The property, undeveloped and mostly used for timber harvests, has been owned by the same family since 1963. Lidstone had claimed that years ago, the current owner's father gave his word - but nothing in writing - allowing him to live there. In the summer, he was jailed on a civil contempt sanction and was told he'd be released if he agreed to leave the cabin following a property dispute that goes back to 2016. The landowner, 86-year-old Leonard Giles, of South Burlington, Vermont, wanted Lidstone off the property. 'We'll let the court address it,' Lisa Snow Wade, an attorney for Giles, said Tuesday of Lidstone's arrest. Back in the summer, both sides agreed to arrange for Lidstone to collect his cats and chickens and remaining possessions at the site. This undated photo provided by Jodie Gedeon shows the shack that David Lidstone, 81, has built and lived in for nearly three decades in the woods of Canterbury, N.H. This undated photo provided by Jodie Gedeon shows the shack that David Lidstone, 81, in detail as he lived comfortably by the Merrimack River for nearly three decades Smoke rises from the burnt remains of a cabin in Canterbury, N.H., inhabited by 81-year-old David Lidstone. The picture was provided by the Canterbury Fire Department Lidstone also was given permission to hire a surveyor to give him 'peace of mind,' Judge Andrew Schulman said. As of Tuesday, Lidstone said he was unable to get someone to come out to survey the land yet. A fire destroyed the cabin on August 4, hours after Lidstone defended himself during a court hearing. He was released from jail the next day after the judge ruled that he would have less incentive to return to 'this particular place in the woods,' now that the cabin had burned down. Canterbury Fire Chief Michael Gamache said the fire was caused by accident. He said a representative of Giles who was starting to demolish the cabin on Aug. 4 disabled solar panels, which still had electrical charge in them. He also used a power saw to cut into metal supports that held the panels onto the roof. Either action could have created sparks to start making things smoke. 'What can I say, Dave is where he is happiest the most,' Jodie Gedeon, a kayaker who has known Lidstone for years, posted on Facebook. 'He loves to be in nature and what you'd call a free bird. ... We are still planning to build or purchase a home in the spring.' Reports of a staff exodus from Vice President Kamala Harris' office is coming to fruition at the start of 2022 as staffer Vince Evans prepares to take on a new role with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Evans will replace Kyle Anderson, who left in October, as the CBC's next executive director, meaning he will work closely with the group's chairwoman, Representative Joyce Beatty from Ohio. 'I started my career in Washington working for a member of the CBC, so I know firsthand the tremendous leadership and impact this caucus has in Congress and across the country,' Evans said in a statement. 'As we write the next chapter of the CBC story, I am excited for the opportunity to lend my experience and passion for supporting the collective vision of this storied caucus.' The departure comes as several staffers leave the vice president's office amid reports that she facilitates a toxic workplace. Harris' job approval rating is at 32 per cent, according to a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Tuesday. While that is a terrible rating, it is a 4 per cent increase from the November poll where her approval was at only 28 per cent. Vince Evans (right) confirmed he is leaving Vice President Kamala Harris' (left) office to take on an executive director role with the Congressional Black Caucus Fellow Harris staffer Peter Velz tweeted his congratulations to Evans Velz (left) is reported to be eyeing the exits from Harris' office as well. He is pictured here with Evans in an image posted to Twitter Tuesday Fellow Harris staffer Peter Velz wrote in a tweet Tuesday of Evans' new position: 'Congrats to the absolute KING and MVP of Team VP! Adore this man one of the best colleagues and friends you can ask for.' 'I'm so happy to see you continue fighting the good fight and go do great things with the Congressional Black Caucus. Love you, [Vince Evans]!' he added along with a picture of them together. Reports revealed that Velz, currently director of press operations for Harris, has also told those in the vice president's office that he plans to leave. As Evans joins the CBC, there are already seven members of the 56-member caucus who have said they will not run for reelection in this year's midterms. This includes veteran members and Democratic Representatives Brenda Lawrence from Michigan and Bobby Rush from Illinois, the only lawmaker to ever beat Barack Obama in a political election. Other CBC members seeking other offices include Representatives Karen Bass from California, Anthony Brown from Maryland and Val Demings from Florida all Democrats. In his new role, Evans will work closely with the CBC Chairwoman Rep. Joyce Beatty As of Wednesday morning, 25 House Democrats announced they will not seek reelection this year as the party tries to hold onto their razor thin majorities in both chambers. Evans, in his new role with CBC, will function as a chief of staff for one of Congress' most influential caucuses. His duties will include overseeing daily activities and working with members and their top aides to coordinate and implement priorities and legislative agenda. A Florida native, Evans began his political career as an aide to a Tallahassee city commissioner, was a staffer in the Florida state Senate and served on the senior staff of Florida Representative Al Lawson. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Evans was Southern political director for Joe Biden and was political director for Harris when she became the vice presidential nominee. The departure of Evans comes as Harris' chief spokesperson Symone Sanders also left the vice president's office at the end of last month. Her exit followed that of Ashley Etienne, Harris' former communications director, who left in November. Officials maintain Sanders and Etienne's departures were long-planned and not evidence of the reported turmoil. Further, reports note that Sanders is getting married next year and was never able to go on a proper tour to sell her book, No, You Shut Up, which was published in May 2020. Sanders, 32, defended her former boss in an interview published Monday in her hometown newspaper Omaha World-Herald, claiming it was the 'honor of her life' to serve Vice President Harris. 'She is someone who I watch every single day bring her full self to work,' Sanders said. 'I watch her challenge her teams, I watch her push us all to be better. She added: 'I watch her raise issues and perspectives and topics and policy that other people other folks just weren't thinking about.' Sanders called the reports and rumors of dysfunction in Harris' office just 'salacious gossip.' When announcing her departure last year, many took Sanders' exit as further evidence that Harris's office was in disarray, amid headlines of a toxic work environment and an exodus of key personnel. Some stories, however, pointed the finger at Sanders. Two unidentified sources told The Hill that the spokeswoman was seen as a rival to Harris's communications director, and that she was the 'voice in numerous blind quotes about friction in the office.' The Washington Post published a damaging expose in December branding Harris a 'bully' who inflicted 'constant-soul destroying criticism' on her office staff. The piece - a result of interviews with 18 people connected to the VP - alleges that Harris failed to read briefings they'd prepared, only to turn on them if she was subsequently criticized for being unprepared. The claims from staff who worked for Harris were published amid confirmed departures of two high level staffers, with two others who are said to be heading for the door too. 'It's clear that you're not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,' a former colleague told the Washington Post. 'With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. 'So you're constantly sort of propping up a bully and it's not really clear why.' Harris's staffers Meanwhile, Gil Duran, who worked with Harris for just five months in 2013 before quitting, said the vice president was 'repeating the same old destructive patterns.' Symone Sanders (left), Harris' senior adviser and chief spokesperson, left the White House at the end of 2021. It came after Ashley Etienne (right), Harris' former communications director, left in November Writing in his San Francisco Examiner column, he said: 'One of the things we've said in our little text groups among each other is what is the common denominator through all this and it's her.' 'One of the things we've said in our little text groups among each other is what is the common denominator through all this and it's her,' Duran told the Post. 'Who are the next talented people you're going to bring in and burn through and then have (them) pretend they're retiring for positive reasons.' People familiar with the conversations told Politico that even more 'key members of Harris' orbit' are 'eyeing the exits' and have expressed interest in leaving less than a year into her vice presidency. Some Democratic allies have urged Harris to embrace the concept of a reset after a rocky first year as vice president, which has been riddled with project failures like addressing the southern border crisis and reports of tensions between her team and the president's. Her poll ratings have tanked, with top Democrats said to be appalled at the idea of her running for president in 2024 should Joe Biden decide not to seek a second term. Harris' staff are leaving because they're burned out, there are better opportunities elsewhere and they don't want to be permanently branded a 'Harris person,' according to Axios. Harris tamped down rumors of tension as she addressed Sanders' departure during a gaggle on her trip to North Carolina last month. 'I love Symone,' the vice president said. 'And I mean that sincerely.' 'I can't wait to see what she will do next. I know that it's been three years jumping on and off planes, going around the country ' Harris continued. Sanders joined President Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2019. Harris declined to answer further questions on the wave of departures. 'Well, I told you how I feel about Symone,' Harris said. During the trip, Harris' personal aide, Opal Vadhan, posted a photo of the VP's team all smiling as they celebrated the birthday of Deputy Director of Advance, Juan Ortega. 'A favorite tradition in the @VP's office is celebrating staff birthdays with cupcakes! Happy Birthday, @JuanoBano!' she wrote. Harris was in Charlotte, North Carolina to tour a public transit facility and give a speech on the bipartisan infrastructure bill alongside Pete Buttigieg, her rumored competition. She hugged the Transportation secretary before they both boarded Air Force Two. Buttigieg then took questions from a gaggle of reporters on the plane alone. Amid poll numbers in the high 20s, some Democrats are pushing for Buttigieg to replace Harris at the top of the ticket in 2024, should Biden choose not to run for a second term. The White House insists Biden plans to run again, but he will be 82 in 2024. In November, Harris hit back at claims she is being misused as vice president, saying she doesn't feel like she's being under utilized by Biden and dismissed her low approval ratings which plummeted to 28 per cent in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of registered voters earlier this month. 'Polls, they go up, they go down,' Harris said. 'But I think what is most important is that we remain consistent with what we need to do to deal with the issues that we're presented with at this moment.' No announcement has been made on whether Sanders has lined up another job, sparking questions over the circumstances surrounding her departure. Harris in recent weeks has battled mounting reports that her office is in disarray, and that her team is frustrated at being handed 'no-win' tasks that don't suit her skillset, such as tackling the 'root causes' of migration behind the recent border crisis. Asked if the staff departures were prompted by bad headlines for Harris, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that working in the first year of an administration is 'grueling and exhausting.' 'It's natural for staffers who've thrown their heart and soul into a job to be ready to move on after a few years,' she said. Praising Sanders' work in the administration, Psaki said the spokeswoman 'has charisma coming out of her eyeballs.' 'It's natural for staffers who have thrown their heart and soul into a job to be ready to move on to a new challenge after a few years,' Psaki said. Sanders traveled frequently with Harris and as a senior adviser helped her juggle a daunting portfolio including the migrant issue and push for a sweeping federal overhaul of election laws. Harris has suffered plunging approval ratings since taking office, threatening what would normally be an easy path to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, or 2024 if Biden decides not to seek re-election at age 81. Amid the turbulence, Sanders has been Harris' top bulldog defender, batting back at claims of internal disarray and tension with the West Wing. Last month, Sanders was the first to respond to a detailed CNN report in which Harris aides complained that she has been set up to fail, and handed a portfolio that is not commensurate with her historic status as the first woman, and first woman of color, to hold the vice president's office. 'They're consistently sending her out there on losing issues in the wrong situations for her skill set,' said a former high-level Harris aide in the bombshell report. Sanders fired back in a statement: 'It is unfortunate that after a productive trip to France in which we reaffirmed our relationship with America's oldest ally and demonstrated U.S. leadership on the world stage, and following passage of a historic, bipartisan infrastructure bill that will create jobs and strengthen our communities, some in the media are focused on gossip - not on the results that the President and the Vice President have delivered.' Amid the turbulence, Sanders (right) has been Harris' top bulldog defender, batting back at claims of internal disarray and tension with the West Wing An official in the vice president's office pointed out to Politico that Sanders, a former Biden campaign aide, had been working for the administration in some capacity for three years, and said that Biden and Harris had known of her departure 'for a while'. Etienne's plan to leave was confirmed on November 18. 'Ashley is valued member of the Vice President's team, who has worked tirelessly to advance the goals of this administration. She is leaving the office in December to pursue other opportunities,' a White House official told DailyMail.com at the time. Both Harris and Biden have vehemently denied that there is any tension between them, denying reports that are mostly based on the accounts of anonymous staffers. The White House went full throat with their defense of her after a CNN report claimed Biden was distancing himself from Harris because of her sliding poll numbers, while the vice president is said to have felt isolated and frustrated with being given some of the most difficult issues for the administration in her portfolio. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted Harris is an 'incredible leader' and Psaki argued Harris receives more criticism because of her status as a woman of color. Harris is the country's first female vice president and the first vice president of color. The president has publicly said he intends to run again, although pundits say that announcing he intends to step down after a single term would turn him into a lame duck leader. But there has been anonymous chatter among Democrats that, if he does, he should consider replacing Harris. There's additional speculation that if he doesn't run again, Harris would not be the strongest contender to replace him. Some have suggested Buttigieg would be a better candidate for the nomination. A Politico/Morning Consult poll at the end of 2021 showed the transportation secretary with a higher favorability rating than both Biden and Harris whom he led by 12 points. President Moon Jae-in speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for railway construction to connect Gangneung and Jejin of Gangwon Province, a part of the inter-Korean railroad connection project based upon the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration adopted by Moon and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, held at Jejin Station in Goseong, Gangwon Province, Wednesday. Yonhap Pyongyang fires ballistic missile into sea off east coast By Jung Da-min The Moon Jae-in government is making last-ditch efforts for progress on its inter-Korean peace drive before President Moon's term ends in about five months, but Pyongyang is remaining unresponsive to Seoul's continued calls for dialogue. Rather, North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Wednesday morning, marking this year's first missile launch. This launch coincided with Moon's attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony for the railroad construction to connect Gangneung and Jejin of Gangwon Province, a part of the inter-Korean railroad connection project based upon the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration adopted by Moon and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. According to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea fired a projectile presumed to be a ballistic missile at around 8:10 a.m. into the sea off its east coast from Jagang Province. The JCS said the South Korean and U.S. militaries are currently analyzing details of the missile launch but are yet to provide further details such as range or speed of the missile. Some defense watchers said the timing of the North's latest missile launch was rather unexpected, as they had forecast no missile launches until after February's Beijing Winter Olympics. But others said it was not a surprise as the North has repeatedly said it would continue developing missiles and nuclear weapons and that such weapons development requires continued tests. Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said Pyongyang seemed to be assured that its missile launch would not bring strong opposition from China, while the Olympics event itself has failed to draw big attention internationally amid the COVID-19 pandemic situation. "The missile launch could also be used as a bargaining chip when the North engages in negotiations with the South's next government after the South elects a new president in March," Shin said. "There have been many signs of economic hardships in the North including the news that Kim Jong-un gave fish to Pyongyang residents as presents. In that respect, the missile launch is also aimed at strengthening internal solidarity among the people of North Korea." Moon Sung-mook, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said the weapons development is the only "successful" policy that the North Korean leader could promote as his administrative achievement, while the country is apparently suffering an agriculture crisis based on reports by media and international organizations. "There was no message from Kim Jong-un toward South Korea or the U.S. in the ruling Workers' Party of Korea plenum in late December. Pyongyang has been remaining unresponsive to the Moon government's call for an end-of-war declaration and the latest missile launch is just another sign that there are no changes in Pyongyang's stance on the matter, that they want withdrawal of what they call hostile policies by South Korea and the U.S. such as joint military drills. But the U.S. government has said the U.S.-South Korea joint drills in March would be conducted as scheduled," Moon said. "Besides, when China and Russia are against adopting any additional sanctions against North Korea, the United Nations Security Council is not likely to put additional sanctions against Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un would find it as good timing, when the South's Moon government is also trying not to offend the North to keep the momentum for dialogue." President Moon Jae-in and other officials applaud during a groundbreaking ceremony for a railway construction project to connect Gangneung and Jejin of Gangwon Province, a part of the inter-Korean railroad connection project based upon the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration adopted by Moon and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, held at Jejin Station in Goseong, Gangwon Province, Wednesday. Yonhap The 'skull' of a female prisoner who was hanged for forging a 1 note in 1800 has been stolen from one of Britain's most haunted pubs. The Golden Fleece, based in York, North Yorkshire, has now launched an appeal to track down the grim artefact, after it was allegedly pinched on Sunday evening. The skull, said to be a replica of centuries' old prisoner Elizabeth Johnson's, had been on display in a special case at the 518-year-old pub, which brands itself the most haunted in the city. Elizabeth visited the pub, which was an inn at the time, regularly before she was hanged in August 1800 after being found guilty of using a forged 1 banknote - worth 89 today - with intent to defraud the Bank of England. The pub put out an appeal on social media, revealing how Elizabeth had been 'removed' from her 'resting place'. Social media users were initially concerned that it had been displaying human remains in the first place - but the business assured punters the skull was a replica. The Golden Fleece, based in York, North Yorkshire, has now launched an appeal to track down the grim artefact (pictured), after it was allegedly pinched on Sunday evening. Social media users were initially concerned that the pub had been displaying human remains in the first place - but the business assured punters the skull was a replica Sign above skull replica reads: 'Here the skull Elizabeth Johnson executed York 1800' Is this the ghost of The Golden Fleece landlord who hanged himself? Spooky figure of a man is pictured in supposedly haunted bar Spooky image appears to show figure of a man standing behind the bar Ghost hunters in 2015 claimed they had photographed the spirit of a former landlord at The Golden Fleece who hanged himself. Workers at the pub said they had felt their necks tighten while working behind the bar, and seen glasses mysteriously swept off shelves with no explanation. And when a team of paranormal investigators visited, supernatural specialist Susanne Taggart claimed to have caught the dead landlord's ghost on camera for the first time. The image appears to show the shadow of a man behind the bar, even though there is no source of light pointing in the right direction. Ms Taggart, 51, said: 'It was very dark and it clearly is the lurking shape of big person as you can see the head and shoulders, but the only person in the shot was the girl behind the bar and you can see her on the left. She confirmed to us that no one else was there with her. Discovery: Ghost hunters Steve and Susanne Taggart who captured the bizarre sight . They are pictured with former Most Haunted star Jason Karl (right) 'There was a kitchen door behind the figure but it is completely obscured by this shadow. None of us could believe it. Quite a few people in our group were shook by the photo and we found it very unsettling.' She added: 'Despite it being very creepy, I thought there must be a rational explanation. However, a friend of mine analysed the picture and said that there was no light penetrating the shadow, it was just a dense black shape. That was very unsettling. 'This is the one piece of footage we have ever found that we are not able to debunk. There is no explanation that I can think of.' During the evening's investigation the team felt sudden cold chills in some areas of the building, and a child's voice was heard at one point. A spokesman for the Golden Fleece, which was once featured on TV show Most Haunted, said: 'It is no surprise that people who live and work in the Golden Fleece have some hair-raising tales to tell. In fact several of them have described how their hair was pulled as if by invisible hands. 'There are a number of accounts of staff who have felt a sudden tightening around their neck while standing at the bar - the very bar where, it is said, an earlier landlord hanged himself. 'In addition to these sightings there have been numerous other disturbing occurrences reported over the years - doors banging, mysterious footsteps on the stairs, strange lights, cold spots and temperature changes, candles that light themselves, beds that move and doors that slam.' Landlord Steph Yates added: 'The most scary thing is that the ceiling above the bar is a false ceiling and there is a hook hidden above there - that is where the landlord is supposed to have hanged himself.' Advertisement The Golden Fleece posted their appeal to bring Elizabeth 'back to her rightful home' on Monday afternoon, writing: 'Help needed. Unfortunately over the course of last night/today someone has taken it upon themselves to remove Elizabeth from her resting place. 'This is beyond us why anyone would want to take her and we sincerely hope the culprit had a lapse of judgement and will return her to us ASAP. 'We are currently looking through all our CCTV in order to hand it over. 'Please contact us if you have any information on her whereabouts to bring her back to her rightful home.' They later updated the post, adding: 'This is obviously not Elizabeth's real skull. 'We believe she frequented the Fleece when it was an Inn and this was made and donated to the owner at the time, although the entire story is not fully known. 'Thank you all for your comments, we appreciate your concern but are just trying to be reunited with our property, thanks.' The post has been shared over 600 times and almost 200 comments from shocked Facebook users. One said: 'Unbelievable. Hope Elizabeth is returned to her rightful resting place ASAP. 'Someone must know which lowlife took her.' Another said: 'My god why would anyone think it's a great idea to take her. 'No morals, no respect, hope she does her worst and makes their life hell so they return her.' One added: 'This has knocked me sick. Why on earth would anyone do something like that? 'Some people (I use that term very loosely) have absolutely no morals whatsoever. I really hope you get her back', while another said: 'I hope she haunts whoever's taken her.' Elizabeth Johnson was a frequent visitor to the Golden Fleece pub during her lifetime. She was found guilty of 'uttering a forged 1 bank note with intent to defraud the Bank Of England in the parish of Pontefract on June 7th 1800'. She was subsequently hanged at Knavesmire in York on August 23 1800. This was believed to be the last execution to take place there. The Golden Fleece has a long history of spooks and spectres, with fifteen separate sightings of ghosts wandering around the premises. One of these is supposedly Lady Alice Peckett - the wife of John Peckett - former owner of the establishment and mayor of York in the early 1700s. Other alleged apparitions include a 16th-17th century redcoat called One Eyed Jack, a WWII Canadian airman and even Roman soldiers in the cellar. Ghost hunters in 2015 claimed they had photographed the spirit of a former landlord at The Golden Fleece who hanged himself. Workers at the pub said they had felt their necks tighten while working behind the bar, and seen glasses mysteriously swept off shelves with no explanation. And when a team of paranormal investigators visited, supernatural specialist Susanne Taggart claimed to have caught the dead landlord's ghost on camera for the first time. The image appears to show the shadow of a man behind the bar, even though there is no source of light pointing in the right direction. Ms Taggart, 51, said: 'It was very dark and it clearly is the lurking shape of big person as you can see the head and shoulders, but the only person in the shot was the girl behind the bar and you can see her on the left. She confirmed to us that no one else was there with her. 'There was a kitchen door behind the figure but it is completely obscured by this shadow. None of us could believe it. Quite a few people in our group were shook by the photo and we found it very unsettling.' Britain is dotted with centuries' old pubs, many of which claim to have ghosts living on their grounds. A pub last month shared CCTV footage which 'showed a ghost smashing a pint glass.' A post appealing for the return of the skull replica received hundreds of shares online Elizabeth visited the pub, which was an inn at the time, regularly before she was hanged in August 1800 after being found guilty of using a forged 1 banknote - worth 89 today - with intent to defraud the Bank of England The Golden Fleece posted their appeal to bring Elizabeth 'back to her rightful home' on Monday afternoon Liz Allcock, landlady at The Longs Arms in South Wraxall, Wiltshire, was talking to a customer when a Guinness pint glass sitting at the back of a low shelf spontaneously smashed, with pieces of glass flying through the air. The incident, which was captured on the pub's CCTV, shows Ms Allcock's startled reaction to the supposedly paranormal event as she steps back in shock. Ms Allock and other staff were left unable to explain what happened, as it was claimed the Guinness glass was not touching or sat on top of any other glasses on the low bar shelf. Ms Allcock said her pub has seen multiple unexplained phenomena over the years. Ms Allcock's husband's Rob told WiltshireLive: 'Normally, you see things and then you look back and there's no one there. Liz Allcock, landlady at The Longs Arms in South Wraxall, Wiltshire, was talking to a customer when a Guinness pint glass sitting at the back of a low shelf spontaneously smashed 'I'll be walking through to the kitchen, which has a door that opens both ways, and it will open as if someone is on the other side, pulling it - you get used to things like that.' Rob added that a phantom child was praised once by a punter - but that the couple were actually eating alone. He also added that there is a black and white dog apparition that often makes appearances at the pub. A leading British anti-vaxxer has admitted he 'felt terrible' after going into hospital with Covid-19 - a virus which he previously claimed was just a 'common cold'. John O'Looney, of Milton Keynes, finally conceded that coronavirus was real and 'very nasty' after he was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit with it last month. The 53-year-old funeral director has become a figurehead for anti-vaxxers with his social media videos that make unproven claims about the pandemic and vaccines. He was due to help lead a controversial 'Let the UK Live' rally in the Buckinghamshire town last week alongside Piers Corbyn, brother of former Labour leader Jeremy. But Mr O'Looney caught Covid-19 two weeks ago and went into hospital, with his experience forcing him to backtrack on claims the virus is actually just a cold. However, Mr O'Looney said he would still 'urge people to avoid hospital at all costs' and that he managed to 'escape' by discharging himself against doctors' advice. John O'Looney, of Milton Keynes, was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit with Covid-19 In a written statement to his followers, shared on December 31, he wrote: 'I was initially sceptical about Covid but I can confirm its validity and it is very nasty. 'So let us make no mistake there is an enemy to face but does it require endless bouts of injections after injections after injections?' Writing about his experiences, he added: 'Very interestingly recently I was admitted to ICU in Milton Keynes hospital after developing Covid symptoms. 'I took three lateral flow tests whilst there and was told at the time I was not positive only to be told later on the ward I was positive so clearly it was inconclusive so I will say I felt and feel terrible still.' Mr O'Looney, who runs Milton Keynes Family Funeral Services, also complained that the hospital's food was 'appalling' and 'all tasted the same'. He also claimed that doctors offered him a trial drug to help him recover but he 'declined and stuck to my guns'. Mr O'Looney had to miss the rally in Milton Keynes which featured a speech from Piers Corbyn He was said to have discharged himself from hospital against doctors' advice. Mr O'Looney added: 'I feel very fortunate to have escaped hospital (I never dreamt I would have lived to say that) with the help of family and friends. 'The sinister whispering, the secrecy and the guilty looks amongst certain members of staff spoke volumes to me. 'It was honestly very chilling and traumatising just seeing how it has changed - especially when I asked to leave.' Mr O'Looney said that he was still opposed to Covid vaccines and urged parents to take their children out of school to avoid the jab. He also urged his followers not to go to hospital if they catch the virus. He told followers of his Telegram message board to avoid hospital 'at all costs' and said that going into ICU was 'the most horrific and frightening experience of my life'. Mr O'Looney said he managed to 'escape' hospital by discharging himself against doctors' advice - but said he still felt unwell more than ten days after doing so. Piers Corbyn speaks as protesters enter a theatre in Milton Keynes last week on December 29 In a 600-word message, Mr O'Looney wrote: 'I'd urge people to avoid hospital at all costs personally based on my experience in it. 'There was no emphasis on healing me at all and the focus was only on getting me to agree to as many experimental drugs as the Oxford University rep could coerce me into agreeing to take. 'In fact in the few days I was in there I met a consultant just once briefly and for the time it took him to accept I wasn't going to be a guinea pig.' He is believed to have left hospital on December 24 with the help of fellow anti-vaxxer Mark Sexton, who wrote on Facebook: 'John O'Looney is now back home with his family. We were able to get John home and into the care of a friend who is a private physician. 'A number of people were involved in making sure John was returned home safe and his care will continue accordingly by these medical professionals.' But Mr O'Looney told his followers he is still unwell. He wrote: 'I still feel poisoned in honesty and recovery is slow. 'Even walking upstairs is a drain and I'm wondering when I will begin to pick up, it's demoralising. That said I do feel better than a week ago, it's just slow going. 'But I need to get back to work and that seems a way off yet sadly. Again I'd say I actually feel like I've been poisoned - this is my thing but a natural virus and these bastards have a lot to answer for.' The anti-vaxxers also stormed a test and trace centre in Milton Keynes on Decmber 29 He has previously spoken at anti-vax events and was due to appear at a 'Freedom Rally' in Milton Keynes last week, where protestors stormed a children's pantomime and NHS test site. Since his hospital stay, Mr O'Looney has been forced to temporarily close the funeral business that he has run since 2017 'due to illness'. In a video shared with followers just weeks before he was hospitalised with Covid, Mr O'Looney claimed that the Omicron variant was actually just a cold. He said: 'We're in winter and there are colds and flus about at this time of the year. These people [who have been vaccinated] can't fight it off. 'The government were very quick to label it as Omicron, a new variant. They are sick but they are sick with basic things like the common cold.' Last week Home Secretary Priti Patel slammed the anti-vaxxers who stormed a test and trace centre in Milton Keynes, with the mob also disrupting a pantomime. Dozens of marchers entered a testing facility. and were seen damaging signs and stealing testing equipment in videos shared on social media on on December 29. The group also entered Milton Keynes Theatre during their march, with their protest seeing 'staff and patrons frightened and assaulted', the arts venue said. In a video, a group including Piers Corbyn could be seen chanting and holding signs in the theatre foyer, as a matinee performance went on inside. Mr Corbyn, the older brother of former Labour leader Jeremy, was arrested on suspicion of encouraging people to attack MPs' offices earlier this month. Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and a member of the Vaccine Task Force, told Times Radio that the group were 'crazy'. For nearly two years, Australians have been told to get a Covid test with even the mildest sniffle as daily case numbers were announced to great fanfare at press conferences, with every country in the world banned from flying into our virus-free paradise. Now, the prime minister is encouraging people to learn to live with the virus, vowing the country will never see lockdowns again and says that only the sick and close contacts of those infected should seek a PCR test. Australia's 2022 Covid roadmap has been set out by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a press conference following a National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (pictured: sunseekers enjoying the waves at Bondi Beach in Sydney) On Wednesday, Scott Morrison unveiled the next stages of Australia's approach to the pandemic, with the PM offering a vastly different tone to even a month ago when the new and highly-infectious Omicron variant first surfaced. Mr Morrison urged residents to continue to safely live their lives as normal and implemented a series of measures as a baseline safety net towards achieving that goal long-term. 'Australia is better placed than nearly any country in the world. We're in the top 10 most vaccinated OECD countries in the world. We have to keep carefully managing these issues as they present,' he said. 'There are no magic solutions, full stop. And so this virus will continue to challenge us, and it's important that we all remain calm.' Following 2022's first National Cabinet meeting, Mr Morrison outlined changes to the country's testing system which has seen severe delays in PCR results and widespread shortages of rapid antigen tests. On Wednesday, Scott Morrison (pictured) unveiled the next stages of Australia's approach to the pandemic including prioritising rapid tests and stopping counting case numbers WHAT ARE THE NEW CHANGES TO TESTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA? - 10 free Rapid Antigen Tests now available to low-income and vulnerable Australians over a three-month period - The free tests can be accessed at chemists with a concession or seniors card - PCR test no longer required to officially confirm a positive RAT result - Price gouging on RATs banned, with businesses caught doing so facing fines of up to $66,000 - The move comes after the in-demand tests were being sold for as much as $50 Advertisement The federal government will subsidise 10 RATs over a three-month period for 6.6 million low income and at-risk Australians. He resisted calls to make the tests free universally, but instead focused on vulnerable groups including those on welfare, pensions and concession cards. In another major change, Mr Morrison confirmed Australians will no longer need to seek a PCR test if they test positive on a rapid antigen test, and should count themselves as Covid positive. He said only people who are close contacts or who have Covid symptoms should be seeking PCR tests, which have been overrun by patients following Omicron's arrival. 'If you have gone along, if you are a close contact and had a rapid antigen test and it is positive, you do not need to get a PCR test to confirm that. That will take pressure off PCR testing lines,' Mr Morrison said after the emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon. This is a far cry from the early waves of the virus, particularly the deadly Delta variant, where health officials and leaders were urging anyone with the mildest cold to immediately get tested and isolate. Many premiers were trying to keep their states Covid-zero, blocking out travel from around the country and enforcing continuous lockdowns when cases arose. Mr Morrison confirmed Australians will no longer need to seek a PCR test if they test positive on a rapid antigen test, and should count themselves as Covid positive (pictured: people being tested at clinic in Adelaide) What happens if my RAT shows positive? You no longer need to obtain a PCR test. A positive rapid antigen test (RAT) result is sufficient. The PM suggested people who test positive with a RAT 'call their GP' to inform them of the positive test. You can also contact the National Coronavirus hotline on 1800 020 080. Official NSW Health advice says most fully-vaccinated people aged under 65 'can safely manage COVID-19 at home' - provided you don't suffer from any chronic health conditions and are not pregnant. 'Most people with COVID-19 will have a mild illness and will recover in a few days or so. Some people may not have any symptoms at all.' But if you develop severe symptoms (particularly severe headache or dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pressure or pain) you should call Triple Zero (000) immediately and tell the ambulance staff that you have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Advertisement Western Australia continues to alienate itself from the rest of the country with hard borders to every state despite vaccination rates climbing, with Mr Morrison confirming Mark McGowan didn't even turn up for National Cabinet. Other states have since supported the prime minister's casual approach to the virus, maintaining the country must stay open. The prime minister said officials are now constructing a system that moves away from regurgitating and even recording case numbers, rather GPs report infectious through a yet-to-be-confirmed platform. 'We're working on a system through our GPs and other processes for people to report whether they've got a positive test. The reason we want people to report is not to count numbers. It's not about counting case numbers,' Mr Morrison said. 'It's about connecting people to care. And that's why we'll be working, and with the primary health network to ensure that where people have contacted their GP and said I've got COVID, then that is a very sensible thing to do so their GP can also be in contact with them.' Australia as a whole broke another record with 64,774 total new infections on Wednesday, a near 20,000 increase on Tuesday. Mr Morrison said while Omicron is '75 per cent less severe' than Delta, Australians need to remain vigilant in the management of the virus. 'Everything that you used to do to control Delta is not how you manage Omicron. It has the advantage of being less severe but has the disadvantage of having very high levels of transmission, which gives you a big volume problem,' the PM said. The PM said only people who are close contacts or who have Covid symptoms should be seeking PCR tests, which have been overrun by patients following Omicron's arrival (pictured: man being tested at drive through testing centre in Sydney) 'Which is why we are having to change the testing arrangements, the isolation arrangements, because you don't just end up dealing with a health challenge, but you have still got the economic challenge of taking people out of the workforce and people who are doing incredibly important jobs which means putting food on the table.' Meanwhile, Hong Kong has stopped all incoming flights from Australia as Omicron cases skyrocket throughout the country. The region introduced a string of new Covid measures on Wednesday including barring flights from eight countries with high infection rates and implementing a 6pm restaurant curfew. It marks a remarkable change in fortunes for Australia, which locked out the rest of the world for 21 months due to soaring Covid cases overseas - while infections remained sparse Down Under. But now with record infection rates, Hong Kong becomes the first place to return the favour and ban flights from Australia. Hong Kong has banned travel from eight countries including Australia from Saturday for an initial period of two weeks as they look to stem cases coming from high risk countries Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, announced the changes through the South China Morning Post, saying the new variant had officials deeply concerned. 'There has been rapid change in the pandemic situation which has caused us to be worried,' she said. 'We will announce today fast, decisive and precise measures to cut the transmission chains.' Ms Lam has grounded all flights from countries including Australia and the UK for two weeks as they look to supress potential infections coming into the city. Other countries in the travel ban including Canada, the USA, France, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. The suspension of flights will come into place from Saturday and last until at least January 21. The region introduced a string of new Covid measures on Wednesday including barring flights from eight countries with high infection rates and implementing a 6pm restaurant curfew (pictured, people in Hong Kong on December 30) Covid cases in NSW on Wednesday spiked to 35,054 while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight but ICU admissions in both states remain steady. Wednesday's numbers in NSW are the highest daily total recorded for any Australian state since the beginning of the pandemic - and are a large jump from the 23,131 infections announced on Tuesday. The number of people in hospital has risen to 1,491, from 1,344 reported on Tuesday. Of those, 119 are in intensive care units, an increase of 14 in 24 hours. While ICU numbers are rising, the tally is short of the peak of 244 seen in September. Victoria's hospitalisations are at 591, a jump from 516 on Tuesday, with ICU rates dropping by three to 53. Eight more people in NSW lost their lives with the virus while Victoria had 11 deaths. A pair of women who have accused former Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment reacted to the news Tuesday that the disgraced former governor will not be prosecuted for allegedly groping ex-staffer Brittany Commisso in 2020. Fellow Cuomo accusers Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis said through their attorney that while they were disappointed in the outcome, they were not surprised. 'Unfortunately, our penal laws and system frequently do not properly punish the acts of so many abusive men in power,' their lawyer Mariann Wang said in a statement. 'Cuomo's conduct was nonetheless unlawful and deeply harmful to the women who were subjected to it, as the Attorney General and Assembly found in their reports. 'My clients remain grateful for those investigations and above all to the other women who had the courage to come forward. Cuomo and men like him should not be in positions of power.' Cuomo accusers Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis said through their attorney that while they were disappointed in the outcome, they were not surprised Albany County's district attorney confirmed Tuesday that he will not be prosecuted for allegedly groping another woman at his executive mansion McGrath, 33, a former administrative assistant in Cuomo's office and Commisso's ex-colleague, says the governor, 63, ogled her body, called her and her and another co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring, per The New York Times. The ex-Cuomo staffer also alleges that the fallen politician once looked down her shirt, quizzed her about her marital status, and told her she was beautiful, using an Italian phrase she had to ask her parents to interpret. She recalled Cuomo kissing her on the forehead and gripping her firmly around the sides while posing for a photo at a 2019 office Christmas party. McGrath didn't say the governor made sexual contact with her, but contends that his behavior was inappropriate and constitutes sexual harassment. The Times conducted several interviews with McGrath early last year, in which she described the governor's pattern of flirtatious banter. McGrath, 33, a former administrative assistant in Cuomo's office and Commisso's ex-colleague, says the governor, 63, ogled her body, called her and her and another co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring, according to the New York Times National Grid staffer Limmiatis, meanwhile, asserts that the then-governor touched her chest multiple times during a rope line event in 2017 Limmiatis, meanwhile, a National Grid worker who says Cuomo touched her inappropriately a rope line at a 2017 event, alleges that the then-governor ran his fingers on the lettering that ran across the chest of her shirt and brushed her chest a second time after joking that he had spotted a spider. Both cases have yet to be resolved. As for Commisso's allegations, however, Cuomo could still face civil lawsuits for the alleged interaction, according to Albany County's district attorney office, who announced Tuesday that the case would no longer be pursued due to a technicality. What's more, the ruling came despite prosecutors' acknowledgement that Commisso, a former Cuomo staffer and current state worker, was 'cooperative and credible.' It's the fourth time within the past week that allegations against Cuomo have been dropped; Manhattan's district attorney said Monday that is will not file any charges against Cuomo in the nursing home scandal. Last week, prosecutors in two districts said Cuomo would not face criminal charges after two women, including a state trooper, alleged that he planted unwanted kisses on their cheeks. Cuomo was due to be arraigned Friday over claims he inappropriately touched Commisso, 33, in November 2020. Although Commisso reportedly sought to move forward with the case, she was told by prosecutors Monday that the case will be dropped because of the way the complaint was filed. Cuomo was due to be arraigned on Friday for allegedly groping former staffer and current state worker Brittany Commisso, 33, middle, in November 2020. McGrath is pictured on the far left. She said through an attorney she was not surprised by the Tuesday ruling Commisso was the first woman to take her claims against Cuomo to police, who charged him with a Class A misdemeanor of forcible touching over her allegation that he groped her breast in his office in November 2020. Albany County District Attorney David Soares confirmed Tuesday that the charge will not be prosecuted. The office's investigation into Cuomo is now complete. 'While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former Governor, the Albany County DA's Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,' Soares said in a press release. 'While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial. As such we have notified the Court that we are declining to prosecute this matter and requesting the charges filed by the Albany County Sheriff be dismissed.' The democratic prosecutor had hinted Monday that the complaint was concerning. 'While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former governor, the Albany County DA's Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,' Soares said Monday. Following Soare's announcement, Commisso responded to her case falling through the cracks of the legal system. 'My disappointing experience of re-victimization with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power,' Commisso wrote in a statement to the Times Union. 'When will our voices uniformly be accepted? Where do we go to have our rights vindicated? Unfortunately, this is just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better. 'To every victim out there silently suffering from sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful government official, wondering what will happen if you tell the truth, please don't let what has happened to me deter you from speaking up,' she said. Cuomo, meanwhile, has denied all of the allegations against him. His lawyer did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. Commisso (left) is pictured with Cuomo and then-colleague McGrath in this undated photo Cuomo's attorney Rita Glavin has said that Commisso's 'story changed over time.' The complaint filed by an investigator in Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple's office said evidence in the case included police BlackBerry messages, cell phone records, building security records and a text message from Cuomo's mobile phone. Soars criticized Apple for 'unilaterally and inexplicably' filing a complaint before consulting with prosecutors, and said the complaint was 'potentially defective.' Apple has contended that although the paperwork was processed quickly, he was confident the case would stick. A complaint filed by an Albany County sheriff's department investigator said evidence in the case included police BlackBerry messages, cell phone records, building security records and a text message from Cuomo's mobile phone Police in October filed a misdemeanor groping complaint against Cuomo, but a week later the district attorney asked a judge for more time to evaluate the evidence. The D.A. said that the sheriff's one-page criminal complaint, based on Commisso's allegations were 'potentially defective.' New York's attorney general's office released a 500-page transcript of Cuomo's deposition last November that contained claims by the former politician that Commisso asked for a raise during the same month of the alleged groping. He told investigators that she asked for a raise in November 2020 after filing for divorce from her husband. According to him, she begged him for a raise and was 'upset' and fearful that she was going to lose her job because she'd filed for divorce from her local politician husband, and was worried about money. Cuomo described Commisso as 'friendly', 'chatty' and 'flirtatious' when she came to work for him during COVID-19, after her department was shut down, but said he also had 'limited contact' with her. Cuomo claimed during a sworn deposition that Commisso asked for a raise during the same month as the purported groping Cuomo described Commisso as 'friendly', 'chatty' and 'flirtatious' when she came to work for him during COVID-19 but said he also had 'limited contact' with her Commisso was the first woman to take her claims against Cuomo to police, who charged him with a Class A misdemeanor of forcible touching over her allegation that he groped her breast in his office in November 2020 The ex-governor was also let off the hook last week when Westchester District Attorney Mimi Roca said he won't face criminal charges stemming from allegations of unwanted kissing by two women, one of them a state trooper assigned to his detail. District Attorney Mimi Rocah said there was 'credible evidence' the claims were valid 'In both instances, my office has determined that, although the allegations and witnesses were credible, and the conduct concerning, we cannot pursue criminal charges due to the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of New York,' Rocah said in a statement. The female state trooper said she felt 'completely violated' by his unwanted touching at an event at Belmont Park racetrack in September 2019. According to the report, the trooper said Cuomo ran the palm of his left hand across her abdomen, to her belly button and then to her right hip, where she kept her gun, while she held a door open for him as he left an event at Belmont Park on September 23, 2019. Last August, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a 168-page report with 74,000 pieces of evidence and dozens of interviews that chronicled accusations from 11 women against Cuomo and led to his resignation from office, although he has attacked the findings as biased and inaccurate. After James' report was concluded, she said pursuing potential criminal penalties would be up to prosecutors. The unnamed state trooper assigned to Cuomo's detail was on duty at his home in Mount Kisco and asked the governor if he needed anything before he responded by asking her if he could kiss her, according to James' report. The trooper said that she feared the ramifications of denying his request, so she said 'sure.' Cuomo kissed her on the cheek and, as listed in James' report, said something along the lines of 'oh, I'm not supposed to do that' or 'unless that's against the rules.' Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days later In a second allegation probed by Rocah's office, a woman claimed that an unprompted Cuomo grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him and kissed her on the cheek to greet her at an event at White Plains High School. While Rocah said that her office would not pursue criminal charges, she added that their conclusion is not related to 'any possible civil liability' because it is outside of her office's jurisdiction. Last week, a Long Island prosecutor said Cuomo wouldn't face criminal charges after the same unnamed trooper said she felt 'completely violated' by his unwanted touching at an event at Belmont Park in September 2019. Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith said the allegations were credible and troubling but not criminal under state law. Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017. Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Bennett accused Cuomo of 'grooming' her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life. She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s. Attorney General Letitia James' report found that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women in violation of federal and state civil rights law but left the possibility of pursuing potential criminal penalties to prosecutors Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan. Ana Liss, 35, a former aide, said Cuomo asked her whether she had a boyfriend, once kissed her hand at her desk and called her by patronizing names, including 'blondie,' 'sweetheart' and 'honey.' Alyssa McGrath said Cuomo ogled her body, called her and her co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring as well calling her beautiful in Italian At a reception, the governor hugged her then put his arm around her lower back and waist as they posed for photo, Liss said. She said she eventually asked for a job transfer. In an interview, Liss said she was 'not claiming sexual harassment per se,' but felt the administration 'wasn't a safe space for young women to work.' Rita Glavin, a lawyer for Cuomo, responded to McGrath's allegations by admitting he uses Italian phrases like 'ciao bella.' 'The governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like 'ciao bella',' Glavin told the Times on Friday. The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his 'dimly lit' hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room. The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released. The accuser, who is a member of Cuomo's staff, alleged that he closed a door, reached under her blouse and fondled her after summoning her to the governor's mansion in Albany for help with his cellphone, according to the Times Union of Albany. Prince Andrew could have avoided his on-going sexual assault lawsuit if he had apologised to his accuser Virginia Giuffre Roberts years ago, sources have claimed. The second son of Britain's Queen Elizabeth is currently facing the prospect of appearing in a New York court to face the allegations, after Ms Roberts brought a civil lawsuit against him. Virginia Giuffre Roberts claims the Duke of York slept with her three times when she was 17. Andrew has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations over the years. 'Virginia has always just wanted the prince to acknowledge that he did something he shouldn't have, she wants him to apologize. She has never made this all about money,' a source close to Ms Roberts told the New York Post. 'I think she would have dropped this a long, long time ago had the prince said he was guilty of wrongdoing, but he's embroiled in denial which has brought him down.' Pictured: Britain's Prince Andrew seen leaving the Royal Lodge and heading to Windsor Castle in England last week. Andrew could have avoided his ongoing sexual assault lawsuit if he had apologised to his accuser years ago, sources have claimed The source's comments came after a New York Judge Lewis Kaplan said he will decide 'pretty soon' whether to dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit against Andrew. The royal's lawyers argued Tuesday that he was protected by a settlement that his accuser signed in 2009. Attorney Andrew Brettler told a court hearing Virginia Giuffre had 'waived her rights' to sue other defendants in relation to alleged sex crimes committed by late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Kaplan did not make an immediate ruling but appeared to express skepticism at Andrew's argument, questioning how a third party could enforce an agreement that it didn't know about when it was signed. The hearing in the civil action filed by Giuffre - also a longtime accuser of Epstein's companion, the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell - were held via video conference with the public able to listen in by telephone. Giuffre alleges Andrew also sexually abused her at the London home of Maxwell, who last week was found guilty of sex trafficking minors for Epstein. 'You would be hard pressed to find someone who Ghislaine's guilty conviction affects more than Prince Andrew,' the source told the New York Post. 'This changes everything for how we think about anyone connected to Epstein. Andrew is 61 and he's about to have a reckoning.' The Duke of York was photographed with his arm around the bare waist of then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts. In the background, Ghislaine Maxwell. Roberts claims she was forced to have sex with the royal three times. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations Miss Roberts, 38, claims she was 17 when she slept with Andrew three times in 2001 under orders from Epstein. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations Giuffre alleges that Epstein lent her out for sex with his wealthy and powerful associates, including to Andrew. The deal made public for the first time Monday by a New York court showed that Giuffre agreed to drop a civil claim against Epstein for $500,000. The settlement contained a provision that purports to protect 'other potential defendants' from being sued related to alleged sexual abuse committed by Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019. Brettler described it as 'unambiguous' and argued that it protected the prince from litigation. 'Miss Giuffre intended to release a broad category of individuals, including royalty, including businessmen,' Brettler said. 'She waived her rights to sue them when she entered into the 2009 release agreement and accepted the money from Mr. Epstein.' But the judge said that neither he nor Brettler could 'find any meaning at all' in the word 'potential.' Giuffre sued the prince for unspecified damages last year, alleging he sexually assaulted her in 2001 when she was 17 and a minor under American law. She says Andrew assaulted her at Epstein's home in New York, and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands. Prince Andrew has hired Hollywood attorney Andrew Brettler (right) to represent him in the sexual assault case brought against him by his accuser and Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre Andrew's lawyer was seeking to persuade the court that his accuser, Virginia Roberts, had waived her right to sue him when she signed an earlier 370,000 ($500,000) legal settlement with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the duke's friend. The 2009 settlement between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre was unsealed on Monday Giuffre's lawyer David Boies argued that the Epstein-Giuffre agreement was unrelated to Andrew because it was signed in Florida. 'Prince Andrew was not subject to jurisdiction,' he told judge Kaplan. Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman said he expected Kaplan to reject Andrew's stance. 'Are they saying everybody in the world is now free because of the settlement? It's a tough sell,' he told AFP news agency. Andrew, 61, has not been criminally charged. Maxwell, who introduced Andrew to Epstein in the early 1990s, faces life behind bars after being convicted by New York jurors on five counts. Epstein died aged 66 in a Manhattan jail in what New York's coroner ruled was a suicide, after being charged with child sex trafficking. Back in 2008 he was convicted of paying young girls for sexual massages in Florida but served just 13 months in jail after striking a deal with the then-state prosecutor. Andrew has rarely been seen in public since he was forced to quit the royal frontline in 2019 for failing to distance himself from Epstein. Prince Andrew is interviewed for the BBC's Newsnight in November 2019. In the interview, Andrew denied Ms Giuffre's claim that they had shared a sweaty dance at a London nightclub, saying that at the time he could not sweat due to a condition In a disastrous interview with the BBC that year, Andrew denied Giuffre's claim that they had shared a sweaty dance at a London nightclub, saying that at the time he could not sweat due to a condition related to having fought in the 1982 Falklands War. Last week, Giuffre's lawyers demanded Andrew hand over medical records proving that he cannot sweat. Andrew's legal team has accused Giuffre of seeking to profit from a 'baseless lawsuit.' If the case proceeds and Giuffre and Andrew don't settle then it could go before a jury trial, likely in the latter half of this year. On Friday, Kaplan rejected attempts by Andrew's lawyers to halt progression of the suit on the grounds that Giuffre now lives in Australia. 'Brutal' Prince Andrew court hearing 'couldn't have gone worse' for him: Duke's hopes of having case thrown out hang by a thread after judge 'made it very clear he did not accept' royal lawyers' arguments, experts say Prince Andrew's hopes of getting the case by his US sex accuser thrown out of court were hanging by a thread last night following a 'brutal' hearing in New York. A judge told the royal he would find out 'pretty soon' most likely within days if his bid to have the lawsuit dismissed would be successful. But the early signs were not good for the Queen's son after Judge Lewis Kaplan put his legal team through a bruising encounter during a make-or-break hearing in New York yesterday. One legal expert said that the hearing 'could not have gone worse' and pointed out that the fact that his lawyers were reduced to saying they 'respectfully disagree' with the judge did not bode well- adding 'respectfully disagreeing with the judge means you are about to lose.' Andrew's lawyer was seeking to persuade the court that his accuser, Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, had waived her right to sue him when she signed an earlier 370,000 ($500,000) legal settlement with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the duke's friend. Miss Roberts, 38, one of the billionaire sex offender's most high-profile victims, claims she was trafficked by him and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was 17. The 61-year-old prince vehemently denies the claims and says he has no recollection of even meeting her. Judge Kaplan appeared mostly dismissive of the arguments by the duke's lawyer, Andrew Brettler. He said that part of the 2009 settlement protecting 'other potential defendants' that Andrew's lawyers had appeared to be leaning on was 'unclear' and pointed to two sentences in the text that seemed to suggest it could not be used by Andrew. Judge Kaplan also pointed to language in the agreement stating it is 'not intended to be used by any other person' to protect themselves from lawsuits without the agreement of Miss Roberts and Epstein - suggesting Andrew could not rely on it. While he did not immediately rule at the end of the hearing, he made clear that he was not leaning Andrew's way as he rejected much of the reasoning offered by Mr Brettler, who said the case 'should absolutely be dismissed'. Judge Kaplan told the two sides: 'I appreciate the arguments and the passion. You'll have the decision pretty soon.' But he directed that the exchange of potential evidence in the case was to proceed as scheduled which was seen as an indication he would likely rule against Andrew's motion. Sources close to the proceedings yesterday described them as 'brutal' for Andrew. During the hour-long hearing, held via video conference due to Covid, Judge Kaplan interjected several times in Mr Brettler's arguments. He told him once: 'With all due respect, Mr Brettler, that's not a dog that's going to hunt here' and another time asked the lawyer outright: 'So what?' Prominent legal figures suggested the case had gone against Andrew following tough questioning and the skepticism from Judge Kaplan over the arguments. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor who now works as counsel for law firm Rottenberg Lipman Rich told The Times: 'From Andrew's point of view it could not have gone worse. 'Judge Kaplan made it very clear that he did not accept the arguments that Prince Andrew's counsel was making with regard to the settlement agreement. 'There were a number of times where Andrew's counsel was reduced to saying, 'Well, I respectfully disagree.' In the courtroom, respectfully disagreeing with the judge means you are about to lose.' Lisa Bloom, a US trial lawyer who previously advised rapist Harvey Weinstein and has been following proceedings tweeted: 'Andrew wants her case thrown out on technical grounds. Judge Kaplan aggressively questioned defense on this and appeared unwilling to do it. 'I'm optimistic that Virginia will get her day in court.' Follow-up PCRs for asymptomatic Covid sufferers who test positive on lateral flow have been scrapped in a bid to ration tests. Previous guidance to confirm positive rapid tests with more accurate lab results will be removed indefinitely from January 11. The temporary change has been announced amid sky-high case numbers and unprecedented demand for testing. Under the change, people who receive a positive result on a lateral flow device (LFD) will be required to self-isolate immediately for seven days, without PCR confirmation. The UK Health Security Agency said the 'vast majority' of people with a positive LFD result can be confident they have the virus because case rates are so high. It estimates the number 'false positives' are as low as one in 3,000. However, with just under 1.5million LFD tests being conducted across the UK every day, this could still lead to thousands of people who don't have Covid needlessly having to isolate. The Government has also axed the Covid travel testing scheme brought in to fight Omicron. From 4am on Friday, fully vaccinated passengers entering the UK will not need to take pre-arrival test. Boris Johnson said Omicron is now so prevalent in the country that the measure is having limited impact on the spread of the disease. Day 2 follow-up PCRs for UK arrivals are also being scrapped and replaced by lateral flows saving people up to 60 per test. It comes at a time when services such as NHS, public transport and bin collection are struggling to cope under the weight of staff absences caused by workers having to self-isolate. Today even some NHS leaders have joined a growing chorus of voices calling for the self-isolation period to be slashed from seven days to five to prevent services from being cut-back. Confirmatory PCR tests will no longer be need for people testing positive for Covid on a lateral flow test, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed today. Pictured: UKHSA chief executive Dr Jenny Harries Under the new testing rules only people who have Covid symptoms, such as a high temperature, a new continuous cough, or change in sense of taste and/or smell should still get a PCR test, UKHSA said. Pre-arrival Covid tests scrapped for travellers coming to England Pre-departure Covid tests for travellers arriving in England are to be scrapped, Boris Johnson has announced, in a major boost for the beleaguered travel industry. In a Commons statement, the Prime Minister said the Omicron variant is now so prevalent in the country that the measure is having limited impact on the spread of the disease. He told MPs the requirement for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test is also being dropped. Instead, the rules will revert to the system in place in October with travellers required to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of day two after their arrival. The measures were originally introduced following the identification of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in South Africa last November. Mr Johnson told the House: 'When the Omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country. 'But now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases, while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry. 'So I can announce that in England from 4am on Friday, we will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense.' Advertisement UKHSA chief executive Dr Jenny Harries said: 'While cases of Covid continue to rise, this tried-and-tested approach means that LFDs can be used confidently to indicate Covid infection without the need for PCR confirmation. 'It remains really important that anyone who experiences Covid symptoms self-isolates immediately. They should also order a PCR test on gov.uk, or by phoning 119. 'I'm really grateful to the public and all of our critical workers who continue to test regularly and self-isolate when necessary, along with other practical and important public health behaviours, as this is the most effective way of stopping the spread of the virus and keeping our friends, families and communities safe.' UKHSA have said lateral flow devices are 80 per cent effective at detecting people with high viral loads of Covid. These people are considered to be the most infectious and therefore most likely to pass the virus on to others. Health chiefs said the change would be kept in place until Covid prevalence dips below 1 per cent. Prevalence last week was around 4 per cent according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey. UKHSA officials say only around 40 to 60 per cent of people who test positive on LFDs actually take their confirmatory PCR. Experts hailed the move as sensible given current case numbers, arguing PCR confirmations 'waste time' during infection surges. SAGE member John Edmunds, a modeller at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'This change makes a lot of sense. 'When the prevalence is high and it is incredibly high at the moment almost everyone who tests positive with a lateral flow test will be a true positive. 'There is really no need to confirm this with a PCR, a step that not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere. There are down sides to this change. 'We would have slightly less information on the relative prevalence of the different variants circulating in the community, as PCR swabs undergo genotyping and sequencing, and the daily number of confirmed cases may need more careful interpretation. 'Overall, though, I think that these downsides are worth it.' Sir David Spiegelhalter, chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, said: 'This seems a sensible move. 'We argued back in October that it seemed fairly pointless to do a confirmatory PCR after a positive lateral flow test. 'This is even more true now: with current infection rates, a positive LFD followed by a negative PCR would still mean it was very likely that you were carrying the virus. 'PCRs are useful for surveillance, sequencing and have legal status, but if we want to focus on isolating people who are infectious, then LFDs may be adequate. But they need to be reported.' Dr Hayley Jones senior lecturer in medical statistics at the University of Bristol said assuming a positive LFD test meant you had Covid was 'sensible' but urged people not to believe that the opposite meant they were virus-free. 'At current high levels of infection in the population, it's sensible to assume you're infectious if you have a positive lateral flow test result, without a 'confirmatory' PCR,' she said. 'But it's crucial to remember that the reverse is not true: a negative lateral flow result doesn't guarantee that you don't have Covid or that you're not infectious, so it remains important to get a PCR test if you have symptoms regardless of a negative lateral flow result.' PCR AND LATERAL FLOW TESTS: THE KEY DIFFERENCES A PCR test can cost upwards of 180 per person, with the swab needing to be processed in a lab. The UK, on the other hand, favours faster tests which are not lab based and give a result within 15 minutes. These rapid coronavirus tests, known as lateral flow tests, are ones that can be done on the spot using portable equipment. They are faster and cheaper than lab-based PCR tests, which the government uses to diagnose people, but are less accurate. How accurate are lateral flows? The UK Health Security Agency estimates lateral flow tests are 80 per cent effective at detecting people with a high amount of Covid in their systems and therefore are the most likely to pass it on to others. This means that in about one in five cases a lateral flow test might fail to catch a highly contagious individual. But if this person has any Covid symptoms they should also be taking a PCR test, which are extremely sensitive. In contrast to false negatives, false positives where people test positive for Covid on a lateral flow despite not having the virus are rarer, estimated at three per 10,000 tests. Advertisement However some have slammed the decision, arguing the drop in PCR tests, which being processed in a lab can reveal more information about the Covid virus, could lead to a new variant emerging in the UK undetected. Liberal Democrat, Layla Moran MP chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Coronavirus, said: 'The Alpha variant was originally found in Kent and with hundreds of thousands of new infections in the UK daily, there is a greater chance of another variant emerging here. 'Effective sequencing and testing enabled South Africa to warn the world about Omicron and the risk of this change is that we could miss new variants that may be more deadly, infectious or resistant to vaccines.' Professor Sheila Bird, formerly programme leader of the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge said the UKHSA figure of tests being 80 per cent effective at catching highly infectious individuals was based on data from the Alpha and Delta waves. 'For transparency, results for these Omicron-era dual-testing evaluations should be placed in the public domain at the earliest opportunity,' she said. This is the second time in the pandemic that the UK has suspended confirmatory PCR testing previously doing so in January 2021 during a similar surge in Covid case numbers. On that occasion the policy lasted until March. No10 has faced repeated calls for a change to self-isolation rules and cut the self-isolation period from seven days down to five, following the example set by the US and France. Staff having to quarantine for a whole week has been cited by NHS bosses as contributing an escalating staffing crisis that has engulfed hospitals and led some to cancel routine operations. One in ten NHS employees are currently thought to be off sick or self-isolating, and Mr Johnson yesterday revealed plans are being drawn up to call in the Army if the crisis continues to worsen. One ambulance trust began asking patients with life-threatening heart attacks and strokes to get a lift to hospital because it did not have enough paramedics. Covid testing rules could be relaxed in an effort to combat the havoc wreaked on essential services across the country by thousands of key workers being stuck in self-isolation. Pictured: A deserted Waterloo Station at 08.15 yesterday morning As the number succumbing to the virus reached a record high, there were fears that staff absence due to Covid could become just as big a problem, with bin collections delayed, trains cancelled and several hospitals in Greater Manchester saying they would suspend non-urgent surgeries. Pictured: Overflowing bins in the Walton area of Liverpool Boris Johnson (pictured out running this morning) has said that he would recommend to Cabinet that Plan B restrictions stay unchanged Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation, said he would back a reduction in self-isolation to five days providing it is backed up by the science. Health minister Gillian Keegan said the NHS faced one of its 'most pressurised' winters yet Meanwhile, around a dozen hospital trusts have declared 'critical incidents' in recent days, signalling that they may struggle to deliver vital care to patients in the coming weeks because so many medics are off isolating. And last night it emerged that 17 hospitals scattered across Greater Manchester have had to start pausing non-urgent surgeries. Up to 15 per cent of staff are off sick with the virus in the worst-hit hospitals. Around 1.3million Britons are currently thought to be languishing under house arrest, as the NHS, rail services and bin collections come under severe strain. Advertisement Outgoing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is being slammed his failure to deploy the National Guard to rescue the hundreds of motorists stranded 27 hours on I-95 in freezing conditions without food or water by blaming the 'unusual weather' for blindsiding authorities. 'We all need to be clear that this was an incredibly unusual event,' Northam said at the conference, noting that the winter storm started as rain on Monday morning, meaning the roads couldn't be pretreated the night before. But Meera and Raghavendra Rao, who were stuck on the interstate for 16 hours just 100 feet past an exit, told AP: 'Not one police (officer) came in the 16 hours we were stuck.' 'Being in the most advanced country in the world, no one knew how to even clear one lane for all of us to get out of that mess?' a frustrated Meera questioned. Yet Northam defended his decision not to activate the Virginia National Guard or declare a state of emergency, citing the difficulty of getting workers and equipment through the snow and ice to where they needed to be. He also claimed that a state of emergency, which would typically be declared hours or days before an event to create extra flexibility in responding, would have done no good. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam admitted in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that he was blindsided by the winter weather and his response was the best he could do The road originally became impassable around 8.30am Monday when six tractor-trailers jackknifed during the winter storm and triggered a chain reaction. As cars piled up along the 50-mile stretch of the I-95 just south of Washington, DC, temperatures dipped into the teens and twenties, covering the roads in a sheet of ice The road originally became impassable around 8.30am Monday when six tractor-trailers jackknifed in the winter storm and triggered a chain reaction, causing a day-long pile-up along the 50-mile stretch of the I-95 just south of Washington, DC. As the day drew on and temperatures plummeted into the teens and twenties, unusually heavy snowfall then dumped nearly a foot of snow onto the road and other vehicles lost control and blocked lanes in both directions of I-95. Cars didn't begin to move freely down the interstate until late Tuesday afternoon, after some travelers had already spent more than a day stranded in their vehicles without basic needs, bathrooms or the National Guard to help them. Northam reassured at the conference that he understood the drivers' 'frustration and fear' but did not mention why he didn't employ the military reserve to help anyone. Northam had put the Guard on stand by, but said deploying them would not have been an 'immediate solution' to the crisis. 'Remember that our guard members have day jobs. In fact, as you all remember last January 6, we sent the National Guard to help at the Capitol after the insurrection, but it was the next day before they were able to arrive.' The roads were covered with a sheet of ice on Tuesday as temperatures dipped into the teens and twenties overnight - which is expected to happen again on Wednesday A fire engine rested on the side of the road after sliding off in Tuesday's icy conditions Hundreds of motorists were stuck in the snow for more than 27 hours along a 50-mile stretch of I-95 in Virginia after a crash involving six tractor-trailers As of 3.30pm Monday, Virginia State Police had responded to more than 2,000 calls for service due to treacherous road conditions There were no reported deaths or injuries from the calamity on I-95 but plenty of outrage from motorists, some of whom were stranded overnight Monday into Tuesday, remained unsatisfied with the governor. Earlier in the day, it appeared as though Northam was simply hoping the sun would help melt the snow and clear traffic. 'Sunlight is expected to help @VaDOT clear the road,' he said on Twitter. But Jim DeFede, who had been stuck on the interstate just south of Quantico for 24 hours, called I-95 'a complete parking lot' on Tuesday morning and was growing angry as others were getting desperate. 'We have to find a way to get national guard here. Diabetics and babies down here. People are going die here,' a friend told NBC's Joe Scarborough. DeFede took to Twitter to share that his woes were only answered by notifications that emergency personnel were on their way but no one seemed to follow through on the promise until hours later. 'I don't know who's in charge but somebody better do something because there are cars and families just trapped here this entire time and nobody seems to be coming. I haven't seen a state trooper in at least 12 hours. I haven't seen a tow truck in at least 14 hours,' DeFede said in a video posted to Twitter. The snowstorm dumped nearly a foot of snow onto the roads, causing drivers to get stuck without food, water and gas for more than 19 hours and counting The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) confirmed both directions of I-95 remained shut down between Ruther Glen, Virginia, in Caroline County and exit 152 in Dumfries, Prince William County, as of Tuesday morning Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said that the state police, Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) have 'been working throughout the night' More than 400,000 customers remained without electricity on Tuesday as travelers remained stranded on I-95 In the Fredericksburg area, some of the drivers who were stranded on Monday by the severe weather conditions still reported that they were stuck as of sunrise on Tuesday - some due to disabled trucks People were seen getting out of their car to stretch their legs after being stranded in their cars overnight Four hours later he said: 'I'm free - sort of. Prince William Fire Rescue guided the cars and trucks back to an newly opened exit and then I was routed North on I95. Now I'm trying to get off 95 and figure out my next move. But thank you to the Fire Rescue folks. Much appreciated.' The I-95 opened back up just after 9.30pm Tuesday. Meanwhile, furious travelers were even asking if governor-elect Glenn Youngkin could be sworn into office before he was originally scheduled to on January 15, as they called Northam an 'embarrassment of a governor' and a 'fool' for not sending out the National Guard. 'Youngkin hasn't been sworn in yet. Come back in about ten days and if those people are still stranded I bet he'll do something about it,' one person tweeted. Northam seemingly went missing after a single tweet about deploying state and local emergency personnel was posted at 8.17am. It wasn't until around noon on Tuesday that the temperature reached above freezing and the icy conditions began to melt away. Dozens of others spoke out, saying they were hungry and cold without the proper supplies while expressing their frustrations that the National Guard was not being deployed to help them People on Twitter called Northam an 'embarrassment of a governor' and a 'fool' for not sending out the National Guard to help drivers who have been stranded in their cars without food or water for nearly 24 hours A day after the crash, people are now wondering if governor-elect Glenn Youngkin could be sworn into office before he was originally scheduled to on January 15 People, including former VP candidate and Virginia State Senator Tim Kaine, grew worried as they approached nearly a full 24 hours stuck in their car without food and water Off the roads, some 220 passengers aboard Amtrak's Crescent 20, which departed from New Orleans on Sunday morning, have yet to arrive at New York City more than three days later due to the effects of snowstorm Frida and Covid staff shortages. The train stopped in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Monday morning due to trees falling on the track and stayed there for more than 40 hours. Passengers were stuck on the train for so long that toilets overflowed, food began running out and travelers did their best to stay sane during the hellish delay. The Crescent 20 eventually departed Lynchburg on Tuesday, at 5pm, and made its way to Washington DC, where it has remained Tuesday night before merging with another train on Wednesday morning in Baltimore. The train is scheduled to arrive in New York City's Penn Station this Wednesday afternoon. The storm, which caused major delays aboard other Amtrak trains and on the road in Virginia's I-95 highway, was only part of the problem, the other being a communication's failure by Amtrak amid staffing shortages caused by Covid-19. Passengers also complained about being left in the dark, with little information about what was happening. Lavita Booker, who has been documenting her journey on Facebook, said Amtrak simply dropped the ball and failed her and the other passengers aboard the Crescent 20. 'There's over 200 and some people on this train. We are stuck. We've been stuck for 22 hours. This is totally ridiculous,' she said during her stay in Lynchburg. Booker posted a follow-up video as the train finally started moving as she knocked on wood, hoping to make it to Washington DC. Her third video showed her rejoicing at a hotel in the capitol, saying she would take a long bath and rest up for the journey to come on Wednesday. Sean Thorton also told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they were without food, functioning toilets and desperate for information from the railroad as to what would happen next. 'All we've been told is there are trees on the tracks preventing us from moving forward,' Thornton said on Tuesday when the train was stuck in Lynchburg. 'Nobody has eaten for about 20 hours and the toilets in coach are completely backed up. The snack bar sold out of food yesterday. Passengers have been banned from leaving the train. 'We would all be more comfortable just knowing whatever Amtrak knows about the number of trees on the tracks, stations the train can move to, information like that,' added Thornton, who is traveling with a child. Snow storm Frida knocked down trees on top of railways in Virginia on Monday, causing Amtrak trains to stall, with the Crescent 20 trip going from 30 hours to more than 74 hours Passengers were trapped for so long they were reduced to creating arts and crafts projects Sir Patrick Stewart decided against reading the following six sonnets - including five which are part of the Dark Lady sonnets from 127 to 154: Sonnet 66 Tired with all these, for restful death I cry, As to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And gilded honour shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, And strength by limping sway disabled And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill, And simple truth miscalled simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill: Tired with all these, from these would I be gone, Save that, to die, I leave my love alone. Sonnet 131 Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold, Thy face hath not the power to make love groan; To say they err I dare not be so bold, Although I swear it to myself alone. And to be sure that is not false I swear, A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face, One on another's neck, do witness bear Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place. In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds, And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds. Sonnet 133 For that deep wound it gives my friend and me! Ist not enough to torture me alone, But slave to slavery my sweetst friend must be? Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken, And my next self thou harder hast engrossed: Of him, myself, and thee I am forsaken; A torment thrice three-fold thus to be crossed. Prison my heart in thy steel bosoms ward, But then my friends heart let my poor heart bail; Whoeer keeps me, let my heart be his guard; Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail: And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee, Perforce am thine, and all that is in me. Sonnet 134 So now I have confessed that he is thine, And I my self am mortgaged to thy will, Myself Ill forfeit, so that other mine Thou wilt restore to be my comfort still: But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free, For thou art covetous, and he is kind; He learned but surety-like to write for me, Under that bond that him as fast doth bind. The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take, Thou usurer, that putst forth all to use, And sue a friend came debtor for my sake; So him I lose through my unkind abuse. Him have I lost; thou hast both him and me: He pays the whole, and yet am I not free. Sonnet 135 Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will, And Will to boot, and Will in over-plus; More than enough am I that vexed thee still, To thy sweet will making addition thus. Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious, Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine? Shall will in others seem right gracious, And in my will no fair acceptance shine? The sea, all water, yet receives rain still, And in abundance addeth to his store; So thou, being rich in Will, add to thy Will One will of mine, to make thy large will more. Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill; Think all but one, and me in that one Will. Sonnet 136 If thy soul check thee that I come so near, Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will, And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there; Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil. Will, will fulfil the treasure of thy love, Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one. In things of great receipt with ease we prove Among a number one is reckoned none: Then in the number let me pass untold, Though in thy stores account I one must be; For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold That nothing me, a something sweet to thee: Make but my name thy love, and love that still, And then thou lovest me for my name is Will. Sonnet 144 Two loves I have of comfort and despair, Which like two spirits do suggest me still: The better angel is a man right fair, The worser spirit a woman colourd ill. To win me soon to hell, my female evil, Tempteth my better angel from my side, And would corrupt my saint to be a devil, Wooing his purity with her foul pride. And whether that my angel be turned fiend, Suspect I may, yet not directly tell; But being both from me, both to each friend, I guess one angel in another's hell: Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt, Till my bad angel fire my good one out. A group of men accused of stabbing and robbing a father-of-one for his Gucci bag 'mocked and ridiculed' him as he lay dying, a court heard today. Ryan O'Connor was attacked when a gang-of-five allegedly spotted his 'manbag' on an evening trip to the shops in Newport. The 26-year-old suffered a wound to the heart and died from stab wounds minutes after being attacked at on June 10. Lewis Aquilina, 20, Elliott Fiteni, 20, Kyle Rasis, 18, Ethan Strickland, 19, and Joseph Jeremy, 17, all from Cardiff, are accused of Mr O'Connor's murder, manslaughter and robbery. Michael Brady QC, prosecuting, told a trial at Newport Crown Court that Mr O'Connor's death was a 'murder that arose out of a robbery' and that all five defendants were responsible. He said at least two of the men stabbed Mr O'Connor using large, machete-like knives - one of the wounds piercing his heart - then drove off at speed, laughing as they went. But after taking a wrong turn, they 'doubled back and the driver slowed down, not out of any concern for Mr O'Connor, but to mock and ridicule him.' Jeremy, the youngest defendant, was said to have tried to live-stream his arrest, and jurors were told they would be played footage recorded on his phone taken while the men were in the car. Four men and a teenager have gone on trial at Newport Crown Court accused of murdering Ryan O'Connor and robbing him of his Gucci bag Ryan was a popular character known as Apple on the Alway estate in Newport, the court heard. Mr Brady told the jury: 'All five travelled from Cardiff to Newport in a Ford Fiesta stolen in the early hours of the same day, and on seeing Mr O'Connor wearing a Gucci man bag decided to rob him. 'At least two defendants left the car armed with newly bought knives used to attack and kill Mr O'Connor. 'The driver of the car was unfamiliar with the area and he drove up Vaughan Williams Drive, a cul-de-sac. They then had to turn around and drive back past the fatally wounded Mr O'Connor who was being tended to by members of the public. 'The driver slowed the car down, not out of any concern for Mr O'Connor, but to mock and ridicule him. Laughter was heard coming from within.' The prosecution said one of the witnesses to be called in the trial would be a woman whose flat overlooked the roundabout and who went to help Mr O'Connor after witnessing the attack from her window. Mr Brady said the woman would say she heard the men laughing as they drove past and shouted at them that they were 'disgusting'. People in the area made a note of the stolen car's registration number and 45 minutes later police began a high-speed pursuit of the men after the driver refused to stop, the prosecution added. The jury was told the officers deployed a stinger to deflate the car's tyres and the men crashed in Pentwyn, Cardiff. The men then fled but were arrested after a foot chase. They were shown photos of the teenager with Rasis and Strickland posing with knives said to be 'identical' to those used to kill Mr O'Connor prior to the attack. Mr Brady said telephone evidence revealed the three had a 'significant interest in bladed weapons'. Police search the scene in Newport, where Ryan O'Connor was allegedly stabbed by the men Forensic evidence was said to link Jeremy to one of the knives as well as to a cigarette found inside the stolen Gucci bag. Meanwhile Rasis, it was said, could be linked to the second knife discovered in the car, while Mr O'Connor's blood was found on Aquilina's trousers and right trainer. Mr Brady said there was no evidence to suggest the defendants knew Mr O'Connor, but the prosecution believed they travelled to Newport to commit crime and on seeing Mr O'Connor, decided to rob him. He said: 'The Crown cannot say whether that was the plan, or it was agreed en route, but what is clear is the defendants left Cardiff armed with three knives and travelled in a stolen car on cloned number plates. 'They were in possession of gloves and balaclavas in the middle of June and all defendants were aware of the knives. They would have been very large and conspicuous in a car containing five men. 'Once they chose their target, Mr O'Connor was dealt with swiftly and brutally.' Mr O'Connor's injuries included a 13cm stab wound that pierced his lung and heart and damaged two rib bones. He received another deep wound through his right back muscles and slash wounds to his hands, suffering significant blood loss. The barrister said he anticipated the defendants would all admit to being in the car but deny being the ones who got out of the car and attacked Mr O'Connor, but that the prosecution intended to prove all five were 'jointly' guilty. Mr Brady said all the men must have known of the knives in the car because 'two were extremely large and would have been very conspicuous in a car occupied by five young men.' Aquilina, 20, Fiteni, 19, Raisis, 18, Strickland, 19, and Jeremy, 17, all of Cardiff, all deny murder, manslaughter and robbery. The trial will not sit on Thursday, and on Friday the jury will be taken on a site visit to the area in Alway where Mr O'Connor was attacked and died. The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks. A rare set of J.R.R Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy that had been stolen from a hospice charity shop has been secretly returned after a huge public backlash. St Richard's Hospice in Worcester reported the incident to police after the collection was taken from a locked cabinet in December. The three-volume set which included The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King had been on sale for 1,495. Following the theft, the charity had admitted it was 'saddened' by the actions of thieves, who had scuppered the hospice's plans to raise a large amount of cash for the hospice's charitable work. But ten days later, bosses at St Richard's revealed the three books had been returned in a jubilant message shared across social media. Dan Corns, commercial director at the hospice, believes the perpetrator's guilty conscience ensured the safe return of the treasured tomes. He explained to The Times: 'Obviously someone has thought about it and through their conscience has decided perhaps they didnt do the right thing.' A rare set of J.R.R Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy that had been stolen from a hospice charity shop has been secretly returned after a huge public backlash Tolkien's epic trilogy follows the Fellowship's quest to destroy the ring of power. Pictured from left to right: Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf and SIr Ian Mckellen, Gandalf in The Two Towers (2002) The hardbacks, first published in 1957, contained Tolkien's first-edition text from three years prior, but were not first printings. If they were, the collection would have been valued at more than 25,000. The collection was reported stolen on December 19, leaving the charity's bosses frustrated just before the festive period. However, the books were safely returned ten days later, with a surprised store manager discovering them placed inconspicuously on a shelf during a routine tidy-up of the store. Mr Corns added: 'While saddened by the theft of these beautiful, valuable books, we've been heartened by the response from others sharing our story and willing the items to be returned to us. 'Now in the most wonderful of plot twists the books were returned to a shelf in the store on Wednesday 29 December. 'On sale for 1,495, the trilogy will raise a substantial amount towards our hospice care here in Worcestershire. St Richard's Hospice in Worcester (pictured above) reported the incident to police after the collection was taken from a locked cabinet in December The hardbacks, first published in 1957, contained Tolkien's first-edition text from three years prior, but were not first printings. If they were, the collection would have been valued at more than 25,000. Pictured: J.R.R Tolkien in 1961 'We're sure this was only possible thanks to the power of community and thank all our incredible supporters for raising awareness of our appeal and bringing the books back to us.' In October, a sought-after copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit that features spelling mistakes on the cover sold for a whopping 59,000 at auction. The rare 1937 first impression was one of the first ever printed and includes original maps and illustrations by the author. Only around 1,500 first impression copies were printed that year, making those which come to auction highly collectable. St Richards Hospice supports more than 2,900 patients, family members and bereaved people. With a staff exceeding 250, it reports annual costs of more than 8 million. Medical workers wearing protective gear prepare to collect samples at a temporary COVID-19 screening clinic in Seoul, Dec. 31. AP-Yonhap Daily COVID-19 infections rebounded to above 4,000 for the first time in three days for Tuesday, putting the health authorities on high alert over a possible resurgence amid Omicron concerns. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 4,444 new cases, including 4,233 local ones, raising the total caseload to 649,669. A grieving father whose wife killed their three children while suffering from depression has revealed he is still haunted by his son's final words. Deirdre Morley, 44, smothered Conor, nine, Darragh, seven and Carla, three, to death at their Dublin home in January 2020. Their father Andrew McGinley says there is 'no future' with his wife who was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, and was remanded to the Central Mental Hospital. He said he cannot stop hearing the final words of Conor who cried 'stop mammy, what are you doing?' as she placed a bag on his head, Morley told police in an interview after the killings. Mr McGinley. who worked for a workplace services company, told the Irish Mirror: 'With regards to Deirdre, I struggle a lot because all I really hear is Conor's last words. They resound in my head quite a lot. Deirdre Morley, 44, killed her three children Conor McGinley, nine, Darragh McGinley, seven, and daughter Carla McGinley, three, by smothering them at their home in January 2020 The children's bodies were discovered by their father Andrew McGinley at their home in Parson's Court, Newcastle, Co Dublin 'So, there is no future I suppose, with myself and Dee. It can never be normal again for either of us.' He added: 'I know I've changed as a person completely. If I can help her treatment team or her legal team in any way I'm happy to do so and she knows that as well. '[If she is released], that's their decision. I'm not the professional. It's not something I've given any detailed thought to. But I think there's a road to recovery for her.' It is understood Morley could be released after only five years if doctors declare her mentally well. Giving a eulogy at his children's funeral, Mr McGinley said his children had been fans of Lego, the Foo Fighters and the Disney film Frozen (pictured, Mr McGinley and his three children) Morley, who worked as a nurse, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity during her trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Ireland - a view supported by two consultant psychiatrists, one for the defence and one for the prosecution. The court heard how Morley had a severe psychotic depressive illness. She was suffering bipolar affective disorder type two, a recognised mental disorder. She had previously suffered a breakdown in July 2019 and spent four weeks in a psychiatric hospital. The tragic triple killing took place on January 24 2020 in Dublin, Ireland, when Morley had slipped into a state of delusion and psychosis. Before suffocating them, she had tried to sedate them, wanting to die and take her children with her, the court heard. The night before the tragedy, she put morphine in the boys' cereal and Carla's bottle but they spat it out. The following day, she first killed Darragh, who was at home from school because he was ill. Andrew McGinley looks to the skies during the funeral of his children In interviews with gardai, she said she could recall thinking: 'I could smother him now. I could kill him now.' She said she immediately regretted killing Darragh and wanted to stop, but felt she couldn't as she 'couldn't leave any of them behind'. After suffocating Darragh and Carla using tape and plastic bags, she collected Conor from school. He was watching Jurassic World in a play tent back home when she approached him with the bag and tape. She suggested playing a game where they put tape on their mouths and try to speak. When she put the bag on his head, he said: 'Stop mammy, what are you doing?' but she replied, I'm sorry Conor.' Morley told police he had not struggled as she was lying on top of him. At one stage she said she thought, 'I can't do this. This is awful. But also that I cant not do this' because Conor's siblings were already dead. The mother was unable to carry his body upstairs to lie next to his younger brother and sister. Throughout the day, she spoke to her husband on the phone and he said he had no suspicions about her wellbeing or her behaviour. Morley then decided to take her own life, and drove towards the M7 with a bottle of wine and medication in the car before she crashed at a roundabout. She was brought home by a passing nurse before she left the house again and was found by a taxi driver 'wandering the streets' in a 'disoriented state'. Andrew has since launched Conor's Clips, a website featuring a compilation of videos to celebrate the lives of his children. This sweet video shows Darragh and Carla recreate a classic scene from The Lion King The driver took her home and called an ambulance out of concern, as Mr McGinley returned from a work trip to Cork to find the bodies of his three children. He also found a note warning not to go upstairs, saying 'I'm sorry'. Morley was taken to Tallaght University Hospital in Dublin where she later told medics she 'wished she had a time machine', the court heard. Mr Justice Paul Coffey said there was no contest about the verdict and previously told the jury: 'The doctors are unanimous in their opinions that the accused was legally insane when she killed her three children.' The jury of ten men and two women were told they must be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that Ms Morley was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killings. The jury found her not guilty on all three charges on the grounds of insanity. Shortly after Connor, Darragha and Carla were found dead, Mr McGinley told parents to 'cuddle your children whenever you can' and admitted 'every breath is a struggle'. He said at the time: 'There are no words. There is only devastation, grief and anguish. Every breath is a struggle. 'Conor, Darragh and Carla are adored. They all had beautiful, bright futures ahead of them with family, friends and a community who love them. 'To all parents, cuddle your children whenever you get a chance, tell them how much you love them as often as you can, spend every spare minute with them reading, playing and enjoying their wonderfulness. 'The future has now become our enemy but we will battle it every day to keep the memory of Conor, Darragh and Carla alive.' Giving a eulogy at his children's funeral, he also said his children had been fans of Lego, the Foo Fighters and the Disney film Frozen. He went on: 'We often misuse words. When Ireland would lose a match, I used to say I was heartbroken. I now know what that really means. 'We, as a family, are heartbroken.' He added: 'Conor, Darragh and Carla. I love you, I love you, I love you.' Rathcoole Boys Football Club provided a guard of honour outside in recognition of the boys' love for the sport. Mr McGinley has since started a YouTube channel after making a promise to Conor before he died. At the eulogy, he said he had also promised to coach at Rathcoole Boys FC for Darragh, and to build a snowman for Carla. He launched Conor's Clips, a website featuring a compilation of videos to celebrate the lives of his children. Andrew took to Twitter revealing that he's misses having company, in a candid appeal to receive letters from the public Writing on his fundraising page, he explained: 'After an emotional day I'm able to let you all know that I have been able to keep my promise to Conor and we launched his YouTube channel this afternoon. 'A mix of happiness and sadness as so happy to have kept my promise but wish I could have done it with Conor. 'One promise down, two to go. Darragh, my course is booked for March 19th so I'm on track to keep my promise to you. Carla, I may have to borrow a snow machine!' Andrew thanked those who have donated to the fundraiser, set up by a member of the Newcastle Community, and said he has been working his way through their 'beautiful messages'. 'I'm honestly humbled by all your messages and the sentiments within,' he added. 'What you may not realise is how much your messages mean to me and I thank you all.' On the YouTube channel, Andrew told how Conor announced last Christmas that he wanted to set up a YouTube channel. 'I promised to help him to do that,' he wrote. 'I hope this channel has kept my promise.' The series of sweet clips show the three children getting up to mischief at 'sleepy time', reenacting a scene from the Lion King in their garden and playing charades. Three-year-old Carla, a huge fan of Frozen, is transfixed by festive snowmen in one video, while her brother Darragh tries his hand at news broadcasting in another. In another, Conor puts Darragh 'on trial' for breaking his Megazoid toy, and one shows cute Carla join her dad in singing along to Everlong by Foo Fighters in the car. In his introduction to the clips, Andrew speaks to camera, explaining: 'This channel is an attempt by me to keep a promise I made to Conor. Three-year-old Carla, a huge fan of Frozen, is transfixed by festive snowmen in one video Darragh tries his hand at news broadcasting in another clip, where he delivers a spoof report about Superman 'Conor, Darragh and Carla McGinley died tragically on January 24, and we hope to keep their memories alive through this channel. 'Quite what Conor had planned for this channel was not finalised, so all we have are clips of the three of them as they lived their lives. 'Our message is that Conor, Darragh and Carla grew up in our community with the support of staff in the schools, creches, community clubs and sports clubs. 'Let us not forget the volunteers that are also involved and the fundraising efforts that are needed to ensure these thrive so they are able to invest in the future of our children. 'As well as supporting global charities, do not forget your local community needs, as this is where our children will grow and develop to become capable citizens of this earth. So your help locally will enable that. Andrew told how the family has 'always loved a game of charades'; in this clip, Darragh acts out one of his favourite programmes The series of sweet clips show the three children getting up to mischief at 'sleepy time' (pictured) 'Enjoy these videos. Subscribing, liking and sharing will help us support the message of the importance of supporting locally across the globe. Thank you for listening and enjoy Conor's Clips.' The grieving father later asked the public to write him letters after struggling to 'cope without company' during lockdown. He wrote on Twitter: 'Im looking for a favour. Im struggling with isolation like you all but really missing the company. I was also enjoying most of the letters that I received so I have a request. Can you write to me? If you feel like using one of postcards then great. Letters welcome.' Democrats are ramping up their probe of the January 6th insurrection ahead of Thursday's one-year anniversary, considering 'Watergate-style' prime-time hearings with a bold-faced witness wish list that includes Mike Pence and Sean Hannity. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a day-long slate of events planned for the one-year anniversary of the MAGA riot on Thursday, including a moment of silence on the House floor, testimony from lawmakers about their experience that day, and a prayer vigil on the steps of the Capitol. 'These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,' Pelosi wrote in a letter to lawmakers. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will both travel to Capitol Hill to make remarks. 'The President is going to speak to the truth of what happened not the lies that some have spread since and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governments governance,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, previewing Biden's speech. Republicans, who have not revealed their plans for how they will mark the day, accused Democrats of grandstanding. 'I think they will try to politicize the event,' Republican Senator John Thune said. In a bid capitalize on the anniversary, Democrats on committee are looking to crank up the pace of their probe and draw a massive audience with prime-time hearings. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a day-long slate of events planned for the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection - above she is seen with then-Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the joint session of Congress on that day The House committee investigating January 6th is considering Watergate-style prime-time hearings; above are Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney of the panel Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin is among those pushing for prime-time hearings on Jan. 6 riot Democratic plans for marking one-year anniversary of January 6th riot in Capitol 9 am: President Biden and Vice President Harris deliver remarks in National Statuary Hall in the Capitol 10 am: Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold a closed-press Moment of Reflection on the House floor 12 pm: A statement from Speaker Pelosi and a Moment of Silence on the House Floor 1 pm: Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress; Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and Historian Jon Meacham moderate a conversation with Speaker Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer 2:30 pm: Democratic Rep. Jason Crow leads lawmakers in giving testimonials about what they experienced on January 6th 5:30 pm: Pelosi and Schumer lead a Bicameral Prayer Vigil on Capitol Center Steps Advertisement 'I have favored this strategy from the beginning,' Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the panel, told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Wednesday. He said he wanted a Watergate-style approach, when the 1973 hearings into Richard Nixon's presidency captivated America. At one point an estimated 85% of the country was tuned in to them. 'I remember as a kid getting to watch a bit of the Watergate hearings, which were a daily spectacle that the whole country tuned into,' Raskin said. 'If we can do that for, you know, a break-in in a couple of offices in the Watergate hotel, certainly, we can do it for a massive break-in into the Capitol of the United States, a storming, and a seizure essentially of our government offices, an interruption of the peaceful transfer of power.' Those prime-time hearings could occur in late March or early April, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, told Bloomberg News. But no date has been set yet. 'We're working toward that,' Thompson said. Those hearings would also feature high-profile witnesses, which would help them gain maximum exposure. Among those names beiing considered are former Vice President Mike Pence and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Pence was under heavy pressure from then-President Donald Trump to declare the 2020 election results invalid, wipe out Joe Biden's victory and secure him a second term. The vice president has the symbolic role of presiding over the Electoral College certification of results. Pence was a target of the January 6th rioters, some of who threatened to hang him, and was evacuated from the Senate floor as the MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol. Thompson told CNN that he and the panel would like to hear from Pence. 'I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee,' he said. 'We have not formally asked. But if he offered, we'd gladly accept. Everything is under consideration,' he added. So far, in its investigation, the committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses, announced more than 50 subpoenas, obtained more than 35,000 pages of records and received hundreds of telephone tips through their Jan. 6 tipline, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Names are starting to be lined up for hearings. The panel on Tuesday asked longtime Trump supporter Sean Hannity to appear as a 'fact witness' in their investigation, noting how the Fox star was 'expressing concerns and providing advice to the president and White House staff.' The committee released several texts Hannity sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. 'I'm very worried about the next 48 hours,' Hannity wrote on the eve of January 6th. On January 5, the eve of the Capitol attack, Hannity also texted to Meadows, 'Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave.' In the letter to Hannity, Thompson wrote the texts suggest 'that you had knowledge of concerns by President Trump's White House Counsel's Office regarding the legality of the former President's plans for January 6th.' 'These facts are directly relevant to our inquiry,' Thompson told Hannity. Thompson also said that Hannity appeared to have 'detailed knowledge regarding President Trump's state of mind in the days following the January 6th attack.' One of Hannity's texts indicated he had a discussion with Trump on January 10 and it left the Fox News host concerned in the lead-up to President Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration. 'Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days,' Hannity informed Meadows and Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. 'He can't mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I'm not sure what is left to do or say, and I don't like not knowing if it's truly understood. Ideas?' On his Fox News show on Tuesday evening, Hannity launched into a stinging rebuke of DC officials and their 'willing accomplices' but didn't mention the letter from the House committee investigating the MAGA riot. 'I have an important message to all you elected swamp creatures in Washington, D.C., your willing accomplices, your press secretaries in the media mob,' he began. 'It is frankly repulsive, just repulsive that all of you sycophants, you sit idly by, you say nothing, you do nothing, as Joe Biden completely mismanages COVID-19,' he said. Republicans have not revealed their plans for how they will mark the one-year anniversary of the riot. Donald Trump cancelled a press conference he had scheduled for Thursday. Many Republican lawmakers criticized Trump in the immediate wake of January 6th - some even called him that day to encourage him to try and call off the rioters. But, many of them also have made amends with the former president in the months following particularly as Trump continues to hold a tight grip on Republican base. Many Republican senators, including Leader Mitch McConnell, will be in Atlanta for the funeral of former Senator Johnny Isakson on Thursday. From left to right: Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol Police, Officer Michael Fanone of the DC Metropolitan Police and Officer Daniel Hodges of the DC Metropolitan Police listen as Private First Class Harry Dunn of the US Capitol Police testifies before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on US Capitol on July 27 The House panel investigating January 6th has said they'd like to hear form Mike Pence Earlier this week, members of the House panel indicated they had received testimony from inside Trump's West Wing from January 6th that focuses on Trump's failure to do more to stop the rioters. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the panel, revealed there was 'firsthand' testimony that Ivanka Trump twice asked her father to call off the rioters. 'We know members of his family, we know his daughter - we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,' Cheney said Sunday on ABC's This Week. Ivanka reportedly referred to the insurrection as an 'optics issue' as it was taking place, according to Michael Wolff's latest Trump book Landslide. She tried to stop the riot herself, tweeting: 'American Patriots - any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.' The tweet has since been deleted. Meanwhile, the House committee has been rebuffed by several former Trump aides or advisers whose testimony was sought by subpoena. That includes former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Meadows. Bannon has been indicted for criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to the panel and awaits trial in July. The House in December voted to hold Meadows in contempt, referring the case to the Justice Department. Author Norman Mailer's anthology will be published by small imprint Skyhorse - known for championing writers who have been turned down by woke publishing houses - after Random House denied canceling the collection, saying it never had a contract to run the essays. The late literary lion's longtime publisher was accused of scotching the anthology - scheduled to correspond with the author's 100th birthday - because an underling at the publishing house had objected to the title of the essay White Negro, which Mailer wrote in 1957. The megalithic publisher, which recently ran afoul of the Justice Department over anti-trust issues, denied that was the case. 'It is factually incorrect that Random House canceled an upcoming book of essays by Norman Mailer. We did not have this collection under contract. Random House does continue to publish much of Norman Mailer's backlist.' Random House reportedly decided to scrap a new collection of Norman Mailer essays over objections to the 1957 essay 'White Negro'. Mailer, who fought in World War II, would be 100 years old next January. Many of his viewpoints, though influential at the time, would be considered controversial today Norman Mailer first published his essay 'White Negro' in 1957, in it he called for a rejection of the mainstream Eisenhower-era conformity Mailer's literary agent Andrew Wylie denied that the project had been canceled by Random House However, Mailer's son said he would have preferred to work with his father's usual publisher. 'He had a fantastic relationship with Penguin Random House,' John Buffalo Mailer told the New York Times. 'We would have liked to have done this book with them.' Mailer's literary agent Andrew Wylie denied Random House pulled out of the project, but did not explain why the author's usual publisher, which had launched a campaign to promote his work to younger readers a few years ago, would not be involved. 'That's not the issue at all,' Wylie said. 'There is no issue here.' He said that Penguin Random House, as it is now called after a consolidation, would continue to promote Mailer's other works. Skyhorse, a small independent publishing house, has made a reputation lately of signing up writers that have been dropped by corporate publishers amid controversies. The printer has published The Case Against Impeaching Trump by Alan Dershowitz and Disloyal, the anti-Donald Trump memoir by the then-president's former lawyer Michael Cohen. It also published an anti-vaxxer book by Robert Kennedy Jr entitled The Real Anthony Fauci. 'Skyhorse Publishing is proud to announce that it will publish an untitled anthology of the works of Norman Mailer,' spokeswoman Kathleen Schmidt said. 'Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Mailer is one of the most dramatic, controversial and enduring writers of his generation. Publication is scheduled for 2023, the centennial of his birth.' Best-selling author Michael Wolff was the first to report that the Mailer centennial project was killed by Random House. 'With slow-mo hammer-dropping predictability, Norman Mailer's long-time publisher has recently informed the Mailer family that it has canceled plans to publish a collection of his political writings to mark the centennial of his birth in 2023, confirms the film producer Michael Mailer, the author's oldest son,' Wolff wrote. Social media lit up with tweets that sought to refute Wolff's claim that Random House had passed on the project because of the objections of a junior staffer. 'The junior staffers Ive spoken to at Penguin Random House laughed off the insinuation that any of them had the power to kill a book,' Alex Shepard wrote in the New Republic. Best-selling author Michael Wolff, who broke the story, wrote that the essay was the 'model for much of the psycho-sexual-druggie literature of the 1960s' But Wolff was undeterred and pointed out that the larger publisher would be preferred to the smaller independent house. 'Does nobody possess any logic,' he tweeted. 'Obviously Random House killed the project. Obviously nobody goes to Skyhorse unless they are forced to. Indeed, they are now famous for publishing cancelled writers. God, what credulous beasts.' Mailer biographer J. Michael Lennon was tapped to chose the Mailer works for the collection and editor David Ebershoff had been picked to edit it, Wolff wrote in The Ankler, a new online publication by celebrity editor Janice Min. Neither Lennon nor Ebershoff responded to requests for comment. According to Wolff, though, the publisher said that no final contract had been signed for the book and therefore it was not canceled. 'You hardly have to look hard in Mailer's work to find offenses against contemporary doctrine and respectability,' Wolff wrote, calling the author's White Negro 'a psycho-sexual-druggie precursor and model for much of the psycho-sexual-druggie literature that became popular in the 1960s.' EXCLUSIVE: Random House not moving forward with 2023 Norman Mailer book after staffer objects to his "White Negro" essay, from @MichaelWolffNYC @TheAnkler and confirmed by the authors son Michael Mailer https://t.co/X261dOuB1Z pic.twitter.com/5WsnGHbB14 Janice Min (@janicemin) January 3, 2022 Mailer's essay, written on the cusp of the beatnik era in the U.S., calls for a rejection of conformity and calls for the 'rebellious imperatives of the self' The 'white negro' of the essay's title is a 1950s era hipster who lives for immediate gratification, or as he calls it the 'burning consciousness of the present.' Mailer likened his new philosophy to what he saw as the lifestyle of black Americans. Writer James Baldwin objected to the essay because he said it traded on stereotypes of black people as overly sexual and violent The essay drew controversy even at the time from thinkers like writer James Baldwin for trading on stereotypes of black people as operating on base impulses of sex and violence. Mailer, who was born Jan. 31, 1923, would have been 100 years old next year. He is considered an important literary and left-leaning political voice of post-World War II, but he often flirted with controversy and his opinions of masculinity and sexuality are at odds with current thinking. He served in the Pacific in World War II, but saw little combat. His first book, The Naked and the Dead about his time in the Army, ranked number 51 on the Modern Library's Top 100 English-language Novels of the 20th Century. He went on to publish 11 best-selling books, including non-fiction like his account of the anti-war movement Armies of the Night, which one him a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book award. He considered himself a cultural critic and public intellectual and wrote political essays published in mainstream publications like Esquire. In 1955, he co-founded the left-leaning Village Voice, a weekly paper which still exists online today. He also dabbled in filmmaking without much success. Mailer was known to court controversy and was prone to violence. He once stabbed his wife Adele Morales, pictured here in happier times, with a penknife. She survived. Mailer was known for getting into fistfights and once headbutted Gore Vidal in the green room on Dick Cavett's talk show. He also stabbed his wife Adele Morales with a penknife after she questioned his masculinity. The wound was nearly fatal, but she survived and he served three years probation for the crime. In 1969, he ran for mayor of New York City with the slogan, 'No more bullsh**' Mailer told reporters at the time: 'The difference between me and the other candidates is that I'm no good and I can prove it.' Random House continues to publish Mailer's work, including Why Are We in Vietnam?, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, and Deer Park. In 2013, Random House embarked on a project to republish his works for a younger generation, beginning a collection of selected essays called 'Mind of an Outlaw.' 'Norman was an American original both on the page and in life,' the president of the publishing house Gina Centrello said at the time. 'It's a wonderful opportunity to relaunch these books for a new generation.' The cancelation of the Mailer project should be worrisome, Wolff argued, because Penguin Random House has such a huge piece of the publishing pie. 'A lack of competition among gatekeepers leads to less choice and more limits and a narrowing of risk, taste, and sensibility, and, when the winds are harsh, greater shelter for the cowardly,' he writes. 'A world without Norman Mailerthis new intellectual nanny-statesurely harms the literary consumer.' Penguin Random House was sued by the Justice Department in November to block its purchase of Simon & Schuster, a rival publishing house. 'If the world's largest book publisher is permitted to acquire one of its biggest rivals, it will have unprecedented control over this important industry,' Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. 'American authors and consumers will pay the price of this anticompetitive merger lower advances for authors and ultimately fewer books and less variety for consumers.' Terrifying video footage has emerged showing a balaclava-clad knifeman swinging a foot-long blade at two police officers while they struggle to Taser him. The shocking machete attack, which took place in broad daylight in Croydon, south London, shows the masked man hacking and swiping away at the two officers who at try but fail to Taser him. The knifeman looks to have escaped arrest after the failed Taser stike, but a second officer then appears to stun the attacker with his pepper spray. The thug circles around before eventually falling over yards from a motorcycle lying on the ground - as a member of the public rushes over to help. The Metropolitan Police said a man, aged 23, was arrested and charged following the incident in Cherry Tree Green. The shocking machete attack, which took place in broad daylight in Croydon, south London, shows the masked man hacking away at two cops who first fail to Taser him The shocking incident took place in Cherry Tree Green, Croydon, at around 10am on Thursday, December 30 The video was shot by roofer Robert Ball, 31, in Croydon, south London on December 30, at around 10am. In the short clip, the knifeman is shown hitting out at one cop, who is desperately holding onto his legs. The officer tries, and fails, to Taser the perpetrator, who swings away at the 50,000v device as if it is little more than a fly before raining down more blows on the cop. He then is seen circling round and pulling out a large black object, seemingly prompting the other officer to use spray while talking on his radio. In the short clip, the knifeman is shown hitting out at one cop, who desperately tries to grab hold of his legs The officer gets back to his feet, but faces further blows from the balaclava-clad knifeman (right) The officer tries, and fails, to Taser the perpetrator, who swings away at the 50,000v device as if it is little more than a fly before raining down more blows on the cop Two officers were injured, the Met confirmed - with one suffering a concussion and another a suspected fracture. Eyewitness Mr Ball said: 'I was really shocked when I realised it was a knife. He was trying to unsheathe it. 'The blade must have been as long as your forearm. I was like, "what the hell!". I live in the area. It doesn't feel very safe.' Detectives are now appealing for witnesses to the Cherry Tree Green incident, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday. The thug then circles around before eventually falling over yards from a motorcycle lying on the ground - as one member of the public rushes over to help A spokesperson for the force told MailOnline: 'At around 10:00hrs on Thursday, 30 December officers from the Met's South Area Command Safer Transport Team stopped a man riding a motorcycle at Cherry Tree Green, Croydon. 'The man, aged 23, became violent during the stop. He was detained following Taser deployment. 'A knife was recovered at the scene. 'One officer suffered a concussion and a second officer suffered a suspected fracture. 'A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with the incident. 'Anyone who either witnessed or has footage of the incident should email p232991@met.police.uk, call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting 1096/30DEC.' It looks as though the knifeman will pull off a dramatic escape, but his plans are foiled by a second officer who appears to use incapacitant spray to stun the attacker London's teenage murder toll has hit a record high of 30 killings last year after two boys, aged 15 and 16, were killed within minutes of each other on December 30 - the same day as the machete attack in Croydon. Police were called at 7.34pm that day to reports of an injured male in open farm space in Hillingdon, west London. Officers attended and found a 16-year-old boy suffering from a stab wound. Despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.25pm. The incident occurred minutes after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death during an assault in Ashburton Park in Croydon. Police officers gave first aid to the boy before the ambulance service arrived but he was pronounced dead at 7.36pm. The brutal new high of deaths among London's young people will inevitably heap more pressure on Mayor Sadiq Khan to seize control of the gang and stabbing epidemic sweeping the capital's streets. Anti-knife crime campaigners warned not enough was being done to tackle the problem as they criticised what they called London's 'scattergun' approach. Did you see what happened? Email stewart.carr@mailonline.co.uk Franklin Lee, 61, was released from prison on parole in 2019, more than three decades after giving false testimony that landed Willie Stokes, 61, in prison A convicted killer and rapist whose false testimony, obtained by the Philadelphia police in exchange for access to sex and drugs nearly four decades ago, led to a man being sent to prison for murder, was released on parole two years ago and has been working at a factory. Franklin Lee was a key witness in the case against Willie Stokes, both 61 now, and it was his damning statement - which he recanted at trial - that helped prosecutors convict Stokes in 1984. On Tuesday, 37 years into his life sentence, Stokes was released from Pennsylvania state prison, after an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorneys office confirmed that Lee lied during his trial and, subsequently, Stokes was denied due process. Stokes regained his freedom two years after Lee completed his own 35-year sentence on charges of murder, rape and perjury. According to Pennsylvania's sex offender registry, Lee currently lives in Harrisburg and works on an assembly line in Mechanicsburg. Under the conditions of his release, he must register as a sex offender for life. Court records indicate that Lee was convicted of murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, and also perjury in connection with Stokes' case, in 1984. Lee initially expected to receive a lenient sentence of seven years, after falsely testifying that he had heard Stokes bragging about killing a local man, Leslie Campbell, during a street game of dice in 1980. Willie Stokes, 61, was freed from a Pennsylvania state prison on Tuesday, after serving 37 years for a murder he said he did not commit But after he was shamed by his mother into recanting, Lee was sentenced to a minimum of 35 years. During a hearing in federal court last November, Lee admitted to giving a false statement after being coerced by Philadelphia detectives Ernest Gilbert and Larry Gerrard, now both deceased. He said: 'I felt weak and went along with the offer' of sex and drugs. Lee also apologized to Stokes 'for the problem I caused.' When Stokes walked out of the state prison Tuesday, he was reportedly eager to hug his mother and enjoy a corned beef hoagie. 'Today is a tremendous day,' his attorney Michael Diamondstein, said outside prison. 'We're all very thankful. However, it's also a sad day, because it reminds us of how lawless, unfair and unjust Philadelphia law enforcement was for so long.' Philadelphia police allegedly offered Lee, now 61, sex and drugs in return for a false testimony that would close their 1980 murder case Stokes' mother, unfortunately, was not present for his release because she was 'too nervous' to come after several earlier disappointments. Stokes, however, was greeted by other family members instead. Last month, a federal court found that Franklin Lee, a key witness in Stokes' murder trial, had lied in court after detectives allegedly offered a witness sex and drugs at police headquarters in 1983 in exchange for false testimony. Lee was charged with perjury just days after Stokes was convicted of murder in 1984, but Stokes didn't learn about the perjury plea until 2015, decades into a life sentence. 'The homicide prosecutors that used Franklin Lee's testimony to convict Willie Stokes then prosecuted Franklin Lee for lying on Willie Stokes. And they never told Willie Stokes,' Diamondstein argued at the November hearing in federal court. The US magistrate who heard the appeal called the omission an 'egregious violation of (Stokes') constitutional rights,' and a US district judge agreed, overturning the conviction last week. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose office has championed about two dozen exoneration cases, supports Stokes but has not yet formally decided whether to retry him. That decision should come before a scheduled Jan. 26 hearing in state court, a spokesperson said. Stokes (seen leaving the prison on Tuesday) was convicted of murder in 1984 and freed Tuesday after an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorneys office revealed a key witness lied during his trial and, subsequently, Stokes did not get due process The witness was charged with perjury just days after Stokes (pictured Tuesday) was convicted of murder in 1984, but Stokes didn't learn about the perjury plea until 2015, decades into a life sentence Meanwhile, both officers who allegedly offered Lee the sex-for-lies deal are now deceased. The one surviving prosecutor, now in private practice, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday. However, he has given a statement saying he doesn't remember either case, according to court files. Philadelphia police offered no immediate comment on the case. Lee was in custody on unrelated rape and murder charges at the time of Stokes' trial, and said he was also promised a light sentence for providing the false testimony, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which first reported on the case. 'I fell weak and went along with the offer,' Lee told a federal judge in November, recalling his testimony at a May 1984 preliminary hearing when he claimed Stokes, a neighborhood friend, had confessed to killing a man during a dice game named Leslie Campbell. His attorney Michael Diamondstein (left) argued during appeal process that Stokes (center) was never told the witness had committed perjury. The US magistrate who heard the appeal called the omission an 'egregious violation of Stokes' constitutional rights' In federal court testimony last November, Lee said his girlfriend - who detectives summoned to have sex with him at police headquarters back in 1983 and who was allowed to bring marijuana and a few dozen opioid pills - told his mother about the deal he'd struck. His mother told the woman not to go down to the station again. Instead, police secured him a sex worker the next time, Lee said. 'Once I talked to my mother, she told me, "I didn't raise you like that, to lie on a man because you got yourself in a jam,''' Lee testified, according to the transcript. 'She said, "I couldn't care if they give you 1,000 years. Go in there and tell the truth." And that's what I did.' Despite the fact that Lee recanted the confession story at Stokes' murder trial in August 1984, Stokes was still convicted and sent to prison for life. Stokes said he was eager to hug his mother, Gloria Stokes (pictured at her Philadelphia home waiting for her son to be released), and enjoy a corned beef hoagie Stokes (center) walks from a state prison in Chester, Pennsylvania on Tuesday after his 1984 murder conviction was overturned because of perjured witness testimony Days later, Philadelphia prosecutors charged Lee with perjury - not over his trial testimony, but over the initial testimony he'd given at the preliminary hearing. Lee pleaded guilty, admitting he'd made up the confession, and was sentenced to a maximum seven-year prison term. He ended up serving 35 years on the rape, murder and perjury charges. He got out of prison two years ago and now works as an assembly line supervisor. Lee apologized to Stokes last November in court. 'I'm going to take his tears to indicate he's accepting the apology,' US Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells said. Priti Patel is facing a revolt against her plans to get tough on Channel migrants as Border Force officials threatened to go on strike. The PCS union lashed out at 'morally reprehensible' plans to turn back dinghies that set of from the continent, saying they risked lives and may break international law. The organisation, which represents thousands of Border Force staff, has joined forces with a refugee charity to seek a judicial review of the 'pushbacks' policy. Even if the court application is unsuccessful, the union has not ruled out industrial action and officials refusing to carry out the pushbacks. It comes as new figures showed that more than 28,000 people crossed the Dover Strait aboard small boats in 2021, triple the number for 2020. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'The legality of the pushbacks policy is in serious question, and it is right that the court decides whether it is unlawful to turn back Channel boats. 'We cannot have a situation where our members could be open to potential civil and criminal action for implementing a policy that they do not agree with and know is not safe. 'Although we are hoping for a positive outcome from the legal proceedings, people should be in no doubt PCS strongly opposes this policy, on moral and humanitarian grounds, and we will not rule out industrial action to prevent it being carried out.' The PCS union lashed out at 'morally reprehensible' plans by Priti Patel to turn back dinghies that set of from the continent, saying they risked lives and may break maritime law. It comes as new figures showed that more than 28,000 people crossed the Dover Strait aboard small boats in 2021, triple the number for 2020. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'The legality of the pushbacks policy is in serious question, and it is right that the court decides whether it is unlawful to turn back Channel boats The Government continues to consider various options to tackle the issue and has invited businesses to a non-disclosure, agreement-bound meeting in the hope of hearing 'innovative ideas'. The PCS, whose members include around 80 per cent of the Border Force officials who would be tasked with implementing the 'pushbacks', and the charity Care4Calais have filed an application for judicial review on the pushback policy. They intend to challenge the lawfulness of redirecting boats out of UK waters and back to France. The union said the policy 'contravenes international law and is morally reprehensible', and could expose Border Force officials to risk of prosecution. Clare Moseley, founder of the refugee charity Care4Calais, said: 'The proposed policy deprioritises the UK's duty under domestic and international law to save lives at sea. Despite the Home Secretary's pledge to make crossings an 'infrequent phenomenon' by spring 2020, more than 36,000 people have succeeded in reaching the UK in the last two years. 'It is for good reason that this duty is a cornerstone of International maritime law. If eroded, I fear it will enable the UK to devalue lives at sea. 'It risks opening the gates to the horrific scenes we are seeing in the Mediterranean,' she added. The Home Office continues to explore various options in its bid to halt crossings by thousands of people from France aboard small boats. Despite the Home Secretary's pledge to make crossings an 'infrequent phenomenon' by spring 2020, more than 36,000 people have succeeded in reaching the UK in the last two years. Facing another year with thousands of crossings, the Home Office has invited businesses to an event later this month in the hope of gleaning new ideas on how to solve the crisis. Attendees will be bound by a non-disclosure agreement and then invited to 'share their innovative ideas, new approaches and potential solutions which can be legally deployable in the UK'. Downing Street was unable to say whether the number of small boats crossing the Channel this year will be lower than 2021's total. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'I'm not going to get into predictions over the level of crossings.' Pope Francis today hit out at 'selfish' couples who have pets instead of children as he called for parents to have more offspring to solve the West's 'demographic winter'. Speaking on parenthood during a general audience at the Vatican, Francis lamented that pets 'sometimes take the place of children' in society. 'Today... we see a form of selfishness,' said the pope. 'We see that some people do not want to have a child. 'Sometimes they have one, and that's it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.' The practice, said the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, 'is a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity'. He said couples should have more children to address the 'demographic winter' in much of the West and called for couples who can't have children to be open to adoption. Pope Francis today hit out at 'selfish' couples who have pets instead of children as he called for parents to have more offspring to solve the West's 'demographic winter' Speaking on parenthood during a general audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis (pictured, blessing a child during the audience today) lamented that pets 'sometimes take the place of children' in society Thus, 'civilisation grows old without humanity because we lose the richness of fatherhood and motherhood, and it is the country that suffers', the pontiff said at the Paul VI Hall. Francis has been photographed petting dogs, allowed a baby lamb to be draped over his shoulders during Epiphany in 2014 and even petted a tiger and a baby panther. But while his predecessor, Benedict XVI, was a cat lover, Francis is not known to have a pet at his Vatican residence. In 2014, Francis told Il Messaggero daily that having pets instead of children was 'another phenomenon of cultural degradation', and that emotional relationships with pets was 'easier' than the 'complex' relationship between parents and children. On Wednesday, while inviting couples who are unable to have children for biological reasons to consider adoption, he urged potential parents 'not to be afraid' in embarking on parenthood. 'Having a child is always a risk, but there is more risk in not having a child, in denying paternity,' he said. He argued for the simplification of adoption procedures 'so that the dream of so many children who need a family, and of so many spouses who wish to give themselves in love, can come true.' 'This kind of choice is among the highest forms of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood,' he said. 'How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them!' The Argentine pontiff has in the past denounced the 'demographic winter', or falling birth rates in the developed world. Earlier this year, he criticised modern society, in which career and money-making trumps building a family for many, calling such mentality 'gangrene for society'. Francis has been photographed petting dogs, allowed a baby lamb to be draped over his shoulders during Epiphany in 2014 (pictured) Pope Francis pets a tiger at an audience marking the jubilee of circus and travelling show performers at the Vatican in June 2016 For the first time, a layman and a nun provided the English and Spanish translations of Francis' weekly catechism lesson rather than a cloaked monsignor, a small but revolutionary change for the Vatican. Vatican monsignors from the secretariat of state have always provided the summarised translations at the Wednesday general audience. On Wednesday, the clerics only read the translations in French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish and Italian. The Vatican announced the change ahead of time, saying that starting Wednesday 'men and women, religious and lay employees of several dicasteries of the Roman Curia, will be present at the General Audience for the reading of the greetings in various languages.' During his nearly nine-year pontificate, Francis has often criticized the element of Catholic culture that puts priests on a pedestal and has advocated for the 'people of God' to take their rightful place in the church. He has called for women in particular to serve in governance roles and has appointed a handful of women religious to important jobs in the Vatican, though none heads a Vatican congregation. He is currently presiding over a two-year consultation of the Catholic laity around the globe to understand the needs and desires of ordinary faithful and how the church can better serve them. A New Jersey ShopRite employee allegedly stabbed her coworker half-a-dozen times with the 'largest knife in the deli' while screaming 'you will finally leave me alone today!' Melissa Prince, 57, allegedly knifed the veteran employee, who has not been named, around 3.45 pm on Sunday until an employee at the Clark grocery store's meat department sprinted up to restrain her. The attack was reportedly the result of a years-long feud between the coworkers which finally became violent. Prince now faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and fourth-degree possession of a weapon, according to the Clark Police Department. 'The stabbing happened in front of customers, but no one assisted immediately because everyone was shocked,' an employee told RLS Media. 'It was terrible,' Pamela Gennaro, who witnessed the attack, wrote on Facebook. 'It was very hard to be there while people were yelling to call 911 and for everything that followed. That poor person. Very sad situation and very disturbing.' The stabbing took place at 3.45 pm on Sunday at the pictured Clark Township ShopRite The victim, who had worked at the ShopRite for 24 years, is in critical but stable condition at University Hospital in Newark, the department wrote in a press release. The attack was the culmination of a years-long dispute between the two employees, their coworker said. 'The victim and the suspect have had a long dispute that was known to management and every employee knew that the pair had issues with each other,' an employee anonymously explained to the outlet. 'These two have always had problems and today the suspect apparently said enough is enough.' Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso also acknowledged their standing feud, telling New Jersey 101.5 that their long-simmering dispute finally boiled over. Other employees and an off-duty state trooper rushed to help the victim after Prince had been subdued. 'We are still learning more about [Sundays] incident and cooperating fully with law enforcement on their investigation,' ShopRite spokeswoman Maureen Gillespie said. 'We thank our fast-acting associates for intervening and helping secure the area.' DailyMail.com was unable to reach ShopRite employees or the Clark Police Department for comment. Advertisement Thirteen people are dead including seven children after a fire tore through a duplex apartment inside a Philadelphia Housing Authority building where 18 people were living on Wednesday morning. The blaze was first reported at 6.38am at 860 North 23rd Street in the Fairmount neighborhood of the city, where 26 people were living across two apartments on three floors. Eighteen people occupied the second and third floor duplex apartment, and eight live on the first floor. The fire began on the second floor then spread upwards, tearing through the top of the building. By the time firefighters could get inside around 50 minutes later, thirteen of the 18 in the second and third floor apartment had died. Firefighters rescued two survivors, one of whom was a child and is now in the hospital. The eight residents of the first floor apartment were able to escape unharmed. Fire chiefs fear they may recover more bodies inside the homes as they work through the debris. The cause of the fire remains unknown. There were four smoke detectors across the two apartments but none sounded the alarm on Wednesday. Philadelphia Housing Authority says all were inspected in May and were working. Mayor Jim Kenney choked on tears as he spoke at the scene. He called it 'without a doubt one of the most tragic days in the city's history.' The blaze was reported at 6.38am at 860 North 23rd Street. It started on the second floor then ripped through the third floor of the building, killing at least 13 people including seven kids The Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Firefighters and police responded to the fatal fire at a three-story rowhouse in the city's Fairmount neighborhood around 6:40 a.m. and found flames coming from the second-floor windows, fire officials said A Philadelphia firefighter works at the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia Bystanders watch as the Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday An unidentified woman reacts at the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney choked on tears as he spoke at the scene. He called it 'without a doubt one of the most tragic days in the city's history' The Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Multiple fatalities have been confirmed in the fire The fire was at 860 North 23rd Street in Philadelphia, less than two miles north of the city center and its famous Rittenhouse Square 'Please keep all these folks and these children in your prayers. Losing so many kids is devastating. Keep these babies in your prayers,' he said. Fire chiefs struggled to put into words the horror of the blaze while giving an update on Wednesday morning. 'I've been around for 35 years now and this is probably one of the worst fires I've ever been to. I don't have the words for how we're feeling right now,' Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said. He added that more bodies may be discovered as fire companies work through the damage. 'That number is dynamic bc there's still an ongoing recovery effort inside. That number sits right now at 13. We also had eight people self evacuate. 'As of right now, the fire marshal along with the ATF are in the process of doing a thorough investigation of this terrible event.' Neighbors watched in horror on Wednesday as firefighters continued to work through the scene. Philadelphia firefighters work at the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney visits the scene of a fatal fire in Philadelphia, Pa. on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Firefighters and police responded to the fire at a three-story rowhouse in the city's Fairmount neighborhood around 6:40 am Firefighters are still working through the debris inside the building. The deputy fire commissioner warned there may be more victims recovered 'I knew some of those kids -- I used to see them playing on the corner,' said Dannie McGuire, 34, fighting back tears as she and Martin Burgert, 35, stood in the doorway of a home around the corner. 'They had lived there for a decade, she said, 'and some of those kids have lived here as long as us.' 'I cant picture how more people couldnt get out -- jumping out a window,' she said. The building was an old rowhome that had been converted into two different apartments. According to Philadelphia Housing Authority CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah, the building was last inspected in May and all of the smoke detectors were working. 'This unimaginable loss of life has shaken all of us at PHA. 'It is too early for us to say more. The property was last inspected in May 2021, and all the smoke detectors were operating properly at that time,' Jeremiah said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sued President Biden over the administration's military vaccine mandate, citing the governor's authority 'as commander-in-chief and on Texas's sovereignty.' Abbott filed suit Tuesday in Texas, asking a federal judge to overturn Biden's vaccine requirement, in a filing that repeatedly invokes Abbott's own authority as commander of chief of the guard, which is subject to complex jurisdiction. Under overlapping statutes, state national guards remain under the command of governors except when they are called up for federal by the president. Title 10 of the U.S. Code applies to active duty military, while Title 32 applies to the Guard. The deadline for troops to get vaccinated was December 31st. According to Abbott's suit, 40 per cent of members of the Texas Army National Guard under his command are refusing to get the shot for religious or other reasons. Texas Governor Greg Abbott sued President Biden and Pentagon officials over the military vaccine mandate 'Defendants intrusion into the discretion and scope of Title 32 commanders is contrary to the balance of power between federal and state officials set out by the U.S. Constitution and federal law,' Abbott argues in the suit, which names Biden in his professional capacity. 'It is unlawful for Defendants to attempt to override the Governor's authority to govern his troops, and then leave him to deal with the harms that they leave in their wake,' according to the suit. The suite cites the Texas state constitution, and claims the defendants' actions 'directly infringe on Governor Abbotts authority as commander-in-chief and on Texass sovereignty, and so harm Governor Abbott and Texas.' President Biden imposed the vaccine mandate, which was put forth by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, on members of the armed forces. The administration is also fighting in court over private sector mandates for larger employers According to Abbott's suit, 40 per cent of members of the Texas Army National Guard under his command are refusing to get the shot for religious or other reasons. Guard serve under state authority until called up by the president People gathered in front of NASA Johnson Space Center on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 to protest forced vaccinations of the workforce Public health officials have repeatedly invoked the effectiveness of the vaccines to head off severe infection or death from COVID-10, which has killed more than 800,000 Americans. Late last month, a federal judge blocked a similar effort by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to block the vaccine mandate. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who himself recently tested positive for COVID-19, replied to Stitt with a letter invoked by the judge. 'Citing the Presidents authority over the Guard under 32 U.S.C. 110, the Secretary expressed his viewnot credibly contested by the plaintiffs in their motion or in any of the supporting materialsthat to maintain a healthy and ready military force capable of protecting the American people, the immediate vaccination against COVID-19 is an essential military readiness requirement for all components and units of the military, including the Oklahoma National Guard.' 'The COVID vaccination mandate should be understood against the backdrop of other military immunization mandates which date back as far as General George Washingtons mandate that troops in the Continental Army be inoculated against smallpox. Nine vaccinations (now ten, with the COVID vaccination mandate) are required for all service members,' wrote U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot. Austin announced the policy in an August memo, and subsequently clarified that it applied to non-federalized members of the National Guard. Head of Xi'an big data management bureau suspended from duty Xinhua) 11:20, January 05, 2022 XI'AN, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Liu Jun, head of the big data management bureau in the northwest Chinese city of Xi'an, has been suspended from the post for failing to fulfill his duty, local authorities said. Liu Xin has been nominated the new deputy head of the bureau, according to the Xi'an Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. On Dec. 20, the health code system in Xi'an, which was hit by the latest round of COVID-19 infections, crashed due to high traffic, causing inconveniences to local residents. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) Officials of Korea Coast Guard's Incheon branch examine cigarettes seized from smugglers at the branch office in Incheon, Wednesday. The Coast Guard caught a ring of seven people who allegedly smuggled 3.6 million packs of Korean cigarettes manufactured for export, worth about 17 billion won ($1.4 million), back into the country through Incheon Port, over 10 times from May to July, and arrested the leader. Yonhap A nurse's journal containing poignant poetry from fallen British soldiers has been unearthed 106 years on. Helen Dryerre kept a black leather album which she gave to dozens of convalescing soldiers to sign, write and draw in during the First World War. Some British troops penned poetry from their hospital beds, while others did patriotic illustrations and one made a charming sketch of her. Tragically, three of the soldiers who wrote in the album were later killed on the same day during the Battle of the Loos on October 13, 1915. Nurse Helen Dryerre kept a notepad during WWI which she allowed recuperating soldiers to leave notes, sketches and poems while away from the front line and receiving attention for their injuries The amazing notepad, which had been lost for 106 years has been submitted for auction later this month Some of the soldiers left sketches while others wrote poems or letters in the leather-bound book Among those who wrote in the book was 2nd Lieutenant Thomas O'Callaghan who lost his life a short time later in teh Battle of Loos Lieutenant O'Callaghan lost his life alongside 2nd Lieutenant Basil Mogridge, 19, of the Leicestershire Regiment Some of the entries are from before WWI such as this poem written a decade before the conflict They were 22-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Guy Russell, 21-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Thomas O'Callaghan and 2nd Lieutenant Basil Mogridge, 19, who served in the Leicestershire Regiment. Ms Dryerre later wrote next to their entries the date they were killed. Lt O'Callaghan had written a moving poem about 'sacrifice' and 'giving your life' for King and Country. It read: 'There is but one task for all, for each one life to give. 'Who stands if England fall, who dies if England live?' Lt Mogridge wrote about a 'beautiful, awful summer's day', adding: 'Life and death and late and hate, homes made happy or desolate.' Another soldier who seemingly survived the war, Eric Pochin, drew a Union Jack flag and quoted Rudyard Kipling's poem The Widow at Windsor in his entry. He wrote: 'You may hang on the wings in the morning, you can flop round the earth till you're dead. 'But you won't get away from the tune that they play To the bloomin' old rag overhead.' Other pages show a cartoon clown, a Scotsman playing the bagpipes and a man and woman on a sofa with the suggestive caption 'keep the home fires burning'. The 50-page sketch book is expected to sell for 300 when it goes under the hammer at C&T Auctioneers in Ashford, Kent Tim Harper, specialist at C&T Auctions, said: 'There are dozens of entries from soldiers who would been treated by the nurse after being wounded in battle' There is a sweet drawing dated 1916 of a sailor and a bonnet-clad lady hugging on the deck of a ship with the caption 'we all love Lizzie... and they all love Jack'. The album, which contains about 50 pages, has emerged from a deceased estate in south east England. It is going under the hammer with C&T Auctions, of Ashford, Kent, and is tipped to fetch 300. Tim Harper, specialist at C&T Auctions, said: 'There are dozens of entries from soldiers who would been treated by the nurse after being wounded in battle. 'Back then, poetry was popular so they wrote poems and rhymes, and did sketches, in her album while sitting in bed. 'It is extremely poignant to read the entries of the three officers of the Leicestershire Regiment who were killed at Loos. 'I have not seen an album like this before and it is a sad and unusual item.' The sale takes place on January 19. Eric Pochin, drew a Union Jack flag and quoted Rudyard Kipling's poem The Widow at Windsor in his entry This sketch from January 1916 features a clown who advises Nurse Dryerre not to 'look down in the mouth' The leather-bound book was found from the estate of a deceased person Some of the sketches are remarkably good and have been kept in excellent condition despite being more than a century old While some of the soldiers left sketches others wrote poems or left notes in the book Mr Harper said: 'It is extremely poignant to read the entries of the three officers of the Leicestershire Regiment who were killed at Loos. I have not seen an album like this before and it is a sad and unusual item' Ahmed, pictured outside court in November, was found guilty of sexual offences against a boy and a girl today Former Labour peer Nazir Ahmed has been found guilty of attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under 11 in the 1970s. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham was on Wednesday found guilty of sexual offences against a boy and a girl dating back more than 40 years. A woman told a jury at Sheffield Crown Court that Ahmed, now 64, had attempted to rape her in the early 1970s, when the defendant was about 16 or 17 years old but she was much younger. The former politician was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under 11, also in the early 1970s. The jury was played a recording of a telephone call between the two complainants, made by the woman after she went to the police in 2016. Tom Little QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the call was prompted by the man contacting the woman by email saying: 'I have evidence against that paedophile.' Ahmed denied all the charges but was found guilty on Wednesday of two counts of attempted rape and one of serious sexual assault. He had resigned from the House of Lords in November 2020 after reading the contents of a conduct committee report which found he sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman who sought his help. The report made him the first peer to be recommended for expulsion but he resigned before this could be implemented. Ahmed was charged along with his two older brothers, Mohammed Farouq, 71, and Mohammed Tariq, 65, but both these men were deemed unfit to stand trial. A woman told a jury at Sheffield Crown Court that Ahmed attempted to rape her in the early 1970s, when the defendant was about 16 or 17 years old but she was much younger Farouq and Tariq faced charges of indecent assault in relation to the same boy that Ahmed abused and, also on Wednesday, the jury found that they did the acts alleged. The judge, Mr Justice Lavender, will determine on Wednesday afternoon when Ahmed will be sentenced. The conviction of Ahmed follows a tortuous prosecution, which included the halting of a previous trial by a judge who bemoaned the antiquity of the allegations. But Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said his decision to stop the original trial in March was due to failings in disclosing evidence which had 'sabotaged' the proceedings rather than his misgiving over the length of time that had elapsed. At a hearing earlier in the prosecution, Judge Richardson had noted that some of the then alleged incidents happened in the late 1960s when Harold Wilson was prime minister, Lyndon Johnson was the US president and the Vietnam War was raging. In March the judge took the unusual step of ordering a permanent stay on proceedings, bringing the prosecution to a close. But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) appealed against this decision and it was overturned by the Court of Appeal in June, paving the way for the new trial. Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS special crime division, said: 'We asked the jury to dispassionately consider the evidence against each of these men and decide if they could be sure that our prosecution had proved they committed these crimes. 'By these verdicts the jury has clearly decided that no matter the delay between the offences and the trial, and the defences raised, they could be sure that the accounts of the victims were credible and true. 'One of these defendants held a position of power, influence and responsibility for some time in the House of Lords but this case clearly illustrates that where there is sufficient evidence, even in challenging cases, the CPS will bring a prosecution, put evidence before a jury and see rightful convictions.' Ms Ainslie added: 'The case also gives an insight into the challenges police and prosecutors face in dealing with huge amounts of information arising from an investigation, and disclosing it properly to the defence to allow a fair trial. 'Disclosure failures should not happen. 'But the case also shows our determination to admit problems, overcome them and pursue the case, and the court's ability to ensure the defendants receive a fair trial and their victims see justice.' A student violently raped and choked a woman he met on a night out in the first of a series of serious sexual assaults, a court has today been told. Charles Goodwin, 21, is accused of six counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault by penetration, choking and assault and is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Prosecutors told a jury that Goodwin was on bail for the first attack when he raped and sexually assaulted three more women. The court heard undergraduate Goodwin told one victim he was a 'sex god' and told another she needed 'to be treated like a princess' - before going on to violently rape her. The 12 offences has been charged with took place between January 2020 and May last year and a jury has heard that he knew his victims did not consent. Goodwin, of Liverpool, admits sexual activity with the four women but claims it was consensual, jurors were told. He has denied all the charges. Opening the case at Liverpool Crown Court, prosecutor Matthew Curtis said: 'The prosecution say the defendant did not care whether the complainants consented or not. 'In short, he got what he wanted with no care for them or the immediate consequences of his actions.' Student Charles Goodwin (pictured) is accused of violently raping a woman in the first of a series of serious sexual assaults which he denies and is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court The jury heard from the first complainant who told the court she met Goodwin at a nightclub in Manchester while she was there with friends. She said they kissed 'and were making out briefly' and added that while in a smoking area he snatched a cigarette she had rolled from her hands and told her, 'You've got to beg me for it'. She refused his repeated demands and went back inside, jurors were told. In a recorded police interview played to the court she said all he had told her was that he was called Charlie and was a champion boxer who lived in Salford. When she later went out for another smoke he followed her out and was 'grabby and forceful and pushed me' but as they were surrounded by others she said she did not feel he was dangerous. The court heard he repeatedly 'begged' her to go back to his home which she declined but eventually agreed he could come back to her flat as she knew her friends were coming back there for a few more drinks and she asked them to knock on her door when they arrived. 'I thought we would be having sex, after sex he would leave and that would be that,' she said. In a taxi to her home, she claimed he put his hand down her trousers into her underwear, adding that she pushed him off which she says he did not take well. The court heard Goodwin admits having sex with all four victims but claims it was consensual The woman went on to say that when they arrived at her home, he told her, 'You need to be treated like a princess.. I'l pick you up and carry you like a princess'. She added: 'I said, "no, no, no" but he did it anyway. 'When we got into my room he immediately stripped down naked and I was a bit shocked. 'He took off my clothes and started kissing me and pushed me onto the bed and we started having consensual sex. 'It was fine until he suddenly became really more aggressive than before and started calling me names, saying "you are a stupid sl*t" and grabbed hold of my throat with one hand and started choking me.' The young woman, who admitted her recollections were blurry because of alcohol, said he was telling her to say she was 'a stupid w***e, a stupid sl*t' and that she said 'no'. She described how he then slapped her across the face about five times or more while holding her down by the neck with his other hand. The woman added: 'He was really strong and was on to top of me. I was trying to get him off me but I couldn't speak and then he grabbed me with both hands and started choking me and strangling me with immense pressure and I couldn't breathe and felt I was going to lose consciousness.' Charles Goodwin, 21, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court where he denies 12 charges including six counts of rape relating to four women, two counts of sexual assault as well as one of assault She said after a few minutes she managed to get out from underneath him but he ordered her to lie on her stomach and pushed her over onto her front. She said he then tried to assault her from behind but that he was unable to so rolled her onto her back and raped her again while choking her. The court heard her flatmates then came back to the halls of residence and knocked at her door. She said Goodwin started repeatedly telling them to 'f*** off' saying she was fine and he would not let her speak and was pinning her down by her neck. Jurors heard that while he was distracted, the woman managed to get up and open the door to her friends and told him to get out. She said Goodwin was 'really angry' and after picking up his clothes shouted abuse at her and left. Goodwin denies six offences of rape; attempted choking; two of sexual assault, two of assault by penetration and assault. The case continues The ex-convict father of missing seven-year-old Harmony Montgomery has been arrested in New Hampshire on a slew of charges related to her disappearance two years ago, including assault and child endangerment. Adam Montgomery, 31, was arrested on Tuesday in Manchester on a warrant charging him with one felony count of second-degree assault stemming from a July 2019 beating of his daughter; one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody, and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child. The Manchester Police Department stated in a press release that despite Montgomery's arrest, 'the search for Harmony continues.' An arrest affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com alleges that Montgomery, who has a history of criminal offenses in two states and drug abuse, punched Harmony in the face and gave her a black eye in July 2021 - just six months after New Hampshire's child protective services handed him custody of his daughter. Montgomery's uncle quoted Adam as telling him of the beating: 'I bashed her around this house,' according to the filing. He also would allegedly spank his daughter on her buttocks, force her to stand in a corner for hours and make her scrub the toilet with her own toothbrush. Adam Montgomery, 31 (left), the father of missing New Hampshire girl Harmony Montgomery (right), has been arrested on charges of assault, interference with custody and endangering the welfare of a child. This aerial photo shows police searching the backyard at 77 Gilford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday as part of an investigation into the disappearance of seven-year-old Harmony Montgomery Montgomery, who was pictured in his booking photo with a teardrop tattoo on his face, was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, but he waived his right to a hearing and was ordered held without bond. According to the Superior Court Bail order, Montgomery has been placed in what is known in New Hampshire as preventive detention 'based on clear and convincing evidence that the defendant's release will endanger the safety of the defendant or of the public.' Montgomery also has been prohibited from having any contact with Harmony's mother, or his estranged wife. Montgomery's uncle, Kevin Montgomery, told police he reported the 2019 assault to the Department of Children of Children Youth and Their Families (DCYF), but it is unclear whether his complaint was ever investigated by the agency. The portion of the affidavit pertaining to that incident has been redacted. An investigation was launched only after Harmony's mother, Crystal Sorey, called the Manchester Police Department on November 18, saying that her daughter was missing and that she had not seen her since April 2019 on a FaceTime call. 'Crystal recalled that [Harmony] seemed frightened,' according to the affidavit. Sorey explained that she had lost custody of Harmony in July 2018 because she was a drug addict, and she said that Montgomery also had struggled with substance abuse problems. Boston 25 reported that Harmony and her younger brother, Jamison, spent their early years in foster care, but that in February 2019, DCYF placed Harmony in her father's custody, while her brother was adopted by a TV reporter. Records cited by the station revealed that Montgomery has a vast criminal history dating back to 2007 in New Hampshire, including charges of burglary, stalking and first-degree assault. In Massachusetts , he was charged in 2014 with armed robbery and assault with intent to murder during a drug deal, but the charges were later downgraded. Montgomery (left) is accused of punching Harmony in the face and giving her a black eye in July 2021. Multiple relatives observed the then-5-year-old with the eye injury at the time Crystal Sorey (right) had lost custody of Harmony in 2018 because of her drug addiction Beginning on December 27, police in Manchester made repeated attempts to track down Montgomery and other family members to establish the last time Harmony was seen. Three days later, a detective interviewed Montgomery's brother, Michael Montgomery, who raised concerns about Harmony's safety. 'Michael recalled that Adam was "super short" with the child, and he learned through other family members that Adam had given [Harmony] a black eye,' according to the affidavit.' On New Year's Eve, Montgomery's uncle, Kevin Montgomery, told police that has not seen his nephew or Harmony since late 2019. 'However, Kevin had first-hand knowledge of the child's eye injury from 2019,' the court document alleges. The uncle told police that he returned to Manchester in July 2019 after a trip to Florida and observed Harmony with a black eye, prompting his call to DCYF. A relative claimed Montgomery would spank Harmony, put her in the corner for hours and make her scrub the toilet with her own toothbrush. The girl was described as looking 'frightened' during an April 2019 sighting Kevin Montgomery said that Adam told him that he had punched Harmony, saying of the incident: 'I bashed her around this house.' According to the uncle, Montgomery explained to him that he had left Harmony, then aged 5, in charge of her infant brother while he was in the bathroom. When the baby started crying, Montgomery said he came out of the bathroom to find Harmony with her hand clamped over her brother's mouth to stop him from crying. 'Adam told Kevin that he responded by striking [Harmony] in the face and causing the black eye,' according to the affidavit. The uncle told police he believed his nephew had relapsed on drugs around that time. He also recalled Harmony being spanked, forced to stand in the corner for hours, 'and Adam ordering [her] to scrub the toilet with her toothbrush.' On the same day, detectives interviewed Montgomery's estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, who shares three children with him. The woman told police she had last seen Harmony sometime in November or December 2019. 'Adam said that he was driving [Harmony] back to Crystal who was living in Lowell, MA, at the time,' the affidavit states, referring to the girl's birth mother. 'Kayla claimed she never saw, or heard about [Harmony] after that day.' Hours later, police found Montgomery sleeping with his girlfriend in a car parked near Harvell Street in Manchester. 'During our roadside interview with Adam, he made some contradictory statements during our interaction which raised our suspicion and concern for [Harmony's] well-being,' police stated in the filing. Montgomery initially told a detective that his daughter was 'fine' and he had seen her somewhat recently. But as the conversation progressed, the 31-year-old allegedly admitted that he had not seen Harmony since he claimed her mother came to pick her up around Thanksgiving 2019. Detectives repeatedly pressed Montgomery on Harmony's whereabouts, to which he was said to have replied, 'I have nothing else to say' and 'If I'm not under arrest, I'm leaving.' The arrest came a day after Manchester police set up a tip line and offered cash rewards totaling $33,000 for information leading to Harmony's safe return. Harmony was reported missing only last week, more than two years after her last sighting. Her mother, Crystal Sorey, has taken to Facebook to claim that she has filed dozens of claims of abuse and neglect while her daughter was in the custody of her father. Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said at a press conference on Monday that his agency was notified last week that Harmony was last seen at a home in Manchester in October 2019, when she was 5. Aldenberg said police are operating under the assumption that Harmony is alive, 'until somebody shows me something that shes not.' When asked why it took so long for her to be reported missing, he replied: 'That's what we're trying to get to the bottom of.' 'If there was some flaw in the system: Where was it and how is it going to be addressed?' Aldenberg added after refusing to answer any more questions about the police's conversations with the DCYF. Harmony, right, pictured with her younger brother, Jamison, was last seen in October 2019, but she was reported missing only in December 2021 Harmony was described as four-feet tall and weighs 50-pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and wears glasses because she is blind in her right eye Harmony was last enrolled in school in Massachusetts in 2019, according to the police chief, but detectives don't know in which town. Harmony's uncle told Boston station WBTS that he reported an unspecified incident involving Harmony to the New Hampshire DCYF back in July or August of 2019. The unnamed uncle did not reveal any specifics about the incident. Harmony is described as being 4ft tall and weighing 50lbs. She has blonde hair, and blue eyes and is said to be wearing glasses due to being blind in her right eye. The last photographs taken of Harmony are from two years ago. Aldenberg said that officers searched Adam Montgomery's former home at 77 Gilford Street on Sunday, according to New Hampshire Union Leader. This is the horrifying moment a five-year-old girl was seized by an alleged paedophile and his 'male lover' before being raped and stabbed to death in Russia. Distressing footage shows two men snatching the girl and carrying her through the snow, past unaware members of the public to a residence. The child was subsequently raped and then killed, reports from Russia said, citing law enforcement. She had been stabbed multiple times, and her body hidden in a duffle bag. Distressing footage shows the moment two men in Russia snatched a five-year-old girl and carried her through the snow and past unaware members of the public One of the suspects was named as Denis Gerasimov, 44 (left), earlier jailed for paedophile offences including producing child pornography. The other suspect Vadim Belyakov, 24 (right), reportedly has a conviction for theft When the suspects were later detained, they needed police protection to stop them from being lynched by furious locals. The child, Veronika Nikolayeva, had been playing late yesterday afternoon near the cinema and cultural complex where her mother works in Kostroma, a city in western Russia, around 180 miles north-east of Moscow. It was then that she was snatched by two men, say police. Reports said she 'struggled and fought back' but witnesses did not pay attention to her distress at being snatched by two strangers. No-one reported the screaming child's distress to police. Her mother did not see the kidnapping but immediately reported the girl missing and a huge search began involving police and volunteers. Pictured: CCTV footage shows the two men moments before the kidnapped the girl Pictured: A still grab from a video showing the inside of a room searched by police in relation to the case, in which two suspects have been detained over the rape and murder of the girl Officers 'detained two suspects who confessed to the murder of the child, the body of the victim was found in a room in a residential hostel,' said the Russian Investigative Committee. One of the suspects was named as Denis Gerasimov, 44, earlier jailed for paedophile offences including producing child pornography. He was released from jail in March last year, after serving four-and-a-half years for convictions which included sex with an underage girl. The penal colony where he served his sentence described him as 'polite, tactful, not rude'. The other suspect Vadim Belyakov, 24, reportedly has a conviction for theft. The video shows one suspect carrying the kidnapped girl down snowy streets, while the other walks alongside. When police raided the room shared by the suspects in a hostel, they found the girl's body hidden in a duffle bag, say law enforcement sources. The girl had been raped before she was killed. Pictured: Russian police offers are shown inside a home during a search Pictured: Officers leave a hostel in Russia carrying the girl's body, after a mob formed upon hearing the news about her death Local news said that as soon as the information was made public, a mob formed. 'Immediately after the information about the detention of (the suspects) appeared, local residents gathered by the hostel, where the child's body was found,' reported 112 news outlet. 'They demanded the (suspected) murderers should be handed over and wanted to lynch them.' A video shows the girl's body being carried into a police vehicle. A social media post said: 'This case shows again that the surveillance system for paedophiles does not work and gives them the opportunity to commit crimes again.' The suspects are understood to have been in a long term relationship since the younger man was underage. The men told interrogators that the crime was 'spontaneous', it was reported. The younger one 'suggested that his partner catch the girl and make fun of her'. The husband of a California deputy district attorney and rising Republican star who died of COVID-19 this week has criticized her decision to go unvaccinated. Kelly Ernby, 46, died after contracting the virus, her family and friends announced Monday. Her husband, Axel Mattias Ernby, has since denounced his wife's choice to go unjabbed. 'She was NOT vaccinated. That's the problem,' he said, according to screenshots of his comments shared on social media. Ernby spoke at a rally against COVID vaccine mandates at the Irvine City Hall on December 4. The event was hosted by the Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine chapters of the conservative group Turning Point USA. 'There's nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now,' she said, according to the Daily Titan. Kelly Ernby's husband Axel appeared to criticize his wife's choice to stay unvaccinated in a Facebook comment 'She was NOT vaccinated. That's the problem,' he replied on a comment thread about his wife Ernby, 46, was a California deputy district attorney and rising Republican star before she died from complications of COVID this week Her husband Axel is a self-employed management consultant in Huntington Beach Ernby, center, decried vaccine mandates at a Turning Point USA rally at Irvine City Hall just a month ago Ernby's friend Ben Chapman, the chairman of the Greater Costa Mesa Republicans, also confirmed on Facebook that Ernby was not vaccinated. 'My friend was not vaccinated and no one of credible source is making the claim she passed due to being vaccinated,' Chapman wrote on Tuesday. 'Her husband and I have openly stated that she was not vaccinated. However, the left is making this political stating we, Republicans, are saying she passed due to being vaccinated. So far from the truth. Stop spreading lies!' Ernby urged the crowd at the Turning Point USA rally last month to unite and fight for their beliefs against vaccine mandates. She had been an outspoken critic of vaccine mandates since before the pandemic. In 2019 she railed against a state law proposing new vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. Ernby compared the current political division to the 1960s fight against socialism. 'Our government for the people and by the people is not going to exist without action of the people,' Ernby said. Ben Chapman, chairman of the Greater Costa Mesa Republicans, posted about Ernby's death Monday He's since also confirmed that she wasn't vaccinated in a post on Facebook Ernby is survived by her husband Axel, who is self-employed as a management consultant in Huntington Beach, and her dog Nixon. Axel did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. Ernby was born to Navy veteran parents and grew up in San Diego, according to the Los Angeles Times. She got a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and was recruited to join the Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher law firm in Irvine. The Huntington Beach resident worked as an Orange County deputy district attorney for 10 years specializing on in environmental and consumer law. She first joined local politics in 2020 when she ran for state Assembly in the 74th District challenging Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon, a fellow Republican, to replace Cottie Petrie-Norris, the freshman Democratic incumbent. The self-proclaimed political outsider earned endorsements from several local politicians but lost in a close race. She continued to search for her spot in politics getting involved in the county Republican Party as the precinct chairman. Ernby became an elected Orange County GOP central committee member later in 2020. She was midway into the four-year term at the time of her passing. The 46-year-old fought against vaccine mandates even before the COVID pandemic dragged the issue into the national spotlight. Ernby, left on December 4, fought against vaccine mandates even before the COVID pandemic Ernby, a vaccine mandate critic before COVID, is survived by her husband Axel, right, and her dog Nixon In 2019, Ernby appeared in an online town hall to discuss her stance on medical freedom. She firmly opposed a new state law that proposed tightening immunization rules for California schoolchildren. 'My fundamental belief is that government should be very small and I don't believe in mandates,' she said on November 3, 2019. 'I don't think that the government should be involved in mandating what vaccines people are taking,' she explained. 'I think that's a decision between doctors and their patients. If the government is going to mandate vaccines, what else are they going to mandate?' Ernby's death was confirmed as friends and colleagues began sharing social media posts expressing their grief. Ernby was a strong vocal opponent of vaccine mandates and was not jabbed herself Ernby's last Facebook post (pictured) shows her celebrating the Christmas holiday with Axel and Nixon while honoring her mother who passed away 'She was very passionate about her love for politics, for America and the Republican Party,' said Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party and a longtime Orange County GOP activist, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was shocked by her 'sudden' passing and explained that the two planned to meet later this week to discuss another state Assembly run. 'I found her to be funny and generous,' he said. 'She quickly became part of the fabric of our party. We're really going to miss her. It's very sad.' Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer expressed his sorrow in a statement: 'The Orange County district attorney's office is utterly heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Deputy Dist. Atty. Kelly Ernby.' 'Kelly was an incredibly vibrant and passionate attorney who cared deeply about the work that we do as prosecutors and deeply about the community we all fight so hard to protect.' He also remembered his 'incredibly vibrant and passionate' colleague in a touching Twitter thread. Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner also memorialized his colleague online. 'Kelly was an outstanding public servant and an even better person,' he said on Twitter. Ernby was also strong voice the in Governor Gavin Newsom's recall election, which he won with 60 percent of the vote. She openly opposed him and strongly backed Larry Elder. Much of her dislike of Newsom came from his strong stance on COVID vaccine mandates and closures. 'I dont like the fact that he is shutting down our churches, our schools, our businesses, and that people have rights and liberties that he is not protecting,' she told the Costa Mesa Breif ahead of the recall election. Hundreds of care homes up and down the country are having to close their doors to new residents because of Covid outbreaks and Omicron-fuelled staffing shortages. Some 70 per cent of homes run by the MHA one of the UK's largest not-for-profit care homes are currently not accepting new residents, or 62 out of 84 homes. And at Four Seasons Health Care one of the country's largest providers 40 per cent of homes are not taking patients, or 54 out of 135 homes. Sources in the sector told MailOnline a third of homes nationally are currently unable to take on new residents due to stringent Covid guidelines. Under current rules, homes cannot take on new patients for 28 days after they have detected an outbreak of the virus when two or more cases are detected. A top NHS boss warned having so many homes in crisis mode was leaving already-struggling hospitals unable to discharge patients and free up space. Care bodies are calling on ministers to reduce the quarantine period, saying it is 'out of step' with the rest of the country. For comparison, in England self-isolation can end after seven days with two negative lateral flow tests. At the same time, the care sector is also grappling with a staffing crisis because so many workers are off isolating with Covid amid unprecedented infection levels. More than 90 care home operators in England have already declared 'red alerts' over shortages, which could compromise quality of care. With 183,000 Brits being sent into isolation every day on average, there are growing calls from experts, businesses and even NHS leaders to cut self-isolation to five days to avoid paralysing the economy and disrupting vital services. Around 1.3million Britons are currently thought to be languishing under house arrest as the NHS, rail services and bin collections all buckle under the weight of staff absences. Twenty NHS Trusts in England have now declared 'critical incidents' over mounting absences and Covid pressures and hospitals are now starting to shelve operations. Care homes were already wrestling with staffing problems heading into the fourth wave after the Government made it compulsory to have two Covid jabs - resulting in around 30,000 staff being sacked in England. The above graph shows the number of respiratory disease outbreaks recorded in care homes across England. An outbreak is declared when two or more cases are linked to a particular home. In the most recent week data is available 250 of 252 outbreaks where a respiratory disease was reported were due to Covid Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group which represents homes in Yorkshire, warned the number of homes unable to accept new patients was increasing by the day. He told MailOnline: 'If homes are under pressure, then that is going to leave people unable to be discharged from hospital to them.' Even NHS bosses back cutting self-isolation period to FIVE days as staffing crisis sees hospitals CANCEL routine operations An NHS leader today revealed he would support slashing Covid self-isolation to five days amid an escalating staffing crisis that has engulfed hospitals and led some to cancel routine operations. Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation an organisation which represents trusts, said two more days should be shaved off the period as long as it was backed up by the science. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the situation was 'desperate' and any way of getting staff back to work was a 'good thing'. But he said it would be 'completely counterproductive' to have infectious staff return to wards because it would exacerbate the spread of Omicron. Last month ministers cut the self-isolation period to seven days, providing someone tested negative using a lateral flow on days six and seven. But pressure is mounting on Boris Johnson to follow the US, which has squeezed quarantine to only five days for anyone without symptoms. Around 1.3million Britons are currently thought to be languishing under house arrest as the NHS, rail services and bin collections all buckle under the weight of staff absences. One in ten NHS employees are estimated to be off sick or self-isolating, and Mr Johnson yesterday revealed plans are being drawn up to call in the Army if the crisis continues to worsen. Some 20 out of 137 hospital trusts in England have declared 'critical incidents' in recent days or 16 per cent, signalling that they may struggle to deliver vital care to patients in the coming weeks because so many medics are off isolating. Seventeen hospitals in Greater Manchester have also started shelving operations. At the same time, the number of Covid-infected patients being hospitalised is rising. Advertisement Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers which represents hospital trusts, said having fewer homes able to take patients was 'very concerning'. He told the Guardian that hospital bosses were reporting that delayed discharges were already adding to pressures, and making it harder to find beds for serious cases coming in from A&E. He said: 'This isn't good for patients as we know patient outcomes deteriorate if patients are medically fit to discharge but can't leave hospital.' Care home bosses are pushing to have their quarantine period reduced from 28 days to ensure residents can still see friends and family. For comparison, in most of the UK people who test positive for the virus can now leave isolation after seven days providing they tested negative on days six and seven. The MHA's chief executive Sam Monaghan said: 'The current rules around outbreaks mean that care homes find themselves closed to new admissions, leaving older people staying in hospital longer than necessary or not getting the care that they need.' He added: 'Once an outbreak is declared (often involving only two cases of Covid), everyone living in these homes can have essential care visits but no wider friends and family may visit for up to four weeks. 'Meanwhile, in the general population, if we test negative six and seven days after a positive Covid test, we may return to socialising straight away. 'This is a huge disparity and we need the Government to look again at the scientific evidence and review whether these differing approaches are really required. We are in a situation again where, for prolonged periods at a time, older people living in care homes across the country are unable to have visits with their family and friends. 'This is particularly tough for people living with dementia and their loved ones, whose connections are an important part of their care.' A spokeswoman for Care England also called for the quarantine period to be reduced, saying it was 'out of step' with the rest of society. They called on ministers to allow homes to make their own judgements on when they should come out of quarantine. The UK Health Security Agency declares an outbreak when two or more cases of a particular disease are linked to one setting. Latest figures show there were 386 care home outbreaks of respiratory infections over the week to December 19. This was more than double the 163 detected at the beginning of the month. Of the 252 outbreaks where a respiratory disease was reported, 250 attributed the situation to Covid. It comes amid a deteriorating situation in the NHS, with hospitals now having to cancel operations amid surging outbreaks and a lack of staff. Last month ministers cut the self-isolation period from 10 to seven days, providing someone tested negative using a lateral flow on days six and seven. But pressure is mounting on the PM to follow the US, which has squeezed quarantine to only five days for anyone without symptoms. Studies show most people are not infectious beyond five days of their diagnosis, which has given other countries the confidence to press on with the plan. One in ten NHS employees are estimated to be off sick or self-isolating, and Mr Johnson yesterday revealed plans are being drawn up to call in the Army if the crisis continues to worsen. Some 20 out of 137 hospital trusts in England have declared 'critical incidents' in recent days or 16 per cent signalling that they may struggle to deliver vital care to patients in the coming weeks. Seventeen hospitals in Greater Manchester have also started shelving operations. Business leaders today warned that they too were struggling, with the managing director of supermarket chain Iceland saying their absence graph was 'almost vertical' and more than double the previous peak. Train services and bin collections are also grinding to a halt as the virus spreads, while schools are warning that they may not have enough teachers in work to run their normal timetables. In the contentious speech, the mayor, 61, pushed for businesses to get employees back into the office for the sake of the city's economy Adams' comments come as a slew of businesses in the city have elected to have employees work from home amid a surge in COVID cases fueled by Omicron 'My low-skilled workers, my cooks, my dishwashers... my shoe-shine people... they don't have the academic skills to sit in the corner office,' he said Tuesday New York City Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire in his first week in office for saying 'low-skilled workers' lack the academic skills to 'sit in a corner office' New York City Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire in his first week in office for saying 'low-skilled workers' lack the academic skills to 'sit in a corner office.' During a press conference Tuesday, the newly crowned mayor pushed for businesses - including those that can operate remotely - to get employees back into the office for the sake of their fellow New Yorkers and the city's economy. Urging larger businesses to return to in-person work for at least a few days a week, Adams spoke to the fact that businesses such as restaurants rely on office workers to support their own staffers with a livable wage. Adams warned that businesses moving to remote work amid the recent surge of COVID cases in the city could negatively affect these businesses and other small-time workers who rely on foot traffic to make a living - and the city's economy as a whole. Adams, 61, went on to declare that office workers are part of the 'ecosystem of this city' with their contributions to the economy. 'My low-skilled workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe-shine people, those who work at Dunkin' Donuts - they don't have the academic skills to sit in the corner office,' Adams asserted during the conference. 'They need this. We are in this together.' Adam's anecdote quickly sparked a firestorm on Twitter, with many criticizing the mayor for referring to such workers as 'low-skilled.' The controversy even spurred the mayor to clarify his comments the following day on social media and a televised interview, by explaining he used to work such jobs and relied on people spending their disposable income to survive. Scroll down for video 'My low-skilled workers, my cooks, my dishwashers, my messengers, my shoe-shine people, those who work at Dunkin' Donuts - they don't have the academic skills to sit in the corner office,' new mayor Eric Adams, 61, asserted during a press conference Tuesday In his speech, Adams urged office workers to return to in-person work at least a few days a week to support smaller businesses, such as restaurants, that largely rely on commuters to turn a profit. The retired police captain's comments come as the city continues to see a surge of COVID cases driven by the Omicron variant. Donning a mask and a brightly colored T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'vaccine and testing,' Adams warned that businesses electing to work remotely as cases rise could negatively affect these businesses, as well as the economy as a whole. 'That accountant - I need him to go to the cleaners,' the new mayor - sworn in on Saturday - affirmed in his speech, speaking on the effects that could have on the city that once served as the US' epicenter for the persistent virus. He went on: 'I need him to go down to Dunkin' Donuts. I need him to go to the restaurant. I need him to bring in the business traveling. The politician went on to make a brazen declaration through the use of a hypothetical, that contended that New Yorkers are in for a rude awakening if they continue to work remotely amid the new swell of cases. 'If we say that, "Well I don't have to go in. I'm still getting my salary," then you are not helping those New Yorkers who need us to come in.' The mayor's comments came in response to a reporter's assertion that workers in The City That Never Sleeps don't yet feel safe returning to work and that employers too want to delay staffers' return to the office. Adams responded to the reporter's claim by proclaiming that businesses should remind their workers they are part of the 'ecosystem of this city,' and therefore have a duty concerning their contributions to the city's economy. Adam's words also come as a slew of Manhattan-based companies, such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs, have revised their respective back-to-the office plans as a result of the continuing health crisis. Adams responded to the controversy in a tweet Wednesday, explaining that he used to work such jobs and relied on people spending their disposable income to survive Adam's words come as a slew of Manhattan-based companies, such as JPMorgan Chase (their office situated in the city's Financial District pictured here ) have revised their respective back-to-the office plans amid a recent surge in COVID cases in The City That Never Sleeps Adams is adamant that if office workers don't return to work on-site, 'low-skill workers' - like shoeshiners (pictured) - will in turn suffer In all, the mayor's spiel, which serves as just a small portion of his overall speech addressing the recent rash of cases, amounted to a mere minute-and-a-half. However, it was enough to stir a stream of backlash on social media against the politician, stemming from his clumsy comments regarding essential workers. 'Restaurant owner here. First, I challenge any human to handle a board full of orders as long as the eye can see, and get orders out on time and correct, then tell me that is 'low skill,'' one Twitter user wrote in the wake of Adam's remarks. 'No such thing as low skill workers, just undervalued ones,' another asserted. 'Really?' a further user asked after hearing the mayor's speech. 'A lot of those people working in those jobs are working their way through college. And I've worked with a lot of those academic corner sitters who didn't have the sense god gave a squirrel.' 'I didn't realize the cashier/bagger at the grocery store, the waitstaff/dishwasher, person working as a cashier/food handler at a place like McDonalds was considered "low academic."' another sniped. 'Silly me.' The poster went on to point out that many of those workers have degrees from other countries that do not hold any bearing in The States. Adams' remarks spawned a stream of backlash on social media, stemming from his comments regarding essential workers With that said, others were quick to rush to the defense of the former state senator. 'How he said it isn't great... but what he's saying is absolutely true,' wrote Twitter user @RyanGirdusky. 'Hes just saying it how it is, but you cant do that anymore in 2022,' another attested. A further Adams supporter attempted to explain the mayor's contentious comments, as thousands of social media users continued to express their outrage. 'He's not talking about unskilled but about low skilled people,' the poster wrote. 'Their existence is a technical fact. Denying that would probably be a proof of that.' Another offered an explanation as to what Adam's meant by 'low-skilled.' '"Skill' refers to educational training, not potential or intelligence,' the user wrote. '"Low skill" jobs are not easier than high skill jobs (often, theyre much more difficult), but they do require less training.' Others, meanwhile, were quick to rush to the defense of the former state senator, with many attempting to clarify his comments The following morning, Adams addressed the controversy during an interview with CBS Mornings' Gayle King. During the televised talk, King asked the new mayor if his comments came out as he intended during his speech five days into office. 'Listen - I was a cook. I was a dishwasher,' an unmasked Adams laughed, before clarifying the point he was attempting to make. 'When you talk about closing down our city,' he explained, 'if you're a dishwasher, you can't remotely do your job. 'And if don't have an accountant in an office space coming to a restaurant... that dishwasher is not going to have a job.' Adams then explained to King and fellow panelists Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson that his goal is 'to open the city, so low-wage employees are able to survive.' 'If no one came to that restaurant when I was paying my way through college,' the mayor went on, 'I would not have been able to survive, and families [now] can't survive. That's the message.' Adams echoed this sentiment later that day on social media. 'I was a cook. I was a dishwasher,' he tweeted Wednesday afternoon. 'If nobody came to my restaurant when I was in college, I wouldnt have been able to survive. When you talk about closing down our city, you're talking about putting low-wage workers out of a job. Im not letting that happen.' Im focused, Im disciplined and Im grinding to bring my city back: NYC Mayor Eric Adams has been in office for less than a week, and hes already making headlines.@NYCMayor shares his plans for fighting crime and keeping schools open during the Omicron surge. pic.twitter.com/r5mhdqbqM8 CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 5, 2022 Meanwhile, Coronavirus cases in New York have soared in recent weeks, fueled by the meteoric rise of the Omicron variant. As of Wednesday, the city saw hospitalizations top 5,000 a day, at 5,495, for the first time since May 2020, when the city served as the country's de facto hotbed for the then recently emerged virus. The city had a daily average of 38,1327 new cases per day on Tuesday, up from an average of 1,729 just a month earlier, according to data from The New York Times. Meanwhile, Coronavirus cases in New York have soared in recent weeks, fueled by the meteoric rise of the Omicron variant The city had a daily average of 38,1327 new cases per day on Tuesday, up from an average of 1,729 just a month earlier, according to data from The New York Times As cases rise, many large businesses in New York have elected to allow their employees to work from home throughout the first weeks of January. Adams, however, is adamant about reopening the city, arguing it would be best for the economy. On CNN Tuesday, the politician reiterated his stance concerning the prospective reopening of the city's schools and businesses, while doubling down on his stance that people should instead get vaccinated and regularly test themselves for the virus. 'We have to open up,' Adams asserted in the Tuesday interview. 'What we must understand is the resiliency of returning back to a normal life. If we don't open our cities, there are almost a million people that are behind in their rents right here in this city. 'We have low-skilled employees who can't do remote employment from home. 'That's not a reality in a city like New York and America. I need my cities to open.' A Texas man who was reported missing more than two months ago has been found dead inside his crashed pickup truck near an interstate highway. Wayne Kirk Clay, 65, was found inside his wrecked gray 2015 Nissan Titan in a wooded area near US Highway 259 on January 2, about 70 miles north of Longview, where he lived. Kirk had been reported missing on October 26 and he was last seen exiting a Houston barbershop near the 900 block of Little York Rd., according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. He was reported missing and the community was alerted that he had a medical condition that required the use of an oxygen tank. Police officials, who listed his name as Clay Kirk, have not been able to determine when the accident took place, but said his vehicle likely went unnoticed because it could not be seen from the road. Wayne Kirk Clay, 65, and his crashed grey 2015 Nissan Titan were found in a wooded area near US Highway 259 on January 2, 70 miles north of Longview, where he lived Kirk had been reported missing on October 26 and he was last seen in Houston near the 900 block of Little York Rd, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety On Sunday, a property owner spotted the wrecked vehicle and alerted police, who later found Kirk inside. Investigators said they believe Kirk was driving along Loop 571 and 'disregarded' a stop sign at the intersection with US 259. They said Kirk likely cut across lanes and exited the road, driving through the north ditch and hitting a dirt embankment, which caused the crash. Kirk had been reported missing after he was last seen in Houston Investigators said they believe Kirk was driving along loop 571 and 'disregarded' a stop sign at the intersection with US 259 An investigation into the accident is ongoing. Officials said the weather was clear and the roads were dry around the time Kirk went missing, leading to their conclusion that he ran a stop sign. US 259 runs for 250 miles through northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma. Just a day after Kirk was found, a motorcyclist died in a two-vehicle accident on the highway. Kirk was last seen exiting a barber shop in Houston on October 26. The new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been greeted with growing backlash over his shockingly soft stance on crime that the progressive prosecutor revealed on Monday, less than 48 hours after new Mayor Eric Adams took office. Bragg, the newly minted prosecutor of the Big Apple's main borough, sent a memo to his staff announcing he 'will not seek carceral' sentences for criminals, unless they were guilty of murder or a handful of other crimes he deemed serious enough to warrant prison. His sweeping changes call on prosecutors to ditch felony armed robbery charges and instead charge suspects with petty larceny - a misdemeanor which carries a maximum of one year in prison - even when a weapon is involved if the firearm did not 'create a genuine risk of physical harm.' Burglaries will no longer be prosecuted as burglaries if the bandit steals from a storage unit or outdoor property that isn't connected to a 'living' dwelling, and quality-of-life crimes such as prostitution, turnstile jumping, weapons possession (of non-firearms) and marijuana possession won't be prosecuted at all. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has vowed not to prosecute some violent crimes and downgrade felonies like armed robberies to the misdemeanor petit larceny if there isn't a 'genuine threat', even if a weapon is involved Drug dealers will not be prosecuted for felony crimes unless they commit other offenses on top of drug dealing, and prison should be a 'last resort' - despite the mounting number of violent crimes being committed on the streets of New York by repeat offenders who have been let out of jail early. NYPD unions, New York Republicans and angry residents were left dumbfounded amid growing fears that the crime-ravaged city will experience the same fate as other progressive-run bastions on the West Coast that have been plagued by looting and lawlessness. 'Why doesn't Bragg just give the drug dealers business cards telling everyone they're open for business, what their hours are, and what they charge?' Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement on Wednesday. 'Alvin Bragg's memo to his staff specifying his prosecution policy will result in more crime and increased shootings. 'Where there are drugs, there are guns. D.A. Bragg has made himself the police, the judge and the jury.' Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral candidate who lost to Adams by a landslide, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: 'It's an advertisement for criminals. Come to Manhattan.' In an earlier appearance on Newsmax, Sliwa said it created an 'open season' for criminals and that Adams - who promised to be tough on crime - needed to come down harder on the new DA. Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime. Republican Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa 'Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime. 'It's open season. 'That means smash and grabs, that means shoplifting, armed robbery, somebody can put a gun to your head as a tourist and guess what, he gets a desk appearance ticket. 'Eric Adams can't have it both ways.' The Police Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch, who leads the nearly 24,000-member union, said that has 'serious concerns' over the new policies. 'Police officers don't want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys won't prosecute. 'There are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers and face zero consequences.' The Detectives' Endowment Association released this statement saying he might as well give the criminals business cards Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said he has 'serious concerns' The union chief said he hoped that Bragg would sit down with the leaders from his union to discuss the changes. 'We must all pull together towards one goal: a safer New York City.' Business leaders are also worried that these new policies could have detrimental effect on Manhattan's economy. 'New York Citys quality of life must remain competitive if we are to lure back office workers and tourists,' Jessica Walker, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce said. 'The district attorneys stance against prosecuting certain low-level crimes may undermine both the perception and the reality that ours is a safe big city.' NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy called the policy 'pure insanity'. 'I fear for the safety of New York residents, businesses owners and tourists. They tried the same reforms in San Francisco that focused on decarceration and what you see very fast is a descent into a free-for-all.' Richie Greenberg, former mayoral candidate in San Francisco 'This policy is pure insanity by a Soros-funded, woke DA who is opening the door for even more crime and chaos on New York City streets. 'This, on top of Democrats' end to cash bail, will have deadly results and send even more residents, businesses and tourists fleeing. 'This is a damning reminder that elections have consequences,' he told DailyMail.com. Richie Greenberg, a former mayoral candidate in San Francisco who is now spearheading the effort to remove Chesa Boudin, the city's prosecutor who has abolished cash bail, said he feared for the people of New York. 'I fear for the safety of New York residents, businesses owners and tourists. 'They tried the same reforms in San Francisco that focused on decarceration and what you see very fast is a descent into a free-for-all.' 'Criminals come from all around to prey on businesses and the people of San Francisco,' he said. 'Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime' said Adams' former opponent, Curtis Sliwa Crime in New York City is so bad that the Mayor Eric Adams called 911 himself this week after watching two men brawl in the street ALVIN BRAGG'S MEMO PROMISING NOT TO JAIL CRIMINALS AND ONLY USE PRISON AS A 'LAST RESORT' Advertisement Bragg's memo said he would seek 'alternatives' to jail time for misdemeanors, and that some felonies should be downgraded to misdemeanors so that the suspects who commit them can escape custody. It was a shock to some of those who voted for Adams on his promise that he would crack down on the city's worsening crime problem. The new mayor has not commented on the criticism of Bragg's memo. On Wednesday, Bragg tried to offer reassurances that he would only let non-violent criminals who stole 'toothpaste' or 'bread'. 'We will be tough when we need to be, but we will not be seeking to destroy lives through unnecessary incarceration. 'In practical terms that means: I've prosecuted gun cases and if you use a gun to rob a store, or any armed robbery, you will be prosecuted. I've prosecuted cases involving assaulting law enforcement, and if you punch a police officer, you will be prosecuted. 'But if you are houseless with an addiction problem and you steal toothpaste and some bread, you will be diverted for treatment to help break the cycle of recidivism.' New Mayor Eric Adams (pictured Tuesday) endorsed Bragg for Manhattan prosecutor and claimed on Monday that his policies would help reduce crime He did not clarify the extent to which the criminals would be prosecuted, or if he would seek jail term for them. Some expressed concern over Bragg's ability to unilaterally decide which laws will or will not be enforced. The critics argue prosecutors 'must be allowed discretion,' but not the authority to change entire sections of penal code on their own. Others allege his apparent looser stance on crime is surprising given he grew up in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood in the 1980s, during an endemic time of 'crack violence' and 'crack turf war-related bloodshed'. The violence extended beyond drug dealers, with many residents sheltering their children in bathtubs to protect them from stray bullets that would shoot through the walls, the New York Post reported. Critics contend, given Bragg grew up in that time of violence - which was significantly worse than today's crime levels - that he should want to hold criminals accountable for their actions and protect public order. George Soros has funneled millions into the successful campaigns of other progressive district attorneys across the country. He has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system which critics say is creating a lawless America New York City is currently experiencing soaring crime rates and an increase in shooting incidents not seen since the mid-2000s The most recent crime stats put out by the NYPD show that crime continues to tick up in the new year. Compared to last year major crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, felony assault and others, have jumped 38 per cent for the week of December 27 to January 2. There have been fewer murders in that period - five to last year's 10 during the same period - but grand larceny spiked 84 percent, rape is up 35 percent and robber climbed 21 percent. Crime is only up about two percent compared to two years ago, but 15 percent higher than last decade. Critics also argue Bragg's policies directly conflict with the views and goals of the newly-elected mayor. However, new Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Bragg for Manhattan prosecutor and claimed on Monday that his policies would help reduce crime. Adams was an attractive choice for many voters because of his repeated promises to crack down on crime and bring back plain clothes units to disband gangs and tackle gun violence. In July 2021 - before they were elected - Bragg and Adams joined famed civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network rally in New York. Adams, at the time, said he saw his role as mayor as making 'Bragg's job boring'. 'Prosecution rates is [sic] tied to my educational failure rates, Adams said, according to NewsOne. 'If I do my job right, then he will have nothing to do in this office.' Bragg added: 'The state has the power to take away someones liberty. We are going to use that power judiciously and wisely. Were going to use that for fairness and for safety.' The first homicide of 2022 in NYC: A woman was stabbed to death near a diner in Astoria, Queens on New Year's Day at 9pm Famed civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton (left) and Alvin Bragg (right) celebrate a decade of 'PoliticsNation With Al Sharpton' on August 24, 2021 in New York City Bragg was elected thanks in part to the Color of Change super PAC, a political action committee that received $1million from Democratic super-donor Soros. Soros has funneled millions into the successful campaigns of other progressive district attorneys across the country. The billionaire, one of the most prolific Democratic donors, is most known for giving to Presidents Clinton and Obama but he has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system which critics say is creating a lawless America. Among those he backed is Kim Foxx, the State's Attorney for Cook County, Chicago, where murder is at its highest in nearly 30 years. In 2020, Soros donated $2million to a PAC that backed Foxx in her re-election campaign. She won the race and has since offered deferred prosecutions and softball deals to criminals. In 2021, there were more murders in Chicago than in any other year since 1994. There have been more than 1,000 murders in Cook County, Foxx's district, this year. Soros bolstered her re-election campaign by donating to the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC. George Soros has funneled millions into the successful campaigns of other progressive district attorneys across the country. He has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system which critics say is creating a lawless America Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, left, was propped up by a PAC that Soros gave $2million to. San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin is pictured, right The PAC spent over $500,000 on materials to damage one of her challengers. It's a pattern that can be seen in other parts of the country. He has also donated to PACs that support Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who is being widely condemned for not cracking down on shoplifters and violent criminals. Soros has also donated to the campaign of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. He donated $1.7million to Krasner's campaign, according to The New York Post. Soros also donated to Super PACS that prop up Democratic prosecutors and politicians across Republican states. Republican pundits say he has blood on his hands now for the deaths of innocent people like those killed at the Waukesha Christmas Parade by Darrell Brooks, a career criminal who had been bonded out of jail days earlier for other crimes. In 2016, Soros pumped $3million into seven local district-attorney campaigns including races in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Each new elementary school student in Seoul will be given a one-off allowance of 200,000 won ($167) beginning this year, the capital's education chief said Wednesday. The allowance, formally named the "school admission preparation subsidy," will be first paid to about 69,800 first graders this year, Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said in a news conference. The move comes after all first-year students in the city's middle and high schools were paid an admission preparation allowance of 300,000 won each for the first time last year. The elementary school subsidy program will cost about 14 billion won, and the education office, the metropolitan government and autonomous districts will share the expense at a 4-3-3 ratio, he said. The Seoul education office will provide all students with opportunities for customized learning based on artificial intelligence, and one smart device will be given to each first-year student in middle schools, he said. Cho also said the number of students per class in the first grade of elementary schools will be gradually lowered to 20 or fewer starting this year. The goal is to increase the ratio of elementary school first-year classes with fewer than 20 students to 56.6 percent this year, 70.1 percent next year and 90 percent in 2024, he said. (Yonhap) A Catholic nurse who was bullied out of her job for wearing a cross around her neck at work was unfairly dismissed by the hospital where she had worked for 18 years, an employment tribunal has ruled. NHS theatre practitioner Mary Onuoha claimed that she had faced a 'campaign of harassment' by bosses at Croydon University Hospital to make her remove the small gold cross. A tribunal found that although the hospital claimed there were health and safety policies behind their demand, this was inconsistent with the treatment of other staff who wore similar items of clothing and jewellery. The panel found in her favour and ruled that she was forced to quit her role in 2020 after her employers created 'an offensive, hostile and intimidating environment'. The hospital trust has since issued an apology to Mrs Onuoha and said their dress code and uniform policy has been updated since the matter was raised. Mrs Onuoha had been a staff member for 18 years but had worn the jewellery for 40 years to mark her devout Catholic faith. But from 2015, she claims a succession of managers told her to remove the item from around her neck or the matter would face 'escalation'. She claimed patient safety was risked in an operating theatre to discipline her and her head of department even said he would have to call security if she wore it in a clinical area. Mary Onuoha at the South London Employment Tribunal Building Croydon in October A tribunal has found in favour of former nurse Mary Onuoha (pictured) who claimed she was subject to a campaign of harassment by NHS bosses to make her remove the small gold cross Mrs Onuoha was told her small gold cross was a health and safety risk and 'must not be visible'. She claimed patient safety was risked in an operating theatre to discipline her and her head of department even said he would have to call security if she wore it in a clinical area. When she continued to refuse to remove the cross, she was suspended from clinical duties and demoted to working as a receptionist which left her feeling humiliated. The tribunal heard she was forced off work with stress in June 2020 and believed she faced no alternative but to resign later that year. She had been employed as a theatre practitioner wearing blue scrubs - a V necked short sleeved tunic and trousers on the bottom. In theatre working as a scrub nurse, she also wore a standard issue surgical covering which covered her from neck to wrist. Pictured: Mrs Onuoha says she has worn the gold cross as a reflection of her faith for 40 years Her cross necklace was visible when wearing scrubs but was covered when working as a scrubbed in nurse in theatre. The tribunal said Mrs Onuoha, who grew up in Nigeria, is a devout Catholic and that wearing a cross is important to manifest her faith. She said: 'This has always been an attack on my faith. My cross has been with me for 40 years. It is part of me, and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm. 'At this hospital there are members of staff who go to a mosque four times a day and no one says anything to them. Hindus wear red bracelets on their wrists and female Muslims wear hijabs in theatre. 'Yet my small cross around my neck was deemed so dangerous that I was no longer allowed to do my job. I am a strong woman but I have been treated like a criminal.' Lawyers for Mrs Onuoha claimed health and safety reasons were contradictory because she was required to wear several lanyards round her neck while working at the hospital. An employment tribunal panel did not agree with the hospital that there were health and safety grounds for asking Mrs Onuoha to remove the necklace. Lawyers for Mrs Onuoha (left) claimed health and safety reasons were contradictory because she was required to wear several lanyards round her neck (right) while working at the hospital The tribunal ruled: 'It is clear to us that the infection risk posed by a necklace of the sorts the Claimant used to wear, when worn by a responsible clinician such as the Claimant, who complied with handwashing protocol, was very low.' The Tribunal have also found that Croydon Health Services NHS Trust constructively dismissed Mrs Onuoha and that the dismissal was unfair and discriminatory. Furthermore, it has ruled that there was 'no cogent explanation' as to why other items of jewellery and clothing were permitted 'but a fine necklace with a small pendant of religious devotional significance is not'. Finding that there was 'an offensive, hostile and intimidating environment, the Tribunal concluded that interrupting the surgery while a patient was on the table was 'high-handed', adding: 'She literally interrupted surgery in order to address the issue. 'This was to treat the matter as if it was an emergency, but on any view it was not.' Finding that Mrs Onuoha was constructively dismissed, the tribunal concluded: 'In our view the conduct which we have identified as amounting to harassment and/or direct discrimination individually or cumulatively was sufficiently serious so as to be likely to destroy or seriously undermine the relationship of trust and confidence. Pictured: Former nurse Mary Onuoha arrived at the South London Tribunal centre in October 'We do not accept that the Respondent had reasonable and proper cause for its conduct. 'There was a broad health and safety objective underlying much of the conduct. However, given the inconsistency of treatment between employees wearing other items of religious and non-religious apparel that had no work-based function but had a comparable risk profile, that simply did not justify the treatment of the Claimant. A remedy hearing will take place at a later date. A spokesperson for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: 'We would like to apologise to Mrs Onuoha and thank the Employment Tribunal panel for their careful consideration of this matter. 'It is important that NHS staff feel able to express their beliefs, and that our policies are applied in a consistent, compassionate and inclusive way. 'Since this matter in 2019, our dress code and uniform policy has been updated with the support of the Trust's staff networks and trade union representatives to ensure it is inclusive and sensitive to all religious and cultural needs, while maintaining effective infection prevention and control measures and protecting the safety of our patients and staff. 'However, we will carry out a further review of our policy and practices in light of this judgment.' Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who supported the claim, said: 'We are delighted that the Tribunal have ruled in Mary's favour and delivered justice in this case. 'From the beginning this case has been about the high-handed attack from the NHS bureaucracy on the right of a devoted and industrious nurse to wear a cross the worldwide, recognised and cherished symbol of the Christian faith. It is very uplifting to see the Tribunal acknowledge this truth. 'It was astonishing that an experienced nurse, during a pandemic, was forced to choose between her faith and the profession she loves. 'Any employer will now have to think very carefully before restricting wearing of crosses in the workplace. 'Mary's whole life has been dedicated to caring for others and her love for Jesus. It has been a privilege to stand with her in this long fight for justice, and we are very pleased with the outcome.' White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned companies that 'fail to address forced labor' in their supply chains face serious 'legal and reputational risks.' Psaki was asked about Tesla's decision to open a showroom in the Xinjiang region. 'As a general matter, we believe the private sector should oppose the PRC's human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang,' the press secretary said. 'The international community, including the public and private sectors, cannot look the other way when it comes to what is taking place in Xinjiang. As we've said before, companies that fail to address forced labor in the supply chains and other human rights abuses face serious legal and reputational risks.' The US has accused China of committing genocide against its Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region. Just last week, President Biden signed a bill that banned products from that region from entering the U.S. unless manufacturers can prove forced labor was not used in the supply chain. Psaki was asked about Tesla's decision to open a showroom in the Xinjiang region. 'As a general matter, we believe the private sector should oppose the PRC's human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang,' the press secretary said Tesla founder Elon Musk has heaped praise on China Human Rights Watch estimates that 1 million Uyghur Muslims are detained in 're-education camps' where they have been subjected to torture, slavery and sexual assault. Tesla announced the new showroom in Xinjiang on Dec. 31 on Chinese social media platform Weibo. 'In 2022, let us together launch Xinjiang on its electric journey!' the post said, The Wall Street Journal reported. It also included a photo of people holding signs that said, 'Tesla (heart) Xinjiang.' More than half of Tesla's vehicles were already produced in China in 2021, mostly in Shanghai. Elon Musk has heaped praise on China, tweeting on the Chinese Communist Party's 100th anniversary, the electric vehicle giant's founder tweeted on July 1: 'The economic prosperity that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure!' Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), condemned the news on Twitter: 'I'll be blunt: Any company doing business in Xinjiang is complicit in the cultural genocide taking place there. But Tesla's actions are especially despicable.' 'No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority,' Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wrote in a statement. Similar criticism came from a U.S. trade group, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, and U.S. senator Marco Rubio. 'Nationless corporations are helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up genocide and slave labour in the region,' Rubio said on Twitter. A receptionist works at a Tesla showroom in Beijing, China, Jan. 4, 2022. American-based activists are appealing to Tesla Inc. to close a new showroom in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, where officials are accused of abuses against mostly Muslim ethnic minorities Xinjiang has become a significant point of conflict between Western governments and China in recent years, with a London tribunal ruling last month that China was carrying out genocide of Uyghur Muslims in the region Executive director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth wrote: 'What is @Tesla thinking, choosing to open a showroom in Xinjiang as the Chinese government, through its mass detention and persecution, is committing crimes against humanity there against Uyghur/Turkic Muslims.' Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters news agency. The carmaker operates a factory in Shanghai and is ramping up production there amid surging sales in China. Pressure on foreign companies to take positions on Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan and other politically charged issues has been rising. The ruling Communist Party pushes companies to adopt its positions in their advertising and on websites. It has attacked clothing and other brands that express concern about reports of forced labour and other abuses in Xinjiang. A slew of foreign firms in recent months have been tripped up by these tensions between the West and China over Xinjiang, as they try to balance Western pressure with China's importance as a market and supply base. On Friday, the ruling party's discipline agency threatened Walmart Inc. with a boycott after some shoppers complained online they couldn't find goods from Xinjiang in its Walmart and Sam's Club stores in China. American companies have walked a delicate line between distancing themselves from human rights violations and appeasing their Chinese market, one of the biggest in the world. Last month, Intel shocked Americans when it apologized to its Chinese consumers after it wrote a letter to suppliers urging them to avoid sourcing products from Xinjiang. Meanwhile German car maker Volkswagen has taken heat for its decision to maintain a factory in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The company has defended its presence in the region, assuring that forced labor is not used in its supply chain. Advertisement Furious campaigners have slammed the decision to acquit four people who admitted playing a part in the destruction of the historic statue of slave trader Edward Colston during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, Sage Willoughby, 22, and Jake Skuse, 33, were cleared of all criminal damage charges at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday after requesting that the trial be heard in front of a jury. The bronze memorial to the 17th century merchant was pulled down in Bristol on June 7, 2020 and was later dumped in the harbour during an anti-racism demonstration, one of the many that swept the globe in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Speaking after the verdict was announced on Wednesday, Ms Graham admitted the group were 'ecstatic' at the jury's decision and claimed that they had 'illuminated history' by toppling the statue. The four defendants opted not to have their case dealt with by a district judge or in a magistrates' court. Instead, they opted to be tried by a Crown Court jury in Bristol, which is well-known for its activism. Mr Willoughby let fly an expletive-laden rant outside court, as he too justified the group's actions. 'We didn't change history, they were whitewashing history by calling him a f***ing virtuous man, sorry to swear, we didn't change history, we rectified history,' he said. Mr Skuse, wearing black baseball cap, said the verdict was 'for once the right decision,' and thanked graffiti artist Banksy for designing limited edition t-shirts which they wore outside court. Mr Ponsford issued a 'big thank you' to jurors for 'being on the right side of history'. The prosecution's argument that the case was about the rule of law and not politics was repeated vehemently by critics, who raised concerns the not-guilty verdict would set a precedent for further vandalism and dangerous identity politics. Reacting to the defendants being cleared, campaign group Save Our Statues tweeted: 'Colston statue accused defy justice. Verdict not only gives the green light to political vandalism, but also legitimises the divisive identity politics it helped succour.' Conservative commentator Darren Grimes questioned: 'I cannot believe this news about those who toppled the statue of Edward Colston being found not guilty of criminal damage. 'Are we really now a country that says you can destroy public property as long as you're doing it for a purportedly noble political cause?' Photos from outside the courtroom show Sage Willoughby, Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford and Rhian Graham (from left to right) celebrating after receiving a not guilty verdict at Bristol Crown Court, on January 05, 2022 in Bristol, England Sage Willoughby, Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford and Rhian Graham speak to the media after after receiving a not guilty verdict. Mr Willoughby said: 'He proudly announced: 'We didn't change history, they were whitewashing history by calling him a f***ing virtuous man, sorry to swear, we didn't change history, we rectified history' Milo Ponsford and Rhian Graham were pictured laughing and smiling outside the courtroom this evening. Speaking after the verdict was announced, Ms Graham said the defendants' actions admitted the group were 'ecstatic' at the jury's decision. Sage Willoughby takes a knee to celebrate following the verdict in his favour. The prosecution's argument that the case was about the rule of law and not politics was repeated vehemently by critics, who raised concerns the not-guilty verdict would set a precedent for further vandalism and dangerous identity politics. Who are the four protesters who toppled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston? Ms Graham, from Bristol, works as a stage manager in the theatre industry Rhian Graham, 30 Ms Graham, from Bristol, works as a stage manager in the theatre industry. In a page on jobs website Mandy.com, she says she has been 'singing and dancing' she she was a child and more recently performed as an 'aerial hoop artist'. She holds a degree in Arts and Event Management from Arts University Bournemouth. Ms Graham said during her trial that before helping to tear down the statue of Colston, she had signed petitions calling for it to be removed. She claimed she did not originally have a background in politics or activism but, from 2019, had 'started to make more friends who had more of a passion for history, politics and equality.' 'I felt a bit embarrassed about my own knowledge and felt I needed to try and engage more with the world.' Ponsford, 26, works as a carpenter and lives in a motorhome in Bristol Milo Ponsford, 26 Ponsford, 26, works as a carpenter and lives in a motorhome in Bristol. During the trial at Bristol Crown Court, he said he was 'usually a reserved and professional individual.' The carpenter supplied one of the two ropes which were used on June 7 to haul the statue of Colston off its plinth. He was later seen jumping on the statue and trying to pull Colston's staff away. Ponsford, 26, works as a carpenter and lives in a motorhome in Bristol Sage Willoughby, 22 Sage Willoughby, 22 Willoughby, also from Bristol, is the youngest of the group of four who tore down the statue. Unlike Ponsford, who was arrested at his motorhome after the statue was toppled, Willoughby attended a police interview voluntarily. Jurors heard at the trial at Bristol Crown Court that Willoughby, a keen climber, had tied a rope around the neck of the statue, before Ponsford and Graham pulled on the ropes. Willoughby said in court that he had been signing petitions to have the statue removed 'since he was 11 years old' and added that its toppling of the statue had been an 'act of love, not violence'. He said he had grown up in the St Pauls area of Bristol, which has a large Afro-Caribbean population. As a result, he said he believed having the statue of Colston in the city was an 'insult' and he would continue to believe that whatever the outcome of this [trial].' Skuse, also from Bristol, did not take part in the toppling of the statue but was charged with criminal damage after helping to roll it to Bristol's harbour, where it was dropped in the water Jake Skuse, 33 Skuse, also from Bristol, did not take part in the toppling of the statue but was charged with criminal damage after helping to roll it to Bristol's harbour, where it was dropped in the water. During his trial, he said he had attempted to 'sentence the statue to his death' before tossing it into the harbour. He claimed to have not seen the initial toppling but arrived later and got carried away with the 'hype' of the moment. Skuse said he was inspired to throw the statue in the water after his 'foot was getting sore' from kicking the solid bronze monument. However, the activist admitted that his knowledge of Colston beforehand had been limited to conversations he had had with others and reading the plaque on the statue's plinth. Advertisement Graham, Ponsford and Willoughby were accused of helping pull down the monument, while Skuse allegedly orchestrated it being rolled to the water and thrown in. Despite the two-week trial revolving around the criminal damage charge, the defence argued the protestors' actions were justified, at one point urging members of the jury to 'be on the right side of history'. The defence said the statue, erected in 1895, memorialised a man who prospered from the slave trade, caused offence to people in the city and had not been removed despite repeated campaigns. The decision to acquit the defendants also raises the question of who will now pay the estimated 3,750 in damage that was done to the statue after it was torn from its plinth. A further 350 charge also applies to fix the damaged railings of Pero's Bridge. 'It's felt just out of reach for a long time, I've always felt hopeful but had to remain grounded in that it could have gone either way, but here we are. Just thank you, thank you so much for sitting and listening,' said Ms Graham. Throughout the trial, the protestors did not disagree that they were the ones who orchestrated the demise of the statue, but argued their actions were accounted for because the statue itself had been a hate crime against the people of Bristol. The four defendants laughed as they were today cleared of criminal damage charges, and hugged supporters as they left the courtroom. Speaking outside court on Wednesday, Ms Graham said: 'We are ecstatic and stunned. I tried to write something ready for this moment and I'm just so overwhelmed because it never felt like we'd get here and now we're here. 'There were so many people that day, so many people reverberating across the world in response to it... thanks to really key people, obviously our legal team who have been incredible. I can't thank them enough for getting us through this. 'Everybody on the day, those 10,000 people who marched through the streets of Bristol in the name of equality for our love. 'All the rope-pullers, the statue-climbers, the rollers, the egg-throwers, the marchers, the placard-holders, all those people, you lot are incredible, and the international topplers - the people that went and took their agency and went and did something in their hometown and changed the landscape of their place. 'One thing that we know now is how Colston does not represent Bristol.' Ms Graham said: 'That is one thing that has been a really big lesson to me, being able to take agency in my own life. 'We all have the ability to say how our space is decorated and who we venerate and who we celebrate and one thing we know now is that Colston does not represent Bristol.' Mr Willoughby denied the group were trying to edit history. He said: 'We didn't change history, they were whitewashing history by calling (Colston) a f****** virtuous man - sorry to swear. 'We didn't change history, we rectified it.' He continued: 'This is a victory for Bristol, this is a victory for racial equality and it's a victory for anybody who wants to be on the right side of history.' Some big names lent their support to the defendants, including TV historian and author Professor David Olusoga who gave expert evidence on the history of slavery. Former Bristol lord mayor Cleo Lake came to court to recount her own struggle to have Colston's picture removed from her office, while street artist Banksy designed a limited-edition T-shirt to raise funds for the defendants. During trial, the prosecution said it was 'irrelevant' who Colston was, and the case was one of straightforward criminal damage. Barrister Tom Wainwright, for Mr Ponsford, said the felling of the statue had helped heal the wounds of slavery and accused the prosecution of inviting the jury to 'pick open these wounds once more'. Liam Walker, for Mr Willoughby, told the jury their decision would 'reverberate around the world' and urged them 'to be on the right side of history'. One of Avon and Somerset's most senior police officers, Chief Superintendent Liz Hughes, said in the wake of the verdict: 'I absolutely respect the decision of the jury today and feel that we have done our best to present that evidence. That is the decision that they have made. 'This case has provoked a lot of dialogue in the city around equality and I hope that there are positive moves that arise from these conversations,' she said, but added that 'in the eyes of the law, there was always a clear offence of criminal damage in our investigation.' Summarising before the jury returned their decision, Judge Peter Blair QC reminded the jury to 'disregard rhetoric' about the high-profile case and decide purely on evidence laid out before them. On June 7, around 10,000 people set off from College Green by Bristol Cathedral in the direction of the Colston statue. Milo Ponsford, left, Sage Willoughby, second left, Jake Skuse , second right in mask, and Rhian Graham right, were cleared of all criminal damage charges at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday The bronze memorial to the 17th century merchant Edward Colston was pulled down on June 7 last year during a Black Lives Matter protest, and was later dumped in the harbour (pictured) The group addressed the media in the wake of the high-profile trial The four defendants cheer outside Bristol Crown Court after the jury returned their not guilty verdict. Pictured from left to right: Sage Willoughby, Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford and Rhian Graham 'It's felt just out of reach for a long time, I've always felt hopeful but had to remain grounded in that it could have gone either way, but here we are. Just thank you, thank you so much for sitting and listening,' said Ms Graham (pictured today) after the verdict was announced Rhian Graham is seen at a press conference in Bristol held after she and Jake Skuse, Milo Ponsford, and Sage Willoughby were cleared of criminal damage Ms Graham admitted the group were 'ecstatic' at the jury's decision and claimed that they had 'illuminated history' by toppling the statue Hundreds of people reacted with fury at the decision to acquit four people who admitted playing a part in the destruction of the historic statue of slave trader Edward Colston during Black Lives Matter protests. Summarising before the jury returned their decision, Judge Peter Blair QC (pictured) reminded the jury to 'disregard rhetoric' about the high-profile case and decide purely on evidence laid out before them Protestors, chanting 'pull it down, pull it down' placed ropes around the bronze artifact and threw it into the city's harbour. The Bristol march was part of a wave of demonstrations around the world in response to the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by police officers in the US. Later, an interactive map that pinpointed 125 statues with alleged links to slavery was put together by campaigners on a website called Topple The Racists. In a statement following the verdict, Raj Chada, who represented Jake Skuse, said: 'The truth is that the defendants should never have been prosecuted. 'It is shameful that Bristol City Council did not take down the statue of slaver Edward Colston that had caused such offence to people in Bristol, and equally shameful that they then supported the prosecution of these defendants.' Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, for Rhian Graham, said: 'This case demonstrates the fundamental importance of trial by jury. Colston, who served as deputy governor of the Royal African Company, was once celebrated as Bristol's greatest son, but his legacy is quickly being erased from his home city 'That is because juries represent the collective sense of justice of the community. 'In this case, they determined that a conviction for the removal of this statue - that glorified a slave trader involved in the enslavement of over 84,000 black men, women and children as a 'most virtuous and wise' man - would not be proportionate.' Colston has long been a subject of heated debate in Bristol, where he donated lavishly to charitable causes, using the fortune he made investing in the slave-trading Royal African Company. After a few days at the bottom of the harbour last year, his statue was retrieved by city authorities and put into storage. It had been on public display at Bristol's M Shed museum since the summer but officials announced last week it would be put back into storage from January 3. The man accused of killing an Illinois police officer in cold blood last week was wanted for battery and had been arrested 21 times and charged with 43 crimes in the last seven years. Darius Sullivan, 25, who was arrested for the murder of Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic on December 29, has a lengthy rap sheet for various crimes around Kankakee County. Rittmanic and her partner had been called to the Comfort Inn in Illinois because Sullivan and his girlfriend Xandria Harris had left their dog in their car. When the two cops knocked on the couple's hotel room door to ask them about the animal, Sullivan opened fire - killing Rittmanic and wounding her partner Tyler Bailey. He had previously been charged for burglary, possession of stolen firearms, criminal damage to government property, theft, resisting arrest, driving while under the influence and battery. Many of his cases were still open when he allegedly gunned down Rittmanic with his girlfriend, Xandria Harris, 26, as the officer pleaded for her life inside the Illinois Comfort Inn off Highway 50. Sullivan was denied bond on Wednesday and was extradited from Indiana to face murder and attempted murder charges along with Harris, who was also denied bond on Monday. Darius Sullivan, 25, had been arrested 21 times in the past seven years and had open cases when he shot and killed Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic. He is shown left and his girlfriend Xandria Harris is shown, right Rittmanic, left, is pictured with her wife, Lyn Stua and their rescue dogs. The Bradley Police Department said she was a hero who won Officer of the Year in 2020 Rittmanic (left) was described as a hero and named the Bradley Police Department's Officer of the Year in 2020. Her partner, Bradley Police Officer Tyler Bailey, 27, remains in critical condition after being shot in the head Kankakee County State Attorney General Jim Rowe (right) recounted Rittmanic's dying words as he asked the state to seek the death penalty against Sullivan and Harris Sullivan's open cases date back to February 2021, when he was charged for driving with a suspended license, driving without insurance and driving without vehicle registration. He was due to appear in court on March 30 but did not show up. Then in April, Sullivan, of Kankakee, was charged by Illinois State Police for driving without insurance and while in possession of marijuana. He was released and asked to appear in court on June 16, and after he failed to show up, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Another warrant was later issued for his arrest on July 12, after Sullivan failed to appear in court to face a May 5 misdemeanor battery charge in Bradley, the Kankakee Times reported. Sullivan's rap sheet begins when he was arrested by Kankakee City Police for burglary and felony possession of a stolen firearm when he was just 19. He pleaded guilty to the burglary charges and received 36 months probation. Then in May 2015, Sullivan was arrested again for damaging government property and theft and sentenced to 30 more months probation. He was back in cuffs again in February 2017 for burglary and theft charges, as well as driving without a license or insurance. The following year, Sullivan was arrested for resisting a Kankakee City Police officer in May. Sullivan went on to be arrested 17 more times and received a total 43 charges from Kankakee County Sheriff's office and the Bradley, Manteno and Illinois State Police Departments. Sullivan has three children with Harris, of Bradley, who is currently pregnant. Sullivan's rap sheet starts in June 2014, when he was 19 years old Rittmanic's wife, Lyn Stua attended the Harris's bond hearing on Monday State and local officials said Sullivan was denied bail during a hearing on Wednesday Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, a 14-year veteran of the Bradley Police Department, was shot dead after responding to a call about a barking dog The Bradley Police Department and Kankakee County Sheriff's Office described Rittmanic, a veteran of the force for 21 years, as a hero. She was well-known for her leadership in the community and had received the department's Officer of the Year award in 2020. Family and fellow department officers told NBC 5 in a statement: ''Our world has been turned upside down, obliterated and hopelessly broken.' They went on to thank those who 'have affectionately gone out of their way to help us get through the most unnecessary, heartbreaking, painful, deplorable, tragic loss of our lives.' 'We are forever indebted to all of you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts,' the statement read. A funeral service for the slain officer will be held on Friday. Sullivan Kankakee County State Attorney General Jim Rowe presented dramatic body cam footage at a Monday bond hearing that showed Rittmanic begging for her life as Sullivan shot her to death with Harris's help. 'Just leave, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,' Rowe said as he recounted Rittmanic's final words. 'She was desperately pleading for her life.' Rowe said Sullivan shot Rittmanic and chased her down a hallway at the inn, pinning her to the floor as Harris disarmed the officer, giving the weapon to Sullivan, who pointed the gun at the injured officer. He said Sullivan then fired two shots, killing Rittmanic. The pair also shot Rittmanic's partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, 27, who is in critical condition at a Chicago area hospital. Row is asking the state to consider the death penalty against Sullivan and Harris. Although Illinois isn't a death penalty state, the U.S. Attorney General can authorize the filing of a petition to seek out the punishment in certain federal murder cases. 'I will be submitting an official request to the U.S. Attorney General for the Central District of Illinois and to the U.S. Attorney General to review the first degree murder case pending against Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris for federal murder charges, and pursue a federal sentence of death against both defendants,' Rowe said. The States Attorney will also seek life sentences for both Sullivan and Harris as the existing state-level charges proceed, Rowe said. Judge Kathy Bradshaw Elliott granted a request to deny Harris bail. 'You are a real threat to the community,' Elliott told Harris. Sullivan remained in custody and will appear at a later hearing. The shooting took place at the Comfort Inn on Illinois' Highway 50 Sullivan, 25, of Bourbonnais was arrested after a 36-hour manhunt by U.S. Marshals and a SWAT team on Friday near Fort Wayne at a home in North Manchester, Indiana Rittmanic and Bailey were responding to a report of dogs barking in an unattended vehicle at the motel on Wednesday when they were shot. When the officers ran the car's license plates, they discovered that it belonged to Sullivan. Bailey knew that Sullivan was wanted on a bench warrant, according to court documents, and that he had previously run from Bradley police officers trying to arrest him. The two officers knocked on the door of room 308, where Sullivan and Harris were staying, for about 15 minutes. Harris repeatedly told them through the door that she was getting dressed. Finally, she opened the door and tried to wedge her way outside and close the door behind her, hiding Sullivan from officers. They asked her multiple times to move out of the way before Sullivan emerged, wielding a 9mm handgun equipped with a drum clip. He pointed the barrel and Bailey and shot him point-blank in the head. He shot Rittmanic as she tried to run away, according to court documents. Then, his gun jammed - he tried to unjam the weapon with his right hand and mouth while he used his left hand to try to disarm Rittmanic. Harris ran down the hallway towards the struggle, and Sullivan allegedly told her to 'cock the gun, cock the gun.' With her help, Sullivan took Rittmanic's service weapon from her, which he used to shoot her in the head, officials said. Sullivan was arrested after a 36-hour manhunt by U.S. Marshals and a SWAT team on Friday near Fort Wayne at a home in North Manchester, Indiana, police said. 'Also at the house, several weapons and narcotics were also recovered,' Sgt. Glen Fifield with Indiana State Police said. Cellphone video showed Sullivan and 19-year-old Daniel Acros, who was also arrested, walking out with their hands in the air after police cleared the home. Hours later, Xandria A. Harris, 26, turned herself in to the Bradley Police Department. Her attorney, Phil Haddad, said she turned herself in voluntarily. 'She maintains her innocence. She's a mother of three children and she's pregnant,' Haddad said. The case will go before a Kankakee County grand jury on Jan. 22. The next court date for Harris is Jan. 27 when she will be arraigned. In Wabash, Indiana, meanwhile, Sullivan is fighting extradition to Illinois. Rowe said he will start the process of asking Indianas governor to sign a warrant to have Sullivan extradited to Kankakee County. Rittmanic, who lived in Kankakee, joined department in 2007 and was promoted to sergeant in 2014, said Lieutenant Philip Trudeau, a department spokesman. She previously spent seven years as a deputy with the Iroquois County Sheriff's Department, he said. People stand with hands on their hearts during the ceremonial procession for fallen Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, Thursday, December 30 Bradey Police Lt. Philip Trudeau, left, comforts Bourbonnais Police officer Andy Cox following a ceremonial procession for fallen Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic on Thursday, December 30 Members of the Bradley Police Department stand by as fallen Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic is taken into the Clancy-Gernon Funeral Home in Bourbonnais, Illinois on Thursday, December 30 Bradley Police officer Sam Palaggi hugs a fellow officer following a ceremonial procession for fallen Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic on Thursday, December 30 Bailey underwent surgery for head injuries and remained in very critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, officials said. Police also arrested two other suspects in Indiana connected to the case. Bryce Baker, 20, and Joshua Adams, 26, both from Kankakee, Illinois, were taken into custody when police spotted them driving the wrong-way during the manhunt for Sullivan. Their possible connection to Sullivan was being investigated, FOX 32 reported. 'Any time an officer is killed in the line of duty, no matter where it happens in the country, it affects all of us,' Fifield said. The French government has defended President Emmanuel Macron's vow to 'pi** off' the unvaccinated, saying the unjabbed are already 'pi**ing off' health workers and businesses. Macron, 44, made the cutting remark while responding to a nurse during a question and answer session with readers of Le Parisien on how the government will handle non-vaccinated people. The phrase prompted howls of condemnation from rivals and forced parliament to suspend a debate on a Covid-19 bill today as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from Macron. The French President yesterday said he wanted to 'pi** off' unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting jabbed. 'By and Im sorry for putting it this way by p***ing them off even more,' Macron said. 'Im generally opposed to the French being p****d off. I complain all the time about administrative blockages. But when it comes to the non-vaccinated, Im very keen to pi** them off. So were going to do it, the end. Thats our strategy.' Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said it stood by Macron's comments. 'Who is pissing off who today?', Attal said, quoting health workers struggling to cope or businesses hurt by the pandemic. 'It's those who refuse the vaccine.' It comes as France set a record for new Covid cases over a 24-hour period on Wednesday with 335,000 additional infections recorded. It was the first time that French cases breached 300,000, smashing the previous record established on Tuesday when 271,686 new Covid cases were recorded. The French government has defended President Emmanuel Macron's vow to 'pi** off' the unvaccinated, saying the unjabbed are already 'pi**ing off' health workers and businesses Hundreds of thousands of French have demonstrated against the 'Pass Sanitaire' and mandatory vaccination for health care workers in recent months 'A president cannot say such things,' Christian Jacob, chair of the conservative Les Republicans party, told parliament as it discussed a bill to make it mandatory for people to show proof of vaccination to enter many enclosed public spaces. The legislation will remove the option, put in place last year, of showing a negative test, effectively barring unvaccinated people from hospitality venues or trains. The plans have faced fierce resistance from anti-vaccination campaigners and far-right and far-left groups, but is backed by the government which has a majority in parliament. French government officials yesterday vowed to enact the law as planned by mid-January despite the legislation hitting a procedural hitch in parliament overnight. 'January 15 remains our goal,' for the law coming into force, European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told LCI television. With a presidential election due in April in which he is expected to run, Macron may have calculated that enough people are now vaccinated - and upset with remaining anti-vaxxers - for his comment to go down well with voters. It resonated with some. 'He's right,' said 89-year-old Paris pensioner Jean, who's had his Covid-19 booster and a flu shot too. 'Those who are against the vaccine should understand the dangers, and they should get vaccinated.' But others agreed with lawmaker Jacob that Macron's use of the slang term 'emmerder' - from 'merde' (sh*t) - was unacceptable. 'That shows an aggressive side, it's a bad word, it's not very clever of him,' said 25-year old sales representative Maya Belhassen. 'That's not a good comment from a president,' added newspaper seller Pascal Delord. France has historically had more vaccine sceptics than many of its neighbours, and pandemic restrictions have triggered many street protests. But nearly 90 per cent of those aged 12 have now been inoculated, one of the continent's highest Covid-19 vaccination rates. In the Le Parisien interview, Macron, who has consistently called on everyone in France to get vaccinated, also called unvaccinated people irresponsible and - in another remark criticised by some voters and the opposition, that 'irresponsible people are no longer citizens'. He said he aims to irritate the unvaccinated into submission, rather than round them up and prosecute them. 'I won't send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I won't vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you won't be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won't be able to down one, won't be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema...' Macron's use of a very informal French phrase, which can be translated as 'to p*** them off', prompted immediate criticism by rivals on social media. Macron did not say whether he would run for re-election but said he 'would like to'. 'A president shouldn't say that,' far right leader Marine Le Pen responded on Twitter. 'Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office.' People have for several months had to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test to enter venues such as cinemas and cafes and use trains. But with Delta and Omicron variant infections surging, the government decided to drop the test option in the new bill. French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate for the 2022 French presidential election Marine Le Pen said of Macron's comments: 'A president shouldn't say that. Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office' Protesters hold posters reading 'Freedom' and 'No To Health Pass' during a demonstration held last year by right-wing party 'Les Patriotes' against the COVID-19 sanitary pass which grants vaccinated individuals greater ease of access to venues in France, in Paris, France Protesters hold posters reading 'Freedom' and 'No To Health Pass' during a demonstration in Paris on August 14 The opposition forced the suspension of the debate on the vaccine pass, shortly before 2am (0100 GMT). It resumed during the afternoon. 'I'm in favour of the vaccine pass but I cannot back a text whose objective is to 'p*** off' the French,' Jacob told parliament before the suspension. 'Is that your objective, yes or no? We cannot keep debating without having a clear answer on that.' As the clear favourite in the polls, Macron has not yet officially said he was running, although his lieutenants are already preparing a campaign. Macron also announced yesterday that France would not see fresh Covid restrictions amid a surge of new infections ahead of a government meeting today. France registered around 270,00 new daily cases earlier on Tuesday, a new record. The French president has been criticised in the past for off-the-cuff remarks which many French people said came across as arrogant, cutting or scornful. He has later expressed contrition on several occasions. Tragic Star Hobson's grieving grandfather died of a drug overdose on her mother's 20th birthday just months after she let her female lover murder the innocent child. Andrew Smith, 50, lost his battle with addiction and depression after being rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary on June 16 last year, an inquest heard today. Mr Smith had relapsed following a period of sobriety after 16-month-old Star was killed under the watch of his daughter Frankie Smith and murderer Savannah Brockhill in September 2020. Frankie was jailed for eight years last month for allowing Star's death, while Brockhill got a minimum of 25 years for committing the brutal murder. Bradford Coroner's Court was told Mr Smith had been found at his flat having suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital but could not be saved. His death came five days after he had discharged himself from hospital against medical advice after a respiratory arrest following a drugs overdose. Andrew Smith, 50, struggled to cope after Star Hobson's tragic murder in September, 2020 Star was murdered by Savannah Brockhill, under the watch of her own neglectful mother Partners in death: Savannah Brockhill, 28 and Frankie Smith, 20, were convicted over Star A post-mortem examination found toxic levels of methadone - a heroin substitute - in his blood, and this was recorded as his cause of death, Bradford Coroners Court heard. A statement from one of his daughter's Jade Smith was read out by Assistant Coroner Angela Brocklehurst during the hearing. She said her father had attended Frizinghall Primary and Hanson School before working in bricklaying, and met his first partner aged 16, with whom he had two children. Police released a harrowing picture of one of the bruises on Star's face that sparked calls to social services from family Star Hobson (pictured with Brockhill) suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital from appalling injuries inflicted on her A timeline of failures: How social services and police missed abuse of tragic Star January 23, 2020 - A referral from Smith's friend and sometimes babysitter Hollie Jones went to social services. Three days later police visited but there were no concerns raised. Social services tried to visit Smith on January 28 but she was not home. Her family were spoken to and no problems were raised, so the case was closed on February 27. May 5, 2020 - Star's great-grandmother Anita Smith contacted social services over concerns over how the baby was being treated. They visited but there were no bruises to either the baby or her mother. June 21, 2020 - Jordan Hobson, Star's father, referred Smith and Brockhill to social services after seeing pictures the couple had shared of his daughter's bruised face. Police again visited their home and saw the markings on the baby's head. Smith told them Star had hit her head on the handle of a coffee table. A medical examination found two bruises on her cheek and four on the back of her leg. June 23, 2020 - Social services were again contacted by Rachel Whiteley, a close friend of Smith's mother Yvonne Spendley. She had been concerned how Smith had treated Star at a barbecue, picking her up roughly. Ms Whiteley said at the time: 'I thought it was disgusting, giving her barbecue food, the way she handled her.' Social services closed the case in July. September 2, 2020 - Frank Smith Star's paternal great-grandfather alerted social services to a video of Star with bruises on her face. They noticed Star was so unsteady on her feet she walked into a sofa while they were there. There were also bruises on her cheek and right shin but were told by Brockhill she had fallen down the stairs. The murderer told police later what the social worker had said, adding: 'Social services came to see Star, she checked her body, her bedroom, chatted with us about Star, she said the report was malicious.' On September 15 social services closed the case, indeed concluding the referral had been 'malicious'. A week later Star was murdered. Advertisement After nine years together they split up, and Mr Smith then met Yvonne Spendley, with whom he had five children, and they were together up until 2020 when he moved to a flat in Frizinghall. Miss Smith said her father was 'sociable, very funny and a bit of a lad', but in his final years had become 'lonely and unhappy'. He lived with anxiety and depression for many years and also was a long-term drug user. But she said he had constantly tried to beat his addiction and spent long periods sober before relapsing. 'He always tried to escape them but the drugs drew him back in, they gave him an escape when things got tough,' she said. 'I told him to get off the drugs but it was a losing battle. If he could turn back time he would have lived life differently.' She said he was a 'loving and caring' father, having regular contact with his children and grandchildren, and when she last spoke to him on June 15, 2021, the day before his tragic death, he had enjoyed a 'good day with the kids'. Frank Smith, Mr Smith's father, added he was a 'good son' but the drugs had 'changed him'. Mr Smith had discharged himself from hospital five days before his tragic passing A toxicologist report found 'significant amounts of methadone in his blood, way beyond normal levels even for chronic users'. The court also heard how he had long-term contact with drug misuse services and received ongoing treatment for his addiction. At the start of 2021 he was drug free but was drinking 'a few bottles of whisky a week' and was alerted to the dangers of using alcohol and methadone and offered help which he declined. An appointment in May 2021 found traces of heroin, cocaine, cannabis and methadone in his urine and he said he had used drugs. On June 10, 2021, he was admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary with respiratory arrest due to secondary drug overdose and kept in overnight for tests, but discharged himself the following morning against medical advice. He was then found at home on June 16 having had a cardiac arrest, and his death was recorded at 9.40pm that day at BRI. In conclusion, Assistant Coroner Mrs Brocklehurst said: 'The post-mortem report found this was a methadone related death. 'I find the cause of death was methadone toxicity, and my conclusion is this was a drugs related death. 'My condolences and sympathies go to Mr Smith's family, Jade painted a picture of a man loved and supported by his family who tried to escape addiction; sadly that was not possible and it brought about his sad death, but he tried. 'It's a tragic loss and I am sorry for that loss.' The first Andrew Cuomo accuser to take her sexual assault allegations to police is lashing out after a New York district attorney dropped the case, saying the experience 'revictimized her' and that the justice system 'needs to do better.' Brittany Commisso, 33, claimed the former New York governor groped her inside the Executive Mansion while she was working as his aide in November 2020. Cuomo was due to be arraigned Friday on a Class A misdemeanor of forcible touching but the prosecution on Tuesday dropped the case. Although Commisso sought to move forward with the charge - with Albany County District Attorney David Soares calling her 'credible' - prosecutors doubted there was enough evidence to secure a conviction. She released a statement late Tuesday expressing frustration in the outcome. 'My disappointing experience of re-victimization with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power,' Commisso said in a statement to the Times Union of Albany. 'When will our voices uniformly be accepted? Where do we go to have our rights vindicated? Unfortunately, this is just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better.' Brittany Commisso, 33, was the first woman to take sexual assault allegations against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo to police Cuomo was due to be arraigned on Friday for allegedly groping former staffer and current state worker Brittany Commisso, 33, middle, in November 2020. McGrath is pictured on the far left. She said through an attorney she was not surprised by the Tuesday ruling Prosecutors dropped the charge Tuesday, and Commisso released a statement saying the case 'highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power' Commisso (left) is pictured with Cuomo and then-colleague McGrath in this undated photo Other accusers have also expressed disappointment in the outcome, with Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis blasting the legal system in a statement through their attorney. 'Unfortunately, our penal laws and system frequently do not properly punish the acts of so many abusive men in power,' their lawyer Mariann Wang said in a statement. 'Cuomo's conduct was nonetheless unlawful and deeply harmful to the women who were subjected to it, as the Attorney General and Assembly found in their reports. 'My clients remain grateful for those investigations and above all to the other women who had the courage to come forward. Cuomo and men like him should not be in positions of power.' Cuomo claimed during a sworn deposition that Commisso asked for a raise during the same month as the purported groping Cuomo accusers Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis said through their attorney that while they were disappointed in the outcome, they were not surprised Albany County's district attorney confirmed Tuesday that he will not be prosecuted for allegedly groping another woman at his executive mansion McGrath, 33, a former administrative assistant in Cuomo's office and Commisso's ex-colleague, says the governor, 63, ogled her body, called her and her and another co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring, per The New York Times. The ex-Cuomo staffer also alleges that the fallen politician once looked down her shirt, quizzed her about her marital status, and told her she was beautiful, using an Italian phrase she had to ask her parents to interpret. She recalled Cuomo kissing her on the forehead and gripping her firmly around the sides while posing for a photo at a 2019 office Christmas party. McGrath didn't say the governor made sexual contact with her, but contends that his behavior was inappropriate and constitutes sexual harassment. The Times conducted several interviews with McGrath early last year, in which she described the governor's pattern of flirtatious banter. McGrath, 33, a former administrative assistant in Cuomo's office and Commisso's ex-colleague, says the governor, 63, ogled her body, called her and her and another co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring, according to the New York Times National Grid staffer Limmiatis, meanwhile, asserts that the then-governor touched her chest multiple times during a rope line event in 2017 Limmiatis, meanwhile, a National Grid worker who says Cuomo touched her inappropriately a rope line at a 2017 event, alleges that the then-governor ran his fingers on the lettering that ran across the chest of her shirt and brushed her chest a second time after joking that he had spotted a spider. Both cases have yet to be resolved. As for Commisso's allegations, however, Cuomo could still face civil lawsuits for the alleged interaction, according to Albany County's district attorney office. It's the fourth time within the past week that allegations against Cuomo have been dropped; Manhattan's district attorney said Monday that is will not file any charges against Cuomo in the nursing home scandal. Last week, prosecutors in two districts said Cuomo would not face criminal charges after two women, including a state trooper, alleged that he planted unwanted kisses on their cheeks. Commisso was the first woman to pursue criminal charges over allegations that he groped her breast in his office in November 202. Soares confirmed Tuesday that the charge will not be prosecuted. The office's investigation into Cuomo is now complete. 'While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former Governor, the Albany County DA's Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,' Soares said in a press release. 'While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial. As such we have notified the Court that we are declining to prosecute this matter and requesting the charges filed by the Albany County Sheriff be dismissed.' The democratic prosecutor had hinted Monday that the complaint was concerning. 'While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former governor, the Albany County DA's Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,' Soares said Monday. Following Soare's announcement, Commisso responded to her case falling through the cracks of the legal system. 'My disappointing experience of re-victimization with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power,' Commisso wrote in a statement to the Times Union. 'When will our voices uniformly be accepted? Where do we go to have our rights vindicated? Unfortunately, this is just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better. 'To every victim out there silently suffering from sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful government official, wondering what will happen if you tell the truth, please don't let what has happened to me deter you from speaking up,' she said. Cuomo, meanwhile, has denied all of the allegations against him. His lawyer did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. Cuomo's attorney Rita Glavin has said that Commisso's 'story changed over time.' The complaint filed by an investigator in Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple's office said evidence in the case included police BlackBerry messages, cell phone records, building security records and a text message from Cuomo's mobile phone. Soars criticized Apple for 'unilaterally and inexplicably' filing a complaint before consulting with prosecutors, and said the complaint was 'potentially defective.' Apple has contended that although the paperwork was processed quickly, he was confident the case would stick. A complaint filed by an Albany County sheriff's department investigator said evidence in the case included police BlackBerry messages, cell phone records, building security records and a text message from Cuomo's mobile phone Police in October filed a misdemeanor groping complaint against Cuomo, but a week later the district attorney asked a judge for more time to evaluate the evidence. The D.A. said that the sheriff's one-page criminal complaint, based on Commisso's allegations were 'potentially defective.' New York's attorney general's office released a 500-page transcript of Cuomo's deposition last November that contained claims by the former politician that Commisso asked for a raise during the same month of the alleged groping. He told investigators that she asked for a raise in November 2020 after filing for divorce from her husband. According to him, she begged him for a raise and was 'upset' and fearful that she was going to lose her job because she'd filed for divorce from her local politician husband, and was worried about money. Cuomo described Commisso as 'friendly', 'chatty' and 'flirtatious' when she came to work for him during COVID-19, after her department was shut down, but said he also had 'limited contact' with her. Commisso was the first woman to take her claims against Cuomo to police, who charged him with a Class A misdemeanor of forcible touching over her allegation that he groped her breast in his office in November 2020 The ex-governor was also let off the hook last week when Westchester District Attorney Mimi Roca said he won't face criminal charges stemming from allegations of unwanted kissing by two women, one of them a state trooper assigned to his detail. District Attorney Mimi Rocah said there was 'credible evidence' the claims were valid 'In both instances, my office has determined that, although the allegations and witnesses were credible, and the conduct concerning, we cannot pursue criminal charges due to the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of New York,' Rocah said in a statement. The female state trooper said she felt 'completely violated' by his unwanted touching at an event at Belmont Park racetrack in September 2019. According to the report, the trooper said Cuomo ran the palm of his left hand across her abdomen, to her belly button and then to her right hip, where she kept her gun, while she held a door open for him as he left an event at Belmont Park on September 23, 2019. Last August, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a 168-page report with 74,000 pieces of evidence and dozens of interviews that chronicled accusations from 11 women against Cuomo and led to his resignation from office, although he has attacked the findings as biased and inaccurate. After James' report was concluded, she said pursuing potential criminal penalties would be up to prosecutors. The unnamed state trooper assigned to Cuomo's detail was on duty at his home in Mount Kisco and asked the governor if he needed anything before he responded by asking her if he could kiss her, according to James' report. The trooper said that she feared the ramifications of denying his request, so she said 'sure.' Cuomo kissed her on the cheek and, as listed in James' report, said something along the lines of 'oh, I'm not supposed to do that' or 'unless that's against the rules.' Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days later In a second allegation probed by Rocah's office, a woman claimed that an unprompted Cuomo grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him and kissed her on the cheek to greet her at an event at White Plains High School. While Rocah said that her office would not pursue criminal charges, she added that their conclusion is not related to 'any possible civil liability' because it is outside of her office's jurisdiction. Last week, a Long Island prosecutor said Cuomo wouldn't face criminal charges after the same unnamed trooper said she felt 'completely violated' by his unwanted touching at an event at Belmont Park in September 2019. Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith said the allegations were credible and troubling but not criminal under state law. Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017. Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Bennett accused Cuomo of 'grooming' her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life. She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s. Attorney General Letitia James' report found that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women in violation of federal and state civil rights law but left the possibility of pursuing potential criminal penalties to prosecutors Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan. Ana Liss, 35, a former aide, said Cuomo asked her whether she had a boyfriend, once kissed her hand at her desk and called her by patronizing names, including 'blondie,' 'sweetheart' and 'honey.' Alyssa McGrath said Cuomo ogled her body, called her and her co-worker 'mingle mamas' and asked about her lack of a wedding ring as well calling her beautiful in Italian At a reception, the governor hugged her then put his arm around her lower back and waist as they posed for photo, Liss said. She said she eventually asked for a job transfer. In an interview, Liss said she was 'not claiming sexual harassment per se,' but felt the administration 'wasn't a safe space for young women to work.' Rita Glavin, a lawyer for Cuomo, responded to McGrath's allegations by admitting he uses Italian phrases like 'ciao bella.' 'The governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like 'ciao bella',' Glavin told the Times on Friday. The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his 'dimly lit' hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room. The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released. The accuser, who is a member of Cuomo's staff, alleged that he closed a door, reached under her blouse and fondled her after summoning her to the governor's mansion in Albany for help with his cellphone, according to the Times Union of Albany. A recruit with the Alameda County Sheriffs Department in California was shot to death while traveling on a freeway in Oakland on Tuesday. The Asian-American recruit, who has not been named, was pronounced dead at Highland Hospital. The 28-year-old, who was not in uniform at the time, was driving home from a training class when he was shot in his vehicle around 4:30pm near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge toll plaza. He was on track to graduate the recruit academy in February, the report said. 'Our Deputies have just loaded the body of our young police academy recruit for a law enforcement procession from Highland Hospital to our Coroner's Bureau,' the sheriff's department tweeted on Wednesday. 'We are heartbroken and disturbed by this senseless act of gun violence.' Pictured: members of the Alameda County Sheriffs Department and the California Highway Patrol stand in formation outside an Oakland hospital and salute the recruit's casket The recruit's casket, pictured above draped in the American flag, as it was loaded into a coroner's van after the fatal shooting on Tuesday evening Authorities say the recruit crashed into a guardrail after being shot, which caused serious damage to the vehicle. It was unclear as of Wednesday whether the car was his own or a patrol vehicle, however authorities did confirm he was the only occupant at the time of the shooting. No arrests were made and there was no immediate information available about a suspect or possible motive, according to the station. Video was released by the sheriff's office Wednesday, showing members of the department and the California Highway Patrol as they stood in formation outside an Oakland hospital and saluted the recruit's casket, which was draped in the American flag, as it was loaded into a coroner's van after the fatal shooting on Tuesday evening. The Alameda County Sheriffs Office cancelled academy training classes in the wake of the recruit's murder, and has made grief counselors available for their members on Wednesday, the East Bay Times reported. 'We are saddened to report that a young ASCO employee was tragically murdered near the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza... this evening while driving home from work' the department tweeted 'I just came from the (training) academy, and it is definitely not business as usual,' sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson told the outlet. 'There's a lot of emotions. So it's a tough day.' Nelson added that there was no timeline on when the recruit will be publicly identified. The recruit's parents, sister and girlfriend were all at the scene as well, FOX 2 reported. The CHP's Golden Gate unit was leading the investigation, according to the sheriff's office. The homicide was the third to occur in Oakland in 2022, just five days into the new year. A fourth, unrelated homicide took place early Wednesday in East Oakland, according to Oakland police. There were 139 homicides in Oakland last year. The recruit's shooting death comes just weeks after the Oakland City Council reversed its support of defunding the police and voted to hire more police officers. Earlier last month, the Oakland City Council voted to hire more police officers in response to the spike in violent crime. Oakland's Mayor Libby Schaaf proposed a plan to add two new police academies and unfreeze positions within the department to add 60 new officers. The mayor celebrated the vote in a statement, saying that Oakland residents 'spoke up for a comprehensive approach to public safety one that includes prevention, intervention, and addressing crime's root causes, as well as an adequately staffed police department.' Meanwhile, the CHP urged anyone with information related to the recruit's shooting death to contact their tip line at 707-917-4491. The Oakland City Council has been considered a longtime ally of the Black Lives Matter movement but has turned back to supporting police as violent crime spikes (Pictured: A protester holds a sign calling for the defunding of police at a protest on July 25, 2020, in Oakland) Advertisement Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell appears to be following in the footsteps of fellow liberal Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by taking a trip to mask-and mandate-free Florida - just days after lashing out at Republicans for 'prolonging' the coronavirus pandemic. The California Democrat has repeatedly accused conservative lawmakers of being responsible for the ongoing covid wave and last week blamed the GOP for 'canceled vacations' and for having to wear 'masks everywhere' again just before the new year. But Swalwell, himself, was apparently able to go ahead with his holiday travel plans and ditch his mask just days later, when he was spotted hanging out at the posh Loews Miami Beach Hotel. The 41-year-old was seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos Tuesday chatting with a female friend at the lobby of the four-star hotel while looking after his infant son. Swalwell, who represents parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, appeared dressed for the warm Miami weather, sporting a blush-colored polo, shorts, and boat shoes. Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell was seen maskless while vacationing in restriction-free Florida on Tuesday, just days after blaming Republicans for 'canceled vacations' and 'prolonging' the pandemic Photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the California Democrat, 41, with his infant son while chatting to a female friend in the lobby of the Loews Miami Beach Hotel Swalwell, who welcomed a baby boy in November with wife Brittany, has been a huge proponent of vaccine and mask mandates - something that Florida has refused to implement during the pandemic Despite being out of his usual office attire, it wasn't long before the congressman was recognized and approached by bystanders who took note of his unlikely visit to the Sunshine State. 'When a guest saw [Swalwell] sitting there with his child and another person they sarcastically said: "Nice to see you in Miami",' one eyewitness told DailyMail.com. 'He said: "Thank you."' The congressman took aim at the GOP with a scathing New Year's Eve tweet accusing them of being responsible for the latest wave coronavirus cases But when the hotel guest went on to ask about his lack of face covering and if he was vaccinated, Swalwell was left 'speechless,' according to the source. Swalwell, like many fellow Democrats, has been a huge proponent of mask and vaccine mandates throughout the pandemic and has openly criticized his Republican counterparts for failing to enforce such measures. Florida is among the red states that have refused to implement what they've called 'draconian' covid-related policies, even with the latest omicron surge that is gripping the country. Earlier in December, Swalwell had reiterated calls for mandatory vaccines after saying that it is 'one-hundred percent batty that the unvaccinated are allowed to fly.' 'It's unsafe in the cabin and we are transporting the virus,' he tweeted while on a flight to San Francisco on December 19. 'Requiring the vaccine to fly is the LEAST we can do to stop the spread.' Then on New Year's Eve, the father-of-three doubled down, this time firing off a scathing reply at the GOP after it tweeted: 'If the booster shots work, why don't they work?' 'As we end 2021, mired in a deadly pandemic, you should know who has prolonged it. THESE GUYS. Republican liars. Your vacation cancelled. Your kids back to virtual learning. And back to masks everywhere. For blame look no farther than #theseguys,' he wrote. According to an eyewitness, Swalwell was soon recognized by bystanders, such as one guest who commented on his unlikely visit to the Sunshine State Despite lamenting canceled vacations and having to resort to masks again, Swalwell, was apparently able to go ahead with his holiday travel plans and ditch his mask in Miami days later Swalwell, pictured left with wife Brittany Watts, has been a popular target for Republicans, particularly for his role as a House manager during the second impeachment of President Donald Trump Swalwell's office addressed his visit in a statement to DailyMail.com Wednesday saying: 'The Congressman was in the Sunshine State to take official meetings and campaign to help Democrats keep the House. 'He loves Florida and has dozens of family members there. It is lies from unvaccinated Republicans that are prolonging the pandemic.' The father-of-three reiterated calls for vaccine mandates on December 19 after saying it is 'one-hundred percent batty that the unvaccinated are allowed to fly' Swalwell's trip to Florida - which has been widely criticized by liberals over its lax covid rules - comes days after fellow Democrat AOC was photographed having lunch with her boyfriend Riley Roberts in Miami. Former Trump advisor Steve Cortes shared a photo of the sighting on Twitter Friday, questioning why the New York congresswoman had been 'frolicking in free Florida', while advocating for mask and vaccine mandates in her home state. '1. If Leftists like AOC actually thought mandates and masking worked, they wouldn't be frolicking in free FL. 2. Her guy is showing his gross pale male feet in public (not at a pool/beach) with hideous sandals,' Cortes tweeted. Ocasio-Cortez replied with scorn, bizarrely claiming that Republicans were just angry because they want to date her. 'If Republicans are mad they can't date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend's feet. Ya creepy weirdos,' she wrote. She continued: 'It's starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general. 'These people clearly need therapy, won't do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It's really weird.' Swalwell's trip to Florida - which has been widely criticized by liberals over its lax covid rules - came just days after fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was photographed having lunch with her boyfriend Riley Roberts in Miami Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted the so-called 'lockdown politicians' during a press conference Monday for vacationing in restriction-free Florida during the pandemic despite pushing for mask and vaccine mandates in their own states Her reaction sparked a firestorm on social media with many ridiculing her bizarre claim and accusing her of being a hypocrite. The Squad leader nonetheless carried on with her vacation and was later seen partying at a 'drag brunch' event on Sunday with actor Billy Porter. Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday blasted the so-called 'lockdown politicians,' like AOC for flocking to the state during the pandemic despite pushing for mask and vaccine mandates in their own districts. 'If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician that decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I'd be a pretty doggone wealthy man,' DeSantis said during a press conference. 'Congresspeople, mayors, governors, you name it.' The governor suggested the politicians were hypocrites, saying: 'I think a lot of Floridians will say "wait a minute, you're bashing us because we're not doing your draconian policies and yet we're the first place you want to flee to...to be able to enjoy life."' DeSantis stated the hypocrisy extends beyond the New York representative, alleging 'there are probably about a half dozen governors who have restrictions on their people and then were spotted at various points in Florida'. 'Some of it's been public, some of it has not been public,' he added. 'I am happy though that Florida is a place where people know they can come, they can live like normal people and they can make their own decisions.' Police are hunting for a former teacher who was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of raping a young boy. Alan Kehoe, 53, from Bletchley, was convicted for numerous sexual offences in his absence following a trial at Inner London Crown Court. The offences, including rape, took place between 1994 and 1996 while Kehoe was a teacher at a school in Croydon. He was convicted in December of one count of buggery with a boy under 16, now known as rape, as well as causing or inciting a boy to engage in sexual activity, one assault of a boy under 13 by touching and one count of abuse of trust causing or inciting sexual activity with a boy. However Kehoe failed to appear at court for his trial and a warrant is now out for his arrest. Police are hunting for Alan Kehoe, 53, from Bletchley, who was convicted for numerous sexual offences between 1994 and 1996. (Stock image) In July 2018, one of the victims reported that Kehoe had sexually assaulted him while he was a pupil at the school. Detectives from South Area's Safeguarding Team launched an investigation and a further victim was identified. Other witnesses were also located who detailed further evidence of grooming. Kehoe was arrested and later charged with the offences. Detective Constable Helen Smith, who led the investigation, said: 'The victims in this case have been incredibly brave in coming forward and reporting the offences Kehoe committed against them. 'The evidence that they gave in court was pivotal in securing a significant custodial sentence and they should be commended for speaking out. The former teacher was convicted in his absence following a trial at Inner London Crown Court 'There may be others who were abused by Kehoe who until now have not felt able to tell anyone. 'Please get in touch with us - we are here to listen to you and will take what you say incredibly seriously. 'Anyone responsible for carrying out these kind of crimes should face justice, no matter how much time has passed.' Anyone who wants to speak to police can do so by calling 101. Kim Chong-in, chief of the main opposition People Power Party's presidential campaign, steps out of the party's office in Seoul, Jan. 4. Yonhap Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol announced the dissolution of his campaign committee in a restructuring move Wednesday, just two months ahead of the election. Tests for travellers before they arrive in England are to be scrapped, Boris Johnson has announced, with travel industry bosses already reporting a 'massive surge' in bookings. In what marks a huge boost for holidaymakers, the Prime Minister said in a Commons statement the Omicron variant is now so prevalent in the country that the measure is having limited impact on the spread of the disease. He told MPs the requirement for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test is also being dropped. Instead, the rules will revert to the system in place in October, with travellers required to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of day two after their arrival. The measures were originally introduced following the identification of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in South Africa last November. Families are already booking half-term breaks since the end of PCRs means around a 300 saving for a family of four, Travel firms welcomed the news, with the boss of airline Jet2, Steve Heapy, revealing there had already been a 'massive surge' in web traffic and bookings following Mr Johnson's announcement. Overseas tests and day 2 PCR tests added hundreds of pounds to the cost of foreign breaks for families, discouraging many from embarking on trips abroad. Covid tests for travellers arriving in England are to be scrapped, Boris Johnson has announced, in a major boost for the beleaguered travel industry In what marks a huge boost for holidaymakers, the Prime Minister said in a Commons statement the Omicron variant is now so prevalent in the country that the measure is having limited impact on the spread of the disease Mr Johnson told the House: 'When the Omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country. Testing regime that has been scrapped as the Omicron threat dwindles: Travelling home from another country has been a nightmare for may due to new restrictions amid Omicron. The rules for the fully vaccinated, which will change from 4am on Friday, are... Before travel: Take a test in the 2 days before travel to England Book a PCR test to be taken after you arrive in England Complete a passenger locator form On arrival: Take a PCR test Take the test any time after arrival and before the end of day 2 Quarantine in your home or the place you are staying Advertisement 'But now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases, while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry. 'So I can announce that in England from 4am on Friday, we will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense.' The announcement - which covers those passengers who are fully vaccinated or are under the age of 18 - was broadly welcomed by the travel industry, which has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body Airlines UK, said it would be a 'massive boost' for the sector at a 'critical' time of the year. 'People will now be able to book knowing that - for the fully vaccinated - all emergency testing restrictions have been removed,' he said. 'Today marks an important step towards learning to live alongside the virus, helping passengers and the travel sector look ahead to what will be an all-important spring and summer season.' EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren also welcomed the move but said the Government needed to go further. 'This will make travel much simpler and easier and means our customers can book and travel with confidence,' he said. 'However, the Government must now urgently take the final step towards restriction-free travel and remove the last remaining unnecessary test for vaccinated travellers so flying does not become the preserve of the rich.' Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: 'It is abundantly clear to everyone that travel testing requirements have had no impact on the spread of the Omicron variant, so this should represent the end of a set of measures that are not only disproportionate but futile too. 'That said, the removal of these travel restrictions is the news that our customers have been desperate to hear, and the massive surge in traffic and bookings tells us that holidays are very much back on for UK holidaymakers. 'Customers are jumping at the chance to book the holidays they have been looking forward to and we want to give them even more to smile about, which is why we are launching this sale.' He added: 'Whether it is a family holiday, a break with the other half or a group get together, we know how much everyone needs that well-deserved holiday. 'Holidays just got a lot easier and whether it is sun, ski or a leisure city holiday, we can see just what a shot in the arm today is for customer confidence.' Travel firms welcomed the news of reduced testing, with the boss of airline Jet2, Steve Heapy (pictured), revealing there had already been a 'massive surge' in web traffic and bookings following Mr Johnson's announcement Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the move to scrap overseas tests before arriving in England and day 2 PCR tests in favour of a single day 2 LFT test made sense. 'When the prevalence is high, and it is incredibly high at the moment, almost everyone who tests positive with a lateral flow test will be a true positive,' Edmunds said. 'There is really no need to confirm this with a PCR, a step that not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere.' A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: 'Although this is welcome news, there is still a long way back for aviation which remains the lifeblood of the UK's economy, supporting millions of jobs in all four nations.' The UK was the only country in Europe demanding that even fully-vaccinated holidaymakers take two tests when returning home. Under the current rules, one rapid swab must be taken pre-return within 72 hours of travel to the UK and a post-arrival PCR test by day two. Travellers must self-isolate until the results of this latter test are received, and can be stuck in quarantine for days if results are delayed. Under the current rules, one rapid swab must be taken pre-return within 72 hours of travel to the UK and a post-arrival PCR test by day two. Travellers must self-isolate until the results of this latter test are received, and can be stuck in quarantine for days if results are delayed. The quarantine rules were beefed-up at the end of November in a bid to stem the importation of Omicron. They added hundreds of pounds in testing bills to the cost of foreign breaks for families. They also increased fears about being stranded abroad if pre-return test results are positive. As a result travel firms reported mass cancellations. Prior to the November changes, travellers were required to take just one rapid test post-arrival by day two. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents major carriers such as British Airways, Jet2 and easyJet, said yesterday it would also boost domestic tourism businesses because laxer rules will attract more foreign visitors. He said: 'This isn't just about outbound holidays. 'We're losing billions in revenue from people who ordinarily would want to travel to the UK to spend money, including in our shops and restaurants. 'This is a competition at the end of the day - we need to attract people to the UK, not put up a big 'closed for business' sign. 'We can't have international travel - and the hundreds of thousands of jobs and livelihoods that depend on it - being treated differently to hospitality and other domestic sectors. The scrapping of overseas tests and day 2 PCR tests has already proved to be a boost for the travel industry with many families making bookings to go abroad (pictured: Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, on May 1, 2021) 'If Omicron doesn't warrant further restrictions at home, then the case for continuing with the emergency testing requirements for aviation is undermined, especially now it is the dominant variant in the UK.' Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), told BBC Breakfast that lateral flows were very accurate when it came to recording a positive result. 'Of course, with a PCR test what happens is a number of those can get sent away for sequencing and then you get more information regarding the virus itself. 'So, that sort of information may potentially be lost, but only a subset of those PCR tests are sent away for sequencing anyway, so, hopefully, we won't be losing the levels of information that we already have in this country that enables us to identify variants and so forth.' He said it was 'very, very important' that if any changes were brought in regarding dropping some PCRs that people still recorded their results from lateral flows. Regarding the change to travel testing requirements, he said when there were very high numbers of cases in the UK, testing upon entry to the UK 'becomes less important' as cases are already circulating. ' So, again, that's probably why the change is coming in to support the travel industry and reduce a lot of the testing requirements.' Mr Hawkins added that the restrictions had a significant effect on the number of travellers using its services. 'We have seen passenger numbers fall back by about a third between October and November,' he said. 'Passengers responded to the lifting of travel restrictions very positively and we saw a good level of recovery coming through but the new measures at the end of November and December knocked that back by about a third. 'We were at about 60 per cent of travel levels compared to 2019 and we fell back to just above 40 per cent. 'We are seeing higher absences along with most other businesses and transport providers and it's putting them under a certain amount of pressure. 'But January is generally a quieter month for us anyway, and the testing requirements have knocked back by our recovery by a third. 'So we do have some headroom to absorb those kinds of pressures at the moment, but we're keeping a very close eye on absence levels and trends over the coming weeks.' To say that the nation's political elites are divided over the significance of the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob is an understatement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will preside over a series of public events to mark the anniversary to mark a day of 'reflection, remembrance and recommitment' about the event. On the calendar are a prayer vigil and a 'conversation' by Presidential historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham 'to establish and preserve the narrative of January 6th.' Will Republicans mark the anniversary of the assault? Not so much. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will lead a delegation to Georgia on January 6th for former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson's funeral. With the House out of formal session, it seems as if no senior Republican leader will be in the Capitol on this first anniversary. Donald Trump will be uncharacteristically silent after reversing his decision to protest what he calls a 'rigged election' at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home on January 6th. Trump falsely insists the only 'insurrection' that occurred happened in the November election that installed Joe Biden as president. A majority of Republican leaders part company with Trump and either publicly or privately believe he bears a major responsibility for creating the conditions that led to the January 6 riot, but they are united in their conviction that Democrats are shamelessly exploiting the event for partisan gain. It is clear the events of January 6th are being politically weaponized by both parties. But if you step back the American people aren't quite as agitated. (Above) Rioters storm the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 They point out that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has decided to spend the next week trying to force through a bill to nationalize federal election laws that not one Republican in either the House or Senate supports. 'Much like the violent insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol nearly one year ago, Republican officials in states across the country have seized on the former president's Big Lie about widespread voter fraud to enact anti-democratic legislation,' Schumer wrote to his fellow Democrats this week. 'They want to unwind the progress of our Union, restrict access to the ballot, silence the voices of millions of voters, and undermine free and fair elections.' It is clear the events of January 6th are being politically weaponized by both parties. But if you step back the American people aren't quite as agitated. On the one hand, a new CBS/YouGov poll finds that 68 percent of respondents see the Jan. 6 attacks as 'a harbinger of increasing political violence, not an isolated incident.' That may explain why two-thirds of those surveyed by a Politico/Morning Consult poll say it's important that the federal government probe the events surrounding the Capitol attack. At the same time, the CBS/YouGov poll finds that a majority of Republicans and Democrats agree that the Capitol riot was wrong. 80% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats characterized the actions of rioters as a 'protest that went too far'. Where they differ is on the words used to describe the event -- 85% of Democrats said it was an 'insurrection', while only 21% of Republicans, and 56% of Independents agree. Meanwhile, in the Politico poll, 59 percent of voters said Donald Trump was 'somewhat' or 'very' responsible for the Capitol attack. When ones watches or reads the news, they may get a very different impression of the national mood. 'THIS IS BAD,' writes Politico, 'Roughly 4 in 10 Republicans and independents say that violent action against the government is sometimes justified, according to a startling new WaPo-University of Maryland poll.' But then read a little further. A plurality of the respondents who said that 'violent action against the government is sometimes justified' (22%), said it would only be necessary if the 'government violates or take away rights or freedom/oppresses people.' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) will preside over a series of public events to mark the anniversary to mark a day of 'reflection, remembrance and recommitment' about the event. Republicans point out that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (right) has decided to spend the next week trying to force through a bill to nationalize federal election laws that not one Republican in either the House or Senate supports. It's quite an opened-ended question and these respondents say nothing about a 'stolen election.' Plus, the responses are also not out of line with the historical trends. In 2010, 16% of adults said 'violent action' could be justified. That percentage rose to 23% in a CBS News/New York Times poll in 2015. This trend existed long before the Capitol riot of 2021. That said -- it's clear that while the country is divided over January 6th, many Americans want cooler heads to prevail. There are compromise solutions that would improve our voting process as well as address the concerns about mismanagement and irregularities of the 2020 election. The two parties have come together before to pass election reform. After the disastrous 2000 Bush v. Gore recount in Florida, which left 57 percent of Americans believing our elections weren't reliable, a Democratic Senate, an almost tied House and a Republican President ushered the Help America Vote Act in to law. Its Democratic co-sponsor, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut said the bill 'made it easier to vote and harder to steal. We can do both at the same time.' What Dodd was trying to bridge was the fact that liberals and conservatives have different priorities and world views. They have as the scholar Thomas Sowell put it a 'conflict of visions.' In voting, these opposing visions have liberals believing our democracy is best affirmed by having as many people as possible vote. In 2019, a majority of House Democrats voted to allow 16-year-olds to vote for president and Congress. Conservatives believe that voters also have responsibilities and safeguards must be in place to ensure no one's ballot is cancelled out by someone who is ineligible to vote. Those concerns aren't just those of Republicans. A new poll by Rasmussen Reports found that 58 percent of independent and unaffiliated voters say cheating was likely in the 2020 elections. A surprising 74 percent believe preventing cheating is more important than making it easier to vote. Donald Trump will be uncharacteristically silent after reversing his decision to protest what he calls a 'rigged election' at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home on January 6th. New Hampshire's longtime Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a Democrat, says both concerns are critical to making democracy work. Ideally, they should be complementary goals; in practice, they have sadly hardened into warring platforms. Gardner notes that a majority of Democrats believed the 2016 election of Trump wasn't legitimate just as a majority of Republicans don't think the 2020 election anointed the real winner. 'It's sad today that so many people in this country have reached the point in time when they do not believe that our president was elected legitimately,' Gardner says. 'For our future, this is extremely important.' He doesn't believe the Democratic election bill being debated in Washington next week is the answer and opposes it. Like Gardner, I believe there are ways to further expand access to the polls while protecting election integrity. Andrew Young, the former United Nations Ambassador and confidant of Martin Luther King, heads a group called 'Why Tuesday? Let's Move the Vote.' People who work during the week may find it inconvenient or face long lines at the polls. So having some Early Voting days, where ballots can be cast at government office buildings makes sense. Only 22 states currently allow some weekend early voting. By the way, Joe Biden's Delaware will only begin its first early voting this year. Requiring a voter to authenticate their identity whether they are voting in-person or applying for a mail-in ballot is a basic requirement for a secure voting system. Although the overwhelming majority of Americans already have such an photo ID, all states that current require an ID issue a free to anyone who cannot afford one. As part of that effort, every driver's license or state photo ID issued should note prominently whether the individual is a citizen or non-citizen. There is also a way to transcend ideological differences on voter ID. Young and Martin Luther King III along with former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have come together to propose a 'Freedom Card.' They say it would cost less than a dime to add a picture to Social Security cards and transform them into a last resort government-issued photo ID. They say it's obvious that people without a photo ID face hardship they are unable to cash a check without predatory fees, to travel easily, to get married, and to apply for Medicare. At the same time, Young and King acknowledge that many people have concerns about voter fraud. Their idea would address both concerns. But both parties have dropped the ball. My sources tell me President Obama's Justice Department opposed the idea after Al Sharpton and other entrenched civil rights leaders opposed it. Donald Trump expressed support after his 2016 election but never formally proposed it. State legislators and local officials can take many steps to safeguard their elections. It seems obvious that one of the most basic requirements for clean elections is up-to-date, accurate voter registration lists. A 2012 study by the non-partisan Pew Center on the States found one in eight voter registrations were inaccurate, out-of-date or duplicates. In 2019, California had to settle a lawsuit that resulted in the removal of up to 1.5 million 'inactive' names from Los Angeles County voting rolls. The county had an effective registration rate of 112 percent of its adult citizen population. The voting rolls hadn't been scrubbed for ineligible voters for 20 years. Most states completely fail to clean their rolls by taking advantage of the wealth of information available to them from both their own databases and commercial databases. Computerized statewide voter registration lists must be designed so that they can communicate seamlessly with other state government databases such as the motor vehicle department for driver's licenses; the state corrections department (for felons who have lost their ability to vote); state vital records to find voters who have died or moved out of state; and state welfare and unemployment benefit agencies. This can provide election officials with information relevant to registration such as address changes, deaths, citizenship status or other factors affecting eligibility. State voter registration lists should be transparent, freely available to candidates, political parties, non-profit organizations, and the public (except for confidential information), and readily accessible. Verifying the citizenship of registered voters is a vital but missing component in our registration system. States should require proof of citizenship to register to vote for federal elections, as well as verify the citizenship of registered voters with the alien records of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This is especially important now that major cities such as New York are allowing non-citizens to vote in some local elections. Because mail-in ballots are most vulnerable to coercion, intimidation, theft, forgery, alteration, and mis-delivery, they should primarily be reserved for those too disabled to vote in person or who can't vote on Early Voting Days. One of the most important steps for states to take is to ban vote trafficking of absentee or mail-in ballots by third parties. This prohibition would ensure that candidates and political operatives would not be able to pressure or coerce vulnerable voters in their homes or to mishandle, alter or change absentee ballots they pick up from voters. States should only allow the voter, a member of his or her immediate family, or a designated caregiver to personally deliver such ballots. One reason so many doubts were raised over the results of the 2020 election were claims that election officials in places like Detroit and Philadelphia unlawfully excluded observers. These actions were indeed suspicious and should not be allowed. Political parties, candidates, and third-party organizations should all be allowed to have observers in every aspect of the election process. Transparency is essential to maintaining public confidence in the election process. To prevent hacking, no electronic voting machines should be connected to the Internet; in fact, they should not be allowed to have any internal modems even present in the machines. Furthermore, the computers used in government election departments to tabulate results should not be connected to the Internet or a government-wide network that could allow hackers to interfere with the vote count. State legislatures must ensure that they have legal standing to sue other state officials such as governors who make unauthorized changes in state election laws. Governors should have the authority to remove and replace election officials who engage in similar behavior. And voters should be provided by state law the ability to immediately file a lawsuit against any state or local official who fails to abide by, or enforce, a state election law requirement. States should prohibit election officials from receiving private funding from outside organizations or individuals, like the now infamous 2020 infusion of $400 million in funding from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg that was strongly tilted towards election offices in Democratic-leaning areas in swing states. This would prevent potential conflicts of interest. Such funding may influence or change the outcome of elections and violate principles of equal protection since it may lead to unequal opportunities to vote in different areas. We must have an election process that is fair, secure, and reliable. It should be transparent so that the public, candidates, political parties, and the news media have complete access to every aspect of the system as it is administered, as individuals register and vote, and as the ballots are counted and tabulated. We need a system in which everyone involved, from the voters themselves to the candidates, has confidence that the individual with the most legitimate votes won the election. While those who lose may be disappointed, we want them to accept that they lost fairly in a completely legitimate election. That is the key to maintaining our democratic republic and the well-being of self-government - and helping heal the wounds of January 6th. John Fund is a columnist for National Review and co-author of new book 'Our Broken Elections' (Encounter Books) A father-son duo of Pennsylvania treasure hunters have sued the FBI for failing to produce records chronicling a top-secret excavation the agency administered in the state nearly four years ago that may have yielded a $400million cache of Civil War-era gold. Court documents unsealed earlier this year revealed that the bureau had in fact engaged in the previously undisclosed dig in Elk County in search of the fabled treasure, lost by the US government in 1863. The filing attested that agents engaged in the dig came up empty-handed. Fortune seekers Dennis and Kem Parada, however - who together comprise the lost treasure locate and recovery service Finders Keepers - are not buying the agency's claims, after leading agents to the excavation site in 2018. They are now suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) in hopes of obtaining the bureau's official records detailing the hush-hush dig. Fortune seekers Dennis (right) and Kem Parada (left) have filed suit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents related to the FBI's search for Civil War-era gold at the remote woodland site. The pair say they led agents to the site in March 2018 An FBI tent is seen behind police tape at the base of a hill where investigators conducted an excavation for Civil War-era gold in March 2018. The FBI says the dig came up empty The father-son duo had spent years combing the Pennsylvania wilderness with to prospect for the long-rumored riches and had felt certain they'd found the haul when contacted by the bureau in March of that year. The pair subsequently led agents to the mountainous, heavily wooded area they had honed in on in their sprawling search, and into an underground cave in Dent's Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The bureau took over from there, barring the duo from taking part in the subsequent search. Now, however, the two have since filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents chronicling the FBI's search. The father-son fortune seekers together run lost treasure locate and recovery service Finders Keepers. Pictured here is the homepage for the firm's website The FBI said it found nothing during a March dig (above) for gold in Dents Run, Pennsylvania According to the pair's shared attorney, who represents Finders Keepers, the agency has dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records for proof of the bureau's findings, or lack thereof. 'There's been a pattern of behavior by the FBI that's been very troubling,' public interest lawyer Anne Weismann told The Associated Press Wednesday of the case. She went on to question whether the agency is 'acting in good faith.' The suit asks that a federal judge to order the agency to immediately turn over records detailing the search. A message was sent to the Justice Department seeking comment on the suit. The Pradas had previously spent years looking for what, according to legend, was an 1863 shipment of Union gold that was lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The duo focused on a spot where they say their instruments detected a large metallic mass. After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed last year at the request of news organizations, including The Associated Press. The Paradas accompanied the FBI to the site in Dent's Run, but say they were confined to their car while the FBI excavated the morning of March 16. The digging proceeded for roughly seven hours, before an agent called an abrupt halt at 3pm, saying the team was cold, tired and hungry and it would be getting dark soon. They were just 3 feet from the target. 'I said, 'You've got three hours of daylight and we're only 3 feet away,' Dennis Parada recalled. He said the agent replied, 'Denny, we're going, we're going.' The treasure-hunting group has long insisted it found the gold buried in a state forest at Dents Run, but said the state would not allow it to dig Whether the FBI actually left the woods that afternoon is itself an open question. Cheryl Elder, who lives near the excavation site, told AP at the time that she had heard what sounded like a backhoe and jackhammer at least until 2am - the noisy machinery keeping her awake and annoying her because she had to rise early for work - and she saw that the hillside was brightly lit. 'It was just real loud all night,' the former constable recalled. 'It was driving me nuts.' The second day of the excavation was similar to the first, according to the Paradas. They said they were confined to their car for several hours, then escorted up the hill to the dig site - by then a large, empty hole. The FBI had finished the excavation out of their presence, they said. The Paradas said they were cheated of a moment they had spent years working for. 'You can only dig the gold up once, and that's a historical moment. And here we were robbed of all that,' Dennis Parada said. 'I don't understand why they played that game on us.' According to a 155-year-old legend, a Union Army wagon train was carrying two tons of gold on a 400-mile journey between Wheeling, West Virginia, and Gettysburg. The gold was sent by President Abraham Lincoln to pay Union soldiers (pictured, at the Battle of Gettysburg) After the Paradas and Getler had left, Elder said, she saw a half-dozen black SUVs at the site. One by one, she said, they backed up to the bottom of the hill and rendezvoused with one of several all-terrain utility vehicles. Elder tried using her binoculars, but couldn't make out what investigators were transferring from the ATVs to the SUVs. Even so, 'I know they found gold,' she declared. 'I know they found it, and they're being sneaky.' Heather Selle, who lives in nearby Weedville, said she was getting her kids ready for school on the morning of the second day when she spied a convoy of FBI vehicles driving past including two large armored trucks. 'There was too many people involved, there was too much hush-hush, and there's been too much seen,' said still another resident, Garrett Osche, whose garage was used as a staging ground for the FBI's initial foray to the Dents Run area weeks before the dig. 'Why do you close the road down if you're not loading something out? If you're not sneaking something, why do you need to do what they did?' The shipment had either 26 gold bars or 52 bars, each weighing 50 pounds, meaning it would be worth about $27million or about $55million today (Pictured, Lincoln, center right, surrounded by crowd, preparing to deliver the Gettysburg address at dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery) According to legend, the gold was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1863. The gold was sent by President Abraham Lincoln to pay Union soldiers and was last spotted in St Marys, Pennsylvania, traveling northeast toward the capital. When the wagon train didn't arrive at the Mint, searchers were sent out and discovered only empty wagons and the bodies of dead soldiers. Various accounts said the lieutenant charged with leading the wagon got sick and feverish and divulged the secret of their cargo to lower ranking soldiers. Rogues within the squadron then killed the rest and made off with the treasure. Legend says the gold was buried at Dents Run. The FBI has insisted the March 2018 dig at the unincorporated community - which has long drawn treasure hunters - came up empty, but the agency has consistently stymied the Paradas' efforts to obtain information. The FBI initially claimed it had no files about the investigation. Then, after the Justice Department ordered a more thorough review, the agency changed its tune, asserting that its records were exempt from public disclosure. Finally, in the wake of the treasure hunters' appeal, the FBI said it had located 2,400 pages of records and 17 video files that it could potentially turn over - but that it would take years to do so. Finders Keepers asked the Justice Department for expedited processing, which can be granted in cases where there is widespread media interest involving questions about the government's integrity. The Justice Department denied the request - and, as of last month, had yet to assign the FOIA request to a staffer for processing, according to the lawsuit. 'From the outset, it seems as if the FBI is doing everything it can to avoid answering the question of whether they actually found gold,' Weismann said. The union boss at the center of Chicago's school shutdown firestorm is a longtime labor activist and supporter of socialism, but critics say his lifestyle is more akin to that of the wealthiest 1 percent. Living in an expansive $1.5 million estate on multiple adjoining lots in Rogers Park, Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey is said to drive a Tesla and is married to the daughter of Royal Caribbean Cruises' recently resigned CEO. On Tuesday, 52-year-old Sharkey led his union members in a vote to refuse in-person instruction starting immediately, citing concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. It led to a chaotic total shutdown of schools announced at 11pm the prior night, as the school system said it did not have the systems in place for virtual instruction. Jesse Sharkey (center) and his wife Julie Fain are seen in a family photo on a trip to Disneyland in 2020. In 2017, asked about his wealthy father-in-law, Sharkey said: 'We dont choose the family of our loved ones.' He also added that his oldest son, Caleb, left, graduated from Chicago Public Schools. In this image obtained by DailyMail.com, he is seen wearing a t-shirt with a Mustangs logo - the sports team name used by $13,000-a-year private, all-boys Catholic school St Rita of Cascia. However, DailyMail.com understands he graduated from Jones College Prep - a Chicago Public School Sharkey is married to socialist book publisher Julie Fain (left), the daughter of Richard Fain (right), who on Monday resigned as CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group after 33 years Sharkey, who has led the CTU since 2014, said on Wednesday that teachers would only return to classrooms after the current surge subsides, unless the district agrees to the union's demands for new testing and health protocols Sharkey, who has led the CTU since 2014, said on Wednesday that teachers would only return to classrooms after the current surge subsides, unless the district agrees to the union's demands for new testing and health protocols. 'If you want to get us into the schools quicker, provide testing,' Sharkey said at a Wednesday news conference. 'We've been failed by the mayor, we've been failed by the public health office, and teachers and the school staff have decided the only thing we have control of is whether we go into the buildings.' Sharkey did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Wednesday. The stunning drama in the nation's third-largest public school system, with an enrollment of more than 350,000, has thrust longtime Chicago activist Sharkey into the national spotlight. In the past, Sharkey's lavish lifestyle has drawn criticism from his opponents, and speculation that his wealthy and decidedly capitalist father-in-law is helping to bankroll his family. Chicago journalist Mark Konkol wrote in a 2019 column for Patch that Sharkey 'talks like a working-class tough guy' but drives a Tesla and lives in a luxurious five-bedroom home. 'How can a union guy, whose wife works for a socialist non-profit book publisher, live like the wealthiest 1 percent?' wrote Konkol. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey is the longtime socialist at the center of the city's public school shutdown firestorm 'How can a union guy, whose wife works for a socialist non-profit book publisher, live like the wealthiest 1 percent?' wrote one columnist in 2019 Raised in central Maine by his mother, a poet and schoolteacher, Sharkey attended Brown University, where he majored in modern American history. After graduating, Sharkey went into labor organizing with the United Steelworkers in North Carolina, before returning to Brown for a master's degree in teaching. While teaching high school social studies in Providence, Rhode Island, Sharkey met his now-wife Julie Fain, the daughter of business executive Richard Fain, who has an estimated net worth of nearly $200 million. Richard Fain on Monday resigned as CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group after a 33-year tenure, in a move that was part of a succession plan announced in November. In a statement to Chicago City Wire in 2017, Sharkey said: 'We dont choose the family of our loved ones.' 'I have a lovely wife. We have children. I live in a house in Rogers Park and only have one of them, and I send my kids to public schools,' he said. Sharkey and Julie Fain moved together to Chicago, where she worked as an editor for the leftist magazine In These Times before co-founding radical independent book publisher Haymarket Books. The couple share two children, Caleb - a graduate from Jones College Prep, a public school, and Leo, who was at one point a student at Harriet Tubman elementary school - both Chicago Public Schools. In a photo obtained by DailyMail.com where the family is pictured on a trip to Disneyland, the oldest son is seen wearing a t-shirt with a Mustangs logo - the official name used for sports teams at St Rita of Cascia, a $13,000-a-year private, all-boy's Catholic school in Chicago. In 2012, when he was vice president of CTU, Sharkey appeared shaken when his attendance at the Midwest Marxism Conference was raised in an interview on local radio Sharkey's father-in-law Richard Fain (above in 2013) was the third-longest serving CEO among current S&P 500 leaders when he retired on Monday Public records show that Sharkey and Fain own a $868,000 home in Rogers Park, and that his wife's family trust bought the adjacent lot for $625,000 in 2006. Meanwhile Sharkey continued teaching and became increasingly involved in the teachers union, as well as far-left political groups. He was a member of the International Socialist Organization, a Trotskyite group that opposes capitalism, until the group dissolved in 2019 over allegations that its leadership mishandled a sexual assault accusation. From 2008 to 2013, Sharkey was an occasional contributor to the ISO publication SocialistWorker.org. In 2012, when he was vice president of CTU, Sharkey appeared shaken when his attendance at the Midwest Marxism Conference was raised in an interview on local radio station WLS-AM. 'Every time unions have raised issues about what's fair and what isn't, and equality, people have branded them as Communists,' Sharkey replied. Pressed on whether he agreed with the tenets of Marxism, Sharkey dismissed the interview as a 'witch hunt' and said: 'I'm allowed to attend a Marxist conference.' In 2019, Sharkey landed in hot water again when a group of Chicago teachers calling themselves a 'Chicago Teachers Union delegation' met with officials in socialist Venezuela Sharkey downplayed the Venezuela incident and tried to distance the union from the controversy In 2019, Sharkey landed in hot water again when a group of Chicago teachers calling themselves a 'Chicago Teachers Union delegation' met with officials in socialist Venezuela. The four teachers documented their trip online and heaped praise on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose administration was accused in United Nations reports of 'grave' human rights violations. Sharkey downplayed the incident and tried to distance the union from the controversy. 'Members go all kinds of places in the summer,' he told WTTW at the time. 'This was neither an official trip nor something that was funded by the union. This is a group of people who are members of the CTU who decided to go to Venezuela.' On Tuesday, 73 percent of CTU members supported the vote not to return to in-person instruction. Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned that teachers who failed to turn up would be docked pay, and district officials slammed the union over the last-minute vote. Lightfoot said: 'There is no basis in the data, the science or common sense for us to shut an entire system down. 'If we pause, what do we say to those parents who can't afford to hire somebody to come in and watch their kids, who can't ship their kids off to some other place, what do we say to those students who are already struggling? Mayor Lori Lightfoot has struggled to reach terms with the Chicago Teachers Union Public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady insisted that the safety protocols set in place for Chicago Public Schools were sufficient to protect the children and staff 'We need to lean in to the science and the data and not push that to the side and give in to fear-mongering and hysteria.' The mayor also said she feared the delayed reopening would stretch on past the January 18 date planned by CTU leaders. The CTU demanded that students and staff members provided a negative COVID-19 test result before entering buildings on Monday. The union also wants daily health questionnaires to be reinstated, free masks for all staff and students and wants schools to shift to remote learning if 20% or more of staff is in isolation or quarantine. The head of Chicago Public Schools, Pedro Martinez, is distributing 200,000 KN95 masks for teachers and staff, requiring indoor mask-wearing in schools and weekly testing is mandatory for unvaccinated staff members and optional for students. Martinez said he has bent over backwards to meet the union's demands. A tipster warned Denver police about a crazed gunman capable of a 'devastating' attack nearly a year before the killer shot four people dead in a horrific Christmastime massacre. German whistleblower Andre Thiele claims he contacted police last January to share concerns about author Lyndon McLeod, a known extremist whose social media profiles were ripe with violent material. Less than a year later, on December 27, his fears were realized after McLeod, 47, embarked on a deadly shooting rampage in the streets of Colorado. Thiele said he became alarmed after reading McLeod's commentary in an online chat forum for fans of his published work. His remarks became increasingly concerning, prompting Thiele to reach out to authorities. The tipster initially dialed Denver 311 on January 3, 2021, he told the Denver Post. He also submitted a letter of concern to police obtained by the outlet. 'I cannot in good conscience say that he will act with certainty,' Thiele wrote. 'But I can say that IF he should act, the result would be devastating. He then would stop at nothing.' Denver police were warned about Lyndon McLeod (pictured) nearly a year before he carried out a deadly shooting spree The Denver Police Department (DPD) did not respond to a DailyMail.com query by deadline, but told the Post that it received a tip from a German national about a fraud case outside their jurisdiction. They said they looked into McLeod but did not dig up evidence that would warrant charges. A spokesman also told the outlet that McLeod was believed to be living outside Denver during the time of the complaint. 'DPD is reviewing the investigation, but based on our initial review, there was not sufficient evidence to file criminal charges or a legal basis for monitoring McLeod at the time,' the spokesman said. Paul Pazen, chief of Denver Police, said previously that McLeod had been on the radar of law enforcement during two recent investigations - one in 2020 and another in 2021 - but neither resulted in charges. The tipster said of McLeod (pictured with his gun and a dead bear): 'I cannot in good conscience say that he will act with certainty. But I can say that IF he should act, the result would be devastating. He then would stop at nothing' It wasn't clear whether the latter investigation was prompted by an email Thiele sent them on January 4, which he shared with the Post. The note include an Amazon link to one of McLeod's books. 'Though the book is not political per se, it could be read as an extremist right-wing manifesto and a terrorist prophecy,' Thiele wrote. 'It may very well be that the accused is a typical case of a literary genius and a petty thug, who runs his mouth and talks too much. 'I would from my personal experiences say that this might be a 90% chance. But there is a 10% chance, that he has at least in his own mind created the perfect storm of right-wing terrorism.' Thiele said he was once a fan of McLeod's work, but became concerned after he began interacting with the Sanction series author in an online fan forum in 2019. 'Only after I got to know him better and the reality of his life and the reality of his points of view, I realized that this was not a novel but a manifesto, or a letter of commitment,' he said. 'Tragically, [police] didn't see what I saw. I saw through the jokes and saw the guy underneath it. I'm sad I couldn't prove it.' The tipster said he was once a fan of McLeod's work, but became concerned after he began interacting with the Sanction series author in an online fan forum in 2019 Denver's police chief said previously that McLeod had been on the radar of law enforcement during two recent investigations - one in 2020 and another in 2021 - but neither resulted in charges Pictured: Police officers stand outside Sol Tribe tattoo shop on Broadway where McLeod killed two women and injured a man December 27, 2021 During the night of the massacre, McLeod opened fire at six locations throughout Denver and the nearby suburb of Lakewood, killing five people - including a cop -and wounding three others before he was shot dead. His rampage targeted several tattoo shops, and three of his five victims worked in the tattoo industry. Alicia Cardenas, 44, owner Sol Tribe tattoo shop, and colleague Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, 35, were slain; Maldonado's husband was injured. The gunman later opened fire at a Lakewood parlor, shooting 38-year-old Danny Scofield dead. He killed another man on the street before marauding into the Hyatt House hotel where he killed his final victim, 28-year-old hotel clerk Sarah Steck. Victims of the massacre include (from left) Sol Tribe tattoo shop owner Alicia Cardenas, Hyatt House hotel clerk Sarah Steck, and 38-year-old Lakewood tattoo artist Danny Scofield Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, 35 (right), was shot dead inside Cardenas' shop. Her husband, Jimmy Maldonado, was said to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest He ran out of the hotel and about a minute later was confronted by Lakewood Police Agent Ashley Ferris who ordered the killer to drop his weapon. She was shot in the abdomen but fired back and killed McLeod. Ferris, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery. She is expected to make a full recovery. According to the police department's timeline, McLeod's first stop on his deadly spree was Sol Tribe tattoo shop on Broadway, where he allegedly opened fire shortly after 5pm, killing Cardenas and Maldonado and wounding her husband. Ernesto Burbank, a friend of the victims, identified them in a Facebook post, revealing that Jimmy Maldonado was taken to a hospital suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. His condition is unknown at this time. 'I just don't understand how so much hate can live in people and how the innocent always pay the price,' Burbank wrote. The couple, who married in February 2020, have a young son. Shortly after, McLeod fatally shot another man in the Cheeseman Park neighborhood near 12th Avenue and Williams Street. He then fired a shot at 6th Avenue and Cherokee Street, as well as 8th Avenue and Zuni Street. Melania Trump's ex-Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham met behind closed doors Wednesday night with the House select committee on January 6. Grisham was spotted outside a House office building leaving the Capitol Hill meeting, telling reporters she 'cooperated fully' with the Democrat-led group, according to ABC News. Grisham, who also served as press secretary to former President Donald Trump, was the first high-level aide to quit during the attack on the Capitol. Melania Trump 's ex-Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham met behind closed doors Wednesday night with the House select committee on January 6. She is seen arriving at the meeting held at the O'Neill House Office Building in Washington Stephanie Grisham is swarmed by reporters as she left Wednesday night's meeting with the select committee. She told the waiting press she 'cooperated fully' with lawmakers' requests Stephanie Grisham is followed by a television camera and reporters as she departed her Wednesday night meeting on Capitol Hill with January 6 committee members Former White House press secretary and chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump Stephanie Grisham is captured leaving her Wednesday night meeting with the House select committee on January 6 Grisham is captured arriving for her meeting with lawmakers on the select committee. CNN reported Wednesday that Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin convinced her to come speak to members in person Elevator doors close as former White House press secretary and Melania Trump aide Stephanie Grisham arrives at her meeting with the January 6 committee In her memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House, she said it was Melania Trump's ambivalence that inspired her to resign. Grisham wrote that she had sent the first lady a text: 'Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?' 'No,' Melania Trump wrote back. The first lady was in the middle of a photoshoot, capturing some of the White House's rugs. CNN reported Wednesday that Grisham decided to speak to the Democrat-led committee after speaking to Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin by phone. A source told the network that Grisham and Raskin had an in-depth phone call where she detailed what happened behind-the-scenes on January 6. The source said Grisham was 'candid' about what happened at the White House that day and shared knowledge of conversations with President Trump. The January 6 select committee is investigating what Trump knew when, as he didn't call off the attack from his supporters for several hours. Stephanie Grisham (left) was communications director and later chief of staff for First Lady Melania Trump (right) and also did a stint as White House press secretary Grisham said when she asked Melania Trump if she wanted to send out a tweet condemning the violence during the Capitol attack on January 6 the former first lady responded 'no,' leading Grisham to resign In the meantime he received text messages from top allies, some trapped in the Capitol, and family members, including Donald Trump Jr., asking him to condemn the violence publicly, according to messages that have been made public by the committee. In her book, Grisham wrote about how Melania Trump had 'often been the sensible one,' noting how she came out before her husband to condemn the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. Grisham had pushed back 'on the caricature of Melania Trump as some sort of Marie Antoinette, cold and cruel and oblivious to the little people over whom her husband ruled.' But after she responded 'no' to Grisham, the aide wrote that she 'finally saw the doomed French queen. Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.' 'It broke me,' Grisham wrote. 'I took a breath and waited another minute. You learned to do that in the Trump White House: make sure you are grounded and not acting out of the moment. Then I resigned.' 'I sent her an email and cc-ed her senior adviser so I couldn't take it back or be talked out of it. I was done,' Grisham said. Schools which routinely ask staff to teach more pupils in merged classes amid teacher shortages should be challenged, education unions have said. Ahead of the start of term, the Department for Education (DfE) told headteachers they may want to consider 'combining classes' in the event of staff shortages to keep face-to-face teaching in place. But a 'safety checklist' from five trade unions representing teachers and support staff says merging classes 'should not be adopted' as it will 'increase virus transmission' and lead to 'further disruption'. The advice - from the National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT teaching union, Unison, GMB and Unite - urges teachers expected to routinely accept extra pupils from combining classes to 'urgently' raise it with their union. Five trade unions representing teachers and support staff say merging classes 'should not be adopted' as it will 'increase virus transmission' and lead to 'further disruption'. Pictured: Year 10 students at Park Lane Academy in Halifax wear masks in lessons It adds: 'Teachers should not routinely be expected to cover for absent colleagues, nor should they be expected to teach pupils who they have not been assigned to teach, i.e. pupils who are not registered for timetabled lessons with them, collapsed classes or multi-class assemblies. 'Cover is not an effective use of a teacher's time and collapsing/combining classes is not only cover, but increasing the numbers of pupils in classrooms, or having large numbers of pupils in halls, will also only serve to increase transmission of the virus.' The advice comes after Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told school leaders to consider merging classes, or sending groups of children home, if the number of staff off work due to Covid-19 reaches critical levels. On Sunday, an email from the DfE advised headteachers that they may wish to use existing teaching, temporary and support staff 'more flexibly' where required to ensure schools remain open amid staffing issues. The Department for Education (DfE) had told headteachers they may want to consider 'combining classes' in the event of staff shortages to keep face-to-face teaching in place. Pictured: Year 10 students wear face masks in lessons at Park Lane Academy in Halifax It added: 'As pupils do not need to be kept in consistent groups, you may wish to consider combining classes.' Pupils are returning to class this week, with new advice for secondary school pupils in England to wear face masks in lessons due to a rise in Covid-19 cases. Secondary school and college students are also being encouraged to test on site before returning to class. Ian Bauckham, the chair of Ofqual, has suggested that schools may need to suspend 'specialist' subjects like music to cope with staff absences. In a case study posted on a DfE portal for heads, Mr Bauckham added that two or more classes could be 'combined and taught by a single teacher' in a larger space as an alternative to remote learning in the event of high staff absences. What testing measures are in place for the return of secondary schools? All secondary schools have been asked to provide one on-site test for pupils ahead of their return to the classroom this term to help reduce the transmission of Covid-19. Schools and colleges ordered tests before Christmas and have received these in advance of pupils returning. Pictured: Covid tests at Park Lane Academy in Halifax Government education chiefs say they will continue to be able to order additional tests through a separate supply route. Meanwhile, students returning to university have also been advised to test before they travel back to campus. Secondary, college and university students and education staff and early years staff are advised to continue to test themselves twice a week. They will be asked to test more frequently in the event of an outbreak. Source: Gov.uk Advertisement He wrote: 'Where pupils in a year group are in any case in contact with each other in different classes for different subjects, or in informal social time, then it should not be a concern to bring classes together as envisaged here.' But the coalition of education unions says measures to 'minimise mixing' - such as keeping groups as consistent as possible - should be reintroduced in schools, and whole year group assemblies should be avoided. A spokeswoman for the NEU said: 'There are established ways of coping when teachers are absent. These include employing supply staff and for shorter periods asking HLTAs (higher level teaching assistants) to take classes. 'All of these routes must be exhausted before there is any consideration of mixing classes. There are clear risks with combining classes leading to more mixing, more spread of the virus and therefore more disruption. 'Practically this is also not a solution open to all schools. England has one of the most overcrowded school sites in the developed world. There is simply not the space in many school buildings to combine classes. 'Education staff are already in greater danger of being infected by Covid-19 than any other profession. 'Government should be doing everything it can to suppress Covid-19 transmission in schools, not making recommendations which are likely to lead to greater spread of the virus and more education disruption.' A DfE spokeswoman said: 'It is our priority to retain face-to-face learning and the benefits it brings pupils. 'We understand that some schools and colleges might find it difficult to run their usual timetable if high numbers of staff are absent, which is why we are supporting schools to put in place appropriate contingency measures. 'It would be for individual schools to consider if it was appropriate to merge classes, but we're clear face-to-face learning is the priority.' Police dressed up a mannequin in different latex masks as they investigated the shooting of a reality star's brother in front of his family, a court heard. Flamur 'Alex' Beqiri, 36, whose sister Misse Beqiri appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was murdered outside his 1.5m home in Battersea, southwest London, on Christmas Eve 2019. Alleged gunman Anis Fouad Hemissi, 24, with Swedish compatriots, Bawer Karaer, 23, Estevan Munizaga, 35, Tobias Andersson, 32, are charged with murdering the father-of-two. Claude Isaac-Castor, 22 and Clifford Rollox, 31, are accused of perverting the course of justice between 24 and 28 December 2019. Met Police dressed up a mannequin in different latex masks as they tried to find the disguised hitman behind the Christmas Eve shooting on a reality star's brother in 2019, a court has heard. Pictured: CCTV allegedly showing the gunman days before the killing Flamur 'Alex' Beqiri, 36, a Swedish national of Albanian heritage and whose sister Misse Beqiri appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was murdered outside his 1.5m home in Battersea, southwest London, on Christmas Eve 2019 (both pictured) Jurors have heard the killer, said to be Hemissi, was wearing a latex mask and pretending to collect litter to carry out reconnaissance when he was challenged by a dog-walker two days before the hit. He was shown with his hands covered, his neck wrapped with a scarf and his eyes obscured by sunglasses. DC Jonathan Moore told jurors: 'We purchased the masks ourselves and put them on a mannequin, and took some pictures.' Police then compared the pictures to CCTV of the gunman to identify which mask was used, but the assassin had covered the mask up to improve his disguise. DC Moore then said: 'The eyes, they were covered with sunglasses. The doorstep of Mr Beqiri's home in Battersea, southwest London, where the shooting took place on Christmas Eve 2019 'There was a tightly bound scarf on the neck, so you can't see the chinline or the neck. 'The lips always remained slightly open, there is no movement or expression...' Police made a breakthrough when they found a section of CCTV which revealed more of the gunman's mask. DC Moore continued: 'As he looks down to his phone, the mask appears to roll up to create a triple chin. 'We took the pictures at the same angle just so we can make the comparison, that this is the same mask or a different mask.' The court has heard Mr Beqiri was targeted in an attack designed to cause 'maximum terror and shock' because of his links to organised crime and drug dealing in Sweden. Flamur 'Alex' Beqiri, 36, was killed in front of his wife Debora Krasniqi (they are pictured together) But in evidence his widow Mrs Krasniqi has insisted her husband was a law-abiding businessman and they purchased their home mostly through borrowing. The four Swedes, one of whom had the use of a Swedish interpreter, are in the dock alongside UK national Rollox and Dutch national Isaac-Castor, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean but resident in the UK. Hemissi, Pino-Munizaga, both of Malmo, Sweden, Karaer, of Stockholm, Sweden, and Andersson, of Trangsund, Sweden, all deny murder. Hemissi also denies possession of a prohibited firearm in relation to a self-loading pistol. Isaac-Castor, of no fixed address, and Rollox, of Percival Street, Islington, both deny perverting the course of justice. The trial continues. The Westminster City Council official who oversaw the controversial Marble Arch Mound project was the local authority's highest paid employee during his tenure - surpassing even the chief executive. Elad Eisenstein was appointed as Oxford Street district improvement director with a salary of 220,000 in October 2020. His role placed him charge of a 150 million regeneration programme, including the eye-popping tourist attraction. Mr Eisentstein earned even more than the 217,545 paid to the local authority's chief executive Stuart Love. Elad Eisenstein was appointed as Oxford Street district improvement director with a salary of 220,000 in October 2020 The 6million artificial hill was erected next to Marble Arch as a way to lure shoppers back to Oxford Street, following a drop in sh The Marble Arch Mound installation in central London includes a viewing platform which allows visitors the opportunity to look out over the area Their salaries were revealed in a document outlining the pay of all 179 Westminster City Council workers earning above 68,000 a year. It is also significantly higher than the 161,401 salary paid to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Eisenstein was also received a generous pension contribution of 24,441. At the time he joined the council, Mr Eisenstein was hailed as a 'a cities and regeneration expert with two decades of experience'. But he stepped down just a year later after a highly critical internal review into the mount project, costs were described as 'avoidable' and 'devastating'. The mound attracted a mixed response, including from comedian Matthew Highton on Twitter The Marble Arch Mound installation at the time it opened to the public last July The council's deputy leader, Conservative Councillor Melvyn Caplan, also resigned following the trebling of the original 2 million set aside for the mound. The 6million artificial hill was erected next to Marble Arch as a way to lure shoppers back to Oxford Street after 17% of its shops shut following the pandemic, but it received a mixed reception. At the time of its opening in July last year, the 25metre hill was already reported to be suffering in the extreme heat, with questions asked about whether it would last until its end date of January 2022. It is due to be dismantled in the coming weeks. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was 'beyond distasteful' for Democrats to use the anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol attack to get voting rights bills passed. 'It is surreal to hear sitting senators invoke January the 6th to justify breaking the rules to grab outcomes they have not earned,' McConnell said, repeating the phrase twice to make a point Wednesday on the Senate floor. 'It is surreal to hear sitting senators invoke January the 6th to argue that institutions can be trampled because they'd like a different result.' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has advocated changing the upper chamber's filibuster rules to get voting rights bills passed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was 'beyond distasteful' for Democrats to use the anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol attack to get voting rights bills passed Schumer's argued that GOP-led state restrictions on voting could lead to more uncertainty in future elections - and another January 6th-like attack. 'Without addressing the root causes of the events of January 6, the insurrection will not be an aberration, it could well become the norm,' Schumer warned. McConnell has characterized Democrats' fears about GOP-endorsed state-level voting restrictions to be overblown. 'The fact that violent criminals broke the law does not entitle Senate Democrats to break the Senate,' he argued on the floor Wednesday. McConnell made similar remarks Tuesday as well. 'It appears as if the majority leader is hellbend to try to break the Senate,' McConnell said at a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday. 'His argument is that somehow state legislatures across the country are busily at work trying to make it more difficult for people to vote.' McConnell said that simply wasn't true. 'Of course that's not happening anywhere in America,' the Kentucky Republican said. On the Senate floor Tuesday McConnell also offered, 'Most Washington Democrats want to appoint themselves a nationwide Board of Elections on steroids.' He also said that the Democrats had their own 'big lie' - which was that 'democracy is dying because Democrats sometimes lose elections.' 'It appears as if the majority leader is hellbend to try to break the Senate,' McConnell said at a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday 'Our democracy is not in crisis. Repeating this rhetoric doesn't make it factual. The 2020 election saw the highest turnout in more than 100 years,' McConnell argued. After Democrats won back the White House in 2020 with the election of now President Joe Biden, Republican-run states like Georgia and Arizona have pushed back and made things like mail-in voting more difficult. Mail-in ballots were widely used in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats have also voiced concerns about Republicans pushing voter ID provisions - which often impact young people and voters of color who tilt more Democratic - and GOP legislatures politicizing state election boards. House Democrats have passed two voting bills, but they've been stuck in the Senate as 60 votes are needed to overrule a GOP-led filibuster. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris utilized as the tie-breaking vote. Schumer has pitched changing the rules so there's a carve-out for the voting rights bills, though he's getting resistance from moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. He needs every Democratic senator to support the move. Speaking from the Capitol Tuesday night, Manchin said the 'filibuster needs to stay in place any way, shape or form that we can do it,' according to Punchbowl News. Manchin was meeting with Schumer. Manchin, however, remained open to some rules changes and while he supported a bipartisan vote to change the rules, he didn't close the door on joining just Democrats in the maneuver. Lee Jae-myung, a candidate of the ruling Democratic Party for next March's presidential election, speaks during a New Year press conference at a Kia Motors' plant in Gyeonggi-do, Jan. 4. AP-Yonhap Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung had the most support from young adult voters, a poll showed Wednesday, with his rival Yoon Suk-yeol running neck-and-neck with minor opposition presidential nominee Ahn Cheol-soo for second place. Lee of the Democratic Party (DP) led with 33.4 percent in a Realmeter poll that asked 1,024 people aged 18-39 on Monday and Tuesday. Ahn of the People's Party gained 19.1 percent support from young adults, followed by Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) with 18.4 percent. The gap between Ahn and Yoon was within a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party came in fourth with 7.5 percent, followed by Kim Dong-yeon of the New Wave with 1.4 percent. President Joe Biden will call out Donald Trump as the 'singular responsibility' behind the January 6th insurrection when he travels to Capitol Hill Thursday to mark the one year anniversary of the day. Biden will hold Trump responsible for the 'chaos and carnage' of that day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at her press briefing on Wednesday. Five people died in the aftermath of the Trump's supporters storming the building, which caused thousands of dollars worth of damage throughout the Capitol complex. Biden will 'lay out the significance of what happened in the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters as well as distract from his role in what happened,' Psaki said. The Biden administration has been reluctant to directly discuss Trump particularly given that the former president continues the false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak in Statuary Hall in the Capitol building on Thursday to mark the anniversary. On January 6th, Trump supporters ran through that room on their way to the House chamber, where they failed to breach the security doors. Psaki also went after members of the Republican Party who have supported Trump's lie that he was the presidential victor. 'What you'll hear the president talking about tomorrow is the fact that you don't just love your country when you win,' she told Dailymail.com. 'You love your country, you love democracy in any in any scenario, and what is most disappointing to him is that there has been a silence and, at times, a complacency by far too many Republicans who have sat by and defended the big lie and perpetuated misinformation to the American public.' President Biden will hold Donald Trump responsible for the 'chaos and carnage' of January 6th, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Donald Trump, above, speaks to his supporters outside the White House on the morning of January 6th Trump supporters storm the Capitol on January 6th Psaki did not mince words in her press briefing about the administration's view of Trump. The former president addressed his supporters outside the White House on January 6, 2021 before they marched on the Capitol and tried to stop the certification of Biden's victory. House Democrats impeached Trump for his role but he was acquitted by the Senate. Biden has been 'clear eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy and how the former president constantly works to constantly undermine basic American values and rule of law,' Psaki said. She noted that Biden sees January 6th as a 'tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country.' Trump canceled a planned press conference for January 6th. Democrats, meanwhile, are ramping up their probe of the January 6th insurrection ahead of Thursday's one-year anniversary, considering 'Watergate-style' prime-time hearings with a bold-faced witness wish list that includes Mike Pence and Sean Hannity. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a day-long slate of events planned for the one-year anniversary of the MAGA riot on Thursday, including a moment of silence on the House floor, testimony from lawmakers about their experience that day, and a prayer vigil on the steps of the Capitol. 'These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,' Pelosi wrote in a letter to lawmakers. Republicans, who have not revealed their plans for how they will mark the day, accused Democrats of grandstanding. 'I think they will try to politicize the event,' Republican Senator John Thune said. In a bid capitalize on the anniversary, Democrats on committee are looking to crank up the pace of their probe and draw a massive audience with prime-time hearings. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a day-long slate of events planned for the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection - above she is seen with then-Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the joint session of Congress on that day The House committee investigating January 6th is considering Watergate-style prime-time hearings; above are Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney of the panel Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin is among those pushing for prime-time hearings on Jan. 6 riot Democratic plans for marking one-year anniversary of January 6th riot in Capitol 9 am: President Biden and Vice President Harris deliver remarks in National Statuary Hall in the Capitol 10 am: Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold a closed-press Moment of Reflection on the House floor 12 pm: A statement from Speaker Pelosi and a Moment of Silence on the House Floor 1 pm: Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress; Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and Historian Jon Meacham moderate a conversation with Speaker Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer 2:30 pm: Democratic Rep. Jason Crow leads lawmakers in giving testimonials about what they experienced on January 6th 5:30 pm: Pelosi and Schumer lead a Bicameral Prayer Vigil on Capitol Center Steps Advertisement 'I have favored this strategy from the beginning,' Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the panel, told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Wednesday. He said he wanted a Watergate-style approach, when the 1973 hearings into Richard Nixon's presidency captivated America. At one point an estimated 85% of the country was tuned in to them. 'I remember as a kid getting to watch a bit of the Watergate hearings, which were a daily spectacle that the whole country tuned into,' Raskin said. 'If we can do that for, you know, a break-in in a couple of offices in the Watergate hotel, certainly, we can do it for a massive break-in into the Capitol of the United States, a storming, and a seizure essentially of our government offices, an interruption of the peaceful transfer of power.' Those prime-time hearings could occur in late March or early April, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, told Bloomberg News. But no date has been set yet. 'We're working toward that,' Thompson said. Those hearings would also feature high-profile witnesses, which would help them gain maximum exposure. Among those names beiing considered are former Vice President Mike Pence and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Pence was under heavy pressure from then-President Donald Trump to declare the 2020 election results invalid, wipe out Joe Biden's victory and secure him a second term. The vice president has the symbolic role of presiding over the Electoral College certification of results. Pence was a target of the January 6th rioters, some of who threatened to hang him, and was evacuated from the Senate floor as the MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol. Thompson told CNN that he and the panel would like to hear from Pence. 'I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee,' he said. 'We have not formally asked. But if he offered, we'd gladly accept. Everything is under consideration,' he added. So far, in its investigation, the committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses, announced more than 50 subpoenas, obtained more than 35,000 pages of records and received hundreds of telephone tips through their Jan. 6 tipline, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Names are starting to be lined up for hearings. The panel on Tuesday asked longtime Trump supporter Sean Hannity to appear as a 'fact witness' in their investigation, noting how the Fox star was 'expressing concerns and providing advice to the president and White House staff.' The committee released several texts Hannity sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. 'I'm very worried about the next 48 hours,' Hannity wrote on the eve of January 6th. On January 5, the eve of the Capitol attack, Hannity also texted to Meadows, 'Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave.' In the letter to Hannity, Thompson wrote the texts suggest 'that you had knowledge of concerns by President Trump's White House Counsel's Office regarding the legality of the former President's plans for January 6th.' 'These facts are directly relevant to our inquiry,' Thompson told Hannity. Thompson also said that Hannity appeared to have 'detailed knowledge regarding President Trump's state of mind in the days following the January 6th attack.' One of Hannity's texts indicated he had a discussion with Trump on January 10 and it left the Fox News host concerned in the lead-up to President Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration. 'Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days,' Hannity informed Meadows and Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. 'He can't mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I'm not sure what is left to do or say, and I don't like not knowing if it's truly understood. Ideas?' On his Fox News show on Tuesday evening, Hannity launched into a stinging rebuke of DC officials and their 'willing accomplices' but didn't mention the letter from the House committee investigating the MAGA riot. 'I have an important message to all you elected swamp creatures in Washington, D.C., your willing accomplices, your press secretaries in the media mob,' he began. 'It is frankly repulsive, just repulsive that all of you sycophants, you sit idly by, you say nothing, you do nothing, as Joe Biden completely mismanages COVID-19,' he said. Republicans have not revealed their plans for how they will mark the one-year anniversary of the riot. Many Republican lawmakers criticized Trump in the immediate wake of January 6th - some even called him that day to encourage him to try and call off the rioters. But, many of them also have made amends with the former president in the months following particularly as Trump continues to hold a tight grip on Republican base. Many Republican senators, including Leader Mitch McConnell, will be in Atlanta for the funeral of former Senator Johnny Isakson on Thursday. From left to right: Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol Police, Officer Michael Fanone of the DC Metropolitan Police and Officer Daniel Hodges of the DC Metropolitan Police listen as Private First Class Harry Dunn of the US Capitol Police testifies before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on US Capitol on July 27 The House panel investigating January 6th has said they'd like to hear form Mike Pence Earlier this week, members of the House panel indicated they had received testimony from inside Trump's West Wing from January 6th that focuses on Trump's failure to do more to stop the rioters. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the panel, revealed there was 'firsthand' testimony that Ivanka Trump twice asked her father to call off the rioters. 'We know members of his family, we know his daughter - we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,' Cheney said Sunday on ABC's This Week. Ivanka reportedly referred to the insurrection as an 'optics issue' as it was taking place, according to Michael Wolff's latest Trump book Landslide. She tried to stop the riot herself, tweeting: 'American Patriots - any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.' The tweet has since been deleted. Meanwhile, the House committee has been rebuffed by several former Trump aides or advisers whose testimony was sought by subpoena. That includes former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Meadows. Bannon has been indicted for criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to the panel and awaits trial in July. The House in December voted to hold Meadows in contempt, referring the case to the Justice Department. A young soldier who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Kabul had been 'reduced to tears' by his sergeant major hours earlier, an inquest has heard. Private Joseph Berry, 21, was serving with 'A' Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the time of his death on February 22, 2020. He had received a telling off from his sergeant major earlier that day after having broken weapons protocol that left him teary eyed, the inquest at Warrington Coroner's Court heard. He was found dead later that day next to his Glock 9mm pistol, and forensic and pathology experts concluded the private died from a gunshot wound with features 'strongly supportive of self-infliction'. News of his death came as a surprise to family, who said the private had no history of depression or mental health issues. His mother, Lisa Snow, said her son had wanted to join the Paras since the age of 14. She said: 'He was loving it, he was living his dream. He wanted to see the world and hoped the Army would help him do that.' Private Joseph Berry, 21, was serving with 'A' Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the time of his death on February 22, 2020. He was found dead next to his Glock 9mm pistol, and forensic and pathology experts concluded the private died from a gunshot wound with features 'strongly supportive of self-infliction' A statement given by the British Army, which said Berry had died of a 'non-battle injury', described the private as 'an optimistic, capable, and compassionate soldier' who showed great promise. Pte Berry, who grew up in Crewe, Cheshire, was found dead at the New Kabul camp compound with his 9mm Glock pistol nearby and a note for his family in his notebook. Ms Snow, along with other witnesses, said her son was making plans for the future, and had never suffered from depression or talked about self-harm. She said that in his last WhatsApp message to her, the day before his death, he had said he was 'exceptionally happy today'. His father, RAF Squadron Leader Nick Berry, joked he was 'massively disappointed' his son decided to wear the 'wrong cap badge' and join the Army. Mr Berry said he had 'beat himself up' thinking if he had missed any signs, but said: 'There was nothing there.' Alan Moore, Senior Coroner for Cheshire, replied: 'Sometimes there isn't.' The hearing was told how Pte Berry had used the wrong piece of kit to clean the barrel of his gun and got cloth stuck in the muzzle. He had also broken procedure by unloading and making safe his SA80 rifle in his living quarters rather than while being supervised in a designated area as directed by orders 'from on high'. The inquest heard Pte Berry, who was described as 'very well liked' but who also hated to be embarrassed or be in the spotlight, was teary eyed when told off by Sergeant Major Christopher Groves. Mr Moore said to SM Groves he knew of a 'more colourful military term' for a telling off that was not a 'cosy chat'. Michael Davison, representing Pte Berry's family, asked SM Groves: 'Did that concern you, when he was teary eyed?' SM Groves replied: 'It did. And that's why I spoke to him, said we all make mistakes. He nodded, said, "OK sir", and went about the rest of his day.' Private Berry was found dead at New Kabul Compound last year. The compound was used by US, UK and NATO forces for years before being handed over to the Afghan army last year SM Groves told Pte Berry he would deal with the matter later but shortly afterwards the private sent a text message to his friend, Lance Corporal Josh Brown, detailing a specific location on the base and reading: 'Thanks for being such a good friend. I wish I was better in everything. Love you man.' SM Groves and others dashed to the scene where Private Kyle Smith found the body and a padre and a medical officer were called. Forensic and pathology experts concluded Pte Berry died from a gunshot wound with features 'strongly supportive of self-infliction'. Sergeant Christopher Belk, who investigated for the Royal Military Police (RMP), said writing in a notebook found at the scene 'indicated an intention on Private Berry's part to take his own life'. Asked if there was any evidence of bullying, he said: 'Absolutely not. He was someone well liked across the regiment. He specifically states there's nothing untoward from the Army side.' Mr Berry said his son joined the Paras 'because they were the best, and added that he was 'incredibly proud of what he did and what he was'. 'Sat here as a parent, I'm just so proud.' The Glock 17 9mm pistol has been in service with the British Army since 2013. Private Berry was found dead with his pistol nearby and a note for his family in his notebook. Private Berry's brother, Mark Smith, said: 'He'd always go out of his way to make people happy. He knew he wanted to join the army and he always wanted to be the best of the best, which is why he joined the paratroopers. 'He even recovered from pneumonia and passed all his qualifications despite having spent weeks in bed.' Berry was born and raised in Crewe, Cheshire, and began training with The Parachute Regiment Training Company in September 2017. A statement given by the British Army, which said Berry had died of a 'non-battle injury', described the private as 'an optimistic, capable, and compassionate soldier' who showed great promise. The hearing was adjourned until Thursday morning. Advertisement Two Florida sheriff's deputies who were in a relationship have died by suicide just days apart last week, leaving their newborn son an orphan. St Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara announced on Tuesday the deaths of deputies Clayton Osteen and Victoria Pacheco. They had served on the force since November 2019 and February 2020, respectively. Mascara said that shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve, the sheriff's office got a call about an attempted suicide. Investigators learned that the person who had tried to take his own life was one of their deputies, Osteen, who was off-duty at the time. Osteen initially survived and was taken to a hospital, where two days later his family made the decision to remove him from life support. A day later, Osteen's partner, colleague and the mother of his one-month-old son, Pacheco, took her own life. 'Words cannot express the tremendous loss we all feel after losing these two members of our sheriff's office family,' Mascara wrote. Authorities have not said what might have prompted the couple's back-to-back suicides, nor how they died, but Sheriff Mascara noted in his statement that deputies often deal with 'stress' and are 'human.' St Lucie County Sheriff's deputies Clayton Osteen (left) and Victoria Pacheco (right) died as a result of suicides just days apart last week The young couple had just welcomed their first child together, a boy, in mid-November. Osteen and Pacheco are pictured during her baby shower in September Jayce Osteen has been left orphaned after his mom and dad, who were both sheriff's deputies, took their own lives 'While it's impossible for us to fully comprehend the private circumstances leading up to this devastating loss, we pray that this tragedy becomes a catalyst for change, a catalyst to help ease the stigma surrounding mental well-being and normalize the conversation about the challenges so many of us face on a regular basis,' the sheriff added. Osteen was a retired US Marine, previously serving as a rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. He enlisted in May 2015 and was featured in a video about undergoing training in the jungles of Brunei in 2016. Osteen and Pacheco welcomed their first child together, a son, in mid-November. Osteen, pictured above cradling his girlfriend's pregnant belly, attempted to take his life on New Year's Eve and was taken off life support two days later Osteen was a retired US Marine, previously serving as a rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment The young mother-of-one took her own life just one day after her partner's death Friends have been sharing memories and photos of the tragic couple on social media. 'A true brother lost his internal battle,' Ray Tourville wrote of Osteen on Facebook. 'I struggle with finding the words to write that even remotely does him justice. Im incredibly sorry that you felt this was your only option.' To make a donation to help support baby Jayce, click here. Write 'Jayce Osteen' in the donation's comment box to ensure the cash goes straight to him. Alternatively people can donate by via GoFundMe. A Southern California man was arrested after attacking staffers at a vaccination clinic last week, while calling workers 'murderers' and accusing them of causing the COVID pandemic, according to police and clinic officials. Thomas Apollo, of Poway, walked into the Families Together of Orange County mobile clinic in Tustin without a mask on, on December 30, and began abusing staff, police say. Things quickly escalated and the 43-year-old allegedly attacked two staff members, including Parsia Jahanbani and a medical assistant, both of whom had to be hospitalized. Multiple staff attempted to pull Apollo off Jahanbani, 37, a mobile operations manager for Families Together, and seven police officers were eventually needed to restrain Apollo, who was tasered three times, over about 15 minutes. The medical assistant, who declined to be publicly identified, was taken to the emergency room and returned to work Tuesday looking like 'a boxer after a fight,' said Alexander Rossel, chief executive of Families Together. Apollo was arrested and booked into the Orange County jail Thursday for charges of battery and resisting arrest. He was released Friday, records show, and is scheduled to appear in court again on January 27. No photos of Apollo were available as of Wednesday night. Parsia Jahanbani, pictured, was one of two staffers at the clinic who Apollo attacked Brian Lopez, 15, receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from Parsia Jahanbani in a mobile vaccine clinic operated by Families Together of Orange County, August 26, 2021 Pictured: the Families Together of Orange County mobile clinic in Tustin, California, the site of last week's attack 'He said, 'I don't need a mask, I don't have the virus, and you are the ones making people sick,'' Jahanbani, 37, told the Orange County Register. 'And just every type of profanity you can imagine.' Families Together, which has administered over 50,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Wednesday, said Jahanbani and the assistant 'sustained serious injuries and was sent to the hospital in an ambulance' but that both workers 'are expected to make a full recovery within a few days.' Apollo reportedly shouted and clenched his fists as he called the medical workers 'murderers' while falsely accusing them of facilitating a hoax inside the clinic. Apollo then lunged at Jahanbani and a medical assistant, punching the pair multiple times with 'a few pretty strong punches,' workers told the Register. He then pinned down the medical assistant, and landed several punches to the official's head, chest and back, Jahanbani told the Times. The mobile clinic, pictured, has administered over 50,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Wednesday 'It was one of my biggest fears coming true,' Jahanbani said. The Post reported that it took five people to pry Apollo away from the medical assistant before pinning him down until police arrived. 'We're extremely saddened to report that staff members working to help vaccinate patients in Tustin were attacked last week,' a statement from the clinic read. 'While Families Together believes that vaccines are important in the fight against the pandemic, we understand that the decision to get vaccinated is purely personal.' 'However, we will not tolerate violence or harassment of any kind against our staff, patients or volunteers,' the clinic's statement continued. 'We're proud of the strength and bravery of our team, and while this incident has shaken us, we will not be deterred from our mission to keep our community safe and healthy. On the contrary, it has motivated us to fight even harder.' Last week's attack on vaccination workers is one of many that have plagued the healthcare industry in recent months as it continues to vaccinate people nationwide. In May, a Tennessee woman was arrested on charges of speeding through a vaccination site in her car and nearly hitting seven workers while yelling, 'No vaccine!' according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, in September, Cox Medical Center Branson in Missouri said that violence against its workers had tripled over the past year, with the facility giving employees panic buttons as a result of the attacks. In August, a popular anti-vaxxer livestreamed on Facebook as he marched into a Missouri Walmart leading a small group of his followers to the pharmacy declaring that pharmacists could be hung for administering the vaccine. Christopher Key traveled from his home state of Alabama to attend an anti-vaccine rally in Springfield over the summer. Christopher Key has deemed himself the 'vaccine police' as he travels around the country spreading misinformation Key falsely claims that 45,000 people died within days of receiving the shot, referencing an affidavit from America's Frontline Doctors, a group known for spreading misinformation While he was in town, in addition to the Walmart stop, he went to a Springfield Public Schools board meeting and several other pharmacies spreading misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the vaccine. Key is a popular anti-vaxxer well known for sharing videos and posts of false narratives and data about the deadly virus and the vaccine. He falsely claimed that 45,000 people died within days of receiving the shot, referencing an affidavit from America's Frontline Doctors - a group known for spreading misinformation. That same month, a sinister private army of more than 200 ex-servicemen and women announced they were plotting to cause mayhem across Britain with a series of devastating anti-vaccine offensives, The Mail on Sunday revealed in late August. Calling itself Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F) and founded by a former Royal Marine commando, the self-styled paramilitary group is made up of 16 operational 'cells' across Britain, linked to a secret leadership command. Some members appear obsessed with weapons and have discussed violent insurrection, including attacking vaccine centers and targeting employees what one chillingly termed 'bringing the fight to the people sticking the needle in.' Julian Assange's fiancee has said she hopes to marry the Wikileaks founder in prison this year - as he continues to fight his extradition to the US on espionage charges. As his supporters today marked 1,000 days since he was first imprisoned, Mr Assange's partner Stella Moris said she was working on tying the knot in the 'difficult setting' behind bars at HMP Belmarsh. 'It has been something we have been wanting to do and the ideal circumstances, we don't know if and when they will happen, so we want to be married,' she told The Mirror. It comes at a difficult time for the publisher and activist, who was revealed to have had a stroke in October at the time of a High Court appearance - and has also lost the latest round in his extradition battle. Julian Assange's fiancee South African-born lawyer Stella Morris (pictured together) has said she hopes to marry the Wikileaks founder in prison this year - as he continues to fight his extradition to the US on espionage charge Ms Moris, a South African-born lawyer, began a relationship with Mr Assange in 2015 while he was seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. They became engaged in 2017 and had two children. Pictured: Mr Assange's children Gabriel and Max with Ms Moris He is wanted in the US for publishing classified military intelligence information, charges that could land him a 175-year jail sentence. He remains in prison as he is deemed a flight risk. Ms Moris, 38, said in a statement: 'It will be 1,000 days this Wednesday that Julian Assange has spent in the harshest prison in the UK. 'His young children, ages two and four, have no memory of their father outside the highest security prison of the UK.' Ms Moris, a South African-born lawyer, began a relationship with Mr Assange in 2015 while he was seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. They became engaged in 2017 and had two children. The Wikileaks founder is fighting extradition to the US from Belmarsh Prison where he has been held since 2019 The couple registered their intention to marry in November, having accused Belmarsh prison's governor and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab of working to prevent the ceremony going ahead. Ms Moris, who has become the face of the campaign to free Mr Assange, said she thought she 'would never step foot inside a prison' but now accepts it is the only way to get married without his charges being dropped. However, planning has proven difficult, with prison officials still yet to provide guidance on a ceremony and whether a cake or guests would be allowed. 'I am looking at dresses, I haven't picked one yet,' she added. 'It is a little bit difficult given the setting, but we don't actually know what the parameters are yet, the prison hasn't told us all the permissions [so] if we will be allowed a cake, a photographer or how many guests.' Ms Moris added that while she could now see her fiancee on a weekly basis, 'we don't really have much time to ourselves as a couple I mean, that's an understatement!'. 'He is a good father, a good husband. He is the man I want to spend all my time with.' Ms Moris, who has become the face of the campaign to free Mr Assange, said she thought she 'would never step foot inside a prison' but now accepts it is the only way to get married without his charges being dropped. Pictured: Ms Moris outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on December 10, 2021 Assange is pictured looking out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in a photograph from 2016 Mr Assange previously faced claims of sexually assaulting two different women in Sweden in 2010 which had led to attempts to extradite him. He always denied the charges and they have since been dropped by Swedish prosecutors. He is however still being pursued by US authorities for espionage charges, with appeals against any extradition ongoing. Campaigners calling for his release were due to stage events on Wednesday to mark the 1,000 days he has spent in prison. His supporters will gather outside Belmarsh Prison in London, where he is being held as the United States continues to attempt to extradite him. In her renewed call for his release, Ms Moris added that as long as he remains in prison, Mr Assange will be a political prisoner, and his 'indefinite incarceration' will kill him unless it is brought to an end. She added: 'In those 1,000 days, Julian has been held in extraordinary isolation for part of the time, faced two Covid shutdowns and, in October, he suffered a stress-induced stroke during his latest hearing. 'His lawyers have complained about the limited access they have to their client which has undermined his defence. His requests to attend his own hearings have been refused, and when he has been permitted to attend, his requests to sit next to his lawyers have also been refused.' Italy's government said Wednesday that it would make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for everyone over the age of 50 in a bid to battle surging infections. The move first emerged in a draft decree on Wednesday as a cabinet meeting on new curbs was still ongoing. According to the decree, the measure would be immediately effective and run until June 15. The measure was later confirmed by Italy's prime minister Mario Draghi, who said during the cabinet meeting: 'We want to slow down the curve of contagion and encourage Italians who have not yet been vaccinated to do so.' The move makes Italy one of very few European countries to take similar steps. The decree also said that from the start of February until the end of March only people with proof of vaccination or recent infection will be able to enter public offices, non-essential shops, banks, post-offices and hairdressers. Italy has registered more than 138,000 coronavirus deaths since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second highest number in Europe after Britain. Italy is set to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for people aged 50 and above in an attempt to ease pressure on its health service and reduce fatalities. Above: People queuing to get vaccinated in Rome on Wednesday Mr Draghi's government had already made vaccination mandatory for teachers and health workers, and since October last year all employees have had to be vaccinated or show a negative test before entering the workplace. Refusal results in suspension from work without pay, but not dismissal. Wednesday's move toughens this up for over-50s by removing the option of taking a test rather than vaccination. Those flouting the rule, effective from Feb 15, risk a fine of 600 euros to 1,500 euros ($1,697.85). The measures currently before cabinet have triggered frictions within Draghi's multi-party coalition. Wednesday registered 189,109 new infections, the highest number in Italy since the start of the pandemic The move emerged in a draft decree on Wednesday as a cabinet meeting on new curbs was still ongoing Ministers from the right-wing League issued a statement distancing themselves from the over-50 vaccine rule, calling it 'without scientific foundation, considering that the absolute majority of those hospitalised with Covid are well over 60.' Elsewhere in Europe, Austria has announced plans to make vaccination mandatory for those over 14 years old from next month, while in Greece it will be compulsory for over-60s from Jan 16. Italy was hit later than several northern European countries by the highly contagious Omicron variant, but its case load has risen steadily in recent weeks, with growing pressure on hospitals and intensive care units. It has seen an average of more than 150 deaths per day over the last two weeks, with 231 fatalities on Wednesday and 259 on Tuesday. Wednesday registered 189,109 new infections, the highest number in Italy since the start of the pandemic. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday defended the Justice Department's Jan. 6th probe from critics who say it appears to be focusing on lower-level perpetrators vowing that those who carried out the events will be 'held accountable.' Speaking at the DOJ with agency officials watching remotely and others in person, Garland defended the nationwide roundup, with more than 700 charged despite relatively few arrests the day of the Capitol riot. 'The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last. The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators - at any level - accountable under law,' Garland said. 'Whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy, we will follow the facts wherever they lead.' He specifically pointed to 40 people charged with conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding the meeting to count the electoral votes for president while also describing in detail the violent acts carried out against police officers that day. The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators - at any level - accountable under law,' said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a speech Wednesday He said agency officials will pursue the massive investigation for 'as long as it takes' and do 'whatever it takes for justice to be done, consistent with the facts and the law.' Garland was careful to say his agency would 'follow the facts' and show not bias for friend or foe, while also providing assurances that top operators will not be spared. 'Those involved must be held accountable and there is no higher priority for us at the Dept of Justice,' said Garland. He provided some statistics on that day, saying 80 Capitol Police and 60 D.C. police officers were assaulted. He said authorities had viewed 20,000 hours of footage and received 300,000 tips from Americans in their probe, with more than 725 defendants charged so far. He also gave an explanation for some of the optics of the probe, with 145 people pleading guilty to misdemeanors, and therefore getting lighter sentences. He said that was in keeping with 'well-worn prosecutorial practices, and that those decisions reflected the 'facts of those cases' and people's 'acceptance of responsibility.' 'Those who conspired with others to obstruct the vote count also face greater charges,' he said. The plea deals have allowed investigators to focus on 'more serious perpetrators.' Garland recounted the toll on police officers Jan. 6th He did not mention former President Trump, but vowed perpetrators at 'any level' will be held accountable, amid public criticism the probe is not focusing on the planners of the event Garland addressed officials at the Justice Department He put the hundreds of individual violent acts into a political context, saying those who attacked the Capitol were 'interfering with a fundamental element of American democracy the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.' But when he first retold the events of that day, he began by saying 'a large crowd gathered outside the Capitol building,' with no mention of the crowd who earlier gathered near the White House to hear President Donald Trump speak. That event was a focus for managers during Trump's second impeachment. Garland has faced pressure from some Democrats to pursue higher-ups. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told CNN this week the AG has been 'feckless.' 'I think Merrick Garland has been extremely weak and I think there should be a lot more of the organizers of January 6 that should be arrested by now,' he said. At the same time, some Republicans President Joe Biden will speak in the Capitol's Statuary Hall Thursday in his own anniversary remarks. According to comments by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki previewing the event, Biden will call out Trump for 'singular responsibility' for what happened, and call the former president who continues to challenge the legitimacy of the election a 'threat to democracy.' 'He sees January 6 as a tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country' and will 'forcibly push back on the lie spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people,' she said. The FBI has said more than 100 police officers were assaulted Jan. 6th. Garland also called out violent threats against lawmakers, journalists, election workers, and flight attendants and spoke of the importance of free and fair elections. He also called out state election laws that 'make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and elect representatives of their own choosing.' He spoke of redistricting maps 'drawn to disadvantage both minorities and citizens of opposing political parties' as well as 'abnormal post-election audits that with the integrity of the voting process.' Eric Holland, 57, was arrested after evading police in a stolen car on December 23. When the car was inventoried, police discovered the disembodied corpse of Richard P. Miller, 65, who they say was Holland's acquaintance A Las Vegas man found with an acquaintance's severed head and body in his car, may just have been 'a hapless car thief who just picked the wrong car,' his lawyer said Tuesday. Eric Holland, 57, was found with three handguns and taped-up coolers with the body parts inside when he was stopped on December 23. The head and body parts were found to belong to 65-year-old Richard P. Miller - an acquaintance of Holland, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, although they did not detail how they knew each other. Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci, who showed pictures of Miller's severed head in at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas at a January 4 bail hearing, and said that Holland was found with receipts for a power saw, construction-grade plastic bags and heavy-duty tape found on Holland's person after he was arrested on December 23. Detective Tate Sanborn testified in court that the home improvement store where the receipts were printed had surveillance footage showing a person who looked like Holland buying the saw and other items. Bullets from at least one of the three guns from his car were found in Miller's head and body - the Clark County Coroner said Miller died on the day Holland was arrested from multiple gunshot wounds, ruling the case a homicide. Holland was wanted on charges of using another person's ID, auto embezzlement of more than $3,500, intent to use a false check and theft of more than $3,500 when he was stopped by Metropolitan Police near the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino at around 3.42pm on December 23, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He evaded police and hopped from a 2018 Toyota Tundra into a second car, a 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche - after a drawn-out chase he was arrested, police searched the two vehicles after learning they were both stolen. Miller's remains were found taped into coolers in the bed of the truck. '[An] officer opened up one of the ice chests and discovered a human head inside that ice chest,' Metro homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS. 'I mean, you can imagine the horror when you open up an ice chest and you find a human head inside.' Holland is pictured in court on December 28. Receipts for power tools and three firearms were found on his person - the bullets found in victim Richard P. Miller's body matched at least one of the guns Holland's public attorney, David Westbrook, argued at the bail hearing that Holland would never lead police to the second car in the chase if he had committed a murder and that the gruesome evidence was inside. But Westbrook argued that the prosecution would need to prove that the body was in the Avalanche, that Holland was aware of it and that he killed Miller. Although he conceded in court that Holland 'was caught while running from police' for his outstanding crimes, he told reporters that Holland intends to plead not guilty. Westbrook told reporters outside the courtroom that prosecutors had not proven Hollan 'had knowledge of what was in the Avalanche, and that he intentionally led police to the evidence.' 'Why would he do that?' the defense attorney asked. But Judge Harmony Letizia denied Holland bail, saying that the 'presumption is great that Mr. Holland committed murder,' and 'proof is evident' before scheduling his next court hearing for January 27. Holland's attorney asked Ricardo Auerbach, the police detective who found Miller's detached head, if he had properly obtained a warrant to search the Avalanche before the discovery was made. Auerbach said it was standard to inventory the contents of a stolen car before it is impounded and towed away as evidence, and that he opened the cooler containing the head after he smelled a rotting odor like 'decay or fish.' Sanborn said that a more thorough search was held off until a warrant was obtained. Police caught up to fleeing Holland on the 4200 block of Rochelle Avenue, pictured Holland was first pulled over by police near the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, pictured Pesci listed Holland's long list of convictions, which date back to the 1980's and spread across the states of Nevada, California and Texas, according to Newsweek. His most recent arrest warrant for embezzlement, identity theft, issuing false checks and theft has been out since May 2019. He posted $5,000 bail before failing to return to court. In 2000, he was convicted for felony theft charges in Las Vegas, and ended up serving prison time. In 1997, Holland was convicted for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest causing substantial bodily harm. And in 1991, he was convicted of attempted escape and aiding in an escape. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has delighted constituents who enjoy a tipple with a surprise move to permanently legalize to-go alcohol orders from bars and restaurants. 'Cheers, New York,' Hochul said after announcing the move during her State of the State address to the legislature in Albany on Wednesday, as the Omicron wave further disrupts the Empire State economy. In her announcement, Hochul said: 'So many small businesses are pushed to the brink. Thousands of bars and restaurants, the soul of our neighborhoods, have had to close. For others hanging on by a thread, survival depends on whether they can create more space outdoors, a tough task during our New York winters. 'To help offset these costs we'll provide a tax credit for COVID-related purchases like outdoor heating and seating.' Carry-out booze had been temporarily allowed last year during the pandemic, which Hochul noted was a 'critical revenue stream' in tough times, but the measure expired in June. In her speech Hochul also announced a $1 billion plan to boost small businesses, including a tax credit for pandemic-related capital expenditures, such as for outdoor heaters or booth dividers. The decision will be a welcome move for bars and restaurants, many of which have been forced into de facto lockdowns over the past month due to a surge in covid cases. On Wednesday, the state recorded 77,859 new covid cases and 96 new deaths over 24 hours. In New York City alone, there were 36,186 new infections in a single day. New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced permanent legalization of to-go alcohol, raising a champagne flute and saying 'cheers, New York' Hochul touted her own experience as a former small business owner, including helping her mother start a flower and gift shop. 'New York's comeback depends on the recovery and success of our small businesses,' Hochul said. 'Since the pandemic hit, small business owners have been struggling with unprecedented challenges. New York is here with a simple message: help is on the way.' New York is not the first state to legalize to-go alcohol during the pandemic, a move that Iowa and Arizona also made. However, Hochul's move does not amount to a booze free-for-all, as New York City's open container law is still in effect. Thus it is still technically illegal to consume alcohol on the city's streets and public transit, though the rule is regularly flouted and citations are rare. Hochul said that her multi-prong rescue plan would 'ensure that disadvantaged, minority-owned, and women-owned small businesses prosper throughout the state' A New Yorker is seen carrying to-go drinks in May 2020. The temporary provision for carry-out booze had expired in June, but will now be permanent Hochul said that her multi-prong rescue plan would 'ensure that disadvantaged, minority-owned, and women-owned small businesses prosper throughout the state.' The $1 billion plan includes a state-run venture fund to invest in emerging businesses, 'including minority- and women-owned companies often overlooked by private-sector venture investments.' A tax credit for COVID-related capital expenditures would help defray the costs of equipment and renovations that businesses undertook as pandemic precautions. A small business lending facility will provide reduced interest loans to small businesses seeking to expand. Another component, dubbed the Excelsior Contracting Opportunities Initiative, will assist small businesses in securing federal contracts funded by the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, 'particularly those which are socially and economically disadvantaged.' A New Yorker is seen purchasing to-go drinks in May 2020. Hochul's scheme for carry-out booze is only one element of her plan to help small businesses Hochul said she will also provide $100 million in tax relief for 195,000 small businesses by widening eligibility and increasing a tax return adjustment that reduces a small business's gross business income. The governor's speech was sparsely attended due to strict capacity limits at the statehouse, allowing only 50 state legislators to attend in person. Hochul, a Democrat who ascended to office last year when Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace, is expected to seek another term in November's election. Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was term-limited out of office at the end of December, is expected to challenge Hochul in the primary race, though he has not publicly confirmed his plans. Scotty David, who spoke on condition that only his first and middle names are used, said he went into the trial firmly believing that Maxwell was 'innocent until proven guilty' and viewing the victims with a skeptical eye Ghislaine Maxwell will ask for a new trial after two jurors came forward to reveal that they were victims of sexual abuse and that their experiences helped guide other jurors to convict, DailyMail.com can reveal. The announcement came amid a flurry of Federal court filings on Wednesday following interviews given by juror Scotty David and a second anonymous juror in which both admitted that they shared their experiences of sexual abuse during deliberation. David told first DailyMail.com and, later, other news outlets that he did not remember the question in the juror questionnaire which specifically asked potential jurors if they or any friend or family member had been the victim of sexual abuse or assault. Though he insisted that he had answered all questions, 'honestly.' But according to Maxwell's attorneys in their latest letter to Federal court Judge Alison Nathan it does not matter whether any omission was intentional or an honest mistake. If it happened at all it is grounds for a mistrial to be called and a new trial convened. They state, 'The Supreme Court has held that to be entitled to a new trial, "a party must first demonstrate that a juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire, and then further show that a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause."' On Wednesday, prosecutors appointed a lawyer for David. A challenge for cause is when a potential juror is dismissed because they are deemed incapable of serving or being impartial. Maxwell's lawyers continue, 'This standard applies even if the juror's conduct was merely inadvertent and not intentional. Ms. Maxwell... intends to request a new trial under Rule 33 because the "interest of justice to requires."' The shock move come after an earlier filing in which Maxwell's lawyers stated that they had 'incontrovertible' grounds for a mistrial. Meanwhile the US Attorney General has requested an investigation into a juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial's public admission that he 'flew through' the juror questionnaire and 'could not remember' revealing that he had been a victim of sexual abuse. That letter, obtained by DailyMail.com also filed in Federal Court Wednesday, came as a direct response to interviews given by David in which he revealed that his admission of being a victim of sexual abuse marked a sea-change in deliberations. Prosecutors have requested David be appointed an attorney, an unusual step for a juror that suggests they may believe he has committed perjury or broken the law in another way. And in interviews given by a second juror on Wednesday they also expressed the view that sharing their story helped lead uncertain jurors towards a conviction. An expert has since said Scott's interivews were 'an absolute disaster' and there is a very real possibility that Maxwell's conviction could be tossed. Lawyer and legal commentator Neama Rahmani, who co-found West Coast Trial Lawyers, based in Los Angeles, told BBC that if David lied on his juror questionnaire and denied being a victim of sexual abuse, 'that would be both perjury and potential grounds for a mistrial'. 'This is why prosecutors cringe when jurors talk to the media after a guilty verdict because jurors may say something that may overturn the conviction,' he said. Scotty recalled looking directly at Maxwell, 'I could literally see her [all the time]. There were times when it felt like she was staring right at me and we would lock eyesit didn't feel real' Ghislaine Maxwell will ask for a new trial after two jurors came forward to reveal that they were victims of sexual abuse and that their experiences helped guide other jurors to convict, DailyMail.com can reveal Now Maxwell's attorneys have shown their hand dismissing the state's request for an 'investigation' as 'premature' and insisting that 'based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial. ' In the first of two letters filed by Maxwell's defense team on Wednesday they outlined that they described as 'an issue of pressing importance.' They stated, 'It has come to the attention of the defense that one of the twelve jurors in the case (the 'Juror') has been giving oral and videotaped interviews to various members of the press concerning the jury deliberations. 'These interviews have been publicly reported in several media outlets. Among other things, the Juror told reporter that he disclosed to the other members of the jury during deliberations that he was a victim of sexual abuse and further described his memory of those events. According to the Juror, his disclosure influenced the deliberations and convinced other members of the jury to convict Ms. Maxwell.' Maxwell's defense team has called upon the judge to rule on this matter ahead of any of the other motions that are pending. They went onto assert, 'Should the defense prevail on this motion and we believe the law and facts are clearly on our side it would render all other post-trial motions moot. Ms. Maxwell should not have to expend precious time and resources briefing other motions when this motion can and should be dispositive.' David spoke with DailyMail.com in an interview on Tuesday night when he was asked if he had revealed his own experience of sexual abuse in the juror questionnaire completed ahead of his selection. His immediate response was, 'No they don't ask your sexual abuse history. They didn't ask it in the questionnaire.' But question 48 in the 50-question document reads, 'Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault? (This includes actual or attempted sexual assault or other unwanted sexual advance, including by a stranger, acquaintance, supervisor, teacher, or family member.)' There are then three boxes to tick: Yes (self) Yes (friend or family member) and No. When DailyMail.com pointed this out to David he said that he 'definitely remembered' filling out the questionnaire on day one of selection and said, 'I would have definitely marked, "Yes". But I honestly don't remember the question.' He added, 'I definitely remember a [question about a] family or relative or something being sexually abused. I was honest on all of my questions.' According to legal experts Maxwell's attorneys could have grounds for a mistrial or move to have her convictions quashed if David failed to disclose his personal history for any reason. Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell say they have 'incontrovertible' grounds for a mistrial after a juror openly admitted that he was a survivor of sexual abuse and had discussed it during deliberations Jury selection took place across two days with jurors filling out a questionnaire on day one. Some jurors were dismissed at this point with others progressing to the 'voir dire' stage in which they appeared before the judge. At this stage attorneys for both the state and the defense had an opportunity to interview jurors in more depth. Both parties have a limited number of peremptory strikes which allows attorneys to reject a potential juror without giving a reason. They do not have to use one of their peremptory strikes if the judge agrees with a request to dismisses a juror 'for cause.' This happens when the court agrees to strike a juror because there is some reason that renders them unable to serve or incapable of being impartial. If Maxwell's attorneys were not aware of a juror's history of sexual abuse it would have severely impeded this process. Speaking about the voir dire stage of his selection David told DailyMail.com, that the question of his experience of sexual abuse was, 'never raised.' He said, 'We went in front of the judge and there were all the lawyers in the room and that's where they asked me some questions. They asked me what I do, what I like to do for fun. And if I can be fair and impartial and it was literally like 30 second long and then I was out of the room.' David went onto reveal that another juror shared an experience of sexual abuse or assault when he shared his own story on day three of deliberations but did not go into any detail of the incident. He said that when he revealed his history, 'the room fell silent' and that he believed his experience as a survivor allowed him to better understand, and explain, the experiences of the victims who testified particularly in relation to memory and defense expert witness Elizabeth Loftus's testimony regarding false or implanted memory. In another interview given by David he said that he, 'flew through' the questionnaire. And David's public comments were enough to prompt the government to write to Judge Nathan who presided over Maxwell's trial and conviction. The US Attorney General has requested an investigation into Scotty David's public admission that he 'flew through' the juror questionnaire and 'could not remember' revealing that he had been a victim of sexual abuse A picture of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein relaxing in the Queen's log cabin at Balmoral was shown at her sex trafficking trial. Wearing a blue checked shirt, the British socialite is seen resting her arm on Epstein's knee as they sit in the exact same spot in the hut in Glen Beg that the Queen has been pictured relaxing in The letter states, 'The Government has become aware that a juror has given several interviews to press outlets regarding his jury service in this case. While the Court instructed jurors that they were free to discuss their jury service with anyone of their choosing, some of the statements, as related in the media, merit attention by the Court. 'In particular, the juror has described being a victim of sexual abuse. Assuming the accuracy of the reporting, the juror asserted that he '"flew through" the prospective juror questionnaire and does not recall being asked whether he had been a victim of sexual abuse, but state that 'he would have answered honestly.' The letter goes onto request an investigation conducted under the supervision of the Court and a hearing to be scheduled within a month. The prosecution has reached out to the defense counsel but had not heard back at time of writing the letter. They also suggested that the Court reach out to David, who is not named in the letter, 'and inquire whether he would like counsel to be appointed in connection with it.' It is unusual step for a juror to be appointed an attorney and suggests the prosecution could believe he has committed perjury or another criminal act. Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, told Insider that David's comments could cause two issues - perjury and prejudice, a preconceived opinion that may have improperly swayed the jury. DailyMail.com has reached out to lawyers for Maxwell in a bid to determine whether they were aware of David or any other juror's history of sexual abuse of assault during jury selection. They have not yet responded. In his interview, David said he had helped the other members of the jury understand things from a victim's point of view and explained how 'you can't remember all the details' of traumatic memories - this was a crucial line of attack by Maxwell's lawyers who called a 'false memory' expert witness. David also claimed that the five guilty verdicts returned in New York last week, possibly condemning Maxwell to spend the rest of life behind bars, were for 'all the victims'. David said he went into the trial firmly believing that Maxwell was 'innocent until proven guilty' and viewing the victims with a skeptical eye. But, he said, 'After all I've learned, she's just as guilty as Epstein. I don't want to call her a monster, but a predator is the right word. 'She knew what was happening. She knew what Epstein was doing and she allowed it to happen. She participated in getting these girls comfortable so that he could have his way with them. 'And, to me, them returning repeatedly for the money has nothing to do with anything because these girls were minors, and it doesn't matter what incentivized them. It matters what happened to them.' Scotty revealed that he was not the only juror to share a story of sexual abuse and that it did not affect his ability to view Maxwell as innocent until proven guilty During the trial Scotty, who works in finance, was seated in the third row of the jury box, in the back corner. From his vantage point, he said, he had a vista of the entire court and the 'perfect view' of Maxwell herself. He recalled, 'I could literally see her [all the time]. There were times when it felt like she was staring right at me and we would lock eyesit didn't feel real.' 'She was constantly taking notes, and constantly passing post-it notes over to her attorneys especially when they were on cross examination.' At times, he said, 'I felt like she was watching what we were doing because there were times when some jurors, not during when the victims presented their testimony, but when certain other people presented on things that maybe they didn't feel matteredsome people would nod off.' Scotty said that Maxwell's manner in court was discussed during deliberations. He said, 'We did discuss that we thought she was a little standoffish and not necessarily cold, more like she was paying attention.' In an insight that will surely come as a gut blow to Maxwell herself, who reportedly wanted to testify but was advised against it, Scotty revealed that if she had taken the stand, 'It would have shown maybe that she was a little more human. 'Maybe if she gave her version of the story, who knows, maybe if she gave us a story of how she was manipulatedI don't know. But then that would have been an admission I feel like of guilt.' Jurors were instructed not to draw any inference of guilt or otherwise from Maxwell's decision not to testify and, Scotty said, it was simply set to one side and not discussed during deliberations. Asked if, at any stage, he had experienced any sympathy for Maxwell he said, 'Absolutely. Because this is the rest of her life, right? We were deciding what happens based off the evidence provided. 'We took that very seriously because we took at as, this could be our sister, our sister could be on trial here. We have to really comb through the evidence and make sure we have enough proof to say that she's either guilty or not.' David told The Independent he found all the accusers to be credible, despite the defense's attacks on their stories and memories. 'They were all believable. Nothing they said felt to me like a lie,' he said. 'I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the color of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,' he said, and he explained this to fellow jurors. 'But I can't remember all the details, there are some things that run together.' Scotty said when he chose to share his own experience of sexual abuse the room 'went silent'. Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during an event at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju, Jan. 5. Yonhap Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), renewed his call for providing COVID-19 relief grants to all people Wednesday, saying it was an effective way to help pandemic-hit small businesses. "Basically, all people have suffered (from COVID-19), so opportunity should be given to all of them," Lee told reporters after a campaign event in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. "I am not saying it needs to be done immediately but in principle it is the right way to go." Lee had stopped calling for relief grants to all people after the government repeatedly expressed opposition over concerns about the country's fiscal soundness. A litter enforcement worker who is suing his former employer has claimed he was sacked for whistleblowing after allegedly being told to target ethnic minorities with fines. Gary Forrester, 39, yesterday told an employment tribunal that staff at Kingdom Services Group were told to go after minorities because they were unlikely to challenge penalties and were less inclined to understand UK law. He also alleged Kingdom staff were under 'daily threat' of being fired if they did not issue enough fixed penalty notices (FPNs). The former team manager, who was stationed in the London borough of Barnet, said in a witness statement that his boss issued the order after becoming 'frustrated and angry' when staff could not issue more littering and fly-tipping penalties for legitimate reasons. He also alleged Kingdom would 'double or triple-bill councils' by telling his team to work in other boroughs which had contracts with the firm while charging the first local authority as if work were being carried out as normal. Kingdom meanwhile has denied ever targeting ethnic minorities and disputed the claim Mr Forrester was a whistleblower, saying that any 'protected disclosures' he made were simply attempts to prevent a disciplinary process brought against him. Gary Forrester, 39, yesterday told an employment tribunal that staff at Kingdom Services Group were told to go after minorities because they were unlikely to challenge penalties and were less inclined to understand UK law (pictured: environmental enforcement officer from Kingdom Services Group in Kent) Mr Forrester also alleged Kingdom staff were under 'daily threat' of being fired if they did not issue enough fixed penalty notices (stock picture) Mr Forrester, who worked for Kingdom from February 2020 until November 2020, told the tribunal his team received 'dozens and dozens of complaints from residents' and he raised his concerns with Barnet Council's contract manager and his own manager, but was told to 'leave it with them'. He accused Kingdom of 'covering up illegal wrongdoing' by its own staff or clients 'in order to keep contracts and revenue'. Mr Forrester claims he was wrongfully dismissed because Kingdom used allegations of racist and transphobic posts in a staff WhatsApp group as an 'excuse' to sack him for what he claims were protected disclosures. Mr Forrester denies the allegations, which were upheld by an internal Kingdom investigation, the tribunal heard. He seeks re-instatement if the Kingdom chief executive issues him an apology and assurances the alleged practices will stop, or compensation and reimbursement of costs as an alternative option. In a response document presented to the tribunal, Kingdom's lawyers disputed the claim Mr Forrester was a whistleblower and denied ever targeting ethnic minorities. The firm said: 'Any disclosures which were made were made cynically in order to attempt to prevent a legitimate disciplinary process and were therefore not in good faith.' Kingdom denied Mr Forrester was unfairly dismissed or that there was any link between the alleged protected disclosures and his dismissal. The document added: '[Kingdom] has taken and continues to take all reasonable steps to investigate the allegations made by the [Mr Forrester] and has liaised with all relevant authorities in this regard. '[Kingdom] notes that the client has found no truth in [Mr Forrester]'s alleged disclosures and other bodies named by the claimant have similarly taken no further action. '[Kingdom]'s internal investigation found [Mr Forrester]'s alleged disclosures to be without merit.' It added the firm had a whistleblowing procedure and investigates 'robustly' and 'adheres fully' to protecting people who make protected disclosures. In 2019, a Guardian investigation into Kingdom revealed that the company had generated 1.4m in fines over just eight months in one council area alone. Whistleblowers told the paper two years ago that Kingdom employees had targeted elderly people for littering because they knew they would be more likely to pay the fines. Mr Forrester, who worked for Kingdom from February 2020 until November 2020, told the tribunal his team received 'dozens and dozens of complaints from residents' and he raised his concerns with Barnet Council's contract manager and his own manager, but was told to 'leave it with them' (stock pic) In 2019, a Guardian investigation into Kingdom revealed that the company had generated 1.4m in fines over just eight months in one council area alone (stock pic) In response to the allegations made by Mr Forrester, a Barnet Council spokesperson said: 'We are aware of the allegations and this has already been investigated by our Corporate Anti-Fraud Team. 'However, there is some new information we have been made aware of that we will now investigate and as such cannot comment further at this time.' In his statement, Mr Forrester alleged a Barnet Council waste disposal team - Street Scene - would 'not always pick up waste according to the timetable', leading to businesses and residents incurring FPNs from Kingdom. His witness statement also alleged that Street Scene staff would put rubbish they had collected back onto the road, leading to residents being issued FPNs by Kingdom officers, and that Street Scene staff would try to try to force businesses with excess waste to pay fines, or steal products from their stores. In 2019, former Kingdom litter enforcement officer Shaun Finch, who worked on the streets of Grimsby for six months, alleged that the firm encourages employees to use 'underhanded tactics' to generate more revenue, including following people, hiding in cars so as not to be seen, and removing their body-cameras before claiming an offence had taken place. A top doctor has issued an encouraging message to Australians that the Omicron outbreak currently wreaking havoc across the country could be over in two weeks. The new and highly-infectious strain was first detected in November in South Africa and has since run rampant across the world. Australia has entered an unprecedented stage of the pandemic prompting major changes to Covid rules and testing chaos as thousands are infected. Infectious Disease Expert Professor Peter Collignon appeared on the Today Show on Thursday morning and said the Omicron variant would hit its peak in two weeks time. Infectious Disease Expert Professor Peter Collignon (pictured) appeared on the Today Show on Thursday morning and said case numbers could come down soon. 'You look at England and South Africa it reaches a peak and goes up quickly and comes down. I think that we have a week or two to go,' he said. Prof Collignon said people gathering during the period between Christmas and the New Year had triggered infection levels that would ease in January. 'I think it will go down. That takes 5-10 days. I would be optimistic it will come down,' he said - adding the virus would plateau before kicking up again in winter. 'That is when this virus spreads more rapidly as is happening in the Northern Hemisphere. Provided that your vaccinated it is not the end of the world. 'Most people will have very mild infections and get better after a day or two and have better long-lasting immunity than a booster.' The professor said the 'real issue' lay with unvaccinated Australians who were disproportionately in hospital and entering intensive care units with the virus. 'The figures I have seen from ICU from a week or so ago, it is mainly Delta putting people into hospital and people who are unvaccinated,' he said. The professor said the 'real issue' lay with unvaccinated people who were disproportionately in hospital and entering intensive care units with the virus (pictured, women on New Year's Eve) An infectious disease expert said Covid cases would slow in January and plateau before kicking up again in the winter months (pictured, staff at St Vincents hospital on Wednesday) It comes as Prime Minister vehemently declared Australia would never see another lockdown and said citizens needed to learn to live alongside Covid-19. WHAT ARE THE NEW CHANGES TO TESTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA? - 10 free Rapid Antigen Tests now available to low-income and vulnerable Australians over a three-month period - The free tests can be accessed at chemists with a concession or seniors card - PCR test no longer required to officially confirm a positive RAT result - Price gouging on RATs banned, with businesses caught doing so facing fines of up to $66,000 - The move comes after the in-demand tests were being sold for as much as $50 Advertisement 'Australia is better placed than nearly any country in the world. We're in the top 10 most vaccinated OECD countries in the world. We have to keep carefully managing these issues as they present,' Scott Morrison said on Wednesday. 'There are no magic solutions, full stop. And so this virus will continue to challenge us, and it's important that we all remain calm.' Mr Morrison outlined major changes to the country's testing system which has seen people wait hours for a PCR test and a nationwide shortage of crucial rapid antigen tests (RATs). The Federal Government will subsidise 10 RATs over a three-month period for 6.6 million low-income and at-risk Australians after dismissing calls to make the tests free universally. Those on welfare, pensions and concession cards will be eligible for the free tests. In another major change, Mr Morrison confirmed Australians will no longer need to seek a PCR test if they test positive on a RAT, and should count themselves as Covid positive. He said only people who are close contacts or who have Covid symptoms should be seeking PCR tests, which have been overrun by patients following Omicron's arrival. Australia broke a new record with a total of 64,774 new infections on Wednesday, a near 20,000 increase on Tuesday. Covid cases in NSW on Wednesday spiked to 35,054 while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight but ICU admissions in both states remain steady. A Pennsylvania mother has been accused of forcing her eight-year-old son to undergo a string of unnecessary and invasive medical procedures, including surgeries, in a suspected Munchausen's by Proxy case. Christine Maxwell, 48, from Enola, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and theft by deception. According to court filings, police in East Pennsboro Township launched an investigation into Maxwell back in September 2019, after receiving a report from a social worker about a caregiver suspected of child abuse due to Munchausen's by Proxy, also known as Caregiver Fabricated Illness. Maxwell's son, who was eight at the time, was quoted in an probable cause affidavit as telling investigators: 'my mom tells me when I'm sick.' Suspected Munchausen mom Christine Maxwell, 48, from Pennsylvania, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and theft by deception Maxwell was arrested in November 2021, but police only announced charges against her on Tuesday. According to the affidavit cited by PennLive.com, by the time a child services caseworker raised the alarm about Maxwell's alleged conduct, her son had undergone multiple EKGs and ECHOs, surgeries to remove his appendix and adenoids, a colonoscopy, a skin biopsy, a bronchoscopy, a gastrointestinal endoscopy, an MRI test, several X-rays, ultrasounds and blood draws. All of these procedures were performed despite doctors assuring Maxwell that her son was healthy. The court filing alleges that Maxwell insisted on the skin biopsy for her son after he was bitten by insects, while the bronchoscopy - a procedure involving an instrument being inserted into a patient's airways through the nose or mouth - was ordered because the child had a barking cough. WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN? Munchausen's by Proxy is a condition where an adult will invent medical conditions for his or her child so that they can get attention or sympathy. A dangerous facet of this is how they will often induce symptoms in the child to better illustrate the lie. Munchausen by proxy is typically considered a severe form of child abuse. Advertisement 'A biopsy is an invasive procedure which is completely unnecessary and put him at risk of pain, scarring, infection, and bleeding,' investigators stated. 'A bronchoscopy is a test that requires sedation and carries some risk (such as respiratory depression, bleeding, and possible perforation of airway).' Both tests failed to show any abnormalities, the documents stated. 'This abusive behavior has impacted [the childs] development by limiting his activity, leading him to believe that he is ill when he is not, and causing him to miss school days unnecessarily,' the affidavit read. Maxwell's son was taken away from her by the state in the fall of 2019. Since then, the child has been healthy, with no reports of illness. The boy's father is now in charge of all medical decisions. On December 7, a judge set Maxwell's bail at $20,000. As of Wednesday, she was not listed among the current inmates at the Cumberland County jail. Munchausen's by Proxy is a mental illness and a form of severe child abuse, in which a caregiver invents or causes an illness or injury in their child. One of the most high-profile cases of Munchhausen involves Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who killed her mother after she spent years treating her daughter as if she was terminally ill and keeping her confined to a wheelchair. Clauddine Blanchard was found stabbed to death in her bed in 2015, leading to Gypsy Rose's eventually arrest and conviction. She is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in Missouri. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden's staff 'never give him any time to think' as they keep him so busy, though the president had no public events today and a lid was called before 1:30 p.m. 'If he were standing here today ... he would say we never give him any free time or any time to think,' Psaki told reporters in her Wednesday briefing. 'And that is probably true.' 'I know the president doesn't have any public events today,' the press secretary admitted. 'He does have a number of meetings with policy teams.' The president just returned from his home in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday, where he's spent nearly a third of his presidency, according to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, a presidential statistics buff. Biden had spent the least eight days in Delaware for the Christmas holiday. Biden has spent 95 days in Delaware since taking office last January, 27 percent of his time in office. When Biden, 79, is not spending his weekends in Wilmington, he is sometimes spending them at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach. He often spends time visiting with friends or family, going on bike rides, attending church or walking on the beach with First Lady Jill and his two dogs, Commander and Chief. 'If he were standing here today ... he would say we never give him any free time or any time to think,' Psaki told reporters in her Wednesday briefing Over the past few days, the president has ignored shouted questions from reporters wondering when Americans will receive the 500 million at-home Covid tests he's ordered Over the past few days, the president has ignored shouted questions from reporters wondering when Americans will receive the 500 million at-home Covid tests he's ordered. Biden last took questions from reporters on Friday. Prior to a meeting with his Covid response team on Tuesday, Biden touted federal testing sites across the country, and told Americans to use Google to find a site near them. 'In the last two weeks, we've stood up federal testing sites all over the country, and we're adding more each and every day,' Biden said prior to a meeting with his COVID response team. 'Google 'COVID test near me' go there. Google excuse me 'COVID test near me' on Google to find the nearest site where you can get a test most often and free.' He also claimed that 'state and local governments and healthcare providers are passing out free at-home tests that you can pick up,' though Americans in many regions have reported having trouble finding at-home tests anywhere. When not spending weekends in Wilmington, Biden often spends them at his beach house in Rehoboth Biden often spends his weekends visiting with friends or family, going on bike rides, attending church or walking on the beach with First Lady Jill and his two dogs, Commander and Chief And though he had no public events on Wednesday, the president is preparing to deliver a speech Thursday at the Capitol to mark the one year anniversary of the Capitol riot. 'That is a big part of his day today,' Psaki said. 'He is obviously very personally involved in what he's going to say tomorrow.' Previewing Biden's speech, Psaki said: 'President Biden has been clear eyed about the threat the former president presents to our democracy.' She said Biden will speak to the 'singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage' of the Jan. 6 riot. At the height of the child grooming scandal that saw more than 1,400 local girls exploited by gangs of mostly Pakistani men, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham delivered a stern, and on the face of things, quite brave critique of the community he grew up in. 'As a proud Muslim and proud Rotherham lad, who came here from Kashmir in Pakistan with my parents aged 11, I was shocked by the disclosure of appalling sexual abuse of young girls in the town,' he declared in a newspaper article that sought to blame mosques for 'not doing enough to provide strong moral leadership to young British Muslims'. In an equally controversial speech in 2012, the then Labour life peer suggested that another reason so many youngsters from South Yorkshire were growing up to become sex offenders was because their parents worked long shifts. 'Nobody knows the reason why Asian men are exploiting young girls, but obviously they are young boys who are brought up in this country,' a section of the speech read. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham (pictured in 1999) delivered a stern, and on the face of things, quite brave critique of the community he grew up in 'Maybe because they have broken families themselves. Maybe because their fathers have worked 18 to 19-hour days, and they've been out of the house, and nobody is there to control or look after them.' At the time, Ahmed was given a respectful platform for such contributions to public debate. His status as a pioneering Muslim parliamentarian whose own immigrant parents worked endless hours in local steel factories demanded nothing less. Yet how twisted those remarks now seem, and how self-serving, following his addition yesterday to Rotherham's extensive roster of convicted child sex offenders. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing but it's hard to scrutinise Ahmed's political rise and fall without wondering how on earth a man so manifestly unsuitable for high office was allowed to grace Westminster's corridors of power for so long. The recent trial at Sheffield Crown Court involved a series of vile crimes committed against two children almost 50 years ago. But many of Ahmed's sexual misdemeanours are of an altogether more recent vintage. For unbeknown to the jury, which unanimously found him guilty, this wasn't the first time the 64-year-old peer's predatory exploits had got him into trouble. In late 2020, the outwardly respectable community leader who had been ennobled with great fanfare by Tony Blair was forced to resign from the House of Lords in disgrace after being found, on the balance of probabilities, to have sexually abused a young woman. His victim, a single mother-of-two named Tahira Zaman, was one of several whistleblowers who had bravely contributed to a 2019 BBC Newsnight report that accused the married father-of-three of routinely using his parliamentary position to pursue sex with highly vulnerable women. Yet how twisted those remarks now seem, and how self-serving, following his addition yesterday to Rotherham's extensive roster of convicted child sex offenders. Pictured: Nazir Ahmed outside Sheffield Magistrates' Court Mohammed Tariq (left) and Mohammed Farouq (right), were found to have committed indecent assaults In 2017, Ms Zaman, who suffered from depression and anxiety, contacted Ahmed's parliamentary office after being exploited by a Muslim faith healer. After agreeing to write to Met Police chief Cressida Dick on her behalf, the peer persuaded her to join him for dinner, after which he 'sexually assaulted her by placing his hand on the top of her thigh', according to a 260-page report by the Lords Conduct Committee. A couple of months later, Ahmed asked Ms Zaman to attend a meeting at his east London home. He made her a cup of tea which she believes was spiked with a drug (an allegation he denied) before, as the report put it, 'sitting on her lap and telling her he was sexually aroused'. Later that night, she agreed to have sex with the peer. A two-month affair ensued, which Ms Zaman said ended only when 'he made it clear he wasn't going to leave his wife'. She added: 'He took advantage of me. He abused his power.' Several other women told similar tales to Newsnight, alleging that they had approached Ahmed for help or support only to be asked for sexual favours in return. One, speaking anonymously, alleged 'he basically wanted to sleep with me'. A man also said that he'd witnessed Ahmed propositioning a woman who came to him seeking an internship. Though none of the claims aired by Newsnight crossed the threshold for criminal prosecution, they were enough to force his resignation, days before the publication of the committee's report which recommended his expulsion from the House. The coverage of the allegations seems to have motivated his accusers in the recent trial to come forward. Yesterday's conviction completes a remarkable fall from grace for a man once feted as an inspiring role model. Born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Nazir Ahmed moved to the UK in 1969, when he was 11, unable to speak a word of English. Although teachers suggested he become a car mechanic, he gained a university degree and became a successful property developer. Having joined the Labour Party aged 18 around the same time he got married Ahmed moved through the political ranks, becoming Rotherham's first Asian councillor in 1990, and subsequently the town's youngest magistrate. When Tony Blair ennobled him in 1998, he became the third Muslim life peer, at the tender age of 41. Home was by then a large detached house on one of Rotherham's smartest streets, where the couple raised a daughter and two sons. Back then, Ahmed promised to be a 'voice for the community' in the New Labour mould. In keeping with this theme, he soon began to attract attention for making outspoken remarks about the failures of multiculturalism. In the early 2000s, for example, he criticised the wearing of the face veil, campaigned against forced marriage, and called for mosque sermons to be delivered in English to aid integration. After the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, he also called on British Muslims to confront 'all those who preach hatred'. Not all of his contributions to public debate were quite so well received by progressives, however. In 2005, he hosted a book launch in the Lords for a notorious anti-Semite named Israel Shamir, and in 2006 he invited a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist to Parliament. In 2007, Ahmed described a knighthood awarded to Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, as an insult to Muslims, saying Rushdie had 'blood on his hands'. Fears about his judgment, by then doing the rounds in Labour circles, appeared to be confirmed two years later, when Ahmed found himself at the centre of an ugly court case. He was convicted of dangerous driving after his Jaguar ploughed into the back of a stationary car on the M1 near Sheffield, killing its driver, Slovakian Martin Gombar, 28. Police investigators found Ahmed had sent and received five lengthy texts while driving at up to 60mph on the motorway. The last was sent minutes before the crash. Originally sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, he was released after just 16 days when the Court of Appeal suspended the sentence. The affair would, in a roundabout way, lead to his resignation from the Labour Party, after he decided to share anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about what had happened to him on an foreign TV network in 2013. During an interview with an Urdu-language TV station from Pakistan, Ahmed was asked about his time in prison. He responded that the judge who had jailed him had originally been appointed to the High Court after helping a 'Jewish colleague' of Tony Blair. Ahmed then blamed the length of sentence on pressure placed on the courts by Jews 'who own newspapers and TV channels' and wanted to punish him for supporting the Palestinians in Gaza. Although he issued a grovelling apology when the racist remarks emerged, he was summoned by Labour's national executive committee. To avoid an ugly confrontation, he quit the party, sitting as a crossbench peer during the final seven years before his forced resignation from Parliament. Crown court appearances are, however, harder to sidestep than political meetings. The fallen peer was granted bail last night, and will return for sentencing in one month. The many victims who have chronicled his sexual misdemeanours doubtless hope that his next stay in prison is longer than his previous one. The city council of overwhelmingly Democratic-voting Beverly Hills has issued a unanimous vote calling for the recall of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon over his progressive policies where he has elimated bail and dropped charges for many crimes. The city council's 5-0 vote in favor of a resolution demanding Gascon's recall is not legally binding, but expresses the wealthy enclave's fury over his policies as crime soars in the area. 'Over the last 12 months, Los Angeles County has seen a dramatic increase in widespread crime including follow-home robberies, smash-and-grab incidents and the tragic death of beloved Beverly Hills philanthropist Jacqueline Avant,' the city council said in a statement. The council also cited a number of policy directives issued by Gascon, including the elimination of bail for any misdemeanor or 'non-serious' felony, and a policy of refusing to charge numerous misdemeanors. Last month, Beverly Hills residents were stunned by the home invasion murder of Jacqueline Avant, who was gunned down in front of her husband, famed music producer Clarence Avant. Gascon responded by lamenting that the career criminal charged in the murder hadn't been properly rehabilitated. Aariel Maynor, 29, was on parole when he was arrested earlier this month and charged with the shocking home-invasion murder in Avant's Beverly Hills mansion. Maynor served two prison terms of five years and four years on separate robbery convictions, in addition to convictions on domestic violence and grand theft charges. He has pleaded not guilty to Avant's murder. The city council of overwhelmingly Democratic-voting Beverly Hills has issued a unanimous vote calling for the recall of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon The murder of Clarence Avant's 81-year-old philanthropist wife, Jacqueline inside her $7 million Beverly Hills home on December 1 follows a disturbing rise in crime The council cited the murder of Jaqueline Avant in her home last month (above) in a statement expressing fury with Gascon's policies Tuesday's vote was held after Beverly Hills Mayor Bob Wunderlich and Vice Mayor Lili Bosse requested that the item be brought forward for consideration. Although Beverly Hills is a bastion for Democrats, with 71 percent of voters choosing Joe Biden in the last presidential election, residents are unhappy with what they see as the results of Gascon's policies. The district attorney's office did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon. Gascon is a progressive prosecutor who has been vocal about his belief that the criminal justice system needs to focus more on intervention and rehabilitation, blasting 'tough on crime' policies as racist and a failure. Last month, Gascon made waves by expanding a program to drop criminal proceedings against juveniles charged with a range of felonies. Under the expansion, youth would be eligible for 'diversion' after being charged with burglary, assault, vehicle theft, robbery, grand theft person, sexual battery, and arson, according to a leaked memo. LA crime is on the upswing, according to police statistics. Homicides are up by 46 percent, car thefts are up 53 percent and shootings have risen by a staggering 51 percent in Los Angeles compared with the same time frame through November 27 of 2019 A number of felonies would remain ineligible for diversion, including homicide, forcible rape, gun crimes, and crimes resulting in serious injuries. Gascon has lamented that accused killer Aariel Maynor (above) was not properly rehabilitated earlier in his criminal career Meanwhile, Los Angeles, like many cities across the country, has witnessed an alarming rise in violent crime over the past two years. Homicides in the City of Angeles rose 52 percent last year from 2019, and shooting incidents were up 59 percent, according to LAPD data. The city has also suffered a shocking wave of follow-home robberies and organized smash-and-grab attacks on retailers. On Wednesday, Gascon defended Avant's alleged killer's parole, saying that he 'never received any meaningful intervention'. 'One that would have prevented the terrible tragedy from occurring.' 'I'm angry at a system that allows a disturbed young man with a proven track record of violent behavior to be cycled in and out of prison with little or no meaning intervention to be able to gain access to an AR-15 military-style weapon and go out and kill Jacqueline Avant,' he said. As crime in Los Angeles spirals out of control, even some of the city's wealthiest residents have flocked to Beverly Hills' only gun store to buy firearms to protect themselves and their belongings. Beverly Hills Guns first opened by appointment only in July 2020, and has seen upscale residents from Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills increasingly in a panic following some high-profile smash and grabs and violent home invasions in recent weeks, Los Angeles Magazine reports. Many are self-proclaimed progressives who've never even held a gun before, but who've been so spooked by soaring crime in the famously wealthy enclave that they've decided to arm themselves. Some have also discussed more elaborate security measures, such as armored cars, safe rooms and bulletproof glass inside their homes, after some celebrities, including a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and a BET host were stalked by robbers into their homes. 'Everyone has a general sense of constant fear, which is very sad,' said Beverly Hills Guns owner Russell Stuart. 'We're used to this being like Mayberry.' He was referring to the peaceful fictional town from The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. But over the past year, Hollywood's total violent crime rate increased 25 percent with its homicide rate doubling, robberies up 41.6 percent and shootings up 54.2 percent over last year, Los Angeles Police Department shows. That is higher than the crime rate in the rest of the city, which saw homicides climb 12 percent over last year, robberies up 5.3 percent and shootings up 14.8 percent. 'Beverly Hills is definitely a target,' said David Perez, a security expert who previously worked security in the Clinton White House and at the Pentagon. 'We're telling clients "Hey don't go out with flashy jewelry. Try to keep a low profile. Instead of driving the Bentley maybe just take the SUV."' The city's crime spike dates back to widespread looting following Black Lives Matter protests on Rodeo Drive, that left some high-end stores with broken windows, according to the LA Magazine. Those smash-and-grab lootings continued again this year, with the LAPD arresting 14 suspects alleged to have been involved in 11 recent smash-and-grab robberies at stores last month, where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen in strikes on an LA Nordstrom, a Lululemon in Studio City, a Fairfax district store, and a CVS pharmacy in South LA last month. A $500,000 Richard Mille watch was also stolen at gunpoint from a diner at the Il Pastaio restaurant last March, and on December 1 of this year, Jacqueline Avant was shot and killed in her Trousdale Estate home during a home invasion. More recently, a man who was simply taking out his garbage was attacked on Thursday night, when multiple suspects broke into his home in Studio City and ransacked the place at around 7.30pm on Thursday. LA police said four or five suspects confronted the man on Alta View Drive and assaulted him, leading him back into his house at gunpoint. There, police say, they zip-tied the man's disabled son and his two caregivers as they ransacked the home before fleeing through the back door. The victim was taken to a hospital for non life threatening injuries, with cops saying they didn't believe the terrifying incident was the latest so-called 'follow home' robbery. It remained unclear as of Friday what was stolen, as the suspects remained on the loose. They are described as four males who fled in Hyundai vehicles. 'We've lived here for 35 years and never had any kind of police activity like this,' neighbor Michael Thatcher told FOX News. Australian parents are pushing for the summer school holidays to be extended by two weeks so they can get their children vaccinated against Covid. Vaccines for those aged between five and 11 will be rolled out from Monday January 10, but parents, teachers and health professionals have complained there's not enough supply to meet demand. Some parents have reportedly not been able to secure an appointment until February while GPs say they're only receiving 100 doses per fortnight. One GP on the NSW Central Coast, Anna Davidson, said her practice could not efficiently vaccinate children with just 100 doses at a time. The rollout of the Covid vaccine for kids between the ages of five and 11 has begun in Australia as bookings for the weakened jab opens to the public (file image) 'We get phone calls all day every day,' she told The Australian. 'We would like to be doing 500 vaccinations a day, quite frankly.' She said she feared for children who will be heading back to school without any protection against the virus, in particular the highly infectious Omicron variant. 'The reality is our kids are not going to be vaccinated for term one. Most kids won't have had this first vaccine before the middle of term one. And that's highly, highly optimistic,' she said. While children aren't generally becoming more sick from the virus, infection levels among the youth are rising. In Victoria, infection rates among children have risen from 2 per cent to 30 per cent in just one month. Lieutenant General John Frewen is leading Australia's vaccine rollout and said there was more than enough vaccines for children but there were issues with distribution. Both NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have said school will start as scheduled. Mr Morrison will speak to state education departments to build a national framework for schools about the safety of returning to the classroom amid Covid-19. While children aren't generally becoming more sick from the virus, infection levels among the young are rising (pictured Sydney Covid testing clinic) It's understood NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell is working with NSW Health to help delay children walking back through the school gates. Central Coast P&C president Sharryn Brownlee has also thrown her support around the idea, adding booking a vaccination for children was near impossible. 'You have to look at delaying the start of the school year,' she told The Daily Telegraph. Children in the five to 11 age bracket will be given two doses eight weeks apart. Each dose will be a third as strong as the vaccines given to those over the age of 12. Bookings for young children opened on Wednesday. Currently, vaccinations are offered to children aged 12 to 15 and so far 81.4 per cent have had their first dose and 78 per cent have had two. NSW has recorded 34,994 Covid cases while there were 21,997 new infections in Victoria - after it was revealed some of the country's poorest residents will be able to get free rapid antigen tests. Hospitalisations in both states still remain steady with 1,609 NSW patients receiving care, up from 1,491 on Wednesday, while Victoria has 631 in hospital, a jump from 591. ICU rates in NSW have risen by 12 to 131, while Victoria has 51 Covid patients in intensive care, two less than on the previous day. It comes as Scott Morrison announced all concession card holders - more than six million Australians - will be given access to 10 free rapid antigen tests. New South Wales 's Covid-19 cases have climbed by 34,994 and six deaths while Victoria has recorded 21,997 new infections The decision was made after an emergency National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. All Australians who are deemed close contacts or who have symptoms will still be able to access free rapid tests from testing clinics. The Commonwealth will provide 10 million rapid antigen tests to be distributed throughout the states and territories for eligible Aussies. To access the tests, which is capped at five per month, a recipient will require identification in the same way people need to prove their identity to access certain prescription drugs. However, the changes will not yet help NSW keep track of its escalating infections, with the scheme not expected to be up and running for a fortnight. Rapid tests will remain in short supply and testing sites overwhelmed in the meantime. Australian Medical Association NSW chair Michael Bonning says the new plan doesn't go far enough. 'We are very supportive of the idea that a PCR test doesn't need to be the standard now for people who have already had a positive rapid antigen test ... we need more rapid antigen tests in the community so that people can be making good choices about activity, but also detecting disease early so that then they can stay away from others,' Dr Bonning told Nine's Today on Thursday. The AMA is meeting with NSW Health on Thursday hoping to establish how infections will be tracked. As announced on Wednesday, Australians who test positive on a rapid test will no longer have to get confirmation on a PCR swab Also announced on Wednesday were changes to isolation and testing rules with those who test positive to the virus on a RAT now no longer required to get a PCR swab. Previously, anyone who tested positive to RAT had to get a proper viral swab to confirm their infection - but now will be treated as Covid positive without having to get further confirmation. This change, confirmed by the Prime Minister, was made on Wednesday because of the pressures on the testing system caused by people seeking PCR swabs, which are more accurate but much more time-consuming and costly to process. 'That will take pressure off PCR testing lines,' Mr Morrison said. Those with the virus will still have to inform others they have spent time with as they could be potentially infected. People who were with a positive person for four hours or more are 'close contacts' and must self-isolate for seven days. This includes people they live with - also known as 'household contacts'. If you test positive for Covid-19 - and/or if you are a close contact you need to self-isolate for seven days from the day you were tested. You can only leave self-isolation after seven days if your symptoms have gone or in some states, if you have returned a negative RAT. One of Australia's top infectious disease experts said the peak of Omicron may be reached in just two weeks Meanwhile, in some positive news for Australians struck down with the virus, Infectious Disease Expert Professor Peter Collignon said the peak of Omicron infections could be reached in two weeks. The new and highly-infectious strain was first detected in November in South Africa and has since run rampant across most parts of the world. 'You look at England and South Africa it reaches a peak and goes up quickly and comes down. I think that we have a week or two to go,' Professor Collignon told The Today Show. Prof. Collignon said people gathering during the period between Christmas and the New Year had triggered infection levels that would ease in January. 'I think it will go down. That takes 5-10 days. I would be optimistic it will come down,' he said - adding the virus would plateau before kicking up again in winter. Rapid tests have sold out in many states as thousands are struck down with the virus 'That is when this virus spreads more rapidly as is happening in the Northern Hemisphere. Provided that your vaccinate it is not the end of the world. 'Most people will have very mild infections and get better after a day or two and have better long-lasting immunity than a booster.' The professor said the 'real issue' lay with unvaccinated Australians who were disproportionately in hospital and entering intensive care units with the virus. 'The figures I have seen from ICU from a week or so ago, it is mainly Delta putting people into hospital and people who are unvaccinated,' he said. Prince Andrew could settle out of court with his US sex-case accuser if a judge rules that the case should go to trial. Insiders say the option remains on the table if, as expected, Judge Lewis Kaplan rejects his legal teams motion this week to have Virginia Roberts lawsuit dismissed at an early stage. Andrews team are understood to acknowledge the attritional impact the case is having on the Royal Family, particularly as the Queen, 95, is due to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee this June with the threat of a scandalous sex trial involving her son hanging over her. Obviously, this is a US case involving US lawyers and involving a US civil lawsuit, one source said. In reality, 99 per cent of US civil litigations are settled out of court. A settlement would always be an option on the table, as thats where the vast majority end up. There is also the wider pressure and attritional impact to consider. Sources with knowledge of the case stressed last night to the Daily Mail that no discussions have taken place yet about whether the Queens son could or should agree a settlement without liability being admitted. But neither had it been ruled out as an option, they said. Buckingham Palace has refused to comment, describing it as an ongoing legal matter. Prince Andrew could settle out of court with his US sex-case accuser if a judge rules that the case should go to trial. Insiders say the option remains on the table if, as expected, Judge Lewis Kaplan rejects his legal teams motion this week to have Virginia Roberts lawsuit dismissed at an early stage (Andrew pictured in BBC interview, 2019) Virginia Roberts, who is bringing the case under her married name Giuffre, holds a photo of herself at age 16, when she says Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein began abusing her sexually The issue of whether to settle out of court is a tricky one for the ninth in line to the throne, whose lawyers argued this week in a New York court that Miss Roberts case should not be allowed to proceed to trial because of her own 2009 civil settlement with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Andrews legal team say that in return for a $500,000 (370,000) payout, she agreed to waive her right to sue any other potential defendants which would include the prince, given the allegations she has made against him. Miss Roberts who is bringing the case under her married name Giuffre claims that not only was she abused by Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, but that they trafficked her to their friend, the prince. In her claim for battery and infliction of emotional distress, she claims she was raped by the duke on three occasions in 2001 when she was 17 and he 41. On the one hand agreeing a no-liability settlement would prevent Andrew going through the humiliating experience of being interviewed by Miss Roberts lawyers, who will be able to question him about everything from his sexual partners to the minutiae of his dealings with Epstein and with Maxwell, found guilty last month of sex trafficking. They may seek answers from other family members, including his ex-wife Sarah and potentially other senior royals. But a settlement would clearly do little to help the 61-year-old prince clear his name, as he says he desperately wants to do. Andrew has always vehemently denied the allegations, saying he doesnt even recollect meeting Miss Roberts, despite there being a picture of them together with Maxwell. And a settlement is unlikely to help him achieve his long-held ambition of returning to public life in some form. After his disastrous BBC interview in 2019 with Newsnights Emily Maitlis, the prince temporarily stepped back from public duties. A settlement would also not prevent the FBI from pursuing its investigation its agents would like to speak to Andrew as a potential witness to Epsteins crimes. Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London, Britain on March 13, 2001 Andrews legal team this week argued that Miss Roberts case should be thrown out on several grounds: her previous settlement, the fact that she has not given enough specifics about the alleged abuse and that her pursuit of the case was unconstitutional. Judge Kaplan told the two parties on Tuesday that he would issue his ruling on whether the case should go to trial pretty soon and it is expected any day. But the early signs for Andrew were not good after the judge verbally dismissed many of their arguments. Andrews legal team is unlikely to appeal if the judge rules against them. A trial date has tentatively been set for September. The Daily Mail understands that Andrews legal team still have other avenues to pursue to get the lawsuit kicked out, including the suggestion that Miss Roberts, who lives with her family in Australia, is not domiciled in the US, allegedly rendering her case invalid. Miss Robertss lawyer, David Boies, said the case might not even have come to court if Andrew had shown some remorse and respect for Epsteins victims. In a first for cancer diagnosis, a cheap and simple-to-administer test has shown the ability to tell if a patient has the disease as well as if it has spread, or 'metastasised'. Developed by a team of researchers led from the University of Oxford, the test uses magnetic fields and radio waves to measure 'metabolites' in the blood. Healthy individuals, people with localised cancer and those with metastatic cancer have metabolomic profiles that can be distinguished by the team's algorithms. The test, the team said, works on a range of different cancers and can identify the presence of the disease even in patients with non-specific symptoms. Being both rapid and inexpensive, it may help overcome some of the usual barriers to early cancer diagnosis and improve the success rate of subsequent treatments. The approach is different to those traditionally used to test for cancer, which have typically relied on detecting the presence of genetic material from tumours. In a first for cancer diagnosis, a cheap and simple-to-administer blood test has shown the ability to tell if a patient has the disease and if it has spread, or 'metastasised' (stock image) 'Cancer cells have unique metabolomic fingerprints due to their different metabolic processes,' explained lead paper author and oncologist James Larkin of the University of Oxford. 'We are only now starting to understand how metabolites produced by tumours can be used as biomarkers to accurately detect cancer. 'We have already demonstrated that this technology can successfully identify if patients with multiple sclerosis are progressing to the later stages of disease, even before trained clinicians could tell. 'It is very exciting that the same technology is now showing promise in other diseases, like cancer.' In their study, Dr Larkin and colleagues analysed blood samples collected from 300 patients each of whom exhibited non-specific but concerning symptoms of potential cancer, such as fatigue and weight loss. The subjects were recruited as part of the so-called Oxfordshire Suspected Cancer (or 'SCAN') pathway. Similar NHS Rapid Diagnostic Centres are being set up across the country as part of an effort to support faster and earlier cancer diagnoses. The researchers found that their test correctly identified the presence of solid tumours of various types in 19 out of every 20 of the patients with cancer. Furthermore, the test was able to identify metastatic disease to an overall accuracy of 94 per cent, making the approach the first to be able to determine a cancer's metastatic status without knowing of the type of the primary cancer in question. With their initial study complete, the team are now planning to evaluate the new blood test in larger cohorts of patients, with a mind to clinical application. 'This work describes a new way of identifying cancer. The goal is to produce a test for cancer that any GP can request,' said paper author and analytical chemical biologist Fay Probert, also of the University of Oxford. 'We envisage that metabolomic analysis of the blood will allow accurate, timely and cost-effective triaging of patients with suspected cancer. This, she noted, it 'could allow better prioritisation of patients based on the additional early information this test provides on their disease.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. Lee Jae-myung, left, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, holds hands with the party's former chief and runner-up in its primary, Lee Nak-yon, during a meeting with party members in Gwangju, Wednesday. Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is receiving ardent support from voters who are suffering hair loss, thanks to his campaign pledge to expand national health insurance coverage to include hair regrowth treatments. According to an online community platform for people with thinning hair, Tuesday, a number of posts have been uploaded to express their support for the DPK candidate. "Lee Jae-myung is a Propecia-like figure," an online user wrote on dcinside, referring to the popular medication for people with thinning hair. Another wrote, "I will 'implant' Lee in Cheong Wa Dae." A third online user said, "Despite paying health insurance premiums for more than 20 years, I have rarely seen the doctor (for hair loss), which I think is unfair. However, now I think I will be able to benefit from the years-long payments. The pledge is impressive." The pledge was previously floated by the DPK's youth election committee and Lee proposed adding it to his "small satisfaction" pledges. British scientists hope to unlock 200-year-old secrets of the Capuchin Catacombs in Sicily, southern Italy, by using X-ray technology to analyse the remains of some of the 163 children laid to rest there. The first ever comprehensive study of mummified children in Sicily's famous burial catacombs in the city of Palermo is being led by Staffordshire University. The Capuchin Catacombs, which hold more than 1,280 skeletonised and mummified bodies, are open to the public as a somewhat macabre tourist attraction. Bodies dating from the late 16th to early 20th century are still dressed in period refinery and line corridors and crypts of the underground cemetery. The catacombs include the embalmed body of Rosalia Lombardo, a young Sicilian girl who died of pneumonia brought on by the Spanish flu in 1920. The first ever comprehensive study of mummified children in Sicilys famous Capuchin Catacombs is being led by Staffordshire University Mummified Bodies in catacombs. Wealthy citizens who died between the 17th and 19th centuries were embalmed by the Capuchin monks of the city of Palermo THE CAPUCHIN CATACOMBS The Capuchin Catacombs contain more than 1,280 skeletonised and mummified bodies. Palermo's Capuchin monastery outgrew its original cemetery in the 16th century and monks began to excavate crypts below it. In 1599 they mummified one of their number, recently dead brother Silvestro of Gubbio, and placed him into the catacombs. The cemetery was first reserved for ecclesiastical workers, then accepted deceased from all walks of life, and experienced its greatest popularity during the 19th century. An inscription hanging from the neck or pinned to the chest, indicates the name, birth and death dates of the deceased. The cemetery was officially closed by civil order in 1880, but the last burials are from the 1920s. The cemetery has now become a kind of museum filled with the forgotten dead, who are watched over by a group of Capuchin monks. Advertisement Dr Kirsty Squires, associate professor of bioarchaeology, and her team at Staffordshire have been given exclusive access to a previously unstudied collection of children's mummies at the catacombs. The Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded more than 70,000 funding for the two-year project, which kicks off later this month. 'Work actually starts next week, which is very exciting,' Dr Squires told MailOnline. 'Data collection will take a week and then we will carry out archival research in the following week while in Palermo. All images collected will be analysed over the coming months.' There are at least 163 children's bodies housed in the catacombs, including 41 children located in a designated room for children the so-called 'child chapel'. However, very little is known about these individuals, and death records from the period contain limited information, such as just the name of the deceased and date of death. Dr Squires and her team will examine all 41 children housed in the child chapel who died between 1787 and 1880 using a portable digital direct X-ray machine. 'We are analysing 41 juveniles as we cannot gain access to the remaining individuals as they are located throughout the catacombs and are inaccessible,' Dr Squires told MailOnline. 'We are focusing on individual's in the childrens crypt.' The X-ray machine will capture digital images of each child from head to toe. It is a non-invasive alternative to destructive techniques such as autopsy. In total, 574 radiographs will be taken to generate a biological profile of the mummified children to establish whether mummification was reserved for specific children based on factors such as their age and sex. Radiographs will also detect the presence of developmental defects, stress indicators and pathological lesions, which aims to gain an insight into the health and lifestyle of the children when alive. Children were accepted in the catacombs from 1787 but while extensive research has been conducted on the mummified adults, the juvenile mummies have largely been overlooked The Capuchin Catacombs in the city of Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily are a kind of museum filled with the forgotten dead, who are watched over by a group of Capuchin monks Exterior view of the monastery and catacombs of Capuchins. Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction 'Determining whether children buried in the catacombs suffered environmental stresses on their body can inform us of living conditions and the environments in which they lived,' Dr Squires said. SKELETON OR MUMMY? The Capuchin Catacombs contain more than 1,280 skeletonised and mummified bodies. Skeletonised remains have decayed right down to the bone. Mummies, meanwhile, are bodies where soft tissue still survives. One example of a mummy is the remarkably-preserved body of Rosalia Lombardo, a young Sicilian girl who died of pneumonia brought on by the Spanish flu in 1920. Advertisement 'This will be compared with the biological attributes of children buried elsewhere in Palermo who were not afforded mummification.' These findings will be compared with each child's placement in the room, their funerary attire and associated artefacts (such as chairs and canes), mummification type (natural or artificial) and any surviving historical documentation. Until now, most of the research work on Capuchin Catacombs remains has focused on the adult skeletons, and less on the children. 'The Capuchin Catacombs comprise one of the most important collections of mummies in the world,' Dr Squires said. 'However, there is very little documentary evidence about the children who were granted mummification and the death records from the period contain limited information. Our study will rectify this knowledge gap. 'Given that this funerary rite was mainly reserved for adults, we want to understand why the children were mummified. 'We have a fairly good idea that they were from the upper ranks of society but we don't know much more about juvenile health, development, or identity during this period.' One exception is the embalmed and incredibly preserved body of Rosalia Lombardo, which has been the subject of media coverage in the 21st century. The cemetery was first reserved for ecclesiastical workers, then accepted deceased from all walks of life, and experienced its greatest popularity during the 19th century The mummy has achieved notoriety for a phenomenon in which her eyes appear to open and close several times a day, revealing her intact blue irises. Capuchin Catacombs curator Dario Piombino-Mascali has said this phenomenon is due to an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the glass windows covering her coffin, which is subject to change during the day. '[Her eyes] are not completely closed, and indeed they have never been,' Piombino-Mascali said in 2014. Dr Piombino-Mascali, who is working with Dr Squires on the latest project, investigated the preservation of Rosalia Lombardo around a decade ago. He said several of the child mummies at the Capuchin Catacombs 'look like sleeping children'. The Capuchin Catacombs is open to the public, for those who feel like spending their day walking amongst the unknown 'Many of the mummies are a result of natural dehydration. Other mummies were chemically treated. Those chemically treated are normally better preserved,' he told the Guardian. 'Some of them are superbly preserved. Some really look like sleeping children. They are darkened by the time but some of them have got even fake eyes so they seem to be looking at you. They look like tiny little dolls. 'Of course you want to do something to preserve them and to make sure their stories are told and give a sense that they are children. It is very upsetting when you deal with children in anthropology.' As photography is banned in the catacombs and the subject matter is highly sensitive, artist Eduardo Hernandez will produce illustrations of the juvenile mummies. These will be shared alongside journal articles, lectures, a blog and teaching packs translated into both Italian and English. Men who only briefly catch a glimpse of a woman are much more likely to overestimate how attractive she is than a woman glimpsing a man, a study reveals. Researchers, led by Murdoch University, in Perth Australia, worked with nearly 400 volunteers, asking them to rate the attractiveness of people of the opposite-sex from a blurry image, and then from a clear image. The results showed that on average men overestimate women's attractiveness, whereas on average women underestimate men's attractiveness. Men who only briefly catch a glimpse of a woman are much more likely to overestimate how attractive she is than a woman glimpsing a man, a study reveals Two-thirds of couples start out as friends If you've been having trouble finding love on dating apps, you might want to try dating one of your friends. A study looked at data from just under 2,000 couples of different demographics in Canada. They found two thirds started out as friends, suggesting that establishing a platonic connection with someone is conducive to a romantic relationship. The study suggests that the cliche of falling in love at first site is slightly outdated in the 21st century. Advertisement The idea of 'love at first sight' is a popular trope in movies and television. It involves a man falling for a woman the moment he catches a glimpse of her. This new study seems to back up that idea, and confirm that the concept doesn't work when the gender roles are reversed. The team set out to investigate how people balance the risks of these errors of misjudgement, and different ways men and women act in response. To find out exactly how and why this is the case, experts from Australia and elsewhere, had volunteers rate the attractiveness of people they don't know. First, they were asked to rate them based on a blurry photo, where they couldn't get a clear view of their facial features, and then again from a clear picture. 'When people have only incomplete information about a potential partner, they must make inferences about their desirability, leading to possible errors in judgment,' according to the team behind the study. By randomising the order of presentation, sometimes showing participants a blurry image first, then at other times showing a clear image, the researchers were able to isolate the effects of uncertainty present when only blurred images were shown first. Previous work on bias in perception, including men over estimating how interested a woman was in them sexually, emphasised 'between-sex' differences. 'This is an important finding, but broad quantitative effects such as these cannot discriminate between multiple candidate decision rules, because multiple different algorithms are capable of producing the same outcome,' the team said. Men, on average, over-perceived women's attractiveness, and women, on average, under-perceived men's attractiveness. Researchers, led by Murdoch University, in Perth Australia, worked with nearly 400 volunteers, asking them to rate the attractiveness of people of the opposite-sex from a blurry image, and then from a clear image However, further analyses tentatively suggest that men exhibit a bias in the perception of unattractive women, and women exhibit a bias in the perception of attractive men. 'Had we not directed explicit attention to algorithm, these potential features of the biases might have remained unknown,' the authors wrote. The study proves the concept of 'first-impression bias', but the team say more work is needed to understand why the bias exists in the first place. The findings have been published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. Newcastle are reportedly weighing up moves for four Arsenal players in the January transfer window, including sacked captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Magpies are expected to do major business this month following their 300million Saudi takeover back in October, which has provided them with a mammoth transfer kitty. They are therefore being linked with a host of world-class players in the winter market, while a 12million deal has already been agreed to sign Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid. Newcastle are eyeing four Arsenal players in January, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang And according to The Telegraph, via The Mirror, Newcastle are also eyeing up four Arsenal outcasts as part of a January raid on Mikel Arteta's side. The first of those players is said to be Aubameyang, who has been cast aside and stripped of the captaincy in north London after returning late from an authorised trip to collect his sick mother from France. Given his relationship with Arteta appears unfixable, the Gunners will be keen to move their top earner on as quickly as possible in order to get his 350,000-a-week salary off their wage bill. Eddie Nketiah is also on the Magpies' radar amid his contractual stand-off with Arsenal Rob Holding (L) and Mohamed Elneny (R) are also said to be targets for their new Saudi owners Newcastle could therefore look to capitalise this month and make a beeline for Aubameyang, whose overall tally of 92 goals in 165 Arsenal appearances would still make him a stellar signing for the club. They are also understood to be keeping tabs on another Gunners forward in Eddie Nketiah, who also looks to be on his way out of Arteta's side after making just three league appearances this term. Nketiah, 22, is out of contract this summer and has rejected the offer of a new deal at the Emirates, meaning Arsenal may be forced to cash in on their academy graduate while they still can this month. Toon officials are also interested in both midfielder Mohamed Elneny and centre-back Rob Holding amid their lack of game time under Arteta so far in the 2021-22 campaign. Elneny has only featured seven times in the league, while Holding has been afforded five appearances after falling behind Ben White and Gabriel in the defensive pecking order. An Australian socialite who is married to one of the world's top fitness gurus joked about flouting Dubai's strict dress code for women during a recent holiday there. Amy Castano, the wife of gym owner and personal-trainer-to-the-stars Jono Castano, has just returned to Sydney after celebrating the New Year in the United Arab Emirates. During her overseas trip, Ms Castano, 31, posted several photos to Instagram of herself in skimpy bikinis and racy outfits and even joked about being 'arrested' for flashing. Risky business: Amy Castano, an Australian socialite who is married to one of the world's top fitness gurus, joked about flouting Dubai's strict dress code for women during a holiday there In one photo, the model posed alongside her friend Amal Wakim in a figure-hugging crop top and leggings. 'She's using me to go viral on TikTok and asked me to flash... I'd get arrested for you @amal.wakim. Committed to the cause,' she captioned the image. Ms Castano also shared another picture of the pair at the beach in bikinis, and wrote: 'For those that have money on @Amal.Wakim getting arrested first.' While Dubai has rules that require women to wear 'respectful clothing' that covers the shoulders and knees, it's common for female tourists to wear bikinis at the beach and it's unlikely Ms Castano would have run into any trouble. Posts: During her overseas trip, Ms Castano, 31, posted several photos to Instagram of herself in skimpy bikinis and racy outfits and even joked about being 'arrested' for flashing Joke: In one photo, Ms Castano (left) posed alongside her friend Amal Wakim in a figure-hugging crop top and leggings. 'She's using me to go viral on TikTok and asked me to flash... I'd get arrested for you @amal.wakim. Committed to the cause,' she captioned the image Ms Castano is a popular fitness influencer, boasting 537,000 followers on Instagram where she often showcases her impressive physique. She first met her husband, Jono Castano, whose celebrity PT clients include Rita Ora and Rebel Wilson, on MySpace 13 years ago, before later bumping into one another at a nightclub and falling in love. Mr Castano proposed to his wife in Maui, Hawaii, on her birthday, and she would go on to describe the proposal as both romantic and luxurious. Rules: Dubai has strict rules that require women to wear 'respectful clothing' that covers the shoulders and knees. Pictured: one of Ms Castano's photos from her holiday in Dubai She told Husskie magazine: 'The concierge took me to the beach, the sun was setting, and I walked down these stairs and there was Jono surrounded by candles and rose petals everywhere! 'He worked with the chef at Four Seasons Maui and created a menu of all of my favourite foods for the night. It was absolutely magical. 'I was so surprised! Jono and I discuss everything, but he designed my ring and organised all of this without me knowing.' Christopher Nolan's next film, Oppenheimer, added another high-profile actor to its already star-studded cast. John Hartnett is the latest to sign on to the Universal biopic that focuses on J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II, according to Deadline. Leading the cast is Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer, the scientist who ran the Manhattan Project that led to the invention of the atomic bomb, which were eventually dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On board: Josh Hartnett, 43, has joined the star-studded cast for Christopher Nolan's next film, Oppenheimer; the actor is pictured in December 2018 Along with Murphy and now Hartnett, the cast also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek and Benny Safdie. So far there's not official word on what character Hartnett will be playing in the film from Universal. Blunt plays Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine 'Kitty' Oppenheimer; Downey has the role of Lewis Strauss, the then chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; and Damon stars as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, who was the director of the Manhattan Project. War backdrop: Oppenheimer will not be the first film Hartnett has played a role set during World War II; he previously starred in Michael Bay's war drama film, Peal Harbor (2001) The biopic will also have Pugh play Jean Tatlock, an American psychiatrist and physician who was a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America, 'who has an off-and-on affair with Oppenheimer and was the cause of major security concerns for government officials.' Safdie will portray Edward Teller, the Hungarian-American physicist who is known as the father of the hydrogen bomb and was also a member of the Manhattan Project. Malek will reportedly play a scientist in the film. Oppenheimer will not be the first film Hartnett has played a role set during World War II. He previously starred in Michael Bay's romantic war drama film, Peal Harbor (2001), alongside the likes of Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore and Jon Voight, among others. War backdrop: Christopher Nolan, 51, has also worked with the second world war as the backdrop with his much-acclaimed film Dunkirk (2017) Acclaimed: Nolan wrote and directed Dunkirk, which had Kenneth Branagh lead another star-0studded ensemble cast; it went on to receive eight Oscar nominations, winning three The Minnesota native was also part of the ensemble cast for the war film Black Hawk Down (2001), which was helmed by acclaimed director Ridley Scott. Nolan has also worked with the second world war as the backdrop with his much-acclaimed film Dunkirk (2017). It went on to receive eight Academy Award nominations, winning three for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. Dunkirk is the highest-grossing World War II film ever, earning $526 million worldwide on a $100-150 million budget. Oppenheimer is slated to premiere in theaters on July 23, 2023, which is about two weeks before the anniversaries of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which happened on August 6 and 9 in 1945, respectively. The Real Housewives of Sydney star Lisa Oldfield has sparked controversy after brutally mocking an anti-vaxxer family member who was hospitalised with Covid-19. The socialite, 46, shared a gleeful Instagram post on Tuesday about her relative's health battle, alongside a photo of a herd of sheep wearing face masks - a common meme used by conspiracy theorists to mock those who follow health advice. 'Had an awkward conversation with a relative over Xmas. He's anti-vax and berated me for being jabbed,' Lisa wrote in the caption. 'Fast forward two weeks and he's hospitalised with Covid! He derided me as sheeple!' Did she go too far? The Real Housewives of Sydney star Lisa Oldfield (right) has sparked controversy after brutally mocking an anti-vaxxer family member who was hospitalised with Covid-19. Pictured with politician ex-husband David Oldfield in February 2017 The mother of two went on to reveal her 10-year-old son, Harry, also found his relative's plight amusing and imitated a sheep after learning of the situation. 'When I told Harry tonight he said "baaaaaad luck",' Lisa wrote, before adding: 'My kid, just like yours but heaps f**king funnier.' Lisa, who is the ex-wife of One Nation co-founder David Oldfield, sparked fierce debate after sharing the post, with some of her followers finding it funny while others said she was 'sick' for laughing at someone else's misfortune. 'He derided me as sheeple': The socialite, 46, shared a gleeful Instagram post on Tuesday about her relative's health battle, alongside a photo of a herd of sheep wearing face masks - a common meme used by conspiracy theorists to mock those who follow health advice 'What a delightful story hehehe happy new year!' one supporter commented, to which Lisa replied: 'You know he's his mother's son. The gift that keeps on giving!' 'This is gold,' another wrote, while someone else added: 'Great post. Talk about stirring the pot and getting some strange reactions. One thing is certain this pandemic has caused a lot of people to lose their sense of humour!' However, some followers didn't appreciate Lisa's dark sense of humour. Covid argument: 'Had an awkward conversation with a relative over Xmas. He's anti-vax and berated me for being jabbed,' Lisa wrote in the caption. 'Fast forward two weeks and he's hospitalised with Covid! He derided me as sheeple!' 'Baaaad luck': The mother of two went on to reveal her 10-year-old son, Harry (right), also found his relative's plight amusing and imitated a sheep after being told of the situation 'This person is related to you and sick enough to be in hospital and you can make a joke at their expense? Regardless of a difference of opinion or bad behaviour, where is your humanity?' one critic wrote. 'It's okay, he's a d**k,' Lisa curtly replied. Covid cases in NSW spiked to 35,054 on Wednesday while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight but ICU admissions in both states remain steady. Wednesday's numbers in NSW are the highest daily total recorded for any Australian state since the beginning of the pandemic - and are a large jump from the 23,131 infections announced on Tuesday. Mixed reception: Lisa, who is the ex-wife of One Nation co-founder David Oldfield, sparked fierce debate after sharing the post, with some of her followers finding it funny while others said she was 'sick' for laughing at someone else's misfortune IMG Model Ashley Graham revealed Tuesday that she's still pregnant three days after 'making it full-term' with twin sons in an Instastory snap with her son Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin. The expecting 34-year-old had previously announced Saturday that she reached 40 weeks, but noted: 'Due dates are just a suggestion, babies will always come on their birthday.' Last Friday, Ashley celebrated the 32nd birthday of her husband of 11 years, photographer/DP Justin Ervin. Any day now! IMG Model Ashley Graham revealed Tuesday that she's still pregnant three days after 'making it full-term' with twin sons in an Instastory snap with her son Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin (L) 'Happy birthday to my king, Justin,' Graham - who boasts 22.4M social media followers - gushed on Instagram. 'I love you more and more each day I spend with you as the world's kindest and most patient, nurturing husband. Thank you for being the best dad to our boys and for aging like fine wine.' The Nebraska-born, Brooklyn-based beauty originally met the cinematographer while volunteering at her church back in 2009. The expecting 34-year-old had previously announced Saturday that she reached 40 weeks, but noted: 'Due dates are just a suggestion, babies will always come on their birthday' 'The world's kindest and most patient, nurturing husband': Last Friday, Ashley celebrated the 32nd birthday of her husband of 11 years, photographer/DP Justin Ervin Aside from the impending birth, Ashley and Justin will next celebrate the second birthday of their first-born child Isaac on January 18. Graham's career as a plus-size model first skyrocketed in 2010 after appearing in a controversial Lane Bryant TV commercial. Ervin frequently serves as the Pretty Big Deal podcaster's personal photographer, and his last IMBd-credited gig was shooting the PBS documentary Down a Dark Stairwell in 2020. 'Thank you for being the best dad!' The Nebraska-born, Brooklyn-based beauty originally met the cinematographer while volunteering at her church back in 2009 (pictured December 20) 2021 was a good year for fitness mogul Kayla Itsines, who found love with boyfriend Jae Woodroffe and landed a spot on the AFR's Young Rich List. And the Sweat co-founder, who has a net worth of $164million, capped off a fruitful 12 months by travelling from Adelaide to Sydney for a well-deserved holiday. She walked the Bondi to Bronte coastal trail with fellow gym buff Jae on Wednesday, documenting their light cardio session on Instagram. Light workout: Millionaire fitness guru Kayla Itsines walked the Bondi to Bronte coastal trail with her boyfriend Jae Woodroffe (right) while on holiday in Sydney on Wednesday The fitness trainer, 30, shared footage of their scenic walk, and revealed they were joined by a Sydney-based friend. She also posted photos of their date night the previous evening, when they dined at upmarket South East Asian restaurant Chin Chin. Before that, she shared footage from the aeroplane window as she flew in from Adelaide for her New Year's interstate holiday. Holiday mode: Kayla (left) shared footage of their scenic walk, and also revealed they were joined by a Sydney-based friend (right) Swanky dinners: She also posted photos of their date night the previous evening, when they dined at upmarket South East Asian restaurant Chin Chin En route: Before that, she shared footage from the aeroplane window as she flew in from Adelaide for her New Year's interstate holiday It comes several months after the sale of Kayla's company Sweat to U.S. software giant iFIT propelled her net worth to $164million. This was enough to place her 39th on last year's Young Rich List, just one spot ahead of her business partner and ex-fiance Tobi Pearce, who has a similar net worth. The annual list, compiled by the Australian Financial Review, ranks the wealthiest Australians aged 40 and under. Success story: It comes several months after the sale of Kayla's company Sweat to U.S. software giant iFIT propelled her net worth to $164million Kayla and Tobi launched Sweat - formerly known as Bikini Body Guides - in 2015 as an ebook, before the company grew into an app-based online community with more than 50 million users worldwide. The couple ended their engagement in 2020, but continue to work together. They also share a daughter named Anna, two. Following their split, Kayla went on to briefly date a man named Mitch before starting a relationship with Jae - the ex-boyfriend of one of her friends - earlier this year. James Kennedy screamed at Brock Davies when he questioned his decision to not give up marijuana on Tuesday's episode of Vanderpump Rules on Bravo. The 29-year-old reality star had just reached his two-year sobriety mark and had been planning on giving up weed. James told Brock, 30, that his plans got derailed when he was stuck in quarantine after a co-worker at SUR tested positive for COVID-19. James said he was in isolation, which was why he didn't stop smoking marijuana. Raised voice: James Kennedy screamed at Brock Davies when he questioned his decision to not give up marijuana on Tuesday's episode of Vanderpump Rules on Bravo Brock tried to hold him accountable and said that being was stressed shouldn't be a reason for him to abandon his plan, which caused James to explode 'But that's not the truth,' James yelled at him in front of all their friends who had gathered at a progress party for Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz's new bar. 'That is really triggering me right now, bro. That's not the f***ing truth!' James then told Brock to take his words and 'shove them up your f***ing a**hole.' Brock said he should look at his actions and James responded that he didn't want him in his business about 'every little thing in my life.' Accountability lecture: Brock tried to hold James accountable and said that being was stressed shouldn't be a reason for him to abandon his plan, which caused James to explode 'You need to learn how to talk to people,' Brock said. 'Oh, and you don't need to learn how to f***ing talk,' said James, while making fun of Brock for not being sophisticated. 'Like read a f***ing dictionary or something.' 'You are right, my education is poor,' Brock conceded. Harsh words: 'Oh, and you don't need to learn how to f***ing talk,' said James, while making fun of Brock for not being sophisticated. 'Like read a f***ing dictionary or something' Scheana Shay, 36, interjected and said to James, 'Don't start saying things that you can't take back.' 'He's already started,' James declared. Brock said he only spoke up because he cared about James. James said he found that interesting considering he hadn't heard from Brock since they worked out. James said they used to hang out daily, but now he doesn't know what Brock does or who he hangs out with. Stepping in: Scheana Shay, 36, interjected and said to James, 'Don't start saying things that you can't take back' Brock said in a confessional that accountability was important. Brock said after he reached out to James and asked him if he was free to do a shoot for his Homebody line that James wrote back 'For Free? LOL'. Brock said that it made him realize that he didn't have time for that in his life. James said to Brock that he was going to DJ his event but that he wasn't grateful for any of it. Brock told him not to bother. James stormed off. He told his fiance Raquel Leviss, 26, that he wanted to go and they quickly walked out. In a confessional, James said that Brock wanted to throw the friendship card down, but that he hadn't been around much. Adult behavior: Brock said in a confessional that accountability was important 'I'm over this and I'm over you,' said James in a confessional about Brock. Brock didn't share with James that he was also planning a surprise wedding to Scheana during James and Raquel's destination engagement party weekend. He asked James before their argument if there was going to be any downtime during their event, but James said he had an activity planned every day. Brock said in a confessional that he felt that they already celebrated James and Raquel's engagement and thought if the space seemed like a good place to get married then 'why not.' He said what they wouldn't know wouldn't hurt them. Over it: 'I'm over this and I'm over you,' said James in a confessional about Brock The episode titled Unprogress Party started with Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 34, visiting Lala Kent, 31, at her house and talking to her while she had two pumps attached to her breasts. Lala shared in a confessional that before the birth of her daughter Ocean she was having sex regularly. 'Pre-Ocean sex was at least a couple times a week, blowies were happening really often but becoming a Mom you just don't want that in your mouth anymore,' Lala said to the camera. New mom: The episode titled Unprogress Party started with Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 34, visiting Lala Kent, 31, at her house and talking to her while she had two pumps attached to her breasts Lala shared with Katie that she was upset that Ariana Madix, 36, didn't say one word to her at the previous night's cocktail party for the launch of her beauty line. Katie said in a confessional that she really didn't want to be in the middle anymore between her two friends. She said she thought it was easier for them to pretend that they don't give a 'f***' about each other than admit that they were really hurt by each other. Katie shared with Lala that she wanted to open a sandwich shop with Ariana. Lala said that was a brilliant idea. Katie said that Lisa Vanderpump, 61, offered to give her business advice about the project. Katie said that she was also going to set up a meeting with her fiance Randall Emmett, 50, about investing in the shop. Katie asked Lala if she had any advice about talking to her then-fiance. Sandwich shop: Katie shared with Lala that she wanted to open a sandwich shop with Ariana 'Do go in offering a sandwich named after him,' Lala said. 'That's all he wants is someone to name something after him.' Katie said in a confessional that she was worried about going into business with her friend. She said if the business goes south then the friendship goes south, too. Across town, Tom Schwartz, 39, met with James to learn how to DJ. Schwartz said it had always been a dream to DJ at his own bars. He asked James what he did when people appeared to not be liking his sets. James said he used to go to the bar and drink, but that now he was two years sober. Sage advice: 'Do go in offering a sandwich named after him,' Lala said of her then-fiance Randall Emmett. 'That's all he wants is someone to name something after him' James also told him that he planned to give up weed and go 'sober sally.' 'You can't quit weed,' said Schwartz. James said he was going to give up everything for a month. In a confessional, James said that weed has always made him feel normal. DJ lesson: Across town, Tom Schwartz, 39, met with James to learn how to DJ Pot break: James also told him that he planned to give up weed and go 'sober sally' 'Smoke it in the morning, smoke it in the afternoon, smoke it at nighttime, I don't think I could function without it, honestly,' James said. 'But I'm willing to give it a good shot.' Brock went over to Tom Sandoval's house to train. Brock had planned on proposing and getting married to Scheana that night but told Sandoval, 38, that he called off the plan because it was too expensive. Sandoval shared with him that he was taking some space from Schwartz after his blow up with Katie. He said he told him they needed to just focus on business rather than on their friendship. Working out: Brock went over to Tom Sandoval's house to train James looked at his phone and saw that Brock and Sandoval were posting selfies together of their workout. James told Schwartz that they needed to respond with their own selfies and captioned theirs 'the next real duo.' Sandoval laughed when he saw it. Later, Lala went over to see Scheana. Lala asked her what was going on between her and Brock. Scheana said she thought the surprise wedding was going to happen so she got a dress and got her nails and eyelashes done. Catching up: Later, Lala went over to see Scheana 'I'm a little frustrated with him,' Lala said. 'You are getting my friend's hopes up.' Scheana said that Brock just didn't want to rush it and didn't want to compromise his vision. Scheana said that they got a prenup done but they needed to get it notarized. 'I never actually thought I would do a prenup but after getting divorced and having to give up half of my bank account, I was like we are doing this the right way,' Scheana. Wedding scuttled: Scheana said that Brock just didn't want to rush it and didn't want to compromise his vision 'Yeah, don't play with that,' Lala said. Scheana said in a confessional that when her previous marriage ended in in order to get her ex to sign the divorce papers that she had to split her finances. 'As much as I love Brock, I need to protect myself,' she said. Lesson learned: Scheana said in a confessional that when her previous marriage ended in in order to get her ex to sign the divorce papers that she had to split her finances Lala told Scheana that she also had a prenup with Randall. She said she just wanted something that was cut and dry. 'What's yours is yours, what's mine is mine, go away,' Lala said. Schwartz and Sandoval met with their business partner Greg to go over design for the new bar with their contractor Dan. Schwartz said in a confessional that they needed to get the bar started soon, because every day it wasn't operational was costing them money. Sandoval kept coming in with new design ideas and Schwartz said in a confessional that his partner was acting like they weren't '12 months behind on this project.' New bar: Schwartz and Sandoval met with their business partner Greg to go over design for the new bar with their contractor Dan Dan came up with design ideas that he said would take three to four months. At James and Raquel's apartment, Raquel's sister Kate came over to help them plan their destination engagement party. Raquel told her their first activity would be a 'puff and paint' event. Raquel then said that James was going to give up weed. 'I know that's what you said last time,' Katie said. Good memory: 'I know that's what you said last time,' Katie said when James mentioned he was going to stop smoking weed James told her that he was going to start abstaining, but then someone at SUR got Covid and he had to quarantine. He said that he had to 'smoke some weed' while cooped up and noted that it helps him with his daily anxiety and with his appetite. 'It sounds like you don't want to quit,' Katie said. Engagement party: Raquel was busy planning her destination engagement party 'I don't right now,' said James. Raquel told him she was so proud of him for going two years without drinking. 'I literally did that for us,' James said. Two years: 'I literally did that for us,' James said of reaching the two-year sobriety mark Sandoval ran errands with Ariana to prepare for his bar progress party when Brock called them with his big idea. He said he was going to propose to Scheana at their apartment but then wanted them to sneak away from James and Raquel's engagement party and to have Sandoval marry them in secret. Ariana said she thought it would be weird with them being at James and Raquel's engagement party to sneak away. Sandoval agreed that James would be mad unless no one knows until way after the fact. Katie and Ariana met with Lisa about their sandwich shop idea. Lisa asked them if they were coming to her for investment money. Wild plan: Sandoval ran errands with Ariana to prepare for his bar progress party when Brock called them with his big idea 'I'm a nasty a** b**** boss and you know that already,' said Lisa. They told her that they were going to pitch it to Randall and wanted to call their restaurant 'Something About Her.' Katie told her that she wanted a purpose and wanted more for herself. She said this would be her 'baby.' Sandoval met Brock to pick up Scheana's ring. He said he got her a 12.9 pink morganite carat ring the jeweller said was valued at $25,000. Brock said he saw the photos of James and Raquel's engagement venue and thought it looked like a really special place for him to do the secret wedding. Brock asked the jeweller to charge the ring on several different cards. Boss lady: 'I'm a nasty a** b**** boss and you know that already,' said Lisa to Katie and Ariana 'Between that and child support, man, I'm broke for the next six months,' Brock said to Sandoval. Schwartz and Sandoval had a progress party to show their friends their new venue. Schwartz told Sandoval that he wanted them to start hanging out again. He gave them matching friendship bracelets for them to wear. Ariana and Katie showed up first. When Lisa showed up with Ken, she saw that the bar did not appear to have been set up at all. Sandoval gave them a tour and explained to them about what they planned to do with the space. Ken told them their ideas sounded expensive. He told Lisa that to fix up the place would cost around $500,000. Multiple cards: Brock asked the jeweller to charge the ring on several different credit cards 'They are in over their heads,' Lisa said to Ken. 'Yeah, and they'll lose a lot of money,' Ken responded. Lisa asked Scheana and Brock how they were doing and Scheana said that they were signing their prenup. Money talk: 'Yeah, and they'll lose a lot of money,' Ken responded 'And I'm okay with that,' said Brock. 'What does he get?' asked Lisa. 'He gets to keep his motorcycle,' said Scheana. She added that she would get seven percent of his company Homebody. In a confessional, Scheana said she was one of Brock's first investors. She said she invested more than $10,000 but Brock said that was a lie. Prenup deal: 'He gets to keep his motorcycle,' said Scheana 'I don't want you to give me a f***ing handout,' said Brock, getting upset. 'Now I'm getting a handout or I'm taking money from my missus.' Lisa spoke to Schwartz about how he felt being behind schedule for the bar. 'What's the hold up?,' asked Lisa. Getting emotional: 'I don't want you to give me a f***ing handout,' said Brock, getting upset. 'Now I'm getting a handout or I'm taking money from my missus' He told her that he got the business loan but the restaurant industry was tough. 'You haven't even started yet,' Lisa said. 'I know,' said Schwartz. Vanderpump Rules will return next Tuesday on Bravo. Jill Zarin is honoring her late husband Bobby Zarin on what would have been their 21st wedding anniversary. On Tuesday, The Real Housewives of New York alum, 58, shared some details of their wedding day on Instagram, along with a photo of herself and Bobby, who died from cancer nearly four years ago to the day at the age of 71. 'Today would have been my 21st wedding anniversary January 4, 2001,' the reality star began in the caption. 'It was a cold day in NYC. We were married at Central Synagogue with just our immediate family followed by lunch at Danielle,' which is an upscale French restaurant in Manhattan. Milestone: Jill Zarin honored her late husband Bobby Zarin on Tuesday, January 4, which would have been their 21st wedding anniversary The former RHONY star continued: 'Everything was so classy Bobby was a classy guy.' She ended the post by writing, 'We miss you everyday and you would be so proud of Ally and know you are watching over us,' in a reference to her 29-year-old daughter Allyson Shapiro. A slew of Jill's 587,000 Instagram fans and followers showed their support in the comment section by sharing a few kind words, although many of them simply posted red heart emojis. Shapiro and The Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge were among those who commented with multiple red heart emojis. Tribute: Jill Zarin, 58, called her late husband 'a classy guy' in her latest tribute The Millionaire Matchmaker star Patti Stanger paid tribute by writing, 'Missing him so much!' while Ladies of London's Juliet Angus wrote, 'Sending you so much love and big hug,' along with four red heart emojis. Bobby Zarin, a businessman who owned a company specializing in home and professional furnishings, was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009. He went on to have his thyroid removed and underwent radioactive iodine treatment to kill off other undetectable cancer cells, according to People. The cancer wound up returning, spread to his lungs, and in the fall of 2016 Jill revealed to People that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. After being hospitalized in July 2017, he eventually passed away on January 13, 2018. His personal battle: After first being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009 and eventually pass away in January 2018; the couple are pictured in November 2016 Jill has been sharing emotional tributes to Bobby on milestone days, which includes their wedding anniversary and his birthday. His most recent birthday this past February, which would have been his 75th, Jill honored him by posting a video of Bobby celebrating in Las Vegas five years earlier. 'Bobby's nickname was Bobby Vegas, to those who knew him well. He spent many years there from the 1970's and was treated like a king,' she revealed, adding, 'Wherever we stayed they rolled out the red carpet. Limo, suite, dinners and shows. He knew how to have fun fun fun. I don't think Vegas will be the same for any of us without him.' She ended the caption by writing, 'Happy Birthday Bobby baby. We all miss you terribly.' Jill was among the original cast for RHONY, starting in 2008. She was axed by Bravo in 2011 after four seasons, although she has appeared as a guest star in seasons 9-12. By Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr FREETOWN With the recent conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the challenge of turning words into action begins. But in capitals around the world, administrative and political hurdles are hindering governments' ability to address the climate crisis with the urgency it requires. I know this firsthand. In Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, local leaders are trying to address climate change in ways that will help the community become healthier and more resilient, but bureaucracy at the national level is a complicating factor. Freetown does not make a significant contribution to global greenhouse-gas emissions, but the city wants to do more to reduce its carbon footprint, particularly in light of climate change's impact on the health of its residents. Building a healthy city is one of the four key areas in the Transform Freetown agenda, which the local council launched in 2019 to prepare our city for the challenges we face. The population of Freetown has expanded in recent years, driven in part by climate migration from other parts of Sierra Leone. As changing weather patterns make it more difficult to earn a living through subsistence farming, rural residents have flocked to the capital. Many of these newcomers move into informal settlements along the coast or in the hills surrounding the city. The growth of these settlements has contributed to deforestation, which in turn leads to rising temperatures during the dry season and increased risk of flooding and mudslides during the rainy season. The extreme heat worsens Freetown's already poor air quality and increases the incidence of respiratory disease among residents. Extreme heat also contributes to water shortages, which bring additional health risks. To address these challenges, Freetown became the first city in Africa to appoint a chief heat officer. In this new position, Eugenia Kargbo, a member of the Mayor's Delivery Unit whose portfolio already includes climate-related issues, will work to improve the available data on heat and housing. She will then use these data to develop policies to mitigate the impact of extreme heat on our community and suggest ways to upgrade Freetown's informal settlements to alleviate the growing threat. For example, a significant number of residential structures in the informal settlements are made of corrugated iron sheets that trap heat. One of Kargbo's tasks will be to identify alternative affordable building materials. These materials also must be able to withstand rushing water, given the informal settlements' vulnerability to frequent floods. Kroo Bay, one of Freetown's largest coastal settlements, has been inundated every year since 2008. Flooding not only destroys property; it also places residents at greater risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera. In 2012, a cholera outbreak infected more than 25,000 people and killed over 400. To reduce flooding, efforts are being made to improve and expand drainage systems in hotspots around the city. Better sanitation is also a factor in reducing cholera outbreaks, and significant strides are being made in the management of solid waste. But current dumpsites are at capacity, and an agreement on the allocation of land for a new dumpsite has yet to be reached with Sierra Leone's central government. Like many of Freetown's challenges, many factors contribute to the problems caused by extreme heat and flooding. In addition to climate change, poor urban planning, poor interagency coordination, and lack of financing all play a part. Building a healthy, resilient city requires good urban planning, particularly climate-sensitive design. But, despite the need for rapid action, cities often face high and unnecessary impediments in developing and implementing such plans. For example, Sierra Leone's Local Government Act, adopted in 2004, gives city councils the authority to make and carry out plans for municipalities, but central government ministries remain in control of critical urban management functions like land use planning, zoning, and issuance of building permits. As a result, these processes are slow and inefficient, leaving local leaders and urban planners limited scope to make meaningful changes. Effective climate-change mitigation and adaptation in cities like Freetown requires putting politics aside. Protecting residents from the consequences of global warming like extreme heat, heavy rain, and increased risk of disease requires officials at all levels of government to work together to develop and implement creative solutions. Otherwise, our citizens will continue to suffer the most significant effects of a crisis they did little to create. Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr is mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate ( Toast of Tinseltown Rating: The Language Of Love Rating: The mortal enemies and worse friends of Stephen Toast over the years have included Cocker Boo, Kikini Bamalam, Iqbal Achieve, Una Length, Kay Tightneck and Peanut Whistle. But as Matt Berrys failed thespian returned in Toast Of Tinseltown (BBC2), the Pretentious Name Generator excelled itself. Within minutes, wed gained film producer Neil Doubla-Decka and anger management guru Des Wigwam. Toast, switching to the Beeb after six years on C4, is a failing actor who loathes his career but cant think of doing anything else. His life is a round of lectures from his agent, drinking sessions in his seedy club, legovers with the wife of a despised rival, and mind-numbing voiceover jobs. Every aspect of Life Among the Luvvies is sent up. Its stupidly funny. But as Matt Berrys failed thespian returned in Toast Of Tinseltown (BBC2), the Pretentious Name Generator excelled itself. Within minutes, wed gained film producer Neil Doubla-Decka and anger management guru Des Wigwam The opening scene was Toasted to perfection. Fans favourites Danny Bear and Clem Fandango (Tim Downie and Shazad Latif) were the hipsters in sleeveless T-shirts and tattooed mascara, sniggering behind the console in the mixing room. Better still, U.S. comedian Larry David popped up as an obnoxiously arrogant author, correcting every word Toast read aloud, including his very first: The. This time theres a more ambitious storyline, as Toast lands a role in the latest Star Wars movie and flies to Hollywood. The show is so loved by actors for its wicked in-jokes Matt Berry really does have a credit in Disneys new Star Wars spin-off, The Book Of Boba Fett. Not all the jokes rely on Berrys booming voice and his mispronunciations. Many are sight gags, waiting to be spotted. Basic kit of the night With the aid of a stereoscopic digital microscope, Dana Goodburn-Brown was cleaning a bejewelled gold brooch from a Saxon burial site, in Digging For Britain (BBC2). But it wasnt all high tech her tools included a porcupine quill and a thorn. Advertisement Drinkers at the Colonial Club, the Soho dive where Toast goes to booze with other reprobates, included hilarious lookalikes of Tom Baker (in his Doctor Who scarf), Zara Rhodes, David Hockney and George Melly, complete with eyepatch. No one comments on Toasts mobile phone, a yuppie monstrosity from the 1980s, the size of a breeze block. And a five-second flashback skewered Strictly, as Toast took part and accidentally broke his partners neck with an overly flamboyant twirl. More was packed in to half an hour than most comedies manage in a six-part series. Robert Bathurst doesnt even have to get dressed to raise a laugh as Toasts flatmate Ed, he just sips tea in his dressing gown and arches an eyebrow. White-suited actor laddie Ray Purchase (Harry Peacock) finally discovered Toast has been sleeping with his wife (Tracy-Ann Oberman) for 20 years. (Really? remarked Mrs Purchase. I dont remember.) And Doon Mackichan as the shamelessly superficial agent, Jane Plough, meets every outburst with a smile as brittle as frosted sugar. Brittle and superficial smiles were everywhere in the Spanish sunshine on Davina McCalls new show, The Language Of Love (C4) Brittle and superficial smiles were everywhere in the Spanish sunshine on Davina McCalls new show, The Language Of Love (C4). This daft concept pairs singletons from Britain with local lotharios and flirts, without providing a translator. The pretence is that couples will pair off on the basis of physical attraction alone. Christobal, a nursing assistant from Gibraltar, says he lives in a UK colony, and single mum Thalia thinks hes talking about cologne. Yes, of course she does . . . Its obviously a set-up. Most of the Spaniards can speak English and barely bother to hide it. Tensions and arguments are scripted, emotions are faked and no one has a shred of real interest in dating they just want to be on TV. All my princes have turned out to be frogs, says Kimey from Tenerife. Im tired of being treated as a sex object, announces Jose Carlos. How many takes did they need to get those lines right? Its not nasty or exploitative, as some of these shows can be. Its just pointless. Isla Fisher crashed into Josh Gad in a new trailer released Tuesday for their upcoming streaming series Wolf Like Me. The 45-year-old actress in the Peacock original series portrays Mary who forms a relationship with Gary, played by 40-year-old Josh, after crashing into his car. Mary in the aftermath of the wreck calms down Gary's daughter Emma who was suffering from a panic attack. Streaming series: Isla Fisher crashed into Josh Gad in a new trailer released Tuesday for their upcoming streaming series Wolf Like Me on Peacock 'What did you say to her?,' Gary asked after Mary helped Emma. Mary was then shown at Gary's home where Emma answered the door wearing a neck brace. 'I wanted to say sorry for wrecking your universe,' Mary told the Gary and Emma. 'You coming in to check on Emma was a very thoughtful gesture,' Gary said. Good question: 'What did you say to her?,' Gary asked after Mary helped his daughter Emma Bad accident: The trailer opened with a violent car crash Neck brace: Mary was then shown at Gary's home where Emma answered the door wearing a neck brace Gary and Mary were then shown getting romantic and were about to kiss before she bolted. 'I'm a complicated person. I've got baggage,' Mary later told Gary. Mary was then shown sharing a secret while Gary gushed about fate bringing them together. Ran away: 'I'm a complicated person. I've got baggage,' Mary later told Gary after she bolted 'How did your husband die?,' Gary asked as the tone turned ominous. The six-part series Wolf Like Me written and directed by Abe Forsythe will premiere on January 13 on Peacock. Isla rose to fame on the Australian soap opera Home And Away. Watch the Stan Original series Wolf Like Me, on Stan in Australia. Lily Collins revealed that she bravely went swimming in the ocean with whales during an appearance on Tuesday on The Late Late Show With James Corden The 29-year-old English actress said she had been planning to watch her husband Charlie McDowell, 38, in a boat while he surfed when two whales suddenly breached the surface. 'And as he was surfing, two whales breached, a mom and a baby, and they started flipping next to me,' said Lily, wearing over the knee black boots with a gold and black mini dress. 'And the captain of the little ship I was on said 'Do you want to swim with them?' Whale swimming: Lily Collins revealed that she bravely went swimming in the ocean with whales during an appearance on Tuesday on The Late Late Show With James Corden Lily said the whales were about as close as Corden's cameras and that she initially told the captain 'no' but then decided 'you know what, why not.' 'I said, ''I'll do it'',' Lily said. 'Mind you I'm just in a bathing suit that I'm meant to be sunbathing in.' She said one of the boat crew jumped in the water with her, but then the whales swam off and she thought that it just wasn't meant to be. The crew member said they would find them and they got back into the boatt and trailed them and then jumped back in the water. Lily said she thought they lost them again but then she looked down and saw this small thing coming toward her. Surfer husband: The 29-year-old English actress said she had been planning to watch her husband Charlie McDowell, 38, in a boat while he surfed when two whales suddenly breached the surface 'As it gets closer it becomes a whale and it's a mother and its baby,' said Lily. She said the whales turned and that 'the baby pivots and stares at me for 30 seconds.' She said that when it happened she 'felt a sense of calm that I've never ever felt in my life.' She said that you would think that an encounter like that would be terrifying but that it was actually the most calming experience. 'It was wild,' said Lily. Wild stuff: 'It was wild,' said Lily of the experience Corden, 43, told her that he was 'so jealous.' Lily also told Corden that she spent New Years in New York with her husband, her father Phil Collins, along with other members of her family walking the streets of New York and also playing Trivial Pursuit. She said that when they were walking around NYC they saw an Emily In Paris poster that had been 'vilely defaced.' Corden showed the photo of Emily standing in front of the defaced poster where her eyes and nose had been painted red. Defaced poster: Corden showed the photo of Emily standing in front of the defaced poster where her eyes and nose had been painted red 'I was given a whole new makeup job,' the 38-year-old actress joked. 'Why not embrace it.' Corden asked her about shooting Emily In Paris and wanted to know about the Parisians' reactions to the show. She said that after season one she heard that the French didn't want to embrace the show but that when she started shooting season two that she saw that 'it could not have been more opposite.' She said because of all the COVID regulations and shutdown that she and her co-star Ashley Park, 30, felt as if they were the only other Americans in France. She said when they went out that they stuck out like a sore thumb and that all these people would come over and talk to them about the show. She said they treated them like they were their characters. Good question: Corden asked her about shooting Emily In Paris and wanted to know about the Parisians' reactions to the show Corden then showed a photo of Lily as a toddler between her father and her mother Jill Tavelman appearing to hand Princess Diana a bouquet of flowers. He asked her if she remembered what was going on when the photograph was taken. 'I'm giving Diana flowers, but the second she went to take them I then tried to pull them back,' said Lily of what she was told happened. She joked that it sucked all the air out of the room, but because she was wearing a cute dress who could punish her. Lily also shared that it was not her only royal encounter. Royal meeting: 'I'm giving Diana flowers, but the second she went to take them I then tried to pull them back,' said Lily of what she was told happened 'I was also told that when I was younger, I was playing with some toys with Prince Charles and I proceeded to kind of throw something at him like throw a toy telephone at his head,' she said. Corden asked her how old she was at the time and she said 'two-ish.' 'Were you just hanging out with the Royal Family all the time?' he asked. She told him that her father did a lot of things for the Prince's Trust and she grew up in England. Lily said she just went along for the ride and that she guessed she had a tendency to do 'naughty things as a two-year-old.' Taylor Hill grabbed a much needed pick-me-up after working out in West Hollywood. The Victoria's Secret Angel, 25, wore a pair of red leggings and a black and white coat. She wore a black sweater around her torso to fight off the slight nip in the Los Angeles air. Caffeine boost: Taylor Hill grabbed a much needed pick-me-up after working out in West Hollywood On her feet, she wore socks that extended past her ankles toward her shins. She donned a pair of clean white sneakers on her feet. Hill accessorized with a pair of earrings and kept a disinterested look on her face as she stood near the large wooden fence. Hill did not go to the coffee shop on her own. Her partner, Daniel Fryer, went to the establishment with her. Bundled up: She wore a black sweater around her torso to fight off the slight nip in the Los Angeles air Spending time with her man: Hill did not go to coffee shop on her own. Her partner, Daniel Fryer, went to the establishment with her Fryer wore a black hoodie that read 'Dogpound' in white letters across the chest. He wore a blue hat with yellow lettering and a pair of white shorts that stopped just above his knee. While it's unclear exactly when the couple met, the two began dating at the beginning of last year according to Elle Australia. Fryer works in venture capital and private equity. He went to Eton College in the United Kingdom and the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Hill announced their engagement in a series of Instagram posts she posted in June of this year. The next step: Hill announced their engagement in a series of Instagram posts she posted in June of this year A rock: In the next picture, Hill showed the huge diamond sitting on her left ring finger The first photo showed her better half in a button-down shirt with one knee on the ground and a hopeful look on his face. Hill's face was in her hands, a look of joy seeping through her features. In the next picture, Hill showed the huge diamond sitting on her left ring finger. She then took another photo with her man's arm slung over her shoulder in a loving embrace. She wore a pink summer dress. She captioned the photo, ' My best friend, my soulmate, Ill love you always 06/25/21.' The pair have not set a date for their wedding as of yet. Steve Jacobs returned to TV to fill-in as the official weather presenter for Studio 10 on Wednesday. He stepped in for roving reporter Daniel Doody, who stayed at the desk after a Covid close contact alert forced staff to be reorganised at the network's Pyrmont studio. The 54-year-old did a live cross to the hosts Sarah Harris and Tristan MacManus from the Sydney Opera House. Back on screen! Ex-Today show weatherman Steve Jacobs joined Studio 10 as a fill-in presenter on Wednesday doing a live cross from Sydney Opera House He received an enthusiastic welcome on the show as Sarah called him a 'massive deal' and an 'old friend.' 'Great to see you and it is fantastic to be here on Channel Nine plus one,' Stevie joked. 'You always get more extra than what you bargained for on Ten,' he quipped. Sarah then asked, 'are we paying you today?' to which the TV presenter joked: 'This is a freebie, no-one gets paid on your show I hear.' Fun times: Steve also shared a photo of himself on Instagram with prop mice on his shoulders after speaking to the kid's puppet theatre at the Opera House He comically continued: 'It has taken me 40 years to get on to Channel 10 your show and they've asked me to cover my face, I'm not sure if whether that's because of Covid or because Sarah requested it.' Steve also shared a photo of himself on Instagram with prop mice on his shoulders after speaking to the kid's puppet theatre at the Opera House. Steve is best known for having previously been the weather presenter for Channel Nine's Today show before parting ways with the network in 2019. Good old days: Steve is best known for having previously been the weather presenter for Channel Nine's Today show before parting ways with the network in 2019 New gig: Since 2020 he has moved into hosting breakfast radio, host on Nine's newly launched music stations 2UE 954, Magic 1278, 4BH 882 and 6GT DAB+ Since 2020 he has moved into hosting breakfast radio, host on Nine's newly launched music stations 2UE 954, Magic 1278, 4BH 882 and 6GT DAB+. He is a doting father to two daughters - Isabella, nine, and Francesca, seven, who he shares with ex-wife Rose. Steve and Rose split in 2018. Alessandra Rampolla was spotted out and about in Sydney's Bondi Beach on Wednesday, a week after she tested positive for Covid. The Married At First Sight relationship expert, 47, wore a black face mask after completing her seven-day isolation period. She appeared engrossed in her phone as she made her way down the street, keeping it in her hand as she walked. Back out: Alessandra Rampolla was spotted out and about in Sydney's Bondi Beach on Wednesday, a week after she tested positive for Covid The renowned sexologist wore a pair of cropped blue jeans, which she teamed with a blue button-up shirt printed with red flowers. Alessandra rounded out her summery ensemble with tan sandals, and carried a Louis Vuitton monogram bag on one shoulder. Her brunette hair was tied up in a messy bun and she wore red-frame glasses, accessorising with a silver pendant necklace. Covid-free: The Married At First Sight relationship expert, 47, wore a black face mask after completing her seven-day isolation period Phoning it in: She appeared engrossed in her phone as she made her way down the street, keeping it in her hand as she walked The Puerto Rican love guru announced she had tested positive for Covid on December 29. Alessandra shared a screenshot of her positive notification on Instagram Stories at the time, circling her test result in red. She was believed to have contracted the virus while on holiday with friends in Cairns, Queensland. Specs appeal: Her brunette hair was tied up in a messy bun and she wore red-frame glasses, accessorising with a silver pendant necklace Designer duds: Alessandra rounded out her summery ensemble with tan sandals, and carried a Louis Vuitton monogram bag on one shoulder Coming up positive: The Puerto Rican love guru announced she had tested positive for Covid on December 29 MAFS producers have implemented strict protocols and warned the cast and crew to take precautions as filming continues on the new season. The brides and grooms have been instructed not to leave their homes unless it is absolutely essential until after the reunion is filmed. They have also been given clear instructions not to visit any restaurants, bars and cinemas for fear of transmission. MasterChef star Poh Ling Yeow has revealed she once had a very awkward conversation with Prince Charles. In a teaser for Wednesday's episode of I'm a Celebrity, the 49-year-old said she once attended a dinner party with the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, where she found herself seated next to Charles. She told her campmates their exchange left her rather red-faced. Slip of the tongue: I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star Poh Ling Yeow has revealed she once had a very awkward conversation with Prince Charles Poh said she was discussing architecture with the 73-year-old royal when their otherwise polite conversation veered completely off course. 'I got sat next to him, so I made sure I knew what he likes, I know he likes architecture so we mainly bantered about that,' she recounted. 'But then out of the blue, I decide to use the word "dag", and he goes, "Oh, what does that mean?" And I thought, "Oh, this is happening."' Friends in high places: The 49-year-old MasterChef star said she once attended a dinner party with the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, where she found herself seated next to Prince Charles (pictured in Auckland in November 2015) Poh revealed she didn't hold anything back, and gave the prince a rather graphic description of what the word 'dag' actually means. 'I go, "It's kind of the dreadlock of poo that hangs off a sheep's bum." And he goes, "Well, you learn something new every day, don't you?"' she said. Poh entered the I'm a Celebrity jungle on Monday, and admitted she was 'petrified' ahead of her appearance on the hit reality show. Changing the topic: Poh said she was discussing architecture with the 73-year-old royal when their otherwise polite conversation veered completely off course 'Number one question has been WHY? Well, I try to live by a "feel the fear and still do it" mantra and it seems to work,' she wrote on Instagram on Monday. 'Firstly, I watched last season religiously and honestly have not cacked myself so hard in the longest time...' She added: 'What's to learn from life if you only engage with things familiar and comforting? It's the sapling that's weathered the storm which grows big and strong! Enjoy peeps!!! Strap in - it's a wild ride!' COVID-19 and border restrictions have cut the upcoming A-League Men's round in half, with just three matches tentatively scheduled across Sydney and Melbourne. Western United, Macarthur FC and Central Coast are all enduring outbreaks among their squad and cannot fulfil this weekend's fixtures. Additionally, the Newcastle Jets women's side cannot summon enough fit players this weekend due to the virus, producing the round's only A-League Women's postponement. The past fortnight has been plagued with postponements but league chiefs believe three men's fixtures can be safely played this weekend, headlined by the clash between leaders Melbourne Victory and rivals Adelaide United. Second-bottom Wellington Phoenix will play the Jets at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium earlier on Saturday, before Melbourne City host Western Sydney on Sunday. "Our primary concern is for the health, wellbeing and safety of all players, staff and their families," a league statement read. "We will continue to work with all clubs to confirm a new schedule for all postponed matches as soon as possible." City boss Patrick Kisnorbo revealed that all but five of his players had contracted COVID-19 during the Christmas period, though all had recovered except for two young players. Western Sydney's Saturday match against Perth has been postponed as the Glory manage Western Australia's hardline border rules, freeing up the Wanderers to play City in a rearranged match. Perth will head to NSW after their isolation period concludes and be able to resume their campaign on January 15. She is headed for her second marriage. And Teresa Giudice cuddled up to her fiance Luis 'Louie' Ruelas in a sizzling Instagram post from Los Cabos this Tuesday. The 49-year-old Real Housewife Of New Jersey posed with Louie on the beach at sunset, looking the picture of romantic bliss. Bride to be: Teresa Giudice cuddled up to her fiance Luis 'Louie' Ruelas in a sizzling Instagram post from Los Cabos this Tuesday Teresa cut a youthful figure in a striped peekaboo one-piece that emphasized her well-endowed cleavage and trim midriff. Accentuating her unmistakable features with makeup, she added a touch of added personality to the look with a cowboy hat. In her caption she revealed the photos were taken on New Year's Day and that she had enjoyed a meal at the local outpost of Nobu. 'My love': The 49-year-old Real Housewife Of New Jersey posed with Louie on the beach at sunset, looking the picture of romantic bliss The couple, who became engaged this October, rang in the new year at Cabo San Lucas after Christmas at Teresa's New Jersey mansion. Louie, who co-founded a company called Digital Media Solutions, presented his bride to be with a brand-new Mercedes for Christmas. He popped the question in Greece with a $300,000 engagement ring, pulling the stops out for an extravagant proposal. Aglow: The couple, who became engaged this October, rang in the new year at Cabo San Lucas after Christmas at Teresa's New Jersey mansion Teresa has four daughters with her ex-husband and amicable co-parent Joe Giudice - Gia, 20, Gabriella, 18, Milania, 15, and Audriana, 13. They broke up at the end of 2019 after Joe moved back to his native Italy ahead of a legal decision on whether he would be deported there. Teresa and Joe were both convicted of fraud and served back-to-back sentences so that one parent at a time could be at home with the children. Gal Gadot is opening up and sharing some details about her starring role in the upcoming Cleopatra film. During her cover story with InStyle magazine, the Wonder Woman star dished about stepping into the iconic royal's heels to play the historic queen of Egypt. 'I can't reveal a lot,' Gadot, 36, confessed to the publication, 'but I can tell you that were going to celebrate the Cleopatra story.' New details: Gal Gadot, 36, is opening up about her role in the upcoming Cleopatra film The Israeli actress went on to share that one of the goals of the film is to 'show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we're living in today.' She added, 'I've watched all the Cleopatra movies throughout history, but I feel like we're telling the story the world needs to hear now.' Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins had originally been tabbed to helm the upcoming epic film, but she recently stepped down will now serve as a producer. Sexy and smart: The Wonder Woman star maintains one of the goals of the upcoming Cleopatra film is to 'show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we're living in today' The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021) miniseries director Kari Skogland has since stepped in to replace Jenkins in December. Over the decades, the list of actresses who have played the iconic role include the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Vivian Leigh, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Loren, as well as silent movie actress Theda Bara. Upon the announcement that Gadot landed the role, backlash erupted from critics claiming that an Arab or African actress should play Cleopatra. 'First of all, if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian,' the Red Notice star said in response to the outrage in October 2020, adding, 'We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasnt there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra.' Taking on the critics: The Israeli actress responded to backlash that an Arab or African actress should play Cleopatra in the new film version, during an interview with InStyle She continued, 'I have friends from across the globe, whether they're Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish of course. People are people, and with me I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honor this amazing historic icon that I admire so much.' Gadot went on to share, 'You know, anybody can make this movie and anybody can go ahead and do it. I'm very passionate that I'm going to do my own too.' Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, a descendant of Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who served under Alexander The Great. Iconic: Elizabeth Taylor starred alongside Richard Burton in the epic historical drama film, Cleopatra, in 1963; it received nine Oscar nominations, winning four for Best Art Direction (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design (Color) The serenity of Unhyeon Palace in 2015 Courtesy of Jon Dunbar By Robert Neff Nestled quietly in the center of downtown Seoul, Unhyeon Palace is probably the least-known of the palaces and royal residences in the city. It is a juxtaposition of the past and the present. The modern displays distract from the beauty of the buildings and the present serenity contrasts sharply with its Machiavellian past. This palace was the royal residence of Heungseon Daewongun, the father of the last king of Joseon. Gojong was only 12 years old when he ascended the throne in 1864, and his father (Heungseon Daewongun) served as regent until 1873 when the young monarch declared his intention to assume control of the kingdom. To what degree Queen Min (later Empress Myeongseong) played a role in the young king's sudden assertiveness is debatable, but there is no doubt that there was a great deal of animosity between her and Heungseon Daewongun. Not that his son had retained complete control of his kingdom; Heungseon Daewongun went unwillingly into retirement, but it was retirement in name only, for, from the shadows of Unhyeon Palace, his name was associated with palace intrigue. Gojong may have been the monarch, but many have suggested that the true power lay with Queen Min, who ruled the country from the confines of the palace through her adopted older brother Min Seung-ho (1830-75). Unhyeon Palace in 2015 Courtesy of Jon Dunbar History has been rather unkind to Min Seung-ho, as he is described as being "unable to exert positive leadership because he was not too bright, weak, easily deceived by others, and incapable of handling government affairs." These are powerful negative characterizations but historian James Palais concedes that Min Seung-ho "may have exerted considerable influence behind the scenes." Considering how dangerous politics in Joseon could be, Min Seung-ho does seem to have been too trusting and easily deceived by others, and these were fatal traits. On Jan. 5, 1875, he was enjoying a meal at home, when he was interrupted with the arrival of a package. There are several different accounts of what transpired with the arrival of this package: Homer B. Hulbert who resided in Seoul from the 1880s through the early part of the 1900s, and possibly obtained his information from people in the know claimed, "Min Seung-ho received a letter purporting to be from a certain party with whom he was on intimate terms," along with a box wrapped in silk. The letter instructed him "to open [the box] only in the presence of his mother and son." If the walls of Unhyeon Palace could talk, what tales would they tell? Unhyeon Palace in 2015. Courtesy of Jon Dunbar Another account claims that it was a Buddhist monk who delivered the box and had mentioned that it contained "blessings" (perhaps referring to bribes or blessings for his deceased biological mother), and that Min Seung-ho should open it where others could not see its contents. The same source indicates that the box was unusually shaped, with a hole and a lock, but the "sillok" (or Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty) seem to indicate that the small box was not unlike those which could be found in the market. In Hulbert's version, "Late at night in his inner chamber, [Min Seung-ho] opened [the box] in the presence of these members of his family, but when he lifted the cover the [box] exploded with terrific force killing the three instantly and setting the house on fire." Homer went on to note that "Min Seung-ho had but one enemy bold enough to carry out the deed [and] the popular belief that it was done by his great rival is practically undisputed, though no direct evidence perhaps exists." However, popular accounts claim he went into his inner chamber and when he opened the box, it detonated. The explosion killed his adopted mother (Queen Min's biological mother) and his 10-year-old son immediately the sillok indicates three grandchildren were also present and Min Seung-ho, although severely burned, managed to point towards Unhyeon Palace and say its name a few times (implicating Heungseung Daewongun) before succumbing to his injuries. Beautiful places often have dark pasts. Unhyeon Palace in 2015. Courtesy of Jon Dunbar Alessandra Ambrosio posed up a storm with her mini-me daughter Anja as they enjoyed a day on board a luxury yacht with her friends in Brazil on Tuesday. The supermodel, 40, showcased her sizzling figure in a tiny tan bikini from NUA Swim as she perched on the rails of the boat with her arm around her eldest child, 13. The mother-daughter duo spent the day in Ilha Da Magia, Florianopolis, and could be seen relaxing and hanging out with friends on Alessandra's Instagram Story. 'My Little Mermaid' Alessandra Ambrosio posed up a storm with her mini-me daughter Anja as they enjoyed a day on board a luxury yacht with her friends in Brazil on Tuesday The Brazilian native showed off her washboard abs in the skimpy two-piece, which she styled with a selection of beaded necklaces and and a pair of stylish Vera Wang Eyewear shades. The runway star had seemingly just had a swim in the incredible blue sea below with her daughter judging by their salt-kissed hair. Alessandra and Anja smiled for the sweet photo, which she had captioned: 'My Little Mermaid.' Sister, sister! Alessandra shared a further insight into their day while posting a picture of her purple bikini wearing sister Aline (right) lounging on the sundeck with Anja Activity time: She also shared the moment Anja hopped on a paddleboard with one of her pals and to showcase her skills on the water activity Alessandra shared a further insight into their day while posting a picture of her purple bikini wearing sister Aline lounging on the sundeck with Anja. She also shared the moment Anja hopped on a paddleboard with one of her pals and to showcase her skills on the water activity. The day soon turned into a party as Alessandra danced away with her friends on the deck of the vessel. Not pictured partaking in the fun was Alessandra's boyfriend Richard Lee, though the hunk was seen celebrating New Year's Day with her in Brazil. Happy couple: Not pictured partaking in the fun was Alessandra's boyfriend Richard Lee (pictured) , though the hunk was seen celebrating New Year's Day with her in Brazil Alessandra confirmed her romance with Richard when they were spotted on a romantic dinner date in February 2021. To mark 2022, both Richard and Alessandra posted a loved up beach shoot where they coordinated in all white. She was previously involved with Italian fashion designer Nicolo Oddi who founded the brand Alanui with his sister Carlotta. Stunning: To mark 2022, both Richard and Alessandra posted a loved up beach shoot where they coordinated in all white The model sparked speculation she and Nicolo were no more after two years of dating as she rang in Christmas and New Years without him in 2020. Alessandra shares her two children Anja and Noah, nine, with her ex-fiance Jamie Mazur who co-founded RE/DONE. During her New Year's Eve updates on her Insta Stories the mother-of-two shared a heartwarming selfie with Anja whom she called 'My Bestie.' Alessandra shared a selfie with Richard for a post in which she wished a 'HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022' to her 10.7 million Instagram followers. Joey Essex needed emergency assistance during a daring challenge that almost turned deadly on Wednesday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! The 31-year-old British reality star was tasked with swimming through freezing cold water, which was covered with plexiglass and dotted with strategically placed holes. After locating each hole, Joey had to emerge from the water and reach into an 'ice block' filled with a variety of terrifying creatures to retrieve gold stars. Terrifying: Joey Essex needed emergency assistance during a daring challenge that almost turned deadly on Wednesday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Having reached the end of the course, he was then given 20 seconds to swim back to the start, where the show's hosts, Chris Brown and Julia Morris stood. But as he swam back to the start of the course, Joey began to run out of oxygen and became disoriented in the freezing cold water. Watching on from dry land, a panicked Julia, 53, called for an emergency diver to intervene and help Joey before he drowned. Death-defying challenge: The 31-year-old British reality star was tasked with swimming through freezing cold water, which was covered with plexiglass and dotted with strategically placed holes Struggling: As he swam back to the start of the course, Joey began to run out of oxygen and became disorientated in the freezing cold water 'Oh my God. I'm gonna panic. Can we get the diver?' asked an unusually serious Julia as she attempted to attract someone's attention off-camera. A scuba diver then suddenly appeared, and helped Joey locate a hole so that he could get some much needed air into his lungs. The Only Way Is Essex star then made his way to the ladder and exited the pool after a horrifying few seconds underwater. Freaking out: Watching on from dry land, a panicked Julia Morris (pictured with Chris Brown) called for an emergency diver to intervene and help Joey before he drowned Helping hand: A scuba diver then suddenly appeared, and helped Joey locate a hole so that he could get some much needed air into his lungs 'That was intense. I couldn't find the hole. The goggles got the water in them. And it's hard... You couldn't... It was hard to find the holes,' stammered Joey. The clearly shaken star later admitted that he thought he was 'getting hypothermia' in the frigid water. 'There was [sic] a few times that I was panicking hard underwater. I couldn't breathe,' he confessed. She has jetted to Saint Lucia to kick off 2022 in paradise. And Imogen Thomas, 39, showed off her gorgeous curves in a black bikini as she made the most of her break on Wednesday. The former Big Brother star flaunted her sizzling physique in the two-piece as she cooled off in an outdoor shower. Looking good: Imogen Thomas showed off her gorgeous curves in a black bikini as she enjoyed an outdoor shower during her New Year's break to Saint Lucia on Wednesday She had on display her toned abs and gave a glimpse of her ample assets in the plunging bikini top. Imogen accessorised her beach look with a pair of huge black sunglasses as she washed her hair and posed up a storm. The television personality finished in sixth place on the seventh series of Big Brother in 2006. Sun-seeker: The former Big Brother star flaunted her sizzling physique in the two-piece while in the shower Beauty: She had on display her toned abs and gave a glimpse of her ample assets in the plunging bikini top She shares daughter Ariana, eight, and Siera, six, with her ex Adam Horsley, who she split from in 2018 after six years together. Imogen, who now describes herself as an 'investor and content creator', recently spoke of her grief following the death of her close friend and fellow former Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame, 38, earlier this year. Nikki's death was announced on April 9 2021 after a long battle with anorexia. Following Nikki's death Imogen paid tribute. Confidence: Imogen accessorised her beach look with a pair of huge black sunglasses as she washed her hair and posed up a storm She wrote: 'I have no words, i miss talking to you everyday. 'I miss your funny personality. I miss your impressions. I miss you tantrums. I MISS YOU. I'm utterly broken. 'My best friend...You were special and so beautiful, you were kind it went to far and i am so sorry i couldn't save you. We all tried so hard. 'Now you are gone too early. You had so much more to give. Star: The television personality finished in sixth place on the seventh series of Big Brother in 2006 'You were unbelievably strong and I take comfort in all of those memories we made those epic holidays, those crazy all dayers, just sitting at home listening to Old Skool music. 'I will cherish them for ever. My girls and i will love you and remember you always until we meet again. I'm sorry my angel.' To contact Beat, The UK's Eating Disorder Charity, call 0808 801 0677, email help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk or click here. Taking a break from reality: She has jetted to Saint Lucia to kick off 2022 in paradise Coleen Rooney paid a heartfelt tribute to her late sister Rosie on the ninth anniversary of her death. Rosie passed away in 2013 following her lifelong battle with Rett syndrome, a rare brain disorder that causes severe disabilities. Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Coleen, 35, shared a sweet photo of her sibling resting in bed. 'Our angel': Coleen Rooney paid a heartfelt tribute to her late sister Rosie on the ninth anniversary of her death She wrote: '9 years today Ro. Thinking about you every day. Love you always #OurAngel' She wrote: '9 years today Ro. Thinking about you every day. Love you always #OurAngel'. Coleen's followers took to the comments section to share their condolences. One wrote: 'Thinking of you all, lots of love to your lovely mum and dad Col'. Another fan typed: 'Sending so much love to you', while a third echoed: 'Beautiful soul'. Support: Coleen's followers took to the comments section to share their condolences. One wrote: 'Thinking of you all, lots of love to your lovely mum and dad Col' Her love: Rosie bravely fought a lifelong battle with Rett syndrome a rare brain disorder that affects physical movement (pictured on Coleen's wedding day) Rosie bravely fought a lifelong battle with Rett syndrome a rare brain disorder that affects physical movement and can bring about many different symptoms in each individual case. Rosie was originally taken in as a foster child by Coleen's parents, bricklayer Tony and Colette, a former nursery nurse, when she was two. Although they were aware she was disabled they did not know the full extent of her condition, which has no cure. In an exclusive article for The Mail on Sunday in 2006, Coleen wrote: 'When Rosie arrived she could crawl, and even though she couldn't use her hands that much she would handle toys on her play mat and she could eat. Sweet: Rosie was originally taken in as a foster child by Coleen's parents, bricklayer Tony and Colette (pictured), a former nursery nurse, when she was two 'But over a period of time she stopped crawling and lost what use of her hands she had. Then she started having problems swallowing her food. 'It took pretty much a year for Rosie to be diagnosed and, looking back, I can see how much Mum pushed to find out what was wrong with her and to try to do what was best for her.' Coleen was said to idolise her adopted sister and chose Rosie as chief bridesmaid when she married Wayne in 2008. In a statement released shortly after her death, Tony and Colette wrote: 'Sadly our special angel Rosie, our much-loved daughter and sister, went to Heaven at 2.50 this morning at home where she was surrounded by her loving family. 'Rosie was just 14 years old and fought a lifelong battle with Rett syndrome. Throughout her life she brought so much love and happiness to all our family and everyone who knew and met her. 'She was such a strong little girl and an inspiration to us all. We shall cherish for ever the memories we have shared and the love she showed us each and every day of her life. As a family we are heartbroken but we are blessed to have had her in our lives.' Coleen had been on holiday in Barbados with her younger brothers, Joe and Anthony, but cut short the trip when she heard that Rosie's condition had deteriorated. An honour: Coleen was said to idolise her adopted sister and chose Rosie as chief bridesmaid when she married Wayne in 2008 Kanye West has found a new love interest - stunning model and actress Julia Fox, 31. The pair were spotted on their second date in days on Tuesday night, hitting a Broadway show and dinner in New York. Sources have revealed the rapper, 44, and the Italian-American rising star are 'kindred spirits', but is it just a showmance for the aspiring actress? New girl: Kanye West has found a new love interest - stunning model and actress Julia Fox, 31. The pair were spotted on their second date in days on Tuesday night, but who is the rising star? Page Six confirmed the romance last week, with an insider insisting the two are dating. They 'both just got out of their former relationships, and they've helped each other recover immensely.' the outlet revealed. Julia has previously insisted she's not one 'to wait for things to be handed to me,' and with just a handful of appearances with Kanye she has seen her fame skyrocket. Born in Italy to her Italian mum and American dad, after her parents split Julia spent the first six years of her life being raised by her grandfather in Sirona before making the move to be with her father in New York. She has previously talked about her 'unstable' uprbinging which saw her move from borough to borough. At one point she was homeless. Is it serious? Page Six confirmed the romance last week, with an insider insisting the two are dating and are 'kindred spirits' Turning heads: Julia worked the cameras on her Tuesday night date, showing off her racy $24 G-string trousers She also admitted to Rolling Stone in a 2020 interview that she stole clothes to try and emmulate the wealthy women she saw around Manhattan, eventually getting arrested for shoplifting at Bloomingdale's. 'You're seeing this really extravagant display of wealth, and you're trying to look like that, but you have to do it by stealing.' At 15 she ran away with her drug-dealer boyfriend but because of the free spirited lifestyle her father allowed her, no one realised she was missing for three weeks. In her late teens she worked as a dominatrix, earning money and building her confidence while still in high school. She dabbled in art and started a knitwear business before setting her heart on acting. Rising star: Julia has previously insisted she's not one 'to wait for things to be handed to me,' and with just a handful of appearances with Kanye she has seen her fame skyrocket She landed her first acting role in Adam Sandler's 2019 Netflix hit Uncut Gems, with the part of Sandler's girlfriend Julia written for her. She had struck up a friendship via social media with the filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie, who pushed for her to get the role even after producers Martin Scorsese and Scott Rudin argued for a bigger name. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Julia explained how 'Josh would hit me up every few months and ask me for suggestions on the character. Of course, I molded her to be what I wanted her to be, which conveniently was also what Josh wanted her to be.' Before acting she dabbled in filmmaking, photography and writing, but Julia has insisted that she always knew she wanted to be in the film industry, 'and I'm not one to wait for things to be handed to me.' Leading lady: She landed her first acting role in Adam Sandler's 2019 Netflix hit Uncut Gems, with the rule of the leading man's girlfriend Julia written for 'Unstable childhood': Born in Italy to her Italian mum and American dad, after her parents split, Julia spent the first six years of her life being raised by her grandfather in Sirona before making the move to be with her father in New York Next up for Julia is the lead role in the recently announced Upper Cut: Highlights of My Hollywood Life, an adaptation of the internationally bestselling memoir by Carrie White. The film tells the story of the 'First Lady of Hairdressing' and her addiction and recovery. White was the most high-profile hair stylist of her day, working on shoots with Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis and more. But behind the glamorous career, her world was fuelled by champagne and vodka, pills, cocaine, and heroin. The movie is due to start filming this year. Racy: In her late teens she worked as a dominatrix, earning money and building her confidence. She dabbled in art and started a knitwear business before setting her heart on acting Mama: Away from her blossoming career, Julia shares a son, Valentino, 11 months with her private pilot husband Peter Artemiev, whom she married in 2018 Family: Julia bought her son and then-husband to the world premiere of No Sudden Moves at the Tribeca Festival 2021 last June Away from her blossoming career, Julia shares a son, Valentino, 11 months with her private pilot husband Peter Artemiev, whom she married in 2018. Last month Julia took to Instagram to call out her estranged husband, accusing him of turning his back on her and their son, and calling him a 'dead beat alcoholic drug addict dad.' Julia ripped her ex in a series of recent Instagram Stories posts, sharing an image of Artemiev and writing, 'Have you seen this deadbeat dad?' and said he be found 'at most strip clubs, Lucien, Paul's [Baby Grand], Casablanca, the streets etc.' Ex: Julia and her ex were married for three years before they separated last year, just months after the birth of their son Fox said that it was 'traumatic' for her to review the screenshots, videos and photos related to her claims about Artemiev, including a clip in which he was calling her names, according to Page Six. 'I can't even do it anymore,' said Fox, who welcomed son Valentino with Artemiev in February of 2021. 'I just don't want my son f***ed up cuz he feels like his dad was absent or loved alcohol and partying more than him ... this man left me with a 5 month old and a dog and a home and ALL THE BILLS. It's wrong!!! It's not fair!!!' In a separate post, a follower told Fox that her acting career could suffer amid the public vitriol. She said in response, 'This is MY SON'S LIFE we are talking about - I don't give a f*** about my 'acting career.''' She added: 'My son loves his dad. I've accepted that his Dad refuses to present and I've made peace with it but I'm sure as s*** gonna work the public.' Drama: Last month Julia took to Instagram to call out her estranged husband, accusing him of turning his back on her and their son, and calling him a 'dead beat alcoholic drug addict dad' The Instagram Stories posts have since expired. Artemiev denied the allegations to Page Six, as he said, 'I was saddened to learn of the utterly false statements made on social media by Julia Fox, my co-parent, who is clearly struggling.' He continued: 'Out of respect for her privacy and to protect our child, I will not comment further.' An insider told the outlet of Artemiev: 'From what I know, he loves his kid and I don't think he's a horrible father.' Calling him out: 'I can't even do it anymore,' said Fox. 'I just don't want my son f***ed up cuz he feels like his dad was absent Speaking her mind: Fox replied to a follower who said her acting career could suffer amid the public vitriol Kanye has also been seen spending more time with Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Audri Nix in Miami, just hours before he went out with Julia. The Grammy-winning rapper and 27-year-old musician's budding relationship appeared to be blossoming as they arrived to a gated property together on Monday afternoon. For their laid-back outing, the highly decorated hip-hop artist wore an oversized black hoodie with the World Food Programme's logo on it, matching jeans, a pair of gloves and boots. I'm A Celebrity has raised concerns over the safety of the programme after Joey Essex required emergency assistance during Wednesday's episode of the Australian version of the gruelling reality show. The former TOWIE star, 31, began to run out of oxygen and became disoriented in freezing cold water while trying to collect stars for his camp mates during a terrifying tank challenge. It is the second emergency situation in two months for the show, after Richard Madeley was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning on the 2021 UK version of I'm A Celebrity. Terrifying: I'm A Celebrity has raised concerns over the safety of the programme after Joey Essex required emergency assistance during Wednesday's episode of the Australian version of the gruelling reality show Joey needed emergency assistance during a daring challenge that almost turned deadly when he was tasked with swimming through freezing cold water, which was covered with plexiglass and dotted with strategically placed holes. After locating each hole, Joey had to emerge from the water and reach into an 'ice block' filled with a variety of terrifying creatures to retrieve gold stars. Having reached the end of the course, he was then given 20 seconds to swim back to the start, where the show's hosts, Chris Brown and Julia Morris stood. But as he swam back to the start of the course, Joey began to run out of oxygen and became disoriented in the freezing cold water. Watching on from dry land, a panicked Julia, 53, called for an emergency diver to intervene and help Joey before he drowned. Oh no! It is the second emergency situation in two months for the show, after Richard Madeley was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning on the 2021 UK version of I'm A Celebrity Death-defying challenge: Joey was tasked with swimming through freezing cold water, which was covered with plexiglass and dotted with strategically placed holes Struggling: As he swam back to the start of the course, Joey began to run out of oxygen and became disorientated in the freezing cold water 'Oh my God. I'm gonna panic. Can we get the diver?' asked an unusually serious Julia as she attempted to attract someone's attention off-camera. A scuba diver then suddenly appeared, and helped Joey locate a hole so that he could get some much needed air into his lungs. The Only Way Is Essex star then made his way to the ladder and exited the pool after a horrifying few seconds underwater. Freaking out: Watching on from dry land, a panicked Julia Morris (pictured with Chris Brown) called for an emergency diver to intervene and help Joey before he drowned Helping hand: A scuba diver then suddenly appeared, and helped Joey locate a hole so that he could get some much needed air into his lungs 'That was intense. I couldn't find the hole. The goggles got the water in them. And it's hard... You couldn't... It was hard to find the holes,' stammered Joey. The clearly shaken star later admitted that he thought he was 'getting hypothermia' in the frigid water. 'There was [sic] a few times that I was panicking hard underwater. I couldn't breathe,' he confessed. MailOnline have contacted representatives for further comment. The scary incident will no doubt raise questions over the safety of the programme, as celebrities regularly take part in frightening challenges to win food for camp. 'That was intense. I couldn't find the hole. The goggles got the water in them. And it's hard... You couldn't... It was hard to find the holes,' stammered Joey As well as the tasks celebrities must complete, the current UK version of the show sees contestants leaving in demanding conditions in a Welsh castle Richard was forced to leave the show after being rushed to hospital with an unknown medical condition, after suffering a 'funny turn' in the night. It was a major blow to the show as one of their top signings, the broadcaster, 65, who was paid an estimated 200,000, was taken ill hours after participating in a gruelling trial and complaining about the castle's freezing temperatures. In a statement Richard, who was treated at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Rhyl, confirmed he had to quit the series after breaking the show's 'Covid bubble.' Richard's daughter Chloe, 34, revealed that her father was 'livid' he can't go back into the I'm A Celebrity camp after his shock hospital dash. 'Unforgettable': Richard was forced to leave the show after being rushed to hospital with an unknown medical condition, after suffering a 'funny turn' in the night Richard said: 'Hello all! Richard here firstly just to say that I'm absolutely FINE. I started to feel briefly unwell in the small hours of the morning and was taken to hospital as a precaution. 'By leaving the camp, I had consequently broken the Covid 'bubble' and as such I've had to leave the castle and all the wonderful celebs that remain in the camp. 'Obviously I'm gutted to be leaving so soon but the safety of all the campmates is the number one priority. I'm incredibly excited to watch their journey continueeven more so at the prospect of being somewhere a little warmer than Gwrych Castle 'Thank you to everyone who supported me on my brief but completely unforgettable adventure I've made some great friends and honestly had the time of my life.' Gross! The broadcaster, who was paid an estimated 200,000 to star in this year's competition, was taken ill hours after participating in a gruelling trial An I'm A Celebrity spokesperson added: 'Our strict Covid protocols means Richard has sadly had to leave the show as he is no longer in the bubble the celebrities form when entering the castle. 'He has been a truly brilliant camp mate and we thank him for being part of this series.' A source also told MailOnline: 'Richard is devastated. He was doing his best in the trials and embracing every part of life in camp, this isn't the way he saw his I'm A Celeb journey ending. 'Richard going back to camp would pose as too much of a risk to the other contestants, who have isolated and formed a bubble to protect themselves from a possible Covid-19 outbreak on set. 'Gutted': In a statement Richard, who was believed to be at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Rhyl, reassured fans that he's 'fine' after his health scare 'Everyone on the show will miss him he's been a huge part of camp and it's so disappointing he won't be able to return.' It had been thought that musician DJ Locksmith had been enlisted as a standby contestant, but no one is set to replace Richard in the castle. It was also thought that Richard will still be paid his full fee for his time on the show, despite spending just four days in the castle. An ITV spokesperson previously revealed that Richard had been hospitalised in the early hours of Thursday morning after falling ill overnight. They told MailOnline: 'Richard was unwell in the early hours and was immediately seen by our on-site medical team.' They added: 'He's since been taken to hospital as a precaution, the health and safety of our campmates is our priority.' Worry: Richard was treated at Glan Clwyd Hospital after falling ill overnight Presenter Chloe took to Instagram to say she had spoken to her father and that while he was annoyed he couldn't return, he was 'absolutely fine', before gushing she was 'so proud' of him. She wrote: 'Thanks for all your lovely messages, dad's absolutely fine, we've been speaking to him all day and ultimately, he's just livid he can't go back into camp because of Covid restrictions.' She continued: 'He did himself proud though. He worked hard and was his calm, collected, kind and funny self. We are so proud!' Family: Later on Thursday Richard's daughter Chloe revealed that her father is 'livid' he can't go back into the I'm A Celebrity camp after his shock hospital dash (pictured together) Statement: Presenter Chloe, 34, took to Instagram to say she had spoken to him and that while he was annoyed he couldn't return, he was 'absolutely fine', before gushing she was 'so proud' of him A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We were called at 05.43am this morning, Thursday 25 November 2021, to reports of a medical emergency at Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Conwy. 'We sent a paramedic in a rapid response car and an emergency ambulance to the scene, and one patient was taken to hospital.' After news of Richard's hospitalisation broke, his Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid also took to Twitter to offer her well wishes. She wrote: 'Sending love - hope he's feeling ok now. Doing brilliant job on#IACGMOOH and being supportive to everyone. Get well soon Richard.' Close call: The star was also treated at an on-site medical facility outside Gwrych Castle, before an ambulance was called to take him to hospital Safety first: Nurses were seen arriving at the facility where Richard was taken ill, before he was hospitalised Progress: An ITV spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Richard was unwell in the early hours and was immediately seen by our on-site medical team' Just hours earlier Richard had earned just four stars in his first solo trial, Kitchen Nightmares, and confessed the ordeal had left him 'freezing.' He was forced to use his mouth to try and untie some of the knots to retrieve stars that were hanging from a rope. As fish guts and offal fell on him, the presenter struggled to unknot the string that had the stars on and exasperated said: 'Holy Moly', before the klaxon sounded again, marking the end of the task. Speaking about the knot he said: 'Who tied these knots? It's wet and it's tight. This one isn't at tight', prompting laughs from Ant and Dec. 'Such a disappointment,' Richard said: 'We'll have something to eat tonight. I was really hoping to do better than that.' Still there: In first look images from Thursday's show, which was partially filmed on Wednesday night, Richard could be seen alongside his campmates before being hospitalised A disheartened Richard returned to camp and told them how difficult he found the trial, and the campmates graciously accepted that he had only managed to get four stars, leading to measly dinner of squirrel. At the end of the show, which was broadcast live, Richard was seen alongside the rest of the camp being told by Ant and Dec that all 10 of them would be heading to the trial area for the latest challenge. It was then revealed that soap stars Simon Gregson, 47, and Adam Woodyatt would be taking part in the Castle Scare Fair Trial as they arrived in camp. The Apprentice mogul Lord Sugar has revealed the last-ever task he will set for his business candidates will be to plan his funeral. The 74-year-old Amstrad magnate has previously spoken about quitting the show after 20 series, and has hatched a plan for his final set of candidates to pitch what his coffin could look like before he bows out of the programme. Ahead of the debut of series 16 on Thursday, the star said: 'I'm not going nowhere and the programme is going nowhere. You're Pyre-d! The Apprentice mogul Lord Sugar has revealed his last-ever task for his business candidates will be to plan his funeral (pictured with the 2022 candidates) 'I really want to make it 20 seasons. This one is 16 so I still have four more to go. I've already worked out the final task in one of the series is to arrange my funeral. 'I want to see how well they arrange it and what kind of coffin they will get for me.' When asked whether Piers Morgan would be able to fill his shoes and carry on the witty banter and one-liners, Lord Sugar laughed: 'You've got to be joking, he's got as much humour as a lead balloon.' Sugar also shut down the idea of a celebrity series of The Apprentice made up of members of the government, claiming politicians, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wouldn't even pass the auditions. Say what? The 74-year-old Amstrad magnate, has previously spoken about quitting the show after 20 series, and has hatched a plan for his final set of candidates to pitch what his coffin could look like before he bows out of the programme He said: 'They wouldn't pass the audition test, including our great leader Boris, that's just for his hair alone. They wouldn't get through the stringent audition process.' Discussing this year's candidates, Lord Sugar said: 'Your initial reaction to some of the candidates are, "Bloody hell. How useless is that one or how useless is this one." 'But, and it goes without saying, every single year, the cream rises to the top.' The new series marks the eagerly anticipated return of the show after it was forced off-air for two years due to the pandemic. A former rugby player, eco warrior, a 'witch school' graduate and the self-dubbed 'Asian version of Lord Sugar' lead the diverse 16-person group who will be battling it out in the boardroom in a bid to nab Lord Sugar's 250,000 investment in their business. This year's group features eight women and eight men from a wide range of business backgrounds, with specialists in online pyjama sales, the retail industry and the food and drink market set to make their screen debut when the series launches on Thursday. The contestants - who BBC bosses insisted were all double vaccinated before taking part in the series - are set to face the toughest challenges ever due to many businesses across the UK having been negatively affected by the pandemic. It's back! The Apprentice will return for its stellar 16th series on Thursday with Lord Alan putting his trust into aides Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell to watch over the candidates during challenges Lord Alan is joined by longtime ally and advisor Karren Brady and series one winner Tim Campbell, who is replacing Claude Littner for the series while he recovers from multiple surgeries following a serious E-Bike accident. The hit BBC show is now in its 16th season, having began in 2005 as a groundbreaking show which featured some of the country's best young business minds hoping to secure a job with the then Sir Alan. However the programme has slowly turned into a more reality TV-inspired fare, with big personalities gloating irreverently about their skills in business. Over the years, Lord Sugar has invested close to a staggering 3million into winning pitches and this year's ambitious entrepreneurs will be doing their utmost to prove they mean business as they fight it out for the life-changing investment opportunity. THE APPRENTICE 2022: MEET THE WOMEN AMY ANZEL, 48 Occupation: Owner, beauty brand Lives: London Key information: Starting her beauty business a little later in life, Amy has now found what she really loves doing after previously working in sales, showbiz and jingles. She says: 'I can be nice when I need to be, but when I unfortunately have to be a b***h, I will' BRITTANY CARTER, 25 Occupation: Hotel front of house manager Lives: Bristol Key information: Brittany is looking to break away from her hotel role and launch the first alcoholic protein drink, with Lord Sugar's help. She says: 'My motto for life is 'always look on the bright side' FRANCESCA KENNEDY-WALLBANK, 26 Occupation: Owner, sustainability company Lives: Surrey Key information: The eco-conscious, mathematics graduate is looking for investment in her next venture, providing a product carbon footprint service for businesses with a simple equation of her own creation. She says: 'There's two types of people in the world- people that say they are going to do things and people that actually do them and I'm a doer' HARPEET KAUR, 30 Occupation: Owner, dessert parlour Lives: West Yorkshire Key information: Describing herself as a born leader, fearless and funny, Harpreet plans to 'level up' her successful, six-figure coffee and cakes business to become a leading brand in the UK. She says: 'I'm definitely not in business to make friends. I'm here to make money, and I'm sure Lord Sugar isn't looking for a new mate. KATHRYN LOUISE BURN, 29 Occupation: Owner, online pyjama store Lives: Swindon Key information: Kathryn has worked a wide range of jobs from mortgage advisor to events manager. Describing herself as ambitious, kind, and often 'savage', she says she's there to win, not to make friends. She says: 'My dreams in my head are absolutely huge and I believe I can achieve them.' SOPHIE WILDING, 32 Occupation: Owner, boutique cocktail bar Lives: Cheltenham Key information: Describing herself as 'magical and enchanting' Sophie even has a witch school qualification. She previously worked in sales and has huge renovation plans for her bar. She says: 'Failure is not an option. Winning is part of my DNA.' STEPHANIE AFFLECK, 28 Occupation: Owner, online children's store Lives: Kent Key information: With her East-London roots, the blonde is hoping to bond with Lord Sugar and match his no nonsense attitude towards business. She's looking for funding to develop her designer store and be part of the growing pre-loved fashion industry. She says: 'I've got grit, determination and I'm determined to be successful.' SHAMA AMIN, 41 Occupation: Owner, children's day nursery Lives: Bradford Key information: Shama already has a busy work life running her children's day nursery as well as juggling life with five children at home. She is ready to prove she has the 'skillset that is required to be one of the best, successful businesswomen in the early years sector.' She says: 'Being a lady of colour, wearing a headscarf as well and the challenges that we face on a daily basis, I just want to be a living example for the Asian women out there.' Advertisement Comedian, writer and actor Tom Allen returns as host of The Apprentice: You're Fired, which will air each week on BBC Two straight after the main show. Casting a wry eye over each week's events, Tom will be joined by a host of celebrity fans and business professionals to dissect and debate the candidates progress through each task. Two special episodes, The Final Five and Why I Fired Them, will also return to reveal the stories behind the series before the finale. The Final Five reflects on the journey of the candidates who make it through to the interviews, before they battle it out to secure their place in the final. Before the series finale, Lord Sugar will also reveal a further insight into his boardroom decisions in Why I Fired Them. The Apprentice starts this Thursday, January 6 at 9pm on BBC One, followed by You're Fired on BBC Two. Watch live and on-demand on BBC iPlayer. She's currently on a winter getaway with boyfriend Shaun White and her pup Maverick. And on Tuesday, Nina Dobrev shared a series of snaps to her Instagram while on their snowy holiday. The Vampire Diaries actress, 32, cuddled up next to 35-year-old Shaun, a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and her pup Maverick, whom she adopted in 2017. Adorable: She's currently on a winter getaway with boyfriend Shaun White and her pup Maverick. And on Tuesday, Nina Dobrev shared a series of snaps to her Instagram while on their snowy holiday Nina looked gorgeous in a patterned sweater with a a matching beanie, adding white ski pants. The star wore her brunette tresses loose and with slight waves under her beanie. She sported red lipstick for a festive touch in the adorable snaps while playing in the snow. Nina captioned the playful images with 'snow daze.' Too cute: The Vampire Diaries actress, 32, cuddled up next to 35-year-old Shaun, a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and her pup Maverick, whom she adopted in 2017 Playful: In some photos, Nina opted o forgo the red lipstick Nina and Shaun, who is a professional snowboarder, also posed in front of their truck for a cute moment. The TV star also posted a snap of them enjoying a date night together. They first sparked romance rumors in February 2020 when they shared similar snaps from a South African safari; while they did not pose together in any shot, fans noticed they took snaps in similar spots, according to Us Weekly. The duo were spotted biking around Malibu the following month; in April 2020, they were in a Instagram video she shared to her account as they washed their groceries. Nina and Shaun went Instagram official in May 2020 after she posted a picture of her about to cut his hair. In August 2020, the duo were seen locking lips during a holiday to Tulum, Mexico. Strike a pose: Nina and Shaun, who is a professional snowboarder, also posed in front of their truck for a cute moment Winter princess: Nina looked gorgeous in a patterned sweater with a a matching beanie, adding white ski pants Gorgeous: The star wore her brunette tresses loose and with slight waves under her beanie Beaming beauty: Nina captioned the playful images with 'snow daze' Lovebirds: The TV star also posted a snap of them enjoying a date night together Nina's vacation comes just two weeks after she visited the New York Stock Exchange to ring the closing bell for the completion of her new company Fresh Vine Wine's IPO. Nina co-owns with Julianne Hough; they launched their company in January 2020. Fresh Vine Wine is a premium wine that is low sugar, low carb and low calories, as well as vegan friendly and gluten free. For their visit to the NYSE, Nina looked stylish in a black dress with a patterned bow and coordinating jacket and calf boots. Julianne donned a knitted white shawl with a black dress, tights and bold red lipstick for the big day. They were joined by Fresh Vine Wine CEO Janelle Anderson. Here goes! Nina's vacation comes just two weeks after she visited the New York Stock Exchange to ring the closing bell for the completion of her new company Fresh Vine Wine's IPO; Nina co-owns with Julianne Hough; they launched their company in January 2020; pictured at the NYSE on December 16, 2021 in NYC Squid Game star Hoyeon Jung is 'grateful and honored' to land her first American Vogue cover after the critically-acclaimed dystopian drama became Netflix's most-viewed series of all time. 'My entire life changed in just one month,' the 27-year-old South Korean sensation marveled to the magazine on Wednesday. 'The feeling, there's a limit to what words can express. I lost eight pounds. I don't know why, but I couldn't eat. I was so confused, and it was so chaotic. I didn't believe it. I didn't trust it.' 'My entire life changed in just one month!' Squid Game star Hoyeon Jung is 'grateful and honored' to land her first American Vogue cover after the critically-acclaimed dystopian drama became Netflix's most-viewed series of all time For the spy movie-inspired shoot, Hoyeon donned sleek designer clothing selected by stylist Jared Ellner. Hairstylist Jenny Cho coiffed Jung's formerly flame-haired locks and make-up artist Nina Park applied her striking red pout. The Society Management/Elite model made her acting debut in Squid Game, stealing scenes with her gritty portrayal of North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok, who wants the 45.6B prize to reunite her family. Hoyeon was 'too embarrassed' to watch the nine-episode survival series with her family, but her mother joked that her 'acting was very realistic, like when I'm being mean to her.' The 27-year-old South Korean sensation marveled to the magazine on Wednesday: 'The feeling, there's a limit to what words can express. I lost eight pounds. I don't know why, but I couldn't eat. I was so confused, and it was so chaotic. I didn't believe it. I didn't trust it' Future action star? For the spy movie-inspired shoot, Hoyeon donned sleek designer clothing selected by stylist Jared Ellner Shhhhh! Hairstylist Jenny Cho coiffed Jung's formerly flame-haired locks and make-up artist Nina Park applied her striking red pout 'My younger sister never really took an interest in my career,' Jung said. 'She just thinks of me as her older sibling, so when she told me that my acting was "not that bad" in Squid Game, I was quite surprised.' The 5ft9in catwalker's castmate Park Hae-soo - who plays Cho Sang-woo - said they first bonded over acting-related concerns on set but they became 'like a real brother and sister.' Park said: 'She expressed herself so openly that, toward the end, I found myself leaning on her and confessing my own worries. In a word, we became gganbu.' 142M member households binge-watched! The Society Management/Elite model made her acting debut in Squid Game, stealing scenes with her gritty portrayal of North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok, who wants the 45.6B prize to reunite her family Hoyeon was 'too embarrassed' to watch the nine-episode survival series with her family, but her mother (R) joked that her 'acting was very realistic, like when I'm being mean to her' Jung (L) said: 'My younger sister (M) never really took an interest in my career. She just thinks of me as her older sibling, so when she told me that my acting was "not that bad" in Squid Game, I was quite surprised' Hoyeon jokes that she'd love to return for the second season in the same way deceased characters come back to life on the Korean soap opera Penthouse. Squid Game - which dropped September 17 - was ranked No. 1 in 94 countries and an eye-popping 142M member households binge-watched the hit show in its first four weeks. The show will compete for three trophies - including best drama series - at the 27th Critics' Choice Awards, which was scheduled to air next Sunday on TBS/The CW but has since been postponed due to COVID-19. Jung just signed with CAA to represent her as an actress and she's pondering a move to Los Angeles. 'In a word, we became gganbu': The 5ft9in catwalker's castmate Park Hae-soo (R) - who plays Cho Sang-woo - said they first bonded over acting-related concerns on set but they became 'like a real brother and sister' Unlikely: Hoyeon jokes that she'd love to return for the second season in the same way deceased characters come back to life on the Korean soap opera Penthouse 'I have always wanted to go to Hollywood and to act in America, and I still do,' the Dongduk Women's University grad said. 'But Squid Game changed my mindset. It doesn't have to be an American movie or a European movie, it's the story and the message that are more important.' Hoyeon - who got her start as runner-up in the fourth season of Korea's Next Top Model - is also the most-followed Korean actress in the world on Instagram with 23.7M followers. 'I have always wanted to go to Hollywood and to act in America, and I still do': Jung just signed with CAA to represent her as an actress and she's pondering a move to Los Angeles The Dongduk Women's University grad said: 'But Squid Game changed my mindset. It doesn't have to be an American movie or a European movie, it's the story and the message that are more important' Kim Cattrall looked sombre as she headed out for lunch in London on Monday, a day after paying tribute to her late brother. The actress, 65, was joined by her partner Russell Thomas, 50, as they dined at high-end Italian restaurant Cecconi's in Mayfair. Keeping a low-profile on the outing, Kim wrapped up in a grey jacket and leopard print scarf layered over a cream jumper. Brave face: Kim Cattrall looked sombre as she joined boyfriend Russell Thomas for lunch in London on Monday a day after paying tribute to late brother Bracing herself against the bitter cold, the Mannequin star donned a pair of blue fingerless jeans and grey jeans teamed with boots. She completed the look with minimal makeup and styled her strawberry blonde locks in loose waves that framed her face. Russell also looked effortlessly stylish as he paired a camouflage print jacket with a grey baker boy cap. Heading out: The actress, 65, was joined by her partner Russell, 50, as they dined at high-end Italian restaurant Cecconi's in Mayfair Tribute: Kim took to Instagram on Sunday to remember her 'baby brother' Chris Cattrall on what would have been his 59th birthday nearly four years after he took his own life Kim's outing came a day after she took to Instagram to remember her 'baby brother' Chris Cattrall on what would have been his 59th birthday. She shared an old photo of her and her younger sibling side by side as he wrapped himself in a blue towel. Kim said in her caption, 'Today would have been my baby brother Chriss 59th bday. Happy Birthday, sweet Topher.' Kim added, 'We miss you today and everyday. RIPx #suicideprevention.' Nearly four years ago Chris was found dead by police after the entertainer took to social media to ask for help in finding him when he went missing. It took less than a day for authorities to find Cattrall on his property in Blackfalds, Alberta. Shortly after, the longtime performer took to Twitter to update her followers with the heartbreaking news. Holding it in: Kim put on a brave face as she dined alongside her partner Under wraps: Keeping a low-profile on the outing, Kim wrapped up in a grey jacket and leopard print scarf layered over a cream jumper Casual: Bracing herself against the bitter cold, the Mannequin star donned a pair of blue fingerless jeans and grey jeans teamed with boots Low-key: Russell also looked effortlessly stylish as he paired a camouflage print jacket with a grey baker boy cap 'It is with great sadness that myself and my family announce the unexpected passing of our son and brother, Chris Cattrall,' she tweeted. 'At this time we ask for privacy. We want to thank you all on social media for your outpouring of love and support in this trying time.' She also posted the tragic news on Instagram accompanied a picture of herself and her late brother. Chilly: Kim seemed to be feeling the cold as the couple dined al fresco in chilly London Catching up: The pair seemed deep in conversation as they chatted away to one another Sarah Jessica Parker then commented on the post: 'Dearest Kim, my love and condolences to you and yours and Godspeed to your beloved brother. Xx.' Yet Kim famously rejected Sarah's condolences and branded her 'cruel' following the unexpected death of her brother. The Sex and the City actresses famously had a strained relationship following their time on the hit show. Looking up: Kim seemed distracted as she looked around at her surroundings Pour it up: Kim refreshed herself with a glass of sparkling water and orange However, Kim cut all ties when she took to Instagram to tell Sarah that she 'doesn't need her love or support at this tragic time'. The actress continued her rant in the post's caption where she wrote: 'My Mom asked me today 'When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone? 'Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now, 'Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven't already) You are not my family.' 'You are not my friend. So I'm writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your 'nice girl' persona.' Yum! Kim tucked into a hearty bowl of pasta at the upscale eatery Tucking in: Russell seemed to be enjoying his al fresco lunch She also included a link to a story about the 'Mean Girl' culture that tainted Sex and the City. Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda Hobbes, had also commented on the post, saying: 'Hey Kim such awful news. So sorry to hear. Sending you love. XO.' Kim later thanked Cynthia for getting in touch, saying: 'Cynthia, hearing your voice meant so much to me. Thank you for reaching out. Love Kim #SexandtheCity.' Two's company: The pair sat in a comfortable silence with one another after their meal Holding it in: Kim no doubt had plenty on her mind after honouring her late brother's birthday Kim's feud with Sarah is also said to be the reason she didn't reprise her role as Samantha Jones for the Sex And The City reboot, And Just Like That... Samantha's departure was explained in the first few minutes of And Just Like That's debut. In a move mirroring real life, Carrie and Samantha were said to have fallen out - but with Samantha moving to London after Carrie fired her as her publicist. In the scene, Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda reunite over lunch for the first time since the pandemic. Sitting pretty: After their meal, the couple enjoyed some fresh air as they perched outside Caught up: The pair only had eyes for each other as they chatted away with one another The women run into socialite Bitsy Von Muffling (Julie Halston) who asks, 'And where's the fourth Musketeer? Where's Samantha?' 'Um, she's no longer with us,' Charlotte responds. When Bitsy appears to assume that Samantha died, Miranda quickly clarifies that Samantha moved to London for her public relations work. In a later scene, Samantha's departure was addressed in more detail as Carrie and Miranda strolled through New York City. Miranda remarked that it was like Samantha had died since the women never talk about her anymore. Carrie then revealed that the two had a falling-out after Carrie fired Samantha as her publicist. At that point, Samantha stopped returning Carrie's calls and also broke off contact with Charlotte and Miranda. 'I thought I was more to her than an ATM,' Carrie said, later adding 'I always thought the four of us would be friends forever.' Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee delivers a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Venetian Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas, Jan. 4 (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics SKT unveils green technology for net-zero goal By Baek Byung-yeul Han Jong-hee, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, said the global pandemic crisis has awakened the value of the world in which we coexist, and if both the IT industry and consumers participate in making changes, it could make a big difference toward creating a sustainable future. Logo for Consumer Electronics Show / Courtesy of Consumer Technology Association On Jan. 4 (local time), the top executive in charge of Samsung's DX Division, which encompasses the tech giant's visual display, appliances and mobile businesses, gave a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) under the theme "Together for Tomorrow." At the Venetian Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas, Han shared Samsung's vision to contribute to the sustainable development of the world by introducing a range of sustainability initiatives, purposeful partnerships, and customizable and connected technologies. "I'm excited for you to be a part of our vision to see how innovation can create positive change, and to join us and work together for tomorrow," Han said. "These developments will make sustainability part of your product experience, enabling you to live a more sustainable life." The CES event is the world's largest tech event, giving visitors an opportunity to glimpse the latest trends in tech. The event will take place in the U.S. city for three days, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 7. Though it was scheduled to be held for four days, the organizer decided to proceed for three days amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus Omicron variant. Mentioning that consumers can participate in creating a better future by using sustainable products, the vice chairman introduced Samsung's efforts and future plans to enhance sustainability. Samsung has been realizing its vision by adopting new, low-impact product manufacturing practices and carbon-reducing packaging, as well as practices for disposing of products at the end of their life cycle. As part of its efforts to measure and reduce its carbon emissions throughout the production cycle, the company earned two types of carbon footprint certification from the Carbon Trust, which measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organizations, products and supply chains. In 2021, five of Samsung's memory chips earned the Reducing CO2 certification for cutting carbon emissions by nearly 680,000 tons. Han also introduced the company's new TV controller, the SolarCell Remote, which eliminates battery waste with a built-in solar panel that can be charged any time of day and night. "It will be included in more Samsung products like new Samsung TVs and home appliances, with the goal of eliminating more than 200 million batteries from landfills. When you line them up, it is the distance from right here, Las Vegas, to Korea," the vice chairman said. To let more companies use its eco-friendly products, Han added, "Eco-conscious technologies like the SolarCell Remote will be made open-source, so that others can utilize them for their new devices too." A model watches a video displayed through Samsung Electronics' portable beam projector, the Freestyle. Samsung said Wednesday that the new product will be displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics In addition to the keynote speech, Samsung also unveiled new products including a portable beam projector, the Freestyle. Weighing 830 grams, the gadget can display an image on any surface up to 100 inches in size. With its versatile cradle, users can rotate the gadget up to 180 degrees. Models introduce SK Telecom's AI chip at its booth for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Wednesday. Courtesy of SK Telecom Advertisement Kelly Gale was seen getting close to her fiance of nearly a year, Joel Kinnaman, as they vacationed in St. Barts on Wednesday. The former Victoria's Secret model, 26, appeared to be making the most of her time with her partner and their friends as they took in all that the tropical sun had to offer during their romantic getaway. The happy couple announced that they had become engaged this past January with a set of images that were shared to their respective Instagram accounts. Locking lips: Kelly Gale was seen getting close to her fiance of nearly a year, Joel Kinnaman, as they vacationed in St. Barths on Wednesday Happy in love: At one point, the model wrapped her legs around her man as they tenderly embraced Gale showed off her impeccable form in a burgundy bikini top and a matching bottom while she spent time with her fiance. The fashion industry personality also sported a blue cover-up that obscured part of her form during her excursion. The former Playboy Playmate's beautiful brunette locks remained free-flowing, and she accessorized with a pair of black sunglasses. Smiling: Gale showed off her plenty of her sun-kissed skin as she engaged in some PDA with her man At one point, she tenderly wrapped her legs around Kinnaman as they shared a passionate kiss. Kinnaman, 42, kept it casual in a white t-shirt and a pair of patterned trunks as he enjoyed the company of his partner. Gale notably shared a shot of her fiance relaxing on an inflatable pad while floating in the Caribbean Sea to her Instagram Story on Wednesday. Hugs: The happy couple embraced on the shore Bikini body: Gale later stripped down to a tiny black bikini Working it! The model showed off her stunning curves as she yachted around The Suicide Squad actor also posted a picture of himself spending time with his partner to his Instagram Story. The happy couple made a point of sporting near-matching all-white outfits in the shot. He also wrote a short message in his post's caption that simply read: 'Happy new year peoples.' Cheeky display: Gale showcased her incredible bikini body in a thong two-piece Lounging: Meanwhile, her man laid back in a white t-shirt and shorts Doting beau: Kinnaman took photos of his bride-to-be and her friend as they enjoyed their fun getaway Making memories: They were joined by a number of friends on a yacht, where they took a number of selfies and pictures They were joined by a number of friends on a yacht, where they took a number of selfies and pictures. In addition to sunbathing and chatting, they had everything that anyone could ever want during a vacation, within an arm's reach, including rose and champagne. Gale and Kinnaman went public with their relationship in 2019, and they made their red carpet debut that same year. Taking it easy: Kinnaman, 42, kept it casual in a white t-shirt and a pair of patterned trunks as he enjoyed the company of his partner Pop the champagne! In addition to sunbathing and chatting, they had everything that anyone could ever want during a vacation, within an arm's reach, including rose Going strong: Gale and Kinnaman went public with their relationship in 2019, and they made their red carpet debut that same year The actor was previously in a long-term relationship with Olivia Munn that ultimately ended in 2014. The Altered Carbon star went on to tie the knot with tattoo artist Cleo Wattenstrom in 2015. The former couple eventually went their separate ways and divorced in 2018, although they remained friends following their split. Beauty! Later, Gale slipped into a neon green minidress Whirlwind romance: Gale and Kinnaman went public with their relationship in 2019, and they made their red carpet debut that same year High-profile relationships: The actor was previously in a long-term relationship with Olivia Munn that ultimately ended in 2014 Kinnaman and Gale went on to reveal that they had become engaged earlier this year. The actor was notably seen popping the big question to his now-fiance in a snap that was shared to his Instagram account. He also wrote a humorous message in his post's caption that read: 'She said no. Jus kiddin...' Friendly end: The Altered Carbon star went on to tie the knot with tattoo artist Cleo Wattenstrom in 2015 Amicable: The former couple eventually went their separate ways and divorced in 2018, although they remained friends following their split Making a statement: Gale commanded attention in her plunging frock At the time, the Swedish-Australian beauty posted snaps from the proposal on top of a clifftop in California as well as her sparkling engagement ring. She captioned the picture: 'Yours forever.' A host of Kelly's model friends, including Victoria's Secret models Victoria Lee and Jasmine Tookes, also flooded the comment section with their congratulations and well wishes. A year ago: Last January, Swedish-Australian beauty posted snaps from the proposal on top of a clifftop in California as well as her sparkling engagement ring Fun in the sun: Gale notably shared a shot of her fiance relaxing on an inflatable pad while floating in the Caribbean Sea to her Instagram Story on Wednesday Kelly and Joel debuted their romance at Coachella music festival in April 2019. In March 2020, they took their relationship to the next level by adopting an adorable puppy together to 'add to their family' in Los Angeles. Joel previously split from his ex-wife, Cleo Wattenstrom, in late 2018 after two years of marriage. Kelly has never been married before. Better together: The Suicide Squad actor also posted a picture of himself spending time with his partner to his Instagram Story The late, great Betty White's funeral will be private after the actress passed away last Friday peacefully in her sleep from natural causes just 17 days shy of her 100th birthday. 'The arrangements are being handled privately and that was Betty's wish,' her agent Jeff Witjas told People on Wednesday. 'As in life, she never wanted people to make a fuss over her.' RIP: The late, great Betty White's funeral will be private after passing away last Friday peacefully in her sleep from natural causes just 17 days shy of her 100th birthday (pictured in 2019) The 75-year-old APA partner/senior VP asked that grieving fans honor the eight-time Emmy winner by making a donation to one of her favorite organizations like the Los Angeles Zoo where she was on the Board of Trustees since 1974. Betty - who never had biological children - also loved Tree People, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Wildlife Learning Center, Actors and Animals for Others, The Aquarium of the Pacific, and Guide Dogs For the Blind. White - last publicly seen January 16, 2020 - often joked she started out in 'silent television' having made her first appearance on the small screen in 1939. Throughout her impressive 80-year career, the national treasure played memorable regular roles in CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show, NBC's The Golden Girls, and TV Land's Hot in Cleveland. Her agent Jeff Witjas (L) told People on Wednesday: 'The arrangements are being handled privately and that was Betty's wish. As in life, she never wanted people to make a fuss over her' 'Wildlife champion': The 75-year-old APA partner/senior VP asked that grieving fans honor the eight-time Emmy winner by making a donation to one of her favorite organizations like the Los Angeles Zoo where she was on the Board of Trustees since 1974 'Friends Forever': Betty - who never had biological children - also loved Tree People, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Wildlife Learning Center, Actors and Animals for Others, The Aquarium of the Pacific, and Guide Dogs For the Blind (pictured in 2019) Betty's last acting gigs were voicing tiger teething ring Bitey White in Toy Story 4 as well as Sarah Vanderwhoozie in Trouble in 2019. White last acted onscreen portraying Ms. Wilson in two episodes of Freeform sitcom Young & Hungry in 2017. The Illinois-born, Hollywood-raised icon will next be honored in the star-studded documentary Betty White: A Celebration, which hits US theaters January 17. Pioneer: White - last publicly seen January 16, 2020 - often joked she started out in 'silent television' having made her first appearance on the small screen in 1939 (pictured in 1954) Dipped: Throughout her impressive 80-year career, the national treasure played memorable regular roles in CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show, NBC's The Golden Girls (pictured in 1987), and TV Land's Hot in Cleveland Gone but not forgotten: Betty's last acting gigs were voicing tiger teething ring Bitey White in Toy Story 4 (pictured) as well as Sarah Vanderwhoozie in Trouble in 2019 Legend: White last acted onscreen portraying Ms. Wilson in two episodes of Freeform sitcom Young & Hungry in 2017 The doc features insights from Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. 'We know we have managed to find out almost anything that exists, but nobody knows what happens at that moment when it's over' Betty told New York Times columnist Frank Bruni in 2012. 'It's the one secret that we don't know. So whenever we would lose somebody very close and very dear, my mother would always say, "Well, now he knows the secret." And it took the curse off of it somehow. I have no fear or dread of death. [But] I'm happy as a lark to stay around as long as I can.' Chanel Iman and Sterling Shepard have called it quits on their relationship. The pair quietly separated last year and are in the process of 'getting divorced' after he reportedly filed the paperwork in June 2021. 'They are going to try and remain civil and friendly towards each other,' sources told US Weekly. Over: Chanel Iman and Sterling Shepard have called it quits on their relationship; seen in 2019 Chanel and Sterling welcomed their first daughter, Cali Clay, in 2018, and their second, Cassie Snow, a year later. They've both scrubbed their Instagram pages clean of any pictures of each other, but have kept photos of their kids. Sterling, a wide receiver for the New York Giants, dropped down to one knee and proposed to the former Victoria's Secret model the day after she turned 27. Tough time: They've both scrubbed their Instagram pages clean of any pictures of each other, but have kept photos of their kids Family: Chanel and Sterling welcomed their first daughter, Cali Clay, in 2018, and their second, Cassie Snow, a year later; seen in November 'A night full of tears of happiness,' she captioned a since deleted shot. 'Im beyond excited to spend the rest of my life with you @sterl_shep3 you are my soulmate, my best friend, my everything! Cant wait to be your Mrs.' The former couple first met at former wide receiver Victor Cruz's birthday party in 2016. 'I walked up to her and bought her a drink and it was over after that,' Shepard said at the time. 'A night full of tears of happiness,' she captioned a since deleted shot. 'Im beyond excited to spend the rest of my life with you @sterl_shep3 you are my soulmate, my best friend, my everything! Cant wait to be your Mrs.' Following their March 2018 nuptials, Chanel and Sterling welcomed their first daughter in August. She said that transitioning into a family of four would be a little more challenging as the couple still tried to make time for their relationship. 'Its honestly tough whenever you put a baby into the situation because youve got to still try to find time for each other and a lot of the focus goes onto the baby,' she told US Weekly. 'So thats the main thing is just me trying to carve out a little time in my schedule and her trying to carve out time in her schedule because were both pretty busy. Thats the toughest thing about it, but we find a way to get through it.' She's no stranger to turning heads with her glamorous appearances. And Lizzie Cundy was at it again on Wednesday as she dressed up to the nines for a less than low-key trip to the dentist in London's Fitzrovia. The TV personality, 53, flashed plenty of leg in a black mini dress which she teamed with a furry stole and black suede thigh-high boots. So glamorous: Lizzie Cundy dressed up to the nines for a less than low-key trip to the dentist in London's Fitzrovia on Wednesday Lizzie accessorised her chic look with oversized black sunglasses and a black handbag, while her caramel locks cascaded over her shoulders. The stunner appeared in a jovial mood as she strutted down the street and posed up a storm before heading into her appointment. Lizzie then opted to document her dentist visit on Instagram, where she joked that she had asked her dentist to give her Rylan Clark-Neal's teeth. Not so casual: The TV personality, 53, flashed plenty of leg in a black mini dress which she teamed with a furry stole and black suede thigh-high boots She then shared another selfie with her mouth open wide and her donning protective glasses, with Lizzie captioning the snap: 'Now shut ya gob.' Last month, Lizzie took to Instagram to share a racy throwback snap with her followers as she reclined under a waterfall. The star shared the image of her figure clad in the sexy two-piece and captioned the the stunning shot: 'Get me back to the beach and bikinis.' Overdressed? Moi? The stunner appeared in a jovial mood as she strutted down the street and posed up a storm before heading into her appointment Open wide: Lizzie then opted to document her dentist visit on Instagram, where she joked that she had asked her dentist to give her Rylan Clark-Neal's teeth Pose: She then shared another selfie with her mouth open wide and her donning protective glasses, with Lizzie captioning the snap: 'Now shut ya gob' The image bears a striking resemblance to the iconic moment presenter Myleene Klass showered in a white bikini, when she was a campmate on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Lizzie penned the caption: 'Hold on to the memories as life changes so quickly. Happy days in a bikini in Barbados, I'm usually there this time of year, missing Barbs and all my friends there.' 'I will be back soon...#barbados #holidays #christmas #break #memories #bikini @pretty_pink_princess Cheeky: Last month, Lizzie took to Instagram to share a racy throwback snap with her followers as she reclined under a waterfall Fans flocked to her page to leave comments on the sexy picture. with one fan posting 'absolutely stunning', followed by two love heart emojis. Another wrote: 'Wise words indeed' with a thumbs up emoji, continuing with 'I'm missing my many lovely friends in Crete, and hope to travel to see them soon.' One friend added 'absolutely stunning' followed by two love heart emoji's and third commented 'gorgeous' and the fire emoji and a string of clapping hands. Advertisement He's credited with revolutionizing Kim Kardashian's style, propelling her profile from reality TV star to a high-fashion trendsetter appearing on the cover of Vogue. But now it appears Kanye West has a new muse to style, in the shape of his latest love interest Julia Fox. Despite having only being linked for a matter of days, it looks as though Kanye, 44, has already been giving style notes to the 32-year-old rising star, as her wardrobe and style rapidly morphs into that of his estranged wife Kim, 41. The Uncut Gems actress has been spotted in a number of racy ensembles that hark back to looks recently worn by Kim, undergoing a dramatic new look that will have surely been approved by Kanye. Attack of the klone! How Kanye West is already styling new girl Julia Fox like his estranged wife Kim Kardashian (Pictured left in 2019) Just last month, Kim confessed in a speech that it was Kanye, who she filed for divorce from in February, that had opened doors for her in the fashion world - admitted that he had pulled strings for her. Kim noted that designers such as Ricardo Tisci and Olivier Rousteing were 'probably talked into' dressing her, after 'getting a call from Kanye,' adding: 'so thank you you know, to Kanye even for really introducing me to the fashion world.' However, now it seems that Kanye is turning his styling attention to Julia after the actress was spotted in Miami last week with a bag full of clothes from Balenciaga, the high-fashion brand that Kim has been touting for months. Makeover: Despite having only being linked for a matter of days, it's fair to suggest that Kanye, 44, has already been giving style notes to Julia, 32, as her wardrobe and style rapidly morphs into that of his estranged wife Kim, 41 Last night, Julia turned heads wearing a $265 Miaou thong pant as she enjoyed a date night with Kanye watching a Broadway play. The look draw striking similarities to Kim, who also rocked that look, albeit with a slightly pricier $1500 Vintage Gucci ensemble. In his own words, the rapper - who recently changed his name to Ye - has been open about how 'styling' his romantic partner is his own 'language of love.' Snap! Julia was seen on Tuesday rocking a G-string look that Kim has also been seen wearing in the past Kim did it first: The reality star is seen with a slightly pricier $1500 Vintage Gucci G-string ensemble 'I'd be styling Kim, that's a language of love for me. That how I bagged her in the first place,' he said in November last year. Adding: 'I pulled up, I had the Balmains and the jackets and stuff, I pull the jackets and the shoes.' In 2015, Kim admitted that she had 'cried' after Kanye overhauled her closet when they got together. He's certainly got a type: Both Kim and Julia have shown off the voluptuous curves "When we first started dating, he went through my closet and he had a stylist come in and they put everything he thought wasn't cool enough in a pile.' 'I walked in and it was like a pile to the ceiling of shoes, all my amazing shoes that I loved. I started crying,' she told Kelly Ripa. 'I put it all in another room and I was like, "I'll trust your opinion, but I'm not getting rid of my stuff." Then I walk in my room and there was an entire room filled of all new clothes, of all the stuff he wanted to fill back up my closet with.' Just like Kim: Julia Fox was pictured on Saturday leaving Kanye's hotel room, with a bag of Balenciaga clothes, that Kim Kardashian has famously been wearing for the past few months Putting a smile back on his face: Kanye - pictured today in New York City - appears to be happy with his new girl Julia She added: 'It was really cool new designer stuff; I hadn't even heard of some of these designers before, and it really helped me fall in love with fashion.' The same could be said for Julia, who before meeting Kanye, appeared to have a less distinctive look. Even in June last year, Julia was seen in a modest black dress as she arrived at the premiere of her movie No Sudden Move with ex Peter Artemiev and their son Valentino. Before Kanye: The actress is seen above in 2019 promoting her role in the movie Uncut Gems Meanwhile, last night in New York, Kanye took Julia to see Jeremy O. Harris' critically-acclaimed Slave Play at the August Wilson Theatre. The play follows three interracial couples undergoing 'Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy' because the black partners no longer feel sexual attraction to their white partners. Kanye and Julia then surfaced at Carbone in Manhattan, which happens to be his estranged wife Kim Kardashian's favourite NY restaurant. Dramatic makeover: In June last year, Julia was seen in a modest black dress as she arrived at the premiere of her movie No Sudden Move with ex Peter Artemiev and their son Valentino (pictured above) Lily James and Sebastian Stan grappled with the fallout of their stolen sex tape in a new trailer for their upcoming Hulu series Pam & Tommy. In the sneak peek, the pair are seen partying in the nude before romping in order to make the famous tape. Yet things soon turn sour as Lily, 32, in character as Anderson, catches people watching the tape on the set of Baywatch before agonizing over what the video could do to her. Steamy: Lily James and Sebastian Stan partied while naked and made their infamous sex tape in the new Pam & Tommy trailer Pam & Tommy chronicles the infamous scandal which rocked Pamela and her then-husband Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee during their three year marriage. The trailer begins with Lily attending a deposition where she is asked about her relationship with Tommy Lee. 'Did you know anything at all about Mr. Lee before you met him?' she is asked, to which she replies 'I knew he was the drummer, from Motley Crue,' she replies. 'Did you find him attractive?' she is then asked, as a swooning Lily replies, 'I liked his smile.' Ramifications: The pair then had to deal with the fallout of making the tape - which was stolen and sold around the world 'I liked his smile': The trailer begins with Lily attending a deposition where she is asked about her relationship with Tommy Lee He makes her heart beat! James swooned as she recalled her relationship with the drummer in the deposition So in love! The famous couple shared a snuggle on the red carpet Viewers are then given a glimpse of the making of the sex tape as Sebastian, in character as Tommy, sets up their camcorder before joining Pamela in bed. 'To everlasting love!' he is heard saying as he kisses his wife. But things take a turn for the worse after bad actors manage to obtain the tape. Seth Rogen, who plays Rand Gauthier, the disgruntled porn actor-turned-electrician who stole Pamela and Tommy's sex tape in 1995, is seen moving a massive safe from the house before breaking into it out in the woods. For their eyes only: Viewers are then given a glimpse of the making of the sex tape as Sebastian, in character as Tommy, sets up their camcorder before joining Pamela in bed X-rated video: The camcorder sat on the top of their television monitor as Sebastian rushed to be with his wife 'It's like we're seeing something we're not supposed to see,' Rand's associate, Uncle Miltie, played by Nick Offerman, says as they watch the tape. As they discuss how they could distribute the tape, Rand suggests selling the tape online. 'No one's gonna get rich off a celebrity sex tape,' a man tells the two. 'What if we sold it somewhere nobody could find us,' Rand suggests. Breaking in: Seth Rogen, who plays Rand Gauthier, the disgruntled porn actor-turned-electrician who stole Pamela and Tommy's sex tape in 1995, is seen moving a massive safe from the house Up to no good: Rand breaks into the safe in the woods Get rich quick: As they discuss how they could distribute the tape, Rand suggests selling the tape online in order to obscure their identities The tape eventually makes its way into the hands of Pamela's colleagues, whom are caught watching it on the set of Baywatch. As men gather around to watch the tape, Pamela walks in, dressed in her red bathing suit and jacket. 'Wow, you are so hot!' Tommy's voice can be heard as she approaches the truck where the tape is playing. Pamela walks into the trailer before grabbing the tape, speechless. Partner-in-crime: Nick Offerman plays Uncle Miltie, his associate who helps him distribute the tape Getting it out there: The tape lands in the hands of those who order it online Making a run for it: Anderson was starring on the hit series Baywatch at the time Prying eyes: The tape eventually makes its way into the hands of Pamela's colleagues, whom are caught watching it on the set of Baywatch Invasion of privacy: James can't believe her eyes as she pulls the tape out Devastating: Sadly, the operation to reproduce the tape has gone into full swing 'How many copies of this are out there? There could be dozens!' Pamela asks her husband in the music studio. Sadly, the operation to reproduce the tape has gone into full swing. 'Pirated copies are spreading up all over the web,' one woman says after the scope of the operation was unveiled. Pamela is panicked over the tape as she agonizes over the ramifications of it to her husband. 'Pirated copies are spreading up all over the web,' one woman says after the scope of the operation was unveiled All on tape: Stan seen in a moment from the controversial tape Panicked: 'How many copies of this are out there? There could be dozens!' Pamela asks her husband in the music studio Uh-oh: The couple cannot believe their eyes as they see the tape online 'You don't seem to understand what a big deal this is,' Pamela tells Tommy in their bedroom. 'I'm on that tape just as same as you,' Tommy says. 'But this is worse for me,' Pamela replies. 'How is this worse for you?' Tommy asks, before Pamela is seen looking exasperated. Social ramifications: 'You don't seem to understand what a big deal this is,' Pamela tells Tommy in their bedroom Feeling misunderstood: 'How is this worse for you?' Tommy asks, before Pamela is seen looking exasperated All hands on deck: Stylists fussed over James as she prepared to film Baywatch Pamela and Tommy tied the knot on a beach in Mexico in 1995 after dating for just four days. At the time, Pamela's mother hadn't even met Tommy. The pair would go on to welcome sons Brandon, 25, and Dylan, 24, but they divorced in 1998. In 2015, Pam told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she never profited from the sex tape, nor even watched it. She said: 'I've never seen it. I made not one dollar. It was stolen property... 'We made a deal to stop all the shenanigans. I was seven months pregnant with Dylan and thinking it was affecting the pregnancy with the stress and said, "I'm not going to court anymore. I'm not being deposed anymore by these horny, weird lawyer men. I don't want to talk about my vagina anymore or my public sex anything."' Whirlwind romance: Pamela, 54, and Tommy, 59, tied the knot on a beach in Mexico in 1995 after dating for just four days; pictured with son Brandon The sex tape was stolen by Rogen's character Rand Gauthier after Tommy reportedly refused to pay for work that he had performed on their house. When Gauthier confronted the musician about not being paid the $20,000 he was owed, Tommy pulled out a gun to scare him away. Gauthier took his revenge by stealing the giant safe that had been kept in the couple's garage, which mainly housed the drummer's guns and Pamela's jewelry, in addition to the sex tape. Not meant to be: The pair would go on to welcome sons Brandon, 24, and Dylan, 22, but they divorced in 1998 Earlier this year, Pam claimed that the video wasn't actually a sex tape, but was merely a compilation of footage of them naked on vacation, which just happened to include sex acts. Last year, insiders claimed to The Sun that the Pam thinks Pam & Tommy is 'a joke and cheap knock-off.' She reportedly called the show 'God awful,' though the series had just begun filming, and she apparently claimed she had never heard of Lily or Sebastian. The source said Pamela had 'no intention of watching this God awful show, absolutely not. Never.' Pam & Tommy airs February 2 on Hulu and Disney+ She broke records last year as the highest-paid actress of color on television, raking in a reported $450,000-per-episode for the Fox drama 9-1-1. But Angela Bassett has said she's 'never been motivated solely by money or fame' during an interview with InStyle that was published on Wednesday. The 63-year-old performer was featured on the cover of the publication's 2022 Bad*** issue where she stunned in three different looks. Speaking out: Angela Bassett said that she had 'never been motivated solely by money or fame' during an interview with InStyle that was published on Wednesday The Oscar-nominated actress also sat down for a lengthy interview where she discussed several aspects of her career as well as her inspirations. Bassett notably sported a form-fitting dark blue bodysuit while posing for one of the shots. The performer later donned purple and black dresses during the latter parts of the photoshoot. The Golden Globe-nominated actress added various elements of shine to her outfits with several articles of jewelry in two of the shots. Her gorgeous hair remained free-flowing as she posed in a black dress, and she tied part of it into a sizable braid while sporting her purple outfit. Switching around: The performer later donned purple and black dresses during the latter parts of the photoshoot During the interview, Bassett expressed that she had become an actress with the intention of accomplishing what she had always wanted to do. 'I've never been motivated solely by money or fame. For me, it's always and only been for the joy of following my dreams. That's what makes me feel alive,' she said. The What's Love Got to Do with It star added that, although she still understood the attitudes of older performers towards self-expression, she was happy to see the younger groups of actors and actresses becoming aware of their self-worth. 'Being in positions and places where your worth is appreciated is a good thing. There is a bit of me that's from a generation where we don't talk openly about things like that. But I understand what generation this is today,' she said. Letting everyone know: During the interview, Bassett notably expressed that she had become an actress with the intention of accomplishing what she had always wanted to do Bassett went on to speak about her desire to change the perception of African-American individuals with her works, which started during her early days as an actress. 'Thirty and 40 years ago when I started out, Black characters were weighted too heavily in the negative. I was always mindful of those images,' she said. The performer went on to speak about experiencing and overcoming imposter syndrome during her days at Yale University. 'I would literally stand in front of my mirror and give myself a good talking-to...I guess that was my way of therapizing myself in that moment,' she recalled. Making a difference: Bassett went on to speak about her desire to change the perception of African-American individuals with her works, which started during her early days as an actress; she is seen in 2021 Basset then discussed how she encountered difficulty as an African-American actress during the early part of her career. 'We all have that experience of trying to prove ourselves and show our worth. But dealing with the additional layer of being a woman and also a Black woman, it's a journey and a constant battle,' she said. She added: 'It was incredibly powerful in building my self-esteem early on when I would get on those stages and receive the response that I wanted from the audiences and my peers.' Bassett made a point of noting that her primary inspiration as an actress came from her female relatives. Looking back: Basset then discussed how she encountered difficulty as an African-American actress during the early part of her career; she is seen in 2021 'It's the women in my family who have influenced my roles. Growing up without every convenience and then seeing my mother who persevered...she still had grace,' she said. The performer also gave the media outlet a bit of information about her minimal cosmetic and skin care routines. 'I don't really wear makeup if I don't have to. I'm trying to just keep healthy skin that I don't need to cover up...I feel like so much of who we are is on the inside,' she stated. Bassett then described some of the boldest decisions she ever made and noted that she had to learn many of life's lessons on her own. 'I think it was to confidently go after my dreams without someone providing personal instruction and direction for me. I had to figure a lot of it out for myself,' she said. Personal opinion: The performer also gave the media outlet a bit of information about her minimal cosmetic and skin care routines; she is seen in 2021 The performer also spoke about supporting other actors and actresses, especially those of color. 'I've always been that actor who gets excited to see other actors at auditions. Because a lot of times you might find yourself as the only Black woman, or one of a few,' she said. Bassett concluded the interview by expressing that she was happy to be in a position where she could support other performers in their creative endeavors. She stated: 'It's wonderful to be in a position to provide opportunity to the marketplace and to the screen, large and small...as you continue and get stronger with experience, you take the opportunities, and you're grateful.' Kim Kardashian and her estranged husband Kanye West may be trying to move on from each other romantically but their new partners have an overlapping past. Amid news that Ye is dating Julia Fox, a Paper Magazine cover shoot from 2019 has resurfaced starring the actress, 31, as Barbie alongside Pete Davidson as Ken. Davidson's new relationship with Kardashian has been heating up recently and the two are currently enjoying a romantic post-holiday getaway in The Bahamas. Ironically, Pete's Paper cover was for their Break the Internet series which was first made famou by Kim in 2014. Six degrees: Amid news that Kanye West is dating Julia Fox, a Paper Magazine cover shoot from 2019 has resurfaced starring the actress, 31, as Barbie alongside Pete Davidson as Ken In November of 2019, Pete Davidson sat down for a candid interview with Paper and posed for a series of edgy snaps as a tattooed Ken doll alongside a beautiful model playing his Barbie. The model turned out to be Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox, who is currently romantically linked to the ex of Pete's current girlfriend - Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, respectively. During the interview, which came out shortly after he'd ended his relationship with Margaret Qualley (after previously dating Kate Beckinsale and being engaged to Ariana Grande), Pete discussed love. 'My love language, when I'm in a relationship, is I treat the person I'm with like a princess,' he said at the time. 'I try and go as above and beyond as possible, because that's what you're supposed to do? 'If you're in a relationship with someone, you're just supposed to make that person feel as special as possible. But sometimes when you put so much on someone, it overwhelms them, and then they don't know if they could come close to that.' Julia Fox's budding romance with Ye lead to the resurfacing of the more than two year old piece of Davidson's. The actress served as a model for the shoot and wasn't interviewed as part of the piece, and it is unclear if she and Pete knew each other outside of the project. Earlier this week, Ye and Fox pair were spotted enjoying a Broadway date night in New York City to see Jeremy O. Harris' critically-acclaimed Slave Play at the August Wilson Theatre. New couple alert? Julia Fox's budding romance with Ye lead to the resurfacing of the more than two year old piece of Davidson's; She and the rapper have been spotted out together enjoying dates this week Kanye and Julia then surfaced at Carbone in Manhattan, which happens to be his estranged wife Kim Kardashian's favorite NY restaurant. Kim filed for divorce in early 2021 following six years of marriage and four children together, and the reality star has already begun moving on herself with SNL star Pete Davidson. The couple were first linked back in October and things are getting more serious with Kim and Pete spotted boarding a private jet to The Bahamas together just this week. Since the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star is based in Los Angeles with her four children, and Pete lives in New York City, where he performs for SNL, the two have been flying back-and-forth to spend time with each other on the coasts. Meanwhile: Kim Kardashian's relationship with Pete Davidson is heating up and the two are currently spending a romantic vacation together in The Bahamas They were previously seen enjoying some time together on December 18, which also marked the last SNL episode before a hiatus. Due to surging COVID-19 cases brought on by the Omicron variant, most of the show's cast sat out the episode for safety reasons, so Pete had the evening off. He took Kim to one of his preferred movie theaters in Staten Island and rented out a screening room so that they could have a private viewing of Ridley Scott's latest film House Of Gucci, which stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino and Jared Leto, among other. The couple have gotten so comfortable in recent weeks that Kim also didn't mind Pete taking out her luxurious Rolls-Royce on his own for some last-minute Christmas shopping. During one of his outings, he was seen buying some high-end jewelry, though it's not clear if it was intended for Kim. Page Six previously reported that Kris was 'obsessed' with Pete, and the whole family appears to have enjoyed spending time with him in recent months. Kris even threw him a birthday party in November, which was attended by Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav. Jon and Kate Plus Eight alum Kate Gosselin has been settling into her new quieter, fame-free life as a nurse living in Troutman, North Carolina. On Tuesday, the 46-year-old mother-of-eight - who obtained her license from the North Carolina Board of Nursing on June 30 - was spotted casually filling her tank at a gas station. Gosselin (born Kreider) sported a black Killington Ski Area T-shirt with matching leggings and white plastic slides as she pumped gas. Life after fame: Kate Gosselin, pictured here on January 4, has been settling into her new quieter, fame-free life as a nurse living in Troutman, North Carolina Reality TV super star: Kate Gosselin became a household name with her hit TLC show Jon and Kate Plus Eight. The show premiered in 2007, documenting her family life with her then husband and their sextuplets and twins Kate - who once popularized the 'I need to speak to the manager' haircut - wore her long highlighted locks in a messy bun for her outing. The Pennsylvania-born blonde was also seen walking the family dog while wrapped up in a Tommy Hilfiger hoodie. Gosselin - who had a notorious hot-tempered, bossy onscreen persona - flashed a smile while bonding with her beloved canine companion. It's hard to believe Kate's sextuplets - Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel, and Leah - will turn 18 on May 10 and officially become legal adults. Out and about: On Tuesday, the 46-year-old mother-of-eight - who obtained her license from the North Carolina Board of Nursing on June 30 - was spotted casually filling her tank at a gas station Dressed down: Gosselin (born Kreider) sported a black Killington Ski Area T-shirt with matching leggings and white plastic slides as she pumped gas Doggo alert! Kate - who once popularized the 'I need to speak to the manager' haircut - wore her long highlighted locks in a messy bun for her outing Cute pup! The Pennsylvania-born blonde was also seen walking the family dog while wrapped up in a Tommy Hilfiger hoodie One of her daughters - either Alexis of Leah - landed a job working at the fast-food chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill. The 17-year-old former child star was seen wearing her uniform as she reported for duty at the popular restaurant. A bird's eye view of the retired reality star's 3,562 square-foot, four-bedroom home revealed she has a dock, small swimming pool, and a jacuzzi. Gosselin purchased the house next to the man-made Lake Norman of Catawba for $750K and moved in March - according to reports. Puppy love: Gosselin - who had a notorious hot-tempered, bossy onscreen persona - flashed a smile while bonding with her beloved canine companion All grown up! It's hard to believe Kate's sextuplets - Aaden (M), Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel (L), and Leah - will turn 18 on May 10 and officially become legal adults Learning responsibility: One of her daughters - either Alexis of Leah - landed a job working at the fast-food chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill Part-time employee: The 17-year-old former child star was seen wearing her uniform as she reported for duty at the popular restaurant Kate sold her marital 23-acre, six-bedroom Wernersville, PA home for $1.085M - $35K less than what she and ex-husband Jon Gosselin paid for it in 2008, The Sun reported in Feburary. On August 7, Madelyn aka Mady posted a TikTok video of herself going back-to-school shopping with her famous mother and siblings. The 21-year-old student is currently enrolled at Fordham University in New York. Mady's twin sister Cara is also living in New York, but she's enrolled at Syracuse University. Home sweet home: A bird's eye view of the retired reality star's 3,562 square-foot, four-bedroom home revealed she has a dock, small swimming pool, and a jacuzzi Fall foliage: Gosselin purchased the house next to the man-made Lake Norman of Catawba for $750K and moved in March Marital home: Kate sold her prior 23-acre, six-bedroom Wernersville, PA house for $1.085M - $35K less than what she and ex-husband Jon Gosselin paid for it in 2008 Meanwhile, their 44-year-old estranged father has primary custody of Hannah and Collin, who alleged that Jon had abused him in September 2020 - according to People. The Gosselins reportedly only communicate through their attorneys following the end of their acrimonious decade-long marriage in 2009. Kate and the Amazon IT specialist's hit TLC series Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired for five seasons spanning 2007-2010, once amassing 9.8M viewers for the fifth season premiere. During her hey-day, Gosselin was said to earn $250K per episode to produce and star in the rebranded Kate Plus 8, which ran for six seasons spanning 2010-2017 plus a 'College Bound' episode in 2019. Smile! On August 7, Madelyn aka Mady (L) posted a TikTok video of herself going back-to-school shopping with her famous mother (R) and siblings Graduating soon? The 21-year-old student is currently enrolled at Fordham University in New York 'I love these kids fiercely': Mady's twin sister Cara (R, pictured in 2019) is also living in New York, but she's enrolled at Syracuse University Still lives in PA: Meanwhile, their 44-year-old estranged father (L) has primary custody of Hannah (M) and Collin (R), who alleged that Jon had abused him in September 2020 Kate also appeared in Say Yes to the Dress (2008), co-hosted four episodes of The View (2009-2010), competed on Dancing with the Stars (2010), Celebrity Wife Swap (2013), The Apprentice (2015), and wrote three non-fiction books. But Gosselin hasn't been on television since 2019 when she attempted to find love on her six-episode spin-off, Kate Plus Date. 'Kate has been struggling with money because she hasn't worked for a while,' a source told The Sun in 2020. 'She has been living off the money she made in the past but it's been years since her last job.' Happier times: The Gosselins reportedly only communicate through their attorneys following the end of their acrimonious decade-long marriage in 2009 Amassed 9.8M viewers for the fifth season premiere! Kate and the Amazon IT specialist's hit TLC series Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired for five seasons spanning 2007-2010 End of an era: During her hey-day, Gosselin was said to earn $250K per episode to produce and star in the rebranded Kate Plus 8, which ran for six seasons spanning 2010-2017 plus a 'College Bound' episode in 2019 I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! premiered on Monday evening on Channel 10, and it looks like one camper is already proving to be a fierce competitor. As of Thursday morning, Beau Ryan has emerged as one of the favourites, jumping to second place overnight on Sportsbet after previously not being a serious contender. The leading online bookmaker is tipping the former NRL star to place runner-up with relatively short odds of $4. Twist: I'm a Celebrity star Beau Ryan (pictured) has jumped to second place overnight in Sportsbet odds after previously not being a serious contender Beau replaced MasterChef star Poh Ling Yeow, who was previously sitting in second place at $3.50 on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, television and radio host Dylan Lewis is still the front-runner to win the show with odds of $2.50. The final episode was secretly filmed in northern New South Wales in September. Fan favourites: Beau replaced MasterChef star Poh Ling Yeow (pictured), who was previously sitting in second place at $3.50 on Wednesday afternoon I'm a Celebrity premiered this week, with producers swapping the South African jungle in favour of a camp in Queensland. With the show being filmed in advance for the second time in a year due to the Covid pandemic, contestants were eliminated based on their performance in the trials, not by the viewers at home. However, Daily Mail Australia understands that audiences will be able to pick the winner during the live finale later this month. Has the I'm a Celebrity winner been leaked already? Meanwhile, television and radio host Dylan Lewis is still the front-runner to win the show at $2.50 As usual, viewers were left scratching their heads when the latest batch of contestants arrived, with many hearing the stars' names for the first time. Shortly after the arrival of Miss Universe Australia 2020 Maria Thattil, Beau Ryan and comedian Cal Wilson, fans vented their frustrations on Twitter. 'It would appear this year @I'mACelebrityAU is using the word celebrity very loosely. It's awful,' one person complained. 'Where are the actual celebrities?' another asked. 'I don't know what's worsethe fact I barely recognise any 'celebrities' or the fact I'm never going to get the last two hours back #ImACelebrityAU,' a third agreed. I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! continues Thursday at 7.30pm on Channel 10 Hyundai Heavy Industries CEO Chung Ki-sun, bottom right, shakes hands with Palantir Technologies COO Shyam Sanjkar after signing an MOU to establish a big data platform, with Palantir CEO Alex Karp seen on screen, a day ahead of the CES 2022 in Las Vegas, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries By Kim Hyun-bin LAS VEGAS Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group inked a partnership with Palantir Technologies, the top U.S. big data analytics company, to build a big data platform for the conglomerate's core businesses, including shipbuilding and offshore engineering, Wednesday. The two parties also decided to establish a joint venture to promote the big data platform business in the medium to long term. HHI Group announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Palantir Technologies in Las Vegas, Tuesday (local time) for the establishment of a big data platform. Logo for Consumer Electronics Show / Courtesy of Consumer Technology Association "We expect that this partnership with Palantir Technologies will substantially improve the competitiveness of core businesses within the group. It will be an important turning point in innovation of organizational culture that changes the way we work using data," Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings CEO Chung Ki-sun said. Lucie Donlan stripped down to sultry pale pink lingerie for her latest photoshoot, sharing the standout shots with her Instagram followers. The newly-engaged reality star, 23, put on a racy display as she posed for several sexy snaps in the alluring Ann Summers underwear. Posing up a storm was something that came naturally to the former Love Islander as she leant against blue-and-white wallpaper and a bauble-laden ledge. Model: Newly-engaged Lucie Donlan put on a racy display in sultry pale pink lingerie as she posed up a storm for her latest shoot Her taut abs and svelte waist on full display, the blonde model-cum-surfer had a natural aura about her as she let her waves cascade past her shoulders. To complement the hue of underwear, Lucie opted for a subtle hint of pink eyeshadow which accentuated her phenomenal look. Her fiance Luke Mabbott, who, like her, rose to fame off the back of Love Island, jumped straight the comment section, gushing: 'No words,' followed by a heart eye emoji and love heart. Wow: The newly-engaged reality star, 23, put on a racy display as she posed for several sexy snaps in the alluring Ann Summers underwear Lingerie: Posing up a storm was something that came naturally to the former Love Islander as she leant against blue-and-white wallpaper and a bauble-laden ledge Figure flaunting: To complement the hue of underwear, Lucie opted for a subtle hint of pink eyeshadow which accentuated her phenomenal look Appreciation: Her fiance Luke Mabbott, who, like her, rose to fame off the back of Love Island, jumped straight the comment section, gushing: 'No words,' followed by a heart eye emoji and love heart The bikini snaps come after the beauty's boyfriend Luke revealed he had popped the question as they watched the Northern Lights during their trip to Finland. In the sweet photo announcing the engagement, both stars are wrapped up in matching winter coats, sharing a kiss as Lucie flashes her ring. While Luke takes the obligatory selfie, their eyes are closed but visibly smiling through the smooch, with the stunning Northern Lights visible behind them. Wow: The bikini snaps come after the beauty's boyfriend Luke revealed he had popped the question as they watched the Northern Lights during their trip to Finland He wrote: 'Mrs Mabbott to be. The northern lights made an appearance for the perfect moment to pop the question. A night we will never forget.' The pair have been dating since July 2020. Lucie appeared on the 2019 series of Love Island, and briefly dated fellow contestant Joseph Garratt. Luke reached the final of the winter series of Love Island in 2020, but split from Demi Jones shortly afterwards. She's the Aussie socialite who recently holidayed in Dubai where she joked about flouting the city's strict dress code for women. And on Wednesday, glamorous influencer Amy Castano shared a defiant bikini selfie after returning to Sydney. In what appeared to be a throwback photo from her overseas trip, the 31-year-old looked sensational as she showed off her curves in the skimpy black two-piece. Defiant: Amy Castano, who recently holidayed in Dubai where she joked about flouting the city's strict dress code, shared a defiant bikini selfie on Wednesday after returning to Sydney Amy's bikini left little to the imagination, and she pulled the tie-side bottoms perilously high on her hips to show off even more skin. Amy wore a full face of makeup for the selfie and styled her long dark hair loosely over her shoulders. Amy, who is the wife of Rebel Wilson's personal trainer Jono Castano, rang in the New Year in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. That's one way to celebrate! Amy, who is the wife of Rebel Wilson's personal trainer Jono Castano, rang in the New Year in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Pictured in Dubai Rules: While Dubai has rules that require women to wear 'respectful clothing' that covers the shoulders and knees, it's common for female tourists to wear bikinis at the beach and it's unlikely Ms Castano would have run into any trouble During her trip, she posted several photos to Instagram of herself in skimpy bikinis and racy outfits and even joked about being 'arrested' for flashing. In one photo, Amy posed alongside her friend Amal Wakim in a figure-hugging crop top and leggings. 'She's using me to go viral on TikTok and asked me to flash... I'd get arrested for you @amal.wakim. Committed to the cause,' she captioned the image. 'I'd get arrested for you': During her overseas trip, Amy posted several photos to Instagram of herself in skimpy bikinis and racy outfits and even joked about being 'arrested' for flashing Amy also shared another picture of herself and a friend at the beach in bikinis, and wrote: 'For those that have money on @Amal.Wakim getting arrested first' Amy also shared another picture of the pair at the beach in bikinis, and wrote: 'For those that have money on @Amal.Wakim getting arrested first.' While Dubai has rules that require women to wear 'respectful clothing' that covers the shoulders and knees, it's common for female tourists to wear bikinis at the beach and it's unlikely Amy would have run into any trouble. Amy is a popular fitness influencer, boasting 537,000 followers on Instagram where she often showcases her impressive physique. She first met her husband, Jono Castano, whose celebrity PT clients include Rita Ora and Rebel Wilson, on MySpace 13 years ago, before later bumping into one another at a nightclub and falling in love. Jono proposed to his wife in Maui, Hawaii, on her birthday, and she would go on to describe the proposal as both romantic and luxurious. She's been spotted hanging out with friends on the West Coast after taking a break from her home in New York. And Bella Hadid made a statement wearing striped slacks as she tooled around town in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon. The 25-year-old supermodel paired her vibrant trousers with an understated black long-sleeved top as she reminisced on warmer weather in a bikini snap shared to Instagram. Stepping out: Bella Hadid made a statement wearing striped slacks as she tooled around town in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon Bella, who grew up in Malibu and appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with her mom Yolanda Hadid, tended to a few errands on the westside in the morning with a friend. She wore her favorite pair of Doc Marten black leather combat boots and carried her trusty blue canvas tote by her side. Her brunette shoulder-length hair was tied back into a bun with a claw clip and she wore her signature rectangular frames. Basic: The 25-year-old supermodel paired her vibrant trousers with an understated black long-sleeved top Busy: Bella, who grew up in Malibu and appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with her mom Yolanda Hadid, tended to a few errands on the westside in the morning with a friend She took to Instagram and shared a snap with her bestie Lauren Perez from her 24th birthday bash. The cover girl was positively glowing as she soaked up the sun during a tropical retreat with a few of her besties. Bella also posted a few behind-the-scenes snaps from Lauren's wedding dress fittings last year before she stood by her side at her Miami nuptials where Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber were also in attendance. Good times: The cover girl was positively glowing as she soaked up the sun during a tropical retreat with a few of her besties Biggest fan: Bella also posted a few behind-the-scenes snaps from Lauren's wedding dress fittings last year before she stood by her side at her Miami nuptials where Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber were also in attendance Notably not on Bella's LA adventure, though, was boyfriend Marc Kalman, 33, who stayed back in Manhattan. The couple has been linked together since July 2020, but it wasn't until October of 2021 that Bella shared photo with her beau to her Instagram page. According to Kalman's website, he's an art director who has worked both with his girlfriend and with Kylie Jenner's rapper partner Travis Scott. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Ship-borne helicopter lands on supply ship Dongpinghu (Hull 902) China Military Online) 11:26, January 05, 2022 A machinist assigned to a brigade under the PLA Navys Marine Corps inspects a ship-borne helicopter prior to a landing drill for carrier-based helicopter on December 17, 2021. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Cong Lianying) (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun speaks about the company's robotics drive alongside a robot called Spot during the company's robotics conference at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group Auto giant to combine robotics with mobility By Kim Hyun-bin LAS VEGAS Hyundai Motor unveiled its vision for pioneering the use of robotics in both the real world and the metaverse at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 (CES 2022), one of the most influential tech events in the world that runs until Friday. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, delivered a presentation under the theme of "Expanding Human Reach" at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Tuesday (local time). The presentation reflected the company's robotics drive, which is part of its paradigm shift towards future mobility, going beyond traditional means of transportation. Robotics is an essential part of Hyundai Motor's transformation into a smart mobility solution provider. As part of that transformation, the automotive giant acquired Boston Dynamics to get its hands on advanced robotics technologies that can be used to develop a wide range of mobility solutions. Logo of Consumer Electronics Show / Courtesy of Consumer Technology Association The company believes robotics and mobility form a synergistic combination that will propel its future earnings. Hyundai Motor describes that combination as "metamobility," which aims to pioneer a connection between smart devices and the metaverse that will expand the role of mobility to virtual reality (VR). Hyundai Motor also shared its vision of how robots will act as a medium between the real world and virtual space, enabling users to make changes in the metaverse to be reflected in reality. The company envisions future mobility gaining traction through the development of robotics technology, AI and autonomous driving. Smart automobiles and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) will be transformed into smart devices that are more than just means of transportation. "We envision future mobility solutions made possible by advanced robotics even expanding our mobility solutions to Metamobility," Chung said. "This vision will enable unlimited freedom of movement and progress for humanity." During the automaker's CES presentation, Hyundai Motor Group President Chang Song and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Ulrich Homann joined Boston Dynamics' founder Marc Raibert to discuss the metaverse and metamobility. Hyundai Motor expects that forms of mobility, such as automobiles and UAM, will serve as smart devices to access virtual space, while robotics will act as a medium to connect the virtual and real worlds. "The idea behind Metamobility is that space, time and distance will all become irrelevant. By connecting robots to the metaverse, we will be able to move freely between both the real world and virtual reality," Song said. "Going one step further from the immersive 'be there' proxy experience that the metaverse provides, robots will become an extension of our own physical senses, allowing us to reshape and enrich our daily lives with metamobility." Unlike the current incarnation of VR where user experiences are not reflected in the real world due to technological limitations, future metaverse users will be able to affect changes in the real world through robotics and digital twin technology, a virtual representation of a physical object, place or process that will be made possible by further advancements in sensors and actuators. For example, a user accessing a digital twin of their residence in the metaverse while being away will be able to feed and hug his or her pet at home through an avatar robot. This will allow users to enjoy real world experiences through VR. Hyundai Motor envisions a metaverse using robots as a medium between the real and virtual worlds, enabling people to actually change and transform things in the real world through a metaverse and robot connection. Smart transport ecosystem Hyundai Motor also revealed its blueprint for a so-called Mobility of Things (MoT) ecosystem where Plug & Drive (PnD) and Drive & Lift (DnL) modular platforms are fused with robotics technologies to create new modes of smart, interconnected transportation. "We are directing all our robotics engineering and creative efforts toward building an unlimited Mobility of Things ecosystem," said Hyun Dong-jin, vice president and head of Hyundai Motor Group's robotics lab. "The goal is for robotics to enable all kinds of personal mobility, connected to communicate, move and perform tasks autonomously." Hyun highlighted the new PnD module, a wheeled robotics platform that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware that can be scaled up or down, for any purpose, size or application. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) functions and camera sensors allow a PnD-enabled object to move autonomously. "In the world to come, we will not move our things, but things will actually move around us with the PnD module making traditionally inanimate objects mobile," Hyun Dong-jin, head of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Lab said. "We are directing all our ambitious robotics engineering and creative efforts towards realizing an even bigger vision than ever the unlimited Mobility of Things ecosystem." At CES 2022, Hyundai Motor exhibited a total of four concept models using a PnD modular platform, including Personal Mobility, Service Mobility, Logistics Mobility and L7 all of which fit into the envisioned unlimited MoT ecosystem. Hyundai Motor's Mobile Eccentric Droid (MobED) / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group Hyundai Motor also showcased the MobED (Mobile Eccentric Droid) small mobility platform that uses the DnL module that combines the drive, steering and braking systems in one structure. With DnL mounted on each wheel, MobED can lift the platform up and down so the body can stay level as it traverses uneven terrain or shallow barriers such as steps or speed bumps. Raibert also joined the presentation to show how Boston Dynamics and Hyundai Motor are taking mobility beyond physical limitations using current robotics technologies. Together, the two companies envision a future in which people and robots work together, improving safety, productivity and quality of life. "We see a future where robots become more than just task-oriented tools, more than just machines," Raibert said. "We believe in a future where robots become useful, trusted companions in our everyday lives." Hyundai Motor's Spot robot- / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group Skip to main navigation For Release: Wednesday, January 5, 2022 Environmental Conservation Police on Patrol New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Division of Law Enforcement enforces the 71 chapters of New York State's Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), protecting fish and wildlife and preserving environmental quality across New York. In 1880, the first eight Game Protectors proudly began serving to protect the natural resources and people of New York State. In 2020, 298 Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) and Investigators across the state responded to 29,673 calls and worked on cases that resulted in 11,952 tickets or arrests for crimes ranging from deer poaching to solid waste dumping, illegal mining, the black market pet trade, and excessive emissions violations. Some of these incidents result in injuries, property damage, or even death, and starting this year, 'ECO Highlights' is transitioning to a new title, 'Environmental Conservation Police On Patrol.' "DEC Environmental Conservation Police Officers and Investigators are on the front lines each and every day to protect our natural resources by upholding New York's environmental laws and regulations and safeguarding public health," DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "From ensuring hunters and anglers follow rules and regulations afield and on the water, to sustaining partnerships with local law enforcement agencies investigating crimes that include solid waste dumping and air emissions violations, ECOs and Investigators are on patrol, ready to serve their communities. Each year brings new challenges, and fortunately, these Officers and Investigators are expertly trained to perform their duties with persistence, integrity, and good judgment, as they've done for over a century." Sub Sandwich Leads to Illegal Deer Charges - St. Lawrence County On Nov. 9, ECO Atwood received a report of a possible deer jacking in the town of Edwards. Once on scene, the Officer collected a discarded sub sandwich bag and a trail cam picture of a suspect vehicle. ECO Atwood then visited a local store that sells sandwiches and obtained video that identified the vehicle and suspects. The ECO confronted the suspects with the evidence and the two individuals confessed to illegally taking a doe. Empty sandwich bag found on scene of illegal deer take Illegal Hunting from an ATV - Chautauqua County On Nov. 21, ECOs Budniewski and Kinney received a complaint about an individual hunting from an ATV in the town of Ellery. After learning where the suspect would exit the woods, the ECOs waited in a hidden location. A short time later, the suspect exited with a deer, was questioned by the Officers, and admitted to shooting the buck from his ATV. The ECOs issued tickets to the hunter for taking an illegal deer, possessing a loaded firearm on a motor vehicle, using a motor vehicle to take wildlife, and possessing an untagged deer. One month later, the suspect appeared in court and paid more than $700 in civil penalties and faces revocation of his hunting privileges for up to five years. ECOs Conduct Hunting Enforcement Detail - Niagara County During the early afternoon hours of Nov. 28 in the town of Royalton, ECOs Scheer, Wolgast, Holzle, Fonda, Godson, Fuerch, and K-9 Handley conducted an enforcement detail one week into the Southern Zone Regular Big Game Season. Officers observed a few Environmental Conservation Law violations during the detail, including three loaded firearms in motor vehicles, two untagged deer, and an individual failing to report a deer harvest within seven days. ECOs were pleased that the majority of the hunters followed all hunting regulations while afield and Officers were impressed by hunters' harvests and stories. Tracks in the Snow Lead to Suspects in Illegal Deer Take - St. Lawrence County On Nov. 29, ECO Jackson was patrolling an area in the town of Lorraine known for deer jacking. The Officer observed a spotlight in a field a short distance from his location and moments later, heard a single gunshot ring out from the same area. ECO Jackson rushed to the field, but the shooter took off into the woods. Lieutenant Bartoszewski responded to help ECO Jackson track down the culprits and identified two separate sets of shoe prints in the freshly fallen snow. They found a dead spike horn buck in the field. The Officers followed the tracks through the field and into a swamp where they made their way out of knee-deep water toward a roadway where the suspects were likely picked up by a vehicle. ECO Jackson, Lt. Bartoszewski, and Investigator Malone returned to the location over the next few days. After interviewing suspected poachers, two individuals confessed. The Officers seized the weapon used in the incident and issued appearance tickets to the shooter for the unlawful take of protected wildlife, taking whitetail deer with the aid of an artificial light, and hunting during closed hours. The case is pending in the Town of Lorraine Court. Pennsylvania Violation - Chautauqua County On Dec. 14, while checking several deer processors in Chautauqua County, ECO Kinney encountered a hunter who did not report his deer harvest. After speaking to the hunter, Officer Kinney learned the subject possessed a resident big game hunting license despite living in Pennsylvania. ECO Kinney cited the hunter for taking an illegal deer, making a false statement while applying for a license, and for being a non-resident hunting without a valid license during archery season. A week later, the man paid a $550 civil penalty for the violations. Angels Project - St. Lawrence County On Dec. 18, ECO Sherry assisted the Brier Hill Volunteer Fire Department with its annual Angels Project, which delivers Christmas gifts and food to families in the Morristown, Hammond, and Macomb areas. This year, the Officers delivered food packages to 41 families and Christmas gifts to 100 children. Assisting with the deliveries were members of the New York State Police, New York Park Police, U.S. Customs and Immigration, and the Brier Hill Volunteer Fire Department. Toys delivered to children in St. Lawrence County via Angels Project Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription and are still unable to access our content, please link your digital account to your print subscription If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. On Tuesday, Telangana reported 1,052 new Covid cases, a very steep climb up from 482 it saw on Monday, the state health department said. (Representational Image/ PTI) Hyderabad: Covid-19 cases have begun surging in Telangana, and if the overnight doubling of cases is any indication, then the state appears to be falling headlong into the third wave of Covid. On Tuesday, Telangana reported 1,052 new Covid cases, a very steep climb up from 482 it saw on Monday, the state health department said. Hyderabad city has firmly established itself yet again as the epicentre of Covid spread with new daily cases rocketing up from 294 on Monday to 659 on Tuesday. Whether this severe surge in cases is being driven by the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus has not been made clear by the Director of Public Health & Family Welfare Dr G. Srinivasa Rao who had earlier said the Telangana health department would not make any distinction in Covid cases caused by different variants of the Coronavirus, because no matter what the variant that infected a person, it still caused Covid-19, for which treatment remained the same across variants. However, the Omicron variant spreads anywhere from four to six times faster than the previous variants of the Coronavirus, making Omicron a force to contend with, despite assurances by the state health officials that it causes only mild symptoms in a few, and does not exhibit any symptoms in 90 per cent of the people it infects. However, the cause for concern on this front, according to health officials, is that these 90 per cent of asymptomatic Covid infected persons can spread it to the 10 per cent of the very vulnerable among the population, especially the elderly, and those who already suffer from other serious health conditions, complicating their health, and possibly resulting in requiring serious hospital care. Incidentally, on Tuesday, one in 35 people whose test results were available tested positive for Covid-19 in Telangana. On January 1, only one in 83 people whose test results were available had tested positive for the disease in the state. More than doubling of daily cases overnight were also reported on Tuesday from Medchal-Malkajgiri district where cases rose from 48 on Monday to 116 on Tuesday, and in Ranga Reddy district where Tuesdays cases were pegged at 109, up from 55 on Monday. All it took for the more than doubling of state-wide cases, as well as in Hyderabad, was a modest increase in the number of tests overnight. On Monday, the health department reported a total of 38,362 tests, while on Tuesday it reported a total of 42,991 Covid-19 tests in the state, an overnight increase of just 3,629 tests. When taken into consideration the actual tests for which results were available on both days, the increase effectively falls to 2,386, and the increase by 570 cases since Monday shows that Covid is firmly back in Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana. Along with the rise in cases, the health department said the number of active cases too increased from 4,048 on Monday to 4,858 on Tuesday, while hospitalisation stood at 1,247 on Tuesday, compared to 1,212 on Monday. The cases were just 30 on December 30, 41 on December 31, 40 on January 1, 35 on January 2, 41 on January 3 and 80 on Tuesday out of the total of 334 cases reported during the last 24 hours. (Representational Image/ AFP) Vishakhapatanam: The Covid-19 positive cases are rising in Visakhapatnam district, registering the highest number of cases in the State for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday. The cases were just 30 on December 30, 41 on December 31, 40 on January 1, 35 on January 2, 41 on January 3 and 80 on Tuesday out of the total of 334 cases reported during the last 24 hours. The District Medical and Health Officer Dr S. Tirupati Rao said they have stepped up testing along with administering vaccines to the youngsters. Meanwhile, the collectors of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam held meetings with the representatives of private hospitals and superintendents of government hospitals to assess the capacity to handle the situation arising out of the third wave. Vizag collector Dr A. Mallikarjuna Rao said representatives of 77 private hospitals and government hospitals heads were present in the meeting and they gave details of the capacity. The collector was specific about reserving 50 percent of the beds for Arogyasri health scheme beneficiaries and provision of oxygen in all the hospitals. He warned suspension of licenses if the private hospitals violated the rules specified by the government. Srikakulam collector Latkar said all the 750 beds of Gems Hospital have oxygen provision. People wait in line for a COVID-19 test in Los Angeles, Jan. 4. AP-Yonhap With new versions forcing vaccine makers to re-test jabs, the virus that causes COVID-19 has proven highly unpredictable. But the latest variant to sweep the globe has persuaded some experts that long hoped-for collective immunity is in sight, and that the virus may be evolving into a relatively benign seasonal illness. Omicron has proven particularly contagious, infecting people thought to have immunity conferred by vaccines or a bout with the disease itself. But while Omicron is driving a record number of cases in countries around the world, the illness is generally less severe, compared to previous variants. More people getting Omicron and recovering, combined with more vaccinations, could be the key to boosting collective defenses against almost any form of COVID, some experts have said. Lower rates of hospitalization due to Omicron also suggests COVID-19 might evolve into a weaker form, similar to coronaviruses long circulating in the general population. "Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning of an evolution towards a more banal virus like the others we know," said Alain Fischer, who coordinates France's pandemic vaccine response. Clinical virologist Julian Tang reacting to a UK study on Omicron's lesser severity, said he imagined one day repeat vaccination and other measures would only be necessary for the most vulnerable. "I am still hopeful that the virus will eventually become more like the other common cold coronaviruses perhaps over the next one to two years," he said. These conjectures have been embraced by public health officials. Speaking before the legislature this week, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said, "Maybe this will be the wave that allows us to acquire a kind of immunity". Earlier, his Israeli counterpart, Nachman Ash, told an Israeli radio station that herd immunity was "possible". "But we don't want to reach it by means of infections," he said. "We want it to happen as a result of more people getting vaccinated." In Israel, two thirds of the population is fully vaccinated. This week the government approved a fourth jab for people over 60 and health workers in a bid to fight the virus without resorting to a lockdown. Volunteers with DC Public Schools hand out COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to students and families outside Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, Jan. 4. EPA-Yonhap Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy conducting review meeting on Education with officials at the camp office on Tuesday, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Minister Audimulapu Suresh, Education department Special Chief Secretary B Rajasekhar, Chief Secretary of Women and Child Welfare A R Anuradha others also seen. (DC Image) Vijayawada: Chief Minister Jagan has called for the mapping of schools and filling the vacancies of the teaching staff on subject-basis as part of the initiatives under the New School Education Policy in AP. The chief minister held a review meeting on NEP implementation in schools with the education department officials at the camp office at Tadepalli on Wednesday. He asked them to improve the amenities in government schools on par with the increase in the student admissions. He also called for appointing teachers subject-wise and said an action taken report (ATR) must reach him soon. The CM said the officials should focus on providing additional facilities in schools also as the student enrollment is steadily increasing in view due to the Nadu-Nedu programme. Ensure maintenance of the existing infrastructure, and ATRs must reach him regularly. Jagan asked officials to talk to teachers and seek their cooperation for implementation of the subject-wise teacher appointments. Explain them the benefits to the students and give due consideration if any objections are raised. The officials presented the details of the training sessions being given to teachers on English-proficiency. The chief minister said they must make good use of the apps to develop their knowledge in English. The chief minister said the district authorities should constantly monitor the schools and officials must inspect the quality of the Gorumudda scheme. Register the lapses in facilities and maintenance and take immediate steps to rectify them, he said. Jagan directed the officials to focus on providing new recipes under the Gorumudda scheme. Officials must ensure quality food, clean toilets and hygienic conditions in government schools. Village clinics should focus on the health conditions of students in Anganwadi centers and schools. Conduct regular tests to identify and treat diseases like anaemia among the students, the CM said, and added that the schools should be connected to local PHCs for better treatment. Education minister Adimulapu Suresh, special chief secretary Buditi Rajashekar, women and child welfare PS Anuradha, finance secretary Gulzar, school education commissioner Suresh, women and child welfare director Kritika, school education (Mid-day Meals) director Diwan, school education adviser Murali, Sarwa Siksha Abhiyan project director Vetriselvi, APREIS secretary Ramulu, SCERT director Prathap were among those present. All is set for the start of the process to develop capital Amaravati into the Amaravati Capital City Municipal Corporation (ACCMC). (DC file photo) VIJAYAWADA: All is set for the start of the process to develop capital Amaravati into the Amaravati Capital City Municipal Corporation (ACCMC). This is to be done with the merger of 19 villages. Amaravati is currently a group of villages. To start with, the government did a public opinion poll in the 19 villages of Thullur and Mangalagiri mandal to take peoples view on its development. The pro-Capital Amaravati supporters are severely opposing the move and said they would move court against the ACCMC plan. It was after the YSR Congress won power in 2019 that the state government detached some Amaravati villages and formed the Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation by merging the Mangalagiri and Tadepalli municipalities. Now, the government is promising to form the biggest municipal corporation of AP by bringing under it 19 villages of Amaravati for their all-round development. All are not enthused, though. The Kurgallu, Neerukonda and Krishnayapalem areas of Mangalagiri nandal will be merged into ACCMC. Similarly, 16 villages of Amaravati namely Thullur, Rayapudi, Dondapadu, Nelapadu, Sakhamuru, Inavolu, Ananthavaram, Nekkallu, Abbarajupalem, Borupalem, Mandadam, Malkapuram, Velagapudi, Venkatapalem, Uddandarayunipalem and Lingayapalem will be merged into ACCMC. The Telugu Desam, during its rule, had constructed temple buildings for the Secretariat and Assembly at Velagapudi and temporary buildings for the AP High Court at Nelapadu. Barring the two villages, there was no proper development for the rest of Amaravati region. With the Three Capitals decision taken by the YSRC government, the development of Amaravati remained a mirage. Further, the numerous cases seeking the continuation of Amaravati as the only Capital of AP also irked the government. Hence, it formed the Mangalagiri-Tadepalli Municipal Corporation but this was also objected to by the pro-Capital Amaravati people. Now also, the pro-Amaravati leaders are severely objecting to the ACCMC. Guntur district collector Vivek Yadav issued notification for conducting of Grama Sabhas to collect public opinion under which meetings started on Wednesday. Meetings were held in Neerukonda and Kuragallu where the people expressed their anguish over the merger of their villages into ACCMC and opposed the proposal. There are chances of similar opposition being aired at the rest of the 16 villages in Thullur Mandal. A public hearing would be held from January 6 to 12. Amaravati farmers' joint action committee convener Sudhakar said they are objecting to the divide and rule strategy of the YSRC government. The government divided the villages into Mangalagiri-Tadepalli and Amaravati Corporations to weaken the Amaravati movement, he said. He said Amaravati Capital was formed with 25 village panchayats. Hence they will not allow a division of villages for the Amaravati Corporation. Sudhakar and others said they will express their opinions at the public hearing programme against ACCMC and would move court seeking justice. Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, accompanied by Huzurabad MLA Etala Rajender and former MP Vivek Venkataswamy, speaks to Bandi Sanjay Kumar's mother at their residence in Karimnagar. (DC) Karimnagar: The TRS government is imposing restrictions the likes of which were not seen even during the Telangana movement, Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said here on Tuesday. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is trying to threaten BJP activists with illegal arrest, but the BJP is not going to be frightened and will give a fitting reply, he said. Kishan Reddy assured BJP activists that the Centre would look after their welfare and that they had no need to fear the illegal measures which the TRS government was taking against them. He was speaking to the media after inspecting BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumars MP camp office which was damaged by police during the arrest on Sunday night and meeting BJP activists who were injured during the incident. Kishan Reddy along with BJP leaders also met Sanjay in Karimnagar jail during mulaqat. He asked whether Sanjays Jagaran Deeksha was a terrorist activity. Why did the police create panic, attack Sanjays camp office and destroy it, he said. Kishan Reddy pointed out that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had sat on a dharna at Dharna Chowk but Opposition leaders were not allowed to protest. KCR is ruling like a Nizam. But the BJP has complete faith in the judicial system and will fight in the court for justice, Kishan Reddy said, adding, Telangana society and intellectuals must be aware of what is going on, and must ponder over why they had fought for statehood. He said that the police was taking the law into their hands and acting on the directions of the TRS government. Otherwise the police will face severe consequences in the days to come. BJP is going to complain to Union home minister Amit Shah. Former minister Etala Rejandar said: Karimnagar police commissioner acted like a slave to the TRS government, Rajendar said. This government will not last long. In 2023 the BJP will form government. Then what would be the fate of the police officials who are acting like slaves to the TRS government. Eighteen members from six states from the National Coalition for Education said that closing schools will harm the children. Representational image/DC HYDERABAD: Teachers, students and members of the Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA) opposed the governments decision to close educational institutions from January 8 to 16 citing Covid-19, and claimed that the spread of the disease does not decrease with the closure of schools. Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, West Bengal, Goa and Haryana, among others, have closed schools. TRSMA members claimed that scientific evidence showed that the Covid-19 effect on children was very small. Prolonged closure of schools would affect studies. "The decision to close schools is meaningless," said the TRSMA. Eighteen members from six states from the National Coalition for Education said that closing schools will harm the children. "Schools must be the last to close and the first to open," they said. Students of most secondary, high school and degree institutions that Deccan Chronicle spoke to said they were worried as their semester examinations would begin in February. Twinkle Mendawala, 16, said, We have exams soon, and physical revision classes are a must. We are hardly able to focus on online classes. Students are not very happy with schools being shut again and again. Ujwal Agarwal, a government school student, said he would utilise this break to catch up with the syllabus which had been completed in a rush. It is very difficult to cope and be back on track. Self-study is the only measure if holidays are extended but help is always needed which would be difficult to access, said Ujwal. Some government school teachers pointed out that only one additional holiday had been declared. Manju Lata, headmaster of Raj Bhavan Government School, said the students had got January 10 as an extra holiday, as schools would be closed anyway on January 8 and 9, Second Saturday and Sunday. January 11 to 16 are Sankranti holidays, she said. We have given students minimal homework which is basic reading and writing, she said. She agreed that learning would be hampered if the holidays were extended as students in lower classes had forgotten how to read and write. Their approach towards studies has become very casual. If the holidays are extended, students and teachers would be in trouble, she added. Venkat Ramulu, Principal of ZPHS Gandhinagar Government School, said the holidays would not affect students much as it was the festive season. However, as their academic performance was poor, they would have to write last term's question paper again to keep in touch. Two villages opposed the state government proposal to merge their villages into Amaravati Capital City Municipal Corporation, during the Grama Sabha held in these villages on Wednesday. (DC file photo) VIJAYAWADA: Two villages opposed the state government proposal to merge their villages into Amaravati Capital City Municipal Corporation, during the Grama Sabha held in these villages on Wednesday. Officials led by Mangalagiri MPDO Kota Ramprasanna conducted Grama Sabhas to collect the opinions of the villagers for ACCMC in the duo villages. MPDO Ramprasanna explained that there will be no negative impact on APCRDA with the formation of ACCMC and listed the benefits of forming the biggest municipal corporation to develop Amaravati. He said APCRDA would continue as usual and urged villagers to express their opinions freely and without fear. Heated arguments followed between Amaravati supporters and Corporation admirers but officials intervened and restored order. The villagers said they are against the merger of Kuragallu into ACCMC and raised their hands collectively against ACCMC. In Neerukonda, the villagers opposed the formation of ACCMC with 19 villages and the merger of Neerukonda into Amaravati Corporation. They said Amaravati should be developed as it is by forming the biggest corporation with all the Amaravati villages. The officials said they will submit the opinions of the villagers to the higher authorities and the government. They said another Grama Sabha would be held in Krishnayapalem on Thursday to take the peoples views on ACCMC. With the company planning to go big in the electric scooter sector, TVS Motor Company on Wednesday announced the appointment of Venkat Viswanathan, who has broad expertise in energy storage and Li-ion batteries, as technical advisor for electric mobility. Viswanathan, who is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is a global leader in advanced batteries for electric mobility and is a recipient of several awards. We are delighted to associate with Prof Venkat Viswanathan, who will play an important role in guiding us in the electric mobility journey. He is a thought leader in the field of innovations of advanced battery technology, Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director, TVS Motor Company, said while announcing Prof. Viswanathans appointment. The appointment comes two months after TVS Motor Company announced that it will invest Rs 1,200 crore for setting up an e-scooter factory in Krishnagiri district. The investment is mainly for the design, development and manufacture of new products and capacity expansion in the EV space, the company said. Also Read India's electric vehicle market could do with a jolt The new technical advisors major strides in battery technology will give TVS a competitive edge in delivering value for money, superior technology, and aspirational electric vehicles to meet the fast-evolving customer needs, Sudarshan Venu said. I am excited to associate with TVS Motor Company to be a part of their vision to build a strong EV ecosystem. I look forward to working in great synergy with the company known for its pioneering technologies in future mobility. Together, we will go miles to create a more sustainable EV ecosystem, Viswanathan said. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, he received his PhD at Stanford University and did postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his professorship, TVS said, Viswanathan serves as a technical advisor and Scientific Advisory Board Member at QuantumScape, a company developing next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles, and Chief Scientist at Aionics. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Fresh Covid cases doubled in Bengaluru in 24 hours on Tuesday, climbing to 2,053 from 1,041 cases on Monday. As Karnatakas total positivity rate jumped from 1.60% to 2.59% in less than 24 hours, ministers expressed concerns. Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted: Data shows us that cases are doubling every 2 to 3 days in Karnataka! Revenue Minister R Ashoka said, The transmissibility of Omicron is 5% more than any other variant. Also Read | Karnataka imposes weekend curfew for 2 weeks to curb spread of Covid-19 As of Tuesday evening, Bengaluru had 3,048 Covid positive cases and 147 more Omicron cases. Despite the gradual increase in cases since December 27, it never caused a 60% daily increase. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the spike in Bengaluru mirrored that of other Indian cities and countries. A sizable number of the citys population has been vaccinated. We expect hospitalisation to be low since experts feel the number of people with severe symptoms could be less. The number of cases that stood at 172 on Dec. 27 shot up to 923 by Jan. 2. The spike was marginal on Jan. 3 with 1,041 cases, but it jumped by almost 100% on Jan. 4. Also Read: Delhi hospitals stare at workforce crisis as doctors test Covid positive The BBMP data revealed nine wards are reporting over 100 cases in the last ten days, while 20 wards report between 50 and 100 cases. Only about 30 wards reported fewer than ten cases, while others recorded between 10 and 50 cases. None of the zones except Mahadevapura crossed the 200 mark until Monday, while almost all the zones reported over 200 cases on Tuesday. For the past four weeks, Bengaluru has been clocking 1,300-1,400 cases. But this number tripled between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2 to 4,664. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Hong Kong residents must have at least one coronavirus vaccine shot to enter restaurants beginning late next month, Carrie Lam, the citys chief executive, said Tuesday, as the city races to stamp out the spread of the omicron variant. The new requirements, which were to begin this month, will instead start February 24, after Lunar New Year celebrations have ended, to give businesses and residents time to prepare, Lam said. She added that the rule could be expanded to include other public spaces, such as museums and libraries. The city has maintained strict controls to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, requiring the use of a contact-tracing app in public places, forcing arrivals from overseas to undergo as much as three weeks of quarantine, locking down high-rise buildings and ordering mass testing of residents to mitigate the threat of local spread of omicron. Read more: Omicron surge could differ per country, says WHO But Hong Kongs vaccine drive has been set back by residents who are suspicious of the government and its unpopular leader. The city has fully vaccinated only about 69% of its population, according to the government. The city announced the toughened requirements as officials were searching for six diners at a restaurant linked to an omicron cluster affecting more than 300 people. The six were among those who had lunch at the Moon Palace restaurant in the upscale Fashion Walk mall in the Kowloon Tong district on December 27, officials said. The others were sent to a government facility to quarantine. Health officials say they believe that a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific Airways who had ignored isolation rules after returning from the United States infected his father and another person while dining at Moon Palace that day. The airline said it had fired the unnamed flight attendant and one other Cathay employee as a result of the outbreak. Hong Kong recorded 13 new coronavirus cases Tuesday. So far, six omicron cases have been connected to the restaurant; the city has recorded 102 cases of the variant in total. Lams government has made resumption of normal travel with mainland China a priority, and she said Tuesday that the omicron cases would most likely delay plans to ease travel restrictions between Hong Kong and the mainland. I would not deny that that has an impact, which means that we would have to wait another while before we could put in place the very sought-after resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the mainland, she said. Watch the latest DH videos: At least 13 people, including seven children, were killed in an early morning fire on Wednesday in a Philadelphia row house after smoke detectors failed to go off, the Philadelphia Fire Department said. Firefighters arrived around 6:40 a.m. (1140 GMT) and fought for about 50 minutes to control the fire on the second floor of the three-story house in the city's Fairmount neighborhood. Eight people managed to escape the building, and seven children were among those killed, fire officials said. They did not give the children's ages. "Keep those babies in your prayers," Mayor Jim Kenney told reporters at a nearby news conference. A child and an adult were taken by parademics to nearby hospitals. There were four smoke detectors in the building, which is owned by the city's public housing authority, but they failed to activate, fire officials said. Watch latest videos by DH here: Australia and Japan will sign a treaty on Thursday to increase defense and security cooperation in a move that has been hailed as historic but which might anger China. Prime ministers Scott Morrison of Australia and Fumio Kishida of Japan will meet in a virtual summit to sign the agreement, which Morrison said will underpin greater and more complex practical engagement between the Australian Defense Force and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces." Australia and Japan are the closest of friends, Morrison added. Our special strategic partnership is stronger than it has ever been, reflecting our shared values, our commitment to democracy and human rights and our common interests in a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific region. In September, Australia signed the so-called Aukus trilateral security pact with the United States and Britain under which those two countries pledged to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The deal upset China, which said that Aukus seriously undermined regional peace and stability, intensified the arms race and undermined international non-proliferation efforts. In a statement on Wednesday, Morrison described the latest treaty with Japan as historic and said it will, for the first time, provide a clear framework for enhanced interoperability and cooperation between our two forces." This treaty will be a statement of our two nations' commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific," Morrison said. The US and Australia, along with India and Japan, are also members of a strategic dialogue known as the Quad," and Morrison said Wednesday that Australia would contribute an expanding agenda for that as well. Watch the latest DH videos: France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a news conference at the European Council Building at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Dec. 17, 2021. Reuters-Yonhap In view of rising cases of Covid-19 in the country, the Army has issued a fresh advisory to all its units and formations, recommending precautionary measures to check the spread of the infection. In the advisory, the Integrated HQ of the Ministry of Defence (Army) prescribed specific measures as per the weekly positivity rate of Covid-19 cases in its establishments besides suggesting health education and awareness campaigns to deal with the situation. It said the weekly positivity rate in the Army for the week ending December 31 was 2.34 per cent but added that the current rising trends necessitate re-visiting the existing measures. The advisory said if a station records the positivity rate in the range of one to two per cent, then all its personnel returning from leave and temporary duties should undergo Covid-19 tests and that all social gatherings should be cancelled. Also Read | Centre issues new home isolation guidelines as Covid cases surge In such a scenario, the official meetings should be held virtually and quarantine facilities should be kept in a full state of readiness. If the weekly positivity rate is in the range of two to five per cent, then all personnel returning from outstation leave and duties should be quarantined for seven days and tested before allowing them to leave the quarantine facilities, the advisory said. It said teleconsultations for treatment should be resorted to if feasible besides activating quarantine facilities. The advisory recommended that attendance in offices should be restricted if the weekly positivity rate ranges between five to 10 per cent. It said all non-essential travel of service personnel should be curtailed in such a scenario. For stations that report a weekly positivity rate of over 10, the advisory recommended stopping physical attendance as well as all non-essential leave and temporary training. The advisory said the military hospitals will continue to provide all Covid-related and emergency/life-saving services. It said the hospitals should postpone "cold surgeries' ' if the bed-occupancy (ICU) is 40 per cent. The advisory also recommended ensuring "advance engagement and information campaigns" so that there is no misinformation or panic. It said actions will be taken to reduce overcrowding in offices, personnel lines and dining halls. Food timings in dining halls to be staggered, it added. Check out latest DH videos here A slice of history, from seven decades ago, could be standing tall soon. The Archeological Survey of India is restoring the only surviving flag of Indian Independence, unfurled on August 15, 1947, at Chennais Fort St George Museum. The flag is from the ASIs reserve collection and its condition has deteriorated over the decades. Now, ASI officials, with help from experts from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Silk Board of India and the ASIs own chemical branch section are currently working on the restoration process. ASI officials said the restoration process of the flag started in November 2020 and it will be ready within a month. The ASIs chemical branch section is working at it currently, and it should be ready in 15 to 20 days time, said M Kalimuthu, superintending archaeologist of the ASIs Chennai circle. ASI officials said that the experts first assessed the condition of the flag. Preliminary analysis to determine the composition of the material, thread count, thickness, measurements, and fragility, was conducted using a microscopic lens. The team had to be careful about the fragility of the flag, some part of it was in a critical condition, an official told DH on condition of anonymity. The official said that some more tests, including a non-destructive analytical technique, were carried out as well. The flag, measuring 12 feet by 8 feet, is made of pure silk and was unfurled at the crack of dawn on Independence Day. The flag was donated to Fort St George by the then Madras government a few months later. In 2013, it was displayed to the public on Republic Day. On display, it was encased in a glass box, surrounded by silica gel and a machine to measure the light on the flag helped keep it intact. ASI officials said that it is the only surviving Tricolour that was unfurled that day. Concerns on its status have risen time and again, and INTACH had come out publicly offering to restore it. The conservation body had even written to ASI, and offered to bear the cost of conservation. Check out latest videos from DH: As Covid-19 numbers began to shoot through the roof, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday issued revised home isolation guidelines, allowing people with mild or no symptoms to isolate themselves at home and end the isolation after seven days if they do not have fever for three successive days. The new guidelines ruled out the need for a test at the end of the isolation period, aiding the diagnostic laboratories to take-off some of their burdens. There is no need for retesting after the home isolation period is over, it said. The previous guideline mandated home isolation for 10 days, which has been cut by three days with the Centre seeking to tackle concerns on the manpower-loss worries due to a sharp rise in mild Covid-19 infections. Also read | India witnessing exponential rise in Covid cases; R-value higher than 2nd wave peak: Govt The asymptomatic contacts of infected individuals also need not undergo Covid test and monitor health in home quarantine. A shift to a medical facility has been advised if the infected individual has high-grade fever (more than 100 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days); difficulty in breathing and oxygen level less than 93 per cent on three successive readings within one hour. Other symptoms necessitating hospital admission are persistent pain or pressure in the chest; mental confusion or inability to arouse, and severe fatigue and muscle pain (myalgia). Warning patients about non-authentic and non-evidence based treatment protocols that float on social media, Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary in the Union Health Ministry said such protocols could harm patients. Moreover, generic sharing of prescription is to be avoided as treatment of every individual is different. Steroids are not prescribed in mild disease and shall not be self-administered. Overuse and inappropriate use of steroids may lead to additional complications. Do not rush for self-medication, blood investigation or radiological imaging like chest X-ray or chest CT scan without consultation of your doctor, said Agarwal. Watch the latest DH Videos here: A local court on Tuesday remanded a 21-year-old engineering student, arrested in the 'Bulli Bai' app case, in Mumbai Police's custody till January 10. The Mumbai cyber police apprehended the student, Vishal Kumar, from Bengaluru on Monday and later arrested him. Read More An IED explosion carried out by militants in Thoubal district of Manipur on Wednesday killed a jawan of Assam Rifles and injured another, a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the poll-bound state. Police officials said the blast was carried out at around 1.30 pm at Lilong Ushoipokpi area under Lilong police station when a team of 16 Assam Rifles were on a routine patrol. Two jawans were injured in the attack and one of them succumbed to his injuries while being taken to a hospital. Police said no militant group has claimed responsibility of the attack so far. The attack comes a day before Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to poll-bound Manipur. Assembly elections in the state are slated in March. The militant attack contradicts the ruling BJP's claim that militancy in the state has been contained since the party came to power in 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said in Manipur that peace and development returned to the Northeast after peace accords were signed with insurgents groups since his government came to power at the Centre in 2014. This is the second militant attack on Assam Rifles in Manipur since November 13 when a colonel, his wife, son and four jawans were gunned down by militants in Churachandpur district. Check out DH's latest videos: Political parties from Manipur on Wednesday expressed concerns over pre-poll violence and urged the Election Commission to deploy adequate security forces during the poll process. During the virtual interaction with top Manipur officials, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra conveyed his concern to the chief secretary about the low vaccination rate in the state and asked to pace up the inoculation drive. During the virtual meet with the panel, the parties from the poll-bound state also flagged concerns over the use of money power, illicit liquor, narcotics drugs and intimidation to influence voters, the EC said in a statement. "Political parties requested for a strict vigil on election expenses by candidates to ensure free and fair polls," it said. They also expressed their concerns over the implementation of strict Covid protocols. The commission assured the representatives that it has taken cognisance of suggestions, issues and concerns of the political parties and it is committed to conducting free, fair, participative, inclusive, inducement free and Covid-safe elections in the state. "With regard to the concerns raised on excessive use of money and other inducements to influence voters, the commission reiterated that it has zero tolerance for misuse of money or muscle power or partisan behaviour of state machinery vitiating free and fair elections," the statement said. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra underscored that strict action would be taken against such erring officials. He noted that expenditure observers will be deployed for a strict vigil to ensure inducement-free elections in the state. The poll panel assured the representatives that it will implement measures like webcasting or videography, deployment of central forces and micro-observers wherever necessary in identified vulnerable polling areas to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling. Manipur is one of the five states where assembly elections are due and the virtual meet was part of the poll panel's exercise to take stock of the situation. The commission has already visited Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand in the last few days to take stock of the poll preparedness there. At the meet, the Election Commission highlighted that for the first time in the state, the option of a postal ballot would be provided during the polls for 'absentee voters' which include senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and Covid-19 suspects or affected persons. A postal ballot is an optional facility and it maintains total secrecy of voting. Representatives of candidates will be present during the process and the whole procedure will be videographed. In Manipur, 14,565 people with disabilities and over 41,867 people aged 80 years and above have been mapped. Representatives of All India Trinamool Congress, BJP, CPI, CPI(M), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Naga People's Front, National People's Party, Peoples Democratic Alliance interacted with the poll panel through video conferencing. The term of the Manipur Legislative Assembly is due to expire on March 19 this year. The commission also discussed the administrative, logistics, budget, law and order and election-related arrangements with the chief secretary and state police nodal officer. During the review meeting, the poll panel emphasised the conduct of safe elections with full vaccination of all polling staff, proper sanitisation and social distancing at the polling stations. Keeping in view the Covid social-distancing norms, the panel has specifically revisited some extant norms. As a result, the maximum number of electors at a polling station has been reduced from 1,500 to 1,250. This will ensure a substantially lower number of electors at each polling station. The state chief electoral officer was directed to ensure assured facilities such as drinking water, toilets, ramps, wheelchairs, electricity and shades at all polling stations. The panel directed the identification of 'communication shadow' polling stations for alternative arrangements. Reviewing the law-and-order issues, the commission directed that deposition of licensed arms in the state should be expedited. It also stressed that distribution of liquor, drugs, freebies and cash be effectively checked. The chief election commissioner directed officials to maintain a strict vigil on the international border to ensure there is no unlawful transit and infiltration. The panel also directed the state chief electoral officer to ensure quick disposal of complaints received during the electoral process and ensure a robust mechanism for the same. It was mentioned that after the special summary revision 2022, the electoral roll has been published on Wednesday and there are a total of 20,34,966 electors in Manipur. Check out latest DH videos here India's Omicron-powered third wave is likely to infect much more than the Delta-driven second wave as the R value (reproduction number) currently stands at an all time high of 2.69, giving a clear indication of a very steep rise in the number of cases over the next few weeks. India's R is 2.69 at the moment, which is higher than the 1.69 that we saw at the peak of the second wave. The acceleration of cases is steeper than ever, VK Paul, NITI Ayog member and the government's principal advisor on Covid-19 said on Wednesday. Reproduction number denotes an epidemic's ability to spread. The current R value suggests that 100 Omicron infected persons can spread the virus to 269 others. For an epidemic to shrink, the R value has to drop below one. Read | Upsurge of Covid cases happening in cities: Centre Meanwhile, India recorded its first Omicron death with the Union Health Ministry confirming that a 70-year-old diabetic person in Jaipur became the first victim of the new variant. More than 80 per cent Covid-19 cases in Delhi and nearly 40-80 per cent of cases in Mumbai and Pune are caused by the Omicron variant, top government sources told DH, sharing the scientific estimates prepared by the INSACOG a consortium of laboratories carrying out genetic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 variants. While the prevalence of Omicron is still on the lower side in the east and southern India (around 10 per cent in Hyderabad) where Delta continues to dominate, it remains very high in the north and east. The estimate is likely to change every week once sampling from other states improves. We are facing an exponential rise in the number of Covid-19 cases largely driven by Omicron and particularly so in the western parts of India and in large cities. The test positivity rate was 1.1 per cent on December 30 and stands at 5 per cent on Wednesday, said Paul. Read | Third Covid vaccine dose won't be mix-and-match: Centre Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat are the states showing an early indication of a surge, according to the Union Health Ministry. Some of the zones of concern are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Thane, Pune, North 24 Parganas and Bengaluru Urban. According to the Union Health Ministry, 239 districts have a test positivity rate above 2.5 per cent, whereas 83 districts have a positivity rate between 5-10 per cent. The hospitalisation rate, Paul said, was still on the lower side with 3.7 per cent Covid-positive people requiring hospital care in Delhi and 5 per cent in Mumbai as against 20 per cent hospitalisation rate during the second wave. As a consequence, the preparation done to tackle 5-6 lakh of Delta-type infections would be able to cater to more people if the hospitalisation rate remains low. But it would be wrong to take the current wave lightly. There is always a chance of the (healthcare) system and the household getting overwhelmed, he said. Watch latest videos by DH here: Congress on Wednesday hit back at the BJP for accusing it of playing "dirty tricks" and endangering Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life, claiming that around 10,000 security personnel were deployed for his rally and arrangements were made in tandem with Special Protection Group and other agencies. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also said the cancellation of the rally in Ferozepur was not because of any security breach but because of empty chairs at the venue, while emphasising that his party considers the security of the Prime Minister paramount. Surjewala's comments came as BJP president J P Nadda accused the Congress-led Punjab government of playing "dirty tricks" fearing a "resounding defeat" in the upcoming state polls and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) holding the state government for the security breach that led to Modi being stuck at a fly-over for around 15-20 minutes due to a protest. Union Minister Smriti Irani also held a press conference to target Congress. Read | Punjab CM expresses regret after PM Modi cuts short visit, denies security lapse He said there would not be any let-up in the security arrangements for the Prime Minister in Congress-ruled states. The security will not be like in Gujarat where Rahul Gandhis carcade came under stone pelting, he told a press conference. Surjewala said around 10,000 security personnel were deployed for the Ferozepur rally and all arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies. Routes were carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Prime Minister decided to take a road trip to Hussainiwala. It was not part of his original schedule to travel by road," he said. He said the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting against Modi's visit and Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat has held two rounds of discussions with them. Also Read | 'Say thanks to Channi for I could return to Bhatinda airport alive': Modi to officials after security lapse in Punjab He said the farmers blocked the road as part of their protest against the Prime Minister and he was stuck only for 15 minutes. Was the police supposed to fire at them? Were they terrorists? The police were removing them and they took 15 minutes. There was no breach, he said. "Do you know why KMSC and Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are: sack MOS Home Ajay Misra Teni, withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi and UP, compensation for the kin of 700 farmers who died and Committee on MSP and a quick decision," he said. He also alleged that post farmers agitation, the Modi government chose to totally ignore these promises. "Finally, the reason for cancelling the rally is that there were no crowds to listen to Modi-ji. Stop blame game and introspect on BJPs anti-farmer attitude. Hold rallies but listen to farmers first," he tweeted. Dear Naddaji, Stop losing cool & all sense of propriety. Pl remember - 1. 10,000 security personnel were deployed for PMs Rally. 2. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG & other agencies. 3. Route was carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana/Rajasthan. 1/4 https://t.co/kScLtN8rRG Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 5, 2022 He said the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting against Modi's visit and Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat has held two rounds of discussions with them. "Do you (Nadda) know why KMSC and Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are: Sack MOS Home Ajay Misra Teni. Withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi and UP. Compensation for kin of 700 farmers who died. Committee on MSP & a quick decision." 3/4 6. Do u know why KMSC & Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are -: Sack MOS Home, Ajay Misra Teni. Withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi & UP. Compensation for kin of 700 Farmers who died. Committee on MSP & a quick decision. https://t.co/kScLtN8rRG Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 5, 2022 Surjewala also tweeted a video showing empty chairs at the rally venue in Ferozepur and said, "If you don't believe me, check it out. And yes, no nonsense rhetoric. Accept the truth of anti-farmer mentality and do self-churning. The people of Punjab have shown a mirror to the arrogant power by keeping distance from the rally." Check out latest DH videos here Samajwadi Party leader and former chairman Nagar Panchayat Tulsipur, Firoz Pappu, has been murdered by unknown assailants. The incident happened late Tuesday night. Police sources said that former chairman Firoz Pappu, 41, whose wife, Kahkashan, is the present chairperson of Tulsipur Nagar Panchayat, was returning home from Jarwa when unknown miscreants attacked him with sharp edged weapons. He was taken to the hospital in a serious condition where the doctors declared him brought dead, police said. As soon as the news of the murder spread, his supporters gathered on the streets and staged protests, demanding the arrest of the attackers. Superintendent of Police Hemant Kutiyal reached the spot and persuaded the protesters to disperse and sent the dead body for post-mortem. Additional force has been deployed in the area in view of prevailing tension. Check out the latest DH videos here: Protest against the proposed semi-high-speed rail project of Kerala is taking an ugly turn with stones laid for demarking land for the project found removed in the Kannur district. Incidentally, the development took place close on the heels of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran, who is also a Lok Sabha MP, stating on Tuesday that if the Left Front government went ahead with the project ignoring the protests, the stones being laid would be removed with the support of people. Stones for the project were found uprooted in parts of the district, which is generally known as a stronghold of the CPI(M). The incident took place on Tuesday night, hours after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan started his deliberations with community leaders to gain support for the project and the government announced a compensation package offering two to four-fold of market value. Read | K-Rail: Daggers drawn between Vijayan and Sudhakaran The chief minister reacted that even if stones were removed, it would not affect the project. The eco-friendly project that reduces travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod to less than four hours, which now takes around 10 hours by road or rail, was essential for state's development, he reiterated. The state has been so far witnessing aggressive and emotional protests by people against laying the stones for the project. A family in the Kollam district threatened to end their lives by dousing themselves in kerosene. With CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan stating that the law would take its course against attempts like uprooting the stones laid for the project, a law and order breakdown could not be ruled out in Kerala too. Read | Metroman asks Kerala govt not to fool people by hiding facts on K-Rail Even the CPI(M) leaders recently stated that the opposition parties were planning a stir on the lines of the Nandigram agitation of West Bengal. Known activists like Medha Patkar also extended solidarity with the action council against the project. Meanwhile, the opposition party in Kerala Congress-led United Democratic Front on Wednesday demanded the government to convene a special session of the Kerala Assembly to discuss the project. The UDF also decided to go ahead with statewide protests. The BJP also announced a protest against the project. Experts like 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan, and environmentalists have also raised serious objections against the project. An action council against the project has workers and supporters from all parties, including the ruling front also. Watch latest videos by DH here: A medical worker in protective suit collects a swab from a resident for nucleic acid testing following a COVID-19 outbreak in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, Jan. 4. Reuters-Yonhap A Chinese city has locked down its 1.1 million residents after reports of new coronavirus cases, as officials rushed to contain even small outbreaks just over four weeks before the Winter Olympics begin. The curbs in the city of Yuzhou, in the central province of Henan, are similar to those imposed for nearly two weeks in the industrial hub of Xi'an, which has become China's latest COVID-19 epicenter. Yuzhou, 700 km southwest of Beijing, has ordered all residents to remain indoors and not to leave town, the local Communist Party said in a statement late Monday. "So far, the source of the virus is unknown, the number of cases is unclear ... the virus control and prevention situation in our city is very severe," authorities in Xuchang, which has jurisdiction over Yuzhou, said in a statement Tuesday. "To curb and quash the epidemic within the shortest amount of time is a high-priority political task facing all officials and people in the city," they said. The greater Xuchang area reported two locally transmitted infections with confirmed clinical symptoms, and 18 local asymptomatic carriers Monday, official data showed. It was not clear how many were in Yuzhou. Vehicles were banned from Yuzhou's roads unless they have clearance from virus control authorities, and officials ordered a halt to activity in supermarkets apart from the supply of daily necessities. Yuzhou's case count is tiny compared with outbreaks in many other places around the world. But China is keen to keep outbreaks under control ahead of the Feb. 4 to 20 Winter Olympics, being held in Beijing and the nearby province of Hebei, and the Communist Party's once-every-five-years congress expected later in the year. Workers in protective suits stand at an entrance to a university's residential area under lockdown following a COVID-19 outbreak in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, Dec. 20. Reuters-Yonhap Tamil Nadu on Wednesday once again asserted its stand on sharing of river water with neighbouring states by opposing the Mekedatu reservoir project being planned by Karnataka and declaring its intention to take necessary steps to restore the full reservoir level (FRL) of 152 ft in Mullaperiyar Dam located in Kerala. The state governments stand on inter-state disputes with Karnataka and Kerala were articulated by Governor R N Ravi in his maiden speech in the Tamil Nadu Assembly which convened on Wednesday for the first time in the new year. The Governors address was boycotted by principal opposition AIADMK and DMKs ally VCK, which attributed its walkout to the Governor sitting on a bill passed by the Assembly seeking exemption from NEET for students from Tamil Nadu. Read | Supreme Court to hear Mekedatu pleas on January 27 The 45-minute speech by Ravi in English also reiterated that Tamil Nadu will continue to implement the dual language policy of using Tamil and English thereby opposing Hindi, and nudged the Centre to extend the GST compensation till 2024 and asserted the states opposition to entrance exams like NEET. While extending constructive co-operation to neighbouring states, Tamil Nadu will continue to fight for its rightful share of river waters. This government, which is committed to the welfare of farmers, will never allow construction of Mekedatu Dam by Karnataka across Cauvery river, the Governor said in his speech. Tamil Nadus assertions come amid Karnatakas renewed attempt to build a reservoir in Mekedatu across River Cauvery. While Karnataka contends that the reservoir will fulfil the water needs of Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu says no structure can be built across Cauvery without its permission. On the Mullaperiyar dam issue, the Governor said after many years, the state was able to store water at the current permissible limit of 142 feet for many days continuously and the government will take all necessary measures to restore the full reservoir level of 152 feet in line with a Supreme Court verdict. The Governors address said Tamil Nadu has sought Rs 6,230 crore from the union government for relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected areas and urged the Centre to release funds from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Read | Mekedatu project: Step back and think Emphasising the steps to promote Tamil, the Governor mentioned the governments decision to declare Tamil Vaazhthu as the State Anthem and popularize the Tamil language in government institutions, private schools, shops and commercial establishments. On farmers, the Governor said due to timely desilting of channels, the release of water from Mettur dam as per schedule and implementation of Kuruvai package for Rs.61 crore, a record paddy coverage of 4.9 lakh acres has been achieved in the Kuruvai (short-term crop) season this year. Contending that entrance exams create an unequal platform by being inherently discriminatory against rural students, the Governor said the Government is of the firm view that entrance exams like NEET are unnecessary for student admissions to professional courses and will continue to reiterate this position." The Governors address also praised Chief Minister M K Stalin for his gesture to personally visit the Narikuravar and Irular families in their homes and redress their grievances. Watch latest videos by DH here: With New Delhi working on a package of financial assistance to bail Sri Lanka out of the economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksas government in Colombo has approved a proposed deal with India to develop most of the World-War-II-era oil storage tanks in Trincomalee on the north-east coast of the island-nation. The long-awaited breakthrough in the talks between New Delhi and Colombo came just days before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis proposed visit to Sri Lanka. The Indian Ocean island is one of the nations where China has been trying to elbow out India to expand its geopolitical influence. New Delhi is considering a proposal from Colombo for providing two credit lines to Sri Lanka one of $1 billion to help the island nation import food, medicine and other essential items and another of $ 500 million for the import of petroleum products from India. Besides, New Delhi is also considering an additional $ 400 million currency swap facility to help Sri Lanka tide over the economic crisis caused by the restrictions imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Also Read | India's worries increase in Sri Lanka and Maldives In addition to clearing the proposed deal on the oil storage tanks, the government led by Rajapaksa and his brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa also approved procurement of 750 jeeps for Sri Lanka Police, including 150 jeeps for the Police Special Task Force, from Mahindra and Mahindra Company of India. The jeeps will be purchased utilizing a Line of Credit that India had earlier extended to Sri Lanka. Besides, procurement of 500 32-seater-buses from Ashok Leyland company of India was also approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the neighbouring nation. The buses will also be procured utilizing a loan grant India earlier offered to Sri Lanka. The new agreement India and Sri Lanka worked out for joint development of the oil storage tanks, which were built by the British Government during World War II, is based on three existing pacts between the two nations. The Sri Lankan Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to allocate 14 oil tanks of the Lower Oil Tank Complex already in use by the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation, for the company's business activities. It also approved the allocation of the 61 tanks to joint venture company, Trinco Petroleum Terminal Private Limited, with 51% stakes to be owned by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and 49% by the Lanka IOC. Besides, 24 of the total 99 tanks will be allocated to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. The breakthrough in talks between New Delhi and Colombo for joint development of the oil storage tanks came just days before the Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa is likely to attend Vibrant Gujarat meeting in India. He had earlier visited New Delhi and met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss the financial assistance package from India. Watch the latest DH Videos here: The Mumbai cyber police Wednesday arrested one more student from Uttarakhand in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case. The student, identified as Mayank Rawal (21), was nabbed from the northern state in the early hours of Wednesday, an official told PTI. "Vishal Kumar has been remanded to police custody for seven days. Shweta Singh has been given five days transit remand... We have arrested another person from Uttarakhand and seeking transit remand," Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale said. "We will not be able to share more details as the case is sensitive in nature," he said. The cyber cell had earlier arrested 19-year-old Shweta Singh, alleged to be the main culprit, from Uttarakhand, and engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha (21) from Bengaluru in connection with the case. Also Read | 'Bulli Bai': The malcontents of a poisoned society The Mumbai police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified persons following complaints that doctored photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded for auction on the app called `Bulli Bai', hosted on the open-source software platform GitHub. While there was no actual `auction' or `sale', the purpose of the app seemed to be to humiliate and intimidate the targeted women, many of whom are active social media users. The Mumbai cyber police station has also registered a case against the app's unidentified developers and Twitter handles which promoted it. Watch the latest DH Videos here: A known devil is better than an unknown saint, Goa Congress Lok Sabha MP and former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha said on Wednesday, urging voters to shun new political parties and vote for Congress in the upcoming state Assembly polls. "Do not lie in Goa. Do not go by assurances. A known devil is better than an unknown one. A known devil is better than an unknown saint," Sardinha said at a press conference here on Wednesday, while obliquely referring to the Trinamool Congress's populist pre-poll assurances related to doles for women. "There are new parties in Goa. What have they done for Goa needs to be known. So far it is easy to say we will do it (fulfil assurances). Ask them what have they have done in their states?" Sardinha said. Also Read | Congress postpones major rallies in poll-bound states amid Covid-19 The former Chief Minister also claimed while the TMC has assured a dole of Rs 5,000 per woman head of the household in the state, the party's government in West Bengal paid only Rs 500. TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra has, however, dismissed the charge of inconsistency in doles in both states, claiming that every woman registered under the West Bengal government's Laxmi Bhandar scheme was entitled to Rs 500, while in Goa the dole of Rs 5,000 was being allotted to every woman head of household. Leaders of the TMC which has taken a plunge into Goa politics months ago, have been crossing swords with their counterparts Congress party, over which party is more capable of taking on the ruling BJP. Check out DH's latest videos Another reprehensible threshold has been breached with the online sale of over 100 Muslim women on an app hosted on the Github platform. That shows a meeting of misogyny and anti-minorityism in a novel and shocking form. These acts extend the limits of insult and offence, with every new incident plumbing further depths of depravity. The communal and sexist Bulli Bai app is not the first instance of targeted harassment of Muslim women. It has appeared six months after the Sulli Deals app and website had publicly made available pictures of Muslim women describing them as deals of the day. Most of those who are targeted are women who have a presence on social media, including journalists and professionals, and many images are doctored and photoshopped. It is clear that the smear and sleaze campaign is an organised one and cannot be seen as ordinary cybercrime. Separate investigations have been launched by Mumbai and Delhi police and one person has reportedly been arrested. The Mumbai cyber police have booked the Bulli Bai app developers and Twitter account holders. But the investigation into Sulli Deals has not made much progress, and the taking down of the app should not be the end of the matter. It may be possible to leave no trails of crimes and to hide deep in the internet terrain, but the government has the power and resources to track such criminals and catch them. Everyone who is involved in these nefarious crimes should be immediately arrested and punished after speedy trials. Cyberspace has abounded in crimes against women and has been a haven for perverts and assorted offenders of various types including misogynists. Cybercrimes have been steadily increasing in the country and over 2,300 cases were reported in 2020. But cases that were not reported could be many multiples of that number. What is involved in the latest instances is not just a poor and wrong attitude to women but an especially hostile and degrading attitude towards women of the minority community. The psychology is similar to that of marauding armies in enemy territories. Women are insulted, dehumanised and attacked and a perverse satisfaction is derived from shameful and outrageous comments about them and actions against them. These are inspired and sustained by a toxic ecosystem that is sought to be generated against the minorities. The lack of effective action against the offenders encourages them and others. It is not only a case of poor law enforcement. These offences are part of a politics that is thriving and becoming the norm in the country. It should be noted that there is no strong denunciation of these activities from the top echelons of power in the country. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Amid reports that Omicron has symptoms akin to a common cold, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned that it is not a common cold and should not be taken lightly. The four most common symptoms of the Omicron variant are cough, fatigue, congestion and runny nose, according to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis. A recent study by UK-based Zoe Covid app added nausea and loss of appetite to the category. Several studies from South Africa, the US and the UK have shown that the infections caused by the highly transmissible variant are generally mild, with less hospitalisation required. Also Read | 2,135 Omicron cases detected across 24 states, UTs "Omicron is not the common cold," WHO epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said in a tweet. "While some reports show a reduced risk of hospitalisation of Omicron compared to Delta, there are still far too many people infected, in hospital sick and dying from Omicron (and Delta)," she added. The UK has reportedly seen about 14 deaths due to the Omicron variant, while the US and South Korea have seen one death each. The deaths occured majorly in unvaccinated persons. "Omicron is not the common cold! Health systems can get overwhelmed," reiterated WHO's chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Twitter. It is "important to have systems to test, advise and monitor large numbers of patients as the surge can be sudden and huge," she warned. Kerkhove stated that "we can prevent infections, save lives now" by ensuring vaccine equity. Also Read | WHO sees more evidence that Omicron affects upper respiratory tract, causes milder symptoms Meanwhile, WHO on Tuesday also stated that emerging evidence reveals that the Omicron is affecting the upper respiratory tract, causing milder symptoms than previous variants. "We are seeing more and more studies pointing out that Omicron is infecting the upper part of the body. Unlike the other ones, that could cause severe pneumonia," WHO Incident Manager Abdi Mahamud told Geneva-based journalists. At the same time, the global health body warned that soaring infections due to Omicron across the world could lead to the emergence of new variants, media reports said. The more variant spreads, the more it can replicate and bring out a new variant that can be more lethal. France has detected a new variant, named IHU. The new variant, with 46 mutations, has already infected 12 people, both vaccinated and unvaccinated.A While it may pose a greater risk than Omicron, touted as highly transmissible but mild in infections and less lethal than previous the Delta variant, researchers said, "it is too early to speculate on virological, epidemiological or clinical features of this IHU variant based on (just) 12 cases". Check out DH's latest videos: The Karnataka government on Wednesday ordered special surveillance measures, including a negative RT-PCR, for people coming to the State from Goa in view of the rise in Covid-19 there. In its order, the government said the negative RT-PCR certificate not older than 72 hours must be produced by the passengers travelling on flight, bus, train or personal transport to Karnataka. This is also applicable for passengers boarding connecting flights from Goa, the order said. It further said the airlines concerned should issue boarding passes only to the passengers carrying the negative certificate. Also Read | Remain cautious for next 4-6 weeks, follow Covid-19 guidelines to control next wave: Sudhakar Similarly, Railway authorities should see to it that all passengers travelling by trains from Goa to Karnataka carried the certificates. For all the passengers travelling by bus originating from Goa, the bus conductors concerned should be directed to ensure passengers possess the negative RT-PCR report, the order said. Deputy Commissioners of Belgavi and Uttara Kannada districts, which border Goa, have been directed to set up check-posts and deploy necessary staff to ensure that all the vehicles entering Karnataka are checked. Regular travellers from Goa to Karnataka would need to have the negative report. These restrictions would not be applicable to the constitutional functionaries, healthcare professionals, and children below five years. Check out latest DH videos here Confusion over the expiry status of Covaxin has created widespread hesitation among parents, who remain unswayed by a central government clarification on the matter. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a statement on Monday, affirmed that the shelf life of the vaccine was extended from 9 to 12 months. However, a December 23 letter by the Immunisation Division of the Ministry decreeing that label-expired vaccines should not be used is still causing apprehensions among parents, according to the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA). The Centre has approved only Covaxin for vaccinating those below 18 years. The drive began on January 3. Also Read | Karnataka imposes weekend curfew for 2 weeks to curb spread of Covid-19 When the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had extended the shelf life of Covaxin, there was no reason for the ministry to comment further on its shelf life. Now, even though a clarification has come, a lot of damage has been done. Apprehension and doubt about Covaxin have gone viral among parents, said Dr H M Prasanna, president of PHANA. Multiple private hospitals reported that parents continue to demand to see expiration dates on vials before they consent to have their child inoculated. A representative of Bharat Biotech told DH that the firm had already issued two clarifications about the extension of the shelf life, in November and December. Also Read | Centre's slow response to Omicron: No excuse this time The extensions were made based on scientific data, the representative said. This was elaborated by Dr Raches Ella, Project Lead at Bharat Biotech, who tweeted: Usually, the shelf life of a vaccine is 1-2 years. Covid vaccines have only been around for a year; evolving data will extend the shelf life. This process will be constantly repeated until we know the (maximum) period. Usually, the shelf life of a vaccine is 1-2 years. COVID vaccines have only been around for a year; evolving data will extend the shelf life. This process will be constantly repeated until we know the Max period. Remain calm and trust the @CDSCO_INDIA_INF @MoHFW_INDIA Dr. Raches Ella (@RachesElla) January 3, 2022 However, this has not convinced many parents. Mohammed Shakeel, President, Voice of Parents, said the confidence of parents has been first shaken by the low sample size of human trials and second, by an apparent non-transparent extension of shelf life. Also read: Delhi hospitals stare at workforce crisis as doctors test Covid positive Parents are divided on the matter. Only a small number of them in our association have actually opted to get their children vaccinated. The attitude of the majority is that their child is not a guinea pig. These parents have a wait-and-watch attitude, he said. Meanwhile, Dr Prasanna said that Bharat Biotech has taken back 90 per cent of the six-lakh-odd label-expired doses in the city for relabelling. He added that the vials are likely not to be returned for 14 days. This will prevent many private hospitals from being able to offer vaccinations to the public during that period. In the interim, private hospitals have been getting queries from private schools and even RWAs to hold vaccination camps for children aged 15-17, but in the current situation, our hands are tied, he said. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Foyle Sinn Fein MLA, Padraig Delargy, has called on education minister. Michelle McIlveen, to urgently revisit her approach to managing Covid in our schools. Pupils are set to return to class in a few days time after the Christmas break with uncertainty still around on how both they and staff should adapt to the latest pandemic developments namely the Omicron variant of the Covid virus. Mr Delargy said that school principals needed guidance from the top so that pupils and staff can receive reassurance that classes can be taught in safe conditions. He said: The new school term is almost upon us and the Education Minister has failed to produce a plan to make our classrooms safer. Principals have been open and honest in recent weeks as they describe the deterioration of the situation in many of our schools. A lack of appropriate guidance, a lack of adequate safety mitigations, a soft touch contact tracing policy, and a lack of available substitute teachers have put many of our schools in difficult positions with many having to resort to partial closures. The Omicron variant may also present new challenges, so I am urging the Minister to revisit her approach to Covid in schools. We put these concerns directly to the Minister in the weeks before Christmas and called on her to produce a comprehensive plan which puts HEPA (high efficiency particulate absorber) filters in all classrooms, which sets out a contact tracing policy teachers and families can have confidence in and to speed up the redeployment of qualified teachers from non-pupil facing positions back into the classroom. The Minister keeps telling us she wants to keep schools open. We agree, but it would appear she has squandered the opportunity over the Christmas break to develop a plan. "We will continue to make the case to the Minister for a new approach to Covid in our schools. The Secondary Students Union of Northern Ireland (SSUNI) have also called on the Department to provide more measures to help protect school pupils from Covid. SSUNI President, Morgan Shuttleworth, said: The SSUNI believes that, due to the drastic increase in infections, this should be reflected in the assistance being given by the Department. Education as a whole is being dragged under due to the staff shortages created by contact tracing, and so in order to keep schools open we must do all that we can to keep both staff and students safe. The Union has repeatedly called on the Department to provide more measures, specifically HEPA filters and air purifiers, but there has not been any such movement. A spokesperson for the Department of Education (DE) responded by saying that a range of mitigations have been recommended to risk the transmission of Covid within schools across the North. The said: Throughout the pandemic the Department has worked closely with key stakeholders as well as the Department of Health and Public Health Agency as we manage our response and continue to do so. We continue to follow advice in relation to all public health issues including contact tracing however no changes have been recommended in respect of the approach to contact tracing or changes to the DE Covid guidance. Rates of Covid infection in the community in Northern Ireland are currently extremely high. Schools are part of our community so it is inevitable that there will be cases among staff and students in our schools. While we cannot eradicate Covid altogether, a range of mitigations are recommended to reduce the risk of transmission as much as possible in the school environment. These measures include regular LFD testing, good hand/respiratory hygiene, maximising ventilation, face coverings for post-primary pupils and staff and consistent groups wherever possible. All staff and those aged 12 and over have also had access to the vaccination programme. We have a shared objective to support our schools so they are able to provide for our children as we all know that the best place for our children and young people is in school. No one mitigation on its own will prevent the spread of the virus, but used together each mitigation provides works to reduce transmission. Our schools, like those across the rest of the UK and Ireland, are facing staffing shortages due to the pandemic. There is a limited supply of qualified teachers. We have made a formal call for retired teachers to provide support and we have also looked to provide more flexibility for schools in how they deploy substitute teachers. If further financial resources are needed by schools we will make bids to meet these costs. The EA secured more than 11,500 C02 monitors and approximately 95 per cent of schools in NI have now been provided with monitors, with a further 5000 monitors expected imminently. The additional monitors will be delivered to the remaining schools as a priority and also to those schools that have requested additional monitors. Good ventilation, along with other measures can help mitigate the risk of transmission. Natural ventilation, such as opening windows can be effective at reducing the risk from virus in the air. School leaders who are concerned about ventilation in a room should contact the EA maintenance helpline for advice and support on the best approach for their individual circumstances. In some cases where an area of poor ventilation has been identified, it may be appropriate to consider the use of an air cleaning unit as an additional mitigation whilst further remedial work is undertaken to improve ventilation. The pandemic requires a collective response to support the safe operation of our schools staff, parents, and pupils all have a key role to play carrying out regular testing and making sure making sure that anyone with symptoms follows Covid-19 advice and information which is available at NIDirect.gov.uk. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he will never apologize for the deaths of suspected drug users and dealers killed in police operations under his war on drugs that alarmed rights groups. More than 6,200 drug suspects have died in anti-narcotics sting operations since Duterte took office in June 2016 until November 2021, government data shows. "I will never, never apologize for the deaths," Duterte said in a weekly national address. "Kill me, jail me, I will never apologize." Rights groups and critics say law enforcers have summarily executed drug suspects, but police say those killed were armed and had violently resisted arrest. Duterte, in his first national address this year, vowed to protect law enforcers doing their duty, telling them to fight back if their life was in danger. Duterte, 76, won the presidency by a wide margin in 2016 on a platform of anti-corruption, and law and order. The firebrand leader is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election next year. Analysts say an ally getting elected could protect Duterte from any legal action over his anti-narcotics program. Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in September approved a formal investigation into Duterte's war on drugs. The ICC suspended the probe in November following a request by the Philippines, which cited its own investigations. Duterte unilaterally cancelled the Philippines' ICC membership in March 2018, a month after its prosecutor said a preliminary examination into the drugs war was under way. (Reuters) MSI launched a bunch of gaming and productivity laptops featuring an Intel 12th Gen Core H-series CPUs and Nvidia RTX 3000 series GPUs CES 2022 is finally here and MSI just revealed a barrage of brand new gaming and creator laptops. The laptop maker also certified several of its gaming devices powered by an Intel 12th Gen Core i7 processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU or above to be Meta Verse ready. Furthermore, these laptops will become available for purchase in India following their global launch. The new gaming and creator laptops come equipped with an Intel 12th Gen H series processor featuring Hybrid cores that intelligently distribute the workload between Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficiency-cores (E-cores). MSI has paired the powerful CPUs with equally capable GPUs from Nvidia. Lining up to battle from team green are GeForce RTX GPUs featuring Ampere architecture with 2nd Gen RT cores for Ray Tracing and 3rd Gen Tensor Cores for DLSS and AI. As per claims, the Nvidia RTX 3080Ti is more powerful than the TITAN Desktop GPU. Meanwhile, the brand new RTX 3070Ti delivers 70% more performance than RTX 2070 laptop GPU while gaming. Meanwhile Intel 12th Gen CPUs bring up to 45% performance improvement as well. The brand new components also get upgraded cooling thanks to Phase Change liquid metal pad employed by the MSI. MSI Creator laptops also saw a massive improvement featuring display panels with up to 17-inches, Calman verified True Pixel display, Vapor chamber cooling, and DTS tuned surround sound speaker systems. MSI Gaming Laptops 2022 GS77/66 Stealth Starting at the top, MSI revealed the GS77/66 Stealth laptops geared towards gaming and business use and feature a core black colour with a Zinc alloy hinge. In terms of specs, the laptop series features up to an Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900H CPU, DDR5 RAM with 2 slots supporting up to 64GB of memory. The laptop also uses an Nvidia RTX 3080Ti GPU with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM for serious gaming performance. The laptop also features two options for display sizes - 17.3 and 15.6-inches. Both display size options are further available in three distinct size options - 4k resolution 120Hz refresh rate, 1440p resolution 240Hz refresh rate, and 1080p resolution 360Hz refresh rate. The GS77/66 laptop series also features six speakers with crisp treble and powerful bass with webcam lock switch and up to 100W PD charging. GE 76/66 Raider Retaining the Aurora lightning, the Raider GE series makes a triumphant return this year featuring brand new components. The laptop series now packs in Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPU, DDR4 memory featuring 2 slots with support for up to 64GB RAM. MSI also claims that the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti powering the Raider GE76/66 series can reach up to 220W TGP thanks to MSI Overboost and Phase Change liquid metal pad. The display options for the GE 76/66 laptop series are also similar to the GS77/66 series in terms of display resolution, refresh rate, and size. Vector GP76/66 The Vector GP series was born with a new concept keeping in mind the requirements of gaming, engineering, and scientific competitions. Furthermore, with Cooler Boost 5 tech, the RTX 3080s performance can reach up to 210W via MSI Overboost. The laptop also features up to an Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPU, DDR4 RAM support with 2 slots featuring up to 64GB memory. The laptop series comes with two display options, a 17.3 and a 15.6-inch display. The 17-inch panel features a maximum of 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate with 100% DCI-P3. Meanwhile, the 15.6-inch display features 1440p resolution and 165Hz refresh rate and another 1080p panel with a 240Hz refresh rate. Crosshair GL Series The series highlights include futuristic design and exclusive Sci-fi elements inspired by the feel-good experience of gaming. The laptop series comes in three major variants - one with a 15-inch display, another with a 17-inch display, and an exclusive Rainbow Six Extraction Edition 15-inch model. The Crosshair GL series also features Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPU, DDR4 memory support with up to 64GB RAM. The series is powered by an Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM. Pulse GL76/66 The MSI Pulse series keeps the original design by Marteen Verhoeven featuring a titanium power armour design with Cooler Boost 5 technology enabling 15% more airflow and around 33% reduction in wall thickness of the laptop. The series uses an Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPU in pairing with an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM. The laptop also comes with two display options - a 17.3-inch 1080p display with a 360Hz refresh rate and a 15.6-inch QHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 colour space coverage. Other gaming laptops that MSI revealed include the Sword 17/15 series and the Katana GF76/66. Lastly, MSI also revealed the Creator Z17, Z16P, and Z16 laptops focused on creativity and productivity. Also Read: MSI announces memory overclocking competition for Intel B560 motherboards Hargis Engineers Young Helms Kavulla Roper Jamison Raebel Sutton Hargis Engineers announced the promotion of three professionals within the company's leadership team, and the recognition of four new associates. Grant Jamison has been promoted to principal along with two new senior associates: David Roper (electrical) and Josh Kavulla (telecommunications/ security). Ben Helms (telecommunications/ security), Brian Young (security/ telecommunications), Josh Sutton (commissioning) and Mark Raebel (mechanical) have been made associates. Team lead and client program advocate, Jamison is contributing to Fortune 100 clients' capital investments on a national scale. Roper, a project manager and ACE Mentor Program volunteer, is engaged with commercial and high-tech R&D developments throughout the Americas. Kavulla supports global clients' North American metropolitan campus expansion efforts. Helms works with public agencies to address their campus infrastructure upgrade needs. Young balances the security postures of public and private entities to develop solutions that align with large-scale enterprise operations. Sutton, a degreed professional and former electrical journeyman utilizes his experience to bridge design intent with performance expectations. Advancing public institution's system performance goals, Raebel is leading projects within higher education, K12 and civic spaces. Subscriber content preview By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING A troubled Chinese real estate developer that is struggling with $310 billion in debt announced Tuesday it has been ordered to demolish a 39-building resort complex in a new blow to its finances. Evergrande Group gave no explanation, but news reports said the government of Danzhou, a city on the southern island province of Hainan, found it was improperly built and violated urban planning law. . . . Subscriber content preview SEATTLE A half-built apartment project at 8854 Delridge Way S.W. recently sold for $5.5 million, according to King County records. The seller was a builder who acquired the land in 2017 for $450,000, then undertook a four-story, 32-unit apartment project. It's still under construction, with a master use permit that was issued in early 2020. The buyer was Delridge Project LLC, which is associated with a Kent investor. The deal was worth about $171,875 per unfinished unit. Public records indicate a loan from Level Capital. . . . Kazakh law enforcement officers are seen on a barricade during a protest triggered by fuel price increase in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday. Reuters-Yonhap Protesters stormed public buildings in Kazakhstan's biggest city on Wednesday as security forces struggled to impose control after the government resigned in response to popular anger over a fuel price increase. An Instagram live stream by a Kazakh blogger showed a fire blazing in the mayor's office in the city of Almaty, with gunshots audible nearby. Videos posted online also showed the nearby prosecutor's office burning. Protesters appeared to have broken through security forces' cordons even though the latter deployed stun grenades whose explosions could be heard throughout the city center. Kazakhstan is a tightly controlled former Soviet republic which cultivates an image of political stability, helping it attract hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday, a day after police used tear gas and stun grenades to drive hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Almaty. On Wednesday a Reuters correspondent saw thousands of protesters pressing ahead towards Almaty city center, some of them on a large truck, after security forces failed to disperse them with tear gas and flashbang grenades. Atameken, Kazakhstan's business lobby group, said its members were reporting cases of attacks on banks, stores and restaurants. The city health department said 190 people had sought medical help, including 137 police. City authorities urged residents to stay home. The interior ministry said that government buildings were also attacked in the southern cities of Shymkent and Taraz overnight, with 95 police wounded in clashes. Police have detained more than 200 people. A video posted online showed police using a water cannon and stun grenades against protesters in front of the mayor's office in Aktobe, the capital of another western province. The protests began after the government lifted price controls on liquefied petroleum gas at the start of the year. Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG because of its low cost. The government said the regulated price was causing losses for producers and needed to be liberalized. The president said it had botched the move. Speaking to acting cabinet members, Tokayev ordered them and provincial governors to reinstate price controls on LPG, and broaden them to gasoline, diesel and other "socially important" consumer goods. He also ordered the government to develop a personal bankruptcy law and consider freezing utility prices and subsidizing rent payments for poor families. He said the situation was improving in protest-hit cities and towns, including Almaty and the surrounding province, where the authorities declared a state of emergency. In addition to replacing the prime minister, Tokayev also appointed a new first deputy head of the National Security Committee who replaced Samat Abish, a nephew of powerful ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev, 81, a Soviet-era Communist Party boss, ran Kazakhstan for almost 30 years before resigning abruptly in 2019 and backing Tokayev as successor. Nazarbayev retains sweeping powers as the chairman of the security council; he has not convened the council or commented on this week's violence. (Reuters) A juror in the sex trafficking trial of predatory British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has said her victims testimony showed a pattern of how they were all groomed. Maxwell, 60, who was labelled dangerous by the prosecution during her three-week, New York trial, helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Jeffrey Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004. Now juror Scotty David, who wished to be identified by his first and middle name, told the Independent he believed all the victims who testified in the case. He said all accusers corroborated each other and were supported by other evidence. Scotty David, who said he was a victim of sexual abuse himself, told the Independent: This verdict is for all the victims. For those who testified, for those who came forward, and for those who havent come forward. Im glad that Maxwell has been held accountable. This verdict shows that you can be found guilty, no matter your status. Addressing the testimony of the victims, Scotty David said: They were all believable. Nothing they said felt to me like a lie. I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the colour of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video. But I cant remember all the details, there are some things that run together. Commenting on questions over why the victims kept going back to Epstein and Maxwell, Scotty David said: We are not here to judge these victims. We are here to judge whether we believe their stories, but we are not here to judge the decisions they made or didnt make. We cannot judge what they did or didnt do afterward. It doesnt change that it happened. Scotty David told The Independent that one of the accusers, who testified under the pseudonym Kate, powerfully corroborated the stories of the other victims, despite not being able to be considered for the charges on the indictment due to being over the age of consent in the UK when the abuse happened. She was able to show us that this was a pattern, he said. We knew we couldnt use her testimony to convict Maxwell, but she showed the pattern of how those girls were groomed. She showed us the pattern that happened to all of these girls. It was about confusing their boundaries. For Jane, it started with seeing Maxwell topless. For Annie Farmer, it started with Maxwell showing her how to give Epstein a foot massage. The pattern is that Ghislaine talks to you like she is also a teenager. Then it moves into massage. She tries to make you comfortable, to see what they can get away with. What she did was wrong. Scotty David said Maxwells little black book, which had names of the victims listed under masseuses, helped the jury understand how she and Epstein had evaded justice in the past. He said: Those girls names and phone numbers were listed next to the words, mom and dad. Professional masseuses do not need their parents with them. Addressing why they found Maxwell not guilty on one count, which alleged she enticed accuser Jane across state lines, he said: We simply didnt see enough direct evidence to convict on count two. It wasnt about not believing Jane. I personally was willing to find her guilty on count two. But we all decided in the end that there wasnt enough evidence. Louth County Council is to receive 50,000 in government funding to support their leading role in developing community-led commemorative activities for the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries Programme. The announcement was made today by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, where 50,000 will be allocated to every local authority to support their commemorative programming for 2022. Minister Martin has also made a supplementary fund of 450,000 available to provide further supports to local authorities who have identified additional requirements in relation to specific centenaries of local significance and other larger projects, including cross-border initiatives. Under the Community Strand of the Decade of Centenaries Programme in 2022, local authorities are to drive and support community-led commemorative initiatives to reflect on local connections to the significant historical events that occurred a century ago, supported by the principles and guidance laid down by the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations. Examples of the type of initiatives suggested by the Minister's department include, how were events such as the Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty; the outbreak of the Civil War; and the foundation of the State received or marked locally? Speaking today, Minister Martin said: Id like to express my sincere appreciation to all of our local authorities for their continued engagement and enthusiasm this year, notwithstanding the ongoing challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our local authority partners have delivered thoughtful, imaginative, and ambitious commemorative programmes that allowed for meaningful public engagement, which encouraged and supported reflection and shared remembrance of key centenary moments in 2021. She continued: Right across the country, community-led commemorative initiatives continue to make such a wonderful and important contribution to our understanding of these historical events their impact, consequences and legacies. This is only possible through partnership and co-operation. In 2022, I plan to continue this collaborative approach between the State, local authorities, and local communities, which has worked so well to date, to ensure that in the penultimate year of the Decade of Centenaries, our shared history is remembered in an inclusive, measured, and balanced manner. Our continued confidence and trust in our local authorities is reflected in the 50,000 funding allocation for 2022. Arising from the success of this years programme, I have asked local authorities to again allocate at least 15,000 from their allocations in 2022 to support artistic and creative endeavours. "The interpretation of significant historical events by our artists and creative practitioners provides an important platform to encourage reflection and the consideration of issues, both past and present, which may be challenging, difficult and sometimes deeply personal. The Government says its approach recognises the need to be sensitive to the local, historical context and the fact that there was no uniform experience during the Struggle for Independence and the Civil War - within counties or across the island of Ireland. It aims, it says, to facilitate engagement from all traditions and communities on the island and to acknowledge the significance of local narratives and experiences with a focus always on respectful remembrance and reconciliation. The Louth-Meath regional representative for the Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU) has expressed serious concerns about the recent government announcement on the reopening of schools. In a statement given to the Democrat Eva Grace criticised the lack of student consultation from the Department of Education and other stakeholders: The Department's announcement of the reopening of schools across Ireland tomorrow, in my opinion, means that there will not be enough time to prepare schools properly. This approach risks not having adequate enough changes to schools before students and staff return, jeopardising our safety in classrooms. When I found out yesterday that the Department failed to consult the ISSU, and many other education stakeholders about their decisions, I was outraged and annoyed. We were merely briefed about plans that were already finalised before anyone joined the meeting yesterday. The Department has also failed to address the difficulties of staff-shortages or student absenteeism. The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) estimates that as many as 8,000 teachers could be absent due to Covid-19 when schools return on Thursday. This means that not every student will be receiving the same standard of education, and this is an incredibly unfair outcome, especially for exam year students, Ms. Grace concluded. How to Clip Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue. Claremont, NH (03743) Today Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. High 53F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 43F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. North Andover, MA (01845) Today Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus crowd at a street for their yearend shopping in Tokyo, Dec. 31, 2021. AP-Yonhap The southern Japanese island chain of Okinawa emerged on Wednesday as the epicenter of a new coronavirus surge, with cases more than doubling from the previous day and officials were considering imposing emergency curbs. New infections in the prefecture jumped to 623 from 225 on Tuesday, the highest since August when Japan was in the midst of its fifth and biggest wave of COVID-19. Governor Denny Tamaki on Tuesday told reporters the region had entered a sixth wave of infections and the highly transmissible Omicron variant was responsible. Okinawa, 1,500 km (932 miles) southwest of Tokyo, hosts 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan. Discoveries of coronavirus clusters and Omicron cases among service members have rankled relations with Japanese authorities there and residents, who number just under 1.5 million. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan was asking the U.S. military to make all efforts to rein in rising infections. As of Tuesday, a total of 1,191 cases of the Omicron variant had been found in Japan, including 479 cases considered community transmissions, according to the health ministry. "Omicron is rapidly increasing in some regions," Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto told reporters. While Goto said it was too early to say if a sixth wave of infections had arrived, Japan's major metropolitan areas saw tallies rising to levels not seen for months. Tokyo reported 390 cases while the western prefecture of Osaka said 244 had been found, the highest levels since September for both. Nationwide, new cases exceeded 2,000 on Wednesday, according to a tally by national broadcaster NHK, the most since Sept. 26. Okinawa health experts will meet later on Wednesday to determine whether to ask the central government to impose new restrictions, a prefectural official said. It would be the first such declaration of what are known in Japan as quasi-emergency measures since Sept. 30, when all states of emergency and quasi-emergency that had been in effect for a good part of 2021 were lifted. Tokyo officials may also ask for emergency measures to be reinstated in the capital, the Sankei newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. The central government hopes to respond quickly to any requests for emergency steps, Matsuno told reporters. Measures would likely include limiting the opening hours of restaurants and bars. Separately, a U.S. Marine Corps station in the prefecture of Yamaguchi, in western Japan, reported that 182 people on the base there had tested positive on Tuesday. (Reuters) CLOVIS - Clovis city officials are planning to address a new sign code in their Thursday meeting, and several of them spent Monday morning hearing many objections to the process from business owners. Feedback was varied during a one-hour, 40-minute meeting at the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, with city officials saying they are receptive to easing some of the proposed code and business owners asking for a tabling of the ordinance to address more concerns. The commission on Dec. 2 voted to introduce the sign code ordinance, which included different requirements of sign sizes, heights and property setbacks based on road categories - residential, collector, arterial and highway. The introduction initiated a public comment period of at least 30 days. The chamber discussed the sign ordinance briefly at its Dec. 15 board of directors meeting, and put together a committee to identify potential issues with the ordinance. Chamber representatives said they weren't in objection to a new sign code or general city beautification efforts, but had issues with particular clauses in the 20-page code the commission will consider. "Those (signs) are assets to us, and they're pretty expensive," said Bryan Ellis, who chairs a chamber committee regarding the proposed code. "If I have to put them into compliance, that's going to be an expense for me." The meeting was attended by 42 people - 30 in person at the chamber conference room and the rest attending virtually. City representatives in attendance included City Manager Justin Howalt, Mayor Mike Morris, City Attorney Jared Morris, Mayor Pro Tem Chris Bryant and Commissioners Megan Palla, James Burns and Helen Casaus. District 2 Commissioner Lauren Rowley also arrived to the meeting, but left after determining her presence created a quorum of commissioners. During his presentation, Ellis showed about a dozen pictures of signs that he said would violate the ordinance, and said they comprised a fraction of the photos he could have presented. Brannon New of Clovis Sign Service brought up various issues with the sign code, while acknowledging it would benefit him to let the code pass as is because "whenever a sign isn't in compliance, I have a new job." New noted that people have come to Clovis Sign for decades to invest in their business and the community, and the sign code threatened those investments. Existing signs would be grandfathered in, but New and various business owners had concerns over events that would trigger a six-month deadline to come into compliance - an ownership or lessee change, or any event that damages more than 50% of a sign. New referenced a Clovis resident who recently inherited a business from his family, while Ellis noted a drunken driver once plowed through his sign. In each instance, they said, the property owner is out of compliance through no fault of their own. Following Ellis' presentation, Attorney Morris noted that most of the pictures were of businesses that were violating a 15-foot setback requirement, and said the ordinance doesn't include setbacks as a trigger for the six-month compliance window. While he acknowledged it was the commission's decision, Morris said the commission could vote to reduce or eliminate the setback requirement altogether. "I don't think we're hard and fast about whether we have setbacks," Morris said. Regarding a question on a potential appeal process, Attorney Morris said the sign code would be part of the Unified Development Ordinance, which has an appeal process in place. City Manager Howalt said the sign ordinance has been a multi-year task that started in June 2019, after the city replaced its existing zoning laws with the UDO. Following completion of the UDO, the city saw a need to update its existing sign ordinance following a 2015 Supreme Court decision, Reed v. Gilbert. That decision expanded what makes a sign code content-based and unconstitutional. Since staff was working on a new sign code anyway, Howalt said it made sense to also look at standards for sign sizes, heights and setbacks. Howalt noted a potential safety issue with setbacks, since a sign placed right at the property boundary impacts a driver's view of oncoming traffic. The proposed ordinance gives different restrictions based on the type of road where the sign is located. For example, a sign on a residential street could be a maximum of 120 square feet and 20 feet in height, while a sign on U.S. 60/84 or U.S. 70 could be up to 400 square feet and 60 feet high. Howalt said he has received numerous phone calls regarding the ordinance, but he also receives calls from residents and visitors asking why the town is so unsightly. Graffiti and dilapidated buildings are part of that, and so are signs. "The city's listening; we're not deaf to that," Howalt said. Mayor Morris said the ordinance creation began before he took office in 2000, but the effort matches his goals on city beautification. He noted the city has worked on various other aspects of community cleanup, including policy changes that helped green light the demolition of roughly a dozen of the most dilapidated buildings. He also noted that he and five commissioners were business owners, and they brought that perspective into policy creation. Near the end of the meeting, New brought up an objection to one clause in the ordinance requiring the removal of any billboard erected on or after Dec. 5 in violation of the code. The code requires billboards be at least 1,000 feet apart, and New said two new billboards that violate the code could represent $750,000 in business over 20 years. Howalt said that was a fair point, and that the city would look at that matter. Prince Street resident Jack Muse spoke regarding his "tree sign" in praise of President Donald Trump and the threat of it violating the new sign code. Muse argued the sign was protected speech, and that he put it on the tree because four signs he placed on the ground were vandalized. Muse said the city should target vandalism and not his signs. The commission will meet 5:15 p.m. Thursday at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library. By the Staff of The News SANTA FE In its first report of 2022, the New Mexico Department of Health made it clear COVID-19 is not disappearing any time soon. Officials said 7,313 new cases were confirmed between Friday and Monday by the department, with 131 in Curry County and 29 in Roosevelt County. The total is the most announced in a weekend since the state began consolidating weekend totals into its Monday report. The prior mark was 4,991 announced on Nov. 29, with that report including five calendar days of new infections. The DOH began consolidating weekend reports into Monday starting in April. Between Jan. 31, 2020, and Jan. 3, 2021, the state confirmed 5,255 COVID-19 cases. More than a third of the cases confirmed Monday 2,469 were recorded in Bernalillo County. No other county recorded four-digit case numbers, but Dona Ana County was close with 950 new cases. The new positive cases pushed the states seven-day test positivity rate to 17.9% up from 10% on Dec. 27 and 9.5% Dec. 20. Curry County did not make the top 10 ZIP codes for new infections in the Monday list, with totals on that list between 312 (87121) and 174 (87114). Of the top 10 ZIP codes on the list, nine were in Albuquerque and the other was in Las Cruces. The state also announced 11 new COVID-19 deaths, with none from Curry or Roosevelt counties. Those deaths brought the total to 5,866 since the pandemic began in March 2020. Monday saw 472 people hospitalized statewide for COVID-19, compared to 456 on Dec. 27 and 539 on Dec. 20. The weekend case count brought the total to 357,486 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 311,304 cases designated as recovered. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website at ladowntownnews.com/site/privacy.html By clicking to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here. James Heal advances offering in the Americas Textile testing expert, James Heal, has announced the opening of their first US-based office and a new network of distributors, enabling them to better service their customers in the Americas. Not only is the Sterling office now ready to support customers, but they have further launched a dedicated online shop for American customers looking to click and buy a wide range of test materials and related accessories. We have always recognized the need for greater localized customer support in the Americas - now we are able to offer that, says Dan Payne, Group President, Americas. It took a little longer than we had hoped, due to the pandemic, but also allowed us to build an enhanced offering for our customers. The James Heal office in Sterling, Virginia stocks a large range of test materials, speeding up its shipping process. Payne adds that the site also boasts a demo and sample test lab, where visitors can come to try out the instruments or have them video the process and selection, based on their unique application. Its a great setting to learn more about materials testing, or the process of test. Our doors are always open if you want to plan a visit, or alternatively, we can arrange online equipment or training demos via web-based video calls. Over the past year, James Heal has also implemented an educational webinar program through which they share their expertise on topics like abrasion and pilling, water repellency, light fastness testing and phenolic yellowing. All previous webinars are available On Demand at https://pptgroup.com/events. The textile testing instrumentation company also have plans to take part in exhibitions and events across the Americas, starting with the AATCC Textile Discovery Summit in November 2021, held in Durham, North Carolina. We are serious about supporting our customers in the Americas and are on hand to help with whatever they need, concludes Payne. Our goal is to improve every aspect of textile testing, so our customers can achieve consistent and accurate results every time. Established in 1872, James Heal is an international engineering company renowned worldwide for delivering premium quality, reliable and innovative materials testing solutions. From its core manufacturing and commercial headquarters in the United Kingdom, the company specialises in the design and production of Testing Instruments and Test Materials (consumables), supported by industry-leading service and support. At the core of the company is the seamless interaction between high quality, precision, reproducibility, and reliability combined with innovation, imagination, and industry-leading technical expertise. This combination has resulted in James Heal becoming one of the most trusted and valued materials testing companies in the world. James Heal designs its Testing Instruments with the users in mind, offering the most user-intuitive and innovative solutions in textile testing. The company also works closely with some of the biggest names in the rubber, paper, wood, plastics, and glass industries to develop first-rate materials testing solutions. How they said it then and now Political analysts and disinformation experts say some Republican lawmakers embrace false narratives regarding the 2020 presidential election, the rioters, and Congress' investigation into the events of Jan. 6 have lent an air of legitimacy to misinformation. Here are a few excerpts of those comments from the past year: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida In a House floor speech one day after the Jan. 6 riots, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, claimed the election was rigged by widespread voter fraud and suggested there was evidence that people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters but left-wing activists. "They were masquerading as Trump supporters," Gaetz said. "And in fact, they were members of the violent terrorist group, Antifa." In October, Gaetz testified before a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol in opposition to holding former Trump strategist Steve Bannon in contempt. He appeared to soften his stance on the 2020 election results. Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, asked Gaetz, "Do you accept that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election? To which Gaetz responded, "I accept that Joe Biden is the president" and then launched into a criticism of mail-in ballots used in last year's presidential election. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, has been one of the most prominent Republicans in Congress attempting to recast Jan. 6 as a day of "peaceful protests" and claimed a California woman shot by police as she climbed through a barricaded door into the House chambers was "murdered." His campaign has also pushed an unfounded conspiracy theory that the FBI "might have had a hand" in instigating the riot. Gosar has also described the Jan. 6 attackers who were arrested as "political prisoners". Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia, described rioters walking through the Capitol on Jan. 6 as appearing to look like a "normal tourist visit" and suggested that the riot was far less serious than portrayed. "Let's be honest with the American people: It was not an insurrection, and we cannot call it that and be truthful," Clyde said during a May 12 House committee hearing on the riots. "I can tell you the House floor was never breached and it was not an insurrection. This is the truth." Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, has denounced the riots but suggested that they were an attempt to "overthrow tyrants" and therefore supported by the U.S. Constitution. At a recent event in Arizona, she said Trump supporters converged on the Capitol on Jan. 6 "because they felt their election was stolen, they felt their votes were stolen. And it was so important to them to show up and use their First Amendment rights to protests." "The Democrats call it an insurrection, but I think we can start calling it a Fed-surrection," she said in remarks. Greene has also criticized and questioned the treatment of the Jan. 6 defendants in the wake of the riot, alleging that they are being mistreated. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking from the Senate floor on May 9, said he opposed the creation of a House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. "It's not at all clear what new facts or additional information, by yet another commission, could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress," the Kentucky Republican said at the time. But McConnell appeared to change his tune during a December interview with Spectrum News. "I think the fact-finding is interesting. We're all going to be watching it," McConnell told the new outlet. "It was a horrendous event, and I think what they're seeking to find out is something the public needs to know." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Two weeks after the Capitol riots, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, told reporters in a press conference that then President Trump "bears responsibility" for the attacks, even as he opposed a resolution calling for Trump's impeachment. "The president bears responsibility for Wednesdays attack on Congress by mob rioters," McCarthy said in January. "He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding." But at a recent event, McCarthy blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for ignoring warnings of the riots and falsely claimed that she declined National Guard assistance. McCarthy told reporters he made the Jan. 13 remarks without "the information we have today" about the riots. Effingham, IL (62401) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 70F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Thundershowers overnight following a period of rain early. Low near 60F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. "They were so attentive about every little aspect of the program," Ochana Daniels said of the family's April 7-9 visit to Nebraska's campus. "I mean, the entire staff met us and I was like, 'Wow, this is totally different than any official or unofficial visit we've ever had.'" NU's work obviously paid off handsomely. "Veinte anos no es nada" - "Twenty years is nothing" goes the chorus of Volver. The lyrics of the old tango tune, later given a famous flamenco reworking, are beautiful and poetic, but they don't entirely match the reality. Because some things have changed. Twenty years ago no one would have imagined many of the things that are now part of the realidad espanola. That we would suffer an endless pandemic, that then-king Juan Carlos I would flee Spain in an attempt to escape his scandals, that a Spanish public television news presenter and journalist would become the Spanish queen, and so much more. The life of Letizia Ortiz now is chalk and cheese compared to what it was two decades ago: from presenting news programmes and being the favourite on-screen companion of the controversial Alfredo Urdaci on TVE to living in the Zarzuela royal palace. Back then, Ortiz was a rising star in the communications world, and was yet to provoke - decisively - a certain inner warmth for one VIP member of her television audience: prince Felipe. Her daily newcasts made him lose the thread of the conversation, the victim of a love affair that would impact an entire country: the heir to the Spanish crown would marry a commoner, a divorcee and, so they said, a Republican. It's difficult to know, but maybe one particular video produced by the Asturian journalist prompted Felipe to do something more than just flip coins over his relationships. It was the report series which the public network broadcast to help the Spanish people get to know the euro, the new currency of the European Union, which, twenty years ago, brought the era of the peseta to an end. Letizia was part of that campaign, telling us about the benefits of the new notes and coins. With hindsight, the message she delivered has not proved 100% corrrect, but that's another story. Meanwhile, the messenger herself has undergone a tremendous transformation over the past 20 years. On the occasion of the anniversary, the Bank of Spain has recovered those images, in which we see the current queen in an attitude and occupation that, today, in 2022, makes one pause for thought. The Spanish central bank - which itself has changed roles, too - didn't hesitate for a moment to attribute to Letizia part of the success of the roll-out of the euro in Spain thanks to those mini-programmes which sold the idea to the viewers. Not that the espanolitos had any choice in the matter at that point - a bit like with their monarchy. But what is absolutely irrefutable is to see how that journalist is now another person, in terms of both character and outward image. In fact, she often looks younger (and crabbier) than she did at that time. Yes, it will all be a matter of the exercise she does every day, although the surgical touch-ups that Leonor and Sofia's mother has undergone are also evident. Times have changed. Chalk and cheese. The euro and the peseta. Vaya. Letizia left the profession of journalism when she became engaged to the heir Felipe and put a crown on her head. She made on the deal, of course. The same cannot be said of her father-in-law, Juan Carlos, who still today, from Abu Dhabi, points to her as the great cause of his descent into hell. Ortiz was good at doing her job in a television studio and with a microphone in her hands, but to be fair, she has not done too badly in taking on the role of Spain's "first lady", at least in term of allowing an institution that is obsolete, medieval, useless and tainted by all sorts of suspicions and scandals to survive a little longer. That the business hasn't folded completely is the sole merit of Ortiz and her way of doing things. However, it is not clear whether her efforts will be sufficient. The drift of the institution is comparable to the melting of the polar ice cap, and to reverse it, the task is a titanic one. It all gets a little bleaker every day. Only time will tell if Letizia and company are still in the Zarzuela in another twenty years' time, or if, by then, she has re-applied for her old job. Now that would truly be a story. Washington, MO (63090) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to showers and a possible thunderstorm this afternoon. High 67F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight A steady rain this evening. Showers with perhaps a rumble of thunder developing overnight. Low 59F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. The Chief Minister has paid tribute to John Quinn QC, the Islands Attorney General. Alfred Cannan said: The outpouring of tributes to John from across our Island community is testament to the high esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. John undertook his role as Attorney General with dignity, skill and professionalism. He provided sage advice to the Council of Ministers and to Tynwald, which he always delivered with grace and integrity. John played a major role in helping government to successfully manage the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet despite the pressures of his role particularly over the past two years John remained approachable and good humoured even in the most difficult of times. Athens, AL (35611) Today Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 85F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Even though it feels like we were watching skateboarders tear it up at the Summer Games in Tokyo only a few weeks ago, the Winter Olympics are almost upon us. Watching all of the events often requires hopping between several channels and platforms, but this time around, you'll be able to check out everything in one place. Peacock Premium members can stream all of NBCUniversal's Winter Olympics coverage. The platform will host live streams of every event from all 15 sports, including those aired on broadcast and cable, as well as full replays. You'll also be able to catch the opening and closing ceremonies, NBC's daily primetime show, studio programing, documentaries and more. Competition coverage starts on February 2nd and the Opening Ceremony takes place in Beijing two days later. The Winter Olympics conclude on February 20th. Peacock Premium typically costs $5 per month, though Comcast subscribers get an ad-supported version at no extra cost. Peacock users can stream other live sports, including Premier League soccer games. Lenovo is bombarding CES 2022 with a wave of new PCs, and it won't surprise to hear that gaming laptops play an important role. The company has introduced seventh-generation Legion 5 (shown below) and Legion 5 Pro (above) portables that are cooler and thinner while packing new AMD Ryzen 6000 and Intel 12th-gen Core CPUs. The AMD-based 5 Pro and Intel-based 5i Pro are sleeker than their predecessors, but offer the latest chips thanks to a revamped cooling system with slimmer fans, a larger exhaust area, a copper block heat sink and a more effective heat pipe layout hopefully, the thermal issues with last year's models are no more. You can also expect options for the latest GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs, improved WiFi 6e performance and a 16-inch 2,960 x 1,600 IPS panel with a rare 240Hz adaptive refresh rate. You'll also find up to 1TB of SSD storage, four-zone RGB lighting and up to 300W charging with a proprietary solution (135W through USB-C). The Legion 5i Pro arrives in February starting at $1,570, while the 5 Pro debuts in April for $1,430. Lenovo Cost-conscious gamers won't have to give up much. The non-Pro Legion 5 and 5i models also use new AMD, Intel and NVIDIA parts, but they're 15 percent thinner while boasting more powerful fan systems and larger exhaust areas. They should feel better on your lap, too, thanks to an aluminum-magnesium hybrid cover. The 15-inch, 165Hz 1440p screen won't be quite as impressive as what you'll find on the Pro models, but it still offers a speedy 165Hz refresh rate and full sRGB color space coverage. Four-zone RGB is optional. The regular Legion 5i ships in February starting at $1,200. Wait until April and you can buy the AMD-powered Legion 5 from $1,130. This being Lenovo, there's also a slew of peripherals on deck. The 24.5-inch Legion Y25-30 monitor (due in May for $340) mates a 240Hz refresh rate and DisplayHDR 400 support with a high-accuracy IPS panel, while 24- and 27-inch G24qe-20 and G27qe-20 monitors (both coming in March for $260 and $300) provide the basics. The Legion M600s ($85, May) is a lightweight, ambidextrous wireless gaming mouse with a 19,000DPI sensor, while the M300s wired mouse ($30, May) packs RGB lighting and an 8,000 DPI sensor. Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here! Shortly after Intel tells the world that Alder Lake for laptops has arrived, that all the laptop makers show off the products to take advantage of the new silicon. Today, its Lenovos turn, busting out a refreshed range of ThinkPad X1 and Yoga machines with new, 12th-generation Intel Core chips and plenty of razzle-dazzle. The flagship X1 range is welcoming a 10th-generation X1 Carbon, seventh-generation X1 Yoga and a second-generation X1 Nano. Those high-end machines are targeted at professionals currently caught between the office and working from home, like so many of us are these days. That means the big focus is making sure you dont look completely awful while youre sat in yet another endless Zoom meeting. Thats why these new models all get a redesigned communications bar, which is a fancy way of describing the webcam housing. Nestled inside youll find a superior camera, with a number of options, including a standard HD camera or an FHD + IR camera, paired with quad-array microphones. You can also opt for a Computer Vision bundle that, Lenovo promises, will be able to automatically detect which person is in front of the machine for a faster log-in experience. You can also spec these machines with OLED displays, a 2.8k option for the X1 Carbon and a full 4K OLED for the X1 Yoga. Plus, theres WiFi 6E, options for 4G or 5G modems and support for Tiles finding features to help you never misplace your machine. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) and Yoga (Gen 7) will be available in March, with prices starting at $1,639 and $1,749, respectively. The X1 Nano (Gen 2), meanwhile, will turn up a month later in April, with the base model due to cost $1,659. Lenovo At the same time, Lenovo also wants to talk about its not-X line of Yoga machines, including the Yoga 9i, Yoga 71 and Yoga 6. The 9i is the flagship 2-in-1 for the year, which comes with the option of new 12th-generation Intel Core chips paired with Iris Xe graphics making it an Intel Evo-certified machine. Lenovo says that this new model has vastly-improved (Bowers and Wilkins) audio which is much louder than before, too. Youll also be able to get the 9i with a 16:10, 4K OLED IPS touchscreen with 100 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy. Meanwhile, the 7i gets the option of a 2.8K OLED touchscreen (for the 14-inch) or a 2.5K LCD 60Hz display (for the 16-inch model). Both get the option of a Intel Core i7, paired with Iris Xe graphics, rapid charging and screens optimized for graphics professionals. The Yoga 6, meanwhile, is designed to burnish Lenovos environmental credentials, with its recycled aluminum cover or fabric-wrapped cover made with 50 percent recycled plastics. You can expect to get your hands on the Yoga 9i at some point in Q2, 2022, with the base model available for $1,399. The 16-inch Yoga 7i will retail for $899, while its smaller sibling will set you back $949 before youve started speccing it up, and both arrive in Q2 this year as well. Finally, the Yoga 6 with a Ryzen 5000 will require you to hand over $749, and if you guessed that these would also drop at some point in Q2, you deserve a cookie. Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here! Samsung is best known for its QLED TVs, but at CES 2022 it's finally debuting QD-OLED, it's attempt to take on OLED TVs from LG. The tech is different from your standard OLED in that it only uses blue organic light-emitting diodes. Those diodes then shine the light they produce through a series of quantum dots, allowing the panel to produce the full spectrum of color visible to the human eye. The approach has multiple advantages. The most notable, particularly compared to current OLED displays, is that the panel can get a lot brighter. In a demo FlatspanelsHD saw at CES, one display produced more than 1,000 nits of peak brightness across a 10 percent window. For comparison, some of the more recent TVs from LG can produce between 700 nits and 1,000 nits of brightness across the same area. Brightness is something LG has consistently tried to address with its WOLD panels. In December, the companys display subsidiary unveiled its OLED EX tech, claiming it would enhance brightness by up to 30 percent compared to conventional OLED displays. Another advantage of the technology is better color performance. The panels Samsung Display showed off at CES 2022 covered 90 percent of the Rec. 2020 color gamut. LGs WOLED panels, which people consistently praise for their accurate and vibrant colors, hit about 70 percent of the Rec. 2020 standard. Lastly, viewing angles are improved, so you won't lose colors when when you're viewing QD-OLED screens from extreme angles. In addition to TVs, the technology will make its way to gaming monitors, with Samsung and Dell planning to use the tech in 34-inch displays. Well have to see how the panels perform in the real world. But on paper, QD-OLED could easily become the new standard for high-end consumer TVs. One of the first companies set to release a TV with a QD-OLED panel is Sony with its A95K sets. Unfortunately, Sony has yet to announce how much those TVs will cost, and we wont know until closer to release sometime this spring. After a give or take a decade in development hell, the film adaptation of the Uncharted series is slated to arrive in theaters next month. And during CES, Tom Holland introduced a small, action-heavy segment of the film in which he is flung from a plane, repeatedly shot at and then hit by a car. If it looks at all familiar, that's probably because this plane scene was heavily featured in the film's first trailer an apparent nod to the third game in the series. For better or worse it certainly has all the trappings of a quicktime event. The release date for Uncharted has been pushed back a few times, but it's slated to hit theaters on February 18 now. Many companies at CES 2022 have been focused on products you can find on shelves, but Hyundai came to the show with nothing less than a grand vision of the future. The company used its presentation to outline a "metamobility" strategy where robots augment humanity's capabilities to the point where you could even reconfigure whole rooms, or use a robot as a stand-in while you navigate the metaverse at home. Boston Dynamics' robots also played a large part in the event, and Hyundai was keen to discuss everything from exoskeletons through to digital twins for machinery. It's a lot to take in, we know. Thankfully, you can learn about those and more through our six-minute supercut. Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here! Enid, OK (73701) Today Cloudy this morning, then windy with scattered strong thunderstorms this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 83F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 41F. Winds NNW at 25 to 35 mph. The following analysis is strictly a logistical perspective of why China is unable to invade Taiwan militarily present-day or in the far future. The Hysterical Hype During the past several months the media has gleefully bombarded the public with the ever-increasing possibility that China will have the capability to invade Taiwan in the near present, if not the near future. Undoubtedly there has been a dramatic increase and intensity of Chinese air force incursions into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in 2021 as articulated in the following chart entitled Taiwan's Airspace Sees Increase in Chinese Military Incursions provided by the R.O.C. Ministry of National Defense (Taiwan). China's military flights into Taiwan's ADIZ are intimidation tactics meant to make Taiwan "feel" China's shadow in its long-term objective of "reunification" while at the same time garnering generous western media attention. Increased Chinese aerial incursions into Taiwan's ADIZ captivates the media's attention who in turn compound the threat to sell the news. Besides, aerial intimidation particularly with its trophy hypersonic missile, is far "sexier" headline grabbing news than artificial island building or maritime incursions into the fishing areas of neighboring countries. It's also a public relations coup for China because the hysterics and over-estimation of China as a rapidly emerging omnipotent military power within sight of world domination contradicts the reality that they are a still a paper tiger in projecting their military might offshore. Furthermore, in addition to the aircraft carrier killing exotic weapons, articles have appeared with respect to China's mock-up of US carriers in western China serving as targets for bombing runs. Rarely mentioned is that fact that China has been conducting these exercises for decades since becoming an economic juggernaut. Every country has a mock-up of their enemies' critical targets for simulation training purposes in case of a conflict. For China, if there was to be a offshore military clash, the most obvious targets would be American aircraft carriers and nearby military bases. Narrow Window of Opportunity The principal driving factors for these media hysterics are: The present-day distractions of the rampant Omicron variant Buildup of and Russian troops poised on the Ukrainian border Large Russian-Chinese joint military exercises All of the above create the illusion that an opportunistic, autocratically led Russia and China, are loosely collaborating to invade, within the same timeframe, their respective sovereign neighbors because the US is too divided, distracted, stretched to the limit of resources and political will to repel a two-front military aggression. In reality with respect to Russia, the probability of an invasion of the Ukraine is high while a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is remote. Taiwan's Perspective & Reality Leveraging China's escalating aggressive and perceived military bellicose intentions, the media presents a vulnerable, if not helpless Taiwan, who the US will be compelled to "rescue". One such article on Taiwan's lack of and readiness was published by the Wall Street Journal 26 October 2021 is entitled Does Taiwan's Military Stand a Chance Against China? Few Think So. Through selective surveys and interviews the article focused on the under-funded, low morale and lower military service requirement (4 months present-day from 2 years) of the 187,660 active soldiers (down from 275,000 in 2011) and 2.2 million Taiwanese reservists. Reality | Not Your Father's "Saving Private Ryan" All of the aforementioned has been grossly exaggerated and misinterpreted as a prelude to an imminent Chinese invasion. For starters there haven't been any reports, let alone rumors, of Chinese military mobilization whether it be land forces, vessels, equipment & materiel unlike the Russian military-buildup which has been confirmed and supported by satellite images. There has merely been bombastic political rhetoric from the Chinese leadership concerning Taiwan. If there was to be an invasion, the build-up would take place at the major Chinese naval ports specifically Qingdao, Ningbo and Zhangjiang all of which are located much further than the launch sites during D-Day. Logistically the shortest geographical distance between China and Taiwan is 100 miles with the aforementioned naval launch bases another 100-plus miles away. The shortest distance during the D-Day invasion in June 1944 was 26 miles. However Allied landing craft and supporting vessels had to depart from naval bases up to 100 miles away. Furthermore the Allies had the luxury of landing 156,000 troops at multiple wide and flat beaches with air & sea domination and was able to concentrate their efforts exclusively on Nazi Germany's beach and inland defenses. After several years of planning and wartime experience the Allies were able to successfully undertake the interoperability of various armed services (army, navy and air force) with an endless flow of supporting materiel post-landing. On the other hand even after being exposed crossing an open sea, Taiwan has an unforgiving topography with few suitable landing sites with China grossly lacking the support vessels and aircraft to supply and sustain their troops in hostile territory. It's been decades since China has undertaken large scale military operations all of which those were land-based with no history of an amphibious assault. Any attempt of such an operation against Taiwan would be even far more complicated and challenging than the D-Day version with stealth and surprise practically impossible. Despite China's high-profile, high-tech trophy weapons, even in the 21st century military conflicts are ultimately decided by the soldier with the bayonet. This is what happened with the American invasion and occupation in Gulf War II and Afghanistan where ultimately it was the American foot soldiers' arrival that secured key parts of the country before it was deemed secure. Beyond Mission Impossible Let's debunk the gross numbers with the following chart entitled The Military Imbalance In The Taiwan Strait provided by the U.S. Department of Defense. This chart represents an estimated totality of China's military in a geographically huge country, not all of which can be used in an amphibious invasion or even moved to invasion launch sites in China itself. China would still require large numbers of personnel and material against Indian aggression in the west as well as to support law enforcement in case of overwhelming domestic social unrest. Finally of the above totals for each category, military and media expert sources rarely provide an estimate the amount of "combat ready" Chinese military hardware versus those which are designated to be cannibalized for spare parts. Taiwan is a small island with limited favorable landing sites whose defenses, well-hidden in their mountainous topography, are concentrated exclusively for a Chinese invasion. This and similar comparative charts from credible sources are accurate but whose information is not translated to their suitability to real-life operational use for an amphibious operation on the scale required. In sum, the Chinese leadership is well aware of the fact that their last military conflict occurred in 1979 against the Vietnamese, a land battle just across the border, which was logistically far more simplistic, versus the enormously difficult interoperability to various armed forces in an amphibious assault, inland movement and subsequent capture of military bases, cities and utilities. 21st Century Invasion Tactic For China there are a myriad of non-military ways to achieve the goal of reunification that would almost eliminate casualties, collateral damage and political blowback, specifically loss of face for President Xi. Politically this may involve creating and stoking a socio-political environment within Taiwan through the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's largest opposition political party who still maintains the idea is that Taiwan and the mainland are one China. Without a doubt this tactic has probably been a long-term, on-going operation for decades. According to the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University, voters identifying with the KMT is 19% vs 31% for the ruling Democratic Progressive party. The KMT figure is low but even within many democracies, circumstances have reversed public sentiment in strange ways. Conclusion The Chinese leadership is leveraging the media hysteria that is creating the illusion of a militarily powerful and operationally competent giant. The purpose of this alarmist hysteria is pure sensationalism one in which, in my opinion, particular political and military leaders worldwide are using to push their own agendas whether for additional funding or misdirection and distraction from more urgent matters Copyright 2022 Cerulean Council LLC The Cerulean Council is a NYC-based think-tank that provides prescient, beyond-the-horizon, contrarian perspectives and risk assessments on geopolitical dynamics and global urban security. Jasper, IndianaKevin Schewe kicked off 2022 by winning a Silver Literary Titan Book Award for Bad Love Medicine, the fourth book in his critically acclaimed Bad Love sci-fi adventure series. According to their website, the Literary Titan Book Awards are for "books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and imagination of these talented authors." The three previous awards for Bad Love Medicine are as follows: One from The Historical Fiction Company, an award in the Young Adult category at the Southern California Book Festival and an International Book Impact Award in the same category with the addendum of Excellence for Book Content Quality. Kevin Schewe's Bad Love books definitely fit into the Literary Titan Book Award criteria of "vivid worlds, complex characters and original ideas." First, there are the primary and teritiary members of the Bad Love Gang; they are indeed a group of "complex" teenage heroes with genius abilities, bravery beyond compare, loyalty to a fault and a keen sense of their place history. Second, there are the "vivid worlds" of alien planets and their fascainting inhabitants and technology. Third, there are "original ideas" to be found around every corner with unlikely twists and turns from the battlefields of World War II to Cold War espionage of the 1970s; from dinosaur filled forests of alien planets to the nuclear bomb laboraties of the United States, Nazi Germany and beyond. In Bad Love Medicine the Gang make a just in time voyage from an alien planet in an effort to reunite a love-struck couple, this while saving one from a deadly disease in the future (wrap your head around that). At the same time, they must prevent Hitler and the Nazis from creating a time machine of their own. They battle Russian agents in the 1970s, Nazi soldiers and scientists in the 1940s and make friends with aliens from another planet. "These stories just come to life in such an organic way," says Schewe. "They combine my childhood memories with my love of history, music, military aviation, WWII, science fiction and time travel." Whether you're a history aficionado, a time-travel buff, a sci-fi lover, or are just in need of a fun book to cheer you up, Bad Love Medicine is the adventure you've been waiting for. In Bad Love Strikes, the Gang discovered The White Hole Project, a time machine created by Albert Einstein at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt in case the atomic bomb failed. In the exciting sequel, Bad Love Tigers, the gang used the White Hole Project to travel back to 1945 to thwart Russian spies and protect the secrets of Area 51. In Bad Love Beyond, the gang traveled not just through time but through space as well to learn the reason behind Blue Nova One's mysterious visit to earth. Other awards the books have won are the Wishing Shelf Red Ribbon Winner, Literary Titan Silver Book Award, NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, AMI Indie Book Awards, and an eLit Award to name a few. "Skillful writing (both historical and fantastical), a zesty sense of humor, an appreciation for pop culture, and the ability to create memorably entertaining characters combine to make this an immensely impressive noveland experience! Very highly recommended." Grady Harp, Amazon Top 100 Reviewer, 5-Stars "If history was taught this way in school, everyone would be a scholar and educating ourselves not only about our accomplishments but the horrors of the past that should awaken and give insight to the path of a better future. A rare gem!" David Holladay, MD, 5-Stars Watch the exciting book trailers at https://bit.ly/BadLoveStrikes-Trailer or https://bit.ly/BadLoveTigers_Trailer or https://bit.ly/BadLoveBeyondTrailer or https://bit.ly/BadLoveMedicineTrailer About Kevin Schewe: Kevin L. Schewe, MD, FACRO, is a board-certified cancer specialist who has been in the private practice of radiation oncology for over 34 years. He is an entrepreneur, having founded Elite Therapeutics and Bad Love Cosmetics Company, LLC. A long-time history buff, Schewe is the author of the Bad Love Book Series, a young adult sci-fi adventure that spans much of early 20th century history. You can connect with Kevin Schewe through his website KevinSchewe.com or via Instagram @realkevinschewe . Bad Love Medicine, ASIN: B098TN6GKC, Broken Crow Ridge Publishing, July 6, 2021, available on Amazon and www.jancarolpublishing.com in ebook and paperback, 258 pages. Media Contact: For a review copy of Bad Love Medicine, or previous books in the series, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Kevin Schewe, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Reach Lorenz on Twitter @abookpublicist. The head of Community Labs, a provider of rapid COVID-19 testing services, is in talks with city health officials to provide thousands of tests as the number of San Antonians infected with the omicron variant explodes. We are delighted to work with Metro Health as they explore expanding COVID-19 testing for our communities, Community Labs president Sal Webber said Tuesday. We would be happy to support Metro Health and the city by providing free ... screenings for the general public, as we have in the past. Between October 2020 and June, Community Labs administered 134,750 tests for residents at sites across San Antonio, according to Webber. On ExpressNews.com: Metro Health adds 3 new mass COVID-19 testing sites The city paid $4.7 million to the organization for the testing under its contract with the Metropolitan Health District, the local public health department. The tests, provided free to residents, cost the city $35 each, which Community Labs said was below the average market rate. In the wake of the omicron surge, Webber said his organization could run5,000 tests at a site within 48 hours of signing a new agreement and potentially could expand the operation to 10,000 tests by the following week. It also could set up two smaller locations capable of administering 2,500 tests each. Metro Health reported 11,528 new COVID-19 cases in Bexar County from Saturday to Monday, as well as two deaths and 506 patients hospitalized with the virus, including 22 children. The health district raised its COVID-19 risk level to severe, just below critical, the highest threat level. Metro Health officials said they would be adding new testing services. But they didnt mention Community Labs, which launched in September 2020 with funding from San Antonio-based Rackspace Technology co-founder Graham Weston and two local philanthropies the Tobin Endowment and the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. While there is enough testing capacity in the community, the city has requested expanded capacity at the states testing sites, Metro Health officials said in a news release. The city has also authorized additional testing sites to be established over the coming days. Metro Health Director Claude Jacob urged people to wear face masks and to get COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots. He said the city had adequate testing capabilities. The citys COVID-19 testing webpage lists 24 sites that provide free testing and 74 others that offer tests for a range of fees. On Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would open six new COVID-19 testing sites across Texas, including one in Bexar County. State officials said they expect the centers to open next week. ExpressNews.com: FEMA will open six new COVID testing sites across Texas after Abbotts request for aid Making contact On Dec. 13, city health officials reported the first two confirmed omicron cases in Bexar County. Webber said he sent an email to Mayor Ron Nirenbergs office to pitch a renewal of Community Labs testing services agreement within days of the omicron announcement. He was referred to Jacob, the Metro Health director. Jacob called Webber on Monday, after a reporter asked Metro Health whether the department was talking with Community Labs about providing testing services. Last month, Metro Health officials blamed a threefold increase in COVID-19 cases in Bexar County on the omicron variant and highlighted the importance of testing. They urged residents to take home tests before attending indoor get-togethers or to schedule an appointment for testing at one of the citys free sites already in operation. Metro Health Assistant Director Dr. Anita Kurian, who oversees the citys disease division, said in a Dec. 21 San Antonio Express-News report that testing was very widely available. During the previous peaks, weve tested up to 80,000 to 83,000 tests on a weekly basis, she said. Currently, we are anywhere from 55,000 to 61,000 tests on a weekly basis. So we have capacity to test should there be an increased demand. A survey Tuesday of Metro Healths webpage found that many of the sites required an appointment. At some, openings for tests werent available until early next week. Community Labs could provide walk-in testing options for people, Webber said. The nonprofit isnt a 100 percent solution, he said, but we are an effective tool. Workload Early on, Community Labs partnered with BioBridge Global, a nonprofit that operates area blood banks. BioBridge housed the nonprofit in its headquarters off Interstate 10 on the Northwest Side. Community Labs focuses in part on rapid, repeated testing of people in workplaces and classrooms. The organization relies on a polymerase chain reaction test, which involves taking a sample with a cotton swab from the front of one nostril. The nonprofit deemed the test more sensitive than most other COVID-19 tests and faster. People could get their results in under 24 hours. Community Labs signed agreements with public school districts, universities, the city, private businesses and others, administering hundreds of thousands of the coronavirus tests. It conducted more than 850,000 tests overall and drove the turnaround time for results to under 19 hours. In June, Community Labs announced that it would end its contracts with the city and businesses and shift its focus to supporting schools with campus-based testing. Funding for the tests came from the Texas Division of Emergency Management via Bexar County. Webber said the nonprofit continues to test about 15,000 children on more than 300 school campuses in Bexar County and in Laredo and San Marcos. Community Labs also is resuming testing for Rackspace and other local companies. The tests now have a turnaround time of about 12 hours, Webber said. eric.killelea@express-news.net CPS Energy has sold its former headquarters along the River Walk downtown to Blueprint Hospitality, which plans to convert it to a hotel. Blueprint purchased the 10-story building at 145 Navarro St. along with the city-owned utilitys interest in the Tower Life building parking garage last month for $19 million. Based in the Houston and Chicago areas, Blueprint specializes in converting historic buildings to hotels, managing partner and CEO Kunal Mody said. It has completed or is working on projects in Little Rock, St. Louis and Fort Worth. On ExpressNews.com: Historic River Walk building on market for $13 million Its plans for San Antonio, such as a hotel brand and number of rooms the building will include, were still being ironed out. The basement through eighth floor were constructed in 1926 and floors nine and 10 were added in 1984 and 1985, according to CBRE, which marketed the property. The building includes about 211,352 square feet of space. Its proximity to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and River Walk frontage are attractive, said Kishan Patel, Blueprint managing partner and chief operating officer. The ability to own real estate on the River Walk that opportunity does not come every day, he said. We feel strongly about the market ... believing that corporate business will be back again, it seems like its well-positioned to capture some of the opportunities down there. The historic building is located in a federal opportunity zone and a tax increment reinvestment zone. Opportunity zones were established by former President Donald Trumps 2017 tax bill to attract investment to economically-disadvantaged areas. Investors can get tax breaks on capital gains if they put their capital in long-term investments within the zones. On ExpressNews.com: Will a Trump tax break fuel investment in San Antonio or just give money away? In tax increment reinvestment zones, increases in property tax revenue are used to reimburse developers for public improvements, such as sidewalks and drainage. Mody and Patel said they were considering using both mechanisms. The building was among more than $50 million worth of properties CPS designated as surplus and listed for sale in 2019 to help offset the $210 million cost of its new headquarters on McCullough Avenue. There were multiple bidders, CPS spokesman John Moreno said. Last year the utility sold an adjacent office building and parking garage at 146 Navarro St. for $22.25 million to BH Properties, a Los Angeles-based company that plans to renovate it. It also sold a former customer service center at 7000 San Pedro Ave. for $5.25 million to KEM Texas Ltd., which is affiliated with Paul Covey and Kevin Covey of local firm GrayStreet Partners. On ExpressNews.com: CPS Energy to give piece of downtown land to San Antonio Museum of Art and sell the rest The Villita Assembly building at 401 Villita St., a parking lot next to the Mexican Consulate and a former service center on Jones Avenue are among CPS properties still on the market. CPS board of trustees voted in 2015 to donate about half of the nearly 7-acre Jones site to the San Antonio Museum of Art and sell the other half. But the utility and the museum could not reach an agreement before a 2019 deadline. Dealing with financial fallout from the pandemic and fuel costs racked up during Februarys winter storm, trustees last year voted to instead give 1 acre to the museum and sell the rest. madison.iszler@express-news.net San Antonios Frost Bank faces a potential class-action lawsuit alleging it charged overdraft fees on accounts that were not actually overdrawn. The suit follows a similar action against San Antonios Credit Human Federal Credit Union in April, also filed in state District Court in San Antonio. Indeed, the suit against Frost Bank contains several paragraphs nearly identical to ones in the Credit Human complaint with the only difference being that the banks name is substituted for the credit unions. Numerous financial institutions have settled similar complaints involving overdraft fees in the last year. Many other cases are still pending. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios Credit Human Federal Credit Union hit with class-action lawsuit over overdraft fees San Antonio resident Theodore Woods filed the suit against Frost Bank last week over what he calls its unfair and unconscionable collection of overdraft fees on certain transactions. Wood says his checking account contract documents addressing overdraft fees promise Frost will only charge such fees on transactions where there are insufficient funds to cover them. But Wood adds Frost charges the overdraft fees even when there are sufficient funds to cover a debit card transactions. Frosts customers have been injured by Frosts improper practices to the tune of millions of dollars bilked from their accounts in violation of their agreements with Frost, Woods alleges. Bank spokesman Bill Day declined to comment on the lawsuit. He referred a reporter to an April press release that said Frost would no longer charge overdraft fees for certain customers when they overdraw their checking accounts by up to $100 as long as they have monthly direct deposits of at least $500. Frost understands its human to make a mistake and wants to show customers they matter by giving them this overdraft grace where they need it, the bank said. Frost previously charged $35 for each overdraft, up to $175 a day, Day said in April. That still applied for overdrafts over $100, but most overdrafts are for less than that amount. The bank generated $32.3 million in overdraft and insufficient fund charges on consumer and commercial accounts in 2020, down from $42.3 million in 2019. It didnt publicly reveal how much the change might cost it in revenue. Austin lawyer Jeff Edwards, part of Woods legal team, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The suit seeks more than $1 million in damages. SA Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox According to Woods lawsuit, at the moment a debit card transaction is authorized on an account with positive funds to cover the transaction, Frost immediately reduces a customers checking account to cover the amount of that transaction. As a result, the suit adds, a customer's account will always have sufficient funds available to cover debit card transactions because Frost already has put aside those funds for payment. In other words, the funds are unavailable to cover subsequent transactions. This means many subsequent transactions incur overdraft fees due to the unavailability of the funds set aside for those debit card transactions. However, Frost still assesses crippling OD Fees on many of these transactions and misrepresents its practices in its Account Agreement, the suit says. The Credit Human case remains pending. The credit union sought to have the case dismissed but state District Judge Antonia Arteaga denied the request in August. A motion to certify the case as a class-action has not been ruled on. Other financial institutions have settled similar lawsuits. For example, in April, Navy Federal Credit Union agreed to pay $16 million to class members in a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia. The credit union allegedly charged multiple non-sufficient fund fees on the same transaction. Navy Federal agreed to settle even though the judge had granted its request to dismiss the case. The plaintiff was in the process of appealing the ruling when the case settled. In May, Bank of America settled a class-action suit for $75 million over similar allegations. Two of the law firms in those cases represent Woods, while one of them is part of the legal team representing the plaintiff in the Credit Human case. pdanner@express-news.net The hottest item of the new year might be a COVID-19 test. Amid a surge of infections, demand for the tests has soared. At-home rapid tests are scarce and testing sites have lines wrapped around the block in some areas of Bexar County. Online appointments are also full. On ExpressNews.com: Did COVID-19 take your sense of smell? Here is how to get it back. Heres what we know about the current outlook. At-home rapid COVID tests: If you can find an at-home test, major retailers, such as CVS, Walmart and Walgreens, have imposed limits on how many you can buy. Amazon has also added caps. The worldwide demand for the test is a large factor in why theyre so hard to find. Supply chain problems that have plagued the country for months are also a factor. Estella Raychaudhuri, the president of InBios International, told NPR this week that the company is having difficulty getting raw materials necessary for items such as swabs and printed material. In an effort to curb the rise in cases, the federal government announced that it will soon begin mailing at-home COVID test kits for free to any U.S. household that requests one. The Biden administration said it would ship as many as 500 million kits. After a deal with the White House to sell at-home testing kits expired, both Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. announced they will raise prices, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The price of BinaxNOW tests at Walmart will rise to $19.88 this week from $14. Kroger told Bloomberg that it was reinstating "retail pricing" after completing its three-month commitment to the Biden administration. Walmart told Bloomberg it kept the lower price during the holidays even after the deal with the White House expired. That agreement also extended to Amazon. In the meantime, the Texas Hospital Association said recently that individuals needing a COVID-19 because of a recent exposure or are experiencing mild symptoms should seek care at a pharmacy, doctors office or dedicated testing site. This helps ensure that resources for critical care emergency departments are accessible, the association said. Many local pharmacies, however, are also booked several days in advance. CVS said in a post on its website that appointments are limited and lab test results are taking one to three days to process because of the surge in cases. COVID testing sites: Local health officials have raised the areas COVID-19 risk level to severe, just below critical, the highest threat level. But anyone who has tried to get a test recently has been largely met with long lines and full appointments. Curative, which runs the vast majority of free testing sites in San Antonio, told the Express-News this week that patients booking appointments at its locations can get in to be tested within one or two days. As of Tuesday, however, many of the testing sites were booked through the rest of the week. Curative is testing about 10,000 people per day in the San Antonio area during the current surge. Still, while the testing lines may be long, the company said everyone who has wanted a test has gotten a test. The city of San Antonio is weighing whether to renew its partnership with Community Labs, a provider of rapid COVID-19 testing services. The company told the Express-News it could provide thousands of additional tests to help with the demand. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will open six new COVID-19 testing sites across Texas, including one in Bexar County. How to get a test: You can find the nearest testing site at Curative.com. A list of local testing locations can also be found at covid19.sanantonio.gov along with phone numbers and hours of operation. Timothy.Fanning@express-news.net When Antoinette Lakey takes her seat on opening night of Hamilton at the Majestic Theatre, she will be making good on a promise that her late life partner was unable to fulfill before his death. Bill Lewis saw the show on Broadway and later introduced Lakey to the music. She fell hard for the score, listening to the cast album nonstop in the car and at home. When the Majestic announced in February 2018 that the show would be part of its 2019-20 Broadway in San Antonio season, Lewis told her hed make sure she saw it. He said, No matter what, I promise you, you will see Hamilton, said Lakey, 52. He passed away before it came. He died in March, and they came the following year. She didnt see the show that year tickets were too expensive but her passion for Hamilton didnt flag. She watched it dozens of times when it aired on Disney+ and rotates songs from the musical as her ring tone. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio sculptor Antonio Medina created local landmarks Lackey also has been known to play and sometimes sing songs from the show at the San Antonio Housing Authority, where she works. Her boss took note, and last month, she handed Lakey an envelope with a Hamilton ticket inside. I burst into tears, Lakey said. Im overwhelmed with gratitude. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. Lewis will be with her when she finally sees Hamilton onstage. I have some of his ashes in a locket, she said. Im taking him to see Hamilton with me. Lakey is one of many San Antonians enthralled by the Lin-Manuel Mirandas blockbuster musical, which recounts the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton. Here are the stories of a few other local superfans. Antoinette Lakey Welcoming a tiny new fan Chrissy Quattro, 31, had heard songs from the Hamilton cast album, but the show didnt completely grab her until she and her husband watched the film version on Disney+. My husband and I became obsessed with the soundtrack, said Quattro, a native San Antonian who is a doctoral fellow in city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania. We would play it all the time, and we made my mom watch it. Its on my most played Spotify songs of 2021. On ExpressNews.com: Take a look at the Hamilton mural backstage at the Majestic It also helped welcome her 2-week-old daughter Patricia into the world, since it played while Quattro was in labor. When I was in the hospital, it was something comforting, she said. I knew all the words. Its such a good musical and so well done everyone is so good. It was calming as the doctors were coming in and out and the contractions were picking up. It was nice to have that going so I could focus on that and not everything else going on. Alyson Miller / Fans from the start Hamilton When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Sundays and 2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays through Jan. 16, with additional performances at 1:30 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Where: Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St. Tickets: $49-$299, majesticempire.com; digital lottery for $10 tickets is available through the "Hamilton" app. See More Collapse Back in 2010, Justine Del Toro started following Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter. She had seen his musical In the Heights in Austin and was so taken with it that she wanted to keep tabs on what was coming next. That was early in the development of Hamilton, his follow-up show, and his feed filled with factoids about the founding father. Eventually, he posted drafts, said Del Toro, 27, who teaches theater at Nimitz Middle School. It was cool to see him go from tweeting random thoughts about the process to hearing about it being workshopped. She went to the third preview performance, snapping up tickets in the second row while the show was still relatively low-profile. She already loved the music. The diversity of the cast struck a deeper chord. I remember that as soon as the orchestra played their first note, I started tearing up, she said. And then, Leslie Odom Jr. walked out on the stage, and I just started crying. And as more of them came out, it was incredible to see. Im Hispanic, and I connected to what they were doing. I went to (the North East School of the Arts) and had a really hard time my senior year finding audition monologues because I didnt see myself. This was the first time I saw that many people of color onstage, and it wasnt just about their race or just about being a person of color. Romana Kleinguenther-Munoz Like Del Toro, Seabrook Jones took note of the show early in its development. It first caught her attention in 2009, when Miranda performed Alexander Hamilton at the White House as part of an arts celebration. Jones, who teaches American history, was intrigued by the concept and the use of hip-hop in the score. The next time Hamilton popped up on her radar, it had become a phenomenon. She was curious about the finished production, but she didnt want to listen to the music or watch clips she wanted to see it onstage in person. She did that during the first Majestic run in 2019. She loved all of it, she said, and also was struck by the way it was cast. Its really exciting what theater can do, and how it can make you imagine and think about the country in a different way, she said. Our nation really was built by all these different sorts of people. Jones, 40, will be going to the Majestic show with three of her colleagues from San Antonio College, where she is an assistant professor of history. She sometimes uses clips from the show in her classes, making clear that it takes some dramatic license with events. She has seen her students interest level rise significantly. On ExpressNews.com: Guide to new downtown murals A lot of my students wouldnt have gravitated to this material otherwise, she said. Its pretty cool to be able to combine my deep love of history with my deep love of musical theater. Maggie Wilmoth Singing along For years, friends told Alyssa De La O, academic services coordinator for Texas A&M University-San Antonio, that she needed to check out Hamilton, but she kept putting it off. She finally got around to it right before it debuted on Disney+, listening to the cast album to prep for the movie. She immediately got what her friends had been trying to tell her about how special the show was. By the time the movie rolled around, she knew all the words. She threw a movie party so friends who werent familiar with the show could watch it with her and her husband. They said not in a bad way Alyssa, let us hear it, its so amazing, De La O, 28, said. I just wanted to sing along to it. Sparking something new Maggie Wilmoth Saint Marys Hall senior Bella Munoz was in middle school when her sister played her the song Youll Be Back from Hamilton. It grabbed her imagination immediately, and soon her love of the music ascended to a different level. She started writing and illustrating an epic graphic novel inspired by it, telling the whole story in 35 books. Munoz did a lot of research along the way, reading up on King George III and George Washington, among others, to make sure that her books were historically accurate. She also launched a YouTube channel, Izzy Draws, featuring her animated fan art celebrating the show. One video featuring the Schuyler Sisters has been watched more than 47,000 times. Munoz has now seen Hamilton twice once in New York and once in London. The 17-year-old sometimes pulls her books off the shelf to look at what she created. Although sometimes, Ill look back and say, Oh, this one was not as good, I have a sense of pride in it, she said. I know this is the beginning of where I became more serious about storytelling and drawing and all these other aspects of myself. Hamilton also inspired Donald Mason, executive director of the Classical Music Institute and a performer, to create something. Mason has slowly been crafting an 80-minute, one-man, a capella take on the show. I like to perform, and really, in a lot of ways, there hasnt been a musical project that has captured my attention so much and for so long, said Mason, 40. And it doesnt get old to me. I feel like Ive listened to it 200 times, and theres always something that Im discovering. The show is famously dense lyrically Mason noted that some have said it would take at least six hours to perform if it were paced more like a traditional musical and that makes it tough to nail solo. One of the challenges is finding space within the words to breathe, he said. If you watch the musical, somebody can go really hard at their lines, and they know theyre going to have a break where they get to breathe. If you do all the parts, you dont get those built-in moments for breathing. You have to create those moments. Best. Presents. Ever. Romana Kleinguenther-Munoz Five years ago, Maggie Weathington Wilmoth threw her youngest daughter, Lilly Grace, a Broadway-themed party at the Woodlawn Theatre for her 10th birthday. The menu included Aaron Burrgers and cakes shaped like the Schuyler sisters, which Wilmoth baked herself. There also was a scavenger hunt in which the clues led to the revelation of a dream-come-true gift: Tickets to see the show on Broadway. We got lots of cheers from the 10- and 12-year-olds, said Wilmoth, 46, who is a real estate broker. I felt like parent of the year. The whole family including dad Matthew and Lilly Graces sister Savannah went to see the show. And they will see it again during its Majestic run. We like to compare our favorites: I like this Aaron Burr, this is my favorite Hamilton, Wilmoth said. Every single cast blows you away. Alyson Miller, a corporate trainer for a technology company, took her then-16-year-old daughter Anyka to see the show on Broadway in 2018. She also arranged for a very special extra. Miller.a longtime fan of the show, had struck up a friendship with Gillian Pensavalle, host of The Hamilcast, a podcast devoted to it. Through that contact, she arranged for Anyka to meet the cast onstage. She was just glowing with happiness and so, so thrilled, said Miller, 45. There isnt a lot that only I could make happen for her, and I was glad to have that opportunity to give her something special, a truly magical moment that she will have forever. dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN At least eight historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats Tuesday, school officials said, triggering abrupt evacuations of students and employees. Spelman College, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Howard University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University in Texas and Xavier University of Louisiana reported bomb threats. No explosions occurred. Multiple schools ordered evacuations or lockdowns and alerted local law enforcement. It was not immediately clear whether the threats were connected or whether they were racially motivated. By early Wednesday, all of the schools had released all-clear notices to their communities. In many cases, the threats arrived in the midst of winter break, or to campuses much emptier than usual as school officials sought to keep people safe amid the pandemic. "Although the threat was unfounded we ask that everyone remains vigilant," a statement from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff said, adding that the full student body hadn't yet returned from the holiday break but those who were there were relocated off campus. At Howard, the start of the semester was delayed due to a surge of coronavirus cases in the D.C. area in December, so students were not on campus. They can begin moving in Jan. 14 for classes expected to begin Jan. 18. Administrative operations had resumed Monday, but most staff members are working remotely at the moment, according to a Howard spokeswoman, Kimberly Holmes-Iverson. The university said D.C. police contacted Howard's Department of Public Safety on Tuesday afternoon to alert them that their dispatch center had received an anonymous call saying that two bombs had been placed in Howard's administration building. The two departments secured the perimeter, according to a statement from the university, evacuated the building and searched the area. No active devices were found, and the area was cleared. Spelman College officials announced Wednesday that its Department of Public Safety and the Atlanta Police Department responded to a potential bomb threat in the Manley College Center on campus Tuesday. The building was secured after a search; no device was found, and Atlanta police continue to investigate. A bomb threat was called in to Norfolk State University on Tuesday evening, school officials said in a statement. The university's police chief, Brian Covington, said police relocated all students, faculty and staff to a safe location until the campus was cleared. The FBI and Norfolk Police Department are helping the university's police department in the investigation. Whitney Cruse, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Washington Field Office said they are collaborating with other law enforcement agencies in areas where the threats occurred. "We have no current evidence that HBCU's are specifically targeted," Cruse said in a statement. "We are monitoring the events closely." The threatening messages arrived during the afternoon or evening, schools said. Pine Bluff officials said their school received a threat about 5:15 p.m. Shortly after that, at about 5:30 p.m., North Carolina Central University police received a call regarding a bomb threat on campus. The campus was immediately locked down, according to school officials, with an alert sent to students and employees. Multiple agencies, including ATF, law enforcement and fire departments worked with university police to ensure all buildings were cleared, according to a university statement. An all-clear was issued at 9:15 p.m. The threats come after three Ivy League schools received similar threats in November and TikTok posts hinting at potential school shootings prompted a dozen school districts across the country to tighten security last month. Law enforcement officials later determined those threats were not credible. Nationally, the frequency of bomb threats has declined in the past two years, according to the latest tallies disclosed by a federal government data center. But the number of actual bombings has risen - a trend that forces schools to take threats more seriously. In 2020, the most recent year for which the data center has published tallies, officials said 818 bomb threats had been documented. That figure was about a 20% drop from the previous year and about half of the 1,627 threats received in 2018. But officials reported 428 bombing incidents in 2020, a 71% increase from the previous year and the highest number since 2016, when 439 bombings were documented by ATF. - - - The Washington Post's Peter Hermann contributed to this report. China condemns US whitewashing terrorism 2 years after assassination of Iranian general (People's Daily App) 13:13, January 05, 2022 China on Tuesday condemned the US for whitewashing atrocities by using so-called "rule-based international order" as Iranians mourned the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani two years ago. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a routine press briefing in Beijing in response to a question about the second anniversary of the assassination. Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020. Iran's permanent representative to the UN condemned the killing as an act of state terrorism. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the people responsible should face justice for their actions. Wang called Soleimani's assassination "another example of the US wantonly undermining the basic norms governing international relations and one of the war crimes committed by the US with abuse of force." He said, "The US breaks the international law and conducts targeted killings with acts of terrorism in various countries and kills hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians across the world." The US whitewashed "illegal and atrocious behaviors behind the facade of the so-called 'rules-based international order,'" Wang said. The US has repeatedly claimed it would uphold the order but the fact remained that "the US only cares about the order that meet its needs and serve its interests," the ministry spokesperson said. The US strived to maintain a hegemony that allowed it to override the international community, he said. People in Middle East countries do not accept an order that violates international law and nor do people across the world, Wang said. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) Gov. Greg Abbott's decision on Tuesday to sue the Biden administration over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the military including the Texas National Guard drew a mixed reaction on social media. The lawsuit argues that the vaccine requirement should not apply to members of the state's national guard who have not been activated by the federal government. In a statement from his office and on his Twitter account, Abbott' reminded Texans that he is the commander-in-chief of the state's militia. "Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions," Abbott said in the letter to the Texas Miliaty Department. "And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine." On ExpressNews.com: Foes left and right blame Abbott for suicides, pay delays among Texas troops deployed to the border Attorney General Ken Paxton echoed Abbott's arguments on Twitter and called President Joe Biden's vaccine "illegal." Several Twitter users who agree with the governor tweeted "Let's go Brandon" in response to Abbott's tweet. The slogan is a stand in for F Joe Biden and became popular among Republicans after a post-NASCAR race interview in October. Others pointed out that the governor is suing the Biden administration after requesting federal assistance last Friday to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases. On Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to set up six new test sites across the state, including one in Bexar County. State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, on Wednesday asked in a tweet: "Didn't you just ask (the Biden administration) for help?" The tweet earned a retweet from U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio. Twitter users also highlighted Abbott's vaccine status and expressed confusion about his stance against the military mandate. The governor is vaccinated. U.S. Rep. Chris Turner of the Arlington and Grand Prairie areas said in a tweet that Abbott should be thanking the president instead of suing the administration. Allen West, a Republican candidate for Texas governor and primary challenger to Abbott, also took a swipe at the governor with a tweet that said "Lawyers sue...Warriors lead." Malak.Silmi@express-news.net U.S. Army North has expanded its COVID-19 support operations for civilian hospitals to New Hampshire and New York. The command said this week it would send 35 military medical personnel to civilian hospitals in both states. A 15-person team will head to New Hampshire while a 20-member team is going to New York. The San Antonio-based command already has sent medical teams to hospitals in eight states. Military medical personnel are just one of the many tools available to the nation to combat COVID-19 and save lives, said Lt. Gen. John R. Evans Jr., U.S. Army North commander, adding that his troops were working with Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to provide additional support for hospitals facing capacity issues. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio-based Army North sends COVID medical teams to Michigan, New Mexico The medical personnel include nurses, respiratory therapists and doctors. A 15-member Air Force team will go to Elliott Hospital in Manchester, N.H., while a Navy team is headed to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The joint DoD effort includes 13 teams working in eight other states one in Arizona, one in Colorado, one in Indiana, four in Michigan, two in Minnesota, one in New Mexico, two in Pennsylvania and another in Wisconsin. Army North, under U.S. Northern Commands oversight, provides operational command of the teams. The command, headquartered at the historic Quadrangle on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, has ordered military medical personnel to civilian hospitals across the country to help cope with COVID-19 surges. The command has deployed more than 10,000 troops to help civilian health care providers since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, helping to fill gaps in COVID-19 care and assist overworked doctors and nurses. Army North has helped to support hospitals through much of the pandemic, but also began helping with federal vaccination efforts in early February. It oversaw around 150 military medical and support personnel from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force and operated in 25 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, administering 5 million vaccines before ending the mission June 21. The commands mission to support another wave of COVID-19 hospital patients across the nation resumed in mid-August. sigc@express-news.net An FBI dive team is searching a Northwest Side creek for evidence in the disappearance of 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the FBIs underwater search and evidence response team from Washington, D.C., is sifting through water near Oakland Drive and Babcock Road, just east of the intersection of Huebner and Babcock roads. Investigators are following a lead that brought them there, McManus said. He declined to elaborate on the information. Lina has been missing since Dec. 20, when she was last seen on a playground at the Villas del Cabo apartments, 9400 Fredericksburg Road. On ExpressNews.com: SAPD: Bag of bones discovered not related to Lina Sardar Khil Police have since searched all 300 apartments and the surrounding area with the FBIs help. But as of Monday, there have been no developments in the case. I wish I could be more uplifting, McManus said. All were doing here is following up on leads. The chief said divers would be out until nightfall and back on Wednesday. William Luther/Staff This specific dive team was called because of the technology it employs in such searches, McManus said. A flurry of activity is still going on behind the scenes, he said, as investigators compare information they have found so far to develop new leads. Linas disappearance is still considered a missing person case as of Tuesday, the chief said. Via The Creative Mango owner Marco Garcia Anyone with information regarding Linas disappearance is urged to call the missing persons unit at 210-207-7660. jbeltran@express-news.net Banners of Lina Sardar Khils young face are pinned to residential fences, posted on business windows, and hanging on the back of tow trucks around San Antonio. The 3-foot-by-5-foot posters include the word missing at the top, with the 3-year-olds name and the phone number to the San Antonio Police Departments missing persons unit. Marco Garcia, who owns local printing and label design company The Creative Mango, started giving them out a week after Linas disappearance. I would hate to think that if something like this would happen to my kids that for one to three days they get coverage and then thats it everyone goes on about their day, Garcia said. The 38-year-old father has a young daughter of his own, along with a young son. I would want the world to completely stop and know that people would stop doing what theyre doing to help me find my kids, he said. On ExpressNews.com: Search for missing 3-year-old Lina Khil enters third week Lina went missing about two weeks ago from the Villas del Cabo apartment complex near the Medical Center. Garcia initially set out to give away 100 banners, but thanks to material and monetary donations, he has given out 120 and has ample supplies and funds to make at least 250 more. A banner this size normally sells for about $75, meaning Garcia has given away about $9,000 worth of product. Although he does not require anyone to donate money to receive banners, Garcia said that since he started he has received about $200 in donations. And when representatives of Roland DGA Corporation which sells printers, among other products heard about The Creative Mangos efforts, they donated material. On ExpressNews.com: SAPD: Bag of bones discovered not related to Lina Sardar Khil Garcias first banners used the word abduction. But since police have been treating it as a missing persons case, they now read: If you have any information regarding Lina Sardar Khil please call San Antonio Police Department 210-207-7660. You can pick up one or more from The Creative Mango office at 1203 Buena Vista St. #101. Garcia said Google Maps still shows the companys previous address, but that should be fixed later this week. Garcia has seen business owners and community members alike picking up banners to hang at their homes and workplaces. And its not just San Antonians: He receives requests from places like Boerne and areas near Dallas. He said he is glad that people are coming together to find Lina. The Lord blessed me with this company, Garcia said, and if I can use my services to help out someone in need, Im here to do whatever I can. megan.rodriguez@express-news.net For someone who lies with considerable frequency, our states junior U.S. senator is remarkably bad at it. For example, when Ted Cruz kissed up to Donald Trump in the early stages of the 2016 GOP presidential race calling Trump terrific and inviting him to a Capitol Hill rally in opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran it was obvious that Cruz didnt believe a word he was spewing. Cruz confirmed as much when he privately told supporters that Trumps candidacy ultimately would falter, and the bombastic reality stars supporters would have no choice but to gravitate to Cruz. Cruzs obsequious gushing for Trump in 2015 was no more contrived than his theatrical denunciation of Trump in May 2016, when he called his rival a pathological liar, utterly amoral, a serial philanderer and a narcissist at a level I dont think this countrys ever seen. Cruz had simply shifted strategies, in a late attempt to spook Republican delegates away from what looked like an inevitable Trump nomination. During last years devastating winter freeze, when Cruz got busted for taking a stealth vacation in Cancun, he threw his daughters under the bus by claiming he made the trip purely to please them. No one bought it, but it was an impressive display of shamelessness. If Cruzs default mode is to engage in transparent manipulations, he tends to drop his cover when asked about his interest in the presidency. During a Dec. 22 interview with the Truth Gazette, Cruz was refreshingly honest about his political ambitions. When asked if he would consider launching another run for the presidency, the senator said, Absolutely, in a heartbeat. Cruz described his 2016 presidential campaign as the most fun Ive ever had in my life and bragged about the $92 million he raised and his second-place finish to Trump. Cruzs bigger point was that he is uniquely positioned to take the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Theres a reason historically that the runner up is almost always the next nominee, Cruz said. And thats been true going back to Nixon or Reagan or McCain or Romney. That has played out repeatedly. You come in with just an enormous base of support. A couple of Cruzs examples were inaccurate. Richard Nixon never finished second in a Republican primary race. He won the GOP nomination in 1960 and lost a close general-election contest to John F. Kennedy that year, before making his big comeback in 1968. Also, Mike Huckabee, not Mitt Romney, actually finished second in total delegates in the 2008 Republican primary. Cruzs thesis, however, is correct. Over the past 60 years, the GOP has tended to favor familiar candidates who paid their dues by finishing second in a previous primary race. Its a tendency referenced in the old line that Democrats fall in love while Republicans fall in line. There are two problems with Cruzs theory. History has shown that its not simply about finishing second in a GOP primary. Its about enhancing your political profile along the way. Ronald Reagan became the undisputed messenger of the American conservative movement during his second-place finish in 1976 and was basically the anointed candidate going into 1980. John McCain established his brand as a straight-talking maverick during his unsuccessful bid for the 2000 nomination. That carried over into 2008. Cruz, however, simultaneously managed in 2016 to exceed expectations and damage his standing with Republican voters. He got booed on national television when he refused to endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention. Anti-Trump Republicans who respected Cruzs stance would soon be disappointed when Cruz buckled to party pressure and joined Team Trump. Cruzs damaged standing was confirmed by a tense 2018 Senate re-election campaign in which he defeated Democratic challenger Beto ORourke by only 2.6 percentage points. It was the first time since 1988 that a Texas Republican had failed to win a U.S. Senate race by less than double digits. The bigger problem with Cruzs theory, however, is that hes referring to a political paradigm that might not exist anymore. Precedent doesnt mean much in a party under the spell of Donald Trump. If Trump follows through on his repeated hints that he will run in 2024, there is no viable path for Cruz. Cruz has defended Trump so relentlessly over the past five years, he cant make a credible case against him in 2024. If Trump stays out, Cruz will have to contend with a crowded field likely to include Ron DeSantis, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley and, possibly, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Cruz wont be the heir apparent. Hell just be another Republican relegated to standing in Trumps burly shadow. ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Re: To save S.A. symphony, banish classical music, Other Views, Thursday: Mike Greenbergs take on the San Antonio Symphony was music to my ears. Hopefully, the symphonic powers that be are listening more to the sounds of the rational thinkers and less to their lack of a bottom line. Bring us the music we want to hear, and we will support the needs of our citys symphony. There is more to the compromise than salaries. Do your research and determine what your audience wants. Cathey Meyer ... but one note off Though Im more of a heavy metal connoisseur, I agree with Mike Greenbergs point that perhaps the symphony should put the term classical to rest. Also, his very last point about the lack of a Hispanic music director is well-taken. However, he errs a bit by citing aggregate GDP. Arguably, the more relevant figure here is GDP/capita. By that measure, the cities he cites in comparison Nashville, Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio solidly outpace ours. Theres your reason those folks tend to rake in more contributions. Then I realized he erred a lot: The GDP info he cited is incorrect. All those cities respective GDPs are, contrary to what Mr. Greenberg writes, bigger than San Antonios. I stress to my students the importance of getting their facts straight before/while debating (positive vs. normative statements). This is a good example of why. Christopher E. Baecker, adjunct instructor of economics, Northwest Vista College Times at SAC change Re: Expand the free rental of college textbooks, Other Views, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson, Friday: This column brought back memories of my classmates and myself when we attended San Antonio College in the late 1950s. There was only one campus then, and that was on San Pedro Avenue. We referred to SAC as San Antonio High School because most of the students were from area high school districts, and most students could not afford the cost of college tuition ($2.50 per credit hour then) plus the cost of textbooks at other colleges and universities. There were fewer scholarships available, and no federal student loans. We would buy our used textbooks from the bookstore, if they were available. Most of us managed the college costs by working part time. Most of the stores were downtown and the bus stop was next to SAC, which made it easy to get to work. Just another bump in the road. Manuel Vera Jr. Both Republicans and Democrats are criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott over four suicides that have been reported since October among Texas National Guard troops serving on the border in the governors Operation Lone Star. On Tuesday Republican Allen West, who is running against Abbott in the Republican primary on March 1, demanded an investigation into the Texas Military Department and said Abbott needs to answer for what is happening. I think this falls squarely on the shoulders of the person that ordered the commencement of Operation Lone Star. And thats you, Gov. Abbott, said West, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. Abbott has deployed 10,000 troops for the operation, saying the force is necessary to stop illegal border crossings as a record-setting surge of migrants tried to enter the U.S. last year. RELATED: In 2021, Bidens border flip-flops energized his foes and baffled his allies The Army Times reported late last month that four of the members deployed to the border have committed suicide since October. On Tuesday, the publication reported another attempted suicide and an accidental death. West said on Tuesday that so many deaths in such a short period demand a thorough investigation and a staff shakeup. West said Texas Adjutant General Tracy Norris, who oversees the states National Guard, should be relieved of command. FOES PRESS ON GRID FAILURE: Gov. Abbott reassures Texans the grid is stable as Beto ORourke and Allen West blame him for February crash His comments come just days after Democrat Beto ORourke who is also running against Abbott criticized the two-term incumbent for the reported suicides and other problems including paycheck delays within the ranks. Abbott is the commander-in-chief of the Texas National Guard, ORourke said in an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle. If he chooses to deploy those under his command, it is his duty to pay them, deliver the benefits he promised them and ensure they receive proper mental health support in order to prevent the kind of tragedy weve seen in recent months. West, who spent almost a year as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, is one of seven Republicans who are running against Abbott in the GOP primary. On the Democratic side, ORourke is one of five Democrats running in a March 1 primary. Abbott Press Secretary Renae Eze said its President Joe Bidens reckless immigration policies that deserve blame for creating a crisis on the border. She said Operation Lone Star has resulted in 83,000 migrants apprehended and 9,200 arrests. Texas is beyond grateful for the brave men and women of the National Guard and DPS who are diligently and selflessly securing the border in the federal governments absence, she said. We continue working with service leaders to ensure all who are deployed in Texas and overseas have the support they need to keep forging ahead and serve our great state and our nation. IN-DEPTH: Abbott sues to shield Texas National Guard from Bidens vaccine mandate The payroll delays and recent cuts in tuition assistance funding have other Republicans fuming, as well. These are the men & women being called by Gov. Abbott to work on the Texas border, state Rep. Matt Shaefer, R-Tyler, said in a December social media post about the payroll problems. It is appalling that this is still happening. Abbott on Tuesday was focused on fighting the federal government's vaccine requirement for members of the guard, filing suit against the Biden administration. Abbott argues the requirement should not apply to members of the Texas National Guard who have not been activated by the federal government. In a letter to Norris on Tuesday, Abbott said the National Guard remains under his authority unless deployed by the president meaning they are not subject to the federal vaccine mandate. jeremy.wallace@chron.com The first day of Jan. 2022 marked the start of several new laws taking effect in Connecticut. On Jan. 1, people who work in Connecticut became eligible for paid leaves of up to 12 weeks from work for qualified medical and family reasons. The benefits are available for those starting or expanding a family via birth, adoption or foster care; those who have serious health conditions or are caring for someone with such conditions or are caring for family members injured during active military duty. Additionally, those affected by family violence may be eligible to receive up to 12 days of paid leave for psychological or medical care, to relocate or participate in legal activities related to family violence. According to the CT Paid Leave Authority, employees and self-employed individuals have been making a contribution of one half of one percent of wages to the CT Paid Leave Authority Trust Fund since the start of 2021. For example, if a person earns $60,000 in one year, the contribution to the paid leave fund annually would be $300. But how does the system work? And how long does it take to start receiving benefits? Heres what to know about the new paid family leave process in Connecticut. Am I eligible to receive benefits? According to the CT Paid Leave Authority, those eligible to receive family leave benefits must be currently employed in Connecticut, have worked in Connecticut in the past 12 weeks but are currently unemployed or are a sole proprietor or self-employed person and resident of Connecticut. Additionally, eligible people have to have earned at least $2,325 in their highest earning quarter within their base period, according to a summary of the new law. This means that the person must have earned at least $2,325 in the first four of the past five quarters. Does this replace the benefits offered by private companies? Employers must also opt into participating in the CT Paid Leave program if they have any business within Connecticut with one or more employees. Sole proprietors or self-employed people also have to opt into the program, according to the CT Paid Leave Authority. According to the Society of Human Resources Management, employers can choose to either participate in Connecticut's paid family leave program or offer benefits comparable to those offered by the state program. Participating employers could begin enrolling in the state program starting Nov. 2020, but SHRM notes that if they chose to offer their own benefits, they would have to purchase their own private insurance plan to provide benefits and submit an exemption form to the state's Paid Leave Authority. How long is the paid leave period? The act provides up to 12 weeks of benefits over a 12-month period and provides two additional weeks of benefits for a serious health condition that results in incapacitation during pregnancy, according to a summary of the law. How much money will I receive in benefits? According to Connecticut law firm Cohen and Wolf, if an employee's weekly pay is "less than or equal to the Connecticut minimum wage multiplied by 40," they will receive a weekly benefit rate of 95 percent of their average weekly pay. The current minimum wage in Connecticut is $13 per hour. The CT Paid Leave Authority notes that 40 times the minimum wage is currently equal to $520. If a person earns minimum wage and applies to receive leave benefits, they will receive 95 percent of $520, or $494 weekly. If their weekly pay is more than the state minimum wage multiplied by 40, Cohen and Wolf notes that the weekly benefit rate "will be 95 percent of the Connecticut minimum wage multiplied by 40." They will also receive "60 percent of the amount by which the employee's average weekly wage exceeds the Connecticut minimum wage multiplied by 40," the law firm notes, but this rate is "capped at 60 times the Connecticut minimum wage." For someone who earns a gross annual salary of $60,000 who plans on starting leave on March 1, 2022, the CT Leave Authoritys estimated weekly payment amounts to $780. To figure out how much you might earn in benefits through the program, the CT Paid Leave Authority offers an estimation tool to calculate potential payments. How do I apply for benefits? To apply for the benefits, the CT Paid Leave Authoritys website notes that people must first create an account with CT.gov in order to be able to submit a claim. To do this, users will go to ctpaidleave.org and click on Sign In in the top-right corner, which will route them to CT.gov. There, they will be prompted to create an account with a username, email and password. Once submitted, it will send a verification code to the email associated with the account. The code is used to sign into the newly-created account. After logging into the account, click Get Started on the home page of the CT Paid Leave website. On the next page, click Submit or View Claims. It will produce a pop-up box notifying users that to complete the claims process, they will be directed to Aflac, which is CT Paid Leaves claims partner. Click Continue to be directed to the Aflac site. It will then direct users to a personalized dashboard where pending claims will populate; if a claim has not yet been submitted, the dashboard will be empty. If this is a users first claim, they must first read and accept the terms of service. Once accepted, users will be prompted to fill in their personal information, which includes social security number, date of birth, mailing address and gender. Once submitted, users can begin using the portal. Click the Start a new case button to begin an application to receive leave benefits. Certification from a doctor may be required during the application process to help determine eligibility for leave benefits. The leave authority reviews applications once they are submitted and makes a decision on granting the leave benefits to the applicant. How long does it take to start receiving benefits? According to FAQs on the CT Paid Leave Authority website, approved applicants will generally receive benefits on a weekly basis, and funds will be paid each Tuesday two weeks after a week of leave is completed. The Authority provides an example of taking from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8; in this instance, the benefits will be paid on Jan. 18. Payments are made Electronic Funds Transfer or Stored Value Card (SV), according to the FAQ. Do I need to notify my employer before taking leave? According to the CT Paid Leave Authority, employees may notify their employer of their application for benefits verbally or in writing. Once claims are submitted to the Authority, employees will be provided with an employment verification form to give to their employer to fill out and submit to the Authoritys claims administrator. GREENWICH With COVID-19 spiking in town and across the state, the Greenwich Public Schools on Tuesday reported its largest-by-far number of new cases 392 among students and staff on its online tracker. The number smashes the previous high of 147 cases reported on Dec. 24. The Tuesday numbers, which are the first reported in the 11 days since Dec. 24, reflect the new COVID-19 cases that were diagnosed during the holiday recess. The last day of classes for elementary and middle school students was Dec. 23 and for Greenwich High students was Dec. 21. Despite the number of cases, as of this morning, we have not had major staffing issues, said Jonathan Supranowitz, director of communications for the Greenwich Public Schools. Many students are on remote learning, he said. For grades 6 to 12, a student placed in quarantine for health-related reasons by the health care team should have access to watch their classes virtually, he said. For students in prekindergarten through fifth grade, work will be sent home for those in district-issued quarantines or isolations, Supranowitz said. Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday said he was committed to in-person learning despite the surge in COVID-19 infections. You have to build confidence every day to give teachers, give parents the confidence we are doing everything we can to keep schools open safely, Lamont said. COVID in Greenwich schools This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases reported across the Greenwich school district to 936 since classes began Sept. 1. By comparison, for the 2020-21 school year, a total of 700 cases of COVID-19 were reported districtwide. Also, the 392 new cases of COVID reported Tuesday is the same number of new cases that were reported in the Greenwich schools in December 2021 alone, according to the tracker. There were 294 active cases as of Tuesday, with 231 cases among students; 34 among teachers; 17 among service providers; and 12 among nonteaching staff. There are active COVID-19 cases in all 15 school buildings, with the most at Eastern Middle, with 49 cases. Next comes Glenville, with 32 cases of COVID-19; Greenwich High, with 31 cases; North Mianus and Old Greenwich, with 29 cases each; Riverside, with 25 cases; North Street and Cos Cob, with 23 cases each; Hamilton Avenue, with 20 cases; and Parkway, with 19 cases. The fewest cases are reported at Julian Curtiss, with 10; Western Middle, with two cases; and Central Middle, International School at Dundee and New Lebanon, with one case each. Staff working at multiple buildings are counted toward each locations total. On Dec. 21, the Greenwich schools reported 96 new cases of COVID with 171 active cases, according to the districts online tracker. By that evening, Superintendent Toni Jones announced the district had made the difficult decision to close Greenwich High immediately for holiday recess, canceling classes for Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. The school district says it updates the online tracker every Tuesday and Friday to keep the community informed on the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID tests at schools Also Tuesday, the Connecticut Department of Education and Department of Public Health distributed self-test kits, manufactured by iHealth Labs and Flowflex, to public school districts and private schools. Each district has been allocated a predetermined number of kits based on a percentage of total students and staff. We do not have a supply of tests for each student, said an email to GPS parents from Superintendent Toni Jones and Mary Keller, GPS head of nursing. The kits will be at all 15 public schools in Greenwich, but they can only be distributed and used for the following three purposes, according to Jones and Keller: If a student or staff member exhibits symptoms and needs to be screened for COVID-19; If a student or staff member has a direct exposure to an individual with COVID-19; or If a class or program is experiencing multiple cases of COVID-19, a school may distribute tests to all students in that classroom or program if they have difficulty accessing tests If a student develops symptoms during school, the school nurse can administer the test with parental permission, Jones and Keller said. If a staff member or student has close contact to a positive case in school, the test will be sent home for an adult to administer to their child, they said. The Greenwich Public Schools received 46 boxes of iHealth tests, or 8,280 total tests, and five boxes of Flowflex, or 1,440 total tests. Boxes of the Flowflex kits were also distributed to private schools in Greenwich, according to the state. Brunswick School received three boxes, or 864 total tests; Greenwich Academy received two boxes, or 576 total tests; Greenwich Catholic received 260 kits; Greenwich Country Day received four boxes, or 1,152 total tests; Eagle Hill School received 270 kits; Whitby School received 260 tests; Sacred Heart Greenwich received two boxes, or 576 total tests; and the Greenwich Japanese School received 100 kits, according to the state. Aldi has unveiled plans to recruit over 100 new farmers and suppliers this year in a bid to accelerate its commitment to sourcing British. The plan forms part of the retailer's push to further increase the number of products it sources from the UK across all product categories. Aldi's fresh meat, eggs, milk, butter and cream is already sourced from British suppliers, while more than 40% of fresh produce sold is also British. The retailer is seeking to accelerate this commitment by increasing its spend with British suppliers by 3.5bn a year by the end of 2025. It comes after the supermarket chain spent a total of 9 billion with UK companies last year. Aldi says this latest commitment will help hundreds of small British businesses continue to grow with the supermarket and invest for the future. Giles Hurley, chief executive officer at Aldi UK said: We are incredibly proud of our support for British suppliers, and excited for our supply chain partners to grow with us. "Thats why were now on the lookout for even more British suppliers to add to our current partnerships, helping to create even more jobs as well as new opportunities for these businesses. Farmers interested in becoming a supplier with Aldi can find more information online. Only subscribers with PAID Print or E-Edition subscriptions please enter here to gain access. If you are not already a Paid subscriber do not go through this portal. Please return to the subscription page to purchase one of our offers. Thank you! Image: Shutterstock The science of plastics and aesthetics surgery has evolved significantly. Unlike common opinion, plastic surgery is not limited to the enhancement of ones appearance; it is also an important therapeutic tool to recover from trauma and accidents. However, the comprehensiveness of this speciality is yet unknown to many and it has several misconceptions associated with it. Dr Rajat Gupta, Plastics & Aesthetics Centre, CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, says, While some understand it with the literal meaning of plastic, others have negative assumptions about it. The original meaning of plastic comes from the Greek word to mold. The surgical technique focuses on reconstruction to gain normalcy or to enhance the normal, using some cosmetic elements in the procedure. Image: Shutterstock That being said, enhancement through plastic surgery is just one aspect of the whole procedure. Surgeries like reconstructive surgery, trauma surgery, and burn surgery require rehabilitation for the patient, which further involves post-cosmetic surgery care, exercises, strict maintenance, and other instructions that a patient must follow. Prospective patients need to understand the pros and cons to set realistic expectations regardless of the type of surgery. Dr Gupta debunks several false notions about plastic surgeries here. Plastic Surgery And Cosmetic Surgery Are The Same People synonymously use plastic and cosmetic surgery, but they are two different medical procedures. While plastic surgery is the umbrella term, cosmetic surgery is a branch of plastic surgery. Plastic surgery involves a wide range of reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries. Cosmetic surgery is generally for improving the appearance and boosting self-esteem. Image: Shutterstock Plastic Surgery Leaves Scars Going under surgery involves sharp medical equipment like knives, but non-surgical procedures are also available. The possibility of scars prevailing after plastic surgery depends on the type of surgery. Since scars are inevitable in any surgical procedure, a skilled plastic surgeon completes the process with minimum scars that disappear in a few months or hides the scar in an existing skin crease. But some physical evidence might always be present. Plastic Surgery Is A One-time Procedure Undergoing plastic surgery can be a tough decision, but it is not permanent and depends on factors like age, aftercare, surgeon, and the type of plastic surgery. In addition, every procedure has different longevity. For instance, non-surgical procedures like face fillers fade in a few months, while a rhinoplasty stays forever. Image: Shutterstock Plastic Surgery Is Only For Women Everyone desires to look better, including men. With the rise in new media and expansion of online space, there has been a massive culture shift with more and more men being concerned about their appearance. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the trend for plastic surgery among men is increasing. Some popular plastic surgeries for men are liposuction, botox, facelift, eyelid surgery, nose job, and male breast reduction. These non-invasive techniques are cost-effective and less time-consuming, giving men the chance of reformation without much pain. Plastic Surgery Is Only For Enhancing Beauty This is one of the most common misconceptions about plastic surgery due to a lack of awareness. Plastic surgery is not only for celebrities to look younger or to rewind the ageing process. Plastic surgery can be done for several reasons and in varied situations. In fact, people undergo plastic surgery due to health issues like birth abnormalities, burns, serious injuries, finger replantation, removal of tumour, etc. It can be considered a boon to victims of acid attacks, helping in pain management and boosting self-confidence. Image: Shutterstock Recovery From Plastic Surgery Is Painful The pain during recovery from plastic surgery depends on the type of surgical procedure and the part on which it was performed. Your recovery time might vary depending upon several factors; for example, there can be mild risks if you are a smoker, older, or overweight. The amount of pain one goes through before and after plastic surgery is different for each individual and depends on ability to bear pain, past experiences, type of surgery, gender and age. Recovery from plastic surgery should not be painful, but you should always consult your doctor to discuss the nuances. Plastic Surgery Is Expensive For many, plastic surgery can be a thing on the bucket list with the misconception that it demands a whole lot of money. But the fact is that achieving desired looks through a non-surgical procedure like injections (for Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin), chemical peels (outer layer of skin), Microdermabrasion (for sun damage), Thermage (saggy skin), Non-ablative lasers (facial skin), cosmetic fillers, and other treatments is cost effective and lasts longer than other average methods. However, non-surgical methods might leave skin reactions on some people, so consider the possibilities and be prepared. Talk to your plastic surgery expert. Image: Shutterstock In conclusion, Dr Gupta says that when it comes to plastic surgery, there are many misconceptions in society, and people have difficulty accepting the facts. However, he adds that due to the discourse on self-care and increasing acceptability, people are reaching out to avail procedures that complement their health and beauty goals. For many, plastic surgery is a way towards body positivity and recovery from congenital and acquired deformities of the face or body. If you are interested or planning to undergo any plastic surgery, it is best to take a doctors consultation and make an informed decision. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 4, 2022) - Gelum Resources Ltd. (CSE: GMR) (the "Company" or "Gelum), reports that pursuant to their news release of December 6, 2021, they have closed the Private Placements for aggregate proceeds of $937,500.00. On December 30, 2021, the Company issued 1,485,714 flow-through common shares ("FT Shares") at a price of $0.35 per share netting the Company $520,000. On January 4, 2022, the Company issued 1,670,000 non-flow through units ("NFT Units") at a price of $0.25 per NFT Unit (collectively, the "Private Placement"), for additional proceeds of $417,500. Each NFT Unit consisted of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase an additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.45 per share (the "Warrants") for a period of 18 months from the closing of the Offering. The expiry of the Warrants may be accelerated if the closing price of the Corporation's common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange is equal to or greater than $0.60 for a minimum of twenty consecutive trading days and a notice of acceleration is provided in accordance with the terms of the Warrants. The common shares issued pursuant to the FT Shares, will be issued as "flow-through shares". All securities issued in connection with the Offering have a four-month and one day hold period in Canada from closing. Finder's fees were paid to Glores Securities Inc. ($36,400.00) pursuant to the FT Shares and, to Haywood Securities Inc. ($1,400.00 cash and 5,600 finder's warrants) and to Canaccord Genuity Corp. ($27,825.00 cash and 111,300 finder's warrants). Finder's warrants are non-transferable and all remaining terms remain the same as the subscribers Net proceeds of the Offering will be used to for exploration and drilling on its Eldorado Project, British Columbia and for general working capital. None of the foregoing securities have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Gelum Resources Ltd. Gelum Resources is a company led by seasoned management in the mining and financial sectors. The Company's objective is the discovery of a multi-million oz. economic gold deposit in the Bralorne-Bridge River Gold District located some 190 km north of Vancouver and 74 km northwest of the town of Lillooet, B.C. This objective is made possible through the Company's acquisition of Eldorado, a series of 23 mineral claims with a total area of 7,359 hectares (18,000 acres) located in the Bralorne-Bridge River Gold District which was host to one of the highest-grade, longest-producing mines in British Columbia. Management is proud to have developed an excellent working relationship with the Bridge River Indian Band (Xwisten) who, after thorough site investigation of our prime targets, confirm that they currently have no heritage or cultural concerns with the current workplan to date. For further information please refer to Gelum Resources Corporate Presentation: https://gelumresources.com/pdf/Gelum-Resources-Deck-Fall-2021.pdf On Behalf of the Board of Directors David Smith, President For further information about Gelum, please contact: David Smith, President (dsmith@gelumresources.com) Phone: 604 484-1228 or Marla Ritchie, Corporate Secretary (marla@gelumresources.com) Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE- Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information: This press release may include 'forward-looking information', within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, about the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company's management, including future plans for the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, investors should not unduly rely on the forward-looking information because the Company cannot assure that it will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. **NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES** To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109091 New Mobility of Things (MoT) concept to enable the movement of traditionally inanimate objects through the company's robotics technology Plug & Drive (PnD) and Drive & Lift (DnL) modules to provide all-in-one mobility solutions as parts of an unlimited MoT ecosystem PnD module to provide mobility to everything from small objects to community spaces with infinite flexibility and scalability DnL module with an eccentric wheel mechanism to extend the operation of robots to both indoor and outdoor locations Diverse applications of the newly unveiled PnD and DnL modules, such as the recently revealed Mobile Eccentric Droid (MobED), to be on display at the Hyundai Motor booth along with Boston Dynamics' Spot and AtlasTM LAS VEGAS and SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor Company today revealed its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform that enables mobility of traditionally inanimate things, from small objects to large community spaces, at CES 2022. At the event, the leaders of Hyundai Motor and Boston Dynamics presented a shared vision for robotics in both the real world and metaverse under the main theme of 'Expanding Human Reach'. Hyundai Motor also revealed its plans for creating an advanced mobility experience with an unlimited Mobility of Things (MoT) ecosystem, and showcased a range of robots and robotic concepts. "We are directing all our robotics engineering and creative efforts toward building the unlimited Mobility of Things ecosystem," said Dong Jin Hyun, Vice President and Head of Robotics Lab of Hyundai Motor Group. "The goal is for robotics to enable all kinds of personal mobility, connected to communicate, move and perform tasks autonomously." The PnD modular platform is an all-in-one mobility solution that combines intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive and suspension hardware. The single wheel unit uses a steering actuator for infinite wheel rotation, meaning it can turn 360 degrees, which enables holonomic movement, like a figure skater. LiDAR and camera sensors allow a PnD-enabled object to move autonomously. Also at CES 2022, Hyundai exhibited the MobED (Mobile Eccentric Droid) small mobility platform with the Drive & Lift (DnL) module, an all-in-one robotics solution based on an eccentric wheel mechanism that combines the drive, steering and braking systems into one structure. For more information about Hyundai's Plug & Drive Robotic Module, please visit: globalpr.hyundai.com Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719539/1_CES_2022_PnD_Module_169_youtube_220103_Final.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719540/2_PnD_Logistics.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719541/3_PnD_Personal.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719542/4_PnD_Service.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719543/5_MobED.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719544/6_L7.mp4 Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719545/7__Spot.mp4 TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Toyota Motor North America reported that U.S. sales for the month of December 2021 were 174,115 vehicles, a decrease of 30.2 percent on a volume basis and a decrease of 27.7 percent on a daily selling rate basis compared to December 2020. Toyota division posted December U.S. sales of 150,072 vehicles, down 29.0 percent on a volume basis and down 26.4 percent on a DSR basis. Lexus division posted December U.S. sales of 24,043 vehicles, down 37.1 percent on a volume basis and down 34.8 percent on a DSR basis. For calendar year 2021, Toyota Motor North America reported U.S. sales were 2.33 million vehicles, an increase of 10.4 percent on a volume basis and an increase of 11.5 percent on a DSR basis. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TOKYO, Jan 5, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu will host its first ever online global event dedicated to technology, Fujitsu ActivateNow: Technology Summit 2022 from Wednesday, January 19 to Thursday, January 20, 2022, showcasing how it can leverage the transformative power of innovation to realize a more sustainable future. Participants will enjoy access to exclusive panel discussions highlighting Fujitsu's latest R&D use cases in the key areas computing, networks, AI, data & security and converging technologies(1), and strategies alongside an exploration of some of the urgent social and environmental issues facing the world today.REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/3EV3ICzThe event will offer insights from experts spanning a wide range of technological fields and disciplines, including academia, government, medical care and industrial organizations.This year's theme is: Towards a Sustainable World: Technologies Shaping a Better Future. The program will feature speakers including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, who will discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the internet and how technology will support the future of the World Wide Web in an interview led by Fujitsu's Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Mahajan.Other speakers from Verizon, Carnegie Mellon University, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the British Government and more will highlight how technology can confront growing challenges in areas like the environment, public health, and social inequality."As one of the world's leading technology companies, Fujitsu envisions a role for innovation that not only drives the digital transformation of business, but delivers a sustainable future for everyone." said Vivek Mahajan, Chief Technology Officer, Fujitsu."I look forward to sharing our latest efforts to further strengthen our research and development capabilities and technologies with real-world applications in areas like computing and AI. I'm confident that viewers will also come away with a better understanding of how we can draw on the power of innovation to unlock new business models and opportunities together with customers while remaining committed to the betterment of society."Event Overview:1. Period and Target Regions(2):- Europe, India: January 19 (Wednesday),2022, 9:00 GMT- Americas: January 19 (Wednesday), 2022, 10:00 PST- Japan, APAC: January 20 (Thursday), 2022, 11:00 JST- On-demand viewing will be available after the online event2. Event Contents:1) Keynote address- Greetings from Vivek Mahajan, Chief Technology Officer of Fujitsu- Talk Session with Hirotaka Hara, Representative and Head of Fujitsu Research & Yoshikuni Takashige, Executive Director, Technology Strategy Unit Fujitsu: Fujitsu's vision and R & D strategy to make the world more sustainable with technologies2) Guest speaker and key note interviewInterview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, led by Vivek Mahajan, Chief Technology Officer of Fujitsu: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the internet and how technology will support the future of the World Wide Web3) Thematic sessions with guest speakers: regional programsSpeakers will differ per regionTheme 1: Towards a Trusted Society: Coordinating Digital Actions for Positive Social ImpactTheme 2: Technologies Powering the Future of Healthy Living(1) Converging technologies:Advanced technologies that combine digital technologies and knowledge from the humanities and social sciences to solve complex social challenges(2) Period and Target Regions:Contents and duration of the event may vary by regionFujitsu's Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent a set of common goals to be achieved worldwide by 2030. Fujitsu's purpose--"to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation"--is a promise to contribute to the vision of a better future empowered by the SDGs.About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2022 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. SHANGHAI, Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionTech, a leading industrial 3D printing company from China, announced on December 21 that it has completed a $30 million Series D financing. In 2021, China's 3D printing industry has maintained rapid development and has attracted the attention of capital markets. There have been dozens of financings throughout the year, and UnionTech's D-round financing is one of the largest. This round of financing is led by Dening Capital, followed by Cash Capital, Yingke PE and Dragonrise Capital Advisors. Evonik Venture Capital and Luhe Venture Capital, the investment shareholders of UnionTech in Series C round, made an additional investment in this round. Founded in 2000, UnionTech is a leading enterprise in the field of industrial non-metallic 3D printing in the world. It has maintained rapid growth for nearly a decade with an average annual revenue growth rate of more than 50%. According to Contextworld, under the classification of industrial-level 3D printing equipment, UnionTech has jumped to the first place in the world in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 by shipment. While ensuring the leading advantages in the industry, UnionTech has changed its operation structure and revenue structure significantly. At present, its products cover 3D printing equipment, materials and applications, which has formed a full closed loop in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industry. With its data pre-processing software Polydevs, printing control software RSCON/DSCON, process algorithm software BP and digital production management collaboration system UnionFab, UnionTech has built a complete 3D printing software system. In the third quarter of 2021, UnionTech and China's leading All-in-One CAx (CAD/CAE/CAM) provider, ZWSOFT jointly reached an overseas strategic cooperation agreement. The development and breakthrough of material technology is one of the most critical factors to promote the progress of 3D industry. On July 19, 2021, UnionTech and Evonik jointly inaugurated the "Joint R&D Laboratory", marking the comprehensiveness and depth of cooperation between the two parties have been greatly enhanced. Jason Ma, General Manager of UnionTech stated that after this round of financing, UnionTech will be committed to the development and application of new materials, intelligent manufacturing, digital production management and the network collaboration of capacity, empowering with knowledge, breaking the market boundary, connecting partners, working collaboratively and developing in a win-win way. Contact person: Ted Bai Email: mkt@uniontech3d.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719233/UnionTech_Raises__30_Million_Series_D_Funding_Round.jpg BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The Chrysler brand announced the Chrysler Airflow Concept, which represents the start of the brand's journey toward a fully electrified portfolio. The company said the backbone of the Airflow Concept user experience is the new electrical/electronic and software architecture, STLA Brain. The STLA SmartCockpit, built on top of STLA Brain architecture, seamlessly integrates with the digital lives of vehicle occupants to deliver AI-based applications, such as navigation, voice assistance, e-commerce marketplace and payment services. The Chrysler Airflow Concept is equipped with STLA AutoDrive, which delivers Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities and will be upgradable via OTA updates. The concept features all-wheel-drive capability and is powered by two 150 kW electric drive motors, one in the front and one in the rear. The battery is designed to achieve between a 350- and 400-mile range on a single charge. Chrysler also announced that the brand's transformation will include the launch of its first battery-electric vehicle by 2025 and full battery-electric portfolio by 2028. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. If you already subscribe to our print edition, sign up for FREE access to our online edition. Thanks for reading the El Campo Leader News. DGAP-News: Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.: PEPCO GROUP N.V. 05.01.2022 / 07:20 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. PEPCO GROUP N.V. - Andy Bond to Step Down as CEO Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. ("Steinhoff" and with its subsidiaries, the "Group"). Shareholders are advised that Steinhoff's subsidiary, the fast-growing pan-European variety discount retailer, Pepco Group, owner of the PEPCO and Dealz brands in mainland Europe and Poundland in the United Kingdom, has today released an announcement regarding the decision of its Chief Executive Officer, Andy Bond, to step down at the end of March 2022 on health grounds. The announcement is available on the Pepco Group website (https://www.pepcogroup.eu/). Louis du Preez, Chief Executive Officer of Steinhoff said: "On behalf of Steinhoff we thank Andy for his outstanding leadership of the Pepco Group and its underlying businesses." Steinhoff has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited. Stellenbosch, 5 January 2022 05.01.2022 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de HONG KONG, Jan 5, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Yeahka Limited ("Yeahka" or the "Company") (09923.HK) founder and CEO, Luke Liu, sent an open letter to all employees via email, looking back on the 10-year history of the company and announcing its future development plan on January 3. In the email titled "Toward a More Promising Future", Luke looked back on Yeahka's transformation over the past 10 years since its inception, sharing how the Company grew from payment focused business to a comprehensive 2B business solution provider with extended product offerings including SaaS, Fintech, and other; subsequently evolved to an ecosystem with recently added In-store E-commerce business that covers both 2B and 2C markets; finally successfully transformed into a "payment-based digital commerce ecosystem". Till now, Yeahka serves nearly 7 million active merchants, with its service covering over 800 million consumers and generates nearly 100 million daily payment transactions within its ecosystem. To prepare for the increasing complexity and uncertainty of macro environment, Luke outlined Yeahka's future development blueprint in his letter, which is "upholding value creation principle, establishing strategic certainty and implementation certainty". He said that the Company's positioning and overall big picture strategy is getting clear and the Company's next steps will be the refinement of sub-strategy in the future. He also added that the strategy execution will be realized by strengthening corporate management, optimizing organizational mechanism, cultivating talents and leveraging scientific management methodologies. In relation to the Company's recent focus on the In-store E-commerce business, Luke reiterated his confidence in Yeahka's entry into the local lifestyle market. According to Yeahka's 2021 interim report, the Company has served more than 10,000 merchants with its in-store e-commerce services, with over 1.42 million paying consumers and a GMV exceeding RMB71 million. In order to further strengthen its capabilities in local lifestyle services, the Company invested RMB100 million for 60% equity of Dingding Cultural Tourism (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., expanding the scope of the Company's in-store e-commerce business. Full text of the 10th Anniversary Letter from Luke Liu, the founder and CEO of Yeahka Title: Yeahka's 10th Anniversary Letter - Toward a More Promising Future Happy New Year, colleagues of Yeahka! In today's world where uncertainty has become a challenge, we need to keep reflecting ourself both in work and life. Thinking about the many moving pieces of the Company's businesses and what is happening with life, I want to take the opportunity to review the path we have all travelled together at this meaningful point in time, and to discuss how we should develop as a company going forward. On this day 10 years ago, I moved to 1802 Chang Hong Building, filled with anticipation for starting the offline payment business. In the following five years, my colleagues and I explored possibilities of various products in the offline payment space. However, the product/market fit was less than optimal, so we could only rely on the venture capital investments and hang on to our firm belief, that immerse opportunities lie in the offline payment space, to survive with strong will. In 2015, we set company strategy to be a "cloud platform for offline merchants", and chose the development direction of the Company to move "beyond payment". So we started the Smart Shopkeeper SaaS and fintech businesses. Looking back, these were very forward looking positioning and planning, way ahead of its time. In 2017, we foresaw that mobile payment would change people's lives, and started to invest into QR code payment early on. We strongly believed that if we dedicate ourselves to each and every single payment transaction, we could accumulate massive merchant and user base, traffic, channels, bring more value to merchants, and develop our comprehensive technology services. In 2020, we officially positioned Yeahka as a payment-based technology company, successfully listed the Company on HKEX, and became a high-profile IPO stock in the Hong Kong capital market. Ever since our listing 18 months ago, we have been thinking: where is Yeahka's next peak summit? Currently, although we have experienced the global pandemic for the last two years, and are facing the greatest changes in the century, we still firmly believe that the nearly 7 million active merchants and over 800 million consumers we serve, the nearly 100 million daily payment transactions we support, the flow of capital and information among different entities, and rich portfolio of value-added services will create the foundation for a payment-based digital commerce ecosystem, same as the exchange of matter and energy to create a natural ecosystem. Recently, we entered into the trillion dollar "local lifestyle" market in a big way, leap frogging from payment pureplay to providing enhancement of 2B business efficiency and financial performance, and subsequently to elevating the broader 2C consumer experience. Our chosen path has derived from mature and long-term business thinking, our drive comes from our innovative and assertive company value and genes, as well as our mission to consistently create value for merchants and consumers. 10 years is enough for a toddler to become a teenager, but for a startup company, 10 years is only long enough for us to go from survival to just starting growth. Perhaps Yeahka does not yet have a revolutionary product to change the world, but we have the resilience, the long-term and forward-looking ways of thinking, and the capabilities to grasp industry opportunities, which are most-needed for an entrepreneurial company like Yeahka. The qualities we possess make us confident about our future, and keep us as curious and excited as we were 10 years ago. How do we deal with the complexity and uncertainty in the environment and still maintain our leading position? I believe the goal will be achieved primarily by upholding value creation principle, establishing strategic certainty and implementation certainty. On strategic certainty front, through 10 years of continuous exploration, we have developed a proprietary "clover" model to analyze and measure the user value of our business, to assess our competitive advantage and economic moat, and to accumulate long-term company value. After 10 years of shaping and reshaping, the Company's positioning and overall big-picture strategy has become crystal clear, and the Company's next steps will be the refinement of sub-strategy in the future. On implementation certainty front, we need to focus on management. Firstly, the robustness of the Company's organizational capability and the vitality of the corporate culture is the source of management power. It takes people with similar values to run a business. We ought to optimize our organizational mechanism to train and nurture talents. Also, we need to achieve goals by adopting scientific methodologies, identifying the core essence and key process points of issues, dissecting tasks from top down, and simplifying complicated matters. We will become very efficient on problem solving by adopting the above-mentioned practices. In the past 10 years, we have gone through ups and downs, tears and joys through our journey of entrepreneurship. But for every enterprise to achieve its goals, this is a necessary experience. The experience is just like the youth we have all experienced. It is filled with contradiction and uncertainty, and there is absolutely no need to be overly joyful or depressed, as I believe the journey itself is actually the most wonderful part. As long as we stand by our beliefs of creating value for users and society, we will be able to smile honestly and advance down the right path. Let us march forward towards the promising future. Luke Jan 2022 About YEAHKA LIMITED (Stock Code: 9923.HK) Yeahka is a leading payment-based technology platform dedicated to creating value for merchants and consumers. According to Oliver Wyman, Yeahka is the second largest non-bank independent QR code payment service provider in China in terms of transaction count in 2019, with a market share of 14.0%. Yeahka's vision is to build a commercial digitalized ecosystem to enable seamless, convenient and reliable payment transactions among merchants and consumers , and to further provide a rich portfolio of diversified technology-enabled business services, including SaaS digital solutions, which help customers improve their operating efficiency; precision marketing services, which allow customers to effectively reach their target markets; fintech services, which satisfy customers' diversified financing needs; and in-store e-commerce services, which helps merchants to increase sales and consumers to enjoy local lifestyle discount benefits. Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. YEAHKA-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Known for its autonomous driving security solutions, AUTOCRYPT recently announced the launch of AutoCrypt SCMS Version 5.0, a Security Credential Management System (SCMS) for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications, and a crucial component of its AutoCrypt V2X security solution. An SCMS is essential for autonomous driving as it signs and verifies the messages transmitted via V2X to ensure security and safety. Utilizing a public key infrastructure (PKI) to encrypt, validate, and manage certificates for V2X communications, the newest version of AutoCrypt SCMS, Version 5.0, comes with newly added Certificate Revocation List (CRL) and Misbehavior Detection (MBD) functionalities. Based on the IEEE 1609.2 standard, the CRL supports both hash-based CRL, which lists the hash value of revoked certificates; and full linkage ID-based CRL, which allows for more efficient mass revocation. AutoCrypt SCMS securely manages the entire lifecycle of a certificate and is updated regularly to comply with stringent regulations from various regions. While many security providers only provide compliance in one or two regions, AUTOCRYPT's research and development team have secured compliance with all existing standards regarding certificate management, including the US SCMS, European-based C-ITS CMS (CCMS), and Chinese-based C-SCMS. The company most recently participated in the OmniAir Consortium's "OmniAir Plugfest" with companies like Blackberry, ESCRYPT, and Green Hills Software. AUTOCRYPT showcased AutoCrypt SCMS Version 5.0 by completing a demonstration of the revocation of cross-certificates in an actual driving environment and were able to demonstrate international compatibility of the entire certificate lifecycle, including issuance, management, and revocation. "V2X technology will need to be prioritized if the industry wants to move past Level 3 Driving Automation into Level 4 and 5. And as autonomous driving technology continues to become more prevalent, security for V2X communications will be more important than ever," said CEO and co-Founder, Daniel ES Kim. "We are very pleased to be one of the few companies to be able to provide an authentication system that supports all regional standards and look forward to continuously updating our technologies to stay above all regulatory changes." AUTOCRYPT currently oversees security for all smart highway/expressway projects in Korea and has focused on expanding its projects to other C-ITS endeavors worldwide. With its wide international compliance and customizable integrations, AUTOCRYPT is ideal for OEMs, public institutions, and governments looking to prioritize secure mobility for all. ---------- AUTOCRYPT is the leading player in autonomous and connected mobility security technologies. Recognized by Forbes Asia in its 100 to Watch list, AUTOCRYPT paves the way in transportation and mobility security through a multi-layered, holistic approach. Through security solutions for V2X/C-V2X, V2G (including PnC security), in-vehicle security, and Fleet Management, AUTOCRYPT ensures that security is prioritized before vehicles hit the road. Elanders' Board of Directors has decided to change the publication date of the Year End Report for 2021 to Thursday 3 February 2022, at 07:30 CET instead of Thursday 20 January 2022, as earlier announced. The publication of the Year End Report on 3 February 2022, will be followed by a conference call at 09:30 CET, hosted by President and CEO Magnus Nilsson and CFO Andreas Wikner. We invite fund managers, analysts and the media to participate in the conference call. Please see below details to join the conference. To join this event, please use the below Click to Join link 5-10 minutes prior to start time, where you will be asked to enter your phone number and registration details. Our Event Conferencing system will call you on the phone number you provide and place you into the event. Please note that the Click To Join link will be active 15 minutes prior to the event. CLICK TO JOIN Use the Click to Join option above for the easiest way to join your conference or use one of the access numbers below: Sweden: +46 (0)8 5664 2754 Germany: +49 (0)69 22222 5195 UK: +44 (0)33 033 69600 USA: +1 646-828-8082 Participant Passcode: 758620 Agenda 09:20 Conference number is opened 09:30 Presentation of the Year End Report 09:50 Q&A 10:30 End of the conference During the conference call a presentation will be held. To access the presentation, please use this link: https://www.elanders.com/presentations For further questions, please contact Magnus Nilsson, President and CEO, telephone: +46 31 750 07 50 Andreas Wikner, CFO, telephone: +46 31 750 07 50 Attachment Pre-Stabilisation notice January 5, 2022 Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. Commerzbank AG EUR benchmark Mortgage Covered Bond due 2032 Pre-Stabilisation Notice Commerzbank AG (contact: Daniela Olt-Farrelly; telephone: +49 69 13620) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014). The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Commerzbank AG Guarantor (if any): none Aggregate nominal amount: EUR benchmark Description: Fixed rate Mortgage Covered Bond Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: payment date 12th Jan 2022, maturity 12th Jan 2032, denoms 1k/1k, launched unter MTN programme Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator: Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG Bayerische Landesbank DZ Bank Banco Santander UniCredit Stabilisation period expected to start on: 5th January 2022 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Frankfurt SE, regulated Market In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction. This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. END Iktos, a company specialized in artificial intelligence (AI) for novel drug design and Astrogen, a clinical and research-oriented biotech company focused in developing innovative new drugs for treatment of intractable neurological diseases today announced that the companies have entered into a research collaboration agreement aimed at discovery of innovative small molecule pre-clinical drug candidates for Parkinson's disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Iktos will apply its proprietary active learning based deep docking and de novo structure-based generative modelling technologies to design and optimize novel compounds and expedite the identification of pre-clinical drug candidates targeting an undisclosed target for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Astrogen will contribute to in-vitro/in-vivo efficacy screening of lead compounds/pre-clinical drug candidates and will lead the entire development process from pre-clinical stage. The companies will share responsibility for generating lead compounds and pursuing the optimal development path for selecting pre-clinical drug candidates. "We are thrilled to collaborate with Astrogen, a leading biotech company based in S. Korea focused on developing innovative drugs for neurological diseases. We are proud and excited to announce our first collaboration deal in S. Korea bio-pharma sector'' commented Yann Gaston-Mathe, President and CEO of Iktos. "Our objective is to expedite drug discovery and achieve time and cost efficiencies for our global collaborators by using Iktos's proprietary AI platform and know-how. We are confident that together we will be able to identify promising novel chemical matter for the treatment of intractable neurological diseases. Our strategy has always been to tackle challenging problems alongside our collaborators where we can demonstrate value generation for new and on-going drug discovery projects." "We are very pleased to collaborate with Iktos, one of the leading AI companies in drug design and discovery. Iktos has successfully utilized their proprietary AI platform in multiple real world drug discovery projects as demonstrated by several collaborations established to date with leading global pharmaceutical companies. We are looking forward to this collaboration, as we believe that there is good chance to build up a mutually beneficial business model, by combining the strengths of biotech companies specialized in novel target identification and AI companies with their proprietary drug designing platform technology" commented JoonBeom Park, the director of Business Development at Astrogen. About Iktos Incorporated in October 2016, Iktos is a start-up company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence solutions applied to chemical research, more specifically medicinal chemistry and new drug design. Iktos is developing a proprietary and innovative solution based on deep learning generative models, which enables, using existing data, the design of molecules that are optimized in silico to meet all the success criteria of a small molecule discovery project. The use of Iktos technology enables major productivity gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos offers its technology both as professional services and as a SaaS software platform, Makya. Iktos is also developing Spaya, a synthesis planning software based upon Iktos's proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis. More information on: http://www.iktos.ai/ About Astrogen Founded in 2017, Astrogen is a S.Korea based clinical and research-oriented biotech company developing treatment of intractable neurological diseases. The company is specialized in discovering new therapeutic targets, conducting efficacy tests of compounds, and planning/administration of clinical strategies. The lead candidate in the pipeline is AST-001, under phase 2 clinical development in S.Korea for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The company aims to become a leading a biopharmaceutical company in neurodegenerative and intractable neurological diseases by utilizing innovative business models. More information on: www.astrogen.co.kr View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005498/en/ Contacts: Yann Gaston-Mathe (CEO), +33 6 30 07 99 26, contact@iktos.com Somin He, Manager of Business Development, +82-70-5038-5190, somin@astrogen.co.kr Ananda Developments Plc - Exercise of Warrants 5 January 2022 ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC ("Ananda" or the "Company") EXERCISE OF WARRANTS Ananda announces that 16,863 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") have been issued following the exercise of warrants at 0.45p per share. Application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market and admission is expected to become effective on Tuesday, 11 January 2022. Following this issue, the Company has 797,579,590 Ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote. This figure of 797,579,590 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. -Ends- The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess Investor Relations Jeremy Sturgess-Smith +44 (0)7717 573 235 ir@anandadevelopments.com PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Corporate Broking Lucy Williams Duncan Vasey +44 (0)20 7469 0930 Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. About Ananda Developments Ananda is an AQSE-listed medical cannabis company creating UK-based operations to grow and provide carbon neutral, consistent, medical cannabis for the UK and international markets. The UK medical cannabis market is predicted to be worth 450m by 2025 and the European market is predicted to be worth USD4.2bn by 2027. Ananda, through its 50% owned subsidiary, DJT Plants Limited, was granted a Home Office licence in May 2021 to grow >0.2% THC cannabis in a new research facility to breed and stabilise 65 strains. For more information, please visit: https://anandadevelopments.com/ Delta Capita acquires JDX Consulting to create one of the largest specialist Capital Markets consulting and managed service providers LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JDX Consulting, a global resource augmentation and domain consulting business, today announced that its shareholders completed a transaction under which JDX is acquired by Delta Capita Group. JDX will become a subsidiary of Delta Capita, establishing the combined organisation as a significant force in global managed services and consulting in Capital Markets, leveraging its bank as a service 'one bank' infrastructure platform. Delta Capita is the Financial Services division of Prytek and this acquisition is part of the committed $500m allocation of capital to accelerate the build and deployment of the 'one bank' infrastructure platform. JDX is a successful global resource augmentation and consulting business, headquartered in the UK; its established presence in both the US and APAC provides Delta Capita with stronger capabilities in these regions. The combined firm will have a comprehensive product and service offering as well as an enhanced UK and EU footprint. Clients will benefit from the increased global scale across its complementary consulting offerings, technology and managed services. Delta Capita will have revenues of $130m and more than 1100 professional staff. Both organisations share core values underpinned by an inclusive and supportive people culture and a relentless focus on client needs. Delta Capita has a keen focus on talent acquisition, development and retention that will be further enhanced by JDX's leading academy programme. The combination of Delta Capita's industry expertise, its experienced staff, and JDX's ability to rapidly respond at scale to clients' demands, provides clear opportunities and a strong career path for all employees. Following the acquisition,Jonathan Davies, CEO of JDX said "I am delighted by the combination of JDX and Delta Capita and believe the combined firm now has the people, technology and solutions to much better address our clients' needs. There are also considerable benefits for our staff in being part of what will now be a larger and more diversified organisation". Joe Channer, CEO of Delta Capita Group, said "We continue to listen to our clients and this acquisition allows us to take on globally significant consulting and managed service engagements at scale. Clients are evaluating their operating models to drive efficiency and simplification and require innovative solutions that significantly reduce their costs. We recognise JDX's expertise in its successful resource augmentation business across Financial Services, and in particular, Capital Markets, and I am delighted that the team joining us will allow Delta Capita to offer an enhanced capability to our clients. I can see that as two organisations combining, we have a great cultural fit and many capabilities that are truly complementary. I expect this combined capability to rapidly accelerate our growth". The acquisition of JDX Consulting is the third acquisition completed by Delta Capita in the last 15 months. This significant growth has been recognised by the Financial Times in their FT 1000 ranking. www.jdxconsulting.com www.deltacapita.com VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Scotch Creek Ventures Inc. (the "Company") (CSE:SCV)(FSE:7S2)(OTC PINK:SCVFF) ("Scotch Creek" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received its drill permit from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on its Macallan East lithium project in Clayton Valley, Nevada. Clayton Valley has been a prolific source of lithium brine in North America and is the home of the only producing lithium operation in North America (Albemarle Corp). Scotch Creek's Macallan East project borders multiple known lithium resources including Pure Energy Minerals' 218,000 metric-tonnes lithium resource. Scotch Creek has identified three high-priority lithium drill targets within its Macallan East project and aims to initiate a drill program totaling over 19,000 feet of drilling (See press release October 27, 2021). Matt Vitale, Scotch Creek's Technical Expert, commented "Clayton Valley's basin has collected, retained, and concentrated lithium into both mineral brines and claystone. The Macallan East Lithium Project is located along a key portion of the eastern margin of the basin. This eastern margin seems to be preferential for lithium concentrations in the Clayton Valley, based on adjacent projects. We are excited to begin our drill campaign in hopes of discovering America's next considerable lithium resource." Scotch Creek would like to invite investors and stakeholders to connect with our investor relations team or visit our website to sign-up to receive regular updates and news alerts. About Scotch Creek Ventures Scotch Creek is a mineral exploration company, focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of lithium projects located in tier-one North American mining jurisdictions. Scotch Creek's mission is to become a best-in-class lithium exploration company situated in one of the most promising lithium districts in the world, Clayton Valley, Nevada. On behalf of the Board of Directors "David K. Ryan" David Ryan Chief Executive Officer Further information about the Company is available on our website at www.scotch-creek.com or under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the CSE website at www.thecse.com. Public Relations Contact Scotch Creek Ventures Inc. Telephone: +1.604.685.4745 Email: info@scotch-creek.com Website: www.scotch-creek.com The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Forward-looking and cautionary statements This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This release may contain statements within the meaning of safe harbour provisions as defined under securities laws and regulations. This release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of the Company and certain of the plans and objectives of the Company with respect to the same. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. SOURCE: Scotch Creek Ventures Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681017/Scotch-Creek-Ventures-Inc-Receives-Drill-Permit-for-Macallan-East-Lithium-Project BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks were moving higher in cautious trade on Wednesday as investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes of its Dec. 14-15, 2021 policy meeting for clues about the timing of any rate hikes. The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 15 points, or 0.2 percent, at 7,521 after rallying 1.6 percent on Tuesday. Oxford Biomedica shares advanced 1.5 percent. The gene and cell therapy group announced that it has signed a new License and Supply Agreement or LSA with Cabaletta Bio, Inc. (CABA) for LentiVector Platform. Renewi fell over 2 percent. The waste management company said that Toby Woolrych will step down as chief financial officer on 1 April. Gambling software maker Playtech lost about 1 percent. The company said it was also postponing court and shareholder meetings relating to the offer by Aristocrat Leisure Limited, previously scheduled for January 12 to February 2. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Some of the best years of my life I miss those people. Good times and memories, but I have moved on. Not my best days, but I have made peace with them. Glad to be away from those people I dont miss the high school experience. Vote View Results Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - BAROYECA GOLD & SILVER INC. (TSXV: BGS) (the "Company") is pleased to announce further assay results from its phase 1 drilling program at its flagship Atocha high-grade silver project in Tolima, Colombia. The Company issued the results of its first two holes from the program in its news release dated November 16, 2021, some of the results of which are repeated below for continuity purposes. The focus of this release is the results from holes three through seven. The Company has completed one additional hole (hole eight) for which the Company is currently awaiting assay results and is drilling hole nine at the time of writing this press release. Baroyeca has drilled eight holes at La Ye as part of an ongoing drill program which has to date covered approximately 200m of strike length of the vein corridor from its north-easternmost end. Drilling has already identified one high-grade mineralized zone or shoot near surface at La Ye that will be followed at depth in future delineation drilling campaigns once the company identifies and prioritizes other high-grade mineralized zones in different vein sets. Phase 1 drilling started targeting the San Antonio vein as the primary master vein at La Ye, which is an approximately 4 meter wide breccia/vein zone comprised of two larger (0.5 to 1 meter) well developed parallel quartz-sulfide rich veins located at the edges of the vein zone, that includes a dense set of veinlets and spur veins between them. There is also a parallel vein situated 25m to the north of the San Antonio vein, intersected in holes 3 to 8 at shallow depths, and several other narrow veins parallel to the San Antonio vein toward the south (footwall), that are producing anomalous values. These secondary veins have been mapped and can be followed at surface toward the southwest, in which direction the Company's drill program is intended to proceed. Drilling is following these veins as linked structures probably forming an echelon pattern of shoots within them along the main shear/vein corridor. Holes AT-21-01 and 02 were drilled targeting the northeastern end of the most prominent San Antonio central vein zone of La Ye vein system (see Company's press release November 16, 2021). Hole AT-21-01 intersected 1.1m (*) averaging 890 g/t AgEq, including a 0.50m interval of 1,137.05 g/t AgEq. Immediately below the main vein, were a series of thinner veins and spurs as part of the main vein zone, that included 1.05m averaging 159 g/t AgEq. Hole AT-21-02 intersected the same vein at 85.70m and returned 2,233.5 g/t AgEq for an interval of 0.80m, and a second zone immediately below that returned 373 g/t AgEq over 0.90m, which correlates with the previous hole. Holes 3 and 4 were drilled along strike toward the southwest targeting the same San Antonio vein and another parallel vein set to the north that came in the upper part of both holes. This parallel vein returned 316.03 g/t AgEq over 0.50m in hole AT-21-03 and 236.32 g/t AgEq over 0.25m in hole AT-21-04. The equivalent to the San Antonio vein in hole AT-21-03 returned 551.30 g/t AgEq over 0.50m and split in two narrow segments in hole AT-21-04 of 158.89 g/t AgEq over 0.20m and 101.81 g/t AgEq over 0.30m. Holes AT-21-05 and 06 were directed eastwards to reach the lower downdip projection of the San Antonio Vein next to hole AT-21-01 and between AT-21-01 and 03 to fill the gap, and to see the effect of a NW-SE fault. Hole AT-21-05 intersected the shallow parallel vein returning 190.6 g/t AgEq over 0.40m and followed intersecting the richer San Antonio vein below that returned 561.08 g/t AgEq over 0.55m in the upper part of the vein and two contiguous intervals of 772.45 AgEq over 0.40m following 345.93 g/t AgEq over the next 0.40m in line with the intersects of holes AT-21-01 and 02. Hole AT-21-06 sucessfully intersected the shallow northern vein returning 404.23 g/t AgEq over 0.50m and the two veins part of the San Antonio vein (See photo 1) returning 221.20 AgEq over 0.0.60m following 240.08 g/t AgEq over the next 0.30m. Hole AT-20-07 intersected the same sequence of veins with 384.40 g/t AgEq followed by 400.30 g/t AgEq over 0.50m Table 1. Au and Ag drill core assay results Hole # From (m) To (m) Interval (*) Au ppm Ag ppm AgEq ppm AT-21-01 84.00 84.50 0.50 13.11 153.8 1,137.05 84.50 85.10 0.60 4.519 364 702.93 87.35 87.90 0.55 1.163 24.1 111.33 87.90 88.40 0.50 2.605 17.4 212.78 AT-21-02 85.70 86.50 0.80 20.14 723 2,233.50 88.10 89.00 0.90 1.289 276.5 373.18 AT-21-03 38.50 39.00 0.50 0.127 306.5 316.03 62.50 63.00 0.50 1.305 11.8 109.68 65.80 66.30 0.50 3.736 271.1 551.30 AT-21-04 41.30 41.55 0.25 0.176 251 263.32 52.80 53.10 0.30 0.379 42.2 68.73 59.20 59.40 0.20 2.047 15.6 158.89 63.32 63.62 0.30 0.373 75.7 101.81 AT-21-05 67.10 67.50 0.40 1.112 107.2 190.60 85.40 85.95 0.55 2.529 371.4 561.08 85.95 86.30 0.35 0.183 53.8 67.53 86.30 86.70 0.40 0.273 56.8 77.28 86.70 87.10 0.40 4.146 461.5 772.45 87.10 87.50 0.40 1.411 240.1 345.93 AT-21-06 49.50 50.00 0.50 0.908 6.4 74.50 50.00 50.50 0.50 3.011 178.4 404.23 60.80 61.40 0.60 0.884 154.9 221.20 62.75 63.05 0.30 1.173 152.1 240.08 82.70 83.20 0.50 1.807 127.5 135.53 AT-21-07 47.50 47.70 0.20 0.984 310.6 384.40 51.70 52.20 0.50 2.084 244 400.30 64.10 64.50 0.40 0.63 53.9 101.15 (*) True thickness to be further calculated with additional drilling from different orientations. AqEq converted using a silver to gold ratio of 75:1 assuming recoveries of 100%. Figure 1. Plan view of first 8 drill holes at La Ye vein system, including drill intercept highlights and surface vein traces with rock/outcrop locations with assay results (AgEq). To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7881/109056_032263d12408d8fc_001full.jpg Drill hole AT 21-08 has been completed and samples submitted to SGS for preparation and analysis. At the date of this news release, the Company is still awaiting the results of their analysis from SGS. The ninth hole is underway as part of Baroyeca's initial 2,500m phase 1 drilling program at the La Ye vein system, targeting three silver-gold bearing vein zones at depth which have been mapped at surface. Photo 1. AT-21-06. Multiple parallel mineralized veins as part of San Antonio master vein at La Ye target. To view an enhanced version of Photo 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7881/109056_032263d12408d8fc_002full.jpg Raul Sanabria, P.Geo., President of Baroyeca commented: "We are pleased to see more high-grade results coming from ongoing drilling on the La Ye vein system. We have confirmed the presence of multiple stacked parallel vein sets and are progressing to establish the geometry of the shear corridor which hosts the mineralized zones within them. Our systematic approach to delineating the structure by moving along its strike length is allowing us to much better determine the distribution of ore shoots, vein bulging and vein splays. Drilling continues to move along toward the southwest where the vein splays into a wider zone and where we found higher grades in outcrop and float at surface." QA/QC Rock samples are shipped by transport truck in sealed woven plastic bags to SGS sample preparation facility in Medellin, Colombia for sample preparation and analysis. Baroyeca implements QA/QC best practices and per every 21 samples, three certified control samples are inserted (one blank, one standard and one field duplicate). SGS operates according to the guidelines set out in ISO/IEC Guide 25. Gold is determined by fire-assay fusion of a 50 g sub-sample with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Samples that return values >10 ppm gold from fire assay and AAS are determined by using fire assay and a gravimetric finish. Silver is analyzed by inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy, following multi-acid digestion. Silver is determined by ore grade assay for samples that return >500 ppm. About Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade silver and gold projects located in Colombia. Baroyeca's flagship asset is the high-grade Atocha Silver-Gold Project located in Tolima Department, Colombia. The Company also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Santa Barbara Property, Bolivar Department, Colombia, which is renowned for its high-grade gold mineralization and vein density. Current exploration activities on the Santa Barbara Property involve the bulk sampling of vein structures, which material then feeds into a trial production facility which has consistently been producing gold for over a year. The revenue from the sale of produced gold defrays part of the operating costs. The Company is planning to expand these activities. The Company's Board and senior management are committed to creating shareholder value through the discovery process, careful allocation of capital, and environmentally and socially responsible mineral exploration. Qualified Person Raul Sanabria, M.Sc., P.Geo., President of Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. and a qualified person ("QP") as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release. Annual Meeting Update The Company held its Annual General Meeting of shareholders by telephone conference call on December 31, 2021, with voting conducted by submission of proxies. The business presented to the Meeting was all routine in nature and all matters were approved by the shareholders. Raul Sanabria, Richard Wilson, Douglas Eacrett and William Carr were re-elected as directors for the ensuing year. BAROYECA GOLD & SILVER INC. Per: "Raul Sanabria" Raul Sanabria, President FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Wilson - (604) 351-3599 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109056 BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were moving higher on Wednesday, though the upside remained capped by Covid-19 worries and uncertainty surrounding the interest-rate outlook. Investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes of its Dec. 14-15, 2021 policy meeting later in the day for clues about the timing of any rate hikes. In economic releases, the euro zone services PMI was finalized at 53.1 in December, down from November's 55.9. The Composite PMI was finalized at 53.3, down from November's 55.4, signaling the softest expansion in combined manufacturing and services output since March. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1 percent to 494.67 after climbing 0.8 percent on Tuesday. The German DAX rose half a percent, France's CAC 40 index gained 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent. Dutch tech investor Prosus, which has a stake in China's Tencent, fell 2.4 percent after a sell-off in Chinese tech names listed in Hong Kong. Oxford Biomedica shares advanced 1.5 percent in London. The gene and cell therapy group announced that it has signed a new License and Supply Agreement or LSA with Cabaletta Bio, Inc. (CABA) for LentiVector Platform. Renewi fell over 2 percent. The waste management company said that Toby Woolrych will step down as chief financial officer on 1 April. Gambling software maker Playtech lost about 1 percent. The company said it was also postponing court and shareholder meetings relating to the offer by Aristocrat Leisure Limited, previously scheduled for January 12 to February 2. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The "Construction in Austria Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Austrian construction industry contracted by 3.2% in real terms in 2020, as a result of disruptions caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the subsequent lockdown measures. This decline was due to the temporary closure of businesses across the country, resulting in an increase in unemployment, a fall in disposable income and weak consumer and investor confidence. The latest data release by Eurostat shows that the construction industry's value-add declined by 2.1% in the first three quarters of 2020, on a yearly basis. In 2021, the construction industry's output is expected to recover with growth of 2.2%, driven by the government's focus on the development of the country's transport and energy infrastructure. Downside risks remain, however, including a prolonged second outbreak. The vaccine rollout is expected to provide scope for a revival in investor confidence, and output is forecast to grow at an annual average rate of 1.8% over 2022-2025. Growth in the sector will be supported by the government's focus on improving regional connectivity through the development of the country's rail and road transport infrastructure, coupled with efforts to boost energy production. The development of Vienna airport, the upgrade of the Pottendorfer railway line and the aim of generating 100% electricity from renewable sources by 2030 are expected to support the industry and economy. This report provides detailed market analysis, information, and insights into the Austrian construction industry, including The Austrian construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, as well as an analysis of key risks and opportunities in the Austrian construction industry Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, focusing on development stages and participants, in addition to listings of major projects in the pipeline. Scope Historical (2016-2020) and forecast (2021-2025) valuations of the construction industry in Austria, featuring details of key growth drivers. Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by sub-sector Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, including breakdowns by development stage across all sectors, and projected spending on projects in the existing pipeline. Listings of major projects, in addition to details of leading contractors and consultants Key Topics Covered: 1 Executive Summary 2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance 3 Context 3.1 Economic Performance 3.2 Political Environment and Policy 3.3 Demographics 3.4 COVID-19 Status 4 Construction Outlook 4.1 All Construction 4.2 Commercial Construction 4.3 Industrial Construction 4.4 Infrastructure Construction 4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction 4.6 Institutional Construction 4.7 Residential Construction 5 Key Industry Participants 5.1 Contractors 5.2 Consultants 6 Construction Market Data 7 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k7225t View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005548/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 5 January 2022 Clean Invest Africa Plc ("CIA", the "Company" or the "Group") Annual General Meeting update Further to the announcement of 9 December 2021, convening an Annual General Meeting ("AGM"), and in light of recent developments concerning the Omicron variant of Covid, the Company is making changes to the format of its AGM, to be held at 11 a.m. on 10 January 2022. In accordance with the UK Government's guidelines in response to the risks of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 (the "Plan B Announcement"), that people work from home wherever possible, shareholders are requested not to attend the AGM in person. The AGM will be held as a closed meeting. Shareholders are encouraged to vote by proxy. Instructions for voting by proxy are set out in the notes at the end of the notice of AGM and on the proxy card sent to shareholders. Shareholders who wish to ask questions at the AGM will be able to raise their questions by email to enquiry@coaltechenergy.com The directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. ENQUIRIES: Clean Invest Africa plc Filippo Fantechi - Chief Executive Officer +973 3 9696273 Peterhouse Capital Limited Guy Miller +44 20 7469 0930 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Established in 2018, FINX has always been a pioneer in decentralized digital banking in Malaysia, with its efforts to solve the problem of high banking costs with conventional banks, while providing financial solutions to the unbanked market in Southeast Asia. Further establishing itself in digital finance, FINX is taking another revolutionary step with the introduction of its proprietary technology, FINX SHIELD. With cybersecurity issues on the rise and getting more complicated, there is a need for defence against this threat especially when dealing in digital finance. Ransomware attacks, malware and software infections, and other cyber vulnerabilities continue to loom over governments, organizations and agencies. Backed by data and know-how from FINX, FINX SHIELD is well-placed to solve, and prevent, any cybersecurity issues with its advanced approach to AI-powered threat protection. Opportunities in Cybersecurity With Blockchain Technology As a leading blockchain pioneer, FINX will leverage blockchain technology, which many experts are of the opinion will become mainstream within 10 years. Blockchain transactions are distributed in a way where network gatekeepers help facilitate the security of the blockchain. Building on this, FINX SHIELD will utilize big data and blockchain, powering Artificial Intelligence to disrupt the cybersecurity technology landscape. By collecting big data and incentivizing individuals and organisations, FINX SHIELD's end goal is to make threat data freely available to the general public. "Through a network of proficient individuals and organizations, FINX tokens will be rewarded to contributors to the FINX Ecosystem," explains Henry Chai, CEO of FINX. "With participation and cooperation across the blockchain sphere, the FINX Ecosystem will become the new standard across the cybersecurity industry to ensure security, privacy and trust for establishments dealing with data, digital finance, and personal data security," he says. According to a FINX whitepaper on FINX SHIELD, the data provided is expected to power many cybersecurity-related products and eventually become the world's largest cyber threat detector powered by blockchain. With the introduction of FINX SHIELD, FINX envisions being the leader in cybersecurity thanks to their expertise in the blockchain terrain. Moreover, with its recent partnership with global digital asset trading platforms BigONE and Biconomy, as well as popular cryptocurrency platform Coinovy, FINX will be able to leverage more resources as it builds a more robust and secure cybersecurity shield and defence. For more information, please visit www.finx.global Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1716907/FINX_announces_addition_global_digital_asset_trading_platforms___BigONE.jpg VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. (CSE:YUM)(OTCQB:KOMOF)(FRA:9HB) ("Komo"), a premium plant-based food company, is pleased to announce it achieved record revenues for product sales in the month of December 2021. Komo's December revenues of $69,999 were 104% higher than the previous month and 51% higher than its previous highest revenue month, which was October 2021. Komo's gross profit margin for its three month interim period ended October 31, 2021 was 35%. The increase in December revenues was mainly due to an increase in wholesale orders as Komo expands distribution to retail grocery chains. The December revenues also included revenues from the launch of Komo Eats hot meals through Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes. Komo has experienced hyper growth since launching its brand on March 5th, 2021. Since that date, Komo introduced frozen, plant-based lasagnas, chickenless pot pies, bolognese sauces, taco fillings and shepherd's pies through eCommerce, at Farmers markets and its retail distribution network. Komo has also developed a line of vegan Mac & Cheeze, Jackfruit Chick'n and vegan wrap as hot entrees through meal delivery apps. These avenues are aligned with Komo's mission to make plant-based meals a staple at every dinner table. For full details on Komo's growth in revenues see it's reported financial results for the year ended July 31, 2021 and for the 3 month period ended October 31, 2021 please go to the issuer profile for "Komo Plant Based Foods Inc." at SEDAR.com. "Our significant increase in revenues in December was a surprise since we experienced many delays in distributing our products outside of British Columbia due to weather conditions and widespread labour shortages," says Komo CEO William White. "We are very excited about our continued revenue growth as we expand throughout Canada and the United States. We know our products are well received by consumers as we continue to receive five star consumer reviews through our eCommerce platform and we are receiving consistent repeat orders in both wholesale and direct to consumer sales." Komo follows a two tier approach for its product launches. All products are first launched locally through Komo's direct-to-consumer eCommerce platform in Metro Vancouver. Komo uses the consumer feedback to improve the product until it is ready for larger scale production through a co-manufacturing facility, and then gets distributed to retail stores through multiple distributors. Recently, Komo launched 11 new ready-to-eat meals through meal delivery apps and a ghost kitchen in Vancouver, British Columbia, allowing Komo another avenue for product development and customer feedback. About Komo Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. is a premium plant-based food company that develops, manufactures and sells a variety of plant-based frozen meals that are always hearty, satisfying, and made with wholesome ingredients. At Komo, our mission is to help make plant-based meals a staple on every dinner table by sharing our love for feel-good food that connects the people to the planet. We believe plant-based eating is the future and - Change can start with a single biteTM. Our experienced plant-based innovation and development team recreates vegan versions of traditionally cheesy and meaty classics, with 100% plants. Komo's products are sold direct-to-consumer through our eCommerce website and a distribution network of online and brick and mortar grocery, convenience and natural retailer channels. Our operating subsidiary Komo Comfort Foods launched in 2021 with our flagship products: plant-based Lasagna, Shepherd's Pie and Chickenless Pot Pie and has recently launched a new line - Komo Plant-Based Meal HelpersTM - versatile meal starters to allow the creation of many dishes at home. All of our products are 100% plant-based, made with wholesome ingredients, free from preservatives, and frozen for freshness. Freezing products is a natural and effective way of keeping food products for longer without having to use any preservatives. Our meals have a 1-year frozen shelf life. We also sell hot ready-to-eat meals in Metro Vancouver through Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes. Learn more at: www.komocomfortfoods.com and follow on Instagram: @komocomfortfoods and @komoeats For further information, please contact: William White, President & CEO, Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. will@komoeats.com 1-866-969-0882 The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or Komo's future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Komo's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, Komo's product development plans, its ability to launch new products, its ability to retain key personnel, its revenues, and its ability to export its products to retail stores across Canada and throughout the United States constitute forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The statements made in this press release are made as of the date hereof. Komo disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE: Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681022/Komo-Plant-Based-Foods-Announces-Record-Revenues-in-December--with-35-Profit-Margin-Reported-Last-Quarter Wilson Chow, PwC Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry Leader; Patrick Lau, HKTDC Acting Executive Director; Mary Huen, Chairperson, AFF 2022 Steering Committee; and Ma Jun, Chairman and President, HK Green Finance Association [L-R] Mark Carney, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Jean-Claude Trichet, Former President of the European Central Bank HONG KONG, Jan 5, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - As a highlight event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the 15th Asian Financial Forum (AFF), organised by the Government of the HKSAR and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), will be held entirely online through the AFF virtual platform on 10 and 11 January. This decision has been made with public safety as the primary concern, and in line with the tightening of the government's public health measures in response to the latest pandemic developments. The two-day forum will help participants from both Hong Kong and overseas build business connections, exchange market intelligence and seize global opportunities.Running on the theme "Navigating the Next Normal towards a Sustainable Future", more than 170 global business leaders, policymakers, financial experts, investors, entrepreneurs, tech giants and economists will speak at AFF 2022. In addition to addressing the key issues reshaping the economic landscape amid the gradual global economic recovery, the speakers will shed light on how industries can realise sustainable and inclusive development through impactful venture capital and business strategies. In addition, the forum will host AFF Deal Flow Matchmaking Sessions and a fintech exhibition to help participants identify investment opportunities and explore innovative solutions.A stellar line-up of heavyweight speakers will give the keynote speeches on both days. They include Mark Carney, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, Jean-Claude Trichet, Former President of the European Central Bank, and Brett King, Founder of Moven and bestselling author. They will impart insights and perspectives on a variety of topical issues across different fields, including how the financial industry, regulators and policymakers should step up their concerted efforts and build a sustainable financial system to mitigate the threats posed by climate change; and how the emergence of innovative fintech enterprises presents both an opportunity and a challenge to the banking and financial industries.Speaking at the press conference today, Mary Huen, Chairperson of the AFF 2022 Steering Committee and Executive Director and CEO, Hong Kong, and Cluster CEO of Hong Kong, Taiwan & Macau of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, said: "The pandemic has led us to enter the era of the new normal. The world's economy and businesses are resuming under a new model. Entering 2022, changes in the global landscape continue to deepen, while governments and enterprises in different economies are taking innovative approaches to promote sustainable development. I hope we can see stable growth in the global economy this year."Patrick Lau, Acting Executive Director of HKTDC, noted: "Even though it has been two years since the onset of the pandemic, businesses are still facing all sorts of challenges, and versions of the new normal are continually emerging in different sectors. We must step further ahead to sense the pulse of the market and generate business opportunities. The theme of AFF 2022 is sustainable development, which is a goal shared by everyone touched by the pandemic. We must strive to conserve our natural resources and minimise the impact of climate change."Spotlighting policy responses to climate change and economic recoveryThe global pandemic has led to paradigm shifts in many aspects of the economic and business landscapes. Economies are taking action to support economic recovery while mitigating the risks of the global crisis brought about by climate change. On the first morning of AFF 2022, Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the HKSAR, will host a plenary session to address this subject. Panellists will include Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, Thailand's Minister of Finance; Sean Fleming, Ireland's Minister of State at the Department of Finance; Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Jin Liqun, President and Chairman, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Verena Ross, Chair, European Securities and Markets Authority; Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, Chairman, Islamic Development Bank; and Marcos Troyjo, President, New Development Bank.In the afternoon, a policy dialogue will focus on measures to achieve longer-term sustainability goals and keep climate-related financial risks at bay. The session will be chaired by Eddie Yue, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, who will be joined by Ashley Alder, Chairman of the Board, International Organization of Securities Commissions, and Chief Executive Officer, Securities and Futures Commission; Benjamin Estoista Diokno, Central Bank Governor, Philippines; Klaas Knot, Chair, Financial Stability Board and President, De Nederlandsche Bank; Teresa Ko, Trustee, International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation China Chairman, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; and Ma Jun, Chairman and President, Hong Kong Green Finance Association.Four thematic panels shed light on ESG, sustainability and moreIn the nearly 60 sessions being held at AFF 2022, a roster of distinguished global policymakers and business leaders will share their insights on a host of topical issues relating to the event's theme, including the global economic outlook, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, climate change and sustainability.As the world enters 2022, the global economy is riddled with myriad uncertainties, yet digital transformation could provide new impetus for businesses. At the panel discussion titled "Global Economic Outlook", speakers including Paul M Achleitner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG; Liu Jin, President, Bank of China Limited; Tian Guoli, Chairman and Executive Director, China Construction Bank; Shriti Vadera, Chair, Prudential Plc; and Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered PLC, will discuss the global outlook and share their thoughts on how corporations and financial institutions can help to shape an inclusive, resilient and sustainable landscape in the years to come. The session will be chaired by Victor Chu, Chairman & CEO, First Eastern Investment Group.With ESG practices becoming mainstream, it is now incumbent upon all businesses to embrace ESG standards in making successful investment decisions and implementing business strategies. At the first panel discussion on "ESG & Sustainability", speakers including Andrew Erickson, Chief Productivity Officer, Head of International Business, State Street; Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, CEO, Sintesa Group; Amy Lo, Head and Chief Executive, UBS Hong Kong; and Saker Nusseibeh, CEO, International, Federated Hermes International, will join panel chair Stewart James, Chief of Staff, Sustainability Policy & Regulation at HSBC, in exploring how to work together towards a wider implementation of ESG to build a more sustainable future.Global developments necessitate that the insurance and wealth management industries must continue evolving to keep pace. They must also address the changing demands of investors, leverage market intelligence to seize post-pandemic investment opportunities, and play an active role in addressing climate change. At the panel discussion "Innovating Insurance to Combat Climate Change", Hong Kong's Insurance Authority will speak with experts from the insurance sector to examine using alternative risk transfer solutions for mitigating extreme weather events. Meanwhile, the panel discussion on "Asset & Wealth Management Post-COP26" will see the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and global banking and asset management experts exchange insights on developments in the green and sustainable investment space.Deciphering tech trends and exploring cryptocurrencies and NFTsResponding to the rapid development of technologies spurred by the pandemic, AFF 2022 will feature sessions hosted by pioneers in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Expert speakers will include Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com and the richest person in crypto, who is also a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, talking about his entrepreneurial journey and the outlook for blockchain and cryptocurrency. There will also be sessions examining the prospects of such cutting-edge technologies as digital wealth management, cloud computing and paytech. At the "Dialogues for Tomorrow" session, an array of industry experts and entrepreneurs will outline the roadmap for innovation and future breakthroughs in a range of pillar sectors, including fintech, banking, insurance, energy, food and agritech, property and healthcare.Growth in global wealth accelerates family office and philanthropy developmentOn the back of the global wealth boom, especially in Asia, the HKTDC and the Private Wealth Management Association will co-organise a Family Office Symposium at AFF 2022 to shed light on this emerging trend. Speakers including Ronnie Chan, Chair, Hang Lung Properties; Adrian Cheng, Chief Executive Officer, New World Development; and Seri Cheah Cheng Hye, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Value Partners Group, will explore wealth management trends relating to family offices and discuss their development among Asian families.In addition, Tony O Elumelu, Group Chairman, United Bank for Africa and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will share his efforts to improve people's lives in Africa and transform the country through long-term investments in strategic sectors and by empowering young African entrepreneurs.Other eminent speakers, including Douglas Flint, Chairman, abrdn plc, will discuss market trends in global impact investment. Miao Jianmin, Chairman, China Merchants Group, will share his views on Mainland China's carbon neutrality goals and green finance development, while Ju Weimin, Vice Chairman, President & CIO, China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund, will analyse the current macro investment trends in Asia and China.AFF Deal Flow extended with three days of matchmaking meetingsIn response to popular demand, this year's AFF Deal Flow Matchmaking Session, jointly organised by the HKTDC and the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, will be extended by a day and held over three days from 10 to 12 January. The goal is to facilitate collaboration between project owners, potential business partners and investors. The investment projects covered will span such sectors as deep tech, digital technology and media, healthtech, education, infrastructure and real estate services. A function for identifying ESG-integrated projects will also be debuted for interested investors to understand more about this subject area.More than 130 exhibitors showcase new technologies and investment opportunitiesAFF 2022 also features online exhibitions, where more than 130 local and international financial institutions, tech companies, start-ups and investment agencies will showcase a broad range of advanced technologies in the Fintech Showcase, InnoVenture Salon and FintechHK Startup Salon. Exhibitors will include PwC, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China, HSBC, China International Capital Corporation and Cyberport. Meanwhile, the Global Investment Zone will showcase a plethora of unmissable investment opportunities through the AFF's virtual platform, including those from Australia, Canada, Italy, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Korea, Qatar and the United Kingdom.The InnoVenture Salon is also a platform for start-ups to connect with international incubators, investors and potential business partners. With a mission to support entrepreneurship and innovation, the Salon is joining hands with Hong Kong's regulators to help start-ups resolve their business pain-points.Additionally, the HKTDC, Mizuho Bank and Eureka Nova, a start-up incubation and open innovation platform established by New World Development, will come together for the first time for AFF Accelerate. On the platform, innovators will introduce their innovation and technology solutions and demonstrate how innovative concepts can be commercialised for adoption in the business sector.As the premier financial and business forum kicking off the new year, AFF 2022 is set to gather and galvanise the global industry to generate synergy for a sustainable future.Websites- Asian Financial Forum: https://www.asianfinancialforum.com/aff/en/- AFF programme: https://www.asianfinancialforum.com/aff/en/programme/programme- AFF speakers: https://www.asianfinancialforum.com/aff/en/speaker/main- Photo download: https://bit.ly/3mXdwG4Media registrationMembers of the media who joined today's press conference will automatically receive a two-day online media pass for the 15th Asia Financial Forum. Other media representatives who would like to join AFF 2022 should send an email to wk.lee@hktdc.org on or before 7 January for registration details.Media remarks: All video or audio recordings of the event may be used only in the context of media reporting.Members of the media interested in interviewing speakers at AFF 2022 can fill out the form at https://bit.ly/3duYAd3 and email it to clayton.y.lauw@hktdc.org or janet.ch.chan@hktdc.org on or before 7 January 2022.About HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedInMedia enquiries:Please contact the HKTDC's Communications & Public Affairs DepartmentJanet Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4369, Email: janet.ch.chan@hktdc.orgClayton Lauw, Tel: +852 2584 4472, Email: clayton.y.lauw@hktdc.orgAgnes Wat, Tel: +852 2584 4554, Email: agnes.ky.wat@hktdc.orgSource: HKTDCCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Trust Stamp (OTCQX:IDAI, Euronext Growth: AIID ID), a global provider of AI-powered trust and identity services used across multiple sectors, is pleased to announce that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed the applications for U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 16/855,588 for "Systems and Methods for Passive-Subject Liveness Verification in Digital Media" and U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 16/841,269 for "Systems and Processes for Lossy Biometric Representations" for issuance as patents and published the application for U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 17/401,504 for "Systems and Methods for Liveness-Verified, Biometric-Based Encryption". Trust Stamp CEO Gareth N. Genner comments: "As a result of our significant investment into research and development, Trust Stamp's robust privacy-first patent portfolio protects the unique benefits of our product offerings and enables us to deliver unparalleled security, utility, and privacy, at a fraction of the cost of traditional biometric solutions. Our commitment to innovating secure, privacy-first identity and trust verification solutions has driven our global, cross-industry growth as we identify and address the compounding challenges and changing consumer demands in digital service delivery and strengthen our competitive advantages when delivering enterprise security and fraud prevention, data protection and privacy, and financial accessibility solutions." Systems and Processes for Lossy Biometric Representations was allowed for issuance as a patent on 9 December 2021, following the initial filing on 6 April 2020 and substantive analyst examination. The invention protects biometric data through irreversible tokenization, a key differentiator of Trust Stamp's innovative privacy-first approach to identity. This core technology cryptographically obfuscates biometric information to provide a means for secure authentication that protects the privacy of individuals and mitigates potential damage due to data loss or compromise. The process encodes biometric information via a neural network that destroys much of the source data, inserts a key, and transforms the resulting data to create an anonymized representation known as the Irreversibly Transformed Identity Token (IT 2 ) . Trust Stamp's IT2 technology can be applied to any data from any source, for accurate, protected, and low-footprint identification and deduplication. The application for Systems and Methods for Liveness-Verified, Biometric-Based Encryption was published on 2 December 2021 after filing on 13 August 2021. This innovation builds on the security and fraud-resistance of Trust Stamp's proven biometric capture, tokenization, and comparison technologies by determining whether biometric information is provided by a live individual or has been spoofed through methods including the use of printed images, recorded video, and feature-altering face masks. Systems and Methods for Passive-Subject Liveness Verification in Digital Media was initially filed on 22 April 2020 and allowed for issuance on 17 December 2021, complementing Trust Stamp's comprehensive presentation attack detection capabilities with technology that detects liveness in photos or videos of an individual without requiring their active physical movement for a low friction user experience. The Company's advanced proof-of-liveness algorithms deliver a multi-layered approach to blocking presentation attacks, to ensure that only the authorized individual can gain access to their accounts and sensitive data. Enquiries Trust Stamp Email: Shareholders@truststamp.ai Gareth Genner, Chief Executive Officer Nisha Naik, Executive VP of Communications About Trust Stamp Trust Stamp is a global provider of AI-powered identity services for use in multiple sectors including banking and finance, regulatory compliance, government, real estate, communications, and humanitarian services. Its technology empowers organizations with advanced biometric identity solutions that reduce fraud, protect personal data privacy, increase operational efficiency, and reach a broader base of users worldwide through its unique data transformation and comparison capabilities. Located in seven countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, Trust Stamp trades on the OTCQX Best Market ( OTCQX: IDAI ) and Euronext Growth in Dublin ( Euronext Growth: AIID ID ). Founded in 2016 by Gareth Genner and Andrew Gowasack, the company now employs over 90 people. Disclaimer The information in this announcement may contain forward-looking statements and information related to, among other things, the company, its business plan and strategy, and its industry. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events-based information currently available and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company does not undertake any obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after such date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. SOURCE: T Stamp Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681054/Trust-Stamp-Advances-Innovative-IP-Portfolio Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Plurilock Security Inc. (TSXV: PLUR) (OTCQB: PLCKF) and related subsidiaries ("Plurilock" or the "Company"), an identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider for workforces, is pleased to provide its 2021 year in review from Chief Executive Officer Ian L. Paterson. Current and future shareholders, As we begin 2022, we would like to thank each of you for your support of PlurilockTM. In writing this letter, I wanted to highlight the transformational progress made in 2021. Since 2016, Plurilock has rapidly grown, creating novel behavioral biometric technology and using it for our advanced cybersecurity solutions, to protect enterprises against the increasing cyber threat. As stated throughout the year, we believe that extending our distribution streams to scale the delivery of our technology solutions is imperative in driving sales and securing new clients. With this in mind, we will continue to integrate with resellers and our existing distribution channels to capitalize on the growing demand from government, education, healthcare, and defense verticals. We believe this strategy continues to evolve as we continue to capture market share in the IAM market. Let's look back on Plurilock's accomplishments in 2021 with our eye to what lies ahead. Revenue Progress In November, we released our fiscal 2021 third quarter financial results, demonstrating strong sales growth, with CA$23.9 million in total revenue (as of September 30, 2021) for the 9 month period. During the year we saw progress in our technology division, namely in the sales of our Plurilock ADAPTTM and Plurilock DEFENDTM product. On August 16, 2021, we secured a US$672,000 order with an overseas financial institution for our DEFEND product. This transaction marked our first purchase order in the cybersecurity market outside of North America. This sale came following the client's stringent product evaluation in which DEFEND achieved an average detection time of under 1 minute. Financing Success & Healthy Balance Sheet During the year we raised over CA$9.5M in growth capital, including CA$4.6 million in a "bought deal" financing, announced on November 10, 2021. This financing, led by Leede Jones Gable, received strong institutional investor demand and participation from insiders. The additional working capital has allowed Plurilock to invest in our growth initiatives as part of our work to become the industry's leading identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider. We are positioned well heading into the new year with a strong balance sheet with CA$7.05 million cash on hand (as of September 30, 2021). Growth Through M&A We are presently seeing a shift in the way enterprises are protecting their networks and assets. This shift has resulted in emerging authentication technologies gaining traction in the market. We are regularly evaluating assets we believe could be good bolt-on acquisitions and assist us in scaling our technology and distribution, while expanding our geographical footprint. On April 1, Plurilock announced its first acquisition of Aurora Systems Consulting, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and IT service provider based in California. Through this acquisition, Plurilock expanded its sales footprint across North America with major U.S. operations, gaining access to over 140 tier-1 customers and a professional sales team. As a result of this acquisition, Aurora now forms the backbone of Plurilock's Solutions Division, securing multiple contracts and orders with U.S. federal and state entities, including: U.S. Air Force - US$1.08 Million Purchase Order U.S. Department of Defense - US$1.9 Million Purchase Order & US$1.7 Million Overseas Order U.S. Department of Navy - US$1.15 Million Order We will continue our work to integrate Aurora into the Plurilock family of companies and leverage existing sales channels and business relationships to serve customers in the government, education, healthcare, and defense verticals. On October 21, we announced that Plurilock has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with CloudCodes Software Private Limited, a leading cloud access security broker (CASB). This pending asset acquisition is expected to provide Plurilock with additional offerings within our product portfolio and create new opportunities to provide our customers with a cloud security solution and a path to integrate low-friction, high-security behavioral biometric identity with SSO. The Cloud Codes acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions which are expected to be completed in Q1 2022. We believe this acquisition will further accelerate our sales growth and strongly position us in the zero trust market. Expansion of Advisory Board In 2021, we added world-class cybersecurity leadership to Plurilock's Advisory Board to provide expert guidance as the Company moves forward. On February 4, 2021, it was announced that Dr. Jan Tighe joined our advisory board. Dr. Tighe is a retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy who currently serves as an independent director at Goldman Sachs. Dr. Tighe has held numerous executive roles in the U.S. Navy and U.S. National Security Agency. Dr. Tighe has a 20-year federal career, having served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, Director of Naval Intelligence, Fleet Commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, and Deputy Director of Operations in the U.S. Cyber Command. Continued Innovation with an Eye Toward Zero Trust As part of our commitment to continuous innovation, Plurilock has continued to expand our competitive moat through patent filings. On October 28, we announced that Plurilock has submitted documentation to finalize a patent currently pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, to solve for delays that exist when operating remotely in a virtual desktop infrastructure environment and protect against cyber attacks that target remote desktop data. In addition to new offerings via M&A activities, Plurilock has continued to invest heavily in the development of its core continuous authentication products, Plurilock ADAPT and Plurilock DEFEND. Our team has been working hard to innovate and enhance the functionality of our products, with an eye toward the growing emphasis on a zero trust architecture (ZTA). We have seen the market begin a shift from outdated authentication paradigms to the mindset of zero trust - never trust, always verify - and the architecture that will facilitate enhanced security for enterprises. Zero trust will be a core focus for us in the year ahead. Expectations for 2022 As we look to the next year, you can expect that Plurilock will be focused on executing on our combined organic and in-organic growth strategy, continuing product development, and pursuing opportunities that solidify our role as a zero trust leader. I am energized about our future, as customer demand in cybersecurity continues to accelerate. And while the number of high-profile cyber attacks continue to increase, and the challenges posed by COVID-19 persist, the Plurilock family of companies is positioned for growth and to deliver a competitive product in the growing zero trust market. Thank you for your continued support and investment in our company. Ian L. Paterson Chief Executive Officer About Plurilock Plurilock provides identity-centric cybersecurity for today's workforces. The Plurilock family of companies enables organizations to operate safely and securely while reducing cybersecurity friction. Plurilock offers world-class IT and cybersecurity solutions through its Solutions Division, paired with proprietary, AI-driven and cloud-friendly security through its Technology Division. Together, the Plurilock family of companies delivers persistent identity assurance with unmatched ease of use. For more information, visit https://www.plurilock.com or contact: Ian L. Paterson Chief Executive Officer ian@plurilock.com 416.800.1566 Roland Sartorius Chief Financial Officer roland.sartorius@plurilock.com Prit Singh Investor Relations prit.singh@plurilock.com 905.510.7636 Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") related to future events or Plurilock's future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like "will", "intend", "anticipate", "could", "should", "may", "might", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "potential", "project", "assume", "contemplate", "believe", "shall", "scheduled", and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions, and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Plurilock's business. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, the impact of general economic conditions, the success of the Company in obtaining new or extended contracts or orders; the Company's ability to maintain existing customers or develop new customers; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of other businesses and/or companies or to realize on the anticipated benefits thereof; and unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Plurilock. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof, and Plurilock undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Information Form. They are otherwise disclosed in its filings with securities regulatory authorities available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109019 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Riverside Resources Inc. (TSXV: RRI) (OTCQB: RVSDF) (FSE: 5YY) ("Riverside" or the "Company"), is pleased to report high grade surface sample assay results from its most recent field exploration program at La Union Project in Sonora, Mexico. After completing a claim consolidation in September, Riverside conducted a follow up field mapping and sampling program of 103 samples with the best sample returning 83.2 g/t (2.6 oz/t) gold and 4,816 g/t (150 oz/t) silver. The work further enhanced Riverside's understanding of the structural and lithological context by linking the small historical workings into a larger regional context. Although the Project is still in its initial stages, mineralization appears to be of manto-chimney and replacement type within Pre-Cambrian to Cambrian sedimentary rocks (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Interpretative schematic cross section of the Plomito target in the Union-Famosa corridor showing stratigraphic column with interpretative mineralization relationship. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6101/109082_34f4e158144e3bc0_002full.jpg Previous sampling this year by Riverside returned high grade gold assays up to 59.4 g/t Au from dump materials and surface sampling (see press release October 6, 2021). Following-up on this high-grade discovery Riverside's team returned and was able to define the extent of the mineralization. The highlights of this latest work defined high grade polymetallic samples up to 30% Zn, 83.2 g/t Au, 4,816 g/t Ag, 10.3% Pb (see Table 1). Of the 103 samples assay value ranged from 83.3 g/t gold to non-detectable with about 30% of the samples returning significant values in gold, silver, lead and/or zinc the best being. Au - high: 83.2 g/t ; low cut-off: 0.5 g/t ; low cut-off: 0.5 g/t Ag - high: 4,816 g/t ; low cut-off: 300 g/t ; low cut-off: 300 g/t Pb - high: 10.3% ; low cut-off: 0.1% ; low cut-off: 0.1% Zn - high: 30%*; low cut-off: 0.1% *30% Zn is the upper detection limit in analysis method performed Table 1: Assays from La Union Polymetallic Project. Results from November 2021 program Note: Best 13 assays from 103 samples collected. To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6101/109082_table1.jpg Riverside's President and CEO, John-Mark Staude: "Our surface sampling results continue to return tremendous gold, silver and zinc grades at La Union. We recently expanded the property package here to more than 26 km2 and our ongoing field work is expected to include a geophysical survey and additional mapping and sampling while we advance permitting in tandem with preparation for a maiden drill program in 2022." Geological Setting: Figure 2: Geological map of the Union Project highlighting the two zones of El Plomito and the Union-Famosa Corridor. To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6101/109082_34f4e158144e3bc0_004full.jpg Geological Environment The La Union Project is part of the El Viejo Mountain range of NW Sonora, Mexico. The Sierra El Viejo comprises a thick sequence of Pre-Cambrian to Cambrian sedimentary units which the Company has been carefully mapping in detail. Many historical workings are spread across the range with the most extensive being the Union Mine, La Famosa Mine and El Plomito Mine; all located along the southern tip of the El Viejo range within Riverside's mineral concessions. Three sedimentary units have been identified from top to bottom: black limestone, quartzite, and grey limestone. Thicknesses of these units vary from 150 to 250 m with folding occurring mostly within the grey limestone, which is believed to be the primary reactive layer responsible for mineral deposition (see Figure 1). As a weaker unit the grey limestone is prone to low angle thrusting while the quartzite units are more brittle and tend to fracture. Post-mineral faulting also plays an important role. The west side of the property at the Plomito mine target area is separated from the Union-Famosa corridor target by a 3 km-wide colluvium-filled N-S trending graben. The geology at the Plomito Mine shows many similarities to the eastern side of the range at Union-Famosa where grey limestone with a small window of quartzite is mapped. Low angle faulting is also present in the area and tends to be mineralized showing carbonate replacement and patchy marble zones. Historical workings are scattered across the property and tend to follow the low angle oxidized structures varying from centimeters to metres in width. Geochemistry shows an overall similar pattern across the property, with the dominant geochemical signature being polymetallic Pb-Ag-Zn-As-Cu-Sb-Au. Secondary Au-As association is recognized which suggests another hydrothermal event spatially associated with the dominant polymetallic event. Mineralization is found on surface associated with low angle faults, folds, with the thicker mineralized intervals being where high angle fault intersect with other structures creating 'traps'. GIS compilation of Riverside's work and older data is showing a tendency for thicker mineralized zones to occur within the stratigraphy defined 'grey limestone' (see Figures 1 & 2) where replacement and crack infilling is noted. Riverside is currently planning future exploration work, which will include a geophysical survey to better identify the depth and behavior of mineralization within the grey limestone unit and the structural nature of the lower part of the sedimentary sequence. The next stage in exploration will be to compile the proposed geophysics with the existing information to identify drill targets for a 2022 program. Qualified Person & QA/QC: The scientific and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the La Union Project was reviewed and approved by Freeman Smith, P.Geo, a non-independent qualified person to Riverside Resources, who is responsible for ensuring that the geologic information provided in this news release is accurate and who acts as a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Rock samples from the exploration program discussed above at La Union were shipped to the Bureau Veritas Laboratories in Hermosillo, Mexico for ICP and fire assaying for gold. The rejects remained with Bureau Veritas in Mexico while the pulps were transported to Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, BC, Canada for 45 element ICP/ES-MS analysis and Aqua Regia total Hg analysis. A QA/QC program was implemented as part of the sampling procedures for the exploration program. Standard samples were randomly inserted into the sample stream every 20 to 30 samples prior to being sent to the laboratory for analysis. About Riverside Resources Inc.: Riverside is a well-funded exploration company driven by value generation and discovery. The Company has no debt and approximately 71M shares outstanding with a strong portfolio of gold-silver and copper assets in North America. Riverside has extensive experience and knowledge operating in Mexico and Canada and leverages its large database to generate a portfolio of prospective mineral properties. In addition to Riverside's own exploration spending, the Company also strives to diversify risk by securing joint-venture and spin-out partnerships to advance multiple assets simultaneously and create more chances for discovery. Riverside has additional properties available for option, with more information available on the Company's website at www.rivres.com. ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC. "John-Mark Staude" Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO For additional information contact: John-Mark Staude President, CEO Riverside Resources Inc. info@rivres.com Phone: (778) 327-6671 Fax: (778) 327-6675 Web: www.rivres.com Raffi Elmajian Corporate Communications Riverside Resources Inc. relmajian@rivres.com Phone: (778) 327-6671 TF: (877) RIV-RES1 Web: www.rivres.com Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology (e.g., "expect"," estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "plans"). Such information involves known and unknown risks -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. 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/109082 Starting in Canada, consumers will be able to experience Corona's new non-alcoholic beer innovation during the winter months via Corona Sunbrew 0.0% LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, global beer brand Corona is proud to announce the worldwide launch of Corona Sunbrew 0.0%. This innovative, first-of-its-kind, non-alcoholic beer contains 30 per cent of the daily value of vitamin D per 330 mL serving in Canada. As the newest member of the Corona family, a brand that celebrates getting outside and enjoying life in the sun, Corona Sunbrew 0.0% allows consumers to have "Sunshine, Anytime" every season. "As a brand that was born on the beach, Corona embraces the outdoors in everything we do, because we believe that outside is where people best disconnect and relax. The feeling of the sun is one of the things that people love most about the outdoors and the Corona brand is always innovating to remind them of that feeling," said Felipe Ambra, Global Vice President for Corona. "Now, we're excited to offer consumers Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, the first non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D, reinforcing our desire to help people reconnect to nature, anytime." According to IWSR, the global no/low alcohol category total volume is forecasted to grow by 31% by 2024. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% provides consumers looking for a non-alcoholic beer with a unique new option. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% contains 30 per cent of the daily value of vitamin D in Canada and 60 calories per 330 ML serving. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% maintains Corona's essence; it was developed from Corona Extra by extracting the alcohol and then blending the non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D and natural flavours to reach the final recipe. This launch also demonstrates AB InBev's continued commitment to smart drinking to help reduce and prevent the harmful use of alcohol across the world. "After numerous and rigorous trials, Corona Sunbrew 0.0% proudly showcases our ability to find solutions, gaps, and opportunities for growth as a brand," said Brad Weaver, Global Vice President of Innovation Research & Development for ABInBev. "The journey was not easy as vitamin D is sensitive to oxygen and light, and not easily soluble in water. But thanks to our ongoing investment in innovation and research and development, our team was able to create the only non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D, providing a unique opportunity in the market." Corona Sunbrew 0.0% will be available to consumers in a few distinct phases. The global brand will first launch Corona Sunbrew 0.0% in Canada, precisely at the time of year where most Canadians experience limited sunlight, making it an ideal market to launch an innovation from a brand synonymous with the beach and celebrations outdoors. Later this year, Corona will extend the non-alcoholic product offering in the UK followed by key markets across the rest of Europe, South America, and Asia. Creative Agency DAVID Miami collaborated closely with Corona on the development of Corona Sunbrew 0.0% from its very inception, more than two years ago. As an ongoing brand partner, DAVID proactively presented the idea for Corona to develop a beverage containing vitamin D. "Each detail of the project is special. From the product ideation to the final campaign. It's not every day that we have the chance to present a product idea and have an innovative client like Corona buy, develop and take it to the next level. A true collaborative effort," says Pancho Cassis, Global Chief Creative Officer at DAVID. To help support the launch of Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, Corona will unveil a new creative campaign capturing the enjoyment of "Sunshine, Anytime." A compilation of scenes filmed on a pristine beach in Costa Rica presents the pleasure of outdoor living and the boundless positive energy of the sun. The new Corona Sunbrew 0.0% campaign taps into the feeling of being carefree and relaxed. The 360-degree integrated marketing campaign, created by DAVID Miami and Director Juan Cabral, inspires consumers to enjoy the Corona lifestyle, which is best experienced with sunshine. For more information on Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, please visit http://www.coronaextra.ca/ca_en/products. Join the conversation on Twitter @corona. About Corona Global Born in Mexico, Corona is the leading beer brand in the country, the most popular Mexican beer worldwide exported to more than 180 countries. Corona Extra was first brewed in 1925 at the Cerveceria Modelo in Mexico City. Corona is a pioneer in the beer industry by being the first to use a transparent bottle showcasing its purity and high quality to the world. The artwork found on the bottle is painted, highlighting our commitment to quality in our packaging and our Mexican heritage. No Corona is complete without the lime. Naturally adding character, flavor and refreshment, the lime ritual is an integral part of delivering an experience that is truly unique to Corona. The brand is synonymous with the beach and celebrates time outdoors. It invites people to pause, relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Corona has an ongoing commitment to reducing plastics. Since its partnership with Parley for the Oceans in 2017, they have exceeded its mission to protect 100 islands before 2020, and continue to deploy consistent global clean-up efforts. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719854/Corona_Sunbrew.jpg Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719891/Corona_Sunshine_Anytime.mp4 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719855/Corona_Sunbrew_Lock_Up_Logo.jpg WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Former President Donald Trump has cancelled a news conference he had scheduled for January 6, which marks the first anniversary of pro-Trump mob's riot at the Capitol Hill. Trump did not specify the reason for cancelling the event, which was scheduled to be held at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday night, but accused the media and the bipartisan House committee investigating the deadly attack of 'total bias and dishonesty.' The businessman-turned-politician plans to provide comments at a rally on January 15 in Arizona. 'In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am cancelling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona-It will be a big crowd!' Trump said in a statement released Tuesday by his Save America PAC. At a joint session of Congress convened to certify the election victory of Joe Biden on January 6, 2021, dozens of Trump-supporters stormed the Capitol and disrupted the proceedings. Five people, including one woman shot by police, died and about 140 members of law enforcement were injured in the rampage, apparently instigated by Trump. The nine-member House select committee, which is dominated by Democrat lawmakers, is probing if Trump had knowledge about the riot in advance. A federal appeals court last month had rejected the former Republican President's bid not to release his White House records to the committee investigating the Capitol riot. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak on Thursday morning at the Capitol Hill marking the first anniversary of the incident 'On Thursday, the President is going to speak to the truth of what happened - not the lies that some have spread since - and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference Tuesday. She said that the President will speak to the historical significance of January 6th and what it means for the country one year later. Psaki recalled that on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, Biden called what was happening at the Capitol then 'an unprecedented assault on our democracy' and an attempt to subvert our Constitution and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. 'He will also mark that day - commemorate the heroes of January 6th, especially the brave men and women of law enforcement who fought to uphold the Constitution and protect the Capitol and the lives of the people who were there. Because of their efforts, our democracy withstood an attack from a mob and the will of the more than 150 million people who voted in the presidential election was ultimately registered by Congress,' Psaki told reporters. Trump insists that Biden fraudulently won the presidential election, and refuses to acknowledge losing it. In his statement, Trump vehemently criticized the Congressional investigation of the Capitol attack. 'This is the Democrats' Great Cover-Up Committee and the Media is complicit,' Trump said. 'Why is the primary reason for the people coming to Washington D.C., which is the fraud of the 2020 Presidential Election, not the primary topic of the Unselect Committee's investigation? This was, indeed, the Crime of the Century,' he added. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Endurance Gold Corporation (TSXV: EDG) (the "Company") is pleased to report encouraging results of chip and grab samples from newly exposed outcrops at the Reliance Gold Property (the "Property") in southern British Columbia. The Property is located 4 kilometres ("km") east of the village of Gold Bridge, and 10 km north of the historic Bralorne-Pioneer Gold Mining Camp which has produced over 4 million ounces of gold. As reported on October 28, 2021, construction of a new drill access road exposed quartz-stibnite-pyrite-arsenopyrite breccias and oxidized shearing within an area of structural deformation associated with the 300 metres ("m") long Eagle South gold-in-soil anomaly ("Eagle South"). Gold-pathfinder elements were identified in outcrop using a hand-portable XRF unit and a subset of samples were submitted for gold assay analysis. Assay results are reported herein where all five samples collected from Eagle South returned high-grade gold ranging from 7.01 grams per tonne ("gpt") to 21.20 gpt gold. Table 1 - Eagle South Soil Anomaly - Surface Rock Sample Results Bedrock Prospect Gold Grade (gpt) Sample ID Description Eagle South (E5) 21.20 B838878 Grab- Ultramafic at porphyry contact with scorodite after arsenopyrite Eagle South (E5) 15.30 B838879 0.5 m wide chip - hematite shearing Eagle South (E5) 7.01 B838880 1.8 m wide chip - hematite shearing Eagle South (E7) 9.66 B838875 2.5 m wide chip - hematite shearing Eagle South (E7) 12.90 B838876 Grab - 0.5 m wide stibnite-arsenopyrite in quartz vein The surface exposure for the combined Eagle and Eagle South Zones has now been expanded to a 400 m strike length and up to 150 m in projected width to surface. The Eagle and Eagle South Zones together with the Upper Eagle gold-in-soil anomaly are still open to expansion to the southeast and to depth. Three samples were collected from the E5 prospect at three different locations over a 40 m distance across Eagle South. Samples exhibited iron carbonate alteration, strong hematite altered shearing, and arsenopyrite, stibnite, scorodite and chrome mica. The samples assayed 21.20 gpt, 15.30 gpt, and 7.01 gpt gold. The chrome mica suggests the presence of ultramafic rocks that have been altered. The E5 prospect is located on surface 150 m southeast of DDH21-006 which intersected 8.62 gpt gold over 24.4 m including 17.02 gpt gold over 4.3 m (see press release December 29, 2021) and is currently interpreted to be a southeastern extension of the Eagle Zone. The E7 prospect is located an additional 130 m to the southeast of E5 and 270 m southeast of DDH21-006. Two samples were collected from poorly exposed and partly oxidized outcrop exhibiting iron carbonate alteration and hematite shearing including a narrower stibnite-arsenopyrite bearing quartz vein. Chip sample B838875 returned 9.66 gpt gold and 3,050 ppm antimony ("Sb") over 2.5 m across the exposure. A representative grab sample B838876 returned 12.9 gpt gold and 1.83 % Sb from the 0.5 m wide stibnite-arsenopyrite vein. The E5 prospect has been partially tested with diamond drill holes DDH21-014, DDH21-015, and DDH21-020 completed in late October 2021. Assay results remain to be reported on these drill holes. The E7 prospect has not been drill tested. The Upper Eagle gold-in-soil anomaly has not yet been explained with any associated bedrock exposures and remains to be tested with drilling. These outcrop sample results are very encouraging and continue to demonstrate the excellent exploration potential on the Reliance Property. The Company plans to complete systematic channel sampling in these outcrop areas. Exploration plans, when finalized, will include maiden drill testing of the E7 prospect, the Upper Eagle gold-in-soil anomaly, and further drilling at the E5 prospect with the objective of expanding and defining the Eagle Zone. Endurance Gold Corporation is a company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of highly prospective North American mineral properties with the potential to develop world-class deposits. ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION Robert T. Boyd FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Endurance Gold Corporation (604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com www.endurancegold.com Grab and chip samples are selective by nature and were collected at locations where elevated XRF values for pathfinder elements were identified and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property or within the target areas. Diamond drill core was logged and evaluated on the Property and samples designated for collection under the supervision of a geologist at the property. Drilling was completed using a skid mounted Hydracore 2000 equipped with NQ size tools capable of collecting 4.76 cm diameter core. Diamond drill core was cut using a diamond drill saw with one half of the core sent for analysis and the remaining kept for future studies. Sample intervals were typically 2 metre core length and intervals were shortened for lithology or alteration changes. For drilled and sampled intervals of poor average core recovery, the complete core was sampled and sent to the laboratory for assay analysis. All grab, chip samples and diamond drill core samples have been submitted to ALS Global in North Vancouver, BC, an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited laboratory, where they are crushed to 70% <2 mm then up to 250 gram pulverized to <75 microns. Samples are then submitted for four-acid digestion and analyzed for 48 element ICP-MS (ME-MS61) and gold 30g FA ICP-AES finish (AU-ICP21). Over limit samples returning greater than 10 ppm gold are re-analyzed by Au-GRA21 methodology and over limit antimony returning greater than 10,000 ppm Sb are re-analyzed by Sb-AA08 methodology. Endurance Gold monitors QA/QC by inserting blanks, certified standards and pulp duplicates into the diamond drill core sample stream. The 2020 and 2021 work programs were supervised by Darren O'Brien, P.Geo., an independent consultant and qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr. O'Brien has reviewed and approved this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results. Figure 1: Reliance Property, 2021 Drill Plan Eagle Area - Eagle South Rock Sample Locations To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4976/109109_ffce24b4948c486d_002full.jpg Figure 2: Reliance Property - Eagle South at E5 Prospect To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4976/109109_ffce24b4948c486d_003full.jpg Figure 3: Reliance Property - Eagle South at R7 Prospect To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4976/109109_ffce24b4948c486d_004full.jpg To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109109 TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced promotions earned by investment staff members in TA's Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong offices, effective January 1, 2022. "Each of our talented and dedicated team members plays a vital role in generating value for our investors, portfolio companies and TA," saidAjit Nedungadi, Chief Executive Officer of TA. "We're thrilled today to recognize the accomplishments of 14 individuals who have contributed greatly to TA's performance, particularly over the last year. Their leadership, innovative thinking and commitment to partnership will help drive our continued growth and evolution as a firm." Max Cancre earned the promotion to Director from Principal. He is based in the London office of TA Associates (UK), LLP, focusing on investments in technology and data services companies across Europe. Mr. Cancre serves on the Board of Directors of DL Software, Interswitch, ITRS and Netrisk Group, and was previously on the Board of Byggfakta Group. He has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in 10bis, DNCA Finance, Interswitch, ITRS and Zadig Voltaire. Prior to joining TA in 2010 as an Associate, he worked in the Investment Banking Division, Structured Finance Group at Barclays Capital. Mr. Cancre received a BA degree, summa cum laude, in Economics and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. Clara Jackson earned the promotion to Director from Principal. She is based in TA's Boston office, focusing on investments in financial services and technology and other services companies in North America. Ms. Jackson serves on the Board of Directors of AffiniPay, Caprock and Financial Information Technologies (Fintech); is a Board Observer of Russell Investments; and previously served on the Board of Orion Advisor Solutions. She has also been actively involved in the firm's investment in Rectangle Health. Prior to joining TA in 2014, she was an Associate at TPG Growth and an Analyst at Goldman, Sachs Co. Ms. Jackson received a BS degree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Economics from Vanderbilt University and an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. Lovisa Lander earned the promotion to Director from Principal. She is based in the London office of TA Associates (UK), LLP, focusing on investments in healthcare and education companies across Europe. Ms. Lander serves on the Board of Directors of Biocomposites and Elos Medtech AB; is a Board Observer of Vivacy; and formerly served on the Board of Cath Kidston. She has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in Babilou, Inspired, Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES), Kiwoko, PhysIOL, Soderberg Partners and Zadig Voltaire. Prior to joining TA in 2010 as an Associate, she worked in the Investment Banking Division, Consumer Products and Retail Group at Rothschild. Ms. Lander received an MSc degree in Technology Management and Economics from Chalmers University of Technology. Michael Libert earned the promotion to Director from Principal. He is based in TA's Boston office, focusing on investments in technology companies in North America. Mr. Libert serves on the Board of Directors of Appfire, Aptean, HelpSystems, Idera, insightsoftware, MRI Software, Netwrix, Precisely and Revalize; is a Board Observer of PDI and Sovos; and was formerly on the Board of Nintex. He has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in Answers, Bomgar and Prometheus Group. Prior to joining TA in 2011 as an Associate, Mr. Libert was an Associate Consultant in the Private Equity and Technology Groups at Bain Company. Before rejoining TA in 2016, he worked in Corporate Strategy at Nintex, a former TA portfolio company. Mr. Libert received an AB degree, cum laude, in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Emily McGinty earned the promotion to Director from Principal. She is based in TA's Menlo Park office, focusing on investments in healthcare companies in North America. Ms. McGinty serves on the Board of Directors of Behavioral Health Works, Healix and Navia Benefit Solutions. She has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in Amplify Snack Brands, eviCore healthcare (formerly MedSolutions) and Triumph HealthCare. Prior to joining TA in 2007 as an Associate, she worked in the Consumer, Healthcare and Retail Group at J.P. Morgan Securities. Ms. McGinty received a BA degree, summa cum laude, in Economics from Boston College and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Amara Suebsaeng earned the promotion to Director from Principal. She is based in TA's Boston office, focusing on investments in business, technology-enabled, information and other services companies in North America. Ms. Suebsaeng serves on the Board of Directors of Backstage, OMNIA Partners, PurposeBuilt Brands (formerly Weiman Products) and Stackline. She has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in Cosentry and MicroSeismic. Prior to joining TA in 2010 as an Associate, Ms. Suebsaeng worked in the Investment Banking Division, Global Power and Utilities Group at Morgan Stanley. Before rejoining TA in 2015, she worked in the Product Management and Business Development Group at Logi Analytics. Ms. Suebsaeng received a BA degree, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA degree, with Distinction, from the Harvard Business School. Andrew Tay earned the promotion to Director from Principal. He is based in the Hong Kong office of TA Associates Asia Pacific Ltd., focusing on investments in the Asia-Pacific region across technology, healthcare, business and financial services. Mr. Tay serves on the Board of Directors of Honan Insurance Group and InCorp, and is a Board Observer of BetaShares. He is also actively involved in the firm's investment in MISA. Prior to joining TA in 2019, Mr. Tay was a Vice President at Baring Private Equity Asia. He also worked at Snow Phipps Group and Lazard Fr?res Co. Mr. Tay received a BS degree, magna cum laude, in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Columbia University and an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. Jeremy Drean earned the promotion to Principal from Senior Vice President. He is based in the London office of TA Associates (UK), LLP, focusing on investments in financial services and technology-enabled services companies across Europe. He also helps lead TA's effort in French-speaking countries across sectors. Mr. Drean serves on the Board of Directors of Fairstone Group, Foncia, Odealim Group, Soderberg Partners and Solabia Group. He has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in CIPRES, DNCA Finance, Hana Group, Merian Global Investors, PhysIOL, Russell Investments, The Access Group and Zadig Voltaire. Prior to joining TA in 2013 as an Associate, he worked in the EMEA Consumer Group at Morgan Stanley, and also worked at GSV Asset Management (formerly NeXt AM). Mr. Drean received a BA degree, magna cum laude, in Business Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MSc degree in Management from the HEC School of Management, Paris. Jessica Gilligan earned the promotion to Principal from Senior Vice President. She is based in TA's Boston office, focusing on investments in consumer products, services and related companies in North America. Ms. Gilligan serves on the Board of Directors of Death Wish Coffee, MAV Beauty Brands, Mid-American Pet Food and Thermacell; and formerly served on the Board of Petcurean. She was also actively involved in the firm's investment in Amplify Snack Brands. Prior to joining TA in 2012 as an Associate, Ms. Gilligan worked in the Mergers Acquisitions Group at Sagent Advisors Inc. Before rejoining TA in 2017, she worked in Corporate Strategy at Paula's Choice. Ms. Gilligan received a BS degree, magna cum laude, in Finance, Economics and International Business from Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School and an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. Amit Jain earned the promotion to Principal from Senior Vice President. He is based in TA's Menlo Park office, focusing on investments in technology companies in North America. Mr. Jain serves on the Board of Directors of DigiCert, Insurity, Ivanti, Netwrix and PDQ; and is a Board Observer of Edifecs. Prior to joining TA in 2013 as an Associate, Mr. Jain was an Analyst in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group at UBS Investment Bank. Before rejoining TA in 2019, he was a Senior Associate at Marlin Equity Partners. Mr. Jain received a BS Commerce degree, Beta Gamma Sigma, in Finance and Management from the University of Virginia. Nicholas Leppla earned the promotion to Principal from Senior Vice President. He is based in TA's Menlo Park office, focusing on investments in technology companies in North America. Mr. Leppla serves on the Board of Directors of Arcserve (formerly StorageCraft Technology Corporation), e-Emphasys, LeadVenture and Radiant Logic; and is a Board Observer of Confluence, HelpSystems and Planview. He has also been actively involved in the firm's investments in Accruent, Maintenance Connection and Prometheus Group. Prior to joining TA in 2013 as an Associate, he was an Analyst in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group at J.P. Morgan, and was the Chief of Staff of AVG Technologies, a former TA portfolio company. Mr. Leppla received a BA degree in Economics and Engineering Sciences (Environmental) from Yale University and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Charles Ha earned the promotion to Senior Vice President from Vice President. He is based in TA's Boston office, focusing on investments in technology companies in North America. Mr. Ha serves on the Board of Directors of Riskonnect and is a Board Observer of Mediaocean and Revalize. He was also actively involved in the firm's investment in Power Line Systems. Prior to joining TA in 2019, Mr. Ha was a Vice President at General Catalyst. Previously, he worked in the Office of the CEO at Cisco Systems, as an Associate at North Bridge Growth Equity (NKA Guidepost Growth Equity) and an Associate at L.E.K. Consulting. Mr. Ha received a BA degree in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS), Economics and Legal Studies from Northwestern University, a Certificate in Managerial Analytics from the Kellogg School of Management and an MBA degree from the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School. Gurnoor Kaur earned the promotion to Vice President from Senior Associate. She is based in the Mumbai office of TA Associates Advisory Pvt. Ltd., focusing on investments in business services companies in India. Ms. Kaur has been actively involved in the firm's investments in Accion Labs, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) and Ideal Cures Pvt. Ltd. Prior to joining TA as an Associate, Ms. Kaur worked at the Investment Banking Division at Rothschild Co., and the Investment Banking Division at J.P. Morgan. Ms. Kaur received a B.Com. degree (Honors) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, and an MBA degree from IIM Kozhikode. Michele Lim earned the promotion to Vice President from Senior Associate. She is based in the Hong Kong office of TA Associates Asia Pacific Ltd., focusing on investments in companies in the Asia-Pacific region, with an emphasis on Southeast Asia. Ms. Lim has been actively involved in the firm's investments in InCorp, MISA and YeePay. Prior to joining TA as an Associate, she was an Assistant Vice President, Investments at Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Ms. Lim received a B.Com. degree, Accounting and Finance, from the University of Melbourne, and an MSc, Accounting and Finance, from the London School of Economics and Political Science. About TA Associates TA is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services the firm invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 550 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $47.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968. The firm's more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA can be found at www.ta.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005613/en/ Contacts: Maggie Benoit TA Associates + 1-617-598-6685 mbenoit@ta.com Caroline Collins BackBay Communications +1-617-963-0065 Caroline.collins@backbaycommunications.com Stephen Fishleigh BackBay Communications +44 203 475 7552 Stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Bell Copper Corporation (TSXV: BCU) (OTCQB: BCUFF) ("Bell Copper" or the "Company") reports that it has drilled a strongly altered and veined hematitic leached capping hosted by quartz porphyry at its Big Sandy project. Big Sandy is a large, truncated porphyry copper-molybdenum target located in northwestern Arizona, approximately 30 kilometers south of the Company's Perseverance Project. Highlights The Drill is now cutting hematitic leached capping hosted by intensely sericitized quartz porphyry, cut by quartz veinlets at an inclined depth of 1284 meters. Leached capping began immediately beneath the gravel at an inclined depth of 1192 meters with continuous, strong, seal-brown hematite vein fillings, quartz veinlets, hydrothermal breccia and pervasive sericitic alteration in quartz porphyry. Core drilling at BS-3 has resumed. Drilling and Analysis Drillhole BS-3, which was oriented to test a 2400 meter by 2100 meter area of high electrical conductivity that was detected in an earlier magnetotelluric survey (refer to news release dated October 6, 2020), entered the mineralized quartz porphyry beginning at an inclined depth of 1192 meters, immediately beneath cemented gravel cover rocks. The true thickness of the gravel layers penetrated by BS-3 at an oblique angle is estimated to be 860 meters. BS-3 encountered strongly altered and veined hematitic leached capping, consisting of seal-brown-colored, earthy-textured hematite filling fractures and pervading the strongly sericitized groundmass of the quartz porphyry host rock. Stockwork-style to sheeted-style quartz veinlets and sericite-enveloped "D-veins" constitute a significant volume of the core, along with minor amounts of hydrothermal and structural breccia. To date, a 92-meter interval of this type of rock has been cut in BS-3, extending to the current bottom of the hole at a depth of 1284 meters. Drilling at BS-3 was suspended over the Christmas holiday and has now resumed. Oriented core collected near the base of the gravel cover shows that at BS-3 the porphyry system is tilted about 45 degrees from its orientation before faulting. This tilt suggests that any supergene copper blanket that might underlie the hematitic leached capping in BS-3 can be targeted at shallower depth in the direction of drillhole BS-1, located 1200 meters to the east. A 2-meter interval of chalcocite supergene enrichment underlying hematitic leached capping was cut at a depth of 936 meters in BS-1, suggesting continuity of supergene leaching and porphyry-related alteration across a distance of 1200 meters. The intervening ground showed anomalously high electrical conductivity in the August 2020 magnetotelluric survey. A future drillhole is now contemplated to test that shallower target. Pictures are representative of the 92 meters of leach capping drilled to date at BS-3 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2825/109071_bellcopper.jpg Tim Marsh, Bell's President and CEO, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI43-101, said, "BS-3 finished 2021 in a 90-meter interval of intensely hematitic, quartz-veined, sericitized quartz porphyry. It is exactly what we wanted to see as the first bedrock under gravel cover. All but the bottom 30 meters of the hole are now cased off and protected behind steel. We look forward to revealing what happens at the upcoming oxidation boundary, where any copper oxide and supergene copper sulfide minerals would tend to accumulate." About Bell Copper Bell Copper is a mineral exploration company focused on the identification, exploration and discovery of large copper deposits located in Arizona. Bell Copper is exploring its 100% owned Big Sandy Porphyry Copper Project and the Perseverance Porphyry Copper Project which is under a Joint Venture - Earn In. Qualified Person The technical content of this release has been reviewed and approved by Timothy Marsh, PhD, PEng., the Company's CEO and President. No mineral resource has yet been identified on the Big Sandy Project. There is no certainty that the present exploration effort will result in the identification of a mineral resource or that any mineral resource that might be discovered will prove to be economically recoverable. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Bell Copper Corporation "Timothy Marsh" Timothy Marsh, President, CEO & Director For further information please contact the Company Tel: 1 800 418 8250 Email: info@bellcopper.net Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "potential", "target", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Bell Copper operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include actual exploration results, interpretation of metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, including those described in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109071 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Novamind Inc. (CSE:NM)(OTCQB:NVMDF)(FSE:HN2) ("Novamind" or the "Company"), a leading mental health company specialized in psychedelic medicine, today unveiled its clinic design concept (the "Design Concept") to accommodate the unique requirements of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The Design Concept will launch first in Novamind's Park City, Utah location, and later across Novamind's de novo clinics. Select design elements and principles will be integrated within existing clinic locations. Inclusive and welcoming, the Design Concept enhances the patient experience at Novamind clinics, prioritizing patient safety and privacy, and utilizing evidence-based therapeutic elements to optimize patient care, including: Biophilic designs that mimic nature and emphasize light interplay and neutral colour theory Walking paths designed to minimize disruption and traffic across the clinic, creating a sense of privacy and tranquility Curved treatment spaces, representing the protective space of cocoons, to facilitate the more sedentary experience of ketamine treatment Larger treatment rooms to accommodate group therapy programs and support movement and more active patient behaviours associated with MDMA, psilocybin and other psychedelic medicines when approved by the FDA To create the Design Concept, Novamind contracted DesignAgency, an internationally recognized interior design firm with clients that include the Four Seasons Hotels, MGM Resorts, Momofuku restaurants, Soho House and others. DesignAgency worked closely with Novamind's clinical team to incorporate a host of therapeutic considerations into the design blueprint to achieve optimal patient experiences. "We collaborated with Novamind's clinical team and understood the importance of 'set and setting' in psychedelic medicine," said Matt Davis, Co-Founder and Principal at DesignAgency. "The goal was to create spaces that allow patients to have a holistic experience and signal hope and healing well before they walk through the door." Dr. Reid Robison, Chief Medical Officer at Novamind, commented: "This new concept, combined with Novamind's standard operating procedures, creates the most welcoming and effective healing environment possible. We wanted our clinics to be comforting, inviting and calming. With guidance from the DesignAgency team, we now have the blueprint to create spaces that elevate our patients' healing experience." To see renderings of the Design Concept, click here. About Novamind Novamind is a leading mental health company enabling safe access to psychedelic medicine through a network of clinics and clinical research sites. Novamind provides ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and other novel treatments through its network of integrative mental health clinics and operates a full-service contract research organization specialized in clinical trials and evidence-based research for psychedelic medicine. For more information on how Novamind is enhancing mental wellness and guiding people through their entire healing journey, visit novamind.ca. About DesignAgency DesignAgency is an award-winning international design studio that draws on over two decades of expertise in interior design, architectural and landscape concepting, strategic branding, and visual communications. With studios in Toronto, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Barcelona, DesignAgency has developed a global reputation for creating exceptional environments that people experience fully and deeply. Key to our success is the strength of collaboration. Our talented design teams are informed by curiosity, international perspectives, and a drive for innovation. Working across hospitality, residential, commercial, and retail sectors, we work with our clients and with local and international artists, craftspeople, and suppliers to realize extraordinary experiences and lasting value. Contact Information Yaron Conforti, CEO and Director Telephone: +1 (647) 953 9512 Samantha Delenardo, VP Communications Email: media@novamind.ca Investor Relations Email: IR@novamind.ca Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations including the risks detailed from time to time in the Company's public disclosure. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable laws. SOURCE: Novamind View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/678939/Novamind-Unveils-New-Design-Concept-for-Clinics All 20,000 tonnes of aggregate translates to an additional annual revenue opportunity ranging from $200,000 to $1,000,000 from SusGlobal's Belleville land holdings Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - SusGlobal Energy Corp. ("SusGlobal" or the "Company") (OTCQB: SNRG), the developer of SusGro, an award winning, revolutionary and pathogen free organic liquid fertilizer, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary SusGlobal Energy Belleville Ltd. ("SusGlobal Belleville") has received Licence # 2984, at Pt. Lot 20, Conc. 8, Geographic Township of Thurlow, City of Belleville, Hastings County, approved by The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry ("NDMNRF") to operate a pit above water under Section 18(3)1 of the Aggregate Resources Act ("ARA") for a 2.66 hectare site with a tonnage condition authorizing removal of 20,000 tonnes of aggregate annually from the site. "We are pleased to have received this sought after and valuable license for the production and sale of aggregate from the operation of a pit located on our 49-acre Belleville site adjacent to our Organic Waste Processing and Composting Facility," stated Marc Hazout, Executive Chairman, President and CEO of SusGlobal Energy Corp. "Using sustainable, environmentally and socially responsible methods for extraction, the aggregate will be sold under our own brand and translate to additional revenue on a yearly basis from our Belleville land holdings." About SusGlobal Energy Corp. SusGlobal Energy Corp., the developer of SusGro, an award winning, revolutionary and pathogen free organic liquid fertilizer is a biotechnology company focused on acquiring, developing, and monetizing a portfolio of proprietary technologies in the waste to regenerative products applications globally. It is management's objective to grow SusGlobal into a significant sustainable waste to energy, regenerative products provider and a trusted brand for the fertilizer, soil and aquaculture market, as LEADERS IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY. For more information, please visit the Company's website at: www.susglobalenergy.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the Company's objectives. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, lack of sufficient financial resources; variations in market conditions, currency and our stock; the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, approvals, consents or authorizations required for its activities; the Company's ability to produce energy, biogas, compost or organic fertilizer from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risk factors described in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov. Contact SusGlobal Energy Corp. Marc Hazout, President and CEO (416) 223-8500 or Toll Free: 1-866-512-7374 Email: info@susglobalenergy.com SOURCE: SusGlobal Energy Corp. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109079 Acquisition Adds European Food Beverage M&A Capabilities to the Piper Sandler Consumer Advisory Business Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR), a leading investment bank, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stamford Partners LLP. Founded in 1997, London-based Stamford Partners is an entrepreneurial, specialist M&A boutique offering high quality investment banking services to European food beverage as well as related consumer sectors. The Stamford Partners team, led by the firm's three partners Damian Thornton, Simon Milne and Alastair Mathieson, adds yet another industry-leading advisory practice to the Piper Sandler platform and broadens Piper Sandler's European investment banking capabilities. "Stamford Partners offers differentiated, best-in-class M&A advisory services tailored to the unique needs of clients in the European consumer industry. The addition is complementary to our existing consumer practice and creates significant opportunities to further expand our reach in partnership with them," said James Baker, global co-head of investment banking at Piper Sandler. Damian Thornton, Chairman of Stamford Partners, commented, "We are very proud of the position Stamford Partners has established in European food drink M&A over the last 24 years as a result of our unwavering commitment to experienced, insightful advice driven by our deep understanding of sector dynamics and rigorous M&A standards. We are excited to be partnering with a firm that shares our commitment to providing quality advice based on sector expertise. Our team will remain the same, as will our strategy and the way we approach the market. By joining Piper Sandler and its market-leading consumer franchise, we can accelerate our growth and broaden our offering to clients, whilst staying entirely true to our underlying principles." The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 and is subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. About Stamford Partners Stamford Partners is a specialist investment banking firm offering financial advisory and corporate development services to companies and investors in the European food and beverage and related consumer sectors. The firm's offices are located in London. www.stamford-partners.com About Piper Sandler As a leading investment bank, we enable growth and success for our clients through deep sector expertise, candid advice and a differentiated, highly productive culture. We transcend transactions to define possibilities-enabling clients to achieve their short-term goals while realizing their long-term vision. Founded in 1895, the firm is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the United States and in London, Aberdeen and Hong Kong. Learn more at PiperSandler.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical or current facts, including statements about beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements cover, among other things, the future prospects and growth of the Company. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the following: (1) the transaction described in this announcement is subject to customary closing conditions and may not close on the expected timing or at all; (2) the costs or difficulties relating to the combination of the businesses may be greater than expected and may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and our ability to realize anticipated synergies from the transaction; (3) the expected benefits of the transaction may take longer than anticipated to achieve and may not be achieved in their entirety or at all, and will in part depend on the ability of the Company to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with its clients; (4) developments in market and economic conditions have in the past adversely affected, and may in the future adversely affect, the business and profitability of the Company generally and of its investment banking business specifically; and (5) other factors identified under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and updated in our subsequent reports filed with the SEC. These reports are available at www.pipersandler.com or www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events. Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR) is a leading investment bank driven to help clients Realize the Power of Partnership. Securities brokerage and investment banking services are offered in the U.S. through Piper Sandler Co., member SIPC and NYSE; in the U.K. through Piper Sandler Ltd., authorized and regulated by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority; and in Hong Kong through Piper Sandler Hong Kong Ltd., authorized and regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission. Alternative asset management and fixed income advisory services are offered through separately registered advisory affiliates. Follow Piper Sandler: LinkedIn Facebook Twitter 2022. Since 1895. Piper Sandler Companies. 800 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402-7036 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005218/en/ Contacts: Pamela Steensland Tel: 612 303-8185 pamela.steensland@psc.com Val-d'Or, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Bonterra Resources Inc. (TSXV: BTR) (OTCQX: BONXF) (FSE: 9BR2) ("Bonterra" or the "Company") is pleased to provide new exploration results from the regional drilling campaign on the Moss property. The recent drilling results at Moss confirm the existence of high-grade gold mineralized veining in hole UB-21-15, which returned 6.4 g/t Au over 1.5 metres ("m"), including 18.9 g/t Au over 0.5 m. Highlights: 6.4 g/t Au over 1.5 m, including 18.9 g/t Au over 0.9 m in hole UB-21-15 6.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m in hole UB-21-16 Pascal Hamelin, CEO commented: "These new high-grade exploration drilling results at Moss are very encouraging. Moss is an important regional target that was first drill tested by the Company in 2016. The discovery hole BE-16-09 returned 9.2 g/t Au over 2.2 m and 70.9 g/t Au over 2.6 m (see press release by a predecessor Company {Metanor Resources Inc.} dated October 31, 2016). Importantly, Moss is open along strike and at depth and situated between the Company's Barry deposit and the neighboring Windfall deposit. We currently plan to continue drill testing the Moss target area in the coming year." The recent exploration drilling targeted the expansion of existing gold mineralization interpreted to trend northeast from some key historic high grade intersections in the Moss Center and Moss East areas. Moss historic values include 15.2 g/t Au over 1.3 m, 70.9 g/t Au over 2.6 m, and 102.2 g/t Au over 0.2 m (see SIGEOM document GM 70866 - MNRQ). Mineralization at Moss consists of a system sub-parallel mineralized veins trending northeast identified along a span of approximately three kilometres ("km") and remains open along strike and at depth. Bonterra has drilled sixteen holes representing a total of 6,990 m at the Moss since September 2021. Partial results from twelve drill holes have been received thus far. Results from the remaining four holes are pending (See Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 and Table 1). Figure 1 - Urban-Barry Regional Geology To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_001full.jpg Figure 2 - Moss Drill Hole Location Map To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_002full.jpg Moss is centered on the northeast trending Mazeres fault along which several gold deposits and gold showings are spatially associated including the Barry and Windfall deposits. The Moss property is dominated by massive to pillowed basaltic to andesitic rocks with minor felsic volcanic rocks and tuffaceous horizons across the central and southeastern property area with local gabbroic to dioritic and felsic intrusions. Mineralization at Moss consists of a system of sub-parallel, shear hosted quartz-carbonate-chlorite veining and stockworks with minor sulfides which include pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite and gold trending northeast and identified along a span of approximately three kms. The Moss mineralized trend is subdivided into three areas: Moss West, Moss Center and Moss East. (See Figure 2) Figure 3 - Moss East Cross-Section UB-21-15 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_003full.jpg Figure 4 - Moss East Cross-Section UB-21-17 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_004full.jpg Figure 5 - Moss Cross-Section UB-21-16 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_005full.jpg Figure 6 - Moss Cross-Section UB-21-10 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1528/109124_cbc8d2c5145d9a72_006full.jpg Table 1: Significant mineralized intersections from drilling on the Moss Property Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Grade (g/t Au) Target UB-20-09 Anomalous values UB-21-10 217.5 218.6 1.1 0.7 Moss center 325.9 326.5 0.6 1.3 Moss center 464.0 465.0 1.0 2.8 Moss center UB-21-11 496.3 497.5 1.2 1.0 Moss center UB-21-12 Anomalous values UB-21-13 Anomalous values UB-21-14 285.0 285.7 0.7 0.5 Moss center UB-21-15 482.0 484.0 2.0 0.6 Moss center 487.5 488.8 1.3 0.6 Moss center 492.5 494.0 1.5 6.4 Moss center including 492.5 493.0 0.5 18.9 Moss center 505.1 505.6 0.5 0.7 Moss center 510.0 510.5 0.5 0.7 Moss center UB-21-16 196.5 198.0 1.5 6.5 Moss center 486.5 487.5 1.0 1.8 Moss center 491.7 492.2 0.5 0.8 Moss center 544.6 545.6 1.0 0.7 Moss center 551.0 551.5 0.5 0.8 Moss center 565.3 565.8 0.5 0.8 Moss center 587.5 591.5 4.0 0.5 Moss center 598.0 598.5 0.5 0.5 Moss center 619.5 620.0 0.5 0.6 Moss center UB-21-17 19.6 20.6 1.0 0.6 Moss east 99.0 101.1 2.1 1.2 Moss east including 99.0 99.5 0.5 4.0 Moss east 158.0 159 1.0 0.5 Moss east 204.3 205.0 0.7 2.0 Moss east 249.5 250.0 0.5 0.5 Moss east 256.0 257.0 1.0 0.7 Moss east 269.0 271.5 2.5 2.8 Moss east including 270.3 271.5 1.2 5.6 Moss east UB-21-18 Anomalous values UB-21-19 Results pending UB-21-20 Results pending UB-21-21 Results pending UB-21-22 Results pending UB-21-23 No significant values UB-21-23A No significant values Notes: 1) The meterage represents the length of the drilled lengths. 2) True widths are estimated to be greater than 75% of the drill intersection length. 3) The mineralized intervals shown above use a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade. 4) Gold results obtained between 0.1 and 0.5 g/t Au are represented as anomalous values. 5) Gold results obtained below <0.1 g/t Au are represented as no significant values. Quality Control and Reporting Protocols The Moss drill core gold analyses are performed at the Company's Bachelor Mine analytical laboratory (the "Laboratory") and at Activation Laboratories Ltd. ("Actlabs"). The Company employs a rigorous QA-QC analysis program that meets industry standards. The analyses are carried out by fire assay (A.A.) with atomic absorption finish. Blanks, duplicates, and certified reference standards are inserted into the sample stream to monitor the Laboratory's performance. The Company's QA-QC program requires that at least 10% of samples be analyzed by an independent laboratory. These verification samples are sent to ALS Minerals laboratory facility located in Val-d'Or, Quebec. The verifications show a high degree of correlation with the Laboratory's results. Qualified Person Boris Artinian, P.Geo., Chief Geologist of the Company oversees all exploration activities on the Moss property. Mr. Artinian is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI-43-101"). Marc Ducharme, P.Geo. and Bonterra's Exploration Manager, has compiled and approved the information contained in this press release. Mr. Ducharme is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. About Bonterra Resources Inc. Bonterra is a Canadian gold exploration company with a large portfolio of advanced exploration assets anchored by a central milling facility in Quebec, Canada. The Company has four main assets, Gladiator, Barry, Moroy, and Bachelor that collectively have a total of 1.24 million ounces in Measured and Indicated categories, and 1.78 million ounces in Inferred category. Importantly, the Company owns the only permitted and operational gold mill in the region that is currently estimated at 75% through the permitting process to expand from 800 to 2,400 tonnes-per-day. Bonterra is focused on graduating from advanced exploration to a development company over the next 18-24 months to deliver shareholder value. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Pascal Hamelin, President & CEO ir@btrgold.com 2872 Sullivan Road, Suite 2, Val d'Or, Quebec J9P 0B9 819-825-8678 | Website: www.btrgold.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Any statement that implies predictions, expectations, interpretations, opinions, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often using words such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "interpreted", "in management's opinion", "anticipates", or "plans", "budget", "schedule", "forecasts", statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) is not a statement of historical fact and may constitute forward-looking information and is intended to identify forward-looking information. This news release may contain forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the outlook for the Gladiator, Barry, and Moroy projects; updated mineral resources; the deposit remaining open laterally and at depth; and future drilling. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the ability of exploration activities (including drilling results) to accurately predict mineralization; the Company's ability to obtain required approvals; the results of exploration activities; risks associated with mining operations; global economic conditions; metal prices; dilution; environmental risks; and community and non-governmental actions. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time of release, Bonterra cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of the Company's securities that actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither Bonterra nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of forward-looking information. All statements made, other than statements of historical fact, that address the Company's intentions and the events and developments that the Company anticipates, are considered forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that 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 from those in the forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109124 BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - U.S. ADP private payrolls data for December is scheduled for release at 8:15 am ET Wednesday. Ahead of the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major counterparts. While it fell against the yen and the euro, it held steady against the pound and the franc. The greenback was worth 115.76 against the yen, 1.1311 against the euro, 1.3545 against the pound and 0.9163 against the franc at 8:10 am ET. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / UMAX Group Corp. (OTC PINK:UMAX), a Nevada corporation, would like to announce that it has filed amended articles of incorporation with the State of Nevada, Secretary of State, lowering its authorized common stock from 1,850,000,000 shares of Common Stock to 500,000,000 shares of Common Stock. Mr. Fletcher (President and CEO of the Company), states"We started the process of changing our capital structure over a year ago. As announced last month, we were able to effectuate the cancellation of 500,000,000 shares of Common Stock lowering our issued and outstanding common stock by 89%. The filing of the amended articles of incorporation, lowering our authorized common stock, is the final step in this process. As promised, the Company will not increase the authorized Common Stock for a minimum of three fiscal years. With these actions in place, not only will our market capitalization be more in line with our financial performance, but investors can rely on the fact there will be no significant dilution of their holdings as we grow the Company." The Company filed an amended articles of incorporation with the Nevada Secretary of State to lower the authorized Common Stock from 1,850,000,000 to 500,000,000, a lowering of over 300%. Additionally, the Company's Board of Directors has resolved to not increase the authorized Common Stock for a minimum of the next three fiscal years or April 30, 2025. Mr. Fletcher further stated"With this corporate restructuring out of the way, we are now fully focused on growing the business of the Company. Our sole subsidiary, Funny Media, Group, LLC, a Wyoming corporation, will have several material events to announce over the coming weeks and months. Additionally, the Company is also in final negotiations with regards to several material business acquisitions. Our focus in these acquisitions is to acquire cash flow positive operational subsidiaries or companies that show increased revenue potential in the short term. These acquisitions will not only diversify our business operations but will spread the risk of our financial performance over several revenue producing entities. It is really exciting time for the Company." About Us UMAX Group Corp. is a Nevada corporation, is a public-quoted Pink Sheet issuer under the ticker symbol "UMAX". UMAX reports as an alternative reporting issuer with OTC Markets Group, Inc. and is current in its mandatory required filings (E.g., "Pink Sheet Current"). Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements Certain statements that we make may constitute "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information concerning future?strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated savings, financial results (including expenses, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures), industry or market conditions, demand for and pricing of our products, acquisitions and divestitures, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory developments or general economic conditions.? In addition, words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," and future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "could," "should," and "would," as well as any other statement that necessarily depends on future events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. ?Although we make such statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.? We caution investors not to rely unduly on any forward-looking?statements. Company Information: UMAX Group Corp. 2020 Bay Avenue Los Angeles, California 90021 Web: New website under construction Website: https://funnymediagroup.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/funnymediagroupofficial/?hl=en YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/FunnyMediaGroup Investor Relations: Jack Zietz Email: investors@umaxgrpcorp.com SOURCE: UMAX Group Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/680996/UMAX-GROUP-CORP-Lowers-Authorized-Common-Stock Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Queensland Gold Hills Corp. (TSXV: OZAU) ("Queensland Gold Hills Corp" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's shares have been accepted for listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ("FSE") and trade under the symbol FSE: MB3. The Company's common shares are now cross-listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the FSE. The European listing is a strategic move for the Company as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the world's largest trading centers for securities and is the largest of Germany's stock exchanges. Blair Way, CEO, commented, "We are pleased to acquire a European listing as we expand our trading exposure. We plan to follow this up with a listing on the OTC Market in the United States to facilitate trading for American investors." About Queensland Gold Hills Corp. Queensland Gold Hills is focused on gold exploration in the historic goldfields of Queensland, Australia. The Big Hill Gold Project covers the historic mines of Big Hill, Queenslander, Monte Cristo and Sultan & Taylor of the Talgai Goldfields. This is one of eight historical Goldfields in the broader Warwick-Texas District. The Company will be conducting modern exploration in these historic gold fields. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Blair Way, Chief Executive Officer & Director Telephone: 1 (800) 482-7560 E-mail: info@queenslandgoldhills.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Accordingly, all statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future including, without limitation, any statements or plans regard the geological prospects of the Property or the future exploration endeavors of Queensland Gold Hills. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, but are not limited to, the risk that the Proposed Transaction, the Offering and resulting name change may not be completed as set out herein or at all, and the inability of the Company to execute and raise funds necessary to complete its planned future activities and proposed business plans. 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/109015 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Trigon Metals Inc. (TSXV:TM) ("Trigon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first copper concentrates were produced at the Kombat Mine in Namibia on Thursday, December 30, 2021. Teams worked through the Christmas period to complete the install of filter presses and run ore through the full production process to achieve this milestone, meeting management's forecasted goal. The concentrate produced exceeded the expectations of management, demonstrating that the combination of new equipment from Xinhai and refurbished equipment from the historic operation are operating well. The feed material for this initial production was sub optimal lower grade ore, while grind size, residence times and reagent use are being optimized, but satisfactory copper grades were achieved approaching 20% copper and over 600 g/t silver, well ahead of expectation at this stage of start-up. Production continues, building up to first concentrate shipments toward the end of this month, January 2022. A declaration of full commercial production is forecast for March 2022, as the mine production ramps up and systems are optimized. Jed Richardson, President and CEO of Trigon, commented, "This first production is a tremendous milestone for the Company, the Kombat community and our shareholders. Successful concentration of copper represents a major de-risking of the mine. A functioning mill is the primary technical hurdle in a mine's operation, and that hurdle has been overcome at Kombat. I cannot overstate how proud I am of our team in reaching this goal; battling through shipping challenges, COVID-19 and working through the Christmas holidays." About Kombat Mine The Kombat Copper Project is the flagship project of Trigon Metals Inc., with the Company's mining and prospecting licence areas covering an area of more than 7,500 ha in the Otavi Mountainlands in Namibia. The Kombat Project is comprised of three mining licences, which produced approximately 12.46 million tonnes of Copper between 1962 and 2008, at a grade of 2.62%. The other two mining licences are within close proximity to Kombat at Gross Otavi and Harasib, which are believed to be highly prospective for lead and zinc. In addition, the Company also holds an interest in two exclusive prospecting licences, which represent a potential strike extension of Kombat. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill project, a highly prospective copper and silver exploration project. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the restart of the Kombat Mine, the timing of commercial production and ramp up at the Kombat Mine, the Company's strategies and the Company's abilities to execute such strategies, the Company's expectations for the Kombat Project, and the Company's future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, contact: Jed Richardson +1 647 276 6002 jed.richardson@trigonmetals.com Website: www.trigonmetals.com SOURCE: Trigon Metals, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681060/Trigon-Announces-First-Concentrate-Production-at-Kombat-Mine-Namibia LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Brandessence Market Research, the Personal Emergency Response Systems Market size reached USD 5.64 Billion in 2021. The Personal Emergency Response Systems market is likely to grow at robust CAGR of 5.5%, and reach size of USD 8.20 Billion by 2028 end. Personal emergency response systems are the devices which let the user to call for help in an emergency by pushing a button. It has three components: a small radio transmitter, a console connected to the user's telephone and an emergency response center that monitors calls. In the event of an injury, disaster, burglary, or other emergency, the button on the device is pressed and the response center dispatch is alerted to send help immediately. That help may come in the form of a family member, friend, neighbour or emergency personnel - depending on the emergency situation. It is very beneficial for seniors who have a history of falling or have been identified as having a high fall risk, older individuals who live alone and people who have mobility issues. Some PERS products offer automatic fall detection, which uses technology to detect falls, and triggers a call for help, even when the wearer is unable to press their medical alert button. For example; every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in an emergency room (ER) for some type of injury related to a fall, according to the National Council on Aging (NCOA). Get Sample Copy of This Premium Report@ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/390 Personal Emergency Response Systems Market: An Overview A personal emergency response system allows an individual to register an emergency response during a health emergency. This system is ideal for millions of elderly individuals who live alone, and suffer greatly from chronic health conditions. The elderly are susceptible to various conditions like cancers, diabetes, heart strokes, among others. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 22.2% non-institutionalized person aged 65 and over are in poor condition, with 7.0% requiring regular assistance from other people. In such conditions, personal emergency response systems are essential for elderly individuals in countries like the US, wherein rural-urban divide also makes a huge impact on health conditions. For example, according to the CDC, rural population experience worse suffering on average from conditions like respiratory illnesses, heart disease, stroke, unintentional injuries, cancer, among others. Incidences like unintentional injuries in this population results in 50% higher deaths, with causes like opioid overdoses, and motor accidents leading the fatalities. On average, the CDC reports that the rural America is generally sicker, and older than its urban counterparts. Due to increased mobility by young people to urban areas, and lower commercial opportunities in the rural population, health facilities continue to witness lower penetration in rural areas across the globe. Key Companies Covered in Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) Market Some major key players for Global Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) Market are Koninklijke Philips N.V. Medical Guardian LLC AlertOne Services LLC Bay Alarm Medical Tunstall GreatCall Rescue Alert LogicMark ADT Security Services VRI, Inc. Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. Nortek Security and Control Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) Market report is segmented on the basis of type, end-user and region & country level. By Type: Standalone PERS Landline PERS Mobile PERS Others By End-User: Home-based Users Assisted Living Facilities Nursing Homes Hospitals Get Methodology @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/390 Personal Emergency Response Systems Market: Notable Developments NXT-ID announced in December, 2021 that it received a contract from the US government to deliver its personal emergency response systems to veterans around the country. The company will soon supply its devices to the state and local governments to bring the technology to government partners like Veterans Health Administrations. According to the company's press release, the demand among elderly to live independently and growing elderly population remain key drivers of growth. According to the United Nations, the number of elderly people over the age of 65 reached 727 million people in 2020. According to the UN estimate, it is expected to reach 1.5 billion individuals in 2050, with share of the elderly set to rise to 16.0% from 9.3% in 2020. Moreover, the elderly today are far sicker than their previous generations, due to growing burden of chronic diseases. For example, 80% of global deaths are attributed to the chronic diseases. The loss of lives to chronic disease also incurs significant economic costs to nations. For example, according to the World Health Organization, China was estimated to lose $558 billion to premature deaths between 2005-2015. The growing penetration of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke in elderly also remain a key reason why technology advancements have become essentially for the elderly to provide them access to emergency services. The growing population of the frail, and elderly, the growing penetration of chronic diseases, and enormous costs associated with both premature deaths, and healthcare remain key drivers to growth of the personal emergency response systems market. Complete Purchase of this Report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/Checkout?report_id=390 Personal Emergency Response Systems Market: Key Trends The covid-19 has also had a tremendous impact on the personal emergency response systems market. The global elderly population has remained at significantly higher risk from Covid-19 than others. Furthermore, countries with great financial resources have been able to do very little to help elderly population, with many countries in Europe , North America , and Asia Pacific witnessing high death rates. Hence, additional means of privatized assistance both in terms of technology, family support, and other forms of assistance is essential for patients to lift themselves during this crisis. Currently, many challenges including real dynamics driving higher covid-19 fatalities in nursing homes remain unclear, even in countries with advanced healthcare facilities like the US, UK, among others. Nursing homes are largely believed to be susceptible to greater spread of coronavirus. However, limited data on way of transmission still plagues the system, and hence, urgent, and immediate means of care are the need of the hour in nursing homes, and elderly homes around the world. , , and witnessing high death rates. Hence, additional means of privatized assistance both in terms of technology, family support, and other forms of assistance is essential for patients to lift themselves during this crisis. Currently, many challenges including real dynamics driving higher covid-19 fatalities in nursing homes remain unclear, even in countries with advanced healthcare facilities like the US, UK, among others. Nursing homes are largely believed to be susceptible to greater spread of coronavirus. However, limited data on way of transmission still plagues the system, and hence, urgent, and immediate means of care are the need of the hour in nursing homes, and elderly homes around the world. The healthcare around the world is likely to witness several key drivers shaping the growth dynamic of the personal emergency response systems market. For example, women in 2020 accounted for 55% of the global elderly population above age 65 years. Moreover, women represent 62% of individuals older than 80 years. As women age more, diseases like breast cancer need to be paid special attention, and the rising populations of elderly are likely to drive relatively lower proportion of diseases like heart disease to greater penetration in the near future. This trend makes it essential to adopt personal emergency response systems. The living arrangements also make a key difference to quality of life for elderly individuals. According to the UN, living arrangements for elderly vary significantly, globally. While in emerging nations, the family structure provides support to elderly individuals, in developed nations, the emergence of nuclear families remains the status-quo, prompting demand for greater communication, and emergency devices to serve the needs of the elderly. According to the UN report, living with a spouse is the common form of living arrangement in North America , Europe , New Zealand , and Australia . On the other hand, in Caribbean , Latin America , Asia Pacific , and Africa ; living with a child or an extended family is the most common form of living arrangement. Personal Emergency Response Systems Market: Regional Analysis Personal Emergency Response Systems market report divides the globe in key regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Among these, the North America is expected to witness highest growth. The growing support for digital technologies, platforms by key agencies like Medicare, and Medicaid, and increased political support for healthcare for people, remain promising drivers of growth. Personal emergency response systems promise not only to cater to those who are in dire need due to their condition, but also reduce costs in terms of human lives lost, and economic costs incurred due to worsening of chronic health conditions, without an appropriate response. The growing demand for healthcare services to meet the demands of the elderly in regions like Europe, and Asia Pacific also promises tremendous opportunities. The growing favorable attitude of insurance companies to provide digital health monitors, and increased penetration of private insurance in new regions like Asia Pacific remain key drivers of growth. North America U.S, Canada Europe Germany , France,U.K., Italy , Spain , Sweden , Netherland, Turkey , Switzerland , Belgium , Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific South Korea, Japan, China, India, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Rest Of APAC, Latin America Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Rest of Latin America Middle East and Africa Saudi Arabia , UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest Of MEA Get Full Access of all Report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/healthcare/personal-emergency-response-systems Related Reports : Global Industrial Hemp Market Accounted for USD 3.91 Bn in 2020 in 2020 Quantum Computing Market Size to hit USD 2074.6 Mn by 2027 by 2027 Global Conductive Inks Market Size to hit USD USD 3757.3 Mn by 2027 by 2027 Global Endpoint Security Market USD 21.18 Bn by 2027 by 2027 Prosthetics Market Size to hit USD 12.40 Bn by 2025 by 2025 Electric Bikes Market Size to hit USD 95.48 Bn in 2027 in 2027 Global Dark Fiber Market is Anticipated to reach USD 20,011 Mn in 2027 in 2027 Digital Map Market size is Expected to reach USD 59.94 Billion in 2026 in 2026 Automotive Semiconductor Market is expected to reach USD 81.40 Billion by 2027 by 2027 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market Size Expected to Reach USD 32.08 Billion by 2027 by 2027 Electric Motors Market Size to hit 193.64 billion by 2027 i-Factor: Live Market intelligence platform I-Factor is our guaranteed seal to keep our clients ahead of the competition, always. This knowledge platform delivers real-time updates on key economic indicators, competitive landscape, changing demand, trends, customized regional insights, and more. The platform visualizes key data points to help make decision making agile, trustworthy, and holistic. Register for free trail here @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/i-factor/login/userRegister Brandessence Market Research & Consulting Pvt ltd. Brandessence market research publishes market research reports & business insights produced by highly qualified and experienced industry analysts. Our research reports are available in a wide range of industry verticals including aviation, food & beverage, healthcare, ICT, Construction, Chemicals and lot more. Brand Essence Market Research report will be best fit for senior executives, business development managers, marketing managers, consultants, CEOs, CIOs, COOs, and Directors, governments, agencies, organizations and Ph.D. Students. We have a delivery center in Pune, India and our sales office is in London. Website: https://brandessenceresearch.com Blog: Dark chocolate Companies Mr. Vishal Sawant Email: vishal@brandessenceresearch.com Email: Sales@brandessenceresearch.com Corporate Sales: +44-2038074155 Asia Office: +917447409162 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1392316/BEMR_Logo.jpg FN Media Group Presents Microsmallcap.com Market Commentary NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After experiencing the worst drop since the Great Depression, demand for fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil are roaring back to pre-pandemic levels. Despite hopes that the COVID-19 crisis would lead to a faster transition to clean energy, the fact remains that over three-quarters of global energy needs are still being met by fossil fuels. Until the world makes a full transition to clean energy, fossil fuel demand will likely remain high. Meanwhile, several factors such as global shortages, the offline Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, cold weather, and a power crunch in China are expected to keep prices elevated in Europe and the US, creating a perfect storm for oil and gas companies like NG Energy International Corp. (TSXV:GASX) (OTCQX:GASXF), Cardinal Energy Ltd. (TSX:CJ) (OTCPK:CRLFF), Crescent Point Energy Corp. (NYSE:CPG) (TSX:CPG), Contango Oil & Gas Co. (NYSE:MCF) and Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE:LNG). On December 21, 2021, European gas prices soared 16% to $193.46 per megawatt hour, the highest since hitting a record in early October due to rising demand expectations and renewed concerns over Russia's inactive Nord Stream 2 pipeline. NG Energy International Corp. (TSXV:GASX) (OTCQX:GASXF) has been working diligently to advance exploration programs to help curb supply deficit of natural gas in Colombia while advancing the construction of production facilities at Maria Conchita. On January 4, NG Energy International Corp. announced it is nearing completion of the pipeline and production facilities that will connect its most advanced block Maria Conchita to the national pipeline system. The completion of this infrastructure, along with receival of an amended environmental permit expected in January, will mark a significant milestone for the young company as it transitions from an explorer to a producer. Simultaneously, NG Energy is getting ready to mobilize the drill rig for its fully funded, phase 1 four well drilling campaign at its flagship SINU-9. SINU-9 is a 311,353-hectare block adjacent to Canacol, Colombia's largest independent gas producer, with 1.5 TCF in prospective resources that NG will endeavor to unlock. In September 2021, the company received approval from the National Authority of Environmental Licences ("ANLA) for the drilling of 22 wells and related work programs on the property. Phase I will be focused in the northern area of the block which is the most prospective area of the property from a resource's standpoint. In early October 2021, NG Energy closed a C$7,000,000 financing which will be used to fast track the company's exploration timeline at SINU-9 by funding upfront infrastructure buildout of roads and pads, in addition to US$27.7 million in financing already committed by CPVEN for the drilling and completion of the first four wells. CEO Serafino Iacono has been adding to his shareholdings with open market purchase over the past several months; on November 10, 2021 he purchased 100,000 shares at $1.56 and an additional 26,000 shares at $1.89 on November 17, 2021. For more information on NG Energy International Corp. (TSXV:GASX) (OTCQX:GASXF), click here . Gas and Energy Companies Gear Up For Industry Changes Ahead Cardinal Energy Ltd. (TSX:CJ) (OTC:CRLFF) recently acquired Venturion Oil Limited in an arrangement agreement, in hopes of developing low decline oil production. This strategic move by Cardinal Energy will lead to operations in the Wainwright area, and the company will be able to achieve economies of scale while utilizing pre-existing infrastructure to reduce operating costs per boe. Cardinal will also be operating Venturion's asset in central Alberta, which consists of an estimated 2,500 boe/d of production (~83% oil). For Contango Oil & Gas Co. (NYSEAMERICAN:MCF), a new adventure lies ahead as the company announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with Independence Energy in an all-stock merger and bring a premier U.S. independent oil and gas company. The objective is to bring a combined company that will be KKR's leading platform for pursuing upstream oil and natural gas opportunities. While other gas companies are moving ahead with their new arrangements, Crescent Point Energy Corp. (NYSE:CPG) (TSX:CPG) is looking ahead to 2022 and what is in store for the company. Crescent Point shared its preliminary 2022 budget and is expected to generate further shareholder value. Additionally, the outlook for production is between 131,000-135,000 boe/d with development capital expenditures of $825-$900 million. Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:LNG) is heading in a different direction and announced in the late summer of 2021 that it will be publishing the life cycle of greenhouse gas after a thorough assessment. This peer-reviewed study has been an ongoing journey since 2018 in order to understand and demonstrate future efforts to improve the environmental performance of gas emissions. NG Energy International Corp. (TSXV:GASX) (OTCQX:GASXF) is gearing up for a busy start to the year as the company looks to reach production from Maria Conchita and commerce drilling at its flagship SINU-9. DISCLAIMER: Microsmallcap.com (MSC) is the source of the Article and content set forth above. References to any issuer other than the profiled issuer are intended solely to identify industry participants and do not constitute an endorsement of any issuer and do not constitute a comparison to the profiled issuer. FN Media Group (FNM) is a third-party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated with MSC or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by MSC are solely those of MSC and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. 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This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MSC and FNM undertake no obligation to update such statements. Media Contact: FN Media Group, LLC info@financialnews.com +1(561)325-8757 COEUR D'ALENE, ID / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. (OTCQB:NJMC) ("IDR", "Idaho Strategic" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the latest exploration results from the Company's 2021 drill program at the Golden Chest mine. These recent results come from drill holes GC 21-208 and GC 21-209 in the Klondike area, located north of current underground operations in the Skookum. These latest intercept highlights below are reported in grams of gold per tonne (g/t) and in drilled thickness, as vein orientations have yet to be determined. GC 21-208 20.66 g/t gold over 1.3 meters from 184.8 to 186.1 m 29.64 g/t gold over 2.7 meters from 213.8 to 216.5 m Includes 793 g/t Au (2 nd highest grade drill intercept at GC) sample over 0.1m GC 21-209 1.06 g/t gold over 50 meters from 186.0 to 236 m including the following higher-grade intervals: Includes 4.79 g/t gold over 7.3 meters from 190.6 to 197.9 m Includes 8.54 g/t gold over 2.6 meters from 195.3 to197.9 m from 186.0 to 236 m including the following higher-grade intervals: 10.72 g/t gold over 2.2 meters from 258.3 to 260.5 m Drillhole GC 21-208 is the last hole drilled from the first pad in the Klondike area, whereas GC 21-209 is located on a separate pad approximately 50 meters south of this previous drilling. The high-grade intervals are anchored by widespread sections of low-grade gold mineralization (Figure 1). The high-grade intervals are highlighted by the 793 g/t Au sample over 0.1 m in hole GC 21-208, as shown by the easily visible gold contained in quartz veinlets (Photo 1). In contrast, gold mineralization is more widespread and continuous in drillhole GC 21-209 which exposed 1.06 g/t Au over 50 meters. These areas of widespread gold mineralization are associated with strong silicification and hornfels alteration. The IDR drillers have kept the company-owned core drill turning in the Klondike area through fall and early winter due to these superlative drill results. To date, drillholes completed in the Klondike area are GC 21-203 (273m), GC 21-204 (276m), GC 21-205 (281m), GC 21-206 (lost at 49m), GC 21-207 (271m), GC 21-208 (294m) and GC 21-209 (323m). Thus far, this drilling has delineated a mineralized body with 100 meters of strike and 100 meters of dip with varying thicknesses - and it continues to expand with each additional drill hole. Discovering this new zone of mineralization in the Klondike area is only one of the highlights of our very successful 2021 Golden Chest drill program. We are currently finishing Klondike hole (GC 21-210) and additional holes are planned in this area. The focus of our drilling remains mineral resource expansion in concert with planning production options to access, develop and extract this new gold resource area. Our 2022 Golden Chest exploration drill program includes more step-out drill holes in order to build from the impressive drilling and exploration accomplishments of 2021. NJMC's Vice President of Exploration, Rob Morgan commented, "It feels like are walking into something big and may be on the cusp of a great discovery. Our drilling has demonstrated that the gold is there, and the intercepts seem to get better with each new hole. Even for a high-grade orogenic deposit like ours, to see assays exceeding 100 g/t gold are remarkable and to have grades of 793 g/t, or almost 25 ounces per ton, is amazing. We need to add drill holes on the east (up dip), west (down dip) and to the south along strike, however the results to date are impressive. Of course, there remains much more drilling to do to further refine this mineralized body, but I see that as a good problem to have." Qualified Person NJMC's Vice President of Exploration, Robert John Morgan, PG, PLS is a qualified person as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this press release. QA/QC Core samples are delivered by the driller to a secure facility prior to logging by Company geologists. Core is then logged and samples for assay are obtained by sawing the core in half longitudinally while trying to ensure a representative sample is submitted to the laboratory for analysis. All the samples were analyzed by American Analytical of Osburn, Idaho, an ISO certified laboratory. Samples were analyzed using lead collection fire assay with a gravimetric finish. A series of known assay standards are submitted with each drill hole as part of the quality assurance-quality compliance program. Assay results are utilized in decision making related to exploration, resource modeling, stope and mine development and other tasks related to mine production and milling. Figure 1. Photo 1. About Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. Domiciled in Idaho and headquartered in the Panhandle of northern Idaho, Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR) is one of the few resource-based companies (public or private) possessing the combination of officially recognized U.S. domestic rare earth element properties (in Idaho) and Idaho-based gold production located in an established mining community. Idaho Strategic Resources produces gold at the Golden Chest Mine located in the Murray Gold Belt (MGB) area of the world-class Coeur d'Alene Mining District, north of the prolific Silver Valley. With over 5,000 acres of patented and un-patented land, the Company has the largest private land position in the area following its consolidation of the Murray Gold Belt for the first time in over 100-years. In addition to gold and gold production, the Company maintains an important strategic presence in the U.S. Critical Minerals sector, specifically focused on the more "at-risk" Rare Earth Elements (REE's). The Company's Diamond Creek and Roberts REE properties are included the U.S. national REE inventory as listed in USGS, IGS and DOE publications. Both projects are located in central Idaho and participating in the USGS Earth MRI program. With an impressive mix of experience and dedication, the folks at IDR maintain a long-standing "We Live Here" approach to corporate culture, land management, and historic preservation. Furthermore, it is our belief that successful operations begin with the heightened responsibility that only local oversight and a community mindset can provide. Its "everyone goes home at night" policy would not be possible without the multi-generational base of local exploration, drilling, mining, milling, and business professionals that reside in and near the communities of the Silver Valley and North Idaho. For more information on Idaho Strategic Resources go to www.idahostrategic.com or call: Monique Hayes, Corporate Secretary/Investor Relations Email: monique@idahostrategic.com (208) 625-9001 Forward Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such statements are based on good faith assumptions that Idaho Strategic Resources believes are reasonable, but which are subject to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that could cause actual resultsto differ materially from future resultsexpressed, projected, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the risk that results of current exploration activities will further define an economic viable resource at the Golden Chest Mine, the impact of supply chain risks and expanding needs of operations as inventory increases; an increased risk associated with production activities occurring without completion of a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability; environmental hazards, industrial accidents, weather or geologically related conditions; changes in the marketprices of gold and silverand the potential impact on revenues from changes in the market price of gold and cash costs; a sustained lower price environment; risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreaks including the COVID-19 pandemic; the potential impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and maintain employee productivity; the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of the Company relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; as well as other uncertainties and risk factors. Actual results,developments and timetables could vary significantly from the estimates presented. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Idaho Strategic Resources disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE: Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681041/Idaho-Strategic-Drilling-Extends-Klondike-Zone-with-High-Grade-Intercepts--Highlighted-by-793-gt-Au-Over-01m The company's proprietary AI and IoT technology is 'privacy first,' allowing for both anonymity and accuracy; learns from surrounding environment and people's behavior to deliver better analytics, experiences, and results LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Ulisse, a new physical space analytics platform for connected spaces, is launching the only radar and computer vision-based IoT AI platform to help retailers, businesses, cities, and more turn their spaces into intelligent places to improve overall experiences and results. From retail and office buildings to pedestrian areas and public transportation, the camera-free platform includes self-installing sensors and algorithms to quickly adapt to every situation and provide real-time analytics, delivering highly accurate data while maintaining privacy. Rather than cameras which invade privacy (capturing faces and identities) and require stable lighting, Ulisse incorporates a unique radar-based approach which increases the overall accuracy of the analytics and reduces the required density of sensors in the physical environment, also making the entire solution less expensive. The Ulisse RF (radio frequency)-based sensors--which act like radar--illuminate the target with reflection point-clouds, not a true color image, resulting in unobtrusive and privacy-friendly technology.? Currently the Ulisse platform is being piloted in Singapore Cable Cars to determine the crowds and comfort level of the transit system and in the Metropolitan City of Venice where it will analyze and measure the density of tourists traveling through the town. Several luxury fashion brands have also implemented the Ulisse platform to determine how potential customers behave and interact with their display windows. Retailers may also use the analytics to determine the best store staffing options and to determine the optimal staff-customer engagement ratio. "As the post-pandemic world starts to emerge with more people seeking experiences outside of their homes, it will be obvious that the real estate industry has not really understood people's experiences and behaviors," said Luca Nestola, CEO, Ulisse. "Cities, buildings, and public transit all need data about how people interact. Human experience is a crucial aspect of how buildings and places are designed and will be an important part of the equation as we move forward. Ulisse does that through its technology and analytics." Ulisse is creating technology that delivers critical spatial intelligence: the analysis of a wide spectrum of data signals coming from IoT sensors distributed around a smart environment. The AI solution utilizes hardware, software, and algorithms, and can provide compelling visual analytics in minutes, quickly learning from people's behaviors so clients can make measurable improvements relating to people's experiences. The technology delivers physical space analytics for all types of locations--from stores to sidewalks to buses and cable cars, and more. It's easy to set up (just a few minutes) and can run uninterrupted without maintenance for years. Using a 'LEGO-like' approach, the hardware can be assembled by combining multiple hardware modules and the software algorithms which can then be adapted for different industry applications like smart retail, smart cities and smart buildings. The technology has many applications: Businesses can understand unused space in buildings to maximize operations, deliver better workplace experiences, plan for growth and improve security and emergency response. Retailers may receive real-time insights to improve operations in brick-and-mortar stores. Hotels can improve the customer experience, optimize staff planning and resources and reduce energy consumption. Smart Cities can implement the technology to improve public transportation, assess traffic, detect crowded pedestrian areas, reduce pollution, prevent crime, and enhance the overall quality of life. Caregivers can improve quality of care for the sick and/or elderly by using the technology to identify falls or other dangerous situations. The solution can be used in many healthcare settings or homes. "Ulisse has a unique adaptive design so that it learns from human behavior and can turn every physical space into an intelligent space, regardless of what it is. For example, in an office building we can simulate different layouts and the effects on people's occupancy and behaviors. With that information, management can optimize spaces for specific purposes," Nestola continued. "We want to help realign spaces and places with people to create more liveable, comfortable and--for businesses--more profitable environments." About Ulisse Ulisse is the physical space analytics platform for connected spaces. Using a fusion of depth vision and radar technologies along with proprietary sensors, software and machine-learning algorithms, the IoT platform can be used for smart cities, smart buildings, retail and smart homes. Unlike alternatives which are either invasive or imprecise, Ulisse technologies are both anonymous by design and among the industry's most accurate. The company has closed a $2.2 million seed round of funding. For more information, visit www.ulisse.tech. Media Contact: Erica Zeidenberg Hot Tomato Marketing erica@hottomato.net 925-518-8159 mobile SOURCE: Ulisse View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681004/Ulisse-Launches-the-Only-Radar-and-Computer-Vision-Platform-to-Transform-Every-Physical-Space-Into-an-Intelligent-Place Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Casa Minerals Inc. (TSXV: CASA) (OTC Pink: CASXF) (FSE: 0CM) (the "Company" or "Casa") is pleased to announce it has entered into an amendment to the option agreement to expedite the purchase of the Congress Gold Mine, located in west-central Arizona, USA. The Company has expedited to the optionors the final cash payment of US $45,000 and share issuance of 1,125,000 common shares, subject to a hold period of one year from the issue date. In consideration of the accelerated payments, the optionors have eliminated the expenditure obligations under the option agreement. Casa president and CEO, Mr. Farshad Shirvani, stated, "We are excited to move forward with our Congress Gold Mine acquisition. The Company is working to finalize its Phase One exploration program on the project and news detailing expected exploration activities will be released shortly." The Congress Gold Mine is located three miles north of Congress in the Martinez Mining District of Yavapai County, Arizona. The property consists of 14 Patented Mineral Properties with approximately 260 acres area. Commencing in or about 1887, the Congress mine operated at intervals until 1992 and at one time supported a full-scale mining and milling operation and the small town of Congress. It has the distinction of being Arizona's largest gold-silver mine with production of about 500,000 ounces of gold. Qualified Person: Mr. Erik Ostensoe P.Geo., a director and chief geologist of the Company, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. Cautionary Note: All historic data referenced in this news release were obtained from available archives and have not been confirmed or verified by the Company or a Qualified Person. There is no assurance that work by Casa Minerals will result in identification of economically-viable mineral bodies comparable in size and/or grade to those that supported historic mining operations. About Casa Minerals Inc. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties located in Canada and the USA. The Company owns a one hundred percent (100%) interest in the polymetallic Pitman and Keaper properties (BC, Canada), has an option to acquire a seventy-five percent (75%) interest in the Arsenault VMS Property (BC, Canada), and owns ninety percent (90%) interest in the Congress gold mine from 40 feet depth and beyond, subject to a 1.5% Net Smelter Royalty (Arizona, USA). This historic high-grade gold producing mine has not been explored or produced since 1992. On Behalf of Board of Directors Farshad Shirvani, M.Sc. Geology President and CEO For more information, please contact: Casa Minerals Inc. Farshad Shirvani, President & CEO Phone: (604) 678-9587 Email: contact@casaminerals.com https://www.casaminerals.com NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information." In particular references to the private placement and future work programs or expectations on the quality or results of such work programs are subject to risks associated with operations on the property, exploration activity generally, equipment limitations and availability, as well as other risks that we may not be currently aware of. 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109112 The "Europe Secondhand Luxury Goods Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Europe secondhand luxury goods market grew at a CAGR of around 6% during 2015-2020. Looking forward, the market to exhibit moderate growth during 2021-2026. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor. Secondhand luxury goods refer to high-end and premium items that are purchased by the second user. These items commonly include antique furniture, jewelry, artworks, luxury footwear and apparel, bags, watches, etc. Secondhand luxury goods are usually durable with an extended warranty period that makes them suitable for the resale market. In Europe, secondhand luxury goods are generally sold at auctions, charity events, bazaar-style fundraisers, privately-owned consignment shops, online retail channels, etc. The wide presence of numerous luxury retail brands ranging from fashion apparel to cosmetics is primarily driving the market growth in Europe. The growing demand for high-end clothing, accessories, footwear, etc., at affordable prices, is further propelling the market for secondhand luxury goods in Europe. Additionally, the rising popularity of limited capsule collections and fashion drops have also created scarcity for luxury items, which in turn is bolstering the demand for secondhand luxury goods. Apart from this, the changing socio-economic culture across the European countries coupled with the diminishing stigma on using pre-owned goods is also augmenting the market growth. Moreover, the growing number of online re-selling platforms is further fueling the demand for secondhand luxury goods. These platforms are entering into strategic partnerships and alliances with luxury brands for improving the reputation of secondhand products, thereby propelling the market growth in Europe. Additionally, the emergence of numerous advanced technologies for enhanced authentication procedures and quality checks has provided a safe and reliable environment for the customers to re-sell and buy secondhand luxury goods. Key Questions Answered in This Report: How has the Europe secondhand luxury goods market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the Europe secondhand luxury goods market? What are the key regional markets? What is the breakup of the market based on the product type? What is the breakup of the market based on the demography? What is the breakup of the market based on the distribution channel? What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry? What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry? What is the structure of the Europe secondhand luxury goods market and who are the key players? What is the degree of competition in the industry? Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Fendi (LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) Vestiaire Collective Harrods Limited Cartier International (Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA) Chrono24 Collector Square Rewind Vintage Affairs Audemars Piguet Chronext AG Key Market Segmentation Breakup by Product Type: Jewelry and Watches Handbags Clothing Small Leather Goods Footwear Accessories Others Breakup by Demography: Men Women Unisex Breakup by Distribution Channel: Offline Online Breakup by Country: France Italy United Kingdom Germany Russia Spain Others Key Topics Covered: 1 Preface 2 Scope and Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 Europe Secondhand Luxury Goods Market 6 Market Breakup by Product Type 7 Market Breakup by Demography 8 Market Breakup by Distribution Channel 9 Market Breakup by Country 10 SWOT Analysis 11 Value Chain Analysis 12 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 13 Competitive Landscape For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sbo2o View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005719/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton") is pleased to report that Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air"), of which Benton has a substantial shareholding, has announced new assay results from the 2021 drilling campaign from the Escape and Current PGE-Cu-Ni Deposits at Clean Air's Thunder Bay North Project near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (the "Project"). Drilling operations are set to resume on January 6, 2022. As reported by Clean Air, highlights from the Escape South High Grade Zone include: Hole ELR21-083A, which intersected 46.0m grading 19.6 g/t PtEq composed of 3.03g/t Platinum (Pt), 3.94g/t Palladium (Pd), 1.33% Copper (Cu) and 0.51% Nickel (Ni) from 399.0-445.0m downhole including 31.0m grading 25.0 g/t PtEq composed of 3.90 g/t Pt, 5.10g/t Pd, 1.70% Cu and 0.63% Ni from 405.0-436.0m downhole. The Escape Deposit underwent 37,000m of expansion drilling in 2021, which Clean Air expects to add materially to the maiden Indicated Mineral Resource of 849,481 ounces PtEq (6.16 g/t PtEq in 4.28 million tonnes) reported January 20, 2021. The Current Deposit 2.5km to the east has a well-defined Indicated Mineral Resource of 2,233,575 PtEq ounces (5.79 g/t PtEq in 11.99 million tonnes). There is a total of 37,000m of previously reported drilling results from the Escape Deposit in 2021 which not yet applied to the mineral resource for the Thunder Bay North Project. Assay results to date, along with the 2000m of core in the lab still awaiting assay, suggest good continuity of mineralization between sections along the 900m trend of mineralization between the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) (>5g/t Pt+Pd) and Steepledge South Zone. Readers are encouraged to view the Clean Air announcement in its entirety at: https://www.cleanairmetals.ca/news-media/news-releases/clean-air-metals-drill-results-from-the-thunder-ba-122541/ Benton continues to hold approximately 24.6 million shares in Clean Air Metals Inc. and holds a 0.5% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") from production on the Escape Lake portion of the project and a 0.5% NSR from production on any mineral claims comprising the original Thunder Bay North portion of the project on which an NSR has not previously been granted. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc., "Stephen Stares" Stephen Stares, President About Benton Resources Inc. Benton Resources Inc. is a well-funded mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Following a project generation business model, Benton has a diversified, highly-prospective property portfolio of Gold, Silver, Nickel, Copper, Platinum Group Elements and most-recently Lithium assets. In addition, it currently holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, BEX retains Net Smelter Royalties (NSR) with potential long-term cash flow. Benton also recently entered into a 50/50 strategic alliance with Sokoman Minerals through three large-scale joint venture properties including Grey River, Golden Hope and Kepenkeck in Newfoundland that are now being explored. For further information, please contact: CHF Capital Markets Cathy Hume, CEO Phone: 416-868-1079 x 251 Email: cathy@chfir.com Benton Resources Inc. Stephen Stares, President & CEO Phone: 807-475-7474 Email: sstares@bentonresources.ca Website: www.bentonresources.ca Twitter: @BentonResources Facebook: @BentonResourcesBEX LinkedIn: @BentonResources THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109128 CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Allegiant Travel Co. (ALGT) reached an agreement with Boeing to purchase 50 new 737 MAX aircraft, the companies said in a statement. The multi-year deal includes the purchase of 737-7 and 737-8-200 models, as well as options to purchase 50 additional aircraft. Allegiant will take delivery of an initial group of planes in 2023, with the remaining deliveries scheduled throughout 2024 and 2025. The aircraft will be powered with CFM LEAP 1-B engines. Allegiant has signed a 12-year exclusive maintenance agreement with CFM for the LEAP engine fleet, which will also bring support for the existing Airbus fleet. Allegiant currently operates 108 Airbus A319s and A320s and will continue sourcing A320s in the used market. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Code Corporation, a global leader in barcode scanning and data capture technologies, today announced the launch of the EMEA Code Alliance Channel Partner Programme to develop relationships and nurture strategic partners throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Code's new programme features industry-leading benefits such as partner-exclusive pricing, deal registration protection, no minimum revenue requirements, low regional competition, participation in rebates and world-class training. The programme is headed up by Hilde De Bisschop, Senior Channel Marketing Manager, Code Corporation, who has developed and expanded several highly successful international programmes throughout her career. "The new EMEA-dedicated partner programme is not simply an outgrowth of Code's successful channel efforts in North America, it is an entirely new venture," De Bisschop said. "We are looking to work with partners who desire best-in-class solutions for barcode scanning and data capture technology in several sectors such as manufacturing, retail and healthcare. Code's portfolio of solutions enables our resellers and partners throughout the world the region-specific resources they need to develop new opportunities and build revenue streams with ease." The EMEA Code Alliance Partner Programme is made up of five partner tiers, including Distributor, Trusted Partner, Trusted Healthcare Partner, Selected Reseller and Software Partner ISVs. "The thing I like about Code is their "can do" approach, nothing seems to be too much trouble. Aligned to this, their products are well made with some key differentiators; the quality of the scanners is excellent, and customers love their reliability," said a UK Code partner's Managing Director. "Additionally, we have excellent engagement throughout their organization, they collaborate with us on opportunities and markets, for mutual benefit, overall, an excellent company to deal with." EMEA partners will have access to a new Partner Portal with exclusive resources including a new learning management system (LMS) that will be available near the end of Q1. This LMS platform will be a one-stop-shop for learning and training on Code's products and solutions. It will provide enhanced rewards and incentives to further build partner relationships. Code Alliance is designed to put partners' unique needs first to help them solve the most complex data capture challenges their customers face. For more information and to apply for the EMEA Code Alliance Channel Partner Programme, please visit https://codecorp.com/partners/code-alliance. About Code Corporation Code Corporation is part of the Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC) owned companies. For more than 20 years, Code Corporation has been an industry pioneer, leader, and champion for data capture innovation and has garnered more than 100 patents. By crafting and continuing to perfect its unique decoding algorithms, Code and its line of image-based scanning and decoding technology consistently deliver unparalleled performance companies around the world depend on every day. Code designs and manufactures a complete line of market-leading hardware and software data capture solutions. Code products are not only valued for providing a consistent level of workflow efficiency year after year, but also for their ergonomic design, durability, ease of customization, and seamless integration. Code is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah with offices in Boston and Amsterdam. For more, please visit www.codecorp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005317/en/ Contacts: Tim Rush Springboard5 801-208-1100 tim.rush@springboard5.com Nintex to host digital event over the course of 24 hours to help organisations in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe Middle East and Africa rapidly transform their business processes with process intelligence and automation innovations LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process intelligence and automation, today announced registration is open for the marquee automation event of the year, Nintex ProcessFest 2022. Taking place virtually this year, the 24-hour event kicks off with a global broadcast of the keynote on Tuesday, 1 March 2022, at 12 p.m. Eastern. Visit https://www.nintex.com/processfest to register for virtual Nintex ProcessFest 2022. "Organisations in every industry and in every region of the globe continue to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives in order to meet the needs of our changing world and workplaces," said Nintex CEO Eric Johnson. "During our March 2022 event, we look forward to showcasing what is possible with the complete capabilities of the Nintex Process Platform and sharing process excellence and automation best practices from members of our global customer and partner community who are achieving transformative results with our powerful and easy-to-use software solutions." Nintex ProcessFest 2022 includes global and local sessions scheduled for various time zones to ensure participants from every region of the world may network with their peers in real-time. This year's event also includes a fast paced, news-style keynote featuring Nintex product and technical experts and customers like ClaimCare and Capital Group. The star of the global keynote broadcast will be Nintex Workflow Cloud, where attendees will experience how easy it is to turn a highly manual, paper-based process into a fully automated process with the platform's complete end-end capabilities including Nintex Promapp, Nintex Workflow and Forms, Nintex RPA, Nintex DocGen, Nintex AssureSign, and Nintex Analytics. Product highlights from the keynote will include: Nintex process intelligence capabilities - including Nintex Promapp, Nintex Analytics, and My Nintex to facilitate process understanding and process optimisation including Nintex Promapp, Nintex Analytics, and My Nintex to facilitate process understanding and process optimisation Intelligent PDF Form Converter - transform PDFs into dynamic forms with an AI-driven forms generation tool - transform PDFs into dynamic forms with an AI-driven forms generation tool Nintex AssureSign - native eSign integrated with Nintex Workflow Cloud and Nintex Drawloop DocGen for Salesforce The 2022 event also includes live local sessions in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe Middle East and Africa regions featuring Nintex executives and customers and dozens of on-demand breakout sessions from industry-leading organisations and award-winning Nintex partners, as well as Nintex product experts and customer success teams. To experience the power, ease and speed of Nintex, request a demo at https://www.nintex.com/request-demo/. Media Contact Kristin Treat Nintex kristin.treat@nintex.com cell: +1 (215) 317-9091 About Nintex Nintex is the global standard for process intelligence and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organisations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA). Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1720090/Annoucing_Nintex_ProcessFest_2022.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/700078/Nintex_Logo.jpg STG completes acquisition of Kantar's Reputation Intelligence business alongside investments in PRgloo and Onclusive The three businesses merge forming a new standalone company which adopts the name 'Onclusive' reflecting inclusive and globally scalable strengths of the newly combined offer New company provides clients with expanded geographical footprint in Europe and the US and portfolio of industry-leading media monitoring, measurement and workflow management solutions Today, leading technology investor Symphony Technology Group "STG" completes its acquisition of Kantar's Reputation Intelligence business, and with it announces the additional purchases of PRgloo and Onclusive. Together the three businesses merge to create a new global media monitoring, measurement, and workflow management partner for PR and communications. The new standalone company will operate under the name 'Onclusive' reflecting the inclusive and scalable nature of its newly combined offer and its commitment to accelerating investment in tech-powered platforms and solutions. The company builds on the consultative strengths and scale of Europe's largest media monitoring and analysis provider, Kantar Reputation Intelligence; UK-based PRgloo's industry-leading media relations and workflow management platform and US-based Onclusive's AI technology and data science. Commenting on the new company, Chief Commercial Officer of the newly-formed Onclusive, Petra Masinova explained: "We've always admired each other's strengths and we've increasingly teamed up on programmes to help solve clients' needs. Today we accelerate our natural evolution to become one company, amplifying our strengths and supporting our clients with leading insights, technology and expertise together under one roof." Dan Beltramo, Chief Innovation Officer of the new Onclusive, also praised the union: "Onclusive is a technology and innovation pioneer in media monitoring and analytics while Kantar Reputation Intelligence is a leader in customer service with top-tier European coverage and market-leading insights capabilities. It brings us scale and ambition for global leadership." Samantha Deeks, VP Customer Experience at new Onclusive added: "Building on PRgloo's customer-centric design approach, we're delighted to work with like-minded industry leaders to build a scalable and agile business; one which actively listens and responds to the needs of its clients as they navigate an increasingly complex communications environment." Managing Director at STG, J.T. Treadwell, said: "Last year STG made clear its intention to create a market leading insights and software company through the proposed acquisition of Kantar Reputation Intelligence. Completing that acquisition is a major first step and the additional capabilities brought by Onclusive and PRgloo widen the scope of our commitment to providing best-in-class solutions for PR and Communications teams, both now and in the future." Onclusive will serve more than 9,000 clients, including many of the world's biggest brands, across 130 markets. The company has over 1,100 employees based in the USA, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Australia. Onclusive North America Managing Director, Sean O'Neal, continued "Our clients were our matchmakers they told us they wanted one trusted partner to help them access and integrate our combined best-in-class services. We listened and from today Onclusive will help every client from small enterprises to multi-national public and private organisations shape, manage and evaluate their communications strategies." From today, clients can access the new Onclusive's full range of services, supporting them at every stage of the communications cycle. Existing services continue uninterrupted. About Onclusive Onclusive is a global partner for PR and Communications success. We bring together Kantar Reputation Intelligence, the largest media monitoring and measurement service in Europe, with the best-in-class tools of PRgloo, and Onclusive's own powerful AI and data science. Our technology, insights and expertise make sense of the fractured, fast-moving media world, helping you manage, monitor and measure your communications activity. Elevate your performance and prove and improve your value with Onclusive on your side. About STG Partners STG is a private equity partner to market leading companies in software, data analytics and software-enabled technology services sectors. The firm brings expertise, flexibility, and resources to build strategic value and unlock the potential of innovative companies. Partnering to build customer-centric, market leading portfolio companies, STG seeks to create sustainable foundations for growth that bring value to its companies. The firm is dedicated to transforming and building outstanding technology companies in partnership with leading management teams. STG and its predecessor, Symphony Technology Group ("Symphony"), have managed approximately $6 billion in total capital. For more information, please visit stgpartners.com Kantar Reputation Intelligence The leader in earned media tracking and measurement in Europe. Reputation Intelligence provides trusted insights on corporate, PR and brand coverage in 130+ markets to brands can understand and manage how audiences and influencers see them, globally and locally. Onclusive Empowers the world's leading brands and agencies to modernize communications, increase performance and demonstrate value. The inventors of PR Attribution and Power of Voice, Onclusive measures the true impact of earned, owned and social content on a company's bottom line. PRgloo The complete media relations platform. PRgloo combines easy to use tools with exceptional analysis to make PR professionals' lives easier by giving them the tools they need to do their jobs well. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104005044/en/ Contacts: For further information contact Corey Herscu for Onclusive (North America) 416-300-3030 corey@verbfactory.com onclusiveteam@firstlightgroup.io +44 020 36177240 Learn more at: future.onclusive.com Global BPO's Certification Validates Internal Culture Where Employees Feel "Welcome" and "Proud" NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2022 / Based on employee feedback on the Trust Index Survey, Ubiquity has been recognized as a Great Place to Work -Certified company . This award validates the commitment that Ubiquity employees and leadership have made to the company's core values of Partnership, Innovation, and Community. From a thorough onboarding process to encouraging team cooperation and promoting individual career growth, Ubiquity's culture has become a strong differentiator in the business process outsourcing industry. "Ensuring employee satisfaction has been one of our central tenets since we founded Ubiquity in 2012," said Matt Nyren , president and CEO. "From the start, we believed that a happy workplace is more productive and a key differentiator in attracting the best talent in the industry. We have found that empowering employees to be in control of their careers reaps many benefits, as our company growth is a direct result of every employee's personal growth." The foundation of the Great Place to Work recognition is a survey that employees complete anonymously. The candid answers create a profile of the day-to-day work environment analyzed through a sixty-factor Trust Index that compares employees' responses and comments in the subject company to the best workplaces in the country. After the results were tallied up, 76% of Ubiquity employees participating in the survey said the company is "a great place to work." The average U.S.-based company has only 59% of its employees agreeing with that statement. The Great Place to Work survey results also break down the data to identify more particular company strengths. The survey discovered that Ubiquity employees agreed strongly with these statements: I am given the resources and equipment to do my job. (87%) When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome. (86%) I'm proud to tell others I work here. (86%) People celebrate special events around here. (86%) I am treated as a full member here regardless of my position. (84%) I can be myself around here. (84%) The Great Place to Work (GPTW) survey platform enables business leaders to leverage important feedback for driving future employee initiatives and guiding employee policy responsiveness. The GPTW results also highlight opportunities for companies to respond to areas where the takeaways were not so favorable. The GPTW certification has meaning beyond the formal company recognition and benchmarking. Studies show that certification correlates highly with other favorable business objectives. For instance, GPTW-certified employers are four times more successful at attracting, retaining, and engaging talent than the average U.S. workplace. In addition, employees at certified workplaces are 93% more likely to look forward to coming to work, and employees have twice the opportunities for promotion. "This recognition validates our work to ensure that every member of our team feels supported, appreciated, and included," said Tanya Clark, senior vice president of human resources. "We stress a strong people-centric culture, so it is heartening to see that it has taken root in the company. I am particularly proud of our onboarding and training processes, which leave 85% of employees feeling 'welcome' when joining Ubiquity." Ubiquity has a long history of valuing its employees by encouraging them to excel and advance in their careers. Ubiquity Academy was founded specifically to help employees learn new skills and take on new responsibilities. The company also incentivizes employees to work as cooperative teams and promote the successes of their peers through our "Better with U" awards program. Each quarter, senior leadership reviews nominees for the award and selects employees that exemplify Ubiquity's core values of Partnership, Innovation, and Community. The recognition includes a trophy, a monetary award, and a congratulatory video presentation from CEO Matt Nyren outlining the employees' contributions, which is distributed company-wide. Ubiquity also promotes employee events inside its offices that celebrate holidays, employee accomplishments, and special causes. For instance, Ubiquity regularly sets aside time for employees to get together and socialize, such as cupcake spreads for Juneteenth and Pride celebrations. Employee celebrations also include luncheons for holidays, with the biggest events being festive "Year-End" banquets. Founded in 2012, Ubiquity is the leading customer service and business process outsourcing services provider for highly complex industries, including financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce. Ubiquity, whose customers include BM Technologies, Marqeta, Green Dot, Chime, and Greenwood, is the #1 BPO for fintechs, supporting over 150 brands. The company's relationship-based outsourcing delivers increased returns for challengers and disruptors by increasing customer satisfaction and reducing costs. Ubiquity's end-to-end solutions leverage agile methodologies, AI-enabled technologies, and call center expertise to help brands grow customer relationships quickly and cost-effectively. About Great Place to Work Certification Great Place to Work Certification is the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. The certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their mission is to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work for All. Learn more: www.greatplacetowork.com . About Ubiquity Ubiquity's Relationship-based Outsourcing pioneers next-gen CX, changing how brands interact with customers in an omnichannel world. Our teams of dedicated problem-solvers combine deep industry knowledge with an agile methodology to understand how customer experience supports a brand's objectives and devise plans to accelerate toward them. Ubiquity provides multilingual, end-to-end solutions across industries, including customer experience management services, interactive voice response (IVR) and AI-enabled technologies, and Banking Operations support, incorporating fraud investigation, ID verification, and dispute and chargeback management. Ubiquity is headquartered in New York City and has delivery locations in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Visit us at https://ubiquity.com , browse open positions at https://ubiquity.com/career , and connect on LinkedIn or Twitter . CONTACT: Ubiquity Matthew Agronin matthew.agronin@ubiquity.com SOURCE: Ubiquity View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/681099/Ubiquity-Is-a-Great-Place-to-WorkR ATLANTA, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shiba Inu provided massive returns to its investors last year, but the crypto was down over 3.4% over the past month. With the beginning of the New Year, Investors are looking for the next Shiba Inu that could explode in 2022. EverGrow Coin , a hyper-deflationary token, is cited by many analysts as the crypto that could beat Shiba Inu. EverGrow coin is arguably the most innovative and deflationary token ever launched. After distributing $31 million in $BUSD rewards to its token holders, and the recent announcements of new utilities, Evergrow Coin Token Price has increased by over 150% this week. According to BSCscan, EverGrow Coin has accrued more than 125,000 token holders in just three months of launch. Due to its deflationary nature, the token will become more scarce over time. 52.32%% of EverGrow Coin's total supply has already been burned. EverGrow coin contracts implement a 14% tax on all Buy/Sell transactions, including those occurring between two wallets. The contract distributes 8% from every transaction to its holders as rewards in $BUSD (Binance-pegged USD). EGC is currently listed on top cryptocurrency exchanges like PancakeSwap , Bitmart, and ZT. 2% of every transaction is automatically supplied to the EverGrow smart contracts for Auto Buybacks and burn. When the Autobuyback is enabled, the amount stored in the smart contracts will automatically be invested to burn Evergrow tokens from the Exchanges. The burned tokens are removed permanently from the circulatory supply. Along with this, 3% of each transaction in EGC is transferred to the PancakeSwap Liquidity Pools to increase price floor stability. According to the website roadmap, EverGrow Coin will launch its NFT Marketplace in Q1, 2022. Through the Marketplace, NFT owners and traders can buy, mint, or sell their NFTs using images, videos & other data. The NFT ecosystem will be supported by the NFT lending marketplace, which will allow NFT owners to lend and borrow liquidity by keeping their NFTs as collateral. This will also create an unparalleled opportunity for the lenders to buy NFTs below their usual value presented in the Marketplace. Apart from this, it will also introduce "Crator.com," a content subscription platform for creators to provide quality content and updates to their fans. This subscription platform facilitates the integration of both Crypto and FIAT payment options. It means users can choose Fiat, Stable coins, and EGC tokens to purchase the creator's subscription plan. The platform will also allow them to connect with their favourite creators, purchase premium content, tip them, and acquire daily updates. EverGrow Coin comprises a unique combination of the most advanced smart contracts and mainstream utilities that is never seen before in any other crypto. EverGrow Coin ecosystem also includes its Oracle-based NFT game to provide additional play-to-earn opportunities to its users. Game participants can win rewards by acquiring unique characters by purchasing mysteryboxes and using the acquired NFTs to play games. Evergrow Coin is also supposed to launch EverGrow wallet, exchange, and even more distinctive platforms in the future. Company: EverGrow Coin Email: contact@evergrowcoin.com Website: https://evergrowcoin.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1720622/EverGrow_Coin_Shiba_Inu.jpg Prodways Group has received orders for four machines from Australia's leading manufacturer of clear orthodontic aligners. After an assessment phase lasting several months, Australia's leading manufacturer of clear orthodontic aligners by 3D printing has just confirmed its choice of MovingLight technology to be installed in its first production plant. As in the case of the US order announced early December, these latest orders concerned the MovingLight LD20 printer, the most productive model in the Prodways range. While the transaction concluded at the end of the year concerned only four machines, as explained in the previous release this order heralds an investment program that is expected to lead to further orders over the coming 24 months. After installation and production ramp-up, the first four machines are expected to consume over five tons of Prodways material per year. About Prodways Group Prodways Group is a specialist in industrial and professional 3D printing with a unique positioning as an integrated European player. The Group has developed right across the 3D printing value chain (software, machines, materials, parts & services) with a high value added technological industrial solution. Prodways Group offers a wide range of 3D printing systems and premium composite, hybrid and powder materials (SYSTEMS division). The company also manufactures and markets parts on demand, prototypes and small production run 3D printed items in plastic and metal (PRODUCTS division). The Group targets a significant number of sectors, from aeronautics to healthcare. Listed on Euronext Paris, the Group reported in 2019 revenue of 57 million. Prodways Group is a Groupe Gorge company. For further information: www.prodways-group.com Contacts INVESTORS CONTACT Anne-Pauline Petureaux Investor relations Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 72 / apetureaux@actus.fr PRESS CONTACT Manon Clairet Financial press relations Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 73 / mclairet@actus.fr Disclaimer Releases from Prodways Group may contain forward-looking declarations with statements of objectives. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations of Prodways Group. Their realization, however, depends on known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ significantly from those previously anticipated. The risks and uncertainties that might affect the Group's future ability to achieve its targets are reiterated and presented in detail in our Annual financial report on Prodways Group's website (www.prodways-group.com). This list of risks, uncertainties and other factors is not exhaustive. Other unanticipated, unknown or unpredictable factors may also have significant negative effects on the achievement of our objectives. The current release and the information contained therein do not constitute an offer to sell or to subscribe, nor a solicitation for an order to purchase or subscribe to shares in Prodways Group or in any subsidiaries thereof listed in whatsoever country. ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: lm5uaZSZaJnKnG5xaJWZa2Zkm2lhmmiVmpKbx2dtlp/GaGqRmWxpm8eYZnBjm2Vp - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-72603-cp_prodways-australie_05012022_en_vdef.pdf IDB Invest supports the expansion of infrastructure to close the digital divide in Colombia IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, participated in a guarantee line of up to COP625,000 million for the benefit of Tigo Colombia, a subsidiary of Millicom. To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest CEO and to the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO Through this operation, IDB Invest will issue one or more letters of standby credit (CCSB) to eligible local banks, such as Bancolombia, in order to cover Tigo's obligations to cover guarantees issued in favor of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC) and the Single Fund for Information and Communication Technologies (FonTIC). The guarantee line will have an availability of ten and a half years and a tenor of up to two years for each letter of credit issued. This project seeks to increase access and connectivity to mobile broadband, in addition to increasing opportunities for the most vulnerable sectors of Colombia, helping to close the digital gap. "At Millicom | TIGO we are committed to continuing our investment to build digital highways throughout Latin America, which is essential in order to grow our economies and connect our communities to the digital world," said Mauricio Ramos, CEO of Millicom. "We celebrate the fact that IDB Invest shares this vision with us." "Quality broadband connectivity has a direct and indirect impact on activity and competitiveness, facilitates job creation, and improves productivity in urban and rural areas. This project demonstrates IDB Invest's determined commitment to reduce the digital divide in the region and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth," said James P. Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest. This guarantee line will support the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure that TIGO will carry out in 177 localities that did not have access to mobile services with broadband connection. The operation also seeks to upgrade the mobile service from 2G or basic 3G to 4G broadband for 340 municipalities in Colombian territory. Compliance with the Environmental and Social Action Plan As a consequence of IDB Invest's participation in the project, Tigo agreed to comply with the Environmental and Social Action Plan (PAAS). The company is taking appropriate measures to advance its efforts to adopt best practices in its operations, including the development of an external complaints system and improvements in third-party contracting procedures to ensure that contractors appropriately manage environmental risks as well as occupational health and safety risks. IDB Invest, through its advisory services, is working with Tigo to maximize the impact of this transaction on rural populations. IDB Invest will help Tigo support the activation of digital agricultural productivity (such as climate monitoring and information services) for small rural businesses and the digital delivery of opportunities in basic services, such as telehealth or virtual education, for rural populations and those connected for the first time. The project will be implemented in phases, beginning with a pilot in strategic rural areas and in alliances with key actors in the area that have the capacity to connect on site and carry out the necessary activities. This operation is expected to contribute to four United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): End of poverty (SDG 1), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and Partnerships to achieve the goals (SDG 17). About BID Invest IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, is a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector. IDB Invest finances sustainable companies and projects to achieve financial results and maximize economic, social and environmental development in the region. With a portfolio of US$13.1 billion in assets under management and 385 clients in 25 countries, IDB Invest provides innovative financial solutions and advisory services that respond to the needs of its clients in a variety of sectors. About Tigo Tigo is a leading provider of Telecommunications services in Colombia with more than 10 million mobile subscribers, 1.7 million fixed residential customers, and more than 3,800 employees as of December 31 2020. Tigo is owned by subsidiaries of Millicom International Cellular, S.A. and Empresas Publicas de Medellin. IDB Invest PIC 1 image2 Attachments WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - American EV manufacturer Tesla Inc (TSLA) opened a new store in China's Xinjiang province at the turn of the year, an action that has been shrouded with controversies. Now the activists in the US are asking Elon Musk's company to close the outlet due to the humanitarian crisis associated with the province. The Chinese leadership is heavily linked with the systematic elimination of Uyghur Muslims, who are religious minorities in the country who are largely concentrated in Xinjiang. Tesla opened its showroom at Urumqi, the capital city on Friday. The company announced on its post on Weibo, 'Let's start Xinjiang's all-electric journey!'. China is Tesla's biggest market and one of the primary contributors to the growth Tesla has enjoyed in the past couple of years. The Council on American-Islam Relations is viewing the action as support for the genocidal actions of the local governance. Ibrahim Hooper, the organization's communications head said, 'No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority.' American corporates have been facing a dilemma in the case as the Chinese government is handling every type of criticism of its actions in the province very seriously. Recently, big-box retailer Walmart Inc. (WMT) has received threats of boycott from the Xi Jinping authority after it removed products from Xinjiang from its shelves. Tech giant, Intel Corporation has also faced similar threats after it tried to condemn the actions of the country. The Biden administration has posed sanctions on products imported from Xinjiang unless they are produced keeping the labor rights intact. According to various reports, the Asian powerhouse has jailed more than one million Uyghurs in concentration camps where they are being tortured and eventually killed. In a maniacal vein, the camp authorities are also being accused of using the religious minorities as test subjects. However, the governance has denied any such claim. The ruling party has labeled the people as terrorists and has claimed the camps as 'reeducation' camps rather than extermination camps. Apart from Tesla, General Motors, Volkswagen, Nissan Motors also have their outlets in Xinjiang. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX TESLA-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de Binding agreement with PlanetArt's minority shareholder for the phased redemption of between 25% and 65% of its 7.7% preferred stake Consideration ranges from $14 million to $38 million 1 with phased funding out of PlanetArt's cash, starting with $14 million paid before the end of March 2022 Claranova's stake in PlanetArt to increase proportionally, for a greater share of the division's future performance Regulatory News: Claranova (Euronext Paris: FR0013426004 CLA) (Paris:CLA) announces the signing of a binding agreement between its subsidiary PlanetArt LLC ("PlanetArt" or the "Company") and Societe Commune Europeenne de Participation ("SCEP"), for the redemption of between 25% and 65% of the 7.7% minority interest SCEP holds in PlanetArt (the "Redemption"). With this transaction, Claranova will have a greater share of PlanetArt's future performance. Total cash consideration paid out to SCEP from PlanetArt's cashflows ranges from a minimum of $14 million up to a maximum of $38 million. The shares acquired from SCEP will be cancelled. SCEP is a subsidiary of CAP Invest, the family office of the Riccobono group, a major European print industry manufacturer. In September 2017, SCEP took an equity interest in PlanetArt through the $14 million purchase of new preferred shares (the "Units") at a post-money valuation of over $225 million to fund growth. If, at the time, the Company had revenues of 89 million and a negative EBITDA (July 2016-June 2017), it has since become a worldwide e-commerce leader in the make-on-demand space, with a strong financial profile, recording revenues of 380 million and an EBITDA of 26 million in the last fiscal year 2020-2021 (July 2021-June 2021). Pierre Cesarini, CEO of the Claranova group, declared: "We are very grateful for the support of SCEP through the past four years and their active engagement in steering PlanetArt through the hypergrowth phase the company has experienced since SCEP's investment in 2017. In view of PlanetArt's unmatched long-term potential and SCEP's desire to start cashing out, we believe improving our access to PlanetArt's future performance to be an excellent use of the Company's cash position." Details of Redemption phases: Based on a total of 671 Units held by SCEP and a price of $85,840 per Unit, the Redemption will be broken down into: an initial acquisition of 168 Units for an aggregate redemption price equivalent to $14 million, with a payment before the end of March 2022; subject to PlanetArt's EBITDA for the fiscal half-years ending June 30, 2022, December 31, 2022, June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2023 reaching certain pre-negotiated thresholds, the Company will redeem a number of Units equal to 30% of the EBITDA achieved for each concerned period (the "Subsequent Redemption"); at the end of each concerned period, the Company, in its sole discretion, may elect to redeem a greater number of Units than is required pursuant to the Subsequent Redemption, up to a maximum aggregate number of 437 Units (65% of total Units); in no event shall SCEP be required to sell an aggregate number of Units greater than 437, or the Company be required to purchase an aggregate number of Units greater than 336 (i.e. 50% of total Units). Financial calendar: February 9, 2022: H1 2021-2022 revenue. March 30, 2022: H1 2021-2022 results About Claranova: As a diversified global technology company, Claranova manages and coordinates a portfolio of majority interests in digital companies with strong growth potential. Supported by a team combining several decades of experience in the world of technology, Claranova has acquired a unique know-how in successfully turning around, creating and developing innovative companies. With average annual growth of more than 40% over the last three years and revenue of 472 million in FY 2020-2021, Claranova has proven its capacity to turn a simple idea into a worldwide success in just a few short years. Present in 15 countries and leveraging the technology expertise of nearly 800 employees across North America and Europe, Claranova is a truly international company, with 95% of its revenue derived from international markets. Claranova's portfolio of companies is organized into three unique technology platforms operating in all major digital sectors. As a leader in personalized e-commerce, Claranova also stands out for its technological expertise in software publishing and the Internet of Things, through its businesses PlanetArt, Avanquest and myDevices. These three technology platforms share a common vision: empowering people through innovation by providing simple and intuitive digital solutions that facilitate everyday access to the very best of technology. For more information on Claranova Group: https://www.claranova.com or https://twitter.com/claranova_group CODES Ticker :? CLA ISIN : FR0013426004 www.claranova.com Disclaimer: All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release about future events are subject to (i) change without notice and (ii) factors beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control that could cause the Company's actual results or performance to be materially different from the expected results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. 1 Approximately 12.5 million and 33.5M million respectively, converted at today's EUR/USD exchange rate of 1.13. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005890/en/ Contacts: ANALYSTS INVESTORS +33 1 41 27 19 74 ir@claranova.com FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION +33 1 75 77 54 65 ir@claranova.com In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. 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(Euronext Growth Paris: ALNOX), a biotechnology company focused on improving cancer treatments by targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME), announced today that the evaluation of NOX-A12 by a leading international pharmaceutical company in a non-oncology indication announced on June 24, 2019 has been completed. The pharmaceutical company has decided not to pursue further work with NOX-A12 in this field and to terminate the collaboration agreement. The indication will remain undisclosed. "While this decision comes as a disappointment to us and our shareholders, the significant investment in time and resources of the pharmaceutical partner over the last two years to evaluate NOX-A12 in a non-oncology indication indicates the unique potential of NOX-A12's direct chemokine-targeting action versus competing single receptor agents that do not fully block CXCL12-receptor interactions. While the biological hypothesis tested by the pharmaceutical partner did not work in the evaluated indication, we are pleased that the pharma research and development team worked so diligently on testing this additional therapeutic potential of NOX-A12. We remain committed to the development of NOX-A12 in oncology indications and look forward to updating the market on clinical progress we make in brain and pancreatic cancers," said Aram Mangasarian, CEO of NOXXON. NOX-A12 is currently under clinical development in two indications: Glioblastoma (GBM) a Phase 1/2 study of NOX-A12 radiotherapy (GLORIA) in patients newly diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer is ongoing. All patients have been recruited in all three dose cohorts (200, 400 or 600 mg NOX-A12 per week), and will have completed 6 months of therapy in Q1 2022. Based on the encouraging data obtained from the two initial dose cohorts, expansion arms of the study have been initiated to assess potential synergistic benefit of NOX-A12 with additional treatment combinations. As a next step, a pivotal trial is planned to start in 2022. Pancreatic cancer following the promising results from the OPERA trial, a Phase 2 study (OPTIMUS) comparing two NOX-A12 combinations with anti-PD-1 antibody and two different standard of care chemotherapy regimens in second-line patients is expected to start in 2022. For this trial, NOXXON and MSD (Merck Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J. USA) have entered into their second collaboration. About NOXXON NOXXON's oncology-focused pipeline acts on the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the cancer immunity cycle by breaking the tumor protection barrier and blocking tumor repair. By neutralizing chemokines in the TME, NOXXON's approach works in combination with other forms of treatment to weaken tumor defenses against the immune system and enable greater therapeutic impact. NOXXON's lead program NOX-A12 has delivered final top-line data from a Keytruda combination trial in metastatic colorectal and pancreatic cancer patients published at the ESMO conference in September 2020 and in July 2021 the company announced its Phase 2 study, OPTIMUS, to further evaluate safety and efficacy of NOX-A12 in combination with Merck's Keytruda and two different chemotherapy regimens as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. NOXXON is also studying NOX-A12 in brain cancer in combination with radiotherapy which has been granted orphan drug status in the US and EU for the treatment of certain brain cancers. GLORIA, a trial of NOX-A12 in combination with radiotherapy in newly diagnosed brain cancer patients who will not benefit clinically from standard chemotherapy has delivered interim data from the first two cohorts showing consistent tumor reductions and objective tumor responses. The company's second clinical-stage asset NOX-E36 is a Phase 2 TME asset targeting the innate immune system. NOXXON plans to test NOX-E36 in patients with solid tumors. Further information can be found at: www.noxxon.com. Keytruda is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. Visit NOXXON on LinkedIn and Twitter. About the GLORIA Study GLORIA (NCT04121455) is NOXXON's dose-escalation, phase 1/2 study of NOX-A12 in combination with irradiation in first-line glioblastoma (brain cancer) patients with unmethylated MGMT promoter (resistant to standard chemotherapy). About the OPTIMUS Study OPTIMUS (NCT04901741) is NOXXON's open-label two-arm phase 2 study of NOX-A12 combined with pembrolizumab and nanoliposomal irinotecan/5-FU/leucovorin or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in microsatellite-stable metastatic pancreatic cancer patients. Disclaimer Certain statements in this communication contain formulations or terms referring to the future or future developments, as well as negations of such formulations or terms, or similar terminology. These are described as forward-looking statements. In addition, all information in this communication regarding planned or future results of business segments, financial indicators, developments of the financial situation or other financial or statistical data contains such forward-looking statements. The company cautions prospective investors not to rely on such forward-looking statements as certain prognoses of actual future events and developments. The company is neither responsible nor liable for updating such information, which only represents the state of affairs on the day of publication. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005905/en/ Contacts: For more information, please contact: NOXXON Pharma N.V. Aram Mangasarian, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer Tel. +49 (0) 30 726247 0 amangasarian@noxxon.com Investor and Media Relations: LifeSci Advisors Guillaume van Renterghem Tel. +41 (0) 76 735 01 31 gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com NewCap Arthur Rouille Tel. +33 (0) 1 44 71 00 15 arouille@newcap.fr SEATTLE, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Coherent Market Insights, the global healthcare robotics market is estimated to be valued at US$ 9,520 million in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 14.8% over the forecast period (2021-2028). Key Trends and Analysis of the Global Healthcare Robotics Market: Key trends in the market include increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, technological advancement in the medical robotic systems, potential of rehabilitation, hospital, and pharmacy robots, and increasing collaborations, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions among key players. These key trends are expected to aid in growth of the global healthcare robotics market. For instance, in October 2019, Parata Systems LLC. a leading provider of pharmacy automation, launched the new generation of Vial-Filling Robot, Max 2. The robot reached the expectations of pharmacies across all settings and improves workflow by automating the filling, capping, and labelling of vials. Moreover, in August 2019, Capsa Healthcare, a global leader in developing and delivering innovative healthcare solutions, launched new Kirby Lester KL-SR secure robotic dispenser. This dispenser expeditiously handles the prescription dispensing of retail pharmacies. Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/4847 Key Market Takeaways: The global healthcare robotics market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 14.8% over the forecast period, owing to rising product approvals by regulatory authorities. For instance, in November 2019, avateramedical GmbH, a German medical technology company, received CE approval for its avatera(R) system for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Among product type, systems segment accounted for largest market share in 2021, owing to increasing product launches. For instance, in November 2019, Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, launched a new version Welwalk WW-2000, a robot designed to assist rehabilitation support for patients with lower limb paralysis. Key players operating in the global healthcare robotics market include Accuray Incorporated., Capsa Healthcare, LLC., Hocoma, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Titan Medical, Inc., Aurora Biomed Inc., Abbott, Omnicell, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Stryker Corporation, Medtronic Plc., Parata Systems LLC, avateramedical GmbH, Toyota Motor Corporation, Siemens Healthineers AG, BIONIK Laboratories Corp., THINK Surgical, Inc., Globus Medical Inc., and Restoration Robotics, Inc. Need customized report? Please visit @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/4847 Detailed Segmentation: Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By Product Type: Systems Surgical Robots Rehabilitation Robots Non-invasive Radiosurgery Robots Hospital and Pharmacy Robots Others Instruments & Accessories Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By End User: Hospitals Pharmacies Rehabilitation Centers Home Care Settings Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By Region: North America By Country: U.S. Canada Europe By Country: U.K. Germany Italy France Spain Russia Rest of Europe Asia Pacific By Country: China India Japan ASEAN Australia South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America By Country: Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa By Country: GCC Countries Israel South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Purchase this Complete Report Now @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/4847 About Us: Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide. We create value for clients through our highly reliable and accurate reports. We are also committed in playing a leading role in offering insights in various sectors post-COVID-19 and continue to deliver measurable, sustainable results for our clients. Contact Us: Mr. Shah Senior Client Partner - Business Development Coherent Market Insights Phone: US: +1-206-701-6702 UK: +44-020-8133-4027 Japan: +81-050-5539-1737 India: +91-848-285-0837 Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Website: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/902389/Coherent_Market_Insights_Logo.jpg Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - PC 1 Corp. (TSXV: PCAA.P) (the "Corporation") has entered into a letter of intent (the "Letter of Intent") dated January 3, 2022, for the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding securities of Cashtag Media Corp. ("Cashtag"). Cashtag is developing an online media platform exclusively focused on investor communications. The Corporation is a capital pool company and intends for the acquisition of Cashtag to constitute the Qualifying Transaction of the Corporation (the "Qualifying Transaction") as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Term of Acquisition Pursuant to the terms of the Letter of Intent, subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence, a definitive purchase agreement (the "Agreement"), receipt of applicable approvals and other standard closing conditions, the Corporation intends to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Cashtag for consideration consisting of 28,227,273 common shares (prior to any shares to become issuable following the Concurrent Financing (as defined below)) at a deemed price of $0.2125604 per share. Common shares of Cashtag will be converted into common shares of the Corporation on the basis of approximately 1.129090909 Corporation shares for each Cashtag share. The Qualifying Transaction is an arm's length transaction. No insiders of the Corporation own securities in Cashtag and no insiders of Cashtag own securities in the Corporation. It is intended that the Corporation will complete a name change in connection with the Qualifying Transaction and it will therefore be seeking shareholder approval. Upon completion of the Qualifying Transaction, the resulting entity (the "Resulting Issuer") will be engaged in the business of Cashtag and interests as may be subsequently acquired by the Corporation. Certain common shares of the Resulting Issuer to be issued pursuant to the Qualifying Transaction are expected to be subject to restrictions on resale or escrow under the policies of the Exchange, including the securities to be issued to "Principals" (as such term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), which will subject to the escrow requirements of the Exchange. In addition, 25,000,000 common shares of the Corporation issued to the founders of Cashtag will be subject to a contractual 18 month escrow with 10% of such shares being released from the contractual escrow on closing of the Qualifying Transaction and an additional 15% being released every two months thereafter. This contractual escrow is in addition to any regulatory escrow that will apply to the securities of the Corporation to be issued in connection with the Qualifying Transaction. Concurrent Financing Prior to or concurrently with the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Cashtag will complete a private placement raising a minimum of $1,900,000 (the "Concurrent Financing"). The issue price per security in the Concurrent Financing will be no less than $0.2125604 and the specific terms of the Concurrent Financing will be determined by Cashtag. The Corporation will issue a further press release once the terms of the Concurrent Financing are finalized. Cashtag Cashtag is building an investor media online platform focused on the investor communications sector using the concept of the "$Cashtag." Cashtag Media Corp, which owns the URL www.CashTag.com, is a new concept based on utilizing web 2.0 social media platforms parlayed with traditional media outlets. Cashtag Media Corp expects to be a top community maker and content creator in traditional investments as well as new and speculative investment areas. Cashtag is bringing together several top Finfluencers who will broadcast 24/7 "STOCK TALK" podcasts/shows via www.CashTag.com, various social media platforms and beyond. Cashtag is working to combine reach, frequency, influencers and a strong team of creative Capital Market savvy and Social Media savvy individuals with aims to be a disruptive and vertically integrated financial media company. Cashtag currently has 25,000,000 common shares outstanding (prior to the completion of the Concurrent Financing) and no convertible securities. Currently, 1407535 Ontario Limited, Stacey Farber, 2674775 Ontario Limited, Richlin International, and 8797668 Canada Ltd each hold more than 10% of the outstanding shares of Cashtag. The current directors of Cashtag are Robert Schwartz and Bilal Vakani, and the current officers of Cashtag are Robert Schwartz (President, CEO) and Kyle Appleby (CFO, Secretary). Sponsorship of Qualifying Transaction Sponsorship of a qualifying transaction of a capital pool company is required by the Exchange unless exempt in accordance with the Exchange policies. The Corporation is currently reviewing the requirements for sponsorship and may apply for exemption from sponsorship requirements pursuant to the policies of the Exchange, however there is no assurance that the Corporation will ultimately obtain this exemption. Termination The letter of intent will terminate (i) on the mutual consent of both the Corporation and Cashtag and (ii) automatically if the Agreement is not executed on or before 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on February 14, 2022. Description of Significant Conditions to Closing Completion of the Qualifying Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and obtaining all required shareholder approvals. There can be no assurance that the Qualifying Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Qualifying Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative. The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Qualifying Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. All information contained in this news release with respect to the Corporation, Cashtag, and the Resulting Issuer was supplied by the parties, respectively, for inclusion herein. Additional Information Additional information concerning the Qualifying Transaction, the Corporation, Cashtag and the Resulting Issuer, including financial information of Cashtag and proposed board and management of the Resulting Issuer, will be provided in subsequent news releases and in the Corporation's Filing Statement to be filed in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, which will be available under the Corporation's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Upon closing of the Qualifying Transaction, the Resulting Issuer expects to list as a Tier 2 Industrial Issuer on the Exchange. In accordance with the policies of the Exchange, the Corporation's shares are currently halted from trading and will remain so until such time as the Exchange determines, which, depending on the policies of the Exchange, may not occur until completion of the Qualifying Transaction. None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Qualifying Transaction have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and any securities issued pursuant to the Qualifying Transaction are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemptions from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. About PC 1 Corp. The Corporation is a capital pool company within the meaning of the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange that has not commenced commercial operations and has no assets other than cash. Except as specifically contemplated in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, until the completion of its "Qualifying Transaction" (as defined therein), the Corporation will not carry on business, other than the identification and evaluation of companies, business or assets with a view to completing a proposed Qualifying Transaction. The Corporation currently has issued and outstanding 10,350,000 common shares, agent compensation options exercisable to acquire 500,000 common shares at an exercise price of $0.10 per share and incentive stock options exercisable to acquire 1,010,000 common shares at a price of $0.10 per share. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Aaron Eisenberg, CEO, CFO, Corporate Secretary and Director Phone: 416-481-2222 Cautionary Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the timing and completion of the Qualifying Transaction and related transactions, the future operations of the Corporation, Cashtag and the Resulting Issuer and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements regarding the anticipated performance of Cashtag as the top community maker and content creator in traditional investments as well as new and speculative investment areas. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Corporation's and Cashtag's expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions to completion of the Qualifying Transaction or the Concurrent Financing set forth above, the limited business history of Cashtag, general market and industry conditions, competitive conditions, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Corporation and the Resulting Issuer with securities regulators. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation, Cashtag and the Resulting Issuer. As a result, the Corporation, Cashtag, and the Resulting Issuer cannot guarantee that the Qualifying Transaction or the Concurrent Financing will be completed on the terms and within the time disclosed herein or at all. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Corporation, Cashtag and the Resulting Issuer will only update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law. Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release, publication, distribution or dissemination, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined under the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109154 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Scryb Inc. (CSE: SCYB) (OTCQB: RYMDF) (FSE: EIY) ("Scryb" or the "Company"), an applied intelligence Company, is pleased to report on an engagement with Canada's National Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association Inc. ("APMA")1, and to provide the Cybeats cybersecurity platform on Project Arrow, the all-Canadian, zero-emission connected vehicle.2 The APMA is Canada's national association representing OEM producers of parts, equipment, tools, supplies, advanced technology, and services for the worldwide automotive industry. Its members account for 90% of independent parts production in Canada and in 2018, represented over $35 billion of automotive part shipments with over 100,000 people employed. Cybeats cybersecurity platform provides certainty in software, from launch to legacy. Cybeats will provide cybersecurity products and advisory services to APMA and its Project Arrow, to enhance component security, software development security, as well as software bill of materials (SBOM). "Every modern electrified vehicle has a dramatically larger digital footprint than the internal combustion engine platform it replaces. The integrity of that footprint must be a foundational element of vehicle design and we are excited to work with Cybeats to ensure the Project Arrow concept vehicle serves as a prime example of this vision," said Flavio Volpe, President of APMA. "Project Arrow is a broad collaboration of the best-in-class companies in Canada and we are honoured to be working with the AMPA to develop Canada's own safe and secure connected zero-emission concept vehicle," said Yoav Raiter, CEO of Scryb Inc. "We have an opportunity to use our Cybeats' platform, including the SBOM Studio to incorporate high-level cybersecurity through the design phase to the final product. We look forward to collaborating with APMA and the broader project team to deliver this landmark concept vehicle." Project Arrow To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/952/109176_8cfc5a39149dba8a_001full.jpg CES in Las Vegas - January 5 - 8 The APMA is currently attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)3, an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). It is considered the most influential tech event in the world, hosting breakthrough technologies and global innovators. It is being held January 5-8, 2022 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, where the world's biggest brands do business and meet new partners, and the sharpest innovators hit the stage.4 APMA's chief technical officer Fraser Dunn told Automotive News Canada that Project Arrow plans to reveal at the CES show in Las Vegas in January, 2023. Concept drawings of the car show it to be larger than a Tesla Model Y and smaller than a Model X. It will also feature large magnesium castings, inspired by the Tesla Model Y. The projected sale price of the SUV is between $40,000 and $60,000 and the engineers are also targeting at least Level 3 autonomy. As opposed to relying on battery cells from Asian suppliers like CATL, Panasonic, or SK Innovation, Project Arrow will be powered by cylindrical cells from VoltaXplore, a joint venture between Martinrea International and Montreal-based graphene firm NanoXplore Inc.5 The APMA is leveraging its leadership position and longstanding relationships in the automotive manufacturing industry to bring together key industry and academic partners to facilitate Project Arrow. The partners are working together to design, engineer and build a connected autonomous zero-emissions concept vehicle with a digital copy, to be used as a virtual platform for testing and validating connected and autonomous technologies before they are integrated into the physical car. Project Arrow is positioned to lead the transformation of Canada's automotive sector from traditional fuel vehicle development to zero-emission vehicle development, while showcasing the capabilities of the Canadian automobility and digital technology sectors to compete on the global stage. The project will also help to create a robust electric vehicle supply chain in Canada, increasing Canada's domestic electric vehicle development capacity in everything from electric powertrains and connected autonomous vehicle systems to battery production. About Project Arrow In October 2020, the APMA of Canada launched the first, original, full-build, zero-emission concept vehicle named Project Arrow. The all-Canadian concept vehicle is to be designed, engineered and built through the joint efforts of the world-class automotive supply sector and post-secondary institutions in Canada. Answering the federal government's call for a Zero-Emissions future by 2050, Project Arrow brings together the best-in-class of Canada's electric-drive, alternative-fuel, connected and autonomous and light-weight technology companies. As the North American market enters a new automotive era focused on "ACES" (Autonomous, Connected, Electric, Shared), Project Arrow is a lighthouse initiative that showcases the capability of Canada's world-class automotive supply sector by bringing together Canada's Tier 1 supply chain, auto-tech SMEs and academic institutions. Project Arrow builds on the success of Canada's auto sector in advanced manufacturing with a goal to establish a more value-added, technology-centered foundation to drive a new age of automotive. The initiative will promote investments from OEMs Canada and beyond to develop next generation products and technologies within the Canadian auto tech ecosystem. For more information visit: https://projectarrow.ca. About APMA The APMA is Canada's national association representing OEM producers of parts, equipment, tools, supplies, advanced technology, and services for the worldwide automotive industry. The Association was founded in 1952 and its members account for 90% of independent parts production in Canada. In 2018, automotive parts shipments were over $35 Billion, and the industry employment level was over 100,000 people. For more information visit https://www.apma.ca. SUBSCRIBE: For more information, or to SubScryb to the Company's mail list, visit: https://www.scryb.ai. About Scryb Scryb is a platform that powers businesses and technologies with applied intelligence, real-time analytics, and actionable insights. The platform boasts proven adaptability across diverse markets, from digital health and diagnostics to cybersecurity and manufacturing. The cloud-based platform is composed of crucial elements including sensor technology, IoT, predictive analytics, and computer vision. For more information, please visit our website at: http://scryb.ai. Contact: W. Clark Kent President Office. 647-872-9982 TF. 1-844-247-6633 Email: info@scryb.ai Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for the technology described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/952/109176_cybeat.jpg ____________________ 1 https://apma.ca/ 2 https://projectarrow.ca/ 3 https://www.ces.tech/ 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Electronics_Show 5 https://cleantechnica.com/2021/12/20/canadas-project-arrow-planned-for-2023-reveal/ To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109176 Britannia pays down vendor loan with 1.7mm of funds on hand Extends vendor note into 2022 to facilitate due diligence timeline for new debt facility Britannia commits to an additional 10% interest in operating subsidiary Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - Britannia Life Sciences Inc. (CSE: BLAB) ("Britannia") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with the vendors of Advanced Development and Safety Laboratories ("ADSL"), a 60%-owned operating subsidiary of Britannia (each a "Noteholder", collectively the "Noteholders"), to extend the maturity date of the sellers' note agreement between Britannia Bud Canada Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Britannia, and the Noteholders (the "Sellers' Note") to February 28, 2022, to facilitate the credit approval process related to a new debt facility. On December 23, 2021, Britannia repaid 1,551,032.57 in principal amount owing under the Sellers' Note, plus accrued interest, to the Noteholders. Britannia is currently in the due diligence phase with new lenders with respect to a debt facility which is expected to provide a minimum of 5 million to fund the repayment of the Sellers' Note and acquire a minimum of an additional 10% interest in ADSL. Britannia expects the credit process to be completed in 6 to 8 weeks. In order to allow time for Britannia to complete the credit process, the Noteholders have agreed to extend the maturity date of the Sellers' Note to February 28, 2022. As consideration for facilitating the extension of the Seller's Note, Britannia issued 3,000,000 common shares of Britannia ("BLAB Shares") to Mark Bowes-Cavanagh. Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, Chief Technical Officer of Britannia, is a "related party" of Britannia within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). As such, the extension of the Sellers' Note and the issue of the common shares in satisfaction of the extension fee, each constitute a "related party transaction" within the meaning of MI 61-101. Pursuant to MI 61-101, Britannia will file a material change report providing disclosure in relation to the "related party transaction" on SEDAR under Britannia's issuer profile at www.sedar.com. Britannia did not file the material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing date of the issuance as the details of the issuance to Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh were not settled until shortly prior to the issuance, and Britannia wished to close the issuance on an expedited basis for sound business reasons. Britannia is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements under MI 61-101. Britannia is exempt from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI 61-101 in reliance on sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the transaction, insofar as it involves related parties, is not more than the 25% of Britannia's market capitalization. Required Early Warning Report Disclosure Following the issuance, Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh has beneficial ownership or control, directly or indirectly, over an aggregate of 18,600,000 BLAB Shares and 1,960,000 options, representing approximately 11.5% of the issued and outstanding BLAB Shares on an undiluted basis immediately following the Issuance (approximately 12.6% on a partially diluted basis). At the time of the last early warning report filed by the Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh, Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh held beneficial ownership or control, directly or indirectly, over 15,600,000 BLAB Shares, representing approximately 10% of the issued and outstanding BLAB Shares on an undiluted basis. The total dollar value of the issuance based on the closing market price of $0.18 per BLAB Share on the day preceding the issuance is $540,000.00. An early warning report will be filed by Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh in respect of Britannia with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities. A copy of the early warning report filed by Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under Britannia's issuer profile or may be requested from Britannia using the contact information below. As of the date of this news release, Mr. Bowes-Cavanagh is not aware of any plans nor has any future intentions which would relate to or result in any of items (a) to (k) described in Item 5 of Form 62-103F1. About Britannia Life Sciences Inc. Britannia Life Sciences Inc. is a global platform offering an integrated suite of services to assist companies along their product development journey. Britannia's services, including product formulations, safety assessments, analytical and microbiological testing, global compliance and consumer evaluations are offered to companies ranging from multinationals to startups particularly in the cosmetics, food and wellness industries. Britannia has garnered significant expertise in the development and regulatory approval of topical and edible cannabis products, including preparation and support for novel food authorizations. Britannia's head office is located at 120 Adelaide Street West, Suite 2400, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 1T1. For further information about Britannia Life Sciences Inc., please contact: Peter Shippen, CEO Telephone: 416-930-7711 Email: peter@britannia.life Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements contained in this news release may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, require Britannia to make certain assumptions and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. Words such as "may", "will", "would", "could", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "continue", or the negative or comparable terminology, as well as terms usually used in the future and the conditional, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Information contained in forward-looking statements, including future prospects in the laboratory services and product development industry, is based upon certain material assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including management's perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, public disclosure from peer companies, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. Britannia consider its assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, but cautions the reader that their assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond Britannia's control, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect Britannia, and its business. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this news release concerning Britannia, see the Listing Statement available electronically under Britannia's issuer profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements set forth herein concerning Britannia reflect management's expectations as at the date of this news release and are subject to change after such date. Britannia disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109167 Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX:CS) announces that, further to its news release dated November 30, 2021 (the "Release"), it has filed technical reports for Mantos Copper's Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines entitled "Mantos Blancos Mine NI 43-101 Technical Report Antofagasta Region de Antofagasta, Chile" and "Mantoverde Mine and Mantoverde Development Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Chanaral Region de Atacama, Chile" (the "Reports"). The reports are effective November 29, 2021 and were independently prepared by NCL, Golder Associates and GT Metallurgy in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 and can be found on the Company's website at www.capstonemining.com and under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. There are no material differences in the information in the Reports and the information contained in the Release. ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP. On November 30, 2021, Capstone Mining and Mantos Copper announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). Upon completion of the Transaction, the new Company would be renamed Capstone Copper Corp. (Capstone Copper). Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone owns 100% of Santo Domingo, a large scale, fully permitted, copper-iron-gold project in Region III, Chile, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CS. Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This document contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events and the impacts of the ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the filing of a final base shelf prospectus, future offerings of securities and updated technical reports or technical information. In addition, the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations are unknown at this time, including Capstone's ability to manage challenges and restrictions arising from COVID-19 in the communities in which Capstone operates and our ability to continue to safely operate and to safely return our business to normal operations. The impact of COVID-19 to Capstone is dependent on a number of factors outside of our control and knowledge, including the effectiveness of the measures taken by public health and governmental authorities to combat the spread of the disease, global economic uncertainties and outlook due to the disease, and the evolving restrictions relating to mining activities and to travel in certain jurisdictions in which we operate. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipates", "approximately", "believes", "budget", "estimates", expects", "forecasts", "guidance", intends", "plans", "scheduled", "target", or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "be achieved", "could", "may", "might", "occur", "should", "will be taken" or "would" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "anticipated", "expected", "guidance" and "plan". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations and closure of mining projects, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, Capstone's ability to acquire properties for growth, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, market access restrictions or tariffs, changes in general economic conditions, availability of water, accuracy of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licenses and permits from governmental authorities and potential legal challenges to permit applications, contractual risks including but not limited to, our ability to meet the completion test requirements under the Cozamin Silver Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, our ability to meet certain closing conditions under the Santo Domingo Gold Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, acting as Indemnitor for Minto Exploration Ltd.'s surety bond obligations post divestiture, impact of climate change and changes to climatic conditions at our Pinto Valley and Cozamin operations, changes in regulatory requirements and policy related to climate change and GHG emissions, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of Capstone relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs, increased cost of reclamation, challenges to title to our mineral properties, increased taxes in jurisdictions the Company operates or is subject to tax, changes in tax regimes we are subject to and any changes in law or interpretation of law may be difficult to react to in an efficient manner, maintaining ongoing social license to operate, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry including but not limited to competition for skilled labour, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions and new technology into our operations, cybersecurity threats, legal proceedings, and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's public filings, including the Shelf Prospectus, which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. CAUTIONARY NOTE TO UNITED STATES INVESTORS REGARDING PRESENTATION OF MINERAL RESERVE AND MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATES As a British Columbia corporation and a "reporting issuer" under Canadian securities laws, we are required to provide disclosure regarding our mineral properties in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. In accordance with NI 43-101, we use the terms mineral reserves and resources as they are defined in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards on mineral reserves and resources (the "CIM Definition Standards") adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. In particular, the terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve", "probable mineral reserve", "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" used in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, are Canadian mining terms defined in accordance with CIM Definition Standards. These definitions differ from the definitions in the disclosure requirements promulgated by the SEC. Accordingly, information contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies reporting pursuant to SEC disclosure requirements. United States investors are also cautioned that while the SEC will now recognize "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources", investors should not assume that any part or all of the mineralization in these categories will ever be converted into a higher category of mineral resources or into mineral reserves. Mineralization described using these terms has a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and feasibility than mineralization that has been characterized as reserves. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to assume that any "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", or "inferred mineral resources" that we report are or will be economically or legally mineable. Further, "inferred resources" have a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. Therefore, United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of the inferred resources exist. In accordance with Canadian rules, estimates of "inferred mineral resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances where permitted under NI 43-101. NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 43-101 COMPLIANCE Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, Annual Information Form and news releases (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. The disclosure of Scientific and Technical Information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Carlos Guzman, RM CMC, FAusIMM, Principal, Project Director, NCL, Gustavo Tapia, RM CMC, Metallurgical and Process Consultant, GT Metallurgy, and Ronald Turner, MAusIMM CP(Geo), Golder Associates all Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104006060/en/ Contacts: Jerrold Annett, SVP, Strategy and Capital Markets 647-273-7351 jannett@capstonemining.com Kettina Cordero, Director Investor Relations Communications 604-262-9794 kcordero@capstonemining.com Growve, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based brand aggregator specializing in acquiring, operating and growing world-class omnichannel brands in the supplements & active nutrition, home & leisure, beauty & personal care, lifestyle foods, and pet care & nutrition verticals, raised an additional $205m in funding after amending and upsizing its existing senior credit facility. Nine financial institutions led by Truist Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and Bank of America, N.A., participated in the arrangement, which followed a $175m credit facility announcement six months earlier for a total borrowing capacity of up to $380m. Just prior to this expansion of the senior loan, Growve also completed a $20m equipment line closing through Truist in order to fund its organic growth and vertical integration strategy. Led by CEO Dave Bunch, Growve is a brand aggregator specializing in acquiring, operating and growing world-class brands in the supplements & active nutrition, home & leisure, beauty & personal care, lifestyle foods, and pet care & nutrition verticals. Its team of 500+ derives its value from aggregating brands and driving growth through in-house expertise in marketplace management, digital marketing, creative services, innovation, distribution, retail sales, manufacturing, supply chain management, regulatory and accounting. The companys portfolio includes 26 brands and hundreds of unique products. FinSMEs 05/01/2022 Good Parents Inc. (d/b/a Kiddo), a San Francisco CA-based provider of remote patient monitoring (RPM) and continuous care platform for pediatric patients, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Clearlake Capital-backed Vive Collective with participation from existing investors. As part of the investment, Vives Founder and CEO Cheryl Cheng will join the companys board of directors. The company intends to use the funds to double the size of its US and Asia teams, expand its partnerships with health systems and benefits providers, and obtain FDA device certification. Led by CJ Swamy, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer Rishi Madhok, MD, Kiddo provides an RPM platform for pediatric patients with acute and chronic conditions such as asthma, autism, diabetes, and congenital heart disorders. Kiddo monitors key vitals through five clinical-grade sensors that monitor heart rate, temperature, SPO2, perspiration and motion. Meanwhile, the Kiddo mobile app allows parents and caregivers to understand their childs daily health needs, track health reports and care protocols, and receive alerts and recommendations. The company has already partnered with more than seven health systems, benefits providers and foundations including UHC/Optum, PC Health, as well as several childrens hospitals across the United States and Canada. The platform is HIPAA, HL7 and FHIR compliant, HSA/FSA eligible, and FCC, CE and IEC certified. Kiddo previously raised $9.5 million in funding from Wavemaker 360, Techstars, the Iconiq family office (Ravi Sajwan), Mojo Partners, and others. FinSMEs 04/01/2022 The financial experts at the Traders Union recommend using a well-planned approach when selecting a broker. Traders need to thoroughly study and analyze all aspects of potential brokerage companies to start a successful and profitable career on Forex. Specialists at the Traders Union suggest that traders should pay attention to the reliability of the brokerage and confirm that it is licensed by a reputable financial regulator. How do the Traders Union experts compile the list of the Top 5 Forex brokers? The Traders Union financial experts apply more than 100 proprietary parameters to objectively assess, analyze, and investigate a brokers trading activities. They are divided into five main groups, which assure a comprehensive approach during the evaluation process Indicia employed to analyze the brokers performance Whether the broker is licensed and supervised by at least one reputable governmental agency and regulator that has jurisdiction within the state where the broker is headquartered. The duration of the companys work on the financial market. The advantage should be given to those brokers that have been actively and continually providing untarnished brokerage services for at least 5 years. Professionalism and effectiveness of the brokers support service. It is important to have support working around the clock and have the ability to be contacted via several communication avenues. The trading conditions of a broker must be both favorable and comfortable to the client. These include a reasonable minimum deposit, leverage, adequate training materials, a variety of basic trading instruments, and multiple methods to deposit and withdraw funds. The brokers reputation and the level of its clients satisfaction and quality of its services may be assessed by a thorough examination of a brokers online reviews. Several parameters are employed to make sure that (1) the reviewer is actually a present or recent client of the broker being reviewed and (2) that the review is, in fact, objective in its overall scope and comments. The team of TU experts also looks at: how a broker takes care of its reputation; whether it reacts to negative customer feedback; and how quickly it reacts to improve its conduct or the working conditions at its business. Every trader can study these five main areas of each broker because the information is publicly available on each brokers website. It requires a substantial amount of work to dig out the important details and compare the results to competing brokers. But you dont have to do the hard work because the Traders Union has already done it for you. You can find the results of TUs comprehensive analyses and list of the Top 5 Best Forex Brokers on the Traders Union website. Top 5 Forex brokers according to the Traders Union Based on a comprehensive review of Forex brokers, Traders Union experts compiled the Top 5 brokers in the Forex trading industry. This list consists of the brokers that have regularly earned top scores on all the basic metrics, have achieved the highest level of their clients trust, maintained a positive reputation, and also have sterling trading conditions compared to their competitors. RoboForex. The minimum deposit is $10. Suitable for independent trading and investing through the CopyFX service. Forex4you. The minimum deposit is $1. It will suit beginning traders because it has a cent account with optimal leverage. Exness. The minimum deposit is $1. The company offers a variety of trading instruments as well as liberal leverage with equity up to 999 USD. Admiral Markets. The minimum deposit for traders is $100 and for investors, it is $1. The company operates under the control of authoritative financial regulators FCA, ASIC, and CySEC. FxPro. The minimum deposit is $100 with leverage up to 1:500. The company has a 24/5 support service and its activity is regulated by FCA, CySEC, and FSCA. These brokers are the most popular among traders because they are client-oriented and provide high-quality professional support. This is evidenced not only by the test results of Traders Union experts but also by traders reviews of cooperation with the brokers. How the Traders Union helps traders to choose a broker and protect themselves from fraudsters? The Traders Union is an association of Forex traders. It has been working in the financial markets since 2010. Registration and participation in Traders Union are free of charge for all traders. In return, traders working with brokers through the Traders Union get additional income for each executed transaction whether profitable or unprofitable and the right to legal assistance in case of a conflict with a broker. The Traders Union site has many expert articles on various financial and economic topics, as well as instructions and training guides on how to choose a broker for Forex trading, and how to distinguish scammers from trustworthy companies. In addition, the financial experts at the Traders Union make recurring evaluations of brokers, formulate objective ratings, and release to the public, free of charge, a list of the Best Forex Brokers. Thus, each member of the Traders Union has access to the results of comprehensive and in-depth research, as well as detailed and objective information about the best brokers. Also, those traders, who cooperate with brokers through the Traders Union, work in Forex under the protection of TUs highly-qualified legal specialists, all of whom are members of the bar. Google at the CES 2022 announced that it is extending Fast Pairs functionality beyond audio connectivity with wearables, headphones, speakers and cars and is extending it to TVs and smart home devices. With the new feature, if you turn on your Fast Pair-enabled headphones, your Chromebook will automatically detect it and pair with it in a single click. This will roll out in the next few weeks. In the Chromebooks coming out later this year, you can use your Android phone to quickly set it up and get immediate access to all the information such Google login and your Wi-Fi password automatically. In the coming months, you can set up your headphones for when you need to watch quietly with your Google TV or Android TV OS device at home. And with built-in support for Matter on Android, Fast Pair will let you quickly connect new Matter-enabled smart home devices to your network, Google Home and other accompanying apps all in just a few taps. In the coming months, Wear OS smartwatch will let you instantly unlock and access your Chromebook and Android phone or tablet when youre close by. With Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology on supported phones, you can use it as a car key on supported BMW vehicles. This will roll to more Android phones and vehicles later this year. Google said that it is building a technology for Bluetooth-enabled headphones that will enable them to automatically switch the audio to whatever device youre listening to. If youre wearing headphones to watch a movie on your Android tablet, and you receive a phone call, the movie will pause, and the headphone audio will automatically switch to your Android phone and then switch back to the movie when youre done. Spatial audio will also be available to headsets in the next few months on supported headphones. Chromecast built-in will be available to more brands, starting with all Bose smart speakers and soundbars, in the next few months. Phone Hub on Chromebooks will soon let you use chat apps from your phone directly to your Chromebook without needing to install them again on your Chromebook. Camera Roll access will also be added to the Phone Hub to access recent photos and videos as easy as one click. These feature will be available later this year. You can soon use your voice to ask Google to warm up and cool down your car, lock and unlock and get information (like how much battery you have left) on all Assistant-enabled devices. These capabilities will be available first to vehicles from Volvo Cars in the coming months, with more to follow. You can soon connect an Android phone to your Windows PC with Fast Pair to quickly set up Bluetooth accessories, sync text messages and share files with Nearby Share. Google said that it is working with Acer, HP and Intel to bring these experiences to select Windows PCs first later this year. The L.A. Dodgers The L.A. Angels Both the Dodgers and the Angels Neither one of them Vote View Results Xplorer Prize to award young medical scientists Xinhua) 13:20, January 05, 2022 BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Xplorer Prize, one of China's highest grants for young scientists, will set up a new category of medical science starting from 2022. A non-government award, the prize was initiated by Tencent Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng, together with a number of renowned scientists in 2018. It aims to support full-time Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao-based science professionals aged 45 or below engage in fundamental science and cutting-edge technology research. The aim of adding the new award category is to "encourage research to improve people's health and solve fundamental problems in the field of medical science," Tencent said in a statement. It will award scientists for their contribution across fields including basic medicine, clinical medicine, pharmacy, public health and biomedical engineering. Despite the category addition, the annual award quota of 50 people remains unchanged. Each winner will be awarded a total of 3 million yuan (about 470,700 U.S. dollars) over the course of five years, according to the company. The prize nomination and application will be open until April 15, and the winner's list will be announced in September. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) This is our best offer! You get home delivery Monday through Saturday plus full digital access any time, on any device with our six-day subscription delivery membership. This membership plan includes member-only benefits like our popular ticket giveaways, all of our email newsletters and access to the daily digital replica of the printed paper. Also, you can share digital access with up to four other household members at no additional cost. Subscriptions renew automatically every 30 days. Call 240-215-8600 to cancel auto-renewal. Most subscribers are served by News-Post carriers; households in some outlying areas receive same-day delivery through the US Postal Service. If your household falls in a postal delivery area, you will be notified by our customer service team. Keep the conversation about local news & events going by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Recent updates from The News-Post and also from News-Post staff members are compiled below. The Benton County Board of Commissioners was warned Tuesday, Jan. 4 that the coronavirus omicron variant is disrupting life across the globe and locally. The news came during an update from April Holland, Benton County deputy director of Public Health. She said vaccination and previous infection dont provide as much protection from omicron as they did against previous strains, although vaccine boosters do help prevent infection and reduce symptom severity. This variant is incredibly quickly transmitting, Holland said. Our cases have gone to new heights in the last couple of weeks, last week in particular. Holland detailed a steady increase in county COVID-19 case numbers from three weeks ago, when the county reported 92 cases for the week. She said the following week cases jumped 90% to 175, and this past week Benton County had 421 cases, another 140% increase. Our seven-day case rate is 445 cases per 100,000 people, she said, more cases than weve ever seen, certainly. The testing positivity rate has jumped dramatically as well, according to Holland, who said that indicates the testing system is struggling and likely isnt catching all the positive cases. She said there was a 13% positivity rate out of nearly 3,500 tests conducted in the last full week of data. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. Private testing is strained as well. Pharmacy shelves are bare and rapid at-home tests sell out fast. Health care organizations get priority over private retailers, which adds to the at-home test kit supply problem. Samaritan Health Services and the Corvallis Clinic reported being fully stocked with COVID-19 tests. Doctors offices and hospitals administer both rapid tests and polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, whose results come back more slowly but are more accurate. Factoring in unreported home testing, Holland said COVID-19 is more widespread locally than statistics show. Meanwhile, citing Oregon Health & Science University projections, she said hospitalizations are expected to surpass the delta variant surge by around 25% toward the end of January. She said hospitals are preparing for a wave of patients and emphasized the value of vaccines and boosters. Holland said communicable disease teams all over Oregon and in Benton County are overwhelmed to the point of being unable to carry out investigations and contact tracing and are focusing on high-priority outbreak settings. Upcoming vaccination clinics will lift some of the weight locally, as will a mass-vaccination effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she added. We may see disruptions with schools, with workplaces, as other places around the country are starting to see, Holland said. The state is breaking record-high numbers, with 9,701 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases for the recent four-day holiday period and another 4,540 reported Tuesday, according to Oregon Health Authority. OHA reported 55 Oregon deaths in the same time frame. National case statistics are also spiking. Benton County has updated its website with additional COVID-19 guidance at www.co.benton.or.us/covid19. Cody Mann covers the cities of Albany and Lebanon. He can be contacted at 541-812-6113 or Cody.Mann@lee.net. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 3 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. For more than a year, the African Energy Chamber has been pushing back against steadily building pressure to halt new foreign investments in Africas oil and gas industry. To prevent catastrophic climate change, environmental organizations, financial organizations, and governments across Europe and North America have insisted that developing nations, including those in Africa, must immediately transition from fossil fuel production and usage to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydrogen. Mind you, the majority of those making these demands are based in industrialized nations that were built on fossil fuels oil and gas fueled their economic engines yet they are unwilling to allow less developed nations to use fossil fuels to the same end. Even more troubling, the African countries these groups are taking aim at have a wealth of natural resources under their feet, resources that can be used to deliver reliable power, to grow economies, and to build a better future. These are a few of the reasons that the Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers Organization, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, has rightly pointed out that it would be a mistake for Africans to abandon their abundant petroleum resources. Turning our backs on approximately 130 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and over 15 trillion standard cubic meters of natural gas, to pursue expensive, unreliable energy sources, would not be a wise course of action. The African Energy Chamber has stated, over and over, that Africa still needs its oil and gas sector. And, weve tried to explain the important role that international oil companies (IOCs), foreign governments, and investment institutions play in building the kind of oil and gas sector that will truly benefit Africans. IOCs, for example, engage in knowledge sharing and provide opportunities for Africans to build valuable job skills. Whats more, foreign oil and gas investments generate revenue that can be used to build and improve energy infrastructure for both fossil fuels and renewables. And, by supporting natural gas projects, investors create a path for gas-to-power projects that help minimize the continents widespread energy poverty. In July 2021, when it became apparent that reasoning was not yielding results, the chamber went so far as to employ the same tactics the international community used against our members. We called for boycotts (https://bit.ly/3FTH7rb) against financial institutions that discriminated against the African oil and gas industry. But the calls to stop financing African oil and gas have only grown louder and more insistent. Most recently, during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, more than 20 countries and financial institutions pledged to stop public financing for overseas fossil fuel projects. For those of us who care about Africas oil and gas industry, its time to face facts: We need to find a way to save it ourselves. The African Energy Chamber is calling upon African states and the private sector to establish energy banks focused on funding African energy projects. The idea is to create funding sources for all types of African energy from oil and gas exploration to solar and hydrogen operations that will not depend on foreign support. No more begging for aid that only would be awarded on the condition that we abandon fossil fuels. We can do this, and we must. Too much is at stake. We cant afford not to capitalize on such recent discoveries as the light oil found offshore Angola, the oil in Namibias Kavango Basin, the shale gas in South Africas Karoo Basin, or the oil and natural gas off the coast of Cote dIvoire. Those are only a few of the important discoveries that occurred in 2021, and each represents critical opportunities for everyday Africans. Pressing Needs Call for Definitive Action The call for Africa to save its oil and gas industry alive is not based on greed, on making money for an elite few. Were not placing economic objectives above our people or the climate. On the contrary, we are convinced that harnessing our oil and gas is the best way to meet some of our peoples most pressing needs. And we believe that pursuing our oil and gas opportunities is not the environmental catastrophe that some have suggested it is. As OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo has said, addressing energy poverty in Africa is an urgent matter that must take priority over abandoning oil and gas. Barkindo described the devastating impacts of energy poverty during African Energy Week in Cape Town. (Incidentally, that meeting was organized after London-based Hyve Group/ Africa Oil Week moved from Capetown to Dubai. Imagine talking about African energy somewhere other than in Africa? Seems like thats another example of the West holding our energy industry in low regard.) The unfortunate reality for developing countries is that a staggering 759 million people worldwide did not have access to electricity in 2019, with around 79% of them located in Africa, Barkindo said. Moreover, there were roughly 2.6 billion people or 34% of the global population who did not have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies and this includes a massive 70% of Africans who have no access, exposing them to high levels of household air pollution. The energy poverty numbers for Africa are stark, Barkindo continued And to add in one further number, Africa accounts for only around 3% of global emissions. As the chairman of the African Union, President Macky Sall of Senegal, has said, African states are open to embracing renewable energy sources: The problem comes when we are bullied into giving up our fossil fuels, and the opportunities they represent, on others timetables. Our countries cannot achieve an energy transition and abandon the polluting patterns of the industrialised countries without a viable, fair and equitable alternative, Stated Sall . Our countries, which are already shouldering the crushing weight of unequal trade, cannot bear the burden of an unfair energy transition. President Sall is right and so is South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said, We must contend not only with these primary dangers (of climate change), but also with potential economic and social damage should the global community fail to deal with the crisis in a way that works for developing as well as developed markets. Developing African energy banks is a way to protect our countries from those social and economic dangers. China might be a credible partner to Africa in building these unique financial infrastructure. We Can Do This You may be wondering if African energy banks are a realistic goal. How can a continent that is struggling to bring many of its people out of poverty raise capital for energy projects? I believe it can be done. To begin with, African governments can set aside a percentage of their oil and gas revenues for new project funding. In our report, Africa Energy Outlook 2021, the African Energy Chamber projected that African governments earnings from royalties, profit oil, and other taxes in 2021 would reach USD 100 billion. Even 5% of that amount would produce $50 million that could be leveraged for exploration, development, or infrastructure. We can also raise capital by investing African pension funds in African energy projects. According to Capetown-based investment firm RisCura, local pension funds collectively manage around USD 350 billion of assets in sub-Saharan Africa, and they are actively looking for new places to invest. Why not encourage them to add oil, gas, and renewables projects to their list? Investing pensions in the energy sector is hardly a new practice. Some of Americas largest pension funds are invested in fossil fuel producers and pension funds around the globe are investing in green energy projects. This would not be a giveaway: Investing in fossil fuels, especially gas projects and developing marginal fields, provides a large return on investment. And millions of Africans would be participating in our growth and our future. Our options for raising capital dont end there. We also should seek the support of wealthy Africans who want to invest in a better African future. As of December 2020, total private wealth in Africa totaled approximately USD 2 trillion. Thats not even including the African diaspora. Imagine what can be done if we just unite. Not only do we have pathways for raising capital, we also have an example of the kind of bank(s) Africa needs to finance its own energy projects, one that goes back decades. Im talking about the African Export Import Bank (Afrieximbank). In 1993, African governments worked with public and private investors to create a bank that would finance, promote, and expand intra-African and extra-African trade. They succeeded. In 2020, Afrieximbank received the Africa-America Institutes (AAIs) Institutional Institution of Excellence Award for its commitment to the creation and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and its ongoing dedication to investing in education. AAI noted that between 2015 and 2019 alone, Afrieximbank disbursed more than $30 billion in support of African trade, including more than $15 billion for the financing and promotion of intra-Africa trade. Afrieximbank, by the way, recognizes the importance of protecting Africas oil and gas industry. The way we see it at the bank, Africa produces less than 4% of greenhouse gas. We are not the problem of greenhouse gases. We are the victims. We are asking for balance, Afrieximbank President and Chairman of the Board Benedict Oramah said. I say, lets build on Afrieximbanks model. And not only that, lets cultivate a pool of investors who understand and appreciate the importance of oil and gas to Africa. Capital from foreign countries and companies will always be welcome as long as it isnt predicated on phasing out fossil fuels on their timeline. If theyre pushing a rush to renewables, theyre not going to be part of our solution. With the support of one or more African energy banks, local oil and gas companies will have the finances necessary to acquire assets. Theyll have the financing to build crude and gas pipelines across Africa and to facilitate the use of natural gas (including liquid natural gas) to power Africa, minimizing energy poverty and driving industrialization. And African states and entrepreneurs will be able to finance the development of renewable energy operations, particularly blue, green, and grey hydrogen operations that create additional opportunities for Africans. Africa already has emerging green hydrogen operations in Mali, Namibia, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, and South Africa, and with the proper funding, could become a major green hydrogen exporter. The African Energy Chamber will support the energy bank initiative and work to bring potential participants together. Creating our own institutions to finance energy projects will send a clear signal to the marketplace that Africans are seeking to become leaders in scaling up private capital. It will show that we are advancing natural gas development and infrastructure while supporting low-carbon investments. With the financing in place, not only will African companies be able to produce oil and gas, but they also will support local community development, develop green energy markets, and create jobs. The financing also will allow African companies to upgrade their refineries, an urgent need addressed by Anibor Kragha the Executive Secretary of African Refiners and Distributors Association during African Energy Week, so they can produce cleaner fuels. For many African countries, the oil and gas industry represents our best shot at giving millions of Africans the kind of jobs, living standards, and stability that developed countries have enjoyed for well over a century. We must hold fast to those goals and do what it takes to achieve them. By NJ Ayuk Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires An Albany police shooting on Christmas Eve has been ruled justified by Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny. To come to his decision, Marteeny said he reviewed the investigation conducted by the Corvallis Police Department. He looked at body camera and patrol vehicle video footage and reviewed the interview associated with the incident. In a letter sent to CPD Detective Greg Kantola dated Dec. 30, Marteeny determined Albany police Officer Jim Estes' actions were legally justified. The incident According to an APD news release on the agencys Facebook page, officers responded at around 6 p.m. Dec. 24 to the area of Ninth Avenue and Southeast Jackson Street to investigate a man accused of violating a restraining order. The man was later identified as Thomas Leonard Jones, 51. According to a probable cause affidavit for the case, the 911 call came from Jones estranged wife, who was at the Second Hand Shelter in Albany. At the time, CPD had probable cause to arrest Jones for violating a restraining order, according to the affidavit. When APD Officer Estes tried to speak with Jones, according to the affidavit, the suspect was uncooperative and armed himself with two large knives. At this point, Jones reportedly told Estes he would not go back to jail. As Jones allegedly became more aggressive, he began yelling at Estes and walking toward the officer with a knife in each hand. According to the affidavit, Estes ordered Jones to drop the knives multiple times. Estes then tried to move away from Jones. Initially, Jones allegedly approached Estes at a walking pace, but then moved faster and lunged toward the officer with both knives lifted up, according to the affidavit. At this point, Estes, an 18-year veteran of the Albany Police Department, fired his duty weapon, striking Jones in the leg. Confronted with this deadly threat, Officer Estes had no choice but to defend himself by shooting his gun at Mr. Jones, Marteeny wrote in the letter. It wasnt until a second shot was fired that Mr. Jones began to change his behaviors towards Officer Estes. According to the news release, Jones dropped the knife, and officers provided lifesaving efforts while Albany Fire Department personnel responded. Jones was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald. After being released from the hospital, CPD arrested Jones for violating a restraining order and unlawful use of a weapon. He is currently lodged in Linn County Jail. The investigation The matter regarding Estes justification for the use of force is closed, according to Marteeny. Officer Estes acted professionally and courageously, Marteeny wrote. The actions observed here clearly show that Mr. Jones acted criminally towards Officer Estes. My office has filed charges against Mr. Jones and intends to hold him accountable for his actions. On Dec. 27, Jones was arraigned on an unlawful use of a weapon charge in Linn County Circuit Court. According to Oregons online court system, the court appointed Dillon Duxbury as Jones attorney, and Michael Paul is representing the state. The next court hearing for the matter is set for Jan. 10. Jones has two open cases in Benton County. These charges include strangulation and fourth-degree assault allegedly against his estranged wife, as well as a reckless driving charge. A string of alleged threats to local police The Christmas Eve incident isnt the only recent occurrence in which suspects allegedly threatened police. Just a day before, on Dec. 23 at around 8:26 a.m., the Linn County Sheriffs Office and Sweet Home police responded to reports of an armed disturbance at the 1000 block of North River Drive in Sweet Home. According to a probable cause affidavit for the case, the caller said a man was arming himself with several knives and threatening to kill people. When deputies arrived, the suspect locked himself in his room. According to the affidavit, it was determined the man may have mental issues, and the threats were made to people who did not exist. Officers identified the suspect as Kirk Ferguson, 40. When officers were about to clear the scene, Ferguson allegedly threatened to blow up the law enforcement personnel. According to the affidavit, Ferguson came out of his room briefly to allegedly toss a smoking hissing device into the hallway. He allegedly threw more devices after officers evacuated the building. The devices were identified as green aerosol canisters with nails taped to the outside. Police allege Ferguson exited and walked down the street holding a machete. The affidavit states Ferguson made threats to kill and blow up law enforcement personnel. Officers allegedly used two separate Taser deployments because Ferguson would not drop the machete. According to the affidavit, the stun gun was ineffective because Ferguson was wearing improvised body armor made from a frying pan and a metal street sign. Ferguson was booked into Linn County Jail on Dec. 23. He was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on Dec. 27 and is facing multiple counts of of attempted second-degree assault, possession of hoax destructive device, unlawful use of weapon and menacing. Another Albany incident Two days later, at around 5:30 a.m. Christmas Day, an APD officer made a traffic stop at the 2500 block of Eighth Avenue in Albany. The driver, suspected to be Robin Ray Gilliland, 51, fled and allegedly fired a gun at pursuing officers. According to an APD news release, neither officer was hit by gunfire, but one officer did sustain minor injuries from flying debris. Officers took cover and could not locate the suspect. On Dec. 28, the Linn Benton Regional SWAT team surrounded Gillilands residence and arrested him for outstanding felony warrants and on suspicion of two counts of attempted aggravated murder. Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_ Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Lawyers for former New York Times columnist Nick Kristof have submitted a 15-page letter to the Oregon Secretary of State's Office asserting he is legally qualified to run for governor this year. The office, which regulates elections in the state, is questioning Kristof's qualifications, in large part because he registered to vote in New York while working at the Times. The Oregon Constitution requires that candidates for governor be a resident of the state for at least three years before their election, or no later than November 2019 in Kristof's case. "Mr. Kristof is an Oregon resident and has been for his entire adult life," said the letter from Misha Isaak and Jeremy Carp of the Perkins Coie law firm, dated Monday, Jan. 3. Among other things, the letter cited a 1974 Marion County Circuit Court case that found where a candidate votes does not determine residency. The Portland Tribune first reported on the case on Dec. 28, 2021. Kristof filed as a Democrat for governor on Dec. 20, 2021. The next day an election compliance specialist sent him a letter which said, in part, "We typically determine whether candidates meet residency requirements by checking their voter registration records, but your Oregon voter registration record has insufficient information. In addition, it has come to our attention that you voted in New York State as recently as 2020." In their response, Isaak and Carp note that many people have multiple residences, sometimes in different states, but that Kristof has always considered Oregon his home, even when going to college or working out of state. Among other things, the letter said Kristof has returned to his family farm in Yamhill every summer over the past three decades, built an addition large enough for his growing family there in 1994, and purchased three nearby parcels of land between 1993 and 2020. Kristof also has called Oregon his home in numerous columns and interviews beginning in 1982, the letter said. According to the letter, there has only been one Oregon court case that considered the question of whether voter registration determines residency. It took place in 1974 after former Oregon Secretary of State Clay Myers ruled then-Clatsop County state Rep. Bill Wyatt off the ballot because he had registered to vote in Lane County while attending the University of Oregon in Eugene. Wyatt challenged the decision in court. Marion County Judge Jena Schlegel disagreed with Myers, ruling that "the question of domicile is largely one of intent" and Wyatt "by his testimony maintained his ties with Clatsop County and never made an affirmative decision to change his domicile elsewhere. Continuous physical presence (within the district) is not required." Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald. Myers did not appeal the ruling. "Thus, today, the Marion County Circuit Court decision is the only judicial decision to address the significance of registration and voting in evaluating an Oregon candidate's residency. That decision squarely resolves the issue in favor of Mr. Kristof's position," the letter reads. In their letter, Isaak and Carp also say that residency requirements are historically rooted in racism, especially in Oregon. "They applied originally both to voting and serving in elected office and were adopted by powerful white elites to keep themselves in power and to exclude from political participation people of color, 'foreigners,' and other disempowered newcomers," the letter reads. Also included was an independent opinion from retired Oregon Supreme Court Justice R. William Riggs that Kristof is qualified to run for governor. Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan must now decide whether to keep Kristof's name off the May 17 primary election ballot. If she does, Kristof's lawyers likely will file a legal challenge, just as Wyatt did 47 years ago. Kristof already has raised more than $2.5 million from more than 5,500 donors. A link to the letter and other materials from the law firm to the Oregon Secretary of State's Office can be found here. Editor's note: Reporter Jim Redden testified in support of Bill Wyatt at the 1974 trial before becoming a journalist. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 It is a steep climb up Northwest Mirador Place from Satinwood Drive. At the peak of the hill there is still snow on lawns, likely the melting remains of holiday snowmen. Once you crest the hill you can see a small, undeveloped lot at the end of the cul de sac. The 0.81-acre parcel seems way too inconsequential to have had such a storied history. Its kind of like the little lot in Corvallis that could as in could produce reams of paper for multiple city meetings. And could lead to appeals all the way to the state Supreme Court. And yet the lot still stands, undeveloped, despite 30-plus years of land-use wrangling. On Monday night, Jan.3, with virtually no discussion, the Corvallis City Council unanimously approved the removal of what's called a "planned development overlay," essentially another layer of zoning rules, on the property. The action gives the developers more flexibility regarding the design of the apartments that they hope to build there. The removal of the PD will allow the development to proceed under clear and objective standards, said Dale Kern, a broker with Commercial Associates in Corvallis who has been working with the property owners since the projects inception in 2013. The PD requirements are not to the developers liking. Jason Yaich, the Planning Division manager with the city, noted they can still build apartments, but it might look different than the previous proposal, and/or have a different number of units. At this time, we do not know for certain what the property owner's plans are. Years of wrangling Group B LLC, based in Salem, has been planning to build a 10-unit apartment complex on the 0.81 acres since the spring of 2013, although the property decisions that led to the areas Coronado subdivision and the adjacent Regent senior living facility and the Corvallis Clinics Aumann Building, go back to the 1980s. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. By 2013 the final piece, called Coronado Tract B, had not been developed, sitting vacant at the end of Northwest Mirador. Nearby neighbors had become accustomed to an attractive bit of open space across their back fences. The project was rejected twice by both the Corvallis Planning Commission and City Council. Neighbors expressed concerns about stormwater, traffic, parking, noise, compatibility with the single-family homes in the neighborhood, privacy issues, light pollution and the loss of trees on the lot. Complicating the case was the status of a 135-foot setback rule that was approved when the adjacent Regent retirement facility was OKd in 1981. Had the setback remained in place, development on the Tract B lot would have been impossible. City staff also expressed concerns about varying from cul de sac standards, which limit how many units can be served by a street such as Northwest Mirador. Such standards generally are driven by the needs of first-responders. The developers cited the citys needed housing statute and noted that the project would be beneficial to the neighborhood because it would provide housing for employees at nearby medical facilities. Ultimately the citys rejection of the project went to the Oregon Supreme Court, which in 2016 affirmed earlier decisions by the state Land Use Board of Appeals and state Court of Appeals to let the project go forward. Kern told Mid-Valley Media in February 2017 that Group B was in the permitting process and just waiting for drier weather to get rolling on the project. In August 2018 Kern told the newsgroup the property owners were still exploring their options and also had been talking with prospective buyers. The property is zoned for medium-density residential, and developers would need to go through a public process to change the zoning if they wanted to move away from the planned apartments. Kern said in 2018 the owners had no interest in going that route because of the cost. But they were interested in removing the planned development overlay to reel in that extra margin of flexibility. And they have vast experience in Corvallis land use, which often means stretches in which patience is a virtual requirement. The ownership has had other projects to work on, and this one has not been a priority, Kern said Monday. The ownership will develop the number of units that is allowed in the zoning for this specific property. Most all issues have been extinguished with this property. The project tentatively will be called The Villas at Mirador. Contact reporter James Day at jim.day@lee.net or 541-812-6116. Follow at Twitter.com/jameshday or gazettetimes.com/blogs/jim-day. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gillette, WY (82718) Today Becoming partly cloudy and windy. High 54F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Low 34F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Ben Affleck arrives at the premiere of "The Tender Bar" on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) (Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Heres a collection of the best of whats arriving on TV and streaming services this week. The Tender Bar Ben Affleck has another winning turn in The Tender Bar, the George Clooney-directed adaptation of J.R. Moehringers memoir about growing up on Long Island that starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Friday. Tye Sheridan plays the author, who in the absence of his father, starts to look to his uncle Charlie (Affleck) to fill that void. In his review for The Associated Press, Mark Kennedy wrote that The Tender Bar is a gentle, oddly crafted but loving look at men, fueled by a soundtrack of classics like Paul Simons 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and Steely Dans Do It Again. Its a valentine to guys who step up. Advertisement Four to Dinner If youve already made it through Season 2 of Emily in Paris and all your romantic comedy mainstays on Netflix, why not change things up a little bit with an Italian spin on the genre, Four to Dinner, coming to the streamer on Wednesday? Four single friends try different pairing combinations in this new flick starring Matteo Martari, Matilde Gioli, Giuseppe Maggio, Ilenia Pastorelli, Luis Filipe Eusebio and Elmano Sancho. The Criterion Channel has a series of documentaries from Lee Grant. (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) Lee Grant docs Or for something completely different, the Criterion Channel has a series of documentaries from Lee Grant (yes, the actor Lee Grant) available starting on Monday. In 1986s Down and Out in America, which won an Oscar, she focuses on poverty in the 1980s. In What Sex Am I, from 1985, she looks at the transgender experience. And in A Father A Son Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she focuses on the lives of Kirk and Michael Douglas. Advertisement GOOD SAM's Sophia Bush (Photo: Business Wire) Good Sam A father-daughter relationship is the beating heart of CBS Good Sam, debuting 10 p.m. Wednesday. A health crisis takes brilliant but testy heart surgeon Dr. Rob Griff Griffith (Jason Isaacs) out of commission as a hospitals chief of surgery. His equally gifted but overshadowed offspring, Dr. Sam Griffiths (Sophia Bush) steps in and proves a natural, which her recovered dad resents. There are lighter moments between their clashes in the series from producers Katie Wech and Jennie Snyder Urman, who worked together on Jane the Virgin. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 14: Chrissy Metz attends NBC's "This Is Us" Season 6 red carpet at Paramount Pictures Studios on December 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images,,) (Kevin Winter/Getty Images,,) This Is Us The stage is set for the sixth and final season of NBCs This Is Us. Pearson family matriarch Rebecca (Mandy Moore) is in the grip of dementia; the wedding of Kevin and Madison (Justin Hartley, Caitlin Thompson) is off; the marriage of Kate and Toby (Chrissy Metz, Chris Sullivan) is toast, and Randall (Sterling K. Brown), the most likely Pearson sibling to succeed, seems poised to fulfill his destiny. There are younger generations to be accounted for, including scene-stealers Asante Blackk and Lyric Ross as Malik and Deja. The series returns Tuesday (9 p.m.) for the 18-episode last chapter. Civil rights specials A wrenching chapter in U.S. civil rights history is the focus of two ABC programs. Women of the Movement dramatizes Mamie Till-Mobleys crusade for justice for her 14-year-old son Emmetts 1955 racially motivated Mississippi killing. The limited series, starring 2021 Tony Award-winner Adrienne Warren as Till-Mobley, will air from 8-10 p.m. on three consecutive Thursdays starting this week. Its paired with Let the World See, an ABC News docuseries that includes a detailed account of Till-Mobleys effort to bring her sons body home to Chicago and hold an open-casket funeral to expose the brutality of his death. The three-episode Let the World See will follow Women of the Movement each Thursday at 10:01 p.m. AP writers Lynn Elber and Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report. New York, Dec. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Power Generation Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06193685/?utm_source=GNW The global power generation market is expected to grow from $1,614.03 billion in 2021 to $1,763.21 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $2,462.37 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 8.7%. The power generation market consists of sales of electric power by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that operate electric power generation facilities.These facilities generate electric power using various forms of energy, such as fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, wind and water. The establishments in this industry produce electrical energy and provide electricity to electric power transmission and distribution systems. The main types of power generation are hydroelectricity, fossil fuel electricity, nuclear electricity, solar electricity, wind electricity, geothermal electricity, biomass electricity, and other electricity.Hydro electricity, also known as hydroelectric power or hydroelectric energy, is a type of energy that generates electricity by harnessing the power of moving water, such as water running over a waterfall. The power generation energy is sourced from conventional/non-renewable sources and renewable sources. The different types of grids include off grid, on grid is used by residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Asia Pacific was the largest region in the power generation market in 2021.Western Europe was the second largest region in the power generation market. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. The increasing applications of electricity in the transportation industry are expected to increase the demand for electricity, driving the power generation market.The electrification of railways in underdeveloped and developing countries, the setting up of public transportation networks such as rapid metro transit systems, and the increasing use of electric vehicles in developed countries will create significant opportunities for power generation companies in the market. For instance, to attain net-zero carbon emissions, Network Rail estimates that 13,000 single track kilometers or about 450km per year of the track will need to be electrified by 2050 in the UK and around 251 kilometers were electrified between 2019 and 2020. According to the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the annual electric vehicle sales in the USA are expected to surpass 1.2 million by 2025. Electric vehicles are expected to account for 9% of the global electricity demand by 2050. Electric power generation companies are using batteries to store solar energy during daylight hours.The energy-storage sites consist of large lithium-ion batteries. Storage of energy in batteries is also getting prominent in other types of power generation.These batteries store enough energy to serve as a backup in case of power shortage due to disruptions in fuel supply. They are designed to absorb solar power and feed it back to the grid.These systems minimize the need for capital intensive power generation plants, enhance transmission and distribution efficiencies, and reduce operational costs. By 2025, the World Bank Group aims to fund 17.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery storage, more than tripling the current 4-5 GWh installed across all developing nations. The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has acted as a significant restraint on the power generation market in 2020 as demand for utility services from industrial and commercial establishments decreased due to trade restrictions and lockdowns imposed by governments globally.Many manufacturing facilities globally halted operations to contain the spread of virus among its workforce, thereby limiting the need for utility services such as electricity and wastewater treatment. COVID-19 is an infectious disease with flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing.The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of the Peoples Republic of China and spread globally including Western Europe, North America and Asia. Steps by national governments to contain the transmission have resulted in a decline in economic activity with countries entering a state of lock down and the outbreak had a negative impact on businesses throughout 2020 and into 2021. However, it is expected that the power generation market will recover from the shock across the forecast period as it is a black swan event and not related to ongoing or fundamental weaknesses in the market or the global economy. The countries covered in the power generation market report are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06193685/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ NEW YORK, Jan. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a leading national commercial real estate finance company, has provided $13.4 million in total Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting Services (DUS) loans to refinance two multifamily properties in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The loans were originated by Keith Hires and Carter King, Managing Directors at Greystone, on behalf of Patrician Management. An $8,100,000 Fannie Mae loan was provided for Bienville Towers, covering 160 units of the 200-unit fractured condominium property located at 2100 College Drive. The non-recourse loan carries a 10-year fixed rate with a 30-year amortization and four years of interest-only payments. Amenities at the property include two swimming pools and four laundry centers. A $5,339,250 Fannie Mae loan was provided for Parc at Mid City, an 88-unit property located at 1100 South Foster Drive. The non-recourse loan also carries a 10-year fixed rate with a 30-year amortization and the first 5 years of interest-only payments. On-site amenities at the property include a swimming pool, a barbeque / picnic area, and a community laundry center. The timing to refinance these two properties was right, and the borrower received favorable terms for both properties, given the rising occupancy demand and strong fundamentals for multifamily in the Baton Rouge market, said Mr. Hires. Greystones deep expertise and knowledge of Fannie Mae financing products serve as a strength for borrowers like Patrician. Greystone has been an incredible partner over the years as weve worked on optimizing our portfolio, said Alex Lewis, operating partner of the borrower. We appreciate their guidance on refinancing and their industry experience in multifamily. About Greystone Greystone is a private national commercial real estate finance company with an established reputation as a leader in multifamily and healthcare finance, having ranked as a top FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac lender in these sectors. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Company LLC, Greystone Funding Company LLC and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greystone.com. PRESS CONTACT: Karen Marotta Greystone 212-896-9149 Karen.Marotta@greyco.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The individual claims process in the Gottfriedson Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars Class Action settlement is now open. The deadline to submit a claim is October 4, 2023. Each Day Scholar who attended an Indian Residential School during the day only (but did not sleep there overnight) is eligible to apply for a $10,000 Day Scholar Compensation Payment. For a full list of Indian Residential Schools that had or might have had Day Scholars and are included in the settlement see: http://www.justicefordayscholars.com/schools-lists/ In cases where the Day Scholar died on or after May 30, 2005, the deceased Day Scholars estate may apply for the Day Scholar Compensation Payment. Claims may be made by the estate Executor/Administrator/Trustee/Liquidator, or if none is appointed, the deceased Day Scholars highest priority heir. Claim forms can be completed and submitted online at: http://www.dayscholarsclaims.com Paper versions of the claim forms can be requested from the Claims Administrator at 1-877-877-5786 or dayscholarsclaims@deloitte.ca. The claim forms require basic information only and do not require claimants to provide information about their experiences at Indian Residential Schools. For assistance with filling out a Claim Form, contact the Claims Administrator at 1-877-877-5786. If you need help determining if you are eligible for compensation, or have any other questions regarding the class action and settlement, please contact Class Counsel at dayscholars@waddellphillips.ca or call 1-888-222-6845. The settlement also provides $50 million for a Day Scholars Revitalization Fund established to support healing, wellness, education, language, culture, and commemoration for the benefit Day Scholar Survivors and their Descendants. The Fund will be administered by an independent Day Scholars Revitalization Society, which is currently being established. The process for applying for funding from the Day Scholars Revitalization Fund has not yet been set, and will be available from the Day Scholars Revitalization Society once established. Mental health counselling and crisis support is available to Class Members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419, and Hope for Wellness Hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or online at www.hopeforwellness.ca . Counselling is available in English, French, Cree, Ojibway, and Inuktitut, on request. Quotes Diena Jules, Day Scholar and Survivor Class Representative Plaintiff, Tkemlups te Secwepemc: Today is an historic day. After having been left behind for so many years, the experiences of students who attended Residential Schools as Day Scholars are finally being recognized, and Day Scholars can finally apply for compensation. I encourage all of my fellow Day Scholars to apply as soon as possible. Charlotte Gilbert, Day Scholar and Survivor Class Representative Plaintiff, Tkemlups te Secwepemc The road to healing is long, and this is just one step along the way, but it is an important one. I am so glad that Day Scholars no longer have to wait to apply for compensation. Day Scholars also suffered at the Residential Schools and we are glad to finally see this recognition 14 years after the Residential School Settlement. Councillor Selina August, shishalh Nation: Ever since Day Scholars were excluded from the common experience payment of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in 2005, Day Scholars from our community have been advocating for justice. shishalh Nation is proud to have supported Day Scholars along with Tkemlups te Secwepemc and the Grand Council of the Crees in their struggle to include the excluded. I have been honoured to work on this file in various capacities, including with Garry Feschuk (hiwus akista) when he first joined forces with Chief Shane Gottfriedson of Tkemlups te Secwepemc, and later as a Councillor. As a member of the Descendant Class myself, I have grown very passionate about attaining justice for Day Scholars. I thank the Day Scholars and particularly the Representative Plaintiffs who took on the burden of this fight on behalf of Day Scholars across Canada. Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Elected Chief/Kukpi7 of Tkemlups te Secwepemc: I am proud that Tkemlups te Secwepemc, together with shishalh Nation and the Grand Council of the Crees has championed the cause of Day Scholars over their ten year battle for recognition. It was wrong that Day Scholars were excluded from the common experience payment of Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, and we are glad that today they finally they are able to apply for compensation. Media Contact: Titilayo Ajibose 437-788-2120 tajibose@argylepr.com MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trex Commercial, a leading national provider of architectural railing systems, has expanded its U.S. sales force with the appointment of two new regional sales representatives. Michael Angelo Scalze and Kyle Jorgenson share responsibility for the Midwest region working together to grow business, drive sales and nurture relationships with specifiers and project managers in the commercial arena. They report to Tim White, vice president of sales for Trex Commercial. The Midwest is one of the most active regions for commercial building right now and it is critical that Trex Commercial be well represented and connected, stated White. These men have the experience, talent and passion to effectively broaden our reach and deepen our engagement with decision-makers in this important market. Scalze joins Trex Commercial with more than 20 years of experience working in sales, estimating and project management for companies in the industrial and commercial roofing sectors. He has spent the last four years with Dakota Safety as National Strategic Sales Director of Guard Rail Safety focusing on food plants, higher education and military contracts. Prior to that, he worked in the Commercial Roofing Sales & Marketing Division for Fischer Companies, Inc., where he assisted with marketing, business development, web and graphic design, installations and more. By the end of his tenure, he had helped to grow the Wisconsin-based company by 400%. Scalze earned an architecture and engineering intensive degree from St. Paul College in Minnesota. Jorgenson comes to Trex Commercial from within the Trex family having spent the past five years as a Territory Account Representative for the companys residential products division. He started his career as a sales intern with Boise Cascade, a leading manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, including Trex products. Jorgenson holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Michael and Kyle have very different but complementary backgrounds and already have proven to be a dynamic and effective team, said Laura Rygielski Preston, president of Trex Commercial. Their knowledge of the Midwest region combined with their relationship building skills and proven abilities to drive sales growth bode well for our continued expansion and success. For more information about Trex Commercial, visit www.trexcommercial.com. About Trex Commercial Trex Commercial is a national leader in architectural railings for commercial applications. Since 1990, the company has been committed to elevating the abilities of all people to safely access and enjoy amazing life experiences, while building an industry-leading reputation for quality and customer service. Based in Minneapolis, Trex Commercial, Inc. is a subsidiary of Trex Company, Inc. To learn more, visit www.trexcommercial.com. About Trex Company Trex Company, Inc. [NYSE: TREX] is the worlds largest manufacturer of high performance wood-alternative decking and railing, with nearly 30 years of product experience. The #1 brand in outdoor living is proud to be named to Forbes 2021 List of Americas Best Mid-Size Companies and to Fortune magazines 2020 list of the worlds 100 Fastest-Growing Companies. Stocked in more than 6,700 retail locations worldwide, Trex outdoor living products offer a wide range of style options with fewer ongoing maintenance requirements than wood, as well as a truly environmentally responsible choice. For more information, visit trex.com. You also can follow Trex on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/trex-company/), Twitter (@Trex_Company), Instagram (@trexcompany), Pinterest (trexcompany) or Houzz (trexcompany-inc), like Trex on Facebook (@TrexCompany) or view product and demonstration videos on the brands YouTube channel (TheTrexCo). Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1b5215bf-454c-4c19-ac8d-d7238bbaac30 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3ece103a-0c1c-4e55-9d32-70c267ce3bf6 Visiongain has published a new report on Antidiarrheal Drug Market Report to 2031. The market is segmented by type (Prescription drugs, OTC (over the counter) drugs), by end user (Children, Adults). By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa). The report includes detailed Profiles of Leading Antidiarrheal Drug Companies. PLUS, COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios. The study covers detailed and insightful chapters on market overview, market segments, new developments, competitive landscape, strategic recommendations, key company analysis, market opportunities, pricing analysis, gap analysis, porters 5 forces model, company profiling, geographical analysis, and analytical overview of the market. Rising cases of diarrhea in developing countries and growing demand for anti-diarrheal drugs are some of the factors driving the growth of Antidiarrheal Drug market. Download Exclusive Sample of Report @ https://www.visiongain.com/report/antidiarrheal-drugs-market/#download_sampe_div COVID-19 Impact on the Global Antidiarrheal Drug Market The COVID-19 pandemic boosted the antidiarrheal drug market around the globe. In COVID patients, the development of diarrhea, increases the use of antidiarrheal drugs, which enables to slow intestinal motility. The use of drugs such as loperamide and diphenoxylate-atropine combinations act as opiate receptor agonists to decrease intestinal motility. However, the use of antidiarrheal drugs may extend the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection and may lead to more severe course of illness. Market Driver Rising cases of diarrhea in developing countries. Diarrhea is considered as the third leading cause of child mortality in developing countries. According to National institute of Health about 13.0% of children under 5 year of age dies every year due to diarrhea in the region. The factors such as malnutrition, low socioeconomic status, low birth weight, inadequate breastfeeding, malnutrition is motivating the chances of diarrhea in developing countries. However, the adoption of preventive measures, strategies & proper planning of healthcare system enables in managing the disease. Rising prevalence among children and ageing population According to WHO, Diarrhoeal disease is considered as the second leading cause of death among children & elderly. The mortality rate of diarrheal is children is much high than elderly. The disease is leading cause of malnutrition & kills about 5,25,000 children every year. There are nearly 1 .7 billion diarrheal cases around the globe, however, the diseases can be prevented through safe drinking-water, proper hygiene &adequate sanitation, and hygiene. The rising prevalence of diarrhea among children and elderly in developing countries is increasing rapidly. Market Opportunity FDA encouraging safety us of drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits packaging to ensure safety use of over-the counter (OTC) anti-diarrheal medicine loperamide (Imodium). The FDA collaborated with manufacturers to reduce number of doses in a pack, by using blister packs or single dose packaging. The FDA has approved changes to prevent misuse of drugs, changed packaging for tablet and capsule forms of OTC anti-diarrheal medicines Imodium A-D, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief, and Be Health Loperamide HCl Capsules. The health safety is increasing to prevent from high dose of loperamide, which can intentionally or unintentionally, leads towards serious cardiac adverse events, such as QT interval prolongation, Torsades de Pointes, or other ventricular arrhythmias. Get Detailed TOC @ https://www.visiongain.com/report/antidiarrheal-drugs-market/#download_sampe_div Competitive Landscape Lupin laboratories, Pfizer, Inc., Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Perrigo Company Plc, Proctor & Gamble, Novartis AG, Sanofi Aventis, Merck & Co., are some of the key players contributing to the growth of the global Antidiarrheal Drug market. The market players are adopting new strategies to stay competitive in the global market such as new product developments, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and geographical expansions. In December 2018 Lupin Pharma announced the approval from Health Canada for ZAXINE (rifaximin) to treat irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea in adults. ZAXINE is launched under a strategic licensing agreement with Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. The agreement grants company with exclusive rights to promote, distribute and market ZAXINE in Canada. For instance, In September 2018, Perrigo plc received final approval from the U.S. Food & Drug administration for the store brand over the counter (OTC) equivalent of Imodium, Multi-Symptom Relief (loperamide hydrochloride and simethicone tablets) for diarrhea plus bloating, pressure and cramps. Find quantitative and qualitative analyses with independent predictions. Receive information that only our report contains, staying informed with this invaluable business intelligence. To access the data contained in this document please email contactus@visiongain.com Information found nowhere else With our newly report title, you are less likely to fall behind in knowledge or miss out on opportunities. See how our work could benefit your research, analyses, and decisions. Visiongain's study is for everybody needing commercial analyses for the Antidiarrheal drugs market and leading companies. You will find data, trends and predictions. Find more Visiongain research reports on Therapeutic Drugs Sector click on the following links: Do you have any custom requirements we can help you with? Any need for a specific country, geo region, market segment or specific company information? Contact us today, we can discuss your needs and see how we can help: catherine.walker@visiongain.com About Visiongain Visiongain is one of the fastest growing and most innovative, independent, market intelligence around, the company publishes hundreds of market research reports which it adds to its extensive portfolio each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis across 18 industries worldwide. The reports cover a 10-year forecast, are hundreds of pages long, with in depth market analysis and valuable competitive intelligence data. Visiongain works across a range of vertical markets, which currently can influence one another, these markets include automotive, aviation, chemicals, cyber, defense, energy, food & drink, materials, packaging, pharmaceutical and utilities sectors. Our customized and syndicated market research reports mean that you can have a bespoke piece of market intelligence customized to your very own business needs. Contact: Catherine Walker PR at Visiongain Inc. Tel: + 44 0207 336 6100 USA Tel: + 1 718 682 4567 EU Tel: + 353 1 695 0006 Toll Free: 00-1-646-396-5129 Email: catherine.walker@visiongain.com Web: https://www.visiongain.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter - SOURCE Visiongain Limited. NEWTON, Kan., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park Aerospace Corp. (NYSE-PKE) announced that it has entered into a Business Partner Agreement with ArianeGroup SAS of Les Mureaux, France. Under the Business Partner Agreement, ArianeGroup SAS appointed Park as its exclusive North American distributor of ArianeGroups RAYCARB C2B NG proprietary product. RAYCARB C2B NG is used to produce ablative composite materials for critical rocketry and missile systems. Park is a long-term customer of ArianeGroup and uses ArianeGroups RAYCARB C2B NG product in the production of many of Parks key ablative materials which Park supplies into critical rocket and missile programs. Park will continue to purchase RAYCARB C2B NG for its own programs, and, through the Business Partner Agreement, Park is now taking on the new role of ArianeGroups exclusive North American distributor for its RAYCARB C2B product. Brian Shore, Parks Chairman and CEO, said, ArianeGroup is a special company, and we have been blessed by our long-term relationship with them. We are honored and humbled that ArianeGroup has chosen Park to be its exclusive North American distributor of their unique and very important RAYCARB C2B NG product. It is very gratifying for us to be able to expand our relationship with ArianeGroup. Opportunities like this do not come around all that often, and we intend to make the most of it. Park Aerospace Corp. develops and manufactures solution and hot-melt advanced composite materials used to produce composite structures for the global aerospace markets. Parks advanced composite materials include film adhesives (undergoing development) and lightning strike materials. Park offers an array of composite materials specifically designed for hand lay-up or automated fiber placement (AFP) manufacturing applications. Parks advanced composite materials are used to produce primary and secondary structures for jet engines, large and regional transport aircraft, military aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs commonly referred to as drones), business jets, general aviation aircraft and rotary wing aircraft. Park also offers specialty ablative materials for rocket motors and nozzles and specially designed materials for radome applications. As a complement to Parks advanced composite materials offering, Park designs and fabricates composite parts, structures and assemblies and low volume tooling for the aerospace industry. Target markets for Parks composite parts and structures (which include Parks proprietary composite SigmaStrut and AlphaStrut product lines) are, among others, prototype and development aircraft, special mission aircraft, spares for legacy military and civilian aircraft and exotic spacecraft. Parks objective is to do what others are either unwilling or unable to do. When nobody else wants to do it because it is too difficult, too small or too annoying, sign us up. Additional corporate information is available on the Companys web site at www.parkaerospace.com Contact: Donna DAmico-Annitto 486 North Oliver Road, Bldg. Z Newton, Kansas 67114 (316) 283-6500 With the latest increase in COVID-19 cases, Lehigh Valley school districts are reviewing their policies to keep staff and students safe. Some districts are switching from in-person to virtual instruction, as Catasauqua High School did this week, while others are reinstating mask mandates. Advertisement Lehigh and Northampton County have, respectively, the second and third highest population-adjusted COVID-19 case rates over the last seven days. Several districts indicated no immediate upcoming changes to their policies, but said they will take whatever steps are appropriate to mitigate the spread of COVID. Advertisement Allentown School District We continue to follow the health and safety plan that outlines our mitigation strategies, spokesperson Melissa Reese said Tuesday. The only recent change was the extension of our mandatory masking policy, which was extended in November through to the end of the second quarter in mid-February. Bethlehem Area School District No changes to district policy are expected any time soon, Superintendent Joseph Roy said Tuesday. Masks are still required and students are learning in person. Catasauqua School District The high school switched to online instruction this week, due to challenges with safely and adequately staffing the school, and will return to in-person learning Monday, Superintendent Robert Spengler said. Face coverings are optional but strongly encouraged, Spengler said. Diligent monitoring of cases and attributes of each case are imperative to identify any spread occurring in buildings. East Penn Area School District Masking is mandatory and instruction is in person. Whereas students and staff who tested positive were previously required to quarantine for 10 days, they must now quarantine for only five, provided they are asymptomatic or have resolving symptoms, district community liaison Laura Groh said. That follows recent changes to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. Easton Area School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are required. Nazareth Area School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are optional. Northampton Area School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are optional inside district buildings. Advertisement Northern Lehigh School District Masks are optional and instruction is in person. We continue to follow and revise our health and safety plan and educational approach as necessary and consider [state and federal] guidance offered to us each time, Superintendent Tania Stoker said Tuesday. Northwestern Lehigh School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Face coverings remain required indoors. Pen Argyl Area School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are optional. Parkland School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are required. Salisbury Township School District Masks are still required in our schools per our health and safety plan, Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten said. We are working diligently to maintain in-person learning at all levels across the district. In some cases, staffing has been a significant challenge. Many have picked up additional duties and covered for other staff members in order for us to maintain in-person learning. We are in great need of substitute teachers. We are also hiring instructional assistants. Saucon Valley School District Last Call Daily Get top headlines from The Morning Call delivered weekday afternoons. > No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masking is optional for K-12, with a K-6 option for a fully masked classroom. Advertisement Southern Lehigh School District Masking is mandatory and learning is in person in all grades, Superintendent Michael Mahon said Tuesday. Whitehall-Coplay School District The district is mask-optional with in-person learning, Superintendent Robert Steckel said Tuesday. Were monitoring staff and student absences and will be discussing any potential changes to our health and safety plan in the coming days, Steckel said. Wilson Area School District No policy changes are indicated on the districts website. Masks are optional for students, staff and visitors, but encouraged. Passengers and drivers are required to wear a face covering when transported by the district. Diocese of Allentown schools Plans to switch from mandatory to optional masking have been put on hold, according to a Tuesday article on the Diocese website. The article quotes Philip Fromuth, superintendent of Catholic education, as saying the Diocese must be responsive to the most current information available and prioritize keeping our students and staff safe and safeguard in-person instruction. Morning Call reporter Molly Bilinski contributed to this report. Morning Call reporter Andrew Scott can be reached at 610-820-6508 or ascott@mcall.com. CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Capital Bank ("the Bank") today announced that it has converted from a North Carolina state-chartered bank to a South Carolina state-chartered bank and relocated its headquarters to 304 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina. The Bank remains a subsidiary of First Capital Bancshares, Inc., which is also headquartered in Charleston. The Bank operates three banking centers in the Charleston, South Carolina, region including locations in downtown Charleston, Summerville, and a newly opened office in Mount Pleasant. "The majority of our growth and assets are in South Carolina, and the Charleston area specifically. We believe converting to a South Carolina-chartered bank and moving the Bank's headquarters to Charleston will enable us to best serve our customers and shareholders," said First Capital Bank Chairman and CEO Harvey Glick. "We look forward to working with the South Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banking and to our continued growth with the new Charleston headquarters." Glick continued, "We also remain committed to our North Carolina markets, and will continue to serve them through our branch in Laurinburg and loan production office in Pinehurst." The conversion to a South Carolina state-chartered bank and headquarters relocation will have no effect on the Bank's customers. Deposits will continue to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the "FDIC") to the fullest extent permitted by law. Following the charter conversion, the South Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banking and the FDIC are now the Bank's primary regulators. The Bank's holding company, First Capital Bancshares, Inc., continues to be regulated by the Federal Reserve following the charter conversion. About First Capital Bancshares, Inc.: First Capital Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, with assets of approximately $387 million as of Dec. 31, 2021. Its principal activity is the ownership and operation of First Capital Bank, a state-chartered community bank that operates five branches and one loan production office in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, please visit www.fcbcarolinas.com. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to future plans and expectations, and are thus prospective. Such forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "should," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "target," and "project," as well as similar expressions. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, we can give no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be construed as a representation by our company or any person that the future events, plans, or expectations contemplated by our company will be achieved. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements: (1) competitive pressures among depository and other financial institutions may increase significantly and have an effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues; (2) the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which the company conducts operations may be different than expected, including, but not limited to, due to the negative impacts and disruptions resulting from the national political turmoil as well as continuing impact of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, on the economies and communities the company serves, which may have an adverse impact on the company's business, operations and performance, and could have a negative impact on the company's credit portfolio, share price, borrowers, and on the economy as a whole, both domestically and globally; (3) the rate of delinquencies and amounts of charge-offs, the level of allowance for loan loss, the rates of loan growth, or adverse changes in asset quality in our loan portfolio, which may result in increased credit risk related losses and expenses; (4) changes in legislation, regulation, policies, or administrative practices, whether by judicial, governmental, or legislative action, including, but not limited to, changes affecting oversight of the financial services industry or consumer protection; (5) the impact of the results of the recent U.S. elections on the regulatory landscape, capital markets, and the response to and management of the COVID-19 pandemic; (6) adverse conditions in the stock market, the public debt market and other capital markets (including changes in interest rate conditions) could have a negative impact on the company; (7) changes in interest rates, which may affect the company's net income, prepayment penalty income, mortgage banking income, and other future cash flows, or the market value of the company's assets, including its investment securities; and (8) changes in accounting principles, policies, practices, or guidelines. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the company or any person acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements above. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made, except as required by law. For More Information, Contact: Joseph S. Kassim President & Chief Operating Officer First Capital Bank (843) 990-7770 Related Images Image 1: First Capital Bank First Capital Bank Logo This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Incorta , the Direct Data Platform, today announced the launch of the Incorta Partner Program , a new and improved partner program built to support the companys rapid global expansion, as well as the Incorta Partner Summit , a virtual event taking place on January 19, 2022. The Incorta Partner Program gives businesses everything they need to help their customers maximize the value of their data with Incorta including educational resources, support and expertise, and other generous incentives. The effort is led by Steve Walden, Incortas new EVP Business Development & Strategy, who joined the company in October 2021. Prior to Incorta, Walden held senior leadership roles at Alteryx and Collibra, overseeing partnerships and alliances at each company as SVP of Business Development. Great partnerships are foundational to Incortas success they are a huge part of how we deliver such a powerful data analytics advantage to our customers, said Walden. With the launch of the new Incorta Partner Program, we are ready to scale our partner ecosystem globally to meet fast-growing demand for unified data analytics platforms like Incorta. Partner Program Benefits The Incorta Partner Program provides generous incentives and benefits for partners to build a successful Incorta Practice, including: Software license discounts Deal registration protection and referral fees Free training and technical certifications Extensive sales, marketing, and technical enablement support, including resources traditionally reserved for internal employees, such as access to our notes on deal progress, deal stage, and key contacts at Incorta who can help. Inaugural partners include: Accenture, eCapital Advisors, ibTech, Infosys, Perficient, and Wipro. To kick off the newly launched Partner Program, Incorta is hosting a half-day virtual Partner Summit on January 19, 2022. Attendees will hear from Steve Walden on the new Partner Program and whats in store this year, as well as Incorta CEO Scott Jones on our overall 2022 business strategy, and EVP of Product Matthew Halliday on the product roadmap. The event will also feature several technical and sales breakout sessions for attendees to further accelerate their success. For more information about the Incorta Partner Program, please visit www.incorta.com/partners Resources Incorta Website Incorta on Twitter Incorta on LinkedIn About Incorta Incorta is the only unified data analytics platform powered by Direct Data Mapping. Purpose-built to help companies stay ahead of the accelerating rate, volume, and complexity of modern enterprise data, the platform delivers unmatched speed and visibility. Incorta is built with open standards and integrates with cloud-friendly tools and platforms, making it easy to consolidate data in the cloud and extract meaningful insights. By making any data source continuously available for analytics, the platform helps business leaders, business teams, and data scientists make more accurate, timely and transparent decisions with faster access to richer data sets. Backed by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), Telstra Ventures, Sorenson Capital and Wipro Ventures, Incorta powers analytics for some of the most valuable brands in the world, including Broadcom, Cisco, Credit Suisse, and Shutterfly. To learn more and try it for yourself, visit www.incorta.com . IDB Invest supports the expansion of infrastructure to close the digital divide in Colombia IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, participated in a guarantee line of up to COP625,000 million for the benefit of Tigo Colombia, a subsidiary of Millicom. To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest CEO and to the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO Through this operation, IDB Invest will issue one or more letters of standby credit (CCSB) to eligible local banks, such as Bancolombia, in order to cover Tigo's obligations to cover guarantees issued in favor of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC) and the Single Fund for Information and Communication Technologies (FonTIC). The guarantee line will have an availability of ten and a half years and a tenor of up to two years for each letter of credit issued. This project seeks to increase access and connectivity to mobile broadband, in addition to increasing opportunities for the most vulnerable sectors of Colombia, helping to close the digital gap. At Millicom | TIGO we are committed to continuing our investment to build digital highways throughout Latin America, which is essential in order to grow our economies and connect our communities to the digital world, said Mauricio Ramos, CEO of Millicom. We celebrate the fact that IDB Invest shares this vision with us. Quality broadband connectivity has a direct and indirect impact on activity and competitiveness, facilitates job creation, and improves productivity in urban and rural areas. This project demonstrates IDB Invest's determined commitment to reduce the digital divide in the region and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, said James P. Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest. This guarantee line will support the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure that TIGO will carry out in 177 localities that did not have access to mobile services with broadband connection. The operation also seeks to upgrade the mobile service from 2G or basic 3G to 4G broadband for 340 municipalities in Colombian territory. Compliance with the Environmental and Social Action Plan As a consequence of IDB Invest's participation in the project, Tigo agreed to comply with the Environmental and Social Action Plan (PAAS). The company is taking appropriate measures to advance its efforts to adopt best practices in its operations, including the development of an external complaints system and improvements in third-party contracting procedures to ensure that contractors appropriately manage environmental risks as well as occupational health and safety risks. IDB Invest, through its advisory services, is working with Tigo to maximize the impact of this transaction on rural populations. IDB Invest will help Tigo support the activation of digital agricultural productivity (such as climate monitoring and information services) for small rural businesses and the digital delivery of opportunities in basic services, such as telehealth or virtual education, for rural populations and those connected for the first time. The project will be implemented in phases, beginning with a pilot in strategic rural areas and in alliances with key actors in the area that have the capacity to connect on site and carry out the necessary activities. This operation is expected to contribute to four United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): End of poverty (SDG 1), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and Partnerships to achieve the goals (SDG 17). About BID Invest IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, is a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector. IDB Invest finances sustainable companies and projects to achieve financial results and maximize economic, social and environmental development in the region. With a portfolio of US$13.1 billion in assets under management and 385 clients in 25 countries, IDB Invest provides innovative financial solutions and advisory services that respond to the needs of its clients in a variety of sectors. About Tigo Tigo is a leading provider of Telecommunications services in Colombia with more than 10 million mobile subscribers, 1.7 million fixed residential customers, and more than 3,800 employees as of December 31 2020. Tigo is owned by subsidiaries of Millicom International Cellular, S.A. and Empresas Publicas de Medellin. IDB Invest PIC 1 image2 Attachments EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Built In today announced that 3PL Central, a leader in cloud-based Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Order Management Systems (OMS) built to meet the unique omnichannel fulfillment needs of both third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses and brands, was honored in its 2022 Best Places to Work Awards. Specifically, 3PL Central earned a place on Built In LA's Best Midsize Places to Work. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S. "People come first at 3PL Central," said Jennifer Albert, vice president of people at 3PL Central. "We've built an incredible team and are excited to be honored for the culture we have created. Between the three acquisitions we completed last year and additional investment from Mainsail Partners, we've more than doubled our employees and expect to continue to grow the team by 30%+ this year." Albert continued, "Throughout this growth, we've prioritized building an engaging culture and expanding benefits to our team. Whether through our Give Freely volunteer events, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, Ambassadors of Fun 'Stuff' culture team, or dedication to continuous training for our team, 3PL Central has built an environment where team members can not only grow but also thrive and have fun." Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation, benefits and companywide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. "It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners," says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "This year saw a record number of entrants and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today's tech professionals seek." To learn more about career opportunities within 3PL Central, go to the 3PL Central careers page. ABOUT BUILT IN Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industry's most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. www.builtin.com ABOUT BUILT IN'S BEST PLACES TO WORK Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 100 Best Remote-First Places to Work. About 3PL Central 3PL Central is a leader in cloud-based warehouse management (WMS), inventory management (IMS), and order management (OMS) solutions built to meet unique omnichannel fulfillment needs of both 3PLs and brands. Serving as the backbone of our customers' operations, our platforms aim to quickly transform paper-based, error-prone businesses into service leaders that can focus on customer satisfaction, operate more efficiently, and grow faster. Offering comprehensive WMS, OMS, and IMS platforms, 3PL Central endeavors to make it easy for companies to manage inventory, automate routine tasks, and deliver complete visibility to their customers. As an industry leader for over a decade, 3PL Central manages billions of dollars in inventory and processes more than 140 million orders a year from our customers' systems. Company Contact: Rachel Trindade 310-356-7546 rtrindade@3PLcentral.com www.3PLcentral.com Related Images Image 1: Logo This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment Louisville, KY., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Signature HealthCAREs residents and families have been nothing short of resilient during our on-going pandemic in a number of ways, including staying in touch with family. Thanks to our use of telehealth, digital communication, and cards and letters, our families have been able to stay connected, even when visitation and face-to-face meetings at times prove challenging due to distance or federal safety guidelines issued for the utmost care of our residents and staff. In May 2021, through an inaugural pilot program lead by the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (LHCC), Signature HealthCARE announced an exciting addition to those communication methods with Famileo, the personalized family gazette created to connect families across the globe, with a unique, personalized newspaper. In just 7 months, thanks to the success of the inspirational program, more of our families are staying connected as weve expanded the program to more facilities. To see a moving testimonial by our beloved residents, families, and staff at our Sunrise Manor facility, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, please enjoy this short video. My Famileo journey has been an absolute blessing to me, our elders, and to our families, said Jamie Turner, Activities Director over two Signature HealthCARE facilities in Kentucky. COVID has hit hard in so many areas, but especially in long-term care. Visitation regulations can sometimes affect the social and family time of our elders, or families live miles, or states away. Battling isolation with creativity and innovation is a priority for us. When the Famileo program came to one of our facilities for their pilot program, from the first meeting with the Famileo Team, I was in love with this program. Turner is one of several leaders, in an expanded 5 Signature facilities, who regularly work with residents and their families on the Famileo newsletter. Our residents who receive these customized gazettes get so much joy from seeing their families in photos, relating to their day-to-day activities, reading their personal messages, and sharing their experiences, said Brian Owens, Signature HealthCAREs State Quality of Life Director for Florida and Georgia. Its like reading the latest news, but its the latest news of their loved ones and family! Plus, Famileo creates it, with our guidance. Our residents do not have to be concerned with using any digital technology. Its done for them. Famileo is a gazette-style newsletter, created by Tanguy de Gelis, a businessman in France who wanted to create another form of communication for his grandmother in long-term care. His vision has now become an international form of family communication for elders and their families, and for our residents within our facilities. The newsletter is made up of pictures, messages, stories, and updates from the family of our residents. Each participating family member posts their photos, messages, milestones, events, celebrations, and more using the Famileo app on their smartphone, tablet, or computer. Once downloaded, Famileo does the rest, creating a personal and customized family gazette and newsletter for a familys loved one in our facilities, and it can be done on a weekly or monthly basis. Signature started with just one facility. But as success spread, and family connections grew, so did we, expanding our program. For more on how the Famileo newsletter works, click here. The identification and implementation of Famileo was through Signatures engagement with the Louisville Healthcare CEO Councils Innovation work. This included a Global Innovation Search lead by Aging2.0 LLC, a global network which contains more than 40-thousand members across 31 countries, dedicated to accelerating innovation to address the biggest challenges and opportunities in aging. Famileo was chosen as the top innovation through the search. LHCC recently announced their acquisition of Aging2.0, which now serves as LHCCs entrepreneurial and innovation arm. Signature HealthCARE is a founding member of the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, an organization comprised of the top 13 healthcare companies headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, focused on collectively harnessing and maximizing the strengths and resources of their organizations within the Louisville, Kentucky area and beyond, to help solve important national healthcare challenges that extend beyond the scope of any one single member company. Signature HealthCARE is thrilled that Famileo gives our healthcare landscape another avenue to keep our residents and families together, no matter the circumstance or distance! ### Signature HealthCARE is a family-based healthcare company with integrated services at each point of the continuum of care: skilled nursing, home health, assisted living and in-home care. The companys organizational culture inspires more than 12,000 employees with three pillars: Learning, Spirituality, and Innovation. A growing number of Signature HealthCARE centers are earning five-star quality ratings, the highest classification from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and 103 Signature HealthCARE locations earned QAPI accreditation. Signature HealthCARE was also awarded the Great Place to Work award for the past five consecutive years. Attachments NEW YORK, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (GREC or Greenbacker), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced today that RoxWind, a 15.3-MW wind farm, entered commercial operation on November 30. When it was acquired in 2020, the to-be-constructed project in Roxbury was Greenbackers first asset in Maine, a state with a history of strong support for renewables. Since then, the company has acquired four other assets and steadily built out its pipeline of renewable energy projects there, with RoxWind being its first in the state to reach the commercial operation milestone. The RoxWind projects wind power helps diversify the regions energy resources and is expected to produce nearly 50,300 megawatt-hours of annual clean energy, or enough to power approximately 4,500 homes per year. The project has also supportedand continues to providelocal clean energy jobs, including approximately 80 jobs during its construction, dozens of subcontractors for ongoing maintenance and special projects, and four full-time service technicians. The wind farm is Greenbackers largest sustainable infrastructure asset in Maine. Its four turbines are also the biggest in the companys fleet, by both capacity and length, reflecting an evolutionary trend in wind power technology: Fewer, larger turbines generate energy more efficiently than many smaller turbines producing the same amount of power. Each of RoxWinds turbines can produce over 3.8 MW of wind power and has a rotor diameter of 137 metersroughly the length of 10 full-sized school buses placed end to end. RoxWind also has deep roots in the community. John G. Richardson, Jr., the 97th Speaker of Maines House of Representatives, was an invaluable proponent of the project who passed away before the construction was completed. His memory was honored in June 2021 during a community blade signing and commemoration event organized by Greenbacker and its development partners. RoxWind is a win for all involved, delivering affordable clean power to consumers and driving a future powered by clean energy, said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. This milestone is a testament to the Town of Roxburys support, and a credit to the expertise of the development teams at Palmer Capital, Solaya Energy, and Horseshoe Valley Wind, with whom we look forward to partnering again. Originally developed by Palmer Capital, RoxWind began construction in 2020. Today, it generates renewable energy for four investment-grade municipal utilities via long-term offtake agreements. We are pleased to have partnered with GREC, with their active footprint in Maine, to construct and commission this project in the Town of Roxbury, said Lindsay Deane-Mayer, Senior Vice President from Palmer. Bringing a project online is the culmination of many years of focus by the entire development team, the Town, and various stakeholders. We are grateful for everyone who participated in bringing this project from concept to commercial operation. This project, dedicated to our partner John G. Richardson, will generate clean energy for decades as part of his legacy of giving back to his home state. Greenbackers fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises approximately 2.2 GW of generating capacity (this includes both RoxWind and assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbackers real assets have generated 3.4 million megawatt-hours1 of clean energy, abating 2.1 million metric tons of carbon.2 Today these projects support 3,200 green jobs.3 1 Data is as of September 30, 2021. 2 Carbon abatement is calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator which uses the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) US national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate to convert reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions. Data is as of September 30, 2021. 3 Green jobs are calculated from the International Renewable Energy Agency's measurement that one megawatt of renewable power supports 3.8 jobs. Data is as of September 30, 2021. About Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC is a publicly reporting, non-traded limited liability sustainable infrastructure company that acquires and manages income-producing renewable energy and other energy-related businesses, including solar and wind farms. We seek to invest in high-quality projects that sell clean power under long-term contract to high-creditworthy counterparties such as utilities, municipalities, and corporations. We are long-term owner-operators, who strive to be good stewards of the land and responsible members of the communities in which we operate. We believe our focus on power production and income generation creates value that we can then pass on to our shareholderswhile facilitating the transition toward a clean energy future. For more information, please visit www.greenbackercapital.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. Although Greenbacker believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. Greenbacker undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in its expectations. Media Contacts: Greenbacker Chris Larson Senior Writer & Media Communications 847.313.9035 c.larson@greenbackercapital.com Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/48325fcb-17ac-47b9-b404-4c933383273d https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bec5d6a9-b7c7-49bf-b159-9986513cb157 Newark, N.J., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Trustees of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is proud to announce the appointment of Dr. Teik C. Lim as NJITs ninth president following a national search and a unanimous vote of the Board on January 5, 2022. President-elect Lim, who also will be appointed as a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will begin his NJIT tenure on July 1, 2022. The appointment of Dr. Lim as NJITs next president is the result of his emergence from an exceptionally talented pool of candidates, said Robert Cohen, chair of NJITs Board of Trustees. Teik has incredibly impressive credentials as a scholar and senior administrator, including having most recently served as the interim president of the University of Texas at Arlington. He has a clear understanding of what NJIT is about, who we serve, and what we need to do to continue the upward trajectory of this great university. I and the entire board enthusiastically welcome Dr. Lim to NJIT and are excited to work with him in the years ahead. As noted by Cohen, Dr. Lim presently serves as the interim president of the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), where he also holds the rank of Professor within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Prior to assuming the interim presidency at UTA, Dr. Lim was the universitys provost and vice president for academic affairs from 2017 to 2020. Before joining UTA, Dr. Lim spent approximately 15 years at the University of Cincinnati, where he held both academic and administrative appointments, the last of which was as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. During his time as interim president at UTA, Dr. Lim has successfully guided the university through the COVID-19 pandemic while driving increases in student success metrics such as degree attainment, student population diversity, and graduation rates. He also led the effort to achieve Texas Tier One status, making UTA only the fourth institution in Texas to earn this distinction reserved for elite national research institutions. Dr. Lim additionally has enhanced external engagements that strengthen existing and new research as well as career services partnerships, increased philanthropy to UTA, and built support from legislators and public officials, among many other accomplishments. While at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Lim founded the UC Simulation Center in collaboration with Procter & Gamble. This became one of the largest interdisciplinary university-industry research centers on campus and received the P&G Connect+Develop private/public partnership award. Dr. Lim also created the Joint Engineering Co-op Institute in partnership with Chongqing University. Dr. Lim is a renowned scholar who has published 158 refereed journal papers, presented 94 refereed conference proceedings, and delivered nearly 140 conference presentations and invited lectures or seminars. He has been awarded approximately $20 million in funding of research contracts and grants. Dr. Lim is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers International as well as a Licensed Professional Engineer. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Academic Excellence from The Ohio State University in 2019. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University, a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology), and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University, Dr. Lim spent several years in private industry as an engineer before his first faculty appointment. My wife, Gina, and I are ecstatic to be joining the NJIT community, and we are excited about the opportunities and challenges that await us, said Dr. Lim. It truly is an honor to be selected to lead such an important institution into the future. NJIT has been on an amazing trajectory and is fortunate to have a very forward-thinking and collaborative Board of Trustees as well as a strong commitment to social mobility. These facets as well as NJITs position as a top public polytechnic research university drew me to this opportunity. He added, As an engineer who attended polytechnic universities for my bachelors and masters degrees, joining NJIT brings me back to my roots. The chance to lead NJITs continuing growth into a preeminent public polytechnic research university is very appealing to me, as is the opportunity to work with the talented faculty, staff, and students, many of whom are, like me, the first from their family to attend college. The impact of NJIT on its students as well as on the world through its innovative and entrepreneurial spirit is undeniable. In assuming NJITs presidency, Dr. Lim brings a laser focus on continuing NJITs ascendance as a preeminent public polytechnic research university in the region and globally, with intense focus on student success and access, as well as academic and research excellence. Among his priorities, Dr. Lim noted a refresh of NJITs strategic plan to reflect the new circumstances created by and lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic; an embrace of the digital revolution occurring right now in higher education; and using NJITs location in a highly industrialized setting to create mutually beneficial private/public partnerships that will enrich the experience and education of students. He also cited diversity as a strength that will continue to help NJIT flourish. Dr. Lim will be the first person of color to assume the presidency of NJIT, which is one of the most diverse universities in the United States. NJIT is a top 20 university nationally for producing African American and Hispanic engineers, and 62% of all engineering degrees awarded to African American and Hispanic students by New Jersey public institutions are awarded by NJIT. NJIT began its search for a new president in March of 2021, after Dr. Joel S. Bloom announced that he would step down from his post as NJITs president on June 30, 2022, following 11 years leading the university and another 19 as vice president and founding Dean of the Albert Dorman Honors College. A presidential search committee consisting of more than 20 individuals representing the Board of Trustees, the Board of Overseers, the faculty, NJITs alumni, students, and the senior administration worked in consult with Isaacson, Miller, a leading professional search firm with extensive experience in the higher education sector, to attract a deep and talented pool of candidates and complete a national search. The entire NJIT community was invited and encouraged to provide, through open forums and other means, input that helped develop the presidential profile. I would like to personally thank the members of the search committee, the staff members who supported our work, and the countless members of the NJIT community who provided insights and feedback throughout this process, said Cohen. It was imperative that this search be conducted in an inclusive manner and the result has been a great success. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said of the selection, I look forward to working with Dr. Teik C. Lim as the next president of NJIT and continuing the partnership with the state that has been cultivated by President Joel Bloom. Dr. Lims scholarly achievements are extremely impressive, and his experience in leading a major public research university through much of the past two years has prepared him well for this opportunity. NJIT, as our states public polytechnic university, plays a vital role in partnering with industry and with the state on critical issues and also serves as an engine for the upward mobility of students from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Lim understands and appreciates the unique position NJIT occupies within New Jerseys higher education ecosystem, and I am confident he will be a great addition to NJIT and to our state. Newark Mayor Ras A. Baraka added, I recently met with Dr. Lim and am excited about his intent to continue building upon the already strong relationship between the City of Newark, our residents, and NJIT. Dr. Lim has an extensive background as an academic, an innovator, and a leader, and I welcome him to Newark and to NJIT. I look forward to working closely with him to further the Universitys mission of excellence and innovation to students, learning, scholarly research, investments and our community. About New Jersey Institute of Technology: One of only 35 polytechnic universities in the United States, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that spurs economic growth and prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT is an economic engine with a $2.8 billion annual economic impact on the State of New Jersey and is a catalyst for applied research, conducting more than $155 million in research activity each year. Ranked No. 1 nationally by Forbes for the upward economic mobility of its lowest-income students, NJIT also is ranked in the top 2% of colleges and universities nationally for the mid-career earnings of graduates, according to PayScale.com. NJIT is ranked No. 39 nationally by The Princeton Review as a Best Value College and is rated among the Top 50 public colleges and universities nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. WATCH VIDEO: Dr. Lim reflects on his academic journey and priorities as president: https://youtu.be/BsZwF3PHM3w Attachments Toronto, ON, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Six million Canadians will meet the criteria for addiction in our lifetimes. COVID-19 has intensified the problem. Opioid-related deaths surged 25% in Ontario in the first few months of the pandemic and continue to be at a crisis point. Premiering Tuesday, January 25 at 9 pm ET on TVO, TVO.org, YouTube and TVO streaming channels, TVO Original Come Clean is a close look at what fuels addiction, as well as the herculean effort and hope recovery demands. The reality of addiction seriously impacts individuals, families and communities across Ontario, says John Ferri, VP of Programming and Content at TVO. With unflinching honesty, Come Clean shares the real struggle of overcoming addictions through deeply personal journeysstories that most Ontarians will relate to. Written and directed by Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham of Insurgent Projects (Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel, The Lost Highway), TVO Original Come Clean begins on New Years Eve in the southwestern Ontario farming community of Thamesville, home to Westover Treatment Centre. Cameras roll as the dozen addicts in group 1313 embark on 19 days of in-treatment counselling. With intimate and unfettered access, the filmmakers embedded round-the-clock at Westover, living alongside the program participants. Post-treatment, filming followed select subjects stories for 18 months to experience their realities and see who among them could break the habits that landed them in rehab. Bryanna, Annie, Ryan and Julie, the featured four from group 1313, are as different as their backstories. Ranging in age from their teens to their forties, the common through-line is shame and guilt from early-life traumas that theyve been unable to overcome thus far. Come Clean isnt about wallowing in the depths, but the valiant efforts to rise out of addictions malaise Freed from drugs during treatment at Westover, the films subjects are lucid, smart and funny, with a startling degree of self-awareness. But staying clean in rehab is the easy part. The hard work begins once program participants reenter the turmoil of the world. For filmmakers Roemer and Graham, who specialize in long-term projects, Come Clean challenged them to work in a distinctly different way. With the understanding that each additional day an addict waits for treatment puts them further at risk, Westover admits clients quicklywhich meant the filmmakers didnt know who their subjects would be until two weeks before filming commenced. Westovers admissions staff asked prospective clients if theyd participate in a doc film, says Roemer, and we spent the next two weeks crisscrossing the province to meet those whod consented, knowing the next time we saw them would be on day one of filming. It was, says Roemer, equal parts stressful and invigorating. Directors Graham and Roemer wanted to get to the root of why were increasingly vulnerable to addiction. Grahams own bout with a painkiller dependency was an eye-opening experience for him. Any one of us is susceptible to addiction, he said. With astronomically high rates of addiction to sex, gambling, food, drugs and technologywhere a misplaced cell phone precipitates a crisisnone of us are safe from its reach. According to Westovers Laird Brush, addicts can stay clean by changing one thing: Everything. The way you think, the way you feel, the way you behave, where you work, where you live, and who you hang out with. But if everything is the goal, whats the reality? How many will be able to make the wholesale changes necessary to redeem a life? TVO Original Come Cleans featured four: Bryanna arrived at Westover a victim of a brutal upbringing at the hands of violent, negligent parents. After bouts of bingeing led to suicidal tendencies, twenty-something Bryannas goals are realistic. I just want to feel OK, she says. But with her emotional growth stunted by trauma, the main obstacle, according to a counselor, will be overcoming the mind of a child in a womans body. Annie came to treatment in her early forties as a self-described mess with a history of addiction to alcohol, food, gambling and drugs. Her Achilles heel is her alcoholic husband Chris, who Annie, initially, believed to be an asset in her recovery. But in treatment, she learns he puts her at greatest risk for relapse. Hes the best thing thats ever happened to me, she says. And maybe the worst. Ryan, by his late teens, was a small-town drug kingpin. But arrest and incarceration brought his world tumbling down. His enrollment at Westover is a condition of his parole, and a relapse could lead him straight back to jail. Clear-eyed about his chances for success, Ryan knows abstinence will be hard. Probably the hardest thing Ill ever do in my life, he says. Julie is a strong-willed Windsor auto worker and mother of two young adults who had an intense cocaine addiction. A prime example of Westovers mantra that addiction is a response to trauma, Julies recovery begins when she confronts her childhood and an event thats shrouded her life in regret, shame and guilt. Watch the premiere of TVO Original Come Clean on Tuesday, January 25 at 9 pm ET on TVO, TVO.org, YouTube and other TVO streaming channels. Viewers can also access the latest on TVO documentary news and insights by signing up for the forthcoming TVO Docs newsletter at TVO.org/newsletters. -30- About Insurgent Projects: Toronto-based filmmaking duo Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham have worked together for over 20 years, producing and directing everything from shorts to feature-length documentaries. In late 2000, the pair began work on Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel, a film that premiered to critical acclaim and sold-out screenings at the Hot Docs festival, then played festivals worldwide before television broadcasts in Canada and elsewhere. The film garnered Roemer and Graham a Gemini Award for best direction in a documentary series, as part of TVO's documentary anthology The View From Here. In 2009, Graham and Roemer formed Insurgent Projects, and in 2014 released the Canadian Screen Award best-doc-nominee The Lost Highway. In 2018, TVO commissioned Roemer and Graham to create Come Clean. About TVO: TVO inspires learning that changes lives and enriches communities. Founded in 1970, we are a globally recognized digital learning organization that engages Ontarians of all ages with inclusive experiences and diverse perspectives. Through video, audio, games, courses, newsletters and articles, were investing in the transformative potential of education for everyone. Funded primarily by the Province of Ontario, TVO is a registered charity supported by thousands of sponsors and donors. For more information, visit tvo.org and tvokids.com. TVO streaming channels: LG: TVO, TVOkids Apple TV: TVO, TVOkids Amazon Fire TV: TVO, TVOkids Roku: TVO, TVOkids Android: TVOkids Running time: 89 minutes Media screeners and hi-res photos available upon request. See the trailer. For further information: TVO.org/documentaries insurgentprojects.com westovertreatmentcentre.ca/ Social media: Twitter: @tvodocs, Facebook: /tvodocs, /insurgentprojects Hashtag: #ComeCleanDocumentary Kennesaw, Georgia, USA, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KENNESAW, Ga., Jan. 5, 2022 Building upon its work with Flatiron-Aecon Joint Venture on the Calgary Ring Road Project in Alberta, Canada, BrandSafway's Major Projects Group (MPG) and the Infrastructure Services Group were selected to design and build a one-of-a-kind under-bridge traveling platform to provide access for the final construction stages of the Bow River Bridge twinning project. "This solution proves, once again, that BrandSafway can meet the widest range of project demands, where safety and efficiency are high priorities," said Alex Di Domenico, managing director, BrandSafway, MPG. "We started working with Flatiron-Aecon in 2019 at the beginning of the Bow River Bridge twinning project by providing stairs and engineering services. Now, were proud to be designing and fabricating an innovative access solution for its completion." BrandSafway has provided the most efficient solution for our challenging access requirements to the underside of the bridge. With their platform, we will be significantly more efficient with less downtime to our operations, said Kyle Hendrikx, bridge manager for Flatiron-Aecon Joint Venture. The unique, triangle-shaped Truss Frame System solution was custom-designed for Flatiron-Aecon to provide safe access to the underside of the bridge for several workers at a time. Adapted to have retractable extensions, the solution allows the system to travel around piers, without having to dismantle the platform. Patent-pending launching extensions, which are now available to the bridge market, will allow the entire 112-foot length and 32-foot width C-frame structure to move back and forth along the 1542-foot length of the bridge. The platform consists of two half-truss frame platforms mounted securely to the manually operating top bridge deck carriages. Each half-platform is equipped with launching triangular trusses, which are extended and retracted manually as the system travels the length of the bridge, across four bridge piers. Traditional Systems Scaffold, located on each half of the fixed truss platform, provides access to the underside of the bridge segments. "BrandSafways patent-pending Truss Frame System provides the flexibility, mobility and low cost of a movable platform system, while eliminating need for hoists and cranes to traverse around bridge piers, said Mathieu Grumberg, director of North American Product Development for BrandSafway and the engineer who designed and developed the innovative solution for the twinning project. Flatiron-Aecon's West Bow River Bridge twinning project has been tendered at a cost of $89 million CAD. According to Aecon, the Bow River Bridge twinning project is a key component in the completion of the Calgary Ring Road and will provide vital transportation infrastructure for growing communities in the Greater Calgary Area. When complete, the entire Calgary Ring Road will provide travelers with 101 kilometres of free-flow travel. AlumaSafway, which provides the broadest range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets in Canada, will manage the delivery of site services for BrandSafway in Alberta. BrandSafway's new under-bridge traveler access platform will be in use on the Bow River Bridge twinning project in 2022 and 2023. About BrandSafway With a commitment to safety as its foremost value, BrandSafway provides the broadest range of solutions with the greatest depth of expertise to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets. Through a network of 360 strategic locations across 30 countries and more than 40,000 employees, BrandSafway delivers a full range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions. BrandSafway supports maintenance and refurbishment projects as well as new construction and expansion plans with unmatched service from expert local labor and management. Todays BrandSafway is At Work For You leveraging innovation and economies of scale to increase safety and productivity, while remaining nimble and responsive. For more information about BrandSafway, visit www.brandsafway.com. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. # # # Attachments TORONTO, Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galane Gold Ltd. (Galane Gold or the Company) (TSX-V: GG; OTCQB: GGGOF) today announces that it has issued to Gavin Vandervegt a notice to terminate his contract as the Companys Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Vandervegt has served as Galane Golds CFO since October 2016 and he will remain with the Company in a transitional role for a period of up to three months. We would like to thank Gavin for his tireless and invaluable contributions to Galane Gold, said Nick Brodie, Chief Executive Officer. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Ravi Sood, the Chairman of Galane Gold, said in addition, The Galane Gold board of directors is currently undertaking a review of its senior management team with a view to aligning it closer with the Companys growth plans over the next two years and the shift in the Companys focus with the addition of the Summit mine. About Galane Gold Galane Gold is an un-hedged gold producer and explorer with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana, South Africa and New Mexico. Galane Gold is a public company and its shares are quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GG and the OTCQB under the symbol GGGOF. Galane Golds management team is comprised of senior mining professionals with extensive experience in managing mining and processing operations and large-scale exploration programmes. Galane Gold is committed to operating at world-class standards and is focused on the safety of its employees, respecting the environment, and contributing to the communities in which it operates. 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: Nick Brodie CEO, Galane Gold Ltd. + 44 7905 089878 Nick.Brodie@GalaneGold.com www.GalaneGold.com FILE - Members of Congress shelter in the House gallery as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) (Andrew Harnik/AP) WASHINGTON Long after most other lawmakers had been rushed to safety, they were on the hard marble floor, ducking for cover. Trapped in the gallery of the House, occupying balcony seats off-limits to the public because of COVID-19, roughly three dozen House Democrats were the last ones to leave the chamber on Jan. 6, bearing witness as the certification of a presidential election gave way to a violent insurrection. Advertisement As danger neared, and as the rioters were trying to break down the doors, they called their families. They scrambled for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared themselves to fight. Many thought they might die. When I looked up, I had this realization that we were trapped, said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had evacuated the House floor first. And they forgot about us. Advertisement During the chaos and as lawmakers found their way to safety, Crow comforted Susan Wild, the Democratic congresswoman representing Pennsylvanias 7th District. In an interview with The Morning Call in the aftermath of the chaos, Wild recalled she may have been having a panic attack and her heart was pounding really, really hard. [ It was pandemonium: Inside Rep. Susan Wilds experience during the U.S. Capitol riot ] She only realized her distress was visible when Crow reached out to hold her hand and told her, We are going to be OK. That moment was captured in a photo widely shared on social media. UNITED STATES - JANUARY 6: Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., comforts Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., while taking cover as protesters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call) Bound together by circumstance, sharing a trauma uniquely their own, the lawmakers were both the witnesses and the victims of an unprecedented assault on American democracy. Along with a small number of staffers and members of the media, they remained in the chamber as Capitol Police strained to hold back the mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The lawmakers were finally taken to safety roughly an hour after the siege began. Interviewed by The Associated Press before this weeks anniversary of the attack, 10 of the House members who were in the gallery talked of being deeply shaken by their experience. Vividly they remember the loud, hornetlike buzz of their gas masks. The explosive crack of tear gas in the hallways outside. The screams of officers telling them to stay down. The thunderous beating on the doors below. Glass shattering as the rioters punched through a window. The knobs rattling ominously on the locked doors just a few feet behind them. Most indelibly, the loud clap of a gunshot, reverberating across the cavernous chamber. Advertisement Ive heard a lot of gunshots in my time, and it was very clear what that was, Crow said. I knew that things had severely escalated. Wild knew, too. After hesitating she didnt want to worry them she FaceTimed her 27-year-old son, Clay, and her 24-year-old daughter, Adrienne. Theyre trying to evacuate us, she told them. I think Im OK. We can hear glass shattering and shots behind you, her son responded. How can you be OK? The shot was fired by Officer Michael Byrd and killed Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter trying to crawl through the broken window of a door that leads to the House chamber. Both the Justice Department and Capitol Police investigated the shooting and declined to file charges. Their terror was compounded by knowledge of what the mob was after: stopping Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes that would make Joe Biden the 46th president. Mike Pence, as is customary for the vice president, had been presiding over the ceremony in the House where lawmakers gathered to hear the certified election results. Advertisement Trump had other ideas. Spouting lies about election fraud that were refuted by his own Justice Department, Trump pressured Pence to reject the electors a move that would have bucked the Constitution and thrown the House, and potentially the country, into chaos. Pence refused to do so, but Trump held a rally in Washington before the vote-counting began, telling hundreds of supporters at the Ellipse that they had to fight like hell. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., was also among those sheltering in the gallery. The former police chief in Orlando shuddered when police said there had been a breach of the building. I knew that meant that the police had somehow lost the line. And I also know, having been a former police officer, that they would have done everything in their power to hold that line to protect us," she said. Demings said she told a colleague sheltering with her in the gallery: Just remember, were on the right side of history. If we all die today, another group will come in and certify those ballots. Congress reconvened that night, certifying Bidens election victory before sunrise. Advertisement In the days after the attack, many of the lawmakers who were in the gallery started connecting on a text message chain. It quickly evolved into therapeutic group sessions and even potluck gatherings where they tried to make sense of it all. They dubbed themselves the gallery group, and the name stuck. Many went on to seek therapy. Some were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, their struggles exacerbated by the raw tensions on Capitol Hill and an increasing number of death threats. Others said they have been more traumatized by the growing tendency among Republican lawmakers, and some in the public, to downplay or ignore the violence than they were by the attack itself. Rep. Annie Kuster, who sought treatment for post-traumatic stress, says the gallery group connects almost daily on the text message chain. Kuster, D-N.H., was one of the first to be let out of the gallery on Jan. 6, escaping through the doors along with three other members just before the remaining lawmakers were locked inside. When Kusters group reached the hallway, a group of rioters was rushing toward them. We ducked into the elevator, Kuster said. And I said to this incredible policeman I said, oh, my God, what if the elevator doors open, and they kill us? And I will never forget this moment ... he said, Maam, I am here to protect you. And he was there to protect our democracy. Eventually, Capitol Police determined the upstairs area was clear, even as insurrectionists kept trying to break through the doors below. The lawmakers and others were rushed out of the chamber and down a warren of staircases and hallways. When they left, they could see police officers holding five or six rioters flat on the ground, guns pointed at their heads. Advertisement The rioters were inches from the doors of the gallery. When Kuster made it home two days later, she watched hours of video from the insurrection. It only compounded the trauma. Last Call Daily Get top headlines from The Morning Call delivered weekday afternoons. > I remember my husband coming in, and I was just sobbing, Kuster said. And he was holding me, saying, I dont know if this is the best thing for you to see. But we have to we have to acknowledge the reality of what happened that day. And whats challenging for us is that we are both victims and witnesses to the crime on our country. Once the initial shock wore off, Wild also started to feel angry. I was also furious that people felt emboldened enough to do this, she said. How dare they? Advertisement Wild also said she believed it was important for the House to take a stand against the behavior that incited this violence. In the coming months, members of the House committee panel investigating the insurrection will start to reveal their findings. They are planning televised hearings and reports that will bring the full story of Jan. 6 out into the open. The Morning Call contributed to this report. Gloucester, MA (01930) Today Partly cloudy skies during the morning giving way to a few showers late. High 52F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 44F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. There are historic dates in our memories that will never be forgotten, such as Dec. 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States was brought into World War II. Another is Sept. 11, 2001, when foreign terrorists crashed airplanes into the heart of our country. Advertisement Yet, only one year ago, another attack occurred that should be remembered in equal measure with Pearl Harbor and 9/11: Jan. 6, 2021. The death toll on Jan. 6, 2021 was not nearly as large as on the days of the other attacks. However, the threat to our democracy was greater than from the other two we all remember. Advertisement First, it was designed, encouraged and perpetrated by our own countrymen, including the defeated president, members of his staff and certain members of Congress, not by foreign terrorists. Second, it was a violent attempt to overturn a presidential election, and an assault on our Constitution. Third, the lie upon which the insurrection was based is continuing one year later, led by the now-former president, senators and congressmen, unscrupulous lawyers, Fox News, and countless purveyors on social media. We still hear these apologists for Jan. 6 saying the crowd was a normal tourist visit or it wasnt that big a deal and certainly wasnt an armed insurrection. Anyone who has seen the videos of the attack on the Capitol knows these claims are ludicrous. And as U.S District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, observed, Im especially troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that Jan. 6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol. I dont know what planet these people are on. Thomas A. Wallitsch (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / JOHN MORGANELLI) Supporters of former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 attack the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS) It is anticipated numerous serious federal charges could, and should, be brought against those who planned, instigated and participated in the attack. Although crimes charged could also include crimes involving federal property (the rioters caused $1.5 million in property damage), and crimes against persons (five lives were lost and nearly 150 law enforcement officers were injured), the most-discussed possible charges relate to crimes against government authority. Treason, the best known and most serious of the offenses against government authority, will probably not be charged since the exact requirements of this crime are unclear. The Supreme Court said treason, defined in the Constitution as levying War against the United States, or adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort, should not be extended by construction to doubtful cases. Advertisement However, despite Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., minimizing the attack, saying it couldnt be considered an armed insurrection, it certainly could be charged as such under federal law. The statute criminalizing insurrection defines the offender as anyone who incites, sets on foot, or engages in any insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof It is now known that the planners and inciters of the march to the Capitol intended to disrupt the constitutional requirement of counting the Electoral College votes, clearly an attack on the authority of the highest law of our country, the Constitution. Another federal criminal law, seditious conspiracy, would possibly be even easier to prove. This law prohibits a conspiracy (two or more people agreeing) to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law (here, the counting of the Electoral College votes). Again, based on even the public statements of some of the individuals involved in the planning of the events of Jan. 6, charges for this crime are likely. Let there be no mistake: History will judge Jan. 6, 2021, to be another date which will live in infamy. It is truly unbelievable that so many of our fellow citizens still believe the lies that led to the attack on our Capitol, our Constitution and the peaceful transition of power that existed in the United States for its entire history. This is not a partisan issue; there are millions of thoughtful and honest Republicans who know that Trumps nonsensical, unsupported claims that President Biden was not duly elected have done serious damage to our political system. Advertisement They know that Trump and his minions have been damaging the Grand Old Party as well as attempting to destroy our democracy, before, on and after Jan. 6, 2021, a date that none of us should ever forget. Thomas A. Wallitsch, a Salisbury Township resident, served as a judge in the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas from 1991 to 2006. SHIPSHEWANA [mdash] Lorene Miller, 69, Shipshewana, died at 7:15 p.m., Saturday, April 30, at Life Care Center, LaGrange. She was born Sept. 8, 1952 in LaGrange, to Lester and Mary Alice (Miller) Hochstetler. On Oct. 24, 1974 in Shipshewana, she married Chris B. Miller, he survives. Survivor Yes, like every other state in the nation At least half of it No, keep funneling to the General Fund Eliminate the fuel tax Uncertain Vote View Results The unwise decision by Lehigh County to count undated mail ballots is headed to the state Supreme Court. Good. Lets put this matter to rest before the midterm election. Advertisement The election is shaping up to be ugly enough. Pennsylvania cant give sore losers any reason to cry voter fraud or misconduct by election officials. The mail voting law has been subject to interpretation and applied inconsistently for too long. The Lehigh case is just the most recent example, and it could change the outcome of a judical race. Advertisement On Monday, Commonwealth Court ruled that 257 mail ballots returned without a date in the November election in Lehigh should not be counted. That reversed a decision by a county judge, who upheld the county election boards decision to count them. Republican judicial candidate David Ritter filed the case, seeking to have the ballots thrown out. He is leading Democrat Zachary Cohen by 74 votes. With Democrats more likely to vote by mail, its possible Cohen could win if the undated ballots are counted. Cohens attorney said Monday the case is not over, as it will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. State lawmakers have sat idle as this debate has emerged since they passed the mail voting law in 2019. Instead of clarifying that the law intends for undated ballots to be disqualified, they have allowed county election boards and the courts to make that call, resulting in erratic application. Considering the Supreme Court justices previous positions on this issue, Im hopeful they will uphold Mondays Commonwealth Court ruling and finally end this debate. The Commonwealth Courts ruling relied on what the Supreme Court said in a series of opinions in 2020 after the presidential election. Advertisement Three of the seven justices said ballots in Philadelphia and Allegheny County should be disqualified for not being dated. Three justices said the lack of dates was not a reason for disqualification, as election law should be interpreted liberally so voters are not disenfranchised. The seventh justice, Democrat David Wecht, said dates are required. But he gave voters a pass for the 2020 election and said the requirement should be enforced in future years. Like 2021. Case closed, I hope. The Supreme Court hearing the appeal in the Lehigh case will have one different justice. Republican Kevin Brobson was sworn in Monday to replace Republican Thomas Saylor, who had reached mandatory retirement age. [ Justice for sale? A $5M Supreme Court race illustrates whats wrong with how Pennsylvania picks judges ] We will see if that makes a difference, or if any of the other justices change their position. Brobson previously was president judge of Commonwealth Court. He was not involved in Mondays ruling on the Lehigh case. It was decided by a panel of three other judges, which split 2-1. Advertisement This isnt the only case pending on the matter. In October, before the election, Bucks and Montgomery counties sued state elections officials, seeking an order allowing them to count signed but undated ballots. The counties did not count undated ballots in November, as they sought direction from the state. Their lawsuit alleges there hasnt been sufficient clarification. I disagree. In addition to the 2020 Supreme Court ruling, in 2020 and 2021 the state elections office told counties that mail ballots must be dated to be counted. Thats the critical word the law is missing. Advertisement I believe the law is clear, as I argued in a column in November urging Lehigh not to count the disputed ballots. But it says ballots shall be dated and signed. Courts, unfortunately, have been divided about whether that term means something is required, or merely suggested. Lawmakers should stop using that term. Its archaic, a relic of the Kings English. When is the last time you heard that word used in conversation? Use must and there would be no confusion. Because the Legislature hasnt done that, we have cases like this. The Republican leaders of the House and Senate did, though, submit a compelling legal brief supporting Ritters case to have Lehighs undated ballots disqualified. They said the date requirement is consistent with previous election law. They noted that when absentee ballots, often submitted by mail, were created in 1963, a date was required. Advertisement The requirement that electors date and sign their absentee or mail-in ballots serves a variety of important election administration purposes, said the brief by Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman; Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward; House Speaker Bryan Cutler; and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff. The date on the ballot envelope provides proof of when the elector actually executed the ballot in full, ensuring their desire to cast it in lieu of appearing in person at a polling place. The presence of the date also establishes a point in time against which to measure the electors eligibility to cast the ballot. The date also ensures the elector completed the ballot within the proper time frame and prevents the tabulation of potentially fraudulent back-dated votes, their brief says, citing opinions from the 2020 cases. [ Mail voting is as easy as boiling water. Yet Pennsylvania voters still make mistakes, threatening the system. ] I irritated some people when I urged that undated ballots not be counted. My critics contended a date is meaningless if ballots are received on time. That should be apparent by the postmark or when they are collected from the countys drop box, they scolded. The law requires a date. Its that simple. Postmarks are irrelevant, as ballots must be received by Election Day. It isnt a Draconian mandate. The intent isnt to trap voters, hoping they will screw up their ballots so they are disqualified. Advertisement And its not an attempt by Republicans to suppress votes. The mail ballot law passed in 2019 was a bipartisan effort. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill. I hope the state Supreme Court ends this nonsense with a sensible ruling in the Lehigh case. If it doesnt, then the Legislature must do its job and clarify the law. Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com This column was updated on Jan. 5 to add that Montgomery County did not count undated ballots in Novembers election. JuiceBar, a commercial EV charger manufacturer based in Connecticut, has entered the home charging market with the release of a 48-amp charger that it calls the Cheetah. Our new home charger combines the speed and unparalleled reliability of our commercial chargers with a smart interface that will impress every EV driver. JuiceBar CEO Paul Vosper The Cheetah will be compatible with all EV models. The home version will be available in 32-, 40-, and 48-amp configurations and will include dual safety relays, a smart mobile app, and a 3-year warranty. Options include an extra-long 25-foot cord and a cord retractor. Amy Harris, JuiceBars Chief Marketing Officer, said that the company will soon be announcing plans to offer customers an option to make their EVs 100% carbon neutral through the purchase of certified renewable energy credits that offset the cars carbon footprint. About JuiceBar JuiceBar has been building a global EV charging infrastructure since 2009. JuiceBar chargers are manufactured and assembled in the US and can be found in hundreds of cities throughout North America. The commercial chargers offer unique safety features, OCPP connectivity, and charge times that are 60-250% faster compared to most Level 2 chargers. Support local journalism We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Drivers on Interstate-95 in Virginia were met with gridlock traffic on Monday and Tuesday after a snowstorm hit the area, causing tractor-trailers to jackknife across the highway as well as a number of other accidents, according to the New York Times. Among those passengers was U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who was stranded in traffic after attempting to make the commute to the U.S. Capitol from his Richmond home. According to the Associated Press, Kaine spent 21 hours in his car and even phoned a local radio station to express his concern for those stuck in their cars as the temperature outside dropped to 15 degrees. GREENWICH At least 60 staff members at Greenwich Hospital were not working Wednesday amid a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that is likely driven by the omicron variant, a hospital official said. We didnt have the number of staff out the first three waves that we are having now, so its just there are different challenges, for sure, Diane Kelly, the hospitals president, said during the towns COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday afternoon. Across Yale New Haven Health, the hospitals parent health care system, 700 patients were hospitalized as of Wednesday for treatment of COVID-19, with 95 in intensive care units, Kelly said. That includes 60 patients at Greenwich Hospital, five of whom were in the ICU, she said. This fourth wave, whats different is how contagious it is - so its rapidly spreading, very quick - but what we are seeing is a different level of acuity, Kelly said. Some people who have received an initial round of vaccine are getting sick and ending up in the hospital, she said, but those who are hospitalized after getting a booster shot often have other underlying issues. Really, the majority of people are not in the ICU, theyre not requiring ventilated or mechanical assisted breathing in any way, she said. Those who are not vaccinated at all are the ones that are sicker, Kelly said. Greenwich Hospital recently announced a new policy severely limiting visitors in most wards due to the spike in COVID-19 cases across the state. No visitors are allowed in inpatient, emergency, outpatient surgeries, procedural areas and psychiatry departments at all, with exceptions for people with disabilities and patients who are dying. As of Tuesday, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Greenwich was 466, town officials said. Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 4, a total of 650 new cases were reported. Despite the jump in cases, First Selectman Fred Camillo said he had no plans to reinstate a townwide mask mandate. Many businesses already require patrons to wear face coverings, Camillo said, and most people are wearing masks of their own accord. Youve got to be careful with these mandates, Camillo said during the news conference. You know weve done it in the past we did it a few times, and in some cases it was not very popular. Except for a mask mandate put in place last August, he noted that all prior mask mandates predated the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Most businesses downtown are already doing it, he added. You dont want to be nanny state, always throwing mandates left and right, Camillo said. Masks are required in all town-owned buildings, including town hall and the civic centers, under an order from Camillo last month. Also last month, Town Director of Health Caroline Baisley said the omicron variant was raging in town. In total statewide, Connecticut recorded more than 10,300 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, while hospitalizations rose to 1,676 patients higher than at any point since the spring of 2020, according to state statistics. Camillo acknowledged that the surge in COVID-19 cases has also affected town agencies, without naming which ones. Some have been hit particularly hard, but theyre all coming back full-strength, he said. One department had a lot out a few weeks ago, Camillo said. We were in contact with them and operations were unaffected. We had other contingency plans, he said. On Tuesday, the town distributed thousands of COVID-19 home test kits at two sites for town residents Grass Island Park for everyone and the Senior Center for residents age 60 and up. The town received a shipment of 6,000 Flowflex kits ordered by the state of Connecticut. The town expects to receive another shipment of tests to distribute, Camillo said. But when they would arrive is unclear, and he declined to say how many kits the town is expected to receive. Also on Tuesday, the Greenwich Public Schools reported its largest-by-far number of new COVID cases 392 among students and staff on its online tracker. The numbers, which were the first reported in the 11 days since Dec. 24, reflect the new COVID-19 cases diagnosed during the school districts holiday recess. The Greenwich Public Schools also received 46 boxes of iHealth tests, or 8,280 total tests, and five boxes of Flowflex, or 1,440 total tests, on Tuesday. The kits can be used if a student or staff member exhibits symptoms and needs to be screened for COVID-19; if a student or staff member has a direct exposure to an individual with COVID-19; or if a class or program is experiencing multiple cases of COVID-19, a school may distribute tests to all students in that classroom or program if they have difficulty accessing tests. The state also sent tests to private schools in Greenwich. As I continue to meet, photograph, listen and curate stories from my fellow manaotao sanlagu, I am enriched with an ongoing nuanced understanding of what it means to be CHamoru not living in Guam. The documentary Manaotao Sanlagu: Chamorus from the Marianas launched four months ago in the PDN, the first photo shoot and interview was eight months earlier, but the concept and idea has been fermenting like fine tuba in my brain for about four years. I always believed in it happening, but timing and circumstances never seemed right. Back then I always thought the documentary would be a simple and sweet love letter to my people. I wasnt aware early on of its impact and importance until I started interviewing CHamorus on my early short list and they saw the idea, vision and power of the concept before me. I am no stranger to long-term photography and narrative documentation; its my preferred way of working. I love the fluid nature of honoring the documentarys mission statement but also being open to critical feedback, serendipity and the refinements that it brings. Its part of the magic that keeps my creative soul engaged and inspired. I am after all just a curious conduit, as I tell them: Its your story, your migration, your family, your life trajectories and your universal truths. I am humbled by the time and the stories they shared with me. I revel in the conversations, the talking story, the oddly familiar, shared island experiences and new found familial re-connections, and its even better when I am being fed. I have eaten more CHamoru food this past year than I have the previous four years living in the San Francisco Bay Area. As I look back and push forward, I find the documentary makes me believe in something bigger than myself, it initiates gratitude and fills me with a sense of life purpose. Today The Story Continues is another crop of CHamoru portraits, the second 110 manaotao sanlagu. But we also look back at the story so far and some feedback from those we profiled and from readers. Resonate for years Truly, the credit goes to Manny for thinking of capturing the essence of who we are through our culture. And I told him his work, which is far from being finished, will resonate for years to come. This was a message from Pete Gumataotao, whom we featured on Sept. 16, 2021, on a Father Duenas class of 1976 WhatsApp group chat. I was just talking to my two sons and I was telling them how these weekly stories can help heal both sides: those of us here in the states and the CHamorus back home. I think it would help them to understand our experiences and journey being away from home. It gives all of us a bigger picture of how we are all connected and for me it feels like were so more included, said Lyn Aflague Arroyo, whom we featured on Sept. 23, 2021. I really enjoy these conversations. I need more of them in my life. Thank you for grounding Jay and I with these ideas and helping us explore the things that are ingrained into our DNA from those that came before us. It is these moments that will ensure our culture will be ingrained into those that will come after us, said Jeremy Castro, whom we featured on Dec. 9, 2021. Love and admiration for my aunties and mother is a huge part of the foundation in my life. And since the feature, my heart is full. They expressed that theyre so very proud of me and honored that Jeremy and I lead the way for the family. They now constantly validate my contributions to the culture and remind me that were blessed to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, said Jay Castro, whom we featured on Dec. 9, 2021. It was a blessing How I feel: embarrassed by the attention; grateful to you for telling my story; humbled that you thought I was worthy of having my story told; and proud that people relate to me. I am blown away by how many people related to Moana the way I do. I feel like the very essence of our spirit was caught in the story and that song, said Melissa Leon Guerrero Do, whom we featured on Sept. 30, 2021. I feel so grateful and humbled. And inspired to continue exploring, researching, finding ways to connect to the culture and honor my family, my ancestors, said Lisa Tenorio, whom we featured on Oct. 14, 2021. My family already reached out earlier this morning to say that they enjoyed reading the article. Most didnt know the extent of my tribulations to get to where I am today and my perspective of home. So thank you for making sense of what mattered and delivering professionally, said Rod Taitano, whom we featured on Nov. 18, 2021. It made me appreciate my family more, especially during this pandemic, which has kept me from my family. Your article made me feel even more connected to homeland, to home culture, and family. It was a comfort during this prolonged time of separation due to the pandemic. It was a blessing, said Mary Therese Perez Hattori, whom we featured on Sept. 30, 2021. It wasnt difficult to share my adversities and practices with Manny, since I grew up with his sister Arlene and she is my best friend. His series is a testament to the multiplicities of his artistry and love for our people, said Fran Nededog Lujan, whom we featured on Dec. 2, 2021. An epic journey Very proud to read the many stories of Chamorros succeeding in a variety of fields from business, art, education, etc. and bringing the CHamoru culture with them. said Johnny Gogo, whom we featured on Oct. 7, 2021. As someone who spent most of my adult life away from Guam, the mahalang feeling is real and worth capturing among people from the Marianas. My sister, who has been in NYC since the 80s still tries to capture her CHamoru-Ness, even trying to pray in CHamoru. I relocated home in 2013 because my mom was slowing down and I wanted to spend time with her before she passed away. She died a year ago and Im glad I was here. Your project will stir up many emotions, some we will not realize weve been feeling, said Juan Flores of Agana Heights. We are all over the world, but our hearts are always home. This should be an epic journey for you. Safe travels! said Jeff Castro Harris of Pennsylvania. Yes, the journey is epic as I continue navigating mahahalang yan sasaonao (from root forms mahalang and saonao) my longing and belonging. Telling a story about our people, one mahalang sanlagu CHamoru at a time. Checks totaling $17.2 million were presented to 43 child care centers by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio Wednesday. The funds were distributed from the Guam Childcare Assistance Program Stabilization 2021. Each center got $400,000. We trust child care providers to support parents who are working to earn a living for their families. They nurture the minds of our children at a crucial time in their development, and they do so with loving care and kindness, the governor said. The child care centers were chosen based on those with an 80% revenue loss in 2020, according to a release by the governors office. It is welcomed news that these desperately needed federal resources that have been sitting idle are finally being released, Guam Del. Mike San Nicolas stated in a news release. While other jurisdictions across the country have deployed similar federal relief resources more timely, it seems we are expected to celebrate what is proving to be an intentional slow drip of support into our community, fueling speculation that it is on a political clock. Godsend This program is a godsend, said Caroline Arriola-Matsumiya, representing Mercy Heights. She said the grant will help update and buy safer and better learning equipment for children. The governor established the program with Executive Order 2021-28, to disperse American Rescue Plan funds through a collaboration between the Guam Economic Development Authority and Department of Public Health and Social Services. With this grant we will be continuing to provide high quality early childhood programs to the families on Guam, said Lani Tamondong, president of the Guam Child Care Association. She said funds will go toward resources for clients as well as training for staff. The grant is part of an effort by the governors office to prioritize child care with the establishment of the Division of Childrens Wellness under Public Health, Adelup stated. Established under executive order 2021-26 in November, the division includes the Bureau of Social Services, Child Protective Services and the Bureau of Child Care Services. A Superior Court of Guam judge issued a warrant for the arrest of a woman who allegedly smuggled drugs and paraphernalia into the Department of Corrections. Joanie Siguenza is wanted by the authorities after she failed to show up for a hearing before Judge Alberto E. Tolentino. Siguenza was scheduled to plead guilty to allegedly smuggling drugs and paraphernalia during a three-day stay at DOC in 2016. Tolentino issued a warrant for her arrest as she is on pre-trial release and did not show up for the hearing. DOC stay In 2016 Siguenza was confined at DOC for about three days for an unrelated case when officers discovered a black pouch under her bunk, PDN files state. Inside the pouch, authorities found the following: a digital scale, a plastic syringe, a glass pipe with black residue, a plastic straw, a metal container with several unused plastic bags, a small plastic bag with marijuana and two plastic bags with about 11 grams of methamphetamine, according to PDN files. Siguenza faces charges connected to possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver and two counts of promoting major prison contraband as a second-degree felony. Since 2001, Siguenza has been in and out of DOC for multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, according to prison records. Siguenza was most recently released on Dec. 23, 2021. With the emergence of the omicron variant around the world and an increase in holiday travel and gatherings, Guam's public health officials were expecting a surge in COVID-19 cases. "Just like the delta variant, there was nothing additional that we could have done to avoid omicron's effect in our community," Dr. Nathaniel Berg said Wednesday. "We are certain that the omicron variant is present on our island." Berg, chairman of the governor's physician advisory group, delivered a video message advising people to treat health care guidance with urgency and to seek help if they feel sick. "We know that testing and treating COVID-19 as efficiently as possible will help us heal," he said. Berg said the Department of Public Health and Social Services has placed orders for antiviral pills medications that were recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19. "If you are showing any signs at this point, such as a new cough, a new fever or generally feeling fatigued, you need to get tested quickly," he said. "And if your symptoms are getting worse, you need to do more than that: You need to see your health care provider." On Monday, there were three deaths reported from COVID-19-related causes. Two of the three were dead on arrival at the hospital. "I do not want to see any more dead on arrival cases," Berg said. "No one does. Go to the emergency room if you have symptoms that are progressively getting worse." Berg also advised people who haven't been vaccinated to get their shots. "If you have already relaxed your personal measures feeling OK about it things have changed," he said. "Now is the time for everyone to wear their mask correctly in public indoor settings, and especially in areas of substantial or high community transmission, such as at school or in the health care environment." Corrections & Clarifications: It was mistakenly reported in the 14th paragraph that in-patient dialysis was on hold at the Guam Memorial Hospital at the time of publication. Guam Memorial Hospital is experiencing a crush of patients visiting the emergency room as COVID-19 cases spike amid the global rise of the infectious omicron variant. We are certain that the omicron variant is present on our island, said Dr. Nathaniel Berg, chair of the governors physicians advisory group in a Wednesday announcement. While the island has been averaging around 10 new cases of COVID-19 a day in previous weeks, testing identified 210 new cases Tuesday and 189 Wednesday. Berg advised patients experiencing any symptoms to get tested immediately to avoid severe illness or death. The islands only public hospital is seeing an influx of non-COVID patients, GMHA public information officer Mai Habib said. As of Wednesday morning, there were 184 patients total at both the hospital and the Skilled Nursing Facility in Barrigada. GMH has a 161-bed capacity and Skilled Nursing has 40, but the total number that could be used was limited based on the number of staff available. The ER, specifically, is slammed, she said. According to Habib, the ER has seen a total of 46 visits in each of the last two 24-hour cycles, and six patients were awaiting a transfer Wednesday afternoon. The climbing number of patients was due in part to increased comorbidity factors over the holiday season for already unwell residents, along with rising cases of the flu, she said. GMH officials have been warning for months about an increased number of people who have had to delay treatment of non-COVID health issues. Some who delay treatment end up in the ER, Habib said. GMH and the Guam Regional Medical City have had to divert patients out of their ERs in the past few days. A portable, negative-pressure, BLU-MED tent that was set up outside of GMH to serve as an ER overflow for COVID patients in August is still standing outside of the hospital, ready to be used. A portable morgue is also on standby, should the morgue fill. A $15 million grant from FEMA is being used to outfit the Skilled Nursing Facility with 54 negative pressure-capable beds, but construction was still ongoing, Habib said. Dealing with previous surges had prepared GMH as far as designation of care units and personal protective equipment, she said, but another surge would still stretch resources thin. Weve been there, done that, and we know how to deal with it. And we will deal with it and well always be there for whatever the community needs. But if you ask the common health care worker whos on the floor, nobody wants to see another surge. Besides keeping elective surgeries on hold, another surge would also continue to drain resources from many of the goals that GMHA has of improving the hospital this year, she said. Government of Guam employees who use donated leave cant receive retirement credit for that time off, according to GovGuam, which this week responded to a federal lawsuit filed by the Justice Department alleging employees were not credited for time on active military duty. The lawsuit, filed last September, states several GovGuam employees used donated leave while on active military duty, and alleges GovGuam and the Government of Guam Employees Retirement Fund broke federal law by failing to give them retirement service credit and by failing to pay their retirement contributions. GovGuam allows employees to donate unused leave to other employees. The employees involved in the lawsuit reportedly used donated GovGuam leave several times, sometimes for months at a time, while on active duty with the Guam National Guard. The lawsuit cites the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, which states service members are entitled to retirement service credit in their civilian jobs while deployed. Defendants violated (the law) by treating employees using donated leave while on active military duty as having breaks-in-service, the lawsuit states. The attorney generals office, in a motion to dismiss, stated there was no discrimination because the policy regarding donated leave and retirement service credit applies equally to all GovGuam employees. Guam treats all of its employees alike, the AGs office stated. USERRA only prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on the basis of military service USERRA does not require Guam to provide preferential treatment to military service members government employees. The Retirement Fund, in a response filed this week, stated it was following the law and, cannot receive contributions for non-creditable service, including service by any government employee on leave sharing. It stated it did not receive employer or employee retirement contributions for four of the five claimants, and is not obligated to include any creditable service not paid for in full by the government employer or the employee. The employees in question all belong to the governments defined benefit retirement plan also referred to as the old plan, which guarantees retirement pay based on the number of years worked in GovGuam. The more years of credited service, the higher the retirement pay, to a maximum of 85% of their average salary. Public safety workers, including firefighters and police officers, are eligible to retire several years earlier than other GovGuam employees. GovGuam in October 1995 cut off new enrollment in the defined benefit plan, citing its high cost, and implemented a hybrid defined contribution plan for new employees, which provides a smaller guaranteed retirement annuity. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of: Jesse Cruz, who retired from the Guam Fire Department in December 2020; Raymond San Nicolas, who retired from GFD in August 2018; Alan Torre, who retired from GFD in September 2020; Andy Quinata, who joined the fire department in October 1992 and still is a firefighter; and Frederick Guzman, a teacher at John F. Kennedy High School who currently is on military leave. They all filed USERRA complaints with the U.S. Department of Labors Veterans Employment and Training Services in 2020, alleging their rights were violated. Cruz, San Nicolas and Torre allege their retirement checks are smaller because the government failed to give them enough retirement credit. Quinata alleges he now is required to work about two more years for GFD before he qualifies for full retirement benefits, and Guzman alleges he will have less credited service time, which will mean a lower pension for the rest of his life. The case is being heard by Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, who scheduled a settlement conference for February 2023, and a bench trial for March 2023. Support for armed rebellion in U.S. long predates Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill: Australian news website Xinhua) 14:19, January 05, 2022 WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- American support for conspiracy theories and armed rebellion has long existed before the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 last year, an article on the Australian news website The Conversation has said. In her article, Amanda Crawford, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut, explained how a 2013 poll on public perception of gun control and armed rebellion evolved from being considered "too unbelievable to be true" at the time to having gained serious attention even from those who originally dismissed it. The 2013 poll, which was carried out by Fairleigh Dickinson University following 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 people were killed, found widespread doubts about that shooting and shockingly high support for armed rebellion. Besides, a whopping 44 percent of Republicans said that armed rebellion might soon be necessary in the United States to protect liberties, according to Crawford. "If reality doesn't fit what you want it to be, you have to change what you believe, or you have to change reality," Daniel Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, was quoted by Crawford as saying. "It's easier for people who believe strongly in gun rights to say it didn't happen rather than change their minds" about guns, Cassino added. Philip Bump, now a national correspondent at The Washington Post, was quoted as saying in an article published then by The Atlantic magazine that "the poll is at-best semi-scientific and should probably not be taken seriously." Bump, who has written about the Jan. 6 insurrection, told Crawford in a recent phone call that he would not dismiss the poll today like he did back then. Cassino said the finding of the poll didn't necessarily indicate that regular people would pick up arms, but it did show this notion was becoming part of the Republican partisan identity. Crawford also mentioned several polls in 2021 after the Capitol insurrection, which showed that a troublesome portion of Americans think political violence, and even a civil war, is necessary in today's America. "The actual armed insurrection that happened in January (2021) showed us this is a real strain in American politics that has gotten stronger and is not going away," Cassino said. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) "The golden age of durian trade is coming," said Edwyn Chiang, secretary general of the Malaysia International Durian Industry Development Association, expecting the RCEP to spur exports of the thorny "king of fruits" by 50 percent by the year 2030. #GLOBALink Produced by Xinhua Global Service Joey Allan Acfalle Terlaje, the former deputy director of the Department of Corrections, denied charges brought against him connected to an incident in 2017. Terlaje pleaded not guilty to charges of felonious restraint as a third-degree felony and two charges of official misconduct as a misdemeanor at the Superior Court of Guam with his attorney Joaquin Jay Arriola Jr. The charges stem from a grand jury indictment that accuses Terlaje of exposing a victim to the risk of serious bodily injury at a 2017 barbecue, and for ignoring and abusing his position as a government official in relation to a crime. Alleged victim No other details have been made public since the indictment, however, at the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Leonardo Rapadas asked the court to ensure Terlaje stay away from the alleged victim, Vickilyn Teregeyo. According to PDN files, Teregeyo was the girlfriend of now incarcerated former Yona mayor Jesse Mendiola Blas. During Blas court proceedings, where he faced federal bribery and extortion charges, both he and Terlaje were accused by the FBI of assaulting Teregeyo at a barbecue. In the testimony, an alleged comment by Teregeyo made Terlaje and Blas upset, which was followed by the two hitting her and holding her against her will for three days, PDN files state. Terlaje resigned from his position as DOC deputy director shortly after his name was mentioned in the District Court of Guam in 2019 and hadnt been charged with anything since. Conditions Another condition of Terlajes pre-trial release proposed by Rapadas was for the former DOC deputy director to stay away from personnel in the marshals and probation offices if they were involved with the case. However, Quan requested more information about potential witnesses involved. I cant put a blanket stay away order ... Youre not giving me any names or anybody to stay away from, Quan said to Rapadas. Arriola added a vague order would set up Terlaje for greater potential to violate. It sets the client up for potential violation when hes not aware of exactly who he should not be in contact with, Arriola said on behalf of his client. To resolve the issue, federal probation will oversee Terlajes probation obligations while on pre-trial release. Terlaje is the son of Sen. Joe Pedo Terlaje. When Guam DOE students went strictly online for a few weeks during the previous COVID-19 case surge, there were more than 800 students who werent accounted for. In preparation for the next possible wave, Superintendent Jon Fernandez said the department has already prepared to make sure the hard to reach students will be able to get instructional time, even if its remotely. At this point, compared to last year, we have the available inventory of laptops to support distance learning at home, said Fernandez. We do currently do have an issue with the mifi contract that we hope to resolve shortly, at least have an interim measure in place to at least address internet access at home for those who dont have access. The previous mifi contract has expired. The department is currently focusing on a short-term solution for the 3,600 individuals who previously had the devices, as well as moving forward with a larger procurement. Despite the mifi issue, Fernandez believes that Guam DOE will have the ability to provide that support if the department is directed to move back to remote online learning. However, Fernandez said the department is maintaining the five days of face-to-face instruction for now. The department is closely monitoring what is happening in other states and other jurisdictions, as well as continuing to work with the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the governors office in other possible situations Guam DOE could encounter, according to Fernandez. Were in a constant state of preparation, but we are trying to adjust to the different characteristics this variant seems to be displaying, said Fernandez. Its not just our job, but Public Healths job as well, to ensure that the guidance out there regarding safety are again, adjusted to meet the situation and the unique characteristics that this variant could be posing. Fernandez said a meeting was held with school administrators Wednesday morning to clarify the situation and ensure the department is prepared for a variety of scenarios. The Mayors Council of Guam has recruited 15 new licensed foster parents thus far from its Gift of Family Christmas season campaign. The council is preparing to launch a new initiative to reach its goal of 19 foster parents, to represent the number of villages. Our intention is to now continue until the month of May, so even if we surpass the 19, our goal is to do the best that we can, said Kevin Delgado, vice mayor of Mangilao, during the councils Wednesday meeting. The campaign began in December with a village belen display contest between the mayors offices to raise awareness. Winners received cash prizes that will go to foster care efforts in their respective villages. The villages the foster families have been recruited from havent been released by the Department of Public Health and Social Services, said Delgado. Part of the initiative, Delgado said, is to create digital and print informational flyers about the campaign and the need for foster families on the island, accompanied by a prayer for the children. They will be passed out at churches around the island for Valentines Day weekend, Feb. 12-13. Piti Mayor Jesse Alig, the councils president, said mayors can help by giving a special focus on reaching out to the Catholic communities through the Archdiocese of Agana because Harvest Ministries is working within the islands Protestant communities to recruit families. Delgado said the digital flyers will be sent to the archdiocese as well as to the mayors offices to circulate through the community. Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares said shes eager to get the flyers, as there are 12 church denominations in her village she thinks could help. Corrections & Clarifications: this story has been updated to reflect that the Guam Ethics Commission has signed a memorandum of agreement with the University of Guam to develop an ethics curriculum, and that Ron McNinch does not officially serve in any capacity with the Commission. Other information was previously contained in the second paragraph. A more ethical government of Guam needs officials who first understand the laws they are supposed to follow and enforce, according to Ron McNinch, associate professor of public administration at the University of Guam. The recently-activated Guam Ethics Commission is developing an ethics training curriculum that every GovGuam employee will have to go through, and has signed an agreement with the University of Guam to deliver it. McNinch spoke on his own behalf to the Rotary Club of Northern Guam on Wednesday afternoon and said training alone would not develop more ethical public servants. Ethics is not something you can really learn. It is something you have to practice. Do as I say, not as I do? No, you have to practice it. You have to do what is right and show others youre doing what is right, he said. The laws that set the ethical examples to follow are close to what society might judge moral or ethical, McNinch said, but many officials dont have a firm grasp of their own mandates. There are some reasons why they dont know: They havent ever read the law, or the Legislature in its wisdom makes laws so fast (that) nobody can keep up with them, he said. A common example was Freedom of Information Act requests wrongly turned down. Lots of FOIA requests are denied. And the only recourse an average citizen has when they are fully turned down is to take them to court, and that takes about $10,000, he said. Conflicting or poorly formed legislation could also cause confusion, and the problem was further compounded by new appointees who relied on their advisers civil servants who remain in their positions for a long time to make decisions. But a long period serving the government doesnt mean someone understands the law, he said. More advanced training for leaders in GovGuam is a first step toward fixing the issue, McNinch said, but GovGuam employees arent the only people who need ethics training. A member of the Guam Board of Education, McNinch said he believes that ethics training is a duty of every citizen, which should start in high school. Another solution is to simply slow down the number of laws that are passed. I think Guams gotten to the point where we dont even need the Legislature to meet every year. I think that we could have an every other year body, but because Guam has so much vested in the industry of legislative action, we feel as if we need a full-time Legislature, full-time employees and everything else, when in fact were probably getting very little, McNinch said. The procurement of a new power plant for the Guam Power Authority, oversight of chemical disposal by government of Guam agencies, above-step hiring practices in GovGuam, and more will come under the scrutiny of the Office of Public Accountability in 2022. The office released its annual audit plan for 2022 Monday. Besides performance audits of chemical disposal, power plant procurement and above-step hiring, four other performance audits are planned: Physician services contracts and compensation packages at the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority. The Research Corporation of the University of Guam. Analysis of GovGuam agency leases. Sole-source procurement at the General Services Agency. We collectively agreed on the top seven audit topics based on our ranking and independently did a risk assessment for each, the office stated in a news release. Topics were provided by GovGuam agencies, department heads, public officials, hotline tips and citizen concerns. They were ranked based on financial impact, public concern, likelihood of a program failing and interest by public officials. The Office of Public Accountability also plans to continue 10 performance audits from 2021, including audits of alcohol and tobacco taxes, business privilege taxes on military contracts and COVID-19 quarantine and isolation facilities analysis. The subjects of other performance audits include: Part 3 of a Port Authority of Guam back wage audit. Procurement of a consultant for the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center. Part 2 of an audit of community funds for the Mayors Council of Guam. Part 3 of an audit of non-appropriated funds of the Mayors Council of Guam. Operations for the Government of Guam Retirement Fund. COVID-19 expenditures for GovGuam. The Autonomous Agency Collections Fund. We are committed to complete the performance audits we planned for calendar year 2021, the release stated. The plan is flexible and may be adjusted based on other audit requests, the availability of resources or the need to investigate potential fraud or conflicts of interest, the release stated. In addition to performance audits, the office plans to have all GovGuam financial audits issued by Feb. 28 at least 25, including the consolidated government-wide audit. A man found guilty by a jury for groping a 14-year-old girl will spend 60 days in prison. Normandy Ilagan Penaflorida was sentenced to a year in prison with all but 60 days suspended for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct as a misdemeanor. Presiding Judge Alberto C. Lamorena then allowed Penaflorida to serve the time on the weekends to accommodate his work schedule. Penaflorida will also have to register as a sex offender. Incident In 2018, Penaflorida was accused of touching a 14-year-old girls butt, kissing her on the lips and telling her she looked so sexy, according charging documents. At the time of his arrest, Penaflorida told the police that he told the girl not to tell anyone what happened because he knew what he did was wrong. Penaflorida was initially charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct as a first-degree felony and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct as a misdemeanor, PDN files state. Penaflorida was found guilty by a trial for the fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge, which under Guam law is considered a misdemeanor for first time offenders. He was found not guilty for the second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. The girl was commended by Assistant Attorney General Rolland Wimberly for testifying at trial. The victim showed real bravery in speaking out against what the defendant did and being willing to face him. We commend her for her bravery. Our View: Now is not the time for the community to be complacent about COVID-19 Haiti - News : Zapping... HUEH emergency room ransomed Unidentified armed individuals broke into the emergency department of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti (HUEH) at the beginning of this week, have ransomed the sick and the doctors and threatened with death of hospital security guards. PNH : Technical and logistical support from Taiwan Monday January 3, Elbe Frantz, Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) accompanied by his Chief of Staff and the central directors of the administrative and judicial police, met with Wen-Jiann KU Ambassador of Taiwan (Republic of China) in Haiti. Discussions focused on issues concerning security, technical and logistical support from Taiwan to the PNH. Assassination of the President : 4 people released provisionaly Eddy Amazan, Jacques Sincere, Ciceron Cedernier and Wilner Cange, who were imprisoned at the National Penitentiary in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, were granted provisional release on Monday. Chancellor Geneus in Argentina The Chancellor, Jean Victor Geneus, will participate to the Summit of Foreign Ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on January 6 and 7, 2022 which will work on the implementation of decisions taken by the last summit of heads of state and government. On the sidelines of the summit, the Chancellor will meet with his counterparts from Mexico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic on issues of common interest. Fever, flu or Omicron ? Many cases of influenza and fever are recorded in Haiti. The Ministry is awaiting the result of the genomic sequencing of the virus samples sent to a specialized laboratory in the USA to find out whether the Omicron variant is present in Haiti. While waiting for the Director General of the Ministry, Dr Laure Adrien invites the population to observe health measures and barrier gestures to avoid the worst. Tennis : Naomi is back Tuesday, January 4, 2022, after four months of absence, the Japanese of Haitian origin Naomi Osaka (24) made her return to competition with a victory in the first round of the Melbourne tournament, [6-4, 3-6 , 6-3] against the French Alize Cornet (31 years old). In the 8th final, Naomi will face the Ukrainian Maryna Zanevska (28 years old). HL/ HaitiLibre Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Published on 2022/01/04 | Source Star writers who dominate the home theater return. Advertisement Kim Eun-sook, Noh Hee-kyeong, Kim Eun-hee-I, drama writers, who boast as much impact as top stars, will release new works this year. Top stars lined up to appear in these dramas naturally gather in the small screen. Production teams are raising interest by pre-warming up viewership ratings by 'reviewing' previous works on the return of star writers. Strengthening personality or trying something new. Writer Kim Eun-hee-I, who created Netflix's "Kingdom" series, will return to her trademark thriller genre. She is preparing for "The Demon" (working title) to air on SBS at the end of the year. As soon as tvN's "Jirisan" ended on December 12th last year, she immediately began casting. It is about two men and women who know how to see ghosts looking for demons that harm people. Top stars, including Kim Tae-ri, have been offered the main role and are discussing it. Writer Kim Eun-sook, who made her name known for KBS 2TV's "Descendants of the Sun" and tvN's "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God", chose to transform. She will join hands with actor Song Hye-kyo to release an eight-part drama, "The Glory". It is a drama about revenge that is quite different from the typical desperate romance that she mainly focused on. It is the story of the protagonist who appears as a teacher in front of her perpetrators to revenge the school violence she suffered during her school days. It plans to shoot in advance from January and release it on Netflix in the second half of the year. Production companies, 'busy preparing' Writers Noh Hee-kyeong and the Hong Sisters (Hong Jeong-eun and Hong Mi-ran) will present their works in the first half of the year. Writer Noh Hee-kyeong, who created tvN's "Dear My Friends" and "Live", wrote "Our Blues", in which top stars such as Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Cha Seung-won and Kim Woo-bin participate one after another. The drama, which has been filmed since last fall and aired on tvN in April, was organized in omnibus format in accordance with the Noh Hee-kyeong's request, who said, "I want to attempt something new". The Hong Sisters' fantasy world will also open again. The Hong Sisters, who gained popularity with fantasy materials such as SBS's "Master's Sun" and tvN's "Hotel Del Luna" will present "Soul Marriage", which depicts the stories of young 'magicians' who perform magic in June. In addition, Park Ji-eun, author of tvN's "Crash Landing on You", is known to have recently begun planning a new romantic comedy genre drama. It is unusual for star writers to flock to the home theater at once. As a result, not only broadcasters but also OTT platforms are competing behind the scenes to secure their works. An official from a production company said, "Since last year, each production company and broadcaster have been rapidly producing works by famous artists to jump on the trend of 'K' content' around the world". Quincy, IL (62301) Today Partly cloudy early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain this afternoon. High 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Rain likely. Low around 55F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. KABUL, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- "I earn up to 1,000 afghani a day, depending on my work," said Samsoor, 28, who works for Zmarai Gayanwal Ltd., a pine nut processing and export company in Kabul. "I love my job and so we really need to export more to China. It's the only way to increase our income and keep the plant operating," said Samsoor. Established in 2015, Zmarai Gayanwal Ltd. now has over 100 people working for the company, said company president Sher Ali Zadran. "Between 100 to 150 people work here directly in the factory and thousands more work indirectly," Zadran told Xinhua. "The factory pays 300 afghani a day for each worker, besides providing lunch and transportation." The company exported 650 tons of nuts to China last year and is planning to hit 950 tons in 2022, with between 28,000 and 38,000 U.S. dollars per ton. While Zadran is happy enough with his income and the progress of his plant, he hopes that more Chinese investors will see the profits to be made and use their money to create more jobs. Khalil Rashid, managing director of a pine nuts processing and export company, highlighted that the pine-nut trade with China had created jobs for thousands of people in his country, which had been at war for decades. "Besides people working in the factory, their families also process nuts at home and bring them back to factory after they finish," Rashid said. Pine cones are harvested 10 days before they open. The cones are dried in the sun for 20 days and then smashed to release the nuts which are sorted by hand. It takes time and persistence to extract the nuts from the cones, justifying the high price. Afghanistan historically exported 10,000 tons of pine nuts to China each year, with others heading to countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Exports had been disrupted last year, but to China at least, trade more or less resumed at the end of October with the first air shipment of 45 tons. Thousands of Afghans are now working with more than a dozen nut processing factories. "We are very happy to provide more jobs for people and to make more money, not for us also for our workers," said Rashid. "More exports will bring more jobs." According to aid agencies, more than 22 million Afghans will face severe food shortages in Afghanistan this winter. Without overseas assistance, a humanitarian catastrophe threatens. "More than 10,000 people work in the pine-nut industry whether on plantations, transportation or processing," said Shafiqullah Atayee of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment. "Creating jobs could be the most effective way to help Afghans out of poverty. China is the main destination for our pine nuts. The country has a huge market for Afghan products and seems keen to import as much as we can offer them in terms of dried and fresh fruit, carpets and handicrafts," Atayee said. Afghan private airline Kam Air has run more than 30 cargo flights taking pine nuts to China since November. "Cargo flights will continue in 2022. Kam Air and exporters are determined to increase Afghanistan's exports," said the airline's Mohammad Nadeam Naqshbandi.(1 Afghani equals 0.0095 U.S. dollar) Enditem What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 574-583-5121 or email cgrace@thehj.com. HAMMOND As COVID-19 cases reach new highs in Indiana, Hammond has reinstated a mask mandate for all public buildings. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. signed an executive order reinstating the mask mandate Monday morning. The mandate is effective immediately and will last until March 1 if McDermott does not renew or rescind it. Unmasked visitors will not be allowed entry into city buildings; the order does not apply to private businesses. The mandate also makes exceptions for people who are eating or drinking, or who are participating in sporting events. In the Hammond Sportsplex, masks will be required for attendees and staff, but not for players or refs, McDermott explained. I am still approaching Hammond as business as usual, just with masks, McDermott said. This is different because with the new strain (omicron) I know a dozen people that are ill with COVID right now, and through the first and second waves of the pandemic, I couldnt say that. All city meetings and events currently on the books will continue as planned, though details on masking requirements for speakers and performers will be worked out in the coming weeks. McDermott said the city may even institute vaccine or testing requirements for larger public events. "I hope I can reverse this and rescind the order soon, but given what we are hearing about a surge and with many holiday gatherings increasing the risk of spread of COVID-19, I think this is the best course of action for the near term, McDermott said. "I want to make sure we are safe at City Hall and all other public buildings so that the city is being proactive about protecting its workforce including our first responders." The executive order also encourages COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots "as the best and easiest way to slow the spread and minimize the risk of hospitalization and death." McDermott cited the recent surge in COVID-19 cases as the reasoning behind the new mandate. Lake County is currently classified as "red," meaning uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Ive told everyone that will listen that Im vaccinated and boosted and that doing so is the best way to overcome this illness and minimize the risk to yourself of a severe illness or worse," McDermott said. "Go get the shot thats about as straightforward as I can be." McDermott signed two other executive orders in November, mandating vaccinations for all newly hired city employees as well as current employees who apply for a transfer or promotion. Thus far, there has been little pushback on the orders; city departments often do not add many new hires around the holidays, McDermott said. "The City Hall is a gathering place and people come here to conduct their business," McDermott said. "If they do not want to wear a mask, they can conduct their business online." Gov. Eric Holcomb is well aware Hoosier Republicans have practically unlimited power, and nearly unlimited resources, heading into Tuesday's first daily meeting of the 2022 Indiana General Assembly. But the Republican chief executive is preaching caution to the state's occasionally unruly legislative congregation urging them to follow through on initiatives begun last year and to prepare for next year's budget session, rather than immediately upending the state's tax rates, education system and myriad other stable public policies. "We've got a lot of momentum. We want to make sure we're doing everything we can to keep that momentum going forward," Holcomb said Monday as he unveiled his modest agenda for the 10-week legislative session. The governor said it all starts with prioritizing the state's business environment by eliminating the business personal property tax on newly purchased equipment, restructuring corporate incentive programs to make Indiana more attractive for investment, and encouraging remote workers to relocate to Indiana. At the same time, Holcomb wants to "skill up" Hoosier workers beginning in the earliest years by establishing an Office of Kindergarten Readiness at the Department of Education, measuring schools based on how well they prepare students for success beyond the classroom and working to better connect Hoosiers seeking new jobs with the skills and training Indiana employers need. "We've got a 3% unemployment rate here in the state of Indiana, lower than any state that we touch. That's 100,096 individuals, and we've got 152,000 unfilled jobs posted on our state website," Holcomb said. "How do match those? We'll be proactively reaching out." Holcomb also is urging the Legislature to improve access to mental health services, support his effort to reform Indiana's public health systems, invest in initiatives to prevent sudden unexplained infant deaths, follow through on plans to bolster state infrastructure and broadband connectivity, safely dispose of dangerous firefighting foam and modernize law enforcement training and technology. "These priorities will cultivate a more competitive environment to attract new economic development opportunities, establish better access to public health resources and help connect Hoosiers to better employment and training opportunities," Holcomb said. "Our efforts will advance Indianas reputation as a state Hoosiers want to live, work, play, study and stay." The governor repeatedly declined to specifically address many of the hot-button proposals pending in the House and Senate, including limiting how schools teach controversial subjects, immediately reducing tax rates and preventing businesses from implementing COVID-19 prevention measures. "I'll look at the bills that come across my desk. There's a number of them," Holcomb said. "I've got my agenda that's what I think we need to focus on." House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, both said they'll consider Holcomb's priorities as they work with him to improve Indiana. Hastings, NE (68901) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Becoming windy for the afternoon. High 41F. Winds NE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Cloudy. Periods of light rain and windy at times early. Low 34F. Winds N at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible. Our View: Some New Year resolutions for Havasu in 2022 Our community can get these things right this year from Montana Cattlemens Association Montana Cattlemens Association created Montana Cattlemens Foundation several years ago. The foundation has a program called Beef On Every Plate Beef On Every Plate is a program that ranchers donate cull cows. Montana Cattlemens Foundation pays for the processing and the beef is donated to programs in need. It is totally volunteer and the donated proceeds go 100 percent toward feeding the needy of Montana. Just before Christmas, two beef were donated to Beef On Every Plate. Monday, the processing was complete and one beef was donated to the Great Falls Rescue Mission and the other beef was donated to the City of Denton. Montana Cattlemens Association and Foundation are very grateful for the donation of beef. So many people need food, especially at this time of the year. Beef On Every Plate has one more beef in the processing stage. Please consider donating a beef it is a tax deductible donation or donating money to help pay for the cost of processing. Thank you to everyone who help Beef On Every Plate help the people of Montana eat. If you are interested in donating to the program, please contact Jan McDonald at 406-467-2251 or at [email protected] Steam billows from Havre Laundry and Dry Cleaning into the frosty air this morning. The cold weather is expected to stick around through the week, though some warmer temperatures are expected to accompany snow Friday, but the highs are expected to go up next week. After a brief respite over the weekend, the cold is back - and some more snow also is expected this week including a winter weather advisory Thursday - but forecasters expect this part of north-central Montana to see warmer temperatures again next week. After bitter cold last week including temperatures colder than minus 30 New Year's Eve, it warmed up New Year's Day and Sunday, when highs hit above freezing. But the cold was quick to return, with highs in the 20s and lows in the teens by Monday and temperatures back below zero by Tuesday. The cold was not quite as severe as predicted - lows in the minus 20s were expected Tuesday night while Havre saw a low of minus 18 - but the high in Havre was zero shortly after midnight and the temperatures kept dropping. The cold is expected to continue today, with highs predicted in the negative teens and lows from the negative 30s to a prediction of minus 32 tonight in Harlem. And a wind chill warning is in effect in the area through Thursday afternoon, followed by a winter weather advisory as snow comes back. The wind chill advisory warns that the temperatures could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as few as 10 minutes. Montana Disaster and Emergeny Services advises people to wear layers, changing layers periodically to prevent them becoming damp or wet, and covering exposed skin. The winter weather advisory, in effect from noon Thursday through 5 a.m. Friday, warns of 2 inches to 5 inches of new snow in Chouteau County and 1 inch to 3 inches in Liberty, Hill and Blaine counties with 5 inches to 10 inches in the mountains. The snowy weather is expected to bring slightly warmer temperatures, with highs near or above zero Thursday and lows near or above zero with highs in the 20s to even 30s in the area Friday, but lows dropping again below zero Friday night and highs just warmer than zero Saturday. Highs are expected to be above zero Sunday with lows in the negative teens, but a warming trend is predicted after that. Highs are expected to hit the 20s Monday and rise above freezing by Tuesday. At a time when the Middle East is suffering from regional interventions and colonial policies by capitalist countries, the Kurdish-Arab alliance has become an urgent necessity. For years, seminars and dialogue conferences have been held between the Kurds and Arabs aimed at protecting the region and how to deter colonialism in addition to establishing brotherly relations between the two peoples to preserve the social fabric, and stressing the importance of establishing a Kurdish-Arab alliance that stands in the face of colonial ambitions. In this regard, our agency conducted a dialogue with the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council in Egypt, Laila Mussa. The following is the text of the interview: * What is the importance of this dialogue in light of the various challenges in Middle East from foreign interference and terrorism? In the midst of the events in the region in general and the challenges, and in light of the development of new strategies and mapping of the region imposed from the outside, taking advantage of the contradictions experienced by the majority of the regional countries with the complete absence of the will of their peoples, in many cases these strategies and mapping contradict their aspirations and their freedom, will and ambitions. , and even more than that, most of the countries in the region, in light of the global war, have turned into quagmire, suffering from intractable disasters and crises, because most of the solutions do not reflect on addressing the reasons for which societies rose up, so that the peoples of the region have an actual and central presence in addressing their issues. Getting out of the crises he suffers from and developing constitutions and policies to manage their regions requires the adoption of dialogue between the peoples and components of the region as a strategic option and not a tactical or interim option, because any alliance between the peoples of the region and their solidarity is the way to reduce the size of the gap of contradictions that the region suffers from, which has long been nourished by the outside to pass its agendas and projects colonial expansion. This choice is not difficult or impossible. On the contrary, there is a lived experience and it achieved a great deal of what we are talking about, which is the experience of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and how the Arab-Kurdish alliance, along with the rest of the components of the Syrian people, played the role in maintaining civil peace, social fabric, coexistence, fighting defeating terrorism, and standing in the face of many regional projects with expansionist occupier ambitions, foremost of which are the Ottoman Erdogan project and the Iranian Shiite crescent. The Autonomous Administration areas of northern and eastern Syria, thanks to this alliance, are managed according to a national project by its people of all ethnicities and beliefs, unlike the rest of the regions Syria, which is systematically subjected to Turkification and Shiism. Therefore, the Arab and Kurdish peoples should seize the opportunity and stand hand in hand and form a strategic alliance that contributes to ensuring their survival alongside the rest of their brothers from the components of the Syrian people by running their country according to a national project that preserves the principles of the revolution and guarantees freedom, democracy, social justice, a dignified life and true citizenship. And when I talk about the Syrian experience, I do not limit the relationship within the Syrian national domain only, but rather include the Arab and Kurdish peoples in general, because the danger is not only to Syria, but to the entire region, and regional and even international countries, their projects and ambitions, include the entire region. The success of their experience in Syria opens the way to generalize their experiences in the rest of the countries of the region and vice versa, and the preservation of the national security of any people is dependent on the preservation of the national security of the other people. * How do you assess Kurdish-Arab relations at the present time, and what is the common basis between the two peoples? The relations between the two peoples historically, even at the present time, exist and dominated by brotherly, respect and good neighborliness. They fought in one trench in the face of the occupying forces of their countries, because they share a common destiny, history, enemy and threat. Their national security depends on each other. Unfortunately, this relationship has not developed into a strategic choice due to some politicians and leaders in the region whose personal interests have prevailed over the public interest. Some regimes of a nationalistic and religious nature are the creation of the abroad and often play on ideological and nationalist tendencies, taking advantage of material needs and greed. And the narrow personal interests of some leaders and chiefs of tribes and clans to strike peoples at each other, in addition to dividing countries according to the Sykes-Picot Agreement and other agreements, contributed to creating a rupture between the peoples of the region by practicing a systematic policy of starvation and limiting the thinking of the peoples of the region to securing a living and distracting them with their material needs. Sometimes, however, its successes remained within narrow frameworks, and it was unable to cause a rupture in the historical relations that are rooted in the depth of history and are based on humanitarian and moral foundations in the first place. * What are the obstacles that stand in the way of Kurdish-Arab dialogue? In my opinion, there are many obstacles and difficulties, in addition to many challenges that try to prevent any Kurdish-Arab rapprochement from occurring. Rather, it works actively to erase the alliances and relations that used to unite the two peoples from the memory of the peoples, and works to present these alliances in a distorted and hollowed out of their essence and reality. Among the obstacles and challenges, for example: The continuity of the existence of the artificial borders imposed on the region and its repercussions on the mental and spiritual state and its contributions to creating a rupture and isolation between the two peoples. The majority of the two peoples ignored the truth and history of each other, for many reasons, either because of the spread of illiteracy and ignorance of historical facts or school curricula far from the truth and history of the region, and the smear campaigns that the two peoples are exposed to by the enemies of the region and portraying them as sometimes separatists or barbarians and other epithets far from The truth, or misrepresentation of the history of the region. In addition to the nature of the regimes that run the region, whether those characterized by a religious or national character that reject the different other, and even find that ensuring its existential security passes through the elimination of the other. In addition to the preoccupation of every people with their internal problems, securing their basic needs, their ignorance of history and drawing lessons and lessons from it, their lack of reading and analysis of the present, and the development of plans, projects and future strategies for managing their countries. We do not forget the huge amount of continuous smear campaigns that both peoples are exposed to, and the policies of powers, states, organizations, and parties with expansionist occupier ambitions and economic projects, which have long been nourished by contradictions and the gap between the peoples of the region, they work diligently to create enmities and rifts between the Arab and Kurdish peoples. How can Kurdish-Arab unity be effectively achieved on the ground? In my opinion, as long as the causes are known, the solutions are not impossible, and as it is logically known, discovering the problem is half the solution. We need, in the first place, to rewrite the history of the region and remove all the impurities and distortions that plague it. To work hard to raise the level of knowledge of the two peoples about their history and present by conducting a real and serious dialogue based on a real and serious desire of the two peoples by intensifying the dialogue and cultural activities, media programs and civil society institutions aimed at bringing the two peoples together by strengthening the commonalities and working together to overcome controversial and pending issues. In addition to the real and actual participation of the two peoples along with the rest of the peoples who are united by the unity of destiny, history and the goal of developing strategies, plans and projects to manage their countries in proportion to the nature, characteristics and privacy of their societies. Conducting a real dialogue to discuss the threats and challenges facing the two peoples, and come up with long-term projects and strategies and interim tactics to overcome and eliminate them. Most important of all, the Kurdish-Arab dialogue should not be restricted to the framework of Iraq and Syria alone, as the relationship between the two peoples is more comprehensive, deeper and broader. * What is required of influential figures from both sides to highlight the Kurdish issue to the whole world? The beginning of defining the Kurdish issue in all its aspects and dimensions for the people, and not limiting it to political and academic frameworks and elites, because the majority of the Arab people are ignorant of the history, truth and cause of the Kurdish people, and if they possess some information, most of them are distorted, distorted and misleading due to the horror and the size of the media and private war practiced by the enemies and usurpers of Kurdistan and the beneficiary forces From pricing the hostility and conflicts between the peoples of the region to keep them fragile and weak. Introducing the two peoples to the dialectical relationship with regard to existential, national and identity security and their effects on each other. Highlighting and highlighting the importance and necessity of the relationship between the two peoples at this historical and fateful stage that the two peoples are going through, the role of this relationship in reaching safety, and the repercussions it may have on the future and fate of the two peoples in the event that this relationship fades. We are in dire need of a constructive style and discourse that calls for fraternity and coexistence. (A) ANHA In a statement, the coalition said, "At approximately 6:45 am, the outlaw militias fired 5 missiles towards the Iraqi base of Ain Al-Assad." These missiles fell, according to the statement, "about two kilometers from the base in another reckless act that could have caused severe damage to innocent Iraqi civilians!" The pro-Iranian factions usually target bases where US forces are present, and indicators of tension between the two sides have risen since the beginning of this month, coinciding with the second anniversary of the assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and his companions. A Source: Alsumaria Despite passing decade of the Syrian crisis, but Damascus Government still sticks of its despotic mentality, at a time that considered Turkish - backed groups terrorists, rejects the dialogue with AANES under false pretexts, holding meetings with Turkey that occupies Syrian lands that committed horrible crimes, entering thousands of mercenaries to the Syrian lands, annexation the Sanjak of Alexandretta to its lands since decades. In the view of the co-chair of the Kurdistan Democratic Peace Party, Talal Mohamed: "Ten years after the Syrian crisis, however, there has been no change in the attitude, mentality and culture of the Syrian regime towards what the Syrian regime has been subjected to. On the contrary, the regime continues to maintain its exclusion mentality, its disapproval of others who disagree with it politically, and its demands for democratic change. At the same time, it is willing to engage in dialogue with any party with whom it agrees only in tyranny and exclusion, in order to maintain its presence in the reins of the rule. He went on to say the intransigence of the Syrian regime that caused massive destruction, a lot of exodus, saying it is fully ready to hold dialogue with those who violates and occupies the Syrian lands and collaboration with Turkey that occupied an extensive parts of the Syrian lands, making demographic change and policies of stealing, looting abusive practices against indigenous residents. Talal Mohammed addressed the intransigence of the Damascus Government and its constant rejection of dialogue with AANES: "The regime always rejects dialogue with AANES with irrational arguments; the Syrian regime has its primary role; Because it makes the Syrian border open to all the powers that have entered the country, its history is full of bargaining and trade - offs at the expense of Syrian geography and the Syrian people, and the Sanjak of Alexandretta is the best proof of that. " He noted that: "This regime describes the democratic forces that have struggled to liberate Syrian areas from terrorism, maintained Syria's unity with militias and mercenaries, and asked them to settle it considers the AANES project is a separatist project, while the administration has managed to preserve and protect vast areas of Syria." About the Turkish press's reported meeting between Turkey and the Damascus Government to launch a joint attack against the AANES, Mohammed explained: "I believe that such discussions between Ankara and Damascus are not new, that security and secret meetings have not stopped between them, and that the aim is to prolong the Syrian crisis. Turkey continues its occupation project and the regime continues to cling of the reins of the rule, at a time when 2021 witnessed some understandings among the international Powers to agree on a step towards a political solution to the Syrian crisis, based on United Nations resolution 2,254, which Turkey and the Syria regime are also aware of. So, what brings Ankara and Damascus Government together, and it is in their interest, is to deepen the crisis further and agree on everything that is in their interest. " Talal Mohammed stated that if Damascus Government had any intention of agreeing with AANES, Turkey would not have been able to occupy more Syrian territory and commit crimes against the Syrian people: "The option for Damascus Government is dialogue with the AANES in order to resolve the Syrian crisis and expel the Turkish occupier." To stop the Syrian bleeding, a serious dialogue must be opened with the Autonomous Administration. Talal Mohammad believes that the continuation of the Damascus Government in its intransigence and its militarization policy to solve the Syrian crisis will lead to more destruction, devastation and displacement. The co-chair of the Kurdistan Democratic Peace Party, Talal Mohammad, stressed that the Damascus government's opening of a serious dialogue with the Autonomous Administration is enough to stop the Syrian bleeding, and he stated: "In order to stop the Syrian bleeding, Damascus Government must show a spirit of responsibility and open a serious dialogue with the Autonomous Administration and agreement with it, Because facts have proven the success of the Autonomous Administration project, to be a basis on which Syrian understandings are built in order to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis, a solution that satisfies everyone. T/S ANHA TOP 10 STORIES OF 2021: 10, 9, 8 The new $11.7 million police station on Ashe Street is one of several major projects complete or in the works. Others include a new parking deck downtown and a replacement for Fire Station 1. 10. A capital year A project that has been in the talking stages for decades will be visible as concrete and steel in the coming year. In September the Hendersonville City Council authorized a $9.7 million construction contract for a new parking deck on North Church Street at Fifth Avenue West. Projected to open in 2023, the parking deck is financed a loan that will be repaid by parking deck fees, long-term leases and paid parking on Main Street at $1.75 per hour starting in January 2023. In November city officials celebrated the opening of the new 26,000-square-foot police headquarters on Ashe Street. The City Council envisioned the new $11.7 million cop shop as a potential catalyst for stability and redevelopment in the Historic Seventh Avenue District, which has some homes in dilapidated condition. Coming next in the district is a new streetscape. And finally, the council also authorized a replacement for Fire Station 1 at a cost of $9.5 million after engineers said repairs and renovation would be impractical and inadequate to serve the needs of the American Disability Act and a co-ed firefighting force. 9. Life in prison for Stroupe Phillip Michael Stroupe II received a sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of a beloved Mills River man from a family who had been in the county for generations. After Stroupe, 43, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping, Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite imposed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole plus additional consecutive sentences totaling another 304-402 months, which is 25-33 years in prison. The agreement was announced Aug. 31 by District Attorney Andrew Murray. Members of Tommy Bryson's family joined District Attorney Andrew Murray for the announcement of the guilty plea of Phillip Michael Stroupe II for the murder of Bryson.This defendant robbed our community of a salt of the earth, Godly man who was cherished by his family, friends and neighbors, he said. We agree with the family that this sentence, which ensures the defendant will never walk our streets again, hopefully brings some closure not only to the family but the entire community grieving the loss of Tommy Bryson. A convicted felon who had recently been released from prison, Stroupe fled from deputies at a traffic stop in Transylvania County on July 22, 2017, triggering a four-day manhunt in and around Pisgah National Forest. Stroupe encountered and kidnapped Bryson, 68, at gunpoint. Eventually, he took Mr. Bryson to a cornfield, where he coldheartedly shot Mr. Bryson and left him to die, Murray said. Sparing the family the agony of reliving horrific details of their loved ones murder, the uncertainty of holding a lengthy death penalty trial during Covid restrictions and avoiding the years, even decades of the likely appeal of a capital murder conviction were reasons for the decision. "Considering all these factors, Mr. Brysons family reached out to the District Attorneys Office after concluding that they would prefer to extend unmerited grace to the defendant and ensure finality and closure for their family, he said. 8. No asphalt, no storage units Disruptive land-use cases again drew organized public opposition. After Southeastern Asphalt Co. owner Jeff Shipman refiled a rezoning request for an asphalt plant on Spartanburg Highway in East Flat Rock, homeowners, business owners and environmental activists fought back with yard signs, billboards, online petition, a social media campaign and legal counsel. Hours before the Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hear the rezoning request, Shipman withdrew the application, just as he had done in 2020. Friends of East Flat Rock leader Michelle Tennant Nicholson thanked residents for their support during the land-use fight. "On behalf of all the neighbors who signed our petition and have worked tirelessly to fight this asphalt plant rezoning property next door to our churches, schools, homes, and businesses, I want to thank the Henderson County planning department for their endless hours receiving emails, letters, and phone calls," she said. Meanwhile, homeowners in Crab Creek won a battle before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which denied applicant Matthew Cookes request to rezone land for 1,000 self-storage units. Opponents presented testimony on traffic, the viewshed and residential property depreciation while Cookes attorney argued that the commercial use was compatible with surrounding use. Cooke has appealed the zoning boards decision in Superior Court. A COUPLE from Henley have started a new online vegan bakery. Kerina Newell and Joshua Gaillet work out of the kitchen at their home in Adwell Square and offer 18 different types of baked goods, including seven brownies, six cakes and five shortbreads. The products can be shipped anywhere in England, Wales or Scotland and can also be collected by locals. The couple, both 31, have called their business Bam Bam Vegan after their nickname for each other. Mr Gaillet is a patisserie chef who began his training at age 16 in his native Brittany. Miss Newell, who is originally from Wiltshire, said: Joshua worked full time from the age of 16 and it was always his dream to start his own business and we thought, Why not put our skills together? My background is in buying and communication, which I studied at Bournemouth University, so I do the operations and social media and source all the ingredients. The business took about six months to set up and during that time I was doing the box creations, coming up with the name and the branding and Joshua was working on the recipes. We wanted to create our favourite household treats without compromising on flavours. The couple first met in 2014 while they were travelling around Australia. They thentravelled to Indonesia and around Europe before moving to Henley in January 2020. We hit it off straight away, said Miss Newell We then travelled together for a bit in Australia before going to Indonesia. We moved back to Wiltshire and stayed there for two years before we went travelling in our campervan around Europe. When we came back we discussed starting our own business. We moved to Henley as Joshua worked at Hurley House Hotel as a pastry chef for about a year and then covid happened so we thought, Why not open our own business from home? In the beginning we had really great feedback in Henley we had outstanding reviews. It was going really well but has slowed down since then. With any small business it can always be quite slow but were very optimistic were both being positive. The products made by Mr Gailett contain no eggs, dairy, gelatin or chemical compounds. Miss Newell made sure the packaging is eco-friendly and is compostable and recyclable. She said: It was about two years after we met that we went vegan. We did it for a number of reasons. Were very health conscious and its a mixture of thinking about the environment, being eco-conscious and thinking about animal cruelty as well. The pair hope to move to a bigger kitchen in the future and are considering opening a vegan cafe. Mr Gaillet is also working on new items to add to the bakerys range. such as macaroons and praline cakes. For more information, visit /www.bambamvegan.com News featured popular urgent Piedmont Henry Hospital not allowing visitors due to COVID-19 increase Special Due to the increase in community spread of COVID-19, Piedmont Henry Hospital is not allowing visitors for the time being. Visitors for patients with emergencies or for those undergoing outpatient procedures must wait outside in their vehicles. STOCKBRIDGE Due to the increase in community spread of COVID-19, Piedmont Henry Hospital is not allowing visitors for the time being. Visitors for patients with emergencies or for those undergoing outpatient procedures must wait outside in their vehicles. We believe that restricting visitation at this time is in the best interest of keeping our patients and our staff safe, said Lily Henson, M.D., CEO of Piedmont Henry. We are asking the community to do everything they can to help stop the spread of this virus. That means wearing a mask, watching your distance and limiting potential exposure to others, washing your hands frequently, and getting the vaccine and booster when you are able to do so. Legal guardians or family caregivers will be allowed if it is determined necessary for the care of the patient (such as end of life care, NICU and other minors receiving care). Labor and delivery patients will be allowed one support person. Any other exceptions need to be approved by leaders in specific departments. All visitors (support persons) must be 18 years of age or older and are required to wear a mask in the hospital at all times, regardless of vaccination status. Masks must cover a persons nose and mouth. We realize that this will be very difficult for our patients and their families and friends, but we need to keep our patients and staff safe, said Henson. We appreciate everyones understanding and cooperation during this healthcare crisis. Piedmont Henry encourages people to remain closely connected to their loved ones in the hospital through virtual means. Email messages to patients can be sent to PHHFeelTheLove@piedmont.org and apps such as Skype, Zoom, DUO or FaceTime can be used to set up virtual face-to-face meetings. Free access for current print subscribers As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to premium content on HenryHerald.com, including local news, local sports, obituaries, legal notices, local features, and the e-edition. All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name. Don't know your subscription number? Email access@henryherald.com with your delivery address. Activate your account now. BEIRUT, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese-Qatari Businessmen Council was established to boost the partnership between the two countries' private sectors, Mohammad Choucair, head of Beirut's Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, announced on Wednesday. A statement released by the chamber noted that the new council will work on boosting bilateral economic ties. Choucair stressed that the establishment of this council comes as Lebanon aims to strengthen economic relations with Arab countries, especially the Gulf States. "The Gulf States are strategic economic partners for Lebanon at all levels, including tourism, export of industrial, agricultural and service products, investments, and foreign transfers," he said, adding that the historical, human, and brotherly relations bind the Lebanese with peoples of these countries. Fadi Saab, president of the new council, said that he will make a high-quality leap in economic cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries. In light of Lebanon's economic crisis, Saab called for efforts to improve relations with the Gulf countries in the interest of his country. Greenville, TX (75401) Today Mostly cloudy this morning then windy with a few scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we've all known individuals who have done more than their share to help their neighbors and communities with food, comfort, care, companionship and dozens of other needs. If you know of such a person, you can nominate them to be featured in our upcoming H Princeton, KY (42445) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. ASMARA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh here on Wednesday. Wang Yi said that it has been 32 years in a row for Chinese foreign ministers to visit Africa for the first time. This demonstrates the solidarity and cooperation between China and Africa, and also shows that China's diplomacy always stands on the side of developing countries. Eritrea is the first country on this African tour. China cherishes its traditional friendship with Eritrea and is willing to open up new prospects for the development of bilateral relations. The biggest outcome of this visit is that the two sides reached a consensus and the top leaders of the two countries have made major political decisions to elevate China-Eritrea relations to the Strategic Partnership, which serves the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries and two peoples. China would like to take this opportunity to advance all-around mutually beneficial cooperation, open a new chapter in bilateral relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples. The two sides should strengthen the synergy of the "nine programs" put forward at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to inject strong impetus into future cooperation. Wang Yi said that as strategic partners, China and Eritrea should more firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. "We should strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and multilateral affairs, hold high the banner of multilateralism, and oppose hegemony and power politics. We will continue to promote democracy in international relations and safeguard international fairness and justice," said Wang. China will always stand by our African brothers, and China's vote in the United Nations always belongs to developing countries. On his part, Osman said the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between Eritrea and China will push bilateral relations to a new height. Eritrea fully agrees with Chinese President Xi Jinping's "nine programs" initiative and is ready to work with China to align and implement the cooperation framework plan, strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, ports, industrial parks, and translate the willingness of cooperation into tangible results. Eritrea and China share common ideals on issues such as peace and stability, sovereignty and independence, mutually beneficial development, equity and justice. Eritrea firmly pursues the one-China policy and supports China's just position on issues related to China's Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea. It is Eritrea's long-standing tradition to stand with China. Eritrea is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China to jointly safeguard the legitimate interests of developing countries. Following the talks, the two foreign ministers signed a joint statement. Enditem We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Submit On January 2, Chattisgarh state BJP leader and ex-minister Brijmohan Agrawal levelled serious allegations against the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government over the allotment of 25-acre land to Pakistani extremist outfit Dawat-e-Islami. After a massive outrage against the move by the BJP, the allotment of the 25-acre land in Raipur has been cancelled by the state government. Earlier, the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh had decided to allot 25-acre land to the Pakistan-linked extremist Islamic organisation Dawat-e-Islami. The outfits Chattisgarh wing had requested the government to allot 10 hectares(25 acres) of land in the Boriakhurd area of Raipur to construct a community centre. After the primary allotment, the additional collector at the district court had issued an advertisement for claiming objection against the allotment. In the advertisement dated December 22, 2021, respondents were asked to file objections in court before January 13, 2022. Following the development, the state BJP unit led a massive uproar over the allotment of a huge piece of land to an Islamist Organisation with Pakistani links. Brijmohan Agrawal, ex-Cabinet minister in the state government tweeted, The Chhattisgarh government is allotting 25 acres (10 hectares) of land in Raipur to an organization named Dawat-e Islami. Dawat-e-Islami is a Pakistani organization, and Congress is enabling them to open their branches in our country 25 (10 ) , (1/4) pic.twitter.com/BxyqaFSKuB Brijmohan Agrawal (@brijmohan_ag) January 2, 2022 Agrawal alleged that several allegations have been made against Daawat-e-Islami over forced conversions, influencing voters and spreading terrorism through donations. Their members have been earlier identified as terrorists and spies who have been caught by the special cell of the Delhi Police. He noted that the Facebook page of Dawat-e-Islami has photos of its Pakistani founder Ilyas Qadri and that the logos of The original Pakistani organisation and its Chhattisgarh wing are also similar. He questioned, The government has gone ahead to donate 10 lakh,76 thousand square feet space to a Pakistani organisation for building a community centre. Has any community in history been allotted such a large space for building a community hall? Does it take 25 acres to build a community hall? 12 acre govt owned land in Raipur Chhattisgarh allotted to Dawat-e-Islami, a Karachi based organisation. Application given on 28th December, approved same day by minister Mohammad Akbar and allotted the very next day, 29th December by Raipur DM. Amazing speed! pic.twitter.com/kfmFOW2MCJ Rahul Kaushik (@kaushkrahul) January 3, 2022 Following the controversy, the Govt. cancelled the allotment and in defence said Dawat-e-Islamis request was declined in the first place. The Government has also set up an enquiry against the officials who had initially passed the allotment. Devendra Patel, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Raipur said that the application was made by a man named Syed Kalim in the collectors office on behalf of the organisation. He stated, As per the preliminary process, on receipt of the application, a memorandum was issued by the Additional Tahsildar for publishing an advertisement. After the publication of the advertisement, the applicant appeared in the court of the Additional Tehsildar and withdrew his application saying that he had mistakenly written the area as 10 hectares, whereas he needed only 10,000 square feet. Finally, the SDM stated that the application in the Tehsil has been dismissed on 01 January 2022 and the case has been finally closed. He assured that notice is being served to the Officer-in-Charge of Land Allotment (Collectorate) and the Additional Tehsildar for errors in the publication of the advertisement. Daawat-e-Islami and its links with Pakistan Founded in 1981 by Maulana Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attari, Dawat-e-Islami (Invitation to Islam), is a Sunni Islamic organisation with its base in Pakistan. The extremist organisation has spread its wings in India and is active in many countries in the world. Started as a revivalist organisation inspired by Sufi doctrines, it has developed into an extremist Islamist outfit with brazen terror links. While it claims to be involved in social work, its activities have been long curtailed by Pakistani military authorities after the assassin of a Pakistani politician was found to be a DIE member. Recently in 2020, one of the terrorists who were involved in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris named DIE founder Ilyas Attari as his guide. A Pakistani terrorist named Md Ashraf, who was arrested in Delhi in October 2021 was also found to be linked with this organisation. The Facebook page of Dawat-e-Islami Chhattisgarh can be seen heaping praises for its Pakistani founder Ilyas Attar. Raipur Mayor Ejaz Debhar is also seen praising the activities of the organisation in a video. In India, Dawat-e-Islami has garnered criticism from other Muslim sects over their open links with terrorism. Voices have been raised earlier against the objectives of Dawat-e-Islami to hold religious congregations (Iztema) in Kanpur and Hyderabad. Source : OpIndia Half Moon Bay, CA (94019) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 56F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low near 45F. N winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's agricultural exports, including its much sought-after durians, will greatly benefit from the rolling out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), industry experts said. RCEP will facilitate the broader market and development space for the development of Malaysia's agriculture, as well as strengthen agricultural investment and international cooperation between Malaysia and the RCEP members, Edwyn Chiang, secretary general of the Malaysia International Durian Industry Development Association told Xinhua in a recent interview. "The signing and future of RCEP would undoubtedly bring benefits and development opportunities. Among the members of the agreement, ASEAN, China, Japan and Australia are all important agricultural countries, and there is a huge space for the development of agricultural economy and trained cooperation between Malaysia, and China, ASEAN, Japan and Australia," he said. Chiang also said the golden age of the durian trade has begun, predicting that by the year 2030, the export volume of durians will increase by 50 percent, and the production of the well-known Musang King variety of the fruit will double. "At the same time, the external market competition influenced by the agreement will also help the development of domestic agriculture, and reshape the regional industrial chain, and the value chain of agriculture," he said. Deputy Secretary-General Michael Chai Woon Chew of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia said the agreement will boost the export of a whole range of Malaysian agricultural products to China while helping to raise local production standards. Chai explained that the Malaysian durian industry has worked hard to comply with China's stringent importation requirements and this is well worth the effort considering the vast size of China's domestic consumer market, especially the demand for tropical fruits. Malaysia first exported whole frozen durians to China starting in 2019, after the country's authorities cleared the fruit for export. In 2020, China imported around 575.9 million kg of fresh durians, with an import value exceeding 2.3 billion U.S. dollars. Between 2017 and 2020, China's annual import value of fresh durians increased more than threefold, according to market and consumer data provider Statista. The 2028 second-round pick the Thunder acquired from the Jazz in Tuesdays Miye Oni trade was technically already owed to Oklahoma City conditionally, as ESPNs Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter). When the Jazz sent Derrick Favors to the Thunder in an offseason deal, Utah included a top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick. If that pick falls in its protected range, the Jazz would instead owe the Thunder their top-10 protected first-round pick pick in 2025. If it still hasnt changed hands by that point, it would become a top-eight protected 2026 first-rounder. The conditions of the Favors trade called for the Thunder to get Utahs 2028 second-round pick if that first-rounder fell in its protected range all three years. Now, Oklahoma City will receive the pick unconditionally. If the Jazzs 2024 first-rounder isnt conveyed after 2026, the Thunder will instead receive $890K in cash, according to Marks. Heres more on the Jazz/Thunder swap: Hyde Hotels has announced that its first European property will open in 2023, occupying the redeveloped 15 Old Bailey. It has now been confirmed that the property will be known as Hyde Paradox Hotel London City, with features including 110 rooms, two restaurants and a speakeasy bar. The Hyde brand originated as an LA nightclub in 2005, and currently counts three hotels in Hollywood Beach, Midtown Miami and its most recent opening in Dubai. The brand forms part of Accor's global lifestyle hotel partnership with UK-based developer Ennismore, which was announced in late 2020. Hotel website Swiss-Belhotel International Indonesia recently sealed a management agreement of Swiss-Belhotel Airport, Yogyakarta with PT Adhiraka Graha Sejahtera. The official signing was held in Jakarta on December 16, 2021. Scheduled to be opened in 2022, the 4-star hotel project is planned to have 167 rooms and a range of international standard facilities and services. The hotel's prime location is the most advantageous factor as it is only minutes away from the International Airport of Yogyakarta. Located in the Kulon Progo Airport hub complex, the hotel will be a perfect accommodation offering the utmost comfort rooms. And, it will become an ideal choice for frequent travellers and layovers who wish to be close to the airport. The hotel will also provide a ballroom and meeting rooms with modern meeting facilities. The hotel will offer an all-day dining restaurant with indoor and outdoor sitting options, in-room dining, a rooftop swimming pool, and a gym for guests who need leisure activities before or after flights. Hotel website Turnstone Ventures, a vertically-integrated real estate investment first led by seasoned Boston-based developer Jeff Glew, has acquired the historic 50-key The Shire Woodstock in Woodstock, VT. Turnstone has hired New York-based Life House Hotels, signaling the tech-enabled hotel operator's first hotel in Vermont and 20th hotel in New England. The village of Woodstock, Vermont was chartered in 1761, 15 years before the United States of America signed the Declaration of Independence. Later designated as the Shire Town of Windsor County in 1786, Woodstock became a hub for entrepreneurs, appealing to some of Vermont's earliest manufacturers, craftsmen, and artisans, and quickly became one of the largest towns in the state. Originally built in 1963, The Shire Woodstock pays homage to the town's namesake, with the property offering a year-round retreat on the banks of the Ottauquechee River with waterfront views from each oversized guestroom. Given its central location in the heart of the Village of Woodstock, The Shire Woodstock delivers a pedestrian-friendly experience with walkability the town's local restaurants, boutique artisan shops, and eclectic galleries, with an array of four-season outdoor activities within a short drive from the property. The property will operate "as-is" under its existing branding prior being reimagined as a locally-rooted boutique hotel that will feature elevated interiors and enhanced public space programming. The transaction was marketed by Earle Wason and Joe Cardillo of Wason & Associates, an experienced hospitality real estate brokerage group located in Portsmouth, NH. Hotel website The Statler has recently appointed Adam Gollub as its general manager. Gollub arrives from Albany, New York, where he was the dual general manager for two Hilton properties for the past three years. He has more than 13 years of leadership experience in the hospitality and real estate industries. Gollub's professional background is heavily weighted in branded hotels, but to diversify his leadership and hospitality experience in an urban setting, he oversaw luxury rental properties in Manhattan's Chelsea and Union Square neighborhoods for Related Companies. This invaluable experience allowed Gollub to leverage his customer service and entrepreneurial skill set to drive results. His dual experience in managing rental/condo properties and retail establishments will be beneficial in his position at The Statler. The Statler, part of the Curio Collection by Hilton, is managed by Aimbridge Hospitality. Javier Cuesta has been appointed executive chef at Georgia's award-winning Barnsley Resort. In this leadership role, Chef Cuesta is responsible for overseeing all culinary operations of the resort's three onsite restaurants, leading and managing the culinary team for the restaurants and supervising an extensive banquet operation for weddings and group events across the resort's 3,000 acres. Chef Cuesta brings with him more than 25 years of culinary experience at world-class resorts and upscale restaurants. Prior to joining Barnsley Resort, Chef Cuesta served as food & beverage director of Aimbridge Hospitality in St. Croix, and before that, as executive chef at The Cavalier Virginia Beach, Autograph Collection. Throughout his career, Cuesta grew his international knowledge and expertise through various positions at prestigious resorts and restaurants in Pennsylvania, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Portugal and more. Cuesta completed his formal culinary training in Paris where he earned a degree in French gastronomy from the Ritz Paris. Throughout his career, Chef Cuesta has been recognized as a visionary chef and is known as an expert in culinary arts trends. His global experience complements Barnsley Resort's Southern charm, where he's able to add his international knowledge to elevate and enhance the resort's culinary program with world-class techniques. With employees continuing to return to offices, ongoing vaccination progress and the reopening of many international borders, the time would seem to be ripe for the return of business travel. Yet, even before the news of the omicron variant in recent days, there continued to be negative sentiments about the return of this segment, whereas pandemic-era leisure travel sentiments remain buoyant. Results from a November STR survey of 600 global travelers indicates that more consumers are less likely to travel for overnight business amid the pandemic: 44% in November 2021 versus 39% in July 2021. Additionally, net propensity to travel, which is the difference between those more likely and less likely to travel, was down 30% in November 2021 after coming in down 27% in July 2021. Analysis of business travel sentiments across different age groups reveals only a slightly less negative sentiment among younger business travelers compared with those in older age groups. The narrowing sentiment highlights that the views of younger and older audiences are converging. This may be due to increased confidence in traveling among older audiences because of vaccine success as well as decreased confidence among younger travelers, who are typically less risk-averse possibly due to fears of long-haul COVID-19, which is reported to be more prevalent in younger people. Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar) WASHINGTON Texas is among 26 states seeking a piece of $4.7 billion in federal funding to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells. The Interior Department announced Wednesday that funding would be decided in the weeks ahead, toward addressing an estimated 130,000 orphaned wells around the United States. "The Interior Department is committed to helping working families, often in rural and Tribal communities, who face hazardous pollution, toxic water levels, and land subsidence both during and long after energy companies have moved on," the agency said in a statement. It is typically the job of oil and gas companies to plug and clean up old wells, but whether due to financial difficulty or malfeasance, many wells are simply abandoned after they run out of meaningful production. The resulting pollution poses a public health risk to surrounding communities. The funding stems from legislation introduced this summer by Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D- Houston, which was included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Congress passed in November. The legislation allows states to use the money not only plug old wells but clean up any contamination of surrounding lands. "Orphaned wells can harm our environment and create public health risks for neighboring communities," Fletcher said in June. "The legislation) will also create jobs for oilfield workers in Texas and across the country, which is especially important now, after the downturn brought on by COVID-19. Other states applying for funding include Alaska, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo cautioned that the region's COVID threat could be raised to its highest and most severe level in the next week or so, if hospitalizations continue to rise. Hidalgo raised the county's COVID-19 threat level to significant," the second-highest point, on Dec. 20 due to rapidly rising infections sparked by the spread of the omicron variant. Threat Level 2 recommends that people minimize all unnecessary contacts in order to stem the flow of the virus, while Threat Level 1 recommends that unvaccinated people stay home as much as possible and only leave for essential needs like groceries or medicine. Following several weeks of family gatherings and traveling, Hidalgo said during a Tuesday news conference that the county has met three of four indicators that would raise the threat level yet again. The last indicator to be reached is hospitalizations. Hidalgo said 12 percent of the region's ICU population is COVID positive once that reaches 20 percent, the county will reach Level 1 status. On HoustonChronicle.com: Omicron may be less severe, but it's raising Houston hospitalizations to staggering levels "The bad news is that cases are through the roof...the good news is that hospitalizations are rising, but not as much as they had in previous waves relative to cases," Hidalgo said. Between Christmas and New Years Day, the Texas Medical Center topped 400 new COVID admissions per day. Before omicron, TMC was averaging just 56 hospitalizations per day throughout the month of November, the Houston Chronicle reported. During this time period, pediatric hospitalizations have also skyrocketed among children who are mostly unvaccinated. The rise in infections has also led to massive staff shortages at Houston hospitals. Hidalgo said those hospitals should see some relief soon, once 900 additional staff make their way to Houston in the coming weeks. Hidalgo stressed getting the population vaccinated and boosted as the greatest means to curb hospitalizations and prevent the threat level from rising. "And that's completely in our hands, we can control that," Hidalgo said. "If we get our vaccination, get our booster, that will keep folks from going to the hospital because of COVID." Hidalgo added the county is on standby to open more testing sites. The city and county have opened several new mega-sites with more on the way in response to the recent increased demand for tests. TEST DEMAND: Walmart, Kroger raise at-home COVID test price as deal with President Biden expires The newest mega-test site opened Wednesday at Butler Stadium, with a capacity for 1,000 daily tests. Appointments are not required but are available by calling 1-866-333-2684. Another mega-site is planned for the former Dave & Busters at 6010 Richmond Ave later this week, according to a release from the Houston Health Department. Details on that site have yet to be announced. Two other mega-sites opened last week, at Delmar Stadium and Minute Maid Park. There are 71,378 active COVID cases and 661,501 confirmed total cases in Harris County and Houston, according to the latest data from Harris County Public Health. The region's positivity rate is at 27 percent. rebecca.hennes@chron.com South Africa: Zondo report recommends new anti-corruption agency The first part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture has recommended the establishment of a single, multifunctional, properly resourced and independent anti-corruption authority by government with a mandate to confront the abuses inherent in the present system. The report handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday by the Commissions Chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, said that the authority could be called the Anti-Corruption Authority or Agency of SA South Africa (ACASA) and could be modelled along the lines of the Competition Commission. The Agency or Authority, like the Competition Commission structure, must include specialised departments with particular mandates but which collectively represent a comprehensive response to the challenges which arise, the report suggested. The Commissions Chairperson said that it is a fundamental feature of the Agency that it be independent. There has, however, been lengthy judicial debate on the question whether such independence can be achieved within a government department or by an entity under Ministerial control. That debate requires careful consideration, said the report. South Africa requires an anti-corruption body free from political oversight and able to combat corruption with fresh and concentrated energy. Public trust will not otherwise be re-established in the procurement system. The ultimate responsibility for leading the fight against corruption in public procurement cannot again be left to a government department or be subject to Ministerial control. What is required are specialised oversight and monitoring authorities which operate upon the basis that they are independent in the full and untrammelled sense, i.e. that they are subject only to the Constitution and the Law, according to the report. The report suggested that the choice of officials who will lead and staff such bodies should not be left to the discretion of government. "Such appointments must be in accordance with a transparent procedure in a public process," the report said. Access to resources The report identified inadequate funding and unfilled vacancies as some of the ways in which such an agency could be prevented from doing its job effectively and properly. These measures, taken together, have been responsible in a large measure for preventing wrong-doers being held accountable for their actions. In order to ensure that the Agency is able to do its work effectively and properly, it will be necessary to ensure that the adequacy of its funding is proof against political interference. This may be achieved by protections built into the enabling legislation and by providing for sources of revenue additional to Parliamentary funding, it said. In leading the fight against corruption, the Agency will provide an essential service for both the public and the private sectors, and both should contribute in some appropriate way to its funding. There should be no objection to the imposition of a levy payable to the Agency by every person seeking a procurement contract or participating in a tender process. This will provide the Agency with necessary additional funding beyond that supplied by Parliament and other sources, the report said. Recommendations for consideration by the President The Commission further recommended that government, in consultation with the business sector, prepare and publish a National Charter against corruption in public procurement. The Charter would include a Code of Conduct setting out the ethical standards which apply in the procurement of goods and services for the public. The commission has further recommended that government introduce legislation for the establishment of an independent Public Procurement Anti-Corruption Agency (PPACA), which will constitute the Agency as an independent body, subject only to the Constitution and the law, which has jurisdiction throughout the Republic, is impartial and must perform its functions without fear, favour or prejudice. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Tibet beefs up investment during 14th five-year plan Xinhua) 16:17, January 05, 2022 LHASA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to invest 601.5 billion yuan (about 94.3 billion U.S. dollars) during its 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to local authorities. The number sees a growth rate of 58 percent, compared with that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), said the fifth session of the 11th People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region. The region plans to beef up investment in infrastructure, ecological protection, grassroots governance, and people's livelihood to achieve high-quality regional development during the 2021-2025 period. From 1952 to 2020, the total investment in fixed assets in Tibet reached 1.79 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 21.6 percent. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun) The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defended the agencys shifting guidance that workers should stay home after testing positive for COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday that the newly shortened five-day stay at home guidance reflects medical science that the chance of transmitting the disease to others is very low after that period, instead of the previous 10-day recommendation. Advertisement She also defended the confusing fact that workers are not being told to take a rapid COVID test before returning to work after the new shortened period. We cant tell how transmissible you are from a positive test and negative tests are most useful when taken serially, more than one time, Walensky said at a briefing by the White House coronavirus task force. Advertisement Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky (Jim Lo Scalzo/AP) The pandemic doctor also defended new recommendations about what workers should do if they do take a rapid test after five days. If that test is positive, people should stay home for those extra five days, she said. If that test is negative, people really need to continue to wear their mask for the rest of the ten days. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > Critics say that guidance is confusing since the nations top public health agency is not recommending those rapid tests or vouching for their effectiveness as diagnostic tools. Amid soaring caseloads powered by the omicron variant, the relaxed return-to-work recommendations are seen by officials as a needed step to keep essential public services like police, hospitals, transit systems and schools functioning. Walensky said guidelines for health workers are somewhat stricter a seven-day stay-at-home recommendation to reflect their routine contact with patients who are vulnerable to COVID infection. Dr. Anthony Fauci told the same task force briefing that increasing clinical evidence suggests that omicron is less likely to cause severe COVID disease than previous strains of the virus. He cited studies from South Africa, where omicron was first identified last November, along with England and Scotland, showing far lower rates of critical illness compared to the numbers of cases caused by omicron. Fauci added that some studies suggest omicron is less dangerous because it attacks the upper respiratory system as opposed to the lungs of victims. Advertisement The big caveat is we should not be complacent, Fauci warned. Dont take this as a signal we can pull back from the precautions. SAN FRANCISCO Jessie Palmatier had only been working at her job at an East Bay nonprofit for a few weeks before the pandemic forced offices to close across the Bay Area. Since then, shes been working fully remote with no end in sight. Shes only been back to the office once, she says, and that was in May 2020 to grab her computer monitor. The switch definitely took some adjustment. Palmatier, 30, had to arrange her home office as she was using it, making it comfortable, filling it with all the right things. But once I realized how much I was saving with my commute, and how much energy I had after work was done, I was like, This is awesome. When she needs a break she can kick a ball around with her dog in the backyard, which beats standing around a water cooler any day. Now, as the omicron variant once again scrambles well-laid plans, possibly killing the return-to-office date altogether, Palmatier, like millions of others, finds herself hoping shell never have to work in an office full-time again. I sort of just have this impending dread of the possibility of being required to go back full time, Palmatier says. Ive learned my job and grown my role and all of that from my home office, so it would be more disruptive to make me go back to an office I only spent a few weeks in. Almost overnight, it seemed, the novel coronavirus transformed the way millions of Americans worked and just as quickly, some of the regions largest employers, like Salesforce, Facebook (now Meta) and Apple began to re-imagine the very nature of work. As early as May 2020, the same month Palmatier collected her monitor, Meta began talking about a hybrid approach and the possibility of letting certain employees work from home forever. What might have seemed then like a niche, tech-world revolution has, by now, spread to nearly every sort of job where remote work is possible, says Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University and an expert in remote-work trends. About 50% of the American workforce, he says, has the ability to work from home of that 50%, he expects 40% will go hybrid while the remaining 10% will go fully remote. For a considerable part of the countrys labor force, and perhaps even a larger piece of the Bay Areas, the future is very clearly hybrid, Bloom says, the question is what exactly that will look like. Back in May 2020, he might have expected employees would only spend a day working from home. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle By May 2021, a year later, hybrid was becoming the norm, but at three-two, Bloom says, meaning three days in the office, two remote. By May 2022, I wouldnt be surprised if hybrids become the model at two-three. I think what omicron is doing is pushing up, slowly, the number of days people will see hybrid. By now, what some used to call the new normal is simply normal. In some sense, undoing the shift to remote work would feel just as strange as the first few months of working from home did. At San Franciscos Metromile, a pay-by-the-mile car insurance startup, the transition is already well underway. The company stopped guessing at a return to office date a while back, says Debra Jack, the senior vice president of communications. And, she says, even once the pandemic has faded, we have told metro milers they are welcome to work from anywhere. That wasnt always the case. I remember when we decided to go home in March of 2020, we thought it would be for about two weeks, says Jack. As the pandemic stretched on, though, it fundamentally changed their hiring model. It really gave us an opportunity to expand our hiring options and pull from places all around the country. Now, the company has employees in 30 states, she says. Their CFO is based in Seattle, while their senior vice president of marketing lives in Richmond, Va. The companys offices are still open currently at 50% capacity, Jack says but most days there are very few people working there. Were still encouraging people to work from home if they want to and most Metromilers are taking us up on that. Another way to view this trend, Bloom says, is that employers, motivated in part by the hot job market and the possibility of recruiting talent wherever they live, are moving closer to what employees want. According to his own surveys, a full half of employees who can work from home want a hybrid model, and ideally, theyd like to be in the office about only half of the week or less. (For employers who resist the trend, Bloom says his surveys show that as many as 40% of employees would begin seeking new jobs if they were required to go back full time.) William Young had spent his whole life in North Carolina until December 2019, when he made a cross-country move to San Francisco, where hed landed his first job out of college at an advertising firm. He loved the city, he says. Hed run along Marina Boulevard and across the Golden Gate Bridge. He visited Ocean Beach and hiked in the Marin Headlands. A few months in, though, the pandemic forced Young, 24, to reorient his life all over again. Like others who were able to work from home, Young decided to leave San Francisco. He went back to Greenville, N.C., where he could weather the storm at his parents place. The move was supposed to be temporary, but nearly two years later, theres no concrete end in sight and the pandemic has changed the way Young thinks about the future of work. He still has plans to return to San Francisco once the office reopens (whenever that may be) but he cant imagine returning to the office full time and neither do his employers expect him to. I was only a few months into office life and sort of getting slightly depressed at the cubicle five days out of the week, he says. At this point, its been so long of remote working that Ive just gotten used to it and really enjoy the perks of it. Last week, Brent Edwards, 51, packed up his work station and moved from San Jose to Los Angeles with his wife, who is starting her dream job as a law librarian at UCLA. In the past, Edwards might have had to leave his job and go looking for something new, but in this remade world, there was no decision to make. Edwards has been working remotely as a programmer for Clairi, a revenue operations platform based in Sunnyvale, since he began in October 2020. And like Metromile, Clari has been actively hiring all over the United States, he says. Nearly a third of the companys engineers work remotely. Like most remote workers, Edwards is planning on occasional trips to the office at least one a month. Its important to be seen. But, he adds, I dont have much of a desire to go into the office. The times Ive been there Ive been less productive. Now mind you, the reason Ive been less productive is because Im talking to people, Im getting my face out there. Travis Gohr, a product designer at Google who lives in the Outer Sunset, has noticed the same thing with his own productivity. For all the concerns employers may have had initially about letting employers work on their own, Gohr, 42, finds hes much better able to optimize his time at home. Being in an office, Ive just realized I get less done, he says. Im hunting for meeting rooms. Theres just a bunch of options of stuff to do. Even lunch, I can go to a really nice Google cafeteria, but all of that just means then Im at the office more to get the same amount of work done. At home, he can put in headphones and concentrate, no distractions. Its great not having to spend 100 minutes a day commuting, he says. And its nice to be able to walk out in the backyard and spend 10 minutes out there. Gohr started his job at Google in the midst of the pandemic, so when variants are no longer a daily topic of conversation, he expects to work some sort of hybrid schedule he wants to make sure to enjoy all the perks that the tech giant has spent decades refining. Still, he says, I keep getting a little excited every time they delay. Ryan Kost is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkost@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @RyanKost courtesy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office A call to police about suspicious behavior in Spring last week has led to the seizure of several thousands of dollars in stolen auto parts by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office. Upon an investigation finding they had stolen in excess of $25,000 in catalytic converters, two juvenile males were taken into custody Thursday afternoon by sheriffs deputies and charged with felony theft and felony criminal mischief, according to the agency. A case of flurona someone infected with both the flu and coronavirus simultaneously has been discovered in a child in Southern California, a testing company announced. In this file photo, a graduate student holding a swab and specimen vial in the new COVID-19 on July 23, 2020, in Boston. (Charles Krupa/AP) Its the first case in Southern California though not in the U.S. This week, Texas Childrens Hospital announced that another pediatric patient had come down with both as well, reported USA Today. Advertisement Flu-COVID combinations were already being seen in children as flu cases rise, Dr. Matthew Harris, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Northwell Health, told the Daily News last week, noting that it is not at all uncommon for kids to test positive for more than one virus. But we dont yet know how kids will react with flu and COVID, he said, given COVIDs newness and unpredictability. Advertisement The Southern California case was detected in a minor who had just returned from vacation in Cabo San Lucas with their family, reported KABC-TV. It was found at a testing site at the Getty Center in Brentwood, KABC said. The child had symptoms but had been sent home with their parents, testing company 911 COVID Testing CEO Steve Farzam told KABC. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > In Texas, the story was similar. The childs age was not mentioned, but the infection with influenza A and SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, was confirmed. This is one confirmed case and, of course, well be working with our colleagues across the country to see if there are more cases and whether we will see a distinct pattern in these cases, Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief and COVID-19 command center co-leader at the hospital, said Monday, according to USA Today. Earlier this week Israel confirmed its first known case of flurona, in an unvaccinated pregnant woman with mild symptoms. Medical professionals stressed the importance of getting the flu vaccine to avoid being vulnerable to multiple infections, especially with the flu resurging to pre-pandemic levels this year. The two together is more dangerous with either one by itself, Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, the director of critical care services at Northwell Health, told The News on Wednesday. Especially in elderly people or people who are immunocompromised. Wearing masks is also important, Narasimhan said. We see much less virulent flu in patients who are vaccinated against the flu, she said. Last winter when we were wearing masks, we saw no flu at all. Its been a year since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and many Republican leaders are planning to mark the anniversary as theyve spent the months leading up to it: by acting as if they have no idea what the rest of us are even talking about. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after engaging with rioters, and four other law enforcement officers who responded to the brutal, hours-long siege committed suicide in its aftermath. Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was among the rioters, was fatally shot by a police officer as she tried to access the Speakers Lobby by climbing through a broken window of a barricaded door. She had a Trump flag wrapped around her shoulders like a cape. Many other Americans were left injured, terrified or traumatized by the days events, set in motion when outgoing President Donald Trump urged supporters to march on the Capitol and fight like hell. The old huckster managed to convince many of them that he actually won an election that he resoundingly lost. The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor in February, declaring Trump practically and morally responsible. That was then. This week, McConnell struck a note of resignation when asked about Trumps plans to address the nation on the anniversary of these events, which led to his second impeachment. Itll be interesting to see what he has to say, the Kentuckian said at a Tuesday morning news conference. Trump announced later Tuesday that he would postpone his remarks until a rally in Arizona on Jan. 15, but he issued a news release reciting many of his familiar and baseless grievances. Meanwhile, vigils were being planned in major cities across the country. In Houston, people will gather downtown on Thursday, outside the Mickey Leland Federal Building. For many rank-and-file Republican voters, this might seem like wallowing on the part of Democrats or perhaps a cynical attempt to exploit a tragic day to smear an entire political movement. Those voters should remember it isnt. For one thing, were learning more every day about what actually happened on 1/6, and in the weeks leading up to it. CNN reported last month that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was Trumps energy secretary, was apparently suggesting ways to undermine the 2020 election results. The news network said Perry is believed to be the author of a text to Mark Meadows, then the White House chief of staff, on the day after the election that said: HEREs an AGRESSIVE [sic] STRATEGY: Why can t [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS. Sure. Great idea. What could possibly go wrong? Through a spokesperson, Perry has denied authoring the text, which was sent from a cellphone registered to James Richard Perry. Hes had no further comment on the report. You wont find many other profiles in courage among Texas Republican leaders, either. Take U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who led an unsuccessful charge to object to the certification of President Joe Bidens victory. Thats literally what he was doing as Trump supporters who had traveled to Washington, D.C., for a Stop the Steal rally were toppling police barricades outside the Capitol. And yet theres no evidence that our states junior senator has spent any time since reflecting on his shameful role. He still wants to be president and is presumably hoping to make inroads with Trump supporters if he runs in 2024. Well see. Meanwhile, other Republican leaders continue to pursue Trumps favor by peddling his ongoing and entirely baseless claims of a stolen election. Attorney General Ken Paxton wants the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to give him the power to prosecute election-related crimes, despite a ruling from the all-Republican court last month that the power belongs to local officials. This push has to be understood in context. After Trump lost the election, Paxton filed a lawsuit contesting its results in four states that Democrat Joe Biden won. While the suit was quickly tossed by the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court, we can reasonably assume it helped Paxton win Trumps endorsement over several GOP primary opponents. Do you get the sense this is all a game to these guys? A few Texas GOP leaders former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, for example, and former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd have been straight with voters and called for putting country over party. For those members of Congress that want to act like that was a normal day is insane, right? Its insane, Hurd said in July. He noted that the days events victimized young men and women working as staff for members of Congress fresh arrivals in Washington who were passionate about making a difference. Its refreshing to hear such candor from a prominent Republican. But former is a salient descriptor, in this case. Current Republican elected officials seem to be more wary of poking the bear known as Trump, even though he remains largely sequestered at his Mar-a-Lago resort and was booed at his most recent appearance in Texas, after touting COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots. They may find it easier to tell their constituents to move along nothing to see here. But is it really appropriate to put our heads in the sand and pretend like 1/6 never happened? There needs to be a full accounting, so we can move forward with a shared understanding of what happened, even if we disagree about how to prevent it from happening again. And if Republican leaders pay a price for what happened that day as the U.S. president watched the violence unfold on TV and waited more than three hours to intervene so be it. erica.grieder@chron.com Chronicle file It was a milestone day for Houston and its role in spaceflight as President Richard Nixon gave the the go-ahead for a $5 billion project to create a space shuttle program. In doing so, the Manned Spacecraft Center (now known as the Johnson Space Center) would be overseeing the shuttle program. Though the article here says it should be operational by the end of the decade, the first space shuttle launch was in 1981. Channelview ISD now is requiring masks in all schools and district facilities, citing the rise in COVID cases as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads throughout the area. Before the districts winter break, masks had been optional. The change was made as the district reopened Monday for staff and students returned for the spring semester Tuesday. We have been closely monitoring COVID-19 cases and have made the decision that we will go back to requiring masks for all those who enter our facilities and campuses in an effort to protect our students, staff and parents, reads a statement on the districts website. The COVID-19 Omicron variant is rapidly spreading and we must do our part to protect ourselves and each other. We ask that you understand our policy and abide by this new guideline. Please remember, everything we do is in an effort to protect our staff and students. On HoustonChronicle.com: HISD to keep mask mandate, expand COVID testing in 2022 According to the districts online dashboard, there currently are 175 students and 82 staff with reported lab-confirmed cases. Of those, 136 students and 74 staff were not on a campus or in contact with other students or staff. There are 39 student and eight staff cases in which the infected person was on a district campus or interacted with peers. Those infected with COVID during the winter break have not been on any CISD campus or facility and have been asked to stay home until they have completed their isolation period as mandated by CISD guidelines, said Lila Hollin, director of communications for the district. On HoustonChronicle.com: Reversing course, Aldine ISD will keep mask mandate after holidays Three other districts in the Houston region Houston, Spring and Aldine ISDs are mandating masks despite an ongoing legal battle over Gov. Greg Abbotts executive order banning such requirements in schools. hannah.dellinger@chron.com Prairie View A&M University was among seven historically Black colleges and universities to receive bomb threats and subsequent "all clear" notices Tuesday evening, according to university leaders. None of the seven universities had reported an actual bomb, suspicious package or attack as of Wednesday morning. All issued "all clear" notices to their communities, The Washington Post reported. On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston-area universities reviewing return-to-campus plans amid COVID-19 surge In addition to Prairie View A&M, the other HBCUs to receive bomb threats were Howard University in Washington, D.C., Norfolk State University in Virginia, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluffs, Florida Memorial University, North Carolina Central University and Xavier University in Louisiana. The PVAMU Senior Class Council advised followers of the bomb threat in a tweet at 4:11 p.m. Tuesday. "Prairie View A and M University has received a bomb threat. Please remain where you are." The threat came in at 3:39 p.m., when a caller claimed that bombs were placed on the south and east parts of campus but refused to provide specific locations, according to a safety notification sent to Prairie View students Tuesday evening. Officers conducted safety sweeps and did not locate any suspicious packages or activity. Investigators have been unable to locate the original call source or identity of the caller, university officials said. The university also notified students about the threats at other HBCUs. It was not immediately clear whether the threats were connected. "While working with our federal law enforcement partners, UPD has been able to confirm that similar threats were made both locally and nationwide," the notification reads. "These threats occurred within hours of the threat received at PVAMU. Thus far, it appears that a number of HBCUs have been similarly targeted. The cause of the bomb threats are unclear at this time." HBCUs: A history of funding failures at Texas' historically Black colleges and universities Police urged students and employees to remain vigilant, according to a campus safety notification sent at 4:38 p.m. The university is located in Waller County, some 45 miles northwest of downtown Houston. Cameron Dockery, PVAMU's senior class president, said the threat seemed to shake up many students who had remained on campus over winter break. "We were all taken back and surprised because this is not something to be taken lightly," Dockery said. After hearing that other HBCUs dealt with similar issues Tuesday, he said, "We knew that there was something bigger going on. samantha.ketterer@chron.com THE WOODLANDS The front half of Mark Meinraths home is sinking. He knows because he had it lifted up and leveled three times. His crepe myrtle sits well above his lawn, pushed up by its roots from where the earth sloped down. Almost all the concrete slab is exposed; he added an extra step to reach his front door. The front part of the brick home, built in 1992, fell about a half inch a year, Meinrath said. Relief came when new rules in 2016 reduced how much water was being pumped from underground in Montgomery County. The sinking slowed. But water bills got pricier. Newly elected local groundwater officials agreed to void those pumping reduction rules as part of a lawsuit settlement; Meinrath said his house began sinking quickly again. Future help that Meinrath, 72, might have hoped for didnt come Wednesday. Members of Groundwater Management Area 14 unanimously adopted new guidelines that will continue to allow so much well water to be pumped that areas of The Woodlands and northern Harris County could sink in coming decades by more than a foot. Someone whistled in celebration after the vote, the result of years of rigorous work. Meinrath joked that that much subsidence would leave his house, now supported with underground concrete piers, looking like a beach house. It sits over a fault line, he said, making the sinking ground evident because its happening unevenly on either side. Youve destroyed my home, he remarked. (A spokesperson for the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, part of the GMA, wrote in an email Thursday that Meinrath lacked direct proof groundwater pumping was definitively causing his problem.) Wednesdays vote disappointed those who fought for a more cautious approach to groundwater regulation. Land subsidence cannot be reversed and can damage public and private property, such as Meinraths house. It can also worsen flooding. The value of Meinraths home plummeted. On HoustonChronicle.com: New goals would allow for ground to sink in The Woodlands Yet the GMAs decision satisfied officials in Republican-led Montgomery County, who in recent years abruptly eliminated requirements similar to those in Harris and Galveston counties to transition to use more treated lake water instead of so much well water. Those in Montgomery County plan to continue studying subsidence but for now allow users to pump as much water as demand requires. The differing perspectives reflect a debate over how to balance the cost of water against damage to the environment. Its much cheaper to pull water up from underground because it doesnt need to be treated as heavily. But if too much is pumped, the water can get harder to reach and the ground can sink. How much is too much, and who should decide that, is hotly contested. In Harris and Galveston counties, leaders decades ago realized the harm from pumping too much. An entire subdivision famously sunk into Galveston Bay. Officials began phasing in treated lake water as a main source of drinking water and continue to shift toward its use. They recently finished a 26-mile series of pipes and canals to bring more water from Trinity River to Lake Houston. Harris County still continues to use groundwater, though. Previous water boards in Montgomery County, a suburban and rural area north of Houston, planned for years to do the same as the population grew. They aimed to use only as much water from underground as would be naturally replaced. This required a water treatment plant to boost supply, which the San Jacinto River Authority built in 2015 for $480 million. Water costs went up, however, angering some and prompting a change in law to allow for a utility-backed election of new leadership. Board members of Lone Star in Montgomery County pivoted entirely from what former leaders did. The board did not follow the last set of regional guidelines, after they faced legal challenges locally. On HoustonChronicle.com: Political takeover upends Montgomery Countys drinking water war Lone Star is one of five water management groups that make up GMA 14. There are also two non-voting groups, the Harris-Galveston and Fort Bend subsidence districts. Together, they represent 20 counties. Because groundwater is a shared resource, state law requires them to set big-picture goals collaboratively. Wednesdays vote on new guidelines means Lone Star will have to manage according to the shared goals. They have two years to devise a plan for that and another year to implement any rules that are needed. The new guidelines may not require them to make any changes at all. Samantha Reiter, general manager of the Lone Star district, stressed that the guidelines allow for local control. She noted that users in The Woodlands, a master-planned community of about 115,000 residents that is part of the area Lone Star manages, could always choose to use more water from the new water treatment plant on Lake Conroe even though its not required. There is not a one-size-fits-all in the groundwater world, Reiter said. The adopted guidelines give individual districts two metrics, which Lone Star pushed to be linked with or instead of and. None can use more than 30 percent of the average available water underground by 2080. Or none can see more than a foot of subsidence on average between 2009 and 2080. (The former is thought to be the limiting factor for Montgomery County.) Mike Turco, general manager of the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, called inclusion of the subsidence metric a step in the right direction. He said he expected that as growth continues in Montgomery County, more people will see subsidence as an issue because it will occur in places where it hadnt in the past. A regional goal-setting process will meanwhile restart. They are updated roughly every five years. Meinrath and neighbors such as Laura Norton, 51, will be watching. Norton tried to drum up support from neighbors this time around to call for change to the proposed rules. She gave tours of subsidence to anyone willing to learn, including some from her water aerobics class. My hope, Norton said, is that in the next five years we get our act together. Editors note: This story has been updated for clarification with further comment from Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District. emily.foxhall@chron.com City Council on Wednesday voted nearly unanimously to extend a controversial gunshot detection system even as members expressed skepticism or acknowledged widespread questions about its effectiveness in directing police to the scenes of gun crimes. Council voted 16-1 to approve a five-year $3.5 million contract with ShotSpotter to continue using the program in south Houston, with plans to expand to an undisclosed second location in 2022. At-Large Councilmember Letitia Plummer voted against it, saying the data does not support that it actually works. The program will cover 10 of the citys 640 square miles. Harris County uses the system as well, including in Aldine. Houston police say the system has helped officers respond more quickly to gunfire and catch suspects they may not have been able to find otherwise, calling it a fantastic tool and a force multiplier. Some national and local advocates, though, have cast doubt on the systems accuracy and effectiveness. At-Large Councilmember Mike Knox, a former Houston police officer, voted for the program, but only after holding his nose and expressing serious concerns about its usefulness. He said ShotSpotter alerts have resulted in arrests in fewer than 1 percent of cases, and he suggested HPD was using a dearth of numbers to sway our votes without demonstrating the technologys influence. I was hoping to see some statistics that would support that claim, Knox said, referring to HPDs laudatory comments. There comes a time when we have to do a cost-benefit analysis. Mayor Sylvester Turner acknowledged the system is not perfect, but he said it represents a useful device to help police officers cover ground. He said it works in coordination with additional cadet classes to boost police ranks, overtime payments to keep current boots on the ground, and investing in crisis response teams, all of which the city has done in recent years. It is a tool. It is one of the tools that we are using, it is going to require all of the tools in order to address public safety, Turner said. No one element is the answer. But its all of these tools being done collaboratively to help reduce crime. Its not going to solve it. Its a tool in the toolbox, and I know we all want to do everything we can to meaningfully impact crime. On HoustonChronicle.com: Where is Aldine gunfire coming from? This program is trying to find out. ShotSpotter initially approached Houston officials in early 2020 about conducting a pilot program. The city began one, free of charge, in December of that year. It focused on a five square-mile zone in south Houston including parts of the Old Spanish Trail area and Sunnyside that police identified as one of the most gun-heavy areas in the city. Sensors in the area detect loud noises and send a recording to ShotSpotters offices, where an employee verifies the sound is gunfire and sends an alert to police officers cell phones and patrol computers. From December 2020 through September 2021, the system detected more than 5,600 instances of gunfire accounting for more than 20,000 rounds. More than half, though, were detected outside the contracted area of the pilot program, meaning an alert was not sent. About 2,330 instances were detected inside the pilot area. Of those, 471 or about 20 percent generated an offense report. In the other 80 percent of cases, police did not discover evidence of a gunshot and did not write a report. Jacob Wourms, a researcher with the national police reform nonprofit Campaign Zero, told council members that ratio is unacceptable. It doesnt provide actionable evidence, said Wourms. He described police rushing to the scene in these cases only to come up empty-handed, creating needless, high-intensity interactions between police and residents. DeRay McKesson, a national advocate who leads Campaign Zero, trekked to Houston to urge council members to reject the program. He said the tradeoff should not be technology that makes some people feel safe while criminalizing other. Campaign Zero suggested using the funds to invest in the citys 911 system, expand mobile crisis outreach teams, or direct to gun violence interruption programs. Analysis of ShotSpotter in other cities also has questioned its efficacy. San Antonio canceled its contract in 2017, saying it simply was not worth the money. Officers there made four arrests and confiscated seven weapons over 15 months thanks to the technology, while the city paid $378,000. Houston police say officers here have made 54 arrests during the one-year pilot. The MacArthur Justice Center found the system in Chicago created thousands of dead-end police deployments that find no evidence of actual gunfire. That finding was backed up by a report from Chicagos inspector general , which found ShotSpotter reports rarely produce evidence of a gun-related crime, rarely give rise to investigatory stops, and even less frequently lead to the recovery of gun crime-related evidence during an investigatory stop. A report from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville found the system in St. Louis did not significantly reduce violent crime levels and may be of little benefit. Less than one percent of ShotSpotter calls over five years produced enough evidence to write a report. Several Houston residents joined advocates Wednesday to urge the council to reject the contract, citing the reports in other cities. We do need solutions to gun crimes, we do, said Stephanie Villanueva. But allocating $3.5 million to ShotSpotter is a waste of public funds that will have no effect on Houston gun violence. Other residents and some council members from crime-heavy districts said any help would be appreciated. Kathy Gunter, who hails from northeast Houston, said residents in her community requested the technology there. We have come together, we asked for it, we need it and we want it, Gunter said. The gun violence is very bad in northeast Houston. Her council member, Tarsha Jackson of District B, echoed the desire for the technology, although she acknowledged it would not stop shootings. District D Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, whose district includes the area covered by the pilot, said her constituents have asked for ShotSpotter, as well. We have to do something, Evans-Shabazz said. Our gun violence is really just at epic proportions. Houston Police Commander W.M. Martin, who oversees the area where the system was deployed, has said the system marks an improvement to more traditional reports. He said officers otherwise would have to rely on 911 calls from residents, who often do not witness the gunfire themselves and cannot identify where it came from. With ShotSpotter, he said, an officer usually gets an alert and an address within 30 and 45 seconds of the noise. This data has been very helpful for us as a police department in trying to better target our efforts to protect our residents from gun crime, Martin told council members in an earlier committee meeting. Under the contract, ShotSpotter will own the data and license it to the city on a subscription basis. dylan.mcguinness@chron.com Both of Houstons parades celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day are planning to return in 2022, ending a one-year hiatus and setting up a return to the citys long-running duel between two events. The Original Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade, organized by the Black Heritage Society and backed by the city, went virtual last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Wednesday that is not the plan for the 44th rendition this year. We want people to know, the parade will go on, Turner said during a City Hall press conference. The parade, which dates back to 1978, will begin at Lamar and Smith downtown at 10 a.m. Jan. 17. Likewise the MLK Grande Parade, which began in 1995, is planning a separate, in-person event in Midtown, according to its website. That also will begin at 10 a.m. at San Jacinto and Elgin streets. Organizers of that event suspended the 2021 edition and rebroadcast the 2020 version last year. The two parades have feuded for years, sparring over permits, guests and city and corporate support. Turner gave the citys backing to the Black Heritage Society in 2018, calling for the city to come together and celebrate one event. The next year, MLK Grande invited the mayors two foremost opponents, Tony Buzbee and Bill King, to be its grand marshals in 2019, although organizers said their motivation was not political. Some wondered whether the recent surge of cases, fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, would force the city to call for another virtual event this year, the mayor said. Turner said that would not be the case. He encouraged all attendees to wear masks, get tested for COVID-19 beforehand, and ensure they have all their vaccinations. It did not appear those measures would be required. Vanessa Wyche, director of NASAs Johnson Space Center, will serve as the Grand Marshal of the parade. Im just so humbled by this, said Wyche, who pointed out the agency is working to return to the moon with its first woman astronaut and first astronaut of color. MLK Grandes grand marshals are Houston Independent School District Superintendent Millard House II; and Bryan Taulton, superintendent at Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD. The organizers also have consolidated the parade with their youth parade, which used to occur on the preceding Saturday, according to Charles Stamps, MLK Grandes founder. And the Black Trail Riders Association, which has done a separate event in the afternoon on MLK Drive, is joining that parade as well, Stamps said. As a result, this is the largest event weve ever done, Stamps said. We like to think its the largest event the city has ever seen. dylan.mcguinness@chron.com New body camera footage released by Houston police Dec. 30 shows an officer who fatally struck a Sunnyside pedestrian who was walking to his barber in early December was going in excess of 80 mph in the incident, according to Chron.com. The almost 5-minute video on the police departments YouTube channel showed a Dec. 4 incident where HPD officer Orlando Hernandez, 25, lost control and hit 62-year-old Michael Wayne Jackson around 5:40 p.m. at the 4100 block of Reed Road. Jackson was pronounced dead shortly after at 5:51 p.m. by EMS, according to police. VIDEO: Pearland police post bodycam footage after arresting sister of man killed in HPD shootout Body cam footage from both Hernandez and his partner, officer Anthony Aranda, 25, showed they were responding to assist other officers in pursuing four suspects who fled on foot during an aggravated robbery in progress. Hernandez drove the cruiser at an average speed of 75 mph in the moments leading up to him losing control and crashing on Reed Road a 40 mph zone, according to the footage released. This was first reported by Chron.com Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff As he sped toward the intersection of Reed Road and Scott Street, video showed Hernandez turn the steering wheel nearly 180 degrees with one hand in order to avoid colliding with other cars. The cruiser slid slightly right, jumping the sidewalk and hitting Jackson before slamming into a dumpster bin in a nearby parking lot. HPD has not closed the case and have yet to release any other findings from the investigation including any data from the cruiser's computer regarding its actual speed and if/when Hernandez applied the brakes. Yet, crash investigators in HPDs vehicular crimes division noted in the crash report that Hernandez was "traveling at an unsafe speed" and "performed a faulty evasive action,"according to the police report and first reported by Chron.com According to a police spokesperson on Monday, both officers have fewer than five years on the force and are still listed as active duty. On HoustonChronicle.com: New bodycam footage in fatal HPD officer shooting shows suspect used illegally modified handgun Jacksons brother, Timothy, told Chron.com in the days following the incident he speculated Hernandez was ill-trained. "It looks like to me, maybe the guys couldn't drive that well," Jackson said. "They just weren't ready. Their skill level in pursuits maybe wasn't that good, because they came out of the street onto the sidewalk. They put anybody that's on the sidewalk in danger." Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, told the Chron.com the collision was a "tragic accident." "Officers were responding to an assist while chasing robbery suspects," Griffith said in a text message. "It's my belief that the officers left the road to avoid a collision and never saw the citizen. Truly sad for all involved." It is unclear if prosecutors will pursue charges against Hernandez as both he and Aranda are past their preliminary 3-day placement on administrative duties. HPD stated in a December press release the incident is being investigated HPD Internal Affairs Division and the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Chron.com contributed to this story joel.umanzor@chron.com Wayne Parry, STF / Associated Press A Houston-area woman is celebrating a win of close to a million at a Louisiana casino. The Golden Nugget Lake Charles in Louisiana announced that Jeannine L. earned more than $829,000 in a jackpot while gambling on New Years weekend. The woman is from Spring and was with friends and family when she won, according to click2Houston.com. French President Emmanuel Macron isnt afraid to take a jab at the nations unvaccinated. With just three months left before the upcoming presidential election, Macron set off a wave of backlash Wednesday with a vow to make life as difficult as possible for the citizens who have opted against getting their coronavirus shots. He specifically used a French term, a slang word viewed by many as offensive, which closely translates to annoy or piss off. Advertisement I really want to piss off the unvaccinated, he told the newspaper Le Parisien. And so we are going to continue doing that, until the end. They undermine the solidity of a nation. French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a media conference at the conclusion of an EU Summit in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. (JOHN THYS/AP) The French leader continued on to blast those without their shots as irresponsible, while also emphasizing that they make up only a small part of the population. About a third of Frances 67 million people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, leaving about 5 million still unprotected. Advertisement Im not going to put them in prison, he said in the interview, published late Tuesday. Im not going to vaccinate them by force. Macron has instead decided to advocate for legislation that will so severely limit the everyday activities of the unvaccinated that they have nearly no choice but to receive their jabs. The proposed law would require people to be fully vaccinated to enter restaurants, gyms and other public places while striking an option that permitted to people to present a negative COVID test taken within the last previous hours to gain entry to such spots. If it is approved, the measure will effectively ban those without their shots from huge portions of French social life. Discussion over the legislation, expected to pass later this week, was put on hold Wednesday but not before the presidents political rivals took aim at his comments. I cannot support a bill whose only goal is to piss off the French, Christian Jacob, the head of the right-wing Republicans party, told fellow lawmakers. A president cannot say such things. The controversy comes as France struggles to battle back a surge of infections that have left some hospitals overwhelmed. The nation on Tuesday reported a record-breaking 271,686 daily virus cases as omicron infections tear across the nation, triggering a potential disruption to transportation, schools and other services. With News Wire Services After spending nearly 20 years in prison for a murder in Dallas they did not commit, Stanley Mozee and Dennis Allen were granted certificates of innocence, released and provided compensation by the state. Such cases are not uncommon. Texas leads the nation in exonerations of wrongfully convicted citizens with 400 since 1989, including 15 in 2020. Yet, wrongful convictions of innocent people continue to be a significant problem in Texas. What can be done to prevent these miscarriages of justice is complex; what prosecutors should do if they become aware of a possible wrongful conviction is clear. At a minimum, disclose it, and take reasonable steps to correct it. The evidence that exonerated Mozee and Allen was only discovered after a long post-conviction investigation, which included a new district attorney opening the complete file to the defendants attorneys. As the authority charged with both the administration of justice and the protection of public safety, prosecutors play a central role in balancing the scales of justice. It serves no useful purpose to continue the incarceration of an innocent person, while the actual perpetrator remains unaccountable. The State Bar of Texas Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda has proposed commonsense additions to their Rules of Professional Conduct that address the basic ethical requirements of Texas prosecutors who encounter wrongful convictions. The proposed additions would put Texas in line with the longstanding Model Rules of the American Bar Association, which have been adopted in more than a dozen other states. The committee meets on January 5 to vote on these proposed changes. It is troubling that the Texas District and County Attorneys Association is against these proposed updates, evidently believing that failure to disclose evidence that could exonerate those who are wrongfully convicted is not a problem and that existing rules already require such disclosures. These prosecutors have formed a committee of their own to block these proposed ethical rules from going into effect. They have formalized their opposition in a letter to the State Bar Committee. The amendments simply state that when a prosecutor knows of new, credible and material evidence creating a reasonable likelihood that a convicted defendant is actually innocent, the prosecutor should: (1) promptly disclose that evidence to an appropriate court or authority; (2) disclose that evidence to the defendant, unless a court authorizes delay; and (3) undertake further investigation, or make reasonable efforts to cause an investigation, to determine whether the defendant was convicted of an offense that the defendant didnt commit. The proposed changes also state that when a prosecutor knows of clear and convincing evidence establishing a defendants innocence, the prosecutor shall seek to remedy the wrongful conviction. Honestly, it is hard to believe that the prosecutors association actively opposes them. Even if they believe existing laws and rules require disclosing potentially exonerating evidence, prosecutors should support the proposed amendments to bring clarity to their ethical duties. Similarly, an ethical obligation will remove the concern of disobeying supervisors that could potentially deter appropriate action. Mistakes in the criminal justice system happen. Advances in the science of forensic DNA testing alone have proven that these mistakes have imprisoned thousands of innocent people. Since 1989, 2,933 innocent people have been exonerated many after spending decades locked up for a crime committed by someone else. Anyone who works in this field knows that there are many more innocent individuals who are either identified, but because of flaws in the system, or the people who administer it, are never exonerated, or are never identified at all. Prosecutors should be part of the solution. Instead, they are effectively denying the existence of an undeniable problem. Prosecutors are by far the most powerful officials in the American criminal justice system. Prosecutors have at their disposal entire investigative agencies with the power to search and arrest. They have absolute discretion on whether to charge a citizen with a criminal offense, who to charge and what level of offense to charge. Their charging power, combined with their plea-bargaining power, often pre-determines the outcome of criminal cases. This broad discretion in their everyday decisions has profound effects on the lives of the literally hundreds of thousands of people who, sometimes through no fault of their own, become involved with the criminal justice system. Prosecutors maintain this power through not just the charging, convicting, and sentencing processes, but also throughout all appeals. Their stances even weigh heavily in parole decisions. Further, unlike other members of the legal profession, prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity for their mistakes, even if their mistake causes an innocent person to be wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. The prosecutor involved in the Mozee and Allen case was recently disbarred because of his misconduct on this case, but was immune from a lawsuit. If the new district attorney had not followed the rules of conduct that should be adopted by the state bar, the two innocent men could still be in prison. Should prosecutors not be ethically bound to assist in identifying these mistakes and fixing them once identified, regardless of whose mistake it was? Innocent Texans should not suffer because Texas prosecutors deny their existence or shun their ethical responsibilities. The bar committee should vote favorably on the proposed ethical amendments and Texas prosecutors should support them. Mike Ware is the Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Texas and former head of the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. Efforts across Texas to encourage aspiring college students to fill out their free application for federal student aid forms ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline have taken on new urgency after 100,000 fewer high school students nationwide completed the forms that were due in summer 2021. Colleges and universities use the applications to examine how much financial need a student has for scholarships. The federal priority deadline for high school seniors is Feb. 1, although the so-called FAFSA applications are accepted through April 1. Thousands of dollars in Federal Pell Grants are available for students in need, and those students can also access loans at favorable rates. In July 2020, more than 2 million applications were filed by high school seniors nationwide, data from the National College Attainment Network show. The high school class of 2021 filled out nearly 5 percent fewer of the applications, or about 102,000 less. About 18 million students seeking college financial aid file the application each year, in total. In addition to federal student aid, the applications can be submitted for student aid from Texas, typically offered to students to stay in-state for college. Texas state deadline is Jan. 15. I think that it is important that we help each other and we help the students here in high schools like mine, where sometimes its a bit harder for parents to be able to support the student, so sometimes its necessary to have those resources available for students, said Nataly Martinez, a spring 2021 graduate of Eastside Early College High School in Austin, at an event held by Austin ISD where students and parents were offered assistance with filling out the 108-question form. TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday Martinez, an academic junior at the University of North Texas, is the first person in her family to attend college. She said she completed 62 credit hours while still in high school. The questions on the form are often technical, and the familys 2020 income taxes must be completed before a FAFSA can be submitted for the household. The process can be especially difficult for families in which English is a second language or for those who have never had to prepare the documents before, like Martinezs. For high school students who need help filling out the form, information is available online or from college counselors at their schools. She thanked two staff members with the district, crediting them with helping her complete it. I am extremely thankful that I had them, because otherwise I would not be able to attend college today. It was because of the resources that I was able to find on this campus that I was able to pursue my college dream, Martinez said. School districts, local education nonprofits, business groups such as local chambers of commerce and other organizations often hold events or make resources available to prospective students and their families. Average earnings for college graduates are higher than non graduates, so whole communities benefit from increased college attendance and affordability. FAFSA help breaks into three categories, said Darrin Hanson, the director of college readiness for Houston ISD, the largest school district in the state: direct student or family support, professional development and public awareness. Houston ISD hosts events it calls Financial Aid Roadshows where district staff and local experts are made directly available to families to help them fill out their FAFSAs or answer questions. Professional development refers to the behind-the-scenes work to prepare the experts for those events, and they occur throughout the year, Hanson said. There are also online resources including videos to help families fill out the FAFSA, and some districts send text messages or emails to check in with students and families and to remind them of deadlines. Each year there are millions of dollars of federal student assistance that go unclaimed, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat, speaking at the Austin event. We have barriers that stand in the way of too many students in our community and coming right out of the school from getting the education that they need and want to achieve, and this morning were trying to do something about it. edward.mckinley@chron.com Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. A juror who found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty says he cant remember if hed shared during jury selection that hed been sexually abused prompting a judge Wednesday to order briefing on whether Jeffrey Epsteins chief enabler should get a new trial. The 35-year-old juror, identified by his first and middle names, Scotty David, told Reuters he persuaded some of his fellow jurors that Maxwells victims were credible by revealing hed been sexually abused as a child. Advertisement When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse, David told Reuters. This courtroom sketch shows jurors seated according to COVID-19 health mandate, during the Ghislaine Maxwell sex abuse trial in New York, Thursday Dec. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams) (Elizabeth Williams/AP) The juror, who did not respond to inquiries from the Daily News, also gave interviews to The Daily Mail and The Independent. He, along with every other juror, filled out a questionnaire during jury selection that asked if hed ever been a victim of sexual abuse. Advertisement Federal prosecutors wrote Judge Alison Nathan that the revelations merit attention by the Court. Assuming the accuracy of the reporting, the juror asserted that he flew through the prospective juror questionnaire and does not recall being asked whether he had been a victim of sexual abuse, but stated that he would have answered honestly, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote. Maxwells lawyers, meanwhile, wrote that no hearing was necessary and that the British socialite deserved a new trial. An undated photo released as a government exhibit in the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, showing her close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. (Court Evidence) It is clear to Ms. Maxwell that based on this record alone a new trial is required, defense lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca wrote, adding that Maxwell wants all the jurors to be summoned to evaluate Davids conduct. Judge Nathan did not rule on the request for an inquiry, but ordered both sides to submit new legal arguments. She also offered the juror a court-appointed lawyer a sign that Davids conduct will face close scrutiny in the coming weeks. Maxwell was found guilty last week and faces up to 65 years in prison for grooming Epsteins underage victims between 1994 and 2004. Also on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a second juror also admitted to being sexually abused as a child and shared their experience during deliberations. Advertisement David S. Weinstein, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in Miami, cautioned that the jurors admission did not guarantee a mistrial. They would have to find that his failure to disclose was an intentional failure, Weinstein said. It certainly strengthens their argument for a new trial, it certainly taints the conviction. If the judge finds David accidentally omitted that hed been sexually abused, the broader inquiry will likely focus on whether his story improperly influenced other jurors, Weinstein said. The fact that the jury acquitted Maxwell of one of six counts also complicated arguments for a mistrial due to juror misconduct, he added. The Thurgood Marshall federal courthouse. (Mark Lennihan/AP) Advertisement The stunning admission isnt the first time a chatty juror has recently jeopardized a high-profile conviction in New York. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > Following the conviction of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, in February 2019, a member of the jury admitted disobeying the courts rules not to read about the case. The anonymous juror told Vice that the jury talked about the case a bunch of times during the trial and that at least five jurors regularly checked the Twitter feeds of journalists covering it. The interview is cited in Guzmans pending appeal. The News tracked down David on Tuesday on social media. Photos on his now-private account showed him posing in a selfie dated Nov. 4, early in jury selection, outside the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse in lower Manhattan, where Maxwell went on trial. Advertisement I can now tell everyone that I was a juror on the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, reads a post on Davids account published Thursday, a day after the jury convicted Maxwell of five of six felony charges. Been an incredible, surreal experience and an honor to serve our country! Hudson, NY (12534) Today Overcast with rain showers at times. High 57F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. A Long Island Rail Road track worker was sentenced Tuesday to three months in prison for a scam described by a judge as feeding frenzy of overtime fraud. Joseph Balestra was paid $348,000 by the MTA in 2018 $241,000 of which was overtime. That made the 51-year-old the 12th-highest paid MTA employee that year, earning more than the authoritys chairman. Advertisement He was charged in 2020, along with four other LIRR workers, in a fraud conspiracy in which they covered for each others absences from work while still getting paid. A Long Island Rail Road train is seen on the track inside the Atlantic Terminal. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) I regard this crime as quite serious, Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer said. To begin, your offense was a form of public corruption. It involved public employees plotting together to steal from the public. You and your co-conspirators engaged in a feeding frenzy of overtime fraud. Advertisement Balestra must also make restitution in the amount of $109,641 a figure prosecutors say represents the total amount of losses caused by the crews no-show shifts. The amount of overtime you claimed is eye-popping to the point nearly of physical impossibility, the judge said. An LIRR foreman, John Nugent, was sentenced to five months in prison in November. Prosecutors wrote that Thomas Caputo, who was the 11th-highest paid MTA employee in 2018, was the most culpable of the crew. Caputo pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > In arguing for leniency, Balestras attorney wrote that sleeping on the job was widely accepted at the LIRR. The charges in the case, however, were for physical absenteeism from work not sleeping. I loved the work that I did, and I loved that I could build a comfortable life for my family. Now, because of my greed and poor decisions, Ive actually hurt my family and derailed our future, the LIRR employee of 31 years wrote in a letter to the court. Engelmayer said the scam gave hardworking civil servants a bad name. Advertisement The extra money that you obtained by fraudulently claiming to have worked longer than you worked came from real people, the judge said. They are called taxpayers. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. One year after an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, 10 New Yorkers have pleaded guilty in their federal cases, a Daily News survey of court records found. The resolved cases mostly came from people who played small roles in the mayhem including one who smoked a marijuana cigarette in a senators office, and another who led rioters in a singalong of the Twisted Sisters Were Not Gonna Take It. Advertisement The people who simply engaged in mere trespassing are having their cases rapidly adjudicated with little or no jail time, said criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby, noting that the feds are trying to close easier cases in one of the largest prosecutions ever undertaken. In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 file photo, Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. (Julio Cortez/AP) The far more serious cases, however, involving violence against the police, large scale acts of property destruction and terroristic threats are the cases that take much longer to prosecute, Kuby said. Advertisement The double-digit pleas represent a jump from September, when two New Yorkers from the riots were set to take guilty pleas, but none had yet. Now, 22 percent of the 45 cases reviewed by The News have been resolved with guilty pleas. Among those who copped to federal charges are Brandon Straka, 45, a gay, self-described former liberal-turned-conservative activist who encouraged other rioters to take a shield away from a police officer at the Capitol, and a QAnon-supporting city Sanitation worker, Dominick Madden, who claimed he was out on sick leave when he was actually in Washington D.C. attending the riot. Brandon Straka Another New York state resident, Robert Chapman, 51, pleaded guilty to being at the riots after he admitted he was inside the Capitol to a match on the dating app Bumble. Possibly the most serious guilty plea came in the case of Matthew Greene, who admitted to conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding for his role in the riots. Greene was a member of the Proud Boys who travelled from Syracuse to the Capitol and was later discovered to have an unregistered AR-15 and ammunition in his New York home. Well kill them all, Greene allegedly told a witness about returning to the Capitol for Joe Bidens inauguration. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > In other cases, New Yorkers have decided to try their luck at trial. Advertisement Two rioters have already had dates set for trial in the coming months, including the son of a Brooklyn judge. In this Jan. 6, 2021 file photo, insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump, including Aaron Mostofsky, right, and Kevin Seefried, left, walk down the stairs outside the Senate Chamber in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Aaron Mostofsky, 35, whose father is Kings County Supreme Court Judge Steven Shlomo Mostofsky, is set to go on trial in March for his role at the riots, during which he wore a distinctive fur coat and carried a long wooden cane. He was also charged with theft of government property because he was carrying a Capitol police riot shield, according to prosecutors. Mostofskys trial comes after his lawyers tried twice to have his charges dismissed, but a federal judge ruled against them both times. Thomas Webster, 55, a former NYPD officer, will face a jury in April, and his lawyers plan to argue he was acting in self-defense when he battled with a Capitol police officer at the West Front of the building. Excessive force was used against him, Websters lawyers wrote in a December motion ahead of the trial that claims the officer, referred to as N.R., assaulted numerous rioters besides their client. The police officers responding to Mayor Adams 911 call reporting three men brawling in Brooklyn showed up to find just one of the combatants who denied any fight ever took place, a high-ranking cop source said Monday. Adams called 911 on Saturday, his first day on the job, after he and a gaggle of reporters spotted three men fighting on the street below the elevated J train station on Kosciuszko St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Advertisement In an interview with PIX11 the next day, Adams said the officers should have done more after responding to the scene. The officers, I believe, should have stopped, carried out a more thorough investigation, interviewed the people at the scene. I dont believe they did that properly, he said. Im going to take a look at that and make sure we instruct our officers on what my expectations are. Advertisement Mayor Adams watches a fight on a Brooklyn street while waiting for the subway to City Hall on his first day in office, Saturday, Jan. 1. (Seth Wenig/AP) According to a high-ranking police source, Adams called in the 8 a.m. brawl as an assault in progress, and the dispatcher logged it in as a fight. When police arrived, only one of the men remained. Officers asked the man through the window of their NYPD vehicle what happened, and he told them nothing, that there was no fight and that someone had just fallen down, the source said. The officers left, marking the job as unfounded. But before that happened, the dispatcher called Adams back for more info, multiple police sources said. He didnt answer, the sources said, though he may have been traveling on the subway at the time. Its unclear if either the dispatcher or the mayor followed up on the missed call. Mayor Adams calls the police while keeping his eye on a fight on a Brooklyn street while waiting for the subway to City Hall. (Seth Wenig/AP) Even if the officers got out of their car and more actively questioned the man, the result would have been the same, since no one else was around to report they were a victim of an assault, the high-ranking source said. The NYPD did not formally comment on the mayors remarks, and Adams spokesman Jonah Allon could not confirm if the mayor received a return call from the 911 dispatcher. With Michael Gartland In Brief: Chris Evans to play Gene Kelly; More COVID drama for 'The View', and more On January 7, the Islamabad High Court will frame contempt charges against The News Internationals owner, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, and two of its staff, Aamir Ghauri and Ansar Abbasi, for publishing an affidavit accusing Pakistans former Chief Justice, Saqib Nisar, of corruption. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned by the court's decision to commence punitive proceedings against journalists and calls for the annulment of all charges. Senior journalist with The News International, Ansar Abbasi, published a report on November 15 last year containing an affidavit accusing former Chief Justice, Mian Saqib Nisar, of misconduct while in office. The affidavit was prepared by the former Chief Justice of Gilgit-Baltistan, Rana Shamim, and alleged that Nisar conspired to deny bail to several leaders of the PML-N opposition leadership before the 2018 elections. On December 28, the Islamabad High Court moved to frame contempt charges against Abbasi and Ghauri, with the case slated to continue on January 7. If successful, the charges would effectively punish journalists for conducting their professional duties, seriously jeopardising the future of reporting and the medias freedom of expression in Pakistan. Owner of Jang Geo Media Group, which oversees The News International, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was also implicated in the proceedings. Renowned for its critical investigations of Pakistani politicians, Jang Geo Media Group is one of Pakistans largest media groups. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has previously served eight months in prison in 2020 for a decades-old property deal. Before publishing the article, Abbasi verified that the affidavit was genuine, and was prepared by Shamim. Abbasi said in court that he only intended to report the existence of an affidavit, not about the veracity of the facts narrated in it. Pakistan's press clubs' and journalist bodies have expressed great concern for journalists and editors targeted for reporting which is critical of authorities. According to the IFJs South Asia Press Freedom Report 2020-2021, Pakistani media workers suffered under the harshest clampdown on dissent by any government during 2020 and 2021. The IFJ said: The Pakistani governments campaign against media rights and freedom of expression is driving an already beleaguered media industry into deeper crisis. The IFJ calls on Pakistani officials to cease prosecuting journalists for critical reportage. Journalism is not a crime. Since 1963, The Independent has helped create a great community! Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region. Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors. KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary. No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account." www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed multiple departments to work together cohesively for the protection of tigers in the state amid an increase in the number of big cat deaths. "A combined effort that includes taking the local citizenry into confidence with the assistance of the police department to create a network of informers should be prioritised while also creating public awareness on the imperatives of tiger conservation. This should be done even while joint patrolling is carried out and laws are strictly enforced and amendments to the law are made wherever required to provide for even stricter punishment," Thackeray said. BCCL/ Representational Image Last week Thackeray had informed Maharashtra Assembly that as many as 23 tigers lost their lives in the state from January to July 2021. Causes for death The reasons recorded for the death of the tigers included the natural reason (15), railway accident (1), poisoning (4), electrocution (1) and poaching (2). The Chief Minister further informed that out of the 23 dead tigers, 15 were adults and 8 were cubs. Data collected by wildlife NGOs show that the number of big cat deaths in Maharashtra from electrocution are on the rise. BCCL/ File Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) revealed that in the last five years, beginning January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021, at least 18 tigers have been electrocuted in the state. One tigress was electrocuted in Bhadravati on January 3, 2022. IIegal fencing Most of these deaths are caused by illegal electric fences around agricultural lands close to the forests or traps laid by poachers. Though such high-power fences are illegal, farmers have been using them to keep their cattle and other livestock safe from wild animals. Electrocutions from low-lying power lines passing through forest areas are also not uncommon. BCCL/ representational image "Special tiger conservation teams have been set up at four tiger reserves in the state and a network of conservation huts were erected to facilitate the patrolling of remote areas. Wireless messaging system has been implemented in all the tiger project areas particularly, in the most sensitive areas. It was informed in the meeting that a joint patrol is being carried out by the Forest Department and MSEDCL to prevent the death of tigers and other wildlife due to electrocution," Thackeray said. According to the latest estimate, there are 312 tigers in the state, most of them inhabitants of the Chandrapur district. For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. A gunslinger who tried to kill a man on Christmas Eve has been busted for the slaying of another man outside a Brooklyn deli last month, cops said. Christopher Jones, 23, of Harlem, has been charged with the Dec. 9 murder of Augustin Santiago in Williamsburg. Advertisement Santiago, 34, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, was shot in the chest outside the JMZ Broadway Deli by the Brooklyn-bound steps of the Marcy Ave. subway stop. The shooter fired off at least three rounds before running off. Police investigate a shooting outside 296 Broadway in Brooklyn on Dec. 9, 2021. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News) Jones was already locked up on Rikers Island in connection with another shooting when he was charged with Santiagos killing, cops said. Advertisement He was arrested Dec. 31 on attempted murder charges after police say he shot a 28-year-old man multiple times on Christmas Eve outside an apartment building on W. 148th St. in Harlem. Santiago has a lengthy criminal record, including separate prison stints for grand larceny and drug-dealing, police sources said. Police believe his killing was drug-related, sources sad. Jones was arraigned on murder charges and ordered held without bail until he returns to Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned nearly Rs 79 lakh from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) to support 13 institutions run by the Missionaries of Charity (MOC) in the state, his office said in a statement on Tuesday, 4 January. "Ensure no one in these organisations suffer" The 13 leprosariums and orphanages are spread over eight districts, where more than 900 inmates will be benefited by this decision, news agency ANI reported, citing the CMO. The charity set up by the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1950 has its headquarters in Kolkata. File "Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked District Collectors to be in regular touch with organisations run by the Missionaries of Charity in Odisha. He has directed them to ensure that no one in these organisations suffer, especially from food security and health related distress. Wherever needed, funds from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund can be used for this purpose," Patnaik said in the statement sent by his office. Centre refused to renew organisation's FCRA licence This comes days after the Ministry of Home Affairs refused to renew the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, causing a significant disruption for their charitable work across India. The Home Ministry rejected on December 25, Christmas, a request from the Missionaries of Charity to receive funds from donors abroad. To use these funds, non-profits need clearance under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, or FCRA, but Mother Teresa's charity had said their request to renew this licence was rejected. Reuters To ensure there is no lapse, the charity then asked its centres not to operate any of foreign contribution accounts until the matter was resolved. Refusal of FCRA clearance criticised widely Refusing FCRA clearance has been criticised by activists as the government's way of suppressing organisations whose work or officials are not considered supportive enough of the centre. File The Home Ministry had denied that it had not frozen the bank accounts of Missionaries of Charity, claiming, State Bank of India informed that the charity itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts. For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a fresh warning saying that the high number of Omicron cases around the world could increase the risk of the emergence of newer and more dangerous variants. Speaking to news agency AFP, the WHO in Europe sounded alarm and said that the soaring infection rates may have opposite effects. AFP "Now, Omicron is lethal" The more Omicron spreads, the more it transmits and the more it replicates, the more likely it is to throw out a new variant. Now, Omicron is lethal, it can cause death ... maybe a little bit less than Delta, but who's to say what the next variant might throw out, WHO senior emergencies officer Catherine Smallwood said. Due to its less severity, the scientists are hoping that Omicron could possibly overcome the pandemic and bring life back to normal. But, according to Smallwood, more than 100 million COVID cases have been enrolled in Europe since the start of the pandemic, and more than 5 million new cases were enrolled in the last week of 2021. ap So far, studies have indicated that though the Omicron variant can easily bypass the immunity offered by vaccines, but the new strain is milder than the previous variants. We are at a very dangerous stage and we are seeing a very significant increase in infection rates in Western Europe, the full impact of which is not yet clear, WHO senior emergencies officer Catherine Smallwood said. IHU with 46 mutations, 37 deletions found The warning comes at a time when French researchers have detected a new Covid 'variant', probably of Cameroonian origin, and have temporarily named it as `IHU`. The new 'variant' from the lineage named B.1.640.2 is believed to have infected 12 people in the country, according to a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study supported by the French Government. Indiatimes It has 46 mutations and 37 deletions. France reported a record-smashing 271,686 daily virus cases on Tuesday as omicron infections race across the country, burdening hospital staff and threatening to disrupt transport, schools and other services. The French government is straining to avoid a new economically damaging lockdown and is instead trying to rush a vaccine pass bill through parliament in hopes that it is enough to protect hospitals. Meanwhile, the omicron variant accounted for 95% of new coronavirus infections last week, according to US health officials' latest estimates. For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. Archaeologists claim to have solved the mysteries behind an ancient Greek "computer" that shouldn't even exist. Known for its hidden relics archaeological treasures, Greece has offered great insights into a world long lost. In fact, some of the earliest advances in understanding space and the position of Earth around the sun were made in ancient Greece. The very first astronomical calculator was also built in ancient Greece. This "computer" has continued to stun scientists and archaeologists alike. Known as the Antikythera Mechanism, the 2,000-year-old Greek hand-powered orrey is a mechanical model of the solar system. It's also considered the world's oldest analogue computer. Getty World's oldest "analogue computer" Using the Antikythera, Greek scientists used to track eclipses and astronomical positions. In addition, they used to trace the cycle of Olympic Games (yes, the same ones we all have now). The Antikythera Mechanism was first found in ruins of a shipwreck in 1901 off the cost of Greek island Antikythera (hence its name). A year later, it was identified as carrying gear by archaeologist Valerios Stais. On first sight, the Antikythera Mechanism appeared as a hunk of corroded metal that "no one knew quite what to do with." Also read: Scientists Build 256-Qubit Quantum Computer That's Unlike Anything Else In conversation with BBC, Professor Tony Freeth of the University College London said that "it was not recognised at all as being anything interesting when it was discovered, it was just a corroded lump about the size of a large dictionary." Getty Using its bronze gear and calculative prowess, ancient Greeks used the Antikythera Mechanism to assess the cycle of cosmos. It is now kept in a museum in Athens - split in to 82 fragments. But no body really knew what it was for until Professor Freeth put it under the magical lens of x-ray. Also read: One Of World's Largest Supercomputers Lived For Only 10 Minutes Besides thousands of text characters in Greece, scientists discovered certain cogs that made the computer function. It could predict eclipses, follow the motion of the moon among a series of things. Did you know that ancient Greeks were so advanced? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com. References Day, J. (2022, January 3). Archaeologists stunned by astonishing ancient Greek computer that shouldnt exist. Express.Co.Uk. An asteroid with more force than the largest nuclear bomb on Earth is going to be very close to our planet at the end of this decade. Scientists in Russia recently concluded that the asteroid named after a Greek god Apophis (the embodiment of chaos) will fly past Earth in April 2029. Unistellar Earth's closest known encounter with an asteroid According to the estimates, the rock of chaos called Apophis will be 39,000 kilometres away from Earth's surface (about 24,000 miles). How close is this? Current satellites that beam channels onto our televisions are situated at the same distance, news agency Sputnik reported. NASA had also predicted the same not too long ago. Earlier, it was believed that Apophis was slated to smash into Earth in 2068, but that turned out to be an incorrect estimate. Apophis was first spotted by NASA scientists in 2004, who described it as one of the "most hazardous asteroids" that could really put Earth in danger. The asteroid has a diameter of about 340 metres (1,115 feet) and more about its path will unfold as it comes closer to Earth. What's clear is that Apophis is not expected to collide with Earth, but will instead pass by safely (albeit extremely close). Also read: No Sunlight: How Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Wiped Off 75% Of All Life On Earth It appears that the Greek god of chaos is in no mood to cause Earth more harm than it is currently enduring at the hands of human beings with climate change, political strife, and a pandemic. Unsplash/Representational Image The event will be remarkable because it will mark the first time an asteroid of such size will come so close to Earth. Even then, satellites and space stations appear to be safe from impact, according to South China Morning Post. The space rock was taken off NASA's risk list in March and the agency is now calling it an opportunity to study a "solar system relic" for it'll be extremely close to Earth in 2029. Also read: How NASA's Asteroid-Deflecting DART Mission Could Save Life On Earth One Day In case the asteroid did hit Earth, it would release energy equal to 1,717 megatons, Russian ministry's researchers believe. This would make it 30 times more powerful than the Soviet Tsar Bomba that was tested in 1961 and remains the largest bomb detonated. Uncredited What do you think about Apophis' close brush with Earth in 2029? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com. References Chik, H. (2022, January 5). Asteroid with more force than biggest nuclear bomb to come close to Earth in 2029. South China Morning Post. Sputnik . (2022, January 2). . We now offer lithium prices and coverage free for reference. Click here to read all about it. Join our growing community of participants who want to learn more about electrification and how this market is developing. A trio of gangs formed a strategic alliance and took part in more than a dozen shootings and four killings, the Brooklyn district attorney charged Tuesday, announcing the arrest of 17 people. One member of the criminal coalition is accused of taking part in three murders over a three-month span, when the suspect was just 16. Advertisement Police officers escort a handcuffed suspect into a police station during an operation in Brooklyn Tuesday. (Seth Wenig/AP) The supergang was formed out of three crews Young and Wild and Hustling, Pistol Packing Pitkin and Fort N---as Only that joined forces to dominate East New York, Brownsville and Fort Greene. They called themselves YPF and hoped by teaming up they would gain greater geographic dominance and access to guns, according Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez. They shoot on sight. ... This is the insidious part of the gang culture, Gonzalez said. This successful takedown is part of our ongoing strategy to reduce shootings and senseless deaths by targeting the most violent offenders. Advertisement Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez speaks during a press conference on Tuesday. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News) The newly formed gang boasted more than 200 members and was responsible for four killings and 14 shootings, authorities charge. Gonzalez highlighted a trio of fatal shootings connected to YPF, including the October 2020 killing of Sherard Jamie McKoy, a college student slain outside a bodega because he was wrongly identified as an opposition gang member. Suspect Iquan Warlick (Brooklyn DA) Iquan Warlick, 17, was arrested two months after the murder outside the New Lots Ave. bodega on Oct. 28, 2020. Nakhai Addison, 17, was charged with murder as an accomplice as part of the takedown. McKoy was in the bodega waiting for food with his friend, a rival of the Fort N---as Only gang. After a fistfight inside the bodega, McKoy escaped but was chased and shot to death by Warlick, prosecutors charge. McKoys friend escaped with his life, getting away by crawling into the back of the bodega as bullets whizzed by. McKoy was wrongly perceived to be a rival gang member because he was with a friend who was a gang member. He was not, Gonzalez said. He was shot because he was in East New York in opposition territory. Less than a month later, Warlick and George Risher Jr., another member of YPF gang, and at least two other unidentified people, went to a birthday party in East New York for a 16-year-old after hearing rival gang members would be in attendance, prosecutors said. One of the unidentified individuals shot at a group outside the party and hit someone in the leg, authorities said. Advertisement Later that night, the four crew members went to Crown Heights where the party had relocated to a building on Albany Ave. Risher and another gang member went up to the third floor of the building and shot at partygoers, killing Daijyonna Long, 20, who was visiting from Virginia, prosecutors say. Warlick remained in the lobby, where he and another unidentified person shot at people getting out of the elevator, injuring two. Horrific surveillance video released Tuesday shows one victim desperately trying to close the elevator doors. But Warlick gets his hand in before the elevator can shut. The two then tussle in the lobby as Warlick tries to shoot the rival, the video shows. Warlick in September 2021 was charged with murder for his involvement in Longs death. Shooting victim Daijyonna Long On Tuesday, Warlick was charged with murder for the death of Wayne LaFontant, 23, who was fatally shot at a Fort Greene housing project in September 2020. He was an accomplice of the alleged gunman, Ziquan Thompson. The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. > Warlick also fatally shot Kendale Hamilton in August 2020 while Hamilton was armed and pursuing Iquan Warlick, according to the indictment. Warlick was charged with criminal possession of a weapon but not murder, in that case. Advertisement Police officers gather after apprehending suspects during a raid in Brooklyn on Tuesday, Jan. 4. (Seth Wenig/AP) Also swept up in the two indictments was Giovanni Bennett, 17, who prosecutors say was responsible for a terrifying midday shooting in downtown Brooklyn that injured an innocent bystander who was an NYU student. Bennett allegedly rode up into the middle of MetroTech Mall on Sept. 21, 2021, around 3 p.m. on a Razor scooter, pulled a gun and began firing at a rival gang member. Throngs ran for cover as bullets flew in the crowded area, surveillance video released Thursday shows. These guns were in the hands of bad people that did bad things to good people, said Mayor Adams, who announced the charges along with Gonzalez. Mayor Adams speaks during a press conference at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office on Tuesday. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News) Its the gangs and the guns. That is the problem. Everyday New Yorkers in this borough of 2.6 million were held hostage. The defendants were set to be arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court later Tuesday. Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below. This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. As if 2020 didnt test the insurance industry enough, 2021 has proved to be yet another challenging year for property & casualty insurers. We saw significant variations in reconstruction costs, growing threats to property from natural catastrophes, and the continued impact of the global pandemic. As the new year dawns on us, we asked the CoreLogic Protect team to share some predictions for whats to come for the insurance industry. Here are the top four predictions: Parametric insurance programs will gain increased adoption and incorporate the full spectrum of hazard modeling tools. Parametric insurance, enabled by developments in Internet of Things (IoT), is proving to be a valuable supplement to traditional indemnity insurance. These IoT technologies are perfectly suited to provide insights into the high-gradient perils which are most impacted by climate change, such as flood and wildfire. Insurers will adopt hazard modeling tools into parametric insurance to avoid adverse selection and set rates at a level associated with the risk levels. This will allow them to write business previously out of reach while also providing policyholders with fair and transparent pricing of their insurance needs. Climate change will necessitate the implementation of climate-adapted catastrophe risk models. Climate change is an insurance industry wildcard. For example, winter storm Uri highlighted the fragility of insured assets to simultaneous events, which in this case were the deep cold combined with an extended power outage. Hurricane Idas losses in the U.S. Northeast reminded insurers of an existing vulnerability to flood losses. Insurers will need to adopt the next generation of climate-adapted catastrophe risk models to project losses into the future, which will influence the insurance market for years to come. Artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-enabled tools will continue to learn from past natural catastrophe events to ensure the underlying science is up to date with current conditions. This will increase the ability to create measurements in the form of probabilities for various natural hazard and climate outcomes. Insurers will roll out new P&C insurance pricing incentives like mitigation-based policyholder credits. As insurers apply more sophisticated risk modeling to underwriting, theyll be able to develop pricing incentives that better protect policyholders and reduce losses. Insurance premium credits for policyholders that take part in mitigation efforts is a good example of this. Insurers will need to educate property owners on what kinds of actions they can take to help protect their propertystorm shutters, vegetation clearing, plumbing insulation, etc. This will require a new communication strategy that educates policyholders on how to get involved. Niche-oriented insurance startups will reach new heights. Niche-oriented insurance startups are serving a narrow customer base while improving business efficiency through technology. Insurance startups can quickly build client-focused solutions by taking advantage of interoperable data standards or tapping into ecosystems of open API-enabled technology solutions. New imagery technology is also powering this movement, with AI and ML stretching whats possible with analyzing property imagery and digital records. Insurance startups can now build the most complete property record possible, making niche markets a viable growth business. As the world continues to adapt to the pandemic and the changing climate, insurers need to be equipped with the latest insights to stay competitive and provide their policyholders with the best service possible. Ultimately, insurers who can provide the fairest pricing to policyholders while protecting against big losses and incentivizing risk mitigation participation will build the most resilient businesses. Topics Trends Market MountainOne Insurance Agency, based in northwestern Massachusetts, has acquired the Cross Insurance agency branch in nearby Pittsfield. The company said in a news release that it plans to keep all of the Cross Insurance employees in Pittsfield, making MountainOne one of the largest agencies in the Berkshires, the mountainous region in the western part of state. Cross Insurance was formed in 2016 when Cross purchased Bardwell, Bowlby & Karam Insurance Agency and Colt Insurance Agency, two agencies in Pittsfield. MountainOne, which offers personal lines, business property and casualty insurance, surety bonding and employee benefits, was founded in 1848, the company said. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Massachusetts Thanks to Facebook, cops are one step closer to finding a suspect in a gunpoint holdup of a Brooklyn deliveryman. Police are using a shirtless photo from the social media site in their search for Gregory Adams, wanted for an armed mugging at a Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment. Advertisement Suspect Gregory Adams (DCPI) A 21-year-old deliveryman had just dropped off food at the apartment on Lafayette Ave. near Malcolm X Blvd. about 1:25 a.m. Dec. 2 and was heading down a building staircase when Adams allegedly ran up and pulled a gun on him. Put your hands up! Give me your money, Adams ordered before rifling through the deliverymans pockets, snatching $500 cash, according to cops. Advertisement The crook ran off down Patchen Ave. Detectives quickly identified Adams as the suspect and as the NYPD Brooklyn warrants squad pressed their search for him they found crystal-clear images of a bare-chested Adams on Facebook. The NYPD released one of those pictures Wednesday and asked the publics help tracking him down. In other pictures on his Facebook page, Adams wears a Black Lives Matter T-shirt and has an American flag draped over his shoulders. He describes himself as single and self-employed. Adams is described by cops as about 30, 190 pounds, 5-feet-7 and bald. He has a tattoo on his left arm and was wearing blue jeans and a waist-length black jacket. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has appointed three judges to fill vacancies on the states intermediate appellate court that hears workers compensation cases. With diverse experience and background, I am proud to appoint these justices to the Appellate Division and am certain that their service will further the interests of justice for New Yorkers, Hochul said in a statement Monday. Known as the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, Third Department, the court hears a range of appeals in Upstate New York, but also hears appeals from the state Workers Compensation Board. The new Third Department judges are currently judges on the states Supreme Court, which, in New Yorks unusual court structure, is similar to a trial court or circuit court in other states. The judges: Lisa Fisher, a judge in the Third Judicial District since 2015. She previously was an assistant public defender in the family court in Ulster County. Andrew Ceresia, a judge in the Third Judicial District in Rensselaer County since 2017. Eddie McShan, a judge in the First Judicial Department of the Appellate Term, which is another section of the states Supreme Court system. He also is a judge in the Twelfth District and an adjunct professor at Bronx Community College. The new judges were recommended by a Judicial Screening Committee, the governors office said. Topics New York In whats being called one of the deadliest residential fires in recent Philadelphia history, a blaze at a rowhouse killed 13 people Wednesday, including seven children, according to local news reports. This is without a doubt one of the most tragic days in our citys history, the loss of so many people in such a tragic way, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said at a news conference. Losing so many kids is just devastating. Authorities said at least 18 people were living in the upper floors of the three-story building. Eight people were able to escape, and two were taken to a hospital. The building was a Philadelphia Housing Authority property, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation, fire officials told the USA Today newspaper. The fire occurred on North 23rd Street, according to the Philadelphia Fire Department. Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said the Housing Authority had inspected the building in 2019 and 2020, and both times installed smoke detectors. The detectors were battery-operated with 10-year lithium batteries in them, but none of them operated, Murphy said. Firefighters responded to the fire at around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday and found heavy fire and smoke on the second story, the Philadelphia Fire Department said in a tweet. It took about 50 minutes to get the fire under control, the department said. Photo: A Philadelphia firefighter works at the scene Wednesday morning in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Canadian insurance broker Western Financial Group has acquired Wiesner Insurance Inc., a high-end full-service insurance brokerage located in southern Ontario. Originally founded in 1991 by Jason Wiesner, Wiesner Insurance Inc. is an independent brokerage serving customers in and around Brampton, a significant trading area west of Toronto, Ontario. The Wiesner team offers a full line of commercial, personal, and financial services products, with a specialization in commercial products and programs, including employee benefits. The brokerage takes pride in providing boutique-level customer service, based on strong and trusting relationships. Under the leadership of Wiesner and Nick Rizzuto, and through the efforts of their energetic sales professionals, Wiesner Insurance has been growing rapidly over the last five years, said High River, Alberta-headquartered Western Financial in a statement. We are pleased to announce this new partnership and are excited to work with the team at Wiesner Insurance, said Western Financial Group President and CEO Kenny Nicholls. Our organizations share a sharp focus and a strong emphasis on customer and people relationships. We are excited to be joining the Western Financial Group family, said Jason Wiesner, founder and president of Wiesner Insurance. At Wiesner we are aligned with Westerns vision and their community values. Like Western, we place an emphasis on the value of the broker and the level of service we deliver to our customers. This new step is great for our people, customers, and our communities and we are pleased to join an organization that shares our values. About Western Financial Group Inc. Western Financial is a diversified insurance services company that has cared for the insurance needs of over one million Canadians for more than one hundred years. Western Financial provides personal, business, and life insurance services in over 200 communities through sales and service centers, affiliates, and online. It is a subsidiary of Trimont Financial Ltd., a subsidiary of The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company. Source: Western Financial Group Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies Canada Canopius Group, the London-based global specialty re/insurer, announced that Neil Robertson has been appointed group chief executive officer. Robertson joined Canopius as deputy group CEO in May 2021, reporting to Group Chairman and CEO Michael Watson, and takes up his new role immediately. Watson will continue as group chairman. As group CEO, Robertson will lead Canopius in setting and achieving its strategic ambitions, furthering its distinctiveness and delivering enhanced returns for our shareholders, all while creating a culture in which its employees can thrive, the company said in a statement. He will also focus on developing its Asia-Pacific, Bermudian and U.S. operations, while continuing to build the companys position as a leading London specialty re/insurer. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Robertson joined Canopius in May from AXA XL where he had served as CEO, Global Specialty, overseeing a multi-billion dollar portfolio of business written across a broad global network. His previous responsibilities have included chief executive of Insurance Underwriting for XL Catlin and seven years as CEO of XL Groups Lloyds Managing Agency. After leading Canopius for 20 years, it is now the right time to empower the next generation of leadership for the group, commented CEO Watson. Recent months have shown Neils exceptional talents as a motivational leader and a builder of effective teams, which will help propel us to the next level. This is a wonderful opportunity to lead a business with outstanding potential. I have had time get to know Canopius over the last six months, and I have been hugely impressed with what I have learned and by the enormous potential of our talent to deliver sustained success, said Robertson. I look forward to continuing our work to realise our strategic objectives by building on Canopiuss established footprint, strong capital base and enviable reputation as we embark on the next exciting phase of our development. Source: Canopius The year 2021 ended as the fifth hottest in records maintained by the European Unions Copernicus Climate Change Service that go back to 1979. That finding comes from publicly available data analyzed by Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist who posted his calculations on Twitter. This is among the first readings of last years temperature data but it wont be the last. Copernicus is expected to release its full results later this month. Additional global temperature data will be released from NASA, NOAA, the U.K. Met Office, and Berkeley Earth, which draw on records dating back to the 19th century. Officials from Copernicus did not respond to requests for comment on data posted to the agencys website. Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkley Earth, said in an email its likely that other data sources will rank 2021 somewhere between the fifth- and seventh-hottest years on record. Last year did set the highest-ever June-to-August average land temperature. But a La Nina event, which is an occasional cooling pattern in the Pacific Ocean, arrived in October and caused temperatures to dip. That pattern makes winter milder in the southern U.S.and has been blamed for contributing to flooding in Indonesia and Australia. It was enough to push 2021s average temperature down closer to 2018 and 2015, according to Hausfathers analysis of the Copernicus data. The last seven years are the hottest on record and 21 of the 22 hottest years have come since the year 2000, according to the Copernicus data. Photograph: Residents at a cooling center during a heatwave in Portland, Oregon, U.S., on Monday, June 28, 2021. Photo credit: Maranie Staab/Bloomberg. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Europe Climate Change The Illinois Office of the Special Deputy Receiver (OSD) was hit by a cyberattack last summer, resulting in millions of dollars in losses to two auto insurance agencies under liquidation, the Illinois Department of Insurance confirmed. The cyber breach was first reported by the Chicago Tribune. On July 15, 2021, the OSD learned of the loss of approximately $6.85 million resulting from wrongful transfer wires. The DOI said the criminal actor obtained funds from the accounts of Gateway Insurance Company and Affirmative Insurance Company which are under liquidation. To date, $2,870,500 has been recovered, which the Tribune reports belongs to the account of Affirmative. Gateway sold commercial auto insurance and Affirmative sold personal auto insurance. Affirmative was ordered into liquidation in March 2016 and Gateway entered liquidation in July 2020, according to the OSD. The OSD is a nonprofit formed in 1991 to administer the estates of insolvent or financially troubled Illinois insurance companies placed in judicially supervised receivership. The majority of policyholders claims are covered under the Illinois or other state guaranty funds and will therefore not be impacted, the DOI said. OSD has insurance for cyber fraud, and recovery efforts are ongoing. OSD reported the loss to law enforcement authorities and to its insurance carriers and an investigation is ongoing. Topics Carriers Cyber Illinois World Insurance Associates has acquired Safety Consulting, Inc. of Topeka, Kansas. Founded in 1971, Safety Consulting, provides loss control and risk management services that include safety training, site inspections, and safety supply equipment across its diverse customer base, ranging from construction, manufacturing, transportation, municipalities, national trade associations and oil industries. Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla provided legal counsel to WIA. Smith Law provided legal counsel to Safety Consulting, Inc. No other advisors, diligence firms or legal counsel were disclosed. Source: World Insurance Associates Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Kansas A Jonesboro, Louisiana fire chief and a Jackson Parish sheriffs deputy have been arrested for insurance fraud over an alleged fraudulent vehicle crash that involved two Jonesboro Fire Department vehicles. In August 2021, Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud/Auto Theft Unit-Monroe Field Office received a complaint of a suspected fraudulent insurance claim from the Jackson Parish Sheriffs Office. The fraudulent claim for over $26,000.00. As a result of this investigation, 37-year-old Brandon Brown of Jonesboro and 58-year-old George Wyatt of Jonesboro were arrested. At the time of this investigation, Brown was the fire chief for the city of Jonesboro and Wyatt was a Jackson Parish sheriffs deputy. According to the Louisiana State Police, during the course of the investigation and from information obtained, it was determined that Brown and Wyatt falsified a crash report and that Brown and Wyatt were the drivers of the vehicles involved. After interviewing several people, including Brown and Wyatt, it was determined that Browns juvenile son was actually driving one of the vehicles at the time of the crash. Brown and Wyatt have been charged with insurance fraud, filing or maintaining false public records, and malfeasance in office. They were both booked into the Jackson Parish Jail. This investigation remains active and on-going. For more information and/or to contact the Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud and Auto Theft Unit. Source: Louisiana State Police Topics Louisiana Fraud Arson Investigators looking for the cause of the Colorado wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes have narrowed their search to a sparsely populated neighborhood near Boulder where a passer-by captured video of a burning shed on the day the fire began, authorities said. The fire originated somewhere in that neighborhood, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a news briefing Sunday. He said authorities did not know whether the burning shed started the larger fire or whether the shed caught fire as a result of other flames. Experts say the winter fire was rare but that similar events will become more common as climate change warms the planet and suburbs grow in fire-prone areas. The inferno broke out unusually late in the year following months of drought that included a dry fall and a winter with hardly any snow so far. No downed power lines were found in the area being investigated, according to the countys Office of Emergency Management. Meanwhile, teams continued searching Monday for two people who were still missing, and survivors sorted through the charred remnants of their homes to find whatever was left. The Boulder County area known as Marshall Mesa is near the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills and overlooks the more heavily populated suburbs to the east that were devastated by the fast-moving fire, which was whipped up by furious winds blowing from the foothills to the west. The area is surrounded by tinder-dry public open space and private grasslands. Over the weekend, authorities executed a search warrant, but the sheriff declined to elaborate and did not comment on whether he thought the fire was arson. But a sheriffs official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that several properties were under investigation, including one in the Marshall Mesa area, about 2 miles west of the hard-hit town of Superior. A National Guard Humvee blocked access to the property. In the search for the missing, crews were looking for a woman in the town of Superior and a man from the nearby community of Marshall. Other investigators were trying to determine if the missing might have made it out but did not contact their families or friends, Pelle said. Rex and Barba Hickman went through the ashes of their Louisville home with their son and his wife. Their son Austin cut a safe open with a grinding tool to reveal gold and silver coins, melted credit cards, keys and the charred remains of the couples passports. They had evacuated with their dog, their iPads and the clothes on their back, and Rex Hickman said he was heartbroken to discover that there was nothing left of their home of 23 years. Theres a numbness that hits you first. You know, kind of like you go into crisis mode. You think about what you can do, what you cant do, he said. The real pain is going to sink in over time. The couple have to find a rental property and clothes in the short-term, and their insurance company told them Sunday it would take at least two years to rebuild their home. We know how fortunate we are, Rex Hickman said. We have each other. We have great friends, wonderful family. So many people have got to be suffering much more than we are, and we feel for them. While homes that burned to the foundations were still smoldering in some places, the blaze was no longer considered an immediate threat _ especially with frigid temperatures and a blanket of snow that fell Saturday. Most of the 991 buildings destroyed by the fire were homes. But the blaze also burned through eight businesses at a shopping center in Louisville, including a nail salon and a Subway restaurant. In neighboring Superior, 12 businesses were damaged, including a Target, a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria, a Tesla car dealership, a hotel and the town hall. The two towns are about 20 miles northwest of Denver and have a combined population of 34,000. The Boulder Valley School District, which serves the wildfire area, planned to resume classes as scheduled on Wednesday and to provide counseling services for students and staff affected by the flames. The University of Colorado in Boulder delayed in-person classes to Jan. 24, with remote learning starting Jan. 10. The flames stopped about 100 yards from Susan Hills property in Louisville. She slept Saturday night in her home using a space heater and hot water bottles to keep warm because her natural gas service was still off. She choked up as she remembered seeing the sky change color and nervously fleeing with her college-age son and the dog, cat and a fire box with birth certificates and other documents. I dont even know how to describe it, she said. Its so sad. Its so awful. Its just devastating. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Colorado Nevada has agreed to back a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving lawsuits against three large drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, the states attorney general said on Tuesday. Nevada was among a handful of states that until now was not participating in the landmark agreements to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits against J&J, McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc . The settlements backers had agreed to extend to Jan. 26 a deadline for cities and counties in states that backed the proposal to opt-in to the settlements, citing the potential for more states to join. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said he was optimistic the states local governments would join the settlements, allowing Nevada to receive more than $285 million. There is no question that the opioid epidemic has devastated Nevada and money is needed now to address comprehensive statewide remediation, he said in a statement. J&J said it agreed to a $63 million settlement with Nevada consistent with its proposal to pay up to $5 billion to resolve cases against it nationally. AmerisourceBergen and McKesson declined to comment. Cardinal Health did not respond to requests for comment. More than 3,300 lawsuits largely by state and local governments are pending seeking to hold those and other companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis that led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths over two decades. The companies deny wrongdoing. The distributors said in September that 42 states, five territories and Washington, D.C., had agreed to participate in their $21 billion settlement. A similar number backed J&Js proposal. The extent state and local governments participate will shape how much the companies ultimately must pay and how much outstanding litigation they face. New Mexico, another holdout state, on Dec. 7 signed on. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio) China secures extraordinary achievements in expanding high-level opening up in 2021 People's Daily Online) 17:09, January 05, 2022 China made extraordinary achievements in pushing high-level opening up in 2021 against the backdrop of profound changes and a pandemic unseen in a century. The country opened even wider to the rest of the world, creating opportunities for its own development and injecting strong momentum into the steady recovery of the global economy. Photo shows an interior view of the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub, a permanent trading platform for the China International Import Expo (CIIE). The hub is next to CIIEs venue the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) in Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) On Dec. 27, 2021, China unveiled its latest national negative list and pilot free trade zone (FTZ) negative list for foreign investment, as part of efforts to further open up the economy. This marked the fifth consecutive year that China has revised the two negative lists. The number of items that are off-limits for foreign investors will be cut to 31 for the nationwide version, and 27 for the pilot FTZ version, with a reduction ratio of 6.1 percent and 10 percent, respectively, according to a statement jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce. In 2017, there were 93 and 122 items on the lists, respectively. Chinas continued expansion of the scope for foreign investment has created a broader space for foreign investors. Bucking a sharp drop in global cross-border investment, China attracted $149.34 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, maintaining its status as the worlds second biggest recipient of FDI. In the first 11 months of 2021, FDI into the Chinese mainland, in terms of actual use, topped the 1-trillion-yuan ($156.85 billion) mark, surpassing the overall annual FDI achieved in 2020. Last year marked the 20th anniversary of Chinas accession to the World Trade Organization. Over the past two decades, China has fully delivered on its accession commitments. Its overall tariff rate had been cut from 15.3 percent to 7.4 percent, lower than the 9.8 percent accession commitment. On Dec. 15, 2021, the Customs Tariff Commission of Chinas State Council announced that the country would eliminate tariffs on a radium chloride injection, a new anticancer drug, and reduce tariffs on some imported commodities, including aquatic products, baby clothing, and ski gear, in 2022. A large batch of high-standard projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) witnessed new progress in 2021. People shop at the Haikou Riyue Plaza duty-free shop in south Chinas Hainan province, Nov. 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, started operation on Dec. 3, 2021. The railway, which connects Kunming in southwest Chinas Yunnan Province with the Lao capital Vientiane, can reduce transport costs between the two cities by 40-50 percent, according to a report released by the World Bank. The transit trade through Laos along the railway is expected to reach 3.9 million tonnes per year by 2030. Under the BRI framework, over 90 percent of the total civil construction works for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia were completed and the cornerstone was laid for the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway connecting the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia, while the construction of the railways section running from Novi Sad to Subotica in Serbia has been initiated. In 2021, China-Europe freight train trips continued to see steady growth. In November 2021 alone, the number of China-Europe freight train trips rose 1 percent year-on-year to reach 1,246, exceeding 1,000 for the 19th consecutive month, and with the freight trains carrying 120,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo, up 4 percent from a year earlier. As of the end of November 2021, China-Europe freight trains had made 47,414 trips and transported 4.3 million TEUs of goods. Chinas circle of friends under the BRI has continued to expand. As of Dec. 15 last year, China had signed more than 200 cooperation documents for the joint construction of the Belt and Road with 145 countries and 32 international organizations. The fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shanghai on Nov. 5, 2021. At the event, over 420 new products, technologies and services were showcased. Nearly 3,000 companies from 127 countries and regions participated in the event. The numbers of enterprises as well as countries and regions that had been attracted to the event both surpassed those of the third CIIE. A total of $70.72 billion worth of tentative deals were reached at the fourth CIIE, increasing from $57.83 billion during the first CIIE. The fourth Hongqiao International Economic Forum was also held simultaneously with the expo. Over 2,000 guests at 12 sub-forums and an international seminar of the forum exchanged ideas on hot topics, including green development and the digital economy, and explored paths towards building a community with a shared future for mankind. The World Openness Report 2021 was issued at the forum, calling for greater international cooperation to promote opening up. A China-Europe freight train departs from Dongxiang district, Fuzhou city, east Chinas Jiangxi Province, on Dec. 16, 2021, heading for the city of Vorsino in Russia. (Peoples Daily Online/Rao Fangqi) The first China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) concluded on May 10, 2021, at the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center in Haikou, capital of south Chinas Hainan Province. It was the first ever expo focusing on high-quality consumer goods that has been held by China at the national level. A total of 70 countries and regions attended the four-day expo, and 2,628 brands of 1,505 enterprises from home and abroad participated in the exhibitions. The CICPE, along with the CIIE in Shanghai, the Canton Fair in south Chinas Guangdong Province, and the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, has become yet another global public good for the world to share in Chinas own development opportunities. Last year, China made steady progress in reform and innovation for its pilot FTZs. In early September 2021, China rolled out a raft of new measures on promoting reform and innovation for trade and investment facilitation at its pilot FTZs, including helping them develop offshore trade capabilities. Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Commerce, said the 19 new measures focusing on advancing investment and trade facilitation gave the pilot FTZs greater command over reform, enabling them to better leverage their roles as pioneers and as good examples of reform and opening up. Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, said that China would introduce a negative list for cross-border services trade in the pilot FTZs as soon as possible and support some pilot FTZs and free trade ports to learn and adopt the rules of high-level international free trade agreements. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Reality-TV star Renee Graziano told investigators she took Adderall before crashing into a parked vehicle on Staten Island with such force her SUV overturned, cops said Wednesday. Graziano, 52, struck the parked Jeep near Arden Ave. and Arthur Kill Road about 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, police said. Her 2020 Nissan Murano flipped over onto its roof from the impact. Advertisement Cops arrested her for driving while impaired by drugs, but the Staten Island district attorneys office deferred prosecution as it continues to investigate. Renee Graziano on March 5, 2018 in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) The VH1 star wasnt injured in the crash and admitted to first responders she had taken an Adderall earlier in the day, cops said. She also appeared wobbly on her legs and slurred her words, an NYPD spokesman said. Advertisement Adderall, prescribed to millions of Americans, is a stimulant mixture of amphetamine salts used primarily to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Graziano is the daughter of former Bonanno crime family consigliere Anthony Graziano and ex-wife to former Bonanno crime family associate Hector Pagan Jr. She was awaiting arraignment in Staten Island Criminal Court on Wednesday. Graziano was in all six seasons of Mob Wives, which documented the everyday lives and interactions of women who were married or related to organized crime figures. The show ended in 2016. In 2019, Mob Wives star Drita DAvanzo and her mobbed-up husband and Bonanno family associate, Lee DAvanzo, were busted on drug and other charges following a surprise raid at their Staten Island home. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges against Drita, although her husband was sentenced to more than five years in prison for keeping two loaded guns in their home. Three years earlier, DAvanzo was arrested for punching a Staten Island chef in a parking dispute. Other stars of the VH1 show included Karen Gravano, the daughter of Salvatore Sammy Bull Gravano, and Angela Big Ang Raiola, the niece of a reputed captain of the Genovese crime family. Raiola died of brain and lung cancer in 2016. OLDWICK JANUARY 05, 2022 AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) to A+ (Superior) from A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to aa- (Superior) from a+ (Excellent) of Atlantic Casualty Insurance Company (Atlantic Casualty) (Goldsboro, NC). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) has been revised to stable from positive. Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of aa+ (Superior) of Auto-Owners Insurance Company (Auto-Owners) (Lansing, MI) and its four wholly owned property/casualty (P/C) companies that compose Auto-Owners Insurance Group (AOIG). At the same time, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of aa- (Superior) for the members of Concord Group Insurance Companies (Concord Group), which is led by Concord General Mutual Insurance Company (Concord General) (Concord, NH). AM Best has also affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of a- (Excellent) of Auto-Owners Specialty Insurance Company (AOSIC) (Dover, DE). Also, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of a (Excellent) of California Capital Insurance Company (Monterey, CA) and its subsidiaries, which operate under an intercompany pooling arrangement, collectively referred to as Capital Insurance Group (Capital). In addition, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICR of aa- (Superior) of Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company (AOLIC) (Lansing, MI), which is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Auto-Owners. The outlook of these ratings is stable. (See below for a detailed listing of the companies). The ratings of Atlantic Casualty reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The rating upgrades of Atlantic Casualty reflects its increased level of integration, as well as tangible operating benefits and synergies derived from ownership by Auto-Owners in various functions including, but not limited to: investments; actuarial services; product development; reinsurance; claims; marketing; and information technology. In addition, this rating action recognizes Atlantic Casualtys strategic importance within the Auto-Owners organization, particularly evident in the companys access to Auto-Owners distribution channel, which has contributed to growth in premiums, while maintaining favorable operating performance. The ratings of AOIG reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its very strong operating performance, favorable business profile and appropriate ERM. AOIG has exhibited generally improved operating performance in recent years. AOIG also maintains a business profile that is well-balanced between personal and commercial lines, and property/casualty (P/C) business. Through its acquisition of Atlantic Casualty and AOSIC in 2016, its affiliation with Concord General in 2017 and its acquisition of Capital in 2019, AOIG has further broadened its business profile from a product and geographic perspective. These positive rating factors are offset partially by its exposure to credit risk associated with the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association. The ratings of Concord Group reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate ERM. Concord Groups ratings reflect its risk-adjusted capitalization, which is assessed in the strongest category, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), as well as its favorable operating performance in recent years. The ratings also reflect Concord Groups strategic position within the Auto-Owners organization, as well as the significant operating and financial benefits that Concord Group has realized as a result of its April 2017 affiliation with Auto-Owners. The ratings of AOSIC reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, very limited business profile and appropriate ERM. AOSIC is a shell company that plans to provide excess and surplus lines coverage to small- and medium-size commercial businesses in North Carolina. AOSICs risk-adjusted capitalization is supportive of its business plan, which includes moderate premium growth projections. In addition, the company is led by a management team with a track record of generating favorable operating results at its sister company, Atlantic Casualty, and possessing extensive knowledge of the surplus lines and commercial P/C business. These positive rating factors are offset partially by the expected concentration of non-admitted business in one state. The ratings of Capital reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its marginal operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate ERM. Capitals ratings reflect its risk-adjusted capitalization, which is assessed in the strongest category, as measured by BCAR, as well as the groups recent improvement in operating performance. The ratings also reflect the substantial explicit and implicit support received from Auto-Owners since December 2018, which followed severe net losses and surplus erosion due in part to the California wildfires in 2017 and 2018, as well as adverse reserve development on prior accident years in 2017. The ratings of AOLIC reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate ERM. The ratings consider AOLICs integral role and positive contribution to its P/C parent organization, diversified product portfolio, its favorable level of risk-adjusted capitalization and high quality investment portfolio. The FSR of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of aa+ (Superior) have been affirmed, each with a stable outlook, for Auto-Owners Insurance Company and its wholly owned P/C subsidiaries: Home-Owners Insurance Company Owners Insurance Company Property-Owners Insurance Company Southern-Owners Insurance Company The FSR of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of aa- (Superior) have been affirmed, each with a stable outlook, for the following members of Concord Group Insurance Companies: Concord General Mutual Insurance Company Green Mountain Insurance Company, Inc. State Mutual Insurance Company Sunapee Mutual Fire Insurance Company Vermont Accident Insurance Company, Inc. The FSR of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of a (Excellent) have been affirmed, each with a stable outlook, for the following members of Capital Insurance Group: California Capital Insurance Company Eagle West Insurance Company Monterey Insurance Company Nevada Capital Insurance Company This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. Topics Carriers AM Best Casualty Try out IoscoNews.com for only 99 per month for the first 3 months, $5.80 a month after. Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-Edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. New changes in relation to Covid-19 testing have led to questions around self-isolation period durations and how people can apply for illness benefits. Here we look at those changes and answer some of your questions. What are the new testing rules? According to the HSE, anyone aged 40 or over with symptoms of Covid-19 should self-isolate and book a PCR test. This advice applies even if you have had your first-round vaccines, a booster, or a positive PCR test in the past three months. Similarly, a child under the age of four and who is symptomatic should also be booked in for a PCR test. Parents and guardians can arrange an appointment for their child through the PCR test booking portal. While they await a PCR test appointment or result, others in the household should restrict their movements (stay at home). If this PCR test result comes back positive, everyone in the household should continue to restrict their movements, for a period depending on their vaccination status. Specific details about who should restrict their movements, and for how long, can be found on the HSE website. I'm between the ages of four and 39 and have symptoms. Should I book a PCR test? No. In a bid to ease some of the pressure on the PCR testing system, the HSE is asking symptomatic people to book antigen tests and self-isolate. You can book/order the tests online via the HSE. You will need to do three antigen tests on consecutive days. If all three are negative, continue to self-isolate until you have not had symptoms for 48 hours. If any of them show a positive result, you should book a PCR test and self-isolate. If you have an invalid test result, do another antigen test. What about if I am a close contact of a confirmed case? Advice for close-contacts varies slightly depending on vaccination status. If you have received a booster more than a week after a close contact text from the HSE, you should restrict your movements for five days from your last contact with the person who has tested positive. You will also need to take three antigen tests, with two days between each. Any positive result means you will need to isolate and book a PCR test. This advice also applies if you have completed your primary vaccine course and had a positive PCR test in the last three months. If you test positive for COVID-19 you will get a text message. This will include a link to a website where you can upload contact details for your close contacts. pic.twitter.com/9BWFI35EPP HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 2, 2022 If you got a booster less than a week after receiving a close contact text, you should restrict your movements for 10 days. You will also need to do five antigen tests, with two days between each. This same advice applies to people who got their initial vaccinations but have not got a booster. Lastly, if you suspect you are a close contact but you haven't heard from the HSE, you should arrange a Covid test, following the steps relevant to you on the HSE's website. As you wait for a PCR test appointment or result, the HSE's advice is to self-isolate in your room if you are symptomatic; or restrict your movements (stay at home) if you aren't symptomatic. More information on what to do if you are a close contact can be found on the HSE's website. Ok. I've ordered antigen tests from the HSE, when will they arrive? HSE lead on vaccination Damien McCallion has said that antigen tests are being dispatched within one or two days, meaning they will most often arrive one day after that. With so many new cases being confirmed each day, is there a sufficient supply of antigen tests? HSE lead for vaccinations, Damien McCallion. File picture: Leah Farrell / Photocall Ireland Mr McCallion said the HSE currently had a sufficient supply of antigen tests for the month of January, but this is being continually monitored. Such is demand for antigen tests, the secretary-general of the Irish Pharmacy Union has warned there will be a shortage of the tests in the country this week as further stocks are awaited. Speaking on RTE Radio, Darragh OLoughlin said some pharmacies have resorted to putting limits on the number of tests individuals can purchase. He said more orders of the tests would arrive in the country later this week. I have Covid symptoms and need to take time off work. Can I get the enhanced illness benefit? Yes. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has announced that her department has adjusted the documentation needed to get the 350 enhanced illness benefit. To avail of this benefit, you must now provide the Department of Social Protection with either: Confirmation from the HSE that you have ordered an antigen test; A text message from the HSE showing that you are a close contact or; Certification from your GP that you have symptoms of Covid-19 and/or are a probable source of infection. As has been the case previously, a positive PCR test result can also be used. The overall criteria for availing of the enhanced illness benefit have not changed. More information on the benefit itself can be found on citizensinformation.ie Burma Concerns Over Hun Sens Aims Ahead of ASEAN Chairs Visit Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen / AFP Later this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will fly into Myanmar, which has been riddled with violence since a military coup last year. But he holds out hope of a peaceful solution to the ongoing crisis in the country as he prepares for a visit on Jan. 7 in a bid to bring Myanmar back into the fold of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The country was isolated by the bloc last year, especially over junta boss Min Aung Hlaings failure to keep his promise to the group to implement a peace plan. During the visit, Hun Sen will meet with top junta leaders including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. But will he be able to meet Myanmars political icon and most famous prisoner, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi? The Myanmar juntas spokesman said on Tuesday that the regime would not allow Hun Sen to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit to the country. [O]nly those who represent political parties are allowed to meet and hold discussions, but there are limitations on those who are still facing legal charges, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told RFA. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since the first day of the coup last February and faces junta lawsuits that many see as politically motivated. Before his departure to Myanmar, Hun Sen said on Wednesday in Phnom Penh he had not set any pre-conditions before his visit, but said his aims were not far from the five-point consensus or the peace plan. He called on all observers not to make any early conclusions on the outcome of his visit to Myanmar. If the results are fruitful, it may bring peace to Myanmar and the people of Myanmar will acknowledge the efforts of the ASEAN member states, he underlined, according to the Cambodian state news agency, AKP. The prime minister said that while his return was scheduled for the afternoon of Jan. 8, it could be delayed if there is any fruitful outcome on the Myanmars crisis. However, Myanmar citizens worry that Hun Sens visit will lend legitimacy to the regime, as he will be the first foreign leader to meet the ruling generals, who have been globally denounced for their brutality against their own people, including the killings of more than 1,300 people for opposing their rule. Its not surprising to see outrage on social media over Hun Sens visit as the regime continues to arrest and kill people and burn down villages where armed resistance has been taking place. Many also question Hun Sens engagement with the regime, saying he should be making contact with all key actors in Myanmar including the National Unity Government, a shadow civilian government. A joint statement issued on Tuesday by 200 civil society groups in Myanmar and abroad condemned Hun Sen for his planned visit. Last April, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and leaders of ASEAN member states agreed a five-point consensus that aimed to set Myanmar back on the path to democracy. The consensus called for an end to violence, the appointment of a special ASEAN envoy to Myanmarwith access to all sides in the conflictand the delivery of humanitarian assistance. But the regimes leader failed to honor the consensus, prompting ASEAN to exclude him from its summit in October last year. ASEAN and the United Nations General Assembly have backed the Five-Point Consensus, and must ensure that Hun Sen does not act alone in 2022lending legitimacy to the Myanmar military junta and further emboldening them to cause more harm to the people, the civil society groups said. Last week, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, United Nations special envoy on Myanmar, that Phnom Penh was committed to taking a practical step-by-step approach toward achieving progress on the implementation of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus. According to The Phnom Penh Post, Hun Sen at first said Myanmar had itself to blame for being excluded from the ASEAN summit. But he changed his rhetoric soon after receiving the ceremonial gavel for the revolving chairmanship of ASEAN. It is not up to ASEAN to resolve this issue. ASEAN is here to help, but Myanmar needs to solve its own problems by itself, Hun Sen said on Dec. 15. It is important for me to meet Myanmars [military] leaders, but under-the-table negotiations are the best and most fruitful approach for us to take. Dont disturb me, just give me time, he said. Two bombs recently exploded near the Cambodian Embassy in Myanmar, hurting no one. The blasts have not fazed Hun Sen, however, with the Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman saying the visit would go ahead as planned. Hun Sen spoke to Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Tuesday and they discussed the Myanmar issue. The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation also issued a press statement on the outcome of the telephone conversation between Hun Sen and Jokowi. The two leaders also exchanged views on the current developments in Myanmar and underscored the important need to focus ASEANs efforts to assist Myanmar in finding suitable solutions to achieving national reconciliation, durable peace, stability and development, it said. Ro Vannak, co-founder of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy, said the meeting between Hun Sen and Jokowitaking place mere days before the Myanmar tripwas a form of public diplomacy that showed there was solidarity within ASEAN toward all of the parties to the conflict within Myanmar and beyond. Vannak said Hun Sen places a high value on Indonesian input in any discussion on regional issues because Jakarta has played an important role as mediator and facilitator in regional conflicts in the past. Now, he said, Hun Sen may need the full backing of Indonesia if his trip to Myanmar is to go smoothly and bear fruit. His call with Jokowi may have been intended to shore up that support, Vannak said. You may also like these stories: Junta Forces Suffer Heavy Losses in Southeastern and Western Myanmar Myanmar Resistance Groups Claim New Year Victories Over Junta Forces Myanmar People Greet New Year With Shouts of Our Revolution Must Prevail! Burma Forensic Evidence Confirms Myanmar Juntas Atrocities on Massacre Victims Victims massacred on December 24 in Hpruso Township, Kayah State are buried on December 29. / KNDF A doctor who examined the charred remains of 35 people massacred by the junta in Kayah States Hpruso Township on December 24 said that forensic evidence found that the deceased were civilians who were tortured before being burned, contradicting the claim by the military regime that those killed were members of Peoples Defense Forces. Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG) and the ethnic Karenni State Consultative Council held a virtual joint press conference on Monday regarding the Christmas Eve massacre near Moso Village, Hpruso Township to publicize their findings in their ongoing investigations into the killings. Along with forensic results, witness accounts and statements from relatives of the dead were also shared during the briefing. This is a massacre like I have never seen before in my life, said the doctor, a local Karenni health officer, citing the charred remains of the victims who had been tied up, stabbed in the chest and hit hard on their heads. The doctor noted that the skulls of the victims had been broken or damaged. The doctor urged everyone to help in seeking justice for those brutally killed, so that further incidents can be prevented. The bodies were examined by the doctor after being retrieved on December 27 by members of the Karenni State Police, Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and Karenni Army, all groups resisting the Myanmar military. We were unable to retrieve the bodies on the day of the massacre as Light Infantry Battalion 531, which is stationed near the incident site, fired artillery at us. The junta troops also fired on us when we attempted to retrieve the charred remains of the bodies on the next two days, said a KNDF member. Karenni State Police cited crime records and witness reports stating that there was no fighting going on when the civilians were captured by the troops from Light Infantry Battalion 531 and soldiers under Light Infantry Division 66 (LID 66), based in Pyay Township, Bago Region. The Irrawaddy has learned that LID 66 is led by Colonel Kyaw Lin Tun and that its tactical commander is Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Swa Tun. Citing autopsy results, doctors were able to identify 26 men and five women, including a girl around the age of 12 and two young men around the age of 16 or 17, among the victims. They included two Save the Children staff members who were providing international humanitarian assistance. The remains of some victims were unable to be retrieved fully because the bodies had been totally burned. DNA tests are being performed on the bodies to identify the deceased so they can be returned to their families, said U Bo Bo, the deputy chief of the Karenni State Police. The doctors also found a 5.56mm bullet shell at the site where four Karenni Border Guard Force members were shot and killed, added U Bo Bo. The Border Guard members had attempted to negotiate the release of the 35 civilians as soon as they heard that they were being held by junta forces. U Bo Bo said that the Karenni State Police had received reports of 42 missing people forty men and two women after they had asked the public to notify them of any missing family members or friends in their communities following the massacre. The deputy police chief said that because of those missing people, the death toll from the Hpruso massacre may rise to 49. U Aung Myo Min, the NUGs Minister for Human Rights, said that they will share the findings of the investigation with diplomats and the United Nations (UN) so that action can be taken against the junta for their atrocities. People are dying every day. It is not enough just to issue statements. We will try to raise such incidents, hold further investigations and take effective action against the perpetrators, said the minister. He added that the NUG will work together with the UN Human Rights Council and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to get justice for the victims. The minister added that they will seek justice via international judicial mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court or in the court of a country where universal jurisdiction is practiced. We will also raise the massacre at the upcoming meeting of the UN Security Council, said U Aung Myo Min. The UN Security Council has called for an immediate end to hostilities in Hpruso Township and urged member states of the Security Council to condemn the massacre. You may also like these stories: Concerns Over Hun Sens Aims Ahead of ASEAN Chairs Visit Junta Forces Suffer Heavy Losses in Southeastern and Western Myanmar Myanmar Resistance Groups Claim New Year Victories Over Junta Forces Burma Head of Myanmars Shadow Govt Vows to Continue Second Struggle for Independence A ceremony is held in an area controlled by an ethnic armed organization for graduates of a military training course for people who have taken up arms against the regime. / Knac The acting president of Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG), Duwa Lashi La, has called the ongoing peoples defensive war against the junta, which the shadow government launched nearly four months ago, a second struggle for independence. In his speech on the occasion of Myanmars 74th annual Independence Day commemoration on Tuesday, the acting president said that although the country is now free from colonial rule, its people continue to suffer harsh violence and repression at the hands of military dictatorships, pointing out that the military has staged coups four times over the period. As long as the owners of the sovereignty of the country lose their rights, we cannot say the country has achieved its independence, he said. Since seizing power, the junta has violently put down opposition to its coup, killing at least 1,435 people, torturing to death more than 100 detainees and arresting more than 11,300 people. Duwa Lashi La said that in the face of the bloody attempted coup and the militarys continuing brutality against civilians, the people had no choice but to launch a defensive war to completely remove the military dictatorship. Since the launch of the defensive war on Sept. 7, civilian resistance groups attacks on junta targets have become increasingly frequent and inflicted heavy losses on the juntas forces. Meanwhile, the junta has also escalated its atrocities, including massacring civilians, using detained civilians as human shields, shelling and bombing residential areas, and looting and burning houses. Fighting between the Myanmar military and the countrys ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) has also intensified, as some have joined hands with the peoples revolution. The most important thing at the moment is, based on the objectives of ending the military dictatorship and building a federal democratic union, all political forces including the EAOs should build unity and get involved in the peoples revolution, the acting president said. He dismissed coup leader and junta boss Min Aung Hlaings call for EAOs to mark the new year by engaging in a peace dialogue as an attempt to stall for time and find a political exit strategy from the crisis, as well as to deceive the international community and confuse the resistance forces. The attempted coup has trampled hopes of peace. They have destroyed the peace and future of the country, Duwa Lashi La said. The NUGs declaration of war on the regime prompted calls for dialogue from the international community but most Myanmar people, having endured the regimes atrocities, heartily embraced the announcement. The UNs then special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, was among those who attempted to persuade the coup leaders in Naypyitaw to engage in dialogue to settle the ongoing political and social turmoil caused by the coup. Before the end of her term, however, she acknowledged that her months-long attempts had failed and borne no fruit, saying the clear lack of will on the part of the regime for a peaceful solution could have led other stakeholders to feel they had no choice but to seek a solution through violent means. The second item in ASEANs five-point consensus on Myanmar also called for dialogue between the junta and representatives of the Myanmar people. Agreed in late April, the consensus appears no closer to implementation. The acting president added that in fact, the war criminals, who are stained with the peoples blood, are not fit for political dialogue, but should be sent to face domestic and international criminal courts. The NUG has been documenting evidence of serious human rights abuses and crimes against civilians by junta forces to file with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to find justice for the victims. The acting president said the revolution, for which many lives have been sacrificed in the last 11 months, will see new developments in 2022, and said he had no doubt that the people would achieve victory. I would like to urge [all people] to work together until we free ourselves from military slavery and bring back freedom, equality and justice for the people, he added. You may also like these stories: Junta Court Rejects Appeal for Myanmars Ousted Ruling Party Vice-Chair ASEAN Acknowledges Illegality of Myanmars Military Coup Post-Election Palm Reading as Myanmars Vote Nears Burma Junta Court Rejects Appeal for Myanmars Ousted Ruling Party Vice-Chair Dr Zaw Myint Maung with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw in September 2020. / The Irrawaddy Myanmar juntas court in Mandalay rejected an appeal from the regions chief minister, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, his legal team told The Irrawaddy. The 70-year-old vice-chairman of the ousted National League for Democracy was sentenced to four years in prison on December 8, including two years for alleged sedition under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code and two years for two charges under the Natural Disaster Management Law for alleged breaches of COVID-19 regulations. His legal team said: We summited an appeal for Dr. Zaw Myint Maung and his cabinet members on January 3. The court rejected it that day without giving any reasons. We will proceed to the higher court. He has been held in Mandalays Obo Prison since the February coup. Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, who suffers from leukemia, also faces five corruption charges and two charges for electoral fraud. He was ill on December 29 during the court hearing and was given oxygen and has since recovered. His cabinet members are also in good health, a family member said. The veteran politician was also jailed by former dictator Than Shwe for 19 years. When the NLD came to power in 2016, he became Mandalay Regions chief minister while serving as one of the partys vice-chairs along with then-President U Win Myint. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chairs the party. Appeals were also rejected for Mandalay mayor Dr. Ye Lwin, who was sentenced to two years for sedition under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code and the regional minister for agriculture and irrigation Dr. Soe Than, electrical minister U Zar Ni Aung and U Tin Ko Ko, the Mandalay secretary of the NLD, who were given two years in prison for violating the Natural Disaster Law. The junta has arrested 649 members of the NLD, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, and 489 are still in detention, the NLD said on January 1. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint were sentenced to four years on charges of sedition and breaches of COVID-19 regulations, which were cut to two years on the day of the sentencing. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Junta Losing Grip on Key Kayah Township: Resistance Forensic Evidence Confirms Myanmar Juntas Atrocities on Massacre Victims Concerns Over Hun Sens Aims Ahead of ASEAN Chairs Visit Burma Junta Forces Suffer Heavy Losses in Southeastern and Western Myanmar Karenni Army soldiers in Kayah State. / KnAC More than 20 junta soldiers were reportedly killed over the last two days in intense firefights with civilian armed resistance forces in Kayah and Chin States. Another 50-odd regime troops have been killed in Kayah since last Friday. On Tuesday afternoon, a fierce clash broke out in Shadaw Township, Kayah State when the Karenni Army (KA), the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party, attacked a detachment of 300 junta troops marching through the township, according to the Karenni Army Center, the media wing of the KA. At least 16 junta soldiers, including deputy battalion commander Kyaw Thu Soe, were killed and many others wounded during two hours of fighting, the KA Center said. One KA fighter suffered minor injuries to his leg. The KA claimed that regime forces left the body of the dead deputy battalion commander at a border guard force camp under Myanmar military supervision. Junta forces have looted houses and burned down villages during their operations in Kayah State, said the KA. The armed group predicted that there will be further clashes with regime troops in the near future as a combined force of the KA and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) will respond to the presence of junta forces in Shadaw Township. Another 50-odd regime soldiers, including a battalion commander, have been killed in Kayah since last Friday, most dying in continuous clashes with combined forces from the KA, KNDF and local Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) in Kayah States Demoso and Hpruso townships. Four civilian resistance fighters and KA troops were killed and others injured in the fighting, according to Karenni resistance forces. After military regime forces lost around 30 killed in a clash in Demoso last Friday, the junta called in two jet fighters to attack the resistance groups. Deputy Colonel Kyaw Zaya, a battalion commander notorious for leading brutal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters and civilians in Yangon and Kayah State, was reportedly killed during the fighting. On Monday morning, five regime troops were killed and another 15 injured when civilian resistance fighters from the Chinland Defense Force-Matupi (CDF-Matupi) raided a military base in Htalbwe village in Matupi Township, Chin State. On the same evening, the CDF-Matupi also attacked a detachment of military reinforcements traveling the Matupi-Hakha Highway. Two regime soldiers were captured during the fighting, the CDF-Matupi spokesperson told The Irrawaddy. The resistance group said that it continued to attack the base in Htalbwe Village on Tuesday. A civilian resistance fighter was injured in the raid. Military casualties are unknown, the spokesperson said on Wednesday. Regime forces are now facing daily attacks from PDFs and ethnic armed groups nationwide, with the exception of Rakhine State in western Myanmar. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Resistance Groups Claim New Year Victories Over Junta Forces Myanmar People Greet New Year With Shouts of Our Revolution Must Prevail! Suu Kyis Female Bodyguard Sentenced to Jail by Myanmar Junta Commentary As 2022 Dawns, Myanmars People Brace for a Tough Fight Members of ethnic armed group the Karenni Army, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party, in action during their fight against regime troops in Kayah State. / KnAC This is Burma. It will be quite unlike any land you know about. Rudyard Kipling. More than a century after they were written, the British poets words hold true. This year, far from celebrating, many Myanmar citizens saw in the new year defiantlyeven reluctantly. Few were in a festive mood. Why? They hate the regime and they know that 2022 will bring fresh turmoil. It is not a happy new year. Those who did gather on New Years Eve marked the occasion with shouts of, Our revolution must prevail! in defiance of the junta, and cursed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. It has been 11 months since the military coup, but Myanmar people continue to show unwavering opposition to the regime that overthrew the countrys elected civilian government. It is safe to say that the Myanmar militarys attempted coup is not yet a fait accompli. The regime, known officially as the State Administration Council (SAC), has so far failed to consolidate its grip on the country. Opposition to the coupincluding armed resistanceremains fierce and is only likely to strengthen in 2022, leaving the outlook for the coming year bleak. The regime has turned Myanmar into a killing field and continues to murder and detain activists and other civilians across the country, with tens of thousands displaced from their homes by the juntas campaign of terror in the countryside. Images of smoldering corpses, some with their limbs tied, have shocked the world but there has been little action to match the expressions of concern. The junta continues to act like an occupying force, much like the British and Japanese forces during the colonial period, who with total impunity implemented a scorched-earth policy in which anything that might be of use to the enemy was destroyed. Last year, the Myanmar people experienced these same horrors at the hands of their own military; they resisted and they are not giving up now. Having realized that their early hope of international intervention was misplaced, Myanmars people have decided it is time to take up arms to oppose the brutal regime. Loosely coordinated People Defenses Force (PDF) groups have sprouted up across the country; many have taken up training in ethnic insurgent-controlled territories. It is expected that in 2022 Myanmar will see more clashes in Sagaing Region and Kayah, Chin and Karen states. The PDF forces and the people as a whole know that they are fighting a powerful army, so why do they keep fighting? Because if the coup leader has his way, Myanmar will remain a slave to the military forever. In the cities, Myanmar people are boycotting products and services linked to military-owned businesses, including the once hugely popular state lottery, and many are refusing to pay taxes, donating the money to armed resistance groups instead. The Myanmar diaspora, from migrant populations in neighboring countries to wealthier residents of countries further afield, have showered the resistance forces with donations. Wealthy families have sold properties and companieseven their prized collections of vintage automobiles and motorcyclesand headed into the jungle to set up their own armies to fight the regime. The determination of the Myanmar people is truly remarkable. The regime has few friends abroad and is recognized by only a handful of countries. During Myanmars Independence Day celebration on Jan. 4, the juntas mouthpiece newspapers printed felicitation messages from Russia, Belarus, Serbia, North Korea and Cambodia. The first three of those are key sources of weapons for the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw). Most countries in the region and around the world have denied the regime the legitimacy it craves. Even ASEAN, which has historically upheld a policy of noninterference in members affairs, has refused Min Aung Hlaing a seat at its table, though questions have arisen over the regional groups solidarity on the issue now that Cambodia has assumed its rotating chair. Over the past few months, officials from China, India, Thailand and Cambodia have all made visits or diplomatic overtures. These governments would do well to keep in mind the consequences of endorsing or appearing to favor the regime. Myanmar saw a wave of anti-China protests soon after the coup, including attacks on China-funded factories. If the PDF groups and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can develop a more coordinated plan and a more effective military strategy to sustain the fight, the regime will likely suffer more casualties and see more defections. And if opposition forces can offer incentives including security, resettlement and insurance, it is expected that even mid-ranking officers will defect. Infantry forces are already heavily reliant on air support and heavy artillery. The liberated area in Sagaing Region and Chin and Kayah states is set to expand. If the armed resistance can be sustained throughout this year, we could expect to see internal rifts appear within the junta. So far, however, neither side has victory in its grasp. The countrys economyalready badly damaged by COVIDhas been in freefall since the coup and experts predict more illegal trade and zero growth in 2022. Still, the regime is hoping Myanmars small economy can return to a recovery track with some assistance from China and other regime-friendly countries in Asia. But other than China, no one is going to invest in Myanmar in the near future. It has become clear that the regime leaders will struggle to hold the country together. Their families are now kept in secure locations and dont dare go out in public. The regime has no public support and the army is at war with the nation. The military has dominated the diverse and complex country since independence in 1948. Its self-serving 2008 constitution gives it vast institutional powers, maintained with the help of proxy political parties including the Union Solidarity and Development Party, and through constitutional provisions. The coup was the latest attempt by the military to reassert control over those aspects of society it deems essential to preserving its own interests, and its perception of state interests. In reality, this institution has been nothing but a source of division, destruction and disunity in the country. Holding the military accountable is a must, despite all the huffing and puffing by defenders of the junta, who contend that the military is the only institution capable of holding the country together. This argument has now been definitively exposed as a falsehood. The UN, the superpowers China and the US, and other Western powers must all give up once and for all the notion that the Tatmadaw is the only institution that can deliver stability and unity, which will only embolden Min Aung Hlaing and his group. For many Myanmar citizens, the question long ago ceased to be about how the current military can be reformed, and became one of finding a way for Myanmar to be rid of it so that it can return to being a genuine and inclusive democracy. You may also like these stories: ASEAN Acknowledges Illegality of Myanmars Military Coup Post-Election Palm Reading as Myanmars Vote Nears The Sinners Against Myanmars Elections Guest Column Cambodia: ASEANs Spoiler or Savior? This handout from the National Television of Cambodia (TVK) taken and released on Dec. 7 shows Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, left, listening to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh. / AFP via Bangkok Post Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will be the Myanmar militarys first guest of honor in Naypyitaw this weekend. Whatever the outcome of his two-day trip, it will have both intended and unintended consequences for the future of the ASEAN process, especially the five-point consensus (FPC). For nearly a year since the coup on Feb. 1, ASEAN has assumed the role of peacemaker, going strictly by the book to ensure that the crisis in Myanmar would come to an end through the groupings agency and good practices. After Brunei handed over the chair to Cambodia at the end of October, Hun Sen made it clear that he would like to see Myanmars top leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, return to the ASEAN fold and take part in upcoming ASEAN-related summits under his watch. ASEAN decided in mid-October to invite a senior non-political representative instead of its leader for their meetings after the junta had not fulfilled its pledges outlined in the FPC. So far, the junta chief has missed two major gatheringsthe 38th-39th ASEAN summits and the ASEAN-China special summit commemorating the 30th anniversary of their relations. The latter was a sore point as Myanmar is the current country coordinator for ASEAN-China ties. To ascertain the progress of the FPC, Hun Sen will not shy away from enhancing dialogue with Myanmar from the first day. When the ASEAN leaders met in Jakarta for an emergency summit on April 24, Hun Sen was the only leader who spoke to and looked into the eyes of the junta leader, recommending that he take up the groupings assistance and citing his own experience with ASEAN as an example. Indeed, when it comes to ASEAN affairs and his 22-year engagement, it has to be said that the Cambodian leader knows ASEAN like the back of his hand. In the past eight weeks, his comments have caused trepidation and high anxiety among some ASEAN member countries and their supporters. They believe that Hun Sen could be a spoiler who might ignore the ASEAN process and go his own way in engaging Myanmar. The 2012 faux pas remains the former ASEAN chairs albatross. After all, Hun Sen had extensive and quite memorable engagements with ASEAN long before Cambodia joined ASEAN in October 1999the last country to do so. ASEAN envisaged in 1997 having Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia come under one roof simultaneously. As a veteran ASEAN politician, Hun Sen knows both the terrain and its pitfalls ahead of attempts to make headway with Myanmar. Doubtless, he will maximize his capacity as the ASEAN chair in proactive ways. After all, it will be his third chair and also his last before he retires from politics. During the Thai-Cambodian dispute over the Preah Vihear/Phra Viharn Temple in 2008, he single-handedly pushed the issue up to the UN Security Council for review. His multilateral diplomatic experience since the Paris days in the 1990s has furnished him with broad perspectives and maneuverability. Naypyitaw reiterated earlier that a general election is scheduled for August 2023. That amounts to a 20-month deadline for all stakeholders to make peace in Myanmar. Like it or not, if all goes as planned, the State Administration Council (SAC) will eventually have to handle all the electoral preparations under the current 2008 constitution. That helps explain partly why Hun Sen has been eager to visit Naypyitaw ahead of the scheduled ASEAN ministerial retreat in Siem Reap on Jan. 19. It is highly likely that Hun Sen will not return empty handed from Naypyitaw, although any trumpeted achievements will likely be accompanied by skepticism in equal measure. Hun Sens special envoy designate, Foreign Minister Prak Sokonn, will have something concrete and positive to report to his ASEAN colleagues at the retreat, who will assess his boss trip and determine whether it conforms to the ASEAN process. Consensus from all ASEAN members is needed before any further steps are taken. Hun Sen is going to Naypyitaw on his own without any conditions. That is unlike the proposed visit of the previous ASEAN special envoy, Second Foreign Minister of Brunei, Erywan Yusof, who demanded to meet with the imprisoned opposition party leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, among others during his planned visit. Naypyitaw was not ready to comply with the request. Months of wrangling failed to bring about the much-awaited visit. This time around, it is possible that Naypyitaw will permit Hun Sen to meet with representatives of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which could include Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other stakeholders. It depends on the optics Naypyitaw wants to project. If past history is any judge, the junta has been very expedient in coming up with unexpected moves. Furthermore, the new ASEAN chair has succinctly said that he wants to work with the Tatmadaw (Myanmars military), the current power holders. His experience in engaging with ASEAN during the Cambodian conflict in the 1980s and early 1990s taught him that the real power brokers on the ground, especially in the dry season, determine the endgame. At this juncture, the Tatmadaw has intensified its assaults against armed ethnic groups and the resistance groups, consisting of Peoples Defense Force groups and young fighters. During the past three weeks, over 5,000 refugees from villagers in Karen State opposite Thailands Tak province crossed the Thai border. As of today, some remain in temporary shelters provided by provincial authorities instructed not to force them back. Thai military leaders have already fired warning shots to respond to stray bullets and artillery shells. Given the current violent circumstances, the ASEAN chair will try to convince all conflicting parties to come to the negotiating table to kick off a series of political dialogues aimed at ending the current carnage. At the moment, it does not augur well as both sides still appear focused on war-making. Having ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, thanks to past ASEAN endeavors that helped to create a unique political environment for the country, Hun Sen has already designated his son, Hun Manet, as his political successor. Under his leadership, the countrys human rights record has long been criticized by Western aid donors. Nevertheless, despite many harsh words, none has severed ties with Cambodia, knowing full well its geostrategic value. Now that the Cambodian Peoples Party has endorsed Hun Manet as his successor, he can move on to the next level of engagement to put a regional stamp on his longstanding leadership. If ASEAN leaders support his approach and proposed plans, Hun Sens chair would be considered a success. Then, he will leave the chair to the groups most powerful member, Indonesia, to wrap up the loose ends, especially preparations for the democratic transition in Myanmar. Judging from the trajectory of predictable circumstances, Cambodia would prefer the role of savior to end the quagmire in Myanmar. We will find out sooner rather than later whether the regions, if not the worlds, most versatile leader will be successful in his final act of political brinkmanship. Kavi Chongkittavorn is a veteran journalist on regional affairs. This article first appeared in The Bangkok Post. You may also like these stories: Cambodia Set to Take Global Stage Again as ASEAN Chair ASEAN and the Myanmar Quagmire: Chinas Next Move Regional Leaders Face Dual Task: Save ASEAN, Save Myanmar Football and family were on Richard Washingtons Sunday afternoon agenda when he was stabbed in the neck and partially paralyzed in an unprovoked knife attack on a Queens subway platform, relatives said. Most Sundays, even through the pandemic, Washington, 36, would leave the Far Rockaway homeless shelter where he stayed to spend time in Brooklyn with his family or girlfriend, said his sister, Raven Washington. Advertisement Cops said Richard Washington was waiting for a Manhattan-bound A train in the Rockaway Blvd. station in Ozone Park when a man with a knife approached him from behind shortly before 2:30 p.m. Without saying a word, the attacker stabbed Washington twice in the right side of the neck and took off as Washington crumpled to the ground. Richard Washington, 36 (Obtained by New York Daily News) Medics rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition and could be paralyzed from the neck down, police said. Advertisement His sister said Washington was able to move his right arm and shrug his left shoulder and hopes the paralysis is only temporary. She said he still has trouble breathing, but was able to eat regularly. Doctors told her they expect him to be in a wheelchair for a while, and are making plans to put him in a rehabilitation center. Its just the breathing, but other than that he is OK, the sister said. Hes pushing. Hes fighting hard, but hes OK. Raven Washington said detectives told her the subway stabbing was a random attack. We dont know who the guy is, she said. My brother doesnt even know who the guy is, and I think the problem is that there is too much mental illness going on and its not being fixed. The thing is I dont want to sit here and say get this guy and get justice and I dont even know what his mental state is. Raven said her brother, an avid Dallas Cowboys fan, was on his way to Brooklyn when he was attacked. Relatives had gotten home from church around the time of the assault and were expecting him to show up before stopping by another relatives home to watch the Cowboys game. That day was sunny and warm out and we went to church, Raven said. That night, my mom was like, Thats weird, Richard is not here. I never thought much of it because he would come and then stay for a few hours or come to Brooklyn or he wouldnt come at all and stay with his girlfriend or aunties house. Police released a surveillance photo of the suspect clutching the knife in his right hand after the attack. (DCPI) That day for some weird reason my mom was just shook. She was like, Something is wrong. Richard is not here. She started panicking. Advertisement Raven said her brother was just trying to enjoy the day. He wanted to go watch the football game, Raven said. Hes a huge Cowboys fan, so he loved them and he wanted to come out, watch a game like he would usually do on a Sunday and go home. It gave us some relief that, you know, he wasnt targeted. It was random, she added. For me I feel bad for my brother but at the same time Im really feeling bad for the other person as well simply because if it is a mental illness, he has to get that checked out. If its not mental illness, then justice needs to be served. The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. > Raven described her brother as a strong soldier who used to work as a mechanic in a car shop. She said he was forced into the shelter after a storm damaged the Brooklyn building where he lived and left it inhabitable. He used to ride his bike or a moped to his family visits, she recounted, noting the moped broke down recently. She also said her brother has a 12-year-old son and that his dog had died before the new year began. Its so much going on that he has to deal with his dog dying, the shelter. Then, now its like youre just trying to live your life and youre getting stabbed, Raven said. Richard has a great support system so hell be fine. Were pushing for him to get better. Advertisement Washingtons mother, Barbara Washington, also expressed compassion for the attacker. It baffles me. I dont understand why he would do this, the mom said. I have no anger toward the man. I just want to know why he did it. Why did he look to cut my sons life short? What triggered his mind to do that? He looks like a sick person that needs help, she said. Im just worried if he is going to attack someone else, I just pray he gets help. I just want him to get help so he doesnt do this to someone elses child. Its terrible, the mom lamented. I cant even be mad, I just want my son to get better and for the police to catch this man so he can get some help. Trinity, TX (77320) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Like the Ithaca Times? Please help support local journalism by whitelisting this site in your ad blocker. Thank you! Ms Parente will be responsible for driving Pegas global people strategy and operations, reporting to Alan Trefler, Pegas founder and CEO. In her 20-plus years of human resources experience, Kate has established and led strong international teams across a wide range of HR disciplines within firms in the financial services, technology, and professional services industries. Her areas of expertise include people strategy, compensation and benefits, recognition, organisational and leadership development, workforce planning, and culture and value proposition. Kate brings Pega a wealth of experience and innovative ideas that will enable us to continue to nurture our people and attract new talent to our offices around the world, said Alan Trefler, founder and CEO, Pegasystems. It is a pleasure to welcome Kate to Pega at an exciting time in our history as we look to our people function to help power our ongoing growth trajectory. Ms Parente joins Pega from FactSet Research Systems, a data technology company with more than 10,000 employees across 20 countries servicing over 6,000 financial service firms. As senior vice president of human resources, she was responsible for the global HR strategy across product, content, and technology functions. Before that, she was vice president of people at Axiom, a global leader in providing high-calibre, on-demand legal talent. Ms Parente also held HR management positions with increasing responsibility at Investment Technology Group (ITG, now Virtu Financial). Ms Parente graduated from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a degree in Business Management. She also studied human rights at the University of Leicester, England. Ms Parente is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Institute for Applied Management and Law (IAML). Pega employs more than 6,000 people worldwide, inclusive of The Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company was recently honoured by, The Boston Globe, the hometown newspaper of Pegas global headquarters, as one of the Top Places to Work in Massachusetts for 2021. Pega was also named a Best Company for Women to Advance by Parity.org in 2021 and has been recognised worldwide as an employer of choice. About Pegasystems Pega delivers innovative software that crushes business complexity so our clients can make better decisions and get work done. We help the worlds leading brands solve their biggest business challenges: maximizing customer lifetime value, streamlining customer service, and boosting operational efficiency. Pega technology is powered by real-time AI and intelligent automation, while our scalable architecture and low-code platform help enterprises adapt to rapid change and transform for tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.pega.com. Stacker compiled the most popular baby names for girls of the 1970s in Georgia using data from the Social Security Administration. Click for more. Error! There was an error processing your request. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. The Rev. Hal Brady is an ordained United Methodist minister and executive director of Hal Brady Ministries, based in Atlanta. You can watch him preach every week on the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters TV channel Thursdays at 8 p.m. A California COVID denier allegedly attacked a mobile vaccine clinic last week, assaulting the staff members and calling them murderers. Thomas Apollo, 43, has been charged with battery and resisting arrest, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday. Advertisement Apollo allegedly walked up to the Families Together of Orange County Community Health Centers mobile clinic in Tustin Thursday and began pacing the parking lot, where more than a dozen people were lined up to get their vaccines, according to the Register. An employee asked him to put a mask on and he refused, instead trying to force his way into a closed area. Advertisement The Families Together of Orange County Community Health Centers mobile clinic in Tustin, Calif. (Facebook) He said, I dont need a mask, I dont have the virus and you are the ones making people sick, operations manager Parsia Jahanbani told the newspaper. And just every type of profanity you can imagine. Jahanbani, a colleague and a security guard walked over and tried to calm Apollo, which is when he allegedly began punching and screaming murderers at the staff members. It took five people, including two patients, to pin Apollo until police arrived and used a stun gun on him. Were extremely saddened to report that staff members working to help vaccinate patients in Tustin were attacked last week. While Families Together believes that vaccines are important in the fight against the pandemic, we understand that the decision to get vaccinated is purely personal, the organization said in a statement Tuesday. However, we will not tolerate violence or harassment of any kind against our staff, patients or volunteers. Were proud of the strength and bravery of our team, and while this incident has shaken us, we will not be deterred from our mission to keep our community safe and healthy. On the contrary, it has motivated us to fight even harder. One of the clinics employees was hospitalized with serious injuries but both victims are expected to make a full recovery, according to Families Together. Jacksonville, TX (75766) Today Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support. Divers with the FBI were scouring waters across San Antonio in a desperate bid to find Lina Sardar Khil, a three-year-old refugee from Afghanistan who vanished just more than three weeks ago. Lina was last seen alive playing at a park on Fredericksburg Road the evening of Dec. 20 between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Police said she was not far from her familys home, the Villa Del Cabo apartment complex, at the time. Advertisement Her mysterious disappearance has sparked a massive, weeks-long search effort, with police issuing multiple Amber Alerts, warning that the child could be in grave danger. Lina Sardar Khil was last seen on the afternoon of December 20, 2021, at a playground at an apartment complex located in San Antonio, Texas. (FBI) During a press conference on Tuesday, Police Chief William McManus revealed investigators have so far uncovered few leads in the weeks since Linas disappearance. The limited clues they have found however, is what prompted a recent search of a wooded area near her familys residence, he said. Advertisement Anything we get that has any kind of potential at all, were following it up, he told KENS5. I wish there was more uplifting information I could give you to at least provide some hope. But I dont have any of that information right now, unfortunately. McManus also confirmed the FBI Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team arrived from Washington, D.C. Monday night. While agents with the bureau have already been involved in the investigation, the elite team of 12 divers joined in on the efforts on Tuesday. They were spotted at a creek a little more than two miles from the familys apartment, according to the news station. Linas father was also seen praying by the site. McManus on Tuesday also emphasized that the girls disappearance is still being treated as a missing persons case. A reward for information leading up to her discovery has climbed to $150,000. Lina, who has brown eyes and brown hair, was last seen wearing a black jacket, red dress and black shoes. She and her family are Afghan refugees who came to the U.S. on special immigrant visas in 2019. (The Center Square) The Kentucky General Assembly kicked off its 2022 session Tuesday as lawmakers in the House and Senate gathered in Frankfort to start the 60-day session. With celebrations of the New Year just starting to wind down, a police officer responding to a deadly crime in Mississippi made a heartbreaking discovery. Officer Laquandia Cooley arrived at the scene on Larkin St. near the Hazlehurst Police Department on Sunday to investigate a fatal shooting, only to learn that her 20-year-old son, Charles Stewart, Jr., was the victim of the bloody violence. He was discovered in the middle of the street with a gunshot wound to the head. Advertisement We initially responded to the call not knowing, when I made it over there, the person was going to be my son that was laying there, Officer Laquandia Cooley told WLBT on Monday. She added that the sight was overwhelming and that she immediately felt a sense of panic wash over her. Advertisement As we get out, I look and I was like, This is my son, this is my son. So, I literally just go into a break down you know? Like, why? Who would do this to my son? Stewart Jr.s father, Charles Stewart, called the fatal shooting traumatizing and said it has been difficult to return to normal life since his loss. Were just trying to cope day to day, he told the news station. Just trying to figure out why this happened and who could have did this. Its not clear whether any arrests have been made in the case as of Tuesday. Because the matter involves an officers family member, Police Chief Darian Murray said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe, which is ongoing. Joplin, MO (64801) Today Morning rain followed by strong thunderstorms in the afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 69F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near an inch.. Tonight Occasional thunderstorms - possibly severe. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. A former psychologist accused of killing his wife with a cocktail of opioids and antifreeze and then attempting to disguise it as a suicide in a bid to cash in on her life insurance policy has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in an effort to avoid life in prison. Dr. Gregory Dennis had been facing homicide charges in connection with the death of his 48-year-old wife, Susan Winters, a Las Vegas-area judge who was discovered dead inside her home back in 2015. While the case appeared poised to go to trial, it faced a series of roadblocks and delays over the years, including the global health pandemic. Advertisement During a court appearance on Tuesday, Dennis entered what is called an Alford plea, a deal that allows him to acknowledge prosecutors have enough evidence to convict but not does not require him to admit guilt. As part of the agreement, he is facing between three and 10 years behind bars. This undated file booking photo provided by the Henderson Police Department shows Gregory Brent Dennis. (AP ) Winters death was initially declared a suicide, but authorities later determined her husband had a financial motive and ultimately mislead authorities amid their investigation. Dennis at one point told officers he believed his wife intentionally ingested antifreeze because he discovered a series of internet searches she supposedly conducted about antifreeze poisoning. Advertisement In reality, it was Dennis himself who carried out the internet research, according to an arrest report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Whats more, the couple was on the verge of separation at the time, thanks in part to Dennis cocaine addiction and the strain it placed on their finances. Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo on Tuesday noted the ex-psychologist stood to inherit $2 million in wake of his wifes death, including a $1 million payout from her life insurance policy. Authorities suspect he planned to used the funds to pay off his drug debts. DiGiacomo added Dennis waited for her to stop breathing before calling 911. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital after her husband issued a do-not-resuscitate order. Despite the agreement, a judge will ultimately be the one to decide Dennis jail time. If they do not accept the predetermined, three to 10-year sentence, Dennis will be allowed to withdraw his plea and the case will go to trial. Available July 16, 2021 - The annual Journal Inquirer Discovery edition features an in-depth summary of all 18 towns' services, schools, contacts, clubs, and important locations - plus articles and art! Yarrr in trouble again, matey. An Idaho man who goes by the name Pirate was sentenced to time served after spending a year in jail for burning a disabled woman with cigarettes. Advertisement Pirate, 43, was released from Bannock County Jail last month and will not have to serve any more time after he was originally charged with four felony counts of aggravated battery with a persistent violator enhancement, according to East Idaho News. Pirate, who had previously legally changed his name from Daniel Selovich, is also a sex offender. Daniel Selovich, also known as Pirate Tuesday. (Bannock County Sheriff's Office) As part of a plea agreement, Pirates charges were reduced to two misdemeanors. He will also have to pay $515 in fees and fines. Advertisement Pirate had met a disabled woman on a dating app in November of 2020. While spending the night at the womans home, Pirate allegedly burned her with cigarettes, ashed in her mouth and scratched her back. While with the woman, Pirate looked himself up on the internet to see if there were any warrants for his arrest in Salt Lake City. The Bannock County Sheriffs Office turned its attention to Pirate soon after performing a family-requested welfare check on the woman on Nov. 9, 2020. Police later learned Pirate was wanted in Salt Lake City for assaulting a woman at a motel. Police also learned he was a registered sex offender for unrelated offenses, including two prior convictions in California and Nevada. A third incident, where Pirate allegedly held a woman captive in an Alaska cabin for weeks was headed for trial but the case was dismissed after the victim died from a drug overdose. Pirate denied he was responsible for the Idaho womans injuries but expressed a desire to settle the matter and get out of jail. My only regret is I didnt go no contendo (sic) or whatever, Pirate said after his sentencing. A trial started in Guatemala Wednesday for five former paramilitary soldiers accused of sexually abusing 36 indigenous Mayan women some 40 years ago during the countrys civil war. The five are former members of Guatemalas Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC) blamed for several atrocities during the 1960-1996 war in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. They will take part via videoconference from the Mariscal Zavala jail where they are being detained for crimes committed between 1981 and 1985 around the town of Rabinal, north of the capital Guatemala City. The population of Rabinal was particularly hard hit by the war. A mass grave with the bodies of more than 3,000 people was discovered in the area. Thirty-six women have come forward in the last decade with accusations of sexual violence committed against them during that time. The identities of most of the women are being withheld for their own security, said their lawyer Lucia Xiloj. Some have already given recorded evidence to investigators, which will be played in court. Only five of the victims have opted to be present for the trial before Judge Jazmin Barrios in the Supreme Court of Justice. According to Xiloj, many Mayan women were raped after the (forced) disappearance of their husbands by paramilitaries and soldiers. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu told reporters at the court that Guatemala had failed to fulfill its obligation to defend these sisters who were raped, tortured, humiliated and subjected to (sexual) slavery during so many years of armed conflict. A United Nations truth commission documented 669 massacres committed during Guatemalas civil war, of which 93 percent were attributed to government forces. Matthew Holt I participated in the annual physical examination with my doctor Yiyi In December. Well, its actually not once a year, because the last time I went was 2 years and 1/2 years ago, but its under ACA, my document Andrew Diamond Keep bothering me because Im old and fat. So I went in. I took the general exam and had a wonderful chat for about 45 minutes. Then I performed blood tests and laboratory tests (cholesterol, A1C, etc.) and TDAP vaccination, because I have not been vaccinated for more than 10 years. Today, about a month later, I received an email asking me to pay for One Medical. So as a difficult person, I think I will go through this process to see how much consumers should know how much they should pay. This is an email from One Medical and it says: You owe us money. When I clicked the Pay button, I saw this screen It told me that I owed $7 and got change, and asked for my credit card. why? who knows? So I clicked on the Account Details button in the corner-suppose it will ask me to log in to One Medicals website. But instead, it sent me to a screen and asked me to send myself a code. Although it did it in a messy way, saying null null When I clicked null null, it did show my phone number and allowed me to select it and send the code to myself. Im not sure why this step is needed. Safety? Prevent others from paying the bills they have shown me? It now sends me to an actual page on a website called Patientops which contains detailed information. Now it becomes interesting. Or maybe not It told me that I was charged for a blood draw (I know this because I can search for venipuncture on Google!). One Medical charges $15 and I owe $7.49. But what about the billing for all other aspects of access? You will never know from the One Medical website, but of course I can go to my insurance company, which happens to be Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. After some navigation, I found my appointment claim at One Medical. This is a summary This is classified by service. It told me that One Medicals bill was US$975, and BCBS Mass very well agreed to pay them US$781-this is not a significant price reduction! It does tell me that there are 4 different medical services. But I cant know which is what. Online transparency is so much But wait. With a little attention and looking around on the website, I can Also Download EOB. You know, the multi-page incomprehensible document issued by the health insurance company says that this is not a bill. So I did. Below is a snippet of a 6-page PDF from EOB. Just to confuse you even more, it told me that BCBS Mass allows $882 in the total bill of $1,365-yes, I owe me a deductible of $108, which may be for preventive care that is not prescribed by the ACA Service. (More on this). Since One Medical only charges them US$975, I want to know where the US$390 comes from? To do this, you need to delve into the 3 page EOB PDF, and then you will eventually get some information. Yes, BCBS Mass bundles all my medical expenses in December, including the laboratory incurred when I visit One Medical and the chiropractor who visits me entirely. (My chiropractor is the best Taylor labez If you are looking for one in San Francisco and its office happens to be located in the next block of One Medical in Embarcadero, I highly recommend you). Here you can see the details of all the parts visited. One Medical charged US$660 for office visits and BBCCS Mass paid US$530. (do not worry Andrew Diamond Its worth it, but they still pay him a pretty good hourly wage! ). My Tdap vaccine charges $160 and BCBS Mass charges $153-it seems a lot Goodrx will provide you with it in the pharmacy for about $55! BCBS Mass paid $90 for other medical services for $140-I dont know what those are, and I didnt give a CPT code, so I cant figure it out. In the end, the blood drawn for the laboratory test was $15, for which BCBS Mass received a discount of $7.51, leaving me with a bill of $7.49. I guess laboratory tests and lotteries do not count as preventive care, but immunizations. Therefore, this $7.49 allowed me to start the whole mission. But wait there is more. The poor chiropractor charged $120, but his effort only got a negligible $57 (I paid, of course, because it was under the deductible). Somehow, BCBS discounted it to 50%, and One Medical got 90% of the bill. So my chiro must see 10 times One Medicals PCP brings the same number of patients in one hour. Then there are the laboratory tests themselves-although they are arguably the most important part of preventive care, they are clearly not included under the ACA. I havent received the bill from Labcorp, but now I know what will happen. Their bill was somehow split into 4 different tests. I cant tell which is which again, but I actually have CBC, lipids, A1C, uric acid, and fecal occult blood (although this is a take-home test that I delivered later, so it may not be on this bill). But the most surprising thing is that their bill was 270 US dollars, but they only got 43 US dollars. So while One Medical got about 90% of the demand and chiro got 50%, the poor small laboratory company (well, not very small) got only about 15%. Yes, when they start charging me, I have to pay them $43. All this leads me to several conclusions: Six years after Health 2.0 and Mad*Pow challenged ONC, AARP and RWJF called A bill you can understand For most of us, there is still no such thing. I mean, besides a nerdy grumpy person like me, who will go through all the troubles I just did? Even so, there is no information like CPT code to really track what happened. There does not seem to be a relationship between the time spent or the services provided and the payment. Yes, my chiro spent 15 minutes with me and my PCP 45, but what is the logic of the 10x payment difference? There is also no relationship between fee and payment-I mean this has been known for decades. But why does One Medical get 90% of the fee while LabCorp only gets 15%? There does not seem to be any logic regarding the actual cost of preventive care under the ACA. This is The official list of what is coveredIt includes cholesterol screening, but BCBS Mass believes that I should pay for it, and I also paid for the blood draw-it is hard to imagine that my LDL and others have not been checked! (Sorry, Elizabeth Holmes!). I should get too Free diabetes screeningBut I have to pay for the A1c test. However, the immunizations are on the list, and yes, they have been paid in full. The only way out seems to be a unified fee schedule. My guess is that we wont get it anytime soon. But beyond that, consumers basically have no chance to figure out all this. Remember, this not-so-simple billing experience is for routine inspections! God knows how it feels for patients with complicated conditions! Oh yes, no matter whether I really owe them $7.49 or not, I have to pay One Medical. Given their Recent share priceThey may need it! Taiwan is setting up a US$200 million fund to invest in Lithuania, aiming to acquire as many goods as possible from this Baltic country that is embargoed by China, as Taipei is trying to reward Vilnius for diplomatic support. Eric Huang, head of Taiwans representative office in Lithuania, said on Wednesday that he hopes to make the first investment with funds guaranteed by the National Development Fund later this year. Now is the time for us to help you solve your difficulties, Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Zeng Haoren told Lithuania. Vilnius agreed last year to allow Taiwan to open a representative office in its own name-the de facto embassy-rather than in the name of the capital Taipei, as many other European countries do.Beijing claimed that Taiwan is part of China and tried to force other governments to treat it like this, and thereafter launched a wave Diplomatic and economic punishment of Vilnius. Beijing withdrew its ambassador from Vilnius, banned imports from Lithuania, and put pressure on foreign manufacturers Stop using Lithuanian components. The Baltic States were also forced to Evacuate The remaining diplomats from China worry about their safety. Whether Lithuania can gain a firm foothold and receive the full support of other EU member states has become the litmus test of the effectiveness of Chinas economic and political coercive measures. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda recently overthrew his Earlier position And said it was a MistakeLet the representative office be in the name of Taiwan instead of Taipei. He also complained that the government led by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, who he defeated in the 2019 presidential election, did not coordinate this with him. One decision. The quarrel caused officials to worry that Lithuanias message might be downplayed because the president represented the country at EU summits and often took the lead on foreign policy issues. Simonite said on Wednesday that she was disappointed by Nausedas comments and that he has supported these initiatives for several months since the announcement. Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, vice chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament and vice chairman of the ruling Homeland Alliance Party, told the Financial Times on Wednesday that the government insists on its position and does not The name of the representative office will be changed. The international community understands that our position on foreign affairs is very important. We will not withdraw from our position, she said. Lithuania was shocked by the intensity of Chinas response. It not only stopped Lithuanian imports, but also put pressure on German auto parts manufacturer Continental and other European manufacturers to not use Lithuanian parts in its Chinese operations. Since expanding relations with Lithuania last year, establishing economic ties has been Taipeis main focus.Kong Mingxin, Minister of the National Development Committee in charge of the National Development Fund, led a delegation to visit Lithuania in late October and expressed his hope that the country will become Fulcrum of Taipei To Central and Eastern Europe. But in the face of Chinese punishment, Taipei feels that it is necessary to make up for part of the economic losses Vilnius suffered. A senior Taiwanese government official said: Originally, this has nothing to do with the competition between us and Beijing. It should not be a zero-sum game. A senior Taiwanese foreign policy official said: We want to ensure that Chinas economic coercion against Lithuania will be offset by our trade and investment efforts. On Monday, the state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company snapped up a batch of 24,000 bottles of Lithuanian rum rejected by Chinese customs. Huang said on Wednesday that Taiwan had seized 120 Lithuanian export containers blocked by China. The Taiwan representative said that he expects the new funds priority investment areas to include semiconductors, lasers and biotechnology.Taiwan also Sure Fintech is a possible area of ??cooperation. Vilnius has more regulated Fintech companies than any other EU country. Subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get podcasts. Stuck in an unusual set-up, Kook Yeon Soo (Kim Da Mi) and Choi Woong (Choi Woo Sik) try to start anew as friends. Things become more complicated when jealousy visits the ex-couple's hearts. 'Our Beloved Summer' Episode 10: Dormant Feelings Resurface There was an awkward silence surrounding Yeon Soo and Woong when Ji Woong (Kim Sung Cheol) caught the two of them in Woong's house late at night. To prevent the latter from questioning their sudden closeness, Yeon Soo picked up her bag and went straight home. To her surprise, she is welcomed by her friend Sol Yi (Park Jin Joo) and her grandmother who were waiting for her to come home since the other night. Unfortunately, she didn't get through the net safely, and was shot with intriguing questions. Accepting defeat, she confessed to her best friend that she still has feelings for her ex, to which Sol Yi referred to as a "crush." With that said, Yeon Soo spent the days and nights thinking about Woong, and their new friendship. Kook Yeon Soo Vexed by Choi Woong and NJ's Sudden Closeness Top celebrity idol NJ (Noh Jung Ui) is without a doubt Yeon Soo's source of jealousy and insecurity when it comes to Woong. NJ and Woong met for the first time in Woong's art exhibition as Ko-o, where the former enjoyed looking at the displayed art works, even buying a 10 million South Korean won worth of illustration. Since then, NJ constantly contacted Woong to inquire about his new drawings, and mostly because of her growing interest towards the artist. The pair's closeness didn't go unnoticed by Yeon Soo, whose heart is slowly being enveloped by jealousy. So when Woong and NJ went out for a date, Yeon Soo felt her heart sink and figured that she had already lost. Choi Woong Learns About Kook Yeon Soo's Unsaid Pain and Tears Woong is invited over for dinner by Yeon Soo's grandmother after he brought his ex's pouch that was left sitting in his lavatory. Obviously, Yeon Soo's grandmother wasn't very much pleased to see Woong, and she made sure that the latter felt her hatred. Yeon Soo apologized and told her grandmother to be kinder, but refused to do so after Woong made her granddaughter "cry nonstop for weeks." With her haughty personality and independence, Woong never thought that Yeon Soo was hurt by their breakup. This made him ponder, even when he came back home. While washing the dishes, Yeon Soo talked about her breakup with Woong and confessed that she was the one who broke Woong's heart. For the nth time, Yeon Soo cried because of Woong but this time, she wept inside her grandmother's warm embrace. Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates! KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Rain is still puzzled by his situation as "Ghost Doctor" episode 2 featured Kim Bum possessed by his spirit. In addition, the January 4 episode also welcomed the character of Sung Dong Il, who plays Tess, shirt for Socrates. 'Ghost Doctor' Viewership Rating According to Nielsen Korea, "Ghost Doctor" episode 2 showed a modest increase from its debut episode, garnering a nationwide average of 5 percent while 4.3 percent in metropolitan areas. To recall, episode 1 achieved a nationwide rating of 4.4 percent and 4.9 percent in the metropolitan area. 'Ghost Doctor' Episode 2 Recap: Cha Young Min Falls Into a Coma The second episode illustrates more about the thoracic surgeon's car accident. In "Ghost Doctor" episode 2, Cha Young Min (Rain) went to the meeting place where he and his ex-girlfriend Jang Se Jin (UEE) used to hang out. Unfortunately, she never came but received a call from the ICU updating Chairman Jang's status. Of course, he tried to be in Eunsang University Medical Center as soon as possible but ended up in a car crash. Prior to this, he noticed that a motorcycle was following him. While the first episode featured Ko Seung Tak (Kim Bum) doing his first-ever operation, the doctors warned him that professor Cha's BP was declining and needed another operation. Unfortunately, the newbie doctor froze and did not know what to do. Thankfully, Dr. Ahn Tae Hyun (Ko Sang Ho) stepped in and wrapped up the operation. Following the surgery and monitoring, the test concluded that Cha Young Min was in a coma after his brain got severely damaged during the accident. Cha Young Min Meets Socrates The result shocked the doctors and left Cha Young Min devastated. Visiting his body and checking on his vitals, he saw that the drain was not connected. Luckily, a cleaning lady fixed it and thought she could see him; however, a man got out of the female's body and introduced himself to the professor. His name is Tess, short for Socrates, the Greek philosopher. Unlike Cha Young Min, Tess can enter anyone's body because he is dead. Since the thoracic surgeon is in a coma, it could only mean that he could touch, hold or enter anyone's body, except for Ko Seung Tak. To recall, Cha Young Min operated on himself by using the newbie's body. Handling a solo surgery shocked the whole hospital and became the talk of the town. Meanwhile, after the surgery, Ko Seung Tak was also baffled about how he managed to pull it off. He even asked his senior Oh Soo Jung (APink Son Na Eun) to keep things secret between them. Chairman Jang's is in Coma Apart from the top-notch doctor, his patient and the hospital's VIP were also diagnosed with comatose due to malpractice. Cha Young Min insisted that he did the operation successfully and wondered what went wrong after the procedure. Since he can roam around the hospital without being seen, he overheard the conversation between his junior Ahn Tae Hyun and Kim Jae Won. The resident gave a large dose of a substance that was quite dangerous to the patient. Dr. Ahn went furious and seemed bothered by Chairman Jang's condition. Kim Jae Won then revealed that he asked Ko Seung Tak to inject the substance since he was also in an emergency. Was Ko Seung Tak Involved in Chairman Jang's Incident? Cha Young Min visited the chairman's office and saw his ghost sitting near his bed. The two heard that his son plans on killing his father through medical malpractice. Moreover, he was surprised to see that the son was talking to the vice president of the hospital's administration Han Seung Won (Tae In Ho.) Following Seung Won, professor Cha saw him and Ko Seung Tak talk about something. "Don't forget that I'm right beside you, Okay," he tells the newbie doctor. At the doctor's office, Ko Seung Tak reflects on his actions, especially with Chairman Jang and Doctor Cha's case. Sensing that he might be involved in a plotted murder against the chairman, Cha Young Min was very disappointed at Dr. Ko and thought he did it just to pass the board exam and fulfill his parents' wish. KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills The upcoming Disney+ original series "Rookie Cops" starring Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin introduced its characters through their MBTI personalities and refreshing individual posters! Disney+ Introduces Kang Daniel, Chae Soo Bin and Other 'Rookie Cops' Actors The upcoming coming-of-age rom-com series "Rookie Cops" depicts the stories of aspiring police officers who are determined to reach their dreams. It will revolve around the relatable and interesting stories of eight police university students and their exciting shenanigans. The newly published posters reveal the different characteristics of the characters through their MBTI personality types. Kang Daniel takes on the role of top student Wi Seung Hyun, who dreams of becoming a police officer to follow his father's legacy. His life becomes more interesting after he gets involved with a young woman named Go Eun Gang. In the poster, he flashes his bright smile as his MBTI type is written in bold letters, marked as "ISTJ." His integrity is his utmost priority. Seung Hyun has a charisma that draws everyone to him. Opposite Chae Soo Bin who plays Go Eun Gang, an impulsive student who enrolls at the university to chase an unrequited love. In the poster, she holds a whistle with a playful look on her face. Despite her heart being broken, she is eager to learn and doesn't look back when running towards her goals. Her energetic nature and impulsiveness make her an "ESFP." While she enjoys the police student life, she comes to meet her complete opposite Wi Seung Hyun. Go Eun Gang is a refreshing character with a big heart. Lee Shin Young takes on the role of the national Judo athlete who becomes a police university student, Kim Tak. Because his MBTI is "ISFP," he always basked in the serenity of being free and alone. However, Wi Seung Hyun becomes his one true friend in the university. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin's Upcoming Drama 'Rookie Cops' Unveils New Poster Meanwhile, Park Yoo Na will transform into the most intelligent student Ki Han Na. Her character will add tension as individualistic nature clashes with the team-centered culture of the university. Like Kim Tak, she enjoys her alone time, making her an "ISTP." Park Sung Joon will play Yoo Dae Il, an "ENFP" who is an avid fan of police-themed dramas. No matter where he goes, he makes friends easily. He is always seen holding a walkie-talkie like in the dramas he's watched before. On the other hand, future forensic science technician Woo Joo Young is played by Min Do Hee. She is curious, free-spirited, and driven with her MBTI as "INFJ." Kim Woo Seok plays the role of Seo Beom Joo, an anal student who is always hellbent to follow the rules. He wows everyone with his unexpected dancing skills. In the poster, Beom Joo is seen pointing at his planner, reflecting his personality as "ESTJ." Lastly, Cheon Young Min is the "INFP" ulzzang (pretty face) Shin Ah Ri. Because of her vanity, she is seen holding a mirror in the poster. Attention is focused on how the chaotic and very diverse students get along with one another. They are also expected to change for the better as they meet new friends in the strict and rules-driven police university. 'Rookie Cops' Release Date and Further Details Looked over by director Kim Byung Soo and penned by writer Lee Ha Na, "Rookie Cops" is the very first Korean original series in Disney Plus. Veterans Kim Sang Ho, Seo Yi Sook, Song Chang Min, Lee Moon Sik, and Kwak Si Yang will also participate in the drama to guide the eight interesting students of police university. "Rookie Cops" is set to air in the first half of 2022 on Disney Plus. Just in case you missed it, catch "Rookie Cops" trailer here: Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates! KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. The 2019 OCN series "Strangers from Hell," which stars Lee Dong Wook, Im Si Wan and more, gave the viewers a whole new level of spine-chilling Kdrama. Based on the webtoon of the same name, the psychological thriller series follows the story of Yoon Jong Woo (Im Si Wan), an amateur writer who moved to Seoul for an internship at his senior's company. Struggling to find a place to live that offers a reasonable price, he ends up renting room 303 in a place called Eden Residence. Here, Yoon Jong Woo meets different kinds of odd-looking people and scary tenants. One Of which is the charismatic dentist Seo Moon Jo (Lee Dong Wook.) After a few nights at the Eden Residence, he senses that something is off and is about to find out the secret behind the cheap hotel. Two years since the OCN series aired, here's what the "Strangers from Hell" cast are up to now, including their current and upcoming projects. Im Si Wan (Yoon Jong Woo) After playing the role of Yoon Jong Woo in "Strangers from Hell," he starred in the rom-com Kdrama "Run On" alongside Shin Se Kyung, Girl's Generation Sooyoung and Kang Tae Oh. After the 2020 drama became a huge hit, Im Si Wan is set to make a comeback to the big screen with his new series "Tracer." The South Korean heartthrob is also set to headline the much-awaited action thriller movie "Emergency Declaration" and is rumored to have a team-up with Chun Woo Hee and Kim Hee Won in "Stolen Identity." Lee Dong Wook (Seo Moon Jo) Far from his usual roles, Lee Dong Wook surprised fans when he played the creepy dentist Seo Moon Jo in "Strangers from Hell." Following the OCN series, he headlines the fantasy Kdrama "Tale of the Nine-Tailed" and currently starring in the action thriller "Bad and Crazy" with "Squid Game" star Wi Ha Joon. In addition, he also launched his new movie "A Year-End Medley" with a star-studded cast including Kang Ha Neul, Girl's Generation's YoonA, Jan Ji Min and more. Lee Jung Eun (Um Bok Soon) The "Parasite" star kept the viewers at the edge of their seats with her character Um Bok Soon or simply Ms. Um, the owner of Eden Residence. This 2022, Lee Jung Eun is set to appear in three Kdramas. First is the omnibus-style series "Our Blues," where she is among the lead stars and will play the past lover of Cha Seung Won. The award-winning actress will also join the cast of Netflix's "Juvenile Justice" and the sci-fi- drama "Beyond the Memory." Park Jong Hwan (Twin Brothers Byun Deuk Jong and Byun Deuk Soo) The 39-year-old actor took on the role of twins Byun Deuk Jong and Byun Deuk Soo, who lived in rooms 306 and 307. After "Strangers from Hell," he appeared as one of the supporting actors in "Dr. Romantic 2" and will reunite with Lee Jung Eun in "Juvenile Justice." Lee Joong Ok (Hong Nam Bok) Lee Joong Ok played the creepy pervert in room 313. Kdrama fandom would get to see Lee Joong Ok and Lee Dong Wook together in a movie as he is also one of the casts of "A Year-End Medley." On top of that, he had cameos in "Inspector Koo," "D.P," "L.U.C.A.: The Beginning," and "Mine." Ahn Eun Jin (Police Officer Seo Jung Hwa) After landing a role in "Strangers from Hell," Ahn Eun Jin's fame skyrockets after being one of the casts of the beloved medical Kdrama "Hospital Playlist." Now, she proved to be one of the rising leading ladies in Kdrama after starring in JTBC's "The One and Only" and in talks to headline the upcoming series "The Fool at the End of the World." KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills The family of a Florida boy who died after he crashed his dirt bike while a police officer was attempting to pull him over in an SUV is demanding answers. We are here for justice for all, Shannon Thompson, the mother of 13-year-old Stanley SJ Davis III, said during a city commission meeting in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Tuesday. Advertisement We would like some accountability. The boy died Dec. 26 in Boynton Beach. Surveillance video from a gas station showed the boy buy gas before driving off. Seconds later, a Boynton Beach police car zooms off in the same direction. Moments after that, SJ can be seen riding in the opposite direction before turning left with the SUV following closely behind. Advertisement Stanley SJ Davis III (Handout) Boynton Beach police have repeatedly denied that the officers car struck SJ while attempting to pull him over, but the car did not have a dashcam. The police have said SJ was driving erratically. However, according to ABC News, the departments policy is to only initiate a pursuit if the a forcible felony is suspected. The Florida Highway Patrol is conducting the investigation. I dont want you guys to do more than what you feel is right. Thats all I ask, Stanley Davis Jr., the boys father, told the city council at the meeting. There never should have been a high-speed pursuit and it never should have resulted in the death of a child, attorney Ben Crump told ABC News. The Boynton Beach Police Departments own policy is that pursuits should only be initiated if the officer reasonably believes the person fleeing has committed a felony. Were talking about a child. The Boynton Beach police said the officer involved in the incident could not be publicly identified because they are covered by a law which guards victims of crimes against intimidation, harassment and abuse. However, it is not clear what crime the officer is a victim of. Coronavirus Watch: Oregon sets another pandemic record for daily COVID-19 cases, the second in less than a week A Sunwing Boeing 737-800 passenger plane prepares to land at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Wednesday, August 2, 2017. In the wake of a wild party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, flight attendants are demanding stronger action from government and carriers to ensure health and safety on board amid the Omicron surge.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov The highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in B.C. due to the Omicron variant will likely come within the next few weeks, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry suggested Tuesday. This undated electron microscope image the virus that causes the disease. The number of dwellings in buildings with less than five storeys has risen 23.7% in Kelowna in the past five years, the highest increase of any city in Canada, new housing-related data from the 2021 census shows. KENOSHA Though the Civil War Museum covers a long-ago era, Doug Dammann hopes visitors feel a personal connection to its exhibit Defending the Union Immigrant Soldiers in the Civil War. The exhibit, running through Jan. 16, focuses on the foreign-born men who served in the Union Army, a number that grew to 25% of the total Union forces. We focused on individuals who came here from all over the world, said Dammann, the Kenosha Public Museums education coordinator. No matter where their family history is from, they can see themselves in this exhibit. Museum staffers spent several months doing research for the exhibit. The mens stories are told in panels on the gallerys walls. You learn about their journeys to America and whether or not they survived the war, said Gina Radandt, collections curator for the museums. The biggest surprise for Dammann, who also did research for the exhibit, is the stories of the African-born men who served in the Union Army. I had never heard those stories before. Those Africans, Dammann explained, were never enslaved. They were mostly sailors who came to U.S. ports and ended up enlisting. Their stories are detailed in the National Archives, which was a great resource for us. Foreign-born soldiers in the Union Army, he said came in big numbers from Germany and Ireland, but we also have stories of soldiers from China, the Philippines, Poland, Hungary and Cuba. Those are places people dont think of during the Civil War. Creating the exhibit The exhibit, which opened in December of 2020, features graphics, installation and research done by museum staffers, working under COVID-19 restrictions. The museum closed for a while in 2020, Radandt said. We were scattered as a staff but really came together for this project. She added that the local museums collection really speaks to this story. We have a lot of artifacts that fit the focus on immigrants, plus it really relates to conversations that have been going on in our country in the past few years. We dont get political, however; we keep the exhibit to its time frame. Why serve? The huge numbers of newly arrived immigrants signing up to serve in the Union Army begs the question: Why would these men take on this dangerous endeavor? We found different reasons for these men to serve, Dammann said. Some men served because they wanted to help their adopted country; others were very much against slavery. And there was a financial consideration, too. They were paid to serve and would have money to send home. Dammann said recruiters also played to feelings of national pride. One Scandinavian group appealed to men by saying are we going to sit back and let the Irish and English serve? They stressed personal honor. Also, some men saw this as a chance for an adventure. Sights and sounds When visitors walk into the second-floor gallery at the museum, they are immersed into this world, Dammann said. We really wanted a wow factor. The gallerys entryway features murals depicting the busy Brooklyn, N.Y., harbor, circa 1860, with immigrants arriving by ship. Not only do you see this scene, however; you hear it, too. You hear the sounds of the docks, Dammann said. And you hear voices speaking in different languages as they step onto the busy docks. Its the kind of comments you hear in airports filled with travelers. The voices, Dammann said, were recorded over Zoom, using family members and local people. Youll hear comments in Spanish, Italian, German and Swedish, which gives it a real international flavor as soon as you enter the exhibit. It draws you into the chaos of all these immigrants arriving and filling the docks, Dammann added. Artifacts in the exhibit include photos of the soldiers, textiles, a uniform (that belonged to Racine native Frederick Malish) and even a German language newspaper from that time, Dammann said. Some of the items, Radandt said, are being showcased for the first time. Were very pleased with this exhibit. Its a great story to tell, and were proud to tell it. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The parents of Brian Laundrie, a Florida man considered the lone person of interest in the murder of his fiancee Gabby Petito, have asked the FBI to hand over a notebook that was found in a nature preserve near their sons remains. Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while hiking in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Fla., in September but his skeletal remains were not found until late October. A notebook was among the items of Laundries found nearby. Advertisement Petitos body was found in September near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming after the couple had gone on a cross-country road trip. Attorney Steven Bertolino is trying to get the notebook back for Laundries parents, citing it as an estate matter, according to WFLA. Bertolino said the FBI is expected to return the notebook after closing the case. Advertisement This Aug. 12, 2021 file photo from video provided by the Moab, Utah, Police Department shows Brian Laundrie talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van he was traveling in with his girlfriend, Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, near the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah. (AP) Laundries parents are also attempting to be named beneficiaries of his estate, which is believed to consist of at least one bank account with several thousand dollars deposited. Bertolino said he is also trying to get items returned to Petitos family. Nichole Schmidt filed to obtain Gabbys belongings that are in the Laundrie home or in police custody, he said. Rick Stafford [the Petito family attorney] and I are trying to work this out cordially. Hopkinsville, KY (42240) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 84F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Showers this evening then scattered thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Ketchikan, AK (99901) Today Light rain this morning. Then remaining cloudy. High 51F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Periods of rain. Becoming windy late. Low around 40F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. 125 Shares Share An excerpt from Medical Answers Now!: How Direct Primary Care Guarantees Fast Access to Your Doctor. Virtually everyone understands the importance of major medical insurance as it relates to unexpected high-dollar care for severe injuries and significant medical conditions, but the value equation for health insurance is quite different when applied to coverage for primary care services. The full potential cost for primary care services is neither expensive nor unpredictable. Routine and preventive care and the management of most acute illnesses and the majority of chronic disease processes by primary care physicians would be quite affordable for most Americans even if they had no health insurance. The involvement of health insurance in the relationship between patients and their primary care physicians introduces several major challenges and disadvantages. Here are the six primary areas of concern. 1. Non-value-added middlemen Insurance involvement makes primary care more expensive. It is estimated that as much as 40 percent of revenue paid to primary care physicians who participate with major health insurance goes to pay for administrative overhead, claims processing, insurance company profits, and the compensation of insurance brokers. This list of middlemen who mediate the interactions and care that you receive from your doctor do not actually add value to your quality of care or patient experience. They do add significant costs for your doctor, your employer, and ultimately you. In reality, inserting these middlemen between you and your doctor makes it more challenging for doctors to do their job. Who pays your doctor? The answer makes all the difference to your access and customer service. So who pays your doctor? Your insurance company. Realistically, your doctor doesnt work for you. They work for your insurance company and spend a lot of time and money meeting their requirements. This insurance middleman increases your cost, kills convenience, and leads to poor health. 2. Volume-based care When the delivery of health care services is adjudicated by insurance on a fee-for-service basis, your care is volume-based. Every service you receive, including lab work, other diagnostic tests, all treatments, examinations, discussions, and time with your doctor, only happens if these services are individually deemed covered and reimbursable by your insurance plan. For physicians practicing under this model, they are only paid if they are able to justify each individual service they render with codes (CPT procedure codes for specific ICD-10 diagnostic codes) and documentation that are acceptable to the insurance carrier. A provider contract between your doctor and your insurance company determines the amount your doctor is paid on a fee-for-service basis. Given the ever-increasing costs to operate a medical practice, providers can only sustain practice viability by increasing the volume of patients they see. This dynamic of volume-based care is why primary care physicians are always rushed and access to care is limited. 3. Misaligned incentives Why do doctors do what they do? Why do they require the visits that they do? Why do they order the tests that they order? The treatments? Make the referrals they make? Medical doctors are regularly found to be among the most trustworthy professions, but most doctors practice in an environment that incentivizes them to order more tests and treatments. Whether self-employed or working as employees of hospital systems, your doctors take-home pay is largely determined by what the doctors office bills. Just as volume-based care adds costs to the system, these misaligned incentives also add to the number of medical services that are performed. Not only is physician compensation tied to their number of patient visits, physicians may also be reimbursed directly or indirectly based on the number of tests, treatments, and other ancillary services that they order. Hospitals benefit greatly from the downstream medical care that is referred to their facilities by primary care physicians working directly for hospital-owned medical practices. In this insurance-based fee-for-service system, even the most altruistic physicians may be ordering office visits, tests, treatments, and referrals that are questionable or altogether unnecessary. Your doctors incentives are rarely ever actually in line with yours. 4. Noncovered services There is another side to the coin. This volume-based practice model may also result in the under-delivery of important medical services. Some important diagnostic and treatment services are deemed to be noncovered in certain situations. If your insurance carrier is unwilling to reimburse your doctor for a test or treatment, the doctor will be less likely to recommend it. If insurance is not willing to cover the procedure (or if it would be subject to a very high deductible and out-of-pocket expense to the patient), your doctor may choose not to recommend the procedure due to concern about your direct expense or fear that they may not collect payment at all. Your doctor really doesnt work for you in these cases but is beholden to your insurance company. As you can imagine, this mindset has great potential to compromise the quality of patient care. 5. Hidden true patient costs Health insurance is a shell game. The true costs of health care services and the mark-up at each step in the delivery system are well hidden. What does a service cost your doctor or the medical office to provide? What does it cost your employer? The insurance company? As a patient or covered member, you may never know. Eventually, you will find out what it will cost you personallybut not until well after you have received the service. The complexity and multiple middlemen involved in health insurance pricing, repricing, and reimbursement currently make it nearly impossible for individuals to determine the real costs for medical services that they receive. It is fairly common for out-of-pocket payments for diagnostic and treatment services that are delivered by primary care physicians and filed with health insurance to exceed the market-based cash prices that could be paid (without insurance involvement) for the same services. The fact is, most patients never know it when their health insurance is delivering a penalty rather than a financial benefit. Historically, these disparities have not been disclosed by insurers. This long-standing industry practice leaves most patients overpaying for some medical services on a regular basis. 6. Deterrents to care Health insurance is designed to limit how often and how quickly people go to the doctor. This is particularly true with primary care. Copayments, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket expenses built into insurance plans have proven to deter patients from seeking timely and appropriate primary care. As health insurance has become increasingly expensive, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs have increased to keep premiums from rising even higher. Patients pay first before their insurance kicks in when accessing most primary care services. They are paying directly for more routine primary care services and become increasingly likely to postpone or avoid needed care. According to a recent survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by 20|20 Research, 64 percent of Americans say they have avoided or delayed medical care in the last year due to expected costs. These costly insurance plan design mechanisms, along with the other inefficiencies created by insurance involvement in your relationship with your doctor, deter access to medical care that is otherwise uniquely available to people across our country. Troy A. Burns is an internal medicine physician and author of Medical Answers Now!: How Direct Primary Care Guarantees Fast Access to Your Doctor. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Almost a year before Lyndon McLeod went on a shooting rampage in Denver, killing five people, his graphic, homicidal books raised red flags for a reader, but seemingly not for police. In early January 2021, Andre Thiele alerted the Denver Police Department to McLeods trilogy of self-published novels, filled with violence, rage and the names of at least two of his eventual victims. Advertisement I think that there is a small, but undeniable possibility, that the accused may commit a terrorist attack, wrote Thiele, who called himself a fan of the books and had interacted with McLeod in chatrooms, the Denver Post reported Tuesday. Lyndon McLeod killed five people last week. I cannot in good conscience say that he will act with certainty. But I can say that IF he should act, the result would be devastating. He then would stop at nothing. Advertisement A Denver police officer reached out to Thiele and said they would look into it. That was the last he heard. [ Denver gunman self-published gruesome novels filled with murder ] Though the book is not political per se, it could be read as an extremist right-wing manifesto and a terrorist prophecy, Thiele wrote. It may very well be that the accused is a typical case of a literary genius and a petty thug, who runs his mouth and talks too much... I would from my personal experiences say that this might be a 90% chance. But there is a 10% chance, that he has at least in his own mind created the perfect storm of right-wing terrorism. McLeod's shooting rampage spanned two cities before he was shot and killed by police. (David Zalubowski/AP) A spokesman for the Denver Police Department told the Daily News Wednesday that there was not sufficient evidence to file criminal charges or a legal basis for monitoring McLeod at the time of the tip. Investigators were not even able to confirm that McLeod lived in the area. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > The Denver police previously told The News they were aware of the books. [ Colorado police officer shot by Denver gunman still recovering ] Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said during a press conference after the shootings that McLeod had been on the radar of law enforcement and had been investigated in 2020 and 2021, but no charges were ever filed. Pazen refused to give specifics on the nature of the investigations. The three-book series called Sanction was self-published between 2018 and 2020 under the pseudonym Roman McClay and told of a hero named Lyndon McLeod who went on similar rampages to reality, targeting tattoo shops in the area. Two of McLeods victims, Alicia Cardenas and Michael Swinyard, were characters in the books. Mourners gather outside the door of a tattoo parlor. (David Zalubowski/AP) In real life, McLeod began his rampage Dec. 27 at a Denver tattoo parlor, where he fatally shot two women, owner Alicia Cardenas, 44, and Alyssa Gun Maldonado and injured Maldonados husband, Jimmy, who worked there. He then moved to a nearby residence, where he fired but did not injure anyone, then to another home where he fatally shot 67-year-old Michael Swinyard. Advertisement After trading gunfire with Denver police officers, McLeod fled to the nearby suburb of Lakewood, where he fatally shot 38-year-old Danny Scofield inside another tattoo shop. He fled again on foot to a Hyatt hotel where he fatally shot the desk clerk, 28-year-old Sarah Steck. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 10 Police vehicles sit outside the Sol Tribe tattoo shop on Broadway where two women were shot and killed and a man injured on Dec. 27, 2021, in Denver, Colorado. The Broadway shooting was the first in a series of shootings tonight that claimed five lives across the Denver metro area, according to police. Police say officers exchanged gunfire with a suspect at one of the scenes. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) Thats when Lakewood police caught up with him and Officer Ashley Ferris ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused and shot her in the abdomen, but she was able to return fire and kill him. Ferris was in stable condition as of Sunday and continuing her recovery in a local hospital. A spokesperson for the Lakewood Police Department did not return a request for her updated condition Wednesday. In the last year we've lost thousands of family members, friends and co-workers to COVID-19. We'd like to give you a chance to honor their memory. Share a Memory Kilgore, TX (75662) Today Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening. Thunderstorms likely late. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. To subscribe, click here. Already a subscriber? Click here. Move in line with Xi's calls to protect, continue heritage of iconic waterway China plans to construct national parks with Yangtze River culture as their theme, as part of efforts to preserve the waterway's cultural heritage. The parks will help implement President Xi Jinping's instructions on protecting the culture of the Yangtze River. The central leading group on promoting national culture parks has issued a circular on the parks' construction, requiring relevant government bodies and regions to begin work on the projects, according to a media statement released on Monday. The parks will be located in the 13 provincial-level regions in the Yangtze basin. Coordinating relevant central government bodies, the central leading group will establish a working mechanism to map out construction and preservation plans, the statement said. Guidance will also be offered to local authorities on drafting regional plans. "As the country's longest watercourse, the Yangtze River, together with the Yellow River, are dubbed the Chinese nation's mother rivers," the release said. The construction of the parks will have "far-reaching significance in helping display the splendid Chinese civilization to the world," the statement added. In late 2020, Xi chaired a symposium in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on advancing development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Noting that the Yangtze River is an icon of the country and symbol of Chinese civilization, Xi called for protecting, inheriting and carrying forward Yangtze River culture, as well as protecting its cultural relics and heritage. In addition to the Yangtze River parks, the government also plans to build at least four national cultural parks. In late 2019, the central authorities made public plans for the construction and preservation of national cultural parks based on three themesthe Great Wall, the Grand Canal and the Long March, vowing to complete most of the construction by the end of 2023. At the end of 2021, Beijing authorities unveiled planning for construction of the section of the Great Wall national park that falls under its jurisdiction. Aside from mapping out the protection areas, the Beijing municipal government will upgrade the China Great Wall Museum, renovate the Jiankou section, and launch a series of cultural celebration events. The country will also construct Yellow River national culture parks, according to the Communist Party of China Central Committee's proposals on the blueprint for China's development in the next 15 years. To facilitate the construction of national culture parks, an expert committee was established in February 2021. Consisting of 81 scholars and specialists from various fields including history, culture and tourism, the committee is expected to offer suggestions on policies and decision-making for development of the cultural parks, assess cultural park development plans submitted by regional authorities and conduct relevant research. The Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Firefighters and police responded to the fatal fire at a three-story rowhouse in the city's Fairmount neighborhood around 6:40 a.m. and found flames coming from the second-floor windows, fire officials said. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) A massive fired ripped through a crowded row home in Philadelphia early Wednesday morning, leaving 13 people, including seven children, dead. This is without a doubt one of the most tragic days in our citys history, the loss of so many people in such a tragic way, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. Advertisement Losing so many kids is just devastating, he added. Keep these babies in your prayers. The Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ/AP) Firefighters responded to the citys Fairmount neighborhood, where a residential building owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority burst into flames around 6:40 a.m. When they arrived on the scene, heavy fire and thick black smoke were escaping through the windows on the second floor of the three-story row home. Advertisement Crews managed to contain the blaze in just under an hour, but fire officials said in a series of tweets that the scene remained active late Wednesday morning. Officials warned the already-high death toll could climb as first responders continued to search the residence, home to 26 people. The first-floor unit reportedly had eight occupants while the second and third-floor unit housed 18 people. Bystanders watch as the Philadelphia fire department works at the scene of a deadly row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ/AP) At least eight residents were able to escape the flames while another two victims, an adult and child, were rushed to the hospital amid the chaos. Fire officials acknowledged the number of residents living in the duplex seemed high given its size, but a spokesperson for Philadelphias Department of Licenses and Inspections said the city does not limit the number of family members allowed in a single unit. You dont know the circumstances of each and every family, and maybe there were relatives and family that needed to be sheltered, Kenney said. Obviously the tragedy happened, and we all mourn for it. But we cant make judgment on the number of people living in the house because sometimes people just need to be indoors. Neighbors said they were startled awake early Wednesday by the sound of screams echoing through the streets as flames quickly spread through the duplexs top two stories. Dannie McGuire became overwhelmed with emotion as she looked on at what remained of the building from the doorway of her own home. I knew some of those kids I used to see them playing on the corner, she said through tears, noting that some of them have lived here as long as us. Advertisement Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney speaks during a news conference near the scene of a deadly row house fire on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, Penn. (Matt Rourke/AP) Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > I cant picture how more people couldnt get out jumping out a window, McGuire continued. Its just heartbreaking, added 68-year-old Andrea Duszenczuk, whose family has long owned a home in the neighborhood, which is home to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the popular Rocky steps. Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy, who has worked with the department for nearly 35 years, said the blaze was one of the worst hed ever experienced. He added that while the cause of the fire is not considered suspicious at this time, the Philadelphia Fire Departments Fire Marshals Office has taken over the investigation due to the large loss of life. People gather near the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/AP) ATF agents are also responding to the scene to assist. Despite annual inspections, none of the row homes four fire detectors appeared to have been working when the flames broke out before sunrise on Wednesday. At least two had been replaced as recently as 2020 and the batteries were swapped out of several other devices around the same time, Philadelphia Housing Authority officials said. We plan on making sure that this tremendous loss of life did not happen in vain, Murphy said. Advertisement With News Wire Services At the Enable Ireland shop on Kieran Street, Kilkenny In 2021 Kilkenny Arts Office organised a community art project, Knitted Together 2. The project brought over 230 individuals and community groups together to create hand-knitted and crocheted blankets and donated them to local charity shops in Kilkenny to help offset the financial pressure they faced due to lockdown. As a charity shop enthusiast, Arts Officer Mary Butler knows that these sometimes-overlooked outlets are among retails best-kept secrets. For anyone who is yet to discover the joy of charity shopping, you are in for a treat, she said. Charity shops offer so much in terms of clothing, shoes, gifts and surprises, you just never know what may turn up, what someone has brought in, and this only adds to the excitement. The adage of one mans trash is another mans treasure no longer fits the modern charity shop model. These stylish boutique shopping experiences are a credible, sustainable, and cherished alternative to commercial shopping. In this article we look at some of Kilkennys local charity shops, The Jack and Jill Foundation, National Council for the Blind Ireland (NCBI), The Samaritans, Irish Cancer Society, Enable Ireland, and St Vincent de Paul (SVP) and the treasures they hold. Each charity shop purchase pays back three-fold. It supports the work of charities, providing a unique experience for people to shop affordably and gives a new lease of life to preloved items in a sustainable and philanthropic way. One of the great advantages of buying from a charity shop is that we offer gifts and everyday items at affordable prices, Carol Duggan of St Vincent de Paul Butts Green explained. As well as supporting a very worthwhile cause, customers will be able to purchase something a little different from mainstream retail shops, added Deirdre Power of the Irish Cancer Society shop on Parliament Street. For example, we have a collection of framed oil paintings donated to us by local artists. We also have festive candles, novelty socks and jumpers, accessories and toiletry gift sets, many of which are new in original packaging. These treasures come at bargain prices. People can expect to find brand-new, top-quality products as Rachel Walsh Lawlor of NCBI, Castlecomer told us. We have a Ted Baker window display with four brand new dresses, all with original tags and pricing. Charity shops offer good quality clothing and items at affordable prices Long gone are the days when a charity shop was merely the final resting place for household bric-a-brac. The modern charity shop is a carefully managed, curated, and merchandised treasure trove. It is a place of wonder to explore and find unique one-off pieces, local craft, and designer brands like Ted Baker, Aynsley, Beleek, plus clothes, jewellery and decorations. A charity shop is a store of true serendipity, said Barry Dempsey of the Jack and Jill Foundation on Friary Street. That is the act of finding something of value through chance. Jack and Jill has the largest selection of books and records of any shop in Kilkenny and many designer brands at a fraction of high street prices. We also have a great toy department of the kiddies, young and old. Lockdown was extremely difficult for the charity sector who rely on the generosity of their local community to raise funds. The charities reported very negative effects of the lockdown for the work they do, calling it a huge blow to the operation with fundraising at an all-time low. Income was cut from shop revenue, donations, church gate collections and flag days. The loss of revenue will inevitably have a knock-on effect on what the organisations can offer the families they support in the coming months. The Knitted Together 2 project was funded by Creative Ireland as part of its Age-Friendly Initiatives, the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI) as part of the Governments Keep Well campaign and is supported by Age-Friendly and Healthy Ireland Kilkenny programmes. The charity shops involved reported increased footfall and new visitors, many of whom had never been in a charity shop before. The project has raised over 3,500 for the participating stores. We are most grateful for the project as it had brought new customers into our shop, said Joseph Byrne from NCBI on High Street. We would like to thank the Arts Office for choosing our charity shop and the wonderfully talented craftspeople for creating such beautiful gifts. The exquisite handmade blankets are available for purchase priced from 34.95. The profits go towards the charity shop in full. Kilkenny Arts Office has carefully considered the gift-wrapping of each stunning woollen blanket, presented in a gorgeous eco-friendly bag, and includes a colourful postcard explaining the meaning behind the Knitted Together 2 project. Knitted Together 2 was a great community-based project, showing tremendous skill and talent by all who were involved in knitting the squares and assembling the beautiful handmade blankets, according to Ann Quinn from Samaritans, Kieran Street. These gifts can adorn a bed, chair, or be used to snuggle under on a sofa! The sale of the blankets contributed enormously to our proceeds and was much appreciated as we had been closed for such a long time. The Arts Office hopes that people will consider these unique, handmade treasures as a present for a loved one or a gorgeous new adornment for their home. The Arts office project has shown the wider public, how people through their skill and talent can support charity shops, said Ray OMeara from Enable Ireland on Kieran Street. Knitted Together 2 has helped us raise much-needed funds, not just from the direct sale of the wonderful, knitted blankets, but also because it brought people into the charity shops who may not have been in one before, he added. It allowed them to see the high standard and great value of clothes, footwear, and homewares that we sell. I recommend that people make their local charity shop their first port of call when shopping for gifts. Start 2022 off on a positive note by booking a luxury hotel break with the Flynn Hotel Collection, including Kilkenny's Newpark Hotel, in their January sale. Not only will it be something to look forward for the New Year ahead but youll be making a savvy saving with a 20% discount on bed and breakfast bookings. Youll also be treated to an additional 22 food credit at the hotel during your stay, with lots of local food to choose from. The sale launched online on December 26and runs until this coming Sunday, January 9. You can choose from the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny set on 40 acres of beautiful parkland, the historic Imperial Hotel in the heart of Cork City, The Park Hotel Dungarvan in the beautiful harbour town, or the 18th century Old Ground Hotel in the heart of Ennis, which is the perfect base to explore Clares best attractions and the stunning west coast of Ireland. If you are looking for New Years resolution inspiration Flynn Hotels have 5 ideas for meaningful resolutions that are easy to keep. Be Kind to yourself Why not use the promise of a fresh year to be kind to yourself or someone who you think needs a boost? A great way to execute this type of resolution is to commit to dedicated me time. Carving out time on your calendar and booking in for self-care and wellness activities like an afternoon tea, spa treatments or downtime with a book in a hotel lobby. Local Good Food Many people will go on health kick that fizzles out as fast as it starts. Instead why not simply resolve to simply eat well and savour the experiences of dinner prepared by the experts. Enjoying good quality local food that is locally sourced and expertly prepared is a goal that you will want to stick to. For exemplary dining experiences in the New Year why not try Lafayettes, Sketch or Thyme at 76 on the Mall Restaurant at the Imperial Hotel, The Poets Corner or Town Hall Bistro at the Old Ground Hotel, Scotts Bar and Brasserie or Gullivers Restaurant at the Newpark Hotel or the Meladon Bar and Bistro at the Dungarvan Park Hotel. Go Green For 2022 why not resolve to be more eco friendly and sustainable in how you shop, stay, eat, drink and travel. All 4 properties in the Flynn Hotel Collection operate to a sustainability charter which includes buying local, supporting smaller business and local farmers; supporting local charities; maintaining a green procurement policy to soften their impact on the environment, and providing sustainable training for their team. The Imperial Hotel in Cork recently achieved an Eco label for their efforts! Make Memories and Share Experiences It is said that the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Put a fresh focus in 2022 on making memories. Whether its spending time with someone special on a romantic couples break to the Old Ground Hotel Ennis or Imperial Hotel Cork or making treasured family memories on a getaway at The Park Hotel Dungarvan or Newpark Hotel Kilkenny. Appreciate What is On Your Doorstep If anything positive is to be taken from the travel restrictions over the last two years it might be the renewed interest in staycations which has reminded people to explore our beautiful country, and appreciate the culture, history, heritage, landscapes, and experiences that are on our doorstep. The Flynn Hotel Collection January Sale ends on Sunday, January 9, 2022. To book see flynnhotels.com or contact your desired hotel directly to make a booking: The Imperial Hotel Cork +353 21 4274040, Old Ground Hotel Ennis +353 65 682 8127 Newpark Hotel Kilkenny +353 56 7760500, The Park Hotel Dungarvan +353 65 682 8127 T&Cs Bookable for 14 days only Selected dates, subject to availability. No date changes once the sale is over T&C's apply Bookable from Sunday 26th December to Sunday 9th January for 14 days Mayo Clinic: About 1 percent of staff released due to not complying with vaccine deadline Israel has logged its first official case of whats being called flurona, a flu-COVID combo that yes, can happen. But the chances of contracting both diseases at once is actually pretty small, an expert in aerosol transmission told the Daily News. Advertisement Theres a certain probability of being exposed to SARS-CoV-2, and a certain probability of getting influenza, said David Edwards, a bioengineer and professor at Harvard University. And the probability of being exposed to both is significantly less. The dual infections occurred in an unvaccinated pregnant Israeli woman whose symptoms were mild, Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva told The Times of Israel. The woman, who was in her 30s, was treated with a drug combination targeting both viruses, said Arnon Wiznitzer, director of the Beilinson Womens Department, in a statement. Advertisement We are seeing more and more morbidity of influenza among the maternity population, along with cases of corona that mainly occur in women not vaccinated against corona and influenza, Wiznitzer said. This is definitely a challenging time that in addition to the corona diseases we are increasingly dealing with flu. Medics organize swab samples at a drive-thru testing site for the coronavirus, in the central Israeli city of Modiin, on January 2, 2022. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images) While simultaneous infections with both viruses were recorded even in the early days of the pandemic in the U.S., flu was not as much of a factor last year because of a record mild season. This year, the flu season is returning with a vengeance back to pre-pandemic levels, even as fewer people get flu shots. [ Flu season heads toward pre-pandemic levels as travel and mask restrictions ease ] Fewer flu shots both in the U.S. and abroad means a potential surge of both. Edwards told The News that even though the probability of a double infection is significantly smaller than the probability of being infected by one or the other, it can happen. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > He added: Its clearly true that anything that reduces your immune defenses makes you more vulnerable to infection, and therefore if you are infected by SARS-CoV-2 or influenza and then are exposed to the other virus, it would increase the chances that the second infection would be more serious by virtue of being infected with one or the other. In Israel, flu has spiked in recent weeks, and officials fear a twindemic of both illnesses crowding hospitals. Not that all patients will have both diseases, but the concern is that a high volume of patients will overwhelm health care systems already stretched to the limit with COVID, as The Atlantic reported in November. The same thing could happen here in the U.S., though double infection may not become common. Both viruses attack the airways, so someone who is unvaccinated and/or immune-compromised could buckle under the double whammy, experts say. Advertisement Children are already known to get infected with more than one virus at a time, though its not known what the combination of flu and COVID could do, Dr. Matthew Harris, pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Northwell Health and the medical director for the vaccine program, told The News. We dont yet know how kids will react with flu and COVID, he said, adding that they were already seeing more flu cases than last year. We have certainly had several hospitalizations and a few to the intensive care unit for a higher number of children with high-risk medical conditions who have been hospitalized with influenza A. He repeated the advice given by medical professionals worldwide: I think this year more than ever getting vaccinated against the flu is even more important. Joan Copeland, the Broadway, film and TV actress and sister of playwright Arthur Miller whose career spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 99. Copeland died peacefully in her sleep at 5:47 a.m. at her home on the Upper West Side, her son Erik Kupchik and his wife Geralen Silberg-Kupchik told the Daily News. Advertisement She lived an amazing life, Silberg-Kupchik said. In addition to her brilliant career, she was a wonderful mother. And were going to miss her very much. Actress Joan Copeland attends the opening of "Picturing Marilyn" at Milk Gallery on Nov. 9, 2011, in New York City. (Gary Gershoff) Copeland, who was Marilyn Monroes sister-in-law for five years, was best known for her work on Broadway, starring in the 1976 revival of Pal Joey and delivering a Drama Desk Award-winning performance in 1980s The American Clock. Advertisement That star turn came in a unique role: She played her own mother, and her brother was the playwright. Arthur didnt write the part for me but its one of the few roles I didnt have to audition for my brother, Copeland told the Southampton Press in 2012. Ive had to audition for several of his plays and he always treated me as an actress, not a sister. Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. > Copeland only starred in one more of Millers plays to make it to Broadway, The Price in 1968. Its been said that blood is thicker than water, but whoever said it was not a writer, she said in 2012. But Copeland was easily talented enough to earn credits for several other productions: Detective Story (1949), Not For Children (1951), Tovarich (1963), Something More! (1964), Coco (1969), Two By Two (1970) and Checking Out (1976) among them. Copeland made her film debut in 1958s The Goddess. She played a small role in the movie, which was based on the life of Monroe, her sister-in-law at the time. Miller and Monroe were married from 1956 to 1961. Copeland moved seamlessly between stage, screen and television. She appeared in two soap operas, Search for Tomorrow and How to Survive a Marriage in the 1960s and 70s while also working on films including Roseland, Its My Turn and A Little Sex into the 1980s. TV viewers probably knew her best for her recurring work on Law & Order as Judge Rebecca Stein. She also had a small voice role in the 2003 Disney animated film Brother Bear. Advertisement Copeland married George Kupchik in 1946, and they remained together until his death in 1989. In addition to Erik and Geralen, Copeland is survived by niece Rebecca Miller and her husband, English actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Periods of rain. High 52F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 41F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Adrienne Adams was elected speaker of the City Council on Wednesday, becoming the first Black woman to ever take on the powerful post after a contentious back-room race that dealt an early blow to Mayor Adams perceived influence over the legislative body. Adams, who represents a section of eastern Queens that includes Jamaica, was picked for the speaker job in an internal vote by the Councils 51 members during their first meeting of the year. Advertisement New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News) In her first floor remarks as speaker, Adams said she was honored by her colleagues trust, but did not linger on the celebratory note. We must realize that we are here because New York is at the crossroads of multiple crises, each one competing for our full attention, she said, listing off the still-raging coronavirus pandemic, gun violence and economic inequality as issues that must be addressed by the Council this term. Advertisement The people who elected us demand our government take action. Theyre exhausted as they stagger into Year 3 of this pandemic. They want to feel safe and they want to be treated with respect and dignity. Adams historic appointment had a preordained air to it, in that speakers race was effectively decided last month when all other candidates dropped out and a majority of members publicly committed support for Adams. But some fireworks still erupted in the Council chamber during the vote. Adrienne Adams was elected the next speaker of the New York City Council on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit) Newly sworn-in socialist Council members Charles Barron of Brooklyn and Kristin Richardson Jordan of Harlem, who were alone in voting against Adams speaker nomination, both suggested their colleague from Queens is too closely aligned with Mayor Adams and not sufficiently progressive on issues like policing. They say they prioritize police and criminal justice reform, but support the racist NYPD with more money, said Barron, adding that he believes the new speaker is cut from the same political cloth as the mayor and Gov. Hochul. With the support from this speaker and the governor, he will turn Black and brown communities into a police state. Richardson Jordan kept her remarks briefer. I vote firmly no. We need more than symbolic representation, she said. Adrienne Adams sworn in as speaker of the NYC Council on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit) The conclusion of the speakers race came after months of political jockeying among members, labor leaders and other powerbrokers including Mayor Adams. Behind closed doors, Adams and his team advocated aggressively for Queens Councilman Francisco Moyas speaker bid. Advertisement But the effort failed as dozens of members took issue with Team Adams meddling in the race and lined up behind Adrienne Adams candidacy instead. The Moya hiccup got Mayor Adams off to a shaky start with the new Council, which has many members who oppose some of his public safety policies, including his vows to resume solitary confinement on Rikers Island and reinstate a controversial plainclothes NYPD anti-crime unit. The pro-Moya push appeared to still be on some members minds Wednesday as they cast their votes for Adams. New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams speaking on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2022. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit) We are emerging from an era of boys club-style backroom deals, bullying and strong-arming, said Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban. It is a joy to say goodbye to that era. Still, Mayor Adams, who attended the same Queens high school as the new speaker, offered his congrats to her after her election. Weve come a long way since Bayside High! he tweeted. Congratulations to my friend and colleague Adrienne Adams on her historic election as City Council Speaker. I look forward to our partnership in delivering for all New Yorkers. Two Easy Ways To Subscribe! The Kodiak Daily Mirror offers full-service, five-day a week subscriptions with home delivery in addition to unlimited access to our online services (including our e-Edition). Online-access-only subscriptions include unlimited access to the Mirror's online services without delivery of the printed newspaper. (Note: New users: You must register and login before purchasing a subscription. Support local journalism Local news, sports and entertainment when you want it. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the best local news, sports and entertainment coverage. COLUMBIA - Adventurous. Happy. Go-lucky. Spunky. Kind-hearted. Motivated. All words used to describe 23-year-old Haven Thomason who died by suicide in early September. Thomason was a cheerleader, bartender at McNally's, and according to her friends and family, a social butterfly. "She's got all these friends and family to support her after she is gone and would have supported her until the end," Thomason's mother Jenny Rebarchek said. Thomanson's father, Earl Rebarchek, said they want to bring awareness to the public so that nobody else loses their child. According to the Missouri Suicide Prevention Network (MSPN), Missouri suicide rates exceed the nation's numbers as a whole and are steadily rising. In 2019, there were 1,130 deaths by suicide in the state, and suicide was the ninth leading cause of death. The state of Missouri has taken action to prevent suicides and made a Missouri Suicide Prevention Plan on behalf of MSPN to show that it is not taboo to ask for help. The vision of this plan is to "have resources and capacity to reduce the risk of suicide, decrease the effects of suicide on communities, and positively impact the health of all." MSPN has an ask, listen, refer training that is offered in Missouri. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. The chairman to MSPN, Lauren Moyer, states that while she hates to give the usual advice of getting help when suicidal or knowing of someone who is, she said the training from MSPN provides the answers to the questions people often have. "I would 100% push [training] out for anyone and everyone to take so that they can just start to learn, like, 'How do I look for these signs?' And then, you know, if somebody does confide in me, 'How do I listen to them respectfully and non judgmentally?' And then after that, 'How do I refer them to actually get assistance and help?'" Moyer explained. The number one step prior to taking this training is acknowledging that you or someone else needs to access the system, Moyer said. Thomason's parents emphasized that no life is worth losing and furthermore emphasize this first step. "Reach out, there are people there, people love you," Jenny Rebarchek said. "You don't have to have a lot of money to reach out and get help," Earl Rebarchek said. MSPN has the goal to be proactive and provide better suicide prevention efforts. One vital part to this is gathering data. "We have to have that data to have people realize how big of a crisis it is right now," MSPN Lead Councilman Mikala Jungmeyer-Geiger said. "If we don't have hard facts to show people are struggling with suicidal ideation, they're not going to think that this is a public health crisis." Other efforts include establishing Missouri as a ZeroSuicide state and embracing a public health approach. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call (800) 273-8255, text "MOSAFE" to 741741, or talk with a counselor. The FCC is in the process of using 988 as a nationwide number to call for the National Suicide Prevention Line. I am currently a senior in the J-school at Mizzou. Coming from the Minneapolis area, I have always had a strong passion for journalism. I am proud to be apart of the best journalism school in the nation! Follow Brandon Antony Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today A former Republican member of the City Council and a real estate attorney with ties to former President Donald Trump are joining Mayor Adams administration in senior capacities, Hizzoner announced Wednesday. Eric Ulrich, who departed the Council last month after 12 years as the representative for Queens 32nd District, is returning to City Hall as a senior adviser to Adams, the mayor said in a press release that included a total of 14 new appointments to his administration. Advertisement Also on the list was Edward Mermelstein, a luxury real estate lawyer who will be Adams commissioner of international affairs. This team has the experience, knowledge and skill to take our government and our city to new heights, Adams said in a statement. Our motto is Get Stuff Done and we are already off to a flying start. Together, we will work day in and day out to make New York City safer, more equitable and more prosperous for all. Advertisement Edward Mermelstein (left) and Eric Ulrich (right) (AP ) Both Ulrich and Mermelstein are Republicans who supported one or both of Trumps presidential campaigns. Ulrich, who used to consider himself a Never Trump Republican, flip-flopped and endorsed the former presidents reelection bid in 2020, citing concerns that the Democratic Party was getting hijacked by socialists. Mermelstein touts a professional history with Trump, having worked with him on real estate matters in New York before he became president. Its unusual for a mayor to cross party lines for prominent hires, and the Trump connection underlying the Ulrich and Mermelstein appointments is especially glaring considering Adams has long been a fierce critic of the twice-impeached former president. But Mermelstein told the Daily News that Adams, himself a former Republican, does not govern in a traditionally partisan manner. There is a new sheriff in town, said Mermelstein, who donated the maximum $2,000 allowed to Adams mayoral campaign last year, according to public records. He gets along with everybody. In addition to Ulrich and Mermelstein, former Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, another Republican, was tapped earlier this week to join Adams City Hall as the chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi. Ulrich could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Advertisement Also among Adams latest appointments was Frank Carone, a prominent lawyer and Brooklyn political powerbroker who will serve as the mayors chief of staff, as previously reported by The News and other outlets. I am honored to join his team and serve the city that I love, Carone said. As chief of staff, I will be focused on ensuring City Hall runs smoothly, keeping our City agencies aligned, and delivering on the mayors vision for the city. Practical steps needed to reduce nuclear threats Five global nuclear powers the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France adopted a joint statement Monday, vowing to avoid nuclear war and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. "We believe strongly that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented. A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," according to the statement adopted by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). They emphasized the avoidance of war between nuclear-armed states and the reduction of strategic risk as their foremost responsibilities. The agreement by the nuclear-armed states is meaningful as it comes amid growing signs of a new Cold War. It is rare for the nuclear-weapons nations to stress their responsibility to avert nuclear war and prevent unauthorized or unintended use of such weapons. Notably, the statement was adopted amid escalating Sino-U.S. tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the brewing conflict between the U.S.-led Western allies and Russia over Ukraine. Russia has been mobilizing armed forces along its border with Ukraine, indicating a possible military intervention and prompting the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations to vow retaliatory measures. The Monday statement is largely expected to help mitigate the tensions in the two regions, though it stopped short of mentioning them by name. It stands in stark contrast to previous ones that only called on non-nuclear states such as Iran and North Korea to abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is encouraging to see the nuclear-armed states embrace their responsibilities via the statement. The agreement can be construed as the first step toward a "nuclear-free world." Currently, there are 13,000 nuclear warheads around the globe, of which 90 percent are possessed by the U.S. and Russia. Despite the rising expectations, the agreement fails to refer to specific measures over how to implement it. The UNSC member countries should provide follow-up measures to abide by their pledges to reduce nuclear weapons. Contrary to the expectation, however, China announced it would continue efforts to modernize its nuclear arsenal, Tuesday only hours after the joint statement was adopted, calling on the U.S. and Russia to curtail their nuclear weapons first. The U.S. has been expressing concerns that China can probably increase its nuclear arsenal to 700 warheads by 2027 and 1,000 by 2030. The U.S. and Russia earlier agreed to reduce the number of their nuclear weapons to 1,550 each, but have failed to make tangible progress so far. We expect the joint statement will have a positive impact on establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula. Yet, it is regrettable that North Korea fired a projectile, presumed to be a ballistic missile, into the East Sea again Wednesday. Pyongyang should end such provocative acts, and come to the dialogue table to discuss key issues such as denuclearization, exchanges and cooperation. No Yes, a light case Yes, two or more light cases One serious case Two or more serious bouts Vote View Results Construction has begun for homes at Eastland Crossing, a new subdivision on S.R. 827, north of Herrington Heights and east of Nolan Meadows. The subdivision is one of multiple residential projects currently in the works for 2022 to help address rising housing needs in the area. A photo from the School Superintendents Association shows the 2020 Superintendents of the Year who were honored Nov. 3. Philip Downs, assistant professor and director of education graduate programs for Trine Universitys Franks School of Education, is in the back row, third from the right. Students from the Career Academy of South Bend pitch their idea to judges during the 2020 Innovation Challenge at Trine University. High school students interested in this years competition must submit projects by Jan. 26. Mayor Adams on Tuesday did not rule out vetoing a bill that would extend voting rights to noncitizen New Yorkers, upsetting fellow Democrats in the City Council who say hed flip-flop on a key campaign promise by torpedoing the legislation. The bill, which would allow roughly 800,000 green card holders and immigrants with certain work visas to vote in local elections, passed the Council on Dec. 9, but Mayor Bill de Blasio never signed it before leaving office, giving Adams final say on the matter. Advertisement Speaking at an unrelated news conference Tuesday afternoon, Adams said hes concerned about an aspect of the bill stipulating that an eligible noncitizen only has to be a city resident for 30 days to gain the right to vote and affirmed he has asked his legal team to weigh his options, including potentially vetoing the measure. Im not open or closed to anything, he said when asked if hes considering a veto, adding that his team will review the issue before he makes a final determination. Advertisement Mayor Adams signs an executive order at a Tuesday press conference at the Pearl River Mart in Manhattan. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office) A Council bill automatically becomes law 30 days after passage unless a mayor vetoes it. Based on that time line, Adams has until Saturday to decide if hes going to veto the noncitizen bill. But some experts say its up for debate how the 30-day rule applies in this context, since Adams took office in the middle of the process. If the mayor fails to give public notice for and hold a public hearing on Council legislation within 20 days of passage he can neither sign nor veto it and it will lapse into law at the end of 30 days. We are beyond the time limit in this bill, tweeted Jon Paul Lupo, de Blasios former director of intergovernmental affairs. Regardless of the procedural question, Council members who voted for the noncitizen voting bill were taken aback by Adams opposition to the bill. Opposing it at this point is sort of a fringe position that I hope none of my fellow Dems would adopt, said Queens City Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, who cast her first-ever Council vote for the noncitizen voting legislation. Theres a nationwide Republican assault on voting rights, and that assault hinges on xenophobic, racist fearmongering about immigrants and this bill represents an opportunity to counteract that. Another head-scratcher for some Council insiders is that Adams has long been a supporter of noncitizen voting in general and the bill that passed the Council last year in particular. In February 2021, he became one of the first candidates in the mayoral primary to announce his support for the bill which at that point already had the 30-day residency rule baked into it. At the time, he called it a moral and democratic responsibility to pass the bill, which was written by former Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, a loyal Adams supporter who has since been appointed his transportation commissioner. Rodriguez did not return a request for comment on Adams veto tease. Advertisement But ex-Brooklyn Councilman Carlos Menchaca, who was among the top sponsors of the bill alongside Rodriguez, said the measures 30-day residency requirement is based on state law about voting eligibility for citizens. If anyone wants to change that, go to the state to have that debate, he said. Otherwise we would have a multitier system to access democracy? Really? That doesnt sound fair or equal. Adams openness to a veto could land him on the bad side of the Councils large contingent of incoming left-leaning Democrats. The Council has the power to override a veto if it can muster support to do so from two-thirds of its members. The bill was originally passed by a 33-to-14 margin just one vote shy of the 34 needed for an override. But the margin may be wider if the same bill came up for a vote in this Council, which appears to be more progressive than the last. The political ramifications of a veto are also considerable for Adams, who got off to a shaky start with this Council by having his team support the losing candidate in the chambers speaker race. Advertisement Still, Democratic Brooklyn Councilman Kalman Yeger, who voted against the noncitizen voting bill, urged Adams to veto it. Its not a constitutional bill. It violates the state Constitution, and it violates state election law, Yeger said. I hope he vetoes it. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Overcast. High 58F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. An Auburn woman was pronounced dead Tuesday afternoon after her vehicle left the roadway and struck a residential garage in the 3800 block of C.R. 35, the DeKalb County Sheriffs Department said. Crews inspected the outside of the residence for it structural integrity after the crash. Retired city workers are pleading with Mayor Adams to rescind his predecessors attempt to move them onto a new Medicare plan amid revelations that the switch-over could financially burden not only them but also spouses of first responders who died in the line of duty. As first reported by the Daily News on Sunday, the Medicare shakeup, initiated by Mayor de Blasios administration last fall, is resulting in elderly widows and widowers of first responders being told by the city that theyll have to pay the same monthly $191 penalty as retirees if they want to stay on their current coverage instead of enrolling in the new plan. Advertisement Thats in spite of a law passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks requiring the city to offer free health insurance for life to line-of-duty spouses. Municipal retirees many of whom were already opposed to the de Blasio administrations so-called Medicare Advantage proposal out of fear it would water down their coverage say the ripple effect on line-of-duty spouses is unconscionable and must be an impetus for Adams to block the plan. Advertisement I need him to understand that the city cant just shove something down peoples throats like this and tell them that they have to pay if they dont fall in line, said Shawnee Powell-Phillips, a retired NYPD detective who suffered a line-of-duty injury and wants to stay on her current coverage because she fears the Medicare Advantage plan will restrict access to certain medical procedures. I trust my plan and I dont want to change it. If this plan is so great, why is it that youre forcing us onto it? Health insurance form (Shutterstock/Shutterstock) More than 100 other city retirees from a variety of agencies have sent emails to Adams office making similar points as Powell-Phillips in recent days, according to correspondences shared with The News by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees. I believe that you are a man of integrity and character and Im asking you to do the right thing and please stop this travesty from happening to the retirees and let us live out the rest of our lives in peace, Joanne MacDonald, a retired city nurse, wrote in one such email to Adams. Marianne Pizzitola, president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, said they are bombarding Adams with messages because theyre concerned about his silence. They see hes not listening. Thats why people are getting frustrated. He has the power to end this, modify it, fix it, but hes not giving us his time of day, said Pizzitola, a retired FDNY emergency medical technician who has asked Adams to meet with her about the issue for months to no avail. Adams, a retired NYPD captain who is himself relying on municipal health benefits, has not said how he plans to deal with the convoluted Medicare Advantage rollover, though he told reporters last year that he wanted to make sure the new plan isnt a bait and switch. As mayor, he has the power to modify or even outright scrap the de Blasio administrations plan. Stefan Ringel, a spokesman for Adams, only said City Hall is actively reviewing the issue when asked late Monday about the repercussions for line-of-duty spouses. New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News) Last year, the de Blasio administration presented the Medicare Advantage plan as a boon for city taxpayers in that it would save them $500 million per year due a larger chunk of federal funding without tinkering with health coverage for the citys roughly 250,000 Medicare-eligible retirees. Advertisement But the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees filed a lawsuit charging that the new plan would mess with their health coverage by, among other things, instituting pre-authorization processes for dozens of medical procedures. The lawsuit prompted a Manhattan court to push back an opt-out deadline for the Medicare Advantage plan until April after de Blasios administration at first wanted it set for this past November. That means Adams has until April to decide what to do about the plan, but Steve Cohen, an attorney for the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, urged the mayor to pull the plug on it sooner rather than later. We humbly request that you terminate it now, Cohen wrote in a Monday letter to Adams. You will be hailed as a hero by hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled former first responders, public service retirees, and their widows and dependents. Weather Alert THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. The Missing Endangered Person Advisory for Mario Locatelli has been canceled. Mario has been located and is safe. Ravalli County Sheriff's Office thanks everyone for their assistance. HELENA, Mont. - Gov. Greg Gianforte held a press briefing Tuesday marking one year in office as Montana's governor. During the press briefing, Gianforte said his administration's main focus is and has been building back Montana's economy, changing the way Helena does business and protecting Montana's way of life. Gianforte mentioned his and the state legislature's combined effort that passed the tax cut and tax reform bills, Senate Bills 159 and 399, to get the economy going and create more well-paying jobs. He said the tax bills are meant to benefit working Montanans and small Montana business. COVID-19 remains a concern, though were not in the same place today as we were a year ago," Gianforte says. "We have tools at our disposal including vaccines and treatments to prevent severe health outcomes and treat Montanans who become infected. And because of the tools available to Montanans and our success with putting them to use, I firmly believe the state does not need to have or exercise emergency powers. Gianforte said Montana has more resources to combat COVID than it did a year ago, which include expanded vaccines and new treatments. Although Montana currently has some of the fewest active cases reported compared to other states, Gianforte said cases are expected to rise with the Omicron variant. The governor stressed vaccines are proven to work and help keep hospitalization rates and severe outcomes down. While he said he encourages Montanans to get vaccinated, he also stressed Montana will not mandate vaccine requirements saying they are left up to the personal choice of each individual. In effort to help build the economy and increase Montana's competition, Gianforte mentioned his administration's launching of the Come Home Montana campaign incentivizing young working Montanans who moved out-of-state to come back. In changing the way Helena does business, Gianforte explained it is about prioritizing customer service. He said that is done by state agencies listening to and working with stakeholders. Gianforte added his administration is committed thoroughly reviewing every state agency's regulations to remove all that are unnecessary and burdensome. In protecting Montana's way of life, Gianforte touched on cracking down on drug dealers and providing help to Montanans struggling with addiction. He also mentioned the changes to Montana's voting laws, Senate Bill 169 (requiring voter ID) and House Bill 176 (a deadline for voter registration). Gianforte also mentioned the passing of two measures restricting abortion. He closed the press briefing repeating what he said at his swearing into office last year. "We have an opportunity to help Montana realize our full potential. We must cease this opportunity and act. To do so will require leadership. But no one leader can do this alone. It will require all of us to work together, and we did." Administration lawyers defending a new workplace vaccination requirement highlight the human toll of the deadly virus, a collapsing health care system and the "grave danger" of Covid-19 transmission among workers, and pictured, the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 2, 2021. President Biden plans to denounce former President Trumps singular responsibility for the attack on the Capitol in a speech marking the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection. With a divided nation marking the anniversary, Biden will pull no punches in piling the blame squarely on Trump for inciting thousands of his loyal supporters to storm the Capitol in an effort to overturn his election defeat. Advertisement President Biden will lay out what happened at the Capitol and speak to the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage we saw, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. He will forcefully push back against the campaign of lies designed to mislead the American people. President Joe Biden (Andrew Harnik/AP) The president will also slam Trump, who says he will probably run for president again in 2024, for trying to evade his own responsibility for the attack. Advertisement Psaki would not say whether Biden will call out Trump by name or refer to him as a predecessor or some other euphemism. I think people will know who he is referring to, Psaki said. Bidens speech will likely carry more weight because Trump is apparently foregoing the chance to directly counter his narrative. The former president had planned a press conference of his own to mark the anniversary. But he scrapped it Tuesday amid reported warnings from allies that it could do more harm than good to his political standing. With Trump silent, two of his strongest supporters in Congress, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), will hold what they call a Republican response on the anniversary. Then-President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as the next U.S. President in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP) Biden has mostly steered clear of open criticism of Trump during his first year in office as he tries to focus on his main mission of keeping a lid on the COVID-19 pandemic and getting the crippled economy back on track. He sees the anniversary, which will include speeches and commemorations by lawmakers, as a chance to help record for historys sake what really happened on Jan. 6 after a remarkably successful yearlong misinformation blitz by Trump and his MAGA loyalists. After some Republicans briefly broke ranks with Trump in the hours and first days after the attack, the GOP has mostly moved in lockstep to echo Trumps efforts to downplay the riot and even defend the attack as a legitimate protest over the false claims that the election was stolen from him. The Congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has asked Fox News host Sean Hannity to testify about frantic text messages he sent to the Trump White House before and during the riot. The panels chair also revealed he wants to hear from Vice President Mike Pence, although no official request for his testimony has been made. Advertisement Hannity sent dozens of texts to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, including one on Jan. 5 saying he was very worried about the impending riot, the committee revealed late Tuesday. Fox News host Sean Hannity speaks during a taping of his show, "Hannity," in Manhattan, New York. (Frank Franklin II/AP) In another newly released text, Hannity pleaded with Meadows to get Trump to end the violent attack in real-time on Jan. 6. Advertisement The committee asked Hannity to voluntarily appear to explain his messages, which it said suggest that he had inside information about the planning and also Trumps intentions before and during the attack. Hannitys lawyer said he would respond when appropriate and the host did not mention the committees request during his Tuesday evening show on Fox. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committees chair, also said late Tuesday the panel hopes to eventually hear from Pence. I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee, Thompson told CNN. Thompson said the threats by rioters to capture and assassinate Pence is a key part of the committees probe, along with what Trump did or didnt do to protect the veep. Rioters on the West Front at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (John Minchillo/AP) His life was at risk. There were people who had gallows erected on the lawn of the Capitol ostensibly to hang the vice president. Thompson said. This was the No. 2 person in government. Pence has not responded to calls for his testimony, although some of his aides have cooperated with the probe. Despite the fact that he was personally targeted for death by the attackers and Trump tweeted a political attack on him during the riot, Pence has sought to downplay the significance of Jan. 6 as he considers a White House run in 2024. Advertisement The committee says it wants to talk to as many Trump loyalists as possible as part of its goal to uncover who was behind the attack and what the former presidents role was in the planning and execution of the attack. Meadows handed the panel a trove of documents, reportedly after Trump erupted in anger at him. The damaging documents reveal that many loyalists sought to get Trump to denounce the attack as it unfolded, messages that suggest they knew it was Trump who incited the attackers and only he had the power to stop them. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 100 After violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol today, a tactical team with ATF gathers in the Rotunda to provide security for the continuation of the joint session of the House and Senate to count the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Instead, Trump watched the attack on television at the White House for more than three hours as thousands of extremist supporters marauded through the Capitol. After the riot, Hannity and others were deeply concerned about the negative impact the attack had on Trumps legacy and sought to convince him to end the Big Lie effort to overturn the election. Hannity texted Meadows and pro-Trump Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Jan. 10 saying he advised Trump to never talk about the election again, but his advice fell on deaf ears. Advertisement Trump confirmed that conversation in a statement to CNN, and claimed that his year-long effort to rally his supporters behind the Big Lie has largely been successful. I disagree with Sean on that statement and the facts are proving me right, he said. Officials from Lake Geneva Schools have modified their Health Plan and COVID protocols, which went into effect Monday, Jan. 3. Students and staff who test positive for COVID are asked to provide proof of the positive test including photo of the test with name, date or medical documentation. Students and staff who test positive are to isolate themselves for five days, then if symptom-free or improved symptoms and fever-free for 24 hours, then they can return to school on the sixth day, wearing a mask on days six through 10. For more information students and parents are asked to refer to the district's When can my student return after illness? document. If a student or a staff member is vaccinated or previously had COVID within the past 90 days and exposed to a positive case: do not need to quarantine as long as they remain symptom-free will be able to remain in school as long as they remain symptom-free will be put on a watch list, if any symptoms develop, and they will have to remain home and meet their medical provider. If a student or staff member is not fully vaccinated and exposed to a positive case in the school environment (low-risk): They will be able to remain in school as long as they remain symptom-free Testing will be available to them based on the availability of testing supplies They will be put on a watch list, if any symptoms develop, they will have to remain home and meet with their medical provider. If a student or staff member is not fully vaccinated and is exposed within their household (high-risk): They will need to quarantine for five days from the last day of close contact with the positive case in the home. They will be asked to wear a mask for five days following the quarantine, days six through 10. Students and staff who provide proof of vaccination do not need to quarantine even in high-risk close contact case, unless they begin to experience symptoms and then they are asked to become tested. The district encourages staff, students and families to get vaccinated, but students and staff are not required to receive a vaccination in order to be in school. Proof of vaccination will be required upon request. Anyone waiting for the results of a pending COVID test should stay home until the receive their results. If a parent or household member has symptoms and a pending COVID test, all unvaccinated students and staff should also stay home until COVID test results are available, then they should report the results to the school office. Lake Geneva schools offer a free, voluntary COVID-19 testing program for students and staff of the Lake Geneva-Genoa City Union High School District and the Lake Geneva Joint No.1 School District. Students and staff are asked to not come to school when you they are sick and to report any COVID positive cases. Students and staff are asked to visit the district website, www.lakegenevaschools.com, to view the 2021-2022 COVID-19 Resource Center and the 2021-2022 Health Plan for the latest information. Officers from the Walworth County Sheriff's Office, City of Lake Geneva, City of Elkhorn and City of Delavan will be on hand Jan. 19 to talk to the community about public safety issues. Some of the topics that will be discussed include relationship building, what is occurring in local communities, community resources and strategies for staying safe. The forum is hosted by the Elkhorn Area School District Resiliency Coalition. It will be held at 6 p.m., Jan. 19, at the Matheson Memorial Library, 101 N. Wisconsin St., to give residents an opportunity to discuss issues with local law enforcement officers. Virtual attendance is available by registering at tinyurl.com/easd-in-conversation. For more information, call 262-723-3160 ext. 1140. The Geneva Lake Conservancy has announced that through its 2021 Heritage Oak contest it has identified two oak trees in Walworth County that are older than the 350-year-old bur oak in the Kettle Moraine State Parks Southern Unit that won the 2021 contest. This is the first time that two oak trees have received awards in the Oldest Oak category. Both trees are estimated to be 370 years-old, Geneva Lake Conservancy announced in a press release on Tuesday, Jan. 4 The first tree is located in the yard of Marina and Jerry Konz in Williams Bay. The white oak can be viewed off Laurel Street just down from Bells Store. The second tree is a bur oak and is located on private property owned by Wendy Moon and Steve Clardy in Delavan. It is extraordinary to think that these trees began growing in 1651 when the Potawatomi tribe lived in this area, and more than 175 years before settlers came to what is now Walworth County, said Kiera Theys, Land Protection Manager. The tree in Delavan is rumored to be one that soldiers sought shade under as they traveled to fight in the Civil War. The Williams Bay tree is located between two driveways and has survived both development of the road and construction of nearby houses. The old oak trees of Walworth County are one of the most distinguishing features of our landscape and deserve to be protected, Theys said. While oak trees are valued for their beauty and their importance as habitat for 500 species, we only have recently begun to appreciate that they are the tree that sequesters the most carbon from the environment, helping to slow climate change. Both Wendy Moon and Steve Clardy, and Marina and Jerry Konz were presented their awards at the Geneva Lake Conservancys annual meeting in December. Kathy Leith of the Town of Linn Parks Committee accepted the award for the Most Beautiful Oak tree located in Linn Nature Park. Bill and Laurie Buss received the best story award on behalf of the Harvard Club. They submitted a photo of a white oak tree that has formed the setting for many gatherings of the Clubs members and guests over the last 100 years. The tree also survived the disastrous November 1963 fire that burned seven cottages to the ground. The age of the winning oak trees was determined using a comparison of two growth factor equations used by organizations, including the Morton Arboretum. Tree growth can vary due to conditions such as weather and canopy cover. The only way to determine the exact age of a tree is to take a core sample that can expose the tree to disease and pests or to cut it down and count its rings, so the ages are only estimates, according to Theys. The Geneva Lake Conservancys Heritage Oak Contest seeks to educate the public about the importance of oak trees to the ecological healthy and scenic beauty of Walworth County. In the three years since the contest began, the Conservancy has identified ten Heritage Oak trees in Walworth County, and each is marked with a plaque. For further information about a tour to see these Heritage Oak trees or how to enter an oak tree in the 2022 contest, email outreach@genevalakeconservancy.org, The Geneva Lake Conservancy is an accredited land trust that has protected almost 3,000 acres of open land in Walworth County. Formed in 1977, it offers five public nature preserves for hiking and other recreational activities as well as other programs and educational activities for children and adults, including its Conservation@Home program. For more information, go to genevalakeconservancy.org. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The GOP-controlled Legislature would have final say over how the governor spends federal funds allocated to Wisconsin under a constitutional amendment proposed this week by Senate Republicans. Another proposed resolution would require Wisconsin to adopt Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, for the states biennial budgeting process, rather than use current cash accounting practices. As constitutional amendments, the measures would need to pass the Senate and Assembly in two successive sessions before being decided by voters in a general election. The governor cannot veto a constitutional amendment. Currently, the governor has sole discretion over how federal funds are spent. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers office did not respond to a request for comment. There has been a growing push among legislative Republicans seeking more control over how the executive office doles out federal funds primarily in recent years as the federal government pumped billions in stimulus dollars into the state to help address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is not meant to pick on Gov. Evers at all. Obviously (former Republican Gov. Scott Walker) and previous governors also had federal funds and they also didnt include consultation with the Legislature and we dont know who the governor is going to be in 2022 and beyond, said Sen. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, who has co-authored the resolutions. So this is not a personal attack on Gov. Evers ... its just good governance reform. The Legislature passed statutes in the 1930s to hand over control of federal funds to the governors office as federal dollars flowed into the state near the end of the Great Depression, according to a report provided to Kooyenga last month from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau. The proposal would prohibit any executive branch official or department from allocating any federal dollars without first securing approval from a legislative committee, which Kooyenga said would likely be the GOP-led budget committee. It doesnt slap down the governor, it slaps down the Legislature, Kooyenga said. It says, All right, Legislature, you need to do your job and you need to be involved in the process alongside the governor to help direct where this federal money should go. Evers vetoed legislation last February that would have provided the Legislatures budget committee veto power over the use of federal COVID-19 funds. Two months later, the governor vetoed a similar measure that would have given the Legislature control over how federal coronavirus stimulus dollars are spent. Its been unfortunate through this entire pandemic that the federal government has given so much spending power to one person in the state of Wisconsin and not those of us who are closest to our districts to try to find solutions on how to spend that money, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said Wednesday. Republicans have also introduced a number of failed bills seeking to direct the use of federal funds to matters ranging from broadband expansion to mental health programs in schools, while Evers has laid out his own plan for allocating those dollars. A new package proposed Tuesday, which also is likely to be vetoed by Evers, would allocate about $25 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. Wisconsin received close to $2.5 billion in federal relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act. All told, the state has been allocated more than $4.5 billion in federal coronavirus stimulus funds. Of those funds, more than $2 billion has been spent on state emergency response efforts, public health measures and economic support programs, according to a breakdown provided by the governors office in August. GAAP accounting The Wisconsin Constitution requires state government to balance its budget. But it only must do so under so-called cash accounting practices a less-expansive view of the state budget that doesnt fully account for future expenses to which the state has committed. The state started to also use the GAAP system in the 1989-90 period. It takes into account commitments made in one budgeting cycle that wont be paid until a following cycle. The difference is how expenditures are accounted for in the two approaches. Using GAAP, commitments are incurred when they are made, while cash accounting does not identify those as expenditures until they are actually paid. Kooyenga said the proposed constitutional amendment would require GAAP practices to be cemented into the constitution. Requiring the use of GAAP accounting to balance the state budget is an idea that has been toyed with in the past, with Walker vowing to shift to the practice before taking office in 2011. While that never came to fruition, Evers, who is running for a second term this fall, said the idea of using GAAP accounting was something to work towards before taking office in early 2019. Kooyenga, along with Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, an accountant who has co-authored the latest proposal, broached a similar constitutional amendment back in 2012 that cleared the Assembly, but failed to advance in the Senate. It essentially takes the accounting tricks off the table and it requires you to use honest accounting, Kooyenga said of the latest proposal. Officials have said the states budget surplus would ease the transition from cash accounting to the formal use of GAAP. I think the only reason we can have this discussion right now is since we have made such great strides in Wisconsin over the last decade in responsible budgeting and not pushing off current obligations to make them future obligations, LeMahieu said. Kooyenga said if both proposals pass the Assembly and Senate in two sessions, they could come before voters by the 2024 presidential election. The humble pencil has quite a history that is far from humble. Today, there are hundreds of pencil collectors around the world. Phil Gruber is the news editor at Lancaster Farming. He can be reached at 717-721-4427 or pgruber@lancasterfarming.com. Follow him @PhilLancFarming on Twitter. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to vigorously pursue the investigation into the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, a potential warning to former President Trump that he could eventually wind up in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors. Even as he ticked off facts and figures about the probe, the nations top law enforcement official sought to reassure Americans that prosecutors are nowhere near done. Advertisement The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last, Garland said on Wednesday. The justice department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. Attorney General Merrick Garland (Carolyn Kaster/AP) The bespectacled Garland explained that federal prosecutors are required to act in a painstakingly cautious manner. Advertisement In the Jan. 6 probe, that means charging most clear-cut crimes first and working their way up the food chain to those who may have planned, funded or incited the attack that aimed to block Congress from certifying President Bidens election. We follow the physical evidence, we follow the digital evidence, we follow the money. But most importantly, we follow the fact, Garland said. Not an agenda, not an assumption, the facts tell us where to go. Garland, who did not mention Trump or anybody else by name, has recently faced criticism from some Democrats about what they call the slow pace of the probe and the apparent lack of will to target Trump himself or other leaders of the attack. Leaders of the Congressional panel investigating the attack have said they may refer Trump or others to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution. But Garland would have the final word about any decision to seek charges. He acknowledged questions from an impatient public for more information. Our answer is ... as long as it takes and whatever it takes, Garland said. The former senior appeals court judge, who was famously denied a seat on the Supreme Court by Republicans, also surprised some by linking the need to prosecute violent domestic extremists with the push for new voting rights protections. Noting that the goal of the Jan. 6 attack was to block the counting of the electoral college votes, Garland said the nation needs new protections to ensure that all Americans, especially minority groups, have access to the ballot box and that their votes will be fairly counted. Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], January 5 (ANI/PNN): Hundreds of students from Gujarat's oldest university, the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) in Vadodara, have pledged to participate as "environmental fighters" in Surat's Greenman, Viral Desai's "Satyagraha against pollution" movement to protect the environment and address the state's climate change problem. Viral Desai, a textile businessman, and environmentalist was invited as the chief guest at the MSU Department of Geography's 'Bhoomi Fest.' Thousands of students from MSU's numerous departments participated in several exciting inter-university competitions. Also Read | World Day Of War Orphans 2022: Date, History, Significance And Facts About Children Orphaned in Wars and Other Conflicts. Desai addressed a large crowd of students at the MSU in Vadodara, urging them to join his 'Satyagraha against pollution' campaign and become 'environmental fighters.' His clarion call was favourably welcomed by the students, with hundreds of them stepping forward to join the effort. "The pupils were given in-depth information on how they may contribute their part to environmental conservation as individuals," Desai said. "I am optimistic that MS University students will carry the torch for my campaign and take concrete actions to protect the environment." Also Read | IPL 2022: Lucknow IPL Franchise Asks Fans to Select Name for the Team, Netizens Respond!. Head of the Department of Geography, MSU, Dr. Bindu Bhatt, ensured that the students of MSU will become the environmental fighters to protect the environment and work diligently towards the climate change issue. The students of MSU were made to take an oath for environmental protection and were made 'environmental fighters' and that trees were planted to commemorate the occasion. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Chandigarh, January 5: BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh on Wednesday blasted the Congress-led Government in Punjab for a major security lapse ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ferozepur and said that both Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the state's Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu are acting on the instructions of Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). Chugh squarely blamed Channi and Sidhu for joining hands with subversive and anti-national forces to foil the democratic right of the Prime Minister and the BJP to address public meetings. Chugh further held Channi and Sidhu responsible for causing security threats to the Prime Minister. Also Read | COVID-19 Surge in India: Over 6.3 Times Increase in Coronavirus Cases in Past 8 Days, Says Health Ministry. "Channi and Sidhu are dancing to the tunes of Pakistan ISI. Time has come for Punjab to wake up to nefarious designs of the two," said Chugh. He further said, "It is a matter of shame for the State government for not allowing the Prime Minister to address the public meeting." Also Read | Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's 21 Staff Members Test COVID-19 Positive. "It was the responsibility of the Congress Government to ensure law and order for the PM's visit but entire Punjab is hanging its head in shame today," he added. He further said that the Prime Minister had been always thinking of the welfare of farmers and it was with due respect to them that he decided to repeal the agriculture laws. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur was called off citing "major security lapse". The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. The MHA has taken cognizance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM," said the statement by the MHA. "The PM's schedule and travel plan were communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed," further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse. "The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognizance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action," the statement said. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also announced from the stage at Ferozepur that PM Modi canceled his scheduled visit to Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) The Union health ministry on Wednesday said home isolation of COVID-19 patients will end after at least seven days from testing positive and no fever for three successive days, in revised guidelines for home isolation of mild or asymptomatic cases. Also, there is no need for re-testing after the home isolation period is over. Also Read | Mumbai: 123 Passengers on Cordelia Cruise Ship Test Positive for COVID-19 So Far, Says BMC. Earlier, the duration of home isolation ended after 10 days of onset of symptoms. It also advised people not to rush for self-medication, blood investigation or radiological imaging like chest X-ray or CT scan without consultation of treating medical officer. Also Read | Neil Nongkynrih Dies at 52: PM Narendra Modi Condoles Death of Shillong Chamber Choir Founder and Music Composer. Underlining that steroids are not indicated in mild disease and should not be self-administered, the ministry said overuse and inappropriate use of steroids may lead to additional complications. Treatment for every patient needs to be monitored individually as per the specific condition of the patient concerned and hence generic sharing of prescriptions should be avoided, the revised guidelines stated. According to the guidelines, patients under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least seven days from testing positive and no fever for three successive days, but they shall continue wearing masks. Asymptomatic contacts of infected individuals need not undergo Covid test and monitor health in home quarantine, the guidelines stated. "Information floating through social media mentioning non-authentic and non-evidence-based treatment protocols can harm patients. Misinformation, leading to the creation of panic and in turn undertaking tests and treatment that are not required, has to be avoided. "Do not rush for self-medication, blood investigation or radiological imaging like chest X ray or chest CT scan without consultation of your treating medical officer," the guidelines read. The revised guidelines also specified that the district administration under the overall supervision of the State Health Authority shall be responsible for monitoring patients under home isolation. Listing responsibilities of grass root level surveillance teams, the ministry said the teams (ANM, sanitary inspector, MPHW etc) shall be responsible for initial assessment of the patient and whether the requisite facilities are there for home isolation. The health worker should contact the patient daily, preferably in-person or over telephone/ mobile, and obtain the details of temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation, patient's overall wellness and worsening of signs/symptoms. The teams may also provide home isolation kits to the patient/caregiver as per the policy of the state government. The kit may contain masks, hand sanitisers, paracetamol along with a detailed leaflet to educate patients and family members in local language. The surveillance teams shall also undertake patient education on the disease, its symptoms, warning signs, COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and need for vaccination for all eligible members. Listing the responsibilities of district/sub-district control room, the guidelines stated that they will be made operational and their telephone numbers well publicised so that people under home-isolation may contact the control rooms for seamless transfer of patients through ambulance from home to the dedicated hospital. "These Control Rooms shall also make outbound calls to the patients under home isolation to monitor their status and the district administration should monitor all cases under home isolation on a daily basis," the guidelines stated. According to the guidelines, asymptomatic cases are laboratory-confirmed cases who are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 percent. Clinically assigned mild cases are patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 percent. The patient should be clinically assigned as mild/ asymptomatic case by the treating Medical Officer to be eligible for home isolation. Further, a designated control room contact number at the district/sub district level shall be provided to the family to get suitable guidance for undertaking testing, clinical management related guidance, assignment of a hospital bed, if warranted. Such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and for quarantining the family contacts, the guidelines said. Elderly patients aged more than 60 years and those with co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung/liver/ kidney disease and cerebrovascular disease shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer, the guidelines said. Patients suffering from immune-compromised status (HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not recommended for home isolation and shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer, they added. The guidelines said the patient should stay in a well-ventilated room with cross ventilation and windows should be kept open to allow fresh air to come in. A patient should at all times use a triple-layer medical mask and they should discard the mask after eight hours of use or earlier if the mask becomes wet or is visibly soiled. In the event of a caregiver entering the room, both caregiver and patient may preferably consider using N-95 mask and it should be discarded after cutting them to pieces and putting in a paper bag for a minimum of 72 hours, the guidelines said. The patients shall not share personal items including utensils with other people in the household. Self-monitoring of blood oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter for the patient is advised. The patient may self-monitor breathing rate/respiratory rate in sitting position, breathe normally and count the number of breaths taken in 1 full minute, the guideline said. The patient shall self-monitor his/her health with daily temperature monitoring (as given below) and report promptly if any deterioration of symptom is noticed. The status shall be shared with the treating Medical Officer as well as surveillance teams/Control room. The caregiver should wear a triple layer medical mask and N-95 mask may be considered when in the same room with the ill person and maintain hand hygiene among others. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], January 5 (ANI): Eight flights have been cancelled from Srinagar airport after poor visibility was reported due to light snow on Wednesday. "Poor visibility due to light snow prevails at our airport. Following flights have been cancelled till now:- Indigo 137 to Delhi, indigo 6738 to Jammu, Indigo 2015 to Delhi, Indigo 2364 to Delhi, GoFirst 358 to Delhi, GoFirst 193 to Delhi, GoFirst 267 to Delhi and Vistara 611 to Jammu," Srinagar Airport tweeted. Also Read | GMAT Solving Racket With Help of Russian Hackers Busted by Delhi Police, 6 Accused Arrested. "All other flights are also delayed due to poor visibility," Srinagar Airport Director told ANI. Earlier on Tuesday, continuous snowfall and poor visibility resulted in 42 cancellations across all airlines. Also Read | Third COVID-19 Wave Has Hit Delhi, 10,000 Cases Expected to Be Recorded on Wednesday, Says Satyendar Jain. According to India Meteorological Department, Srinagar will continue to witness moderate snow in the coming seven days. The minimum temperature recorded in the district on Wednesday is 0.8 degrees Celsius. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta on Wednesday took charge as the General Officer Commanding of the Leh-based 14 Corps that is tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control with China in the Ladakh region. The 14 Corps, popularly known as the Fire and Fury Corps, is also tasked with keeping a vigil along the border with Pakistan in the Siachen sector. Also Read | Neil Nongkynrih Dies at 52: PM Narendra Modi Condoles Death of Shillong Chamber Choir Founder and Music Composer. Lt Gen Sengupta succeeded Lt Gen PGK Menon who headed the Indian Army delegations at several rounds of military talks with China's People's Liberation Army on the eastern Ladakh standoff. Commissioned into the Punjab Regiment in June 1987, Lt General Sengupta is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Army War College and the National Defence College. Also Read | Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta Takes Command of Fire And Fury Corps From Lt Gen PGK Menon. In a military career spanning almost 34 years, he has had the distinction of serving in key commands and staff positions. Before taking over the reins of the Fire and Fury Corps, he was the director-general of strategic planning. He has been an instructor at the National Defence Academy and Directing Staff at DSSC, Wellington. Lt Gen Sengupta also served as an observer in Congo, brigade major of an infantry brigade, director of force structuring at strategic planning directorate among others. He has commanded an infantry regiment and an infantry brigade and an Infantry Brigade in the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) The postponement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur to address a rally on Wednesday led to a big political fight, with the Congress alleging that there were no crowds at the event organised by the BJP. Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said BJP president J P Nadda should stop indulging in the blame game and the saffron party should instead introspect its "anti-farmer" attitude. Also Read | COVID-19 Surge in India: Over 6.3 Times Increase in Coronavirus Cases in Past 8 Days, Says Health Ministry. His remarks came after BJP chief J P Nadda accused the Congress government in Punjab of trying all possible tricks to scuttle Modi's programmes in the state, fearing a resounding defeat at the hands of the electorate. Modi's Punjab visit was cut short on Wednesday after a "major security lapse" as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters, prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek an immediate report from the state government and strict action against those responsible. Also Read | Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's 21 Staff Members Test COVID-19 Positive. Surjewala defended the Congress government in the state saying all arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies. "Dear Naddaji, Stop losing cool and all sense of propriety. Please remember - 10,000 security personnel were deployed for PM's Rally. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies," he said on Twitter. The senior Congress leader claimed that the route was carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana and Rajasthan, and the prime minister decided to take a road journey to Hussainiwala. "It was not part of his original schedule to travel by road," he said. "Finally, the reason for cancelling the rally is that there were no crowds to listen to Modiji. Stop the blame game and introspect on BJP's anti-farmer attitude. Hold rallies but listen to farmers first!" Surjewala tweeted. He also said that the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting against the prime minister's visit and Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat has held two rounds of negotiation with them. "Do you know why KMSC and Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are - Sack MOS Home, Ajay Misra Teni. Withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi and UP. Compensation for the kin of 700 Farmers who died. Committee on MSP and a quick decision," he said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 5 (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress over the issue of alleged hate speeches delivered in 'dharma sansad' (religious council) in the states ruled by the two parties. "Dharma sansad held Uttarakhand discussed eliminating Muslims. Similarly, dharma sansad held in Raipur also talked about eliminating Muslims. In Uttarakhand, BJP is in power and Congress in Chhattisgarh, but no action is being taken by the two governments against anyone," said Owaisi. Also Read | Rajasthan Shocker: 32-Year-Old Woman Gang-Raped by Two Near LPG Godown in Dausa; Accused Absconding. "People say I give provocative speeches, I do not give provocative speeches, I just provide the proof of being alive. If saving the Constitution falls under inflammatory speech, so we will keep talking like this," he added. Owaisi made the comments on Tuesday while addressing a rally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad. Also Read | Kalicharan Maharaj Arrested: Maharashtra Police Takes Custody of Godman in Hate Speech Case. This comes days after Chhattisgarh Police have arrested Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj for his alleged derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and provocative statements against minorities at 'Dharam Sansad' held in Raipur on December 26. Meanwhile, a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the case of alleged hate speech delivered during 'Dharma Sansad' held in Haridwar. Haridwar police have registered an FIR against Yeti Narasimhanand, Sagar Sindhuraj, Dharm Das, Annapurna and Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi in connection with the case. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) By Siddharth Sharma New Delhi [India], January 5 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a "personal visit" abroad ahead of assembly elections to five states, is likely to return to the country in the second week of January. Also Read | Neil Nongkynrih Dies at 52: PM Narendra Modi Condoles Death of Shillong Chamber Choir Founder and Music Composer. The Wayanad MP has gone abroad when electoral preparations in five poll-bound states are in full swing and Congress has a crucial test not only in terms of its ability to contain the BJP but also for the space as the main challenger to the ruling party at the Centre. Among the poll-bound states, Congress is seen to have better prospects in Punjab and Uttarakhand but the situation has been complicated over series of decisions over the past few weeks. Also Read | Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta Takes Command of Fire And Fury Corps From Lt Gen PGK Menon. Congress is witnessing infighting in both the states and Rahul Gandhi, who takes crucial decisions without a formal senior party position, is being seen as "missing from action". Political parties are holding meetings to decide their candidates for the polls and the Election Commission is also gearing up to declare the dates for elections.Congress sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to return to the coutry in the second week of January after ringing in New Year abroad. They said the party leader is in touch with the important party functionaries.Rahul Gandhi flew abroad in the last week of December. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala had earlier said that Rahul Gandhi is on "a brief personal visit". "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its media friends should not spread rumours unnecessarily," he had added. Rahul Gandhi had also travelled abroad ahead of the winter session of Parliament and is learnt to have returned a day before the commencement of the session.He had taken crucial decision in the party in recent days including appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab Chief Minister and Capt Amarinder Singh resigned while conveying his unhappiness with the party leadership over the way it had handled the organisational affairs in the state. The crucial meetings concerning Punjab and Uttarakhand have been held at Rahul Gandhi's residence. While the party's Punjab unit is uneasy over apparent push by state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu that he be declared chief minsiterial candidate, there are tensions in the Uttarakhand unit as well. In Uttrakhand, a prominent party leader Kishore Upadhyay, who is apparently annoyed with party leader Harish Rawat, went to meet BJP leaders in Dehradun. Sidhu has also, at times, opened front against his own government and ministers on the social media. On Tuesday, a group of Punjab leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjindar Singh Randhawa and Transport Minister Raja Warring met party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal to discuss the matters concering the state unit. Congress was seen to have bright prospects in Punjab to retain power some months back but is now facing a stiff challenge. Not only BJP, opposition leaders have also taken dig at Rahul Gandhi's "frequent trips abroad". Mamata Banerjee, whose party is keen to be emerge as the main challenger to BJP, had said taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and said no one can do politics by staying abroad "half the time". AAP is seeking to emerge as a force in several states where Congress has been traditionally strong. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 5 (ANI): Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday slammed previous governments over the issue of law and order while adding that Uttar Pradesh is now known as the best state in which every form of crime is curbed. "The state which was once prone to riots and used to give protection to criminals is now known as the best state in which every form of crime has been curbed," said Adityanath. Also Read | Cryptocurrency Bill: More Than 36% of Urban Indians Oppose the Upcoming Bill. The Chief Minister made the following comments after attending the convocation parade of female recruits in Lucknow Police. "Before 2017, questions were used to raise on the law and order situation and safety of women in the state. We decided that 20 per cent of police recruits should be women," he said. Also Read | Bharat Biotech Gets Approval to Conduct Phase III Trial of COVID-19 Intranasal Vaccine as Booster Dose. "The state which used to be 'Prashn Pradesh,'(question) today has become an 'Uttar Pradesh' (answer) for the whole country," he added. "We have fast-tracked the Police Recruitment Process. After 1947, today we have passed the maximum budget of the UP Police Force. We have given police forensic institutes to the state. It has been my belief from the beginning that the stronger the police force, the more positive the state will be. Due to the good law and order situation prevailing in the state right now, investments in the state have increased," said Adityanath. Uttar Pradesh is slated to go to the Assembly polls early this year. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) President marks 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the nations President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries on Tuesday, with both leaders vowing to promote bilateral ties. In his message to Zelensky, Xi hailed the sound and steady development of China-Ukraine relations in the past three decades, saying that the two countries have intensified political mutual trust, carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields and strengthened cultural and people-to-people exchanges, which have improved the well-being of the two peoples. He spoke of the mutual support between China and Ukraine in fighting COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, saying that their collaboration has demonstrated the profound friendship between the two peoples. Xi said he is ready to work with Zelensky to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to deliver more results in bilateral ties. In his message to Xi, Zelensky said that the development of Ukraine-China relations has maintained positive momentum, with close exchanges at all levels and fruitful practical cooperation between the two countries. Ukraine is fully confident of the broad prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, he said, and it is willing to continuously deepen the traditional friendship between the two peoples, strengthen cooperation in various areas and push forward the strategic partnership between the two countries. Also on Tuesday, Xi and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon exchanged congratulatory messages on the 30th anniversary of China-Tajikistan ties. Xi said that the two countries' relations have reached their best level in history. They have taken the lead in building a community of development and security in recent years, setting an example of jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind, he said. Both countries have worked together to deepen strategic mutual trust and supported each other on issues related to their own core interests, Xi said, adding that bilateral cooperation in various fields has developed robustly and high-quality cooperation on joint building of the Belt and Road has delivered results. Xi said he is willing to work with Rahmon to move forward the countries' comprehensive strategic partnership to achieve more results and build an even closer China-Tajikistan community with a shared future. Rahmon said in his message to Xi that the two countries have accumulated creative experience in developing a high-level comprehensive strategic partnership. The bilateral ties are a new type of state-to-state relations of high quality as they are based on mutual benefit, good neighborliness, mutual respect and mutual trust, the Tajik president said, adding that his country is satisfied with its relations with China and he is confident that bilateral ties will have a promising future. Thirty years ago, China and five Central Asian countriesKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistanestablished diplomatic ties in January 1992. Speaking at a regular news conference on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hailed the development of relations between China and the Central Asian countries and said China is ready to upgrade ties with them by deepening mutual political trust and expanding all-around mutually beneficial cooperation. An 8-year-old girl was killed and eight other children were injured after a bouncy castle overturned at a Spanish fairground. All nine children were transported to the hospital after wind flipped the inflatable castle, toppling it over on Tuesday evening in Mislata, about three miles west of Valencia, The Guardian reports. Advertisement All of a sudden I saw it rise into the air, a witness told the media. I saw the kids that were in the air, I think they fell onto another inflatable structure. There was a young girl on the floor, unconscious. The Valencia fire department was on the scene of the inflatable incident. (Valencia Fire Dept.) The 8-year-old girl later died of her injuries, while a 4-year-old remains hospitalized Wednesday, city officials told the outlet. Advertisement There are no words of consolation, tweeted Mislata Mayor Carlos Fernandez Bielsa, according to a translation. A very sad day for Mislata. In offering condolences to the young girls family, Bielsa declared a period of official mourning until Friday for the victim and her relatives. Agents of the national police investigate the inflatable attraction where a minor has died, in the fair of Mislata, on January 5, 2022, in Mislata, Valencia, Spain. (Europa Press News/Europa Press via Getty Images) Thus, all the planned municipal events are suspended, including the Three Kings parade this afternoon, read a notice Bielsa tweeted, referring to the remaining Christmas celebrations previously planned for Wednesday. An investigation is underway into the tragedy, including whether the fair company has any responsibility. The incident comes on the heels of a similarly tragic incident in Australia that left six children dead last month. Hillcrest Primary School students were celebrating the end of school in an inflatable castle in Tasmania when winds also lifted that attraction into the air on Dec. 16. Two children were still hospitalized in critical condition days later. Washington [US], January 5 (ANI): Former US President Donald Trump has cancelled the planned news conference on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. In a statement, Trump blamed the House select committee charged with investigating the January 6 riot for the cancellation. He said he would instead touch on many of the themes he had planned to discuss at the news conference during a rally in Arizona set for January 15, reported The Hill. Also Read | US-Based Muslim Civil Liberties Organisation Urges Tesla to Close Showroom in Chinas Xinjiang. "In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am cancelling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona - It will be a big crowd!" he said. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the US Capitol Thursday to mark the anniversary of last year's riot, according to Fox News. Also Read | Omicron Could Become Dominant COVID-19 Strain in Singapore in Two Months, Says Expert. The president and vice president will deliver remarks during their appearance at the Capitol for the anniversary of January 6th. Trump was expected to use the Thursday news conference to reiterate his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud and to criticize the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol as lawmakers met to certify President Biden's electoral win. His remarks were expected to serve as a split-screen to a solemn prayer service in Washington that will mark the worst attack on the US Capitol in centuries, reported The Hill. While Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP and its voters, his planned news conference stirred anxiety among some Republicans who feared that the party and its candidates could be forced to relitigate the 2020 election and the former president's false claim of fraud as the 2022 midterm elections near. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kathmandu, Jan 5 (PTI) Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit next week as part of his four-day visit to India. Prime Minister Modi is hosting the Summit from January 10 to 13 in Gujarat. Also Read | Teodora Genchovska, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Tests COVID-19 Positive. Deuba is set to leave for India on January 9 to attend the global summit, according to sources at the Prime Minister's private secretariat. The prime minister's four-day trip to India has been finalised and preparations for the same are underway, the sources said. Also Read | US Strategic Interest Includes Ukraine's Acceptable Ties With Russia. However, an official announcement regarding details of the visit is yet to be made. This will be Deuba's first official visit to India after assuming power in July. This would be Prime Minister Deuba's second meeting with Modi. Earlier, the two leaders met briefly during the Glasgow Climate Summit in November. Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was conceptualised in 2003. It has now evolved into one of the most reputed global forums for business networking, knowledge sharing and strategic partnerships for inclusive socio-economic development. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Moscow, Jan 5 (AP) A Russian millionaire who U.S. authorities allege participated in a scheme to steal information on computer networks and use it to trade shares of companies, bringing in tens of millions of dollars illegally, was denied bail Wednesday. Vladislav Klyushin, 41, who works for an information technology company with ties to the Russian government, is one of five Russian nationals who played a role in the scheme that netted $82 million from 2018 through 2020, federal authorities said. The others remain at large. Also Read | Teodora Genchovska, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Tests COVID-19 Positive. Klyushin's attorney argued for release with conditions, including $2.5 million bond, with home detention in a one-bedroom unit in Boston's Seaport District, and electronic monitoring. Prosecutors argued in court papers that given his wealth, the seriousness of the charges, and the potential of decades in prison, Klyushin is a high risk to flee. Also Read | US Strategic Interest Includes Ukraine's Acceptable Ties With Russia. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler in Boston agreed, saying as a sophisticated businessman and international traveler, Klyushin presents a substantial risk of flight." Klyushin, who appeared at Wednesday's hearing via video, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to obtain unauthorized access to computers, and to commit wire fraud and securities fraud; aiding and abetting wire fraud; aiding and abetting unauthorized access to computers; and aiding and abetting securities fraud. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London, Jan 5 (PTI) Britain's Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer has tested positive for Covid for a second time and is now isolating, a Labour Party spokesman said on Wednesday. The 59-year-old Labour Party leader will miss the year's first House of Commons showdown with Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) as the UK Parliament returns from its Christmas recess on Wednesday. Also Read | Teodora Genchovska, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Tests COVID-19 Positive. This is the second time Starmer has missed a major Parliament session due to a positive COVID test, having missed out on the Budget session last October. "The Labour Leader has tested positive for coronavirus, a party spokesperson said. Also Read | US Strategic Interest Includes Ukraine's Acceptable Ties With Russia. Starmer is not believed to have any symptoms of the virus and the infection was detected as part of his regular testing routine. It marks his sixth period of isolation due to COVID, having isolated after coming in contact with someone who later tested positive in other instances. Keir's latest positive test comes after the UK reported its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic, with 218,724 announced on Tuesday. It comes a day after he delivered a major party policy speech at an event in Birmingham setting out what he called his new "contract with the British people" and his vision for a future Labour government. After his speech, Starmer went on a tour of a green energy and decarbonisation research site in the Tyseley area of Birmingham. A small group of Birmingham Labour MPs, including British Sikh MP and shadow minister for international development Preet Kaur Gill, were with him during Tuesday's visit and may now have to isolate. The event was seen as Starmer's attempt at capitalising the Labour Party's lead over the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls after recent stories of alleged coronavirus rule-breaking in Downing Street at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Labour's Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, will stand in for Starmer at PMQs, where the focus will be on the government's strategy to cope with the continued Omicron surge in the country. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalised by Covid in spring 2020, spending three nights in intensive care. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Hollywood star Chris Evans is in talks to step into the shoes of legendary actor Gene Kelly in a developing film project. The upcoming movie is produced by John Logan, variety.com has confirmed. According to a source close to the project, the untitled film is based on Evans' original idea in which a 12-year-old boy who works on the MGM Lot in the 1950s finds an imaginary friend in Kelly while working on his newest film. The Gray Man: Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans Paid $20 Million Each for Russo Bros Netflix Film. Kelly is best known today for his performances in films such as 'Cover Girl', 'Anchors Aweigh', for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor; 'On the Town', 'An American in Paris', 'Singin' in the Rain', 'Brigadoon' and 'It's Always Fair Weather'. Though a studio is not yet attached to the project, Evans is set to produce the film alongside Logan, who is also writing the script. Chris Evans Names his Favourite Superhero But Also Reveals Why He Won't Play Him On-Screen. Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman will produce through their company T-Street Productions, as will Mark Kassen. Evans, who is best known for playing Steve Rogers/Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has a stacked 2022 ahead of him. His current projects include the animated film 'Lightyear', in which he voices iconic 'Toy Story' character Buzz Lightyear. He is also starring in 'The Gray Man', the Russo Brothers' latest directorial effort about a former CIA agent-turned-fugitive (Ryan Gosling) who is hunted down by his former colleague (Evans). Ana de Armas, Dhanush, Michael Gandolfini, Rege-Jean Page and Billy Bob Thornton round out the film's cast. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 05, 2022 12:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Prime Minister Narendra Modi, upon returning to the Bhatinda Airport after his cavalcade got stuck on a flyover in Punjab, reportedly told Bhatinda airport officials that they should convey thaks to their Chief Minister that he reached the Bhatinda airport alive. The Bhatinda airport officials told news agency ANI that PM said, "Apne CM ko thanks kehna, ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya." PM Modi was slated to visit National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala. Due to rain and poor visibility, it was decided that he would travel by road instead of helicopter. He was stuck at the flyover for nearly 20 minutes. Tweet By ANI: Officials at Bhatinda Airport tell ANI that PM Modi on his return to Bhatinda airport told officials there,Apne CM ko thanks kehna, ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya. pic.twitter.com/GLBAhBhgL6 ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 PM Modi's Cavalcade Blocked By Protesters: Security breach in PM Narendra Modi's convoy near Punjab's Hussainiwala in Ferozepur district. The PM's convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/xU8Jx3h26n ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.) Brazil has temporarily suspended cruise ship activity along its shores until January 21 amid a surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant. In a statement released on Monday night, the Brazilian government said the decision came after a recommendation from the country's health regulator, which said it took into account the surge of COVID-19 cases on board ships in recent days. The health agency highlighted a sudden jump of cases starting December 26, with almost 800 cases detected on cruise ships in just nine days. It was 25 times the total seen over the previous 55 days, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The health agency noted that it is likely rooted in the spread of the omicron variant. The Brazilian office of the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement that the suspension was a voluntary measure applied by companies as a way of coordinating with the federal government, the health regulator, states, and municipalities. Reuters reported that the Brazilian health agency is monitoring five cruise lines operating on Brazil's coast. READ NEXT: Brazil: Senate Committee Recommends to Criminally Charge Pres. Jair Bolsonaro Over COVID Response Cruise Ship Boarding in Brazil CLIA Brazil said the industry had experienced a series of incidents that directly affected the operation of their ships in the last few weeks, which made the continuity of the cruises unworkable at this time. CLIA added that the operational uncertainty caused huge inconvenience for the guests who were wishing to spend their vacations at sea under strict safety protocols, according to a Cruise Industry News report. No new guests will board cruise ships until January 21, while cruises currently taking place will continue to their final ports as planned. COVID-related cruise protocols currently in place in Brazil include mandatory COVID vaccination for guests and crew, preboarding testing, and reduced guest capacity. Masks are also mandatory for crew and guests. Cruise lines test 10 percent of the onboard population on a frequent basis. An MSC vessel underwent inspection early this week and was discovered to have more than two dozen passengers positive for COVID. Last week, the health regulator interrupted activities on another cruise ship located in Bahia's capital, Salvador. According to ABC News, health authorities found community transmission of COVID, and the ship was directed to Santos in Sao Paulo state. Omicron COVID Variant Spread in Brazil Brazil reported its first Omicron variant case on December 1. Authorities said the travelers were tested on November 25. The Omicron variant case in Brazil then increased to three, with two Brazilian missionaries to South Africa testing positive for the variant at the same airport. Sao Paolo state health officials said the patients had been fully vaccinated against COVID. However, it was not immediately clear when they had received their shots. A World Health Organization (WHO) official cautioned that parts of southern Africa could soon see infections rise with the growing number of Omicron cases in South Africa and Botswana, Associated Press reported. The WHO noted that blanket travel bans would not stop new variant's spread after countries worldwide placed travel restrictions. READ MORE: Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro Says Only God Can Remove Him From Power Amid Rallies, Supreme Court Fight This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Passengers Speak out as Cruise Ships Report New COVID Outbreaks - From Good Morning America The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is seeking information and cooperation from Fox News host Sean Hannity. Reps. Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, the chair and vice-chair of the committee, wrote in a letter to Hannity and asked for his "voluntary cooperation on a specific and narrow range of factual questions," according to Axios. They added that they would not ask for information regarding any of Hannity's broadcasts, political views, or commentary. Counsel to Hannity, Jay Sekulow, told Axios that any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns about freedom of the press. Hannity had a close relationship with former President Donald Trump and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The committee wrote that Hannity had a conversation with Trump in the days after the Capitol attack. Through text messages, he also expressed his concerns to Meadows and MAGA supporter Rep. Jim Jordan about Trump's state of mind and possible actions he may do leading up to President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20 last year, The Daily Beast reported. The select committee wanted Sean Hannity to appear as a "fact witness" in the investigation due to the nature of his text messages. READ NEXT: GOP Rep. Liz Cheney Says Donald Trump Is 'Clearly Unfit for Future Office,' Tells Republicans to Choose Between Trump and Constitution in Light of the Capitol Attack Sean Hannity's Text Messages About Capitol Attack On January 5, Sean Hannity texted Mark Meadows that he was "very worried about the next 48 hours," according to the Independent. He also wrote to Meadows that night saying, "(Mike) Pence pressure," as well as "WH counsel will leave." The committee has asked Hannity on what information he did have at the time to conclude that "White House Counsel would leave." The committee members also wanted to ask Hannity regarding any conversations he had with Meadows "or others about any effort to remove the President under the 25th Amendment." Hannity also sent a message to Meadows and Jordan in the days leading to Joe Biden's inauguration, saying that Donald Trump cannot mention the election again. The Fox News host also asked the two for ideas as he was not sure "what is left to do or say." Hannity also texted Meadows during the Capitol attack, referring to Trump and asking if the former president could make a statement and ask people to leave the Capitol. Sean Hannity has refrained from publicly blaming Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection, The Guardian reported. Last December, the Fox News host addressed the text messages on his show and said the text messages only said what he has said publicly. January 6 Capitol Attack Anniversary As the anniversary of the attack looms near, Donald Trump has canceled a press conference scheduled on January 6 at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The former president has placed the blame on the "Fake News Media," as well as the "total bias and dishonesty," according to another Independent report. The Guardian earlier reported a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for January 6", which showed several recommendations for Trump to pursue to retain the presidency. Meadows turned over a version of the 38-pages long PowerPoint he received in an email. It also included three options for former Vice President Mike Pence to abuse his ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress on January 6. READ MORE: Donald Trump Campaign Paid Over $4.3 Million to Capitol Riot Organizers Before the January 6 Event: Report This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Jan. 6th House Committee Asks Fox's Sean Hannity to Testify; And Trump Cancels Press Conference - From CNBC Television Some Republican senators slammed Department of Homeland and Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to deliver a report related to the thousands of Afghans flown to the U.S. According to New York Post, senators Jim Risch, Rob Portman, Charles Grassley, Richard Shelby, James Inhofe, and Shelley Moore Capito publicly accused the Biden administration of blowing a deadline to submit a report to Congress on the vetting of Afghans brought to the U.S. since August. "The report requested by Congress on the composition and vetting of the more than 78,000 #Afghans evacuated by US forces is more than a month delayed. We need answers, but more than anything, we need @DHSgov to fully cooperate," Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted on Monday. READ NEXT: Pentagon Says No Personnel Will Be Charged Over Afghanistan Drone Attack That Killed 10 Civilians Republicans Remind Alejandro Mayorkas About Afghans Report In a December 21 letter to Alejandro Mayorkas but made public on Monday, the Republican senators reminded the DHS secretary about the "statutorily mandated deadline" he was not able to meet. They said the delay was "unacceptable." "Congress required the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the head of any other applicable Federal agency, to provide a report on the composition and vetting of the more than 78,000 Afghan evacuees by November 30, 2021," the senators noted. They said the information they are requesting from Mayorkas is necessary for Congress to perform its constitutional oversight duties that "include an understanding of the composition of the Afghan evacuee population located in the United States and any potential national security concerns." DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Responds to Republicans According to a letter obtained by The Hill, Alejandro Mayorkas responded to each of the senators on December 28 and expressed agreement with their frustration. Mayorkas told them that he had directed the immediate finalization and submission of the said report to Congress. Other Republican senators also sought information regarding the records and backgrounds of Afghans that the Biden administration has brought to the U.S. after the U.S. pulled its troops out of Afghanistan five months ago. GOP senators Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, and Rick Scott also wrote a letter to Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on December 17 to inquire about information related to the Afghan evacuees. In the joint letter, the three senators requested information about how the agencies are "vetting/screening these individuals." The senators wanted this information to be made available to them by December 30. However, Johnson's office told Breitbart that they have yet to receive a response from the Biden administration as of Monday. A DHS spokesperson told The Hill that around 76,000 Afghan nationals have arrived in the U.S. as of January 4. The spokesperson noted that of this number, 53,000 Afghans have joined communities across the U.S., while around 22,000 remain in one of five U.S. military "safe havens." "All Afghans were vetted prior to arrival and underwent additional screening at the Port of Entry," the spokesperson said, adding that the Afghan evacuees were also required to "receive critical vaccinations as a condition of their humanitarian parole." READ MORE: State Department IG to Launch Series of Reviews on Afghanistan Operations Including Biden Admin's Withdrawal This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: Afghan Evacuees Begin Resettlement in U.S. - From CBS News A female Argentinian judge has been caught on prison camera kissing a convicted cop killer, whom her court had previously sentenced to life imprisonment. According to Daily Mail, Mariel Suarez, a judge in southern Chubut province, was filmed kissing inmate Cristian "Mai" Bustos at the Penitentiary Institute in Trelew on December 29. The video footage leaked online. A week earlier, Suarez had sat on a panel of judges deliberating whether Bustos should be given life in jail for killing police officer Leandro "Tito" Roberts in 2009. Mariel Suarez was the only judge among the three to vote against the life sentence, requesting a lesser penalty be applied instead, despite Bustos being regarded as a "highly dangerous prisoner." Argentinian Judge Investigated for Kissing a Cop Killer On Tuesday, the Superior Court of Chubut confirmed that administrative proceedings had been opened against Mariel Suarez for inadequate behavior and is facing possible sanctions. In a statement, the Superior Court of Chubut said the investigation would seek to determine the circumstances of the meeting between Suarez and the cop killer and how long the meeting lasted. Cristian "Mai" Bustos was handed a life sentence that started last week. Judges Maria Laura Martini and Ximena Miranda Nastovich backed Bustos' life term behind bars. READ NEXT: Argentina Football Coach Shot During Third-Tier Match of Huracan Las Heras and Ferro De General Pico The Cop Killer Case in Argentina Cristian "Mai" Bustos had previously stood trial for the killing of Leandro Roberts that was fatally shot in Corcovado, Chubut, The Sun reported. A brother of Bustos also died in the gunfight as Roberts tried to arrest the convict for an earlier prison break. During the trial, Bustos admitted that he had pulled the trigger for the shot that killed the police officer. He was convicted of homicide and was given a life sentence. Bustos was already wanted for murdering his baby stepson. The nine-month-old infant was beaten to death in a crime that led to a separate murder conviction and a 20-year prison sentence. In the autopsy, it was found that the child's spine was fractured as if it had been split in the middle. In deciding the life sentence, the judges considered the extreme violence that resulted in the child's death. However, the November 2020 sentence was revised, and in June of last year, the life imprisonment was reduced to a sentence of 20 years. Bustos was referred to a local police station from which he ran away shortly after he was arrested. There were claims that a police officer may have helped Bustos to achieve his escape. He was on the run for two years and was believed to have been in Chile until news arrived in March 2009 that he would return to celebrate his mother's birthday at the family home. Meanwhile, Mariel Suarez told Argentinian news website Todo Noticias that there was no kissing during the prison visit, Daily Star reported. She noted that they were only talking and felt that they were being listened to. The judge said there were "secret talks," people walking nearby, and a camera; that's why they talked "close-up." Suarez said she does not have any sentimental relationship with Bustos. She noted that she was writing a book on him and that their relationship is a working relationship. "I believed the version of events he gave at his trial and that's why I voted for a lesser punishment than life imprisonment," the Argentinian judge added. READ MORE: Copa America in Brazil Raises COVID-19 Cases Among Players, Staff, Workers to More Than 50 This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Shocking Moment Female Judge Is Caught SNOGGING Cop Killing Prisoner She Tried to Hand Reduced Sentence - From World News A Brazilian man is facing federal charges after allegedly stealing a dead childs identity to apply for a U.S. passport. According to investigators, Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, stole the identity of William Ericson Ladd in 1998. Ladd, originally from Atlanta, was killed in a car crash in Washington state in August 1979 when he was 4 years old. Guedes allegedly used Ladds name to get a U.S. passport to get a job as a flight attendant with United Airlines. Advertisement United Airlines (Shutterstock/Shutterstock) According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Guedes renewed his passport multiple times with the falsified information, but was flagged by the State Department in December 2020. He was arrested at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston in September 2021 after investigators allegedly witnessed him using the phony identification to go through a flight crew checkpoint. Guedes is charged with making false statements in a passport application, false impersonation of a U.S. citizen, and entry by false pretenses to a secure area of an airport. Advertisement Debra Lynn Hays, Ladds mother, confirmed the boys death to special agents last July, according to the criminal complaint against Guedes. A spokesperson for United told NBC News that Guedes was no longer with the company. President Joe Biden has decided to increase the current order for Pfizer's COVID antiviral pill called Paxlovid. The American leader decided to do this after the medicine showed its efficiency in reducing severe symptoms and hospitalizations. The initial order for Paxlovid were only around 10 million units. But Biden decided to increase it to 20 million medicines, CNN reported. "Production is in full swing. The United States has more pills than any other country in the world and our supply is going to ramp up over the coming months, as more of these pills are manufactured," the president said during remarks at the White House on Tuesday. Joe Biden Doubles Pfizer's Paxlovid Order According to the U.S. News report, Joe Biden said people should be concerned about the rising COVID-19 cases in the United States. READ NEXT: In Rare Occurrence, California Twins Born 15 Minutes Apart but in Different Months and Years However, he noted that residents should not be alarmed since the government is doing its best to ease the problems in school closures and testing shortages, among others. Biden also urged the people to get vaccine shots, saying that there's still a chance to contract the viral disease. However, he noted that becoming seriously ill is unlikely to happen if vaccinated. Right now, the current administration is waiting for the arrival of 20 million Paxlovid pills. But the president said the nation might need more orders in the coming months. The first batch of Pfizer's antiviral pill was already shipped out last December 2021. The government is expecting the next batches to arrive this January. However, this would still depend on the shipment efficiency of Pfizer to deliver its Paxlovid pills. CDC Says 95% of New Infections in U.S. is Omicron Variant CBS News reported that the majority of the new cases in the United States are Omicron infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report saying that around 95 percent of the newly infected cases in the U.S. involve the new variant. As of the moment, various health agencies claim that the new COVID-19 variant is more infectious than the Delta variant. That means that it can rapidly spread than the other virus type. But other experts noted that infectivity of the new Omicron variant is still hard to pin down since medical researchers are still working on sequencing the variant's first outbreaks. Right now, experts suggest that the best thing the public can do is follow the suggestions of the CDC and other trusted agencies. READ MORE: Brazil Suspends Cruise Ship Activity Amid Omicron Variant Surge The parents of Brian Laundrie, the fiance of Gabby Petito and person of interest in her death, are trying to get back the notebook found near his body. The attorney for Laundrie's family, Steven Bertolino, told NewsNation Tuesday that this was part of the formal proceedings to control Laundrie's estate. He also confirmed that the notebook was part of the request. According to WGN9, the said notebook was taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after they found the item during their search at the Carlton Reserve in Florida. Bertolino said the notebook was still in the custody of FBI. After a month-long manhunt for Petito's fiance, the North Port police and FBI agents found Laundrie's remains at a swampy area in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20. The notebook and other items were found close to the skeletal remains. Bertolino said the notebook would be "returned to its owner" once the FBI closes the case. Laundrie's parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, filed a request in Sarasota County last December 8 to gain access to their son's estate as beneficiaries since he did not have a will. The elder Laundries are trying to gain access to the $20,000 in their son's Bank of America account. Records showed that Laundrie's parents submitted their son's death certificate in court together with the details about his bank accounts and property. READ NEXT: Brian Laundrie Manipulated Gabby Petito to Deposit Vlogging Revenue to His Bank Account? Questions Pop up on How He Got the $20K He Left Behind Gabby Petito's Mom Files Claim For Her Belongings at Brian Laundrie's Home As Brian Laundrie's parents asked for control of their son's estate, Gabby Petito's mom, Nichole Schmidt, filed a petition requesting to obtain all of her late daughter's possessions from Laundrie's home in North Port, Florida. Nichole's request comes as part of the elder Laundries' petition to collect access to their son's $20,000 estate following his suicide. Court records showed Petito's mom filed a statement in Sarasota County, Florida on December 28 regarding Laundrie's estate battle. However, it does not state any specific items of Petito's that she wanted to collect. "The basis for the claim is possession or control of personal property of Gabby Petito," Nichole's claim reads. It added that "the amount of the claim is unknown and is both now due and will become due on the release of personal property." The request stated that "the claim is contingent or unliquidated because it is unknown if the decedent's final photos, videos and words are contained in the property." On Tuesday, Bertolino told NewsNation that he and Rick Stafford, Petito's family attorney, were "trying to work this out cordially." Bertolino earlier said that the Laundrie family will not challenge Nichole's claim. He said Petito's belongings at Laundrie's home would be given to Petito's family "without contest." Gabby Petito lived at the Florida home with Brian Laundrie for two years before taking off on their cross-country road trip. Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito's Death Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Brian Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August. Laundrie was named a person of interest by the North Port police after returning home alone on September 1 or 10 days before Petito was reported missing by her family. A Teton County, Wyoming coroner said Petito was strangled to death by a "human being," and the manner of death was homicide. The partial skeletal remains found at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20 were confirmed to belong to Laundrie after a review of dental records. According to the autopsy report, Laundrie died of a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was suicide. Brian Laundrie was never charged in connection with Gabby Petito's murder. But an arrest warrant was issued for him for allegedly using Petito's debit card after her death. READ MORE: Gabby Petito Family to Celebrate First Christmas Without Her, Takes Action to Ensure No One Else Suffer the Same This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: Brian Laundrie's Parents Ask FBI for Notebook Found Near Body - From NewsNation Now House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik on Monday said that anything is "on the table" once Republicans overtake the House, including impeaching President Joe Biden. Stefanik told JustTheNews that "anything is on the table when we are in the majority" after she was asked about the possibility of a GOP-controlled House impeaching Biden in 2023. However, she said she believes that the Republicans should focus on conducting oversight and making sure they pass legislation to secure the border "once and for all." Stefanik noted that the policies imposed during the administration of President Donald Trump "were working," The Daily Wire reported. The GOP lawmaker's remark came after Texas Senator Ted Cruz opened the door to the possibility of impeaching Biden. Cruz cited "multiple grounds to consider" on the matter, foremost the surge of migrants at the southern border. Cruz said that once the Republicans take the house, they will seriously consider launching investigations on the Biden administration. The Texas senator noted that he thinks there is a chance of that, adding that Democrats have already "weaponized impeachment" with Trump before. READ NEXT: 'F--k Joe Biden': NASCAR Fans Join Chanting Expletives Against Pres. Joe Biden President Joe Biden's Impeachment Ted Cruz said that Democrats used the impeachment for partisan purposes to go after Donald Trump because they disagreed with him, Texas Tribune reported. He noted that this is how impeachment meant to work now, adding that he thinks the Democrats crossed the line. Some of the grounds that they would consider for impeachment against Joe Biden was the president's refusal to enforce the border, with Cruz describing it as the strongest grounds right now. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the senator should work with the White House and congressional Democrats on immigration reform rather than making accusations, Washington Post reported. During a regular news briefing, Psaki noted that Cruz should take a more humane approach to the border rather than resorting to name-calling, accusation-calling, and making predictions of the future. Impeachments on Presidents Donald Trump has created history when it comes to impeachment, with the process against him has been conducted twice. In both times, he was saved by the Republican majority senate. The first impeachment was in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. He was accused of soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Trump was again impeached last January on charges of incitement of insurrection, which led a mob of his supporters to violently breach the Capitol after hearing his false claims of a stolen election. The Senate acquitted Trump, and no House Republicans voted for Trump's first impeachment. Ten Democrats joined the Republicans for the second impeachment. Last September, Rep. Bob Gibbs introduced three articles of impeachment against Biden on the grounds of the president's handling of Afghanistan, immigration, and the now-defunct federal eviction moratorium. Gibbs noted that Joe Biden is not capable of being commander-in-chief, adding that it was obvious by the president's actions since he took the presidency in January last year. READ MORE: Republican Lawmakers Led by Rep. Bob Gibbs File Impeachment Articles Against Pres. Joe Biden This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Biden Impeachment? White House Responds to Ted Cruz on the Border Crisis - From LiveNOW from FOX The Irish Second-level Students Union (ISSU) believes that announcing a full reopening of schools, with a two-day notice, is rushing school leaders to put in adequate risk-mitigation measures to ensure a safe return for students. Additionally, the department's announcement has not responded adequately to the shortages of school and teaching staff, and student absenteeism. The ISSU notes the high levels of disruption that schools and students have experienced in the last term, and that any return to in-person learning should be done on a phased approach, whilst prioritising exam year students and students with special educational needs. Courtney Chambers and Ben Campbell are two second level students in the Laois area and are the newly elected ISSU Regional Officers for the Laois Offaly Region. They were elected by second level students in the Laois offaly region, and represent over 14 000 students in the region. I am very disappointed with the decision to reopen schools later in the week, given the current number of covid cases. There is a lack of HEPA filters in schools and mixing hundreds of students in the corridors seems unwise at this moment in time, stated Courtney Chambers The lack of student voice in the making of this decision was unfair to the students of Ireland, and unfair to those who are vulnerable or live with vulnerable people themselves, added Ben Campbell. ISSU Uachtaran Emer Neville, after attending a briefing with the Department, said; Last nights briefing has left students in a position of major uncertainty, and schools will have little time to assess their absences and plan adequately for reopening schools safely. With the high levels of close contacts and COVID-19 infections currently affecting the country, many students will either be unable to return to school or will be welcomed back to school on Thursday by classes without a teacher or substitution. Disruptions will remain a major issue for teaching and learning, which leaves students, particularly those in exam years, at an acute disadvantage. Furthermore, ISSU Education Officer Jack McGinn, who was also in attendance said ; The ISSU has always engaged with the Department of Education positively and were disappointed that students were not consulted, but briefed, on this issue. We note that it is rash to reopen schools as planned and the lack of consultation with all stakeholders on this proposal demonstrates a lack of concern for the voice and safety of students, teachers, caretakers, secretaries and other members of the school community. The ISSU further notes students were not consulted on this announcement. This demonstrates a disregard for how important the voice of students is in this discussion, as an equal stakeholder in education. This approach to finalising the return to school without consultation comes as a surprise, considering a very productive and close relationship between a wider pool of stakeholders with the Department of Education in recent months, in response to the challenges that the pandemic has brought about. The ISSU is continuing to call for an open and solution-oriented discussion with all education stakeholders on how to minimise disruption of teaching and learning. The union is calling for: - A phased return to school, starting from Monday, January 10th, prioritising in-person tuition for exam year students and students with Special Education Needs (SEN). - The urgent sourcing of HEPA filters for all classrooms. - Additional adjustments to be made to the Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle exam papers for 2022. The ISSU is urging all stakeholders in school communities to adhere strictly to public health regulations in order to ensure the safety of schools for all students and staff. The union has noted that whilst Public Health Representatives have said there is no rationale to not re-open schools, the Department of Education have disregarded the disruption that this rushed reopening will cause to students. With high teacher absenteeism and substitution shortages, schools are under-resourced. The current plan that has been proposed allows the possibility of specific class groups in each individual school to be sent home from school if deemed necessary. This causes significant disruption and uncertainty for students, with the possibility of many students not knowing if they are going to be in school the next day. This also raises concerns about whether individual classes could miss out on in-person learning compared to other classes and what position that will leave students completing state examinations. The Irish Second-Level Students Union (ISSU), expresses major concern at the lack of consultation with students on the return to school. The representatives of students were not consulted at a meeting held on the reopening of schools on January 4th, as they believed they would be, instead, a briefing was held to inform the ISSU and other stakeholders of the decision that had already been made. Up to 8,000 teachers are expected to be absent when schools reopen on Thursday, a teaching union has said. John Boyle, General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) said thousands of teaching staff will not be able to attend schools because of Covid-19. The Government confirmed on Tuesday that schools will reopen as planned on Thursday following public health advice. Public health chiefs gave assurances to school management and unions that it was safe to return to the classroom, despite the high case numbers. Statement following meeting between @NormaFoleyTD1 and education stakeholders today https://t.co/gtoM7QzM9r Department of Education (@Education_Ire) January 4, 2022 Mr Boyle said while he was more upbeat than before Christmas following Tuesdays meeting with the Department of Education, there were still serious concerns. There is a big caution around all of this, he told RTE radio. The message that is going to go to schools today is that this is going to be an extremely difficult term up to mid-term. There will be situations where there will be classes at home. Priority will have to be given to children who dont thrive in a remote situation. I am deeply concerned about finding enough teachers to keep the system running, he said. There isnt a hope we will have enough replacement teachers and that is me being honest and frank with you. He said schools would pull out all the stops to keep pupils in classrooms over the coming weeks, but that principals needed the support of public health teams and education officials. He appealed to the Department of Education to re-introduce full contact tracing in primary schools. Mr Boyle said gold standard contact tracing was necessary if we want gold standard education in primary for the next three months. Minister for Education, Norma Foley, said there will be challenges in the coming days and weeks. She ruled out derogation for school staff who were close contacts and fully vaccinated, saying it was not something she is pursuing. ASTI expresses dismay at lack of progress on school safety https://t.co/7AnWUkbUCl ASTI (@astiunion) January 4, 2022 Ms Foley added: I was very clear from the outset that we would take a child-and-student-centred approach in terms of the operation of our schools. I was very pleased that was echoed and supported by the Ombudsman for Children and the Special Rapporteur for children and indeed, by the education sector themselves. We have learned throughout the pandemic that children are best served when the maximum number of children are actually in school receiving the in-teaching and learning. That will not be without challenges in the coming days and, for that reason, there are a range of measures put in place in terms of teacher substitution. She said there is a potential to have 2,500 student teachers be made available. A helpline for principals, that is to operate seven days a week, is going live on Wednesday morning. Were asking for particular emphasis to be placed, if you like almost a hierarchy of priority on, for example, children with additional needs, especially special schools, the younger children who cannot engage with remote teaching and learning and certainly our exam students, she added. The reality is that every day, particularly for the next number of weeks, will bring challenges to school management and leadership. A part from a Russian rocket is plummeting back down to Earth in the next 24 hours, but its landing spot is unknown. The Angara-A5 was launched from Russia on Dec. 27, but, according to CNN, a large part of it is coming back unless it burns up upon re-entry into the Earths atmosphere. Advertisement Its safe to say that in the next 24 hours it will be down but where, nobody can say, because in the window of several hours it will do several revolutions around the globe, Holger Krag, the head of the European Space Agencys Space Debris Office, told the network. This photo taken on Dec. 14, 2020, and distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows, preparation to a test launch of a heavy-class carrier rocket Angara-A5 from the launch pad of site No. 35 of the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation at Plesetsk launch facility in the Arkhangelsk Region of northwestern Russia. (AP) The rocket is expected to carry military payloads as well as be used in commercial satellite launches, according to Tech Times. It was supposed to reach 22,000 miles but failed to leave low-orbit. Advertisement The debris is expected to fall somewhere on Earth on Thursday, most likely in the Pacific Ocean. Officials should be able to update their estimations for landing spots as the rocket part gets closer to landing. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 15,000 pieces of space debris have been documented. While Russia, the U.S., China, France and India are all responsible for the space debris, most of it has been traced back to Russia with an estimated total of around 14,500 pieces. According to one Kildare Senator, schools and parents have not been listened to by Government. It follows after the General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), John Boyle, said that 15 per cent of teaching staff, around seven or eight thousand teachers, will be absent because of Covid-19 when schools resume tomorrow. Labour Senator Mark Wall told The Leinster Leader: "I believe Schools and parents have not been listened to by govt: it should have moved on HEPA filters long before the announcement of funding." "I believe this announcement should have included a fast track delivery to all schools overseen by the Department and not depending on already hard pressed school management to arrange." He continued: "Priority must be given to protecting our entire school communities, but the govt has been slow to do this. "We need to see the urgent roll out of free antigen tests to homes, it is now becoming impossible to purchase them in our shops." The Athy politician added that the Department of Education must provide contact tracing and antigen testing in schools from their re-opening tomorrow: "The public health advice is that we can open our schools. "However, the govt should have already had HEPA filters in place; it should have had antigen testing in place, along with contact tracing, and it should be prioritising our most vulnerable school children for vaccination. "Opening our schools is essential for our children but it must be done in the safest way possible," he concluded. 'Put the blame where it belongs': Senator Wall clearly doubled down on his stance by recently liking a tweet from his party colleague, Aodhan O Riordain TD, which read: "Govt are hoping school re-opening debate will be row between parents & school staff with unions in the middle... DONT FALL FOR IT." "Children need to be at school, and Teachers/SNAs need safe workplace. Both statements are true. (The) Late announcement today exposes govt failures." Govt are hoping school re-opening debate will be row between parents & school staff with unions in the middle. DONT FALL FOR IT. Children need to be at school Teachers/SNAs need safe workplace Both statements are true. Late announcement today exposes Govt failures: 1/3 Aodhan O Riordain (@AodhanORiordain) January 4, 2022 Mr O Riordain added in a follow up tweet: "Put the blame where it belongs." "Minister (for Education, Norma Foley) didnt respond to my request for meeting with all opposition education spokespersons when I wrote to her on Nov 16." The Dublin Bay North TD concluded: "Demand resources for your school Demand support from the Dept & HSE Demand Hybrid Leaving Cert for 2022." In related news, Senator Mark Wall recently called for clarity from the govt on how it plans address the rise of Covid-19 patients in hospitals. A three hour stand off on Carrick-on-Shannon's Main Street was not the best start to the month of July. Business people and residents stood in protest to a planned pedestrianisation of the county town's Main Street by the local authority. The protesters said the erection of bollards and closing off part of the street to traffic was unlawful. Gardai were called to the scene and eventually stood guard as contractors erected the bollards marking off the road to motorists. After negotiations between the parties the pedestrianisation proceeded for a trial run of four weekends. Protesters wore armbands reading RIP Retail during the three hour long protest on Main Street. The protestors and the Council eventually came to a trial agreement to open the street to pedestrians only, all celebrations arranged by the Council to mark the event were cancelled. Pictured from left: Ciaran Reynolds, Enda McHugh, Stephen Keegan, Brendan Kieran, Ray Gannon, Leo Marron, Alan Martin and James Campbell Picture: Gerry Faughnan The county celebrated a tentative link to the Tokyo Olympics with a Mohill born and bred horse, a 13-year-old mare was selected as a the number one on the Japanese Eventing team. In July we returned to indoor dining in pubs and restaurants, but for many businesses in Leitrim they felt ruled out as they made the decision to continue with outdoor dining. Some restaurants and cafes felt they could not turn away loyal customers who were unvaccinated and with many people under 20 still unvaccinated, while other establishments felt it was unfair to ask younger staff members to ask for certs while not vaccinated yet. Due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the community and number of staff absences due to COVID-19 within the hospital, visiting at Sligo University Hospital has been significantly curtailed from today, Wednesday January 5. Visiting will be facilitated on compassionate grounds, on an exceptional basis only. To arrange a visit on compassionate grounds, please contact the ward manager in advance. The nominated support person/visitor must complete a COVID-19 screening checklist and follow the public health guidance, including wearing a FFP2 surgical face mask (when requested) or surgical face mask and performing good hand hygiene regularly. In line with national guidance on visiting, visitors will be asked to produce their EU Digital COVID Certificate or HSE COVID-19 Vaccination Record or other proof of immunity when they arrive. There are separate arrangements in place for access to the maternity department for nominated support partners. Nominated support partners can continue to attend for all scans, induction of labour and all deliveries and emergency presentations. Visiting the maternity ward by nominated support partners is curtailed to two hours per day between 6pm and 8pm. The limited visiting access will remain in place for one week and will be kept under review. AS Covid-19 cases continue to rise at record levels, a local teachers union representative has admitted she cannot see all schools reopening fully, this Thursday, as planned. Laura Quirke, the Irish National Teachers Organisation press officer for Limerick was speaking as the coalition leaders said schools will open after being told that public health advice remains that schools are safe. But Ms Quirke, a teacher at Le Cheile National School in Roxboro, said: Its almost impossible to get a PCR or an antigen test. I do worry we will not have enough staff to have schools open on Thursday. I am concerned to go back. I can see classes being sent home, parents being told, we dont have a teacher for the week, come back next week. This week chemists across Limerick have been inundated with demand for take-home antigen tests. Rory Keating, who runs three pharmacies locally, reported that over Christmas, on average more than 100 people a day contacted his branches in Roxboro, Newcastle West and Shannon seeking the swabs. We tried to predict it. We got what we thought was sufficient supply, but we sold out before New Years. Obviously then suppliers only re-opened today, so we only got stock back in then, the businessman told the Limerick Leader this Tuesday. Our three stores were inundated with calls, he added. We opened on Christmas Day in Newcastle West for two hours, and people came in for prescriptions. But if it wasnt prescriptions, it was for antigen tests. Demand was huge. Mr Keating also warned there is a difficulty striking a balance between delivering the booster vaccine as his pharmacies are doing and carrying out antigen tests. Meanwhile, school staffing levels, Ms Quirke pointed out, were at crisis point prior to Christmas. Its become impossible to get cover at the last minute. Its difficult to get qualified substitute teachers, said the teacher. I know a lot of colleagues have been self-isolating over Christmas. A lot have tested positive. A lot are close contacts, so are not permitted to return. Its a huge stress for school management at the moment. We need contingency measures put in place. All this comes as the boss of the HSE Paul Reid warned theres no indication Ireland is at the peak of the current wave of Covid-19 cases, as the number of people in hospital with coronavirus tops 900. In the Mid-West, more than one in every 10 healthcare workers are currently absent from work for reasons connected to the pandemic, a spokesperson confirmed this Tuesday. According to the spokesperson that amounts to 575 staff out of 4,974. (A total of 11.5% of staff) This includes staff from University Hospital Limerick, the University Maternity Hospital Limerick along with St John's Hospital, Croom hospital and the hospitals in Nenagh and Ennis. A LIMERICK school girl has written an open letter to the Taoiseach and Minister for Education following the decision to reopen schools this week. Sadhbh Ryan is a 5th year student in Ardscoil Mhuire Corbally who is hoping to become a vet and attend college in Poland. The 17 year old said in her honest letter that she needs to do well in her Leaving Cert in order to attend college however classroom conditions are affecting her schoolwork. Sadhbh said her school is fantastic and do everything they can for students however they are dealing with 'freezing' classrooms. The letter read: "My school is fantastic and do everything and anything for us to reach our potential. I love seeing my friends and learning new things. "I have loved walking in the doors of ASM as they welcome everyone with open arms and make you feel comfortable which is a hard thing to do for adolescent girls. "However, for the past year and a half, I have dreaded going into school with the unbearable temperatures of the classrooms I am forced to sit in for at most nine hours a day (I do after school study as well)." Sadhbh went on to say that the INTO have stated the minimum temperatures for classrooms should be 18 degrees for it to be considered working conditions. She continued: "The classrooms in my school and every other school in Ireland do not reach this, instead they fall far behind reaching at most 14 degrees celsius (we recorded this temperature for a double chemistry class I had) and even falls below at times. "It is freezing and I know in order to fix this is to layer up. I can see my school is trying their best by turning on the heating but that does nothing as heat rises and as it rises it goes out the window as they have to be kept open. "It's hard for my school and many others listening to 600 students complaining that they are too cold. Some students don't attend school for this very reason. "I can't feel my fingers as they are numb. I can't concentrate properly and I can't wait for 5:50 for the bell to ring so I can go home and warm up." The teen asked in her letter for HEPA filters to be installed in every classroom in Ireland so pupils can enjoy school and reach their full potential. Sadhbh's mother Tracie said that the school principal has since been in touch to say that HEPA filters are being installed in every classroom next week. The principal spent Christmas sourcing the correct filters which Tracie says should have been supplied by the Department of Education. Sadhbh finished off her honest correspondence by asking the Taoiseach and the Minister for help. She said: "It's hard listening to the Taoiseach and members of the Teachta Dala claiming repeatedly that classrooms are a safe environment when they haven't been in a freezing cold classroom themselves for nine hours a day. "It is unbearable and at this point I am begging you to please help. Of course our classrooms are well ventilated but what good is that when half of my classmates are out sick with the common cold or the flu. "Claiming school are a safe environment is one thing but not experiencing the cold is another thing. "We have missed so much these past two years because of covid, don't let our future be another thing we lose". A LIMERICK man who hasnt taken much heed of fashion since the pandemic began will receive a serious wardrobe shakeup on a hit RTE show. Hair, makeup and fresh new outfits were an experience out of the ordinary for Mike Shyne, who told the Limerick Leader that he contacted the show from a desire to get out of his comfort zone. Since Covid started, life has been a bit of a Groundhog Day, the Limerick city driving instructor admitted. The Style Counsellors, featuring Irish style and beauty star Suzanne Jackson as host, returned to RTE One for a third season, with the first episode airing on January 4, 2022. View this post on Instagram A post shared by RTE One (@rteone) The Castleconnell native will feature in episode three on January 18 and has hinted to expect his entire wardrobe to be gutted in order to make way for new trends. This season, Suzanne Jackson is joined by Eileen Smith, an 82-year-old fashion blogger, who has amassed a 55,000 Instagram following. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eileen Smith (@eileenstylequeen) Looking back on the filming, Mike said he felt at home with the entire cast and crew. I could just be relaxed enough to run with anything that came into my head, he added. He told of his brazen antics which has led to him still keeping in contact with them today. On one occasion, he was sent to the tanning booth for a spray tan and instructed to wash it off after four hours. That night, when the producer rang him, almost eight hours after receiving his spray tan, he told her that he completely forgot to wash it off. After that incident, she never knew whether to believe him. At this stage I'm excited for family friends to see the episode but I'm also nervous at the same time, Mike who previously featured in the Leader last month for a fundraising event said. Now, enlightened with a hot take on the latest fashion trends, the Graduate School of Motoring man has everything in his wardrobe from Declan Hannons socks from Sic Sock to hoodies from Aaron Gillanes online shop in his wardrobe. Although still finding his feet, he soon hopes to take to the streets of Limerick city in pursuit of some clean-cut suits. Next for me now is Irelands Fittest Family but I can't convince my granny to go on at the moment, so while I'm waiting for her, I'm practicing for the next Eurovision, he humoured. MAYOR Daniel Butler has called on everyone to play their part in the "fight against litter" after Limerick was criticised in a new report. Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) published its final study for 2021 yesterday, and it highlighted that the city was considered "littered", with several parts of the centre deemed blackspots. However, there was better news on Limerick's southside, with the Galvone area praised for its improvement. It was this which Mayor Butler focused on, praising the efforts of the community, local businesses and council. While the Galvone area is classified as littered the report points out that huge improvements have been made in the area. This is due to the work of the council, which cleans up the area regularly, members of the community who are involved in Tidy Towns and other civic initiatives in the area who have given their time to help ensure their locality is clean, he said. Mayor Butler urged people to stop littering, in the hope that when An Taisce's Ibal-appointed inspectors visit again, the city is in better shape. "It is important that the work being done to improve our city is recognised and people stop littering. Having no bin around is no excuse. Bring your rubbish home with you, the mayor said. "This report once again highlights the importance of compliance. Everyone needs to play their part in the fight against litter. There is no excuse for just dumping your rubbish. Those who do it must be called out for this unacceptable behaviour. This culture cannot be tolerated and needs to be changed," Cllr Butler added. "We all have our part to play." THIRTEEN funds and asset management firms across are supporting almost 1,000 jobs across Limerick city. Thats according to the Irish Funds industry body which marked its 30th anniversary this year. Limerick is well known as being a centre for financial services, and one of the citys biggest employers in this field is Northern Trust. Catherine Duffy, its Limerick head, said: For over 20 years, Northern Trust is proud to have served Irish clients and supported the evolution of the funds industry in Ireland. We opened our Limerick office in 2007, our second office in Ireland. We place great importance on building lasting relationships and being part of the communities in which we operate. "In Limerick, this includes partnerships with the University of Limerick, supporting local charities and working with local representative bodies. The latest Irish Funds Indecon report underlines the continued importance of the funds industry to the Irish economy and the positive impact it has in supporting employment both in the capital and regionally. The chief executive of Irish Funds Pat Lardner added: The funds and asset management industry continues to play a pivotal role in showcasing what Ireland has to offer and delivering tangible economic benefits to local communities. As we emerge from the pandemic, Irish Funds will continue to support investment and drive sustainable growth across the island of Ireland. THE town of Charleville is reportedly in darkness this Wednesday evening due to a power outage. In the region of 1,650 customers are affected. ESB Networks are currently working to rectify the fault and restore power. "The whole town is in darkness - you could hardly see your hand," said one customer who contacted the Leader about the matter. "The whole main street is black and all the big shops like Aldi and Lidl are dark," he added. The fault was reported at 6.30pm and according to ESB Networks it is estimated that power will be restored to customers by 10.30pm this Wednesday night. "We apologise for the loss of supply. We are currently working to repair a fault affecting your premises and will restore power as quickly as possible," a notice on their website states in relation to the outage. The Government is not expecting health officials to recommend fresh restrictions, even as Ireland copes with record case numbers. Speaking before a meeting of the Cabinet today (January 5), senior ministers told reporters that they did not anticipate Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan or the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) calling for new restrictions to curb the surge in Covid-19 cases. Taoiseach Micheal Martin told reporters: Its been a long pandemic. We had Delta, early in autumn, followed by Omicron, and I think people have responded very well indeed. And I think that will be reflected when NPHET will meet on Thursday. He said that it was steady as she goes in terms of the pandemic and added that the Government wanted to ensure children remained in school. Outside Government Buildings in Dublin City Centre, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan indicated that he was optimistic fresh restrictions could be avoided. Deputy Ryan said health officials believed Ireland may be close to the peak of the current wave of the virus, which has been fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. It is a very large wave, but it wont be as long, he predicted. He indicated that the Government would support a quicker reopening of the economy as soon as it is safe to do so. Part of our public health is the ability to socialise, the ability to work, the ability to go to schools and colleges, he said. While he did not rule out the need for fresh restrictions, he said: At the moment, I think the measures we introduced before Christmas were the right ones. Under the rules introduced in Ireland before Christmas, nightclubs have been shuttered and large swathes of the hospitality industry ordered to close at 8pm. Mr Ryan also said that relaxing the rules on restriction of movement for fully vaccinated close contacts would make sense, given the pressures on various sectors. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, also spoke to reporters ahead of the Cabinet meeting. The Government has not had any indication that NPHET intend to bring forward additional restrictions on the economy or society, he said. He warned that Omicron was still rampant and the Government was monitoring the latest data to emerge from hospitals. There is no room for complacency and we are watching and monitoring the situation in hospitals very closely. And we recognise there are real pressures there, he said. The advice at this point is that were not quite at the peak. We are coming close to the peak, it could be in the coming days, it could be in the next week to 10 days, nobody knows for sure. Gov. Hochul delivers Wednesdays State of the State at a pivotal point for New Yorks democracy. Recently, after years of trailing other progressive states, lawmakers had been on track to make New York a national leader in expanding democracy. Since 2019 they had increased access to voting and created the nations most powerful response to the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United: a small donor-match public campaign finance program to boost everyday voters voices in an age of mega-donors. But the November 2021 defeat of two pro-voter ballot questions halted this progress. It showed that New York is not immune from the anti-democratic forces that stormed the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6. Heavy Stop the Steal-style ad spending turned out opposition, with virtually no response from proponents. As the Brennan Center, the National Action Network and a range of labor, racial justice and voting rights groups have urged, the governor and legislators must redouble their efforts this year to protect democracy for all. New Yorkers cannot afford for their leaders to take progress for granted. Advertisement The failed ballot proposals would have cleared the way for two common-sense, commonplace policies: no-excuse absentee voting and same-day voter registration. All voters should be able to cast a ballot by mail without having to meet one of a narrow set of excuses as required under current law. Thirty-four states are ahead of New York on no-excuse mail voting. And in a state that has seen some of the nations lowest voter turnout, same-day registration would enable people to join the rolls when they feel most interested in voting on Election Day, instead of nearly four weeks in advance as is currently required. Fidel Malena, right, with Democracy NYC, registers residents to vote at a registration event in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP) The proposals should have easily passed. Pre-election polls showed broad support, and two Legislatures had already approved them as part of the multi-year process to amend hurdles in the state Constitution. But false claims that the reforms would make elections less secure went unanswered and ultimately prevailed, and three out of four active voters did not answer the ballot questions. Advertisement Lawmakers must revive the effort. In the meantime, they should enact regular legislation immediately to move the 25-day registration deadline to the 10-day constitutional minimum, enabling one golden day of same-day registration during the states early voting period. Doing so will increase all New Yorkers opportunity to vote. The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. > And theres much more for Albany to do. Another priority must be to fix longstanding structural flaws at the state and local Boards of Elections. Right now, many election boards in New York lack accountability, hire without basic qualification requirements, and in poorer areas struggle for adequate resources. For years these issues have contributed to administrative failures that shake voters confidence in elections. Thats not just a local problem; Stop the Steal fearmongers use these blunders to undermine faith in democracy nationwide. Lessons from other major metropolitan election agencies show how New York can do much better. The governor and lawmakers must enact fundamental improvements to leadership, accountability, hiring, training and efficiency, to enable equitable, reliable access to the vote across the state. They must also stand up for all voters by enacting the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of New York. This bill would require localities to clear proposed changes to voting procedures with the state Attorney Generals Civil Rights Bureau, to avoid racially discriminatory impacts among other problems. Its an important backstop to ensure voter-roll purges, polling-place relocations, and other actions do not disenfranchise voters. And the governor and lawmakers must follow through on the states two boldest pro-voter measures in recent years, by fully funding the implementation of small-donor public financing and automatic voter registration. The voluntary public financing program will amplify the influence of everyday voters by matching their small contributions to candidates who opt in and are able to show enough public support to qualify. The policy increases diversity and participation among donors and encourages candidates to focus on constituents rather than megadonors. And automatic voter registration would modernize the states antiquated process by enrolling voters or updating their information during routine business with certain government agencies, unless they opt out. As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Congress weigh urgent federal measures in the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, its essential that New York step up in the fight to bolster democracy against deceptive efforts to undermine it. By building on recent progress and prioritizing voting and elections reform in 2022, Hochul and state lawmakers can protect and strengthen an inclusive and participatory democracy for all New Yorkers. Lee is the co-director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. Perkinson is an executive at the National Action Network, as the crisis director and NYS Field Director for the past four years. LIMERICK City Community Radio (LCCR) says it has been informed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) that it has been granted another 100-day pilot sound broadcasting licence for 2022. LCCR is the city's first and only non-profit community station that is entirely community-run through volunteers. The new licence takes effect from January 15, next. "While the team is delighted with the announcement and looks forward to entertaining and informing the Limerick listeners once again in 2022, they will re-commence broadcasting on Saturday 15th January on 99.9FM," said a spokesperson. "As well as the weekend FM service, volunteers will also office an online-only service - at www.lccr.ie - on weekdays with live programmes between 8am to 6pm and repeats of weekend shows in the evenings. LCCR are looking for new volunteers. If you are interested please email volunteer@lccr.ie pic.twitter.com/DESCS7Sl4S Limerick City Community Radio (@LCCR1) January 2, 2022 The output of the station, which first began broadcasting in 2014, is mainly talk-based with an emphasis on local news and community affairs. The use of the 99.9FM frequency (in the greater Limerick city area) is with the support of Wired FM - the licenced student radio station for Limerick. Anyone wishing to get involved with LCCR can contact the station by emailing volunteer@lccr.ie or by phoning (061) 590999 during business hours. MUMBAI : Private equity investor Actis, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and I Squared Capital-backed roads operator Cube Highways are in the last lap of negotiations to buy Peak Infrastructure, a portfolio of operational road assets owned by Canadian investor Brookfield, three people aware of the development said. The portfolio of five road assets is expected to fetch an enterprise value of $1.2-1.5 billion, they added. Brookfield entered Indias highways sector in 2015, acquiring roads from Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd. Later, it also acquired road assets from Hyderabad-based KMC Constructions. There was a strong interest in the Brookfield-owned roads. Around 8-10 bidders had shown interest in the non-binding offer round. From these, CPPIB, Actis and Cube have been shortlisted," said one of the three people cited above, all of whom spoke under condition of anonymity. CPPIB is bidding for the portfolio through IndInfravit, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) backed by the Canadian pension fund, this person added. Brookfield and CPPIB declined to comment. Emails sent to Actis and Cube Highways remained unanswered till press time. The five road stretches comprise a 99.5-km section of the Mumbai-Nashik Expressway; a 183.6-km section on NH-5; a 188.8-km section of NH-18 in Andhra Pradesh; the 32.3-km Gorakhpur bypass in Uttar Pradesh; and a 10.6-km four-lane bridge over the river Kosi in Bihar. Indias infrastructure sector, and the roads sector, in particular, has witnessed major interest from foreign investors chasing higher yields when they are at historic lows in the developed markets, said the second person cited above. Global investors who want to write large cheques are finding Indias infrastructure sector a very promising opportunity and, thus, meaningful-sized portfolios such as these and others are seeing a lot of interest from investors. Toll and annuity roads fit perfectly into the requirements of yield investors. Traffic recovery after the initial restrictions during covid has also been very strong," the person said. Mint reported on 23 September that Cube Highways, the largest investor in road projects in India, is in talks with pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to raise as much as $1 billion through an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), with Canadas British Columbia Investments among those that have shown interest. In November, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that CPPIB and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan would be the anchor investors of its first InvIT picking up 25% equity each. The NHAI InvIT raised a total of 6,000-crore through the offering. NHAI has also invited bids for three road packages under the so-called toll-operate-transfer scheme, which is aimed at monetizing its operational road projects. Last month, Ashoka Buildcon said its unit, Ashoka Concessions Ltd, has signed an agreement with KKR group entity Galaxy Investments II Pte. Ltd for selling its stake in five BOT (build-operate-transfer) assets for 1,337 crore. The West Bengal government will now allow flights from New Delhi and Mumbai, thrice a week starting today. From January 5, flights from the two metros will be allowed to come to the state on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a senior official said, PTI reported. Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, the West Bengal government announced multiple restrictions in the state, including limiting incoming flights from Delhi and Mumbai, which have been severely affected by the outbreak of the new Omicron variant. Initially, flights from the two cities were allowed to operate twice a week, but the decision was reviewed and in a fresh letter, the state government on Tuesday informed that the same has been changed to thrice a week. A communication from state Home Secretary BP Gopalika was sent to Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Rajiv Bansal on Tuesday, the official told PTI. "... this is to kindly inform that the matter was reviewed and that the state government is extremely sensitive towards the inconvenience that may be caused to the passengers but restrictions are absolutely essential for containment of COVID cases in the state," Gopalika wrote to Bansal. "However, the incoming domestic flights from Mumbai and Delhi will be allowed thrice a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with effect from January 5, 2022 and the same will be reviewed again shortly depending upon the COVID situation in the state," the letter read. West Bengal on Tuesday reported 9,073 fresh Covid-19 infections, an increase of over 49.27 per cent in a single day, with Kolkata accounting for over half of them, the state health department said in a bulletin. President Joe Biden urged concern but not alarm Tuesday as the U.S. set new records for daily reported COVID-19 cases and his administration struggled to ease concerns about testing shortages, school closures and other disruptions caused by the surging omicron variant. Speaking ahead of a meeting with his COVID-19 response team at the White House, Biden looked both to convey his administration's urgency toward addressing the new variant and to convince wary Americans that the current surge bears little resemblance to the onset of the pandemic or last year's deadly winter. The president emphasized that vaccines, booster shots and therapeutic drugs have mitigated the danger for the overwhelming majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated. You can still get COVID, but its highly unlikely, very unlikely, that youll become seriously ill," Biden said of vaccinated people. Theres no excuse, theres no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated," he added. "This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated." Compared to last year, more Americans are employed, most kids are in classrooms, and instances of death and serious illness are down precipitously so among the vaccinated. Still, over the past several weeks Americans have seen dire warnings about hospitals reaching capacity amid staffing shortages, thousands of holiday flight cancellations in part because crews were ill or in quarantine, and intermittent reports of school closures because of the more-transmissible variant. I believe schools should remain open," Biden said, adding that they have the funding needed for testing and other mitigation measures to stay open during the surge. On Tuesday, Biden was set to announce that the U.S. is doubling its order for an anti-viral pill produced by Pfizer that was recently authorized by the FDA to prevent serious illness and death from COVID-19. That means 20 million doses, with the first 10 million pills to be delivered by June. A senior administration official said that combined with other therapies, such as monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma, 4 million treatments that are effective against the omicron variant would be available by the end of January. Theyre a game changer and have the potential to dramatically alter the impact of COVID-19, the impact its had on this country and our people," Biden said of the pills. Biden, though, is facing new pressure to ease a nationwide testing shortage, as people seek to determine if they or their family members have been infected with the variant. Long lines and chaotic scenes over the holidays marred the administration's image as having the pandemic in hand. On testing, I know this remains frustrating. Believe me it's frustrating to me, but we're making improvements," Biden said. In a reversal, the White House announced last month that it would make 500 million rapid antigen tests available free to requesting Americans, but it will be weeks, if not months, before those tests are widely available. The administration notes those tests are on top of existing supply of rapid tests and that even a small increase will help ease some of the shortages. Additionally, private insurers will be required to cover the cost of at-home tests starting later this month. Test manufacturers have until Tuesday night to respond to the government's contract request, and the first awards are expected to be made this week. Meanwhile, the administration is still developing a system for Americans to order the tests as well as a means to ship them to peoples' homes. Well set up a free and easy system, including a new website to get these tests out to Americans," COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said last week. Were actively working to finalize that distribution mechanism, which includes a website where people will be able to order tests for free. And well share more details in the weeks ahead -- days and weeks ahead." In a Monday letter, GOP Sens. Richard Burr and Roy Blunt, the top Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, pressed the Department of Health and Human Services for answers on how the administration was working to address nationwide testing shortages. With over $82.6 billion specifically appropriated for testing, and flexibility within the department to allocate additional funds from COVID-19 supplemental bills or annual appropriations if necessary, it is unclear to us why we are facing such dire circumstances now," they wrote. It does not appear to be because of lack of funding, but a more fundamental lack of strategy and a failure to anticipate future testing needs by the administration." White House officials have noted that the spike in testing demand is driven not just by omicron, but by people seeking to travel safely during the holidays and return to school after, and that the shortages are global in nature. Turns out, Omicron is driving a spike in demand for testing...everywhere," tweeted Ben Wakana, the deputy director of strategic communications & engagement for the White House's COVID-19 response team, highlighting similar shortages in the U.K., Canada and Australia. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. A man was recently arrested at a U.S. Border Patrol Laredo Sector checkpoint after agents discovered $2.3 million in meth and 1,100 rounds of assorted ammo, according to an arrest affidavit. Jose Correjudo Trinidad was charged with possess with intent to distribute meth and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the meth. Edmund Burke. Russell Kirk. AndJesse Watters? One of the hosts of Foxs The Five, Watters said the quiet part out loud Monday evening, when discussing President Bidens agenda and pushback hes getting from progressives in his party. Advertisement [D]o I feel sorry for Joe Biden? No. I work at Fox. I wanna see disarray on the left. Its good for America. Its good for our ratings. In those eight seconds of television, Watters may have unknowingly articulated the entire philosophy of the new American right, adding to the canon of philosophical giants before him. I kid, of course. The leaders of the modern conservative movement, from Burke, to Kirk, F.A. Hayek to William F. Buckley, Ayn Rand to Ronald Reagan, likely wouldnt recognize todays American right wing. Advertisement Jesse Watters at Fox News Channel Studios on March 28, 2019 in New York City. (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images) Co-opted entirely by Donald Trump in 2016, its now sufficiently aligned with whatever he just said, rather than the centuries of principles and philosophy that conservative thought leaders once espoused. Its led this arm of American politics, both in the Republican Party and in right-wing media, to forget about the things that used to animate it: things like fiscal responsibility, anti-protectionism, family values, lowering the debt and deficit, national security, law and order, and, you know, preserving democracy. Now, the American right is off wasting taxpayer dollars chasing phony election audits to soothe the fragile ego of a guy who lost everything for the Republican Party in four short years. It decries common-sense safety precautions like masks and vaccines during a global pandemic that just set a global daily record for the most confirmed cases in a single day in the U.S. as medical tyranny and an assault on freedom. It coddles and caters to conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, supremacists and xenophobes, empowering lunatics, bigots and fame-addicts to seek elected office. And it led one of the darkest days in modern American history, an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol where Trump supporters tried to overturn a democratic election, in some cases criminally, violently and fatally. A year later, rather than being the slightest bit chastened, those responsible for that ignominy are now emboldened. Trump is getting ready to commemorate the riot with another media spectacle. This is the new American right, and in the rancid bouillabaisse of patriot porn thats regularly dished out by right-wing leaders and media, its all part of a cause, one thats righteous, justified, and most perversely, conservative. In this context, Watters comments make perfect sense. In fact, they spell out the Three Pillars of the New American Right: Advertisement 1. There are two Americas, not one. When Watters says, I wanna see disarray on the left. Its good for America, hes admitting that he doesnt consider the left to be part of America. Theres his America the one thats righteous and good and the other America, which must be excised. The United States as a concept is effectively dead in the new American right. No wonder there are some on the right openly aching for secession or civil war. The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. > 2. The cruelty is the point. The new American right is here for the pain, as Adam Serwer explained in The Atlantic in 2018. Its not here to change hearts and minds with a competition of ideas and arguments. It wants to see liberals in tears. Whether its Speaker Nancy Pelosi, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Joe Biden, its not enough to just disagree with their ideas a perfectly reasonable thing to do fairly often. No, you must Lock her up, Send her back, F--k Joe Biden even Hang Mike Pence. The pain Watters wants to see is the point. 3. Ratings, above all else. As journalism in right-wing media has fallen by the wayside, kooks, quacks, cranks and snake-oil salesmen have taken over, pushing lies and conspiracy theories to keep their audiences foaming at the mouths. Getting eyeballs has superseded things like public health and safety and truth and facts, as media stars have glorified willful ignorance. But its not just in media. Trump turned the right wing into an attention economy, where folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and the My Pillow Guy just want to be famous, not serious. Attention is the only thing that matters now. Advertisement These new pillars dont belong in conservative orthodoxy. They belong in movies like Idiocracy and Dont Look Up, which satirize the persistent celebration of willful ignorance in America. And yet, these are the only things that seem to consistently motivate the new American right: division, cruelty and ratings. Its a far cry from the things that once informed and animated the American experiment: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. secuppdailynews@gmail.com U.S. Customs and Border Protection On Dec. 30, a 20-year-old female U.S. citizen driver arrived at the Progreso International Bridge in Progreso, Texas and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer referred her for further inspection, according to a CBD press release. Upon said further inspection, Office of Field Operations officers and agricultural specialists at the bridge discovered four undeclared spider monkeys concealed in a duffle bag. The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results The Government is not expecting health officials to recommend fresh restrictions, even as Ireland copes with record case numbers. Speaking before a meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, senior ministers told reporters that they did not anticipate Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan or the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) calling for new restrictions to curb the surge in Covid-19 cases. Taoiseach Micheal Martin told reporters: Its been a long pandemic. We had Delta, early in autumn, followed by Omicron, and I think people have responded very well indeed. And I think that will be reflected when Nphet will meet on Thursday. He said that it was steady as she goes in terms of the pandemic and added that the Government wanted to ensure children remained in school. Outside Government Buildings in Dublin city centre, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan indicated that he was optimistic fresh restrictions could be avoided. Mr Ryan said health officials believed Ireland may be close to the peak of the current wave of the virus, which has been fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. It is a very large wave, but it wont be as long, he predicted. He indicated that the Government would support a quicker reopening of the economy as soon as it is safe to do so. Part of our public health is the ability to socialise, the ability to work, the ability to go to schools and colleges, he said. While he did not rule out the need for fresh restrictions, he said: At the moment, I think the measures we introduced before Christmas were the right ones. Under the rules introduced in Ireland before Christmas, nightclubs have been shuttered and large swathes of the hospitality industry ordered to close at 8pm. Mr Ryan also said that relaxing the rules on restriction of movement for fully vaccinated close contacts would make sense, given the pressures on various sectors. Staffing concerns hit Longford businesses as Covid numbers increase Businesses across Longford are facing staffing shortages as more and more locals test positive for Covid-19 or are isolating due to being close contacts. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath also spoke to reporters ahead of the Cabinet meeting. The Government has not had any indication that Nphet intend to bring forward additional restrictions on the economy or society, he said. He warned that Omicron was still rampant and the Government was monitoring the latest data to emerge from hospitals. There is no room for complacency and we are watching and monitoring the situation in hospitals very closely. And we recognise there are real pressures there, he said. The advice at this point is that were not quite at the peak. We are coming close to the peak, it could be in the coming days, it could be in the next week to 10 days, nobody knows for sure. The majority of Irelands sickest Covid-19 patients have the Delta variant and not the highly contagious Omicron strain, hospital data shows. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that while the vast majority of daily cases are of the Omicron variant, most ICU patients have the Delta variant. Ireland is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. On Tuesday, Ireland recorded 21,302 daily infections. Here are today's walk-in #COVIDVaccine clinics. We're operating walk-in clinics for dose 1 and dose 2, and booster vaccine clinics for healthcare workers, people over 30 and some clinics for 16-29s. Keep an eye for updates on queueing times throughout the day. #ForUsAll pic.twitter.com/OJ9ilmiJDB HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 5, 2022 Speaking at Government Buildings today (January 5) following a Cabinet meeting, Martin said: There is a broader range of pressures on hospitals this year, not just Covid, as there is far more activity out there. It still seems that the bulk of the ICU cases are Delta cases, complex, severe illness in many cases and that is the feedback from the HSE. The hospitals are under pressure, staff absences are contributing. The HSE has far more on its plate than 12 months ago with the rollout of the vaccination programmes, child vaccinations and the booster vaccination programmes. He said that HSE testing, including PCRs and antigen tests, has jumped to around 650,000 every week. Martin said the levels of infection are unprecedented and the next 10 days will provide further evidence on the severity of illness arising from Omicron. The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is to meet tomorrow (January 6) to assess the epidemiological data. The government is to ask chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to consider reviewing the rules for people who are identified as close contacts and are fully vaccinated. The Taoiseach said he does not anticipate any major changes in restrictions but said it was a matter for public health officials. The restrictions we have now are set to run until the end of January and the public have responded well to adjustment of behaviour and that is having an impact, he added. I dont want to pre-empt what NPHET will do in its decisions on Thursday, but it seems the overall picture right now is that the current set of restrictions that have been in place are effective. It remains to be seen whether public health wish to advise any further, but the indications are it will be steady as she goes. He said the HSE is also working to include booster vaccinations in Covid passes. It is clear to us that the benefits of the booster are very significant right now in preventing infection and severe illness, he added. Ireland has 94% of its population fully vaccinated, with hospital data showing that around 54% of people in ICU with Covid are not fully vaccinated. Thats a very high figure, Martin added. I spoke to some doctors over the Christmas period and one of the first questions they ask people is have you been vaccinated? If a person hasnt been, they ask do you regret it? Invariably the person will say I regret not getting that vaccine. All these issues around close contacts have to be kept under review, because the balance is you dont want to take decisions that accelerate further spread. 'Life will never be the same again': Tributes pour in for Longford road crash victim A devastated family of a young man killed in a single vehicle car crash in Co Longford on New Year's Day have said they have been left "broken" by the tragedy. The Omicron variant is set to peak in the next 10 days, according to modelling data. Meanwhile, Cabinet has agreed to purchase antiviral pills that can be used to threat people with severe symptoms of Covid-19. It is expected to be made available next month. Will you accept this post? Andi Dorfman might not be a bachelorette for long after ringing in the new year with a new beau. Advertisement The Bachelorette alum, 34, took to Instagram to debut her new boyfriend. Cheers to a year filled with love and sparkles. 2022 ... I have a feeling you might very well be the best one yet! Happy New Year , Dorfman captioned the sweet snap of the couple dolled up. Advertisement In this file photo, Andi Dorfman attends the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 08, 2018 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/2018 Getty Images) And it looks like Dorfmans fans are rooting for her new relationship. So happy for you, one commented. You need to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince!!! So happy for you!!!! now we need deets on the guy!!! wrote another. But fans wont have to wait much longer to learn more about Dorfmans new love, who also ended up on her masked-up Instagram Story late Wednesday morning as the two left Palm Beach, Florida. Though she didnt tag him in either post nor a November picture that shows the Dorfman and the man, whose face was covered, as they snuggled up his identity may have been revealed. The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. > Dorfman and Blaine Hart met each other years ago during college through a mutual friend, who went to school with Blaine in South Carolina, an insider told E! News Tuesday. They both happened to be in Italy at the same time this past summer and reconnected after 15 years, the source spilled. They have been together ever since! Tags or not, the source assured the outlet that this love is the fairy tale Andi always dreamt of and the reality veteran has never been happier before in her life. Advertisement Fans might be shocked to know that Hart did not watch her on The Bachelorette. Dorfman also gave fans a side glimpse of her new love on New Years Eve, with a post showing the couple getting ready to kiss. By far my favorite thing from 2021 , she captioned the cute picture. Dorfman dropped out of Juan Pablo Galavis Bachelor season in 2014 and became the titular season 10 Bachelorette later in the year, though she and winner Josh Murray split in early 2015. Having spent the last eight years in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois as Bishop, based in Longford, Most Reverend Francis Duffy will be installed as Archbishop of Tuam in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Tuam, on Sunday next, January 9, 2022, during the celebration of Mass at 2.30pm. He succeeds Archbishop Michael Neary who was appointed Archbishop of Tuam on January 17, 1995. This will be a joyous and historic occasion for the people of the Archdiocese of Tuam and for Archbishop Francis himself, a Cavan man, from Bawnboy in the parish of Templeport. Prior to becoming Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, the Archbishop elect spent over twenty years as a teacher and as a school principal in counties Cavan and Leitrim followed by some years as diocesan secretary in his native diocese of Kilmore and as assistant priest in the parish of Laragh. Last Sunday, January 2, 2022, Bishop Francis celebrated his final public mass in St Mel's Cathedral where he was joined by Bishop Emeritus Colm O'Reilly, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo and Fr James MacKiernan, Adm. While it was hoped to celebrate the Installation of Archbishop Francis with as many people as possible in attendance, and at the same time respecting the public health advice and the current official guidelines, this is now not possible due to the widespread circulation of the coronavirus in the community. Archbishop Francis has decided to reduce the risk of his Installation becoming a potential spreader event, and to show his support for and solidarity with all who provide care for those suffering from Covid-19, all healthcare workers, and all work on the frontline in any capacity, the number of invited guests will be reduced to a minimum. Therefore, Archbishop Francis respectfully asks those who have been invited not to attend in person but instead to watch the ceremony online, or to listen to the ceremony on Galway Bay FM or Midwest Radio. He regrets the need to take this decision, but he is confident that it will be received with appreciation and understanding. The congregation in the Cathedral will now be limited to members of Archbishop Francis immediate family and a number of close friends, His Excellency Jude Thaddeus Okolo, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Michael Neary and a small number of bishops including the bishops of dioceses in the Tuam Province (Achonry, Clonfert, Elphin, Galway and Killala), members of the Tuam Council of Priests representing the clergy of the diocese, and members of the College of Consultors to whom the Holy Fathers letter of appointment must be shown. 'Life will never be the same again': Tributes pour in for Longford road crash victim A devastated family of a young man killed in a single vehicle car crash in Co Longford on New Year's Day have said they have been left "broken" by the tragedy. The laity and religious living in the Archdiocese will be represented. Others assisting at the Liturgy will also be present. Those wishing to watch the livestream may do so by using this link: https://www.tuamparish.com/web-cam As many as 8,000 teachers could be absent due to Covid-19 when schools return on Thursday, according to a teacher's union. The General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) John Boyle said that 15% of teaching staff, around seven or eight thousand teachers will be absent because of Covid-19. Funeral arrangements announced for tragic Longford road crash victim A young Longford man tragically killed in a single vehicle car crash outside Granard on New Year's Day will be laid to rest tomorrow (Thursday). Staffing concerns hit Longford businesses as Covid numbers increase Businesses across Longford are facing staffing shortages as more and more locals test positive for Covid-19 or are isolating due to being close contacts. Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland earlier today, Mr Boyle said that the term ahead, up to mid-term, is going to be an extremely difficult one. He said there will be situations whereby children will have to have classes at home. He added that priority will be given to those children who "don't thrive in the remote learning scenario", particularly younger children and those with additional needs. "There isn't a hope" that there would be enough replacement teachers, Mr Boyle said, with concern about the challenges involved in keeping the system going. He called for the reintroduction of contact tracing, and noted that over 60,000 primary school children did contract the virus before Christmas. Much more had to be done about filtration in classrooms, Mr Boyle said. A spokesperson for the Department of Education described a meeting on Tuesday with the unions and health officials as productive. Education stakeholders were briefed by the minister and public health representatives on how the Covid-19 mitigation measures in place in schools have been reviewed by public health and will continue in place in the coming term, the spokesperson said. Public health remains of the view that these mitigation measures are effective and appropriate. Furthermore, public health officials advised that there is no public health rationale to delay the reopening of schools later this week," the education spokesperson said. Schools will operate in line with their Covid-19 response plans, which set out a range of mitigation measures for schools, including hand hygiene, mask-wearing, and social distancing. Health & Wellness By Chris Boyle Published: January 05 2022 This year, the CDC reported that in the United States, there were over 100,000 overdose related deaths and over 95,000 alcohol related deaths over a 12-month period, said Legislator Anker. Recently, Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker and the members of the Suffolk County Addiction Prevention and Support Advisory Panel, formally known as the Suffolk County Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, announced the release of their 2021 final report, which includes a detailed outline of the panels actions and findings of the past year, beneficial Suffolk County resources and programs, links to other reports pertaining to the growing opioid and substance abuse epidemic, and goals for the new year. The Suffolk County Addiction Prevention and Support Advisory Panel was created via resolution 704-2017, Establishing a Permanent Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, sponsored by Legislator Sarah Anker, in an effort to address the rising number of opioid overdose related deaths in Suffolk County. As outlined by the resolution, the panel meets on a quarterly basis, conducts two public hearings and compiles a final report that is posted on the Suffolk County Legislatures website. This year, the CDC reported that in the United States, there were over 100,000 overdose related deaths and over 95,000 alcohol related deaths over a 12-month period, said Legislator Anker. During 2020, we saw a rise in overdose deaths in our own county for the first time since 2017. Providers and advocates have shared that they have seen an increase in anxiety, depression, and substance use amongst the residents they serve as a result of the uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Suffolk Countys Addiction Prevention and Support Advisory Panel has worked collaboratively, combing their experience, resources and understanding to help address the growing opioid addiction epidemic during this unprecedented time. It is our hope that this final report detailing the work of the county and its partners will serve as a reference for those seeking resources and provide a foundation for other municipalities to continue their work in battling the epidemic as well. The goal of the panel is to utilize collective knowledge and expertise to provide ongoing guidance and input to the county with respect to combating the substance use and addiction epidemic through preventative education, enhancement of law enforcement efforts, and aiding in the treatment and rehabilitation of those affected by substance use disorders. The panel includes, elected officials, governmental departments, school representatives, medical professionals, mental health counselors, advocates and non-profit organizations, who work in collaboration to address the many substance use concerns that affect Suffolk County residents. I commend Suffolk Countys Addiction Prevention and Support Advisory Panel members who have channeled their personal and professional experience to develop new, effective and innovative ways to combat the opioid and substance use epidemic in our county, said Legislator Anker. Whether it was through advocating for additional funding, increasing access to naloxone kits and training, creating Suffolk Countys resource website, advocating for increased prescriber education and standardized emergency room protocols, or developing programs that expanded education, treatment and substance use prevention, these important initiatives have helped provide much needed support and access to those struggling with opioid addiction and other substance use disorders. Despite these advancements and progress, addiction is an on-going issue that needs to be addressed continually on all fronts. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to create increased challenges for all governmental and community agencies throughout our county including overwhelmed hospitals fighting this pandemic on the frontline, addiction rates increasing with limited resources and economic uncertainty due to business disruption. Relapse has increased partly due to the interruption of in-person counseling, and limited teleconferencing access for those in need of treatment. Mental health related service providers from across the county have experienced firsthand the increased number of those seeking support as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put a traumatic strain on not only residents struggling with addiction, but all government departments, hospitals and not-for-profit support organizations that provide assistance. Since the establishment of the panel in 2017, Suffolk County has made great progress in combating the opioid epidemic through education, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, law enforcement, legislation and legal action. During the past year the panel advocated for the creation a more user friendly and comprehensive website for addiction and mental health resources in Suffolk County. The website, www.suffolkstopaddiction.org , was launched this year and will act as a comprehensive resource providing easy access to information regarding treatment options, where to go in an emergency and other pertinent information. Additionally, the panel also supported resolutions that pertain to the way funds will be disbursed from the settlement agreements reached in lawsuits, which prioritizes utilizing the funds to expand and support new and existing programs and organizations who provide education, prevention and/or treatment services related to combating the rise in substance use disorders and addiction, which generated the litigation. The panel also authored a letter to former Governor Andrew Cuomo to request that any settlement money that was awarded to New York State be used for addiction combative efforts, and not be used for general funding. Due to the panels concern regarding addiction related to prescribed medication, the panel authored a letter to former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health Howard Zuker requesting additional training and education in medical schools in the area of pain management, that will further provide a better understanding of the effects of pain management medications and how to safely prescribe them while monitoring for warning signs of addiction in their patients. Lastly, after much discussion, the name of the Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel was officially changed to the Addiction Prevention and Support Advisory Panel through resolution 102-2021. The updated name reflects the panels desire to discuss and address all addictive substances, as well as the panels understanding that addiction and mental health are co-occurring disorders. Below are recommended priorities of the panel for the upcoming year: Prioritize childhood trauma intervention; Support Addiction Prevention Awareness Campaigns; Monitor the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on overdose rates; Increase prescriber education; Continue to advocate for the disbursement of settlement funds to education, prevention and treatment programs; Monitor the growing vaping epidemic; Support early education initiatives; Continue to monitor Marijuana Legislation and its effects; Commence meetings of the Youth Addiction Panel Monitor continuing effects of NYS Bail Reform and request a study of policy change outcomes; Support education to reduce the stigma of addiction and mental health; Develop and organize a campaign to encourage residents to exchange their expired naloxone kits for new kits; an Continue to advocate for increased naloxone availability accessible on public transportation. Activate your all-inclusive access for print subscribers: Link your losaltosonline.com account to your print subscription here. Your account number is your one-line street address as printed on your newspaper use normal capitalization. Example: 138 Main St. When your current subscription expires later this year, you will be able to renew at losaltosonline.com/users/admin/service/purchase. If you have any trouble accessing your account or linking your subscription, our Subscription FAQ may have the answer you need. Contact howardb@latc.com or call him at (650) 397-5213 with any questions or to learn more. Ensure you get a print copy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror delivered weekly to your home or business! Complete online access is included with all print subscriptions purchased online. Plus, up to four other members of your household can share online access through this subscription with their own, individual linked accounts at no additional charge. (Are you a current advertiser? Ask your sales rep for our special advertiser rate code!) (Alliance News) - Ace Liberty & Stone PLC announced on Wednesday it has acquired one property and sold three others in addition to increasing its debt facility. The London-based commercial property investment company said it had exchanged contracts for the acquisition of a property in Stafford for GBP1.3 million. The tenant is Iceland Foods Ltd with eight years remaining on the lease. The rental income from the property is GBP95,000 per year. Ace also announced it had sold its Bridge House property in Dudley for GBP5.1 million, its Hillcrest House property in Leeds for GBP2.3 million and its Willow & Holly Court property in Plymouth for GBP4.5 million. The sales resulted in profit of GBP2.8 million, the company explained, as well as enabled a reduction in the company's secured borrowing. Chief Executive Ismail Ghandour said: "These property sales yield a profit of nearly 35% on the prices originally paid in addition to the very substantial rents received over a long period. The cash from the sales enables a reduction in borrowing, which in turn strengthens the Company's position for future acquisitions and growth." Ace said it had also issued 130,555 shares of 25 pence in a settlement of convertible loan note interest and fees. Shares in Ace were flat at 84.5 pence on Wednesday afternoon. By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Meghan Markle will have to settle for a pound of flesh and 1 in damages. The Duchess of Sussex will get the piddling pound a buck and 35 cents on this side of the pond from British tabloid operator Associated Newspapers after winning her invasion of privacy lawsuit against the company. Advertisement Shell also get compensation for a separate copyright infringement case, but that payout wasnt specified, according to the Guardian. But Meghans not walking away empty-handed: Associated Newspapers already agreed to cover 90% of her legal fees reportedly over $1.8 million and published a front page apology to the duchess on Dec. 26. Advertisement Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex speaks at Global Citizen Live in Central Park on Sept. 25, 2021, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and in Mail Online, the apology read in part. Meghan, 40, said throughout the case she wasnt really worried about the money. This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for whats right, she said in early December. While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create. Associated Newspapers owns The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, and in 2018 the tabloid published large portions of a physical letter that Meghan wrote to her father, Thomas. Meghan sued for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement and embarked on a lengthy legal fight to prove she was in the right. From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong, she said. In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks. Associated Newspapers finally dropped its appeals and admitted defeat in December, agreeing to the apology and the payments for damages. (Alliance News) - BlueRock Diamonds PLC has announced on Wednesday that Gus Simbanegavi, its chief operating officer and chief executive officer of subsidiary Kareevlei Mining Ltd, will leaving the board to "pursue other business interests" in March 2022. Meiring Burger will assume the role of CEO of Kareevlei, having worked alongside Simbanegavi since May 2021. Burger has previously held various senior positions at companies including African Mining Solutions Ltd and First Quantum Minerals Ltd, where he led efforts to turn around a copper mine in Zambia. BlueRock did not mention a replacement for the position of COO. Chair Mike Houston commented: "We are delighted to welcome Meiring to the team as CEO of Kareevlei, whose experience in mine and plant management will enhance the management of Kareevlei. He has the advantage of having a good understanding of Kareevlei and brings strong leadership qualities at a crucial time as the team faces the ongoing and uncertain challenges of Covid alongside the move to ramp up production at the new processing facility during the wet season." BlueRock shares were untraded on Wednesday, last closing at 29.50 pence per share in London on Tuesday. By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - AIM-listings Kazera Global PLC, Ironveld PLC and Eqtec PLC head a list of 'Conviction Buy' recommendations for 2022 published by Align Research Ltd on Wednesday. Yorkshire-based Align is a research house that invests in the stocks that it recommends to 'align' its commentary with its own purse, calling this "transparent, 'eat your own cooking' research". Align is the biggest shareholder in Kazera, an investor in diamond and tantalum mines in South Africa and Namibia. It has just under a 25% stake, according to Morningstar. Align said Kazera is being completely transformed under new management, with a focus on cash flow. Ironveld is developing an iron, vanadium and titanium project at the Bushveld complex in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Align said the recent agreement by Grosvenor Resources Pty Ltd to invest a total of GBP8.0 million "is set to do wonders for the fortunes of Ironveld". The company is now fully funded to begin mining and ore processing before the end of 2022. Align has a 7.1% stake in Ironveld. Meanwhile, the research house thinks Eqtec is set to benefit from the global push to reduce carbon emissions. Eqtec's gasification technology turns industrial waste into green energy. It is a research client of Align. Other top picks for Align in 2022 include Corcel PLC, a battery metals explorer, and Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, which is bringing old gold mines in South Korea back into production. By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Jefferson, GA (30549) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High 86F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Manchester, VT (05254) Today Cloudy. Some light rain will fall throughout the day. High 53F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Cloudy with showers. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department and District Health Department #10 is raising awareness of the dangers posed by an invisible, odorless gas that seeps into homes from below. January is National Radon Action Month, and DHD#10 is giving away free radon testing kits. "In the month of January, anybody interested in getting a test can stop in at any of the District 10 offices to get a free radon testing kit," said Michael Kramer, environmental health manager for the district. Kramer said the kits usually cost around $10 and include a postage paid envelope to send the kit to the lab after testing. In Manistee, the kits can be picked up at the DHD#10 office at 385 Third St. in Manistee. People can also call 231-723-3595 for more information. The Benzie-Leelnau Health Department is giving out test kits in exchange for non-perishable food for Benzie Area Christian Neighbors, and is reminding community members that regular testing for radon (every two years) at home, in the office and at schools is an important way to safeguard health. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, behind smoking, according to a release from the Benzie-Leelnau Health Department. There are no physical signs that radon is present in a home. There is no discoloration or visible traces of radon on the foundation and it cannot be smelled or tasted. The only way to know radon is present is doing a test. Testing every two years is recommended as homes settle and slight cracks in the foundation of a home can result in changing radon levels. Eric Johnston, environmental health director for the Benzie Leelanau Health Department, said the testing kits offered by the health department should be placed in the lowest level of the house and left for two to three days before being mailed to a lab for testing. The kits have a envelope for mailing the tests. Long-term tests must usually be in place for a minimum of 90 days before being sent to the lab. Both kits can also be found at hardware stores. We recommend that people do the short-term testing at first, and if they have results near 4 picocuries (a measurement used for radon) they should do a long-term test to get more of a picture of what the radon levels are like," Johnston said. Elevated radon levels can be reduced by installing radon reduction systems to help reduce radon to acceptable levels. Typically, it would be recommended to seal any cracks in the basement where subsurface gasses can enter the home, Johnston said. Thats the easiest method. There is also passive measures, like a vent pipe that goes into the foundation and allows gasses to be vented through the pipe and out of the home. Radon is created by the natural degradation of rock and soil, which has naturally occurring uranium in it, according to Johnston. Be sure to test your home for radon this year and keep your family safe from unseen hazards, Johnston said. According to the Benzie-Leelanau Health Department, most homes contain some concentration of radon and should be tested. About 12% of homes in Michigan have unsafe levels of radon. In some counties, as many as 45% of homes are at risk. For additional information about radon, visit the Environmental Protection Agencys site at epa.gov/radon. Manistee is joining the region with a winter storm warning and heavy snowfall today through Thursday evening. The storm is dumping heavy snow in parts of Michigan Wednesday according to a National Weather Service forecast for most of the western Lower Peninsula. The warning, in effect until 7 a.m. Jan. 6, is for Allegan, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kent, Lake, Leelanau, Mason, Manistee, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Ottawa and Wexford counties. The snow tally so far in Manistee is calling for about 15 inches as of Wednesday morning's forecast. "Snow showers will couple with gusty winds for blustery conditions across West Michigan by mid morning," the National Weather Service states on its website. "Occasional whiteouts will occur today. Localized heavy lake effect snow and hazardous travel conditions will continue into Thursday and Thursday night along the lakeshore." Heavy snow can be expected with accumulations of 4 to 10 inches. Wind gusts could reach as high as 45 miles per hour mainly from Muskegon south, according to the NWS. In Manistee County, 6 inches of snow is expected to fall Wednesday, with 3 more inches overnight and another 4 inches possible Thursday. The winter weather could make travel difficult with blowing snow reducing visibility. The weather system will bring near blizzard conditions that will include occasional whiteouts. According to the NWS, visibility issues will greatly affect the evening commute. "Localized heavy lake effect snow and hazardous travel conditions will continue into Thursday and Thursday night for portions of western Lower Michigan," the NWS forecast states. Other areas closer to central parts of the state will also see the weather system. A winter weather advisory has been issued for Barry, Calhoun, Clare, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Mecosta, Montcalm, Osceola and Van Buren counties until 7 a.m. Thursday. Travel will be impacted with 2 to 4 inches of accumulating snow, icy road conditions and winds of up to 45 miles per hour. The east side of the state will see much less than the west and central parts, but will still experience effects of the storm. A wind advisory has been issued until 10 p.m. this evening for Bay, Genesee, Huron, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Midland, Monroe, Oakland, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Tuscola, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Southwest winds from 20 to 25 miles per hour with gusts up to 45 miles per hour could blow around unsecured objects and may interrupt visibility as accumulating snow showers up to an inch may fall. Find the full updated forecast for the region online at weather.gov. The Reedy Creek Fire Department's Honor Guard has consistently performed at the International Association of Fire Fighters' Affiliate Leadership Training Summit in recent years, members said (photo courtesy of Jon Shirey). The president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association, which represents Walt Disney Worlds first responders, says members of its Honor Guard will have to perform without pay at an international convention in a retaliatory move for union members publicly speaking about their safety and staffing concerns at the Disney resort. Jon Shirey said department and district officials initially told him the Honor Guard would not be allowed to appear at the upcoming International Association of Fire Fighters Affiliate Leadership Training Summit, which will be held at Disneys Dolphin Resort Jan. 9-12. Advertisement After Shirey spoke with the Orlando Sentinel about the matter, he said Fire Chief Richard LePere told union vice president Paulette Montero that members could appear at the convention off-duty, on an unpaid basis. Previously, the district awarded Honor Guard members overtime for representing it at formal events, according to Shirey and current and former Honor Guard members. Advertisement Members also will not be able to take time off for Honor Guard duties if they were scheduled to work during the appearance, he said. In a Sentinel article published last month, Shirey and other union members said a staffing shortage at the Reedy Creek Fire Department has put Disney employees and visitors in danger because the agency does not have enough people to respond to emergencies at the resort. At the time, Disney spokesman Avery Maehrer wrote the unions claims about safety at Disney were simply not true. The safety of everyone who comes to Walt Disney World Resort has always been extremely important to us, and we are grateful to all the first responders who continue to keep our property safe, he said in a statement. The union is bargaining with Reedy Creek to add more first responders. Spokeswoman Eryka Washington said the Reedy Creek Improvement District fully supports the appearance of the Honor Guard at the summit and it is not current district practice to pay employees for non-district related events. We recognize the importance of what the Honor Guard represents to the community, she said in a statement. She did not respond to further questions about the allegations. The unions international leadership is aware of the safety and staffing allegations at the fire department and is watching the retaliation claim very closely, General President Edward Kelly said. Advertisement He said he and District Vice President Walter Dix plan to meet with Reedy Creek officials next week to discuss those concerns, focusing on the staffing claims. The [staffing] alarm that the Reedy Creek firefighters are sounding is not a false one, and its something that the administration of Reedy Creek needs to address in order to ensure not only those firefighters are safe, but the visitors to the Disney properties are safe, Kelly said. Honor guards traditionally perform at first responders funerals and other formal events. At this summit, Reedy Creeks Honor Guard usually does a flag presentation, Shirey said. Its team has appeared at the convention in 2016, 2018 and 2020, according to former commander Ben Whitley. Shirey said he was told in late December by Fire Chief LePere that District Administrator John Classe said the Honor Guard could absolutely not appear at any union-sponsored functions because of the newspaper article. Theyre gonna deny that its retaliation, but being that its the first time theyve ever denied our people the ability to do it, and it conveniently happened right after that article was published, it certainly has the appearance of such, said Shirey, a former Honor Guard member. Finding people to perform with the Honor Guard has been problematic during the pandemic partially due to the departments limited staffing, Whitley said. He said the concerns factored into him stepping down from leading the group on Dec. 18, before he learned of the summit issue. Advertisement Our job as the Honor Guard is to provide a service to Disney as our taxpayer, Whitley said. ... If it was requested, we went and did it. And so then to hear that this is the stance thats being taken, its kind of disheartening. The team has about 15 total members, but events like the IAFF convention typically require around six people, he said. The Honor Guard has both union and non-union members, Shirey said. We are one of the few honor guards in the area that are always paid by our department for the services that we provide them, said Whitley, who has been a member since 2013. Thats always been the districts stance for as long as Ive been on the team. David Bonta, current commander of the Honor Guard, said the group has not had an issue in the past with compensation or time off for events, but Reedy Creek is not obligated to give members time to participate. Bonta began his tenure as commander as this dispute was happening. He said he was not told that the district would withhold the Honor Guard from participating but confirmed it would not compensate members for performing. He said fire department leadership told him the change in pay policy was due to the current situation, but the unions actions were not specifically mentioned. Advertisement Bonta said he does not view the action as retaliation but as the fire department trying not to make waves. He appreciates Reedy Creek allowing the Honor Guards participation, he said, but their decision makes it difficult to recruit participants. Its a lot easier to get involvement whenever people are paid, Bonta said. krice@orlandosentinel.com and @katievrice on Twitter There is good news for Paris Saint-Germain, with Lionel Messi having finally returned to Paris. The forward tested positive for COVID-19 last week and had to remain in Rosario, where he was spending the Christmas break. That positive test was on December 28, but he has now come through the period of isolation and has presented a negative PCR test, meaning he has been able to fly back to France. The 34-year-old will now have other physical tests with the PSG doctors, to ensure he is fully fit and that the virus hasn't left any lingering effects. It'll be like a typical pre-season medical test. PSG are optimistic and not ruling Messi out of their next game, a Ligue 1 trip to face Lyon on Sunday night. With the Argentine having been unable to train for a week, that might be overly optimistic. McAlester, OK (74501) Today A widely scattered shower or thunderstorm is possible this morning. Then cloudy skies the remainder of the day. High 78F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Variable clouds with strong thunderstorms. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 51F. SSW winds shifting to NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. McAlester, OK (74501) Today Thunderstorms likely, especially this morning. A few storms may be severe. High 78F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Variable clouds with strong thunderstorms. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 51F. SSW winds shifting to NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for COVID-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patients two-thirds in some places are testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons. Advertisement At the same time, hospitals say the patients arent as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units arent as full, and ventilators arent needed as much as they were before. The pressures are neverthless prompting hospitals to scale back non-emergency surgeries and close wards, while National Guard troops have been sent in in several states to help at medical centers and testing sites. Advertisement Nearly two years into the pandemic, frustration and exhaustion are running high among health care workers. This is getting very tiring, and Im being very polite in saying that, said Dr. Robert Glasgow of University of Utah Health, which has hundreds of workers out sick or in isolation. About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year. But the hospitalization numbers do not tell the whole story. Some cases in the official count involve COVID-19 infections that werent what put the patients in the hospital in the first place. Dr. Fritz Francois, chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said about 65% of patients admitted to that system with COVID-19 recently were primarily hospitalized for something else and were incidentally found to have the virus. At two large Seattle hospitals over the past two weeks, three-quarters of the 64 patients testing positive for the coronavirus were admitted with a primary diagnosis other than COVID-19. Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said the rising number of cases like that is both good and bad. The lack of symptoms shows vaccines, boosters and natural immunity from prior infections are working, she said. The bad news is that the numbers mean the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, and some percentage of those people will wind up needing hospitalization. Advertisement This week, 36% of California hospitals reported critical staffing shortages. And 40% are expecting such shortages. Some hospitals are reporting as much as one quarter of their staff out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill, the California Hospital Associations vice president for policy and leader on pandemic matters. In response, hospitals are turning to temporary staffing agencies or transferring patients out. University of Utah Health plans to keep more than 50 beds open because it doesnt have enough nurses. It is also rescheduling surgeries that arent urgent. In Florida, a hospital temporarily closed its maternity ward because of staff shortages. In Alabama, where most of the population is unvaccinated, UAB Health in Birmingham put out an urgent request for people to go elsewhere for COVID-19 tests or minor symptoms and stay home for all but true emergencies. Treatment rooms were so crowded that some patients had to be evaluated in hallways and closets. As of Monday, New York state had just over 10,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19, including 5,500 in New York City. Thats the most in either the city or state since the disastrous spring of 2020. Advertisement New York City hospital officials, though, reported that things havent become dire. Generally, the patients arent as sick as they were back then. Of the patients hospitalized in New York City, around 600 were in ICU beds. Were not even halfway to what we were in April 2020, said Dr. David Battinelli, the physician-in-chief for Northwell Health, New York states largest hospital system. Similarly, in Washington state, the number of COVID-19-infected people on ventilators increased over the past two weeks, but the share of patients needing such equipment dropped. In South Carolina, which is seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases and a sharp rise in hospitalizations, Gov. Henry McMaster took note of the seemingly less-serious variant and said: Theres no need to panic. Be calm. Be happy. Amid the omicron-triggered surge in demand for COVID-19 testing across the U.S., New York Citys Fire Department is asking people not to call for ambulance just because they are having trouble finding a test. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new or expanded testing sites in nine cities to steer test-seekers away from ERs. About 300 National Guard members are being sent to help out at those centers. Advertisement In Connecticut, many ER patients are in beds in hallways, and nurses are often working double shifts because of staffing shortages, said Sherri Dayton, a nurse at the Backus Plainfield Emergency Care Center. Many emergency rooms have hours-long waiting times, she said. We are drowning. We are exhausted, Dayton said. Doctors and nurses are complaining about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a crisis, despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases. In the past, we didnt have the vaccine, so it was us all hands together, all the support. But that support has kind of dwindled from the community, and people seem to be moving on without us, said Rachel Chamberlin, a nurse at New Hampshires Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Edward Merrens, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, said more than 85% of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. > Several patients in the hospitals COVID-19 ICU unit were on ventilators, a breathing tube down their throats. In one room, staff members made preparations for what they feared would be the final family visit for a dying patient. Advertisement One of the unvaccinated was Fred Rutherford, a 55-year-old from Claremont, New Hampshire. His son carried him out of the house when he became sick and took him to the hospital, where he needed a breathing tube for a while and feared he might die. If he returns home, he said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so too. I probably thought I was immortal, that I was tough, Rutherford said, speaking from his hospital bed behind a window, his voice weak and shaky. But he added: I will do anything I can to be the voice of people that dont understand youve got to get vaccinated. Youve got to get it done to protect each other. ___ Casey reported from Boston and Thompson from Sacramento. Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Bobby Calvan in New York City contributed to this report. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota fired 700 unvaccinated employees on Tuesday after they failed to get the shots by the Monday deadline, according to news reports. (TNS) Amid vaccine mandate challenges nationwide, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota fired 700 unvaccinated employees on Tuesday after they failed to get the shots by the Monday deadline, according to news reports. The firings represent about 1% of Mayos 73,000 workers, reported WCCO-TV, a CBS affiliate in Minnesota. Advertisement The employees were required to either receive at least the first protective shot against COVID-19 or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Mayo said it granted the majority of exemption requests, the Star Tribune reported. Advertisement If the fired employees later get vaccinated, they can return to the Rochester-based health system for future job openings. Mayo also operates hospitals and clinics in Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin. While Mayo Clinic is saddened to lose valuable employees, we need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe, the clinic said in a statement. Based on science and data, its clear that vaccination keeps people out of the hospital and saves lives. Thats true for everyone in our communities and its especially true for the many patients with serious or complex diseases who seek care at Mayo Clinic each day, the statement continued. Mayo joins employers across the country that are firing or otherwise punishing workers who refuse to take the vaccine. There are no federal laws preventing employers from requiring all employees physically entering workplace to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to reasonable accommodations, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But Republican-led states, conservative organizations and businesses have been fighting workplace vaccine mandates. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold a hastily scheduled special session to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for millions of workers, policies that affect large employers and health care workers. Advertisement In a special session in Florida, legislators in November voted to approve a bill pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fine businesses with vaccine mandates for employees. The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. > Many Republicans who debated the bill argued it was a way to push back against the vaccine requirement for businesses issued by President Joe Bidens administration through an executive order, the Sentinels Gray Rohrer reported. In late December, Floridas Department of Economic Opportunity moved forward with a rule that would allow government workers to be eligible for unemployment benefits if they are let go from jobs for refusing to comply with coronavirus vaccination mandates, News4Jax reported. The controversy is affecting the military as well. Over 97% of active-duty forces have received at least one shot. But about 30,000 active-duty service members remain unvaccinated, despite a Defense Department mandate issued in August and deadlines that have passed, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. In Texas, officials indicated Tuesday that thousands of National Guard members are refusing vaccines in the latest challenge. Advertisement Texas has over 20,000 National Guard members, the largest contingent of any state. About 40% of its Army National Guard are refusing vaccination for either religious accommodation needs or otherwise, according to the lawsuit filed in a federal court in East Texas. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Xian, Shaanxi proivnce, has drawn much attention. A young man, named Xu Kai, in an ambulance parking lot in Xian, recorded ambulances supporting Xian from all over the country. As of Dec 27 2021, Xu Kai organized a team of volunteers to cook free meals for staff members who controlled and prevented the epidemic spread, and some of the meals were delivered to more than 100 ambulance drivers who rushed to Xian. After delivering food late at night, he saw ambulances from all over the country in the parking lot. He was so shocked and moved that he recorded it on video. Xu Kai used the license plate numbers to find out which provinces the cars were from, including Anhui, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Sichuan and Heilongjiang. According to the intensified COVID-19 pandemic in Xian, it received supports from all parts of China. Tan Zunchao, an agricultural products e-commerce dealer in Anhui, concerned the warmth of front-line health care workers who fight against the COVID-19. Many anti-pandemic workers are working outdoors, so it must be very cold. I couldnt help them much, so I wanted to give them something to keep warm.Tan said. After discussing with his friend Liu Jiapei, he decided to donate heating equipment together. Then a truck carrying exothermic pads and heaters worth 468,000 yuan (around $73,429) set off from Hefei, traveled about 1,000 kilometers for 14 hours, and successfully arrived in Xi 'an. (By Li Ruichuan) Nearly one in three COVID-19 tests in Orange County has been positive over the past two weeks with the omicron variant igniting a new wave of the virus across the nation, Mayor Jerry Demings said Tuesday. Demings said he feared further spread could strain the workforce countywide. He urged employers to encourage sick employees to stay home, and to get tested. Advertisement If were not careful as the rate of transmission is obviously picking up, we could find ourselves adversely affecting the workforce here in Central Florida, he said. Demings said 254 county employees are out of work after testing positive for the virus. Among positive county employees are 59 corrections officers, 53 from the countys fire department and 49 in the utility department. Advertisement While at Orange County Public Schools, 434 staffers called out sick Tuesday, which marked the first day of school after Winter Break, Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said. Of those, 92 were bus drivers, about 14% of the districts drivers. I would encourage parents to have alternative plans, Jenkins said of getting children to school. We will get to students, its just in some instances that driver has to make one run to the school and then make a second run to go pick up other students, so its going to be delayed. She said the school system has automated calls to parents if buses are going to be delayed, but its not always in enough time to make adequate plans. OCPS enacted a mask mandate for its employees and encourages parents to consider masking their children with virus spread so prevalent, Jenkins said. Meanwhile Orlando is requiring employees to wear masks when entering a city building, in a common area and when social distancing isnt possible. Masks arent required at an employees workspace if they can be appropriately distanced. Visitors to City Hall, neighborhood centers and other city facilities are also required to wear face masks, according to an email distributed to employees. Demings required county employees to wear masks at work last week, and reiterated it will be in place for the foreseeable future. However, he said he didnt want to enact a toothless emergency order affecting the public, following changes in state law meant to curtail the ability of local officials to issue mandates. Testing remains in high demand across the state, including in Orange County where three testing sites feature hours-long lines. While lines close prior to their scheduled 5 p.m. time daily, Demings said site managers encourage people to line up by 7 a.m. to increase the chance they receive a test. Advertisement More than 90% of the people testing positive for the virus are unvaccinated, said Alvina Chu, epidemiology program manager for the state Health Department in Orange County. For instance, unvaccinated people accounted for 3,956 of the 4,100 new infections reported Monday in the county. Cases continue to be propelled by persons who are unvaccinated, she said. Orange County is classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a community of high transmission, which the CDC defines as more than 100 cases per 100,000 people. Chu said the county has 1,823 cases per 100,000 people. A week ago, the rate was 788 cases per 100,000. Despite the soaring infection rate, the surge is not yet swamping hospital intensive care units or causing a spike in deaths. Advertisement The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. > State data shows 35 people in Orange County died of COVID in November and December, including 14 last month. By comparison, 725 people in the county died of COVID in August and September during a summer surge blamed on the virus delta variant. Chu said she could not predict when the current surge will peak. We have to wait and see, she said. You never know when the peak is over until its over. The amount of virus circulating in the countys wastewater continues to explode, reaching 13.8 million parts per liter on Dec. 30, far exceeding the 8.2 million found three days prior. We have never recorded anything this high, said utilities director Ed Torres. Advertisement rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com, shudak@orlandosentinel.com As omicrons spread outpaces an overwhelming demand for COVID-19 tests, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has a solution that contradicts advice from myriad public health experts: test fewer people. In a Monday news briefing, the surgeon general took aim at mass testing and said the Florida Department of Health will soon recommend people forgo testing unless it will be what he labels high-value. Advertisement The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends people get tested if they have symptoms, have had close contact with someone with COVID-19, or if they are not fully vaccinated. Some federal vaccination mandates require weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. The coming guidelines will discourage tests for people at lower risk of severe outcomes, such as children and people without symptoms, but encourage tests for people more likely to need treatment for COVID-19, such as the elderly, he said. Advertisement My departments goal ... doesnt restrict access to testing, but reduces the use of low-value testing and prioritizes high-value testing. ... High-value testing is testing that is likely to change outcomes, Ladapo said during the news conference at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. We need to unwind this planning and living ones life around testing. Florida International University epidemiologist Mary Jo Trepka said Ladapo wrongly implies that the highest value gained from testing is determining whether someone needs to be treated for COVID-19, when in fact, perhaps more valuable is the ability of tests to tell someone whether they need to isolate, thus reducing community spread. Trepka pointed to recent evidence that Floridas go-to treatments, monoclonal antibodies, do not work as well against omicron as they have worked against past variants. One brand, GlaxoSmithKlines Sotrovimab, seems to work better than others but it is in short supply nationwide, she added. We dont really have an effective treatment for COVID-19 with the omicron variant. Theres really only one monoclonal antibody, she said. But I would argue that you can really prevent a lot of infections if you test widely because then those people who are asymptomatic or very mildly ill can find out if they have COVID-19 and then they can ... avoid spending time with highly vulnerable people. The CDC points to ample evidence that shows that though children are at lower risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, they can still spread the virus to others, as can asymptomatic people who may not know they have COVID-19. Elena Cyrus, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Central Floridas College of Medicine, said community testing has guided public health responses for decades and helped control viruses alongside measures such as vaccination. In all epidemics from HIV to previous SARS, screening remains one of the most cost effective ways to help prevent and control the spread of a disease/virus, she wrote in an email. Accurate testing data guides decisions such as whether to reopen schools or initiate mandates. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings ended the countys state of emergency in October because its COVID-19 test positivity rate remained under 5% for two weeks, for instance. Advertisement Gov. Ron DeSantis in Mondays news briefing affirmed Ladapos decision and suggested that reduced testing would also help increase access to tests statewide for vulnerable populations such as the elderly. The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. > What you are seeing is there are people going to the drug stores, buying all these tests. Theyll go multiple times per week to the sites and test, without symptoms. That is just going to contribute to some of the crunch that you are seeing, DeSantis said. Long lines and depleted resources have plagued testing sites in recent weeks. Demand was so extreme in Seminole County, for instance, that cars lined up for a test kit giveaway starting at 6 a.m. The line was closed shortly after the giveaway began at 10 a.m., with nearly 11,000 tests distributed in total, Seminole County officials said. There are ways to make testing more efficient without decreasing the number of people who get tested, however. Dr. Ethan Berke, chief public health officer for UnitedHealth Group in Minnesota, has helped organizations across the country design COVID-19 mitigation plans throughout the pandemic. One strategy involved testing multiple peoples samples with a single device at a school in Washington, D.C. that required students to have negative COVID-19 tests each week. Groups of eight to 14 students individual cotton swabs were put in a single test device. In the vast majority of groups, everyone was negative and no further testing was needed. As a result, the school saved tests and money, he said. Advertisement One way to increase capacity is to put more people on the bus, instead of everybody driving in their own car, Berke said. Thats a huge advantage, then, of being able to test frequently enough and not burn through resources that then they become unavailable ... So thats an example of how there are ways to get creative at that population level in looking at whats the prevalence in the community. ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman on Twitter Mary C. (Hoff) Lee, 84, of Atlantic passed away Sunday, May 1, 2022, in her residence. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by Loutzenhiser-Jordan Funeral Home and Cremation Services Inc., 366-368 S. Main St., Greenville. Kapil Sharma is finally coming up with his Netflix special titled, Kapil Sharma - I Am Not Done Yet. The comedy special was announced in January 2021 and the release date along with the introduction video as well as the teaser has now been dropped online. The ace comedians social media stint is controversial, to say the least. Be it his Tweets addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his ugly fight with a journalist, Kapil has often made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Kapil Sharma Instagram When his controversial Tweets went viral, it was alleged that he was drunk at that time. Later, Kapil and other celebs present on his show even cracked sly jokes about it. However, for the first time, Kapil is opening up about the social media controversy and has stated that those were in fact drunk tweets from him. In the teaser that he dropped on Twitter with the caption, Dont tell Netflix that I have leaked the footage kapil sharma: I am not done yet! @NetflixIndia @beingu_studios #kapilsharmaonnetflix, Kapil can be seen addressing the controversy in his trademark humour. Dont tell Netflix that I have leaked the footage kapil sharma: I am not done yet! @NetflixIndia @beingu_studios #kapilsharmaonnetflix pic.twitter.com/WlcHru0rUP Kapil Sharma (@KapilSharmaK9) January 5, 2022 He reveals that after courting controversy with his Tweets, he flew to the Maldives and spent Rs 9 lakh in just a few days. He also made sure he stayed away from the internet. He further joked that he wants to sue Twitter for not mentioning Drunk Tweets below his tweets like they mentioned Manipulated below some politicians tweets. He also quipped that Kapil Sharma shouldnt be blamed for those tweets and instead the controversy is courtesy Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker. Kapil Sharma Instagram A few minutes before dropping the Netflix Special teaser, Kapil also posted a video where he announced the release date of his comedy special and revealed what all the audience will get to see in it. His tweet read, Lets meet on 28th January on your Netflix screen Television with my first stand up special Kapil sharma: I m not done yet! Lets meet on 28th January on your Netflix screen with my first stand up special Kapil sharma: I m not done yet! #kapilsharmaonnetflix @NetflixIndia @netflix @beingustudios @GoswamiAnukalp pic.twitter.com/e0EaUt5xnB Kapil Sharma (@KapilSharmaK9) January 5, 2022 Are you excited about Kapil Sharmas new comedy special? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who entered Bollywood after winning the Miss World title in 2000, is one of the most loved celebrities globally. She made her Bollywood debut with the 2003 film The Hero and went on to deliver hits like Fashion, Barfi, Krrish 3, Agneepath, Don, Bajirao Mastani among others. After proving her mettle in the Hindi film industry, PeeCee is now busy conquering Hollywood. Recently seen in The Matrix Resurrections with Keanu Reeves, the Kaminey star has welcomed New Year 2022 with a bang. Well, Priyanka has now become the most followed Bollywood celebrity on Instagram. She has beaten the likes of Katrina Kaif, Shraddha Kapoor, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone among other B-Town stars to bag the top spot with 72.4 million followers on the popular social media platform. Surprisingly, Shraddha Kapoor is the second most followed B-Town celeb on the photo-sharing app with 68.6 million followers. Deepika Padukone is on the third spot with 63.5 followers, followed by Katrina Kaif with 60.4 million followers. Talking about male stars, Akshay Kumar is the most followed Bollywood celebrity with around 58.3 followers. However, his follower count is much lesser than his Aitraaz co-star. While Salman is the second most followed male Bollywood star with 48.5 million followers. This is indeed a great achievement for Priyanka Chopra. On the career front, she will be seen in Citadel alongside Richard Madden and has also signed an Indian wedding comedy with Mindy Kaling. Telugu superstar Allu Arjun is currently riding high on the success of his latest release Pushpa. The movie is breaking records across the country and is riding high on earning moolah as well. Just like his brilliant choice of movies, his penchant for all things in life is grand. The actor, who was earlier living in a beautiful house called Blessing in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, moved to a super swanky, minimalistic, box-like house, which basically looks like something straight out of a sci-fi film! Aamir & Hameeda Associates The minimalist style house is unlike any celebrity home weve seen, even in pictures. Designed by architects Aamir and Hameeda Associates it is spread over 8,000 sq feet and built on a plot of land of around 2 acres. Aamir & Hameeda Associates Aamir & Hameeda Associates I mean, look at the view of the breakfast table with that jazzy open kitchen and an inviting swimming pool outside. Aamir & Hameeda Associates An open bathroom attached to your master bedroom? Yes please! Wed shower all day long here. Aamir & Hameeda Associates Aamir & Hameeda Associates The passage that connects the whole house, and the beautiful corners around the place are so posh and chic . Aamir & Hameeda Associates Aamir & Hameeda Associates The house is made on land on the outskirts of Hyderabad where only 20% of construction is possible. Honestly, this rectangular box-like majestic abode looks like its a house from a galaxy which mankind will discover in the future. Source: Houzz.in Javed Akhtar is no stranger to trolling and has often been criticized for his views concerning national issues. A while ago, he was in the headlines as he compared the Taliban and the Hindu right-wing that triggered controversy. This time, he has asked people to forgive the woman, who is the apparent mastermind behind the Bulli Bai app. For the unversed, an 18-year-old girl Shweta Singh and two young students have been arrested over the Bulli Bai app that shared objectionable pictures of Muslim women for an online auction. She is termed as the prime accused in the case, who was in constant touch with Vishal Kumar, an engineering student from Bengaluru who was arrested in connection with the same case on Monday. 18-year-old Shweta Singh has been taken into custody by Mumbai Police, in connection with the Bulli Bai app case. The procedure is underway for her transit remand at Rudrapur police station: Uttarakhand Police Headquarters, reported news agency ANI. 18-year-old Shweta Singh has been taken into custody by Mumbai Police, in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case. The procedure is underway for her transit remand at Rudrapur police station: Uttarakhand Police Headquarters ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2022 As per a report in India Today, she lost both her parents. She lost her father to Covid-19 last year and lost her mother to cancer before this. She has an elder sister who is a commerce graduate, while her younger sister and brother are school students. She was preparing for engineering entrance examinations. She was using a fake Twitter handle with the name JattKhalsa07. The handle was being used for uploading hate posts and objectionable photos and comments. Now, Javed requested people to show some compassion for her and forgive her as she did it for money. He wrote, If bully bai '' was really masterminded by an 18 year old girl who has recently lost her parents to cancer and Corona I think the women or some of them meet her and like kind elders make her understand why whatever she did was wrong. Show her compassion and forgive her. If bully bai was really masterminded by an 18 year old girl who has recently lost her parents to cancer n Corona I think the women or some of them meet her and like kind elders make her understand that why what ever she did was wrong . Show her compassion and forgive her . Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) January 5, 2022 People are not okay with Javed supporting her and are bashing him. One of the users wrote, While you are trying to be compassionate, the fact is, you should look at the crime they did and the trauma that the victims underwent. Neither is this person a lone wolf, they are a pack & there may be more out there, doing or will do in future, same or different. They need punishment. A few users dragged Kangana Ranaut too into the conversation and asked Akhtar to show the same compassion for her and take his defamation case back. Here are the reactions: Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter What do you have to say about this fiasco? Let us know in the comments section below. Meridian, MS (39302) Today Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 87F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. UPDATE: On Thursday, Orlando Fringe canceled all in-person performances at the Orlando Fringe Winter Mini-Fest. The digital presentations, detailed at the end of this column, will be still be available to watch online. Whats new at this years Orlando Fringe Winter Mini-Fest? Advertisement Well, the location for starters. This year, the four-day festival of theater, music, dance and more moves downtown to a few Church Street venues, including the Haos on Church restaurant, 123 W. Church St., and The Depot, at 78 W. Church. It runs Jan. 13-16. Thats followed by an online Mini-Digi fest. The way the in-person Mini-Fest works remains the same: First, buy a $3 button. Then, choose which shows you want to see and buy your tickets. The button fee pays for Fringes overhead; the ticket revenue goes straight to the artists youre watching. (You dont need to buy a button to watch shows in the online festival, but you do need to buy tickets; a $1 surcharge is added to the online ticket price.) Advertisement So what about the shows? This years Winter Mini-Fest runs the gamut from favorite and critically acclaimed shows returning for an encore Orlando engagement, to new shows from familiar Fringe artists, to work by artists who have never before performed in Central Florida. Then the Mini-Digi festival features additional shows. Heres a look at shows that intrigue across those four categories. "Rosegold" was written by and stars Donna Kay Yarborough. (Arnista Photography / Courtesy photo) ENCORES: Coffee and Cedar is a sentimental look at a grandfather-grandson bond, while Cross-Country: A Self-Help Concert Performance uses a live bands catchy music to explore relationships. ExperiMental features mind-bending magic, and La Davina offers insight into opera great Maria Callas (complete with live singing). Rosegold is an alcoholics riveting story of horror and the supernatural; The Sack: A Play on Superheroes is a fast-paced goof on superhero tropes. Blind to Happiness is a heartfelt examination of whether we can choose to be happier, and Always Now is an improvisational dance show in which the audience selects the music. Things to Do Weekly A look at entertainment and sporting events in Orlando and around Central Florida. > FAMILIAR FACES: The Barn Identity brings back festival favorite Erika Kate MacDonald with an introspective show featuring live music by Paul Strickland. In Sing Out Proud! Fringe vets including Natalie Doliner, Sarah-Lee Dobbs and Ned Wilkinson tell a story of pride and acceptance featuring the music of the Carpenters. And a three-generation love story comes to life in Bloodline, a new show from Paris Crayton III, the award-winning creator of 2019s Spare the Rod. Orlando Fringe veteran Erika Kate MacDonald stars in "The Barn Identity." (Courtesy photo / Courtesy photo) NEWCOMERS: Brown Eyed Girl examines history and prejudice. A Terrible Show for Terrible People is physical comedy in which one performer speaks only two words. In the comedy Becoming Grandma Kat, a man disguises himself as an elderly woman. Fool Muun Komming is absurdist physical comedy about loneliness and longing, while The Marvelous Mechanical Musical Maiden is a whimsical story of love and rebellion. In Hat, Hat, Chapeaux, Broadways Pamela Bob musically explores the highs and lows of love. In "Hat, Hat, Chapeaux" Broadway performer Pamela Bob sings songs of love by Ellen Mandel and Michael Lydon. (Courtesy photo / Courtesy photo) ONLINE: A comedy duo builds sketches around being Korean- and Korean-Black-American in 1.5 Korean. Take a musical ride through summer camp in Camp BFF4E. Journey to the Kingdom of Hypnos is a aural experience that must be experienced with headphones, and bring a deck of cards to participate in Magic on the Fringe. Jimmy Ichihana performs "Magic on the Fringe." (Courtesy photo / Courtesy photo) Neechie-Itas, is a comedy of Indigenous sisterhood, while Parallax examines fame and self-image. Planet of the Grapes is Peter Michael Marinos playful parody of the 1968 ape-filled sci-fi thriller, done in the Victorian-era style of toy theater. Recovery is a Zoom-powered interactive show from Phoenix Tears Productions in which audience members assist the recently deceased. Advertisement Peter Michael Marino created "Planet of the Grapes," a playful spoof of "Planet of the Apes" featuring table fruit. (Courtesy photo / Courtesy photo) In Shattered, Diana E. Varco takes 35 characters on a raw journey through dating, dysfunction and sexual devastation. The kNew Born is a story of a convicts attempts at redemption, and Something in the Water celebrates not being normal in a show inspired by performer S.E. Grummetts experience coming out as transgender. Get details on all the shows and the full schedule at OrlandoFringe.org. Find me on Twitter @matt_on_arts, facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theater and arts news and reviews? Go to orlandosentinel.com/arts. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The city of Owensboro could receive up to $2 million from a class action lawsuit filed against opioid manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies and various opioid distributors. In July, Johnson & Johnson, which owns Janssen Pharmaceutical, settled a lawsuit filed by states and cities against the company and three opioid distributors. Tuesday evening, Owensboro city commissioners approved a municipal order to execute documents related to receiving payments in the settlement, including documents to release the defendants from any existing or potential future claims. City Attorney Mark Pfieffer said Kentucky will receive 2.1% of a total $26 billion settlement, which would be paid over 18 years. The state, cities and counties will split the funds. If all of the settlement funds are paid, Owensboro and Daviess County could receive up to $4 million, Pfeiffer said. Ultimately, it cold bring the city as much as $2 million, Pfeiffer said. The city and county will have to determine how to split the payments. The first payment should be distributed in the summer, Pfeiffer said. The funds are designated to be used in specific ways, such as for opioid abuse treatment, supplying the opioid antidote Narcan to emergency responders, for services for inmates in jails and for education about opioid addiction. Mayor Tom Watson said he supports the city being part of the settlement because the fund will go toward combating opioid addiction. The settlement, city manager Nate Pagan said, is a good thing for the city. Unfortunately, its needed, he said. Daviess County Attorney Claud Porter said Fiscal Court has already submitted its documents to receive funds through the settlement. James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse COVID-19 cases have spiked as of Tuesday, according to data reported by the Green River District Health Department, with a record incidence rate recorded for Daviess County. GRDHD reported 1,495 new cases in the seven-county region between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3, the highest number of reported cases since mid-September, during the height of the delta surge. That number, however, represents a weeks worth of cases, as a report was not made Friday due to the New Years holiday. Reports are usually released twice a week. Regardless, Clay Horton, public health director, said numbers are high, with an alarming increase in incidence rates. Theyre very high, he said. Even though thats for a full week, if you recall the release last week was also for a full week and this numbers double more than double what it was. In Daviess County, the incidence rate is 108.22 newly reported cases per day for a population of 100,000, the highest reported yet. Previously, the highest incidence rate for the county was 81.76, reported Aug. 26. Incidence rates have risen, not only in Daviess County, but in the region, as the average number of new cases per day for all seven counties reached 214.4 as of Tuesday, according to GRDHD. The highest average reported for the region, since GRDHD started reporting it, was 230 on Sept. 16. I think we are seeing both the effects of omicron moving into the area and also just the after-effects of the many interactions from the holidays that weve had the past couple of weeks, Horton said. The number of reported cases, he said, are only a portion of how many COVID-19 cases there are in the region, as many cases go unreported and at-home tests become more widely used. Actual case numbers, he said, are likely to be much higher than reports show. With many people using at-home tests, the discrepancy between confirmed cases and actual cases in the community will be even greater, he said. Ive seen estimates that actual infections may be as much as 10 times higher than lab confirmed cases. Horton also said that rapid testing may not be picking up the omicron variant as well as other strains of COVID-19. There was some information put out by the FDA last week that talked about the rapid antigen tests are not quite as sensitive to omicron as they have been to previous variants, he said. Now, the antigen tests arent as sensitive as the PCR tests anyway, but it appears that the sensitivity may even be slightly reduced with omicron. Hortons suggestion is if anyone is sick, even if they receive negative test results, stay home. It is still very early in the omicron variant, and there is more to learn about how it affects people and how it reacts to vaccines and presents with testing efforts, he said. Horton said similar trends of infection rates are being seen around the rest of the state and nationally. This isnt a unique phenomenon that Owensboro or the Green River District area are experiencing; this is happening in a lot of places, he said. Its driven mainly by this exponential spread of omicron. Its a very, very contagious virus, and its taking off in the community right now. This week, he said, the estimate is that omicron will account for about 80% of COVID-19 cases in Kentucky. Last week, that estimate was around 40-50%, he said. It may take several weeks to get more concrete data on how the variant is really affecting the community. While Horton could not say for certain that omicron has reached the GRDHD service area, he expects it has. Its always really difficult to pinpoint in real time because the sequencing to determine that takes a couple of weeks, he said. But I think just from what weve seen in other states where omicrons taken off, what our own incidence rates are doing over the last week and how rapidly theyve taken off, all the signs are pointing to were seeing omicron in the area. He said the risk of contracting COVID-19 is very high and everyone should take precautions against the virus. Horton also said that despite hearsay about the effectiveness of masking and how serious the omicron variant is, everyone should be concerned and take measures to protect themselves. Wearing a mask and getting vaccinated are the two most important precautionary steps you can take to protect yourselves and your families, he said. Theres no reason to write this off and think that its nothing to worry about. People really do need to protect themselves, and they can do that by getting vaccinated, wearing masks, just using common sense, but if we take this lightly, people are going to get seriously sick, and were going to have people die. Owensboro Health also reported an uptick in COVID-19 patients Monday evening with 60 patients in its three facilities in Owensboro, Greenville and Leitchfield. Of those, 53 were housed at OH Regional Hospital, 14 in critical care and nine intubated. The highest number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized at OH facilities was reported on Sept. 21 at 85 patients. We start 2022 with an uptick in COVID-9 positive patients, OH said in a statement. Although you can still get COVID-19 if you are vaccinated, it is your best defense against severe illness or death form the virus. To schedule a vaccine appointment at OH, visit OwensboroHealth.org/Vaccine. Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360 Owensboro Middle School Principal Randy Bryant informed parents and guardians in an email Tuesday that an investigation into a mid-December TikTok threat to Owensboro Middle School has concluded the threat did not originate from within the school system. The social media threat was vague and called for violence at schools on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, according to Owensboro Public Schools spokesman Jared Revlett. It did not reference the school specifically, but a school with the initials OMS, he said. At that time, the school system and the Owensboro Police Department increased security at the school and began a thorough investigation. Bryant said in his email that the police department and school administration and TikTok security determined the threat to be a part of a national trend across the social media platform and at no time was the threat directly made to an OPS facility. It has been confirmed that no OMS or OPS student was responsible for sending, forwarding or making threats to OMS or any OPS facility. Revlett said oftentimes with threats like this the districts leadership and security team is able to know immediately if it applies directly to the school system or not. If its been seen elsewhere across the country or has appeared in multiple areas, were able to see that pretty quickly, and make a determination, he said. If were not able to immediately determine its origin, its mostly handled through the police department. He said the districts technology team also is able to monitor activity that takes place on school-issued devices or over the district Wi-Fi. However, OPD is always involved from the start, he said, and handles any subpoenas that need to go through social media companies and things of that nature. Bobbie Hayse, bhayse@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7315 At its meeting Tuesday at City Hall, the Owensboro City Commission took the following actions: Held a swearing-in ceremony for new Owensboro Fire Department firefighters Todd Combs, Rachel Frederick, Curtis Johnson III, Aaron Pace, Austin Schuknecht and Zerrick Wells. Declared National Volunteer Blood Donor Month and Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Reappointed J.T. Fulkerson to the city Utility Commission. Reappointed Steven R. Englehardt to the Civil Service Commission. Reappointed Donnie Brey to the City Employees Pension Board (closed). Appointed Jason Gasser to the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission. Approved an ordinance to annex 1.167 acres at 3238 Kidron Way, at the request of Kidron Investment, LLC. Held first reading on an ordinance to annex 2.237 acres at 1937 Leitchfield Road, at the request of VAF 1937 Leitchfield Road, LLC. Approved an municipal order annexing 1/176 acres at 3238 Kidron Way, and providing Kidron Investments certain tax refund over a five-year period. Approved a municipal order approving the execution of settlement participation forms, to participate in settlement agreements with Janssen and various opioid distributors for amounts to be determined, agreeing to use any settlement funds for opioid remediation, and releasing any potential and existing claims for alleged harms caused by opioid misuse and abuse. Approved promoting Matthew S. Cissell as probationary, full-time, non-civil service lieutenant with the Fire Department. Approved hiring Brandon M. Mitchell as regular, full-time non-civil service clerk/typist with the Police Department. Regional students are back in classrooms this week, and officials from Hancock, McLean, Muhlenberg and Ohio county schools say theyre hopeful for this second half of the school year, but they are also weary with the threat of the omicron variant. All but Ohio County Schools have a universal masking policy, which district leaders say will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Seth Southard, Ohio County Schools superintendent, said the decision was made in October to go to a mask-optional policy because it is what the school community preferred. He distributed surveys to parents and staff at that time, which indicated a preference for the choice to wear a mask. He also said when that decision was made, there were manageable COVID-19 cases in schools. When we became mask optional we didnt really see any increase in our numbers, he said. At this time, there are 11 total students and staff who have positive COVID-19 cases, which Southard said makes the school system very fortunate. He attributes that good fortune to parents and other community members following protocols, such as distancing and staying home when sick. Southard, like other education leaders, knows that could change in a day. Ohio County Schools havent yet seen the post holiday surge that is expected, but they are monitoring cases on a daily basis and will make adjustments as needed, he said. Tuesday was the first day back for Muhlenberg County Schools students, and district public information officer Carla Embry said the school system wouldnt have a count on how many students are out due to the virus until later in the week. The tornado that came through the area on Dec. 10 gave everyone something else to focus on, Embry said, but she knows the virus is still ever-present and cause for concern in the community. She did say numbers are just raging in the community, and there are several students and staff members absent. Before winter break, the district struggled to have enough bus drivers to transport students, as well as cafeteria workers to feed students. Right at this moment we are all just holding our breath, she said. We all know what it was like last year when numbers started increasing. You just get this lump in your chest. Each month MCS officials monitor cases in the county and across the school system to see if it can change virus protocols, but at this time they are sticking with CDC guidelines, which recommend indoor masking for all individuals age 2 and older, Embry said. McLean County Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Burrough also said the district is abiding by CDC guidelines for dealing with the virus and its variants, which includes masking. The district handles positive cases and quarantines among students and staff on a case-by-case basis. Case rates have been constantly high in the community and within the school system, Burrough said. Once I see we are in a decline, then we can discuss other actions, but right now, as long as we are in school, we are going to stay our current course, he said. The district also has experienced staffing issues due to the virus, and employees being out for other reasons. There were even moments last semester when central office staff members were serving meals in schools because there werent enough cafeteria workers to provide service, he said. He said the district hasnt reached critical levels with teachers and bus drivers, but he didnt have a definite count of how many are absent at this time. Later this week there will be more information regarding absences, and he and other officials are watching numbers closely. Robby Asberry, Hancock County Schools superintendent, said the district hasnt changed its COVID-19 protocols since the start of this school year, and it doesnt have any immediate plans to do so. About 3.5% of staff and students are absent due to quarantines or positive test results. Cases are up in the county and the region, but Asberry also considers the district in a good position because it hasnt yet seen a spike in case load following the holiday break. We have been blessed to not have as bad a time as other districts, as far as positive COVID-19 cases go, he said. Like all other districts in the region, Hancock schools utilize a Test to Stay option, which is helpful for keeping students in classrooms as much as possible, he said. He also said the district has contingencies in place if it has to move to remote learning due to significant student or staff absences because of the virus. All other districts in the region also have such a plan in place, however, as of Dec. 31, the state changed the flexibility districts have with Non-Traditional Instruction days. Before, districts could move specific classes or schools impacted by the virus to remote instruction while the rest of students continued normally. Now districts are limited to 10 NTI days. If a specific school needs to shut down, that means the entire district has to also close for that period and utilize those NTI days, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. Most educators in the region are hopeful there will be some decisions made in regards to leniency to that plan now that the General Assembly is back in session and a new variant is hitting the world. Bobbie Hayse, bhayse@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7315 Charles Barnes was arrested Tuesday by Sumter County Sheriff's Office and faces a charge of fraud. (Sumter County Jail) A fourth Villages resident was arrested Tuesday and suspected of voter fraud in the 2020 election, according to authorities. Charles Franklin Barnes, 64, was arrested and taken to Sumter County Jail; he faces a charge of fraud in casting more than one ballot during an election, according to the Sumter County Sheriffs Office. Advertisement Barnes is not affiliated with a political party in Florida. Voter records indicate Barnes registered in Florida in 2019. Before moving to The Villages, Barnes previously held an address in Connecticut, according to the SCSO arrest report. Last year, three other Villages residents were arrested for casting ballots in Florida and other states. Joan Halstead, Jay Ketcik and John Rider all face felony charges of casting more than one ballot in an election, arrest reports provided by the office of Ocala-based State Attorney Bill Gladson show. State voter records show Halstead, 71, and Ketcik, 63, are registered Republicans. Rider, 61, has no party affiliation. Advertisement Barnes was released from jail after paying a bond amount of $2,000. This is a developing story, check back here for updates. For refugees evacuating Afghanistan, leaving was not an easy feat. Many spent days hiding away as the Taliban took control of the country, looking for the right opportunity to get to the airport in Kabul. Many left behind entire lives and families within just days notice when the country fell to the Taliban in August. For the nearly 180 Afghan refugees and parolees that have arrived in Owensboro since October, most were individuals or immediate family members of individuals who worked to assist the U.S. military. Kanishka Safi was one such individual, having worked as an IT specialist on various projects for the U.S. Army since 2018. When the Taliban invaded Kabul Afghanistans capital and largest city in August, Stafi said he was in his office. Around 8 that morning, he said he began receiving a horde of phone calls asking where he was and telling him he should get home to avoid any danger. I left my car at the office too, because I was so surprised since the Taliban entered Afghanistan, especially in the capital, he said. Everything suddenly happened, so I just tried to get home. Stafi said he went into hiding for several days before finally receiving word that he would receive a Special Immigrant Visa to evacuate the country from the U.S. Embassy. He said many people who were working for international organizations and the U.S. military immediately sought to leave the country, but it was very difficult. There was no flights, theres no cars, everything was blocked, the border was blocked, he said. On Aug. 25, he said he was finally able to board a plane to Germany, where he stayed for 10 days before being transported to the U.S. Stafi said that after his evacuation, members of the Taliban went to his home looking for him, even visiting his familys home and asking for his whereabouts. The Taliban has come to my house, and they took my car, he said. They also broke in some of my doors. Its not happening to me, just; I have been receiving reports from Afghanistan from my colleagues, from my relatives. And the difficulties persist for those who remain in the country, he said. Ahmad Bilal Badaan, another refugee who has been able to receive housing in Owensboro with his wife and four children, worked at the airport with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces and U.S. military forces. If you work with the U.S. Army or NATO, your life is in danger in Afghanistan, he said. Badaan assisted with the evacuation process for refugees leaving Afghanistan. After days of trying to enter the airport in Kabul with his family, Badaan was finally able to evacuate. Bringing the family was a challenge to the airport because outside the airport, there were thousands of people at every gate trying to get to the airport, he said, through the assistance of a translator, Khaibar Shafaq. The family came many times to the airport, and they waited nights outside, but they couldnt get in. After several days, the family was finally able to arrange a vehicle to pick them up and take them inside the airport gates. Once inside, however, he said they waited another two nights before the attack on the Kabul airport on Aug. 26. The family was immediately evacuated, along with others, on Aug. 27. Once the family arrived in the U.S., Badaan said they stayed in a military base for two-and-a-half months in Wisconsin before finally making it to Owensboro, where they remained in a hotel for a month. The family received a more permanent housing arrangement just two weeks ago, he said, and are happy and safe, and that is all that matters right now. Muhammad Sabir came to the U.S by himself, leaving everyone and everything he knew. Sabir worked as an IT specialist for the Afghan Defense Ministry alongside American forces. Sabir said he went to the airport six days after the capital city collapsed, and he was informed he would be able to evacuate. Once through the first gate at the airport in Kabul, he said he and many others ran into difficulties, being stuck several days in the first gate, along with at least 2,000 others, many of whom did not have proper documentation to evacuate. When U.S. forces began the screening process to get people through the second gate, he said the crowd of people stormed towards the gate, trying to get through. But out of the 2,000 people that were there, only 13 of us were brought in, and the rest of the people were moved back, Sabir said through the assistance of Shafaq. Once he was finally able to evacuate, Sabir said he spent 76 days at a military base in Virginia before finally making it to Owensboro to begin a new life. Abdul Majid, who lives in the same residence as Sabir, was a newlywed when he evacuated Afghanistan. He had to leave his wife behind. Majid worked for the National Security of Afghanistan under the direction of the U.S. Marines. He worked to transport evacuees to the airport for more than a week following the collapse. For more than a week, we didnt sleep because it was 24 hours of operation, he said through the assistance of Shafaq. Majid was on the other side of the airport from the explosion on Aug. 26 and was evacuated on Aug. 27, leaving behind his wife. The only things I was able to bring were the clothes on my back. I was not able to bring my wife, my clothes, my brothers, my family they all remain in the country, he said through Shafaq. It was not easy to make this decision because, on one side, we were the soldiers, and we were on duty, so our first priority was duty at the time and securing people to move into the airport. I had to make this tough decision to be on duty or to secure my wife or to being her here. I chose to help the people. It was not easy for me, it was a tough decision, and now Im here with no family. Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360 When I was growing up, words like courage, integrity, honesty and public service meant something. After four years of President Trump, it appears that lying, cheating, stealing, cowardice and insurrection against the U.S. democracy have absolutely no consequence to being a Republican leader. We're sorry, but we're unable to locate the page you requested. The page may have been removed, renamed, or deleted. You can try searching for the topic using the search button in the right hand corner above. Orlando Sentinel Now afternoon update for Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Listen as our reporters, editors and columnists discuss stories that are important to Central Florida: Apple podcasts , GooglePlay , Spotify or OrlandoSentinel.com/Conversations . interactive_content HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST, WATCH LIVE AND PARTICIPATE Listen to the podcast using the player above or subscribe to Orlando Sentinel Conversations to listen to all the daily updates using these providers: File photo BROWN TWP. -- The Arts and Culture Alliance of Manistee County will hold its annual icebreaker meeting this month. The event is slated for 5 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Brown Township Hall, located at 8233 Coates Hwy. in Manistee. All members and interested arts and culture enthusiasts are invited. There will be a soup buffet with breads and finger foods provided by the board. Those attending should ring their own table service and drink of choice other than water and coffee. University of Florida President Kent Fuchs announced Wednesday this will be his final year in office, capping a tenure that saw the school break into the top tier of public universities and controversy over academic freedom. Fuchs, 67, said in a video released Wednesday he will stay on as president until a replacement is selected, which is expected by early 2023. Hes served in his role since 2015. Advertisement I am so grateful for the privilege I have had to serve UF, Fuchs said in the video. Fuchs privately informed UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini in August of his decision to transition from president to professor, according to a university announcement. Advertisement Fuchs will teach electrical and computer engineering, following a sabbatical. Under Fuchs leadership, UF boosted its reputation nationally, becoming a top 10 public university in the U.S. News Best Colleges annual rankings in 2017. In the latest rankings for 2022, UF was ranked at the No. 5 best public university. But Fuchs has faced controversy in recent months and accusations of political meddling in academics. His administration barred three professors from testifying in a voting rights case against the state. The administration said the testimony would put the state university at odds with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican leaders, who championed a controversial elections law. Fuchs reversed course in November, allowing the professors to testify if they did so on their own time without university resources. The professors have filed a lawsuit against the university, seeking assurances that they wont be restricted in the future. This is a breaking story and will be updated. sswisher@orlandosentinel.com Growing up in Hollywood with a director/producer father (S. Sylvan Simon) who often worked with Lucille Ball, I had the pleasure of knowing herwhich was why I was absolutely stunned that Nicole Kidman was not only able to embody her exuberant physicality but also to capture the vocal nuances and tonal essence of the determined woman she was. During the stressful week that this behind-the-scenes story takes place, Lucille Ball (Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) are threatened by shocking personal revelations, a political smear, and CBSs concern over cultural taboos as theyre preparing a pivotal installment of I Love Lucy. Set in 1953 when Sen. Joe McCarthy terrorizes Hollywood with his Communist witch hunts. Lucy and Desi are into the second season of their groundbreaking sitcom when, unexpectedly, on his Sunday night radio broadcast, powerful columnist Walter Winchell suggests that Lucille Ball is a Communist. Utilizing flashbacks, writer/director Aaron Sorkin not only delves into Lucy and Desis romantic and professional relationship but also reveals their behind-closed-doors interaction with co-stars Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) and William Frawley (J.K. Simmons), who played neighbors Ethel and Fred Mertz. Im not funny, Lucy often claimed. But she was brave, and she certainly knew how to play funny. Married for 20 turbulent years, Americas favorite redhead and her philandering Cuban bandleader were far more fascinating than the fictional Ricardos, as Sorkin delves into the darker aspects of their lives. As years went by, their commitment to I Love Lucy was the only thing keeping them together. Many claim the last kiss they ever shared was the last kiss of the last episode of their last show. Shortly afterward, Lucy filed for divorce and bought out Desis shares of Desilu Productions. As studio executive, Lucy later launched hits like Star Trek and Mission Impossible. Admittedly, this film is minor Sorkin but Sorkin (West Wing, The Social Network) is cagey, droll and voraciously smart. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, Being the Ricardos is an intriguing 8 in theaters and streaming on Amazon Prime. Susan Granger has been an on-air television and radio commentator and entertainment critic for more than 25 years. Raised in Hollywood, Granger appeared as a child actress in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Lassie. She currently resides in Westport. Colleges across Connecticut have asked students and faculty to get boosted, and fast, while the pandemic surges just as they prepared to reopen after winter break. Many colleges and universities are requiring all students and staff to receive COVID-19 booster doses or request exemptions, such as Yale and Sacred Heart University. A few schools and systems have yet to introduce requirements, though the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities and some private schools are on that list. On Tuesday, the universities of New Haven and Hartford became the latest colleges to require all eligible students and employees to get the dose this month, per communications sent to students and employees. While we are hopeful we will be able to host an on-campus booster clinic at some point this spring, it is not guaranteed, said Anthony Santella, the COVID-19 coordinator at University of New Haven. Those who are eligible for the booster now should not wait. Students whose booster documentation has not been approved prior to arrival will have to take a COVID-19 test, Santella said. The University of Connecticut also told students they will be required to be boosted once eligible. On Tuesday, university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz confirmed discussions are still underway about mandating the doses for faculty and staff. UConn classes were moved online for at least the first two weeks of the semester, university officials announced on Thursday. The current move-in date for residential students is the weekend of Jan. 29. This is subject to further change based on the course of the pandemic, said Andrew Agwunobi, the interim president, in a letter to students and employees. The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, which includes the community colleges, Charter Oak State College and the Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Connecticut state universities, were taking a different approach as of mid-week. We recognize that boosters are essential in preventing severe illness and are strongly encouraging everyone who is eligible to get a booster, said system spokesperson Leigh Appleby. At this time we do not have a booster mandate for students or employees. Appleby added CSCU expects to have an announcement on beginning-of-semester plans this week, including if students will begin in-person classes as scheduled, and testing protocols. At the very least we will continue to require those who are not fully vaccinated to submit to weekly testing, he said. Fairfield University has not mandated the shots, though it recently hosted a vaccination booster clinic and is planning another one, according to Jennifer Anderson, the vice president of marketing and communications. At the end of last month, Fairfield also moved final exams for students to online or alternate formats. Nearby, the University of Bridgeport has taken a similar approach for now. University of Bridgeport is moving forward with no changes to its reopening plans, said spokesperson Jennifer Asaro, though officials strongly encouraged students and faculty to return to campus with boosters. The university will also hold an on-campus vaccine booster clinic on Wednesday. Trinity College, meanwhile, delayed its spring semester to Jan. 31 and is requiring vaccinated students and staff to submit proof of a booster shot within 30 days of becoming eligible, according to its website. The college is also requiring PCR COVID tests upon return, and increased testing frequency during the first month of the semester. Students and staff at Quinnipiac University are required to receive their booster by mid-February, with some exceptions, according to its website. Quinnipiac will also host booster clinics on campus, and previously implemented a negative COVID-19 test requirement to return from winter break. Connecticut College is also requiring booster doses, and students also received test kits to use before returning to campus, according to its website. Wesleyan University was among the first colleges to institute a booster requirement for students and staff in November. Proof of most updated vaccination cards is due in mid-January. Winter sessions went virtual, though at last communications, spring courses remained on track for in-person learning. Students are expected to get COVID tests before arriving, then again upon return to campus. Sacred Heart will also require booster shots for students and employees, and work with Hartford HealthCare to schedule booster clinics on campus, with dates expected to come soon, said spokesperson Deborah Noack. The university is also requiring a PCR test upon reentry and offering tests on site. Yale University will require students and staff to be boosted before returning to campus or as soon as they become eligible, Hearst Connecticut Media previously reported, with medical and religious vaccine exemptions still in place. The university also delayed the start of the semester for undergraduate students to January 25, when classes will be online. In-person teaching will resume on February 7. Students are required to test before and within 24 hours of arrival. Albertus Magnus College and Post University also have booster requirements, according to their websites. Gov. Ned Lamonts response to the coronavirus pandemic has won high praise in the state and across the nation, and his poll numbers and national media appearances reflect that. At the same time, he has committed a handful of gaffes. Theyre mostly the result of jumping out ahead of the facts such as his declaration on April 1 that a 6-week-old baby died of coronavirus, which may or may not be true; or his announcement that nonessential businesses must close, more than two days before the list was ready. By most accounts, the miscues have not significantly marred a performance by Lamont thats been steady since long before Connecticuts first confirmed case. He was one of the first governors in the country to shut down nursing homes visits, to discuss closing schools and to demand more testing capacity from the federal government. In daily briefings and interviews, his trademark conversational tone remains patient and calm, if occasionally stern, or somber. He tends to think out loud, and to share his opinion along with the facts. Its not exactly what I was in training for, Lamont said Friday in a phone interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, in which he reflected on the past six weeks. Few people anywhere have the background in crisis management that governors now need. And few leaders have had to step up in a sustained way as much as governors of stricken states - such as Connecticut - are called on to do in this crisis. And so Lamonts gaffes, almost entirely in how he has communicated his opinions and decisions, bear scrutiny including a couple that were not about overshooting the moment. One was an error, on March 16, when he said on MSNBC that 200 Danbury nurses were quarantined; that number was for the 7-hospital chain that includes Danbury. One was an omission that raised criticism this past week when the governor seated members of the task force on how and when to reopen the state. He named the eminent University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, but didnt mention that Emanuel is a business partner of his wife, Annie Lamont, at a venture capital firm she co-founded. Critics, chiefly Republicans, have viewed the gaffes as a significant failing, while others including Lamont himself, in the interview Friday say theyre the result of a personality that isnt focused on minutiae, at a time when the state needs a big-picture voice of leadership. In short, those same traits that have made him so strong in a time of crisis his openness and accessibility, his willingness to listen occasionally work as an Achilles heel. If this was a cybersecurity hack, I come out of IT and telecom, and that probably would have been something Im a little more versed in, Lamont said, referring to his career running a cable TV and digital access business. The gaffes, all combined, have hardly come to dominate the crisis in Connecticut as Lamont directs state agencies in a very aggressive response. Few have occupied more than one news cycle. I suppose in this era where everybody is aware of every comment and things bang around on the social media, you can say, Boy you better be really careful and calibrated with everything you say, but thats sort of not my style, Lamont said. I do tend to tell you how I think about things, not just what Ive decided. Schools out for summer Ken Lachlan, a professor and department head for the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut, mostly praised Lamonts response to coronavirus. He called Lamonts communication style a double-edged sword. Lachlan, an expert in crisis and risk communications, said Lamonts team has taken the right approach in stepping up the governors accessibility in the crisis. Governor Lamonts communication style is very conversational and he comes across as being very approachable, Lachlan said. One of the double-edged parts of being very conversational and very approachable, is sometimes when youre very casual, sometimes people can interpret what youre saying as being a matter of fact or policy when in fact youre really just trying to establish rapport, and a sense of were trying to figure things out, and I wonder if on a few occasions that hasnt led to those sorts of missteps. That may have been what happened on March 24 when Lamont responded to a question on a New York City-based radio broadcast: Will Connecticut schools be closed until the fall? I really think thats the likelihood, Lamont said. It was the first time Lamont had made such a statement. There was no follow-up question in the 3 minute appearance on WCBS AM 880, so the unexplained details lingered. Did he mean schools would definitely be closed for the rest of the year? What does likely mean? Should parents start making arrangements now? Lamonts assertion wasnt necessarily inaccurate nor was it a particular shock but it did lack clarity. And he made a similar remark more recently, after the schools reopening was pushed back to May 20 at soonest. In reflecting on the issue Friday, Lamont said he understood the confusion but that he wouldnt handle it differently given the opportunity. Ive got to admit, I probably voiced that early, Lamont said. Obviously Pennsylvania and California and Illinois, theyve all shut down the school year, but theyre very clear. They shut it down when they shut it down, and Im still not clear. Im saying May 20th were going to have a lot more information, Ill give you some direction then. Gauging the gaffes A recent poll by Sacred Heart University and the Hartford Courant showed strong support for Lamont. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they approved of the way the governor is handling communication to the public and 65 percent were equally confident about his overall response and handling of the coronavirus crisis. Lamont is quick to credit the people around him, on and off the state payroll starting with Annie Lamont. Ive got the best people in the world advising me, he said. I know what I know and I know what I dont know, something I say with some frequency... Im coming into a medical situation where maybe having an open mind and not a lot of preconceived notions is not all bad, because most preconceived notions when it comes to COVID are probably wrong. One of his sharpest critics, Republican State Chairman J.R. Romano, sees strong negative effects from Lamonts missteps. His lack of preparedness has caused panic and confusion among the people of the state of Connecticut, said Romano, who cited the nearly three-day lag between Lamonts announcement that most businesses would be closed and issuing the actual guidance on how that order would be applied. Softening that position, Romano added, I appreciate that hes not gone as far as some governors around the country, and I dont think he has higher ambitions. Hes focused on being the governor of the state. Its true, said Rich Hanley, an associate professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University, that missteps can matter a lot. A single blunder can be enough to erode the publics confidence during a crisis, and stoke fear and confusion, he said. Clear and consistent communication is now more critical than ever as governors across the country are being called on to take the lead in responding to the crisis. But Hanley, a close watcher of the Connecticut political and media scene, joined UConns Lachlan in giving high marks to Lamont. Lamonts performance inevitably comes up against comparisons with his friend and crisis partner, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Many decisions theyve made have happened together. But Cuomo, who grew up in the governors mansion as a son of the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, and whose audience is, well, New Yorkers, has at times appeared stronger than Lamont, whose foray into public life is still in its infancy. Cuomo is really the model, Hanley said. They have two distinct approaches in terms of personality, and one plays better on television than the other that sort of look that he conveys of confidence and urgency plays well to an audience on television ... Governor Lamont is not unsteady by any stretch, but Cuomo is a a natural orator and that helps immensely in crisis like these. The infant with COVID Perhaps the most prominent example of the downside to Lamonts communication style came on April 1, as the death toll from the virus began to rise. Lamont grew solemn as he often does when hes about to disclose the death toll from the previous 24 hours. But this time was different. He took a deep breath and a wave of emotion washed over his face. Probably the youngest person ever to die of COVID has died here in Connecticut, Lamont said in announcing the death of a six-week old infant that had died at a Hartford hospital. Within an hour, the state medical examiner told reporters that, yes, the baby tested positive for COVID-19 after she died, but the cause of death remained unknown as is still the case three weeks later. That left Lamont open to intense criticism as some accused him of speaking too soon to exaggerate the severity of the crisis. The announcement infuriated people, especially mothers and new parents, who now feared for the lives of their young children. Some conservative pundits compared the announcement to shouting fire! in a crowded movie theater. Lamont, reflecting on the incident, said he wouldnt do anything differently. Heres what happens. Nobody dies of COVID, nobody dies of AIDS, people die of complications related to AIDS or COVID. So nobody is playing games. Thats the way it works, he said. Ive said people die of complications related to COVID and I think thats true. I dont think I would say it any differently. Overly eager to help? More than 350,000 people have filed for unemployment in Connecticut since Friday, March 13, prompting Lamont to assure temporarily jobless workers they will be taken care of. Early on, he said state and federal unemployment benefits would cover self-employed and freelancers, who have not been eligible until this crisis. A frequently-asked-questions page set up by the administration encouraged encouraged independent contractors and self-employed workers to apply. But the Department of Labor wasnt prepared for this. Its own COVID-19 unemployment FAQ on its website through which those thousands of people would apply said self-employed workers and independent contractors were unlikely to qualify for unemployment benefits. The federal bailout packages do allow for self-employed people to seek benefits, but that wont be ready until the end of April. And so, Lamonts promise early on may prove correct but at the time he made it, the state was wholly unprepared to deliver. The first crisis is the virus, and thats creating the second crisis, Hanley said, referring to the economic meltdown. In order for clarity, the governor needs to create distance between the two. Similarly, Lamont announced earlier this month that certain nursing homes would serve as hubs where residents with COVID-19 would transfer. That was a dramatic step reflecting intense negotiations behind the scenes but Lamont made it before the nursing homes agreed. It would be a full week before the nursing homes came on board, after significant financial sweetening by the state. Overall, considering Lamonts performance in the crisis, observers have given him strong marks. He may not have the oratorical skills of a Cuomo or of an Elizabeth Warren but hes still providing meaningful information and deferring to experts as required, Hanley said. The fact that he is visible is in and of itself a meaningful communication skill. Governors nationally will be remembered for how they responded to this. kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt BAGHDAD (AP) Two rockets struck Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. embassy, causing property damage but no casualties, Iraq's military said early Sunday. One rocket was destroyed by the embassy's C-RAM defense system. Another fell near a national monument, causing damage to two civilian vehicles, the statement said. An investigation was launched by Iraqi security forces. Along with the U.S. embassy, the Green Zone houses other foreign diplomatic missions and Iraqi government buildings. The zone is a frequent target of rocket and drone attacks that American officials blame on Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups. Iran-aligned groups have vowed revenge on the U.S. for a 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. They have conditioned the end of attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq on the exit of American troops from the country. The U.S.-led coalition formally ended it's combat mission supporting Iraqi forces in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group this month. Some 2,500 troops will remain as the coalition shifts to an advisory mission to continue supporting Iraqi forces. The rocket attacks, once near-daily occurrences, have slowed in recent months. In November, an explosive-laden drone targeted the residence of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in an assassination attempt. An Oviedo medical supply company will pay the government $600,000 to settle allegations that its owners submitted false claims in a scheme to defraud Medicare, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The settlement arises from the Justice Departments intervention in a 2014 civil whistleblower lawsuit against Central Medical Systems LLC and its owner Alan Trent Harley over the submission of claims for wound care supplies, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida. Advertisement From 2011 through 2015, Harley submitted more than $870,000 in fraudulent claims to Medicare, prosecutors said. While Harleys employees gave him accurate data about the wound care supplies sold by Central Medical Systems, he would manipulate the companys billing software to receive inflated Medicare payments for products that were more expensive or never provided, the release said. Harley, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, was sentenced last year to 15 months in federal prison. Advertisement After the government intervened in the whistleblower lawsuit in 2018, Harley and his wife, Joan Harley, allegedly conspired with Arthur Wright and a Maitland medical company, Meddex Solutions, to fraudulently submit Central Medical Systems claims through the second company after Medicare suspended its payments, prosecutors said. Federal officials accused the Harleys and Wright of violating the False Claims Act in an amended lawsuit. Wright and Meddex Solutions agreed to pay the government more than $77,740 in June to resolve the allegations against them, prosecutors said. Part of the $600,000 settlement that will be paid by the Harleys will go to Jael Cancel, the former office manager at Central Medical Systems, the release said. She originally filed the lawsuit under a provision of the False Claims Act that allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and share the proceeds. Cancel will receive $144,000, according to prosecutors. This is another example of our offices commitment to prosecute those individual or corporate who seek to exploit Medicare for their personal gain, and at the expense to taxpayers, U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg said in a statement. We will continue to use all available resources at our disposal to pursue those who defraud our nations federal healthcare programs. mcordeiro@orlandosentinel.com Editor's note: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit late Tuesday against President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the military service secretaries opposing a mandate that National Guard troops be vaccinated against COVID-19. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is digging in against COVID-19 vaccinations and related mandates, telling National Guardsmen in his state they can ignore Pentagon inoculation rules and will not face any retribution for not getting coronavirus vaccines. On Tuesday, the Republican governor, who is facing challenges from his political right in a reelection bid next year, threatened to file a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's authority to order troops to be inoculated against COVID-19. "Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions," Abbott said in a letter for Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard. "And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine." Read Next: 11 Days from Outbreak to Recovery: Milwaukee's Vaccinated Crew Back at Sea Abbott, along with at least six other Republican governors including Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, have asked the Pentagon to exempt their Guardsmen from coronavirus vaccine mandates, asserting their authority while troops serve under their command. Guardsmen have dueling obligations to both the governors of the state they serve and the president. During the bulk of their service, troops fall under either State Active Duty or Title 32 orders, meaning they are under the command of the governor. Guardsmen can also be activated under federal Title 10 orders, which are usually reserved for overseas missions that make up a significant portion of the Guard's mission portfolio. The fight sets up a power struggle between states and the Pentagon over who has default control of the Guard, something that has never been fully articulated in courts or military law. Abbott's letter did not take issue with the dozen-plus other vaccines Guardsmen and all other service members are ordered to receive, including vaccinations against hepatitis and smallpox and annual flu shots. He does concede Biden has the authority to require vaccines for Guardsmen on federal orders. "I cannot guarantee that the judiciary will grant the relief you deserve," Abbott added. "And if President Biden lawfully calls you into the actual service of the United States, then he could order you to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in his newfound role as your commander-in-chief." Abbott's threat, which does not include an actual lawsuit yet, comes a week after Judge Stephen Friot from the Western District of Oklahoma threw out Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's suit against the Biden administration challenging the vaccine mandate. "The court is required to decide this case on the basis of federal law, not common sense," Friot wrote in a ruling. "But, either way, the result would be the same." The judge's ruling spurred Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the top officer of the Oklahoma Guard, to warn Air Guardsmen in his state that they cannot report to their monthly drill if they are unvaccinated, after previously telling them they would not face administrative punishment before the state's lawsuit. The Air National Guard's vaccine deadline was Dec. 2. Army Guardsmen have until June 30. "All you can do as a leader is make the right decisions, for the right reasons, then own them all," Mancino said in a statement the day after the judge's ruling. "I have decided to not allow unvaccinated Oklahoma Air National Guard Drill Status Guardsmen (DSGs), without a medical exemption or religious accommodation request, to participate in any future drill period, except for any Airmen wishing to be vaccinated. The Governor concurs with this decision." Abbott has deployed a massive number of Texas Guard troops in an unprecedented mission on the U.S.-Mexico border, which leads many of them to serve on Title 32 orders for up to a year at a time. That means those troops could potentially stay unvaccinated while responsible for working with an influx of migrants. Officials with the Texas National Guard have refused to disclose the exact number of troops the governor has activated, and it is unclear whether that number is disclosed to the Defense Department and National Guard Bureau. Abbott has said that 10,000 state law enforcement officers and Guardsmen in total have been sent to the border. -- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon. Related: The National Guard Is Stuck in the Middle of Political Infighting, and It's Getting Worse A federal judge has ordered the Navy and Defense Department to halt disciplinary procedures against 35 members of the service's special operations community for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine -- a move that could complicate the Pentagon's immunization mandate. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor, with the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, ruled Monday that the DoD has violated the sailors' constitutional right to refuse the vaccine based on their religious beliefs. According to the order from Reed, "there is no military exclusion from our Constitution." Read Next: USS Abraham Lincoln Captain Becomes First Woman to Take a US Aircraft Carrier to Sea "The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment," O'Connor wrote in a 26-page order. The 35 sailors are not named in the lawsuit, citing privacy and a threat to national and operational security. They include 26 enlisted or chief warrant Navy Sea, Air and Land, or SEAL, members, five enlisted special warfare combatant craft crew members, three enlisted Navy divers and an enlisted explosive ordnance disposal technician. The plaintiffs objected to any vaccines that were developed from aborted fetal cell lines or that "modified" their bodies -- "an affront to the Creator," they wrote in their suit filed in November. While the vaccines were developed with cell lines descended from fetuses aborted in the 1970s and 1980s, they contain no aborted fetal tissue. The plaintiffs also argued they have received "direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine" and oppose "injecting trace amounts of animal cells into one's body." While the majority of the plaintiffs did not address the fact that the Pentagon requires service members to receive numerous vaccines, including the anthrax vaccine for special operators in some environments, one sailor said he experienced negative side effects from a previous vaccination and "came to regret" it, seeing vaccines as a "defilement of his body." "Through prayer and reflection, this plaintiff has determined that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine similarly would defile his body," according to the lawsuit. In the complaint, plaintiffs attorneys also cited a Military.com report on a rare side effect of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine -- heart inflammation known as myocarditis and pericarditis -- as a reason for their clients not wanting the vaccine. The complication also can occur as the result of a COVID-19 infection. While acknowledging that COVID-19 has killed more than 80 service members since the beginning of the pandemic, O'Connor said the court "does not make light of COVID-19's impact on the military." But, he said, the Navy's religious exemption process has been "theatre" to date, noting that no exemptions have been granted. "The facts overwhelmingly indicate that the Navy will deny the religious accommodations," O'Connor wrote. "The Navy has, to date, never granted a religious accommodation request for the COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, in the past seven years, the Navy has never granted a single religious exemption for any vaccine." The sailors, who hail from Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Christian backgrounds, filed their lawsuit through the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit that serves to defend religious freedom. Their attorney, Michael Berry, is a former Marine Corps judge advocate general who deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 and continues to serve in the Marine Corps Reserve, according to the institute's website. "Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America's values," Berry said in a statement released Monday. "Punishing SEALs for simply asking for a religious accommodation is purely vindictive and punitive." No major religions oppose COVID-19 vaccinations, including the Roman Catholic Church, whose leader, Pope Francis, has called receiving it an "act of love" that is consistent with the faith. Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said in September "there is no exemption in the Orthodox Church for Her faithful from any vaccination for religious reasons." And leaders in the Baptist faith, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., have said they support vaccination but oppose mandates. Danny Akin, president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, told the Baptist Press in September that he believes "getting vaccinated is in the best interest of national health." "However, an emergency mandate through regulatory action by the Department of Labor is the government trespassing on civil liberties," Akin said, referring to President Joe Biden's mandate for federal workers, contractors and private employers. The lawsuit is one of several filed that have been filed against Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and the Defense Department seeking to halt the vaccine mandate, which was ordered by Austin in August. More than 1.9 million U.S. service members, including members of the Reserve and National Guard, have received vaccines for COVID-19. At least 96% of the active-duty Navy, Army and Air Force were fully vaccinated by their services' respective deadlines. As of Dec. 22, 95% of active-duty Marines had received at least one dose. The services have processes for requesting medical and religious exemptions. To date, a few hundred have received medical exemptions, mainly with the recommendations of a physician, and no religious exemptions have been approved. The Air Force began discharging personnel after its Nov. 2 deadline passed, with 27 airmen dismissed the week of the deadline. The Marine Corps has separated 206 Marines for refusing the vaccine. There have been 261,504 cases of COVID-19 among U.S. service members since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020 and 82 deaths. During a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, spokesman John Kirby said he could not comment specifically on the order, given that it is part of ongoing litigation. "We are aware, of course, and we are reviewing it and discussing it with the Department of Justice to determine what options are available to us going forward," Kirby said. O'Connor was nominated to the federal bench in June 2007 by President George W. Bush. He has a history of rulings against Democratic policies and mandates, the most notable occurring in late 2018 when he declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. That ruling was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision, dissented only by Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Related: 2 Battalion Commanders Fired for Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine, But 96% of Active Army Meet Deadline SEOUL, South Korea North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into its eastern waters on Wednesday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, the first such launch in about two months amid long-dormant international diplomacy on the Norths nuclear program. The latest launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further boost his military capability at a high-profile ruling party conference last week. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Wednesday morning. It said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were trying to analyze more information about the launch. The Japanese Defense Ministry also detected the North Korean launch, saying the country likely fired a missile. We find it truly regrettable that North Korea has continued to fire missiles from last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. Kishida said other details about the North Korean launch werent immediately available, including where the suspected missile landed and whether there had been any damage. He said he ordered officials to confirm the safety of ships and planes in the area where the suspected missile likely flew and fell. Wednesdays launch is the first such firing since North Korea tested a series of newly developed weapons between September and November including nuclear-capable missiles that place South Korea and Japan, both key U.S. allies in the region, within striking distance. Some experts said North Korea was applying more pressure on its rivals to accept it as a nuclear power state and to ease international sanctions on the country. The Biden administration has repeatedly said it is open to resuming nuclear diplomacy with North Korea anywhere and at any time without preconditions. The North has so far rebuffed such overtures, saying U.S. hostility remains unchanged. U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to wrangling over how much sanctions relief should be given to the North in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step. Kim has since threatened to enlarge his nuclear and missile arsenals. During last weeks plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers Party, Kim repeated his vows to boost his countrys military capacity and ordered the production of more powerful, sophisticated weapons systems. State media dispatches on the meeting said North Korea set forth tactical directions for North Koreas external relations including with South Korea, but didnt elaborate. It made no mention of the United States. Last month, Kim marked 10 years in power. Since assuming control after his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Ils death in December 2011, Kim Jong Un has established absolute power at home and bolstered his nuclear and missile arsenals. But his countrys economy has been battered severely by the coronavirus pandemic, U.N. sanctions and mismanagement, though few experts question his grip on power. __ Associated Press Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. SEOUL, South Korea South Koreas military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean surveillance cameras detected the person scaling a barbed-wire fence at the border on Saturday, triggering alarms and prompting a team of six soldiers to move to the area. But the troops failed to find any trace of the person, Lt. Gen. Jeon Dong-jin, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers. He said officials checked the recorded video from the surveillance cameras but were unable to find the person immediately because the time in the video was incorrectly set. A thermal observation device later spotted the person again, but officers initially thought it was a North Korean trying to defect to South Korea, rather than one returning to the North. The officers later revised their assessment and again dispatched troops, who failed to catch the person before her or she entered North Korean territory, Jeon said. Jeon said the military will boost the readiness of front-line troops and upgrade surveillance systems along the border. "I am really sorry for causing concerns to the people because of this incident, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Won In-choul, told the lawmakers. I promise to make every effort so there is no recurrence of similar incidents. President Moon Jae-in called the incident a grave failure in surveillance that the military must not repeat. He ordered a special inspection of the militarys overall security posture, according to his spokesperson, Park Kyung-mee. The Defense Ministry said the person who crossed the border is likely a defector who had walked across the frontier in the other direction in late 2020 to settle in South Korea. Ministry officials said the appearance of the person in the security video matches that defector. After arriving in South Korea, the defector identified himself as a former gymnast and said he crawled over border fences before being found by South Korean troops, ministry officials said. Defecting via the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, is rare since it is guarded by land mines, tank traps and combat troops on both sides in addition to barbed-wire fences. South Koreas military has come under massive public criticism whenever someone is able to cross the border undetected. The fate of the person who crossed into North Korea on Saturday is unknown. The Defense Ministry said North Korea hasnt responded to its request that the persons safety be assured. While in South Korea, the defector struggled to adjust to his new life, complained to people around him and told them about his desire to return to North Korea, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-scholar in Seoul. Ahn, citing unidentified friends of the man, said he worked for a small janitorial service but was bullied by colleagues and lived alone at a government-provided apartment in Seoul. He said the defector had fled to South Korea after suffering abuses from his stepfather in North Korea. About 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in search of better lives since the late 1990s, and about 30 have returned home in the past 10 years, according to South Korean government records. Observers say the returnees likely suffered cultural shock and discrimination, had large debts or were blackmailed by North Korean agents who threatened to harm their loved ones if they didnt return. Fort Madison, IA (52627) Today Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 61F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Rain likely. Low near 50F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill. Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Tuesday at anti-coup protesters in Khartoum chanting slogans against the military days after the resignation of the country's civilian premier, witnesses said. Protesters shouted "No, no to military rule" and called for the disbandment of Sudan's ruling council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led an October 25 coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule. Thousands of protesters gathered across Sudan, including in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman as well as the eastern city of Port Sudan and the South Darfur capital of Nyala. Demonstrators in east Khartoum "burnt car tyres and built rock barricades on the streets," witness Sawsan Salah said. Other protesters urged the military "to go back to the barracks." Streets leading to the presidential palace and army headquarters were sealed off amid a heavy presence of troops, riot police and paramilitary units, the witnesses said. Pro-democracy activists have stepped up calls for demonstrations since the October coup which saw then-prime minister Abdalla Hamdok and cabinet ministers detained. The coup has triggered mass demonstrations and a bloody crackdown that has left at least 57 people dead and hundreds wounded, according to the independent Doctors' Committee. At least 13 women have allegedly been raped during the unrest, according to the United Nations. On November 21, Burhan reinstated Hamdok in an agreement promising elections in mid-2023, but the protest movement slammed the deal as a "betrayal" and has kept up its protests. Late Sunday, Hamdok announced that he was stepping down, saying he had tried to prevent the country "from sliding toward disaster" but that it was now at a "dangerous crossroads threatening its very survival". 'Urgent action' Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday that he "respects" Hamdok's decision and called for "urgent action" to resolve the crisis. UN chief Antonio Guterres "regrets that a political understanding on the way forward is not in place despite the gravity of the situation in Sudan", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. Sudan has been navigating a fragile transition towards full civilian rule since the April 2019 ouster of veteran president Omar al-Bashir following an unprecedented wave of youth-led protests. Activists online had urged demonstrators to head to the presidential palace in Khartoum "until victory is achieved", according to the Sudanese Professionals Association, an alliance of independent trade unions that was instrumental in the anti-Bashir protests. Last month, Burhan issued a decree allowing security forces to arrest individuals "over crimes related to the state of emergency", effectively banning street protests. Security forces are allowed to enter and search "any building or individual" and impose "surveillance of any property and facility". Since the coup, authorities have often disrupted internet services and communication lines to make it more difficult for activists to organise protests. Botswana leader Mokgweetsi Masisi has been replaced by his Vice President after testing positive for Covid. The country, which first identified the Omicron variant, has now vaccinated nearly half of its population. Masisi has no symptoms and tested positive in routine monitoring, according to a statement released Monday, which announced he would be replaced by Vice President Slumber Tsogwane until further notice. The Omicron variant of the virus was first identified by scientists in Botswana at the end of November, and sequencing done in South Africa confirmed the findings. Since then, like elsewhere in the world, new infections have risen sharply in the country, though health officials say this has not led to a spike in hospitalisations and deaths. Last week, neighbouring South Africa lifted a 21-month nightly curfew, saying that its latest Covid wave had peaked without a surge in deaths or hospitalisations. The government has been proactive in securing vaccine doses, and has managed to fully vaccinate 43 percent of its 2.4 million population. Boosters have recently been introduced for those fully vaccinated, and the age of vaccination has been lowered from 18 to 12 years old. Scientists hypothesize that Omicron could have developed in an immunosuppressed patient, possibly someone with HIV. Botswana has some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, along with South Africa, eSwatini and Lesotho. (with wires) South African investigators on Tuesday handed over the first instalment of a long-awaited report into corruption at the heart of the state under former president Jacob Zuma. The fruit of four years' work, the report was handed to Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has vowed to root out graft and financial sleaze. "This is what I would call a defining moment in our country's effort to definitively end the era of state capture and to restore the integrity... of our institutions and more importantly our government," Ramaphosa said. The findings, he hoped, would "mark a decisive break with the corrupt practices that our country has experienced in the past." Ramaphosa said he would brief parliament by the end of June on his response to the report, drawn up by a top-level commission which does not itself have powers of prosecution. Zuma, 79, became post-apartheid South Africa's fourth president in May 2009, succeeding Thabo Mbeki. But his presidency became stained by a reputation for corruption, with cronies influencing government appointments, contracts and state businesses. Billions looted The web-like process, known in South Africa as "state capture," led to losses that at the time were equivalent to nearly seven billion dollars, according to a past estimate by Pravin Gordhan, a former finance minister given responsibility for state companies. As the outcry mounted, Zuma was pressed into establishing an investigative commission under Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, before he was forced out of office in February 2018 by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). "It's been a gruelling four years," Zondo said on Tuesday as he physically handed the weighty volume to Ramaphosa at a ceremony in Pretoria. The second volume will be handed to Ramaphosa at the end of January, and the third and final tome at the end of February, according to the presidency. The first instalment deals with corruption at South African Airways, the New Age newspaper, the country's tax collector and the issue of public procurement, Zondo said. Over 34 months, his commission heard accounts of rampant misappropriation of funds from some of the 270 witnesses, who included business people, civil servants and intelligence officers. Zuma's jailing sparked violent protests that devolved into rioting and looting in his home region, KwaZulu-Natal. By GUILLEM SARTORIO AFP Much of the evidence to the commission related to a wealthy Indian immigrant family headed by three brothers -- Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta -- who are accused of having wielded undue influence over Zuma. Bags of cash claim The brothers are at the centre of claims they paid bribes to influence ministerial appointments and plunder state bodies. They fled South Africa shortly after the commission started its work, and their whereabouts are unknown. Paul Holden, an investigator who runs an NGO alongside a former ANC MP, told Zondo the estimated cost of the Guptas' illicit activities could have been as much as 50 billion rand ($3.12 billion, 2.76 billion euros). One witness described bags bulging with cash being delivered to ANC grandees during secret meetings in upmarket hotels in exchange for lucrative contracts for one private company. Several witnesses detailed an audit for a major asbestos roof removal project in central Free State province. The project was never completed, yet $10 million went missing. This led to the indictment and suspension of ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, the provincial premier at the time. Zuma snub The report follows a judicial inquiry into widespread graft during former president Jacob Zuma's time in office. By Guillem Sartorio AFP Zuma repeatedly refused to testify to the commission and in July was jailed for contempt of court. Despite the corrupt reputation of his presidency, Zuma remains popular among many grassroots ANC members. His imprisonment sparked violent protests that devolved into rioting and looting in his home region, KwaZulu-Natal, and spread to the financial hub Johannesburg. In a separate case, Zuma is facing 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering relating to a 1999 purchase of military equipment from five European arms companies when he was deputy president. The report's handover comes as the political system reels from the fire which destroyed swathes of the parliament in Cape Town after it caught ablaze on Sunday, the day that Archbishop Desmond Tutu's funeral was held in the city. The fire has been contained and a man was due in court on Tuesday charged with arson. Twenty-eight years ago I wrote a book titled Reclaiming Our Democracy. Maybe that is why it was so hard to read that 52% of young Americans between 18 and 29 years old believe that our democracy is either in trouble or failing, according to the latest Harvard Youth Poll released in December. But the young are not alone in feeling despair over the state of our democracy. According to a PBS Newshour/NPR/Marist poll taken before July 4, 67% of all Americans, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, believe American democracy is under threat. Advertisement Hardly good news for action on the climate emergency. Sam Daley-Harris is the founder of the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS and of Civic Courage. - Original Credit: Courtesy photo (Courtesy photo) Harvard Institute of Politics Director Mark Gearan tried to soften the blow when he said, In the 2020 election young Americans proved with their record-shattering turnout that they are a formidable voting bloc and eager to make their voices heard. Advertisement That was encouraging, but not the whole story. The youth turnout was unprecedented, jumping from 39% in 2016 to 50% in 2020, according to Tufts Universitys Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement. While that was an impressive increase in youth voting, 50% of youth still stayed home on election day as did 28.5% of those 35 years old and older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of those who got to the polls might have thought that their work was done. But voting is not enough to renew our democracy or address climate change. We must find deeper ways to make our voices heard on issues we care about. For example, the Harvard Youth Poll found that, 56 percent of young Americans expect climate change to impact their future decisions and nearly half (45%) already see its local effects. In the lead-up to COP26 in Glasgow, climate activist and Drawdown editor Paul Hawken said, Its estimated that between 98 and 99% of humanity is disengaged. Your friends might be engaged, Hawken continued, but between 98 and 99% of humanity is disengaged. From the Earths point of view, theres no difference between a climate denier and somebody who understands the problem but actually doesnt do anything. Now theres a wake-up call. So how do we combat the powerlessness and cynicism that tempts us to throw in the towel? Johns Hopkins University Professor Hahrie Han provides a good place to start with her distinction between transactional advocacy (sign the petition, transaction complete) and transformational advocacy where volunteers thats us are trained and encouraged to succeed at deep, sustained, relational advocacy. That means meeting with members of Congress, pitching editorials, writing op-eds and letters to the editor, speaking and bringing new people in and, as a result, seeing ourselves as community leaders. Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. > But you cant engage in transformational advocacy by yourself. You need an organization to help you. Most nonprofits, however, are stuck in a 501c3, tax-deductible ditch that keeps them from encouraging their members in stronger forms of advocacy. Advertisement Its our job to find an organization thats committed to helping us climb out of that ditch. Groups like Citizens Climate Lobby, Foundation for Climate Restoration, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Catholic Relief Services, the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS, and American Promise fulfill that need. In a climate change conversation with John Kerry at Yale in 2017, former Vice-President Al Gore told the audience, I want to recruit you we can do this. People doubt we have the political will. Just remember that political will is itself a renewable resource. Go out and renew it. I know, that conversation was four years ago and not much seems to have changed. But thats all the more reason to finally answer the wake-up call and renew political will for addressing the climate. Make it your New Years resolution to build the political will to address climate change. Do it for yourself, for your children and grandchildren, and for our democracy. Sam Daley-Harris is the founder of the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS and of Civic Courage. The Invading Sea is the opinion arm of the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a collaborative of news organizations across the state focusing on the threats posed by the warming climate. 04.01.2022 LISTEN The New Patriotic Party (NPP) chapter in Germany has commended the government for reviving the Ayensu starch factory. The ruling government through its 1District 1Factory initiative successfully restored the factory in the Central Region last year to the excitement of residents of nearby communities. In a press release from NPP Germany dated January 3, 2022, it says it applauds the government for reviving the Ayensu starch factory. The release signed by Nana Osei Boateng who is Communications Director for the chapter notes that they are confident the factory will provide jobs for and bring development to Ayensu. The government of the day, the NPP government, led by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has done another great service to the people by reviving the Ayensu starch factory which had been left to rot under the erstwhile government. This amongst many things will give jobs, give farmers more money and give them a ready market. This is indeed a pathway to building a stronger economy and making the lives of the locals better than it used to be, part of the NPP Germany release reads. It concludes, God bless Akufo-Addo and his visionary leadership that is reviving hope in the youth and the population. His leadership is indeed walking the talk of making lives better. Read the full release below: Press Release Npp Germany 03.01.22 CASSAVA FARMERS IN LOVE WITH THE REVIVAL OF AYENSU STARCH FACTORY The Ayensu Starch factory has been revived under the governments industrialization agenda; 1District 1Factory initiative and this gives cassava farmers in and around the central region a reason to jubilate. The Cassava farmers have over the years produce for ready consumption and sometimes have their produce perish because they lack machinery and factories to process the raw produce into value added products like ethanol, beverages, industrial starch and so other much needed products on the market. The government of the day, the NPP government, led by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has done another great service to the people by reviving the Ayensu starch factory which had been left to rot under the erstwhile government. This amongst many things will give jobs, give farmers more money and give them a ready market. This is indeed a pathway to building a stronger economy and making the lives of the locals better than it used to be. God bless Akufo-Addo and his visionary leadership that is reviving hope in the youth and the population. His leadership is indeed walking the talk of making lives better. God bless our homeland Ghana. God bless Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Npp. ...Signed... Nana Osei Boateng Npp Germany Branch Communications Director. Furious Kenyans are calling for a boycott of the fast-food giant KFC after it announced Monday it had run out of potatoes. While spuds are the second-largest crop in Kenya, KFC uses imports to make its chips, hence the shortage. The news comes during Kenya's potato harvesting season. KFC said the shortage was the result of shipping delays caused by Covid, and instead offered buns, ugali maize porridge and other alternatives to make up for the lack of chips in its combo meals. Washira Kaguongo, CEO of the National Potato Council in Kenya, which works with local farmers, told RFI it was not sustainable for KFC to continue sourcing its potatoes from abroad. Because we are offering a market for their food, we expect that they should also offer a market for our farmers, he said. However KFC's East Africa boss, Jacques Theunissen, told local media that approval procedures could not be sidestepped to bring in local farmers on global quality standards. Potato haven Kenya grows 62 different varieties of potatoes. If the implication is that Kenya's potatoes aren't up to scratch, their track record in international produce speaks for itself. Kenya deals with international standards to supply European markets on a regular basis, as well as African chains, such as Chicken Inn. It's shocking that [US government development agency] USAID put a lot of investment to improve Irish potato production in Kenya, yet KFC can claim that farmers cannot meet the standards, says Timothy Njagi, develomment economist and research fellow at the Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development in Nairobi. A US export, KFC is popular on the African continent, operating in 25 countries. It has had franchises in Kenya since 2011. They've never got in touch in the 10 years they've been in business here, says Kaguongo. As soon as they set up in Kenya, they would have gone downstream to make sure that they introduce the varieties that they want in the country. Kaguongo said the National Potato Council had the necessary systems in place to support KFC if it reached out for help. "We work with everybody, and more importantly we like supporting private sector businesses, so they can support farmers, he said. Rivals take advantage KFC's competitors, such as Burger King and Chicken Inn have been taking advantage of the gaffe to promote their locally sourced chips. There have been widespread calls from Kenyans to support the country's 800,000 local farmers. When asked to respond, KFC Kenya told RFI there was an opportunity to source the potatoes from a local supplier. At KFC Kenya, we work with a number of local Kenyan suppliers to serve our customers locally sourced produce and ingredients in our restaurants," it said, listing poultry, fresh vegetables, bread buns, packaging,flour, and ice cream, to name a few. This apparent U-turn is encouraging news for the National Potato Council, which says the scandal playing out on the internet could result in a win-win situation. We have tried reaching KFC previously, without success. I think now we are likely to have a meeting, Kaguongo says. More than 28,300 migrants crossed the Channel from France to the UK in small boats last year. The PA news agency reported Tuesday that, based on its analysis of British government data, at least 28,395 people reached the UK in 2021. This is more than triple the figure for 2020, according to the figures from UK Home Office The peak came in November, during which at least 6,869 people reached the UK, spurred on by favourable weather conditions. On 11th November, a record-breaking 1,185 reached Britain in a single day. The higher numbers were partly due to the use of bigger boats, carrying an average of about 28 people and sometimes as many as 50. Deadly crossings Some crossings ended tragically for many with at least 27 migrants drowning off France on 24th November during an attempted crossing in a boat which French officials likened to a children's inflatable pool. The 27 victims were mostly men but also included seven women, a 16-year-old, and a seven-year-old child. They were mostly Iraqi Kurds but an Iranian Kurd, Afghans, Ethiopians, a Somali, and an Egyptian were also among the dead. The high number of migrants crossing to Britain from mainland Europe has become a political headache for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel. The flow of migrants has also soured Britain's relations with France, prompting an unseemly blame game even as both sides try to disrupt the people trafficking networks. The UK government's Nationality and Borders Bill is currently before parliament. It promises tougher action against people smugglers and, controversially, migrants themselves. If passed, the bill, opposed by rights groups, will allow the return of asylum seekers who have passed through so-called "safe third countries". (with wires) 04.01.2022 LISTEN The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has revealed that government has made plans to construct a 100km outer ring road for people in Ashanti Region. Speaking in an interview on Otec FM's morning show dubbed 'Nyansapo,' the Suame lawmaker told host Captain Koda that the move is to ease vehicular and human traffic in the inner parts of Kumasi and its environs. He said government has already made plans to construct about four new interchanges within the Kumasi inner ring roads however it has become necessary for another 100km outer ring road to be constructed. He noted that the said road will cover the boundaries of Greater Kumasi connecting Ejisu to other areas like Mamponten and Anwiankwanta. He however added that government has made plans to construct a four-lane carriageway to all entry and exiting points in the region. Five interchanges for Greater Kumasi Metro Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has disclosed that five interchanges will be constructed in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area. Delivering the 2022 budget in Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, he noted that the interchanges will be constructed at Suame, Santasi and Airport Roundabout. Throwing more light on the projects, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu emphasized that there are going to be five major 4-tier interchanges in Kumasi. This includes Bakwai Roundabout interchange which is awarded on contract, Oforikrom Interchange of which feasibility studies completed with detailed designs and financing options are undertaken. Others are Suame interchange, Ahodwo roundabout interchange, and Santasi Roundabout Interchange. Completed asphalting overlay roads Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu reiterated that there has been some completed asphalting projects within the region. He mentioned a 26km asphalt overlay of selected roads in Suame and Tafo metro where 23.09km of the project has been completed. Also, asphalting overlay roads in Subin, Kwadaso, Bantama, Manhyia, Oforikrom, Agric Nzema are all underway with significant kilometres completed. Upgrading Projects According to him, there are several upgrading projects ongoing which includes Bakwai town roads, selected roads in Ashanti Bekwai, Donnyina town, Anwomaso Town, Domeabra town, Apromase, Essinimpong-Achina town roads and Central University Kumasi campus area roads. Critical roads programme The Suame lawmaker stressed that there are considerations for critical roads. The project, he intimated, includes rehabilitation of Kumasi-Sunyani Road (N6): Mankranso to Tepa junction, 40km, upgrading of Kwadaso-Trabuom road, 30k, Mampong-Kofi Ase Road. "I will not joke with Ashanti this time regarding their roads; where your treasure is there will be your heart also," the minister assures. A Circuit Court in Accra has ordered the Attorney General (AG) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to produce in court 12 persons nabbed over some disturbances in Bawku last Tuesday. According to the court presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Essandoh, the AG and IGP are to produce the 12 suspects tomorrow January 5, this year by noon. The court order came after the 12 suspects' lawyer, Mr Martin Kpebu had gone to court over non-appearance of his clients in court after they had been arrested in Bawku and transferred to Accra. The suspects had been charged with unlawful assembly. Mr Kpebu held that his clients have been in custody for the past eight days, a breach of the 48-hour rule which mandates security officers to produce suspects in court after they have been arrested. Defense Counsel held that there were no provisions in the law, which states that the AG must receive a motion for bail before a court grants bail to suspects. Mr. Kpebu said an application for bail had been filed at the court and the processes have since been served on the IGP who is an agent of the Attorney General. He explained that the bail processes have also been served on the AG. Mr Kpebu noted that the matter before the court was not about a criminal offence but it was about the liberty of individuals who have been incarcerated for the past eight days. Mr Frederick Adu-Gyamfi, an Assistant State Attorney (ASA) held that the state had been served with an order of the court dated January 1, this year and same has served on the IGP and a Police Commander. He said, however, the state was unable to produce the suspects before the court as a result of circumstances beyond their control. In the case of the AG, the ASA said the state has no knowledge of the receipt of the bail application. He recounted if a court lacked the jurisdiction over a matter, it also lacked the capacity to grant bail. The court, however, held that the IGP has not brought the suspects to court and the AG has also not given specific reasons for the accused non-appearance in court. It held that its orders are given in respect of producing the accused persons in court, still stands The 12 suspects were arrested by the Police and kept in detention for their alleged involvement in the Bawku Chieftaincy disturbances the broke out last Monday. The alleged disturbances led to the loss of lives and the destruction of property. There were reports of sporadic shootings in parts of Bawku Township prior to renewed clashes in an attempt to perform the final funeral rites of a chief who died about 41 years ago. The suspects are Issahaku Barkin, Samuel Abdul Rahman, Seidu Mohammed Saani, Richard Amevor, Nantogman Kwami, Iddrisu Shaibu, Namaw Osman Nabia, Inusah Belko, Abdulai Nangdong Dana, Naa Tampuri, and Dr. Samuel Bugri. GNA An Accra Circuit Court has adjourned to January 25, the case of Bishop Stephen Kwasi Appiah, also known as Jesus Ahoufe, the Founder of Newlife Kingdom Chapel. He is accused of prophesing that dancehall musician, Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr., also known as Shatta Wale, would be shot and killed on October 18, this year. He has denied the charge of causing fear and panic. The case was adjourned because the substantive judge, Mrs Ellen Ofei Ayeh is on leave. The accused had earlier been granted bail in the sum of GH100,000 bail with three sureties, all should be gainfully employed. The sureties are also to deposit their Ghana Cards at the Court Registry. Bishop Appiah is to report to the police twice a week Mondays and Thursdays. Prosecution has been led by Chief Inspector Dennis Terkpetey, while Martin Kpebu represented Bishop Appiah. The Bishop was arrested on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at the premises of Accra FM, three weeks after his prophecy of death over Shatta Wale. Shatta Wale, who was arrested for faking a shooting incident, said in a Facebook post that his action was necessitated by the prophecy. GNA Mr King Ali Awudu 05.01.2022 LISTEN The Volta Regional Chapter of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana has lent its backing to a decision taken by the national executives to dismiss the acting national president. The group said in a statement sighted by our reporter that anybody who deals with Mr King Ali Awudu in the capacity of an acting national president of CCTGH does so at their own peril. According to the group, the acting president has overstayed his legitimate tenure hence their support for his dismissal. "We stand in solidarity by the decision of members to sack our Acting president, King Ali Awudu due to his gross misconduct and putting the name of the union into disrepute," a statement signed by Ernest Selase Adzimah on behalf of the aggrieved members of the Volta Chapter of CCTGH has said. The group accuses the dismissed acting president of failing to address the concerns of members. "He has resorted to sacking and suspending members and officers on flimsy grounds of bringing the name of the Union into disrepute." The group also warned the Volta Regional Chairman of CCTGH to stay away from any other group within the coalition that is lending its support to the dismissed acting president. "We are by this press conference sending a strong caution to our Volta regional chairman who is alleged to have issued a disclaimer to the press conference held on the 22nd of December 2021 by members in Accra. "The regional chairman is therefore counselled to stay away from such act or face the wrath of the members of the region whose interest he must represent," the statement read. Read full statement below: PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE VOLTA REGIONAL CHAPTER OF THE COALITION OF CONCERNED TEACHERS- GHANA. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the media, we are grateful for your presence here today, though at a very short notice. We the members of the Volta regional chapter of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana, are hereby declaring our total support for the dismissal of the acting president of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Mr. KING ALI AWUDU. We stand in solidarity by the DECISION of members to sack our Acting president, KING ALI AWUDU due to his gross misconduct and putting the name of the union into disrepute. Instead of addressing the concerns raised by the individuals in the union, he has resorted to sacking and suspending members and officers on the flimsy grounds of bringing the name of the Union into disrepute. Very ironic to act that way. When the suspended and sacked individuals requested for further particulars necessitating their suspension and sacking, no answer has been proffered to date yet. If clearly Ali and co think they have reasons for suspending and sacking officers and members who are not on his side, why not providing one to date since it has been almost three (3) months? I will like to ask: If somebody is to be blamed for bringing the name of the CCT GH into disrepute, will it be the one who wants to make sure that the right thing is done? The one who calls for transparency, probity and accountability? OR The one who is preventing transparency, probity and accountability? Or The one who wants to do things in his own way because he is the acting President of the Union? Or The one who sees himself as the chief interpreter of CCT GH constitution and will explain it to suit his course? Or The one who has confessed to being a killer of his former Headmaster? We observed for a very long time and have agreed completely with the issues stipulated in the earlier press conference that : King Ali Awudu has fallen short of the objectives of the union. He is not a unifier but rather a divisive, arrogant, disrespectful, and benevolent dictator. His divisive nature is spoiling the Union. King Ali Awudu does not have the welfare of the union at heart. He agrees to policies from GES and other stakeholders without consultation. His autocratic leadership can no longer work in CCT GH. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, with all these issues and other serious internal matters hanging on his shoulders, we are making it clear to all stakeholders and the public that we can no longer work with Mr King Ali Awudu as our acting president. Henceforth, he ceases to be the acting president of the union and no third party should deal with him directly or indirectly. Doing so will be at your own peril. We are by this press conference sending a strong caution to our Volta regional chairman who is alleged to have issued a disclaimer to the press conference held on the 22nd of December 2021 by members in Accra. The regional chairman is therefore counselled to stay away from such act or face the wrath of the members of the region whose interest he must represent. We thank you all for coming. Concern, resolute! Long live CCT GH Long live members Long live Ghana 0249695704 Christians and people around the world witnessed transition of the timelines from 2021 to 2022 on the night of December 31. Crossover services are a common place in Ghana. In this piece, Richard Nii Kotey takes a look at the crossover service at The Word In Action Church in the capital, Accra. The Word In Action Church, located at Bortianor, Ajasco Junction along the Bojo Beach-Kokrobite stretch witnessed a meal of word-saturated message from the Lord on New Years Eve. Scores of people thronged the vast arena housing the magnificent edifice in search of salvation for their souls and to utilise the available avenue to express gratitude to God for His watch over their lives. A blast of electrifying prophetic declarations accentuated the message of the night as Pastor Mark Mintah, Founder and Senior Pastor of the church mounted the podium. Ushered into an atmosphere that was already charged by the resident choir, The True Worshippers, the Man of God was full of gratitude for the goodness of the Lord, saying When we began the year, we were told there was a certain virus called Coronavirus and we didnt know we were going to make it even to the month of February but here we are today. It is due to the goodness of the Lord." Taking his reading from the book of Luke 5:1-8, Pastor Mark delivered the mind of God to the congregation and to the world, urging them to make their lives available for the Masters use. Recounting the hopeless situation of Peter, being frustrated by a whole night of fruitless toil but who encountered a net-breaking catch after availing his boat for Jesus use. The International Preacher indicated that Jesus was calling upon the congregation and humanity to yield their bodies as living sacrifices in service to Him. Today, it is no longer about boats but your lives. God wants you to yield your lives to Him. He wants you to trust His word rather than people, he indicated. Pastor Mark bemoaned the increasing state of people living their lives without embracing the word of the Lord, adding that, most Christians didnt even have Bibles of their own and wondered how they could know the mind of God for their lives without reading His word. He explained that Jesus is the word and like Peter, anyone who gave Him room in their lives would experience His goodness. He told the people that God wants to do something beautiful with their lives but it would require their availability and readiness to walk with Him. Bringing his sermon to a close, Pastor Mark told the congregation and viewers around the world that Jesus was their only hope, saying Man must serve God. He underscored how fleeting life is, citing the example of the lives of many great and powerful men and women who had departed the face of this earth. Bear in mind that people die. Make your decisions today he counselled. As the seconds counted, racing towards the 60th mark at 11:59pm, with a heightened sense of optimism, the people burst rapturously into the New Year, transiting the timelines from 2021 into 2022. There is no doubt that the just ended year, 2021, has been a difficult agriculture year. Data from the Statistics, Research, and Information directorate of the Ministry for Food and Agriculture shows that between January and October 2021, the prices of major food crops like maize, yam, cassava, tomatoes, rice, and yam increased by between 12 and 73%. What this means is that it was more difficult for people to buy the foods they need to stay satisfied and healthy. The contributory factors include poor management of the sector, and external shocks. Here, we are referring to poor management situations like delayed release of funds for major policy interventions like the Fertiliser Subsidy Programme, and external shocks like Covid-19 disruptions to the global agriculture supply chain and climate change. The challenges with poor management of the sector have always been with us. They did not start today. Fixing them will require clearly thought through policy initiatives, and enhanced commitment from various stakeholders to help develop the sector, particularly from government. In this statement, we offer 5 suggested measures government needs to take to help improve upon the agricultural sector which we are confident if taken seriously will make Ghana self-sufficient in food production. An improved agricultural sector will also help provide the teeming youth of the country with the necessary jobs that can help them live decent lives. First of all, we need to see a proper decentralization of the management of Ghanas agricultural sector. The decision by government to make the departments of agriculture across the country more accountable to local assemblies through the local government system instead of them being subsidiaries of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is laudable. But that means nothing if conscious efforts are not made to channel resources directly from the central government to these district agricultural department offices to provide quality extension services to farmers, support them with mechanization services as well as subsidized inputs. The local assemblies should prioritise agricultural activities and make sure they provide adequate investments at their levels to support farmers in their enclaves. Money is needed to finance the transportation and logistical needs of extension officers so they can get research outputs and scientific and innovative techniques to the farmers. The local government system must support financially. Secondly, government needs to make use of its purchasing power to make life better for smallholder producers. It doesnt make sense that government funded initiatives like the School Feeding Programme sometimes rely on imported food products. The local agricultural economy must be propped up with local and national government funding. There must be a conscious effort by the state at the national and local level to create conducive environments for the marketing of farm produces for the benefit of Ghanaian farmers. Thirdly, it is about time we tackled head on the challenge of inadequate protection of farmlands in the country. In semi urban areas, estate developers have vigorously taken over agricultural lands, forcing smallholder producers out of work. And then in the rural areas, we are seeing a creeping culture of food crop farmlands being taken over aggressively by large scale plantation growers like rubber farming companies, which has the potential to negatively impact food production in some of these areas. Government must intervene and properly zone out farming lands that should be no go areas for physical infrastructural development. With the impact of climate change now upon us all, we will urge the government to speed up work on improving the countrys irrigation system and revive the abandoned projects of the failed One-village One-dam Policy. Lets face it, that policy is a failure. As farmers across the country have observed, the policy has created nonexistent and useless dams that havent made any difference in their lives. The concept of providing farmers with irrigation facilities is a good move that must necessarily be pursued to the very latter. But clearly, the One-village One-dam initiative was mismanaged in a way that prioritized special interest benefits over the interest of the farmers who feed the country. Now is the time for a more effective revitalisation of this initiative for the benefit of farmers. Finally, our development partners and agencies that support Ghanas agricultural sector need to improve the level of involvement of farmers in the planning and implementation of their projects. We need to properly develop systems for measuring the impact, sustainability, and quality of exit strategies for these projects, and properly integrate them in Ghanas home-grown agricultural policies and programmes. A lot of these agricultural projects have been running for years with little to show as evidence of success. We have so many agriculture focused NGOs operating up north which say they are working to create more agricultural jobs. But migration from there to the south continues to skyrocket. There must be a coordinated platform among the civil society organisations in the agricultural sector so they can work together for the benefit of farmers. Government needs to provide leadership on this front so we can get the best out of our development partners. These ideas as we have enumerated above are actually nothing new. They revolve around the same ideas we have been tossing around over the years as actions we need to take to improve upon the agricultural sector. But it is important to reiterate them for urgent action because the challenges with the hike in food prices we saw last year was a clear warning that unless drastic actions are taken, danger looms in 2022. Minus immediate bold interventions, 2022 is likely to come along with even more drastic increase in prices of food stuff, deepening inequalities among the farming population and an increase in Ghanas dependence on foreign foods, as well as loss of agricultural jobs. Immediate government action is needed now. Signed Richmond Frimpong (0268909020/0246509360) President, GARDJA Joseph Opoku Gakpo (0247714498) Deputy General Secretary, GARDJA About GARDJA The Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association (GARDJA) is an association of about 300 journalists and communicators working to promote issues of environment, agriculture and rural development in the media space. GARDJA is an affiliate of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), the worlds largest association of agricultural communication practitioners with membership covering more than 50 countries. Former President John Dramani Mahama has expressed his appreciation to Ghanaians for the show of support and love extended to him and his family on the demise of his brother, Mr Emmanuel Adam Mahama. Mr Adam Mahama was buried in Bole in the Savanna Region on Sunday, 2 January 2022. He died on Friday, 31 December 2021 after a short illness. He was 61. In a show of appreciation, the former President, in a Facebook post, said he was particularly indebted to our senior comrade and Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu for his presence and support. We also want to thank Madam Chief of Staff Frema Osei-Opare, the Chief of Air Staff and the Airforce for the support to airlift the remains of our brother on Sunday. Similarly, he thanked members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and all Ghanaians for their support and comforting words. ---Classfmonline.com The global impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection is still growing one year after the attack. Most Americans dont realize the shock felt by our foreign friends, and the glee of our adversaries, at watching mobs of MAGA vandals storm the Capitol of the worlds greatest democracy. Advertisement Even when European and Asian allies disagreed with American policies, they still looked to the United States as the leader of the community of democratic nations. Especially given the growing strength of China and the muscle-flexing of Russia. Trudy Rubin is an op-ed columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. (Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS) The coup attempt on Jan. 6, along with its continuing reverberations, has shaken our allies faith in Americas future. Despite the Biden administrations success in strengthening alliances Trump rebuffed and building new ones in Asia foreign officials now worry about the stability of the United States. Advertisement They watch with astonishment as the former president continues to promote his Big Lie about election fraud in 2020 and as most GOP leaders support his falsehoods. They wonder whether Trump will try again to steal the election in 2024, and whether more of his supporters will use violence. No NATO ally could have conceived of such a scenario before Trump incited the coup attempt at the Capitol on Jan. 6. This is a year in which the crisis of American democracy has become incredibly visible to all, the noted British columnist Martin Wolf told a Financial Times podcast in late December. And that is a singularly disturbing fact for those of us who live in what we used to think of as the free world. European and Asian leaders wonder whether the partisan madness eating away at Americas democratic institutions will undercut any effective U.S. foreign policy. This is a time when our country needs to be united against Chinas advances and Russias aggression. Moreover, NATO allies know they cant handle these threats alone, and are looking for solid U.S. leadership in pushing back against Moscow and Beijing. Instead, foreigners watch with amazement (or glee in Beijing) as Trump, his congressional acolytes and pro-Trump media shatter the most sacred principle of democracy: the commitment to free and fair elections in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins and the loser steps aside. Never mind that audit after audit, court decision after court decision, debunks GOP claims that votes were altered, voting machines fixed, or absentee ballots misused. Never mind that a monthslong study by The Associated Press of every potential case of voter fraud in six key battleground states found fewer than 475 individual cases of potential fraud out of 25.5 million votes cast. Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. > Despite the clear facts, nearly two-thirds of self-declared Republicans say the 2020 election was stolen. And state GOP leaders are trying to pass laws that will enable state legislatures to override the popular vote and choose their own slates of electors. Advertisement In foreign capitals, they are already imagining the domestic U.S. political chaos if the GOP refuses to accept the results in the 2024 presidential ballot. They also worry about bitter U.S. domestic conflicts in the long run-up to 2024 elections, especially if the GOP wins a House majority in 2022 and makes clear its plans to upend 2024 results it dislikes. No wonder Americas friends wonder whether our country is on its way to destroying itself. No wonder our adversaries believe this to be the case. Trump has handed authoritarians such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping a huge gift: a United States divided, internally preoccupied, and contradicting its own democratic ideals, writes the noted Stanford political scientist Francis Fukuyama in Foreign Affairs. Indeed, Chinese state media, and political leaders, point to the chaos of Jan. 6 at the Capitol as proof their system of governance is superior to Americas. The divisiveness that paralyzes American politics increases their self-confidence in their authoritarian order, and their conviction that the United States is in decline. Trumps Big Lie, which keeps the legacy of Jan. 6 boiling, is the gift that keeps giving to Americas adversaries. So long as Republican leaders refuse to rebuff that lie in public, they are handing China and Russia a compelling advantage by helping rip up American democracy at its roots. Trudy Rubin is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UG-UTAG) has announced its intent to strike on January 10. Secretary to UG-UTAG, Prof Ransford Gyampo confirmed the expected industrial action. According to him, all stakeholders have been served with the notice for their intended strike except the National Labour Commission (NLC). The strike is to protest the National Executive Committees (NEC) decision to accept the governments Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) proposing, among others, the payment of $1,600 research allowance to members of UTAG. UG-UTAG said its NEC accepted the MoA despite disagreements from some chapters of UTAG. UG-UTAG wants the NEC to withdraw its communique suggesting that an agreement was reached by UTAG members to accept the research allowance. ---Classfmonline.com The President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given an assurance to teachers in the country that all their concerns about the One Teacher One Laptop initiative will be addressed. The government through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service rolled out the initiative last year to help teachers in public schools to procure laptops. Following the commencement of the distribution of the laptops, some Teacher Unions expressed agitations over the quality of the laptops with some insisting that they are of inferior quality and never received approval from the Ghana Standards Authority. Delivering an address at the 6th Quadrennial and 53rd National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Kumasi on Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo said the concerns raised by the teachers will be addressed. He said he cherishes the relations between his government and GNAT and for that matter he will ensure it is not broken by the One Teacher One Laptop brouhaha. I am glad to hear how much you welcomed the supply of the laptops. I promise you that the other related matters of concern will be addressed. The relationship between GNAT and my government is a matter of concern to me, and I will do my very best to promote such a relationship, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said. The distribution of the laptops which started in September 2020 is expected to continue this year. The government is increasing the 4% salary increment for public sector workers from last year to 7%, this is according to the Minister in charge of Labour Relations Ignatius Baffuor Awuah. Last year, the government after a review settled on increasing the salary of all public workers by 4%. The decision was met with opposition and agitation with several labour unions including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) demanding an additional increase. After agitations over what some described as an inadequate and inconsiderate decision, government has decided to top up. Speaking at the 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers in Kumasi on Tuesday, January 4, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah disclosed that a new decision has been taken to raise the salary increment to 7%. We had to negotiate with the leadership of organised labour and in the process, we had to agree that we also had to be modest in our request on the national kitty. That is how we ended at the 4%. Mr. President, the beautiful thing is that we are moving on and we had agreed that coming into this current year the 4 per cent will no longer exist and that we are going to give lecturers a 7 per cent increment, the Labour Minister shared. This comes as a piece of good news for teachers in the country who continually complain over the poor conditions of service as well as entitlements. President Akufo-Addo has told the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) that he is happy that they were satisfied with the one teacher-one laptop programme and promised to address any lingering concerns regarding it. Im glad to hear how much you welcome the supply of laptops and promise you that the other related matters of concern of which the national president referred to in her speech, will be addressed, Mr Akufo-Addo said on Tuesday, 4 January 2022, when he delivered a speech at the 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi. A few weeks ago, some teacher unions hit the streets to demand a refund of money deducted from their accounts for the payment of their 30 per cent cost-share of the laptops, which have been distributed to teachers across the country. However, the President said: Good relations between GNAT and my government are a matter of importance to me and Ill do my very best to promote such relations. Also, President Akufo-Addo noted that GNAT is what it is today because of the work of its past and current membership and leadership, and he assured that under his administration, the work undertaken by the membership and leadership of the Association will not be in vain. The President, thus, used the opportunity to thank all teachers in the country for the work they did, and continue to do, in ensuring that the education of Ghanaian children, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, has not been truncated. Continuous assessment, the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have all been written by thousands and thousands of students, under your care and guidance, in conditions of safety and orderliness, and without incident. The nation is extremely appreciative of these acts of selflessness and patriotism, he said According to President Akufo-Addo, his vision of a modern, competitive, Ghanaian economy, spearheaded by indigenous entrepreneurs, with productive employment for the great majority of its citizens, requires skilled economic actors, and to get there, the nation needs an educated workforce. Through the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, we are ensuring that value is being added to the intellect of every Ghanaian child. This is our surest way of succeeding in adding value to the Ghanaian economy, thereby helping to create acceptable, well-paying jobs for the young people of our country, he said. The President continued, For us, in Ghana, also to make a success of our nation, we must pay attention to teachers. It is only a group of well trained and motivated teachers that can help deliver the educated and skilled workforce we require to transform our economy and nation. Outlining the many initiatives implemented by the government since 2017, he stated that his government has restored, since coming into office five years ago, and continues to pay, teacher trainee allowances, which were abolished by the previous administration. In addition to the yearly average increase in salaries over the last five years, my government is, for the first time in our nations history, paying a professional allowance to teachers. We have abolished the three months pay policy for teachers, we have cleared the arrears, and promotions due teachers have also been effected, he said. He stressed that to prevent undue delays in the promotion of qualified teachers, the government will, in 2022, improve on the conduct of the aptitude test instituted by the Ghana Education Service, leveraging on lessons learnt from the one conducted in 2021. Affordable Housing for Teachers Government is also committed to the development of affordable housing for teachers all across the nation. The current initiative will involve the provision of housing for both mortgage and rental. I am fully aware that one challenge facing teacher ownership of homes beyond finance is their inability to purchase homes where they intend to retire, he said. Through a subsidised loan programme, President Akufo-Addo indicated that teachers will be provided an opportunity to own houses in desired locations in various parts of the country, stating that the Ministry of Education is working with the National Service Scheme on this. In addition, the Ministry of Works and Housing is in discussion with teacher unions to provide more housing opportunities for teachers. Within the next two years, it is proposed that 10,000 housing units on affordable terms will be developed for teachers across the country. This, as we all know, is the tip of the iceberg, but it is a good beginning, he added. ---classfmonline.com President Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to jealously protect the peace in the country. This follows the country's recent performance in the 2021 Global Peace Index ranking. Ghana ranked first in West Africa, second in Africa, and 38th in the world. The only African country to have placed higher than Ghana is the East African country of Mauritius. President Nana Akufo- Addo has said teaching should not be seen as a stop-gap measure or a job of last resort. Rather, he said, it should be seen as a viable choice to enter a well-respected profession with positive long term career prospects and good benefits. He said these on Tuesday, 4th January 2022, when he participated and delivered remarks at the 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Kumasi. The event was also used to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Association. President Akufo-Addo said For us, in Ghana, also to make a success of our nation, we must pay attention to teachers. My government believes that teaching should not be seen as a stop-gap measure or a job of last resort, but as a viable choice to enter a well-respected profession with positive long term career prospects and good benefits. We have restored, since coming into office five years ago, and continue to pay, teacher trainee allowances , which were abolished by the previous administration. In addition to the yearly average increase in salaries over the last five (5) years, my government is, for the first time in our nations history, paying a professional allowance to teachers. We have abolished the three (3) months' pay policy for teachers, we have cleared the arrears, and promotions due teachers have also been effected. Government is also committed to the development of affordable housing for teachers all across the nation. The current initiative will involve the provision of housing for both mortgage and rental. Through a subsidised loan programme, teachers will be provided an opportunity to own houses in desired locations in various parts of the country. The Ministry of Education is working with the National Service Scheme on this. In addition, the Ministry of Works and Housing is in discussion with teacher unions to provide more housing opportunities for teachers. Within the next two years, it is proposed that ten thousand (10,000) housing units on affordable terms will be developed for teachers across the country. During the same event, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, revealed that the government would this year, increase the 4% salary increment for public sector workers to 7 per cent. We had to negotiate with the leadership of organised labour and in the process we had to agree that we also had to be modest in our request on the national kitty. That is how we ended at the 4%. Mr President, the beautiful thing is that we are moving on and we had agreed that coming into this current year the 4 per cent will no longer exist and that we are going to give lecturers a 7 per cent increment, he said. The government had earlier last year, increased salary by 4 per cent, a decision that was heavily opposed by labour unions including GNAT. The unions were calling for a higher percentage increment. The President of GNAT, Ms Philipa Larsen, was reported to have said after the increment that We are calling on the President; otherwise, there would be no peace, and the country would become ungovernable, she warned. According to her, the current system of remuneration in the public sector is not fair; it favours some categories of office holders in the public service. ---3news.com The Ghana Police Service has responded to some self-styled prophets who expressed dissatisfaction with the Inspector General of Polices caution to them against creating fear and panic with their New Years Eve prophecies. Some pastors known for their 31st-night doomsday predictions like Rev Owusu Bempah, Nigel Gaisie, Badu Kobi, Elisha Salifu Amoako among others, described the IGPs caution as an attack on the church. They said the IGP needed to be educated on the work of prophets. Despite their anger, they largely complied with the caution as the usual doomsday prophecies were missing in their watch night services on 31 December 2021. Reacting to the anger expressed by some of the self-styled prophets, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Alexander Obeng, told Kofi Oppong Asamoah on the Class Morning Show on Class91.3FM on Wednesday, 5 January 2022 that the IGPs caution was not a directive but a reminder of existing laws. It wasnt a directive; it was a reminder that we have existing laws, he said, adding: And in any way, when Moses was giving these things to the Israelites, some were happy, some were not and that is it. He said: Ghanaians were pointed to the fact that we have laws that prevent people from violating their rights from fear. Dont let us belittle the position Ghanaians took, he pointed out, explaining: Fear can restrict and can conquer and defeat and the devil uses it. And, so if Ghanaians have realised it and said, no, it does not rest on any individual, timorous soul, as fallen as I am or he is, to use certain words; and give evidence, you cant give; youll say we should go to the spirit world. Who told you that? Thats why Ghanaians stated that you cannot, as a timorous soul in Ghana, utter words, statements, anything without giving evidence when it violates someones right; you cannot do that in Ghana, he added. ---Classfmonline.com The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic has so far killed 100 people in Ghana. The Director-General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, made the revelation in an interview with Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra100.5FMs morning show Ghana Yensom on Wednesday, 5 January 2021. He said the Greater Accra Region is recording an average of 1,000 new Omicron cases daily. Prior to the entry of Omicron, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said Ghanas active caseload was a little below 1,000 cases. Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said it was the expectation of the Health Service that there was going to be a spike in the number of cases after the Christmas festivities. However, he noted that the spike preceded the Christmas festivities and has been rising since. Dr Kuma-Aboagye explained that this is a difficult time for the country, as far as the fight against the pandemic is concerned. He said the spike in the numbers can halt if Ghanaians continue to take the vaccines and observe the safety protocols. He assured the country that the COVID vaccines were safe. According to him, it is because of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines that even though countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom continue to record more cases, fewer patients get to be admitted. Globally, he said more than four billion people have been vaccinated while about ten million people have taken the jab in Ghana. He cautioned anti-vaccine campaigners to stop demonizing the vaccine and rather help to save lives. In spite of the spike, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said Ghana is nowhere near another lockdown, especially if the citizens adhere to safety protocols and also get vaccinated. ---Classfmonline.com 05.01.2022 LISTEN In my first ever epistle on the contemporary prophetic ministry in Ghana dubbed "The godification of prophets in Ghana" on 2nd Jan 2019, I provided a vivid elucidation on Prophesy Vs Prediction premising on an earlier article by Dr. Kofi Bobi Barimah on 1st Jan 2019 where he touched on the prophecies by Rev Owusu Bempah on 31st December 2018. Myself and Dr Kofi Bobi Barimah both reiterated the fact that the African is notoriously and incurably religious citing Mbiti & Parrinder (1969). I keep on wondering why the God of most contemporary Ghanaian prophets only speaks to them on 31st December and as a result plethora of doom and death infested prophecies flood our airwaves during such periods. As a devoted Christian, this tendency is not biblical as Yahwe speaks to his ordained prophets everytime and anywhere when the need arises as seen in the scriptures. Thank God there is a new IGP in town who is unflinchingly aimed at sanitizing the religious space. His caution to the prophets led to a drastic reduction in the quantum of prophecies Ghanaians witnessed on 31st December 2021. So is it the case that the God of these prophets didn't speak again this 31st night or what actually happened? Ghana is a religiously plural country with Christians, Muslims, and to a lesser extent ATR practitioners, dominating the religious scene. Of course there are other minority religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and the Hare Krishna Movement. For the past few years since the escalation of neo-pentecostalist believers, prophets have been ubiquitous in Ghanas politico-socio-economic space giving countless prophecies, advertising their ability for healings and other miracles, as well as challenging one another with their so call spiritual and supernatural powers and other material possessions. Prophecies in Ghana in recent times are only aimed at evoking fear, and it is a means to gather gullible audience, get unnecessary attention, and create powerful networks and above all make money. Sadly, the ways in which even politicians align themselves with these prophets, especially during electioneering periods gives credence to the current popularity the prophetic industry is enjoying in the country. In Ghana, the most popular of the 5 fold ministries is the prophetic ministry and no wonder even renowned evangelists and apostles have suddenly transmogrified into prophets. The current IGP is the most viable antidote to rid the country of this needless Prophetization of our national life. Let us empower and support Dr. Akufo Dampare to deliver in this direction. Long live the church God Bless Our Homeland Ghana This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein whose grand jury proceedings in Florida - where he was treated with leniency - are still secret. (AP) For more than 15 years, troubling questions have lingered about why sex offender Jeffrey Epstein got off so easy when Florida officials handled the case. More than a dozen girls back then said they were abused. Only one was called to testify. And state and federal prosecutors in South Florida let Epstein avoid prosecution by pleading guilty to two crimes that meant he spent only 13 months in a jail so lax he was allowed to leave during the day. Advertisement It wasnt until a decade later that federal prosecutors in New York went after Epstein again, saying he had to account for a litany of crimes against minors. So what happened in Florida? How was a grand jury convinced Epstein deserved such lenient treatment in a case involving such heinous accusations? Advertisement You may never know. Nor may the victims. Thats because most of what grand juries hear and do is secret a centuries-old legal tradition that has outlived its usefulness. While most court proceedings are open to the public, prosecutors convene grand juries in secret, avoiding both transparency and accountability. Palm County Clerk of Court Joseph Abruzzo says he wants to change state law so the public can see what happened in the Epstein case. Thats a start. Really, though, this state and nation need to reform the entire process, because blanket secrecy is a bad idea with criminal justice. Weve seen that before in Central Florida. In 2010, a grand jury cleared Orange County deputies of wrongdoing after they fired 137 rounds at a suspected car thief, killing him and sending bullets ricocheting through a populated apartment complex. The cops claimed the suspect had tried to ram them with his car. Three years later, a federal judge offered a blisteringly different take, saying there was no evidence of the car threatening deputies and that the killing was more akin to an execution than an attempt to arrest an unarmed suspect. Advertisement How could a grand jury guided by a prosecutor reach such a different conclusion? Right now, the law says you have no right to know. [ 137 shots at unarmed man: Time for Justice Department to intervene - Commentary ] A few years earlier, when a grand jury was considering the police shooting of another Orange County man one whom cops had mistaken for a suspect the grand jury handed down a report that spent more time griping about media coverage of the case than addressing the mans death. As the Sentinels public editor at the time wrote: The grand jury had issued an indictment in the case not of [the officer] but of the news media. Jurors had nothing to say about the shooting, other than they found it to be a justifiable use of deadly force. That seemed odd. Media-grousing in general is fine. Heck, I grouse too at times. But in this case, a grand jury that was supposed to focus on whether a man was justifiably killed came out whining about the media much like the thin-skinned prosecutor at the time, Lawson Lamar, often did. Its been said that grand juries are often just extensions of prosecutors; that in a secret setting, an adept one can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Well, if thats true, so is the reverse that a prosecutor uninterested in pursuing a case could persuade a grand jury not to indict a ham sandwich. Or a shooter. Or child predator. Advertisement There are legitimate reasons to keep some information private while a case is ongoing including the identities of jurors or suspects who might flee if they learn they might soon be arrested. But those arent good reasons to keep most information secret long after a case has concluded. Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. > Additional concerns about revealing the identities of victims or witnesses (also valid) could be addressed by striking that information from the public reports with precision. The Palm Beach Post has aggressively investigated the secrecy around Epstein, the multimillionaire friend of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump who was found dead in his jail cell after New York authorities finally got aggressive. [ Palm Beach Post: Unlocking the secret buried in Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach County grand jury records ] The Post has wondered why prosecutors didnt follow the police recommendations to charge him with child molestation and why more victims werent called to testify. The paper has gone to court for records, saying: Access to the grand jury materials will allow the public to determine whether the grand jury process, and the secrecy that comes with it, was used to further justice or, instead, operated to shield Epstein and his co-conspirators from the consequences of their criminal activities. A judge recently conceded the Post made strong arguments but said he was bound by the laws that require grand jury secrecy. Thats why the laws need changing. Right now, most details about grand jury proceedings are secret except when exceptions are granted. It should be the other way around. Records should be presumed public when a case concludes except for details that would jeopardize a case, an individuals safety or a victims privacy. Advertisement Secrecy in government is generally a bad idea. Its bad when public officials gather to plot policy. Its bad when they want to hide the way theyre spending tax dollars. And its especially bad when there are questions about where justice was served. smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com The constitution of the democratic South Africa protects gay rights and legalises same-sex marriage, the only African country to do so. From where in our country and our value systems does this bigotry against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex Ghanaians emanate? Story Highlights Human rights are important as we go forward in forging a just society. Whether these rights relate to religion, gender, tribe, age or sexual orientation, they are rights that should not be trampled on Sane Eteshi Matters Arising I have just been thinking about an article on tolerance I recently wrote. And then I also began to ponder that, before the dust settles on the anti-gay bill (if it ever will), the voice of sensible if contrary people must be heard in the homosexuality debate. I write because I pride myself as an advocate of equality, diversity and inclusion. I have spent my career of over 40 years in Britain fighting discrimination and for the rights of people of African heritage to be allowed to participate in and contribute to the economic, social and political life of Britain. So it galls me that, in a progressive country such as Ghana, we should be going through the trouble of advocating the passage of a repressive and regressive law (the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill) that will penalise minorities in our communities and deprive them of basic rights. The risk in numbers As someone has recently argued, the anti-gay bill is about what the majority wants. Ninety-six per cent of Ghanaians, we are told, are in support of this bill, and this is supposed to have been researched by a reputable and independent research organisation. That may be a fact, but for the majority to attempt to use statistics to trample on the rights of the minority is what astounds me. I do not know what the margin of error is or what level of confidence we have in the research, but wonder why I have not heard of any equality impact assessment on how the minority will be affected by this anti-gay bill. The argument that most people put forward is a red herring. If you were to poll people in Ghana about whether they should pay taxes, I am more than certain that 99% would be against the idea. But I am not sure whether any parliamentarian would try to use that argument as the basis for a private members bill. Indeed, judging from the popular riots in the early part of the 20th century against direct taxes, I am sure that most people you ask would say that although paying taxes is against our communal culture, we were forced by our colonial masters to pay tariffs. There is no clearer proof of this than the scenes of aggression in Parliament in the fight against the E-Levy. I am against the anti-gay bill. It is repugnant for MPs in a country that prides itself on being a deepening democracy to accept this bigotry of the highest order. It may just be fuelled by hypocritical fervor of a sort that has been the hallmark of our country a large bark, followed by a whimper of a prayer to God our Saviour and Redeemer and Ultimate Judge. I am against the anti-LGBTQI Bill because it is not Ghanaian at all; the science is suspect; the morals underpinning the new law are suspicious; and the argument about Ghanaian culture is spurious. This is a Ghana created out of diversity which continues to strive towards convergence, recognising that although we have diverse cultures, together we can forge with pride a Ghanaian culture of excellence. But first: the religious argument masquerading as an edict from God. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone! No priest, pastor, overseer or moderator has ever created a human being. No one is immortal. And the rationality that God accords them is meant to spread the word of God, not produce uneducated interpretations of the word. God created human beings in His own image, but the diversity is astounding. We are not cloned, so we have different motivations and lead different lifestyles, because we will make different choices. Period. That is life and that is the world. The science? Medicine continues to make advances for the prevention, treatment, cure and care of the physically infirm. There is still a great deal of research going on into what causes mental illness, how to prevent it and how to treat it. I am not sure how advanced our science is in Ghana and to what extent credible research has been conducted on the challenges of alternative sexual orientation and changing gender. So, let us not cut and paste statistics from dissimilar sources and try to apply these to our country. Many-splendoured thing Ghana is not a monoculture, so this assertion that our culture is about promoting proper sexual practices grates on my sensibilities. It has created the impression that our countrys rich culture has been reduced to sex and sexual practices sad, but also very unfair. The question I ask is: in what way is this proposed anti-gay law Ghanaian at all? It certainly is being steered by a very articulate parliamentarian who thinks that all the bases have been covered. What is unfortunate, however, is that it has driven us all into a herd mentality, like limpets being led down a path where we must all unite. I wish I could hear saner voices in this country, at all levels, and that people would come out to challenge this bill, which will serve merely to divide the country and ride roughshod over the views of the minority. Why is sexual behaviour suddenly a cultural thing? Who in this world can determine what proper sexual relations should be and go to the extent of deciding that people of a different sexual persuasion should be audited and reprogrammed, in this day and age? The accusation that gay rights are being forced on us in Africa by the West is a patent lie. Not so long ago Britain, too, had a law on its statute books against same-sex sexual intercourse. But there was one brave MP David Steel, from the minority Liberal Party who, not being able to identify much or any research into the subject, and there not being any strong arguments about the culture of God, realised how unfair the law was to a minority of people in his country. He brought a private members bill and the law was changed. I state this to underline the perversity of a private members bill to criminalise the existing minority further. When in the 1980s Margaret Thatcher brought in Clause 28 against the promotion of homosexuality, she had supporters, of course. But there was also such a huge backlash against it that it was eventually repealed. Human rights are important as we go forward in forging a just society. Whether these rights relate to religion, gender, tribe, age or sexual orientation, they are rights that should not be trampled on. Where is the voice of reason and tolerance in the government? Where are the saner voices? Do they not realise that we are being tarnished as a country that is not serious about giving freedom to its peoples? And must sex or sexual orientation also be politicised in our country? December 2021, England Ade Sawyerr Owula Ade Sawyerr is a writer, social activist and founder partner of Equinox Consulting, which works to develop inner-city and minority communities in Britain. He comments on economic, political and social affairs and is a past chairman of the UK branch of the Convention Peoples Party. www.equinoxconsulting.net [email protected] #AsaaseRadio #TheVoiceofOurLand Ghana's Mission to the United Nations (UN) has taken a seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Ghana, Gabon, the United Arab Emirates, Albania and Brazil, were elected in June 2021 to serve as nonpermanent members on the UNSC for a two-year mandate beginning January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023. Mr Harold Agyeman, Ghana's Ambassador to the United Nations, speaking at the flag installation ceremony in New York, stated: "As Ghana formally takes her seat on the Council, 15 years after we last served on this important UN Organ, we are expectedly excited by the opportunity to make a bigger contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security. And honoured by the confidence that Member States of the UN have reposed in us. In this regard, let me convey on behalf of my Head of State, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as well as my Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana's deep appreciation once again to all Member States (of the UN). Mr Agyeman said Ghana had joined the Council with a burden and expectation of the estimated two billion people who lived in fragile contexts and conflict areas around the world and the more than 20 per cent of the population of Africa who continued to endure the ravaging effects of conflicts. We are under no illusions of the challenges we face in resolving the prevailing conflicts or the enduring nature of the emerging threats to international peace and security such as violent extremism, the proliferation of terrorism, insurgencies, enhanced activities of transnational criminal organisations, and the impact of climate change to the security situation in some part of our world, he stated. However, when we look back to 15 years ago, there were parts of the agenda of the Council that today has been resolved such as those in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cote d'Ivoire. We are, therefore, hopeful that working together with all the members of the council, we can successfully resolve the many issues that continue to linger on the agenda and redeem for the people of the world the promise, the charter for a peaceful and secure world. During Ghana's tenure on the Council, therefore, the nation hoped to be able to obtain the cooperation of other members to look at enhanced approaches and instruments in dealing with some of these conflict situations. It would be leveraging the flexibility of the Charter's expectations for cooperation of regional arrangement as contained in chapter eight of the Charter of the UN. Mr Agyeman congratulated all the other members of the Council and offered Ghana's open arms of cooperation in working together. He acknowledged the contributions over the past two years of the five outgone members of the council Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, and Vietnam, particularly their contributions towards the maintenance of international peace and security. Madam Mona Juul of Norway and President of the UNSC for January, in welcoming Ghana and the others, expressed her delegation's determination to ensure progress on global peace and security in 2022. She said the Security Council would address threats against women peacebuilders and explore ways to better protect civilians from conflicts in urban settings. We leave behind the quite troublesome 2021 and we need to remain optimistic, she said. GNA 05.01.2022 LISTEN We have just celebrated Christmas, a joyous occasion for millions of people. It is one of the most celebrated events worldwide. However, the news about the birth of Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, did not bring joy to the people in Jerusalem. The wise men followed the star from the east and went to Jerusalem searching for the new born King, but When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:3 NIV). King Herod of Judea and the powers that be felt threatened. After the king learned from the priests and teachers of the law that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem in Judea, he sent the wise men there, saying, Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him (Matthew 2:8 NIV). In fact, the king lied about wanting to worship Jesus; he actually wanted to kill him. The wise men found Jesus in Bethlehem and worshipped him, but God intervened in the kings evil plan and warned them not to go back to the king (see Matthew 2:12-13 NIV). Long before his birth, Jesus had been described by the Prophet Isaiah as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6 NIV). And so it was not possible for King Herod or anyone else to kill him before he had accomplished his divine purpose on earth and had willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of the world. Many people are not as evil as Herod was, but all of us need to be truthful to the Mighty God and Everlasting Father about our worship of Him. As Jesus said to the woman she met at the well in Samaria, God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24 NIV). One form of worship for many people usually takes place in the Church. Some people go to Church ostensibly to worship, but in reality, worship may be at the bottom of their list, if at all. They may go through the rituals of singing, clapping, dancing, praying, and listening to Bible readings and sermons, but their minds and hearts could be on something or somewhere else. Some have turned the Church into a social platform where people go to build relationships other than with Jesus, establish networks for business, and socialize. Of course, Christians go to Church to fellowship - with the Lord and with one another. It is important for believers to share life experiences on our Christian journey and to lift each other up in the Lord. However, we should keep things in the right perspective. Others are miracle-seekers in search of miracle-workers. They go to Church because they have a specific problem that they believe a particular powerful pastor can miraculously solve for them. As a result, some regular Church services have been turned into healing and delivery sessions to heal the sick and deliver people from demons and witches. In the process, some people have been subjected to indignity. There may be nothing wrong with deriving some incidental benefits from our worship of Jesus in the Church or elsewhere. The problem arises when we make them our focus or top priority under the pretense of worship. As we start the new year, let us put first things first. Let us remember another good advice Jesus gave that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to us as well (Matthew 6:33). That means, for starters, taking Jesus Christ as Lord and personal savior and worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Like King Herold, some people today are terrified, disturbed, and lying about worshipping Jesus. They are terrified by seemingly incurable diseases, failures, hardships, fear of the unknown, fear of the future, and death. Instead of focusing on the Prince of Peace and establishing a long-lasting, personal relationship with the Wonderful Counselor to guide them, they are putting their faith, trust, and hope in some pastors, gods, fetishes, rivers etc. and covering it up with worship in the Church. There is a better way. Wise men and women of today are genuinely searching, finding, and worshipping Jesus in truth and in spirit. You are welcome to join and benefit from the freedom and joy that only the Lord Jesus Christ can provide. Prayer is the key. May God grant us the grace to seek Him daily through our prayers. Dr. Daniel Gyebi, Attorney-at-Law, Texas, U.S.A., and Founder, PrayerHouse Ministry, Kumasi, Ghana. PrayerHouse Ministry is dedicated to providing a quiet facility for Christians to pray individually by themselves without any intermediary priest, pastor or any other person. This is a free service. No money is demanded or accepted. One facility is located at Kyerekrom / Fumesua, near Building and Road Research Institute Offices, one mile off the Kumasi-Accra Road and next to a house called Grace Castle. If you are interested, please contact Agnes at 054-7498653. Another is located at Kantinkyiren, at the junction of Kantinkyiren and Konkori, off the Kumasi-Obuasi Road, branching left at Trede junction. Contact Kwadwo at 020-8768461 / 0246-989413. Tunisian former justice minister Noureddine Bhiri, who has been refusing food or medication since his arrest last week, has agreed to treatment, doctors said Wednesday, after his supporters expressed alarm over his health. The 63-year-old, who was arrested by plainclothes officers on Friday and later accused of possible "terrorism" offences, suffers from several pre-existing health conditions and was hospitalised on Sunday. The Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, of which he is deputy chairman, played a central role in Tunisian politics until a power grab by President Kais Saied last year. "Saying he is stable would be saying a lot," medics from the hospital in the northern town of Bizerte told Mosaique Radio on Wednesday. Bhiri's blood pressure was still high and "his kidneys are beginning to struggle" due to dehydration, they said. "His family spoke with him and he accepted being put on a drip" for rehydration and treatment, "in the hope that he will agree to eat", the medics added. Bhiri had been on a hunger strike since his arrest and had been refusing to take his regular medication. Earlier Wednesday, Ennahdha lawmaker Samir Dilou, citing medical sources, had told reporters that Bhiri was "between life and death" and that his wife and children were on standby. "Those who ordered his kidnapping must assume their responsibilities," he added, referring to Saied and his interior minister, Taoufik Charfeddine, who ordered Bhiri's arrest. A previous alarm sounded by Ennahdha about Bhiri's health had been discounted by Tunisia's independent national body for the prevention of torture (INPT) after it visited him late on Sunday. 'Arbitrary' The INPT said it had dispatched a medical team on Wednesday. "They have just arrived and are carrying out their examinations, but we haven't yet received their report," the INPT's Lotfi Ezzedine told AFP mid-afternoon. Saied on July 25 sacked the Ennahdha-supported government and suspended parliament, presenting himself as the ultimate interpreter of the constitution. He later took steps to rule by decree, and in early December vowed to press on with reforms to the political system. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said Wednesday that Bhiri's detention was "not only arbitrary but also illegal", decrying that he was "arrested without a warrant" and that his location was "kept secret" until his hospitalisation. Bhiri's defence committee on Wednesday rejected the interior minister's "terrorism" accusations against him as "totally false". The public prosecutor's office said Tuesday that an investigation had been opened after it received a report "from services combating terrorism and organised crime". It said a Syrian couple had allegedly been assigned false identity documents and nationality certificates while Bhiri was head of the justice ministry. Tunisia was the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring revolts of a decade ago, but civil society groups and Saied's opponents have expressed fear of a slide back to authoritarianism after the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Human Rights Watch warned late last month that Tunisian authorities were using "repressive" dictatorship-era laws to snuff out criticism of the president. The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) has expressed its unhappiness on the removal of the 50 per cent of benchmark value on some items by the Ghana Revenue Authority. The implementation of the reversal policy for the items which are categorized under home 'delivery value of vehicles, goods on which benchmark values are applied and all other goods' took effect from the morning of Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at all ports of entry in Ghana. Mr Samson Awingobit Asaki, Executive Secretary of the IEAG in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tema said the association was displeased and shocked at the ongoing process of clearance. He indicated that importers and clearing agencies whose Bill of Entry (BOE) were entered and duly accepted by the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) in the last working days of 2021, had been denied access to clear their cargoes from the ports. Such importers and clearing agents are regrettably being asked to re-enter their various BOEs for new values to be charged on their cargos, he stated. Mr. Asaki noted that the ICUMS platform had been shut to all importers including clearing agents whose process had already been completed in the last year of 2021 and waiting to clear their cargoes from the ports. He stressed that The IEAG would want to state categorically that the position taken by the government and by extension the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on this matter would be detrimental to the business community if it is not reversed immediately. According to him, it would lead to many businesses losing their cargoes since importers would have to pay more outside their budgets even at this crucial time at the beginning of a New Year. He added that in the likely event that such importers were not able to raise the additional funds to clear their goods on time, issues of Uncleared Cargo Lists (UCL) would pop up and huge losses to demurrage would set in. The Association, therefore, called on the government and the GRA to withdraw the directive with immediate effect and also demanded that such importers be given at least 14 working days to clear their already cleared cargoes from the port without the new 50 per cent benchmark values. According to him, the IEAG would want to state that it would not hesitate to commence moves with its allies in the business community to register its displeasure about this directive should government fails to heed to our demands within 24 hours. GNA Suspect Ahlie Koffie, a 21-year old farmer arrested by the Anloga Police for unlawful possession of locally manufactured gun and dried leaves suspected to be narcotics has been granted bail. He was arrested on the night of Monday, January 03 during a gathering of young ones to celebrate the New Year holidays at Agortoe. Assembly member for Agortoe, Mr Gideon Amaglo in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the suspect was seen roaming around among the gathering with his bag strapped to his back. He said after questioning him, the revellers sought the help of a resident who is a Police officer stationed in Accra to take his (suspect) bag from him and the matter was later reported to him (the Assembly member). The suspect told us he was coming from Dzogborve in the South Tongu District and that he heard of the celebration going on at our place and he had come to join in. We asked about the gun and he said it belongs to his grandfather and he (suspect) only uses it to protect his kraal. To us, for carrying a gun without license and roaming around with it among holiday makers and also possessing dried leaves, we felt it was not right and so, we called the Anloga Police who came for him, Mr Amaglo said. DSP Thomas Yao Agbanyo, Anloga District Police Commander told the GNA that his outfit moved in to arrest the suspect who was in unlawful possession of a single barrel gun and quantities of dried leaves suspected to be narcotics. He disclosed that he was on Tuesday granted bail with two substantial sureties to appear before court. GNA The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA), has expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of the reversal of 50 percent benchmark value on imports. The reversal, which was announced by the Ghana Revenue Authority, (GRA) on Sunday, January 2, 2022, and took effect on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, will affect 43 selected items including rice, poultry, sugar, palm oil, toilet paper, mosquito coils, machetes, and vehicles. The President of GUTA, Joseph Obeng on Eyewitness News, argued that the reversal was ill-timed. He said GUTA is seeking to actively engage the government on the reversal, given the adverse effects it will have on the Association and other unions. The government has assured that they will have stakeholders engagement, but that has not happened yet. We are still seeking dialogue with the government. The benchmark value did not come out of emptiness. It came out of a problem, so if you say you are reversing the benchmark policy, are you [the government] reversing us to that problem? Mr. Obeng asked. Despite GUTAs opposition to the reversal, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has thrown its weight behind the governments move. The President-elect of the AGI, Humphrey Darkey, said the reversal is vital in reviving Ghanas economy. He thus asked the government to remain resolute in its decision. Our position from the very day this policy was introduced has been consistent. We stated and demonstrated by scientific research that the policy was a misalignment to the economic paradigm of the country. Benchmark came and brought about dislocation in the economic model. We think it is welcoming news [that the benchmark value has been reversed], and we urge the government to be bold to complete with its agenda of economic transformation. We ask the government not to budge on its decision. The government introduced the benchmark policy in 2019 in accordance with the World Customs Organization's policy of regular review of valuation databases. Under this policy, certain commodities are benchmarked to the prevailing world prices as a risk management tool, to reflect the true market dynamics of these commodities. It also takes into consideration factors such as protection of health, the environment, and security, as well as protection of local industries. ---citinewsroom China voiced its opposition to unilateral sanctions on Eritrea during a visit Wednesday by its foreign minister to the Horn of Africa nation. The United States slapped sanctions on Eritrea last year over the brutal conflict in neighbouring Ethiopia, a move Asmara branded "illicit and immoral." Eritrean and Ethiopian forces have been accused of carrying out rape and massacres in the war-hit northern region of Tigray, and Washington has repeatedly urged Asmara to withdraw its troops. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with President Isaias Afwerki and Foreign Minister Osman Saleh on Wednesday on the first leg of a three-nation African tour. "Both sides agreed to uphold the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, and oppose hegemonic interferences in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of democracy and human rights," said a joint statement by the two foreign ministers. "The Chinese side stands against any unilateral sanctions on Eritrea," it said, adding: "The Eritrean side reaffirms adherence to the one-China principle." Wang's trip to Eritrea, one of the world's most closed-off countries, will be followed by visits to Kenya and the Comoros. The mini-tour comes on the heels of a trip to Africa by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in November that was in part aimed at countering China's growing influence on the continent. To the dismay of the West, China has ramped up its involvement in Africa in its search for resources and has embarked on an infrastructure-building blitz under the so-called Belt and Road investment strategy. China is the continent's largest trading partner with direct trade worth over $200 billion in 2019, according to official Chinese figures. But Beijing is often accused of using its creditor status to extract diplomatic and commercial concessions, with concerns that it is driving many African countries to take on unmanageable levels of debt. Eritrea in November joined several dozen other African nations in signing up to the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last month that Wang's regional trip aimed to deepen cooperation with the African countries and support them "in defeating the pandemic and bringing about economic recovery at an early date." At an Africa-China summit in Senegal in November, Beijing pledged to offer one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa and help African countries overcome pandemic-related economic woes "without imposing its will". The Axim Government Hospital's decision to allow some scenes of a movie to be shot at the health facility has led to the closure of the female and maternity wards for over four months. According to sources, management of the health facility entered into an agreement with movie producers believed to be from Hollywood to use the facilities from August to October 2021. However, after the agreement was signed no production has taken place neither has the wards been re-opened to the public. The situation has lead to congestion at the health facility as the hospital management has to improvise to accommodate the patients within the available space. What they have done is to move the female patients to the male ward and converted the emergency ward into a male ward. For the pregnant women, they are using a small room in the hospital's building under construction which cannot contain more than two women at the same time as the maternity ward, said Solomon Elvis Eshun, President of the Axim Youth Alliance, a group pushing for the reopening of the wards. Municipal Chief Executive for Nzema East, Dorcas Armoah (Middle) after receiving the petition The youth alliance said several attempts to persuade the administrators of the hospital to revert the unpopular decision due to the huge inconveniences patients are subjected to have yielded no results. In a petition to the government through the District Assembly, the group demanded the hospital management to as a matter of urgency cancel the agreement with the movie officials and resume the use of the affected facilities. They closed the Female Ward and Maternity Block in August, 2021. We were told the closure was for the production of a movie but since then, the contract has ended, and yet the production of the movie has not even started, Mr. Eshun stated. He recounted how pregnant women in labour are made to sit on plastic chairs to wait for their turn to deliver because of limited space. The leader who could not fathom why patients, particularly, women are being subjected to such treatment quizzed, Why should this be happening when there is a big facility sitting there idle? He said the hospital's action clearly shows it has chosen a priority of movie making over the lives of its patients. The timing of such a decision in these trying times of the Covid-19 pandemic, where patients need to be placed in sufficiently spaced wards to allow for effective observance of the Covid-19 protocol is unfortunate, Mr. Eshun said. The Municipal Chief Executive for Nzema East, Dorcas Armoah received the petition from the group and assured them that she will address the issue. Thank you for the patience you people have had with the authorities. With what you have said, I think that is respect and a step in the right direction. I work with speed and accuracy and now that you have given me this document, I assure you that this issue will be addressed as soon as possible, she stated. The Administrator of the Axim Government Hospital, Mr. Wahaab also acknowledged the concerns of the group and indicated his readiness to resolve the issue. ---DGN online Some residents in the Western Region have expressed frustrations over the long queues and delays at the SIM card reregistration centres, making them wonder if they could meet the March 2022 deadline. The Telecos, through an order from the National Communication Authority and the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication, gave their customers up to March 4, 2022 to have their SIM cards registered but the rush in January at many centers the GNA visited was overwhelming. Most of the centres had long queues which saw the young and the old struggling to be attended to amidst misunderstandings over who came first and who was receiving protocol treatment. Investigations revealed that some people had even travelled from the hinterlands to be in Takoradi for the process. Mr Stephen Essien Blay, A resident from Tikobo No.1, in the Jomoro District, told the GNA how he had to travel at dawn to be in Takoradi to register his SIM cards. "I have been to Half Assini office, they told me they were not operating, Tikobo too the same, I had to come to Takoradi because my son will be sending money on it," he said. Mr Blay, therefore, entreated the Government to impress on the Telescos to open up the registration centres to cover the remotest parts of the country for everyone to register within the stipulated time. Maame Adjoa Maanan, a government employee, prayed that the Telecos created desks at the various government departments and agencies to enable workers to register without having to use working hours to queue for the exercise. Mr Kofi Nyarko, an IT specialist, said: "Why do we have to move to the offices of service providers even after online registration on our phone, what is then the use of the Ghana Card, which has our biometric details?" He said registering with the Ghana Card was enough to avoid the stress Ghanaians had to endure, adding: "We should begin being very innovative in our quest for growth". Nana Kofi Fiamo, an economist, described the process as a "waste of productive man hours, adding that the convergence by people at one place, most of whom were without masks, could derail the gains made in the COVID-19 prevention and control. GNA The Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the US, Dec 4, 2019. [Xinhua] China dismissed on Tuesday the United States' claims that it was dramatically expanding its nuclear capabilities, saying that was untrue. Fu Cong, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Arms Control, said at a news briefing that China has adopted a no-first-use nuclear policy and maintained its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national defense. "We do not deny that China has taken measures to modernize our nuclear arsenal, not for other reasons, but for reliability and safety reasons," he said. It is the US that should be blamed, Fu said, as some of its actions changed the security dynamics. These included withdrawal from international agreements, in particular in the area of arms control, as well as spending trillions of dollars to upgrade its nuclear arsenal. In response to the US moves, China needed to assess the sufficiency of nuclear forces according to the changing security environment, and take measures to make sure its nuclear deterrent forces were viable and capable of performing their assigned tasks, he said. The news briefing was held after the five nuclear weapon statesChina, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, which are also permanent members of the United Nations Security Councilfor the first time issued a joint statement on nuclear weapons on Monday, aiming at preventing nuclear war and avoiding an arms race. The statement was issued after the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was postponed from Tuesday to later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As an initiator of the joint statement and a contributor to its content, China has made a great contribution to the statement, Fu said, adding that the statement reflected the largest convergence yet of the five nuclear weapon states' nuclear policies. Noting that the US and Russia still possessed over 90 percent of all existing nuclear weapons, Fu said that if the two nuclear powers continued to reduce nuclear stockpiles to China's level, China would be happy to join the two countries for nuclear negotiations. China does not shy away from its obligations and has shown great restraint in its development of nuclear weapons, he added. "They must reduce their nuclear arsenal in an irreversible and legally binding manner," Fu said. Gov. Ron DeSantis listens to remarks during a press conference at NeoCity center in Kissimmee, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. DeSantis joined state and business leaders to announce a $9.7 million award to Osceola County and Valencia College to help build out the county's emerging semiconductor industry. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) (Joe Burbank/AP) KISSIMMEE Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday awarded $9.7 million to Osceola County and Valencia College to help build out the countys emerging semiconductor industry and again defended his approach to the surging COVID-19 pandemic. The money from the governors Job Growth Fund includes $6 million to build a road that will connect south Osceola County to the NeoCity district, DeSantis said at a news conference in Kissimmee, which he added would create 500 jobs. Advertisement In addition, $3.7 million was awarded to Valencia to set up technical training for students to work in the computer chip industry. NeoCity is Osceola Countys technology-driven development seeking to generate higher-paying jobs in the largely tourism-dependent county. County leaders recently signed a deal for a $1 billion town center for the community, according to GrowthSpotter. Advertisement Answering questions from reporters, the governor stood firm on his strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 4.36 million Floridians and killed 62,541 as of Tuesday. The notion of imposing mandates is insane, he said, adding that timely treatment of those infected is paramount. We live in a free state. Asked about vaccines, the governor said that with the highly contagious omicron variant vaccines are not stopping the spread. ... fortunately, [symptoms] has been mild. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other infectious disease experts say although COVID vaccines dont guarantee total protection from getting sick, they do make it much less likely that recipients will be hospitalized or die. Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. > The governor has not held a vaccine-specific public event since April. Democrats have accused him of downplaying vaccines to avoid criticism from anti-vaxxers. The governor, who was vaccinated last spring but hasnt revealed if hes had a booster shot, says the shots have been available for free for months and that its a personal choice whether to get what he sometimes calls the jab. Meanwhile, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat who is running for governor this year, repeated her allegation from last week that DeSantis is holding back what she said could be 1 million COVID tests that are expected to expire soon. Spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said Tuesday the governors office does not control the tests and referred reporters to the Department of Health, an agency controlled by the governor but where officials have yet to comment. DeSantis on Monday blamed the Biden administration for the shortage of tests, which has led to hours-long waits and early closings of testing centers in Central Florida and other parts of the state. Advertisement The news conference was the governors second in two days after not holding any public appearances in the final two weeks of 2021. It came a day after Jacksonville civil rights leader Ben Frazier was arrested and charged with trespassing for refusing to leave a press conference in Duval County, Frazier said he wanted to question the governor about what he called his lack of response to the pandemic, but the governors staff said the event was not open to the public. The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office took him into custody after he refused to leave several times, and the conference was delayed. There were no protester disruptions at the Kissimmee event. The Executive Committee of the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) CRIB PROJECT has urged the public to cooperate with health authorities and the various Assemblies to ensure persons who die of Covid-19 are safely buried. It said most cultural practices, regarding the handling of bodies of deceased persons, required that they were bathed, dressed, touched and laid in a state to give them befitting burials. The Covid-19 Response and Institutional Capacity Building (CRIB) Project is a two-year project by the CHAG funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and UKAID. Dr Eric Gyamfi, a Public Health Physician Specialist, on behalf of the Committee, in a report on the Covid-19 pandemic in the Kpando Municipality copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), disclosed that the cultural practices were found to promote the spread of the virus. The report noted that the health professionals quest to prevent the spread of the virus as against community members' need to provide befitting burial to the deceased had created deep tension, especially between families of persons who died of the disease. It noted that health authorities and Municipal and District Assemblies were mandated by law to ensure that all persons who died of the disease were safely buried by a trained burial team headed by an Environmental Health Officer. The report said the adherence to the protocols on the burial of casualties was an important way of preventing the spread of the virus and protecting community members from the pandemic. It said there was the need for community members to be assured that the burial team had been trained to ensure a safe and dignified burial. The report called on health authorities and Assemblies to ensure that the burial team was well-resourced and motivated to perform the duty. It underscored the importance for the burial team to engage families of deceased Covid-19 patients to address any concerns that families might have regarding the burial of their deceased family member before the burial. It said the guideline on the burial of Covid-19 deaths by professionally trained health workers was based on the fact that the bodies of persons who died of the disease were considered infectious. This means that the virus remains active even after an infected person dies and can continue to spread if the bodies of those who die of Covid-19 are not properly handled. The report further urged all citizens to get vaccinated since there were Covid-19 vaccines available to the general population. CHAG is represented in the Kpando Municipality by the Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital, working with the Kpando Municipal Health Directorate and the Municipal Assembly to achieve set targets. GNA Deputy National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Edem Agbana, has vehemently opposed a plea from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to collaborate with the opposition NDC. Ghanaians would recall how late last year Gabby Otchere Darko, a nephew of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, nicodemously went to former President John Dramani Mahama to plead so the former President could grant audience to his uncle, the President, to find solutions to pressing issues that overwhelmed the government of the day. But, the NDC Edem Agbana is shocked upon hearing the moves by Gabby. He asserted the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo is not fit enough to sit with former President John Dramani Mahama and the leadership of the NDC in that the President and his appointees stink of dishonesty, corruption and insensitivity. If you are coming to negotiating table with a high level of dishonesty, we will not partner with you. I will give an example, prior to the 2020 elections, the NPP told us and the National Peace Council, Christian Council and the rest came together and said we should sign a pact to do away with the vigilante groups. Have the NPP done away with vigilante groups? No. The Deputy Youth leader of the NDC fires these salvos in an interview with thecrystallens.org recently, after his appearance on a newspaper review segment of TV3 on Newday. Mr Agbana explains his argument that Im saying that our position is clear on collaboration. We are ready to support the government to succeed, if only whatever policy or decision they are taking is in the interest of the people of Ghana. The eloquent and vociferous youth leader, who appears to be suspicious of the governing style of President Akufo-Addo, says, so far, 5 years in government, the President is yet to show transparency, honesty, and condour in dealing with Ghanaians, hence the NDC unwillingness to sit with the NPP for any discourse. He, however, gives a caveat that But, when they continue to do things to destroy this country, they should not expect us to collaborate with them. For example, the E-levy clearly is an attempt to impose hardship on the people, who are already suffering. They are nation wreckers. ---thecrystallens.org Europe has again become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, accounting for a third of cases worldwide as it battles a surge in Omicron infections. The region, which spans 52 countries and territories from the Atlantic coast to Azerbaijan and Russia, has surpassed 100 million cases since the virus outbreak began nearly two years ago. Nearly 5 million infections were confirmed during a seven-day period over the New Year holidays, French news agency AFP reported. More than one million of those were in France. Sixty-five per cent of Europeans are partially vaccinated, while 61 percent are fully vaccinated, the Our World in Data website showed. While infection numbers are rising sharply, Covid-related deaths are also decreasing in Europe. Most countries are managing the outbreak with a measured approach that involves tightening quarantine rules while keeping schools open. France worst hit After weeks of record-breaking figures, France now has Europe's highest number of confirmed daily cases, with more than 20,000 people in hospital. Covid patients most of whom are not vaccinated are now taking up some 72 percent of intensive care beds, putting France's healthcare system under renewed strain. Meanwhile, the French government is having problems pushing its vaccine pass bill through parliament, with President Emmanuel Macron bluntly announcing that his Covid strategy was to piss off unvaccinated people. About 77 percent of the French population has had at least two vaccine shots. Read also: Community Miners and Youth of Akyem Abomosu in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern region are crying for help over accusation that some National Security Operatives are looting their gold. Addressing the media at a press conference, Nana Ayim Duodu the convener of the community miners noted that they are constantly being terrorised by Kwadwo Bamba, a former leader of vigilante group Delta Force who is now a national security operative. He said from time to time, Bamba and some officials troop to their mining sites with heavy arms to forcefully take their gold away. We started Community mining here not too long ago. But Kwadwo Bamba and his men of about 25 who claim to be Operatives of National Security have been invading our sites with AK47 rifles, pistols and ammunition to take away our gold and motorbikes. They come with Pick-Up hard bodies and Tundra. Fully armed. Kwadwo Bamba himself has been holding AK47 with side arms. They say some government officials sent them but we believe this is false Nana Ayim Duodu told the media at the press conference. Insisting that they are tired of the robbery and terrorisation, the Community Miners and Youth of Akyem Abomosu are calling on state security apparatus to deal with Bamba and his goons. Meanwhile, Kwadwo Bamba has denied the allegations with the argument that he only led a team to Akyem Abomosu to drive away illegal miners in gold mining concessions in the community. Tigrayans and other detainees who were deported from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia should never have been sent back, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The NGO says that that the prisoners, who were already tortured and abused in Saudi Arabia, faced the same treatment when they were repatriated. Tigrayan migrants who have experienced horrific abuse in Saudi custody are being locked up in detention facilities upon returning to Ethiopia, said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Saudi Arabia should offer protection to Tigrayans at risk, while Ethiopia should release all arbitrarily detained Tigrayan deportees, she added. Human Rights Watch documented the mistreatment and forced disappearances over 10 months, speaking to more than 20 Ethiopians who had been subjected to abuse. Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia The repatriation of Ethiopians accelerated after the government announced a year ago that it would cooperate with the return of 40,000 of their nationals from Saudi Arabia. An investigation by the UK newspaper The Independent in 2020 showed that Ethiopians and others were forcibly detained in slave-like conditions in the Kingdom, and regularly beaten. Tigrayans made up 40 percent of those returnees over an eight-month period in late 2020 until June 2021. While those who returned home were initially overjoyed to escape daily mistreatment in detention centers throughout Saudi Arabia, they were not aware of the additional horrors that awaited them. Profiling Tigrayans In November 2020, the Ethiopian federal government declared war on the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), launching an attack in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray. The surge in repatriations last year, coupled with the ongoing war in Ethiopia made Tigrayans even more vulnerable than they already were, the research reads. It notes that Tigrayan forcible disappearances, profiling, and arbitrary detentions by Ethiopian authorities in Addis Ababa increased after the Federal Forces withdrew from the Tigray region and the war continued. Many returnees are held in government detention centers throughout the country. Berhe, a 34-year-old Tigrayan who returned to Ethiopia in July, said that he had spent two days in Addis at a detention center and then tried to travel to Tigray. Police stopped the bus at a checkpoint in the Afar region and took their documents and mobile phones. We stayed at the checkpoint for three days and three nights on the bus for all that time, he said, noting that the place was far outside town. We had no food or water. On the fourth day we were taken to Awash [Afar region]. We didn't know where we were going and we couldn't contact our families, he added. He was finally taken to a detention facility where he has spent the past five months. Another Tigrayan, Trhas, 33, told the NGO that she was stopped at a checkpoint, put in a military camp with 700 other deportees, and then sent to a detention facility. They spent a day on the bus without food or water. We asked the federal police for food and water and the toilet, but we were beaten if we left our seats. They told us: 'Bandits don't need food,' she said. When the bus stopped at various points so soldiers could buy food and drink for themselves, the male detainees tried to get off the bus, she said. The police beat them using something like a wire in their hands, she added. No response On the back of its findings, HRW sent queries to Saudi government officials,the Ethiopian National Disaster Risk Management Commission, and the Federal Police Commission asking them about the conditions and treatment of the detainees. They have not received a response to date. Now, HRW has called on both the Saudis and international community to do more to help the Tigrayans. Saudi Arabia should stop holding Tigrayans in abhorrent conditions and deporting them to Ethiopia, and instead help the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide them with international protection, the report adds. Scientists in France have discovered another Covid-19 variant a few months after South African Scientists discovered the Omicron variant. The discovery of the new variant, named B.1.640.2, was announced in a paper posted on medRxiv. Called IHU, as of now, the strain was discovered by academics based at the IHU Mediterranee Infection on 10 December. Researchers say that it contains 46 mutations even more than Omicron which makes it more resistant to vaccines and infectious. Cases The reports said some 12 cases have been spotted so far near Marseille, with the first linked to travel to the African country Cameroon. Tests also show the strain carries the N501Y mutation first seen on the Alpha variant that experts believe can make it more transmissible. According to the scientists, it carries the E484K mutation, which could mean that the IHU variant will be more resistant to vaccines. It is yet to be spotted in other countries or labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization. Omicron dominant variant Currently, Omicron is the dominant coronavirus variant in France, joining other European countries like the United Kingdom and Portugal with surging case numbers over the past few days. France's public health agency had recently said that 62.4 percent of tests showed a profile compatible with the Omicron variant. The Omicron variant of coronavirus has stoked average daily confirmed cases to more than 160,000 per day over the past week, with peaks above 200,000. A nurse who is being for allegedly conducting illegal abortions at his residence at Adenta New Site has been granted bail. Samuel Owusu was granted bail in the sum of GHC600,000 with three sureties, one to be justified. The Adenta Circuit Court ordered the accused person to deposit his passport at the court's registry. On December 31, last year, the Court remanded into Police custody, Samuel Owusu, who was said to have charged clients GHC 500 per an abortion. Owusu believed to be in his mid fifties, pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him. He is being held on the charges of practicing medicine without authority, receiving payment for the practice of medicine without authority, attempting to commit crime namely committing illegal abortion and operating an unlicensed health facility. The Court, presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah, adjourned the matter to January 31. Narrating the facts earlier, Superintendent of Police Patience Mario, said the complainant was Administrative Manager of Investigations Department of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council. The prosecution said the accused person claimed to be a nurse residing at Adenta. It said the complainant, name withheld, had information that the accused person was practicing medicine and performing illegal abortions at his residence at Adenta New Site. The prosecution said the matter was reported to the Police and a team was dispatched to escort the complainant under the pretext of performing an abortion on a female who worked with the Ghana Medical and Dental Council. It said the accused person charged and received GHC500.00 from the complainant and entered his name in his record book. The prosecution said when the accused person pulled out a syringe to inject the lady for the abortion, he was arrested. It said during a search at the accused person's premises, some medical apparatus allegedly used for the illegal activities, were retrieved. GNA The Central government on Wednesday released revised guidelines for home isolation of mild/asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. As per the revised guidelines, issued by the ministry of health & family welfare, a patient under home isolation will stand discharged after seven days from testing positive. Patient under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least 7 days have passed from testing positive and no fever for 3 successive days and they shall continue wearing masks. There is no need for re-testing after the home isolation period is over, said the guidelines. Asymptomatic contacts of infected individuals need not undergo Covid test & monitor health in home quarantine, the guidelines said. The new guidelines, which come amid the sharp surge in COVID cases over the last few days, also added Over the past two years, it has been seen globally as well as in India that majority of cases of Covid-19 are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms. Such cases usually recover with minimal interventions and accordingly may be managed at home under proper medical guidance and monitoring. The guidelines have defined the asymptomatic cases as laboratory confirmed cases who are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93%. While there has been a sharp surge in cases across countries, hospitalizations have remained relatively lower as compared to earlier surges. - @MoHFW_INDIA #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/4UXuwd5rWa PIB India (@PIB_India) January 5, 2022 Clinically assigned mild cases are defined as patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93%. As per the new guidelines, the patient assigned as 'mild/ asymptomatic case' by the treating Medical Officer, will be 'eligible' for home isolation. The patient should be clinically assigned as mild/ asymptomatic case by the treating Medical Officer. Further a designated control room contact number at the district /sub district level shall be provided to the family to get suitable guidance for undertaking testing, clinical management related guidance, assignment of a hospital bed, if warranted, said the guidelines. As per the new guidelines, patients are required to maintain a self-health monitoring chart which should included details like date and time; temperature; heart rate (from pulse oximeter); SpO2% (from pulse oximeter); feeling: (better/same/worse); and breathing (better/same/worse). According to the guidelines, the district administration should monitor all cases under home isolation on a daily basis. According to the revised guidelines, elderly patients who are over 60 years and those with co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and chronic lung disease, among others, should only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by a doctor. Patients suffering from immune compromised status such as HIV, transplant recipients and cancer therapy are not recommended for home isolation, unless cleared by a doctor, the health ministry said. According to the health ministry, India reported 58,097 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, taking the country's active caseload to 2,14,004. A woman, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the notorious "Bulli Bai" app, was held by a Mumbai Police team from Uttarakhand. The action comes a day after a Mumbai Police held a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru, in connection with the controversy, which cropped on January 1, where the photos of a number of women of a particular religion including of journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities were posted as "available for booking". According to the information, the woman will be produced before the local court where Mumbai Police will seek her transit remand to take her to Mumbai. An official said that both the woman and the engineering student, who was one of the follower of the controversial app, will be confronted with each other. The latest controversy came six months after the "Sulli Deals" issue. Both names are derogatory terms for women of the particular religion. Github had provided space to Sulli Deals and this time too, the offending app was created on the platform. After the controversy, Github had removed the user from its hosting platform. But by then, Bulli Bai had sparked a nationwide controversy. The app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture was of a Khalistani supporter. This twitter handle was endorsing the Bulli Bai app saying the women can be booked from the app. This handle was also promoting Khalistani content at the same time. Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote to Mumbai Police after which the case was lodged. A case in this connection was also lodged by Delhi Police. When Sulli Deal controversy came up appeared, two FIRs were lodged against unknown persons, but the culprits behind it were never traced or arrested. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article. MISSOULA The pandemic has caused shortages in almost every area of life including technology, lumber, and blood. But theres one shortage we havent talked about, and thats breast milk. The Mothers Milk bank of Montana serves Montana and four other states, but right now, the need for breast milk is outweighing their supply. Taylor Pfaff works at the milk bank, but she knows the importance of donor milk from personal experience. "I had a really traumatic labor and delivery and my son ended up being in the NICU for like five days, Pfaff said. She was recovering from a C-section, and wasnt producing milk when her son needed it, so they offered to give him donor milk. Pfaffs mom played a role in getting the milk bank open, so she knew all about it and jumped on the offer. "It took a little bit of pressure of me to know that like, he was still getting all the nutrients from another mama's breast milk and I could take that time and breath a little bit, get everything under control, and give my body some time, she said. Breast milk provides all the nutrients a baby needs to grow and provides antibodies to help fight off viruses and infections, and families may need to use sonar milk for a variety of reasons. Executive Director of the bank, and Pfaffs mom, Linsey Rude, said theyre struggling to meet the demand. "We pasteurized about 5,000 ounces less this year than we did the prior year and yet we gave triple the amount. So, usually we give away somewhere around $12,000 in milk, we gave away $60,000 this year, Rude said. Rude added more moms were donating during the pandemic because everyone was at home, so they were able to meet needs they didnt even know existed. "It doesn't take very much, to change a mom and a baby's path, so it's really important and it's so easy. If you have extra in your freezer taking up space, we'd love to take it off your hands at any point, Pfaff said. If you're interested in donating, you can call the bank at (406) 531-6789 or learn more on their website Right now, the need is the same but the donations are less. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - A total of 32,425 migrants were rescued or intercepted at sea and returned to Libya in 2021 by the Libyan coast guard, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced, saying the number doubles the 2020 figure when 11,891 migrants were rescued Odessa College is imposing both a vaccine mandate and mask mandate on unvaccinated employees citing the federal vaccine mandate being imposed through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The federal mandates, which have come at the direction of President Joe Biden, have all faced severe scrutiny in federal courts. However, after the OSHA mandate was stayed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, it was recently reinstated by another federal circuit court. This has prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to set a hearing for January 7, taking up challenges to both the OSHA vaccine mandate for businesses with over 100 employees and another mandate imposed on healthcare workers through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to an Odessa College directive sent out to all school staff, employees must show proof of vaccination by Jan. 10, and those who fail to show proof will not be allowed to return to work. A more detailed policy indicates that the mandate does not apply to employees who work from home, or outdoors. The policy also details employees may seek an exemption based on several exceptions, including medical reasons and sincerely held religious beliefs. Employees who obtain a vaccine exemption, however, will be subject to a mask mandate. Read the complete article at the Odessa Headlines site. Construction continues on the first pod of The Fields Edge project in southwest Midland. John-Mark Echols told the Reporter-Telegram this week that hes hoping for an April opening for Midlands first housing community for the homeless. He said that the first pod will consist of nine, single-occupancy (200 square-foot) homes, missional home for Echols and his family, a community center and the bath-kitchen-water facility. Eventually, nine more pods will be built, Echols said of The Fields Edge plan. Echols said in 2021 fashion there have been supply chain issues on steel and HVAC items, but that construction has started on houses and the project is ready for volunteers wanting to help. The community is located near the intersection of Loop 250 W and Interstate 20. Included in part 1 of the project was the building of Cholla Road, which leads up to the community, and 2 miles of water line. The additional infrastructure costs pushed the cost of the first pod to $4.5 million, Echols said. We want to get our feet underneath it and prove the concept to funders before going back (for more funding), Echols said. The demand for houses will be there. Echols said the homeless count in January 2020 in Midland was around 227. That included men and women in shelters and in the elements (88, which Echols expected was a low number). He said that the next snapshot will take place later this year. We know (the homeless population) has increased, Echols said. We just dont know how much yet. The application process for potential community members opens later this month, Echols said. The Fields Edge will work with groups like the Salvation Army and Permian Care, where there are case workers, to determine good candidates. He did say that a potential client has to be chronically homeless and have lived on the streets in Midland County in the last year. Each home is for a single occupant (no spouse or no kids), and occupants must be older than 18. The process of finishing out the first pod is similar to the build-out of a Habitat community, Echols said. Interested volunteers will help with installing siding and dry wall and performing tasks like painting and landscaping. The concrete is poured, and the walls framed up, he said. Those wanting to volunteer can go to thefieldsedge.org. There is also contact information at the website for those with questions or those who know potential occupants. Sun Valley, ID (83353) Today Rain developing this afternoon. High around 50F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain and snow this evening turning to all snow overnight. Low 34F. Winds light and variable. Chance of precip 100%. About one inch of snow expected. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Mike McCleary/AP A federal judge has sided with law enforcement in a case brought by Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrators alleging excessive use of force by police at a protest site in North Dakota in 2016. The Bismarck Tribune reported that temperatures dropped below freezing the night of Nov. 20 as police and protesters faced off on a highway just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Officers sprayed protesters with water during the incident. So much has been written about education in the time of COVID-19, and it has been chiefly an indictment of the system. Our observations come with data and much self-flagellation. Still, as we enter into 2022, we might consider that there has been some good along with the bad, and it will certainly help shape the future of education. First, the bad. There has been an erosion of faith in our public school systems, evidenced by the significant drop in enrollment. Massachusetts, for example, reported a 4% drop in their 2021 student base. NPR, in its investigation of 600 districts across the country, reported a similar loss. If that trend continues, it will have funding implications. The thinking of families who opted out of public schools is complex but at its core reflects uncertainty about the curriculum and doubt about the educational product being delivered. Considerations about remote learning and hybrid models factored negatively into many parents thinking, and private and homeschooling alternatives flourished. Now that more schools have returned on-premise, there is some enrollment bounce back, but no one is predicting a return to what was. COVID-19 has also been charged with creating a widening education disparity that impacts our most vulnerable communities. New Hampshire Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut has remarked that, This is not a new problem. We shouldnt let the education system off the hook. COVID has simply exacerbated an existing problem and pointed out the need for new instructional models geared for minority and economically disadvantaged. As students returned on-premise this fall, it was clear how difficult the adjustment was for many. Everything from modest brawls to escalated violence has been the result. The National Association of School Resource Officers reports that from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 this year, there were 97 reported gun-related incidents in schools. During the same span in 2019, there were 29. It has been difficult for educators to retain control, though the challenge of re-acclimation is expected to dissipate. Students will adjust to the higher level of discipline required at school, but it will take time. Perhaps most daunting is the anxiety and depression that have affected many children. In the first six months of COVID-19, emergency department visits for mental health were up 31% for children ages 12 to 17. Educators have been tasked with keeping a watchful eye on their students well-being while also meeting educational objectives. Yet despite the many negative consequences of COVID-19 on K-12 education, it has had some long-term positive effects that will shape the systems future. For one thing, parental involvement is much greater. Its very simple, says Edelblut. Where you have engaged parents, you get better educational outcomes. The National Coalition for Parental Involvement has shown that no matter a familys income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, and adapt well to school. Parental engagement is most educators dream, even if there is a bit of a shock in the process. Said another way, Shira Deener, head of Bostons Jewish Community Day School, offers, Our parents have always been involved partners in the enterprise of their childrens education, but the pandemic has brought parents inside in a way they had not been before. Getting proximate has increased our parents appreciation of what it takes and everyone benefits. Beyond parental engagement, another significant benefit rendered by COVID-19 has been a renewed commitment to expanding the options for how and what education is delivered. As Edelblut explains, We built a factory model that assumed homogeneous learning. Kids are not homogeneous, and what has become evident is that we need to personalize institutions. We need to meet the kids where they are. For example, while most students do better on-premise both educationally and socially, Edelblut reports that 15% of New Hampshire students do better through remote learning because they have more agency. Different needs will mean different systems and continued adaptation. What education looks like going forward is anyones guess, but there are some smart bets we can place. There will be continued parental involvement. Schools will test out a range of options that aim to meet kids where they are. Mental health and social well-being will remain a focus. New technologies will emerge that will aid in everyones effort to provide the education we can be proud of. It will be a brave new world, and COVID-19 will have helped. The pastiche of new state laws taking effect for the new year underscores how different we are at least in the eyes of legislators on matters small and large. In New York State, for example, Styrofoam containers for takeout food are now prohibited by law, as are those pesky Styrofoam peanuts. But 46 other states have no such statewide prohibition, at least not yet. In California, its now illegal to distribute tiny ketchup packets unless they are specifically requested, while in Rhode Island single-use straws are similarly restricted. Twenty-one states are raising minimum wage, but differences are dramatic. Virginia implemented one of the largest increases, $1.50 an hour, bringing the states rate to $11. Michigan, on the other hand, gave minimum-wage earners a minuscule 22-cent increase to $9.87 an hour. Not surprising in light of the nations political climate are new laws about voting. California and Nevada have made voting by mail a permanent option for all registered voters. Arkansas, however, has a new law prohibiting the distribution of absentee ballots unless specifically requested. Another trend that follows national headlines involves police behavior. Louisiana has a new law prohibiting chokeholds, except in cases where great bodily harm in threatened. In Connecticut, an officers deliberate failure to activate a body camera can now be cited at trial in cases involving excessive force. A new law in California limits the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by police during protest demonstrations. There are new laws affecting kids and animals. Georgia tightened protections for foster children, adding new safeguards against sexual and emotional abuse. Illinois enacted a law requiring restaurants to serve water, milk or juice as the default beverage with kids meals, rather than soda. Illinois now forbids people from possessing animals if they have been convicted twice of animal abuse. In New Hampshire its now against the law to remove a tracking collar or microchip from someone elses dog. California veterinarians may now operate community animal blood banks. Virginia becomes the fourth state to ban the testing of cosmetics on animals. Oklahomans named the rescue animal the official state pet. Also this month: Iowa establishes speed limits for e-bikes. Oklahoma caps the price of prescription insulin at one dollar per dose. Indiana legalizes electronic prescriptions to avoid problems with doctors poor handwriting. Hawaii allows private citizens to carry Tasers in public. Oregon makes it a crime to intimidate anyone by displaying a noose. Rhode Islands governor can now authorize anyone over 18 to perform a wedding. Were a nation of laws. Comforting as that might be, the regulations sometimes seem to go in 50 different directions. Sacramento, CA Talk radio host Larry Elder was the top Republican vote-getter during the recall attempt of Governor Gavin Newsom last year, but he will not seek a rematch. Elder says he will sit out the 2022 Governor election and instead focus on raising money for House and Senate candidates through his Elder for America Pac. It will allow him to remain visible and politically active in national races. He did not rule out a future run for public office. 61-percent voted against recalling Governor Newsom during the election on September 14. Of those who voted yes, nearly 49-percent picked Elder as the top replacement candidate. Second place was Democrat Kevin Paffrath with 9.6-percent. It is a quick turnaround to the 2022 election, and it remains unclear if any high-profile challengers will run against Newsom as he seeks a second term. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. In recent years, NPR has taken pride in its efforts to diversify its ranks of on-air hosts, with the hiring of many Black and Latino journalists to lead its signature news programs, including voices such as Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, Noel King, Michele Norris and Audie Cornish. But now the public-radio giant is contending with an exodus of the very same talent. On Tuesday, it was Cornish, the co-host since 2012 of NPR's daily newsmagazine, "All Things Considered," who announced she would be leaving at the end of the week, destination unspecified. "I have never considered the host chair a tenured position," she said, though many of her predecessors have enjoyed decades-long runs in the job. "It's time for me to try my hand at new journalism projects and embark on new adventures." Other prominent on-air personalities of color to depart NPR's airwaves recently include "Weekend All Things Considered" host Garcia-Navarro, who left in September to host a New York Times podcast; "Morning Edition" host King, who left in November for Vox Media; and former "1A" host Joshua Johnson, who joined MSNBC. In addition, NPR has in recent months lost the stars of two weekly programs and podcasts - Maddie Sofia (who hosted the science program "Short Wave") and Shereen Marisol Meraji of "Code Switch," which discusses race in America. Some see a pattern - and a problem. Cornish's announcement, in particular, unleashed a public airing of grievances from within NPR about its treatment of minority journalists. "If NPR doesn't see this as a crisis, I don't know what it'll take," tweeted Ari Shapiro, Cornish's "All Things Considered" co-host. He wrote that the organization was "hemorrhaging hosts from marginalized backgrounds." Shapiro quoted a tweet from September by another NPR program host, Sam Sanders, who name-checked recently departed staffers and commented, "Look at all the incredibly talented hosts from marginalized backgrounds who've left @npr recently ... I believe in the mission of public radio; this trend is antithetical to that mission." Garcia-Navarro tweeted, "I'm sad to see this happening but it is not unexpected." She and Sanders declined further comment, as did Cornish. NPR's chief spokesperson, Isabel Lara, said Tuesday the Washington, D.C.-based organization regrets losing familiar journalists, although she pointed to other journalists of color who are filling the ranks of the departed. Among them, she cited Scott Tong, the co-host of NPR and WBUR's daily "Here and Now" program, and "Morning Edition" co-hosts A Martinez and Leila Fadel. Martinez was appointed in May, and Tong was named in June. Fadel, a former Washington Post reporter, was named last week. Lara contended that many of those who've left were scooped up by deep-pocketed companies that are building podcasting businesses in direct competition with NPR. "It used to be that hosting a news magazine at NPR was the pinnacle" of radio journalism, she said. "Now there are so many opportunities," from Apple, Audible, Netflix, the New York Times and others creating audio-news and nonfiction programming divisions. "It's a very competitive landscape." But Garcia-Navarro pointedly disputed this in her tweet. "People leave jobs for other opportunities if they are unhappy with the opportunities they have and the way they have been treated," she wrote. Despite giving unprecedented opportunities to women since its founding in 1970, NPR has struggled for many years to diversify its audience and provide alternative perspectives. It hired its first African American host of "All Things Considered," Michele Norris, in 2002 (Norris is now a columnist for The Post). It launched but quickly canceled programs aimed at minority audiences, such as "News and Notes," and "Tell Me More," the latter hosted by Michel Martin, who went on to become the weekend host of "All Things Considered." People of color make up 42% of NPR's podcast listening audience, and 21% of its radio audience, according to data compiled by ratings firm Nielsen for NPR and shared last year with The Post. NPR has grown its podcasting arm in recent years, which executives have said helps fulfill the organization's goal to reach younger, more diverse audiences. But people familiar with NPR say its management hasn't done enough to provide opportunities to minority journalists, especially women. Podcast company co-founder Jenna Weiss-Berman has poached several people from public broadcasting, and "every single time, what they tell me is, 'I have no creative freedom, I feel disrespected,' " she said. Some have big names in the industry but work on short-term contracts; others complain they've been denied the opportunity to develop new programs or podcast even when they devote their free time to it. "They're just told 'no' so much when it comes to anything creative," said Weiss-Berman, who worked in public radio for 10 years and at BuzzFeed's audio division before starting her company, Pineapple Street Studios. "When you're told 'no' a lot, and you see another opportunity where you might be told 'yes' a little more, you're going to take it." Public-media executives often assume she's paying significantly more to hire away their employees. She says that's not the case. Celeste Headlee, who has hosted several public radio programs and written extensively about race in the industry, said she couldn't speak to the specific reasons individual hosts have left but called the departures concerning. "It's so common for companies to put resources into recruiting people of color and then put no resources into really retaining them or supporting them in the roles they have so that they will continue with the organization." She said she regularly hears from public-radio staffers of color who say they deal with daily slights and resistance to their ideas, despite a sense they got their jobs to help expand the audience. But Headlee - who founded a nonprofit for minority public-radio employees - credited John Lansing, NPR's president and chief executive, for being "dead serious about solving these issues." She added: "If there ever was a chance for our industry to move forward, now is the time." NPR employees raised questions about the exodus of women of color during an all-staff meeting last month headed by Lansing, who is generally well-regarded within the organization. But he received a cool reception when he told employees that turnover was common in the news media and that NPR couldn't stand in the way of staffers seeking greater opportunities elsewhere, according to one participant. "There seemed to be a lack of acknowledgment that when people leave it's because they're not getting something they need in-house and they don't see a path," said this staffer, who was not authorized to speak to the news media. Referring to Cornish, the staffer said, "there's a lot of confusion that again we're seeing another talented host walking out the door ... for unspecified opportunities. There's concern that this is not treated or viewed by leadership as the crisis that it is." Lara declined to characterize the issue as a crisis or problem but acknowledged that it was "important" to maintain a diverse workplace. NPR's internal statistics show that its workforce is 62% White, 15% Black/African American, 12% Asian American, 7% Latino or Hispanic. Upscale nights of conversation and cocktails are coming to the far Northside of San Antonio, when Conversa, the city's new elevated bar experience debuts. Owners are eyeing a March opening. The two-story bar at 20327 West I-10, near the Dominion, is slated to open during St. Patrick's Day weekend (March 17-22). Once open, the elevated bar will adhere to a dress code: "smart casual" on the first level (no shorts, sandals, jerseys, or ball caps) and cocktail and business casual on the top floor. Courtesy, Conversa The upcoming Conversa promises to "change the way San Antonio views nightlife." The nearly 7,000-square-foot space will feature VIP areas, chef-selected bites, specialty drinks, mocktails, an extensive wine list, and a private wine-tasting room. "With two levels to this establishment, enjoy the party on the first floor, but come dressed to impress to enter the exclusive second level," a representative for the bar tells MySA. "Everyone will be able to experience elevation and keep the conversation going all throughout the night." Courtesy, Conversa Renderings provided by the bar reveal a bit of how Conversa will host its guests. There are intimate drinking areas, exposed brick walls, and mid-century modern aesthetics throughout. The new bar will have The Rim and Dominion as bookends. It will be part of the new Heron mixed-use development at Cresta Bella, which touts its prime location in a "prestigious" area of the city with "high-incomes." It's unclear what other Heron tenants will neighbor Conversa. Establishments like Bar 301, Fralo's and the recently opened Redland's Grill are a short drive away from Conversa. Conversa is also hiring bartenders and other staff positions. Those interested in applying are invited to submit a resume via email to management@conversaelevated.com. More information on the bar's official opening will be shared on Instagram and Facebook. Newly released body-camera footage shows the high-speed moments before a Houston cop drove his police cruiser onto a sidewalk Dec. 4 and killed 62-year-old Michael Wayne Jackson, who was walking to his barber. Prosecutors have yet to present the case to a grand jury, Harris County district attorney's office spokesperson Dane Schiller said Monday. On Dec. 30, the Houston Police Department released two video clips from bodycams worn by driving officer Orlando Hernandez and his partner officer Anthony Aranda. Both officers are 25 years old with fewer than five years on the force and currently are listed as active duty, according to an HPD spokesperson. Hernandez at times drove the 6,300-pound Ford Police Intercepter between 80 and 100 mph down Reed Road, according to the cruiser's speedometer shown in a five-minute clip from his bodycam. Traffic on Reed Road is limited to 40 mph. The cops were driving with lights and siren activated to help another officer apprehend five individuals allegedly involved in a carjacking who reportedly fled on foot after a short pursuit. Reed Road was wet from a recent rain shower that Saturday afternoon, according to a crash report filed by HPD. Video shows the cruiser's windshield wipers were activated as Hernandez maneuvered the police SUV through traffic, appearing on multiple occasions to be using only one hand to steer the speeding vehicle over slick residential roads. As Hernandez approached a red light at Cullen Boulevard, he slowed down to check for cross traffic before continuing west toward Scott Street. Houston Police Department Jackson was walking west on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street as Hernandez's cruiser approached from the east around 5:40 p.m. Several cars were stopped at a red light at the Reed Road and Scott Street intersection, police said. As Hernandez sped toward the intersection, video shows the officer turn the steering wheel nearly 180 degrees to avoid colliding with other cars. Hernandez's cruiser slid slightly right, jumping the sidewalk and hitting Jackson before slamming into a Dumpster bin in a nearby parking lot. Body-cam video indicates that Hernandez hit Jackson about 34 seconds after passing through the intersection at Cullen Boulevard, a distance of 3,755 feet, according to information compiled from Google Maps and a diagram from HPD's crash report. This distance would suggest Hernandez traveled at an average speed of 75 mph before he drove onto the sidewalk. In a frame before Hernandez attempted to turn the wheel, the cruiser's speedometer showed 60 mph. Houston police have not released any other findings from their investigation, including any telemetry data from the cruiser's computer regarding the cruiser's actual speed and if/when Hernandez applied the brakes. Crash investigators with HPD's vehicular crimes division noted in a crash report that Hernandez was "traveling at an unsafe speed" and "performed a faulty evasive action." In the moments after the crash, video shows Hernandez and Aranda ran to Jackson as witnesses screamed and music played from a nearby restaurant. The video also captured sirens from nearby HPD officers who also rushing to assist in the manhunt. "I need HFD here," Hernandez radioed to dispatch. "I just got wrecked out, uh, Scott and Reed. One male patient is going to be knocked unconscious, not breathing, uh, bleeding from the head." "Sir, sir, sir," Hernandez said as he shook Jackson's lifeless body. "Wake up, sir." Another officer who arrived seconds after the collision ordered Hernandez to start chest compressions, at which point the released video ends. Paramedics with the Houston Fire Department arrived minutes later and pronounced Jackson dead. In the days after the crash, the victim's brother speculated that the officer behind the wheel was ill-trained. "It looks like to me, maybe the guys couldn't drive that well," Timothy Jackson said. "They just weren't ready. Their skill level in pursuits maybe wasn't that good, because they came out of the street onto the sidewalk. They put anybody that's on the sidewalk in danger." Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, called the collision a "tragic accident." "Officers were responding to an assist while chasing robbery suspects," Griffith said in a text message. "It's my belief that the officers left the road to avoid a collision and never saw the citizen. Truly sad for all involved." Houston police have yet to close the case, and it is unclear if prosecutors will pursue charges against Hernandez. For both officers, a preliminary 3-day placement on administrative duties has already tolled. Welcome to Wednesday, San Antonio. CPS Energy's old downtown headquarters will become a hotel that could be prime spot to stay during Fiesta. Here's what you need to know. CPS Energy has sold its old headquarters at 145 Navarro Street to Blueprint Hospitality, which has plans to turn the space into a hotel, the Express-News reports. The developer, with offices in Houston and Chicago, purchased the 10-story building as well as the city-owned Tower Life building parking garage last month for $19 million. Blueprint Hospitality managing partner and CEO Kunal Mody told the Express-News that the company specializes in converting older buildings into hotels. Courtesy of Gensler and MP Studio The hotel is across the street from CPS Energy's old parking garage at 146 Navarro Street, which is one of the main entrances to NIOSA during Fiesta. There are plans to renovate the garage and breezeway. Here's some other news you may have missed. FBI dive team joins search for Lina Khil Two weeks after the young girl went missing, an FBI dive team from Washington D.C. has joined the search for 3-year-old Lina Khil. Read more here. Fake COVID-19 testing sites popping up As coronavirus numbers are starting to rise across San Antonio, reports of fake testing sites are popping up. Here's what you can do if you encounter one. Read more here. Ancient rock art at Big Bend vandalized Ancient rock art at Big Bend National Park was vandalized over the Christmas weekend. Read more here. Billboard honors life of Betty White If you drove down Loop 410 West recently then you probably saw a billboard paying tribute to actor Betty White with a Golden Girls nod. Read more here. Sujata Jana / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Houston's chief of police has called for an internal investigation into the emergency response time to the shooting of George Floyd's 4-year-old niece. Chief Troy Finner released a statement Tuesday, January 4, saying he is aware of concerns over the "delayed" response time to the New Year's Day shooting of Arianna Delane and has opened an internal affairs investigation. "I ask the city to continue to pray for the childs full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible," Finner says in the statement. An FBI dive team out of Washington, D.C., has been brought in to search for missing 3-year-old Lina Khil. San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said the dive team is following up on a lead, but declined to go into further detail at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. The team is currently searching a creek area off the south corner of the intersection at Babcock and Huebner roads. The area is about 10 minutes west of 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road where Lina went missing. "I wish I could be more uplifting," McManus said. "All we're doing here is following up on leads. We don't want to leave anything to chance." McManus added that so far none of the leads have led law enforcement getting closer to finding the 3-year-old. McManus said the dive team has special technology to help in these types of underwater searches. Police and FBI have searched that area before but McManus said they haven't searched the water. Lina's family is aware of the underwater search. Courtesy of SAPD Lina Khil went missing from the playground at her family's apartment complex on December 20. Over the past two weeks SAPD has been joined by the FBI in the search to find her. Lina's family believe she was abducted, and although McManus said last week that the department was looking into some people of interest, there has been no updates on those leads. Her disappearance is still being treated as a missing persons case. "I wish there was more uplifting information I could give you to at least provide some hope," McManus said. SAPD On Sunday, January 2, a volunteer group from local nonprofit Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach searched the green belt area behind St. George Maronite Catholic Church. SAPD did not say why volunteers were searching that area. Lina was last seen wearing a red dress, black jacket and black shoes. The Islamic Center of San Antonio is offering a reward of $100,000 and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $50,000 for information that will help law enforcement find Lina. People with tips or information that will lead to finding Lina should call 210-207-7660. Sam Owens, Staff Photographer / San Antonio Express-News San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg is part of a national meeting of leaders from cities across the country urging Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Nirenberg joined a letter addressed to senators Charles E. Schumer and Mitch McConnell in support of the two bills, which were passed by the House but are held up in the Senate. Eric Johnson and Sylvester Turner, mayors of Dallas and Houston, respectively, also joined the non-partisan Conference of Mayors in urging the approval of the voting rights legislation. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz predicted Republicans will impeach President Joe Biden as political payback if they win back the U.S. House this year in the midterm elections. Yeah, I do think theres a chance of that, whether its justified or not, he said on the latest episode of his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. Democrats weaponized impeachment, he said, referring to House Democrats twice voting to impeach former President Donald Trump. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. And one of the real disadvantages of doing that is the more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel, you know, whats good for the goose is good for the gander. Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice, but the Senate lacked the votes needed to convict him in both cases. In 2019, the House impeached Trump over his phone call with the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. A record of the call released by the White House detailed how Trump implored Zelensky to investigate Biden, who beat Trump in 2020, and his son, Hunter Biden. Last year, the House impeached Trump during his final days in office, charging him with incitement of insurrection for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. On Tuesday, Cruz said that impeachment shouldnt be used as a political tool. Thats not how impeachment is meant to work, he said. But the junior Texas senator also said there were multiple grounds to consider for impeachment against Biden. Probably the most compelling is the utter lawlessness of President Bidens refusal to enforce the border. His decision to just defy federal immigration laws and allow 2 million people to come here unimpeded in direct contravention of his obligation under Article 2 of the Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, he said. That is probably the strongest grounds right now for impeachment, but there may be others. Cruz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Texas Republicans have blamed Biden's less stringent immigration stance for a sharp increase in migrants coming to the border seeking entry into the U.S. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Yves here. Im normally leery of economists attempting to model non-economic questions, but this looks to be a well-defined study examining the effects of childhood respiratory infections. And mind you, the diseases in question are just respiratory ailments, as in they do not afflict other organs the way Covid does. The conclusions are worrying in and of themselves as well as in terms of their implications for Covid, given that Omicron in particular is producing a much higher level of serious cases, including hospitalization, among children up to nine years old, than earlier variants. This study found infants were two to three times as likely to be hospitalized as older children, and that their hospitalization damaged their educational and job prospects without producing greater resistance to later childhood respiratory infection. By N. Meltem Daysal, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Hui Ding, PhD student in Economics, Stanford University, Maya Rossin-Slater, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine and Hannes Schwandt, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University, School of Education and Social Policy (SESP). Originally published at VoxEU Pandemics have a major impact on households and the economy. But how common endemic viruses affect long-term population human capital and economic outcomes is not well understood. This column uses data from Denmark to explore the mechanisms and consequences of a childs exposure to respiratory disease in early life. Younger siblings have two to three-times higher rates of hospitalisation for respiratory conditions during their first year of life compared to older siblings. The family unit plays a central role in virus transmission and birth order can influence childrens longer-term outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited interest in understanding the societal costs of infectious diseases, which are often measured in terms of their direct and immediate impact on public health and economic activity (Adda 2016). While a large body of research focuses on the effects of pandemics on households and the economy (e.g. Janke et al. 2020, Moroni et al. 2020, Alon et al. 2020, Conti 2020, Baldwin 2020), the parallel question of how common endemic viruses impact society remains less understood. In addition, even less attention is paid to the potential long-term consequences of these viruses on population human capital and economic outcomes. Respiratory Disease: The Role of Birth Order and the Long-Run Impacts In our paper (Daysal et al. 2021), we use Danish population-level administrative data on 35 birth cohorts to comprehensively analyse both the mechanisms through which infants become infected by respiratory viruses as well as the consequences of early-life respiratory disease exposure for their later outcomes. We begin by documenting a striking disparity in the likelihood of severe respiratory disease in early childhood by birth order. Using data on all first- and second-born siblings born in Denmark between 1980 and 2015, we find that younger siblings have two-to-three-times higher rates of hospitalisation for respiratory conditions during their first year of life compared to the older siblings at the same age. This gap is particularly large when hospitalisations are measured in the first three months of life. The hospitalisation disparity is larger if the younger sibling is born in the autumn or winter, when respiratory viruses circulate more frequently. The gap is also larger for siblings with shorter birth spacing, who may be more prone to close contact that facilitates virus transmission. These patterns highlight the centrality of the family unit in virus transmission and the hitherto under-studied mechanism by which birth order might influence childrens longer-term outcomes: older children bring home common viruses (e.g. from group childcare environments), putting their younger siblings at heightened risk of severe respiratory illness in the first few months of life. Causal Long-Term Effects To identify the long-term causal impacts of early-life respiratory disease exposure, we combine the birth order variation in the likelihood of severe respiratory infection with variation in local disease prevalence. Local respiratory disease prevalence among children is largely driven by highly infectious conditions, such as the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which spread across locations in irregular waves (Pitzer et al. 2015). We construct a municipality-level index to capture respiratory disease exposure during each childs first year of life from slightly older children in the community. Specifically, we calculate the number of hospitalisations for respiratory conditions per 100 children aged 13 to 71 months in each municipality (excluding siblings), and then assign to each child the cumulative child hospitalisation rate in their municipality over their first 12 months of life. We then use our sample of siblings to estimate the differential effect of the respiratory disease index for younger compared to older siblings. Our regression models control for time-invariant differences across municipalities that might drive differences in disease exposure and aggregate and seasonal trends in respiratory illness, as well as a large set of observable individual and family characteristics. We show that the local respiratory disease index strongly predicts the likelihood that a child is hospitalised for a respiratory illness during the first year of life. This impact is much larger for younger relative to older siblings. Moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile in the disease index distribution is associated with a 0.021 differential increase in the number of respiratory illness hospitalisations in the first year of life for younger relative to older children, representing an additional 30.9 % increase at the sample mean. This effect is in part driven by a differential increase in hospitalisations for RSV, which is a mild illness in most older children but can be serious among infants. In the long run, the increased exposure to severe respiratory illness during infancy among second-born children translates into worse educational and labour market outcomes for them. We find that, for the younger siblings, moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile in the disease index distribution is associated with a 0.4 percentage point (0.5%) differential decline in the likelihood of high school graduation and a 1.3% additional reduction in earnings at age 30. We also examine the impact of respiratory illness exposure in the first year of life on hospitalisations for respiratory conditions in later childhood. We find that higher respiratory disease exposure before age one is associated with a lower likelihood of hospitalisation for all respiratory conditions at ages three to four, consistent with the hypothesis of immunity formation. We do not, however, observe a protective effect of first-year-of-life RSV exposure on the likelihood of RSV hospitalisation during later childhood. This result is consistent with RSV not being an immunising disease that is, an RSV infection does not provide immunity against future illness. This lack of immunity formation, combined with the fact that RSV accounts for a large share of all respiratory hospitalisations during infancy (30% among second-born children), suggests that RSV might play a particularly important role in driving adverse long-term impacts on educational and economic outcomes. Filling an Important Gap in the Existing Literature Ample empirical evidence links adverse conditions, including health shocks, during early childhood to worse socioeconomic outcomes in the long run (Barker 1990, Currie 2008, Almond and Currie 2011, Almond et al. 2018). Consistent with this extensive literature, the current research on the effects of infectious viruses indicates long-lasting negative effects on health and economic outcomes. However, these studies are primarily based on severe infectious diseases, such as malaria and polio (e.g. Bleakley 2010, Barreca 2010, Venkataramani 2012, Gensowski 2019, Fink et al. 2021), or on pandemic influenza outbreaks, including the 1918 Spanish Flu and the 1957 Asian Flu (e.g. Almond 2006, Almond and Mazumder 2005, Lin and Liu 2014, Kelly 2011). Severe infectious diseases like malaria and polio continue to plague the developing world but they have been largely eradicated in high-income countries. Moreover, the evidence from pandemics may not apply to understanding the long-term impacts of endemic viruses to which individuals may be exposed many times during their lives. Studies from evolutionary biology highlight the importance of physiological adaptation (Bateson et al. 2014, Gluckman and Hanson 2006) and identify a high rate of immune-system learning in the first year of life (Holt and Jones 2000, MRabet et al. 2008, Cote et al. 2010). Thus, exposure to an infectious disease in infancy may increase immunity for an individual if they are exposed to the same virus at older ages, suggesting a potentially non-linear relationship between early-life exposure and long-term outcomes (Fink et al. 2021). Emerging evidence on the long-term impacts of endemic influenza, on the other hand, has focused on the in utero period (Schwandt 2018). Our study contributes to this literature on endemic disease by focusing on the first year of life and analysing transmission mechanisms. COVID-19 and the Road Ahead Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic continues with no clear end in sight. While children have largely not been considered to be a high-risk group in terms of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Schwandt 2020), the pandemic may have lasting and dynamic impacts on children through its effects on other infectious diseases. Policies implemented during the pandemic including travel restrictions and school closures have reduced the spread of other respiratory viruses, including RSV (Leung et al. 2020, Cowling et al, 2020). Epidemiological models predict that pandemic periods with muted spread of common infectious diseases are followed by stronger outbreaks (Baker et al. 2020). Since the risk of severe cases of childhood disease is particularly high during the first year of life, the pandemic might have the severest long-term impact on infants who are born at the end of the pandemic and who are then exposed to stronger childhood disease outbreaks when the pandemic is over. Overall, our study highlights the importance of the family unit in disease transmission during infancy and offers novel information that can inform cost-benefit evaluations of policies designed to curb the transmission of endemic viruses, including vaccination mandates, drug distribution programmes, and sick pay regulations (Bhalotra and Venkataramani 2015, White 2019, Pichler and Ziebarth 2020, Butikofer and Salvanes 2020, Marie and Castello 2020). See original post for references Science/Medicine New corona variant identified in France DW. GM has been onto this since it was sighted in Cameroon ~6 weeks ago. "Scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health wrote that they found the SARS-CoV-2 virus present in autopsies in multiple sites across the body for up to 230 days after patients first reported symptoms" https://t.co/HyKYE0BUCa https://t.co/hfYuVpq4At pic.twitter.com/SS2pwGRhSl Nationwide study finds no significant link between in-person schooling and COVID infection rates MedicalXPress (Robert M(. Pre Delta and pre-vaccines. Here in Alabama last fall, we had many school districts shuttering shortly after opening due to infection spikes. This sort of containment response could skew results. The hyper-transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant exhibits significant antigenic change, vaccine escape and a switch in cell entry mechanism University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research. Pre-print. UK/Europe Note these are hospitalizations, not cases. Contrast with UK vaccination rate: 70.6% fully vaccinated, 77.1% at least one shot, 50.9% boosted: people have been reported as testing positive in the 7 days since 27th December. This DOES NOT include re-infections. All should currently be self-isolating.. "living with" these levels of infections even for only a few weeks is incredibly disruptive for all industries and downright dangerous in ones like healthcare. You cannot legislate for people to not feel ill and nor can you legislate away how long they are infectious for. https://t.co/ztG6IvEpqY Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) January 2, 2022 My Nashville Post role has evolved since 2000 when I joined the now-defunct The City Paper. TCP became a Post sister publication in 2008 (when I began doing some Post work) and folded in 2013. I have been managing editor of the Post since late 2011. Follow William Williams Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today (Natural News) Just in time for Christmas, the Austrian government surprised its citizens with an extended lockdown for the unvaccinated. For another 10 days, Austrians who have not gotten injected with an Operation Warp Speed needle will be required to stay at home, or else. The news came just days before the countrys new jab requirements come into effect in 2022. Up until New Years Eve, unvaccinated Austrians will be limited from shopping and forced to stay home from work without a negative Fauci Flu test result. The unvaccinated in Austria are also being restricted from attending certain indoor events as additional punishment for refusing to get injected. Previously, the entire country of Austria was punished by Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, the fully vaccinated included, with a nationwide lockdown. Now, as we near the new year, Schallenberg is tightening the noose once again, this time specifically against the unvaccinated. While under the measure, unvaccinated Austrians are generally not allowed to leave their homes or meet more than one person at a time from another household, reported The Epoch Times. The measure doesnt apply to children under the age of 12 because they cannot yet officially get vaccinated. Covid was the vehicle to drive the entire world into fascism From December 24-26, unvaccinated Austrians were granted an exemption from Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein, who waved his invisible scepter and allowed them see their family members just so long as the gatherings were capped at no more than 10 people. Now that the 26th has passed, however, the unvaccinated in Austria have once again been plunged back into tyranny. Christmas should show us once again how important contact with our loves ones is and how precious time together is, Mueckstein announced, dangling the carrot of full freedom in 2022 to the unvaccinated if they will just agree to roll up their sleeves. The fully vaccinated, along with those who recently recovered from a Fauci Flu infection, were told that they could have the privilege of gathering in groups of up to 25 people over the holidays. It turns out that Austria is ground zero for covid tyranny. The central European country currently has some of the most fascist policies in place to punish the non-compliant. These policies from the likes of Schallenberg and Mueckstein are drawing weekly protests across Austria, where tens of thousands of people from all political persuasions are joining together to just say no to the tyranny. Schallenberg, meanwhile, announced earlier in the month that he will be stepping down from his post. Keep in mind that he just took office several months ago. It would appear that Schallenbergs popularity is nonexistent and that the people of Austria do not approve of his authoritarianism. Its our job as the government of Austria to protect the people, Schallenberg publicly stated in defense of his fascism. Starting February 1, a full-fledged jab mandate will come into effect in Austria that requires all persons 14 years of age and older with a place of residence in the country to get jabbed and boosted or else face hefty quarterly fines of well over $4,000. According to reports, Austria is the first European country to introduce a full-scale mandate like this. Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe: roughly 69 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated, the Times further reported. According to a recent report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Austria is considered a country of moderate concern in the EU. You will find more of the latest news about Fauci Flu injection mandates and the push towards a global Great Reset at Fascism.news. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Stockholm-based startup Epicenter has successfully tested a rice-sized implantable microchip that is now being used to track peoples Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination status. For years, many mocked this concept as just another wild conspiracy theory. Now it has become a reality, and will likely soon be expanded outside the borders of Sweden to the entire world. In the not-too-distant future, governments around the world will mark their citizens with these injections, which are also capable of storing financial information meaning they will be required in order to buy and sell. Right now, its very convenient to have a covid passport always accessible on your implant, says Hannes Sjoblad, head of DSruptive, one of Epicenters technology development partners. For many years, Epicenter has been trying to produce what it dubs as human-compatible tech. The goal has always been to trans-humanized the global population with scannable microchips that contain everything about them. Those who comply with the governments edicts will be granted high social credit scores on their microchips, allowing them to participate in the new normal. Those who disobey and refuse to get a microchip at all will be disbarred from society. Sweden now requiring citizens to show proof of vaccination for all gatherings over 100 people It turns out that Sweden is not exactly the safe haven from plandemic tyranny that many believed it to be. Just recently, the Swedish government imposed a new fascist policy requiring citizens to procure proof of injection on demand at any gathering attended by more than 100 people. This includes concerts, theater events and even churches that are attended by more than 100 people. The governments announcement about this prompted many Swedes to rush out and get Epicenters tracking microchips implanted into their skin. The latest figures suggest that at least 6,000 Swedes are now marked and ready to participate in the new normal. The demonstration video below about how the technology works is nothing short of eerie and dystopian. Watch as a simple smartphone is used to scan the persons wrist and identify the microchip, confirming vaccination compliance: A Swedish company has come up with a microchip that can be inserted under the skin so that users can carry their Covid passports in their arm. pic.twitter.com/Vkl82q7dGR AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 21, 2021 The 6,000 Swedes who let their wrists get marked will now be allowed to go to restaurants, work out at the health club and participate in other social activities where proof of injection is required. For example, if I go to the movies or go to a shopping center, then people will be able to check my status, even if I dont have my phone, Sjoblad, a self-described biohacker, explains in the video, using his own implanted chip as a demonstration. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has already indicated strong interest in adopting the same technology. The video below from the South China Morning Post explains more: Beep boop beep: Your vaccination record has been verified ? pic.twitter.com/dpAkSCudxf South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) December 17, 2021 Just like the Swedish microchip from Epicenter, Chinas version relies on radio-frequency identification, or RFID communication, which uses electromagnetic fields to transmit signals verifying or confirming stored information. Its already widely used for things like mobile payments and in many contactless credit cards something which increased in use after the start of the pandemic, given much of the publics aversion to touching things in public as they go about their daily lives, reported Zero Hedge. Theoretically, such a chips data storage could eventually be expanded to hold a huge range of identifying information, which brings up age-old questions of privacy and ease of surveillance by outside parties or hostile entities. As you may recall from back in 2017 right after Donald Trump took the White House, a Wisconsin-based technology company called Three Square Market unveiled its own implantable microchip technology that was given to employees, allowing them to pay for food and drinks in the break room. More related news coverage about covid vaccines and implantable microchip technologies can be found at Prophecy.news. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com After a marginal decline in early trade primarily due to profit booking, Indian equity market traded in the green later in the day and settled higher on Wednesday. Accordingly, Sensex and Nifty settled at 60,223 points and 17,925 points, up 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, from their previous close. On Wednesday, banking, financial services, oil and gas, and realty stocks rose the most. Among the stocks, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, Grasim rallied the most, rising 5.0 per cent, 4.4 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 3.4 per cent, 3.1 per cent, respectively, data showed. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Divi's Labs, and Wipro were some of the stocks that declined during the session. During the session, shares of news channel NDTV hit the 10 per cent upper circuit. According to Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities: "Now the index has reached near its good hurdle zone of 18,000-18,100 where one can look for trimming their long position. Also, if it manages to sustain the above said resistance, we may see fresh breakout and then we may inch towards previous swing high. "On the other hand, good support zone is formed near 17,800-17,700, and any dip near the mentioned support zone will be again fresh buying opportunity." The banking sector outshone other sectoral indices as few private lenders reported double-digit business growth during the third quarter, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "US and Asian markets traded weak ahead of the release of the US Fed meeting minutes while European indexes held ground," Nair said. (Natural News) What if social media existed in the Dark Ages? Users posting a quote by an Enlightenment era figure, and getting censored for it, might have just gotten some idea of what that would be like. (Article by Didi Rankovic republished from ReclaimTheNet.org) Facebooks dumb algorithms are most likely (or at least, hopefully) behind the decision to fact check and censor none other than a quote by Thomas Paine, an 18th century Anglo-American figure whose work was instrumental in inspiring the declaration of independence of the United States. Even in the current climate of out of control online censorship, it would be a bitter pill to swallow if it turned out there was a human behind this particular decision. Whatever the case, multiple Facebook and Instagram users were saying on Twitter on Monday and Tuesday that their posts were either removed or that they had their accounts temporarily blocked for uploading a picture of Paine and his quote, reading, He who dares not offend cannot be honest, that comes from Paines writings in the Pennsylvania Journal, 24 April, 1776. According to Facebooks censorship machine, that is false information, worthy of bans and deletions. The irony of yet another instance of suppression of speech is particularly painful here (no pun intended) given Paines own pro-freedom, individual liberty and human rights, as well as anti-slavery stances, that made him a prominent Enlightenment figure. Well, those quoting him today on social media, like evolutionary biologist Colin Wright are discovering that they live in a different era where Instagram informs them that their stories containing the image and the quote had been removed for false information that goes against the giants community guidelines. Even by Instagrams standards this is the social platform thats been known to fact-check memes for accuracy of information it boggles the mind that posts featuring Paine and his quote are getting removed for being against (Instagram) guidelines on vaccines misinformation. Others have received notifications of 24-hour suspensions on posting or commenting because they previously posted something that was not in line with Facebooks community standards and also against their standards on vaccine misinformation. Quite how vaccines fit into any of this is currently unclear. But Facebook explains that Paine nevertheless uncannily makes vaccine advocates feel unsafe: We have these standards because misinformation about vaccines can make some people feel unsafe on Facebook. Read more at: ReclaimTheNet.org (Natural News) The Ministry of Health in Japan has stressed that getting COVID-19 vaccines are not mandatory, as it shifts its focus on giving informed consent on vaccine-related injuries and adverse effects. In addition, the country has also recently labeled its vaccines with risk warnings for myocarditis to ensure that people are informed of what is being injected into their bodies. In a statement, the ministry said: Although we encourage all citizens to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, it is not compulsory or mandatory. Vaccination will be given only with the consent of the person to be vaccinated after the information provided. The health ministry also noted that citizens can get vaccinated at will, with an understanding of the effectiveness of preventing infectious diseases and the risks of side effects involved. They also emphasized that workplaces cannot force their employees or colleagues to get vaccinated and that they are not allowed to discriminate against anyone who has an unvaccinated status. The Japanese government also added a link to a human rights advice page that allows citizens to direct their complaints if they face vaccine discrimination at work. This balanced and ethical approach could do well in other countries as well, and would greatly benefit them if they follow the nations lead. Japans policy places the responsibility of healthcare to the individual or their families, which is in contrast with the vaccine mandate approach adopted by many other western nations. The U.S., for instance, provides a case study in the anatomy of medical coercion, which is exercised by a faceless bureaucratic network: This leads to frustration that can go around in bureaucratic circles as they try to troubleshoot problems or rectify unfair practices. Bureaucracy in vaccination mandates In nations with coercive vaccine mandates for instance, the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes vaccine recommendations, but the ethical distinction between a recommendation and a mandate will immediately collapse when a government agency or an employer or any institution will require its people to be vaccinated based on such recommendation. (Related: Japan chooses path of sanity and rejects mandatory COVID shots, discrimination against unvaccinated.) When contesting these mandates in court, the mandating institution can point back to the CDC recommendation for their rational basis for the mandate, and the court will defer to the CDCs authority on public health. However, this would mean that the business or institution can disclaim responsibility for their decisions to take the mandate into effect. Similarly, the CDC can disclaim responsibility by pointing out that they dont make the policies, they simply make the recommendations for which can be the basis of those policies. In all this, the vaccine manufacturer remains immune and indemnified from liability or harm under federal law, and there is no use going to them if their product can harm individuals. From vaccine hesitancy to vaccine champions Japans Constitution, for practical purposes, has not deployed lockdowns or compulsory mask rules in its approach to fighting the pandemic, leaving people to decide on their own whether or not they would get the vaccine. They provided citizens with full information regarding the possible adverse effects of these vaccines and printed warnings as necessary. Without pushing the vaccine agenda on its citizens, Japan has a relatively good record in pandemic containment with 14.5 deaths per million, as opposed to the 230 per 100,000 in the U.S. Watch the video below to see how Japan is handling the pandemic effectively. The video above is from First Brick, which is available for streaming on Brighteon.TV. Read more at Pandemic.news. Sources include: NewsPunch.com BBC.com (Natural News) Getting injected with too many vaccines from Operation Warp Speed could destroy your immune system, leaving it defenseless against the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19). The New York Times actually warned about this in a new report concerning Israels introduction of a fourth Fauci Flu vaccine. People who roll up their sleeves for yet another booster could suffer a form of immune system fatigue that makes them more prone to infection. Israel is considering whether to approve a fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose for vulnerable people to contain the fast-spreading Omicron variant, despite debate among scientists and a lack of evidence either for or against another booster, the Times reported. The panel of experts advising the Israeli government on the pandemic recognized that uncertainty, but on Tuesday it recommended giving a fourth dose, concluding that the potential benefits outweighed the risks. It pointed to signs of waning immunity a few months after the third shot, and said that any delay in additional doses might prove too late to protect those most at risk. Too many shots, though, could compromise the bodys ability to fight off any form of coronavirus, including the new Omicron (Moronic) variant, also known as a common seasonal cold. Only a handful of government officials are even talking about this. And when they do, the conversation usually centers around the elderly meaning young people might still be encouraged to take a fourth (and later a fifth) injection of Donald father of the vaccine Trumps miracle serums. Naftali Bennett wants a fourth booster shot regardless Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is fully on board with the fourth shot plan, even though it will likely lead to yet another wave of illnesses and deaths among the fully vaccinated. The price will be higher if we dont vaccinate, added Dr. Boaz Lev, a member of Bennetts government advisory panel. We dont have a lot of time to make decisions. The plan is one of do the injecting now, and quickly, and ask questions later. As Lev says, there is no time to waste so get those jabs into your arms at warp speed already. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meanwhile, is quietly warning that the bulk of Moronic variant cases are now occurring in fully vaccinated people. The unvaccinated are mostly protected. This runs contrary to claims recently made by Trump to Candace Owens about how his Trump Vaccines are perfectly safe and effective always. The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that dont take the vaccine, Trump told Owens after she mentioned how hospitals are now being overloaded with fully vaccinated sick patients. And if you take the vaccine, Trump added, youre protected. Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, its a very minor form. People arent dying when they take the vaccine. If only Trump could tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people in America who have already died from his injections. Even if he took the time to give his spiel to their gravesites, they still would not be able to hear him though millions of his still-alive former supporters are hearing him loudly and clearly. Trump was playing us and pretending to be against the booster and saying kids shouldnt take it and all that, pointed out one commenter at National File. It wasnt the first betrayal, not the first time he strung along his base with lip service (lies) and then tried to screw US in order to service other constituencies or short-term interests rather than do the right thing. The latest news about Fauci Flu death injections can be found at Genocide.news. Sources for this article include: NationalFile.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) NASHVILLE Mr. Shawn Kuhn was a 21-year-old college student we wrote about a couple months ago. He received his second Pfizer mRNA injection sometime in May 2021. Mr. Kuhn was hospitalized with a condition mainstream media called COVID-19 pneumonia by late August. He was in-and-out of Georgia hospitals for the next six weeks before being intubated in an intensive care unit. He died on October 11. (Article republished from TheCOVIDBlog.com) Mainstream media headlines read, Vaccinated student died of COVID-19. The University of Georgia student newspaper headline read, UGA student dies of COVID-19 complications. At the time, breakthrough COVID-19 case was the mainstream media propaganda term most often used for these types of deaths. That term is apparently obsolete now. The COVID pneumonia thing is out of the same playbook they used to create so-called Omicron. Mainstream media are now relying solely on what Belgian professor of clinical psychology, Dr. Mattias Desmet, calls mass formation psychosis among the global populace. Mainstream media and government can literally get away with any and all COVID-19 propaganda in 2022 no matter how ridiculous and contrary to reality it may be. Death of Dr. Dimitri Ndina ABC-affiliate WKRN in Nashville published a story on Thursday entitled, COVID-19 takes life of longtime Nashville doctor, family says. Dr. Dimitri Ndina was a pharmacist at Tennessee Oncology. He received his first dose of Pfizer mRNA sometime in the first week of December, his 19-year-old daughter, Alexa Ndina, told WKRN. Dr. Ndina, 57, fell extremely ill a few days after the shot. He was admitted to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown on December 7. Alexis told WKRN reporter Allie Lynch that her father started to clot in his lower regionfrom his legs and started to work up. She almost verbatim described a thromboembolism, a common adverse/deadly reaction from the mRNA injections. But reporter Lynch failed to follow-up on this information and allowed the fallacious death by COVID-19 narrative to continue unabated. Alexis is unwilling or psychologically incapable of connecting the very obvious dots between the Pfizer injection and her fathers death. Dr. Ndina spent the last two weeks of his life in a hospital before passing away on December 20, less than three weeks after the Pfizer injection. Granted everyone grieves differently. But the video version of the story shows an eerily jovial (and masked) Alexis as she describes the death of her father. Alexis final message about her father is perhaps the most obtuse, tone deaf statement weve ever written on this blog. To continue his legacy I want everyone to stay proactive in being healthy because thats what he would have wanted. There is a GoFundMe page collecting funds for the Ndina family. However we wont be linking it here. Dr. Ndina is also survived by his wife and one other adult child. Mass formation psychosis Warning the following is not a joke. Israel diagnosed its first case of flurona. Zionist media described it as a simultaneous coronavirus and influenza virus infection. Coincidentally or otherwise, Maryland-based Novovax began testing its flurona vaccine this past September. In other words, big pharma creates the drugs, mainstream media create the narrative, and the sheep obsequiously graze in the matrix. Ever since the so-called pandemic commenced, this blogger has been trying to figure out how and why the masses are so inert, so acquiescent when the facts and truth are right in front of them. A Twitter user named Rickard emailed us several videos of the aforementioned Dr. Mattias Desmet. The term mass formation psychosis is trending on Twitter in the United States as this article is being written. Thats because Dr. Robert Malone, one of the pioneers in mRNA technology, spoke about it on a recent Joe Rogan podcast. He was speaking about the work of Ghent Universitys Dr. Desmet. You need the mass media to create a mass phenomenon at that scale, Dr. Desmet said in reference to Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union. The following is an excellent conversation between attorney Reiner Fuellmich, Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg and Dr. Desmet, breaking down how seemingly intelligent people are falling for all this COVID/vaccine propaganda. As Dr. Desmet said, facts no longer matter to the masses. Mainstream media said unequivocally that Dr. Ndina got sick days after the Pfizer injection and died two weeks later. Yet said media still pushed the he died from COVID narrative and the masses ate it up. Thats what were dealing with. Dr. Ndinas own family is allowing him to die in vain, and hoping to score big on GoFundMe. But as a journalist, this blogger blames WKRN reporter Allie Lynch for her spineless, Pfizer-sponsored reporting of this particular incident. As we enter 2022, its now a waste of time and energy trying to communicate with vaxx zealots. They are far too indoctrinated, beyond reasoning. Its every man, every woman, every family for themselves. Stay vigilant and protect your friends and loved ones. Read more at: TheCOVIDBlog.com (Natural News) A very misleading meta-analysis, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is being used as propaganda to spread even more fear and hysteria. The study is titled, Global Percentage of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among the Tested Population and Individuals with Confirmed COVID-19 Diagnosis. The meta-analysis looked at ninety-five studies involving nearly 30 million individuals who took a covid-19 PCR test. The authors of the study found that a certain percentage of people tested positive for covid-19 even though they were healthy and showed no signs of sickness. Instead of discussing the problems with the PCR test and its propensity to give out false positives, the authors of the study claimed that a high percentage of asymptomatic infections from this study highlights the potential transmission risk of asymptomatic infections in communities. This false narrative of asymptomatic carriers is used by the corporate media to call for more fraudulent testing, more needless isolation and more contact tracing of healthy individuals. These measures do not address immune system health or alter the course of any infection; these measures only perpetuate a cycle of insanity and medical tyranny. The PCR scam is being rebranded to terrorize populations The Chinese meta-analysis does not mention that the PCR test was NEVER intended to diagnose a specific disease, nor was it designed to be used with specificity at such scale. The PCR test is not capable of consistently distinguishing specific genetic sequences, like other diagnostic models do, such as Sanger Sequencing. The PCR test cannot differentiate between non-infectious viral debris from a previous infection nor can it make an accurate judgment of an active infection and trace its transmission. The PCR test is unable to determine viral load, which is a more important issue as far as viral transmission is concerned. Over the past two years, these covid-19 PCR tests were calibrated at such a high cycle threshold (CT), the most meaningless viral debris was amplified into a positive covid-19 result. Because of high cycle thresholds, practically any positive test result could be contested. Since laboratories often use PCR tests with CT cycles greater than 17, there is a considerable number of false positives across all the studies in this meta-analysis. The positive covid cases could simply be individuals who already have immunity to various respiratory viruses, and they pose no threat of viral transmission. Furthermore, detection of viral RNA does not guarantee the presence of infectious virus or that SARS-C0V-2 is the causative agent for any clinical symptoms. This false-positive PCR scam has given rise to a false narrative known as asymptomatic transmission of covid-19. In other words, every article that fear-mongers about healthy people spreading asymptomatic infections is really just proving that the PCR test is a scam and the pandemic is nonexistent. Healthy people cannot spread infectious diseases they do not have. Despite these serious issues with the PCR test, the study claims that asymptomatic infections are potential sources of transmission for COVID-19. The authors of the study do not provide any epidemiological evidence to show how a healthy individual can transmit infectious virus material without any symptoms of infection. The authors do not trace a single infection back to a healthy person. A positive covid-19 test is a correlation, not a causation. How can a positive PCR test confirm a specific infection, let alone transmission, when there is no viral load to measure? Corporate media uses PCR scam to target healthy, unvaccinated individuals Even though it is biological common sense that healthy people cannot transmit viruses (regardless of a phony test result), the Chinese study authors claimed: The high percentage of asymptomatic infections highlights the potential transmission risk of asymptomatic infections in communities. Study author Min Liu of Peking University wrote this. He claims that asymptomatic individuals (false positives) should be treated like confirmed infections, including isolating and contact tracing them. Not surprisingly, the corporate media is promoting this propaganda to terrorize the population further. Studyfinds.org used the meta-analysis to mislead the population to believe that healthy people can transmit a virus that they are not infected with. Four in 10 COVID-19 patients are asymptomatic carriers of the virus responsible for over 800,000 deaths in the United States, Studyfinds.org claims. Silent cases of the virus are twice as prevalent than previous estimates feared, the propaganda continues. Undoubtedly, this hysterical conclusion will be used to socially ostracize healthy unvaccinated people, paving the way for mass discrimination and segregation against them. If anything, this study proves that 40 percent of covid cases arent even real. Studyfinds.org is pushing FEAR in the name of science. Future studies and investigative journalism should also look into the causative agents behind mild and severe covid cases to see if the PCR test results are also equally fraudulent in sick, elderly populations. Future studies should also investigate the covid-19 death totals to better understand the causative agents, the immunosuppression and the severity of iatrogenic error behind the deaths. Sources include: JAMANetwork.com NaturalNews.com Brownstone.org FDA.gov StudyFinds.org (Natural News) The Gateway Pundit alternative news online website is extraordinary at getting the inside scoop on everything from political issues to whistleblowers about Covid. That is why the tech giants are censoring the links to all of The Gateway Pundit articles from all T-Mobile smart devices in several states across the union. This is some Soviet Russia style censorship and rewriting of history as it happens, as the Left is currently and quietly blocking some of the most vital truth news on the planet from being communicated across smart phone lines. Are you on T-Mobiles Stalin network? T-Mobile customer service supervisors instructed to blame Google or you for inability to send TGP links From 1929 to 1953, Joseph Stalin ruled Soviet Russia (USSR) using terror tactics and censorship of his enemies. He changed history by cropping people out of important photographs, pretending afterwards that they never even existed. Currently, the Democrats in Washington DC are controlling not just most of the mass media, but are now actively censoring alternative news from being read, shared and sent among people through smart devices. It is very important for the Democrats to hide all of their evil ways, including information about scandals, Covid, deception, money laundering, vaccine-induced deaths, trans-perversions and child trafficking. T-Mobile has joined the Stalin-style censorship of truth news now. They are all in for blocking the most important news from being communicated news that reveals the new Communism rule in America that wants complete tyrannical control and depopulation schemes in full effect. That is why not ONE single supervisor at T-Mobile has offered to lift the block of TGP texted links. They just blame anything else and act dumbfounded. Have you tried turning your phone off and back on again sir/maam? Gateway Pundit garners nearly one billion views in 2021, now T-Mobile bans their links from being sent by TEXT, are all private emails next? TGP is actively a top 250 website in the country for news, and they are being banned by T-Mobile secretly so everyone wont know. It looks like you sent the link to someone, but they never get it. Meanwhile MSM publishes lies right and left (pardon the pun) and gets away with it every day, all day, no censorship there. T-Mobile is changing history daily, right now, and will continue to do so until enough of their customers switch to a different service provider. Imagine if CNNs links were disappeared by Verizon, and none of their customers could send news posts to each other. Imagine the uproar from the Left. All of MSM news would be broadcasting headlines phrased racist network and Russia Collusion and everyone knows how that goes. Only this is not staged, its real, and its happening now. The Gateway Pundit has published countless T-Mobile customer screenshots proving their news links are being blocked, erased, and not-to-be-spoken-about. Customer service at T-Mobile cant fix it, they say. They wont. The ban is coming from the top. There are lots of cases of this happening in Virginia and Pennsylvania right now. Its also frequent when T-Mobile users send TGP links via TEXT to people with Apple devices on the Verizon network. Next, expect multiple carriers to block more truth news website links and then all private emails containing those links. Double check right now. Click on some TGP news links and try to text them to friends and relatives, then ask them if they came through and were usable. Check to see if Natural News links will work also. Then check your emails for those links. We must stay aware of the massive censorship Blitzkrieg thats taking place this winter. Stay tuned and stay frosty. Tune your internet to Censored.news for huge swaths of truth news thats being censored from the rest of media as you read this. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com TheGatewayPundit.com Censored.news Wednesday, January 05, 2022 by: News Editors Tags: CCP , China , communism , dictatorships , government , Liberty , Taiwan This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author (Natural News) All dictatorships are illegitimate, because all dictatorships deny and crush the most essential traits of human beings: free will, creativity, and love. (Article by republished from CreativeDestructionMedia.com) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as is typical of all dictatorships, excels at the destruction of the human soul and freedom. The CCP has done its best to make the world afraid of its power, but one tiny country is saying no. Kudos to Lithuania for recognizing Taiwan and standing up to the Chinese Communist Party. Lithuania is confronting a bully at great risk to its prosperity and well-being, while much larger countries slink away. Accommodating totalitarians never works. Thugs and criminals who murdered tens of millions of innocent civilians have no conscience and will not change their behavior unless they are forced to do so by a stronger opponent. Communist China demands that the world acknowledge that the real China is Communist China and that Taiwan has no validity as a separate country. They rattle their sabers and snarl threats to anyone who dares to question their narrative about Taiwan. Companies and individuals who want to profit from trade with Mainland China meekly apologize and move on, kicking Taiwan to the curb. To those who make millions of dollars from the Communist Chinese while abandoning Taiwan, one might suggest that they remember the words of Jesus in Mark 8:36: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? But lets consider for a moment the moral status of Taiwan compared to the CCP. And I say CCPnot Mainland Chinabecause the communists in China are a minority of fascists who have enslaved their citizens and do not represent the hearts and minds of their people. Slavery is the dividing line. The CCP might say that they dont practice slavery, but enslaving an entire society under a totalitarian system of oppression fits the bill. Its not just China, of course. North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Venezuela, and every other repressive regime in the world can be succinctly labeled as a country of illegitimate slavers. Someone might point to the long history of conquest in the world and excuse the CCP as the military victor in an internal conflict. Mao Zedong won the war and to the victor go the spoils. Hasnt that happened everywhere in the world, throughout history? Look at Britain: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes occupied England and became the rightful rulers, and then the Normans conquered the Anglo-Saxons. Such is life, and such is history. And slavery? It has existed almost everywhere, throughout antiquity. It was just normal. But its not normal anymore, or at least it shouldnt be. In the 1800s, Judeo-Christian abolitionists in Britain and America publicly spoke in defense of all humans as sacred creations of God and initiated an enormous change in the world with their victorious battle against slavery. Very few people in the world today, either from the Left, the Right, or anywhere else, will publicly defend slaverythe owning of another human being. Criminals engage in it, and certain countries like Mauritania surreptitiously allow it, but its not publicly supported. It has become a gray area, however, when one examines the quality of freedom versus slavery in a citizens relationship to government. In China, slaves are not triumphantly paraded in chains past the doors of the palaces, as was common in the Roman empire. No, in China, the entire populace is enslaved. Citizens are monitored constantly, and they are not free to conduct their affairs as they wish. Some will quibble and state that Chinese citizens can run their businesses and make millions, ignoring the fact that if those millionaires speak out against the CCP, theyll be disappeared. Thus, totalitarian governments that oppress their citizens become slavers by default. Life in North Korea, a society that might be closest to the horrors of the novel 1984, is simply not free at all. Their example should give pause to Western citizens who have already begun to lose their freedoms in the last two years of the China-initiated Covid pandemic. The 1.4 billion citizens of Communist China are enslaved by a minority cadre of power-hungry, well-fed slavers who look at their citizens with contempt. From famous actresses like Zhao Wei, who disappear, to the mass imprisonment of Muslim Uyghurs, the CCP rules with implacable tyranny. Their military buildup, fueled by Western trade dollars and the theft of Western technology, threatens the world and threatens Taiwan in the short term. If Mao Zedong had created a free and democratic society after he came to power, China might have the moral standing to declare that its the real China. If democracy had flourished, Taiwan might never have been established. All would be well in China, at least relatively speaking. But today, in the twenty-first century, when slavery is almost universally condemned, slavery by government still exists, and mainland China is its largest purveyor. Oppression of populations marks the difference between dictatorships and the free countries of the world. Even though most countries of the world have problematic histories of conquest, the countries that supported the growth of freedom gained a new ethical credibility and the moral right to exist that China does not share. Taiwan has held the line and has demonstrated that the Chinese people are better than the CCP and do indeed value democracy and freedom. Taiwan has firmly established that its small island nation is the Real China. The mainland Communist Chinese are Illegitimate Slavers who, if left unchecked, will continue to enslave their unfortunate population and will do their utmost to enslave Taiwan and as much of the world as they possibly can. The CCP has no moral standing. Their 1.4 billion citizens deserve to be free. Read more at: CreativeDestructionMedia.com (Natural News) A video put out by La Quinta Columna reveals that Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines contain nano-octopus and other microparticles that have the ability to self-assemble once injected into the body. The Wireless Nano-Sensors Network (WNSN) that is generated through this process is laid out in further detail in a paper published in the Journal of Communications. WNSN is the network interconnecting microdevices and nano-nodes or nano-sensors. Nano-nodes, which are devices with a nanometric size, are composed of nano-processor, nano-memory, nano-batteries, nano-transceiver, nano-antenna and nano-sensors, which operate at nano-scale level, explains the Daily Expose. La Quinta Columnas Ricardo Delgado further writes that the nanotechnology used in these injections is a recreation of communications technology that is already in use, except in this case it gets inserted into the body. Were talking about nano-communications, Delgado says. All of them are nanotechnology for nano-communications. By all of them, Delgado is referring to every single one of the currently available covid injections. These include the mRNA (messenger RNA) shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, as well as the viral vector jabs from AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). Covid jabs, Elon Musk and the push to turn human bodies into a transhuman borg Mik Andersen explains that nano-arrays centered on the human body require the use of special nano-antennas that operate in the terahertz band. These just so happen to be the same type as those found in covid injection samples. The explicit mention of the type of antenna and the technology of intra-body nano-networks would confirm that vaccines are, among other things, vectors for the installation of nanotechnology, or nanodevices in the human body, says Dr. Pablo Campra, who compiled images collected from covid vaccine samples. However, beyond pure coincidence, the authors make explicit the use of graphene and carbon nanotubes, as necessary elements for this network model. It turns out that billionaire narcissist Elon Musk is part of this operation, which aims to convert human bodies into transhumanist machines controlled by tiny intra-body nano-networks. And covid jabs are the delivery vehicle for their components. A 24-slide presentation explains how the process works using simple diagrams and easily digestible bullet points. You can either view online or download that presentation at the link above. In essence, these so-called vaccines for the Fauci Flu connect human bodies to the Internet of Things. They essentially lay the groundwork for human anatomy to both function through and be controlled by an IoT Network. Injected bodies will no longer be autonomous, but will instead function within the cloud of trans-humanity. 5G technology is part of the equation, too, as it will power and connect the IoT network and everyone who exists within it. Another term being thrown around to describe this new emerging virtual reality is the metaverse. It is possible that only the vaccinated will be equipped to participate in the metaverse and once fully there, the vaccinated will never be allowed to leave. The idea, over time, is to connect all the vaxxed to a hive mind,' is how one commenter at the Daily Expose puts it. Klaus Schwab (founder of the World Economic Forum) explains it here in his book / manifesto (free PDF version), see Shift 1: Implantable Technologies, p. 110-111, etc., wrote another, linking to Schwabs The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Another pointed out that the graphene oxide particles contained in the injections appear to act as electrical conduits, which would serve the purpose of powering the transhuman bodies that have been injected with it as part of the vaccination and booster process. The latest news coverage about covid injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: DailyExpose.uk Orwell.city Orwell.city NaturalNews.com (Natural News) One of the most insightful dialogues of 2021 was Joe Rogans interview of Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). Dr. Malone invented the mRNA technology that is being used in the experimental covid vaccines. Dr. Malone has developed medical products, drugs and clinical trials. He has worked directly with Dr. Anthony Fauci and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control. However, at this critical moment in history, he refuses to follow along with their vax-all agenda that has quashed medical ethics and destroyed the principles of medical privacy and informed consent. For not complying, Dr. Malone was banned from Twitter. He was also de-platformed and then re-instated from LinkedIn, for stating the simple fact that the head of Reuters is on the board of Pfizer. (Reuters is used as the end-all, know-all fact checker for Twitter and other social media sites.) Robert Malone vows to continue telling the truth even as the drug companies try to censor his voice. Here are some major takeaways from the Rogan/Malone interview: The gain-of-function research behind the development of the bioweapon spike protein ultimately paved the way for the development of a similar, but different spike protein which is currently being used as mRNA instructions in the covid vaccine. The drug companies have an ethical obligation to prove that the spike protein in their vaccine is not toxic, said Malone. Many people are not acutely injured by the vaccines and some show no adverse effects at all. Rogan asked why. Malone explained that the response curve is due to variances in the individual immune system, including phenotypic/genetic differences. Malone spoke about the term anti-vaxxer which is used to falsely shame people who do not take orders from public health officials. Its similarly used to socially ostracize anyone who dissents to drug company propaganda. Malone discussed the BBCs Trusted New Initiative which charges individuals for spreading misinformation if they speak out against Tedros, Fauci, or other vaccine propagandists. Dr. Malone emphasized the trauma that is being imparted in childrens minds, and the subsequent dehumanization, de-socialization and abuse that is being used against children with forced masks and isolation. When Rogan asked why hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were smeared by the media and blocked by the regulatory establishment, Malone said two people were key in this decision. One of them was vaccine promoter Rick Bright, who runs the Pandemic Prevention Institute at The Rockefeller Foundation. Rick Bright used his position as Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to discredit chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, two drugs that displayed a history of safety and effectiveness against SARS-CoV-1. The other figure who blocked treatments for covid-19 was Janet Woodcock. After she took the helm at the Food and Drug Administration on January 20, 2021, she used the agency to mock ivermectin and contort its proper use in humans with its veterinary applications. Senator Ron Johnson wrote to Woodcock, Fauci and other public health officials, detailing their concern that efficacious treatments were being withheld to push out dangerous vaccines, for which informed consent has not properly been applied. Dr. Malone did not speculate on Woodcock and Brights intentions, but said they were wrong in their assertions. Both hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are on the essential drugs list provided by the World Health Organization. Billions of doses have been safely administered. These drugs ease symptoms and shorten the duration of illness, preventing severe disease and death. Malone also said that Mercks repeated attacks on both drugs is bizarre, to say the least especially since high ivermectin use in Uttar Pradesh was associated with lower mortality rates. Joe Rogan asked Malone about the financial incentive to diagnose covid-19 in the hospital setting. Malone said hospitals are reimbursed around $3,000 for every covid-19 diagnosis. Treatment protocols are withheld because the hospitals are further incentivized to use remdesivir and ventilators, which are linked to renal failure, lung damage, and deadly nosocomial infection. It doesnt matter why the individual was initially hospitalized, whether they were suffering from underlying conditions, mediation errors, delayed surgeries, etc. If the hospital suspects covid-19 or can get a positive reading on a high cycle threshold PCR test, the hospital can fraudulently declare a covid-19 diagnosis and be reimbursed for their medical fraud and malpractice. When questioned on the waning efficacy of the vaccines, Malone concurred that the vaccines are leading to negative efficacy, like in the Denmark studies. As doses are increased, individuals become more prone to infection. In Israel, the citizens are being coerced to take a fourth dose, and the data shows enhanced disease in the vaccinated. Their B and T memory cells are being trained to attack a spike protein that has long since mutated, setting the vaccinated up for antibody dependent enhancement, autoimmune issues and cancer. Rogan and Malone discussed natural immunity and the studies that prove the superiority of innate immunity over half-baked, vaccine-augmented immune responses. Malone points to disturbing trends in myocarditis in young boys, post vaccination. He spoke about the infertility risk due to the effect of lipid nano-particles on womens ovaries. He warned about the spike protein and its propensity to cause blood clots. They discussed the censorship of Maddie de Garay, the young girl who was acutely injured in the Pfizer trial. Malone said that financial incentives and expected outcomes are used to hide data on vaccine injuries, while promoting contrived end points that make the vaccine look good. Malone warned: Our government is out of control on this. They are lawless, they completely disregard bioethics and these mandates of an experimental vaccine are explicitly illegal, they are explicitly inconsistent with the Nuremberg Code. Watch the entire interview: Sources include: Brighteon.com RWMaloneMD.substack.com Threadreaderapp.com Nature.com NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov RonJohnson.Senate.gov Lifesitenews.com ImmuneSystem.news NewsTarget.com (Natural News) Mandatory masks, quarantines and covid-19 vaccines are becoming a pariah in Denmark, as the fully vaccinated make up over 90% of the current omicron covid-19 caseload. The Omicron hospitalization rate in Denmark is beginning to exceed the Delta hospitalization rate, as vaccine damage becomes ubiquitous in the population. As the fully vaccinated make up the vast majority of these new omicron cases, there is growing concern that the they are experiencing antibody dependent enhancement and immune depletion, as they rapidly spread new variants. The fully vaccinated and the boosted make up the vast majority of covid cases now The government of Denmark has become a medical police state, implementing constraints on the unvaccinated to coerce as many people as possible to take part in an ongoing medical experiment. Consequentially, almost every citizen over the age of 50 is now marked as fully vaccinated. The young have been coerced to give up their body to this genetic experiment as well. Despite being at negligible risk to a potential covid infection, the vaccination rate for 1560-year olds is approximately 80 percent. This level of vaccine uptake is unprecedented, historic in its proportions. However, the vaccination rate of the population is not synonymous with true immunization. If the experimental vaccine program worked, then herd immunity would be fully realized by now, with the infectious disease rate rapidly plummeting. However, the opposite is happening, as new surges of covid continue to plague the fully vaccinated. In fact, over 90 percent of the omicron cases are in the vaccinated cohort! Out of the entire population in Denmark, only 17 percent remain untouched by this genetic experiment, mainly because the government has not yet forced parents to give up their young children to the vaccine program. Remarkably, the unvaccinated make up only 8.5 percent of the new omicron covid cases. Even though the fully vaccinated are spreading this variant all over Denmark and the rest of the world, the unvaccinated seem to be the protected class. According to official infection statistics in the State Serum Institutes Report on the omikron variant for December 18th, the vaccines are negatively impacting infection rates, and the unvaccinated are now the more protected class of people. By not vaccinating, people are 50 percent protected from the latest strain of covid. Natural immunity is obviously working, while the vaccines are interfering with immune responses, damaging herd immunity and causing new public health issues. Seventy-nine percent of these omicron cases (13,946) are occurring in the fully vaccinated. Even those who took a booster shot are succumbing in greater numbers than the unvaccinated. The patients who took a booster shot make up 10.8 percent (1,851) of the new cases, while the singly vaccinated group accounts for 1.8 percent (304) of the cases and the unvaccinated group make up 8.5 percent (1,454) of the new cases. Delta and omicron are plaguing Denmarks fully vaccinated as immune depletion from the vaccines becomes obvious Omicron isnt the only strain that is being sequenced in the fully vaccinated, either. Among Denmarks heavily vaccinated population, there has been an additional 4,000 cases of delta reported each day since November 22nd. That number has risen to well over 6,000 cases per day in December. During the week of December 10-17, 2021, the Delta hospitalization rate for Denmark was an average of 1.55%, and the Omicron hospitalization rate was an average of 3.71%. The covid vaccines are not useful at all, but even worse, they seem to be making covid infections more pervasive in the population, whether it be delta or omicron. If the fully vaccinated continue to contract these new strains and spread them among the population, then the vaccine program has proven to weaken the immune system, turning people into covid super spreaders a reality that everyone feared a year and half ago. The vaccine program doesnt even offer neutral results, like a saline placebo. More people in the fully vaccinated cohort are coming down with these new covid infections, proving that the vaccine causes some form of immune depletion or antibody dependent enhancement (ADE). The latest variants have already found a way to evade the innate immune response, an issue that scientists have warned about for over a year. The antibodies generated by the vaccine are non-neutralizing and allow the latest strains to bypass the first lines of defense in the mucous membranes, causing greater viral load and more serious immune challenges over time. This medical malpractice must be stopped. Sources include: IGorchudov.substack.com SSI.dk [PDF] IsraelNationalNews.com Scribd.com In a major security breach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cancelled his visit to Ferozepur town in Punjab, where he was scheduled to lay the foundation stones of Rs 42,750 crore projects, at the last minute. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced from the venue that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to address the rally "due to some reasons". Mandaviya was here for the foundation stone of three medical infrastructures, including the 100 bedded PGI Satellite Centre in Ferozepur to be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. Earlier, the Prime Minister landed at Bhaisiana Air Force station in Bathinda town from where he was supposed to travel to Ferozepur by road. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs' statement on the PM Modi's Punjab visit, "Today morning PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. "When the weather didn't improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than 2 hours. He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. "After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport." The Ministry of Home Affairs took cognisance of the serious security lapse and has sought a detailed report from the state government. This was Modi's first visit to the state after the repeal of three contentious farm laws. Earlier in the day, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal welcomed Modi at the airport in Bathinda. Chief Minister Charanjit Channi was to address the programmes virtually. "Welcoming Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi Ji, on behalf of the Punjab Government for his official visit to Punjab," Manpreet Badal tweeted. Just hours ahead of his visit, Modi tweeted, "I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Punjab today. At a programme in Ferozepur, the foundation stone of development works worth Rs 42,750 crore would be laid, which will improve the quality of life for the people." Modi was to lay the foundation stone of development projects of Rs 42,750 crore comprising two mega road corridors to enhance accessibility to prominent religious centres and three health institutions in this town bordering Pakistan. One of the road corridors will halve the travel time from 12 hours from the national capital to religious sites in Punjab, comprising Amritsar and Sultanpur Lodhi, and to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Katra. After paying obeisance to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at the memorial in Hussainiwala, about 260 km from the state capital Chandigarh, the Prime Minister was to lay the stones and address a public meeting. Modi last visited Hussainiwala in March 2015, where the last rites of the three freedom fighters were held after they were hanged in Lahore on March 23, 1931. For clarifications/queries, please contact IANS NEWS DESK at BRAMPTON BRYAN, ENGLAND - JULY 05: A young brown trout is pictured as staff from the Environment Agency attempt to rescue trapped fish from small ponds and pools along the dried up river bed of the River Teme, which is at unseasonably low levels due to the ongoing heatwave near Brampton Bryan on July 5, 2018 in Herefordshire, England. The recovered fish, mainly young salmon and trout, will be released back into the River Teme further downstream. (Photo : Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) After a storm hit across the border in Arkansas and Texas, people in Texarkana were surprised with what they seen. A rare phenomenon where hundreds of small fishes littering the streets as it fell from the sky which could seem unbelievable. The City of Texarkana explained on Wednesday that this 'animal rain' is indeed real and the reason behind it are waterspouts. It can seem like it's raining fishes and frogs, but to make an actual sense to it, these small marine life including snakes and crabs are picked up by waterspouts from lakes and ocean, sweeping them up into the sky and dropping them below. The advisory described the waterspouts as "drafts that occur on the surface of the Earth" and added that the animals are later "rained down at the same time" as the raindrops. A 'fishy' phenomenon Fish rain could somewhat be normal in Texas during strong storms, however, the National Weather Service meteorologists reported that there were no evidence of waterspouts or severe flooding in Texarkana that could explain what happened on Wednesday. Brandon Thorne, a meteorologist for NWS Shreveport, confirmed the occurrence of a line of thunderstorms moving through Texarkana on the afternoon that day, but added that no warnings were issued in connection to the storms. In addition, no data evidenced a waterspout in the area. "As we looked at the storm and went back and looked at the data, we really didn't find anything would indicate that there was any kind of waterspout." Thorne said. "We're kind of confused as to how it happened as well, to be honest." The weather service was not notified of any injuries in connection to people who were struck by fish falling from the sky, Thorne said. Also read: Massive Flood in Brazil Leaves 18 People Dead and 280 Injured "Whatever goes up, must come down" Residents are still confused as to where the fishes could have come from considering that Texarkana is "landlocked". One meteorologist suggested the "tornadic winds" could have carried them from as far away as Lake Texoma in Oklahoma - about a three-hour drive from the city. "[The fish] are picked up with the wind and come down like any debris does. They could have been picked up somewhere like Lake Texoma. They could have come from anywhere. And whatever goes up, must come down," Gary Chatelain, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, Louisiana, told The Texarkana Gazette. Bregan Brown, a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist, said that one or two animals falling from the sky are not uncommon, as birds sometimes prey on them and drop their kill. However, instances where a school of fish falls from the sky are quite rare and could be the first time that the event was recorded in the state. "When you get a lot of animals falling from the sky amidst a weather event it can seem pretty scary, but it's not really anything to be concerned about," Brown said. "2021 is pulling out all the tricks.." Texarkana city officials posted on Facebook. Also read: Migrants Crossing US-Mexico Border at Risk of Deadly Dehydration Due to Severe Heat According to experts, global warming contributes to the deteriorating symptoms of one of America's most frequent allergies, hay fever. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you're probably familiar with the itching, sneezing, and watery eyes that goes along with them. Studies Involving Climate Change and Seasonal Allergies Pollen and dust mites, two common springtime allergies, may cause these cold-like symptoms, but a new research reveals that global warming is extending the hay fever season, according to Martha Stewart. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the lengthening of the allergy season is being caused by global warming. The National Allergy Bureau's measurements of airborne pollen and mold in the United States and Canada from 1990 to 2018 were used by the researchers to arrive at their conclusions. Between those years, employees at 60 locations throughout both nations manually tallied the readings. Over the course of 28 years, pollen levels throughout the country rose by 21 percent, according to the new research. Texas and the Midwest had the most significant rises. Study author Dr. William Anderegg of the University of Utah said in a statement that the significant correlation between warmer weather and pollen seasons gives a crystal obvious illustration of how climate change is already harming people's health. Also Read: Increase In Pollen Grains Due To Climate Change Leads To Longer Allergy Seasons How Climate Change Influence Plants' Internal Clockwork Experiments on greenhouse gases have demonstrated that a rise in temperature and CO2 in the atmosphere may lead to an increase in the production of pollen. According to the new research, pollen season now lasts from March through September, roughly 20 days sooner than it did in 1990, when it lasted from mid-June to mid-July. Warmer temperatures influence plants' internal clockwork to start generating pollen earlier in the year, which scientists think is the result of climate change. More than two dozen climate models have revealed that the prolongation of the hay fever season is at least partially due to global warming. Climate Change is Responsible for Extended Pollen Season According to the research, climate change is to blame for the longer and more pollen-filled pollen seasons that have occurred since 1990. The research revealed that pollen seasons have increased by 20 days since 1990, and pollen concentrations have risen by 21%. Human-caused climate change was shown to be responsible for half of the extended pollen seasons and 8% of the overall rise in pollen concentrations. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE), claimed in a February 17, 2021 Verywell Health article that allergy medicines may help many people with pollen allergies. However, Bernstein, who was not involved in the research, pointed out that increased pollen exposure, when coupled with other climate change-related issues, may be a major concern for those who are unable to get medications or who have severe asthma. While the longer growing season means more pollen, it may also lead to heat waves and worsened air pollution, both of which can have a negative impact on human health. Asthma and pollen allergies may be exacerbated by a rise in insect-borne illnesses, as well as an increase in bug populations that can decimate forests and spark wildfires. Related Article: Your Baby's First Poop May Give Insight on His Allergies For more news, updates about climate change and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News! South New Castle needs a council for its president Greg Szklinski is taking over as president of South New Castle Borough Council. In addition to council members, South New Castle Borough continues to seek someone to fill the position of a part-time, seasonal public works employee. The person would help maintain and improve roads (including plowing after snowfalls), storm sewers and other borough-owned facilities. At its December meeting, Szklinski said the borough received two applications for the job, One said he had other things that werent going to allow him to help us after I described to him what hed have to do, Szklinski said. The other, he works during the day, and thats what we need to cover the day. Story continues below video No CDL is needed for the job, he said. You just need a drivers license and a pre-employment physical exam that the borough will reimburse you for. Council also moved to advertise its intention to repeal the ordinance that established its occupational privilege task, a move Councilwoman Shirley Nocera had been championing for months prior to submitting her resignation in December. The tax requires each borough resident to pay $10, and has been depicted by Nocera as a nuisance effort that does not generate a critical amount of money. Secretary Albert Burick III explained that the advertisement is a requirement before council can vote to repeal the ordinance, which he said could be done at its February meeting. BEIJING, Jan.5 -- To implement the mobilization order of the Central Military Commission (CMC) for the military training in 2022, the PLA Army organized a mobilization ceremony for the new training session in 2022 with the main venue set at the training ground of an army aviation brigade under the 81st Group Army on January 4. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the CMC, signed Tuesday a mobilization order for the military training of the armed forces in 2022. The order declared the start of military training for the year. At the site of the mobilization ceremony, officers and soldiers in new Type-21 winter combat uniforms were fully armed with high morale. Upon receiving the starting command, more than 30 military aircrafts soared into the sky and successively performed preemptive fire strikes, UAV reconnaissance, and troops airlanding from helicopters for ground combats. Troops with new combat capabilities of special operations, long-distance fire strike, intelligence reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures and air assault staged an on-site demonstration of joint training. Meanwhile, the training mobilizations held in different troop units of the PLA Army were synchronously displayed on the large digital screen at the main venue in Beijing,. With the PLA Army's continuous upgrading of transformation and construction in recent years, troops with new combat capabilities have become increasingly prominent as the main combat forces. The special operations force, long-range firepower strike force and army aviation force have seen growth in several times, the improvement of long-distance striking capacity, and the utilization of more drones, helicopters and long-range firepower strike force all bring the PLA Army closer to the strategic requirements of being able to perform mobile operations and multi-dimensional offense and defense. The investigation into the six-month-old Sulli deal case is still on while the recent 'Bulli Bai' case has now been transferred to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Special Cell, a senior Delhi Police official said on Wednesday. The derogatory "Sulli Deals" mobile app had surfaced in July last year where photos of Muslim women were displayed without their consent to 'auction' them on the app. Six months after this, a similar incident of harassing the women members of the minority community on social media once again came to light after a Delhi-based woman journalist lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police stating that she was being targeted by some unidentified group of people on a mobile application, this named as 'Bulli Bai', yet again created on US-based GitHub platform. "Investigation in the 'Sulli deals' is still going on," informed Additional Commissioner of Police, Chinmoy Biswal when IANS asked about the progress in the case. Delhi Police a day ago got an approval from the government for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to seek details from US-based firm GitHub about the user who uploaded the app, Sulli deal, on their platform. "Bulli Bai", which popped up on January 1, had a number of pictures of women including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content. The victim journalist in her complaint had stated that she found out on January 1 morning that a website portal called bullibai.github.io (since deleted) had a doctored picture of her in an improper, unacceptable and clearly lewd context. "The term Bulli Bai itself seems disrespectful and the content of this website/portal is clearly aimed at insulting Muslim women as the derogatory term 'Bulli' is used exclusively for Muslim women," read the complaint. "Bulli Bai" was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with its display picture of a "Khalistan supporter", and saying women can be booked from the app. This handle was at the same time promoting Khalistan content as well. According to sources, Delhi Police on Monday had also written a letter to social media giant Twitter seeking information about the account that first tweeted about the 'Bulli Bai' app and further asked it to remove the offensive content. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police which also lodged an FIR into the case on Sunday has so far arrested three people including a woman who is said to be the mastermind of the whole conspiracy. The three accused have been identified as Vishal Kumar Jha, Shweta Singh (key conspirator) and Mayank Rawal. Moorhead, Minn., Police Chief Shannon Monroe, left, and acting Fire Chief Jeff Wallin appear at a news conference Dec. 22 to talk about the deaths of seven residents who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Monroe and Wallin said a carbon monoxide detector in the garage had been removed and replaced with a smoke-only detector. Help support your local hometown newspaper/website. Independent local news reporting matters. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, for as little as $3, so we can continue to provide independent local reporting on our communities. 4 1 of 4 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 4 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 4 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 4 of 4 DANBURY The victim of last weeks shooting on Rowan Street is expected to soon be released from the hospital, police said. I understand that the victim is being released from the hospital soon within a day or so, Detective Lt. Mark Williams said Tuesday morning. Hartford Police / Contributed HARTFORD A man was treated at the hospital Sunday night for a gunshot wound after a shooting in the city, according to police officials. Lt. Aaron Boisvert said officers responded to the 600 block of Broad Street for a report of a person shot around 10:25 p.m. Moments after Prime Minister Narendra Modis first rally in poll-bound Punjab was cancelled on Wednesday, the Centre said this was on account of a major breach in his security. Calling it the "single biggest lapse in the security of any Indian Prime Minister in recent years", the ruling BJP accused the Congress of trying to harm the PM. The Congress, however, questioned how the PM's security allowed the last-minute route change. The Prime Minister landed in Bathinda earlier today for a visit to a National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala. He was to be flown by helicopter but due to rain and poor visibility, he waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear up. When it didn't, he decided to go by road to the spot two hours away. "He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police," the Home Ministry said. When the PM's convoy reached a flyover, the road was blocked by protestors. Around 30 km from the memorial, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, the road was blocked by protestors. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda accused the Congress government in Punjab of using all tricks to scuttle PM Modis programmes, including the Ferozepur rally. Fearing a resounding defeat at the hands of the electorate, the Congress Government in Punjab tried all possible tricks to scuttle the PM @narendramodi Jis programmes in the state. Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) January 5, 2022 "The PM's schedule and travel plan were communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport," said the Home Ministry. Champaign, IL (61820) Today A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. In 1997, cosmologists Stephen Hawking, Kip Thorne and John Preskill made a famous bet as to whether information that enters a black hole ceases to exist. Hawking and Thorne bet that information that enters a black hole is destroyed, while Preskill took the opposite view. Hawkings research suggested that the particles have no effect whatsoever. But his theory violated the laws of quantum mechanics and created a contradiction known as the information paradox. New research by physicists from the Department of Physics at the Ohio State University attempts to resolve the debate over Hawkings information paradox. What we found from string theory is that all the mass of a black hole is not getting sucked in to the center, said Ohio State Universitys Professor Samir Mathur, lead author of a paper published in the Turkish Journal of Physics. The black hole tries to squeeze things to a point, but then the particles get stretched into these strings, and the strings start to stretch and expand and it becomes this fuzzball that expands to fill up the entirety of the black hole. We found that string theory almost certainly holds the answer to Hawkings paradox, as they had originally believed. We proved theorems to show that the fuzzball theory remains the most likely solution for Hawkings information paradox. In 2004, Professor Mathur and colleagues theorized that black holes were similar to very large, very messy balls of yarn fuzzballs that become larger and messier as new objects get sucked in. The bigger the black hole, the more energy that goes in, and the bigger the fuzzball becomes, Professor Mathur said. The physicsts found that string theory could be the solution to Hawkings paradox. With this fuzzball structure, the hole radiates like any normal body, and there is no puzzle. After the study and other works, many people thought the problem was solved, Professor Mathur said. But in fact, a section of people in the string theory community itself thought they would look for a different solution to Hawkings information paradox. They were bothered that, in physical terms, the whole structure of the black hole had changed. Studies in recent years attempted to reconcile Hawkings conclusions with the old picture of the hole, where one can think of the black hole as being empty space with all its mass in the center. One theory, the wormhole paradigm, suggested that black holes might be one end of a bridge in the space-time continuum, meaning anything that entered a black hole might appear on the other end of the bridge the other end of the wormhole in a different place in space and time. In order for the wormhole picture to work, though, some low-energy radiation would have to escape from the black hole at its edges. The new study proved a theorem the effective small corrections theorem to show that if that were to happen, black holes would not appear to radiate in the way that they do. The authors also examined physical properties from black holes, including topology change in quantum gravity, to determine whether the wormhole paradigm would work. In each of the versions that have been proposed for the wormhole approach, we found that the physics was not consistent, Professor Mathur said. The wormhole paradigm tries to argue that, in some way, you could still think of the black hole as being effectively empty with all the mass in the center. And the theorems we prove show that such a picture of the hole is not a possibility. _____ Bin Guo et al. 2021. Contrasting the fuzzball and wormhole paradigms for black holes. Turk J Phys 45: 281-365; doi: 10.3906/2111-13 The rapid outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has devasted lives and livelihoods worldwide. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in Japan are vaccinated against contagious diseases, such as measles, rubella, chickenpox, mumps, and hepatitis B, but some are deemed as low responders or those that do not produce sufficient antibodies after vaccination. Japanese HCWs have also been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. A new study, published on the medRxiv* preprint server, investigated the changes in SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels among HCWs after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The study also assessed whether low responders produced sufficient SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike and neutralizing antibodies. Study: Can individuals with low antibody responses to vaccines against other viruses acquire adequate SARS-CoV-2 antibody after vaccination with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine? Image Credit: NIAID Background SARS-CoV-2 comprises four major viral structural proteins, namely, the nucleocapsid, spike, envelope, and membrane proteins. The spike protein guides viral entry into host cells by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. Therefore, this is the best target for mRNA vaccines, such as the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (PfizerBioNTech). BNT162b2 is highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19, reducing the incidence of asymptomatic infection, and preventing the spread of the disease. HCWs are at a high risk of infection with contagious viruses and, therefore, in order to prevent nosocomial infections, they are vaccinated against these viruses. Low responders are those individuals who do not develop adequate antibody titers against contagious viruses post-vaccination. Unfortunately, there is not much evidence to document the antibody production of low responders to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The current study aims to fill this gap in research by analyzing whether low responders acquire sufficient antibody activity after vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine. A New Study Scientists carried out a prospective cohort study of 50 HCWs at Kyorin University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. HCWs received two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine, 3 weeks apart. The HCWs whose antibody levels were below the normal values for preventing infection against measles, rubella, chickenpox, mumps, or hepatitis B viruses, were considered low responders. SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike antibodies were measured 11 times between the first BNT162b2 vaccination and five months after the second dose. The neutralizing antibody activity was measured twice in low responders, 1 week to 1 month and 5 months after administering the second dose of the vaccine. Main Findings Four individuals were found to be low responders, while others were normal responders. The low responders also developed protective levels of neutralizing antibodies post-vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine. This result is in line with previous studies that have documented that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides sufficient humoral immunity within the first month after receiving the second dose. SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody activity responses after the second dose of BNT162b2 vaccine in participants with low-level responses to previous antiviral vaccines Scientists observed that the antibody titer was significantly lower among normal responders at 5 months after the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine, compared to 1 week after the second dose. However, the decrease in antibody titers in the low responders was not statistically significant. It is known that antibody levels produced after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination tend to decline almost 15 years after the first dose. The SARS-CoV-2 antibody level is known to peak and then decrease within months after the second dose. Therefore, scientists stated that the third dose of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine is required both for low and normal responders. Concerning SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike antibody production, smoking has been seen to result in low SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers after vaccination. Antibody levels are also significantly lower values in patients with hematological malignancies. The low responders in the current study were healthy and did not have risk factors such as an organ transplant or immunosuppression. It should be further investigated why these individuals failed to produce sufficient antibodies against other diseases but produced adequate antibodies after vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine. Concluding Remarks A notable limitation of this study is the small sample size and the fact all HCWs were vaccinated at a single hospital. Therefore, multicenter studies with a larger sample size are extremely important. Further, future research should clarify the mechanism by which humoral immunity is acquired after mRNA vaccination in individuals with low antibody responses to other viral vaccines. In summary, researchers observed that both low and normal responders developed adequate levels of antibodies after two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine. However, lower SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike antibody levels in the fifth month imply that the third dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine should be administered to all individuals. *Important Notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Empire Discovery Institute (EDI) entered into a five-year collaborative research partnership with global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S to launch LeapRx, a new initiative where EDI and Novo Nordisk will co-invest, incubate and accelerate innovative drug discovery and development projects from its academic partners. Through this initiative, EDI will work closely with the recently formed Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. LeapRx will focus on areas of mutual interest to EDI and Novo Nordisk, specifically therapies for diabetes (type 1, type 2), obesity, cardiovascular disease, NASH, chronic kidney disease and rare blood disorders. LeapRx will provide financial support and pharmaceutical industry expertise to aid researchers affiliated with EDI's core academic research labs at the University of Rochester, the University at Buffalo, and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in maturing innovative ideas towards future medicines. Premier academic research institutions not affiliated with EDI's core labs are also welcome to apply to LeapRx through their technology transfer offices. Each organization brings together a unique set of complimentary expertise, experience and capabilities. EDI's early-stage drug discovery and development expertise along with Novo Nordisk's scientific, regulatory, clinical, commercial and marketing capabilities will help advance the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative, break-through medicines. We look forward to working with our R&D collaboration partners at Novo Nordisk. By bringing together scientific innovation, pharmaceutical industry expertise and funding, our mission is to facilitate the efficient translation of fundamental scientific discoveries into important new medicines for commercialization." Martin Graham, CEO, Empire Discovery Institute For Novo Nordisk, this partnership represents a continuation of its dedication to support the vibrant life science ecosystems in the Northeast U.S. "The intersection between fundamental academic research and pharmaceutical R&D is where we believe we can uncover the innovation that will lead to medicines of the future. We are excited to see what early-stage research projects we can support the development of through our collaboration with EDI and participating academic institutions," said Uli Stilz, Vice President of Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub. By looking at the exposure to the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides/suum in Nothern Europe (Norway, Denmark and Estonia), the study finds that younger men exposed to Ascaris had a striking reduction in lung function and nearly five times higher odds of having asthma compared to the non-exposed. These effects were independent of smoking and other exposures such as house dust mites. The paper Ascaris exposure associated with lung function, asthma and DNA-methylation in Northern-Europe was just published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study is a collaboration between the University of Bergen, Tartu University Hospital Lung Clinic, University of Aarhus, the University of Birmingham and the University of Cape Town. Differences in gender A curious finding in the study was that among women, lung function was not significantly lower in the Ascaris seropositive. In fact, the seropositive appeared to have even less asthma than the rest. This is the first research of its kind to show substantial gender differences in terms of helminth (parasitic worms) exposures and subsequent outcomes in humans. The researchers also found that Ascaris infection in Europe might be an overlooked risk factor for asthma and respiratory health. May result in lung damage It has previously been assumed that infections of roundworms have not been of significance in Europe, but the new findings indicate that exposure could potentially be a lot more common than assumed. For persons affected, this may result in serious lung damage with the risk of having a long-term impairment of lung function Parasitic worm-infections are normally considered to be a problem only in low and middle-income countries. These findings present them as being of much greater importance in Europe. This is also the first study to report a connection between reduced lung function and Ascaris exposure, according to the researchers. Nearly half of people in a large U.S. study reported misusing prescription drugs between ages 18-50, which made them more likely to develop substance use disorder symptoms as adults--especially those whose misuse peaked later in life. The new study from University of Michigan School of Nursing researchers recommends screening for prescription drug misuse and substance use disorder from adolescence through middle adulthood. Currently, the recommendation is to screen adults for unhealthy drug use in some instances, but not adolescents. The findings of the current study add to growing evidence that prescription drug misuse at any age, including adolescence, is a strong signal for substance-related problems, and that screening during adolescence can identify high-risk individuals before they develop more severe substance-related problems. Sean Esteban McCabe, professor and director, Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health, U-M School of Nursing The study is the first known to examine prescription drug misuse over a 32-year period, McCabe said. It focuses on opioids, stimulants and sedatives/tranquilizers, which are among the most misused prescription drugs. Theyre most often misused during young adulthood but in recent years, prescription drug misuse has increased among older adults. Its important to look at prescription drug misuse trajectories because there is wide variation and many reasons and patterns associated with this behavior over time. Studies that examine this behavior at one point in time do not adequately detect these variations, McCabe said. For example, some people experiment with prescription drugs and never use them again, he said. Some misuse prescription drugs more frequently and develop problems and stop due to their consequences. Others misuse prescription drugs and develop consequences that last for decades. Researchers identified unique prescription drug misuse trajectories associated with each drug class, and found that the risk for developing substance use disorder symptoms (cannabis, alcohol, opioids, stimulants, or other drugs) between ages 35-50, varied considerably across these trajectories. For example, we found that almost every individual (94%) in the group that misused prescription drugs frequently for a sustained period, and 70% of those in the trajectories that peaked in middle adulthood, had two or more substance use disorder symptoms between ages 35-50, McCabe said. This is a very important finding. Clinicians and researchers are very interested in identifying subgroups of individuals with increased risk of developing substance-related problems. By contrast, only 26% of people in the trajectory that didnt misuse prescription drugs frequently had two or more substance use disorder symptoms between ages 35-50. Binge drinking, cigarette smoking and marijuana use were all associated with increased odds of belonging to a prescription drug misuse trajectory group. Black (non-Hispanic) adolescents and adults had lower risk of belonging to a trajectory group than white adolescents. Researchers used data from 11 groups (26,575) of adolescents ages 18-50 who participated in the Monitoring the Future study. The study, Trajectories of prescription drug misuse among U.S. adults from ages 18 to 50, appears in JAMA Network Open. The Prime Minister today updated the public on the government's ongoing actions to tackle COVID-19 and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed, including implementing Plan B measures, standing up local Nightingales to create extra capacity, buying more antivirals per person than anywhere else in Europe, significantly increasing testing capacity and rolling out the vital booster program. The Prime Minister thanked vaccinators for their enormous dedication over the festive period as well as everyone who came forward for a jab. He welcomed the success of the Get Boosted Now campaign in delivering 10 million extra boosters across the UK and doubling the rate of vaccination from 450,000 doses a day to a peak of more than 900,000. Outlining the significant protection offered by the booster jab, the Prime Minister reiterated his call for every eligible person to get their booster - with 2 million appointments available this week alone. In his statement the Prime Minister also acknowledged the disruption to the workforce caused by the spread of Omicron and set out further measures the government is taking to address this. He announced the Government will provide 100,000 critical workers in England with free lateral flow tests to help keep essential services and supply chains running. Critical workers will be able to take a test on every working day and the provision of precautionary testing will be for an initial five weeks. This will help to isolate asymptomatic cases and limit the risk of outbreaks in workplaces, reducing transmission while covid cases remain high. These critical workers are those who work in essential services, cannot work from home and are at risk of infecting each other - for example, due to working together in an enclosed space. People covered by the scheme will include those who work in critical national infrastructure, national security, transport, and food distribution and processing. This includes vital roles in Border Force, Police and Fire and Rescue Services control rooms, electricity generation, test kit warehouses and test surge labs. The full range of critical workers have been identified by the relevant departments and Government will contact these organizations directly on the logistics of the scheme this week. Roll out will start from Monday 10th January. Tests will be separate from public sectors who already have a testing allocation with UKHSA, such as adult social care or education, and separate to those delivered to pharmacies and homes, so those channels will not be impacted by the new scheme. We are now distributing around 600,000 packs of 7 tests on gov.uk directly to homes every day (more than 50% higher than last week). Mammalian offspring inherit two versions, or alleles, of each gene with one allele from each biological parent. However, gene expression is tightly regulated and certain genes undergo the phenomenon of "genomic imprinting", which is where only the allele received by the male or the female parent is expressed. Imprinted genes play diverse roles in development and disruption of their mono-allelic expression can cause diseases, thus understanding the mechanisms behind their regulation is critical. In a recent article published in Communications Biology, a team led by researchers at the University of Tsukuba examined genomic imprinting of a specific genetic locus in mice. Their experiments helped reveal the molecular details of how this mechanism governs expression levels of these genes. The team focused on the H19 gene locus, which was previously shown to be controlled by the H19 imprinted control region (ICR) via genomic imprinting. The paternal H19 ICR is modified via DNA methylation while the maternal H19 ICR allele isn't methylated. Methylation of the H19 ICR is in part responsible for repressing the expression of H19. However, H19 itself can also be methylated, and the effects of this had yet to be clarified. While the general imprinting mechanism for the mouse H19 locus is well established, it is less clear how expression of H19 is affected by its own methylation status. Our previous finding suggested that the methylation state of the H19 ICR is transferred directionally downstream to H19 in the fertilized embryo post-implantation which makes it difficult to study the two in isolation." Hitomi Matsuzaki, Assistant Professor, lead author of the study Then, the team hypothesized that by inverting the H19 ICR, thus reversing its direction, they could reduce H19 methylation and they created mutant mice to test this. Interestingly, with paternally inherited inverted ICR, H19 had decreased levels of methylation and as a result was derepressed. However, when the same experiments were conducted for the maternally inherited inverted ICR, H19 expression levels were lower compared with the un-inverted ICR allele, despite having low methylation. "Our findings involving the maternally inherited allele were quite unexpected, especially given the paternal data," describes Assistant Professor Matsuzaki. "We did observe slightly more ICR methylation in the inverted allele compared with the wild type one." Further work did not provide evidence that ICR methylation status was responsible for the differential H19 expression in the maternally inherited alleles. Collectively, these data suggest that, for maternal inheritance, H19 expression is in fact affected by the ICR orientation, but it is independent of DNA methylation. Overall, Assistant Professor Matsuzaki and colleagues provided compelling insights into the complex nature of genomic imprinting in mice. The methylation status and direction of certain DNA sequences can affect genes found at the locus in different manners, and the effects also vary based on which parent the allele was inherited from. These results shed new light on the current knowledge and raise intriguing questions to be addressed by further studies. The discovery of antibiotics more than 80 years ago has led to considerable improvements in human and animal health. Although antibiotic resistance in bacteria is ancient, resistance in human pathogens is thought to be a modern phenomenon that is driven by the clinical use of antibiotics. A new study shows that particular lineages of Staphylococcus aureus developed resistance to the antibiotic methicillin around 200 years ago. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens, causing approximately 171,000 invasive infections each year in Europe alone. MRSA was first identified in 1960 shortly after the introduction of methicillin as a treatment option against penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clones, but was possibly selected for by the clinical use of penicillin over the previous 20 years. Methicillin resistance has subsequently emerged in many Staphylococcus aureus clones around the world, both in hospital and community settings as well as in livestock such as pigs and cattle. This has serious implications for the treatment of severe infections and the World Health Organization now considers MRSA to be an important threat to human health. Hedgehog surveys from Denmark and Sweden previously demonstrated a surprisingly high prevalence of mecC-MRSA MRSA carrying mecA, a gene that confers methicillin resistance by producing a protein called penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a) raising the possibility that the evolution of these bacteria was driven by natural selection in wildlife, as opposed to clinical use of antibiotics, said Dr. Jesper Larsen from the Statens Serum Institut and colleagues. Historically, mecC-MRSA was first discovered in dairy cows and subsequently in humans, suggesting that the use of antibiotics in livestock was providing a selective advantage and that human infections were the result of zoonotic transmission. In the new research, the authors examined the distribution of mecC-MRSA and other types of Staphylococcus aureus in hedgehogs in ten European countries and New Zealand. We analyzed 828 samples from the nasal area, skin and feet of 276 hedgehogs originating from 16 wildlife rescue centers in ten European countries and two wildlife rescue centers in New Zealand, they said. mecC-MRSA was present in 101 of the 172 hedgehogs (222 out of 516 samples) from England and Wales (66%, 81 out of 123), Czech Republic (50%, 6 out of 12), Denmark (50%, 11 out of 22), Portugal (29%, 2 out of 7) and New Zealand (6%, 1 out of 17), therefore extending the known geographical distribution of mecC-MRSA in hedgehogs. By contrast, all 104 hedgehogs (312 samples) from Greece, Romania, Italy, France and Spain tested negative for mecC-MRSA. The researchers believe that antibiotic resistance evolved in Staphylococcus aureus as an adaptation to having to exist side-by-side on the skin of hedgehogs with the fungus Trichophyton erinacei, which produces its own antibiotics. The discovery of this centuries-old antibiotic resistance predates antibiotic use in medical and agricultural settings. Using sequencing technology we have traced the genes that give mecC-MRSA its antibiotic resistance all the way back to their first appearance, and found they were around in the nineteenth century, said Dr. Ewan Harrison, a researcher at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge. Our study suggests that it wasnt the use of penicillin that drove the initial emergence of MRSA, it was a natural biological process. We think MRSA evolved in a battle for survival on the skin of hedgehogs, and subsequently spread to livestock and humans through direct contact. This study is a stark warning that when we use antibiotics, we have to use them with care, said Professor Mark Holmes, a researcher at the University of Cambridge. Theres a very big wildlife reservoir where antibiotic-resistant bacteria can survive and from there its a short step for them to be picked up by livestock, and then to infect humans. The findings were published in the journal Nature. _____ J. Larsen et al. Emergence of methicillin resistance predates the clinical use of antibiotics. Nature, published online January 5, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04265-w Pregnant people who contract COVID-19 have an increased risk of disease severity and death, yet only 31% of pregnant people in the United States had received vaccines as of September 2021. One barrier to vaccine acceptance is the concern that vaccination might disrupt pregnancy. A Yale co-led study, which looked at more than 40,000 pregnant individuals, adds new evidence supporting the safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. The study found COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age (SGA) when comparing vaccinated with unvaccinated pregnant people. The trimester when the vaccination was received and the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received were also not associated with increased risk of preterm birth or SGA, the researchers found. The findings were reported Jan. 4 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Preterm birth (in which babies are delivered earlier than 37 weeks) and SGA (in which babies are delivered smaller in size than normal for the gestational age) have been associated with a higher risk for infant death and disability. For the new study, the authors used data from eight health care organizations participating in Vaccine Safety Datalink -; a project established by the CDC to monitor vaccine safety -; to investigate the risk for preterm birth or SGA among vaccinated and unvaccinated pregnant women aged 16 to 49 years. Among those included in the study, 10,064 individuals, or nearly 22%, received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose during pregnancy, researchers said. Most (98.3%) received vaccination during their second or third trimester; the rest (1.7%) received it during their first trimester of pregnancy. Almost 96% of those vaccinated received an mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. To date, a few studies have described outcomes among live births following COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy, the researchers say. The new findings add to the evidence that COVID-19 vaccination is safe during pregnancy. Research into the drivers behind low vaccine acceptance among pregnant people has found that the most common concerns have been a lack of information about COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnant people and potential harm to the fetus. The results of this study speak to both, said Heather Lipkind, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important for preventing severe illness in pregnant people. With the increasing rates of COVID-19 in our community we are encouraging pregnant people to get vaccinated." Heather Lipkind, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, Yale School of Medicine Pregnant individuals, in addition to seeing an increased risk of severe disease and death compared with non-pregnant people, are more likely to require admission into the intensive care unit, invasive ventilation, and machine-assisted blood oxygenation. The CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or might become pregnant in the future. Thought Leaders Professor Brian J. Willett Viral Immunologist University of Glasgow In this interview, we speak to Professor Brian J. Willett from the University of Glasgow about his latest research into COVID-19 and whether the delta variant can evade vaccine-induced immunity. Please could you introduce yourself and tell us what inspired your latest research into COVID-19? I am Brian Willett, Professor of Viral Immunology at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. Our laboratory focuses on the interaction between viruses and the immune system of the host; the immune response to infection, defining the correlates of immunity and developing assays with which the immune response to infection can be measured. How do viral mutations of COVID-19 occur? Do new viral mutations affect the capabilities of the virus? One of the key stages in the replication of viruses within a host is copying the genetic material of the virus (the viral genome). This process of genome copying is error-prone, the number of errors varying dependent on the type of virus and the host cells in which the virus grows. The viral genome carries the coding sequences (genes) for the viral proteins, hence, whenever a mistake is made in the genome copying process this may translate through to an alteration in the sequence of the viral proteins. This in turn may affect the ability of the virus to grow, for example by enabling the virus to bind more tightly to the receptor ACE2, the protein to which the virus binds to enter cells. Similarly, alterations in the sequence of the surface (Spike) protein may reduce the recognition of the Spike protein by the antibodies made by the host following vaccination or prior infection. Image Credit: Carl DMaster/Shutterstock.com COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to be effective in decreasing hospitalization and deaths from infection but new emerging variants could threaten this. Why is it therefore so important to investigate new viral variants of COVID-19? By measuring the efficiency of the antibody response at reducing infection with the virus (a process known as neutralization), we can estimate the likelihood of existing vaccines providing immunity to either re-infection or disease development. Using neutralization assays, we can monitor the duration of the immune response (how it wanes over time) and the ability of existing antibodies to cross-neutralize emerging variants of the virus. Can you describe how you carried out your latest research into the COVID-19 delta variant? What did you discover? In this study, we developed assays with which the level of neutralizing antibodies in serum samples from vaccinated individuals could be measured in our laboratory. By comparing viruses expressing the Spike proteins from several variants of SARS-CoV-2, we found that the Delta variant was less susceptible to neutralization by antibodies from people who have been vaccinated. While antibodies are less powerful against this variant, we know from other studies that the vaccines are largely effective at preventing severe illness and death. However, these findings tell us that the virus is capable of gradually escaping from our immune response over time and are a warning signal that new variants may emerge in the future that could require us to update our vaccines (as we do for influenza every year). The positive news is that all of the variants tested were neutralized by the sera from the vaccinated individuals, so we would predict that immunity elicited by vaccination with two doses of the existing vaccines would extend to the variants, however, it may not be as effective as it was against the viruses circulating previously (ie the virus of the first wave or the subsequent Alpha variant). Similarly, as antibody responses to coronaviruses wane over time, the duration of immunity be shortened, hence this is why boosters are now being offered in the UK after a 3-month gap rather than the initial, advised 6-month gap. Should there be ongoing monitoring surrounding the impact viral variants are having on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness? Do you believe new vaccines will help to tackle new variants of the virus? By studying the relative levels of neutralization against each of the variants, we can predict how effective vaccination will be at preventing disease. Studies such as this allow us to estimate the relative effectiveness of vaccines against each of the variants and the likely duration of immunity. Continuous monitoring of the efficiency of neutralization will provide valuable insight into the future trajectory of the pandemic and aid in the development of strategies for selecting the composition of future vaccines. Image Credit: Murray Robertson Do you believe that further research needs to be conducted to fully understand the impact viral variants have on COVID-19 immunity? What benefits will this have for virus surveillance? Of course, continued monitoring of the efficiency of antibodies elicited by vaccination at preventing infection with emerging variants is a key weapon in our armory against COVID-19. The study we have described uses a safe, sensitive, and rapid testing system based on viral pseudotypes. One of the key benefits of this approach is that we can substitute the Spike protein of emerging variants into the assay system with ease, enabling us to compare side-by-side the antibody response to the vaccine strain with each emerging variant, tracking the magnitude of the reduction in neutralization efficiency and duration of immunity. This enables us to predict when boosting may be required, how efficient boosting is at generating a cross-protective immune response, and whether novel vaccine formulations are likely to be required. What are the next steps for you and your research? Using the system we have described, we are now investigating the ability of sera from vaccinated or recovered (convalescent) individuals to neutralize merging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the effect of boosting, the degree of cross-neutralization of each variant, and the duration of immunity. Where can readers find more information? For further details of the work of researchers at the MRC University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, visit www.cvr.ac.uk. The experiments described in this study are available to view at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010022. About Professor Brian J. Willett I am a viral immunologist studying molecular, cellular, and immunological techniques for diagnosing and monitoring viral infections. A graduate of the University of Strathclyde, where I studied Biochemistry and Pharmacology followed by a Ph.D. in Immunology, I joined the Glasgow Veterinary School in 1989, working with Profs. Oswald Jarrett, James Neil and Margaret Hosie on retroviral diseases of cats. A major focus of the group at the time was feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) as an animal model for AIDS and we made significant advances in retroviral pathogenesis, diagnosis, vaccine development, and viral receptor usage. In our laboratory, we have studied immune responses to diverse viral pathogens of animals and humans, from rabies viruses to feline calicivirus, Rift Valley fever virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, SARS-CoV-2, and morbilliviruses such as measles virus and canine distemper virus. Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, we have established a serology hub at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, where we are able to monitor antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viruses using high throughput assay systems, including ELISAs, multiplex chemiluminescence, and viral pseudotype-based neutralization. A team of scientists from France has recently demonstrated the efficacy of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescent plasma therapy in improving the survival rate among patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancy and COVID-19. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server. Study: Convalescent plasma improves overall survival in patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies and COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort and propensity score analysis. Image Credit: Cryptographer/Shutterstock Background Immunocompromised patients, including those with hematological malignancies, exhibit a significantly higher risk of death due to COVID-19, a novel disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A suppressed functionality of the immune system due to the disease and associated treatment leads to delayed viral clearance and a higher risk of severe COVID-19. The risk is particularly higher for patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies. In France, COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy has been approved to treat in-hospital immunocompromised COVID-19 patients, including hematological malignancy patients. Although therapeutic benefits of plasma therapy have not been fully established in most clinical trials, there is evidence suggesting that COVID-19 patients with B cell depletion might benefit from such therapy. In the current study, the scientists have explored whether COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy can reduce the mortality rate in COVID-19 patients with hematological malignancies, especially B-cell lymphoid malignancies. Study design The study included a total of 112 hematological malignancy patients with COVID-19 who were treated with convalescent plasma therapy. Of them, 83 had B-cell lymphoid malignancies, 10 had myeloid malignancies, and 19 had multiple myeloma. About 72% of the patients had received anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy an average of 42 days before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. A separate set of analyses was conducted on B-cell lymphoid malignancy patients treated (n=81) or not treated (n=120) with plasma therapy. The overall survival rate and risk factors of COVID-19 mortality were assessed among study participants. The survival rates of plasma-treated B-cell lymphoid malignancy patients were compared to those without treatment. In addition, the safety profile and kinetics of inflammatory parameters upon plasma therapy were investigated. Important observations Adverse events related to the transfusion of COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy were observed in a small fraction of patients. Specifically, minor allergy was observed in two patients, and severe allergy was observed in one patient. In addition, a transient increase in oxygen requirement was observed in two patients. Regarding therapeutic benefits, a significant reduction in body temperature, C-reactive protein, ferritin, fibrinogen, and viral load was observed in patients after plasma therapy. The highest survival rate of 77% was observed in plasma-treated B-cell lymphoid malignancy patients. Considering all patients, the overall survival rate was 65% after treatment. All deaths reported during the study period were associated with COVID-19. A significant association was observed between overall survival and older age (above 70 years), type of malignancies, high blood pressure, prior exposure to anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy, COVID-19 severity, and time of plasma therapy administration. Specifically, older age, high blood pressure, and COVID-19 severity were identified as potent risk factors for disease-related death. In contrast, a strong correlation was observed between prior exposure to anti-CD20 therapy and improved overall survival. In B-cell lymphoid malignancy patients with a history of anti-CD20 treatment, the administration of plasma therapy caused a 63% reduction in the risk of COVID-19 related mortality. Study significance The study highlights the benefits of COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy in reducing mortality among patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19. The highest benefit has been observed for B-cell lymphoid malignancy patients, especially those previously treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal therapy. As mentioned by the scientists, the administration of anti-spike monoclonal antibody therapy in hematological malignancy patients can act as a positive selection pressure for the development of escape mutations. Thus, in these patients, COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy could be an alternative and effective intervention for better disease prognosis. *Important notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, a team of researchers developed a genetic assay to evaluate several clade 2 and clade 3 receptor-binding domains (RBD) of spike (S) protein sequences of genus sarbecovirus. They determined which viruses from these clades used human or Rhinolophus angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) proteins to infect human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells. Study: Expanded ACE2 dependencies of diverse SARS-like coronavirus receptor binding domains. Image Credit: Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spillover from animal reservoirs has triggered one of the largest public health crises and crippled the world economy. Therefore, it is crucial to know which other viruses may be primed for transmission into humans by developing an in-depth understanding of the molecular-level determinants of zoonotic transmission. As molecular compatibility during viral entry is a key determinant of viral tropism and host switching, this understanding would help timely surveillance and the mitigation of pandemics like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the future. SARS-CoV-2 binds to host cell surface receptor ACE2 using RBD, a 233-residue folded domain within its S protein. The sarbecovirus subgenus has several viral clades; while clade 1 sarbecoviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, are known to utilize ACE2, the receptors for clade 2 and clade 3 viruses are unknown. About the study The researchers of the present study used a duplex pseudotyped virus infection assay to characterize the extent of ACE2 dependence across several sarbecovirus clades. They utilized a single-copy HEK 293T genome modification platform to strongly overexpress multiple cell surface proteins proposed to serve as receptors for SARS-CoV-2, alongside the well-established receptor, ACE2. Sarbecoviruses have been detected in the samples collected from several Rhinolophus bat species; therefore, the researchers synthesized and expressed nine different ACE2 orthologs from R. ferrumequinum, R. affinis, R. alyone, R. landeri, R. pearsonii, and various ACE2 alleles observed in R. sinicus. They also used a matrix of 108 pairwise combinations for pseudovirus infection, with 12 different S RBD sequences. The researchers divided these RBDs into three major clades, of which clade 1 virus RBDs used human ACE2 for entry, while the receptor dependencies of clade 2 and clade 3 viruses were relatively unknown. Results The results demonstrated that clade 3 sarbecoviruses consistently used various subsets of ACE2 alleles from a panel of horseshoe bats, while at least two were also capable of using human ACE2. Of the clade 2 and clade 3 RBDs, only BtKY72 and Khosta-2 used human ACE2 for entry, while BtKY72 and Khosta-1 exhibited widespread use of diverse rhinolophid ACE2s. A lysine residue at ACE2 position 31 primarily determined the inability of these RBDs to use specific ACE2 sequences. The ACE2 protein from R. alcyone engaged all known clade 3 and clade 1 receptor binding domains. The BtKY72 chimeric virus exhibited slightly increased infection in the presence of transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2). Furthermore, upon the alignment of the BtKY72 RBD with the SARS-CoV-2 RBDs, several highly conserved positions at the alleged ACE2 interface, such as residues Y488 and T499. Although not sufficient, compatible interactions between viral and host receptor proteins are necessary for zoonosis. Due to multifactorial in vivo replication and additional incompatibilities in immune antagonism, these incompatible interactions might not allow entry and replication of BtKY72 and Khosta-2 within humans, averting the possibility of a zoonotic event. While BtKY72 and Khosta-2 RBDs utilized human ACE2, the extent of pseudovirus infection conferred by their RBDs was far too less than that by SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and WIV1 RBDs. WIV1 is a bat virus closely related to SARS-CoV, likely its precursor, capable of using human ACE2 for entry and isolated following the initial SARS-CoV outbreak of 2002. There was no clear evidence of the use of Rhinolophus ACE2 orthologs by the clade 2 sarbecoviruses, including various alleles from R. sinicus and R. pearsonii, raising the possibility of another unknown receptor. Further, the study results suggested that clade 3 sarbecoviruses from Africa and Europe used Rhinolophus ACE2 for entry, and their S proteins appeared primed for zoonosis under the right conditions. Conclusions The study findings highlighted that all currently sequenced sarbecoviruses have two types of RBDs based on their ACE2-dependence or independence. The ACE2-dependent viruses have further segregated into subgroups that differentially utilize host ACE2 protein sequences during viral entry. Although the sequences within the ACE2-dependent RBDs can be highly divergent, a grouping of pairwise interactions determines the patterns of ortholog-specific compatibilities enabling successful entry during potential zoonotic events. The study provided a new genetic roadmap for characterizing receptor utilization during viral entry and demonstrated that clade 3 sarbecoviruses likely utilize ACE2 as a cell-entry receptor during infection. Since the study results demonstrated that there are sarbecoviruses partially primed to jump into humans, efforts must be made to identify them in other continents outside of Asia, including Africa and Eastern Europe. As more Rhinolophus ACE2 sequences will be sequenced and tested using similar or more advanced functional assays, the precise molecular determinants of sarbecovirus RBD and ACE2 compatibility will become clear. The drastic differences in observed compatibilities also highlight the importance of knowing the genotypes of both the virus and host. Based on their RBD-ACE2 compatibilities, the geographical locations of their host species serving as in vivo reservoirs may be found, which may also be overlapping. Future studies simultaneously sequencing both the viral genome and host ACE2 sequences from a single sample would help uncover complex relationships between viruses and their natural hosts. Most importantly, the study highlighted how molecular barriers normally prevent zoonosis, especially amid eroding ecological and societal factors. Therefore, now the focus should be on preventing future pandemics due to other viruses, such as Merbecoviruses, Henipaviruses, or Filoviruses, by preventing their zoonotic transmission. *Important notice bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. More than a year after voters approved legalizing marijuana for recreational use in Montana, anyone older than 21 can now enter a dispensary and buy cannabis. That has medical marijuana user Joylynn Mane Wright worried. Wright lives in Prairie County, the state's fifth-least-populated county, with nearly 1,100 people. She already drives about 35 minutes to get to the marijuana dispensary nearest her home, which is 2 hours northeast of Billings. And now she wonders how much more difficult it will be to get the cannabis she uses to relieve the chronic pain she developed after a 2017 spinal surgery. "I'm really worried about supplies and what it's going to cost," she said. For Wright and the approximately 55,000 other Montanans who hold medical marijuana cards and use cannabis for cancer, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, central nervous system disorders and other ailments, the question is how will recreational marijuana affect their ability to access their medicine. Other states have had shortages soon after their recreational marijuana markets opened. In January 2020, when recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois, some dispensaries had to close their doors or impose limits on purchases. The same thing happened in Colorado and Washington when the recreational market opened in those states. Pepper Petersen president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild and a medical marijuana provider in Helena, said he's been telling his patients to stock up because he thinks the state's dispensaries will run out of pot in the short term. "We are going to have cannabis shortages. Access will be a problem until supply can catch up with demand," Petersen said. "How can we produce enough product for thousands of new users in January? The answer is we can't." In Wright's case, stocking up isn't an option because of her fixed income, she said. She wonders how high the price of a pre-rolled joint, which now costs nearly $8, will rise and whether she'll have to drive even farther to get her medicine. Jared Moffat, a campaign manager for the Marijuana Policy Project, said a state's market usually takes six to 12 months to stabilize after recreational cannabis becomes legal. One reason marijuana markets are unstable is that possessing and distributing the drug remain illegal under federal law, so moving products across state lines is not an option for dealing with a shortage. Everything that is sold in a state must be grown in that state. Adding to the potential supply-chain problem is that Montana has restricted who can sell cannabis, at least initially. The legislation that set up the framework for Montana's recreational marijuana market gave existing dispensaries an 18-month head start on new producers, meaning newly licensed sellers can't get into the market until July 2023. That leaves medical marijuana customers to compete with recreational users for a limited supply of cannabis. About 80 dispensaries just 18% of Montana's 451 licensed dispensaries plan to exclusively serve holders of medical marijuana cards, according to Czelsi Gomez, spokesperson for the Montana Department of Revenue, which oversees the state's marijuana programs. The rest plan to cater to both recreational and medical users or to only recreational users. Some states that have legalized recreational cannabis including New Jersey and Illinois have required dispensaries to maintain enough stock to ensure that medical users can get what they need. Montana has not instituted such a rule. But Gomez said the 80 dispensaries that will serve only medical marijuana users will protect patients. "We believe the medical-only establishments are the safeguard for ensuring medical marijuana is available to registered cardholders," Gomez said. Some dispensary owners said they will reserve some of their supplies to ensure medical customers don't run out. But others said they don't plan on holding back, arguing that would be bad for business. Barbie Turner, a co-owner of Alternative ReLeaf, a dispensary with locations in Missoula, Polson and Libby, said she is worried about where medical users will get their cannabis. She said that if serving medical customers requires her to stop selling cannabis to recreational users, she will. "Not only do our medical patients have a need, they're the ones who built up these businesses. They're the ones who built this industry," she said. "So I think we have an ethical responsibility to take care of them, just like they have taken care of us." How big the recreational marijuana market will be is unclear. A University of Montana study cited survey results from 2017 and 2018 that found about 14% of Montana adults said they used cannabis in the previous month, compared with 9% of adults nationally. Petersen and others said more people might become recreational users once cannabis products that can be smoked or eaten become easier to buy. Turner said that she and her employees have been working for months to make sure they have enough marijuana but that she's still worried about the supply. There are limits, both legally and financially, on how much a provider can grow, she said. Shops will get some help, she said, with the state's wholesale market opening in January, meaning that dispensaries will be able to sell to one another in bulk. Although many dispensaries especially in college towns such as Missoula and Bozeman are bracing for shortages this month, Erin Bolster said she thinks the real test of marijuana supplies will come in the summer, when millions of tourists visit Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. Bolster owns Tamarack Cannabis in the Flathead Valley, a popular tourist destination not far from Glacier National Park. In summer 2020, long before dispensaries could sell recreational cannabis, Bolster said, she would get one or two walk-ins and two or three calls a day from tourists who had heard Montana had legalized adult-use marijuana and wanted to see if they could buy. Come summer, she thinks, the number of customers will skyrocket. That could mean even more competition for Montana's medical marijuana there and in other popular destinations. "We've been able to expand production," Bolster said. "But the question is 'Did we expand enough?'" An interesting preprint research paper describes structural changes resulting from the multiple mutations found in the recent Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent behind the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, the research describes the consequent effects of these changes on Omicrons infectivity and immune evasion capabilities. Study: Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron immune evasion and receptor engagement. Image Credit: NIAID Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths and hundreds of millions of infections. The attempts to stop the spread of the virus by national and regional lockdowns have caused severe financial stress and economic hardship, affecting almost every area of daily life. Despite the rollout of vaccines and the development of monoclonal antibodies against the virus, the emergence of new variants with immune escape characteristics presents a formidable challenge to the goal of freeing the world of this plague. The Omicron variant of concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2 not only has the most significant number of mutations seen so far among all the variants but is spreading with unprecedented speed and escapes humoral immunity much more effectively than any other variant so far. This is thought to be due to a large number of spike mutations with this VOC. The current paper, available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, describes the results of examining the mutated structure of the Omicron antigens using a combination of techniques, including cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography. In addition, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) studies were used to assess the binding affinity of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in use at present for Omicron RBD. This revealed the reason for the increased infectivity of the Omicron variant, in the presence of electrostatic shifts in the interactions between the spike and the host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. The study also shows how spike-receptor binding, involving the engagement of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike to the host receptor, as well as to the mAbs, is impaired by the change in structure due to the numerous spike mutations. This was done by examining the complexes formed by virus RBD binding to the broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus S309 (the parent mAb of sotrovimab). The Omicron VOC spike protein has 37 mutations compared to the wildtype virus, compared to the 19 in the Alpha and Delta VOCs, the earlier variants that similarly swept the world. There are 15 and 11 mutations in the Omicron RBD and N-terminal domain (NTD), respectively, linked to marked impairment of neutralization by antibodies elicited by natural infection or prior vaccination when re-exposed to the virus. The 15 spike RBD mutations of Omicron do not affect ACE2 binding in humans but do confer mouse ACE2 recognition capacity. This antigenic shift, as it is called, also caused most currently available mAbs to lose neutralizing activity against Omicron, with the notable exception of S309 and the cocktail of COV2-2196/COV2-2130 (cilgavimab/tixagevimab parent). While the former lost potency by 2-3-fold, the latter showed 12-200-fold lower potency against the pseudovirus or authentic virus in neutralizing assays. To further understand this threat to pandemic control, the investigators examined the prefusion stabilized Omicron spike ectodomain trimer in complex with S309 and S2L20, which binds the RBD and NTD respectively. The antibody-binding fragments (Fab) in complex with the RBD and ACE2 were specifically subjected to cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography, respectively. What Did the Study Show? The Omicron VOC has many mutations found in earlier variants, both in the RBD and the NTD. The presence of 8 additional mutations outside the RBD, NTD and furin cleavage site of the spike protein makes the Omicron a far more complex subject of study than the earlier VOCs. Four of these eight mutations result in new electrostatic interactions between the core helices of the S2 subunit of the spike and the S1 subunit. CryoEM structure of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron S reveals remodeling of the NTD antigenic supersite. (A) Surface rendering in two orthogonal orientations of the Omicron S trimer with one open RBD bound to the S309 (grey) and S2L20 (green) Fabs shown as ribbons. (B) Ribbon diagrams in two orthogonal orientations of the S trimer with one open RBD with residues mutated relative to Wuhan-Hu-1 shown as red spheres (except D614G which is not shown). In panels A-B, the three S protomers are colored light blue, pink or gold. (C) The S2L20-bound Omicron NTD with mutated, deleted or inserted residues rendered or indicated as red spheres. Segments with notable structural changes are shown in orange and labeled. (D) Zoomed-in view of the Omicron NTD antigenic supersite highlighting incompatibility with recognition by the S2X333 mAb (15) (used here as an example of prototypical NTD neutralizing mAb). N-linked glycans are shown as dark blue surfaces. Another mutation, L981F, enhances the hydrophobic packing of the residues. These mutations occur in regions adjacent to the prefusion stabilizing 2P mutations used in all the currently approved three vaccines available in the USA. The Omicron mutations may produce more interactions between the two spike subunits and a change in the way the S1/S1 cleavage site is processed in the presence of the N679K and P681H mutations. This might account for the increased effector function of antibodies elicited by natural infection or vaccination, or mAbs with Fc-mediated effector function, by reducing the shedding of the S1 subunit that precedes viral entry into the host cell. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron S fusion machinery mutations. A cross section through the core of the spike glycoprotein is shown (the location of this slice on the spike glycoprotein is shown on the left). Mutations T547K, H655Y, N764K, N856K, Q954H, N969K, and L981F are shown as red spheres; residues these mutations interact with are shown as spheres colored as the protomer they belong to. Black asterisks show the position of residues involved in the prefusion-stabilizing 2P mutations (K986P and V987P) used in all three vaccines deployed in the US. The RBD is the immunodominant antigen, with several distinct antigenic sites to which neutralizing antibodies are directed with diverse potencies and breadth of neutralization. The scientists found that electrostatic interactions were lost in the presence of mutations such as K417N, E484A and Q493R, with steric hindrance with REGN10933 being introduced. Conversely, G446S caused a steric clash with REGN10987, completely inhibiting Omicron RBD binding to this mAb. Several such clashes were observed to dampen antibody-mediated neutralization of the Omicron RBD by COV2-2196 and COV2-2130, compared to the wild-type virus. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron RBD mutations promote escape from a panel of clinical mAbs. A, Ribbon diagram of the RBD with residue mutated relative to the Wuhan-Hu-1 RBD shown as red spheres. The N343 glycan is rendered as blue spheres. B-I, Zoomed-in view of the Omicron RBD superimposed to structures of the RBD bound to REGN10933 (B), REGN10987 (C), COV2-2196 (D), COV2-2130 (E), LY-CoV555 (F), LY-CoV16 (G), CT-P59 (H) or S309 (I). Binding of the Wuhan-Hu-1 (gray line) or Omicron (red line) RBD to the corresponding mAb was evaluated using surface plasmon resonance (single-cycle kinetics) and is shown at the bottom. The black line is a fit to a kinetic model. The decrease in affinity between Wuhan-Hu-1 and Omicron binding is indicated in red. With LY-CoV555, the E484A mutation inhibited hydrogen bonding between the RBD and the heavy and light chains of the mAb, while Q493R prevents binding via steric clashes, again. The heavy chain of LY-CoV16 cannot bind the Omicron RBD because of the loss of multiple electrostatic interactions between these molecules with the introduction of K417N. The triplet of K417N E484A and Q493R mutations also abolish binding with the CT-P59 mAb by steric hindrance and the loss of electrostatic contacts. Interestingly, the results obtained using these techniques agree with those from deep mutational scanning that predicted the effects of mutations at each of the residues of the RBD. Why does S309 retain its activity? The Omicron G339D and N440K mutations occur very near or within the S309 epitope on antigenic site IV, but both introduce side chains that cause moderate disruption binding with the mAb, with a corresponding 2-3-fold fall in neutralizing potency of the VOC. The N501Y mutation found in the Alpha and Beta VOCs did not cause efficient binding of the mouse ACE2 receptor, but this effect is found in the Omicron variant. This could be due to the presence of the Q493R mutation that has electrostatic interactions with the mouse ACE2, and which becomes fixed in serial mouse passages. The result is a mouse-adapted virus SARS-CoV-2 MA10. What Are the Implications? This work defines the molecular basis for the broad evasion of humoral immunity exhibited by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and underscores the SARS-CoV-2 S mutational plasticity and the importance of targeting conserved epitopes for vaccine and therapeutics and design. The loss of neutralizing activity with clinical mAbs and mAb cocktails when confronted with Omicron RBD, except for S309, is a significant challenge to COVID-19 mitigation and treatment. Approximately one in ten isolates of Omicron have the R346K substitution that is linked to evasion of the C135 mAb, in combination with the N440K mutation present in all isolates. However, R346K does not impair S309 binding. S309 was obtained from a recovered SARS-CoV patient (infected in 2003), but C135 from a recovered SARS-CoV-2 patient. The former thus presented an excellent opportunity to find broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus antibodies that target epitopes that are highly conserved in this family. The mutational constraints on such sites prevent the ready emergency of immune-evading variants. Meanwhile, the identification of such antibodies offers hope for the development of broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus vaccines. These efforts offer hope that the same strategies that contribute to solving the current pandemic will prepare us for future putative sarbecovirus pandemics. *Important notice bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. In a recent prospective cohort study, a team of researchers compared the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in patients infected after the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant with those patients who were infected during the Delta variant outbreak, and posted their findings to the medRxiv* preprint server. Study: Comparison of outcomes from COVID infection in pediatric and adult patients before and after the emergence of Omicron. Image Credit: Naeblys/Shutterstock The United States (US) is witnessing a rapid surge in COVID-19 infections due to the new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, with an increase in prevalence to 58.6% between 19 and 25 December 2021 from 22.5% between 12 and 19 December 2021. Early reports from several countries suggest that although the Omicron variant is more contagious than the Delta variant, Omicron infections lead to lower rates of hospitalizations when compared to those caused by the Delta variant. The Study In the present study, researchers classified the COVID-19-infected patients into three cohorts: 1) the emergent Omicron cohort which comprised of about 14,054 patients who were infected between 15 and 24 December 2021; 2) the Delta cohort with over half a million patients who were first infected with SARS-CoV-2 between 1 September 2021 and 15 November 2021; and 3) the Delta-2 cohort with 77,692 cases recorded between 16 and 30 November 2021 before the detection of the first Omicron cases in the US. The authors were able to source all the COVID-19-related patient data based on their electronic health records (EHR), and none of the study population had reported previous SARS-CoV-2 infection as documented in their EHRs. The researchers investigated whether patients in the emergent Omicron cohort showed any severe outcome within three days of infection when compared to those of the Delta cohort. They examined four clinical outcomes following a COVID-19 infection like the requirement of emergency services (ED visits), hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and mechanical ventilation within the first three days of a positive test result. The propensity score of both the emergent Omicron and Delta cohorts were matched for demographics, adverse socioeconomic determinants (which include employment, housing, education, and economic circumstances), comorbidities (hypertension, dementia, renal and cardiac disorders, etc.), behavioral factors, COVID-19-related medications (remdesivir, dexamethasone, etc.) and vaccination (including booster dose). Similar analyses were done between the two Delta cohorts. Results The study found that patients in the Omicron and Delta cohort were similar in age but differed racially and ethnically. Fewer patients were vaccinated in the Omicron cohort compared to those in the Delta cohort, and COVID-19-related outcomes within the first three days were less pronounced in the Omicron cohort than the Delta cohort. The findings further report that 4.55% of patients in the Omicron cohort required ED visits while 15.22% in the Delta cohort needed emergency services. Hospitalization in Omicron and Delta cohorts was observed in 1.75% and 3.95% cases, respectively. ICU admissions were noted for 0.26% (Omicron cohort) and 0.75% (Delta cohort) cases. Mechanical ventilation was required in 0.07% and 0.43% cases in the Omicron and Delta cohorts, respectively. The study observed no significant differences between the two Delta cohorts. The results showed that only 3.89% of children under five years in the Omicron cohort received emergency services while more than 20% in the Delta cohort required ED visits. Hospitalization too was lower for kids in the Omicron cohort (0.96% against 2.62% in the Delta cohort). Lower hospitalization rates and ED visits were observed in other pediatric groups (5-11, 12-17 years), and similar to earlier observations, no marked changes were seen between the two Delta cohorts. Conclusions The findings of this study demonstrated that in the US, the COVID-19 cases arising after the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant showed reduced severity of infection than in the cases recorded in previous time points (during the Delta variant outbreak). These findings, consistent with other studies conducted in England, Scotland, and South Africa, suggest that Omicron infections may cause milder disease with less pronounced symptoms when compared to Delta infections. Although this reduced disease severity could be attributed to higher rates of vaccination were observed in November and December, the researchers believe that a substantially higher proportion of vaccination was needed to account for the significant differences observed in ED visits, hospitalization, ICU, and ventilation in this study. Moreover, no significant reduction was seen in cases immediately before the emergence of the Omicron variant, which suggests that the increased prevalence of the Omicron variant might be the likely reason for the reduced severity of COVID-19 cases. The study did not report mortality risks due to COVID-19 as only a small number of patients reported death within the first three days, and to correctly ascertain the mortality risk, a longer follow-up time is needed. To conclude, the observations made in this study indicate that the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is associated with a less severe disease prognosis. * Important notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Researchers from the University of Adelaide and elsewhere have sequenced and analyzed mitochondrial DNA from fossils of cave lions (Panthera spp.) and brown bears (Ursus arctos), two megafaunal carnivorans that dispersed from Eurasia into North America during the Pleistocene, to better understand the timing and drivers of their past movement between the continents across the Bering Land Bridge. Their results reveal striking synchronicity in the population dynamics of Beringian lions and brown bears, with multiple waves of dispersal across the Bering Land Bridge. The evolutionary histories of these two megafaunal animals underline the crucial biogeographical role of the Bering Land Bridge in the distribution, turnover and maintenance of megafaunal populations in North America. The shared patterns of dispersal between lions and bears correspond with the presence of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Siberia and Alaska during ice ages, said Dr. Alexander Salis, a researcher with the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide. The Bridge was periodically exposed and inundated by changing sea levels during the last few Ice Ages, allowing intermittent dispersal of animals and people between continents and changing the faunal composition. While many might think that species arrive in a region and stay put, we show that the past was much more dynamic, involving multiple waves of dispersal and local extinctions in this case. Theres a common perception that outside of mass extinctions or direct human interference, ecosystems tend to remain stable over thousands or even millions of years, added Dr. Kieren Mitchell, also from the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide. As illustrated by our study of the fossil record, thats not necessarily the case. Previous research has shown that brown bears disappeared from some parts of North America for thousands of years prior to the latest Ice Age. They later reappeared, walking from Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Land Bridge possibly at the same time as people moved across the Bridge into North America too. But no-one knows exactly why they disappeared in the first place, which is why studying this event is important. Among the teams key findings is that cave lions from the same area became extinct more than once before their final extinction they also disappeared and reappeared thousands of years later, around the same time as bears. There is no evidence that people caused these temporary disappearances, and cold Ice Age conditions were not to blame. Instead, it looks like a smoking gun pointing to some kind of change in their ecosystem, Dr. Mitchell said. The timing of lions and bear extinction from parts of North America specifically Alaska and the Yukon Territory coincides with evidence of widespread vegetation change in the region. The study suggests that warm temperatures before the Ice Age may have caused a change in the abundance of different kinds of plants, which had knock-on effects on herbivores and then their predators (like bears and lions). Colder temperatures leading up to the Ice Age might have reversed this change and made the area more hospitable for herbivores, and in turn their predators. Overall, these findings demonstrate just how changeable past ecosystems have been, and also how the abundance of different species can be very sensitive to changes in climate, Dr. Mitchell said. The study appears in the journal Molecular Ecology. _____ Alexander T. Salis et al. Lions and brown bears colonized North America in multiple synchronous waves of dispersal across the Bering Land Bridge. Molecular Ecology, published online November 8, 2021; doi: 10.1111/mec.16267 The house at 1430 N. Tucker Road is depicted above in a photo from around 1910-1915. The southern regional director for Indiana Landmarks, Greg Sekula, said the homeowner, Melvin Jensen, who died on Sunday, had the photo and allowed Sekula to take his own picture of it. Sisters Gray and Andrea Koesters honored the life of their father, Willi Hans Koesters, by creating an exhibit of his work at the Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery in New Albany. (Newser) US authorities have taken custody of a main suspect in the killing of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, and he is scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in Miami. Mario Antonio Palacios was arrested in Jamaica in October and was scheduled to fly to his native Colombia on Monday. However, Interpol notified Palacios during a stopover in Panama that the US government was extraditing him, said Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas, director of Colombias police. He said that Colombia, Jamaica, and the US were in touch to coordinate the deportation and extradition of Palacios to the US. Interpol had issued a red alert for Palacios on charges including attempted murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy based on a request from the Haitian government, the AP reports. Marlene Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the US Attorneys Office in South Florida, told the AP that Palacios was in US custody and would appear in federal court. She did not respond to additional questions including what charges he might face. Meanwhile, the office of Haitis prime minister issued a brief statement, saying only that it wanted justice to prevail in the July 7 assassination of Moise at his private residence. The office did not reply to additional questions including whether the government was still seeking to charge Palacios or extradite him to Haiti. Former Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph said the US taking custody of Palacios was a step in the right direction, but he urged local authorities to work with the US to extradite him so he can face justice in Haiti. Palacios was one of more than a dozen former Colombian soldiers accused in the slaying of Moise. The Colombian government has said that the majority of the ex-soldiers were duped and thought they were on a legitimate mission to provide protection and that only a few knew it was a criminal mission. Also of note: Haiti welcomed the new year with violence as Prime Minister Ariel Henry fled the northern city of Gonaives following a shootout between his security forces and an armed group that had warned the leader not to set foot in the city, per the AP. Local media reported that one person died and two were injured in the gunfire that forced Henry and others to duck and seek shelter as they walked out of a cathedral Saturday after attending a mass to celebrate Haitis independence from France. The prime minister's office said Monday that bandits and terrorists made an attempt on Henry's life and accused the group of hiding behind walls to attack the convoy and of threatening the bishop by surrounding the church. (Read more Haiti stories.) On December 10th, Orange County Register Top Workplaces named Smart Circle a Top Workplaces 2021 Winner. Fifteen culture drivers critical to the success of any organization are assessed through an anonymous survey. Among the cultural influences are alignment, execution, and connection, among many others. Energage LLC, a technology partner for employee engagement, compiles a list solely based on employee feedback. This year marks the fifth consecutive year that Smart Circle International, the world's leading broker of outsourced sales and marketing, has been named to this list. So, how many businesses can say that their company culture has remained this consistent and elevated throughout the tumult of the last several years? The seed for Smart Circle was planted in 1981. Its leaders have always guided the business with a people-first mentality. That mentality entwined with rapid growth, a focused vision, deep-rooted core values, and some handsome perks makes Smart Circle the perfect environment to offer an enhanced employee experience and a consistent one too. Who Are Smart Circle Employees? Face-to-face marketing is an industry in which Smart Circle has extensive knowledge and practical experience, producing effective and lucrative campaigns that are as innovative as they are successful. Smart Circle employees are innovators, educators, and experts in the face-to-face marketing and sales industry. Smart Circle's Continued Growth and Development The seeds for today's Smart Circle were planted when its founder started in the face-to-face industry, specifically with door-to-door canvassing. Today, forty years later, Smart Circle has grown to almost 1200 full-time employees and is a leading broker of outsourced sales in the US and Canada. Smart Circle is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA but has employees throughout the United States. An engaged and connected team of savvy marketing professionals, business development experts, finance and accounting gurus, legal and IT teams, operations, HR, and campaign management professionals keeps Smart Circle on top and out in front of their competitors in the direct marketing industry. Mission, Vision, and Core Values Oh My! Mission Statement Smart Circle International's mission is to provide meaningful growth opportunities for our clients by designing customized marketing campaigns and providing access to a broad network of independent sales companies that provide face-to-face marketing and in-person sales services. ------------------- Smart Circle has developed a deeply rooted people-first mentality, and it permeates not only throughout the service that it provides for its clients but also internally. The people-first mentality can also be seen through how the company helps its employees grow, no matter their current position on the team. Smart Circle consistently boasts and demonstrates that its greatest assets are its people. The idea of leadership also underpins the progressive, employee-first culture put in place within the Smart Circle team. The executive team and the founders of the marketing and sales brand work diligently to inspire leadership qualities in every employee at every stage of their career. To assist Smart Circle leadership in providing and inspiring this type of stewardship in their employees, the executive team lives by four core values that embody and signify the spirit and mindset of the Smart Circle employee. Their four core values are: Teamwork - Collaborating with respect, transparency, and honesty with all fellow employees. Integrity - To always do the right thing and hold themselves and their colleagues to the highest standards of excellence. Entrepreneurial Spirit - Smart Circle was founded by entrepreneurs who challenged themselves to be bold and courageous, inciting others to ignite their entrepreneurial passion. Citizenship - Positively impacting the communities in which every employee lives and works. These core values work as the foundation on which all employees can confidently carry out the duties and the actions necessary to fulfill the mission statement, which maintains that employees should provide meaningful growth opportunities to all clients. The business challenges its employees to live up to this mission. With all these tools in place, Smart Circle employees can conquer the goals set forth for each client and, in turn, accomplish the entire task of the marketing and sales company's mission. The Benefits of Having a Career With Smart Circle Here is a quick list to keep in your mind: Paid Vacation Paid Sick Leave Comprehensive Health Plans 401K with a company match Learning and Development Opportunities Sponsored Volunteer Possibilities These incentives are just the tip of the iceberg regarding the perks and benefits of employment at Smart Circle International. Beyond these incentives, Smart Circle makes another promise to its employees through its commitment, goal, and approach. The Smart Circle Commitment We are committed to creating an environment that fosters growth opportunities for all team members. The Smart Circle Goal Wherever practical, Smart Circle wants team members in the position that best suits their unique abilities, interests, and skills, as well as our business needs. The Smart Circle Approach We strongly believe that bringing our team members' diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives together is the best way to serve our clients. To learn more about the career opportunities awaiting you when you apply for and earn a Smart Circle Job, visit their website at https://smartcircle.com/. (Newser) Update: A Wisconsin judge sentenced a 24-year-old man to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday for killing his parents and dismembering their bodies. Chandler Halderson also was given the maximum penalties allowed on related charges, WMTV reports. At sentencing, prosecutors said Halderson had supportive parents, adding that, if anything, his mother had doted on him too much. Halderson said Thursday that he plans to appeal, the first time he's spoken in court. "It's not that I do not have feelings, it's that that I was warned not to show them due to the scrutiny of this case," he said. Our original story from January follows: A 23-year-old Wisconsin man charged with killing and dismembering his parents committed the crimes after his lies unraveled about having a job, going to school, and having a better job waiting for him in Florida, prosecutors said Tuesday. Chandler Halderson shot his father in the back on July 1 shortly after his father discovered his deceit and then killed his mother when she returned home a few hours later, Dane County Deputy District Attorney William Brown said in his opening statement at Halderson's trial. Halderson's attorney Catherine Dorl countered that her client is just a normal kid who liked to play video games and did not kill his parents, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Halderson is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating and hiding a corpse, and giving false information to authorities in the deaths of Bart Halderson, 50, and Krista Halderson, 53, the AP reports. Chandler Halderson reported his parents missing on July 7, telling investigators that they never returned home to Dane County from a Fourth of July weekend trip to their cabin in northern Wisconsin. Bart Haldersons remains were found in rural Dane County on July 8, the day Chandler Halderson was arrested. Authorities said he was shot once before his body was dismembered. Six days later, investigators found Krista Haldersons remains along the Wisconsin River in Sauk County, according to the complaint. Brown said Halderson presented himself to the world as a soon-to-be graduate of a renewable resources engineering program at Madison Area Technical College, with a job at American Family Insurance and a better one waiting for him at Elon Musks SpaceX. Halderson fabricated dozens if not hundreds of emails between himself and MATC and American Family to back his story, but Bart Halderson was starting to ask questions about why he never seemed to have any money, Brown said. The prosecutor said Bart Halderson was shot after a conversation with an MATC official uncovered his son's lies. (Read more Wisconsin stories.) (Newser) Four months ago, a mother died in childbirth while delivering her fifth child. On Friday, all five children were orphaned when their father died in Des Moines, Iowa, amid an ice storm. Bazirake Kariya, 30, was driving to his job at a pork processing plant when his vehicle ran into a creek. Freezing rain had hit the area, and numerous other motorists had to be rescued, the Des Moines Register reports. Kariya died shortly after rescuers pulled him from his car, WHO 13 reports. His children, ranging in age from 4 months to 10 years old, are now in the care of their grandparents, but Kariya had been supporting them as wellboth are sick and neither has food, a job, or a place to live, KCCI reports. "They will need a lot of things," says the pastor who set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for the family. "They will need a car. They will go to school. They need to eat. They don't have anyone who is working for them. By raising this money, it will help them for (the) long-term." Initially, the fundraiser was meant to cover funeral expenses, but it has now expanded to cover the children's living expenses for some time as well. The family are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to the US from the war-torn part of Africa three years ago. "Its very, very hard to the kids," the pastor says. "They've been crying all the time." (Read more Iowa stories.) (Newser) French President Emmanuel Macron's COVID-19 strategy? Make those who are not yet vaccinated against the coronavirus really angry. "The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so, we're going to continue doing so, until the end. That's the strategy," Macron said in an interview with Le Parisien cited by Reuters. Macron's language has been translated a few different ways, with the BBC quoting him as saying he wants to "hassle" the unvaccinated rather than "piss them off" and the AP going with "bug" or "rile." The French word he used was "emmerder," which comes from "merde" ("crap" or "s---"), and however you translate it, it's considered vulgar, per the AP. Macron's rivals were quick to pounce on the language, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen calling him "unworthy of his office," and some also criticized the idea he was conveying. Since last year, people in France need either proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test to get into many venues, and the government is considering turning that into a vaccine passport program that would essentially bar the unvaccinated from much of public life. "I won't send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I won't vaccinate by force," Macron continued. "So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you won't be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won't be able to down one, won't be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema." So far, however, the bill has been delayed by opponents. Elections will be held in four months, and Macron said in the interview he'd like to run, but stopped short of formally announcing a re-election bid. (Read more Emmanuel Macron stories.) (Newser) Another name familiar to NPR listeners is leaving, and a colleague suggests a "crisis" is brewing at the outlet. Audie Cornish, the co-host of All Things Considered, announced on Twitter that she is joining the pandemic's "Great Resignation" and is "ready to stretch my wings and try something new." The 42-year-old did not provide specifics beyond "new journalism projects," and she had only positive things to say about NPR in her tweets and in a memo to staffers. "I have never considered the host chair a tenured position and there is still much to learn," she wrote in the memo, reports the Hill. However, co-host Ari Shapiro struck a different tone in his tweeted homage to Cornish. "This one stings," he wrote. Shapiro implored NPR to investigate why it's "hemorrhaging hosts from marginalized backgrounds," adding, "If NPR doesnt see this as a crisis, I dont know what itll take." Cornish's departureher last day is Fridaycomes on the heels of Lulu Garcia-Navarro leaving in October after 17 years. Noel King and Joshua Johnson are among those who left before her. As Fox News notes, Garcia-Navarro hinted at workplace issues after she left. "People leave jobs for other opportunities if they are unhappy with the opportunities they have and the way they have been treated," she wrote. "I'm sad to see this happening but it is not unexpected." A statement from NPR execs Sarah Gilbert and Nancy Barnes praised the "incisive" voice of Cornish, who first joined the outlet in 2005, per the Boston Globe. Whether in the field reporting on natural disasters, following presidential candidates and historic moments in our democracy, or landing illuminating high-profile interviews, Audie has brought listeners a rich array of topics, voices, and perspectives from across the spectrum of American life," says the statement. She has co-hosted All Things Considered since 2012. (Read more NPR stories.) (Newser) "I write this email knowing that many of you will think I'm crazy after reading it." That's how Utah tech entrepreneur and GOP fundraiser Dave Bateman started off his message to state leaders and members of the tech industry on Tuesday, suggesting he had at least some inkling of how his message would be receivedi.e., not well. By the end of the day, the founder of software company Entrata had stepped down from its board over his email, which was rife with antisemitism and COVID conspiracy theories, per the Deseret News. More on the story: Antisemitic rant: In his email, Bateman wrote that it was "undeniable" regarding the coronavirus vaccine that "there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people," claiming: "I believe the Jews are behind this." He added: "I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule." In his email, Bateman wrote that it was "undeniable" regarding the coronavirus vaccine that "there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people," claiming: "I believe the Jews are behind this." He added: "I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule." More antisemitism: Bateman also wrote that Jews "have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church" for hundreds of years and put a Jewish leader in place, and that they'd secretly accomplished this mission in 2013 with Pope Francis. Bateman also wrote that Jews "have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church" for hundreds of years and put a Jewish leader in place, and that they'd secretly accomplished this mission in 2013 with Pope Francis. Debunked COVID information: Bateman's email also included misinformation about COVID, including that PCR tests contain cancer-causing substances, as well as that the coronavirus vaccine attacks women's reproductive systems, per the Salt Lake Tribune. Bateman's email also included misinformation about COVID, including that PCR tests contain cancer-causing substances, as well as that the coronavirus vaccine attacks women's reproductive systems, per the Salt Lake Tribune. Aftermath: Late Tuesday afternoon, Entrata CEO Adam Edmunds put out a statement decrying Bateman's remarks, calling them "highly offensive." About an hour later came a follow-up statement from Edmunds noting that the Entrata board had asked Bateman to step down and relinquish his position as chairman, and that "Dave agreed and is no longer a member of the Entrata board, effective immediately." Late Tuesday afternoon, Entrata CEO Adam Edmunds put out a statement decrying Bateman's remarks, calling them "highly offensive." About an hour later came a follow-up statement from Edmunds noting that the Entrata board had asked Bateman to step down and relinquish his position as chairman, and that "Dave agreed and is no longer a member of the Entrata board, effective immediately." Further fallout: In its own statement, per ABC4, the United Jewish Federation of Utah called Bateman's email "vile and hyperbolic," adding that "we believe such statements by influential people in our community contribute to the rising hate crimes and violent attacks against Jews here and abroad." In its own statement, per ABC4, the United Jewish Federation of Utah called Bateman's email "vile and hyperbolic," adding that "we believe such statements by influential people in our community contribute to the rising hate crimes and violent attacks against Jews here and abroad." From the governor: GOP Gov. Spencer Cox also addressed the controversy on Tuesday evening, writing: "These irresponsible comments are hurtfully anti-Semitic, blatantly false, and we completely reject them." (Read more anti-Semitism stories.) (Newser) The Capuchin Catacombs in Sicily, Italy, are famous for their nearly 1,300 mummified corpses on display to the public. Now researchers plan to conduct the first-ever study devoted to a subset of those mummiesthe children. Specifically, researchers from Staffordshire University in the UK will examine 41 mummified children, placed there between 1787 and 1880, in what's known as the "child chapel," reports the Guardian. Using X-ray images, the researchers hope to better understand how these children died, which might in turn shed light on life in Sicily at the time. "We have a fairly good idea that they were from the upper ranks of society but we dont know much more about juvenile health, development, or identity during this period," says lead researcher Kristy Squires, per SciTechDaily. Her two-year study begins this month. Some of the remains are skeletal, while others are better preserved, likely because of chemicals used in the process. "Some really look like sleeping children," says researcher Dario Piombino-Mascali. "They are darkened by the time but some of them have got even fake eyes so they seem to be looking at you. They look like tiny little dolls." The first to be mummified at the catacombs were 16th-century monks of the Capuchin order, and their preservation took place inadvertently, likely through natural dehydration. The catacombs began accepting members of the public in the 18th century and continued the practice through the early 20th century. In all about 160 children are preserved there, which Piombino-Mascali says lends a poignant overtone to the study. "It is very upsetting when you deal with children in anthropology. (Read more mummies stories.) (Newser) Bring on the Lassie comparisons: A Vermont man credits his dog for coming to his rescue, and officials are praising the dog as well. Tinsley, a 1-year-old Shiloh Shepherd, was seen running loose on I-89's Veterans Memorial Bridge at the Vermont-New Hampshire line on Monday, say New Hampshire State Police in a Facebook post. After being alerted to the dog's presence, a state trooper and officers from the Lebanon Police Department tried to capture it, but as they got "close to the canine, it continued to run northbound on Interstate 89, crossing into Vermont." As CNN reports, the dog would run and then stop and stare, as if it was trying to get their attention. "The dog stood at the top of the embankment and looked down," said Lt. Daniel Baldassarre of New Hampshire State Police. They then spotted a guardrail that had been damaged, as well as an overturned pickup and two ejected occupants who were "hypothermic and seriously injured," per NHSP. The dog "almost alert[ed] them to what was off the roadway," Baldassarre said, per WPTZ. Tinsley's owner, Cam Laundry, was one of the men who'd been ejected. He and the other man were treated at an area hospital. Laundry had nothing but praise for the dog, who he says is due some venison burger and back scratches as thanks. "Of course, she never leaves my side, so we're always together in that truck that got wrecked," he said. "She's always my co-pilot, she's always with me." The head of the Hartford Fire Department echoed that, noting, "The whole time we were starting our patient care it sat there nice and calm right next to its owner." (Read more uplifting news stories.) (Newser) A Long Island high school science teacher accused of administering a COVID vaccine to a teen in her home is in trouble with her school district and the law. The Washington Post reports that Laura Russo, a 54-year-old biology teacher for Herricks Public Schools, was arrested for unauthorized practice of a profession; she is not a medical professional. Per a statement from the Nassau County Police Department, the arrest happened on New Year's Eve in Russo's home in Sea Cliff, after she allegedly gave an un-IDed 17-year-old boy a COVID shot there. The statement states the teen went home after the DIY vaccination and told his mother what had happened, and she promptly called police. Russo was then arrested without incident, authorities say. NBC New York links to purported video of the vaccination. It shows a young man with a blurred-out face sitting at a table and getting his arm cleaned prior to a middle-aged woman seen in the frame apparently giving him the shot. "There you go, at-home vaccine," a young man's voice can be heard saying in the clip. Authorities tell the news outlet that Russo had a vial of approved vaccine in her home, though it's not clear where she got it from, and that the teen who received the vax was a friend of her son's who wanted to get vaccinated but whose own mom wouldn't allow it. NBC also notes that the vaccine that was administered seemed to be the Johnson & Johnson one-dose version, which so far has only been approved in the US for adults 18 and over. "Besides being illegal, it's just not a smart thing to do," says Dr. Aaron Glatt of the Mount Sinai South Nassau health system. "An authorized, licensed professional should be providing vaccines to know how to give them properly to make sure if there's a complication that [it] can be dealt with immediately and very efficiently." As for the district, superintendent Fino Celano says in a statement that "the individual in question is a district employee who has been removed from the classroom and reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation." Supporters of Russo, meanwhile, says she's a well-respected teacher, with one local deli owner telling CBS New York that "it's too quick to rush to judgment." Russo is set to appear in court on Jan. 21. She could see up to four years in prison if convicted. (Read more coronavirus vaccine stories.) (Newser) Two Illinois police officers responded to a report of dogs barking in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn in Bradley. It was a call that left Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic begging for her life before being killed with her own gun, say prosecutors, who are asking federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for the pair suspected of killing her. NBC News has the grim story in the town about an hour south of Chicago. On Dec. 29, Rittmanic and Officer Tyler Bailey went to the hotel room where they believed the vehicle's owners were staying and spoke to them through the door. Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe says Darius Sullivan, 25, emerged from the room, shot Bailey in the head, and then shot Rittmanic as she tried to flee. The AP reports Rittmanic's body camera captured what transpired. In Rowe's telling, Sullivan ran after her and pinned her against a door as he tried to both unjam his gun and take hers. Rowe alleges Xandria Harris, who'd also been in the hotel room, helped him obtain her weapon. The two then allegedly stood over Rittmanic as she lay on the ground begging them to spare her. "Sgt. Rittmanic was pleading with them to 'just leave, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,'" Rowe said. "She was desperately pleading for her life," he added. Sullivan allegedly then fired two shots into Rittmanic's neck area, then fled. Harris, 26, is said to have returned to the room and collected two children who were there, as well as personal items, before leaving. Bailey, 27, is hospitalized and "fighting for his life." Sullivan was apprehended Friday in Indiana and has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. Harris turned herself in that same day and faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. While the state will seek life sentences, Rowe has asked the DOJ to take a look at the case with the aim of pursuing federal death-penalty charges. Illinois isn't a death penalty state, but Rowe cited "recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty in the case of a cop's murder and in a "non-death penalty state." (Read more police officer stories.) (Newser) At least 13 people are dead, seven of them children, in a Philadelphia house fire that Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy described as among the worst he has witnessed. "It was terrible," said Murphy, per CNN. "I've been around for 30, 35 years now, and this is probably one of the worst fires I've ever been to." A resident of N. 23rd Street in Philadelphia's Fairmount section says that "about a quarter of 7, I heard a woman yelling, 'Oh my God, oh my God.'" He tells the Philadelphia Inquirer he peered out the window and saw nothing. Then, five minutes later, the firetrucks arrived to tackle a blaze that ended up killing multiple people. The New York Times reports it took the Philadelphia Fire Department 50 minutes to get the "heavy fire" under control. A rep for the Philadelphia Police Department says the house where the fire occurred had been legally converted into two apartments decades ago. It was owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and had no violations, says a rep for the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections. CNN reports no cause has yet been determined. Murphy said at a news conference that the home contained four smoke detectors equipped with "10-year lithium batteries," but that none were operational. Two others who were seriously injured have been hospitalized. Murphy said 26 people lived in the three-story row house. The Inquirer quotes a "choked up" Mayor Jim Kenney as saying "this is without a doubt one of the most tragic days in our city's history." (Read more fire stories.) Page Content This years National Day of Prayer will take place on January 9th with the theme Almighty God Let Your Culture of Divine Unity Rule. The Government of Sint Maarten in collaboration with the St. Maarten Christian Council, St. Maarten United Ministerial Foundation and the Seventh Day Adventist Church hosts the National Day of Prayer every year on the second Sunday in January. Every year, the entire community on Sint Maarten are invited to pray and worship at the National Day of Prayer at the Government Administration Building. The National Day of Prayer was decreed in 2005 by the Executive Council of the Island Territory of Sint Maarten and serves as an ecumenical service for persons of all faiths and religions to pray for a prosperous and healthy new year for the nation For persons who chose to or are unable to attend, the Government of Sint Maarten is encouraging you to view and tune in to the live coverage of the National Day of Prayer which begins at 4:30 pm via the following media outlets SXMGOV Radio 107.9 FM, Facebook/SXMGOV and TelTV Channel 15. (Newser) Treasure hunters who believe they located a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI's excavation. Finders Keepers filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents on the FBIs search for the legendary gold, which took place nearly four years ago at a remote woodland site in northwestern Pennsylvania. The FBI has since dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records, their lawyer said Wednesday. The suit asks a judge to order the FBI to immediately turn over the records, reports the AP. Finders Keepers' owners, the father-son duo of Dennis and Kem Parada, had spent years looking for what, according to legend, was an 1863 shipment of Union gold that was lost or stolen on its way to the US Mint in Philadelphia. The duo focused on a spot where they say their instruments detected a large metallic mass. After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed last year at the request of news organizations. The Paradas accompanied the FBI to the site in Dents Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, but say they were confined to their car while the FBI excavated. The FBI has long insisted the March 2018 dig came up empty, but the agency has consistently stymied the Paradas' efforts to obtain information. The FBI ultimately revealed it has 2,400 pages of records and 17 video files that it could potentially turn overbut that it would take years to do so. The Justice Department denied Finders Keepers' request for expedited processing, and, as of last month, the DOJ had yet to assign the FOIA request to a staffer for processing, according to the lawsuit. (Read more treasure hunters stories.) The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister affirmed the Kingdom of Bahrains commitment to supporting and developing the industrial sector to enhance its role in the national economy. HRH noted that the sector has a skilled workforce whose efforts contribute to the realisation of Bahrains comprehensive development plan, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. This came as HRH Prince Salman yesterday received the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, and the Chief Executive Officer, Ali Al Baqali, at Riffa Palace. The meeting marked the 50th anniversary of Albas establishment. Shaikh Daij presented a souvenir to His Royal Highness to celebrate the occasion. HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister praised the companys achievements throughout the past 50 years, which have strengthened Bahrains position in the global aluminium and manufacturing industries. He also praised the efforts of Shaikh Daij, the board of directors, and Albas employees for the companys success. His Royal Highness wished the company success in its future endeavours. Job opportunities HRH Prince Salman affirmed the Kingdoms commitment to developing its industrial infrastructure due to the sectors important role in providing job opportunities for the people of Bahrain. He noted that Bahrain will continue to nurture promising sectors in line with the Economic Recovery Plan to benefit the Kingdoms competitiveness and attract further investment. Shaikh Daij expressed his thanks to HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister for his support to Alba, and his commitment to developing and championing Bahrains industrial sector. Rashid Equestrian and Horse Racing Club High Committee Chairman His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa also attended the meeting. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com University of Bahrain (UoB) President Dr Jawaher bint Shaheen Al Mudhahki has welcomed the cooperation and coordination with the Executive Office of the Bahrainouna, the national plan to promote the spirit of belonging to the nation and reinforce the values of patriotism. It also aims to continuously spread the values of patriotism and enhance belonging among university students. Dr Al Mudhahki added that the values of patriotism are an essential component in many academic curricula and student activities of a national nature that tend to inspire authentic Bahraini values, pass them on from generation to generation and consolidate the spirit of belonging to the homeland, its leadership and people. The students of our national university have proven over the years and in all areas that they always get the first ranks, he said. The UoBs Council was briefed in its recent meeting the latest development, initiatives and milestones of Bahrainouna, which was presented by the Director of the Executive Office of Bahrainouna, Hala Sulaiman, and in the presence of the Director-General of Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA), Dr Raed Mohammed bin Shams. The presentation comes as part of a series of meetings that took place between the University of Bahrain and the Executive Office of Bahrainouna to enhance partnership and benefit from the research and academic capabilities of the university, as well as encourage the participation of youth in various national initiatives. Dr Bin Shams said that BIPA is an active stakeholder in Bahrainounas initiatives through several initiatives and research projects, noting that the University of Bahrain is a fertile field for these lofty and noble values among all its affiliates. Bahrainouna was launched in March 2019 with more than 100 initiatives being executed by 27 government organizations, through 5 main tracks centred on belonging programs, public relations campaigns, and media initiatives. In addition to curricula and courses development initiatives, and legislative and regulations initiatives. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Commercial car rental operators in the Kingdom are urging the authorities to put an end to illegal car rental businesses, mainly run by expatriates, which according to them is now thriving. They said, if uncontrolled, the trend would eventually put a full stop to the car rental business in Bahrain. Speaking to The Daily Tribune, Abdul Rahman Abdul Waheed, Branch Manager of We Rent A Car, a leading car rental firm, said: We are running the business by strictly adhering to rules and protocols set by the Traffic Directorate and the Transport Department. We have to regularly pay fees to different departments apart from insurance expenses and such a trend would destroy this segment. There are many open advertisements across social media platforms posted by illegal car rental service providers. Many are entering the scene as they stand to gain huge money without adhering to any regulations. All of them are renting out their cars only after obtaining third party insurance, which is nothing but putting passengers and drivers at the brink of financial risk. Legal car rental companies will have to abide by many norms, including selling their cars after using them for five years. But no rule applies to these illegal guys. Waheed asked how such an illegal business could thrive when a driver giving a lift to strangers constitutes a legal violation. Speaking on the same tone, Rajesh Kumar, Front Desk Staff at Prestige Rent A Car, another major car rental firm, said the trend is flourishing at the cost of legal car rental businesses. The authorities should probe why an individual making BD250 or BD350 a month is buying five or six cars. They are destroying the entire business segment, he said. We, as a company, obtain CR before starting the business. Then pay fees to many government departments as part of legal adherences. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Zain Bahrain, a telecommunications industry innovator in the Kingdom, has selected Tecnotree, a global provider of Business Support Systems (BSS) for Digital Service Providers, for the delivery of its Digital BSS transformation. Tecnotrees partnership with Zain is intended to strengthen the companys focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience while improving time-to-market. Through an advanced digital architecture, the project will transform Zains BSS infrastructure into an open ecosystem capable of supporting Zains vision. Commenting on the partnership, Ali Al-Yaham, Director, Technology at Zain Bahrain, said, Choosing Tecnotree as a strategic partner for transforming our legacy BSS infrastructure is a significant milestone in our vision of building a digital future. Innovation is in Zains DNA and combined with Tecnotrees innovation, will form a key pillar of our digital transformation journey. This multi-year engagement between Zain Bahrain and Tecnotree covers the entire journey of deployment and the management of the Digital BSS 5.0 products, which includes commissioning, integration as well as support. Tecnotree will deploy its 5G-ready Digital BSS Suite 5 which recently earned a Platinum Badge from TM Forum for Open API Conformance and was recognized in Gartners Market-Guide for Revenue Management & Monetization. With industry-recognized products from the Tecnotree stack such as Customer Lifecycle Manager, Catalog Manager, Convergent Billing System, as well as Tecnotree Surge Digital Accelerator Platform, Zain will provide its customers with a superior omnichannel experience, enabling new business models to drive evolution into a new-age service provider. We are excited about our award-winning Digital BSS Suite being selected by Zain to support their digital transformation journey and are confident that this strategic partnership will deliver an enhanced first in market customer experience, shares Tecnotree CEO, Padma Ravichander. Belgian special event The Belgian IARU society UBA is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2022. To celebrate this event, 64 different special event stations will be active from January 1st through February 28th, 2022. Each special event station will be using the prefix ON75 followed by a three letter suffix. The stations participating in the event are: ON75AAA, ON75ACC, ON75ALT, ON75ARA, ON75AST, ON75ATH, ON75ATO, ON75BDX, ON75BTS, ON75BXE, ON75CDZ, ON75CLR, ON75CRD, ON75DST, ON75EKO, ON75GBN, ON75GBX, ON75GDV, ON75GNT, ON75GTM, ON75HCC, ON75IPR, ON75KSD, ON75KTK, ON75LGE, ON75LIR, ON75LLV, ON75LUS, ON75LVN, ON75MCL, ON75MLB, ON75MWV, ON75NBT, ON75NNV, ON75NOK, ON75NOL, ON75ODE, ON75ONZ, ON75ORA, ON75OSA, ON75OSB, ON75OST, ON75PHI, ON75RAF, ON75RAM, ON75RAT, ON75RCA, ON75RCN, ON75REM, ON75RST, ON75RSX, ON75SNW, ON75TLS, ON75TRA, ON75TRC, ON75TWS, ON75WLD, ON75WRA, ON75WRC, ON75WTO and ON75ZTM. Also mentioned are: ON75DIG = UBA Award Friends DIG station ON75UBA = National UBA station ON75YLC = Club Station YL UBA Awards for working both a specific number of different ON75 stations and/or working ON75 stations in various band/mode slots are available via this link: (link will be published at the start of the event). Paper QSL cards will only be sent exclusively using OQRS (Online QSL request) via Clublog, either via Bureau or direct. For more details and updates, see: https://www.qrz.com/db/ON75LGE https://www.qrz.com/db/ON75RAT NEW MILFORD Police said they are looking for a man suspected of robbing a bank Wednesday afternoon before fleeing on a bicycle. The robbery took place at the Webster Bank on Main Street around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to security photos provided by police. Instadose Pharma Corp delivers 2.125 Metric Tons of Medicinal Cannabis from South Africa to North Macedonia in a historic international delivery, this record-breaking shipment represents the largest Cannabis shipment globally to date. CHESAPEAKE, Va., Jan. 5, 2022 /CNW/ - (OTC PINK: INSD) Instadose Pharma Corp (the "company" or "Instadose") Establishing the world largest continual supply of Medicinal Cannabis. Instadose Pharma Corp is extremely proud to announce the delivery of a record-breaking shipment of high-quality Medicinal Cannabis Flower. The delivery of 2.125 Metric Tons was completed on December 25, 2021, from Johannesburg, South Africa to Skopje, North Macedonia. With this successful delivery it establishes Instadose Pharma Corp as a world leader in the international supply of high quality outdoor grown medicinal cannabis and agricultural pharmaceutical ingredients. The product has been sold and is destined for licenced pharmaceutical clients in the European Union. "This is a historic shipment and represents just the beginning of Instadose Pharma's potential. This delivery validates our business model and Instadose Pharma Corp as global leader in this industry. This has always been my vision and I am very excited about what this delivery means and what is on the horizon." Grant F. Sanders, Founder and Chairman Instadose specializes in top grade medicinal cannabis flower that contains high levels of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) which is unique to Instadose Pharma. High levels of THC are in continual demand from pharmaceutical customers and Instadose Pharma will continue to grow and supply quality product to meet the market demand. About INSTADOSE PHARMA CORP Instadose Pharma Corp is establishing a large commercial outdoor growing, cultivation, production and global distribution platform for medicinal cannabis and cannabinoid oil (the "Global Distribution Platform"). Instadose Canada endeavors to utilize the Global Distribution Platform to open the commercial gateway to a new wholesale marketplace capable of providing pharmaceutical industry companies with large, sustainable, consistent, diverse, and low-cost supplies of high-quality medicinal cannabis and cannabinoid oil for use in bulk as an active pharmaceutical ingredient. Instadose Pharma Corp's Global Distribution Platform spans five (5) world continents to date, including Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. Within each continent, Instadose Pharma Corp is establishing operational subsidiaries and joint venture partnerships to secure access to government-issued licenses and permits in countries including The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Portuguese Republic, the Republic of India, Colombia, Mexico, and Canada, each seeking to increase their level of participation within the global medicinal cannabis industry. Instadose Pharma's relationships with international partners are based on sustainable, long term agreements that were initially designed to give back to people and protect the natural environment. Instadose Pharma's projects aim to increase the quality of life, provide jobs, fresh water, education, food security and capital. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the Company's plans and other aspects of our anticipated future opportunities. Forward-looking information typically uses words such as "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "trend", "sustain", "project", "expect", "forecast", "budget", "goal", "guidance", "plan", "objective", "strategy", "target", "intend", "estimate", "potential", or similar words suggesting future outcomes, statements that actions, events or conditions "may", "would", "could" or "will" be taken or occur in the future, including statements about our plans, focus, objectives, priorities and position. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, this press release contains forward-looking information with respect to our upcoming shipments of Medical Cannabis. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by our Board and Management. Although we believe that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, by its very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Our actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking information and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that we will derive therefrom. Management has included the above summary of assumptions and risks related to forward-looking information provided in this press release in order to provide security holders with a more complete perspective on our future operations and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and we disclaim any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE Instadose Pharma Corporation For further information: [email protected] For Press and Media inquiries: David Curry, [email protected] Ham Radio on the Moon Japan's OMOTENASHI, the world's smallest moon lander, will have an X-band and UHF communication system, although it will not carry an amateur band transponder. OMOTENASHI is a 6 Unit sized CubeSat set for launch via a NASA SLS rocket as early as February 2022. It will have a mission period of 4 to 5 days. The name is an acronym for Outstanding Moon Exploration Technologies demonstrated by Nano Semi-Hard Impactor. Wataru Torii of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Ham Radio Club, JQ1ZVI, said radio amateurs can play a role in gathering data from the spacecraft. The spacecraft is made up of two separable components, both having independent communication systems, an orbiting module and a surface probe. The orbiting module will take the surface probe to the moon. It will transmit beacon or digital telemetry data on 437.31 MHz. The moon lander surface probe will transmit digital telemetry or three-axis acceleration analog-wave with FM modulation on 437.41 MHz. Transmitter power is 1 Watt, enough to be picked up with a high gain yagi. According to Torii, JQ1ZVI, if they succeed in receiving the UHF signal from the surface probe, one could know the acceleration data of the impact on the moon and the success of the landing sequence. They already have a station for the uplink and downlink at Wakayama in Japan, normally used as an EME station. However, when the moon and satellite is not visible from Japan, help with the receiption of the downlink signal will be needed from ham radio stations worldwide. The orbiting module beacon will transmit on 437.31 MHz using PSK31. The surface probe beacon will transmit on 22.41 MHz using FM, PSK31, and PCM-PSK. IRTS PsyBio Therapeutics Expands Upon Previously Established Research Collaboration with Miami University OXFORD, Ohio and COCONUT CREEK, Fla., Jan. 5, 2022 /CNW/ - PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. (TSXV: PSYB) (OTCQB: PSYBF) ("PsyBio" or the "Company"), an intellectual property driven biotechnology company developing new, bespoke, psycho-targeted therapeutics to potentially improve mental and neurological health, today announced that it has expanded its ongoing relationship with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio ("Miami University") by leasing dedicated research and development ("R&D") laboratory space. The laboratory space at Miami University is expected to provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-art research environment in which PsyBio's ever-expanding portfolio of compounds can be more readily and rapidly developed. This continued collaboration with Miami University is anticipated to expedite progress toward PsyBio filing an Investigational New Drug ("IND") application with the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). "Establishing this R&D laboratory is a critically important development for PsyBio, which is expected to allow pre-manufacturing and production process optimization," stated Michael Spigarelli, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, PsyBio's Chief Medical Officer. "The laboratory will allow us to expedite the Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) development processes as part of PsyBio's Quality by Design (QbD) strategy to produce psycho-targeted therapeutics intended to improve mental and neurological health." PsyBio acquired the global, exclusive, and perpetual right to license the platform technology developed at Miami University enabling rapid generation of tryptamines and related compounds through a biosynthetic process using genetically modified bacteria. The Company announced that it had successfully demonstrated commercial scale manufacturing feasibility for one of its first promising compounds in October 2021. "We are pleased that PsyBio has chosen to establish R&D laboratory space here at Miami University and further its collaboration with our renowned faculty and amazing students," said Gregory Crawford, President of Miami University. "Having PsyBio on campus will provide additional research opportunities for our faculty and students, while also shortening the bench-to-bedside timeline of therapeutics that could potentially improve mental health." Intended to foster university and industry partnerships, the laboratory space is expected to be used to transition the intellectual property and findings from basic research to the commercialization stage. PsyBio currently funds research of J. Andrew Jones in Miami University's department of chemical, paper and biomedical engineering, and Matthew McMurray in the department of psychology. "We are fortunate to have secured this state-of-the-art research facility to further demonstrate our commitment to produce a variety of psycho-targeted therapeutic candidates as one of the only biotechnology companies in the psychoactive therapeutic industry developing their own compounds," stated Evan Levine, PsyBio's Chief Executive Officer. "We anticipate that the establishment of this laboratory will allow PsyBio to continue to develop its licensed technology. The laboratory is an extension of our ongoing support and collaboration with Miami University." About PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. PsyBio Therapeutics is an intellectual property driven biotechnology company developing new, bespoke, psycho-targeted therapeutics to potentially improve mental and neurological health. The team has extensive experience in drug discovery based on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering as well as clinical and regulatory expertise progressing drugs through human studies and regulatory protocols. Research and development is currently ongoing for naturally occurring psychoactive tryptamines originally discovered in different varieties of hallucinogenic mushrooms, other tryptamines and phenethylamines and combinations thereof. The Company utilizes a bio-medicinal chemistry approach to therapeutic development, in which psychoactive compounds can be utilized as a template upon which to develop precursors and analogs, both naturally and non-naturally occurring. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" ("forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information. Forward looking-statements in this press release include statements regarding: the ability of PsyBio to establish a dedicated R&D laboratory at Miami University; the anticipated benefits of the laboratory on PsyBio's R&D activities; the ability of PsyBio to successfully file an IND application with the FDA; the ability of PsyBio to develop novel formulations to potentially treat neurologic and psychologic conditions and other disorders; the ability of PsyBio to launch clinical trials; the ability of PsyBio to build its intellectual property portfolio of novel drug candidates; the ability of PsyBio to move target candidates into scaled commercial manufacturing and regulatory application; the ability to achieve cost competitive synthesis with reduced environmental impact over current production methods; and the ability of PsyBio to move target candidates into scaled commercial manufacturing and regulatory application. In disclosing the forward-looking information contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions, including that: PsyBio will be successful in protecting its intellectual property; PsyBio will be successful in discovering new valuable target molecules; PsyBio will be successful in filing IND applications and will be able to obtain all necessary approvals for clinical trials; PsyBio will be successful in launching clinical trials; the results of preclinical safety and efficacy testing will be favourable; PsyBio's technology will be safe and effective; a confirmed signal will be identified in PsyBio's selected indications; and that drug development involves long lead times, is very expensive and involves many variables of uncertainty. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking information will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: compliance with extensive government regulations; domestic and foreign laws and regulations adversely affecting PsyBio's business and results of operations; decreases in the prevailing process for psilocybin and nutraceutical products in the markets in which PsyBio operates; the impact of COVID-19; and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking information or otherwise. PsyBio makes no medical, treatment or health benefit claims about PsyBio's proposed products. The FDA or other similar regulatory authorities have not evaluated claims regarding psilocybin and other next generation psychoactive compounds. The efficacy of such products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. There is no assurance that the use of psilocybin and other psychoactive compounds can diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Vigorous scientific research and clinical trials are needed. PsyBio has not conducted clinical trials for the use of its intellectual property. Any references to quality, consistency, efficacy and safety of potential products do not imply that PsyBio verified such in clinical trials or that PsyBio will complete such trials. If PsyBio cannot obtain the approvals or research necessary to commercialize its business, it may have a material adverse effect on the PsyBio's performance and operations. The TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. For further information: Evan Levine, CEO, PsyBio Therapeutics Corp., t: 513.449.9585, e: [email protected]; Investor Enquiries: Valter Pinto or Tim Regan, KCSA Strategic Communications, t: 212.896.1254, e: [email protected] According to sources, The tri-services inquiry team has also made some recommendations for revising the standard operating procedures while operating choppers carrying senior officials of the defence forces. The tri-services inquiry team headed by an Indian Air Force officer is scheduled to make a detailed presentation to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the reasons behind the Mi-17 chopper crash that took place on December 8 which led to the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 other military personnel. A senior Indian Navy chopper pilot was part of the investigation into the crash and played an important role in the probe. An Army officer was also part of the inquiry team, government sources said here. The inquiry team along with the Indian Air Force top brass is scheduled to make the detailed presentation in the crash and its reasons to the Defence Minister along with other senior functionaries of the ministry on Wednesday, defence sources told ANI. The tri-services inquiry team has also made some recommendations for revising the standard operating procedures while operating choppers carrying senior officials of the defence forces, the sources said. On the crash details, the sources said the Mi-17V5 was flying following a railway line in the hills when they entered a thick cloud cover that emerged suddenly. The chopper was flying at a low altitude and knowing the terrain, it is emerging that the crew decided to fly out of the cloud cover rather than landing and hit a cliff in the process, the sources said. The sources suggested that since the entire crew was master green category, it seems they were confident that they would be able to wriggle out of the situation as there was no distress call made to the ground stations to suggest an emergency. Sources added that the Master green category is given to the best of pilots in the transport aircraft and helicopter fleets of the three forces as they are the ones who can land or take off in low visibility as well. Further, it said that one of the recommendations which is learnt to have been made by the inquiry committee is that in future, the crew should be a mix of master green and other category pilots so that if required, they can seek help from the ground stations. A number of other recommendations are also learnt to have been made by the inquiry committee headed by Air Marshal M Singh, General Rawat and the 13 others were killed in a Mi-17V5, crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. In the last several days, at least 8-10 ministers and over 20 MLAs in the state have tested positive for the virus. After multiple cabinet ministers have tested positive for Covid in the previous several days, the weekly state cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been rescheduled till next week. Eknath Shinde, the minister of urban development, was the most recent to test positive. Ministers began testing positive during the state legislatures just ended winter sessions. In the last several days, at least 8-10 ministers and over 20 MLAs in the state have tested positive for the virus. Varsha Gaikwad, the minister of school education, KC Padvi, the minister of tribal development, and Yashomati Thakur, the minister of women and child development, are among the ministers who have tested positive in the previous week. Apart from Shinde, three other Sena netas MPs Arvind Sawant and Rajan Vichare, as well as MLA Pratap Sarnaik stated they had tested positive on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra surpassed 65,000 on Tuesday, with the state recording 18,466 infections, bringing the total to 66,308. While 20 deaths brought the total death toll to 1,41,573, 4,558 people were rescued in the previous 24 hours. With 75 new infections 40 of them from Mumbai alone the Omicron tally now stands at 653, with 259 of them having been discharged. As per the Ministry, 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in India, of which 828 have recovered. Maharashtra and Delhi are among the worst-hit states. As per the Union Health Ministry, 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in India, of which 828 have recovered. Maharashtra and Delhi are among the worst-hit states with the highest number of recorded Omicron cases at 653 and 464 respectively. On Tuesday, the total Omicron count in the country was logged at 1,892 cases. Therefore, 243 new Omicron cases have been reported across the country in the last 24 hours. India has logged 58,097 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate is at 4.18 per cent the Union Health Ministry informed on Wednesday. The active caseload of COVID cases in the country now stands at 2,14,004. As many as 4,82,551 recoveries and 534 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours were also reported by the Ministry. While the cumulative recoveries from the virus stand at 3,43,21,803, the total COVID deaths were reported to be 4,82,551. Further, the Ministry informed that over 147.72 crore COVID vaccine doses have been administered across the nation so far. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. According to ANI, PM Modi upon his return to Bhatinda airport, told airport officials, "Thank your CM for I could make it back alive to Bhatinda airport." Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Punjabs Ferozepur was called off citing major security lapse. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to the road being blocked by some protesters, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. According to ANI, PM Modi upon his return to Bhatinda airport, told airport officials, Thank your CM for I could make it back alive to Bhatinda airport. Former Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh blamed Punjabs Chief Minister and Home Minister for the security lapse and called for their resignations. He tweeted, Complete failure of law and order in Punjab, CM and HM Punjab, in particular. When you cannot provide smooth passage to the Prime Minister of the country and that too just 10km from the Pakistan border, you have no right to stay in office and should quit! The MHA has taken cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. PM Modi was scheduled to visit Ferozepur on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. According to the statement the PM had landed at Bathinda this morning from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear. Observing no improvement in the weather conditions, the decision to visit the Memorial via road was taken after which PM Modi proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PMs convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM, said the statement by the MHA. The PMs schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed, further said the statement. The Prime Minister headed back to Bathinda airport after the security lapse. The Ministry of Home Affairs taking cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action, the statement said. Raivavae Island DXpedition A team of seven experienced DXpedition / contest operators will activate Raivavae (Austral Islands) OC-114, French Polynesia as TX5N from April 16th to April 28th, 2022. Team members are: Rob/N7QT, Walt/N6XG, Heye/DJ9RR, Gene/K5GS, Steve/W1SRD, Melanie/N7BX and Doris/K0BEE. Current plans call for Elecraft K3 / amplifier equipped stations. Beach mounted verticals and one hexbeam round out the antenna plan. They will operate 10 - 160m, CW, SSB and Digital. The QSL manager will be Tim M0URX. The team will meet in Papeete, Tahiti, on April 12th and fly to Raivavaeon April 15th. As with all international travel, Covid restrictions may require us to reschedule or cancel. This self-funded project welcomes your donations through the website. Donations will be used to off-set the equipment shipping expenses. Website: https://tx5n.net Please direct questions to: support@tx5n.net 73, Team TX5N Happy New Year GS K5GS NEW HAVEN A city employee who has focused on the underlying causes of violence and social problems will oversee the new city Department of Community Resilience, which will coordinate those efforts, Mayor Justin Elicker announced Wednesday. Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, who has served as special projects director in the Community Services Administration, will become acting director of the department, which will focus on homelessness, prison reentry, mental health issues and substance abuse, Elicker said at a press conference outside City Hall. Elicker said New Haven has gone beyond other cities, investing in areas that are based in the roots of the violence that we see and the challenge that our community is facing around peoples access to housing and a solid place to live, peoples challenges in particular the reentry population gaining access to jobs, mental health, substance use disorder and many issues that are the underlying issues associated with lot of the violence that we see in the city. Among the projects Sosa-Lombardo has led have been the Reentry Welcome Center, the Mobile Addiction Treatment Team and planning for the New Haven Crisis Response Team, Elicker said. Dr. Mehul Dalal, community services administrator, called Sosa-Lombardo a fierce champion and advocate for communities and individuals that have been made vulnerable in the New Haven community. He acutely recognizes that whether through bad luck or circumstances or unjust systems, too many people have been pushed down, pushed aside, and those people are rarely given the right opportunities to be lifted up and included. He said Sosa-Lombardo approaches people with compassion, respect and understanding and fighting so their voices are heard. His relationships with community leaders, including faith leaders, have helped in the citys work to raise up those in need, Dalal said. Sosa-Lombardo, 33, who immigrated from Paraguay at 14, said he identifies with those whom he will serve. I grew up, lived and worked in vulnerable communities and developed a commitment and passion for social justice and for racial equity from a very young age, he said. He said he has had friends and relatives in the criminal justice system, including a close relative who died from an overdose shortly after being released from prison. Many times I saw and still see firsthand how communities of color are unfairly disadvantaged when it comes to access to opportunities, access to services, access to good education and employment and living conditions, among other things. Dalal said new staff members will be hired to coordinate violence prevention, mental health initiatives and data management. Sosa-Lombardo, who lives in Hamden, must relocate to New Haven in order to become permanent department head. edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382 NEW HAVEN After Gov. Ned Lamont announced his decision to make in-person education mandatory to count toward the 180-day school year requirement amid a surge in COVID-19 infections that has led to the highest positivity rate since widespread testing began, the onus has been on individual school districts to ensure they have safety protocols to prevent further transmission. In New Haven a school district with roughly 20,000 students, 2,000 staff and 44 schools administrators, tutors and educational specialists have stepped in to lead classrooms as those teachers recover from the virus or quarantine while awaiting test results following potential exposure. We absolutely encourage folks to be cautious about COVID and not to come to school if they know they have tested positive, said New Haven Public Schools spokesman Justin Harmon. We have guidance from the city health department we have published any number of times that makes it clear we are working hard to play it safe for the sake of students and staff. At least one community organizer, however, said the protocols are not working well enough. Catherine John, lead organizer for the group Black and Brown United In Action, said in a letter to district and city letters that a teacher positive for the virus had entered a school on Tuesday and interacted with staff and students despite testing positive for COVID-19. The Register was unable to confirm the claim; Harmon said teachers have a right to medical privacy. At a Wednesday evening protest, representatives of Black and Brown United in Action and activist group Unidad Latina en Accion called for the schools to be closed, accusing government leaders of keeping schools open to satisfy some voters instead of prioritizing public health. John read a statement she said was from the teacher who had tested positive, saying he unknowingly had put students and colleagues at risk. He said that he tested positive while at work, after meeting with two classes. He said he had no symptoms and had received a negative test only a few days prior. Teachers are doing our best to stay the course and educate our students, but increasingly unstable and unsafe conditions are making that close to impossible, the teacher said in the statement. As a teacher and a parent, I know that remote learning isnt an ideal solution, but we cannot continue sending students and staff to schools in unsafe conditions. With at-home tests becoming more widespread, it is possible that it will be more prevalent for more Connecticut residents to receive a positive test result before they show symptoms. Harmon said teachers, parents and students are familiar with what to do before entering a school building if they do have symptoms. We do have a checklist that all employees and all families are supposed to run through every day to make sure they are safe to go to school. It goes to primarily checking for symptoms. Anybody who experiences symptoms should not come to school, Harmon said. If they test positive, even if they are asymptomatic, they are supposed to be quarantining. It does depend on an honor system, and people need to be straightforward if theyre ill, he said. John alleged the district does not have an adequate screening process or appropriate protocols. She said the states decision that days when education is done remotely could not count toward the 180-day requirement does not represent a contingency plan or emergency plan. Why are we putting people at risk? she said. All of this is a result of greed and agenda, John said. Our children are not budget line items, they are not election tokens and all roads lead right back to the governors office. City Health Director Maritza Bond said there definitely are protocols in place in schools and referred any further requests for comment to Harmon. Harmon said keeping the schools going is a balancing act amid the current wave of infections. Were managing to cover all the classrooms and havent had to close any classes or schools or any of the rest of it, but is this surge going to ease in the near term and how long can we keep going with current levels of absenteeism? he said. Were treading water right now and people are pitching in and working hard but none of us has a crystal ball. As a result of a bus driver shortage because of COVID positivity and quarantine, city high schools are dismissing students earlier this week. The school day will end between 1:05 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. at nine high schools through Friday. New Haven schools will be closed Thursday in recognition of Three Kings Day. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com WEST HAVEN The color purple makes Susan Brown smile. Now, she hopes it also will play a big role in helping to fight hunger around the region. Brown has used the eye-catching color for a series of outdoor wooden food pantries to store nonperishable and shelf-stable items in public spaces. The Purple Pantry Boxes project was launched in Milford about two years ago, with boxes built by Chris Grejtak. On Tuesday, the organizations 12th pantry box debuted in downtown West Haven on the site of the First Congregational Church. Maintenance of the box will be overseen by volunteers affiliated with the church, who reached out to Brown to request a box. Additionally, My understanding is West Haven would like a few more, Brown said. Brown began the pantry project as a way of addressing a need she saw in her former line of work as a public defender. There were so many people who walked into the courthouse who were in need of help and support, Brown said at the time the Milford boxes began. I thought it would be a really good idea to do something to help people. That was the goal. After establishing Purple Pantry Boxes as a 501(c)(3) and learning about municipal approval processes, Brown has expanded her operations. Whereas 100 percent of financial donations to the nonprofit once went to food, she said it now is closer to 98 percent the project has grown so large that she pays a small amount in rent for warehousing after moving the food out of her home. Exactly what foods will be in the box will depend on what people take from it, Brown said. Volunteers will observe which items move quickest and therefore represent those in highest demand, she said. And while Brown said the organization prefers donations be made at either Beachside Nutrition or Seaside Nutrition in Milford, it is possible for community members to donate food items of their own to the box for others to pick up. Brown said that volunteers are trained to ensure that any contributions made to the boxes are factory-sealed; homemade items such as sandwiches and muffins are disposed of, as volunteers are unable to verify that they are safe for consumption. The Rev. E. Carl Howard of First Congregational Church said he believes the box will be a valuable and much-needed resource. Im excited we can participate in helping a community in need, he said. Nicole Randolph, who attends the church, is a trained volunteer who has helped to stock pantry boxes in Milford but will focus on stocking the box outside First Congregational Church. West Haven also has a need for these boxes, she said. Right now, Brown said, the organization goes through 124 cans of tuna and 60 jars of peanut butter weekly. According to officials who work in addressing hunger, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the issue of hunger more severe. Jason Jakubowski, president and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, said the negative economic effects of the pandemic naturally was detrimental to peoples ability to buy food. The good news is the number of people in Connecticut who are food insecure is 428,000, and that is lower than it was a year ago at the peak of the pandemic, but we are still not back to where we were pre-pandemic, he said. Jakubowski said the nature of food pantry operations had to change abruptly because of the pandemic, as social distancing became imperative and communal meals no longer were advisable. Thats not how food banks and pantries were set up or how we were intended to be run, he said. It absolutely changed our entire world overnight. However, Jakubowski said the pantry, which is affiliated with Feeding America, currently has 700 statewide pantry partners. Paul Bronson, outreach coordinator for Vertical Church, said West Haven pantry operations also work in partnership. We are going to anticipate a bigger demand as the spike goes up, because things are closing again, Bronson said of the rising number of COVID-19 cases across the state. Like the senior centers in New Haven are closed back down. The seniors will become our biggest concern right now. Bronson said that, despite spiking infections, pantry operators have the advantage of knowing more about the coronavirus and its transmission now than they did two years ago. Were confident we are equipped to respond quickly, he said. West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi helped to stock the citys new pantry box for the first time Tuesday. Theres such a need. Hopefully there might be a case where someones luck turns around and they can donate themselves, she said. Brown said she already has received phone calls from contributors in Milford sharing that that exact scenario already had happened there. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo WEST HAVEN Will public accessibility to City Hall be limited amid soaring statewide COVID-19 positivity rates? The mayor said she hopes not. Im not looking to close down City Hall, Mayor Nancy Rossi said. Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has condemned in strong terms, the sudden withdrawal of men of the Nigerian Army from the Correc... Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has condemned in strong terms, the sudden withdrawal of men of the Nigerian Army from the Correctional Centers across the state. Akeredolu, who raised the alarm on Wednesday, was said to have received a full briefing of the situation from the Commissioner of Police, Oyediran Oyeyemi, as he expressed worries that the action could encourage jail break. In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Richard Olatunde, Akeredolu wondered why soldiers will be withdrawn from correctional centers which belong to the Federal Government. Last night, Governor Akeredolu received reports from the Commissioner of Police in the state that soldiers attached to the correctional centers in the state have all been withdrawn. This development came as a surprise, considering the fact that both the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Correctional Centers belong to the Federal Government. The Governor was more bothered about the overflow effect of the soldiers withdrawal on the security situation in the state. More so that such action could easily encourage jail breaks across the state. It is, however, pertinent to alert members of the public and the Federal Government of this unwholesome situation. Findings into the remote cause of this action has only revealed that it was an order from above without corresponding details. The situation, notwithstanding, proactive efforts have been made to secure these centers so as not to allow premeditated jail breaks as whoever gave order to withdraw those soldiers was in the process of encouraging such. the statement added. Governor Akeredolu has met with other security heads in the state, particularly the Police and charged them to take over their responsibility of internal security in the state. While we believe that the Federal Government has a duty to protect the prisons, we are more concerned about the security of our people across the state. A jail break will not only threaten the peaceful atmosphere we are enjoying in the state, it will pose serious danger to our people. Governor Akeredolu has met with the security heads and the Police has since last night taken up their responsibility of internal security by deploying armed Police officers to these correctional centers. Similarly, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) whose main assignment is to secure Federal Government facilities, has also deployed armed officers to the correctional facilities. Governor Akeredolu has also directed the deployment of men of the State Security Network (Amotekun) to complement the Police and the NSCDC. This is to ensure that any premeditated action is tamed and resisted with commensurate force, the statement added. Liverpools Carabao Cup semi-final, first-leg fixture with Arsenal on Thursday has been postponed. Liverpools submission to have the fixt... Liverpools Carabao Cup semi-final, first-leg fixture with Arsenal on Thursday has been postponed. Liverpools submission to have the fixture rescheduled has been approved by the EFL due to the increasing number of suspected positive COVID-19 cases among the Reds players and staff. Jurgen Klopps side confirmed this in a statement via their website on Wednesday afternoon. The latest round of testing on Tuesday returned a significant number of positives, including Pepijn Lijnders, who was due to take charge of Liverpool at Emirates Stadium. The outbreak has left Liverpool without a sufficient number of players and staff to fulfill the contest as originally scheduled. As a result, the first leg of the last-four encounter will now be played at Anfield on Thursday January 13, kick-off 7.45pm GMT. The return will take place at Emirates Stadium on Thursday January 20, also getting under way at 7.45pm. The State chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Hon. John Iwuala, has described lawmakers who defected from the party, as ... The State chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Hon. John Iwuala, has described lawmakers who defected from the party, as prodigal sons, warning them to be ready to face the court. Iwuala, who stated this while speaking to journalists at the Partys secretariat in Owerri, said the party had prepared a new year package for the defected lawmakers. According to him, APGA, in the last elections produced five members of the House of Assembly, who later left the party for the ruling APC. It is most disheartening to note that APGA has produced the high and mighty in previous and present governments. It might interest you to know that the former governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, was a product of APGA. Senator Chris Anyanwu, Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, Barr. Uche Onyeagocha and so many others were produced by our party. But the irony is that these people, for one selfish reason or the other, left our party after winning elections. I want to sound it as a note of warning to intending members that APGA is not a dumping ground or a rehabilitation center where people are nurtured and given victory only for them to abandon the party. The new APGA under my leadership will not condone such. You can agree with me that out of the five House members APGA produced in the last election, two had been made speakers; Rt. Hon. Chiji Collins and Rt. Hon. Paul Emeziem, and that should have been to the credit of our great party. We wont let all the defected lawmakers go unpunished because they did not follow the normal process of defection. We are going to start by setting up a strong and formidable legal framework because we know that the only time a member of a party is allowed to leave the party is when it is in deep internal crisis but our party has been peaceful. We shall go as long as making them refund all the money, salary and emoluments collected after their defection after which their seats shall be declared vacant, he said. He outlined over twelve measures adopted by the party for the 2022, which include strict compliance to the partys constitution, sustaining the routine engagements with all Imo indigenes who are the true owners of power and the party, engaging positive reforms with the national leadership of the party and other relevant stakeholders to put an end to irregularities associated with the selection and election of party candidates through party primaries, to partner with the electoral umpire to educate Imo electorates on the ongoing continuous voters registration and the need to participate among other measures. He however promised that the era when persons with conflicting political ideologies, zero percent history of party loyalty, will stampede the party in desperate search for emergency membership and benefits are admitted into the party, is over. Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has described Imo West Senator, Rochas Okorocha as his younger brother. Uzodinma made the remark... Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has described Imo West Senator, Rochas Okorocha as his younger brother. Uzodinma made the remark while noting that he has nothing against Okorocha, who is a former governor of the State. Since assuming office, the relationship between Okorocha and Uzodinma has been frosty. On several occasions, Okorocha had accused Uzodinma of witch-hunting his family. In December 2021, some police officers had in a gestapo manner, arrested Okorochas son-in-law, Uche Nwosu in Imo State. Reacting, Okorocha had accused the Uzodinma-led government of being behind the arrest. However, Uzodinma said he has nothing against the Senator and former governor of the state. Uzodinma spoke at a stakeholders meeting held at the States Government House in Owerri, the State capital. According to Uzodinma: I have said it times without number I have no personal grouse with anybody. All of you who know me well in Imo state, I tried one time or the other to contest election. In some cases, I won. In some cases, I did not win. And when I didnt win, I left back for my businesses. When I won, I served the people with all my heart. Okorocha is a younger brother to me. Im older than him, if not for anything, traditionally I deserve to be respected by him. I dont want to join issues with him. Let him just know that he is not the Governor and for the short period I will be here God-willing, he should allow me to be Governor. China's economy totaled $15.92 trillion in 2020, and market research firm IHS Markit estimates that it reached $18 trillion last year on export manufacturing growth and capital for new projects. The U.S. economy reached about $23 trillion last year, the market research firm said. Reducing factory output in China, foreign multinationals have been expanding outside China, targeting places such as Vietnam to avoid rising wages and environmental compliance costs. By offshoring in multiple countries they hope to head off any repeat of China's early 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns that shut down factories. Chinese leaders have pushed over the past decade to rely more on value-added services over traditional factory exports, state media have said. The Sino-U.S. trade dispute and early 2020 workplace closures due to COVID-19 have added pressure on manufacturing. China's GDP should grow 5.7 percent per year through 2025 and then 4.7 percent annually until 2030, British consultancy Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) forecasts. Its forecast says that China, now the world's second-largest economy, would overtake the No. 1-ranked U.S. economy by 2030. Credit insurance firm Euler Hermes made a similar forecast. China's economy will increasingly rely on state investment, high-tech development and domestic consumption -- with less input from its past staple of export manufacturing -- as it stands to overtake the United States in the coming decade, analysts predict. State Investment The country that's already known for fast economic growth over the past 20 years would see the state take more control over key sectors after intervening in several, including the internet, in 2021, economists expect. "Beijing has the funds and the unfettered domestic political power to use China's large public treasury to make strategic investments in the service of the leadership's national and global objectives," said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center think tank in Honolulu. China scored 2.98 in 2018, up from 2.45 eight years earlier and approaching about three times the world average, on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development policy forum's Direct Control Over Enterprises index. That means the government's direct control over enterprises "well exceeded the open economy average" and "reflects China's increasing emphasis on the role of the state in the economy under Xi Jinping," the think tank Atlantic Council says in its October report China Pathfinder: Annual Scorecard . Growth in Tech Hardware Chinese leaders will probably prioritize tech, especially hardware that does not require constant innovation, as a growth engine, economists say. State intervention in the internet sector won't hobble expansion in semiconductors and infrastructure software, said Zennon Kapron, founder and director of the Shanghai-based financial industry research firm Kapronasia. "If the country does become self-sufficient in terms of technology and then is able to sell and export those products and services that are based on the technology, then that would be a huge bump to its economy, because [that] is a key driver certainly of the U.S. GDP now," Kapron said. The U.S. economy will keep growing but without spurts through 2030, Kapron predicts. China has a "huge base of engineers," albeit less creativity than it needs to foster the "zany ideas" that drive development of new technology, said Douglas McWilliams, founder and executive deputy chairman of CEBR. Consumer Spending Domestic spending has driven most of China's economic growth before 2021 as the country reduced its exposure to the world in view of the Sino-U.S. trade dispute, McKinsey & Co. says in its China consumer report 2021. Supply chains have "matured and localized, and its innovation capabilities were enhanced" in turn, McKinsey & Co says. That trend is likely to continue despite hits to income under lockdowns during the first year of COVID-19, analysts say. China's population exceeds that of the United States by 3.5 times, though American consumers are wealthier on average. "In the past five years, domestic consumption has... become a more significant growth driver as China's domestic consumer market has grown dramatically in size," said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist with IHS Markit. Beijing's leadership "aims to create more than 11 million new urban jobs and expand domestic demand and effective investment," the official Xinhua News Agency said in mid-2021. Those measures, it said, "are expected to put the economy firmly back to pre-pandemic vibrancy." What If China Overtakes U.S. Economy? Status as the world's largest economy does not confer any automatic advantages over others, economists said, but countries dependent on the Chinese economy would take note. "There is no gold medal or anything like that," CEBR's McWilliams told VOA. "But when you've got more money to spend, you do have the ability to influence things, and China will have that ability to influence things." China would be better placed, he said, to advance its Belt and Road Initiative, a 9-year-old effort aimed at building land and sea trade routes through Asia, Europe and Africa in the form of infrastructure projects and investments. Officials in Beijing are already leveraging their economy in disputes with other countries, said Roy of the East-West Center. China vies with four Southeast Asian governments over maritime sovereignty, contests a group of islets with Japan and has gotten into territorial standoffs with India since 2017. "The result of that expectation (China surpassing the United States economically) has been a bolder PRC (People's Republic of China) foreign policy that seeks to settle regional disputes in China's favor and to de-legitimize U.S. regional and global leadership under the assumption that China is destined to set the new rules of international relations," Roy said. Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case. A Boynton Beach family is suing their condo board over what they say is a rule barring children from using the community pool while wearing swim diapers. Advertisement Swim diapers are a snug-fitting lightweight alternative to disposable or cloth diapers, which become heavy like anchors when wet. According to the website SwimOutlet.com, swim diapers are meant to be used only in the pool or ocean to make sure that your little ones bum is covered and contained. Advertisement But if banning them in a community pool prevents a child from using that pool, swim diapers can also become a symbol of the fight against discrimination. [ RELATED: State panel rescinds support for fired company presidents antisemitism claim ] A federal lawsuit filed Monday in West Palm Beach names as plaintiffs grandparents Jack Yeager and Simone Yeager, owners of a home in Hunters Run Country Club, their son David Yeager and his wife Nicole Fisher. The suit describes the following series of events: David and Nicole were visiting the grandparents in December 2018 when they brought their then-19-month-old daughter to the main clubhouse swimming pool. Supervised by her parents and wearing a swim diaper, the child placed her feet in the clubhouse pool. A Hunters Run employee approached the parents and demanded that the child be removed from the clubhouse pool. Children in swim diapers, the employee said, are only allowed to use the kiddie pool. A Hunters Run board member confirmed that children wearing swim diapers had been removed from the pool previously, the suit states. The suit claims that Hunters Run violated anti-discrimination ordinances in Palm Beach County as well as the federal Fair Housing Act, which bars discrimination against families with children under 18. Advertisement [ RELATED: Deaf ex-employee wins $775,000 in discrimination case against Costco in Pompano Beach ] Hunters Runs rules pertaining to the clubhouse pool have a disparate and unreasonable impact on children, the suit claims. Banning children in swim diapers from using the clubhouse pool is also unreasonable and not motivated by legitimate concerns for health and safety reasons, it adds. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, attorneys costs, a finding that a discriminatory practice occurred, and an order barring Hunters Run from enforcing the ban in the future. It stems from a complaint filed with the Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity. Pamela Guerrier, director of the office, said she could not discuss pending litigation. The Yeagers attorney also declined to discuss the case, and the general manager of Hunters Run did not return a phone call to his office on Tuesday. Typically, discrimination lawsuits move forward after a local, state or federal civil rights investigative agency determines that a court is likely to agree that discrimination occurred. [ RELATED: Convicted felon says hes fighting unfair housing. Landlords say hes in it for the money. ] Discrimination based on familial or family status is a legal landmine that multifamily housing developments often struggle to avoid, said attorneys for the firm Becker & Poliakoff, which specializes in issues involving community associations. Advertisement Its common for us to tell clients about this sort of issue, said David Muller, who practices community association law in the firms Sarasota office. A lot of times they say, I really have to be concerned about this? And we say, Its very real. His colleague JoAnn Burnett, who specializes in fair housing issues at the firms Fort Lauderdale office, said associations and landlords need to tailor their rules to find the least restrictive means to accomplish whatever they are seeking to accomplish. She added, If the goal is to have a swimming pool thats free of feces or urine, the least restrictive way to do that is to require someone who is incontinent or not trained, to wear waterproof undergarments or swim diapers. Other examples of potential familial discrimination would include barring child under 12 from using a community pool, prohibiting children under 16 from using an exercise room, or setting an occupancy limit that would be breached when a mother gives birth, she said. But there is one way that children can be barred from using any community facility, she said, with or without swim diapers and regardless of age: Build a 55-and-older community. Theyre permitted to exclude everyone else. Advertisement Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com. The Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, on Tuesday averted what could have resulted into a bloody et... The Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, on Tuesday averted what could have resulted into a bloody ethnic showdown between Hausa and Yoruba at the popular Mandate Market in Ilorin, the state capital. It was gathered that there was palpable tension when an Hausa man allegedly stabbed a Yoruba man in the head and mouth as the two argued over sales of sugarcane. According to a statement signed by the spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC in the State Babawale Zaid Afolabi, it took the timely arrival of the NSCDC operatives and other security personnel to prevent what could have resulted into a bloody ethnic clash. Security has also been beefed up around the market premises to prevent any reprisal and possible breakdown of law and order. Spokesman of the defence corps, said We got a distress call on Tuesday that there was a clash between Yoruba and Hausa at Mandate market and we quickly mobilized our men to the scene in order to prevent total breakdown of law and other. Reports said trouble started when a Yoruba man reportedly bought a sugarcane worth N50 naira from one Hausa seller but found out that the sugarcane was not sweet. The Yoruba mans request to change the sugarcane did not go down well with the Hausa man. The Hausa man allegedly stabbed the Yoruba man and this resulted in a free-for-all between Hausa and Yoruba inside the market. The Yoruba man who sustained minor knife injury was taken to the cottage hospital where he is responding to treatment. There is currently a large presence of security personnel in and around the market premises to prevent any form of reprisal or further breakdown of law and order. The NSCDC Commandant in the state ,Iskilu Ayinla Makinde, has ordered 24 hours surveillance and presence of our armed plain cloth personnel around the market premises and all the flash points have also been identified and necessary actions have been taken, the spokesman added. A new Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, has emerged after a 27-year battle to fill the vacant stoo... A new Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, has emerged after a 27-year battle to fill the vacant stool. It was learnt that the last Orimolusi, Oba Sani Adetayo, died in May 1994 and since then, the stool had been without an occupant due to disputes over who would succeed him. The protracted crisis was between the nine contestants from the same Ojuronmi Ruling House, whose turn it was to produce the next king. However, respite came on Tuesday when the kingmakers of the community elected Prince Lawrence Jayeola Adebajo, as the Orimolusi-elect. It was gathered that Adebajo polled six votes to defeat his closest rival, Prince Soliu Sadiku, who had four votes. The State government on Wednesday said an Oba-elect for the stool of the Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo had emerged. The State government said the emergence followed the voting of 10 out of the 11 warrant chiefs it appointed to elect candidates for the vacant stool. The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Afolabi Afuape, made this known while fielding questions from journalists shortly after presenting certificate and staff of office to the Alale of Moriwi, Oba Olusegun Taiwo, in Imeko/Afon Local Government Area of Ogun State. Afuape said that, an Oba-elect has emerged as Orimolusi of Ijebu-Igbo, but added that he has not got details of the process that led to the emergence. He said, The information that got to me yesterday (Tuesday) is that, at the election, the chiefs voted and I think an Oba-elect actually emerged. When I get to the Office, I will get you more details. But for now, there is an Ob-elect. Zamfara State police command says its joint tactical operatives have rescued 97 kidnapped victims, including pregnant women and some childre... Zamfara State police command says its joint tactical operatives have rescued 97 kidnapped victims, including pregnant women and some children. Addressing newsmen at the State Police command in Gusau, the State capital, the commissioner of police, Mr. Ayuba Elkanah said it was as a result of an extensive pressure mounted in an ongoing military operation around the camp of a notorious bandits kingpin, known as Bello Turji that covers Shinkafi, Zurmi and Birnin Magaji Local Government Areas. According to him, Police Tactical operatives deployed at Shinkafi axis received an intelligence report that some kidnapped victims were seen stranded in the bush. He said that the Police operatives, in collaboration with genuine repentant bandits and vigilante, swung into action and rescued sixty-eight victims from the forest. The victims were in captivity for over three months and they include 33 male adult, 7 male children, 3 female children and 25 women including pregnant/nursing mothers respectively. The victims are from Magarya, Maradun, Gusau of Zamfara State and Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, he said. Continuing, the commissioner explained that Police Tactical operatives deployed to Tsafe axis acted on intelligence report and stormed Kunchin Kalgo forest in Tsafe Local Government Area and rescued twenty-nine kidnapped victims, unconditionally. Mr. Elkanah further stated that the victims were abducted for over 60 days from three villages, namely: Adarawa, Gana and Bayawuri in Rijiya district of Gusau Local Government Area, stressing that they include 25 female, among whom are pregnant, nursing mothers and four male children, which he said were abducted by a bandits kingpin, Ado Aleru. All the rescued victims are currently receiving medical treatment from the joint medical teams of the State Government and the Police. They will be debriefed, handed over to the State Government before being reunited with their families, he stated. Fort Lauderdale Imagine a beach without butts cigarette butts, that is. It could happen, depending on state legislators. Advertisement Under current Florida law, only legislators can ban smoking in public places. But that might change if a new bill gets signed into law that lets cities make the call on whether they want to ban smoking at the beach or public parks. Officials in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and other coastal cities have griped for years about not being able to ban smoking at their own beaches. Advertisement On Wednesday night, Fort Lauderdale commissioners are expected to approve a resolution urging all state legislators and Gov. Ron DeSantis to support the bill. Joe Gruters, a senator from Sarasota, has been trying to get the bill passed for years now. A companion bill will come before the Florida House of Representatives. The bill has died before, Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis said. Hopefully it gets traction this year. Thousands of people flock to Fort Lauderdale's beach on Saturday to celebrate New Year's Day. A proposed bill coming before the state Legislature this year would let cities ban smoking at the beach. (Michael Laughlin/Sun Sentinel) Critics complain about cigarette butts winding up in the ocean, blown by the wind. Many more get left behind in the sand. And then theres the smell. To nonsmokers, it all adds up to an unwelcome assault on the senses. Fort Lauderdale resident Paula Yukna says she heads the other way whenever she gets a whiff of the stuff on her daily beach walks. One lifeguard gets there before me and hes shown me all the cigarette butts, she said. Me, I would ban it all over the world. Im anti-smoke. Ban it. Fort Lauderdales resolution ticks off stats explaining why a smoking ban might be a good idea: About 34 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, exposing an estimated 58 million nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths a year. That includes 41,000 people whose deaths were caused by their exposure to secondhand smoke. [ RELATED: Fear of lawsuit snuffs out Hollywood's proposed smoking ban at beach, parks ] Hollywood: Would-be rebels Dick Blattner pushed for a beach-wide smoking ban in Hollywood five years ago when he was on the city commission. In the end, his colleagues squashed the idea, saying they were worried about running afoul of state law. Advertisement The city attorney advised us not to go against the state, Blattner said. We should have said were going to do it anyway. If we did it and the state slapped our hands, we would have been no worse for doing it. The ban would have made Hollywood the first city in South Florida to snuff out cigarettes, cigars and tobacco pipes at the beach, Hollywood officials said at the time. Under the proposed ban, people caught smoking at the beach would have faced fines from $50 to $200. Smokers who lit up at a city park or playground would have faced even steeper fines starting at $500. A crowd at Fort Lauderdale beach on New Year's Day, some with cigarettes in hand. Smoking ban advocates say butts litter the sand and smoke damages the oceanside experience. (Michael Laughlin/Sun Sentinel) Smoke in your face Deerfield Beach is also no stranger to the topic of a smoking ban. Its come up many times, Deerfield Beach Mayor Bill Ganz said. Its been a hot topic for a lot of residents over the years. The cigarette butts in the sand are just absolutely terrible and it makes it hard to enjoy the beach when you have people right next to you smoking. When it does come up, Ganz says he lets residents know the city is hamstrung. Advertisement The ruling on that is really out of our hands, Ganz said. Its in the states hands. But if that ever changes, Ganz predicts Deerfield Beach might be one of the cities lining up to prohibit smoking at the beach. [ RELATED: 'No smoking' signs in Hollywood 'not working,' beachgoers say ] Theres just one possible problem with a ban. Enforcement is going to be tricky, Ganz said. Its great to have it on the books but it makes things tough if you cant enforce it. Im sure theres a way we can come up with something that makes sense. I know there would be a lot of residents happy to hear this coming down the pipeline. Bobby Lieberman, an anti-smoking advocate who left Hollywood for Fort Lauderdale in 2015, has been urging both cities to pass a ban for years. There wouldnt be any butts if people stopped smoking, he said. If the cities banned smoking on the beach, it would be the best thing. It would be wonderful. Advertisement Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan Watertown, NY (13601) Today Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. High 62F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 45F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. The Louisiana State Police detective who claimed that agency brass blocked his efforts to seek criminal charges against at least one trooper in the fatal May 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene has put in for retirement. Sgt. Albert Paxton, who recently testified before a legislative committee seeking answers over the State Police response to Greene's brutal beating and death, confirmed that he'd submitted his retirement papers on Monday, but declined to comment further. Paxton's retirement, slated to begin Feb. 3, was first reported Tuesday by the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. It comes as federal prosecutors are poised to ask a federal grand jury to bring charges against one or more troopers who were involved in Greene's arrest on a Union Parish roadway after a high-speed chase, sources say. Greene's mother, Mona Hardin, has said that the state agency told family members that Greene, who was unarmed, died from the impact of the crash. Body-cam video later revealed a violent encounter with troopers who tased, beat and forced the Black motorist prone on his belly. A 13-year State Police veteran, Paxton, 46, claimed in a report that Lt. John Clary, the ranking officer at the scene of Greene's arrest, withheld his body camera footage from the investigator. In leaked notes, Paxton claimed that State Police leaders stymied his push to arrest Master Trooper Christopher Hollingsworth over his actions during the deadly encounter, which appeared to include turning off his body-worn and dashboard cameras. Hollingsworth was one of first two troopers to reach Greene after a high-speed chase and crash. Hollingsworth, who allegedly beat and repeatedly tased an unarmed Greene, died last year in a single-vehicle wreck after learning he would be fired over his actions that night. In his notes, Paxton claimed that former State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves, who later retired, waved off the idea of charging Hollingsworth, describing Greene's violent arrest as "awful but lawful." Paxton himself was brought up for disciplinary investigation on Aug. 12 for "dissemination of information to an unauthorized source without proper authority." At a hearing last month before the Senate Select Committee on State Police Oversight, Paxton said he was faulted specifically for having his wife, an attorney, proofread his reports. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "I'm being investigated because I won't participate in a coverup and I won't lie," he testified. Greene's death became another flashpoint in a national reckoning over police violence against Black people after body-cam footage showed him screaming "I'm sorry" and "I'm scared" after troopers opened the door of his car and tased him before he exited. Federal authorities have launched a series of criminal civil rights investigations into several beatings of Black motorists by troopers working out of Troop F in the northeast corner of the state. Allegations of a coverup over the circumstances of Greene's death have left the state's premier law enforcement agency, now led by Col. Lamar Davis, mired in scandal. Meanwhile, Trooper Carl Cavalier who leaked Paxton's notes and publicly decried racism within State Police during several media interviews last year, faces termination for his actions. He received a letter dated Oct. 8 that informed him of the decision, listing several policy violations, including seeking publicity, dissemination of information and public statements. But he remains on paid administrative leave pending receipt of an official termination letter. Critics bemoan discipline for Black trooper who leaked Ronald Greene files, ripped State Police When protests erupted following the 2016 fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana State Police Trooper Carl Cavalier In addition to the interviews, Cavalier wrote a fictional book based on his experiences as a Black Louisiana state trooper and leaked internal agency records, including notes Paxton kept about the Ronald Greene case. He was previously issued a five-week unpaid suspension for publishing the book. In the midst of his discipline cases, Cavalier sued the department in September claiming racial discrimination, which he said began in 2018 after he issued a ticket to a narcotics officer with the Houma Police Department. He met with Davis, the Black agency superintendent, in February 2021 about the alleged ongoing discrimination, Cavalier wrote in his complaint. He said Davis promised to investigate the claims and gave him a book recommendation, saying it could help Cavalier "deal with the ongoing racism," the complaint says. The book he recommended was "Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great" by Joshua Medcalf, which is about a boy becoming a samurai warrior. IDEA Oscar Dunn charter school, which opened in New Orleans less than three years ago, will close at the end of the 2021-2022 school year in May amid declining student enrollment citywide, according to an announcement from the NOLA Public Schools district. The school is the second NOLA Public Schools district charter school this week that officials have said will close due to low enrollment. On Monday, FirstLine Schools announced it would close Live Oak Academy. Both announcements come weeks after a study showed the citys schools enroll about 47,000 students but have roughly 3,000 open seats. Schools are funded on a per-pupil basis and empty seats can strain school budgets. The IDEA charter network is a national group that operates in several cities. The group opened its first school in New Orleans in fall 2019 meaning Oscar Dunn, located on Hayne Boulevard, has operated through three pandemic-affected school years. As COVID-19 cases were detected in the state in the spring of 2020, Gov. John Bel Edwards shuttered schools statewide and students ended the school year learning from home. Because of that shift, state testing was canceled and no state performance scores were issued. That fall, students resumed in-person schooling part way into the fall semester. Students took state standardized tests last spring but the state school board declined to issue official performance scores, arguing the pandemic had a substantial impact on learning. State officials did issue what they called simulated school performance scores, rather than formal letter grades. Under the statewide scale, however, Dunns score would have earned the school an F. The K-8 schools website says enrollment is 522 students, but state data from an enrollment count taken in October shows just 342 students. Live Oak had a similar enrollment shortfall. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Dunn is located in the old Frances Gaudet school on Hayne Boulevard in New Orleans East. The building was previously occupied by Lake Forest Elementary Charter School which moved into a new school building. Ken Campbell, executive director of the IDEA charter networks Southeast Louisiana group, said low enrollment and the buildings age both factored into the decision to close. Our entire team was compelled by the data that New Schools for New Orleans and district released publicly in early December that talked about the overcapacity challenges we have in New Orleans public schools. It certainly doesnt seem to be getting any better, Campbell said. Campbell said the school will work with families to help find new schools for their students. New Orleans charter schools expanded rapidly over the past 15 years as the city recovered from Hurricane Katrina, and in particular over the last decade, when officials expected a much larger population increase than what materialized. The expansion included the opening of dozens of new charter schools. Now, officials say, many schools are under enrolled. NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said closures and consolidations or reductions in grade sizes may be necessary to ensure the all-charter districts schools can continue operating sustainably and with extracurricular activities. We know these decisions were not easy to reach, and I greatly appreciate First Line and IDEA for their commitment to putting students first and foremost, Lewis said in a statement released Tuesday. The Louisiana Childrens Museum's longtime executive director, Julia Bland, has been placed on leave amid an investigation into a wide-ranging complaint alleging mistreatment of employees, particularly those of color, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. The nonprofit museum has hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations, which reached several museum board members a few weeks ago in a letter from a former employee who recently left the museum. Among the allegations, two of the sources said, are that a member of Blands executive staff asked about the immigration status of workers with Empire, the museums garbage contractor; and that concerns about patrons touching museum gallery attendants in a sexual manner fell on deaf ears. Those allegations, among several lodged by the former employee, are from 2021. The investigation also is addressing complaints from 2020 that set off an eruption among staff members at the museum. Several former employees said Bland failed to address a host of complaints alleging racial bias in the hiring, promotion and treatment of employees. Former staff members described tensions boiling over as protests roiled the country in the wake of George Floyds death under a police officers knee in Minneapolis. Many staffers viewed Bland and the museum as too slow in issuing a public statement against racial injustice, and slower still to implement other changes sought by employees. "It was definitely a delay longer than staff felt comfortable," said one former staff member. "The statement was kind of the minimum they could have done. They didn't really take any actions that were visible to staff beyond that statement." +16 Louisiana Childrens Museum reopens with beloved exhibits, outdoor space and safety rules The Boggs sisters had a busy Sunday afternoon. Standing on step stools for a boost in height, Scarlett, 4, and Harley, 5, tapped cash register Former staff members said Bland repeatedly pushed off their call for a meeting to air their grievances. When the meeting happened, in June 2020, Bland and then-board president Scott Zander were presented with testimonials alleging mistreatment or racial bias, along with a litany of demands. Bland stalled over making changes, several former employees said, before the museum soon laid off nearly its entire staff in a response to the pandemic. Museum officials declined to confirm an investigation or Blands job status, but they acknowledged that Lauren Clay, the museums chief operating officer, is serving as its interim CEO. Bland remains listed as CEO on the museums Web site. In an email, the boards president, Colleen Levy, declined to answer questions about Bland or the allegations, citing a longstanding policy of not discussing personnel matters in a public forum. Bland, 70, has led the museum for more than two decades, guiding its move in 2019 to a new, $46 million campus in City Park after 30 years on Julia Street in the Central Business District. Reached by phone this week, Bland declined to discuss her job status, saying, Im not able to answer that question before she hung up on a reporter. She did not respond to a subsequent message. Zander was among several museum board members who declined to comment. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The museum took in nearly $14 million in revenue in 2019, according to its latest available tax filing. Most of it $9 million came from government grants. Blands pay was listed at $100,000 in the tax records. Employees of Acorn, a Dickie Brennan cafe in the museum, also have been contacted as part of the investigation, sources said. Among three dozen board members listed on the museums website are at-large City Councilman-elect JP Morrell and Walt Leger III, the former state representative who is slated to lead New Orleans & Co., the citys tourism and marketing agency. Morrell declined to comment. Leger referred questions to Levy. Bland was placed on leave soon after board members received the former employees complaint, which catalogued a variety of alleged racism at the museum. Several former museum staff members, each of whom spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity out of fear of losing their current jobs or work prospects, said few on the museum staff of about 30 were people of color. The museums small contingent of Black employees shrank further with the 2019 move to City Park. Levy, the board president, declined to detail diversity on the museums staff, saying that too was considered a personnel matter. Museum workers claimed in 2020 that Black workers were disparaged and received harsher punishment for menial mistakes than White employees. Racial tensions came to a head at the museum after employees pressed for Bland to issue a strong endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement on social media, among other demands. A large number of staff members expressed they did not feel comfortable returning to work given the museums silence, said one former employee. They just wanted to have a meeting with the CEO to express staff concerns. After the meeting, the museum posted a message on its Web site that described intentional, institutional racism and declared that the museum must be a much stronger part of the solution. It added: Black lives matter. But Bland failed to act on a list of demands signed by 17 museum employees, former museum workers said. They wanted a moderated open forum for staff to air their concerns and for the museum to hire an independent human resources person, launch racial equality training and form a diversity committee. It was just pushback after pushback, said another former employee. Little happened before the museum laid off nearly everyone in August 2020. Some were rehired beginning in early 2021. Former employees blamed leadership, along with low pay, for high staff turnover. One former employee described a consistent disregard for peoples mental health and general well-being that went beyond race. Shes a hero to people, a martyr to people, said one former employee of Bland. Why does this happy place make everybody feel completely oppressed who works there? The Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans is once again requiring masks for everyone 2 and older, including those who are vaccinated against COVID. The change in masking policy comes amid an uptick in COVID cases in Louisiana that officials are saying is from the delta variant and low vaccination rates in the state. Masks are required for staff members and visitors to the relatively new museum in New Orleans City Park. "Our team made this important decision after consulting with infectious disease pediatricians and physicians, who are tracking the data for increased cases due to the delta variant," the museum said in a statement. Masks are optional at the museum's outdoor exhibits, according a press release from officials. The museum has been closed for most of the pandemic. It reopened at the end of May, with additional safety protocols in place. Everyone, including members, must reserve timed-entry tickets in advance to enter the museum. Read more about the museum's health policies. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has dropped a mask mandate for its Catholic schools in Orleans Parish, prompting questions and anger from some parents and health experts about whether it made sense to change the rule during the current surge in coronavirus cases. In a letter sent to parents Monday, Superintendent RaeNell Houston said that the quarantine and isolation policies in New Orleans Catholic schools for children and staff exposed to COVID-19 meet new city criteria that would allow the schools to end mask rules. She noted that children could still wear masks and that individual schools could also establish mandates "based on the number of infections and exposures." The change comes as childrens hospitals have seen a rise in COVID-19 admissions while the highly-infectious omicron variant surges across the state. The number of people in hospitals currently is still much lower than earlier in the pandemic. But with daily case counts rising to the highest levels yet, health experts have warned that omicron could strain Louisiana's health care system even if it ends up being milder that other variants, as some studies have indicated. The number of new cases during Louisiana's fifth wave are rising at an unprecedented rate, with 22 times as many infections reported over the last week as one month ago. Another 120 patients were hospitalized with COVID on Monday, according the data from the Louisiana Department of Health, bringing the total to 1,226. Hospitalizations have more than doubled over the last week. Christine Manalla thought there had been a mistake when she got the email from her sixth grade son's school Monday morning. "I really did, for a second, think, 'This school has been hacked,'" said Manalla, whose son attends Holy Name of Jesus School. In contrast, her daughter's New Orleans public school sent out a letter that suggested students should try to find higher-quality masks, such as an N95. "Everywhere else is not only wear a mask, but wear better masks," said Manalla. "It just was shocking, that all of a sudden, you don't have to wear a mask with no real justification." Archdiocese spokesperson Sarah McDonald said the change came after the city updated its website to say that schools can drop the mask mandate if they follow quarantine and isolation rules. That put the city in step with the Louisiana Department of Healths current policy. +2 Louisiana COVID cases reach new multi-day record in wake of Christmas, New Year's holidays Louisiana health officials on Monday reported the largest multiday increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, as the highl Though the city tweaked its stated rules, city health officials said the archdioceses interpretation of the new requirements goes against recent recommendations from the state health department. Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department, pointed out that NOLA-Public Schools have not dropped its mask mandate in fact, the public school system added an outdoor mask mandate and has required vaccination for students ages five and up. Unfortunately, the Catholic schools and some of the private schools have taken this carte blanche to lift their mask mandate, said Avegno. They're choosing to interpret this to the least restrictive level possible, which is also the least safe. The city changed its guidance to be aligned with the LDH, which enacted a similar policy in October. Health news in your inbox Reporter Emily Woodruff shares weekly updates and insights on local health news, including COVID coverage and medical research. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On Dec. 30, the state recommended universal masking indoors and outdoors when social distancing is not possible in schools, citing the rise in cases due to omicron. The state also recommended suspending extracurricular activities and getting kids vaccinated, boosted and tested before returning to school. Mask policies have become a lightning rod in many school districts, including in Louisiana. Studies have shown that wearing a face covering is an effective way to slow the spread of the virus when people gather. But some groups are protesting the rules, and in some cases have threatened local officials for keeping them in place. St. Tammany, Jefferson and other suburban parishes do not have mask requirements in their public schools. The isolation and quarantine requirements in New Orleans' Roman Catholic schools call for infected people to stay home for five days and wear a mask for another five days, according to McDonald. Those who were exposed to someone with COVID-19 must do the same if unvaccinated. Vaccinated students and staff exposed to an infected person do not have to quarantine but must wear a mask for 10 days and take a test on day five. The state health department says a child who was exposed does not need to quarantine if masks were used consistently in the school setting. The department recommends a 10-day quarantine in settings where masks are not used. A letter from St. Mary's Dominican High School sent to parents on Tuesday said school officials are still encouraging their students to wear masks, noting that many continued to do so. The school will reevaluate the situation weekly, according to the letter. Ali Bustamante, parent to a 5- and 8-year-old at Holy Name of Jesus School, took his sons out of school for the week after reading the letter. He and his wife, who works at the school, are taking the next week to explore other options. "Were just extremely concerned," said Bustamante, who added that one of his sons has a kidney condition and he worried for other kids and parents who are immunocompromised. "Were seeing the highest infection rates ever." The lifting of the mandate comes as admissions to Childrens Hospitals for COVID-19 are increasing. As of Monday, 14 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 at Childrens Hospital New Orleans. Before the omicron surge, the number was typically between zero and two, according to staff. Three of those children all under the age of two are in the ICU. Health care workers who have seen emergency rooms inundated and COVID-19 admissions spike over the last week said it is a bad time to drop the mask mandate. Not only as a pediatrician but also as a parent, that makes me really nervous, said Dr. John Schieffelin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Childrens Hospital New Orleans. Right now were just seeing so many cases. Childrens Hospital had over 170 of its own employees out for quarantine at the start of this week. Staff and students without masks may cause similar shortages and absences. By dropping that mask mandate, were really setting ourselves up for more disease, more kids missing school and teachers not being able to work, said Schieffelin. New Orleans police Sgt. Anthony Edenfield won his job back Tuesday, a year after being fired for "racially insensitive" social media posts in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The Civil Service Commission downgraded Edenfield's firing to an 80-day suspension. Commissioners found that "the penalty of termination is not commensurate with the infraction." Superintendent Shaun Ferguson is "disappointed" by the ruling. The City Attorney is reviewing the case regarding an appeal of this decision, according to the NOPD. Commissioners reviewed the homicide division supervisor's Facebook posts from May and June 2020, during nationwide protests against police brutality after the Minneapolis police murder of Floyd. One post called the daughter of Bill de Blasio, New York City's mayor at the time, this trash bi---, after she was arrested at a protest in Manhattan. Another comment, on an article aggregating a news story about a man who was run over and killed by a FedEx truck during a night of protests in St. Louis, read in part, these idiots want to act like animals ... I am running them over and shooting if lethal force were my only way out. The asshole under the truck got what he deserved." Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A 20-year New Orleans police veteran, Edenfield argued that his social media pages weren't linked to his occupation. He said he made the posts under duress, because his 11-year-old daughter was worried about him given recent attacks on police officers. He cited a meme he'd shared reading "There's only one race" and his comment "I don't care what you look like..." as evidence of his lack of racial bias. Ferguson said he did not consider any mitigating factors, which included Edenfield's "20-year work history with no discipline, his emotional state at the time and earlier posts supportive of racial harmony," Civil Service commissioners stated. They concluded these factors led Ferguson to "improperly aggravate the penalty from an 80-day suspension to a termination." Edenfield will be reinstated with back wages. New Orleans police received word of a bomb threat at Xavier University around 3 p.m. Tuesday. According to the NOPD, a suspect called Xavier University Police Department and said he was planting bombs on campus. He also threatened to shoot up the campus. NOPD and Xavier Police Department evacuated the university. A search yielded no signs of bombs, NOPD said. The university was one of at least seven bomb threats reported Tuesday at historically black colleges and universities around the country, according to reporting by the Associated Press. A Xavier representative said officials were not at liberty to discuss the bomb scare. No other information was immediately available. DELRAY BEACH A boat of unknown origin washed ashore on Delray Beach on Tuesday near a popular bar. Within 24 hours, it became a small-scale attraction for locals and tourists, a selfie photo backdrop. Advertisement The green boat draped with a green tarp has the name Los MA etched into it. The small vessel is dug into the sand as it leans to one side on the beach just north of Atlantic Avenue. Advertisement A boat came ashore Tuesday in Delray Beach and became a source of curiosity for locals and tourists. The boat is located on the beach near Sandbar, the popular bar/restaurant located on State Road A1A. (Joe Cavaretta) Its not far from a well-known Delray Beach bar, Sandbar, located on State Road A1A. Talk about Valet your boat, said Tom Judge, a retired Delray Beach police officer who was walking the beach with his daughter Wednesday. Officials were still investigating the circumstances of the boats grounding; it was discovered at 11:38 a.m. Tuesday at 800 S. Ocean Boulevard. A possible migrant boat came ashore Tuesday in Delray Beach, not far from Sandbar, the popular bar/restaurant located on State Road A1A. The boat has lured beach walkers for photos for about 24 hours. (Joe Cavaretta) A group of 29 Haitian migrants came ashore in Delray Beach in May in a suspected smuggling operation. The 45-foot fishing boat they used for the journey was left on the beach. The suspected smugglers werent found. As of Wednesday afternoon, Delray Beach police werent sure whether the boat was used by illegal immigrants, was part of a smuggling operation or something else. The case was handled by the U.S. Coast Guard and National Response Team. A Belle Chasse man accused of being drunk and high when he slammed into the back of a minivan, killing 9-year-old Abby Douglas, has pleaded not guilty in the case. The Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office formally charged Wendell Lachney, 58, with vehicular homicide, first-degree negligent injuring, reckless operation of a vehicle, possession of marijuana, possession of an open container of alcohol in a vehicle and driving without a seat belt, according to Jefferson Parish court records. Lachney was arraigned Dec. 29 in Jefferson Parish Magistrate Court. He remains jailed at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a $1 million bond. Abby was riding on the third row of the minivan headed south on Belle Chasse Highway in unincorporated Gretna on the night of Oct. 22. Sarah Douglas, Abby's mother and the van's driver, was stopped at the intersection of Lapalco Boulevard when Lachney rear-ended the vehicle, according to State Police. He was traveling between 60 and 75 mph when he hit the van, crushing the back of the vehicle, authorities said. Lachney's blood alcohol content was 0.22%, more than double the 0.08%-legal limit after hours of drinking Jack Daniels whiskey, according to prosecutors. And Lachney also admitted smoking marijuana on the day of the crash, authorities said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Abby was taken to the hospital, but she died of her injuries two days later. Her organs were donated to save the lives of others. Lachney was arrested on the night of the crash and booked with negligent injuring and other traffic charges. But he was released the next day on a $50,000 bond, a fact that frustrated and angered Abby's relatives and friends. After Abby's death, State Police obtained a vehicular homicide warrant for Lachney. Authorities took him into custody Nov. 1 at an Abita Springs medical facility that provides substance abuse treatment, according to court records and the business's website. +2 In shooting death of 7-year-old Dillan Burton, Crimestoppers increases reward for information Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans has increased the reward for information in the shooting death of 7-year-old Dillan Burton to $5,000. Prosecutors successfully asked the court to increase Lachney's bond to $1 million, arguing that he was a danger to the community with at least two previous DUI convictions in St. John the Baptist Parish and Washington state. If convicted of vehicular homicide, the most serious charge Lachney faces, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison. Lachney returns to court Feb. 23 for a status hearing. A car crash in St. Bernard Parish early Wednesday morning claimed the life of a New Orleans motorist and left his passenger hospitalized with critical injuries, State Police said. Johnathan M. Franklin, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene of the single-vehicle wreck, which occurred about 3:30 a.m. on West Judge Perez Drive near Center Street in Arabi, authorities said. The fatal crash in Arabi was one of two in the New Orleans area Wednesday. A man was killed in a wreck Wednesday morning near Interstate 610 in the St. Roch area, New Orleans police said. His name has not been released. Vehicle crashes kill drivers in Algiers, Braithwaite, Louisiana State Police say State Police are investigating separate crashes that left two drivers dead and another in critical condition on Monday. Franklin was speeding while driving west in a 2012 Volkswagen Passat west in the right lane of the thoroughfare, State Police said. Franklin hit a tree in the median after losing control of the vehicle. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Neither Franklin nor his passenger were wearing seat belts, State Police said. The passenger was taken to the hospital. Toxicology testing will be conducted. In the New Orleans crash, the wreck was reported to police at 7:11 a.m. at Benefit and Allen streets (map), near where North Broad Street splits by the interstate. A man was driving north on Benefit Street in a Dodge pickup truck when police said he left the roadway near the I-610 on-ramp for unknown reasons. The truck went several feet before crashing into a pole and then flipping. The truck ended up under the elevated portion of the highway. Anyone with information is asked to call NOPD traffic fatality investigator Edgar Edwards at 504-658-6208. An effort to rename a Covington neighborhood "Uptown" has been put on hold. Covington City Council member Peter Lewis, who represents the council's District A, which includes the historic and predominantly Black West 30s area, sought the new name as a way to "rebrand" the area. Noting that the West 30s carries a negative connotation to some people, Lewis authored a resolution last year seeking to name the area "Uptown." Lewis said that there's still an "invisible line" between the West 30s neighborhood and the rest of Covington. "It's an attempt to bring positive rebranding to District A, positive growth both public and private," Lewis, who is Black, said at a community meeting Monday evening. "When I'm trying to sell my community -- whether its affordable homes, business, education, on the job training -- the minute I say West 30s the door closes." The West 30s area for years has struggled with inadequate housing and crime and many residents live near or below the poverty line. The city has taken steps over the years to rehabilitate the area, said Covington Mayor Mark Johnson, including increasing litter cleanups and cracking down on illegal dumping, building more affordable and safe housing and increasing police presence. But a possible name change drew some concern. In a letter emailed to City Council members, former Council member Frances Dunn said she worried a name change would undermine the work that organizations, including the West 30s Redemption Company, have done. Dunn, a District A resident for over 73 years, wrote that she has seen the area called a number of names over the years, including the derogatory "Negro Quarters" and "Other Side of the Tracks." But, she told council members, changing the neighborhood is most important. "What difference will a new name make ... if we don't do more to help change the mindset of the people of the neighborhood?" she wrote. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up At its meeting in December, Lewis told the City Council that he had held community meetings and worked with the local chapter of the NAACP to come up with a name that referenced the area's geographic relation to downtown Covington. The resolution asked the city government to refer to the area as Uptown, rather than West 30s. Is this infringing upon free speech in any shape or form if were telling somebody you have to call it this or you have to call it that? asked council member John Botsford. Other council members asked Lewis to hold another community meeting so they could hear residents' thoughts about the potential name change. But no residents showed up to that meeting Monday at the council's chambers. Instead, council members discussed the name change and in the end agreed to call the area by its official name, District A. But they would not adopt a resolution to bar use of the term West 30s. Lewis planned to ask Johnson's administration to also call it District A. Lewis said he sees the name change as a first step in rebranding his district. He also plans to hold job and resource fairs for residents and bring back a community center, among other things. Johnson said he worried that residents of District A would think his administration viewed the name change as a solution to all the problems the city faces. Lewis said in an interview on Tuesday that his initiative was "never an attempt to take away the things that they did under the name West 30s." "This is not an attempt to erase history," he said. "My point is to bring attention to the greater problems we have in Covington. It's deeper than just put more cops out there -- we need to think outside the box." New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has fired a senior administration official who crashed his pickup truck while allegedly driving drunk in the French Quarter and telling police they would regret arresting him. Peter Bowen, a deputy chief administrative officer overseeing short-term rentals, was dismissed from his post Tuesday, City Hall spokesperson Beau Tidwell said. He had been suspended without pay since his December arrest. In firing Bowen, a former general manager at Sonder Holdings Inc., one of the city's largest short-term rental operators, Cantrell ended the City Hall tenure of one of her most controversial hires. Affordable-housing advocates and other activists had railed against his appointment in 2020 as head of the Office of Business and External Affairs, arguing that Sonder's rapid expansion into the city under Bowen had contributed to New Orleans's soaring housing costs. Last year, financial disclosures showed that Bowen continued to own a stake in Sonder worth between $50,000 and $99,999 despite regulating the industry. The administration said it had put a Bowen subordinate in charge of dealings with the company. On the night of Dec. 16, Bowen allegedly crashed his Ford F-150 into two parked cars and the poles supporting balconies at the corner of Dumaine and Chartres streets. Officers saw Bowen asleep in the drivers seat of his truck with the engine running, and he slurred, had alcohol on his breath and couldnt stand up on his own when a sergeant woke him up, police alleged in a report. Bowen at one point allegedly dug through his glove box and when the sergeant asked what he was doing said, Looking for my badge. Officers said they then took Bowen to the New Orleans Police Departments DWI testing facility on Tchoupitoulas Street, where he declined to take either a field sobriety test or what is commonly known as a Breathalyzer, instead repeatedly telling police to call Superintendent Shaun Ferguson. Investigators alleged that Bowen even threatened retribution. Youre going to regret doing this, Bowen is accused of saying. Youre going to be suspended for a year. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Allegedly, while ignoring officers orders to sit down in a chair, Bowen said he could bench-press 405 pounds, a remark that officers interpreted as a taunt that they would not be strong enough to get him to comply, according to the police report. In the report, police allege that Bowen repeatedly said he was a deputy CAO at City Hall and warned at least one officer that he would not fare well if he didnt stop the arrest. Officers booked Bowen with DWI, criminal property damage, driving without insurance and other traffic offenses. He allegedly refused to sign the citation that officers gave to him, which ordered him to appear at New Orleans Traffic Court on March 17. +2 During DWI arrest, New Orleans official allegedly warned cop: 'You're going to regret doing this' After he crashed his pickup truck in the French Quarter and New Orleans police stopped him on suspicion of drunk driving late Thursday, a seni Bowen couldnt immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. He was the second member of Cantrells senior staff to be arrested on allegations of DWI over the last year and the third high-profile DWI arrest across city government since 2020. The city's emergency preparedness director, Collin Arnold, was arrested last January after police allegedly found him asleep in his city-owned vehicle after crashing into a parked car. He returned to his job after a 60-day unpaid suspension. Arnold has pleaded not guilty to the DWI case. District D City Council member Jared Brossett was arrested on suspicion of DWI in October, in the middle of his unsuccessful campaign for an at-large seat on the council. It was Brossett's third arrest for drunk driving. The case is pending. Another year is expected to pass before the Regional Transit Authority reopens the six-year-old Rampart-St. Claude streetcar line, which has been shuttered since the 2019 Hard Rock Hotel collapse damaged the nearby street and streetcar infrastructure. During a City Council committee meeting Wednesday, RTA deputy CEO Lona Edwards Hankins shared a presentation that said a return of service was now expected by December, roughly a year later than an estimate RTA officials gave in April. The RTA said that before providing that earlier estimate, engineers hadn't been allowed full access to the site because of debris and the building's long-delayed demolition. When they were able to do a full assessment last year, they discovered that several poles supporting the streetcar line's overhead power lines would need to be replaced. The RTA also blamed "staffing shortages, supply-chain delays and impacts from Hurricane Ida." Hankins told council members during the virtual meeting that service could return sooner than December, depending on the extent of underground damage found during "underground forensic work." The catastrophic Hard Rock collapse killed three workers and forced the city to wall off a busy downtown intersection at Canal and Rampart street. Officials have said that damage to public property was in the millions of dollars, though the total amount is under litigation. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A state grand jury is considering criminal charges against former city building inspectors. Dismantling the building's remains and clearing the site took more than a year. The Canal-Rampart intersection fully reopened in October, two years after the collapse. The Canal Street streetcar line, which had also been down since the collapse, reopened last month. Based on the estimated re-opening time, the Rampart line, which opened in 2016, could be out of service for around half of its existence. The line was the second in a pair of streetcar expansion projects stretching from the downtown Union Passenger Terminal to Elysian Fields Avenue building during the administration of Mayor Mitch Landrieu. The two projects cost $75 million and tied the Central Business District to Treme, St. Roch, Marigny and the French Quarter. Landrieu hailed the development as a full circle return to streetcar service along the Rampart-St. Claude corridor, where buses had been the primary public transportation mode since the mid-20th century. But some rider advocates argued buses are more efficient, especially for commuting to work. The Riverfront Streetcar, meanwhile, is set to return this month after undergoing track repairs, RTA officials said Wednesday. The Oklahoma House has given final approval to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. The bill passed Thursday by the GOP-led House now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. He's expected to sign it within days. The bill was immediately challenged in court by abortion rights advocates. The measure prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo. Experts say thats typically about six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Like Texas, the bill allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a similar law in Texas to stand. Instant unlimited access to all of our content on www.northcoastcitizen.com. The North Coast Citizen E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement. The surprising threat of sea-level rise to inland neighborhoods is the focus of a bill introduced by two South Florida members of the state Legislature. The bill would require state-funded infrastructure projects such as roads to take sea-level rise into account even if the work is being done far from the coast, since some inland areas are vulnerable to the rising ocean. Advertisement Western Broward and Miami-Dade counties, for example, face a higher flood risk from rain because their flood-control systems depend on a downhill flow of water to the ocean, a system thats disrupted when the ocean gets too high. The higher ocean also can affect inland areas through groundwater. Current law requires sea-level rise to be considered only for coastal projects, Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, said Tuesday. Advertisement [ RELATED: Sea-level rise becoming a hazard for suburban South Florida neighborhoods far from ocean ] The focus has always been on doing these studies if its a coastal building, she said. Its ignoring the impact of sea-level rise in the more inland communities. So thats what this is trying to address. Sponsoring the bill in the Senate is Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral. Sea-level rise has made it more difficult for South Floridas drainage system to function, affecting communities running all the way to the Everglades. The canals that drain water to the ocean depend partly on gravity. When water managers raise canal gates, the water flows east to the ocean. But when the ocean rises so high that the water level is the same on both sides of the gate, the drainage system cant function. That happened in 2020 in Tropical Storm Eta, when floodwater remained in southwest Broward for days, partly because the elevated ocean blocked canals. David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sunsentinel.com and 954-356-4535. Prosecutors appear to be targeting prominent Republican and Democratic operatives in Florida for potential criminal charges stemming from a 2020 Miami-Dade election scheme marked by sham candidates, court records reveal. Those targets: Alex Alvarado, a Republican consultant; Dan Newman, a prominent Democratic fundraiser; Richard Alexander, the chairman of the dark-money group Grow United; and Lets Preserve the American Dream, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit run by Ryan Tyson, a top GOP pollster in Florida. Advertisement Each has been sent what is known by prosecutors as a prior to letter, which generally precedes criminal charges in a case. Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Warren County supervisors will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for this redistricting proposal. HIGHLAND The town's first tattoo studio will start inking customers this year. Veteran Tina Brenda, an Army National Guard member who became a tattoo artist, persuaded town officials to make an exception to a 20-year-old ordinance that required tattoo artists to be medical doctors, effectively banning tattooing within town limits. She got a zoning variance after gathering 2,300 signatures on a petition and pleading her case to the Town Council. She plans to open Nephilim Studios downtown this year. Brenda currently works at A Darker Path Tattoo Studio, which was the first tattoo studio to open in Schererville after a restrictive ordinance long prohibited tattoo parlors there. "The place I'm working at had to do the same thing in Schererville," Brenda said. "In Highland, I had to jump through a lot of hoops to start my company. When I first approached the secretary last year she just told me Highland would never allow that. But they just approved amending the ordinance." The town council recently voted 4-0-1 to approve a use variance to allow the tattoo parlor after the Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals initially gave an unfavorable recommendation. "I would say that tattooing has become more mainstream and adding this tattoo shop to downtown Highland adds to the diversity of businesses located there," Highland Town Council President Roger Sheeman said. Longtime downtown Highland business owner Jim Roumbos of Miles Books said it would be a welcome addition. "It adds to the uniqueness of downtown," he said. "It's becoming gentrified. It's a unique downtown with a mix of businesses: coffee shops, bookstores, vintage resale shops and wonderful restaurants." She hopes to open Nephilim Studios at 2716 Condit St. in late spring or early summer. It will offer private tattooing and also piercing. "At first it was a little daunting," Brenda said of the process to get approval for the business. "But it was a gratifying experience to be able to change people's minds on the stigma of tattooing. Some people are closed-minded about tattoos even though they're super-accepted nowadays." She is taking over a storefront that was just being used for storage in downtown Highland. "The downtown is super quaint," she said. "They're trying to make it more like an arts district. There are murals painted on a lot of walls, and they're looking for art businesses and small businesses to go up. This is a good fit." Brenda has been tattooing for six years. She previously served in the Indiana Army National Guard, where she worked in human resources in Gary. "I was always into art, and I was in the Army when the light bulb went off," she said. After helping design tattoos, she went into tattooing as a vocation after leaving the service. "It's permanent art that gives people the chance to express themselves," she said. "I like working in this type of medium." She describes her work as eclectic. "I dabble in everything," she said. "I'm inspired by florals and animals and like to work in black and gray." Nephilim Studios will start out with just Brenda tattooing clients by appointment. She may take on more tattoo artists in the future if they mesh well with her. "I want to create a space for all creatives," she said. "I want to make it just like an art collective and have a photo studio for my photography friend." The business' name refers to fallen angels. "It's ironic," she said. "It started out as a joke. Every now and then I've been pitted against extremely close-minded religious people and I've heard them refer to people with tattoos as demons and devil worshipers." She hopes to create a more accepting space. "It's going to be a welcoming environment, high-end and welcoming," she said. She expects it will be a destination that will draw people into town. "I started out in LaPorte and have regulars who have been following me," she said. "I've had Army friends come from Seattle and Reno just to get tattooed by me. It's a huge relief it was allowed. I was screaming. I'm just super happy about that." Nephilim Studios will be open by appointment from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit tinabrenda@nephilimstudios.org. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CROWN POINT Lake Circuit Court Judge Marissa McDermott won the race to be first in line Monday to file for election. The Hammond Democrat said she arrived at the Lake County Government Center shortly after 7 a.m. to get a slot on the May 3 ballot for the Democratic Party primary election. McDermott is seeking a second six-year term as Circuit Court judge. Others at the front of the line to file candidate papers included: Lake County Clerk Lorenzo Arredondo, a Crown Point Democrat, who is running for a second four-year term as the record keeper for state and local courts. Arredondo served as circuit court judge for three decades prior to McDermott's election. Lake County Councilman Christian Jorgensen, a St. John Republican, who is seeking a second four-year term representing south Lake County suburban and rural areas on the countys fiscal body. Randy Niemeyer, a Cedar Lake Republican, who is challenging Jorgensen for the 7th District County Council seat. Niemeyer has served a dozen years on the Cedar Lake Town Council, 10 of them as council president. Peter Katic, a Hammond Democrat, who is running for a new term on the North Township Board. He previously has served as Hammond city judge and a Lake County commissioner. They and others braved icy winds and blowing snow to get a head start on their election campaigns in a political year in which voters will nominate candidates for federal and state legislative races, county, township and municipal offices. Democratic party voters also choose their next precinct committee members. Being first to sign up as candidate doesnt win anyone extra votes, but there can be political advantages. Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown, a Gary Democrat, said it heartens a candidates supporters and discourages potential opponents. I want people to know Im running, he said. There is no presidential election to rev up voter interest, but Niemeyer pointed out the local government officials to be elected this year have more impact on local residents' lives, overseeing local roads, taxes and criminal justice. The Lake County offices to be filled include: Circuit Court judge, county assessor, auditor, clerk, prosecutor, sheriff and treasurer. Voters in Gary, Griffith, Merrillville, Hobart, New Chicago, Lake Station and part of Crown Point will nominate the next first district Lake County Commissioner one of county governments three top executives. Voters across Lake County must choose all seven members of the Lake County Council, the fiscal body that sets annual spending limits for county officials, as well as passes countywide legislation. Many current officials will seek voter approval for new terms. These incumbents have a combined 125 years of experience in offices they already serve in, not to mention decades of prior public service as local government employees and in other elective offices. Incumbents include Sheriff Oscar Martinez, Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter, Commissioner Kyle Allen, Assessor LaTonya Spearman, Clerk Lorenzo Arredondo, County Council members Dave Hamm, Ted Bilski, Charlie Brown, Christine Cid, Christian Jorgensen and Alfredo Menchaca. County Councilman Dan Dernulc will bow out of the council this year after serving three four-year terms there to run for a seat in the Indiana Senate. Schererville Republican Tony Ferraro filed his candidacy Wednesday afternoon for the GOP nomination to replace Dernulc on the 4th District council seat. Ferraro is a business owner and has served as regional director for U.S. Sen. Mike Braun. State term limits require County Auditor John Petalas and County Treasurer Peggy Katona to exit their current offices. But they would like to continue overseeing the finances of county government, so Petalas will run for the county treasurers office that Katona is vacating, while Katona will run for county auditor. The two successfully pulled off the same switcheroo eight years ago. Voters must nominate 11 trustees to administer township services, as well as 33 township board members to set township budgets. They also must nominate five township assessors. County Councilman Ted Bilski, a Hobart Democrat, said this years election will be a little challenging for him and other incumbents seeking reelection. The state has redrawn district boundaries to account for a decade of population migration away from Lakes big cities to its suburbs. Bilski said he is losing some of his old constituents and having to run in neighborhoods where he previously didnt have an impact as a public official. Ill be meeting new people, he said. Candidates have until noon Feb. 4 to file their papers to get on the ballot. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CALUMET TOWNSHIP A resident found dead after a house fire early Sunday was identified as a 55-year-old man, the Lake County coroner's office said. Duane Trosper died after going back inside his burning home in the 1500 block of East Elm Street in Calumet Township, according to a coroner's release and fire officials. Lake Ridge firefighters were dispatched to the home about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Fire Chief Mike Redd said. Police officers, who were already on scene, told firefighters a husband and wife had made it out of the home safely, but the husband went back inside to retrieve a dog and his keys, Redd said. The husband never came back out of the house, and firefighters found a man's body in the basement after extinguishing the flames, he said. The two-story home collapsed during the fire and was demolished after the fire, Redd said. The blaze also melted siding on a nearby garage and neighboring home. No firefighters were injured, Redd said. The Indiana state fire marshal's office is assisting in the investigation. Lake Ridge firefighters were assisted by the Griffith, Highland, Merrillville, Lake Hills and Gary fire departments. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Police are urging motorists not to try to chase away a wild turkey venturing into the middle of a busy LaPorte County intersection. The latest sighting of a turkey at Michigan Boulevard and Johnson Road was about 7 a.m. on Tuesday in Trail Creek. According to police, the caller reported trying to get the turkey to move. It didn't budge. Trail Creek Town Marshal Steve Dick said numerous complaints about a turkey in the road have been taken since about a week before Christmas. He said a number of drivers have stopped in the road before veering around the turkey. In some cases, drivers and their passengers have climbed out of vehicles in the travel lanes to try to shoo the adult-sized bird from the roadway. By doing so, though, drivers and their passengers are placing themselves and other motorists in danger, Dick said. Human life is certainly more valuable than the life of that turkey. Although we dont want to minimize that turkeys life, we certainly dont want to see somebody get hit, he said. The intersection is in Michigan City just outside the boundaries of Trail Creek, a community of about 2,000 people. Dick said officers with both departments have responded to sightings and encounters with the bird. According to police reports, at least one person approaching the bird felt threatened by the turkey, which has also attacked or tried to attack several vehicles. Dick said the Indiana Department of Natural Resources was contacted last week to address the situation. DNR spokesman Tyler Brock said a conservation officer has been out there at least once but was not able to spot the turkey anywhere in the surrounding area. In any situation like this, Brock said, the plan could be anything from trapping the turkey to relocate it or having it medically examined for a possible stay in a wildlife rehabilitation center. Brock said euthanizing a turkey is also not out of the question, depending on the extent of the threat posed to public safety. Theres a variety of options, he said. Brock said its not uncommon for a male turkey to show up at the same spot, even in the middle of a busy intersection, during the spring mating season. He said male turkeys mark their territory and drive away other male turkeys from the area to reduce competition for mates. Brock said vehicle attacks might be from a turkey seeing what appears to be another male turkey in his own reflection in the metal or glass. It's not mating season, so Brock wouldnt speculate on the reason for this turkeys behavior. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. What doctors are telling us about Omicron Were getting more data on Omicrons effects on patients, this time from inside U.S. hospitals. From medical centers across the country, doctors are telling our reporters the same thing: This Covid wave seems different from the last one. In Omicron hot spots from New York to Florida to Texas, a smaller share of patients are landing in the intensive care units or requiring mechanical ventilation, my colleagues Azeen Ghorayshi and Emily Anthes report. They tend to stay in the hospital for fewer days and many patients show up at the hospital for other ailments and incidentally test positive for the coronavirus. We are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations, said Rahul Sharma, emergency physician-in-chief for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. But the severity of the disease looks different this time, he said. Most of our patients that are coming to the emergency department that do test positive are actually being discharged. The shift in hospitals fits with emerging data that Omicron may be a variant with inherently milder effects than those that have come before. But another explanation for the less severe cases is that Omicron is infecting more people who have some prior immunity, whether through vaccination or prior infection. Doctors said that a vast majority of Omicron patients in I.C.U.s are unvaccinated or have severely compromised immune systems. California fire investigators on Tuesday pinned the blame for the Dixie Fire the second-largest blaze in the states history on equipment owned by Pacific Gas & Electric and referred the case to prosecutors. The Dixie Fire burned more than 963,000 acres in the Northern California areas of Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama Counties in July, destroying 1,329 buildings and damaging 95 others. The cause, investigators determined, was a tree that came into contact with PG&Es power lines near the Cresta Dam about 100 miles north of Sacramento. Investigators at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, referred their findings to the Butte County district attorney, who previously brought charges against PG&E for the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed scores of people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In that case, PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of illegally setting a fire. The utility also agreed to pay $3.5 million in fines as part of the criminal plea. OpenSea, one of the most talked-about blockchain start-ups in Silicon Valley, said on Tuesday that it had raised $300 million in new venture capital, making it the latest company to cash in on a rush to fund cryptocurrency start-ups. The new round of funding, led by the investment firms Paradigm and Coatue Management, brings the start-ups valuation to a staggering $13.3 billion just four years after it was founded. OpenSea previously raised more than $100 million from a host of investors, including the investment firm Andreessen Horowitz and the actor Ashton Kutcher, according to data provided by the company. Founded in 2017, OpenSea was created as a marketplace for people to buy and sell so-called NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, which are unique pieces of digital code backed by blockchain technology. NFT items can vary, but the most popular tokens are pieces of digital art created by artists who list their pieces for auction on the OpenSea site, similar to listing on eBay. Winning bids can sometimes reach hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Ether, a popular cryptocurrency and blockchain technology connected to most kinds of NFTs. Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted last week of conspiring to recruit and groom teenage girls to be abused by Jeffrey Epstein, plans to request a new trial after a juror in her case revealed he was a victim of sexual abuse, her defense lawyers said Wednesday. The lawyers said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan that based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing. Advertisement The judge late Wednesday set a schedule for the defense to ask for a new trial, saying it should make the request by Jan. 19, with prosecutors replying by Feb. 2. [ RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell convicted in Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse case ] She asked them to address whether an inquiry of some kind is permitted or required. Nathan also said she will offer a court-appointed lawyer for the juror. Advertisement The judges order came after defense lawyers said Maxwell intends to request a new trial with a submission that will include all known undisputed remarks of the juror, along with recorded statements and the questionnaire all jurors filled out. It is clear to Ms. Maxwell that based on this record alone a new trial is required, they said, urging that all trial jurors be examined to evaluate their conduct if a hearing occurs. In interviews published Tuesday and Wednesday by The Independent and the Daily Mail, one juror described a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors in Maxwells trial that, like some of the victims of the late financier Epstein, he had been sexually abused as a child. And he said he convinced other jurors that a victims imperfect memory of sex abuse doesnt mean it didnt happen. I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the color of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video, he said he told the jury, according to The Independent. But I cant remember all the details, there are some things that run together. In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell, center, sits in the courtroom during a discussion about a note from the jury, during her sex trafficking trial, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams, File) (Elizabeth Williams/AP) The judge denied a request by another defense lawyer who wrote a separate letter asking her to suspend all other post-trial motions in the case. In their own letter to Nathan, even prosecutors said those reports merit attention by the Court. The juror was identified only by his first and middle name in the articles. Prosecutors suggested in their letter that Nathan schedule a hearing in about one month, along with a schedule for lawyers to file briefs regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing. The Government respectfully submits that any juror investigation should be conducted exclusively under the supervision of the Court, prosecutors wrote. Advertisement [ RELATED: Court official seeks to release sealed Jeffrey Epstein grand jury documents by changing Florida law ] Potential jurors in Maxwells case were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking: Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault? Quoting from the press reports, prosecutors said the juror asserted that he flew through the questionnaire and didnt recall being asked if hed been a victim of sex abuse. Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Palm Beach County in July 2008. He admitted he hired local underage girls to provide sex and erotic massages at his home. His sentence has been referred to as a sweetheart deal that allowed him lenient work release while he served about 13 months of an 18-month sentence, followed by a year of house arrest. An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement focused on former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischers decision not to aggressively prosecute sex abuse allegations against Epstein over a decade ago; Epsteins generous work release privileges in jail; and allegations that Epstein had sex with young women while under the jails supervision. The investigation found Epstein received differential treatment in jail, but no evidence was uncovered that suggests county officials broke any laws. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial. No sentencing date has been set after the conviction of Maxwell, 60, and she is still facing trial on perjury charges. In hospitals around the country, doctors are taking notice: This wave of Covid seems different from the last one. Once again, as they face the highly contagious Omicron variant, medical personnel are exhausted and are contracting the virus themselves. And the numbers of patients entering hospitals with the variant are surging to staggering levels, filling up badly needed beds, delaying nonemergency procedures and increasing the risk that vulnerable uninfected patients will catch the virus. But in Omicron hot spots from New York to Florida to Texas, a smaller proportion of those patients are landing in intensive care units or requiring mechanical ventilation, doctors said. And many roughly 50 to 65 percent of admissions in some New York hospitals show up at the hospital for other ailments and then test positive for the virus. We are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations, said Dr. Rahul Sharma, emergency physician in chief for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. But the severity of the disease looks different from previous waves, he said. Were not sending as many patients to the I.C.U., were not intubating as many patients, and actually, most of our patients that are coming to the emergency department that do test positive are actually being discharged. Please also note that while a good interviewer is curious, be careful to be respectful, too dont ask questions that might be taken as rudely invasive. 6. Afterward, reflect together on your experience: What was it like to be an interviewer? What were the challenges of writing and asking questions? What was fun? Which questions elicited one-word answers, like yes or no? Which questions revealed deeper thoughts and feelings? Did you stick to your list of prepared questions or did you ask spontaneous follow-ups? How did you balance your inquisitiveness with your respect for the other persons privacy? What was it like to be an interviewee? What kinds of questions made you really think or feel? What kinds of questions allowed you to open up and share your thoughts and experiences? What did the interviewer do, if anything, to put you at ease or to build your trust? What lessons might you take from this experience into the interview youll do with the subject of your profile? Activity 2: Research your subject. When you know who the subject of your piece will be, start doing some preparation to find out as much about the person as you can. Do an internet search and look at your subjects social media profiles. Talk to people who can tell you the basics about the persons background. Why do all this before the interview rather than in the interview itself? Years ago, The New York Times Learning Network published a resource for student journalists called Campus Weblines. That advice still holds: Do your homework. There is very little more embarrassing than arriving for an interview and not knowing what has already been written about your subject. A question on the order of, Well, Mr. Jones, have you been teaching here long? almost guarantees a poor interview. Mr. Jones almost immediately begins to look at his watch to try to figure out a way to get out of this. A far better question, in the same area, may be, Can we talk about the changes that have occurred during your eight years here at Central? Or: You were at East High for a number of years before coming here. Why did you move? Are glad you did? Or, What are the major differences between East High, where you taught before coming here, and our school? But avoiding seeming amateurish or rude isnt the only reason to do your research it also makes for a much richer interview. A Columbia Journalism Review article called The Art of the Interview quotes the Times journalist Jodi Kantor, who has written a book on the Obamas; helped ignite the #MeToo movement with reporting on Harvey Weinstein; and also interviews noncelebrities, like janitors working during the pandemic. To ask a really high-yielding question, you need to have done your homework, she says. The article gives an example: This is especially true when youre talking to people who are used to being interviewed. Kantor described an interview she did with the President and First Lady: I had come to understand that equality was a serious issue in the Obama marriage, and that in the White House, the president and first lady are not treated in the same way at all. So I summoned up my nerve and asked them, How do you have an equal marriage when one person is president? Their replies were much more illuminating than if Kantor had asked something more generic like, What are your thoughts on gender equality? Activity 3: Think about your angle. A profile isnt a biography it focuses on one aspect of its subjects personal or professional life. Though you should know enough about the persons life to include biographical details, the focus, or angle, you choose will dictate what background information youll use. You might go into your interview already knowing what you think the angle will be. After all, you probably had a focus in mind when you chose your subject. But the interview is a process of discovery, and new themes may emerge as you talk. For example, say you want to interview your local barber because hes had a shop in your neighborhood for 30 years and you imagine hell have a lot to say about neighborhood history. But as you talk to him, you may learn that he is an accomplished artist on the side, or that he had a particularly harrowing pandemic experience, or that he has a long history of triumphing in spite of steep odds. The focus of your final piece may shift to one of those themes instead. But to move on to Activity 4, select an angle so that you can write related questions. Later in this guide youll find advice about shifting your focus if you want to. As New York State all but ran out of its share of a federal pandemic rent relief program in the fall, state officials asked the federal government for $1 billion more money they said was necessary to keep tens of thousands of struggling residents out of debt and in their homes. But the state has now received some sobering news: it stands to receive about $27 million, less than 3 percent of what it requested. The gap between the need outlined by the state and the money it is getting is yet another stark illustration of just how severe the economic crisis has been in New York and elsewhere. State and federal officials said the need was high in places all around the country and there is only a limited pot of funds overall. But without more aid, tens of thousands of renters who lost their jobs in the pandemic will not be able to cover their debts and could be at greater risk of eviction when a moratorium expires in less than two weeks. Landlords also will not be able to make up the lost rental income. New Yorks prison system unjustly penalized more than 1,600 incarcerated people based on faulty drug tests, putting them in solitary confinement, delaying their parole hearings and denying them family visits, the New York State inspector general said in a damning report released on Tuesday. The arbitrary penalties were meted out across the state over an eight-month period in 2019, while the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision relied on improperly administered drug tests made by the company Microgenics, the report found. The tests led to rampant false positive results for buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat addiction, as well as synthetic cannabinoids. This stands as a heartbreaking example of how the absence of transparency can undermine due process and basic human rights, Lucy Lang, the inspector general, said at a news conference on Tuesday. The department started using the tests in January 2019, the report found. The manufacturers directions specified that a positive result should be confirmed with a second, more sensitive test, but officials neglected to do so as a matter of policy. Instead, they simply carried out the same test a second time to confirm the results. If the majority of G.O.P. lawmakers continue to bow to the most politically pernicious alternative fact that the 2020 election was a fraud that justifies empowering Republican legislatures to override the will of voters and remove Republican and Democratic election supervisors who helped save our democracy last time by calling the election fairly then America isnt just in trouble. It is headed for what scientists call an extinction-level event. Only it wont be a comet hurtling past the Webb telescope from deep space that destroys our democracy, as in the new movie Dont Look Up. No, no it will be an unraveling from the ground up, as our country, for the first time, is unable to carry out a peaceful transfer of power to a legitimately elected president. Because if Donald Trump and his flock are able in 2024 to execute a procedural coup like they attempted on Jan. 6, 2021, Democrats will not just say, Ah shucks, well try harder next time. They will take to the streets. Right now, though, too many Republicans are telling themselves and the rest of us: Dont look up! Dont pay attention to what is unfolding in plain sight with Trump & Company. Trump wont be the G.O.P.s candidate in 2024. Who will save us? God bless Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the two Republican House members participating on the Jan. 6 investigation committee. But they are not enough. Kinzinger is retiring and the G.O.P. leadership, on Trumps orders, is trying to launch Cheney into deep space. I think our last best hope is the leadership of the U.S. business community, specifically the Business Roundtable, led by General Motors C.E.O. Mary Barra, and the Business Council, led by Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella. Together those two groups represent the roughly 200 most powerful companies in America, with 20 million employees. Although formally nonpartisan, they lean center-right but the old center-right, the one that believed in the rule of law, free markets, majority rule, science and the sanctity of our elections and constitutional processes. Collectively, they are the only responsible force left with real leverage on Trump and the Republican lawmakers doing his bidding. They need to persuade their members now not to donate a penny more to any local, state or national candidate who has voted to dismantle the police or dismantle the Constitution. WASHINGTON The United States government doubled its order for Pfizers Covid pills on Tuesday, a move that will modestly increase the nations very limited supply of the treatment in the short term amid a record-setting surge in coronavirus cases. The new order will eventually provide enough pills for an additional 10 million Americans, bringing the governments total order of the drug to 20 million treatment courses. But they will not all be available right away. Only 35,000 of the additional courses will be delivered this month, and 50,000 more in February, supplementing 350,000 treatment courses that were already expected over the next two months, according to a senior administration official. The order underscored how urgently health providers need alternatives to vaccines, as roughly 35 million adults remain without a shot and more vulnerable to severe outcomes from Covid-19. Tens of millions more have been vaccinated but have risk factors that also make them especially vulnerable. The new order also suggests that the federal pandemic response will increasingly rely on oral treatments, which are scarce and facing intense demand. CHICAGO Public school officials in Chicago canceled classes for Wednesday amid a clash with the teachers union, whose members had threatened to stay home in a bid to force instruction online during a coronavirus surge. Union members had criticized the districts response to the Omicron variant, which has pushed cases in the city to record levels, and said conditions in classrooms were unsafe. They voted on Tuesday to refuse to report to school buildings, just two days after returning from winter break. But Mayor Lori Lightfoot said reverting to online schooling was unacceptable and unnecessary, and her administration decided to call off class altogether keeping the buildings open for emergency child care rather than return to virtual instruction. Nobody signs up for being a home-schooler at the last minute, Ms. Lightfoot said. We cant forget about how disruptive that remote process is to individual parents who have to work, who cant afford the luxury of staying home. As leftist revolution and U.S.-backed counter-insurgencies spread through El Salvador and Guatemala in the early 1980s, Central America became awash in bloodshed, sending refugees fleeing to the United States border in hopes of a new life. When they got there, a combative immigration lawyer named Lisa Brodyaga, who had only recently passed the Texas bar exam, was waiting. She was running Proyecto Libertad, a pro bono legal initiative in Texas representing asylum seekers, and by the decades end she had helped defend thousands in court. She went on to earn a reputation as a litigious thorn in the side of federal border enforcement agencies for the next 40 years. Lisa was a leader in a whole movement of lawyers who decided to approach the representation of immigrants with a civil rights consciousness, said Susan Gzesh, an immigrant rights expert who teaches at the University of Chicago. She helped firmly establish that undocumented asylum seekers have rights under our Bill of Rights. She taught immigration lawyers to not be afraid to go into federal courts. One day in January The breach didnt last long. And burying the memory of what happened on Jan. 6 which Pence downplayed recently as one day in January has become a necessity to maintaining power and relevance in todays G.O.P. One year after that day in January, polls show that most Republicans see little need to re-examine or even acknowledge what happened. Around three-quarters of them still view Trump favorably, or roughly the same as when Fabrizio conducted his poll shortly after Jan. 6. And there is no surer sign that the Republican Party remains the party of Trump than the fact that there remains no obvious or able challenger to him in sight. McCarthy was among the first to change tack, visiting Trumps Palm Beach estate in late January. After the two men posed for a photo, a Trump spokesperson released a statement announcing that the two men had agreed to work together to reclaim the House majority. President Trumps popularity has never been stronger than it is today, and his endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time, the statement noted. McCarthy has since tried to derail the congressional commission investigating the attacks. No remorse No one seems more intent on proving how damaging it is politically for a Republican to question Trumps revisionist accounts of what happened in the 2020 election and on Jan. 6 than Trump himself. In an interview at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks after the attack, he suggested that Pence had jeopardized his political future by not heeding his demand to interfere with the counting of the Electoral College votes in Congress that day. There was no downside, Trump said. So Mike could have done that. And I wish he did. I think it would have been much better for the country. I also think it would have been better for Mike. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. After claiming for months that the election had been stolen, Trump urged his followers to march on the Capitol, promising he would be there with them. He then watched the chaos on television from the White House. (Evan Vucci/AP) One year ago, on Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of American citizens, incited and inflamed by President Donald Trump, viciously assaulted the police protecting our Capitol and invaded the building, intending to block Congress from certifying his defeat and stopping the legitimate election of Joe Biden. Had they succeeded, the worlds oldest democracy would be its newest dictatorship. The danger persists. The failure of the bloody insurrection did not end the existential peril manifested by Trumps unprecedented refusal to accept losing a free and honest election. A year later, this is the situation: Advertisement Despite more than 725 arrests and 165 guilty pleas so far, no one has been charged with sedition or insurrection, the most serious potential charges. The instigators should not be spared while only those they exploited are punished. More than two-thirds of Republicans believe Trumps Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, polls show, and 52% are at least somewhat favorable to splitting the nation in two, a prospect not seriously proposed since the Civil War. More than one-third of Americans polled by The Washington Post said violence against the government is sometimes justified, including 40% of Republicans, 41% of independents and 23% of Democrats. In a new CBS News-You Gov poll, 62% overall said they expect violence from losers of future presidential elections. Trumps attempted coup exposed a grave vulnerability in the Constitution. The Electoral College, invented to help unite our nation, has contributed to dividing it and is a clear and present threat to destroy it. The testimony of Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon and other former Trump aides is critical to understanding what Trump did to cause the insurrection and why he did nothing for hours to stop it. But they are stonewalling the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Attorney General Merrick Garland should accelerate their prosecutions for open contempt of Congress. The Republican Party that saved the nation in the 1860s is today beyond useless. Only a few of its officeholders dare to stand up to Trump, and he viciously tries to purge them with no outcry from others. It bears comparison to the fascism that nearly destroyed Europe. The riot demonstrated the ugly power of Trumps racist dog whistles. A cover story in The Atlantic, Trumps next coup has already begun, reports a study showing that other things being equal, insurgents were much more likely to come from a county where the white share of the population was in decline. The mob was the violent face of a deeper conspiracy to subvert our democracy. The House select committee unearthed talk of seizing voting machines and declaring an emergency to keep Trump in power. As the committee prepares hearings, it must fully expose the breadth of this conspiracy, and citizens should brace themselves for more deeply disturbing revelations. The survival of the democratic republic depends on two things. First, the Senate must find a way to neutralize the filibuster when constitutional rights are at stake. Two House-passed bills, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, would thwart voter suppression conspiracies. Get rid of Electoral College Secondly, the Electoral College must be abolished. Five times now, including Trumps 2016 election, it has produced a president who lost the popular vote. Every scheme to inaugurate a Trump dictatorship depended on manipulating it. Advertisement Despite Biden winning by more than 7 million votes, a net shift of merely 21,461 votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin would have produced a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College and caused the election to be given to Trump by the House of Representatives a disaster for democracy. Replacing the Electoral College outright appears impossible because of the odds against a constitutional amendment being proposed by Congress and ratified by 38 states. Fortunately, a promising alternative exists: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Already enacted in 15 states and in the District of Columbia, it requires their electors to vote for whomever wins the popular vote nationwide. But the compact takes effect only when enough states have joined to represent 270 electoral votes. The count stands at 195. Floridas 30 would be a major advance, but the Republican-controlled Legislature refuses to consider it. The people our lawmakers misrepresent can and should adopt the compact by the petition-initiative process for amending the Florida Constitution. Granted, our autocratic Legislature has made that harder and costlier, but for the nations sake, it must be attempted. Baseless claims of election fraud would have much more trouble getting traction against a decisive nationwide count. The Electoral College was not a problem until states switched to a winner-take-all format, says Barry Richard, the Florida attorney who represented George W. Bush in the decisive legal showdown over Floridas votes in 2000. As late as 1824, six states still allowed their legislators to choose the electors and six others awarded them by district. Now, all but Nebraska and Maine, which award by districts, use winner take all. In 2022, voters who love our country have scores to settle. The insurrectionists had barely been swept from the desecrated Capitol when seven Republican Party senators, including Floridas Rick Scott, and 138, or nearly two-thirds of GOP House members, rewarded them by voting to reject at least one Biden electoral slate. Only 10 Republican House members had the courage to vote to impeach Trump, and only seven GOP senators voted to convict. Even former Vice President Mike Pence, a fleeting hero in those frightful hours when a howling mob would have lynched him, now dismisses it abjectly as one tragic day in January. Advertisement Hardly. It was an omen of a tragic future, and without reforms, its a future that stands a good chance of coming to pass. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com. And although politicians, including Mayor Eric Adams of New York and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, promised to keep schools open, there were growing fears from parents and educators that more districts would soon turn to remote learning even though in-school transmission of Covid has been limited. Those decisions could radiate through the country, affecting child care, employment and any confidence that the pandemics viselike grip was loosening. Some families were given just a few days or even hours of notice about school closures, leading to the all-too-familiar pandemic scramble to adjust child-care arrangements and work schedules. Atlanta Public Schools, for instance, announced on Saturday that classes would be online for the first week of January, just days after saying that classes would be held in person. In Philadelphia, the school district emphasized its commitment to in-person learning throughout the day on Monday, as the local teachers union urged a seven-day pause on reopening, citing hundreds of positive cases among its 13,000 members. But at 7:30 p.m., the district announced that 77 schools, roughly a third of district-operated schools, would shift to virtual learning at least through Friday due to Covid-related staffing challenges. At 11:30 p.m., the district added four more schools to the list. We spent all of the day and over the weekend, looking at the data coming in of teachers or staff, who were either waiting on test results or waiting to get tested, Monica M. Lewis, a spokeswoman for the district, said on Tuesday, adding, and it was just pretty clear that staff were either positive, or exposed and needed to be isolated and things of that nature, where we just did not have the sufficient staffing on hand at some of these schools, to have students come in person today. On Thursday, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency said the weapon tested a day earlier was a hypersonic missile. The North conducted its first test of the new missile in September. In the test on Wednesday, the missile hit a target about 435 miles away, the news agency said. Following the launch, the office of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea repeated its call for dialogue with the North, noting that the latest missile test took place when the region could hardly afford instability. China is set to host the Winter Olympics in February, and South Korea will hold its presidential election on March 9. North Korea launched its missile hours before Mr. Moon attended a groundbreaking ceremony on the east coast, where engineers started work on Wednesday to extend the Souths rail line by 69 miles to the inter-Korean border. During their summit meetings in 2018, Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim agreed in principle to link their countries rail lines to help boost inter-Korean exchanges. South Korea has long dreamed of transporting its exports by train through North Korea to China, Russia and Europe. But that dream has been on hold as tensions over the Norths nuclear weapons program has stymied the railroad agreement. In one of his last diplomatic initiatives before leaving office,Mr. Moon has also urged the United States and North Korea to join his government in declaring an end to the Korean War, which halted in a truce in 1953. He proposed the declaration as an incentive for North Korea to reduce tension and to denuclearize. But the North has called his proposal premature as long as Washington maintained its hostile policy. MOSCOW The president of Kazakhstan declared a two-week state of emergency in two regions of the Central Asian country early Wednesday after nationwide protests erupted over rising fuel prices. In Almaty, the countrys largest city, police fired tear gas and stun grenades at crowds of thousands of people who had refused to disperse, as protesters set police cars alight, according to wire services. The protests, which began on Sunday, represent a rare manifestation of dissent in Kazakhstan, an oil-rich authoritarian country in Central Asia. Dear compatriots, I urge you to show prudence and not succumb to provocations from within and from without, to the euphoria of rallies and permissiveness, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a video address Tuesday evening. Calls to attack civilian and military offices are completely illegal. This is a crime that comes with a punishment. You come from a family with strong interests in the supernatural and interplanetary. Your grandfather was a transcendentalist who wrote about his experiences of communicating with the deceased and held seances for the family, and your father was also an author who published books on U.F.O.s. How did they influence you? Yes, I come from a family of authors on that side. My father wrote books, many of them for children, on science and history and astronomy as well as poltergeists and ghosts and U.F.O.s. He had books about psychic phenomena and mediums and the history of U.F.O.s in his library, as well as classical texts. On Easter or Thanksgiving, we would have seances in which we would use the Ouija board. Paranormal was normal for us. Youre also part of a family, so to speak, of artists who were known as mediums or mystics for instance, the Swedish pioneer of early-20th-century abstraction Hilma af Klint. When did you first encounter her work, and how did it affect you? The show was called The Spiritual in Art, in 1987 in Chicago, and it just blew my mind. I very much relate to af Klint. I love that she didnt want her work seen for years she felt ahead of her time and she was aware of the time it would take for people to even be able to comprehend her work. Her art strikes a very deep chord with me, and I think it does in most people that have seen it. Obviously theres a hunger out there for that kind of mystical work. People want something more than what they can see or understand. So are there any upsides to Omicron, a variant that is milder but spreads faster? Framing it as a possible benefit is not really the right way to think about it. I mean, its better to be dealing with a variant that causes less severe disease. But if its much more transmissible, then youre going to have a lot more seriously ill people in hospitals. So you cant just look at one side of Omicron and ignore the other side. A lot of people, especially unvaccinated people, are going to get seriously sick from Omicron. And after the surge is done, there could be a lot of immunity to Omicron and perhaps to other variants. But its a very high price to pay for that. We should be trying to keep infections down. We should be protecting the most vulnerable among us. We should be thinking in those terms, not just asking, Oh, whats the upside of this? How are you personally feeling about the state of the pandemic in the U.S.? Its striking that we are not better able to deal with a new surge two years into the pandemic. Scientists have been warning that this virus, like all viruses, would mutate, so we needed to be ready for change. We had Alpha and then we had Delta, so weve been through this before. And yet, in the U.S., were in this latest surge without a strong testing capacity to deal with it, without a system to get people good masks, which we know can help. And so theres just chaos. The Biden administration is now saying its going to give out 500 million tests. Those tests arent going to be coming in for at least a couple of more weeks deep into this surge. And its not enough. Its basically like waiting until half the house is burned down before you send in the firefighters and you send one small fire engine. What do you see for the U.S.? We are going to go through a big surge. Were going to go through a surge of cases over the next month, maybe more. We dont know how much hospitalization thats going to lead to, but its going to be a lot. And then its going to go down just like its gone down in the past. And so the question then is, whats it like for the rest of 2022? Epidemiologists I talked to say it is possible that we may not have to deal with another giant surge later in the year just because therell be so much immunity once we get through this. But a lot of people are going to die. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are going to die in the surge. Should the fact that Omicron is milder change our behavior? I havent had Omicron myself, but I certainly know some people who have. Fortunately, none of them ended up in the hospital, but theyve had a range of symptoms. Some of them have felt like theyve just had a stuffy nose and others have been in bed for a few days. If youre vaccinated, you could still be looking at being physically knocked out for a few days. The details of the Omicron variant are becoming clearer, and they are encouraging. Theyre not entirely encouraging, and I will get into some detail about one of the biggest problems the stress on hospitals, which are facing huge numbers of moderately ill Covid-19 patients. But regular readers of this newsletter know that I try to avoid the bad-news bias that often infects journalism. (We journalists tend to be comfortable delivering bad news straight up but uncomfortable reporting good news without extensive caveats.) So I want to be clear: The latest evidence about Covid is largely positive. A few weeks ago, many experts and journalists were warning that the initial evidence from South Africa suggesting that Omicron was milder than other variants might turn out to be a mirage. It has turned out to be real. In hospitals around the country, doctors are taking notice, my colleagues Emily Anthes and Azeen Ghorayshi write. This wave of Covid seems different from the last one. There are at least three main ways that Omicron looks substantially milder than other versions of the virus: 1. Less hospitalization Somebody infected with Omicron is less likely to need hospital treatment than somebody infected with an earlier version of Covid. In her guest essay The Best Defense Against Another Jan. 6, Cynthia Miller-Idriss writes: For many Americans, the events of Jan. 6 brought the issue of domestic violent extremism to the fore. Through livestreamed images, they watched as attackers equipped with zip ties and bear spray wielded flagpoles and fire extinguishers, pushed through barricades, smashed windows and called for the deaths of elected officials while gallivanting through the halls of Congress. Gallows were constructed outside. Pipe bombs were planted near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees. At least seven people died. More catastrophic violence was narrowly averted. Until that day, violent attacks targeting powerful symbols of America were generally seen as a threat emanating from beyond the countrys borders, like the Sept. 11 attacks. Americas elected leaders vowed in 2001 to never again let such violence reach its soil. Within just 14 months of the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress authorized an entire new agency devoted to homeland security. The United States would come to commit trillions of dollars to post-9/11 war spending, including over $1 trillion for federal efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies were given seemingly infinite resources to refine their abilities to surveil, monitor and neutralize terrorism suspects and terrorist groups. Aimed at foreign extremist groups on the fringe of society, like ISIS and Al Qaeda, conventional terrorism tools worked to a great extent: Since Sept. 11, no terrorist group outside the United States has successfully executed a major, lethal attack inside the United States. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11. Today, however, the most urgent threat to Americans safety and security comes not from foreign terrorists, but from the countrys own citizens. And the threat is aimed at the future of democracy itself. What makes the threat especially pernicious is that it is not from the fringe, but from the mainstream according to one study, a majority of the arrested Jan. 6 attackers were employed, some of them teachers, chief executives, veterans, doctors and lawyers. They had an average age of around 40. So its easy to see why the U.S. governments traditional counterterrorism infrastructure, built to focus on fringe extremists, is falling short, having foiled only 21 of the 110 known domestic terrorist attacks and plots in 2020, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and failing to prevent the violence and chaos of Jan. 6. Its not a stretch to imagine that another Jan. 6 could happen: Amid rampant electoral disinformation, Americans are increasingly prepared to support political violence. Broad swaths of the population refuse to accept the results of a national election, with around only a third of Republicans saying they will trust the results of the 2024 election if their candidate loses. American democratic norms are visibly deteriorating, landing the United States on a global list of backsliding democracies in November. In Every Day Is Jan. 6 Now, the Times editorial board argues that the threat to the country didnt end with the rampaging of the Capitol: This is where looking forward comes in. Over the past year, Republican lawmakers in 41 states have been trying to advance the goals of the Jan. 6 rioters not by breaking laws but by making them. Hundreds of bills have been proposed and nearly three dozen laws have been passed that empower state legislatures to sabotage their own elections and overturn the will of their voters, according to a running tally by a nonpartisan consortium of pro-democracy organizations. Some bills would change the rules to make it easier for lawmakers to reject the votes of their citizens if they dont like the outcome. Others replace professional election officials with partisan actors who have a vested interest in seeing their preferred candidate win. Yet more attempt to criminalize human errors by election officials, in some cases even threatening prison. Many of these laws are being proposed and passed in crucial battleground states like Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, the Trump campaign targeted voting results in all these states, suing for recounts or trying to intimidate officials into finding missing votes. The effort failed, thanks primarily to the professionalism and integrity of election officials. Many of those officials have since been stripped of their power or pushed out of office and replaced by people who openly say the last election was fraudulent. Thus the Capitol riot continues in statehouses across the country, in a bloodless, legalized form that no police officer can arrest and that no prosecutor can try in court. The editorial concludes: Whatever happens in Washington, in the months and years to come, Americans of all stripes who value their self-government must mobilize at every level not simply once every four years but today and tomorrow and the next day to win elections and help protect the basic functions of democracy. If people who believe in conspiracy theories can win, so can those who live in the reality-based world. Above all, we should stop underestimating the threat facing the country. Countless times over the past six years, up to and including the events of Jan. 6, Mr. Trump and his allies openly projected their intent to do something outrageous or illegal or destructive. Every time, the common response was that they werent serious or that they would never succeed. How many times will we have to be proved wrong before we take it seriously? The sooner we do, the sooner we might hope to salvage a democracy that is in grave danger. Students, read both Opinion pieces, then tell us: How significant was Jan. 6, 2021? What lessons can we learn from that day? Was it a turning point in American history? How will history books remember these events in 50 or 100 years? Ms. Miller-Idriss writes, Today, however, the most urgent threat to Americans safety and security comes not from foreign terrorists, but from the countrys own citizens. Do you think last years attack on the U.S. Capitol represents a grave danger to American democracy, like Ms. Miller-Idriss argues, in the way that Sept. 11 did? Why, or why not? The Times editorial board argues that perhaps the biggest danger to American democracy comes not from another violent attack at the Capitol, but instead from new laws in battleground states like Wisconsin and Georgia that empower state legislatures to sabotage their own elections and overturn the will of their voters. Do you worry that the fairness of the next presidential election might be in jeopardy? Why, or why not? In the year since the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, more than 700 people have been arrested. However, there is still little public indication from the Justice Department of how high the investigation might reach. Who do you think should be held responsible for the attack? Should it be only the people who stormed the building? The people who organized and planned the event? The leaders and government officials, including Mr. Trump, who spread misinformation and promoted conspiracy theories that led to the events on Jan. 6? Adrienne Adams had to overcome several obstacles on her way to being voted in on Wednesday as the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the New York City Council, the second-most-powerful position in city government. She had a competitive race to retain her City Council seat representing southeast Queens, including a primary challenge from her predecessor, and entered the contest for speaker relatively late. Mayor Eric Adams did what he had said he would not do and tried, unsuccessfully, to tip the scales in favor of one of Ms. Adamss rivals. Ms. Adams, 61, a moderate Democrat, prevailed and will now lead the City Council, as New York grapples once again with being a center of the coronavirus pandemic while facing a difficult financial future. The new City Council, which is more diverse than ever and has its first-ever female majority, also looks to be more ideologically divided than in recent memory. And in spite of public efforts to show they are on the same page, Ms. Adams already faces potential battles with the mayor on everything from the use of solitary confinement in the citys jails to new legislation that would grant more than 800,000 legal residents who are not citizens the right to vote in municipal elections. Over time, Coney Islands appeal faded. Luna Park closed in 1946, although the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel still stood. In the 1950s, as television became more popular, the crowds melted away further. In the mid-1960s, Fred Trump, the former presidents father, took control of Steeplechase Park with plans to build luxury apartments. He staged a funeral where bikini-clad women passed out stones and invited mourners to hurl them at the parks pavilion. The decline continued in the years that followed. It was rough, it was burned out, a shell of what it used to be 20 to 30 years prior, said Adam Rinn, who grew up in the area and is Mr. Ziguns designated successor. (He declined to comment on the conflict between Mr. Zigun and the Coney Island USA board.) Still, some of the old allure remained, calling out to people like Mr. Rinn. He said he saw his first Coney Island show at 15. It featured Otis Jordan, The Worlds Only Human Cigarette Factory, who rolled, lit and smoked a cigarette using only his lips. It was such a surreal experience, said Mr. Rinn, 50, who went to learn how to swallow swords, eat and spit fire, walk on glass, lie on a bed of nails and hammer nails into his face. (I guess Id be considered a quick learner, he said.) Mr. Zigun links his own Coney Island infatuation in part to his roots in Barnums hometown, Bridgeport, Conn. Arriving in New York after earning a fine arts degree from Yale Drama School, he decided to look for something on the fringe. When I finished my fancy education, instead of aspiring to Broadway or a place like La MaMa in the East Village, I had this wacky idea of starting my own theater in Coney Island, he said. Im happy to hear that Eric Adams is using this phrase, emotional intelligence, said Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. This is what we need to have better police officers. Others say the approach falls short, and that calls for more training often create a cycle that boosts police budgets but does not produce results. It really doesnt translate even to the short-term safety of my community, even if it may feel that way to communities outside of mine, said Monifa Bandele, who works with the Communities United for Police Reform Action Fund, an advocacy group. We want Eric Adams to do what we demanded when we took to the streets back in June here and across the country, she said. We want to reimagine public safety. The specter of the past also lingers for some who bore the brunt of previous enforcement, including David Ourlicht, one of the plaintiffs in the landmark class-action lawsuit that led a judge to declare the Police Departments stop-and-frisk tactics unconstitutional in 2013. The strategy was heavily relied on under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and officials credited the practice in which officers stopped, questioned and often searched people on the street with reducing violence across the city. But in some years, Black and Latino New Yorkers were nine times more likely to be stopped than white residents, and several studies later disputed the tactics effectiveness. Other research has shown people who were stopped by the police often were more likely to face negative mental health consequences, including trauma and anxiety. Mr. Ourlicht, who recently settled a separate case against the city for $10,000 after he successfully argued he was again wrongly frisked, said he was frightened by the current discussions around policing and feared a return of aggressive encounters with officers. Background In August 2021, President George Manneh Weah set up a 25-member Special Bicentennial Steering Committee to organize and implement appropriate programs for the countrys bicentennial anniversary. The main marker for the bicentennial is pegged to January 7, 1822, when the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States (aka the American Colonization Society (ACS)) resettled the first group of freed black American slaves on Providence Island in modern-day Monrovia. The government has declared a one-year celebratory period from December 2021 to December 2022 for the bicentennial in a bid to engender broader participation in bicentennial activities by Diaspora Liberians, persons of Liberian descent, friends of Liberia, and Liberians at home. The theme for the bicentennial is Liberia: The Land of Return Commemorating 200 Years of Freedom and Pan-African Leadership, which is meant to signify the countrys many historical milestones in intra-Africa and world affairs. The Providence Island resettlement scheme in 1822 has always generated corresponding historical arguments about the 1821 land purchase by ACS agents Dr. Eli Ayers and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Stockton from Dei, Bassa, Vai, and Gola chiefs of the former Grain Coast, now the Republic of Liberia. The key arguments have always been that in the 1820s in Africa and the agrarian world private ownership of land was improbable because land was generally for communal use and not for sales to individuals and organizations. Then there was the argument that Stockton secured Providence Island and adjacent Cape Mesurado from the African chiefs in 1821 through coercion by pointing a gun to the head of one of the chiefs to sign the land purchase agreement. But Liberian Historian Carl Patrick Burrowes disputes that any of this information is true. I seek in this article, therefore, to reconcile Burrowes accounts against other historical accounts regarding the sales of land in prehistoric Liberia and the general circumstances of the 1821 land purchase agreement between the ACS and the African chiefs. I will also look at the general state of relations between descendants of the freed slaves and those of the African chiefs in light of President William R. Tolberts 1972 sesquicentennial speech. I will discuss the significance of the bicentennial as well as attempt to disabuse young and old Liberians alike of the idea that identifying, calling, and referring to a fellow Liberian as Americo-Liberian is an act of attempted alienation and divisiveness. Burrowes Archival Find and Implications Historian Carl Patrick Burrowes discloses during interviews with various media outlets in late 2021 that while searching through the microfilm archives of the Bushrod Washington Collection at Chicago History Museum in Illinois, USA in August 2021, he found the original 1821 land purchase agreement between ACS agents and African chiefs in the files of ACS secretary Elias B. Caldwell. He told the Washington Post that the archival find at the Chicago History Museum was The most significant discovery of his career, insofar as the document helps debunk several prevailing myths about the acquisition of territory that became[Liberias] capital (Cavanaugh). These included Myth 1: Local West African rulers rejected the contract because their societies prohibited the buying and selling of land; Myth 2: The local rulers were unable to comprehend the content of the contract because they did not understand English; and Myth 3: The land was purchased at gunpoint (Cavanaugh). The Daily Observer also saw the Burrowes find as seeking to both establish a new perspective from which the nations history could be told and help clarify and correct long-held beliefs that may have fueled division among peoples (Staff Editor). The two newspapers appeared more optimistic about the impact of Burrowes find on contemporary Liberian history and Liberian society at large than Burrowes himself. In an interview with Octavius Obey published on YouTube in December 2021, Burrowes acknowledged that The document [he found] in and of itself doesnt speak to the issue, but when we look at the arguments surrounding it and other findings related to it. for example, the transcripts of the negotiations kept by Ayers (Obey), then one may conclude otherwise. But, if Burrowes truly believes that the historic purchase agreement he found does not speak to the issue, then how might it be possible to glean from that very purchase document information on settling the myths alluded to by the Washington Post, or the upbeat rendition proffered by the Daily Observer about the document helping to clarify and correct long-held beliefs that may have fueled division among peoples for more than a century, let alone the possibility of garnering a new perspective from which the nations history could be told? Yet, Burrowes insists that the sales of land to private individuals was a routine business activity during the time of the ACS land purchase and argues that the African chiefs understood every term of the 1821 purchase agreement in that the local rulers understood Western contracts because they had been involved in business arrangements with Westerners, including pre-purchase agreements, for centuries (Staff Editor). In myth #3 Burrowes deduces that Stockton was only fond of playing with guns, but that he really did not threaten anyone with a gun during negotiations with African chiefs. Indeed, as a historian and researcher, Burrowes is within his scholarly rights to extrapolate, predict, and give new meaning and new life to the document he found than what the document itself actually stands for and deserves. But these individual interpretations of historical documents like the 1821 purchase agreement cannot be presented as absolute and uncontestable historical facts, especially where the object of analysis has no intrinsic values beyond the subjective opinions of the historian or researcher. The issue of proof is also complicated by the lack of specificity about the methods Burrowes used to confirm that the purchase agreement he found at the Chicago History Museum was an authentic copy of the original agreement. Then, there are unanswered questions about how and why Ayers came to draft the original land purchase agreement in his handwriting rather than in someone elses handwriting or typed it? Who set the price for the land sale at USD300? Who identified the items for the barter exchange in lieu of cash payment? How it became possible that Eli Ayers and John Mills signed the agreement with their full names and signatures, but the traditional leaders only signed unto the agreement individually with an X mark under such names as King Long Peter, King George, King Governor, King Jimmy, and so on as if the chiefs forgot their own names or lacked full names altogether. And why the traditional leaders signed with X mark instead of their thumbs or actual signatures, if they were so familiar with western contracts? Amidst these vexing questions, Burrowes answer to the question, Any document could be a forgery. How do you know this one is the original? was less direct and more conjectural or rhetorical: First of all, the document is in the handwriting of Eli Ayres, the American who signed it on behalf of the ACS. Second, the paper is aged, not modern. Third, its location inspires further confidence in its authenticity. (Staff Editor). But can a century-old purchase agreement really be authenticated by handwriting sample, storage location, and archaeological dating method? Maybe so, but not necessarily in this case. Other Historical Accounts on 1821 Land Purchase Story The purchase document Burrowes found does not cast any new light on contemporary Liberian history, especially the role and place of the indigenous chiefs and their descendants in the founding of Liberia. It also does not explain why the founding date of Liberia is often associated with January 7, 1822, when the ACS resettled the first group of the freed slaves on Providence Island and not on February 20, 1824, when the ACS established the Colony of Liberia, or December 15, 1821, when the ACS and the chiefs signed the purchase agreement. Interestingly, I can remember as a Bassa youth growing up in Liberia that it was not uncommon to hear across Liberian society that the Bassa people sold their land for smoked fish. That assertion puzzled me a lot, and I always wanted to know which land the Bassa people sold, to whom, and for what purpose? I had no ready answers to these questions until in adulthood when I found out that the whole assertion was nothing but a farce, a historical misrepresentation of the 1821 land transaction between agents of the American Colonization Society (ACS) and Dei, Bassa, Vai, and Gola, chiefs of what is today the Republic of Liberia. In particular, in 1821 the ACS sent Dr. Eli Ayers and navy lieutenant Robert Stockton on the second reconnaissance mission to West Africa (the first mission was in 1818 by Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess leading to the Sherbro debacle) to secure suitable land on which to resettle a group of freed slaves. Ayers and Stockton entered a series of negotiations with the local chiefs in 1821 for a piece of land on which to resettle the freed slaves. The net result of those negotiations was the grant of Providence Island, Cape Mesurado, and adjacent areas in current Montserrado County. However, relying on his recent archival find at the Chicago History Museum, Burrowes believes that sales of land was regular business in prehistoric Liberia and that it is inaccurate that one of the ACS negotiators used a gun during the land negotiations to compel compliance. Many historical accounts stand in contrast to Burrowes claims, especially that of American naturalist, historian, and freelancer Michael Harwood. In a 1972 Heritage Magazine article, Harwood provides extensive details on the founding, management, and challenges of the ACS, including the ill-fated Sherbro Island voyage, and the search of fertile land several miles off south of the coast of then British Sierra Leone. Harwood explains that the initial arrangements between ACS agents and the local African chiefs called for an annual rent of three hundred dollars in exchange for the use of forty square miles of land on the coast south of Sierra Leone (i.e., Cape Mesurado). However, the management team of the ACS back in the USA refused to accept the agreement, considering the sum an unjustified tribute to the heathen king who controlled the land, Harwood says. The African chiefs in return refused to sell Cape Mesurado or any indigenous land to the ACS. And the first attempt by Ayres and Stockton to purchase land from the local chiefs through King Peter also failed. Hence, Ayres and Stockton, After days of waiting for King Peter to palaver again, they [Ayres and Stockton] marched inland to his village and at pistol point forced him to sell. The price for Cape Mesurado was less than three hundred dollars in clothes, guns, powder, rum, tobacco, and trinkets. This purchase from an unwilling seller the American Colonization Society named Liberia'free landand the first settlement there, Monrovia (Harwood). Similarly, in Reluctant Imperialists: The U.S. Navy and Liberia, 1819-1845 Eugene Van Sickle recalls that on December 15, 1821, after a deadlock of several days during the negotiations between ACS representatives Stockton and Ayers and King Peter of Cape Mesurado, Stockton responded to Peters resistance to American settlement by aiming his pistol at the kings head, threatening to kill him if he did not sell land to the ACS (267). A third account contrasting Burrowes claims can be found on the website of the U.S. Library of Congress, which is a much larger information source than the Chicago History Museum from which Burrowes found the purchase agreement. Hence, quoting the fourth annual report of the ACS, the Library narrates under the Liberian historical timeline for 1821 that Stockton took charge of the negotiations with leaders of the Dey and Bassa peoples who lived in the area of Cape Mesurado. At first, the local leaders were reluctant to surrender their peoples' land to the strangers but were forcefully persuadedto part with a 36 mile long and 3-mile wide strip of coastal land for trade goods, supplies, weapons, and rum worth approximately $300 (LOC). Several other historical accounts speak not only to the persistent grab of indigenous land, but also to the marginalization and exclusion of the African chiefs and their upsprings in the formation and governance of the new nation-state of Liberia. In fact, back in 1825 and 1826, Jehudi Ashmun who succeeded Ayres as ACS governing agent was fond of using excessive force and related aggressive tactics to grab indigenous land to extend the colony of Liberia. Basically, as already established through the historical records quoted above, it was clear that Stockton used a gun to extract land from the chiefs and that Cape Mesurado was sold under duress. President Tolberts Sesquicentennial Speech and the 2022 Bicentennial Liberia is today a multiethnic, multicultural, and multireligious society, with each group having its own identity tags and core values. Historically, though, all Liberians fall under two dominant demographic groups: 1) Native-Liberian (also called Native people, country people, aborigines, or Bassa, Kpelle, Grebo, or Lorma people, etc. by ethnic affiliation) and 2) Americo-Liberian (also called settlers, pioneers, Congau people, newcomers, Kwee people, or ex-slaves or freed slaves). Yet, since the early 2000s concerted efforts have been mounted in certain quarters of Liberian society to make the term Americo-Liberian a hate speech punishable by law. Hence, when the Daily Observer asked Historian Carl Patrick Burrows, How do you refer to those who came from America to live in Liberia? Some call them Americo-Liberians and ex-slaves, he not only gives his preference for the word repatriates, but he also infers that To label people whose families have lived here for six generations as Americo-Liberians is similar to calling all Manlike-speakers Malian-Liberians (Staff Editor). Well, the word Americo-Liberian is not a label in any negative sense, but an identity tag created and used by the freed slaves themselves since the 1800s and 1900s. Americo-Liberians were and remained a powerful political and social group in Liberia. At least Over 5000 Recaptives - mostly from the Congo region - were also settled [in Liberia], particularly between 1844 and 1863, initially in the care of the Americo-Liberians - as the New World African settlers and their descendants were collectively designated (Akpan 250). The Americo-Liberian group and their Native-Liberian compatriots have coexisted on the same landmass prior to Liberias independence in 1847. And, according to the 2009 Final Report of Liberia Truth and Reconciliation (TRC), As Liberia began to establish itself as a new nation, a small number of Americo-Liberian families and their patronage networks dominated all aspects of government, economy, the security sector, commerce, and social advancement (4). Yet, quite, unfortunately, The Americo-Liberians replicated many of the exclusions and social differentiations that had so limited their own lives in the United States (Meisler). Regarding Burrowes's analogy about Malinke speakers and Americo-Liberians, it is an open secret that all Malinke speakers are not confined to Mali, nor do all Malinke speakers originate from Mali. Besides, every Liberian who has visited or lived in the United States will know that calling an American citizen African American, Chinese American, or Irish American is not an act of alienation, segregation, and discrimination as Burrowes wants to suggest, but intrinsically a social or demographic marker that has nothing to do with the number of generations a particular demographic group has coexisted with others on American soil. What these accounts show, however, is that Americo-Liberian has been a legitimate politico-cultural and demographic group in Liberia prior to the independence of Liberia and will continue to be until the end of time. Hence, references to Americo-Liberian can never, and should never, be considered hate speech in Liberia, especially that we now live in a new world of hybridity and globalization, as certain assimilation tactics may no longer work effectively. Each of us will now have to appreciate our identities as persons of specific cultural and linguistic backgrounds even as we coexist peacefully as persons of a common patrimony. President William R. Tolbert, Jr. was aware of these creeping identity crises and related socio-cultural and political skirmishes when his government celebrated Liberias Sesquicentennial anniversary in 1972. During the 1972 sesquicentennial or 150th anniversary celebrations, President Tolbert made a passionate plea to all Liberians to unite and to recognize and cherish one another for the immense sacrifices made over the years for sustenance of Liberia as an independent nation-state. The President found Itbefitting that we [Liberians] of this generation pay homage not only to that small band of hardy settlers who returned to our fatherland, but even more so, that we offer equal tribute to the vast and overwhelming majority of our indigenous brothers and sisters who have labored together in the past with perseverance. To some Liberians, President Tolbert was conciliatory to a great fault by the very references to that small band of hardy settlers and the vast and overwhelming majority of our indigenous brothers and sisters (MICAT). But to other Liberians, the President was right on point, but if the President had any fault at all regarding his statement, then it was a good fault, a fault of unity. It is now fifty years since 1972 when President Tolbert made those conciliatory statements. Liberia has evolved from a one-party, autocratic state to a multiparty democratic society after a military coup in 1980 and a series of gruesome civil wars in the 1990s and early 2000s. Yet, the past is the past, and Liberians should no longer think or dream of instability and a sesquicentennial but peaceful coexistence and a bicentennial. Like President Tolbert in 1972, President George Manneh Weah is expected to grace the bicentennial celebrations in February 2022 with his own conciliatory message. Yet, the bicentennial provides the time and opportunity not just for festive activities and elaborate celebrations across Liberia, but also time and opportunity for critical evaluation of the historical past and personal introspection of where we have been, where we are, and where we are going as a nation and people. The bicentennial should never be the time to sugarcoat history, to shift responsibility, and to downgrade the role of one group or the other in the founding of Liberia. There are hardly any pure Americo-Liberian or pure Native Liberian in Liberian society today due to intermarriages and other social cleavages, but we are all not just Liberians. For whether we like it or not, we are neither less a Liberian nor diehard confusionists, segregationists, or troublemakers by belonging to particular counties, religious and academic institutions, political parties, demographic groups, and civil society organizations in Liberia. American Journalist Stanley Meisler did claim in a 1973 article in the Atlantic Monthly that the appointment of Harry A. Greaves as Bong County Superintendent was a good example of how confusing it sometimes is these days to differentiate an Americo-Liberian from a tribal man [Native-Liberian]. Meisler says Greaves was so much a part of the Americo-Liberian Establishment, and Though culturally an Americo-Liberian, Greaves likes to describe himselfas a tribal man trying to encourage economic development in the Bong County of his tribal peoples (10). But, as Meisler explains, Greaves was both a ward of the Greaves Family and the biological son of his father Zachpah, so he could legitimately claim both identities. The 1973 Harry A. Greaves (Sr.) example is true for many persons of Liberian origin in and out of Liberia today. Basically, all of us have multiple identities and those identities are what make us unique, so they need to be respected and accepted. We all do not have to look the same way, walk the same way, talk the same way, and dress the same way to appreciate one another and coexist peacefully on the land the omnipotent God has bequeathed unto our forebears and us. Conclusion Finally, January 7, 2022, will mark the 200th anniversary or bicentennial of the arrival of the first group of freed black American slaves on the landmass known today as the Republic of Liberia. The not-too-cozy relations between the new arrivals and the indigenous African peoples inhabiting the land prior have been the source of much public debate and controversy among descendants of the two groups. But whatever the sources of controversies and disagreements might have been nearly two centuries ago, the need for descendants of the two groups to coexist peacefully as peoples of a common patrimony remains paramount. But, as President Tolbert indicated fifty years ago in 1972, we in Liberia cannot seriously celebrate and pay homageto that small band of hardy settlers who returned to our fatherland and forget to offer equal tribute to the vast and overwhelming majority of our indigenous brothers and sisters who we met on our fatherland. Serious cultural differences do exist between Americo-Liberians and Native-Liberians. And, as Akpan has correctly observed: The Americo-Liberians practised an essentially western culture in their life style, political institutions, through the use of the English language, individual ownership and perpetual alienation of land, and their adherence to Christianity and monogamy. The indigenous Africans were Traditionalists or Muslims, spoke their own languages, and held land communally. Their villages were governed by chiefs and elders assisted by age-grade or socio-political organizations like the poro (for men) and sande (for women) (250-252). Politically, state power shifted involuntarily in the nineteenth century from the mulatto ex-slaves to the black ex-slaves, but in 1973 The system seems geared now to allow power to pass first to the Americo-Liberians with some tribal blood, then to the tribalists, such as Greaves, who have been assimilated into Americo-Liberian culture, and finally to the real tribal people (Meisler). In the view of Meisler back in 1973, The selection of [James E.] Green as Vice President [to President Tolbert] shows that the pure Americo-Liberians are resisting change. But [that] it [change] is inevitable. And the 1980 coup has come to signify the inevitable change Meisler so accurately predicted. Indeed, as Liberia begins its bicentennial celebrations from December 2021 to December 2022, many diverse perspectives on lingering historical questions about the founding of Liberia are bound to arise, but the code for everyone should be unity rather than division or bigotry. Liberia is what it is today because of the sweat and blood and talents of all Liberians, whether of Americo-Liberian or Native-Liberian stock. Hence, the celebrations need to be inclusive in all of its programs and activities, although the celebrations are pegged to the date of the arrival of the first group of repatriates, I will say, in order to begin the unity and reconciliation drives with Historian Burrowes. About the Author Nat Galarea Gbessagee is a former director of public affairs in the Liberian Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism. He is an educator and social commentator on contemporary Liberian issues. He holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric and technical communication. He can be reached at ngg06@yahoo.com. Works Cited Akpan, M. B. Liberia and Ethiopia, 1880-1914: the survival of two African states. General History of Africa VII, Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935, edited by A. Aduboahen. UNESCO, 1985, pp. 250-252. Cavanaugh, Ray. Two hundred years later, a long-lost document sheds light on the purchase of Liberia. The Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/20/liberia-purchase-agreement-1821-burrowes. Accessed 31 Dec. 2021. Harwood, Michael. Better For Us To Be Separated. The American Heritage Magazine. December 1972, Volume 24, Issue 1 https://www.americanheritage.com/better-us-be-separated. Accessed 2 Jan. 2022. LOC. History of Liberia: A Timeline. 1820-1847. U.S. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/collections/maps-of-liberia-1830-to-1870/articles-and-essays/history-of-liberia/1820-to-1847. Accessed 1 Jan. 2022. Meisler, Stanley. Liberia. The Atlantic Monthly, March 1973. https://www.stanleymeisler.com/article/liberia. Accessed 2 Jan. 2022. MICAT. Presidential Papers. Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism. July 1972, pp. 346-347. Obey, Octavius. Liberian History MID 1800's: Interview with C. Patrick Burrowes. 12 Dec. 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0FI12xz3Ho&t=1544s. Accessed 31 Dec. 2021. TRC. Final Report of Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Liberia Truth and Reconciliation (TRC). 2009, p. 4. Staff Editor. New Historical Find Reveals Much about Liberias Early Beginnings. The Daily Observer, 30 Nov. 2021, https://www.liberianobserver.com/new-historical-find-reveals-much-about-liberias-early-beginnings. Accessed 31 Dec. 2021. Van Sickle, Eugene. Reluctant Imperialists: The U.S. Navy and Liberia, 1819-1845. Journal of the Early Republic 31, no. 1 (2011): 107-134. doi: 10.1353/jer.2011.0007. A plan to add tens of thousands of affordable homes Ms. Hochul said the state would pursue a $25 billion plan to build or preserve 100,000 affordable homes, including 10,000 homes that would include services for people at risk of homelessness. Ms. Hochul also wants to allow bigger apartment buildings and more density around transit lines like the Long Island Rail Road. That could be significant in many New York City suburbs, which have long been seen as having some of the most onerous restrictions on development in the nation. Her plan calls for legalizing many basement and garage homes, replacing a popular tax incentive that encourages developers to build affordable housing with one that targets lower-income residents, making it easier to convert hotels and offices to housing and preventing landlords from rejecting tenants because of their criminal background. The plans met with mixed reaction. Gov. Hochuls vision is a great first step in fighting our housing crisis, said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, a nonprofit group. But Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All, called the plan an unconscionable abdication of responsibility, in part because it did not include stronger barriers to eviction and eliminate tax breaks for developers. Ms. Hochul announced several measures to help people who cycle in and out of homelessness. She promised 7,000 new units of supportive housing, which includes services for people with mental illness and addiction, and the preservation of 3,000 others, expanding a Cuomo-era plan. Its going to make a real impact on homelessness, said Laura Mascuch, executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. The governor plans to beef up outreach to people living in streets and subways. But homeless people and their advocates say that outreach cannot succeed unless people are offered alternatives to widely reviled homeless shelters. There has to be a place for people to go, said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy with the Coalition for the Homeless. By Andy Newman and Mihir Zaveri Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked the judge who oversaw Ghislaine Maxwells sex-trafficking trial to investigate the process by which one of the jurors was chosen, after he told news outlets he was a sexual abuse victim and had discussed his experience during deliberations. The prosecutors request, in a letter filed with the court, raised the possibility of additional inquiry into how jurors who voted to convict Ms. Maxwell had been selected and the prospect of Ms. Maxwells lawyers moving to have a mistrial declared in the closely watched case. Later on Wednesday, Ms. Maxwells lawyers indicated they planned to do just that, saying in two letters to the judge that their client would seek a new trial and that the judge can and should order one without holding a hearing, as the government had requested. Ms. Maxwells lawyers said Ms. Maxwell planned to make her request under a federal rule that grants a judge the power to grant a new trial when the interest of justice so requires. The American model has been decaying for some time. Since the mid-1990s, the countrys politics have become increasingly polarized and subject to continuing gridlock, which has prevented it from performing basic government functions like passing budgets. There were clear problems with American institutions the influence of money in politics, the effects of a voting system increasingly unaligned with democratic choice yet the country seemed to be unable to reform itself. Earlier periods of crisis like the Civil War and the Great Depression produced farsighted, institution-building leaders; not so in the first decades of the 21st century, which saw American policymakers presiding over two catastrophes the Iraq war and the subprime financial crisis and then witnessed the emergence of a shortsighted demagogue egging on an angry populist movement. Up until Jan. 6, one might have seen these developments through the lens of ordinary American politics, with its disagreements on issues like trade, immigration and abortion. But the uprising marked the moment when a significant minority of Americans showed themselves willing to turn against American democracy itself and to use violence to achieve their ends. What has made Jan. 6 a particularly alarming stain (and strain) on U.S. democracy is the fact that the Republican Party, far from repudiating those who initiated and participated in the uprising, has sought to normalize it and purge from its own ranks those who were willing to tell the truth about the 2020 election as it looks ahead to 2024, when Mr. Trump might seek a restoration. The impact of this event is still playing out on the global stage. Over the years, authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus have sought to manipulate election results and deny popular will. Conversely, losing candidates in elections in new democracies have often charged voter fraud in the face of largely free and fair elections. This happened last year in Peru, when Keiko Fujimori contested her loss to Pedro Castillo in the second round of the countrys presidential election. Brazils president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been laying the grounds for contesting this years presidential election by attacking the functioning of Brazils voting system, just as Mr. Trump spent the lead-up to the 2020 election undermining confidence in mail-in ballots. Before Jan. 6, these kinds of antics would have been seen as the behavior of young and incompletely consolidated democracies, and the United States would have wagged its finger in condemnation. But it has now happened in the United States itself. Americas credibility in upholding a model of good democratic practice has been shredded. This precedent is bad enough, but there are potentially even more dangerous consequences of Jan. 6. The global rollback of democracy has been led by two rising authoritarian countries, Russia and China. Both powers have irredentist claims on other peoples territory. President Putin has stated openly that he does not believe Ukraine to be a legitimately independent country but rather part of a much larger Russia. He has massed troops on Ukraines borders and has been testing Western responses to potential aggression. President Xi of China has asserted that Taiwan must eventually return to China, and Chinese leaders have not excluded the use of military force, if necessary. A key factor in any future military aggression by either country will be the potential role of the United States, which has not extended clear security guarantees to either Ukraine or Taiwan but has been supportive militarily and ideologically aligned with those countries efforts to become real democracies. If momentum had built in the Republican Party to renounce the events of Jan. 6 the way it ultimately abandoned Richard Nixon in 1974, we might have hoped that the country might move on from the Trump era. But this has not happened, and foreign adversaries like Russia and China are watching this situation with unconstrained glee. If issues like vaccinations and mask-wearing have become politicized and divisive, consider how a future decision to extend military support or to deny such support to either Ukraine or Taiwan would be greeted. Mr. Trump undermined the bipartisan consensus that existed since the late 1940s over Americas strong support for a liberal international role, and President Biden has not yet been able to re-establish it. I have some good news and some bad news, and theyre both the same. Seven independent lab studies have found that while Omicrons mutations make it exceptionally good at causing breakthrough cases even in people who have been vaccinated or previously infected, they also render it less able to effectively infect the lower lungs, a step associated with more serious illness. Plus, in country after country where Omicron has spread, epidemiological data shows that vaccines are still helping prevent severe disease or worse. Why isnt that unalloyed good news? Because its just luck that this highly transmissible variant appears to be less dangerous than other variants to those with prior immunity. If it had been more deadly as Delta has been the U.S. governments haphazard and disorganized response would have put the whole country much more at risk. Even with this more moderate threat, the highest-ranking public health officials are making statements that seem more aimed at covering up or making excuses for ongoing failures, rather than leveling with the public. Nowhere are these issues more apparent than on the confusing and zigzag messaging around rapid antigen tests and N95 masks, both of which are important weapons in our arsenal. With a barrage of cases threatening vital services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Dec. 29 that people could return to work, masked, five days after they first learned they were infected, arguing that many people are infectious for only a short period. People could return to work even while still sick, as long as their symptoms were abating. The tiny, spiny and adorable hedgehog is helping to upend conventional wisdom about the origins of drug-resistant bacterial infections that kill thousands of people each year. In a study published Wednesday in Nature, a group of international scientists found that the bacteria that cause a tough-to-treat infection existed in nature long before modern antibiotics began to be mass produced in the 1940s. The drugs have saved countless lives, but the wide distribution of antibiotics in the decades since then has also spurred an evolutionary arms race with the pathogens they target, leading to the emergence of dreaded superbugs that have evaded our efforts to vanquish them with pharmaceuticals. The key to the scientists paradigm-altering theory? Danish roadkill. When researchers examined hundreds of dead hedgehogs from Denmark and other countries in Western Europe, they found MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, living on the skin of the vast majority of the animals. That was surprising, given that the animals had not been exposed to penicillin, though MRSA does colonize many mammals, including humans, where they can live harmlessly inside the nose or on the skin. The danger arises when these bacteria enter the bloodstream through a wound or intravenous tube, with potentially deadly consequences for those with weakened immune systems. The scientists were also intrigued by another pathogen they found on many of those same hedgehogs: a skin fungus that produces a penicillin-like substance which inhibits the growth of staphylococcus aureus. Like modern antimicrobials, this naturally occurring antibiotic is in constant battle with the staph bacteria that compete for nutrients on the hedgehogs skin. Over time, some of those bacteria developed an ability to outsmart their fungal rivals and thrive on their hedgehog hosts, the study showed. In August 1986, a doctor in Washington, D.C., manipulating a microscope, examined a tissue sample from a breast-cancer patient and correctly diagnosed that her tumor had spread. What was unusual about the diagnosis was that the tissue sample and the microscope were half a country away, in El Paso. It was a demonstration of a technology, now known as telepathology, which enables specialists to render diagnoses and other medical opinions from afar using telecommunications technologies. At the time, the internet was in its early stages, fiber optics were not widely available and the high-definition screens now common were unknown. So for a doctor to remotely control a microscope and see a clear enough image to render a conclusion was a significant breakthrough. The demonstration had been arranged by the founder of Corabi Telemetrics, Dr. Ronald Weinstein, who at the time was also chairman of the pathology department at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago and had led the team that perfected the technology. (In fact, he is credited with coining the term telepathology.) He spent the rest of his career furthering telemedicine of various kinds, first in Chicago and then, starting in 1990, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, where he was a founder of the widely admired Arizona Telemedicine Program. Dr. Weinstein saw early on the potential for telepathology to broaden medical access. The limited availability of pathologists in some rural locations and areas serviced by federal medical centers is a bottleneck in the United States health care delivery system, he wrote in the journal Human Pathology in May 1986, a few months before his groundbreaking demonstration. Nowadays, Cobar pipes in its water from the Burrendong Dam, about 233 miles east, and the tank, whose silver finish long ago succumbed to rust and graffiti, is empty of water. It has, however, been filled with something new music. On April 2, after two decades of work, it will be officially reborn as the Cobar Sound Chapel, an audacious sound-art collaboration between Georges Lentz, one of Australias leading contemporary composers, and Glenn Murcutt, an Australian Pritzker Prize- and Praemium Imperiale award-winning architect. For his reimagining of the roofless tank, Murcutt installed an approximately 16-foot cube within its cylindrical space, in which Lentzs String Quartet(s) (2000-21), a 24-hour-long classical-meets-electronica work, will play on loop via a quadraphonic sound system. Inside the chamber is a concrete bench that seats up to four, from which one can look out through the ceilings gold-rimmed oculus. Morning, noon and night, then, the otherworldly sonic stream will reverberate throughout the concrete booth and spill out into the sky that inspired it. The artists hope is that their work will prompt visitors to meditate on our place in the universe. There is a mysterious element to our existence that we ignore at our own peril, says Lentz, 56. By turning to something higher than ourselves, we realize we are just this tiny thing in this vast scheme. The year that just ended was a difficult one for people who make theater, as they faced economic, aesthetic and medical challenges. In a smaller way it was therefore a strange year for those of us who write about and review their work. Not until late summer 2020 and then more fully in the fall did we see live plays and musicals, and enjoy the pleasures that come with doing so: not just the communal experience in the theater but also the shared reflection afterward. For us Jesse Green, the chief theater critic, and Maya Phillips, a critic at large that shared reflection often included the gift of disagreement. And so, on the last day of 2021, we met, in cyberspace, to talk about what each of us liked most over the last several months, what we disliked most and how a bit of (respectful!) head-butting can expand our understanding of both. Below, edited excerpts from the conversation. JESSE GREEN The return of live theater, however precarious, was a great thing for both of us as critics, of course, but also as lovers of plays and musicals. There was a lot to see, and a lot we liked. MAYA PHILLIPS It was strange, though, to return to crowded theaters after being holed up in our apartments for so long. And it felt overwhelming in a good way, but still overwhelming to dive right back into a full fall season. But, yes, it was great to be back. What stood out to you? A $2.7 billion plan to give the Boy Scouts of America a pathway out of bankruptcy while compensating tens of thousands of sex abuse victims was at risk of failing on Wednesday, with more than one-quarter of claimants voting to reject the plan in a preliminary tally of votes. The Boy Scouts have been seeking support from 75 percent of victims to help the youth organization win final approval from a bankruptcy judge, but the preliminary tally showed that 73 percent of victims supported the agreement. The Boy Scouts said in a statement that they were continuing to engage in discussions to supplement the agreement and potentially win further support. We are encouraged by these preliminary results, the organization said. About 54,000 people cast votes out of some 82,000 victims who came forward with sex abuse claims during the bankruptcy proceedings. The $2.7 billion settlement plan for victims was the product of months of high-stakes negotiations, with much of the money coming from insurance companies along with more than $800 million contributed by the Boy Scouts and their wide network of local councils. The Boy Scouts are expected to put in cash, property and other assets, including a prized collection of Norman Rockwell paintings. A woman in Georgia who fraudulently obtained more than $6 million in Covid relief money was sentenced to more than three years in prison on Tuesday, the Justice Department said. The case is the latest example of Americans misusing the Paycheck Protection Program, a part of the $2.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that Congress passed in March 2020. In the latest case, the Georgia woman, Hunter VanPelt, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in August after submitting six loan applications for a total of more than $7.9 million on behalf of companies that she owned or controlled, prosecutors said. Prosecutors say that Ms. VanPelt, 49, whose legal name was Ellen Corkrum until 2016, lied about payroll expenses and the number of people her companies employed. She also submitted fraudulent tax records, payroll reports and bank statements, they said. Her lawyer could not be immediately contacted for comment overnight. Note: Special one-year subscription at a reduced price for first-time subscribers or for subscriptions that have been expired for at least one year those living in Jackson County and the Cherokee Indian Reservation (28719) addresses qualify. Offer good through Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. We accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover; we do not accept AMEX. Descendants of Homer Plessy like to say that he was a civil rights activist before most people in Louisiana were familiar with such a term. In 1892, Plessy, a racially mixed shoemaker, boarded a whites-only train car in New Orleans, well aware that he was breaking the law and would most likely be arrested. He was indeed charged with violating the states Separate Car Act, beginning a legal battle that ascended all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday nearly a century after Plessys death Gov. John Bel Edwards pardoned him for the offense, scrubbing his record of a crime that came with a $25 fine. As he signed the pardon, Mr. Edwards said he also had a much more ambitious aim: confronting a painful and shameful history that Plessys case came to represent. The Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, resulted in a decision that paved the way for the separate but equal doctrine and gave legal backing to the Jim Crow laws that segregated and disenfranchised African Americans in the South for decades. It left a stain on the fabric of our country and on this state and on this city, Mr. Edwards said before he signed the pardon, speaking at the station in New Orleans where Plessy boarded the train where he was arrested. And, quite frankly, those consequences are still felt today. Mary Alice Thatch, a crusading third-generation newspaper publisher in North Carolina who led the fight to exonerate 10 civil rights activists wrongly convicted of arson in the 1970s, died on Dec. 28 at a hospital in Durham, N.C. She was 78. Her daughter Johanna Thatch-Briggs confirmed the death but did not provide a cause. Ms. Thatch had already had a long career in education when she took over the reins of The Wilmington Journal from her father, Thomas C. Jervay. Like him, she saw the Black-owned newspaper as a vital source of information for the citys Black population and a force that spoke truth to power, white or otherwise. She was particularly committed to making sure that news that often is not represented in the mainstream media was always represented in The Wilmington Journal, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, a civil rights leader, said in a phone interview. Ms. Thatchs reporters uncovered corruption and took on unchecked gentrification, while The Journals editorials pushed for voting rights and education reform. But her greatest achievement came in the early 2010s, when she took up the cause of the so-called Wilmington 10. Alex Cherniss, the superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, where about 10,000 students in coastal Los Angeles County returned to classrooms this week, told me on Tuesday that school attendance dropped by about 10 percent on Monday as testing of students and staff detected about 170 coronavirus infections. About 70 were among children who had already come back to campus, he said, and each had secondary contacts who also had to be sent home. Earlier in the academic year, he said, perhaps 3 percent of students would have returned from a break with an infection. A county health official, he said, told him to assume that a tenth of his student body had the virus roughly 1,000 children. As Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, put it in a New Years Eve tweet: Be super careful its raining Covid. And yet in an interview this week, Wachter also was bullish on Californias prospects. Heres some of our chat, edited and condensed: Are things as bad as they look? Weve got a pretty terrible period ahead of us. The question is how long it lasts, and how bad it gets. We now have pretty good evidence that Omicron is a substantially less severe virus than Delta, particularly in people whove been vaccinated. And were seeing a disconnect between the number of cases, which are enormous, and the numbers of hospitalizations and people in intensive care units who are really sick. So theres hope? I think February and March are going to be OK, and maybe even very good. The way Omicron is acting, the levels of immunity, the fact that many unvaccinated people are going to get their immunity the hard way, through infection theres much that is hopeful over the next four to six weeks. Should schools be open? If we take all the precautions ventilation, opening windows, testing, people upping their mask game and the kids are vaccinated, theres a reasonable chance we can operate the schools safely. But its probably not going to work where all that is not happening. Theres this narrative that closing the schools was the biggest mistake of 2020, which I think kind of hardens everybodys position. Closing presents real hardships to kids and their parents. We also are looking at a really very large threat in terms of infection that probably will be gone by February. Theres so much infection around now that theres a good chance someone will have Covid in a classroom of 20 kids. The events of Jan. 6 did expose critical departmental failures and deficiencies with operational planning, intelligence, staffing, training and equipment. Im pleased to report that we have addressed a significant portion of the many recommendations issued to the department. In fact, of the more than 100 recommendations issued by the inspector general, we have implemented and are addressing over 90 of them. Today, Im confident that the U.S. Capitol Police Department has made significant progress addressing the deficiencies that impacted the departments response on Jan. 6. And while more work remains to be done, the men and women of the Capitol Police stand ready to fulfill their mission each and every day. Any officer that would be deployed as a C.D.U. officer now would have all their equipment. It might, might, might not be new equipment, but they will they will not come out there without everything they need. We are sharing information better. We are assigning responsibilities. People know what their responsibilities are and we have backups to each one of the different commanders. So the blueprint that has been created has weve used it many times since the 6th, and were very confident that it gives us everything we need to ensure that the planning that we do, the sharing of information and that everybody on the department understands what their responsibilities are. We intend to hire over 280 police officers in this fiscal year. In a normal year, we would hire less than half of that. But because we want to get ahead of attrition, attrition that has increased over the last year, were going to hire 280 officers this year. Our intent is to hire 280 police officers for the next three years. That will get us head of attrition, and my hope is that will get us to where we need to be in terms of staffing. Shorter-term strategies are to look at hiring to re-employ annuitants, hiring or allowing for lateral transfers, lateral hires from other agencies and then also looking at contract security officers that can assist at particular locations where we dont really need an armed Capitol Police officer. As of this week, more than 225 people have been accused of attacking or interfering with the police that day. About 275 have been charged with what the government describes as the chief political crime on Jan. 6: obstructing Congresss duty to certify the 2020 presidential vote count. A little over 300 people have been charged with petty crimes alone, mostly trespassing and disorderly conduct. But a big question hangs over the prosecutions: Will the Justice Department move beyond charging the rioters themselves? So far, the department has provided no public indication of the degree to which it might be pursuing a case against former President Donald J. Trump and the circle of his allies who helped inspire the chaos with their baseless claims of election fraud. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland is scheduled to give a speech on Wednesday, one day before the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, but is not expected to provide any signals about the direction of the departments investigation. A spokeswoman said he would not address any specific cases or individuals. On Capitol Hill, the House select committee on Jan. 6 is interviewing witnesses and has issued subpoenas to a number of high-profile figures allied with Mr. Trump. And with Mr. Garland and the Justice Department remaining mum about their intentions, members of the committee have signaled a willingness to exert pressure on the department, saying they would consider making criminal referrals if their investigation turns up evidence that could support a prosecution against Mr. Trump or others. Even the prosecutions of those who rioted at the Capitol have presented an array of moral and legal challenges that have bedeviled judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers. Mr. Garland reiterated that the department would not share details about its findings even as investigators have issued 5,000 subpoenas and search warrants, inspected over 20,000 hours of video footage and sifted through an estimated 15 terabytes of data. I understand that this may not be the answer some are looking for, he said. But we will and we must speak through our work. Anything else jeopardizes the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens. While the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has signaled an openness to making a criminal referral to the department if it comes across evidence that Mr. Trump or others broke the law, Mr. Garland did not mention Mr. Trump or any specific investigation the department might be pursuing. Mr. Garland has never given any substantive public indication of whether or how aggressively the department might be building a case against Mr. Trump or his advisers, and it is not clear what charges they could be subject to. Some Democrats have openly pushed Mr. Garland to make clear that he intends to act. Last month, former Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said Mr. Garland would either rise to the occasion or go down in infamy as one of the worst attorney generals in this countrys history if he did not prosecute Mr. Trump for actions he took before and during the attack. Department officials have pointed out that the agencys Jan. 6 inquiry, among the largest investigations in its history, has already produced results. It has led to more than 700 arrests, and more than 275 people have been charged with obstructing Congresss duty to certify the election results. The F.B.I. asked the public on Wednesday for help in identifying hundreds of additional suspects, and the government estimates that as many as 2,500 people could face federal charges. Under the circumstances, Mr. Upton is showing clear signs of fatigue. Youve got metal detectors now going on the House floor. We get really nasty threats at home. The tone gets, you know, tougher and tougher, and its a pretty toxic place, he said last month on CNN. Ive never seen anything like this before. None of the 10 have fallen so far in the Republican firmament as Ms. Cheney, nor risen so high in the esteem of many in both parties who fear and loathe Mr. Trump. The daughter of a former vice president who was once the embodiment of confrontational conservatism, for better or worse, Ms. Cheney started 2021 as the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, a political knife fighter believed by many to be destined for the speakership. Her vote to impeach, and her outspoken denunciations of the lie pushed by Mr. Trump and embraced by many of her colleagues that the 2020 election was stolen, cost her dearly. She was ousted from her leadership post, ejected from the Wyoming Republican Party and targeted repeatedly by the former president, who has tried to unite Wyoming voters around the primary opponent he has endorsed, Harriet Hageman. Ms. Cheney has soldiered on, becoming the vice chairwoman of the House select committee investigating the riot, the face of Republican resistance to Trumpism and a one-woman wrecking crew for Mr. McCarthys ambitions to become speaker next year if the party retakes control of the House. Looking back, Ms. Cheney said in an interview that her fall from Republican leadership was inevitable as long as she had to share the stage with Mr. McCarthy, whose brief denunciation of Mr. Trump after Jan. 6 quickly gave way to a resumption of fealty. It was increasingly clear that staying as conference chair was going to require me to perpetuate the lie about the election, Ms. Cheney said. I was simply not willing to look the other way and accept what he did. Mr. McCarthy, by contrast, visited Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla, near the end of January, making it pretty clear the path that he had chosen, Ms. Cheney added. It was one that was not faithful to the Constitution. Oregon is legalizing mushrooms. Ketamine can be delivered to your home. People are microdosing LSD to treat pandemic-related anxiety and Wall Street is pouring billions into companies that sell mind-altering drugs. It seems like psychedelics though mostly still illegal are everywhere. While the federal government does not recognize a medical use for most of these drugs and says they have potential for abuse, some of the most prominent universities in the world are studying four substances in particular: psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and LSD. The bulk of available research suggests that these substances hold promise as part of larger treatment plans. There is also growing evidence that psychedelic drugs operate differently in the brain than addictive drugs, and advocates have been consistently calling for legalization. But psychedelics remain expensive and difficult to gain access to legally, unless you are part of a research study for mental health purposes. These drugs are not all the same and do come with risks. One quality they share is the ability to create an altered state of consciousness, commonly referred to as a trip. That effect can either provide a sense of perspective or be downright terrifying. Youre not likely to overdose on them, but you can have life-changing negative experiences, Katharine Neill Harris, a drug policy researcher at Rice University in Texas, said. To avoid these experiences, while receiving the benefits these drugs can offer, people have started microdosing smaller amounts at regular intervals but they are often doing so without professional guidance, and some remain uninformed about significant downsides with very little evidence of benefits. Heres what researchers are learning about the psychedelic drugs most prominently involved in mental health research. Psilocybin As the active chemical in magic mushrooms, or shrooms, psilocybin is the most studied of the psychedelic chemicals found in plants and fungi, and its the most likely to become an accepted mental health therapy soon. After last years legalization in Oregon, entrepreneurs began investing tens of millions in psilocybin research there, and other cities and states are following suit. Potential mental health uses: Research conducted in the last decade suggests that psilocybin, typically taken in pill form, has the potential to treat substance use disorders, including alcoholism and nicotine addiction, as well as depression. That research isnt conclusive yet, said Paul Hutson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies psilocybin and leads the schools center for psychedelics research. But he anticipates there will soon be enough evidence for the Food and Drug Administration to approve psilocybin capsules to treat at least some of these disorders most likely in the next five years or so. In the meantime, clinical trials of psilocybin for a variety of conditions are taking place across the country, though they can be difficult to find or have long waiting lists. Still, its safer, Dr. Hutson said, to try psilocybin as part of a study than on your own or in one of the treatment clinics that have popped up. In these trials, patients attend appointments to prepare for and process their psychedelic trip with a professional in an environment where any side effects can be managed. What it does: According to users who have participated in trials, a mushroom trip may induce euphoria and an increased awareness of parts of their environment. For instance, solid objects might seem to breathe in and out. A trip can last more than six hours, and some people describe a positive afterglow lasting for months. Risks: Psilocybin can cause distressing hallucinations or feelings of panic and anxiety in some patients, especially at high doses. You cant be guaranteed safety standards having a trained professional who can reassure you, protect you and even administer drugs during a bad trip in therapy outside of a research trial, Dr. Harris said. One use of psilocybin, which should not be confused with standard treatment described above, is microdosing. By taking small doses perhaps 10 percent of a standard dose every few days, some people might experience mental health benefits without the high. But microdosing psilocybin can be harmful, and there is some evidence that it can damage the heart over time. Recent research also suggests that the positive impacts of microdosing in humans may be largely caused by the placebo effect. Ketamine First synthesized in 1956, ketamine, sometimes called Special K, is used today as an anesthetic by veterinarians and in emergency or combat medicine. Because it is the one psychedelic thats never been illegal, researchers have been able to explore ketamines potential as a mental health treatment and build a case for its use in humans. Potential mental health uses: Many brain disorders like schizophrenia, depression and anxiety are characterized by atrophy in the prefrontal cortex. The evidence is strong, though not yet conclusive, that ketamine helps people with psychiatric disorders by promoting regrowth over time in neurons in this area. That could help explain the near-immediate feelings of relief that users report, which is one of the reasons it has been used in the treatment of suicidal patients. Esketamine, a form of ketamine, showed such promise for treating major depression, often faster than other drugs, that the F.D.A. approved its limited use in early 2019. What it does: Ketamine can create euphoria and provide a sense of detachment from reality. Users taking a low dose might feel as though theyre floating or that their body is numb. Higher doses can temporarily make people clumsy and forget where they are or even who they are. Blurred vision or hallucinations are common. Ketamine works differently from other psychedelics. Most psychedelics like LSD, MDMA and those derived from plants operate by affecting serotonin receptors, which alter mood and happiness. Ketamine affects a different class of brain receptors that are important for learning and memory. Both kinds of receptors are found in the brains prefrontal cortex, which might explain why ketamine and the other psychedelics seem to have similar impacts on mental health. The prefrontal cortex is a brain region thats really critical, said David Olson, a chemistry professor at University of California, Davis, who studies chemicals that affect brain function. It talks to a whole bunch of brain regions that regulate things like mood, emotion, fear, reward. Risks: Ketamine is also known for a specific and scary side effect nicknamed the k-hole. Its rare in clinical settings, but users may feel disassociated from themselves and their surroundings and panic or feel paranoid. LSD Turn on, tune in, drop out. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Silicon Valley microdosing. Suffice it to say, LSD, also known as acid, has a storied place in American popular culture. Potential mental health uses: Its shown promise for treating alcohol addiction and has been studied for other conditions like depression. As with psilocybin, some new LSD adherents microdose to achieve mental health benefits without the trip. What it does: LSD users have reported feelings of bliss during their trip, being able to see sound and having mystical experiences as well as a sense of closeness with others. Risks: Some people experience lasting psychological trauma caused by a bad trip, especially when they take higher doses or use LSD often. Microdosing LSD may have physical risks, too. In a study on rats, microdosing LSD had the opposite effect of a trip; it made the rats display signs of psychiatric illness, like aggression and poor grooming. Similar to microdosing psilocybin, it may also strain the heart by overworking the neurons around the organ. If youre constantly stimulating these neurons, even with a small dose of these compounds, the neurons just cant take it, Dr. Olson said. MDMA A well-known club drug, also known as ecstasy or molly, MDMA has been researched on and off for decades for potential mental health benefits. While the drug remains illegal, the F.D.A. allows its use in research and treatment for life-threatening illness. Potential mental health uses: In 2010, results from a study on treatment-resistant PTSD renewed interest in MDMA research. Since then, it has also been explored as a treatment for other conditions like substance use disorder or social anxiety in autistic adults, although it has more potential to cause damage than some other psychedelics. What it does: MDMA is often known by its street name ecstasy from the feeling of euphoria and connectedness it promotes in users. Risks: MDMA can cause lasting kidney and organ damage as well as heart arrhythmias during a trip, especially in patients with related pre-existing conditions. *** Psychedelic drugs arent simple substances. More time and research will provide answers about their effects on the brain and whether its possible to use them for medical treatments. For now, Dr. Hutson cautioned that evidence supports psychedelic treatments only in cases where other forms of treatment havent worked. Theyre not a panacea that everybody is going to respond to, he said. Kat Eschner is a science and business journalist based in Toronto. She is a contributing editor for Popular Science and a contributor to Fortune magazine. Hong Kong announced a series of strict pandemic control measures on Wednesday, including suspending flights from the United States and seven other countries, as it scrambled to contain an incipient coronavirus outbreak. The new measures came as the authorities held thousands of passengers of a cruise ship under mandatory quarantine to trace a Covid case. The flight bans will deepen the citys isolation from the outside world and mark a return to the tough restrictions the city imposed in the early days of the pandemic. Hong Kong has largely brought the coronavirus under control, but the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant threatens to set off the citys fifth wave of the pandemic. Given the very dire situation of the pandemic, we have to grasp this critical moment, Carrie Lam, Hong Kongs chief executive, said at a news conference. NEW DELHI When the Omicron coronavirus variant spread through India late in December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to be vigilant and follow medical guidelines. Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of the capital region of Delhi, swiftly introduced night curfews, shut down movie theaters, and slashed restaurants and public transport to half capacity. Then, both men hit the campaign trail, often appearing without masks in packed rallies of thousands. When it is our bread and butter at stake, they force restrictions and lockdowns, said Ajay Tiwari, a 41-year-old taxi driver in New Delhi. There are much bigger crowds at political rallies, but they dont impose any lockdown in those areas. It really pains us deep in the heart. Protests in Kazakhstan incited by anger over surging fuel prices have intensified into something more combustible and bloody: clashes over the future direction of the country that have prompted a Russia-led military intervention and the killing of dozens of antigovernment demonstrators. Hundreds more have been injured. The government said on Friday that order had been mainly restored after thousands of angry protesters took to the streets of Kazakhstan, creating the biggest crisis to shake the autocratic Central Asian country since it gained independence in 1991. City Hall in Almaty, the countrys largest city, was set ablaze. An angry mob took over the airport. Protesters set fire to police vehicles and to the regional branch of the ruling Nur Otan party. The police, in turn, accused demonstrators of being responsible for the deaths of 13 officers and for leaving 353 injured. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has authorized the nations security forces to fire without warning. The harsh response is a reflection of the stark challenges he faces less than three years into his rule, and seems to portend a protracted crackdown on all forms of dissent, including antigovernment activists, human rights advocates and independent journalists. The World Health Organization says that it is monitoring a coronavirus variant detected in a small number of patients in France, but that, for now, there is little reason to worry about its spread. The B.1.640.2 variant was first identified in October and uploaded to Gisaid, a database for disease variants, on Nov. 4. Only about 20 samples have been sequenced so far, experts said this week, and only one since early December. Abdi Mahmud, a Covid incident manager with the W.H.O., told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the variant had been on the agencys radar since November, but added that it did not appear to have spread widely over the past two months. It recognizes the extraordinary scale of injustice done to so many people over a long period of time, and offers, as far as possible, restitution, said Paul Johnson, a professor of social sciences at the University of Leeds, who said the change could cover thousands of people. It draws a line under five centuries of state-sanctioned persecution of gay people and says: never again. Image An undated photo of Mr. Stewart. But the change and framing the result as a pardon does not go far enough in addressing the injustice of the past, Mr. Stewart said. He said it was an insult that the government would not proactively reach out to him to clear his conviction. Most of the men it affects, its much too late for them to pursue the careers that they want to be pursuing, said Katy Watts, a lawyer for Liberty, a human rights organization that has represented clients like Mr. Stewart. Its deeply frustrating that its taken so long. Mr. Stewart said, I dont feel its enough, when you consider the impact its had and the loss to me in my life and my career, adding he had appealed his conviction to several home secretaries over the years. I dont want a pardon either, he added, because a pardon is an admission of guilt on my part. Mr. Stewart said he was profiled as gay by two police officers and charged in 1981 after he went into a public restroom to wash his hands on a weekday morning. Youre talking about a young man with very blonde hair tied in pigtails, he said. That would have been pretty conspicuous. He was convicted of importuning a year later. According to a 2000 Home Office report, broad definitions against importuning and gross indecency became a way to regulate consensual behavior between homosexual men. Soliciting, for example, could involve a smile, wink, gesture or some other physical signal. MOSCOW A Russian-led military alliance said late Wednesday that it would send peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the countrys president to help put down a growing protest movement there. The current chairman of the alliance, the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said in a statement that the troops would be stationed there only for a limited time period, until order could be restored. He did not elaborate on how many soldiers could be mobilized or how long they might stay. Russia is notorious for sending in troops under the guise of peacekeeping missions that go on to establish a permanent presence in the host countries. The Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, issued the invitation earlier in the evening. Calling the demonstrators a band of international terrorists, he said he was turning to Russias version of NATO, called the Collective Security Treaty Organization, to help Kazakhstan overcome this terrorist threat. PARIS Faced with a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the Omicron variant, President Emmanuel Macron of France said Wednesday that he wanted to piss off millions of his citizens who refuse to get vaccinated by squeezing them out of the countrys public spaces. By shocking the nation with a vulgarity three months before presidential elections, Mr. Macron was relaying not only a public health message, but also a political one. He appeared to be calculating that tapping into the growing public anger against the unvaccinated held more potential electoral rewards than the risk of angering an anti-vaccination minority whose support he has little hope of ever getting. Using his harshest language yet to urge the recalcitrant to get their shots, Mr. Macron said he would not throw them in prison or vaccinate them by force. But he made it clear he meant to make their lives harder. In doing so, Mr. Macron, an inveterate political gambler who became the nations youngest elected leader five years ago, effectively kicked off his campaign for re-election Wednesday, drawing clear lines between his supporters and opponents. He also moved the focus of debate away from themes like immigration and Islam that have dominated the political race so far and that are advantageous to his strongest rivals, on the right and far right. Rising nationalism has contributed, too, increasing appetites for stories portraying ones country as righteous and pure. Polands nationalist government, in 2018, passed legislation making it a crime to suggest that Poland bore any responsibility for Nazi atrocities on its soil. The law was framed not as suppressing memories but as protecting an identity of unblemished national heroism whose accuracy was almost beside the point. Social polarization has deepened those appetites even further. As more people feel that their in-group is locked in a battle for racial or partisan dominance, they grow more receptive to versions of history that say they should and will prevail. These revisions, Dr. Little said, often look more like reframing history than rewriting it. In the Netherlands, for example, the Dutch far right has risen by repositioning Dutch history as a great conflict between Christianity and Islam. Though few historians would accept this portrayal, it has been a factor in those parties growth. Even Chinas ruling party, with all its power to manufacture facts, puts growing emphasis on matters of interpretation playing up the unbroken heroism of its leaders to real effect. In 2019 alone, red museums and memorials, aggrandizing Communist Party history, drew 1.4 billion visits, making them among the most popular destinations in the world. For all the warnings from 20th century writers like George Orwell that history would be forcibly stamped out, the graver threat may that people, offered a choice, turn their backs on it voluntarily. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. The hot spots map shows the share of population with a new reported case over the last week. Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (daily confirmed and suspected Covid-19 hospital admissions); Census Bureau (population data). Data prior to October 2020 was unreliable. Data reported in the most recent seven days may be incomplete. This chart shows for each age group the number of people per 100,000 that were newly admitted to a hospital with Covid-19 each day, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). Tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U.s and deaths show seven-day averages. Hospitalization and I.C.U. data may not yet be available for yesterday. Figures shown are the most recent data available. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). The seven-day average is the average of the most recent seven days of data. Cases and deaths data are assigned to dates based on when figures are publicly reported. Figures for Covid patients in hospitals and I.C.U.s are the most recent number of patients with Covid-19 who are hospitalized or in an intensive care unit on that day. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government. Tests represent the number of individual P.C.R. viral test specimens tested by laboratories and state health departments and reported to the federal government. Hospitalizations and tests are counted based on dates assigned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and are subject to historical revisions. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (hospitalizations); Centers for Disease Control and state governments (vaccinations); Census Bureau (population and demographic data). The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. Hospitalized for each county shows the average number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized per 100,000 residents within any hospital service areas that intersect with the county and is updated once a week. Vaccination data is not available for some counties. All-time charts show data from Jan. 21, 2020 to present. This table is sorted by places with the most cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Statewide data often updates more frequently than county-level data, and may not equal the sum of county-level figures. Charts show change in daily averages and are each on their own scale. New Jersey typically releases new data each day. Weekend counts may be lower because fewer sources report to the state. About the data In data for New Jersey, The Times primarily relies on reports from the state. New Jersey typically releases new data each day. Weekend counts may be lower because fewer sources report to the state. The state reports cases and deaths based on a persons permanent or usual residence. The Times has identified reporting anomalies or methodology changes in the data. More about reporting anomalies or changes March 16, 2022: New Jersey added a backlog of about 1,200 cases from testing that occurred in December 2021 and January 2022. New Jersey added a backlog of about 1,200 cases from testing that occurred in December 2021 and January 2022. May 5, 2021: New Jersey added more than 2,600 cases from previous months. New Jersey added more than 2,600 cases from previous months. April 26, 2021: New Jersey removed more than 10,000 duplicate cases. New Jersey removed more than 10,000 duplicate cases. Jan. 4, 2021: New Jersey began reporting probable cases identified through antigen testing. New Jersey began reporting probable cases identified through antigen testing. July 22, 2020: New Jersey removed duplicate or erroneous death reports, causing a decrease in the total number of deaths. New Jersey removed duplicate or erroneous death reports, causing a decrease in the total number of deaths. June 25, 2020: New Jersey began reporting probable deaths, including those from earlier in the pandemic, causing a jump in the number of total deaths. In early May 2021, New Jersey removed many historical cases as part of a process to remove errors. This resulted in a steep decline in newly reported cases. The tallies on this page include probable and confirmed cases and deaths. Confirmed cases and deaths, which are widely considered to be an undercount of the true toll, are counts of individuals whose coronavirus infections were confirmed by a molecular laboratory test. Probable cases and deaths count individuals who meet criteria for other types of testing, symptoms and exposure, as developed by national and local governments. Governments often revise data or report a single-day large increase in cases or deaths from unspecified days without historical revisions, which can cause an irregular pattern in the daily reported figures. The Times is excluding these anomalies from seven-day averages when possible. For agencies that do not report data every day, variation in the schedule on which cases or deaths are reported, such as around holidays, can also cause an irregular pattern in averages. The Times uses an adjustment method to vary the number of days included in an average to remove these irregularities. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. The hot spots map shows the share of population with a new reported case over the last week. Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (daily confirmed and suspected Covid-19 hospital admissions); Census Bureau (population data). Data prior to October 2020 was unreliable. Data reported in the most recent seven days may be incomplete. This chart shows for each age group the number of people per 100,000 that were newly admitted to a hospital with Covid-19 each day, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). Tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U.s and deaths show seven-day averages. Hospitalization and I.C.U. data may not yet be available for yesterday. Figures shown are the most recent data available. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). The seven-day average is the average of the most recent seven days of data. Cases and deaths data are assigned to dates based on when figures are publicly reported. Figures for Covid patients in hospitals and I.C.U.s are the most recent number of patients with Covid-19 who are hospitalized or in an intensive care unit on that day. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government. Tests represent the number of individual P.C.R. viral test specimens tested by laboratories and state health departments and reported to the federal government. Hospitalizations and tests are counted based on dates assigned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and are subject to historical revisions. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (hospitalizations); Centers for Disease Control and state governments (vaccinations); Census Bureau (population and demographic data). The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. Hospitalized for each county shows the average number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized per 100,000 residents within any hospital service areas that intersect with the county and is updated once a week. Vaccination data is not available for some counties. All-time charts show data from Jan. 21, 2020 to present. This table is sorted by places with the most cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Statewide data often updates more frequently than county-level data, and may not equal the sum of county-level figures. Charts show change in daily averages and are each on their own scale. Puerto Rico typically releases new data each day. Weekend counts may be lower because fewer sources report to the territory. About the data In data for Puerto Rico, The Times primarily relies on reports from the territory. Puerto Rico typically releases new data each day. Weekend counts may be lower because fewer sources report to the territory. The Times has identified reporting anomalies or methodology changes in the data. More about reporting anomalies or changes Jan. 1, 2022: Puerto Rico did not announce new cases and deaths on New Year's Day. Puerto Rico did not announce new cases and deaths on New Year's Day. March 30, 2021: The daily testing count includes many older tests. The daily testing count includes many older tests. March 7, 2021: Puerto Rico changed the format of its data, resulting in one-day adjustments of cases and deaths in some municipalities. Puerto Rico changed the format of its data, resulting in one-day adjustments of cases and deaths in some municipalities. Oct. 23, 2020: Puerto Rico added a backlog of test results from unspecified days. Puerto Rico added a backlog of test results from unspecified days. April 21, 2020: Puerto Rico revised the number of cases downward after resolving an issue with duplicates. Puerto Rico revised the number of cases downward after resolving an issue with duplicates. April 12, 2020: Puerto Rico started including some probable Covid-19-related deaths. From April 19 to April 22, the territory stopped reporting probable deaths, and then continued again on April 23. The territorial health department acknowledged in late April that it had been double-counting some patients. That issue had been resolved by early May, officials said. Muncipality-level weekly cases per capita are shown starting in early May, when The Times began gathering the data. On Nov. 7, Puerto Rico updated its case definitions and recategorized thousands of previously announced cases identified through antibody testing as suspected cases. Officials had previously included these cases as probable cases. The Times data includes cases identified through antibody testing announced before Nov. 7, but includes only cases identified through P.C.R. or antigen testing after this date. The tallies on this page include probable and confirmed cases and deaths. Confirmed cases and deaths, which are widely considered to be an undercount of the true toll, are counts of individuals whose coronavirus infections were confirmed by a molecular laboratory test. Probable cases and deaths count individuals who meet criteria for other types of testing, symptoms and exposure, as developed by national and local governments. Governments often revise data or report a single-day large increase in cases or deaths from unspecified days without historical revisions, which can cause an irregular pattern in the daily reported figures. The Times is excluding these anomalies from seven-day averages when possible. For agencies that do not report data every day, variation in the schedule on which cases or deaths are reported, such as around holidays, can also cause an irregular pattern in averages. The Times uses an adjustment method to vary the number of days included in an average to remove these irregularities. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. The hot spots map shows the share of population with a new reported case over the last week. Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (daily confirmed and suspected Covid-19 hospital admissions); Census Bureau (population data). Data prior to October 2020 was unreliable. Data reported in the most recent seven days may be incomplete. This chart shows for each age group the number of people per 100,000 that were newly admitted to a hospital with Covid-19 each day, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). Tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U.s and deaths show seven-day averages. Hospitalization and I.C.U. data may not yet be available for yesterday. Figures shown are the most recent data available. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. About this data Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state governments, U.S. Census Bureau. The C.D.C. reported on Nov. 30 that booster doses are sometimes misclassified as first doses, which may overestimate first dose coverage among adults. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (tests, hospitalizations, I.C.U. patients). The seven-day average is the average of the most recent seven days of data. Cases and deaths data are assigned to dates based on when figures are publicly reported. Figures for Covid patients in hospitals and I.C.U.s are the most recent number of patients with Covid-19 who are hospitalized or in an intensive care unit on that day. Dips and spikes could be due to inconsistent reporting by hospitals. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government. Tests represent the number of individual P.C.R. viral test specimens tested by laboratories and state health departments and reported to the federal government. Hospitalizations and tests are counted based on dates assigned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and are subject to historical revisions. Sources: State and local health agencies (cases, deaths); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (hospitalizations); Centers for Disease Control and state governments (vaccinations); Census Bureau (population and demographic data). The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. Hospitalized for each county shows the average number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized per 100,000 residents within any hospital service areas that intersect with the county and is updated once a week. Vaccination data is not available for some counties. All-time charts show data from Jan. 21, 2020 to present. State and county figures may be inconsistent because of reporting delays or revisions by officials. ! State and county figures may be inconsistent because of reporting delays or revisions by officials. This table is sorted by places with the most cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Statewide data often updates more frequently than county-level data, and may not equal the sum of county-level figures. Charts show change in daily averages and are each on their own scale. Rhode Island typically releases new data on weekdays. Counts on Mondays or Tuesdays may include totals from the weekend. About the data In data for Rhode Island, The Times primarily relies on reports from the state. Rhode Island typically releases new data on weekdays. Counts on Mondays or Tuesdays may include totals from the weekend. The state reports cases and deaths based on persons permanent or usual residence. The state also includes nonresidents diagnosed in the state. The Times has identified reporting anomalies or methodology changes in the data. More about reporting anomalies or changes May 1, 2022: State and county figures may be inconsistent because of reporting delays or revisions by officials. State and county figures may be inconsistent because of reporting delays or revisions by officials. March 28, 2022: Rhode Island added 83 deaths after reviewing records. Rhode Island added 83 deaths after reviewing records. Dec. 31, 2021 to Jan. 3, 2022: Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the New Year's holiday. Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the New Year's holiday. Dec. 24, 2021: Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the Christmas holiday. Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the Christmas holiday. Nov. 25, 2021: Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the Thanksgiving holiday. Rhode Island did not announce new cases and deaths for the Thanksgiving holiday. Nov. 11, 2021: Rhode Island did not announce new data because of the Veterans Day holiday. Rhode Island did not announce new data because of the Veterans Day holiday. Oct. 11, 2021: Rhode Island did not release new data because of the holiday. Rhode Island did not release new data because of the holiday. Sept. 6, 2021: The daily count could be artificially low because many jurisdictions did not announce new data on Labor Day. The daily count could be artificially low because many jurisdictions did not announce new data on Labor Day. Aug. 9, 2021: Rhode Island did not release data because of Victory Day, a state holiday. Rhode Island did not release data because of Victory Day, a state holiday. May 19, 2021: Rhode Island did not report new county cases and deaths. Rhode Island did not report new county cases and deaths. May 13, 2021: Rhode Island removed 170 previously announced cases. Rhode Island removed 170 previously announced cases. Feb. 22, 2021: Rhode Island added 80 deaths from recent months after reconciling records. Rhode Island added 80 deaths from recent months after reconciling records. Nov. 27, 2020: Rhode Island reported data for Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 after reporting no data on Thanksgiving. Rhode Island reported data for Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 after reporting no data on Thanksgiving. Sept. 25, 2020: Rhode Island revised its case count downward by about 250 cases after removing duplicate records. Rhode Island does not regularly publish the number of cases and deaths per county. In June, Rhode Island stopped publishing updates on weekends. The tallies on this page include cases that have been identified by public health officials as probable coronavirus patients through antigen testing. Confirmed cases and deaths, which are widely considered to be an undercount of the true toll, are counts of individuals whose coronavirus infections were confirmed by a molecular laboratory test. Probable cases and deaths count individuals who meet criteria for other types of testing, symptoms and exposure, as developed by national and local governments. Governments often revise data or report a single-day large increase in cases or deaths from unspecified days without historical revisions, which can cause an irregular pattern in the daily reported figures. The Times is excluding these anomalies from seven-day averages when possible. For agencies that do not report data every day, variation in the schedule on which cases or deaths are reported, such as around holidays, can also cause an irregular pattern in averages. The Times uses an adjustment method to vary the number of days included in an average to remove these irregularities. An Indonesian man loves his workplace so much that he has named his son after it. His 5-month-old boys name is Statistical Information Communication Office Even before he got married, Samet Wahyudi knew that if he ever had a son, he wanted to name him after the department he worked in as a civil servant. He made that very clear to his fiance before they got married, and she accepted his condition. Their first child was a girl, so Samet agreed on a more conventional name for her, but when his wife, Linda, gave birth to their second child, a boy, in December of last year, he knew exactly what his name would be Statistical Information Communication Office. Indonesian media reported on the childs unusual name earlier this month, after checking the countrys name registration database. Samet Wahyudi told reporters that he got a job as a civil servant in the city of Brebes in 2003, and he has been working Statistical Information Communication Office ever since. This place has become like a second home for him, so he wanted it connected to his son somehow. Born on December 23, 2020, Statistical Information Communication Office will probably have a tough time introducing himself with his full name, which is why his parents have already chosen a nickname for him, Dinko. Asked if he has given any thought to how his son will feel about his name when he grows up, the Indonesian civil servant said that he is sure the boy will get used to it eventually. Samets wife, Linda, accepted the bizarre name right away, but her parents had some objections that they eventually dropped, after hearing about the deal the parents had even before they were married. Hopefully, Statistical Information Communication Office doesnt end up taking his parents to court for ruining his childhood with this weird name. Mo moved to Britain in July, where he claimed political asylum over concerns that his political beliefs and involvement in protests could result in arrest. He told VOA he wasnt surprised that Citizen News had followed in the footsteps of Stand News. "There may be more independent or small online news channels or independent journalists [that decide] not to publish," he said. But media critics who spoke with VOA say the climate for journalism is changing. Hong Kong media is confused over what is allowed to be published, said Michael Mo, a former district councilor in Hong Kong and columnist for Citizen News. "No one knows which story will make someone in power unhappy and... harass journalists through other charges or to crush the entire media outlet." Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Law, however, rejected criticism that the national security law and the sedition investigation at Stand News are a sign that press freedom faces "extinction." At a weekly news conference on Tuesday, Lam said those arrested are falling afoul of laws and endangering national security. "We have the complete dismantling initiative by the government. Not just of the free press, independent press but the entire civil society," Lokman Tsui, a digital rights researcher and former assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's journalism school, told VOA. Hong Kong's use of sedition and national security laws have been condemned by international bodies including the United Nations, which said last week it was alarmed by the "crackdown on civic space." At least 100 people, including protesters and dissidents, have been arrested under the guise of the security law and at least 50 civil society groups have disbanded in the past 18 months. The pro-democracy news website Stand News ceased publishing after more than 200 police officers raided its newsroom on Dec. 29. The raid was part of a sedition investigation, police said last week. The closure of three news outlets within days of each other highlights the rapid decline of Hong Kong's independent media, analysts say. In announcing their closures Tuesday, the news websites Citizen News and Mad Dog Daily both cited concerns for the safety of staff after raids and arrests at other outlets. Critics And Troublemakers Beware For the independent Citizen News, which was founded in 2017, "the trigger point was the fate of Stand News," the outlet's chief writer Chris Yeung told reporters on Monday. "The implications are clear that the overall media is facing an increasingly tough environment, and for those who are being seen as critical or troublemakers -- they are more vulnerable," Yeung said. "We could not rule out that we might be exposed to some risks." Chief Editor Daisy Li added, "We haven't changed, the climate of Hong Kong has. We can't be sure if our words will break the laws -- and we need to be responsible to our journalists." Former opposition politician Raymond Wong, owner of Mad Dog Daily, said the website's reputation for critical coverage could put staff at risk. Wong, who is in Taiwan, cited concerns for staff, saying on YouTube, "I am in a safer place and criticize [the Hong Kong government] on a daily basis, but they have to worry about their lives every day." At least four news outlets have closed since the national security law came into force in June 2020, prohibiting acts deemed as subversion, secession and foreign collusion. Sedition is not among the offenses listed under the security law but authorities have turned to colonial-era ordinances to target those who are allegedly guilty of seditious acts. The first to close was pro-democracy news website Apple Daily, which shuttered after several executives were charged under the national security law and authorities froze the company's assets. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who has been in jail on a range of charges since December 2020, now faces three outstanding charges under the security law and could be facing life in prison. Authorities filed an additional sedition charge against Lai and his staff the same week as the dawn raids on Stand News. The wide application of laws has added to the sense of caution. Five members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists were arrested last year for allegedly "conspiring to publish seditious materials." Authorities claimed that sheep characters featured in children's books were inciting hatred toward the government. "These tiny things can trigger the government already, and they have powerful tools at their disposal to lash out, including freezing assets of the news organizations, arresting the editors, journalists and the owners," researcher Tsui said. Tsui, who is now based in the Netherlands, said the press is supposed to be a "watchdog" but that the government is trying to create its own narrative. "If your job is to say black is black and white is white, but the government is keen on saying black is white and white is black... then you're at risk for being seditious, for threatening national security and so on," he said. As well as the closures, journalism groups have criticized changes at the city's only public broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), which they say is damaging its editorial independence. Tsui believes Hong Kong's media environment is becoming closer to that of Chinas, where outlets are tightly controlled by the state. It is a move that is "scary not just for Hong Kong but for the entire world," said Tsui. "China has been a black box... Now this tiny glimpse, this peek in the window, is closing down now. Hong Kong is slowly turning into a black box." Ben Smith New York Times media columnist Ben Smith is exiting the paper to serve as editor-in-chief for a news organization being started by Justin Smith, who is leaving his position as chief executive of Bloomberg Media. In a tweet, Justin Smith said that the proposed platform would be a new kind of global news media company that serves unbiased journalism to a truly global audience. Before coming to the Times in 2020, Ben Smith was editor-in-chief at Buzzfeed News and he previously wrote for Politico. Justin Smith joined Bloomberg in 2013 after serving as president of Atlantic Consumer Media. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the venture, with the working title Project Coda, is expected to feature platforms including digital publishing, email newsletters, podcasts and digital video. John Lee NBC Universal launches NBCUnified, a first-party identity platform that it says will let advertisers track and monitor consumer relationships without cookies or device IDs. The platform will combine data from streaming viewership, newsletter subscriptions, theme park visits and ecommerce purchases to create person-level IDs and household IDs. That information can then be matched up with first-party data from marketers and third-party data from licensed providers. The demand for advanced audiences to be utilized is growing at an incredible pace, so we are trying to stay ahead of that, NBCUniversal Adversiting & Partnerships chief data officer John Lee told Television News Daily. Matt Abramovitz New England Public Media hires Matt Abramovitz as president, effective Feb. 1. Abramovitz is currently vice president of programming for New York classical music station WQXR, a part of New York Public Radio. He helped launch WQXR as a public station in 2009 and has served as its program director and interim general manager. Previously, he worked at WNYC, Blue Note Records and Sirius XM Radio. At NEPM, Abramovitz will be responsible for leading its efforts across radio, television, and digital media platforms. He is committed to the mission and goals of public media and the role that it plays in creating and supporting a strong, vibrant, local community, said Robert Feldman, chair of the NEPM presidential search committee. Abramovitz succeeds Martin Miller, who announced his decision to retire as president of New England Public Media last year. Many motorists who frequently use the M7 motorway might not be aware that the new time-based speed detection cameras installed last year are still not functional. The camera system, which although not yet operational, has already had a major impact on speeding on the busy motorway and Gardai want the system to move into it's next phase of active service. The system, which is in place south of Nenagh between junctions 26 and 27, was installed in March 2021 and remains in the testing phase and facing delays. Chief Superintendent of the Tipperary Garda Division, Derek Smart, wants the system to go live as soon as possible and told a meeting of the Joint Policing Committee it's already yielding results. That system is still in the testing phase - but I have been speaking with our national officer of road policing with regard to getting that system into service, the Chief Super explained. A lot of people don't realise that what we have there at the moment between those two yellow concourses is still testing. That needs to come live as soon as possible, because at the start when that system went in it showed people were responding and slowing down on the particular stretch of road we were aiming to try and get people to slow down on - particularly when there is inclement weather, Chief Superintendent Smart said. The system is designed to detect motorists who break the speed limit but avoid getting caught by slowing down as they pass single-point speed cameras. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and Gardai jointly announced the system for part of the M7 in March 2021. The section of the M7 between junctions 26 and 27 is a known speeding blackspot according to the Garda and road authorities. TII said the delay in passing the testing phase is the need to calibrate and provide certification for the accuracy of the system. Because the camera system is not yet authorised the possibility of a legal challenge to any evidence they capture is open to challenge in court. TII said this week they expect the first prosecutions arising from the average speed detection system would begin to be seen in the first quarter of 2022. In 2020, there were a total of 357 speeding detection made in the vicinity of Junction 26 and Junction 27, which is a known speeding blackspot. TII said speeding on the motorway is very reckless, particularly during heavy rain or hail showers, which increase the potential of serious accidents. Junction 26 to 27 are in an area noted for sudden and severe showers of hail. TII said it had analysed speed data on the M7 corridor since 2017 and identified speeding as a significant issue with some 40 per cent of drivers exceeding the 120km/h speed limit on certain sections. As many as 8,000 teachers could be absent due to Covid-19 when schools return on Thursday, according to a teacher's union. The General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) John Boyle said that 15% of teaching staff, around seven or eight thousand teachers will be absent because of Covid-19 Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland earlier today, Mr Boyle said that the term ahead, up to mid-term, is going to be an extremely difficult one. He said there will be situations whereby children will have to have classes at home. He added that priority will be given to those children who "don't thrive in the remote learning scenario", particularly younger children and those with additional needs. "There isn't a hope" that there would be enough replacement teachers, Mr Boyle said, with concern about the challenges involved in keeping the system going. He called for the reintroduction of contact tracing, and noted that over 60,000 primary school children did contract the virus before Christmas. Much more had to be done about filtration in classrooms, Mr Boyle said. A spokesperson for the Department of Education described a meeting on Tuesday with the unions and health officials as productive. Education stakeholders were briefed by the minister and public health representatives on how the Covid-19 mitigation measures in place in schools have been reviewed by public health and will continue in place in the coming term, the spokesperson said. Public health remains of the view that these mitigation measures are effective and appropriate. Furthermore, public health officials advised that there is no public health rationale to delay the reopening of schools later this week," the education spokesperson said. Schools will operate in line with their Covid-19 response plans, which set out a range of mitigation measures for schools, including hand hygiene, mask-wearing, and social distancing. Each year, Euro NCAP tests dozens of cars to give buyers the best picture of which ones are the safest. While the crash testing is the most eye-catching aspect, as vehicles are launched into walls to see how well they protect occupants, the tests are actually a lot more complex than that. Cars are given a five-star rating, which takes the crash test performance as well as ratings for various different areas such as their safety assistance technology and how collisions affect vulnerable road users. Of the 33 cars tested last year, 22 were given the full five stars but now Euro NCAP has brought in the new year by highlighting the safest cars from the past 12 months. The award in the Large-Off Road category goes to Skodas first allelectric SUV, the #enyaqiv. The TOYOTA Yaris Cross took the top spot in the Small MPV category and the SKODA Fabia was the best Small Family Car @SKODAUK @SKODAUK_Media @skodaweb @ToyotaUK @toyota_europe pic.twitter.com/R60wpRjlkD Euro NCAP (@EuroNCAP) January 4, 2022 One of the top scorers was the Mercedes-EQ EQS, which won in both the electric vehicle and executive vehicle segments. The German firms flagship EV got excellent scores of 96 per cent and 91 per cent in adult occupants and child occupant segments, as well as 80 per cent for safety assist. An honourable mention should also go to the Polestar 2, which achieved the runner-up position in both these segments. Two more electric vehicles topped the large off-road vehicle group, with the Skoda Enyaq iV beating the BMW iX. This feat is made all the more impressive by the fact the Skoda costs considerably less. The Toyota Yaris Cross beat the Volkswagen Caddy to the small MPV title, while the Nissan Qashqai beat the Volkswagen ID.4 to the small off-road vehicle win. Finally, the Skoda Fabia won small family car, with no runner-up announced. Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General, said: 2021 was a tough year for the car industry: a shortage of parts, semiconductors in particular, was the sting in the tail of the Covid crisis, affecting development timelines, production and sales. Still, we saw quite a number of new car models coming to the market, many of them electric or hybrid, and many of them achieving five-star ratings despite the demanding requirements. Well done to the winners as well as to the runners-up, some of which were very close contenders for the top slot in their respective categories. Cagdas Gokbel is a Turkish journalist and writer living in direct provision in Tullamore. Cagdas and his wife Emine left Turkey because of their political beliefs. Here, Cagdas writes about his family history and finds parallels with Ireland's independence struggle. IN 1908 Senior Captain Ahmed Niyazi Bey from Resne (now Resen, North Macedonia), an officer of the Rumelian army, rebelled against the Sultan and went to the mountains with 200 soldiers under his command. In the years before the First World War, a nation that no longer wanted to be imprisoned in the darkness of history was rising up again in the Balkans. They were tired of oppression, poverty and ignorance. According to legend, one day Niyazi and his men, who were by then starving in the forest, encountered a female deer. As his men took aim with their guns to kill the animal, Niyazi gave an order that shocked everyone - the deer would not be killed. Hungry men could be fed without killing a deer. He explained his decision to his men as follows: We came to the mountains and occupied her homeland, so we never had the right to kill her. Today this saying contains a great lesson for people who ruthlessly exploit nature and its resources. The deer stayed with Resneli Niyazi and his men after that day and became the symbol of those who rose against the tyranny of the Sultan. When the Sultan transferred his powers and the constitutional order was declared (July 23, 1908), Resneli Niyazi, his men, and the deer of liberty entered Istanbul (see picture below). In those years Niyazi's name and the deer of liberty were etched on society's heart. The deer is still the symbol of Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and is represented by a large monument in Shhiye Square. The Deer of Liberty is the name of what's left of revolutionary Turkey. In time, Anatolia was occupied again. Only poets could describe the famine and suffering of the war years. Nazm Hikmet Ran, who is as well known as William Shakespeare in Anatolia (or by those who see the world only on their own axis and not known by Westerners who only recognise their own existence because of arrogance), tells the tragic story of a soldier who looks for oats in horsedung in order not to die of hunger in his book 'Memleketimden Insan Manzaralar' (Human Landscapes from My Hometown). In 1903 my grandfather Aleaaddin Gokbel was born in a place which had been suffering from wars and famine. He went to the mountains to follow the Kuva-yi Milliye militia to escape the cruelty of the enemy army in the occupied lands. Just like Resneli Niyazi and his men. My grandfather fought with rifles specially produced for children and did not accept captivity. His commander was Hikmet Kvlcml, head of the Koycegiz Kuva-yi Milliye (Koycegiz National Forces). To make this more understandable for Irish readers, it is best to compare the great men of the Turkish revolution to the heroes who fought for the independence of Ireland. We can liken the first president of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal to Michael Collins with his military genius and tactical talent; and Hikmet Kvlcml to James Connolly in the way of his literary, philosophical and theoretical skills. Unfortunately Hikmet Kvlcml and his ideas are not well known internationally and if that is the case, it is our fault. Today, all these historical facts are known by a few Turkish. They are spending more time tweeting or social media, just like other people. As my grandfather used to say, creating an educated and fine person is a difficult process that requires intense effort. On the contrary, spreading ignorance happens very quickly and easily, like an epidemic. After the war ended and the country was liberated, two important needs emerged: one was bread and the other was books. It was not just enough to feed people: poor Anatolian children also needed to acquaint themselves with Oscar Wilde, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. That's why my grandfather's books and library occupy a great place in my childhood memories. Among those books my grandfather would tell me about Ireland and Irish War of Independence. The struggle of Anatolian society for independence and the struggle of the Irsh were similar. Of course he knew those men the Turkish faced at Gallipoli but my grandfather and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk never saw those men they met in Canakkale as enemies. While criticising the Ottoman dynasty, Mustafa Kemal did not start off the easy way. He would criticise the period of rise rather than the period of fall. Due to the ambitions of Sultan Mehmet and Kanuni Sultan Suleyman, poor Anatolian people were fighting in lands they had never known. Therefore, my grandfather developed empathy instead of hostility with the soldiers who were sent by the British administration, and that empathy made him interested in the history of countries such as Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. My grandfather did not take part in the Dardanelles War but during the Turkish War of Independence he heard terrible stories from his friends and relatives on the mountain about it. Those who visit Gallipoli are astonished at the close distance between the trenches and how geographically challenging the Anzac landing sites were. Unfortunately, the trenches' originality could not be preserved due to landslides and other reasons but nevertheless, Gallipoli (see below, commemorative stamp published by the Irish postal service in 2015) is a must-see place for those who do not see Turkey as consisting of just sea, sand and sun. According to some historians, up to 4,000 Irish died in those battles. Mustafa Kemal was one of the commanders of the bloodiest front line. For years, he remembered the war with great pain. A humane relationship and communication was established between the soldiers in the trenches. One of the most important things I learned from my grandfather is to never be an enemy of a nation. All those poor people who came to Gallipoli and invaded our country are not criminals. Their governments are responsible. This is why we have never hate a poor English, Irish or Australian soldier. Mustafa Kemal wrote a letter to the mothers of the soldiers, including the Irish. In this letter, he wrote: Wipe your tears your sons are now sleeping in our warm lands and in peace they died in this land, they became our sons. My grandfather used to say that the resistance of Ireland during its war of independence inspired the Anatolian people and the dream of being an independent republic was common for both societies. He wanted to be able to come to these lands and visit historical places such as the General Post Office. Unfortunately, that never happened. When I looked at the world map as a child, I was amazed that my grandfather was able to establish an intellectual intimacy with the people of a country that was geographically so far away. The Soviet Union was geographically closer to us, and we received weapons and gold aid in the struggle for independence. Not only gold, but special memories were transported from the Soviet Union too. The war was won with those precious aids, not with the tales made up by ignorant people. Before my grandfather passed away, he left a Soviet made Serkisov pocket watch (pictured below) to be given to me. I always carry that precious gift with me. I told its story to Tullamore Presbyterian church pastor William Hayes, who listened with interest. When we went for a walk we noticed the symbolic structures in Tullamore. We were looking over each structure with interest, including the iron axe on the courthouse's hedge that represents justice and was inherited from the French Revolution. People abandoned the oral tradition after they discovered writing. We writers dream, and we record history for humanity thanks to those men described above. I am sure these lines I have written will attract the attention of my Irish writer friend Liam Cahill, a native of Waterford who lives in Co Meath. It is a good feeling to write under the same free sky as Liam. Now, I intently observe every inch of Offaly. I am often asked a question: Why Ireland? I can never say that I made an unconscious choice. I think I try to reverse the darkness into which my country is dragged today, by looking at the world from the shoulders of my grandfather and precious men like him. Once you force history back you lead the society, the country, to disaster. Today, Afghanistan is trapped inside such a black hole. It is difficult to predict what interval of history they are in. Turkey is faced with the same dark future and we must struggle to avoid it. It was a great loss that he did not have the ability to write all these memories. When a writer died, he was sad as if all humanity had died. He used to say: Just as Resneli Niyazi made efforts to prevent the deer from being killed, we are the action men who need to protect these men who produce and spread good ideas to humanity. Hrant Dink, executive editor of Agos, an Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper, described himself as a timid pigeon in the article he wrote before he was killed. The timid pigeon was brutally murdered in front of his newspaper in Istanbul. What remained of Dink was the image of his body lying on the ground and his shoes torn, an image which will never be erased from memory. Now, as a journalist and writer, I see myself as a deer of liberty in Ireland. I always give the same answer to my Irish friends as a writer and journalist whose asylum application process has been slow: Nothing has changed, I'm still waiting for Godot. As I wander the streets of Tullamore, I look at people and my surroundings carefully. An author must be a good observer. I have a plan to write a novel about this place and I will not change the names of good people I know. I see myself as a deer of liberty wandering through the endless green nature of Ireland, an animal I know the Irish would never kill. This is why I continue to live, write and struggle in Ireland. This is what my motivation is. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. Are you a current print subscriber? You qualify for online access to the Omak Chronicle. To receive your access, create a website account and then verify your print subscription or e-edition subscription with your subscriber number, which may be found on your bill or mailing label. The royal has been sued by one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims for sexual abuse. Sports Illustrated 26 Apr 2022 Djokovic recently had to drop out of the Australian Open due to his vaccine status but will now be able to defend his Wimbledon.. Cornish volunteers are tackling the UK's food waste problem by rescuing abandoned crops and delivering them to food banks, in a revival of the ancient practice of "gleaning". Local news sources have said that demonstrators stormed the building with clubs and shields. Almaty is under an official state of emergency over widespread protests against rising fuel prices. Kazakhstan declared emergencies in the capital, main city and provinces on Wednesday after demonstrators stormed and torched public buildings, the worst unrest for more than a decade in a tightly controlled country that promotes an image of stability. IndiaTimes 07 Jan 2022 It seems, it is free for all in the Punjab Congress. The infighting and instability in the state unit of the party which started in.. President Tokayev has taken control of the security council from his powerful predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev. Almaty is under a state of emergency as protests against rising fuel prices turn deadly. MBABANE South Africas Tongaat Hulett has reported a financial performance which is notably skewed by the disposal of the Namibian and Eswatini operations, which contribute to the comparative to results for the group. This is as per the recently released reviewed condensed consolidated interim financial results for the six months ended September 30, 2021. Back in June 2020, Tongaat Hulett, which was seeking to reduce its debt by R8.1bn by March 2021, said it had agreed to sell an agribusiness here in Eswatini for E375 million. The sale of Tambankulu Estates included two agricultural estates astride the Black Umbuluzi River in northeastern Eswatini, and has 3 767 hectares under cultivation. The purchaser was Eswatinis Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF). Tongaat Hulett had acquired Tambankulu in 1998, and the transaction was concluded on December 1, 2020. In the latest interim results for the period ending September 2021, Tongaat Hulett highlighted about the partial contribution from the disposed of starch and glucose, Namibia and Eswatini operations in the comparative period. In considering the comparative financial results, it should be noted that Tongaat Hulett disposed of its starch and glucose, Namibian packaging, and Eswatini agricultural operations during the 2021 financial year. The starch operation was classified as a discontinued operation in the 2020 financial results. Results The Namibian and Eswatini operations did not represent a separate major business segment and consequently remained classified as continuing operations. The results for the six months ended September 30, 2020 include financial contributions from the starch and glucose operation and the Eswatini operation for the full six months, and from the Namibian operation for a period of three months. Financial performance in the current period is notably skewed by the disposal of the Namibian and Eswatini operations, which contribute to the comparative results, as well as restatements of certain prior-year numbers, highlighted the report. Revenue is said to have grown by five per cent to E8.5 billion (September 2020: E8.1 billion, restated). Higher revenue in the Zimbabwe and Mozambique sugar operations was offset by the loss of revenue following the disposal of the Namibia and Eswatini operations. Revenue excluding the disposals increased by 10 per cent. The gross profit margin of 33 per cent was below the prior period of 35 per cent, shared the sugar producer. Operating profit decreased by 23 per cent to E1.3 billion (September 2020: E1.7 billion, restated). This movement mainly reflects the impact of lower sugar production in the South African operation, increased expenses in Zimbabwe and the E183 million benefit from the profit on disposal of the Namibian packaging operation in the prior period. Revenue (excluding disposals) increased by 10 per cent to E8.4 billion. Sugar production volumes declined by 87 700 tonnes (10 per cent) to 782 400 tonnes due to lower sugarcane yields, the disruption caused by the civil riots and various production-related challenges at the mills. When the Eswatini and Namibian operations were disposed of last year (2020), they did not represent a separate major business segment and were not classified as discontinued operations. Consequently, the comparative period includes revenue of R402 million, operating profit ofe million and an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of E99 million contribution from these operations, stressed the report. Australia and Japan will sign a treaty on Thursday to increase defense and security cooperation in a move that has been hailed as historic but which might anger San Francisco (AFP) Jan 4, 2022 Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was once vaunted as the next Steve Jobs, but her Silicon Valley startup crashed under claims of deception and she was convicted on Monday of defrauding investors. Holmes's startup vowed to revolutionize diagnostics with self-service machines that could run an array of tests on just drops of blood, but her empire collapsed after it was revealed the testing ma An army physio is believed to have become the first woman of colour to trek solo across Antarctica in what the Prime Minister hailed as an extraordinary achievement. NYTimes.com 10 Jan 2022 New evidence suggests the man who took over from Haitis murdered president had close links to a prime suspect in the.. Brisbane Times 04 Apr 2022 State and territory leaders are weighing up when to stop close contact isolation rules after the AHPPC advised national cabinet.. MANZINI - Police have launched an investigation after the community police member who allegedly raped a minor girl was assaulted. The attack is believed to have been fuelled by the fact that the accused was granted bail after appearing in court. This is the elderly community police member (72) who allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl of Mgungundlovu, KuGucuka on the outskirts of Siphofaneni. The minor then died after alleged complications on December 27, 2021. It was said the childs mother reported the matter to the police, who arrested the elderly man and he was later released on bail by the court. Attacked According to an impeccable source, about three family members from the minors family went to the elderly mans homestead and allegedly attacked him with fists and various weapons, all over his body. This was said to have happened after the childs death. The source said the accused was beaten in a revenge attack such that he could not walk properly. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said after the matter was reported to the police, the community police member was out on bail. What happened is that the family of the victim went to attack the accused. Currently, they have a case of assault and they are wanted in connection to it, the police spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) Director Nonhlanhla Dlamini said as much as it was the right of an accused perpetrator to be released on bail, it was saddening because the survivor was exposed to danger, as such as there could be threats and possibly, the survivors be killed. Painful To us as an organisation, it is truly painful. We dont own the justice system and we use the available laws, but this is another setback because it is beyond our control, the director said. Nonetheless, Dlamini said the organisation could help support the survivors family emotionally and through the court process. She said they needed to understand that it was part of the healing process because to a person whose child was violated, they were devastated when they saw the alleged perpetrator outside jail. She noted that getting out of jail did not mean that the accused was crime-free. However, she said their responsibility was to ensure that the cases were followed through because some people were released on bail and they were allegedly never recalled to account for their crimes. Dlamini said this was a thorny issue to the organisation. She expressed her hope to get contacts of the affected family to ensure that their case was seen to the end. LANSING Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, this week, highlighted the seriousness of making threats against schools. In recent weeks, threats of violence have been reported at schools across Michigan, Nessel said. Local law enforcement agencies have reported threats on social media that number in the hundreds within their own communities." "As a result, kids in our state have missed valuable days of instruction as school administrators are forced to close buildings to keep kids safe," she added. "Whether these are real threats made by those intent on doing harm or pranks made by kids trying to get a day off, they are real crimes with real consequences. Nessel explained the potential charges one could face if they make a threat of violence, which include: Communicating a threat of terrorism, 20-year felony. Calling in a bomb threat, a four-year felony. Malicious us of a telecommunications device, a six-month misdemeanor. Threatening violence against school employee or student, a one-year misdemeanor. Threatening the lives of students and staff, whether with intent to harm or simply to disrupt, is an outrage, particularly in the wake of the tragedy in Oxford, State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice said. Our students and staff should feel safe in our schools, and anyone that threatens that safety should be subject to swift and significant consequences. If you receive a threat or know of a threat of violence against your community, contact your local law enforcement. You can also leave a tip with the states OK2SAY hotline by calling 8-555-OK2SAY (855-565-2729) or texting 652729 (OK2SAY). The hotline operates 24/7 and protects the confidentiality of the reporters identity. OK2SAY, which is housed within the Michigan State Police, provides for confidential reports of potential self-harm, harm to others, or criminal acts including, but not limited to, sexual abuse, assault, or rape, directed at students, school employees, or schools in this state. MANISTEE About 30% of U.S. home fires involving Christmas trees typically happen this month. That is why the National Fire Protection Association is reminding residents to keep the festive memories and remove the hazards by disposing of Christmas trees promptly after the holiday season. As much as we all enjoy the look and feel of Christmas trees in our homes, theyre large, combustible items that have the potential to result in serious fires, said Lorraine Carli, NFPAs vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. The longer Christmas trees remain in homes, the longer they present a risk. Carli said cut Christmas trees continue to dry out and become more flammable over time. Fresh cut trees are involved in a much larger share of reported Christmas tree fires than artificial trees, she said in a news release. According to the latest data from the associations winter holiday fire data, 160 home structure fires began with Christmas trees, resulting in two civilian deaths, 12 civilian injuries and $10 million in direct property damage, on average each year between 2015 and 2019. The City of Manistee picks up Christmas trees at the curb through the end of January. Residents are encouraged to place the trees at the curb with the trunk end facing the street. Director of Content and Operations Spencer McKee is OutThere Colorado's Director of Content and Operations. In his spare time, Spencer loves to hike, rock climb, and trail run. He's on a mission to summit all 58 of Colorado's fourteeners and has already climbed more than half. Drought-strapped Lake Powell has received a major, if potentially temporary, reprieve with two emergency agreements that will provide 1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water this year to boost lake levels and protect hydropower production [...] Paducah, KY (42003) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. MBABANE Teachers have gone beyond their call of duty to assist learners attain good results. This was evident yesterday as some schools resumed lessons earlier than expected, to prepare pupils for their examinations, despite that schools will officially open next week Tuesday. Pupils enrolled in external classes at Somnjalose and St Marks High School returned to their respective classrooms yesterday to catch-up on the syllabus. The Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) has already issued timetables for external exams which begin mid-February. Worth noting is that some schools also delayed closing for the festive holidays to cover some material in the syllabus. In an interview with St Marks High School Deputy Head teacher, Busisiwe Mkhonta, she said over 80 per cent of the learners had returned to school for revision purposes. Mkhonta said pupils were attending school for purposes of practising the oral examinations which were due to begin soon. According to Mkhonta, the oral examinations will begin on January 25, 2021 to February 18, 2021. Syllabus She mentioned that they had managed to cover most of the syllabus in some of the key subjects and the pupils were revising. Mkhonta noted that the online learning greatly assisted them, although they now preferred face-to-face learning due to the fact that lately, the learners were no longer participating online. Meanwhile, the reopening of some schools ahead of the official date was also witnessed around Manzini, where the pupils were also being assisted in readiness for the upcoming external examinations. The rationale was for pupils to use the available limited time to acquire as much knowledge as possible, to know and apply themselves in the external examinations which will begin in February. A visit to a few schools situated in town found learners in school premises and in uniform. They had already resumed lessons since the schools closed last year. Manzini Infant Practising School Deputy Head teacher Bongekile Mkhonta, said the motivation behind opening a week earlier was that a lot of time had been lost while schools were closed and they wanted to catch-up. We wanted to avoid pupils having a long break since the exams are near. All in all, we are preparing for the exams and that is the only thing that is pushing us, she said. Meanwhile, Salesian High School pupils took the initiative to request for learning resumption a week prior to schools official reopening. Head teacher Petros Horton confirmed this by stating that he was approached by Form V pupils, who asked him to use the school for studying, with the guidance of some teachers. So, my main obligation is to welcome the requests of learners who are willing to use the school, especially because it is intrinsically motivated, Horton said. Beneficial He went on to state that it was imperative to know who the school served in whatever action that they did. He mentioned that in this case, it was the learners, who aspired to pursue something that was beneficial to them. The school administrator highlighted that the Form V pupils were greatly affected because they literally did not do their Form IV. As it were, he said the nature of learners was to first adjust and acquire most for the external class (Form V). Horton said what happened to all learners in the country was unfortunate but no one could be blamed and it was beyond their control. He further said he marvelled when he saw children taking such initiatives to request to learn. Linda Mbuli and Salebona Gadlela, Form V pupils at the school, shared with this publication that they were quite ecstatic to have returned to school. They expressed that they were hoping to catch-up on the syllabus and finally complete school with flying colours. Ministry of Education and Training Principal Secretary (PS) Bheki Gama said although he did not have a comment on this as it was something that always happened in the past, he personally commended teachers who wanted to go the extra mile to assist pupils who had lagged behind on their academic work. He commended schools that had reopened early to assist pupils to complete the syllabus. Gama stated that the teachers were doing a great job as it would assist in improving the exam results. He said he did not consider schools that were already teaching to be on the wrong, although officially they were closed knowing how much time had been lost. I really commend the action taken by the teachers in schools that decided to reopen early to assist pupils to catch-up on the syllabus, the PS said. He said although he was not officially aware of such, it was a move he could not disapprove of. Gama said learners were not forced to go to school but did it out of choice. When questioned how he thought learners would perform, the PS said he trusted the teachers. Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - A government official in Eastern Gadarif state has complained that the heavy presence of refugees in his state has now negatively impacted the local communities, with regional and international organizations failing to intervene to correct the situation Photo: (Photo : RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) California mom Fatima Madrigal and her husband Robert Trujillo welcomed two bundles of joy on New Year's Eve, but they will have to figure out how they will celebrate the birth of their twins born in different years. Fraternal twins Alfredo Antonio Trujillo and Aylin Yolanda Trujillo came out of their mother's womb about 15 minutes apart. According to People, Alfredo was born first at 11:45 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, and then his sister, Aylin, was born at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. Madrigal said that she was both surprised and happy about having twins with different birthdays. Dr. Ana Abril Arias of the Natividad Medical Center, who delivered the babies, also said this has been "one of the most memorable deliveries" in her long career. Read Also: Former Conjoined Twin Grows up To Become an Influencer Who 'Channels' Her Sister An Amazing Start to 2022 In the hospital's press release, Arias also stated that the twins' monumental births were an amazing start to 2022. Alfredo weighed slightly heavier than his sister at 6 lbs., 1 oz. Aylin is smaller at 5 lbs., 14 oz. The twins are the fourth and fifth children in the family as Madrigal and Trujillo already have two daughters and one son. Their eldest boy is more than excited to meet Alfredo. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 120,000 twin births happen every year in the U.S., but twins born in different years occur in one in two million pairs. While an interval of long minutes between twin births is not unusual, those births straddled in the cusp of midnight gain the most notoriety because the twins do end up being born on different days. In 2000 in Massachusetts, a pair of twins were born eight minutes apart but in different millennia. Aaron Hegenberger was born at 11:53 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2000, while his brother, Luke, was born at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Jan. 1, 2001. According to their parents, the babies were not due until February 2001, but mom Debra Hegenberger went into early labor that Sunday morning. The mom said they plan to stay up every New Year's Eve to celebrate their sons' birthdays. Issues with Twins Born in Different Years Twins born in different years may encounter some issues like their eligibility in the various programs or incentives from the government, such as the tax deductions. However, everything will still be up to the parents. The mom and dad could advocate having their twins included or eligible by following the birth year of the first twin, or they may choose to delay until both twins are technically eligible. In some cases, their birthdays may also affect their immunization schedules, even if they are born just minutes apart. Though common sense usually dictates the situation, there have been instances where cut-off dates based on the birthday or birth year are strictly observed, and the parents may have to petition for an exception. Related Article: Nebraska Mom with Rare Double Uterus Gave Birth to Twins at 22 Weeks These days you can assume that someone who buys a desktop monitor will also, at some point, need a camera for video conferencing. Thats the idea behind Lenovos latest ThinkVision monitors, revealed today at CES 2022. Instead of leaving it to separate accessories, the 27-inch monitors are designed with modular add-ons: a camera, a soundbar, or both at once. Its a sleek solution, especially if youre buying for an office full of users. The ThinkVision P27h-30 and P27q-30 are mostly identical, boasting lightweight designs, 27-inch QHD (25601440) panels, and ergonomically adjustable stands. The premium Q variant gets some extra connection prowess, as its designed to be plugged into a USB-C laptop with a single cable delivering up to 100 watts of power, on top of a USB hub, DisplayPort multi-monitor linking, and an integrated KVM switch. It even includes a hard Ethernet port. Lenovo But the big news here are the add-ons. Both screens come with a VOIP module connection on the rear, a dedicated USB port that perfectly fits one or more of the modules designed for it. Customers can choose between the MS30 soundbar (dual 2-watt speakers), MS60 webcam (full HD video, autofocus, dual microphones, and a choice of 65-, 78-, or 90-degree views), or plug them both in at the same time with an adapter. Lenovo The system is undeniably sleek, but I cant see too many IT managers rushing to get orders in if they stay compatible with only one set of monitors. Perhaps if Lenovo starts adding in a modular dock to all its screens, theyll get popular as an easy, cable-free solution. The new ThinkVision P27h-30 and P27q-30 monitors go on sale in July for $500 and $700, respectively, with the MS30 soundbar going for $40 and the MS60 webcam at a pricey $130. Kwasi Poku-Boansi, a former member of the Asante Kotoko youth squad, has been appointed Vice Dean, School of Graduate Studies, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). On August 1, 2021, Poku-Boansi was elevated to the status of Full Professor at KNUSTs Department of Planning. This makes him the universitys youngest full professor. Prof Michael Poku Boansis promotion was announced on Friday, March 19, 2021. After the Governing Council of KNUST confirmed the recommendations of the University Appointments and Promotions Committee and the Academic Board in regard to his application for promotion to full Professor in the Planning Department, he was elevated to the rank of Full Professor. Poku Boansis most recent position at KNUST is Vice Dean, School of Graduate Studies. His most recent position began on January 1, 2022. In the early 2000s, Boansi was a member of the Kotoko Youth Team, where he played alongside Francis Akwaffo and Gabriel Opoku-Ware, among others. Meanwhile, Asante Kotokos young team will have a new look starting next year, according to the clubs Chief Executive Nana Yaw Amponsah Source: Gbcghanaonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The government has started rolling out a scheme to grant teachers subsidized loans for them to purchase homes at locations of their choice across the country. As part of the scheme, the Ministry of Education is collaborating with the Ministry of Works and Housing and the National Service Scheme, which will provide personnel for the construction work, to deliver houses for teachers. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced this in Kumasi yesterday when he launched the sixth quadrennial and 53rd national delegates conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT). The January 3-8, 2022 conference, which also marks the 90th anniversary of the union, is on the theme: "Surviving as a reliable teacher union in the 21st century". Target, modalities President Akufo-Addo said within the next two years, the government wanted to build about 10,000 affordable houses for teachers for a start. The teachers would have the opportunity to own the facilities, either through a mortgage scheme or other preferred means such as rent-to-own, he said. The decision, according to him, was hinged on the fact that many years ago, teachers were well respected and earned decent salaries which could help them put up their own houses, but same could not be said of them today. "This is not good enough; and the government remains committed to improving the circumstances of the teacher," President Akufo-Addo said. "Teaching should not be seen as a stop-gap measure or a job of last resort. It must be considered as one of the most viable and respected professions," he added. Applause President Akufo-Addo applauded teachers for playing a crucial role during the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring that the educational curriculum was not truncated. He said the current global economic workforce required skilled human capital and the free SHS policy was to help nurture the intellectual capacity of every Ghanaian child. "This is the surest way of succeeding by adding value to the Ghanaian economy, thereby helping to create acceptable paying jobs, he said. Reforms The President said the government was pursuing several reforms, including pre-tertiary and tertiary curriculum reforms at all levels. That, he said, formed part of its vision to transform education to produce a skilled and confident workforce to drive Ghana's agenda towards industrialisation. He urged Ghanaians to pay attention to teachers because, according to him, "it is only a well-trained and motivated teacher who can help develop the educated and skilled workforce required to transform the economy. Salary adjustment The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, said public sector workers would enjoy a seven per cent salary increment this year, up from the four per cent received last year. Stopgap measures The President of GNAT, Ms Philippa Larsen, said while waiting for the government's housing policy to take off, teachers needed some stopgap measures to house those suffering and improve on their working conditions. The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, urged GNAT to constantly renew its commitment to the values that had seen the union through the last 90 years. That, according to him, included the protection of the interest of teachers and the strengthening of TUC-GNAT ties to provide a solid foundation for the future. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video "Umuofia" has trended on Ghana's social media landscape since last Friday, December 31, 2021, when it was used extensively in prophetic ministration by Nigel Gaisie of the Prophetic Hill Chapel. Originally known to be a town in Nigeria, one popularized by Chinua Achebe in his acclaimed classical novel 'Things Fall Apart,' Gaisie's use of the town in prophesying has made the town largely the butt of jokes. From people posting purported flags and passport covers of the said town, which Gaisie described as a country, to others promising to vacation in Umuofia while for others, the country is synonymous to Ghana. It is largely believed that the prophet opted for 'coded' prophesying because of a December 27, 2021, Police statement that cautioned against prophecies that could create 'fear and panic.' When the regional Public Relations boss of the Ghana Police Service appeared on Adom FM's Dwaso Nsem programme on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, he was asked about Umuofia. Supt. Alexander Obeng replied: "Please what is it? Here in Ghana, I kmow towns like Kunkumbonge, Bandare, Tsaatse, Bole, we have others like Sogakope, Bawakuraa. These are towns that I happen to know. But (Umuofia) in Ghana here, I don't know about that," he stressed. When asked about Nigel Gaisie's prophecy, the top cop instead explained the work done by himself and Inspector-General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare by way of extensive patrols from New Year's Eve into the year 2022. After listing several locations, he said: "The town you mentioned is not among the areas we covered is not in Ghana, or is that not so, so if someone does something outside Ghana, I can't tell. "I dont know but what is important is that all the prophets complied with the law. I am also happy that among faith-based organizations, groups advised one another, it was most important, Supt. Obeng stated. The Ghana Police Service on December 27 issued a statement, prompting prophets on the need not to make prophecies that cause fear and panic. We want to caution that under Ghanaian law, it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumour or report is true." It is also a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life-saving service or to endanger the safety of any person, the statement added. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has presented food items to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and security agencies in his constituency in the Ashanti Region. The security agencies which benefited from the package were the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service and the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB). Items presented to them were bags of rice, cooking oil, canned fish among others. Commendation Dr Adutwum used the occasion to commend the security agencies for their dedication and commitment towards ensuring that Ghanaians lived in peace to undertake their daily businesses. He was particularly happy with the peaceful way this year's Christmas and New Year festivities took place which showed the hard work of the security agencies and other stakeholders in the country. Dr Adutwum, who is also the Minister of Education, commended Ghanaians for the peaceful way the nation celebrated the Yuletide. Assurance He assured all Ghanaians of the government's preparedness to support operations of the security agencies to ensure that they could operate effectively for the good of citizens. The Bosomtwe District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Eric Akwaboah, on behalf of the beneficiaries, commended the MP for the support as it would go a long way to boost the morale of the personnel in their operations. He appealed to Ghanaians, especially the youth, to strive to be law-abiding to ensure that peace prevailed at all times in the country. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Four new fighter vessels have been acquired for the Ghana Navy to enhance their capacity to protect the countrys maritime domain, including offshore oil and gas installations. Known as Flex-fighter Boats, the security vessels, which are expected to arrive in the country on Saturday, will boost efforts at making Ghanas maritime space safer and unattractive to pirates and other illegal activities. The vessels, which will be manned by Naval captains with international ratings, are equipped with the needed logistics to protect national installations and deter and make the countrys adjoining coast safer. The Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission, Mr Egbert Faibille, who announced this during the commission's interaction with the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi, explained that the acquisition of the vessels was part of the agenda of the government to equip the Ghana Navy to provide security for offshore petroleum installations and other national assets. Interaction The meeting, which is an annual affair, was used to update members of the house on happenings in the petroleum industry. Mr Faibille briefed the chiefs on Ghanas upstream sector, offshore petroleum security issues, community relations and social investment, health, safety and environment, as well as the governments skills development programmes being facilitated by the commission. The chiefs were also sensitised to the review of relevant laws and the development of new ones to deal with emerging challenges, among other matters. As part of efforts at ensuring improved social harmony and also managing perceptions and expectations of communities with the resources, Mr Faibille said the commission was collaborating with the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) to embark on sensitisation programmes at selected landing beaches in the four coastal regions of the country. He said the commission would consider feedbacks from the fishing communities, including their concerns pertaining to fishing, vis-a-vis the oil and gas industry. Commendation The Western Regional House of Chiefs commended the commission for holding oil industry players to account to ensure that the Ghana derived maximum benefit from upstream oil and gas activities. The Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, urged the commission to ensure industrial harmony through regular engagement with stakeholders. According to him, local content remained the most important part of oil and gas activities in the country and emphasised the need for more local workers and companies in the sector. Background Oil companies have been hiring private boats to provide security for their offshore oil and gas installations. A source at the Ministry of Defence, however, told the Daily Graphic that henceforth, Ghana Navy ships would be the only vessels allowed to protect offshore oil and gas activities in the country. The source described the current arrangement where oil companies hired civilian commercial boats flying their countries flags with state armed guards as unfortunate and said the practice would now be a thing of the past. There have been growing piracy and other criminal activities in the Gulf of Guinea in recent times. As a deterrent measure, the Navy has been carrying out maritime exercises to demonstrate its resolve to deal with issues of piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling and other criminal activities in Ghanas territorial waters. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Forestry Commission (FC) facilitated the export of 279,532 wild animals and 2,114,184 m the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (cites) listed wild plants of Fauna and Flora in the last five years, valued at $185 million. As of September 2021, the commission had also facilitated the export of wildlife valued at $2 million. The specimen mostly traded in were live animals and CITES-listed plant species. The animal species included reptiles, pythons, other snakes, tortoises, lizards, as well as amphibians (mostly frogs), aves (birds), insects, a few mammals and other species. The plant species exported included Pterocarpus erinaceous, cedrella odorata, euphorbia trigona and euphorbia poisonii. Wood export The Chief Executive Officer of the FC, Mr John Allotey, who disclosed this in a speech read on his behalf at a meeting with the media in Accra, added that the commission had facilitated trade for five companies and eight research Institutions. The commission had also facilitated, as of the end of September 2021, the export of a total wood volume of 224,599m3, which resulted in a value of 103 million, showing a significant increment, compared with the same period last year, he said. He said the Wildlife Bill, meant to regulate the wild life industry, had received Cabinet approval and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had prepared a memo which had been forwarded to Parliament for its consideration. Identification of wood species Mr Allotey indicated that the FC, in collaboration with the Malaysia Artificial Intelligence Company, had developed a mobile application to facilitate the identification of various wood species in Ghana. He said the application, code-named Xylorix Pocket Wood App, had currently been used to identify about 105 wood species. It is worth noting that this mobile application is the first of its kind in the whole of Africa, he said. Regulating timber trade Mr Allotey said in a bid to regulate and enforce legal timber trade across the northern frontiers of Ghana, the commission, through its Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD), had constructed three border offices at Hamile and Naamo and Zebila in the Upper West and the Upper East regions, respectively. Dwelling on climate change and related activities, he said the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project (GSLERP), which was developed by the FC and the United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with Global Shea Alliance, had received approval from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The programme, he said, was a component of the Ghana REDD+ strategy. It has a total budget of $54.5 million, with a $30.1-million GCF grant funding and a $24.4-million co-financing from the Government of Ghana and the private sector. The project seeks to promote sustainable approaches to land use and forest conservation and enhance community-based resource management to stem the ongoing forest degradation and deforestation from illegal logging, charcoal production, agricultural expansion and illegal mining that threaten the forests and shea production system, he said. Corporate strategic plan The CEO added that the FC would soon issue FLEGT licences, with timber leases and permits making their way to the Cabinet as part of the final step towards conversion into timber utilisation contracts. We are confident that Ghana will soon be ready to issue FLEGT licensed timber into the European Union, as well as legally sourced timber with sustainable qualities to the other markets, he said. A FLEGT licence is a document that confirms that a shipment of timber or timber products has been legally produced in accordance with the relevant laws of the country of export He added that in 2022, the FC planned to launch the 2021-2025 corporate strategic plan, as well as strengthen institutional and regulatory frameworks for sustainable forest and wildlife resources management. The plan, he explained, would also enhance law enforcement within forest reserves and wildlife protected areas.of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) plants in the last five years, valued at $185 million. As of September 2021, the commission had also facilitated the export of wildlife valued at $2 million. The specimen mostly traded in were live animals and CITES-listed plant species. The animal species included reptiles, pythons, other snakes, tortoises, lizards, as well as amphibians (mostly frogs), aves (birds), insects, a few mammals and other species. The plant species exported included Pterocarpus erinaceous, cedrella odorata, euphorbia trigona and euphorbia poisonii. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video MBABANE The arson attack at the Central Transport Administration (CTA) in Mbabane, which took place on Monday, has come at a cost of over E3.8 million to the taxpayer. It is believed that the cars and other property that were torched on Monday morning at the CTA premises were valued at over E3.8 million. When the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Thulani Mkhaliphi, was asked about this figure, he said the value of the destroyed vehicles was around that margin. He said there was a team that was working on gathering the exact figure, which would be shared at a later stage with the public. The value is around that margin but the exact figure cannot be confirmed at the moment, said Mkhaliphi in an interview yesterday. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said they did not have the value of the burnt property at CTA as yet. Comment When she was asked if they had any leads regarding the arson case, Vilakati preferred not to comment as yet as investigations were still ongoing. A local economist, Sanele Sibiya, said what worried him about such incidents was that the cost of such was enormous for the country which was fast becoming a radicalised nation. He said such behaviour was uncommon in Eswatini but now every other day, there was a structure that had been burnt down. There is something radical that happens a lot these days and that will have a significant impact on the economy. We are becoming an unstable economy, he said. Sibiya went on to state that in order for Eswatini to attract any investment, the country would now have to foot a heavy security premium. The companies that would have otherwise avoided some of our neighbouring countries, such as South Africa because of protests in that country, may now have no reason to invest in Eswatini due to the arsons, he said. Sibiya further highlighted that the one thing that Eswatini had going for herself was that it was known as a peaceful and secure country, however, it had since lost that status. The cost is far bigger than we see before us, which is why it is quite critical for us as a country to get the situation under control. This is also why there is a lot riding on the dialogue, he added. The economist further highlighted that if the dialogue did not go well, the country would be at risk of remaining a radical country that was not moving beyond the minor things needed to start working towards retaining the status of a kingdom that it was known to be before. He said in terms of getting the funds to rehabilitate and replace the property that was damaged during the arson attacks, these would have to be collected from taxes such as pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), licence disks, as well as other ways in which government gets funds from its citizens. Unfortunately, government is not insured, so it will most likely be the taxpayer who pays the cost, Sibiya said. He added that when it came to private properties, people needed to have some sort of insurance against such risks, including arson attacks. When you analyse it further, such an addition to insurance also increases the cost of doing business. If an environment is not conducive for doing business, you find yourself needing insurance that you did not need previously, added Sibiya. Situation He said the situation was taking the economy 10 steps backwards in terms of growth and the development that the country had achieved. Thembinkosi Dube, who is also an economist, also shared similar sentiments as Sibiya. He said governments normally had an account which worked as an insurer to support the country in such situations. Large organisations normally have a Public Finance Management (PFM) Act which regulates the management of finances in national and provincial government. The Act aims to secure transparency, accountability and sound financial management in government and public institutions, said Dube. He said this was to ensure that the organisation set aside a certain amount of funds for unplanned situations. The only question would be if the Eswatini Government was saving those funds. Governments are too big for insurance and it would cost them too much to have such, said Dube. The economist highlighted that several organisations such as those in the railway industry also at times used the PFM Act as in some situations you found that the product was too risky to insure and some insurers did not have that interest to take up such a risk. This is when a provisional account is set up where money is put aside every year to back the organisation. It is not so different from self insurance, he added. He said what would be unfortunate was if government was no longer saving that money or it had not been implemented and ended up as a plan on paper. If government has been effectively using the PFM Act approach, especially for the CTA, then it is time to take the money and use it for the current situation, he said. According to Dube, it was impossible to separate the economy from politics. He said arson attacks were a terrible thing that simply delayed any countrys progress. There were cars at CTA but now they have been burnt to ashes, which means that they now need to be replaced with money that could be doing something else, he added. Problem He said what would help the country now would be to identify where the problem was. He said people normally did such things like arson attacks because there was something that was agitating them. Nobody will insure government because it is a huge risk. We need to get down to what the real problem is, he said. Dube added that the situation in the country was widespread and it was unlike dealing with just one political party. Everyone is reacting in their community and in their own way. It is, therefore, difficult for the authorities to know who to accuse, he added. You cannot solve a runny tummy by stitching the backside. We need to find the root cause of the runny tummy and deal with it, he said. He further highlighted that because Eswatini was an import dependant country, inflation had not yet hit the country hard. Ghanas maiden National Media Capacity Enhancement Program opens in Kumasi on Monday 10th January 2022. The program designed to provide schorlaship for some 250 journalists to be trained annually is expected to contribute to deepening media professionalism nationwide. The program forms part of collaborative efforts by stakeholders in the media industry to support the sector which has been challenged in recent times. Needs assessment, curriculum and faculty were agreed upon by an independent working group of experts led by Prof. Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Faculty have been invited by the group from some of the nations leading communications schools and media houses. The Asantehene, His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is expected to perform an opening ceremony at Manhyia Palace after which the training program will begin. The ceremony will be televised live on Ghana Television and other private media platforms across the nation as well as the Ministry of Information's social media handles. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ambassador Edward Boateng, former Ghanaian Ambassador to China, in partnership with Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce have donated 30-wheel chairs, 30 armpit clutches, 30 elbow clutches and 20 walking sticks to the Disabled Association of Ashanti Region. The donation aims at celebrating New Year with the less privileged while indulging all Ghanaians to look beyond their immediate environment, families and comfort zones. Presenting the items to the association, Ambassador Boateng said: For the second year running, I have chosen to celebrate the New Year with the Physically Challenged Association of Ashanti Region. As part of this year's celebration, I have partnered with the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and the Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce to put smiles on the faces of the members of this community. Ambassador Boateng said as the 2022 journey starts, members of the association should continue to hold steadfast to the Ghanaian societys ideals of love, respect, honour and trust. These are the ideas with which we can attain the development we all yearn for. It is never too late to aim for such and I admonish each and every one of us, to open themselves up to these ideals and together, build a Ghana Beyond Aid. The President of the Ghana Association of Chinese Societies & Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Tang Hong said, The physically challenged in society should not only be the charge of Government but also that of all well-meaning members of society. After all, anyone of us could find ourselves in this state one day. I am therefore riding on these words to charge and challenge other individuals, organizations and associations to join us in this noble task of celebrating the new year with the physically challenged and less privileged in our society. Receiving the items, the President of the Disabled Association of the Ashanti Region expressed his gratitude saying, We thank you for coming aboard this noble charge. We hope in subsequent years, we shall do it even bigger than we have done today. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Parliamentarians have been advised to rise above their partisan political interests and put the nation first in discussions and decisions on national issues to promote social cohesion and peace in the country. Also, they must endeavour to work towards setting good examples for their followers and the youth, instead of the impression created that Parliament was all about protecting ones party interest or stance. In a New Year message shared with the Daily Graphic, the General Overseer of Living Streams International, Rev. Dr Ebenezer Markwei, said the picture the current Parliament was painting in the minds of the youth, who saw MPs engaged in clashes, was not a good example, as it seemed to suggest that the best way to resolve issues was to fight, instead of negotiating. "I am very worried about our interpretation of democracy; I am worried about fights in Parliament and I am worried about some of the things going on in this nation," he said. Peace on earth, goodwill to men Rev. Dr Markwei said the pillars of the Christmas message were peace on earth and goodwill to men, noting that that was a charge given to people and so it was important that it was preserved. When the angels appeared to the shepherds, the message they brought was peace on earth, goodwill to men. That means we have to strive to live at peace with one another and also show goodwill towards one another. "It is the intention of God for goodwill towards men, peace on earth, peace in Ghana and goodwill towards every Ghanaian. We have to strive to maintain the peace on earth, and that must start from leadership. But what we have been seeing does not promote peace and goodwill, he stressed. Bastion Rev. Dr Markwei stressed that Parliament was the country's bastion for legislation, and that that was where the nation must be put first, adding: "So I find it very troubling that we will go to Parliament and see legislators fighting." He wondered whether the fight by MPs was a sign of things to come during future elections, adding that there was the need for MPs to change their political thoughts and dialect to think about the peace of the nation. He said there should be no justification for the exchanges in Parliament, stressing that the fact that such incidents might have happened elsewhere did not make them right. Two wrongs do not make a right, and the fact that it happened in other jurisdictions does not mean it should happen in our country. It is not right and MPs must set good examples for all to follow. "Indeed, the oil that runs from the head is what touches the body ... and so if MPs are engaged in physical exchanges or anything that is contrary to peace and harmony, then I think it is very worrying and all Ghanaians must pray and decry what went on, since it is very dangerous," he emphasised. Rev. Dr Markwei said Ghana belonged to every Ghanaian and not certain groups of persons or political parties and so it was incumbent on all to work towards upholding the peace. For him, the fight exhibited by MPs was a foreboding of war, hence the need to work for the good of the country and the welfare of the people who had the power to vote for MPs. Goodwill Taking a retrospective look at 2021, Rev. Dr Markwei said it had been the hope of all that that year would bring humanity some reprieve after the ravaging impact of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2020, but things became even more difficult. The General Overseer of Living Streams International said the pandemic had affected the lives of people in various ways, bringing about heartbreaks and hardships and forcing many to make adjustments, adding, however, that despite 2021 being a difficult year, in all things God proved Himself faithful by giving us grace that preserved us. "We will take consolation in the Scripture that says all things work together for good; if for nothing at all, we have the gift of life," he said. Challenging year Rev. Dr Markwei predicted that 2022 would be another challenging year, given that the pandemic was far from over and the fact that there was going to be the introduction of new taxes that would no doubt have an impact on the cost of living. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Tamara Dus, director of University Health Network Safety Services, administers a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. A year after COVID-19 vaccines first arrived in Canada, employers and workers in the country's most populous province are getting a clearer picture of when and what kind of immunization mandates can be enforced in the workplace, legal experts said following recent rulings on the issue. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn A Sunwing Airlines jet prepares to take off at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, Friday, March 20, 2020. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he has asked Transport Canada to investigate reports of "unacceptable" behaviour on a recent Sunwing Airlines flight to Cancun, Mexico.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced the successful completion of a blockchain-based test with Onyx by JP Morgans JPM Coin System. This is a first of its kind test of JPM Coin System in the region. The test enabled Bank ABC to initiate real-time payments for Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) to benefit Alba's counterparties in the US, leveraging JPM Coin System, a permissioned system that serves as a payment rail and deposit account ledger, enabling participating entities to transfer US Dollars held on deposit with JP Morgan. The promising outcome of the test, overseen by the Central Bank of Bahrain, signifies the kingdom's commitment to a significant uplift of its financial technology apparatus in the endeavour to deliver the highest quality of services and the best customer experience to continue leading the Financial Technology transformational journey in the region. On this occasion, the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, Rasheed Al Maraj, said: We at the Central Bank of Bahrain are extremely pleased to announce the success of this test which aligns with our vision and strategy to continually develop and enrich the capabilities extended to the stakeholders within our financial services sector in the kingdom using advanced and leading emerging technologies. Through our work with Alba, Bank ABC and Onyx by JP Morgan, we aspire to address and eliminate the inefficiencies and pain-points which exist today in the traditional cross-border payments arena. The CEO of Alba, Ali Al-Baqali said: We at Alba are very happy to have participated in and contributed towards a successful test of this cutting-edge technology, which we're certain will optimise our cash management activities. Alba has been at the forefront of leveraging new innovative, secure and reliable financial solutions that bring speed, seamless efficiencies into our financial operations. We're also proud to be part of such a flagship initiative in the Kingdom of Bahrain and work with close and strong banking partners under the sponsorship of the Central Bank of Bahrain. Sael Al Waary, Deputy Group CEO of Bank ABC commented: We are very excited to have achieved this landmark milestone in collaboration with the CBB, Alba and Onyx by JP Morgan. As part of our mission to create the bank of the future, we have been able to leverage the digital banking capabilities of Bank ABC, to facilitate seamless cross-border payments using our APIs together with JP Morgans blockchain network. The pilot was tested using US dollars, and this technology will allow us to scale-up our existing offering and introduce more currencies in the future. We envisage major changes across the world with digital currencies, which will play a critical role in enabling future digital economies. We remain steadfast in our role as a key contributor in supporting Bahrains ambition to lead innovation within the financial technology arena in the region. Ali Moosa, Vice Chairman and Senior Country Officer, JP Morgan Bahrain added saying Onyx by JP Morgan is committed to leading the buildout of next generation clearing and settlement infrastructures and we are delighted to work with a leading central bank like CBB and an innovation-focused institution in Bank ABC to lead this project in the region. The completed test with Alba and Bank ABC will help inform further development of JPM Coin Systems for future use by our correspondent banking partners.-- TradeArabia News Service The emergency room entrance is shown at the Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg, Ontario on Tuesday Sept. 21, 2021. Hospitals in Ontario are being forced to cancel surgeries and redeploy their staff to provide care for the surging numbers of COVID-19 patients. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives In 2021 the death penalty faded further in Ohio, U.S. David Paul Myers, 79, of Valparaiso, Indiana, passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. He was born March 21, 1943 in Gary, Indiana, to Sarah Myers. David graduated from Logansport High School in 1961, and then proudly served in the United States Army, where he was stationed Thank you for reading the Philadelphia Tribune. You have exhausted your free article views for this month. Please press the "subscribe" button below and see our introductory price of $0.10 per week for 10 weeks. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next month. Written by Catherine Hawkins and Colin J. McMechan Jan 5, 2022 Waterfalls are to the eastern half of Tennessee what red sandstone cliffs and arches are to the southern half of Utah. The first one you see is amazing, but then there is another and another. Tennessee has them in abundancewide, skinny, tall, short, cascading in stages or in a series, and perhaps most memorable, thundering down in one frothy column. Ozone Falls in Cumberland County | Photo Copyright: Colin J. McMechan Several of our picks for best waterfalls are so magnificent, they lend their name to state parks: Cummins Falls, Burgess Falls, and Fall Creek Falls. Look at a map of state parks, and you'll notice that these three are stacked up in the central region, within a two-hour drive from Nashville. All three, plus Ozone Falls State Natural Area, can easily be visited in one day from the state capital. Another cluster of falls is concentrated in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including four on our list: Abrams Falls, Rainbow Falls, Cataract Falls, and Laurel Falls. Even on a cloudy day, the state's waterfalls have that extra edge that thrills the eyes and ears of the beholder. Find those that dazzle and sparkle, with our list of the best waterfalls in Tennessee. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. Rudolph Finally Gets His Hands on a Super MILLION$ Title January 05, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor Christian Rudolph can finally call himself a GGPoker Super MILLION$ champion. Rudolph's 68 attempt in a Super MILLON$ event ended with him walking away with the $485,234 top prize and the title of champion. Rudolph sat down at the nine-handed final table second in chips, and everyone in the online poker world knows that Rudolph is a dangerous foe whenever he has a big stack in front of this. This proved to be the case in this tournament as he left eight talented opponents in his wake. Super MILLION$ Season 2 Episode 25 Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Christian Rudolph Austria $485,234 2 Pascal Hartmann Austria $374,167 3 spaise411 Russia $288,522 4 Jason Koon Canada $222,481 5 Mark Radoja Canada $171,556 6 Jakob "lechayim" Miegel Austria $132,288 7 Samuel Vousden Finland $102,008 8 Roland "Gwriden" Rokita Austria $78,659 9 Markku Kopilmaa Estonia $60,654 Estonia's Markku Kopilmaa finished fifth in the Super MILLION$ on November 28, 2021, but was the first star shot out of the sky at this final table. With blinds of 35,000/70,000/8,500a, "spaise411" opened to 140,000 from under the gun with pocket queens. The raised folded out everyone until the action was on Kopilmaa in the small blind holding pocket jacks. Kopilmaa jammed for 1,612,941, folding out Jason Koon in the big blind, holding ace-jack, but spaise411 called. The queens held, and Kopilmaa busted in ninth-place for $60,654. 2021 Was a Year of Milestones For GGPoker and Its Players Eighth-place was decided during the same level, and was strikingly similar to the first bust out hand. Start-of-the-day chip leader Pascal Hartmann min-raised to 140,000 from the cutoff with pocket queens, before calling the 982,961 three-bet shove from Roland "Gwriden" Rokita in the small blind, which he made with a pair of jacks in the hole. Again, the queens ran true, resigning Rokita to the $78,659 eighth-place prize. Samuel Vousden's tournament ended in a seventh-place finish during the same level the other two finalists crashed out in. Rudolph made it 140,000 to go, only for Vousden to three-bet all-in for 686,276 with ace-ten from the next seat across. With the action back on him, Rudolph snap-called with pocket aces. Vousden flopped a ten but the rest of the board failed to come to his rescue. Vousden collected $102,008, the first six-figure haul of the final table. Bad Beat Jackpot Pays Out More Than $1M in 24-Hours at GGPoker The blinds were at 70,000/140,000/17,500a by the time the next players dusted off their stack, after the flurry of early eliminations. Jakob "lechayim" Miegel open-shoved from under the gun for 1,562,942 with the powerhouse hand that is pocket kings, and Hartmann called from the small blind with pocket nines. A nine on the flop propelled Hartmann into the lead, and he stayed there on the turn and river. Miegel busted with $132,288 in tow, while Hartmann's stack climbed towards 14.3 million, with his nearest rival holding just 3.6 million chips. The final five became four when Mark Radoja's comeback was ended. Radoja was the second-shortest stack going into the final table yet managed to ladder his way up the payouts. His tournament ended a few hands after Miegel crashed out. Radoja moved all-in for 1,106,172 with ace-try of spades, and Koon re-shoved for approximately 200,000 more with king-queen in the small blind. Koon's call was rewarded with a king on the turn. Radoja headed into the night with $171,556 to show for his efforts. Jason Koon came unstuck in fourth place Koon did not put Radoja's stack to good use because he fell by the wayside before Radoja's seat went cold. Hartmann made a play for the blinds and antes by min-raising to 320,000 on the button with jack-trey, and Koon defended his big blind with king-nine. Hartmann flopped a jack, and Koon a nine, but both players checked. A deuce on the turn paired the board, and Koon check-called a 560,000 bet from his opponent. A ten on river saw Koon check again. Hartmann bet 1,600,000 into the 1,920,000 pot, just enough to put Koon to the test for his remaining stack. Koon went into the tank before emerging with a call. Koon's fourth-place finish came with a $222,481 payday. The tournament progressed to the heads-up stage when spaise411 crashed out at the hands of Rudolph. From the small blind, Rudolph raised to 1,300,000 with the big blind at 200,000. spaise411 called of the 912,820 he had after paying the big blind, and the cards were flipped onto their backs. Rudolph showed ace-trey, and spaise411 the queen-nine. spaise411 flopped a nine, but Rudolph caught an ace. The flop was all hearts, too, and Rudolph held the try of hearts, leaving spaise411 drawing even thinner. Rudolph's hand held, and spaise411 busted with $288,522 reasons to be happy. Rudolph trailed Hartmann by 5,002,961 to 18,997,039 chips, but an early double with ace-trey against pocket sevens leveled the stacks. The pair of Goliaths butted heads for more than 40 minutes with neither managing to pull ahead of the other. The tournament needed a cooler hand to crown its champion, and it got exactly that. Massive Wins Set Rudolph Up For Christmas Rudolph limped for 350,000 with ace-seven of diamonds, Hartmann made it 1,225,000 to go with six-five of diamonds, and Rudolph called. The ten-jack-deuce flop came with two diamonds; you can guess what is going to happen now, can you not? Hartman led for 838,200, Rudolph raised to 2,579,612, and Hartmann called. The queen of diamonds completed both players' flush, but both players checked. A nine on the river saw Hartmann shove for 8,892,044, which Rudolph snap-called. That hand gave Rudolph a colossal 22,516,688 to 1,483,312 lead with blinds at 175,000/350,000/45,000a. Hartmann open-shoved with queen-try on the very next hand, and Rudolph looked him up with pocket jacks. Hartmann flopped trips treys but Rudolph turned a full house when the jack of diamonds landed. A seven on the river busted Hartmann in second place, a finish good for $374,167, leaving Rudolph to bank the $485,234 top prize. RGPS Thunder Valley Main Event Features $200k GTD This Weekend January 05, 2022 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S. The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is in Northern California at Thunder Valley Casino Resort, and is set to host a $575 buy-in no-limit hold'em Main Event starting January 7. PokerNews will be in attendance live reporting the $200,000 guaranteed poker tournament. The series began January 4 with a $135 buy-in RunGood Ambassador Bomb Pot Bounty tournament, along with a Main Event satellite. On Wednesday, the mid-stakes series will host a $255 NLH event with $55,000 guaranteed. And then on Thursday, pot-limit Omaha fans can take a shot at the $300 RunGood PLO tournament starting at noon. Later that night, poker commentator and comedian Joe Stapleton highlights a comedy night at Illusions Lounge inside the Thunder Valley casino. Main Event Details Stapes will provide the laughter Thursday night, and then again unintentionally the following day while he competes in the Main Event. Day 1a kicks off at 11 a.m. January 7, followed by session 1b at 4 p.m. On Saturday, Day 1c begins at 11 a.m. and then all remaining players will return to the poker room Sunday at 11 a.m. for the second and final day of the tournament. Each player can re-enter one time per Day 1 flight. Those with a re-entry option remaining can opt to forfeit their stack at the conclusion of Level 8 and start over for another $575. Players start with 25,000 chips and the blinds will increase every 30 minutes on Day 1, 40 minutes on Day 2. Thunder Valley has become a regular home for the RunGood Poker Series. Back in September 2021, Sasha Sabbaghian shipped the RGPS Thunder Valley Main Event for $40,485, beating out 565 entrants. PokerNews is proud to announce we will live report the Main Event from start to finish this coming weekend. Stay tuned for regular updates and a tournament recap of the action. Following the conclusion of the Main Event in Northern California, RGPS has three additional series planned for early 2022 starting with a trip to Jamul Casino in San Diego from February 1-6. Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa is up next February 15-20, followed by a trip to the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi from March 1-6. Sharelines Find out details on the upcoming @RGPokerSeries Main Event at @TVPokerRoom. A total of 62 countries will be represented on the exhibition floor of the 2022 edition of Arab Health, the Mena regions leading exhibition for the healthcare industry, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from January 24 27. The 2022 edition of the show, which returns as a co-located event for the healthcare and laboratory industries, has attracted more than 3,590 exhibitors from countries around the world. They include the UAE, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, and a host of European countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, and Belgium. Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, the US and Canada will also have several exhibitors showcasing the latest technology and innovation through a range of healthcare products. Ross Williams, Exhibition Director for Informa Markets, said: The global healthcare industry has shown its resilience throughout the pandemic and continues to be the driving force for global recovery. Despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19, we have seen the commitment from healthcare exhibitors and experts from around the world to meet live and in-person at Arab Health to discuss the latest healthcare solutions. Continuing with the international theme, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan have all confirmed hosting international pavilions. Each pavilion will host between 16 and 33 healthcare-related companies. In addition, the European Innovation Council Pavilion will host 20 selected companies from across the healthcare landscape. Appropriately, the theme for Arab Health 2022 is 'United by business, forging ahead with new technology and innovation taking the stage with a host of exhibitors showcasing their latest products and services. Canon, Draeger, Naffco, Philips and NEOM will again be exhibiting this year. At the same time, GE Healthcare, Karl Storz, Siemens Healthineers and a host of other leading names in the healthcare sector will return following a one-year hiatus due to Covid-19. In addition to having the opportunity to explore thousands of products on display, conveniently split into eight sectors across 16 halls of the Dubai World Trade Centre, other features at Arab Health this year include the return of the Innov8 Talks as part of the Healthcare Transformation Zone. The popular start-up competition will feature 24 companies in various stages of maturity, with each showcasing unique and innovative solutions in prevention, management, operations, diagnostics, amongst others. Four medical conferences and hands-on workshops will also return to the exhibition, bringing together 200 globally recognised medical expert speakers and over 1500 delegates from across the GCC. Popular returning tracks include Obs & Gyn, Total Radiology, Orthopaedics and Surgery. Following a hybrid model last year, Arab Health will also host a virtual event running in conjunction with the live event from 5 January 28 February. With over 200 educational sessions and more than 250international experts, the online event will provide a range of thought leadership and medical updates to over 3000 delegates. "This will be a vital addition to our offering and will be instrumental in reaching a wider audience. Not every industry professional from around the world can attend in-person every year; therefore, the online facility provides opportunities to maintain partnerships and do business, added Williams. Arab Health, co-located with Medlab Middle East 2022, is the largest healthcare exhibition and congress in the Mena region. The event will attract global healthcare professionals and feature a range of scientific lectures, industry briefings, product demonstrations and networking opportunities. As part of Informa's commitment to providing the highest hygiene and safety levels, the event will again occur under the protocols introduced via the company's Informa All Secure health and safety mandate. The enhanced measures include 35 guidelines covering all aspects of cleaning and hygiene, social distancing measures, and the use of PPE, screening, and a track and trace in conjunction with local authorities. TradeArabia News Service Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson will ping-pong across South Carolinas 2nd Congressional District on Friday, making stops to discuss his 2022 priorities. The congressman will be in Aiken at 10:30 a.m. and North Augusta at 11:30 a.m., according to a schedule published by his office. He will also visit West Columbia and Barnwell. The annual affair offers a glimpse at what the South Carolina Republican hopes to accomplish in the new year. In 2021, Wilsons look-ahead included reforming elections, championing the Savannah River Site, maintaining a nine member U.S. Supreme Court, and working with Israel and Gulf countries for peaceful stability. This years agenda focuses on creating jobs and economic growth by protecting Right to Work laws in South Carolina and advocating for current and future missions at the Savannah River Site, Wilson said in a statement at the time. This year more than ever before it is important to promote conservative, limited government solutions. The congressmans 2020 agenda was similar, focusing on jobs, foreign affairs and veteran well-being. The 2nd Congressional District includes all of Aiken, Barnwell and Lexington counties, as well as parts of Richland and Orangeburg counties. Wilson was first elected to Congress in 2001. He is up for reelection this year. Moncks Corner, SC (29461) Today Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. The site of a shuttered restaurant in West Ashley soon will see a new culinary offering while a new eatery is planned for the Charleston peninsula and a breakfast cafe will offer giveaways next week as part of its makeover debut. Ye Ole Fashioned Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor plans to move into the outparcel space formerly occupied by Famous Toastery at 1319 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. in Ashley Landing Shopping Center. Rolando Ravelo, who said this will be his first location as a co-owner after working in two other Ye Ole Fashioned sites for a few years, hopes to open by March or April. It will be the restaurant's second location in West Ashley. The current site is at 474 Savannah Highway. Ye Ole Fashioned also operates two restaurants in Summerville and one each in Goose Creek, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston. Famous Toastery closed last year after opening in 2018. On the peninsula Sandwich, breakfast and frose eatery Co-op is planning a new location in downtown Charleston at 81 Cannon St. The cafe currently operates on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island as well as next to Edmunds Oast Brewery on Charleston's upper peninsula. The new location is currently under construction. Look for an opening in late spring or early summer, according to Colin Keenan of Co-op. New look Another Broken Egg Cafe will unveil its redesign on Jan. 10 at its downtown Charleston location. The restaurant at 99 Market St. is the company's latest to adopt the brand's "New South" design, featuring a full bar with extra seating, patio bar access for diners and a brighter image. The cafe offers an array of breakfast and brunch items along with its signature cocktails. To celebrate the makeover, the restaurant will offer a full week of daily giveaways through Jan. 14. Rearranging A West Ashley home furnishing retailer is now in a new location. Charleston Amish Furniture moved Jan. 3 from 1401 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. in the Publix-anchored Ashley Landing Shopping Center to a standalone, refurbished building at 1750 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. Matt Troyer, who co-owns the furniture business with wife Beth, bought the 35,000-square-foot former Heilig-Meyers furniture store near S.C. Highway 61 for $4.2 million in November 2020, according to Charleston County land records. The Troyers wanted to own instead of rent. Renovations began on the new site last spring. The business opened in 2017 in Ashley Landing, where the company plans to maintain a furniture line through May because it had to renew its lease last spring because of construction delays at the new site. A grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 12. The store will make a $10,000 donation to The Navigation Center, a nonprofit with a multi-faceted approach to helping Charlestons homeless or at-risk of homelessness population. The donation represents about 3 percent of the business's sales in December. Getting fit A new Chicago-based fitness franchise will host the grand opening of its first South Carolina location this week. Franchisee John Youngblood will officially launch Spenga in a 4,000-square-foot space at 996 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. in the Publix-anchored Queensborough Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant at 7 a.m. on Jan. 8. From 5-7 p.m. on Jan. 6, the site will host a grand opening party for guests to tour the studio and meet the staff. Local vendors will be on hand as well as food and drinks. On Jan. 8, the new fitness center will host its first full day of business with refreshments served after each session. Spenga, combining spin, strength training and yoga and also forming the brand name, is located in three of the four spaces in the new building where Maple Street Biscuit Co. opened in late 2020. Spenga will offer sessions 5 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m.-noon weekends. A North Carolina bank that expanded to the Charleston region several years ago has moved its charter to the Holy City. First Capital Bank announced on Jan. 5 that it has relocated its headquarters to 304 Meeting St. near Marion Square, where its parent company has been based since 2018. The community lender now operates three branches in the Charleston area. It expanded its brick-and-mortar footprint to Summerville in 2019 and recently opened a full-service Mount Pleasant office on U.S Highway 17 near Six Mile Road. "The majority of our growth and assets are in South Carolina, and the Charleston area specifically," CEO and chairman Harvey Glick said in a written statement. "We believe converting to a South Carolina-chartered bank and moving the ... headquarters to Charleston will enable us to best serve our customers and shareholders." He added that First Capital remains "committed to our North Carolina markets, and will continue to serve them through our branch in Laurinburg and loan production office in Pinehurst." Customers will see no impact from the charter switch. First Capital took an unorthodox route when it joined the local banking market. After operating for nearly two decades along the South Carolina-North Carolina border near Bennettsville and Laurinburg, it was looking for a way to expand into a higher-growth area and set up a succession plan for its then-CEO and co-founder, who was approaching retirement. A group of investors that included former executives of the former CresCom Bank franchise raised $30 million, reconstituted the board of directors and moved the holding company to Charleston in 2018. Under its new charter, First Capital Bank is now regulated by the S.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banking and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Its privately held parent company, which recently raised $7 million to help grow the business, continues to be overseen by the Federal Reserve. First Capital's loans and other assets totaled about $387 million as of Dec. 31. Its net income totaled $553 million for the first nine months of 2021, down 7 percent from the same period of 2020, when the company collected more fees for processing emergency business loans under the federal government's Payroll Protection Program. First Capital joins the Bank of South Carolina and Beacon Community Bank as the only federally insured lenders headquartered in Charleston. According to the FDIC, it's the 47th lender chartered in the Palmetto State and is the 25th largest based on total assets. COLUMBIA Masks will continue to be required in Richland County into March. Richland County Council voted Jan. 4 to extend an emergency requirement through the first week of March that those 11 and older must wear masks in most businesses in unincorporated areas of the county, including restaurants and grocery stores. Business owners must also require employees to wear masks when interacting with the public. Masks are also required inside schools for those 2 and older. County policymakers adopted an updated mask rule in September to account for an S.C. Supreme Court ruling upholding a state budget provision aimed at preventing such mask requirements. The State lawmakers mandated that money in the state's budget should not be used in announcing or enforcing mask rules. As part of the county requirement, school district officials or school employees aren't involved in publicizing or enforcing the mask requirement. Richland County extended the mask requirement in November as the Delta variant of COVID-19 was prominent and the holidays approaching. The spread of the Omicron variant is setting new case records nationwide. Violators face civil fines of $25 for individuals or $100 for businesses whose employees don't comply. County Administrator Leonardo Brown told council members he didn't immediately know the number of mask citations the county has issued under its current emergency requirement. The city of Columbia repealed its mask requirement in November, officials citing encouraging coronavirus case numbers while pleading for people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said Jan. 4 just after he was sworn in that he doesn't believe the city will consider reimplementing a mask requirement amid the rise of the omicron variant in the state. If the city acts, it will be with regional cooperation, he said. "I think the general public is doing what they need to do," Rickenmann said. "They are wearing masks when they have the opportunity to, people are lining up to get boosters, people are getting tested. I think we're headed on the right track." Marjabelle Young Stewart wouldnt recognize this country today. The late etiquette expert, who crowned Charleston the nations Most Mannerly City 12 years running (before we retired from competition), would no doubt be horrified by the decided absence of common courtesy on display these past few years. For some people, every inconvenience is perceived as an insult or slight, scowls and growls are regular discourse and, of course, political disagreements are perpetually dialed up to nuclear. In a timely business story published Sunday, The New York Times documented the growing frequency with which grown adults throw temper tantrums in stores, on airplanes and even on the phone with customer service. Yes, the wait times on calls to the airlines are getting ridiculously long, and sometimes the stores dont have everything we want. In some restaurants, service is slower than it used to be. Thats all on this pandemic; it is virtually never the fault of those folks who end up getting screamed at. For instance, Times reporter Sarah Lyall recounted the tale of a hardware store employee called lazy and incompetent by a customer simply because she pointed out that, to help him find the window shades he needed, she needed the size of the windows. Which is a crucial detail the customer didnt know. Yeah, thats where we are. Much of this is pandemic fatigue, but a fair amount of the outrage is fueled by partisan propaganda, the echo chamber of social media and a growing lack of patience in the age of instant gratification. A lot of grifters are getting rich telling folks what they want to hear, and have appealed to some peoples inner jerk. Thats not just here, its everywhere. And like all those other places, some of Charlestons anger problems are directed at elected officials. One of the most public displays of this abhorrent behavior came at an August City Council meeting, where the mob cursed at council members and health care workers and even spit on one woman. Another guy went viral locally for screaming at council members to bring it. Then there were the folks protesting mask mandates at schools around the county, including Cario Middle School in Mount Pleasant, who had to be escorted off campus. Those incidents echoed the protest at the Charleston County School Board last spring to try to force the district to drop its mask requirement. All this is by way of saying that anyone whos upset the Charleston County School District has resurrected its mask mandate for the next month should spare us the drama on Monday. Sign up for our new opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Thats when the School Board next meets, and no doubt some folks who call themselves patriots are probably already misspelling words of protest on cardboard signs. The school district announced last month that future mask rules would be tied to state Department of Health and Environmental Control ratings for Charleston. Right now, the percentage of positive tests and the rate of infection in Charleston County is high enough to warrant precaution. In fact, the daily number of new cases nationwide recently topped the numbers from last January, when COVID-19 was previously running most rampant. Which means precaution is in order, no matter what the self-educated epidemiologists on Facebook say. Those people would do well to remember that one of their own, who filed suit against the school district over mask mandates, unfortunately succumbed to COVID-19 less than two months later. So, not a hoax. This is serious. If there is one thing everyone can agree on these days, its that we are all sick and tired of this pandemic. But in many cases, the ones griping loudest, and taking out their frustrations on others, are the ones doing the least to stop it. Dodging masks and vaccinations is a big part of whats led to all these variants, exacerbated supply chain shortages and forced some businesses to close or operate with reduced staff. So, skip the screaming at the school board. We dont need to hear it, and the board members dont need to hear it. Theyve got enough to keep them busy avoiding questions about why they forced the superintendent out. In fact, perhaps this former Most Mannerly City should consider starting a new trend. Instead of going all Frankly, my dear, I dont give a damn, we should personify the other part of Rhett Butlers quote at the end of Gone With the Wind. He said, Im going to Charleston, back where I belong I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isnt something left in life of charm and grace. Thats a sentiment worth living up to. It would make the world a little more tolerable, and it would make Marjabelle proud. GEORGETOWN Carol Jayroe and three Republican men made history Monday as she was sworn in as mayor and the men as members of Georgetown City Council on Jan. 3. Jayroe is the first woman to be mayor in the history of Georgetown. Along with her, Jonathan Angner, Jimmy Morris and Jim Clements mark the first time that Republicans have a majority on the seven-member City Council. The three men were sworn in to office first, individually, with their families standing with them. Following Jayroes oath of office as mayor, she delivered brief remarks to a crowd of around 100 people. They were gathered in front of the Georgetown Police Department on Highmarket Street. This is a historic swearing in. And I am so proud to be Georgetown's first woman mayor, Jayroe said in brief remarks. But I'm even more proud to be a part of this team that is so ready to work for this entire city to lead us forward to a positive future. Just as George Bush said he believed that there should be no child left behind, we believe that there should be no neighborhood left behind. And there will be no neighborhood left behind in the City of Georgetown. We invite you. We invite you and we encourage you. We encourage every citizen to get involved and know that we are working for you, Jayroe said. And we will bring our city back to a thriving and financially sound city. The decisions of this council will be made thoughtfully and openly. And we look forward to the next four years as we all work together. God bless you and God bless the City of Georgetown. Eileen Sullivan Johnson stood with Jayroe and her family as the new mayor took her oath of office. Johnson held two photos during the brief ceremony. She told the Georgetown Times afterwards that I brought Daddy with me. He was the first Republican elected, in 1962, to the City Council. One photo was from the Sept. 27, 1962, issue of the Georgetown Times, showing former President Dwight Eisenhower congratulating Sullivan. The two men shook hands at a meeting in Columbia the previous Saturday. The other picture was a group photo that included the late Sen. Strom Thurmond and both of her parents. She laughed and said her momma would be upset if I left her out for the Monday swearing-in ceremony. And I thought, Well, Daddy, they finally made it. Johnson showed Jayroe the two photos, as well. Unbelievable! Jayroe said. She chuckled and was pleased with being a part of history after 60 years. Eisenhower had served as Allied commander during World War II and was president for two terms in the 1950s. Thurmond was a former Democratic governor of South Carolina and U.S. Senator until 1964. He switched to the Republican Party that year. Jayroe will preside as mayor over the Jan. 20 meeting of City Council. Some of the participants at the Forum Over 2,000 decision-makers from more than 100 countries and 150-plus top global investors, as well as some 100 international speakers will take part in the first-ever Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. The global event, taking place from January 11 to 13, 2022 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh, features an extensive repertoire of subjects, opportunities and challenges confronting the worlds mining industry. Saudi ministers and representatives of the regional and international mining industry and allied sectors will join and thought leaders at the Forum. The invitation-only, closed-door Ministerial Mining Roundtable Special Session will headline the Forum's programme on January 11. The session will feature presentations and discussions on topics that are critical to the future of the mining industry. The "Mining in a Day" workshop will be held in tandem, alongside other workshops and panel discussions that will turn the spotlight on weighty issues, including the attraction of investments, the role of technology in mining, and environment, social and governance (ESG) issues. The General Forum will begin on January 12 with a plenary session and a keynote address by Bandar Bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources. The session on Reimagining Mining and Maximising its Contribution to Society will commence the day's programme schedule. It will be followed by a Smart-Mining session, "Showcasing Technology & InnovationSupporting Mining of the Future." Two additional sessions Highlighting Mining's Critical Role in a Low-Carbon Economy and Supporting the Region's Growth and Development and Country Briefings will complement exhibition and networking opportunities. January 13 will see the region from Congo to Kyrgyzstan highlighted as the Land of Opportunity A Regional Powerhouse. Also in the spotlight will be a prime-time session on Global Investment Opportunities an Accessing Capital. Deep-dive sessions, keynote fireside chats and other animated inter- and intra-ministry discussions will also follow. Many more Saudi Ministers and dignitaries will attend the Forum, including: Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Energy; Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Yassir Bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund; Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment; Abdulrahman Al Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture; Khalid Al Mudaifer, Vice-Minister for Mining Affairs. In addition to the dozens of confirmed speakers from the mining industry, leaders from multilateral global organisations such as the World Bank, International Council on Mining and Metals, and World Gold Council will also share their knowledge and insights with the Forum attendees. The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, is the host and convener of the Future Minerals Forum, held under the patronage of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.-- TradeArabia News Service GEORGETOWN With COVID-19 cases rising across the state, some area hospitals plan to combat the surge with help from the National Guard. South Carolina passed the one million mark of reported coronavirus cases over 22 months on Jan. 4. Citing a record number of cases statewide, the Omicron variant, a rising number of hospitalizations and a shortage of available caregivers, Tidelands Health announced on Jan. 5 that it has requested federal help. Four National Guard medics have arrived in Georgetown County to assist Tidelands Health in the emergency departments at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet and Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital. In the past, Tidelands Health has used the National Guard to assist in the ERs, testing locations and regional vaccination sites. The professional and skilled National Guard medics have come through for us and our community once again as we weather this latest COVID-19 surge, said Ashley Capps, vice president of nursing and operations at Tidelands Health. They always jump right in and work well with our team to help us. ... We expect COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations to continue rising in the coming days and weeks, so we welcome the extra hands of these skilled medics. In Horry County, Grand Strand Health said that it has made a request for National Guard assistance and is on a list awaiting help. Conway Medical Center said that it has not requested help with the surge of cases but in a statement said, Our leadership team continues to meet daily and monitor the situation and will reach out to the Guard if necessary. Summerville, SC (29483) Today Mostly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. SUMMERVILLE Dorchester School District 2 officials announced they will hold a nationwide search for the district's next superintendent. The DD2 school board is still finalizing steps for its search, but on Jan. 4 members called an executive session to move forward with organizing contracts with the South Carolina School Boards Association for a new superintendent. The association routinely helps boards with all phases of a superintendent search. The support ranges from advertising to organizing focus groups and surveys. After the recent meeting, Chairwoman Gail Hughes confirmed the board will be entering unprecedented territory by searching across the country for its next superintendent, in addition to looking at candidates within the district and statewide. "None of us have ever really been through this," Hughes said. DD2's current superintendent, Joseph Pye, has been in the position for over 20 years. He was hired internally after serving as an educator and principal at Flowertown Elementary School. The act of going through a national search for the position will be different. Hughes said part of the challenge will be navigating an area board members are unfamiliar with. Hughes said they are also looking for the next "Mr. Pye." Board members are pushing for a candidate who can relate to children, is transparent and is community service-oriented. "We want someone that is going to fit into the community," Hughes said. Pye announced his retirement during a Nov. 22 school board meeting. He pointed to the pandemic and wanting to spend time with family as his main motivators for the decision. With the pandemic, Pye said he feels drained and that his passion has waned. It's time to pass the torch to someone with a little more passion, he said. "I feel in my heart I have given it my very best," he said. He was joined by his assistant superintendents Julie Kornahrens and Glenn Huggins, who also later announced their retirements. Hughes said the board expects to finalize the contracts with SCSBA by the next meeting on Jan. 10. "Things will start happening immediately after that," she said. In the coming weeks, officials expect to disclose more information on the next steps in filling the superintendent slot. COLUMBIA Gov. Henry McMaster announced the states new class of Chef Ambassadors at a Jan. 5 press conference, with the members coming from across South Carolina. For 2022, Chef Ambassadors John Ondo, Haydn Shaak and Chris Williams will spend the year hosting events and media missions around the state and nationally promoting South Carolina's culinary industry and the producers who make it happen. "The chefs ambassadors will be able to open the door to the curiosity, interest and satisfaction and appreciation of a lot of people," McMaster said during the press conference at the Statehouse . "It makes South Carolina again take one more good step toward making us a better place to live, work and raise a family," he said. The three chefs, who represent different regions in the state, will continue to use their talent, knowledge and connections to build the Certified South Carolina Grown program that supports local farms and farmers. The ambassadors specialize in preparing dishes using Certified S.C. produce, meats and seafood, highlighting the states food traditions. Shaak, executive chef of Restaurant 17 at Hotel Domestique in Travelers Rest, will represent the Upstate, while Williams has made a name for himself with the house-cured bacon and barbecue he serves at Roy's Grille, located inside an Exxon station in Lexington. John Ondo, executive chef of The Atlantic Room and Ryder Cup Bar at The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, brings 20 years of experience to the Chef Ambassadors post. In addition to his work on Kiawah Island, Ondo has served as an adjunct professor of Mediterranean cuisine at the Culinary Institute of Charleston and developed the menu at Kairos, a local fast casual Greek restaurant. "This is a huge honor to be able to represent my home state and all the hard-working farmers and fishermen and shrimpers and just producers of Carolina products," Ondo said. Brandon Velie of Juniper in Ridge Spring came up with the idea for the states Chef Ambassadors program. Former Gov. Nikki Haley, the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, and the S.C. Department of Agriculture helped turn it into reality in 2015 when they launched the program and named him the honorary initial inductee. In its eighth year, the program continues to connect the ambassadors with farmers throughout the state, helping them share more about the Souths local produce with the public at specialty events. This isnt just a mission statement; the chefs truly have made an effort to educate in recent years. At an Oct. 15 dinner hosted by now-former ambassador Kevin Mitchell, Nat Bradford of Bradford Family Farm told a table of attendees about a rare turnip top he was currently experimenting with at his Sumter farm. Months later, the winter green was on the menu at FIG and The Ordinary in Charleston. Chosen each year by the governor, the three new ambassadors will serve an annual term before helping suggest fellow South Carolina chefs for the following year. The 2020 roster featuring Mitchell (chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston), Raffaele DallErta (executive chef of Hamptons in Sumter), Jamie Daskalis (executive chef of Johnny Ds Waffles and Benedicts in Myrtle Beach) and Jason Tufts (executive chef at Malias in Aiken) was extended to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. There have been 25 ambassadors who have participated in the program, not including the ones announced Jan. 5. The 2022 slate of events has not been announced, but previous Chef Ambassadors have participated in Charleston festivals like the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition and the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, which are both set to return in February and March, respectively. Nationally, the chefs have previously cooked at the James Beard House, and one ambassador was featured on the "Rachael Ray Show." SOUTH BOSTON, Va. North Charleston authorities charged a man with murder in connection with a December homicide after he was arrested in a small Virginia town. South Boston Police Department officers arrested three men, including Tymel Thomas Jones, on Jan. 4 in the armed robbery of a grocery store. Jones, 19, of North Charleston, also is wanted in a Dec. 9 homicide on Flora Street, near Rivers Avenue and Interstate 526, said Harve Jacobs, a spokesman for the North Charleston Police Department. Jones and the two other men Khameer DMaury Simmons and Sencere Christopher Hill, both from South Boston are accused of brandishing a handgun after walking into the Jiffy Food Store just before 9 p.m. Jan. 4. They assaulted a man inside the store and took an unknown amount of money from the cash register, according to a news release from South Boston police. Virginia authorities located Jones and the others at a nearby home, the release states. Each man faces two armed robbery-related charges in connection with the shooting. Following his arrest in South Boston, police in North Charleston announced Jones was charged with murder relating to a Dec. 9 homicide. Officers were dispatched around 9:15 p.m. to a Flora street residence, where they found Dezron Washington, 20, fatally shot. The mans family members informed officers Washington ran inside the home from the back door, telling them hed been shot, according to an incident report. Officers identified Jones as a suspect in the homicide, Jacobs said. In addition to the murder charge, Jones is also charged with possessing a deadly weapon during a crime. He was booked into the Halifax County jail in Virginia on the robbery-related charges, where he will await extradition to North Charleston for the homicide-related charges. Jacobs did not know when Jones was expected to arrive in South Carolina. North Charleston police officers would be in communication with the South Boston authorities, Jacobs said. I would like to see the new Charleston County School District superintendent impose some new learning objectives for all students in grades 2-12. Teach the students cursive writing. There is an entire generation that cant sign their own names or write a simple sentence. So much emphasis has been placed on math and science that cursive writing has disappeared in all curriculums. Going forward, I will be teaching my children cursive with a simple book from Amazon. The next initiative would be to teach every student Spanish from grade one through 12. French is romantic and sounds nice, and German is a strong sounding language, but if you want to communicate with a growing number of citizens, you need the ability to speak Spanish. The ability to speak a different language can enhance a students ability to master English. All European and most Asian countries teach their children English. If we can communicate with our geographical neighbors more easily, perhaps we can solve some of our persistent disagreements. KEVIN HILDRETH Mount Pleasant Selfish end to 2021 About 3:30 p.m. on New Years Eve, nearby neighbors started shooting off fireworks and firecrackers in their driveway. It continued until nearly 11 p.m., more than 7 hours later. There is no doubt that these neighbors knew that this uproar was unwelcome, unsafe and uncalled for in a residential neighborhood. So, this morning I was again contemplating this situation and concluded that it was an apt ending to a remarkably selfish year. What a perfect metaphor for 2021. Think of all the unusual things that were unwelcome, unsafe and uncalled for in this past year. It was a doozy, wasnt it? What are possible ways to help make this year better? Any and all acts of kindness, consideration and empathy could add to our sense of community, safety and peace in 2022. PAM TISDALE Mount Pleasant Dont teach CRT Im responding to a news article indicating that professors at the University of South Carolina oppose efforts by lawmakers to prohibit the teaching of critical race theory. This is not surprising. Critical race theory is a Trojan horse for socialism. Surveys over the years have consistently shown that college professors are overwhelmingly liberal. A liberal professor is unlikely to favor capitalism or point out the disastrous results of socialism experienced historically across the globe. Marxism was based on conflict between the rich and poor, defined as oppressor and oppressed. Critical race theory uses race to replace economic division. It divides Americans into racial categories of oppressor and oppressed. Imbedded in critical race theory is the concept of equity, which is the opposite of equality and equal opportunity. Equity means equal outcomes through some form of government intervention and is, potentially, a rationale for tyranny. Clearly, the concept of equal outcomes is anti-merit, socialistic and perilous. Like Marxists, critical race theory activists believe in the dismantling of existing norms. Among those targeted are the police, rule of law and free-market capitalism. In short, a revolution that solves the racial problem. This theory is dangerous. At a minimum, it will drive the nation into racial retrograde. Americans should oppose it, including any attempt to teach it. Some USC professors believe that banning its teaching would constitute a gag order. However, there are many harmful subjects that colleges do not teach. Critical race theory should be one of them. BILL BISSETTE Charleston Proud of USC As a University of South Carolina graduate and season ticket holder, I am, of course, glad that our team won the 2021 Dukes Mayo Bowl against the University of North Carolina. But my lasting impression will be the family atmosphere that existed throughout the stadium. There were a lot of families with their young children, who were as cute they could be. I did not see a single incident of hostility or intoxication. Nor did I hear a single foul word. It was what a college contest should be: good clean fun. I am proud of our team and our garnet-clad fans as well as the fans in blue. It was well worth driving home in a downpour to attend. JOHN VON LEHE Mount Pleasant Flooded with studies Youve got to be kidding me. The city of Charleston has been studying flooding problems for at least the past 40 years and has done study after study. In the proposed 2022 budget, Charleston officials have set aside $500,000 of the citys federal pandemic relief funds to commission a Comprehensive Water Plan. I believe that money would be better spent on doing something, anything, with bricks and mortar than conducting yet another study. PAT KILROY Goose Creek (Left) Dorchester County districts prior to the redistricting process. On the right are the new lines that have been drawn and adopted. Gov. Henry McMaster wants to beef up a pair of watchdogs that investigate government misconduct, make the Palmetto States scandal-scarred sheriffs attend ethics training, and shine more light on special interests that secretly influence city and county councils. The Columbia Republican will package those proposals into his soon-to-be-unveiled executive budget, calling on lawmakers to spend some $3.4 million more per year on measures meant to repair South Carolinians faith in their government. The governor's agenda would tackle some of the problems exposed over the past year by Uncovered, a project in which The Post and Courier has teamed up with 17 other newspapers across the state to investigate public corruption and expose the systems of oversight that fail to hold politicians accountable. More than 120 S.C. public officials have been arrested on criminal charges related to their government work over the past seven years, the investigation found. The states sheriffs keep getting arrested for breaking the laws they swore to uphold more than a dozen have been charged with crimes while in office since 2010. But as newspapers and other watchdogs have declined, many other officials in small-town South Carolina have evaded scrutiny. The governors proposals come ahead of a budget cycle where lawmakers will have a mountain of cash to spend. The Legislature expects the state budget to grow by nearly $900 million next year and will have nearly $2.2 billion to spend on one-time projects, making McMasters request a drop in the bucket. The governor doesnt think there is any more worthy investment than making sure government is more accountable to the people and transparent, McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes told The Post and Courier. Strengthening watchdogs McMasters proposed budget would more than double the budgets of the State Ethics Commission and Office of Inspector General, giving the pair of government watchdogs more money to hire investigators and enforce laws that are already on the books. Both could use the help. The State Ethics Commission has a staff of just 18 to monitor campaign spending and fundraising, track lobbying activity at the Statehouse, and investigate complaints of misconduct against politicians and public officials. In part because it employs just four investigators, the agency has historically let public officials off the hook with warnings and minimal fines after investigations that sometimes disregard serious allegations, an Uncovered investigation found last year. And even when it does fine politicians, it has trouble forcing them to pay up, another Uncovered story revealed. The Office of Inspector General, an eight-person agency, also has its hands full with investigating fraud, abuse, waste and misconduct within the states 106 executive agencies. Led by former FBI investigator Brian Lamkin, the agency typically fields hundreds of complaints a year against state employees and programs. In one high-profile case last year, the Inspector Generals Office determined that a former state agency executive director helped her husband win a $600,000 contract with her agency. In another, the office investigated and scolded the Governors School for Agriculture at John de la Howe after an Uncovered report first revealed ethical breaches and questionable spending there. In addition to giving the Inspector General's Office at least three more investigators, the governor also wants to expand the agency's jurisdiction beyond just state agencies, his office said. McMaster will support efforts to empower the office to investigate any agency or group that gets state tax dollars, his office said. That includes school districts, cities, counties even nonprofits that get state grants. The states 170 legislators havent seen the governors proposed budget yet. But two necessary allies, the chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees, told The Post and Courier they support the idea of strengthening the Ethics Commission and Inspector Generals Office. Ive spent my entire Senate career fighting for efficiency and accountability in government, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, a Gaffney Republican who was first elected to the Senate in 1980. While I havent seen the details of the governors proposals, they will be strongly considered if they lead to those two items. Local scrutiny McMaster also wants the states 46 sheriffs to undergo annual ethics training, a response to a steady stream of arrests and criminal convictions of the states top lawmen. The Post and Couriers 2019 series Above the Law showed that one in four of South Carolinas counties in the past decade had seen their sheriffs accused of breaking laws. By the end of that year, three more sheriffs had been indicted and removed from office. In all, 15 sheriffs since 2010 have been arrested on charges ranging from drug dealing to driving under the influence. Ex-Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood is currently awaiting sentencing after his federal conviction on corruption and abuse of power charges. Meanwhile, Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon was indicted last month and suspended from office on charges of ordering a deputy to repeatedly jolt a suspect with a Taser in the county jail. The governors budget requests $200,000 to pay for the training. It also calls for a public listing of which sheriffs attend and which skip out. Over the years, we have seen far too many instances of sheriffs abusing their office, said Symmes, McMasters spokesman. House budget committee Chairman Murrell Smith said he likes that idea. The Sumter Republican would even support expanding ethics training to all public officials across the state. Smith, a lawyer, noted that even after graduating law school and passing the bar exam, attorneys are required to receive regular training. He thinks politicians should do the same, especially in an age where technology has made it easier than ever for everyday taxpayers to scrutinize elected officials' dealings. "There is more scrutiny on people about their ethics than there was 20 or 30 years ago, Smith said. Its time for us to make sure that we put more emphasis on ethics and compliance and training. McMaster's ethics agenda also calls for more scrutiny of local government. Currently, political operatives who are paid to influence decisions at the Statehouse have to register as lobbyists with the Ethics Commission. But no such requirement exists at the local levels. That allows businesses and special interests to wine and dine city and county council members free of oversight. As he has in the past, McMaster will call on lawmakers to close that loophole by requiring local lobbyists to register with the state. McMaster's executive budget is just the first step in a long legislative process where proposals can be fine-tuned or outright rejected. The governor can also make his case at the Jan. 19 State of the State address, a speech in which governors typically tout their achievements and lay out their priorities for the year ahead. Oman's Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has signed a usufruct agreement with Bisham Real Estate Company for the establishment of an integrated workforce township in Sur Industrial City at a total investment of RO16 million ($42 million). The project, which will be developed on an area exceeding 180,000 sq m, will be divided into three categories, each with its distinctive standards and specifications, said a statement from Madayn. In addition to a variety of residential options, the complex will also have key amenities such as shopping centre and gyms. According to Madayn, Phase One of the project, which will accommodate 5,600 workers, is expected to be completed within 36 months. Moreover, the project will provide 300 direct job opportunities, it stated. Madayn is implementing several vital projects in Sur Industrial City as work is underway in executing infrastructure development project at a total value of more than RO12 million, which will be completed by the beginning of the second half of this year. On the labour city project, the Omani group said it was aimed at providing necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of the current investors and attract new local and foreign investments. The scope of work includes construction of 17 km length of water network, 14 km of sewage network, 10.6 km of road network, 6.8 km of water drainage channels, two wastewater storage tanks with a total capacity of 1230 cu m, and water tanks, said a company spokesman. Additionally, Madayn has floated a tender for pre-qualification of consulting companies, and offers have been received from 18 companies. The evaluation process of these offers is underway and it is hoped that the project will be completed during the second half of 2022, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Yoruba movie stars Iyabo Ojo and Faithia Williams have finally ended their two-year beef. All thanks to the intervention by the Lagos State chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Musiliu Akinsanya alias MC Oluomo and veteran actor Olaiya Igwe, the two actresses are back together. The reconciliation was brokered at Mc Oluomos office in Lagos. The actresses confirmed the reconciliation on their respective Instagram pages on Tuesday night with a picture of Iyabo kissing Faithia on the cheek. Its all peace and love Faithia Williams, Iyabo captioned her photo Iyabo, 44, also expressed interest in following her older colleague on Instagram, after they had unfollowed each other two years ago. How we go take follow each other again remain o chai IG expert over to you. Faithia also wrote Happy new year Iyabo Ojo. More wisdom and understanding. Let peace reign. Beef Two years ago, Iyabo labelled Fathia a witch, traitor, and betrayer who couldnt keep her secrets and have been sworn enemies who never saw eye to eye. The duo, hadnt spoken in almost two years after their sizzling hangout in Istanbul, Turkey, made headlines in February 2020 after Iyabo accused Faithia of snitching on her and wishing her dead. In 2018, Iyabo traveled to Turkey with Fathia who was invited to a birthday party in her honour in the country, and shared fun moments from the trip with their fans. This was why when Fathia turned 51 in the same year and Iyabo did not send any congratulatory message to her, their fans knew something had gone wrong. Instead, Iyabo hosted Fathias ex-husband, Saidi Balogun, to a party at her lounge on the same day. Fathia and Saidi are birthday mates. Iyabo, who called out her colleague on Instagram, would later return to social media to set the record straight and deny reports that they (she and Fathia) fought over a married man who is based in Turkey. Faithias attempt to make peace in November 2020 following Iyabos mothers death was rebuffed as the latter refused to acknowledge a condolence message the 52-year-old posted on Instagram God will console you Iyabo Ojo. May mamas soul rest in peace, Faithia wrote. She later deleted the post after Iyabo failed to acknowledge it. However, the news of their reconciliation has generated excitement in the Nigerian movie industry with several actors congratulating the two women. Mercy Aigbe, Chidinma Aneke, Mo Bimpe, Nkechi Blessing, Kolawole Ajeyemi, Yetunde Bakare, Funsho Adeolu, Eniola Ajao, Regina Chukwu, Jide Awobona, and Helen Paul are some of those who have congratulated the pair. Days after the abduction of the chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Plateau State University (PLASU) chapter, Hassan Zitta, the institutions vice-chancellor, Yohana Izam, has challenged security agencies to up their game and end the spate of kidnapping in the country. But both the national leadership of the lecturers union and the police authorities have refused to make public statements on the matter. This is as the whereabouts of the kidnapped unionist and others who were reportedly abducted alongside him is yet to be known as of Wednesday morning. VCs charge In a statement issued by the university on Tuesday and signed by its public relations officer, John Agam, the vice-chancellor called on security agencies to at least ensure that such incidences are reduced to the barest minimum. The vice-chancellor, according to the statement, gave the charge when he visited the family of the abducted lecturer. The statement reads in part; Professor Izam pledged the commitment of members of the university community to continue to pray and intercede along with the family for the safe return of Dr Hassan Zitta. Prayers were offered for Gods intervention and safe return of the staff by the Vice Chancellor. ASUU, Police keep mum In a telephone interview on Tuesday with our reporter, the ASUU National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, said the union is not making any comment on the matter for now. Mr Osodeke, a professor, said the union would not react until we finish what we are doing. I am aware but we will not make comments now till later, he added. Similarly, when PREMIUM TIMES reached out to the spokesperson for the Plateau State Police Command, Ubah Ogaba, he asked that a text message be sent to him. He, however, did not respond to the text message and subsequent calls to his phone. The Punch had quoted Mr Ogaba as saying that the command was aware of the abduction and that tactical teams have since been deployed to rescue the victims and arrest the perpetrators. The Abduction Mr Zitta was reportedly kidnapped on New Year Eve at the house of a former gubernatorial candidate in Plateau State and ex-Chairman of Shendam Local Government Area, Nicholas Nshe. Mr Zitta, who had visited the former chairman, was said to have been abducted alongside his host. A source close to Mr Nshes family had told Tribune that the gunmen gained access to his premises at about 9:45 p.m. on Friday and shot sporadically into the air to announce their arrival. The gunmen were said to have forced their way into the sitting room where Mr Nshe was entertaining his guests and forced them into the waiting vehicle at gunpoint. Attacks in Plateau state Asides from a series of communal clashes and unrest that characterised Jos, the capital of Plateau State, the state has witnessed an increased wave of kidnappings and attacks in recent months. Messrs Zitta and Nshes abduction came barely a day after troops of Operation Safe Haven, a military task force set up to maintain peace in the state, arrested eight suspects in connection with the kidnap of a traditional ruler in Plateau State, Charles Dakat. Mr Dakat, a paramount leader of Gindiri Chiefdom in Mangu LGA, had spent five days with his abductors who requested N500 million ransom before releasing the traditional ruler. It was, however, unclear if the ransom was paid before his release on Friday. Also, late in November 2021, at least 10 people lost their lives when the Jos Correctional Facility was attacked by gunmen, a development that left scores of inmates freed. The impact of Jos December harmattan was telling on the face of Ajida Isa. But the hurt he felt inside was even more evident as he spoke about a night raid on his community four months earlier. On the night of August 24, 2021, attackers whom Mr Isa claimed were their Hausa neighbours in Yelwa Zangam in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State had broken into his compound, gunned down seven members of his household and set the house on fire with the dead in it. His wife Suzaina, 50; son Titus, 15; daughter-in-law Monica Ishaya, 40; granddaughter Salvation Ishaya, 14; and grandsons Barnabas Hosea, 12, Ephraim Hosea, 9, and Timura Ishaya, 6, were all felled and incinerated that night. Mr Isa, who is the Mai Unguwa (ward head) of Yelwa Zangam, managed to escape as the attackers decimated his household. There were bullet holes on the door of his house now under reconstruction. The charred remains of the victims were buried a stone throw away. PREMIUM TIMES counted 32 graves. Mr Isa said some of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. [Before] the police and soldiers came, the attackers had gone. They killed 37 people in the village, Mr Isa said. This is what is happening here. We dont know why it is happening so. Mr Isas neighbour, Bala Asabulu, lost five female members of his own household to the attack, including his 99-year-old mother, Halima, and four-year-old daughter, Goodness. His wife, Deborah, 32, his daughter, Rejoice, 15, and his sister, Paulina, 42, were also murdered in the attack. The youth leader of the community, Yakubu Bagudu, had a similar story to tell. He was in a friends house when the attackers went berserk in his house. By the time they left, his brother, Bulus, 45, had been beheaded and butchered, after which his house and car were burnt down. There is nothing we can do. We had to run away. I saw fire burning my house. My car and everything was burnt down, Mr Bagudu told PREMIUM TIMES. I cannot imagine why these attacks happened, he continued. We cant understand what we had done (wrong). We leave it to God. His late brother left behind two wives and seven children whom Mr Bagudu now cater for alongside his own wife and five children. The 13 casualties PREMIUM TIMES traced were among the 37 people killed in the night raid by gun-toting criminals in Yelwa Zangam, a silent agrarian community in crisis-prone Jos North Local Government Area (LGA) of north central city of Jos. The killings had sparked outrage with mourners taking the corpses to both the Government House and the Plateau State House of Assembly before the government responded with curfew and made a couple of arrests. Meanwhile, troops of the Operation Safe Haven struggled to get to the area as the attackers had destroyed the bridge linking the targetted villages. The only police station serving the area is decrepit. So, whenever there is an attack, troop mobilisation and reinforcement is slow. Attack was possibly a reprisal Survivors say they believe the attack was a reprisal to an ambush on travellers 10 days earlier. In that incident, 22 followers of a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Dahiru Bauchi, were massacred and 14 others injured by a group of youth along Rukuba road in the same LGA, according to the record of casualties provided by the police spokesperson in the state , Ugah Ogaba. While reports suggested suspected herders were behind the attack on Yelwa Zangam, the three men who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES accused the neighbouring Hausa community of responsibility. Three weeks before the latest attack, there was a disagreement between the Anaguta and the Hausa people, Mr Isa recalled. But the chairman of the local government and the Ujah of Anaguta met us and it was resolved. Then this attack. However, the youth leader of the Hausa community, Ahmad Muhammad, denied culpability, saying his people were punished unjustly. At the time of visit in early December 2021, 14 members of the community, including the community head and two of his children, were being held in police custody for months. The police declined comments on why the children were held and why all were held without trial. Land Dispute Is Underlining Cause At the heart of the dispute is a tussle between the Anaguta and the Hausa communities over the ownership of a parcel of land measuring about 1000 by 1000 square metres. The two communities are situated side-by-side in Yelwa Zangam. The Hausas use the land as their burial ground, while the Anaguta said it is their ancestral land. It is our forefathers land. The Hausa people came to settle here. We asked them to buy it but they said it is against their tradition to buy a burial ground, Mr Bagudu said. Mr Muhammad, the Hausa youth leader, too said the land belongs to his forebears whom he said had settled in the village for almost 280 years, trading and living peacefully with their neighbours. We own the place and if you can get a 100-year-old person in this community he will tell you that his parents were buried in the graveyard, he said in Hausa. Advertisements Trouble over the land began to brew when the road near the graveyard was flooded and passersby had to pass through the graveyard, trampling on the graves. We didnt like that, so we closed the road. There was a misunderstanding and so we went to meet the traditional ruler of the entire community. But he said it was a neighborhood crisis and we can resolve it amicably at home. Mr Isa said the tussle to stop burial on the land has continued to spark hostility between his people and their neighbours. Before the Hausa people came to the burial ground, it was used to mine kuza (tin) by the Turawa (European colonialists), he said. Large-scale exploitation of tin in Plateau began in 1904 upon the arrival of Europeans invaders and has made the state one of the worlds major suppliers of tin, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. But years of tin mining has also left the mountainous state strewn with deep gorges and lakes. Anaguta people are not angry with anybody. We are calling people to tell them we are all the same. But some people are instigating the conflict, Mr Isa said, and for the first time during the tense atmosphere of the interview, there was laughter in the room. Mr Muhammad said his people too are open to peace talk which he said is a continuous process. We are still holding meetings and we are very excited about the outcome. Conflicts on the Plateau As the sun set over the bumpy landscape of Yelwa Zangam, long-horn cows herded by a teenager descended into a rocky stream that holds the bridge that was destroyed three months earlier. At the other side of the bridge were farmers harvesting cucumber and cabbages with sprinklers whirling in the background. The scenic serenity obscures the hostility that claimed 37 lives months back, one that nearly threatened to tear the community apart. That attack in Yelwa Zangam was just another of the bloody protracted conflicts that have for long defined certain communities in Plateau State. With about 50 ethnic groups, the state is eco-climatically cold and rainy, straddling the sub-humid Middle Belt zone between Nigerias semi-arid north and humid south. It comprises Christian groups among them, Afizere, Anaguta, Berom, Irigwe, Ngas, Tarok and Ywom on one hand, and on the other hand, Muslim Hausa/Fulani, whom the former commonly regard as settlers and usurper. Stoked by political standing and religious sentiments, clashes between these heterogeneous groups often had to do with mutual animosity, manipulation of information and struggles for self-determination, control over land resources and chieftaincy affairs, interviews with residents and security operatives and historical records showed. As the arid lands across northern Nigeria, as is in most parts of northern Africa, continue to creep outwards, coupled with the shrinking of the Lake Chad basin, the abundance of fertile green land keeps diminishing, pushing Fulani pastoralists down south for forage and into clashes with farmers over grazing rights. So these criminal attacks are a battle for survival and supremacy exacerbated by poverty and unequal access to social benefits. But there are also non-discriminatory attacks, which have to do with pure criminalities, including kidnapping and banditry. ALSO READ: Lalong speaks as three people are killed in Plateau attack The Hausa-Fulani group, who are largely Muslims, are seen as a threat by some of the predominantly Christian smaller Middle Belt groups. In a country which is not as socially cohesive as it ought to be, according to the 2021 Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey published by the Africa Polling Institute (API) which puts the national cohesion index at 44.2 per cent, sub-national solidarity and allegiances easily become peoples solace during conflicts. Likewise, there is also the indigene-settler dichotomy. The Muslim Hausa/Fulani community would not accept they are not indigenous as they said they have nowhere else to call home as their forebears had lived there for centuries. Indigene-settler dichotomy Like Mr Muhammad of the Hausa community in Yelwa Zangam, the chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) in Barkin Ladi LGA, Muhammed Muhammed, said he could not tell how and when his lineage got to Barkin Ladi the same way people of other ethnic groups may not. I was born here. My father told me he was born here. My grandfather told me he was born here. What I know is that I am from Barkin Ladi, he said with a note of finality. Meanwhile, the Berom/Anaguta/Afizere group insisted that they sold land to the Hausa-Fulani when the latter arrived, a report published by Crisis Group, noted. Different commissions of inquiry into the crisis have shared this view. The Anaguta people would go as far as saying that Jos started from Naraguta (derived, according to them, from Anaguta, their ethnic name) but that they accepted the two other groups (Afizere and Berom) as co-natives because they have lived together for long and share similar history and interests, the report further read. According to the 1994 Fiberesima commission report, an indigene of Jos is one whose ancestors were natives of Jos, beyond living memory. This may not include any person who may not remember from where his father or grandfather left his native home for Jos as a fixed home, domiciled there as of choice for life; or who is ignorant about where his family moved to Jos permanently in quest of better living or in the process of his business. In the light of the above consideration or careful thought, the report continued, we concede to the claim of the Afizere, Anaguta and Berom tribes, and declare that they are indigenes of Jos. But as to the Hausa-Fulani peoples assumption, we make bold, on the evidence at our disposal, to advise that they can qualify only as citizens of Jos . The concept of indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect and preserve the cultural and political makeup of ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa, Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups. It has in turn weakened national allegiance and strengthened ethnic solidarity. About a third of Nigerians identify more with their ethnicity than with Nigeria, compared to only nine per cent that feel more Nigerian than ethnic, according to the API survey. The senior pastor of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Sylvester Dachomo, said lofty as the idea of undoing indigeneity may be, it has to be done across board. If we want to promote nationalism, it should be across [the] board, he said. Jos cannot be a scapegoat for trying [nationalism]. I cannot go to Kano and say I am an indigene of Kano and own every right an indigene of Kano owns even though I am an indigene of Nigeria, he told PREMIUM TIMES, further citing what, he said, was the control of Lagos by the Yorubas despite its cosmopolitan demography. (Support for this story was provided by the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) under its Strengthening the Delivery of Peace and Security (SDPS) project). Nigeria has recorded eight additional fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, with 428 cases reported across 13 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The latest statistics released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Tuesday night, shows that the new confirmed cases raised Nigerias infection toll to 244,548, while the fatality toll now stands at 3,053. The new data by the disease centre, which shows a decline in the number of infections, does not include an update from Lagos State, Nigerias coronavirus epicentre. While NCDC gave no reason why Lagos could not provide its statistics, Rivers State topped the infection chart with 188 fresh cases. The data also shows that a total of 24,681 people are still down with the illness, while 216,814 people have been successfully treated and discharged nationwide. The disease centre also noted that Imo State reported a backlog of 231 discharges for January 3, 2022, including community discharges. Breakdown Apart from Rivers State, Ondo State and the FCT followed on the infection log with 54 and 42 cases. Imo State followed with a backlog of 25 cases for January 3, 2022. Nasarawa State also reported 24 cases; Oyo, 23; Edo, 18; while Akwa Ibom reported a backlog of 16 cases for December 31, 2021 and January 2, 2022. Ogun and Osun states in the South-west reported 14 and 10 cases respectively, while Kano State reported a backlog of seven cases for January 3, 2022. While Ekiti State reported three cases, Borno and Plateau reported two cases each. The NCDC noted that Bauchi and Sokoto reported that they recorded no cases on Tuesday. Residents of Dansadau in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State are celebrating two months of peace that followed a truce in November between farming communities and cattle herders, including armed bandits, in the district. Dansadau is about 100 kilometres from Gusau, the state capital, and is one of the communities worst hit by banditry in Zamfara. Residents need security escort to travel to or from Gusau because, aside from attacking vulnerable agrarian communities in the area, bandits also routinely attack commuters in the lone highway connecting Dansadau to the state capital. PREMIUM TIMES reported last year how bandits set ablaze a fuel tanker in the convoy of security agents to sabotage the supply of fuel to Dansadau town. The bandits began their attacks on the highway to cut the supply of essentials to the town, in reprisal for the ban by residents on the sale of foodstuff and essential commodities to cattle herders. How the peace dialogue was initiated A traditional leader, Mustapha Umar, who holds the title of Wazirin Dansadau, told PREMIUM TIMES that the community entered into the peace deal following years of bloody conflicts between farmers and herders in the area. Mr Umar said a leader of the bandits, Ali Kacallah, initiated dialogue when he sent emissaries to Dansadau community in the first week of November. He said the state government, which endorsed military action against the bandits after its peace deal with them failed, gave its approval to the community to explore the initiative. The traditional ruler said they accepted the request from Mr Kacallah because the vegetation of Dansadau and distance from the local government headquarters make it vulnerable to attack by bandits. The area sits at the edge of a forest of ungoverned boundaries with Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger states. Dansadau to Gusau is 97 kilometres but Dansadau to Maru, our local council headquarters, is 145 kilometres with only one access road, the traditional ruler said. He said the community realised it could not wait for the government to secure the area and thus agreed to engage the bandits in dialogue if it would bring about peace. We agreed on certain issues which include, from the side of the farming communities, to lift sanctions on the herder communities and allow them to enter Dansadau town to buy what they need without fear of being attacked by vigilante groups. However, any herder who enters Dansadau town with arms and the intention to steal or kidnap would bear the consequences of his action. This is part of our peace deal with them, Mr Umar said. The traditional ruler said the bandits on their part agreed to stop attacks on the Gusau-Dansadau highway and allow people to harvest their farm produce without fear of being attacked. Also, the bandits agreed to release the people kidnapped from Dansadau unconditionally, Mr Umar said. Kidnappings, attacks, killings of residents in farms and any location in Dansadau would stop. All these we agreed on and for over two months now there has been no such incident in the district, he said. The aftermath of peace dialogue Mr Umar said residents no longer need security escorts to move between Gusau and Dansadau since the peace deal was sealed. Residents now ply the road day and night without fear of attack, he said. They (bandits) freed some of the kidnapped victims including some children that they kidnapped in July last year. We are witnessing an improved peacebuilding process and day by day things are getting better. We are optimistic that the situation will continue, the traditional ruler said. Herders are again patronising shops in Dansadau town and farmers are also going to their farms and even staying late into the night without being kidnapped, Mr Umar added. There is jubilation in Dansadau because we have witnessed a long period without attack, he added. Obstacles remain However, Mr Umar said a lone incident of killings was recorded in the area on December 18 when some residents were repairing a bad portion of the Dansadau-Gusau road. He said herders had joined the Dansadau community in contributing money for the repairs, to show their seriousness on the peace deal. However, while on the field, some vigilante members among the volunteer workers intercepted a motorcycle carrying some herders. One of the herders escaped and ran off to report to his kinsmen. They came on motorcycles and opened fire on the gathering, killing three people. Advertisements The traditional ruler identified those killed as Musa Ibrahim-Hima, Aliyu Gidoga, and Mainasara Jan-kosai. That incident brought a setback but the bandits leaders were made to understand that the attack on the herders was not intentional and the persons involved were queried. We have since continued to live in peace with them, the traditional ruler said. Zamfara Government reacts The states commissioner for security affairs, Mamman Tsafe, told PREMIUM TIMES that the state government has ruled out dialogue with the bandits but said communities can do so. Mr Tsafe said cooperation between the security agencies and Dansadau community contributed to the peace the district enjoyed over the last two months. Residents are no longer taking the law into their hands which had usually resulted in reprisal killings, the commissioner said. Although, Zamfara Government has ruled out dialogue with the armed bandits, we cannot stop community-based efforts by people who are at the receiving end. However, we counsel them on the grey areas to ensure that the animosity that existed between them are stopped We urged them not to take the law into their hands and they are heeding to that advice. They are also consulting us for counselling. The efforts are community-based so everybody is involved, Mr Tsafe said. President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his administrations commitment to bringing back cattle grazing routes as a way of resolving clashes between herders and farmers. Mr Buhari said this in an interview with Channels Television aired on Wednesday. He said he has had personal discussions with the agriculture minister to bring back the cattle grazing routes in place during the First Republic, mainly in Northern Nigeria. Many Nigerians have criticised that policy, saying herders should instead be made to raise their cattle in ranches. Hundreds of people are killed yearly across Nigeria in violence between herders and farming communities. Since coming to office in 2015, Mr Buhari has maintained the view that the restoration of grazing routes is the only way to solve the problem. He repeated the argument in his latest interview. The ministers of agriculture from Audu Ogbe to Mahmud now, one of the issues I discussed with them is to go and get the gazettes of the past republic, Mr Buhari said. There are cattle routes and grazing grounds and cattle rearers are confined to those areas.Those that go outside those areas are arrested and farmers are asked to come make their claims. If they dont have the money their cattle are sold and farmers are settled. So we have to go back to that again and make sure that we prepare those grazing areas and put the veterinary in place. We are working towards achieving that, he added. Mr Buhari said while his administration cannot do much about weather fluctuations that may affect food production, it has taken steps to deal with insecurity and we are seeing the results. During a plane screening for a routine check, airport officers in Mauritius found a newborn baby abandoned in the rubbish bin of an Air Mauritius plane toilet. A 20-year-old Malagasy woman was suspected to have given birth to the new baby, and was initially arrested, the BBC reported. She at first denied the boy was hers but was made to undergo a medical examination which confirmed that she had just given birth, the newspaper said. Both mother and baby were rushed to the hospital and authorities said they are doing well. The Malagasy woman, who arrived in Mauritius on a two-year work permit, had since been placed under police surveillance. She will be questioned after her release from the hospital and charged with abandoning a newborn, BBC quoted authorities as saying. The Air Mauritius plane, which arrived from the city of Madagascar on January 1 landed at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport outside the capital Port Louis. A similar incident happened in October 2020 when a newborn baby was found in a plastic bag in a rubbish bin at Hamad International Airports departures lounge. The strict invasive medical examinations several flights forced women to undergo in a bid to find the childs mother sparked international outrage at the time. Qatar would later apologise, adding that culpable officials would be prosecuted. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has adjusted its timetable and schedule of activities for the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State. In the reviewed timetable approved by its National Working Committee (NWC), the party fixed a new date for the election of its flag bearer for January 26. The PDPs decision is coming few hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pasted the notice for the off-cycle election in its office in the state. However, the main opposition party, in a statement signed by its National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, on Wednesday, moved its ward congress earlier slated for 7 and 8 January 7 and 8 to January 15. A three-man ad hoc delegate is expected to be elected at the ward level before the local and state government congresses where members will elect the party candidate. Consequently, the local government congress to elect one (1) national delegate per local government as well as persons living with disability, earlier scheduled for January 15, 2022 has been shifted to Saturday, January 22, 2022. The state congress to elect the governorship candidate (candidate nomination) earlier scheduled for Friday, January 28, 2022 is now slated to hold on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, Mr Bature noted as he called for compliance from aspirants and other members of the party. Before the deadline for Sales of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms expired last September, nine females and eight males had shown interest in the race. Some of the female aspirants are the former Senate Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi; Olumide Ojo, Olukemi Olubunmi, Adekemi Adewunmi, Modupe Asaolu, Deborah Alo and Titilayo Akerele. Other aspirants whom PREMIUM TIMES can confirm picked the forms include the immediate past Deputy Governor and the 2018 PDP Governorship candidate, Olusola Eleka; former Governor Segun Oni; Kayode Adaramodu and Bisi Kolawole. Korea is on track to see fewer than 1 million annual foreign travelers to the country due to the prolonged coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Tourism Organization said Tuesday that 877,000 foreign travelers visited in the first 11 months of last year, down 64.3 percent on-year. Given that November saw 94,000 foreign visitors, the number is unlikely to exceed 100,000 for December, when more countries closed their borders amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. That means the total number for the whole of last year will likely fall below 1 million. This will be an all-time low since records began in 1984, when 1.3 million foreigners visited Korea. Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the worlds largest smelter ex-China, has set an all-time record-breaking production of 1,561,222 metric tonnes in 2021 a fitting tribute on its golden jubilee of operations. In addition, Alba achieved an outstanding safety milestone by closing 2021 with more than 20 million safe-working hours without LTI a first in the companys 50 years of commercial operations. Commenting on these achievements, CEO Ali Al Baqali said: "Despite all odds, we closed 2021 with an exceptional performance by hitting new highs in our production - 1,561,222 metric tonnes and besting 2020 production record of 1,548, 500 metric tonnes." "What makes this milestone even more important for us is that we have nailed it without any single Lost Time Injury (LTI)," he stated. Safety of its employees and contractors workforce remains Albas top priority. Over the years, the company has maintained an excellent track record in Safety and Health for which it has won prestigious international awards such as the RoSPA Award 2021 (8 years in a row) and International Safety Award with Merit from British Safety Council in 2020. Alba stayed strong on its journey of Safety Excellence by topping more 20 million safe working-hours without Lost Time Injury (LTI) with zero LTIs by end of 2021. He was speaking at a brief ceremony held today (January 5) to commemorate the milestone which was attended by Albas Executive Management and employees. Al Baqali commended the employees and contractors for their dedication and commitment in raising the bar and taking Alba to new heights. Starting as a 120,000 tonnes per annum smelter in 1971, Alba, today, is the worlds largest aluminium smelter ex-China with a production of more than 1.561 million metric tonne per annum (2021). It is also one of the top industrial companies in the world with high standards in Environment practices, Social contribution and Corporate Governance. Its diverse product portfolio of Standard and Value-Added Products (VAP) are exported to more than 240 global customers through its sales offices in Europe (Zurich), Asia (Hong Kong & Singapore) and subsidiary office in the US.-TradeArabia News Service The members of the Olubadan-in-council have said there is no law barring anyone with beaded crown from becoming the Olubadan of Ibadan. After the demise of Saliu Adetunji, the Olubadan of Ibadan, there appears to be a brewing controversy over his successor. By Ibadan ancestral tradition, the Otun Olubadan, Lekan Balogun, should ascend the throne, being the next to the deceased monarch in the council. But some quarters believe that Mr Balogun, being one of the 21 beaded kings crowned by former governor Abiola Ajimobi, is no longer qualified for the throne. However on Wednesday, 10 members of the Olubadan-in-council endorsed Mr Balogun, a former senator, to emerge the next Olubadan of Ibadanland. The 10 members made this known at a press conference held at Mapo Hall, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Speaking on behalf of the council, the Otun Balogun of Ibadanland, Tajudeen Ajibola, based their decision on the 1957 Ibadan Chieftaincy declaration. He also said the subsisting case in court had nothing to do with the right of the Olubadan-in-council as kingmakers to choose the monarch. The council, which is the kingmakers, has met and resolved that Balogun is next in line and will in line with the tradition ascend the throne of Olubadan, Present at the briefing were Abiodun Kola-Daisi; Amidu Ajibade, Ekarun Olubadan; the Abese Olubadan, Adebayo Akande; the Balogun of Ibadan, Owolabi Olakunlehin; and Asipa Olubadan of Ibadan, Eddy Oyewole. Others were Mr Balogun and Kola Adegbola, Asipa Balogun of Ibadan. Rasheed Ladoja, a former Oyo State governor who has been rumored to be preparing to ascend the Olubadan throne, was absent at the press conference. Mr Ladoja is the next in line, after Mr Balogun, for the Olubadan throne. Speaking at the briefing, Mr Balogun begged everyone to discard unfounded rumours and insinuations capable of disturbing the peace of Ibadanland. By way of duty, as the Prime Minister of the Olubadan-in-Council, we owe the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State in general the obligations to inform and update you all on the latest developments at our Palace. I enjoin you all to remain peaceful in all your conduct in order to sustain our unequalled historical peaceful co-existence for which Ibadanland is globally known. I, therefore, enjoin you all to discard with all unfounded rumors and insinuations capable of disturbing the peace of Ibadanland, irrespective of the quarter from which such fake news emanate. In line with the traditional practice of Ibadanland when an occasion like this arises, the Olubadan-in-Council has been up and doing liaising with the Oyo State Government to ensure that every necessary step to sustain the peace of the city is strictly followed. By Alicia Ceccanese/CPJ Global Technology Researcher The United Kingdom moved a step closer to regulating social media in December when a parliamentary committee recommended major changes to the countrys Online Safety Bill so as to hold internet service providers responsible for material published on their platforms. We need to call time on the Wild West online, said committee chair Damian Collins. Whats illegal offline should be regulated online. The draft law, which will be submitted to the British parliament in 2022, is aimed at penalizing companies that allow content relating to crimes like child abuse and online harassment; news reports and free expression groups have flagged similar efforts in Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Chile, and Canada, among other countries Social media regulation is significant for journalists who use platforms for work, especially when the legislative focus is on information or speech. In 2021, U.S. nonprofit Freedom House found that at least 24 countries were seeking to govern how platforms regulate content. States like the UK, which set out to prevent platforms from censoring journalistic posts in the draft safety bill, face thorny questions about whose posts merit protection and how regulations should be enforced. Many journalists are themselves demanding that governments regulate social media to help solve issues that affect the press, like online abuse, disinformation, or falling advertising revenue, but there could be other unforeseen consequences. Lawmakers in the United States, the U.K., India, Pakistan, and Mauritius are among those discouraging platforms from offering encrypted messaging, which helps journalists communicate safely. Legislation mandating that platforms share data with police would be bad news in countries that jail journalists for social media posts. Some social media laws, like Turkeys, affect news websites and search engines as well. Others have implications for news websites with comments sections. At worst, authoritarians can jump on the regulatory bandwagon to stifle reporting. In 2020, a report by Danish think tank Justitia found 25 countries had drawn inspiration from Germanys 2017 Network Enforcement Act to provide cover and legitimacy for digital censorship. Such laws leave social media companies with a difficult decision: comply, or leave the country. CPJs Alicia Ceccanese spoke with Kian Vesteinsson, a research analyst for technology and democracy at Freedom House, and Jacob Mchangama, executive director of Justitia, about their respective research. Each told CPJ how social media regulations can incentivize platforms to remove more news: Banning broad categories of content Governments are outsourcing the policing of online content that [they] dont like to the platforms themselves, essentially requiring technology companies to do the dirty work for them, according to Mchangama. In 2018 David Kaye, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression, noted broadly-worded and restrictive laws on topics like extremism, blasphemy, defamation, and false news being used to require companies to suppress legitimate discussions on social media. A troubling example: Reuters reported last year that Facebook had committed to restrict significantly more Vietnamese content after Vietnam passed a cybersecurity law in 2018, and Amnesty International documented some of the impact on activists and journalists. CPJ noted that the laws vague prohibitions on posts that would offend leaders, distort history, or cause confusion were a clear threat to press freedom. Journalist Dung Le Van, right, live streams on Facebook in a coffee shop in Hanoi, Vietnam on May 15, 2018. (Reuters/Kham) Enforcing short takedown windows Germany requires platforms to remove manifestly unlawful content within 24 hours, or up to seven days if the legality is unclear, and other countries have followed their example without adopting the same rule of law protections, according to Mchangama. Typically [it takes a court] more than a year to process a single case of hate speech, he said. Some of these states then demand that social media companies make roughly the same legal assessment in 24 hours. Under pressure, platforms take down more content, according to Vesteinsson. Companies overcorrect, he said. Tight deadlines incentivize companies to use solutions like artificial intelligence to automatically screen posts for something that might be illegal, according to the Washington D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology. But recent analysis of leaked internal Facebook documents indicate such filters have been ineffective, especially in certain languages as have poorly-trained human moderators, according to The Associated Press and international journalism non-profit Rest of World. A troubling example: Information Technology Rules introduced in India in February require content takedowns within 36 hours of receiving a notice from a government agency or a court, according to the digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation. CPJ has in the past documented restrictions on social media accounts sharing news and opinion on Kashmir via an opaque process. Indian commuters drive past an advertisement poster of Google in Bangalore, India, on April 6, 2018. (AFP/Manjunath Kiran) Eroding intermediary liability protection Best practices protect intermediaries like social media companies from legal action over someone elses content, which safeguards [companies] to moderate and remove content on their platforms and shields them from legal liability for the activities of their users, Vesteinsson told CPJ. Liability makes them less likely to push back against censorship and surveillance demands, he said. Mchangama agreed. Laws that erode liability protections provide an obvious incentive for platforms to say, Better safe than sorry when governments make requests, he said. A troubling example: On December 24, a Russian court fined Google nearly $100 million in the largest of several recent fines for major platforms accused of failing to remove banned content, according to the The Washington Post. Local access to Twitter has been slowed for the same reason under a law passed in July, according to Reuters. The nature of the content involved in each case wasnt clear, but regulators separately warned journalists and other social media companies not to allow information about anti-government protests earlier in the year. The logo of Russias state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is reflected in a laptop screen showing the Google start page, on May 27, 2021. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov) Requiring localization Localization laws mandate that social media companies host staff often local nationals and data in country under the eye of local authorities. Representatives risk being hauled into court if the company doesnt comply with the governments rules, according to a recent analysis by Rest of World. Companies [will] think twice about whether they want to challenge these governments [and] risk the freedom and safety of their employees on the ground, Mchangama said. Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), Akwa Ibom State chapter, has berated the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly over poor representation, and failure to override the state governor, Udom Emmanuel on bills he withholds assent. This is where the 7th Assembly has failed, Franklyn Isong, Chairman of CLO, said at the end of year get-together of the Consolidated Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council, on December 22. It (the 7th Assembly) has consistently reneged on its constitutional duty and turned a blind eye to several Bills passed and presented to the Governor but ignored by the Governor, Mr Isong said. The CLO chairman expressed disappointment that members of the Assembly lacked the political will to invoke Section 100 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) the Assembly can override the governors assent and pass the Bill, with a two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly. Mr Isong said the Assembly is an asset to the state executive council and a liability to society. Governor Emmanuel only signs appropriation bills In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday, Mr Isong said the governor only signed the budgets (appropriation bills) into law, thats all he has done. He mentioned some of the bills passed by the Assembly but denied assent by Governor Emmanuel as Neighbourhood Safety Corps Bill, Scrap Metal Dealer Bill, Akwa Ibom Youth Development Fund Bill, and Akwa Ibom State College of Science and Technology Bill. Mr Isong who lamented that all the bills have become dead despite the money spent during public hearing urged the Assembly to re-present the bills afresh. Once a bill is passed by the House of Assembly and forwarded for assent, if the governor withholds assent for 30 days and the Assembly does not override the governors veto, the bill is dead. What the House of Assembly should do is to re-represent the bills afresh. All the monies they have spent on doing public hearings and other funding have become a waste, Mr Isong said. Constituency offices occupy by reptiles Mr Isong, who said the constituency offices of the state lawmakers have been taken over by reptiles due to overgrown weeds as there is no one to attend to the offices, wondered how the lawmakers could offer effective representation without interacting with their constituents. He accused the lawmakers of not engaging their constituents in interactive sessions to seek their inputs in bills, adding that the lawmakers live in the state capital, Uyo, and only visits home only for ceremonies. There is no Assembly-man without a constituency but, unfortunately, what is obtained in Akwa Ibom, particularly in the 7th Assembly, is that there are assembly members without constituencies. The members of the 7th Assembly carry on without regular constituency briefings and interactive sessions. They sit in Uyo and only return to their constituencies to attend burials, child dedications, traditional marriages, and naming ceremonies. The spokesperson for the House, Aniefiok Dennis, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment from him. The State Commissioner for Information, Ini Ememobong, however, dismissed Mr Isongs allegations as incorrect. Mr Ememobong said, although the governor has the discretion to give or withhold assent to bills, he (the governor) has also assented to the Anti-open Grazing Law and Violence Against Persons Law. An unidentified Chief Superintendent of Police on Tuesday refused to obey Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olus order to evacuate police officers who had laid a siege at the Magodo Phase 2 Estate in Lagos. In a video obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the governor, during his visit to intervene in the lingering land crisis, met with the police team leader and instructed him to call his superiors, who gave the order to invade the estate, that the governor wanted the decision rescinded. On Tuesday morning, many residents of the estate protested the continuous presence of armed police officers. The protest and closure of the estate gate grounded vehicular movement as some president and business owners were prevented from going to their various destinations. Can you call your superiors in Abuja? That the governor is here and Im the chief security officer, tell them that you dont have any business in my state and that I want you to disengage from here. Thats why I want you to make a phone call and tell your superior that Im here, standing in front of you. Make that phone call. But the assistant superintendent of police told the governor that he only answers to the instructions of his superiors. Yes, sir, Im here on the instruction of the inspector general of police, through the attorney general sir and that is why Im here. Im too small or too low to call them, your excellency, with due respect, you can call them directly, Sir. When the governor asked him who his superiors were? He said the Inspector General of Police, through the AGF. Mr Sanwo-Olu said he had spoken to the Attorney General earlier in the day and he isnt aware of the police presence. But the police officer said he was expecting a call to disengage the several armed police officers within the estate. When the governor asked him the number of police officers in the estate, the ASP decline to state the figure for security purpose. Describing their operation as illegal, Mr Sanwo-Olu reiterated that the CSP wasnt aware of the police presence. Resolution During the visit, Mr Sanwo-Olu ordered a stand down. He said a committee has been set up to resolve the crisis. He also scheduled a meeting with all parties involved in the land crisis on Wednesday by 11 am. Backstory Earlier in December, there was unrest at Magodo Phase 2 estate in Lagos, on Tuesday, when dozens of police officers and officers of the Shangisha Landlord Association invaded the estate to execute a court judgment. According to witness accounts, the police officers and members of the Shangisha Landlord Association came with bulldozers in an attempt to pull down properties within the estate. The immediate-past executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Yewande Sadiku, has been cleared of all corruption and fraud allegations levelled against her during her time in office. The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) initially cleared her of all but one of the allegations in a letter dated October 21, 2021. The anti-corruption agency issued her the final clearance in December, ending its years-long investigations, after a court struck out a suit accusing her of receiving illegal foreign leave allowance. Upon investigations, none of these allegations was established and the striking out of suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2019 by his lordship, Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, brings the investigation to a close, ICPCs Director of Operations, Akeem Lawal, said in the later letter dated December 16, 2021 and addressed to Ms Sadiku. The outcome of the anti-graft agencys investigation tallies with PREMIUM TIMES findings earlier in August showing the allegations were not backed by evidence. PREMIUM TIMES had detailed how Ms Sadiku, 49, who left her top banking job to pick up the NIPC appointment with a pay cut in 2016, became a target of various allegations peddled by antagonists of her reform-driven leadership at the agency. Poised to make NIPC a transparent, effective and result-oriented agency, Ms Sadiku faced widespread allegations of corruption, lawsuits, repeated strike actions by union members and attacks by some members of the agencys governing board. Duplicate petitions levelling various allegations of fraud and corruption against her were sent to various anti-corruption agencies including the ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). EFCC interrogated her over the same set of allegations in August 2021. It remains unclear if the EFCC, which rarely gives suspects progress update on ongoing investigations, had similarly closed its probe into the matter like the ICPC has done. Ms Sadikus tenure ended in September last year. The investment banker turned down governments persuasion to be re-appointed to the position. Allegations In one of the anonymous petitions against her, the author accused Ms Sadiku of expending N600million on travels to several countries on a fortnightly basis, purportedly for official purposes, when in truth the ES (executive secretary) merely expends public funds without any for om of due process. In the letter of complaint dated August 20, 2019, the petitioner said, that, although, the foreign trips were sponsored with public funds, they were actually an avenue for the ES to perpetuate her business with no benefit accruing to the country. Unfortunately, this practice has become the norm, so much so that the ES travels to Lagos every other week for personal reasons, whereas the NIPC has no office in Lagos, yet the fares and duty tour allowance are charged to the NIPC, the petition read in part. It also alleged that Ms Sadiku draws a dubious foreign lave allowance accounting for something in the range of $23,100 in addition to two business class tickets for the ES and her spouse and economy tickets for four children annually purportedly approved by a past governing council. She had drawn the funds for the years 2017 and 2018, and had, as of August 20, 2019, received the allowance for 2019, the petitioner said. On why the petition was sent anonymously, the document stated, I have decided to withhold my identity so that your investigation into this matter is not tainted by my subjective judgement. But curiously, the anonymous petition bore the same title verbatim with a later one dated January 13, 2020 authored by Ali Sani, member of the governing council of NIPC. The title, COMPLAINT AGAINST THE FRAUDULENT ABUSE, WASTE AND MISMANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS BY THE EXECUTIVE SECRTARY OF THE NIGERIAN INVESTMNT PROMOTION COMMISSION, appeared in capitalised forms in both petitions. Suit against Ms Sadiku A part of the allegation in the two petitions also surfaced in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by a lawyer, Auta Maisamari, who sent a letter dated February 18, 2019 to Ms Sadiku, demanding information regarding the foreign leave allowance payments to her. The letter was also sent to Mr Sani, a member of the governing council, who authored a petition to the ICPC against the executive secretary. Mr Maisamari would later sue Ms Sadiku in her personal and official capacity as the NIPC boss, and others, over the matter. Sued alongside Ms Sadiku are the governing council of the commission, the chairman and individual members of the council, including Mr Sani, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The permanent secretaries of seven federal ministries, including the commissions supervisory ministry, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, were also sued as co-defendants. Advertisements The lawyer, in his suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on March 4, 2019 and marked FHC/ABJ/249/2019, prayed for among others, an order compelling Ms Sadiku to provide him the information regarding the approval of the governing council of the commission for a remuneration package for her Foreign Leave Allowance as earlier requested in his letter dated February 18, 2019. In his affidavit filed in support of the suit, Mr Maisamari alleged that Ms Sadiku acknowledged his FoI letter in a reply dated February 25, 2019, but refused to supply the needed information within the period of seven days directed by the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. But Mr Sani, sued as the sixth defendant in the suit, graciously gave me some documents that have assisted me in filing this suit, the plaintiff said, referencing a January 3, 2019 letter written by the governing council member, with the title, Clarification of Foreign Leave Allowance of the Executive Secretary of the NIPC. Relying on Mr Sanis letter, the plaintiff said Ms Sadiku received a foreign annual leave allowance in United States dollars translating to about N8.4million on November 24, 2017, and $23,100 for the same purpose on August 23, 2018. The plaintiff also cited another of Mr Sanis lettger dated January 21, 2019 demanding that Ms Sadiku refund the money paid to her as foreign annual leave allowances. Mr Sani, in another letter dated February 11, 2019, sent to Ms Sadiku also requested her to refund the sums of money which he argued were illegally approved for her office by the governing council. The plaintiff prayed in his suit for an order compelling Ms Sadiku to provide information regarding the approval of the NIPCs governing council for the allowances. Insisting that the NIPCs governing council lacked the power to approve the annual foreign leave allowance for the commissions executive secretary, as argued by Mr Sani, he urged the court to order Ms Sadiku to refund to the federal government, funds purportedly drawn by her purportedly in compliance with the approval of the governing council for a remuneration package for her called Foreign Leave Allowance. The plaintiff also prayed for the award of N10million to be paid by Ms Sadiku to cover the cost of prosecuting the case. He also filed a separate application urging the court to order Ms Sadiku to temporarily step aside/vacate the office as the executive secretary of NIPC pending the hearing and determination of the main suit. ICPC finds no evidence of criminality, court strikes out suit Ms Sadiku has consistently denied any wrongdoing in a series of correspondences she exchanged with Mr Sani and during interrogations by law enforcement agencies. Following her request for update in September 2021, the ICPC informed her in an October 2021 reply that none of the allegations against her was established, but the probe could not be concluded yet due to the pending suit accusing her of receiving illegal foreign leave allowances. The commission initiated investigation on the underlisted allegations of corruption against the Executive Secretary of the NIPC and some other officials of the commission, the reply, signed by ICPCs director of operations, Mr Lawal, read in part. It listed the allegations to include fraudulent abuse of office, waste and mismanagement of public funds through incessant tours and travels within and outside Nigeria without adding value to the commission. The ICPC also investigated the allegation that Ms Sadiku embarked on foreign trips without express approval of the governing council of the commission and that she used the commissions funds to repair her damaged personal vehicle. Investigation has been conducted on all the allegations except that of receiving foreign leave allowances which has been stalled by a pending litigation in Suit No. FCT/ABJ/CS/249/2019, ICPC said. All other allegations were not established, the anti-corruption agency added, but explained further that a final investigation report could not be issued yet, until after the conclusion of investigation on the allegation unlawfully receiving foreign leave allowance now before the court. On August 3, 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja struck out the pending suit filed by Mr Maisamari following an affidavit filed by a lawyer in his law firm notifying the court of the plaintiffs death. This paved the way for the ICPC to issue Ms Sadiku a final clearance in a December 16, 2021 letter reiterating that none of these allegations was established, and that the striking out of the suit by the judge, Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, brings the investigation to a close. Controversy, allegation, denial over foreign leave allowance The foreign leave allowance paid to the executive secretary turned out to be the central issue in the gamut of allegations levelled against her. With Mr Sani, the governing council member, being the leading figure pushing for the refund of the paid allowances, a series of correspondences were exchanged between him and Ms Sadiku, consistently denying any wrongdoing. Mr Ali advised Ms Sadiku to refund a total sum of N40 Million he claimed she had received in foreign leave allowance to the federal governments coffers, arguing that the governing council lacked the power to approve the payment of such to her. In her reply to one of Mr Alis letters, also filed by Mr Maisamari as an exhibit, Ms Sadiku cited section 7(2) of the NIPC Act to contradict his claim that the NIPC governing council lacked the power to approve the payment of foreign leave allowance for the executive secretary as it did as far back as 2005. The terms and conditions of service (including terms and conditions as to remuneration, allowances, pensions, gratuities and other benefits) of the persons employed by the commission shall be as determined by the council, from time to time, Ms Sadiku quoted the legal provision in her reply to one of Mr Sanis letters. She recalled that the payment of foreign leave allowance to the executive secretary of the commission dated back to 2005, following the governing councils approval on August 17, 2005. She also confirmed as stated in Mr Maisamaris suit that the renumeration package as approved in 2005 by the governing council included a foreign leave allowance for the executive secretary, spouse and four children for 28 days. She added that it included flight tickets for the family of six (two business class tickets for the ES, and spouse and four economy tickets for the children). A total of $18,200 was approved as the executive secretarys foreign leave allowance and it took effect from 2005, Ms Sadiku said. She added that on March 27, 2018, the then Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, in the absence of the governing council of the commission, reviewed the foreign leave allowance upward by 50 per cent, raising it from $18,200 to $27,300. She said the approved allowances had been paid annually to the executive secretaries before her since 2005. Ms Sadiku insisted that the allowances paid to her in November 2017 and August 2018 following her assumption of office in November 2016 are therefore not unusual. She said in the letter that the 2005 approval for the executive secretarys foreign leave allowance was akin to the approval of the introduction of three new allowances for NIPC staff by the council at an October 11, 2018 meeting, at which she noted, Mr Sani was present. The Ministry of Justice has also given a legal interpretation of the NIPC Act in a letter dated August 31, 2021, affirming that the power of the NIPC governing council to create allowances without recourse to any other ministry, department or agency, Ms Sadiku added. She noted that although the denomination of the allowances approved by the council for the foreign leave allowance was in U.S. dollars, the payments so far made to her since 2017 were effected in naira by debiting NIPCs Treasury Single Account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). She insisted the payments neither violated the CBN circulars nor the Treasury Single Account policies as alleged by Mr Ali. Its illegal, Sani insists Mr insisted on the illegality of the payments of the foreign leave allowance and the subsequent upward review by the minister, insisting that neither the governing council nor the minister had the power to either approve or increase the allowance. He argued in his reply dated January 21, 2019, that section 7(2) of the NIPC Act cited by Ms Sadiku to justify the governing councils approval of foreign leave allowance for the executive secretary, only covered the terms and conditions of service of persons employed by the commission. As he would later reiterate in another letter dated February 18, 2019, Mr Sani said the executive secretary is not a staff member of the commission, adding that every person engaged at the commission who is not appointed by the governing council is not a staff member of the commission. According to him, the executive secretary of the commission is rather a member of the governing council, who can be said to fall under section 3(3) of the NIPC Act, and as such, the governing council cannot approve renumeration for the executive secretary. Mr Sani also maintained that the term, foreign leave allowance is not a term found anywhere in the nomenclature or categories of leave allowance as are known to the public and civil service of the federation. The Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Acts 2008, which he said is the law applicable to the remuneration of the executive secretary and the governing council members, only refers to leave allowance and does not anywhere refer to foreign leave allowance The grounds upon which the charade of a foreign leave allowance is built has neither any legal nor moral support, and as such, the upward review approved by the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment on March 27, 2013, cannot stand; you cannot put a thing on the top of nothing and expect it to stand, he argued. Ms Sadiku further justified the governing councils approval of the foreign leave allowance in a rebuttal to Mr Sanis letter demanding a refund of the payments. Citing Part III of the NIPC Act devoted to Staff of the Commission Ms Sadiku faulted Mr Sanis argument that the executive secretary of the commissions remuneration does not come under section 7(2) of the NIPC Act. Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has accepted the resignation of the government, hours after he declared a state of emergency in large parts of the country in response to the raging uprising over a fuel price increase. Mr Tokayev, on Wednesday, appointed Alikhan Smailov as acting prime minister, his office said in a statement, noting that low fuel prices would be restored. Mr Smailov was previously the first deputy prime minister. Reuters reports the political moves to check the protests, sparked by rising fuel prices, that began in the west of the country over the weekend and have spread to Kazakhstans main city, Almaty, by Tuesday evening. President Tokayev tweeted late on Tuesday that the authorities would restore lower prices for the fuel to ensure stability in the country. All calls to storm or attack government buildings are illegal, he added, blaming the protests on destructive individuals who want to undermine the stability and unity of our society. In an attempt to quell the unrest, however, Mr Tokayev said the interim cabinet would meet on Wednesday to discuss the socio-economic demands of protesters. Police used tear gas and stun grenades late on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of protesters out of Almaty. But by Wednesday morning, AFP reports that clashes resumed after the government resigned. Video footage on social media showed a plume of smoke rising from the building, while gunfire could also be heard in the main city. BBC quoted the citys police chief, Kanat Taimerdenov, saying extremists and radicals had attacked 500 civilians and ransacked hundreds of businesses. Atameken, Kazakhstans business lobby group, said its members were reporting cases of attacks on banks, stores, and restaurants. There are also reports that crowds have gathered near official buildings in other cities, and internet services appear to have been switched off across the country, BBC said. Dissent and protests are rare in Kazakhstan, which declared independence in 1991 amid the collapse of the Soviet Union. The State Controller of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) in Osun, Amoran Olanrewaju, has confirmed that two inmates lost their lives at Kosere Correctional Service, Ile-Ife, during an attempted jailbreak. Mr Olanrewaju disclosed this to journalists at the Ile-Ife facility on Wednesday. He explained that the Service always gives an hour of routine exercise for inmates daily to have fresh air and back to their rooms. According to him, the same thing was applicable on Tuesday but nobody knew the inmates grievances in which they attacked the officers on duty while some wanted to seize the opportunity to escape. The controller also explained that security men repelled them from fleeing; while four inmates were injured in the process and were immediately taken to the hospital with two confirmed dead. Mr Olanrewaju stated that the remaining two were responding to treatment at the undisclosed hospital since Tuesday. He added that normalcy had returned to the centre and all measures had been put in place to maintain peaceful coexistence within the environment. The controller commended the effort of the Controller-General and security men for adopting measures at minimising loss of lives and property in correctional centres. (NAN) The Lagos State Government has debunked the speculation that the late 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, Sylvester Oromoni Junior, was beaten and forced to drink a poisonous substance by his seniors which allegedly led to his death in November, 2021, saying there could be no prosecution for lack of substantial evidence. The government has, therefore, advised the police to release those held in their custody over the matter. The suspects included five students- Kenneth Inyang (15 years), Ansel Temile (14 years), Edward Begue (16 years), Michael Kashamu (15 years) and Benjamin Ikechukwu (16 years). Also accused of negligent act causing harm to the deceased but are now freed by the state are five staffers of the school; Celena Uduak, Valentine Igbokweze, Hammed Bariyu, Adesanya Olusesan and another who was simply identified as Mr Adeyemi, and the school itself. But the school management has said it would await further directives from the government before announcing resumption and making further statements on the matter, saying it had also received the news of the DPPs advice just like any Nigerian. The government said scientific evidence suggested that the deceased died of ulcer in his ankle which it noted led to various medical conditions including Septicaemia, Lobar Pneumonia with Acute Pyelonephritis, Pyomyositis of the right ankle and Acute Bacteria Pneumonia due to severe Sepsis. This was contained in the advice of the states director of public prosecution, Adetutu Oshinusi, and addressed to the office of the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba, Lagos. According to legal advice, there is no substantial evidence to prosecute the suspects in the matter, and that the allegation of membership of a secret cult group could not be established against the suspects. The director also wrote that the school and its arrested officers cannot be prosecuted for negligence, saying evidence obtained clearly absolves them of culpability. What evidence says According to the DPPs advice, two autopsy examinations were carried out on the deceased, with the first one said to have been conducted on on December 2 at the Central Hospital, Warri, Delta State, by the deceaseds parents while the second was carried out on the December 14 at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja. The DPP said the outcomes of both autopsies were in agreement. It reads in part: The outcome of both post-mortem examinations conducted were in agreement as to the cause of death namely: Septicaemia, Lobar Pneumonia with Acute Pyelonephritis, Pyomyositis of the right ankle and Acute Bacteria Pneumonia due to severe Sepsis. The result of the Toxicology is also not indicative of any toxic or poisonous substance in the body of the deceased. Writing on the fairness and authenticity of the reports, the DPP wrote that apart from the one conducted in Delta State by the family, the one conducted at LASUTH was in the presence of pathologists representing the families of the accused and the deceased. On the 13th of December, 2021, the body of the deceased was brought to Lagos for a second post-mortem examination with the consent of the deceaseds family. The second post-mortem was carried out by a Pathologist in the Department of Forensic Pathology, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) on the 14th of December 2021 in the presence of the seven (7) Pathologists (the Pathologist who performed the first autopsy from Central Hospital, Warri representing the family of the Deceased, four (4) other Pathologists representing the family of the suspects and two (2) other Pathologists from LASUTH) and three (3) Police Officers. The interim and full Autopsy Reports of the Pathologist dated 21 and 31 December 2021 revealed cause of death as Septicaemia, Lobar Pneumonia with Acute Pyelonephritis, Pyomyositis of the right ankle, the report states in part. On cultism allegation The report indicated that there is no prima facie case established against the suspects, saying the office is of the view that there are insufficient facts to establish the offence of membership of unlawful society against them. It also added that doing otherwise would amount to sniffing for an offence and a speculative act which is not permitted in law. It is trite law that suspicion no matter how grave cannot be a ground for conviction, the DPP concluded. School speaks Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, an official of Dowen College, who declined to reveal their identity, said it would be too early to speak on the development and urged our reporter to call back or call an assistant director in the school, Jerry Adeyemi. READ ASLO: We also just heard of the news of the DPPs report like every other person. So we cannot make any categorical statement for now. We dont know when we will resume until we receive further directives from the state government, the official, who spoke on the phone, said. Background The Lagos State government ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College on December 3, 2021 after the parents and extended family members of 12-year old Oromoni Junior, insisted their son was murdered by seniors at the school. Students who were at the time writing their first semester examinations were asked to vacate the school abruptly without completing their examinations. But reports said the school deployed technology to allow the student to complete their examination online. The familys lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, had written to the Chief Coroner of Lagos State requesting an inquest into the students death. An autopsy conducted by the investigators, however, later revealed that the deceased died of acute lung injury due to chemical intoxication in a background of blunt force trauma. The Lagos State Police Command had earlier released the housemaster and other Dowen College staffers who were arrested in connection with the students death. Advertisements President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will sign an amended version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill if the National Assembly becomes democratic and include other modes of selection of candidates. The president stated this in an interview aired by Channels television on Wednesday and monitored by PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Buharis comments come a few weeks after he rejected the bill citing the need to have an alternative mode of primary elections. The president had withheld his assent to the bill after it was brought to him in November, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political parties. In their reaction, lawmakers in the House of Representatives could not immediately take an action but said they would adequately address the matter in January. Their counterparts in the Senate said they will also have to consult with the House. The latest decline of assent by Mr Buhari to the Electoral Bill was the third in his almost eight years administration. He rejected it twice during the last assembly. Condition for assent Reacting to questions on the Electoral Bill, the president said the National Assembly needs to be more democratic and give the people other options of primary elections. He said such options must include the addition of consensus candidates and indirect primary options for the selection of candidates. All I said (is) there should be options, he said. We must not insist that it has to be direct; it should be consensus and indirect. Asked if he would sign if the lawmakers effect the change in that direction, he affirmed, Yes, I will! I will sign. There should be options; you cant dictate to people and say you are doing democracy. Give them other options so they can make a choice, he said. At least two security guards were confirmed killed on Tuesday as some gunmen abducted three Chinese nationals working at a hydropower plant in Zungeru in the Wushishi local government area of Niger State. Witnesses said the gunmen whisked away the expatriates who were working on a transmission line tower in Gussase village, after a firefight with security agents. The police spokesperson in Niger, Wasiu Abiodun, said a Chinese expatriate and a local staff were shot while three Chinese expatriates were declared missing after the gun duel. The police said the kidnap victims include a local staff of one of the companies. Mr Abiodun said the police tactical team attached to the facility had rescued four of the expatriates but one of them and a local staff had to be taken to hospital over bullet injuries. In the process of scampering for safety during the gun duel, three among the expatriates could not be accounted for presently, the police said. The police said a joint police and military tactical team at Zungeru had embarked on a manhunt of the hoodlums and to rescue the abducted expatriates. The Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project contracted to a consortium of CNEEC and SINOHYDRO firms is a 700 megawatts (940,000hp) hydroelectric power plant under construction in Niger State. The project will be the second-largest hydroelectric power project in the country after the 760 megawatts Kainji power project. New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) Congress on Wednesday hit back at the BJP for levelling "baseless allegations" over the security lapse of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab and claimed that it was due to "empty chairs" at the rally venue and the farmers' anger over unfulfilled promises that led to cancellation of the Ferozepur rally. In a series of tweets, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "People of Punjab have shown the mirror to the 'arrogant' government in power by distancing themselves from the PM's rally. Cancellation was due to 'empty chairs'. Please accept your anti-farmer mindset and do some introspection." Countering BJP chief Nadda's allegations that the incident was a big security lapse and that farmers were given information of the PM's car route, Surjewala said, "Dear Nadda ji, stop losing cool and all sense of propriety. Please remember that 10,000 security personnel were deployed for the PM's rally. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies. Route was carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana/Rajasthan." "Do you know why KMSC (Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee) and farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are- Sacking of MOS Home Ajay Misra Teni, withdrawal of criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi and UP, compensation for the kin of 700 farmers who died (during the agitation). Committee on MSP (Minimum Support Price) and a quick decision. Post Farmers agitation, the Modi government chose to totally ignore these promises. Stop blame game. Hold rallies but listen to Farmers first!," Surjewala said. Earlier in the day, Nadda accused the Congress government in Punjab of not providing security and safe passage to the PM's cavalcade for the rally in Ferozepur district leading to its cancellation. He accused the state government of having given access to the protestors on the PMs route. "It is sad that the PMs visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such cheap mentality hinder progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab," the BJP chief tweeted. The PM's cavalcade was forced to stop on a bridge near Hussainiwala for 15-20 minutes, constituting a major security lapse. UNI DS RN After months of affronts and records of violence among their supporters, two of the leading political figures in Gombe State finally reconciled. The governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya and Danjuma Goje, the senator representing Gombe Central and former governor of the state, on Wednesday, agreed to work together ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention slated for February. The two were pictured together on Wednesday for the first time after a political clash in 2021. Before reconciliation, Messrs Yahaya and Goje were in a contest for dominance in the state, thereby polarising the states chapter of the party. In November, five persons were reportedly killed while many more got injured during a clash between supporters of Messrs Yahaya and Goje in the state. While the governor blamed his former ally for the mayhem, the senator, in his defence, blamed the state government for sponsoring the miscreants who attacked his convoy before the bloodbath. In protest against the attack, some of the APC executives in 11 wards of Yamaltu/Deba local government in the state resigned later in November. They alleged that the incident was sponsored by Mr Yahaya to disgrace Mr Goje. However, the Chairman Caretaker Committee of the APC and Yobe State Governor, Mala Buni, in a statement issued after the reconciliation meeting held in Abuja, said the two chieftains have agreed to set aside their differences for the common interest of the party. He credited the renewed extension of friendship between Messrs Goje and Yahaya to efforts of the National Reconciliation Committee Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and Kashim Shettima, a former Borno State governor. The successful reconciliation has further stamped the authority of the party in the state. The party will continue to explore and exploit ways of resolving differences among stakeholders amicably across the country for a united front ahead of the 2023 general elections. I am indeed very happy with this development and this style would be replicated to solve the problems in other states, Mr Buni said in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Mamman Mohammed. He also enjoined the two political gladiators to set aright the discord among their loyalists in the state chapter of the party. With the partys national convention slated for February, Mr Goje has shown interest in the race for the APC chairmanship race. To stand a chance at the highly competitive race, the Gombe central senator will be needing the support of his state governor, who currently controls the partys structure in the state. Two inmates, whom officials said were among others attempting to escape from a prison in Osun State, South-west Nigeria, were killed on Tuesday, an official has said. Olusola Adeotan, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service in Osun State, disclosed the attempted jailbreak in a statement on Wednesday, saying it happened in the morning of Tuesday at the custodial centre in Ile-Ife. Mr Adeotan did not disclose the names of the inmates killed. However, sources briefed about the matter exclusively told PREMIUM TIMES that the two killed were Ayofe Aliyu and Adekunle Odekanyin. They died in a hospital after they were shot by armed custodial personnel alongside two others, said to still be in the hospital receiving treatment. The attempted jailbreak in Ile-Ife came less than a week after three inmates, comprising one on death row and two awaiting trial for armed robbery, escaped from a prison in Ilorin, North-central Nigeria. In the Ilorin case exclusively reported by PREMIUM TIMES, the escapees were said to have cut the cell iron bar. The report also included fresh fears that some inmates are planning to bring weapons to another prison in Edo State to perpetrate jailbreak. Repeated successful and failed prison attacks have happened in Edo State since 2020. Between 2020 and 2021, over five thousand inmates escaped from Nigerias overcrowded prisons across at least 11 states. How the Ile-Ife attempted jailbreak happened Official Mr Adeotan, the spokesperson, said the inmates had tried to exploit the routine open-out at the Ile-Ife prison and overpowered warders, surging to the gate of the facility before armed personnel stopped them, immobilising four. The statement reads: Following the successful containment of an attempted jailbreak at Ile-Ife Custodial Centre, Osun State on 4th January 2022, I wish to state that normalcy has been restored in the facility. Recall that at about 1148 hours, during a routine open-out of inmates for daily exercises, the inmates in a particular cell attacked the officers on duty and succeeded in breaking out more inmates from other cells. Having overpowered the officers due to their large number, surged to the main gate in a bid to break out from jail. While the officers trapped within the yard were being manhandled, the ensuing confrontation between the escaping inmates and the armed personnel on guard duty resulted in four (4) of the inmates being immobilised. They were taken to the hospital for medical attention. Two (2) of the injured inmates later lost their lives while the remaining 2 are still in the hospital responding to treatment. Controller of Corrections, CC Olanrewaju Amoran was on the ground to assess the situation. He assures members of the public that the inmates are in safe custody and normalcy has returned to the yard while an investigation is ongoing. In a move to end the land tussle between the Lagos State Government and the Magodo Residents Association, the former, on Wednesday, promised to provide 549 plots of land to Shangisha landlords. The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, reached the agreement in a meeting with parties involved in the land dispute, a statement by the state information commissioner, Gbenga Omotosho, has said. Mr Omotosho said the governor met with the judgment creditors (Shangisha Landlords Association), their lawyers, Commissioner of Police Lagos State Command, Policemen from the F.C.T Command and Police Headquarters, the Executive and Trustees of the Magodo Residents Association and senior Government Officials. On Tuesday, during his visit to intervene in the land crisis, the governor had set up a committee chaired by the state attorney general and commissioner for justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo. He said after they deliberated on the enforcement of the 2012 judgment delivered by the Supreme Court, they reached an agreement and the surveyor- General of Lagos State, Permanent Secretary Lands Bureau and Hon. Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development are to immediately identify available plots of land within the Shangisha village scheme. According to the statement, the committee is also to identify how the available plots of land are to be accessed and whether any infrastructural development is necessary to access the land. Upon identification of available and accessible land, the State Government is to immediately allocate the land to the 549 Judgment Creditors, the statement read. In the event that there is no available and accessible land within the Shangisha village scheme to allocate to all the 549 Judgment Creditors, the State Government, in agreement with the Judgment Creditors, will provide alternative plots of land. The committee said that while the process is ongoing, the Nigeria Police should ensure that there is no further breakdown of law and order in the estate, adding that they must restrain themselves from the estate. The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, says he takes exception to Wednesdays reaction by South-west governors to the Magodo Estate incident during the visit of the Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to the estate. The South-west governors had earlier reacted to what they described as a disrespect to Mr Sanwo-Olu. A chief superintendent of police officers had openly defied the order of Mr Sanwo-Olu to withdraw his colleagues who had invaded the estate. The unidentified officer told the governor that he only answers to the instructions of his superiors and had yet to get an order to leave the estate from the inspector-general of police, Usman Alkali, and the attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami. In a statement signed by Ondo governor, the governors condemned, in very gross terms, the role of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN in this act of gross moral turpitude. Ulterior motives However, Mr Malami, in a statement signed by his media aide, Umar Gwandu, said he was surprised by the statement from the governors. We see it as a vituperation of ulterior motives of some political class, who derived pleasure in dragging the name of Malami in the mud to achieve some sinister objectives, the statement read. The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice takes exception to the Southwest Governors unjustifiable insinuation of impunity against the office of the Attorney General over the execution of a judgment of the Supreme Court. The role of the executive is, in this respect, simply to aide the maintenance of law and order in due compliance with rule of law arising from giving effect to the judgment of the apex court of the land. Mr Malami said the Supreme Court judgement concerning the land tussle was delivered before he was appointed. H faulted the criticism of the governors, saying officers presence at the estate was not unruly. The judgment was a reaffirmation of the judgments of the Court of Appeal and High Court delivered on 31st December 1993, he said. It is widely reported in the papers that the Lagos State Governor was quoted to have said, Ive spoken extensively with the Inspector-General of Police and the Honourable Attorney-General, and weve resolved all the issues. According to the statement, the attorney general would be happy if the governors would help to unravel the circumstances preventing the Lagos State Government from enforcing the court order despite several attempts from 2012- 2015, as the so-called settlement initiative started in 2016. Some of the cardinal pillars of democratic government are the doctrine of separation of powers and obedience to the rule of law inclusive of Court Orders. It is a common knowledge that execution of the judgment and orders of Courts of competent jurisdiction, and the Court of last resort in the circumstances remains a cardinal component of the rule of law and the office of the Attorney General wonders how maintenance of the law and orders in the course of execution of the judgment of the supreme can be adjudged by the imagination of the governors, to be unruly. The demise of the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Abiodun, has brought this institution to light again, and the composition of the top-ten chiefs, principal chiefs of the Olubadan-in-Council, is a stellar tale of the advancement that has been made in this institution so far. According to the traditional doctrine of succession by promotion through the thirty-four stages from the lineage level, the next-in-line, Chief Lekan Balogun attests to the future of this institution and the role Over the course of history, human societies have developed political systems and structures in response to the need to maintain social harmony and preservation, cultural production, economic growth, and, most importantly, social security for their constituents. Across all civilisations, this process has evolved from family and lineage to clusters of these primordial groups formed in communities, kingdoms, empires, and nation-states. The advent of modern states in their Westphalian attributes has not altered this system so much as to deconstruct the relevance of these structures as currently viewed in their traditional pedestal. Thus, human evolution has come and gone for thousands of years, with equally evolving systems of social order and coordination of varying degrees in structure and system, as codified in their political morphologies. These systems of social order and coordination, which are the integral elements for material and immaterial production and the reproduction of civilisations and cultures, constitute the essential foundation for the codification of such a political process. Even though empires and kingdoms have outlived their glory days and are devalued in their inputs to this evolution, and the role of the family as a political unit has given way to the state/society superstructure, they remain a significant part of this process as a source of the political morphology of modern states. Nonetheless, as it is commonly acknowledged in the case of Ibadan, which appears antithetical to this norm, Ijagboro laarun Ibadan, violence and strife were not occluded from this process. Since time immemorial, this has been at the core of the considerations for change, transformation, and evolution of the system across human civilisations. Implicitly, the emergence of political institutions has always been a way of reaching political compromises and advancing the course of society in light of new realities and the social climate of the culture. This is evident in the evolution of cultures and civilisations that are considered fluid and dynamic. Transformation, tolerance, and prudent openness to elements and practices from other cultures have all been premised on the process of cultural reproduction and the maintenance of social harmony. At no other time was this exhibited among the Yoruba as much as in the nineteenth century, when restless and restive warriors settled in the great city of Ibadan from across the country, mostly from Ife and Oyo, with the latter dominating the region after subduing the Egba and other forces within the territory. The political experimentation that percolated the countrys political space at the time attested to the characteristic openness of the people to new realities and social postures, which is always present in informed scholarly comments and documentations. From pure royalty defined by divine kingship to republicanism, federalism, confederacy, and what could be paradoxically described as democratic militarism, nineteenth-century Yorubaland promised a fundamental alteration of the political landscape of previous epochs. Those familiar with the events of that period would agree that despite the squabbles among the leading political actors in the country, save for the above-stated doses of the qualities that sustain civilisations and cultures, exhibited by these leaders, the Yoruba race, as it is known today, would have been a tale of misery in history. Ibadan, an Egba forest and military camp of Ife-Ijebu-Oyo forces, was particularly reinvented as the dominant state in the West African geopolitical space on the basis of merit, recognition of individual skills and prowess, diversity, commerce, militarism, and eventually, diplomacy. From its formation around 1829, it fast became what Columbus America was to Europeans of the Modern Age across Yorubaland. Young, viable, and astute men and women with military, economic, artistic, and other skills flooded the emerging settlement to have their share of the freedom and economic pie it offered. Indeed, the political and economic landscape it engineered could be seen as precursor to the subsequent transformation brought about by the Europeans through the promotion of the so-called legitimate trade, which gained momentum from the middle of that century. When one considers this stellar composition of the emerging settlement, it is neither surprising nor out of place to see it develop into what the saying, Ijagboro laarun Ibadan, succinctly describes. It was simply a composition of ambitious, skilled, and erudite men and women in their respective rights. Even when the Oyo forces within the camp succeeded in prevailing on other groups, they recognised the need for inclusivity and a rainbowed community (blessings to the soul of the departed great one, Bishop Desmond Tutu) in the prosperity of the political entity. Between circa 1829 and 1893, when the British government in Lagos extended its imperial arms to the interior of that coastal city, which included Ibadan, in the face of the unabated political instability in that century, this political entity was dominated by military lords with staunch support from their civilian counterparts, who dominated its trade and commerce. There is no question about the synergy between military campaigns and commerce, and to the founding fathers of the great city, this reality was never lost on them. Hence, the two-division with which they organised the political landscape reflected on the socio-economic climate. Readily, since the British colonial administrators would not allow any form of unrest in the newly carved British West African colony of the British empire, the cavalry class of the chiefs and the core strength of the army lost their fervour in the polity. The dominance of the Balogun was questioned, and the Seriki unit dominated by astute young soldiers became irrelevant. From its establishment to the British intervention that became decisive after 1893, incessant military campaigns formed an essential part of the revenue generated by the town. This boosted its trading networks and commercial activities and ensured a secured political entity, a gem commodity pursued by all, more than ever at the time. Consequently, because the settlements existence was premised on these military forces and their skills and not on peculiar primordial privileges, the military division of its political morphology was given pre-eminence. Divided into three lines, the Balogun, Seriki, and one dominated by the cavalry soldiers known as the Sarumi, and headed principally by the Balogun sphere, they administered the territory alongside the civil division that comprised the Iyalode and the Baale. In respect of the diversity of the territory in terms of people and occupation, included in this political spread were the Ogboni cult, farmers guild, and other professional guilds. The inputs of these bodies were germane to the extent that they represented special interests and sections of the settlement important to its growth. Although the Baale was constitutionally considered the overall head of the political entity, decisions taken by the Town Council, that is, the collective decision-making organ of the territory, must be sanctioned by the ten permanent members of the council, comprising the military chiefs. This was emphasised in studies on this to the extent that decisions during this period were to be left on hold during times of war when these chiefs must have left the town for their military expeditions. Matters that required their urgent decision-making were taken to them in their military camps. Such was the dominance of the military chiefs in Ibadan that the Baale was left occupying more or less a ceremonial seat. The Iyalode and other civilian chiefs, on their part, mobilised the population and resources for these campaigns. With these combined efforts, Ibadan expanded to become the biggest city in the British West African colony, if not in the whole of Africa, when it came under the influence of Victorian Britain. By the time it receded the advancement of the Ilorin Jihadist forces at Osogbo around 1840, it had emerged as the most formidable Yoruba political enclave close to the pedigree of the Old Oyo empire, which it sought to replace. Therefore, when the British colonial administrators came to revive what the late erudite professor of Yoruba history, J.A. Atanda, described as the New Oyo, they were only adding fuel to the already flaming embers of contention, bitter rivalry, and competition reverberating among several political forces within this rainbowed community for political power and dominance. As in other polities, the expansion of the town reasonably meant the spread of its political influence and the alteration of its landscape. By 1914, when the British colonial administration of the unit referred to as the Southern protectorate took off earnestly, this interest groups had included foreigners, such as the Lebanese, Syrians, and European merchant groups, together with the indigenous educated elite, all of who demanded some form of inclusion or occlusion from the existing political structure and its system. Meanwhile, following the 1886 intervention of the British government in Lagos, in the attainment of peace in Yorubaland, a development which was itself warranted by the exhaustion of the belligerents in the war at its stalemate, military force had begun to lose favour among the people. This marked the birth of more diplomacy and the supremacy of civil authorities over the military. Consequently, this affected the succession plan and political climate of an entity like Ibadan that relied so much on militarism. By the turn of the twentieth century, the popular debate had been on the relevance of the military chieftaincies in the socio-political climate of the polity. Readily, since the British colonial administrators would not allow any form of unrest in the newly carved British West African colony of the British empire, the cavalry class of Ibadan chiefs and the core strength of the army lost their fervour in the polity. The dominance of the Balogun was questioned, and the Seriki unit dominated by astute young soldiers became irrelevant. Rather than military skills and prowess, what was needed at that time was trade and commercial prudence to engage the emerging market and the free economy, while also facilitating the growth of this city of warriors. On the one hand, the constitutional rights and privileges of the Baale were restored to him in this process (in place of the Balogun who headed the hierarchy of military chiefs), but on the other hand, the peculiar interest and nature of the colonial administration that heralded this receded the constitutional giving. This was brought about by the system of indirect rule, which placed the polity under the Alaafinate in all ramifications that included administrative, social, political, and fiscal tidies. In this process of struggle, the title of the Baale was replaced with Olubadan, so as to strengthen his political posture and exact independence from Oyo. The oscillation of this highest title in the land between the military and the civilian ranks of the political divide helped to further strengthen the system in the face of the changing realities of the period. To the people of Ibadan, the magajis (heads of lineages among whom recruitment is made to the chieftaincy rank and order sustained at the lowest echelon of administration of the city), and the government of Oyo State, may this period of transition bring peace, love, and light to all. Ase! Regardless of the irrelevance of the traditional military institution in the emerging state, the influence of this institution, rooted in a not-so-distant past to which its holders would go to war to animate, had made it difficult for it to be totally eradicated and embalmed in history. To this extent, succession to this exalted seat oscillates between the Otun Olubadan (formerly Otun Baale), in line of the civil chiefs, and the Balogun, in the line of the military chiefs, following a long line of promotion of chiefs across the chieftaincy divide, with the aim of reaching the peak, which was the position of the Olubadan. With the prevalence of the civil line, the Balogun is promoted to the civil rank of Otun Olubadan to be positioned for the exalted seat. With progressive modernity came further alterations and debates on this institution, with the relevance of the chieftaincy institution in the administration of the modern state in Africa remaining fundamental. This was a progression from the argument of the emerging educated elite of the twentieth century, who consistently emphasised the need for their inclusion in local governance at all times, based on the premise of the illiteracy of the Native Authorities. In this view, they argued that these authorities were incompetent in the modern bureaucratic administration of the Weberian state, and, for this reason, their exposure to Western education should be a prerequisite for holding positions across its structures, including at the local level. Apparently, this argument began to dominate from the post-World War II years as more educated elites came to occupy such positions, using this newly acquired power to engineer the independence of the state. Due to the rise in this population and other interest groups in the city and other places, as well as because of the shortages in the traditional titles, honorary titles were instituted for various purposes that bordered on local and state administration. However, as this was achieved with more responsibilities conferred on the educated elites in the state, the argument morphed into the relevance of the institution as a whole to the modern state. This is a dominant argument that will persist for some time now until the modern state is reformed. To be sure, not only is the relevance of this institution questioned, but that of the state and its practices has also never moved away from the radar of scepticism. The demise of the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Abiodun, has brought this institution to light again, and the composition of the top-ten chiefs, principal chiefs of the Olubadan-in-Council, is a stellar tale of the advancement that has been made in this institution so far. According to the traditional doctrine of succession by promotion through the thirty-four stages from the lineage level, the next-in-line, Chief Lekan Balogun, the Otun Olubadan, prominent in his role as a successful diversified business magnate, politician, and technocrat, attests to the future of this institution and the role it would continue to play in the democratic process and good governance of the state. To the people of Ibadan, the magajis (heads of lineages among whom recruitment is made to the chieftaincy rank and order sustained at the lowest echelon of administration of the city), and the government of Oyo State, may this period of transition bring peace, love, and light to all. Ase! 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. I am not supposed to write this long essay about someone I know next to nothing about. My desire was to simply say happy birthday to Professor Akinyemi, as he clocks 80 years today. The world waits to celebrate more of his birthdays. Prof, in the eternal words of Norman Vincent Peale, I urge you to live your life and forget your age, because as once captured by Nicky Gumbel, today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it! Happy birthday, Sir. We never met closely until 2014. Even then, there was no handshake; no one-on-one physical interaction; just an ordinary good morning, Prof., without expecting a response. That is understandable: I do not possess the credentials that make me eligible to establish and maintain such rapport with him. In other words, no situation official or personal has brought us into a close relationship. But somehow, I have always, from a safe distance, admired the content of his persona first, his surplus intellectual carriage; and second, what psychologists call a magnetic personality. When I woke up on Tuesday morning to realise that this great thinker and diplomat, Professor Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi, was 80 years old, I could only shout: Wow! Thats a princely age for a man who must live long because we still need him here. It is not within my competence to write a tribute of any kind in honour of this man far from it. What you are reading is simply an attempt at reflecting on my not-too-distant encounter with him in 2014. Im sure Prof if he ever gets to read this would be wondering rhetorically: who on planet earth is this distraction on my birthday?! A few years ago, someone allowed me a glance at a book entitled, Secrets of Personal Magnetism, written by William Michael, and published in 1967. I was not quite interested in the publication until I read something on page two, which took me to page three. It was about people who possess certain tangible and intangible qualities that set them apart from others. The author even used examples of certain Biblical figures whose stories, told in choice, inspirational words, occupy more space in the sacred book than others. He mentioned Jesus Christ as the greatest example of such mysterious characters of the Bible. Michael went ahead to state that even in ordinary, less spiritual situations, for example in the ancient Greece, there were examples of men (and perhaps women) of distinction such as Phidias, Plato, Aristotle, and many others who have today become historical human institutions. He further explains that it was not as though their works were finer than those of other skilful sculptors, seasoned writers or notable philosophers of that era. Yet, they stood out and still stand out among their contemporaries who have long been forgotten. Such men are few. I believe Professor Akinyemi is among the few Nigerians who fall within this category of humans. He has greatly dominated his environment. Here are a few sentences I can recall from Michaels great book: Always, in any group of persons regardless of his rank or station in life, there is one individual who seems predominant. Sometimes, this is not very plainly marked; at other times it is very definitely discernible. This superior being may be a scholar, a soldier or the lowliest labourer. He may be dressed exactly as his companions, say the same words they say, make the same gestures they make; yet for some reasons he appears to be subtly different from them. He seems to be surrounded by an aura of some strange power which separates him from his fellows, leaving him one of them, yet in some mystic way, towering above them. Doesnt that sound like the person of Professor Akinyemi? Pardon me if your opinion is different, because I hardly can make a complete, befitting sentence about him. As Michael explains, everyone has at some time on his experience met persons whose achievements or knowledge in specialised fields seemed to merit the attention of the public; but who were incapable of attracting attention to the merits of their work. Others, perhaps having far less ability, are acclaimed, sought after, praised for their meagre achievements. He concludes that to have achieved or earned their great fame, the few who are thus exalted by their fellowmen must be possessed of some extraordinary power some characteristic which has brought them and their work to the attention of the masses. It is this quality, which we call the magnetic personality. The totality of this insight is that there is always something about someone that takes him or her out of the crowd. The outstanding features could be physical or invisible. It could be the way someone talks his word combinations and flow of ideas the style of his writing or the depth of his thoughts, as expressed in his or her poems. Someone may have a bushy, meticulously kept white hair, as we see on Professor Wole Soyinka, or a manageable all weather round stomach, which we have consistently observed in President Olusegun Obasanjo, even as a military man. As already observed, it was in 2014, at the National Conference called by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, that I first had what could be erroneously described as a close encounter with Professor Akinyemi. Of course, before then, his name, in the public space, was synonymous with excellence. On a personal note, he is one of the two Nigerians whose love for bow-ties cannot be explained. Im not sure Ive ever seen a picture of Prof. adorning another version of the neck-tie other than the bow type. This must be one of those attributes that magnetises people towards him. When Professor Akinyemi speaks, the richness of his vocabulary and the confidence he exudes are unmistakeable. What would you expect of someone who has passed through Temple University in Philadelphia, United States of America; Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Medford, in Massachusetts; and Trinity College, Oxford, in England? He covered all these academic grounds in less than ten years. Then he started teaching what he studied. From Geneva, where he was a visiting professor of International Studies, he moved to Nairobi in Kenya. From Africa, he returned to the United States, where he taught at the University of California; then surfaced at the University of Lagos in 1983 and also served as Visiting Fellow at St Johns College, Cambridge. He has been Minister of External Affairs and Director General of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs. While at the 2014 National Conference, occasionally, I found myself in his office to consult with the Conference personnel attached to him on certain issues. I never met him because I had no reason to. As a Conference staff, hired as a rapporteur but sent to the media and communications office, I had no direct business with Prof, who was the Deputy Chairman of the Conference. One day, an opportunity to say good morning to him came when I had something to do within the periphery of his office and I saw him step out. He looked in my direction while surveying the environment. I greeted him with a bow. I assume he responded. Yes, he did. He obviously made my day. During the Conference, Professor Akinyemi was the peacemaker extraordinaire. Whenever tension mounted over any unresolved issue, while everyone talked, he would maintain a dignified outlook; thinking of the way out. At the same time, he would be searching for any solution-carrying face among the 492 delegates. By the time he finally speaks, Prof would not only calm the nerves, he would come with an answer; or call someone he believed was capable of doing so. That was how he identified Fola Adeola and Atedo Peterside the two bank proprietors who individually proposed unimaginable solutions and pulled the Conference back from the precipice when the issue of percentage voting almost crashed the national conversation before it started. Permit me not to go further on this till another day. But the point here is that Professor Akinyemi was a stabilising influence at the Conference. I can only imagine what would have happened if he wasnt sitting next to the Chairman, the late Justice Idris Kutigi. As a tested and trusted diplomat, Profs intervention in knotty issues was needed throughout the Conference. I usually loved to hear that deep voice of his that drags joyfully at peacetime but accelerates when you take a joke beyond the confines of decency. Prof enjoys a good laugh. His smiles do not come cheap. When he raises his voice, it is for instruction, not in annoyance. I am not supposed to write this long essay about someone I know next to nothing about. My desire was to simply say happy birthday to Professor Akinyemi, as he clocks 80 years today. The world waits to celebrate more of his birthdays. Prof, in the eternal words of Norman Vincent Peale, I urge you to live your life and forget your age, because as once captured by Nicky Gumbel, today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it! Happy birthday, Sir. Sam Akpe is a journalist and editor. Luminous, the countrys leading inverters and batteries brand, has been awarded the Inverter and Battery Brand of the Year 2021 award at the prestigious Nigerian Business Leadership Awards. For over ten years, Luminous, which is distributed in Nigeria by the Simba Group, has driven the industrys growth through product innovation, including local research and development, which has enabled it to deliver solutions catered mainly for the power conditions faced in Nigeria. Receiving the award, Ravi Srivastava Business Head, Simba Power said, We are honoured and humbled at getting the award for Inverter and Battery Brand of the Year-2021. The support and trust our customers and partners have given us over the years; has made this possible. Our company has led innovation in the non-polluting power-backup space in Nigeria for over a decade, and this award strengthens our desire to continue doing so. He added, Inverter solutions provide our homes and offices with always-on power, and in doing so have become a critical part of our daily lives. Ensuring longevity of the solutions, and enhancing operating efficiencies, is what we focus our efforts on, and what we believe our customers choose us for. A key factor to the success of Luminous has been the country-wide after-sales support provided by Simba Service the largest inverter and battery service network in the country. Speaking on behalf of the company, Karthik Govindarajan, Group Head of Marketing, said, Our success is built on the philosophy of offering the best after-sales support for our customers. Our award-winning service network spans the length and breadth of the country, and our customers can conveniently contact us through our 24-hour call centre, our customer service app, or through our website. We also offer SMS-based service tracking systems and mobile service vans to serve customers at their doorstep if required. We also have our own distilled water plants to ensure that for every battery top-up, you get the best quality distilled water. Simba Group, founded in Nigeria in 1988, is a conglomerate with operations across Nigerias most dynamic economic sectors agriculture, alternative energy, backup power supply systems, networking and data transmission, ICT infrastructure development, and commercial vehicles. The group commands leadership positions in all five companies that share a practical yet straightforward corporate philosophy: providing unparalleled customer satisfaction. In partnership with globally renowned companies such as Luminous, TVS Motors, Avaya and Mahindra Simba Group offers Nigerians innovative products and solutions backed by attentive and industry-leading customer service. The Federal Capital Territory Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, has ordered the comprehensive cleaning of all satellite towns across the six Area Councils of the territory. Ms Aliyu gave the order in a statement issued by the Coordinator, Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD), Obinna Ogwuegbu, on Tuesday in Abuja. The minister explained that the directive is part of efforts to rid satellite towns of environmental nuisance characterised by poor sanitation. She said that the order is with immediate effect under the direct supervision of the Coordinator of STDD, to ensure the restoration of the environment for the safety of the residents. She noted that the situation of waste generation in the FCT has an exponential trend because of the influx of Nigerians into the territory. The minister decried the peoples attitude, lifestyle, and behaviours towards their environment. The coordinator assured residents of the FCT that the FCT administration remains committed to ensuring a safer and hygienic FCT for all residents. He said that the exercise would be an ongoing one and appealed to residents, particularly those living in the suburbs, to desist from dumping refuse in drainages and by the roadsides. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the coordinator, since the assumption of office, has been on the trail of sanitary workers and embarked on a massive clean-up exercise around and within the six area councils. (NAN) The Akwa Ibom State Government has announced a ban on scrap scavengers young men, usually seen with rusty cart, who roam around neighbourhoods picking discarded metals. They make a living trading on the scrap. The ban, which was announced via a statement on Tuesday by the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government (SSG), Emmanuel Ekuwem, followed the alleged killing of a resident of Uyo by two scrap scavengers. The two reportedly attacked the resident who was said to have caught them stealing some items from his residence. They were in turn lynched by a mob in the community. Sometime in 2021, multiple explosions, causing fatalities, were recorded in Oruk Anam Local Government Area in the course of scavengers sorting out what turned out to be military brand explosives, Mr Ekuwem said in the statement. About four lives were lost in this incident. Besides public complaints against their activities, Mr Ekuwem said the state government had to take an action in order to curb criminality and threats to the peaceful inter-ethnic relationship in the state. Sundays appear to be the busiest day for these scavengers who take advantage of mass church attendance to invade homes and cart away valuables leaving hapless citizens with tales of woe upon their return from Church. As a responsible Government, we can no longer tolerate the activities of this industry which evidently is in no way adding value to the socio- economic well being of the state but rather escalating tensions and threatening the overall peace and security of the state. Accordingly, the operations of scrap scavengers in the state is banned forthwith. Violators of this ban will be apprehended and dealt with according to the law, the SSG said. The Akwa Ibom Government also reiterated its earlier ban on the use of motorcycles within the Uyo metropolis and its environs. Security agencies and the general public are therefore put on notice. An enforcement structure has been put in place to effect these directives to the letter, Mr Ekuwem said. Governor Nyesom Wike of the neighbouring Rivers State took a similar action recently, banning cart pushers from the state capital, Port Harcourt. New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) A Court of Inquiry formed to probe the December 8 chopper crash leading to the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others gave a detailed presentation to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday. The panel, headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh with officers of the Army and Navy, also made certain recommendations for VVIP travel in choppers, informed sources said. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar were present during the presentation. Government sources said a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) has been mentioned as the cause of the accident, meaning the pilot may have entered an envelope of cloud and got disoriented due to low visibility, leading to a collision and subsequent crash. The chopper was flying along a railway line on low attitude before entering into thick cloud cover. The inquiry ruled out sabotage or technical fault as probable reasons behind the crash. The panel has made certain recommendations to re-look at the Standard Operating Procedures to fly VVIPs. The inquiry team collected evidence, examined the black box and studied various aspects of aviation while preparing a report. Gen Rawat died near Coonoor together with his wife Madhulika, his senior most staff officer Brig L S Lidder and Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Naik Vivek Kumar, Naik B. Sai Teja, Havaldar Satpal and pilots flying the helicopter. The chopper had taken off from the Sulur IAF station and was flying to Wellington. UNI ASU MR ING Governors in the south-west region have condemned the disrespect of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State by a police officer during his visit to the Magodo estate over the lingering land crisis in the area. The governors under the auspices of Southwest Governors Forum on Wednesday in a statement signed by the Ondo governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, described the act as an unacceptable intrusion. While the governors condemned the act, they called for the deployment of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun in the state. Amotekun is a security outfit based in the south-west region in Nigeria and it is primarily to curb insecurity in the region. We stand by our brother, the Governor of Lagos State. We advise him to deploy the Regional security outfit in the State to protect the lives and property of the people, the statement read. Disrespect An unidentified Chief Superintendent of Police on Tuesday refused to obey the Lagos state governors command to evacuate police officers from the Magodo Phase 2 Estate. In the video obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the governor instructed the police officer to call his superiors who gave the order to invade the estate that the governor wanted the decision rescinded. But he told the governor that he only answers to the instructions of his superiors and had yet to get an order to leave the estate from the inspector-general of police, Usman Alkali, and the attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami. Reaction The governors said, the content of the video is very disconcerting, and this is being charitable. ALSO READ: Amotekun rescues three remaining travellers from kidnappers The utter disrespect, which underlines the response of the officer to the Governor establishes, beyond doubt, the impracticability of the current system, dubiously christened Federalism. An arrangement, which compels the Governor of a State to seek clarifications on security issues in his jurisdiction from totally extraneous bodies or persons, is a sure recipe for anarchy. While the group criticised the act, they call on the Inspector-General of Police to explain the justification for this intrusion. According to them, reconciliation between the federating units and federal security agencies is becoming hopeless. We condemn, in very clear terms, the role of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami SAN in this act of gross moral turpitude, the statement read. We, on our part, will continue to interrogate the current system, which treats elected representatives of the people as mere prefects, while appointed office holders ride roughshod over them as Lords of the Manor. If the purported Chief Security Officers of the States of the Federation require clearance from the office of the IG on matters within their areas of jurisdictions, only hypocrites will wonder why the current security crisis deepens and there appears to be no solution in the foreseeable future. We call on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to rein in the excesses of certain elements bent on acting in a manner capable of eroding the bond of trust existing between the people and the Federal Government. It is preposterous for political appointees to seek to undermine the very structure of service upon which their appointments rest. The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has confirmed a fire incident in the state on Wednesday at the shanties at Okobaba sawmill, Ebute Metta.. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, Nosa Okunbor, LASEMAs spoksperson said the emergency respondents from the agency are presently there. He, however, said he didnt have details of the incident yet. The incident is the first fire outbreak the state would record in the new year. In March 2021, a fire outbreak razed many of the shanties in the area. The fire had started in one of the shanties and spread to other areas. Details later. Plattsburgh, NY (12901) Today Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High 57F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 47F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Southbury, CT (06488) Today Cloudy skies with a few showers this afternoon. High near 55F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 48F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. "As a brand that was born on the beach, Corona embraces the outdoors in everything we do, because we believe that outside is where people best disconnect and relax. The feeling of the sun is one of the things that people love most about the outdoors and the Corona brand is always innovating to remind them of that feeling," said Felipe Ambra, Global Vice President for Corona. "Now, we're excited to offer consumers Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, the first non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D, reinforcing our desire to help people reconnect to nature, anytime." According to IWSR, the global no/low alcohol category total volume is forecasted to grow by 31% by 2024. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% provides consumers looking for a non-alcoholic beer with a unique new option. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% contains 30 per cent of the daily value of vitamin D in Canada and 60 calories per 330 ML serving. Corona Sunbrew 0.0% maintains Corona's essence; it was developed from Corona Extra by extracting the alcohol and then blending the non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D and natural flavours to reach the final recipe. This launch also demonstrates AB InBev's continued commitment to smart drinking to help reduce and prevent the harmful use of alcohol across the world. "After numerous and rigorous trials, Corona Sunbrew 0.0% proudly showcases our ability to find solutions, gaps, and opportunities for growth as a brand," said Brad Weaver, Global Vice President of Innovation Research & Development for ABInBev. "The journey was not easy as vitamin D is sensitive to oxygen and light, and not easily soluble in water. But thanks to our ongoing investment in innovation and research and development, our team was able to create the only non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D, providing a unique opportunity in the market." Corona Sunbrew 0.0% will be available to consumers in a few distinct phases. The global brand will first launch Corona Sunbrew 0.0% in Canada, precisely at the time of year where most Canadians experience limited sunlight, making it an ideal market to launch an innovation from a brand synonymous with the beach and celebrations outdoors. Later this year, Corona will extend the non-alcoholic product offering in the UK followed by key markets across the rest of Europe, South America, and Asia. Creative Agency DAVID Miami collaborated closely with Corona on the development of Corona Sunbrew 0.0% from its very inception, more than two years ago. As an ongoing brand partner, DAVID proactively presented the idea for Corona to develop a beverage containing vitamin D. "Each detail of the project is special. From the product ideation to the final campaign. It's not every day that we have the chance to present a product idea and have an innovative client like Corona buy, develop and take it to the next level. A true collaborative effort," says Pancho Cassis, Global Chief Creative Officer at DAVID. To help support the launch of Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, Corona will unveil a new creative campaign capturing the enjoyment of "Sunshine, Anytime." A compilation of scenes filmed on a pristine beach in Costa Rica presents the pleasure of outdoor living and the boundless positive energy of the sun. The new Corona Sunbrew 0.0% campaign taps into the feeling of being carefree and relaxed. The 360-degree integrated marketing campaign, created by DAVID Miami and Director Juan Cabral, inspires consumers to enjoy the Corona lifestyle, which is best experienced with sunshine. For more information on Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, please visit http://www.coronaextra.ca/ca_en/products. Join the conversation on Twitter @corona. About Corona Global Born in Mexico, Corona is the leading beer brand in the country, the most popular Mexican beer worldwide exported to more than 180 countries. Corona Extra was first brewed in 1925 at the Cerveceria Modelo in Mexico City. Corona is a pioneer in the beer industry by being the first to use a transparent bottle showcasing its purity and high quality to the world. The artwork found on the bottle is painted, highlighting our commitment to quality in our packaging and our Mexican heritage. No Corona is complete without the lime. Naturally adding character, flavor and refreshment, the lime ritual is an integral part of delivering an experience that is truly unique to Corona. The brand is synonymous with the beach and celebrates time outdoors. It invites people to pause, relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Corona has an ongoing commitment to reducing plastics. Since its partnership with Parley for the Oceans in 2017, they have exceeded its mission to protect 100 islands before 2020, and continue to deploy consistent global clean-up efforts. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719854/Corona_Sunbrew.jpg Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719891/Corona_Sunshine_Anytime.mp4 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719855/Corona_Sunbrew_Lock_Up_Logo.jpg SOURCE Corona LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited ("Cordiant Digital") announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary has signed a binding agreement to acquire Emitel S.A. ("Emitel" or the "Company") from its shareholder - Alinda Capital Partners ("Alinda"). Completion of the acquisition is subject to regulatory and governmental approvals and financing confirmations at the Emitel level. Admitted to the Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CORD, Cordiant Digital is a specialist investment company focused on investing in digital infrastructure assets in Europe and North America. As a permanent capital investment company it can, unlike a traditional private equity fund, adopt an extremely long-term investment horizon, enabling portfolio companies to execute on long-term investment plans with confidence. The firm is a "buy, build and grow" investor leveraging a large team of senior telecommunications industry executives and private equity professionals with deep digital experience. Cordiant Digital's manager is Cordiant Capital Inc. ("Cordiant"), an institutional asset manager with committed capital of ca. US$ 3 billion. The Chairman of Cordiant's Infrastructure team is Steven Marshall, who was formerly President of American Tower (listed under AMT on the New York Stock Exchange), Chairman of the Wireless Infrastructure Association and CEO of National Grid Wireless of the U.K. He has had past experience in the Polish digital infrastructure market. He remarked: "Emitel is a national champion in a country with strong public finances. Emitel enjoys attractive growth prospects in areas such as mobile towers, edge data and 'smart cities'. We also applaud what managerment and employees of the firm have built to date (including a strong focus on sustainability), and look forward to investing further capital in support of Emitel's growth." Emitel's CEO Andrzej J. Kozlowski thanked Alinda for their consistent support as an investor and further commented: "In Cordiant Digital we have an investor bringing both a long investment horizon and significant industry expertise; as such it can deploy capital, insight and patience to support us in our medium- and long-term growth plans in broadcasting and become an even more significant provider of outsourced digital infrastructure. We look forward to working with the Cordiant Digital team." Alinda Capital Partners' Jim Metcalfe, Chairman of Emitel Supervisory Board said : "Emitel's management team and employees have positioned the company to continue to deliver best in class broadcast service across Poland and to grow as the leading independent provider of build to suit telecom towers. Emitel has consistently delivered on its ESG initiatives and was recently recognised for its outperformance. Alinda is committed to working with the management team and Cordiant Digital to obtain Polish regulatory approvals and successfully transfer the company to its long term investor." Cordiant will seek to support Emitel through its industry knowledge and contacts, and to build on strong existing relationships with the relevant stakeholders and regulatory authorities. Notes to Editors: Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited primarily invests in the core infrastructure of the digital economy - data centres, fibreoptic networks and broadcast and telecommunication towers - "the plumbing of the internet" - in the UK, Europe and North America. Further details of the Company can be found on the Company's website at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com. Cordiant Capital Inc., the Company's investment manager, is a sector-focused investment manager with particular expertise and experience in digital infrastructure. Cordiant invests in global infrastructure and real assets, running infrastructure private equity and infrastructure private credit strategies through limited partnership funds and managed accounts. Cordiant's current client base consists of global insurance companies, pension plans and family offices. Disclaimer: This document may contain certain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance, and reflect Cordiant Capital Inc.'s expectations or beliefs regarding future events, including business and economic conditions, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. These factors include, but are not limited to, market and general economic conditions, the nature of the telecommunications and internet industries. Such forward-looking statements reflect current beliefs and are based on information currently available to Cordiant Capital Inc SOURCE Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited US teacher arrested for vaccinating student New York, Jan 5 (UNI) A New York teacher has been arrested for allegedly giving a Covid vaccine to a student without the consent of his parents. Laura Russo, 54, was arrested on New Year's Eve in Sea Cliff after police were informed that she had allegedly injected a 17-year-old boy with a vaccine, reports NBC News. Police officials say that the 17-year-old boy had visited Russo's home, where she administered what was believed to be a Covid vaccine to him. ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With wide open spaces, huge mountains, massive glaciers and abundant wildlife, Alaska is a top-tier travel destination this year. Here's a Top 10 list with some of the best things to see and do around the state. Use the 2022 Alaska TourSaver app for exclusive discounts on train rides, flightseeing and glacier cruises. 2022 Alaska TourSaver App 2022 Alaska TourSaver App 1. Save 25 percent on your Alaska Airlines summertime tickets between Alaska and the Lower 48 for up to four people. 2. See Denali from the air with a flightseeing tour from K2 Aviation. Depart from Talkeetna's airport and get up-close to Denali on your tour. Have your camera ready! Save $63 per person for up to four people. 3. Sail with Major Marine Tours to see Kenai Fjords National Park. Get ready to see lots of wildlife, including whales, porpoise, seabirdsmaybe even some sheep or moose on the shore. Get up-close to massive glaciers in the heart of the park. Save $40. 4. Ride on the Mighty Alaska Railroad. Choose a summertime trip to Denali Naitonal Park or from Anchorage to Seward or Talkeetna. There's also the "Aurora Winter Train" between Anchorage and Fairbanks through February 2022. Save up to $362. 5. Visit the iconic town of Talkeetna, on the banks of the Susitna River. Go on a jetboat ride with Mahays Jetboat Adventures (save $34). Float the river with Talkeetna River Guides on a two- or four-hour float (save $80-$145). Go on a "Bike & Brew" tour with North Shore Cyclery (save $120). Get a free cookie from Mimi's Haus of Cheese (priceless!). Here's one of Santa's favorites, since it's close to his home in North Pole: 6. Cruise on an authentic sternwheeler riverboat in the heart of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Riverboat Discovery sails each day and includes a stop at the Chena Indian Village. Save $79.95. 7. See the whales in Juneau. Sail with Alaska Galore Tours on a three-hour cruise to see the humpback whales that are feeding in the nearby channels! Save $149. 8. Enjoy a one-hour narrated sightseeing tour of Anchorage on the Anchorage Trolley. Save $20. 9. See Alaska's largest national park, Wrangell-St. Elias. Stay at Kennicott Glacier Lodge, in the midst of the Kennicott Mining District (save $100). Go flightseeing with Wrangell Mountain Air for a bird's eye view of the park (save $50). Take a guided hike on the Root Glacier with McCarthy River Guides (save $95). 10. Bear viewing at Snug Harbor Outpost. Depart Homer by boat for the historic cannery at Chisak Island. Get some fishing and beachcombing in during your overnight stay, too. All transportation, guiding, accommodations and meals included! Save $750. The Alaska TourSaver app includes more than 90 money-saving offers around Alaska, from Ketchikan to Fairbanks. With more than $10,000 in redeemable value, the Alaska TourSaver app is one of Santa's favorite gift choicesbut only if you've been very, very nice. Scott McMurren 907-602-7523 [email protected] SOURCE Alaska TourSaver "Parents are excited about having their children learn from our charismatic and expert cohort of teachers, and teachers are thrilled with the level of support coming from our Allschool support staff," Allschool wrote in the letter. Founded in Singapore, Allschool officially launched its online education platform in the second half of 2021 and has been running classes since then. The majority of teachers come from a background related to education, with expertise in general education, elementary education, child and youth development, as well as early childhood education. The Company places the utmost confidence in its professional team of teachers, who have 15 years of teaching experience on average, according to data from the platform. In order to fully ensure education quality and credibility, Allschool has partnered with a leading background check and screening company to review the qualifications of the teachers. Specifically, it requires all teachers to pass criminal record checks, and they need to go through manual verification by submitting photos of themselves holding their identification. To provide students with multicultural experiences, Allschool has brought together teachers from five continents. Currently, over 80% of them based in the United States and the Company is committed to expanding its teacher team globally. Allschool has also been making efforts to diversify its course offerings ensuring there's something of interest for all ages. It currently features a huge range of subjects catering for kids aged 3-18 years, such as arts, English, coding and technology, health and wellness, life skills, math, music, science and nature, social studies, world languages and Chinese. Some of the most popular courses include public speaking, science and nature, English and math. Meanwhile, the Company has a built-in Help Desk on the platform to support its teachers. Specifically, Allschool works with the teachers to prepare their curricula presentation on theme, content and structure, with a 24-hour support team to help the teachers best deliver their work. Allschool has also formed a tight-knit Facebook community where teachers can communicate with Allschool's support staff and discuss diverse topics varying from professional teaching skills to sharing their in-class experiences. "Allschool is such a wonderful company. You can tell they truly care about creating the best learning experience possible," said Becky Zerr, who teaches English language and arts on Allschool. Melissa Muir, who teaches public speaking and writing composition on Allschool, said she has enjoyed creating her own content to meet learners where they are. "My greatest wish for them in the coming year is to see their continued growth and to see them having fun in class," she said. To celebrate the new year, Allschool will announce the result of a previously held virtual "treasure hunt" game starting from PST 7 p.m. on January 6 via YouTube livestreaming for those who purchased Allschool courses. About Allschool Founded in Singapore, Allschool is an innovative online platform that delivers highly interactive small-group live classes to children worldwide. Through Allschool, learners can enjoy a variety of premium live classes including mathematics, languages, visual arts, game design, and more delivered by thousands of devoted and talented teachers from all around the world. An expert in online education, Allschool has developed a set of innovative purpose-built teaching and learning tools that bring meaningful changes to learning outcomes, allowing students to immerse themselves in a rewarding, gamified, and interactive environment that empowers them to explore and pursue their interests while making schooling fun and enjoyable. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllschoolEdu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allschooledu/ Media contact Sara Chen [email protected] SOURCE ALLSCHOOLS PTE.LTD. While common repairs include cracked screens, battery issues, and water damage, the company's repair experts have fixed millions of devices and can help with most any tech mishap, and many basic repairs can be completed in two hours or less. "Whether it's a coffee spill on a laptop, a shattered smartphone screen, or a piece of nostalgic tech that a customer wants to revive, our repair experts can help," said Stephenson Defalco, Asurion District Manager. "We know how frustrating it can be when your favorite devices break, and we're here to get them back up and running as quickly as possible." The store's expert repair technicians fix all kinds of technology, regardless of make or model, and the store is an authorized repair provider for Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones. Customers can book a repair appointment online or stop by the store for walk-in service. The store offers free, no-obligation diagnostics on all gadgets, as well as a 90-day limited warranty on all repairs. It even offers a price match guarantee on any local competitor's regularly published price for the same repair. The new Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions store brings the company's retail footprint to more than 650 locations across the U.S. Formerly known as uBreakiFix, all U.S. locations will rebrand as Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions throughout 2022. "We are excited to serve people in Brick with fast and affordable tech repair," said Dave Barbuto, CEO of Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions. "We all rely on our phones and laptops more than ever before, and our mission is bigger than repairing shattered screens and broken charge ports. We fix tech because people depend on it to stay connected to things that are important to them. I look forward to serving this community through our new location." The new store is located at: Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions 503 NJ-70, Brick Township, NJ 08723 (732) 965-0097 About Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions, formerly known as uBreakiFix, is the retail brand operated and franchised by a subsidiary of tech care company Asurion. As the world's leading tech care company, Asurion eliminates the fears and frustrations associated with technology to ensure its 300 million customers get the most out of their devices, appliances, and connections. Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions stores specialize in the repair of consumer technology, including smartphones, game consoles, tablets, computers, and nearly everything in between. Asurion Tech Repair and Solutions repair experts fix cracked screens, software issues, camera issues, and most other tech mishaps at more than 650 stores across the U.S. The stores provide fast, affordable fixes for nearly any device type, regardless of make or model, including authorized repairs for Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones. SOURCE Asurion NASSAU, Bahamas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bahamas has suspended the mandatory RT-PCR testing requirement for vaccinated travellers, which was expected to take effect on 7 January 2022. Vaccinated persons, as well as children ages 2-11, may continue to present either a negative Rapid Antigen Test or negative RT-PCR Test. In addition, effective 4 January 2022, all persons remaining in The Bahamas for longer than 48 hours will be required to undergo a Rapid Antigen Test, regardless of vaccination status. Details of the protocol changes are as follows: All those travelling to The Bahamas from other countries, whether fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival in The Bahamas . from other countries, whether fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test prior to the date of arrival in The . Vaccinated travellers and children between the ages of 2-11, can present either a negative Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR Test. All unvaccinated travellers, ages 12 and older, must present a negative RT-PCR Test (acceptable tests include NAAT, PCR, RNA, RT-PCR and TMA). All children under the age of two are exempt from any testing requirements. 48 Hour COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test: Effective 4 January 2022 , a Rapid Antigen Test will be required for all travellers staying in The Bahamas longer than 48 hours (two (2) nights), regardless of vaccination status. Effective , a Rapid Antigen Test will be required for all travellers staying in The longer than 48 hours (two (2) nights), regardless of vaccination status. Visitors departing on or before 48 hours will not be required to obtain this test. This test replaces the existing Day-5 Rapid Antigen Test. An island-by-island list of approved testing sites is available at Bahamas.com/travelupdates. For full details, please visit Bahamas.com/travelupdates. PRESS INQUIRIES Anita Johnson-Patty General Manager, Global Communications Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation [email protected] Weber Shandwick Public Relations [email protected] SOURCE The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation PHOENIX, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Best Western Hotels & Resorts' (BWHR) award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards (BWR) is welcoming the new year with the launch of Pay with Points. Starting today, BWR members can reserve their next hotel stay using accumulated loyalty points to pay for part of their booking, allowing for added flexibility when planning their next hotel stay. By using Pay with Points, BWR members no longer have to wait to reach the free room night threshold and can tap into their points right away to redeem discounted room rates at hotels across North America. Prior to rolling out the new benefit, BWHR tested Pay with Points through a beta program featuring select properties across North America. Each of these hotels offered discounted rates to BWR members who had accrued at least 5,000 BWR points, which could be used towards part of their hotel stay. During the beta test, a third of BWR members used a combination of BWR points and cash to book stays of two nights or more, which ultimately boosted the bottom line for participating hotels. "Pay with Points is designed to help both BWR members and our hoteliers. BWR members can now redeem points to pay for part of their hotel stay and our hotel owners will benefit because BWR members are being introduced to new properties within our portfolio," said Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for BWHR. "We're always looking to provide our rewards members with new promotions and benefits, and we're excited to introduce Pay with Points to Best Western-branded hotels across North America." To redeem Pay with Points, a minimum of 5,000 points is required, which translates to a $25 saving on a hotel booking. BWR members will also earn 10 points for every dollar spent on the paid portion of the Pay with Points reservation. BWR's tagline "Because We Care About Rewarding You" underscores how the program's perks are driven by BWHR's foundational commitment of caring for guests. In 2020, BWHR was the first in the industry to extend Elite status to its BWR members at the start of the pandemic. In 2021, the company cut its Elite Status eligibility qualifications in half to make it easier for travelers to earn loyalty status and further extended loyalty status through March 31, 2023, without needing to fulfill the necessary qualifications. Also inspired by the brand's caring spirit, BWHR launched an industry-leading cleaning program, We Care CleanSM, which delivers an enhanced commitment to keeping guests safe and healthy when staying at Best Western branded hotels across North America. Today's BWHR is a vibrant hospitality company with 18 distinct brand offerings across every market segment from economy to luxury. In recent years, the company has revitalized its properties across North America as owners invested a staggering $2 billion in property improvements and renovations. BWHR's commitment to innovation and improvement has enabled the company to achieve record RevPAR Index, unrivaled industry recognition and unprecedented guest satisfaction. For more information on BWR or to sign up, please visit bestwesternrewards.com. To learn more about Pay with Points please visit Pay With Points | Best Western Hotel & Resorts. About Best Western Hotels & Resorts: Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand within the BWH Hotel Group global network. With 18 brands and approximately 4,500 hotels in over 100 countries and territories worldwide*, BWH Hotel Group suits the needs of developers and guests in every market. Brands include Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Executive Residency by Best Western, Vib, GLo, Aiden, Sadie, BW Premier Collection and BW Signature Collection. Through acquisition, WorldHotels Luxury, WorldHotels Elite, WorldHotels Distinctive and WorldHotels Crafted collections are also offered. Completing the portfolio is SureStay, SureStay Plus, SureStay Collection and SureStay Studio franchises**. For more information visit www.bestwestern.com, www.bestwesterndevelopers.com, www.worldhotels.com and www.surestay.com. * Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline. **All Best Western, WorldHotels and SureStay branded hotels are independently owned and operated. MEDIA CONTACT: Katie Ray PR Director 602.957.5526 [email protected] SOURCE Best Western Hotels & Resorts NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Owl Capital Inc. ("Blue Owl") (NYSE: OWL), a leading alternative asset manager, has hired Madeleine Sinclair as Managing Director and Head of North American Distribution, effective January 3, 2022. In this newly created role, Sinclair will spearhead the expansion of the Company's private wealth management business across both U.S. and Canadian markets. "We are excited to welcome Madeleine, who brings two decades of sales and management experience in private wealth distribution," said Derek O'Leary, CEO of Blue Owl Securities. "Her expertise will be instrumental in accelerating the growth of Blue Owl's private wealth business and comes at a time when we are experiencing exponential investor demand for our products and alternative expertise." Blue Owl's private wealth management business is focused on providing high net worth investors access to the same alternative investment solutions as its institutional client base. With well-established and growing relationships across 85 private wealth management platforms, including several of the largest platforms in North America, Blue Owl is well positioned to continue its market leading momentum. Sinclair will join a global team comprised of professionals in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. Driven to develop and launch innovative alternative solutions for clients, Blue Owl intends to multiply its $6 billion in capital commitments (as of September 2021) with private wealth clients. "I am thrilled to join Blue Owl to expand the company's private wealth distribution in the United States and Canada," said Sinclair. "This is a fast-growing and dynamic firm with a strong track-record of providing innovative capital solutions to sophisticated investors. I believe we can continue to leverage this expertise and provide compelling alternative investment products geared towards private wealth investors and advisors." Sinclair previously spent 19 years at BlackRock, most recently serving as Head of iShares Canada. In this role, she was a member of the Americas Executive Committee and oversaw institutional and private wealth distribution, product development, and capital markets. Prior to that, she served as Head of iShares Sales within BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where she led the design of a strategy to grow the portfolio adoption of fixed income, ESG, and factor ETFs with advisors. She has a proven track record for building client partnerships and inspiring high performing teams. During her leadership tenure, the iShares channel consistently drove industry leading results and contributed to the multitrillion-dollar growth of ETFs. Sinclair holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a BA from DePauw University. She is also on the Board of Directors for 10,000 Degrees, a nationally recognized leader in supporting college success, which empowers students from low-income backgrounds to make a transformative impact on their lives, families and communities. ABOUT BLUE OWL Blue Owl is a global alternative asset manager with $82.9* billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, the firm deploys private capital across Direct Lending, GP Solutions and Real Estate strategies on behalf of Institutional and Private Wealth clients. Blue Owl's flexible, consultative approach helps position the firm as a partner of choice for businesses seeking capital solutions to support their sustained growth. The firm's management team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals with more than 25 years of experience building alternative investment businesses. Blue Owl employs over 350 people across 10 offices globally. For more information, please visit us at www.blueowl.com. *Proforma as of 9/30/21 to include AUM attributable to Oak Street which became a Blue Owl Company on 12/29/21. Investor Contact Ann Dai Head of Investor Relations [email protected] Media Contact Prosek Partners David Wells / Nick Theccanat [email protected] SOURCE Blue Owl Capital NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Built In announced that Rightway , the leader in cutting-edge care navigation and pharmacy benefits, was honored in its 2022 Best Places To Work Awards. Rightway placed on two lists for New York City, Best Places to Work and Best Midsize Companies to Work For. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S. "Rightway provides a better healthcare experience for all. Nothing is more important to us than the health and well-being of our members and our employees," says Jordan Feldman, Rightway's co-founder and CEO. "Over the last two years, we've become laser-focused on creating a passionate, pioneering, and inclusive culture that works together to reimagine the healthcare ecosystem. We're thrilled to be recognized and are committed to developing a highly collaborative work environment that consistently puts our team members first." Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation, benefits and companywide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. "It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners," says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "This year saw a record number of entrants and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today's tech professionals seek." If you are looking to make a difference in healthcare, Rightway is hiring across all departments! To learn more or apply, visit https://www.rightwayhealthcare.com/careers . ABOUT BUILT IN Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industry's most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. www.builtin.com ABOUT BUILT IN'S BEST PLACES TO WORK Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work. ABOUT RIGHTWAY Rightway is the leader in driving healthcare value for everyone, everywhere. Its care navigation and new-to-the-world PBM platforms guide members to the highest quality care and medication, leading to better care and happier people at a lower cost. Using the mobile app, employees connect with live, clinical guides who assist them with all their healthcare needs - from finding a great doctor to understanding their medication, from support on billing issues to benefits education. Companies choose Rightway for its smart clinical navigation, best-in-class technology, and lightest implementation lift, all resulting in higher ROI for clients and happier, healthier employees. For more information, please visit www.rightwayhealthcare.com. RIGHTWAY PRESS CONTACT Rita Lebedeva [email protected] SOURCE Rightway VENICE, Calif., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Built In today announced that Thankful was honored in its 2022 Best Places To Work Awards. Specifically, Thankful earned a place on 50 Best Small Places to Work in Los Angeles. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S. "We're extremely excited to be honored for the culture and benefits we offer at Thankful. Thankful makes employee engagement a top priority. That means providing a competitive benefits package for our team members and fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous development. We believe in better living through service, so we practice this core value internally as well as externally," said Angela Georgiades, VP of People at Thankful. Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation, benefits, and companywide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. "It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners," said Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "This year saw a record number of entrants and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today's tech professionals seek." ABOUT BUILT IN Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industry's most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. www.builtin.com ABOUT BUILT IN'S BEST PLACES TO WORK Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work. About Thankful Thankful is an artificial intelligence customer service software solution. Like a human agent, Thankful's AI routes, assists, translates, and fully resolves large volumes of customer queries across all written channels - ensuring each customer receives the quick, personalized, and accurate support they need. Founded in 2018, Thankful is a privately held company headquartered in Venice, California. Media Contact: Loren Pomerantz 917-902-0219 [email protected] SOURCE Thankful HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Patricia (Patti) A. Husic, President & CEO of Centric Bank and Centric Financial Corporation ("Centric") (OTC Pink: CFCX), has been appointed to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Board of Directors effective January 1, 2022. The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has appointed Centric Bank President & CEO Patti Husic to its board of directors. Tweet this Patricia (Patti) A. Husic, President & CEO of Centric Bank and Centric Financial Corporation, has been appointed to a two-year term on the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank Board of Directors. Between 2020 and 2021, Centric Bank donated over $70,000 to the Central Pennsylvania Food Banks Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP). Our Centric Bank Way principle #26 is Contribute to the Community. In addition to financial support, service by our team members is a priority for Centric Bank, says Husic. "We are honored to welcome Patti Husic to our Board of Directors," says Joe Arthur, Executive Director of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. "In addition to the extraordinary leadership skills and achievements that have earned Patti repeated recognition as one of American Banker's 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking, she brings a demonstrated commitment to our vision that 'No One Should Be Hungry' in central PA. We know our communities will benefit from her service." "The foundation of a healthy community is a healthy economy and helping to meet nutrition needs and increase access to fresh, local foods for communities in need has been even more important to me during the pandemic," says Husic. "Food insecurity remains one of our Commonwealth's highest concerns. I'm proud to carry the mission of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank forward, including contributing to the Bold Goal 2025 Strategic Plan." Between 2020 and 2021, Centric Bank donated over $70,000 to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank's Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP). "Our Centric Bank Way principle #26 is Contribute to the Community. In addition to financial support, service by our team members is a priority for Centric Bank," says Husic. Central Pennsylvania Food Bank board terms are two years in length, with each board member invited to serve up to three terms. There are a total of 24 board seats permitted; 21 seats are filled as of January 2022. ABOUT CENTRIC BANK AND CENTRIC FINANCIAL CORPORATION An American Banker 2020, 2019, and 2018 Best Banks to Work For, four-time American Banker Most Powerful Women in Banking Top Team, three-time Best Places to Work, and Top 50 Fastest-Growing Companies for eight years, Centric Bank is headquartered in south central Pennsylvania with assets of $1.1 billion and remains a leader in organic loan growth. A locally owned, locally loaned community bank, Centric Bank provides highly competitive and pro-growth financial services to businesses, professionals, individuals, families, and to the health care and dental industries with the Doctor Centric Bank Division. Centric Bank was named one of the Top 200 Community Banks in the U.S. in 2021, 2020, and 2019. Founded in 2007, Pennsylvania-based Centric Bank has financial centers located in Harrisburg, Hershey, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Doylestown, Devon, and Lancaster, as well as a loan production office in Devon and an Operations and Executive Office campus in Hampden Township, Cumberland County. To learn more about Centric Bank, call 717.657.7727 or visit CentricBank.com. Connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Centric Financial Corporation is traded over the counter (OTC-Pink) with the ticker symbol CFCX. ABOUT CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FOOD BANK The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce hunger in 27 counties across Pennsylvania. By working with more than 1,200 local agencies and partner programs, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank serves thousands of people in need every month. For more information on the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and its mission to reduce hunger in Pennsylvania, visit centralpafoodbank.org or call 717.564.1700. Contact: Anne Deeter Gallaher Tel. 717.580.4856 [email protected] SOURCE Centric Bank FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Champion Painting Specialty Services Corp. (Champion), the heavy construction, road and bridge, ground tank, military, and industrial specialty services provider, recently gave its website a refresh and invites visitors to explore its new look. The new site launched on December 23, 2021. "Our new site is now a comprehensive snapshot of our company and is packaged in a faster, engaging and more user-friendly platform," said Mat Bryant, Director of Operations for Champion. The clean and modern look greets visitors along with improved loading speeds, site architecture, and functionality to highlight the many services Champion provides. "The site now showcases all our certifications and qualifications, plus a snapshot of our completed projects and a more robust careers section, to serve our customers, associates, and potential employees," continued Bryant. Champion partnered with 7Seventy Agency to complete the site re-design, content audit, and SEO refresh. The new site puts the important information in the hands of visitors with fewer clicks and creates an engaging experience with elegant visuals. Visit www.championssc.com to experience the new website for yourself. To stay updated on Champion's projects worldwide, follow them on Facebook , LinkedIn , and Instagram. About Champion Painting Specialty Services Corp. Since 2006, Champion Painting Specialty Services Corp. has been a leader in heavy construction, specialty services, road and bridge, military, and industrial specialty services. Champion's mission is to deliver high-performance services to the public and private sectors while maintaining the highest degree of safety, quality, and integrity. With offices in Florida, New York, Alaska, Georgia, and Guam, Champion can mobilize quickly for all specialty services' needs. The organization has provided its services for more than 15 years around the globe. To see recent case studies and for more information, visit www.championssc.com. Media Contact: Brianne Barbakoff [email protected] 786-605-9228 SOURCE Champion Painting Specialty Services Corp. UW Reclamation Resource Scientist Receives Lifetime Teaching Honor Pete Stahl A professor whose teaching and research focus on reclamation issues that have state and international significance has received a lifetime teaching honor from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. Pete Stahl received the Andrew Vanvig Lifetime Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award in December. The award honors a senior faculty member with at least 15 years of service in the college. Nominator and retired professor and former department head Steve Williams says universities usually have some faculty members who emphasize their own achievements and seek recognition. There are others who seem somewhat under the radar but performing in magnificent fashion, generating highly applicable and useful products and not seeking recognition, Williams says. Peter Stahl is one who is of this second type. Stahl recently retired as director of the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center (WRRC) in the college. He joined the university as a temporary assistant professor of soil ecology in 1995 and became full professor in 2009 in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. Stahl received his bachelors degree in plant pathology from Oklahoma State University and his masters and Ph.D. in botany from UW. He conducted postdoctoral work at the National Science Foundation Center for Microbial Ecology and the Long Term Ecology Research Site in Agricultural Ecology at Michigan State University, and at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Jay Norton, a professor of soil sciences and UW Extension soils specialist, first met Stahl at the Tilth Laboratory while working on his masters degree. Stahl was a member of a group of scientists forging the foundations of what would later become the current soil health movement by developing methods for defining and quantifying soil quality, Norton says. Stahls later use of microbial phosolipid fatty acid analysis to identify and quantify soil organism functional groups had a massive influence on understanding how drastic soil disturbance -- such as strip mining -- impacts soil ecology and how soil organisms support ecosystem recovery, Norton says. He encountered Stahl again when working on his Ph.D. on soils at the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico. Williams was a co-principal investigator on the grant and had assigned his postdoctoral student -- Stahl -- to implement much of the sampling. Pete was a joy to work with on the Zuni Reservation, Norton says. His love of fieldwork and zest for different cultural experiences and storytelling caused him to really hit it off with our Zuni farmer collaborators in ways that enriched the experience for all of us. Stahl later encouraged Norton to apply for the fertility specialist position at UW. Stahls work the last 20 years has covered restoration and reclamation from drastically disturbed mined lands, burned sites soils invaded by unwanted plants, oil and gas pad restoration as well as work in crop agriculture, Williams says. The last 10 years, Stahl also has engaged in research in Nepal, especially with forest restoration. College of Agriculture Natural Resources Dean Barb Rasco commends Stahl for his longtime work in reclamation in the state, region and world. Petes work has had international impact through his leadership in programs across central and eastern Europe, Mongolia and Nepal, she says. His engagement with Nepalese scholars across campus and at Tribhuvan University in Katmandu has done much to improve the environment and quality of life in that mountainous region of the world. Stahl was named WRRC director in 2009. Housed in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, the centers focus is on energy and natural resource development activities. Norton notes that Stahls efforts to ensure science-based restoration had a place at the table as the energy industry and the UW School of Energy Resources negotiated with state and federal agencies on how to protect, restore and mitigate valuable sagebrush-steppe grasslands for sage grouse and many other endemic wildlife species. Stahls work, and the work of the WRRC, has been critical to the sustainability of much of Wyomings energy industry, but also the preservation and sustainability of wildlife, says Frank Galey, former agriculture college dean, now vice president and provost at Utah State University. He also notes Stahls engagement of undergraduate and graduate students, stretching them and helping them to understand and become leaders in the field themselves. Caley Gasch, an assistant professor of soil health research at North Dakota State University, is one of those former students. Stahl clearly has an enthusiasm for the biological world below ground but recognizes the importance of framing that knowledge in a way that is relevant to other disciplines, land management and agriculture, she says. He instilled this perspective in me, as well as many other mentees, who now work in the balance of pursing basic, novel scientific questions while placing that work into a larger applied context, Gasch says. Norton notes Stahls influence on his peers. His generosity about providing opportunities for younger faculty members through his connections with funders of reclamation and restoration work, and enthusiastically sharing knowledge about basic microbial ecology, laboratory methods, teaching success and even the best ski slopes and fishing holes, has enhanced my success at UW and my love for Wyoming, as well as that of many of my colleagues, Norton says. CHICAGO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - CIBC today announced its new Equipment Finance team within its US Commercial Banking group, its 16th specialty banking area. "At CIBC, we know how important machinery and equipment are in order to successfully deliver products and services to our clients," says Bruce Hague, president, US Commercial Banking. "We're pleased to offer client-centric solutions that are applicable to all business profiles in order to help our clients achieve their ambitions." The experienced Equipment Finance team is led by industry veteran, Matthew Green. Green, who recently joined the bank as managing director and group head, brings 20 years of banking industry experience to CIBC. Previously, he led the Equipment Finance business at J.P. Morgan, where he also co-founded the middle market loan syndication group. His team will be supported by Austin Daniels, who will lead Equipment Finance capital markets, and Jaime Clesceri, who will serve as head of documentation and operations. The Commercial Banking team's new specialty group offers clients solutions to match requirements for capital expenditure acquisitions and sale-leasebacks, with an advisory-first approach designed to help clients weigh the pros and cons of a financing structure and its impacts on their financial profile. They provide equipment solutions across the following product sets: Secured loans Finance leases $1 buyout leases buyout leases Fair market value leases Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause (TRAC) leases Split-TRAC leases Synthetic leases "We build lasting business partnershipsfocused on our clients' successesby taking the time to understand them, their company, and objectives," says Hague. About CIBC CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 11 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services in the United States, across Canada and around the world. In the US, CIBC Bank USA provides commercial banking, private and personal banking and small business banking solutions and CIBC Private Wealth offers investment management, wealth strategies and legacy planning. Visit us at cibc.com/US. All loans subject to credit approval. The CIBC logo is a registered trademark of CIBC, used under license. Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. SOURCE CIBC Related Links www.cibc.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CivicEye, the end-to-end provider of cloud software for law enforcement, prosecutors, and security organizations, announced its entry into the industry. The company provides a modern, easy-to-use software platform for communities and law enforcement that helps to save lives and increase transparency and security. CivicEye took the best elements from Agisent Technologies, an existing software company and added the insights and experience of a proven entrepreneurial team to launch the new business with a goal of delivering a best-in-class platform for law enforcement and associated markets. With more than 80 customers and growing, CivicEye plans to expand their regional success and grow their customer base nationally. The company has attracted an experienced leadership team, new investors, and believes it is poised to be the leading force in the industry. Founders of the company come from careers in both government technology and law enforcement. "I have worked in various capacities as an officer in the field for over 25 years before working for this company. I have yet to encounter a more innovative product that has been as well-received by law enforcement officials. As we have brought in new capital and leadership into the business, we have re-set the foundation to scale our product across the country." said David Lutfy, President of CivicEye. Building on the foundation of Agisent Technologies provides CivicEye with the opportunity to reimagine its current and future product offerings that deliver new ways to empower public safety professionals. The company is also committed to continue to deliver exceptional service to its existing customers. "After years with a legacy Records Management System (RMS) our agency made the switch to CivicEye. The transition has been seamless, the customer service has been exceptional, and the company has worked with us to meet all our budget requirements," said Captain Nate Theiss, White County Sheriff's Office, Tennessee Current products include: CivicRMS, a powerful records management application to manage public safety records easily and securely CivicDocs, a repository that securely stores documents and media in the cloud while providing confidentiality, integrity and availability CivicCase, an end-to-end set of case management tools for prosecutors and courtroom professionals CivicFusion, a next-generation solution for fusion centers that provides real-time access to law enforcement data through a region, county or state CivicEye has launched a new website, www.civiceye.com, and has moved its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. About CivicEye CivicEye provides advanced software solutions that support public safety professionals and helps save lives. The company combines a deep understanding of law enforcement and public safety with an unrivaled technology platform, bringing powerful and easy-to-use solutions to law enforcement, drug control, prosecution, campus police, private security, and fusion centers. Media Contact: Grace Anderson [email protected] www.civiceye.com Sales Contact: Nathan Leatherwood 919-450-5529 [email protected] SOURCE CivicEye JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Verified Market Research recently published a report, "Connected Medical Devices Market" By Product (Heart Rate Monitor, Insulin Pump, and Portable GPS PERS), By Application (Remote Monitoring, Treatment Services, Fitness), By End-User (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and Specialty Clinics), and By Geography. According to Verified Market Research, the Global Connected Medical Devices Market size was valued at USD 27.39 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 136.76 Billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 22.26% from 2021 to 2028. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=37508 Browse in-depth TOC on "Connected Medical Devices Market" 202 - Pages 126 Tables 37 Figures Global Connected Medical Devices Market Overview The demand for connected medical devices around the world is rising because of the rising need for self-assessment, telehealth, teleconsultation, and telemedicine, amongst others. Also, the global digital healthcare market is growing with a CAGR of 16.13% over 2028 aiding the demand for connected medical devices. The availability of web-connected devices and feasible networks are enabling the consumers and the healthcare providers to adopt the connected medical devices for the assessments. Such devices can make the assessments easy and help the healthcare professionals to deliver the right consultation and medication even for the patients in remote areas. Increasing penetration of internet amongst the consumers and healthcare professionals is also aiding the market growth. According to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, Washington, DC, 99% population of the United States have access to three or more 4G/LTE networks. Smartphone technology is developing in such a way that it is influencing the consumer's daily marketing strategies, business activities as well as lifestyle. The acceptance of smart technology is a key factor in determining success in digital healthcare and the adoption of connected medical devices. Certain factors such as the rising occurrence of chronic diseases and risk factors associated with it, the need for cost-effective and reliable patient monitoring systems, increasing awareness, and increasing adoption of IT in healthcare are expected to foster the growth of the global connected medical devices market. Key Developments In July 2021 , Qualcomm has announced the expansion of the Wearables Segment with new platform investments and the Qualcomm Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program. , Qualcomm has announced the expansion of the Wearables Segment with new platform investments and the Qualcomm Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program. In July 2021 , Abbott introduces Jot DX insertable cardiac monitor in the United States . It is designed to reduce data burden and improve accurate diagnosis of difficult-to-detect abnormal heart rhythms. , Abbott introduces Jot DX insertable cardiac monitor in . It is designed to reduce data burden and improve accurate diagnosis of difficult-to-detect abnormal heart rhythms. In August 2020 , Abbott's freestyle libre 2 IOS app cleared in the U.S., providing a seamless digital experience to simplify diabetes management. Key Players The major players in the market are Honeywell International Inc., Garmin Ltd., Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Koninklijke Philips NV, Medtronic PLC, NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Incorporation, and Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. Verified Market Research has segmented the Global Connected Medical Devices Market On the basis of Product, Application, End-User, and Geography. Connected Medical Devices Market, By Product Heart rate monitor Insulin pump Portable GPS PERS Pulse Oximeter Smart pill dispenser Glucose monitor ECG monitoring devices BP monitor Others Connected Medical Devices Market, By Application Remote Monitoring Consultation And Diagnosis Services Treatment Services Fitness Wellness Services Connected Medical Devices Market, By End-User Hospitals Ambulatory Surgical Centers Specialty Clinics Home Care Settings/Monitoring Others Connected Medical Devices Market by Geography North America U.S Canada Mexico Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific ROW Middle East & Africa & Latin America Browse Related Reports: Global and U.S. Monopolar Electrosurgery Instrument Market By Type (Hand Instrument, Generator, Accessories), By Application (General Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynaecology Surgery, Neurosurgery), By End-Use (Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and Specialty Clinics), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028 Healthcare Cold Chain Logistics Market By Product Type (Vaccines, Clinical trial materials), By Services (Storage, Transportation), By Storage Techniques (Electrical refrigeration, Dry ice), By End-User (Biopharmaceutical companies, Hospitals and clinics), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028 Hip Replacement Devices Market By Product (Primary Hip Reconstruction Devices, Partial Hip Reconstruction Devices), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028 Molecular Spectroscopy Market By Technology (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy, UV-Visible Spectroscopy, Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy, Near-infrared Spectroscopy, Color Measurement Spectroscopy and Raman Spectroscopy), By Application (Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology & Biopharmaceutical, Food & Beverage Testing, Environment Testing, Academic Research & Others), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028 Top Clinical Trial Supplies focussing on safety of drugs Visualize Connected Medical Devices Market using Verified Market Intelligence:-: Verified Market Intelligence is our BI Enabled Platform for narrative storytelling of this market. VMI offers in-depth forecasted trends and accurate Insights on over 20,000+ emerging & niche markets, helping you make critical revenue impacting decisions for a brilliant future. VMI provides a holistic overview and global competitive landscape with respect to Region, Country, and Segment, and Key players of your market. Present your Market Report & findings with an inbuilt presentation feature saving over 70% of your time and resources for Investor, Sales & Marketing, R&D, and Product Development pitches. VMI enables data delivery In Excel and Interactive PDF formats with over 15+ Key Market Indicators for your market. About Us Verified Market Research is a leading Global Research and Consulting firm servicing over 5000+ customers. Verified Market Research provides advanced analytical research solutions while offering information enriched research studies. We offer insight into strategic and growth analyses, Data necessary to achieve corporate goals and critical revenue decisions. Our 250 Analysts and SME's offer a high level of expertise in data collection and governance use industrial techniques to collect and analyze data on more than 15,000 high impact and niche markets. Our analysts are trained to combine modern data collection techniques, superior research methodology, expertise and years of collective experience to produce informative and accurate research. We study 14+ categories from Semiconductor & Electronics, Chemicals, Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Energy & Power, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive & Transportation, Information & Communication Technology, Software & Services, Information Security, Mining, Minerals & Metals, Building & construction, Agriculture industry and Medical Devices from over 100 countries. Contact Us Mr. Edwyne Fernandes Verified Market Research US: +1 (650)-781-4080 UK: +44 (753)-715-0008 APAC: +61 (488)-85-9400 US Toll Free: +1 (800)-782-1768 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter SOURCE Verified Market Research MANSFIELD, Mass., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Controlled Environment Systems, LLC (CES), a market leader in design and construction of special environments such as cold storage facilities and metrology, pharmaceutical and biotech cleanrooms, today announced its acquisition of Coldroom Systems, Inc . (CRS), a regional force in thermal envelope and low-temp construction solutions. Joining Western Environmental Corporation in April 2021, JAX Cool in September 2021, Coldroom Systems Inc. was Controlled Environment Systems' third acquisition of 2021. CES continues to enhance its capabilities with the acquisition of CRS's experienced project management team, IMP installation expertise, and underfloor heating capabilities. "CES is known for its industry-leading controlled environment solutions," said Don Roussinos , President and CEO of CES. "Coldroom delivers high-quality thermal solutions and has a great reputation in the industry. CRS will no doubt be an excellent fit within the Structures division of CES. The geographic foothold, additional resources and enhanced capabilities that Coldroom provides will help us more efficiently execute projects for our existing customers, while we at CES deliver more robust construction, systems, and calibration resources, supporting Coldroom's customer base." "We are excited about opening up more opportunities with our current customers through this acquisition. CES serves many different end markets in the controlled environments space that Coldroom did not have the capabilities to serve. Now we will be able to support end-users in the Pharma, Biotech, CMM, and Metrology space. We are confident that our combined capabilities are greatly enhanced," said Charles Woolley, President of CRS. "Coldroom Systems is about providing our customers with the highest quality, thermal solutions so it's a natural progression to join with a market leader in controlled environments like CES." When asked what the result of this acquisition would be on the employees of Coldroom Systems, Mr. Roussinos said, "Like the acquisitions we made previously this year, the people were one of the key assets we were targeting when putting this partnership together. Our goal is to continue to grow and expand the business, particularly in the Southeast region. Coldroom's employees will remain at the current location and continue to deliver the quality work they have produced in the past but now with the additional resources of CES." About Controlled Environment Systems (CES) CES Mission Statement: "Promoting healthy and sustainable living by creating the perfect environment for the global food chain, life-sciences, and mission-critical industries." CES is a full-service operation designing, engineering, and installing controlled environments including cold storage facilities, clean rooms, and other climate-controlled rooms. In addition to providing temperature and other climate control solutions, the Company fabricates products including insulated panels and doors, custom control systems, and proprietary air handling systems. Controlled Environment Systems delivers rooms and buildings that perform or exceed client target tolerances and expectations. As an expert in Insulated Panels and Special Environments, Controlled Environment Systems consults, implements, and integrates complementary technology (Insulated Doors, Panels, Insulation, IT and HVAC (Gro-AHU), to deliver one-of-a-kind spaces. Cold Rooms & Life Science/Metrology Labs -Enclosures & doors -Refrigeration/Mechanical -Electrical & Electrical fixtures -Controls -Alarm/Monitoring -Flooring -Plant integration -Humidity Food Service/Cultivation -Grow Rooms -Clean packaging -Product conditioning -Staging rooms -Chill cells -Specialty applications -Dry aging/Curing rooms -Machine integration -HACCP solutions ABOUT Coldroom Systems For over 70 years, Coldroom Systems, Inc. of Norcross, Georgia, has built the finest temperaturecontrolled cold storage and freezer facilities in the southeastern US. Coldroom Systems was started by Herbert Woolley, the current CRS President Charles Woolley's father. Charles continues CRS's tradition of high-quality thermal construction and dependability, bringing his 30-plus years of experience in materials, design, and building of cold room facilities to Coldroom. CRS has controlled environment expertise installing insulated metal panels and underfloor heating. While Coldroom primarily focuses in the southeastern US they have also completed projects in Moscow, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Charles and his Project Management Team utilize their leadership and experience to keep moving the industry forward building temperature-controlled facilities throughout the Country - working hard to ensure that all their customers' needs are met. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT David McGrath Vice President, Business Development Controlled Environment Systems [email protected] www.cesweb.com Greg Gonser Media Relations Controlled Environment Systems [email protected] www.cesweb.com SOURCE Controlled Environment Systems CALGARY, AB, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Pacific (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) will release its fourth-quarter 2021 financial and operating results after the market close on Jan. 27, 2022. CP will discuss its results with the financial community in a conference call beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. MT) on Jan. 27, 2022. Conference Call Access Toronto participants dial in number: 1-416-764-8688 Operator assisted toll free dial in number: 1-888-390-0546 Callers should dial in 10 minutes prior to the call. Webcast We encourage you to access the webcast and presentation material in the Investors section of CP's website at investor.cpr.ca. A replay of the fourth-quarter conference call will be available by phone through to Feb. 3, 2022 at 416-764-8677 or toll free 1-888-390-0541, password 580172. About Canadian Pacific Canadian Pacific is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to major ports on the west and east coasts. CP provides North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of CP. CP-IR SOURCE Canadian Pacific The principle of making DeepBrain AI's AI human is as follows. Artificial Intelligence learns hundreds of hours of recorded video to learn the person's voice, accent, and gestures. When provided with a script, an AI Human created through the process would pronounce the script as the actual person. This includes AI speech synthesis, video synthesis, and natural language processing technology. Once the AI Human is trained, it can reduce the time and cost of having to record a real person every time a video content is made. Depending on how it is taught, real-time communication with people is also possible. As the technological advancements and evaluations of AI humans are increasing, inquiries have also been increasing in various industries. In the broadcasting field, AI anchors and announcers are actually conducting news. Not only that, AI humans with simple communication are also emerging. In August of this year, a kiosk with a built-in AI human appeared at the 7-Eleven convenience store. This AI human answers questions about promotion, events and nearing information. The introduction of AI bankers is already active in the financial industry. KB Bank has introduced kiosks where AI bankers appear on screens in offline branches. Currently, they only work on basic objectives, but they plan to expand their duties to account inquiries and transfers. In October of last year, an education company, Kyowon, launched a digital education platform called 'AiCANDO', where 'AI Tutor' appeared. AI Human of popular YouTuber Dottie appears to help with learning. More about DeepBrain Ai DeepBrain AI is one of the top global companies that possess both deep learning-based video synthesis and voice synthesis source technology. The technology can be implemented in various forms regardless of industry fields such as AI announcer, AI anchor, AI banker, AI tutor, AI show host, AI kiosk, AI video consultation, AI concierge, AI doctor, AI lawyer and many more. DeepBrain AI CEO Eric Jang said, "As a result of acquiring a clear competitive edge in the field of artificial intelligence recognized domestically as well as globally, we were able to successfully secure the Series B investment last August. To be reborn as a global leading company, we will actively strive to expand business scale and develop new technologies with AI human solution." SOURCE DeepBrain AI TSX.V: DME U.S. OTC: DMEHF Frankfurt: QM01 VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY CORP. (the "Company") (TSX.V: DME) (OTC: DMEHF) (Frankfurt: QM01) From the President of the Company. Desert Mountain Energy is pleased to announce the purchase of an additional 40 acres of land for the drilling of developmental wells with plans to begin work this month. The Company is continuing to pursue ownership of acreage surrounding future well locations, believing it is in the best interests of both local landowners and the Company. The permitting process was previously started for the next well in the McCauley field and it is expected to have that permit shortly. The company has also completed the required filings to sell processed helium to the US Government and has signed non-disclosure agreements with other end-users. "The Company's plan has always been to become a vertically integrated helium producer selling directly to end-users," said Robert Rohlfing, CEO of Desert Mountain Energy. "Due to our location, we have the luxury of having 36 end-users within 300 miles of our finishing facility. We expect to be adding further end-user contracts and we look forward to building upon those relationships." The Company has entered into an agreement with Drake Well Services Inc., whereby in exchange for pre-payment for drilling services, the Company is provided priority use of a top drive rig with a 16,000' depth capability. ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded resource company primarily focused on exploration, development and production of helium, hydrogen and noble gases. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries. We seek safe harbor "Robert Rohlfing" Robert Rohlfing Exec Chairman & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp. Related Links https://desertmountainenergy.com/ RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy Virginia has made strong progress restoring power to around 330,000 of the nearly 400,000 customers affected by the damaging winter storm, as of 5p.m. Wednesday. Crews are continuing work overnight to restore customers, with some outage restorations extending into Thursday. Preparations are already underway for more inclement weather expected to move through parts of Virginia on Thursday night. Almost 4,800 Dominion Energy crews, support staff and contractors are engaged in the restoration effort along with approximately 900 mutual aid workers from nine states. Areas around Charlottesville and Fredericksburg have been particularly affected by this event where damage is the most severe and road conditions are challenging and, in some cases, impassable. Crews will continue restoration around the clock until all customers have service restored. Estimated restoration times have been populated on individual projects. The most up-to-date information is available at www.dominionenergy.com or on the Dominion Energy app. Dominion Energy encourages customers to prepare now for the possibility of additional power outages from the next storm. Trees and limbs already weighed down by wet snow could see additional snowfall and cause more outages. Similar to preparations for Monday's storm, crews are prepared to safely and efficiently restore any customer outages should they occur. In addition, Dominion Energy is ensuring sufficient crews and resources will be available for continued restoration efforts from the incoming storm. For photos and video, visit our website: Multimedia | Dominion Energy "We appreciate customers' patience as our crews work to repair pockets of damage caused by fallen trees and power lines," said Charlene Whitfield, senior vice-president of Power Delivery at Dominion Energy Virginia. "The safety of our customers and crews is our number one priority, and we will continue to work around the clock until we have restored service to every customer." The company encourages customers to watch the weather and prepare for any additional power outages. Learn about how customers can prepare. To ensure the fastest response, Dominion Energy asks that customers report their power outages. The fastest way to report or track an outage is using the Dominion Energy app or online at DominionEnergy.com. Customers may also call 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) to report an outage. Here's how customers can stay safe: Beware of downed power lines and remember that they could be covered by snow. Assume they are energized and dangerous. Please remain at least 30 feet away and ensure that others also avoid the downed line. Virginia and North Carolina customers should call 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) right away to report a downed power line. and remember that they could be covered by snow. Assume they are energized and dangerous. Please remain at least 30 feet away and ensure that others also avoid the downed line. and customers should call 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) right away to report a downed power line. Ensure generators are properly connected. Be sure they are fueled, tested and connected in a well-ventilated area outdoors. Improper use of a generator could be life-threatening for customers and crews working to restore power. About Dominion Energy About 7 million customers in 13 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable and safe energy and to achieving net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its power generation and gas infrastructure operations by 2050. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more. SOURCE Dominion Energy Related Links http://www.dominionenergy.com LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DRINKS , the online leader in adult beverage, was honored today in Built In's 2022 Best Places To Work Awards, named in the Los Angeles lists for Best Places to Work, the Best Small Companies to Work For and Best Paying Companies. This is the company's fourth consecutive year of being recognized as one of Los Angeles's best places to work. This recognition comes on the heels of DRINKS' continued prioritization of employees in the midst of rapid e-commerce alcohol growth. "We are thrilled to be recognized a fourth time as a company where people love to work one that sets the standard for excellence among Los Angeles companies in culture, compensation, and benefits," said DRINKS Co-Founder and CEO Zac Brandenberg. "It's an honor being in the company of the other innovative organizations on the list, and I'm so proud of our diverse and talented team that has risen to the occasion in today's remote work environment." Built In determines winners algorithmically based on company data about compensation, benefits and companywide programming. The program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings to reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In. "It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners," says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "This year saw a record number of entrants and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today's tech professionals seek." DRINKS has continued to attract top industry talent in grocery and data science to transform wine e-commerce through increased accessibility, improved personalization and enhanced consumer insights. The company enables the nation's leading companies to start, run and grow e-commerce alcohol programs. DRINKS also owns and operates the Direct to Consumer brands Wine Insiders and Martha Stewart Wine Co . Founded and headquartered in Los Angeles, DRINKS is a remote-first company with a satellite location in Austin, Texas and talented team members located throughout the country. To view opportunities, please visit drinks.com/careers . About DRINKS DRINKS connects retailers, brands and marketplaces to the $250 billion alcohol market. DRINKS' innovative Wine as a Service (WaaS) platform enables its partners to bring adult beverages safely and conveniently to their customers across the United States in 1-2 days. The company optimizes alcohol e-commerce with its patented DRINKS IQ technology, which empowers retailers to leverage AI-based predictive merchandising and marketing to personalize customer experiences. DRINKS was named a top place to work by Built In LA for the last four years, one of America's Best Startup Employers by Forbes for the past two years and was recognized as the Most Innovative Retail Model by Modern Retail in 2020. About Built In Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industry's most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. www.builtin.com About Built In's Best Places to Work Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work. Media contact: LaunchSquad for DRINKS (212) 564-3665 [email protected] SOURCE DRINKS The potential growth difference for the electric vehicle motor market between 2020 and 2025 is USD 6.31 billion. To get the exact yearly growth variance and the Y-O-Y growth rate, Talk to our analyst. Key Market Dynamics: Market Driver Market Challenges The increasing sales of EVs and declining prices of lithium-ion batteries are some of the key market drivers. However, factors such as lack of operational infrastructure in emerging markets will challenge market growth. The holistic analysis of the drivers & challenges will help in deducing end goals and refining marketing strategies to gain a competitive edge. The electric vehicle motor market analysis report also provides detailed information on other upcoming trends that will have a far-reaching effect on the market growth. To learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges available with Technavio. Read our FREE Sample Report right now! The electric vehicle motor market report is segmented by power rating (MPR, HPR, and LPR) and geography (APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and MEA). The electric vehicle motor market share growth by the mid-power rating (MPR) segment will be significant for revenue generation. MPR motors are the preferred motors for use in full or plug-in hybrid powertrains and low-range pure EVs. Technavio report provides an accurate prediction of the contribution of all the segments to the growth of the EV motor market size and actionable market insights on each segment. View our free sample report for additional insights into the contribution of all the segments, and regional opportunities in the report. Some Companies Mentioned with their Offerings The EV motor market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as focusing on developing modern technologies to compete in the market. The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including: Allied Motion Technologies Inc. - The company offers electric vehicle motors namely WheelMax. The company offers electric vehicle motors namely WheelMax. Continental AG - The company offers drive axle for electric vehicle motors. The company offers drive axle for electric vehicle motors. DENSO Corp. - The company offers motor-generators for electric vehicle motors. The company offers motor-generators for electric vehicle motors. Ford Motor Co. - The company offers electric vehicle motors that have the capacity to produce equal power to V-12 engine. The company offers electric vehicle motors that have the capacity to produce equal power to V-12 engine. Hitachi Ltd. - The company offers Hybrid Electric Vehicle Motor, Hybrid Electric Vehicle Traction Motor. The company offers Hybrid Electric Vehicle Motor, Hybrid Electric Vehicle Traction Motor. To gain access to more vendor profiles with their key offerings available with Technavio, Click Here Related Reports: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Market in APAC -The electric vehicle charging infrastructure market share in APAC is expected to increase by USD 15.70 billion from 2021 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 29.58%. Download a free sample now! Electric Vehicle Relays Market -The electric vehicle relays market has the potential to grow by USD 21.42 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 31.43%. Download a free sample now! Electric Vehicle Motor Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 21.69% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 6.31 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 15.98 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution APAC at 49% Key consumer countries China, US, Norway, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Allied Motion Technologies Inc., Continental AG, DENSO Corp., Ford Motor Co., Hitachi Ltd., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens AG, Toshiba Corp., and Valeo SA Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact 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. Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market Sizing Five Forces Analysis Market Segmentation by End-user Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Vendor Landscape Vendor Analysis Appendix About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses 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 Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio DUBLIN, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Aerospace Coatings Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global aerospace coatings market grew at a CAGR of around 6% during 2015 & 2020. Aerospace coatings are made using multiple layers of materials to improve aircraft efficiency and overall performance. These coatings can withstand high temperatures and offer resistance against corrosion and ultraviolet (UV) rays, which helps to increase the lifespan of the aircraft. As a result, they are utilized to protect the exteriors of planes from harsh weather conditions, improve durability, reduce in-flight drag on wings, prevent surface icing and facilitate vacuum-suction waste evacuation. They are also used to keep the interiors like ceiling panels, galley carts, sidewalls and seats cool. A significant rise in the demand for commercial aviation on account of the improving living standards of individuals and the thriving e-commerce and travel and tourism industry represents one of the key factors bolstering the market growth. Moreover, rapid globalization is encouraging the adoption of private jets for business travel, which is also contributing to the market growth. The increasing number of space missions is further escalating the demand for aerospace coatings. Moreover, with the growing international border disputes, governing agencies of numerous countries are procuring advanced military warplanes, which is influencing the market growth. In line with this, several manufacturers are developing UV-cured aerospace coatings to reduce the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). They are also using lightweight materials and chrome-free technologies to reduce weight and fuel consumption, thereby minimizing the carbon footprint of the aircraft. This is anticipated to expand the applications of aircraft coatings in the coming years. Looking forward, the publisher expects the global aerospace coatings market to exhibit moderate growth during the next five years. Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Aalberts Surface Treatment GmbH, Akzo Nobel N.V., Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Hentzen Coatings Inc., IHI Ionbond AG, Mankiewicz Gebr. & Co. (GmbH & Co. KG), PPG Industries Inc., Saint-Gobain S.A., The Sherwin-Williams Company and Zircotec Ltd. Key Questions Answered in This Report: How has the global aerospace coatings market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global aerospace coatings market? What are the key regional markets? What is the breakup of the market based on the resin type? What is the breakup of the market based on the product form? What is the breakup of the market based on the application? What is the breakup of the market based on the aircraft type? What is the breakup of the market based on the end user? What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry? What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry? What is the structure of the global aerospace coatings market and who are the key players? What is the degree of competition in the industry? Key Topics Covered: 1 Preface 2 Scope and Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 4.1 Overview 4.2 Key Industry Trends 5 Global Aerospace Coatings Market 5.1 Market Overview 5.2 Market Performance 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Market Forecast 6 Market Breakup by Resin Type 6.1 Epoxy 6.1.1 Market Trends 6.1.2 Market Forecast 6.2 Acrylic 6.2.1 Market Trends 6.2.2 Market Forecast 6.3 Polyurethane 6.3.1 Market Trends 6.3.2 Market Forecast 6.4 Others 6.4.1 Market Trends 6.4.2 Market Forecast 7 Market Breakup by Product Form 7.1 Liquid 7.1.1 Market Trends 7.1.2 Market Forecast 7.2 Powder 7.2.1 Market Trends 7.2.2 Market Forecast 7.3 Others 7.3.1 Market Trends 7.3.2 Market Forecast 8 Market Breakup by Application 8.1 Exterior 8.1.1 Market Trends 8.1.2 Market Forecast 8.2 Interior 8.2.1 Market Trends 8.2.2 Market Forecast 9 Market Breakup by Aircraft Type 9.1 Commercial 9.1.1 Market Trends 9.1.2 Market Forecast 9.2 Military 9.2.1 Market Trends 9.2.2 Market Forecast 9.3 Others 9.3.1 Market Trends 9.3.2 Market Forecast 10 Market Breakup by End User 10.1 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) 10.1.1 Market Trends 10.1.2 Market Forecast 10.2 Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Companies (MRO Companies) 10.2.1 Market Trends 10.2.2 Market Forecast 11 Market Breakup by Region 12 SWOT Analysis 13 Value Chain Analysis 14 Porters Five Forces Analysis 15 Price Analysis 16 Competitive Landscape 16.1 Market Structure 16.2 Key Players 16.3 Profiles of Key Players 16.3.1 Aalberts Surface Treatment GmbH 16.3.1.1 Company Overview 16.3.1.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.2 Akzo Nobel N.V. 16.3.2.1 Company Overview 16.3.2.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.2.3 Financials 16.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.3 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. 16.3.3.1 Company Overview 16.3.3.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.3.3 Financials 16.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.4 Henkel AG & Co. KGaA 16.3.4.1 Company Overview 16.3.4.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.4.3 Financials 16.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.5 Hentzen Coatings Inc. 16.3.5.1 Company Overview 16.3.5.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.6 IHI Ionbond AG 16.3.6.1 Company Overview 16.3.6.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.7 Mankiewicz Gebr. & Co. (GmbH & Co. KG) 16.3.7.1 Company Overview 16.3.7.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.8 PPG Industries Inc. 16.3.8.1 Company Overview 16.3.8.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.8.3 Financials 16.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.9 Saint-Gobain S.A. 16.3.9.1 Company Overview 16.3.9.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.9.3 Financials 16.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.10 The Sherwin-Williams Company 16.3.10.1 Company Overview 16.3.10.2 Product Portfolio 16.3.10.3 Financials 16.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis 16.3.11 Zircotec Ltd. 16.3.11.1 Company Overview 16.3.11.2 Product Portfolio For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4ycsz Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com KARNATAKA, India, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LNG Alliance, together with Government of Karnataka and NMPT, has proposed to develop a major LNG import terminal in Karnataka, with an initial capacity of 4 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), and the potential for expansion up to 8 MTPA in line with the estimated demand increase over the next twenty years. In addition, this import and regasification terminal will also have the ISO LNG containerisation and LNG truck loading facility for serving the industrial and transportation sector. This will also be India's first dedicated LNG bunkering facility that will be providing LNG as fuel for ships visiting the NMPT port and bunkering shuttles to the West Coast of India. LNG Alliance is a fully integrated turnkey project developer of LNG terminals and is building a global integrated LNG and Hydrogen infrastructure portfolio under its investment and asset operations JV arm, Aslan Energy Capital, Singapore. Over the next three years, LNG Alliance intends to invest approximately 290 Million US dollars to develop, construct, and operate a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), and manage the LNG supply. "We see this as an important step to meet India's cleaner energy goals of phasing down coal fired powerplants and transitioning to an emission free economy using LNG as a bridging fuel. As part of this agreement, LNG Alliance will develop a tolling fee based floating LNG import terminal, within the maritime concession area of the NMPT. This terminal will also be open for third party access and will provide the most competitive tolling rates in India, based on the LNG sourced from our supply partners." said Dr. Muthu Chezhian, the Chief Executive Officer of LNG Alliance, Singapore. NMPT, the gateway port for the State of Karnataka, is well connected with major interstate highways and railways, allowing for easy access for downstream distribution of LNG by virtual pipelines, which makes NMPT as the ideal location for the LNG import terminal in Karnataka. "As part of the Invest Karnataka Conclave, chaired by the Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, an MoU was signed between LNG Alliance and the State of Karnataka in June 2021, which formed the foundation of the current Cooperation Agreement signed between LNG Alliance and NMPT in December 2021. The proposed LNG terminal at NMPT will accelerate industrial growth, create job opportunities across the city gas distribution (CGD) networks, and will provide reliable energy security to Karnataka", said Karnataka's Commissioner of Industries, Ms. Gunjan Krishna. India's energy consumption has been estimated to grow by at least 35% from now to 2030, even with a delayed growth scenario due to the pandemic. As India builds out its gas infrastructure, natural gas will find multiple uses in India's energy system, including to help meet air quality and near-term emissions goals. "The LNG Terminal at NMPT will bring many benefits to the households and industrial customers in Karnataka, most importantly affordable natural gas supply. Local industries will gain from the advantages of the new supply chains that are created through the establishment of satellite LNG/CNG fuel stations and LNG distribution thru virtual pipelines, to reach the hinterlands of Karnataka and the growing CGD networks." said Ms. Cheryl Goh, the Executive Director of LNG Alliance, Singapore. SOURCE LNG ALLIANCE PTE LTD Related Links www.lngalliance.com SEATTLE, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Coherent Market Insights, the global healthcare robotics market is estimated to be valued at US$ 9,520 million in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 14.8% over the forecast period (2021-2028). Key Trends and Analysis of the Global Healthcare Robotics Market: Key trends in the market include increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, technological advancement in the medical robotic systems, potential of rehabilitation, hospital, and pharmacy robots, and increasing collaborations, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions among key players. These key trends are expected to aid in growth of the global healthcare robotics market. For instance, in October 2019, Parata Systems LLC. a leading provider of pharmacy automation, launched the new generation of Vial-Filling Robot, Max 2. The robot reached the expectations of pharmacies across all settings and improves workflow by automating the filling, capping, and labelling of vials. Moreover, in August 2019, Capsa Healthcare, a global leader in developing and delivering innovative healthcare solutions, launched new Kirby Lester KL-SR secure robotic dispenser. This dispenser expeditiously handles the prescription dispensing of retail pharmacies. Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/4847 Key Market Takeaways: The global healthcare robotics market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 14.8% over the forecast period, owing to rising product approvals by regulatory authorities. For instance, in November 2019, avateramedical GmbH, a German medical technology company, received CE approval for its avatera(R) system for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Among product type, systems segment accounted for largest market share in 2021, owing to increasing product launches. For instance, in November 2019, Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, launched a new version Welwalk WW-2000, a robot designed to assist rehabilitation support for patients with lower limb paralysis. Key players operating in the global healthcare robotics market include Accuray Incorporated., Capsa Healthcare, LLC., Hocoma, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Titan Medical, Inc., Aurora Biomed Inc., Abbott, Omnicell, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Stryker Corporation, Medtronic Plc., Parata Systems LLC, avateramedical GmbH, Toyota Motor Corporation, Siemens Healthineers AG, BIONIK Laboratories Corp., THINK Surgical, Inc., Globus Medical Inc., and Restoration Robotics, Inc. Need customized report? Please visit @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/4847 Detailed Segmentation: Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By Product Type: Systems Surgical Robots Rehabilitation Robots Non-invasive Radiosurgery Robots Hospital and Pharmacy Robots Others Instruments & Accessories Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By End User: Hospitals Pharmacies Rehabilitation Centers Home Care Settings Global Healthcare Robotics Market, By Region: North America By Country: U.S. Canada Europe By Country: U.K. Germany Italy France Spain Russia Rest of Europe Asia Pacific By Country: China India Japan ASEAN Australia South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America By Country: Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa By Country: GCC Countries Israel South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Purchase this Complete Report Now @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/4847 About Us: Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide. We create value for clients through our highly reliable and accurate reports. We are also committed in playing a leading role in offering insights in various sectors post-COVID-19 and continue to deliver measurable, sustainable results for our clients. Contact Us: Mr. Shah Senior Client Partner Business Development Coherent Market Insights Phone: US: +1-206-701-6702 UK: +44-020-8133-4027 Japan: +81-050-5539-1737 India: +91-848-285-0837 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter SOURCE Coherent Market Insights "We here at the Dallas Cowboys are proud to partner with a trusted, well-known brand in Hilti to help us with our daily needs at AT&T Stadium and The Star in Frisco," said Dallas Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones. "With so many events that we host at both facilities, having a reliable partner with incredible tools at our disposal to assist with those turns for each event will be a huge win for us going forward." "This multi-year partnership between two great premium brands opens a lot of opportunities for Hilti to be showcased by the five-time world champion team," said Martina McIsaac, Region Head and CEO of Hilti North America. Hilti North America is also the Official Tool Provider for American Airlines Center in Dallas and the Texas Rangers stadium in Arlington. About Hilti North America Hilti supplies the worldwide construction and energy industries with technologically leading products, systems, software, and services. With almost 4,000 team members in North America, the company stands for direct customer relationships, quality, and innovation. The Hilti headquarters for North America are in Plano, Texas, along with a distribution center in Dallas, a service and research center in Irving, and a major Operations Center in Tulsa, Okla. The global Hilti Group has 30,000 team members in over 120 countries. The company is privately owned by the Martin Hilti Family Trust. The Hilti Group's strategic orientation is based on a caring and performance-oriented culture and the goals of creating enthusiastic customers and building a better future. SOURCE Hilti, Inc. HHI Group announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Palantir Technologies in Las Vegas on January 4 for the establishment of a big data platform and a joint venture. The agreement signing event was held in a hybrid online and offline format one day before the world's most influential tech event "CES 2022." The event was attended by Kisun Chung, CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings; Young-cheul Cho, CEO of Hyundai Doosan Infracore; Seok Cho, CEO of Hyundai Electric; as well as chief executives from Palantir Technologies. Based on the agreement, HHI Group and Palantir Technologies will jointly build a big data platform for the Group's key affiliates related to shipbuilding & offshore engineering, energy, and industrial machinery. HHI Group will provide the affiliates' process expertise and sales know-how whereas Palantir Technologies will offer software and development personnel. Once the big data platform for each affiliate is built, the two parties plan to create a joint venture that specializes in developing and selling big data platform services. Based on the accumulated achievements, the joint venture will commercialize big data solutions from platform construction to operation to generate sales targeting domestic and foreign companies. Hyundai Heavy Industries, a shipbuilding and offshore engineering affiliate of HHI Group, is working on the "Future of Shipyard (FOS)" project to transform itself into a smart shipyard, the first of its kind in the world, by 2030. All processes from design to production are connected in real time to build a shipyard that enables smart work management where Palantir Technologies' big data platform is applied. The big data platform will also be adopted by energy affiliates, such as Hyundai Oilbank. The energy company plans to build a platform at its plant in Daesan, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, for five years from this year with a strategy to maximize process efficiency by integrating more than 100 production management systems into one. Hyundai Doosan Infracore, an affiliate of industrial machinery, already developed "DI 360," a big data collaboration platform, with Palantir Technologies in 2019, and is currently using it to manage its parts supply chain, handle on-site quality claim issues, and seize sales opportunities. HHI Group and Palantir Technologies are also planning to consider building a platform for other affiliates, such as Hyundai Construction Equipment. Kisun Chung, CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, said, "We expect that this partnership with Palantir Technologies will substantially improve the competitiveness of core businesses of the Group. It will be an important turning point in innovation of organizational culture that changes the way we work using data." "HHI Group shaped one of the most significant industries of the twentieth century and is absolutely vital to the lives we lead," said Alexander C. Karp, co-founder and chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies Inc, who attended through a video call. "We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with a company that is not only a leader among the world's industrial giants but one whose continued growth and success are critical to our collective welfare and security." About Palantir Technologies Inc.: Palantir Technologies Inc. builds and deploys operating systems for the modern enterprise. Additional information is available at https://www.palantir.com. SOURCE Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group DUBLIN, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Aircraft Tire Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global aircraft tire market reached a value of US$ 1.56 Billion in 2020. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% during 2021-2026. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor. An aircraft tire refers to a specialized wheel that is designed to provide stability to the aircraft and withstand heavy loads at high speeds. The tires are manufactured using nylon, steel and natural and artificial rubber and some of the common types of aircraft tires include radial and bias-ply tires. The radial tires consist of perpendicular fiber stands that are fixed at the tire sidewall in the direction of rotation to minimize bidirectional and sidewall flexibility. On the other hand, a bias-ply tire consists of fabric bias that can stretch on the bias and is placed across the direction of rotation and sidewall. The significant growth in the commercial aviation and defense industries is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. With the increasing air traffic across the globe, there is a growing need for highly efficient flight safety mechanisms, including tires, to ensure maximum passenger safety. Aeronautical manufactures are emphasizing on producing light-weight aircraft tires that are integrated with improved braking systems, which is providing a boost to the market growth. Additionally, advancements in tire manufacturing technologies, such as the utilization of next-generation materials, synthetic elastomer rubber and cross-linkable rubber, are acting as another growth-inducing factor. These materials are highly durable and aid in enhancing the overall fuel-efficiency of the aircraft by minimizing the weight of the tire. Other factors, including the growing demand for aircraft for various combat and non-combat operations in the defense sector, along with the increasing government investments in the aviation infrastructure, are projected to drive the market further. Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Aviation Tires, Bridgestone Corporation, Desser Tire & Rubber Co., Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Michelin, Petlas Tire Corporation, Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd., Specialty Tires of America, Wilkerson Company Inc. (Wco) Ltd., etc. Key Topics Covered: 1 Preface 2 Scope and Methodology 2.1 Objectives of the Study 2.2 Stakeholders 2.3 Data Sources 2.3.1 Primary Sources 2.3.2 Secondary Sources 2.4 Market Estimation 2.4.1 Bottom-Up Approach 2.4.2 Top-Down Approach 2.5 Forecasting Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 4.1 Overview 4.2 Key Industry Trends 5 Global Aircraft Tire Market 5.1 Market Overview 5.2 Market Performance 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Market Forecast 6 Market Breakup by Product Type 6.1 Radial 6.1.1 Market Trends 6.1.2 Market Forecast 6.2 Bias 6.2.1 Market Trends 6.2.2 Market Forecast 7 Market Breakup by Platform 7.1 Fixed Wing 7.1.1 Market Trends 7.1.2 Market Forecast 7.2 Rotary Wing 7.2.1 Market Trends 7.2.2 Market Forecast 8 Market Breakup by Sector 8.1 OEM 8.1.1 Market Trends 8.1.2 Market Forecast 8.2 Replacement 8.2.1 Market Trends 8.2.2 Market Forecast 9 Market Breakup by Application 9.1 Commercial Aircraft 9.1.1 Market Trends 9.1.2 Major Types 9.1.2.1 Narrow Body Aircraft 9.1.2.2 Wide Body Aircraft 9.1.2.3 Very Large Aircraft 9.1.2.4 Regional Transport Aircraft 9.1.3 Market Forecast 9.2 Non-Commercial Aircraft 9.2.1 Market Trends 9.2.2 Market Forecast 10 Market Breakup by Region 11 SWOT Analysis 12 Value Chain Analysis 13 Porters Five Forces Analysis 14 Price Indicators 15 Competitive Landscape 15.1 Market Structure 15.2 Key Players 15.3 Profiles of Key Players 15.3.1 Aviation Tires 15.3.1.1 Company Overview 15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.2 Bridgestone Corporation 15.3.2.1 Company Overview 15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.2.3 Financials 15.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis 15.3.3 Desser Tire & Rubber Co., LLC 15.3.3.1 Company Overview 15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.4 Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd. 15.3.4.1 Company Overview 15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.5 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 15.3.5.1 Company Overview 15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.6 Michelin 15.3.6.1 Company Overview 15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.6.3 Financials 15.3.7 Petlas Tire Corporation 15.3.7.1 Company Overview 15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.8 Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd. 15.3.8.1 Company Overview 15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.9 Specialty Tires of America 15.3.9.1 Company Overview 15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio 15.3.10 Wilkerson Company Inc. (Wco) 15.3.10.1 Company Overview 15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wgtm04 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Frederiksen joins to drive Lacework's rapid EMEA growth, further transform cloud security LONDON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lacework , the data-driven security platform for the cloud, today announced the appointment of Jesper Frederiksen as General Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Frederiksen, an industry leading SaaS and cloud expert with a track record of helping organisations scale their regional footprints, will spearhead the company's EMEA go-to-market strategy, manage strategic partnerships, and engage directly with key customers to help them succeed on their cloud security journey. Frederiksen joins the company with more than 15 years of expertise in cloud infrastructure and more than 25 years of experience helping IT and technology organisations achieve rapid growth. He is responsible for building out strategic regional teams in core technology hubs across EMEA such as Munich, Amsterdam, Paris and Stockholm, and will seek to double his 100-strong team in the next year, with a focus on helping local customers protect against cloud-focused attacks in an increasingly complex IT environment. Prior to joining Lacework, Frederiksen led EMEA operations as VP and General Manager at both DocuSign and Okta and is currently a non-executive board member at Keepit, Siteimprove, Signaturit and LearnUpon. "The past 18 months have been transformative not just for the technology industry, but for enterprises in every sector. As the world has increasingly gone digital, implementing cloud infrastructure has become a top priority which has further expanded the attack surface. With cloud technology becoming foundational to most businesses they must re-architect how they operate and stay secure, or they will struggle to innovate and succeed," said Frederiksen. "Overcoming this issue requires data-driven solutions, and Lacework offers the most uniquely valuable solution the IT and security industries have seen in recent years. I am thrilled to be leading the team across EMEA and ensuring continued customer success in the world of cloud security." Frederiksen joins as EMEA General Manager at a time of hyper-growth for Lacework. The organisation has seen 3x revenue growth, a more than 3x increase in new customers including recent wins in EMEA with AB Tasty , Akoova , Scurri , Sliide and Snowplow and more than 3x employee growth year-over-year. This appointment also follows the announcement that former Facebook VP of Engineering and Infrastructure, Jay Parikh, has joined Lacework as Co-CEO to help David "Hat" Hatfield drive the company's product and infrastructure innovation engine. "Lacework is seeing investment not only in R&D but across the board as we welcome leaders in every sector of the business. Our team is growing quickly, and this rapid expansion is a testament to our data-driven technology and the solutions we provide to organisations across the globe," said Andy Byron, President and CRO, Lacework. "Jesper's significant knowledge and experience in supporting EMEA customers and his intimate understanding of their pain points make him the best person in the industry to spearhead our growth initiatives in-region." About Lacework Lacework is the data-driven security platform for the cloud. The Lacework Cloud Security Platform, powered by Polygraph, automates cloud security at scale so our customers can innovate with speed and safety. Only Lacework can collect, analyze, and accurately correlate data across an organization's AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes environments, and narrow it down to the handful of security events that matter. Customers all over the globe depend on Lacework to drive revenue, bring products to market faster and safer and consolidate point security solutions into a single platform. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Lacework is backed by leading investors like Sutter Hill Ventures, Altimeter Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Franklin Templeton, Durable Capital, General Catalyst, XN, Coatue, Dragoneer, Liberty Global Ventures, and Snowflake Ventures, among others. Get started at www.lacework.com. Copyright 2021 Lacework Inc. All rights reserved. SOURCE Lacework AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Legacy Collective, a giving community dedicated to funding nonprofits addressing systemic issues with sustainable, innovative solutions, today announces its launch as an independent Texas nonprofit corporation, with an IRS application pending for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Previously, Legacy Collective existed solely as a donor-advised fund under a separate 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. This change allows Legacy to receive funding from a wider range of sources, thus funding more grants to nonprofits worldwide. All operations were moved under the new entity on January 1, 2022. Legacy Collective donors will not be affected by the change. Additionally, Legacy Collective announces a record-breaking year in 2021, giving 41 grants totaling $1,086,779 across 9 states, 7 countries, and 4 continents serving over 13 different cause areas. "We've spent more than a year re-structuring Legacy, and now with the best team, the best practices, and the best community, we are ready to scale beyond our wildest dreams," says Jen Hatmaker, Legacy Co-Founder and Chief Outreach Officer. "Our goals for local and global impact through the consistent investment of our givers are through the roof." "Legacy Collective's transition to independent nonprofit status is coming at the perfect time," says B.T. Harman, Legacy Chairman of the Board. "Both our team and Legacy's Giving Circle donors are fired up to make a serious impact on a variety of systemic issues in the coming years." A new Board of Directors has been named to support the new structure of Legacy Collective. The board members are: "In the past year, we've doubled our donations and number of grants given, built a new Board, launched two significant programs, and are now entering this new season as our own nonprofit," says Arnheim. "I am so excited to see how our new organizational structure and programs allow us to support and amplify nonprofits addressing systemic issues in innovative and sustainable ways at levels we can't begin to imagine. Collective giving makes a greater impact, and it's more fun when we give together!" Legacy Collective is poised for more growth in 2022. Legacy recently launched Corporate Giving Circles and City Giving Circles. Corporate Giving Circles provide a simple way for employees to give together in the workplace through a program outsourced to and managed by Legacy. City Giving Circles allow conferences to generate fundraising dollars for local nonprofits through attendee registration. About Legacy Collective Legacy Collective works to engage systemic problems related to social issues by resourcing what we believe to be the most innovative efforts and funding the most critical projects. Follow Legacy Collective online: Contact: Whitney Otstott, 512-699-7730, [email protected] SOURCE Legacy Collective AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Living Security, a pioneer in human risk management and leader in cybersecurity training, is proud to announce its inclusion in the prestigious Built In 2022 Best Places to Work Awards. This is the second year in a row that the company has been honored, earning a place on the 2022 Best Places to Work and Best Small Companies to Work For in Austin lists. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S. "This award is meaningful because it's a testament to our commitment to provide a caring, diverse, and inclusive workspace where our employees can truly reach their fullest potential," said Ashley Rose, CEO and co-founder of Living Security. "Being recognized alongside the other companies on this list and for a second year running is an honor." Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation, benefits and companywide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for most frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. "It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners," says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "This year saw a record number of entrants and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today's tech professionals seek." Living Security is on a trajectory of rapid growth as the company prepares to launch its new human risk management platform, Unify in 2022. The company tripled its employee headcount in 2021 for the third year in a row, and is actively recruiting. ABOUT BUILT IN'S BEST PLACES TO WORK Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work. About Living Security Founded in 2017, Living Security's mission is to help prevent cybersecurity breaches with a human risk management platform that does more than just meet compliance needs and truly changes behavior. Living Security believes empowering people is the key to ending breaches. Gamified learning and immersive experiences engage and educate users, while the science-backed, tech-enabled platform uniquely provides CISOs the ability to measure effectiveness and program ROI. Named one of Austin's Best Places to Work, the Living Security team is composed of nearly 80 cybersecurity professionals committed to transforming security awareness training as we know it and turning end users into the enterprise's greatest asset against cybercrime. Living Security is trusted by security-minded organizations like CVS Health, MasterCard, Verizon, MassMutual, Biogen, AmerisourceBergen, Hewlett Packard, JP Morgan and Target. Learn more at www.livingsecurity.com. SOURCE Living Security TAIPEI, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MaiCoin Group strives to launch social impact NFTs regularly to support social welfare organizations and give back to the community through MaiCoin/AMIS's Qubic Creator servicea one-stop NFT store creator solution. Qubic Creator is developed by AMIS Technologies, which is MaiCoin Group's blockchain solution arm. Following Qubic Wallet, AMIS Technologies has now launched this one-stop NFT store creator service under the company's exclusive brand, Qubic, to serve the goal of building its own NFT marketplace. Against this backdrop, MaiCoin Group has established the Common Wealth, a platform which aims to link blockchain technology with the common good. As its first project, the Common Wealth joined hands with Taiwan's emerging illustrator, Island Moment, in launching carbon credit-backed NFTs to promote public awareness on decarbonization and contribute to the environment. MaiCoin Group has long been concerned about environmental protection, especially issues related to carbon emissions. Therefore, in addition to its long-standing tree planting project, MaiCoin Group also collaborated with I Love To Plant Trees Company Limited in launching an eco-friendly NFT in October 2021, which were sold out within two hours of its drop. This demonstrates a strong interest in participation among the people and a huge potential for blockchain technology applications. Carbon neutrality issues have long been one of the focuses of MaiCoin Group. Meanwhile, as the bridges between the cyber and physical worlds, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies can be utilized to contribute to carbon-neutrality. As a beneficiary of the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry, MaiCoin Group sees the need to proactively help neutralize the carbon emissions generated by crypto-miners. Recently, it voluntarily purchased 2,068 tons of carbon credits from South Pole, and successfully sold 1,800 tons through this recent carbon credit backed-NFT project. For this project, MaiCoin Group invited Taiwan's emerging illustrator, Island Moment, to produce hand paintings depicting Taiwan's unique scenery. With the theme of "Preserving Nature for Reciprocal Offerings", Island Moment produces illustrations of three clean energy sources in Taiwanwind, water, and sun, to express the idea that the mother nature will reciprocate Taiwanese's kindness to nature and efforts in preserving natural assets with a cleaner and more beautiful Formosa Island. To encourage public participation in decarbonization and eco-friendly activities, a total of 450 carbon credit-backed NFTs have been launched using the ERC-721 standard, with each NFT representing 4 tons of carbon credits. As pointed out by founder and CEO of MaiCoin Group, Alex Liu, "At present, there is a basic international consensus on cross-border carbon trading between governments and enterprises, but in order to make carbon trading more efficient and smoother, blockchain technology shall come into play as one of the solutions; in order to link carbon trading with decarbonization substantively, a heightened public awareness and more committed carbon reduction behaviors are needed. By launching these carbon credit-backed NFTs, MaiCoin Group hopes to spark public discussion around this issue, because 'reducing carbon emissions to save the planet' should not be a slogan, but everyone's daily life." MaiCoin Group will take the Common Wealth as the starting point to collaborate with different groups in launching social impact NFTs on a regular basis. In addition, through the borderless nature of NFTs, MaiCoin Group hopes to bring this issue across the world, become a force for good along with the non-profit organizations, and weave a better future with blockchain technology. About the Common Wealth - https://commonwealth.maicoin.com/ A "commonwealth" refers to a group of people who live together, are self-governed, and help each other in daily lives. Just like every person is a unique individual, every NFT is a unique existence; and here we are using blockchain to call on everyone and connect each other to do a part for our communities. As we identify problems, speak out on important issues, and contribute together, the barriers between us disappear. Sharing the same beliefs, let us all build a cluster for the common good together as the Common Wealth. About Qubic Creator - https://creator.qubic.market/ Qubic Creator is developed by AMIS Technologies, which is the blockchain solution arm of MaiCoin Group. Following Qubic Wallet, AMIS Technologies has now launched this one-stop NFT store creator service under the company's exclusive brand, Qubic, to serve the goal of building its own NFT marketplace. The one-stop Qubic Creator service offers: latest technologies' support for brands and enterprises to help them launch their one-of-a-kind NFTs along with permanent storage and establish their official NFT marketplaces; a backend management system as intuitive as one's own official website; and connection to Qubic Wallet, which supports credit card payments in New Taiwan dollars, making it easier for consumers to store their NFTs. With core blockchain technologies as its backbone, AMIS Technologies' Qubic strives to provide NFT-as-a-Service. It is also committed to becoming a bridge between the public and the decentralized world, so that enterprises and typical users will not be held back by the rocket science of blockchain technology and can enter the decentralized world without pain. About MaiCoin Group MaiCoin Group is Taiwan's longest running digital asset platform. It has operated a digital asset brokerage service since 2014. It is now Taiwan's leading digital asset trading group with its services ranging from crypto exchanges to blockchain-related technologies and owns subsidiaries including MaiCoin, AMIS, MAX (MaiCoin Asset Exchange), Qubic and MaiCapital (Hong Kong). SOURCE MaiCoin Group SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Memora Health, a technology company offering an intelligent platform that simplifies how patients and clinicians navigate complex care journeys, was endorsed today by the Montana Hospital Association (MHA). The MHA is a hospital member organization that nominates vendors through a meticulous vetting process, sourcing revolutionary breakthroughs in healthcare solutions. Memora Health first gained the attention of the MHA through their innovative partnership with Montana-based Frontier Psychiatry. The telepsychiatry practice uses Memora Health to connect patients to real-time care and follow-up using a comprehensive virtual visit and care coordination platform. "We are on a mission to improve access to care for Montanans, and bringing new technologies to our communities is a necessary part of that journey," said Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, Frontier Psychiatry's Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer. "Memora Health has proven that they can support the unique care needs of our rural population through their innovative platform," said Sean Becker, VP of Shared Services for the MHA. "The fact that Frontier Psychiatry realized 10x consultation growth in a mere few months caught our attention. We are excited to see how Memora Health can support other Montana sites to scale their complex care needs." Over the last four years, Memora Health has enabled intelligent care journeys for over 50 healthcare organizations. Memora's platform has proven to deliver impressive value for both patients and clinicians as demonstrated by high satisfaction ratings (92% and 96%, respectively), a 91% patient retention rate, and over 2.5 hours saved per care team member per day. "We applaud the MHA for its commitment to sourcing digital health solutions that can reach rural Montanans where they are," said Memora Health CEO and co-founder, Manav Sevak. "Our platform enables meaningful patient care using intelligent care pathways via secure two-way text, and solves for the geographic and financial barriers that can prevent patients from accessing their care teams today." About Memora Health Memora Health helps healthcare organizations digitize and automate complex care workflows, making them simple for patients and clinicians to navigate. Memora Health ingests existing data on clinical workflows, converts them into cohesive messaging journeys that guide patients through their care episodes, and automates the completion of simple follow-up tasks in the EHR. Memora's platform reduces care team notifications by nearly 40%, has an average NPS over 70, and improves clinical outcomes across various populations. Memora Health is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with clients and team members around the world. For more information about Memora Health, visit memorahealth.com. About Montana Hospital Association The Montana Hospital Association (MHA) is a nonprofit organization with more than eighty members, including 100% of Montana's hospitals, that provide the full spectrum of healthcare services. This includes hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, home health, hospice, physician services, assisted living, senior housing, and insurance services. MHA Ventures, Inc. is the for-profit subsidiary of MHA, created to deliver solutions that improve patient care, reduce operating costs and strengthen the financial viability of Montana's hospitals. Learn more at MTHA.org . For more information on Memora Health, please email Lara Key, [email protected] SOURCE Memora Health "We are extremely happy to welcome Merrilee Matchett to our National Board of Directors," said Forest T. Harper, Jr., president and CEO, INROADS, Inc. "Since 1990, INROADS and MetLife have partnered to advance a pipeline of diverse talent and this will be amplified by Merrilee's experience and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion." Matchett directs a team of more than 10,000 associates responsible for managing the operations and servicing teams that support and enable MetLife's businesses across more than 40 global markets. She has been an advocate for diversity and women in financial services throughout her 30-year career. She sits on MetLife's Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) leadership council because of her purpose-driven leadership and commitment to championing DEI. "Part of advancing a meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion strategy is driving sustainable change that people feel," said Matchett. "Supporting equity through career progression is one of many ways to do that, which is why I am so excited to further INROADS' mission and MetLife's commitment to building a more inclusive and equitable workforce and society." Matchett has been recognized with numerous market awards for outstanding service and operations performance. She joined MetLife in 2021 from Bank of America, where she was responsible for fulfillment and operations for global wealth management, private banking, and institutional and personal retirement businesses. There, she founded the "Asia Women in Technology & Operations" inclusion network, which has since grown into one of the largest corporate inclusion networks in the financial services industry. For more information on MetLife's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, visit MetLife.com. About INROADS Founded in 1970, INROADS delivers innovative programs and creative solutions that identify, accelerate and elevate the development of underrepresented talent throughout their careers. Through this development, students become equipped for corporate and community leadership that affects community renewal, social change and elevates economic status and quality of life. INROADS has more than 30,000 alumni, over 900 interns and serves 4,000+ students and 200 corporate clients. Learn more at INROADS.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn: @INROADSInc. SOURCE INROADS Inc. Related Links http://www.inroads.org LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mimi Hearing Technologies, the global leader in hearing wellbeing, will use the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show to demonstrate its latest sound personalization technologies and discuss future innovations to improve audio experiences while also protecting hearing wellbeing at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show. Mimi develops and licenses science-based hearing enhancement technology to B2B customers including electronic device manufacturers, streaming providers and hearing aid companies. Mimi's Sound Personalization technology works by assessing the listener's hearing ability in minutes with the Mimi Hearing Test. After the test, a Hearing ID is created and the patented audio processing automatically adapts all audio in real-time. Once completed, the listener's Hearing ID is stored in the device adjusting the sound to the user's unique hearing profile wherever they listen. As a result, more sounds become audible again, and details otherwise lost are restored, creating a more immersive and intelligible audio experience. The company finished 2021 on a strong note, closing a $25 million round of Series B funding led by MIG Capital in a consortium of German family offices and existing shareholders, and announcing several new industry and product partnerships. Most recently Mimi Sound Personalization has been integrated into the following products: Skullcandy's Grind Fuel Earbuds offers premium features like Skull-iQ Smart Feature Technology that allow hands-free voice control and Personal Sound powered by Mimi, for a customizable audio experience. offers premium features like Skull-iQ Smart Feature Technology that allow hands-free voice control and Personal Sound powered by Mimi, for a customizable audio experience. Cleer Audio's new Ally Plus II , true wireless earbuds will offer users in the United States the ability to assess their hearing health and enjoy an enhanced listening experience through Mimi Sound Personalization. , true wireless earbuds will offer users in the ability to assess their hearing health and enjoy an enhanced listening experience through Mimi Sound Personalization. CEVA will bring Mimi's advanced hearing IP to its Bluebud wireless audio platform and help lower the entry barrier for the development of assistive hearables and TWS headphones. "Mimi Hearing Technologies' mission from the start has been to make people's hearing health the main focus of their listening experience," said Philipp Skribanowitz, Mimi CEO. "This is a huge market -- we estimate more than 92 million assistive hearables will ship in 2024 and anticipate smart hearable technology will be adopted by the majority of TWS earbuds and headsets, further opening up the market for sound personalization software. This market is going to grow very, very quickly, and is ripe for change." To schedule a discussion with Mimi, please contact [email protected] About Mimi Hearing Technologies Founded in 2014 in Berlin, Mimi Hearing Technologies is a world-leading provider of digital healthcare hearing tests and hearing-ability-based sound personalization. Born out of years of scientific research, Mimi aims to give listeners the best possible audio experience driven by a commitment to hearing health across any device tailored to the individual listener. Mimi wants to create a world where hearing is no longer a barrier to interaction and enjoyment. The company's website can be found at https://mimi.io Mimi products and integrations have won numerous international awards, including the EISA Best Buy OLED TV (2021-2022) for sound personalization in TP Vision Philips TV, the CES Innovation Award (2019 & 2018) for sound personalization in Beyerdynamic headphones, the SATVISION Innovation Prize (2018) for sound optimization in Loewe TVs, the Sonar+D Award for Innovation (2017), StartUps & Developer Award at the San Francisco Music Tech Summit (2017) and the IFA Berlin Prize for Audio Innovation (2017). SOURCE Mimi Hearing Technologies NUBIAN PROVIDES EARLY WARNING DISCLOSURE TORONTO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Nubian Resources Ltd. (TSXV: NBR) (OTCQB: NBRFF) ("Nubian") and Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNR) are pleased to announce the completion of the sale by Nubian and the acquisition by Athena of the remaining 90% interest that Nubian held in the Excelsior Springs exploration project (the "Property") located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, as contemplated in the option agreement (the "Option Agreement") dated December 11, 2020, as amended on November 10, 2021, between Nubian, Nubian Resources (USA) Ltd. ("Holdco") and Athena. Athena acquired the interest in the Property through its acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of Holdco, the legal owner of the claims and mineral rights comprising the Property. As a result of the transaction, through its ownership of Holdco, Athena now holds a 100% interest in the Property, subject to a 1% of net smelter returns royalty (the "Royalty") with respect to the Property granted to Nubian. The transaction was effected as at December 31, 2021 pursuant to the terms a share purchase agreement (the "Share Purchase Agreement"), whereby Nubian sold to Athena and Athena purchased from Nubian all of the shares of Holdco for the remaining consideration payable under the terms of the Option Agreement, which consisted of 45 million shares of Athena's common stock ("Athena Shares") and the Royalty. Under the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement, Nubian also agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to distribute all Athena Shares that it holds to its shareholders, pro rata, subject to certain conditions, including that the distribution can be effected in accordance with applicable laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, exempt from the requirements to file a prospectus in Canada. In order to facilitate this proposed distribution, Nubian and Athena agreed to prepare and file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement on Form S-1, covering the resale and distribution by Nubian to its shareholders of the Athena Shares held by it, which distribution is not expected to occur for a minimum period of six months. Additional details about the timing and manner of the planned distribution of the Athena Shares by Nubian will be provided by it in subsequent public disclosures. In addition, Nubian agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, for a period of twelve months from the closing of the transaction, or until such time as Nubian owns less than 4.9% of the outstanding Athena Shares, it will not vote against any matters that have been recommended by Athena's board of directors for approval by Athena's shareholders at any meeting of Athena shareholders. Martin Walter, President and CEO of Nubian stated, "We are very pleased with closing the transaction under the Option Agreement through the sale of Holdco and also to provide Nubian shareholder's with an opportunity to continue to benefit from the upside potential of the Property through the Athena Shares acquired by Nubian under the transaction." John Power, President and CEO of Athena added, "We are excited to complete the 100% acquisition of Excelsior Springs, an advanced stage Gold exploration project, located in the premier mining jurisdiction of Nevada. We are finalizing our aggressive 2022 exploration plans for Excelsior Springs and look forward to advancing the Property." Early Warning Disclosure As announced on August 31, 2020, Nubian previously acquired 5,000,000 Athena Shares and received a cash payment of US $10,000 from Athena in exchange for a 10% interest in the Property. Immediately before the transaction, Nubian held these 5,000,000 Athena Shares, representing approximately 6.2% of the Athena Shares then issued and outstanding. Upon completion of the transaction, Nubian held an aggregate of 50,00,0000 Athena Shares, representing approximately 40% of the Athena Shares then issued and outstanding. The Athena Shares acquired by Nubian in the Transaction were acquired by Nubian as transaction consideration and are intended to be held for investment purposes. Nubian has no present intention to acquire additional securities of Athena and plans to distribute the Athena Shares now held by it to its shareholders. In addition, from time to time and depending on market and other conditions, Nubian may increase or decrease its beneficial ownership, control or direction over those securities through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise. This news release is being issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, which requires Nubian to file a report under Athena's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) containing additional information respecting the foregoing matters. A copy of the early warning report to be filed by Nubian will be available under Athena's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and may also be obtained by contacting Martin Walter, President and CEO, Nubian Resources Ltd., at #202 Yale Court Plaza, 2526 Yale Court, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2S 8G9. ABOUT NUBIAN RESOURCES Nubian is a publicly traded precious and base metals exploration company managed by a team of experienced mining and geological professionals. Nubian's projects are focused in key mining jurisdictions in central Victoria and Tasmania, Australia and Peru. About Athena GOLD Athena is a publicly traded company engaged in the business of the acquisition and exploration of mineral resources. Athena is currently focused on the exploration and development of precious metals properties in the western United States. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange or the CSE nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance, including, without limitation, the preparation and filing of a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC, the distribution of Athena Shares by Nubian to its shareholders, and the potential upside of the Property and value of the Athena Shares. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "may" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Athena and Nubian's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Although such statements are based on reasonable assumptions of Athena and/or Nubian's management, there can be no assurance that any conclusions or forecasts 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 risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in parameters of the projects as plans continue to be redefined, risks relating to variations in grade or recovery rates, risks relating to changes in mineral prices and the worldwide demand for and supply of minerals, risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic and current global financial conditions, increased competition, access and supply risks, reliance on key personnel, operational risks, regulatory risks, including risks relating to licenses and permits, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks and title and environmental risks. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and neither Athena or Nubian is 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. SOURCE Nubian Resources Ltd. Related Links www.nubianr.com CHICAGO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Atul Tandon, Chief Executive Officer of Opportunity International, a 50-year-old global organization that provides financial services to lift people out of poverty, has been selected for a lifetime achievement award by a panel of judges at NonProfit PRO, a well-regarded source for nonprofit management and strategy. Each year, NonProfit PRO recognizes nonprofit leaders who have dedicated their careers to fulfilling their organization's mission. Regarding their decision to choose Tandon among the hundreds of other nominees, the judges said, "Atul Tandon may have started his career in the for-profit world, but his decision to serve the world's extreme poor has led to NonProfit PRO recognizing him with 2021's Lifetime Achievement award." Prior to his two decades of service in the non-profit sector, Tandon had a successful career in financial services where he contributed to the launch of Citibank's consumer banking franchise in India, introducing services such as ATMs, credit cards, mortgages, consumer loans, and remote banking for the first time in the region. Citibank brought him to the U.S. in 1992, where Tandon oversaw the turnaround of its operations in California, then pioneered a customer-centered banking relationship before going on to manage the bank's global branch distribution network. In 2000, Tandon made the switch to the nonprofit sector, first with World Vision where he led the organization through a period of unprecedented expansion and tripled revenues over his nine-year tenure, then with United Way, where he helped build the world's largest network of community-based charities. Tandon's success in the nonprofit sector combined with his financial expertise paved the road to his current role as CEO of Opportunity International. Tandon has played an integral role in expanding Opportunity International's Education Finance program, which partners with financial institutions to support non-governmental schools that provide affordable, quality education for millions of students. Since joining Opportunity in 2016, Tandon has expanded the Education Finance program from 1,200 schools to 15,000 schools, impacting an additional 4.7 million children. Similarly, under Tandon's leadership, Opportunity's Agriculture Finance program hit the milestone of delivering $200 million in loans for farmers and reaching nearly 3 million lives in rural Africaa feat that will ensure farmers can harvest their crops, get their produce to market and feed their families and communities, all while earning a sustainable livelihood. In 2020, at the height of the global pandemic, Tandon led the expansion of Opportunity's programs to 104 total partners across 30 countries, currently serving an estimated 19 million peoplean increase from the 9 million people when he started. Tandon attributes his leadership success not just to Opportunity's clients, but also to his organization's staff and Board of Directors who have supported his visionary leadership. "On behalf of Opportunity International's Board of Directors, we want to express our gratitude to NonProfit PRO for acknowledging Atul's lifetime legacy in working to eliminate extreme poverty," said LeAnn Pedersen Pope, Board Chair, Opportunity International. "Many of the economic advances made in recent years have been severely impeded by the pandemic, but our organization remains committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of those who continue to struggle with extreme poverty around the world." ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL Opportunity International is a global non-profit celebrating 50 years of equipping people to work their way out of poverty. Opportunity provides 19.4 million families with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. In 2020, Opportunity International and its partners released $2.3 billion in capital across more than 30 countries and helped fund 8,800 schools that reached 2.8 million children. Discover more at opportunity.org or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. MEDIA CONTACT: Laura DesGranges 312-487-5091 [email protected] SOURCE Opportunity International CHICAGO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO) today announced the passing of the firm's Chairman Emeritus, Robert J. O'Brien, Sr., yesterday at the age of 103. The company shared statements about the news. RJO Chairman and CEO Gerald Corcoran said: "Our hearts are heavy at RJO as we mourn the loss but honor the amazing life of Robert J. O'Brien, Sr., the patriarch of the O'Brien family who laid the foundation for the firm we are today. At the age of nearly 104, Bob was an inspiration to so many in the futures industry. His integrity, market knowledge and the knack to connect with market participants was unmatched. Bob continued to inspire us all with his profound integrity and sharp wit. He took tremendous pride in our organization and, of course, in his loving family that meant the world to him. We are truly grateful for his guidance over the years and blessed that we were able to celebrate our Centennial with him in 2014. "On behalf of the firm, we extend our deepest condolences to his children and grandchildren several of whom remain our majority owners, employees and active Board members today as well as his great-grandchildren. We will miss Bob dearly, but it helps to know that he and his wife, Gerry who passed three years ago just eight days shy of her 100th birthday led such full and wonderful lives together." RJO is the last surviving founding member firm of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, now CME Group. Robert O'Brien, Sr. served two consecutive terms as the exchange's chairman during a pivotal time in the history of the exchange, playing a significant role in making the governance structure more democratic and professional. He was on the Board of CME from 1964 through 1977 and was inducted into the FIA Futures Hall of Fame in 2007. "A true pioneer of finance, Robert J. O'Brien, Sr. was instrumental in expanding futures trading to new users around the world," said Terry Duffy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CME Group. "Under his leadership, R.J. O'Brien & Associates grew into the largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States. During his long and storied tenure, Bob made many significant contributions to our industry, serving as Chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1967-68 and sponsoring the first woman to work on the trading floor. His legacy is a testament to the value he created in his firm as well as the many relationships he built with his employees, clients and most importantly his family." Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus of CME Group, said: "I am deeply saddened. Bob was instrumental in joining me in the 1950s and '60s to revolutionize the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Throughout his life, Bob O'Brien was a pillar of honesty and dignity as reflected in his firm, R.J. O'Brien & Associates. I commiserate his loss and stand ready to celebrate his life of wisdom and integrity." O'Brien is survived by five children, 22 grandchildren and 33 great grandchildren. A native of Chicago, he returned to the city after serving in the Navy in World War II and graduated from DePaul University. Memories shared by O'Brien when he was 96 about the firm's first 100 years in business can be found in the RJO Centennial video at https://www.rjobrien.com/about/historical-timeline/. About R.J. O'Brien & Associates Founded in 1914, R.J. O'Brien & Associates is the largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, serving more than 80,000 institutional, commercial and individual clients globally, in addition to a network of approximately 300 introducing brokers (IBs). RJO services the industry's most expansive global network of IBs, a vast array of middle market firms and many of the world's largest financial, industrial and agricultural institutions. The firm offers state-of-the-art electronic trading and 24-hour trade execution on every major futures exchange worldwide. RJO received the FOW International Award for Non-Bank FCM of the Year for five consecutive years. At the HFM US Quant Awards 2020, RJO won the award for Best Independent FCM the eighth honor bestowed by the HFM Global publications on RJO and its UK affiliate. SOURCE R.J. O'Brien & Associates WEST CHESTER, Pa., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Venerable today announced the appointment of Simon Scully to Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer. Scully will be directly responsible for driving the organization's IT security vision and strategy, and maintaining, overseeing, and implementing effective security programs and policies that protect organizational assets and technologies. With more than 25 years of IT experience, Scully has served in a broad range of IT roles including most recently leading Venerable's security operations team focused on security monitoring and incident response, compliance scanning and vulnerability management, penetration testing, security engineering, fraud prevention, and security training and awareness. In prior roles, Scully was responsible for leading threat centers, response teams, IT risk management organizations, and project teams as an IT project manager for Voya Financial. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, and is also an Amazon Web Services Certified Cloud Practitioner. Scully earned his Master of Science in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix, and his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Florida. "Simon brings a wealth of experience and esteemed leadership to a critical function at Venerable," said Tim Billow, Chief Information Officer for Venerable. "The leadership team and I look forward to working closely with him to drive our organizational security practices in support of the firm's growth aspirations." About Venerable Venerable is a privately held company with business operations based in West Chester, Pennsylvania and Des Moines, Iowa. Venerable owns and manages legacy variable annuity business acquired from other entities. Created by an investor group led by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC, Crestview Partners, Reverence Capital Partners, and Athene Holdings, Ltd., Venerable is a business with well-established, strategic investors, experienced in successfully building and growing insurance businesses with patient, long-term capital. For more information, please visit www.venerable.com. Contact: Allison Proud Corporate Communications 610-249-9730 SOURCE Venerable To enter the contest, couples are invited to submit a photo or video entry on Skydeck's Facebook page from January 5 28, 2022, sharing their love story and why they wish to experience Love on The Ledge. On February 1, 2022, up to four couples will be selected as winners of a private wedding ceremony or vow renewal on the nation's highest observation deck to take place on February 13, 2022, the Sunday of Valentine's Day weekend. Each ceremony will be held on The Ledge at Skydeck, the observation deck's glass boxes that extend over four feet from the building, offering unforgettable views of the city and skyline. New this year, couples will also experience the Chicago-centric museum on the lower level of the Tower, which delivers a photo-worthy and interactive experience celebrating the unique personality, history, neighborhoods and sites of our beloved home, Chicago. "We're honored to continue supporting couples in their ultimate love stories. Skydeck has always been about creating unique, thrilling and memorable experiences high above our magical city," says Skydeck General Manager Randy Stancik. "With the newly transformed experience, the attraction further romanticizes Chicago, allowing guests to uniquely interact with our beloved city." Each winning couple will enjoy a private 15-minute vow renewal or wedding ceremony with the Chicago skyline as the backdrop, complimented by romantic floral and decor, and can be accompanied by up to eight guests. Further, couples will receive a stay the night before at Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop located directly across the street from Willis Tower, a professional photoshoot taken during and after the ceremony, and deluxe offerings onsite, including breakfast and a champagne toast. Skydeck at Willis Tower boasts breathtaking views spanning up to 50 miles and four states and has seen more than 1,096 proposals, 116 weddings, 20 vow renewals and tens of thousands of dates at Skydeck and on The Ledge. After undergoing an extensive transformation in 2021, Skydeck offers a one-stop, Chicago-themed experience, highlighting the rich history, culture, cuisine and architecture of the city. For more information, please visit Skydeck's Facebook, Instagram or website. ABOUT SKYDECK CHICAGO AND THE LEDGE Skydeck Chicago is the breathtaking, thrilling observatory destination atop the iconic Willis Tower. The highest observation deck in the United States, Skydeck provides views of the city spanning up to four states and 50 miles on a clear day. Recently named a Tripadvisor.com World's Top Ten Attraction, Skydeck features The Ledge, four glass floor balconies extending 4.3 feet from Willis Tower and made of three layers of half-inch thick glass laminated into one seamless unit. After undergoing an extensive transformation in 2021, Skydeck offers a one-stop, Chicago-themed experience, highlighting the rich history, culture, cuisine and architecture of the city. For more information, please visit www.theskydeck.com or follow us on social media at @skydeckchicago. MEDIA CONTACTS Zapwater Communications Lauren Kelly and Bridget Keane [email protected] | [email protected] 312.943.0333 SOURCE Skydeck Chicago "We are delighted to welcome ACS as the sponsor of the cheese pavilion," said Bill Lynch, president of the SFA. "Cheese is an integral part of the $170.4 billion specialty food industry, consistently in the top five retail categories as shown in our research, and we can't wait to collaborate with ACS at the Show and beyond." "ACS is excited to support the American cheese community through pavilion sponsorship," said Tara Holmes, executive director, ACS. "Come February, it will have been over two years since we've gathered at a Fancy Food Show, so buyers and press can look forward to some incredible cheese sampling opportunities in Las Vegas." Traditionally the largest West Coast B2B-only specialty food and beverage show, the 2022 Winter Fancy Food Show is open only to the trade. The SFA continues to work nonstop with Las Vegas to ensure that all show safety protocols meet the needs of the specialty food community. As of press time, protocols include proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test (within 72 hours) from all attendees; mandatory masking (mandated by the State of Nevada, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor settings). For more information, please click here . About American Cheese Society ACS is the leading organization supporting the understanding, appreciation, and promotion of artisan, farmstead, and specialty cheeses produced in the Americas. At 2,300 members strong, ACS provides advocacy, education, business development, and networking opportunities for cheesemakers, retailers, enthusiasts, and extended industry. ACS strives to continually raise the quality and availability of cheese in the Americas. Since its founding in 1983, ACS proudly hosts the foremost annual educational conference and world-renowned cheese judging and competition in North America. ACS is a 501(c)6 nonprofit association headquartered in Denver, Colo. To learn more about ACS, please visit http://www.cheesesociety.org or contact 720-328-2788. About the Specialty Food Association The Specialty Food Association (SFA) is the leading trade association and source of information about the $170.4 billion specialty food industry. Founded in 1952 in New York City, the SFA represents manufacturers, importers, retailers, distributors, brokers, and others in the trade. The SFA is known for its Fancy Food Shows ; the sofi Awards , which honor excellence in specialty food and beverage; the Trendspotter Panel Show reports and annual predictions; the State of the Specialty Food Industry Report and Today's Specialty Food Consumer research; the new ecommerce enabled SFA Product Marketplace , where members showcase products, tell their brand story, field meeting inquiries, and sell directly to qualified buyers; SFA Feed , the daily source for news, trends and new product information in the specialty food industry, and Spill & Dish: A Specialty Food Association Podcast . Facebook: Specialty Food Association LinkedIn: Specialty Food Association Twitter: @Specialty_Food Instagram: @specialtyfoodassociation Hashtags: #FancyFoodShow #ShapetheFutureofFood #VivaFancyFood #AmericanCheese SOURCE Specialty Food Association PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Strados Labs , a medical technology company harnessing the power of smart sensors, machine learning and proprietary algorithms to provide early detection and predictions of worsening respiratory diseases, today announced its pre-series A round of funding at $4.5M. Investors in the round included SOSV, cultivate(MD), Wavemaker360 Health, Blu Venture Investors and Broad Street Angels. The new funding comes on the heels of major commercial milestones including FDA Class II 510(k) clearance and CE Mark for its flagship product, RESPa, key contracts with major pharmaceutical partners for use in decentralized trials, the submission of four significant abstracts to the American Thoracic Society, and the appointment of Steve Bishop, former P&G Healthcare CEO, to the Strados Labs Board of Directors. "This next round of funding will allow us to scale RESP, conduct decentralized clinical trials, and bolster our proprietary lung sound and breathing pattern database to create the standard for acoustic biomarkers going forward," said Strados' co-founder and CEO Nick Delmonico. "What's really exciting is that we are supporting pharmaceutical companies in their trials by helping them rapidly scale their digital therapeutics using our clinically validated measures for wheeze, cough and other adventitious breath sounds, or CABSwhich is something no other cleared device can measure." Using objective respiratory data to determine treatments and therapies is needed now more than ever with staff shortages and the rise in decentralized respiratory clinical trials. RESP provides real-time access to key changes in lung acoustics and respiratory patternsgoing well beyond cough measurement to include wheezing, cough spasms, rails, rhonchi, and other adventitious lung sound and breathing patterns. "In 2022, we will target additional respiratory diseases, work to secure additional clearances, and build deeper partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and health plans to use our RESP technology to power their digital therapeuticsensuring patients with respiratory conditions have the best treatment plans and medications available to themespecially remotely," continued Delmonico. "In a consumer health-driven market, and especially during a global pandemic, companies using RESP to bridge the remote care gap will have an advantage over others." Strados Labs will be attending CES January 5-8, 2022. Attendees of CES are encouraged to visit the Strados Labs at Booth 61126 in Venetian Expo Hall G. About Strados Labs Strados Labs is a medical technology company developing smart sensor platforms that utilize machine learning and proprietary algorithms to detect and predict compounding conditions associated with serious, chronic respiratory diseases to improve the lives of patients globally. The Company developed a first-of-its-kind smart sensor platform for respiratory health, RESP. Strados was recently granted a CE Mark for RESP and received its FDA Class II 510(k) clearance for it last December. The Company is developing a robust pipeline of other smart sensor platforms to support and address other chronic diseases, as well as chronic disease management. Strados will continue to target asthma, COPD and infectious respiratory diseases (COVID, RSV, etc.) as it moves into 2022with plans to add heart failure in late 2022. The Company is based in Philadelphia and is a privately held company. For more information, visit: stradoslabs.com About SOSV SOSV manages over $700 million with a portfolio of over 900 startups. SOSV created the world's first life sciences accelerator in 2014, and in the past five years has backed 200 life science startups, raising more than $700 million, employing over 2,000 people, with a combined valuation of over $3 billion. About Broad Street Angels Broad Street Angels is an affinity club of The Union League of Philadelphia. It consists of about 100 Union League members who actively invest in qualified, early-stage enterprises in the Greater Philadelphia and mid-Atlantic region as a means of growing the economy, retaining, and attracting talent and fostering innovations that strengthen our civic infrastructure. Broad Street Angels, the Union League's angel investing Affinity Group, announced that its members have made an investment in DreamVu, Inc. The group is a member of the Angel Capital Association, PACT, PA Angel Network, and Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures. About cultivate(MD) Capital Funds As a medical device venture capital fund, cultivate(MD) is dedicated to bringing emerging health care innovations to market, with a special focus on medical device and orthopedic technologies. cultivate(MD) is focused on investing in early-stage healthcare companies with innovative technologies that have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness. About Wavemaker360 Health Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health is the leading U.S. early-stage (Seed and following on at the Series A) venture capital fund focused 100% on healthcare. Launched in 2018, Wavemaker 360 invests into the most promising healthcare startups in North America, with LPs from every sector of the US healthcare system. We are SEEDING HEALTHCARE'S TOMORROW. We invest in healthcare disruptors and entrepreneurs that see how the industry is transforming itself and want to make a big difference. About Blu Venture Investors Founded in 2010, Blu Ventures has deployed $85MM in capital to date in early-stage cyber and enterprise software firms. Currently, the firm is invested in 35 cyber companies to include ID.me, Cybrary, Huntress Labs, Ostendio and Threat Quotient. As a primary source venture capital firm, Blu's principals bring expertise across a variety of industries and an investment perspective closely aligned with entrepreneurs. For more information, visit https://bluventureinvestors.com. Media Contact: Inspire Agency (Formerly B Squared) on behalf of Strados Labs Sarah Broome [email protected] 1-714-469-9237 SOURCE Strados Labs In addition to broadening symplr's investor base, the transaction provides new and follow-on capital at a significantly larger scale to support the Company's accelerated organic growth and acquisition strategy. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. For more than 30 years, symplr has been committed to improving healthcare operations through its SaaS-based solutions, driving better operations for better outcomes. Since partnering with Clearlake in 2018, the Company has grown its billings and earnings by 500 percent. In addition to consistent strong organic growth over the last three years, symplr has completed nine acquisitions to expand its software portfolio across workforce management, contract & spend management, and compliance, quality & safety SaaS solutions. Today, symplr's extensive offering across healthcare GRC creates a differentiated value proposition to a large and growing base of healthcare systems and hospitals. The funding from the dedicated Clearlake investment vehicle provides symplr with access to approximately $1.6 billion in equity capital, including rollover from existing investors, that will enable the Company to aggressively pursue its organic growth initiatives and acquisition strategy. The Clearlake-managed single asset vehicle is funded by over 50 leading institutional investors. The transaction was led by leading private markets investors including Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Vintage Funds, Landmark Partners and Partners Group (acting on behalf of its clients) with more than a dozen existing investors who have re-committed to the Company for the long-term. Clearlake will maintain its position as symplr's lead investor and the transaction will result in no change to the governance of symplr or to its executive leadership team, led by CEO BJ Schaknowski. "We look forward to partnering with Clearlake and the talented symplr management team on the next chapter of their exciting growth," said Anthony Shontz, Co-Head of Private Equity Integrated Investments at Partners Group. "We continue to be impressed by symplr's robust track record of creating stakeholder value through portfolio enhancements and accretive acquisitions." "Symplr has built a differentiated asset of scale in healthcare GRC cloud-based software, and we believe the Company is poised to experience significant growth in the coming years," said Barry Miller, Partner at Landmark Partners, an Ares company. "We are enthusiastic to continue our support for the Clearlake Icon franchise and back long-term winners with additional new capital to accelerate organic and inorganic growth as symplr continues to advance its business and suite of software solutions, building upon the current momentum." Harold Hope, Head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Vintage Funds, added, "As consistent supporters of Clearlake's Icon platforms, we're excited to support Icon V and symplr. The Company is well-positioned to provide SaaS solutions that enable healthcare systems and hospitals to optimize operations, positively impacting the lives of both employees and patients. We were attracted to the Company's GRC software leadership, track record, vision and growth, as well as the value that has been created through recent acquisitions and operational growth initiatives." Symplr is advancing the gold standard for operational intelligence and healthcare excellence. With a comprehensive suite of best-in-class solutions and services, the Company is committed to a dual-pronged approach for growth that will drive the greatest possible impact in the shortest amount of time. The acquisition strategy targeting best-of-breed point solutions is bolstered by an unwavering commitment to R&D to accelerate integration and innovation. "We are excited to present our limited partners with Clearlake's fifth single-asset continuation vehicle, Icon V. By gaining new equity capital from world-class investors through this transaction, symplr can further implement its strategic growth initiatives to maximize value creation," said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Prashant Mehrotra, Partner, at Clearlake. "Over the past three years, symplr has invested significantly in its cloud-based software platform to address the large and growing markets for healthcare operations and GRC SaaS solutions. We are proud of the progress symplr has made and believe that with the continued support of our O.P.S. framework, as well as sponsorship from our partners at Charlesbank, the Company will further establish itself as a leading provider of healthcare operations SaaS solutions to drive better patient outcomes." "Symplr has achieved significant growth over the past three years, and this investment reflects confidence in our growth plans and ongoing expansion as one of the most diversified platforms of scale in healthcare operations and GRC," said BJ Schaknowski, symplr CEO. "We are honored to have so many top-tier investors bringing fresh capital to accelerate our growth organically and through acquisition initiatives, and we believe our comprehensive software solutions position us well for future success." Evercore and Credit Suisse acted as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis provided legal counsel to Clearlake as part of the transaction. About symplr symplr's comprehensive healthcare operations cloud-based software solutions, anchored in governance, risk management, and compliance, enable our enterprise customers to efficiently navigate the unique complexities of integrating critical business operations in healthcare. For over 30 years, our customers have trusted our expertise and depended on our provider data management, workforce and talent management, contract management, spend management, access management, and compliance, quality, and safety software solutions to help drive better operations for better outcomes. Learn how at www.symplr.com. About Clearlake Capital Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is an investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to businesses that can benefit from Clearlake's operational improvement approach, O.P.S. The firm's core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $55 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 300 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap. About Charlesbank Capital Partners Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private investment firm with more than $15 billion of capital raised since inception. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings, and also engages in opportunistic credit and technology investments. The firm seeks to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, please visit www.charlesbank.com. Media Contacts For symplr / Clearlake: Jennifer Hurson Lambert & Co. 845-507-0571 [email protected] For Charlesbank: Maura Turner 617-619-5457 [email protected] SOURCE symplr; Clearlake Capital Group The Motorola MA1 is a plug and play adapter that integrates with Android Auto. With wireless access to Android Auto, users can get things done with their voice to keep their focus on driving. Easily send messages, get directions, control media and more. Just say "Hey Google" to get started. Android Auto is available on more than 100 million cars today - many of which require connecting a mobile device to the vehicle infotainment system using a USB cable. The Motorola MA1 is an ideal solution for drivers who want to experience a seamless wireless connection but do not have the factory-supplied technology that allows them to do so. "Motorola strives to simplify our customers' lives through innovative technology that seamlessly integrates into everyday life," says Dave Carroll, Executive Director Strategic Brand Partnerships at Motorola. "The Motorola MA1 eliminates the need to plug your phone into your car's infotainment system every time you get in your car, allowing for easy access to your favorite navigation apps." Motorola MA1 features include: Fast media transmission (5 GHz WiFi for wireless Android Auto) Direct USB plug-in to existing Android Auto-enabled vehicles Fast automatic connection using Bluetooth Lightweight, sleek design The Motorola MA1 is available starting January 28, 2022; MSRP $89.95. Available at https://www.motorolasound.com and retailers nationwide. To wirelessly use Android Auto on your car display, your car must be compatible with Android Auto, and you must have a compatible Android smartphone running Android 11 or higher, with an active data plan. Check Android Auto compatibility with your car at: www.android.com/auto/compatibility/ About SGW Global SGW Global specializes in the manufacture, design, sales and distribution of a wide array of consumer electronic products and services. Working with leading technology innovators, we pride ourselves on the creation of world-class award-winning designs and solutions. With a 30-year track record of quality and on time delivery, we partner with dynamic pioneers at the forefront of technological change in a constantly evolving market. In a partnership with Motorola Mobility LLC that has already existed for more than 10 years, SGW Global are the global1 licensee of the Motorola brand for Personal Audio2, Nursery3 and Telephony4 products. As a truly global operation, we have our Corporate HQ along with our own manufacturing facilities in China, a dedicated Sales Operation Centre in the US, a European Operations Centre in the UK, and a worldwide sales and distribution network. For more information, visit www.sgwglobal.com SGW Global is a trading name of Meizhou Guo Wei Electronics Co., Ltd. About Motorola Strategic Brand Partnerships For over 90 years the Motorola brand has been known around the world for high quality, innovative and trusted products. Motorola's Strategic Brand Partnership program seeks to leverage the power of this iconic brand by partnering with dynamic companies who offer unique, high quality products that enrich consumer's lives. Strategic brand partners work closely with Motorola engineers while developing and manufacturing their products, ensuring that their products meet the exacting safety, quality, and reliability standards that consumers have come to expect from Motorola. To learn more about Motorola strategic brand partnerships, follow us @ShopMotorola. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. and are used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 2020 Motorola Mobility LLC. All rights reserved. Google, Android, and Android Auto are trademarks of Google LLC. 1 Personal Audio license excludes India and Telephony license excludes South America 2 Personal Audio products include wired and wireless in-ear and over-ear headphones, true wireless (TWS) and portable wireless speakers. 3 Nursery products include connected and non-connected audio and video baby monitors, soothers, sleep monitors, projectors, thermometers, scales, humidifiers, and air purifiers. 4 Telephony products include corded and cordless home telephones, corded and cordless business telephones and fixed wireless telephones. Media Contact: Nicole Daley / Daley Public Relations [email protected] 415.408.8664 SOURCE SGW Global ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thin wafers are gaining adoption as a flexible substrate for the production of ultra-thin semiconductors that are used in multiple electronics end-use applications. They are extensively used in a range of power devices and CMOS image sensors that find application in IT & telecom, automotive, and consumer electronics. The adoption of thin wafers notably 100um-200um wafers in telecom applications has been generating sizable revenue streams for players in the thin wafers market. Advancements in nanotechnologies have enabled end users to incorporate them in various micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) designs in order to cater to high-performance flexible electronics. A case in point is the use of ultra-thin chips in next-gen telecom & IoT products that require ultra-low loss radio frequency (RF) specifications. Request a Report Sample at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=274 The global thin wafers market is projected to reach valuation of US$ 21.65 Bn by 2031. Stakeholders are witnessing substantial avenues in the demand for glass wafers in engineering of displays and display glass inspection systems. The adoption is underpinned by a few unique advantages such as better warp management, optimization of processes, and reduced electric loss. North America is projected to contribute substantial revenue to the global thin wafers market over the next few years. The growth is likely to be fueled by rise in production of semiconductor wafers in the region. Get PDF Brochure for More Insights @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=274 Key Findings of Thin Wafers Market Study Growing Uptake of Ultra-Thin Semiconductors in Automotive Industry to Steer Market Growth: Micro-electro-mechanical systems are widely used in various automotive applications, such as in accelerometers, gyroscopes, and tire pressure monitoring systems. The growing trend of incorporation of electronics for safety features is bolstering the applications of semiconductor wafers in automotive chips. This has been propelling the demand for semiconductor wafer manufacturing for fabrication of MEMS devices. Evidently, the opportunities are vast in electric vehicles, pivoted on the growing production and adoption of these in developed and developing regions of the world. Micro-electro-mechanical systems are widely used in various automotive applications, such as in accelerometers, gyroscopes, and tire pressure monitoring systems. The growing trend of incorporation of electronics for safety features is bolstering the applications of semiconductor wafers in automotive chips. This has been propelling the demand for semiconductor wafer manufacturing for fabrication of MEMS devices. Evidently, the opportunities are vast in electric vehicles, pivoted on the growing production and adoption of these in developed and developing regions of the world. Numerous Applications of Optical Semiconductor Devices in IT & Telecommunications & Consumer Electronics: The demand for optical semiconductor devices in telecommunications and consumer electronics is anticipated to offer incremental opportunities to thin wafer suppliers. Optical semiconductor devices are subject to a variety of process control and qualification tests with the help of wafer inspection technologies that eventually lead to the production of high-quality electronics. The need for next-gen optical semiconductor devices in IT & telecom sector, including light-emitting diodes and photodiodes, is expected to generate sizable revenue streams, notes the study on the thin wafers market. Furthermore, the adoption of new technologies notably ultrasonic cleaning of thin wafers in semiconductor manufacturing industry is propelling the prospects of the market. The demand for optical semiconductor devices in telecommunications and consumer electronics is anticipated to offer incremental opportunities to thin wafer suppliers. Optical semiconductor devices are subject to a variety of process control and qualification tests with the help of wafer inspection technologies that eventually lead to the production of high-quality electronics. The need for next-gen optical semiconductor devices in IT & telecom sector, including light-emitting diodes and photodiodes, is expected to generate sizable revenue streams, notes the study on the thin wafers market. Furthermore, the adoption of new technologies notably ultrasonic cleaning of thin wafers in semiconductor manufacturing industry is propelling the prospects of the market. Ultra-thin Wafers to Lead to Cost Reduction of Solar Cells: Thin wafers are underpinning the optimization of innovative semiconductor thin film designs. Of note, ultra-thinned silicon wafers are gaining attention across the solar energy industry, as their application holds potential in the fabrication of low-cost solar cells. Additionally, the use of thin film nanotechnologies in thin wafers has led to improvements in the light management in solar cells, such as in increased absorption and retention of sunlight. For instance, nanophotonic structures are being pursued by solar industry players for fabricating ultra-thin crystalline silicon solar cells, thus underpinning substantial growth opportunities for players in the thin wafers market. Get a Customized Research Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=274 Thin Wafers Market: Key Drivers Growing trend of miniaturization of optoelectronic systems to meet the requirements of wireless systems and MEMS is a key pivot for R&D in thinning of wafers. The trend has spurred the growth prospects of the thin wafers market. A case in point is the use of miniaturized optoelectronic systems for wireless optogenetics. Rapid pace of commercialization of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in several developing and developed economies has spurred interest in thin wafer technologies. The demand is a key underpinning for substantial opportunities for semiconductor wafer manufacturers. Thin Wafers Market: Key Players Some of the key players in the thin wafers market are SOITEC, Hangzhou Semiconductor Wafer Co., Ltd., Okmrtic, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., GlobalWafers Co., Ltd., SK siltron Co.,Ltd, Siltronic AG, and SUMCO Corporation. Buy an Exclusive Research Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=27495% of true width based on drill hole inclination 2) Mineralized intervals calculated at 1 ppm Pt+Pd cutoff Abraham Drost, CEO of Clean Air Metals stated that "step-out drilling on the margins of the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) continues to deliver impressive assay results. Under the results of the recent PEA press release, the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) (>5g/t Pt+Pd) is identified as a high value potential mining area at the base of the Escape Deposit in years 5 and 6 of the PEA mine plan, pursuant to the recently delivered PEA press release (December 1, 2021). There is a total of 37,000m of previously reported drilling results from the Escape Deposit in 2021 which not yet applied to the mineral resource for the Thunder Bay North Project. Assay results to date, along with the 2000m of core in the lab still awaiting assay, suggest good continuity of mineralization between sections along the 900m trend of mineralization between the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) (>5g/t Pt+Pd) and Steepledge South Zone (Figure 1). The high-grade Lower Current and Bridge Zones of the upper Current Deposit achieved a 90% conversion rate from Indicated to potentially minable mineral resource for Years 1-4 within the recently disclosed PEA mine plan, as defined by a mining shape optimizer (MSO) algorithm. An additional 10,000m of infill drilling in the lower Current Deposit is planned to improve drill density to support application of the MSO algorithm along trend (Figure 2), in the attempt to add additional mineable material to the PEA. Up to 16,000m of drilling is also planned to commence in mid-January 2022 on frozen muskeg to follow up on certain discrete geophysical anomalies. These may represent the occurrence of low resistivity, high conductivity massive sulphide material at the base of the Escape and Current deposits within the Escape Lake Fault Zone corridor, consistent with the Norilsk mineral deposit model used by the Company in Thunder Bay North magma conduit system." Please see the links below for Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1: 2021 Drill Hole Intercepts in the Escape Deposit Area Link (Click Here) Figure 2: 2021 Drill Hole Intercepts in the Current Deposit Area Link (Click Here) COVID Policy Clean Air Metals continued to apply COVID-19 avoidance and personal protection measures for its geological staff, drilling contractor and service suppliers during the third quarter and has had zero occurrences of COVID-related illness year to date. Personnel are required to maintain physical distance, use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), self-monitor and self-isolate or elect to work from home. Management had previously eliminated plans for a camp setup to service a planned diamond drill campaign on the Escape deposit. The Company is aware of Thunder Bay Health Unit guidelines that provide for "mandatory" self-isolation for returning overseas. Mineral Exploration and Development has been deemed an essential service in the Province of Ontario (http://www.netnewsledger.com/2020/03/23/ontario-covid-19-business-allowed-to-remain-open-list-march-23-2020/). The Company has procured the services of a locally staffed and serviced diamond drilling contractor to complete the diamond drilling programs. Qualified Person Dr. Geoff Heggie, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and Exploration Manager for the Company, has reviewed and approved all technical information in this press release. Quality Assurance/Quality Control Clean Air Metals uses ALS Global ("ALS"), a well-established and recognized mineral assay and geochemical analytical services company. The Thunder Bay laboratory holds ISO-9000 accreditation; the Vancouver facility holds ISO-17025 registration. All NQ-sized drill core is cut with a diamond-tipped saw blade with half of the core submitted to ALS for sample preparation and analysis. Core samples from selected intervals are individually bagged and tagged, gathered up in larger sealed poly bags and shipped to the sample prep facility in Thunder Bay, ON under custody of Clean Air Metals' personnel at all times. Sample preparation is completed at the ALS sample preparation facility located in Thunder Bay, ON and analysis is completed at the primary ALS assay laboratory located in Vancouver, B.C. Clean Air Metals follows a documented quality control procedure for its core assay sampling program consisting of the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates, and certified Palladium-Platinum and Copper-Nickel standards into the sample stream. The insertion procedure results in a minimum of 11% to 12% control sample frequency depending on the length of the sampled interval. Gold, platinum, and palladium are analyzed using fire assay (FA) with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) finish. Samples with grades above the optimal ICP-MS detection limits are analyzed using an optical emission spectroscopy method (ICP-OES). Also, thirty-three (33) elements of each sample, including copper, nickel, silver, chromium, cobalt, and sulphur, are analyzed by a multi-element analytical method using the atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) technique following four-acid digestion of the sample. When samples have grades above the optimal detection limits for this analytical method, they are re-analyzed using a high-grade method consisting of either ICP-AES or atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) techniques. Social Engagement Clean Air Metals Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Ltd. acknowledge that the Thunder Bay North Project is on the traditional territories of the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock First Nation and Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The parties together are the Cooperating Participants in a Memorandum of Agreement dated January 9, 2021. The Company appreciates the opportunity to work in these territories and remains committed to the recognition and respect of those who have lived, traveled, and gathered on the lands since time immemorial. Clean Air Metals is committed to stewarding Indigenous heritage and remains committed to building, fostering and encouraging a respectful relationship with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples based upon principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation. About Clean Air Metals Inc. Clean Air Metals' flagship asset is the 100% owned, high grade Thunder Bay North Project, a platinum, palladium, copper, nickel project located near the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Lac des Iles Mine owned by Impala Platinum. The Thunder Bay North Project hosts the twin magma conduit bodies which host Current and Escape deposits forming the basis for a positive preliminary economic assessment around a ramp access underground mine reported December 1, 2021. Executive Chairman Jim Gallagher and CEO Abraham Drost lead an experienced team of geologists and engineers who are using the Norilsk magma conduit stratigraphic and mineral deposit model to guide ongoing exploration and development studies at Thunder Bay North. As the former CEO of North American Palladium Ltd. which owned the Lac des Iles Mine prior to the sale to Impala Platinum in December 2019, Jim Gallagher and team are credited with the mine turnaround and creation of significant value for shareholders. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "Abraham Drost" Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals Inc. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including statements regarding the potential of the Thunder Bay North Project and the Escape and Current deposits and timing of technical studies (include the preliminary economic assessment) and mineral resource estimates. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projection. SOURCE Clean Air Metals Inc. Related Links https://www.cleanairmetals.ca/ REHOVOT, Israel, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognata LTD announced today it will work with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to provide Cognata's simulation platform for sensor and control simulations. Cognata's simulation platform is multi-layered and designed to incorporate all factors into its simulation engine to create a full run time orchestration, from planning to HIL - hardware-in-the-loop. The platform offers photo-realistic digital twin 3D environments with real-life traffic agents as moving, interactive objects, and procedurally creates digital twin terrain from imported maps with an auto-validation process as well as on demand, customized photorealistic synthetic datasets with various scenarios and objects for fast and accurate artificial intelligence (AI) perception training and validation. Since its introduction in 2020, the Snapdragon Ride Platform has steadily gained momentum with global automakers and Tier 1 suppliers worldwide. The Snapdragon Ride Platform offers an extended product roadmap, featuring the industry's first announced scalable and fully customizable system-on-chip (SoC) platforms built on 5nm process technology, with an expanded software ecosystem with industry-proven stacks for vision perception, parking and driver monitoring. With the expanded product roadmap presented in 2021, Snapdragon Ride has become one of the automotive industry's most advanced, scalable and fully customizable ADAS platforms. It is also a key component of the Snapdragon Digital Chassis from Qualcomm Technologies a comprehensive set of cloud-connected platforms that individually or collectively digitize the numerous systems inside any automobile. "Cognata is proud to work with Qualcomm Technologies, one of the world's leading automotive technology innovators," Cognata's CEO Danny Atsmon says. "Cognata's simulation platform is designed to incorporate all factors into its simulation engine and create a full run time orchestration, and we are thrilled to keep advancing the autonomous simulation market over all of its aspects, and through all development stages." "Simulation is a key component of ADAS solutions, and we feel Cognata provides a realistic and comprehensive simulation environment needed to extend the validation of the different components for our Snapdragon Ride Platform," says Anshuman Saxena, Senior Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "As our technology continues to evolve, we look forward to working with industry-leading solution providers to help bring solutions to the automotive ecosystem." About Cognata Cognata provides the fast lane to autonomous driving with its testing and evaluation solution for self-driving vehiclesa realistic automotive simulation platform where virtual cars travel virtual roads in virtual cities, all remarkably true to real-world conditions. Working with some of the largest autonomous vehicle makers in the world, Cognata brings the disruptive power of artificial intelligence and computer vision to the ADAS and autonomous driving simulation world and shaves years off the verification and validation process. For further information: www.cognata.com Snapdragon and Snapdragon Ride are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. Snapdragon Ride Platform is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Contact: Shay Rootman [email protected] www.cognata.com SOURCE Cognata Related Links http://www.cognata.com BOSTON, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial interest in silicon anodes and investments into start-up companies has continued through 2021 - IDTechEx estimates that $1.9B of funding has now made its way into silicon anode start-ups. Beyond investments, there has also been greater activity regarding companies beginning to license technologies, enter into supply relationships or commercialize technologies in early adopter markets, highlighting that the promise of silicon anode technology may soon be realized. For example: IDTechEx estimates that cumulative funding for silicon anode start-ups has reached $1.9B. Source: IDTechEx - Advanced Li-ion and Beyond Lithium Batteries 2022-2032: Technologies, Players, Trends, Markets Enevate entered into a license agreement with battery manufacturer EnerTech International Enovix went public via a SPAC that valued the company at $1.1B Elkem established a separate silicon anode company Vianode Group 14 entered into a joint venture with SK materials for the supply of silane gas, Sila Nano launched their battery technology in the Whoop fitness wearable The above examples of commercial development and investment highlight the ongoing and significant interest in silicon anode technology. Much of this stems from the potential for silicon to significantly improve energy density. But beyond energy density, silicon anodes also have the potential to improve fast charge capability, cost, and safety. In short, fast-charge capability is feasible due to the high porosity inherent to silicon anode solutions, cost can be reduced due to the high capacity of silicon material resulting in lower material requirements while safety improvements stem from the reduced risk of lithium plating and dendrite formation. Though cycle and calendar life may need to be further demonstrated, improvements are being made. Combined, silicon anodes present a highly valuable proposition for electric vehicles and indeed the largest opportunity for silicon anode material lies in BEVs with the possibility of silicon being used as an additive or as the dominant active material. Demand from other EV segments and consumer devices still represent a significant opportunity for silicon anode material and IDTechEx forecast that by 2032, demand for silicon anode material will reach $12.9B. However, with nearly 30 start-up companies looking to commercialize silicon anode solutions, not to mention development at more established materials and battery players, competition in the silicon anode space is intensifying. Start-ups and earlier stage companies find themselves in a race to lock in investments, partnerships, and orders. While the market is beginning to look increasingly crowded, the rewards for succeeding will be significant, and this competition will play a role in accelerating the commercialization of the better, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly batteries that are needed for better products and electric vehicles. To find out more on the state of the silicon anode market, see IDTechEx's report "Advanced Li-ion and Beyond Lithium Batteries 2022-2032: Technologies, Players, Trends, Markets". IDTechEx Webinar Dr Alex Holland, Senior Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, will be presenting a free-to-attend webinar on Thursday 20 January 2022 "Next Generation Batteries and Beyond Lithium - What's Happening in Battery Technology?". This webinar will: Provide an overview of recent commercial developments to advanced and non-lithium batteries Introduce various next generation batteries and analyse their relative strengths and weaknesses Discuss the potential markets for the range of technologies being developed To find out more and register your free place, please visit - www.IDTechEx.com/en/webinar/next-generation-batteries-and-beyond-lithium-whats-happening-in-battery-technology/410. About IDTechEx IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com. Images download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bp91zcqo4mreg8v/AABxD8HVYG_hAPOaH6OFCdyaa?dl=0 Media Contact: Natalie Moreton Digital Marketing Manager [email protected] +44(0)1223 812300 Social Media Links: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/IDTechEx LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idtechex/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDTechExResearch SOURCE IDTechEx RAIPUR, India, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Composite Pressure Vessels Market by Application Type (Life Support, Transportation, Recreational, Gas Carrier & Storage, and Others), by Pressure Vessel Type (Type II, Type III, and Type IV), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2021-2026. This strategic assessment report, from Stratview Research, provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today's composite pressure vessels market realities and future market possibilities for the forecast period of 2021 to 2026. The report segments and analyzes the market in the most detailed manner to provide a panoramic view of the market. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for the market participants as well as investors in the identification of low-hanging fruits available in the market as well as formulate growth strategies. Composite Pressure Vessels Market: Highlights A composite pressure vessel is used to store gases at a relatively higher pressure. The vessel is an important part of the industrial infrastructure for safe gas & liquid handling. Composite vessels not only weigh way less than steel and aluminum vessels but also improve performance, key factors driving their use in a variety of applications such as oil refineries, aerospace, defense, research, nuclear reactors, gas storage, and automotive. Characteristics, such as excellent corrosion resistance, high stiffness, high strength, and longer life cycles compared to metal cylinders, further give an impetus to the demand for composite pressure vessels. The market for composite pressure vessels registered a considerably moderate decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 breakout. The quick spread of the pandemic has radically altered market dynamics. The pandemic exacerbated existing challenges of the automotive, aerospace, and other industries, causing the industry sales to plummet to their lowest level in the decade. As a result of that, there was an enormous decline in the production of composite pressure vessels across regions. The market is expected to recover gradually from 2021 onwards with a rebound in the production of automobiles. In the coming years, substantial investments in renewable energy across all areas to fulfill the growing need for energy are predicted to raise the demand for composite pressure vessels. Factors, such as increasing use of composite pressure vessels paired with an increase in the production of natural gas vehicles will fuel the market growth. Overall, the composite pressure vessels market is likely to rebound at a promising CAGR of 25.6% in the long run to reach US$ 4.4 billion in 2026. Click Here to Run Through the Detailed TOC: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/toc/2395/composite-pressure-vessels-market.html Based on the application type, transportation is expected to be the largest as well as the fastest-growing application type in the market throughout the projection period, due to rising demand for mobility and a projected rebound in ICE vehicle production across regions. Furthermore, the growing penetration of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in the developed and developing economies as well as increased investments in R&D and product developments to build new products will support the market to expand throughout the forecast period. Based on the pressure vessel type, type-IV is expected to remain the dominant as well as the fastest-growing pressure vessel type in the market during the forecast period. Type-IV tanks are becoming more common, especially in medium and heavy-duty vehicles because type-IV reduces the weight of vehicles by a huge factor. Higher fuel density and lower mass of tanks provide fuel efficiency and cheaper maintenance costs. Click Here and Ask for a Free Sample of the Exhaustive Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/Request-Sample/2395/composite-pressure-vessels-market.html#form In terms of regions, Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest as well as the fastest-growing market for composite pressure vessels during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific's demand for composite pressure vessels is being driven by the usage of alternate fueling options in vehicles rather than gasoline and diesel. Because of the growing number of vehicle manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific region, China and India will dominate the overall pressure vessels market. The spike in demand for energy to meet the needs of the region's rising industrial, commercial, and residential sectors is also among the major contributor to the region's exceptional growth. Following are the key players in the global composite pressure vessels market: Beijing Tianhai Industry Co., Ltd. Catalina Cylinders Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd. Faber Industrie SPA Hexagon Composites ASA Iljin Composites Luxfer Holdings PLC NPROXX B.V Quantum Fuel Systems LLC Steelhead Composites, Inc. Worthington Industries, Inc. Report Features This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast. Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors. This report studies the global composite pressure vessels market and has segmented the market in three ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the three ways in which the market is segmented: Composite Pressure Vessels Market, by Application Type Life Support (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Transportation (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Recreational (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Gas Carrier & Storage (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Composite Pressure Vessel Market, by Pressure Vessels Type Type-II Pressure Vessels (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Type-III Pressure Vessels (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Type-IV Pressure Vessels (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Composite Pressure Vessels Market, by Region North America (Country Analysis: USA , Canada , and Mexico ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Italy , and Rest of Europe ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: Japan , China , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Brazil , Saudi Arabia , The UAE, and Others) Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the advanced materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/market-reports/composites.html About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. Stratview Research has launched 'Composights', an online portal which offers free thought leadership reports, whitepapers, market report synopsis and much more for Composites and allied industries, worth US$ 20,000 every year. Click here to sign up (No costs involved): https://www.stratviewresearch.com/composights/sign-in For enquiries, Contact: Stratview Research E-mail: [email protected] Direct: 1-313-307-4176 SOURCE Stratview Research NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DailyPay, featured in TIME's "Best Inventions of 2021," today announced their one-of-a-kind digital wallet solution. DailyPay's digital wallet solution is designed for everyday working Americans, many of whom are facing unprecedented financial challenges with the resurgence of the pandemic. The DailyPay wallet solution is the only digital wallet that automatically fills itself every day a user works, reflecting their pay balance in real-time. As long as the user works for a company partnering with DailyPay, their usable DailyPay Balance is always growing -- effectively eliminating the traditional payday. With the removal of obstacles to their pay, employees are more likely to avoid payday loans or overdraft fees. DailyPay's research shows that employees who are less stressed are more engaged and productive at work, which is critical for the millions of frontline workers who use DailyPay. "Most digital wallets today are underutilized because they're frequently empty," said Jason Lee, DailyPay Founder and CEO. "That doesn't benefit anyone. The DailyPay wallet solution changes this by constantly refilling with the money you earn at your job, in real time. If you are working, your DailyPay wallet will never be empty, giving you access to your money whenever you need it. By providing instant access to earned money and eliminating the need for payday loans, or the risk of late fees or overdrafts, DailyPay is bringing equity to the financial system and uplifting all working Americans." The DailyPay wallet solution (formerly called the PayEx platform) creates a frictionless personal finance experience by connecting to over 6,000 financial institutions supporting any bank account, debit card or prepaid card. In addition, the DailyPay wallet allows you to save your money as you earn it and supports an array of capabilities including bill pay, investing, buying goods and services, and more. By providing transparency around, and access to, money as it's earned, DailyPay users have total transparency into their earnings and more control over their money. The current financial system is fraught with inefficiencies and friction, causing financial pain for everyone, including far too many who work full-time. Employees earn wages each day, but have had to wait for a scheduled payday to access their own money. Founded in 2016, DailyPay aimed to re-write the invisible rules of money and built the first technology platform to enable on-demand pay. To learn more access to DailyPay's full suite of solutions, visit https://www.dailypay.com/digital-wallet/ . To learn more about how to access DailyPay's wallet solution for your needs, visit https://www.dailypay.com/demo/ . About DailyPay DailyPay, powered by its industry-leading technology platform, is on a mission to build a new financial system. Partnering with America's best-in-class employers, including Dollar Tree, HCA Healthcare, and Kroger. DailyPay is the recognized gold standard in on-demand pay. Through its massive data network, proprietary funding model and connections into over 6,000 endpoints in the banking system, DailyPay works to ensure that money is always in the right place at the right time for employers, merchants and financial institutions. DailyPay is building technology and the mindset to reimagine the way money moves, from the moment work starts. DailyPay is headquartered in New York City, with operations based in Minneapolis. For more information, visit www.dailypay.com/press. Media Contacts David Schwarz Email: [email protected] Gabriella Lourie Email: [email protected] SOURCE DailyPay ROUND ROCK, Texas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces that chair and chief executive officer, Michael Dell, will be participating in a virtual fireside chat hosted by Wamsi Mohan of Bank of America on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. CT / 3:30 p.m. ET. A live webcast and a replay of the webcast will be available on Dell Technologies' Investor Relations page at investors.delltechnologies.com. About Dell Technologies Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry's broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era. # # # Copyright 2022 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC and Dell EMC are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE Dell Technologies Related Links http://www.delltechnologies.com Partnership increases dealer inventory options and borrowing power BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - E Automotive Inc. d/b/a E INC (TSX: EINC) (the "Company" or "E INC") and EBlock, the leading digital automotive auction marketplace and a sub-brand of E INC, today announced a key partnership with Kinetic Advantage, an industry leader in floorplan technology. The agreement integrates Kinetic Advantage into the EBlock checkout. The scarcity of automobiles is causing dealers to search for new sources to replenish their inventory. A partnership with EBlock, a well-established fully digital marketplace in Canada and a new player in the U.S marketplace, opens up those sourcing opportunities for Kinetic customers. Kinetic, a strong player in the U.S. floorplan marketplace, becomes a strong source of buying power for EBlock U.S. customers. "This partnership is a win for our customers in the U.S. Kinetic is a strong floorplan and capital funding source which increases the capabilities of our customers to source the much-needed inventory they seek," said Jason McClenahan, President, and CEO of E INC. "Kinetic is very pleased to partner with EBlock as a source for inventory to our independent dealers in the U.S. EBlock has a proven track record in Canada and is experiencing exceptionally strong growth in the U.S. Coupled with Kinetic's fast growth and best-in-class service I expect our dealers will greatly benefit from this new partnership," said Marty McFarland, President and CEO of Kinetic Advantage. EBlock is a brand of parent company E INC. EBlock's online auction empowers dealers, wholesalers, and independent auctions to buy and sell inventory in less time and in a real-time virtual auction that creates the sense of urgency and energy found in a live auction. Kinetic Advantage is a dynamic floorplan company led by trusted industry veterans. Its core focus is helping its independent dealer partners and team members succeed while providing them with an exceptional and engaging user experience. Kinetic is committed to forging strong partnerships through transparent communication and simple, innovative solutions. Kinetic provides its partners and team members with the support and tools they need to grow throughout their journey. About E INC. E INC's mission is to optimize the online vehicle buying, selling, and management experience for automotive dealers and consumers. E INC has a digital platform (the "Platform") that provides automotive dealerships with access to an online wholesale auction marketplace where they can purchase or sell vehicles to other dealers, as well as access innovative software solutions to support dealers' digital retailing and inventory management. Access to E INC's Platform is complemented by ancillary service offerings to assist dealers with supplementary auction-related needs, along with driving consumer traffic to their digital properties and optimizing other business processes. E INC's digital wholesale marketplace goes to market under the brand EBlock, and E INC's digital suite of retail products goes to market under the brand EDealer. SOURCE E Automotive Inc. As a key edible fungus demonstration zone in Guizhou province, Baiyun district in Guiyang city is integrating the industry with modern technologies and boosting the high-quality development of the entire industrial chain through a series of initiatives, said local officials. Edible fungus is one of Guizhou's 12 major characteristic agricultural industries. In the past four years, the province's edible fungus output has increased by 51.4 percent per year and its value has increased by 60.7 percent per year. In 2020, the output of edible fungi in Guizhou reached 1.48 million metric tons, with an output value of 18.4 billion yuan ($2.89 billion). The growth rate ranks first in the country, and the overall scale pushes it into the top 10 in the country. As of the end of October, a total of 21 edible fungus bases have been built in Baiyun. Since 2016, 176.9 million fungus sticks have been planted, with an output of 86,700 tons and an output value of 1.02 billion yuan. The edible fungus in Baiyun is equipped with a full chain tracking management model from the production, cultivation, processing and certification to testing phases. Liao Yiren, manager of Intelligent Fungus Cloud, an online platform for the entire industry chain of edible fungi, said based on cutting-edge technologies such as big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence, the platform focuses on areas of production, planting, processing, supply and marketing, certification and testing. To date, the platform has established 31 data collection points, with 15 edible fungus companies, cooperatives, bases, and large households. Guizhou Jukong Technology is one of the enterprises on the platform. It has established the first intelligent base for rare edible fungi in Baiyun, which not only improves the standardization and automation of edible fungi production, but also the utilization rate of agricultural resources as well as easing the shortage of land resources. Zou Liqin, 49, a local villager in Asuo village working at the edible fungus base, said she is thankful for the job. "Working eight hours a day, I can earn 4,000 yuan a month. It takes me five minutes to ride an electric bike from home. It is very convenient to take care of my children." To date, the base has employed more than 50 local farmers. Guizhou Zhongke Yinong Technology is another edible fungus processing enterprise in this area. "This is a freeze-dried morel mushroom. Based on the base pre-harvest period and pre-production data provided by the platform, combining with the actual situation of the edible fungus entering the processing plant to its storage, we reasonably arrange the processing time and processing quantity, and implement planned processing," said Zhang Ke, chairman of the company. "We use the processing workshop module to provide standardized production parameters to ensure that downstream companies' requirements for the production standards of primary processed products are met. "At the same time, we have gradually formed our own standardized production system. The data and videos of the processing workshop make the processing steps more transparent and help with standardization," he added. In order-based procurement and sales, the company can sign order-based production agreements with upstream and downstream companies through the system and implement order-based production and sales planning arrangements. The production end is only responsible for planting and processing, and the platform is responsible for sales. In the Guizhou Mushroom Museum, visitors can understand all the information about the entire industrial chain process of the products from rod making, cultivation and processing to sales. They can also use blockchain technology to ensure the safety and reliability of information and data, and help producers build trust in quality and safety assurance. Covering a total construction area of nearly 2,000 square meters, the Guizhou Mushroom Museum includes functional areas of science, culture, creativity and research. The museum introduces edible fungi-related knowledge and their development through graphic introductions, specimen displays and taste activities. Fan Xuanxiang, deputy director of the education bureau of Baiyun, said the district will enhance edible fungus education and launch research activities to boost the local culture. Last year is the first year of the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) and a crucial year for comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. Guiyang will strive to make new breakthroughs in rural revitalization and make positive contributions to the construction of a vibrant Guizhou. On Sept 26, Hu Zhongxiong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and Party secretary of Guiyang, presided over a special meeting on agricultural modernization in Guiyang. He said that it is necessary to stabilize the basic agricultural market. Guiyang's economic growth has increased by 284.3 percent in the past 10 years. In 2020, there are more than 5,000 big data companies in Guiyang and the added value of the digital economy exceeded 160 billion yuan, accounting for more than 38 percent of the region's GDP. "Big data has become an important engine for Guiyang's high-quality development, allowing Guiyang to stand at the forefront of the world to showcase its beauty to all," said Ma Ningyu, deputy Party secretary and acting mayor of Guiyang. "At present, Guiyang is promoting the deep integration of big data and rural revitalization," Ma said. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Guiyang will promote the construction of optical fiber connections in administrative villages, optimize the extension of the 5G network of administrative villages to natural villages with more than 30 households and increase the scale and functions of radio and television cloud coverage. Guiyang will build a national digital agriculture and rural innovation center and a digital agriculture application promotion base, develop smart agriculture, and promote the use of information technologies such as IoT, AI, and blockchain in agricultural planting, breeding, processing and logistics. SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn "At El Blunto, we pride ourselves in creating products for the cannabis connoisseur. We are beyond excited to expand our brand's accessibility and footprint on a national level. We made a conscious decision to kick off our national expansion in Arizona with Trulieve," said Q. Ladraa, CEO of Albert Einstone's, El Blunto's parent company. "Trulieve takes a meticulous approach to brand development and customer satisfaction, and we deeply identify with their ethos." El Blunto will be available at all 17 Trulieve-affiliated Harvest retail locations in Arizona. The dispensary locations in Arizona include Avondale, Casa Grande, Chandler, Cottonwood, Glendale, Guadalupe, Lake Havasu, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Tucson. "Trulieve is excited to expand our product portfolio with the addition of El Blunto in the Arizona market," said Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve. "We strive to provide our patients and customers with access to superior products such as El Blunto that are sure to exceed their expectations." El Blunto manufactures the highest quality pre-rolls in cannabis. Their products are available in 400+ dispensaries across California and now in all Trulieve locations across Arizona. Their signature product, The World's Finest Cannabis Cigar, is a tobacco free blunt that features 1.75 grams of top-shelf high-testing cannabis. Full flower is hand-broken, never ground, hand-rolled in an all-natural fiber wrap, cured for 72-hours, and finished with a glass filter. About El Blunto El Blunto is a California-based cannabis brand that offers 'The World's Finest Cannabis Experience'. Born from a passion for craftsmanship and quality, El Blunto is an evolution of historic cigar-making tradition. Borrowing age-old techniques from master cigar-rollers, we create products of the highest caliber with the highest level of finishing. Product design and development is approached like a true science, ensuring customers get the same, phenomenal experience every single time. The El Blunto line up includes El Blunto (cannabis cigar), El Bluntito (mini-blunts), El Jointo and El Jointito (joints and mini-joints), as well as pouches of full-flower and Roll Your Own Blunt Kits. El Blunto products are available in 400+ dispensaries across California and Arizona. El Blunto is a subsidiary of Albert Einstone's LLC. For more information, visit www.alberteinstones.com Follow us on instagram @Elblunto.ca @Alberteinstones About Trulieve Trulieve is an industry leading, vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S. operating in 11 states, with leading market positions in Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Trulieve is poised for accelerated growth and expansion, building scale in retail and distribution in new and existing markets through its hub strategy. By providing innovative, high-quality products across its brand portfolio, Trulieve delivers optimal customer experiences and increases access to cannabis, helping patients and customers to live without limits. Trulieve is listed on the CSE under the symbol TRUL and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol TCNNF. For more information, please visit Trulieve.com. SOURCE Albert Einstone's LLC China's Xi'an has been battling a new COVID-19 resurgence since early December. Expats living there are impressed with how the megacity tackles the virus, calling Xi'an "the safest place on earth." Produced by Xinhua Global Service While common repairs include cracked screens, battery issues, and weXPANSIONater damage, uBreakiFix repair experts have fixed more than 13 million devices and can help with most any tech mishaps, with most basic repairs completed in two hours or less. "Whether it's a coffee spill on a laptop, a shattered smartphone screen, or a piece of nostalgic tech that a customer wants to revive, our repair experts can help," said Syed Ahmed, uBreakiFix District Manager. "We know how frustrating it can be when your favorite devices break, and we're here to get them back up and running as quickly as possible." uBreakiFix repair experts fix all types of electronics, regardless of make or model, and uBreakiFix is an authorized repair provider for some devices, including Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones. Customers can book a repair appointment online or stop by the store for walk-in service. uBreakiFix offers free, no-obligation diagnostics on all gadgets, as well as a low-price guarantee and 90-day warranty on all repairs. uBreakiFix was founded in 2009 after Co-founder Justin Wetherill dropped and shattered his own smartphone, sparking the idea for a convenient, affordable repair option. Wetherill partnered with David Reiff and Eddie Trujillo to bring the concept to life, and it has since grown from a single storefront in Orlando, Florida, to more than 700 locations across the U.S. and Canada. uBreakiFix joined the Asurion family in 2019 and now operates as a subsidiary of the tech care company. "We are excited to serve more people in San Rafael with fast and affordable tech repair," said uBreakiFix CEO Dave Barbuto. "We all rely on our phones and laptops more than ever before, and at uBreakiFix our mission is bigger than repairing shattered screens and broken charge ports. We fix tech because people rely on tech to stay connected to things that are important to them. I look forward to serving this community through our new San Rafael location." For more information, to view a service menu, or to book a repair appointment, visit ubreakifix.com/locations/sanrafael. uBreakiFix San Rafael is located at: uBreakiFix 777 Grand Ave Suite 104A, San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 785-1472 About uBreakiFix by Asurion uBreakiFix by Asurion specializes in the repair of small electronics, ranging from smartphones, game consoles, tablets, computers, and everything in between. Cracked screens, software issues, camera issues, and most other problems can be repaired by visiting uBreakiFix stores across the U.S. and Canada. Since 2016, uBreakiFix has served as the exclusive walk-in repair partner for Google Pixel customers. In 2018, uBreakiFix became a Samsung Care authorized service provider offering same-day, in-person support for Samsung Galaxy customers across the U.S. In 2019, uBreakiFix joined the Asurion family and now operates as a subsidiary of the tech care company while still maintaining the franchise model. For more information, visit ubreakifix.com. SOURCE uBreakiFix by Asurion BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and BOISE, Idaho, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corp. (NYSE: EHC), a national leader in integrated post-acute healthcare services, and Saint Alphonsus Health System are pleased to announce a new joint venture agreement in Idaho. The new joint venture includes the following locations: Saint Alphonsus home health & hospice locations in Boise, Idaho, and the Encompass Health home health and hospice locations in Boise and Nampa, Idaho. The transaction closed on January 1, 2022. "We have an existing joint venture with Encompass Health for inpatient rehabilitation services, and we are excited to establish a new joint venture with Encompass Health as a valued home health and hospice provider in Idaho, with a proven ability to provide high-quality, cost-effective care while avoiding unnecessary hospital readmissions," said Odette Bolano, President and CEO, Saint Alphonsus Health System. "Encompass Health's home health and hospice operational expertise will enhance the high quality of care we provide in the communities we serve in Idaho." "We look forward to working collaboratively with Saint Alphonsus Health System to serve together as a compassionate and transformative healing presence within our communities," said Barb Jacobsmeyer, president and chief executive officer of Encompass Health's home health and hospice business. "This joint venture combines the expertise and resources of Encompass Health, one of the nation's largest providers of home health and hospice services, with the trusted healthcare provider Saint Alphonsus, with more than four decades of home health service in Idaho." This new joint venture complements the joint venture between Encompass Health and Saint Alphonsus that has been providing high-quality, cost-effective inpatient rehabilitative services in the market since 2019. Encompass Health is the fourth largest provider of Medicare-certified skilled home health services and a top 10 hospice provider in the country based on 2019 Medicare reimbursements. About Saint Alphonsus Health System As a faith-based Catholic ministry and not-for-profit health system, Saint Alphonsus Health System reinvests in the communities we serve, through charity care and other benefits. Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of people by emphasizing care that is patient-centered, physician-led, innovative and community-based. Saint Alphonsus Health System serves the people of southwestern Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada through these facilities: Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Boise, ID; Saint Alphonsus Regional Rehabilitation Hospital Boise, ID, a joint venture with Encompass Health; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center Nampa, ID; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center Ontario, OR; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center Baker City, OR; and Saint Alphonsus Medical Group with primary and specialty care providers at over 70 clinic locations, all of which are members of the Saint Alphonsus Health Alliance, a network of over 2100 employed and independent providers. Saint Alphonsus is a proud member of Trinity Health, one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation. Trinity Health serves people and communities in 22 states from coast to coast with 94 hospitals and 122 continuing care facilities, home health and hospice programs, and PACE center locations. To find out more go to: www.saintalphonsus.org About Encompass Health As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facilitybased and homebased patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 145 hospitals, 249 home health locations, and 95 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides highquality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Encompass Health Media Contact: Saint Alphonsus Media Contact: Casey Winger | 205 970-5912 Mark Snider | 208-779-0560 [email protected] [email protected] Investor Relations Contact: Mark Miller | 205 970-5860 [email protected] SOURCE Encompass Health Corp. DUBLIN, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Europe Secondhand Luxury Goods Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Europe secondhand luxury goods market grew at a CAGR of around 6% during 2015-2020. Looking forward, the market to exhibit moderate growth during 2021-2026. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor. Secondhand luxury goods refer to high-end and premium items that are purchased by the second user. These items commonly include antique furniture, jewelry, artworks, luxury footwear and apparel, bags, watches, etc. Secondhand luxury goods are usually durable with an extended warranty period that makes them suitable for the resale market. In Europe, secondhand luxury goods are generally sold at auctions, charity events, bazaar-style fundraisers, privately-owned consignment shops, online retail channels, etc. The wide presence of numerous luxury retail brands ranging from fashion apparel to cosmetics is primarily driving the market growth in Europe. The growing demand for high-end clothing, accessories, footwear, etc., at affordable prices, is further propelling the market for secondhand luxury goods in Europe. Additionally, the rising popularity of limited capsule collections and fashion drops have also created scarcity for luxury items, which in turn is bolstering the demand for secondhand luxury goods. Apart from this, the changing socio-economic culture across the European countries coupled with the diminishing stigma on using pre-owned goods is also augmenting the market growth. Moreover, the growing number of online re-selling platforms is further fueling the demand for secondhand luxury goods. These platforms are entering into strategic partnerships and alliances with luxury brands for improving the reputation of secondhand products, thereby propelling the market growth in Europe. Additionally, the emergence of numerous advanced technologies for enhanced authentication procedures and quality checks has provided a safe and reliable environment for the customers to re-sell and buy secondhand luxury goods. Key Questions Answered in This Report: How has the Europe secondhand luxury goods market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? secondhand luxury goods market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the Europe secondhand luxury goods market? secondhand luxury goods market? What are the key regional markets? What is the breakup of the market based on the product type? What is the breakup of the market based on the demography? What is the breakup of the market based on the distribution channel? What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry? What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry? What is the structure of the Europe secondhand luxury goods market and who are the key players? secondhand luxury goods market and who are the key players? What is the degree of competition in the industry? Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Fendi (LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) Vestiaire Collective Harrods Limited Cartier International (Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA) Chrono24 Collector Square Rewind Vintage Affairs Audemars Piguet Chronext AG Key Market Segmentation Breakup by Product Type: Jewelry and Watches Handbags Clothing Small Leather Goods Footwear Accessories Others Breakup by Demography: Men Women Unisex Breakup by Distribution Channel: Offline Online Breakup by Country: France Italy United Kingdom Germany Russia Spain Others Key Topics Covered: 1 Preface 2 Scope and Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 Europe Secondhand Luxury Goods Market 6 Market Breakup by Product Type 7 Market Breakup by Demography 8 Market Breakup by Distribution Channel 9 Market Breakup by Country 10 SWOT Analysis 11 Value Chain Analysis 12 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 13 Competitive Landscape For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2do1yv Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SAN DIEGO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Explora BioLabs, the nation's largest provider of preclinical vivarium research space, recently added a new attending veterinarian to oversee their national network of AAALAC accredited in vivo facilities for preclinical rodent research needs. Dr. Kathy Hardcastle has over 16 years of experience as an in vivo research program director and attending veterinarian in labs in the U.S., UK, and Australia. Her regulatory experience includes GLP, FDA, AAALAC accreditation, DEA, NIH guidelines, and more. She has recently served as the director of Vivores Life Science Consulting, the Animal Resources Center director and attending veterinarian at Montana State University, and the animal research services director at National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL), Boston University. Her responsibilities will include the management and oversight of Explora BioLabs' veterinarian services and regulatory compliance teams nationwide. "Recent times have highlighted the need for rapid, robust responses in the scientific research community," said Hardcastle. "Explora BioLabs' provision of full programmatic support is something I am passionate about: working alongside research partners and sharing the load to produce scientifically strong, repeatable results. We all want to see quality research with the highest standards of care. I have spent my career supporting that mission, and I'm excited to continue this with Explora BioLabs." "We're excited to welcome Dr. Hardcastle to our team," said Brandy Wilkinson, Ph.D., Explora BioLabs' vice president of operations and research. "It is important to Explora's mission and service commitment that we add top-level experts in the preclinical in vivo field from Ph.D.-level research experts to experienced vivaria operations managers. Adding Dr. Hardcastle'Kath' to our teambrings deep veterinarian expertise in both large-scale vivarium operations and in the management of facilities at the highest level of biosafety precautions. I'm confident she'll be a great role model for our employees and serve as an incredible resource to our rapidly growing client base." About Explora BioLabs Explora BioLabs provides Ph.D.-backed Vivarium-as-a-ServiceTM solutions in the form of preclinical vivaria, compliance, husbandry, and research services. Explora's contract-ready vivaria are home to over 100 clients throughout a network of nearly 20 facilities in San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston. Explora manages dozens of additional facilities for OnSite clients who have their own existing vivarium but prefer the ease of utilizing Explora's expertise in vivarium management and regulatory oversight. Explora's preclinical CRO team in each biotech market hub services the study design and execution needs of clients who choose to outsource preclinical study work in oncology, metabolism, toxicology, pain, and a variety of other common therapeutic areas. For more information, visit explorabiolabs.com. Media Contact: Krystina Feucht, Marketing Manager Explora BioLabs (858) 768-2100 [email protected] SOURCE Explora BioLabs BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Frederick (Rick) Thabet is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished CEO in the Medical Device Development field and in acknowledgment of his work at CryoHeart Laboratories Inc and CoreLogix Medical. For over 30 years, Mr. Frederick (Rick) Thabet has founded and grown three companies, including US Spine, CryoHeart Laboratories, and the C Squared Structured Private Equity Fund. Frederick (Rick) Thabet Before embarking on his career, Mr. Thabet earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management with a minor in Biology at Ohio State University in 1991. Mr. Thabet has aided numerous startups throughout his career as they seek seed funding and capital to expand their business initiatives. After college, he started his career with Baxter v. Mueller in 1991. Mr. Thabet became a Managing Member at C Squared Structured Private Equity Funds in Boca Raton, FL, in 2010, where he remains today. Branching out into other business ventures, he founded CoreLogix Medical in 2017 in Highlands Ranch, CO. Over his career, he has raised over $100 million in seed capital for startup companies nationally and internationally. One of Mr. Thabet's recent businesses is CryoHeart, an advanced sternal healing method called Thoragraft. The innovative solution solves the complexities of the procedure, with shorter hospital stays, less bleeding, and fewer infections in patients. Mr. Thabet's recent endeavors have focused on surgical implants in spines, cranial facial, cardiothoracic, and other medical procedures. They are partners will Allosource , which offers over 200 types of bone, skin, and soft tissue allografts in life-saving techniques. Mr. Thabet also started C Squared Funds, a group of emerging portfolio companies. He has raised tens of millions of dollars for the operation through angel financing. He encourages the C Squared Funds employees to grow their portfolios and work with clients to advance their knowledge in the field. They specialize in structured funds. He has been awarded and honored for his work with the Pinnacle Award and Aesculap Sales Representative of the Year award at Aesculap. He was the former Chair Member of the Sales Advisory Committee at Oratech. He attributes his success to his vast experience in the field over three decades. In his spare time, Mr. Thabet enjoys MMA. He has donated to and dedicated his time to numerous charitable organizations. For more information, visit http://www.csquaredfund.com/ and https://cryoheart.com/. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- nfant, the leading provider of FDA-approved smart feeding solutions to pediatric hospitals, revealed today the first home-based smart infant feeding solution at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "The nfant Thrive Feeding System applies cutting-edge smart technology that takes baby feeding from guesswork to a science," said nfant co-founder and CEO Tommy Cunningham, Ph.D. "It will provide moms, dads and caregivers with expert guidance to optimize baby feeding and their care providers with timely analytics to measure thriving and development over the critical first year of life." The nfant Thrive Feeding System will support either bottle or breastfeeding. The bottle uses specially designed high-quality nipples with a sensor that measures baby-feeding activity. The sensor output is conveyed via Bluetooth to a smartphone app showing mothers and care providers exactly how the baby is feeding and responds to changes in nipple flow or feeding position. For breastfeeding, silicone pads placed on the breast during feeding connect to the nfant Smart Sensor and Tracker App to convey real-time data on feeding activity and volume consumed. "Feeding is the most complex skill a baby must master and offers the first insights into a baby's brain and development," says nfant co-founder and nationally recognized feeding expert Gilson Capilouto, Ph.D. "Over 25% of mothers experience feeding issues; nfant provides hard evidence to optimize the baby's feeding experience and monitor progress." Since receiving FDA clearance in 2015, the professional nfant Feeding Solution has been used in the NICUs of over 50 leading pediatric hospitals across the U.S., reflecting emerging consensus that objective assessment of feeding ability during a hospital stay may help identify infants at risk for delay in discharge or readmission. nfant has also been used by leading academic researchers, with clinical results featured in over two dozen peer-reviewed journal articles. The bottle version of the nfant Thrive Feeding System, along with the full line of nfant Control Flow Nipples and the integrated nfant Thrive Tracker App will be available for purchase by early spring 2022. The breast sensor version will be added to the product suite during the second half of the year. Visit nfant at CES in the Venetian Expo Hall, Level 2, Booth #54950. For interviews with company CEO Tommy Cunningham, please contact Greg Pitkoff at (718) 404-9277 or [email protected]. For multimedia assets and more information, visit the nfant CES press kit here: https://ces.vporoom.com/NFANT. About nfant nfant is a medical device and digital health company with a dedicated mission to improve the standard of care in infant feeding through objective, evidence-based solutions. The company has more than seven years of experience providing advanced clinical support to medical professionals in the NICU. The 2022 launch of the nfant Thrive Feeding System expands our solution suite to the home for the benefit of all babies, parents and caregivers. We believe that every baby's growth and development can be improved when parents and caregivers are empowered with the right tools to make vital decisions about how to support and optimize their baby's feeding. For more information, please visit www.nfant.com. Media Contact: Greg Pitkoff GRiP Communications LLC (718) 404-9277 [email protected] SOURCE nfant ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research: The global brucellosis vaccine market was valued at US$ 253.1 Mn in 2020 and is expected to reach US$ 387.4 Mn by 2031, at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period, from 2021 to 2031.The sale in brucellosis vaccine market is fuelled by increasing incidences of brucellosis and growing government spending. There are several types of brucellosis vaccines available such as S19 vaccine and RB51 vaccine. The growth of the animal healthcare industry is significantly influenced by government efforts. The veterinary healthcare industry in China is likely to be driven by factors such as its mandatory immunization policy, availability of inexpensive veterinary vaccines, public awareness campaigns, and funding for R&D. Request Brochure of Brucellosis Vaccine Market Research Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=34439 Livestock diseases are rising as a result of climate change and globalization. Some of these infections can even spread to humans. As per the IFAH Europe, rise in global temperatures can cause appearance of new diseases and assist in the re-emergence of previous ones. Most of the human zoonotic illnesses are spread through animals. Zoonotic illnesses areresponsible for nearly 61% of all animal diseases. In 2020, Asia Pacific led the global brucellosis vaccine market; this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. The market in Asia Pacific is likely to grow due to increase in animal population, introduction of new products, and high prevalence rate of brucellosis. Request for Analysis of COVID-19 Impact on Brucellosis Vaccine Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=covid19&rep_id=34439 Key Findings of Market Report The global market is expected to be driven by increase in the prevalence of brucellosis incidents in Mexico , Brazil , India , and other countries. Human brucellosis has a significant global burden. Every year, about 500,000 humans are infected by animals across the globe. , , , and other countries. Human brucellosis has a significant global burden. Every year, about 500,000 humans are infected by animals across the globe. Companies are taking advantage of profitable growth prospects in India , where the Animal Husbandry Department in Yadgir, Government of Karnataka,India, plans to vaccinate buffalo and cattle calves against brucellosis disease as part of the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) TMR offers custom market research services that help clients to get information on their business scenario required where syndicated solutions are not enough, Request for Custom Research - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=34439 In 2020, the global brucellosis vaccine market was led by the RB51 vaccine segment, and this trend is likely to continue during the forecast period. The RB51 vaccine is widely used brucellosis vaccine. Even though it is considered safe at lower dosages during pregnancy, pregnant cows vaccinated with strain RB51 have quite a low abortion risk (less than 0.2 %). In terms of sales, the DNA vaccine category dominated the global brucellosis vaccine market in 2020, and this trend is expected to persist during the forecast period. DNA vaccination offers a novel as well as effective approach for the development of brucellosis vaccines, with various benefits such as production simplicity, design flexibility, and speed. Brucellosis Vaccine Market: Growth Drivers The global brucellosis vaccine market is expected to be driven by rise in the burden of brucellosis and growth in public awareness Companies are developing brucellosis vaccines that can be well-tolerated in people.They are improving manufacturing technology and conducting clinical trials. This factor is expected to boost sales opportunities in the global market. Buy Brucellosis Vaccine Market Report https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=34439 quarantine through January 7 ; released on January 8 . -> quarantine through ; released on . This affects only domestic travel from the U.S. and its Territories. (Direct international travelers fall under Federal CDC guidelines.) Revised COVID positive isolation and quarantine policy details may be found here: https://health.hawaii.gov/news/newsroom/doh-revises-states-isolation-quarantine-policy/ Guidelines for COVID-19 positive travelers will change: If COVID-19 positive regardless of vaccination status Isolate for at least 5 days and until symptoms are gone. Continue to wear a mask for five days after isolation. If traveler is still symptomatic on day 5, traveler is advised to seek medical attention and quarantine until a COVID-19 test can be taken. If it's positive, isolate in place for an additional 5 days and don't travel. Safe Travels Health Questionnaire Changes As of today, the completion of the Health Questionnaire prior to departure will no longer be required. Travelers who wish to be exempt from the 5-day mandatory quarantine must submit the same documentation as is currently required. Once their exemption documentation has been accepted, their QR code will turn green. The green QR code is a tool to help expedite screening operations. The traveler must still be screened and a green check mark will appear next to "Screened: Yes" after the screening process is completed. This is what the updated "Trips" page will look like when hotels and rental car agencies check traveler's exempt status. If traveler has minors on their Safe Travels trip, those minors must also be exempt in order for the QR code to turn green. About HTUSA Hawaii Tourism United States (HTUSA), managed by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, is contracted by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) for marketing management services in the continental U.S. The HTA, the state of Hawai'i's tourism agency, was established in 1998 to ensure a successful visitor industry well into the future. Its mission is to strategically manage Hawai'i tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with the state of Hawai'i's economic goals, cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires, and visitor industry needs. For more information about the Hawaiian Islands, visit gohawaii.com. SOURCE Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Wednesday called the attacks on Iraqi military bases "absurd", stressing the end of combat mission of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq after their withdrawal from the country. "Unfortunately, there are some absurd actions within the first days of the new year, as several attacks targeted Iraqi bases, and this will certainly disturb the country's security and stability," said a statement by al-Kadhimi's media office. "We reiterate that the combat mission of the international coalition forces in Iraq has ended, and the Iraqi forces have received all the military bases," it said, adding that there are currently a number of foreign military advisers working alongside the security forces. The attacks came on the second anniversary of a deadly attack by a U.S. drone on a convoy near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, former deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces. On Dec. 29, 2021, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed the end of the U.S.-led coalition forces' combat mission in Iraq after the withdrawal of the forces from his country. Enditem LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sameday Health, a leading COVID testing organization and premium healthcare provider, is expanding its medical operations and hiring for nurses to support growth of their clinics and House Calls service. As healthcare evolves, Sameday Health is dedicated to redefining what it means to be a modern healthcare professional in today's world by providing autonomy, flexible hours, continued education opportunities, and a wealth of benefits. Today, Sameday Health has over 1,000 open nurse roles available across the country. With the continual addition of new healthcare services such as House Calls, IV drip therapy, supplemental wellness shots, and STD testing, Sameday Health is looking for experienced registered nurses to support growth and provide a world class health care experience for patients. Sameday Health is currently hiring for 1,000 nurses in cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, and more for both their clinics and House Calls service. Sameday nurses will enjoy making a positive difference in people's lives and will be passionate about Sameday's mission to provide next level, personalized health care for everyone. Sameday Health provides their nurses with generous benefits, competitive pay, and flexible work hours, and encourages their medical staff to practice at the highest scope of practice to encourage autonomy and increase work-related satisfaction. Since its inception in September 2020, Sameday Health has become a leading COVID testing provider in the United States, with clinic locations and services offered in most major US cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, NYC, Miami, Washington DC, Denver, Atlanta and more. Sameday Health has experienced rapid growth of 200% and has employed thousands of employees across various departments since its humble beginnings at their first location in Venice, CA. To learn more about all open roles at Sameday Health, please visit: https://boards.greenhouse.io/samedayhealth. To learn about Sameday Health, please visit: SamedayHealth.com. About Sameday Health: Sameday Health is dedicated to healthcare as a complete experience, not simply a service. Our purpose is to create healthcare that centers around the client, combining a human approach with intuitive technology. We offer quality, personalized care wherever you are, including in our clinics or at your door. Inspired by the lotus flower's ability to grow in even the toughest terrains, Sameday Health is determined to create a sense of hope and help with our clients. Since opening our first clinic in Venice, CA at the height of the Covid 19-pandemic, the Sameday team has been focused on closing gaps in the healthcare system from testing to wellness to care. Devoted to responding immediately to our client's needs, we are providing expanded same day healthcare in our locations including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, DC, Boston, and more. Sameday Health serves its clients wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them. In most cases that is at home and same day. Press Contact: Rachel Sutton [email protected] SOURCE Sameday Health Related Links https://www.sameday-testing.com/ BANGALORE, India, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Semi Trailer Market is Segmented by Type (Flatbed Semi-trailer, Lowboy Semi-trailer, Dry Van Semi-trailer, Refrigerated Semi-trailer, Others), Application (Logistics, Chemical, Food, Cement, Oil and Gas, Others). The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecasts from 2021 to 2027. In 2020, the global Semi-trailer Market size was USD 26490 Million and it is expected to reach USD 38600 Million by the end of 2027, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.9% during 2021-2027. The global semi-trailer key players are Schmitz Cargobull, Krone, Kogel, WIELTON, CIMC, Schwarzmuller Group, TIRSAN, Mammut Industries, Gorica, etc. The top 3 companies occupied about 22% market share. Major Factors Driving The Growth Of The Semi Trailer Market Are: Road transportation is a widely used mode of goods transportation because of the vast inland connection in many locations and the financial advantages it offers over other forms of transportation. Increasing manufacturing operations, urbanization, the demand for efficient transportation, and the expansion of rural area road networks are all driving the semi-trailer market forward. Trailers are used for the majority of transportation in the energy, construction, automotive, and manufacturing industries because of their flexibility and versatility. This, in turn, is likely to fuel semi-trailer market expansion. In addition, manufacturers offering custom-built semi-trailers to match client demand are expected to create lucrative growth opportunities for semi-trailer market players. Get your sample today: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-12Z2046/Global_Semitrailer_Market Trends Influencing The Growth Of The Semi-Trailer Market: The rising preference for semi-trailers for logistics is the key driver fueling the semi-trailer market growth. In most regions, road transportation accounts for the majority of freight transit, and amongst various types of road transportation, semi-trailers are the most preferred for shipping large cargo. Furthermore, the rapidly expanding e-commerce business is likely to boost the semi-trailer market even further. As the e-commerce business expands, so does the need for a more sophisticated distribution network. As the industry grows, demand for semi-trailers of all types is expected to rise. Advantages of semi-trailers over other trailers are expected to increase its use during the forecast period thereby driving semi-trailer market growth. The main benefit of a semi-trailer is its flexibility. Semi-trailers can easily and quickly be coupled and disconnected, allowing for shunting during loading and trunking between loading terminals. If the tractor breaks down, another tractor can be coupled and the load can continue on to its destination without delay. A dolly can be used to connect one semi-trailer to another. The semi-trailer can transport a big amount of cargo and has a high operating stability coefficient, making it appropriate for long-distance transportation. It is also relatively simple to operate. Expanding cold chain industry is expected to further augment the growth of the semi-trailer market. Fruit, dairy products, vegetables, fish, chicken, fresh flowers, and a wide range of medicinal products have all seen a growth in demand as the middle-class population has become more economically stable. Furthermore, as disposable income has increased in emerging nations, customers have been able to spend more on high-quality, organic, and fresh items. Every part of the cold chain sector is being impacted by a combination of more disposable income, a general push for fresher, healthier products, and an increase in the number of quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Browse the Table of Contents and List of figures at: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-12Z2046/global-semitrailer Semi-Trailer Market Share Analysis: Based on type, the dry van segment is expected to be the most lucrative. Dry vans are typically used to deliver cargo that requires only minimal protection from road and weather conditions. Based on application, food is expected to be the most lucrative due to increasing consumption of consumer goods. With a market share of almost 33%, North America held the largest Semi-Trailer market share. It is followed by Europe with a market share of 30% due to the significant presence of the truck industry, increased connectivity, and expanding road infrastructure. Report Customization Request: https://reports.valuates.com/request/customisation/QYRE-Auto-12Z2046/Global_Semitrailer_Market Leading Players in the Semi-trailer Market Schmitz Cargobull Krone Kogel WIELTON CIMC Schwarzmuller Group TIRSAN Mammut Industries Gorica Stoughton Great Dane Utility Trailer Others Chapter Cost Request: https://reports.valuates.com/request/chaptercost/QYRE-Auto-12Z2046/Global_Semitrailer_Market Buy Now for Single User + Covid-19 Impact : https://reports.valuates.com/api/directpaytoken?rcode=QYRE-Auto-12Z2046&lic=single-user SUBSCRIPTION We have introduced a tailor-made subscription for our customers. Please leave a note in the Comment Section to know about our subscription plans. SIMILAR REPORTS - In 2020, the global Refrigerated Trailer market size was USD 3872.2 Million and it is expected to reach USD 5847.6 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 6.1% during 2021-2027. - The global Automotive Trailer market size is expected to grow from USD 20670 Million in 2020 to USD 24740 Million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.2% during 2021-2027. - The global Agricultural Trailer market was valued at USD Million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD Million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of % during 2021-2027. - In 2021, the global Trailer Telematics market size will be USD Million and it is expected to reach USD Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of % during 2021-2027. - The global Food Grade Tank Trailer market was valued at USD Million in 2020 and it is expected to reach USD Million by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of % during 2021-2027. - In 2020, the global Self-Propelled Modular Transporter market size was USD 464 Million and it is expected to reach USD 620.7 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 4.3% during 2021-2027. - In 2020, the global Conventional Travel Trailer market size was USD 7496 Million and it is expected to reach USD 10070 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 4.3% during 2021-2027. - In 2020, the global Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) market size was USD 1214.5 Million and it is expected to reach USD 1633.5 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 4.3% during 2021-2027. - The global Trailer Assist System market size is projected to reach USD 109.2 Million by 2027, from USD 71 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 6.0% during 2021-2027. - In 2020, the global Trailer Hitch market size was USD 728.4 Million and it is expected to reach USD 889.8 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 2.9% during 2021-2027. - The global Cold Chain market size is projected to reach USD 443630 Million by 2027, from USD 224190 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 10.0% during 2021-2027 - The global Refrigerated Transport market size is projected to reach USD 16840 Million by 2027, from USD 13030 Million in 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.3% during 2021-2027. - Global and Japan Multiple-Axles Modular Trailer Market Insights, Forecast to 2027 - Global Oil Tank Trailer and Semi-Trailer Sales Market Report 2021 - Global Lowbed and Heavy Haul Trailer Sales Market Report 2021 - Global and United States Special Semi Trailer Market Insights, Forecast to 2027 To see the full list of related reports on the Semi-trailer ABOUT US: Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs. Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs. To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains detail research methodology employed to generate the report, Please also reach to our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources CONTACT US: Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call +1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp : +91 9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Follow on Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports Follow on Linkedin - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Follow on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/valuatesreports SOURCE Valuates Reports TORONTO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- S.i. Systems ULC, one of Canada's largest Information Technology companies, announced today it has completed the acquisition of Eagle Professional Resources ("Eagle"), a national IT staffing company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. "Our organizations are very complementary with shared values, culture, and performance," said Derek Bullen, CEO, S.i. Systems. "Together we continue our mission to be Canada's partner of choice for on-demand IT professionals. I have known the Eagle founders for over 20 years, and we have always worked together to share ideas and advice. This acquisition is a very good fit for both parties in many ways. We warmly welcome all Eagle staff and consultants into S.i. Systems." Eagle Professional Resources is a professional staffing agency specialized in Information Technology with approximately 100 employees in 10 offices across Canada and places a wide range of senior professionals with companies in almost every industry. "By joining S.i. Systems we are creating a Canadian powerhouse in IT staffing, and an exciting next chapter for the Eagle Team. The new combined entity provides more opportunities for our contractors and better access to on-demand talent for our clients," said Janis Grantham of Eagle. "The future is bright and the combined Eagle and S.i. Systems team looks forward to building even deeper relationships with our clients and contractors moving forward." Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. About S.i. Systems Founded in 1994, S.i. Systems is one of Canada's largest IT staffing companies. S.i. Systems has a 99.45% success rate in matching candidates successfully to contract and permanent assignments. S.i. Systems is the only company providing a 30-day no-questions-asked money back guarantee on all new placements. Learn more about S.i. Systems at https://www.sisystems.com. About Eagle Professional Resources Founded in 1996, Eagle is one of Canada's premier IT staffing agencies placing IT professionals into contract, and full-time permanent positions. Eagle has approximately 100 employees in 10 offices across Canada. SOURCE S.i. Systems GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SKF has signed a license agreement that gives Christof Global Impact the exclusive rights to commercialise SKF's multi-feedstock slop-oil recovery technology (MFRT). The MFRT was part of SKFs acquisition of RecondOil in 2019 and is not considered core to SKF's current or future business. SKF retains its focus on developing the RecondOil Double Separation Technology (DST), which is used specifically for industrial lubricants and oils in either offline or online systems. Thomas Frost, President, SKF Industrial Technologies, says: "It's great to have been able to find a partner that has the knowhow and end-user access that is needed to maximise the value of this technology. We continue to invest in the development of the RecondOil DST technology and are already seeing significant process and manufacturing efficiency improvements in the factories in which it is installed." Oliver Christof, President and CEO of Christof Global Impact, says: "We greatly appreciate the trust SKF, a company with values built on experience, quality, and know how, has put into CGI's industrialisation, development, and execution competence, to deploy the multi-feedstock slop-oil recovery technology." Aktiebolaget SKF (publ) For further information, please contact: PRESS: Carl Bjernstam, Group Communication tel: 46 31-337 2517; mobile: 46 722-201 893; e-mail: [email protected] INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relations tel: 46 31-337 2104; mobile: 46 705-472 104; [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-licences-slop-oil-recovery-technology-to-christof-global-impact,c3481365 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/637/3481365/1517004.pdf 20220105 SKF licences slop oil recovery technology to Christof Global Impact https://news.cision.com/skf/i/dji-0735-fix,c2997239 DJI 0735 fix https://news.cision.com/skf/i/thomas-frost,c2997240 Thomas Frost SOURCE SKF MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SRI International (SRI) today announced the company has entered into a collaboration agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Under the terms of the agreement, the organizations and their scientists will leverage SRI's SynFini platform, an artificial intelligence (Al)-guided, automated synthetic- chemistry system for small molecule drug discovery. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. SRI's SynFini platform combines Al and automation to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery and development. The platform is comprised of four components (DASL, SynRoute, SynJet and AutoSyn) that work seamlessly together to automate the design of molecules and the synthetic routes to make them, reaction screening and optimization (RSO), and production of target molecules. "Through both SRI-driven programs and a growing number of collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology strategic partners, the SynFini platform is demonstrating the ability to use Al and automation to combine complex design with rapid synthesis and testing to overcome many of the constraints of traditional drug discovery," said Nathan Collins, Ph.D., chief strategy officer of SRI's Biosciences Division and head of the SynFini program. "We are excited to be working with the exceptional scientists at Janssen in the application and further development of this novel platform." The SynFini platform is designed to accelerate the "design-make -test" cycle of multi- parametric optimization in small molecule hit-to-lead and lead optimization. Streamlining these steps with a highly data driven process in drug discovery has the potential to bring new drugs to the patients who need them faster and more cost effectively. About SRI International SRI International creates world-changing solutions making people safer, healthier and more productive. SRI, a research center headquartered in Menlo Park, California, works primarily in advanced technology and systems, biosciences, computing and education. SRI brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, spin-off ventures and new product solutions. SOURCE SRI International LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trilogy Health Services, LLC is thrilled to announce some exciting changes for 2022 for its ancillary services subsidiary Synchrony Health Services. It will now include Synchrony Pharmacy, Synchrony Rehabilitation, Synchrony Wellness Pharmacy and Synchrony Lab under its umbrella. Synchrony Health Services was created during 2019 to capture clinical excellence obtained through collaboration and coordination of care between Trilogy owned pharmacy, therapy, and other clinical services. Additionally, Randall Bufford, Founder of Trilogy Health Services, will now serve as President and CEO of Synchrony Health Services. Bufford will focus on growing the existing business, expanding into new lines of service, and leveraging technology and service line collaboration to create value added outcomes for existing and future partners. He will also be leading the effort to raise capital from third party investors to fund Synchrony's expansion plans. "We at Trilogy Health Services already know the value of Synchrony as our partner, however, one of the biggest lessons learned at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was the need in the market for better services from ancillary providers," President and CEO of Trilogy Health Services Leigh Ann Barney said, "As we formally launch Synchrony on a broader platform, we are excited to see the benefits of collaboration applied to not only our Trilogy residents but the medical community at large." "I am excited to be leading this next chapter for Synchrony. By housing Pharmacy, Therapy, and Lab Services under one brand, Synchrony is signaling that they can provide person centered wellness with a collaborative approach that creates better clinical outcomes for those they serve," Synchrony President and CEO Randall Bufford said. Effective January 1, 2022, PCA Pharmacy has officially changed its name to Synchrony Pharmacy. The company's rebranding aligns itself more closely with the excellent clinical solutions offered under the umbrella of Synchrony Health Services. While PCA Pharmacy's logo and name will change, its ownership, leadership and dedication to excellent service will remain. Synchrony Pharmacy will continue to partner with Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living and other healthcare facilities to meet the needs of residents through specialized clinical operations support services. Synchrony Pharmacy serves over 500 Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, and other healthcare facilities. These facilities serve over 35,000 licensed beds in 14 states. Synchrony Pharmacy meets the unique needs of their residents through specialized clinical operations support services. With multiple distribution centers, PCA Is large enough to meet the most demanding requirements, but small enough to offer personal service and attention. Synchrony Pharmacy includes Synchrony Wellness Pharmacy, an employer-group solution currently providing services to 15,000 eligible employees and dependents. Synchrony Rehab provides comprehensive Rehabilitation services across a vast continuum of healthcare environments, including over 175 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, as well as home health. Synchrony Rehab's skilled physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists empower their patients to reach their maximum independence. Synchrony Lab Services will be launched In Quarter 2, 2022. This division will provide routine and stat labs including chemistry, hematology, coagulation and urinalysis testing within the long-term care setting. The company will bring accuracy in clinical data to its clients through availability of accurate testing, responsive turnaround times and electronic health record Integration for their customers. Trilogy Health Services is an industry-leading operator of over 125 senior living communities throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. The company has the honor of providing over 10,000 seniors with world-class clinical support, innovative lifestyle programs, and a culture built on the tenets of servant leadership and hospitality. Trilogy employs over 14,000 team members, is a certified Great Place to Work, one of Glassdoor's Top 100 Best Places to Work, and was named one of FORTUNE's Best Places to Work in Aging Services. To learn more about Trilogy Health Services, visit www.trilogyhs.com. SOURCE Trilogy Health Services, LLC CRANBURY, N.J., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Targeted Oncology, a multimedia resource that offers engaging content and expert opinions on standard and emerging treatments in the field of oncology, is pleased to announce the addition of John M. Burke, MD, as the new co-Editor-in-Chief for the publication Targeted Therapies in Oncology. "It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Burke as co-Editor-in-Chief," said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of Targeted Oncology. "As an established medical professional with many years of experience, I am confident that the addition of Dr. Burke will lead to the continued success of the publication." "I look forward to working with the editorial team to continue to bring the latest advancements in oncology care to community oncologists," said Burke, who practices at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers (RMCC) and serves as Associate Chair of the US Oncology Hematology Research Program. Dr. Burke specializes in blood cancers and non-cancerous blood disorders, with an emphasis on lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Dr. Burke is considered a national and international expert in these disorders. In addition, Dr. Burke has published several articles in peer-reviewed medical journals and has also dedicated a considerable amount of time to educating other healthcare professionals and students about hematological malignancies, both nationally and internationally. Because of his ongoing participation in clinical research, he is able to offer the most up-to-date therapies for patients with blood cancers. Dr. Burke joins Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who is also co-Editor-in-Chief for Targeted Therapies in Oncology. For more information on Targeted Oncology, click here. About Targeted Oncology TargetedOnc.com , the website for Targeted Oncology, provides practicing oncologists with the latest news and insights on next-generation therapeutics and their molecular targets. As the field of oncology moves toward systemic biology and molecular aberrations, oncologists struggle to stay up-to-date with cancer therapeutics. Targeted Oncology provides breaking news and updates on this burgeoning field, focusing on the next stage of cancer development, cutting-edge therapies and biological targets. Content is organized by tumor type, news and conference coverage. Targeted Oncology is a brand of MJH Life Sciences , the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America, dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels. Media Contact Alyssa Scarpaci, 609-716-7777 [email protected] SOURCE Targeted Oncology MEXICO CITY, Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New Notes Offering The United Mexican States (" Mexico ") announced today that it priced a global offering (the " New Notes Offering ") of U.S.$2,868,146,000 aggregate principal amount of its 3.500% Global Notes due 2034 (the " 2034 New Notes ") and U.S.$2,931,198,000 aggregate principal amount of its 4.400% Global Notes due 2052 (the " 2052 New Notes ," and together with the 2034 New Notes, the " New Notes "). The aggregate principal amount of New Notes includes approximately U.S.$668,146,000 of 2034 New Notes and U.S.$1,031,198,000 of 2052 New Notes intended to fund the purchase of preferred tenders in the concurrent tender offer described below, and the amount of New Notes issued may be adjusted based on final acceptances in the tender offer. The closing of the New Notes Offering is expected to occur on Wednesday, January 12, 2022. Barclays Capital Inc., BBVA Securities Inc., BofA Securities, Inc. and Santander Investment Securities Inc. served as Joint Lead Underwriters for the New Notes Offering. The New Notes Offering was made only by means of a preliminary prospectus supplement and an accompanying base prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement, the final prospectus supplement (when filed) and the related base prospectus for the New Notes Offering may be obtained by contacting: Barclays Capital Inc., by calling +1-800-438-3242 (U.S. toll free), BBVA Securities Inc., by calling +1-212-728-2446, BofA Securities, Inc., by calling +1-800-294-1322 (U.S. toll free), or Santander Investment Securities Inc., by calling +1-855-403-3636. Application will be made for the New Notes to be admitted to listing on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and admitted to trading on the Euro MTF Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Tender Offer Mexico's previously announced tender offer (the " Tender Offer ") to purchase its outstanding notes of the series set forth in the tables below (collectively, the " Old Notes " and each, a " series " of Old Notes) on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the Offer to Purchase, dated January 4, 2022 (the " Offer to Purchase "), expired as scheduled for Non-Preferred Tenders at 12:00 noon, New York City time, today and for Preferred Tenders, at 2:00 p.m., New York City time, today. All capitalized terms used but not defined under the heading "Tender Offer" in this communication have the respective meanings specified in the Offer to Purchase. The purchase prices to be paid for each series of the Old Notes validly tendered and accepted pursuant to the Tender Offer were calculated in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Offer to Purchase and Mexico's press release issued today, based on (i) the U.S. Treasury Rate for such series, which is a yield to maturity (or par call date) based on the bid-side price of the Reference U.S. Treasury Security identified for such series in the tables below and (ii) the fixed spread for such series set forth in the tables below. Table 1: Tranche A Old Notes Old Notes Outstanding Principal Amount as of January 3, 2022 ISIN CUSIP Reference U.S. Treasury Security U.S. Treasury Rate Fixed Spread (basis points) Purchase Price(1) 3.600% Global Notes due 2025 U.S.$1,764,477,000.00 US91087BAA89 91087B AA8 1.000% due 12/15/24 1.013% +44 U.S.$1,064.10 3.900% Global Notes due 2025 U.S.$911,695,000.00 US91087BAJ98 91087B AJ9 1.000% due 12/15/24 1.013% +52 U.S.$1,074.13 4.125% Global Notes due 2026 U.S.$2,094,668,000.00 US91086QBG29 91086Q BG2 1.250% due 12/31/26 1.362% +19 U.S.$1,100.35 4.150% Global Notes due 2027 U.S.$2,489,158,000.00 US91087BAC46 91087B AC4 1.250% due 12/31/26 1.362% +64 U.S.$1,106.03 3.750% Global Notes due 2028 U.S.$1,953,068,000.00 US91087BAE02 91087B AE0 1.250% due 12/31/26 1.362% +100 U.S.$1,077.36 4.500% Global Notes due 2029 U.S.$3,400,038,000.00 US91087BAF76 91087B AF7 1.375% due 11/15/31 1.656% +114 U.S.$1,111.66 3.250% Global Notes due 2030 U.S.$2,259,237,000.00 US91087BAH33 91087B AH3 1.375% due 11/15/31 1.656% +124 U.S.$1,025.18 4.750% Global Notes due 2032 U.S.$2,432,997,000.00 US91087BAK61 91087B AK6 1.375% due 11/15/31 1.656% +161 U.S.$1,126.32 (1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Tranche A Old Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. Holders will also receive Accrued Interest on Old Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. Table 2: Tranche B Old Notes Old Notes Outstanding Principal Amount as of January 3, 2022 ISIN CUSIP Reference U.S. Treasury Security U.S. Treasury Rate Fixed Spread (basis points) Purchase Price(1) 4.750% Global Notes due 2044 U.S.$3,942,066,000.00 US91086QBB32 91086Q BB3 2.000% due 11/15/41 2.093% +210 U.S.$1,079.84 5.550% Global Notes due 2045 U.S.$2,781,131,000.00 US91086QBE70 91086Q BE7 2.000% due 11/15/41 2.093% +218 U.S.$1,186.00 4.600% Global Notes due 2046 U.S.$2,540,913,000.00 US91086QBF46 91086Q BF4 2.000% due 08/15/51 2.074% +215 U.S.$1,056.41 4.350% Global Notes due 2047 U.S.$1,469,746,000.00 US91087BAB62 91087B AB6 2.000% due 08/15/51 2.074% +212 U.S.$1,024.02 4.600% Global Notes due 2048 U.S.$2,317,415,000.00 US91087BAD29 91087B AD2 2.000% due 08/15/51 2.074% +219 U.S.$1,052.56 4.500% Global Notes due 2050 U.S.$2,521,359,000.00 US91087BAG59 91087B AG5 2.000% due 08/15/51 2.074% +213 U.S.$1,048.02 5.000% Global Notes due 2051 U.S.$2,500,000,000.00 US91087BAL45 91087B AL4 2.000% due 08/15/51 2.074% +218 U.S.$1,123.14 (1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Tranche B Old Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. Holders will also receive Accrued Interest on Old Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase. Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5, 2022, Mexico expects (i) to instruct BofA Securities, Inc., as the Billing and Delivering Bank to accept, subject to proration and other terms and conditions as described in the Offer to Purchase, valid Preferred Tenders and Non-Preferred Tenders and (ii) to announce the Tranche A Maximum Purchase Amount, the Tranche B Maximum Purchase Amount, the Maximum Purchase Amount for each series, the aggregate principal amount of Preferred Tenders and Non-Preferred Tenders of each series of Old Notes that has been accepted and whether any proration has occurred. The Offer to Purchase may be downloaded from the Information Agent's website at www.dfking.com/ums or obtained from the Information Agent, D. F. King & Co., Inc., at [email protected] or from any of the Dealer Managers. The Dealer Managers for the Tender Offer are: Barclays Capital Inc. 745 Seventh Avenue, 5th Floor New York, NY 10019 Toll-Free: +1-800-438-3242 Call Collect: +1-212-528-7581 BBVA Securities Inc. 1345 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10105 Tel: +1-212-728-2446 BofA Securities, Inc. One Bryant Park New York, NY 10036 Toll-Free: +1-888-292-0070 Santander Investment Securities Inc. 45 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 Fax: 212-407-0930 The Billing and Delivering Bank for this Tender Offer is: BofA Securities, Inc. Questions regarding the Tender Offer may be directed to the Dealer Managers at the above contact. Mexico has filed a registration statement (including the prospectus) and the preliminary prospectus supplement with the SEC for the New Notes Offering. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents Mexico has filed with the SEC for more complete information about Mexico and the New Notes Offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the Joint Lead Underwriters, the Dealer Managers or the Information Agent, as the case may be, will arrange to send you the prospectus supplement and the prospectus if you request it by calling any one of them at the numbers specified above. Important Notice The distribution of materials relating to the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer and the transactions contemplated by the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Each of the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer is void in all jurisdictions where it is prohibited. If materials relating to the New Notes Offering or the Tender Offer come into your possession, you are required by Mexico to inform yourself of and to observe all of these restrictions. The materials relating to the New Notes Offering or the Tender Offer, including this communication, do not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer or solicitation in any place where offers or solicitations are not permitted by law. If a jurisdiction requires that the New Notes Offering or the Tender Offer be made by a licensed broker or dealer and a Dealer Manager or any affiliate of a Dealer Manager is a licensed broker or dealer in that jurisdiction, the New Notes Offering or the Tender Offer, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be made by the Dealer Manager or such affiliate on behalf of Mexico in that jurisdiction. Owners who may lawfully participate in the Tender Offer in accordance with the terms thereof are referred to as "holders." This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of the preliminary prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement and prospectus. The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97 (as amended, the "Insurance Distribution Directive"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II. Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investors in the United Kingdom (" UK "). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended, " EUWA "); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended, the " FSMA ") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement the Insurance Distribution Directive, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA. Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended) as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (as amended, the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation. In Belgium, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer are not directly or indirectly, being made to, or for the account of, any person other than to qualified investors (gekwalificeerde beleggers/investisseurs qualifies) within the meaning of Article 2(e) Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC. (Reglement (UE) 2017/1129 du 14 juin 2017 du Parlement europeen et du Conseil concernant le prospectus a publier en cas d'offre au public de valeurs mobilieres ou en vue de l'admission de valeurs mobilieres a la negociation sur un marche reglemente, et abrogeant la directive 2003/71/CE / Verordening (EU) 2017/1129 van het Europees Parlement en de Raad van 14 juni 2017 betreffende het prospectus dat moet worden gepubliceerd wanneer effecten aan het publiek worden aangeboden of tot de handel op een gereglementeerde markt worden toegelaten en tot intrekking van Richtlijn 2003/71/EG), as amended or replaced from time to time (Belgian Qualified Investor), that do not qualify as consumers (consumenten/consommateurs) within the meaning of Article I.1, 2 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law of February 28, 2013 (Wetboek van economisch recht/Code de droit economique), as amended or replaced from time to time (Consumers). A Consumer within the meaning of Article I.1, 2 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law is any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside their trade, business, craft or profession. As a result, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer do not constitute a public takeover bid pursuant to Articles 3, 1, 1 and 6, 1 of the Belgian law of April 1, 2007 on public takeover bids (Wet op de openbare overnamebiedingen/Loi relative aux offres publiques d'acquisition), as amended or replaced from time to time. Consequently, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer and any material relating thereto have not been and will not be, notified or submitted to, nor approved by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiele Diensten en Markten/Autorite des Services et Marches Financiers) pursuant to the Belgian laws and regulations applicable to the public offering or tendering of securities. The New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer as well as any materials relating thereto may not be advertised, nor distributed, directly or indirectly, to any person in Belgium other than Belgian Qualified Investors acting for their own account who are not Consumers, and may not be used in connection with any offering in Belgium except as may otherwise be permitted by law. The New Notes and the Old Notes will not be registered under Chilean Law No. 18,045, as amended, with the Comision para el Mercado Financiero de Chile (Financial Market Commission of Chile, or " CMF ") and, accordingly, the New Notes and the Old Notes cannot and will not be offered or sold to persons in Chile except in circumstances which have not resulted and will not result in a public offering under Chilean law, and in compliance with Norma de Caracter General (Rule) No. 336, dated June 27, 2012, issued by the CMF. The New Notes may not be offered, sold or negotiated in Colombia, except in compliance with Part 4 of Decree 2555 of 2010. The Offer to Purchase and the New Notes Offering do not constitute and may not be used for, or in connection with, a public offering as defined under Colombian law. The New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer have not been and will not be approved by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, as neither constitute a public offer in accordance with the EU Prospectus Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1129) nor the Danish Capital Market Act. This announcement does not constitute an offer to the public in France. It is not a prospectus within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation. No prospectus (including any amendment, supplement or replacement thereto) has been prepared in connection with the New Notes Offering that has been approved by the French Autorite des marches financiers (" AMF ") or by the competent authority of another Member State of the EEA and notified to the AMF under the Prospectus Regulation; the materials relating to the New Notes have not been distributed or caused to be distributed and will not be released, issued or distributed or caused to be released, issued or distributed, directly or indirectly, to the public in France, or used in connection with any offer for subscription, exchange or sale of the notes to the public in France. Any such offers, sales and distributions have been and shall only be made in France to (i) qualified investors (investisseurs qualifies) acting for their own account, and/or to (ii) investment services providers authorized to engage in portfolio management services on behalf of third parties and/or to (iii) a limited group of investors (cercle restreint d'investisseurs) acting for their own account, all as defined in, and in accordance with, Articles L.411-2, II, D.411-1, D.411-4, D.744-l, D.754-l and D.764-1 of the French Code monetaire et financier. In the event that the New Notes purchased or subscribed by investors listed above are offered or resold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France, the conditions relating to public offers set forth in Articles L.411-1, L.411-2, L.412-1 and L.621-8 to L.621-8-3 of the French Code monetaire et financier must be complied with. Investors in France and persons into whose possession offering materials come must inform themselves about, and observe, any such restrictions. The Tender Offer is made in the Federal Republic of Germany (" Germany ") to existing holders of the Old Notes only. The prospectus supplement does not constitute a prospectus compliant with the Prospectus Regulation and does therefore not allow any public offering in Germany. No action has been or will be taken in Germany that would permit a public offering of the New Notes, or distribution of a prospectus or prospectus supplement or any other offering material relating to the New Notes. In particular, no prospectus (Prospekt) within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation and the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierprospektgesetz) or any other applicable laws in Germany has been or will be published in Germany, nor has any prospectus or the prospectus supplement been filed with or approved by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt fur Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) for publication in Germany. The prospectus supplement is strictly for use of the person who has received it. It may not be forwarded to other persons or published in Germany. With respect to persons in Hong Kong, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer are only made to, and are only capable of acceptance by, "professional investors" within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong (the " SFO ") and any rules made thereunder. No person or entity may issue or have in its possession for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, any advertisement, invitation or document relating to the New Notes, Old Notes or the Tender Offer, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to the Old Notes which are or are intended to be tendered, or New Notes which are intended to be purchased, only by persons outside Hong Kong or only by "professional investors" as defined in the SFO and any rules made under thereunder. The Old Notes and the New Notes, and the Offer to Purchase and the New Notes Offering prospectus supplement, and any other documents or materials related to such offers have not and will not be registered with the Italian Securities Exchange Commission (Commissione Nazionale per le Societa e la Borsa, or " CONSOB ") pursuant to applicable Italian laws and regulations. The Offer to Purchase and the New Notes Offering are being carried out pursuant to the exemptions provided for, with respect to the Offer to Purchase, in Article 101 bis, paragraph 3 bis of Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998, as amended (the " Consolidated Financial Act ") and Article 35 bis, paragraph 4, of CONSOB Regulation No. 11971 of 14 May 1999, as amended; and, with respect to the New Bonds Offering, in Article 1, paragraph 4, letter c), of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129. Holders or beneficial owners of the Old Notes that are resident and/or located in Italy can tender the Old Notes for purchase, and the New Notes Offerings can be offered, sold and delivered, through authorized persons (such as investment firms, banks or financial intermediaries permitted to conduct such activities in Italy in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, the Consolidated Financial Act, the CONSOB Regulation No. 20307 of 15 February 2018, as amended, and Legislative Decree No. 385 of September 1, 1993, as amended) and in compliance with any other applicable laws and regulations or with any requirements imposed by CONSOB or any other Italian authority. Each intermediary must comply with the applicable laws and regulations concerning information duties vis a vis its clients in connection with the bonds or the relevant offering. In Luxembourg, this announcement has been prepared on the basis that the offer of the New Notes, the Tender Offer and the potential exchange offer will be made pursuant to an exemption under Article 1 (4) of the Prospectus Regulation from the requirement to produce a prospectus for offers of securities. Neither the Offer to Purchase, nor any other documents or materials relating to the Offer to Purchase have been approved by or will be submitted for the approval of, the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, or the " CNBV ") and, the New Notes have not been and will not be registered with the Mexican National Securities Registry (Registro Nacional de Valores) maintained by the CNBV, and therefore the Old Notes and New Notes have not and may not be offered or sold publicly in Mexico. However, investors that qualify as institutional or qualified investors pursuant to the private placement exemption set forth in Article 8 of the Mexican Securities Market Law (Ley del Mercado de Valores), may be contacted in connection with, and may participate in the Offer to Purchase, and can be offered with or purchase New Notes. The participation in the Offer to Purchase or the acquisition of New Notes will be made under such investor's own responsibility. In Norway, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer are made only in accordance with applicable exemptions from the requirement to prepare a prospectus or offer document in accordance with the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Accordingly, the New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer have not been and will not be filed with or approved by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority, the Oslo Stock Exchange or the Norwegian Registry of Business Enterprises. The Tender Offer is not intended for any person who is not qualified as an institutional investor, in accordance with provisions set forth in Resolution SMV No. 021-2013-SMV-01 issued by Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (Superintendency of Capital Markets) of Peru, and as subsequently amended. No legal, financial, tax or any other kind of advice is hereby being provided. The New Notes Offering prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the Offer to Purchase have not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The Offer to Purchase does not constitute an offering of securities in Singapore pursuant to the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the " SFA "). The New Notes will not be offered or sold or cause that such New Notes to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase and will not offer or sell such New Notes or cause such New Notes to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, and has not circulated or distributed, nor will it circulate or distribute, this prospectus supplement or any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of such New Notes, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA) under Section 274 of the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA and (where applicable) Regulation 3 of the Securities and Futures (Classes of Investors) Regulations 2018 of Singapore or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA. Where the New Notes are subscribed or purchased in reliance on an exemption under Sections 274 or 275 of the SFA, the New Notes shall not be sold within the period of six months from the date of the initial acquisition of the notes, except to any of the following persons: an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA); a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA); or any person pursuant to an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) of the SFA, unless expressly specified otherwise in Section 276(7) of the SFA or Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018 of Singapore. Where the New Notes are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is: a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor, securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries' rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the New Notes pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except: to an institutional investor or to a relevant person as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA, or (in the case of such corporation) where the transfer arises from an offer referred to in 276(3)(i)(B) of the SFA or (in the case of such trust) where the transfer arises from an offer referred to in Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA; where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer; where the transfer is by operation of law; as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA; or as specified in Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018 of Singapore . None of the offer materials related to the New Notes Offering or Tender Offer have been approved or registered in the administrative registries of the Spanish Securities Market Commission (Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores). Consequently, the securities may not be offered, sold or distributed in Spain except in circumstances which do not constitute a public offer of securities in Spain within the meaning of Article 35 of the restated text of the Securities Markets Act approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2015, dated October 23, 2015 (Real Decreto Legislativo 4/2015, de 23 de octubre, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley del Mercado de Valores), Royal Decree 1310/2005, dated November 4, 2005 (Real Decreto 1310/2005 de 4 de noviembre), or otherwise in reliance on an exception from registration available thereunder. The prospectus supplement is not intended to constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase or invest in the New Notes described therein in Switzerland, except as permitted by law. The New Notes may not be publicly offered, directly or indirectly, in Switzerland within the meaning of the Swiss Financial Services Act (" FinSA ") and will not be admitted to any trading venue (exchange or multilateral trading facility) in Switzerland. Neither the prospectus supplement nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the New Notes constitutes a prospectus as such term is understood pursuant to the FinSA, and neither the prospectus supplement nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the New Notes may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland. Neither this communication, the Offer to Purchase nor any other offer material relating to the Tender Offer or the New Notes Offering has been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of section 21 of the FSMA. This communication, the Offer to Purchase and the prospectus supplement are only being distributed to and are only directed at (i) persons who are outside the UK or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the " Order ") or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such other persons together being referred to as " relevant persons "). Any investment or investment activity to which the Offer to Purchase or the New Notes Offering relates will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire the same will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. The New Notes will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire the New Notes will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on the Offer to Purchase, the prospectus supplement or any of their contents. The New Notes Offering and the Tender Offer qualifies as a private placement pursuant to section 2 of Uruguayan law 18.627. The New Notes and the Old Notes are not and will not be registered with the Central Bank of Uruguay to be publicly offered in Uruguay. Contact information: D. F. King & Co., Inc. 48 Wall Street, 22nd Floor New York, NY 10005 E-mail: [email protected] Call Collect:: +1 (212) 269-5550 Call Toll-Free: +1 (877) 674-6273 website: www.dfking.com/ums ANY DISCLAIMERS OR OTHER NOTICES THAT MAY APPEAR AFTER THIS MESSAGE ARE NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS COMMUNICATION AND SHOULD BE DISREGARDED. SUCH DISCLAIMERS OR OTHER NOTICES WERE AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED AS A RESULT OF THIS COMMUNICATION BEING SENT VIA BLOOMBERG OR ANOTHER EMAIL SYSTEM. SOURCE The United Mexican States DUBLIN, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Offering, Application, Technology, End User, and Region - Analysis and Forecast, 2021-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. In 2020, the global cancer microbiome sequencing market was valued at $155.5 million, and it is expected to reach $1,216.2 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 20.01% during the forecast period 2021-2031. The market is driven by certain factors, including increasing emphasis on the microbiome's potential in cancer, global increase in cancer prevalence, and decreasing cost of sequencing. Currently, the cancer microbiome sequencing industry is witnessing an upsurge due to the increasing emphasis on the microbiome's potential in the field of cancer, global increase in cancer prevalence, and decreasing cost of sequencing. Furthermore, biotechnology companies are focusing on developing cancer microbiome sequencing solutions for applications, including translational research and diagnostics, further supporting researchers and clinicians to unravel insights pertaining to microbiome's influence on cancer manifestation and progression. The development of cancer microbiome sequencing products and services enabled the research community to establish effective strategies for discovering novel cancer biomarkers associated with the microbiome, which could be harnessed for the development of cancer microbiome sequencing products for clinical use. Within the research report, the market is segmented on the basis of offering, application, technology, end users, and region. Each of these segments covers the snapshot of the market over the projected years, the inclination of the market revenue, underlying patterns, and trends by using analytics on the primary and secondary data obtained. Competitive Landscape The exponential rise in the number of cancer cases worldwide has created a buzz among the biotechnology companies to further invest in the development of novel diagnostic tools based on microbiome for supporting physicians to offer early cancer detection. Due to the expansive product portfolio and massive geographical presence, Illumina, Inc. has been the leading player in the cancer microbiome sequencing ecosystem. On the basis of region, North America holds the largest share of the cancer microbiome sequencing market due to the presence of market leaders such as Illumina, Inc. in the U.S. coupled with the significant adoption of high-fidelity cancer microbiome sequencing products and services for translational research. Further, rising fund infusions by the federal organizations and increasing investments for product development, among others. Apart from this, the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period, 2021-2031. This is majorly attributed to the underlying factors such as an increase in healthcare awareness, steady economy leading to higher focus on research, and widespread adoption of advanced cancer diagnostics, among others. Market Report Coverage - Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market Segmentation Offering- Product (Kits and Assays and Software) and Service Application- Translational Research and Diagnostics (Colorectal Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Oral Cancer, and Other Cancer Types) Technology - Next-Generation Sequencing (Sequencing by Synthesis, Sequencing by Ligation, and Other Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies) and Polymerase Chain Reaction End User - Academic and Research Institutes, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies, Hospitals and Diagnostic Laboratories, and Other End Users Regional Segmentation North America - U.S., and Canada - U.S., and Europe - Germany , France , U.K., Spain , Italy , Switzerland , and Rest-of- Europe - , , U.K., , , , and Rest-of- Asia-Pacific - China , Japan , India , Australia , South Korea , Singapore , and Rest-of- Asia-Pacific - , , , , , , and Rest-of- Latin America - Brazil , Mexico , and Rest-of- Latin America - , , and Rest-of- Rest-of-the-World Market Growth Drivers Increasing Emphasis on the Microbiome's Potential in the Field of Cancer Global Increase in Cancer Prevalence Decreasing Cost of Sequencing Market Challenges Regulatory Challenges for Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Companies Lack of High Complexity Testing Centers Existing Diagnostic Confidence on Conventional Cancer Diagnostics Market Opportunities Growing Integrative Industry-Academia Collaboration Massive Scope for Adoption of Cancer Microbiome Sequencing in Developing Nations Key Companies Profiled CD Genomics, Eurofins Scientific, GoodGut, Illumina, Inc., Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc., Micronoma Inc., Novogene Co., Ltd., Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc., OraSure Technologies, Inc., Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc., Psomagen, Inc., QIAGEN N.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Viome, Inc., Zymo Research Corporation Key Questions Answered in this Report: How is cancer microbiome sequencing revolutionizing the field of oncology? What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global cancer microbiome sequencing market? What are the underlying structures resulting in the emerging trends within the global cancer microbiome sequencing market? How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the global cancer microbiome sequencing ecosystem? What are the key development strategies that are being implemented by the major players in order to sustain themselves in the competitive market? What are the key regulatory implications in developed and developing regions pertaining to the use of cancer microbiome sequencing? What are the potential entry barriers, which are expected to be faced by the companies willing to enter a particular region? How is each segment of the market expected to grow during the forecast period 2021-2031, and what is the anticipated revenue to be generated by each of the segments? What are the growth opportunities for the cancer microbiome sequencing companies in the region of their operation? Who are the leading players with significant offerings in the global cancer microbiome sequencing market? Which companies are anticipated to be highly disruptive in the future, and why? Key Topics Covered: 1 Market 2 Industry Analysis 2.1 Overview 2.2 Legal Requirements and Framework in the U.S. 2.3 Legal Requirements and Framework in Europe 2.4 Legal Requirements and Framework in Asia-Pacific 2.4.1 China 2.4.2 Japan 3 Market Dynamics 3.1 Overview 3.2 Iceberg Analysis - Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 3.3 Impact Analysis 3.4 Market Drivers 3.4.1 Increasing Emphasis on the Microbiome's Potential in the Field of Cancer 3.4.2 Global Increase in Cancer Prevalence 3.4.3 Decreasing Cost of Sequencing 3.5 Market Restraints 3.5.1 Regulatory Challenges for Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Companies 3.5.2 Lack of High Complexity Testing Centers 3.5.3 Existing Diagnostic Confidence on Conventional Cancer Diagnostics 3.6 Market Opportunities 3.6.1 Growing Integrative Industry-Academia Collaboration 3.6.2 Massive Scope for Adoption of Cancer Microbiome Sequencing in Developing Nations 4 Competitive Landscape 4.1 Overview 4.2 Synergistic Activities 4.3 Product Launches 4.4 Funding 4.5 Product Approval 4.6 Acquisitions 4.7 Market Share Analysis, 2019-2020 4.8 Growth Share Analysis 5 Offering, $Million, 2020 - 2031 5.1 Overview 5.2 Product 5.2.1 Kits and Assays 5.2.2 Software 5.3 Service 6 Application, $Million, 2020 - 2031 6.1 Overview 6.2 Translational Research 6.3 Diagnostics 6.3.1 Colorectal Cancer (CRC) 6.3.2 Cervical Cancer 6.3.3 Oral Cancer 6.3.4 Other Cancer Types 7 Technology, $Million, 2020 - 2031 7.1 Overview 7.2 Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) 7.2.1 Sequencing by Synthesis (SBS) 7.2.2 Sequencing by Ligation (SBL) 7.2.3 Other Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technologies 7.3 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) 8 End User, $Million, 2020-2031 8.1 Overview 8.2 Academic and Research Institutes 8.3 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies 8.4 Hospitals and Diagnostic Laboratories 8.5 Other End Users 9 Region, $Million, 2020-2031 9.1 Overview 9.2 North America 9.2.1 U.S. 9.2.2 Canada 9.3 Europe 9.3.1 Germany 9.3.2 France 9.3.3 U.K. 9.3.4 Spain 9.3.5 Italy 9.3.6 Switzerland 9.3.7 Rest-of-Europe 9.4 Asia-Pacific 9.4.1 China 9.4.2 Japan 9.4.3 India 9.4.4 Australia 9.4.5 South Korea 9.4.6 Singapore 9.4.7 Rest-of-Asia-Pacific 9.5 Latin America 9.5.1 Brazil 9.5.2 Mexico 9.5.3 Rest-of-Latin America (RoLA) 9.6 Rest-of-the-World 10 Company Profiles 10.1 Overview 10.2 CD Genomics 10.2.1 Company Overview 10.2.2 Role of CD Genomics in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.2.3 SWOT Analysis 10.3 Eurofins Scientific 10.3.1 Company Overview 10.3.2 Role of Eurofins Scientific in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.3.3 Financials 10.3.4 SWOT Analysis 10.4 GoodGut 10.4.1 Company Overview 10.4.2 Role of GoodGut in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.4.3 SWOT Analysis 10.5 Illumina, Inc. 10.5.1 Company Overview 10.5.2 Role of Illumina, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.5.3 Financials 10.5.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.5.5 SWOT Analysis 10.6 Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc. 10.6.1 Company Overview 10.6.2 Role of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.6.3 SWOT Analysis 10.7 Micronoma Inc. 10.7.1 Company Overview 10.7.2 Role of Micronoma Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.7.3 SWOT Analysis 10.8 Novogene Co., Ltd. 10.8.1 Company Overview 10.8.2 Role of Novogene Co., Ltd. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.8.3 SWOT Analysis 10.9 Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc. 10.9.1 Company Overview 10.9.2 Role of Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.9.3 Financials 10.9.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.9.5 SWOT Analysis 10.1 OraSure Technologies, Inc. 10.10.1 Company Overview 10.10.2 Role of OraSure Technologies, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.10.3 Financials 10.10.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.10.5 SWOT Analysis 10.11 Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. 10.11.1 Company Overview 10.11.2 Role of Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.11.3 Financials 10.11.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.11.5 SWOT Analysis 10.12 Psomagen, Inc. 10.12.1 Company Overview 10.12.2 Role of Psomagen, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.12.3 Financials 10.12.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.12.5 SWOT Analysis 10.13 QIAGEN N.V. 10.13.1 Company Overview 10.13.2 Role of QIAGEN N.V. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.13.3 Financials 10.13.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.13.5 SWOT Analysis 10.14 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 10.14.1 Company Overview 10.14.2 Role of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.14.3 Financials 10.14.4 Key Insights About Financial Health of the Company 10.14.5 SWOT Analysis 10.15 Viome, Inc. 10.15.1 Company Overview 10.15.2 Role of Viome, Inc. in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.15.3 SWOT Analysis 10.16 Zymo Research Corporation 10.16.1 Company Overview 10.16.2 Role of Zymo Research Corporation in the Global Cancer Microbiome Sequencing Market 10.16.3 SWOT Analysis For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2yvkoh Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO), the world leader in serving science, and PeproTech, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of recombinant proteins, today announced that Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of PeproTech on December 30, 2021 for a total cash purchase price of approximately $1.85 billion. Based in Cranbury, New Jersey, PeproTech is a privately held provider of bioscience reagents known as recombinant proteins, including cytokines and growth factors. Recombinant proteins are used in the development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies as well as in broader cell culture applications, especially for use in cellular research models. PeproTech's recombinant proteins portfolio complements Thermo Fisher's cell culture media products and will enable Thermo Fisher to provide customers significant benefits through an integrated offering. "PeproTech will be an excellent strategic fit within our biosciences business and will allow us to even better serve our pharma and biotech customers by adding new capabilities to our existing offering," said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. "In combination with our proprietary bioprocessing and cell culture technologies, this complementary transaction positions us to partner with our customers to drive the evolution of the fast-growing market for cell and gene therapies. By leveraging our commercial reach, we will be able to efficiently grow the PeproTech business and generate attractive financial results all while furthering our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer." Casper added, "With more than three decades of experience across a broad range of applications for drug development and therapeutic products, the PeproTech team has built long-standing customer relationships in pharma and biotech and life sciences research. We look forward to welcoming their incredibly talented team to Thermo Fisher." Bob Goldman, president and co-founder of PeproTech, commented, "We are pleased to join Thermo Fisher given their team's outstanding industry leadership and shared commitment to develop innovative therapies that improve patient outcomes. PeproTech's reputation for unparalleled product consistency and quality directly aligns with that of Thermo Fisher's, and we look forward to building on our success as part of the world leader in serving science." PeproTech will become part of the biosciences business within Thermo Fisher and will be integrated into the Life Sciences Solutions Segment. About Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue of approximately $40 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team of more than 100,000 colleagues delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com. About PeproTech PeproTech, Inc., a New Jersey corporation that was incorporated in 1988, creates the building blocks of life science research by manufacturing high-quality products that advance scientific discovery and human health. Our business is heavily weighted towards the development, manufacture and sale of research-use only and GMP cytokines and other products that support and address the needs and demands of today's scientists and researchers. Safe Harbor Statement The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; the need to develop new products and adapt to significant technological change; implementation of strategies for improving growth; general economic conditions and related uncertainties; dependence on customers' capital spending policies and government funding policies; the effect of economic and political conditions and exchange rate fluctuations on international operations; use and protection of intellectual property; the effect of changes in governmental regulations; any natural disaster, public health crisis or other catastrophic event; and the effect of laws and regulations governing government contracts, as well as the possibility that expected benefits related to recent or pending acquisitions may not materialize as expected. Additional important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which are on file with the SEC and available in the "Investors" section of our website under the heading "SEC Filings." While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if estimates change and, therefore, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to today. Media Contact Information: Ron O'Brien Phone: 781-622-1242 E-mail: [email protected] Investor Contact Information: Rafael Tejada Phone: 781-622-1356 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific Cheng Xiangwen observes the growth of corns at the field of a cultivating base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun) HAIKOU, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- For his 86th birthday, Cheng Xiangwen enjoyed a corn-shaped cake his colleagues prepared for him. "My birthday wish is to develop better corn varieties," he said. After the celebration, he embarked on yet another journey to Sanya, in south China's Hainan Province, where he worked for a big chunk of his life. Cheng, 86, is an agronomist and spends most of his life studying and cultivating corn. He comes to Sanya in November every year and stays for six months for corn breeding. Cheng's work forms part of China's efforts to strengthen agriculture and food security. Over the years, China's policies on ensuring food security have played a significant role in elevating the living standards of its 1.4 billion people and contributed to world food security. Ensuring food security will remain a priority in the country's agricultural development in 2022. During the annual central rural work conference held last month, Chinese leaders reiterated that the nation must secure its food supply at all times, urging all relevant parties to play their part in protecting farmland and stabilizing grain output. "GOLD BEANS" Cheng is a native of central China's Henan Province, a massive corn production base. After graduating in 1963, Cheng became an agrotechnician in Henan's Xunxian County. At that time, the county saw a meager average annual corn output of 750 kg per hectare. Once, when he was conducting a field survey, a local farming lady said to him in tears: "You graduated from college. Could you please find a way to boost the corn output here? If the yields are higher, our children will no longer suffer from hunger." Since then, Cheng has made breeding high-yield corn varieties his life goal. In 1964, he came to Hainan, where it was warmer, and started breed work there. He slashed the cultivation period and created hybrid corn breeds for the first time. With these new breeds, farmers in Xunxian County saw their average corn output exceed 3,750 kg per hectare per year. Local farmers described his seeds as "golden beans." Despite the beautiful coastline, the environment where Cheng works used to be plagued by grinding poverty and poor traffic. A local slang once described the environment as having rampant rats, mosquitoes, leeches, and poisonous snakes. At that time, he did everything on his own. He went back and forth between the cornfield and a public toilet several kilometers away to manure the field. He lived in a local villager's house for over 20 years. He frequently went to the deep mountains to chop firewood to cook during this time. HARVESTING His hard work has paid off. Now, authorities have approved 14 new, high-yield corn varieties Cheng helped develop. Soon, Cheng will spend his 57th Chinese Lunar New Year at the cultivating base in Sanya. Now, he heads a research team of more than 10 members. The research facilities there are much better. Cheng is dedicated to breeding high-yield corn varieties with stronger resistance that are easier to harvest with machines. He still goes to the fields each day and observes and records the corn plants. "Cultivating seeds is like raising kids. Only by careful parenting can you become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and help them grow healthy," he said. Cheng Xiangwen observes the growth of corns at the field of a cultivating base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun) Cheng Xiangwen works at the corn field of a cultivating base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun) Cheng Xiangwen observes the growth of corns at the field of a cultivating base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun) Conference call and webcast scheduled for 8:30 a.m. EST TORONTO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Reuters (NYSE, TSX: TRI) announced today its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings will be issued via news release on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. Steve Hasker, president and chief executive officer, and Mike Eastwood, chief financial officer, will host a conference call and simultaneous webcast that morning at 8:30 a.m. EST. Discussions may include forward-looking information. You can access the webcast by visiting the "Investor Relations" section of the Thomson Reuters website. Registration for the webcast is now open. Additionally, an archive of the webcast will be available following the presentation. Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters is a leading provider of business information services. Our products include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world's most global news service Reuters. For more information on Thomson Reuters, visit tr.com and for the latest world news, reuters.com. CONTACTS MEDIA INVESTORS Andrew Green Frank J. Golden Senior Director, Corporate Affairs Head of Investor Relations +1 332 219 1511 +1 332 219 1111 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Thomson Reuters MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognivia today announced a new name for the company formerly known as Tools4Patient, which provides clinical trials solutions based on AI / ML that account for individual patient personality traits, beliefs and perceptions. The transition to Cognivia more closely reflects the company's mission to "quantify the power of the mind" and integrate this information into data analyses to optimize and accelerate drug development. This name change expresses the evolution of the company since it was founded eight years ago. As part of this maturation, Cognivia has built the evidence basis for its technologies through multiple clinical trials and has become a trusted partner of top pharma companies, biotechs and CROs. Cognivia's solutions are focused in areas that have posed significant challenges to drug development, including the placebo response and medication adherence in clinical trials. Cognivia also announces changes to its Board of Directors. Christian Jourquin, a longtime senior leader at Solvay and past board member of ING Bank, becomes a member of the Board. Graham Bunn, Ph.D., joins the team as Strategic Advisor to the Board. Dr. Bunn has held several leadership roles in CROs and clinical technology companies, including Vice President at Parexel International, Vice President at Medidata, and Global Vice President at Quintiles, now IQVIA. "While our name is changing and our team is expanding, we remain committed to our core vision of delivering medicines to patients, while delivering value to all stakeholders in the drug development process from investors to pharmaceutical companies to payers," says Dominique Demolle, CEO, Cognivia. "In fact, Cognivia is doing what no one else is doing developing a quantitative understanding of patients as people and integrating these insights into analysis of clinical trial data. For example, Placebell uses predictive algorithms to mitigate the negative impact of the placebo response and increase the study power of clinical trials, resulting in increased success rates and decreased clinical trial timelines and cost." About Cognivia Cognivia (formerly Tools4Patient) began operation in 2014 after former colleagues of a big pharma company set out to tackle some of the most challenging issues that prevent drugs from reaching the marketplace. With the support of key opinion leaders of various disciplines, including renowned researchers at University of Sydney, Toulouse, INSERM and University of Liege, the company today offers a comprehensive set of solutions that tackle the overall clinical research value chain, from recruitment to data interpretation. Cognivia aims to accelerate patient access to new therapies to improve patients' lives by developing and commercializing methods and data analysis solutions focused on the unique patient characteristics that influence their response to treatment. The company's first technology is Placebell, which characterizes the placebo response of patients. Cognivia is financed by private investors and funds, including Sambrinvest and Innovation Fund. Learn more at https://cognivia.com/. Contact: Gwen Shields, [email protected] SOURCE Cognivia DUBLIN, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "U.S. Caps Market Outlook 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The United States caps market is projected to grow with a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period, i.e., 2020-2028. Factors such as the increasing investments by organizations for the development of advanced caps and closures, introduction of several new caps and closures that helps companies to enhance their credibility and brand value, followed by the rising demand for caps and closures from the end-user industries are anticipated to promote the market growth. Additionally, factors such as the increasing consumption of packaged food & beverages in the United States, which is also raising the need for caps and closures amongst the manufacturers of the food and beverages, coupled with the rising innovation in caps and closure technologies, backed by the increasing need for innovative packaging solutions for packaging products such as on-the-go food products or liquid breakfast products, are anticipated to drive the market growth. The type segment is further divided into child resistant closures, dispensing caps, liquid cartoon closures, plastic lotion pumps, screw & lug cans, cap ends, crown caps, corks, glass stopper, rubber stoppers, and others, out of which, the screw & lug cans segment is anticipated to grab the largest market share of around 37% by 2028, backed by the rising penetration of lug cans in the food and beverages sector in the United States. The market is also segmented by end-user into cosmetics & toiletries, food industry, healthcare, chemicals, automotive, beverages industry, and others. Out of these segments, the beverages industry segment is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of around 4% during the forecast period owing to the rising consumption of bottled beverages in the nation. With the increasing population in the United States, there is growing demand for premium drinks and bottled water, which is contributing to the growing consumption of bottled beverages in the country. Some of the affluent leaders in the United States cap market are United Caps Luxembourg S.A. Silgan Holdings Inc. BERICAP SC LLC (BERICAP Holding GmbH) Closure Systems International Berry Global Inc. Crown Holdings Inc. Enercon Industries Corporation CL Smith Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Analysis of Market Dynamics 4.1. Drivers 4.2. Restraints/Challenges 4.3. Opportunities 4.4. Trends 4.5. Risk Analysis 5. Value Chain Analysis 6. End User Analysis 7. Manufacturing Analysis 8. Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. Caps Market 9. Price Trend Analysis 10. Buyer's Outlook 11. Product Portfolio Comparative Analysis 12. U.S. Caps Market Outlook 12.1. Market Size and forecast, 2019-2028F 12.1.1. By Value (USD Million) 12.1.2. By Volume (Million Units) 12.2. Market Segmentation 12.2.1. By Material 12.2.1.1. Plastic, 2019-2028F 12.2.1.2. Metal, 2019-2028F 12.2.1.3. Glass, 2019-2028f 12.2.1.4. Wood, 2019-2028F 12.2.1.5. Rubber & Elastomers, 2019-2028F 12.2.2. By Size 12.2.3. By Type 12.2.3.1. Child Resistant Closures, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.2. Dispensing Caps, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.3. Liquid Cartoon Closures, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.4. Plastic Lotion Pumps, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.5. Screw & Lug Cans, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.6. Cap Ends, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.7. Crown Caps, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.8. Corks, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.9. Glass Stoppers, 2019-2028F 12.2.3.10. Rubber Stoppers, 2019-2028F 12.2.4. By End Use 12.2.4.1. Cosmetics & Toiletries, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.2. Food Industry, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.3. Healthcare Industry, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.4. Nutritional, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.5. Pharmaceuticals, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.6. Chemicals Industry, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.7. Automotive Industry, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.8. Beverages Industry, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.9. Alcoholic, 2019-2028F 12.2.4.10. Non-Alcoholic, 2019-2028F 12.3. Competitive Landscape For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gprj0m Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com USA Truck Inc. is a leading capacity solutions provider headquartered in Van Buren, Arkansas. With more than 2,000 driving team members, USA Truck Inc. is regarded as one of the nation's largest over-the-road truckload carriers and brokers, providing capacity solutions to a broad customer base throughout North America. USAT Capacity Solutions brand is recognized as a top carrier and broker by the Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) and Transport Topics. "USAT Capacity Solutions has become a leader in our industry by partnering with technology companies that bring innovative solutions to our customers and drivers while improving the lives of everyone who connects with our company. The partnership with Nikola and Thompson advances our critically important ESG initiatives and further demonstrates our commitment to sustainability now and in the future," states James Reed, President and CEO of USA Truck Inc. "USA Truck's first battery-electric truck order is a testament to their dedication of adding zero-emission vehicles to their fleet by partnering with Nikola and Thompson," states Mark McDonell, COO at Thompson. "We are excited to collaborate with USA Truck as they initiate their adoption of a sustainable transportation fleet." "We are excited to partner with USA Truck and our dealer, Thompson, in delivering a comprehensive heavy-duty truck solution using zero-emissions electric drive battery-powered technology," says Nikola President, Energy & Commercial, Pablo Koziner. "USA Truck is committed to advancing a more sustainable and efficient approach to transportation, and we are excited to integrate our Nikola Tre BEVs in their operations with market-leading support by Thompson." Web resources: USA Truck Inc.: www.usa-truck.com Truck Inc.: www.usa-truck.com Nikola Corporation: www.nikolamotor.com Thompson Truck Centers: www.thompsontc.com ABOUT USA TRUCK INC. USA Truck provides comprehensive capacity solutions to a broad and diverse customer base throughout North America. Our Trucking and USAT Logistics divisions blend an extensive portfolio of asset and asset-light services, offering a balanced approach to supply chain management, including customized truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal, and third-party logistics freight management services. For more information, visit usa-truck.com or call 800-643-2530. ABOUT NIKOLA CORPORATION Nikola Corporation is globally transforming the transportation industry. As a designer and manufacturer of zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles, electric vehicle drivetrains, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and hydrogen station infrastructure, Nikola is driven to revolutionize the economic and environmental impact of commerce as we know it today. Founded in 2015, Nikola Corporation is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit www.nikolamotor.com or Twitter @nikolamotor. ABOUT THOMPSON TRUCK CENTERS Thompson Truck Centers, a subsidiary of Thompson Machinery, traces its roots back to 1944 when the Thompson family operated a GMC Truck Dealership. The company had gained a reputation for providing excellent service in support of sales, which allowed Thompson to expand its operations and become a leading construction equipment dealer. Today, Thompson Truck Centers continues to service and repair all makes and models of medium and heavy-duty trucks. As technology evolves, Thompson is leading the way to help its customers achieve a zero-emission future. For more information, please visit www.ThompsonTC.com. For more information about this press release, contact: Brette Shelley Director of Marketing Thompson Machinery Commerce Corporation 615-259-5827 [email protected] SOURCE Thompson Truck Centers Established in 2015, Timo is Vietnam's first digital bank and has steadily evolved to become the country's leader in digital banking. In 2019, the bank announced a strategic partnership with Viet Capital Bank, further accelerating its growth. Timo which stands for Time and Money has consistently emphasized customer-centricity at its core. The company is widely recognized as being one of the first banks in Vietnam to offer eKYC services. Operating in a country where banking adoption rate is still relatively low, this helps customers save time during on-boarding and allows them to access other banking services online faster through its platform. More recently, the company has been accelerating its vision of social banking, recognizing that banking and financial services always are embedded in a broader context. Securing the backing of Square Peg With over US$1 billion in assets under management, Square Peg has backed category-defining companies including Southeast Asian fintech giants like Kredivo, StashAway and Pluang. Square Peg's mission is to empower exceptional founders, and has invested over US$200M in Southeast Asian startups. Tushar Roy, Square Peg Southeast Asia Partner said: "We have been impressed by the Timo team's vision to transform banking in Vietnam. In a market with almost no other independent, digital-native players Timo stood out from the crowd. It is a mission-oriented team aligned around creating beautiful experiences for customers and bringing more people in Vietnam into the financial ecosystem. We are excited to support Timo on its journey." Henry Nguyen, CEO Timo Digital Bank said: "This funding round is not only a signal that digital banking is the future in Vietnam, but It also demonstrates investors' confidence that Timo is leading this important sector. We are deeply committed to our mission of setting the benchmark for modern banking in Vietnam while bringing greater financial inclusion and accessibility to the large majority of the population which remains unbanked. Timo aims to become the bank that is at the center of our customers' financial lives. We are delighted to have world class investors led by Square Peg joining us on our journey." About Square Peg Square Peg is a global investment firm on a mission to empower exceptional founders. With teams in Singapore, Israel and Australia, Square Peg invests in emerging technology companies across the internet economy. Square Peg has over US$1 billion in assets under management across multiple funds and has invested in category-defining companies including Fiverr, Canva, PropertyGuru and Airwallex. Since 2013, Square Peg has invested over US$200m in Southeast Asia in companies including Pluang, Stashaway, DoctorAnywhere and Neuron Mobility. In 2021, Square Peg expanded into global listed equities, with the launch of the Global Tech Fund. About Timo Timo is Vietnam's very first digital banking platform which has rapidly developed over the past six years and become the country's No.1 digital bank. Timo's commitment to continuous innovation and its customer-centric approach have positioned it a true digital banking pioneer and as a leader in redefining modern banking services in Vietnam and beyond. In the past several years, Timo's efforts have been recognized through many honors inside and outside of Vietnam including being named in the Top 50 FDI Enterprises in Vietnam 2021 as the "Leading Digital Banking Platform in Vietnam" by the Golden Dragon Awards and "Best Digital Bank in Vietnam 2021" voted by International Business Magazine. www.timo.vn SOURCE Timo Digital Bank The V23 series' unique selfie camera capabilities create eye-popping portrait images, while setting new standards in camera performance and design elegance. The exterior features a perfectly natural yet distinct standout look and feel. The V23 Pro's innovation-driven design combines vivo's Ultra Slim 3D Curved Screen with a unique exterior surface using Fluorite AG technology for a velvet-like surface. The V23 5G supports the same Fluorite AG technology and both V23 models feature a unique color-changing exterior[1] that changes color under direct sunlight. Even the most-demanding photographers will find that the V23 series' advanced front cameras deliver stunning crystal-clear shots in challenging scenarios. The new 50MP AF dual front camera and 108MP rear camera on the Pro model combined to deliver superior front and rear camera megapixel count for superb portraits and sefies. "At vivo, we continuously pursue the creation of mobile experiences that combine innovation, cutting-edge capabilities and elegance. The latest V23 series delivers a new era of camera performance for stunning quality selfies and portrait shots, while wrapped in an elegant design that is fashionable yet diverse with its unique color-changing surface," said Spark Ni, Senior Vice President and CMO of vivo. Elegance personified Designed to be trend-setting but with effortless elegance, the V23 Pro packs performance and power all within a 7.36mm[2] ultra-slim body and 3D curved screen that creates a comfortable fit in the hand. The design is complemented by Fluorite AG technology on both the V23 5G and Pro models to provide a super fine and textured feel that is soft to touch yet resistant to fingerprints. The sleek look is enhanced by the color-changing surface to reflect diversity in appearance and mood, from warm comforting hues to cool, sharp tones. Elevating selfies, portraits and super wide-angle shots The V23 series combines its 50MP AF front camera and 8MP super wide-angle front camera to deliver a superior camera phone experience to solve multiple modern photography pain points. Today, the V23 series can capture super-wide shots even in scenarios that have traditionally challenged front cameras, thus solving the pain point of not being able to capture multiple people in a group selfie photo. The new Natural Portrait feature meets a diverse range of selfie needs with its optional beautification effects. AI algorithms can enhance face details, as well as any potential dual-tone spotlight elements. Low-light night portraits are taken to the next level via the Super Wide-Angle Night Portrait mode that can perfectly capture those atmospheric night-time party moments. Fun factor: 4K selfie videos and bokeh flare The V23 Pro and V23 5G let users shoot 4K Selfie Videos with vivo's AI Face Beauty feature, boosting post-editing capabilities for touching up faces and images. The V23 Pro supports 4K 60fps high-resolution videos, while the V23 5G supports 4K 30fps videos to enable high-grade video production and allow greater flexibility when editing. The V23 series provides a great number of new features that take mobile photography to the next level. One impressive feature is bokeh flare for both the front and rear cameras which allows users to achieve the highly-desired professional 'background blur' in still images a prized feature that still eludes most single camera technology in the industry today. Ultimate night photography With powerful front and rear cameras, the V23 Pro offers users a superior low-light photography experience. The V23 Pro's rear camera features vivo's latest 108MP mobile sensor, the ISOCELL HM2 ultra-HD image sensor with a pixel size of 0.7 microns. The sensor uses nine-pixel fusion technology to provide unparalleled low-light performance, while the native Smart ISO allows for brighter and clearer photos even in dark conditions, making the V23 Pro a powerful night shooter with superior noise control. Smooth 5G user experience Finally, the V23 series features upgraded hardware to deliver industry-leading performance across various scenarios. The new V23 Pro includes a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor to provide unrivaled CPU and GPU performance, which combines vivo's professional photography algorithm to deliver differentiated photography experiences. The V23 5G features a MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor with Dual 5G Standby[3], extended RAM 2.0 and Ultra Game Mode. vivo is committed to providing users with a premium experience via high app startup and installation speeds. Both the new V23 models feature a 44W FlashCharge capability that can power up the super-slim battery from 1% to up to 68% in just 30 minutes[4]. Price and availability information Starting today, the vivo V23 series is being rolled out in more than 50 markets such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and more, expanding its presence across regions including APAC, the Middle East, and Europe over the next few months. The availability and specifications of each V23 series model will vary according to local market conditions and consumer preferences. About vivo vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, design-driven value, user-orientation, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation. While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of 10 R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an, Taipei, Tokyo and San Diego, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up seven production bases (including brand-authorized manufacturing centers), across China, South- and Southeast Asia, and more regions, with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 400 million users worldwide. *"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society. Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news [1] The Color Changing Glass is only applicable to the Sunshine Gold edition. [2] Actual dimensions and weight of each color version may differ due to variations in processes, measurement method, materials supplies. [3] Actual SA network compatitbility depends on available networks and software. Actual 5G network mode and coverage are subject to local carrier's network situation. [4] The V23 Pro and V23 5G will be charged up to 63% and 68% in 30 minutes respectively. Charging data is derived from vivo laboratory environment tests. Actual data may vary pending test environments, long-term battery wear, and other factors. SOURCE vivo CHICAGO, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global retail communications specialist, VoCoVo, has today announced its attendance and exhibition at the National Retail Federation (NRF): Retail's Big Show on January 16-18, 2022. The UK market leader will be showcasing its Wi-Fi-free voice communication technology designed for improving in-store operational efficiencies and a seamless integration with smart devices through VoCoVo's open API. A first of its kind in the US market, unlike other in-store technologies, VoCoVo does not put a strain nor depend on in-store Wi-Fi to facilitate communication, making it fully reliable for retail teams. Built around proven digital radio technology, VoCoVo's lightweight and hands-free wireless and secure solutions offer crystal clear audio, helping retailers improve employee communication and make better decisions that enhance customer experience and drive profitability. This technology has already been adopted by some of the largest names in retail including Walgreens Boots Alliance, Asda Walmart, A.S. Watson Group, and the Kingfisher Group. Martyn Jones, Chief Commercial Officer, VoCoVo said: "Exhibiting at the NRF Big Retail Show is a great opportunity for us to showcase how we can bring the power of voice to America's beloved household brands. We use full-duplex technology because it allows voice data to flow simultaneously in both directions, without being distracted by dropouts or delays which is often experienced with Wi-Fi-reliant devices." VoCoVo's voice communication devices include lightweight and intuitive headsets, call points and keypads. With a click of a button, staff can call for help, request inventory checks, product information and assistance at the tills, saving VoCoVo's current customer base nearly $198 million in efficiencies year on year. The headset also acts as a discreet way for retail employees to converse when facing a potentially dangerous situation in store. NRF attendees are invited to the stand to see first-hand how seamless and intuitive it is to integrate VoCoVo's headsets to increasingly popular smart technologies and IoT devices. This includes an easy pairing with SHELFIE's smart camera which can be used to monitor retailers' inventory in real-time and instantly alert employees of potential theft. Using VoCoVo's open API, retailers can create truly connected in-store experiences that will drive customer loyalty and increase operational efficiencies. VoCoVo has a proven record of successfully combatting the wide-spread problem of theft and loss across European stores as it provides teams with an immediate way to contact security or emergency services, helping to prevent any aggregation or theft. The demonstration at the show will be a timely one, following the recently published 2021 NRF Retail Security Survey which revealed that almost seven in 10 (69%) retail loss prevention and asset protection professionals said the pandemic has resulted in an increase in overall risk for their organization. "VoCoVo's attendance at the show highlights our focus on expanding VoCoVo's operations in the US and follows the appointment of our US VP Sales, Joe Martin in September this year. We're very excited to be a part of the event, demonstrate the benefits of VoCoVo's devices, and make great connections with industry leaders," added Jones. Anyone wishing to learn more about the benefits of VoCoVo's communication devices and view a demo are invited to visit booth 1504. About VoCoVo Established in 2016, VoCoVo enables businesses to release the power of voice. Currently used by 30 tier 1 global retailers and active in 6,000 stores with 83,000 users, VoCoVo's solutions drive actionable insights that empower retailers to improve employee communication and make better decisions that enhance customer experience and drive profitability. Based in the Cotswolds, VoCoVo is growing fast with customers across the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and America. In 2019 the company became a winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award and a finalist in the Santander Growing Business of the Year Award. For more information visit: https://www.vocovo.com/ About SHELFIE: SHELFIE is a business built by Lakeba. SHELFIE's deep learning technology automates audits and insights from shelves in physical retail environments. The system consists of an analytics platform, image capturing devices and reporting dashboards. https://shelfieretail.com/ Amber Chawner, Junior Account Manager, Whiteoaks International, [email protected], +44 (0) 7827 351644 SOURCE VoCoVo DENVER, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space Inc. (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration today announced it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in San Diego-based Space Micro. Voyager will provide strategic operations support to help advance Space Micro's technology throughput to civil, commercial, and defense customers. Space Micro is an innovative, engineering-driven business focused on advancing high-performance satellite communications, digital, and electro-optic systems with 2.8 million hours of space flight heritage. Today, the company has multiple active contracts, including the development of AI for Earth observation missions and for providing X-Band transponders for two lunar missions selected under the NASA Artemis program. Space Micro also has a history of providing critical technology for the U.S. Department of Defense, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) space payloads, secure laser communications terminals, and is also developing a digital RF-to-optical and optical-to-RF signal converter. Space Micro developed a 100-Gbps Laser Communications Terminal which has been on orbit for over a year. "We're pleased to start this year with a new addition to the Voyager family," says Matthew Kuta, President and COO of Voyager Space. "Space Micro brings innovation, precision, and experience to our technology portfolio." "As we look at a continuously developing and evolving satellite market, Voyager makes a perfect partner to support our technology capabilities and business operations," says Space Micro Co-Founder and Chairman, David Strobel. "Our teams are ready to hit the ground running to meet customer needs and market demand." Voyager previously announced a strategic agreement on November 22, 2021 for the intent to acquire Space Micro. About Voyager Space Voyager Space is a global leader in space exploration. Voyager's long-term mission is to create a vertically integrated NewSpace company capable of delivering any space mission humans can conceive. The firm's first-in-industry model is uniquely tailored to support the growth needs of commercial space companies by replacing traditional private capital models with a longer-term approach that provides permanent capital. About Space Micro Space Micro Inc., based in San Diego, CA, is an engineering-driven business focused on technology advancement for high-reliability satellite subsystems. The company leverages commercial technology in the design and manufacture of affordable, high-performance, radiation hardened communications, electro-optics, and digital systems for use in commercial, civil, and military space applications around the world. Space Micro solutions include Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) transmitters, mission data transmitters, star trackers, space cameras, image processors, Command & Data Handling (C&DH) systems and high data rate laser communications systems. Visit https://www.spacemicro.com/ to learn more. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager Space, Inc.'s (the "Company's") mission statement and growth strategy, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. SOURCE Voyager Space DENTON, Texas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VRC Investigations has acquired two top insurance defense investigations firms, Woodall and Broome and Prime Source Investigations, continuing the company's drive to become the leading insurance investigations and anti-fraud firm in the U.S. VRC Investigations is a national provider of investigative and insurance fraud solutions with hundreds of local, directly employed, licensed investigators across the country. VRC's unique, single-source solution meets the investigative, SIU, regulatory compliance, and claim defense needs of leading insurance carriers, employers, third-party administrators, law firms and government agencies. "Our clients can further benefit from having more local investigators, especially in rural areas. They need instant access to investigation results, and they need experts to train their teams to spot fraud. Woodall & Broome and Prime Source Investigations are industry leaders. Their talent, technology and high-touch customer relationships are a great fit with VRC Investigations," said VRC Chief Executive Officer Greg James. Woodall & Broome Woodall & Broome Investigative Services specializes in workers' compensation, general liability, cargo, and corporate theft investigation, and was involved in the State of Georgia's first two criminal convictions on worker's compensation fraud. The company was founded in Georgia in 1994 by Scott Woodall, an expert investigator and former police officer. All Woodall & Broome investigators are licensed private detectives, with experience as S.I.U. investigators, pardon and parole agents, law enforcement officers, and military officers with relevant expertise. The company serves 17 states. "Woodall & Broome is known for keeping clients informed at every stage of an assignment and for getting results. VRC has the same high touch focus on client communications and professionalism. It's a great cultural fit," said Scott Woodall, President and CEO of Woodall & Broome. In addition to their surveillance, background investigations and remote camera surveillance, Woodall and Broome provides SIU and anti-fraud services that fit perfectly with VRC's nationwide programs. Woodall and Broome have assembled a team of veteran anti-fraud compliance coordinators. Their experience and expertise ensure that clients stay in compliance with all regulatory requirements and increase cost savings through the efficient management of client SIU programs. Prime Source Investigations Prime Source Investigations specializes in Strategic Surveillance. They have developed a strong reputation in the mid-Atlantic for obtaining useful video evidence on a regular basis, with a quality control process & technological advancements that ensure results. In addition to surveillance, Prime Source Investigations also offers Social Media Analysis, SMART investigations, and Medical Canvassing to help their clients mitigate wrongful exposure. Prime Source provides insurance defense services to insurance companies, third party administrators, defense firms, self-insureds, and government entities. "In our business, time matters. We get clients the information they need within 24 hours of completed surveillance, so they can make fast, accurate, informed decisions. That focus on accuracy, speed and quality is just one of the many points we have in common with VRC," said Phil Olshevski, President of Prime Source Investigations. Nate Reber, owner and operator at Prime Source added, "Prime Source is excited to combine forces with VRC Investigations. I've had the opportunity to meet and strategize with the VRC executive team and I'm eager to join their efforts in combating fraud. In addition to receiving the exemplary services they are used to, our clients will now also receive the benefits of nationwide coverage, SOC-2 security, and an extensive portfolio of additional fraud fighting services. We are excited to serve as the foundation in the Northeast for VRC Investigations." "The timing was right for us to partner with a national company who has the expertise and resources to allow us to better serve our clients. There is also great opportunity for our current employees to grow within an organization that has been a leader in our industry. Having worked in investigations for over 20 years, I am looking forward to working with VRC in continuing to build the best nationwide investigative company," stated Shawn Hynes, Vice President of Prime Source Investigations. The acquisitions of Woodall & Broome and Prime Source Investigations follow VRC's acquisition of Probe Information Services in 2019. Founded in California in 1992, Probe is a professional, full-service investigative firm specializing in insurance defense. VRC Investigations is owned by Trinity Hunt Partners, a growth-oriented private equity firm focused on building world-class companies within the business, healthcare, and consumer services sectors. About VRC Investigations VRC Investigations is a leading provider of investigative and insurance fraud solutions with hundreds of local, directly employed, licensed investigators nationwide. VRC Investigations helps clients save time, streamline operations, and minimize risk through their unique offering of investigative services and customized anti-fraud strategies. VRC uncovers the facts that bring certainty to claims decisions. Learn more at https://vrcinvestigations.com SOURCE VRC Investigations NASSAU, Bahamas, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bahamas welcomes travellers to plan their next big adventure in 2022, with safety top of mind travel protocols in place for residents and visitors. The destination offers diverse vacation experiences that suit everyone's varied budgets, needs and comfort levels. Guests are sure to have the experience of a lifetime with premier attractions and new nonstop flight routes. NEWS The Bahamas is a Top Destination to Visit in 2022 The Bahamas landed fifth on Travel + Leisure's "Top 50 Places to Travel in 2022" an annual and highly anticipated list, inspiring travellers to visit unique destinations around the world. The Bahamas is recognized for its Out Island adventures, culinary and cultural offerings. The Bahamas Shines in Caribbean Journal's 2022 Caribbean Travel Awards The Bahamas received accolades in Caribbean Journal's "2022 Caribbean Travel Awards," winning the "Caribbean Destination of the Year" while Andros' all-inclusive property, Small Hope Bay Lodge, was named "Adventure Hotel of the Year". United Airlines Launches Direct Route from Cleveland to Nassau Escape the winter cold for sunshine and turquoise waters courtesy of United Airlines' new nonstop Saturday service from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to the vibrant capital city of Nassau. Ritz-Carlton Reserve Announces Plans for Ultra Luxe Property in Eleuthera With only five exclusive properties around the world, the open-air 90-room Ritz-Carlton Reserve is coming to Eleuthera, the blissful Out Island known for its sprawling white sand beaches and natural beauty. Grand Isle Debuts Shark Tagging Excursion Guests staying at Grand Isle Resort in Exuma have the chance to experience Beneath the Waves, a once-in-a-lifetime shark tagging experience with real scientists, contributing to a long-term study on sharks. New Sailing to Grand Bahama Island Margaritaville Resort & Hotels partners with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line offering travellers to sail aboard The Margaritaville At Sea Paradise for two nights from Palm Beach, Florida to Grand Bahama Island. Passage is bookable now with sailing launching on April 30, 2022. Mix Up the Flavors of The Bahamas from Home Those wanderlusting about the islands can shake up their at-home cocktail hours with Bahamian-inspired recipes like a classic Bahama Mama or create their own concoctions with native ingredients like guava and pineapple. PROMOTIONS AND OFFERS For a complete listing of deals and packages for The Bahamas, visit www.bahamas.com/deals-packages. Sun, Sand and Savings at The Reef Atlantis Travellers can save up to 30% and receive a daily $30 resort credit at The Reef Atlantis for stays of seven nights and more. Booking window is now through March 31, 2022, for travel until March 31, 2023. Newlyweds To-Be Can Elope in Nassau Bahamas Wedding Package announces new customizable elopement packages which allow lovebirds to create what their special day looks like. ABOUT THE BAHAMAS Explore all the islands have to offer at www.bahamas.com or on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. PRESS INQUIRIES Anita Johnson-Patty Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation [email protected] Weber Shandwick Public Relations [email protected] SOURCE Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Related Links http://www.bahamas.com BRAZZAVILLE, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso on Tuesday called for the international community to support Africa for local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. "For the well-being of all humanity, the international community should accompany Africa, not only in the acquisition of vaccines, but also for the production (of the vaccines) on the continent," said the Congolese president, on the occasion of a meeting with the diplomatic corps based in the country. "The recent discovery of the Omicron variant has further increased uncertainties about the end of this pandemic and pushed some countries to resort to temporary closure of their borders," he said. In late December 2021, the Congolese president, who was tested negative, was placed in isolation for having been in contact with some members of his entourage who tested positive for COVID-19. Enditem COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle will usher in the month of "Joenuary" by bringing back Cravers' favorite comfort food the Sloppy Joe Slider and the Smoky Joe Slider along with two new items: the Spicy Joe Slider and Sloppy Fries. White Castle and hip-hop artist Fat Joe team up to introduce the new Spicy Joe Slider, one of three Sloppy Joe Sliders. Tweet this White Castle's Sloppy Joe trio includes the original Sloppy Joe Slider, the Smoky Joe Slider and, new this year, the Spicy Joe Slider. White Castle is teaming up with Grammy-nominated hip-hop star and self-professed Slider lover Fat Joe to introduce the Spicy Joe Slider and Sloppy Fries and to celebrate Joenuary as a month dedicated to all things Joe. Fat Joe and White Castle have all kinds of fun and surprises lined up, including Joe-inspired memes and trivia as well as original "joetry" (poetry) and "joekes" (jokes). "Our Sloppy Joes are back, and that means it's time to embrace the sloppy life," said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. "We're excited that Fat Joe is helping us announce the return of our Sloppy Joe and Smoky Joe Sliders and introduce our new Spicy Joe Slider and Sloppy Fries." As a Bronx native, Fat Joe grew up visiting his local White Castle. "White Castle was a big part of my childhood," Fat Joe said. "I always enjoyed eating their Sliders with my friends and family, so it's a full-circle moment to partner with them all these years later in an unprecedented way. I'm excited to introduce new additions to the menu and share some other surprises so we can start the new year off right." The 99-cent Sloppy Joe Slider is a nod to the classic comfort food, only slider-sized. It's made with lean ground beef, onions, tomatoes and bell peppers mixed with a sweet-and-tangy sauce. The Smoky Joe Slider is made the same way as the Sloppy Joe Slider except that it's topped with smoked cheddar cheese and crispy onions. The new Spicy Joe Slider turns up the heat a bit on the old classic. It's the traditional Sloppy Joe Slider topped with a perfectly spicy slice of jalapeno cheese and jalapeno crisps. The new Sloppy Fries are White Castle's signature crispy crinkle fries covered with ooey-gooey melted cheese and topped with the tangy Sloppy Joe sauce. White Castle's Sloppy Joe family, which will be available through Feb. 19 or while supplies last, offers just the right combination of flavor, comfort and value. Cravers can mix or match the Sloppy, Smoky or Spicy Joe Sliders in a "Joe 6-Pack" for just $6. New and existing members of the Craver Nation can try any one of the three Sloppy Joe Sliders for free. When ordering at the restaurant, simply open the White Castle app, head to Craver Nation, find the offer listed under "At Castle Offers," and present the offer to a White Castle team member. In addition, all Craver Nation members can save 20% on all mobile orders through Craver Nation in the White Castle app. The offer is good for unlimited use, but only for a limited time. Just open the White Castle app, head to Craver Nation and find the offer listed under "Mobile Offers." New Craver Nation members can also get a free Original Slider Combo Meal when they sign up. Stay tuned to White Castle's and Fat Joe's social media as they celebrate Joenuary all month long. About White Castle White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty Sliders as a family-owned business for 100 years. Based in Columbus, Ohio, White Castle started serving The Original Slider in 1921. Today, White Castle owns and operates more than 350 restaurants dedicated to satisfying customers' cravings morning, noon and night. Through its retail division, which launched in 1987, White Castle also offers its famous fare in freezer aisles of grocery, convenience and club stores nationwide. The Original Slider, named in 2014 as Time magazine's "Most Influential Burger of All Time," is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted Sliders and other mouthwatering food options, including White Castle's Impossible Slider, named by Thrillist in 2019 as the "Best Plant-Based Fast-Food Burger." White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants, bakeries and frozen-food processing plants. In 2021, 100 years after the first Slider was sold, Fast Company named the fast-food pioneer one of the "10 Most Innovative Dining Companies." White Castle is known for the legendary loyalty of its team members, more than 1 in 4 of whom have worked for White Castle for at least 10 years, and also for its faithful fans ("Cravers"), many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app, available at iTunes App Store or Google Play , makes it easy for Cravers to access sweet deals and place pickup orders at any time. They can also have their orders delivered using one of White Castle's delivery partners. For more information on White Castle, visit whitecastle.com . SOURCE White Castle Well here's a nice welcome for a new board director. Shares in Hornby PLC (LSE:HRN), the company behind the eponymous model railways and Scalextric, have accelerated 12.77% or 6p to 53p after it announced entrepreneur Henry de Zoete as a non-executive director. De Zoete is an alumnus of Silicon Valley start-up accelerator Y Combinator, whose previous businesses include collective bargaining group The Big Deal and tech start up Look After My Bills which was sold to GoCompare owner GoCo Group PLCin July 2019. He has previously served on the board of grassroots campaigning organisation 38 Degrees and was a Special Adviser in the Department of Education. He is currently an angel investor in tech start-ups and a non-executive board Mmember of the Cabinet Office. Hornby completed its website in early 2021, and chairman John Stansfield said: " Henry has a tremendous amount of highly relevant experience and I am in no doubt that he will make a strong contribution to the group as we move forward with our digital transformation." De Zoete said: "Hornby, Scalextric, Corgi, Humbrol and Airfix are all incredible, heritage brands that I grew up with. I am really excited to give strategic input as the brilliant team focuses on digital transformation and growth, to build the business for generations to come." 2.06pm: Livermore Investment Group lifted by dividend news Livermore Investment Group Limited. (AIM:LIV) has been lifted by news it is trading in line with forecasts and will pay a dividend to shareholders next month. The group, which specialises in fixed income instruments such as collaterised loan obligations, will give shareholders an interim payout of US$0.145 a share. It said: "The board has decided to pay this dividend based on the group's profitability, liquidity requirements, portfolio performance and market conditions. The group continues to trade in line with management expectation." Its shares are up 13.27% or 6.5p at 55.5p. 12.07pm: Cordiant Digital Infrastructure on the acquisition trail Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd (LSE:CCRD) has slipped back announced two acquisitions and a placing to help fund future deals. It is paying US$74mln for New York-based DataGryd Datacenters and 352mln for Polish digital infrastructure business Emitel. It also plans to place shares at 106p each, because it has "a pipeline of attractive opportunities under active due diligence and negotiation in excess of 2bn in North America and Western Europe alongside organic expansion opportunities within its portfolio." Its shares are down 4.85% or 5.5p at 108p, still above the proposed placing price. 10.49am: M&C Saatchi climbs as acquisition vehicle buys near 10% stake as "a good investment opportunity" M&C Saatchi PLC (AIM:SAA) has moved higher after an acquisition vehicle bought a near 10% stake. Its shares are up 12.84% or 21.5p at 189p as AdvancedAdvT Limited (LSE:ADVT) spent 24mln or 200p a share for 9.82% of the advertising and marketing firm. AdvancedAdvT said it viewed this as "a good investment opportunity." AdvancedAdvT is chaired by Vin Murria, who previously founded and was chief executive of Advanced Computer Software Group. It raised 130mln in March 2021 with the support of leading institutional investors to pursue its stated investment strategy of seeking mid-cap acquisition opportunities in the software sector. 9.55am: Blue Star Capital dashes hopes of imminent update Buy on the rumour, sell on the fact, especially when the fact is disappointing. Shares in Blue Star Capital PLC (AIM:BLU) - which invests in esports, payments, technology and its applications in media and gaming - closed nearly 32% higher on Tuesday. There had been some suggestion of an imminent update but there were no formal announcements. Today there is, but it casts little light on the situation. Blue Star said it noted the recent rise and added: "The board confirms that it is not aware of a reason for this increase." Its shares have not lost all their gains however. They are currently down 7.7% at 0.5p, 9.05am: Nostra Terra Oil and Gas lifted by positive outlook for the coming year Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc (AIM:NTOG) has seen its shares gush higher after a positive outlook for the coming year. The company, whose main assets are in Texas, said that as a result of increasing production, strengthening oil prices, and prudent management, it was now self-funding. It plans to drill three to four new wells in Texas, funded from existing resources as cash generated from its current production programme. The wells are within its existing areas of operation, minimising drilling risk and allowing lower operating costs post-drilling and completion. Elsewhere it is looking at a potential gas site in Tunisia, at a time when the gas market is very strong. Matt Lofgran, Nostra Terra's chief executive officer, said: "Nostra Terra finished the year in a strong position. The company is cashflow positive to the corporate level and have multiple wells planned to drill throughout the year, all funded without need for dilution. We anticipate these wells having a strong contribution to cashflow after allowing for further investment for growth in other areas. "In addition to this we continue to work on additional opportunities in other areas of the world that we feel could have a large impact to our growth." Its shares are up 8.96% at 0.37p. Elsewhere Concurrent Technologies (AIM:CNC) has climbed 8.75% to 87p after the computer product firm said revenues and profits for the year were now expected to be ahead of market expectations. This comes despite the well-publicised problems with component supply chains. The company expects to pay a final dividend to shareholders, and said it had entered 2022 with a strong order book and a pipeline of product releases to grow its customer base and revenues in 2022 and beyond. Chief executive Dr Miles Adcock said: "I am delighted with the 2021 trading performance, in particular how the experienced management team and dedicated staff enabled Concurrent to minimise impact of the global supply chain issues, and I am confident in the long term prospects for the business." Supermarket Income REIT PLC (LSE:SUPR) acquired two supermarkets for a total purchase price of 55.1mln, reflecting a combined net initial yield of 5.3%. The deal includes a supermarket owned by Sainsbury's and its first purchase of an Asda store. The real estate investment trust said it also arranged an increase to its revolving bank debt facility by 136.5mln to 250.2mln, with a further 49.8mln uncommitted accordion option. The facility has a remaining term of two years and two further one-year extension options. With purpose-built online fulfilment docks and operated as key hub for online fulfilment operations across the region, the Sainsbury's supermarket is in Washington, Tyne and Wear, is being acquired with an unexpired lease term of 34 years, with seven-yearly, upwards only, RPI-linked rent reviews. Located in the town centre, the 11.7 acre site includes a store sales area spanning 83,800 sq ft, a 24-pump petrol filling station and 800 car parking spaces. The acquisition also includes two standalone quick service restaurant units operated by KFC and Tim Hortons (TSX:THI) co-located on the same site. It follows two recent Sainsbury's acquisition in Sheffield for just over 73mln and in Cannock for almost 76mln. Supermarket Income REIT's first acquisition of an Asda site is located in Cwmbran, South Wales, comprising a 81,600 sq ft net sales area omnichannel supermarket located on a 4.4 acre site adjacent to Cwmbran Shopping Centre. Trading on the site since the 1970s, Asda developed the current store format in 2015 and is currently undergoing further expansion to incorporate new purpose-built online fulfilment docks to form an important part of Asda's online fulfilment operations in the region. The Asda store is being acquired with an unexpired lease term of 10 years, with five-yearly, upwards only, open market rent reviews. Ben Green, director of Atrato Capital, the investment adviser to the trust, called the acquisitions "strong additions" to the REIT's portfolio of omnichannel stores, with the Asda store providing further tenant diversification. In combination, he said they are accretive to both the weighted average unexpired lease term and net initial yield of the company's portfolio. On the debt facility he added, "We are also pleased to further strengthen our relationships with Barclays and Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY), who continue to be key funding partners for Supermarket Income REIT. The increased facility provides us with additional capacity as we deploy the proceeds of our recent equity raise." Power Metal Resources PLC (AIM:POW) (Power Metal Resources PLC (AIM:POW)) chief executive Paul Johnson joins Proactive London to talk about the work that was completed during the final quarter of 2021 which the firm is ready to seize. The highlights of this foundation include the completion of a 1,092-metre drill programme at the Tati project in Botswana; the achievement of bonanza-grade silver in 10 out of 19 drillholes completed during the Phase I Silver Peak project in Canada; and rock sampling and prospecting programmes at the Tait Hill, Thibaut Lake and Clearwater uranium properties in Saskatchewan, Canada that turned out high-grade assay results. He also explains the option agreement that was secured for Kavango Resources to acquire Power Metals current project partner Kalahari Key Mineral Exploration to advance and streamline exploration work for nickel, copper and platinum group elements at the Molopo Farms Complex project, following the discovery of nickel sulphides during the inaugural 2021 drill programme. Live Company Group PLC (AIM:LVCG) has announced boy-band NCT Dream as the third of seven headline acts at the KPop.Flex festival to be held in Frankfurt on in May. So far, over 17,000 tickets have been sold for the festival, the company said. "Considering the holiday period, the company and its partners are delighted with the positive response," said executive chairman David Ciclitira. NCT Dream, who will join Monsta X and G.Idle as confirmed acts, has been performing since 2016, releasing six singles, four EPs, and one studio album to date. They are also the first and only Asian artist to feature on Billboards 21 under 21 list for their influence on streaming, sales, and social media. The KPop.Flex festival is set to be the largest K-Pop festival ever in Europe, with the remaining acts to be confirmed at the end of this month. READ: What is K-Pop? (link to explainer) Held in the Deutsche Bank Stadium, the festival has a maximum capacity of 44,000, meaning 39% of tickets have already been sold since their release date on 10 December. The event is a joint venture between Live Companys 50%-owned K-Pop Europa (KPE) subsidiary, the stadium, PK Events, and Seoul Broadcasting Service. KPE has the option to extend the festival for a further four years, should it be successful, at no extra cost. K-Pop music sales grew 44.8% in 2020 making it one of the quickest growing genres in sales, streaming, and paid subscription services. Strategic Minerals PLC (AIM:SML) said it has lodged a revised Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) program for the Leigh Creek Copper mine to the Department of Energy and Mining of South Australia to address conditional elements of the approval given last July. In the period since approval was given, it has collected samples of cover for the waste rock dumps and the subsequent testing and analysis of this material in an erosion model to evaluate cover designs, while also making an evaluation of the potential acid forming nature of the ore and waste rock, which required selecting and collecting samples from the 2019 drilling program and undertaking testing. Strategic Minerals said this evaluation work provided a boost for the project as it identified that the waste rock at Paltridge North has a low capacity to produce acid, meaning the material can be disposed in combination with run-of-mine waste. The company added that this version of the PEPR reflects the agreement arrived at early with the state's Department of Energy and Mining an "oxide only" submission, with highlighted statements to easily adjust for the transitional ore case. The board expects the department to give approval for the oxide-only case, which should cover at least the first 12 months of production, then follow up with a revision to address mining the transitional ore. "The company considers that this process will not impact the expected timing or economics for the project, as previously disclosed to the market." Chairman Alan Broome said: "The company has worked closely with the DEM and feels confident that its review of the submitted PEPR revision will be assessed in less than the maximum statuary requirement of three months. "Whilst no guarantees can be provided, the company is hopeful that, after this revision has been assessed by the DEM and subject to receipt of Project funding, it will be in a position to commence operations at LCCM." T42 IOT Tracking Solutions PLC soared 77% to 27.5p after it signed a five-year distribution deal. The company, which provides real-time tracking, security and monitoring services for the global container and freight market, said OpenBox Ventures Inc has signed up to use its technology in the USA. T42 said it expects revenues of around US$21mln in the first three years of the contract and US$29mln over the lifetime of the distribution agreement. 3.30pm: Putting on the writs: UniVision (AIM:UVEL) slumps as it prepares for legal battles with sub-contractor UniVision (AIM:UVEL) Engineering Limited shares plunged 29% to 0.6p after the company received a winding-up petition from one of its sub-contractors. The Hong Kong-based surveillance systems specialist said it intends to defend and oppose the petition from T&P Construction, which has alleged outstanding debts owed to it of around 565,2980 in relation to contractual agreements between the two companies. The company has separately been advised that it has a cross-claim against T&P, inter alia, for breach of contract and non-performance and it intends to claim damages for the same. 2.35pm: Grafton firmer after completing sale of its traditional merchanting business FTSE 250 company Grafton Group PLC (ISE:GFTU) climbed 2.6% to 1,265p after it said it has completed the sale of its traditional merchanting business in Great Britain. The divestment was originally announced at the beginning of July of last year. 1.40pm: Chamberlin lands significant contract Recovery play Chamberlin PLC (AIM:CMH) rose 1.6% to 7.75p after it was awarded an 800,000 contract. The West-Midlands-based iron castings and engineering group said the order won by its Russel Ductile Castings (RDC) arm was valued at about 800,000 and is set to be completed this year. Production of the components is expected to begin next month, while the board anticipates RDCs fourth-quarter performance will benefit from the raised revenues. 12.45pm: Watches of Switzerland unveils new bean counter Watches of Switzerland Group PLC (LSE:WOSG) ticked 11% higher to 1,578p after Bill Floydd was appointed to the board. Floydd has joined as chief financial officer. 11.50am: Faron firmer after appointing oncologist as chief medical officer Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd announced the appointment of Marie-Louise Fjallskog as its chief medical officer with immediate effect. The news sent the shares 9.4% higher to 292.5p. Dr Fjallskog joins the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with over 30 years of experience in clinical oncology, translational research and drug development. 10.55am: Biome Technologies lands contract win Biome Technologies PLC (AIM:BIOM) advanced 9.7% to 340p after it announced a substantial contract win for its Stanelco RF division. The bioplastics and radio frequency specialist has won a contract worth 535,000 to supply twelve radio frequency heating systems into the food packaging sector in Continental Europe. The contract underpins the company's expectations for the Stanelco division's revenues in the first half of 2022. 10.00am: Zenith Energy enjoys energy price windfall Zenith Energy Ltd (ASX:ZEN) headed for the heights, rising 8.6% to 0.95p after an update on its electricity generation activities at the Torrente Cigno concession in Italy. Zenith said the concession has achieved a new record level of profitability due to the sustained favourable energy pricing climate, or in layman's language, high energy prices. Electricity prices during the month of December 2021 averaged roughly 264 per megawatt hour (MWh), resulting in net revenues of around 269,000 in the month. The current net production costs remain fixed at around 35,000 per month, Zenith noted. 9.05am: Wizz Air flying high after acquiring 15 daily slots at Gatwick Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) saw its shares rise 10% to 4,608p after it acquired 15 daily slot pairs from Norwegian Air Shuttle at Gatwick Airport. Wizz Air will launch new routes from its Gatwick Airport base to 14 new destinations including, Faro, Palma, Larnaca, Catania, Podgorica, Tel Aviv, Chania, Mykonos and Funchal. There will also be new routes from Milan, Rome, Vienna, Bari and Naples to Gatwick Airport, with those flights operated by Wizz Air Hungary. A mixture of year-round and seasonal routes, these new flights will launch from March onwards, the company said. Meanwhile, the December 2021 load factor looked a lot healthier than the December 2020 one, with the factor rising 19.3 percentage points to 75.4%, despite the seating capacity rising by 195% year-on-year. Chill Brands Group PLC (LSE:CHLL, OTCQX:CHBRF) jumped 11% to 17.5p after it appointed Michael Sandore as its chief commercial officer. Chill, the international consumer packaged goods company, claims Sandore has built a world-class track record in sales management with two iconic consumer brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) and Juul Labs. The appointment is a non-board position. A meeting with local villagers in Madagascar to provide project updates. BlackEarth Minerals NL (ASX:BEM) continues to make headway towards a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for flagship asset, the Maniry Graphite Project in Southern Madagascar. This key economic study, due mid this year, will help the graphite producing hopeful provide certainty around Manirys proposed development and deliver information to meet debt financing requirements. In the meantime, BEM has appointed a series of key advisors to its DFS team to get the study underway, which will incorporate results from recent and upcoming drill programs that are poised to materially increase the companys graphite concentrate inventories. The developments come just under a month since BEM unveiled its updated scoping study for Maniry, boosting the projects lifespan to 13.6 years and projected life-of mine earnings to US$561.2 million. Critically, ongoing drilling at the project has the potential to further increase the net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return outlined in the scoping study. Developing graphite inventory BlackEarth is working on the Maniry DFS not long after it delivered a 32% increase in the projects indicated graphite inventory. The update, unveiled in November and based on a recent exploration program, took the JORC-compliant indicated and inferred resources at the Razafy Northwest deposit to 29 million tonnes, grading 9.82% total graphitic carbon. At the time, BlackEarth managing director Tom Revy said of the project: The success at Maniry of discovering and subsequently defining a high-grade resource is testament to the skills and experience our team has in Madagascar. This additional discovery at Razafy Northwest of high-grade resources near-surface has the potential to materially enhance the project economics and significantly increase the projects life, and will be further investigated as part of the ongoing DFS. These results are exciting outcomes for the company and we look forward to updating the market with additional positive results in the short term. Fast forward to today, and BEM is using the newfound data to inform the upcoming DFS. Mining and processing considerations Under the key study, mining reserves will be determined from Manirys measured and inferred resources, which will be converted to the proven and probable categories. Importantly, BlackEarths mining design means there are no project waste dumps required any mining waste will be used on the tailings dam and lift developments, delivering key environmental and cost benefits. In terms of processing with optimisation test-work underway the DFS case centres on the large-scale, 60,000-tonnes-per-annum pilot plant completed mid-2021. Work on the DFS continues in line with other activities, such as infill drilling to define measured resources at Maniry, as well as statutory permitting and licensing work. A full rundown of the graphite plays development timeline is: Key appointments To advance the DFS, BlackEarth has appointed several key advisors to its team. Its hoped the expertise will provide critical information on the definitive study across the economic, geotechnical, resource development and production spheres. A full list of appointments and their advisory roles is: ESG work Finally, BlackEarth continues to establish an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus as it accelerates its flagship project towards development. The team is working with the local community throughout the definitive feasibility study and is providing regular updates to villagers in Southern Madagascar. BEM has also made food donations to a number of the villages and is working on an environmental and social impact assessment for the Maniry asset. BlackEarth will continue making these ESG considerations as it advances the graphite play through the DFS stage. Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) aims to strengthen its intellectual property (IP) portfolio with a provisional application for a new patent associated with the ADAPT tissue technology. If granted, the new patent, internally dubbed 'ADAPT 2.0', will add to the current patent family as well as set new patent protections into the future for the ADAPT process. Notably, this application specifically augments particular aspects of the sterilisation process allowing the safe transfer of product to the manufacturer of heart valves. Ramp-up valve production Anteris CEO Wayne Paterson said This new process opens up the potential for additional manufacturing sites for the company globally as volumes increase, as well as allowing the company to ramp up valve production (due to the extended shelf life before the manufacturing step). "ADAPT 2.0 will allow expanded manufacturing capacity of DurAVR at additional sites by starting the process in our Australian facility and completing valve manufacture at our US facility, saving significant time and money in the process. This is important as we enter the expanded clinical trial phase and for commercialization. About Anteris Anteris Technologies is a structural heart company that is developing more durable solutions for a patient's heart health. Its focus is on improving technologies that help healthcare professionals reproduce consistent life-changing outcomes for patients. The proven benefits of its patented ADAPT tissue technology, paired with the unique design of its DurAVR 3D single-piece aortic heart valve, have the potential to deliver a game-changing treatment to aortic stenosis patients worldwide and provide a much-needed solution to the challenges facing doctors today. Chinese tech colossus Tencent Holdings Limited (HKG:0700) has reportedly cashed out some US$3bn of its position in Singapore-based e-commerce and gaming group Sea. Some 14.5mln shares were sold at US$208 each to bank US$3bn for Tencent, according to a Reuters report. It sees Tencents stake reduced to 18.7% from 21.3%. The share sale unlocks a portion of the value of Tencents investment in Sea, which has seen significant growth and expansion in its global business operations, the investment company said in a statement. The divestment provides Tencent with resources to fund other investments and social initiatives, while retaining a substantial majority of its stake in Sea and continuing to benefit from the companys future growth. Tencent added that it intends to retain the substantial majority of its equity stake for the long term. BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Zhaparov, on Wednesday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China and Kyrgyzstan have always upheld the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, as well as win-win cooperation, and achieved rapid development of bilateral relations. The two countries, he added, have reached a new height of their comprehensive strategic partnership, and set a good example for the international community in fostering a new type of international relations. The development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations not only benefits the two countries and their people, but also contributes to peace and stability in Central Asia, Xi said. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations, and stands ready to maintain close contact with Zhaparov and further promote bilateral ties. He suggested that the two sides take the 30th anniversary as a new starting point to enhance their strategic mutual trust, deepen Belt and Road cooperation, and lift the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels. In his message, Zhaparov said that in the past 30 years, the two countries have successfully established a comprehensive strategic partnership and made remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields. The Chinese government has provided important support for Kyrgyzstan's efforts to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, he noted. Zhaparov also thanked Xi for his personal attention to the development of the Kyrgyzstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership, saying that he is ready to work with China to further deepen bilateral ties, and spare no effort to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation. Enditem The CEO also said that the company is growing via mergers and acquisitions Plurilock Security Inc. CEO Ian Paterson said the identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider is well positioned for further growth in 2022. Since 2016, Plurilock has rapidly grown, creating novel behavioral biometric technology and using it for our advanced cybersecurity solutions, to protect enterprises against the increasing cyber threat. As stated throughout the year, we believe that extending our distribution streams to scale the delivery of our technology solutions is imperative in driving sales and securing new clients, Paterson said in a letter to shareholders. With this in mind, we will continue to integrate with resellers and our existing distribution channels to capitalize on the growing demand from government, education, healthcare, and defense verticals. We believe this strategy continues to evolve as we continue to capture market share in the IAM market. He added: "I am energized about our future, as customer demand in cybersecurity continues to accelerate. And while the number of high-profile cyberattacks continue to increase, and the challenges posed by COVID-19 persist, the Plurilock family of companies is positioned for growth and to deliver a competitive product in the growing zero trust market. Notably, Paterson said the company has a strong balance sheet with C$7.05 million cash on hand, as of September 30, 2021. He also noted the companys fiscal 2021 third-quarter financial results demonstrated strong sales growth momentum, with C$23.9 million in total revenue (as of September 30, 2021) for the nine-month period. He also said that the company is growing via mergers and acquisitions. On April 1, Plurilock announced its first acquisition of Aurora Systems Consulting Inc., a leading cybersecurity and IT service provider based in California. Through this acquisition, Plurilock expanded its sales footprint across North America with major US operations, gaining access to over 140 tier-1 customers and a professional sales team. Aurora now forms the backbone of Plurilock's Solutions Division, securing multiple contracts and orders with US federal and state entities And on October 21, Plurilock entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with CloudCodes Software Private Limited, a leading cloud access security broker (CASB). This pending asset acquisition is expected to provide Plurilock with additional offerings within its product portfolio and create new opportunities to provide its customers with a cloud security solution and a path to integrate low-friction, high-security behavioral biometric identity. We are presently seeing a shift in the way enterprises are protecting their networks and assets, Paterson said. This shift has resulted in emerging authentication technologies gaining traction in the market. We are regularly evaluating assets we believe could be good bolt-on acquisitions and assist us in scaling our technology and distribution while expanding our geographical footprint. In addition to new offerings via M&A activities, he said Plurilock has continued to invest heavily in the development of its core continuous authentication products -- Plurilock ADAPTand Plurilock DEFEND. "Our team has been working hard to innovate and enhance the functionality of our products, with an eye toward the growing emphasis on a zero-trust architecture (ZTA)," he said. "We have seen the market begin a shift from outdated authentication paradigms to the mindset of zero trust - never trust, always verify - and the architecture that will facilitate enhanced security for enterprises. Zero trust will be a core focus for us in the year ahead." Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham In June 2021, it completed the acquisition of LQwD Financial Corp., creating the first publicly traded Lightning Network company LQwD FinTech Corp. CEO Shone Anstey said the Bitcoin Lightning Network-focused company has been quite active during the last six months as it expects further growth in 2022. In June 2021, it completed the acquisition of LQwD Financial Corp., creating the first publicly traded Lightning Network company that has a mission to develop institution-grade payment infrastructure and solutions. The remarkable growth of the Lightning Network has validated LQwD's reason to be hyper-focused on Lightning and I look forward to continuing to expand our business on this rapidly growing global payment network," Anstey said in a statement. The Lightning Network is a solution to mass scaling the usage of Bitcoin for microtransactions globally, dramatically improving upon fees, as well as instant settlement times. The Lightning Network is experiencing explosive growth since January 1, 2021, with node growth doubling and Bitcoin capacity increasing 181% to September 30, 2021. Some well-known prominent companies such as Jack Dorsey's Twitter and Square have expressed their enthusiasm to incorporate Bitcoin Lightning Network into their platforms. LQwD Fintech also provided a recap of notable corporate highlights during the last six months of 2021: Completed a non-brokered private placement for proceeds of C$5 million on June 9, 2021 Completed an offering of 23 million units for proceeds of C$8,050,000 on October 28, 2021 Cumulatively acquired over C$9 million worth of Bitcoin as an operating asset on Lightning Network, increasing LQwD's Bitcoin holdings to about 150 tokens Launched lqwd.tech, the company's proprietary multi-pronged, Lightning Network software platform (SaaS), allowing B2B markets, investors, and others broader access, more efficient liquidity, and seamless usage of global payments' infrastructure Entered into strategic services agreements with Netcoins Inc., a leading Canadian crypto trading platform and a subsidiary of BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (CSE:BIGG, OTCQX:BBKCF), and with Israeli-based Breez Development Ltd., a leading Lightning Network wallet provider Appointed Lightning Network experts Joost Jager and Roy Sheinfeld as strategic advisors, along with the appointment of Alexandra Moxin as vice president of product Participated in Adopting Bitcoin - A Lightning Summit in El Salvador from November 16-18, which brought together key groups of industry experts in the Bitcoin and Lightning Network community to discuss the future of money and payments in the Central American republic and abroad Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham The unique flavonoid formulation is being sold at 300 stores under the Loblaws banner, including Dominion, Zehrs, Fortinio's, Your Independent Grocer and Superstore. Valeo Pharma Inc announced that its immune support product Hesperco is now available for sale at Loblaws stores across Canada. The unique flavonoid formulation is being sold at 300 stores under the Loblaws banner, including Dominion, Zehrs, Fortinio's, Your Independent Grocer and Superstore. Each Hesperco capsule contains 500mg of Valeo's unique hesperidin formulation and are available in bottles of 60 capsules. Hesperidin is a flavonoid with powerful antioxidant properties that help support the immune system. A recent study confirmed hesperidins safety and potential benefits for the management of COVID-19 symptoms, according to Valeo. Valeo CEO Steve Saviuk told investors that the company is encouraged by the results of the Hesperidin COVID-19 clinical trial, which has recently been submitted for publication. The study concluded that hesperidin could have beneficial effects and may help reduce certain COVID-19 symptoms, Saviuk said in a statement. The publication further suggested that earlier treatment of longer duration and/or higher dosage should be studied." Valeo entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Ingenew Pharma Inc in April 2020 for the development, manufacture and commercialization of Hesperco. Based in Kirkland, Quebec, Valeo Pharma is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the commercialization of innovative prescription products in Canada with a focus on respirology, neurodegenerative diseases, oncology and other specialty products. Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas MGX Minerals Director Jared Lazerson joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has announced a business development and distribution partnership with Dong Bang Metal Co of Korea for metallurgical grade silicon. Lazerson telling Proactive that under certain terms and conditions, Dong Bang will receive exclusive distribution rights for Asia in regard to the Gibraltar and Koot Silicon Properties located approximately 95 kilometres northeast of Cranbrook, British Columbia. Srinagar, Jan 5 : An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces at Chandgam area in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Wednesday. "Encounter has started at Chandgam area of Pulwama. Police and security forces are on the job," a police officer said. The firefight between terrorists and security forces took place after a joint team of the police and the security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation on the basis of specific information about presence of terrorists. As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the encounter. Seoul, Jan 5 : North Korea on Wednesday fired what appears to be a ballistic missile toward the East Sea, South Korea's military said, in the recalcitrant regime's first show of force this year. The North launched the missile eastward at around 8.10 a.m. (S.Korea time) from a land-based platform, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without further elaboration, reported Yonhap news agency. "For additional information, the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters. South Korea's military in cooperation with the US is closely watching related North Korean movements and maintaining a readiness posture against the possibility of the North's additional launches, the JCS said. It marks the North's first projectile launch since the regime fired off a new submarine-launched ballistic missile in October last year. The latest saber-rattling came just days after the North concluded a five-day Central Committee plenary of the ruling Workers' Party on Friday, highlighting its key focus on economic issues and its pandemic response. At the plenary, participants stressed the importance of boosting their country's defence capabilities, pointing to the growing instability of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not issue any particular messages for the South or the US at the gathering, but the latest launch appears aimed partially at raising the stakes for future talks with the allies, analysts said. Wednesday's launch could also be part of the North's wintertime drills, some observers said. The launch came amid expectations the North could refrain from major strategic provocations that could undermine the mood for peace in the lead-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics slated for next month. Kasganj : , Jan 5 (IANS) The Kasganj Police in Uttar Pradesh has arrested a youth for allegedly trapping a Hindu minor girl by posing as a Hindu boy and later forcing her to convert to Islam. According to the reports, a 15-year-old girl studying in Class 10 was kidnapped by a Muslim man in Amanpur locality of Kasganj, after which the girl's family members lodged a complaint against him at the police station. The Muslim man posed as Hindu named Raju to trick the girl and abducted her while she was on her way to the school. Later, a video appeared on social media that showed a girl in a black burqa confessing her love for 'Raju'. The minor girl in the video said that she was in a relationship with 'Raju' for the past 7 years and that they trusted each other. "He (Raju as in the video) loves me more than my parents love me. We want to get married. I have no problem getting married to him", she said. Kasganj Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohan Pramod Botre, swung into action after receiving the complaint and the Muslim and the minor girl were recovered within 24 hours. The SP said that a case has been registered based on the complaint of the minor girl's father and the Muslim man has been arrested. "He has been sent to jail", he added. Lucknow, Jan 5 : Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has raised objection to Uttar Pradesh government advertisements that show 'anti-social elements' wearing red caps and holding them responsible for all problems before 2017. In a statement, Akhilesh described the Yogi Adityanath government's 'Farq Saaf Hai' campaign as gross misuse of funds for political publicity of the ruling BJP. The Samajwadi president said that he would ensure that this splurging of public funds was probed and officials involved are brought under its ambit. "Information department's mandate is to publicise development projects and schemes of the government. Instead, they are releasing advertisements showing people wearing red caps to explain how the situation has changed for the better. This is pure political publicity. The Samajwadi government of 2022 will ensure that a thorough probe is conducted to assess the extent to which public money has been wasted on such political publicity and will also look into the role of the officials involved," Akhilesh said. The former Uttar Pradesh CM's statement came in connection with the publicity campaign in which the 'bad man' is shown wearing red caps identical to the one worn by all SP functionaries including Akhilesh Yadav, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and all party leaders. The SP chief said ever since the BJP has formed the government, all that the party has done is to blatantly misuse the government machinery for everything except welfare of the people. "Since the BJP formed the government in 2017, public funds have been spent on publicity of the party," he stated. Akhilesh said the BJP regime was riddled with disturbing instances of crime against women. Farmers were crushed under the wheels of a jeep and despite involvement of a minister in the entire conspiracy, no action has been initiated against him. "Criminals got shelter to indulge in illegal liquor trade which claimed hundreds of lives. During the previous SP regime, the government did not allow such incidents to happen. The difference is clear between the SP and BJP regimes and the people of Uttar Pradesh have decided to vote out the non-performers," he said. Prayagraj : , Jan 5 (IANS) Prominent seers and religious organisations have decided to take a 'firm decision' to free Hindu temples and mutts across the country from the control of state governments at the 'Dharam Sansad' to be held later this month at the upcoming Magh Mela in Prayagraj. Mahant Ravindra Puri, president of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), the apex decision-making body of 13 Hindu akharas or monastic orders of the country, said, "The all-important 'Dharam Sansad', scheduled to be held on January 30, will prepare a blueprint for a mass movement to be launched for freeing temples from government control." Puri said, "It is an irony that several officials, who are of different religions, take decisions on our temples and mutts and this situation cannot be allowed to continue any more. Affairs of many prominent temples of our country, including Tirupati Balaji, Sri Jagannath or Siddhi Vinayak, are being looked after by the government. Furthermore, there are some temples and mutts which are being looked after by persons who are of different religions and are not well aware of our religious practices and rituals." President of Akhil Bhartiya Dandi Swami Parishad, Swami Brahmashram, said, "Governments should not have a say in managing funds, day-to-day affairs or for that matter the religious rituals and practices of temples and mutts." The 'Dharam Sansad' at Magh Mela is significant because it represents all saints and religious organisations and is authorised to take up issues related to Hindu religion. The Dharam Sansad has earlier discussed the issues like construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, Krishna temple at Mathura, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, making the Ganga pollution-free, deaths of cows, etc. Meanwhile, it has been decided by the prominent seers of the Akhara Parishad that a 'panchkoshi parikrama' would be held at Prayagraj from January 27 to 29. ABAP general secretary Mahant Hari Giri would lead the 'parikrama'. The Dharam Sansad is proposed to be held at a camp named after 'Bhagwan Duttatreya' on January 30. Chennai, Jan 5 : Three people died and four others were grievously injured in an explosion at a firecracker unit in Sattupeti village of Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar district on Wednesday morning. The injured have been admitted to the Virudhunagar government district hospital. Fire and rescue teams from Virudhunagar, Sattupeti, and Sivakasi have been pressed into service. A police contingent, led by the District superintendent of police, has also reached the spot. Virudhunagar district collector is leading the rescue operations. On January 1, a firecracker unit near Sivakasi had burst claiming five lives and grievously injuring ten. Explosion in several units in and around Sivakasi and Virudhunagar districts has led to several deaths and maiming of people for life. CANBERRA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday that he agreed to supply free rapid coronavirus tests to concession card holders. Speaking after meeting with state and territory leaders, Morrison said that concession card holders including welfare and pension recipients will be eligible to receive 10 free rapid antigen tests (RATs) for COVID-19 over the next three months. He also announced that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests will no longer be required to confirm positive RATs in a bid to ease intense pressure on Australia's testing regime. However, Morrison again ruled out any move to make RATs free for the general public. "Universal free access was not considered the right policy response by all of the states and territories in attendance today, and the Commonwealth," he told reporters. "What was agreed, though, was providing, as I flagged two weeks ago, a model to provide concessional access for tests over a three-month period, and they will be made available through the pharmacy network." It comes as unprecedented demand for COVID-19 tests across Australia continues, with RATs sold out across the country and queues for PCR tests extending hours. Earlier on Wednesday, Anthony Albanese, leader of the Opposition Labor Party, increased pressure on Morrison by calling on the government to make RATs free for all Australians, describing Morrison's opposition to the proposal as "ridiculous." "It is very clear the simplest and most cost-efficient way is to make tests free and available," he told reporters. "It's clear that the costs of tests are dwarfed by the costs of inaction." Albanese's proposal was supported by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA). In a joint statement, the AMA and PHAA said RATs were an "essential tool" in the fight to control the spread of COVID-19. "RATs do, and must continue to play, an essential role in a pandemic that is looking increasingly out of control," Terry Slevin, chief executive of the PHAA, said. "We can not diminish the incredible work of our public health and healthcare workers across the continent by letting market forces decide who can afford to get and use RATs during this health emergency." According to the Health Department of Australian government, the country on Wednesday reported 64,767 new locally-acquired COVID-19 infections, bringing the total case number to 612,106. It marks the third consecutive day Australia has set a new record for cases, and was among the deadliest days in recent month, with the total deaths reaching 2,289 since the start of the pandemic. There were 3,000 cases being treated in hospitals around Australia on Wednesday, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic, including 194 in intensive care. As of Tuesday 94.5 percent of Australians aged 16 and over had received one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 91.6 percent were double vaccinated. Chennai, Jan 5 : The Madurai bench of the Madras High court has granted Rs 25,000 compensation to a woman who was bitten by a rat at the Madurai Government Rajaji Medical College premises in 2014. The woman Muthulakshmi had petitioned the court that she was bitten by the rat on January 23, 2014 when she was admitted to the Government Medical College Madurai and she suffered swelling and pain after it. The government pleader had objected to the petition citing that the woman had informed of the incident only one week after she was bitten by the rat. However, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan while hearing the plea on Monday said that he had taken note of the newspaper reports of that day produced by the counsel of the petitioner. The judge also pointed out that the then medical superintendent had told newspapers that the blockage in the drainage had led to the rat menace. Justice Karthikeyan while delivering the judgment said, "It may not be proper on the part of this court to rely on newspaper reports, but I hold that it is justifiable on my part to hold that the petitioner had suffered rat bite cannot be brushed under the carpet and flagged as a false statement. He also said, "If it was false then the hospital authorities would have certainly given a rejoinder to the newspaper items". Justice Karthikeyan also opined that the incident was an unforeseen accident and that the compensation is automatically payable. The judge directed the Tamil Nadu health secretary to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to the woman and directed the hospital authorities to prevent such menace to the hapless patients in future. Bhopal, Jan 5 : Madhya Pradesh's 'Anand Vibhag' or Happiness department, the first of its kind concept in the country will be started again. The state government has approved a proposal to reinstate the department as it was merged with the spirituality department by the previous Kamal Nath-led Congress government in December 2018. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government had introduced the Happiness department in Madhya Pradesh back in 2016 on the lines of the neighbouring country Bhutan to measure happiness of its people. The concept had hit national headlines. To serve the real purpose of the concept in reality, the state government had signed an MoU with IIT-Kharagpur for the development of a happiness index to measure the well-being of people in the state in 2017. In the next course of action, the state government was supposed to start a happiness survey to measure people's happiness by 2018, but, BJP lost the Assembly elections (in 2018) and the Congress government came into power. The Congress government merged two departments into one and renamed it spiritual department. The reason being that the objective of it (spiritual department) was to strengthen inter-communal harmony and Sarvadharma Sambhav (equal respect to all religions). The Congress government had then justified its decision of merging the happiness department, saying that such a department has been working under different names in several countries including the US, the UK, Argentina, Denmark and many others. However, due to political crisis in the month of March 2020, Kamal Nath-led Congress government fell and the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government came back to power. On Tuesday, Shivraj Singh's cabinet gave its consent to separate the happiness department from the spiritual department. "The cabinet has given its consent to the proposal to amend the work (allocation) rule for the formation of 'Anand Department' and renaming of 'Spiritual Department' to 'Religious Trust and Endowment Department," the state government said in an official statement on Tuesday. Now, the happiness department will again come into existence along with a separate religious trust and endowment department. "The Congress government had snatched away the happiness department, which is an important concept to bring happiness among the common people. It is a very positive development that the BJP government has initiated to strengthen the happiness department again," said state home minister Narottam Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the government. Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 5 : The Congress party on Wednesday slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for lifting the suspension on his former principal secretary and senior IAS official M. Sivasankar and asked him to 'appoint prime accused Swapna Suresh in her old job also to complete the equation'. The revoking of the suspension of Sivasankar came on Tuesday night. Former Leader of Opposition and veteran Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala, "What he should have done was to extend the suspension of Sivasankar and after he gets a clean chit, then appoint him. But Vijayan has not done it and all know that even his name (Vijayan) in the gold smuggling case was heard. The message through lifting the suspension means Vijayan is supporting those allegedly involved in the gold smuggling case," said Chennithala. The smuggling case came to light on July 5, 2020, when the Customs arrested Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, for allegedly smuggling gold in a diplomatic baggage destined for the Consulate. Swapna Suresh, who previously worked in the UAE Consulate, and her associate Sandip Nair were arrested in the case by the NIA from Bengaluru a few days later. Trouble started for Sivasankar after Swapna's arrest and then came out tales of the relation with Sivasankar. Vijayan, unable to stand the massive onslaught, first suspended Sivasankar from service and in October 2020 he was arrested and for 98 days he was cooling his heels in a jail, after which he got bail. "Now that Sivasankaran has been reinstated, Vijayan should now appoint Swapna Suresh also in her old job," slammed Chennithala. Sivasankar used his clout in the office of Vijayan and appointed her at a high paying job in the IT department, even when she is alleged to be Class 10 pass. At the height of the case, Vijayan had said, "I don't know anything." The Covid pandemic came to his help forcing the entire opposition to remain indoors and Vijayan successfully countered the negative publicity in the gold smuggling case and he won a resounding victory in April 6, 2021 Assembly polls. Chennai, Jan 5 : The PMK founder S.Ramadoss on Wednesday urged the Tamil Nadu government to ban the online gambling so that news about suicide due to money loss does not become like daily weather report. Ramdoss said the Tamil Nadu government should immediately enact a law banning online gambling. According to Ramadoss during the past three days there have been two suicides and one robbery that are attributed to loss of money in online gambling. Los Angeles, Jan 5 : Actor Michael Keaton returns to his famous Batman/Bruce Wayne role in the upcoming Warner Bros. tentpole 'The Flash', it will mark 29 years since he last played the Caped Crusader on the big screen. Keaton walked away during the development of 'Batman Forever', which saw Joel Schumacher taking over directing duties from the actor's 'Batman' and 'Batman Returns' director Tim Burton, reports variety.com. Schumacher and Keaton clashed over the lighter, more campy tone of 'Batman Forever'. Keaton did not want to give up the darker feel of Burton's films, as the actor recently discussed at length on the aIn the Envelope" podcast'. "It was always Bruce Wayne. It was never Batman," Keaton said of what drew him to the comic book role. "To me, I know the name of the movie is aBatman,' and it's hugely iconic and very cool and (culturally) iconic and because of Tim Burton, artistically iconic. I knew from the get-go it was Bruce Wayne. That was the secret." He added: "I never talked about it. Batman, Batman, Batman does this, and I kept thinking to myself, 'Y'all are thinking wrong here.' Bruce Wayne. What kind of person does that?' Who becomes that?" "When the director who directed the third one, I said, 'I just can't do it'," Keaton continued. "And one of the reasons I couldn't do it was -- and you know, he's a nice enough man, he's passed away, so I wouldn't speak ill of him even if he were alive a" he, at one point, after more than a couple of meetings where I kept trying to rationalise doing it and hopefully talking him into saying, aI think we don't want to go in this direction, I think we should go in this direction.' And he wasn't going to budge." According to Keaton, he told Schumacher that he could no longer play Batman if the tone was moving away from the dark nature of Burton's movies. Schumacher allegedly told Keaton: "I don't understand why everything has to be so dark and everything so sad," to which the actor responded, aceWait a minute, do you know how this guy got to be Batman? Have you reada I mean, it's pretty simple." Keaton's performance in 'The Flash' will hit theaters November 4. The actor will continue to reprise the character in 'Batgirl', the HBO Max original movie that's also set to debut in 2022. Chennai, Jan 5 : With the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, Tamil Nadu is contemplating stringent control measures from Wednesday to contain the spread of the infection. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin met state Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan and state public health officials, including T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Tamil Nadu government, on Tuesday and planned strict curbs. The fresh Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu have risen from 1,728 cases on Monday to 2,731 cases on Tuesday while the test positivity rate rose from 0.7 per cent on December 30 to 2.6 per cent on Tuesday showing a quantum jump in infected cases. In Chennai alone fresh Covid cases increased to 1,489 from 876 cases on Monday. This, according to state health officials, accounts for 55 per cent of the total infected cases of Tamil Nadu. Greater Chennai Corporation has already increased the number of testing from 22,000 on Monday to 30,000 from Tuesday onwards taking into consideration the hike in fresh cases. Chennai has contributed to more than 50 per cent of the fresh cases. Perambur MLA, M. Prabhakaran and Aranthangi MLA, S.T. Ramachandran tested positive for Covid-19 and are under treatment. Meanwhile, Stalin in a statement on Tuesday appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to be vigilant and inoculate themselves at the earliest. He also urged the people to adhere to Covid-19 protocols, including wearing masks, social distancing, sanitising and washing of hands regularly to prevent the spread of the infection. State Public Health department officials told IANS that more restrictions will be in place from Wednesday such as the number of people attending marriages, funerals and other public gatherings. Tamil Nadu Health Minister told IANS, "The state Health department will issue certain guidelines regarding the measures to be taken to contain the infection which has shown a rise in Covid cases. Already the third wave is on and people must strictly follow the directives given by the Health department to prevent the infection from spreading in large numbers. There is no reason to worry but one has to be cautious and take necessary precautions following the Covid-19 protocols." Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5 : How free are women to make their own choices in the circumstances in which they find themselves? How do ordinary citizens become caught in communal divisions and migrant labourers cope with despair during the pandemic? These are some of the queries posed by the poignant and thought-provoking tales in this book. Set in various parts of India and abroad, "Ganga's Choice and Other Stories" (Niyogi Books), this collection of 15 stories by Vaasanthi, one of India's well-known writers and translated from the Tamil original, powerfully captures slices of life to showcase the courage and strength of ordinary people. A young woman derided as a freak chooses to live her life on her own terms; women from different backgrounds struggle against gender roles that are defined by rigid and oppressive social conventions; two migrant workers - rendered jobless during a lockdown - try to return to their village and maintain a bond of solidarity, despite different religious identities; a Sikh farmer living near the Line of Control loses his family to cross-border shelling but looks after the orphaned son of his neighbour from a different community. The stories reflect the range and depth of Vaasanthi's writing and unveil how humanity redeems the individual and provides hope, even in the midst of adversity. "The stories are about lived experience and real characters that I have met - most importantly women, who have inspired me and moved me to speak about them, how they deal with injustices within their social circumstances in most unique ways," Vaasanthi says. The stories, renowned author K. Satchidanandan says, "surprise and enchant the reader with their thematic diversity and the vividness and vivacity of her characters drawn from different backgrounds. These 15 short stories are apt to give even a reader unacquainted with her many worlds a clear idea of her narrative skill and her deep insight into human situations and the transformations in attitudes and world-views that mark generational changes in the subcontinent. It is a sheer joy to read Vaasanthi's stories in this representative collection". Vaasanthi is a leading writer, journalist, and columnist in Tamil and English. She has published 30 novels, 6 short story collections, 4 volumes of journalistic articles, and 4 travelogues in Tamil in the last 40 years. She was the Editor of the Tamil edition of India Today for 10 years. Her articles have appeared in leading Indian newspapers and magazines. Her works have been translated in Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, English, Norwegian, Czech, and Dutch. Two of her novels have been made into Malayalam films. She is the recipient of several awards in Tamil Nadu including the Best Short Story Writer award, Best Novel award for "Ammani". She has received the UP Sahitya Sansthan award and Punjab Sahitya Akademi award for her novels translated in Hindi and English respectively. Now a freelance writer and journalist, she lives in Delhi. New Delhi, Jan 5 : After Sulli deal and Bulli Bai aap, new controversy has emerged on social media where now Hindu women with derogatory words and photos are being targeted and bullied. This started with a Telegram app based channel where highly derogatory posts about Hindu women were being uploaded. After the row on social media the government of India got the channel blocked and has assured action against those behind this. Muslim women were bullied through Sulli Deal and Bulli Bai which sparked a nationwide controversy. Now several accounts on different social networking sites have been found posting derogatory photos and comment about Hindu women. A few varified twitter handles reported the matter to Mumbai and Delhi Police demanding action. A senior Delhi Police official said that they have not got any written complaint as of now and were waiting for that. Meanwhile, Ashwani Vaishnaw, the Union Minister of Information and Technology, informed that they have blocked a Telegram App channel where such posts were being uploaded. He informed that an inquiry has also been initiated. The minister said that Facebook has been asked to take action on such pages. According to information, such accounts are on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram Channel and on Instagram. Various people have shared the links of such Facebook pages with Delhi and Mumbai Police. In Bulli Bai app where Muslim women were defamed, the Mumbai Police has arrested there persons and are still probing the matter. The Delhi Police said that they are discussing the matter with seniors to decide future course of action. Chennai, Jan 5 : Tamil Nadu government wants the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation regime to be extended by two more years, Governor R.N.Ravi said. Addressing the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday, Ravi said the GST compensation regime is coming to an end on June 6. "After the introduction of GST, the state was not able to realise the high growth of tax collections that it had witnessed during the VAT (value added tax) regime. The Covid pandemic has further exacerbated this problem," he said. He said the state's revenues are yet to recover and it would adversely impact the state finances, if the compensation is not extended for at least two more years. "Therefore, this Government strongly urges the GST Council and the Union Finance Ministry to continue the GST compensation at least till 30.06.2024," Ravin said. Chennai, Jan 5 : The Tamil Nadu government's measures have resulted in 60.71 per cent of the eligible population having been administered two vaccine doses against coronavirus, said Governor R.N. Ravi. Addressing the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday, Ravi said the government has taken extensive measures to increase the coverage of vaccination against Covid. "Mega vaccination drives are being conducted on a weekly basis throughout the State. When this Government (DMK government) assumed office, the coverage of vaccination was very low, with only 8.09 per cent of the eligible population having been administered the first dose and 2.84 per cent, the second dose," Ravi said. "In just seven months, due to the concerted efforts of this government, the vaccination coverage has been increased to 86.95 per cent for the first dose and 60.71 per cent for the second dose, with a total of 8.55 crore doses being administered," he added. According to him, the state government has expanded the vaccination programme to cover children in the age group of 15-18 years, and will provide 'precaution dose' for frontline staff, health workers and vulnerable sections above 60 years of age. Ravi said to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus the government has strengthened the testing and checking protocols at international airports. Based on the experience gained during the second wave, Tamil Nadu was one of the first states in the country in establishing facilities for genome sequencing. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5 : Questions have been raised over stock exchanges and SEBI over how shady companies are allowed to trade at a 20 per cent freeze and in futures and options (F&O) category. Sandip Sabharwal, investment advisor and equity analyst said in a tweet, "For the last 6 months #PrajIndustries has been put into Trade to Trade and a 5% freeze High quality company and management with strong performances." Contrasting this, Sabharwal has raised questions on how junk companies trade with a 20 per cent freeze and shady companies are put in F&O. "On the other hand junk companies trade with a 20% freeze, not only that many shady Cos are put into F&O," Sabharwal added. The remarks by Sabharwal, former Head of Equity, SBI MF and CIO, JM Financial raise questions over the quality of some stocks being pushed in the elite categories of trading. This comes at a time when a record number of new investors have entered the stock markets for trading especially in the pandemic phase of the last two years. Some of the new investors are naturally more keen on the penny stocks counting on the premise that they come cheap. According to Amir Ansari, penny stocks are stocks that trade at very low prices normally below 50 rupees. They have low market capitalisation and mostly are illiquid. Penny stocks are lesser-known to the larger investing public. Investors remain away from them because the information regarding their fundamentals and businesses is either not reliable or not available. Since penny stocks are illiquid, sometimes only a few orders can lead to hitting circuit limit on the exchange. These stocks mostly give higher returns when they are hitting upper circuits for a number of days. Generally, this period of hitting circuits is not accompanied with trading volumes, Ansari said. Sometimes there is a strong fundamental story that moves the stock up. Other times it might just be a case of manipulation by stock operators. They artificially inflate the price and volumes to attract innocent retail investors. Once they have enough traders participating in the stocks they would offload their own holdings, Ansari said. Penny stocks trade at such low rates for a reason because most of the traders buying penny stocks don't even care about them and look to exit sooner or later once they have given decent returns. Penny stocks in India often don't comply with exchange regulations. They are not even transparent in their reporting, Ansari said. It is only when there is some news or some turnaround stories on penny stocks, that they move. The speculation leads to an increase in trading volumes and prices soar. But very few of them turn out to be true or genuinely strong on a fundamental basis. Any negative news causes the price to turn south, Ansari said. Penny stocks trade at such low rates for a reason because most of the traders buying penny stocks don't even care about them and look to exit sooner or later once they have given decent returns. Penny stocks in India often don't comply with exchange regulations. They are not even transparent in their reporting. It is only when there is some news or some turnaround stories on penny stocks, that they move. The speculation leads to an increase in trading volumes and prices soar. But very few of them turn out to be true or genuinely strong on a fundamental basis. Any negative news causes the price to turn south. Other ways where traders can identify penny shares are based on their exchange categorisation. For instance, penny stocks in India, often trade in the Trade to Trade Segment (BSE T to T segment or NSE - BE Segment). You can also identify penny stocks based on their BSE group which include XC, XD, XT, T, Z and ZP groups. (Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in) Chennai, Jan 5 : The Tamil Nadu Health department has opened a Siddha Covid care centre in Periyar Maniammai hospital at Periyar Thidal in Veperi. In a statement on Tuesday, the Health department said this 41-bed Covid care centre is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu government has been campaigning for an integrated treatment to bring Covid cases under check and had announced that it would soon open a Siddha Covid care centre. Tamil Nadu Health Minister, Ma Subramanian had already said that the state would go for an integrated treatment approach to cure Covid-19 and that the Indian system of medicine will be used along with allopathic medication. The Minister in a statement on Wednesday urged the people to use all the available health care facilities to keep the Covid-19 infection at bay and stay healthy. He appealed to the people to wear masks, maintain social distancing, sanitisation and regular washing of hands. The fresh Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu have risen from 1,728 cases on Monday to 2,731 on Tuesday and the test positivity rate rose from 0.7 per cent on December 30 to 2.6 per cent on Tuesday showing a quantum jump in the Covid figures. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Washington, Jan 5 : Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with complications at birth such as preterm birth or babies born underweight, according to a study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Pregnant women with Covid-19 are at increased risk for severe illness and adverse birth outcomes, yet many remain reluctant to be vaccinated. To explore the effect of Covid vaccines in pregnancy, the CDC evaluated 46,079 pregnant women in the US between December 15, 2020 and July 22, 2021. Among more than 10,000 women who received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the rates of preterm birth were 4.9 per cent compared to 7.0 per cent for roughly 36,000 unvaccinated women, researchers said in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on Tuesday. Further, the report also showed that Covid vaccination did not increase the risk of delivering a baby who weighed less than usual for the number of weeks of pregnancy. These data support the safety of Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy, said Heather S. Lipkind, from Yale University, US, in the report. "Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age at birth overall, stratified by trimester of vaccination, or number of vaccine doses received during pregnancy, compared with unvaccinated pregnant women," Lipkind added. Women with symptomatic Covid-19 during pregnancy have a more than two-fold increased risk for intensive care unit admission, invasive ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and a 70 per cent increased risk for death, compared with nonpregnant women with symptomatic infections. Thus, the CDC recommends Covid-19 vaccination for women who are pregnant, recently pregnant, who are trying to become pregnant now, or who might become pregnant in the future. However, vaccination coverage among pregnant women has been low due to concerns regarding vaccine safety. In the CDC report, the women became pregnant between May and October of 2020, before vaccines were available. Nearly all who were vaccinated got the shots in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. Some 96 per cent of them had received at least one dose of an mRNA vaccine from either Pfizer, or Moderna. The remaining women received the single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. There was no difference in outcomes based on the timing of vaccination, or on which mRNA vaccine was received or how many doses. "Results have consistently shown no increased risk when stratified by mRNA Covid-19 vaccine dose, or by second or third trimester vaccination, compared with risk among unvaccinated pregnant women," Lipkind said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Kolkata, Jan 5 : With each passing day, the Covid-19 situation in West Bengal is going out of control of the state administration. In the last 24 hours, 9,073 people were infected, which is nearly double the number of the people that got infected two days earlier. According to the data available with the state Health department, on Monday 6,078 people got infected with Covid-19, but on Tuesday it made a quantum leap and touched 9,073, taking the total number of Covid-infected patients to 16,64,308 in the state. The rapid increase in the spread of the disease has forced the state to go for a partial lockdown. On Monday, the infection rate in the state was 439 but on Sunday it rose to 6,153 -- a 12-time surge. On Tuesday the rate touched 9,073. The rate of increase in infected cases during the last seven days has been alarmingly upward. On last Wednesday, the daily rate of infections crossed the 1,000-mark for the first time in the last 177 days, recording 1,089. On last Thursday, the rate increased to 2,128, last Friday it was 3,415, -- a daily increase of 1,000 or more. On Sunday it showed a daily increase of more than 1,500 taking the figure of daily infections to 6,153. On Monday it was slightly lower with 6,078 cases. Kolkata recorded the highest rate of infection among the districts recording more than half of Covid infections. According to data available with the state Health department, 4,759 people were found to be Covid-positive in the city on Saturday, followed by North 24 Parganas that saw daily infection of 1,391 positive cases while Howrah recorded 698 cases. The state government is keen to stop the rapid surge of the disease. The government, apart from imposing restrictions on movement and the people, has announced containment zones in different parts of the city and suburbs. At present, the state government has announced 26 micro-containment zones in Howrah, 118 in the North and South 24 Parganas and another 25 in Kolkata. "We are against total lockdown. We are taking every possible step to control the spread of the disease," a senior state government official said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) January 05 : The release of Prabhas and Pooja Hegde starrer love story Radhe Shyam has been postponed due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the country. The film was slated to release in theatres on January 14, 2022, coinciding with the festival of Sankranthi. Originally, Radhe Shyam was planned for a release on July 30, 2021, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year. The film has been postponed once again due to the surge in Omicron variant cases. However, the new release date has not been announced. The makers have announced the delay in the new release date 10 days before the film was scheduled to hit the theatres. In an official statement on social media, UV Creations, which is producing the film, said, We have to postpone the release of our film Radhe Shyam due to the ongoing covid situation. Our sincere thanks to all the fans for your unconditional love and support. We will see you in cinemas soon..! It added the hashtag Radhe Shyam Postponed. The statement read as, We have been trying our best for the past few days but considering the growing cases of Omicron variant it looks like we will have to wait for our labour of love to get to the big screens The statement further stated, Radhe Shyam is a story of love vs destiny and we are sure that your love will help us rise over these tough times together. Will see you in the cinemas soon. Bollywood trade analyst Taran Adarsh also tweeted, It's official: Radhe Shyam postponed Taran also added that Radhe Shyam has been the fourth prominent title to be postponed after Jersey, RRR, and Prithviraj. We have to postpone the release of our film #RadheShyam due to the ongoing covid situation. Our sincere thanks to all the fans for your unconditional love and support. We will see you in cinemas soon..!#RadheShyamPostponed pic.twitter.com/aczr0NuY9r UV Creations (@UV_Creations) January 5, 2022 The period romantic drama film Radhe Shyam has been written and directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, starring Prabhas and Pooja Hegde. It has been shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. The film is produced by UV Creations, Gopi Krishna Movies and T-Series. Set in Europe of the 1970s, the film went on floors in October 2018. The makers of Jersey were the first to cancel the release of the film on the December 31 due to the rising Covid-19 cases, which have started impacting the theatre capacity. After Delhi government ordered the closure of cinemas halls, more films like RRR and Prithviraj have also postponed their theatrical release dates. Maharashtra government has also issued new guidelines, as per which cinema halls are allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity. Six days prior to the release, the makers of SS Rajamoulis RRR starring Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn also decided to delay the film once again amid the surge in the coronavirus cases in the country. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5: In the chargesheet filed against the nine accused persons, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have claimed that the Kashmiri students, whose MBBS admission in the Pakistani colleges was managed by some separatists for several years after 1990, used to take the National Talent Search (NTS) test at Hurriyat's Pakistan office. The Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK)-a cross-border intelligence wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police which has been lately made an arm of the State Investigation Agency (SIA)-has made sensational revelations in its chargesheet. The 22-page chargesheet was filed on Thursday, 30 December 2021, in the court of the Special Judge for the NIA (National Investigation Agency) cases in Srinagar. The CIK had filed case FIR No: 05/2020 Dated 27-07-2020 under sections 13, 17, 18 and 40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and section 420 of Indian Penal Code after receiving information that a separatist-controlled network had arranged for admission of hundreds of the Kashmiri students in different colleges in Pakistan for several years. It had received information that a part of the money generated through illegal means was being spent on terrorist and subversive activities across Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, a money laundering section was also added to the same FIR. After 13 months of the investigation, in August 2021, the CIK claimed the arrest of six persons while maintaining that some of the accused were based in and operating from Pakistan. Militant-turned-separatist leader Mohammad Akbar Bhat aka Zaffar Akbar Bhat, his Pakistan-based brother Altaf Bhat, Mohammad Abdullah Shah of Kupwara and his Pakistan-based brother Manzoor Ahmad Shah, Srinagar-based woman Fatima Shah and Qazi Yasir of Anantnag are the key accused in the CIK chargesheet. After functioning as Hizbul Mujahideen's 'District Commander' for Budgam and 'Divisional Commander' for Central Kashmir for over three years, Zaffar Akbar Bhat emerged as an associate of Abdul Majeed Dar of Sopore. During his attempts to overthrow Syed Salahuddin and take over as 'Supreme Commander' of Hizbul Mujahideen, Dar was shot dead by the militants of his organisation at his home in Sopore in March 2003. All the Hizbul Mujahideen dissidents and Dar's loyalists, apart from Zaffar, were eliminated one after another. While Dar's confidant Masood Tantray aka 'Commander Masood' got killed in a Police operation in Pampore, Zaffar's brother and real estate dealer Abdul Gani Bhat was killed, allegedly by the militants of Hizbul Mujahideen. Thereupon Zaffar managed good relations with the militant organisation through the top separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and he was spared. On the other hand, J&K Police not only left him free to pursue his separatist political activities under the banner of 'Salvation Movement', but also provided him a security cover of four armed constables. Zaffar played a key role in the violent demonstrations and clashes of 2008 and 2010 against the Police and the security forces. In August 2021, he was arrested on charges of managing the Kashmiri students' MBBS admissions in Pakistan and pumping a part of the proceeds in militancy and separatism. According to the CIK chargesheet, he was operating the admissions gang through his brother Altaf Bhat who crossed over to Pakistan to become a militant in 1990. Detained in the same case, Qazi Yasir happens to be the successor-son of the slain separatist leader and an influential cleric Qazi Nisar who was shot dead allegedly by the militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in June 1994. The Ummat-e-Islami founder Qazi Nisar played a fundamental role in launching the Jamaat-e-Islami dominated Muslim United Front (MUF) and running its campaign in the Assembly elections of 1987. The CIK chargesheet illustrates how a well-organised network of separatists and militants, with the support of the Pakistani establishment including the High Commission in New Delhi, roped in the MBBS aspirants in the Kashmir valley and arranged for their admission in different professional colleges of Pakistan against huge amounts of money. The High Commission, it claims, used to issue valid travel documents to the beneficiaries on the written recommendations of some Hurriyat leaders. "The students were made to appear in the National Talent Search (NTS) test at Hurriyat office in Pakistan as a dupe tactics to make them believe that they were writing a pre-qualifying test which would lead to their admission in professional colleges in Pakistan," reads the chargesheet accessed by India Narrative. Usually such tests are offered free, or against nominal charges, to foreign students under the Technical Assistance Programme. Srinagar-based Career Park Educational Consultancy Trust and Andrabi Consultancy, operated by Syed Khlaid Geelani, allegedly conducted the task of picking aspirants and facilitating their passage to Pakistan. "During investigation, it surfaced that the accused persons affiliated with Hurriyat chapter of Kashmir and Pakistan under a planned conspiracy were illegally accumulating money on pretext of admissions in MBBS courses. While recording the statements it came to fore that the accumulated money was ploughed into militancy and to create law and order problems by disturbing peace, damaging public property, striking terror among the common masses and creating potential threat to the sovereignty of India," said the CIK chargesheet. "Money raised through this process was also distributed among the families of killed terrorists as a token of incentive for such families and families of active militants to boost their morale and carry forward antinational, subversive and radical activities against Union of India," it added. A part of the money collected from the parents of the MBBS aspirants was distributed among stone pelters during the valley-wide turbulence after the Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani's killing in an encounter in 2016. The chargesheet has mapped the trail of the money between different characters of the network, notably Mohammad Abdullah Shah, his Rawalpindi-based brother and Hurriyat (Geelani) activist Manzoor Ahmad Shah and Lahore-based brother Mohammad Sayeed Shah, chairperson of Zaffar Bhat's Al-Jabbar Trust, Fatima Shah, Zaffar and his Pakistan-based brother Altaf Bhat. Fatima Shah, according to the chargesheet, visited Pakistan several times. Her photographs with the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin have been recovered from her Srinagar residence. Her sister is married to a Kashmiri militant in Pakistan. The motive of the whole activity, according to the CIK chargesheet, was "to keep part of terror boiling and infuse new spirit into the terror fold". The last batch of the beneficiary students, who had returned to Kashmir due to the Covid pandemic in 2020, have not been permitted by the Government of India to travel back and continue their MBBS studies in Pakistan. Hundreds of the beneficiaries have already completed their MBBS in Pakistan and got regular jobs in the J&K Government. However, the CIK has not framed them as accused in the FIR. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Lucknow, Jan 5 : There are over 39,598 voters in Uttar Pradesh who are above 100 years of age. The Election Commission will be providing them special facilities, including that of postal ballot service, to vote. The state has a total of 15.02 crore registered voters. According to the Election Commission official, these centenarian voters will not only be encouraged to cast their votes, they could also be made local ambassadors to motivate others to take part in the voting process. Lucknow district election officer, Abhishek Prakash, said, "The EC is offering postal ballot service at homes of voters who are above 80 years. Further if any senior citizen voters wish to visit a polling booth, our on-duty staff will assist them in every possible way." As per EC data, the highest number of centurion electors are registered in Aligarh (1,727) followed by Prayagraj (1,413), Azamgarh (1,252), Ballia (1,213), Ghazipur (1,135) and Shahjahanpur (948). Sultanpur and Mainpuri district recorded the least number of centurion voters 48 and 61 respectively. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated former two-time 106-year-old MLA Shri Narain a.k.a. Bhulai Bhai, who had represented the Naurangiya Assembly segment, now known as Khadda in Kushinagar. Political parties also seem considerably enthused about these 'super-senior voters'. Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Vaibhav Maheshwari said, "Centenarian voters have seen both colonial and free India. Their opinion in public has huge weightage. Our party will assist such voters to reach the nearest polling booth and vote for change." BJP spokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava said, "These voters have immense experience. They have lived under several regimes, and with their vast experience they can often predict the elections results. Also, such voters have a lot of following in their community and families who follow them to polling booths." The One District One Product : has been one of the biggest success stories of the Yogi government during the last more than four-and-a-half-years. Lucknow, Jan 5 (IANS) By promoting the indigenous and specialised products and crafts in Uttar Pradesh on the Flipkart marketplace, the e-commerce platform has witnessed a 52 per cent quarterly growth in revenue for the states ODOP products in 2020-2021. The One District One Product (ODOP) has been one of the biggest success stories of the Yogi government during the last more than four-and-a-half-years. The promotion of local artisans in various districts of the state has borne fruit as the products under ODOP have reached across the country and even abroad. According to the state government spokesman, Flipkart, India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace, in partnership with the Uttar Pradesh government's ODOP project has been able to bring in the true value of digital commerce to small businesses, artisans and other economically weaker communities. More than two crore ODOP products worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been sold out on the Flipkart portal from April 2020 to October 2021 which has helped thousands of artisans from the state in a big way. Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, said, "We are delighted to see the growth that local businesses from Uttar Pradesh have witnessed on our marketplace platform. As a homegrown company, it has been our constant endeavour to bring increased market opportunities to MSMEs and small businesses, and under Uttar Pradesh government's ODOP programme -- promote specialised products that are unique to these districts. We are committed to building a truly local, democratic and inclusive platform backed by technology to support local businesses in India." Flipkart and Uttar Pradesh government joined hands in 2021 to bring district-specific products, unique to those regions, onto the Flipkart marketplace. These products range from leather products from Agra, aluminium utensils from Kanpur, chikankari and zari-zardozi work from Lucknow, wooden lacquerware and toys from Varanasi, wheat stalk craft from Bahraich, terracotta pottery from Gorakhpur and wood-carved crafts from Saharanpur, among many others. Additional Chief Secretary, MSME, Navneet Sehgal said that the statistics speak of the success of ODOP scheme which was nurtured and promoted under the guidance of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. "The demand for ODOP products is showing a northward trend all through and the state government is also looking forward to creating more facilities for the artisans and small entrepreneurs," he added. --IANS amita/khz/ New Delhi, Jan 5 : Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi once again raised the Jammu-Kashmir issue on the 73rd anniversary of the United Nations (UN). Shah wrote on Twitter: "On the 73rd anniversary of @UN our commitment to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir dispute through free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, we reaffirm our full support to Kashmiris in their just demand for the realization of their inalienable right to self determination. Pakistan calls upon the int'l community to take cognisance of the deteriorating situation in #IIOJK and hold India accountable for grave human rights violations and serious crimes against humanity in the occupied territory." It's not the first time that Pakistan calls for international interference in Jammu-Kashmir. In December 2021, Qureshi wrote a letter to the President of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General to "call upon India to reverse its actions, including those initiated on and after August 5, 2019, when Modi Government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir." In response to this, India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of the Article 370 was its internal matter and advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda. London, Jan 5 : Regular booster doses every four-six months to fight Covid may not be a sustainable way to prevent Covid infections, said Oxford vaccine expert Sir Andrew Pollard. Amid rising cases due to Omicron, which has the potential to escape vaccine immunity, calls for booster jabs got supercharged with many countries including the US, UK and India rolling out a third dose. "Administering booster vaccines to everyone every six months was 'not sustainable'," Pollard was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail. "We can't vaccinate the planet every four-six months. It's not sustainable or affordable. In the future, we need to target the vulnerable," said Pollard, who was chief investigator of the Oxford Covid vaccine trials and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, which developed AstraZeneca's jab. According to Pollard, future immunisation drives should target the most vulnerable, rather than all adults. "Today, less than 10 per cent of people in low income families have even had their first dose, so the whole idea of fourth doses globally is just not sensible," Pollard was quoted as saying to Sky News. "It may be that as science evolves we can work out who the most vulnerable are in populations and target future boosters for them to maintain their protection." However, in the wake of Omicron spreading rapidly, Israel has rolled out a fourth dose for over-60s, while both German and British health officials are planning for a second booster. Pollard advised that Britain shouldn't start rolling out fourth Covid vaccines until there is more evidence they are even needed, the report said. While the UK has seen a significant surge in cases, infections are reportedly mild. Pollard noted it is not clear why Omicron is causing more mild disease or that future versions of Covid will be similarly less severe. Updated versions of Covid jabs may be needed to "manage living with the virus in the future", he said. Vaccine makers are already working on tweaking the current crop of jabs in case they are needed against Omicron. But these won't be ready for months and so far the current vaccines are holding up against severe Covid outcomes. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. military bases overseas are contributing to the spread of COVID-19 within local populations, and the United States should reflect deeply on the negative impact that its actions have had on global anti-pandemic cooperation, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing in response to a query. According to reports, Denny Tamaki, governor of Japan's Okinawa prefecture, said the U.S. military has spread the Omicron variant to the prefecture, and that he was outraged at infections among personnel at the U.S. military camp spilling over to the local civilian population. He also renewed the call for a lifting of the exemption of U.S. military personnel to Japan's quarantine rules. Wang said that this is not an isolated incident, as clusters of cases in U.S. military bases overseas have posed a severe threat to the lives and health of local people. "The spreading of infections has also been caused by U.S. military personnel in the ROK and Germany," Wang noted. He said that U.S. soldiers stationed overseas have overridden the laws of host countries, defied and disobeyed local anti-pandemic protocols, and ignored local people's right to life and health, as well as the right to public health. Time and again, they have become COVID-19 "superspreaders" across the world. "COVID-19 protocols should be applied without exception, be it to a place or a person," said Wang, adding that the United States should deeply reflect on the negative impact its acts have brought to global anti-pandemic cooperation. The United States should enforce strict constraints on the U.S. military overseas, showing respect and a sense of responsibility toward the health of people around the world, instead of setting a bad example in the global fight against COVID-19, said the spokesperson. Enditem Canberra, Jan 5 : The Australian government said on Wednesday that it will build an indigenous cultural precinct in the nation's capital. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced 316.5 million Australian dollars (US $229.1 million) in funding for Ngurra, which translates to "home", "country" or "place of belonging" in various Aboriginal languages. To be built in Canberra halfway between Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial, Ngurra will incorporate a learning centre and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Xinhua news agency reported. It will also become a national resting place to care for the ancestral remains of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. "Ngurra is the realization of a long-held desire to have a home for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories at the heart of our nation," Morrison said in a statement. "It will be a national landmark of the highest order, standing proudly for us all to celebrate, educate, reflect and commemorate." A design competition for the precinct will begin but it is expected to be a lengthy process, with AIATSIS set to consult with the indigenous people about what needs to be included in the centre. "Ngurra will provide a new perspective on our shared history, as a significant moment for truth-telling, and a new place where the diversity of Indigenous Australia and one of the world's oldest living cultures will be celebrated," Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said. Chennai, Jan 5 : Director Karthick Naren's upcoming hyperlink thriller 'Nirangal Moondru', got off to an auspicious start on Wednesday with a simple pooja that was attended by the cast and crew of the film. The film, which features Atharvaa Murali in the lead, also features actors Sarathkumar and Rahman in pivotal roles. K. Karunamoorthy of Ayngaran International, who is producing the film, had earlier said, "I can assure you that the movie has lots of surprise elements. It's a hyperlink-drama-thriller that will have the signature of Karthick Naren. It will have strong characters, twists, and turns." The unit plans to complete the film by March 2022. The film has Jakes Bejoy scoring music and Tijo Tomy cranking the camera. Sreejith Sarang is the editor of the film, which has Don Ashok as its stunt choreographer. Ferozepur/New Delhi, Jan 5 : In a major security breach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cancelled his visit to Ferozepur town in Punjab, where he was scheduled to lay the foundation stones of Rs 42,750 crore projects, at the last minute. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced from the venue that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to address the rally "due to some reasons". Mandaviya was here for the foundation stone of three medical infrastructures, including the 100 bedded PGI Satellite Centre in Ferozepur to be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. Earlier, the Prime Minister landed at Bhaisiana Air Force station in Bathinda town from where he was supposed to travel to Ferozepur by road. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs' statement on the PM Modi's Punjab visit, "Today morning PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. "When the weather didn't improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than 2 hours. He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. "Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. "After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport." The Ministry of Home Affairs took cognisance of the serious security lapse and has sought a detailed report from the state government. This was Modi's first visit to the state after the repeal of three contentious farm laws. Earlier in the day, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal welcomed Modi at the airport in Bathinda. Chief Minister Charanjit Channi was to address the programmes virtually. "Welcoming Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi Ji, on behalf of the Punjab Government for his official visit to Punjab," Manpreet Badal tweeted. Just hours ahead of his visit, Modi tweeted, "I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Punjab today. At a programme in Ferozepur, the foundation stone of development works worth Rs 42,750 crore would be laid, which will improve the quality of life for the people." Modi was to lay the foundation stone of development projects of Rs 42,750 crore comprising two mega road corridors to enhance accessibility to prominent religious centres and three health institutions in this town bordering Pakistan. One of the road corridors will halve the travel time from 12 hours from the national capital to religious sites in Punjab, comprising Amritsar and Sultanpur Lodhi, and to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Katra. After paying obeisance to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at the memorial in Hussainiwala, about 260 km from the state capital Chandigarh, the Prime Minister was to lay the stones and address a public meeting. Modi last visited Hussainiwala in March 2015, where the last rites of the three freedom fighters were held after they were hanged in Lahore on March 23, 1931. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Warsaw, Jan 5 : The Polish government has signed deals with several local companies to build a wall along its border with Belarus, Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said on Tuesday. The barrier is being built on the basis of a law on border security that came into force last October, Xinhua news agency reported. The law was voted through parliament as a reaction to large numbers of migrants attempting to cross into Poland from Belarus. The barrier will consist of 5-metre tall steel posts with barbed wire on top, stretching for over 186 km. "A special task force was set up to make preparations for the construction of the protective border wall," Wasik said, adding that the signing of the contracts marked the completion of the first phase of the project. At a cost of around 1.6 billion zloty ($395 million), the barrier is slated to be completed by June this year. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security was breached during Punjab visit on Wednesday. Taking cognisance of the security breach, the MHA has sought a detailed report from the state government. The MHA also asked the Punjab government to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action. In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, "Today morning Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. When the weather did not improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Marytrs Memorial via road, which would take more than two hours. He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police," the MHA said. Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the Prime Minister's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. "The Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister," the MHA said. The MHA further stated that the Prime Minister's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to the Punjab Government. "As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda Airport," the MHA said. The MHA taking cognisance of this serious security lapse has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action. Prime Minister Modi was to visit Ferozepur, Punjab to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Jan 5 : A group of 32 former IFS officers and Ambassadors have slammed a motley group of activists for sustained smear campaign against the Modi government. The former IFS officers said in a statement that these activists many of them known leftists with sympathies for Maoists, joined by some former civil servants and military figures who have held the highest positions in their careers, as well as some sections of the media, have been conducting a sustained smear campaign against the present government on its presumed violations of the secular ethos of the country. The statement is signed by former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Ambassadors Veena Sikri, Lakshmi Puri, Shyamala Cowsik, Bhaswati Mukherjee, D.N. Srivastava, Ashok Kumar, J.S. Sapra, O.P. Gupta, N.P. Sharma among others. "This has taken effectively an increasingly anti-Hindu tenor under the guise of anti-Hindutva. The latter has become a convenient peg for "secular" posturing, adopting virtue-signaling "constitutional" positions, relying on bloated vocabulary of "Nazism" and "genocide" to gather international attraction and leverage it to bring odium to the Modi government. This explains the movement in US universities, for example, by elements of this assorted group to launch what are in reality anti-Hindu tirades", the statement said. The latest example of this is the manner in which these miscellaneous elements have latched on to some objectionable anti-minority statements made at a religious gathering at Haridwar in mid-December. "These should be condemned by all right thinking people no doubt, but when the import of these is exaggerated out of all proportion and the rantings by fringe elements are seen as representative of the sentiments prevailing in ruling circles, and as laying the agenda of what lies ahead at the national level, then the political leanings and moral integrity of the critics can be rightly questioned", the statement said. A tirade of accusations and calumny has been let loose in an effort to falsely portray the Haridwar speeches as a force very much larger than the fringe groups they represent. A slew of articles has appeared in the press by predictable personalities in a seemingly coordinated attempt to malign the state of affairs in the country, former IFS officers added. "Some journalists, speaking to the international media, have exposed their political bias by using terms like 'genocide' to describe the impact on a particular community. On a media platform in the Gulf countries, they have ranted about countless mosques destroyed, countless Muslims killed, the third largest Muslim population in the world targeted for 'genocide' in India and more in the same vein", the statement said. "Some others have enlarged the canvas of their politically contrived prejudices to see in this event an all-round failure of the police, the judiciary, and other constitutional bodies. Overwrought fears are expressed about an irreversible fragmentation and disintegration of the country by what is described as brazen and violent attacks against minorities throughout the North Indian heartland by supposedly not fringe elements but ones dangerously close to mainstream, and holding that the instruments of state are being bent to advance this communal agenda", the former Ambassadors said. Amazingly, the claim of historical wrongs against the Hindu community is dismissed as flimsy, and the spectre is being raised of the State eventually arbitrarily targeting any citizen irrespective of faith. The Haridwar incident is projected ridiculously as a peril for all Indians. "PM Modi's message of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas, is mocked by alleging that this is meant just for one community (the majority community), and not for all. This is line with attacks on 'majoritarianism', which is a way to question the mandate that the democratic process gives to the political party that wins elections legitimately and considers itself obliged to the electorate to implement its declared agenda lawfully", they added. "If a handful of religious figures speak of installing a Hindu Raj in the country, is that a reason for former generals, admirals, IAS, IFS and IPS officers of the highest rank to paint a crisis scenario and appeal to the President and the Prime Minister to stop a presumed developing rot in the country? Is it that they have lost so easily after retirement that sense of proportion and judgment which raised them to career heights while in service?" they asked. "Does this reflect some frustration at not having obtained what they may have aspired for as recognition and reward from the government after superannuation, or is it that they made a discovery of their hitherto dormant political affiliations only after retirement? Are they investing in a potential political change at the centre? It is not as if these well-informed individuals are unaware that communal divide and religious violence have existed in the country since independence and before, and did not suddenly emerge after 2014", the statement said. India's national security is not as much threatened, in the eyes of the signatories to the appeal, by Pakistan and China as by a handful of sundry Hindu activists saying some nasty things about the minorities in some forum of little importance and aggressively asserting their Hindu identity. As it happens, prominent seers in Haridwar have condemned their utterances as provocative, irresponsible and "damaging to the religious and social harmony of India". Action, including arrest, has been taken by the concerned state governments against the perpetrators. The redressal mechanisms are at work already, they added. They said this cabal of anti-Modi government activists deliberately ignore anything positive that the Modi government has done as it does not suit their personal and political agendas. Under PM Modi, welfare schemes for minorities have seen sharp increases in expenditure, including on rural housing, scholarships for needy students, priority sector lending by banks, the rural and urban livelihoods mission, and the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. In the first six years of the Modi administration, a total of Rs 22,000 crore was spent on minority welfare schemes, scholarships were awarded to 3.2 crore students from the minority communities, half of them girls. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said (July 2021) in a public statement at a book launch that "If anyone says Muslims should not stay in India, then he is not a Hindu...Anyone who is involved in lynching is not a Hindu". Such messaging has a powerful, widespread impact, not just on the immediate audience, and far beyond just the Hindu community. Taking note of this does not, of course, fit into the narrative that this group of feel-good activists want to disseminate, the former IFS officers said. They said that alll these attacks on the government, which seem quite orchestrated, have been completely one-sided and skewed. In the first place, they seek to blame the government in power for every statement made by any group anywhere in the country, which uses the name 'Hindu'. The statement said these arm-chair critics choose to ignore or dismiss equally virulent calls for violence and threats of violence made by not merely fringe groups, but by mainstream political figures in other communities, who have ranted about needing "only 15 minutes" to finish off the majority community. Another mainstream political party figure incited the people of one community to come together to "create four Pakistans in India". One-sided lessons to Hindus on secularism will not help build a secular India that these activists espouse. "Why is it that their fear of being accused of Islamophobia or conserving their pro minority credentials deter them from decrying the religious violence and excesses in Punjab by Khalistani elements in league with Pakistan? They, as the responsible citizens that they claim to be, should be taking more balanced positions as a measure of their commitment to a secular India", they added. Johannesburg, Jan 5 : Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara struck half-centuries before Kagiso Rabada took three wickets to leave India at 188/6 at lunch on day three of the second Test at the Wanderers. At lunch, India are leading by 161 runs with Hanuma Vihari and Shardul Thakur at the crease. It was an action-packed session where India dominated the first hour, thanks to Rahane and Pujara cashing on South Africa's wayward line and length. But the hosts bounced back in the second session, taking four wickets while conceding 37 runs, as Rabada started to make things happen. Resuming from 85/2 on day two, Pujara continued his impressive run, hitting Marco Jansen for two fours through on-side. On the other hand, Rahane slashed Jansen with a drive through mid-off followed by an upper cut over deep point. South Africa were unable to find a consistent line and length and leaked runs as Rahane continued to smash Rabada for boundaries. Pujara reached his fifty in 62 balls while two overs later, Rahane brought up his half-century with back-to-back boundaries through point and gully off Duanne Olivier. After the first hour of play fetched India 66 runs in 14 overs, including the partnership between Pujara and Rahane crossing the 100-run mark, South Africa bounced back in the second hour. Rabada took the first wicket of the day, getting a delivery to kick off from a length and Rahane edged to keeper Kyle Verreynne, breaking the 111-run partnership. Pujara survived an lbw on review off Olivier, but in the next over, Rabada trapped him lbw with a big inswinger hitting him flush on the pads. Rabada then went on to remove Rishabh Pant for a three-ball duck. After being rattled by being hit on the gloves, Pant stepped out the very next ball and tried to slog but gave a feather edge to Verreynne. Ravichandran Ashwin hit some boundaries but was caught down the leg side by Verreynne off Lungi Ngidi. Thakur got off the mark with a four off his second ball and remained not out along with Vihari. Much depends on the duo if India has to set a target of 200 and above for South Africa. Brief scores: India 202 & 188/6 in 44 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 53; Kagiso Rabada 3/54, Lungi Ngidi 1/34) lead South Africa 229 all out in 79.4 overs (Keegan Petersen 62; Shardul Thakur 7/61) by 161 runs. New Delhi, Jan 5 : With the vaccination drive for adolescents entering its third day, as per the Co-WIN portal 1,06,27,277 children in the 15 to 18 years' age group have been vaccinated with the first Covid-19 vaccine dose so far. According to the government's Co-WIN portal, 1,33,64,030 children have registered so far for the first dose of vaccine. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has lauded the spirit of the youngsters for receiving the vaccine and said "superb enthusiasm among 'Young India' for vaccination". "More than 1 crore youngsters between 15-18 years' age group have received first dose of Covid-19 vaccines that, too, on their third day of vaccination drive. I appeal to all eligible young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest," Mandaviya added in a tweet. As of now, only Bharat Biotech's indigenously-made Covaxin is available for vaccinating the 15-18 years' age group. According to the Health Ministry, additional doses of Covaxin will be sent to the states and UTs for administering the vaccine to this population category. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced on December 25 that vaccination for the 15-18 years' age group will begin from January 3. The vaccination process for a third precautionary dose of vaccine for health workers, frontline workers and vulnerable senior citizens will begin from January 10. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Mumbai, Jan 5 : Television actor Shagun Pandey recalls singing folk songs with a local musician in Bikaner, Rajasthan, while shooting for a honeymoon sequence in 'Meet'. He reminisces: "The hotel I was staying in had a beautiful breakfast area and there was this old, local man who used to sit there and play some soulful music. I was so impressed by his craft that I wanted to learn from him. Even though we had early morning shoots, I made sure that I take out time, get ready half an hour early, and go sing with him." 'Tujhse Hai Raabta' actor Shagun is seen playing the character of Meet Ahlawat in the show. His character is married to Meet Hooda (played by Ashi Singh) and to make their love story more interesting, makers have included a honeymoon sequence. The actor shares further about his experience of singing with a local artiste. "We used to sing different regional folk songs together and he even helped me correct my dialect. He taught me some new songs too and I must say that I absolutely loved jamming with him, it was a great experience. The guests in our hotel also enjoyed our morning music sessions." "It has become my morning routine and while I am missing it now, I make sure to practice and sing during my free time at home or on set," he adds. 'Meet' airs on Zee TV. Ulan Bator, Jan 5 : Mongolia is planning to offer a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine to its citizens on a voluntary basis, Mongolian Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said on Wednesday. "We are now working on a decision to administer the fourth dose," as the number of daily infections in the country is increasing again due to New Year celebrations, Enkhbold said during a press conference. Mongolia recorded 585 new infections of Covid over the past 24 hours, the highest record since December 1, 2021, bringing the national tally to 392,189, according to the health ministry. The disease has, so far, claimed 1,992 lives in the country after three more patients died in the past day. So far, 66.5 per cent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two Covid vaccine doses, while 922,681 people aged over 18 have received a booster. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) RAMALLAH, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian imprisoned in an Israeli jail on Tuesday ended his 141-day hunger strike after Israel decided to release him, senior Palestinian official for prisoners' affairs Qadri Abu Bakker told Xinhua. Hisham Abu Hawash, a 40-year-old father of five from Dura village near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, began refusing to eat since August in protest of Israel's detention without charges. A member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant movement, Abu Hawash is being held under administrative detention, a controversial practice of arresting suspects for months without allowing them to view the charges or evidence against them. His lawyer Khaled Mahajneh told reporters that Israel has agreed not to extend the detention beyond Feb. 26. Abu Hawash was hospitalized in December. He became frail and unconscious in recent days in an Israeli hospital, which on Sunday denied reports that the man's life was in danger. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel is holding more than 4,000 Palestinians in 23 prisons and detention camps, including 34 women. Enditem Agartala, Jan 5 : Tripura Assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty on Wednesday disqualified Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Das, who joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on October 31, 2021, after criticising the saffron party and its leadership in the state. The Speaker said that after examining all the relevant papers and documents as well as the petition of BJP Chief Whip, Kalyani Roy he had disqualified Das under the anti-defection law (the 10th Schedule of the Constitution). Roy earlier filed a petition before Chakraborty to disqualify the 43-year-old BJP legislator as he openly criticised Tripura's BJP government and its leaders before joining the TMC at a function in Agartala last year. "With the disqualification, Das would not be entitled to get any facilities, allowance and pension. Despite many letters and communication from the state Assembly Secretariat, he did not respond to any of it," Chakraborty told the media. The Speaker said that he has been examining the case of IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) MLA Brishaketu Debbarma, 44, who resigned from the Assembly in June 2021 and joined the TIPRA (Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance) headed by Tripura's royal scion, Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman. The IPFT with eight MLAS is an ally of the ruling BJP. Tripura Assembly Secretary, Bishnu Pada Karmakar told IANS that the Assembly Secretariat would send the Speaker's order by speed post on Wednesday to Ashish Das. Das, a Scheduled Caste leader and a BJP MLA from the Surma Assembly constituency in northern Tripura, refusing to make any comments on his disqualification said that he did not get any order or letter from the Speaker. He had earlier alleged that governance in Tripura is worse than under British rule while praising TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata in October last year. He had claimed that people in Tripura have been suffering a lot after the BJP-led government came to power. The dissident BJP legislator, after shaving his head and performing a 'yagna' at the Kalighat temple in Kolkata on October 6, had said that political anarchy and chaos were prevailing in BJP-ruled Tripura where people are unhappy with the performance of the state government. Das and four other BJP MLAs -- Sudip Roy Barman, Ashish Kumar Saha, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl and Burba Mohan Tripura -- in August last year held a big gathering in Agartala which was attended by many local BJP leaders and workers. To curb the rebellion in the party organisation and to set the governance right, several central party leaders led by BJP's North East Zonal Secretary (Organisation), Ajay Jamwal, had visited the state several times. In the presence of the central party leaders, three BJP MLAs -- Ram Prasad Paul, Sushanta Chowdhury, Bhagaban Chandra Das -- were on August 31 inducted into the Tripura cabinet in its first cabinet expansion after the BJP-IPFT alliance assumed charge in March 2018. The open dissent and internal dispute in the ruling BJP began after Sudip Roy Barman, who was holding the Health and Information Technology departments, was sacked in May 2019 following differences with Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. The BJP came to power in Tripura on March 9, 2018, after defeating the CPI(M)-led Left Front for the first time after the latter came to power in the northeastern state in 1978 along with West Bengal. New Delhi, Jan 5 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar discussed bilateral cooperation with his Maldivian counterpart, Abdulla Shahid. The call was made by the External minister to greet foreign minister of Maldives on new year, and both talked on mutual benefits and bilateral issues, informed the office of the External Minister. Later Jaishankar tweeted, "Recognized the great progress in bilateral cooperation in my talk with FM @abdulla_shahid. Its mutual benefits are very visible. Conveyed my New Year's greetings to the people and Government of Maldives". This conversation between the two is important as Abdulla Shahid was recently elected the President of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where India holds few key positions. A member of Parliament from 1995 to 2018, Abdulla also has served as the Speaker of Maldives's Parliament. Maldives' proximity to the west coast of India, it is barely 70 nautical miles away from Minicoy and 300 nautical miles away from India's west coast, and its situation at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through Indian Ocean, and its potential to allow a third nation's naval presence in the area imbues it with significant strategic importance to India. India has a pre-eminent position in the Maldives, with relations extending to virtually most areas. Except for a brief period during former President Waheed's administration and to some extent during former President Yameen's regime, when there was a change in approach towards India, all Maldivian Presidents have recognized the importance of India's strategic role in Maldives and worked towards strengthening bilateral relationship with India, with India being seen as a net security provider. 'India First' has been a stated policy of the Government of Maldives, states the ministry of external affairs on India- Maldives bilateral relations. India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and commercial links steeped in antiquity and enjoy close, cordial and multi-dimensional relations. India was among the first to recognise Maldives after its independence in 1965 and to establish diplomatic relations with the country. India established its mission at the level of CDA in 1972 and resident High Commissioner in 1980. Maldives opened a full fledged High Commission in New Delhi in November 2004, at that time one of its only four diplomatic missions worldwide. Pune, Jan 5 : Renowned social worker Sindhutai Sapkal, revered as "Mother of thousands of Orphans", who passed away late on Tuesday night, was laid to rest with full state honours in Pune on Wednesday afternoon. Sapkal, 74, who had undergone surgery and was hospitalised for over a month, breathed her last following a cardiac arrest at Galaxy Hospital on Tuesday night. Conferred the Padma Shri last November, she is survived by her sole biological daughter Mamta besides over 1,500 orphans she had @adopted" and who loved her as their Maai. This morning, her mortal remains draped in the National Tricolour were taken to Manjari village near Hadapsar on the outskirts of the city where people, including many of her foster children, paid their last respects at the Bal Sadan. Hundreds of her beloved children - many now settled in different professions or businesses in India and elsewhere in the world - turned up with moist eyes for a final glimpse of their "Mother" and expressed silent gratitude to her for giving them a purpose in their orphaned lives. Later, the body was taken in a solemn procession with a police contingent, accorded a gun salute, the Indian flag taken off ceremonially and she was buried at the Thosarpaga crematorium, said a grieving family friend. As her body was lowered in the grave, cries of "Maai Amar Rahe", "Sindhutai Zindabad" rent the air with many seen breaking down. National and state leaders and commoners grieved and paid rich tributes to Sindhutai Sapkal "The life of Dr. Sindhutai Sapkal was an inspiring saga of courage, dedication, and service. She loved and served orphaned, tribals, and marginalised people. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2021, she scripted her own story with incredible grit," President Ram Nath Kovind said in a message. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "pained by the demise of Sindhutai Sapkal" who will be remembered for her noble services to society. "Due to her efforts, many children could lead a better quality of life. She also did a lot of work among marginalised communities," the PM said. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said with the demise of the "mother of thousands of orphans", many will now again be rendered motherless. "I am deeply saddened by Sindhutai Sapkal's passing. I pray to the Lord to give strength to all her children to endure this ordeal." he said in a message. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said she like a Godmother to thousands of orphans on whom she showered a mother's love and affection for years "In her untimely demise, we have lost an inspiring personality who selflessly supported the destitute kids, especially the girls, and helped them become self-reliant in life," he said. Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state party chief Jayant Patil, Congress state President Nana Patole, ministers Dilip Walse-Patil, Nawab Malik, Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, MP Supriya Sule and other prominent dignitaries recalled her services to society. New Delhi, Jan 5 : After report of security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit, BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Wednesday said that fearing a resounding defeat the Congress Government tried all possible tricks to scuttle the Prime Minister's programmes in the state. Prime Minister Modi postponed his scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur due to a security breach. At the event in Ferozepur, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that the Prime Minister would not be able to join due to some reason. Prime Minister Modi was to visit Ferozepur, Punjab to lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. In a series of tweets, Nadda said, "Fearing a resounding defeat at the hands of the electorate, the Congress Government in Punjab tried all possible tricks to scuttle the PM @narendramodi Ji's programmes in the state." Nadda claimed that by their cheap antics, the Congress government in Punjab has shown that they are anti-development and have no respect for freedom fighters too. "In doing they did not bother that the PM was to pay tributes to Bhagat Singh & other martyrs, and lay the foundation stone for key development works. By their cheap antics, Congress Gov in Punjab has shown that they are anti-development & have no respect for freedom fighters too," Nadda said. Referring to the security breach, Nadda said, "What is extremely worrisome is that this incident was also a big security lapse as far as the PM is concerned. Protesters were given access to the Prime Minister's route while the Punjab CS and DGP gave assurances to SPG that the route is clear." Nadda alleged that Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi refused to get on the phone to either address the matter or solve it. "To make matters worse, CM Channi refused to get on the phone to either address the matter or solve it. The tactics used by the Congress government in Punjab would pain anyone who believes in democratic principles," he said. Nadda further stated that the state police was instructed to prevent people from attending the rally. Large number of buses were stranded because of the high-handedness of the police & connivance with protesters. "It is sad that the PM's visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such cheap mentality hinder progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab," he added. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Jan 5 : After a major security breach on Prime Minister's convoy, the Congress reacting to the series of events, said the security of the Prime Minister is foremost and Punjab Government has setup an inquiry on the whole issue. Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh reacting to reports said, "we have lost two leaders and we know that security is most important issue of the Prime Minister." The Congress sources said that the last minute change in program or late information by the MHA to the state government may have led to the lapse and it will be ascertained by the report. The security breach of the Prime Minister is unpardonable and Punjab government has sought a report from officials. Vallabh said the Prime Minister was scheduled to fly on chopper but the program was changed last minute so the report will ascertain if it was a lapse on the part of the MHA or state officials. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cancelled his visit to Ferozepur town in Punjab, where he was scheduled to lay the foundation stones of Rs 42,750 crore projects, at the last minute due to security breach. Earlier, the Prime Minister landed at Bhaisiana Air Force station in Bathinda town from where he was supposed to travel to Ferozepur by road. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs' statement on the PM Modi's Punjab visit, "Today morning PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM. "The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. "After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport." New Delhi/Bengaluru, Jan 5 : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday told the Karnataka High Court that it may complete the ongoing anti-trust investigation into Google Play Store policies within 60 days. The submission in the court was made on behalf of Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman who appeared for the competition watchdog. Google said that it will cooperate with the CCI investigation and withdrew its writ petition, filed late last month in the Karnataka HC, asking for more time to reply to the anti-trust investigation by the CCI. The plea for interim relief was filed by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) in the CCI last October. Google, in its writ petition, had argued that there is "no urgency citing the extension in their Play Store policy deadline". "By conveying to the court that the CCI is expected to complete their investigation in 60 days, the antitrust regulator has essentially checkmated Google's attempt to delay the overall antitrust investigation process by exploiting legal challenges," said Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director, ADIF, which is an industry body representing more than 450 digital startups. The commission is of the prima facie view that such a policy is unfair as it restricts the ability of app developers to select a payment processing system of their choice, said the ADIF. "We now look forward to the CCI report that is slated to be released in 60 days as was conveyed to the high court today," George said. Google said in December that it was extending the timeline for developers in India from March 31, 2022 to October 31, 2022 to help them better integrate with Play Store's billing system. "We recognise the unique needs of the developer ecosystem in India and remain committed to partnering with developers in India on their growth journey," a Google spokesperson had said in a statement. George said that the ADIF "exhorts Google to fully comply with the antitrust investigation in good faith". New York, Jan 5 : Cellular immunity elicited by existing Covid-19 vaccines can fight the Omicron Covid variant, according to a study. The yet to be peer-reviewed study, which focussed on Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson's Covid shots, showed that vaccines will protect against severe disease even if the antibody responses against the strain are not as strong or durable, the Financial Times reported. "These data suggest that current vaccines may provide considerable protection against severe disease with the Sars-Cov-2 Omicron variant despite the substantial reduction of neutralising antibody responses," the researchers from Harvard medical school wrote in the study. Previous evidence suggests that the existing vaccines lose antibody response when pitted against Omicron. A third shot at least partially restores that antibody protection, and countries have been racing to scale up their booster programmes to avoid new restrictions. But vaccines are still expected to protect against severe disease, and health authorities have said they would closely examine evidence such as the one contained in the new study to decide whether a switch to Omicron-targeted vaccines is necessary, the report said. Early findings from studies in South Africa, the US, and the UK suggest that Omicron spreads faster but appears to be milder than previous variants. However, it is not clear yet if this is because of the variant itself, or because most of the world has either been infected or vaccinated, or a combination of the two factors. However, scientists have said that its high transmissibility, coupled with uneven vaccine coverage, could still mean health systems worldwide come under pressure as many more people get infected. The World Health Organisation has repeatedly called for a more equitable distribution of vaccines. The global health body has set a target of 70 per cent coverage in all nations by mid-2022. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Hyderabad, Jan 5 : Telangana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to BJP state chief and MP Bandi Sanjay who was arrested three days ago for staging a protest defying Covid curbs. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan ordered the release of Sanjay on personal surety. The high court set aside the orders of a Karimnagar court, which had sent the MP to judicial custody for 14 days. Sanjay was arrested on the night of January 2 in Karimnagar when he was staging a protest against a government order relating to transfer of government employees and teachers. Police foiled the protest for defying curbs in view of Covid-19 situation. During the hearing of Sanjay's bail petition, the court noted that he was arrested at 10.50 p.m. and an FIR was registered at 11.15 p.m. It asked how the FIR was registered in such a short time. The high court also sought an explanation as to why section 333 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was added to the FIR. It noted that there is no medical report about the injuries to policemen in the remand report submitted to the lower court. The high court issued a notice to the state government to submit all the details and adjourned the hearing to February 7. Bandi Sanjay and 16 others were booked by the police under eight sections for violation of Disaster Management Act and other charges, including preventing policemen for discharging their duties and causing injuries to them. The arrests had led to strong protests from BJP. The party had called for state-wide protests for 14 days. BJP's national president J. P. Nadda had led a protest in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Meanwhile, BJP leader in charge of party affairs in Telangana Tarun Chug welcomed the high court order and termed it a "slap" on the face of TRS government. He said the party was not afraid of false cases and arrests and will continue to fight on behalf of people. New Delhi, Jan 5 : Political controversy has erupted over the security breach in Prime Minister's route on Wednesday. The Congress has given pin pointed rebuttal to the allegations leveled by BJP President J.P. Nada and alleged that visiting Hussainwala was not part of the original schedule. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that there was no crowd in Ferozepur where the Prime Minister was scheduled to address the gathering, so the visit was cancelled. Surjewala advised Nadda to "Stop losing cool and all sense of propriety." Surjewala said, "10,000 security personnel were deployed for PM's rally. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG & other agencies. Route was carved even for all buses of BJP workers from Haryana/Rajasthan. PM decided to take a road journey to Hussainiwala. It was not part of his original schedule to travel by road." He said that the BJP leader was in talks with them. "Kisan mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting against PM's visit & Union Min, Gajendra Shekhawat has held two rounds of negotiation with them," he said. He reminded the BJP for not fulfilling the promises made to the farmers. "Do u know why KMSC & Farmers are protesting against PM Modi? Their demands are : Sack MOS Home, Ajay Misra Teni. Withdraw criminal cases against farmers in Haryana, Delhi & UP. Compensation for kin of 700 farmers who died. Committee on MSP & a quick decision." Post Farmer's agitation, Modi Govt chose to totally ignore these promises, he said. "Finally, the reason for canceling rally is that there were no crowds to listen to Modiji. Stop blame game & introspect on BJP's anti-farmer attitude. Hold rallies but listen to farmers first!" he added. The Congress was responding to BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Wednesday who said that fearing a resounding defeat, the Congress Government tried all possible tricks to scuttle the Prime Minister's programmes in the state. In a series of tweets, Nadda said, "Fearing a resounding defeat at the hands of the electorate, the Congress Government in Punjab tried all possible tricks to scuttle the PM @narendramodi Ji's programmes in the state." Nadda claimed that by their cheap antics, the Congress government in Punjab has shown that they are anti-development and have no respect for freedom fighters too. Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday cancelled his scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur due to a security breach. The Eastern Gate critical to understanding the politics behind conflicts in the northeast Image Source: IANS News The Eastern Gate critical to understanding the politics behind conflicts in the northeast Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Jan 5 : The recent killings of civilians in Nagaland in an army operation gone awry has led to renewed debate over the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). The Naga Peace Accord is in a state of uncertainty and the political situation in Northeast India is in the news again. But what is the story behind the headlines? Award-winning author, media consultant and regional risk analyst Sudeep Chakravarti's extensively researched "The Eastern Gate - War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India's Far East" (Simon & Schuster India) reveals the backdrop to the ongoing conflict, making the book critical to understanding the politics behind it. Occupying nearly a seventh of India's landmass and home to almost 50 million people, the region is a pivot for India's Act East policy, and a gateway to a future of immense possibilities -- from hydrocarbons to regional trade, the very harbinger of prosperity with threads over land and water, with the help of Myanmar and a surging Bangladesh, that could create a Silk Route for this century and beyond. A bulwark of India's security in the shadow of China, the region is a cradle of worrying climate change dynamics and migration and the crucible of India's efforts at inclusive democracy. Northeast India, the appellation often applied to India's far east, is all this and more. Alongside immense hope and aspiration, it is also home to immense ethnic and communal horrors - and a decades-old Naga conflict - and the high-profile peace process that involves four gateway states -- Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam -- and several million people. A series of callous and unthinking governments and enduring suspicion against the all-knowing 'Mainland' have together made it a touch-point of brutalized aspiration, identity, conflict and tragedy. It's among the most militarized zones in the world, with laws applied across vast geographies that offer the army and police both immunity and impunity. It's a playground of numbing corruption and engineered violence. This includes the cauldron that has been the Naga rebellion and the makings of peace, and the myriad rebellions that feed neighbouring Manipur's political realities: an often-incendiary ethnic cocktail of Meitei, Naga, Kuki, Zomi. Only real peace as opposed to uneasy absence of conflict, and calm in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, will unlock this Eastern gate. To this end, the book offers: Inside stories and a ringside view of the tortuous, unsuccessful attempts at resolving the many enduring conflicts in the region. Exclusive insights and interviews with rebel leaders, politicians, bureaucrats, policy-makers, army and police personnel, intelligence operatives, analysts, gunrunners, those in the narcotics trade, those privy to peace negotiations, and community leaders. A clear and comprehensive examination of the present situation. An up-close view of the Naga peace process. A keen observer and frequent chronicler of the region, Chakravarti has for several years offered exclusive insights into the Machiavellian -- indeed Chanakyan -- world of the Naga and other conflicts and various attempts to resolve these. He now melds the skills of a journalist, analyst, historian, and ethnographer to offer a framework within which these conflicts -- and the very aspiration of the people of India's most diverse, dynamic and desperately hopeful region -- needs to be seen. Employing a 'dispatches' style of storytelling, Chakravarti's narrative provides immediacy to, and understanding of, ongoing attempts to transition from war to peace, even as he keeps a firm gaze on the future. If Northeast India is a force of unstoppable nature and the nature of man, then "The Eastern Gate" is a tour de force that captures this story of our times. Chakravarti is an award-winning author of several best-selling works of history, ethnography, politics and conflict resolution, including "Plassey: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History", "The Bengalis: A Portrait of a Community", and "Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured Land". His other notable non-fiction works are "Red Sun: Travels through Naxalite Country", and "Clear. Hold. Build: Hard Lessons of Business and Human Rights in India", which won the Award for Excellence at the Asian Publishing Awards. He has written three critically acclaimed novels, and several short stories. His work has been translated into several Indian and European languages. Chakravarti read history at St Stephen's College, University of Delhi. Away from history, research, and writing, his other passion remains marine conservation. BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have developed a new way to monitor aftershocks by using telecom optical fiber with less deployment time and cost, the China Science Daily reported Wednesday. A research team from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used distributed optical fiber seismic-sensing technology to turn an urban telecom optical fiber network into an ultra-dense seismic monitoring array for a rapid post-quake response. Aftershocks monitoring of strong or destructive earthquakes can help the earthquake early warning and estimation. The mobile seismic monitoring network is one of the main tools of aftershock monitoring. The distributed optical fiber seismic-sensing technology can detect the stretch or compression of optical fibers during the quakes and turn them into seismic signals. The research team used a 7.6-km telecom optical fiber in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, to monitor aftershocks after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake had jolted the Guye District of the city on July 12, 2020, and detected dozens of weak aftershocks with a preliminary distribution of potential earthquake damage risk. The research finding was published in the journal Seismological Research Letters. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday said that it has issued three show cause notices to cell phone company Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited for the recovery of customs duty amounting to Rs 653 crore for the period 01.04.2017 to 30.06.2020, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. A senior DRI official said that based upon an intelligence that cell phone company Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited (Xiaomi India) was evading customs duty by way of undervaluation, an investigation was initiated against it and its contract manufacturers. The DRI official said that during the investigation, searches were conducted at the premises of Xiaomi India, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents. "The incriminating documents seized from the office of Xiaomi indicated that the company was remitting royalty and licence fee to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd, under contractual obligation. Statements of key persons of Xiaomi India and its contract manufactures were recorded, during which one of the directors of Xiaomi India confirmed the said payments," said the DRI official. The DRI official said that the "royalty and licence fee" paid by Xiaomi India to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd, China (related party of Xiaomi India) were not being added in the transaction value of the goods imported by Xiaomi India and its contract manufacturers. DRI official said that Xiaomi India is engaged in the sale of MI brand mobile phones and these mobile phones are either imported by Xiaomi India or assembled in India by importing parts and components of mobile phones by contract manufacturers of Xiaomi India. The MI brand mobile phones manufactured by the contract manufacturers are sold exclusively to Xiaomi India, in terms of the contract agreement. Evidence gathered during the investigation by the DRI indicated that neither Xiaomi India nor its contract manufactures were including the amount of royalty paid by Xiaomi India in the assessable value of the goods imported by it and its contract manufacturers, which is in violation of Section 14 of the Customs Act, and Customs valuation (determination of value of imported goods) Rules 2007. "By not adding royalty and licence fee into the transaction value, Xiaomi India was evading Customs duty being the beneficial owner of such imported mobile phones, the parts and components thereof," said the DRI official. New Delhi, Jan 5 : Business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce platform Udaan has raised $250 million, as it prepares to accelerate and strengthen capabilities to serve its customers better. In an internal email to employees seen by IANS, chief financial officer Aditya Pande said that the start-up has raised $200 million in convertible note and $50 million in debt. "We are glad to share that we have 5 new marquee investors coming onboard the Udaan juggernaut, as part of our recently concluded convertible note financing. This round was oversubscribed 2x and also saw participation from our existing investors, including those who bought into the company through the secondary (ESOP) round in H1 2021," Pande wrote. Udaan has invested more than Rs 4,000 crore in the past 12-18 months across different pillars of business. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Bengaluru, it currently has a network of over three million registered users and 25-30,000 sellers across more than 900 cities in the country. In the calendar year 2021, Udaan raised $500 million, taking its total raise to $1.4 billion to date. A convertible note is an instrument typically used by companies at pre-IPO stage, and the instrument converts into equity at the IPO. Large-scale tech companies that have successfully used convertible notes include Airbnb, Uber, Spotify and Robinhood. "With this convertible offering, we, as a company, have started building a complete new muscle in our finance function - which we will continue to strengthen as we go forward," said Pande. Udaan saw over 95 per cent growth (on-year) for its food and FMCG business in October last year. Fuelled by the 'Mega Bharat Sale' for kirana shops and small retailers across the country, the FMCG business witnessed a growth (on-year) of over 115 per cent with major demands coming from small-town India, the company said in a statement. To cater to the growing demand, Udaan plans to scale its warehouse capacity to 50 million square feet across the country in the next seven-eight years. Jammu, Jan 5 : A Sector Commander level meeting was held between Border Security Force (BSF) and Pak Rangers on International Border in Suchetgarh area on Wednesday during which BSF lodged strong protest regarding nefarious attempts from across the border by Pakistani elements, officials said. The BSF delegation was led by Surjit Singh, DIG Border Security Force and Pakistan delegation was led by Brigadier Fahd, Sector Commander Pakistan Ranger Sialkot Sector. This was the first sector level commander level meeting in the year 2022. "During meeting, commanders of both the border guarding force discussed various border related issues. Main emphasis was given by BSF delegation on the infiltration attempts of Pak based ANEs and recovery of arms and ammunition and narcotics on international border and other issues related to border management," BSF said. "A very strong protest was also lodged by BSF commander regarding all these nefarious attempts from across the border by Pakistani elements especially the Arms/Amns & Narcotics consignments seized by BSF in Ramgarh sector on 03 Jan 2022." BSF said it reiterated that these types of activities from Pak side is unacceptable. BSF also strictly objected to the drone ops carried out by Pak regularly violating the International Border (IB). Other issues like construction work by Pak Rangers close to IB, intrusion of IB by Pak elements were also discussed. "A better communication between the field commander to resolve all ops matter was also assured by the both commanders to maintain peace and harmony at international border. Meeting was held in a very positive, cordial and constructive atmosphere. Both sides agreed to conduct such meetings at regular intervals for better understanding and to maintain peace and tranquility on border," BSF said. Chandigarh, Jan 5 : Coming indirectly in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the breach of his security during his visit to Punjab on Wednesday, former Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said that there is complete collapse of law and order situation in Punjab and the Chief Minister is 'incompetent to run it. "There is complete collapse of law and order in Punjab. We have been saying this for long. The CM is incompetent to run the state," Sukhbir Badal, who is the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said in a tweet. SAD had pulled out of the over two-decade-long ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September 2020 after sharp differences over the three controversial farm laws. In another tweet, Sukhbir Badal said, "Congress has deceived every section of Punjab in last 5 years. Government employees must not bear 'lathi-charge' for this incompetent govt that has failed to implement even a single promise. After Akali-BSP alliance forms government, all their demands will be fulfilled on a priority basis." A day ahead Modi's visit, Sukhbir Badal's father and five-time Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had asked the Prime Minister to create the right atmosphere for his much-delayed visit to the state by first taking some concrete steps to expose the conspiracy behind the ongoing incidents of sacrilege against Sikh faith and resolve the other major political, religious and economic issues facing the state. "As the PM, you would earn a lot of goodwill and my personal gratitude if before coming here, you announce an economic, political, agricultural and territorial package to meet the demands of the Punjabis," the senior Badal had said. Ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, the Akali Dal has stitched a pre-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Sukhbir Badal has already announced that if the SAD-BSP alliance forms the next government in Punjab, one of the deputy chief ministers will be from the alliance partner. In a major security breach earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister cancelled his visit to Ferozepur town, where he was scheduled to lay the foundation stones for projects worth Rs 42,750 crore at the last minute. "The Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister," the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement. Guwahati, Jan 5 : Over 50 people, including students, faculty member and residents, have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) over the past one week - leading to imposition of several restrictions across the campus of the institute, officials said on Wednesday. Officials of the Kamrup district administration said that the IITG has been declared as a containment zone, and entry and exit in the institution campus have been strictly restricted. IITG sources said that family members of a faculty have been admitted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for treatment and are recovering well. The institute, which is closely monitoring the situation constantly, has stepped up the testing and all measures are being taken for isolation and treatment of the campus residents who have tested positive with mild symptoms. Measures being taken as per health authorities' guidelines to prevent the spread of the contagious disease, the sources said. The IITG has also earlier set up a Covid vaccine administration facility for all in the age group of 15-18 wherein COVAXIN is being administered. An IITG official said that majority of the Covid positive cases were among those who returned to the campus from outside Assam after holidays. Restrictions have also been imposed in the hostels, where students would not be allowed to move out without the permission of the authority. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Johannesburg, Jan 5 : Crucial cameos from Shardul Thakur (28) and Hanuma Vihari (40 not out) helped India set a target of 240 for South Africa on a challenging day three pitch at the Wanderers. South Africa has never chased anything over 220 at this venue. After Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara made half-centuries and fell in the first session, Thakur and Vihari did well in taking India's lead past 200. If Thakur had bailed India out of trouble with the ball on day two, on day three, he did the same job with the bat. Resuming with a lead of 161 at lunch, Thakur tore into Marco Jansen, hammering boundaries through cover and point. Thakur continued to deal into boundaries off Jansen, a top-edge on hook went over the keeper for a six while the next two boundaries were lofted and pulled towards the on-side. Thakur's lightning quick knock came to an end when he tried to pull Jansen's short ball but picked out Keshav Maharaj at deep square leg. With some byes and no-balls, India's lead swelled past 200. Jansen, after taking out Thakur, strangled Mohammed Shami down leg for a duck. Vihari and Jasprit Bumrah took a four and six respectively off Kagiso Rabada but in the next over, Lungi Ngidi took the latter out with a top-edge flying to Jansen at point. With Mohammed Siraj struggling due to hamstring issue, Vihari farmed the strike and began to go for the kill. He made use of the short ball strategy to upper-cut over slip cordon, slap over mid-wicket with a forehand smash-like shot, hitting over extra cover and pulling over deep square leg. Ngidi ended India's innings by ratting Siraj's off-stump, leaving Vihari unconquered at a gritty 40. Earlier, in an action-packed first session, India dominated the first hour, thanks to Rahane and Pujara cashing on South Africa's wayward lines and lengths. But the hosts' bounced back in the second session, taking four wickets while conceding 37 runs, as Rabada picked up crucial scalps of Pujara, Rahane and Rishabh Pant. Resuming from 85/2 on day two, Pujara continued his impressive run, hitting Jansen for two fours through on-side. On the other hand, Rahane slashed Jansen with a drive through mid-off followed by a upper cut over deep point. South Africa were unable to find a consistent line and length and leaked runs as Rahane continued to smash Rabada for boundaries. Pujara reached his fifty in 62 balls while two overs later, Rahane brought up his half-century with back-to-back boundaries through point and gully off Duanne Olivier. After the first hour of play fetched India 66 runs in 14 overs, including the partnership between Pujara and Rahane crossing the 100-run mark, South Africa bounced back in the second hour. Rabada took the first wicket of the day, getting a delivery to kick off from a length and Rahane edged to keeper Kyle Verreynne, breaking the 111-run partnership off 144 balls. In his next over, Rabada trapped Pujara lbw with a big inswinger hitting him flush on the pads. Pujara took the review but couldn't change the decision. Rabada then went on to remove Pant for a three-ball duck. After being beaten outside the off-stump, Rabada rattled Pant by being hit on the gloves through a ball which bounced a bit. On the very next ball, Pant stepped out to slog but gave a feather edge behind to Verreynne. Ravichandran Ashwin hit some boundaries but was caught down the leg side by Verreynne off Ngidi. Thakur got off the mark with a four off his second ball and remained not out along with Vihari at lunch. Post that, the Indian lower-order came into play, adding 82 runs off the last four partnerships as Rabada, Jansen and Ngidi all ended with three wickets each. Brief scores: India 202 & 266 in 60.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 53; Kagiso Rabada 3/77, Lungi Ngidi 3/43) set South Africa 229 all out in 79.4 overs (Keegan Petersen 62; Shardul Thakur 7/61) a target of 240. IANS nr/cs New Delhi, Jan 5 : Tightening its noose around the DTC and cluster buses committing traffic violations, the Delhi Traffic Police has prosecuted 94 such buses for various offences, an official said here on Wednesday. According to the official, complaints from various quarters were received against buses committing traffic violations in the national capital after which they carried out a special drive on Tuesday. "It was observed that a number of drivers of DTC/ Cluster buses do not ply their vehicles in the bus lanes and also drive dangerously," the official said, adding that such erring buses also indulge in a number of road accidents. Subsequently, several teams of traffic policemen were formed in three traffic Ranges -- Western Range, Eastern Range and Central Range -- and a special drive was undertaken to prosecute such violating buses. During the drive, in the Central Range 14 buses were challaned for dangerous driving and 14 for permit violation while in the Northern Range 14 vehicles were challaned for dangerous driving, 2 for Supreme Court violation, 2 for permit violation and 15 for lane violation. In Western Range 13 vehicles were challaned for dangerous driving, 11 for Supreme Court violation, six for permit violation and three for lane violation. "In total, 94 buses were prosecuted in above three ranges during the special drive against errant buses," the official informed. Further warning the bus drivers, the official said that Delhi Traffic Police will continue the action against such violations in future also. Chennai, Jan 5 : Multilingual Malayalam actress Divya Venkatasubramaniam, popularly known as Kaniha, on Wednesday made it clear that she was looking to break stereotypes. The actress was responding to Netizens who keep asking her if she recycles her clothes because she does not have a fancy wardrobe with brands and designer outfits. On Instagram, the actress said, "Yes, I repeat my clothes. Yes, I recycle and upcycle my clothes. Yes, I don't have a fancy wardrobe with brands and designer outfits. Yes, I break stereotypes." She then went on to ask: "Who says people in the media business need to dress up and be a certain way? Wear what makes you feel comfortable and confident. Let your attitude be the answer. P.S.: Hope this answers the many questions that some of you keep asking me!" Just a day ago, the actress had posted pictures of herself in formal attire with the caption: "She's her own boss! Living life on my own terms!" Bhopal, Jan 5 : Nearly a week after a self-styled seer Kalicharan Maharaj made derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi at a religious meeting in Chhattisgarh, who was later arrested by the police, yet another religious person allegedly called the Father of the Nation a 'traitor' in Madhya Pradesh. In a video that went viral on social media, a priest who was identified as Tarun Murari, was heard saying, "It is wrong to call him (Mahatma Gandhi) a Mahatma. He was neither a mahatma nor a nation lover. A person who divided the country should not be addressed as mahatma." He continued, "I am saying it all using the freedom of expression and you can access this information from RTI (Right to Information) that he (Gandhi) was the person who introduced the donation system in India." Bhagvat Katha teller, Murari hails from Narsinghpur district and he made the derogatory remarks against Gandhi on January 2. Later, a Narshinghpur based youth Congress leader lodged a complaint with the local police against Murari. "A case was registered against Tarun Murari under sections 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) and 153B (assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the IPC," said a senior police officer in Narshinghpur district. However, after an FIR was lodged, Murari apologised for his derogatory remarks, saying he used disrespectful language in a moment of aggression abetted by a local journalist. "My intent was not to disrespect Mahatma Gandhi and I apologise for my remarks." Mumbai, Jan 5 : Investigations by Mumbai Police have revealed that not only Bulli Bai, but several other handles were used on social media platforms, ostensibly intended drive a wedge between Sikh and Muslim communities. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said that three persons have been arrested so far and the probe has shown other social media handles that were deployed to spread hate messages. They are: @Bullibai_, @Sage0x11, @hmmaachaniceoki, @jatkhalsa, @jatkhalsa7, @Sikh_Khalsa11, @wannabesigmaf, etc., on micro-blogging platform Twitter. Six months ago, using the open-source software platform GitHub, the app Sulli Bai was created on which pictures of Muslim women were posted, and a similar modus operandi was carried out with the Bulli Bai app. All these Twitter handles were purportedly linked to the Sikh community and as per the information available on @Bullibai, the KSF Khalsa Sikh Force had created the app Bulli Bai, said the police. It was also sought to convey that one Khalsa Supremacist was a 'follower' of Bulli Bai app, as per the investigations. After getting information from GitHub, the police teams have nabbed three accused -- including a 21-year-old techie, Vishal Kumar Jha, a second-year civil engineering student from Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering in Bengaluru. Nagrale said that after the techie's links came to the fore in the scam probe, he was arrested by a Mumbai Cyber Police team from Bengaluru. Deploying his technical expertise, Jha managed to conceal his identity to a great extent, and also claimed through @Khalsasupremacist that he was living in Canada, kept changing his name frequently, besides running a YouTube channel, Tavasya Vats, said the police. The Mumbai Police have also nabbed an 18-year-old girl, Shweta Anant Singh, from Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, who's said to be the mastermind, and Mayank Pradeepsingh Rawat, 21, also from the same state. As the entire issue snowballed into to a major political fracas on January 1, with strong reactions from several leaders from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, ministers, elected representatives, prominent women activists and others, the Mumbai Police lodged an FIR against unidentified persons, including the unknown developers of the app and the Twitter handles which promoted it. The police action came after complaints were received from Muslim women that morphed pictures, sourced without consent, of hundreds of Muslim women, including activists and professionals, were being uploaded for 'auction' on the Bulli Bai app that was hosted by GitHub. The police said the accused tried to convey an impression that the social media handles were created by the Sikh community, targeted Muslim women in this manner and attempted to "drive a wedge between the two communities", but the prompt arrests have prevented any untoward situation. Guests attend a ceremony to launch the 8th inter-school Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Basic Law competition which is also intended to mark the 25th anniversary of establishment of the HKSAR, in south China's Hong Kong, Jan. 5, 2022.(Xinhua/Li Gang) HONG KONG, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Education Bureau (EDB) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Wednesday launched the 8th inter-school HKSAR Basic Law competition which is also intended to mark the 25th anniversary of establishment of the HKSAR. To celebrate the major milestone of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, this year's competition questions surround the historical developments and achievements since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the constitutional relationship between the country and the HKSAR, and the development of Hong Kong since its return to the motherland in 1997, said the EDB, which held a ceremony to launch the competition. The competition aims to enhance Hong Kong students' sense of belonging to the country and their sense of national identity, it said. The EDB also issued a circular memorandum on Wednesday to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, encouraging more participation of schools and students as well as promoting national education in schools. During the kick-off ceremony, the Bauhinia Culture Group donated a total of 10,000 copies of a reader titled "National Laws Applicable to HKSAR: A Student Guide" -- a series of study books on the Constitution and the HKSAR Basic Law -- to the EDB and primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Secretary for Education of the HKSAR government Kevin Yeung received on behalf of schools the reader and expressed gratitude to the Bauhinia Culture Group for the donation and its support. Yeung said the reader can be used as reading material for the preparation of the competition this year. School principals are also encouraged to make good use of the reader to promote national education in schools. The inter-school HKSAR Basic Law competition consists of primary and secondary sections. The heats will be carried out in the form of an online competition on Feb. 14-21. Guests attend a ceremony to launch the 8th inter-school Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Basic Law competition which is also intended to mark the 25th anniversary of establishment of the HKSAR, in south China's Hong Kong, Jan. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang) New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Central government and the Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana have termed the challenge to his appointment to the post as a "personal vendetta, not even remotely in the interest of the general public", by the petitioner, NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). Asthana, in a counter-affidavit, said the "sustained and strategic maligning of his character" establishes the mala fide agenda of the petitioner in carrying out a personal vendetta against him. "Hence, the present petition is another attempt in furtherance to the personal vendetta and is not even remotely in the interest of the general public," he added. Similarly, the Centre, in an affidavit, said: "it is submitted the present petition is an abuse of process of law and manifestly an outcome of some personal vendetta against the incumbent police commissioner entertained by the petitioner." The NGO's petition cites a breach of apex court directions requiring an officer must have six months of service left for such an assignment. It has filed two petitions in the top court - one against the Centre's order appointing Asthana as Delhi Police chief, and the other challenging the Delhi High Court judgment, which dismissed its plea. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Asthana. In an affidavit, the Centre, strongly defending Asthana's appointment, told the Supreme Court there was a compelling need to have someone like him in the post and his term was extended in the public interest. "A compelling need was felt by the Central Government to appoint a person as a head of the police force of Delhi, who had diverse and vast experience of heading a large police force in a large state having diverse political as well as public order problem/experience of working and supervising Central Investigating Agency(s) as well as para-military forces," said the Centre. A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna on Wednesday took up the petitions filed by the NGO challenging Asthana's appointment and posted it for hearing on a non-miscellaneous day. The top court said it would take up the matter in the week commencing on January 17. On Wednesday, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, contended that he will take nearly 40 minutes to argue the matter. However, due to the hearing scheduled on the petitions challenging the EWS quota in NEET-AIQ, the top court adjourned the matter. Asthana was appointed as Delhi Police chief in July, three days before his retirement. He was granted a year's extension after his appointment and also given a deputation from the Gujarat cadre to the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory) cadre from which Delhi Police chiefs are usually picked. Last year, the Delhi High Court dismissed a challenge to Asthana's appointment. Imphal, Jan 5 : An Assam Rifles jawan was killed and another was injured after two powerful IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were detonated at Lilong Usoipokpi Sangomsang in Manipurs Thoubal district on Wednesday, the police said. The police said that the blasts took place when the troops of the 16th Battalion of Assam Rifles were patrolling the hilly area of the state, while few other paramilitary jawans were taking rest near a water supply pump. While Assam Rifles jawan L. Wangshu died on the spot after the blasts, his injured colleague has been shifted to a nearby hospital. Local MLA of Lilong Yumkhaibam Antas Khan and a police team led by senior officers have rushed to the spot. Further details of the incident are awaited. Wednesday's incident is the fourth such detonation in the last 50 days in Manipur, though none has been arrested so far in connection with these explosions. Also, no militant outfit or any inimical group has claimed responsibility for the blasts yet. The earlier three incidents on November 18, December 15 and December 29 also occurred in the wee hours, though none was injured in these explosions, which damaged properties. Security forces, including the army and Assam Rifles, are on high alert after the series of incidents, especially after the deadliest terror attack in the region on November 13 in which an Assam Rifles Colonel, his wife and son, and four jawans of the paramilitary force were gunned down in Churachandpur district bordering Myanmar. Months ahead of the Assembly elections in Manipur, militant activities have increased in the northeastern state, forcing the authorities to ask the security forces to intensify vigil in the sensitive and vulnerable areas. Elections to the 60-seat Manipur Assembly are likely to be held in February-March next year, along with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Wednesday that it has issued three show cause notices to cell phone company Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited for the recovery of customs duty amounting to Rs 653 crore for the period 01.04.2017 to 30.06.2020, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. A senior DRI official said that based upon an intelligence that cell phone company Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited (Xiaomi India) was evading customs duty by way of undervaluation, an investigation was initiated against it and its contract manufacturers. The DRI official said that during the investigation, searches were conducted at the premises of Xiaomi India, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents. "The incriminating documents seized from the office of Xiaomi indicated that the company was remitting royalty and licence fee to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd, under contractual obligation. Statements of key persons of Xiaomi India and its contract manufactures were recorded, during which one of the directors of Xiaomi India confirmed the said payments," said the DRI official. On its part, a Xiaomi spokesperson said: "At Xiaomi India, we give utmost importance to ensuring we comply with all Indian laws. We are currently reviewing the notice in detail. As a responsible company, we will support the authorities with all necessary documentation." The DRI official said that the "royalty and licence fee" paid by Xiaomi India to Qualcomm USA and to Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd, China (related party of Xiaomi India) were not being added in the transaction value of the goods imported by Xiaomi India and its contract manufacturers. The DRI official said that Xiaomi India is engaged in the sale of MI brand mobile phones and these mobile phones are either imported by Xiaomi India or assembled in India by importing parts and components of mobile phones by contract manufacturers of Xiaomi India. The MI brand mobile phones manufactured by the contract manufacturers are sold exclusively to Xiaomi India, in terms of the contract agreement. Evidence gathered during the investigation by the DRI indicated that neither Xiaomi India nor its contract manufactures were including the amount of royalty paid by Xiaomi India in the assessable value of the goods imported by it and its contract manufacturers, which is in violation of Section 14 of the Customs Act, and Customs valuation (determination of value of imported goods) Rules 2007. "By not adding royalty and licence fee into the transaction value, Xiaomi India was evading Customs duty being the beneficial owner of such imported mobile phones, the parts and components thereof," said the DRI official. New Delhi, Jan 5 : Dr Balram Bharagava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Wednesday that the Molnupiravir drug is not included in the national Covid taskforce treatment as it has major safety concerns like teratogenicity, mutagenicity, muscle & bone damage among others. "More importantly contraception has to be done for three months if this drug is given for male and female as the child born could be problematic with teratogenic influences," the ICMR chief said at a press briefing here. The WHO and the UK has not included it as of now, he added. He said that the US has approved the drug based on samples of 1,433 unvaccinated individuals with mild to moderate symptoms. "We are concerned about pregnancy, lactation, children, soft injuries, reproductive age group, history of infection, vaccination so it has not been included," he said. "The current recommendation stands that it is not the part of national taskforce treatment and we have debated it twice and will debate further to find whether there is any further possibility", said ICMR chief. On Omicron surge, Bhargava said that upsurge of Covid-19 infections is happening in cities with Omicron predominantly circulating the strain. He said that Omicron detecting RT-PCR kit has been developed in partnership with Tata MD and ICMR which has been approved by DCGI. The kit will test will give results in 4 hours, he added. Beijing, Jan 5 : Riding high on global success, smartphone brand realme has reportedly shipped over 60 million units of smartphones in 2021, media reports say. According to official figures, global sales last year exceeded 60 million units and realme entered the top 5 smartphone brands in 21 countries, ranking 6th worldwide, GizmoChina reported on Wednesday. The number of units sold in 2021 showed a rise of 50 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth and the company hopes to keep the growth rate stable this year, intending to touch the 90 million units mark. The report also mentioned that the company is now the fastest-growing 5G Android phone brand and was the fastest phone company to cross 100 million units in terms of sales, further proving its prowess. In terms of technological innovation, realme stated that the company will be spending 70 per cent of its R&D expenses on high-end technology research and development, strengthening the company's software and hardware capabilities and enhancing the overall product experience. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the company has unveiled its much-awaited flagship smartphone series -- realme GT 2 Series -- in China. The company said that the realme GT 2 starts at CNY 2,599, and the realme GT 2 Pro will start at CNY 3,699 during the early bird sales in the country. Chennai, Jan 5 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday announced night curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Thursday and a complete lockdown on Sunday in the wake of surging Covid-19 cases. No physical classes will be allowed for students of Classes 1 to 9. Creches, kindergarten classes, and play schools will not be allowed to function, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement. However, physical classes for students of classes 10th, 11th, and 12th will be allowed. During the complete lockdown on Sunday, essential services like medical shops, distribution of milk, newspapers, fuel pumps, ATM, freight transport will be allowed. e-commerce services will not be allowed during lockdown while restaurants will be allowed to provide food delivery services and takeaways from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. For reaching the airport, railway and bus stations, people will have to show valid tickets for the journey during night curfew from Thursday and during complete lockdown on Sunday. New Delhi, Jan 5 : Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls the eyes of the non-BJP parties are on the Muslim votes. A large chunk of these votes has been with the Samajwadi Party but the BSP and the Congress have also got a small share while the AIMIM is the new contender on the block. The Muslim are expected to vote enmasse for the SP in this election but it never happens as the community is influential in 143 seats in the state. In 2007 the community voted largely for the BSP, in 2012 it was with the SP but in 2017 it got divided between the SP, Congress and the BSP. Independent analyst Rahul Varma says," The Samajwadi Party has been getting a majority of the votes from the Muslims in UP. The 2022 assembly election is likely to become bipolar, ie, the main competition will be limited to BJP-led and SP-led alliances with other players including the BSP being reduced to the margins. It wont be surprising if the SP gets more than 75% of Muslim votes. In my view, both AIMIM or the Peace Party will have a marginal presence among Muslims." But AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi differs as he pulls huge crowds and is quite popular among the youth of the community. He says, "Muslims now want their share in the power setup. Every community has some share in power but Muslims have been deprived and now face discrimination." He says in his meetings attacking the SP and the Congress that there is a race between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav to become a big Hindu so where are the secularists. The Muslims are considered to be the second largest religious bloc and rough estimates are that their population is 20 percent but in the 2017 elections the Muslims were divided and the BJP riding on Hindutva consolidation backed by social engineering swept the polls. Districts like Rampur, Farrukhabad and Bijnor are the areas where the Muslim population is around 40 per cent. As per rough estimates out of 143 seats in the state, there are about 73 seats where the Muslims are believed to be between 20 to 30 percent and about 40 seats where the Muslim population is more than 30 percent. Analyst Verma says that in about 30 seats the Muslims can win on their own if their vote is not divided, while on 9 seats 55 percent are minority Muslims. There are at least 28 districts which have more than 20 percent Muslim votes and the rest of the districts have 10 to 15 percent with Rampur having the highest vote percentage of about 50 percent Muslim population. Despite its huge population only 23 MLAs were elected in 2017 while the highest number was in 2002 at 64. Chennai, Jan 5 : The Tamil Nadu police's special team arrested former Minister for Milk and Diary Development and AIADMK leader, Rajenthra Bhalaji from Karnataka in the Rs 3 crore job recruitment scam. The former minister, who was on the run ever since the Madras High Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition on December 17 in a case registered by the Virudhunagar district police's special branch, was arrested at Hassan main road in Karnataka on Wednesday morning. He will be brought to Virudhunagar for interrogation. The district crime branch police had booked the former minister in cheating cases under Sections 406, 420, and 120 B of the IPC for allegedly cheating several job aspirants of Rs 3 crore promising them jobs in Aavin, the milk cooperative under the Tamil Nadu government. Virudhunagar district Superintendent of Police, Manokaran had constituted eight special teams of police personal to arrest him and this had found fruitful on Wednesday after the arrest of the AIADMK leader. The police also arrested the Krishnagiri West District general secretary of the BJP, Ramakrishnan, and two other accomplices along with Bhalaji. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Delhi Police's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) unit has busted a gang hacking into and solving reputed online examinations including Graduate Management Admission Test examination (GMAT) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) with the help of Russian hackers and arrested six people, an official said on Wednesday. The accused were identified as Arshad Dhunna, 39, Salman Dhunna, 28, and Hemal Shah, 42, all residents of Mumbai, Kunal Goel, 39, a resident of Delhi, and Mohit Sharma, 35, and Raj Teotia, 33, both residents of Haryana's Karnal. GMAT exam is the most widely used exam for MBA admissions, and reportedly, around 2,00,000 candidates worldwide take it each year. According to the official, the members of the syndicate were able to get their clients a score of 780 out of the maximum 800 marks in the said examination. Deputy Commissioner of Police K.P.S. Malhotra said that information was received at IFSO that few syndicates are involved in unauthorised access of various competitive exams and are charging hefty amounts for getting the candidates the desired scores in the reputed online examinations. It was leant that these syndicates are advertising or claiming to have access to online examinations of GMAT, JEE, Cisco Associate, Professional, Specialty, IBM, Comptia exams EC Council's CEH, CHFI and CCISO etc The information was developed and the accused hackers were contacted through a decoy and a deal for cracking GMAT examination was struck with the syndicate members, the police said, adding as a part of the deal, the examination was booked in the name of a decoy police official. On the day of examination December 26, the accused asked the decoy candidate to download software "Ultraviewer" and thereby gained remote access to his laptop. They also connected the candidate's laptop to the solver, who had attempted the whole examination and evaded detection from the proctor and other safety measures. The hacker got access to the laptop and disguised the remote access file as a system file. The decoy candidate got a total score of 780 out of 800, which is 97 percentile and can get admission to the top MBA colleges worldwide, the police said. The technical analysis of the telecom and financial data led to the identification of the syndicate members, which were found to be based in Mumbai. Subsequently, police conducted raids in Mumbai and on January 1, three persons namely the two Dhunnas and Shah were apprehended from Mahim. These three were primarily involved in striking the deal with the decoy customer and then connecting the decoy customer with another module of syndicate, which gains access and solves the exam. The sustained interrogation of three accused arrested in Mumbai led to the identification of Delhi-based syndicate member Goel who was running an institute for a networking training course and used to arrange the solvers for the Mumbai-based module. Goel's interrogation led to identification of Mohit Sharma, based in Gurgaon, who was the solver in this case. Subsequently, his interrogation led to the fact that he entered this profession due to Teotia, who is one of the most infamous exam hackers and wanted by CBI and Haryana Police in various cases. Teotia was also carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his arrest. Finally, on January 3, Teotia was apprehended from Jaipur. During interrogation, he revealed that he is engaged in online examination hacking and solving for the past 5 years and he had been in touch with Russian hackers also for getting the exams hacked. Delhi Police advised the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the governing agency of GMAT, to modify their systems to sense or detect mirroring of screens of candidates on any other device through which the exam is being attempted. "Further probe into the case is still on," the official added. New Delhi, Jan 5 : In a new development in the ongoing legal tussle between Amazon and Future Group, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed further arbitration proceedings between the parties before the Singapore tribunal till February 1. A bench, headed by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and comprising Justice Jyoti Singh, issued notice on the two appeals filed by Future Retail Ltd and Future Coupons Pvt Ltd. The notice has been made returnable on February 1. The high court also stayed the single judge order, which dismissed the Future Group's plea against the two orders passed by the tribunal. The Future Group had sought termination of the arbitration proceedings instituted by Amazon. Citing the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order, the high court noted that there is a prima facie case made out in the favour of appellants. It further added that it will stay further proceedings of the tribunal till the next date of hearing. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Future Coupons Pvt Ltd, cited the CCI order, which kept in abeyance the approval granted for Amazon's deal with Future Group, and added since approval is gone, the agreement automatically loses its value. He argued that the single judge of the high court failed to appreciate the application and also the fact that the agreement will have no effect after the CCI's order. Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for Amazon, submitted that it was not fair to say that tribunal was not taking cognissance of applications to terminate the arbitration proceedings. On Tuesday, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court dismissed Future's pleas seeking a direction to a Singapore tribunal to deal with its termination application in connection with deal with Amazon. Justice Amit Bansal had reserved the orders on Monday after hearing on pleas filed by FRL and FCRL. The Future Group moved the high court seeking direction for the Singapore tribunal to hear termination application ahead of the scheduled hearings in the arbitration case. In December last year, the CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 202 crore on Amazon and suspended its approval for the e-tailer's deal with Future Coupons, a promoter firm of the group's public listed company Future Retail Ltd, seeking more information. The Singapore tribunal had held that it could not accommodate its termination application ahead of the scheduled hearings on the main case. Citing the CCI order, the Future Group argued the agreement which provided for the arbitration proceedings itself is rendered invalid and as such, the ongoing proceedings, too, would be irrelevant. Amazon opposed it, saying that arbitration and the underlying contract are independent of each other, and also cited legal options, such as appeals, available against the CCI order. Sydney, Jan 5 : Greece earned its first Group D victory on Wednesday at the ATP Cup, following wins for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Michail Pervolarakis, who recorded his first tour-level victory in Sydney. World No. 4 Tsitsipas was leading Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-1 in the first set, but the Georgian returned to his Team Zone complaining of breathing difficulties after two points of the sixth game. "It's not easy playing when you're not 100 per cent, but I completely understand," said Tsitsipas. In a fantastic doubles match, Georgia's Aleksandre Bakshi and Aleksandre Metreveli saved three match points for a 4-6, 6-3, 16-14 victory over Pervolarakis and Tsitsipas in one hour and 34 minutes. The Greeks held match points at 9/8, 11/10 and 13/12 in the Match Tie-break. Greece lost to Poland 2-1 and Argentina 3-0 in its two previous Group D ties. In the No. 2 singles match, 25-year-old Pervolarakis earned his first ATP Cup singles victory for Greece with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Aleksandre Metreveli of Georgia in 68 minutes on Qudos Bank Arena. Pervolarakis said, "It's unbelievable. It's my first ATP Tour singles match win." Pervolarakis made the most of his opportunity, breaking Metreveli for a 4-2 lead in the first set with a forehand return winner down the line. The 25-year-old recovered from 0/30 when serving for the set, which lasted 37 minutes, closing out on his fourth opportunity. Two breaks of serve - in the first and seventh games - were enough in the second set, which ended with a Metreveli backhand error. "I Am really excited I was able to get that win for my country and for myself," said World No. 399 Pervolarakis. "Right now I'm at (an ATP) Ranking where I'm not able to play ATP events weekly, but my goal is to just improve (over the) next year." New Delhi, Jan 5 : Thousands of residents of Khesor continued their protest on the third day in the North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), The Express Tribune reported. The tribesmen are protesting against the killing of a 12-year-old girl during a door-to-door search operation by security forces after an encounter between the Pakistan security forces and militants took place in the area, which left four security personnel dead. The tribesmen blocked the Pak-Afghan highway near the Elementary College Mir Ali as a protest measure and started a sit-in on Sunday. Due to the blocking of the main highway, thousands of vehicles are stranded and their long lines could be seen on both sides of the roads. "Small vehicles like motorcars are using the alternative Hiader Khel route while the trucks are stranded for the past three days as there is no alternative route for them," said a local resident while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that a large contingent of police has been deployed near the sit-in. "Several rounds of negotiations took place between the protesting tribesmen and the district administration without any success," said another local resident. The protesting tribesmen are demanding a department inquiry into the murder of the child. They are also demanding compensation for the family of the deceased child, he said. When contacted, the police confirmed the sit-in, saying that all negotiations failed to produce results for the past few days. New Delhi, Jan 5: The new rulers of Afghanistan have formally announced the formation of a "suicide bomber brigade" which will ironically have the first unit of women "fighters" recruited by the Taliban, who did not allow girls to attend school and have banned women from work and education. In a picture of the brigade office shared by credible journalists, a new board in Pashto, reads: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Badri Corps, Suicide attackers unit. Officials of the Taliban regime confirmed that the regime has created a special battalion of suicide attackers to be part of their army. "Suicide battalion will be part of the Badri Corps and will be active under Defence Ministry," Khaama Press of Afghanistan reported quoting Zabiullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson of the Taliban. Mujahid also said that the women suicide bombers will be recruited in the unit "based on the needs." Taliban to include suicide bombers in their army The head of the Suicide Bomber Battalion is Qari Zakir, the expert of the Haqqani Network This will be the first unit of women "fighters" recruited by the Taliban who did not allow girls to attend school and banned women from work and education. The Taliban regime has said that women cannot go back to classrooms as they do not have enough money to hire female teachers. They have also clamped strict restrictions on the movement of women who are not allowed to venture out of their homes without a male relative escorting them. However, they appear to have no hesitation when it comes to recruiting them for killing missions. According to the Taliban, the unit of suicide bombers will be used to counter "external" threats. Over the last few months, the Sunni Pashtun group has been recruiting hundreds of fighters from various madrasas based in Pakistan and these fighters are being trained by the Badri Battalion. The Taliban call their Badri 313 battalion an "elite" force which was raised by the UN designated terror organisation Haqqani Network which is headed by the Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani who is among the most wanted terrorists by the US with a bounty of $10 million. According to intelligence experts, it was Haqqani who "introduce" suicide bombers in the Taliban force and responsible for some deadly suicide bombing on Indian and US missions and officials of previous governments in Afghanistan. After becoming the Interior Minister of the Taliban regime in September last year, the first official order of Sirajuddin Haqqani was to declare suicide bombers as "martyrs" and "heroes of Islam and the homeland". Sirajuddin Haqqani had honoured his suicide bombers at an official function at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul - the same hotel was attacked by his suicide bombers in 2011. Sirajuddin thanked the families of "martyred" suicide bombers and told them they should be proud of being families of "the Mujahideen and the martyrs," and promised to look after the families of suicide bombers. In October, last year, Sirajuddin deployed hundreds of his suicide bombers at the Afghanistan and Tajikistan border amid the growing tension between the two countries. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Amaravati, Jan 5 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that schools in the state should be mapped in line with the New Education Policy (NEP). Reviewing the performance of the state's education department on Wednesday, Reddy directed officials to ensure the appointment of teachers according to curriculum subjects, an official statement said. Department officials have also been directed to provide additional facilities in schools keeping the increased student enrolment on account of the state government's Nadu-Nedu programme in view. Apart from focusing on maintenance of existing infrastructure, officials have to submit 'Action Taken Reports' on a regular basis. The chief minister instructed the officials to discuss with the teachers and seek their cooperation for implementation of subject-wise teachers appointment, by explaining to them its benefits to the students and to consider any objections raised in this regard. At the review meeting, officials presented details of the training sessions being held for teachers on English language teaching. The chief minister pointed out the need to make good use of apps intended to develop knowledge in English. The review meeting also took stock of cleanliness and hygiene. The CM asked the officials to ensure quality food, clean toilets and hygienic conditions in government schools. He said Village Clinics should focus on the health conditions of students in Anganwadi centres and schools and added that conducting regular tests will help identify and treat diseases like anaemia in students and added that they should be connected to PHCs for better treatment. New Delhi, Jan 5: A criminal court has begun the trial of former Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen earlier this week over numerous charges related to bribes and money laundering. The case against Yameen relates to an allegation over accepting a bribe of $1 million for leasing out Aarah island of Vaavu atoll for the development of a resort during his time as the President. Yameen also has money laundering charges against him in the case. Aarah island was leased to a foreign company for developing it as a resort. A close associate Yoosuf Naeem has been accused of bribing Yameen in the case. Naeem is a former parliamentarian, reports Maldivian website The Edition. Yameen is accused of misusing his official authority to launder the money. He faces two more hearings in January itself. If the former president is found guilty of money laundering he will have to undergo five years imprisonment. The outcome of the case is important as he can get disqualified from running for the presidential election in 2023. Besides the Aarah island case, there is another case of a similar nature against Yameen. The second case is about the leasing of Fuggiri island in the Raa atoll, reports The Sun website. Earlier, he had been sentenced to five years of jail over the leasing of Gaafu Alifu Vodamulla. However the Supreme Court overturned the sentence and released him in November 2021, after which he started a campaign against India. Yameen is believed to be close to China and has taken a strident anti-India stand. His release by the court has been challenged by ruling party members. Abdulla Riyaz, a leader of the Maldives National Party (MNP) said that Yameen was freed by the court not because he did not steal but because of errors in the trial. Addressing a press conference this week, Riyaz said that Yameen walked free on a technicality and there are many other cases pending against him. Riyaz said: "... he received money other than that which he received as income as a president. That he did something which the constitution explicitly prohibits of a president, make a direct business investment". (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Hyderabad, Jan 5 : Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu's praise for 'Pushpa: The Rise', starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika, has evoked a positive response from the leading man of the superhit film. "Allu Arjun as Pushpa is stunning, original and sensational ... a stellar act. Director Sukumar proves again that his cinema is raw, rustic and brutally honest ... a class apart," Mahesh Babu's tweet reads. He also congratulated musician Devi Sri Prasad. "This Is DSP, what can I say ... you're a rock star! Congrats to the entire team of @MythriOfficial. Proud of you guys!" Mahesh Babu tweeted. Overwhelmed by the praise, Allu Arjun thanked Mahesh Babu for his review and wrote: "Thank you very much Mahesh Babu garu. So glad you liked the performance, everyone's work, and the world of 'Pushpa'. Heartwarming compliments. Humbled." Interestingly, before 'Pushpa' went on floors, it was speculated that Mahesh Babu was the first considered for the lead role, but eventually, Allu Arjun was signed up. Mahesh will be seen in the upcoming action comedy 'Sarkaru Vaari Paata', which is also being rolled out by Mythri Movie Makers, the production house behind 'Pushpa'. Sydney, Jan 5 : Increased intake of water and proper bed rest may help people recover fast from Covid-19 infections at home, according to an Australian expert. The coronavirus pandemic in Australia has led to more than 612,000 cases and 2,290 deaths, with more than half of those infections occurring over the past two weeks. The number of Omicron infections has also risen more than 50 times from around 1,200 since late November when the first case was detected in the country. "Most people can manage at home, and can manage well," Daily Mail quoted Sydney based Professor and infectious diseases expert Robert Booy as saying. "They will not get severe symptoms. They will get a cough, fever, lethargy and fatigue, and they will get better over a few days to a week. "All you need is adequate hydration, water, bed rest, if you have analgesics for pain, and antipyretics for fever," Booy said. Booy added people should look out for chest pain, worsening breathlessness, and lethargy as worrying symptoms that might need further medical attention, the report said. "For people with chronic conditions or lung disease, some are given an oximeter, a special machine to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood, and you will need to go to hospital (or get medical attention) if your oxygen saturation is dropping," he said. Booy also stated that rapid antigen tests (RATs) should be free across Australia. It comes as experts slammed the Scott Morrison government for "painting a rosy picture" of the new Omicron variant because it is less severe than Delta - as hospitals continue to fill around the country due to the sheer number of people infected, the report said. Dr Stephen Parnis, an emergency physician from Melbourne, said although the new strain was less severe, the surging number of cases means a significant number of people will still be hospitalised. Covid cases in New South Wales soared to 35,054 on Wednesday while Victoria recorded 17,636 new infections overnight - but ICU admissions in both states remain steady. Besides increase in hospitalisation, eight more people in NSW lost their lives with the virus while Victoria had 11 deaths. Queensland recorded 6,781 new Covid-19 cases, a significant uptick from the 5,699 cases detected on Tuesday, the report said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5 : Union minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Wednesday said that today Congress tried to harm the Prime Minister of India. She was addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach during his Punjab visit. The union minister asked why the Director General of Police (DGP) give the all-clear to the Prime Minister's security detail about the route that he was to take. Irani said "We know Congress hates Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but today, they tried to harm the Prime Minister of India. Such is the breakdown of law and order in Punjab that the DGP, Police claims he's incapable of providing security support to the Prime Minister's Office and security detail." "Never before in the history of our country were police functionaries in a state directed and convenienced to breach the security of a Prime Minister and bring him harm," she said. Hitting out at the Punjab government, Irani said, "Such is the state of administration in Punjab that a security detail and run that is a protocol administratively to be followed by a state head was dismantled so that Prime Minister Modi could be brought to harm. The questions we, as BJP karyakartas (workers) and the nation, need to ask the Congress government in Punjab is why the DGP Police give an all-clear to the PM's security detail for the route that the Prime Minister was to take. Who in the Punjab government gave information about the Prime Minister's route to individuals who planted themselves atop the flyover? Video evidence, now publicly available, brings such questions to the fore," she said. She asked why those who lead the security on behalf of the state government did not respond to any call or efforts to secure the Prime Minister. Without naming anyone, she said, "When Prime Minister Modi had his security breached, Congress leaders erupted with joy, asking him how his Josh was! Prime Minister Modi, magnanimous as ever, on his way back, communicated 'Zinda laut raha hoon!' (Returning alive)." She said that the Congress must realise Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with the blessings of the people of India. Kathmandu, Jan 5 : Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is flying to India on Sunday on a four-day official visit to Gujarat to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, to be held in Gandhinagar from January 10-12. A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday sanctioned Prime Minister Deuba's visit to India, where he will be leading a 25-member delegation. Though this is Deuba's second foreign trip since he was appointed Prime Minister on July 13 last year for the fifth time, this will be his first official visit to India. In November last year, Deuba had travelled to Glasgow, Scotland, to participate in the UN climate conference. He had held an informal bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Glasgow as well. Any Nepali PM's visit to India is followed keenly, both in Kathmandu and Delhi. Deuba's visit to India comes on the heels of his comeback as a strong leader in the Nepali Congress from the party's recently-concluded general convention. "As of now, at least three Memorandums of Understanding on different sectors have been planned for signing in New Delhi," a senior government official said, adding: "Besides signing the MoUs, the Prime Minister will make a strong pitch for investment and tourism promotion during his meeting with Modi and while using the platform of the Gujarat summit." Sources said an MoU will be on importing chemical fertiliser from India under a government-to-government deal, which has been pending for quite a while now. During his meeting with Modi in November in Glasgow also, Deuba had raised the issue and urged the Indian Prime Minister to expedite the process. "Since the agenda of procuring chemical fertiliser from India has been on the table for a long time, this time we are expecting a breakthrough," said the official. Nepal is set to face a shortage of chemical fertilisers, which could spell an economic disaster. In June last year, Nepali and Indian officials had discussed the signing of a five-year deal to supply chemical fertilisers to Nepal. As per the proposed deal, Nepal can buy up to 200,000 tonnes of chemical fertilisers, mostly urea, per year from the southern neighbour without issuing a global tender. The amount will be enough to meet Nepal's 30 per cent annual fertiliser requirement. Another MoU is related to commencing the cross-border Kurtha-Jayanagar rail service that has been awaiting final approval from both sides for a long time. After signing the standard operating procedure (SOP) in October last year, India in the same month had handed over the 34.9 km Kurtha-Jayanagar section of the railway infrastructure to Nepal. The new infrastructure was built for broad gauge railway operation by replacing old infrastructure for narrow-gauge railway service, which had stopped seven-and-a-half years ago. Another MoU is about rebuilding around 137 health posts with Indian assistance that Delhi had announced in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes. Some other issues likely to figure in the meeting are Nepal's plan to sell electricity in the Indian market, providing air entry routes to Nepal crucial for operating the Bhairahawa airport close to the border, renovation of the central library at the Tribhuvan University and some economic packages that India is currently considering at the top political level, said Nepali officials. Since some heads of state, top industrialists and business leaders from India and abroad are participating in the Gujarat summit, Deuba will use the platform to attract investments to Nepal, according to officials. Due to the fast-spreading Covid variant Omicron, the Prime Minister will be leading a small delegation and he will make a stopover in New Delhi on January 9 and leave for Gandhinagar the next day. On January 10, the Prime Minister will participate in the summit, where he will meet Modi and some other leaders on the sidelines of the event, said officials who are preparing the visit. Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is a biennial event conceptualised in 2003, and the 2022 event on January 10-12 is its 10th iteration. The Prime Minister has also requested visits to some religious sites in Gujarat like Somnath Temple and Dwaraka Temple. Soon after he was appointed the Prime Minister, Deuba had received an invitation to visit India. Panaji, Jan 5 : Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday expressed concern about the rising infection positivity rate in the state, on a day when the daily infection count in Goa climbed to four figures, the first time in months, with the state logging 1,002 new infections. Rane also said that in the absence of a genome sequencing machine, the health administration in the state was facing a delay in the detection of the Omicron variant, but added that the state's first genome sequencing equipment would be arriving in Goa by mid-January. "13 per cent is also a bit high, but at the same time, we are ensuring that testing is increased... Our job is to flatten the curve. We have got more Omicron cases in the state. As a result, all these Delta cases which we get as Delta are getting converted to Omicron. The problem is that it is getting a little late because we do not have a genome sequencing machine," Rane told reporters here. The Health Minister said that the Goa government was in talks with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynaecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO) for procurement of a genome sequencing machine for Goa free of cost. "So in view of that, USAID and JHPIEGO have already told the government of Goa that they are going to give us a genome sequencing machine and it should come on the 15th of this month. If that comes, we will be immediately able to test fast," the Health Minister said. In the absence of a genome sequencing machine in the state, Covid samples suspected to be of the Omicron variant are sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, causing a minimum of a week's delay. The Minister said that the Goa government had prepared a stage-wise strategy to combat the rising Covid cases and bring the pandemic under control. "If anybody feels, among the doctors who are dealing with the situation, that the government is not taking any steps, it is absolutely a myth, because the government has already planned exactly stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4 at what stage we will be, where are the facilities, everything is in black and white and put down (on paper)," Rane said. Active cases in Goa stand at 3,718. WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 3,229 schools across the United States were closed in the first week of January, as COVID-19 infections continue soaring and drive staffing shortages, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. "Nationally, the number of in-person closing has tripled since Dec. 19 (2021) as the percentage of positive tests surged," the media reported, adding that the continuing spread of the Omicron variant led large districts like Atlanta, Detroit, and Prince George's County in Maryland to adopt virtual instruction just days into the new year. In New Jersey, 32 percent of schools switched to remote learning as of Tuesday, said a state Department of Education spokesperson, noting that infections among students have more than doubled in three weeks to 11 per 1,000 pupils, while staff positives have quadrupled to 24 per 1,000. The United States, the world's worst hit by the pandemic, shattered a single-day record with over one million COVID-19 cases on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Enditem Agartala, Jan 5 : A Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader from Tripura, Mujibur Islam Majumdar, succumbed to his injuries at the SSKM hospital in Kolkata on Wednesday after he was shifted there for treatment following an alleged attack by BJP workers in August last year. The BJP has denied Trinamool's accusation of having any role to play in the death of Majumdar. The Trinamool said in a statement that Mazumdar, 56, was brutally attacked by BJP workers and goons at Badarghat in western Tripura when he took part in Trinamool Chhatra Parishad's foundation day event on August 28 last year. Subsequently, Majumdar, the younger brother of a BJP state committee member, was shifted to the SSKM hospital in Kolkata where he was undergoing treatment. He passed away on Wednesday morning, the statement said. The Trinamool alleged that there is absolutely no law and order in Tripura and the state has slipped into its darkest days under BJP's misrule. "We demand justice for Mazumdar," the statement added. The slain Trinamool leader's family sources said that Majumdar suffered multiple fractures in his hands and legs during the August attack. Majumdar, a former President of the Tripura unit of NSUI, had joined the Trinamool last year along with several other Congress leaders. The death of Majumdar has triggered strong reaction from Trinamool, which demanded action against the attackers. Tripura Trinamool chief Subal Bhowmik demanded exemplary punishment to the accused who had assaulted Majumdar. However, the ruling BJP strongly denied Trinamool's accusations. BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee said that his party workers were in no way involved in the attack on Majumdar, who, he claimed, was assaulted due to the internal feud in Trinamool. Mumbai, Jan 5 : As Covid-19 and its variant Omicron tighten their grip in Maharashtra, the state government has decided to shut down all non-agricultural, technical, deemed or private universities and their affiliated colleges and students hostels till February 15, officials said here on Wednesday. The move came after Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant held a virtual conference with the Divisional Commissioners, Collectors and Vice Chancellors of various non-agricultural varsities. Samant said that considering the safety and health aspects of the students, all colleges and varsities have agreed to conduct the classes as well as the upcoming examinations online. However, in some districts like Nanded, Jalgaon, and Nandurbar which have connectivity problems, physical exams shall be conducted. All varsities have been directed to set up student helplines, and in case students miss out on the online exams on account of connectivity or power supply problems, they should be given another opportunity to write their exams, the minister assured. Similarly, if any student is unable to appear even for the online exams owing to he/she being infected by the Covid-19 or Omicron virus, or if their family members are afflicted, they will be granted a fresh opportunity to sit for the exams to ensure they don't lose an academic year. Simultaneously, the government has decided to close down all student hostels within the jurisdiction of the varsities with advance notice for specific periods, though international students shall be allowed to stay there. The move for colleges comes after several cities like Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and others decided to shut down all school for Class 1 to 9 and Class 11, till January 31 in view of the massive spread of Covid-19 and Omicron, and vaccination drive for teens aged 15-18 has been taken up in a big way across the state. Srinagar, Jan 5 : Arms and ammunition, including two M-4 Carbines and one AK rifle, were recovered from three JeM terrorists killed in an encounter with security forces at Chandgam area in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Wednesday. The police said that acting on specific inputs regarding the presence of terrorists in Chandgam village, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by the police, army, and CRPF. During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively, leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of gunfight. "Among the killed terrorists, two have been identified as Mir Owais from Ashmander Pulwama and a Pakistani national, Talha Yasir, linked to the proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Regarding the third slain terrorist, although the recoveries made from the site of encounter indicate him to be a foreigner, his identification is yet to be ascertained," the police said. "As per police records, all the killed terrorists were part of a group involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities. Several cases were registered against both the killed terrorists who have been identified. Owais was involved in the killing of a civilian in Kangan Pulwama. The slain Pakistani terrorist was the mastermind in preparing vehicle-borne IEDs, besides being involved in attack on a civilian at Wanpora area of Pulwama," they added. Meanwhile, IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, has congratulated the security forces for conducting the successful operation without suffering any collateral damage. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Manipur High Court order, which said the Manipur University is required to follow the reservation norms of 2 per cent for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), 31 per cent for the Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 17 per cent for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) for purposes of admission. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hima Kohli said :"In the instant case, the respondent No.1 - University has clarified in its affidavit that prior to commencement of the Reservation Act, the prevalent percentage of reservation for ST and SC candidates was 31 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. Nothing to the contrary has been brought forth by the appellant." The bench endorsed the view taken by the high court that after the amendment to the Reservation Act, the university had to follow the reservation norms for candidates -- 2 per cent for SCs, 31 per cent for STs, and 17 per cent for OBCs. It noted that appellants counsel strenuously argued that the meaning ascribed to the words "date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the 2006 Act", used in Clause (a) of the second proviso to Section 3 should be taken to mean the date just before the enactment of the Amendment Act, i.e., a rollback to the situation as was prevalent when the Reservation Act had come into force -- 15 per cent for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs and 27 per cent for OBC candidates. "In our opinion, any such interpretation would strike at the root of the Amendment Act which was legislated with the sole object of overcoming the ambiguities that had come to the fore on working out the warp and woof of the Reservation Act, namely, the inability to meet the aspirations of a large number of ST candidates looking for opportunities to gain entry in CEIs located in the areas subsequently defined as the 'specified northeastern region' in the Amendment Act," the top court said, adding that university was not wrong in calculating the extent of reservation on seats to different courses. The top court judgment came on an appeal filed by Kshetrimayum Maheshkumar Singh and others against the Manipur High Court order. Dismissing the appeals, it said: "We are in complete agreement with the findings returned in the impugned judgment that the university was right in reverting back to the position obtaining immediately before the commencement of the Reservation Act by reserving seats in respect of ST, SC and OBC candidates, pegged at 31 per cent, two per cent and 17 per cent respectively, which was in consonance with the Manipur State Reservation Policy." The high court had declined to go into the actual calculation of the seats notified as reserved by the university and rather confined itself to the principles to be adopted for the determination of the percentage of reservation of seats. Johannesburg, Jan 5 : South Africa captain Dean Elgar was gutsy in leading the way for his team with the bat as South Africa finished at 118/2 in 40 overs at stumps on day three of the second Test against India at the Wanderers here on Wednesday. With two days left in the match, South Africa need 122 runs to level the series while India look for eight wickets to script their maiden series victory in the 'Rainbow Nation'. Resuming from 34/0 at tea, Aiden Markram continued his nice nick from the second session, driving Shardul Thakur through point. But Thakur bounced back by rapping Markram on pads twice for lbw calls and then beating him on the fifth ball. Thakur closed the over by trapping Markram lbw with a nip-backer and smashing his back leg. Keegan Petersen creamed boundaries through the off-side off Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah while Elgar held up one end and was happy rotating the strike. The 46-run stand off 104 balls for the second wicket was broken by Ravichandran Ashwin, trapping Petersen lbw with the one turning in sharply from outside-off and going past his glance to be hit high on knee-roll. With Rassie van der Dussen steady at the crease, Elgar continued to take blows to his body but was dislodged from the crease. Elgar was hit on the right shoulder after he took his eyes off while trying to duck a Bumrah bouncer. He was also smashed on the gloves from Thakur before taking another hit on shoulder from Shami. Elgar and van der Dussen saw out time till stumps to leave things interestingly poised. Earlier, India were all out for 266 after cameos from Shardul Thakur and Hanuma Vihari took the lead past 200 with a stand of 111 runs between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane setting the base for India to pose a tricky target for South Africa. For the hosts, Rabada, Jansen and Ngidi took three wickets each. The day began with an action-packed first session, with India dominating the first hour, making 66 runs in 14 overs, thanks to Rahane and Pujara cashing on South Africa's wayward lines and lengths. But the hosts' bounced back in the second hour, taking four wickets while conceding 37 runs. Resuming from 82/2 on day two, Pujara continued his impressive run, hitting Jansen for two fours through on-side. On the other hand, Rahane slashed Jansen with a drive through mid-off followed by a beautiful uppercut over deep point. South Africa were unable to find consistent lines and lengths, leaking runs as Rahane continued to smash Rabada for boundaries. They also missed a chance of Rahane at 43 when Markram at second slip and Petersen at gully went for the catch lobbing off the gloves. Markram made a late dive but the ball dropped in front of him. Pujara reached his fifty in 62 balls while two overs later, Rahane brought up his half-century with back-to-back boundaries through point and gully off Duanne Olivier. After the first hour of play saw the partnership between Pujara and Rahane crossing the 100-run mark, South Africa bounced back in the second hour. Rabada provided the first breakthrough, getting one to kick off from a length and Rahane edged to keeper Kyle Verreynne, breaking the partnership off 144 balls. Pujara survived an lbw appeal off Olivier but was trapped lbw by Rabada with a big inswinger hitting him flush on the pads. Pujara took the review but couldn't change the decision. Rabada then dismissed Pant for a three-ball duck. After being beaten outside the off-stump, Rabada rattled Pant by hitting him on the gloves through a ball which bounced a bit. On the very next ball, Pant stepped out to slog but gave a feather edge behind to Verreynne. Ravichandran Ashwin hit some boundaries but was caught down the leg side by Verreynne off Lungi Ngidi. Thakur got off the mark with a four off his second ball and post lunch, came out all guns blazing, hammering boundaries through cover and point off Jansen. Thakur continued to deal into boundaries, a top-edge on hook went over Verreynne for a six while the next two boundaries were lofted and pulled towards the on-side. Thakur's scintillating knock ended when he pulled Jansen's short ball but picked out Keshav Maharaj at deep square leg. With some byes and no-balls, India's lead swelled past 200. Jansen then strangled Shami down leg for a duck. Vihari and Jasprit Bumrah took a four and six respectively off Rabada but in the next over, Ngidi took the latter out with a top-edge flying to Jansen at point. With Siraj struggling due to a hamstring issue, Vihari farmed the strike and began to go for the kill. He made use of the short ball strategy to upper-cut over slip cordon, slap over mid-wicket with a forehand smash-like shot, hitting over extra cover and pulling over deep square leg. Ngidi ended India's innings by ratting Siraj's off-stump, as 82 runs came off the last four partnerships, giving South Africa a target at a place where they have never chased anything above 220. Brief scores: India 202 & 266 in 60.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 53; Kagiso Rabada 3/77, Lungi Ngidi 3/43) against South Africa 229 and 118/2 in 40 overs (Dean Elgar 46 not out, Aiden Markram 31; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/14, Shardul Thakur 1/24), South Africa need 122 runs to win. Islamabad, Jan 5 : The Director-General of Pakistan Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Babar Iftikhar, has categorically rejected the impression that there is "a deal" in the works with former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Geo News reported. "I will only say this about the issue, that it is all baseless speculation," he said. "If someone speaks about such a matter, I would request you to ask them who is striking a deal. What are the specifics? What is the evidence that someone is out to make a deal," Iftikhar asked. He said there is no such thing going on and reiterated that if someone does talk of it, they must be asked for details. "In my understanding, and I am very clear on that, this is all absolutely baseless speculation and the lesser we discuss it, the better it is for the country," he added, the report said. He also maintained that there is no trouble afoot when it comes to civil-military relations. "I say this time and again that the armed forces are a subservient institution to the government of Pakistan and work in accordance with its directives," he said, the report said. "That is it. There is nothing more to it. And one must avoid any speculation on this," the military spokesperson said, adding: "Keep the establishment out of it (such debates) and don't argue about this." Hyderabad, Jan 5 : Vaccine maker Bharat Biotech on Wednesday clarified that Paracetamol or pain killers are not recommended for teenagers after being vaccinated with Covaxin. "We have received feedback that certain immunisation centres are recommending taking 3 paracetamol 500 mg tablets along with Covaxin for children. No paracetamol or painkillers are recommended after being vaccinated with Covaxin," the Hyderabad-based company said. The firm said through its clinical trials spanning 30,000 individuals, approximately 10-20 per cent of individuals reported side effects. "Most of these are mild, resolve within 1-2 days, and do not require medication. Medication is only recommended after you consult a physician," it said. "Paracetamol was recommended along with certain other Covid-19 vaccines and is not recommended for Covaxin," it added. Covid-19 vaccination for children in the age group of 15-18 years began across the country on January 3. The children are being administered the first dose of Covaxin. During the first three days, over 1.06 crore children received the jab. New Delhi, Jan 5 : Total Gaming and Team SoloMid (TSM FTX) alongside ten other Indian teams progressed into the next stage of the World Esports Cup (WEC '21) and will fight for a place in the global finals at South East Asia's premier tri-nation esports tournament. Arrow Esports, Blackflag Army, Aura Gaming, Stone Crushers, Desi gamers, TG Tycoon, Chemin Esports, Helping Gamers, Orangutan and UG Empire are the other teams that will compete in the India finals. Ajay Sharma-led five-member Team Total Gaming, comprising of top gamers and Team SoloMid will be eager to make their mark in the national qualifying stage, scheduled on Thursday and Friday. Top four teams from the India finals will join teams from Pakistan and Nepal in the 12-team global finals. Team Hotshot, The Guardians, Five mutants and Legend Style ES have qualified for the global finals from Pakistan while 2b Gamer, Tonde Gamer, Dada Gang and KM Brotherhood will represent Nepal in the global finals. "There has been a great level of competition so far in the tournament which received an overwhelming response from all the three participating countries. This tournament is surely an indicator of the growing esports culture in this part of the world and we are committed to strengthening it further across the region," said Vishwalok Nath, Director, World Esports Cup. New Delhi, Jan 5 : The World Book Fair 2022 that was scheduled to be held from January 8 to 16 at the new International Exhibition Centre at Pragati Maidan has been postponed due to the guidelines laid down to contain the surge in Covid 19 cases. "In view of the latest DDMA guidelines, and the requests made by various stakeholders, the New Delhi World Book Fair 2022 has been postponed. The fresh dates will be announced separately," the National Book Trust said in a statement on Wednesday. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew in the capital in the wake of the Covid-19 resurgence. In a virtual meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, the Authority suggested a weekend curfew during which no non-essential movement will be allowed. The meeting also discussed imposing more restrictions in the city in an effort to curb the unabated surge. According to the DDMA order, staff of all government offices, except those dealing with essential services, will work from home. A 50 per cent occupancy cap has been imposed on private offices. On Wednesday, city doctors advised residents not to panic but to strictly adhere to the Covid norms such as maintaining social distance, wearing masks, maintaining proper sanitisation, and getting vaccinated. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday morning announced the start of a third Covid wave in the national capital, and warned the cases can jump to close to 10,000 with the infection rate nearing 10 per cent by the evening. By evening, as predicted by Jain, Delhi reported 10,665 fresh Covid-19 cases - the highest since May 12 - and eight deaths, and the positivity rate also shot up to 11.88 per cent. The number of active cases in the capital now stands at 23,307. The rapid increase in cases could also be due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid that is reportedly driving the third wave in the national capital. Delhi on Wednesday reported 464 Omicron cases, the second-highest in the country after Maharashtra (653). Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone with Germany's new Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday and discussed ongoing bilateral initiatives as well as the scope of broadening relations in sectors such as climate action and green energy. Congratulating Scholz on his appointment, Modi expressed his appreciation for the immense contribution of his predecessor Angela Merkel in strengthening the India-Germany Strategic Partnership and looked forward to continuing this positive momentum under his leadership. "Spoke to @OlafScholz today and congratulated him on assuming charge as German Chancellor. I look forward to working with him to further strengthen the India-Germany Strategic Partnership, and to meeting him soon for the 6th Inter-Governmental Consultations," Modi said in a tweet. The two leaders agreed that there was significant synergy in the governance priorities announced by the new German government and India's own economic vision. They reviewed the potential of ongoing cooperation initiatives, including for promoting investment and trade links. They agreed on the potential for further diversifying cooperation and exchanges in new areas. In particular, they expressed the hope to commence new cooperation initiatives in the areas of climate action and green energy, to enable both countries to achieve their respective climate commitments, said the Prime Minister's Office. Mumbai, Jan 5 : Maharashtras single-day fresh Covid-19 caseload shot above 26,000, while its Omicron variant breached the 100-mark, though deaths plummeted to single-digit figure, health officials said here on Wednesday. For the ninth consecutive day, the state reported a massive spike in Covid infections and suspect cases, whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing. The state's Covid count shot up sharply -- from 18,466 on Tuesday to 26,538 on Wednesday - while fatalities decreased from 20 a day earlier to just 8 now, as its mortality rate stood at 2.09 per cent. After recording 75 Omicron infections on Tuesday, the state logged a staggering 144 more cases of the variant on Wednesday, taking up the state's tally to 797, with Mumbai again reporting the highest number of fresh cases at 100, followed by 13 in Pune, 11 each in Thane and Nagpur, 5 in Kolhapur, 2 in Amravati, and 1 each in Raigad and Osmanabad. The health authorities are continuing with their intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports -- at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur -- since December 1. A total of 34,108 travellers landed here from the 'high risk' countries, of which 337 have tested positive, apart from 336 from other countries, and all their samples have been sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron. Besides, another 2,541 samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 were sent for genomic sequencing of which the results of 102 are awaited, the officials said. Omicron has spread extensively spanning several districts of the state, accounting for as many as 797 cases so far. Mumbai accounts for the maximum of 508 cases, followed by 148 in Pune, 56 in Thane, 24 in Nagpur, 18 in Raigad, 10 in Kolhapur, 8 in Satara, 6 in Osmanabad, 4 in Palghar, 3 each in Amravati and Nanded, 2 each in Buldhana, Aurangabad and Sangli, and 1 each in Akola, Latur and Ahmednagar. Of the 26,538 new Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday, Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone accounted for 21,738 infections, with Mumbai city shooting past the 15,000-mark with 15,166 new cases. The next is Pune Circle's 3,052 infectees, while all other districts moved up to triple-digit figures of infections with Nashik Circle at 655, Nagpur Circle 488, Kolhapur Circle 237, Latur Circle 139, Aurangabad Circle 115 and Akola Circle at 114. The number of people sent to home quarantine also shot up by over one lakh, from 398,391 on Tuesday to 513,758 on Wednesday, while another 1,366 persons have been shunted to institutional quarantine. Mumbai, Pune and Thane remain at the top with the highest number of active cases, with the afflictions shooting up sharply from 66,308 a day earlier to 87,505 on Wednesday, with recovery rate dropping from 96.86 per cent a day earlier to 96.55 per cent now. The state's cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic stands at 67,57,032 cases and 141,581 deaths, while 65,24,247 persons have fully recovered till date. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 5 : Strict lockdowns in the Chinese cities of Xian and Yuzhou are taking their toll on the population and healthcare systems, according to residents, with complaints of food shortages and dangerous delays in accessing medical care, The Guardian reported. Xi'an, a city of 13 million people, has been under strict lockdown for nearly two weeks now, while Yuzhou's 1.2 million residents have been ordered to stay inside since Monday evening, after three asymptomatic cases were discovered there. Public transport, the use of private motor vehicles, and operation of all shops and venues not supplying daily necessities have all been suspended, the report said. On China's strictly monitored and regulated social media platforms, a significant number of residents have posted about their concerns and anxieties, despite generally broad support for authorities' swift response to outbreaks, The Guardian reported. Local media has reported concerning delays in the cities' major hospitals, which require negative tests from patients before they can be admitted. A screenshot of one post which went viral before being deleted claimed a man and his sick father were turned away from a Xi'an hospital because they were from an area designated as higher risk. The post said the man's father was having a heart attack but died by the time he was admitted for treatment, the report said. In another account posted to social media, a woman in labour lost her baby after she was prevented from entering a Xi'an hospital. In a since-deleted post, a relative described calling emergency services on the night of 1 January for their aunt after she started feeling pain, but the phone rang out, the report added. New Delhi, Jan 5 : India, a key player in the world's fight against terrorism, will now chair the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2022, and seek to ensure the global response to the menace remains "unambiguous, undivided and effective". India will be represented by its envoy to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti. "As the chair for CTC for 2022, India will make determined efforts to further enhance the role of the CTC in strengthening the multilateral response to counter-terrorism, and more importantly, ensuring that the global response to the threat of terrorism remains unambiguous, undivided, and effective," an official statement read after its election as chair of the CTC. The CTC, established by Resolution 1373 (2001) in September 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is tasked with monitoring the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001), which requested countries to implement a number of measures intended to enhance their legal and institutional ability to counter terrorist activities at home, in their regions, and around the world. It comprises all 15 members of the Security Council - the five permanent members as well as India, Vietnam, Norway, Nigeria, and Tunisia among others. Tirumurti is a career diplomat with extensive experience. Since joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1985 he has served in numerous capacities, including in the Indian Embassy in Egypt, at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Geneva, as India's first Representative of India to the Palestinian Authority, as Counsellor in the Indian Embassy in the US, as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Indian Embassy in Indonesia, and as High Commissioner of India to Malaysia. He also served as Under Secretary, Bhutan, Director in the Office of the Foreign Secretary, Joint Secretary, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka), and Joint Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Council in the Ministry of External Affairs. Prior to taking up his current position as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in May 2020, he served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, handling the Economic Relations portfolio (which included, inter alia, the Gulf and the Arab World, Africa, and India's Development Partnerships). New Delhi, Jan 5 : Around 75 lakh people will perform Surya Namaskar globally on this Makar Sankranti to make the occasion special, the Ayush Ministry said on Wednesday. Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, said that on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on January 14, 75 lakh people will perform Surya Namaskar globally. The other ministries of the government will also join in on the occasion. "Enhancing immunity level among citizens has become the need of the hour as Covid cases are rising. The ministry aims to encourage more and more people to perform Surya Namaskar that helps in strengthening not only the body, but also the mind," Sonowal said. He said the ministry is ready to play a crucial role again this year in popularising the use of yoga, ayurveda, homeopathy, siddha, naturopathy and Unani systems of medicine amid the pandemic to boost natural immunity in people. At a meeting held on Wednesday, the minister asked the officials to expand the scope of Ayush campaign in view of the rising cases of Covid-19 in the country. The Minister of State for Ayush, Munjapara Mahendrabhai, was also present in the meeting. Belagavi : , Jan 5 (IANS) Karnataka won't close the borders in all districts with neighboring states amid the third wave of Covid, state minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said on Wednesday. The movement between the neighboring states will remain normal but more vigilance will be kept. The new guidelines are implemented to prevent the situation from going out of hand, he said. He further stated that the government aims to develop industries in the Belagavi region leveraging on the ecosystem which is supportive to the growth of industries as well as entrepreneurship. In his remarks at the 'CEOs Conclave' organized by Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) as part of the 'Beyond Bengaluru' initiative, he said that the state has planned to achieve becoming a $400 billion digital economy in the next 5 years through the development of 'Beyond Bengaluru' clusters in the state which also includes Hubli region. "Being an entrepreneurial and educational region, Belagavi is also blessed with a good climate. This will boost the industrial growth in the region. The VTU of Belagavi will be developed as an anchor institute on par with IISc and IIT and an action plan to make it a reality has been prepared," he said. Adelaide, Jan 5 : World number one Ashleigh Barty shook off the rust and marked her return to the court with a fighting win against American teenager Coco Gauff to reach the quarterfinals of Adelaide International, here on Wednesday. The Australian was playing her first match in four months, having not competed since losing to Shelby Rogers in the third round of the US Open in September after ending her 2021 season early because of quarantine rules. The 25-year-old Barty trailed 17-year old Gauff 6-4, 4-2 and was a point away from a 5-2 double-break deficit in the second set, but located her forehand in the nick of time to reel off 11 of the last 13 games. She levelled before dominating the deciding set to seal a 4-6 7-5 6-1 win. The 2020 champion in Adelaide, will continue her quest for a third home-soil trophy against either No6 seed Sofia Kenin or compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic in the quarterfinals. "In the first set, I was able to create opportunities but just was a little bit slack on the execution, rusty in the sense of stringing quality points together. I felt like I would play two or three good ones and then give away two or three cheapies quite quickly, which comes with match practice," said Barty after the match. "Midway through the second set I was able to find my rhythm a little bit better on serve and just continued to be aggressive on my forehand. I just found execution a little bit more. Serving, getting a little bit better, getting a few more cheapies, allowed me to play with a little bit more freedom towards the end of the second set and the start of the third. "I think it was all in all a good progression. Work to do, without a doubt, but very happy with the level that we started the year with," she added. Two-time Grand Slam champion Barty is also the favourite to win the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on January 17, and will be looking to become the first home player to win the Grand Slam since 1978. New Delhi, Jan 6 : The Election Commission of India held a virtual meeting with political parties and poll officials from Manipur on Wednesday and said that for the first time, the option of postal ballot would be provided during the upcoming Assembly elections to 80+ citizens, persons with disabilities and Covid suspects or affected persons. "The postal ballot facility is an optional facility and ensures total secrecy of voting. Representatives of candidates will be present during the process and the total procedure will be videographed. In the state, 14,565 persons with disabilities and over 41,867 80+ citizens have been mapped," the poll panel said. The term of the 60-member Manipur Assembly is due to expire on March 19, 2022. The main issues raised by the political parties at the meeting included concerns about use of money power, illicit liquor, narcotics and intimidation to influence voters. The political parties requested for strict vigil on election expenses by the candidates to ensure free and fair polling. While expressing concerns about pre-poll violence, the political parties demanded deployment of adequate security forces during the poll process along with other relevant measures. The parties also raised concerns about the implementation of strict Covid protocols for everyone's safety. The Commission assured the representatives that it has taken cognizance of the suggestions, and it is committed to conduct free, fair, participative, inclusive, inducement-free and Covid safe elections in the state. During the review meeting, the Commission also emphasised on conducting the elections with 100 per cent vaccinated polling staff, proper sanitisation and social distancing at the polling stations. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Jan 6 : Six products under 'One District One Product' (ODOP) brands under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme were launched on Wednesday. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has signed an agreement with NAFED for developing 10 brands of selected ODOPs under the branding and marketing component of the PMFME scheme. Out of these, six brands namely Amrit Phal, Cori Gold, Kashmiri Mantra, Madhu Mantra, Somdana, and Whole Wheat Cookies of Dilli Bakes were launched on Wednesday by Union Minister for Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State, Prahlad Singh Patel, in presence of senior officials of NAFED. The brand Amrit Phal for Amla juice has been exclusively developed under the ODOP concept for Gurugram, Haryana. The product contains pure Amla juice and is a natural elixir with added lemon for a "unique" taste and health benefits. A 500 ml bottle is competitively priced at Rs 120. Cori Gold brand has been developed for coriander powder, which is the identified ODOP for Kota, Rajasthan. A 100g pack is competitively priced at Rs 34. Similarly, Brand Kashmiri Mantra brings out the essence of spices from Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmiri Lal Mirch product has been developed under the ODOP component for spices for Jammu and Kashmir. The 100g pack is priced at Rs 75. Brand Madhu Mantra has been developed under the ODOP concept for honey from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The multiflora honey has been collected by free-range bees and a 500g glass bottle is priced at Rs 185. Meanwhile, the whole-wheat cookies are the second product developed under the brand Dilli Bakes. The brand and the product have been developed under the bakery ODOP concept for Delhi. According to NAFED, the whole wheat cookie is a unique product as it is made with whole wheat, jaggery instead of sugar, and contains butter instead of vanaspati. The 380 gms pack is competitively priced at Rs 175. Brand Somdana has been developed under the ODOP concept of millets from Thane, Maharashtra. The ragi flour is a unique product as it is gluten-free, rich in iron, fibre, and calcium. The 500 gms pack is priced at Rs 60. Through the initiative under the PMFME scheme, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries aims to encourage the micro food processing enterprises (MFPEs) across the country. All the products will be available at NAFED Bazaars, e-commerce platforms, and prominent retail stores across India, the release added. Bengaluru, Jan 6 : The Punjab government should be dismissed for failing to provide adequate security to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday. The CM was speaking to mediapersons after participating in a programme at the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Mandya district. Replying to questions on the reported breach in PM's security in Punjab, Bommai said, "Punjab government has failed to provide security to the Prime Minister near the international border. Failure to make arrangements for the smooth movement of the Prime Minister has drawn wide condemnation from across the country. It is a highly condemnable incident. It is the duty of every government to respect the Prime Minister of the country. I strongly condemn the lapse. Those responsible for it should be punished stringently." After a major security breach, the Prime Minister on Wednesday cancelled his visit to Ferozepur town in Punjab, where he was scheduled to lay the foundation stones of Rs 42,750 crore projects, at the last minute. The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement, "Today morning, the PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. "When the weather didn't improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than 2 hours. Around 30 km from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on the flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the PM." Kolkata, Jan 6 : West Bengal on Wednesday saw daily Covid cases surge 55 per cent, to over 14,000, against 9,000 on the day before, forcing the state government to impose restrictions strictly. According to the data released by the state Health Department, the daily tally rose to 14,022 against 9,073 on Tuesday, taking active cases to a whopping 33,042 - the highest number since Durga Puja in October last year. There are 17 more deaths too. The infection rate has skyrocketed to 23.27 percent giving a real tough time to the state Health Department. Kolkata tops the chart with more than 6,000 infections on Wednesday, a 45 per cent rise over the previous day. There has also been a substantial rise of cases in districts in and around Kolkata. In North 24 Parganas, the total number of daily cases touched 2,540, in Howrah, it was 1,280 and in South 24 Parganas, the number of cases was 789. "This is a new trend because it shows that the districts encircling Kolkata are having a spill-over effect of the virus. Previously these three districts that have got a direct link with Kolkata had a moderate number of infected patients but now the number has started rising. We have asked all the government and private hospitals to get prepared for the Covid blast in the state. In the coming days it will have a steep rise and it might put an additional pressure on the hospitals," a senior Health Department official said. "Presently, there is no shortage of medicine or oxygen but the rate of increase is alarming and we don't know what will be the situation in the next seven days. We are getting prepared for every possible situation and we will meet the challenges. We have been successful in controlling the second wave and are hopeful that we will be successful in handling the third wave as well," the official said. BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Amid a targeted national campaign, Chinese police in 2021 investigated and handled 62,000 cybercrime cases including personal information infringement and hacking, according to the Ministry of Public Security. A total of 103,000 individuals suspected of involvement in these cases were captured, with over 27,000 internet enterprises and institutions receiving administrative penalties, said the ministry. Police busted over 6,000 gangs that helped online gambling, fraud and other criminal activities in terms of funds settlement, technical support and attracting online traffic, it said. The ministry added that Chinese police also intensified their crackdown on the infringement of intellectual property rights, as well as on the sale and manufacture of counterfeit goods. In 2021, 18,000 criminal cases of this kind were dealt with, up by 12 percent than the previous year. Enditem Baghdad, Jan 6 : Six Katyusha rockets hit on Wednesday a military airbase, housing some US experts and agencies, in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the US military said. The attack took place in the evening, when the rockets landed in Ayn al-Asad Airbase without knowing the casualties, an Iraqi army source told Xinhua news agency on the condition of anonymity. The rockets were fired from a village located some 15 km east of the airbase, the source said, adding that no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called the attacks on Iraqi military bases "absurd," stressing the end of the combat mission of the US-led coalition forces in Iraq after their withdrawal from the country. "Unfortunately, there are some absurd actions within the first days of the new year, as several attacks targeted Iraqi bases, and this will certainly disturb the country's security and stability," said a statement by al-Kadhimi's media office. "We reiterate that the combat mission of the international coalition forces in Iraq has ended, and the Iraqi forces have received all the military bases," it said, adding that there are currently a number of foreign military advisers working alongside the security forces. The latest attack came as part of a series of drone and rocket attacks during the past three days that targeted Iraqi army bases, housing US advisers and agencies, in Ayn al-Asad Airbase and an army base known as Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport. The attacks came on the second anniversary of a deadly attack by a US drone on a convoy near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, former deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces. On December 29, 2021, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed the end of the US-led coalition forces' combat mission in Iraq after the withdrawal of the forces from his country. Gandhinagar, Jan 6 : The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the state government in response to a PIL demanding investigation into the killing of a 14-year-old boy in Surendranagar in November in an alleged police encounter. The PIL has been filed by Sohana Malek, whose father Hanifkhan Jatlamalik aka Kalu Munno, and brother Madeen Khan (14) were killed in the police encounter on November 6 night under Bajana police station in Surendranagar district. The boy and his father, a notorious gangster who was facing as many as 86 criminal cases, were killed in an alleged encounter by the Gujarat police. The police, however, had claimed that his son was 18-year-old. According to the petitioner, "The police team led by police sub inspector VN Jadeja and others came to her house in a private vehicle, dragged her father and put him in the vehicle. Looking at the atrocity, the 14-year-old brother of the petitioner went to ask why his father was dragged and followed him. Seeing this, respondent - 5 (Jadeja) shot the brother of the petitioner point blank in the chest." The petition is filed by advocate Vicky Mehta and is being argued by senior advocate Yatin Oza. "On seeing his son being shot in cold blood, the father also got angry and as he came to see his child, he was also shot dead," says the petitioner in her PIL. "No doubt, there are many offences registered against the father of the petitioner herein i.e Hanifkhan. However, this will not give an automatic licence to the respondent number 5 to 11 to carry out a fake encounter," the PIL further reads. The police, however, has claimed that both the father and son, Hanifkhan, 44, and Madeen, 18, were shot while they were trying to escape from the police team. Police claimed in their FIR that they had to resort to firing after Hanif shot at the police team to resist his arrest and was being assisted by his son and others. Police had claimed that a seven-member police team led by Jadeja had gone to the village to nab Hanif based on a specific information. Jadeja reportedly fired in self defence after being shot at and hit by a sharp weapon by Hanif's son. One of the bullets hit Hanif in his chest while another one hit his son Madeen. The division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri on Wednesday issued notice to the state government and sought its response by January 18. The court also asked the government lawyers to take instruction and file an affidavit accordingly. Hanif was wanted in Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized Crime (GUJCTOC) Act for his involvement in several criminal cases of loot and theft. He was part of the Gedia gang and was named in 86 FIRs and wanted in 59 cases, police stated in its report. Natural Language Processing Protections Were at an inflection point similar to the World Wide Web in the early 90s where innovation reorganized our world but sat atop infrastructure that was created without security in mind, says Stewart, our DNA is to protect and advance the pace of innovation that weve come to enjoy. Cybersecurity for AI Solutions Provider TrojAI Inc. Closes $3M Seed Round and Expands Protections to Include Natural Language Processing As Government Regulations Push for Greater Focus on Responsible AI TrojAI Inc. announced a new round of seed funding of CAD$3M co-led by Seattle's Flying Fish Ventures and Atlantic Canada's largest venture capital fund, Build Ventures. This follows a $750K pre-seed round one year ago with Techstars, Concrete Ventures, and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, all of which participated in the round. "As more companies speed to get AI solutions to market few are prepared for, or even aware of the very real security threats that can be introduced with malicious data injected into training sets," says Frank Chang, Managing Partner at Flying Fish, "and TrojAI is the only company we've seen that has the team and technology to identify and remove it." This new round of funding will be used to expand tooling to protect the entire AI pipeline from training through to deployment including: (i) protecting training data from data poisoning which can occur at multiple stages through the data supply chain, (ii) model evasion attacks which bad actors can use to fool deployed models and (iii) tracking robustness of models to both naturally occurring and malicious long-tailed edge cases. Such attacks are attractive to malicious actors who wish to cause harm or achieve competitive advantage and financial gain. Additionally, this round of funding will help scale the team as new Natural Language Processing protections are added to the TrojAI Platform which already includes support for building more robust computer vision, helping enterprises deploy more accurate and secure models up to 25% faster. Over the past year, TrojAI Inc. has participated in the Techstars Montreal AI accelerator, the Rogers Cyber Catalyst program out of Ryerson University, the Global Affairs Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) for Cybersecurity and is currently working with Venture Lab and Creative Destruction Lab, both out of Toronto, Canada. TrojAI is supported by the National Research Council of Canada and is a Gartner Representative Vendor for Adversarial Resistance. This is CEO James Stewarts second AI startup, the first being acquired by a publicly-traded Canadian defence company where he served as SVP Video Analytics. It was during this time that he increasingly became aware of the vulnerabilities of AI systems to adversarial attack. These attacks are sector agnostic impacting autonomous transport, robotics, fintech, medtech and defence applications. Were at an inflection point similar to the World Wide Web in the early 90s where innovation reorganized our world but sat atop infrastructure that was created without security in mind, says Stewart. Our DNA is to protect and advance the pace of innovation that weve come to enjoy. Given the focus on emerging regulations and strict penalties around responsible AI, TrojAI Inc. offers market-leading tools to protect enterprise AI systems. TrojAI Inc. is a Canadian-based firm dedicated to building cybersecurity solutions to enhance and protect AI innovations from both naturally occurring and adversarial 'data poisoning' and 'model evasion' attacks which can adversely influence model behaviours. ### James Stewart TrojAI Inc., alum of Techstars Montreal AI 2020 506-651-0938 james.stewart@troj.ai Mobile2Teams turned Microsoft Teams into Wiskind & Bittas next-gen holistic communications platform, adding CRM integration, call recordings, IVR, transcription, hooks for analytics and integrated landline, cellular, voice, and text communications under one umbrella. Mobile2CRM, a technology innovator in cellular technology integration, with CRM and other business systems, today announced that the international accounting firm Wiskind & Bittas selected and implemented Mobile2TeamsTM as part of the companys effort to integrate its communications infrastructure into a comprehensive envelope focused on simplifying processes, cutting operational costs, increasing efficiency and supporting its expected growth acceleration in the coming years. Wiskind and Bittas have implemented Microsoft Teams in the past for its conferencing and chat capabilities, and sought a solution that would enable capitalizing on it as the core communications platform for the organization. After comparing offerings from a number of providers, the firms technology advisors surmised that Mobile2Teams provided the required functionality to turn Microsoft Teams into Wiskind & Bittas next-gen holistic communications platform, adding CRM integration, call recordings, IVR, transcription, hooks for analytics and integrating landline, cellular, voice, and text communications under one umbrella. We are delighted to have won Wiskind & Bittas confidence, said Joshua Behar, CEO, Mobile2CRM. Being selected to enable their next-gen communications envelope was a challenging effort and were proud to have satisfied Wiskind & Bittas requirements which also included strict privacy and regulatory compliance. We have been struggling with a communication infrastructure that includes quite a few disparate components, said Omri Bittas, Partner, Wiskind & Bittas. We are using various offerings from several vendors and needed to find a seamless way to connect all the pieces together, and provide smooth operations solution that offers robust security while simultaneously delivering our employees and clients users with the business efficiency and productivity to enable our projected growth acceleration in the coming years. About Wiskind & Bittas The Wiskind & Bittas accounting firms team of experienced and professional accountants is certified in the United States and in Israel. Providing uncompromising professional services handling tax issues, investments due diligence, and the compounded complexity of two national tax authorities. We believe in reliability, precision, and personal care. We operate with the understanding that the client is a long-term partner and our goal is catering for our customers business and accounting needs. For more information about Wiskind & Bittas and its services, visit https://www.wb-tax.com/en/. About Mobile2CRM With Mobile2CRM, businesses, enterprises, and organizations can utilize their employee's cellular communication capabilities to expand their customer reach, increase revenues, and streamline operations. Mobile2CRM brings the business information from employee cellphone to the corporate CRM and other systems empowering enterprise mobile and remote workforces to increase their productivity, performance and revenues. Mobile2CRMs unique solution automatically captures, logs, and records cellular interactions into companies systems and databases requiring zero user intervention. The corporate benefits from mobile call recording capabilities that are compliant with recording and monitoring regulations, ensuring that employee privacy is fully protected. For more information about Mobile2CRM and its products, visit http://www.Mobile2CRM.com. You can also follow us on our blog, as well as on LinkedIn. Mobile2CRM Contact Ilan Paretsky ilan.paretsky@Mobile2CRM.com 917-473-9709 Acqueon, a leading conversational engagement software company, today announced it has appointed Patrick Beyries Chief Product Officer for the company. Since 2005, Acqueon has been innovating proactive customer engagement with platform-agnostic software that connects Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Conversational AI, and Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS), leveraging all three for better communication with customers and better distribution of work to agents and associates. The company's software orchestrates multi-channel, multi-touch outreach for sales, service, collections, and loyalty development. In this newly created position, Beyries will collaborate closely with the product team, customers, partners, and industry experts to define the future of customer engagement and drive the execution of Acqueon's vision. Beyries comes from SaaS-leader Salesforce where he spent over a decade leading product teams, product strategy and was instrumental in growing the Salesforce Service Cloud product, the largest product at Salesforce, to over $6B in recurring revenue. "I am thrilled to have Patrick join Acqueon," said Ashish Koul Acqueon CEO. "His domain expertise and track record will be critical to propel us through our next stage of growth." "I am excited at Acqueon's unique positioning and immense market opportunity," noted Patrick Beyries. "I am inspired to join the company and the leadership team on their mission to transform customer engagement." About Acqueon Acqueon's conversational engagement software lets customer-centric brands orchestrate campaigns and proactively engage with consumers using voice, messaging, and email channels. Acqueon leverages a rich data platform, statistical and predictive models, and intelligent workflows that enable enterprises to maximize the potential of every customer interaction. Acqueon is trusted by 200 clients across a broad range of industries and verticals to increase sales, drive proactive service, improve collections, and develop loyalty. For more information, go to https://www.acqueon.com or follow us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/acqueon. Trademark Note: Names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contact: Lisa McDermott VP Marketing lisa.mcdermott@acqueon.com +1 610-656-3339 AdaptXs solution has been transformative for our clinicians. AdaptX, a clinical performance management company, today announced an enterprise partnership with Seattle Childrens to provide AdaptXs Adaptive Clinical Management solution system-wide. AdaptXs AI-driven technology empowers clinical leaders to transform patient care by leveraging data from their hospitals electronic medical record (EMR). Using AdaptXs unique, self-serve Mission Control Center, clinicians are able to monitor, evaluate, and adapt care across patients, treatments, teams, and workflows. AdaptXs solution has been transformative for our clinicians, said Jeffrey G. Ojemann, MD, interim chief medical officer and senior vice president of Seattle Childrens. By allowing clinical leaders to monitor and evaluate care across patients, including identifying health outcome inequities, the AdaptX solution has enabled us to make demonstrated strides in quality and efficiency, improving our capacity to serve more patients. AdaptXs solution enables our health system to maximize the use of the data embedded in our electronic medical record, said Zafar Chaudry, chief digital and information officer and senior vice president of Seattle Childrens. By allowing our clinicians to use our data to answer their clinical operations questions and improve care, AdaptX magnifies the impact of our analytics and IT resources. We look forward to partnering with AdaptX to put this solution with its unique capabilities into the hands of clinicians across Seattle Childrens, so that we can enhance data transparency and advance quality of care for all of our patients. AdaptXs unique self-serve capabilities are a strategic part of our enterprise IT analytics plan. Our AdaptX team is thrilled to work with Seattle Childrens to provide our Adaptive Clinical Management solution system-wide, said Warren Ratliff, CEO of AdaptX. We are grateful for our partnership with Seattle Childrens analytics and IT teams, whose efforts have played a vital role in clinicians success with our technology, and we are inspired by the commitment of Seattle Childrens clinicians to continuously improving patient care. We appreciate this opportunity to expand our relationship with Seattle Childrens to support their mission across their clinical enterprise. About AdaptX With AdaptX's unique Adaptive Clinical Management solution, health systems transform clinical performance, delivering dramatically better patient care and financial results. AdaptX's AI-driven Mission Control Center empowers clinical leaders to quickly and easily leverage their real-world data to assess performance, compare approaches, and ADAPT across patients, teams, protocols, workflows, and facilities. AdaptX is headquartered in Seattle and was founded in 2016. To learn more, please visit http://www.adaptx.com. About Seattle Childrens Seattle Childrens mission is to provide hope, care and cures to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible. Together, Seattle Childrens Hospital, Research Institute and Foundation deliver superior patient care, identify new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and raise funds to create better futures for patients. Ranked as one of the top childrens hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Childrens serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho the largest region of any childrens hospital in the country. As one of the nations top five pediatric research centers, Seattle Childrens Research Institute is internationally recognized for its work in neurosciences, immunology, cancer, infectious disease, injury prevention and much more. Seattle Childrens Foundation works with the Seattle Childrens Guild Association, the largest all-volunteer fundraising network for any hospital in the country, to gather community support and raise funds for uncompensated care and research. Join Seattle Childrens bold initiative It Starts With Yes: The Campaign for Seattle Childrens to transform childrens health for generations to come. For more information, visit seattlechildrens.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or on our On the Pulse blog. Seattle Childrens owns a minority equity interest in AdaptX. Mike is an excellent addition to our TBGA ADDvisor team owing to his requirements driven approach, experience qualifying new materials and processes, and numerous successful part implementations. The Barnes Global Advisors (TBGA) is starting 2022 with a major win in welcoming Michael Hayes to the ADDvisor Services team. Mike is well-known in the Additive Manufacturing (AM) community, having led the evolution of polymer AM in aerospace production for the past two decades with The Boeing Company. Mike complements and expands TBGAs product offerings with polymer and composite material consultation. With his extensive management experience, Mike will also be a valuable asset in program management and strategy, helping TBGA customers grow their own AM capabilities. Mike spent 34+ years with McDonnell Douglas/Boeing in Structural Design and Additive Manufacturing. For the past two decades, he technically and strategically led the implementation of polymer AM from rapid prototyping into aerospace production through the engineering of material and process developments, requirement definitions, application selections, qualifications, testing, certifications, and technology transitions. Mike understands all aspects of polymer AM technology from the basic science to series production. His AM knowledge and strategic direction helped Boeing become a leader in the implementation of polymer AM, and Mikes technologies have been utilized across the global Boeing enterprise making him the trusted advisor he is today. Industry and government collaboration has always been a priority for Mike; he was the Boeing team leader in the founding of America Makes and served on the original Governance Board. He was a key founding representative of the Direct Manufacturing Research Center (DMRC) in Paderborn, Germany. Mike holds 15 U.S. patents with 2 pending. He has a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a MS in Mechanical Engineering, both from the University of Missouri-Rolla. John Barnes, TBGA Founder and Managing Director, says, Mike is an excellent addition to our TBGA ADDvisor team owing to his requirements driven approach, experience qualifying new materials and processes, and numerous successful part implementations. As industry continues to embrace AM, we foresee continued growth in advanced polymers and composites. TBGA brings the knowledge and tools to help in all aspects of advanced manufacturing, and Mike helps round out our teams expertise. About TBGA: The Barnes Global Advisors is the largest independent Additive Manufacturing engineering consultancy. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, TBGA has presence on six continents and across the United States. TBGA helps companies work through their AM adoption via strategy, design, leadership, training, metallurgy, economics and communications and is comprised of seasoned specialists with well over 150 years of combined experience in AM. Adswerve, a leading Google Marketing Platform partner and consultancy, today announced its recognition by Built Ins 2022 Best Places to Work Awards. Adswerve was identified in categories including Colorado Best Places to Work, Colorado Best Midsize Companies to Work For, Colorado Best Benefits and Seattle Best Midsize Companies to Work For, highlighting the companys position as a leader in workplace culture. As a four-category winner of Built Ins 2022 Best Places to Work, Adswerve is raising the bar for fostering meaningful employee experiences through cultural programs and benefits. It is an honor to be selected for Built Ins 2022 Best Places to Work Awards among many wonderful companies, said Tracy Tobin, Chief People Officer at Adswerve. Despite the challenges of this past year, Adswerve has persevered in building lasting relationships not only with clients but with each other. This recognition reaffirms the work our team has done to ensure our culture focuses on supporting and developing our people. As we look ahead, we remain committed to hearing the diverse perspectives of our team as we continue building a welcoming and rewarding workplace. Winners of Best Places to Work are determined on an algorithm, using company data about compensation, benefits and company-wide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprises, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest U.S. tech markets. As the importance of employee benefits and company culture continues to grow, Adswerve is meeting these expectations of employees, potential talent and clients head-on. A leader in the industry, Adswerve is also recognized as a 2021 AdExchanger Programmatic Power Player in Marketing Analytics and as Google Partner of the Year for 2020. A leading Best Place to Work company for four consecutive years, Adswerve continues to advance its mission on employee experience with unwavering dedication to its employees. To learn more about Adswerve or join the Adswerve team, visit http://www.adswerve.com/careers/. ### About Adswerve As the leading Google Marketing, Analytics and Cloud partner, Adswerve is a team of 180+ media and analytics experts on a mission to humanize data and guide our clients to remarkable outcomes. Headquartered in Denver, Adswerve helps thousands of digital marketers, data analysts and agencies make stronger connections with their customers through successful data-driven strategies. For more information, please visit http://www.adswerve.com. About Built In Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industrys most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. http://www.builtin.com About Built Ins Best Places to Work Built Ins esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work. Dr. Drew Palin's extensive medical and business background combined with his unique sense of entrepreneurship will greatly accelerate AGTs mission. -AGT CEO Jeff Galvin American Gene Technologies (AGT) announces the appointment of Dr. Drew Palin as business and strategy advisor to Jeff Galvin, CEO. I am excited to have Drew officially on board. He has been informally advising me for some time now, and he is an invaluable addition to the team, said CEO Jeff Galvin. Drews extensive medical and business background combined with his unique sense of entrepreneurship will greatly accelerate AGTs mission. Dr. Palin is a bold healthcare entrepreneur with rare expertise encompassing clinical medicine, information technology, and medical devices. Over the course of his career, Dr. Palin has raised $20M to fund new entities and generated multi-million-dollar revenues, selling new products based on vision, personal integrity, and trust. In addition to his role at AGT, Dr. Palin has been the founding CEO, Chief Medical Officer, and Chief Innovation Officer for multiple start-ups, including Intellivisit, a leading AI-based clinical diagnosis platform based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My entire career has been spent at the nexus of medicine and technology. Ive been a physician, entrepreneur, and executive leader. Im excited to help AGT be successful in any way I can, said Dr. Palin. AGT has over a decade of creative discovery, development, patents, and clinical work from scientists and business people that has yielded a platform that is on the verge of having measurable human impact on millions of patients currently suffering with HIV. There are many gene and cell therapy companies doing outstanding work and approving drugs for previously deadly or untreatable diseases, but I believe that AGT will be one of the first companies to bring a component based platform that creates new efficiency and greater competition in the pharmaceutical market. Dr. Palins experience as a business leader, investor, and entrepreneur will be a significant asset to AGTs mission, as AGT moves forward with its Phase 1 clinical trial of AGT103-T, an HIV cure cell and gene therapy. Dr. Palin will advise AGTs CEO on a wide variety of business, operational, governance, and commercialization strategies to maximize the chance of success in human trials and to bring new solutions to patients. Phase 1 in the Maryland/D.C. Area AGTs Phase 1 trial for AGT103-T is currently underway at trial sites in the Maryland / Washington, DC area. The recruitment status of the phase 1 RePAIR (Restore Potent Antiviral Immune Responses) clinical trial along with information of the trial sites can be found on ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial is the companys first step in clinical testing of cell and gene therapies for HIV, cancer, and rare diseases. About HIV According to UNAIDS, approximately 37.7 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS. In the United States, government statistics show 1.2 million people have HIV and estimate that 34,800 Americans were newly infected with HIV in 2019. Across the globe, UNAIDS estimates that approximately 1.5 million individuals were newly infected with HIV in 2020. The Washington D.C./Baltimore area is often cited as a hot spot for HIV, with Washington, D.C., having the highest rate of infection at nearly 46 cases per 100,000 population and Baltimore City having rates of 17 cases per 100,000. Maryland also ranks sixth among U.S. states and territories in HIV diagnosis rates, with more than 900 new cases in 2019 alone, according to the Maryland Department of Health. Since the late 1980s, antiretroviral drugs have restored quality of life to persons living with HIV and, in some cases, have even been used to prevent new infections. However, no approved treatment has demonstrated the ability to cure HIV. AGT is committed to addressing this unmet medical need. About AGT103-T AGT103-T is a genetically modified cell product made from a person's own cells. AGT's unique approach focuses on repairing the key immune system damage caused by HIV. AGTs goal is to develop a cell and gene therapy capable of repairing the immune system so it will provide natural control over HIV replication. About American Gene Technologies AGT is a gene and cell therapy company with a proprietary gene-delivery platform for rapid development of cell and gene therapies to cure infectious diseases, cancers, and inherited disorders. AGT's mission is to transform people's lives through genetic medicines that rid the body of disease. AGT has been granted four patents for the technology used to make AGT103-T and 11 patents for its unique immuno-oncology approach to stimulate gamma-delta () T cells to destroy a variety of solid tumors. The company has developed a synthetic gene for treating Phenylketonuria (PKU), a debilitating inherited disease. AGT's treatment for PKU has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and it is expected to reach the clinic in 2022. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiA2s7JCkJ8 Stephanie Spencer, Director of Claims ..I am confident she will elevate our claims process to support our sales team, shape a business continuity plan and align the appropriate protocol throughout our organization so that we respond with best practices for all of our clients needs... proclaimed President of Retail, Randy Larsen. AssuredPartners is pleased to announce the promotion of Stephanie Spencer to National Director of Claims. Stephanie will focus on the development and implementation of claims software and tools in conjunction with implementing forthcoming claims strategies throughout the organization. In this role Stephanie will collaborate closely with Regional Presidents, Regional Claim Leaders and Vertical Claims Leaders to develop and implement best practices while structuring claims for additional capabilities and growth. Stephanies new role is effective January 1, 2022 and will report directly to Chief Operating Officer of Retail, Joe Guercio. Stephanie joined AssuredPartners in 2012 through the acquisition of SRA in Kansas City, MO. She has been a mainstay in the insurance industry for over 35 years. The SRA claims department was formed and managed by Stephanie which she drew from her prior experience on the carrier side as she worked in claims and supervised litigation. At AssuredPartners, Stephanie has most recently held positions in carrier marketing and operations, but during COVID, her experience led her back to her passion and experience for claims management. This new role will bring all her vast experience to form a national claims unit that will greatly impact vertical and regional operations. Stephanie is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable claims experts I have had the pleasure of working with. She brings a compassion and understanding to the role that is desperately needed in times of loss and crisis. December 10th, she was our first team member to pack up and fly directly to Mayfield, KY to work with our clients in their time of need. We can handle most claims over the phone, but in a time of calamity, she brings the calm and comfort straight to the scene, stated COO of Retail Joe Guercio. I have had more time than most to work with Stephanie and I am confident that she will elevate our claims process to support our sales team, shape a business continuity plan and align the appropriate protocol throughout our organization so that we respond with best practices for all of our clients needs. Please join me in congratulating Stephanie on her new role, proclaimed President of Retail, Randy Larsen. ABOUT ASSUREDPARTNERS, INC Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, AssuredPartners is a full-service insurance broker providing commercial insurance, risk management, employee benefits and personal lines through consulting and services. With over 8,000 employees located in offices throughout North America, London, Belgium and Scotland, AssuredPartners is in the business of building relationships. While cementing powerful, lasting relationships built on trust earned from working openly and honestly with our partners. Thats what we call, Power through Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.assuredpartners.com. Audio Design Desk lands coveted spot on Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech list Were confident that Audio Design Desk is the next big thing in audio and that any creator who is looking to pack a powerful punch for their video or podcast will be able to deliver faster and better results because of it. Audio Design Desk, the award-winning creative tool that has revolutionized how artists create audio for video, today announced that it has been named to Fast Companys inaugural Next Big Things in Tech list, honoring the technology breakthroughs that promise to shape the future of their industriesfrom healthcare to agriculture to artificial intelligence and more. The final list, which includes global giants, intrepid startups, and research thats fresh from the labs, recognizes 65 technologies that are making waves. While not all of the products, services, and technological developments are on the market yet, theyre reaching key milestones in having a positive impact for consumers, businesses, and society at large in the next five years. Fast Company also recognized 33 honorable mentions. Audio Design Desk is the fastest, easiest way to produce audio for video. With over 30,000 royalty free sounds, loops and music cues, ADD gives creatives the ability to add compelling audio to video through a simple yet powerful interface. Whether scoring a film, adding sound design and foley, recording a podcast, or writing a song, Audio Design Desk eliminates the busy work and elevates ones creativity. We set out to create Audio Design Desk because we knew there was a better way to create sound for video, says Gabriel Cowan, CEO of Audio Design Desk. Accolades like the Fast Company Next Big Things in Tech prove that were onto something. Were confident that Audio Design Desk is the next big thing in audio and that any creator who is looking to pack a powerful punch for their video or podcast will be able to deliver faster and better results because of it. Fast Company is thrilled to highlight cutting-edge technologies that are solving real-world problems in unexpected ways. From climate change and public health crises to machine learning and security, these technologies will certainly have a profound impact on the future, and were honored to bring attention to them today, says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. Click here to see the final list. The Winter 2021/2022 issue of Fast Company is available online now and will hit newsstands on December 7. About Fast Company Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication, Inc., and can be found online at fastcompany.com. About Audio Design Desk Audio Design Desk is a next generation Digital Audio Workstation merged with an enormous royalty free sound library that is embedded with an AI called Sonic Intelligence. Used on Netflix, HBOMax, Hulu and others, the platform understands the relationships between sounds so producing and editing music, foley or sound design is 10x faster than any other software. Since its debut in May 2020, Audio Design Desk has garnered an impressive number of accolades in both the pro audio and tech universes, including a Mix Magazine Top 20 Products of the Year listing, a Macworld Editors Choice award, a Timmy Award for Best Tech Startup in Los Angeles, recognition as a SXSW 2020 Innovator, and Best in Show at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention. Testimonials include Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Matthew Cooke, who says, This tool gives people like me so much power, it almost shouldnt exist! Jamie Hardt, sound editor on Spider-Man, Zero Dark Thirty, Insidious, and It adds, This is the tool Ive been looking for my entire career. It makes the pain and chore of sound editing disappear. Visit https://add.app/ to learn more. Kimberly Larsen, a California-born, Kansas-raised mother of two presently living with a large goofy rescue dog named Dakota in the mountains of Colorado. She enjoys fly-fishing, painting, and spending time with her grown daughters. Ms. Larsen has completed her new novel A Brief Affair with a Con Man: a gripping and potent story that keeps the pages turning until the satisfying conclusion. When a natural disaster puts Billy Malone at Nicole Freemans cabin in the woods, she soon finds that his offer to help her out of her predicament was simply a way of drawing her into his web of deceit. Her loneliness and desire for a connection blinded her to the truth of how she was being drawn into a relationship that was fraught with dishonesty. Before she realizes it, this dashingly handsome, younger, charismatic charmer suddenly has her unknowingly wrapped up in his schemes. As she learns more about him and the danger that she may be in, she tries to back away, but Billy wont have it. His self-destructive and manipulative ways keep her engaged, while his seizures and strokes tug at her compassionate side. Yet an overnight stay at the hospital gives her insight into a person that she couldnt have predicted being capable of deceiving not only her but also everyone in town who ever crossed his path. Nicole barrels down a road of figuring out how to disconnect from a man whom she discovers has a violent past without putting herself further into harms way. She is aided by a local sheriffs officer who sees the trouble she is in and takes it upon himself to bring Malone in once and for all. Published by Page Publishing, Kimberly Larsens engrossing book is an excellent choice for avid fiction readers. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase A Brief Affair with a Con Man at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. The addition of not only the Kaden Health platform, but their staff of highly trained developers, offers BayMark an exciting opportunity to enhance our already broad offering of treatment options with improved accessibility, flexibility and convenience. BayMark Health Services recently completed the acquisition of Kaden Health, an online addiction treatment platform that offers individuals in need of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) treatment the opportunity to access that treatment from virtually anywhere. Telemedicine has become more common in the last few years, and it is a growing area in the behavioral health space in particular. The talented Kaden development team has worked to customize a platform offering patients the ability to meet with not only their physician and other clinical team members, but also participate in individual and group counseling sessions, and track it all in the Kaden Health app. Notably, the Kaden technology includes artificial intelligence (AI) whereby patients facial and voice recognition can be used to provide real-time information on emotional changes from previous visits such as increased anxiety and stress or decreased levels of melancholy. It is our hope to expand this to include predictions of adherence to treatment, as well as potential for increased likelihood to drop out of treatment, allowing our clinicians to adjust their approaches accordingly. BayMarks continuum of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) care currently includes over 350 locations in 36 states and 3 provinces of Canada. The company offers medication-assisted treatment with methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) programs, residential treatment programs, PHP, IOP, sober living and both hospital-based and outpatient detoxification services. All BayMark programs offer in-house or referral-based counseling services and other psychosocial interventions to support recovery. David K. White, Ph.D., Chief Executive Office of BayMark Health Services noted, The addition of not only the Kaden Health platform, but their staff of highly trained developers, offers BayMark an exciting opportunity to enhance our already broad offering of treatment options with improved accessibility, flexibility and convenience. The idea is simple, but the impact is profound. The future of the behavioral health industry will benefit immeasurably by increasing the reach of evidence-based treatment modalities that provide the right balance of both in house and virtual care, literally saving lives. While BayMark has been providing virtual care since the pandemic began in in early 2020, the first BayMark treatment brand to begin a roll-out of the Kaden technology within the treatment programs will be AppleGate Recovery Centers. AppleGate patients are being treated with buprenorphine or buprenorphine compounds like Suboxone, along with counseling, for the treatment of opioid use disorder. The Kaden roll out will provide an enhanced platform and allow patients to be treated from home in rural areas that make it hard to access treatment solely by visiting our facilities. Eventually, we will bring Kaden to all of BayMarks treatment environments and license Kaden to other treatment providers looking for superior clinical platforms. For more information about Kaden Health or BayMark, visit: KadenHealth.com or BayMark.com. About BayMark Health Services: BayMark Health Services provides Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment to 70,000+ patients in recovery across more than 350 treatment facilities in 36 states and 3 Canadian provinces. The largest provider of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) services in North America and the leader in evidence-based treatment options for SUDs, BayMarks continuum of care includes medication-assisted treatment (MAT), withdrawal management, PHP, IOP, counseling and other innovative support therapies in outpatient, inpatient and residential settings. Prevent Blindness issues call for nominations for the 2022 Prevent Blindness Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health, and Rising Visionary Award. Prevent Blindness is honored to recognize individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to eye and vision health, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. Prevent Blindness, the nations oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, is issuing the call for nominations for the 2022 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health, and the third annual Rising Visionary Award. Both the awards will be formally presented at the 11th Annual Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health National Summit, to be held virtually, on July 13-14, 2022. An all-volunteer committee will review all nominations and select the award recipients. The submission deadline for both awards is Feb. 4, 2022 at noon ET. The award recipients or representatives (if a group or organization) must be available to present (virtually) at the 2022 Focus on Eye Health National Summit. The Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health recognizes an individual, group, or organization that has made significant contributions to the advancement of public health related to vision and eye health at the community, state, national, and/or international level. The award serves as a living memorial to Jenny Pomeroy, who was the CEO of Prevent Blindness Georgia from 1996 until 2013, and a strong advocate for the advancement of public health and policy for vision and eye health issues. The recipient of the 2021 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health was R.V. Paul Chan, MD, MSc, MBA, FACS, Professor and Head, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The John H. Panton, MD Professor of Ophthalmology, Director, Pediatric Retina and ROP Service at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Past award recipients include the Childrens Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP) at West Virginia University (2020); Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology and Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (2019); the Johns Hopkins University School-Based Eye Care Team (2018); John E. Crews, DPA, retired from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017); Bruce Moore, OD, retired from the New England College of Optometry (2016); and Richard T. Bunner, retired from the Ohio Department of Public Health (2015). The third annual Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award is presented annually to an optometry, ophthalmology, primary health care, nursing, or other health professional student or resident in the United States who has the best overall application and essay addressing the 2022 Focus on Eye Health National Summit theme: Eye-conic Approaches to Eye Health. The 2021 Rising Visionary Award recipient was Shervonne Poleon, Vision Science Graduate Program student, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). And, the 2020 recipient was Araba Otoo, an optometry student at The Ohio State University. Prevent Blindness is honored to recognize individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to eye and vision health, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. If you or someone you know is creating positive change in the vision health of the public, we encourage you to submit a nomination or application today! For more information on the Prevent Blindness Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health, please visit https://preventblindness.org/jenny-pomeroy-award-for-excellence-in-vision-and-public-health/. Information on the Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award may be found at https://preventblindness.org/rising-visionary-award/. Or, contact Nita Sinha, director of Public Health, at (800) 331-2020 or npatelsinha@preventblindness.org. About Prevent Blindness Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, Prevent Blindness is committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, visit us at preventblindness.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. ### This acquisition brings together two like-minded companies, and their employees, to better serve and transform the missions of our customers. Concept Plus, LLC, a Fairfax-based IT Solution Provider, announces its acquisition of US Information Technologies Corporation (USIT), an IT consultancy focusing on the federal government. Concept Plus will continue serving federal agency clients, and USIT will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Concept Plus. The acquisition brings complementary capabilities, experience, and commitment to excellence on a much broader platform that yields enhanced service delivery to customers. It also enables exceptional scale and value to support customer transformation, automation, and mission goals through expertise in agile development, enterprise application technologies, and cloud computing. The addition of USIT expands Concept Plus portfolio and increases its service offerings within the defense and federal civilian customers. This acquisition brings together two like-minded companies, and their employees, to better serve and transform the missions of our customers, said Ahmad Abuzaakouk, President & CEO of Concept Plus. We share a vision of an excited and innovative workforce, steeped in capability, who will stop at nothing to drive successful outcomes for our customers. Im absolutely thrilled for what the future holds for us. USIT President and CEO Joe Morrone said, In unifying our companies, weve created something better...a company that is more experienced, better qualified and more competitive than we were as separate entities. The corporate values and culture of USIT and Concept Plus are totally compatible and will result in an organization that fits together seamlessly. The acquisition of USIT enhances the values of Concept Plus as an employee-first company comprised of great people driven to deliver high-value, innovative solutions. Through its newly combined workforce, Concept Plus is even better positioned to lead and tackle the toughest problems facing its federal clients today. About Concept Plus Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, Concept Plus is a trusted solution provider of enterprise software and information technology consulting. Concept Plus brings decades of federal consulting experience to our customers, and the experience gained from our past successes. Concept Plus helps clients solve challenging IT problems by leveraging industry best practices and our in-depth Oracle technology expertise. Concept Plus provides innovative technology solutions for some of the most forward-thinking healthcare, defense and federal civilian customers. As a trusted partner to government agencies, Concept Plus develops, implements, and maintains mission-critical systems for related federal programs through its claims processing, analytics, program integrity, interoperability, and other solutions. As the industrys recognized technology leader, Concept Plus is positioned to capitalize on the significant modernization initiatives across federal customers. Concept Plus has regularly been listed as one of the best places to work in the state of Virginia and is a recipient of the Washington Business Journals Fantastic 50. Learn more about Concept Plus at conceptplusllc.com or follow us on LinkedIn About USIT U.S. Information Technologies Corporation (USIT) is a leading provider of Oracle-based information technology solutions. Their national workforce, many of whom are former Oracle employees, bring extensive credentials to programs needing Oracle experts with a concentration on database, middleware and enterprise application expertise. USIT helps clients solve challenging IT problems by leveraging industry best practices and our in-depth Oracle technology expertise. The diamond industry has shown tremendous resilience over the last 12 months and customer demand is proving to be as strong as ever. DMCC the worlds flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the fifth edition of its Dubai Diamond Conference (DDC) with the support of leading industry organisations. DDC 2022 will be held on 21 February 2022 at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai, with the overarching theme set to be The Future of Diamonds. DMCC has announced that DDC 2022 will be held with the support of three Platinum Sponsors - Stargems, a diamond trading, manufacturing, and auctioning company; Synova S.A., a pioneer in unique water jet guided laser technology; and Sociedade Mineira de Catoca Lda. (Catoca), an Angolan diamond mining company. Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC and Chairman, Dubai Diamond Exchange, said: The diamond industry has shown tremendous resilience over the last 12 months and customer demand is proving to be as strong as ever. However, we must now look further ahead and examine the various factors influencing the market from the arrival of laboratory grown diamonds and changing consumer preferences, through to diamond production and global supply chain disruptions. In its fifth edition, the Dubai Diamond Conference continues to bring leaders from across the industry to Dubai, one of the worlds most important diamond trading hubs, to discuss the future of diamonds and how to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry. Throughout the week of DDC, a series of high-level meetings and industry events will be taking place in Dubai as part of Dubai Diamond Week, beginning with a board meeting of the World Diamond Council on 20 February 2022. The DDC Gala dinner and Jewellery World Awards, hosted jointly with Informa Markets, will recognise significant contributions to the development of the global diamond and jewellery industry on 21 February 2022. The new Jewellery, Gem and Technology Dubai (JGT Dubai) show, supported by DMCC as the official partner, will become one of the jewellery worlds most powerful marketplaces for product discovery, meaningful connections and inspired thinking. Buyers and suppliers will gather in the Dubai World Trade Centre from the 22 to the 24 February 2022 to trade and explore new business opportunities in Dubai. Finally, the Presidents meetings of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) will take place on the 24 and 25 February at the iconic Almas Tower. "We are delighted to again be Platinum Sponsors of the Dubai Diamond Conference. Stargems continues to grow and break records with our auctions in Dubai, a testament to its position as a global diamond trading hub. In December we will have sold over USD 165 million in four separate Stargems auctions held right here in Almas Tower a new record for us closing an annual USD 800 million in auctions despite the disruptions caused by Covid," said Shailesh Javeri, CEO, Stargems. Synova is delighted to partner with and sponsor the Dubai Diamond Conference in 2022. We recently announced our DaVinci automated diamond shaping solution at DDC in 2019 and this technology has already begun to change our industry in unimaginable ways. We are also excited to be showcasing our DaVinci diamond factory during the conference in February and are thrilled to be announcing the establishment of our new facility at Almas Tower in spring 2022, said Dr. Bernold Richerzhagen, President and CEO, Synova S.A. Paulo Mandela do Amaral Martins, Deputy General Manager for the Administrative Area, Catoca, said: Sociedade Mineira de Catoca Lda is delighted to be associated with the Dubai Diamond Conference in order to build a sustainable bright future within the global diamond industry. In line with its mandate to attract, facilitate and steer new trade flows through Dubai, DMCC has been a driving force in establishing the emirate as a leading global hub for diamond trade. Since the start of 2021, the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE), the worlds largest diamond tender facility, has hosted more than 60 diamond tenders. In October 2021, an exceptional 100+ carat rough diamond was successfully sold for USD 5.218 million (USD 44,004 per carat) in a record tender hosted at the DDE. More details about the conference and early-bird tickets are available at: https://diamondconference.ae. Carlos Roberto Jaen, MD, PhD, MS, FAAFP Task force members review the best evidence there is, look at the risks or benefits of a service, and analyze studies that lay out the pros and cons. Carlos Roberto Jaen, MD, PhD, MS, FAAFP Carlos Roberto Jaen, MD, PhD, professor and chairman of family and community medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), will serve the next four years on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force announced his appointment Jan. 5, effective immediately. Dr. Jaen occupies the Dr. and Mrs. James L. Holly Distinguished Chair in the health science centers Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine. His focus areas include improving preventive care for individuals of all ages, preventing complications from chronic diseases and supporting high performance in primary care offices. Dr. Jaen was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2013. The Long School of Medicine is extremely proud to congratulate Dr. Jaen on this prestigious appointment, said Robert A. Hromas, MD, FACP, dean of the Long School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at UT Health San Antonio. His experience in improving preventive care for people of all ages and supporting high performance in primary care offices will serve the task force and the health care community well. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. Members come from primary care and prevention-related fields, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, obstetrics and gynecology, and nursing. Dr. Jaen, who in addition to his doctoral degrees has a Master of Science degree in biology with emphasis in cancer, sees patients of the UT Health Physicians practice in the Long School of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP). The task force issues recommendation statements that have letter grades. A is the strongest recommendation in favor of a service (such as colonoscopy or mammography) and D is the strongest recommendation against. The task force also issues I statements when evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of a service. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is probably one of the most consequential committees in the United States because, by virtue of the Accountable Care Act, anything that the task force determines to be A or B evidence for a recommendation must be covered by an insurance plan without charge to the patient, Dr. Jaen said. Decisions made by this task force affect everyone in our nation. Services to be reviewed include screening tests, counseling interventions and medications. The task force focuses only on primary prevention in people who are asymptomatic, before a disease state begins or is evident. Task force members review the best evidence there is, look at the risks or benefits of a service, and analyze studies that lay out the pros and cons, Dr. Jaen said. South Texas perspective Only 16 of the nations primary care leaders serve on the committee at any given time. All terms are for four years. For me it is an opportunity to provide a perspective from being in practice in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 20 years, Dr. Jaen said. Part of the process, in addition to evaluating the evidence, is assessing the practicality of implementing particular recommendations. Patients in our communities have different needs, he continued. How we go about implementing and communicating what is recommended can vary. Understanding potential barriers and facilitators to making that happen is a perspective that I bring from the experience of being a practicing family physician in South Texas. On behalf of the full task force, I welcome Dr. Jaen, said task force Chair Karina W. Davidson, PhD, MASc. Dr. Jaens expertise in guideline development and in improving quality and access to preventive care among Hispanic/Latino communities will be especially valuable as the task force works to address racial disparities and health inequities. Community wellness Dr. Jaen has been selected to the Best Doctors in America yearly since 2002 and is dedicated to building a healthier San Antonio through efforts in community wellness. Dr. Jaen served on the panels that published the U.S. Public Health Service smoking cessation guidelines in 1996 and 2000 and was co-chair of the panel that published an update in May 2008. Dr. Jaen earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Niagara University and his MD and PhD degrees in epidemiology and community health from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed a residency in family medicine and a fellowship in primary care research at Case Western Reserve University. To learn more about Dr. Jaen and all members of the Task Force, visit https://uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/about-uspstf/current-members. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also referred to as UT Health San Antonio, is one of the countrys leading health sciences universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have graduated 39,700 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields, and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways We make lives better, visit http://www.uthscsa.edu. Stay connected with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. About the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force The Task Force is an independent volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services, such as screenings, counseling services, or preventive medicines. More information on the Task Force is available at http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org. Letters from Moscow: A Souls Journey of Love: a moving story of rediscovering faith and finding oneself. Letters from Moscow: A Souls Journey of Love is the creation of published author Elena Veronica Hall, a loving wife who was born in San Jose, California. Hall graduated cum laude from the Russian Language and Cultural Studies Program at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. She holds certificates in study of the Russian language and cultural studies from the Russian Language Institute at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; the Russian State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and the Moscow International University in Moscow, Russia, furnished by the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). Hall shares, Letters from Moscow: A Souls Journey of Love is a gripping, heartrending tale about the bounds of human love, empathy, and compassion. A young woman loses her faith in God and humanity after suffering the tragic deaths of three close people in her life. Embittered by grief and the circumstances of her struggling lot as a server and caregiver for her ailing mother, she aims to change her future through a Faustian bargain with a much older man. Ignoring the moral implications of such a perilous path to success and comfort, she takes her studies abroad to St. Petersburg, Russia, where she attends a university to gain her PhD. When almost in grasp of her goal, Exilliens soul is tested as tragedy strikes her life again after witnessing the scene of a brutal murder involving her host family. Hoping to escape the trauma of that incident, and refusing to help, she flees to Moscow to resume her studies at another university. Upon landing in her new environment, she is suddenly plagued by a mysterious illness. Stopped in her tracks by fate, she begins to recount the story of her life through soul-baring letters to a man with whom she has fallen hopelessly in love. Through deep introspection, she reveals the tragic events that closed her heart against the Lord and her fellow man, along with her innermost secrets. Grappling with vertigo and her newfound fragility by herself in the busy city of Moscow, she finds empathy in her encounters with the Russian people with whom she develops an enduring kinship. Her spiritual awakening and redemption come when she finds the courage to face her fears and transcends her impossible love. Cleansed by Christs compassion and a new vision, the beauty of her soul is revealed. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Elena Veronica Halls new book is a unique and engaging Christian fiction with heart. Hall shares a tale of unexpected life lessons discovered in a faraway land and constructs an emotional narrative brimming with faith, love, and salvation. Consumers can purchase Letters from Moscow: A Souls Journey of Love at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Letters from Moscow: A Souls Journey of Love, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Using a variety of neuroscience tools and techniques at the Phase I or first-in-human (FIH) phase of the drug development pipeline, it is possible to gather the data and insights needed to build a detailed picture of the CNS effects of drug candidates. Clinical trials for central nervous system (CNS) conditions have historically been notoriously difficult for a myriad of reasons with a failure rate for new drugs being very high relative to other therapeutic areas. This has caused the industry to think long and hard about remaining or entering this space. Yet the need for novel therapies to slow down or halt disease progression has never been more urgent. Using a variety of neuroscience tools and techniques at the Phase I or first-in-human (FIH) phase of the drug development pipeline, it is possible to gather the data and insights needed to build a detailed picture of the CNS effects of drug candidates. This data can help to build a business case for future CNS clinical trials. This webinar will provide an overview of the utility of neuroscience techniques, specifically electrodiagnostic markers (EDMs), for measuring target engagement in FIH clinical trials. The speakers will use examples to discuss the application of neuroscience techniques to measure and record target engagement and measure dose response in clinical trials investigating CNS-active drugs. Join Dr. Roisin McMackin, Postdoctoral Fellow, Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin; Dr. Simon Hutchings, Director of Pharmacology, Simbec-Orion; and Tonia Smreczak, Managing Director, The Science Behind, for the live webinar on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 9am EST (2pm GMT/UK) to learn about the practical considerations of building neuroscience into CNS clinical trials. For more information, or to register for this event, visit Embedding Neuroscience Techniques to Measure Target Engagement in First-In-Human CNS Clinical Trials. ABOUT XTALKS Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year, thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers. To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/ Digital Marketing In this weeks podcast on Social Geek Radio Zach Hoffman of Exults sits down with marketing guru Jack Monson to discuss recruiting and human resources. Jack Monson has been connecting franchisees with franchisers for over 15 years and reveals recruitment continues to be an ongoing issue for many organizations. These businesses are struggling to make their organization appear to be an appealing employer to audiences. Both men share a passion for digital marketing and strive to help businesses connect with potential job seekers. Hoffman shares several important tactics and tips to reach these audiences, including building a positive brand image, utilizing social media, and creating a funnel specifically to engage with job candidates. They discuss that the current generation of job candidates want to feel valued by an organization before they work for them. Hoffman reveals that connecting with audiences on a personal level is one way to make consumers feel valued. There is a stigma against many organizations because of negative media portrayal. Younger generations place more weight on company values and social responsibility. This means that it is important to shed a positive light on your organization and share personal positive stories about current employees. Social media continues to be the best way to reach consumers across all demographics. Businesses should utilize social media to connect with potential job candidates and search for people similar to their current employee demographics. Other potential platforms include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Monson discusses that TikTok is expected to be a fun way to engage with audiences in 2022. However, Twitter continues to be the best way to reach the widest range of audiences. Use these outlets to share positive stories, information, and public relations. They discuss the importance of creating a specific area for job seekers on your website. If organizations have the resources available it would be better to have a separate funnel for buyers and potential employees. Zach Hoffman founded Exults Digital Marketing Agency to help clients generate leads, improve brand image, and grow. Contact Zach Hoffman on his website for more information about https://exults.com or he invites audiences to call or text at 866-999-4736. More About Exults Digital Marketing Exults is a full-service results-driven Internet marketing agency that offers a complete assortment of services to help clients reach their goals. Exults Premier Services Include: Digital Branding Website Design and Development eCommerce platform development and management Search Engine Optimization Pay Per Click Management Social Media Marketing Digital PR Metaverse Development Contact Exults today if you are interested in rebranding your company for the digital business world to spark meaningful engagement and online sales. Visit the Exults website or call 866-999-4736 for more information. ANKARA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has shortened the quarantine period of COVID-19 patients, the country's health minister said Wednesday. The Turkish medical experts decided to "rearrange the quarantine periods, considering the current conditions," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a written statement after a meeting of Turkey's coronavirus science council. Accordingly, the quarantine period will end for people who show mild or no symptoms after the seventh day, the minister said. The quarantine period will end if the person has a negative test result on the fifth day of the isolation, he added. The COVID-19 infected persons will not be quarantined if they have received the reminder dose vaccination or have had the disease in the last three months. Unvaccinated persons or infected persons who have passed three months after the reminder dose will be quarantined for seven days, the minister noted. Previously, COVID-19 patients were subject to a 14-day quarantine in Turkey. The government was not considering new restrictions at the moment, Koca said, urging citizens to get vaccinated and take more personal measures. There is no worrying rise in hospitalization rates despite the increase in cases because of the Omicron variant, the Turkish minister said. Although there is not enough data to prove patients infected by Omicron can be less sick than other COVID-19 variants, the available signs are not causing concern, he added. Enditem FaceTec stands ready to defend its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law against any and all who choose to infringe. FaceTec, the global leader in 3D biometric face liveness detection, has announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the UK company, iProov LTD, for alleged patent infringement, breach of contract, and intentional interference with contractual relations. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants are willfully infringing on FaceTec's patented technology by adding features copied from FaceTec to its Liveness Assurance software. Further, FaceTec alleges iProov improperly incorporates aspects of FaceTec's technology that iProov learned through exhaustive participation in FaceTecs $100,000 Spoof Bounty Program, which requires acceptance of strict Terms & Conditions. In addition, FaceTec alleges that iProov, without authorization, used the FaceTec software for its own purposes outside the scope of the Bounty Program, and broke confidentiality provisions. Case number 2:21-cv-02252 was filed on 12/28/21 in the United States District Court, District of Nevada. From the Complaint, page 2, NATURE OF THE ACTION: 3. This is an action for patent infringement arising under the patent laws of the United States 35 U.S.C. 1 et seq., including 35 U.S.C. 271, and the Courts supplemental jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S. Code 1367. 4. FaceTec is informed and believes that Defendant has infringed and continues to infringe, contribute to the infringement of, and/or actively induce others to infringe Plaintiffs U.S. Patent No. 10,776,471 B2 (the 471 patent or the patent-in-suit). Ex. A. 5. In addition, FaceTec is informed and believes that Defendant has breached and continues to breach its contractual obligations to FaceTec. See the full lawsuit here. "FaceTec stands ready to defend its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law against any and all who choose to infringe," said Terry Coffing, Chief Legal Officer of FaceTec. ------------------------------- About FaceTec 3D Face Biometrics FaceTecs pioneering 3D Face liveness detection and matching is fast becoming the global standard in onboarding, KYC, and ongoing authentication, and stops ID fraud and unauthorized access for millions of users on six continents for many of the worlds leading organizations in IAM-IDV, financial services, mobile payments, border security, connected transportation, blockchain-crypto currency, e-voting, and more. FaceTecs 3D Face Authentication Platform features: 100% software, for all modern smartphones, tablets, and PCs with webcams World-leading 3D Face Matching rate at 1-in-12.8 million FAR at less than 1% FRR Patented UI generates data-rich 3D FaceMaps from standard 2D cameras $100,000 Spoof Bounty Program & Levels 1&2 Certified Liveness Detection Unshareable, unphishable 3D FaceMaps ensure trust without creating a honeypot IDV dashboard with integrated 1-to-N de-duplication & fraudulent user lists Free OCR, barcode & NFC chip scanning for photo ID documents Highly accurate 1-in-500,000 FAR 3D FaceMap-to-2D-photo-ID matching Integrated anonymous age estimation and age checks Fast, intuitive interface with 98-99% first-time-user success rates Easy to integrate, customize, deploy and manage Developers can download the FaceTec demo apps directly from FaceTec.com for iOS, Android and any webcam-enabled browser, and the developer SDKs are available free at Dev.FaceTec.com. ------------------------------- About FaceTec Founded in 2013, with staff in the United States, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and Singapore, FaceTec is the leading provider of 3D Face Verification and Authentication software, and has enabled over 350M unique individuals to prove their Liveness remotely. FaceTec's patented, industry-leading Certified 3D Liveness Detection, 3D face matching, optical character recognition, and age estimation technology biometrically binds the unique, live, 3D user to their account, anchoring a secure chain of trust for mobile and web applications. For more information and business inquiries, please visit FaceTec.com. For media inquiries, please contact John Wojewidka at JohnW@FaceTec.com. ------------------------------------------ About Liveness.com Created as an educational resource for biometrics users, vendors, analysts, media, and regulators, Liveness.com provides a comprehensive history of Level 1-5 Presentation Attack Detection, Camera Bypasses and Template Tampering, as well as explanations of methods and means for evaluation, certification testing, and bounty programs. MKP communications inc. The two programs launching as a part of the MKP DIPs initiative are the Qualitative Survey-Based Program and the Quantitative Big Data Program. For 27 years, MKP communications inc. has developed and executed data-driven marketing and communications programs for its financial institution clients. With the launch of its all-new Data Intelligence Programs (DIPs), the company is taking an ambitious step into the future. The MKP DIPs represent a means for the agency to use data-gathering and statistical analysis to create more in-depth marketing insights and predictions, which, in turn, are used to build more targeted and effective marketing campaigns for clients. The two programs launching as a part of the MKP DIPs initiative are the Qualitative Survey-Based Program and the Quantitative Big Data Program. In the qualitative program, MKP designs and administers a survey to current or prospective customers in accordance with best research practices. Respondents behaviors and needs are evaluated on a range of demographic and psychographic attributes. Survey data is then enriched with additional first-party client data and syndicated third-party data. Results are analyzed and interpreted in order to group consumers with similar characteristics into clusters, which form the basis of statistically significant segments. Segments are assigned personas and presented in a narrative report, which enables MKP clients to refine business priorities, optimize their marketing spend and replace certain mass-marketing efforts with more specific messages, product positioning and services targeted based on segment. The quantitative program is carried out in partnership with the industry-leading marketing prediction company, Faraday. Customer data is securely ingested into a secure SOC 2 Type 2 environment. It is reconciled with licensed, permissioned data sets comprised of 270+ million American consumers tagged with 400+ attributes including demographics, financials, life events, property data, hobbies, interests and shopping behaviors. Customers are clustered and machine learning trains models that output predictions including likelihood to buy, invest, borrow, convert or attrite, customer lifetime value and more. These AI-powered, data-driven predictions equip MKP and its financial services clients to design highly targeted and maximally effective, omni-channel marketing initiatives, campaigns and product and brand positioning. Were excited to offer our clients these cutting-edge data intelligence programs on par with the best marketing intelligence solutions available on the market today, said Maxwell Chalkin, MKPs Chief Digital Officer. Even more exciting, I think, is that were offering this to our financial industry clients at a cost that is surprisingly economical. Were confident that our DIPs enable all our clients to go toe-to-toe with their most sophisticated and endowed competitors. MKP has always married its deep financial industry expertise with a thoughtful analysis of clients business objectives, customer data and buying behavior to design effective communications strategies, said Hillary Kelbick, MKPs President and CEO. Whats really thrilling is that were now using advanced technology, data analysis and artificial intelligence to create even more powerful marketing programs for our clients. MKP communications inc. is a New-York based marketing communications agency specializing in strategies and program implementation for the financial services industry. 212-983-5700, http://www.mkpteam.com Greenberg Traurigs New York office continues its strategic growth with the addition of Jason Jendrewski as a shareholder in the global Labor & Employment and ADA and Accessibility Law practices with a focus on public accommodation disability access issues. Greenberg Traurig has added a total of 11 shareholders and of counsels to its New York office during 2021 across various practice areas. Our focus in New York, much like the firms global strategy, has been targeted expansion with talented attorneys in key practice areas to meet client demand, said Ejim Peter Achi and Scott J. Bornstein, co-managing shareholders of Greenberg Traurigs New York office, in a joint statement. We see tremendous opportunity for Jason to tap into our broad national platform to service more clients with ADA Title III issues. Jendrewski joins Greenberg Traurig with extensive experience advising clients on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III compliance, including regarding the accessibility of their facilities, websites, and mobile applications. He has successfully defended or resolved more than 100 disability discrimination lawsuits in federal and state courts, as well as numerous pre-litigation claims. He also has represented clients in connection with ADA compliance investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. As client demand for representation on ADA matters continues to grow, we see the need to expand our practice by adding an attorney of Jasons caliber and experience. We are confident he will provide clients with the strategic counsel to proactively meet the legal accessibility requirements and address any challenges they may face, said Naomi G. Beer and James N. Boudreau, co-chairs of the firm's Global Labor & Employment Practice, in a joint statement. In todays marketplace, it is critical for public-facing businesses to ensure they are in compliance with the ADA, and other disability, access laws. My approach is to focus on helping clients navigate these requirements, mitigate their risk of potential liability, and resolve claims as efficiently as possible to avoid any business disruption, Jendrewski said. Greenberg Traurigs client service focus, broad capabilities, and collaborative culture will allow me to effectively meet client demands and take my practice to the next level. In addition to Jendrewskis ADA practice, he regularly counsels employers on their compliance with the myriad of federal, state, and local laws affecting the workplace, litigates labor and employment disputes, and defends employers in administrative proceedings before government agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and U.S. Department of Labor. Jendrewski earned his B.S. from Cornell Universitys School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) and his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. Jendrewskis arrival is part of an ongoing strategic expansion of Greenberg Traurigs New York office which recently added Glenn S. Kerner and Nilda Isidro as shareholders in the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Health Care Litigation Practice. Other additions since January 2021 in core areas include: August Huelle, Shaun Levor, Cynthia A. Marian, Jim Cross, Jaclyn S. Ruch as shareholders in the Corporate Practice; Brian E. Greer joined the Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice; Oscar N. Pinkas joined as chair of the New York Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice; Michael E. Feinstein joined as of counsel in the Real Estate Operations Practice. About Greenberg Traurigs Labor & Employment Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Global Labor & Employment Practice serves clients from offices throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Members of the practice have had numerous trial wins and are frequently called upon to handle complex, bet-the-company, and large high-stake cases, including nationwide class and collective actions. On the labor side, a leading group of lawyers regularly represents management with labor-relations matters. Labor & Employment team members assist clients with complex employment issues, and design practical, proactive strategies that can be readily implemented by todays human resources professionals. In addition, the practice is recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the areas of Labor and Employment Litigation, Labor-Management Relations, ERISA Litigation, Workplace & Employment Counseling, and Trade Secrets Litigation. Visit Greenberg Traurigs Labor & Employment Blog for insights and analysis of the latest labor and employment developments, including legislation, regulations, cases, policies, and trends. About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Todd Basile, a shareholder in the Intellectual Property & Technology Practice of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has been selected to D Magazines 2022 Best Lawyers Under 40 list. The annual list recognizes young lawyers in the North Texas area. Todd is an exceptional lawyer, and beyond his vast experience in intellectual property rights, he is an innovative leader in supporting many emerging areas where technology and the law converge. We are ecstatic that he has been recognized by D Magazine. This well-deserved award represents his commitment to his practice and clients and his dedication to the local legal community, said Joseph F. Coniglio, managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurigs Dallas office. Additionally, it serves as a testament to Greenberg Traurigs commitment to Dallas and finding innovative ways to support our clients in Texas and beyond. D Magazine previously named Basile to its Best Lawyers Under 40 list in 2020 and to Best Lawyers in Dallas list in 2020 and 2021. The Best Lawyers Under 40 listing is determined through a peer-review voting process with ballots submitted by thousands of area lawyers, according to the publication. The final list was compiled by an independent panel of distinguished attorneys working in conjunction with the magazines editors. Basile has more than 15 years of combined experience in the tech and legal industries. He helps technology companies protect and commercialize their innovations across a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, software, and medtech. Basile also represents technology investors in mergers and acquisitions deals, negotiates IP licenses and technology development agreements, and assists clients in navigating intellectual property disputes. He also hosts Two Minute Tech Law Tips, a vlog dedicated to sharing digestible tech law insights with CEOs, CTOs, and in-house counsel alike. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig, LLP and part of its history. With approximately 130 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports. About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com GNSS corrections generated from TerraStar X technology enable sub-metre accuracy with under a minute convergence for consumer and automotive-grade GNSS receivers. Its hardware-agnostic design, industry-standard format and delivery of corrections enables precise positioning for a multitude of new mass-market applications for customers to use one software positioning solution across platforms worldwide, said Sara Masterson, director of positioning services. Hexagons Autonomy & Positioning division is pleased to announce its partnership with Chinese positioning company Dayou. This collaboration will bring TerraStar X technology to the Chinese market, providing fast precise point positioning (PPP) corrections for autonomous vehicles and mass-market use such as smartphones. The partnership enables Hexagon and Dayou to provide consistent positioning solutions globally, including North America, Europe and China, so OEMs can deploy the same design worldwide. The GNSS corrections generated from TerraStar X technology enable lane-level accuracy with convergence in under a minute for consumer and automotive-grade GNSS receivers, supporting ADAS, autonomous applications, safety-critical applications, mobile phone applications and more. TerraStar X technology delivers corrections using industry-standard formats compatible with mobile networks and enabling efficient delivery of corrections to millions of end-user devices. Through the partnership with Dayou, OEMs can now deploy the same high-accuracy solution across China in addition to North America and Europe while having access to local sales, support and technical resources. This partnership provides a way for global companies to leverage TerraStar X technology to bring consistent lane-level positioning around the globe, said Sara Masterson, director of positioning services at Hexagons Autonomy & Positioning division. With its hardware-agnostic design, industry-standard format and delivery of corrections, this technology opens up the possibility of precise positioning for a multitude of new mass-market applications for customers to use one software positioning solution on all platforms worldwide. Dayou is excited to be working with Hexagon in China to bring this next level of positioning technology to market, said Dr. Han Jianxin, chief executive officer at Dayou. High accuracy positioning used to be limited to expensive equipment and niche markets like survey and mapping. With TerraStar X technology, everyone can have the benefit of more accurate positioning, opening up new applications ranging from autonomous driving and freight to regular smartphone users moving from point A to B. Using Dayous local infrastructure to calculate ionosphere corrections, TerraStar X technology ensures that fast convergence to lane-level and sub-metre accuracy is available when needed. Engineering development test areas are available around the world to support large-scale programs with functional safety requirements. With these test regions now expanded to China, the partnership with Dayou marks a significant milestone to bring Hexagons TerraStar X technology to a global scale. To learn more about TerraStar X technology, how it supports autonomous vehicles, mobile devices and other mass-market applications, or request access to the available test regions, please visit HexagonPositioning.com/Terrastar-X-Technology. The 86-room project at the Huntsville Hospital location includes digital whiteboards located on the footwall of each patient room and digital nurse station monitoring displays. The cornerstone at Huntsville Hospital is a focus on patient-centered, quality-focused processes, which lead to optimum healthcare outcomes...This is why we are excited to adopt MEDI+SIGNs proactive communication technology." -Arin Zapf, Chief Nursing Officer at Huntsville Hospital MEDI+SIGN, a healthcare technology company that provides automated communication to the patients bedside, announces that Huntsville Hospital has chosen to implement MEDI+SIGNs technology into their newly constructed Orthopedic Tower. Huntsville Hospital is an award-winning, 881-bed hospital that serves as the regional referral center for North Alabama and southern Tennessee, and is the second-largest hospital in Alabama. In recent years, the hospital has expanded its services throughout the region with the development of Huntsville Hospital Health System, which includes hospitals in Huntsville, Madison, Athens, Decatur, Boaz, Guntersville, Red Bay, Sheffield and Scottsboro. The Health System includes more than 2,200 patient beds and 15,000 employees. The 86-room project at the Huntsville Hospital location includes digital whiteboards located on the footwall of each patient room and digital nurse station monitoring displays. The cornerstone at Huntsville Hospital is a focus on patient-centered, quality-focused processes, which lead to optimum healthcare outcomes, says Arin Zapf, Chief Nursing Officer at Huntsville Hospital. This is why we are excited to adopt MEDI+SIGNs proactive communication technology. We can elevate the patient experience by providing accurate, real-time safety, plan of care and patient education information, while substantially reducing staff workload. The implementation of MEDI+SIGN at Huntsville Hospital includes digital whiteboards located at the footwall of each patient room, to replace the traditional dry-erase boards. The data is displayed with minimal effort from the staff, being integrated with the hospitals EMR, reducing errors and duplication. Nurse station monitoring displays will also be implemented to provide the care team with vital patient and staff information. These displays act as a quick reference for clinical information, room and nurse assignments, rounding, as well as proactive safety information. To partner with Huntsville Hospital is truly an honor, says David Linetsky, Founder/CEO of MEDI-SIGN. We are eager to support them with their mission to provide high quality patient care. With MEDI+SIGN, patients and their families have access to vital information and the staff have more time and resources to focus on what they do bestcaring for their patient. With MEDI+SIGN, Huntsville Hospital Health System supports its commitment to these core values: Safety. Accurate and real-time communication displayed on digital patient room whiteboards can reduce sentinel events. Nurse Station monitoring displays updates the care team and patient on key clinical information and potential isolations. Accountability. Displaying information directly from the EMR communicates the practitioner's diagnosis and objective patient data, resulting in an improved environment of quality and accountability. Compassion. With MEDI+SIGN, healthcare providers no longer need to take the added step of updating the whiteboard. They now have more time to spend at the patients bedside. Excellence. The implementation of MEDI+SIGN allows for more opportunities to create operational and workflow efficiencies across administrative, clinical, and informatics teams. About Huntsville Hospital Health System Huntsville Hospital was established in 1895 and is a community-based, not-for-profit hospital located in Madison County, Alabama. It has always been volunteer-led and community owned. Huntsville Hospital serves as the regional referral center for North Alabama and Southern Tennessee and is also a teaching facility and is home to one of only three statewide Level I Trauma Centers. In addition to being accredited by the Joint Commission, Huntsville Hospital has received numerous recognitions for excellence in patient care. The Huntsville Hospital Health System includes hospitals in Huntsville, Madison, Athens, Decatur, Boaz, Guntersville, Red Bay, Sheffield and Scottsboro. The Health System includes more than 2,200 patient beds and 15,000 employees. https://www.huntsvillehospital.org/our-system About MEDI+SIGN MEDI+SIGN is a game-changing communication tool used by hospitals that are pursuing the creation, improvement, and sustainability of their quality and safety goals. Driven and perfected by evidence-based outcomes, MEDI+SIGN deploys strategies tailored to the hospitals specific needs and existing workflows. This unique approach allows hospitals to experience quality and safety transformations without negatively impacting the day-to-day workflow of staff. MEDI+SIGN is the first and only patient-facing technology in its class that requires minimal effort from clinical staff while reinvesting time back to the bedside. With patient experience and complex psychology at the epicenter of this technology, patients are kept informed, satisfied, and safe. Beyond patient experience, MEDI+SIGN focuses on improving HCAHPS and increasing patient safety by preventing falls as well as other sentinel events related to HAC, among other CMS programs. To experience these results for yourself, visit https://medisigndisplays.com. "A fast-growing part of the industry: larger RIAs who take independents under their umbrella but let them run their practices independently. "To a large extent, [broker-dealers] are just forgivable note peddlers. Thats their primary sales pitch when they talk to advisors what well give you if you move, argues recruiter Jon Henschen, in an interview on December 30, 2021 with ThinkAdvisor.com. Based in Minnesota, near St. Paul, Henschen started out in the 1990s as a broker with Merrill Lynch and Prudential Securities. After that he became a mutual fund and annuities wholesaler. By 1998, he was recruiting for National Planning, a broker-dealer. ThinkAdvisor recently interviewed Henschen by phone. During this interview, Henschen shares his very strong view about the firms who mark up outside money managers fees, which are paid by the client. The advisors typically arent aware of the manipulation, he says. Some of the firms are getting downright abusive in their markups. The broker-dealers certainly make things opaque and hidden, he notes. Henschen, who opened his firm in 2001 and is nowadays focusing more and more on helping advisors to become RIAs, either starting their own advisories or joining existing ones. "The RIA channel is the fastest growing. The channels losing advisors the fastest are wirehouses, captive insurance BDs and banks," he says. In the interview, the recruiter discusses what he expects to be a fast-growing part of the industry: larger RIAs who take independents under their umbrella but let them run their practices independently. A frustration point, he says, is that when speaking with certified financial planners, some seem dismissive of the fiduciary standard, to which they must now adhere on plans and investments. They make comments like, Yeah, fiduciary standard whats that? he says. But others are very careful to adhere to it. "Opening your own RIA or joining an outside RIA is appealing because it offers more choices and gets rid of a lot of layers of broker-dealer costs. It also gets rid of the conflict of interest." "When you go to an RIA that isnt affiliated with a broker-dealer, you get away from [many] fees and get much lower administrative fees on the advisory assets. So its a much lower-cost, transparent, fiduciary-friendly environment." When asked about why he is focused on the RIA channel? Henschen replied, "Because RIAs can have huge savings for clients since theyre [required to adhere to] the fiduciary standard on investments. You can either go to a broker-dealer that pays you a big upfront check thats [actually] going to be paid for by your clients [or go RIA]. Its a matter of: Do I do whats best for the client, or do I do whats best for me?" Henschen says his own business is moderate right now. "It was quite busy over the summer. Also, markets have been good. And when markets are good, reps focus on business. Its usually a flat market, when it isnt going up or down, thats the best environment for recruiting." Jon Henschen is founder of http://www.henschenassoc.com, an independent recruiting firm focused on independent broker dealers and RIAs based in Marine on St. Croix, MN. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Jon is a staunch advocate for independent financial advisors, and is widely sought after by both advisors, broker dealers and RIAs for his expertise and insight on industry topics. He is frequently published and quoted in a variety of industry sources, including Wealth Management, ThinkAdvisor, Investment Advisor Magazine, Wealth Management Magazine, Financial Advisor IQ, Financial Advisor Magazine, Investment News and others Joe Simone, President, Simone Development Companies Life-science companies have bucket lists when seeking new locations. Their site-selection criteria include proximity to hospitals and higher-education institutions that graduate young STEM talent, said Joe Simone. Joe Simone, President of Simone Development Companies, predicts that innovation corridors with research hospitals, universities and affordable housing are key to growing vibrant life-sciences communities. Life-science companies have bucket lists when seeking new locations. Their site-selection criteria include proximity to hospitals and higher-education institutions that graduate young STEM talent, said Joseph Simone. Life-science companies also need communities that have affordable housing options for their workers and thriving cultural-retail scenes. One of New York Citys burgeoning life-sciences neighborhoods is in West Harlem, an area that includes Columbia University, City College of New York, New York Structural Biology Center, NewYork Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center. Additionally, West Harlems median residential rental prices are significantly lower than other neighborhoods in Manhattan, according to Zumper.com. Other New York City neighborhoods also have growing innovation corridors. In the Bronxs Morris Park area, Simone Development has proposed expanding its Hutchinson Metro Center campus to include wet laboratories for medical research. This new life-science-focused expansion will sit next to a new Metro-North train station that will soon provide commuters direct access to Grand Central Terminal and Manhattans innovation corridors. Morris Park is poised to become a bench-to-bedside innovation hub that transforms medical research into medicines or therapies, said Joe Simone. New York Citys biotech investment in the Morris Park innovation corridor includes a $13 million grant to Montefiore Medical Center and its medical school, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to launch the Einstein-Montefiore Biotechnology Accelerated Research Center. The center will create a bio-manufacturing facility focused on cell, gene, and antibody therapy production, said Joe Simone. Our Hutchinson Metro Center is a short walk from the Montefiore facilities and we expect the areas affordable housing to facilitate arriving biotechnology companies ability to recruit talent. ABOUT SIMONE DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES Simone Development Companies is a fully integrated private real estate investment and development company that acquires and develops healthcare, mixed-use, commercial, industrial, retail and residential properties. Headquartered at the Hutchinson Metro Center, it boasts a portfolio of over seven million square feet throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Westchester, Orange and Fairfield Counties and New Jersey. With services spanning acquisition, development, construction, finance, asset management, accounting, leasing and property management, Simone Development Companies is set apart by its creatively oriented management team, long-term asset ownership and its pursuit of visionary development. Lindy Ryan retires from Tecta America "Lindy is both the full embodiment of our culture and as responsible as anyone in the company for its development. She has always expected the best out of people and has held herself to the same standard at every step along the way" - Mark Santacrose, Executive Chairman of Tecta America Tecta America, the national leader in commercial roofing, announces that Lindy Ryan, Vice President of Leadership and Development at Tecta Company, plans to retire at the end of the year. Lindy has been a recognized leader in the industry for over 30 years. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in business, Ryan obtained her real estate license and later her broker's license. In 1997, she became a state-certified roofing contractor. She started at Tecta America in 2005 after the company bought her construction business, General Works LLC. Ryan was the Tecta America Central Florida President and regional managing president of Tecta America Southeast before stepping away from that role in 2014 to become the Senior Vice President of Leadership Development for all of Tecta America. During her time in the construction and roofing industry, she has been active in the NRCA, serving on a number of committees, including Health & Safety, Technical Operations, Membership Steering, Manual Update, and Government Relations. Ryan is also a supporter of ROOFPAC, the NRCA's political action committee, and a former president of the National Roofing Legal Resource Center. In 2015, Ryan became the first woman to lead the NRCA Organization and was a founding member of the NWIR (National Women in Roofing). Her parents were significant influences in her career. "My dad gave me confidence that I could do anything," she said. "My mom taught me to believe in myself. They have always been my biggest supporters." Ryan is a seasoned traveler, having been to Vietnam and Egypt. She has a bucket list of all the places she would like to continue traveling. "Lindy Ryan has served Tecta in important roles for most of its history: Operating President of Central Florida, Southeast Regional Managing President, SVP of Service for all of Tecta, and most recently, VP of Leadership and Development. These are significant roles, but her most important legacy will be her role model for leading women leaders at Tecta, and men too. I count Lindy among a handful of the most influential mentors in my career. I know many reading this would feel the same. She has been one in a million, and we all are so fortunate to have known her and learned from her. I will miss her immensely, and I plan on staying in touch with her. I'll bet I'm not alone. Congratulations, Lindy, on the most amazing and unprecedented career in our industry!" -Dave Reginelli, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tecta America "One of the best things about Tecta is our culture people-driven, accountable, competitive, supportive, family-oriented. Lindy is both the full embodiment of our culture and as responsible as anyone in the company for its development. She has had such an impact on Tecta due to her ability to stay focused on driving performance and confronting difficult decisions while always conveying a strong sense of empathy and caring for the people she worked with. She has always expected the best out of people and has held herself to the same standard at every step along the way. She has been a remarkable leader inside Tecta in many roles OUP/Regional President/SVP Service/Training and Development as well as a trailblazing leader in our industry as the first (and only) woman Chairman of NRCA in its 135-year history. While she has been an inspirational leader for women across the roofing industry she has had an equally big impact on everyone that she has encountered. More importantly for me, however, is that I count Lindy as a great friend. From the time I met her in 2005 in Orange City, Florida, through today Lindy has been one of those special people that make your life more interesting and fun. I have thoroughly enjoyed every great time, difficult conversation, and fun celebration that I have had with Lindy. I look forward to staying in close contact with her and hearing about every new adventure she goes on as she enjoys her extremely well-deserved retirement." -Mark Santacrose, Executive Chairman of Tecta America "Lindy Ryan is an amazing leader. For nearly 20 years, she has served in various capacities on NRCA committees, Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and as the first female Chairman of the Board. Through all these years of service, Lindy has been steadfast. Filled with humility. Fun-loving. Tireless. In my time working with and getting to know her, I have never heard her say a critical word about anyone, nor have I heard anyone criticize her. Who else do you know like that? What a legacy! She is a leader who has earned a following. All of us at NRCA wish her the very best in her retirement. Congratulations, Lindy!" -Reid Ribble, CEO, National Roofing Contractors Association Art donated by Hidden Springs of McKinney residents, on display for fundraising auction, Mckinney, TX. Through VTIs work globally, increasingly more people have enhanced personal interactions with people with dementia. In celebration of GivingTuesday on November 30, 2020, Meridian Senior Livings more than 50 communities hosted a Meridian Art Gallery and Auction as part of a fundraiser for the Validation Training Institute (VTI) and its work to train and educate people on effective communication techniques with residents who suffer from Alzheimers or dementia. Through this community service effort led by residents, Meridian communities raised almost $3,000 for VTI. Raising awareness and funds, each Meridian community hosted an Artist Gallery and Reception featuring resident-created artwork for sale in an auction during Active Aging Week, October 4-10, 2021. Auction funds raised on-site were directly donated to VTI by each community and all other out of town auction winners submitted donations using VTIs dedicated Gofundme platform at msl.life/vti. In addition to the Meridian community-based artist galleries, each community showcased a selection of the resident-created art pieces on their respective community Facebook page. GivingTuesday is a Global Generosity Movement that urges people and organizations to donate time, funds, or offer a voice about a significant cause in their local community to make a positive impact. GivingTuesday was founded in 2012 as a simple idea of instituting one day for people to give back to their local or global community. Today, it has grown into a global undertaking including hundreds of millions of participants inspired to celebrate generosity. Meridian Senior Living has chosen to support VTI for GivingTuesday after years of seeing VTIs methodology greatly benefit its residents. I have personally experienced the positive impact on thousands of peoples lives when caregivers implement Validation Techniques, said Kevin Carlin, Owner, Meridian Senior Living and Volunteer Board Member for VTI. Through VTIs work globally, increasingly more people have enhanced personal interactions with people with dementia. Founded by Naomi Feil in 1983, VTI is a U.S.-based, not-for-profit organization that offers progressively developed certification levels and training programs in addition to a network of national and regional Validation organizations to disseminate information, train interested individuals, and maintain the Validation Method, a distinct way of communicating with those with dementia. VTIs ultimate objective is to nurture respect, dignity and well-being in the lives of older adults experiencing age related decline and their caregivers. Validation is a method of communicating with and helping cognitively impaired seniors. It helps reduce stress, enhances dignity and promotes happiness. Built on an empathetic and holistic approach, Validation asks caregivers to step into the shoes of those with dementia and see through their eyes to understand the meaning of their often-complex behaviors. This method allows seniors the opportunity to express, both verbal and non-verbal, their often-suppressed feelings and needs. For more information about Meridian Senior Living, visit meridiansenior.com. About Meridian Senior Living: Meridian Senior Living, a privately held company based in Bethesda, Maryland, owns and operates seniors housing communities across the country and provides operational consulting to 24 communities in China. With approximately 50 communities in 17 states and more in development, Meridian is one of the largest seniors housing operators in the U.S. The company prides itself on providing the highest quality care, exceptional lifestyle programming and a distinctive dining experience for its residents. For more information on Meridian Senior Living, visit meridiansenior.com. CARACAS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's government on Wednesday condemned what it called the latest "attempted intervention" in its internal affairs by the United States. The complaint came after Washington announced it still recognizes former opposition deputy Juan Guaido as "interim president" of the South American nation. Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. government stance is "in clear violation of international law, the Constitution and the democratic order established in the country by the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people." The ministry added: "It is regrettable that the new government of the United States continues to lack the courage to try to maintain a diplomatic relationship of respectful dialogue with the Constitutional Government of Venezuela." In January 2019, then opposition deputy Guaido proclaimed himself "interim president" of the South American country and led an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Enditem Morphisec Logo "Israel continues to be a launchpad for global cybersecurity unicorns, and demonstrating the fastest accelerating revenues of any cybersecurity company across the country is testament to Morphisecs talented team and the surging demand from businesses for our easy to use breach prevention software." Morphisec, the worlds leading provider of breach prevention solutions for midsize enterprises, announced that it has been named the 4th-fastest growing company in Israel based on rankings released by Globes, the Hebrew-language daily financial newspaper, and Statista, an international data company. For the first time, Israels Growth Champions 2022 highlights the top 50 fastest growing businesses that are assisting in driving sustainable growth for the country. Morphisec generated a 295% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2017-2020 to position itself in the number four spot on the list and as the fastest-growing cybersecurity company overall. We are thrilled to be ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in Israel, said Ronen Yehoshua, CEO at Morphisec. Israel continues to be a launchpad for global cybersecurity unicorns, and demonstrating the fastest accelerating revenues of any cybersecurity company across the country is testament to Morphisecs talented team and the surging demand from businesses for our easy to use breach prevention software. Morphisec was founded in 2014 in Beer Sheva and has a US headquarters in Boston, MA. Today, it protects more than 8 million business endpoints and workloads from ransomware and other advanced attacks in a low-cost, automated, and deterministic fashion. The company comes to midsized organizations defense without needing dedicated security teams to respond to and investigate attacks automatically stopping the most dangerous attacks targeting workstations, VDIs, servers, virtual machines, and cloud workloads. This recognition is meaningful during a period where weve helped businesses across the world adapt to securing a growingly remote and hybrid workforce, and the accelerated shift of workloads to the public cloud in response to the global pandemic, added Yehoshua. As sophisticated cybercriminals continue to target the weak points in distributed organizations, its vital that every business has access to cybersecurity solutions that are capable of providing affordable, simple, and effective protection against the seemingly endless amount of ransomware, malware, and evasive attacks. About Morphisec Morphisec is breach prevention made easy. We are the world leader in providing advanced security solutions for enterprises around the globe. We simplify security and automatically block ransomware and other advanced attacks from the endpoint to the cloud. Unlike traditional security solutions focusing on detecting known attacks and relying on human intervention, our solutions deliver operationally simple, proactive prevention of the most advanced and unknown threats using Moving Target Defense. Morphisec protects over 8 million endpoints worldwide from ransomware, zero-day attacks and other evasive threats at companies such as Motorola, Maersk, Citizens Medical Center, Yaskawa and many more. Our survey conducted with American Banker confirms that there is a clear need for banks in North America to modernize the core and migrate to the cloud. We aspire to address this and work with forward-looking banks as they deliver on their modernization goals." - Paul Taylor, CEO, Thought Machine New Arizent Research for American Banker, conducted with Thought Machine, Demystifying Digital Transformation in Banking, finds that banks are embracing some common elements across digital transformation initiatives but are often missing two critical areas in their roadmap cloud strategy and core modernization. In fact, just 56% of banking executives surveyed report having core banking modernization as part of their digital transformation strategy and fewer than half (44%) have a cloud migration plan. This report examines the digital transformation practices banks are embracing and the challenges they are facing as they seek to accelerate transformation and lead the next era of consumer finance. Among the key findings: Banks most commonly focus on digital product development, operational efficiencies and AI/data analytics as core elements of their digital transformation strategies. To most successfully advance these goals, however, requires investment in critical infrastructure such as core banking platforms and the opportunity to tap into the flexibility and scalability of cloud to meet the demands of modern-day banking. Yet, just 4 out of 10 banks responding have started a core banking modernization journey. Among the majority who have not yet embarked on that journey, half are still in the planning phase and have not yet selected a vendor for that initiative. Concerns about integration with external systems and products top the list of challenges slowing those efforts. While 8 in 10 banking leaders surveyed note their institution has a cloud strategy in place, less than half of those surveyed have a cloud strategy that pertains to both their core banking platform and product roadmap introducing potential roadblocks to long-term transformation. Research Background/Methodology American Banker, an Arizent publication, conducted this survey to understand how banks are approaching the modernization of their core banking systems, including the progress toward adopting next-gen core systems, their propensity to choose cloud native core systems, and the challenges to modernization. The survey was conducted online during the second half of 2021 among 102 digital transformation stakeholders at banks and credit unions. About 25% of the respondents surveyed are from banks with more than $50 billion in assets, 35% have $10-$49 billion in assets and the remaining 40% have assets of less than $10 billion. Interested in learning more? Please join Web seminar: Demystifying digital transformation in banking For more information on this survey or other Arizent research, contact: Janet King Vice President, Research Arizent janet.king@arizent.com M 207-807-4806 About Arizent Research Arizent delivers actionable insights through full-service research solutions that tap into their first-party data, industry SMEs and highly engaged communities across banking, payments, mortgage, insurance, municipal finance, accounting, HR/employee benefits and wealth management. They have leading brands in financial services including American Banker, The Bond Buyer, Financial Planning and National Mortgage News, and in professional services, such as Accounting Today, Employee Benefits News and Digital Insurance. For more information, please visit http://www.arizent.com About Arizent Arizent is a business information company that advances professional communities by providing insights and analysis and convening industry leaders. The company uses deep industry expertise and a data-driven platform to deliver its services, which include subscriptions, marketing services, live events and access to Leaders, an executive forum. Arizent also connects business communities through leading financial services brands like American Banker, The Bond Buyer, Financial Planning and National Mortgage News, as well as professional services brands like Accounting Today, Employee Benefit News and Digital Insurance. About Thought Machine Thought Machine was founded in 2014 with a mission to enable banks to deploy modern systems and move away from the legacy IT platforms that plague the banking industry. We do this through our cloud native core banking platform, Vault. This next generation system has been written from scratch as an entirely cloud native platform. It does not contain a single line of code which is legacy, or pre-cloud. We are currently a team of more than 500 people spread across offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, and Melbourne, and have raised more than $340m in funding at a $1bn+ valuation. For more information visit thoughtmachine.net Nexus Licensing Group, a leading licensing management firm and division of Fastlane, today announced the firm has entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with University of West Georgia in which it will serve as its exclusive licensing agent of record. Under the agreement, Nexus is helping University of West Georgia expand its brand reach and revenue potential through traditional retail and eCommerce channels. The firm is also developing and executing a strategic, integrated plan to protect and manage the colleges name and trademarks as well as enhance its retail strategy through customized marketing programs on campus and beyond. As we work to elevate our institutions visibility and reputation, alignment with a partner who can take our licensing to the next level is a critical piece of our brand management strategy, said Dr. Brendan Kelly, UWG president. We are thrilled to work with Nexus Licensing Group as we continue to increase our brands strength and recognition as we remain committed to curating a first-choice university for all our stakeholders. UWG has a unique and recognizable brand and has positioned itself as a strong member of the Gulf South Conference, said Brian Young, Principal and Managing Director of Nexus. In the series of meetings leading to this point, weve realized there is incredible untapped potential for growth. We look forward to working with the UWG team. About University of West Georgia: UWG serves more than 12,700 students from across Georgia, 34 other states and 64 countries. Perenni7ally ranked by U.S. News and World Report as a top national university, UWG offers more than 95 fields of study, including business, nursing, education, STEM, social sciences and the arts. The institution generates a regional economic impact of more than $626 million and provides a safe, quality and affordable college experience that transforms lives. Learn more at http://www.westga.edu. About Nexus Licensing Group: Nexus Licensing Group, a Fastlane Co., is a full-service branding, digital marketing, eCommerce and licensing management firm representing over 25 collegiate brands to date and growing. The firm develops specialized plans to manage and further monetize collegiate assets. For more information, visit http://www.nexuslicensinggroup.com. NFI greatly values its longstanding partnership with Lowes and is honored to be recognized as its 2021 Dedicated Carrier Carrier of the Year NFI, a leading supply chain solutions provider, has been named as Lowes 2021 Dedicated Carrier of the Year. The award recognizes dedicated transportation providers who deliver exceptional service to Lowes throughout the year. Throughout the past year, NFI used its extensive expertise to help Lowes navigate COVID-19 related surges and national supply chain disruptions. The dedicated transportation division was also instrumental in providing Lowes capacity as the home improvement retailer navigated natural disasters, including Texass historic winter storms and Hurricane Ida. Today, NFI provides dedicated transportation service to nine Lowes locations nationwide. Among a group of carriers providing superb service, NFI stands out for the amount of capacity provided to Lowes and the outstanding service they provide to our stores, states the recognition communication from Lowes. The team, led by Adam Greenberg, Senior Vice President of Operations; Regional Vice Presidents, Brad Heisterkamp, Scott Day, Clint Motzer, and Albert Ravera; along with 376 dedicated drivers, were thanked for their partnership and strong on-time performance during an unforgettable year. NFI greatly values its longstanding partnership with Lowes and is honored to be recognized as its 2021 Dedicated Carrier Carrier of the Year, said Greenberg. We look forward to continuing to provide outstanding service, deliver reliable solutions, and drive innovation within their supply chain. Established in 1932, NFI has grown to be one of the oldest and largest privately-held 3PLs in North America, serving customers throughout industries including retail, ecommerce, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, and manufacturing. Today, the company operates a dedicated fleet of more than 4,600 tractors and 13,000 trailers with solutions spanning dry truckload, refrigerated transportation, flatbed, tanker, intermodal, bulk, and conestogas. Visit NFI online to learn more about its dedicated transportation solutions. About NFI NFI is a fully integrated North American supply chain solutions provider headquartered in Camden, N.J. Privately held by the Brown family since its inception in 1932, NFI generates more than $3 billion in annual revenue and employs over 15,000 associates. NFI owns facilities globally and operates more than 60 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space. Its dedicated fleet consists of over 4,600 tractors and 13,000 trailers operated by 3,900 company drivers and leveraging partnerships with 500 independent contractors. NFI has a significant drayage presence at nearly every major U.S. port, leveraging the services of an additional 1,500 independent contractors. The companys business lines include dedicated transportation, distribution, ecommerce fulfillment, brokerage, transportation management, port drayage, intermodal, global logistics, and real estate. For more information about NFI, visit http://www.nfiindustries.com or call 1-877-NFI-3777. We are excited to add CHBs team, resources, and 30 years of industry expertise to NGS. Separately, we were good. Together, we are better. NGS announced today that they have acquired CHB Industries (CHB), further expanding their sales and operations teams into the New York and Chicago markets. The acquisition is the first in the companys history, but more are planned for 2022. This acquisition is unparalleled in the history of the window film industry, states James Beale, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of NGS. It combines the fastest growing and largest window film company NGS with the most storied and reputable company in the Northeast and Midwest CHB. We are excited to add CHBs team, resources, and 30 years of industry expertise to NGS. Separately, we were good. Together, we are better. Adds Carol Borow, Owner and President, CHB: NGS culture of professionalism, reliability, and responsiveness, combined with their mission to make buildings better fits perfectly with what weve spent years creating at CHB. Adds Dan Venet, Executive Vice President, CHB, We are thrilled to join forces with NGS and create something unprecedented in the industry. Founded in 2009 by James Beale and Patrick Coyle, NGS has grown to become the industry-leading dealer-installer of 3M Window Film, Riot Glass, Printed Graphics, and Signage. Offering security, energy, and branding retrofits for buildings, the companys mission is to protect people and property, preserve the planet, and create beauty by making buildings better. CHB was founded over 30 years ago by Borow and Venet with the vision that building owners, property managers, office tenants, and homeowners needed services that would make their properties safer, more energy-efficient and attractive, and less expensive to manage. The company grew to become the most trusted and reputable window film company in New York and Chicago markets. Beale and Coyle have assumed leadership responsibilities and management of CHB. Borow and Venet will stay on for six months to help with the transition. The transaction closed on December 30, 2021. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. To learn more about NGS, visit http://www.filmsandgraphics.com In this annual report you will read that ARCS Scholars view us as a community that motivates them as they pave the way to new explorations and discoveries to meet the challenges we face in the scientific community. ARCS Foundation highlighted the successes of the organization in Opening Doors to Scientific Achievements, its Annual Report of the 2020-2021 academic year. In a year overshadowed by a global pandemic, the organizations mission to empower innovation and scientific discoveries was bolstered by these ARCS milestones: 10-years of continuous growth in dollars awarded to scholars Maintaining a $5 million level for scholar funding Launching ARCS Forward, a virtual speaker series to showcase scholar research "We continually hear from our scholars that ARCS Foundation is more than a financial vehicle, ARCS President Caron Ogg states. In this annual report you will read that ARCS Scholars view us as a community that motivates them as they pave the way to new explorations and discoveries to meet the challenges we face in the scientific community. The report also shares ARCS Foundation Nationals statement on opening doors to scientific achievement via diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and the formation of a DEI Action Task Force. The 2021 ARCS Alumni Hall of Fame inductee is F. Peter Schloerb, PhD, who has been recognized for leadership in the development of the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano, which played a significant role in capturing the first visual image of a black hole, confirming Einsteins Theory of General Relativity. Since founding the Los Angeles chapter in 1958, ARCS has practiced a regional, chapter-based model of philanthropic investment, which has enabled significant local funding support. Members from 15 chapters regularly interact with top-ranked university departments during the academic year and personally encourage the careers of young scientists selected annually for the prestigious ARCS Scholar Award. The 22-page report presents data that highlight the annual reach of ARCS funding, as well as the university departments and scholars served. The data are accompanied by history and context, enabling those not yet familiar with the organization to gain an overview of the diverse aspects of its scholar-focused activities and the evolution of its funding model. Illustrating the results of ARCS Foundations investments, the report features ARCS Scholars such as Trista McKenzie (Coastal Hydrology; University of Hawaii at Manoa), Jeremea Songo (Neuroscience; University of Oregon), William Mundo (Medicine and Public Health; University of Colorado), and Kevin Kaufman (Nanoengineering; University of San Diego), all working to advance the future of science in their respective fields of discovery. These scholars illustrate a bright future for scientific achievement in America, says Sherry Lundeen, ARCS Foundation National President 2019-21. This annual report conveys how ARCS Foundations consistent support of basic research is more critical than ever to promote US scientific discovery competitiveness worldwide. To view the digital version of the 2021 Annual Report, visit http://www.arcsfoundation.org. About ARCS Foundation: ARCS Foundation is a national nonprofit volunteer womens organization that promotes US competitiveness by providing financial awards to academically outstanding US citizens studying to complete degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and health disciplines at 49 of the nations leading research universities. The organization has awarded more than $126 million to more than 11,181 scholars since 1958. ARCS Foundation Scholars have produced thousands of research publications and patents, secured billions in grant funding, started science-related companies, and played a significant role in teaching and mentoring young people in the STEM pipeline. More information is available at arcsfoundation.org. We are very excited to expand our footprint in new region with strategic concentration around Staffing and Recruitment services for Canada. QA Mentor has established a new strategic Staffing and Recruitment division from a separate Canadian based entity Quality IT Group. It will operate under the umbrella of QA Mentor, Inc. and concentrate on identifying highly skilled Information Technology talents and serving our clients and customers across Canada. This strategic move will allow Quality IT Group to become one stop shop to identify best in class IT Professionals across multiple technologies and industries for short-term, long-term, contract-to-hire, full time placements, temporary, part time opportunities and concentrate on nearshoring capabilities for testing services. Dinker Radhakrishnan, co-founder and newly appointed Director of Quality IT Group will be heading this Staffing and Recruitment Canadian division. Dinker brings over 13 years of industry experience in IT, Quality Assurance, Support, Business Analysis, IT management and Delivery. He has supported multiple projects for clients such as Bell Canada, D+H, Amerisource Bergen, 3Ireland, Schneider Electric and Vodafone Italy. We are very excited to have Dinker helping us to expand our footprint in new regions with strategic concentration around Staffing and Recruitment services for Canada said Ruslan Desyatnikov, Founder & CEO of QA Mentor, Inc. "We are excited to have several clients already requesting us to fill some positions in Ontario, Canada region and we are looking forward to accelerated expansion with aggressive placement targets. About QA Mentor, Inc. QA Mentor is multi-awards winning a CMMI Level 3 SVC + SSD v1.3 appraised, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 20000-1 certified leading software testing company headquartered in New York. With 313 global QA resources in 6 different countries offering more than 30 QA Testing Services and covering all time zones, QA Mentor is a global leader in Software Quality Assurance and Testing space. Serving 427 clients from Fortune 500 to start ups in 28 countries, QA Mentor supports applications in 9 different industries. With unique products propositions from a crowdsourcing platform with a pool of 12,000 crowdsourced testers to a test management platform, unique and economical services offerings and QA education from e-learning and corporate training, QA Mentor continues its growth, expansion and footprint around the globe. Jason Love, President, RESPEC RESPEC is delighted to announce Jason Love as our new President. On December 10, 2021, RESPECs Board of Directors voted to separate the roles of CEO & President. This directive furthers RESPECs sustainability, which requires a commitment to leadership development and succession. Jason has been with RESPEC since 2005, has served on our Board of Directors since 2013, served as our Senior Vice President of Water & Natural Resources (WNR) since 2016, and provided professional engineering consulting since 1997. As of January 1, 2022, Todd Kenner is RESPECs CEO, and Jason Love is RESPECs President. This bifurcation ensures we have one leader envisioning our future alongside the Board of Directors and another leader working with our Officers, Vice Presidents, and Co-Presidents to meet the needs of our employee-owners and clients. Separating the roles of CEO and President reflects RESPECs commitment to evolve and reinvest in ourselves, which ensures sustainability, said Jason. Ive been charged to focus on two audiences our employee-owners and clients and ask, How can we make their experiences better? Jason began his professional journey at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. A professor inspired Jason to study water and water quality. Advancements in technology were occurring, and Jason liked uniting traditional water models with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop integrated modeling and decision support systems. After graduating and working in Silicon Valley, Jason returned to Rapid City and began at RESPEC. For 17 years, Jason has worked across RESPEC, blending water quality and water modeling solutions into different projects. He started with Mining and Energy and moved to Data & Technology. Now Jason has worked across all RESPECs markets. His passion for integrating solutions has defined his tenure at RESPEC and contributed to growing WNR from a $1M business in 2009 to a $12M business in 2021. Jasons commitment to RESPEC, his fellow employee-owners, and our clients propelled him into the role of President. RESPECs growth happens many ways organically and through acquisitions that expand our geographic footprint and service offerings, Jason said. Ill be working to prioritize and manage those types of growth at RESPEC. Our sustained growth enables us to better serve our employee-owners and clients. RESPEC thrives when we nurture our employee-owners and promote them internally, like Jason. We strive to keep every hire until they retire. RESPECs a 52-year-old company with a start-up mindset, said Todd, emphasizing that mentality makes succession critical. Jasons growing up in RESPEC means he knows our firm, culture, and strategy intimately. In 2022, Jason will kick off his role as President by focusing on cultivating RESPECs next generation of leaders, developing a Growth Strategy Group, and preparing for RESPECs Vision 2030. With Todd and Jason at RESPECs helm, we are positioned to strengthen RESPEC. Over Quarter 1 of 2022, RESPEC will announce other investments and actions that we are taking to continue our growth and solidify our sustainability. Please join RESPEC in welcoming our new President, Jason Love, and celebrating this opportunity! RESPEC FACT SHEET: Important Information, Dates & Numbers For those with challenges, RESPEC has solutions. We unite applied sciences with technology so clients get cutting-edge outcomes. RESPECs integrated solutions give clients more. Clients worldwide choose RESPEC because they trust us to be their partners and propel them forward with an innovative, clear vision. No matter the challenge or the market, RESPEC can find answers that work. Overall 52-Year-Old Company (1969) Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) 100% Employee-Owned 7 Markets 24 Acquisitions North American Presence Established during 2010 Decade 2021 $81M Revenue 200% Revenue 5-Year Growth 3 Acquisitions 460+ Employees 19 Interns Current 469 Employees 26 Offices 14 United States 2 Canadian Provinces 705 Active Clients 1770 Active Projects Jason Love With the help of Transferology, our entire community will now benefit from having unprecedented certainty around which courses from other institutions will transfer credit toward students degree pursuits - Rockford University Interim Vice President for Enrollment Management Michael J. Quinn, Ph.D. Offering unprecedented visibility and guidance into student transfer decisions, Rockford University, the regions leading private four-year institution, today announced that it has selected CollegeSources Transferology solution. The new solution available immediately delivers vital course equivalency and higher education transfer credit information for students considering attending Rockford University as their next step in their academic journey. Students can access Transferology at https://www.rockford.edu/admission/transfer/. With the help of Transferology, our entire community will now benefit from having unprecedented certainty around which courses from other institutions will transfer credit toward students degree pursuits ultimately empowering them to make more educated decisions about their future, said Michael J. Quinn, Ph.D., interim Vice President for Enrollment Management at Rockford University. This also opens the door for Rockford as a college of choice for exponentially more prospective students regionally and nationally, many of whom may not have previously considered our institution. As the only nationwide open transfer network with comprehensive transfer data, Transferology is a cloud-based solution that provides student access to millions of course-to-course and program-to-program transfer equivalencies. Students can enter coursework and instantly see how their credits will transfer to Rockford. This information will help Rockfords transfer counselors, students and parents make more informed decisions when transferring higher education credit. Were thrilled to partner with Rockford University in deploying Transferology to transform their student transfer experiences their investment in the most comprehensive transfer innovations will help drive more informed student transfer decisions overall as well as help accelerate student pathways toward earning a degree or certificate, said Kerry Cooper, CEO, CollegeSource. About Rockford University Rockford University is a private four-year, co-educational institution founded in 1847 offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in traditional liberal arts and professional fields. The University offers more than 80 majors, minors and concentrations, including the bachelors degree completion program for a B.S. in Management Studies. Through its Graduate Studies department, degrees are extended to include the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and Master of Education in Urban Education, (M.Ed.). Rockford University is home to one of only 11 Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) chapters in Illinois, the most prestigious honor society in the United States. Named by The Princeton Review as a Best Midwestern College and is a U.S. News & World Report Best Midwest Regional University, Rockford University currently serves approximately 1,250 full-and part-time students. About CollegeSource CollegeSource is the higher education industrys trusted provider of transfer and degree achievement solutions. For 50 years, CollegeSource has led market-changing transformation by inventing and investing in technology solutions that aid the staff and students of higher education in their quest to plan and complete academic careers. As the archiver of the nations extensive higher education course catalogs, CollegeSources degree audit, academic planning, and transfer credit evaluation solutions are depended on by more than 2,000 institutions and millions of individuals worldwide. Founded and led by higher education and technology veterans, CollegeSource is a privately-held company based in San Diego with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, please visit collegesource.com. # # # As we look ahead to 2022, our now expanded team of healthcare experts is committed to providing hospital and health system leaders with the counsel and data analytics needed to make better decisions around pharmacy benefits plans. Committed to offering a tailored, market-leading pharmacy benefit solution to address the evolving needs of hospitals and health systems, RxBenefits, the employee benefits industrys first and only technology-enabled pharmacy benefits optimizer (PBO), today announced the expansion of its healthcare team. In addition to adding six new team members in the past year, the company has also promoted four executives who will focus on helping hospitals and health systems create competitive, cost-effective pharmacy benefits plans. As the U.S. enters its third year of the pandemic, hospitals and health systems employers remain under intense pressure to not only care for patients, but to also navigate ongoing staff shortages and increasing rates of physician burnout. Todays hospitals are also challenged with overcoming dips in revenue, with many losing up to $122 billion due to the lingering effects of COVID-19. Furthermore, with employees health insurance premiums accounting for one of a hospitals biggest bills getting bigger in part due to a rise in specialty drug utilization hospital leaders must seek new ways to balance finances with competitive benefits plans that attract and retain staff. RxBenefits healthcare team works directly with hospital and health system leaders to identify cost-effective and competitive benefits plans that support the direct and changing needs of all staff, ensuring members are healthy and productive at work, and without causing any disruption to teams. These efforts will be especially critical moving forward, as a recent survey by RxBenefits found that 1 in 10 Americans would change jobs or involve their employers HR department to get coverage of specialty medications. Our countrys healthcare providers have continued to face unprecedented obstacles, serving on the front lines of an ongoing public health emergency while also facing a scarcity of workers, and a competition for talent, said Rebecca Grant, RxBenefits newly-appointed Senior Director of Hospital and Strategic Markets. As the employee benefits industrys first and only PBO, RxBenefits was created to focus exclusively on delivering value to our customers by understanding their unique business challenges when creating tailored pharmacy benefits plans. As we look ahead to 2022, our now expanded team of healthcare experts is committed to providing hospital and health system leaders with the counsel and data analytics needed to make better decisions around pharmacy benefits plans. RxBenefits healthcare team is part of the companys more than 900 pharmacy pricing, data, and clinical experts working together to deliver prescription benefit savings to employee benefit consultants and their self-insured clients. With nearly 3 million members and 3B in annual pharmacy spend under management, RxBenefits brings market-leading purchasing power, independent clinical solutions, and high-touch service to its customers ensuring that all businesses, regardless of size, can provide an affordable and valuable pharmacy benefit plan to their employees. For more information about how RxBenefits helps hospitals and health systems balance their unique clinical and financial objectives, visit rxbenefits.com/who-we-serve/hospitals-health-systems. To explore open positions on the healthcare team, visit rxbenefits.com/about-us. About RxBenefits RxBenefits is a technology-enabled pharmacy benefits optimizer (PBO) with more than 500 pharmacy pricing, data, and clinical experts working together to deliver prescription benefit savings to employee benefit consultants and their self-insured clients. With nearly 2 million members, RxBenefits brings market-leading purchasing power, independent clinical solutions, and high-touch service to its customers ensuring that all businesses, regardless of size, can provide an affordable and valuable pharmacy benefit plan to their employees. The company is headquartered in Birmingham, AL. For more details, visit http://www.rxbenefits.com or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Theres a lot of hype around elderberry, so choosing a reputable brand with transparent labeling is even more important. Not all elderberry is created equal. You know youre getting quality when you choose Sambucol. Art Rowe-Cerveny, Vice President of Marketing, PharmaCare US Nutritionists have long known about the wellness benets of antioxidant-rich black elderberries, but the true potential of these berries has mostly gone untapped because theyre unsafe to consume if not prepared properly, making them impractical. With its line of gummies, syrups, supplements, and more, Sambucol Black Elderberry is helping people around the world easily access this superfood. Trusted since 1991, Sambucol Black Elderberry products come precooked, so theyre safe to eat right out of the packaging no messy preparation or clean-up, or second-guessing whether theyre toxic. The products are developed by a virologist and made using only premium Haschberg black elderberries, which grow in the mountainous regions of Central Europe. This particular type of black elderberry is coveted because of its deep-black pigment, indicating theyre rich in anthocyanins and flavanoids, which help fight free radicals in our bodies. Sambucol uses a proprietary extraction process when creating its syrups that preserves as much of the benefits as possible. And the syrups arent just healthy they add a delicious berry flavor to a range of foods. You can use them to create an immunity-supporting black elderberry smoothie; add them to maple syrup and pour them over pancakes; put them in your overnight oats for a delicious, fortifying breakfast; and so much more. Theres a lot of hype around elderberry, so choosing a reputable brand with transparent labeling is even more important, said Art Rowe-Cerveny, vice president of marketing for PharmaCare US, which owns Sambucol. Not all elderberry is created equal. You know youre getting quality when you choose Sambucol. Whether youre looking to add syrups to dishes to make immune-supporting meals, or are just looking for an immune support supplement, Sambucol Black Elderberry can help keep your family members feeling their best and doing what they love to do. Get recipe ideas and shop the full line of Sambucol Black Elderberry products online at sambucolusa.com. To raise awareness of the immunity-supporting power of Sambucol Black Elderberry, PharmaCare US has partnered with Mediaplanet for its cross-platform campaign Future of Personal Health, which was published in todays edition of USA TODAY. Learn more about Sambucol by reading the article online here: https://bit.ly/3H8O7kh About Sambucol USA Sambucol is The Original Black Elderberry Brand, developed initially by a virologist after years of research. Since the 1990s, we have earned the trust of experts and our customers as a leader in the black elderberry category. We offer a range of award-winning immune support products to help support your health all year round. Learn more about what makes us unique at SambucolUSA.com. About PharmaCare US PharmaCare US is a subsidiary of PharmaCare Australia, owners of the Sambucol brand of immune support supplements, the Real Health Laboratories brand of nutritional supplements, and the Bioglan brand of nutraceutical remedies. Since our beginnings in 1985, our focus has been to develop and market personal products that support the health and well-being of our consumers. Press contact: Melissa Beltz Brand Marketing Coordinator E: melissa.beltz@pharmacareus.com HRH Prince Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy Welcomes Guests to the Royal Savoy Ball, December 11, 2021, New York City The important childrens causes that you are supporting tonight help the Savoy Foundation to continue together the centuries old traditions of the Savoy Royal Family -- helping the underprivileged and vulnerable. On Saturday evening, December 11, 2021, the 24th Ballo di Savoia (Royal Savoy Ball), the annual winter charity gala hosted by the American Foundation of Savoy Orders, returned to the iconic Metropolitan Club. The Savoy Foundation was delighted to welcome back His Royal Highness Prince Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Prince of Venice and Prince of Piedmont and his cousin His Royal Highness Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, who were guests of honor for this occasion. The Ball was part of a four-day weekend of events organized by the American Delegation of Savoy Orders and the American Foundation of Savoy Orders, continuing the spirit and tradition of charitable giving and hospitaller care of the historic dynastic orders of knighthood and merit of the thousand-year Royal House of Savoy. More than 200 patrons, benefactors and guests gathered to support the Savoy Foundations 24th Annual white-tie dinner-dance. The event raised funds in support of the Savoy Foundation's philanthropic mission - Chivalry for Children's Causes - and the events primary beneficiary - The New York Foundling Summer Camp Program for inner city foster-care children. Prior to Saturdays evening Gala, a welcome reception on Friday evening, December 10 at the Lotos Club for guests attending the Royal Savoy Ball. At the ball on Saturday, gala attendees enjoyed a champagne reception, hors doeuvres and signature cocktails before the main program began with a royal fanfare. Following the main seated dinner, guests enjoyed a sumptuous Viennese dessert table in the adjoining room and ballroom dancing with the Mitch Kahn orchestra. A highlight of the evening was the remarks by Prince Emmanuel Philibert who praised the achievements of the Savoy Foundation in the past 28years. I want to thank all the very generous donors who made this evening such a great success, especially during these difficult and challenging times. The important childrens causes that you are supporting tonight help us to continue together the centuries old traditions of my family -- helping the underprivileged, whose needs are so much greater than our own. Bill Baccaglini, President and CEO of the Foundling, expressed his gratitude to the Savoy Foundation for the impact that the funds raised at the charity ball would have for more than 50 needy families: Residing in some of New York Citys most impoverished communities, our kids are given a chance they wouldn't otherwise have: the opportunity to experience the joys of summer camp, a rite of passage for most American children. He was proud to introduce a young woman who participated in the summer camp program and became a camp counselor as a testimonial example of the impact of the program has had for children in its foster care system. The Savoy Ball of New York continues a thousand-year tradition of goodwill and charitable giving through its Patrons, Benefactors and Sponsors: Silver Table Sponsors: Geoffroy van Raemdonck; Grand Patrons: Mr. and Mrs. Daniel J. McClory and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Pecora; Patrons: Ms. Vivian Cardia, Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Desiderio, Esq., Hon. Michael Gatto, Hon. William Martini; Carl J. Morelli, Esq., Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Viscogliosi, and Mr. and Mrs. George C. White; Benefactors: Deborah J. Hamilton, Eric J. Ierardi, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick O. Mahoney, OSIA NYS Grand Lodge Foundation; Sponsor: Anthony Cipriano. Other guests included: Her Excellency Vicki Downey, His Excellency Fra John Dunlap, Mrs. Jean Shafiroff and Ms. Brooke Shields. This years Savoy Ball is scheduled for Saturday, December 10, 2022, at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. For more information on supporting the Savoy Foundation's Chivalry For Childrens Causes, click here CONTACT: Larissa Van Duser, American Foundation of Savoy Orders, amsavoy@aol.com, +1 646-489-1242 ABOUT THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION AND THE AMERICAN DELEGATION OF SAVOY ORDERS Headquartered in New York City, the American Delegation of Savoy Orders, which includes all 50 of the United States of America, is among the 35 delegations of the Savoy Orders located throughout Europe, the Americas and Japan. The American Foundation of Savoy Orders, Incorporated a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, has supported local, national, and international charities focusing on medical, educational, and humanitarian fields, including philanthropy for U.S. veterans, hospitals and relief agencies for children, the poor, sick and elderly. The Foundation is a Non-Governmental Organization in Roster Consultative Statues with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. In 2019, the Savoy Foundation launched a new charitable initiative - Chivalry for Childrens Causes - a multi-year program assisting institutions and charitable organizations that provide aid to children and families in need, building stable, healthy families. The program is made possible thanks to generous support from the members and friends of the American Delegation of Savoy Orders. ABOUT THE ROYAL HOUSE OF SAVOY The Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy are among the oldest orders of Knighthood and Merit in the world. The Savoy Orders are headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and have 35 Delegations worldwide that support the Orders ongoing charitable works. Their origins and their principles, traditions and humanitarian goals date back a thousand years. HRH Prince Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, Prince of Naples and Duke of Savoy, is Head of the House of Savoy and Grand Master of the Savoy Orders. Prince Emmanuel Philibert is his son and the hereditary crown Prince of Italy and currently serves as President of the Council of the Savoy Orders. In 1946, when the Kingdom of Italy came to an end, the House of Savoy was Europes oldest reigning dynasty. The heads of the House of Savoy had ruled, first as counts, then as dukes and finally as kings, for almost a thousand years. Descended in the direct male line from a tenth-century vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Savoys ruled the Alpine state of Aosta, as well as Savoy, where they established their capital at Chambery. Their dominion was eventually extended to include Piedmont and other territories in what are now Italy, France and Switzerland. By the eighteenth century, the Savoys were kings of Sicily and then Sardinia, and it was under their aegis that the Italian states were united by 1871. The Royal Familys heritage can be seen in castles and palaces, and in the beauty of the northwestern Italian city of Turin, the Savoys' magnificent capital in the heart of Piedmont in the 16th into the 19th centuries. The dynastic chivalric traditions of the Royal House of Savoy continue. The Order of the Annunciation and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, two of the world's oldest knightly institutions, are still alive today, epitomizing the dynasty's medieval spirit while supporting very modern charitable works in Italy, Switzerland, France, Japan, the United States and elsewhere. Chivalry lives. Today, the House of Savoy remains one of the oldest royal dynasties. Im honored to become a named partner and am excited about the future of our firm, which has only grown and exceeded both Tiffanie and Is expectations over the past two years. Clausewitz Law Firm, PLLC proudly announces the addition of Shellie R. Reyes as a named partner in the Firm. Effective January 1, 2022, the Firm has renamed itself Clausewitz Reyes, PLLC (Clausewitz Reyes). Ms. Reyes has a broad litigation practice representing individuals and companies in both State and Federal Court proceedings. In her practice, Ms. Reyes handles a wide variety of business and commercial disputes involving breach of contract, business torts, fiduciary duties, injunction litigation, real property rights, oil and gas, collection matters, deceptive trade practice, construction defects, and employment contracts. Ms. Reyes also litigates and counsels on business assets and entities involved in divorce proceedings. On the announcement of becoming a named partner, Reyes stated: Im honored to become a named partner and am excited about the future of our firm, which has only grown and exceeded both Tiffanie and Is expectations over the past two years. Im looking forward to the firms continued growth and success. President of the Firm, Tiffanie Clausewitz, commented on Reyes naming stating: Shellies elevation as a named partner is a significant milestone for the Firm. With a proven track record of achieving successful results for her clients through fair representation and collaborative relationships, Shellie has earned her clients loyalty and her colleagues respect. Personally, I have enjoyed working with Shellie for several years and watching her grow as both an attorney and a leader. I could not be more excited to have her partner with me to lead our Firm through its next stage of growth. Ms. Reyes is also dedicated to serving her community. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors for Project Transformation, Board of Directors for San Antonio Youth Literacy, and Board of Directors for Mexican American Bar Association San Antonio. She also served on the State Bar of Texas Business Disputes Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Planning Committee for 2021. Ms. Reyes has been recognized for her achievements in the legal field, named a Best Lawyer by Scene in S.A. Magazine every year since 2016. She has also been named a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star for her business litigation practice in both 2020 and 2021. About Clausewitz Reyes Clausewitz Reyes is located at 2722 West Bitters Road, Suite 110, San Antonio, Texas 78248. Partners Tiffanie S. Clausewitz and Shellie R. Reyes, along with their legal team, provide services in the areas of business litigation, corporate law, labor & employment, real estate, estate planning & probate. For more information about Clausewitz Reyes, visit clausewitzreyes.com or call (210) 762-6422. Our Asian headquarters expansion will allow us to continue to scale up our business locally and across the region, and we are excited to build upon the rapid growth of the past year. Smith, a leading global distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces the relocation of the companys Hong Kong sales office. The new location increases the offices footprint by 40 percent, positioning Smith for growth in the new year and beyond. Celebrating 25 years in the region later this month, the Hong Kong office was Smiths first international location. Since then, the company has grown to 17 locations worldwide, including eight in Asia. Smith also expanded its operations hub in Hong Kong earlier this year and has grown its workforce in the region by 33 percent since January 2021. For more than 37 years, Smith has evolved and innovated to meet the needs of our customers around the world, said Choon Byun, Chairman of Asia. Our Asian headquarters expansion will allow us to continue to scale up our business locally and across the region, and we are excited to build upon the rapid growth of the past year. The new office is located at: Suites 3607-11, Tower Two, Times Square 1 Matheson Street Causeway Bay, HK +852 2.854.3232 About Smith Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 17 cities around the world, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, generating global annual sales in excess of $1.39 billion. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. The support of Smiths flexible Intelligent DistributionTM model optimizes customers supply chains from beginning to end, including offering customized options for IT asset disposition that deliver maximum ROI, sustainability, and security. Smiths testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam cover critical areas like quality management, counterfeit prevention, and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time, global inventory and logistics visibility. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number eight among all global distributors. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com or reach out to a Smith representative any time of day at +1 713.430.3000. ### India Hynes, President and CEO of Vinotemp Corporation, stated: "We are excited to join a global leader that provides a strong foundation for our continued growth. I believe Legacys stewardship and complementary businesses will be very beneficial to both customers and employees of Vinotemp. Greenfield World Trade, Inc. d/b/a The Legacy Companies (Legacy), a leading consumer products and food service equipment provider, today announced that it has successfully closed on its agreement to acquire the assets of Vinotemp Corporation of Henderson, Nevada. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Neal Asbury, Legacys President and Chief Executive Officer, stated: We are very pleased to welcome Vinotemp into The Legacy Companies. The Vinotemp acquisition is strategically important to us as it enhances and strengthens our position in the premium consumer appliance market segment. The Vinotemp end markets and customer base are highly complementary to our existing businesses with the potential to further expand key account relationships and capitalize on cross selling opportunities. This acquisition brings the addition of very strong and well-recognized brands that compliment those of The Legacy Companies. Virtual Vocations publishes its sixth annual ranking of Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs. For companies to remain competitive and retain their top talent, remote job options are essential. Virtual Vocations CEO and co-founder Laura Spawn A new report from one of the webs leading all-remote job boards puts the spotlight on employers who are continuing to recognize the value of remote work options in 2022. Virtual Vocations sixth annual report on the Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs ranks employers in the U.S. and around the world known for recruiting remote workers to fill open positions within their organizations. With headquarters in states across the U.S. and in countries like Canada, Ireland, Japan, and the Netherlands, the employers who made Virtual Vocations list of top 100 to watch in the New Year span 21 industries, including information technology (IT), healthcare, and financial services and accounting. Combined, Virtual Vocations sourced more than 72,000 remote job postings from these employers for its massive jobs database throughout 2021, contributing to another record-setting year for the company in its effort to connect jobseekers with legitimate remote work options. During 2021, Virtual Vocations saw a 29% increase in the number of remote jobs vetted and posted to our job board, CEO and co-founder Laura Spawn said. Approximately 12% of those remote job postings were sourced from the top 100 companies featured in this years list. Several of the employers who ranked among the top 100 shared thousands of work from home job openings over the last 12 months alone, including both full-time and part-time positions as well as temporary and contract roles. According to Spawn, its all evidence that top businesses and organizations are continuing to embrace the growing demand for remote work arrangements as the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Great Resignation of U.S. workers during 2021 has proven employee power and solidified the status of the U.S. job market as candidate-driven, Spawn said. For companies to remain competitive and retain their top talent, remote job options are essential, she added. Remote work is here to stay for the long term. Ranked by the number of remote jobs shared on Virtual Vocations jobs database from January through December of last year, Virtual Vocations top 10 employers for remote jobseekers to keep their eyes on in 2022 are as follows: 1. UnitedHealth Group 2. Anthem, Inc. 3. USAA 4. Humana Inc. 5. Stride, Inc. 6. U.S. Bank 7. Square, Inc. 8. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. 9. Parallon 10. Meta Platforms, Inc. To learn more about Virtual Vocations or see the full list of Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2022, visit: https://www.virtualvocations.com/blog/annual-statistical-remote-work-reports/top-100-companies-to-watch-for-remote-jobs-in-2022/ ABOUT VIRTUAL VOCATIONS Founded in 2007 by CEO Laura Spawn and her brother, CTO Adam Stevenson, Virtual Vocations is a small company with a big mission: to connect jobseekers with legitimate remote job openings. To date, Virtual Vocations has helped more than four million jobseekers in their quests for flexible, remote work. In addition to providing a database that houses tens of thousands of current, hand-screened remote job openings at any given time, Virtual Vocations offers jobseekers a number of tools to aid in their job searches, including exclusive e-courses and downloadable content, and resume writing services. Virtual Vocations also releases several data-driven reports each year on current trends in remote work. Virtual Vocations, Inc. is a private, family-owned, and 100% virtual company incorporated in Tucson, Arizona. PRESS INQUIRIES Michelle Rawlings michelle(at)virtualvocations(dot)com 1 (800) 379-5092 ext. 703 VirtualVocations.com Dfree Next Generation Wireless Bladder Sensor Adopting this latest technology from Triple W is yet another way we demonstrate our value of honoring those we serve by treating them with dignity and respect, while improving their quality of life. Triple W, an innovator of connected health devices, announced the delivery of the next generation DFree wireless bladder sensor for urinary incontinence to Ecumen. The advanced compact sensor provides users with the digital health technology to improve quality of life and allow them to enjoy more freedom, independence, and control of their health care needs. Ecumen is one of Minnesotas largest non-profit providers, developers and operators of living spaces and innovative technology and services for older adults. Ecumen will be using DFree with residents in six of the organizations skilled nursing communities as part of an effort to reduce incontinence. Ecumen has been awarded grant funding from the Minnesota Department of Human Services for Performance-Based Incentive Payment Programs (PIPP) aimed at improving the quality of life for the residents they serve in skilled nursing facilities. The funding must be used to improve the quality of care and quality of residents in skilled nursing facilities in a measurable way and increase the capacity to deliver quality care more efficiently. The noninvasive DFree device monitors the bladder using ultrasound technology and notifies users or caregivers via smartphone or tablet when it is time to go. The device is attached to the lower abdomen and monitors the users bladder securely relaying the data to a web-based portal or mobile device. Caregivers can proactively manage residents with incontinence more effectively while improving quality of care. Commenting on the DFree product rollout, Quality Improvement Project Manager Margo Paplow said, We are so thrilled to adopt this next generation technology to provide advanced quality of care to our residents. Innovation is central to our ability to live out our mission of advocating for older adults and providing compassionate health care and services to support fulfilled lives. Adopting this latest technology from Triple W is yet another way we demonstrate our value of honoring those we serve by treating them with dignity and respect, while improving their quality of life. We are excited to bring our advanced technology to Ecumen and provide their teams with a simple to use monitoring device. The DFree device allows more freedom and mobility, not to mention confidence to live a more active life on a daily basis, commented Triple W CEO Atsushi Nakanishi. Triple W launched the worlds first portable bladder sensor in 2018 which offers individuals managing incontinence improved peace of mind from accidental leaks. Seniors and people with disability who need to manage a loss of bladder control have an alternative to disposable diapers or pads and medications with the DFree line of ultrasound sensors for incontinence. The latest device weighs only 0.9 oz. and it can be attached discreetly under clothing. It is also an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable diapers offering users improved freedom of movement and quality of life. TripleW will showcase and demo the award-winning DFree wearable sensor for urinary incontinence at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 5-8 (Venetian 2nd floor, J-Startup Pavilion). TripleW is partnered with the Veterans Administration, The Spina Bifida Association, The National Incontinence Association, and The National Multiple Sclerosis Society to provide members and patients alike immediate access to advanced technology for improved bladder management. DFree products are available for purchase in the U.S. directly from the DFree website and authorized retailers. Press Contact: email: ty@www-biz.co Ph: 833-337-3387 About Triple W Triple W empowers people with incontinence to live without worries. Triple W believes that having control of your senses is the key to independence and living life to the fullest. The company was founded in 2015 and has offices in Tokyo and San Diego. DFrees award-winning and patented technology is currently used in over 500 senior care facilities in Japan and the U.S. since 2017. DFree is also available for personal use and for in-home caregiving providing improved quality of care and peace of mind. For more information visit: https://www.dfreeus.biz About Ecumen Ecumen is a nonprofit provider, developer and operator of award-winning living spaces and innovative technology and services for older adults. Mission-driven since its founding in 1862, Ecumens legacy of service is a reflection of a commitment to honoring those it serves. Ecumen is based in Shoreview, Minn., and operates properties and services in multiple states, and provides new development, management and consulting services. Ecumen is a recipient of the 2020 NRC Health Customer Approved Award. For more information, visit http://www.ecumen.org. To find the potential value of your life insurance policy, use MRE Finances life settlement calculator. MRE Finance specializes in life and viatical settlements, providing services, resources and industry information to senior or critically ill policyholders seeking to sell their unneeded life insurance policies or who are in need of funds for medical care. Many ask if life settlements are regulated and the answer is yes in most states. Life and viatical settlements are legal transactions and there are regulations that vary by state to protect the policyholder, insurance companies and brokers. Some states require a waiting or holding period while others do not. Some states have mandated that insurance companies inform policyholders with limited or full disclosure of the option to sell their policy. These regulations offer acknowledgment and opportunity to proceed with the sale of a life insurance policy; providing a financial settlement that can supplement retirement, pay medical bills, pay off debt or for any other purpose. Here Are Five Fast Facts: 43 states have passed life and viatical settlement regulations. 2 states regulate viatical settlements only. 33 states have minimum waiting periods ranging from 2 to 4 years before a policyholder can sell their policy. Disclosure requirements by insurance carriers vary state-by-state. There are important differences across states with regulated life settlements. Waiting Periods: This requirement stipulates the minimum period a policyholder must own their life insurance policy before they can sell it in a life settlement transaction. While most people believe the minimum holding or waiting period is the same as the contestability period, thats not always correct. 21 of the regulated states have statutorily mandated a 2-year minimum holding period. Minnesota requires a minimum waiting period of 4 years while the other states (DE, IA, OH, OR, ND, NE, NH, NV, WI, WV, VT) have a 5-year waiting period. There are also a few states that do not offer any regulations. For those states that do not regulate life settlement transactions, policies can be sold with no waiting period but may be taxed. State regulations often foresee waivers to the minimum holding period requirement and are often waived if the policyholder is terminally ill. This is called a viatical settlement. MRE Finance provides a blog Understanding Life Settlement Regulations that provides more information about the topic. Most Americans are unaware that their life insurance policy could be one of the most valuable assets they own and that it can be sold for cash. A life settlement is an option that provides financial security to many seniors and always results in a better outcome for a policyholder than surrendering or lapsing the policy. Ultimately, selling a life insurance policy is a personal decision. The experts at MRE Finance help policyholders understand and navigate the regulations to find the best solution for their unique situation. To find the potential value of your life insurance policy, use MRE Finances free online life settlement calculator. You will be provided an estimated value of a life insurance policy in minutes and its easy to use. Or give them a call at 1-800-521-0770. Website: http://www.mrefinance.com Press Release By South Florida Media veritree, the restorative platform that connects mission-driven companies with nature-based solutions, today announced a partnership with Samsung Electronics America to plant two million mangrove trees in 2022. Through the project, veritree brings together Samsung and Madagascar-based tree planting partners to have a collective positive impact on climate, ecosystem, and community, employing veritrees unique nature-based technology platform to manage, monitor, verify, and track the projects regenerative impact over time. Mangroves are unique, widespread, salt-tolerant trees that grow in brackish and oxygen-depleted water. They support a rich biome for many species, while creating a natural barrier against hurricanes, tsunamis, and rising sea levels. Madagascars mangrove forests also harbor a unique ecosystem: many of its species and plant life are found nowhere else on the planet. Madagascar has lost some 20 percent of its mangrove forests to timber, charcoal production, and agricultural expansion. The Samsung-sponsored restoration project managed by veritree will restore this critical habitat, and help protect its rich biodiversity. The project will provide significant benefits to the local communities, whereby locals are paid a fair wage for their tree planting and monitoring efforts. Once established, a revitalized mangrove coastline will also play a role in restoring the local fishing economy, providing nearby communities with both a source of food and recurring income. The mangrove project will also become an effective carbon sink, as coastal mangrove forests store more carbon than almost any other forest on Earth. Together, these two million trees have the potential to sequester an estimated one billion pounds of CO2 in 25 years - an impact that would take between 50 and 100 years if planting with trees from terrestrial ecosystems. Whats more, the resilient, fast-growing and easily established mangrove forests can be regenerated and restored quickly and more easily than other forest types, meaning that these benefits can be realized in the span of decades, rather than centuries. veritree and Samsung share a vision for a restorative, circular economy that benefits all, said veritree CEO Derrick Emsley. By working together, were showcasing the tremendous value that our technology can bring to brand partners who want to make a comprehensive, verifiable, positive impact on replenishing natures diversity, invigorating local communities, and combating climate change. The partnership with Samsung helps the company fulfill its larger commitment to address climate change and enable a circular economy through its products, practices, and operations. To fight the climate crisis, it takes a multi-pronged effort that includes minimizing waste, conserving resources and replenishing nature, said Mark Newton, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Samsung Electronics America. No company can do this alone, which is why we seek out the most innovative companies to partner with to address issues as pressing as this. veritree, with its novel use of blockchain and API technology to track and visualize the restorative impact of tree-planting, helps us to deliver meaningful eco-solutions we need. ABOUT VERITREE: veritree is a reforestation platform that connects nature-based solutions with mission-driven companies ready to lead the restorative economy. With on-the-ground monitoring and blockchain verification, veritree improves transparency and trust through data and tools that restore ecosystems, revitalize communities, and fight climate change. Founded by tentree, the clothing brand that pioneered customer-engaged tree planting, veritree scales consumer-centric planting programs between planting organizations and corporations around the world. veritrees mission is to plant and verify one billion trees within the decade. For more information, visit http://www.veritree.com. Two winters ago, after a spell of burnout landed her in the hospital, Ann began having disturbing dreams. Visions of her father turned into distressing flashbacks from her childhoodscenes of physical and psychological abuse. A single mother of three daughters, Ann, whose name has been changed for privacy, grew up a town in eastern Germany, an hours drive from the countrys capital, Berlin. She spent her childhood surrounded by alcoholics, including her father and her grandfather. After school, she would often return to an empty house, and she found no comfort when her parents came home. Both her mother and father were violent, physically and emotionally. As a teenager, she was raped multiple times. She also lost a close friend, who, after becoming pregnant, was murdered by her own father. Of all those horrible experiences, Ann says that the thing that hurts the most is how little her parents seemed to care about her. When she told her mother she had been raped, her mother responded by saying she was to blame for her own assault. When she was hit by a car while biking to work, her father unsympathetically said, Get up, everything is fine, and sent her on her way. It was only after a colleague rushed to her in shock, asking why her head was covered in blood, that she realized how bad the accident had been. Thats the hardest thing for me, Ann tells me, as her voice starts to tremble and tears fill her eyes. To have parents that dont see you as a person. Read the whole story: Scientific American NAIROBI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Located in Kenya's central highlands, Martin Gitau believes that his mid-sized farm has an ideal location for cultivation of summer flowers. The 39-year-old father of two has been growing arabicum flowers since 2019 on his half acre piece of land that is situated in Nyandarua, about 130 kilometers northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Gitau told Xinhua on Monday that he was introduced to cultivation of the crop by a colleague at his former work place where he was a clerk. "Growing of arabicum is a profitable venture because it takes three months to mature and has a ready market," said Gitau. He revealed that in order to maintain soil fertility he grows the crop twice a year and receives an average profit of about 100,000 shillings (about 880 U.S. dollars) from every harvest. Summer flowers are typically grown only in summer in northern European countries, but can be cultivated throughout the year in Kenya due to abundant sunshine. The most common summer flowers in Kenya include arabicum, craspedia and eryngium and are used to blend other flowers in order to make a bouquet. Gitau said that he was convinced to begin his flower enterprise because of the contract he signed with a flower exporter who guarantees to buy all the produce so long as it meets international standards. He said that by becoming an outgrower for an established large scale export firm, he receives high quality seeds and training that enables him to succeed in business. Gitau is a part of a group of 100 small-scale farmers who sell their harvests to an export oriented company for onward sales. Benjamin Tito, Head of the Directorate of Horticulture, said that the volume of Kenya flower exports between January and November 2021 was about 191.8 million kilograms compared to 132.9 million kilograms for a similar period in 2020. Tito said that revenues for Kenya's flower exports for the first 11 months of 2021 was about 101 billion shillings. He noted that flowers are one of Kenya's leading foreign exchange earners with key destinations including Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Norway. Tito said that the country's floriculture industry is dominated by large-scale farmers but small-scale farmers are now an integral part of the sector. Rachael Kariuki began growing ammi flowers last year after she was retrenched from her job as a legal officer in 2020. The 34-year-old mother of three said that she took up cultivation of the summer flowers on her one acre piece of land in Kirinyaga, which is located about 110 kilometers northeast of Nairobi. Kariuki chose ammi flowers because they are a short season crop that requires little application of pesticides to realize sufficient harvests. "The flowers are harvested within 90 days of planting," said Kariuki, who is also a contract farmer who sells her produce to a large exporter of flowers which guarantees a secure market. Sospeter Muriuki began craspedia farming on his half acre piece of land, located in Naivasha which is about 90 kilometers northwest of Nairobi. The 30-year-old's farm which he inherited from his father is nestled in Kenya's Rift Valley which contains ideal soils for flower farming. He told Xinhua that he ventured into the summer flower cultivation because they can be grown in the open fields as compared to roses which are nurtured in greenhouses. Muriuki had signed a contract with a flower exporter who has committed to buy his produce. Enditem Two distinguished academics walk into a restaurant in Manhattan. It is their first meeting their first date, in fact and the year is 2015. The man wears a down jacket against the icy winter evening. The woman has a shock of glossy white hair. The restaurant is on a cozy corner of the West Village and has foie gras on the menu. What the man doesnt know is that the interior of his down jacket has suffered a structural failure, and the filling has massed along the bottom hem, forming a conspicuous bulge at his waist. As they greet each other, the woman perceives the bulge and asks herself: Is my date wearing a colostomy bag? They sit down to eat, but the woman is distracted. As they chat about their lives former spouses, work, interests the woman has colostomy bag on her mind. Is it or isnt it? The two academics are of an age where such an intervention is, well, not exactly common, but not out of the realm of possibility. At the end of their dinner, the man takes the train back to Philadelphia, where he lives, and the woman returns to her apartment on the Upper West Side. Despite the enigma of the mans midsection, the date is a success. It wasnt until their third date that the question got resolved: no colostomy bag. I was testing her, Paul Rozin, one of the academics, later joked, to see if she would put up with me. (He wasnt testing her. He was unaware of the bulge.) I was worried, said Virginia Valian, the other academic. It was fitting that an imaginary colostomy bag played a starring role in the couples first encounter. Paul Rozin is known for many things he is an eminent psychologist who taught at the University of Pennsylvania for 52 years, and he has gathered honors and fellowships and published hundreds of influential papers and served on editorial boards and as chairman of the universitys department of psychology but he is best known for his work on the topic of disgust. In the early 1980s, Rozin noticed that there was surprisingly little data available on this universal aspect of life. Odd, he thought, that of the six so-called basic emotions anger, surprise, fear, enjoyment, sadness, disgust the last had hardly been studied. Read the whole story: The New York Times Politics and Prose, a 37-year-old Washington, D.C. institution, has become the Districts first unionized indie bookstore after owners Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine reached an agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 regarding the scope of union representation. The agreement comes after two weeks of negotiations following store owners' initial demands for a union representation election. UFCW Local 400 is now recognized by P&P as the collective bargaining unit for 54 of the stores 104 employees; they are both full and part-time and work across all departments. Besides P&Ps flagship location on Connecticut Avenue, there are two smaller P&P locations at The Wharf and at Union Market. UCFW Local 400 represents 35,000 members working in the grocery, retail, health care, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Both parties are committed to working together collegially and constructively to negotiate a contract for unionized employees and ensuring that Politics and Prose continues to play a vital role in our community, UCFW stated in a joint release issued in conjunction with P&Ps co-owners. Graham and Muscatine added: As stewards of a local, independent business with a 37-year legacy of progressive management and mission, weve valued collaborating with employees to solve problems and address needs, and we look forward to working with the union in the same spirit. P&Ps employee organizing committee also issued a statement, declaring, We are proud to join the growing movement of booksellers and baristas across the country who have unionized their workplaces. Forming our union has not only served as an affirmation of our shared values within the Politics and Prose community, it will also strengthen our workplace and ensure the long-term success of our beloved community hub. In recent years, employees have formed unions at McNally Jackson Books in New York City, BookPeople in Austin, Tex., Greenlight Books in Brooklyn, Bookshop Santa Cruz in California, and Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. Employees at The Strand Bookstore in New York City, Green Apple Books in San Francisco, Powells Books in Portland, Ore., and Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass. have been unionized for years. Leaders in the library community are expressing disappointment over New York Governor Kathy Hochuls veto of a New York state bill designed to ensure public libraries equitable access to e-books and digital content. But what comes next still remains unclear. Governor Hochuls decision to veto S2890B/A5837B is unfortunate and disappointing, said ALA president Patty Wong in a January 3 statement, adding that "the governors claim that federal law ties the hands of state lawmakers is incorrect in response to publishers' unreasonable attempts to discriminate against public libraries." The New York bill (S2890B in the Senate and A5837B in the Assembly) would have required publishers who offer to license e-books to the public to also offer to license those e-books to libraries on reasonable terms. The bills summary states the law is designed to ensure that widely accepted and effective industry practices remain in place while prohibiting harmful practices that discriminate against libraries and harm library patrons. Hochul, however, vetoed the bill on December 29, 2021 just before it was set to take effect, following a federal lawsuit filed by the Association of American Publishers over a similar state bill in Maryland, as well as a lobbying effort against the bill from an array of powerful industry associations. The bill is back with the legislature, where it is now tabled. Library advocates in New York say they are now discussing next steps with the bills sponsors. While the measure has strong grassroots support and passed with veto-proof bipartisan marginsthe bill unanimously passed the New York Assembly 148-0, and passed the New York State Senate 62-1veto override efforts in the state are rare. And in exercising her veto, Hochul said the bills goal is laudable, suggesting there is room to reshape a bill that could win her approval. The library e-book bills come after a decade of tension in the library e-book market, with librarians long complaining of unsustainable, non-negotiable prices and restrictions on digital licenses. Specifically, the bills emerged as a response to Macmillans controversial (and since abandoned) 2019 embargo on frontlist e-books in libraries, which led library advocates to take their concerns to state and federal legislators. Despite the veto, library advocates told PW their efforts will continue. ALA will continue active engagement toward more reasonable access to digital books for libraries. While direct negotiation with the industrywith whom most of the decision-making and authority on library digital book pricing and access restsis preferred, ALA will also work at the state and federal levels to extend some of the rights that libraries have in the print world to the digital environment, Wong said. Library groups, library advocates, and friends of libraries will not cease our efforts to ensure fair pricing for libraries despite this disappointing outcome. Meanwhile, a hearing has been set for February 7 in the AAP's bid to nullify Maryland's library e-book law, which went into effect on January 1. Similar measures are advancing in other states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In a letter welcoming the Hachette Book Group staff back from the holiday break, CEO Michael Pietsch called 2021 a very successful year for HBG, thanks to your work and dedication. More details about HBGs performance will be released later this month, but Pietsch pointed to a number of highlights in the year, including the September acquisition of Workman and the February appointment of Carrie Bloxson as v-p of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Pietsch also thanked those staff members who made it possible for HBG to ship more books in 2021 than in any of the past three years despite unprecedented disruptions to the global supply chain, to our domestic printing program, and to our own warehouse operations. While these issues have eased up somewhat, Pietsch said, we have to anticipate some continuing disruptions in 2022. Were working hard to improve our ability to receive and ship our books on faster and more reliable schedules, and are exploring both short- and long-term actions to get us there. Another problem that has not ended with the new year is when it will be safe to have employees return to the publishers offices. Noting that the pandemic has derailed our plan to return to our offices early in the new year, Pietsch said: "I know we will turn a corner in 2022soon I hope!and return safely to our offices. Planning for that return requires a tremendous amount of work, especially with such a continually evolving situation, and I am deeply grateful to the teams handling that complex process. In a letter sent to authors and agents a few days after the letter to staff, Pietsch reiterated a number of points while making a few additional observations. He noted that HBG "saw a resurgence of sales at chain and independent booksellers and gift stores" as physical stores reopened in the year, but he also noted that supply chain issues did result in delays in restocking and reprinting titles. Pietsch said that he expects some of these issues to continue this year, and that the publisher will do its best to keep authors and agents apprised of what is happening. On a new topic, Pietsch highlighted HBG's efforts to defend copyright, pointing to HBG being a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Internet Archive and to the company's support for the AAP's lawsuit against Maryland and its new e-book library law. "These copyright battles affect everyone involved in creating and publishing books," Pietsch wrote. "In 2022, I will step into the role of Chairman of the AAP, and will be focusing intensively with other publishers on these and other fronts." This story has been updated to include remarks Pietsch made to authors and agents. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. A partnership with Purdue University Global will offer first-rate educational opportunities to Kearney Regional Medical Center staff and their family members with tuition reduction. Purdue University Global is committed to helping our health care partners like Kearney Regional Medical Center encourage educational and professional growth in their staff, said Melissa Burdi, Purdue Global vice president and dean of the School of Nursing. As an excellent regional center for central Nebraska, we know the importance of online college programs for staff and family members, and we are committed to offering excellent academic education to KRMC. The Purdue Global School of Nursing offers an associate degree program, RN-BSN, six Master of Science in Nursing specialties and Doctor of Nursing programs. Additional Purdue Global offerings include business, criminal justice, human services and psychology, among others. The partnership does not include Concord Law School, aviation or Excel track programs. Kearney Regional Medical Center staff and immediate family members (spouse, domestic partner, children, siblings and parents) will be afforded 20% tuition reduction for undergraduate programs, 14% reduction for graduate programs and 10% reduction for doctoral programs. We are excited to partner with Purdue Global to provide our staff and their families an opportunity to grow professionally with high-quality education and create talented professionals in many different facets of health care and other thriving industries, said Sara Fecht, human resources business partner for Kearney Regional Medical Center. Purdue Global has similar partnerships with Continuum Pediatric Nursing Services, York (Nebraska) General, Columbus (Nebraska) Community Hospital, UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids, the Wellness Council of Arizona and Quality Living, Inc. About Purdue University Global Purdue University Global delivers personalized online education tailored to the unique needs of adults who have work or life experience beyond the classroom, enabling them to develop essential academic and professional skills with the support and flexibility they need to achieve their career goals. It offers personalized paths for students to earn an associate, bachelors, masters or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, desired pace, military service, previous college credits and other considerations no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It is affiliated with Purdue Universitys flagship institution, a highly ranked public research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University also operates regional campuses in Fort Wayne and Northwest Indiana, as well as serving science, engineering and technology students at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus. For more information, visit purdueglobal.edu. About Kearney Regional Medical Center Kearney Regional Medical Center is a full-service acute care hospital located in the growing community of Kearney, Nebraska. As the regions first physician-guided medical center, KRMC is governed by a physician-led Board of Managers. This leadership model enables the organization to quickly adapt to the ever-changing healthcare environment and the needs of its community. Since opening in 2014, the state-of-the-art facility has grown to include a full-service medical clinic, 93-bed surgical and outpatient center, 24-hour emergency room, ICU, Maternity Care Center and Level II NICU. KRMCs team of physicians is second-to-none, with many having served the Kearney area for generations. Specialties include general and interventional cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, and more. Media Contact, Purdue Global: Tom Schott, 765-427-1721, tschott@purdue.edu Media Contact, Kearney Regional: Amanda Polacek, apolacek@kearneyregional.com Sources: Melissa Burdi Sara Fecht THIS IS IMPORTANT -- PLEASE READ THIS WEBSITE REQUIRES CONSIDERATION FOR AND AS A CONDITION OF ALLOWING YOU ACCESS. READING AND ACCEPTING THE TERMS OF USE AND READING AND ACCEPTING THE PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVACY POLICY OF THIS WEBSITE ARE REQUIRED CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE WEBSITE GRANTING YOU THE RIGHT TO VISIT, READ OR INTERACT WITH IT. ALL PERSONS ARE DENIED ACCESS TO THIS SITE UNLESS THEY READ AND ACCEPT THE TERMS OF USE AND THE PRIVACY POLICY. 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As part of the process production companies creating content for S4C will be required to complete albert's carbon footprint calculator and certification process for their productions. Productions that achieve certification will then be allowed to use the albert logo on their credit sequence."With climate change such a critical issue, it is vital that environmental sustainability is an integral part of t he way S4C programmes are produced, " observed S4C director of content Geraint Evans. "We have a duty to ensure that we keep our environmental impact to a minimum. We aim to do all we can to help and encourage the producers we work with to prioritise sustainability while producing programmes for S4C."Added TAC chairman Dyfrig Davies: "E nvironmental issues are increasingly important to TAC members and climate change has to be central to our work. I welcome the collaboration between S4C and the independent television production sector to introduce albert's sustainable production scheme into its commissioning arrangements. Innovator in smart TV solutions Foxxum has signed a deal with Egyptian electronics manufacturer El Araby as its first client for the new Foxxum CTV OS on MediaTek chipsets. The El Araby Group one of the largest industrial and commercial corporations in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa manufactures and markets a range of engineering products such as TVs, laptops and audio systems among an array of other electronics and appliances from brands such as Sharp, Tornado, and Toshiba. Through this collaboration, the Foxxum CTV OS will be available on El Arabys smart TV devices as an additional option to its pre-existing TV line-up. The Foxxum CTV OS was deeply integrated into the underlying TV software from SoC manufacturer MediaTek. By adding a web-based layer, implemented on specially defined OS interfaces to display the TV functions on the UI, each TV function has been rebuilt and improved. The result is a unified user interface that seamlessly combines TV functionality and connected TV features. Through this web-based approach, the management, customisation, and update process of the OS is easier than ever before. Mehmet Eroglu, chief commercial officer at Foxxum, said: We took a deep dive into MediaTeks SoC software within the last 24 months and launched an amazing new Foxxum CTV OS on MediaTek technology. It runs entirely web-based to allow navigation of the entire CTV from one landing page, integrating linear broadcasting and streaming in one place. This enables our clients to support desired customization with much less engineering. In this way, Foxxum can provide a great growth and cost saving opportunity. Foxxum's CTV OS offers monetisation opportunities through interactive and user-friendly ad experiences across the ecosystem. Furthermore, through Foxxums extensive portfolio, it allows customers to enjoy not just premium global applications but also a wide range of local content worldwide. Mohamed Negmeldin, QA director at El Araby Group, said: Due to our long-standing co-operation with Foxxum, it was clear to us that we would like to be the first to add the new Foxxum CTV OS to our devices. We see great potential and are certain that the product will be a global success. For the second year in a row, the Roku Operating System (OS) was the No. 1 smart TV OS sold in the US according to NPDs Weekly Retail Tracking Service. Additionally, Roku announced a partnership with Sharp to bring Sharp Roku TV models to customers in the US. Sharp is using the Roku TV hardware reference design and Roku OS to deliver a series of HD and 4K TV models in 2022. Sharp Roku TV models will come integrated with Roku OS, offering a customisable home screen, compatibility with the three major voice ecosystems and access to thousands of channels including over 200 live TV channels. More details on the Sharp Roku TV models availability and specs will be announced in the coming months. Mustafa Ozgen, GM & SVP of account acquisitions, Roku, said: Sharp, like Roku, is an award-winning, household known brand and we look forward to a productive partnership together in the US. We both firmly believe that the power and ease of use of Roku TV, combined with the Sharp brand promise of simply better living makes an appealing combination for customers looking for a great TV experience. Added Jim Sanduski, president of Sharp Home Electronics Company of America: We are excited to collaborate with Roku and equip our new HD and 4K UHD TVs with their award-winning Operating System (OS). Pairing our long-standing heritage in display technology with Rokus best-in-class, easy-to-use interface is a winning combination for our consumers. In addition, the Roku TV licensing programme in Mexico will expand to include a total of 10 brands, with the addition of Aiwa and HKPRO starting in early 2022. The programme offers OEMs and TV brands an easy and cost-effective way to make best-in-class smart TVs at competitive price points. In recent months, European gas prices have risen as much as 700 percent, leaving millions of citizens vulnerable to a dangerously unstable grid and burdened with high electricity costs heading into this winter. Disruptions from this energy crisis have been felt by households and many industries that rely on affordable power to provide goods and services. Until the recent escalation of Russias confrontation with NATO over Ukraine, the Biden administrations solution to Europes energy crisis had been to implore Russia to send more gas to Europe. EU member states are already dependent on Moscow for roughly 40 percent of their gas supply. Initially, the White House made a deal with Germany, letting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline move forward. As part of an effort to repair relations with Germany, this decision allows Russia to tighten Putins grip over European energy security at the expense of our strategic partner Ukraine. Fortunately, German regulators refused to approve the pipeline, effectively delaying the certification of the project before July 2022. As part of the growing confrontation with Europe and the U.S. over Ukraine, Russia has further cut gas exports to Europe. Thus, geopolitics and energy security in Europe is front and center of the U.S. national security interests. We need a multi-phase strategy to protect U.S. interests while supporting our European allies in their time of need. The Administration should champion liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. We are in a military face-off with Russia regarding Ukraine that worsens by the day. Moscow has upped the pressure by repeatedly using energy as an economic weapon. This signal would create certainty in the global market by providing predictability of supply while also providing geopolitical and national security benefits. As the worlds premier energy producer, America has enormous potential to impact both national and international security. The U.S. is set to become the worlds largest LNG exporter by the end of 2022, an impressive milestone for a nation that began exporting just six years ago. Calcasieu Pass and Sabine Pass Train 6, based in Louisiana and Texas respectively, will soon come online and export LNG to many nations. Poland is an ally on the front lines of the military confrontation with Russia. It is also committed to reducing its dependence on Russian gas. Poland will soon import over a third of its gas supply from the U.S., and no longer fear that Russia will shut off its energy supply as it has done in the past. Other European nations have also signed supply contracts with U.S. producers to diversify their gas supply. Fortunately, the U.S. is already moving in this direction. Gas has generated considerable income in 2021 for US oil and gas producers. This positive trend will be necessary for a successful energy transition. Now is not the time to undermine this progress by restricting US LNG exports. Providing our allies with an alternative to Russia and Qatar strengthens US national security. Notably, the price of U.S. LNG can encourage lower prices from other gas producers. From a climate point of view, less U.S. LNG on the market means higher global prices and increased global use of coal plants to produce electricity. U.S. LNG exports influence geopolitics beyond Europe. The U.S. has recently become Chinas second-largest LNG supplier. Despite geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing, China has recently committed to a significant volume of long-term supply contracts of US LNG, lowering the US trade deficit with China. Finally, U.S. LNG can reduce global carbon emissions an important international and national security policy objective. A 2020 ICF International study examined U.S. LNG exports to Germany, China, and India and calculated the climate benefits. For these three countries, the study found that using U.S. LNG or imported pipelined gas for electricity generation produces on average 50.5 percent lower GHG emissions than electricity from coal. Therefore, the transition from coal to natural gas overseas provides a proven climate solution to meet energy demand while addressing the risks of climate change. Some disagree, but I believe that curtailing U.S. LNG exports would set back, not advance, the U.S.s climate goals. This process will not be easy: first, U.S. LNG exports may drive up domestic U.S. gas prices if supply and demand for gas do not synch carefully, depending on how energy markets respond to price changes. Second, producers, transporters, and owners of U.S. natural gas have a responsibility to develop plans for a low-carbon, clean energy future. Climate change is real. Renewable energy must play a more significant role in reducing carbon emissions. The public and shareholders alike believe the US private sector should be doing all it can to reduce carbon emissions and significantly minimize methane emissions. Fortunately, while the private sector has made progress in dealing with gas leaks, more can be done throughout the supply chain. The U.S. is blessed with abundant natural gas and oil. Soaring energy costs for our allies require policies that support not hinder the safe and responsible production, transportation, and export of American natural gas. Richard D. Kauzlarich, former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the co-director of the Center for Energy Science and Policy at George Mason University. CAPE TOWN, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- South African parliament on Wednesday said firefighters will in the afternoon assess for a possible total withdrawal from its precinct on the day as the fire that gutted various parts of the parliament has been contained. The fire, which initially broke out early Sunday, extensively destroyed the interior of the building of the lower house National Assembly, with the lower house chamber completely burned down, and partly destroyed the roof. It also caused extensive damage to the Old Assembly building built in 1880s, which houses the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the upper house. The parliament in a statement reconfirmed the containment of the fire, which flared up again on Monday afternoon at the roof of the National Assembly building after the fire had been brought under control except the smoldering fourth floor of the building, and said there has not been any further fire incident. The fire service will hand over the National Assembly building to the South African police after ensuring its safety, read the statement. There have been 300 firefighters working in shifts to contain the fire with over 60 fire engine vehicles since its outbreak, according to the parliament, adding that one fire engine remains at the scene currently, with five crew members working throughout all the floors, ensuring no flare-ups. A reduced number of firefighters were closely monitoring and combing through the scene in the last 24 hours, it said. The lower house's chamber was used to host plenary sittings of the National Assembly and the joint sitting of the two houses before the fire. The Mace, which signifies the authority and sitting of the National Assembly was retrieved from its safe storage without any damage. The parliament museum including artworks and heritage objects was unharmed as well as the 112 meter-long and 70 meter-high Keiskamma tapestry, a "powerful symbol of our people's Parliament", on the ground floor of the Old Assembly Building. The tapestry made by women tells the South African story in beadwork, skins and embroidery from the perspective of ordinary people. Before the re-emergence of fire, Chairperson of the NCOP Amos Masondo told a media briefing that other important sections like the NCOP Chamber and offices, the Parliament Library were also saved. According to the parliament, the State of the Nation Address scheduled on Feb. 10, 2022, annual budget speech, and other parliament programs will proceed as planned. The parliament leaders have reassured leaders of political parties and other stakeholders to get to the bottom of how the incident happened. It will conduct an internal investigation "on any lapse" that contributed to the incident. A 49-year-old man "allegedly linked to setting parliament building alight" appeared in court in Cape Town on Tuesday and was reportedly remanded for seven days. Enditem By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/04/2022 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. couple Tarik Myers and Hazel Cagalitan have given the impression they've reconciled after spending New Year's Eve together.Hazel suggested she and Tarik had split last month when she accused him of mental and emotional abuse on her Instagram account, and then Tarik publicly announced he still loved Hazel and didn't want a divorce.It now appears Tarik has won his estranged wife back or their relationship troubles have dissolved."When all negativity gets left in 2021, 2022 be like," Hazel, 29, captioned a Saturday TikTok video of herself dancing wildly and playfully with Tarik, 47.Hazel and her husband were all smiles as they posed and performed for the camera, and she added, "Happy New Year Everyone."In the TikTok video, Tarik counted down from five using his fingers while hiding behind Hazel. The countdown ended with Tarik revealing himself and Hazel celebrating.Tarik had initially hinted his marriage to Hazel was over in early December 2021."Hazel does not live with me anymore. She said she is [in] another state with people I don't know," Tarik wrote on Instagram at the time."She is going back to the Philippines. I do know that bc she has no choice. No matter what happened, I ask that you viewers and bloggers leave her alone."Tarik had added, "Please do not attack her or harass her like you've been doing for the last 3 years. #90dayfiance... Hazel. Use your head."Hazel proceeded to change her Instagram bio into a strongly-worded message presumably directed at Tarik."A real man won't abuse his women mentally & emotionally. [A] real man won't run his mouth [on] social media," Hazel wrote at the top of her profile the day after Tarik's revelation.Hazel had insisted the truth will "prevail" and she was telling the "facts," before posting a series of inspirational and spiritual quotes and advice on her Instagram Stories about women empowerment and how it's okay to be alone.Tarik went on to upload a screenshot of Hazel's Instagram profile that same day and argue in a since-deleted post, " Not true and you know it . I still will not bash you or air out your personal life," according to Us Weekly.He subsequently told the magazine that Hazel had "never, ever, ever said that she felt abused in any way.""We had arguments and disagreements like everybody else, but everything I have ever done or ever said to Hazel was 100 percent out of love. She would agree with that," Tarik claimed in December."Now, you know, if she felt like I was abusive in tone or in nature, I mean, I definitely would apologize for that to her, and I don't want to minimize what somebody else feels."Tarik had concluded that if Hazel truly felt "mentally or emotionally abused" by him then "it absolutely was not intentional by me."In a mid-December interview with Us, Tarik had made it clear that he didn't want his relationship with Hazel to end."If I could talk to her right now, I would tell her, 'I love you more than anybody alive. No. 2, I absolutely do not want a divorce,'" he had lamented."I absolutely do not want her to leave," Tarik had insisted of Hazel, who has a son Harrey living in the Philippines. "I absolutely want to build our family like we've planned since the very beginning."Tarik, who has a nine-year-old daughter Ari from a previous relationship, had revealed how he and Hazel did not "have any open lines of communication" at that time but the situation was "not by choice" on his end.Tarik had said he "never wanted any of this" to happen and had no idea Hazel "was going to leave" him."I still don't know if her leaving was meant to be permanent [or] if it was meant to be temporary," Tarik explained at the time."[I wonder] if this was her way of trying to get my attention, saying, 'You're not hearing me, you're not listening to me. You're going to listen to me now because I'm going to disappear.'"As for what went wrong -- considering they seemed to have a healthy marriage for years -- Tarik had suggested it was a combination of small things."There wasn't a big blow-up fight," Tarik told the magazine in December."Hazel and I talked about some issues that we have talked about many, many, many times. She felt one way about these issues, and I felt another way about these issues. We disagreed on what we should do."Tarik had declined to provide specifics on the demise of his relationship other than saying it involved "the betterment of the whole entire family."Tarik and Hazel found fame when they initially starred on Season 2 of : Before the 90 Days, followed by Season 8 of .Before the 90 Days showed Tarik attempting to court a seemingly shy and reserved single mom from a poor area in Manila as well as win over her family's approval.At the time 's eighth season filmed in 2020, Tarik and Hazel had been together for two years and Hazel finally got approved for a K-1 visa.Once Hazel moved to America to be with her man, she and Tarik experienced their fair share of ups and downs.Hazel, who admittedly wanted a girlfriend on the side of her relationship with Tarik, got very jealous of a woman named Minty from Thailand once the couple invited her into their bed.Hazel called off the love triangle and asked Tarik never to communicate with Minty again, but Tarik apparently slipped up on more than one occasion and so Hazel lost trust in him.However, Tarik and Hazel had love at the core of their relationship and so they decided to get married amid the coronavirus pandemic in June 2020.Tarik and Hazel's small wedding ceremony aired the following year on 's eighth season in March 2021.Hazel and Tarik continued to post sweet Instagram messages and photos of each other for months after tying the knot, and so it appears the pair had briefly split some time after September 2021.On September 6, for instance, Tarik had posted about "Tarzel" and written, "Your haters are really your friends." Based on some of the post's comments, Tarik had led his followers to believe he and Hazel were still together at the time.And back in late July, Tarik had posted a video of Hazel and himself dancing and having fun at a concert.Tarik had also gushed about Hazel on June 6, which marked the couple's one-year wedding anniversary."[Four] years ago, I did the unthinkable. A year ago today, I made the best decision of my life. It seems like yesterday. Hazel arrived 2 weeks before the governor shut Virginia down bc of Covid. She has rolled with every punch the pandemic has thrown us," Tarik wrote at the time.Tarik had called Hazel "an incredible, thoughtful, real, beautiful soul," and continued, "Hazel has never clambered for TV cameras or the spotlight. Stays out of the '90' social media sewer blogs no matter how much a response is warranted."Tarik also noted how Hazel had made Ari's life "exponentially" better by being her mother figure."No one has to know why we chose each other but us," Tarik had shared. "Happy 1st Anniversary Mrs. Myers. #Tarzel."Prior to her TikTok video, Hazel's latest post with Tarik was on June 25, when the pair had posed for a photo with a friend and flashed peace signs at the camera.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage! BBC Four has acquired new international crime drama Hidden Assets starring Angeline Ball from distributor DCD Rights. ADVERTISEMENT Ball portrays Emer Berry in the six-part series, a detective in the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau. Emer discovers that a small-time drug dealer is receiving substantial funding in the form of diamonds. Emer then joins forces with Police Commissioner Christian De Jong, portrayed by Wouter Hendrickx, after the diamonds are linked to bombings in Belgium. The duo uncover a political conspiracy that promotes domestic violence for financial gain. Emer and Christian have to follow the money in order to stop the next bombing. Simone Kirby as Bibi Melnick also stars in Hidden Assets. The series was filmed in Ireland and Belgium. Thaddeus O'Sullivan serves as lead director with Kadir Balci leading production in Belgium. Peter McKenna and Morna Regan penned the script. "Hidden Assets is a satisfying blend of crime drama, political conspiracy and thriller. BBC viewers will be glued to their seats until the very end!" Sue Deeks, head of program acquisition said in a statement. BBC One recently introduced the 16 contestants who will compete on The Apprentice Season 16. Sony's PlayStation brand has announced a new virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 5 console named PlayStation VR2. ADVERTISEMENT PlayStation VR2 will use a new virtual reality controller known as the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller. The gaming giant previously released its first PlayStation VR headset for the PlayStation 4 in 2016. Improvements coming to the headset include better visual fidelity and an OLED display. PlayStation VR2 will also have headset-based controller tracking, new sensory features that utilizes headset feedback and 3D audio, eye tracking and a simple setup process with only a single cable needing to be connected to the PlayStation 5 console. Sony did not announce a release window for the hardware but introduced a new virtual reality game set in the world of Horizon titled Horizon: Call of the Mountain. A brief teaser trailer was released for Horizon: Call of the Mountain, which presented a first-person view of a giant, robot dinosaur walking. Guerrilla Games is developing the title along with Firesprite. Guerrilla Games is also set to release sequel Horizon: Forbidden West for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on Feb. 18. The Smile, which includes Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with Sons of Kemet's Tom Skinner, released their first single Wednesday titled "You Will Never Work in Television Again." ADVERTISEMENT The lyric video is on The Smile's official YouTube channel. The clip features a teleprompter reading displaying the song's lyrics. "You Will Never Work in Television Again" is also available to stream through Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Bandcamp and Tidal. The Smile will also be performing three intimate concerts in 15 hours on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 at Magazine London. The shows will be simultaneously streamed across three global time zones. Tickets for the concerts go on sale Friday. Tom Holland dangles from a cargo plane in a new action-packed scene from Sony's upcoming film adaptation of Uncharted. ADVERTISEMENT Holland's treasure hunter Nathan Drake finds himself having to leap from one cargo container to the next in mid-air in the clip released on Tuesday. Nathan dodges bullets and fights off an enemy before he make it back onto the plane. Nathan is sent right back out, however, after a car the plane was holding crashes into him. The scene is taken from 2011 video game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Mark Wahlberg also appears as Victor Sullivan in the scene. Uncharted, from director Ruben Fleischer, is coming to theaters on Feb. 18. Co-stars include Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali and Tati Gabrielle. The Uncharted video game series hails from developer Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and PlayStation. The video games follow Nathan and his friends as they explore lost ruins and obtain ancient relics. TRAVERSE CITY Traverse City Area Public Schools saw about 90 percent in attendance on Monday and Tuesday the first days after the holiday break and expiration of the districts mask mandate. Traverse City Area Public Schools retained attendance rates similar to those district officials have seen throughout the rest of the school year. Superintendent John VanWagoner said that on Monday, TCAPS saw 90.5 percent attendance and Tuesday officials logged 89.97 percent attendance for the entire district. The latest on COVID-19 Continuing coverage of COVID-19 and its impact. If you have a question about the novel coronavirus pandemic and haven't been able to find an a TCAPS trustees allowed their mask mandate to drop on Dec. 31, after which students and staff were able to mask at their discretion in the classroom. The decision drew frustration from some parents and community members who were in favor of the mandate and are concerned about an impending surge in COVID cases as a result of mask-optional classrooms and the new Omicron variant. Some parents said they would pull their children from TCAPS schools because they did not feel safe sending their children to mask-optional classrooms. Parents of immuno-compromised students or students too young to be vaccinated were especially worried about sending their children back to school after the Christmas break. If parents followed through with pulling their students from TCAPS schools, the trend didnt show in attendance rates. VanWagoner said no schools in particular saw dramatic dips in attendance. All of our buildings (are) right about where theyve been, VanWagoner said. It always fluctuates a percent or two, but were keeping an eye on it, including our staffing numbers. VanWagoner said staffing and finding substitutes to fill gaps was as difficult the past two days as it was before the break. The district was fully staffed both days. At a meeting in October, the TCAPS Board of Education agreed that three consecutive days with 88 percent attendance rates or lower would warrant another discussion about masking or other COVID protocols. At the Dec. 20 meeting, the board also agreed VanWagoner could use his discretion to inform board president Scott Newman-Bale of any concerning fluctuation in attendance rates across the district. Some school districts downstate, such as Ann Arbor Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools Community District and Lansing School District have either shifted to remote learning or canceled classes following local surges in COVID cases attributed to holiday break. TCAPS has recorded just five COVID cases within its school district since Dec. 22, the first day of the districts break. VanWagoner said a shift to remote learning in TCAPS would most likely be triggered by staffing shortages. My opinion is that staffing is going to probably dictate that more than anything, VanWagoner said. If we do have COVID cases, I think that it would hit our adults. Weve seen in community spread, weve seen that more in adults. Kingsley Area Schools Superintendent Keith Smith said his district also did not see a substantial drop in back to school attendance. He said staffing shortages are a bigger concern for him. One of the things with COVID: Its not necessarily the total number of people that can make you close school it depends on what job, Smith said. I hate to say, I could get COVID, the superintendent, and life goes on. I can work from home on my phone, but you lose a couple head cooks either you cant feed or you cant get them to school. Pretty difficult to maintain operations. On Dec. 30, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Department of Education sent a letter to school superintendents urging schools to reinforce actions that can help alleviate the risks associated with this COVID-19 pandemic, according to an MDHHS press release. The letter warned against large gatherings, promoted vaccines and regular testing and recommended universal indoor masking. Kingsley schools do not have a mask mandate. Smith said he is not planning on changing that, or his other COVID mitigation efforts, in response to the letter from MDHHS and MDE. However, Smith said he is not opposed to masks and he would instate a mask mandate if his schools were seeing a concerning spike in COVID cases. Just because MDE and MDHHS put out a letter encouraging us to put masks on when Im not seeing that spike here in our community, Im not just going to react and say okay, all of a sudden now were going to put masks on, Smith said. Rather, that is a tool to be used to help keep kids in school should that become necessary. VanWagoner said that at TCAPS cleaning protocols and COVID mitigation efforts, other than the masking mandate, will remain as they were since the beginning of the year. ASMARA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and his Eritrean counterpart Osman Saleh on Wednesday issued a joint statement on consolidating bilateral strategic partnership. The joint statement by the two countries' foreign ministers followed Wang's visit to the Red Sea nation, where he held talks with his Eritrean counterpart and the country's President Isaias Afwerki on various bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest. During the discussions, both sides agreed to actively conduct practical cooperation under the framework of the Strategic Partnership and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in various sectors of mutual interest, according to the four-point joint statement. Encouraged by the confirmation of further consolidation and development of the Strategic Partnership by the two countries' heads of state, the two sides also agreed that the Strategic Partnership of the two countries rooted on the tradition of mutual support, based on similarities in the historical trajectories of the two countries and their shared values, predicated on respect of the rule of law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and cooperation, aimed at promoting global and regional peace, stability and prosperity. According to the joint statement, the two sides agreed to uphold the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind. They oppose hegemonic interferences in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of democracy and human rights. During the discussions, the Eritrean side reaffirmed adherence to the one-China principle. The Chinese side also stressed it stands against any unilateral sanctions on Eritrea. Enditem DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people died and 15 others were rescued after a boat ferrying mourners capsized on Tuesday evening in Tanzania's Zanzibar, an official said on Wednesday. Richard Mchomvu, the South Pemba regional police commander, said the boat ferrying mourners from Chakechake to Panza Islet to attend a funeral for their relative capsized in the Indian Ocean at around 6 p.m. local time. Mchomvu said rescue operations led by the special anti-smuggling unit and residents in the area, including fishermen, were hampered by sea waves and darkness. Mchomvu said the cause of the capsizing of the boat was not yet established. Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi sent a condolence message to the bereaved families, saying he has been saddened by the deaths of 10 innocent citizens. Three groups of students prepare coffee and tea for various teachers as part of a program called Bean Street at Green Street School, in Brattleboro, Vt., on Friday, April 15, 2022. The coffee shop runs every Friday. The coffee and materials for Bean Street are donated by local businesses. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today A steady rain this morning. Showers continuing this afternoon. High around 55F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Gov. Jim Justice has warned that the latest surge could overrun hospitals. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 81 percent of intensive-care unit beds statewide are in use, including 31 percent for Covid-19 patients. Photo courtesy Office of the Governor DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- His love for Tanzanian culture pressed 33-year-old university graduate to cultivate interest in designing traditional costumes using animal products ranging from animal skins and hides, bones, leaves to barks from different trees. "To be precise, flora and fauna are my raw materials," said Jocktan Makeke, the chief executive officer of Makeke International, a firm that is designing traditional costumes, located at Tabata Shule on the outskirts of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. With the firm's slogan--Your culture, your identity--Makeke loosely translated into English as "more than normal", is really designing traditional costumes that are more than ordinary. "I came up with the idea of designing traditional costumes about six years ago after I had realized that most of the designs were Western-like suits and dresses," Makeke, who in 2012 graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts and Design at the University of Dodoma, told Xinhua. "So I decided to introduce this kind of design and I was the first person doing this traditional costume design in the country," he said. According to the young designer, most of his designs are based on stories from Tanzania's 120 tribes and they are based on pure African culture that prevailed before the coming of Europeans and before colonialism. "I am using natural products like those that our forefathers and mothers used. They used animal products, including skins, hides, bones, leaves and barks from trees for making their costumes," said Makeke. He said before he starts designing, he travels upcountry to different regions where he conducts research through hearing traditional stories and asking questions, mostly from elder people, on the kinds of traditional costumes they used. "The research is done in tandem with the collection of the animal products, leaves and barks," said Makeke, adding that doing a research on one traditional costume could take one year but it takes a day to make about six costumes. "Traditional costumes have direct impact to the society, a very direct message to the society because when you see this you can't understand what it is but when I tell you the story behind this collection, you will understand what I am talking about," he said. At the beginning of his designing traditional costumes, the going was rough and tough, because many people did not understand what he was doing but today many people understand. He said he has so many clients in Tanzania, Africa and Europe, adding that some of his clients are celebrities, including renowned musicians. Makeke said although he has never been to China, he has admiration for Chinese love for their culture. "Chinese value their culture. They protect their culture and they are so proud of their culture compared to Africans," he said. Makeke said when Africans travel abroad they prefer to look like Europeans. However, Makeke said the future of designing traditional costumes is amazing because nowadays people understand as the young generation is fighting to know their history which they can grasp by cultivating interest in traditional costumes. A glance at Makeke's shelf exposes one to a number of awards that he has won, including a certificate he was awarded on Sept. 25, 2019 after he had successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to Uhuru peak, the highest in Africa standing at 5,895 meters above sea level. There is also the Cultural Unity Award 2017 for most creative designer in Africa that he scooped in Abuja in Nigeria and the Innovative Designer of the Year 2018 awarded by the Swahili Fashion Week in Dar es Salaam. In 2019, Makeke attended a three-week course on creative arts at the Cape Town University Institute of Creative Arts in South Africa. Makeke has also visited almost all the country's 22 national parks, including the world renowned Serengeti National Park. "I decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and I visited the national parks to be able to explain about these tourist attractions to foreigners when I visit abroad," he said. AP file photoA member of the Salt Lake County Health Department Covid-19 testing staff performs a test Dec. 28, 2021, outside the Salt Lake County Health Department, in Salt Lake City. The explosive increase in U.S. coronavirus case counts is raising alarm, but some experts believe the focus should instead be on Covid-19 hospital admissions. And those aren't climbing as fast. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) CAIRO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The number of drug-impaired school bus drivers in Egypt declined from 12 percent in 2015 to 1.1 percent in 2021, said a report from a drug rehabilitation fund on Wednesday. A total of 10,515 Egyptian school bus drivers were tested in the campaign and 109 of them were proven guilty, said Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity Nivine El-Kabbag. "They are facing charges of driving under the influence of a drug substance," said El-Kabbag, also leader of the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction (FDCTA). The test campaign will continue through cooperation among the FDCTA, the traffic department and other relevant authorities, she added. "We have been launching these campaigns on drug-impaired school bus drivers for five years now. We take strict measures against those who test positive, and we have treatment mechanisms for those who call and seek the fund's help," Amr Osman, director of FDCTA, told Xinhua. Osman urged drug addicts among government employees to call the FDCTA's hotline for help and receive free and secret treatment, warning that those who test positive during the fund's campaigns would be dismissed by law from their jobs. Osman said the fund has tested more than half a million government employees over the past couple of years. "Last year, we received about 10,000 employees in government administrative offices seeking treatment from drug addiction to avoid the legal consequences of our test campaigns," he added. Osman also urged students and parents to call the fund's hotline if they suspect a drug-impaired school bus driver. Enditem A long line stretched across the front of Stew Leonards throughout the New Years holiday weekend as the Norwalk store was among the few in the area with an ample supply of at-home COVID tests. But by the end of the weekend, Stew Leonards supply had been exhausted as well. Similar scenes have played out across Connecticut with the demand for COVID testing outpacing supply as the states positivity rate reaches new record highs each day soaring to nearly 24 percent on Tuesday. Stew Leonards stores in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington became a destination for people searching for at-home COVID tests in the past week as the state has struggled to distribute enough free kits and other retailers have quickly run out of supplies. Its hard to say if we are getting shipments more frequently than other retailers, said Meghan Bell, a spokesperson for Stew Leonards. Our buyers are working to get the best price possible from the supplier and weve been selling the tests at competitive, yet reasonable, prices. Demand was so high at Stew Leonards, store managers eventually capped the amount of test kits customers could purchase, Bell said. At certain points over the past week, some of our stores managers had to make the call to restrict the number of tests being sold to each customer, she said. This was usually because the line was long, and we were trying to get tests into the hands of as many shoppers as possible. Bell did not respond to questions about how many test kits Stew Leonards received and sold in the past week. Bell said Stew Leonards expects another shipment of tests to arrive this week and they will limit customers to purchase up to four kits, which each contain two tests. Our buyers are doing their best to secure the tests at a fair, competitive price and to get them out to all seven of our stores within hours, Bell said Tuesday. All seven Stew Leonards stores are currently sold out, but our buyers are still working to get a shipment this week. Stew Leonards, which also has stores in New York and New Jersey, offered Acon Laboratories Flowflex kits, which each contain one test, for $12.99 and $14.99 based on prices charged by its supplier, Bell said. Stew Leonards also offered Access Bio CareStart test kits, which each contain two tests, for $29.99, according to Bell, who said word spread on social media in the past week about their stores having testing supplies. Facebook prohibits us from promoting that we have the tests, however, many of our shoppers have been posting on their personal social media pages when they find tests in stock at Stew Leonards, Bell stated. Buyers are hoping to restock again later this week. Stop & Shop was also sold out as of Monday and hoping to restock this week. Stop & Shop stores do not currently have COVID-19 test kits available due to a recent surge in demand, spokesperson Maura OBrien wrote in an email. We are working closely with our suppliers to help ensure we have COVID-19 tests available for our customers in the coming weeks. The Food and Drug Administration has approved two-dozen types of at-home COVID test kits. Siemens Healthineers was the latest to receive approval last week and have said studies show its at-home test is effective in spotting the omicron variant. As of Monday morning, iHealths $18 antigen rapid test kit was the top-seller on Amazon, followed by test kits from On/Go, Celltrion, BD Veritor, Lucira and BinaxNow. San Diego-based Acon lists 18 distributors, including McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, which are among the largest pharmaceutical distributors in the country. Other retailers selling Flowflex kits include CVS, RiteAid and Target. Another San Diego company, Quidel, was among the earliest manufacturers to earn FDA approval for an at-home test. On a November conference call, CEO Doug Bryant indicated he expects the company to produce twice as many test kits as called for in its original U.S. government contract. The unpredictability of this pandemic makes everything fluid and a firm baseline level of demand is still too early to call, Bryant said. Staff writer Veronica Del Valle contributed to this story. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman NEWTOWN Five high school girls with indelible experiences of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting share one voice of gratitude for the gun-reform activists who stood up for us when we couldnt stand up for ourselves in a video posted by a homegrown nonprofit. Having other people around me who are brave enough to share their stories has helped me be able to tell my own, said Rayna Toth, 16, a Newtown High School senior, and one of five girls who share their stories in a social media video posted by the Newtown Action Alliance. I am forever grateful for those who gave me a voice when I was too young and too afraid to use mine. The videoed testimonies provide a rare window into how teenagers who survived the worst crime in modern Connecticut history are living with their pain. Their stories may answer, in part, one of the biggest unknowns: what the lasting effect on these kids would be. I was 8 years old and sitting in my third-grade classroom when a man walked in with a gun and stole the lives of 26 people of Sandy Hook Elementary School six educators and 20 children, said Camille Paradis, a board member of the Junior Newtown Action Alliance at Newtown High School, in her portion of the social media video. That gun stole my childhood as well as the lives of those people, and it changed the course of my life and my community forever. I now live with that trauma and that PTSD from the event, and I am now part of the movement to end gun violence and to ensure that guns are kept out of the hands of dangerous people and theyre kept out of vulnerable communities. In contrast to other communities where mass school shootings have mobilized students, such as the March for Our Lives movement that was born out the 2018 massacre of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the youth of Newtown didnt begin speaking out until a few years ago, when they were old enough to take on leadership positions in the Junior Newtown Action Alliance. I was in third grade at the time, and I lost my best friend, Daniel, who was in first grade and who was 7 years old. Obviously along with his family and other victims and other survivors in the community, I felt the pain. It was devastating not being able to see him again, but I dont think I exactly understood what was going on, says Maggie LaBanca, co-chair of the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, in her segment of the social media video. It took a while for me to join an activism club like this and to try to speak out and fight for change because theres 26 people now who cant, LaBanca continues in the video, which was recorded on the ninth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting in mid-December. I would like to thank all the adults and all the supporters we have had over the years who have spoken for us when we were children, and we couldnt. Fellow Junior Newtown Action Alliance member Naiya Amin said in her segment of the video that I got involved in this movement because I have seen and continue to see the effects that (the shooting) has had on the community. Im grateful for everyone who stood up for us when we couldnt stand up for ourselves, said Amin, a senior at Newtown High School. Im grateful for everyone who continues to stand up for us and stand with us and uplift the voices of the young survivors of gun violence as well as share their own experiences. Fellow high school senior Madeline Richard agreed, saying she joined the gun-violence prevention movement after becoming friends with some of the survivors and they told me their stories and their experiences. [A]longside them I became more educated on gun control and the importance of it especially bills in Congress that could have prevented it, Richard said. Thats what started my path on becoming more compassionate on gun control legislation and comprehensive gun reform. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 CHADRON, Neb. Eighty-three Chadron State College graduate candidates were recognized recently during a combined ceremony. George Clements Jr. of Portland was among them, earning a master of science in organizational management. Pomfret School POMFRET The following Pomfret School students earned a grade-point average of at least 3.670 and received no grade lower than a B+ for the fall 2021 term: Nicholas Ferrucci of Essex, Kai Konstantino of Ivoryton and Riley Millard of Chester. These individuals earned a GPA of at least 3.330 and no grade lower than a B: Matthew Bassett of Westbrook, Dava Dudek of Middletown and Beaulisa Staff of Old Saybrook. Hanley Ferrucci of Essex earned a GPA of 4.0 and received no grade lower than an A-. Bryant University LEXINGTON, Va. Thomas Williams, a native of Haddam, was recently initiated into the Bryant University Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society. It welcomed more than 1,100 new initiates from 41 universities during November. Students initiated into the society must be sophomores, juniors, seniors, or graduate/professional students in the top 35 percent of their class, demonstrate leadership experience in at least one of the five pillars, and embrace the ODK ideals. Fewer than five percent of students on a campus are invited to join each year. National Honor Society NORTH HAVEN Students from the area were recognized as a members of the Physical Therapy Pro Bono National Honor Society. Founded in 2014, the society recognizes outstanding physical therapy students who provide pro bono service as a part of their education. Brittany Kearney of East Hampton and Janelle Berry of Middlefield were inducted. Elmira College ELMIRA, N.Y. Elmira College released its deans list for academic achievement for the fall 2021 term, which recognizes full-time undergraduate students who were registered for at least 12 credit hours and who earned a term GPA of 3.6 or higher. They are Gabrielle Caporossi and Gabriella Prifitera of Durham. Lasell University SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The Lasell University womens track and field team competed in its first indoor meet since 2019 recently. The Springfield College season opener featured five Division III collegiate programs and one Division II collegiate program. 12 Lasers competed in the event, including freshman Hannah Babek of Deep River, who finished 15th in the 60 meter dash with a time of 8.55 seconds. Babek also competed in the 200 meter dash placing 23rd with a time of 28.89 seconds. Eastern CT State University WILLIMANTIC The Student Activities Office at Eastern Connecticut State University recently concluded its fall session of the Learn, Explore, Achieve, Perform leadership program. The program is designed to help students develop their leadership skills through a variety of workshops. This semesters session trained 13 students. Alex Karalus of East Hampton, who majors in environmental earth science, was a council member. Students who complete the eight-week cohort training and wish to continue with the program can transition to become LEAP council members. TOKYO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday morning launched a projectile that appears to be a ballistic missile. The Japan Coast Guard said the unidentified projectile is believed to have already landed. It was fired toward the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency citing the South Korean military. This was the first test-fire of the country in 2022. Before it, the DPRK test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile in October 2021. Enditem Lebanon, IN (46052) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 68F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 57F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped his Ferozepur rally as his security was compromised after arriving in Punjab, several Union Ministers and senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have lambasted the state government over the security breach of the PM. Here are some of the big reactions: BJP National President JP Nadda: Fearing a resounding defeat at the hands of the electorate, the Congress Government in Punjab tried all possible tricks to scuttle the PM @narendramodi Jis programmes in the state. Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) January 5, 2022 Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath: Union Minister Anurag Thakur: Union Minister Piyush Goyal: @NarendraModi , Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 5, 2022 Union MoS Dr Jitendra Singh: PM Sh @narendramodis visit to #Punjab today was meant to carry forward his vision for development of Punjab. Congress government there compromised VVIP security, thus not only touching new low in polity but also proving that it is not interested in the development of Punjab. Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) January 5, 2022 BJP Yuva Morcha National President Tejasvi Surya: The major lapse in Hon PMs security in Punjab today is nothing short of deliberate conspiracy to put in danger life of our elected head of government. This is as serious as it gets. Remember the Congress statement made in Pakistan - Help us remove Modi? Just unacceptable! Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) January 5, 2022 Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis: What happened with the security of our Hon PM @narendramodi ji in Punjab is extremely deplorable! Even worst is,Punjab CM refusing to speak or answer the call. We demand strongest action against the officials & those who are responsible for this grave mistake & an in-depth probe. Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) January 5, 2022 Haryana Minister Anil Vij: Incompetent Congress Government in Bordering State which could not provide Security to the Prime Minister of India Sh. Narendra Modi on his visit to Punjab is a great risk for the Nation. ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) January 5, 2022 Major Security Lapse By Punjab Government PM Modi was scheduled to lay the foundation stone of projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, four-laning of Amritsar-Una section, Mukerian-Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line, PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. On his first visit to Punjab after the repeal of the farm laws, PM Modi was set to flag off the campaign for the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance. The problem started when the PM decided to travel to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainwala by road instead of the air route due to poor weather. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, a major lapse was observed in the PM's security around 30km from the destination as his convoy was stuck for 15-20 minutes due to a road blockade. In wake of additional security not being deployed by the Punjab government as a part of the contingency plan, the MHA added that PM Modi headed back to the Bathinda Airport. Moreover, it sought a detailed report from the Congress government in Punjab and demanded strict action. The road route was part of the contingency discussed during advance security liaison, as per sources. PM's route was not decided by SPG but by the Punjab Police, the sources stated. As per protocol, the route is to be secured by the local police. At least 10 minutes before VIP movement, the route is sealed by local police. The Road opening party is supposed to clear the route of all obstructions. However, the Punjab police failed to keep the protocol on all counts. Days after Hindu seer Kalicharan Maharaj was arrested for his insulting remarks against Mahatma Gandhi, another religious leader has been booked for referring to the Father of the nation as a 'traitor' in the context of the Partition of India. Madhya Pradesh police on Tuesday registered a case against religious leader Tarun Murari Bapu for his alleged derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi during an event in Narsinghpur. Superintendent Of Police, Narsinghpur, Vipul Srivastava said, "We saw the video after which a case was registered under Section 505 (2) and 153 B. Since there is less than 7 years of punishment (in the matter) as per CrPC Section 41A, we have sent a notice to him (Tarun Murari Bapu)." As per the complaint lodged by Youth Congress leader Rohit Patel, Tarun Murari made these comments while addressing sermons in Mahakaushal Nagar area of Narsinghpur on Sunday. "Whoever breaks the nation into pieces, how can he be the father of the nation? I oppose them. He is a deshdrohi (traitor)," he had said. After this statement came to the fore, Congress gave a memorandum to the Superintendent of Police for registering an objection to it. Subsequently, a case was registered under sections 153, 504, 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Ganj police station. Murari later defended himself while talking to reporters. I am repeating it. A 'deshdrohi' (traitor) is the one who breaks the country into pieces and the so-called Bapu has done this work. The bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) had said that the Partition would only happen over my dead body but it held in front of his eyes. Be it you, me or Bapu, whoever divides the country is a 'Deshdrohi' in my views, he said. Hindu seer hails Mahatma Gandhi's assassin; arrested Earlier last week, self-styled seer Kalicharan Maharaj was booked and arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police from Madhya Pradesh for his alleged derogatory remarks against the Father of the Nation during a Dharma Sansad in Raipur. He downgraded Mahatma Gandhi and hailed Nathuram Godse for assassinating him. Kalicharan claimed that it was Gandhi who had aided Muslims to capture countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh through politics. A Magistrate court has remanded the Hindu seer to 14-day judicial custody till January 13. (With inputs from agencies) ULAN BATOR, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is planning to offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to its citizens on a voluntary basis, Mongolian Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said on Wednesday. "We are now working on a decision to administer the fourth dose," as the number of daily infections in the country is increasing again due to New Year celebrations, Enkhbold said during a press conference. Mongolia recorded 585 new infections of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the highest record since Dec. 1, 2021, bringing the national tally to 392,189, according to the health ministry. The disease has so far claimed 1,992 lives in the country after three more patients died in the past day. So far, 66.5 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 922,681 people aged over 18 have received a booster. ICMR Chief Dr Balram Bhargava said on Wednesday that Covid antiviral drug Molnupiravir has major safety concerns and has not been included in the national protocol for treatment of coronavirus. During a press briefing, he said the World Health Organisation and the UK have not included it for treatment. "We have to remember that this drug has major safety concerns. It can cause teratogenicity, mutagenicity and it can also cause cartilage damage and can also be damaging to muscles also. Contraception will have to be done for three months for male and female if this drug is given because the child born could be problematic due to teratogenic influence," he told reporters. Bhargava said the US has approved it based on only 1,433 patients in which three per cent reduction was observed in symptoms in patients with mild to moderate disease. He stressed that it is not part of the national treatment protocol for Covid. "We have concerns about the drug and its use during lactation, in children, soft-tissue injuries, reproductive age group," he said, adding that they have debated on its usage twice and will further debate over it. India's Drug Regulator Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on December 28 had approved Molnupiravir for restricted use in emergency situations. "Molnupiravir will now be manufactured in the country by 13 companies for restricted use under emergency situations for treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have high risk of progression of the disease," Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said. Molnupiravir is an antiviral that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by viral mutagenesis. The UK MHRA on 04.12.2021 granted approval for Molnupiravir under special condition for treatment of mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults with a positive SARS-COV-2 diagnostic test and who have at least one risk factor for developing severe illness, an official statement had said. The US FDA on December 23 had granted EUA for Molnupiravir for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, and for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate. The CDSCO had received 22 applications for manufacture and market of the drug Molnupiravir in the country. "Considering the emergency and unmet medical need in Covid, the SEC on December 27 recommended for grant of permission to manufacture and market the Molnupiravir 200mg capsule with recommended dose of 800 mg twice daily for 5 days for restricted use under emergency situation in the country for treatment of adult patients with COVID-19, with SpO2 over 93 per cent and who have high risk of progression of the disease including hospitalization or death subject to various conditions," the statement said. According to the conditions, the drug should be sold by retail only under prescription of medical specialists and the recommended dose should be 800mg twice daily for five days. (PTI) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed his delight at the pictures showing Indian soldiers hoisting the national flag in the Galwan Valley. The photos posted by Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju were perceived as a powerful counter to a video shared by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times on January 1. In this video, China tried to spread misinformation that it holds complete control of the Galwan Valley. Carrying the caption, "In the Galwan Valley near the border with India, under the characters 'Never yield an inch of land', PLA soldiers send new year greetings to Chinese people on January 1, 2022", it showed People's Liberation Army soldiers saluting their national flag. A day later, the Wayanad MP seemed to buy this narrative as he asked PM Modi to "break his silence" and give a befitting reply to China. Gandhi also cried foul over a news item about the construction of a bridge on Pangong Lake even though it was deep inside China's territory. Brave Indian Army soldiers in Galwan Valley on the occasion of #NewYear2022 pic.twitter.com/5IyQaC9bfz Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) January 4, 2022 LAC faceoff The faceoff at the Line of Actual Control was exacerbated when 21 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, when the de-escalation process was underway. The Galwan Valley clash was followed by multiple attempts of provocation by the Chinese side at the end of August 2020. Multiple rounds of military commander-level and Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs(WMCC) meetings have taken place between the two sides to resolve the crisis. Besides this, EAM S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have met their respective counterparts. So far, the armies of India and China have disengaged from multiple places, including north and south of Pangong Tso and Gogra. India has been looking forward to ensuring that the disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC at the earliest. Maintaining that prolonging the situation is in neither country's interest, the Ministry of External Affairs has reiterated that disengagement might open up the possibility of de-escalation of forces and progress in bilateral ties. The disengagement is yet to be completed in friction points such as Hot Springs and Depsang. Serbias president on Monday praised another shipment of arms from Russia despite fears in the Balkans that the country's recent military buildup could lead to more tensions in the war-scarred European region. President Aleksandar Vucic attended a training exercise at a military base near Belgrade that included anti-tank Kornet guided missiles recently purchased from Moscow. I am pleased that our soldiers are happy about the purchase of Kornets from Russia, Vucic said. It is one of probably the best anti-tank weapons in the world. The Kornet is an important defensive tool to deter anyone from potential aggression against our country, Vucic said. Serbia has frequently been accused of saber-rattling and working with Slavic ally Russia to destabilize neighboring Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo, a former Serbian province which declared independence in 2008. Serbia is widely blamed for triggering a bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s with its nationalist policies. The country lately has armed itself mostly with Russian and Chinese warplanes, drones and anti-aircraft systems. In recent months, Russia has handed over to Serbia 30 battle tanks and 30 armored personnel carriers. Serbia has also recently purchased sophisticated Russian Pantsir air defense systems, as well as attack and transport helicopters and Chinese drones. Although formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has refused to align its foreign policies with the 27-nation bloc and has instead strengthened its alliance with Russia and China. To join the EU, Serbia needs the support of all EU member nations, but the government has maintained frosty relations with fellow Balkan country Croatia, the last new member admitted into the bloc. Croatia, which is also a member of NATO, is in a mini arms race with Serbia, which has recently received six used MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia and four more of the type from Belarus. In November, the Croatian government announced the purchase of 12 Rafale fighter jets from France. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government have reclaimed large swathes of territory from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels amid intensified fighting. The Giants Brigades militia, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, advanced into the district of Usailan on Monday, pushing through the nearby district of Baihan in the central province of Shabwa. A Giants Brigades fighter told the Associated Press they intended to chase the rebels away "until we reach their caves". Yemen has been blighted by civil war since 2014 when the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north of the country, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south and then to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed by the United States, to try to restore the government to power. Despite a relentless air campaign and ground fighting, the war has deteriorated largely into a stalemate and spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) In another incursion into its sovereign territory by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), as many as seven military aircraft encroached on the self-ruled island's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday. Five People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane, and one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aeroplane flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) said. In response to the incursion, Taiwan's fighter jets intercepted the PLA aircraft and sent broadcast radio warnings. The islands military deployed air defence missile systems to track the PLAAF planes, Taiwan News reported. 2 PLA aircrafts (J-16 * 2) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ on January 4, 2022. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/5yWYgnPKVz pic.twitter.com/MDcMNOrI0B Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. (@MoNDefense) January 4, 2022 Since the new year began, Taiwan has reported at least nine Chinese aircraft entering its identification zone so far, which includes five fighter jets and four spotter planes. The PRC has increased the use of grey zone tactics since September of last year. It has sent dozens of aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ ramping up the aggression against the territory for vouching support from the West, particularly the United States. China has vowed to take back Taiwan under the One China policy, occasionally reiterating with coercion and force if necessary in a warning to Western nations that have stepped up bilateral ties with the island. Such incursions have been more commonly reported in the southwest corner of the zone, and Chinese planes fly into the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan from the Philippines before they head back into the Pacific. Taiwans Ministry of National Defence in its report stated that China has sent more than 680 military planes into the ADIZ in the year 2021. It is to be noted that Taiwan's ADIZ isnt similar to the territorial air space but it is the islands self-declared airspace monitored by its military for national security purposes. Taiwan has been complaining about several such encroachments for over months into its ADIZ by China's air force. Why are tensions high between Beijing and Taipei? The Chinese military claims that it carries out "naval and air force combat readiness patrol in the direction of the Taiwan Strait, but Taiwan has labelled such sorties as a violation of its territorial sovereignty and national security. "The army will continue to be on high alert and take all necessary measures to counter, at any time, any interference by external forces and any conspiracy by separatists aiming at the so-called 'Taiwan independence, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army had earlier told the state-affiliated media. A US Congressional delegation had also visited Taipei twice to pledge support for Taiwanese lawmakers. "Taiwan will continue to step up cooperation with the United States in order to uphold our shared values of freedom and democracy, and to ensure peace and stability in the region, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen told the conference. Rockets launched from Karkh prompted air raid sirens to sound at the Baghdad airport early on Wednesday morning, according to Sputnik. The rockets had landed near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC), which is located in the Baghdad International Airport. They had reportedly hit the tarmac but they did not cause any casualties. Videos capturing the moment that the base was targetted have emerged on social media. A circulating video of the moment the US occupation base was targeted at Baghdad International Airport- Azad News pic.twitter.com/qNWPLlxPHk Suribelle (@Suribelle1) January 4, 2022 Sirens in the vicinity of Baghdad airport. [Video via Sabreen] pic.twitter.com/itYDATMSIr Aleph (@no_itsmyturn) January 4, 2022 It is to mention that the attack comes ahead of the anniversary of a US drone strike at the Baghdad International Airport that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. It also comes a day after two explosives-laden drones targeting an Iraqi military base housing US troops in western Anbar province were destroyed. On Monday, two armed drones were even shot down as they headed toward a facility housing US advisors at Baghdad airport. As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although officials reportedly informed that one of the wings of the drones had the words Soleimanis revenge painted on it. A US-led international coalition official said that these attacks are against Iraqi installations and against the Iraqi people and the military that protects them as the coalition no longer has its own bases in Iraq. It is to mention that these attacks come amid a time when the US had been warned of an uptick in attacks over this period. End of US combat mission in Iraq Meanwhile, the US-led coalition formally ended its combat mission supporting Iraqi forces in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group last month. Some 2,500 troops will now remain as the coalition shifts to an advisory mission to continue supporting Iraqi forces. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said that the role of the international coalition has become limited to advise and support, according to the strategic dialogue. The US had deployed its forces in Iraq in 2003 after the nation plunged into war. The American forces were present in Iraq till they overthrew the government led by Saddam Hussein in 2011. During the war, it was estimated that over 10 lakh civilians were killed and more than 2 lakh remain missing to date. Subsequently, in 2014, then US President Barack Obama sent American troops to the war-torn country. Now, even though the country is not stable, the condition is believed to be improving gradually as compared to the previous regime. (Image: AP) Panamanian Immigration authorities have confirmed the extradition of former Colombian military officer Mario Palacios Palacios, the main suspect in the killing of Haitian president Jovenel Moise He was scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in Miami. According to Panama's Migration Institute Director Samira Gozaine, he arrived at Tocumen International Airport Monday afternoon as a deportee in transit from Jamaica and was then transferred to Miami late Monday night. At the time of being boarded by authorities, Palacios decided to accept the abbreviated process of voluntary extradition, Gozaine said. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) A group of 19 people from the Uyghur community in Turkey have filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping and security officials. The complaint has been filed by a group of Uyghurs over the human rights abuses in Chinas Xinjiang. The group of Uyghurs have submitted the complaint against the Chinese President and security officials to legal authorities in Turkey, ANI cited NHK World report. The complaint filed by the Uyghur is against 112 people, including Xi Jinping and security officials. The people in the complaint have alleged Chinese authorities of detaining 116 Uyghurs in concentration camps in the Xinjiang region. The complainants have also alleged China of committing genocide. After filing a complaint against the Chinese President and security officials, around 150 Uyghurs carried out a rally against the Chinese government in front of a courthouse in Istanbul. Uyghurs file complaint against Chinese President & security officials One of the protesters, Medine Nazimi, stated that her sister is in a concentration camp and added that she and her sister are both Turkish citizens, ANI cited NHK World Report. Medine Nazimi insisted that her sibling is innocent and urged the Turkish government to rescue her sister. The people have filed complaints ahead of the Winter Olympics to raise awareness about the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region across the world. Uyghurs in Turkey have been opposing the Winter Olympics which are scheduled to be held in February in China. Protest against human rights abuses in China It is not the first time that people have raised issues over the human rights situation in China. In December, human rights activists including Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Mongolians gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in London to protest against human rights abuses in China. The protesters demanded action against the Chinese Community Party government over human rights violations. People have also called upon the international community to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics that is scheduled to happen in Beijing. As per the ANI report, the protesters were chanting slogans like "Free Tibet, Free Turkmenistan, Free Mongolia, Free Hong Kong, Boycott Beijing Olympics, no to CCP." The protesters called out China for carrying out human rights violations against minorities in mainland China and other parts of the country. Inputs from ANI Image: AP/Representative US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday discussed the Russian military buildup near Ukraine with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. It is to mention that Russia has repeatedly denied any intentions of invading Ukraine, however, its deployment of 100,000 troops at the Ukrainian border has become a major flashpoint in relations between Moscow and the West. In a statement, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that in a telephone call with UAEs Sheikh Abdullah and Saudis Prince Faisal, Blinken discussed Russias military buildup near Ukraine, along with other bilateral and regional security issues. Secretary Blinken and Sheikh Abdullah discussed Russia's military buildup near Ukraine's borders as well as other bilateral and regional issues, including developments in Yemen, Ethiopia, and Sudan," Price said in a statement, adding that the US Secretary of States also congratulated UAE for assuming a seat on the UNSC earlier this month. Spoke today with UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs @ABZayed about Russias military buildup near Ukraines borders and other important bilateral and regional matters. Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 4, 2022 Blinken discusses bilateral issues with Saudi FM In a separate statement, Price said that Blinken discussed the buildup near Ukraine with Saudi Foreign Minister as well. Both the diplomats also discussed other bilateral and regional security issues, including Yemen and Sudan, Price added. Separately, according to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the two officials reviewed the strategic relations between Saudi Arabia and the US and ways to strengthen them in all areas of cooperation and joint coordination. During the call, the two ministers also discussed many regional and international issues of common interest, foremost of which is the promotion of security and stability in the Middle East region, and the efforts to establish the foundations of peace made by the two friendly countries in the region and the world, the statement read. Had a good discussion with Saudi Foreign Minister @FaisalbinFarhan today about Russias military buildup near Ukraines borders and other bilateral and regional security issues, including Yemen, Sudan, and human rights. Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 4, 2022 Meanwhile, it is to mention that the concern of Russias military buildup near Ukraine has been rising. In recent months, the US and NATO have voiced concerns over Russias alleged preparations for invading Ukraine. However, Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations and said that Russia has the right to relocate the troops within its territory at its own discretion, while NATOs military activity near the Russian border poses a threat to its security. Now, Russia and US officials are set to meet in person in Geneva on January 10 in a bid to discuss the Ukraine crisis. (Image: AP/Twitter) A Shiloh Shepherd named Tinsley initially believed to be a lost dog, helped New Hampshire State Police in finding the owner after a car crash. After the police reached the accident spot, the owners of the car were provided medical help. The New Hampshire State Police has shared the incident on Facebook. In the Facebook post, the New Hampshire State Police informed that Trooper Sandberg responded to a report about a dog on the Veterans Memorial Bridge located on Interstate 89 at the New Hampshire in Lebanon. Sandberg and Officers from the Lebanon Police Department spotted the Shiloh Shephard on northbound Interstate 89. They tried to get close to the dog, however, the Shiloh Shephard continued to run northbound on Interstate 89, crossing into Vermont. Dog helps police in locating owner after accident The dog led the police officials to a rolled over damaged pickup truck near the Interstate 91 and Interstate 89 junction. The police officials found the two people inside the vehicle seriously injured. Trooper Sandberg and the Lebanon Police Officers brought the occupants out of the vehicle. They immediately called for medical help for the two injured people. The police officials at the site discovered that the Shiloh Shephard named Tinsley belonged to one of the injured occupants of the truck. The police in the comments section informed that "the brave Tinsley is safe and well." The Vermont State Police is investigating the matter. Netizens laud Tinsley as 'smart dog' The post shared by the New Hampshire State Police has caught the attention of netizens who lauded the police officers and the dog for their efforts. One user commented, "New Hampshire State Police thank you for following your own instincts and helping all 3 of them." Another user commented, "Such a smart dog! If it weren't for the concern that this dog has for his human, they may have died in this cold. Tinsley deserves a medal." Another social media user wrote, "Mans BEST friend! What an amazing dog Tinsley is I hope his humans recover and theyre all united soon." (Image: Facebook/@NewHampshireStatePolice) Cambodian police on Tuesday arrested three labor union leaders wanted on charges of leading workers protests at a casino and hotel in the capital Phnom Penh. Chhim Sithar, leader of the union at the NagaWorld casino, was taken into custody by police in plain clothes who surrounded her as she got out of a car at the protest site near Cambodias National Assembly building. Two other union leaders, Sok Kongkea and Sok Narith, were detained separately on Tuesday. All three had been in hiding after being charged by authorities with inciting unlawful protests, and were sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after their arrest. The strike at the NagaWorld casino and hotel, now in its 18th day, has drawn hundreds of workers since Dec. 18 and the dismissal by managers of more than a thousand employees. The protesters are demanding that 365 of those laid off be rehired. Cambodian police on Monday arrested 17 striking workers who called for the release of colleagues detained last week by police. Pregnant women were among those arrested. The workers were taken by truck to the headquarters of Phnom Penh municipal police, sources told RFA. On Dec. 31, authorities detained nine protesters and a motor-tricycle driver, holding six in custody and charging them on Monday in municipal court with incitement to cause serious social unrest, sources said. The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia in a statement Tuesday said governmental authorities should respect the workers right to free speech. We are following closely the troubling arrests of NagaWorld union members for their peaceful expression and urge authorities to hear citizens, not silence them. Freedom of speech, assembly and association are guaranteed in the Cambodian Constitution, the embassy said. Workers are now gathering to demand the release of Chhim Sithor and the other union leaders and NagaWorld employees detained by the authorities, casino worker Chim Ratha told RFA on Tuesday. We are Cambodian workers working on our own land, and our rights and labor are being violated and exploited by foreign employers, she said. We have followed legal procedures by trying to negotiate for more than eight months, and so far we have peacefully protested for more than 10 days. But there has been no solution, and instead we have been arrested, threatened and intimidated, she said. Reached for comment, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Ey Rin told RFA he could not discuss the matter as authorities and the court had just begun to work on the case. But Ny Sokha, president of the Cambodian rights monitoring group Adhoc, said that NagaWorld employees right to protest is guaranteed by Cambodian laws. In a democratic society, the authorities must not take measures restricting the peoples right to peacefully protest, Ny Sokha said. The authorities always say they are acting in the name of public order, but they are responsible both for maintaining public order and for ensuring the exercise of citizens legal rights and freedoms at the same time, he said. Reported by RFAs Cambodian Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Richard Finney. Fishing boats at Masinloc on the west coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on Sept. 6, 2019, where residents complain catches are smaller because of Chinese activities around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the contested South China Sea. A collapse of fishery stocks in the South China Sea due to overfishing and climate change could fuel serious tensions and even armed conflict, one of the authors of a new report on the topic has warned. The simmering conflict that we see in the South China Sea is mostly because of fish even though countries dont say it out loud, said Rashid Sumaila, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, told RFA on Wednesday. Sumaila, from the universitys Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and its School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, has just co-authored a new report entitled Sink or Swim: The Future Of Fisheries In the East And South China Sea. In the report, he and other fisheries scientists and economists examine the impacts of climate change and overfishing in the regions oceans. The report says that under a scenario in which global temperatures rise by two-degrees Celsius by 2050 from current levels, the South China Sea is likely to experience significant declines in key commercial fish and invertebrate species, placing many regional fishing economies at risk of devastating failure. Regional fisheries in the South China Sea are estimated to generate $100 billion annually, supporting the livelihoods of around 3.7 million people, which the report says will be at risk. Chinas growing need for fish-based feed, not just fish for human consumption, is a key driver of overfishing in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, according to the report. Fishery is one of the reasons Chinas entangled in disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea, Sumaila said. The reports researchers urged immediate action to reduce fishing. They called for increased international cooperation to prevent the catastrophic fisheries collapse they are predicting. A man works at a fish and seafood stall at a wet market in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2020. Credit: Reuters Fighting over fish The link between overfishing and maritime conflicts has been witnessed all over the world. Among some of the more notable incidents was the so-called cod war between the United Kingdom and Iceland that continued for nearly 20 years since the end of 1950s. Navies from both countries were deployed to protect rival fishermen until the U.K. and Iceland reached an agreement in 1976 through diplomacy. More recently, increased attacks by pirates in the waters off the coast of the east African nation of Somalia were attributed to the depletion of seafood resources through illegal fishing. However, some researchers like John Quiggin, professor of economics at the University of Queensland, have a different perspective that it is disputes and lawlessness that put pressure on fish stocks. Unresolved conflict increases risk of overfishing and collapse, Quiggin said. As the Iceland-U.K. cod war and the Somali episode both showed, the optimal solution is for states to regulate exclusive economic zones (EEZs) with catch quotas. Best outcome in South China Sea would be for negotiated agreement, he added. Sumaila from the University of British Columbia said the best thing the countries sharing the South China Sea can do is to recognize the immense value of the fisheries of this sea and to cooperate to manage the fisheries sustainably. They could learn from Norway and Russia, who have decided to manage Barents Sea cod fisheries cooperatively even during the Cold War between the then-Soviet Union and the West because they recognize how important this fishery is to their citizens. I believe this can be done for the South China Sea too, Sumaila said. Chinese vessels moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea, in a March 7, 2021, photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard. The Philippines believed the fishing vessels were believed were crewed by Chinese maritime militia. Credit: Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea via AP Conflict triggers Separately, the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Chinese think tank, has alleged that illegal fishing, in particular by Vietnamese fishermen, has seriously undermined regional mutual trust-building and posed a huge threat and challenge to maritime cooperation, conservation of fishery resources and security of neighboring countries. In a new report, the SCSPI said Vietnam operates some 9,000 fishing vessels in the South China Sea and got into fishing conflicts with China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Vietnamese authorities were not available for comment on this new report but Vietnamese media have reported on the governments efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, especially after the European Commission issued a yellow card warning against Vietnams fishing violations in 2017. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered local governments to stamp out IUU fishing by the end of 2021 and leaders of Vietnam's 28 coastal provinces have committed to stop fishing boats from encroaching on foreign waters. China, however, is still ahead of other countries in terms of IUU fishing. A Global Illegal Fishing Index created by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime in 2019 ranked China the worst offender. With up to 800,000 vessels, Chinas fishing fleet is by far the largest in the world and Chinese fishermen, having exhausted domestic grounds, are known to have traveled to distant waters like the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa or the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador for their catches. In the South China Sea, China has been accused of operating a fleet of armed fishing militia to enforce its sweeping sovereignty claims which are disputed by its neighbors, including Vietnam. RAND Corporation, a U.S. think tank, says China has been carrying out classic gray zone operations designed to win without fighting by overwhelming the adversary with swarms of fishing vessels usually bolstered from the rear together with coastguard, and possibly naval ships. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 (Mars-12) in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 15, 2017. Faced with growing food shortages and a tanking economy, the North Korean government is sponsoring lectures intended to rally the citizenry against South Korea and the United States and to laud leader Kim Jong Un for boosting the countrys military capabilities and keeping the people safe. But according to sources who attended the lectures, many of the people in the audience did not seem to buy the governments latest propaganda efforts. Though the lecturers made an impassioned speech, most of the audience waited for time to pass or they dozed off. These are people who dont even have enough corn or rice. Who among them is going to believe that the puppets in the South are trembling in fear of our inexhaustible military power? a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFAs Korean Service Dec. 15. The North Korean economy lies in shambles due to the combined effects of international nuclear sanctions and an almost two-year long suspension of trade with China due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prices have risen sharply due to supply shortages and there have been reports of starvation deaths. The source told RFA that the lectures have been held in every party, military and citizen organization as part of annual winter training assignments. The lecturer criticized the United States, saying they are in collusion with their South Korean puppets, dealing with the fearsome threat North Korea represents to South Korea by yammering on about peace and cooperation, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons. The lecturer said the U.S. is holding joint military exercises with the South, a blatant slight on our republic, right in front of our face, the source said. The lecture materials distributed earlier this month concentrate on promoting the greatness of General Secretary Kim Jong Un, saying that he, the Highest Dignity, has fortified our national self-defense capabilities, the source added. Lectures in the northwestern province of North Pyongan similarly emphasized Kim Jong Uns immortal achievements in overcoming severe economic difficulty to strengthen the national defense, a citizen there told RFA. The lecture was titled About the Respectful General Secretary Building Up the National Self-Defense of Our Country, said the second source, who also requested anonymity to speak freely. The lecture the second source attended emphasized the 2017 test of North Koreas first intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, the Hwasong-15, which theoretically could give North Korea the capability to deliver a nuclear payload as far away as the northeastern United States. They said that on Nov. 29, 2017, our country and our people seized a powerful strategic weapon that could completely subdue the United States, the global center of imperialism and the main enemy of the Korean Revolution, and the cause of our pursuing nuclear capabilities for the defense of our nation, the second source said. But just as in North Hamgyong, the North Pyongan residents saw through the exercise, according to the second source. The lecturer ordered all the executives, citizens and soldiers to reflect deeply on the miraculous increases in military capabilities. He passionately praised the immortal patriotic achievements of the general secretary who gave birth to the great power of North Korea, saying his life and death decisions should be engraved in their hearts, the second source said. But the people complained that Kim Jong Un came to power 10 years ago with a promise that they would never have to tighten their belts. That promise is now gone, the second source said. Kim had promised his people early in his reign that they would never go hungry again. But last year the government told people that they were on their own for food, and told them to prepare for another Arduous March, the Korean name for the 1994-1998 period of famine that claimed the lives of millions of North Koreans. The people resent the authorities, saying that if their national defense problems are solved through the development of missiles and nuclear weapons, will the food problem just solve itself? the second source said. Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Members of a Myanmar military honour guard take part in a ceremony to mark Myanmar's 74th Independence Day in Naypyidaw on January 4, 2022. The 4th of January is Myanmars Independence Day, but 74 years after the country cast off British rule, many people see little reason to celebrate. In every year since 1948, Independence Day has been a major national holiday, with celebrations occurring all over the country, even during Myanmars long history of military control. But the coup last February that ousted a democratically elected government has overshadowed any warm feelings about the long-ago victory over colonialism. There are no celebrations here in Shwepyitha or Insein, a resident of Shwepyitha township in Myanmars largest city Yangon told RFAs Myanmar Service Tuesday. No one in our community is celebrating at all. I didnt even know it was Independence Day today. Besides, were not free. Since seizing power, the military junta has violently suppressed public dissent, killing 1,435 people and is currently holding 8,385 more in detention according to statistics from the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The junta, led by Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country on unproven claims of fraud in the 2020 elections, which Aung San Suu Kyis ruling National League for Democracy Party won in a landslide. Now that Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted of incitement and is serving a two-year prison sentence, the mood this year is very different from last. People are scared and are not daring to do anything at all because our political situation is bad, Daw Shwe Moe of Yangons Tamwe township told RFA. Last year, spirits were high across Myanmar on Independence Day, with widespread celebrations and optimism that the country was on a sturdier path to democracy. Independence Day is over. Though it is Independence Day, we are not free, so we will not celebrate, said the Mandalay resident, who declined to be named. Even under previous military dictatorships we have seen many Independence Days, but this years is the worst. The source said the streets of Mandalay, Myanmars second largest city, were eerily quiet. Celebratory events went on under previous dictatorships, but this year there has been nothing, a college professor who requested anonymity due to his association with the Civil Disobedience Movement told RFA. When we were young during the days of Burmese way to socialism, there were always events they held to make the people feel they were free even though they werent, the professor said. There are two reasons why people are not celebrating this important day, the professor said. First, people have lost their independence and they are not happy at all. Secondly, the junta would not dare to go out and about in their military uniforms. Jubilant celebrations require happy people, and happy people are in short supply, Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, told RFA. Considering the various hardships, the people had to face throughout 2021, and how their brothers and sisters, friends and relatives and neighbors were killed or arrested and tortured, there is nothing for them to be happy about, he said. People are not doing anything today as they want to show their sadness in a country that is not peaceful and happy." Collapse imminent The crisis in Myanmar has the country on the verge of collapse, analysts say. Widespread destruction from the armed conflict between the junta and anti-coup forces, combined with economic instability, paint a bleak future for the country, they said. Junta spokesman Maj. Gen Zaw Min Tun did not accept the assessment that the country was on the verge of collapse. What is the definition of a failed state? I would like you to compare with other countries how they define it, he told RFA. I just want to say that the SAC is carrying out in many places its own administration and judicial process in accordance with the rule of law," he said, using the acronym for State Administration Council, the name the military government uses for itself. But in areas that had been peaceful, people are now joining local militias that are part of the Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) to fight against the military, and the destruction of the conflict is spreading. When we started our armed struggle, there was not enough money to buy weapons. We had to rely on locally made Tumee rifles, said Boh Nagar, leader of the PDF in the Sagaing regions Pale township. Now the enemy has had to change weapons from small arms to heavier ones and has started using tanks and planes to attack the people. We are responding to them with landmines and locally made long-range missiles and rockets. The battle is becoming more and more violent, he said. The Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, a local research group, said about 61% of the country is embroiled in armed conflict. Before the coup, 65% of the country was peaceful. Insecurity is on the rise, Min Zaw Oo, the groups director, said. As a result, security problems have exacerbated, but it hasnt reached the level of violence like in Syria where cities were burnt down, and half of the country's population had been displaced. We are a weak state but have not yet reached the level of a failed state." But an economist who declined to be named told RFA that Myanmars economy has never been worse. The World Bank has estimated that our economy will shrink by 18% following the coup. We think this could be very damaging. The economy declined by only 11% even during the 1988 uprising, he said. If you look at our country now, theres no rule of law nor civilian rule here. Everything is going down. Investment from foreign countries is down. As many as 21 foreign companies have abandoned their operations the country, including those from the U.S., Germany, Japan, Norway, Britain, Australia, and several Asian countries. "The country is headed for failure. Social services, businesses, education and health care are in total disarray, political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe told RFA. Cash flow is not in order. Social cohesion in society has been greatly impacted. There is very little opportunity for people to set goals and achieve success in life. All these issues are ruining the country. They are the hallmarks of a failed state." Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Dozens of sons and daughters of opponents to military rule have been killed or jailed since the coup. Since the military seized power in Myanmar nearly 90 minors have been killed and more than 190 held hostage by security forces in the process of arresting their parents, according to relatives and rights groups. In total, 88 minors have been killed either at home, on their way to the clinic for medical treatment or while outside playing since the Feb. 1 coup, the Bangkok-based Association Assistance for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a statement. Some were shot dead by junta forces while fleeing, the group added, urging the international community to assist in prosecuting the perpetrators. A total of 255 children, aged nine months to 18 years, have been detained by the military since February, AAPP said. Of those, 62 have been released while 191 children remain in prison. Two have been sentenced to death, according to the group. On March 30, security forces tried to arrest Min Zaw Oo, a municipal cleaning worker who took part in the countrys nonviolent anti-government civil disobedience movement. When they could not find Min Zaw Oo, they arrested his mother-in-law, his wife and his young daughter as she was being breastfed. The daughter, Su Myat Zaw Thwe, spent her third birthday last month in Yangons notorious Insein Prison, where she has been detained for nearly 10 months along with her mother, according to a source close to the family who declined to be named. Min Zaw Oo, who remains on the run, told RFAs Myanmar Service that he was crushed when he learned that the junta is holding his family hostage. My mother, my wife and my daughter are innocent. I didn't know what to do when I heard they were taken away as hostages. I first thought of giving in and getting myself arrested. But even then, they might not release them and the whole family might be still in detention, he said. I never thought they would arrest my family because it is me they want to arrest. She is so young and my only child. I am devastated. Min Zaw Oo said he prays daily for his daughter to be released from prison, even if his family is unable to reunite under military rule. Junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun acknowledged to RFA that some children had been detained because it was unavoidable. I have to admit that we have detained some children, as they are people who need to be kept in detention, he said. We will act properly according to the law, he added, without providing further details. Held without guardians A spokesman from the AAPP, who talked to RFA on condition of anonymity, said that while Su Myat Zaw Thwes story is tragic, she is lucky to be with her caretakers. Most of the hostage children without their parents are kept in police stations and in the army, he said. Only children who have guardians are sent to prison together with their parents. A pro-bono lawyer from Myanmars commercial capital Yangon who is working on behalf of detained children told RFA that many youths are sent to the Youth Rehabilitation Center in Thanlyin, outside of the city. Some children are held at the relevant police station during investigation, he said. Children aged seven and above are considered school-age and are held at the Thanlyin Center. Breastfeeding babies are left with their mothers. Enduring trauma Even if they are released, family members told RFA that formerly detained children suffer from the trauma of their captivity and live in a state of constant anxiety. Su Htet Waing, 5, was arrested by the military along with her mother, sister and brother after her father escaped arrest. Her father Soe Htay, a political activist in Mandalay regions Mogok city, said the girl was released in July but remains distressed from her experience. My daughter is still traumatized. She has nightmares. She sometimes screams out, Father, be careful! If anything happens, they will take you! They will arrest me too, he said. Other times she yells out, Dont do this to me. In the mornings, she says she had dreams of tiny soldiers and policemen. Thats the kind of trauma she endures. Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the minister for women, youths, and children affairs for the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), said that the militarys treatment of children is a violation of both Myanmar and international law. Arresting, detaining and killing minors is a violation of our countrys child laws as well as the [United Nations] Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said. The military has a responsibility to stop all violations against children. Additionally, NUG, NGOs and international organizations have a responsibility to provide justice to the victims. Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Prayer wheels were also destroyed in the 'very disrespectful' demolition. In this satellite image slider, the 99-foot Buddha statue in Drago in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is shown at left sheltered by a white canopy on Nov. 19, 2019. At right is the site on Jan. 1, 2022. Credit: Planet Labs with analysis by RFA Updated at 08:55 a.m. EST on 2022-01-06 Authorities in Chinas Sichuan province last month forced Tibetan monks and other local residents to watch the demolition of a large and venerated Buddha statue following official complaints that the statue had been built too high, Tibetan sources said. Destroyed along with the 99-foot tall statue in Drago (in Chinese, Luhuo) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture were 45 traditional prayer wheels set up for use by Tibetan pilgrims and other worshipers, sources said. RFA verified the destruction of the statue by analysis of commercial satellite imagery. Chinese authorities forced monks from Thoesam Gatsel monastery and Tibetans living in Chuwar and other nearby towns to witness the demolition, which began on Dec. 12 and continued for the next nine days, Tibetan sources in exile said, citing contacts in the area. Chinese authorities forced monks from Gaden Namgyal Ling monastery and Tibetans living in Chuwar and other nearby towns to witness the demolition, which began on Dec. 12 and continued for the next nine days, Tibetan sources in exile said, citing contacts in the area. Local Tibetans from other villages were also forced to come to watch the demolition, one Tibetan living in India said, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect family members still living in Drago. A lot of police had also been deployed to make sure that spectators didnt take pictures or videos or create disturbances. It was just like the [1966-76] Cultural Revolution, when the Chinese government destroyed everything that was old in Tibet, he said. Along with the Buddha statue, the prayer wheels erected near Drago monastery were also destroyed, and the way they orchestrated this demolition was very disrespectful, another Tibetan living in India said, also speaking anonymously in order to protect his sources. Drago county chief Wang Dongsheng, director of the demolition, had earlier overseen a campaign of destruction at Sichuans sprawling Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in a move that saw thousands of monks and nuns expelled and homes destroyed, the source said. Now we are seeing the same kind of destruction here in Drago and restrictions placed on Tibetans in the region, he said. Destroyed along with the 99-foot tall statue in Drago (in Chinese, Luhuo) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture were 45 traditional prayer wheels set up for use by Tibetan pilgrims and other worshipers, sources said. No word has been received on when the destruction was completed, the source said. But it is a fact that the statue is now almost completely destroyed and that local Tibetans were forced to watch these events, with authorities saying this would teach Tibetans a lesson. With construction completed on Oct. 5, 2015, the Buddha statue in Drago had been built with contributions of around 40 million yuan (U.S. $6.3 million) by local Tibetans and was designed to withstand earthquakes, said a former Drago resident named Palden, now living in India. And it had the full approval of the local authorities, Palden said, adding that Chinese authorities later withdrew their approval and said the statue had been built too high. But in reality, their intention is to completely destroy Tibets identity by eradicating Tibetan religion and culture, he said. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney. CORRECTION: Changes the name of the monastery whose monks were forced to watch the demolition to Gaden Namgyal Ling. Colonel Le Tuan Hien (L) explains the cause of death of soldier Nguyen Van Thien (R) in an 'initial assessment' at a press conference, Dec. 1, 2021. A Vietnamese soldier reported last year to have died in a fall in his barracks was instead beaten to death by his comrades, according to state media reports on Wednesday. Nguyen Van Thien, born in 1998 and a resident of the central highlands province of Gia Lai, died at his military camp in November 2021. He is the third soldier reported to have died while performing military service in the country last year. Senior military officers in Gia Lai first said that Thien had died after falling in his barracks bathroom. But on Wednesday, the Tien Phong Online Newspaper quoted the provinces military command as saying the young soldier had died after being beaten. Reports last year that Thien had died from a fall were simply the armys initial assessment, said Col. Le Tuan Hien, political commissar for the Gia Lai provincial military command. The Agency of Criminal Investigation for Military Region No. 5 has now filed charges against related persons for causing intentional injury, Hien added. Hien declined to name those being charged or provide further details on the case, saying investigations are ongoing. Initial reports by the Gia Lai Military Command said that Thien had fallen in his barracks bathroom at around 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2021. After returning to his room an hour later, he went into convulsions, and was taken by other soldiers in his unit to the Duc Co district medical center, where he died at around 10 p.m. Severe bruising discovered on his body was attributed to the fall, the armys media release said. Reports that another young soldier had died following a beating at his barracks in northern Vietnams Hai Duong province circulated widely on social media on Dec. 22, the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Peoples Army. Hoang Ba Manh, 20, was allegedly beaten and died later in his bed on Dec. 20 in what an officer in a meeting with the victims family described as a fight among soldiers. And in June 2021, Tran Duc Ho, a soldier from northern Vietnams Bac Ninh province, also died at a military camp. Representatives from Vietnams Ministry of Defense said that Do had taken his own life, but his family disagreed, saying that many injuries had been found on his body. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has reiterated support for Kyiv, saying the bloc has a strong commitment to "massive consequences" for Russia if it were to attack its neighbor again. Speaking during a trip to Ukraine on January 5, Borrell told a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Kyiv and Brussels have a common goal to ease tensions with Russia through diplomatic means. The visit, the first by the EUs top diplomat to the contact line in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have battled Ukrainian government forces in a nearly eight-year war that has claimed the lives of more than 13,200 people, comes ahead of a week of intense international diplomacy over Moscows military buildup near the former Soviet republic's border. "The conflict on the borders is on the verge of getting deeper and tensions have been building up with respect to the European security as a whole," Borrell said of Russia's buildup of around 100,000 troops near Ukraines borders, which the West fears could be part of preparations for a potential invasion, something Moscow denies. "Any military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs," Borrell said. "And we are coordinating with the U.S., with NATO, and other like-minded partners in order to work for de-escalation," he added, noting that any talks on security in the area must include Europe and Ukraine. NATO has announced a virtual meeting of foreign ministers from its 30 member nations on January 7 to discuss the crisis after Moscow demanded sweeping security guarantees from the United States and its allies. The extraordinary meeting will be followed by talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva on January 9-10 and a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on January 12. The council, the main forum for dialogue between the two sides, has met only sporadically since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The NATO-Russia Council meeting will be followed the next day by discussions under the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States and its NATO allies, as well as Russia and Ukraine. Russias demands include guarantees that Ukraine and other former Soviet countries will not join NATO and a rollback of the alliances military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. The West has rejected Moscows ultimatums regarding NATO and threatened Moscow with severe sanctions and other measures if it launches a fresh incursion into Ukraine. With reporting by AFP, Interfax, and Reuters Poland says that Belarus has summoned the Polish charge d'affaires in Minsk to inform Warsaw about the expulsion of a Polish diplomat. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the fact that the charge d'affaires was called in in a case related to the expulsion of a Polish consul," spokesman Lukasz Jasina said in a statement on January 5. Jasina said the expelled diplomat was the Polish consul in the border city of Brest. The spokesman added that steps are being taken to verify the information provided and to clarify the situation." There were no immediate comments from the Belarusian authorities. Tensions have been running high between the two neighbors over a migrant crisis that the European Union and Poland say was engineered by Belarus in retaliation for Western sanctions against the authoritarian government of Aleksandr Lukashenka. They accused Minsk of waging a hybrid attack against the EU, luring thousands of migrants to Belarus from the Middle East and other regions, with the promise of help to get to Western Europe, to use them as pawns to destabilize the 27-nation bloc. Belarus has denied the charge. Poland took a tough stance in response to the migrant crisis, building a barbed-wire fence and massing thousands of soldiers along its 400-kilometer border with Belarus. In some cases, Warsaw has been accused of pushing back migrants to Belarus, in a policy criticized by human rights groups. Based on reporting by Reuters MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the highest body of the organization, has decided to deploy peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan, Council Chairman and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday. "Based on the request by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and in view of the threat to the national security and the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the external intervention, the CSTO Collective Security Council, in accordance with Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty, decided to deploy the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces to Kazakhstan," Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page. "The forces will be deployed for a limited period of time in order to stabilize the situation in the country," he added. Tokayev said Wednesday he intended to "act as tough as possible" as the situation in the country becomes "extremely tense." About half of the country's territory is engulfed in riots, he said in his address to the people of Kazakhstan, adding that the situation is especially difficult in the Kazakh city of Almaty. "I intend to act as tough as possible... Together we will overcome this black period in the history of Kazakhstan," he said. Earlier on Wednesday, Tokayev signed a presidential decree to accept the resignation of the country's government. In accordance with the decree, government members will continue to fulfill their duties until a new government is formed. Enditem A rocket attacked has rocked an Iraqi military base that houses U.S. soldiers near the airport in Baghdad amid heightened tensions around the anniversary of the 2020 killing of a top Iranian general and a senior Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike. Iraqi military officials confirmed four Katyusha rockets landed near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center at the Baghdad International Airport on January 5, adding there were no casualties. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Iraq's military said in a statement that a rocket launcher had been found in a district in western Baghdad near the airport. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a January 3, 2020, strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who headed the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi lieutenant, Abu Hamid al-Muhandis, in response to a spate of attacks against U.S. interests in Iraq. As the second anniversary of the attack neared, U.S. officials warned repeatedly of possible retaliatory attacks against targets associated with the coalition in both Iraq and Syria. The coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria said on January 4 that it had carried out strikes against an "imminent threat" to a U.S. base in northeastern Syria. Although the U.S.-led international coalition announced the end of its "combat mission" in Iraq in December, some 2,500 U.S. and 1,000 coalition troops remain in the country to advise and train Iraqi security forces. With reporting by AFP and Reuters Protesters and security forces clashed In Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, in the early hours of January 5, amid intensifying anti-government demonstrations in the Central Asian country. Protests first erupted in the western region of Mangystau on January 2 over a sudden hike in fuel prices and later spread to cities across the country. As violence spiraled, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a state of emergency. GENEVA In the gentle dawn of Switzerlands late summer, Lake Genevas ripples lap against the properties on the eastern shore in the suburb of Anieres, home to diplomats, bankers, and well-to-do Swiss. Some of the buildings are understated in their wealth, with slate shingles or mansard roofs or Corinthian columns. Some have gazebos on manicured lawns looking west to the Jura Mountains, or docks where motorboats and kayaks are parked. Many have gates and surveillance cameras to protect from curious passersby. And then theres the property at No. 399 Route DHermance: a 3,200-square-meter three-level villa with a butterfly staircase, a 25-meter indoor-outdoor swimming pool, spa, guest quarters, and terraced landscaping. In an area known for having some of the most expensive housing in the region, its an exceptional property. The owner of the estate, according to Swiss property records, is Dinara Kulibaeva, the daughter of Kazakhstans longtime ruler, Nursultan Nazarbaev. She and her husband, Timur Kulibaev, who are among Kazakhstans wealthiest people, purchased the villa in 2009 for a reported $75 million. And they are among several immediate and extended relatives of Nazarbaev who own lavish real estate in the West. Over the past two decades, relatives of Nazarbaev have purchased hundreds of millions of dollars in posh real estate in Europe and the United States, a string of high-end properties on luxurious lakesides, amid Manhattans skyscrapers, Londons tony suburbs, and overlooking the azure waters of Spains Costa Brava. A new RFE/RL investigation provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the properties in this sprawling real estate network linked to Nazarbaevs relatives, including two of his daughters, his grandsons, and his brother. The findings are not an exhaustive record of every foreign property owned by a relative of the former Kazakh president, who was officially granted the title Leader of the Nation in 2010 and currently serves as chairman of the countrys powerful Security Council and heads its ruling political party. Nursultan Nazarbaev But they offer an unprecedented window into the scale of the real estate investments by Nazarbaevs relatives, and how many in close proximity to Kazakhstans ruling family ended up with luxury assets in exclusive locations. RFE/RL identified at least $785 million in European and U.S. real estate purchases made by Nazarbaevs family members and their in-laws in six countries over a 20-year span. This figure includes a handful of properties that have since been sold, including multimillion-dollar apartments in the United States bought by Nazarbaevs brother, Bolat. It does not include a sprawling Spanish estate owned by Kulibaev, for which a purchase price could not be found. These acquisitions have been funded by the vast fortunes Nazarbaevs relatives have amassed in the oil-rich nations energy, banking, and other sectors, while at various times also serving in official government posts. Nazarbaevs patronage is widely seen as crucial to the wealth built by his relatives, who have repeatedly and vehemently insisted they are successful businesspeople independent of their family and political connections. Prominent among those is Kulibaev, who has been dogged for years by accusations that his wealth, mainly from his work in the oil-and-gas industry, derives from his familial relations. The Financial Times on December 2 said it had uncovered a secret scheme that allegedly channeled tens of millions of dollars from contracts related to a massive gas pipeline to China to Kulibaev. His lawyers denied specifics of the report to the Financial Times and did not respond to queries from RFE/RL. Several of these properties documented by RFE/RL have been the subject of legal challenges, including permitting disputes, an acrimonious divorce, and British freezing orders on three London residences that were later overturned by a court. The investments in pricey foreign properties also come against the backdrop of the countrys overall increase in national wealth since the Soviet collapse. This increased prosperity has lifted livelihoods for many average Kazakhs -- but it has also helped the politically connected elite transform into jet-setting tycoons and fodder for newspaper gossip pages. And with 80-year-old Nazarbaev in his twilight, theres a growing uncertainty about what, and who, will succeed him when he fully departs from Kazakh politics -- and what might happen to the fortunes of those closest to him. The system is so brittle. The political economy that Nazarbaev has built, its built on one man, said Kate Mallinson, a London-based consultant and researcher of Central Asian politics. His relatives and closest allies have hedged the bets on the future, not knowing what will happen -- and so theyve had to put assets outside the country, Mallinson told RFE/RL. Yevgeniy Zhovtis, the head of Kazakhstans oldest and largest human-rights organization, said it is hard to separate the government from the [Nazarbaev] family and hard to say how it will be in Kazakhstan after Nazarbaev dies. You cannot rely on protection from the rule of law when you live in such political systems, Zhovtis said. ALMATY -- Peacekeepers from a Russian-led regional security alliance will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilize the country, the prime minister of Armenia announced on January 5 after an unprecedented wave of unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation that was sparked by a fuel price hike. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Facebook that the decision to deploy peacekeepers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for a limited period had been taken in response to an appeal from Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev. Armenia is chairing the CSTO in 2022. Pashinian's statement added that the decision was made "due to the threat to the national security and sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which arose as a result of external interference." The CSTO is a military alliance made up of forces from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Pashinian did not say how many peacekeepers would be sent or when they would arrive. Toqaev earlier on January 5 declared a nationwide state of emergency and stripped his predecessor of a powerful leadership role after thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings. Toqaev said that he had appealed to the CSTO to assist Kazakhstan in responding to what he called a terrorist threat. Angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks, and shields, set fire on January 5 to a presidential residence and the mayors office in the countrys largest city, Almaty, where protesters also seized control of the airport, prompting the temporary suspension of all flights. The Interior Ministry claimed eight police and national guard troops were killed and 317 people were wounded during the unrest across the country but offered no details. Toqaev didnt mention any civilian deaths, but video recordings circulated on social media purportedly showed several bodies of protesters on the streets. RFE/RL could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos. Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds, but were largely unsuccessful. Communications monitors reported a "national-scale" Internet blackout, while RFE/RL journalists in the country said both Internet and telephone services had deteriorated markedly. Toqaev said what he described as foreign-trained terrorists and bandits were seizing buildings, infrastructure, and weapons in Kazakh cities. They had taken control of the Almaty airport and five aircraft there, including foreign planes, the president said as he made a second televised speech in the space of a few hours on January 5. "It is actually no longer a threat. It is an undermining of the integrity of the state. And, most importantly, it is an attack on our citizens who are asking me...to help them urgently," Toqaev said. Toqaev sacked the government earlier on January 5 and later declared the state of emergency in a bid to squelch the protests, which erupted in the western region of Mangystau three days ago over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the oil-rich country, along with general discontent over issues such as corruption, unemployment, and low wages. In a major move to distance himself from the past, Toqaev also removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev, from the powerful post of head of the country's Security Council. Nazarbayev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state. Some protesters laid the blame for many of the country's problems on him, with demonstrators in the city of Taldyqorghan, the capital of Almaty Province, toppling a statue of the former leader. Violence was also reported on January 5 in the northern city of Aqtobe, where police fired tear gas on protesters who tried to enter the regional government building by force. Protests also continued in other cities and towns, including Aqtau, Zhanaozen, and Oral, where dozens of people were reportedly detained. Limits appeared to have been imposed on the Internet to limit the ability of demonstrators to mobilize, with web monitoring group NetBlocks reporting a nationwide blackout. Messenger apps Telegram, Signal, and WhatsApp were all said to be unavailable in Kazakhstan, while the website of RFE/RLs Kazakh Service and those of independent media that reported on the protests also appeared to be blocked. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 200 people were detained during a previous night of unrest in Almaty and elsewhere, but observers say that number appears to be underestimated. A decree order published on the presidential website in the morning of January 5 said Toqaev had accepted the resignation of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Asqar Mamin, in line with the constitution. First Deputy Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov was appointed as interim prime minister, and current members of the government will continue their duties until a new cabinet is formed, according to the order. Before its resignation, the government announced it was restoring the price cap of 50 tenge ($0.11) per liter, or less than half the market price, in Mangystau. Demonstrators in Aqtau and Zhanaozen argued that that the removal of some officials wouldn't bring lasting results and called for the dissolution of parliament, where no genuine opposition political forces are represented, and new limits to presidential powers, among other things. Zhanaozen was the scene of a 2011 police crackdown against oil workers protesting over pay and working conditions that claimed the lives of at least 16 workers. In addition to replacing the prime minister, Toqaev appointed a new first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB) to replace Samat Abish, a nephew of Nazarbaev. The United States and the United Nations urged Kazakh authorities to show restraint in dealing with the protests. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States supports "calls for calm" and said protesters should be able to "express themselves peacefully. The United Nations also called for all parties to "exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and promote dialogue." Kazakhstans Central Asian neighbors Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan said they were closely and anxiously following the situation. With reporting by AFP, dpa, Reuters, and AFP A Vladivostok photographer has captured the haunting phenomenon of North Korean fishing vessels drifting onto Russia's Primorsky Krai coastline. This empty North Korean fishing vessel floated ashore on Russias eastern coastline in the spring of 2020. It is one of several such ships -- many carrying tragic backstories -- that wash onto Russias shores each year. Since 2019, photographer Natalya Bulkina, who is based in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, has been seeking out the ghostly North Korean shipwrecks. Most of the ships that drift onto the Russian coastline are empty, but some carry the bodies of North Korean sailors or malnourished survivors of the storms that frequently lash the Sea of Japan. In 2018, locals brought in an excavator to crunch through the hull of one upturned vessel that was wedged in the sand on a beach 150 kilometers from Vladivostok after hearing noises inside. Once the hull was broken open, a skinny, red-eyed Korean-speaking fisherman emerged. The fishermen who survive to make landfall in Russia are deported back to North Korea. Bulkina, who moved to Vladivostok from her hometown near St. Petersburg, told RFE/RL that, after seeing several North Korean vessels during her adventures along the coastline, she realized the shipwrecks were not some isolated case, but were part of a larger phenomenon. According to the Siberian Times, North Korean squid poachers frequently sail into Russian waters and use illegal drift nets, usually through the summer months. A 2020 study concluded that massive Chinese trawler fleets poaching squid in recent years have drastically depleted seafood stocks in North Korean waters. With quotas to meet, North Korea's fishermen have been forced to make ever longer, riskier trips out to sea in their creaking wooden vessels. Numbers of deaths at sea from the ruthlessly ruled authoritarian state are impossible to precisely tally. Russia does not keep count of the vessels washing ashore along its coast, but Japanese authorities reported nearly 600 of the ghost ships, with dozens of bodies discovered aboard, drifting onto its shores from 2016 to 2020. Bulkina says the appalling condition of the North Korean fishing vessels she has seen makes her despair at the hopeless courage of people heading for the open ocean in such boats. Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Bulkina says there has been a sharp downturn in the number of boats washing ashore on Russias eastern coastline. The photographer suspects this is more likely relating to quarantine measures rather than improved safety conditions for the totalitarian country's fishermen. Turkmen border guards were reportedly involved in a sustained exchange of fire with Taliban forces on January 3, the first known time the two have been in a shoot-out. The facts of the incident are coming from the Afghan side, but the story thus far is amazing if for no other reason that Turkmen forces reportedly fired into Afghanistan. According to Helal Balkhi, head of the Talibans Information Department in the northern Jowzjan Province, it was Turkmen border guards who started shooting and the incident came after Turkmen troops shot and killed an Afghan civilian in the same area several days earlier. The Turkmen side has not commented on the incident and is unlikely to do so considering precedent. The Turkmen government and state media always go to great lengths to avoid reporting any bad news concerning Turkmenistan. An example is Turkmen officials clinging to their absurd claim that the country has not had a single case of coronavirus, despite considerable evidence to the contrary. Violent events along the border with Afghanistan fall into the same category. Three Turkmen border guards were killed along the Afghan border in February 2014 and three Turkmen soldiers were killed in May of that year. The only source for that information came from Afghan villagers and, in those cases, there was never any mention of Turkmen forces opening fire to defend themselves. In recent years Taliban fighters have been chased to the Turkmen border by Afghan government troops and Afghan government troops were also forced to the Turkmen border by Taliban fighters, and every time Turkmen border guards told them they could not enter Turkmenistan. But there were no reports that Turkmen troops ever used their weapons. Turkmen officials and state media have never commented on those encounters with forces from Afghanistan. The only incident along the Afghan border when Turkmen troops seem to have opened fire happened in May 2018 when some were reportedly involved in an exchange of fire that left 25 Turkmen dead. That appears to have involved a militant group or drug smugglers who were not part of the Taliban. Turkmen officials and state media did not mention that incident, either. In the current incident, some residents on the Afghan side of the border contacted RFE/RLs Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, and gave their version of what happened. According to them, the shooting between Turkmen and Taliban forces went on for several hours and Taliban fighters shot rockets at Turkmen positions during the clash. They said a man named Abdulkerim, an ethnic Turkmen citizen of Afghanistan from the Khamyab district, was shot dead by Turkmen border guards. But is not known why. When the Taliban came several hours later to investigate, Turkmen border guards reportedly opened fire on them. It is an unusual story, and the alleged aggressiveness on the part of Turkmen troops is even stranger. The secretive Turkmen government unfortunately reveals little of what happens along its borders, but in the 30 years Turkmenistan has been independent there have only been two reported incidents, in 2015 and 2018, in which Turkmen troops used deadly force. Both of those happened on the Caspian Sea and involved Iranians. Why Turkmen troops felt the need to apparently open fire into Afghanistan in this incident remains a mystery. Turkmen authorities have been anxious to push through large energy projects that have been delayed for years due to instability in Afghanistan, so this shooting incident is even harder to explain as it will likely upset Taliban officials. Turkmen authorities and the Taliban will likely gloss over the event, but whatever happened it was sufficient for Turkmen troops to use their weapons -- a clear indication that trust is still very low along the border. The U.S. Treasury Department says it has expanded sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has led a campaign to strengthen a secessionist bid to withdraw from state-level institutions despite warnings from the West. The Treasury Department made the announcement on its website on January 5, saying it had added television station Alternativna Televizija, which is linked to Dodik, to the sanctions list as well. It gave no further details. Bosnia consists of a Serbian entity, a Muslim-Croat entity, and a central government that ties both together in a fragile state. Dodik was elected in October 2018 as the Serbian member of Bosnia's multiethnic three-person presidency. He has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from state-level institutions, describing Bosnia as "an experiment by the international community" and an "impossible, imposed country." Most recently, he led a campaign that saw lawmakers vote on December 10 to start a procedure for Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serb-dominated entity to withdraw from the Bosnian Army, security services, tax system, and judiciary. They also voted on a declaration that calls for the drafting of a new constitution for the entity, Republika Srpska, and states that "all laws imposed" by the international high representative for Bosnia are "unconstitutional." Bosnia has been in a protracted political crisis over secessionist moves by Republika Srpska, reviving fears that the peace deal which ended a 1992-95 war could unravel and threaten regional stability. The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accords created two highly autonomous entities that share some joint institutions: Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat federation. The country is governed and administered along ethnic lines established by the agreement, with a weak and often dysfunctional central government. The U.S. Treasury Department first imposed sanctions against Dodik in 2017, saying he was actively obstructing efforts to implement the 1995 Dayton accords. The sanctions allowed U.S. authorities to block access by Dodik to any of his property or assets that are under U.S. jurisdiction. LISBON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) have devised a way to use residues from shrimp shells to replace oil in the production of pharmaceuticals, plastics and detergents, they said in a press release on Wednesday. Scientists at the Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV-REQUIMTE) said that shrimp shells offer an "excellent opportunity to obtain various types of amines in a sustainable way." The researcher responsible for the project, Andreia Peixoto, explained that amines are chemical compounds derived from ammonia, which are currently produced in the industry "from petroleum." To obtain amines, the researchers use "only sustainable methods" to extract and convert one of the shells' components, chitin. In this process, the peels are placed in pressurized water at a temperature of about 250 degrees Celsius, resulting in an extract and a solid residue that, after thermal treatments, can be used as a catalyst, "which will accelerate chemical reactions for the sustainable transformation of chitin and derivatives into amines." "The intention is to create the necessary conditions to develop a refinery that uses shrimp shells instead of oil," said the researcher. The scientists at LAQV-REQUIMTE collaborate with experts from the Superior Institute of Engineering of Porto and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. Enditem Written By Joe Schulz served as the reporter of the Green Laker in 2019 and 2020, before being hired as a reporter for the Commonwealth in October 2020. He is from Oshkosh and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in December 2020 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. | News featured popular urgent School resumes with amended COVID-19 protocols Special Photo Dr. Terry Oatts Samantha Fuhrey COVINGTON The rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 infections has prompted the Rockdale and Newton public school districts to amend their return-to-school protocols for the second semester. Students in Rockdale Public Schools returned to school Tuesday in a virtual/remote learning format. Newton students returned to school Tuesday under a mask mandate after masks had been deemed optional last year. Rockdale students are expected to return to in-person learning on Monday, Jan. 10. Staff, students and families are urged to get tested for COVID-19 before the return to in-person learning. RCPS continues to offer free COVID-19 testing for students, staff and their families at Rockdale Career Academy, 1064 Culpepper Drive, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Jan. 3-6. For more information on free COVID-19 testing, visit www.rockdaleschools.org/covid19testing. The decision to return remotely was made after Superintendent Dr. Terry Oatts convened a virtual meeting with local health experts, including CEO of Piedmont Rockdale Hospital Blake Watts, Piedmont Rockdale Hospitals Chief Medical Officer Dr. Monica Hum, Laura Sistrunk of Piedmont Rockdale, local pediatricians Dr. Hugo Scornik and Dr. Kimberly Carr, Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale Health Departments (GNR) Medical Director Dr. Audrey Arona, and GNR Chief Clinical Officer Alana Sulka. In short, our local community spread is extremely significant, said Oatts. It was affirming to hear the public health officials in our meeting commend RCPS for our proactive COVID-19 mitigation measures and commitment to the public health safety and well-being of our students and staff. We will continue to promote regular testing and vaccinations to include the boosters for those eligible stakeholders. Oatts said the delay in returning to in-person instruction allows staff and students time to get tested after holiday gatherings and travel. The Newton School System announced its return to a mask mandate on Dec. 29. Teachers reported for a workday Monday and students returned Tuesday. Newton County has seen a significant spike in COVID-19 cases during the holiday break, and we must implement another temporary mask mandate, said Newton County School Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey. We have kept in contact with the medical professionals at both Piedmont Newton Hospital and the Gwinnett Newton Rockdale (GNR) Health Department throughout the holidays. She added, As a result of the increased cases and conversations with the medical professionals we will move forward with the temporary mask mandate until such time that the number of positive cases decreases in our community. It is important that everyone in our community do their part to help reduce the spread of this virus. Its critical that all members of our community wear a mask, wash their hands often, and watch their distance when out in public or around those not in their immediate family. In addition, if you or your child are eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccination or booster, please do so. We must do everything we can if we are going to keep our schools open throughout the remainder of the school year. Fuhrey noted that children ages 5 years and older are eligible to receive vaccinations for COVID-19. Interested parents may find a vaccine site by visiting the website: www.vaccines.gov. According to Fuhrey, Newton County Schools will continue its COVID-19 mitigation protocols to include social distancing as practical, disinfecting of classrooms and school buses, encouraging frequent handwashing, providing hand sanitizer, and offering bottle refilling stations, in addition to the wearing of masks. The district also offers weekly COVID-19 testing for students and staff, and Fuhrey said it is not too late to sign up. Parents and school system staff need only contact the school nurse to sign up for testing, said Fuhrey. Its also important to remember, that students who are experiencing symptoms such as a cough, congestion, sore throat, fever, headache, nausea and increased fatigue, etc., should stay home and parents should notify the school. Keeping students who are not feeling well at home will help us keep our schools open. We are going to do everything we can to keep students and staff safe and keep our doors open for in-person instruction, she added. I just want parents to be forewarned that as numbers increase, we may need to close individual classrooms or entire school buildings, so please have a plan in place for your household. Oatts said the Rockdale School System will review new COVID guidance from the CDC with public health officials and continue contact tracing in the schools. We ask our parents to continue to report to your school any positive test results or exposure to COVID-19, he said. Most importantly, we need all students and staff who are ill to stay home. It will take the efforts of everyone to reduce the spread of the virus, especially this rapidly transmitted omicron variant. NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- As the United States sees new records of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations with the surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, large parts of the country are increasingly intimidated by the virus and schools are caught in a predicament. ALARMING FIGURES More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, according to official data, the highest number since late summer when the Delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases. The figure reflected the 27 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week. Average daily new deaths from COVID-19 declined by 8 percent. Hospitalization numbers better capture the pandemic's impact than infection figures, Anthony Fauci, the U.S. president's chief medical adviser, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. The worst day of the pandemic for hospitalizations was Jan. 14, 2021, with more than 142,000. Also on Monday, the United States shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and government decisions to ease prevention and control measures in the country. As of 0500 GMT Tuesday, the country registered about 1.07 million confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Wall Street Journal reported that "the U.S. reported a record 1.08 million COVID-19 infections on Monday as most states worked to clear backlogs after pausing during the New Year's holiday." The new record pushed the seven-day average of daily reported infections to 480,273, nearly double the peak reached at the height of last winter's case surge. So far, the United States has remained the country worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths. SOUTHERN SURGE The United States is heading into the third year of the coronavirus pandemic with the extremely contagious Omicron variant poised to ignite a firestorm of infection across the Southeast after exploding through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, reported The Washington Post on Tuesday. "Lower vaccination rates and fewer mask and vaccine mandates have created a much different environment for the Omicron variant to spread in the South, leaving experts unsure whether outbreaks will end up deadlier than in the North," said the report. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the states experiencing the sharpest increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations since Christmas, and "the situation may only get worse, as initial outbreaks in metropolitan areas spread to more poorly vaccinated rural regions," it said. Georgia has shattered records, with nearly 1 in 3 tests coming back positive in the last week of December, and in metro Atlanta, nearly half of tests were positive. New daily infections in Florida have hit an average of about 43,000, far above the peak of 23,000 reached during the Delta variant surge in the summer. In the meantime, Louisiana also has surpassed daily infection records set during its summer surge, with 12,500 cases reported on Thursday, which state officials said was nearly twice the record established in August. David Rubin, who monitors coronavirus trends nationally for PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he expects the Southeast to be a major driver of the nation's cases this month. "We are going to continue to have waves in the new year that I think will become lesser in amplitude over time," said Rubin. SCHOOL REOPENING Amid the pandemic surge, the first physical CES electronics show in two years will kick off this week in Las Vegas, though organizers have shortened the tech event by a day, and several major companies have pulled out. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds, and shortened to five months the time required between the second dose of the vaccine and a booster. Amid the booster stimulus, a majority of schools across the country are reopening for in-person learning this week despite the Omicron surge, mindful of the academic, logistical and social-emotional disruptions that remote education inflicted last year and determined to avoid a repeat. However, "the Omicron surge threatens to upend any sense of peace in the nation's education system," reported The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that after a holiday break that saw COVID-19 cases spike unrelentingly, a small but growing list of districts moved temporarily to remote learning for more than 450,000 children. "Districtwide closures, even those that last for a week or two, are a step backward after months in which classrooms largely remained open," said the report. There were growing fears from parents and educators that more districts would soon turn to remote learning, even though in-school transmission of COVID-19 has been limited. Official data last week showed that pediatric hospital admissions had reached a record high in the United States. The hospitalizations are primarily among unvaccinated people -- cumulative hospitalization rates through November are about 10 times higher for unvaccinated children ages 12 to 17. Enditem Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday plans to extend his Executive Order 224 to mandate testing and vaccination for state employees. Danvers, MA (01923) Today Overcast with rain showers at times. High 56F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 44F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- American support for conspiracy theories and armed rebellion has long existed before the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 last year, an article on the Australian news website The Conversation has said. In her article, Amanda Crawford, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut, explained how a 2013 poll on public perception of gun control and armed rebellion evolved from being considered "too unbelievable to be true" at the time to having gained serious attention even from those who originally dismissed it. The 2013 poll, which was carried out by Fairleigh Dickinson University following 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 people were killed, found widespread doubts about that shooting and shockingly high support for armed rebellion. Besides, a whopping 44 percent of Republicans said that armed rebellion might soon be necessary in the United States to protect liberties, according to Crawford. "If reality doesn't fit what you want it to be, you have to change what you believe, or you have to change reality," Daniel Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, was quoted by Crawford as saying. "It's easier for people who believe strongly in gun rights to say it didn't happen rather than change their minds" about guns, Cassino added. Philip Bump, now a national correspondent at The Washington Post, was quoted as saying in an article published then by The Atlantic magazine that "the poll is at-best semi-scientific and should probably not be taken seriously." Bump, who has written about the Jan. 6 insurrection, told Crawford in a recent phone call that he would not dismiss the poll today like he did back then. Cassino said the finding of the poll didn't necessarily indicate that regular people would pick up arms, but it did show this notion was becoming part of the Republican partisan identity. Crawford also mentioned several polls in 2021 after the Capitol insurrection, which showed that a troublesome portion of Americans think political violence, and even a civil war, is necessary in today's America. "The actual armed insurrection that happened in January (2021) showed us this is a real strain in American politics that has gotten stronger and is not going away," Cassino said. Enditem Scott Beede returns an undersized lobster while checking traps off Mount Desert, Maine, on May 21. As an intervenor in a case calling for more protections from fishing gear for right whales, the state of Maine can file briefs and make arguments, but is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant. The Orion Nebula is expected to bring a new treat this year. Lasting from the holiday season up to a few weeks of January, the collection of stars will be presenting one of its most colorful and brightest shows in the first quarter of 2022. The spectacular light was first captured by experts from the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO Captures Bright Glow of Orion's Flame Nebula The Orion's latest light show was confirmed by scientists as natural activities inside the nebula, and not some threatening explosion or burning manifestation brought by any cosmic collision inside the region. The 'fire' on the image is known as the Orion's Flame Nebula, taken through the advanced imaging technique from ESO's famous facility located at Chile's Chajnantor Plateau called the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment or APEX. Former ESO astronomy expert Thomas Stanke was the specialist responsible for capturing the unexpected astral gift this new year. In the image, the bright Flame Nebula was charted in its glowing form side by side with the little Horsehead Nebula. During his time on ESO, Stanke and their team managed to locate and examine the said region for studies through the APEX instrument called SuperCam. Stanke said in a report by EurekAlert that most astronomers follow a tradition that involves an observation over the space where Orion sits whenever a new imaging device is developed and made available for use. The scientists believe that through this conventional practice, they will discover more interesting aspects from the nebula that has not been located in the initial analysis. Because of the survey they did back in the previous years, Stanke and their team indeed captured an image that was only developed for the first time. The detailed investigation from the new photograph of the Orion's Flame Nebula was published today in the journal Astrophysics of Galaxy, titled "The APEX Large CO Heterodyne Orion Legacy Survey (ALCOHOLS). I. Survey overview." ALSO READ: NASA Finally Unfolds James Webb Space Telescope Giant Sunshield in Space Other Lights in the Latest Orion Imaging Orion is among the most common celestial regions that even kids know of. The place was observed multiple times in numerous studies, and most of their findings suggest that Orion houses many cosmic objects, stellar bodies, and even molecular clouds. The nebula is also filled with hydrogen, one of the basic ingredients to form planets and stars. Orion Nebula is located just 1300 to 1600 lightyears away from our planet, making it the closest collection of molecular clouds to the sun. The region is considered by our scientists as the most active among the many stellar nurseries placed on the outskirts of the solar system. This claim was evident in the recently developed image of the Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula, located at the heart of Orion itself. The emission seen on the image is a cluster of newborn stellar bodies that contain high-energy radiation. This causes the gas in the region to somehow glow. The frame of Flame Nebula included other alluring presentations including the reflection of the nearby stars and gas in the Messier 78 and the NGC 2071. A smaller nebula, called the Cow Nebula, was also discovered for the first time through the surveys that Stanke's team have conducted. RELATED ARTICLE: Failed Russian Satellite Could Make An Uncontrolled Re-Entry This Week Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times. Twice in the last two months, Kendra Riley appeared before legislative committees to implore for the passage of a bill that she feels could ease the burden for parents who endure the heartbreaking ordeal that befell her family in March 2020. In the beginning of the pandemic, arts educator Ana Maria Campoy got a message from one of the teachers she worked with in Mount Vernon asking for help finding masks for students and their families, many of whom still had to work in person in the food industry. As Campoy rallied her colleagues to help (most out of work at the time) she was flooded with messages from around the state: the schools she worked with, most in rural and farming communities, needed help. Using the resources she and her fellow artists had in spades: empty theater spaces, creative skills and eagerness to help, they came together to form WashMasks, with a mission to get masks to farmworkers and their families. Nearly two years later, Campoy and her fellow volunteers have created a mutual aid organization in support of Washington states farmworkers with a wide-ranging mission to provide care, creative joy and community. What started with that single text in May 2020 grew exponentially: at the end of 2021, WashMasks and partner Olympia Family Theatre received a grant through the CDC Foundation (Yep, that CDC, says Campoy) to increase vaccine confidence in farmworking communities. Over the summer, they assisted with farmworkers evacuated from fires and currently are working to supply fields with cooling stations before the heat of summer comes back. As a mutual aid organization, Campoy explains, We dont touch big money, but they do work with non-profits to help guide money to the right place, including projects like getting utility bills paid for workers through a partnership with Nuestra Casa. Unlike charity, mutual aid is a collaborative effort to meet the needs of the community, and in particular, Campoy saw opportunity in the skills of her fellow artists, and the unique shared connection between them and the migrant farmworkers in the communities in which she taught all over the state. People really love and go toward our products, she says. But no one understands the process behind it. Both groups often move for work, live as a guest in the community and need to fight to be regarded as skilled and deserving to earn money. The theater world also shut down early in the pandemic, leaving her connections with free time and resources, when they could get them. All our buildings were empty, she said. We had to understand our assets: Yes, you dont have income, but if youre a community organization, what are you doing for our community? Actors used their speaking skills to make phone calls, musicians wrote songs, costume people made masks and now set designers are creating cooling stations for the fields. I called in every favor I had, she remembers. One of the most rewarding parts of WashMasks for Campoy has been watching friends and colleagues who felt helpless in the pandemic and seeing, They can do something and that it matters. It makes an impact and also they have specific skills that are needed and valued and necessary, says Campoy. [Theyre] bringing justice in society because they are creative, because they are artists. From afar, the many different ways that WashMasks helps seem scattered from locating translators for Indigenous languages spoken by farmworkers to hiring young people in the community to help create plays to combat vaccine hesitancy. But behind the scenes, the core of the organization stems from the idea that all types of justice are tied into food, and thus the people who work to grow and harvest it, and that, as Campoy puts it, Believing we have to do something. More than anything, though, what they do comes from listening to the communities they work with just like the original text from the teacher in search of masks for students. We got in touch with the community, and specifically a lot of the incredible community organizers that are all around the state, says Campoy, asking, What does your community need? That means WashMasks volunteers started a food pantry at a high school, drove cars loaded up with hygiene kits to rural communities, and helped identify landlords threatening to call ICE on their tenants if they complained about leaks causing skyrocketing utility bills. As WashMasks nears two years of work connecting artists and its skills and continues to find new resources to help their mission including the recent CDC Foundation grant Campoy works to define who they are and what they are doing more precisely, but not at the expense of limiting the mission. We are not paid, we are volunteers, this is not our job, she says. We dont want to make this our job, or to make this a 501c3 organization. Thats not the goal at all. Right now, they just want to get more people talking about the issues and involved in helping. She notes that many of the major injustices they witnessed with farmworkers going without water in heat, working through fire evacuations, and lacking hygiene facilities in the fields continue because they happen in the shadows. The biggest thing people can do is just get loud about it and pay attention, she says. And with WashMasks, Campoy and her peers make it easy to do even more. For anyone interested in joining or donating, WashMasks continues to collect masks for both Covid and smoke safety as well as donations of household needs diapers, detergent, and particularly washable period products. And, of course, they still always need people, their original resource. We all have skills, says Campoy. We try to leave it as a constantly open door, letting people volunteer as much or as little as they can, in the way that fits them best. While they keep much of their general information on their website, she recommends their Instagram as the best source for up-to-date information about current projects and upcoming needs, including preparing the cooling station designs this month in the hopes of getting them tailored to the community soon, built in the spring, and in place by May, before the heat settles in. @ Didier Marti/Getty Images Two bills filed by Democratic state lawmakers Tuesday seek to make a number of changes to the state's new long-term care benefit, which will be funded by a payroll tax on millions of Washington workers. One bill originally sponsored by House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan (D-Covington) would delay collection of the payroll tax until July 1, 2023. That tax, 0.58% of a workers total wages, went into effect on Jan. 1. Under the law, employers must deduct the tax from their employees earnings and then remit it to the state. After a group of Democratic leaders in the state Senate urged Gov. Jay Inslee to delay collection of the tax before the new year, Inslee ordered the states Employment Security Department to not collect that tax from employers. Inslee said he did not have the authority to prevent employers from collecting the tax from their employees; only the state Legislature has the authority to do that, he said. Even though the states Employment Security Department has been ordered not to collect the tax, employers are required under the law to take the tax from their employees. Another provision in Rep. Sullivans bill would require the state to refund any premiums that were taken from workers between Jan. 1 and the date in which the bill goes into effect. The long-term care benefit known as the WA Cares Fund was passed by the Legislature in 2019. It essentially serves as state-provided long-term care insurance. Beginning in 2025, eligible adults can begin claiming up to $36,500 to pay for long-term care costs, such as delivered meals and in-home care. But a number of problems with the program were highlighted in the months leading up to the time when the state would begin collecting the payroll tax. The main criticism is that many will be forced to pay into the program but will never see any benefits. That includes roughly 150,000 people who work in Washington but live elsewhere, such as Idaho or Oregon. It also includes older adults who plan to retire soon you have to pay into the program for at least three consecutive years to receive benefits along with those who move or retire in a different state, and military members rotating in and out of Washington. The second bill filed by Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor) would remedy some of those problems. It would allow the following people to opt out of the payroll tax: those living in another state, spouses or partners of active military members, and temporary workers with nonimmigrant visas. The two bills were pre-filed Tuesday, meaning theyll be able to receive hearings as soon as the Legislature is in session. Lawmakers will convene for the 2022 legislative session on Jan. 10. SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in emphasized the importance of talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday after Pyongyang's suspected missile test-firing earlier in the day. "There are concerns that tensions could be created and the stalemate of South-North relations could deepen further because of that," Moon said in a groundbreaking ceremony for a railway at an eastern inter-Korean border town. He noted that the two sides should not give up dialogue to fundamentally overcome such a situation, urging the DPRK to make efforts for dialogue in a more earnest way. Moon's remark came hours after the DPRK fired an unidentified projectile towards its eastern waters. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the military detected the projectile, presumed to be a ballistic missile launched from a site in the DPRK's northern province of Jagang towards the East Sea at about 8:10 a.m. local time (2310 GMT on Tuesday). It noted that the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States were analyzing details of the projectile. The JCS said the South Korean military was closely monitoring relevant situations and maintaining readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States to prepare for the possible additional missile launch by the DPRK. It marked the DPRK's first missile test in 2022. The last test-firing was conducted on Oct. 19 last year when the DPRK test-launched a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile. The South Korean president attended the ceremony to build a single-track railway from the east inter-Korean border town of Jejin to the eastern coastal city of Gangneung. Reconnecting roads and railways across the inter-Korean border was one of the agreements reached by Moon and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un during their summit in 2018 at the border village of Panmunjom. Denuclearization talks between the DPRK and the United States have been stalled since the second summit between the DPRK leader and former U.S. President Donald Trump ended without an agreement in February 2019 in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States held phone talks following the DPRK's missile test-launch, according to the South Korean foreign ministry. Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, talked over the phone with his U.S. counterpart Sung Kim about the DPRK's projectile launch and discussed ways to respond to it. The two sides agreed to continue close cooperation and make efforts for the resumption of dialogue with the DPRK. South Korea's presidential National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency meeting, expressing concerns about the DPRK's projectile launch, according to the Blue House. The NSC members said the DPRK's missile launch came when the stability of the Korean Peninsula situation was needed at home and abroad, emphasizing the importance of the resumption of talks with Pyongyang to relieve the inter-Korean tensions. Enditem The state of printed news - Part I The final run of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder at River's Edge heads into the folder July 14, 2020. In Montana, there are more than a half dozen newspaper presses still in operation with facilities in Billings, Kalispell, Helena, Bozeman, Livingston, Anaconda and Havre. Some of these facilities print several other publications in addition to their own material. In recent years, the Missoulian, the Great Falls Tribune and River's Edge (Great Falls) presses have gone silent. MONTANA - Newspapers around the country have seen sweeping changes in their structure within the last decade. Declining print numbers have forced publications to adapt to new markets and adopt new strategies. According to a 2021 article titled, "22 US Newspaper Circulation Statistics You Should Be Aware Of" from Letter.ly, an online job board for journalists, weekday print circulation decreased from 63.3 million copies in 1984 to 28.5 million in 2018. The current U.S. newspaper print circulation is the lowest it has been since 1940 when official circulation data began being published. According to The New York Times, in 2019 more than one in five papers in the U.S. shut down in the last 15 years. Kevin Slimp, author for the Newspaper Academy, conducted a survey with approximately 600 publishers around the U.S. during the first half of 2020. Almost two-thirds of respondents were weekly publications while another quarter came from papers that publish two or more times a week. The remaining responses came from monthly or exclusively digital publications. Almost half of the respondents said that they are printing about as many copies as the year before while 42.25% are printing less. A little over five percent of respondents said they were printing more. Of those that saw a reduction, 38% said that it was less than a five percent decrease. The Pew Research Center reported in June 2021 that the total estimated circulation of weekday U.S. daily newspapers declined from 44,421,000 in 2011 to an estimated 24,299,333 in 2020. This is a decrease of over 45%. Consistent industry declines beg the question, "Is print in Montana dead?" To compare the current state of Montana's newspapers to the national average, the Pathfinder requested annual Sworn Statement of Circulation reports from Montana counties from 2011 to 2020. Publications are required to submit annual circulation reports in order to be recognized as a paper of record within the county. The study focused on paid publications. Publications that had an insufficient number of reports and free publications were excluded. Of the 79 Montana Newspaper Association members, the Pathfinder received data for 25 publications, six daily and 19 weekly. Two publications, the Seeley Swan Pathfinder and Yellowstone County News, saw respective circulation growths of 28% and 50% in print circulation over the last 10 years while the remaining 23 declined. In the past decade, these 25 publications collectively dropped an average of 28% in print circulation. Weekly publications saw an average decline of almost 25% while daily publications dropped by nearly 40% on average. Based on this sample data, Montana daily publications have fared slightly better in the 2010s compared to the collective circulation of daily papers across the U.S. The Pathfinder was unable to find nationwide data showing the circulation rate for weeklies. Over the next two weeks, the Pathfinder will look closer at daily and weekly publications. In the following articles, Montana publishers will talk about potential outside factors that could have affected print circulation and what methods they have taken to adapt to the shifting market. Read the original article on Business Insider. Special-operations forces have become US policymakers' go-to choice for contingencies around the world. Special-operations units offer a high-reward, low-risk option who can stay out of the spotlight if necessary. Decades of combat experience have made US Special Operations Command a well-oiled machine with a reputation for devastating effectiveness. But that hasn't always been the case. In a twist of fate 34 years ago, SOCOM, then new and untested, went to war for the first time, squaring off against the enemy who helped create it. A Phoenix rises On April 24, 1980, a special-operations task force composed of US Air Force Air Commandos, US Army Rangers, and the Army's newly established Delta Force went into Iran to attempt one of the most daring special-operations missions in history. A few months prior, Iranian revolutionaries had stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and taken American diplomats hostage. Negotiations with the Iranians were failing, so President Jimmy Carter green-lit Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the hostages. Marine Corps and Air Force aviators supported the hodgepodge commando force, but everything fell apart when a helicopter struck a transport aircraft on the ground in Iran. Eight US personnel were killed, and the hostages remained in captivity. A congressional committee found that the disjointed nature of the operation, which brought together units from across the military, was one of the primary reasons for its failure. The committee recommended that the Department of Defense create a dedicated special-operations command. As a result, the Nunn-Cohen Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1987 brought SOCOM to life. SOCOM brought together all the US military's special-operations units and added some new ones such as the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the "Night Stalkers." The organization was only three months old when it was called it into action against a familiar enemy: Iran. A volatile region Taking advantage of the instability caused by the Iranian revolution in early 1979, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Army invaded Iran in late 1980, starting a bloody, eight-year war that saw gas attacks, large-scale tank battles, and daring air raids. Fighting also spilled into the Persian Gulf, through which much of the world's oil supply is shipped. Concerned that the war could disrupt that flow, and with prompting by local allies, the White House launched Operation Earnest Will in July 1987, deploying American warships to the Gulf to protect tankers from Iraqi and Iranian attacks. But the US special operators played a big part in the overall operation to stop attacks on neutral shipping. Operation Prime Chance From 1987 to 1989, SOCOM deployed Navy SEALs, Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC), and Night Stalkers for the command's first large-scale combat operation, Operation Prime Chance. Prime Chance was the secret part of Operation Earnest Will, and it gave SOCOM the opportunity to gets its feet wet and test tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as how its units functioned as a team. As SOCOM's dedicated maritime special-operations unit, the Navy SEALs were the perfect option to support Operation Prime Chance. Rotating SEAL platoons were on standby to conduct Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) operations against suspected vessels and take down any that presented a threat or were caught laying mines. SWCC commandos operating heavily armed special-operations boats were key in intercepting enemy vessels and supporting SEAL platoons during VBSS and direct-action operations. Night Stalkers supported Operation Prime Chance with several aircraft. AH-6 Little Bird gunships and MH-6 transport/assault helicopters were staged on US Navy ships and floating sea bases to hunt for Iranian vessels laying mines. The MH-6s would buzz over the Persian Gulf searching for Iranian minelayers. When they found one, they would guide in AH-6s for an attack. MH-60 Blackhawks provided overwatch support and were on standby for combat-search-and-rescue operations. In addition to large minelaying vessels, US special operators and the Navy had to deal with Iran's fleet of small boats. The small but heavily armed boats used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps would swarm slow tankers like hyenas, attacking from all sides with high-explosive rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, and machine guns. The small boats could also lay mines. The Iranians used their oil platforms as observation posts to notify their small boats of potential targets. One of the most important encounters during Operations Prime Chance took place on September 21, 1987. US Navy ships were tracking the Iran Ajr, a minelayer suspected of laying mines in the Gulf. When MH-6 Little Birds spotted the Iranian vessels dropping mines into the sea, they called in the waiting AH-6s. The gunships made several runs against the ship with their mini-guns and rockets, inflicting serious damage. A Navy SEAL platoon that was standing by came in after the AH-6s and boarded the Iranian vessel, capturing the crew members who were still on board. After a thorough search, the SEALs scuttled the vessel with explosives. Mines aboard the Iran Ajr matched those on unexploded mines recovered after USS Samuel B. Roberts, a US Navy frigate, struck a mine and almost sank in April 1988. (US ships also faced attack from Iraqis.) After connecting Iran to the attack on the frigate, the US responded in force just a few days later. Operation Praying Mantis saw a US Navy task force attack the Iranian Navy, sinking three surface vessels, crippling another one, and destroying two oil platforms. It was the US Navy's largest naval engagement since World War II. An Alameda County Sheriffs Office recruit died after he was shot while driving on the freeway Tuesday afternoon in Oakland, officials said. California Highway Patrol officers responded to Interstate 580 where it transitions into westbound I-80 around 4:30 p.m. following a report of a single-vehicle crash. Officers found one man inside the car and he was suffering from a gunshot wound, CHP said in a statement. The man, whose identity had not been released, appeared to have swerved left after being shot, causing his car to crash into a guardrail, officials said. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries, officials said. We are saddened to report that a young ACSO employee was tragically (killed) near the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza in ... Oakland this evening while driving home from work, the sheriffs office tweeted. Sheriffs officials posted a video on Twitter showing deputies loading the body of the victim into a van, an American Flag draped over his body, ahead of a law enforcement procession from Highland Hospital in Oakland to the countys coroners bureau. Uniformed law enforcement officers stood in silence, their hands in a steady salute for the length of the 42-second video. Our Deputies have just loaded the body of our young police academy recruit for a law enforcement procession from Highland Hospital to our Coroners Bureau. We are heartbroken and disturbed by this senseless act of gun violence, sheriffs officials said on Twitter. A section of the freeway was temporarily shut down as officers investigated, but all lanes were back open by 8:30 p.m. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The shooting is under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the CHP investigation tip line at 707-917-4491. Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Jury trials in the Bay Areas federal courts will be suspended for three weeks because of the latest coronavirus surge, court officials said Wednesday. The announcement by the Northern District of California affects both civil and criminal trials at U.S. District Courts in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. It does not apply to state trials in Superior Court, which are still being held in San Francisco and other counties, with measures designed to protect participants and jurors. A photojournalist whose camera, cell phone and memory cards were seized by police in Sausalito has been assured by police and Marin Countys chief prosecutor that the items were not searched and will be returned to him unexamined. But a memo from a district attorneys investigator suggests otherwise. The memo, disclosed by an attorney for photojournalist Jeremy Portje, said the investigator, Brett Liddicoet, downloaded the contents of Portjes cell phone, photographed and visually inspected his camera and memory cards, and, as requested, delivered the items to a Computer Crimes Task Force. The memo was dated Dec. 21 and addressed to Liddicoets boss, District Attorney Lori Frugoli. It shows that the story is not over yet, said Portjes lawyer, Charles Dresow. Portje has been a Bay Area freelance and staff photographer for nearly 25 years. He was arrested Nov. 30, during a disturbance at a homeless encampment in Sausalito, where he was reportedly working on a documentary about homelessness. Police said Portje struck an officer in the face with his camera, contradicting witnesses quoted by the weekly Pacific Sun, who said an officer accidentally hit himself with the camera and then punched Portje while other officers handcuffed him. He was arrested on suspicion of battery and obstructing an officer, jailed and released the next day on $15,000 bail. Police kept his equipment, however, and obtained a warrant from Superior Court Judge Mark Talamantes on Dec. 9 to search the items, saying they might contain evidence that Portje was planning to confront or attack officers. They told Talamantes that Portje was known to be actively anti-police, and one officer at the scene said Portje was not a true objective journalist. The First Amendment Coalition, a media support group, said police were trying to suppress legitimate coverage. Dresow said police have no authority to define who is a legitimate journalist, and also cited Californias shield law, which in most cases prohibits police from searching journalists equipment and unpublished material. Frugoli, meanwhile, told police on Dec. 21 to put the case on hold and conduct no further inspection of Portjes property. On Dec. 28, she announced that her office was dropping the case against Portje because the evidence did not show he had intended to injure the officer. And both the district attorney and Police Chief John Rohrbacher said Portjes property would be returned to him without being searched. Those assurances, Dresow said Monday, are hard to reconcile with the Dec. 21 memo to Frugoli by Liddicoet, an investigator in her office. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. After police obtained the judicial search warrant, Liddicoet wrote, on Dec. 17, I downloaded the data from the cellphone to my forensic computer. I photographed and visually inspected the video camera and memory cards. He said he was not able to read or inspect any information from the memory cards, but that he placed all the items in a sealed envelope and delivered it to the office of the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, which provides technological support to law enforcement agencies. Theyre having a hard time keeping their stories straight, Dresow said. He said downloading the phone data could be considered a search, and officers could still examine the contents at any time. He said he wants the copies destroyed and the equipment returned to Portje as soon as possible, arguments he plans to make in court if necessary. Asked about Liddicoets memo, Frugolis office repeated its Dec. 28 message that the charges were being dropped and said it had no further comment. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Californians must curb their outdoor water use under statewide regulations adopted Tuesday as a stubborn drought continues to threaten water supplies despite recent storms. The State Water Resources Control Board voted to enact yearlong prohibitions on water uses considered wasteful, such as cleaning sidewalks or public medians with drinkable water, washing cars without an automatic shut-off nozzle and irrigating ornamental landscapes within 48 hours of measurable rain. Violations could result in $500-a-day fines. Some local water agencies already have similar regulations in place, but many do not. I do think it sends a message were still in a drought, said Laurel Firestone, a member of the state water boards governing body. Its critical everyone does their part. The vote enacts the first mandatory water limits of Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration. Despite pressure to impose statewide rationing with water shortages mounting, Newsom last year stopped short of ordering restrictions on how much water people use, instead opting to ask Californians to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 15%. The state, however, has not met Newsoms target, reducing water use by just 6% between July and November, according to the water board. November, the latest month for which data was available, showed some improvement over earlier months. Officials acknowledged the awkward timing of the new regulations, coming after significant December rainfall and historic snowfall in the Sierra Nevada. But winter storms havent provided enough precipitation to make up for two dry winters, said Eric Oppenheimer, chief deputy director of the state water board. Were not out of the woods yet, Oppenheimer said. Parts of the water system are still under stress by the drought. Early this week, Shasta Lake, Californias largest reservoir, contained half of the water it typically does at this time of year. Lake Oroville, the second largest reservoir, contained 74% of what it averages at this point. While a parade of winter storms has begun replenishing reservoirs and bringing much of California out of the worst of drought conditions, its still early in the wet season and the recent gains would mean little if the remainder of winter is dry. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The outlook is still very uncertain, said state climatologist Michael Anderson, with the California Department of Water Resources. And starting next week, the forecasts show things go dry, he said. The 2020 and 2021 water years, when combined, mark the driest two-year spell on record for California, Anderson noted, and the state has been mired in drought conditions about 50% of the time since 2000. Prohibited water uses Irrigating a lawn or other ornamental landscape with potable water to the point at which runoff washes onto the street or sidewalk. Washing a car without a shut-off nozzle on the hose. Hosing down driveways, sidewalks, patios and other hard surfaces with potable water unless health or safety are at risk. Filling decorative fountains or ponds with potable water, unless it's recirculated water. Watering a lawn or ornamental landscape within 48 hours of measurable rainfall. Using potable water for street cleaning or construction. Using potable supplies for watering street medians or strips between the sidewalk and street. See More Collapse While violations of the new rules could result in fines, the water board left enforcement of these limits mostly in the hands of local jurisdictions like municipal water agencies. The board Tuesday encouraged education over tough enforcement. Oppenheimer said the limits should signal to Californians that drought conditions still prevail throughout much of the state and will worsen if the rest of the winter is dry. Julie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @juliejohnson Jessie Palmatier had only been working at her job at an East Bay nonprofit for a few weeks before the pandemic forced offices to close across the Bay Area. Since then, shes been working fully remote with no end in sight. Shes been back to the office only once, she said, and that was in May 2020 to grab her computer monitor. The switch definitely took some adjustment. Palmatier, 30, had to arrange her home office as she was using it, making it comfortable, filling it with all the right things. But once I realized how much I was saving with my commute, and how much energy I had after work was done, I was like, This is awesome. When she needs a break she can kick a ball around with her dog in the backyard, which beats standing around a water cooler any day. Now, as the omicron variant once again scrambles well-laid plans, possibly killing the return-to-office date altogether, Palmatier, like millions of others, finds herself hoping shell never have to work in an office full time again. I sort of just have this impending dread of the possibility of being required to go back full time, Palmatier said. Ive learned my job and grown my role and all of that from my home office, so it would be more disruptive to make me go back to an office I only spent a few weeks in. Almost overnight, it seemed, the novel coronavirus transformed the way millions of Americans worked and just as quickly, some of the regions largest employers, like Salesforce, Facebook (now Meta) and Apple began to reimagine the very nature of work. As early as May 2020, the same month Palmatier collected her monitor, Meta began talking about a hybrid approach and the possibility of letting certain employees work from home forever. What might have seemed then like a niche, tech-world revolution has, by now, spread to nearly every sort of job where remote work is possible, said Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University and an expert in remote-work trends. About 50% of the American workforce, he said, has the ability to work from home of that 50%, he expects 40% will go hybrid while the remaining 10% will go fully remote. For a considerable part of the countrys labor force, and perhaps even a larger piece of the Bay Areas, the future is very clearly hybrid, Bloom said, the question is what exactly that will look like. Back in May 2020, he might have expected employees would only spend a day working from home. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle By May 2021, a year later, hybrid was becoming the norm, but at three-two, Bloom said, meaning three days in the office, two remote. By May 2022, I wouldnt be surprised if hybrids become the model at two-three. I think what omicron is doing is pushing up, slowly, the number of days people will see hybrid. By now, what some used to call the new normal is simply normal. In some sense, undoing the shift to remote work would feel just as strange as the first few months of working from home did. At San Franciscos Metromile, a pay-by-the-mile car insurance startup, the transition is already well under way. The company stopped guessing at a return to office date a while back, said Debra Jack, the senior vice president of communications. And, she said, even once the pandemic has faded, we have told metro milers they are welcome to work from anywhere. That wasnt always the case. I remember when we decided to go home in March of 2020, we thought it would be for about two weeks, Jack said. As the pandemic stretched on, though, it fundamentally changed their hiring model. It really gave us an opportunity to expand our hiring options and pull from places all around the country. Now, the company has employees in 30 states, she said. Their chief financial officer is based in Seattle, while their senior vice president of marketing lives in Richmond, Va. The companys offices are still open currently at 50% capacity, Jack said but most days there are very few people working there. Were still encouraging people to work from home if they want to and most Metromilers are taking us up on that. Another way to view this trend, Bloom said, is that employers, motivated in part by the hot job market and the possibility of recruiting talent wherever they live, are moving closer to what employees want. According to his surveys, a full half of employees who can work from home want a hybrid model, and ideally, theyd like to be in the office about only half of the week or less. For employers who resist the trend, Bloom said his surveys show that as many as 40% of employees would begin seeking new jobs if they were required to go back full time. William Young had spent his whole life in North Carolina until December 2019, when he made a cross-country move to San Francisco, where hed landed his first job out of college at an advertising firm. He loved the city, he said. Hed run along Marina Boulevard and across the Golden Gate Bridge. He visited Ocean Beach and hiked in the Marin Headlands. A few months in, though, the pandemic forced Young, 24, to reorient his life all over again. Like others who were able to work from home, Young decided to leave San Francisco. He went back to Greenville, N.C., where he could weather the storm at his parents place. The move was supposed to be temporary, but nearly two years later, theres no concrete end in sight and the pandemic has changed the way Young thinks about the future of work. He still has plans to return to San Francisco once the office reopens (whenever that may be) but he cant imagine returning to the office full time and neither do his employers expect him to. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. I was only a few months into office life and sort of getting slightly depressed at the cubicle five days out of the week, he said. At this point, its been so long of remote working that Ive just gotten used to it and really enjoy the perks of it. Brent Edwards, 51, recently packed up his workstation and moved from San Jose to Los Angeles with his wife, who is starting her dream job as a law librarian at UCLA. In the past, Edwards might have had to leave his job and go looking for something new, but in this remade world, there was no decision to make. Edwards has been working remotely as a programmer for Clari, a revenue operations platform in Sunnyvale, since he began in October 2020. And like Metromile, Clari has been actively hiring all over the United States, he said. Nearly a third of the companys engineers work remotely. Like most remote workers, Edwards is planning on occasional trips to the office at least one a month. Its important to be seen. But, he added, I dont have much of a desire to go into the office. The times Ive been there Ive been less productive. Now mind you, the reason Ive been less productive is because Im talking to people, Im getting my face out there. Travis Gohr, a product designer at Google who lives in the Outer Sunset, has noticed the same thing with his own productivity. For all the concerns employers may have had initially about letting employers work on their own, Gohr, 42, finds hes much better able to optimize his time at home. Being in an office, Ive just realized I get less done, he said. Im hunting for meeting rooms. Theres just a bunch of options of stuff to do. Even lunch, I can go to a really nice Google cafeteria, but all of that just means then Im at the office more to get the same amount of work done. At home, he can put in headphones and concentrate, no distractions. Its great not having to spend 100 minutes a day commuting, he said. And its nice to be able to walk out in the backyard and spend 10 minutes out there. Gohr started his job at Google in the midst of the pandemic, so when variants are no longer a daily topic of conversation, he expects to work some sort of hybrid schedule he wants to make sure to enjoy all the perks that the tech giant has spent decades refining. Still, he said, I keep getting a little excited every time they delay. Ryan Kost is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkost@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @RyanKost San Francisco schools wont have to pay the $3.2 million cost of a school board recall vote in February, with the Board of Supervisors opting to cover the districts share of the election. The 10-1 vote Tuesday reverses a previous vote in mid-December by the supervisors that denied the funding support. While seven supervisors supported the idea then, the proposal required a super-majority to pass. Mayor London Breed previously voiced support for covering the districts cost of the Feb. 15 election, while also endorsing the recall of all three board members up for recall: President Gabriela Lopez, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and board member Alison Collins. If any of the school board members are recalled, Breed will appoint replacements, with those seats up for election in November. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman proposed the legislation to have the city pay the districts election costs, saying the unanticipated financial hit could mean more cuts for classrooms given the districts $125 million shortfall next year. The $3.25 million equals more than 30 teacher salaries or eight mental health wellness centers for students, Mandelman said in December. Meanwhile, the city is anticipating a $100 million budget surplus over the next two years. Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of the school board recall, but it is sad that we couldnt agree our public school students shouldnt bear the costs. Mandelman supports recalling Collins and Lopez, but hasnt taken a position on Moliga. Supervisor Hillary Ronen brought back the measure requiring the city to fund the districts share of the election, which will also include a vote for state Assembly District 17, which was vacated by David Chiu when he was appointed city attorney, and to fill the position of assessor-recorder. Im really frustrated with the school district in a million different ways and we need a new type of leadership over there, but right now were just talking dollars and cents, said Ronen before Tuesdays vote. They cant afford this $3 million. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton was among the four to oppose the funding measure in December, saying there was plenty of time to consider the idea since the district wouldnt pay for the election in advance, but reimburse the city at a later day. He voted to support the measure Tuesday. Supervisor Aaron Peskin was the lone vote against the funding for the district, with Gordon Mar and Dean Preston reversing their previous no vote. The measure will face a procedural second vote later this month. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker A Humboldt County man has been missing for five days after apparently paddling out to sea to set up a treasure hunt. Hunter Nathaniel Lewis, a 21-year-old resident of Blue Lake, outside of Arcata, was last seen paddling his 15-foot green fiberglass canoe in Trinidad Harbor, headed south. He was reported missing on the afternoon of Dec. 30, and a search party was organized to include Humboldt County Sheriffs Special Services deputies on land and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and boat. Lewis is believed to have paddled out to hide unknown objects as part of a treasure hunt that he was creating for friends, according to Samantha Karges, public information specialist with the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office. After searching into the night on Dec. 30 and resuming the search all day New Years Eve, the intensive search was suspended, Karges said. On Tuesday, the missing mans father, Corey Lewis of Blue Lake, told The Chronicle he believes his sons canoe hit a reef while paddling out to bury pieces of treasure or clues on Flatiron Rock, far out in the ocean. As evidence, a piece of a wooden bucket used in the treasure hunt had washed up on Trinidad State Beach Tuesday morning. Lewis said his son is an experienced canoeist and kayaker. He did not know if his son was wearing a life jacket, though he was reportedly seen wearing a wet suit. Lewis said a helicopter search did not find any evidence on Flatiron Rock and that fire department rescue divers will continue the search as soon as the ocean clears. He could not have survived in the cold water for this long, he said. Lewis said his son had spent a year planning an elaborate treasure hunt for a dozen family and friends who have a treasure hunting tradition. The hunt was launched when Lewis came home from Christmas break at CSU Long Beach, where he was studying to be an engineer. The hunt had been ongoing for three days and was to have concluded on New Years Eve, Lewis said. On New Years Day, family and friends continuing their search found a piece of Lewiss canoe washed up on the beach north of Elk Head. The search was resumed with a foot patrol and Coast Guard flight but nothing was found. Corey Lewis, later posted to Facebook a photo of a wooden box that had also washed ashore. Hed given it to his son during a childhood treasure hunt. After the official search was suspended, the volunteer search continued. A Facebook page called Trinity, CA. Search for Hunter Lewis has 2,000 members, with people reporting their areas of coverage. On Monday, Corey Lewis, founder and lead master at Mindbody Mastery, a holistic health service in Arcata, posted a thank you to volunteers out there searching for signs of my lost son. Your dedication and help means the world to me and we have found many answers already. I will post more later but thanks to your work we are isolating exactly where he went down and getting much closer to locating him. Hunter Lewis was described as a white male, approximately 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 135 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He is a graduate of Arcata High School and had received his pilots license and flew a Cessna in a flying club at CSU Long Beach, where he is in his junior year. Corey Lewis said he was able to access his sons computer and crack the code on the treasure hunt, which pointed to Flatiron Rock as a destination. Anyone who saw Lewis in the Trinidad area or has any information regarding his current whereabouts is urged to contact the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office at 707-445-7251. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf The lightning-fast spread of the omicron variant has not only added urgency to the COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign, but has already prompted discussion of whether a second booster will be needed. On Monday, Israel became the first country to offer a fourth shot meaning two initial doses and then two boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. While critics have said not enough data yet exists to justify the second booster, Israeli officials say that as the omicron wave takes over, the move will protect the first group of recipients: people 60 and older, immunocompromised people and health workers. Israeli officials on Tuesday pointed to a new study showing antibodies jumped fivefold after a fourth dose. If further research bolsters those conclusions, efforts to provide fourth doses could spread to other countries. Heres what is known so far about second boosters, their safety and potential effectiveness, and whether they might roll out in the U.S. How are vaccines and boosters holding up against omicron? Evidence so far shows that two doses of vaccine provide significantly less protection against omicron compared to other variants. Two doses of mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna offer about 30% to 40% protection against omicron infection, while adenovirus vaccines including Johnson & Johnsons appear to offer almost no protection. Against hospitalization and severe disease from omicron, mRNA vaccines are about 65% to 70% effective, according to recent studies. After an MRNA booster, estimates show vaccine efficacy is about 70 to 75% against infection with omicron. A recent U.K. study found that booster recipients were 81% less likely to be hospitalized with severe disease. But another recent British study shows booster protection wanes over time, going from 60% to 70% effectiveness against infection after a few weeks to 35% to 45% after 10 weeks. Still, experts say its too early to draw broad conclusions about decreasing immunity in boosters. What are the current U.S. booster guidelines? In the U.S., officials are still pushing for everyone eligible to get boosted, with the CDC reporting that only one-third of the population has received a booster dose so far. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded booster eligibility to individuals 12 to 15 years old at least five months after they complete a two-dose vaccine series. On Tuesday, the CDC shortened the interval for Pfizer recipients to get a booster shot from six months to five months. Moderna vaccine recipients should still get their boosters at least six months out from their second dose, and those who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are advised to get boosted two months after their initial shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October updated its guidelines allowing immunocompromised individuals to receive a fourth dose at least six months after their third dose. But some people with weakened immune systems reportedly have gone ahead and gotten unapproved fourth, and sometimes even fifth, doses before the six-month mark. Whats the science saying so far about the safety and effectiveness of additional doses? Very little is known so far about the effectiveness of fourth doses. While the Israeli study offered promising results, some experts have said its possible that a second booster could lower the bodys immune response. But Julie Parsonnet, an epidemiologist with Stanford, said she believes there is little risk on an individual level of a fourth shot. I dont think there is a right or wrong to this, she wrote in an email. Im glad Israel is doing this as a trial so well have more information to shape our own policies. Nadia Roan, a UCSF immunologist and investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, said while little is known about the effectiveness of a second booster, she suspects that it will temporarily boost antibody levels and likely decrease the risk of a breakthrough infection, much like the first booster has done. Parsonnet said its too early to tell the effectiveness of a fourth dose. There is laboratory evidence that the third dose significantly increases both neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses against omicron, she said. How this translates into protection against illness is still being determined, but I imagine it will provide significant protection against serious illness and less protection against upper respiratory types of infections, particularly in the elderly. Additional booster doses would benefit elderly and immunocompromised people as well as transplant patients, the experts said. Parsonnet said she understands why some people may be jumping the gun with additional shots. There is a lot of worrisome press about omicron and people want to protect themselves, she said. However, she added, I, personally, would wait for the clinical trials that will give more information. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. What are the concerns about rolling out fourth doses? Even as conversations about fourth doses gain steam, nearly half of the world population 49% still remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, according to the New York Times vaccine tracker. Experts say that moving forward with second boosters could further hinder the global vaccination effort, potentially prolonging the pandemic. Whats clearly needed to get out of this pandemic sooner is to get more unvaccinated people throughout the world to get vaccinated, Roan said. Widespread vaccinations will help COVID-19 become an endemic virus, Roan said, at which point regular vaccinations similar to flu inoculations will be recommended. Parsonnet echoed Roans concerns, saying everyone in the world must be vaccinated for everyone to be safe. What are the prospects for fourth doses in the U.S.? Late last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said that while a second booster might be on the horizon, the U.S. needs to take boosting one step at a time. It is conceivable that in the future we might need an additional shot, but, right now, we are hoping that we will get a greater degree of durability of protection from that booster shot, he said in a White House COVID-19 task force briefing. Parsonnet said approval of a fourth dose in the U.S. would likely depend on the trajectory of the pandemic and how many people lack strong immunity. So many people are getting infected with omicron right now that might be the equivalent of the fourth dose, she wrote in an email. If enough people get low grade infection, we may not need to boost again, at least in the short term. Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang The burden of saving American democracy from collapse should never fall on the shoulders of one person. But with the executive and legislative branches of government having been under Democratic control for nearly a year and thus far still unable to muscle essential voting rights protections through a Republican wall that Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are intent on buttressing, its easy to understand why the hopes and dreams of the preservation of American democracy would wind up in the lap of Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garlands Justice Department, of course, is charged with investigating and prosecuting any and all crimes stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Many are hopeful that this trail will ultimately lead to former President Donald Trump, thus neutralizing the cult of personality that has helped bring the country to the brink of one-party authoritarianism. Faced with the Atlas-like weight of these expectations, however, Garland hasnt made things any easier on himself. For the better part of a year, he has declined to indicate the extent of his prosecutorial ambitions, focusing his sporadic rhetoric instead on the violent foot soldiers who carried out the assault on the Capitol and not the architects of the uprising. After an initial wave of prosecutions of dozens of lower-level Jan. 6 insurrectionists, Garlands Justice Department has since descended into a stoic silence, broken only by a smattering of modest felony convictions. That the QAnon Shaman is behind bars hasnt brought the kind of national comfort many were hoping for a year after the assault. Garlands seeming lack of urgency boiled over in the run up to the Jan. 6 anniversary. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego went so far as to lash out on CNN: I think Merrick Garland has been extremely weak, and I think there should be a lot more of the organizers of Jan. 6 that should be arrested by now. This public pressure no doubt played some role in Garlands decision to address the nation on Wednesday. And his speech helped affirm that, yes, he understands the gravity of the position both he and the country are in and that he intends to act to the best of his abilities. Garland insisted that his Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. He further promised to follow the facts wherever they lead. That these relative platitudes should offer any comfort is indicative of just how loudly Garlands prior silence had been speaking. But Garland went further, too, linking the obvious dangers of violent political insurgence to the Supreme Courts gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the ensuing Republican state efforts to subvert the electoral process for their own Machiavellian ends. The Department of Justice will continue to do all it can to protect voting rights with the enforcement powers we have, Garland said. It is essential that Congress act to give the department the powers we need to ensure that every eligible voter can cast a vote that counts. It was an unusual bit of political advocacy from a nominally neutral player. But it was also a concession: Garland cannot save American democracy by himself. And he wants us to know it. Instead, he will follow the money on his Jan. 6 investigations, wherever they lead, with diligence and jurisprudence. We conduct every investigation guided by the same norms, and we adhere to those norms even when, and especially when, the circumstances we face are not normal ... As long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done consistent with the facts and the law. Its difficult to argue with quiet competence. The reality, however, is that American democracy may not have as long as it takes. Much has been made of the recent poll showing that 72% of those surveyed believe the people involved in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were mostly threatening democracy. That same poll, however, showed only 65% of Americans think Bidens election was legitimate down from 68% on Jan. 8 of last year. And 71% of Republicans now think Bidens election is illegitimate. Support for democracy is trending in the wrong direction. Silence is not going to turn those numbers around. Garland doesnt have to stoop to the mendacity of his predecessor, William Barr, to be effective. But he does have a bully pulpit. His speech Wednesday demonstrated how important it is that he use it. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. Regarding Preferences change in how to get around (Bay Area, Jan 2): BART and Caltrain serve suburban white collar workers with cars at their disposal, but bus systems enable real inner-city mobility for those without other options. We spend billions on large-scale rail projects for commuters, but bus service languishes in the Bay Area. Why? Who benefits from rail service? Who benefits from bus service? Instead of building a new Transbay Tube in 20 years, get bus lanes on the Bay Bridge today. Instead of SMART from Marin to Sonoma counties, make the bus pads on U.S. 101 top notch. San Francisco Munis T-line has been a boon for real estate development, but a failure for many transit riders, as evidenced by the introduction of the 15 bus to supplement rail service. It is time to stop this nonsense. Bus transit is cheaper, more flexible, scalable, less disruptive and integrated into our communities. Lets put our rail money into buses and have a lot more to show for it. Daniel Levy, Oakland GOP is becoming facist Regarding Political extremism is rising from both sides (Letters, Jan. 4): Marianne Haas rather misses the point about rising fascism in our country. The Democrats may hold the Senate, House and White House (for the moment; I personally hope after the November elections as well), but they are not using that power to suppress voting by opposition groups. Maybe they would if they could, but they arent. Nor are they empowering apparatchiks to overturn voters will in certifying elections. The Republican Party is. And the Democratic Party is not making personal loyalty to one individual the test of party membership. The Republican Party is. Just ask Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming. The Democratic Party does not have armed groups swearing loyalty to President Biden. Mr. Trump does. What do we call that? Bruce Colman, San Francisco Dog mauling is abuse Regarding Mauled driver sues San Ramon police (Front Page, Jan. 3): The dog mauling incident is one of the most egregious cases of police misconduct I have ever heard of, and I hope Ali Badr receives millions in restitution. It is telling that the San Ramon Police Department recommended to the district attorney that, in addition to felony auto theft, Badr be charge with resisting arrest. The department knew full-well it had overstepped its bounds and tried to cover it up. This is abuse of police power to the max. Thomas Wood, Nicasio Editorial is off kilter Regarding American Fascism on the Rise (Insight, Jan. 2): After a promising start, The Chronicles editorial soon descended into a realm somewhere between platitudes and incoherence. Denouncing leftist fashion in the same breath with bemoaning the effort to recall the governor made zero sense. Nor was there any logic to strongly implying that the left should be blamed for debating whether to turn the clock back on recent social justice reforms that have barely had time to launch. Norman Solomon, Point Reyes Station Dont help Texas Regarding State requests federal help (World-Nation, Jan. 2): Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, anti-vaxxer, anti-mask mandator, anti-social-distancing advocator, has the temerity to ask the federal government for help. The dire situation in Texas occurred because of his propaganda. Let Texas reap what it has sowed. Adele Grunberg, Oakland Immigration nightmare Regarding Asylum seekers 9-year wait for day in court (Front Page, Jan. 3): I wish to commend Deepa Fernandes for yet another outstanding article. That someone would have to wait another three years for a court date just because the judge was sick on the original date is unimaginable. For almost a decade, my younger sister has faced opioid addiction, and for nearly as long, Ive tortured myself with the illusion of control. If only I said the exact right words or found the perfect treatment option, I thought, then she would be safe. Power is what I craved. I wanted her addiction to be within my control, subject to my shortcomings, because maybe then I could work hard enough to make it stop. I hate this, she sobbed to me one day over the phone after her landlord issued an eviction notice and called the police. I want my life to be different. I booked a flight for the next day from California to Colorado to see her, sure I could leverage the crisis for lasting change. But once I arrived, my sisters phone went straight to voicemail. I knocked and knocked, and no one answered her door. On day three, I left a bouquet of grocery store flowers on the front seat of her car, its windows down despite the falling snow. Each time my interventions didnt go as planned, we both suffered. I felt like Id failed; she felt shed let me down. It wasnt until I accepted the limits of my control, until I was honest about my own needs alongside hers, that my efforts became effective and sustainable. Last month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency regarding drug use and crime in the Tenderloin, naming these issues as her top priorities. While I am glad to see broader attention and resources devoted to the Tenderloin, my caution is against reinforcing the age-old savior narrative. In light of my familys experience and as a volunteer with syringe access and overdose prevention programs in San Francisco, I know how counterproductive this frame can be. This myth of control over people who use drugs harkens back to stubborn, paternalistic ideas of codependence, enablement and tough love. Early into my experience with my sister, a therapist recommended a book published in the early 2000s on a well-regarded approach, Community Reinforcement and Family Training. The book was called Get Your Loved One Sober. Although it contained helpful insights, I was offended by the titles dismissal of my sisters agency and its implication that the onus of her recovery was on me. Nonetheless, it took me years to untangle myself from this way of thinking. The savior frame leaves out the staggering scale of support needed to assist people who use drugs. As a volunteer with the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project, San Francisco biggest naloxone distribution program, I have participated in the effort to train and equip community members to reverse overdoses. In 2021 alone, the use of naloxone largely within this grassroots network accounted for the reversal of over 6,000 overdoses in San Francisco. If you consider the tragic number of lives lost to accidental overdose in the city, 711 in 2020 and 592 in 2021, the effectiveness of this work speaks for itself. In November 2020, I traveled from San Francisco to Phoenix to support my sister. After years of relative stability on medication-assisted therapy, she had lost her job in the COVID-19 shutdowns, reconnected with an ex-boyfriend and moved from our native Colorado to Arizona. Without income, housing or existing support in the area, her drug use increased. By the time I flew out to meet her, she was living alone in a motel and using fentanyl every day. By this point, however, my sister was motivated to get help. She did the legwork to gather and print the materials needed to board a plane without her ID and messaged a friend for intel on detox facilities back in Denver. She stuck it out through lengthy waits in multiple intake rooms as dope sickness and fear of the unknown set in. We hit obstacles along a frustrating path. There was no clear entry point or information center for accessing systemic help. We tried the emergency room first, but unlike coming off alcohol or benzodiazepines, opiate withdrawal is not life-threatening, so the well-meaning staff turned us away. Many of the treatment programs we called had months-long waiting lists. We learned that public health insurance does not cover in-patient drug treatment in many states, including Colorado. What happens if someone doesnt have a place to stay while they wait for a bed in a treatment center? What if, even though you intend to stop using, its far easier to get and use the substances your body is dependent on than it is to access genuine support? If the exclusive outcome of the fentanyl crisis is a heightened police presence in the Tenderloin, we are missing the point. San Francisco needs safe consumption sites with medical supervision and clear on-ramps to treatment. The city needs more permanent supportive housing and case managers, health educators and other frontline staff need better pay. My job is not and has never been to save my sister. My job is to be honest, to act in integrity with my values, to believe in her, trust her, love her. Our job as a city is not to pluck people out of the proverbial dark basement one by one; it is to recognize our shared responsibility to renovate our whole house to make it bright, integrated and livable for all. Stefanie Demong is a freelance writer, producer and creative strategist. In his speech on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, an uncharacteristically forceful U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland assured the American public that perpetrators of the insurrection, at all levels, will be held accountable. Many have been calling upon the attorney general to be more aggressive in both action and rhetoric. But Garland is right to follow his methodical approach. History shows that the Department of Justice must take action, but it must do so in a way that does not rely on weak evidence, undermine due process, or breach the trust of the American people. Political violence in America isnt a new phenomenon, although there has been a sharp rise in the past five years. In the immediate aftermath of last years deadly insurrection, many compared the event to the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 when, following a contested election, armed, coordinated groups of white-supremacists, known as the Red Shirts, Rough Riders and members of the White Government Union, burned down the African American community center in Wilmington, N.C. The insurrectionists indiscriminately shot and killed dozens of Black citizens and forced all Black and anti-racist office holders to resign. The murderous mob was never held accountable. But unlike the governments response to the Wilmington insurrection, the Jan. 6 attack has led to over 700 arrests. Most are for misdemeanor charges such as entering and remaining in any restricted building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Many defendants, though, have been charged with felonies related to the assault on the Capitol, obstruction of Congress, and less frequently, conspiracy. Although more needs to be done, the arrests so far are much more far-reaching and aggressive than the consequences faced by a different group of extremists intent on attacking members of Congress and overturning the government. In the late 1930s, a mob known as the Christian Front formed around the fiery, anti-Semitic radio talk show host, Father Charles E. Coughlin. Energized by Coughlins sermons, his followers started street fights, smashed the windows of Jewish-run businesses and used other intimidation methods to threaten and terrify American progressives. In January 1940, the FBI arrested 17 members of the terrorist group when it uncovered a plot to bomb buildings and bridges, seize power plants, assassinate over a dozen members of Congress and overthrow the government. An unconvinced jury acquitted nine and returned no verdict for the rest of the would-be assassins on charges of sedition. Emboldened by their release, some of the accused became erstwhile cult figures for the far right. Coughlins decline came only when public sentiment shifted during World War II and radio stations canceled his program, silencing his vitriol. Attorney General Garland, whose grandmother fled anti-Semitism in Belarus in the early 20th century, knows how hatred ignites political violence and how the failure of the rule of law can destroy nations. He surely understands, too, the potential damage that can be done if perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection are indicted but not convicted. A failure to convict could encourage rather than deter such calamitous action putting our democracy further at risk. While many would like to see a more boisterous and confrontational attorney general, Garlands judicious approach and insistence on his departments political independence safeguards our rights. Not all of his predecessors agreed. In 1919, the Bureau of Investigation, which later became the FBI, and the Department of Justice used far less restraint or respect for due process following a series of anarchist bombings targeting prominent conservative politicians and capitalists. Some of the mailed bombs were intercepted and others deployed, including one that exploded at the home of then Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. The bombings killed at least six and maimed several others. In response, Palmer, a presidential hopeful, assisted by Justice Department attorney J. Edgar Hoover, compiled lists of thousands of largely foreign-born progressives to target for arrest and deportation. In what came to be known as the Palmer Raids, or Red Raids, agents rounded up, arrested and deported progressive immigrants, mostly from Russia, without warrants, sufficient evidence or due process. On a single day in January 1920, Palmers raids led to the arrest of 3,000 people affiliated with communist and labor organizations. With little evidence and pandering to anxious Americans exhausted by a flu epidemic, Palmer ignited widespread panic and fear of progressives, especially Eastern European immigrants, painting them all as insurrectionists. Thoughts and political opinions were criminalized. Palmers rhetoric was so effective, we hear it echoed today, particularly from Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her allies. Nevertheless, Palmer lost the presidential nomination and was censured by the Senate in 1921 for his raids. According to the FBIs history website, the Palmer Raids turned into a nightmare, marked by poor communications, planning, and intelligence about who should be targeted and how many arrest warrants would be needed. Congress questioned the constitutionality of the raids and criticized Palmers overzealous domestic security efforts. Attorney General Garland has said that the success of the Department of Justice depends on the trust of the American people. An impassioned, vengeful reaction or failures to convict key players would ultimately undermine that trust. Hard as it may be to swallow, to ensure that justice is done and our democracy is protected, we have to allow that, in America, everyone is innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. We can hope that Garlands approach will remove any such doubt. Valleri Robinson is an associate professor at the University of Illinois and a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project. San Franciscos dramatic rise in omicron cases is straining the citys essential services as hundreds of police officers, firefighters and transit operators began the new year under quarantine due to exposure or in isolation due to a positive COVID test. As of Tuesday, 167 San Francisco police officers, 135 Fire Department personnel and 85 employees in the citys Municipal Transportation Agency were in quarantine due to a COVID exposure illustrating just how fast the virus variant has spread through San Francisco in recent weeks. At 829, the citys current 7-day average of new cases is more than double last winters deadly peak, city health officials said. But despite the disruption of the highly infectious omicron variant, Mayor London Breed told reporters Tuesday that impact on residents so far has been minimal and that city departments are working to make sure essential services, such as public transit and law enforcement, run uninterrupted. San Franciscos workforce is well-protected and well-prepared to stay healthy through this surge, Breed said. ... Transit will be running, although were asking for your patience. Frontline workers will be putting in overtime to make up for their quarantined colleagues. Trash is still being picked up. Police are still on patrol, and firefighters stand ready to respond. Were not shutting anything down. Were not closing businesses. This is not 2020. The citys transportation agency, which operates Muni, is among the departments that have been affected by the rise in omicron cases. At least 28 of the SFMTA workers who reportedly tested positive last week were Muni operators responsible for keeping the citys buses and trains moving, said Julie Kirschbaum, the agencys director of transit. Though the personnel shortages have not led to any schedule changes or route cancellations, officials warned that Muni riders could see delays in service as fewer operators cover runs. Kirschbaum said that the agency also has a significant number of operators who are quarantining because they were in close contact with someone who tested positive or from secondary impacts such as canceled child care. The SFMTA was having staffing constraints prior to the omicron variant, and the variant is stretching our ability to deliver service, so customers may experience longer wait times, Kirschbaum said, adding that the agencys Twitter account will provide updates on service impacts. We really appreciate everybodys patience during this time. The citys virus-related staffing constraints began last week as firefighters began working extra shifts to fill in for their 60 or so quarantined colleagues. City officials had braced for the rise in omicron cases. Before the Christmas holiday, the citys human resources department issued new guidance to city agencies recommending that they allow non-essential employees to work remotely until Jan. 18, said Mawuli Tugbenyoh, the HR departments chief of policy. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. City public health officials urged residents to wear better quality masks to avoid putting essential workers at risk and further straining services. This biggest surge yet is taxing our cities in new ways, even more so than delta, Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said. The new omicron variant is forcing us to learn to manage and to live among COVID while keeping our hospitals and clinics, schools, businesses and many other essential services operating. Ricardo Cano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByRicardoCano More than 600 classrooms in San Francisco were without their teachers or aides Tuesday and with only 157 substitutes available, every district employee with a teaching credential was ordered to take a class, including the superintendent and other high-ranking officials. Even with every qualified individual deployed to schools, there still werent enough adults to cover the absences, district officials said. In most of those cases, other teachers at school sites substituted during their preparation times to fill the gaps. The number of absences, which included 406 out of about 3,600 teachers was about the same as Monday, the first day district schools were open after the two-week winter break. The return to classrooms for the districts 49,000 students coincides with yet another pandemic surge, with the highly contagious omicron variant sending case counts skyrocketing in San Francisco and across the country. Public schools across California were facing a shortage of substitutes before the pandemic, but with more teachers out sick or caring for ill family members, the need for temporary teachers has increased and the supply has fallen short. Still, there was no talk of returning to distance learning for schools or classrooms because of the staffing shortage, district officials said. Education and health officials have stressed the importance of keeping schools open after the devastation of remote learning. On a typical day prior to the pandemic, between 250 and 300 teachers would be absent for medical or other reasons in San Francisco. Numbers related to student absences were not yet available. This is an unprecedented moment for public education, said Deputy Superintendent Gentle Blythe, who doesnt have an active credential and was one of the few senior staff members not in a school. Our kids cant go without teachers and adult supervision. In addition to Superintendent Vince Matthews, the estimated 100 central office staff members substitute teaching Tuesday included the head of human resources, the deputy superintendent of instruction, school health officials, labor relations representatives and one of the districts lawyers, as well as the chief of staff, chief academic officer and the director of policy and planning. Teachers union officials said deploying central office staff to schools was utterly unsustainable and urged the district to ensure availability of high-quality masks and a robust testing infrastructure, including rapid tests for every student and teacher, as well as other mitigation measures. We see the effects of these decisions in failing to meet the needs of education workers and our students during this pandemic, at the height of the omicron variant fueled surge, the United Educators of San Francisco said in a statement Tuesday. Conditions have changed, and maintaining safe conditions requires all to step up. At this point, all cases related to students and teachers were presumably acquired in the community or on travels during the break. Across California, there were 40,000 new coronavirus cases Monday, a 408% increase within the past two weeks. During the same period, hospitalizations were up 60% and deaths were down 16%. Experts expect the surge to peak within the next few weeks in California, which could mean many more student and teacher absences. While San Francisco Unified provided information about access to testing and vaccinations before reopening Monday, the district is among those still waiting for at-home tests Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to provide to every K-12 student in the state as they returned from winter break. Severe weather, however, delayed shipments, with about 2.5 millions tests shipped to schools this week, arriving after school started in some cases. San Francisco expects to receive its shipment sometime this week. In Oakland, officials were also seeing significant absences, with 900 students and staff testing positive before they returned to school. Families and staff used the 41,000 at-home tests distributed before winter break, and results from about 21,000 were uploaded to Oakland Unifieds tracking program. On Monday, 269 teachers, out of 2,350, were absent, which officials said was manageable using substitutes and central office staff. In San Francisco, Superintendent Matthews spent the day teaching sixth-grade science at Everett Middle School, where students Googled him, even looking up his salary. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Clearly theyre recognizing this is a unique situation, he said by phone from his classroom. We have a large number of teachers out and a large number of classrooms uncovered, so I rolled up my sleeves and took a classroom today. Matthews interrupted the five-minute call to chastise students analyzing water samples using an online lesson: You guys need to work independently and quietly, he said, using his stern teachers voice. Im really enjoying it, he said back on the phone call. Its what is necessary. San Francisco education officials urged anyone interested to sign up, a process that takes a couple of weeks before an individual can step into a classroom. Were hoping that people who have a little time to give, even if its not for the money, would be willing to sign up to be a substitute, Blythe said. Those interested must have a bachelors degree, meet minimum requirements for basic skills, have a negative tuberculosis test and pass a background check. The pay is about $200 a day, depending on experience and days worked. Were putting out the call again, Matthews said. We need subs. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker A grassroots movement brewing in Fresno County to rename the rural town of Squaw Valley has led to an official request to the federal government to weigh in on the matter. This month, Fresno resident Roman Rain Tree sent a proposal to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to rename the town Nuum Valley. The reason for Rain Trees action is simple: The term squaw is deeply offensive, racist, misogynistic and derogatory, he wrote in his petition. The small ranching community in Fresno County is not to be confused with the Lake Tahoe ski town of the same name, which is about a five-hour drive north. However, the Tahoe town, an unincorporated community, has been reckoning with its own history since the world-famous Squaw Valley ski area opted to change its name to Palisades Tahoe last fall. The Board on Geographic Names, which operates under the secretary of the interior, is tasked with evaluating the names of federal lands, sites and places nationwide. Since Fresno Countys Squaw Valley is an unincorporated community, changing its name on federal maps and products is subject to the boards discretion. In an email response, a board staffer said that the board would solicit input from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and local federally recognized tribes, and that a decision may take several months. Clara Mokri/Special to The Chronicle Here in Fresno County, tribal members and our allies have been working for decades to rid our homelands of the name of Squaw Valley, wrote Rain Tree, who grew up in Fresno County and is a member of the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians and Choinumni tribes. Rain Tree represents a coalition of local residents, tribal members and academics called Rename Squaw Valley Fresno County. After consulting with tribal elders in the Fresno area, he chose nuum, which he said translates to person or people in the Western Mono language. However, he said elders also support the name Yokutch Valley; yokutch also means the people, he said. Rain Tree first agitated to rename the town, a sprawling community of fewer than 5,000 residents in the mountains east of Fresno along Highway 180, with a petition he posted to Change.org last January. But hes had difficulty persuading local politicians to take up the issue in public meetings. Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents Squaw Valley, has said hed like to hear support from local residents and tribes first. To this point, he said, he hasnt. I recognize that names have significant meaning. Theyre part of our identity and they shouldnt be easily changed, Magsig said in a Facebook video addressing Rain Trees petition on Monday. The first thing that needs to take place is we need to sit down and hear one another out. Rain Tree said he and Magsig are in agreement that the issue needs to be heard in a public forum, but he believes the onus to host such a hearing falls on county supervisors. The petition is an attempt to spur a long-delayed discussion about the towns name as well as deeper issues regarding Native American representation in the region, he said. Clara Mokri/Special to The Chronicle Were hoping for a community dialogue, Rain Tree said. Were less concerned about what the name will be. Rain Tree was encouraged by a pair of orders issued by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in November affirming that squaw is offensive and assigning a task force to remove the term from federal usage. The orders could have major reverberations in California, where at least 94 sites and places including trails, creeks and peaks carry the harmful term, according to the board. In the past 25 years, several states have passed laws to scrub the name from place names. California, however, does not have such a law on the books. Gregory Thomas is The Chronicle's editor of lifestyle & outdoors. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @GregRThomas President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that insurance companies will soon be required to reimburse people for at-home COVID-19 tests. Biden said this could start as early as next week. "If you're insured you can buy the test and get paid for it," Biden said in a video statement posted online. Biden also said the federal government is launching a website this month where you can order free COVID tests and have them mailed to your home. This news comes as demand for testing is skyrocketing amid an omicron surge that started over the holidays. Lines wrapped around multiple blocks at COVID-19 testing sites around the San Francisco Bay Area at the start of this week, as everyone from teachers and students to restaurant workers sought testing amid an omicron surge that started over the holidays. San Francisco's popular Alemany Farmers Market testing site, which has been a go-to source for people seeking last-minute testing without an appointment, closed to drop-ins Tuesday. A weekly pop-up on Treasure Island that usually doesn't have long waits ran out of PCR tests and had a 2-hour wait for a rapid test Tuesday afternoon. At Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, which requires appointments, the line of cars stretched across four blocks yesterday and the wait was an hour or more. Test demand is skyrocketing, with case counts reaching new heights. An average of 829 San Franciscans a day are contracting COVID-19, as of Dec. 27 that's more than double that of last winters peak at 373 cases per day, the city said. San Francisco's COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are starting to increase, but experts have said they haven't risen as high as they likely would with a more severe strain. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE To help meet demand, SF Mayor London Breed announced Tuesday testing sites affiliated with the Department of Public Health are expanding to more than 25,000 tests a week, almost double its capacity from three weeks ago. Amid the testing chaos, we answered some questions you may have below. Please send more questions to agraff@sfgate.com. Who should get tested? If you are fully vaccinated and don't feel sick, health officials say you generally do not need to get tested especially now when many people who need to get tested can't get access. If you feel sick and have symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you get tested even if you're vaccinated. You're also advised to get tested if you had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID. If you're fully vaccinated, officials recommend testing five to seven days after you were exposed. The San Francisco Department of Public Health said it is prioritizing disaster service workers and symptomatic individuals for testing. Where can I get tested? You can go directly to your health care provider such as Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health for testing, but keep in mind that appointments are hard to find. Pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS also provide testing. For more testing options, consult resources from your county that may offer unique testing opportunities at community and pop-up clinics. -Find testing information for Alameda County. -Find testing information for Contra Costa County. -Find testing information for Marin County. -Find testing information for Napa County. -Find testing information for San Francisco. -Find testing information for San Mateo County. -Find testing information for Santa Clara County. -Find testing information for Sonoma County. -Find testing information for Solano County. Where can I buy at-home COVID tests? Over-the-counter antigen tests can be purchased online or at most pharmacies and give you results in 15 minutes. Theyre not as reliable as PCR tests, but theyre likely to catch COVID when people are at their most contagious. These tests have been selling out quickly. Check with your local pharmacy to find out when they are going to receive a new shipment. You can also order them online. Will the federal government, the state of California or my county be offering free at-home COVID tests? President Joe Biden promised Americans last month 500 million free rapid home-testing kits. Biden said the federal government would launch a website; this hasn't been launched yet. Biden has also said that insurance companies will soon be required to reimburse people for at-home COVID-19 tests. Biden said this could start as early as next week. The California Department of Public Health told SFGATE it does not have information available at this time on free testing kits. The San Francisco Department of Public Health said Tuesday it has "ordered test kits from suppliers to support first responders and the most vulnerable, such as residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities." These are slated to be available in mid-January. I have a student with symptoms. Can my family get tested through the school district? Most school districts are offering testing options for students and families. Check with your student's school district for availability. San Francisco Unified School District, for example, is offering PCR testing kits for students who are symptomatic or had a close contact. "The testing kit entails a nose swab and then is to be deposited into a receptacle for the lab to pick up and process," the district said in an email. "The results are available in 24-36 hours." Where can I get tested to meet travel requirements? Many testing sites that offer PCR tests are running behind and cannot guarantee test results with in a certain time period. If you need a negative test for travel for example, the United Kingdom requires one two days before your plane to England departs you need to make sure that the site can guarantee a turnaround before your flight. Aric Crabb/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images You also need to key into your destination's specific testing requirements and ensure that your test result meets them. For example, Hawaii will accept test results only from testing partners that are considered trusted (see list at HawaiiCOVID19.com). While testing is free or covered by insurance at many testing sites, you may have to pay up to $100 or more for a test at a location that guarantees a faster turnaround. Airport websites are a good resource for sites guaranteeing certain turnaround times. For example, the San Francisco International Airport lists three options, including Work Site Labs, which offers results within 1.5 hours for $250. The Oakland International Airport directs passengers traveling to Hawaii and who need a negative test to the the CityHealth website. Orange County Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ernby, a vocal opponent of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, has died at age 46 after contracting COVID-19. Ben Chapman, chairman of the Greater Costa Mesa Republicans, tweeted Monday, My heart is broken and I'm in tears. I lost a dear friend to Covid complications. I love you @KellyErnby! Youve been nothing but an inspiration to many of us here in Orange County." The district attorney's office later confirmed her death. Ernby ran for state Assembly in 2020 and was poised to do so again in 2022. According to Cal State Fullerton's student newspaper, Ernby had given a speech railing against vaccine mandates on campus in which she drew "parallels between the 1960s and present day" and "said that in the 1960s, people faced losing freedoms to socialist ideas." After her death spawned headlines in national publications given her opposition to vaccine mandates, some seemingly left-leaning users went onto her Facebook page and Twitter profile to leave comments mocking her. They did the same on her husband's Facebook page, while a seemingly right-leaning user alleged falsely, according to her husband that she was vaccinated, and subsequently suffered from blood clots. "She was NOT vaccinated," he wrote. "That was the problem." COVID-19 vaccines are highly protective at protecting against severe illness and death. Not all of the messages posted on her husband's Facebook page were terrible, however. "Condolences," one user wrote. "Thanks for clarifying vaccination status. This 24/7 online information war continues. Disregard the mean vicious comments. People are just lashing out. Strength to you and your family." A Long Island high school science teacher was arrested after authorities said she administered a coronavirus vaccine to a 17-year-old boy even though she was not professionally authorized to do so and did not have his parents' consent. Police said Laura Russo, a biology teacher at Herricks High School in Searingtown, New York, gave the teen the injection at her home in Sea Cliff, a village on Long Island. The teen, who has not been publicly identified, then went home and told his mother, who contacted the authorities, according to a statement from the Nassau County Police Department. Russo, 54, who is not a medical professional, was arrested on New Year's Eve for unauthorized practice of a profession, police said. Russo could not be reached for comment, and it is not yet clear whether she has an attorney in the case. Federal health authorities say proper vaccine administration by a trained medical professional is essential for safe and effective vaccination - with any vaccine. But this is especially true with the coronavirus vaccines because the messenger RNA technology requires specialized training, said Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco. It is not clear which coronavirus vaccine the teen was given, but the Pfizer-BioNTech shot is the only one authorized for use in people younger than 18. Moderna is testing its vaccine in children as young as 6 months. Although Gandhi could not speak to this specific case, she said that in general coronavirus vaccines should be administered by health-care professionals. She said that health-care professionals have to receive particular training to give intramuscular injections - or shots deep into the muscle - which is the technique these coronavirus vaccines require. And because the mRNA vaccines require such cold temperatures and specialized handling, it is "quite tricky" to make sure it is done correctly so the mRNA technology does not break down, she said. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, for instance, must be stored at ultracold temperatures, thawed, mixed with the precise amount of saline for injection and then administered within a narrow window of time. "There are very certain specific procedures to administer it. That's my concern about someone who is not trained giving a vaccine to a person," Gandhi said. It is unclear whether the teen was monitored after receiving the shot and where the teacher got the vaccine. Gandhi said that an individual cannot order the vaccine from the manufacturer; it must be ordered by a medical professional or health-care facility. A spokesman for the Nassau County Police Department said Tuesday that he had no further details. The Herricks schools superintendent, Fino Celano, said in a statement that the "individual in question is a district employee who has been removed from the classroom and reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation." "As this is a matter of personnel, the district has no further comment," he added. Russo, who has been released from custody, is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 21, police said. The charge against her, unauthorized practice of a profession, is a felony that could carry up to four years in prison if she is convicted. MENLO PARK (BCN) The California Highway Patrol issued a silver alert early Wednesday for an 86-year-old Menlo Park man. The CHP issued the alert at 12:31 a.m. on behalf of the Menlo Park Police Department for the counties of San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara. Roger Dedera was last seen Tuesday morning just before noon in Menlo Park and is believed to be driving a gray 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan with California plates 5KBD342. Police describe him as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, about 170 pounds with white hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue zip-up shirt, blue jeans and shite shoes. Anyone who sees Dedera is urged to call 9-1-1. Copyright 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Copyright 2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. "Nampeyo and the Sikyatki Revival" shows at the de Young Museum until Feb. 26, 2023. The museum is open 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays, and general admission is $15. The first Tuesday of every month is free to visitors, and Saturdays are free to Bay Area residents of all nine counties. Bring a driver's license or piece of postmarked mail for proof of residence. For more information, visit deyoung.famsf.org. by Matthew Byrne Bay City News Foundation You have to walk through a millennium of Native American art before arriving at Nampeyo. She's at home among the Maya stone sculptures, Pueblo pottery, Yokuts ceremonial basketry, and Yup'ik walrus tusk and whale bone carvings that make up the de Young Museum's "Art of the Americas" wing. The rooms are cast in soft, dispersed light to protect the photosensitive pieces, reverential lighting that is usually reserved for cathedrals or icons. It feels both deliberate and apt. The gentle shafts of light impress upon visitors the sanctity of the pieces. Nampeyo of Hano, a Hopi-Tewa artisan, is the grande dame of Hopi pottery, with a legacy almost unparalleled in Native circles. At "Nampeyo and the Sikyatki Revival," the exhibition's layout emphasizes the central role of her work in the history of Native American art. Her vessels sit on two pedestals in the center of the space surrounded by work she borrowed from and work by contemporary artists who borrow from her. There's no cut-and-dry chronology to the pieces collected, no historical procession. In its place, co-curators Bobby Silas and Hillary Olcott host a quiet conversation between past and present, between ancestral Hopi potters and contemporary artists like Steve Lucas and Les Namingha, both of whom just happen to be Nampeyo's great-great-grandsons. The accumulated history of the pottery is actually quite astonishing. Some date as far back as the 14th century -- 200 years before Juan Ponce de Leon, the first European to beach the continent, washed up on Florida's shores, and more than 500 years before settlers built the first permanent structures in present-day Flagstaff, Arizona, only two hours outside of today's Hopi Reservation. In the meantime, Hopi safeguarded 20-odd generations of tradition, some of which is now available for viewing at one of America's premier art museums. There's a pared-down beauty to the vessels on display: the technique, the careful hand, the balanced compositions. As gorgeous as they are, though, these objects originally served a functional purpose -- storage -- and only incidentally acted as art objects (if such a distinction can be made). The chipped mouth of one shallow, beige bowl (circa 1900), worn down by years of affectionate use, reminds the viewer that this was once a household utensil, possibly an heirloom. A brief note on her methods. Nampeyo didn't have a wheel to throw her clay or an air-conditioned studio in which to work -- much less a supply store from which she could purchase materials. No, each piece was borne of hard labor and inherited know-how. First, Mesa Hopi lacked running water, so Nampeyo carried the precious resource over miles of arid, searing terrain to hydrate the clay-rich soils she coiled into vessels by hand, massaging the sunbaked clay into a malleable consistency. A kiln was constructed out of stones and kindled with sheep manure, wood and black coal -- a firing technique learned from Spanish ceramicists who settled in the region. In addition to reaching higher temperatures, the Spanish method -- which sometimes called for sheep bones -- offered the added benefit of further whitening the pottery, allowing painted colors to really pop. Nampeyo's pigments derived from the earth: yellow ochre, red iron oxide and black hematite and boiled beeweed. Beginning to end, a finished product could take multiple days to produce. But what can be said of the woman behind the work? Sometimes very little. It's difficult to pin down even basic biographical information (i.e. the precise year she was born) or verify much of what Nampeyo said. Some of what's written about her has the uncanny air of invention because anthropologists and art collectors mediated her image to the world. From what is known, she cuts a humble figure, acquiescing to outsiders' photographs but never leaving a signature on her earthenware. Each work is "Attributed to Nampeyo," the captions read, by art historians and collectors familiar with her style. Credit for her virtuosity arrives late to the scene. Meanwhile, most photographs of her were captured as archival material by ethnographers who staged her to look diminutive among her wares. The implication being that "the work drowned the artist" when, in reality, the opposite was true. She was a prolific artist with a careful control of her medium. "Traditional" works like Nampeyo's aren't simply a gift from the past, they're often a negotiation between recovered style and contemporary art practice. Nampeyo was born in Hano Pueblo in present-day Arizona around 1860. She was in her mid-30s when the anthropologist Jesse Walter Fewkes led a Smithsonian-funded excavation of Sikyatki, a former Hopi village on First Mesa, which had been abandoned by its inhabitants in the 17th century. The excavation began in earnest in 1895, and soon Fewkes unearthed numerous, well-preserved ceramics of Hopi origin. Already a skilled artisan by then, Nampeyo learned to paint from these shards and, in borrowing from the recovered artifacts, developed what would come to be known as "Sikyatki Revival style." She spent the next decades working within its strictures, building a number of unique aesthetic markers. Her signature "saucer" shape blended form and function: The curvature prevented rodents from climbing into the vessels and spoiling the food stored inside. (Such utility is what sets pottery apart from other art forms.) Perhaps the most famous of her motifs is the avian "migration pattern," which narrates the diaspora of Hopi across the continent, over land and lake. Though the meaning behind the imagery is admittedly "difficult to understand at first glance," according to one caption, the illustrations can be understood as a "permanent prayer" for rain and bountiful harvests. I recently spoke about Nampeyo with Gerald Clarke, a Cahuilla multimedia artist and professor of ethnic studies who teaches at the University of California, Riverside. Clarke explained that Nampeyo served as a bellwether for the future of Native American cultural production. By the turn of the 20th century, just before she lost her eyesight to trachoma, a preventable infection that hardens the cornea, her work in ceramics established the aesthetic standard for Native American pottery and ceramic wares, a standard that holds to this day. Her Sikyatki Revival style is "still the standard that non-Native collectors desire," Clarke told me, and, consequently, what many Native American artists produce. Native American art, he went on, "has evolved over the past century from being categorized as ethnographic artifact (sometime oddity)" to being treated "as [a] tourist trinket, and only recently as art or fine art." Out of this progression grew a wider acknowledgement of the influence of Native American art traditions on some of America's most famous artists. It has been suggested, for instance, that Jackson Pollock's "drip period" borrowed technique and choreography from Navajo sand painting. Likewise, Dale Chihuly mimicked designs for his glass "Baskets" series directly from his personal collection of weaving and basketry by Native American artists from the Pacific Northwest. Still, Nampeyo's influence outside the Native art world remains "minimal," according to Clarke. When I asked him how he thought Nampeyo has been covered in art history, he pointed to a conspicuous lack of analysis around the context of her art practice. "It's much easier to appreciate the aesthetic object rather than acknowledge that it was America's own hunger for land, resources and ethnocentric biases that 'shaped' Nampeyo's work." He's right. Few writings on the Hopi ceramicist's masterpieces delve into the drastic changes visited on Native peoples in the late 19th and early 20th century. Indigenous resistance to the 1887 Dawes Allotment Act, which accelerated the theft of tribal landholdings, exhausted already-scarce resources in Native communities. This was also the era of the American Indian boarding school system, which harmed generations of families and depleted hope for reconciliation. Yet the Hopi never relented. At stake for the Nation was a communal way of life with its matriarchs at the helm. In 1894, leaders and chiefs submitted a petition to Washington demanding their traditions be respected and sovereignty upheld. Things weren't much better in the art world. Indian art galleries were managed by white Americans, and consequently, Native art began to revolve around the tastes of non-Native collectors. The skew notwithstanding, Nampeyo lucked out. Fewkes and collectors alike nurtured a cult of personality around her for their own benefit, but it catapulted her work to national attention. In this tricky art market, Nampeyo ran a clever gambit, calculating that if her work stuck to a certain aesthetic mode she could turn the power dynamic in her favor. It worked. Collectors who prized her pottery for its acumen and finesse paid handsomely, and her ceramics secured a steady income for her family at a time when U.S. theft of Hopi land reduced many of its citizens to destitution. On the downside, however, to cultivate marketable mystique around the objects they collected, some traders and ethnographers were in the habit of characterizing Native artists in derogatory, racist terms, particularly when it came to artists whose prowess in their craft exceeded ordinary finesse and breached the hallowed grounds of fine art. Of course, Nampeyo transcended those abusive labels. She was an artisan, an artist who tested the limits of her medium and mined inspiration from clay shards strewn across Hopi soil. The land was both teacher and wellspring of inspiration. Perhaps this is why her pottery feels as if it has been plucked from the earth fully formed. Clarke's insight into the political context of Nampeyo's ceramics extends right up until today with an equally electric charge. It's difficult to gaze at the collected water jars (circa 1890) adorned with oily black eagle wings without considering the status of fresh water in Native America today. Many in the Hopi Nation lack running water, and Natives number disproportionately among the nearly 1.5 million Americans without complete plumbing and sewer systems. Figures from water-stressed regions of North America are particularly troubling. According to a report by the American Association of Geographers, "Nearly three-quarters of households in an area of northern Arizona that includes five Native reservations lack connected plumbing." As in the 1890s, so too today. Yet Native Americans are fighting for their land, their sovereignty and their right to stewardship. In the past few months, Native water protectors, along with their allies in the "Stop Line 3" campaign, have worked to block the construction of a pipeline in Minnesota that would carry nearly a million barrels of tar sands from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin, every day. The Ojibwe environmental activist and economist Winona LaDuke has characterized the pipeline as "a crime against the environment and Indigenous rights." (Bitumen-rich tar sands are petroleum's dirtier cousin, partly because they're more prone to spills than conventional crude.) First Nations peoples in Canada (i.e. Wet'suwet'en, Elsipogtog and Mi'kmaq) and Native Americans (i.e. the Standing Rock Sioux, Navajo and Gwich'in) have been locked in similar battles with the petrochemical industry over proposed oil prospecting for years. It was this spirit of pride and principled rebellion that Clarke referenced when I asked him how Nampeyo has influenced his practice as a Native American artist. "While I love the harmonious forms and complex designs of her work," Clark wrote me, "it is her dedication to family and community that inspires me. She managed to create such beauty in spite of the social/political context of the time. Nampeyo's work is an expression of resilience, perseverance and resistance." Copyright 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Copyright 2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar on Tuesday proposed a ballot measure to ensure workers will continue to get two weeks of paid leave during public health emergencies. At the start of the pandemic, Mar authored an emergency measure granting some 200,000 city workers at private companies with more than 100 employees an additional two weeks of paid sick leave to ensure essential workers who might've contracted COVId-19 to have enough time to recuperate and return to work. If ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors and placed on the June 2022 ballot, Mar's measure would ensure the additional paid sick leave remains available during public health crisis, including unhealthy air days. The measure would continue to exempt small businesses. A police academy recruit was shot and killed on Interstate Highway 580 Tuesday afternoon, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department announced. The recruit was traveling home near the Oakland Toll Plaza to the Bay Bridge at 4:30 p.m. when an unknown suspect fired a gun into his car, which killed him and caused his car to crash, the department stated. California Highway Patrol Oakland will leading the investigation. State investigators have determined that contact between a tree and electrical lines owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Company caused the Dixie Fire, which started on July 13 and burned nearly a million acres and destroyed more than 1,400 structures before it was contained in late October. CalFire announced the findings in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, reporting that the findings come following "a meticulous and thorough investigation" to determine the origin and cause of the fire. The investigative report has been forwarded to the Butte County District Attorney's Office, which will handle all inquiries regarding the report, CalFire officials said. You have to walk through a millennium of Native American art before arriving at Nampeyo. She's at home among the Maya stone sculptures, Pueblo pottery, Yokuts ceremonial basketry, and Yup'ik walrus tusk and whale bone carvings that make up the de Young Museum's "Art of the Americas" wing. The rooms are cast in soft, dispersed light to protect the photosensitive pieces, reverential lighting that is usually reserved for cathedrals or icons. It feels both deliberate and apt. The gentle shafts of light impress upon visitors the sanctity of the pieces. Nampeyo of Hano, a Hopi-Tewa artisan, is the grande dame of Hopi pottery, with a legacy almost unparalleled in Native circles. "Nampeyo and the Sikyatki Revival" shows at the de Young Museum until Feb. 26, 2023. As San Francisco Mayor London Breed continues to roll out her Tenderloin Emergency Intervention plan in an effort prioritize public safety in the neighborhood, Breed on Tuesday announced plans to open a Linkage Center this month. The Linkage Center will be used to voluntarily connect people living on the streets with services and resources. The center, which will be located at a leased building at 1170 Market St., is anticipated to open mid-month, with space for 100 guests and plans to expand capacity later. Stockton's homicide total in 2021 went down compared to the previous year, police said. According to the city's monthly crime data report, the total number of criminal homicides in 2021 was 39 compared to 56 in 2020. Officer Joseph Silva said several factors contributed to the decrease in numbers, such as officers getting more illegal guns out of the hands of gang members and more community tips to the Stockton Crime Stoppers, a program that allows citizens to report a crime or assist law enforcement anonymously. Free rapid COVID-19 tests will be available Thursday to all students in the Dublin Unified School District, district officials said. The school district has received 13,000 antigen tests from the California Department of Public Health, making good on a promise by Gov. Gavin Newsom to help keep children in school this year. Parents and guardians can pick up two tests for each student from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Dublin High School at 8151 Village Parkway in Dublin or Fallon Middle School at 3601 Kohnen Way in Dublin. Following a recent sewage spill, closed-off sections of Asilomar Beach reopened after water quality levels recovered to state standards, the Monterey County Health Department announced on Tuesday. The spillage occurred on Dec. 30 after root and debris blocked a sewage main, which released 1,000 gallons of sewage from a manhole into a nearby storm drain, said the county health department. Water samples from Monday indicated bacteria levels in the water are considered safe for swimming. Oakland resident and reigning "Jeopardy!" game show champ Amy Schneider was robbed Sunday, she said in a Twitter post Monday. A gunman and another person robbed Schneider just after 3:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Lenox Avenue in Oakland's Adams Point neighborhood near Lake Merritt, according to police. "I'm fine," Schneider said following the robbery, but the robbers took her phone, credit cards and ID and she said she"couldn't really sleep last night." Antioch police are searching for an 11-year-old boy who left his home at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and has not been heard from since. Police describe Jagger Tramble as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, about 185 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a green beanie, white sweatshirt and red sweatpants. In a 9:10 p.m. post Tuesday on the department's Facebook page, police urged anyone who sees Tramble to contact them at (925) 778-2441. The California Highway Patrol issued a silver alert early Wednesday for an 86-year-old Menlo Park man. The CHP issued the alert at 12:31 a.m. on behalf of the Menlo Park Police Department for the counties of San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara. Roger Dedera was last seen about 3 p.m. Tuesday morning in Menlo Park and is believed to be driving a gray 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan with California plates 5KBD342. Police describe him as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, about 170 pounds with white hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue zip-up shirt, blue jeans and white shoes. Police in Santa Cruz report that a man died Tuesday night after being struck by a vehicle. Officers responded to a 6:39 p.m. report of the collision in the 500 block of Ocean Street near Soquel Avenue, where they found a man who had been hit by a car that continued southbound on Ocean Street. Paramedics with the Santa Cruz Fire Department performed life-saving efforts but after 20 minutes the man was declared dead at the scene, according to a news release from the Santa Cruz Police Department. The National Weather Service forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area calls for light rain Wednesday to taper off in the afternoon. Daytime highs are expected in the mid 50s to low 60s and overnight lows ranging from the upper 40s to the lower 50s. Conditions are expected to be dry into Thursday night as more rain is expected Friday. Copyright 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Copyright 2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A San Francisco-based startup has just announced a permanent four-day workweek, citing heightened productivity and happiness among current employees during a test run. Bolt, an e-commerce company founded in 2014 that currently employs about 500 people, first implemented a four-day workweek as a pilot last fall, CNBC reported. Workers, naturally, loved it. Bolt founder and CEO Ryan Breslow told CNBC that workers were overwhelmingly happy after the initial three-month run, with 94% of workers wanting the program to continue. In a statement to SFGATE, Bolt spokesperson Hilary Neve said that 84% of employees boasted improved work-life balance and 85% of managers reporting that "teams are able to hit their objectives and key results" even with the reduced workload. "This four-day workweek pilot was our test to see if we could keep standards of execution high while still putting the teams health and well-being first, and it surely paid off," said Neve in a statement. And for what its worth, the company seems to be well liked among its workers, boasting an exceptional 4.9 out of 5 rating on the job site Glassdoor. (As of 2019, the average company rating on Glassdoor was 3.3.) The issue with the five-day workweek, Breslow said, was the reliance on work theater, or people caring more about the appearance of working than the actual work. Its impossible to sift through the noise and get to the heart of the matter, he told CNBC, citing the countless presentations and meetings that tend to clog up the average workday. Also integral to this is the Great Resignation, CNBC notes. As dissatisfied, overworked employees continue to join the Great Resignations forces, cutting the typical 40-hour workweek down a few hours may be a boon for workers reluctant to re-enter the workforce. "We are proud to make the four-way workweek a permanent way of working here at Bolt, and hope to set an example for other companies contemplating such a work model," Neve said. In November 2021, a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs and between September and November, about 13.1 million joined the Great Resignation statistic. John Oliver has a thing for weird art. Over the past year, the comedian and host of Last Week Tonight has acquired what he describes as a small but high quality collection of modern masterpieces: One is of fellow talk show host Wendy Williams poised to take a bite of a lamb chop. Another is a bizarre still life of several striped ties wrapped up on top of a briefcase, courtesy of Judy Kudlow, the wife of Fox Business Network host and former economic adviser to Donald Trump, Larry Kudlow. And Stay Up Late, created by Pennsylvania artist Brian Swords, portrays two rodents embraced in a compromising position that Oliver has proudly lauded as high quality rat erotica. Its all on garish display in The Last Week Tonight Masterpiece Gallery, a monthlong exhibition that has toured four other museums across the country and will make its final stop in San Francisco at the Cartoon Art Museum on Beach Street. Selected by Olivers team from thousands of galleries and museums that had applied, the Cartoon Art Museum was the only venue on the West Coast to receive the honor of showcasing the eccentric assortment of art. Just like Linus trying to get the Great Pumpkin to visit his pumpkin patch, I like to think I won them over with sincerity, said curator Andrew Farago. Oliver announced the open application process on his show in late October, encouraging museums to apply for the opportunity to receive $10,000 to facilitate the collection in addition to a matched donation to their nonprofit organization of choice. It almost didnt happen, according to Farago, who explained hes a big fan of the late night show, but somehow missed Olivers announcement that he wanted to share his art collection with the masses. It was a friend of Faragos who sent him a note and suggested that he apply. With nothing to lose, Farago decided to go for it. I wrote a brief email to Last Week Tonight, talking up the Cartoon Art Museum and its history, letting them know how the pandemic had impacted us, and I told them that we'd be the perfect venue for John's collection, said Farago. A few months later, Farago received a call from Nicole Franza, a producer on the show. The Cartoon Art Museum was in the running, she said. After some back-and-forth regarding logistics and scheduling, Farago learned they had made the cut. I don't remember what we did to celebrate, he said. Probably a high-five, then back to work on whatever grants and exhibitions were coming up next. That's life in the nonprofit sector. The Cartoon Art Museum has been around since 1984 and is one of the only galleries of its kind in the U.S. But is this collection truly among the weirdest art it has displayed over the years? Maybe, said Farago. Our focus has always been on cartooning and illustration, so it's rare that we venture into subjects like Wendy Williams eating a lamb chop. That's more the kind of thing that you'd expect to find in fine arts museums and galleries than our institution, but all bets are off during the pandemic. He said the museum chose the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank as the recipient of the matched donation, adding that he was thrilled by the producers efforts to reach out during a challenging time and foster a really special event. But hes also pleased by another small accolade stemming from the exhibition. I'm just glad that the Last Week Tonight Masterpiece Gallery is now the first thing that comes up when you Google my name and rat erotica, said Farago. The exhibition runs through Jan. 25. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Gov. Ned Lamont is recovering at home after undergoing hip replacement surgery on Wednesday, according to a statement from his office. Lamont, 68, had one of his hips replaced last year and Wednesdays procedure was to replace the other hip. The governor plans to work remotely for the next couple of days as he recuperates at home, Max Reiss, the governors director of communications, said in the written statement. One year after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, seeking to prevent the certification of President Joe Bidens election victory, the criminal cases involving seven Connecticut residents who were among the more than 725 arrested remain pending. To me, theres like two groups of people: the leaders and followers, said Mike Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and former state legislator who chaired the house judiciary committee for more than a decade. For the most part, the people who have been prosecuted, been arrested and charged, so far are the followers ... they did commit crimes, but I think the real culpability is on the organizers. He said more will likely be revealed as the U.S. House committee investigating the attack makes public more of the evidence it claims to have. On Monday, the committee leaders sent a letter to Fox News host Sean Hannity, requesting he answer questions about his communications with the White House while the riot occurred and in the days afterward. In a statement regarding the one-year anniversary of the attack, the Department of Justice said the investigation and prosecution of those who were responsible continues to move forward at an unprecedented speed and scale. The Department of Justices resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane, the agencys statement said. On the one hand, I actually feel sorry for some of these people who followed along and thought they were saving the country somehow, but on the other hand, youre supposed to know better, Lawlor said. None of the seven Connecticut residents, whose charges range from unlawful entry to assaulting an officer, have pleaded guilty in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, court records indicate. Heres a look at where each of their cases stand: Jeremy K. Baouche, of New London An engineer for Electric Boat in Groton with a secret security clearance, Jeremy K. Baouche, of New London, was arrested in November after investigators received multiple tips that he had entered the Capitol building, according to court documents. Baouche, 24, is facing federal charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building. Court filings indicate the FBI was alerted days after the riot that Baouche was among those who entered the Capitol building Jan. 6, 2021. Baouche refused to speak to investigators without an attorney when they tried to interview him at Electric Boat on Jan. 20, 2021, according to court documents. Investigators learned that he had taken off from work last Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, court documents state. Electric Boat also provided investigators with Baouches internet search history from his work computer, the court documents state. In Baouches search history, there were searches on topics, including the inauguration, the U.S. Capitol building layout, guns, rifle scopes, lasers, Trump protests, FBI Capitol, and searches for jobs in the western U.S. It should be noted that Baouche has a secret security clearance as part of his employment, a Norwich police detective and member of an FBI task force wrote in a charging document. Electric Boat did not respond to an email seeking comment. Baouche was released and is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 19, court records indicate. As part of his release, he was ordered to stay away from Washington except for court appearances, cannot possess weapons, and has to notify authorities if he leaves Connecticut and seek approval for travel outside of the country. Baouches public defender declined to comment on the case. Carla Krzywicki and Jean Lavin, of Canterbury Jean Lavin, 57, and her daughter, Carla Krzywicki, 20, of Canterbury, were arrested on Sept. 14 in Connecticut after investigators were tipped off about a Facebook post showing they both entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, according to court documents. They have each been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building. Investigators also used the location of Krzywickis cellphone to trace the pair to the Capitol the day of the riot, court documents state. The two were also captured on video climbing up and into the Capitol building with other rioters, according to court documents. Once inside, the two were also caught on video, with Lavin carrying a sign that read Trump Won, according to court documents. Both later admitted to entering the Capitol building during interviews with FBI agents, court documents show. They are scheduled to appear in court for a plea agreement hearing on Jan. 11, court records show. Lavins public defender did not respond to a message seeking comment. Krzywickis lawyer, Heather Shaner, said the government is offering her client a deal to plead guilty to the charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building. That would result in a maximum sentence of six months in prison and $510 in restitution and court fees. She is a very sweet, intelligent young woman, Shaner said. Patrick McCaughey III, of Ridgefield Patrick McCaughey III, of Ridgefield, was arrested weeks after the Capitol riot, after investigators alleged he crushed a member of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police with a riot shield as the crowd was trying to push into a lower entrance to the building, court documents state. The 24-year-old faces federal charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officer or employees, civil disorder, entering restricted building or grounds, and violent entry or disorderly conduct. McCaugheys attorney did not respond to a message seeking comment. Video of the crowd trying to break through at the lower west terrace entrance was later posted to YouTube. After the FBI and police asked the public for help identifying the people involved, a witness identified McCaughey, saying they had known each other since they were children, court records indicate. Investigators allege McCaughey used a riot shield to pin Metro police Officer Daniel Hodges in a door frame near the entrance, according to court documents. As Officer Hodges was being pinned to the door by McCaughey, a separate rioter was violently ripping off Officer Hodges gas mask exposing Officer Hodges bloodied mouth. As McCaughey was using the riot shield to push against Officer Hodges, numerous other rioters behind and around McCaughey appeared to add to the weight against Officer Hodges, a charging document for McCaugheys arrest states. McCaughey was initially ordered detained, but was released on bond in May after his family put up a bond that included a lien on a property in New Canaan. Federal authorities have since also indicted eight other individuals in connection with the attack on Hodges, court records indicate. McCaughey is next due in court for a status conference on Feb. 4. Richard T. Crosby Jr., of Harwinton Federal authorities arrested Richard T. Crosby, of Harwinton, on June 3, 2021, after they said he was seen on video standing with Jacob Chansley, the Q Anon Shaman, at the Senate chamber dais. Crosby, 26, is facing charges of obstructing justice, disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building related to the Capitol breach. Crosbys public defender declined to comment on the case. According to court documents, FBI agents interviewed Crosby in April at his Litchfield County home. During the interview, Crosby told the agents he heard about the event through social media and wanted to attend to make his voice heard, because he believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, the court documents state. Crosby told investigators he entered the Capitol building through an open door and followed the crowd into the Senate chamber, according to the court documents. Crosby told investigators he left after a large number of police entered the chamber and told those present to leave with their hands up, the documents state. Crosby is due in federal court on Feb. 10 for a status conference, court records show. Victoria Bergeson and Mauricio Mendez, of Groton Victoria Bergeson, 41, and Mauricio Mendez, 41, traveled from their Groton home to the Capitol and were among the first wave of arrests made by Capitol police the day after the riots. They have been charged with unlawful entry and curfew violation. They have each rejected plea offers and requested jury trials, court records indicate. Bergesons attorney has said she was arrested along with a group of people at the nearby Peace Monument away from the Capitol building, and didnt know she was on Capitol grounds. The cases have also been stalled, according to court records, because of the large volume of evidence the government has provided as part of discovery. The court has asked prosecutors to give the defendants lawyers a better idea of which of the more than 6,000 videos are relevant to their case, but no deadline has been set. Both are due in court for a status hearing on Jan. 28. Samuel Bogash, Bergesons attorney, said Wednesday his client maintains she didnt enter the Capitol building and intends to take the case to trial. The government had initially offered Bergeson and some of the other roughly two dozen people arrested at the monument deferred prosecution agreements, Bogash said. That would have allowed them to perform a certain amount of community service and have the charges dismissed after a period of time. But Bogash said Bergeson and a handful of the others arrested declined that option because of paragraphs in the agreement that would have meant they agreed the government had probable cause and sufficient evidence they had committed the acts they were charged with, and because the agreements left them open to be charged with anything else they may have done that day. So I suspect on the 28th, we may actually pick a trial date, Bogash said. He said Mendez and Bergeson are still together and Mendez also intends to take the case to trial. He said a trial likely wouldnt occur until the summer or fall. Mendez could not be reached for comment. Past reporting by Nicholas Rondinone and Raga Justin contributed to this report. Wood chips flew through the air over the weekend as woodcarvers from near and far descended upon the Shippensburg Fairgrounds to showcase thei Ludington, MI (49431) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. High 49F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 41F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Try out OceanaHeraldJournal.com for only 99 per month for the first 3 months, $5.30 a month after. Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-Edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. "Nine new Omicron cases were confirmed by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia (on Tuesday evening), and all of them were found in passengers entering Cambodia by air," he said during a cash award ceremony for female athlete Ouk Sreymom, who had recently won a gold medal at the World Petanque Championships 2021 in Spain. Phnom Penh, Jan 5 (IANS) The confirmed cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Cambodia have risen to 94 after nine new infections were detected, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Wednesday. To date, 94 Omicron cases have been reported in Cambodia and all were imported cases, Hun Sen said, adding that to prevent the Omicron variant from spreading in the community home treatment is prohibited, Xinhua news agency reported. "All Omicron patients are required to undergo treatment at Covid-designated hospitals, as home treatment is not permitted," he said. The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 24, 2021 and it was classified a variant of concern by the WHO. The southeast Asian country registered the first case of the Omicron variant on December 14 in a pregnant Cambodian woman returning from Ghana. --IANS int/sks/bg Samantha has spoken about the importance of mental strength and her intent to be a strong person following setbacks in her personal life. Samantha posts pictures from her holidays, as they give a sneak peek of her private life. The 'Majili' actress also keeps sharing some inspirational and poignant messages and quotations, which are intended to spread positivity among her followers. Ever since the actress announced her divorce from Naga Chaitanya, her Instagram quotes are being decoded by her fans and followers. Some posts are also assumed as the actress' cryptic message. On the work front, Samantha is busy prepping for her upcoming big ventures, one of which is rumoured to be a Hindi web series to be created by the Raj-DK duo of 'The Family Man' fame. Images: Samantha on Instagram Text: IANS The Covid-19 pandemic brought a shift to a new technological strategy that many healthcare organizations are working to adopt. This did not affect humanity but the crisis offered to act as the catalyst for improving healthcare organizations and walk on a new transformation journey. Due to a lack of trust in digital technology various fears and challenges arose in the hybrid models especially on the telemedicine gamut. In order to facilitate the remote area care facilities, the government of India approved that many consumers and clinicians continue to safely get access and provide health care to masses, ensuring reduced costs and completely focused on improving their health conditions. Infuse of telehealth and hybrid care model in treatments The concept of a hybrid care model is the key aspect of the hybrid healthcare model and has become the "new normal" as this model brings out a shift from provider-centric to patient-centric or individual-centric care. In other words, hybrid healthcare is neither digital nor physical, neither in-office nor at home rather it is a co-existence of different states and capabilities. Hybrid health care has been seen as the first-hand practical application of digital technology during the pandemic. It gives the best experience of everything, fusing digital and physical experiences to provide a flexible, accessible, and seamless patient-centric continuum of care, unlike conventional telehealth and is based heavily on technology for video conferencing, patient monitoring, appointment scheduling, and follow-up. So Telehealth can help deal with problems like doctor shortages, extend healthcare into geographically isolated areas, and deliver compelling patient education. However, physicians unlikely may not be able to properly diagnose and treat medical conditions online and some patients may not be comfortable with online transactions or have any technical knowledge to participate. Claus Jensen, chief digital officer, and CTO at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said healthcare CIOs should figure out ways to ensure those changes stick around, pushing the industry toward hybrid care. Jensen, who took on the leadership role in October 2019, describes hybrid care as digital and physical experiences fused to provide flexible, accessible patient-centric care. Health IT leaders will be tasked with stitching data and applications together to provide a seamless experience. Hybrid Ecosystem created using mix of technologies Today worldwide the healthcare sector is lagging in terms of automation and adverse programs are investigated by a team of people, so basically real-time data and machine learning can ease and support faster evidence-based investigations to make new learning medical systems. Thus both data and technology are highly effective in providing effective solutions to labor shortages paying attendance to skills required and tasks shifts of professionals in the medical. Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analysis, blockchain, the Internet of Things, virtual care, remote monitoring, and smart wearables are most important in the new hybrid ecosystem. Wearable healthcare technology is becoming more and more widespread. Thus, Smaller, cheaper, and more accurate devices can be mixed with digital applications that provide real-time health understanding and long-term datasets. The healthcare model provides efficient and effective services to people especially in India, which lacks healthcare accessibility, especially in the rural area. Nowadays as omicron spread may show the early signs of the third wave and convert this pandemic into an endemic, hence it becomes necessary to investigate the actual underlying pandemic of non-communicable diseases (NCSs) and needs to be addressed soon using a hybrid model. Also, to integrate digital skills into healthcare education, create affordable private health through digital innovation, maintain research momentum, regularly modify regulatory processes, develop sustainable infrastructure and systematically Implement changes and establish better connections between governments, government agencies, etc. are key steps required to transforming health care. The pandemic has lead to the maximum adoption and proliferation of digital health care solutions. This modernization has received to buy in the healthcare professionals and patients who have witnessed the practical first-hand use of digitalization during the pandemic. Therefore patients can actively bring improved changes in their lifestyle based on their health. Also, the tech-enabled diagnostics and tools used needs to ensure proper standardization. There is a greater number of shortages of radiologists but tech platforms will ensure effective utilization of artificial intelligence to deal with initial screenings of an MRI or CT. This will result in the clarity of distinctions between primary and secondary care with technology facilitating more care provisions in local ecosystems including pharmacies and community care. Thus all these ways will actively support digitization and bring more towards integrated care systems. The hybrid healthcare system in the future will improve outcomes for patients and leverage time-poor healthcare professionals. As the healthcare industry faces tough challenges technological solutions will help leaders improve performance and increase collaborations to manage costs across systems. To improve patient care the hospitals and health systems embrace value-based reimbursement at hospitals thereby helping healthcare professionals to improve patient care and needs and create better experiences. One step that solves most of the problems in healthcare is the increase in government expenditure. The government made announcements according to which many proposals were given to increase the expenditure on healthcare to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025. A numerable schemes came up like Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram, National AIDS Control Organisation and many more. So, Hybrid has become part of the useful mixing of the virtual and the physical. Moreover, Patients find hybrid healthcare more convenient, proactive, and less time-consuming, while providers see the opportunity to provide more effective healthcare at low costs. Both patients and healthcare providers may struggle with the speed and complexity of healthcares digital transformation, telehealths rapid expansion indicates theres no going back. As KPMG states about technology and hybrid healthcare: Digital front doors are here to stay. Also, hybrid care models combine virtual and in-person experiences that will lead the patients to go through treatment care pathways, in-person elements procedures, labs, imaging, immunizations can be seamlessly combined with virtual elements, which might include remote monitoring or a telehealth visit with a specialist from home. With hybrid care, the physical joins the digital to create a cohesive experience for providers and patients alike. Healthcare's future is now Hybrid healthcare The experience during COVID-19 and the Amwell survey findings suggest we are in the midst of a rapid transition from virtual care to hybrid care and the term hybrid has taken on new meaning during COVID-19. Parents and teachers want to discuss hybrid schools and the Employers are building hybrid workplaces that blend remote work and face time. Therefore this new technological transition to hybrid care is not a clear path, it consists of obstacles while many consumers are still uncertain as to how to make use of these specific telehealth services but the pandemic has surely eased many long-standing barriers to adoption of telehealth despite physicians facing questions about the adoption of telehealth at their healthcare institutions. Telehealth transitioned from a nice to have to a must-have for many consumers, and clinicians, and healthcare providers. The pandemic changed the world forever, and the real one is nowhere but in healthcare. Following major progress in the nascent Indian plant-based meats landscape in the second half of 2021, the first major Indian FMCG company has announced a foray in the burgeoning sector. ITC Ltd is the manufacturer of beloved Indian food brands such as Aashirvaad atta (wheat flour), and is the choice of Indians all over the world for packaged ready-to-eat versions of heritage dishes such as daalmakhani and paneer tikka. Their entry into the plant-based space is therefore likely to make an impact not just domestically, but in the huge export market as well. ITC Limiteds food business will launch plant-based burger patties and nuggets providing the taste of chicken to consumers through retail, e-commerce, and food service establishments in the countrys top 8 cities, advised by expert nonprofit Good Food Institute India (GFI India) on product and positioning strategy. Varun Deshpande, Managing Director at the Good Food Institute India, said Smart protein and plant-based meats are a generational opportunity to align planetary health stewardship, public health resilience, and economic growth. While entrepre-neurs are blazing a trail in building the category, mega-corporations with their distribution heft, deep R&D capabilities, and intimate involvement in consumers lives can take a nascent phenomenon to the next level. ITC Ltds visionary foray into plant-based meats and focus on providing non-vegetarian eaters with the meat products they know and love will further accelerate the sector, bringing delicious, sustainable protein into the true mass market and onto plates across the country. Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive - Foods, ITC Ltd said There is no large pan-Indian brand in the plant-based protein segment in India. We have worked with some global partners to ensure there is no compromise either on the product texture, quality, and taste. We want to enjoy the early mover advantage in India. The meat market is huge with 72% of Indians being non-vegetarians and [the market] is estimated today at $45 billion. Given the growing concerns around wellness and sustainability, India has the potential to emerge as a large market for plant-based alternatives. Plant-based meats are at the forefront of the broader smart protein or alternative protein landscape, aimed at replicating the sensory and cultural resonance of meat dishes beloved around the world, but without the negative implications for planetary and public health. Globally, companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, gone public on the stock market, and scaled across the globe, while using just a small fraction of the land, water, and energy that their conventional animal meat counterparts require - all with lower greenhouse gas emissions and without the risk of zoonotic disease or antimicrobial resistance. The global smart protein sector attracted over $3.5 billion in venture capital in 2021 (following $3.1 billion in 2020), indicating that investors and consumers worldwide are warming up to the idea of conscious consumption. Large food and conventional meat corporations like JBS, Tyson Foods, Nestle, and Unilever have also invested significantly in the space. While plant-based meat startups like Riteish & Genelia Deshmukhs Imagine Meats and Sandeep Singhs Blue Tribe Foods have captured the Indian imagination over the last year, ITC Ltd is now the first major Indian FMCG player to do so. Research by GFI India indicates that 63% of non-vegetarians among urban, upwardly-mobile populations would be extremely likely to purchase plant-based meats regularly, driven by guilt around meat-eating as well as curiosity and aspiration surrounding next-generation plant-based meat products. This early adopter market makes fertile ground for initial experimentation, with a major multi-billion dollar opportunity in the larger mass market up for grabs as consumer awareness builds and more players enter the market. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! La Boheme by Puccini Opera Australia, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, January 4 Brava! and Bravo! muffled through masks; the edgy adrenalin of live performance after an Omicron-shredded rehearsal schedule; unperturbed on-stage sang-froid while the Opera Houses technical systems dispensed deafening white-noise as they awoke from pandemic hibernation; and, finally, the unalloyed delight at the curtain call that, after a cancelled New Years Eve performance, the show had actually gone on. Julie Lea Goodwin as Musetta in Opera Australias performance of La Boheme. Credit:Prudence Upton This is what love in the time of COVID looks and sounds like. Italian soprano Valeria Sepe well deserved those muffled shouts for her finely sculpted yet dramatically expressive performance of the consumptive Mimi. She was light and delicate as she threaded the whimsy of flirtation in her first scene and unravelled in her last, cut through ensembles with telling edge in the ebullient chaos of Cafe Momus, and rose to warmth and rich power in the climactic moments of acts one and three. Kang Wangs voice as Rodolfo had colour and light freshness in casual moments and winking asides and, from the perspective of dramatic force, really came into his own in the powerful duet with Sepe in act three. One of historys deadliest diseases, smallpox, is thought to have existed for 3000 years scars from rashes on the faces of Egyptian mummies are considered evidence until it was eradicated in 1977. Fronted by British historian Professor David Olusoga and American science writer Steven Johnson, the series begins with the history of vaccination, arguably the most revolutionary of all medical advancements, focusing on the smallpox pandemic. This documentary sets out to explain how, in just a century, global life expectancy has more than doubled with scientific and medical innovation. Olusoga and Johnson, ironically separated by the pandemic and co-hosting via Zoom, provide an accessible history of vaccination while focusing on todays global health crisis, right down to explaining how the COVID-19 vaccine trains our bodies to fight the virus. Vaccination evolved from the practice of variolation taking infectious material (yes, pus) from the blisters of smallpox patients and introducing it into a healthy patient through a small cut in the skin thought to have been practised as early as the 16th century in China and India. They relate the story of how an enslaved man introduced the practice to the United States in the early 1700s. The African man, whose real name isnt known, was trafficked to Boston in 1706 and bought by a Puritan congregation as a gift for their minister, Cotton Mather. When Mather asked the man who he renamed Onesimus if hed had smallpox, Onesimus simple answer, yes and no, effectively changed the course of medical history. He explained that in Africa he had undergone variolation. This method of inoculation was initially met with scepticism, until writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got on board; married to the British ambassador to Turkey, she attended parties in Constantinople where people were using variolation, and a year later had her five-year-old son variolated. While it still held risks, the idea became much more accepted once a white aristocratic lady had endorsed the idea, eventually leading to the development of vaccines by Edward Jenner. Human health has always been a political issue, and Extra Life explores the roles that privilege, racism and colonialism have played in medical and scientific developments, from Benjamin Franklin using his slaves to test smallpox vaccines to the medical inequality that continues today. In the US, there is still high vaccine hesitancy and distrust of the medical community in minority communities; hardly surprising given historical events such as Franklins tests and the Tuskegee syphilis trials. Northern beaches residents have been worried about how their beloved beach would fare when large swells and high tides hit the controversial Collaroy seawall. They were concerned the sand directly in front of the seawall would be washed away, eroding their beach, and, on Tuesday, thats exactly what happened. The erosion event at Collaroy Beach is far from an isolated occurrence. Other beaches along the eastern coastline have also experienced heavy erosion and scientists fear climate change will only make these events more frequent and more intense. King tides and the after-effects of ex-tropical cyclone Seth have caused erosion at Collaroy Beach. Credit:Brook Mitchell Patrick Allan has continued an almost 100-year-old family tradition of living in Collaroy, spending years surfing the waves, but hes planning on leaving the small seaside suburb. The building of the seawall was the final nail in the coffin. Ive watched council do everything, dump truck loads of asbestos and everything here over the years, but now theyve let this private development application come through which is going to kill this beach, he said. The full effects of the seawall wont be known until they finish. An official state government document released last year revealed a plan to hit pause on elective surgery once hospitalisations for coronavirus hit 600, to free-up hospital beds. Loading However, if the number of coronavirus hospitalisations in Victoria surpassed 1000 as predicted, a milestone reached by NSW earlier this week, further cancellations of elective surgery would be required, the document said. It also detailed that Victorian hospitals would be forced to ration care in emergency departments to a minimum level and turn away all but the sickest COVID patients if hospitalisations exceeded more than 2500 such patients. Category two surgery covers procedures that need to take place within 90 days and that can cause significant pain or disability but are unlikely to escalate to an emergency. This could be something like a standard heart valve replacement. Category three surgery includes procedures such as hysterectomies and hip and knee replacements. Several private hospitals, which are doing the bulk of non-urgent operations, are holding urgent meetings with surgeons across Melbourne to discuss the changes and the implications for an elective surgery waiting list of more than 60,000 people, many of whom are in chronic pain and have been left in limbo. The elective surgery ban comes after Ambulance Victoria issued a code red alert shortly after 12.30am on Wednesday warning patients to expect delays if they called an ambulance, citing extreme demand in the metropolitan region. The code red the same declaration issued in Victoria for the Black Saturday bushfires and the deadly thunderstorm asthma event of 2016 was downgraded shortly after 3am, as demand for ambulance services eased. The suspension of elective surgery comes days after it was revealed the state government opted not to take Chief Health Officer Brett Suttons advice to close dance floors and implement density caps in hospitality to slow down an explosion of coronavirus infections. On Monday, people were warned not to visit major emergency departments in Melbournes west unless absolutely necessary because of extreme pressure on the units at Sunshine, Footscray and Williamstown hospitals. Surgeon and Australian Medical Association Victoria board member Jill Tomlinson said she understood moves to restrict elective surgery as coronavirus hospitalisations rose, but that she was concerned about the outcomes for patients who had time-sensitive surgery postponed. We have finite resources, Dr Tomlinson said. So, were going to have to dramatically reset our expectations of what healthcare can deliver in the next couple of weeks. During the height of the Delta wave last year, individual hospitals and health services were occasionally forced to postpone urgent category one procedures due to a shortage of ICU beds, an act that would have been unthinkable before the pandemic. Patients infected with the Omicron variant have been forecast to flood emergency departments and general wards before the outbreak quickly burns itself out, a trend seen globally, including in South Africa, where the variant first emerged. While those infected with the variant were projected to be less severely ill than those infected in previous waves, some would still require hospitalisation for several days. [Delayed surgery] translates downstream to poorer health outcomes in the months and possibly years to come, Dr Tomlinson said of the elective surgery halt. Melbourne vascular surgeon Susan Morris said the situation in Victoria had hit crisis point. Dr Morris, who works in the private sector but was helping to operate on public patients to clear the backlog of tens of thousands of Victorians awaiting surgery, said even though the sector had been operating at about 75 per cent capacity in the weeks before Christmas, it had barely scraped the surface. Loading There is going to be a disaster situation where you cant actually get patients operated on at all in Victoria unless they are in real dire need, Dr Morris said. Before the pause on elective surgery, Dr Tomlinson said there had been difficulty in pre-operative patients being able to access rapid antigen tests amid the states testing crisis. Being cleared of coronavirus is a requirement of surgery, amid mounting evidence those infected with COVID-19 are at heightened risk of complications and dying after an operation. Victorias health crisis has been exacerbated by severe staffing shortages and increasing numbers of mildly ill people attempting to access COVID-19 tests or seek medical care for the virus in hospital emergency departments along with an annual rise in patients needing urgent care during the holiday period. Australian Medical Association Victorian president Roderick McRae described the situation faced by the states healthcare system as torrid and disastrous. Hospitals are being crippled by this, he said. During this time we are going to have the Australian Open event and schools reopening when already we have 600 people in hospital with coronavirus, which is equivalent to filling up all the beds of two major hospitals just with COVID patients. The elective surgery bans will include all public health services in Melbourne and Barwon Health, the Ballarat Health Services campus of Grampians Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health and Latrobe Regional Hospital. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is incredibly confident school students will be able to return to the classroom on the first day of term, despite concerns that rapidly rising Omicron cases will force many teachers on sick leave. Mr Perrottet said NSW Education and Health were working closely on a plan for the new school year, in which rapid antigen tests would play an important role. NSW students missed more than a term of face-to-face learning last year, and seven weeks the year before. Premier Dominic Perrottet is incredibly confident children can return to school on the first day of term Credit:Anna Kucera Prime Minister Scott Morrison echoed the Premiers comments, saying the objective was to have all schools back for the first day of term. He said following Wednesdays national cabinet meeting the states had been given a week to come up with a set of final recommendations to set a framework for the return to school. That will include everything from the testing arrangements put in place, any furloughing issues, matters relating to health and safety, matters relating to rate the vaccination and of other issues ... to ensure that we have a clear common approach as best as we are able to achieve across all states and territories, Mr Morrison said. The crumbling wreck of the former Manly ferry that sunk in Sydney Harbour will probably be dismantled before its pulled from the water, as the states transport agency says it will attempt to save heritage items from the vessel. The 99-year-old MV Baragoola is rapidly breaking apart in the bay beside the coal loading wharf at Waverton on the lower north shore, where the privately owned ferry was inundated with water late on Saturday night. The historic former Manly ferry MV Baragoola sunk from its mooring alongside the Coal Loader in Waverton. It was turning 100 this year. Credit:Edwina Pickles Sydneysiders have lamented the demise of the Baragoola, which ferried passengers between Manly and Circular Quay for six decades before making its last official voyage in 1983. It was stripped of its heritage listing in 2010. A spokesman for Transport for NSW, which is managing the salvage operation, said the ferry would probably be carefully segmented so it could be safely pulled from the water. It was unlikely it could be re-floated. Allowing COVID-19 into Queensland during summer and while children were on holidays is as good as its going to get, Chief Health Officer John Gerrard believes. Dr Gerrard and senior government members fielded questions on Wednesday about the timing of the border opening and the surge in cases before the beginning of the school term as Queensland recorded 6781 fresh cases of coronavirus. Across the state there are 32, 312 active cases, with 10 people in hospital intensive care units, and two people on ventilators. Queensland, like most of the Australia, is also buckling under a testing crisis, as people continue to line up for hours at pathology sites, while rapid antigen tests that can be administered at home are scarce. A 58-year-old man has died at a Gold Coast beach after he hit a sandbank and became unconscious while riding his boogie board in the surf. The man died after he was pulled out of the water by bystanders. Credit:Getty Images/Chris Hyde Paramedics were called about 9am on Wednesday after the man was experiencing a cardiac arrest on Coolangatta beach, off McDonald Street. Gold Coast senior operations supervisor Adam Flory said the Gold Coast city lifeguards were performing CPR on the man, who was pulled from the water by bystanders, when they arrived. Whats believed to have occurred is this person has hit a sandbank and has become unconscious and was pulled from the surf, he said. RENNIS MAE WITHAM February 29, 1948-October 25, 2021 A woman of equal parts vision and determination, Rennis Witham was smart, funny, gregarious, loyal and incorruptible. Rennis Mae Witham was born in Warrnambool to former ALP senator for Victoria, Cyril Graham Primmer (1924-2003) and Lorna Alice Primmer (1925-2018). Accompanying her senator father in the 1970s on his visits to constituent farmers as part of his parliamentary duties gave Rennis a deep understanding of compassion and the power of political representation. She was exposed at an early age to the rough and tumble of political life. She witnessed him speak out against the USs role in the Vietnam War, advocate for the people of East Timor and support the Meatworkers Union in a battle over substitute meat. Following in her fathers footsteps and with solid working-class credentials, Rennis became a voice for the workers fighting for a fair go, enabling her to take up many roles that sought to better the world in which we live. After leaving secondary school, Rennis trained as a state enrolled nurse at Warrnambool Hospital, and it was here that she met her husband. With two daughters, Rennis moved around the state until she finally settled, post-divorce, in Williamstown. She gained a bachelor of arts in social science and sought out positions that would make a difference through social justice, community action and public health advocacy. In her early 30s, her first job encompassing these aims was as CEO of Western Region Centre of Social Development (WRCSD), an organisation promoting social change established by the Whitlam government. Parents trying to book vaccine appointments for 5 to 11-year-olds on Victorias new system are reporting mixed results since it launched early on Wednesday afternoon. Some say the site is crashing, while others have managed to secure an appointment. The Victorian booking system for paediatric vaccines at state-run clinics was meant to go live earlier this week, but its launch was delayed because of a technical glitch. Experts say vaccination should provide children with additional protection against COVID-19. Credit:AP The system started accepting bookings after Victoria earlier recorded 17,636 new COVID-19 cases, and as increasing numbers of youngsters present at Melbournes Royal Childrens Hospital respiratory infection clinic with the virus. Dr Laila Ibrahim, a paediatrician at the hospital, said 30 per cent of children presenting at the clinic were now testing positive for COVID-19, as opposed to 2 per cent in December. A severe weather warning for Melbournes west, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula has been cancelled, but thousands in western Victoria remain without power after heavy rain and strong winds lashed the state, causing flash flooding in and around Ballarat. The weather bureau said thunderstorms could still lead to flash flooding, damaging winds and large hailstones in central and northern districts over the next several hours and places such as St Arnaud and Maryborough could be hit. The storm front rolls across Creswick and Ballarat. Credit: Lily Langham However, the risk had passed for the western fringes of Melbournes metropolitan area where the weather radar had earlier detected severe thunderstorms in the Werribee area. Residents in Cheswick and Ballarat were told to stay indoors on Wednesday afternoon after the downpour caused low-lying areas across the municipality to fill with water. A Perth Pan Pacific Hotel quarantine security guard who tested positive to COVID-19 on Sunday has been confirmed to have the Omicron variant. Health authorities are confident the strain has not spread any further than this worker but West Australian Vaccine Commander Chris Dawson has warned it would be fanciful to think Omicron would not be in the community before February 5 when the state opened its borders to the rest of the country. I wouldnt share a lot of confidence that well keep Omicron out because weve already got it here, so to totally eradicate it, I think would be fanciful, he said. Five new community COVID-19 cases were also recorded overnight, including the worker from the Lucky Shag whose case was announced on Tuesday. PHILIPSBURG:---The Honorable Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment & Infrastructure (Ministry of VROMI) Egbert Doran, said on Tuesday that emergency road repairs on Front Street will commence Wednesday, January 5, 2022. These emergency repairs are expected to be completed by mid-January barring any unforeseen circumstances and ensure the safety of pedestrians and motorists including cruise guests, stayover visitors, and residents as they make use of the main shopping street in Philipsburg. With Sint Maarten being one of the many tourist destinations within the Caribbean, and tourism being the main pillar for the economy, these repairs are most welcome by business owners, shoppers, and the community as a whole. All stakeholders including the Front Street businesses have been informed regarding the commencement of these emergency repairs and cooperation from all involved is expected. The Ministry expresses apologies for any inconveniences that may occur. The works will be carried out daily by two teams. Team 1 is scheduled to operate from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm, while Team 2 will continue from 4:00 pm until 12:00 (midnight). The general public is requested to pay keen attention to the following which includes the intended areas to be repaired along with the timeline starting as of Wednesday, January 5th, 2022: From the Catholic cemetery to St. Jan-Steeg, (10 calendar days); From St. Jan-Steeg to the Guava berry Emporium store, (10 calendar days). These mentioned repair works entail the reinstalling and leveling of the existing road pavers (bricks) on Front Street. The project is focused on the critical areas for the rehabilitation of the street. Although the road will be closed off for motorists, pedestrians will still be able to make use of the areas where the civil works will be taking place. The emergency repairs are necessary in order to ensure the above as we address our key infrastructure requirements. The civil works will be carried out within the shortest timeframe and in the end, it will contribute positively to our visitors and locals experience, Minister of VROMI Hon. Egbert Doran said on Tuesday. Business owners are advised to avoid conducting deliveries during peak hours and to do so via the side roads which are also known as the alleys between Front Street and Back Street. It is also strictly forbidden to park cars on these side roads (alleys) as they should remain free in the event of emergencies whereby the Police, Fire Department of Ambulance is needed. For additional information regarding this project please contact the following persons, Ing. Bako Maynard, of New Projects Development and Planning, or Ing. Reymond Chittick, Project Manager of Infrastructure Management by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . ~ Do not come to ER, call your House Doctor first ~ CAY HILL:--- The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 admissions (from 2 to 8 admitted patients currently) and persons with COVID-19 symptoms visiting the Emergency Room (ER) for non-emergency related cases and is hereby again reminding the general public to call your General Practitioner (GP), your House Doctor, first if you have COVID-19 symptoms who will assess if you need to be taken to the hospital. Chairman of the OMT, Dr. Felix Holiday reminds everyone that the prevailing COVID-19 procedure needs to be followed, which is: 1. Call your House Doctor first in case you have COVID-19 symptoms. 2. Your House Doctor will make the assessment if you require hospitalization. 3. In case you require hospitalization, an ambulance will be arranged to pick you up. In an effort to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission to the public and staff at SMMC and in the interest not to overburden our regular healthcare system, we are urgently requesting the public to refrain from visiting the ER when displaying COVID-19 symptoms and to call your House Doctor first who will assess your health and further advise on the next steps. By all means, do not come to the ER, call your House Doctor first, Dr. Holiday stated. The OMT also points out that preliminary data on the Omicron variant, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain worldwide, indicate to mostly milder cases requiring less persons to be hospitalized with severe illness due to COVID-19 as stated by several official institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The OMT also urges the general public to get their COVID-19 booster shot in case they are vaccinated and those that not yet have vaccinated, to go do so as soon as possible as vaccines have proven to be safe and efficient in protecting against severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization. Persons can get their COVID-19 booster shot on a walk-in basis at CPS (Vineyard Building) during weekdays from 8 am 3 pm. Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. Verizon and AT&T said on Monday that they have voluntarily agreed to further delay the rollout of their next-generation 5G wireless technology at the request of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The agreement comes after both companies on Sunday rejected a request by the government to delay rolling out their 5G services but instead offered to expand so-called exclusion zones for six months. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other aviation officials fear that the use of C-band spectrum for 5G wireless services could interfere with sensitive aircraft electronics, disrupt flights and result in some diversions. Weve agreed to a two-week delay which promises the certainty of bringing this nation our game-changing 5G network in January, delivered over Americas best and most reliable wireless network, a Verizon spokesperson told The Hill in a statement on Monday. An AT&T spokesperson told The Hill: At Secretary Buttigiegs request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services. We also remain committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter. We know aviation safety and 5G can co-exist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues. On Friday, Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson sent a letter to AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg asking them to delay the planned Jan. 5 introduction of the new 5G wireless service, citing aviation safety concerns. In their letter, Buttigieg and Dickson asked the CEOs to delay the rollout for two weeks as part of a proposal as a near-term solution for advancing the co-existence of 5G deployment in the C-Band and safe flight operations. We recognize the significant investment your companies made to launch 5G C-band service, and the importance of expanding 5G service for the American economy, they wrote. At the same time, absent further action, the economic stakes for the aviation industry and the disruptions the traveling public would face from commercial launch of C-Band service on January 5 are significant, particularly with the ongoing stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, they wrote. But the CEOs on Sunday rejected that request stating that they had already agreed to a costly month-long delay when they pushed back the date of their initial December launch date to Jan. 5. Agreeing to your proposal would not only be an unprecedented and unwarranted circumvention of the due process, and checks and balances carefully crafted in the structure of our democracy, but an irresponsible abdication of the operating control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks that are every bit as essential to our countrys economic vitality, public safety, and national interests as the airline industry, the CEOs said. Stankey and Vestberg instead said they would expand so-called exclusion zones for six months around certain airports, which they said would provide the FAA and aviation officials with more time to study the potential for interference with aircraft operations and remediate any altimeters that might not meet current standards. The CEOs noted that similar C-band radio exclusion zones were already in place in France and would further reduce C-band signal levels by at least 10 times on the runway or during the last mile of final approach and the first mile after takeoff. However, the pair appear to have had a change of heart on Monday. The Epoch Times has contacted Verizon and AT&T for comment. In response, the FAA said in a statement on Monday: Safety is the core of our mission and this guides all of our decisions. The FAA thanks AT&T and Verizon for agreeing to a voluntary delay and for their proposed mitigations. We look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment. By Katabella Roberts Katabella Roberts is a reporter currently based in Turkey. She covers news and business for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States. Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved 3 1 of 3 Kent Memorial Library / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Kent Memorial Library / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 KENT The Kent Memorial Library presents the Eclectic Collective, an art show by the local Monday Morning Artists Group, on display through Feb. 28. The show, curated by Carla Shere, will feature works in various mediums by the following 15 local artists: Karen Bahrenburg, Dorli Di Gregorio, Beth Dooley, Connie Freer, Connie Horton, Sue Lopardo, Halstead Lovig, Joan Macfarlane, Xiang MacFarlane, Roz Molho, Tamara Muscarell, Carla Shere, Jane Sirovica, Patsy Stroble, and Trudy Walter. Im getting used to having two or three sweets after lunch, my wife declared with an eye roll. I know how she feels. Two or three is just the beginning of an afternoon that includes a few cookies here and there, a sweet for teatime, and then something indulgent to wind up dinner. Its a good thing Christmas comes but once a year. Im not sure how we got into this fix, but I know some of the blame lies with me. I had to get a locally-baked German-style stollen, a light and fragrant Italian panettone and steamed old-school persimmon pudding from SoNo Baking in Norwalk. In addition, the Scandinavian Butik was the source for a loaf of traditional cardamom bread. Leading up to Christmas there is a frenzy of cookie baking. Marsha gears up for sugar cookies cut into the shape of Santas, stars and bells. Crisp balsam-green Christmas trees are squeezed from a cookie press and sprinkled with red and green sugar. Chocolate crinkles perfume the kitchen. Frank Whitman Theres a batch of pecan fingers, a tradition in Marshas family, and spiced pecans from my mothers recipe box. We cant get by without the irresistible year-round favorite oatmeal-raisin cookies. And then theres the fudge (no nuts please). Of my many weaknesses this is perhaps the greatest. In return for helping to stir the bubbling cauldron, I get to scrape the pot and eat what I glean. In the course of cutting the squares, theres always a few mistakes to be eaten. The actual chunks of fudge seem to go down as easy as popcorn. From the Hungarian bakers at Cafe Dolce in Norwalk I got three traditional beigli pinwheels of thin twice-proofed dough rolled around fillings: ground walnuts, poppyseed, and (new this year) orange marzipan. Oh Wow! Frank Whitman For family gatherings our niece brings a platter of her specialties: Macarons, shortbreads, and molasses cookies this year. Marshas sister contributes her fruitcake cookies and a mince pie. These goodies are all in the eat it or freeze it category pretty much out of the picture by New Years. But the box of chocolates lives on. In a weak moment leading up to the holidays, we acquired a two-pound box of assorted chocolates from Krause's Hand-Made Chocolates in Saugerties, NY. With so much other stuff, the box, usually passed around the table after holiday dinner, remained unopened. But not for long. Its an overwhelming avalanche of sweet treats. I love it. But now it's time to pay the piper. Since I didn't get any elastic-waist trousers under the tree its time to fit into what fit before Thanksgiving. While January is generally quiet for the retail and food business, Im told it's the high season for weight loss and exercise entrepreneurs. Frank Whitman Numerous schemes for dealing with the inevitable results of holiday excess are advertised on TV, social media, and in print. Some are scientific, others are motivational, and the best a combination of the two. In essence, it comes down to this: Eat less! Weight Watchers (now rebranded as WW) has always been the go-to in our house. Marsha is a member and Im along for the ride. Foods are assigned a point value and through an easy-to-use app, calculating what and how much you can eat is a snap. Want to eat a cupcake for breakfast? Go ahead, but it might be all your points for the day, leaving the prospect of a celery and carrot binge. When used faithfully, WW brings some food sanity and common sense to compensate for past sins. Its also the prime season for exercise resolutions and gym memberships. Yes, regular and vigorous exercise will burn up some calories, but not an unlimited number. You cant outrun your fork, they say. Its a combination of the two that works. Thats why youll see us out on a morning walk and then shopping for fish and chicken breasts later in the day. Gotta get back in shape. Marsha just announced, Next year Im going to make divinity. Frank Whitman writes a weekly food column called "Not Bread Alone." He can be reached at NotBreadAloneFW@gmail.com. A Utah tech executive acknowledged his email opining about coronavirus vaccines to state lawmakers and business executives "sounds bonkers." But he sent it anyway. "I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people," Dave Bateman, co-founder of Entrata, a property management software company, wrote Tuesday, KSTU first reported. "I believe the Jews are behind this," he added. The email, littered with baseless claims and antisemitic tropes about the vaccines, led to an immediate backlash from the Utah tech community, religious leaders and politicians. Bateman resigned as chairman on Tuesday. In a statement, Entrata chief executive Adam Edmunds condemned Bateman's conspiracy theories, which he said do not reflect the values of the company. "To be absolutely clear, we at Entrata firmly condemn antisemitism in any and all forms," the statement said. "For those who have seen and been offended or disturbed by the content of Dave's email, we understand and share your disappointment." Bateman did not immediately respond to The Washington Post's request for comment late Tuesday. In a text message to a reporter for KSTU, Bateman confirmed he sent the email and said he "had no intention of raising a big stir" and has "nothing but love for the Jewish people." "Some of my closest friends are Jews," he said. Bateman then doubled down on his falsehoods, adding, "I fear billions of people around the globe right now are being exterminated." Bateman is one of three founders of Entrata, which was formed in 2003. The software company has raised more than $500 million in investor funding, according to Forbes, and is valued at more than $1 billion. Bateman stepped down as chief executive in 2020 and moved to Puerto Rico. Despite leaving his post as chairman Tuesday, he is still the largest stakeholder in the company, Forbes reported. Bateman sent the email early Tuesday morning to more than 50 recipients, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), Utah Senate Minority Whip Luz Escamilla (D) and Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz, KSTU reported. It included antisemitic and false claims that the Jewish people conspired to make a vaccine that would weaken immune systems to kill off billions of people and that for 300 years "Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top." "I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule," Bateman wrote, according to KSTU. "I pray that I'm wrong on this," Bateman continued. "Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe." There is no evidence the vaccine will alter the immune system, The Post has reported. Federal health authorities have found that the vaccine is safe for people who are immunocompromised and that complications from the vaccine are exceedingly rare. Bateman's statements echo antisemitic theories about the vaccine that are often spread on white-supremacist and neo-Nazi websites and social media channels, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Hours after the email was sent, recipients fired back at Bateman, condemning his harmful statements, according to Forbes. Many also spoke out publicly on Twitter. Smith, the Utah Jazz owner and founder of software company Qualtrics, tweeted that the email "crossed lines that should never be crossed." "There is no room for discrimination of any kind, anywhere, ever," he added. Blake McClary, a tech executive and president of the Salt Lake City chapter of Silicon Slopes, a nonprofit that supports Utah's burgeoning start-up environment, tweeted that Bateman needed to step down and "not embarrass" the tech community. In a statement on his official governor Twitter account, Cox called Bateman's comments "irresponsible," "hurtfully anti-Semitic" and "blatantly false." On his personal account, the governor spoke more freely, calling the email "crazy stuff." "I get insane emails like this from people often and normally wouldn't dignify it with a response, but I guess it's getting lots attention," Cox tweeted. "I hope he gets some help." Religious leaders also spoke out. Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah said he was "disgusted" by the letter, which he called a "flaming pile of garbage." "Granted the contents are absolutely loony tunes, but sadly, we've seen nonsense like this metastasize to violence against our community before," he tweeted. "Utah is better than this." Milton, PA (17847) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 69F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. The Kids for Positive Change series follows its founder, Ashtabula native Camille Licate, along with her rescue rooster, Bree, and children from Ashtabula County as they address environmental issues. The show airs on PBS stations in several states, most recently in New York City, starting today. 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Thus, the border police checked a truck on Wednesday morning, at the Nadlac II, and found 45 migrants who were hiding. The truck was driven by a Romanian. According to the documents accompanying the goods, the driver was carrying household appliances for an Italian company."Following the thorough control of the means of transport, 45 foreign nationals were found hidden in the cargo compartment. They are citizens of India and Bangladesh, aged between 18 and 40, most of them asylum seekers in Romania," informed the Arad Border Police.In a minibus driven by a Bulgarian, checked at the Nadlac I border crossing point, ten other migrants from Syria, aged between 20 and 40, were found hiding in a specially arranged place.Also, a 28-year-old Iraqi man was found hiding in the trunk of a car driven by a Romanian citizen, at Nadlac I.In all cases, border police are conducting investigations. Father Ciprian Ion Ionita, Coordinating Patriarchal Adviser at the Social-Philanthropic Sector of the Patriarchal Administration, spoke at Radio Trinitas about the philanthropic activities carried out by the Romanian Patriarchate in the second year of the pandemic. Father Ciprian Ionita said that throughout this period, support has been maintained for the medical units involved in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, by making donations of medical equipment, renovations of medical departments, [offering] protective equipment and disinfectants. Social canteen services have continued to play a crucial role, as they have also provided hot food at home to people in isolation or quarantine, but also the elderly. Regarding the philanthropic behaviour of this period, the people who were involved at the parish level in social-philanthropic programs before the pandemic continued their activity, extending it through activities that support the specific needs of the pandemic period, he explained. Several companies have joined the Patriarchates effort to combat the adverse effects of the pandemic by providing food. The patriarchal adviser noted that the activities of the multiannual programs continued during the pandemic, and new projects were initiated. He listed the central social interventions: Efforts to maintain social services for the main vulnerable groups, the elderly, people with disabilities and children. Establishing specialized Pro-Life services to prevent abortions and support women in pregnancy crisis. Development of social assistance infrastructure through EU-funded projects. Maintaining home care services functional and diversifying the medical services by setting up new clinics, specialized medical offices, palliative care and patient transport. Collaboration with local authorities to carry out projects for migrants, primarily to deliver hot food. Supporting people affected by natural disasters by building homes, equipping them and providing material aid. Carrying out fundraising activities by dedicated campaigns, concerts and exhibitions. Mobilizing communities to support philanthropic programs on the occasion of significant holidays, June 1 and the beginning of the school year, and blood donation campaigns. Father Ciprian Ionita said that during the Medical Caravan Health for Villages, in 2021, due to the sanitary restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the volunteers from the Chapel of the Romanian Peoples Salvation Cathedral made fewer trips. Likewise, the Romanian Patriarchates collaboration with the Oncological Institute Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu in Bucharest for the prevention and diagnosis of cervical cancer was diminished due to the pandemic. The Joy Table program, a partnership with Selgros Cash & Carry Romania, marked its 14th anniversary. In all 13 dioceses where there are Selgros stores, the program runs in excellent conditions, rhythmically and constantly, Fr Ionita explained. Occasionally, local partnerships have been developed with other food retailers such as Mega Image, Auchan or Kaufland that offer products to social canteens or food packages delivered to the homes of beneficiaries, elderly or homebound persons, the patriarchal adviser noted. Data on the number of beneficiaries and funds employed in social services and philanthropic actions are not available at this time for 2021. However, the figures for 2020 can give an indicative picture: we had 137,679 beneficiaries in the Romanian Patriarchate, and the estimated funds including the values of the offered goods were of 185,959,815 lei (approx. 37,574,292 Euros). Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chairman Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday that another way to compensate energy and gas bills should be found in the governing coalition, because the current law is inefficient and cannot be implemented, Agerpres reports. Asked on Antena 3 TV station if the governing coalition had found the right tool for Romanians to cope with rising electricity and gas prices, Ciolacu said: "We operate on a law proposed by the current minister, from my point of view inefficient. It cannot be implemented, the one with the capping and the offsetting of the bills.We should have a coalition meeting as soon as possible and come up with another normative act, either by ordinance, or have a special session in Parliament and come with it, both regarding individuals and Romanian companies, because they are no longer competitive at these prices. Everything is in a chain, because having no more production, no more exports, no more income, one reaches unemployment. I am glad that we managed to introduce from the beginning that social package that has a destination of almost 10 million Romanians and we anticipated in a way what will happen in January."He added that a coalition meeting is needed for the Minister of Energy to attend and for another way of compensation to be found, which is much easier and more accessible to both companies and the population."I saw that in certain areas of Europe they were better prepared, you know that there was a development fund and there is one that Romania could have accessed two years ago. Only 10 states in Europe had access to this fund which was for the energy area. There are also Romanian companies; I would also like to know and have explanations from the director of Romgaz why he was not prepared for this crisis and why we do not have the extractions we expect from Romgaz. (...) When you accept to be a director at such a company, of such importance as Hidroelectrica, I also want to know the latest investments from Romgaz and Hidroelectrica. We also want to have this information. One month in government, we are still working and still working with the client's material," Ciolacu said. Head of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU) Raed Arafat said today that the decision of the Bacau Court of Appeal overturning the Government Decisions on the extension of the state of alert is not final and that a top court ruling is needed to settle the matter. Arafat made this statement during a press conference at the Victoria Palace of Government, in response to a question about several courts throughout the country having lately declared certain Covid restrictions illegal. On December 20 the Bacau Court of Appeal ruled that 22 decisions on the state of alert are illegal. "We pursue public health measures. In my opinion, the public health measures enforced in Romania were reasonable and did not go over the top. We did not impose a months-long lockdown. Of course, there are various opinions on this and there's also a variety of opinions in the world of justice as well. And these challenges end up before various courts. Following the ruling of the Bacau court, we must now wait for the decision of the Top Court," he said, emphasizing that DSU has won a large part of the lawsuits it was a party to. The health senior official pointed out that against the backdrop of the pandemic, the adopted measures are "correct in terms of public health" and that they were amended whenever the court found they were illegal. "You are first and foremost following the decisions that are not final and then you no longer follow the final rulings. Many of the decisions that were not final were reversed by the Top Court. Some of them were sent back to court - I know of at least one case - because the judge panel was not correct, there was only one judge on the panel, instead of several, as due. (...) So this is not the final decision, we'll take the case further. If the final ruling states that something is not OK, we'll amend or adjust the regulation," said Raed Arafat. Romanian biker Emanuel Gyenes (KTM) finishes on 43th place for the motorcycle category, on Wednesday, during the fourth event of the Dakar Raid Rally 2022, which took place between Al Qaisumah and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Agerpres reports. Gyenes timed 04h 51min 16sec during the 465 km event, arriving 45 min 10 sec away from the winner, Spanish Joan Barreda Bort.In the general ranking, the Romanian pilot occupies 56th place, at 04 h 12 min 04 sec from leader Sam Sunderland (KTM).Mani Gyenes was the fourth in this event for the Malle Moto category (Original by Motul), without technical assistance, while in general he placed 5th.The 5th event of the Dakar Rally is scheduled for Thursday, with a total length of 560 km, of which 346 km are timed. The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, stated that next week an interactive map featuring the outpatient assessment centres for COVID patients will become available, Agerpres reports. The map is also to include all testing centers, as the relevant contracts are signed by family doctors.The Health Ministry recalled that on Tuesday he had a conference with the representatives of the public health directorates and the hospitals which can ensure medical assistance for COVID patients, but also for non-COVID patients that suffer from chronic diseases."We already identified a list of 160 outpatient assessment centres for patients with medium severity, probably, of the disease. But we will quickly come up with the criteria regarding the types of patients we will direct to these centers, at the national level. I believe this list will be completed and next week an interactive map with all these centers will be available, so that people know where they can go, on one hand. This interactive map will also include, as the family doctors sign the contracts, all testing centers which will become operational at the level of family medicine offices," showed the minister, during a press conference at the Victoria Palace of Government.Rafila said that the Health Ministry has already done all that was possible to ensure the increase of access to testing, mentioning that an emergency ordinance was approved in this sense."We have already completed with the National Health Insurance House the form of the contract which will allow the fast payment of testing-related services to family doctors. They will come as an addendum to the vaccination [contract] for family doctors who vaccinate, or a separate one, if the family doctors do not opt for the vaccination service," said the minister. Activities in the Tradition Reloaded section of Romania's Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai continues in January 2022 with the participation of IE Clothing, a brand which shares a part of its tradition and Romanian culture, according to an announcement published on the Facebook page of the pavilion. The mission that IE Clothing proposed is reinventing the traditional garb and transposition of Romanian cultural values in contemporary clothing. The brand keeps the symbols and colors of traditional garbs. This was born from the desire of taking Romanian identity further and reminding future generations that the traditional garb is the most precious clothing article from the traditional garb, being worked with lots of care and diligence by skilled female hands. The clothing items are handmade, from complex stitching to traditional embroidery, beads or oversized pearls. The message sent by IE Clothing is that of respecting the past and the traditional techniques for sewing and broidery, as well as the traditional garb's design. The visitors of Romania's Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will have the possibility of knowing about the craft of creating these clothing items, starting with January 6, within the extremely creative interactive workshops, where clothing enthusiasts, as well as those that wish to know more about the specific embroidery of the traditional garb, are invited to enter a fascinating world of Romanian creation, IE clothing brand. Two graduates of the Bucharest University of Art, Iulia Ghenea and Emilia Tudoran are behind the IE Clothing brand, and the company's name comes from the initials of the two founders. The "MoldArte" project, carried out by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), during the period of January-October, is the beneficiary of a grant won during a project contest within the "European Culture Spaces" program, organized by EUNIC, the network of European cultural institutes. According to a press release sent by ICR to AGERPRES on Wednesday, organized in collaboration with the Goethe Cultural Institute, the Austrian Embassy in the Republic of Moldova and the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Moldova, "MoldArte" was selected by an international jury in June 2021 from a total of 39 applicants. The project went through a preparatory stage during the period of September-November 2021, where the collaboration framework was established, the responsibilities of involved partners, content and ways of implementation, respectively long-term sustainability. "MoldArte" will function as a platform that will map cultural resources and will offer a place of reflection upon new shared actions. "The initiative proposes to develop a new public cultural scene in the Republic of Moldova, capable to tackle social and current political problems and to enhance the degree of participation of cultural actors, by creating an online, on-site integrated platform, a viable and durable networking instrument for professionals (artists, cultural managers, public or private organizations)," the ICR specifies. The program includes debates on local interest topics, workshops, artistic events and research visits of professionals in the field, between cultural actors in the Republic of Moldova and those from the partner countries - Romania, Austria and Germany, with the purpose of developing new partnerships and shared initiatives. Local partners in the Republic of Moldova will be the Coalition of the Independent Cultural Sector, the Chisinau Museum of National Art, the Oberliht Association of Young Artists in Moldova, the Ksa:K Contemporary Art Center, the MOLDOX Association, the Cocosul Rosu Studio Association. According to the quoted press release, Romania actively supports the Republic of Moldova's projects of European integration and the program of pro-democratic reforms, both ICR, as well as the member institutions of EUNIC being interested in developing projects and shared strategies, whose objective is promoting local cultural actors, creating partnerships and networks between institutions in Moldova and the EU member states. The best photographs submitted in the OrthPhoto Awards contest organised last summer were included in a new photo album published by the Publishing House of the Orthodox Metropolis of Warsaw. The album titled Colours of Orthodoxy. Europe presents 179 photographs by 109 authors from 18 countries, making it a journey through all of European Orthodoxy. The album features works by several Romanian photographers, including some of the winners of the contest: Gheorghita Epureanu, Florin Cristescu, Octavian Chende and Madalina Cimpoeru. We hope that this kind of publication will strengthen the ties between Orthodox Churches all across Europe and even the world Orthodoxy. Albums like this, in our opinion, also play an important missionary function, being a kind of mission in print, editor Jaroslaw Charkiewicz noted. The foreword and the descriptions of the photos come in four languages: Polish, English, Russian, and Greek. In the foreword, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland thanks those who made possible the publication of the tenth album in the Colours of Orthodoxy series, encouraging readers to travel through this unique publication and learn about Orthodoxy in their lives. This album bears witness to the Orthodox Churchs spiritual richness that sanctifies humanity and helps us learn about the Truth that Christ has left us, Metropolitan Sawa underlines. The album can be purchased online or by addressing to the Publishing House of the Metropolis of Warsaw via email: wiadomosci@orthodox.bialystol.pl. PSD (Social Democratic Party) leader Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday that no consensus had been reached in the governing coalition on the COVID certificate yet, Agerpres reports. "At this time in the coalition we have not reached a consensus on the green certificate, with other measures than those provided by the emergency ordinance. (...) It is obvious that we will have to learn to live with this virus, I don't know how long it will take. Professor Rafila came up with a scientifically based Stop COVID legislative proposal, saying, when the incidence increases. we should try to stop the pressure on the health system. We haven't reached the best variant and it's not clear yet if this is constitutional, or efficient. But we do need to take some measures, at least in the area - I was talking to a union leader today - of public transport. For it's clear that the virus is most easily transmitted in public transport. (...) Even if the wave comes later in Romania, it is obvious that we cannot stop it. (...) With respect to public transport, we need to establish how many persons can go on a bus, so that crowding is avoided. So it shouldn't be a restriction, people will still be allowed to travel by public transport," Ciolacu told Antena 3 private television broadcaster.He added that he does not consider the green certificate as a single tool and does not believe that pressure should be put on Romanians to get vaccinated or not."The law in Parliament, proposed by the PNL (National Liberal Party), provided for only one article, the obligation for doctors get vaccinated, and we did not agree," Ciolacu said. The agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Republic of Moldova on regulating the construction of aqueducts running underneath the Pruth River to supply with fresh water from Iasi County (Romania) the raions of Nisporeni, Ungheni, Glodeni, and Falesti (Republic of Moldova) was approved, on Wednesday, by the Executive in Bucharest, at the proposal of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Fisheries (MMAP). According to a press release of the relevant ministry, sent to AGERPRES, on May 20, 2021, Romania and the Republic of Moldova signed, on the basis of the Memorandum approved in the Government session of March 3, 2021, the Agreement on regulating the construction of aqueducts which includes aspects regarding the positioning of aqueducts and the manner of carrying out the works, so that they do not affect the state border line, as well as the authorization of construction activities and the resolving of potential differences. "Having in view the special relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, I am glad we managed to approve this agreement which represents another step in continuing and developing cooperation for the identification of durable solutions to joint problems. The agreement constitutes the legal basis for conducting works crossing the state border with potable water pipelines, and after its entry into force, the placement of the aqueduct between the localities of Ungheni in Romania and Ungheni in the Republic of Moldova, by decision of the Intergovernmental Hydro-Technical Commission will be established. As we have discussed during the meeting in December with Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Andrei Spanu, the physical connection between the two countries is part of our priorities together with other projects with major impact on the quality of life of citizens in the Republic of Moldova, local infrastructure projects such as water supply, sewerage, energy efficiency, etc.," stated the Environment Minister, Tanczos Barna. Investments will be made from the budget of S.C. Apavital S.A., regional operator for water services and sewerage in Iasi, and the first stage provides for the construction of an underground pipeline beneath the Pruth river, between the localities of Macaresti (Romania) - Macaresti (Republic of Moldova), which addresses the citizens in 13 localities in the Ungheni and Nisporeni raions, with a population of approximately 30,000 citizens. In this case, the technical project and financing have already been secured. Furthermore, through existing projects four more crossings (two beneath and two above the Pruth) are planned between the localities of Macarasti (Romania) - Macarasti (Republic of Moldova), Sculeni (Romania) - Sculeni (Republic of Moldova), Tabara (Romania) - Viilor (Republic of Moldova) and the crossing of the future bridge between Ungheni (Romania) and Ungheni (Republic of Moldova). According to MMAP, in the perspective of the coming years, after the start of the project, at least 4 towns in the Republic of Moldova can be supplied with potable water (Glodeni, Nisporeni, Ungheni and Falesti) and approximately 100 communes, with a population of approximately 250,000 persons. Romania posted a trade deficit in agri-food products of 758.6 million euros January through September 2021, down by almost 40pct compared to the same period in 2020, according to data centralized by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), presented at the request of AGERPRES. Between January and September 2020, the deficit exceeded 1.245 billion euros.Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that exports increased by 26pct, amounting to 6.57 billion euros, while the advance of imports was lower, by only 13.5pct, to 7.33 billion euros.The only years in which Romania ended by recording a surplus in the trade with agri-food products were 2013 and 2014, with an increase of 300 million euros and 500 million euros, respectively, while last year there was a deficit recorded of over two billion in this sector.MADR mentions that the data provided are provisional according to the Statistical Bulletin of International Trade, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Several student associations announced on Wednesday that they will attack in court the order changing the threshold for awarding merit scholarships, from 8.50 to 9.50, Agerpres reports. According to a press release sent by the Constanta Students' Association, the initiative is supported by the Bacau Students' Association (AEBc), the Valcea Students' Association (AVE), the Bucharest and Ilfov Students' Association (AEBI), the Maramures Students' Association (AEM) and the Students' Association in Timis (AETm)."On Tuesday (...) an Order of the Ministry of Education was published in the Official Journal approving the general criteria for awarding student scholarships. The Order modifies the criteria for awarding the merit scholarships (...). Thus, the number of the beneficiaries of merit scholarships is cut down, with hundreds of thousands of students in the country being affected by this. Thus, 730,000 students in Romania are left without scholarships. If we were to mention the name of every student affected by this it would took us eight days, and this is if we read one name every second, without taking any breaks. Probably, in the next 4 years, 730,000 young people will leave Romania, disappointed by the system's failures," the same press release reads.The students' associations accuse that the order "was published overnight," without the project being put up for public debate, in violation of the principles of decisional transparency."Thus, Cimpeanu proves that he has no respect for the students or for the laws of the country. We will attack the order in court, to make sure that no student will be harmed by orders given overnight illegally," says the same press release.The National Students' Council also condemned the modification of the threshold for the merit scholarship from 8.50 to 9.50, by an order approving the general criteria for awarding scholarships published in the Official Journal.The organization requests that the new general criteria for awarding scholarships be applied starting with the school year 2022-2023, so as to avoid a destabilization of the whole process, as well as the resumption of discussions with social dialogue partners on to the changes that need to be made to the criteria currently used.Given the major impact of such a measure on the education system, the possibility of national protests is not ruled out if the Ministry of Education does not reverse the decision. The number of COVID cases with the Omicron variant reached 183 in Romania, another 91 cases being confirmed on Wednesday, the Health Ministry informs. According to the quoted source, in the past two days, the Matei Bals National Institute for Infectious Diseases and the Cantacuzino Institute have confirmed another 91 new cases of infection with the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The new cases are 46 men and 45 women, with ages between 0 and 80 years old, from the City of Bucharest and the counties of Brasov, Mures, Constanta, Harghita, Ilfov, Sibiu, Tulcea, Arges, Calarasi, Maramures, Caras-Severin, Prahova, Satu Mare, Timis. Nine persons have a history of travel to the United Kingdom, Italy and Portugal, and 40 are not vaccinated against COVID, the Health Ministry informs. ST. LOUIS Ameren should close its second-largest coal-fired power plant sooner than proposed, the U.S. Department of Justice said in recent court filings. The electric utility offered to close the giant Rush Island Energy Center in Jefferson County by March 2024. But DOJ lawyers said in a court filing last week that the companys proposal runs astray. They recommended that the utilitys latest motion be denied, and accused the company of pitching a drawn out plan that it engineered for itself. The legal saga at Rush Island goes back more than a decade, when illegal modifications were made to the 1970s-era plant that enabled Ameren to run the facilitys generators more, and emit more pollution. In recent years, multiple court rulings against Ameren left it with a decision to either install expensive pollution controls estimated to cost up to $1 billion, or to close Rush Island ahead of its 2039 schedule. The DOJs recent brief, filed Dec. 28, responded to an Ameren motion to close the power plant by 2024, 15 years earlier than initially planned. The filing seemed to signal that the decadelong legal battle surrounding the facility sparked by years of Clean Air Act violations and excessive pollution was nearing a conclusion. The court squabbles have now pivoted to when and how the plants closure should take place and whether it should happen largely on Amerens terms or based on those of a federal court in St. Louis. An Ameren spokesman said that the companys legal team has until the end of the week to reply to the new filing. Marty Lyons, the newly appointed CEO of the company, said last month it remains committed to reliable and affordable electric service, while reducing emissions and building on our longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship. The DOJs response to Amerens motion was joined by the Sierra Club, which intervened in the case as another plaintiff. Ameren was supposed to install pollution controls called scrubbers by March 2024. But now that the company has said it wont install the technology and will instead retire the plant the DOJ said compliance can occur much more quickly. DOJ lawyers argued that the need for prompt compliance is particularly acute in this case, citing court findings that the plants excessive release of pollutants like sulfur dioxide poses irreparable harms to residents of downwind communities, including increased risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, asthma, hardened arteries and premature deaths. Ameren said it will determine an appropriate retirement date, informed by an ongoing study about electric reliability conducted along with the regional grid overseer, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO. The DOJ countered that it is up to the Court, not Ameren to set the deadline for when Rush Island shuts down calling it an extraordinary request to leave that power in the hands of the utility. The DOJ said that Ameren has already told MISO it should assume a relatively distant retirement date at least 18 months away, for the purposes of conducting the grid reliability study. But the company has also acknowledged that MISO only requires about six months of advance notice for a proposed retirement, the filing says. Tripling the minimum time for Rush Islands retirement notice may suit Amerens interests, but any delay in the plants shutdown will come at the expense of human health and welfare, DOJ lawyers wrote. The filing said Ameren could have reached out to MISO sooner to evaluate potential retirement. Ameren fails to acknowledge that these potential delays are entirely of its own making, the DOJ filing said. The company first raised the possibility of the plants retirement in 2018, the DOJ said. In 2019, it was instructed to evaluate Rush Islands fate by utility regulators at the Missouri Public Service Commission, but waited another two years to even preliminarily reach out to MISO. The DOJ also raised questions about how much Rush Island should be allowed to operate between now and its retirement. Should limits be imposed to minimize the plants pollution? Should just one of its two units be allowed to run? Should use be confined to the summer air-conditioning season when electricity demand is pushed to its highest levels of the year? Though still heavily reliant on coal power, Ameren has made significant commitments to renewable energy, including a plan unveiled last year to funnel $8 billion toward wind and solar projects over the next two decades. The company also accelerated aims to reduce carbon emissions, and reach net-zero by 2050. Rush Islands legal fate could advance both objectives. When Ameren announced last month that it would retire the plant, the company said the move will be in the best interests of the public and all involved. It pointed to a newly approved financing policy in the state, called securitization, that lets utilities close coal plants and direct investment toward alternatives, like renewable energy projects, that stand to generate cheaper power and reduce costs for captive customers. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ST. LOUIS Area officials and residents on Tuesday reported concerns that unauthorized or even fraudulent COVID-19 testing sites were operating in the region, as demand for tests continued to soar. The sites in doubt ranged from south St. Louis to Belleville. Authorities and residents said the operators collected personal patient information but sometimes didnt provide test results and other times operated at sites without permission. In one case, police shut down an operator that was asking residents for Social Security and passport numbers. COVID-19 case numbers have boomed in recent days, and hospitals are hitting new records in admissions. The surge, which has coincided with holiday travel and gatherings, has sent a flood of demand to testing sites as thousands in the region fear exposure or show symptoms. Its not clear the testing companies at each of the sites were ill-intentioned. Authorities have not accused the testing companies of fraud. Its hard to say at this point, said Annie Rice, an alderman in St. Louis Tower Grove East and Shaw neighborhoods who has fielded multiple complaints regarding a site in her ward. I dont know if I can say for certain its a scam. Still, officials are urging residents to seek testing at pharmacies, clinics, or state or local health departments. Fairview Heights Police were called Friday about a pop-up COVID-19 testing provider that had shown up at St. Clair Square, the department said in a statement. By the time police arrived, the people had packed up and left. On Monday the testing site operators showed up again, and police responded. Site operators were asking residents for social security numbers and passport numbers, and did not have the malls permission to run a testing site there, the department said in the statement. Christine Poehling, a spokeswoman for St. Clair Square, said in an email that the pop-up site was in no way affiliated with the mall, and the individuals who ran it were banned from the property. There is a state-operated testing site already located at St. Clair Square, open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Illinois State Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during a briefing Monday that some pop-up testing sites are helping fill demand for testing, but she also urged residents to ask questions if they are worried about a provider. If you have any doubts about the testing location that youre looking at, go ahead and ask some questions: What lab is the testing site using? When will you receive the results, and from whom? Ezike said. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said some of these testing sites are either leaving patients waiting for results for long periods of time, or arent returning results at all. Pritzker sent a letter to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday, saying illegitimate, fly-by-night testing operations have cropped up, especially in the Chicago area. He said they have been unfairly charging people for tests, providing inaccurate results or failing to provide results. An Illinois health department spokeswoman said patients should contact local police and the state Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Division if they suspect fraud or criminal activity. Illinois state-run COVID-19 testing sites are free, and while Social Security numbers are requested, they are not required. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department received a report on Monday from two individuals who said they had been tested at a temporary site that appeared in front of Ruler Foods in Tower Grove East on Dec. 29 and had not received any results. Hannah Rainey, a 29-year-old music teacher from Gravois Park, said she and her sister went to the site on Friday. Rainey said they were asked to provide their Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers, but they chose not to provide either. She said there was one person operating the site, and after she received her test, he packed up and left leaving her sister without a test. Rainey was told she would get her results back in two to three days, but she said Tuesday she still had not received them. In the meantime, she was able to get a PCR test at another site, and it came back negative. Rice, the alderman, said she had received multiple complaints from residents who got tested last week at the site and never received results. Id be cautious of pop-up sites that dont have a company or a hospital attached, Rice said. Harold Bailey, a spokesman for the city health department, acknowledged in an email Tuesday that the department had received questions about the testing site in Tower Grove East, and said the site is not affiliated with the city or state health departments. Bailey said the city referred the issue to the state Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. Demand for COVID-19 tests has surged in the wake of holiday gatherings and a spike of virus cases. On Tuesday, the areas four big health care systems BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, Mercy and St. Lukes reported a total of 1,023 patients with confirmed COVID-19, a new record. Last winter, the count peaked at 962 patients on Dec. 1, 2020. On average over the past week, 168 people were admitted each day to area hospitals with COVID-19, also the highest seen so far throughout the pandemic. And an average of 10 people are dying of COVID-19 each day in St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force hospitals, double what it was at the start of December. The number of hospitalized children ages 18 and younger with COVID-19 also continues to climb, reaching 61 on Tuesday. The number had doubled over the weekend, going from 26 on Thursday to 54 on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its estimates on Tuesday for coronavirus variant prevalence. The new estimates show the omicron variant accounted for 95% of U.S. cases last week, up from 77% the week before. In the Midwest region that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, the omicron variant was estimated to account for 77% of cases last week, up from 35% the week prior. Michele Munz of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) Be concerned about the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, President Joe Biden urged Americans on Tuesday, but dont be alarmed. Biden delivered that message to reporters prior to a meeting with his COVID-19 response team, saying he was trying to convey both his administrations urgency in responding to COVID and the fact that the country now has more tools to fight the virus, the Associated Press reported. You can still get COVID, but its highly unlikely, very unlikely, that youll become seriously ill, Biden said of vaccinated people, emphasizing that vaccines, booster shots and new treatments have made the pandemic far less dangerous for vaccinated Americans. But he also had stern words for those who have chosen not to be immunized. Theres no excuse, theres no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated, he added. This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated might want to worry: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that Omicron makes up 95% of COVID cases in this country. In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden also announced that his administration is doubling its order of Pfizers new antiviral pill, which was recently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The first 10 million of 20 million doses will be delivered between January and June. Added to that will be 4 million monoclonal antibody and convalescent plasma treatments, available to Americans by the end of this month, the AP reported. Theyre a game changer and have the potential to dramatically alter the impact of COVID-19, the impact its had on this country and our people, Biden said of the antiviral pills. Biden also talked about easing testing shortages and keeping schools open. He said he understands that the testing issues are frustrating. Over the holidays, people waited in long lines to get tests. The testing spike was spurred by Omicron, people wanting to travel this holiday season, and those wanting to return to school. Turns out, Omicron is driving a spike in demand for testing...everywhere, tweeted Ben Wakana, deputy director of strategic communications & engagement for the White Houses COVID-19 response team, highlighting similar shortages in the U.K., Canada and Australia. In December, Biden announced that his administration will soon make 500 million rapid antigen tests available free to Americans who want them, but it will take weeks or months before theyre available. Private insurers will be required to cover the cost of at-home tests starting later this month. Two Republican senators, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who serve on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, wrote a letter Monday to the Department of Health and Human Services seeking answers about how the administration was working to address nationwide testing shortages. With over $82.6 billion specifically appropriated for testing, and flexibility within the department to allocate additional funds from COVID-19 supplemental bills or annual appropriations if necessary, it is unclear to us why we are facing such dire circumstances now, they wrote. It does not appear to be because of lack of funding, but a more fundamental lack of strategy and a failure to anticipate future testing needs by the administration. In response, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that the government plans to award contracts to more test manufacturers this week, the AP reported. Despite news of many U.S. hospitals reaching capacity and workforces being gutted by rising COVID cases among employees, Biden reiterated his support for keeping kids in classrooms as the new year begins. I believe schools should remain open, he said, adding that his administration has the funding needed for testing and other mitigation measures to stay open during an Omicron surge, the AP reported. More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19 SOURCE: Associated Press Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange. Hospital and health officials across Missouri sounded the alarm Wednesday over sharply increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, with some saying they are seeing more confirmed cases than at any time since the coronavirus pandemic began. Leaders of Kansas City-area hospitals said in a phone conference that they are trying to treat the patients and respond to an intense demand for COVID-19 testing while also facing staffing shortages. Dr. Mark Steele, executive chief clinical officer at University Health, said the systems two hospitals in the Kansas City area are treating 98 patients with COVID-19, who are filling 25% of the licensed beds. At the same time, Steele said, just over 100 of the systems employees are out with COVID-19. Steele said the numbers are about 45% higher than the systems previous high mark from last winter and from the prior delta surge. The hospital is also dealing with more than 1,000 calls a day to its call centers from people seeking tests, with employees able to perform about 450 tests per day, he said. Testing positivity rates reached 35% in the last week, by far the systems highest positivity rate, he said. Health officials in the Springfield area echoed the bleak message during a briefing on Wednesday. Katie Towns, the director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said 473 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county on Tuesday, the highest number in the county since the end of 2020. In the past week, the county has seen a 71% increase in new cases, bringing the seven-day average to new 248 cases per day. A month ago, the county was averaging 99 cases per day. We are seeing the beginning of what will be the worst surge yet, Towns said. There will be a significant and aggressive spread of this disease. And we are bracing for the impact that it will have. In a few short weeks, every part of our community could in fact be impacted from our healthcare systems to our schools to our workplaces. And BJC HealthCare in St. Louis said it would begin postponing all elective procedures beginning Thursday. The hospital said it has more than 500 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals as of Wednesday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. On Tuesday night, the St Louis County Council voted to reimpose a mask mandate in the county, effective Wednesday. But Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt vowed after the vote to quickly challenge the mandate in court. In supporting the mandate, Councilwoman Lisa Clancy read a letter from 200 St. Louis-area doctors supporting the mask requirement. Our hospitals are overwhelmed. We are tired. We are close to breaking. We need quick action, the letter said. But Schmitt, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, said he would sue to stop the mandate, calling it blatantly illegal. He has previously filed lawsuits over COVID-19 mitigation measures and has threatened school districts and local health departments with lawsuits. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. LOS ANGELES Nickaylah Sampson seemed well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming an officer in the U.S. Army. A stellar student whose family has a long tradition of military service, the San Antonio native earned a coveted spot at West Point. She completed her freshman year in the spring of 2021, just as the military launched its vaccination campaign against COVID-19. Though she had no problem with the nine other vaccines the U.S. military requires upon enlistment, she said she worried that the COVID-19 shots were too new for their risks to be fully understood. She said her parents, both Army veterans, told her she had only one option: Get out as quickly as you can. So in October, Sampson, 19, quit West Point. The latest data from the military show that roughly 30,000 active-duty service members remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, despite a Defense Department mandate issued in August and deadlines that have passed. Their defiance of a military order is a striking illustration of how deeply politicized the pandemic has become in the United States. Racism, suicide, addiction to conspiracy theories you name it. If you can find it in the civilian population, you can find it within the military, said Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University who specializes in civil-military relations. The difference is that the military has a wider range of tools to include more day-to-day control over the lives of its members ... to monitor and manage these problems. That helps explain why the vast majority of service members more than 97% of active-duty forces have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The rest have sided with the anti-vaccination movement, which is built on conspiracy theories about the pandemic and the vaccines, as well as the libertarian principle against government mandates of any kind. Its not just the rank and file or recent recruits refusing to be vaccinated. The holdouts also include officers and service members who are close to retirement and run the risk of losing their pensions. Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, commanding officer for the Oklahoma National Guard, told his troops last month that he was rejecting the Defense Departments mandate and would instead be following orders from the states Republican governor, Kevin Stitt. Last week, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit filed by Stitt and the state attorney general challenging the mandate. In a separate case, a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction Monday blocking the Navy from enforcing the mandate for 26 SEALs and nine special operations crew members. The service members had argued in court that the mandate violated their religious freedom because aborted fetal cell lines were used in the development of the vaccine, making it an affront to the Creator. Laboratory-grown fetal cell lines obtained from a few abortions decades ago are used in the production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and helped in the development of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, though none of the vaccines contain such cells. The same fetal cell lines have also been used in the development of ibuprofen and aspirin. The lawsuit is backed by 47 Republican members of Congress who filed an amicus brief defending the religious liberty of the plaintiffs. Its not the first time vaccination has been an issue in the military. In 1998, when the Pentagon mandated the anthrax vaccine, which the Food and Drug Administration approved in the 1970s, some service members openly worried about possible side effects and resisted. A handful quit. But for the most part, medical directives have not been seriously challenged. Lori Hogue, who served as a combat medic in the Army in the 1980s, said she remembers when soldiers were suddenly ordered to receive flu shots. We all knew what we had to do, she said. When you raise your right hand, you agree to all that stuff. You dont have a lot of rights in the military. They tell you what to do. Hogue said she and her husband, a Vietnam veteran, have come to the conclusion that the military has become more politicized, starting at the top. How many senior people, say in the Pentagon, are anti-vaxxers or hold that political opinion? she said. Its coming from the political climate outside the military and its leaking in. In March, as Americans across the country were lining up for their shots, the Department of Defense pledged to make the vaccines available to all military personnel by mid-July. At that point, the FDA had approved the shots under an emergency-use authorization, and the military was not requiring them. But some service members said officers were already pressuring them to get vaccinated. Sampson said she and 34 other unvaccinated cadets were segregated from the rest of their class during training, barred from sports and subjected to briefings aimed at convincing them the vaccines were safe. In June, her father, Mathias Sampson, appeared on Foxs Sean Hannity Show to defend his daughters position. My daughter has valid concerns about this vaccination concerns pertaining to fertility, long-term effects, the retired lieutenant colonel told the conservative host. Neither the CDC nor West Point have answers to these concerns. The Defense Department mandate came a day after the FDA granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine. Service members at bases around the country began lining up at clinics and in gymnasiums for their shots. But it wasnt long before anonymous military-themed social media accounts began popping up and spreading misinformation about the vaccines. One Twitter user who claims to be an active-duty chief warrant officer and has more than 2,000 followers many of them servicemen or veterans wrote that the COVID shot has killed many kids and that a pharmacy on a military base in Washington was swapping out flu shots for COVID shots without telling people. In addition to the lawsuit by the Navy SEALs, 16 other service members have sued the Defense Department, the FDA and the heads of every military branch, arguing that the mandates are unlawful. Among the plaintiffs is Brian Stermer, a sergeant first class in the Army Reserves who said he distrusts the governments claims that the vaccines are safe and effective. Its a new technology and theres a nefariousness behind it, he said. And the whole shot in every arm I dont trust them. Stermer, who lives on the Ft. Leonard Wood military base in Missouri, said he considered applying for a medical exemption but realized that as a healthy 33-year-old he stood little chance. Like many service members refusing to get vaccinated, he is seeking a religious accommodation, arguing that the mandate goes against Scripture. His chances of being granted one are next to none. The various branches of the military have received a total of more than 12,000 such requests and after reviewing thousands have yet to approve a single one. Permanent medical exemptions are also rare the Army has approved just four. Some service members have temporary exemptions for medical or logistical reasons. As for what will happen to the unvaccinated service members, the military is still figuring it out. The National Defense Authorization Act that President Biden signed Dec. 27 says that any discharge of a service member on the sole basis that the member failed to obey a lawful order to receive a vaccine for COVID-19 shall be an honorable discharge, or a general discharge under honorable conditions. The Marine Corps said last month that it kicked out 169 troops for defying the vaccine mandate and that all unvaccinated Marines without a pending or approved exemption or appeal will be processed for administrative separation. Capt. Andrew Wood, a spokesman for the Marine Corps, said that the separations were being handled on a case-by-case basis. Lt. Col. Terry Kelley, a spokesman for the Army, said that 2,767 soldiers have received general officer written reprimands killing their opportunities for promotions or transfers within the military and that two battalion commanders as well as four other officers have been relieved of their duties but remain enlisted in the military. We need our soldiers to be ready to fight and win, and if this virus is spreading through our ranks, that would obviously have an impact on our readiness, he said. Kelley said that the military could not discuss individual cases. Sampson, who said she received an honorable discharge, wasnt the only cadet at West Point to give up on a military career because of the vaccine mandate. Her friend Hannah MacDonald, who left West Point around the same time, provided The Times with a photograph of her honorable discharge certificate. The two had grown close after the academy began segregating the unvaccinated and they were assigned to the same isolation cabin. I really want to be a soldier, said MacDonald, 19, who grew up in Boston. I wanted to be able to deploy. I want to be able to fight, and I felt like if I took this vaccine, I would not be commissionable or deployable. I didnt think it was safe for my health. In early November, the two women and a former classmate who also dropped out appeared on Hannitys show to explain their decisions. I truly did feel like it was my calling to be an officer, mostly because my father himself was an Army officer, Sampson said on the show. I felt obligated to follow in his footsteps. But when I got there, it didnt turn out like I thought it would or like I planned. MacDonald said that shes planning on filing a lawsuit against West Point. A few days after their appearance on Hannity, both women received emails from Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts college in southern Michigan, offering them admission. MacDonald said that she decided to take some time off from school to be with her parents to figure out what to do next and that the colleges offer still stands. Sampson said she plans to enroll at Hillsdale in the spring and major in mathematics. 2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. ST. LOUIS The crowd began gathering two hours before the train was due from Indianapolis. Well-wishers surged through a special police line to stand along Union Stations Track 7. This wasnt for a president or war hero. More than 4,000 people assembled on Jan. 4, 1926, to cheer the arrival of 11 St. Louisans, including influential politicians, who were convicted in the citys most notorious liquor scandal of the Prohibition Era. They were en route from Indianapolis, site of their multistate trial, to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. Details of their layover had made the front pages. As the Pennsylvania Railroad train backed onto Track 7, switchmen were the first to salute. Hello, Nat, they shouted to cigar-puffing Nat Goldstein, former St. Louis circuit clerk and ace political fixer. Goldstein was the most prominent St. Louisan in the milking case, the brazen siphoning of 31,000 gallons of Jack Daniels whiskey supposedly under federal guard at 3960 Duncan Avenue, near Vandeventer Avenue and Forest Park Boulevard. The famous distillery had moved here when Tennessee went dry. As national Prohibition took effect in 1920, whiskey was to be dispensed only as prescription medicine. Armed men once robbed the warehouse on Duncan of 16 barrels, but that was small stuff. After George Remus in Cincinnati, Americas biggest-volume bootlegger, bought the inventory, more ambitious plans were laid. Goldstein, a powerful Republican, had lobbied President Warren Harding to make Arnold Hellmich chief revenue agent in St. Louis. Hellmich appointed William Kinney, brother of a Democratic state senator, to guard the Jack Daniels. From there, the fix was easy. The milking took place over two weeks in August 1923. Thieves siphoned whiskey through 150 feet of hose into trucks waiting down the alley. Eventually, other revenue agents discovered the loss. Remus, in prison on another scam, turned on his St. Louis cronies during the trial. All told, 23 men were convicted on Dec. 18, 1925. Goldstein and Hellmich drew two years, Kinney 18 months. For the trip, the conspirators were allowed to rent their own Pullman car, which they rode to glory into Union Station. Admirers clamored to board the train. A tearful woman hugged Goldstein and said, You never forget a friend in need. Others passed up baskets of food, cigars and candy. Many in the crowd were political cronies, but others simply were grateful that the gang had done its part to keep the booze flowing. Tony Foley, a St. Louis gambler and one of the convicts, looked at the crowd and said, We cant be so bad after all. Fellow conspirators from Cincinnati were impressed. The train pulled away to loud cheers at 10:30 p.m. Rolling west on the Wabash line, Goldstein said, If ever I get blue, I will remember this night. They rode their Pullman car all the way into the yard at Leavenworth prison. Goldstein served eight months. He was pardoned by President Herbert Hoover in 1929 and died at his home in St. Louis in 1945, at age 85. Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series. Tim O'Neil is a reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Contact him at 314-340-8132 or toneil@post-dispatch.com UPDATED on Friday with details on suspect Walker's prior murder case dropped Police arrested two people Wednesday after a deputy from St. Charles County was run over by an SUV and seriously hurt in a vehicle-theft investigation, authorities said. The SUVs driver also struck two police vehicles and led police on a 5-mile chase. The deputy, Steven Robertson, suffered a broken pelvis and broken ankle when he was hit by the vehicle about 4 a.m. Wednesday, said St. Charles County Sheriff Scott A. Lewis. The deputy was struck after police with St. Charles Countys multi-jurisdictional auto theft task force stopped a GMC Denali for casing the area near Interstate 70 and Fifth Street. The deputy had come to the traffic stop, on a business parking lot off of Fifth Street, to help police transport a prisoner. Police were talking to the people in the SUV when the driver sped off, ramming a St. Charles County police vehicle and hitting the deputy, police said. Officers from surrounding agencies joined in a police chase. Dispatchers said the SUV had run over the deputy. The driver of the vehicle was later identified as Tiffany Marie Kanzler, 28, of Florissant, St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar said in a statement. Kanzler was charged Wednesday with assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, trafficking drugs and property damage. The passenger in the SUV was identified as Aaron Lamarr Walker, 38, of St. Louis, Lohmars statement said. Walker was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance. Walker is the man whose murder case in St. Louis was dismissed by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office last April. Walker was originally charged with the October 2018 shooting death of Richard MacDonald in the city's Benton Park neighborhood. A spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, in explaining the decision last year to drop murder charges, said prosecutors "did not have witness participation" in the case. MacDonald, 38, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the living room of a home on Oct. 2, 2018. Charges said that witnesses told police Walker and MacDonald were the only two men in the room at the time. Police found several .45-caliber shell casings at the scene. After the deputy was injured Wednesday, Walker and Kanzler were both in custody in St. Charles County. Bail has been set for Kanzler at $2 million, and at $1 million for Walker, Lohmars statement said. Kanzler lives in the 1800 block of St. Anthony Avenue in Florissant. Walker lives in the 3200 block of Alfred Avenue in St. Louis. 'Not playing this game' In a summary of the assault, Lohmar's office said officers walked up to the SUV but the people inside wouldn't roll down their windows. Officers waited 25 minutes for them to comply and asked them to get out of the vehicle. Kanzler refused, at one point telling the officers: "Im not playing this game;'" then she drove away, hitting the deputy, the prosecutor said. Kanzler posted a one-minute video on Facebook during the traffic stop while she was parked, complaining that she was surrounded by five police cars and that officers weren't letting her leave. "They keep saying that if we provide our information that we would be able to go," she said, narrating the video. "We gave them our names, our birthdays, and they still are sitting here like we're freakin' morons. We haven't done anything. The car's not stolen, nothing. Like, do you see this? We're not acting violent ... our hands (aren't) in our pockets, nothing. We're sitting here." Her video ends though before the car takes off. Court records list no defense attorneys yet for Kanzler and Walker. Court documents refer to the deputy only by initials, S.R., but the sheriff identified Robertson by name in a Facebook post the day after the assault. The sheriff also posted photos of a damaged police vehicle. The deputy was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition. Lewis, the sheriff, visited the deputy in the hospital. Lewis told the Post-Dispatch that the deputy suffered a broken pelvis and broken ankle and was in surgery. He was in pain but also in good spirits, Lewis said. Lewis said there are conflicting accounts of how the deputy was hurt. He thought he was hit and thrown in the air, Lewis said. Another officer said he was run over. I think he was run over. Robertson works for the St. Charles County Sheriffs Department, which is responsible for court services and security, prisoner transport and civil process. He has worked as a deputy for three years and worked for the county as a park ranger before that. The sheriffs office is a different agency from the St. Charles County Police Department. After hitting the deputy, the SUV sped off, heading east on I-70. It crossed the Missouri River into St. Louis County as officers chased it. The SUV headed north onto Highway 141, all while police said they were moving just under 60 mph in the pursuit. The chase ended five miles after it started, when the SUV hit a Cottleville Police Department patrol car near Route 141 at Rider Trail North, not far from St. Charles Rock Road and the Bridgeton area. Officers arrested the driver and passenger and found a firearm and more than 40 pills of what is believed to be fentanyl, according to the prosecutor. Last February, Lohmar, the countys police agencies and the Missouri Highway Patrol formed an Auto Theft Task Force to curb the rate of thefts. At the time, Lohmar had estimated that five or six vehicles were being stolen each night across St. Charles County. Police said many of the thieves appeared to be organized in groups that typically hit neighborhoods in the middle of the night and the early morning hours. Val Joyner, a spokeswoman for the St. Charles County Police Department, said the St. Charles County Regional Auto Theft Task Force has had significant success. In the fourth quarter of 2021, task force officers arrested 57 people. Seventeen of those were arrested in felony drug cases, seven for weapons violations and 16 on other felony warrants. The task forces work Tuesday night into Wednesday resulted in 13 arrests, including 11 people booked in drug cases and one on suspicion of assaulting a law enforcement officer. Lewis said two sheriffs deputies were working overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning to team up with the task force. Once police make an arrest, police call for a deputy to take the suspect to jail, which frees up the task force members to stay on the streets and continue patrolling instead of getting sidetracked with transporting a prisoner. The injured deputy is one of 37 deputies with the sheriffs office. More than a dozen are assigned to transport prisoners and serve court papers. Fifteen others work as bailiffs in the courthouse. The rest are supervisors. Lewis said his agency is distributing body cameras to its deputies but that the deputy who was struck by the vehicle hadnt been given one yet. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Kim Bell Kim Bell is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Kim Bell Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today ST. CHARLES COUNTY A man from Kentucky accused of fatally shooting an Illinois sheriffs deputy was charged Tuesday in St. Charles County in three carjackings and a shooting here last week as part of a two-state crime spree. Ray E. Tate, 40, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was charged in St. Charles County Circuit Court with 14 felonies, including kidnapping, vehicle hijacking, robbery, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Tate on Dec. 29 robbed an employee of a business in the first block of Commerce Drive in OFallon, Missouri, of the mans Nissan Titan and held him hostage, charges said. Tate pointed a gun at the Nissan pickup driver, told him that he had killed a police officer, shot two others and would kill him, too, if the man refused to drive him from the area, charges said. Tate kept his gun pointed at the man as the man drove him to Illinois, according to the charges. Prosecutors said Tate last Wednesday also hijacked someones Chevrolet Silverado and wallet at gunpoint in St. Charles County. Police said they responded to the business in OFallon to investigate an abandoned Chevrolet Cruze that Tate had carjacked a couple of hours earlier. Tate is charged in Illinois with fatally shooting Wayne County Sheriffs Deputy Sean Riley in Wayne County, Illinois. State police said Riley was found shot to death early last Wednesday and his squad car missing. Authorities later found Rileys car abandoned near Interstate 64. After the deputy was shot, authorities said, Tate held a semitrailer driver against his will and forced him to drive west to St. Peters, where he carjacked and shot a man at the QuikTrip at 391 Main Street. Charges dont provide details about the shooting at the QuikTrip. Authorities said Tate then held two people hostage near Carlyle, in Clinton County, before police caught up to him and arrested him. A judge set Tates bail at $5 million. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SOUTH ROXANA, Ill. The police chief of a village in Madison County has asked the Illinois State Police to investigate after a police officer shot and wounded a man who tried to attack an officer with a knife. South Roxana police Chief Bob Coles said the man is expected to survive. Police have not released his name or age. The man was shot about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Rose Avenue, east of Highway 111 and along South Roxanas northern border. Coles said the man was shot after a domestic disturbance. A woman had called 911 to report that someone was at the home on Rose hunting someone, according to dispatchers, who alerted officers that a man was barricaded in the back of a home on Rose and had access to knives. Illinois State Police, in a news release Wednesday afternoon, said the man attacked the officer with a knife, and the officer fired his gun, hitting the man. Dispatchers then updated surrounding agencies to say that shots were fired and that South Roxana needed backup. As police from neighboring jurisdictions learned about the shooting, officers rushed to a staging area near Jarrett Industries, at Rose Avenue and Madison Street. A woman who lives two houses away told the Post-Dispatch that she saw police running up and down the street. She said she heard the gunfire but didnt see what happened. The chief said Wednesday that everything hes seen so far tells him that police were justified in shooting the man, but hes asked the Illinois State Police to handle the investigation. Officers suffered sprains and other injuries while arresting the man, the chief said. He said multiple departments were involved in the arrest but he declined to say more. South Roxana is a village of about 2,000 residents in Madison County, Illinois. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A year after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, denial and conspiratorial thinking about the 2020 presidential election persists in Missouri, fostered by Republican officials and fringe characters who peddle falsehoods embraced by former President Donald Trump. The arrival of an Ohio math teacher in Missouri this week illustrates how the obsession with 2020 continues to simmer under the surface in the state, only to occasionally boil over into the open. Douglas Frank gained fame among diehard Trump supporters for advancing widely debunked theories claiming to show the election was stolen from Trump. Frank, who has worked with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, falsely claims President Joe Bidens administration is illegitimate and has previously delivered a presentation at a Trump rally laying out his case. As Jan. 6 approaches, Frank is in central Missouri to encourage those who have bought into the big lie. He spoke Tuesday evening in Osage County and will attend a dinner Wednesday night before headlining a Thursday rally at the Missouri Capitol. Trump easily won Missouri in 2020, earning nearly 57% of the vote. No allegations of fraud marred the outcome. Still, the onslaught of baseless claims nationally about the presidential race has damaged confidence in the electoral system among some Missouri conservatives. Franks appearance at the Jan. 6 rally, billed as Secure MOs Elections, has been promoted by both Frank and Rep. Ann Kelley, a Lamar Republican who attended a cyber symposium hosted by Lindell. A poster for the event promises that legislators will hear our voices for election reform. Behind Franks Missouri visit appears to be a loose, murky network of activists and others bent on searching for election fraud at Lindells behest. The Osage County talk was sponsored by a group called the Missouri Canvassers, which an organizer said was one of many holding the state capitol event. Lindell is backing efforts around the country to encourage supporters to go door-to-door in search of phantom voters. These are the names of individuals who move or die and are often not immediately cleared from voter rolls. Their presence on the rolls isnt necessarily an indication of fraud. The 2020 election was the most secure, transparent and verified in American history, said David Becker, director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. It also generated more litigation than any other, he said, with the Trump campaign unable to support any of its claims. Now we sit here, well over 400 days past the election, and the losing candidate and his supporters still have been unable to present any evidence of any problems or fraud that could have affected the outcome of the election, Becker said. Lindells canvassers The Missouri canvassers dont appear to have a single website or mainstream social media presence, making it difficult to assess the size of the network. But videos posted online include instructions on how to talk to residents and updates on their progress. A Dec. 28 video says about 40 teams are set to canvass on Saturday. Its a mixture of people honestly. Just a mixture of citizens that are wanting legislators to take a closer look at election reform, making sure that our elections are as safe and secure as possible, Kelley said of those organizing Franks visit A voicemail left with an individual promoting Franks visit online wasnt immediately returned. A message sent to an email address for Frank wasnt answered. Linda Rantz of Osage County, an organizer, said about 185 people have signed up to support canvassing efforts in 14 counties. Their goals, she said, are threefold: get Missouri to join Lindells attempt to have the election decertified by the Supreme Court, win passage of unspecified state election reforms and launch a state-level review of the 2020 results. The Supreme Court has already refused to hear a challenge brought by several state attorneys general, including Missouris. Rantz hesitated to call the desired review of results an audit and said she understood it was unlikely to happen. We used to call it a forensic audit, whatever it is that needs to be done to prove something, she said. For her part, Kelley said bringing Frank to Missouri has nothing to do with one specific election at all. Its just making sure that if we do have issues, or vulnerabilities within our elections that we fix those and just making sure that our election process is just as safe and secure as possible, and thats the whole point, Kelley said. Lindell is very focused on 2020, however. His current tagline, Fix 2020 First, reflects his looking-back message. Dont be confused. Making suggestions for fixing future elections is not fixing 2020, Frank said in a social media post last month. At a Linn, Mo. wedding venue outside a bed-and-breakfast Tuesday night, the gregarious Frank worked a crowd of two dozen with encouraging words about their efforts to save the country. You guys are the heroes, he said. My job is to support you. He gave a presentation outlining his thesis that voter rolls across the country were artificially inflated prior to the 2020 election. This was done, he said, with the names of voters who died or moved and hadnt yet been removed from the rolls, or by malicious actors using Census data. He also claimed the number of votes cast in Missouri did not match a number that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft later gave him, and said to explain the discrepancy he wanted the names of every Missouri resident who cast a ballot. Franks claims have been debunked by elections officials in other states. While other Republicans have alleged illegitimate results in a half-dozen swing states, Frank goes much farther. He asserts that fraud was rampant across the United States. Republican election officials have said Missouris elections were secure, but Rantz thinks otherwise. I dont believe it, personally, she said. We dont believe that our county clerks are corrupt, we dont believe theres corruption at that level. Its more of what Dr. Frank says, that they maybe dont understand. Take up the cause Individuals associated with the canvassers effort in Missouri were able to secure a one-hour meeting with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and other officials in his office. According to a video recap of the meeting posted by an online account associated with the canvassers, they delivered what they said were evidence of more than 100 phantom voters. On Dec. 1, Frank posted online to congratulate our Missouri team of supermoms and canvassers. Id negotiated a deal with their Secretary of State, where he agreed to take up the cause if we brought him 100 phantom voters, Frank wrote. Id promised him 100 phantom voters, and the team delivered more. In an interview, Ashcroft said no special deal existed with Frank. He said that his office will check out claims of problems with Missouris elections when people present evidence. His office will verify the information to the extent possible and will report its findings to the legislature, he said. Ashcroft said he didnt receive information directly from Frank, but that all sorts of individuals have brought to the office reasons they think there are problems. We really take an all-comers approach. Whoever sends us information, we look. I think thats my job, Ashcroft said. Ashcroft has said states, such as Pennsylvania, didnt follow their election laws in 2020. But he has also said there wasnt widespread or systematic fraud that would call into question the results of the election. But some Missouri Republicans have openly courted election denialists most prominently candidates for U.S. Senate. Former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned amid scandal, heavily promoted a Republican-led election review in Arizona. Even after it failed to turn up fraud, he still called on Arizona to overturn its results something that isnt possible. Attorney General Eric Schmitt supported a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election. St. Louis businessman Mark McCloskey has said that there is no question that Donald Trump won the legitimate vote. Reps. Billy Long and Vicky Hartzler both supported efforts to overturn the election by supporting objections to the counting of electoral college votes. Sen. Josh Hawley was one of the most vocal objectors and raised his fist to a crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 before the building was breached. He faced calls to resign in the wake of the riot. Confident in election system At the state level, some GOP legislators appear ready to distance themselves from the 2020 election. Ashcroft said he didnt have plans to attend the Jan. 6 rally. Gov. Mike Parson, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Schmitt and Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick also dont plan to attend, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. I dont think theres a fixation in the legislature on the 2020 election results at all, said Rep. Jim Murphy, a St. Louis Republican. I think were all past that and were pretty confident in our system. Murphy is holding a town hall in St. Louis County this month for constituents to hear from local elections officials in the hopes of addressing what he called conspiracy theories and to assure them that we understand their concerns but in Missouri we have a relatively safe and secure voting apparatus that protects our votes. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said she believes her Republican counterparts are starting to move on at least in the legislature. I have no doubt it will come up in discussion, she said of Lindells claims, but I really dont think its going to play a role at all during the legislative session. Still, others have relied on challenges to mail-in votes in other states in 2020 to point to voting rules they want to tighten in Missouri. Our election in Missouri was held very well and I feel very confident in the results that were in the 2020 election in Missouri, said Rep. Dan Shaul, an Imperial Republican who chairs the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee. He said legislators identified a lot of smaller fixes to make based on issues that arose in other parts of the country. As the General Assembly convenes this week, Republican lawmakers remain focused on the stricter election rules they have pursued before, including proposals to allow Ashcrofts office to audit local voter rolls and to reinstate the states photo voter ID requirement. The photo ID rule was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2020 over confusing language that would have required voters without a photo ID to sign an affidavit before casting a ballot attesting they did not have a valid form of identification. Bills proposed in the House would remove the affidavit language entirely, allowing those without a photo ID only to cast a provisional ballot. Kelley, the Lamar Republican, has proposed requiring paper ballots, prohibiting mail-in voting and instituting an Election Integrity Committee that would audit election results at random. Asked whether she hoped the Frank visit would generate more legislative support for challenges of 2020, she said Missouri could take a stand. It is possible that we could decertify the election based upon these other states that have had fraud in their elections, she said, echoing comments by Republicans who contend, baselessly, that Bidens victory can somehow be voided. But like I said, Im one person, Kelley said. It takes way more people to make decisions up here in Jefferson City. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Mayor Quinton Lucas said Tuesday night that he is planning to make another run for mayor to stay on after his current term ends in 2023. Lucas, a first-term mayor who has openly flirted with a bid for U.S. Senate, made the comment during a year-end review discussion that was live-streamed over Facebook. It was prompted by an audience participant who asked whether Lucas intended to remain in his post or move on to higher endeavors. I like being mayor. Im planning to run for reelection, Lucas said, before pausing to give a thumbs up. Im proud to be from Kansas City, he added. Yall have given me a dream job of mine, and, you know what, Im honored to do it each and every day even on the toughest days. Questions about Lucas political future have swirled in recent months after he announced he was considering a higher office, possibly retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunts seat. Blunt, a Republican, announced last year that his current term would be his last, setting off interest among candidates on both sides of the aisle. Lucas has the option to run for Senate without risking his seat as mayor, which wont be on the ballot until 2023. But hed likely face criticism for juggling his duties as the citys chief executive against a campaign schedule. Official candidate filings for Missouris 2022 primary elections have yet to begin. But the mayor is currently the highest-profile Democrat to be considered a contender. Several well-known Republicans have already entered the fray, including Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, disgraced ex-Gov. Eric Grietens and Mark McCloskey, the gun rights folk hero and personal injury attorney from St. Louis. Lucas was elected mayor in 2019 on a platform that focused on housing issues. He has made regular trips to Washington to meet with members of the congressional delegation during his time in office. Speaking to his Facebook audience on Tuesday night, Lucas recalled a tough conversation with a Northland group during the 2020 summer protests for racial justice in Kansas City. He referenced that meeting among other conversations he seeks to have with people whose views do not necessarily align with his own. I feel like this is why Im here, he said. Im here because I want to make sure Kansas City knows everybody in Kansas City knows theres somebody who at least listens to them. The Stars Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry contributed to this report. JEFFERSON CITY Missouri lawmakers opened their legislative session Wednesday facing significant deadlines to redraw the states congressional map and earmark billions of dollars in federal emergency aid. With the 2022 election season looming and tensions still evident among some Republicans, members of the House and Senate are expected to spend the next five months hammering on red meat issues like abortion, taxes and guns, but the maps and money are expected to be dominant tasks in the initial stages of the session. President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, called on members to put aside their differences to work for the betterment of the state. The stakes are too high to give up, Schatz said. But members of a hard-line conservative faction in the upper chamber warned they would be a factor in any deal-making that occurs after they were steamrolled last year over budget issues. Im tired of being lied to. Im tired of being backstabbed, said Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg. Lawmakers gaveled in as COVID-19 continues its latest surge. There is no mask mandate in either chamber and few other restrictions designed to limit the spread of a respiratory disease that has killed more than 16,000 Missourians. House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, said he didnt know the number of Republican representatives out with COVID-19 on Wednesday, but the surges effect on attendance was not a concern. Two Democratic representatives were out sick with the virus. Republicans control the Senate 24-10 and the House 108-49. There are six vacant seats, but Gov. Mike Parson has made no move to call special elections to fill them. Parson will outline his agenda during his State of the State address on Jan. 19. He is expected to hone his pitch to give the states low-paid government workers raises and divvy up federal money amassed during the pandemic. Parson is urging lawmakers to move fast on approving a supplemental budget. Without one, the state could lose $2 billion in federal education funding if the plan isnt signed by the governor by late March. Also intertwined in the debate over money is funding for the ongoing expansion of Medicaid. Conservative lawmakers have signaled they plan to again fight the expansion, which was approved by voters in 2020 after years of GOP opposition. In the House, Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, said despite a court decision pressing the expansion forward, the future of Medicaid funding isnt yet certain. Weve essentially got court-ordered Medicaid expansion, and were in a different landscape than we were last year, said Smith. Whatever we do in response to that court decision, whether its this fiscal year or the next fiscal year, is a collaborative process, and I wont really speak to what I think will end up happening. In the Senate, Schatz has predicted the Legislature will move fast on new boundaries for Missouris eight congressional districts. Lawmakers will decide whether to stick with a status quo map that gives Democrats two seats one in Kansas City and one in St. Louis. In the House, Republicans wont have a two-thirds majority for the first time in nearly a decade, meaning Democratic votes could be necessary to ensure theres a map in place by the Aug. 2 primary. I dont. I dont at the moment, said Vescovo when asked if he had thoughts on the congressional map proposed by fellow Jefferson County Republican state Rep. Dan Shaul last week. The proposal gives Democrats two seats out of eight. Just because it is presented one way doesnt mean its going to finish that way, Vescovo said. In the last election cycle, 40% of congressional votes went to Democrats, so the reality is that we should have a five-three map, said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, calling the proposal of a seven-one map ridiculous but saying there is room for conversation regarding the six-two map. Divided GOP The Senate could be the epicenter of a GOP divide that has roiled the chamber for two years. Members of the so-called Conservative Caucus want a congressional map that axes the Democratic Kansas City seat, and theyve warned that they will try to stop any spending spree proposed by the governor. Schatz acknowledged the divide. We do disagree on occasion, but we debate, Schatz said. Despite our differences, we find ourselves here working together. In a sign that tension remains, Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, questioned the routine adoption of operating rules for the Senate, saying he was concerned about any potential surprise changes. Weve had some issues with trust, Wieland said. When people stop trusting each other, the system doesnt work. Hoskins revived concerns among the hardliners about perceived mistreatment by Republican leaders in the chamber. That trust has been broken especially over the last year, Hoskins said. We have a lot of honest people in the Senate and, unfortunately, we have some dishonest people. Were going to continue to be an extremely dysfunctional body, said Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville. The warring factions in the Senate could put Democrats in a prime position to make deals favorable to their members. Republicans also have filed more than a dozen pieces of legislation in some way aimed at crippling vaccine mandates. Multiple pieces of legislation seek to censor how schools teach students about race. Republicans also are poised to push new abortion restrictions modeled after a Texas law. Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, who is running for state Senate in Jefferson County, has proposed a measure that would deputize citizens to sue clinics, physicians and others involved in abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The GOP also is expected to push for changes in how elections are conducted. Among the bills filed in the run-up to Wednesdays start, lawmakers have proposed closing primary elections and more attempts to require photo identification to cast a ballot. Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Kurt Erickson 573-556-6181 @KurtEricksonPD on Twitter kerickson@post-dispatch.com Grace Zokovitch @GraceZokovitch on Twitter gzokovitch@post-dispatch.com ST. LOUIS A Missouri appeals court confirmed that St. Louis should be on the hook to pay a multimillion dollar portion of legal fees stemming from legal settlements, an issue that has caused a clash between St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. A three-judge panel from the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District said in an opinion Tuesday that St. Louis has an obligation to pay back the State Legal Expense Fund run by the attorney generals office for the states share of a $14 million wrongful conviction settlement to the family of George Tex Allen Jr. Allen was wrongfully convicted for the 1982 St. Louis rape and fatal stabbing of court reporter Mary Bell. Allen was released from prison in 2012 after a judge reversed his murder conviction because police did not share key evidence that could have pointed to his innocence, including inconsistencies and test results showing semen at the scene did not come from him, Bells boyfriend nor her estranged husband. At the time, the St. Louis police department was under state control and several former police officers and officials were named in the familys suit. The opinion issued is in line with a June 2021 ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court over whether Missouris legal settlement fund, which is overseen by Schmitt, is obligated to fund certain settlements and judgments against St. Louis police officers. The Supreme Court ruled that even if a case involved conduct from before 2012, when St. Louis police were run by the state, the state fund would not be obligated to cover legal costs if a claim was made after the department returned to city control 11 years ago. The court rulings require that the city repay the State Legal Expense Funds share of the settlement in the Allen case, along with legal fees several other similar cases involving St. Louis police, totaling more than $5 million. The debt became a political issue in November when Jones announced that Schmitt had offered to forgive the citys debt to the legal fund if Jones pledged to spend it on police personnel. Jones responded with an offer to spend the funds on hiring incentives for 911 dispatchers, cash incentives for city police officers to get COVID-19 vaccinations and police officer mental health programs. Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitts office, said in an email Tuesday that the attorney generals office still believes St. Louis should owe the debt because Jones response did not include Schmitts intended goal of the deal to allow the city to hire more police officers. Nuelle wrote that out of respect for law enforcement we graciously offered to put this money towards hiring more officers on the ground to patrol the city and fight violent crime. He added: Again, its sad that the mayor has made this a public and political issue and that hiring more police officers doesnt fit the agenda of the mayor of the murder capital of the United States. Since it seems that the mayor wont take us up on our offer, we will seek to recover the money that the state is owed. Nuelle couldnt immediately say Tuesday when St. Louis must begin repaying the funds. Jones in a press conference said she has suspected the offer was a political stunt by Schmitt, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022. Jones and Schmitt have repeatedly traded political barbs on social media over the past year. Of course I assumed it was a political stunt like most things coming out of the attorney generals office, Jones, a Democrat, said, adding: Were always looking for more resources to help support our first responders. But if we truly want to make St. Louis a safer place, we need to take a broader, more holistic view at public safety. Jones administration officials said Wednesday they never received a counterproposal to Jones plans for the forgiven debt from the attorney generals office. Jones in a statement pointed out that during her first year in office homicides fell by 25% compared with 2020. The city homicide total fell to 195 in 2021, on par with average totals the city was seeing in homicides in the five years before a historic surge in killings amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Attorney General Schmitt refused to work with me to continue our progress and support our first responders, Mayor Jones statement reads. Even after the city provided an offer that fulfilled the attorney generals request to spend funds on police personnel, attorney general Schmitt bowed to far right political pressure, turning his back on our first responders after getting caught attempting to negotiate with the city of St. Louis. The Missouri statute governing the legal fund gives Schmitt the authority to approve all settlements from the fund, but does not address if he also has the authority to forgive debts to the fund. Erin Heffernan 314-340-8145 @erinheff on Twitter eheffernan@post-dispatch.com Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Missouri legislators return to Jefferson City Wednesday with some big decisions to make regarding redistricting and how to allocate a windfall of federal funding. Unfortunately, some among the ruling Republicans appear intent on making the coming legislative session all about abortion, school curriculum and resistance to responsible pandemic measures. Buckle up. Lawmakers this session will draw new congressional boundaries, the once-in-a-decade process that, in Missouri as around the nation, has historically been used by whichever party is in control to gerrymander lasting demographic advantages in future elections. To their credit, leading Republicans in Missouri appear to have dismissed talk from their own side of the aisle about trying to eliminate one of the only two Democratic congressional seats in the states eight-seat House delegation. Instead, the state will likely continue its current 6-2 split. While thats better for Democrats than losing a seat, Donald Trumps 56% share of the states vote in the 2020 presidential election indicates a 5-3 split would more accurately reflect Missouris political makeup. But in these hotly partisan times, you take what small mercies you can get. Now if only the GOPs cooler heads can prevail on some of the other issues coming down the pike. Some Republican lawmakers have filed an avalanche of legislation that couldnt be more helpful to the coronavirus if the virus itself had written it. There are measures to require businesses to serve the unvaccinated whether business owners like it or not. So much for the conservative principle of unfettered free enterprise. Theres legislation to allow businesses to be sued if they require vaccination of employees and injuries result. So much for conservative opposition to runaway litigation. Other Republican bills seek to stir up the culture-war fight over school curriculum, prohibiting teaching related to race and, more generally, giving the state expanded power over the decisions of locally elected school boards. So much for the conservative principle of protecting local control over schools. And then, of course, there is abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court looks increasingly likely to scuttle Roe v. Wade, which would leave it to individual states to decide how restrictive they want to be regarding a womans right to control her own body. Among the more egregious legislation on the horizon in Missouri is a measure to mimic Texas near-total ban on abortion rights, including a civil-litigation enforcement mechanism that bears a disturbing resemblance to bounty hunting. There was a time when Republican lawmakers adhered to the old adage that government is best which governs least. The adage has its limits, though. Government can and should assertively make life better for citizens. But in the case of the Legislature, getting through this session without fundamental damage being done to citizens rights, education and health is the best Missourians can hope for. Regarding Missouri lawmaker wants Texas-style ban on abortion (Dec. 18): Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, recently pre-filed House Bill 1987, which seeks to criminalize abortion once a heartbeat is detected by deputizing citizens as enforcers to sue anyone enabling the procedure. Colemans bill copycats Texas Senate Bill 8, now before the Supreme Court. All Missourians should be concerned about the floodgates this bill would open. The topic wont matter. Whether it is abortion, gun control or jaywalking, this bill contains an enforcement mechanism that promotes snitching for money. It elevates spying and vigilantism under a false flag of righteousness, turning neighbor against neighbor and encouraging us to rat out those with whom we disagree. This is the stuff of authoritarian governments. Missouri would mirror Afghanistan, Russia and China in outlawing democratic choices and freedoms. Our representatives should instead be promoting peaceful, gracious tolerance for ones neighbors, especially when we disagree. Tolerance and respect, the bedrock of democratic communities, are qualities our country desperately needs to reestablish. Whatever your stance on abortion, Colemans proposed bill is inherently dangerous and a threat to your freedoms. Joan Culver Ladue LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Johnson Matthey up as investor builds stake Friday, April 29, 2022 - 17:12 Stocks in London on Friday ended a volatile month of April in a positive fashion, with a strong first quarter performance from Smurfit Kappa allowing other packaging firms to rise in a positive read-across. The FTSE 100 index closed up 35.36 points, or 0.5%, at 7,544.55 - ending the week overall up 0.3%. Over the month the UK flagship index lost 0.5%. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended up 89.09 points, or 0.4%, at 20,708.71 and lost 0.8% over the past 5 days. The AIM All-Share index finished up 7.40 points, or 0.7%, at 1,022.26 - closing out the week 2.3% lower. The Cboe UK 100 index closed up 0.5% at 750.31. The Cboe 250 closed down 0.6% at 18,265.99, and the Cboe Small Companies closed down 0.2% at 15,139.35. In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt up 0.8%. As China's lockdowns continue and new infections continue to spread in Beijing, the central government outlined wide-ranging economic stimulus plans to temper expected losses. The government will subsidise businesses, pausing unemployment insurance payments if companies avoid mass layoffs, as well as electricity and internet charges. In the FTSE 100, Smurfit Kappa closed up 4.3% after the paper and packaging firm reported first quarter earnings growth despite headwinds at the start of 2022. The Irish firm reported year-on-year revenue growth of 33% to 3.02 billion in the first quarter of 2022, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rising at the same rate to 514 million. Its Ebitda margin was flat at 17% despite inflationary pressures in the period. Rivals Mondi and DS Smith rose 3.4% and 1.6% respectively in a positive read-across. Pearson closed up 1.9% after the educational materials publisher provided a positive update on first quarter trading, while also announcing a new acquisition. Pearson has agreed to buy Mondly, an online language learning platform. It provided no financial details, but said it expects the purchase to accelerate revenue growth for its English Language Learning division from 2023 onward. It expects mid-teens margins for the division by 2025. Turning to its own recent trading, Pearson reported underlying sales growth of 7% in the first quarter. It reaffirmed its guidance for adjust operating profit in 2022. Pearson added that its 350 million share buyback programme has begun, with 75 million already completed. AstraZeneca added 0.5% after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker reported a sharp rise in first-quarter revenue. Quarterly pretax profit shrank 66% to $553 million from $1.61 billion a year ago. Revenue rose by 56% to $11.39 billion from $7.32 billion. Revenue from its oncology arm grew by 21% to $3.64 billion from $3.02 billion. AstraZeneca completed its $39 billion takeover of Boston-based rare diseases firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July last year, helping to boost its top line. In the quarter, AstraZeneca generated $1.09 billion in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria, ups sharply from a year prior. Contracts with the vaccine are expected to complete delivery by the second half of the year, the firm added. Astra backed annual guidance. It tips revenue to rise by a high teens percentage and core EPS to climb by a mid-to-high twenties percentage. At the other end of the large-caps, Hikma Pharmaceuticals ended the worst performer, down 7.2%, after the drugmaker noted its Generics business has experienced some headwinds. Hikma explained its Generics business has been hurt by increased competition and a challenging pricing environment, resulting in a slow start to the year. Nonetheless, Hikma said it continues to expect full-year Generics revenue growth between 8% to 10%, though it noted this would likely be weighted towards the second half of the year. Conversely, Hikma reported its Branded business is performing well. Vodafone closed down 4.3% after Bank of America downgraded the telecommunications firm to 'neutral' from 'buy'. NatWest Group lost 2.2% despite reporting largely positive first-quarter numbers. In the three months to March 31, the Edinburgh-headquartered bank recorded an operating pretax profit of 1.25 billion, surging 41% from 885 million in the same period a year prior. Attributable profit rose 36% to 841 million from 620 million. NatWest - formerly Royal Bank of Scotland - saw total income rise 17% to 3.03 billion from 2.59 billion. Net interest income rose to 2.05 billion from 1.86 billion, while non-interest income increased to 982 million from 727 million. Looking ahead, NatWest said its 2022 income excluding notable items will be comfortably above 11.0 billion in the 'go-forward group' - advancing at least 4.7% from total income of 10.51 billion in 2021. In the FTSE 250, Johnson Matthey ended the standout performer, up 19%. A regulatory filing on Friday showed industrial investor Standard Investments LLC has built a 5.2% stake in the specialist chemicals firm. Standard Investments is based in New York. The pound was quoted at $1.2568 at the London equities close, up from $1.2458 at the close Thursday. The euro stood at $1.0547 at the European equities close, up from $1.0524 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP129.68, down sharply from JP131.00. On the continent, the eurozone's economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter of 2022, while separate data showed inflation picked up slightly in April. According to Eurostat, eurozone gross domestic product grew 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2022. The figure fell short of an FXStreet cited estimate of 0.3% growth. In the fourth quarter of 2021, GDP had expanded by 0.3%. Annually, first quarter economic growth from the single currency area was 5.0%, accelerating from the fourth quarter's 4.7% rise. Annual growth came in line with FXStreet cited consensus. Separate figures from Eurostat showed inflation accelerated to another record high in April, as expected. The eurozone annual inflation rate for April was 7.5%, an uptick from 7.4% in March. The April figure was in line with FXStreet cited consensus. On a monthly basis, consumer prices grew 0.6%. New York was sharply lower at the London equities close amid disappointing corporate earnings reports. The DJIA was down 1.1%, the S&P 500 index down 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.7%. Amazon.com plunged 13% after reporting its first quarterly loss since 2015 as sales growth slowed while the company faces challenges with rising costs. Intel was down 5.6% after the semiconductor maker warned the global chip shortage will remain a challenge for the industry until at least 2024, particularly in areas such as foundry capacity and tool availability. Brent oil was quoted at $110.30 a barrel at the equities close, up sharply from $106.55 at the close Thursday. Gold stood at $1,906.75 an ounce at the London equities close, higher against $1,887.75 late Thursday. The economic events calendar on Monday has manufacturing PMI readings from the Germany at 0855 BST, the eurozone at 0900 BST and US at 1445 BST. Financial markets in the UK are closed on Monday for the Early May bank holiday. Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. The ruling Assad clan has been making visible, and some less public, moves to demonstrate their efforts to curb Iranian activity in Syria. There is a lot of that in Syria and not all of it has anything to do with the Assads. Iran does not, and never did, share details of all its operations in Syria with the Assad government. That was how the Iranians operated and the Assads were expected to accept that. The Assads are now attempting the difficult, and often fatal, act of leaving a partnership with Iran. One of the problems the Assads have to deal with is that many parts of Syria now controlled by the Syrian government are not obeying the Assads. In these cases, local security is handled by Iran-backed militias, who answer to Iran first and the Assads second, if at all. Israeli forces help with local security on the Syrian side of the Israeli border. Russian backed militias help with some areas in eastern Syria and Turkish backed militias do the same in the northwest. In the northeast most local security is provided by the Kurdish led (and American supported) SDF. In practical terms the Assads preside over most of pre-war Syria but local security is often not Assad controlled. The Assads do provide local security in the most densely populated areas, including Damascus and the Mediterranean provinces. As a result, the Assads do control most of the remaining pre-war population. One area the Assads are determined to liberate and take control of is the rebel-held portions of Idlib province in the northwest. This is being done with a lot of material assistance from Russia in the form of airstrikes and resupply of artillery shells and rockets fired by the Syrians into Idlib. Taking Idlib has to be done with the cooperation of the Turks, who do not want the 30,000 or 40,000 armed rebels trapped in Idlib and parts of adjacent Aleppo province, along with over a million pro-rebel civilians, forcing their way into Turkey. Why risk death from Turkish border guards and defenses? Because if the Assads get control of Idlib and its current population, the justifiably feared Assad secret police will arrive and interrogate (torture) those with a record of rebel activity. In other pro-rebel areas where the Assads took control, the secret police did their work and a lot of local civilians disappeared. This is not an issue with the Arab League, Turkey, Russia or Iran because all use similar techniques. The Assads simply do it more often. Counting The Dead War-related deaths in Syria were lower in each of the last three years, with less than 4,000 in 2021 and it was about the same in 2020 but nearly twice as high in 2019. In 2018 there were about 20,000 dead. As usual about a third of the dead were civilians. The death toll in 2017 was 34,000, with about 30 percent civilians. Since 2011 over 500,000 have died in Syria. While most were Syrians anywhere from 10 to 20 percent were foreigners. The total deaths each year are estimates because few of the grounds involved, including the Syrian government, release all the data they have. A third of the 2011 Syrian population has fled the country and most are reluctant to return. That is confirmed by the number of Syrian refugees registered (to receive economic aid) in Turkey, Lebanon and a few other countries. Counting the Corruption Syria has become one of the most corrupt nations in the Middle East. The latest annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index showed that Syria is the third most corrupt nation in the world, surpassed only by South Sudan and Somalia. Transparency International measures corruption on a 1 (most corrupt) to 100 (not corrupt) scale. The nations with the worst score are currently Syria (score of 14), South Sudan (12) and Somalia (12). The least corrupt nations are currently Denmark and New Zealand, each with a score of 88. The war has greatly increased corruption. The Syrian corruption score was 26 in 2012, which today would put it right next to Bangladesh, Central African Republic and Uzbekistan who were all tied at 146th place. The current high level of corruption makes it difficult for anyone to justify investing in Syria or even providing foreign aid, which is not likely to reach those it is intended for. While the Middle East has a lot of corruption, there are exceptions. In the Persian Gulf the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is the least corrupt nation in the region, followed by Israel. The UAE achieved the most favorable corruption score in the region because it has long depended on foreign trade to survive and to make money in that business you must be known as an honest trading partner. The UAE is also different in that it is a federation of formerly independent emirates that realized the wisdom of joining forces. Laws and customs vary somewhat among the emirates and some are more gangster than others. Overall, the UAE is a place where foreigners feel comfortable doing business. January 4, 2022: In the east (Deir Ezzor province) the U.S. led coalition carried out several airstrikes against suspected rocket launching sites near the American Green Village base. This base east of the Euphrates River keeps Russian and Syrian forces away from the Omar Oilfield, which is controlled by the Kurd-led SDF forces. Pro-Iran militias are a threat as well because Iran is still seeking revenge for the death of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani a year ago via an American UAV missile attack near the Baghdad (Iraq) airport. Iran found that Soleimani was more valuable to Quds operations than realized and his successor has so far failed to exact a suitable revenge attack on the Americans in Iraq, Syria or anywhere else. Elsewhere in the east (Hasaka province) SDF and American forces landed from helicopters to surround a search a village for evidence of Islamic terrorist or other hostile (to the Kurds and Americans) groups. January 3, 2022: In the northwest (Idlib province) HTS (Hayat Tahrir al Sham), the umbrella organization for most of the armed rebels in Idlib, suffered a lot of defections in the last year and is recruiting new members willing to take combat training and serve as part of the armed branch of HTS. Currently HTS has about 10,000 armed members, having lost as many as 5,000in the last year. HTS had a peak strength of 30,000 in 2017 but it has been downhill since. The most recent decline was caused by HTS leaders trying to make the people trapped in Idlib more acceptable as refugees. This was made very visible a year ago when Abu Mohammed al Golani, leader of HTS, shocked many of his followers and supporters by appearing in a TV interview wearing a business suit and not holding an assault rifle. His interviewer was an American journalist. Golani justified the non-terrorist attire by describing his recent efforts to make alliances with foreign nations. To do this he had to convince them he was serious of turning HTS into an unarmed political movement in return for sanctuary. His enemies had always accused Golani of secretly doing that. Until the interview Golani denied the accusations but suddenly, he embraced them. Golani has a $10 million price on his head as the leader of HTS. The Americans offer the reward for capturing or killing Golani, no matter what he is wearing or saying at the time. A few months later there was a major, and sometimes violent disagreement between the decade old Salvation Government rebel provincial administration and HTS. There are 1.5 million civilians in Idlib and the Salvation Government makes itself essential by coordinating foreign aid that keeps people alive. The aid also sustains a local economy because the Salvation Government and HTS cooperate to maintain a degree of order. Factional frictions within both HTS and the Salvation Government are threatening what stability there is in the half of the province that is still rebel controlled. The rest has been occupied by Turkish forces in the north and Assad forces in the south. Technically all Islamic terrorists in Idlib belong to the HTS, which al Qaeda supported but did not entirely trust. HTS was a coalition of coalitions and many of the factions never did trust each other. The major fear is that another faction, or even HTS leadership, has made a deal with Turkey which, so the story goes, wants to control HTS as a sort of Sunni Hezbollah and use it to drive Shia Iran and its Lebanese Hezbollah out of Syria. Many HTS leaders do have a history of working with the Turks. Russia and Syria believe the Turks are actually supporting some of the HTS factions in Idlib. The Turks do support moderate Islamic terror groups but refuse to outright admit it. This policy is unpopular with Israel and Western nations as well as Syria, Iran and Russia. Many Turks also oppose any pro-terrorist policy but the current Turkish government is controlled by an Islamic party that favors cooperation with some Islamic terror groups to protect Turks from the more rabid Islamic terrorists. Syria used to play this game and it did not work out well. It rarely does but for many shortsighted politicians it is still an attractive option. During 2020, the steady advance of Syrian forces, accompanied by Russian airstrikes and artillery fire plus the inability of the Turks to do anything about it, has led to the unraveling of the HTS coalition. HTS officially ditched any cooperation with al Qaeda, a move many HTS factions did not agree with. January 2, 2022: In the northwest (Idlib province) Russia increased its airstrikes on Islamic terrorist targets in or near Idlib city, the provincial capital. Several bombs damaged water supply facilities and Russia and Syria pointed out that they use air strikes and artillery to attack rebel forces wherever they are. The rebels often hide in residential areas or near hospitals and key water, sewage and power supply facilities. In the east (Deir Ezzor province) ISIL rockets hit a military bus, leaving five Syrian soldiers dead and twenty wounded. Russian air power is periodically unleashed on ISIL targets in eastern Syria, but it takes weeks or months of aerial reconnaissance and collecting tips from locals to compile a list of targets. These airstrikes are expensive but the Russians justify it because it gives Russian pilots valuable combat experience in a combat zone where aircraft losses from enemy air defense forces is negligible. The ISIL attacks in eastern Syria are not a major threat and have occurred about twice a week for the last few months. In some weeks there are three or four attacks. Going after ISIL forces in eastern Syria is one activity that everyone participates in. There are dozens of American, Russian and Syrian airstrikes against ISIL targets each month and a lesser number of ground operations by American, Kurd, Russian and Syrian forces. ISIL remains a threat to traffic on the main roads as well as villages in remote areas, which ISIL raids for supplies and to persuade civilians to not report ISIL activities to local security f0rces. December 31, 2021: Many of the 7,000 Syrian Arabs hired by Turkey to serve as mercenaries in Libya report that they have finally gotten some of the seven months of unpaid wages. Only partial payments were made and four months of unpaid wages are still overdue. These Syrian Arabs are paid $600 a month while Turkey handles living expenses, medical care and military supplies for their Syrian mercenaries. This adds up to a tot of at least a thousand dollars a month per man. Turkey suffered severe economic setbacks in 2021 which impoverished a lot of Turkish voters and forced the Turkish government to cut expenses where it could, usually without prior notice of explanation about when delayed payments to foreign suppliers (like the Syrian mercs) would be made good. Turkey has hired at least 20.000 Syrian Sunni Arabs mercenaries since 2016 to serve in Syria and later Libya. The Syrian mercs in Syria could more effectively complain about back pay and other problems while those who volunteered for duty in Libya are literally cut off from home. In addition to back pay issues, many of these mercs were not provided with brief trips back to Syria to visit families. These visits, at Turkish expense, were part of the deal for those signing up to serve in Libya for up to a year. Turkey says it will pay these back wages but wont say when because the economic problems in Turkey are getting worse and the Turkish government has to concentrate on that before dealing with its unpaid mercenaries in Libya. December 28, 2021: In coastal Syria an Israeli airstrike hit a target very close to Russian forces. The target was a storage area in the port of Latakia. Israeli airstrikes in this area used to be rare because Russia uses the port for bringing in cargo. This is the second Israeli airstrike here in December and Israel said that it would attack Iranian weapons shipments wherever they were found There were no casualties from this attack but there was a fire and secondary explosions in a cargo container storage area. It was later revealed that Israel had alerted Russia shortly before the attack to confirm that no Russian in the target area. Russian air defenses did not act against the Israeli strike, which annoyed the Syrians and Iranians for different reasons. Iran was angry because the target was ballistic missiles for Hezbollah. Syria was annoyed because Syrian port storage facilities were damaged. Russia reminded the Syrians that the Israelis were going after any Iranian target that is a threat to Israel. These attacks are another example of how Israeli, Russian and American airstrikes in Syria appear to be coordinated. The Americans are even more secretive about their airstrikes in Syria than Israel but each month there are three or four airstrikes by unidentified aircraft or UAVs in eastern Syria (Deir Ezzor province) against Iranian weapons storage sites outside Al Bukamal City, which is on the Euphrates River and as well as the Bukamal border crossing into Iraq. Israel and the U.S. use the same type of aircraft (F-15s) for these attacks and the attacks involving UAVs are not Israeli because the Israelis dont use armed UAVs, which is an American specialty. In the rest of Syria similar strikes on Iranian targets are Israeli. The U.S. and Israel have a strong military, economic, and diplomatic relationship and often quietly cooperate in areas of mutual interest. The Russians are apparently part of the airstrike coordination in Deir Ezzor province where most of the airstrikes against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) targets are Russian, but some are not and are often claimed by the United States. December 25, 2021: In the north (Aleppo province) a Turkish UAV used missiles to attack a camp used by the PKK (Turkish Kurd separatists). The missiles left four dead and five wounded. This particular PKK group had been recruiting local Kurds, often teenagers, to take military training and fight for the PKK. Over the last year the Turks have used their armed and unarmed UAVs more frequently in Syria to find and attack PKK targets. December 20, 2021: In the east, at the Tanf /Walweed (on the Iraqi side) border crossing four explosions were heard in the American base near Tanf. The Americans have controlled the Syrian side since 2017 while a pro-American Iraqi militia controls the Iraqi side. This is one of the three main Syria/Iraq border crossings and controls access to the main Baghdad-Damascus highway. The crossing is near where the borders of Jordan, Syria and Iraq meet. December 19, 2021: Turkey reports that they continue to host over five million migrants and refugees. About a quarter of these come from around 190 different ethnic and national groups while most are from Syria. Including unregistered refugees, that means nearly four million Syrians living in Turkey. In response to that the Turk government demanded more money from EU (European Union) nations to help pay for the support of nearly four million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Since 2010 Turkey has received over $6 billion from the EU for this. Turkey threatened to open its borders for these refugees if the EU did not pay and this threat is apparently still active as new demands are made. Turkey also blames the West for much of the violence in Syria and that justifies paying Turkey more to clean up the mess. Other foreign nations dealing with the Syrian mess have different interpretations of who was responsible for what but everyone agrees the decade of war has been a human, diplomatic and economic disaster. December 14, 2021: In Saudi Arabia a meeting of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab oil states in the Persian Gulf) and some delegations were critical of the efforts to support the Syrian Assad government in return for the Assads endling their decades-old alliance with Iran. Saudi officials were opposed to trusting the Assads and wanted some concrete actions by the Assads to demonstrate their dependability as an ally of their fellow Arabs. The Saudis had been one of the prime movers in getting the GCC to declare the Lebanese Arab Hezbollah declared a terrorist organization in 2016. Unlike Assad controlled Syria, Hezbollah was not a country, just an Arab military that controlled most of southern Lebanon. The Assads have to deal with Hezbollah as well as Iran and other Iran-backed Arab militias in Syria and Iraq. Most GCC members agree with supporting the Assads in shedding their Iranian ties but no one is certain the Assads can deliver. Israel and Russia also support the Assad effort to break with Iran and are more confident the Assads can pull it off. In November Syria was invited to attend the March 2022 Arab League meeting of all 22 members. President Assad has been negotiating with Arab League members since 2017 about abandoning Iran and rejoining the league. Syrian membership was suspended in 2011. Assad went public about this effort in late 2018 and has been speaking with other Arab League members more frequently ever since. Syria has obtained offers of assistance in rebuilding Syria as well as assisting Syria in becoming an active member of the Arab League once more. In late 2011 Syria was suspended from the Arab League and many of the 21 other League members cut diplomatic relations or imposed sanctions. The Arab League was unable to do much more. By early 2013 the Arab League was still unable to muster enough unity to call for international (Western) intervention in Syria. The Arab League did that in 2011 for Libya and many Arabs considered it shameful that the Arab world could not handle the military intervention itself. Despite trillions of dollars in oil income and hundreds of millions of Arabs demanding something be done, the Arab League had to call on outsiders to save Libya from degenerating into an interminable bloodbath. That is what happened in Syria and many Arabs refused to accept responsibility and just blamed the West and Israel for the mess. Given that toxic atmosphere, Western nations, including NATO member Turkey, were reluctant to do what the Arabs wanted done but would not admit they cannot do it themselves. Iran and the Russians intervened in support of the Assads and the slaughter of pro-rebel civilians continued as did Assad efforts to force pro-rebel civilians out of Syria. In 2020 the U.S. negotiated the Abraham Accords, which made it possible for Arab League members to establish diplomatic and other relations with Israel. The League sees Iran as a very dangerous foe and only the unity of all Arab states, including Israel, can deal with Iran. Arabs have long known that over half the Israeli population is ethnically Arab, the descendants of Middle Eastern Jews forced from Arab nations where they had lived for over a thousand years and most came to Israel. The Assads have accepted all this but must preside over a formal rejection of Iran, or at least an expulsion of Iranian forces from Syria. December 6, 2021: In coastal Syria an Israeli airstrike hit a target very close to Russian forces. The target was a storage area in the port of Latakia. Israeli airstrikes in this area are rare because Russia uses the port for bringing in cargo. December 2, 2021: In southern Syria (Daraa province) there has been an undeclared war between Iranian and Syrian forces since 2018. Anonymous assassins use pistols and hidden bombs to kill those who work, or worked for government forces or Russia and Syria backed local militias. Russian and Assad forces openly force Iran-backed groups and individuals out of the area. There is no open violence because Iran, Syria and Russia are still officially allies. Near the Israel border Russian and Syrian pressure has prevented Iranian attacks on Israel. Russia and Syria have also been checking locals to see if they are Syrian Shia wearing authorized Syrian army or police uniforms rather than Lebanese Shia using stolen uniforms as disguises. This border security operation is a big deal for Syria and Israel and a major embarrassment for Iran, which is why Iran has not cranked up its usual media outrage to complain. Israel will sometimes fire on Iranian forces operating in Daraa, especially near the Israeli border. Israel also shares intel with Russia and Syria about Syrian officers who are secretly working for Iran. The Iranians pay well, and in dollars. Israel will sometimes release evidence of this to the media, so that Iranians back home have another reason to oppose Iranian foreign wars. Negotiations have been underway between Iran and Russia/Syria for over a year but are not making much progress. The covert Iranian violence is just another incentive for Syria to get the Iranian agents out of the area. Border security effort by Syrians and Russians is the result of years of working to gain the support of the largely Sunni and Druze civilian population along the border in (from west to east); Quneitra, Daraa and Suwayda provinces. This is a joint effort to block Iranian efforts to gain the support of the border population. Total population of these provinces in 2011 was 1.4 million but only about 20 percent of that was on or near the border. After the 2011 Civil War began much of the Sunni population fled. How much remains on the border is unclear but is apparently at least 100,000. Only Queneitra and Daraa border Israel. Israel has occupied most of Queneitra province since the 1967 War and the Israeli controlled area is mostly the Golan Heights. This is the high ground overlooking northern Israel and the Syrians made a major and ultimately failed effort in the 1973 War to retake Golan. Control of the Daraa border with Israel was sought by Iranian forces but Russian and Syrian troops blocked many of the Iranian efforts and are now pushing away Iranian-backed forces already there. Significant discoveries at Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells add to previous recoverable resource estimate of approximately 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent Fangtooth-1 results confirm deeper exploration potential on Stabroek Block NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) today announced two significant discoveries at the Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. These discoveries will add to the blocks previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of approximately 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Fangtooth-1 well encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water by the Stena DrillMAX and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza Field. The Lau Lau-1 well encountered approximately 315 feet (96 meters) of high quality hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 4,793 feet (1,461 meters) of water by the Noble Don Taylor and is located approximately 42 miles (68 kilometers) southeast of the Liza Field. We are excited to announce two more significant discoveries on the Stabroek Block, CEO John Hess said. Positive results at Fangtooth, our first standalone deep exploration prospect, confirm the deeper exploration potential of the Stabroek Block. Both discoveries further underpin our queue of future low cost development opportunities. We continue to see the potential for at least six FPSOs on the Stabroek Block in 2027 with a production capacity of more than 1 million gross barrels of oil per day, and up to 10 FPSOs to develop the discovered resources on the block. Separately, the Liza Unity floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is undergoing hookup and commissioning after arriving in Guyanese waters in October 2021. The Unity is on track to start production in the first quarter of 2022 with a production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day. The hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel, the third development on the Stabroek Block at the Payara Field, is complete and topside construction activities are ongoing in Singapore for planned production start-up in 2024. The Field Development Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment for the fourth potential project, Yellowtail, have been submitted for government and regulatory review. The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest. Hess Corporation is a leading global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. More information on Hess Corporation is available at www.hess.com. Cautionary Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Words such as anticipate, estimate, expect, forecast, guidance, could, may, should, would, believe, intend, project, plan, predict, will, target and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which are not historical in nature. Our forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, the expected number, timing and completion of our development projects and estimates of capital and operating costs for these projects; estimates of our crude oil and natural gas resources and levels of production; and our future financial and operational results. Forward-looking statements are based on our current understanding, assessments, estimates and projections of relevant factors and reasonable assumptions about the future. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our current projections or expectations of future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The following important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements: fluctuations in market prices or demand for crude oil, NGLs and natural gas, including due to the global COVID-19 pandemic or the outbreak of any other public health threat, or due to the impact of competing or alternative energy products and political conditions and events; potential failures or delays in increasing oil and gas reserves and in achieving expected production levels, including as a result of unsuccessful exploration activity, drilling risks and unforeseen reservoir conditions; inherent uncertainties in estimating quantities of proved reserves and resources; changes in laws, regulations and governmental actions applicable to our business, including legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding environmental concerns, such as measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and flaring; the ability of our contractual counterparties to satisfy their obligations to us, including the operation of joint ventures which we may not control; unexpected changes in technical requirements for constructing, modifying or operating exploration and production facilities and/or the inability to timely obtain or maintain necessary permits; potential disruption or interruption of our operations due to catastrophic events, including the global COVID-19 pandemic; and other factors described in Item 1ARisk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and any additional risks described in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As and when made, we believe that our forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, given these risks and uncertainties, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements since such statements speak only as of the date when made and there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will occur and actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement we make. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. We use certain terms in this release relating to resources other than proved reserves, such as unproved reserves or resources. Investors are urged to consider closely the oil and gas disclosures in Hess Corporations Form 10-K, File No. 1-1204, available from Hess Corporation, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036 c/o Corporate Secretary and on our website at www.hess.com. You can also obtain this form from the SEC on the EDGAR system. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104006049/en/ Investor Contact: Jay Wilson (212) 536-8940 [email protected] Media Contact: Lorrie Hecker (212) 536-8250 [email protected] Source: Hess Corporation NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) announced today that United Rentals Inc., the world's largest equipment rental company, has signed a new direct lease with ESRT for its full-floor, 51,194 square foot space, which it previously subleased, at 100 First Stamford Place. Located in one of Connecticut's premier business districts, the award-winning office campus at First Stamford Place consists of 776,397 rentable square feet within three buildings. The complex is conveniently located near the Stamford Transportation Center (STC) and I-95's Exit 7. Recent upgrades include new fitness and conference centers, new dining and a new coffee lounge, renovated lobbies, on-site daycare, beautifully landscaped grounds, covered parking, shuttle to the Stamford Transportation Center, and an on-site car wash. "Food, fitness, day care, and spaces for social connection are all right here at First Stamford Place," said Jeff Newman, senior vice president at Empire State Realty Trust. "The property serves as the ideal location for companies to recruit and retain employees from across the tri-state area." Tenants benefit from ESRT's industry-leading indoor environmental quality measures that include MERV 13 filters, active bi-polar ionization, and increased air filtration for clean, healthy air and a confident return to office. Ted Uzelac and Chris Armstrong of Fischer Company represented United Rentals, Inc. in the lease negotiations. Landlord representation was provided by Jeffrey H. Newman, and Kimberly A. Zaccagnino of ESRT, and James Ritman, Torey Walsh, Greg Frisoli, and Janey Steinmetz of Newmark. Legal representation for ESRT was provided by David Bleckner, Esq. of Lester, Bleckner, & Shaw LLP. More information about First Stamford Place can be found online. About Empire State Realty Trust Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and manages a well-positioned property portfolio of office and retail assets in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. Owner of the Empire State Building, the World's Most Famous Building, ESRT also owns and operates its iconic, newly reimagined Observatory Experience. The company is a leader in healthy buildings, energy efficiency, and indoor environmental quality, and has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per square foot of any publicly traded REIT portfolio in New York City. As of Dec. 31, 2021, ESRT's portfolio is comprised of 9.4 million rentable square feet of office space, and approximately 700,000 rentable square feet of retail space. More information about Empire State Realty Trust can be found at esrtreit.com and by following ESRT on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. You can identify these statements by our use of words such as "assumes," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects" or the negative of these words or similar words or expressions that do not relate to historical matters. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements, because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond ESRT's control and could materially affect actual results, performance or achievements. Such factors and risks include, without limitation, the current public health crisis and economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, a failure of conditions or performance regarding any event or transaction described above, regulatory changes, and other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in ESRT's and ESROP's filings with the SEC, including those set forth in each of ESRT's and ESROP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2021 under the heading "Risk Factors". Except as may be required by law, ESRT and ESROP do not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-rentals-inc-signs-full-floor-lease-with-empire-state-realty-trust-at-first-stamford-place-301454869.html SOURCE Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. ST. CLOUD, Minn. (Tribune News Service) From assisting at COVID-19 testing sites to protecting the U.S. Capitol, it's been a busy two years for the Minnesota National Guard. Lt. Andrew Brown said there's been some surprises in the National Guard when it comes to expectations versus experience. "When I joined the military, I didn't necessarily expect I was going to be working at a nursing home," he said. He expects every Minnesota National Guard member has had something like that go through their minds in the last couple of years. But at its crux, the way the National Guard has served the state in the last two years is exactly what being in the Guard is all about, Brown said. "If that's what helps the community, if that's what it takes to help, then that's what it takes to help," he said. "The exact nature of filling sandbags or dressing the elderly that's just the job." Sgt. Andrew Syvertson, 21, was born and raised in Sauk Rapids and has been in the National Guard for four years. "Ever since I was a kid, I've always looked up to soldiers," Syvertson said. "I wanted to be able to serve my community in every way possible." The National Guard allows him to do that while also having a good home life, Syvertson said. Syvertson recently took a job as an automotive service adviser for St. Cloud Hyundai. Gov. Tim Walz announced in the fall that Minnesota National Guard members would be assigned to ease the burden on long-term care workers whose facilities are struggling amid COVID-19 and staffing shortages. Syvertson went through certified nursing assistant, or CAN, training in early December. Right now, he's backup personnel, ready to be called in at a facility the Guard is already assisting in case the location needs more trained personnel, Syvertson said. Brown is already at work as a CNA at a facility in Fergus Falls. He also completed his CNA training in early December. Neither Syvertson nor Brown had previous experience in health care before beginning their CNA training. The training National Guard members went through is the same required training for anyone looking to become a certified CNA, but expedited and condensed into 10 days. CNAs provide basic care for patients and assist patients with daily activities, such as making sure patients are clean, dressed and getting their daily exercise, Brown said. "We're enabling the nurses to actually do their jobs," he said. Brown, 23, is a recent transplant to Minnesota; he moved to the St. Cloud area in August and works at Coldspring. He attended school at Mercer University in Georgia, where he did ROTC. His family was moving away from Georgia, and "I didn't want to really sit there by myself," he said. The ROTC program booth caught his eye during freshman orientation at Mercer. He got onto the mailing list. And then? "I just kept showing up," he said. Brown grew up in Fargo, N.D., where he has some memories of Guard members stacking sandbags along the Red River. He's considered enlisting in the military full-time and has always wanted to serve in some capacity, but first, he said, he wanted to do something on the local level. "I wanted to help a community," Brown said. So when he got a call about a week before Thanksgiving, letting him know about CNA training for National Guard members, he volunteered to do it. Brown volunteered to work as a CNA for the same reason he joined the National Guard in the first place: to help the community, he said. He wasn't around to help during the unrest in summer 2020, following the death of George Floyd a Black man who died after he was pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck or in spring 2021, following the shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright by a white police officer in Brooklyn Center. "Now that I'm finally here, I'd love to help out somehow. Earn my paycheck, right?" Brown said. Brown said he didn't know much about what it meant to be a CNA walking into it, and he hadn't considered a career in health care. Working as a CNA means helping people with things you don't always expect to do for other people, Brown said. "I think as long as you have a basic level of just empathy and care, I think a lot of it comes down to that," he said. Syvertson said he believes the majority of people taking the course were volunteers. He said many of the people he worked with volunteered not only to undergo CNA training, but also for other COVID-19 missions, such as helping out at testing sites. "A lot of us really just do everything we can to help out our fellow Minnesotans," Syvertson said. Syvertson said he has considered a career in health care, as he likes interacting with people and helping others. "Health care has definitely kind of been in the back of my mind for a while," he said. This is his first mission dealing with health care, but he said he saw it as a good opportunity to help out. He knows people who work as CNAs, he said, and he knows it's a stressful job particularly when there aren't enough employees. "I know I want to do everything I can to help out," Syvertson said. But no one could have predicted what "help out" would mean for the Minnesota National Guard these last two years. "With how the last couple years have been, no, I don't think anyone would come out and say it's been a great couple years," Syvertson said. "But with joining the National Guard, I mean, that's what we signed up for. That's what we're wanting to do. We want to get out there and help our community in any way possible." Almost every moment, he's not quite sure he knew this was what he was signing up for. He was particularly surprised by the announcement the Minnesota National Guard would ask members to become CNAs. But Syvertson said being in the Guard is like building a house: You do one task at a time, and in the end, you get to see what was accomplished through all that hard work. He's hoping that he can make a difference in a long-term care facility, helping residents and other certified nursing assistants. Syvertson's unit was activated for two civil disturbance response missions in the Twin Cities and was also sent on the U.S. Capitol support mission in Washington, D.C. When he was in the Twin Cities, he observed a community that was very supportive of the Guard's effort to help out and protect everyone's rights, Syvertson said. Community members would make conversation or bring doughnuts and drinks. "It was very awesome just seeing the community stepping up and supporting us the way they did," he said. According to Brown, being part of the National Guard requires a certain "roll with the punches" attitude of adaptability, Brown said. "It might not be what you necessarily expected, but it is what you signed up for," he said. For Brown, it's also a way to start off on the right foot as a new Minnesotan. "You can hear it from how I talk," Brown said. "I'm not a Minnesota native. So as someone who's new to the area, who's a bit of a stranger around here, it's nice to be kind of giving back to a degree. I feel like everyone has an obligation to do what they can for those around them, be that on a personal level or to the community as a whole. And I think that as the new kid on the block, I'm happy to be starting off doing something for people. That does motivate me to a fair degree." skocher@stcloudtimes.com (c)2022 the St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, Minn.) Visit the St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, Minn.) at www.sctimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (Tribune News Service) A southwestern Illinois state representative has proposed legislation to create a special license plate for United States Space Force members. Founded in 2019, the force is the space branch of the U.S. armed services organized under the Air Force. It has ties to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where guardians the name for members of the Space Force have been stationed. State Rep. David Friess of Red Bud said it was a constituent's idea to make a Space Force license plate for Illinoisans. "They're very proud of their service and that's how they want people to know either they're serving or have served," Friess said. If the bill (HB 4325) passes, the Illinois Secretary of State would ultimately have control over how the license plate appears, but Friess is sure people will have suggestions. "I guarantee there's going to be a lot of ideas," he said. "I'm excited about it." The legislature meets this week for an abbreviated session, but Friess said he wasn't sure if his bill would be considered. (c)2022 the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.) Visit the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.) at www.bnd.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The fast-spreading omicron variant has heightened the need for billions of additional vaccine doses to protect vulnerable populations and tamp down new variants around the world, according to a new report prepared by a team of public health advocates and scientists. The scientific evidence is clear: only by universally deploying the vaccines currently most effective against infection - which for now appear to be mRNA vaccines - will we be able to blunt the viruss evolution and begin to bring the pandemic under control globally, the authors write in the report, which was first shared with The Washington Post. The authors - who include advocates at PrEP4All and Partners In Health and scientists at Harvard Medical School, Columbia University, New York University and the University of Saskatchewan - conclude that about 22 billion doses of high-quality mRNA vaccines are now needed, given the omicron variants ability to evade some of the immune protection conferred by prior vaccination shots. That projection would require producing an additional 15 billion doses of mRNA vaccines this year. With the pandemic, the global is the local. And the local is the global, said James Krellenstein of PrEP4All, pointing to the omicron variants recent emergence in southern Africa as the latest illustration of how virus variants jump borders. What happens in Cape Town influences what happens in Brooklyn three weeks later. And what happened in Wuhan influenced what happened in Brooklyn six weeks later. President Joe Biden has vowed that the United States will be an arsenal of vaccines for the world, pledging to donate more than 1 billion doses to other nations, a total that far outpaces other countries. The Biden administration also has moved to invest billions of dollars in expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity to support global needs. Meanwhile, vaccine manufacturers have warned that limits on raw materials have constrained their ability to produce new doses. But the reports authors said the White House had disregarded a year of warnings to more quickly ramp up mRNA vaccine production. Only 7 billion vaccine mRNA vaccine doses are expected to be produced this year, according to manufacturers projections. You are not going to protect the American people - full stop, it does not work - until you work, seriously, to bring the pandemic under control globally. And the administration has not learned that lesson, Krellenstein said. More than 3 billion people around the world have yet to receive a single dose of coronavirus vaccine, according to data compiled by the University of Oxfords Our World in Data project. Many low-income nations also have relied on vaccines like Chinas Sinovac, which appear to be less effective at warding off omicron infections than the mRNA shots produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. (Tribune News Service) The Graveyard of the Atlantic holds many secrets, but few have a story as haunting as the sinking of the Lady Hawkins a Canadian luxury liner that disappeared off the North Carolina coast with about 250 people. It happened 80 years ago this month, and the mystery is not how the ship sank but where. The Lady Hawkins was torpedoed by a German U-boat submarine in 1942, and its location remains unknown, despite the availability of high-tech search and seafloor mapping equipment. Its as if an entire cruise ship and two lifeboats full of people simply vanished. Finding the wreck is a fantasy shared by war historians in both the United States and Canada, but maritime researchers say there is a good reason no one has ever gone looking for the Lady Hawkins. And it has a lot to do with what happened that January morning in 1942, when one calamity after another befell the passengers and crew. The Lady Hawkins demise Only 71 of the 322 people aboard the Lady Hawkins survived the sinking, Uboat.net reports. Some counts put the death toll as high as 258. The ship was unescorted and highly vulnerable when it encountered a German U-boat 150 miles offshore, somewhere between Cape Hatteras and Bermuda, historians say. At 7:43 a.m. on Jan. 19, 1942, the U-66 surfaced just over 100 yards away and fired the first torpedo, which damaged three of her six lifeboats, according to Civilians and Wars at Sea. The Lady Hawkins shuddered under the impact. ... Her forward mast crashed, Time magazine reported. Over on her side careened the 7,988-ton liner. Passengers and crew tumbled into the sea. A second torpedo exploded in the Lady Hawkins engine room. One lifeboat got away, the outlet reported. Somehow 76 people, some in night clothes, hair matted with oil, managed to scramble into it or were pulled up from the sea. It was built to carry only 63. Jammed in so tightly that they could not sit down. Two other lifeboats also managed to launch, but the boats and their occupants were never found, according to Civilians and Wars at Sea. Historians credit the survival of the people in the third lifeboat to one of its occupants Chief Officer Percy Kelly, who took control and set a course. Kelly later received the Lloyds War Medal for Bravery at Sea for his role in their survival. The leaking boat drifted five days before being found, with its survivors brought to Puerto Rico, the Canadian War Museum reports. Five people died of exposure over the five days. The sinking of the RMS Lady Hawkins represents the single biggest loss of life of any vessel off North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic, a fact more significant considering that a large majority of those lost were civilians, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Why cant it be found? The Lady Hawkins is an historically important shipwreck but it will likely never be found, according to marine researcher William S. Sassorossi, who is currently working with Monitor National Marine Sanctuary off the Outer Banks. Thats not to say some seafloor explorer might not spot it by accident, experts say, but there are too many challenges to chart an expedition to go looking for it. The biggest of the challenges is figuring out where to start, Sassorossi says. There are conflicting distances in the historical record, with the sinking anywhere between 150 and 180 miles offshore of Cape Hatteras, he says. At that distance, it puts the wreck off the continental shelf most likely and in really deep water. Probably a couple thousand feet at least. Even if experts pinpoint where the Lady Hawkins was attacked, other factors come into play. Did it sink immediately or did it drift? If it floated, where did the winds and current carry it? Did it sink as a whole, or did it go down in pieces, spread out over a larger area? Some newspapers report the Lady Hawkins stayed afloat and burning as long as 30 minutes after the torpedoes struck. Others put its final minutes at closer to 20, Legion Magazine reports. The difference could mean a matter of miles in open ocean. Synthesizing all these variables to create a search area is one of the biggest challenges. And then, you have to deal with actually being out on the water, Sassorossi says. NOAA is currently working to expand Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, which is centered around the famous wreck of the USS Monitor off North Carolina. Its hoped the expansion will help protect other nearby shipwrecks linked to the Civil War, World War I and World War II. However, the Lady Hawkins is not likely within the boundaries of the area under consideration. With that in mind, not finding the ship is the next best thing to keeping it safe, experts say. We believe that the best way to preserve a wreck site is to leave it alone, Sassorossi says. Why is it forgotten? The tragedy of the Lady Hawkins has been largely forgotten over the past 80 years, and Canadian historians say that is partly because it was overshadowed in Canada and the U.S. by more U-boat attacks along the East Coast. The sinking of the Lady Hawkins was also taking place against a backdrop of ... Germanys declaration of war on the US in December 1941, as well as amid Japans early military successes in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, and Axis successes elsewhere, according to Dr. Jeff Noakes, World War II historian with the Canadian War Museum. News of the loss of Lady Hawkins appears in newspapers alongside updates about fighting in the Philippines, or in Malaya, and the lead-up to the Japanese capture of Singapore, Noakes says. And for the general public, those events would often have wound up overshadowing the sinking of the Lady Hawkins, unless they were somehow connected to the ship, its crew, or its passengers. Americans were among those lost on the ship, he says, including people from St. Joseph, Mo., who were on their way to U.S. defense construction projects in the Caribbean. Im not aware of any expedition to locate the Lady Hawkins, Noakes says. I think it would be interesting if the wreck was found, partly because it could tell us more about the sinking of the ship, he adds, but also because it would help generate public interest in this story that affected people in Canada, the West Indies, the United States and elsewhere. 2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa The Japanese government last week turned aside another move by Okinawas prefectural governor to halt work on an airfield fixed as the new home of Marine Corps aviation on the island. Genjiro Kaneko, Japans minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, on Dec. 28 overruled Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who in July revoked a permit to relocate endangered coral colonies at the construction site in Oura Bay at Henoko. Kanekos notice to Okinawa called Tamakis revoking the permit from the Okinawa Defense Bureau inappropriate, though the minister stopped short of a comprehensive explanation, a spokesman for the prefectural Fisheries Division told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. A spokesman for the ministry, however, said the prefectures claim that permit conditions were violated did not stand up. Okinawa prefecture claimed that the Okinawa Defense Bureau violated the conditions for transplanting the corals by implementing it in summer, but we came to the decision that the conditions were not violated, the spokesman said by phone Tuesday. Okinawa prefecture did not go through the administrative process that was required to withdraw the approval, so that made the prefectures decision illegal. Kaneko, stating the work had already been completed, also dismissed a Defense Bureau request to review Tamakis canceling a second permit to move another 830 coral colonies, the spokesman said. The prefecture is weighing its options, including a lawsuit, a prefectural spokesman said, but we havent decided what we are going to do. Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi acknowledged Kanekos ruling in comments to reporters Dec. 28. He said the ministry would follow expert opinion while continuing to transplant endangered coral colonies at the site. We will continue to do it properly, he said. He said they would monitor water temperature to ensure the coral has the greatest chance for survival. The coral project began in 2019 with a request from the Defense Bureau, which represents Japans Ministry of Defense on the island, to move 40,000 coral colonies from the construction site north to the opposite side of the bay, according to a copy of the plan on the bureaus website. The coral includes numerous types of endangered species, including porites okinawensis, which is on Japans Red List of threatened species. The prefecture denied the transplant permit but also filed a lawsuit against the central government, alleging the bureau had killed five of nine endangered colonies transplanted the previous year. Japans Supreme Court dismissed the prefectures suit last summer and Tamaki reluctantly approved permitting on July 28. Work at the site was halted two days later after Tamaki said the bureau had violated the prefectures conditions. Tamaki requested that work proceed slowly, and not take place during the typhoon or breeding seasons or during periods of high sea temperatures. Japans Defense Ministry then asked Kaneko for administrative review. The July 30 permit revocation was the latest attempt by Tamaki to halt the relocation of Marine air operations on Okinawa from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is in a densely packed urban area in Ginowan, to the Marines remote northern base Camp Schwab. The runway being built into Oura Bay was designed so Marine aircraft no longer have to fly over residential areas to approach or depart the base. MCAS Futenma would be closed and returned to local authorities. Since his election in late 2018, Tamaki has made several tries at stopping the project. He rescinded construction permits that year after the seabed in parts of the construction zone was found to be soft and potentially unstable. After Japans Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation reinstated the permits, Tamaki sued. The prefecture on Dec. 28 appealed to Japans Supreme Court a lower courts dismissal of Tamakis suit, according to the prefectural website. No court date has been set, a spokesman for the Supreme Court told Stars and Stripes by phone on Tuesday. (Tribune News Service) It was going to be the roadtrip from hell but Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, didnt know that when they left their home in Ellicott City, Md., around 11 a.m. Monday morning. Though it had snowed that morning, they figured the main roads would be clear. And skipping the trip wasnt an option. The couple leaves for Germany next week for Noes job in the Air Force. It was their last chance to visit his family in North Carolina for potentially years. After hours of stop-and-go traffic as they made their way south, by Monday evening, they became among the hundreds stranded in a massive, 48-mile backup along I-95 south of Washington amid a storm that froze roadways and dumped 12 inches of snow. While Virginia transportation workers struggled to clear trucks blocking traffic, Holihan, 23, and her husband, 24, slept overnight in their car. In the morning, they checked social media for updates on road conditions and saw nothing. With temperatures in the teens, they and hundreds of other drivers were cold, scared and very hungry. By the light of day, Holihan realized that they were parked behind a truck for Baltimores Schmidt Baking Company. We stared at it for a long time fantasizing about bread, she said. She decided to contact Schmidts customer service line to see if there was anything on the truck, and if so, would they be willing to give it away to the desperate travelers trapped without food for hours? After a conversation with a confused-sounding service rep, Holihan wasnt sure shed hear back. But within 20 minutes, she had the phone number for Chuck Paterakis, a co-owner of Baltimores H&S Bakery, which owns Schmidt Baking Company. Decades ago, his father, John Paterakis Sr., built H&S into the nations largest privately-owned bakery; they provide much of the bread for McDonalds and Popeyes chains nationwide and sell in retail shops from Virginia to Maine. Giving back is something thats in our company values and its in our culture, said Paterakis. If you dont give back to the community you as a company are not going to be able to succeed. The trucks driver, Ron Hill, had left the bakery on Belair Road the previous morning with 8,000 loaves destined for a distribution center in Norfolk. Paterakis urged him to give two or three loaves to anyone who wanted it. We just kind of started spreading out, Holihan said, passing out armfuls of bread to weary motorists. She slipped and skidded on what she describes as a 3-inch-deep sheet of black ice coating the roadway. Holihan tried to smile at everyone she saw. Looking out for people is kind of my thing, she said. Altogether, Holihan said they passed out around 400 loaves of bread over the course of an hour. The experience was one of the worst of her life, but shes glad that she and her husband were able to make it a little less awful for people. When the couple returned to their car, famished and tired, they realized they hadnt saved any bread for themselves. They walked back up to the truck and asked for another loaf. They received a bag of potato rolls too, and Holihan bit into one. It was the best thing Ive ever eaten in my entire life. 2022 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Senior Biden administration officials have concluded that the governments Jan. 6 preparations were hampered by a lack of high-level information-sharing and a failure to anticipate how bad the day could be - lessons they say they are applying today in an effort to prevent another such attack. Those conclusions, shared by people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss how the federal government is trying to improve security a year after the insurrection, are not formal findings, the officials said. But they offer a kind of road map for how the Biden White House is attempting to prevent similar assaults on the democratic functions of government. The bottom line, we concluded, was there was insufficient information-sharing and coordination that was raised up to higher levels, and that needed to change, said one senior administration official. There was also insufficient anticipation of the kinds of things that could happen, the official added. Officials said they conducted the analysis not as a form of finger-pointing at the U.S. Capitol Police or the FBI - each of which has been faulted for failing to understand the threat they were facing on Jan. 6 - but to be better prepared to prevent future violence or unrest. While inspectors general at multiple agencies have launched exhaustive autopsies of what the government did wrong and right in the lead-up to Jan. 6, most of those reviews are not complete, and some may take many months more to finish. In the meantime, the Biden administration has to make decisions about how to better guard the country against spasms of politically motivated violence, a year after a mob seeking to overturn Joe Bidens defeat of Donald Trump breached the walls of the Capitol and assaulted hundreds of police. Liz Sherwood-Randall, President Bidens homeland security adviser, said that since the inauguration, we have worked hard to improve coordination, information-sharing, planning and preparation for a range of events and contingencies to ensure public safety. We are stronger today than we were a year ago - though we can never be complacent about the threats that we face from abroad and at home. Experts caution that the next such crises may not be in Washington, or involve organized groups. The Washington Post has catalogued numerous instances in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 when red flags warning of violence were quickly dismissed by the FBI. The Post also examined how Capitol Police officers were unprepared for a mob assault on the legislative branch. A year later, officials say the threat picture for the area is much less alarming. In a statement, the FBI said the agency currently does not have any information indicating specific or credible threats regarding the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. As always, we remind members of the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. In an effort to keep senior officials on top of security threats in Washington, Bidens National Security Council oversees weekly discussions among federal law enforcement agencies to discuss planned events such as protests and any related information that points to possible violence. At those meetings, officials discuss what permits have been granted, as well as threat reports within the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and any indicators of concern - such as travel reservations or hotel bookings - to see if there might be a surge of people coming to town and how to adequately posture for that, a second senior administration official said. The officials insisted that the administration aims to encourage free speech, while also being prepared for the possibility that such events can devolve into violence or attract people intent on perpetrating violence against protesters. We certainly invite First Amendment activity and welcome it, one official said. The challenge that we have is that, yes, sometimes these activities turn violent, either because the protesters themselves seek violence or because there are counterprotests. Colin Clarke, a senior researcher at the security consulting firm the Soufan Group, said the Biden administration was generally correct in its conclusions about what to change to better secure the nations capital and the rest of the country - including by acknowledging the threat posed by domestic extremists. The biggest change between the Trump administration and the Biden administration is that the Biden administration actually acknowledged there is such a thing as far-right terrorism and hired people who know the issue, Clarke said. If you look at the forensics of all the things that went wrong that day, I think it is right to focus on the information-sharing part, and thats one of the most important strategies to prevent it from repeating. After Jan. 6, Clarke said, he feared far worse violence would occur in 2021, and was pleasantly surprised when that did not happen. Biden administration officials said they conducted tabletop exercises and simulations - one in May and another in late September - designed to stress-test the ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to respond effectively to crises in the capital region. For the two decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, such exercises and drills often focused on the possibility of an internationally inspired terrorist attack. But the scenarios practiced by the Biden administration last year, one of which involved roughly 80 agencies, envisioned scenarios far closer to what happened on Jan. 6. In a May exercise, a protest on the National Mall became violent and worsened when social media drew more people into the sprawling, fast-moving conflict. The September scenario involved simulated protests around the steps of the Supreme Court, followed by clashes that spread through the area, crossing the jurisdictional lines of various law enforcement agencies. The first exercise was a tabletop simulation held at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a military base in Virginia, hosted by the Defense Department. It included the threat of a homemade bomb - another echo of Jan. 6. On that day, an unidentified person planted pipe bombs outside the national Democratic and Republican party headquarters. FBI investigators are still trying to identify and arrest the would-be bomber. The second effort, conducted this fall in McLean, Va., was a virtual reality exercise stretched out over a week in which clashes outside the Supreme Court spread to other jurisdictions, requiring different agencies to communicate quickly and respond effectively to stem the violence, officials said. The second senior official said the Biden administration drew a number of lessons from the simulations: among them that agencies need to improve their communications technology to deal with rapidly changing events, and that it is crucial to have a unified command structure to manage law enforcement responses to major incidents. Security experts in and outside government said one area of ongoing concern is that despite all the efforts to improve security in the nations capital, the next outbreak of violence may occur elsewhere. Clarke, the security researcher, said organizations such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are well aware that they are now the subject of intense FBI investigation since Jan. 6. I think were far more concerned about the far-right ecosystem producing the next Timothy McVeigh, he said, referring to the ex-soldier and security guard responsible for the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. Lone wolf types, who may be waiting for their opportunity to act. SANTA FE, N.M. (Tribune News Service) Gilbert Romero, an Army veteran and commander of the downtown Santa Fe Veterans of Foreign Wars post, faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after he was accused of smashing a wine bottle on a man's neck as a dispute during a pool game escalated. The man Romero is accused of striking with the bottle suffered a gash on his neck that sent him to the hospital, according to Santa Fe police. The fight broke out sometime before 11 p.m. Monday at the VFW Post 2951 Auxiliary, police wrote in a statement of probable cause filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court. Officers arrived at the post and found the injured and bleeding man lying on the ground outside, the charging document says. He was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for treatment and was released Tuesday. The victim told police he and Romero had been playing pool when he suddenly was struck with the glass bottle. According to Romero's account, the man had been disrespectful to him and other patrons at the post throughout the night, the statement says. Staff at the post did not offer police video surveillance footage of the incident because they did not have authorization to access it, officers wrote in the statement. Romero was arrested on the third-degree felony count and booked into the Santa Fe County jail Tuesday but was released later that day on $2,500 bail. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday on the incident. The U.S. Army veteran and Bronze Star recipient has served as the VFW post's commander since 2017. He also has served as president of the Caballeros de Vargas, a religious fraternal organization. He resigned in July from the Caballeros board amid infighting. In 2020, Romero was recognized for his efforts to rehabilitate the VFW post, and for his dedication to local veterans and Hispanic culture, when he was named one of The Santa Fe New Mexican's 10 Who Made a Difference. (c)2022 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at www.santafenewmexican.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view. Police are disappointed by the number of fatal crashes on New Zealand roads this holiday period, many of which could have been avoided. As of 6am this morning, 17 people have lost their lives in crashes across the country and many more were injured throughout this Christmas and New Year break. These provisional figures are an increase from the 11 deaths over the 2020/21 period. Whanau and friends who lost loved ones in crashes should have been able to enjoy this holiday period with them, not planning their tangi or funeral, Assistant Commissioner Bruce OBrien says. "The impact on whanau, friends and communities cannot be measured when someone is killed in a road crash. "Its also incredibly frustrating for Police to see people losing their lives in completely preventable incidents. "We will continue to have a visible presence on our roads this summer, taking enforcement action where necessary. "But ultimately it is drivers who have the responsibility to keep themselves, their passengers and other road users safe. "We need you to do your part too." Bruce is asking people to watch their speed and following distances, pay attention to the conditions, stop and take a break if youre feeling tired. He is urging people not to drink or take drugs and drive, wear a seatbelt, put your phone away and allow plenty of time to get where you are going- especially if you are travelling on roads you dont know. "While the official holiday period is over, there will still be a lot of traffic on our roads around the country over summer, making it even more important for all drivers to remain focused and make the right decisions to keep the roads safe for everyone. "We don't want to see any more families impacted by tragedy this summer and we need all road users to play their part in getting everyone home safely." The 2021/22 holiday road period ran from 4pm December 24, 2021, to 6am January 5, 2022. A Tauranga medical official at the front of the Covid-19 pandemic fight says we need to do better at providing housing for everybody. Toi Te Ora Medical Officer of Health Dr Phil Shoemack says the whole housing situation in many parts of the country, including Tauranga, is distressing. The situation is being highlighted following reports of an individual in the Bay of Plenty area self-isolating in his home, which happens to be a bus. My understanding is that this individual has been living in his bus for a number of months, says Phil talking to SunLive this week. The only thing that has changed in the last couple of days is that unfortunately, one of the people living in the bus has tested positive for Covid. Phil says the DHB and Tauranga City Council are doing what they can to help that person safely isolate in what is his home. We dont believe the public is at risk from this individual than they are from any other individual isolating in their homes. Its an unfortunate situation. The whole housing situation in many parts of the country is distressing. It is not an easy one to resolve. Phil says Covid has brought to the forefront right around the country that we need to do better at providing housing for everybody. I know the council has been involved and has not been able to resolve this particular situation, but it does need to be resolved. This person is not the only one who is living in what most of us would deem inappropriate housing. Its really tricky. MIQ is not always the best option for people with Covid, says health authorities. When asked if sending the person to an MIQ facility was an option, Phil says after taking everything into account, isolating where they are is the best option for now. Its not the only option, but we believe it is the best option at this stage. We are working closely with the individual concerned to make sure he is well, which is what we do with all of our cases. Most people in our community who get Covid would, obviously, prefer to stay in their existing housing situation. And we take that into account, and almost always manage to be able to support that person to achieve to stay where they are. Phil says they will continue to monitor that situation, as they do with all cases. We are talking about the person having to isolate for 10 days with an infectious disease, which even though it may be relatively mild at the start of the 10 days, we have to monitor them daily they do not require more intensive health care. Bay of Plenty Covid-19 statistics Toi Te Ora Public Health reported well over 250 cases of Covid-19 reported across the Bay of Plenty and Lakes regions since the start of December. On Tuesday, 12 new Covid cases were reported for the Bay of Plenty region 11 in Tauranga and one in the Western Bay of Plenty. On Wednesday, . Ministry of Health data shows 90 per cent of eligible people in the Bay of Plenty DHB area have had two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Bay of Plenty is the 14th DHB to reach the target with six others not there yet. Northland, Lakes, Tairawhiti, Taranaki, Whanganui, and West Coast DHBs are yet to reach 90 per cent fully vaccinated. A Ministry of Health spokesperson says while it is great the Bay of Plenty has joined other regions with a 90 per cent fully vaccinated population, it is not an end goal for the Covid-19 vaccination programme. Almost a million people are eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine booster from today and there are concerns the system will not be able to cope. The interval between the second dose and a booster has been cut from six to four months, making 82 per cent of vaccinated New Zealanders eligible for a booster by the end of February. Added to that, 5-11-year-olds can get their first vaccine dose from 17 January. Vaccination providers are expecting strong demand - but there are also concerns some people may choose not to get a booster. The director of public health, Dr Caroline McElnay, says the best defence against the Omicron variant was two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and a booster shot. It's not clear why 28 per cent of those eligible for boosters last year had not yet taken them up, she says. "It may have been because of the holidays. But now as people are coming to the end of holidays, getting back to work, health clinics being up and running again, we really want to encourage people to go and get their booster." The Pharmacy Guild is expecting significant demand. Chief executive Andrew Gaudin said 1.33 million New Zealanders were fully vaccinated by early September, and of those about 358,000 have already received boosters. "I think people might take their time, there's walk-ins, or bookings where you can, and you can use bookmyvaccine from January 17 - I think people might choose to manage their time wisely over the holiday break. "So encouraging everyone to go to their trusted places, certainly community pharmacies with over 350 of those providing vaccinations across New Zealand. There may be some reduced capacity over the holiday period, but do check it out on healthpoint.co.nz." Epidemiologist Amanda Kvalsvig says the country is heading for problems on January 17 - when paediatric vaccinations start, and BookMyVaccine.nz takes bookings for the shortened interval of boosters. "We can all see that NZ is heading for a massive appointment pile-up on Jan 17, so what action is being taken to avoid that?" she said. "On a more strategic level, all of these issues could have been avoided by being proactive. The traffic light system is already out of date - it's almost completely designed around a two-dose vaccine course and an assumption that this would be highly protective. "It was already apparent in August that ideally, vaccines for children should be rolled out in school during Term 4 so that as many as possible would be protected before summer/ Delta escape/ next variant/ whatever might be down the track. The NZ response urgently needs to get ahead and work proactively." Shift in gap important given Omicron threat - immunologist Otago University immunologist Dianne Sika-Paotonu says she shares the concern of others that the country "may end up with a situation where there's [an appointment] pile-up". "However, what we should keep in mind is that we've had vaccinations being delivered over the past while and it would stand to reason that second time round, third time round rather for the booster levels, that things might go a bit more smoothly with respect to delivery." Delta is still in the community and low testing numbers could mask its true extent, while young children remained unprotected, she says. "Importantly, we've now had a shift in the gap between the date of the second primary vaccine dose and the booster dose. So that's shifted from a minimum gap of six months down to four months. And that's been a really important step given the risk that Omicron poses for everyone." Equity issues must be at the forefront of the booster and paediatric roll-out, bringing down barriers to vaccination, building trust and prioritising the vulnerable, she says. The government has already decided on mandatory boosters for staff in some roles and more details on other sectors are expected later this month. -RNZ/Gill Bonnett. Today, the Ministry of Health is reporting there are four people in Tauranga Hospital with Covid-19. Three people are currently in either a high dependency unit or an intensive care unit. In today's latest numbers, 17 new community cases are being reported around the country - five in Auckland, three in Waikato and nine in the Bay of Plenty. All of the Bay of Plenty cases are in Tauranga and are linked to previous reported cases. There are 23 new border related cases. Regional updates The Ministry is continuing to ask anyone in New Zealand with symptoms no matter how mild to get tested, even if youre vaccinated. Please stay at home until you return a negative test result. Testing and vaccination centre locations nationwide can be found on the Healthpoint website. Auckland There are five new cases being reported in Auckland today. Health and welfare providers are now supporting 1091 people to isolate at home, including 303 cases, says the MOH. Third Omicron case confirmed. "Public health staff are continuing to manage the third case of Omicron who has tested positive with the variant. "They were a household contact of a case and have been in isolation during their infectious period. At this stage there are no locations of interest or exposure events. "The risk to the community from this case has been determined as extremely low." Waikato There are three cases in the Waikato today and all are linked. Two of the cases are in Te Kuiti and one is in Hamilton. Pop-up testing sites are operating in Waihi and Whitianga today. For details of all dedicated testing sites operating over the holiday period, please visit the DHB page or DHB Facebook page. Public Health staff, primary care and manaaki providers in the region are supporting 51 cases to isolate at home. Bay of Plenty "Today we are reporting nine new cases in Bay of Plenty. All are in the Tauranga area and all are linked to previously reported cases." Taranaki "Today we are reporting two cases in Taranaki. They are household contacts of each other in Taranaki. "Public health staff are continuing to investigate to determine links to any previously reported cases in the region. "Public health staff are also working to identify any other locations of interest and these will be updated on the Ministry of Health webpage as soon as possible. "The Emergency Department at Taranaki Base Hospital has been identified as an exposure event. The DHB is working with those who may be affected. "At this stage, no staff have had to be stood down. Anyone at the Emegency Department between Saturday 1 January at 6.30pm and midnight on Sunday 2 January will be considered a casual contact." It was a record year for the property market in 2021, which saw the national average value of a house top $1 million for the first time. According to property data company CoreLogic's House Price Index, the year finished with the average price at $1,006,632 and record-breaking annual market growth of 27.4 per cent. This surpasses the previous record of 24.4 per cent set in 2003. CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall says there was a persistently strong demand for residential property last year. "Generally, we are seeing strong growth across the country." All major centres saw their property values increase by at least 20 per cent, with Christchurch having the highest rate, a new regional record of 38 per cent. "Christchurch is one that really stands out right now, after years of relatively flat or minimal growth. (But) even 20-odd percent growth is an exceptional rate," says Goodall. Auckland is the most expensive place to buy with the average price at $1.42m, closely followed by Tauranga and Wellington which also have six-figure averages: at $1,139,186 and $1,125,729 respectively. Goodall says early indications shows the market will slow down this year, though a drop in house prices is not likely. He says prospective first-home buyers may wish to try provincial centres, which have a lower range of average property values. "The likes of Invercargill, the average price there is still under $500,000." "Whanganui has seen exceptional growth but the average house price is still sitting under $600,000." Goodall reminds buyers that these figures are averages and there are still $400,000 properties in the main centres. "There's a lot of information and it does pay to do your research and then look into what's happening in your local market. "The key is to understand your own finances." Goodall says talking to the bank or broker early will help potential buyers see whether they could be pre-approved. "You can see where you sit in the market and then go out and start looking at properties." -RNZ/Nina Chittock. As Local Democracy Reporting begins a new chapter under NZ On Air's Public Interest Journalism Fund and the new leadership of David Reid and Conan Young, departing manager Nina Fowler and editor Natalie Akoorie take a look at some of the best stories and their impact since the projects inception in October 2019. A school that got a mobile dental clinic after 20 years of the principal fighting for reliable care, an investigation into who is able to access Sir Tim Shadbolt's emails and the council chief executive who resigned after being caught on camera ripping down protest posters. Just three examples of the hundreds of stories being uncovered by Aotearoa's Local Democracy Reporters. These reporters are helping to bring to light otherwise relatively unknown issues within their communities. The reporters are hosted, and employed, by local newsrooms around the country as part of a news-sharing service run by RNZ. At the Gisborne Herald, Tairawhiti LDR Alice Angeloni met Tolaga Bay Area School principal Nori Parata, who had been desperately seeking high-quality and consistent dental care for her students for two decades. After Alices story was published Tairawhiti DHB put a mobile dental clinic at the school to treat the 350 Year 9 to 13 students, some of whom hadnt had any dental care for two years. Other notable stories by Alice included exposing the low Covid-19 vaccination uptake among Gisborne's port workers, confirmed by the Maritime Union on RNZs Checkpoint that night as being a national problem, and that rural East Coast residents were losing job opportunities because of a five-week wait for driver licence testing. Matthew Rosenberg took the time to sit down with Sir Tim Shadbolt when he took on the Southland LDR role in April 2021. Allied Press Southland LDR Matthew Rosenberg has kept a close eye on the challenges facing Sir Tim Shadbolt (pictured). Photo / ODT / Stephen Jaquiery. In one of his many stories capturing the dysfunction at the council, Matthew discovered an email the mayor had sent him was accessed by the councils chief executive and used against Sir Tim in a meeting. Matthews story led to the chief executive admitting the access and a $10,000 independent review of whether the councils electronic communication policy was lawful and appropriate. Matthew also broke stories on a health condition the mayor was suffering and Sir Tims use of council buildings to store personal items. He also produced an array of feature stories, including the man who spent 30 years building a waka. Former Wairarapa LDR Marcus Anselm reported that Masterton District Council chief executive Kath Ross had been caught on camera ripping down a publicity poster advertising a protest against a council proposal for a new civic centre. She took up a special projects brief following the story and later left the job altogether. Emily Ireland, who took over from Marcus in August, investigated a caveat in the South Wairarapa District Councils code of conduct forbidding elected members from criticising council decisions and policy. The council removed the controversial and outdated caveat in December. When the Three Waters reform mandate was announced, Masterton councillor Tina Nixon went on record calling the government a deceitful, lying pack of bastards. Emily inserted the quote into her coverage, and it was splashed by her editor on the front page of the Wairarapa Times-Age, with the paper held up in Parliament by National's Nicola Willis, to demonstrate the depth of feeling from some councils about the mandate. In South Wairarapa the saga over an email exchange between a council chief executive and a councillor making derogatory comments about a community board chairwoman continues. Rotorua LDR Felix Desmarais followed up a throwaway comment in a council meeting about bilingual road signs and through ongoing stories the issue gathered momentum . It led to Transport Minister Michael Wood switching from non-committal language to travelling to Rotorua to announce exclusively to Felix he was committing to bilingual road signs by the end of the term. A feature on the black hole of transparency followed a news story by Felix in which a member of the public expressed concern about closed-door council workshops. The feature questioned whether council meetings had become a rubber-stamping exercise after some decisions were all but made at public-excluded workshops. It proved a popular read. Another story by Felix, on the government weighing up creating another MIQ facility in Rotorua, prompted strong public pressure, leading to a U-turn by Cabinet. His recent work also includes an investigative series into the creation of seven council deputy chief executives who went seven months without job descriptions. Felix has exposed the cost to ratepayers so far of $50,000 as well as two pay rises totalling about $28,000 per year. Justin Latif, who alongside Stephen Forbes covers South Auckland, spent months researching and talking to members of the community for a story about gang violence in Otara. The story delved into the deeper structural issues causing gang violence in the area and what within the system made Otara more susceptible to such violence. It was one of the few stories on the issue not solely focused on the crimes, but those working to stop young people joining gangs. Justin also wrote about what South Aucklanders think of free school lunches , what it was like inside the Church of Samoa cluster of 332 Delta cases including one members raw account of the virus, and how difficult it is for communities to face off against the liquor industry over bottle store locations. Mid Canterbury LDR Adam Burns, at the Ashburton Guardian, dug into serious allegations of physical and verbal abuse of vulnerable students made against a secondary school teacher. The principal remained tight-lipped but an initial story prompted a statement that an investigation would be undertaken. It eventually cleared the teacher of wrongdoing, while Adam continues to follow up questions around who saw the investigation report, and the internal processes of schools. The story about Ashburtons odd town slogan took on a life of its own. The publicity led to a formal council review, but the consensus was that a slogan was simply a marketing gimmick. There is now wider discussion around how smaller rural towns sell themselves to the wider domestic market. Former Marlborough LDR Chloe Ranford broke the news of a possible social housing rent hike with a story about worried pensioners, that generated a number of follow-ups. These included pensioners being asked to leave a meeting, senior housing hardships laid bare, and calls for a tenant liaison, which led Chloe to the state of Blenheims Andrew Place flats and resulted in the council agreeing to fix the senior flats. A tenant liaison was later added to the housing for seniors sub-committee at the council. Chloes reporting also resulted in an elevator being added to a block of council flats. The Stratford District Councils resistance to a Maori ward was covered by New Plymouth-based LDR Craig Ashworth, who is employed by iwi radio station Te Korimako o Taranaki. The council decided last year not to consider a Maori ward until the 2025 election and would not back down despite being labelled racist by Ngati Ruanui. Three days later the mayor called an emergency meeting and councillors unanimously overturned the decision. In October Craig reported the mounting frustration as iwi and Maori health providers struggled to raise Covid-19 vaccination rates in the region. Eight days after his reporting that direct funding was on the way, the government announced $120 million in grants for iwi and Maori providers, bypassing both the Ministry of Health and DHBs. Moana Ellis of Whanganuis Awa FM pursued a series of stories on the Maori electoral option before the government acknowledged the option would fail to provide Maori voters with meaningful choices in the 2022 local body elections the first in which Maori wards are being widely introduced. More than 250 people protest in Whanganui against the Covid-19 vaccination programme, forcing the prime minister to cancel her visits to clinics in the region. Photo / LDR / Moana Ellis. Moanas stories on Covid-19 vaccination for vulnerable Maori populations way back in April and May revealed Whanganui DHBs pro-equity approach while coverage of iwi and iwi health providers pushing for earlier jabs for over 50s raised the need to address vaccine hesitancy. Her first story for the content-sharing service, on the extent of everyday racism experienced by Maori, was widely picked up by media partners. Former Eastern BOP LDR Charlotte Jones tackled similar issues in Whakatane when she reported the treatment of a councillor after he performed a karakia at a Grey Power meeting. The local Grey Power member later apologised for her offensive comments and a complaint to the Race Relations Commissioner was dropped. Taking over the role at the Whakatane Beacon in August, Diane McCarthy wasted no time following up an important issue Charlotte previously reported, about iwi objection to a subdivision on sacred burial land. On the West Coast of the South Island, Lois Williams reported a rating error affecting 150 Buller properties with potential increases of up to 300 percent. The council eventually admitted the mistake and backed down. She also doggedly pursued the government over its non-committal approach to a $24m fund it had promised to the tiny glacier town of Franz Josef to shore up flood walls. It eventually announced a scaled down version of the fund. And a story about outdated X-ray machines at Grey Base Hospital revealed Coasters were having to undergo extra X-rays than necessary. The scrutiny contributed to the pressure on Fletcher Building to complete the new Te Nikau Grey Hospital. Stephen Forbes has brought health issues to the fore in South Auckland. In an article about the impact of diabetes in the region, Stephen revealed a need for Pharmac to fund two drugs to treat the disease. In late 2020 the drug buying agency agreed to fund the drugs for 53,000 people but a request by Stephen under the Official Information Act to Pharmac showed the agency knew there were 195,000 people in New Zealand with Type 2 diabetes who could potentially take the drugs. Another article in June showed up to 140,000 people could miss out on the new drugs. Pharmac said it would fund the drugs for anyone who qualifies for its special authority, despite a fixed budget but Stephens story in December showed delays in funding the drugs had led to needless deaths among Maori and Pasifika. Stephen also brought attention to GPs facing burnout because of the increased workload from monitoring self-isolating Covid-19 patients. In Northland, Susan Botting broke the story of residents frustrated at the noise made by Whangareis rescue helicopter. The story was picked up by most national media and the base is now moving from Kensington. Susan also tackled a number of controversial and nationally significant stories including freedom camping, following an overhaul of Whangareis bylaw. She wrote a series of articles on the issue including what limits the council was considering, and a call for non-self-contained campers to be banned. The outcome, and Susans coverage, was watched closely around the country. The bylaw review happened at the same time as the government was looking closely at increasingly contentious freedom camping issues and potential legislative changes. Andy Campbell at the King Country News was the first to report concerns about Otorohanga District Council's decision to change its sinking lid policy for pokie machines, to a "controlled increase in venues policy". The story caught the attention of other media and put the spotlight on the council, which, after months of scrutiny and public consultation, backed down on the proposal that would have allowed it to consider new venues for the gaming machines. The LDR team at a training week in Auckland in April. Back row from left to right; Marcus Anselm, Chloe Ranford, Adam Burns, Craig Ashworth, Susan Botting, Justin Latif, Moana Ellis, Andy Campbell. Front row: Charlotte Jones, Felix Desmarais, Natalie Akoorie, Alice Angeloni, Nina Fowler, Stephen Forbes. Photo / Stuff / Jason Dorday. The project has also covered numerous important national issues since 2019, using both a local and nationwide lens. These include the countrys health reforms, Significant Natural Areas, Three Waters, the Future of Local Government Review, a major cyber attack on a district health board, Covid-19, and natural disasters. Watch this space for more of the same in 2022. Do you already have a paid subscription to any of the SWNewsMedia newspapers? If so, you can Activate your Premium online account by clicking here. Activation will allow you to view unlimited online articles each month. To activate your Premium online account, the email address and phone number provided with your paid newspaper subscription needs to match the information you use in setting up your online user account. If you are having trouble or want to confirm what email address and phone number is listed on your subscription account, please call 952-345-6682 or email circulation@swpub.com and we'll be happy to assist. Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. Tahlequah, OK (74464) Today Variable clouds with showers and strong thunderstorms this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Strong thunderstorms likely. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 49F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. Ecuador Introduces Amnesty And Taxes On Assets by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington 05 January 2022 Legislation has been enacted in Ecuador to introduce new taxes on companies and wealthy individuals, to fund government efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation includes a tax on individuals with assets, less liabilities, equal to or greater than USD1m (or USD2m for couples) as of January 1, 2021. Payable in the 2022 fiscal year, the tax is one percent on assets of USD1m or more, up to USD1,199,999. For taxpayers with assets of more than USD1.2m, the tax rate is 1.5 percent on the value of assets up to USD2m. Taxpayers will be allowed to deduct up to USD200,000 of the value of a primary residence and agricultural land from their assets when calculating the value of taxable assets. Further, for the 2022 fiscal year, shares held in companies that are taxable under other Ecuadorian tax provisions will be outside the scope of the regime. Related-party loans will be disregarded when calculating the value of liabilities that may be deducted from assets. For resident taxpayers, the tax will apply to both assets situated in Ecuador and overseas. The levy on individuals will also apply to assets held in corporate structures for a non-resident taxpayer. A 0.8 percent tax will be required also from companies, in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, on assets exceeding USD5m as of December 31, 2020. The tax must be declared and paid on March 31 of the relevant fiscal year. The tax charge is neither deductible nor creditable against other tax liabilities. Taxpayers failing to pay the taxes will be liable to a penalty of 50 percent of the tax due, plus interest. The law also includes a tax amnesty scheme for taxpayers to regularize and repatriate assets held overseas, as at December 31, 2020. The declared assets will be subject to a final tax rate of 3.5 percent, if declaration and payment is made by March 31, 2022; 4.5 percent, if payment and declaration is made by June 30, 2022; and 5.5 percent if declaration and payment is made by December 31, 2022, when the amnesty will close. Taxpayers making a full declaration and settling the tax due within the specified deadlines will be free from enforcement action, penalties, and interest. Seminole, FL (33772) Today Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 84F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 72F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Samsung exited the smart home hub business in the spring of 2021, blessing third-party manufacturer Aeotec to pick up the SmartThings hardware mantle. The Aeotec Smart Home Hub our current top pick in that category includes all the same features that Samsungs third-gen hub hadnamely, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Z-Wave radios. The big SmartThings news coming out CES is that Samsungs next-generation TVs and smart appliances will be capable of operating as software SmartThings hubs that can connect to the internet over Wi-Fi or ethernet. Theyll support the nascent Matter standard, but if you want Zigbee connectivity, youll need to purchase an optional dongle with a Zigbee radio. The company has for the past month, however, refused to answer our repeated questionsduring a live press forum as well as in emails to multiple contactsabout continued Z-Wave support. Samsung For 2022, Samsung smart appliances such as this 4-door French Door Family Hub refrigerator will have software-based SmartThings hubs built in. Requiring a dongle for Zigbee support is one thing. Dropping support for another major smart home technology is something else entirely. How can SmartThings continue to be SmartThings when one third of its connectivity requires an added-cost dongle, and another third is missing altogether? And where exactly will you plug in a Zigbee dongle? USB ports are a common feature on TVs, but where can you plug in a dongle on a refrigerator without worrying about banging into it and breaking it off inside the socket? It could be that none of this will matter to hardcore smart home enthusiasts, who will dismiss a handicapped software hub in favor full-featured hardware. But newcomers to the smart home scene who set about building their smart home around SmartThings will be in for a rude surprise when they discover a whole host of erstwhile SmartThings-compatible devices dont work with the SmartThings hub in their Samsung TV or Samsung smart appliance. In a nutshell: Aside from any availability issues down the road, Acer's plentiful new PC gaming hardware should be enough for a variety of audiences. From the 48-inch 4K CG48 monitor pitched as a TV replacement, to a couple of regularly sized Predator gaming displays, full and mid-tower PCs, and gaming laptops. There are also two new Swift X models with 16:10 displays and two Aspire-branded AIOs for productivity users. The Predator CG48 gaming monitor comes with a sizeable 48-inch OLED panel that offers 4K resolution with a 138Hz refresh rate. Acer is targeting PC and console owners with this monitor, who can take advantage of its 1 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 ports, as well as 4 x USB 3.2 and 1 x USB-C. Acer claims a 0.1ms GtG response time for the CG48, alongside HDR10, 98 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro support. The monitor will arrive in China first in Q2, 2022, followed by the US and other global markets in Q3 2022 with a $2,499 / 2,199 price tag. The Predator X32 and X32 FP make up Acer's remaining gaming monitor announcements. Both of these sharp-looking IPS monitors come in at 32-inches with 4K resolution and feature 576-zone miniLED backlighting but have noticeable differences otherwise. The more expensive $1,999 / 1,899 X32 features a 160Hz refresh rate, Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate and Reflex support, and ports including 3 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 and a USB 3.0 hub. The $1,799 / 1,599 X32 FP, on the other hand, can be overclocked to a slightly higher 165Hz refresh rate from its native 160Hz, supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and has a different port setup. There are 4 x HDMI 2.1 ports aimed at console users, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, alongside a 90W-capable USB-C port, 1 x USB-B port and a USB 3.0 hub. The Predator X32 FP launches in Q2 2022 globally, while the X32 will arrive in Q3 2022 for North American and EMEA markets. Acer's desktop offerings include the full-sized Predator Orion 5000 and the mid-tower Orion 3000. Both Windows 11 PCs can be specced with up to a 12th-gen Intel i7 chip and an RTX 3080 GPU in the bigger model, and an RTX 3070 in the Orion 3000. Both PCs also support up to 64GB RAM (higher clock speeds on the Orion 5000) and up to 2TB of NVMe storage. Their darkened glass and metal finish cases have transparent side panels and feature Predator FrostBlade RGB fans on the front. These gaming PCs will hit the North American market in February, starting at $2,599 / 1,999 for the Orion 5000 and $1,999 / 1,299 for the Orion 3000. Acer's laptop refresh for the Predator Helios line includes 12th-gen Intel silicon and the latest Nvidia RTX 3000 graphics, while the new Nitro 5 series can also be specced with an AMD Ryzen 6000 processor. The flagship Predator Triton 500 Special Edition can be had with up to a 12th-gen i9, an RTX 3080 Ti Laptop and 32GB of 5,200Mhz RAM. This beastly machine supports up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage, packs a large 99.98Wh battery and uses a triple-fan cooling system. Its 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio display has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution that refreshes at 240Hz and supports G-Sync. It arrives in North America in March for $2,299 / 3,499 and next month for EMEA markets. There's also the cheaper Helios 300 series that Acer is launching in 15.6-inch QHD 165Hz and 17.3-inch QHD/FHD 165Hz/144Hz versions. These laptops use slightly less powerful hardware than the Triton 500 SE, with up to a 12th-gen i7 and RTX 3080/3070 Ti combo. RAM and storage max out at 32GB and 2TB, respectively. The Helio 300 series will start at $1,649 / 2,299 for the 15.6-inch model when it comes to North America in May, while the 17.3-inch version will arrive sooner in March with a $1,749 / 2,399 price tag. Acer also announced a hardware refresh for the Nitro 5, which supports up to a 12th-gen i7 or an AMD Ryzen 6000 chip that can be paired with an RTX 3070 Ti and up to 32GB of RAM. Like the Helios 300, the Nitro 5 series will also come in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch sizes that use either QHD/FHD 165Hz or FHD 144Hz panels. The Nitro 5's smaller, Intel variant arrives first in North America with a $1,049 / 1,549 price tag, followed by the $1,099 / 1,599 AMD version in April. For the non-gaming, ultrabook crowd, Acer has announced two new Swift X models with 16:10 displays. The 14-inch variant can be had with a 12-core 12th-gen Intel silicon and RTX 3050 Ti graphics, while the bigger, 16-inch model features the same CPU, but with discrete Intel Arc graphics. Acer notes 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD storage for these models, alongside plenty of connectivity options, including Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 and a Windows Hello fingerprint reader. Lastly, there's a couple of Aspire-branded AIOs: The 27-inch C27 and 24-inch C24. These slim workstations support up to 12th-gen i7 silicon and GeForce MX550 GPU, alongside 64GB of RAM and 1TB SSD + 2TB HDD of storage. Acer notes connectivity features like Thunderbolt 4 support, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 5MP webcam with two stereo mics for teleconferencing. Pricing and availability info for Acer's upcoming Swift X ultrabooks and Aspire AIOs is currently unknown. In brief: Microsoft and Qualcomm both want in on the metaverse action, despite it being a vague term for a hyperconnected world where augmented reality meshes with traditional digital technology. The two companies believe better hardware is the key to encouraging adoption, so they've decided to work together to create custom chips for AR glasses. Microsoft and Qualcomm already have a strong partnership with respect to Windows on Arm. The Redmond giant integrated a custom Snapdragon chipset into the Surface Pro X, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 powers its HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset. According to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, over 200 enterprise customers have adopted Snapdragon-powered laptops so far. The two companies have announced plans to collaborate on developing custom augmented-reality chips to use in future lightweight and energy-efficient glasses that work within Microsoft's ecosystem. The renewed partnership was revealed during Qualcomm's CES 2022 keynote and is part of the two companies' strategy to accelerate the adoption of mixed-reality solutions for consumer and enterprise sectors. Another part of the plan is the integration of two AR software platforms---Microsoft Mesh and the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform. "This collaboration reflects the next step in both companies' shared commitment to XR and the metaverse," Qualcomm's Vice President and General Manager of XR Hugo Swart explained in a statement. "We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to help expand and scale the adoption of AR hardware and software across the entire industry." "Our goal is to inspire and empower others to collectively work to develop the metaverse future--a future that is grounded in trust and innovation," added Ruben Caballero, corporate vice president of Mixed Reality at Microsoft. "With services like Microsoft Mesh, we are committed to delivering the safest and most comprehensive set of capabilities to power metaverses that blend the physical and digital worlds, ultimately delivering a shared sense of presence across devices." The "metaverse" is still a nebulous term that seems to encompass everything from augmented reality to virtual reality, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and more. Microsoft says it's working on a more practical version of this concept, and enlisting Qualcomm's help for developing purpose-built chips and improving reference hardware does seem like a logical move. The two companies didn't provide a timeline for when we'll be able to see the fruits of this new partnership, so we'll have to wait and see. In context: Over the last several years, some of the most intriguing developments to come out of CES have been car related. From information-rich cockpit experiences to promises of assisted and autonomous driving, much of the headline-generating news from the last few shows has centered on the automobile. In fact, many have argued that the car industry is morphing into the next big segment of the tech business. Companies like the Intel's Mobileye, graphics giant Nvidia, and Qualcomm are all using CES 2022 to announce their newest offerings for the automotive industry, as well as important new partnerships with car makers and automotive suppliers. In the case of Qualcomm, Snapdragon Ride Vision brings a new degree of simplicity and focus to automakers looking to offer safety-focused, computer-vision powered ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) capabilities to a broader range of cars, while the Snapdragon Digital Chassis taps into the demand for completeness and flexibility in advanced automotive computing solutions. Digital Chassis provides a framework that can combine the company's Snapdragon Ride assisted and autonomous driving platform, Snapdragon Cockpit for multi-screen infotainment, Snapdragon Auto Connectivity for 5G and 4G LTE external connections as well as WiFi and Bluetooth internal connections, and Snapdragon Car-to-Cloud services to enable new functionality and business models for connected cars. While Qualcomm introduced many of these offerings before, with Digital Chassis it's adding the software that allow the pieces to easily integrate and interoperate. For car companies looking to find a technology partner for a complete, connected, digital car experience, Digital Chassis looks to be an intriguing and potentially attractive option. Modern cars are enormously complex beasts, and as many automakers and suppliers have learned over the last few years, adding multiple, advanced technology offerings into the mix is proving to be more challenging than many initially expected. So, any efforts to simplify the process by essentially "pre-integrating" various pieces (not only Qualcomm's, but its software partners' as well) can be considered a positive step forward. This is particularly true for newer car companies that take a modern, complete car system approach to design and manufacturing. At the same time, as auto industry veterans and close industry watchers understand, the componentized way that many cars from traditional automakers are designed and built can make it difficult for this kind of complete solution to work---despite its potential elegance from a pure technology perspective. That's why Qualcomm is offering the flexibility of letting car makers mix and match different sub-elements of the Digital Chassis framework so that, for example, a car maker could use a Qualcomm solution ADAS, but a different vendor's solution for infotainment. To that end, Qualcomm has also added more open interfaces to its various services as part of the Digital Chassis effort to enable more customization options. This also allows carmakers to, for example, use their own custom-developed driving stack software or leverage the software that Qualcomm provides. In addition, with the broadening of its car-to-cloud services options---not to mention its 20-year+ history of telematics and other connectivity solutions to car makers via its modem business---Qualcomm hopes to create service-based business models. The idea is to allow carmakers to generate revenues after the car has been sold for things like feature upgrades, new content services, etc., that consumers would pay for, potentially providing a new revenue stream for all parties involved. On the partner side, Qualcomm recently introduced a deal with BMW to power several of the Digital Chassis capabilities starting with the 2025 model year, and at CES, the company announced new efforts with Volvo, as well as expanded work with Honda, Renault, GM, Tier 1 supplier Alps and several Chinese carmakers. Qualcomm also announced the debut of Snapdragon Ride Vision, expected to be in vehicle production by 2024. Powered by a new 4nm-based Snapdragon SoC and partner Arriver's computer vision software, Snapdragon Ride Vision is positioned in part as a competitor to Mobileye's offerings. It can be paired with widely available cameras to create a simple, yet very functional, system to bring critical safety-related features to even entry level cars. It can also be scaled up to provide semi-autonomous Level 2 and 3 driving capabilities when paired with Qualcomm's existing Snapdragon Drive SoC and Drive Accelerators, along with additional sensing technologies like radar and lidar. Solutions like Snapdragon Ride Vision are focused on key functional safety benefits that consumers really want---such as automatic braking, object detection and avoidance, lane keeping and lane changing, automated highway driving, driver monitoring, etc. One of the challenges that has plagued the auto industry's implementation of potentially game-changing fully autonomous driving technologies is that many early efforts that received a great deal of attention were essentially trying to boil the ocean. They grossly overpromised and underdelivered on what they could do, and that has led to both dramatically longer timelines and significantly revised expectations for autonomous cars. Even if those early efforts did work, it turns out they were promising capabilities that a large majority of consumers didn't even want. Solutions like Snapdragon Ride Vision, on the other hand, are focused on key functional safety benefits that consumers really want---such as automatic braking, object detection and avoidance, lane keeping and lane changing, automated highway driving, driver monitoring, etc. In addition, these can be scaled up to more practical and more technologically realistic levels of autonomous driving for those who want to explore them. Snapdragon Ride Vision System offers open software interfaces via the Snapdragon Ride SDK and gives automakers, or their suppliers, the ability to customize to their unique needs and preferences. For automakers that want to be able to extend the value and uniqueness of their brand into a car's digital experience, this is crucial. Taken together, the Snapdragon Digital Chassis and Ride Vision offerings highlight the continued evolution of Qualcomm's efforts for the automotive industry. Though many still think of the company as mobile device focused, it's clear that Qualcomm's vision of mobility is expanding to a much broader world. Bob O'Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech. In brief: Nokia is expanding its phone portfolio with five new devices, each costing less than $250. Building upon Nokia's older C- and G-series devices, the phone maker announced the C100, C200, G100, and G400 models. In addition, it also showed a clamshell phone, the 2760 Flip. We don't yet know the full specifications of these phones, as Nokia plans to share them closer to launch. We do, however, have enough information to paint a picture of the target audience for each. Starting with the C-series phones, both handsets will come with a MediaTek Helio A22 SoC running Android 12 and packing 3GB of RAM with 32GB of storage. The C100 will feature a 5.45-inch display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 4,000mAh battery. As for the C200, it also packs a 4,000mAh battery but has a 6.1-inch screen. The C100 is scheduled to release this quarter for $99, while the C200 should be out during Q2 2022 for $119. Then, there are the new G-series phones, including the G100 and the G400. The G100 looks like most other $150 phones, featuring a 6.5-inch display with an HD+ resolution, a sizable 5,000mAh battery, a triple camera setup, and a built-in fingerprint sensor on the phone's power button. The SoC is said to be a Snapdragon 615, but the remaining specifications of this handset contradict that statement. The SD615 is a 7-year-old SoC based on the 28nm process that only supports a single camera (up to 21MP). If the G100 has three cameras, it's hard to believe it comes with this SoC. Our bet is this handset instead uses the Snapdragon 662, which Qualcomm also refers to as SM6115 (hence, the confusion with the SD615). Moving to the G400 specifications, it packs a 6.6-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Out of all new Nokia phones, this is the only one that supports 5G connectivity, enabled the Snapdragon 480 5G it features. In addition, this phone uses a triple camera setup with a 48MP primary camera, a 5MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro. The G100 and G400 are coming in Q2 2022 for $149 and $239, respectively. At last, there's the 2760 Flip, a clamshell phone designed to be intuitive and straightforward to use, focusing on providing users with a reliable device that can last. To further simplify the phone's usage, Nokia decided to use KaiOS, a mobile operating system based on Linux featuring basic Google services like Maps and YouTube, making this phone suitable for children and seniors. The 2760 Flip features an external screen for notifications and an emergency side-button that can be configured to call a specific contact and share your location. Scheduled to release this quarter, the 2760 Flip will be available for $79. Amazon's COVID-19 wellness checks, which have been using biometric technology to ensure that their facilities are safe from the virus, are now the target of a biometric privacy lawsuit. The lawsuit, according to a report by Reuters, was originally planned to be dismissed. However, Chicago US District Judge Mary Rowland denied the dismissal request put forth by Amazon Inc. A former employee filed the case against the e-commerce giant after Amazon allegedly collected his biometric data without consent, all for these so-called COVID-19 wellness checks. The aforementioned employee cited the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which has already gotten multiple businesses in trouble. It is considered among the strictest US laws concerning biometric privacy, as per the original Reuters report. According to the lawsuit, ex-warehouse worker William Naughton alleged that the devices planted in Amazon's work sites basically scanned faces and checked the temperatures of employees with impunity. Under BIPA, the scanners are required to ask for informed consent before collecting data and sharing it with third parties. Favoring Naughton, Judge Rowland disagreed with Amazon's statement that Naughton "failed to allege that the company took active steps" to collect biometric data covered by the BIPA. With this news, Amazon is the latest in a roster of businesses that have been in trouble with this law. Back in early December, the company ClearView AI (which specializes in facial recognition technologies) was asked by Canadian privacy watchdogs to stop their non-consensual collection of biometric data. Read Also: Amazon Wants Users to Have 'Less' Talk With Alexa | Company Expects More Improvements For AI Assistant Amazon's Troubles With The Pandemic To say that the erstwhile e-commerce leader has had a rough few years since the pandemic began is an understatement. And this controversy regarding their wellness checks are only the latest. Perhaps one of the biggest is when the company was asked to pay a fine after reportedly hiding COVID cases from their employees. The $500,000 fine was levied by the state of California, due to the violation of a newly passed state law called "Right To Know"--devised to help ensure that workplaces are safe from a coronavirus outbreak. Aside from that, the site was also tagged in an issue regarding fake COVID masks that have been spreading in its online store. A report by The New York Times revealed that those who try to buy N95 face masks on the site are often sent to unauthorized vendors that sell either fake or sub-par N95 masks. It is alleged that these vendors are unauthorized by the FDA to sell their products in healthcare applications. Lastly, there were reports of the company posting ads on websites that spread fake information about COVID-19 in the UK and the United States, along with Nike. Some users are even saying that these advertisements have been "sprouting like mushrooms" on said sites, of which 30 have been identified as hosting ads from both companies. This is an ongoing story, so check back here at Tech Times. Related Article: COVID Exposure Notifications Used Less Despite Omicron Variant in the Country; Do You Need It? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by RJ Pierce 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A new iOS 15.1 bug was discovered by security experts. One of the involved researchers, Trevor Spiniolas, claimed that the issue could make consumers' iPhones unusable. Another alarming thing about this new software flaw is that sensitive user data could be put at risk. "Devices used during testing include an iPhone 7 (iOS 15.2-14.7), an iPad 6 (iOS 15.0 beta and iOS 14.7), and an iPhone XS (iOS 14.7.1 & 14.7)," said Spiniolas via his official security report. He also said that the new system bug could be already existing in all iOS 14 software versions. The new vulnerability is specifically laying on Apple's HomeKit and iCloud platforms. New iOS 15.1 Can Make Your iPhone Unusable According to CNBC's latest report, Trevor explained how the new iOS vulnerability works. He said that the flaw would become active if a HomeKit device is changed to a large string. Also Read: WhatsApp's New Feature Identifies Nearby Businesses! Soft Roll Out for iOS Already Happening The security expert added that once this happens, all the devices, which have the flawed iOS version, will be disrupted. Spiniolas also said that consumers would not be able to fix them even if they reboot their gadget. He also warned about signing back into the iCloud account. Trevor urged iPhone users to avoid doing this since it can trigger the iOS bug once more. Aside from this, the new software vulnerability can also affect non-Apple Home devices owner. This can happen if they accept an invitation from a HomeKit device with a large string name. Is Apple Already Fixing the iOS Issue? Spiniolas explained why he disclosed the alarming issue to the public. The security expert said that Apple recently promised to fix this iOS bug, which was first identified back on August 10, 2021. However, the giant iPhone maker failed to fulfill its promise since the vulnerability is still on the Apple HomeKit platform. Because this is a serious system flaw, Apple released an estimated launch date for the fix in early 2022. In other news, a Foxconn iPhone plant was recently closed because of some unsafe working conditions. Meanwhile, iPhone SE 2022 is expected to boast a 5G connectivity feature. For more news updates about the current iOS bug and other security flaws, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Twitter Bug on iOS 15 Logs People Out, Twitter is Investigating the Issue This article is owned by TechTimes Written by: Griffin Davis 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A failed Russian satellite test is expected to bring debris from the recent Angara A5 launch back to Earth this January. Experts believe that some of the small fragments of a military sat and the rocket stage could make an uncontrolled re-entry down the planet around this week. The latest Angara A5 carrier rocket was launched on December 27, 2021. Russia conducted this space activity from the Plesetsk spaceport. The next-generation rocket of Russia was carrying a dummy payload when it received its third and final development flight. The Russian government said that it expected that this space flight would help it deliver military payloads. Aside from this, the Russian Federation is also relying on the advanced Angara A5 rocket to compete for commercial satellite launch contracts. However, it was a failed one. Failed Russian Satellite to Make a Re-Entry According to Texas News Today's latest report, the debris from the recent Angara A5 test launch is expected to fall back to Earth on Thursday, Jan. 6. Also Read: Space Experts Claim Pluto Should Be Re-Classified as a Planet; IAU Decision is Not Based on Science? Experts said that the fragments from the military satellite would likely fall in the Pacific Ocean. This means that populated areas will not be endangered. However, some space researchers said that it is still too early to predict the area that will be affected by the upcoming space debris. Meanwhile, The Daily Mail UK reported that most of the debris from the Angara A5 rocket would actually burn up as it enters the planet's atmosphere. What Happened to Angara A5 Rocket Launch? The recent Angara A5 rocket launched was supposed to reach 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface. However, it remained in low-orbit. This happened because the second burn, which was supposed to push the payload in a higher orbit, failed. Experts concluded that the issue happened in the upper part of Persei. Although this space launch was a failure, Dmitry Rogozin, the current Space Chief of Russia, still thanked the people behind the activity. In other news, Elon Musk said that the latest SpaceX Multiplanetary plans were created because of his "love for humanity." Meanwhile, SpaceX drone ship is now being prepared for an upcoming Falcon 9 Starlink mission. For more news updates about space and other related science topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: SpaceX: Raptor 2 Engine Operates at 300 Bar Main Pressure Chamber, Beating 2019 Record; Ready for Mars? This article is owned by TechTimes Written by: Griffin Davis 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. At CES 2022, one would not expect to see an agriculture-focused company, yet John Deere finds an apt presence within the tech space. Over several decades, the company has expanded upon technologies for farmers to conduct their work better. Thus, Deere excitedly reveals how autonomy will be the future of agriculture via their forthcoming autonomous 8R tractor, which will be used for tillage, seeding, and even data collation. With it, the company hopes to amend the three main challenges farmers are currently facing with labor shortages, quality consistency, and the time it takes to perform certain duties. With 80% of the US population living in urban areas and the average age of the farmer being 55, tech is no sooner a dominant force for agricultural needs. Deanna Kovar, VP of production, posits that said technology is a necessity in the field. Autonomy will allow farmers to focus on other necessities, such as daily family life and data processing. The autonomous tractor is considered much like a giant robot. It utilizes AI machine learning, real-time data sharing, and various redundant safety systems. With its RGBD, that's "red, green, blue, and depth' vision system, the tractor, aided by Nvidia processors, professionally works the field with ideally only one hand on the phone. The autonomous tractor also utilizes a sophisticated anomaly detection system to skirt potential issues on the field, which stops the vehicle when encountering unknown objects. Data is collected via the tractor's computer vision model, which focuses on how well the jobs on the field are done. The data is then stored in the John Deere operation center so farmers can proactively study the data for improved overall performance and smarter long-term decisions. Farmers can access the tractor remotely via a mobile app, which can track the quality of a current job and make adjustments accordingly. To start the vehicle, a farmer swipes left to right on the John Deere Operations App, and it goes. The tractor is ready for production and will be released later this year but faces potential struggles with more traditional farmers who don't want the upgrade. Despite the pushback, John Deere expects autonomy on the farm to assist via three key benefits: timeliness, efficiency, and quality of life improvement. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. CES 2022 saw South Korea-based heavy equipment manufacturer Doosan Bobcat introduce a new, all-electric track loader which they say will "power the future of work." In a report by Yahoo, the aforementioned electric vehicle is called the Bobcat T7X. But it's not just an all-electric, compact track loader, as it also features absolutely no hydraulics, making it the first machine of its kind. And being all-electric, Doosan Bobcat's new machine is billed as having zero emissions, while also retaining the performance of similar diesel-powered track loaders. Company CEO and president Scott Park said that with the T7X, their focus is to "help customers maximize both sustainability and productivity," all in order to help "build a better world." With the introduction of the new compact track loader, one company has already called dibs on an order: Sunbelt Rentals. The company is considered a leader in the equipment rental business, and has already committed to acquire a massive fleet of Bobcat T7Xs, alongside electric compact excavators. This news comes after a bevy of so-called "smart construction" concepts were revealed shortly before CES 2022 commenced. Hyundai Construction Equipment, along with Hyundai Doosan Infracore, showcased their new smart construction machines. Their roster of excavators, loaders, and dump trucks will reportedly be fully unmanned, according to ForConstructionPros. With announcements like these, it is made evident that more companies are looking to make their businesses sustainable and environmentally friendly-especially those who have been the biggest offenders in terms of emissions. Read Also: CEMEX Ventures Presents Its Annual List Of The Top 50 Construction Startups CES 2022: Is The Future Really 'Green?' There is a heavier push for a more "green" future in almost everything; construction industries included. As such, Doosan Bobcat's new machine could very well fit into the new niche, but will it actually achieve what it wants? Here at Tech Times, it was previously discussed whether an electric vehicle is even "green" at all. The short answer was yes, but the long answer was quite complicated. Any EV can be technically as "green" as it can be, as long as it actually gets its energy from renewable sources. It still remains to be seen whether or not the Bobcat T7X will be recharged using the renewable power grid or traditional power generation practices; the latter being not so environmentally friendly in the long run due to its widespread use of fossil fuels. Doosan Bobcat proudly announced that their new compact track loader produces zero emissions, which can be considered a bold claim. But it's design does feature a massive upgrade in terms of trying to be "green." For one, the company designed the loader to use a single quart of coolant. This is an extremely small amount compared to the 57 gallons of fluid required to operate Doosan Bobcat's other diesel/hydraulic-powered loaders. Furthermore, its lithium-ion battery comes with a power management system that will, as designed, automatically turn off power to save energy when not in use. For more CES 2022 coverage, be sure to check back here at Tech Times. Related Article: CES 2022: Bosch Shares Plans to Reduce Carbon Emissions! High-Tech #LikeABosch This article is owned by Tech Times Written by RJ Pierce 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TikTok's Repost button is now being tested for a select number of users, which some Twitter users, who have been using the Retweet button, may find it a familiar feature. However, unlike the Retweet button, which is widely available for all the users of Twitter, the new Repost option of TikTok is only showing up to some users of the platform, as per the report by The Verge. TikTok Repost Button Test It comes as it turns out that TikTok is still testing the new feature that appears to eventually be introduced to everyone else on the Chinese video-sharing app. The Verge noted in the same report that as early as Dec. 19, there have been sightings of the new button on TikTok. In fact, social media consultant, Matt Navarra, has previously tweeted a screenshot of the new Repost function from the app, noting that "TikTok is testing a 'Repost' button." In the said screenshot, the Repost button carries an identical icon to the Retweet button of Twitter. However, it is inside a circle filled with yellow shade. On top of that, according to the report by We Are Social Media, some TikTokers are now reporting that they are seeing two new buttons on their apps, such as the "Repost" and "Send to" options. The news story further noted that these users are already utilizing the newfound feature on TikTok to help them increase the reach of their videos on China-based platforms. Meanwhile, according to the report of TechCrunch, some TikTokers are getting a different version of the Repost tool-a Recommend button. Repost and Misinformation We Are Social Media added in the same report that the new sharing features on TikTok are similar to Twitter's Retweet and WhatsApp's forward option, which were previously removed by the two other social media giants back in 2020. However, it was only temporarily and during the time of the United States elections as the said sharing functionalities were found to be helping spread misinformation. Read Also: TikTok Vs. Moderator! Socmed Giant Allegedly Exposes Content Moderator to Violent Videos-Causing Trauma TikTok Repost: How it Works The new sharing tool of TikTok is currently found by some users from videos on their For You page on the app. As such, the social media platform is only letting its select users reshare the videos that the algorithm has recommended to them. The new feature now only requires its users to tap the Repost button to share a video with their followers. It is unlike previous options like the duet and stitch, which still ask TikTokers to create another video. Related Article: TikTok New Year's Resolution Ideas For 2022 | Realistic To-do Wishlist From Famous Content Creators This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Teejay Boris 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SpaceX is a significant company in the world record for the many rocket launches done in 2021, which beat that of the decade. The counted ones are the successful missions that came to orbit and went back safely, without any problems whatsoever. However, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that rocket launches to orbit should not measure the current generation for space missions. Instead, the billionaire suggests a new metric to use. SpaceX: Contributor to World Record of Rocket Launches to Orbit in 2021 According to a report by Ars Technica, SpaceX and the world have made a record of successful rocket launches that reached orbit, and in 2021, that record shattered. Different space companies came into play last year and showed their capabilities in bringing a vessel to outer space, providing different designs to rockets now. The significance of the world getting into the space race is massive, significantly as it could shift to being the next destination of the travel industry, among many other things. NASA uses its cosmic facilities as laboratories to try out different studies and research approaches that prove to be beneficial to science. The innovations brought by the many rocket launches bring the world closer to a multi-planetary life, something that is the endgame of the world's top billionaire. Read Also: SpaceX's Starship Launch Is Among The Highly Anticipated Space Missions For 2022 Elon Musk Wants THIS new Metric to use for Rocket Launch Record As much as the world celebrates this new milestone, a new metric proposed by Elon Musk should be the new ground to "measure" the significance of the space race. The new metric is "tonnage to orbit," It is the amount of cargo that a rocket can bring whenever venturing out onto its orbit mission. Musk firmly believes in this and has been pushing for its use in the past years. The CEO believes that this is the right metric to use and test out a rocket's capabilities, especially when handling heavy loads. SpaceX and its Significance in the Space Community One of the many contributions of SpaceX in the industry is its goal to reach Mars and make life multi-planetary. However, it can only do this if the Starship proves successful for this year's testing. It is now focusing on its Raptor 2 engines that improved significantly since 2019 and its full stack of the Super Heavy Rocket and the stainless steel spacecraft. The SpaceX CEO campaigned for tonnage to orbit the public before, saying these are the numbers that prove to be significant in the current space race. Instead of counting the rockets that arrive on the low-Earth orbit, space companies and enthusiasts should focus more on the amount they bring to the cosmos. SpaceX indeed made a lot of launches in 2021, and these were important ones as it brought astronauts from NASA via the Commercial Crew Program and many other missions. The private space company enjoys its fame, and this is a massive contributor to its streak of quality work as they can see their efforts appreciated by the public. Will tonnage to orbit play a significant role in 2022? That is up to the public to decide. Related Article: SpaceX's Starlink Ordered to Stop Booking Orders from Indian Consumers Due to License Issue This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isaiah Richard 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A global leader in developing intelligent and powerful home cleaning appliances, Dreame Technology recently announced that it would attend CES 2022 with a variety of new features to demonstrate the unprecedented breadth of its technological innovations. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 is set to kick off in the first week of January, an annual premier gathering event for the tech industry to show off the latest technology for consumers. As initially announced, exhibitors could virtually or physically attend the event, unlike the CES 2021, an all-digital tech fair. Although some high-profile exhibitors switched from a physical existence to a virtual one amid the threat of the Omicron variant, a huge number of participating exhibitors will turn up to the trade fair. "A lot of companies have a very solid backup plan from a digital perspective, which is not something we had last year," Creative Strategies analyst Milanesi told Investor's Business Daily. With an in-person affair this year, consumers will have the chance to see, touch, feel and use products being showcased during the show-allowing brands to create in-depth connections with them. DreamTech at CES 2022 Dreame Technology, a global leader in smart home cleaning appliances, announced that it will take part in the Consumer Electronics Show 2022, allowing them to introduce and further boast its innovations to international tech consumers. In the 2021 CES event, Dreame Technology established itself as a leader within the smart cleaning industry. The company displayed its flagship cordless vacuum cleaner T20, V11. Also on display were its robot vacuum cleaner D9. Needless to say, Dreame Technology's appearance at last year's CES was a triumph, and this year, they will return to the biggest and most anticipated tech show with another set of unparalleled smart home cleaning appliances of their own. CES 2022: DreameTech's Breakthrough Technologies Most consumer tech companies have a well-known habit of using their conferences as a launchpad for the rest of the year, usually introducing their newest products or services. Following the success of their appearance in CES 2021, Dreame Technology is an interesting prospect to keep an eye on when it comes to smart home cleaning appliances at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. At the CES 2022, the anticipation and expectations are high, but Dreame will set higher standards for their new and upcoming vacuum cleaners that will sweep the audience off their feet and leave competitors in a pile of dust: DreameTech W10 Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop They say that you also become a vacuum cleaner when you clean your vacuum, but the W10 Robot Vacuum Cleaner won't agree with that. Dreametech's W10 makes cleaning even easier with its self-cleaning mop pads that rinse, scrub, and dry on their own. This is the first of Dreametech's robot vacuums & mops to offer this feature, and it differs from most models in the market by how thoroughly it cleans. Furthermore, it also has a strong suction that can pick up even pet hair from hard floors and even on carpets. In addition, the W10 robot vacuum cleaner also has an anti-entanglement design and double-rotating mop. Plus, it features an ultrasonic carpet recognition to clean different types of floors. DreameTech L10 Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop Dreametech's L10 Pro offers a top-of-the-line navigation system that combines 3D mapping and LiDAR technology for the vacuum you need at home. These technologies enable its autonomous navigation with an ability to learn floor plans, avoid over 100+ obstacles, and optimize cleaning routes. With this vacuum, you can sweep, mop, and lift dust and pet hair from the floor or deep within the carpet, allowing you to do a dry and wet clean at the same time. DreameTech T30 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner The competitors can bite the dust with this one as it sets forth an advanced sensing technology that can monitor dust concentration levels. Featuring both cordless and handheld power, this vacuum is ideal for stairs with hard floors. Additionally, the brush boasts a recognition feature that automatically adjusts suction according to what is suitable for a hard floor or carpet surface. DreameTech H11 Max Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner The H11 dry and wet vacuum cleaner is graced with a cordless, self-cleaning, and lightweight design, and it functions as a one-stop cleaning solution for hard floors. Because it's automated, you can clear the roller brush by simply pressing a button. Then, the dirt separation system separates dirt and water from the brush and dumps them into a dirty water tank. Besides being automatic, it also features an intuitive screen status display. Also Read: CES 2022: LG Nova Media Briefing Invites AI Healthcare Tech, VR Headsets, Metaverse, and More | Tech Times Why DreameTech is the Dream Technology Customers considering smart home appliances should consider the benefits of functionality, convenience, security, and savings that come along with them. The best home cleaning appliances can identify zones where you're wasting more energy than you actually need to, allowing you to save time, effort, and money. With the help of Dreame Technology, you know life won't suck. Being among the first to amplify the need to automate cleaning, so you can sit back and relax, Dreame also listens to what your household needs: smart home cleaning appliances to say goodbye to dust bunnies hiding in your floors using just minimal effort. Like how loud most vacuum cleaners usually are, DreameTech will surely make a noise at the CES 2022 with products that will wipe spectators out of every competitors' booth and have them gazing at their latest cleaning appliances. If the CES 2021 was a blast for attendees -- this time, Dreame will start your 2022 with crisp technology and immaculate innovations. Join Dreame from January 5 to 8 on their way to show off smart home cleaning appliances only at CES 2022! Don't forget to bring your friends and relatives over to the booth, too! Related Article: HiSense Reveals New ULED TVs at CES 2022 This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Thea Felicity 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. NASA James Webb Space Telescope's first image or photo will have to wait for a couple of months to see the light of day. It comes as the powerful observatory still lacks cameras just yet. That said, there is no way that NASA is releasing actual photos from the $10 billion worth observatory anytime now. NASA James Webb Space Telescope First Images As per the news story by Mashable, the most powerful and largest space telescope that was ever developed in history still lacks any surveillance cameras mounted in its body. As such, it would not be possible to get any photos from it even if it has been successfully launched to space after years of multiple delays. Instead, we will have to wait for a couple of months from now or by the second half of the year 2022. It comes as the first image of the massive telescope is expected to be taken as early as June. The commissioning manager for the James Webb telescope of NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Keith Parrish, shared that "nobody would love to see Webb doing its thing right now, more than us." James Webb Space Telescope: No Cameras? The NASA official further clarified in the same press conference that the lack of any cameras from the James Webb Space Telescope is not a result of a mishap on the part of the United States space agency. Instead, Parrish disclosed that installing cameras on the space telescope is tedious and complicated to do so. So, its absence is intentional. Hence, we will have to wait for six months for the cameras to be mounted to its body. The commissioning manager added that if they had installed the surveillance cameras to the James Webb telescope prematurely, it would have destroyed the ability of the observatory to get photos of far-flung space discoveries. Read Also: NASA James Webb Space Telescope is Ready to Launch on Christmas Eve-Here's What to Expect James Webb Space Telescope's Coolest Cameras According to the online article by NASA, the Webb space telescope will sport the "coolest" camera in space. It is worth noting that the largest observatory in the world uses infrared light to see billions of miles away from it. That said, it has to maintain a cold temperature due to the infrared technology of the telescope, which could detect even the infrared glow of the James Webb space instrument. What NASA means by cold is an out-of-this-world kind with minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit for most of its body. However, it gets even icy-cold inside the mid-infrared instrument of the telescope, which is minus 448 degrees Fahrenheit. So, the space agency needs to install a camera that has been developed in such an extreme and dark environment. Related Article: NASA: James Webb Space Telescope to Explore 'Views of Chemistry Throughout the Universe This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Teejay Boris 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The new Zloader banking malware can steal your sensitive data. Check Point Research (CPR), the first security firm that discovered this virus, said that this malicious content is being used by Malsmoke hacking group. This cybercrime union uses this new banking malware to abuse the flaw in Microsoft's popular e-signature verification system. Combing the vulnerability and the computer virus allows them to exploit the malware and steal consumers' sensitive information. "Previous Zloader campaigns, which were seen in 2020, used malicious documents, adult sites, and Google ads to infect systems," said Check Point Research via its official blog post. The giant security firm continued its observation last November 2021 and discovered that it is being used again by the Malsmoke hacking group. Zloader Banking Malware's Severity According to ZDNet's latest report, the new banking malware has already affected around 2,100 people in different countries. The majority of the victims are in the United States, India, and Canada. Also Read: Hospital Data Breach Exposes Personal Info of 1.3 Million Patients, Staff As of the moment, CPR said they see the malicious campaign in around 111 countries. When Zloader was first discovered, malicious actors were using it to exploit Trojan viruses to steal banking credentials. Because of this, it was closely connected to other ransomware models. On the other hand, Check Point Research works using a legitimate remote management software called Atera. Zloader uses this system as a springboard to infect other systems. If you want to see more details about this new banking malware, you can check this link. Microsoft E-Signature Verification's Flaws CPR's security experts confirmed three vulnerabilities in Microsoft's e-signature verification tool that are being exploited by the new banking malware. These include the following: CVE-2020-1599 CVE-2013-3900 CVE-2012-0151 Microsoft explained that updates to fix these flaws were already released. However, they are not installed by default. This means that consumers who will not download the updates manually will certainly be affected by the new computer virus. In other news, another malware called RedLine was able to breach more than 400,000 accounts. Meanwhile, T-Mobile's system was recently breached using the so-called sim swapping method. For more news updates about Zloader malware and other computer viruses, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: New iOS 15.1 Bug Makes iPhone Unusable! Your Data Might Also be at Risk This article is owned by TechTimes Written by: Griffin Davis 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A booming noise from the atmosphere sent Pittsburgh residents into a panic frenzy on the day of celebrating New Year, and it's not just any ordinary sky rumble as it turned out to be a meteor explosion, according to NASA. Meteor Explosion in Pittsburgh NASA said that a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere on New Year's Day with a blast equivalent to 30 tons of TNT caused a loud explosion heard in western Pennsylvania. For more details, NASA's Meteor Watch Facebook page reported that the loud booming sound was heard a few minutes before the clock strikes at 11:30 a.m. ET on the very first day of 2022. Now, for spectators wishing to see it up in the sky, unfortunately, the fireball would have been easily visible in the sky as it broke apart if it wasn't so cloudy. Using data from a nearby infrasound station, NASA calculated the blast's energy from a crude estimate that it would have been about 100 times brighter than the full moon. The blast wave from the meteor was registered at the infrasound station, and NASA helped estimate its given energy from there. In an announcement, NASA reported, "If we make a reasonable assumption as to the meteor's speed (45,000 miles per hour), we can ballpark the object's size at about a yard in diameter, with a mass close to half a ton." Prior to the report from NASA, an earthquake and thunder and lightning had initially been ruled out as possible causes of a loud boom and shook in Pittsburgh's South Hills suburb. Allegheny County's Twitter account relaid this on Saturday, Jan. 1, after receiving 911 reports during New Year's Day. Allegheny County 9-1-1 has received reports of a loud boom, shaking in the South Hills and other reports. We have confirmed that there was no seismic activity and no thunder/lightning. At this point, we have no explanation for the reports, but agencies are continuing to look. Allegheny County (@Allegheny_Co) January 1, 2022 Moreover, there were reports of loud noises coming from South Hills and other areas, and residents said their homes were shaking. Allegheny County officials said they had verified that no seismic activity and thunder had occurred. But why the loud boom? The sound of a sonic boom, similar to that of an explosion or thunderstorm, is generated when an object like a meteor or a supersonic aircraft, passes through the Earth's atmosphere incredibly faster than the speed of sound. Scientists at NASA said air reacts like fluid when a supersonic object travels through it. During the expedition of these 'objects' through the air, molecular collisions cause a shock wave, which in return produces sonic booms or the loud boom the residents heard on Saturday. Also Read: Japan Launches Mini-Satellite That Can Create Artificial Meteor Showers To Space | Tech Times Should We Fear Meteor Explosions? Although such circumstances are rare, meteor explosions are to be feared. In 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor taking the size of a six-story building, shook the grounds of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Reports say the impact is stronger than a nuclear explosion, and the meteor was so bright it momentarily outshone the sun. Unlike the Pittsburgh meteor explosion, Chelyabinsk injured people and destroyed infrastructures. On the other hand, NASA's DART mission will alter the motion or course of a potentially hazardous space object to prevent it from colliding with the Earth. Related Article: NASA: DART Mission to Change Motion of Hazardous Asteroid? NASA Clarifies This Story | Tech Times This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Thea Felicity 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. WHO (World Health Organization) announced another COVID-19 variant, first discovered in France. But, is this new virus something people should worry about. As of the moment, governments across the world are already making efforts to prevent the further spread of Delta, as well as Omicron. Now, another COVID-19 variant called IHU appeared. The World Health Organization explained, during its conference last Tuesday, Jan. 4, that the new virus already infected 12 individuals in France. Because of this, WHO said that it is already observing further infections that can be caused by the new IHU virus. WHO Discovers New COVID-19 Variant, IHU According to Fox News' latest report, the name IHU was given to the new COVID-19 variant by the medical experts at the Mediterranee Infection University Hospital Institute or IHU. Also Read: COVID-19 Relief App Fraud Now Being Investigated by US Secret Service | About $100B Stolen Benefits WHO's incident manager, Abdi Mahamud, explained that it is too soon to conclude the new disease's virological, clinical, or epidemiological characteristics. IHU, also known as B.1.640.2, was first discovered in November 2021, which is the same month when Omicron was confirmed. The first individual infected by the new IHU variant was found visiting Cameroon and returning to France. Right now, there are no new cases involving the latest COVID-19 variant recorded yet. When it comes to severity, an Imperial College London virologist named Tom Peacock said that this new virus is not "worth worrying about too much at the moment." But, there's no harm in taking extra precautions when going out to the public, especially since the Omicron cases in the U.S. and other countries are still rising. Daily U.S. Omicron Cases Reach 1 Million NBC News reported that the daily Omicron cases in the United States had reached around 1 million. This is currently alarming data, given that 2022 is the third year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. With the new variants starting to appear, it seems like the health crisis will last longer than expected. In other news, Amazon was accused of collecting biometric data without consent. Meanwhile, some Apple stores in Canada and the U.S. were forced to close because of the COVID-19 surge among the manufacturer's employees. For more news updates about COVID-19 and other health topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Omicron Variant To Be Tackled By New Air Decontamination Device From Canadian Company Ti-DOX This article is owned by TechTimes Written by: Griffin Davis 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Lil Smokies are set to play the first show of 2022 at the Sheridan Opera House Jan. 15. (Courtesy photo) A view of Ridgway State Park, overlooking the parks reservoir and the Sneffels Range. (Photo courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife) Madisonville, KY (42431) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 83F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Rain showers early with scattered thunderstorms arriving overnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. How public schools handle the latest wave of coronavirus cases will be up to local school officials in 69 districts rather than any dictates from the Department of Education. "I think local decision-making here really matters," state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said. "And I think you will see nuanced approaches based on the demands of local communities." Students are trickling back to classes all week after the Christmas and New Year's break. +2 Louisiana's virtual learning is 'spotty at best,' needs more oversight, PAR report says Virtual education in Louisiana is "spotty at best" and needs more state oversight, according to a report released Wednesday by the Public Affa But that mini-vacation, and all the gatherings in close quarters amid rising cases of the omicron variant in Louisiana, are raising questions on whether educators should shift gears on how to grapple with the latest challenge. Some states are opting for "test-to-stay," testing students exposed to the virus for consecutive days so they can stay in class rather than being forced to quarantine at home. Districts and the state's roughly 120 public charter schools are free to do so using some of the $4 billion in federal aid aimed at combating the virus. However, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Health said that option was largely shelved a few weeks ago since new CDC guidelines for schools are expected any day. The state Department of Education's website includes 13 pages of "potential practices" for local school systems, including monitoring symptoms, extracurricular activities and vaccines. The 2022 omicron update, which reflects changes recommended late last year by the CDC, says students who test positive for the virus are to stay home for five days and, if they have no symptoms, they can return to classes and wear a face mask for another five days. The earlier quarantine period was 10 days. "We have available a listing of potential practices that have been recommended by LDH," Brumley said, a reference to the Louisiana Department of Health. "But our position has been local educators and teachers in their communities need to make decisions based on the best interests of their students and employees," he said. +3 New guidelines: Louisiana public school students won't have to quarantine after COVID exposure In a major change, public school students will be allowed to remain in classrooms even if they have close contact with someone who tests posit Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "I think that systems have enough expertise in COVID mitigation at this point to be fluid and address situations with common sense as they move forward." Last year Brumley ignited controversy when he said local districts should be allowed to keep students in the classroom if they have close contact with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus rather than being quarantined at home as long as their parents or guardian back the move. 14 Louisiana lawmakers dispute the need for children 5-11 to receive COVID vaccines Despite the advice of medical experts, 14 Republican House members Monday questioned the need for children ages 5-11 to get the coronavirus va Edwards and state health officer Dr. Joseph Kanter denounced the move. Doris Voitier, superintendent of the St. Bernard Parish School District, said she has seen an uptick in positive cases since classes resumed Monday. "They don't seem to be as severe but we are having a greater number," Voitier said, a reference to how omicron compares to what experts say is the more deadly Delta variant. Mike Faulk, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, said many local superintendents are in wait-and-see mode on how to respond to omicron. Sito Narcisse, superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, said earlier face masks will remain mandatory for students at least through January. In a letter to parents on Monday, Ascension Parish schools superintendent David Alexander said face coverings will remain optional in school buildings and offices. Students from pre-K through eighth-grade returned to school Wednesday and high school students are scheduled to do so Thursday. "We have experienced elevated cases before in our community and as such we expect that cases are likely to show up in our schools at a higher level than we experienced in November and December," Alexander wrote. Wes Watts, superintendent of the West Baton Rouge Parish school system, said the only change in policy for his district is to trim the quarantine time for students who test positive to five days, in line with new CDE guidelines. State Rep. Ted James, a newly-named federal administrator for the Small Business Administration, said Wednesday he plans to resign his House seat on Jan. 28 and endorsed another Baton Rouge attorney to succeed him. James, an 10-year Democratic veteran of the House, said he backs Vanessa LaFleur to fill Baton Rouge's House District 101 post. LaFleur is a former official of the Public Service Commission and the Louisiana Department of Revenue. James said he has talked to House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, and that a March election is possible to fill the post. He said filing for the office may take place Jan. 26, 27 and 28. James said he hopes LaFleur is the only candidate for the job, which would allow her to be seated in time for an expected February special session for redistricting. The lawmaker made his comments during a press conference that included longtime supporters, a handful of Baton Rouge area lawmakers and his parents, Edward and Patricia James, and daughter Harper, 4. James was named to the federal post last week by President Joe Biden. Rep. Ted James lands presidential appointment; to oversee small business aid in five states Veteran state Rep. Ted James, a Baton Rouge Democrat, was named as a federal Small Business Administration administrator Wednesday by Presiden James will be Region 6 administrator, which is headquartered in Forth Worth and includes Louisiana and four other states. He said he has no plans to leave Baton Rouge, his lifelong home, but plans to commute to SBR regional offices around the state, mostly to the one in New Orleans. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up James is chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. Rep. Barbara Carpenter, D-Baton Rouge and now vice-chair of the caucus, was at James' press conference Wednesday and said she plans to seek the chairmanship. Carpenter said her selection would ensure continuity for the group and that she has the needed experience too. Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, a freshman lawmaker, is also considered a possible candidate. James repeated what he said on the day he was named to the federal job: accepting the job was not an easy decision. "I have a specific love for the work we have done in the Legislature since 2011," he said. James said he was the author of 156 bills and 54 became law, including measures to revamp Louisiana's criminal justice rules and an app that allows motorists to carry their driver's license on their smart phone, called Louisiana Wallet. Want your Louisiana driver's license saved on your phone? You can do it free through May Louisiana residents seeking to carry their driver's license on their smartphones can download the app and activate their licenses for free thr He is also chairman of the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. James said one of his key goals as an SBA administrator is to increase the number of minority- and women-owned small businesses. He starts his new job on Jan. 31. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Letters: Not so simple to extend broadband, because someone has to put up money Those willing to go to the public space of movie theatres in these uncertain times might have already seen The Matrix Resurrections, the fourth film in the groundbreaking sci-fi franchise, directed by Lana Wachowski. Keanu Reeves is back as Neo, trapped in the miserable life of Thomas Anderson and pining for a woman who reminds him of Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss). With the help of Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Neo rediscovers the real world and fights back against the virtual prison of the Matrix. Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Resurrections. Credit:Warner Bros Many fans will be going to see Reeves kick ass again, but for trans audiences, its also thrilling to see a blockbuster with a trans storyteller at the helm. Rich in symbolism, The Matrix films have always been open to different interpretations, but its undeniably refreshing to see how Wachowski one of the only openly trans directors in Hollywood (along with her sister Lilly, who co-directed the original Matrix trilogy) celebrates trans experiences. Elective surgery restrictions are expected to be re-introduced in NSW on Friday, after the Premier flagged the state government was looking at limiting procedures as well as mobilising private hospitals to deal with what health authorities have said will likely be a rapid, but short, case surge. More than 3800 health staff were furloughed in NSW due to COVID-19 exposure on Wednesday, up from 2200 the previous week. On Wednesday night, Victoria announced it would also be suspending non-urgent surgery to help hospitals respond to the increasing number of patients with coronavirus. Earlier this week, the Herald revealed COVID-positive patients were already taking up beds in private hospitals, as both part of public hospital surge plans and as a result of those patients receiving other care. There were 1609 COVID-19 cases in hospital on Thursday. Private hospitals were briefed on the changes on Thursday. They were told the restrictions would be similar to those imposed in mid-2021. However, some more urgent categories of day surgery would still be allowed under the new rules, which will come into effect on Monday. Next week is the first week that we were coming back to any sense of normality most surgeons are on holiday right now, they may not be looking at the news at all, a senior Sydney surgeon not authorised to comment said, expressing concern about how hospitals would implement the restrictions on such a tight turnaround. Non-urgent surgery was suspended in private and public hospitals in Greater Sydney in August, to free staff for involvement in vaccination programs and to provide care for rising hospitalisations in the citys Delta wave. Elective surgery was reintroduced slowly from October: first just day surgery, and then all non-urgent operations. The backlog created by 2021s elective surgery shutdown was significant. Data from the end of September showed the elective surgery wait list had reached 92,000 patients before procedures were gradually re-allowed. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons had expected the waiting list for procedures to grow significantly in early 2022, when people caught up on medical appointments missed during the lockdown. NSW president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Danielle McMullen said the decision to suspend surgery was inevitable given the impact of rising case numbers on the hospital system but not unavoidable. Elective surgery is not unnecessary surgery, it is serious medical care and delaying that care impacts on the quality of life for many Australians, she said. Elective surgery shouldnt be a tap that government turns on and off to cover for serious cracks in our healthcare system. Amid record numbers of staff on furlough, NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce on Wednesday said the ministry planned to more than quadruple the number of vaccinations it was delivering at its state hubs, providing more than 300,000 shots a week by the end of January. Popular beachside postcodes in Sydneys eastern suburbs have among the highest rates of COVID-19 infections in the state, analysis of health department data by The Sydney Morning Herald shows. In Bondi, Bondi Junction, Coogee and Clovelly, the active rate is more than 40 cases per 1000 residents, while active case rates are also surging in parts of Sydneys west that were among the worst hit during last years Delta outbreak. The New South Wales postcodes with the highest rate of active COVID-19 cases are largely located in Greater Sydney with one growing exception, the tourism haven of Byron Bay in the states north, where there are about 59 active cases among every 1000 residents. Every populated postcode in Greater Sydney has at least one active COVID-19 case and, using this interactive map, you can see the active case rate in your area. A pub in Broome is one of several new exposure sites for COVID-19 in Western Australia with the northern drinking hole linked to an offshore worker who flew home to Queensland recently and tested positive. The worker was at the Kimberley pub on December 30 from 8.30am to 12.30pm. Divers Tavern in Broome has been listed as an exposure site after someone who visited the pub tested positive to COVID-19 in Queensland. Credit:Facebook Several Perth locations were also added to Western Australias list of exposure sites on Wednesday morning including Yagan Square during New Years celebrations, BWS and Woolworths in the CBD on Murray Street, Ampol Foodary at Mount Lawley, Shou Japanese Kitchen in Greenwood and the Dan Murphys at Hyde Park. People who visited the new sites are asked to monitor for symptoms but do not need to isolate unless advised otherwise by the Department of Health. Shes not too old to stand for Parliament nor to shape laws that could affect the welfare of 26 million Australians, but Pauline Hanson is apparently too old to sexually harass anyone. At least, this is what she claimed earlier this week through a spokesperson after being asked by the media why she had refused to attend respectful workplace training that Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year deemed mandatory for all members and senators. One Nation leader Pauline Hansons spokesperson quipped she was too old to sexually harass anyone. Credit:James Brickwood Given that Hanson, 67, is also still spritely enough to have publicly sprayed participants of the March4Justice rally early last year, including Brittany Higgins who alleged that she was raped by a fellow Liberal staffer, for demonising men you have to wonder if the senator missed out on a teaching moment here. In the same interview with Sky News, Hanson criticised Higgins for not reporting her alleged rape earlier, even though Higgins had spoken about it to police but asked that they pause any investigation. Victorias coronavirus testing system, swamped by the surge in new cases and the failure to provide consumers with access to rapid antigen tests, will remain overwhelmed until at least next week, the Andrews government says. The main private providers of pathology in Victoria halted testing at 54 centres around the state this week, needing to reset their testing processes to deal with the sudden jump in positive cases. People queue on Wednesday for a coronavirus test at a Bourke Street centre. Credit:Chris Hopkins Their labs process about three-quarters of Victorias coronavirus tests and have continued to push through tests taken before this week, but are not yet processing new swabs. The closures have added to lengthy queues at the states remaining 206 COVID-19 testing centres, combining with the scarcity of rapid antigen tests to create the current crisis. FORD IN Q4 2021; Ford Sales Down 14.5%, Lincoln Sales Down 50.5% In Spite Of Heavy TV Advertising Editor's Note: The proof is in the pudding. Despite heavy TV spending on advertising for Aviator (most-viewed automotive commercial for Nov. 15-21) and Navigator the commercial's apparently missed their mark as 4Q sales drop 50%, methinks too much PC and Not Enough tradition...making snow in a California Desert, Just Say'n DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 5, 2022 Ford Motor Company today reported its December 2021 U.S. sales results. Click here or visit media.ford.com to view the news release. About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, that is committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The companys Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for and deepen the loyalty of those customers. Ford designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of connected, increasingly electrified passenger and commercial vehicles: Ford trucks, utility vehicles, vans and cars, and Lincoln luxury vehicles. The company is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, connected vehicle services and mobility solutions, including self-driving technology, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 184,000 people worldwide. More information about the company, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company is available at corporate.ford.com The conversation about sexual education should be had regardless of religious beliefs, as many students use college as a time to experiment sexually with partners. Van Buren, AR (72956) Today Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 73F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Strong thunderstorms likely. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 57F. S winds shifting to W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. The New Hampshire Department of Justice building on Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 in Concord, N.H. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, center, announces he will step down from office during a news conference, Monday Jan. 3, 2022 at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H. Gardner is the nation's longest-serving secretary of state. From left are Senior Deputy Sect. of State Robert Ambrose, Gardner and Deputy Sect. of State David Scanlan. Associate Editor Brent Addleman is an Associate Editor and a veteran journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He has served as editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania and Texas, and has also worked at newspapers in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Kentucky. Cheyenne, WY (82001) Today Rain and snow this morning. A few rain showers in the afternoon - otherwise, mostly cloudy. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 70%.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. Low 29F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Instant unlimited access to all of our E-Editions and content on thechronicleonline.com. The Chronicle E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) Harnoorvir Singh Jabbal, 11, gets the COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Chelsea Meyer at Arleta High School on Nov. 8 in the Arleta neighborhood of Los Angeles. Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS This is the temporary subscription pass for users returning from the Vision Data subscription process. Your subscription will be updated within 24 hours, after your information is verified. Please click the button below to get your pass. Oneonta, NY (13820) Today Cloudy with occasional rain during the afternoon. High 57F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Click the image to the left and log in to get your exclusive reader perks. Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com. Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org. Philadelphia firefighters work at the scene of a deadly row house fire in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia on Jan. 5, 2022. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) 13, Including 7 Children, Die in Philly Rowhome Converted Into Apartments: Officials At least 13 people, including seven children, died as a quick-moving fire ripped through a crowded home in Philadelphia early Wednesday morning, officials said. This is without a doubt one of the most tragic days in our citys history, the loss of so many people in such a tragic way, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney told reporters at a news conference. Officials told 6ABC that 18 people live in a second-floor apartment on the three-story rowhouse, while another eight people lived on the first floor. Losing so many kids is just devastating, added Kenney. Keep these babies in your prayers. But Kenney continued to say that you dont know the circumstances of each and every family and maybe there were relatives or people that needed to be sheltered. Obviously the tragedy happened and we all mourn for it but we cant make judgment on the number of people in the house because sometimes people need to be indoors, he added. Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy told reporters that upon arrival at around 6:40 a.m., firefighters saw heavy flames coming out of the second floor. That is a tremendous amount of people to be living in a duplex, Murphy said. In a Twitter post, the Philadelphia Fire Department said that it took 50 minutes to place the fire under control. I knew some of those kids I used to see them playing on the corner, said Dannie McGuire, 34, told The Associated Press, while adding that some of those kids have lived here as long as us. I cant picture how more people couldnt get out; jumping out a window, she said. There were four smoke alarms in the building, Murphy said, none of which appeared to be working. The alarms had been inspected annually, and at least two had been replaced in 2020, with batteries replaced in the others at that time, Philadelphia Housing Authority officials said. Television news footage showed ladders propped up against the smoke-blackened front of the house, with all its windows missing. Holes remained in the roof where firefighters had broken through. The odd configuration of the house, which had been split into two apartments, made it difficult to navigate, Kenney also said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 4 Conversational Habits Every Entrepreneur Should Learn Actively listening means asking the right questions Ive seen it a hundred times. In coffee shops, by the water cooler, and in networking events everywhere. An eager young entrepreneur attempts to impress a potential client with a lengthy monologue about their exotic experience. I just cant say enough good things about Bali, they say, flipping out their phone and scrolling through an endless barrage of images. I get what theyre doing: Theyre trying to foster connection. And what better way to build rapport than by making yourself appear more interesting and offering up a bevy of videos of your exciting escapade? But heres whats actually happening as you enthusiastically harp on about your latest trip: Peoples eyes are glossing overyoure losing them. The reason this happens, according to researcher Gus Cooney, a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, is due to something called the novelty penalty. The gist being that talking about something completely new alienates people who might not be familiar with your topic of conversation. Sure, Bali is exciting, but folks cant relate to a place theyve never been to before. The novelty penalty might explain why a description of an exotic holiday can often fall flat with your colleagues unless they have been to that location themselves, writes David Robson for BBC. Building better connections is essential for entrepreneurs; you could even say its our lifeblood. But just like the above scenario, there are plenty of conversational pitfalls we can easily fall into. Thats why Id like to offer some strategies for remaining conscious of how youre communicating. Related: Why Mastering the Art of Conversation Will Make You More Money Be Sensitive to the Times Writing for Harvard Business Review, Robbie Samuels asks us to acknowledge that weve all been through a lot in the last 18 months. What this means is that were also a little ill-prepared for small talk. Our personal journeys have varied widely over the last year, Samuels writes, so its understandable if that makes us cautious. The usual, What did you do on vacation? conversations wont suffice, but that doesnt mean we need to resort to Hey, how many emotional breakdowns did you have in 2020? either. Many leaders will try to systemize their communication, but all this does is make you robotic and tone deaf. At my company, Jotform, were a team of 300+ employees spread over different continents. I cant pretend that this pandemic hasnt changed the way we relate to one another. Each person has faced different challenges and therefore has different needs. What this means is that my conversations wont be the same with each individual. If I can get anything across, its this: We should humanize our conversational habits to build better connections. And that starts with the following: Ask Questions, But Also Actively Listen If you want to have a meaningful dialogue with someonerather than two intersecting monologuesthen you should make the effort to ask some questions, Robson emphasizes. Rather than overshare about your latest sojourn to Bali, ask the other person (whether a colleague or potential client) about their own experienceswhats new with them? But remember to be genuine with your asking. Dont just wait for their answer and immediately change topics, either. Listen intently with earnest curiosity. When I go on a walking meeting with an employee, I ask about their family and how theyre managing their workload. How are you adjusting coming back to work? Is there anything youre especially looking forward to over the holidays? Its as simple as this: asking + active listening = care. The first key to being well-spoken is making others feel well heard, writes Jane Chin for Inc. We focus too much on what we should say next, formulating witty responses in our heads instead of giving full presence to the person talking. The art of listening, she notes, is as important as the art of speaking. When the other person feels truly heard, that person will perceive you are caring about what s/he is saying, and this may make you appear more likable and better spoken. Related: These Tips will Help You Rule any Conversation Center Shared Human Experiences Ill never forget a college mentor who took time after class to ask an awkward Turkish transplant like myself about my experiences moving overseas. He was from the West Coast and spoke about feeling homesick at times. How even though it wasnt the same, he understood what it felt like to be an outsider. These small moments werent just simple mundane small talkthey were meaningful exchanges that made me feel less alone. At its finest, leaning on shared experiences gives us common ground and strengthens our ties to one anotherwhether were acquaintances or even strangers. Nicholas Epley, professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, tells BBC, In these deep conversations you get access to the mind of another person, and you get to recognize that the other person actually cares about you. Related: 7 Ways to Have a Pleasant Conversation With a Negative Person Leave Your Ego at the Door This seems like it should go without saying, but try to limit how much you talk about yourself. Easy right? But its actually one of the biggest barriers entrepreneurs face when communicating. Its natural to try to hype you and your business up, thinking this is the way to garner interest in your audience. But it actually has the opposite effect. The trouble is, many leaders conflate ego with confidence. But talking a mile a minute and constantly interrupting the other person only makes you appear pompous, not confident. My advice to young and seasoned entrepreneurs alike is to dial it down. Take a breath and pace yourself. Humility and gratitude are cornerstones of selflessness, write HBR co-authors Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter. Make a habit of taking a moment at the end of each day to reflect on all the people that were part of making you successful on that day, they add. This helps you develop a natural sense of humility, by seeing how you are not the only cause of your success. And itll also make you a far more interesting conversational partner. Related: 15 Ways to Command a Conversation Like a Boss 4 Deaths in 1 Hour From Possible Fentanyl Overdoses in Anaheim ANAHEIM, Calif.Four people in three different incidents died within about an hour of each other on Jan 3 in what are suspected to be fentanyl poisonings. While its thought to be fentanyl-related due to the drug paraphernalia found at the scenes, its not immediately clear what poisoned the victims, or if they knew what they were ingesting. We dont know that the deaths were [because of] fentanyl, Anaheim Police Sgt. Shane Carringer told The Epoch Times. But the indicia that was present on scene at those calls suggests that it was probably opiates that were being used, and thats where the belief comes from that they may have been fentanyl-laced. The first incident occurred at 11:40 a.m. when officers responded to a deceased woman inside of a motel room in the 800 block of South Beach Boulevard. Shortly after at 12:05 p.m., officers found a deceased man at the 1700 block of South State College Boulevard. At 12:48 p.m., officers responded to the 500 block of South Anaheim Boulevard to find three men, two of whom were pronounced dead at the scene, with the third able to be revived using Narcan. The man was transported to the hospital in critical condition, police said. The presence of fentanyl has increased dramatically in Orange County in recent years, with the county seeing a 1,000 percent increase in fentanyl-related deaths in the past five years, according to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. Its become pretty common for us to find fentanyl-laced or tainted drugs across the spectrum of drugs right now, Carringer said. Its almost hard to find something that doesnt have some fentanyl in it. Its currently unknown whether the three closely timed incidents were related. Its common for us to have [an opioid death] every couple days. We normally have about 30 death investigations a month, and then maybe about 10 to 15 percent of those are drug-related, Carringer said, adding that this incident was an enormous spike for the department. The department put the warning on social media in order to get the word out to hopefully avoid any additional fatalities. People may have drugs that may contain something that that they werent anticipating ingesting, Carringer said. A truck is seen outside the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y., on March 30, 2020. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images) Amazon Driver Rescues 4-Month-Old and Parents From Colorado Wildfire, Family Says They Could Be Dead Otherwise A Colorado family says they could be dead if it wasnt for an Amazon.com, Inc. delivery driver who rescued them during the Marshall Fire. The wildfire raged across Boulder County last week causing resident to flee as it destroyed up to 1,000 homes. The familys home in the town of Superior (Southeast of Boulder) was surrounded by flames on Thursday, and their car had a dead battery. Their neighbors had fled, so the mother, father and four-month-old baby were trapped by the surrounding fire. At that moment, an Amazon driver named Luanne pulled up in her truck to deliver a bike pump to their home. The father of the family had ordered the pump days before, planning to use his bicycle as an alternate form of transportation. Luanne asked the parents if they needed help and then drove all three away from the flames to the safety of a nearby community center. We could be dead if it wasnt for Luanne. She was our saving grace. A little angel right at the moment that we needed her, the mother told a news outlet. Aerial video shows that the familys home is completely destroyed. We dont know what our plans are next, the mother said. We are just glad we got out safe. In December, two Amazon workers were killed when a company warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, collapsed after being struck by a tornado. By Bibhu Pattnaik 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Americans on the Move, Looking for Less Populated and Greener Pastures Vote with your feet, President Ronald Reagan said in 1982. Forty years later, many Americans are still heeding his advice and moving to what they see as greener pastures. Florida, with its sunshine, warmth, and lack of an individual state income tax, is a big draw, as demonstrated by the annual study of interstate migration by United Van Lines, the nations largest moving company. United Van Lines has been conducting the study since 1977. Its based on interstate household moves handled by United in the lower 48 states, as well as Washington. The company also surveys customers concerning the motivations and circumstances that have influenced their moves. Company spokesperson Eily Cummings told The Epoch Times that the company moved slightly more than 125,000 customers between states in 2021. Of those customers, 21,560 responded to the survey. These are weighty and statistically significant numbers. They confirmed some recent trends, but also contained some surprises, Cummings said. Of all the interstate moves performed by the moving giant in Florida in 2021, 62 percent were people moving into the state and 38 percent were people moving out. The Florida move-in to move-out ratio placed the Sunshine State among the top five in the nation, behind Vermont (74 percent to 26 percent), South Dakota (69 percent to 31 percent), South Carolina (63 percent to 37 percent), and West Virginia (63 percent to 37 percent). People walk along Church Street in Burlington, Vt., on June 28, 2021. (ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images) According to the study, Tennessee posted a move-in to move-out ratio of 62 percent to 38 percent, and the ratio for Texas was 54 percent to 46 percent. This was the first time in the 45-year history of our study that West Virginia ranked so high, Cummings said. This seems to be part of a trend of Americans moving from areas of high population density to areas of lower population density. Six of the top 10 states in terms of move-ins have a population density of less than 100 people per square mile. Also, people are moving into metropolitan and even rural areas rather than into densely populated urban centers. This trend may be related to the pandemic. We believe the increase in moves to the less crowded states may also be due to the ability of many people to work remotely. People walk in Brooklyn while lower Manhattan looms in the background in New York on March 28, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) According to the study, the six states with the nations worst move-out numbers were New Jersey (71 percent), Illinois (67 percent), New York (63 percent), Connecticut (60 percent), California (59 percent), and Michigan (58 percent). The survey shows that 33 percent of customers responding to the survey moved across state lines for a new job or a job transfer. That figure was 60 percent in the 2015 survey. Taking a new job was the reason given by 64 percent of our responding customers for moving to Washington D.C., Cummings said. We believe this was largely because of the change of administrations after the 2020 election. The survey revealed a new trend that found that 32 percent of all responding customers moved across state lines to be closer to family. Patrons at Irish 31 have dinner on the first day of full capacity seating in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 25, 2020. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images) Historically, moving closer to family has not been one of our responses. It seems to have come to the fore because of the pandemic. Forty-eight percent of the responding customers we moved into Michigan, 47 percent in New Jersey, 44 percent in Ohio, and 43 percent in Illinois, said they moved there to be close to family members, Cummings said. Weve seen a ton of movement out of New Jersey and New York to Florida and the Carolinas. Twenty-four percent of those leaving New Jersey went to Florida. Twenty-one percent of our customers who left New York in 2021 moved to Florida. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey answers a question about the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine in Arizona, while Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ listens, in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 2, 2020. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo) Arizona to Provide Relief for Parents If Their Childrens School Closes Even One Day Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday announced a new benefits program to help fund eligible families that may not otherwise be able to afford to move their children to schools that stay open for in-person instructions. According to the governors office, the new Open for Learning Recovery Benefit program will provide up to $7,000 for qualified students in case the schools they go to close for even one day. The aid money can be used to cover expenses relating to child care, school-coordinated transportation, online tutoring, and school tuition. In Arizona, were going to ensure continued access to in-person learning, Ducey said in a press release. Everyone agrees that schools should stay open and kids need to be in the classroom. With this announcement, we are making sure parents and families have options if a school closes its doors. The initiative comes as some Arizona school districts have delayed students coming back to school, citing the recent surge in CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infections driven by the Omicron variant. Arizonas teachers union is also telling parents to get ready for a potential return to remote learning. Parents should be preparing for a temporary shift to remote learning. It will be due to not enough staff being able to report for work, Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas wrote on Twitter on Monday, the first day of classes. He also praised the Kyrene School District, which reversed a previous plan and said they will not drop the mask mandate after winter break. In August 2020, Ducey launched two programs aimed at supporting parents who dont want their children to wear masks at school, as well as school districts that dont impose mask mandates or other public health restrictions upon students. One of the programs is a $10 million grant similar to the states private school voucher program. It offers eligible parents $7,000 for each student if their public school has a mask mandate, requires isolation or quarantine due to CCP virus exposure, or provides preferential treatment to vaccinated students. The other program was created using $163 million Arizona received as federal pandemic relief. District schools and public charters that were open for in-person learning and stayed throughout the 2020-2021 school year could tap into the money, and could get up to $1,800 in additional funding per student. Schools that had mask mandates or closed because of COVID-19 outbreaks were not eligible for the grant. Parents are in the drivers seat, and its their right to make decisions that best fit the needs of their children, the governor said last year when he announced the programs. Safety recommendations are welcomed and encouragedmandates that place more stress on students and families arent. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 4, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) At-Home COVID-19 Tests Coming This Month: White House Psaki asserts Biden still in control of COVID-19 response White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the first batch of the 500 million COVID-19 tests that President Joe Biden promised late last month will arrive later in January. Were on track to start seeing movement on some of the awards through the RFP (request for proposals) this week, she told reporters Tuesday. The first delivery from manufacturers will start later this month. Thats our expectation. In a terse exchange, Psaki was asked by a CBS reporter about whether administration officials agree Biden has lost control over the pandemic response. We would not, Psaki said in response amid numerous questions from reporters during Tuesdays briefing about the disease. Biden started increasing U.S. testing efforts and capacity after pushback for not making at-home COVID-19 tests widely available ahead of the Omicron variants spread, which has driven up case numbers in the United States in recent days. At the same time, Americans have scrambled to obtain rapid antigen tests, which have become hard to find in some areas. We will put the website up and make it available so that people can order tests at that point in time, Psaki added. A reporter asked if Biden has acknowledged that vaccines may no longer protect the public from getting infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virusonly preventing death or hospitalizations. Psaki, like other federal officials, again called on people to get vaccinated. The step thats most important that people can take to reduce the potential for hospitalization and death is to get vaccinated, get boosted, Psaki responded. Hes not telling anyone to accept anything. Hes just conveying to people what they can do to protect themselves. Psaki did not provide exact details on how soon the tests will be available to the general public. The administration, she added, is still in the process of finalizing the contracts and expects the first shipment from manufacturers to come soon. The Omicron variant may account for 95.4 percent of recent CCP virus infections as of Jan. 1, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an update on Tuesday. The previously dominant Delta variant now makes up about 4.6 percent, the CDC said. Omicron, named as such by the World Health Organization (WHO), was first reported in southern Africa and Hong Kong in November and has swept around the world. There are signs, however, that the variant causes milder symptoms and possibly fewer hospitalizations. A WHO official, Abdi Mahamud, told reporters Tuesday that more studies have suggested that Omicron infects the the upper part of the body, unlike previous variants. It means, Mahamud said, the variant is less likely to trigger less severe symptoms. It can be good news, but we really require more studies to prove that, Mahamud said. Australia, Japan to Sign Security Pact Amid Chinese Assertiveness in Indo-Pacific Region Australia and Japan are set to sign a historic treaty at a virtual leaders summit on Jan. 6 to strengthen defense and security cooperation, a move seen as a response to Chinas growing assertiveness in the IndoPacific region. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement that the signing of a reciprocal access agreement with Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida would underpin greater and more complex practical engagement between the two countries defense forces. This treaty will be a statement of our two nations commitment to work together in meeting the shared strategic security challenges we face and to contribute to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific, Morrison said. It will, for the first time, provide a clear framework for enhanced interoperability and cooperation between our two forces. The announcement came after Kishida canceled his trip to the United States and Australia because of a surge in the domestic and overseas spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. China wasnt mentioned in Morrisons statement, but he noted that the treaty would contribute to an expanding agenda for the Quad, an informal strategic security dialogue between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan that promotes a free IndoPacific. The agreement also will allow Australia and Japan to share their technology-led approach to reduce carbon emissions, he added. Australias treaty with Japan follows the formation of AUKUS in September, a new defense agreement linking the United States, Britain, and Australia, under which Australia will acquire a nuclear-powered fleet for the first time. China condemned the AUKUS pact, saying that the nuclear submarine cooperation among the three countries has seriously undermined regional peace and stability, intensified the arms race, and undermined international non-proliferation efforts. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, agreed last month to boost the countries special strategic partnership to a higher level to achieve the Free and Open IndoPacific goal, according to the Japanese foreign affairs ministry. The ministers, who met at the sidelines of a G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting, emphasized that Japan and Australia would continue to assist in building quality infrastructure in the IndoPacific region, including by utilizing the framework of Japan, Australia, and the United States. Australia and the United States also have reaffirmed their efforts to promote peace and prosperity in the IndoPacific and aim to deepen their alliance amid concerns over Chinas military and economic ambitions in the region. Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report. Australia Will Have Strong Economic Rebound Despite Omicron Cases Surge: Treasurer A surge in Omicron cases across the country will not hinder Australias economic recovery following last years COVID-19 restrictions, Australias federal treasurer said. It comes as new data released by the Australian Taxation Office revealed around half a million jobs had been created across the nation since September. Josh Frydenberg said Australia had experienced a jobs boom in recent months, with small businesses around the country who did it tough early on getting back on their feet. Were starting to see these jobs coming back, and its looking very promising for the Australian economy, Frydenberg told Sky News on Monday. Weve seen more workers in hospitality, weve seen workers come back into construction. We know our mining sector and agriculture sector are looking for more workers and in agriculture sectors, we are trying to bring in more workers as well. Further, the tax offices figures showed that the unemployment rate came down to around a 13-year low of 4.6 percent. Meanwhile, job advertisements are at a 13-year high, with more than 250,000 positions available. The data, which takes in the period following the removal of lockdowns driven by the Delta variant in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, estimated there are 180,000 more people in work now compared to the beginning of the pandemic. However, Frydenberg believed the nation was not out of this pandemic yet and that there is no room for complacency. We have to lock in the recovery, and thats what were focusing on with our investment in skills and infrastructure and providing more tax relief, he said. However, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Phillip Lowe said the Omicron outbreak, which plunged Australias biggest cities into months-long lockdowns, does represent a downside risk, and it is difficult to know how things will develop from here. But we do expect the positive momentum in the economy to be maintained through the summer, underpinned by the opening up of the economy, he added. Meanwhile, opposition leader Anthony Albanese stated that the recovery in jobs figures was only the result of the economic shutdown due to government incompetence in containing the virus. Albanese believed the new data did not show the full picture regarding employment. One of the things we see with the jobs figures is the fact that two million Australians are either unemployed or want more hours, he told reporters in Newcastle. They want full-time, permanent jobs, and one of the things were seeing in Australia with the insecure work is more casual jobs, less permanent jobs and less security for people. Frydenberg also noted the government would adopt a balanced, considered approach to migration after economists called for a more aggressive approach to migration to help fill job vacancies following the pandemic. We did see throughout the pandemic last year and the year before that, population growth (was at) the lowest level in more than a century, the treasurer said. This is going to be one of the more permanent impacts of COVID-19 on migration. Skilled workers, visa holders and international students have been able to return to Australia without the need for a travel exemption since mid-December. The countrys infection case numbers have surged following the easing of the lockdowns due to the spread of the Omicron variant, despite 77 percent of the population having been fully vaccinated. Australian Labor Party Renews Promise to Establish Strategic Shipping Fleet Australian Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has restated a 2019 Labor promise to secure supply chains and overseas trade for Australia with a new independent shipping fleet. Announcing the policy on Jan.3, Albanese said that as a sea locked country, Australia is more dependent on maritime trade than most, with shipping used to transport almost all of Australias imports and exports. Yet despite Australias reliance on maritime trade, he noted that only 1 percent of the countrys imports and exports are transported in Australian owned ships. A fact that is concerning the Labor leader said when considering that this makes Australia reliant on other countries to transport essential imports such as fuel. For eight long years, the Morrison-Joyce Government has put our national security and economic sovereignty at risk by standing idle as large multinationals dumped Australian flagged and crewed vessels so they could hire cheaper overseas crews, Albanese said. This has destroyed the jobs of Australian seafarers and created a situation where none of the vessels our nation relies upon to deliver its essential supplies of crude oil, aviation fuel and diesel are registered in this country or crewed by Australians. Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese delivers a speech to Labor supporters at the Wests Ashfield Leagues Club in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 5, 2021. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING Albanese noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the weaknesses in Australias supply chains and highlighted the nations dependence on foreign suppliers and transporters for critical commodities. Without a strategic fleet, Australias essential supply linesincluding fuel importsare vulnerable to the decisions of foreign governments or the whims of international shipping companies, Albanese said. Labor is proposing that if elected, they will establish a task force to focus on the revival of Australias shipping industry. This Taskforce will include representatives from the shipping industry, major charterers, unions, Australian business and the Department of Defence, said Albanese. It will also be in charge of establishing the new fleet, which will be composed of a dozen vessels, including roll-on roll-off, container, tankers, and cargo ships. It is also most likely be privately owned and commercially operated. However, in times of national crisis, Labor said that they would ensure there are provisions for the Australian Defence Forces to have access to the ships. The Taskforce will also determine how to enforce coastal shipping laws and close loopholes in Australias regulatory framework. Additionally, they will determine what reforms are necessary to boost the maritime industry. Similar to Shorten in 2019, Albanese said that enforcing coastal laws combats the use of foreign-flagged ships in coastal shipping when an Australian operator is available. Enforcement of coastal laws are also meant to address foreign-flagged ships illegally not paying their workers an Australian wage in domestic sectors. It is unclear how Labor intends to account for the environmental impact that a larger shipping industry could have on Australias marine life. However, the opposition leader said that Australian maritime workers local knowledge should prevent the environmental disasters that have occurred with the foreign flagships. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has welcomed the promise from the Labor party, saying that it is essential for Australia to have a measure of certainty around trade. Paddy Crumlin, MUA National Secretary, noted that Australia could not allow itself to be held hostage to international shippers whose priorities may not align with our own. A container ship is pushed to its berth by a tug at the Port of Melbourne on June 6, 2018. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images) A national strategic fleet could be employed transferring our strategic fuel reserve from its current location, in the US, and bringing our fuel to Australia where it will be in high demand in the event of an international crisis or disaster, Crumlin said. The announcement comes after Ports Australia, the national peak Australian body representing government and privately owned ports, previously signalled in a submission (pdf) to the federal productivity commission in May 2021 that Australia was overly reliant on foreign-flagged vessels for its imports, exports and coastal shipping. Major Australian-flagged vessel numbers have significantly declined in recent decades, with now only around 15 in operation. Should a circumstance arise that requires the withdrawal of a companys vessels for international trade to or from Australia, this would pose a significant limitation on Australias ability to continue trade as only a few shipping lines service Australia. Withdrawal could occur from such circumstances as a companys changes focus or insolvency or a nations geopolitical decisions, the submission read. Ports Australia recommended that the productivity commission start mapping shipping lines to keep abreast of ongoing risks associated with Australias maritime trade. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison holds up a face mask as he speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Dec. 22, 2021. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) Australian PM Dismisses Free COVID-19 Tests Amidst Pressure Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asserted the government will not be making rapid antigen tests free, despite growing calls from the Labor government to make them available for everyone. Following widespread shortages of the rapid tests and large queues at PCR testing clinics across the country, the prime minister said the tests wouldnt be rolled out freely. The suggestion that tests are not free is untrue. The tests are free if you require one and are required to have one because you are a close contact or youre symptomatic, Morrison told reporters on Wednesday. The tests are free if you require one and are required to have one because youre a close contact or youre symptomatic. Morrison said 160 million rapid tests would soon be arriving in Australia. He stated that the Omicron variant had caused a significant disruption in Australia and that the short-term challenge at hand is more so the supply than making everything free. Making everything free is not a silver bullet. There are no silver bullets here. Youve just got to work the problem, work it together and push through. Ahead of Wednesdays national cabinet meeting, the prime minister is expected to outline a plan to subsidise the cost of rapid tests for concession cardholders and pensioners. The meeting will also discuss whether to change the criteria for who is included in hospitalisation figures after it was revealed earlier this week that most COVID-19 hospital patients are actually admitted for other health reasons. However, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has pressed the government to make the tests free for everyone. Its very clear the simplest way to do it is to make tests free and make them available, Albanese told reporters in Sydney. People are crying out for action; the economic consequences of this governments failure to put in place a proper system are there for all to see. Albanese had previously called for the rapid tests to be made more affordable and criticised the Prime Minister for not having enough supplies but has now changed to wanting tests to be free. Weve considered the options, and the clear and simplest, most cost-efficient way is to make tests available, he said. Rapid tests have been made free in countries such as New Zealand, UK and Singapore. However, Morrison reasoned that the UK was having very significant problems in the supply of those tests. Singapore is a much smaller country than Australia, as is New Zealand. More broadly across the world, that is not what all the countries are doing. More than 64,000 COVID cases were reported nationally on Wednesday, the highest daily number of cases since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, the shortage of rapid antigen tests has led to complaints of price gouging. The consumer watchdog, ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), announced on Tuesday that it will crackdown on price-gouging of rapid antigen test kits amid a nationwide shortage. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 4, 2021. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) Biden Administration: No Plans Now to Change Definition of Fully Vaccinated The Biden administration confirmed Wednesday that federal officials wont change the definition of fully vaccinated to include a booster shot. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if theyve received their primary series, that definition is not changing, said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky. Walensky said that the CDC is instead using the term up to date to push people into getting boosters. Someone is considered fully vaccinated if they have received their primary series of vaccines, so if you think about the different requirements that you mentioned, travel, [Occupational Safety and Health Administration], [and Centers for Medicaid & Medicare] rules and other examples, that has not changed and we do not have any plans to change that, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said in elaborating. A day earlier, COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci made similar comments. Were using the terminology now keeping your vaccinations up to date, rather than what fully vaccinated means, Fauci said during a National Institutes of Health-hosted commentary. Right now, optimal protection is with a third shot of an mRNA or a second shot of a J&J, he said, referring to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well as the Pfizer and Moderna shots, which use mRNA technology. Inside the United States, a growing number of businesses and organizationsnamely universitieshave begun to mandate boosters as a condition for employment or for entering buildings. Among those businesses, Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer, who is the CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group, said on Dec. 22 that starting immediately, several of his businesses are going to be requiring that 100 percent of our staff members have a booster within 30 days of their eligibility. Already in Israel, individuals have to show proof theyve received a booster dose, or a third shot, of the Pfizer vaccine in order to enter certain businesses including gyms and restaurants. No cities or municipalities in the United States have issued similar mandates yet, although New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said he is weighing COVID-19 boosters for city employees. If we feel we have to get to the place of making that mandatory, were willing to do that, but were encouraging them to do that now, Adams told ABC News. If we close down our city, it is as dangerous as COVID, Adams added. Thats what our focus must be. So that proper balance of safety [and] keeping our economy operated is going to allow us to get through. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Jan. 3, 2022. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images) Biden Moves to Double the Governments Order of New Pfizer COVID-19 Pill President Joe Biden Tuesday directed the federal government to double its purchase of Pfizers oral antiviral treatment, Paxlovid. This addition increases the U.S. total purchase from Pfizer from 10 million to 20 million therapeutic courses of the new pill. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the emergency use of Paxlovid last month for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients over the age of 12. These pills are going to dramatically decrease hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, said Biden in a speech Jan. 4. Theyre a game changer and have the potential to dramatically alter the impact of COVID-19. The White House says 10 million courses of the new treatment will be delivered by the end of June, with the remaining 10 million to follow by the end of September, according to an announcement from Pfizer. Im pleased to say that on Christmas Eve, we shipped out the first batch of these pills that we purchased and received, and more will be shipped this week, Biden said. Biden says production of the pills is in full swing, but he also notes the complex chemistry involved in manufacturing the pills. It takes months, literally, to make a pill, Biden said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, now marketed as Comirnaty, in August, and it remains the only vaccine with FDA approval. Dr. Robert Malone, a trailblazer in the original development of mRNA vaccines, has called into question pauses placed on studies of what may otherwise be competing COVID-19 therapeutics to the new Pfizer pill, namely ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. The ivermectin arm of a trial on possible treatments for COVID-19 at the University of Oxford in England was paused due to temporary supply issues last month, according to the trials website. Either theyre grossly incompetent at the University of Oxford or theyre lying, Malone told Fox news Dec. 18. Meanwhile, other experts have come out to say that the Pfizer pill has nothing in common with ivermectin. The only way they are alike is that they are both pills, Dr. William A. Petri, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia, told the Associated Press. A study published last summer in the American Journal of Therapeutics found that using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. When asked Tuesday whether the administration had considered any other COVID therapeutics for purchase, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House hadnt ruled anything out and is going to continue to build on the orders [its] done to date. This is just the recent step to expand what we have in our medicine cabinet, said Psaki. The United States reported a record of more than a million new COVID-19 cases Monday, but those results could be due in part to a delay in cases reported over the holiday weekend. Biden says the recent wave of new cases is a cause for concern but not alarm, adding that those who remained unvaccinated could suffer severe illness from the virus. Burmese Refugee Recalls Atrocities Witnessed in Prison at 15 Years Old I was sent to prison before puberty even hit my life, Htey Win, 62, of Baldwin Park, California, told The Epoch Times. And it was the most infamous prison in all of Burma. In 1974, Win, who was barely 15 years old, was sent to Insein Prison in the city of Yangon, Burma (also called Myanmar), after she was arrested by the Burmese Army for speaking against inefficacies in the government during a strike that she attended. One needs democracy, but Burmas military government is doing things wrongly. America is the right way, even when it comes to womens rights. In Burma, they dont know womens rights like they do here, she said. After Win was sent to prison without a trial, an additional 11 months was added to her term because she didnt sign a military statement that falsely stated that she had committed a crime. Why would I sign something that I did not do? Win said. The papers were false, and I had no reason to sign them. As Win sat for lunch at a corner table at the restaurant Irrawaddy Taste of Burma in Stanton, California, she slowly sipped her tea while beaming a confident smile that paired well with her Burmese patterned dress. Just behind her hung a photo of Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Burma under the National League for Democracy (NLD) party who was arrested on Feb. 1 in a coup by the same military that had imprisoned Win as a teenager. After Suu Kyis party received as much as 80 percent of the vote in the election for the next term of leadership, Burmese military officials, under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, detained Suu Kyi after accusing the party of election fraud. The military has since declared that the country is under a state of emergency for one year, but the general later said it could be extended to August 2023. Stanton City Hall hosted a rally protesting Myanmars Feb. 1 military coup in Stanton, Calif., on March 20, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Every morning while I was in prison, we were roll-called at the signal of the Bonesan, a form of submission to the prison guards that required the body to be in a crouching position at the point of pain and torture, Win said. Winters were cold in there, and we had no coats or blankets, with just a bamboo mat and a floor to lay on, and spoiled food. The smell along with the open toilets was unbearable. A Witness to Murder It was after a long period of torture and abuse while incarcerated at Insein that Win witnessed her first execution from her cell area. At 5 a.m., a 24-year-old man whom she identified as a close political ally from her native state of China Burmese state on the countrys Western border that connects to Bangladeshwas shot and killed by the military. His mother and father were told by the prison that he would be killed, Win said. His father is shocked, mother is shocked. He did not commit wrongdoing. I have already suffered a lot because of this regime since I was young. I cant sleep when I think about this. Later, the military would execute another prisoner near her cell, this time a 78-year-old man, according to Win. In her reflecting, her smile changed into tears and sobbing. Myanmar is currently facing an army killing its own people, she said. This army is doing the worst things that you cannot imagine to the people. A picture of Aung San Suu Kyi hangs at Irrawady Taste of Burma in Stanton, Calif., on March 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) The loss of life that Win witnessed in prison was also experienced by her family, who had held a funeral service for her after not hearing from her in months. After her first four months of imprisonment, her mother and father assumed the worse had happened, given the reputation of the military regime and her regular participation in protesting for democracy. My family thought I was dead and had already done memorial services for me, Win said. They did not even know I was in jail! My family did not get any information because the military kept it from them. A Shot at Freedom After three years and four months of captivity, Win was released on April 7, 1978. She later resorted to living in a refugee camp, where she was selected for a visa for entry into the United States. I share with the Burmese people that if you admire the Americans, you need to put your mind like them, she said. You can change your mind first because the government is second there. Safe from the military government while living as a Burmese refugee in California, she remains active in informing people about Burmas unstable political situation, with more than 1 million views on her YouTube page, along with her other social media accounts. Htey Wins YouTube page. (Screenshot via YouTube/LLT CHANNEL) I always post on Facebook by saying its not the military juntas country because of what they are doing to their own people, Win said. What they did to Aung San Suu Kyi, who had won the publics votes with the landslide result for the election led them into not getting any trust from the people they disrespect. They lost their dignity. So, the army cannot rule the country. Since February, the use of lethal force by the military junta against peaceful protesters has been condemned internationally by the United States, the UK, members of the EU, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. However, both Russia and China continue to support Burmas military. We are appalled by the alarming escalation of grave human rights abuses in Myanmar. In the last week alone, security forces have killed and burned to death 11 peopleamong them five minorsand rammed vehicles into protesters exercising their fundamental right to peaceful assembly, Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said during a Dec. 10 press briefing. More than 10 months since Myanmars military overthrew the democratically elected government in a February coup, the countrys human rights situation is deepening on an unprecedented scale, with serious violations reported daily of the rights to life, liberty, and security of [a] person, the prohibition against torture, the right to a fair trial, and freedom of expression. In Wins native Chin state, it was reported on Dec. 10 that the Burmese military had burned 19 local civilian and religious buildings and 450 residences over a span of 10 incidents. Weeks before in Kayah state, similar incidents occurred with villagers reported to have been burned alive by the army. I think the American government and the American people love justice and live in a just way, Win said. So as our country is suffering from injustice, I would like to ask for help. We need help in any way possible. California Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Against Nirvana by Baby Who Appeared on Nevermind Album Cover A California judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against former band members of Nirvana by the 30-year-old man who appeared as a baby on their iconic Nevermind album cover. Spencer Elden sued former members of the band in August 2021 for child exploitation and pornography, accusing them of having intentionally commercially marketed Spencers child pornography and leveraged the shocking nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at his expense. Elden was just 4 months old when he was photographed for the cover, naked and underwater with a dollar on a fishhook in front of him. Defendants used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews, the lawsuit reads. Eldens lawsuit named living Nirvana members including drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic; original Nirvana drummer Chad Channing; executor of Kurt Cobains estate, Courtney Love; managers of Cobains estate, Guy Oseary and Heather Parry; Kirk Weddle, the photographer; Robert Fisher, the art director; and several record companies who were connected with the famous album. The deceased Kurt Cobain was also named in the lawsuit. Lawyers for Elden claimed he had suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages due to the album cover and were seeking $150,000 in damages. But Federal Judge Fernando M. Olguin, who was presiding over the case at the U.S. District Court in Central California, threw the suit out on Monday after Elden missed the Dec. 30 deadline to respond to the defendants motion to dismiss, Variety reported. Nirvanas attorneys filed a 29-page motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Dec. 22, arguing that the lawsuit was filed well past the 10-year statute of limitations of one of the laws used as a cause of action, regarding federal child pornography. The second law used as a cause of action in the suit wasnt enacted until 2003, attorneys said while noting that Eldens claim that the photograph amounted to child pornography was on its face, not serious. Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed Nirvana Baby,' the motion stated. He has reenacted the photograph in exchange for a fee, many times; he has had the album title Nevermind tattooed across his chest; he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie; he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay, and he has used the connection to try to pick up women. Elden can still file an opposition by Jan. 13, judge Olguin said, although if he misses that deadline, the suit will be dismissed without prejudice. Spencer Eldens lawyer told The Epoch Times in a statement: In accordance with the courts order, we will be filing a Second Amended Complaint very soon. We are confident that Spencer will be allowed to move forward with his case Elden told the New York Post in 2016 that he had mixed feelings over the world-famous album cover. The anniversary means something to me. Its strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image, Elden said, adding, Its cool but weird to be part of something so important that I dont even remember. California Governor Gavin Newsom discusses the state's plan for homelessness initiatives in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) California Survivors of Decades-Old Forced Sterilization to Receive Reparations SACRAMENTO, Calif.California is paying reparations to survivors of state-sponsored forced or involuntary sterilizations that occurred over four decades ago, following a law that took effect Jan. 1. California is committed to confronting this dark chapter in the states past and addressing the impacts of this shameful history still being felt by Californians today, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Dec. 31 statement. While we can never fully make amends for what theyve endured, the state will do all it can to ensure survivors of wrongful sterilization receive compensation. Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), who proposed the forced sterilization compensation program in Assembly Bill 1007 in February 2020, secured a total of $7.5 million to fund the program. Reparation applications will be accepted from now through Dec. 31, 2023. The program will evenly distribute $4.5 million among survivors who are still alive todayat least 600 individuals are eligible by estimate. Aside from the $4.5 million to be distributed among the survivors, $2 million goes to the programs administration and outreach efforts. The additional $1 million is earmarked for thousands of plaques to remember the wrongful sterilization victims. According to the Sterilization and Social Justice Laba multi-institutional research team on sterilization in the United Statesfour attempts were previously made before a bill was passed in 2021 to compensate survivors of the state-sponsored sterilizations. The [Sterilization and Social Justice Lab] is gratified that this bill will provide long-awaited compensation to survivors of involuntary sterilization in California and will continue to inform this process and to highlight links between past and present experiences of reproductive injustice, the organizations website states. Survivors can visit or reach out to the California Victim Compensation Board at 800-777-9229 or fiscp@victims.ca.gov to obtain an application. A hospital bed. (Bret Kavanaugh/Unsplash) Under state eugenics laws from 1909 through 1979, more than 20,000 Californians in state-run hospitals, homes, and institutions were sterilized, making up one-third of such sterilizations done in the United States, according to the state legislature. The laws, enacted in 1909 and repealed in 1979, gave medical officials authorization to sterilize people who were identified as suffering from inheritable mental illnesses, abnormal mentality, feeblemindedness, perversion, and the disease of syphilitic natures. According to Assembly Bill 3052, which established the compensation program, California eugenicists believed the sterilization program was an effective tool to prevent people unfit for parenthood to have children who might become defectives in society, thereby reducing those dependent on social welfare programs. A University of Vermont study on eugenics found that, over the 70 years of state-sponsored sterilization, approximately 60 percent of the total sterilized patients were considered mentally ill by the authorities, and over 35 percent were considered mentally deficient. Women and girls were sterilized 14 percent more than men and boys, according to the assembly bill. Though the sterilization laws didnt specifically target any racial or ethnic groups, according to the assembly bill, Latinos were sterilized 23 percent more than non-Latino patients, and Latinas were sterilized 59 percent more than non-Latina patients. Between 1965 and 1975, at least 240 women, many of whom were of Mexican origin, were either coerced into postpartum sterilization or, in some cases, sterilized without informed consent at the Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center. The total number of people who underwent sterilization by the eugenics laws remains unknown due to the confidentiality of patients records. However, forced sterilization didnt go away after the laws were repealed in 1979. A state audit report (pdf) found state prisons and other correctional facilities continued sterilizations on female inmates without a proper process of obtaining consent. Between 2006 and 2010, 144 female inmates were sterilizedapproximately 40 without consentafter giving birth, according to the audit. Its scary to know that your lifes in someones hands and that they could just do whatever they want without your consent, Crystal Nguyen, a survivor, told The Center for Investigative Reporting and The Young Turks in Sterilized Behind Bars, a documentary film about sterilizations in California prisons and correctional facilities. I felt literally less than a woman, Nguyen said. Oh my god, I cant even explain emotionallyI cried, and I criedthey took part of my womanhood. Though former Gov. Gray Davis and Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued an apology in 2003 for the forced eugenics sterilizations, a reparation program was not available until now. The California Senate also passed a resolution in 2003 expressing profound regret and addressed past bigotry and intolerance against persons with disabilities or others who were deemed genetically unfit by the eugenics movement. Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo declined to comment. CDC Updates COVID-19 Isolation Guidance to Include a Section on Antigen Tests Agency doesn't expressly recommend antigen tests but provides guidance should people choose to test The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines for COVID-19 isolation on Jan. 4 to include a section on rapid antigen tests, in which it provides guidance for cases where people wanted to take a test. The updated CDC guidance doesnt state that isolated people have to test negative before emerging from isolation, but states that if people want to take a test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the 5-day isolation period. The move comes shortly after the CDC shortened the isolation period from 10 days to five days for people with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who are asymptomatic or are recovering from their symptoms. Isolation is followed by five days of wearing a mask when around other people, the CDC stated. White House pandemic adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said federal officials were considering amending COVID-19 isolation guidance for people who test positive for COVID-19. There has been some concern about why we dont ask people at that five-day period to get tested. That is something that is now under consideration, he said. The CDC is very well aware that there has been some pushback about that. Per the updated CDC guidelines, if the person does choose to take a test and the antigen test result is positive, the person should continue to isolate until day 10. If the test result is negative, the person can end isolation, but continue to wear a mask around others at home and in public until day 10. Two test cassettes used in an antigen rapid test for the coronavirus (COVID-19) at a testing center in Berlin on Feb. 17, 2021. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images) Collect the test sample only if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved, the CDC stated, referring to the antigen test. Even if a person chooses not to test, isolation should only end if a person has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and other symptoms have resolved, the CDC said in a statement. The agency noted that loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation. People who develop symptoms of COVID-19 are most contagious two days prior and about three days after, the CDC stated on Dec. 27, 2021. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said 85 to 90 percent of transmission happens during this time. In a White House briefing last week, Walensky said the CDC isnt requiring people to get tested before leaving isolation, in part because PCR tests can yield COVID-19 positive results for up to three months after a person contracts the illnesslong after theyre infectious. We know that PCR testing would not be helpful in this setting, as people can remain PCR-positive for up to 12 weeks after infection and long after they are transmissible and infectious, she said at the time. Antigen tests may not give a good indication of transmissibility by day five. CDC recommendations on ending isolation are slightly different for people who were severely ill with COVID-19 or have a weakened immune systemthey might need to isolate at home longer and may also require testing with a viral test to determine when they can be around others, the CDC stated in its guidance. CDC recommends an isolation period of at least 10 and up to 20 days for people who were severely ill with COVID-19 and for people with weakened immune systems, the guidance states. Consult with your healthcare provider about when you can resume being around other people. The logo for Chinese telecommunications firm China Telecom is seen on a booth at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing on Sept. 5, 2020. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo) China Telecom Plans to Continue Some Operations in the US After FCC Revokes Authorization China Telecom said it plans to continue providing some services in the United States after a U.S. regulator revoked its operating license in October last year, citing national security concerns. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in October 2021 voted 40 to terminate China Telecom Americas (CTAs) license to provide domestic and international services within the United States, ordering it to discontinue U.S. services by early January. The regulator said the firm is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to comply with Beijings orders. In November 2021, CTA filed a petition for review (pdf) with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing against the FCCs order to shut down its operations in the United States. On Dec. 2, 2021, the court rejected the emergency bid to temporarily block the FCC order, which took effect on Jan. 3. However, a CTA spokesperson said on Dec. 22, 2021, that the company will continue to operate its private carrier business in the U.S. after the Jan. 3 deadline. In a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, CTA said the services it intends to continue do not fall under the FCCs order requiring a halt to its common carrier operations. CTA argued that the services qualify as a private carrier. Absent a final factual determination and decision from the FCC, the company intends to continue offering some services on a private carrier basis to honor its contractual obligations and avoid undue disruption to its customers operations. Responding to CTA, Rosenworcel said that the commission will use all available tools to ensure the CTA comply with its order, according to a Dec. 30 letter. US Presidents Emergency Powers James Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, told The Epoch Times that China Telecoms efforts to continue operations may lead to intervention by President Joe Bideen. They can challenge the FCC order, which is what theyre doing. [But] the risk for them is that the [U.S. president] can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to block it, Lewis said. The IEEPA provides the U.S. president with broad authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency, according to the Congressional Research Service (pdf). On May 15, 2019, then-U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency with IEEPA, prohibiting U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment produced by companies that may endanger U.S. national security. On the same day, the United States put Huawei and 70 related companies on a blacklist and banned them from purchasing parts and components from American companies without U.S. government approval. In a statement released on Oct. 26, 2021, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said that CTAs ownership and control fall directly under the Chinese regime, raising significant national security and law enforcement risks. The companys operations provide opportunities for the Chinese Communist Party to access, store, disrupt, or misroute U.S. communications, allowing them to engage in espionage and other harmful activities against the United States. Like other Chinese carriers, CTA must disclose sensitive customer information when required by the Chinese regime, and its U.S. records are already available to its non-U.S. affiliates abroad. According to public accounts, CTAs network has misrouted large amounts of information and communications traffic outside of the United States over long periods, sometimes involving U.S. government traffic. I think the U.S. government is very concerned about China Telecom, but its taken [the Biden administration] a long time to tell it to stop operating, Lewis said. Lewis added that courts need to decide whether the services that CTA continues to provide fall within the scope of the FCC ban or not. However, while CTA challenges the FCC order, the process could be drawn out and allow it more time to continue operation. [CTA] can continue to operate [under these circumstances] only if the president does not use his IEEPA sanction authority, Lewis added, suggesting that an emergency order from Biden could solve the problem immediately. Eva Fu contributed to this report. This article has been updated with a response from the FCC. Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) speaks after reviewing the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP) Chinas Xi Orders Military to Create Elite Force to Win Wars Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivered this years mobilization orders to the regimes military on Jan. 5, saying it must evolve into an elite force capable of winning any war. The armed forces must closely follow the evolution of technology, warfare, and rivals, redouble their efforts to better combine training with combat operations, and strengthen systematic training and the use of technologies to develop an elite force that is capable of fighting and winning wars, the order said, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Xi, who is both the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the head of the Partys military as chairman of the Central Military Commission, has issued mobilization orders annually since 2018. The orders signal the priorities of the armed forces and initiate military-wide training for the coming year. The orders come as the CCP takes an increasingly bellicose approach to international relations, coinciding with worsening relations between the regime and the greater international order. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has implemented sweeping reforms across the whole of Chinese society, including a massive restructuring of the military, which began in 2015. That restructuring process continues to this day, and Xi has worked to significantly tighten his personal control over military leadership during the intervening period, promoting at least 58 generals loyal to him and sympathetic to his reforms. The technology-focused mobilization order also follows the CCPs signing of a joint statement earlier this week with the other members of the U.N. Security Council. In it, the regime leadership said it believed the further spread of nuclear weapons must be prevented. Immediately after the statement was issued, however, a Chinese official said that the regime would continue to modernize its nuclear arsenal and wouldnt make any reductions until the United States and Russia had fewer nuclear warheads than it did. The United States has grown increasingly wary of Chinas expanding military capabilities. These include new bids on assault helicopters from Russia, an expanding navy, a record number of incursions into Taiwans air defense identification zone by Chinese military aircraft, Taiwan invasion simulations, and the test of a hypersonic weapon in July. In response, the Pentagon said its upcoming national security strategy would focus on developing global alliances and partnerships while contending with the Chinese regime as a pacing challenge. As such, the United States is expanding its military footprint in the Indo-Pacific, increasing troop rotations to allied nations, and pursuing increased multilateral operations and diplomatic forums with allies and partners through channels such as AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), which are considered vital to continued U.S. strength in the region. In December, the U.S. military introduced new software to help predict how its actions might provoke anger from Chinas communist leadership. Ultimately intended to help American leadership avoid the ire of the CCP, the software was pejoratively dubbed an appeasement app by some critics. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz (L) arrives to attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 16, 2017. Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed visiting Saudi King Salman as China continues a charm offensive toward the Middle East, a region where it has long kept a low profile. (Lintao Zhang/AFP via Getty Images) Chinese Peacekeeping in Middle East, North Africa Expands Beijings Security Footprint China deploys troops and weapons in the region News Analysis Chinas growing ties with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) extend to military cooperation, arms sales, missile and nuclear power development, and surveillance technology. Peacekeeping and counterterrorism missions have become an excuse to deploy Chinese troops and weapons to the region. We will deepen ChinaArab military cooperation and exchange. We will strengthen exchange of visits of military officials, expand military personnel exchange, deepen cooperation on weapons, equipment and various specialized technologies, and carry out joint military exercises, Beijings 2016 Arab Policy Paper reads. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims that China is doing more to preserve peace and stability in the MENA region than the United States. Through participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions, the CCP is able to place Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) troops in North Africa and the Middle East. The CCPs security engagement with the region began in 2006, when China sent U.N. peacekeepers to Lebanon. In 2008, the PLA Navy sent ships as part of a U.N. anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. In 2012, 700 PLA soldiers joined U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sudan. The PLA Navy escorted U.N. ships in removing chemical weapons from Syria and Cyprus in 2013. In 2015, Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised to offer training to 2,000 peacekeepers from other U.N. member states. He also pledged to contribute $1 billion to the U.N.s Peace and Development Trust Fund. As of April 2018, 1,800 PLA soldiers and police officers had participated in U.N. peacekeeping missions in MENA. Chinese troops have been deployed in Western Sahara, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. By July 2019, China had dispatched 32 anti-piracy convoys to provide security in the waters near Somalia and in the Red and the Arabian seas. The PLA in 2017 built its first overseas base in Djibouti, which houses more than 1,000 Chinese troops, according to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense. While the base was set up to allegedly assist with Chinese anti-piracy missions, it also serves the CCPs strategic ambitions. Security and surveillance have proven to be additional avenues for Chinese military technology sales and personnel deployment. Beijing has pledged to support counterterrorism activities of Middle Eastern states and to help build counterterrorism capacity. China has increased its sales of artificial intelligence (AI), smart and safe cities, and unmanned aerial vehicles to Persian Gulf states. In 2020, Chinas Tiandy, one of the worlds largest video surveillance companies, sold almost $700 million worth of equipment to Irans Revolutionary Guard, police, and military. Surveillance market analysts project that by 2030, the AI industry in the Middle East could be worth $320 billion, with the largest buyers being Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Chinese security contractors also are becoming more common. As China is the regions largest foreign investor, Chinese firms and projects often dont rely on local forces for protection. Consequently, Chinese private security firmsmany of which have ties to the PLA or the armed policehave been deployed in the region, including the Snow Leopard commando unit, Tianjiao Tewei, and Huaxing ZhongAn, among others. Chinas arms sales to the region have steadily increased. Because of congressional oversight, U.S. companies are restrained from selling certain types of military hardware to certain countries. However, China is willing and able to meet these demands, selling complete systems, including training and maintenance. Chinese arms sales to the region reached $600 million between 2005 and 2009. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are two of the largest purchasers of Chinese weapons. The CCPs 2016 Arab Policy Paper called for increased ChinaArab military cooperation, including weapons, technology, and equipment. As a result, between 2016 and 2020, Chinas arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE increased by 386 percent and 169 percent, respectively, compared to the previous five years, according to The Diplomat. A model of the Wing Loong II weaponized drone for the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corp. is displayed at a military drone conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 25, 2018. (Jon Gambrell/AP) China sells drones to countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. China manufactures the drones in Saudi Arabia, which are then deployed in Egypt and Iraq for the purpose of counterterrorism. In 2017, a Saudi Arabian company partnered with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. to produce Chinas CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Similar Chinese drones have been in Iraq and Saudi Arabia since 2014. The UAE imported Chinese-made Wing Loong II drones in 2017. Saudi Arabia has Chinese long-range missiles and has constructed a plant that produces ballistic missiles. Nuclear weapons experts believe that the plants solid-fuel rocket engine test stands are based on a Chinese design. China and Iran signed a $400 billion investment deal in March 2021, in exchange for a regular supply of oil at discount prices. The deal included provisions for joint military training and exercises, as well as joint research and the Chinese provision of weapons. The Middle East is slipping deeper into the Chinese orbit, and the United States could be facing an additional threat in the region. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A statue of the goddess of Justice balancing the scales at Rennes' courthouse in Brittany, France, on May 19, 2015. (DAMIEN MEYER/AFP via Getty Images) Clevelands Cuyahoga County Postpones Jury Trials, Students Take Classes Remotely Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judges have voted to postpone all jury trials for at least one month because of the high numbers of COVID-19 cases in the county, the court has announced. The decision comes as cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus continue to remain at record levels throughout the state, marking the second time that the county courts have delayed jury trials during the pandemic. Jury trials are slated to resume on Feb. 4, but all other aspects of the court are to continue operating. We took this proactive step for the safety of the public, our staff, and those who appear before us, Administrative and Presiding Judge Brendan Sheehan, a Democrat, said in a court-issued statement. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this court has led the state in making difficult decisions to protect the public health. We will continue to monitor the number of COVID cases in Cuyahoga County. On Jan. 3, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said 6,177 people had been hospitalized because of COVID-19, the largest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic. DeWine also announced the expansion COVID-19 testing sites throughout the state and the mobilization of 300 more members of the Ohio National Guard to assist at them. In late December 2021, DeWine deployed 1,050 guard members to assist hospitals. That number is now up to 2,300, according to information from the governors office. Maintaining up-to-date vaccination remains the best tool against COVID-19 hospitalization and death, DeWine said in a statement. As Ohio is experiencing record-setting hospitalizations amid the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants, its critical that Ohioans follow prevention strategies including getting vaccinated, getting a booster shot if eligible, wearing face masks, washing hands frequently, getting tested, and staying home if sick, even if symptoms are mild. Early on during the pandemic, a number of trials and court proceedings were postponed, mostly throughout 2020, and some didnt resume until mid-2021. When they did, they were moved to other buildings in downtown Cleveland, where masks and social distancing were required. One of the high-profile cases that had been postponed for nearly two years was the murder trial of Tevin Biles-Thomas, the brother of Olympian gymnast Simone Biles. Biles-Thomas was on trial facing multiple counts of murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault, and perjury in connection with the deaths of three men following a disturbance at a pizzeria on the citys west side during a New Years Eve Party in 2018. The jury selection pool started in May 2021, but the first trial resulted in a mistrial when legal briefs were shared with the jury. In June 2021, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg, a Republican, ruled that prosecutors didnt present enough evidence to sustain a conviction against Biles-Thomas. Most recently, two people have been charged in connection to the New Years Eve shooting death of Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek, 25, on Dec. 31, 2021. Tamara Unique McLoyd, 18, has been charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony. Video surveillance at an apartment complex on Rocky River Drive on Clevelands West Side shows that Bartek was approached by someone armed with a gun at about 6 p.m. Bartek tried to get the weapon away from the attacker, but was shot twice in the back. A two-year member of the department stationed at its 5th District, Bartek later was pronounced dead at nearby Fairview Hospital, according to Cleveland police. Anthony Butler Jr., the second suspect, is currently jailed on a $5 million bond, as he was charged with fleeing and eluding, a third-degree felony, and receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony, police said. However, a timeframe for the jury selection in the case isnt known at this time. Grand jury hearings are private and no indictments have been handed down, a spokesperson from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office told The Epoch Times on Dec. 5, 2021. A total number of jury trials that currently are underway in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas also isnt known at this time. Darren Toms, the public information officer and community outreach coordinator for the court, couldnt be reached comment. Other shutdowns are currently in place in Cleveland because of the high numbers of COVID-19 cases in the area. Students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) went remote this week, the first week back to classes following the Christmas and holiday break. The CMSD plans for students and staff to return to the schools on Jan. 10. Closing Schools at This Stage of the Pandemic Is Wrong Commentary Ontario students must deal with another two weeks of their schools being closed. To be more precise, students will not be back in school for at least another two weeks. Thats politician-speak for indefinitely. Premier Doug Ford says it wasnt a hard decision. In fact, it took only 30 seconds for him to make it (after a five-hour cabinet meeting of course). Too bad Ford didnt give this issue another 30 seconds of thought. If he had, hed realize that he made the wrong decisiononce again. Its well-known that school closures are harmful to students. Not only do students miss out on important academic learning, but they are deprived of the structure and routine that school provides. Its impossible to overstate the real harm to mental health that students experience during extended school closures. This is why a growing number of doctors and pediatricians are voicing their concerns about substituting remote learning for in-person classes. Hundreds of doctors recently signed an open letter to the Ontario government pleading with them to keep schools open. Sadly, their concerns have fallen on deaf ears. The problem is that those who want schools closed are very vocal and they know how to get their concerns heard. Its a classic example of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. Teachers unions have been at the forefront of spreading the myth that schools are unsafe. In addition, large numbers of teachers are using their social media accounts to attack the government for even thinking of sending them back to work in unsafe schools. Mainstream media outlets also contribute to the fear narrative with their breathless reporting of record-high daily COVID-19 cases. However, the reality is that while there is always an element of risk, schools are one of the safest places to be right now. Lets not forget that COVID-19 vaccines are widely available. Every teacher who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated. Many, including myself, have even received booster shots. If these vaccines actually work, and I believe that they do, then vaccinated teachers should be able to go to work with confidence. In addition, all students have also had the opportunity to be vaccinated. Any students who are ages 12 and up have had plenty of time to get two vaccine doses while students ages 5-11 have had the opportunity to receive at least one dose. Combine this with the fact that young people are the demographic group least likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 and we are on solid ground when we conclude that schools are safe. What makes Fords school closure announcement even more maddening is that he is obviously caving to political pressure rather than listening to the science. On Dec. 30, Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontarios chief medical officer of health, insisted that schools would open on Jan. 5. During that press conference, Dr. Moore explained that additional layers of protection such as improved ventilation and better masks would keep schools safe and open for in-person learning. There is no medical information that dramatically changed between Dec. 30 and Jan. 3, when Ford announced that schools would remain closed. The only thing that did change is that school closure advocates flooded Fords government with messages expressing opposition to reopening schools. Sacrificing the education of children for the sake of appeasing people who will never vote for Ford is the height of absurdity. The problem is that Ford remains beholden to the precautionary principle, the notion that its better to avoid even the perception of risk. But the fact is that there is nothing safe about keeping schools closed. Every day that schools remain closed is another day where the mental and physical health of many students declines further. By all accounts, the Omicron variant is considerably less severe than earlier versions of COVID-19. Because of its extreme transmissibility, its likely that nearly everyone is going to contract this virus at some point. Its time for provinces to abandon their unofficial COVID Zero approach. This virus isnt going away, and governments cannot protect us from this virus. We need to focus instead on allowing people to make their own health decisions. Schools need to reopen and stay open. Students have sacrificed enough during this pandemic. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Company Stands Ground Over Claim That Nasal Spray Treats, Prevents COVID-19 A lead researcher in a study showing that the use of an all-natural over-the-counter nasal spray is effective in treating and preventing COVID-19 says that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is covering up the truth with a lawsuit that it has filed against the Utah company that makes and promotes the spray as a treatment for the disease. Dr. Mark Cannon, a global researcher in the use of the natural sweetener Xylitol to combat viruses and other serious diseases, said the use of the Xylitol-based spray made by the company Xlear should be promoted by the government, rather than suppressed through a DOJ lawsuit. Xylitol has a long history of inhibiting a number of respiratory viruses, Cannon told The Epoch Times, noting that it was successfully used in other countries to combat the severe influenza strains of H1N1 and HRSV. He said Xylitol can kill pathogens and has very strong anti-inflammatory properties. The Justice Department filed the lawsuit against Xlear on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The DOJ and FTC both declined to comment about the suit beyond a statement announcing the complaint. In the suit, the agencies allege that Xlear has profited from making false claims about the benefits of treating COVID-19 with its nasal spray. Xylitol, which is often used in lieu of fluoride in toothpaste, is found naturally in raspberries, strawberries, mushrooms, and cauliflower. Its produced in the human body by the liver. In addition to being used to ward off viruses, Xylitol has long been used in other countries against diabetes, E. coli, heart disease, and inflammatory Alzheimers and has been added to intravenous drips to treat patients with sepsis, according to Cannon. The government is seeking fines against Xlear and a permanent injunction against its promotion of the over-the-counter nasal spray as a treatment and prophylactic for COVID-19. The DOJ filed the lawsuit after Xlear ignored warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop promoting its nasal spray for COVID-19 treatment and after the FDA denied the companys request for pre-emergency use authorization of the spray. The FDA issued similar warnings to other makers of saline nasal sprays, including the Michigan-based BlueWillow Biologics and the Miami-based company Halodine, which was promoting its proprietary iodine-based nasal antiseptic swabs as a nasal sanitizer that kills COVID-19. Both companies discontinued promoting their products as treatments for COVID-19 after receiving the FDA warnings. But Robert Housman, an attorney for Xlear, said the company is far from backing down. In a 248-page answer it recently filed to the federal lawsuit, the company stated that the only litigation should be against the federal government for using legal bullying tactics to cover up alternative cures for the virus. Defendants aver that the greater harm to consumersin fact, the American public generallycomes from the Governments refusal to adopt scientifically-substantiated countermeasures to COVID-19, and the Governments efforts to silence those who seek to educate the public about these countermeasures, of which this lawsuit is part and parcel, the company wrote in response to the federal lawsuit. I think the government lawsuit shows exactly why our approach to the pandemic is failing so miserably, Housman told The Epoch Times. Some of the studies cited by Xlear in the lawsuit were funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to the NIH, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report in February 2021 in support of the use of saline sprays against COVID-19, noting that their effectiveness was of no surprise since the viral load of COVID-19 is concentrated in the nose and upper airways. The lawsuit also highlights the 2020 study conducted by Cannon with a team of scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois. The study concluded that the Xlear spray, which contains Xylitol and grapefruit seed extract, has proven anti-viral properties against COVID-19. A study completed in December 2021 by the Institute for Antiviral Research and Utah State University reached similar conclusions, finding that both Xylitol and grapefruit seed extractboth combined and separateare proven virucidals specifically effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19. The study also noted that the two ingredients both had greater antiviral efficacy than remdesivir, which is FDA approved as a treatment for COVID-19. People wait to ride a bus going to provinces at a bus terminal in Paranaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on Dec. 30, 2021. (Lisa Marie David/Reuters) COVID-19 Unvaccinated People Must Stay Home or Face Jail Time: Philippiness Metro Manila Govt Except for trips the city government deems 'necessary' All 17 mayors of Metro Manila, also referred to as the National Capital Region in the Philippinesa region that encompasses a population of over 13 millionhave unanimously approved temporary enhanced restrictions that bars unvaccinated people from leaving their homes for most purposes the government does not deem necessary. Following the decision, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued a statement on Wednesday to reiterate the message, saying that people who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 should stay home or risk being arrested and jailed, reported Philippine News Agency (PNA), the official news agency of the Philippine government. Duterte, who previously announced he will retire from politics after his term ends in 2022, said that there is a high chance that if a person who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 contracts the disease, they will die. He added that vaccines will provide a defense, no matter how small, against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also referred to as the coronavirus. On Jan. 3, Benhur Abalos, the chairperson of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), announced that all 17 Metro Manila mayors agreed to a resolution to heavily restrict the movement of the COVID-19 unvaccinated under Alert Level 3 or higher. The decision came after the government pandemic task force placed the Metro Manila region under Alert Level 3 for dates Jan. 315. Under Alert Level 3, unvaccinated people must remain at home at all times and are barred from domestic travel via public transportation by land, sea, and air,except for some reasons the government deems essential, which includes heading out to obtain goods and services such as food, water, medicine, medical devices, public utilities, and energy, work, and medical and dental necessities subject to the production of proof to support and justify such travel, the MMDA announced. Individual exercise is allowed outdoors within the general area of peoples homes. COVID-19 unvaccinated people are also prohibited from many indoor and outdoor settings, which include dining areas, as well as leisure trips to malls, hotels, event venues, sports, and country clubs, and similar facilities. They have to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test before they are let in for work onsite. The test must be a Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT PCR) test, taken every two weeks. If the RT PCR test or results are not immediately available, people can take a rapid antigen test in the meantime. Abalos noted that when Metro Manila reverts back to a lower alert level, the restrictions for the unvaccinated will be lifted, MMDA announced. COVID-19 Variant IHU With 46 Mutations Found in France Another variant of COVID-19 with a large number of mutations was discovered in France last month, but scientists have urged people not to panic. The variant is known as B.1.640.2, or colloquially as IHU, after the researchers at Mediterranee Infection University Hospital Institute discovered it. In a study published Dec. 29, researchers said that the B.1.640.2 variant had been found in 12 people living in the same area of southeastern France last year who tested positive for COVID-19. The first identified case in the group was a male adult who had returned from travel to Cameroon three days before in mid-November. The male was vaccinated against COVID-19 and developed mild respiratory symptoms the day before diagnosis. Genome sequencing was carried out and revealed an atypical combination of mutations. Subsequent detection by qPCR of three mutations in the spike gene to screen for variants, as systematically performed in France in case of SARS-CoV-2 positivity, revealed an atypical combination with L452R-negativity, E484K-positivity, and E484Q-negativity (Pentaplex assay, ID Solution, France) that did not correspond to the pattern of the Delta variant involved in almost all SARS-CoV-2 infections at that time, researchers wrote. An analysis of the variant revealed it has 46 mutations along with 37 deletions to its genome. Overall, these observations show once again the unpredictability of the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and their introduction from abroad, and they exemplify the difficulty to control such introduction and subsequent spread, researchers wrote in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. As of Dec. 27, 2021, a total of 1,020,007 vaccine doses have been administered in Cameroon, which has a population of roughly 26.55 million, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has yet to name the new strain a variant of interest or concern. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises unvaccinated travelers who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 to avoid nonessential travel to Cameroon. However, the Central African country is currently at a level 2, meaning it had a moderate number of COVID-19 cases. However, Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, noted on Tuesday that the variant is not that new and also not something that people should be overly concerned about. Lots of chat about B.1.640.2 in the last few daysjust a few points to keep in mind: B.1.640.2 actually predates Omicron in all that time there are exactly 20 sequences (compared to the >120k Omis in less time) Def not one worth worrying about too much at the mo, Peacock, wrote on Twitter. Peacock added that there havent been any new sequences uploaded since before Christmas this virus has had a decent chance to cause trouble but never really materialized (as far as we can tell at least). Meanwhile, Francois Balloux, director of the genetics institute at University College London, also urged people to please relax for now following the discovery of the newest variant. There have been only ~20 B.1.640.2 sampled so far (I used B.1.640 + S:E484K / S:P681H as a proxy) It was collected for the last time on Dec, 6th 2021 It does not explain a spike of cases in Southern France It has not sent hundreds of people in ICU in France, Balloux said. Democrats Seek to Cajole Manchin Into Weakening Filibuster Senate Democrats are trying to push Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) into voting to weaken the filibuster so that Democrats can pass voting rights legislation, after the senator from West Virginia on Jan. 4 rejected a strategy that would allow his party to work around Republican opposition to the measure. In a statement on his Twitter account on Jan. 3, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attempted to tie GOP opposition to federal election bills to domestic extremists who, Schumer contended, tried to destroy our Republic in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Domestic violent extremists sought to inflict chaos and violence. Fueled by conspiracy and the ravings of a vengeful former President, they sought to destroy our Republic, Schumer told his Senate Democratic colleagues in a Dear Colleague letter. Hoping to nullify the opposition of all 50 Republican senators to the legislation, Schumer proposed that Democrats use the nuclear option, which in U.S. legislative parlance describes a pathway to change Senate rules with a simple majority vote, in order to advance legislation. With the support of its entire Senate caucus, Democrats would have a straight shot to override practically every Senate standing rule and turn the Senate into a smaller version of the House of Representatives. If they were to achieve this, Democrats have made clear that they would use the new rules to pass wide-ranging legislation that would effectively neuter states controls over elections, giving that power instead to the federal government. But Manchin said on Jan. 4 that hes not on board with changing the filibuster along party lines, denying Democrats his much-needed vote. Ive always been for rules being done the way weve always done, Manchin said when asked about Schumers proposal. Being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option, its very, very difficult. Any time theres a carveout, you eat the whole turkey, Manchin said, referencing potential dangers that could come from liberally using the nuclear option. The Senate, as it has operated for 232 years, [has an] extremely, extremely high bar that we must be very careful [of crossing]. Manchin also said that he prefers that any election legislation or rule changes should be acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats, and indicated that a bipartisan solution to the concerns of both Republicans and Democrats could be found. Now, Democrats again find themselves in the position of begging Manchin to reconsider. Manchin has said all along that he wants to deal with Republicans and we have all been very patient, Schumer told reporters after Manchins comments. I believe he knows that we will not get any Republican cooperation. Schumer claimed that he and Manchin have had serious discussions over a rules change. However, from August until December, Manchin engaged in similar talks over the now-shelved Build Back Better budget bill; ultimately, Manchin wouldnt be swayed to support the measure. Manchin has been even more outspoken against weakening the filibuster than he was against the budget bill. After Democrats won control in the Senate during the 2020 election, some of the partys more progressive elements mused that Democrats could weaken or abolish the filibuster, pack the courts, and other similar efforts to shift the balance of power more in their favor. Manchin was as concerned about this as were conservative critics, and before the 117th Congress was seated, he spoke on Fox News. During that appearance, Manchin described himself as a conservative Democrat and vowed that he wouldnt support any of the major rules overhauls being proposed by his party. Manchin emphasized that this was especially the case with the filibuster, which he said he would fight to strengthen rather than to weaken. More recently, Manchin rejected a filibuster rule change to raise the debt ceiling, a far more pressing and time-sensitive issue than election reform. In the wake of this resistance, Democrats are now trying to force Manchin hands by scheduling a floor vote on the filibuster carveout even without Manchins support, forcing Democrats to show where they stand on the measure; that vote currently is expected to take place on Jan. 17. However, Manchin isnt the only Democrat who is hesitant to change one of the most basic rules of the U.S. Senate. Moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has also expressed concern over gutting the filibuster. Defending this position during one TV appearance, Sinema described the filibuster as a tool for the protection of the minority, noting that Democrats had used the filibuster against GOP proposals on several occasions. Another potential no vote is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Over the summer of 2021, when Democrats were making similar proposals, Feinstein contended that the need for election reform wasnt pressing enough to merit weakening the filibuster. She indicated that she could be convinced otherwise, but made clear that she was skeptical about the utility of such a move. Speaking about Manchin and Sinema, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said: Youll never know until you have the vote, frankly, and I hope that they will be on board. Weve spent month after month after month with both of them. Were trying to convince both of them, give us a fair chance to deal with voting rights. A long list of other Democrats, including Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.), among others, also in the past have been lukewarm at best toward changing or abolishing the filibuster. Because Democrats need all 50 members of their caucus on board with a rule change, any one of these critics could singlehandedly kill the measure. Even with the pressure that a floor vote could put on some senators from progressive-leaning states, its unlikely that Democrats can overcome the 51-vote threshold to pass any such changes. DOJ Announces New Rule for Firearm Storage The Department of Justice has announced a new rule about how licensed sellers must store firearms, set to take effect on Feb. 3. The new rule implements the existing Gun Control Act requirement that imposes strict licensing and regulation on the firearms industry, and states that federal firearms licensees (FFLs) that sell firearms to the general public must certify that they have secure gun storage or safety devices available. The act defines secure gun storage or a safety device as a device that, when installed on a firearm, is designed to prevent the firearm from being operated without first deactivating the device, a device incorporated into the design of the firearm that is designed to prevent the operation of the firearm by anyone not having access to the device, and a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box, or other device that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and that is designed to be unlocked only by means of a key, a combination, or other similar means. Not all devices are compatible with varying types of firearms. Therefore, integral to the new rule is the requirement that FFLs have available secure gun storage options that are compatible with the firearms they are selling, the DOJ said. In addition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published a best practices guide it says is designed to assist FFLs in complying with all required firearm laws and regulations that are designed to ensure public safety and the traceability of firearms and to encourage them to provide customers with ATF publications to help firearms owners better understand their legal obligations, along with the practical steps they can take to ensure firearms are kept away from prohibited persons and ensure the safe storage of firearms. According to a November Gallup poll, support for stricter gun control across the United States fell by 15 percentage points to 52 percent in the past five years. Meanwhile, 35 percent of American adults believed laws covering the sale of firearms should be kept as they are currently, while 11 percent favored less strict laws. A decline in support for stricter gun laws last year came amid a partisan divide on the issue, with 91 percent of Democrats and only 24 percent of Republicans supporting stricter laws. The DOJs enhanced storage rule comes shortly after it was reported that the alleged shooter at Oxford High School in Michigan in November 2021 was said to have acquired the gun he used from an unlocked drawer. Ethan Crumbley, 15, opened fire at the high school in Oxford on Nov. 30. The shooting left four students dead and seven people wounded. Prosecutors allege his parents violated the law by purchasing the gun used in the shooting for their son and keeping it in a drawer that was unlocked. Todays announcements build on the departments efforts to reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of the DOJs announcement. Gun safety is a Department of Justice priority, and we will continue to take all appropriate steps to help reduce the number of people killed and injured by the misuse of firearms. FDA Says No Change in Policy Regarding Foreign Ivermectin Seizures The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says its not working in tandem with the U.S. Postal Service to specifically target foreign shipments of ivermectin, despite two recent seizures of the drug. On Oct. 4, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working at the international mail facility at Chicagos OHare International Airport seized a shipment of 41 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, and another shipment that contained ivermectin tablets. A second package from Mexico contained 32 more ivermectin tablets and 40 hydroxychloroquine pills. While x-raying a package from China, officers noticed some discrepancies. The package said it contained decorative beads, but when officers inspected the parcel, they found 1 bottle containing 100 tablets of Ivermectin, the CBP said in an Oct. 5, 2021, statement. The FDA requested these items be seized for violating FDA regulations. The pills were turned over to the FDA Office of Criminal Investigation for further investigation. The shipments were headed to Atlanta and St. Louis Park, Minnesota, respectively. Shane Campbell, area port director for Chicago, said in the statement: These shipments are concerning. These were seized in just one night and you have to wonder if this trend will continue. Our officers are ready and will stop this threat before it can reach the public. U.S. Border Patrol agents search a vehicle that was sent to secondary inspection at a highway checkpoint in West Enfield, Maine, on Aug. 1, 2018. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images) On Nov. 10, 2021, the FDA announced that it had intercepted 200 ivermectin tablets at JFK Airport in New York. The package had been sent through the mail by an undisclosed foreign source. Meanwhile, the FDA said theres been no shift in foreign drug enforcement policy. The detention(s) of ivermectin are not the result of a new practice or policy on ivermectin imports, FDA press officer Audra Harrison told The Epoch Times in an email. FDA-regulated productsincluding drugsare subject to refusal if, for example, they do not appear to meet FDAs standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality. The FDA may refuse admission of entries of imported drugs if an entry appears to be contaminated with a harmful ingredient, is unapproved, is mislabeled with inaccurate information or missing important safety information, for instance. According to the FDAs Nov. 10, 2021, notice of seizure, the New York shipment contained a total of 200 Iverheal-12 ivermectin tablets of 12 milligrams per tablet. The shipment may also contain other items not listed above. This notice does not constitute assurance the products involved comply with provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Public Health Service Act, or other related acts, and does not preclude action should the products later be found violative, the notice stated. Examination of the following articles has been made and FDA has determined that these articles are drugs that are not in compliance with the requirements of the law. Additionally, FDA has determined that each article is valued at $2500 or less. Because these drugs are not in compliance with the requirements of the law and are valued at $2500 or less, they are subject to refusal of admission into the United States and are subject to administrative destruction. Signage outside the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Md., on Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) Attorney Aaron Siri, managing partner of Siri & Glimstad in New York, which represents COVID-19 vaccine injury clients, said he received a copy of the FDA enforcement letter and posted it on Twitter to draw attention to the issue. The FDA is working with the post office to hold packages containing ivermectin. The FDA could better use its resources to, I dont know, publicly release the docs submitted by Pfizer to license its mandated liability-free [vaccine] earlier than 75 years from now! Siri wrote on Twitter on Dec. 12, 2021. I dont know what theyre really doing, Siri told The Epoch Times on Jan. 4. They say theyre not doing this widespread. Im sure that term is subjective. My point in the tweet was the FDA is always [complaining] they dont have enough resources. John B. Mennell, supervisory public affairs specialist for the CBP in Arizona, said the agency is responsible for enforcing FDA policy regarding foreign shipments of potentially harmful, mislabeled, or contraband drugs entering the United States. He said the FDA decides whether an imported drug is illegal or not. We would take our cue from them, Mennell told The Epoch Times. Although Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic, the agency has warned against its use as a treatment for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. Ivermectin is available in both human and veterinary products. Fentanyl From China Is Killing Americans in Record Numbers Commentary In November 2021, President Joe Biden remembered all those who had died from drug overdoses in 2020more than 100,000 Americansa new milestone in the nations escalating crisis. However, in remembering the dead, the president failed to call out China. In the United States, the use of drugs, illicit or otherwise, is rampant. Nevertheless, the addiction epidemic plaguing the nation doesnt take anything away from the fact that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appears to be playing a key role in funneling narcotics into the United States. Every 5 1/2 minutes, somewhere in the United States, a person dies from a drug overdose. Many of these deaths involve opioids. Every corner of the countryfrom Los Angeles to Louisiana, Wisconsin to Washington, Syracuse to Sarasotahas been touched by the opioid crisis. Some communitieseven entire citieshave been decimated by it. As the Republican Greg Walden so rightly said, opioids are an equal opportunity destroyer. In 2019, 70,000 Americans died from drug overdoses; in less than a year, that number had risen to 100,000. More than 64,000 of these deaths resulted from the use of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, the deadliest opioid in existence. This is a staggering number, especially when you recognize the fact that 2019 saw 36,000 Americans die from the use of synthetic opioids; in 2018, that number was somewhere in the region of 31,000. Compared with 2018, 2020 saw the number of deaths from fentanyl more than double. Fentanyl, its important to note, is an extremely powerful drug; its up to 100 times stronger than morphine, and some 50 times stronger than heroin. Among 18- to 45-year-olds, fentanyl overdoses are now the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. This is a national emergency that China has helped create. According to the Brookings Institution, over the past decade, China has played a key role in flooding the United States with this highly addictive drug. Somewhat laughably, 2019 saw the CCP promise to curtail the manufacturing and supply of fentanyl-class drugs. Not surprisingly, this particular promise, like almost every single promise that comes from those in Beijing, carried absolutely zero weight. As the U.S.China Economic Security Review Commission (USCC) recently noted, China is now the primary country of origin for illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States. To think that Beijing isnt somehow involvedif not directly involvedin the flow of lethal drugs into the United States requires a complete and utter suspension of disbelief. Remember, this is a regime that watches every single one of its citizensthe good, the bad, and those who lie in the gray area, somewhere in betweenclosely. As someone who lived in China up until very recently, I speak from experience when I say the following: The CCP keeps files on all of its citizens, including those who are involved in the drug trade. In the words of the author and researcher Bonnie Girard, China has numerous potential avenues for cracking down on illegal drug production and export. What it lacks is the political will to do so. China has gotten a little more creative in its efforts to flood America with drugs. Instead of sending supplies directly to the United States, Chinese drug traffickers now send them to Mexico. In recent times, Chinese drug dealers have forged strong alliances with some of the largest drug cartels in Mexico. L-R: Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and Cheri Oz, special agent in charge of the DEAs Phoenix field division at a press conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 16, 2021. (Scottsdale PD) A recent report issued by the USCC documents the ways in which Chinese traffickers have shifted from primarily manufacturing finished fentanyl to primarily exporting precursors to Mexican cartels, who manufacture illicit fentanyl and deliver the final product. In addition, Chinese brokers are laundering Mexican drug money through Chinas financial system. Moreover, the CCP absolutely refuses to cooperate with U.S. authorities on criminal and money laundering investigations, conducting joint operations, and U.S. requests for inspections and law enforcement assistance. When one thinks of drugs coming from Mexico, that oh-so-porous border instantly springs to mind. If only there were a gigantic wall to keep bad actors out, some might shout. However, although drug cartels continue to exploit a catalog of weaknesses at the border to move the likes of fentanyl and meth into the United States, they are far more likely to use ports. In recent times, coincidentally (or not), Chinese private sector companies with close ties to the CCP have invested in a number of Mexican ports. In 2015, Chinese investors agreed to build a new port in Nayarit, a state inextricably linked with the drug trade. In 2020, U.S. agents arrested Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexicos former defense minister, accusing him of working with one of the countrys deadliest criminal enterprises, the Nayarit H-2 cartel. According to U.S. agents, Zepeda played a key role in helping the cartel traffic drugs into the United States. In October 2021, the United States sanctioned four members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, accusing them of using the port of Manzanillo to ship drugs into the United States. Coincidentally or not, China Harbour Engineering Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company, has invested a lot of money in this particular port. In Veracruz, another state intimately linked with the drug trade, companies with close ties to Beijing have financed a number of projects, including Veracruz Port. For more than 10 years, this particular port has played a significant role in Mexicos drug trade. Again, to think that those in Beijing arent fully aware of whats occurring requires a complete and utter suspension of disbelief. What can be done? Surely, the Biden administration can introduce stricter measures. Surely, for instance, any goods coming from Mexican ports should be forensically analyzed. The drug overdose problem isnt going away. In fact, as the statistics show, its a problem that is getting exponentially worse each year. Biden must act now. The question, though, is will he? Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. People wait in line at a testing site to receive a free COVID-19 PCR test in Farragut Square in Washington, on Dec. 28, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) First Two Flurona Cases Detected in US: Officials A Los Angeles County COVID-19 testing site confirmed the first local case of flurona, or influenza combined with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus that causes COVID-19, coming after a teen in Texas confirmed he was diagnosed with the two viruses. Authorities at the 911 COVID-19 testing site in Brentwood, California, confirmed a child tested positive for COVID-19 and influenza A. The boys mother also tested positive for COVID-19. It was a family visiting from Mexico, from Cabo San Lucas, Steve Farzam, the head of 911 COVID Testing, told KNBC-TV. Some very mild symptoms, almost could be easily confused with sinusitis. The pair had recently returned from a vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the company said. Farzam said the child did not require hospitalization and went home with their parents after the testing was completed. The Epoch Times has contacted the Los Angeles County Department of Health, which has not yet commented on the diagnosis. COVID-19 and the flu are two respiratory diseases caused by separate viruses. In Houston, Texas, a 17-year-old boy told ABC13 that he was diagnosed with both COVID-19 and the flu but said it was mild. I ended up getting tested the day before Christmas for strep throat, flu, and COVID, said Alex Zierlein. I didnt think I had any of the three. It felt like a mild cold. Reports last week said a pregnant woman in Israel tested positive for COVID-19 and the flu. The unidentified woman was diagnosed with the rare double infection when she arrived last week at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikvah, officials told the Times of Israel. She was diagnosed with the flu and coronavirus as soon as she arrived, said Arnon Vizhnitser, director of the hospitals Gynecology Department, told the Hamodia news outlet. Both tests came back positive, even after we checked again, he continued, adding that the disease is the same disease. Theyre viral and cause difficulty breathing since both attack the upper respiratory tract. The woman only experienced mild symptoms for both the flu and COVID-19, authorities said. About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the Delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year. But the hospitalization numbers do not tell the full story. At least some cases in the official count involve mild or symptom-free infections that werent what put the patients in the hospital in the first place. Dr. Fritz Francois, chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said about 65 percent of patients admitted to that system with COVID-19 recently were primarily hospitalized for something else and were incidentally found to have the virus. Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said the rising number of cases like that is both good and bad. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An aerial view of solar panels at the Sutter Greenworks Solar Site in Calverton, N.Y., on Sept. 19, 2021. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) For Farmers Across America, Solar Power May Spell Trouble This article is the first in a series on the underreported costs of solar power. American farmers express concerns about being crowded off of their property, the potentially permanent loss of good agricultural soil, and the feasibility of combining large solar installations with farmland or pollinator habitats, among other topics. Its very frustrating to try to protect your farm, cotton farmer Nancy Caywood told The Epoch Times. Caywood and her family manage Caywood Farms in rural Casa Grande, Arizona, south of Phoenix in Pinal County. She said theyre under significant pressure to sell their land to large solar companies, which are buying up parcels near their property. Its eyesores to me, she said. Caywood said that surveyors and other people are coming onto her familys land without their permission. Theyre very bold, she said, adding that shes not sure which companies have been intruding on the Caywood property. Nancy Caywood. (caywoodfarms.com) Caywood worries about what could happen to the solar installations near her if their parent companies go under. Abengoa, the Spanish company that built Solana Generating Station near Gila Bend, Arizona, recently filed for bankruptcy. She is also concerned that the land used for solar farms may never be able to be restored to farmland. Even now, the land her family owns close to the new solar farm is apparently being affected by the massive installation. Caywoods son Travis measured ambient temperatures on the east end of the familys farm that were 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the property. That portion of the property abuts a solar farm identified as Pinal Central Energy Center, LLC, which was developed by NextEra Energy Resources and was described as one of that companys investments in Arizona according to a 2021 presentation by the firm. Representatives of NextEra Energy Resources didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment by press time. Another nearby solar project, the 2,100-acre Eleven Mile Solar Center, is just across the Arizona State Route 287 from Caywood Farms. Caywood Farms in rural Casa Grande, Arizona. (caywoodfarms.com) The projects website claims it will generate more than 900,000 megawatts of electricity per year from 850,000 solar panels. The Epoch Times also has reached out to Orsted, the Danish multinational power company that is a partner in the project, for comment on Caywoods remarks as well as the installations projected power output, given longstanding concerns about the real-world efficiency of solar panels. A spokesperson for the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry trade organization, offered a different perspective. Solar projects and agricultural lands are often highly compatible. Farmers and landowners can gain significant revenue for lands they are not actively farming and projects almost always are conducted to the benefit of both parties, the spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email. The spokesperson declined to comment on the specific individual stories described in this article, stating that we dont know all the facts. Protecting Soil Caywood isnt alone in her concerns about the use of good farmland for solar installations. Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, told The Epoch Times via email that the protection of prime agricultural soils has been an issue in her New England state. Vermont law now specifies that primary agricultural soils wont cease to be defined as such when a solar installation is built on them. My goal was to see that using prime ag land for solar should not be an opportunity to have the land switched to commercial, industrial, or some other category simply by installing solar panels thereupon, state Sen. Mark MacDonald, the Democratic lawmaker who drafted the language, told The Epoch Times via email. In a telephone call, he added that the language was also motivated by prospective improvements in solar panel efficiency. In future years, it wont take as many acres to produce the same amount of electricity, he said. Fog settles between hills at daybreak, seen from the Comstock House bed & breakfast/farm in Plainfield, Vt., on Oct. 20, 2007. (STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images) The dynamic over the years has changed, Smith told The Epoch Times. She said Vermonts Republican Gov. Phil Scott has given the states scientists more freedom to consider the downsides of solar projects than his predecessor, Democrat Peter Shumlin. When Gov. Shumlin was in charge, it was build everything everywhere regardless of impacts, Smith said. In 2014, under Shumlin, one major solar development ended up claiming what Smith called some of the finest prime agricultural soils in Rutland County, Vermont. Despite these concerns, the Public Service Board (PSB) granted the land to Rutland Renewable Energy, LLC, which was owned by the utility-scale solar company groSolar and has since been sold to the French firm EDF Renewables. In its decision, PSB concluded that the companys Cold River Project will not significantly reduce the agricultural potential of the soils found at the Project site. An array of 366 solar tracking devices stand in a field in South Burlington, Vt., on Oct. 31, 2014. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) The case made it to the Vermont Supreme Court, which upheld the PSBs decision against opposition from the Town of Rutland and several neighbors. The project site contains a variety of primary agricultural soils; the standards prohibit siting a ground-mounted solar facility on primary agricultural soils. The site has not, however, been used for agricultural production for 15 to 20 years, Justice John Dooley noted in his opinion affirming PSBs ruling. The power produced at the Cold River site, which includes 8,820 solar panels, is currently being sold to Green Mountain Power under a multidecade agreement, according to AEP OnSite Partners, which built the array. Green Mountain Power confirmed to The Epoch Times that its still under that power purchase agreement. Representatives of EDF Renewables didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. Vermont is one of only 15 states with statewide solar decommissioning requirements, as described in a December 2021 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Despite the states relatively stringent regulation of the energy source, Smith believes the status quo still leaves farmland vulnerable. A flock of sheep run across a field in Plainfield, Vt., on Oct. 19, 2007. (STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images) The state of Vermont really hasnt done much to protect prime ag soils from solar development, Smith said. Its a case-by-case basis and so far it has not been an impediment to approval, as long as it is returned to being prime ag after the project is decommissioned. An SEIA spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that the group supports decommissioning standards to promote transparency and clarity while encouraging responsible development of solar projects. Solar developers are seeking to optimize among numerous factors including both minimizing impacts to local resources (like prime ag lands) and access to the grid. Developers will choose less productive agricultural land to avoid such conflicts, the spokesperson wrote. Downsides Janet Christensen-Lewis, who owns Pucks Glen Organic Farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, thinks the wider public is only just beginning to grasp the downsides of solar power. I think the public consciousness may have been what I was about six years ago, she told The Epoch Times. I just wanted to flip a light switch, totally oblivious to all of the consequences of energy production. And then when youre faced with projects that are coming that are actually going to impact your surroundings, you take a closer look at things. I suspect that if you said to people in New York City that we should take Central Park, which is 800 acres, and cover it with solar panels, they would be aghast, she said. What they dont realize is that 800 acres is pretty much nothing for the solar thats being put in now. And were using that land. In September 2021, the Biden administrations Department of Energy released its Solar Futures Study, which envisioned a maximum solar deployment scenario of more than 16,000 square milesan area slightly smaller than the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. That report, like some other solar energy research undertaken in recent years, envisions the co-location of agriculture and solar energy. But Christensen-Lewis is skeptical that such agrivoltaic technology could be realized at a large scale. Solar panels at a solar farm owned and operated by Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Solar LLC, in Hughsville, Md., on Aug. 20, 2015. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Youre not going to run combines underneathyoure never going to figure out a way to make that happen underneath solar panels. The Solar Futures Study also emphasizes the potential of solar-pollinator habitats, which are intended to combine solar panels with pollinator-friendly native plants, ultimately bolstering crop yields while simultaneously producing cleaner energy. Christensen-Lewis, who already plants wildflowers on her organic farm to encourage pollinators, has her doubts about those habitats as well. We always say that when a solar company comes in and puts in their pollinator habitat, its three years away from becoming a patch of weeds, and then theyre going to have to use Roundup, she said. Its just a labelits just a selling pointand not necessarily a very good one. Maryland has set the target of producing 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, increasing the pressure to build more solar in the states rural counties. Yet development along the Eastern Shore hasnt gone without controversy. A farmer harvests soybeans in Owings, Md., on Oct. 19, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) The Maryland Department of the Environment ruled that Great Bay Solar I, LLCs solar plant construction sites in Princess Anne, Maryland, violated multiple titles of the states environmental law. The department found that Great Bay Solar had disturbed nontidal wetlands at multiple sites, reaching a settlement whereby the company paid the department a $400,000 civil penalty. Christensen-Lewis was involved in a successful effort to keep a large solar farm out of Kent County, Maryland, where she believes it threatened prime farmland. Despite these victories, the outlook for many farmers facing pressure from major solar companies remains uncertain. Caywood, of Caywood Farms in Casa Grande, worries her fourth-generation farm could become an island surrounded by utility-scale solar. Theyre putting it [solar] out here in the rural areas, on our farmland, and in our forests, Christensen-Lewis said. Thats land that we see major other purposes forfor feeding people, for making sure that we have environmental protections in place. Georgia Governor Unveils Push for Expanded Gun-Carry Rights Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Jan. 5 that he would push for a state law to loosen requirements for state residents to carry a handgun in public. Kemp, a Republican, announced the effort at a gun store near Atlanta alongside state lawmakers and gun owners. In the face of rising violent crime across the country, law-abiding citizens should have their constitutional rights protected, not undermined, he said. And while this position has recently become popular for others as we enter the campaign season, my position has remained the same. I believe the United States Constitution grants the citizens of our state the right to carry a firearm without state government approval. Kemp referenced multiple pieces of legislation, including some already introduced, that would make so-called constitutional carry legal and said he would throw his weight behind them and work together with Republican lawmakers and groups such as the National Rifle Association to perfect the proposals. Kemp is facing multiple primary challengers, including former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), as he seeks a second term this year. Perdue claimed credit for Kemps constitutional carry push, writing on social media this week that the governor was answering my call. But real leaders lead from the startand its time Georgia had a Governor who shows principled leadership when it matters most. Thats exactly what Ill deliver on day one, Perdue said. The campaign of Stacey Abrams, a major Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, also panned Kemp. The same guy who pointed a gun at a teenager on TV now panders with reckless proposals threatening Georgia lives. As her opponents run to dangerous extremes and fight desperately to salvage their political careers, [Stacey Abrams] is fighting for Georgians and their safety, Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abramss campaign manager, wrote on Twitter. Groh-Wargo was referring to Kemps wielding shotguns during ads that had aired previously. Kemp campaigned in 2018 on constitutional carry, but hasnt devoted much time to the issue before now. He touted his accomplishments when asked about the delay and indicated legislative support may not have been present earlier in his term. Republicans have controlled both state chambers throughout the term, though lawmakers havent yet approved any of the measures in question. Lt. Col. Willis Lee, vice president of the NRA, said Georgia should become the 22nd state to enact constitutional carry. The Second Amendment is most important in the face of leftist policies, foisted by leftist politicians and judges. And as long as there are anti-American anti-gun zealots who try to take our civil rights, NRA members will stand and fight this year next year and into the future. German Retail Sales Outlook Clouded Despite Surprise Rise in November BERLINGerman retail sales rose unexpectedly in November, data showed on Tuesday, lifting them to a record annual high despite renewed COVID-19 restrictions which held back a consumer-led recovery in Europes largest economy. The Federal Statistics Office said retail sales were up 0.6 percent on the month in real terms. That beat a Reuters forecast of a fall of 0.5 percent. For 2021, retail sales rose 0.9 percent in real terms and 3.1 percent in nominal terms, reaching record highs despite curbs on non-essential visits to the shops. Due to renewed coronavirus restrictions, the situation will remain tense for the time being, said Alexander Krueger, an analyst with Hauck Aufhaeuser Lampe private bank. With industry still struggling amid supply shortages in microchips and other components, it would be hard for manufacturing to fill the overall output gap created by weaker consumption, he added. The GfK market research institute said last month that consumer morale would deteriorate further as the pandemic and rise of the Omicron variant push the economy to the brink of recession. The Ifo institute expects the German economy to shrink by 0.5 percent on the quarter in the final three months of 2021 and stagnate in the first three months of 2022. This would bring Germany close to a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. High infection rates during the fourth coronavirus wave in Germany, triggered by the Delta variant, had already resulted in restrictions for retailers and service providers in December. Germany banned unvaccinated people from entering non-essential establishments. The so-called 2G rule, which allows access only for vaccinated or recovered people, has hit the Christmas business. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant is now clouding the outlook for retailers at the start of 2022 as well. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and state premiers are expected to discuss further measures and restrictions at a pandemic emergency meeting on Friday. Great Resignation to Get Worse in 2022 A record number of U.S. workers quit their jobs in November, while job openings eased in the home stretch of 2021, new data show. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of job resignations advanced 370,000 to an all-time high of 4.527 million. As a percentage of the workforce, the quit rate was 3 percent, matching the September level. Resignations rose across several industries, led by accommodation and food services (159,000), health care and social assistance (52,000), and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (33,000). This represents the fifth consecutive month of resignations topping 4 million. Over the past year, workers have been quitting their positions in large numbers, a trend experts have dubbed The Great Resignation. The labor market has tilted in favor of workers amid job openings outnumbering individuals searching for employment opportunities. BLS further reported on Jan. 4 that the number of job openings topped 10.5 million in November, down from an upwardly revised 11.033 million in October. The market had penciled in a modest bump to 11.075 million. A woman walks by a Now Hiring sign outside a store in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 16, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) The job opening declines were in accommodation and food services (-261,000), construction (-110,000), and non-durable goods manufacturing (-66,000) sectors. But openings swelled in finance and insurance (83,000) and the federal government (25,000). Despite the slight easing in job openings, the category is still flirting with all-time highs. It has been challenging for employers to fill positions in the current economy, with many businesses raising wages, offering bonuses, and providing a broad array of employment perks. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have climbed by 4.8 percent to $31.03. The number of hires has increased by 191,000 to 6.697 million. This isnt an issue unique to the United States. Many other advanced countries, including Germany and Japan, have experienced comparable trends. Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department will release its nonfarm payrolls report for December on Jan. 7. Economists are forecasting a gain of 422,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. Will These Trends Persist? A new survey from ResumeBuilder.com, an online employment resource, reported that 23 percent of currently employed Americans plan to find a new job in 2022. A total of 52 percent of job seekers expect to quit in the first half of the year, with a little more than a quarter of them planning to resign by March. Half of the respondents are hunting for work elsewhere to earn higher pay and better benefits. Workers often make shifts in employment after the new year, said Carolyn Kleiman, career strategist and professional resume writer. Employees may wait for end-of-the-year bonuses to make a change or see what new opportunities arise in the new year. Plus, as the pandemic continues, people continue to evaluate their lives, and work is a large part of that. Other studies have come across similar numbers. A November Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends Report for 2022 found that fewer people intend to stay at their current job compared to 2021. Middle managers are expected to lead the way, with only 69 percent of them planning to work at their current occupation over the next few years, down from 83 percent in 2021. Whether its because of burnout from heavy workloads or insufficient remote technology, employees have listed many reasons for submitting their resignation letters. The study authors say this should prompt companies to throw out the old playbook and never look back and facilitate a better working environment for both in-person and remote staff. In October, employment website Joblist released the results of a survey of 25,000 job seekers nationwide. The study revealed that 73 percent of employed workers were thinking about quitting their jobs. Poll respondents highlighted their growing unhappiness with their positions, citing employer treatment during the pandemic, low pay, a lack of benefits, and a paucity of work-life balance. Hospitality has been the sector most affected by the labor shortage. A total of 45 percent of hospitality workers were more dissatisfied with their jobs now than they were before the pandemic, according to the survey. A waiter carries food at The Farmhouse restaurant in Newport Beach, Calif., on Sept. 9, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Millennials and Generation Z are ostensibly leading The Great Resignation. A Microsoft report, The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid WorkAre We Ready? found that 41 percent of the global workforce is thinking about handing their resignation to the human resources department. A total of 54 percent of Generation Z workers (18- to 25-year-olds) are considering quitting their jobs. Where workers want to fulfill their duties has also changed. One-third of employed Americans noted that they wouldnt want to work for a company that mandates them to work on-site full-time, a recent Prudential report found. The same report learned that one-quarter of workers say theyll be looking for a new job when the severity of the pandemic subsides. The Great Retention of 2022? Companies have been retaining staff members at higher rates in response to the current conditions. The BLS data show that total private industry layoffs and discharges have fallen at an annualized rate of 0.6 percent. At the very least, employers intend to improve their retention rates throughout 2022, according to experts. A recent Fast Company Impact Council report involving business leaders suggests that it will be a critical year for employers to keep their promises to workers, whether its addressing inequities or listening to their needs. In December 2021, the New York Post reported that Goldman Sachs planned to terminate fewer employees at the end of 2021 as Wall Street faces an industry-wide labor shortage. The financial institution typically fires roughly 5 percent of its workforce and anticipates another five percent of employees to quit after they receive their bonuses. However, in this environment, Goldman Sachs and other companies are being more careful about culling the workforce as they struggle to hire candidates. In October, a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife showed that 49 percent of small businesses find it challenging to find candidates with the skills necessary to complete tasks associated with the jobs. Tom Sullivan, vice president of small-business policy at the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that business owners are adamant about adding to their payrolls. However, the worker shortage crisis threatens the economic recovery of Main Streets across the country, and many small-business owners have simply given up on finding new staff, Sullivan said. Congress needs to focus on making it easier for small businesses to hire the people they need to grow, compete, and thrive. With more than half of small businesses worried about staffing, more companies will be concentrating on keeping their talent. Health Code System Crashes in Chinas Xian, Causing Panic The health code system crashed in current Chinas COVID-19 outbreak centerXian cityon Jan. 4. The 13 million residents then couldnt receive a nucleic acid test which is mandated by the regime and went into panic. On the early morning of Jan. 5, the Xian city government announced that Liu Jun, the director of the citys Big Data Resources Administration which manages the health code system, was dismissed, and Liu Xin, a candidate to deputy director of the administration, was appointed to lead the government agency temporarily. All residents are asked to use the [cellphone based] health code system to register for the COVID test. This morning, the code system crashed when half of the residents who live in my building were waiting in line for the test, a Xian resident whose surname is Ma told the Chinese-language Epoch Times on Jan. 3. We waited until noon before we could be tested by registering our ID, rather than scanning the health code app. Wang lives in a rural village of Xian. She told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that the system crashed at 9:00 a.m. in the morning and returned to normal after 10:00 a.m. in her village. Our tests were interrupted because the system crashed. Our villagers finally finished the test at noon, Wang said. She explained that the test was finished over one hour later than planned. The system didnt work well with some residents after it resumed at about 10:00 a.m. We had to type the residents ID to the system manually and then scan the code. The workload is heavier than before, a staff member who worked at a test site in the citys urban area told the Chinese-language Epoch Times. A passenger shows a green QR code on his phone to show his health status to security upon arrival at the Wenzhou railway station in Wenzhou, China, on Feb. 28, 2020. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images) Chinas health code is like an e-passport. The Chinese regime mandated the whole country to use a health code system as a means to identify if someone is virus-free (green code), might meet some infected person (yellow code), or infected (red code). A persons code will maintain green if he/she takes a test on time and the result is negative. After the regime launched the health code system in April 2020, anybody in China has to have a green code if he/she wants to travel by any type of public transportation tools, enter a building or restaurant, or pass a checking site in the middle of the highway or on streets. On Jan. 4, Xian was locked down and residents werent allowed to travel. But the health code systems crash still caused patients who urgently needed to visit a hospital to not be accepted by any hospital. System Crashes Starting from 8:00 a.m. on Jan. 4, Xian residents health code app kept on showing loading and couldnt be operated. At around 9:00 a.m., the whole health code system in the city crashed. After 10:00 a.m., when the system was restored, a big number of residents couldnt make their cell phone-based app operate. Chinese web portal NetEase quoted technicians saying that users must uninstall the app, clear the cached data, reinstall the app, and log in again. However, not all Xian residents know how to go through this process on their phones. Xian netizens shared their opinions on Chinese social media platforms. Some netizens mocked the regimes goalzero infections from Jan. 4, although the city reported new infections on that day. Nobody can take a test when the system is down. Then nobody will be tested positive, and the new infection is zero! You [the city government] are so smart (tricky)! a netizen posted on Weibo. Xian residents criticized the governments extreme rule and disordered management. 13 million people suddenly are forced to stop our steps and are locked down at home. Its a horrible thing, Ma said in a phone interview. So many residents from the whole village or whole residential compound were moved to quarantine centers where they dont have a heater and cant find enough food. Ma said the temperature in Xian was as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit at night. The lockdown policy has caused numerous humanitarian disasters. The Chinese regime censored all negative news about its COVID rules. But the posts that Xian residents posted online when they urged for help showed a series of sad stories. A pregnant woman suffered heavy bleeding when she begged to be treated at Xian Gaoxin Hospital on the evening of Jan. 1. Two hours later, the hospital accepted her and gave her an operation, but found the 8-month-old fetus died in the womb because of the late treatment. A man who suffered a stroke had been waiting outside a hospital for eight hours on Jan. 2 and passed away on the early morning of Jan. 3. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 16, 2021. (Jacquelyn Martin, File/AP Photo) Homeland Security: No Known Threats Ahead of Capitol Hill Anniversary U.S. Homeland Securitys top official told reporters on Jan. 4 that the department was not aware of any specific, credible threats at this point related to Jan. 6, 2022, one year after protesters breached the Capitol building. But at the same time we are operating at a heightened level of vigilance because we are at a heightened level of threat. The threat of domestic violent extremists is very grave, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters in a conference call obtained by USA Today. U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters on Tuesday that while the Capitol Police are aware of several events planned for Thursday, there is no intelligence that indicates there would be any problems. Manger also indicated that there were over 8,000 threats last year, up from 4,0005,000 a few years prior, in the form of phone calls, emails, and social media messages. In a bill passed in July 2021, Congress allocated $300 million to upgrade security measures at Capitol Hill. The $300 million budget was merely focused on windows and cameras according to Capitol Architect Brett Blanton. Under a separate budget, damaged windows from the Capitol Hill breach have been repaired, while door reinforcements have been put in place along with security lighting upgrades and electrical systems for surveillance detection, Blanton stated. The Capitol Police recently came under fire for critical deficiencies with operational planning, intelligence, staffing, and equipment, according to Mangers Jan. 5 testimony (pdf) before the Senate. Of the 103 recommendations issued by the inspector general, Capitol Police has implemented and/or addressed over 90 of them, the testimony continued. Based on recommendations from the Committee on Rules and Administration, Capitol Police will be implementing additional training and communication enhancements, among other measures. While Democratic lawmakers have pushed the narrative that the Jan. 6 breach was an insurrection led by former President Donald Trump supporters, Trump himself, via lawyers, has denied that he incited violence. During a Jan. 6, 2021 speech, he called on demonstrators to peacefully and patriotically make [their] voices heard. The former president has cancelled his press conference at Mar-a-Lago previously scheduled on Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the Capitol Hill incident. In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in ArizonaIt will be a big crowd! he said in a statement. Transient Jailed for Allegedly Killing Man by Pushing Him in Path of Train SAN DIEGOA transient was arrested Jan. 4 on suspicion of killing a 68-year-old man without provocation on New Years Day by pushing him into the path of an oncoming train at Old Town Transit Center. Ryan Michael Rukstelis, 26, was taken into custody in the 2200 block of Park Boulevard in Balboa Park shortly after 3 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department. Rukstelis and the victim, Martin Andara of Santee, had just gotten off a southbound trolley at the Taylor Street depot at about 6:15 a.m. Jan. 1 when the suspect allegedly shoved the older man off the boarding platform and then fled, San Diego Police Lt. Andra Brown said. Andara fell into the side of a passing train, suffering fatal injuries. He died at the scene. Police didnt disclose what led detectives to identify Rukstelis, who has no permanent home address, as Andaras alleged killer. Rukstelis was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Jan. 6. A few hundred concerned parents, children, and friends against vaccine mandates rallied in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Jan. 3, 2022. (Courtesy of Lawrence Sherwin) Hundreds Protest Vaccine Mandates for K12 in Huntington Beach HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.A few hundred concerned parents, children, and friends against vaccine mandates rallied in Huntington Beach, California, on Jan. 3. The event, named the Capitol to Coast Stand Up and Sit Out, was put on by Unity Projecta statewide organization founded to fight COVID-19 vaccine mandates for K12 studentsand Moms for Liberty, which shares a similar goal. Parents let things get out of control, and its our job to rescue it before its too late, one member from Moms for Liberty said to the rally attendees. (Courtesy of Lawrence Sherwin) As the state legislature reconvened the same day, rally attendees voiced opposition to the bills being considered, which they claim impose unconstitutional mandates on K12 students. These bills, the rally organizers say, include a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for children of public and private schools, as well as HPV (sexually transmitted disease) and meningitis (brain inflammation) vaccination requirements for high school students, and lowering the age of consent for medical treatment to 12 years old. California Department of Public Health guidelines requires K12 students to wear masks while indoors. The nearby Los Angeles Unified School District will require all of its students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the fall. A box of ivermectin (French packaging), an anti-parasitic drug and also a potential treatment for COVID-19, in Clamart, France, on April, 2, 2021. (Shutterstock) Indian City Rolls out COVID-19 Medicine Kits Including Ivermectin, Vitamins D and C: Report COVID-19 medicine kits containing ivermectin, azithromycin, and vitamins D and C are being distributed in the Indian city of Varanasi as part of measures to prepare for surge in cases of COVID-19. A large quantity of the kits were procured from the government by District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, and distribution in the city began on Jan. 1, said Additional Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sanjay Rai, the Hindustan Times reported. Varanasi is located in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India with over 200 million people. The city has an estimated population of over 4.2 million. A total of 874 committees will distribute the kits in rural areas under eight primary health centers in developmental block areas of Varanasi, Rai said. He added, Likewise, monitoring committees of all 90 wards will distribute the COVID medicine kits in urban areas under 24 [primary health centers]. These committees will also distribute the kits in Ramnagar and Gangapur areas. The COVID-19 medicine kits are also being made available at other locations in the city, including at seven hospitals, railway stations, bus stands, and a prison, according to the Hindustan Times. Rai said different kits will be made available for varying age groups. The kits for children from birth to 1 year, and 15 years contain paracetamol drops, [oral rehydration salts], and multivitamin drops. While for 512 years, it has paracetamol tablets, ivermectin 6 mg and vitamin B complex, he said. Azithromycin 500, ivermectin 12 mg, vitamin D3, vitamin C, zinc, vitamin B complex, and paracetamol tablets are available for those above 12 years, he added. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary told ANI that the medicine kits are being distributed as part of a preventative measure in the city, amid fears of a third wave of COVID-19. Well give these kits to people getting tested for COVID. We have already distributed 50 kits each to vigilance committees in rural and urban areas, he said. Following a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases in the city, the district magistrate urged residents to adhere to measures to curb the spread of the virus, including including wearing masks, sanitizing hands frequently, and social distancing. Medicine kits have previously been distributed in Uttar Pradesh to tackle rising COVID-19 cases and contain transmission in May 2021, but it isnt clear if the government has ever formally disclosed the contents of those medicine kits. According to Dr. Robert Malone, who helped develop the mRNA vaccine technology, one of those components was rumored to be ivermectin, but this was not confirmed. Although ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against its use as a treatment for COVID-19. Ivermectin is available in both human and veterinary products. The CDC says people have been hospitalized after self-medicating with a form of ivermectin used to treat livestock for parasites, and that large doses can be fatal. Ivermectin has been prescribed as an anti-viral and anti-parasitic for human use for decades and its creator won a Nobel Prize in 2015. The White House is looking to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal the Barack Obama era agreement that Donald Trump withdrew from. And for good reason the deal guarantees the worlds leading state sponsor of terror a nuclear weapons program within a decade. Watch Over the Target to see how they would not only endanger US Middle East allies but threaten the security and prosperity of Americans here at home. Welcome to Over the Target with Lee Smith . Watch more on Wide Angle Youtube channel. Follow EpochTV on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Parler: https://parler.com/#/user/EpochTV Reuters screenshot of The Jerusalem Post website after it was hacked is shown on Jan. 3, 2022. (Screenshot by Reuters of The Jerusalem Post Website/via Reuters) Israeli News Website Hacked on Anniversary of Soleimanis Death An Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, was hacked on Monday, the anniversary of the killing of top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, indicating it was the work of pro-regime forces who temporarily disfigured the websites homepage and Twitter account. The website featured a menacing message Monday morning saying, We are close to you where you do not think about it, in English and Hebrew, accompanied by an image of Israeli Dimona nuclear facility under a ballistic missile attack fired from a hand wearing a ring similar to that of Soleimani. When the general was blown to bits by a U.S. targeted attack, his remains were identified by the oversized red-stoned ring. We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat of Israel. We are working to resolve the issue & thank readers for your patience and understanding. For now, you can continue reading us on our app, wrote the media outlet on Twitter. Details about the facility in Dimona, officially known as Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, remain classified, and the airspace surrounding it is closed off while the area is heavily guarded and fenced. No group has claimed responsibility for the hacking. Maariv, another Israeli newspaper with the same owner, was also briefly hacked along with its Twitter account, displaying the same message. In May, it was revealed that Israels intelligence agency shared details of three cell phone numbers used by the Iranian general hours before the U.S. strike, ordered by President Donald Trump. General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, the Department of Defense said in a statement, describing the strikes as decisive defensive action. Soleimani was considered the architect of the Iranian regimes foreign influence activities, including those in Syria and behind the rocket attacks on Israel. The U.S. strike was in response to violent protests by Iranian militia groups outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and a suspected Kataib Hezbollah missile attack that left one American dead at an Iraqi base. Last month, the Iranian military held five days of military drills which the Revolutionary Guards completed by blowing up a replica of the Dimona facility. The countrys television networks carried images of the strike, which the hackers used to issue the threat. In May 2020, The Jerusalem Post, along with other Israeli websites, was hacked with the image of Tel Aviv burning, accompanied by the message, Be ready for a big surprise. Fox News host Sean Hannity speaks during a taping of his show, "Hannity," in New York, on Aug. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File) Jan. 6 Committee Requests Sean Hannitys Voluntary Cooperation With Investigation The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol has asked Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with their investigation and to answer questions about text messages he sent former President Donald Trump, his aides, and lawyers around that time. In a letter (pdf) to Hannity on Tuesday, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) asked that he voluntarily answer questions on a specific and narrow range of factual questions. The Select Committee now has information in its possession indicating that you had advance knowledge regarding President Trumps and his legal teams planning for January 6th, they wrote. Thompson and Cheney said they have reason to believe that Hannity, in the days surrounding the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol building, expressed concerns and provided advice to Trump and certain White House staff regarding Trumps legal teams planning for Jan. 6. You also had relevant communications while the riot was underway, and in the days thereafter, they wrote. These communications make you a fact witness in our investigation. Thompson and Cheney said they have dozens of text messages between Hannity, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and others related to the 2020 election and President Trumps efforts to contest the outcome of the vote. One such text message from Hannity to Meadows dated on Dec. 31, 2020, reportedly read: We cant lose the entire WH counsels office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6 th. [sic] He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen. The lawmakers wrote in their letter that the text message suggests Hannity had knowledge of concerns by President Trumps White House Counsels Office regarding the legality of the former Presidents plans for January 6th. These facts are directly relevant to our inquiry, they said. The lawmakers said it appears from other text messages that Hannity may have communicated directly with Trump the day before the events that unfolded on Jan. 6. Thompson and Cheney said the Fox News personalitys communications were not subject to any kind of privilege and were connected to the issues being investigated by the panel. The Select Committee has immense respect for the First Amendment to our Constitution, freedom of the press, and the rights of Americans to express their political opinions freely, Chair Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, a Republican, wrote in their joint appeal to Hannity. At the same time, we have a solemn responsibility to investigate fully the facts and circumstances of these events in order to inform our legislative recommendations. Our nation cannot let anything like January 6th ever happen again. Thus, we write today to seek your voluntary cooperation on a specific and narrow range of factual questions. The Epoch Times has contacted Fox News for comment. Jay Sekulow, Hannitys lawyer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that they are reviewing the committees letter and will respond as appropriate. The U.S. Department of Justice said in its year-end summary on Dec. 30 that more than 725 people have been arrested in all 50 states on federal charges stemming from violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, leading some 165 people to plead guiltymostly to misdemeanor charges. Under the continued leadership of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and the FBIs Washington Field Office, the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the attack continues to move forward at an unprecedented speed and scale, the DOJ said in a statement. The Department of Justices resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane. Students and parents arrive masked for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) LA Unified Students and Staff Must Test Negative for COVID-19 Before Returning to School Students and staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus Jan. 11 regardless of vaccination or booster status, the district announced. In preparation for schools reopening on January 11, and in light of the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, we are making changes to our health and safety protocols, the district said in its health guidelines updated Jan. 3. All students and staff must upload proof of a negative COVID-19 test to the districts DailyPass app to return to campus. External PCR tests, antigen tests, or at-home tests are accepted. Weekly testing will continue for all students and employees through the month of January. The school will provide two tests per student, with COVID-19 at-home rapid self-tests available for K12 students to pick up at several locations over the weekend, according to the guidelines. The updates came shortly after the LAUSD Board of Education held an abruptly scheduled closed-door meeting Jan. 3. Our goal has always been to keep kids safe and in the classroom for in-person learning, board Vice President Nick Melvoin said after the Jan. 3 meeting. Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles on Sept. 10, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) The decision was met with backlash from some parents, who expressed frustration with the LAUSDs safety protocolssome of the strictest among school districts in the nation. Kristina Irwin, who has three children in LAUSD, told The Epoch Times she and other parents were concerned with the districts handling of administering tests. Irwin is also running for LA City Council District 5. First they want to do a baseline test before the kids go back to school now they want to test weekly, Irwin said. Its so ridiculous. Where does it end? Regarding masks, all LAUSD students and staff will be subject to the LA County Health Departments outdoor mask mandate for students and upgraded surgical or N95 mask mandate for staff. Some parents also oppose student mask mandates, saying their children are having a hard time because they cant see their teachers and classmates faces. My kids cant see their friend smiling faces unless they go over to the kids house for a playdate or we go to a park or somewhere where they can actually see their friends, Irwin said. My nine-year-old was touching his friend on the shoulder as kids normally do, and his friend freaked out, saying dont touch me, theres coronavirus. And its really sad. These are third graders. Irwin said that incident showed her that theres some kids that have never known what its like to be without a mask its infuriating as a mom. It breaks my heart. Students and parents arrive masked for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, on Aug. 16, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) Sharon McKeeman, founder of parent advocacy group Let Them Breathe, told The Epoch Times in a previous interview that her group hears from parents, counselors, and psychologists that students are feeling anxious and depressed because theyre not having that positive reinforcement of smiles, and theyre becoming withdrawn and antisocial. Were hearing from school administration that theres a lot more violent and destructive behavior at school, and that the psychiatrist and counselors were speaking to are saying that its a direct result of not being able to see other humans faces and [of] experiencing detachment, she said. The district also announced students will not return to campus until Jan. 11 instead of Jan. 10, declaring Jan. 10 a Pupil-Free Day for school site employees. LAUSD officials described a Pupil-Free Day as a day for faculty and staff training, meetings, and planning for the upcoming semester in a Dec. 2020 letter. For the Pupil-Free Day there shall be three hours of District-sponsored professional development to start the day, followed by a one-hour faculty meeting. The remainder of the Pupil-Free Day shall be used by UTLA-represented employees for planning at their discretion, the letter read. A spokesperson for the LAUSD was not immediately available for comment. French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during a joint press conference with the Hungarian Prime Minister in Budapest on Dec. 13, 2021. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images) Macron Sparks Backlash After Commenting He Wants to Bully Unvaccinated Until the End French President Emmanuel Macron has drawn condemnation from political opponents after he made a controversial statement this week, saying he is determined to make the lives of French citizens who refuse to get vaccinated against the CCP virus miserable. Im not for pissing off the French Now the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so, were going to keep doing it, until the end. This is the strategy, Macron said during an interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday. Macron went on to say that he wont send [unvaccinated people] to prison, but he will make their lives more complicated and encourage people not vaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot by limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life. So we need to tell themfrom Jan. 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre. You will no longer be able to go to the cinema. A parliamentary debate proposing a new set of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus rules for unvaccinated people was suspended on Wednesday as opposition lawmakers accused Macron of using divisive language, urging the president to explain himself. A president cannot say such things, Christian Jacob, chair of the conservative Les Republicans party, told parliament as it discussed a bill to make it mandatory for people to show proof of vaccination to enter many enclosed public spaces. There has been a lot of reactions to Macrons commentsboth in support and against. It also comes at a sensitive time, with a presidential election due in April in which he is expected to run, though he has not yet officially announced if he will be running. Prime Minister Jean Castex said he supports the president in remarks to the Senate on Wednesday. French Prime Minister Jean Castex delivers a news conference on the current French government strategy for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in Paris, France, on March 18, 2021. (Martin Bureau/Pool via Reuters) The presidents remarks are perfectly consistent with what weve been doing to tackle the CCP virus pandemic crisis and urge French citizens to get jabbed, he said, news agency AFP reported. French government officials have vowed to enact by mid-January as planned a law to block unvaccinated people from hospitality venues, despite the legislation hitting a procedural hitch in parliament overnight. Until now, France has enforced a CCP virus health pass, which means in order to get into restaurants, cafes or cinemas, or board trains, people need to either show a fresh negative COVID-19 test, or proof-of-vaccination. The legislation will remove the option of showing a negative test, effectively barring unvaccinated people from hospitality venues or trains. Reuters contributed to this report. From NTD News The U.S. flag is seen lowered to half-staff at Park Semper Fi in San Clemente, Calif., after a seafaring assault vehicle sank off the coast of Southern Calif., on July 31, 2020. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP) Panel Hears Dueling Versions of Marine Tanks Fatal Sinking CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.A Marine Corps panel convenes Tuesday to decide if an officer should be discharged over the sinking of an amphibious assault vehicle in the ocean off Southern California that killed nine service members. Lt. Col. Michael J. Regner was relieved of command of the landing team of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, shortly after the mishap off the coast of San Clemente Island on July 30, 2020. A Marine Corps statement at the time said his removal was based on a substantial amount of information and data and cited a loss of trust. If the Board of Inquiry, composed of three officers, determines Regner should be discharged, he could potentially lose retirement benefits and privileges. The hearing is expected to run up to four days. A Marine Corps investigation found that inadequate training, shabby maintenance and poor judgment by leaders led to the sinking of a seafaring tank in one of the deadliest Marine training accidents in decades. The amphibious assault vehicle had 16 people aboard when it sank rapidly in 385 feet (117 meters) of water. Seven Marines were rescued as the vessel was returning to a Navy ship on a training exercise. The Marines use the vehicles to transport troops and their equipment from Navy ships to land. The armored vehicles outfitted with machine guns and grenade launchers look like tanks as they roll ashore for beach attacks, with Marines pouring out of them to take up positions. Col. Christopher J. Bronzi, who supervised Regner, was relieved of command of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit last year. The investigation found inadequate training of platoon members who were provided amphibious assault vehicles that had not been used in more than a year and were in poor condition. The platoon made repairs in a rush to meet a deadline, according to the investigation. It took 45 minutes for the tank to sink and if the distress signal had been seen sooner, its likely rescuers could have saved the troops, the report stated. But there were no safety boats nearby. As the water levels continued rising, the troops who had only trained on land remained inside the broken-down tank in seas that were rougher than expected, according to the findings. They were not told to remove their helmets, weapons and other gear, which prevented them from being able to escape. Their life jackets also may have prevented them from removing their body armor and proved useless in keeping them afloat because of the weight, according to the investigation. At least two of the troops had not completed their swimming certifications. The emergency lights did not function and no markings were put on a side hatch, leaving troops scrambling in the dark, using their cell phone lights to find it, according to the findings. Once they did, they struggled to open it, losing time. As they finally pried open the hatch, another assault vehicle came to rescue the crew and ended up colliding with the distressed vessel, which turned broadside into a wave that swept over it. The troops were knocked off their feet and water flooded through the hatch and into the compartment, causing the vehicle to rapidly sink. Maryland Governor Declares State of Emergency, Deploys National Guard After COVID-19 Spike Marylands governor has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the Maryland National Guard to a jump in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state. Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said the 30-day state of emergency will help prevent hospitalizations and deaths after the state hit a record-high of 3,057 COVID-19 hospitalizations, an increase of more than 500 percent from seven weeks ago. The truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic, Hogan told reporters at a briefing, pointing to projections of hospitalizations reaching more than 5,000 in the coming days. The surge comes despite 92 percent of all adults in Maryland getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Omicron, the new variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, is driving the wave. Omicron breaks through the protection from vaccines, according to studies and experts, infecting just as many vaccinated people as unvaccinated people in some areas. However, most people requiring hospital care for COVID-19 continue to be unvaccinated, data show. Maryland health officials are still encouraging everybody to get a vaccine, asserting it is the best way to keep people safe. Unlike some other states, Maryland does not make clear which patients with COVID-19 are actually in hospitals for other reasons. New York became one of the latest to make the change this week, after President Joe Bidens top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said it was important to distinguish between a child who is hospitalized because of COVID-19 or who tested positive for COVID-19 after being admitted to the hospital. According to hospital reporting to the federal government, 83 percent of inpatient beds in Maryland are in use, but just 29 percent of the beds in use hold COVID-19 patients. Hogan also issued two new executive orders, the first letting the states health secretary order patients transferred between hospitals as necessary and enabling the Maryland Department of Health to establish alternate care facilities to care for patients outside of hospitals. The other order is aimed at easing staffing issues by allowing professionals with inactive licenses to practice without needing to get their licenses reinstated. It also authorizes graduate nurses to work at any healthcare facility and people with licenses from other states to work in Maryland. Additionally, 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard were mobilized to assist state and local health officials in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, with duties including supporting testing sites. Our Guard members are always ready to help the neighbors, families, and friends in their communities where we live and work, Major Gen. Timothy Gowen, Marylands adjutant general, told reporters. All of the emergency actions that were taking today are to keep our hospitals from overflowing, keep our kids in school, and to keep Maryland open for business, Hogan said. The governor opted against issuing a statewide mask order but he has allowed local officials to impose masking requirements, and many counties already have orders in place. Mayo Clinic Fires 700 Unvaccinated Employees Weeks After Nurses Warning The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota fired 700 unvaccinated health care workers on Tuesday, despite nurses at the clinic issuing a warning several weeks ago about staffing issues. While Mayo Clinic is saddened to lose valuable employees, we need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors, and communities safe, the Mayo Clinic said in a statement Tuesday in confirming the mass firings. If individuals released from employment choose to get vaccinated at a later date, the opportunity exists for them to apply and return to Mayo Clinic for future job openings. The employees had until Monday to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Officials said the 700 workers who were terminated represent approximately 1 percent of the Mayo Clinics 70,000 employees. While final numbers are still not available, nearly 99 percent of staff across all Mayo Clinic locations have complied with the required vaccination program, meaning they have been vaccinated or have received medical or religious exemptions, said the Clinic in its statement. Outside of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic operates hospitals in Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, and Iowa. The Mayo Clinic is the largest employer in Minnesota. Based on science and data, its clear that vaccination keeps people out of the hospital and saves lives. Thats true for everyone in our communitiesand its especially true for the many patients with serious or complex diseases who seek care at Mayo Clinic each day, added the Mayo Clinic, without noting that studies and data suggest the COVID-19 Omicron variant appears to easily infect fully vaccinated individuals. The Mayo Clinic logo at Mayo Clinic Square, Minneapolis, Minn., on June 24, 2018. (Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons) Some longtime Mayo Clinic employees who were fired for not receiving the vaccine told Twincities.com that they wouldnt comment on the firings because they fear community retaliation against either themselves or their families. Several months ago, President Joe Biden announced that health care facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funding would have to impose a vaccine mandate for all their employees or risk losing federal funding. About a week ago, the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services reversed its policy and announced it would begin enforcing the vaccine mandate in about half of all U.S. states, including Minnesota. The agency, in a memorandum, said it modified the compliance dates for its mandates, meaning that facilities that apply have to comply with the mandates first phase. All health care staff needs to have obtained the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Jan. 27, 2022or 30 days after the CMS memorandum was issued. In mid-December, nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association held a press conference to call on hospital CEOs to address staffing concerns. To our patients, I want to say this: Nurses will be here when you need us, Mary C. Turner, union president and a COVID-19 intensive care unit nurse, said at the news conference on Dec. 20. To our hospital CEOs and elected officials, please hear us: Nurses need more than words, we need action to address the crisis of staffing and retention in Minnesota hospitals. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The Epoch Times has contacted the Mayo Clinic and the Minnesota Nurses Association for comment. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a press conference in Ypsilanti, Mich., on April 12, 2021. (Lon Horwedel/Detroit News via AP) Michigan Gov. Whitmer Isolating After Husband Tests Positive for COVID-19 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is isolating from her husband in their home after he tested positive for COVID-19. Bobby Leddy, Whitmers spokesman, said the governor has had a negative rapid test result and was not experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The Democratic governor, 50, was awaiting PCR lab test results out of an abundance of caution, Leddy said. Until the PCR test comes back, the governor is isolating in a separate area of the house and has taken steps to complete contact tracing to keep others safe. We wish the first gentleman a speedy recovery and hope he feels better soon, he said. Whitmers spokesman said they took extra precautions over the holidays to limit contact with others as they celebrated Christmas with immediate family members in Michigan. Michigan, like much of the United States, is facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, largely fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. It seems to be causing lots of infections, but so far does not appear to be as severe in its effects. Leddy said both Whitmer and her husband, Marc Mallory, are fully vaccinated and have both received their booster shots. Mallory, a retired dentist, took a COVID-19 test after feeling under the weather, Detroit News reported. Whitmer is expected to deliver her annual State of the State address this month. Last year, on Jan. 27, the governor delivered the address remotely, saying a large gathering would pose an unnecessary risk to the health of legislators, justices, staff, and guests. It isnt yet clear whether this years address, Whitmers fourth, will be held remotely or in person. On Dec. 31, the Michigan health department reversed course in announcing that it will adopt shorter federal COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines, in line with recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Notably, the state health department said, the CDC recommends a shortening of the quarantine and isolation duration for those who arent vaccinated or havent received their booster to five days followed by an additional five days of wearing a well-fitting mask around others. The department earlier said it needed time to review the supporting evidence before shortening existing guidelines. New COVID-19 cases in the United States last week soared to their highest level on record, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky meanwhile told reporters that hospitalizations and deaths remain comparatively low as of now. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Michigan Rep. Brenda Lawrence Becomes 25th House Democrat to Retire Before 2022 Midterms Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) on Tuesday announced that she would not seek reelection to the House this year after four terms representing Michigans 14th District, joining a growing list of Democrats to retire before the 2022 midterms. Today, after reflecting on my journeyand oh, my goodness, what a journeyand having conversations with my family, I am announcing that I will not be seeking reelection to Congress, Lawrence announced in a video posted on Twitter. Im incredibly grateful for the people of Michigans 14th Congressional District who have placed their trust and vote in mein me, just a little black girl from the east side of Detroit, you made me your congresswoman. Lawrence, 67, is the 25th House Democrat to announce theyre retiring before the midterm elections this year. This year marks my 30th year in elected public service, and Ive had the good fortune of serving Michiganders on the local and national level, said Lawrence, adding that she came to the decision after having conversations with her family. Lawrence, former Southfield mayor, is the only black lawmaker representing Michigan in Congress and the only Michigan Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. She has been in the U.S. House since 2015, representing a district that includes parts of Detroit, Hamtramck, the Grosse Pointe communities, Farmington Hills, and Pontiac. Being around more for her family was a major consideration for Lawrence, a grandmother whose last living sister died last month. As we have a new redistricting map, a new generation of leaders will step up. We need to make sure our elected officials, in Michigan and across this country, look like our communities, Lawrence said. It is not lost on me that Im currently the only black member of the Michigan congressional delegationin both the U.S. House and Senate, she added. So, whether its in the halls of Congress, city halls, or local school boards, representation matters. Her announcement comes after Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) formally announced on Monday that he will not be seeking reelection after 15 terms in Congress. I dont want my grandchildren to know me from a television news clip or something they read in a newspaper, Rush told the Chicago Sun-Times. I want them to know me on an intimate level, know something about me, and I want to know something about them. I dont want to be a historical figure to my grandchildren. Eleven House Republicans have said they wont seek reelection this fall, when the GOP is looking to win control of the chamber. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Missing NH Girl Harmony Montgomerys Father Arrested: Officials Authorities in New Hampshire announced theyve arrested the father of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery in connection with an assault against the child more than two years ago. Adam Montgomery, age 31, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was arrested on January 4, 2022, in Manchester, authorities said in a news release issued on Wednesday. Harmony Montgomery was last seen in 2019 when she was 5 years old but was only reported missing last week, according to local media reports, citing New Hampshire Attorney General John Formellas office. Adam Montgomery was arrested on one charge of felony second-degree assault in 2019, Formellas office said in a release. Montgomerys arrest was pursuant to an arrest warrant for one charge of felony second-degree assault arising from 2019 conduct against Harmony Montgomery, age 7, as well as one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody, and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child pertaining to Harmony Montgomery, the news release stated. They said that although Montgomery was arrested, officials are still searching for Harmony Montgomery. Officials are continuing to search for Harmony and are requesting the publics assistance in locating her, the office said. Harmony Montgomery was last seen at an unspecified Manchester, New Hampshire, residence in October 2019, police told news outlets earlier this week. They said that the girl is blind in her right eye, wears glasses, has blonde hair and blue eyes, is about 4 feet tall, and weighs about 50 pounds. Its not clear why Harmonys absence went either unreported or unnoticed, officials told news outlets. Anyone with information about her whereabouts or the case can call or text 603-203-6060. Its not clear if Adam Montgomery has an attorney. Mother, 2 Children Killed in Alabama House Fire A mother and two school-age children were killed early Monday when fire gutted a home in north Alabama, officials said. Winston County Coroner Tracey Holley said Cara Evans, 44, and her two children, 8-year-old Annabelle and 4-year-old Jacob, died in the blaze, WIAT-TV reported. The cause of the blaze wasnt immediately known, but photos from the scene showed a wood-frame home with much of its interior charred. Temperatures were below freezing when the fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. The city school system, in a statement posted on social media, described the children as students at Haleyville Elementary School. Superintendent Holly Sutherland told WBMA television, To lose two and a parent at the same time its just the ultimate heartbreaking experience. A bank account was established to help with funeral expenses and to assist the childrens father, the system said, and counselors will be available for fellow students when classes resume on Jan. 10. The state fire marshals office will investigate the blaze. A GoFundMe account has been started to support Ricky Evans, Cara Evans husband. PG | 1 hours, 42 minutes | Adventure, Family, Fantasy | 12 August 2016 (USA) Whats a real dragon look like? Maybe a mash-up of childrens favorite animals? Like part dog, with a big sniffle-snuffle, rubbery nose? If its a forest dragon, it might be a tad greenish. Maybe theres some panther in its jaw line too, some cheetah spots, a little hyena about the ears. It might have vestigial lion traits, like an involuntary big-cat-like gallop (kind of adorable) that accompanies its furry wing flapping. A re-imagining of Disneys cherished family film Petes Dragon is the story of Pete and his best friend, Elliot, who just happens to be a dragon. (Disney Enterprises) How does a real dragon sound? A lot like the megabass, magical musings of wonderment and innocence of The Iron Giant, crossed with the seismic purrs of a whale-sized feline (voiced by John Kassir). What does a real dragon do? It might chase its tail and have jump-up, nosedive down, make fox-like moves. All of which might be fairly cute and adorable and not in a cloying sense. Speaking of cute, Disneys film brand has had a reputation for being too cutesy and overly saccharine since its inception. However, the company chalked up an instant childrens classic with the magical Petes Dragon, a live action remake of their forgotten 1977 musical. For kids and adults alike, its cute but not cutesy. While much that goes on the name of Disney today is surrounded by controversy, its probably safe to say this particular movie wont have any deleterious effects on your kids. Meet Pete Pete (Oakes Fegley) is a little boy on an adventure with his parents, driving through pine forests. Hes 4 years old. As his mother tells him, on an adventure, you need courage. And Petes the bravest boy shes ever met. Oakes Fegley is Pete in Disneys Petes Dragon, the story of a boy named Pete and his best friend, Elliot, who just happens to be a dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises, Inc.) Hes going to need all his courage, seeing as how deer sometimes jump in front of speeding cars. Before we know it, wee Pete is stranded, with both his parents dead. Hes in dire straits, all alone with his tiny backpack in a dark wood. Malevolent, yellow-eyed wolves growl and circle. But something causes them to flee in terror, and Pete musters his courage to face whatever might eat him for dinner. Meanwhile in Millhaven Millhaven, a Pacific Northwest logging town full of manly lumberjacks, still harbors rumors of a Millwater dragon. Whos talking this nonsense? That would be the local woodcarver, Mr. Meachum (Robert Redford). He claims he saw it once. His red-haired forest ranger daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) only believes what she sees. Shes never seen any dragons. She doesnt believe in them. Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Mr. Meacham, her dad (Robert Redford), in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises, Inc.) Six Years Later It seems theres a feral child out there in the huge Millhaven wilderness, looking like a Caucasian Mowgli. Hes a climber of trees, runner of rocks, forder of streams, and he has an enormous friend, whos like a sibling to him. And sometimes also an ersatz parent. But foremost, a loyal pet. Oakes Fegley is Pete in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises, Inc.) This kind of pet is very, very fun, because you could go running off a high cliff with no parachutejust jump right offand your pet could fly exactly under you, so youd land in a pile of soft fur! But hang on tight for the barrel rolls! The pet is named Elliot, and Elliot is full of surprises. Why dont the lumberjacks know hes there, since hes really big? Because he has a supernatural capability similar to what the Predator (from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film) could do. Its possible, but very, very difficult, to tell where hes hiding. The feral child and his enormous friend sleep in a cozy cave under the roots of a giant pine, festooned with child-sized forts and climbing ladders. Sometimes Elliot sleeps on his back and the boy sleeps on the big, furry belly-bed. And theres much luxurious snoring! And Then There Was a Girl (LR) Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), Pete (Oakes Fegley), Jack (Wes Bentley), and Natalie (Oona Laurence), in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises Inc.) Enter Natalie, played by Oona Laurence, 2016s child-actress It girl (she also appeared in Bad Moms). Laurences stock-in-trade is normally playing a precocious, high-strung, high-IQ, high-maintenance, badgering know-it-all, but here shes a curious, brave, wonder-filled (and wonderful) companion to the feral boy. This is a meet-cute thats allowed to be cute. And Then the Forest Shrank Now, these loggers, they get a little greedy and go tree-poaching, thanks to instigation by foreman Gavin (Karl Urban). They cut too deep into the forest. They find gigantic paw prints. You ever seen a bear that big? Gavins the kind of pillaging guy who takes and takes, devours resources, and puts his finger and footprints on everything. Driving a muscled-up dually truck, he enjoys hunting, claiming ownership of stuff, and puffing his chest out. Karl Urban (R) is Gavin in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises Inc.) He doesnt believe what he cant see either. But you can bet, if he does see it, hes gonna wanna shoot it. Or own it. And puff his chest out. You can guess the rest of this story. Oh, by the way, Gavins brother Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local sawmill, is engaged to Grace, and is also Natalies dad. Seeing Is Believing While seeing Petes Dragon is believing that wholesome Disney movie-fare for children started making a comeback, the more recent Cruella as well as tales from the Hollywood rumor-mill would seem to say otherwise. Disney appeared to be remaking its inventorysprinkling magic dust on all of it (highly competent CGI) and taking artistic risks, like hiring relatively untested, newcomer directors for their vision. Showbiz is historically about the bottom line, and as if that werent enough to wax cynical about, most Americans now believe Hollywood to be inundated from top to bottom with pedophiles, but you can go ahead and safely cherry-pick Petes Dragon as harmless for young kids. Lets hope theres more where it came from. There are wonderful performances: Laurences, as mentioned, and Howards, but young Fegleys less-is-more, stoic wild-child performance stands above the rest. When the time comes for Pete to say goodbye to his dragon, I guarantee you there will not be a dry eye in the house. Oona Laurence as Natalie and Oakes Fegley as Pete in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises, Inc.) The films singular weak spot is the underwritten role of Gavin. Yes, we know that kind of guy. That, Isnt she a beauty? and, It belongs to me! kind of guy, but for some reason the performance stands out like a (slightly) sore thumb, which is usually the case when an actor hasnt done his specificity homework. But Urbans a serious A-list pro (he played Eomer in Lord of the Rings), so blame the newbie director. But, so, due to it not ringing entirely true, the character becomes the only aspect of the movie thats unmagical. That said, Gavins necessary for the films secondary message, that feeling of, These guys who exploit endangered species and deplete the earth! What the heck is wrong with them? The primary message? Ever notice how its generally the very old and the very young who understand that believing first can lead to seeing later? In the past, such an outlook was considered wise. You might not believe in dragons but your kids will and youll enjoy them believing it. Pete (Oakes Fegley) says goodbye to his friend, in Disneys Petes Dragon. (Matt Klitscher/Disney Enterprises, Inc.) Petes Dragon Film Review Director: David Lowery Cast: Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban Running Time: 1 hours, 42 minutes Rating: PG Release Date: Aug. 12, 2016 Rated 3.5 stars out of 5 The Johnson & Johnson logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S. on May 29, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters File Photo) Nevada to Join $26 Billion Opioid Settlement With J&J, Drug Distributors Nevada has agreed to join a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving claims that three large U.S. drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson fueled a deadly opioid epidemic, the states attorney general said on Tuesday. Nevada was one of a handful of states that until now was not participating in the landmark accord that would resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits against J&J, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc .[nL1N2Q60H4] The announcement came after the settlements backers agreed to extend to Jan. 26 a deadline for cities and counties in states that backed the proposal to opt-in to the settlements, citing the potential for more states to join. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford in a statement said he was optimistic the states local governments would join the settlements, allowing the state to receive more than $285 million. There is no question that the opioid epidemic has devastated Nevada and money is needed now to address comprehensive statewide remediation, he said. AmerisourceBergen declined to comment. Other companies did not respond to requests for comment. More than 3,300 lawsuits largely by state and local governments have been filed seeking to hold those and other companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis that led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths over two decades. The companies deny wrongdoing. The distributors said in September that 42 states, five territories and Washington, D.C., had agreed to participate in their $21 billion settlement. A similar number backed a related $5 billion deal with J&J. The extent state and local governments participate will shape how much the companies ultimately must pay and how much outstanding litigation they face. New Mexico, another holdout state, on Dec. 7 signed on, and lead plaintiffs lawyers in the litigation have said they expect more to follow. By Nate Raymond Alvin Bragg speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at A. Philip Randolph Square in Harlem in New York City, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) New Manhattan DA to Stop Pursuing Prison Sentences for Certain Crimes New Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has ordered prosecutors to stop pursuing prison sentences for many criminal cases, in a shake up of how his office will address some crimes, with just days on the job. Braggs office will not seek a carceral sentence except in cases of homicide, domestic violence felonies, public corruption, and some sex crimes, according to memo titled Achieving Fairness and Safety that Bragg sent to staff on Monday. This rule may be excepted only in extraordinary circumstances based on a holistic analysis of the facts, criminal history, victims input (particularly in cases of violence or trauma), and any other information available, the memo from Bragg, a Democrat, read. Prosecutors must also now consider the impacts of incarceration, Bragg ordered, noting that it must be taken into account whether prison terms do increase public safety, if convicts will face future barriers in housing and employment, cost and race disparities, he said. Data, and my personal experiences, show that reserving incarceration for matters involving significant harm will make us safer, the memo said. The memo sets out five key goals: to invest more in diversion and alternatives to incarceration; to reduce pretrial incarceration; to focus on accountability, not sentence length; to limit youth in adult court; and to actively support those reentering society from incarceration. The memo states that if prosecutors do seek to put a convict behind bars, the request can be for a maximum of 20 years for a determinate sentence. The Office shall not seek a sentence of life without parole, Bragg instructed. Bragg said he believes that the new charging, bail, plea, and sentencing policies will advance the inextricably linked goals of safety and fairness. He also said that these policy changes will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime. Bragg said new initiatives and policies on guns, sex crimes, hate crimes, and other matters will be announced in the coming weeks. While my commitment to making incarceration a matter of last resort is immutable, the path to get there through these policies will be dynamic, and, not static, and will be informed by our discussions (starting this week in the Trial Division) and our work together in the weeks and months ahead, he told staff. Responding to the six-page memo, New York Police Benevolent Association (PBA) president Patrick Lynch on Tuesday said the PBA is concerned about the new policies and the message these types of policies send to both police officers and criminals on the street. Police officers dont want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys wont prosecute, union head Lynch said in a statement. And there are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers, and face zero consequences. Paul Di Giacomo, president of the Detective Endowment Association, a union that represents 5,000 New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives, accused Bragg of handing criminals the road map to freedom from prosecution and control of our streets. In Braggs Manhattan, you can resist arrest, deal drugs, obstruct arrests, and even carry a gun and get away with it, said Di Giacomo. The district attorney was sworn into office on Jan. 1, having defeated Republican Thomas Kenniff in November after winning an eight-way Democratic primary in the spring. The Associated Press contributed to this report. New York Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Private Employer Vaccine Mandate A real estate firm in New York has lodged a class-action lawsuit over the citys COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, alleging that it violates the U.S. Constitution. Cornerstone Realty, a Staten Island broker, filed the lawsuit on Jan. 4. It takes aim at a mandate issued by former Mayor Bill de Blasio and continued by Mayor Eric Adams, both Democrats. The vaccination rule forces businesses to verify that their workers have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine and to exclude from the workplace any worker who doesnt provide vaccination verification. It applies to every business that has one or more employees, as well as self-employed individuals and sole practitioners who interact with workers or the public in the course of their business. The order was meant to protect the public against an existing threat, even though studies show that vaccines dont protect against transmission of the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Even more problematic, plaintiffs said in the suit, is the lack of process for employers to challenge the rule, robbing them of their right to be heard, which is laid out in the Procedural Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Cornerstone Realty has 13 workers, not all of whom have provided verification of vaccination. The real estate agents must travel frequently for work and cant work remotely, according to their employer. Thus, any worker who doesnt comply with the order must be terminated. If Cornerstone Realty is forced to terminate its employees without any notice period, Cornerstone Realty suffers an immediate harm because, in the current market, it can take up to six months to hire a real estate agent, the suit reads. This case is not about vaccines, but about an employers right to be heard when the DOHMH and the City pass a sweepingand first in the nationlaw meant to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the business said it wasnt notified before the vaccine mandate went into effect on Dec. 27, 2021. The suit asks the court to award damages and block enforcement of the mandate, the first-of-its-kind at the city level. President Joe Biden issued a similar order for all companies with 100 or more employees that the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on during a session on Jan. 7. The responsibility of the health commissioner to protect the public doesnt stop at the doors of a private workplace. Mandating vaccinations for city workers and private sector workers who interact with others is key to our fight against COVID and furthering the citys recovery, a spokesman for the New York City Law Department told The Epoch Times in an email. The mandate has been applied fairly across industries and we are confident it will survive any legal challenge. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly, an Obama appointee. People watch a TV broadcasting file footage of a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters) North Korea Fires Possible Ballistic Missile Into Sea After Kim Jong-un Vows to Bolster Military Capabilities North Korea has fired a possible ballistic missile off its east coast just one week after its leader, Kim Jong-un, vowed to bolster North Koreas military capabilities amid instability on the Korean Peninsula, authorities in Japan and South Korea say. The Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement that a possible ballistic missile was fired from North Korea at around 8:07 a.m. on Jan. 5. The projectile flew about 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) and landed outside of Japans exclusive economic zone. No damage has been reported as a result of the incident thus far, according to the ministry. Following the report, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered that the ministry collect and analyze any information related to the incident and that any updates be communicated to the public. Kishida also instructed authorities to confirm the safety of ships and planes in the area where the projectile had reportedly landed. We find it truly regrettable that North Korea has continued to fire missiles from last year, he told reporters. Kishida said other details about the North Korean launch werent immediately available, including where the suspected missile landed and whether there had been any damage. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that North Korea launched the missile eastward, noting that its currently analyzing the launch with U.S. intelligence authorities. The missile launch came after Kim Jong-un pledged in his New Years speech to bolster North Koreas military capabilities and develop high-tech weapon systems in response to the destabilizing situation on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea has been pushing for a declaration to end the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, as a way to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. However, North Korea insists that any formal treaty to end the war must first be preceded by an end to U.S. hostilities toward Pyongyang. The United States has reiterated that it holds no hostile intent toward Pyongyang and has expressed a willingness to meet with North Korea for negotiations without preconditions. While Kim spoke of principled issues and some tactical directions to be maintained in inter-Korean relations and foreign affairs, the North Korean leader made no mention of his countrys dealings with the United States and South Korea in his speech. Despite North Koreas unresponsiveness to calls for the end-of-war declaration, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he would continue pursuing an irreversible path to peace with North Korea until the end of his five-year term in May. Moon has pledged to institutionalize sustainable peace with North Korea, emphasizing that the international community will respond if both sides resume dialogue and cooperation. The government will pursue normalization of inter-Korean relations and an irreversible path to peace until the end. I hope efforts for dialogue will continue in the next administration, too, Moon said in his final New Years address. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Oil, Gas Outperform ESG as Sustainable Investing Peaks Oil and gas stocks outperformed fashionable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) companies in 2021. Despite getting hammered in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, energy businesses have returned to prominence over the past year. ExxonMobils stock price climbed by about 50 percent, Chevron advanced by roughly 40 percent, ConocoPhillips soared by 70 percent, and Suncor surged by 42 percent. But it has been Exxon and Chevron that have allowed many global energy equity funds to surpass a plethora of U.S. and European sustainable funds. Many ESG energy exchange-traded funds (ETF) underperformed the more conventional energy ETFs. The Parnassus Core Equity fund, which owns close to $23 billion in assets, saw its stock increase by 29 percent in 2021. The iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF enjoyed a 26.2 percent gain in 2021. In comparison, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF soared by nearly 40 percent, while the Vanguard Energy ETF swelled by more than 42 percent. The logo of Chevron is seen in Los Angeles on April 12, 2016. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) Market analysts have noted two trends unfolding: global oil demand is forecasted to continue its upward ascent in 2022 and 2023, and ESG fund inflows have potentially peaked. Some of the latest projections suggest that it could be another bullish year for oil and gas stocks. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is anticipating crude demand to be 4.2 million barrels per day in 2022, with the 13-member cartel dismissing the severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant at its latest meeting. Indeed, some of the recovery previously expected in 4Q21 is now shifted to 1Q22, followed by a more steady recovery throughout 2H22, OPEC stated in its December Monthly Oil Market Report. The impact of the new Omicron variant is expected to be mild and short-lived, as the world becomes better equipped to manage COVID-19 and its related challenges. This is in addition to a steady economic outlook in both the advanced and emerging economies. Banks pricing forecasts over the next year vary. Morgan Stanley is predicting prices at $85 per barrel amid an under-supplied market, but JPMorgan Chase is projecting crude oil to reach $125 per barrel in 2022. Other financial institutions, such as Barclays, are bracing for tighter global inventories in 2022, supporting prices at their best levels since 2014. Abhishek Deshpande, JP Morgans head of Oil Market Research and Strategy, is also monitoring several key events in 2022 that could affect prices, including renewed sanctions on Iran and increased domestic output. Sustainable Investing Under Scrutiny New data from Morningstar Direct show that U.S. and European ESG fund inflows might have peaked in the first quarter of 2021. During the January-to-March period, U.S. ESG fund flows totaled $22.6 billion, falling to $15.7 billion by the third quarter. European ESG fund flows reached $149 billion in the first three months of 2021 before dropping to $108 billion in the July-to-September span. The diminished inflows came as the industry launched a record 38 ESG equity funds in the third quarter of 2021, surpassing the previous record of 30 in the third quarter of 2020. A growing number of banks and investors are scrutinizing sustainable investment opportunities. Upon further inspection, Bank of America noted that many ESG funds had elevated their holdings in top technology companies, such as Alphabet and Google. At the same time, these ESG funds are underweight energy companies. Tariq Fancy, BlackRocks former chief investment officer for sustainable investing, has become a premier critic of the green investing bandwagon since leaving the Wall Street titan in 2019. He has noted that the various probes, particularly by Bloomberg Businessweek, have nudged the financial sector to become more careful of sustainable funds and the broader ESG movement. Fancy said these funds only benefit Wall Street, rather than environmentally and socially conscious organizations and investors. Theres no reason to believe it achieves anything beyond sort of giving them more fees, and my concern, obviously, is it would be creating a placebo on top of that, he told Bloomberg. Greenwashing has been one of the most notable concerns in the industry. This is the practice of disseminating misinformation on a corporations environmental impact. Asset management firms have been accused of misrepresenting their ESG investments so that they can sell higher-fee financial products with minimal environmental benefit. The unscrupulous behavior has triggered consternation among institutional investors. This past summer, a Schroders Institutional Investor Study discovered that more than half of the surveyed institutional investors identified greenwashing as a significant challenge when choosing ESG securities. Is enthusiasm dissipating? Experts say that it might depend on public policymaking pursuits at the federal and state levels. Despite mounting catalysts with the U.S. infrastructure plan and E.U. taxonomy requirements, the clean-energy sector may remain exposed to uncertainty linked to government support such as stimulus delays or incentives-cuts announcements, the most recent being in California, Adeline Diab, head of ESG research for EMEA and the Asia-Pacific region at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in December. But if institutions and investors are indifferent to the dubious components of ESG funds and integration, then perhaps oil and gas outperforming this realm will be the catalyst to waning interest. Still, the overall sustainable market had a stellar year. ESG-related ETFs garnered $130 billion in 2021, up from $75 billion in 2020. The issuance of sustainable bonds and loans ballooned to $1.5 trillion. Early-stage investment for climate-focused technology firms flirted with the $50 billion mark. OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Production to 400,000 BPD Despite Omicron The International organization of petroleum-exporting countries (OPEC) and its oil producing allies announced on Jan. 4, that they would increase oil production by a total of 400,000 barrels a day in February, as it appeared that the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus would have only a mild effect on demand and the global economic recovery. The 23-member oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia, stood by a previous decision to phase out production cuts after a slump in global demand during the pandemic. Todays decision would aim to reverse the deep cuts in production made in 2020, when demand for motor and aviation fuel plummeted because of the pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions. Oil prices rose with the news after remaining stable ahead of the decision, as Brent crude rose 79 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $79.80 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude went up 67 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $76.75 by late morning. OPEC+ announcement did not surprise most analysts as it had been expected that the organization and its allies would stick to their original plans. After initially falling in Q4 2021 when reports of the new variant hit in late November, oil prices and stocks have since recovered as the markets calmed down. Analysts believe that Omicron is unlikely to reduce demand for fuel, as the variant appears to have little effect on commuter activity. Global manufacturing activity also remained strong during the holiday season, with consumer demand recovering from 2020. However, a few regional crises may affect OPECs plans to increase production by the planned amount. Increasing tensions between NATO and Russia over Ukraine are affecting oil output, as European natural gas prices have soared more than 30 percent after low supplies from Russia reignited concerns about an energy crunch this winter. Higher prices for natural gas tends to boost demand for oil as utilities switch to burning crude. Meanwhile, the ongoing talks over Irans nuclear weapons production this year may have a further effect on market supply if economic sanctions are ever lifted. The International Energy Agency noted that OPEC had missed its production targets in October and November due to the capacity constraints of some its members. Oil prices are being affected as some OPEC countries such as Nigeria have not been able to keep up with their share of production, limiting supply. Oil production in Libya has been affected by civil unrest and pipeline maintenance problems, adding to disruptions two weeks ago after rebels blocked operations at two of the nations major oilfields. Libyan output is expected to be about 500,000 to 600,000 bpd lower in the coming weeks, which will more than offset the planned monthly increase in OPEC+ production, according to Caroline Bain, the Chief Commodities Economist at Capital Economics. OPEC still forecasts a production surplus in the first months of the year, compared with demand, but smaller than previously envisioned, according to the organizations Joint Technical Committee. Pelosi Accused of Stonewalling GOP Demand for Documents Detailing Her Jan. 6 Role Speaker's office denies accusation, pointing to statement that dismisses the request as 'pure revisionist fiction' Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is ignoring a demand from the top Republican on the House Administration Committee for documents and messages with important details of key decisions she made before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion at the U.S. Capitol. The events of January 6, 2021, exposed serious security vulnerabilities at the Capitol Complex. Unfortunately, over the past 12 months, House Democrats have been more interested in exploiting the events of January 6th for political purposes than in conducting basic oversight of the security vulnerabilities exposed that day, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) told Pelosi in a Jan. 3 letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Epoch Times. Davis is the ranking minority member of the administration panel. Republicans have sought to conduct this oversight ourselves, including understanding House officials preparedness for and response to the violence on January 6th. However, these House officials, who are appointed by and answer only to you, have blocked our access to key records necessary for this oversight, Davis told Pelosi. Accordingly, we write to demand that you instruct all House officers to immediately cease obstructing our oversight of the Capitol complexs security vulnerabilities, he said. Davis first requested the documents in February 2021, a few weeks after the incident that saw several hundred protestors penetrate the Capitol, including the Senate and House chambers. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) speaks in Washington on Jan. 9, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) The documents being sought, Davis told Pelosi, are necessary for our oversight, especially considering key assertions made by former [United States Capitol Police] (USCP) Chief Steven Sund that he communicated with then-House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving about preparations for January 6th. In a letter to you, Chief Sund wrote that he approached Mr. Irving in advance of January 6th to request the assistance of the National Guard. Chief Sund recounted how Mr. Irving stated that he was concerned about the optics of National Guard troops being present at the Capitol.' Davis said that Sund detailed other briefings and communications with senior officials in advance of and during the violence, including a conversation with Mr. Irving during the violence about authorizing the National Guard, in which Mr. Irving stated that he needed to run it up the chain of command. Chief Sunds assertions highlight the importance of understanding what direction, if any, Mr. Irving received with respect to the preparations and response to the January 6th violence. Irving strenuously denied Sunds account of their conversations while testifying before a Senate committee last year. When Irving was asked by two senators for documentation of his denial, his attorneys provided only summaries of the requested materials, not the documents themselves. Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifies in a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Rules and Administration committees joint hearing in Washington on Feb. 23, 2021. (Erin Scott/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Davis told reporters during a conference call earlier this week that the House sergeant at arms, at the direction of the Speaker, has refused to provide us their communications surrounding January 6. What everybody should be asking is, What is Speaker Pelosi hiding?' When asked if the Speaker had responded to Davis, Henry Connelly, Pelosis communications director, referred The Epoch Times to a statement issued by House Administration Committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). The Ranking Members letter is pure revisionist fiction. The Chief Administrative Officer and House Sergeant at Arms have already notified Ranking Member Davis they are complying with preservation requests and will fully cooperate with various law enforcement investigations and bonafide congressional inquiries, Lofgren said in the statement. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) speaks in Washington on Dec. 9, 2019. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Lofgren was referring to a Feb. 1, 2021, letter to Davis from House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor and Acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett in which they noted that they are taking appropriate steps within our authority, as requested by data owners, or as requested by law enforcement to preserve information and data related to the attack on the Capitol. We also anticipate working with any House and/or joint committees with appropriate jurisdiction, yet-to-be-enacted commissions that Congress may choose to establish and empower to investigate the events, and other entities that may become involved going forward. The California Democrat in her statement further described the Davis letter as yet another attempt by the minority party to distract and deflect. House Democrats will continue to examine the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack, identify lessons learned, and recommend laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations necessary to protect our republic in the future. During the same conference call with reporters earlier this week in which Davis commented, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee, said, You have conflicting testimony. The police chief and the CHPS have turned over the documents that have been requested, but the Sergeant at Arms hasnt. U.S. House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and House clerk Cheryl Johnson hold the two impeachment articles at the Senate chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 15. 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) When Mr. Irving gave that testimony that conflicted with what Chief Sund had stated, a couple of senators asked him, Why dont you turn over the information to clear this up, weve got two stories, turn over the documents, turn over the communications and you can clear this up. But Mr. Irvings lawyer said he could not do that, only the House Counsel could, so Mr. Davis then asked the House Counsel if he would give us that information, and of course the House Counsel, who also reports directly to the Speaker, will not turn over that information. House Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who also participated in the conference call, said House Republicans have conducted numerous interviews during the last few months with rank and file Capitol Police officers and other people who were willing to talk to us, and we keep hearing a repeated theme that they were not prepared for what happened on January 6. Demonstrators clash with police officers outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images) The intelligence was never shared with them that something might happen on that day, even though the intelligence was there for weeks prior to January 6, they werent equipped for what would happen that day, they had expired shields and faulty equipment, and many of the rioters had more sophisticated equipment than our own officers did, and they werent trained for what would happen on January 6, Banks said. Jordan and Banks were chosen by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to serve on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol that was established in the wake of the incident. But in an unprecedented move, Pelosi rejected both men for unspecified reasons. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 3, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Pentagon Considering Appeal of Order Blocking Enforcement of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Department of Defense officials are reviewing their options after a federal judge this week blocked the military from punishing a group of Navy SEALs who are seeking religious exemptions to the Pentagons COVID-19 vaccine mandate. We are aware, of course, of the injunction and were reviewing it and in discussions with the Department of Justice as to what options might be available to us going forward, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Tuesday. Kirby declined to comment further, citing the ongoing litigation. A group of Navy personnel filed the suit last year, arguing the administrations religious exemption process was a sham because none had been granted. U.S. Judge Reed OConnor, a George W. Bush nominee, agreed, alluding to how the Navy has granted just one religious accommodation request since 2015 and none for the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater. The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory. It merely rubber stamps each denial, OConnor wrote as he entered a preliminary injunction against the military branch. The way the process for adjudicating exemption requests is set up, the judge added, means the requests are denied the moment they begin. An appeal would send the case to an appeals court, which would decide whether to uphold the preliminary injunction or overturn it. The case could eventually go to the Supreme Court, which has so far declined to intervene against any COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The nations highest court, though, is scheduled on Jan. 7 to hear challenges to the Biden administrations private employer vaccine mandate. The militarys mandate received a fresh challenge from the state of Texas earlier Tuesday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued over the attempt to compel National Guardsmen to get vaccinated, asserting the Guard is under state control unless mobilized by the federal government. Neither the President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and non-federalized National Guardsmen to comply with a vaccination mandate or to direct a particular disciplinary action for failure to comply, Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement. This is one of the many examples of federal overreach by the Biden Administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, another Republican, ordered the states adjutant general not to punish any guardsmen for choosing not to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The Pentagon has maintained that it does have the authority to force National Guard troops to get vaccinated and a federal judge last month rejected a bid by Oklahoma to block the mandate. A vial and sryinge are seen in front of a displayed Pfizer and Biontech logo in this file illustration photograph. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Pfizer and BioNTech Announce Collaboration on mRNA Shingles Vaccines Pfizer and its German partner on Tuesday announced they will work together on a shingles vaccine that utilizes messenger RNA technology. Pfizer and BioNTech created one of the most-used COVID-19 vaccines in the world by using the technology, which had never been cleared for use in any countries before the pandemic. Under a new agreement, Pfizers antigen and BioNTechs mRNA platform will be combined while the companies will share development costs. Pfizer will pay BioNTech $225 million, while BioNTech will pay Pfizer $25 million. Pfizer will have rights to sell the vaccine globally while BioNTech will be able to market it in Germany, Turkey, and certain developing countries. Clinical trials are planned to start in the second half of this year. Pfizer and BioNTech co-developed the worlds first mRNA vaccine, providing a well-tolerated and effective tool to help address COVID-19the most devastating pandemic in a centuryand demonstrating consistent, agile, and high-quality manufacturing on an unprecedented scale, Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Pfizers chief scientific officer, said in a statement. With this agreement, we continue on our journey of discovery together, by advancing mRNA technology to tackle another health challenge ripe for scientific innovation, supported by our world-class manufacturing network. Dr. Ugur Sahin, BioNTechs CEO and co-founder, said the collaboration would leverag[e] the expertise and resources of both companies. Shingles is a form of the same virus that causes chickenpox; it appears in some people who got chickenpox. About one in three adults in the United States will develop shingles during their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the risk of getting it increasing as people get older. A rash develops, usually in a single stripe on the body, and other symptoms can include fever, chills, and headache. The rash usually clears up by itself within two to four weeks. The current recommended shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in all adults 18 and older last year. It had been available for adults 50 or older since 2017. Shingrix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is administered across two doses, the second of which is recommended two to six months after the first. Even people who had shingles are advised to get Shingrix because there is a risk of reinfection. GlaxoSmithKline reported making about $2.7 billion from Shingrix in 2020. Progressivism and American Foreign Policy Commentary Given the rise of the dominance of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, it is important to consider what a progressive foreign policy would be. While progressives have centered on domestic policy, there is only a matter of time before attention is turned to international politics. Progressivisms influence on foreign policy is important to address so that Americans know the full costs of progressive ideology. A central difficulty in discerning a progressive foreign policy is that it is not clear progressives have a coherent vision. There are two contradictory themes in progressive thought concerning U.S. power and foreign policy. First, progressives recognize that U.S. power may be used to advance their agenda in global politics and so are supportive of a strong U.S. military to advance progressive aims. Thus, it is reasonable that they will support a dominant role for the United States and the sustainment of a preeminent U.S. military and present alliance structure. At the same time, progressives will require greater involvement in Africa as well as Central and South Americathese states are touted by progressivism as their populations are relatively poor and victims of imperialism. Again, this is a result of progressivisms focus on race and discrimination against African Americans, and Africans should compel the elevation of African security issues to be the equal of European and Indo-Pacific concerns. Second, they would attempt to change unicultural NATO allies like Poland and Hungary, or major non-NATO allies like Australia and Japan to change their societies as progressives desire. The coercive tools employed will generate tension in the alliance relationships that China will strive to exploit. Third, Russias strong unicultural identity would cause extreme progressives to evaluate whether realismaccepting points of agreement with Russia on the China threatcould supplant ideological fervor and purity. If China is sufficiently adroit to make appeals to progressives against aligning with a racist Russian state, while touting the rise of China as a triumph for people of color globally against racist European or American empires of the past, then Beijings political warfare campaign would resonate with progressives and hinder a possible accommodation with Russia against China. A resident wearing mask naps on a bench near Beijings propaganda slogan Chinese dream in Wuhan, China, on April 1, 2020. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Equally, it could be that progressives reject the present role of the United States in global politics. This would be a significant change in U.S. grand strategy with major adverse implications for U.S. allies and provide considerable benefits for China. Progressives might do as primacy associated with the idea and practice of imperialism, the concept and practice of which historically has been linked to white supremacy in the progressive catechism. Soviet history has an echo of this when Leon Trotsky argued for the revolution to be spread globally, what he termed permanent revolution, and Josef Stalin favored building socialism in one country to secure the revolution. When Stalin outmaneuvered Trotsky, his alternative won; and with the Soviet Union as a secure base, he believed that the revolution would never be extinguished. The tension between exporting the revolution or building it at home is relevant for progressives today. By its own logic, progressives may reasonably argue that the creation of progressivism in the United States requires a form of progressive isolationism. That is, a progressive United States should become City upon a Hill as Pilgrim leader John Winthrop argued in 1630, albeit a fiercely secular City upon a Hill for progressives. As Winthrop argued in similar circumstancesthe Pilgrims and later Puritans sought to create a new society free from the wickedness of James Is and Charles Is Englandprogressives have the opportunity to create their New Jerusalema pure state cleansed of the evils of white supremacy, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, lookism, and discrimination against documented and undocumented immigrants. Like Winthrop, they seek to create this new society that requires isolation from the rest of the world to focus upon establishing a pure progressive society. This tension in the logic of progressivism is likely to be resolved in favor of sustaining U.S. power rather than adopting isolationism. This is because the logic of progressivism dictates that power is both acceptable and necessary when wielded by progressivism. Therefore, the power of the United States wedded to the ideology of progressivism will be inherently positive. Moreover, it is also necessary to ensure that non-progressive ideologies within the United States or in international politics do not return to a position of authority or political control. Were they to do so, the advance of progressivism could be checked or reversed. An ascendent progressivism provides China with a greater opportunity to undermine the United States in its domestic politics and its global position. The longer and more intense an ideological upheaval exists, the better for Chinas position to advance its interests, including the weakening of the United States through internal strife. Chinas ability to exploit U.S. internal divisions due to ideological upheaval is acute. U.S. ideological division allows China to offset the prodigious U.S. advantage in political warfare. The fact that the United States has created strong cultures of non-discriminationwell before the rise of progressivismwhile China has not and will not, and sustains its racism and supremacist ideology means that a true and powerful U.S. superiority and point of rightful pride by Americans in their society is rendered nugatory. The consequences of this are profound. First, the American people will not appreciate how U.S. society has changed and why it is superior to Chinas worldview. Second, this fact will be diminished for world populations, and international standards to combat racism will be removed or become feckless were China to dominate. As with other Western political principles and values, efforts to combat discrimination will be reversed under Chinas pressure. Abraham Lincolns recognition that the United States was the last best, hope of earth to create societies of genuine equality will be challenged and perhaps reversed. The incoherence of progressivisms foreign policy is dangerous, and underscores that the true costs of progressivism for the United States and its allies are yet to be considered in the political debate over progressive ideology. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. An animal caretaker with a group of rescued beagles at the Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Wyoming in 2021. (Courtesy of John Ramer) Rescue Organizations Work to Give Animals That Have Endured Years of Experimentation a New Life After a life of confinement and torturous experimentation, most laboratory animals, such as the beagles within the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAID), are euthanized, however, some rescue organizations have stepped in to show them a life outside of a cage. If the dogs are fortunate enough to be rescued, they experience a rebirth into a kinder and more spacious world the dogs greet with distrust. I call them newborns in adult bodies, Shannon Keith, president and founder of the California-based non-profit Beagle Freedom Project (BFP), told The Epoch Times. They dont know anything. They dont know what treats or toys are, she said, and the outdoors is an alien world to them. Once the beagles are rescued, they go into a foster-based system, never having to be housed in a facility again, but instead a home, where they learn to be a dog for the first time. Some of them just sit there like one dog from a recent rescue who had been in a cage for nine years, Keith said. When she got home, she just sat in the living room frozen for like eight hours and wouldnt move. The trauma is overwhelming. A beagle rescued by the Beagle Freedom Project in 2021. (Courtesy of the Beagle Freedom Project) In 2021, the White Coat Waste Project (WCWP) obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing that the federal government through the National Institute of Health (NIH) spends up to $20 billion of taxpayer funds on animal experimentation. WCWPs research disclosed the gratuitous and bizarre nature of the NIAIDs experiments on rhesus monkeys and beagles. The document obtained by the group reveals that NIAID has spent $13.5 million in taxpayer funding on experiments that involve injecting the monkeys with various infectious diseases, such as Ebola and the Lassa virus that results in hemorrhaging, pain, brain damage, loss of motor control, and organ failure. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the director of NIAID, a division of NIH, itself a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), three departments that have set the tone for policies surrounding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus. In many of these experiments, Fauci and staff intentionally withhold pain relief, even though these are some of the most excruciating experiments in the federal government, Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy for WCWP, told The Epoch Times. NIAIDs experiments on beagles involved having sandflies eat the dogs alive, as well as experiments in which 44 beagle puppies were force-fed an experimental drug before being killed and dissected. In another procedure highlighted, NIAID staff performed a cordectomy, which involves cutting a dogs vocal cords so that it cant bark, howl, or cry during an experiment. The reason that the Department of Health and Human Services gives on its website for using beagles is that they are small and docile, meaning they are easy to abuse, Goodman said. Despite many medical experts, such as Dr. Tiffani Milless and Dr. Stacy Lopresti-Goodman concurring that animal experiments are notoriously unreliable, theres been no indication from NIH or NIAID that the organizations will cease its experiments on animals. A beagle rescued from a lab in 2021 by the Beagle Freedom Project after years of experimentation. (Courtesy of the Beagle Freedom Project) Beagle Freedom Bill The BFP rescues beagles from private, state, and federally funded laboratories. Last week, it rescued seven puppies from a pharmaceutical-testing laboratory. They come with no name, only a federal identification number tattooed in their ear, Keith said. Thats all theyre known by, and a lot of the times their vocal cords are cut so they cant make sounds. Keith, an animal-rights attorney, liberated the organizations first beagles in 2010, and from there, began outreach programs to educate the public and legislators on what is taking place in these laboratories. They work to hide this, so its been my goal to get it into public view and to start creating legislation to end it, Keith said. In 2014, Keith drafted the Beagle Freedom Bill, or the Humane Retirement Act, a template to send out to all states for legislators to consider in requiring these labs to release the animals to non-profit rescue organizations instead of killing them when the experiments are completed. Eleven states have enacted post-research adoption laws similar to the intent of the bill. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2021 report, 797,546 animals were used for experimentation in 2019. Approximately 59,000 dogs and 19,000 cats are used in biomedical research annually, according to BFP. Eighty-eight percent of the dogs (52,321) and over 76 percent of cats (14,609) used in experiments are in states that dont have post-research adoption laws, according to BFP. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 required the USDA to regulate organizations that house animals, and as a part of that regulation, it must disclose through annual reports how many animals, what kind, and where these organizations house the animals. Keith uses USDA data and a whistleblower hotline to locate labs that could be willing to release the beagles. His Hands Are Bloody On NIAIDs experiments, Keith told OAN that Fauci is culpable in his refusal to end the experiments, which she said he has the authority to do. Whether or not he actually signed off on specific tests, or his hands are bloody from those tests, he is directly responsible, period, and therefore the blood is on his hands, she said. In a response to The Epoch Times, the NIH said animals in NIH-funded research are protected by federal laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the smallest possible number of subjects and the greatest commitment to their welfare, which includes ensuring that harm and distress are minimized as much as possible. Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary Lab-tested animals also have a refuge at the Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Hartville, Wyoming, where Executive Director John Ramer manages a 1,100-acre ranch founded by Dr. David Groobman. In 2021, Ramer said he carried 176 dogs out of research labs. The sanctuary takes in animals of all species from labs that perform experiments ranging from nicotine studies to narcotics research. Currently, there are over 100 animals at the sanctuary, with a full-time staff of 12. Ramer spends about two hours a day cold calling research facilities in search of potential releases. Like BFP, Ramer must sign a contract to protect the confidentiality of the facility as a part of the rescue. In September, I was made aware of a facility in Texas that was looking to place over 100 dogs, so I hopped on a plane and literally just knocked on the door and introduced myself, Ramer said. Less than a month later, they released 112 dogs to me. Though hes been met with resistance, Ramer said, many labs become amicable when they see a willingness to not name the facility. The sanctuary hasnt taken on a public advocacy role to stop animal testing, he said. Our mission is to develop relationships with testing facilities to offer an alternative to euthanasia, Ramer said. Though he has strong feelings about animal testing having personally witnessed the challenges in getting the animals to trust and interact, Ramer said there are already many animal-rights groups that work on the advocacy side. When animals are introduced into the outside world for the first time, Ramer said they express fear and uncertainty, which is difficult to see, however, its rewarding to watch them adjust to a new life in preparation for adoption. They Deserve Better Animal rescuers often report facing insurmountable odds in their efforts as they bear witness to indescribable suffering and grief. Compassion fatigue has become a documented condition for animal rescuers, a job reported to carry the highest suicide rate among American workers, shared only with firefighters and police officers. Despite these hazards, Keith sees it as the responsibility of all humans to take action to protect those creatures that cant speak for themselves, she said. All animals are individuals who feel pain, Keith said. Most suffer in silence, and therefore, it is not only our job but our responsibility to speak out for them and take action to protect them no matter the cost, no matter the distance, no matter. These are our dogs and they deserve better. A beagle at the Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Wyoming in 2021. Protesters seeking payment from China Evergrande Group gather as police officers stand guard outside the Evergrande International Center in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Jan. 4, 2022. (David Kirton/Reuters) Return Our Money! Evergrande Investors Protest at Office of Chinese Developer GUANGZHOU, ChinaInvestors in financial products issued by China Evergrande Group protested outside the cash-strapped companys offices in Guangzhou on Tuesday, with many worried that their returns would be sacrificed to keep real estate projects afloat. Members of the crowd of roughly 100 people shouted Evergrande, return our money!, reprising a chant used by disgruntled investors and suppliers last autumn as the deterioration in its financial position became apparent. On Friday, Evergrande announced a dial-back of plans to repay investors in its wealth management products, announcing that each could expect 8,000 yuan ($1,256) per month in principal payment for three months starting in January, irrespective of when their investment matures. Once Chinas top selling developer but now reeling under more than $300 billion in liabilities, Evergrande had previously agreed to repay 10 percent by the end of the month when the product matured, without specifying an amount. The change sparked investor fear that they wont get their money back. I think its hopeless, and Im scared, but if we dont fight for our rights, thats worse, said a retired woman surnamed Du who was among those outside Evergrandes offices in the southern Chinese metropolis and said she had invested one million yuan in Evergrande wealth management products. The economys not good at the moment, these are ordinary people and they need this money for kids, for supporting their parents, she said. China Evergrande did not respond to a request for comment on the protestor on the concerns of the investors. Police officers stand guard outside the Evergrande International Center where protesters have gathered to seek payment from China Evergrande Group, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Jan. 4, 2022. (David Kirton/Reuters) By midday, about 60 of those protesting had been hemmed in by rows of security personnel. Videos circulating in WeChat groups showed several people being detained at the scene. In the afternoon, a group of 20 remaining protesters were told to leave a street near Evergrandes offices, while security stopped and took the details of at least three people who tried to describe their experiences to a Reuters reporter. High Yields and Gucci Bags Lured by the promise of yields approaching 12 percent, gifts such as Dyson air purifiers and Gucci bags, and the guarantee of Chinas top-selling developer, tens of thousands of investors bought wealth management products through Evergrande. More than 80,000 peopleincluding employees, their families, and friends as well as owners of Evergrande propertiesbought products that raised more than 100 billion yuan in the past five years, said a sales manager of Evergrande Wealth, launched in 2016 as a peer-to-peer (P2) online lending platform that originally was used to fund its property projects. We worry we will be sacrificed, said a 34-year-old protester who works in e-commerce and would only give her name as Sophie, for fear of reprisal from authorities. Its okay for younger people like me, we can still earn it back, but Im worried about the older ones who put everything into this, she said. Protesters and members of messaging groups of people owed money by Evergrande have said they had been told by police not to cause trouble, and had seen their chat groups blocked. Sophie said police had taken her to the station four times since she joined protests at Evergrandes headquarters in the nearby city of Shenzhen in September. We dont know what happens to our money but were expected to keep quiet, its not right, she said. ($1 = 6.3718 Chinese yuan renminbi) By David Kirton Taiwanese air force pilots run pass an armed U.S.-made F-16V fighter jet at an air force base in Chiayi, a city in southern Taiwan, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) Taiwan Should Destroy Islands Semiconductor Plants If China Invades, Paper Says The proposed deterrence strategy aims at hurting the Chinese economy A scorched-earth policy involving Taiwan destroying its own advanced semiconductor plants in the event of a Chinese invasion would be a good deterrence strategy for the self-ruled island against warmongering China, according to a recent paper published by the U.S. Army War College. In practice, this strategy means assuring China an invasion of Taiwan would produce a major economic crisis on the mainland, not the technological boon some have suggested would occur as a result of the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] absorbing Taiwans robust tech industry, the papers (pdf) authors state. The key is to make Taiwan unwantable, the paper states, and the economic costs would persist for years even after the regime in Beijing had taken over the island. The paper, titled Broken Nest: Deterring China from Invading Taiwan, was published in the last 2021 issue of the institutions quarterly journal Parameters, an official U.S. Army periodical. Jared McKinney, chair of the department of strategy and security studies at the eSchool of Graduate Professional Military Education at Air University, and Peter Harris, associate professor of political science at Colorado State University, are the authors. The strategy centers around Chinas current heavy reliance on importing semiconductors, which are tiny devices that power everything from computers, smartphones, and electric vehicles, to missiles. According to Chinas state-run media, Beijing imported over $350 billion worth of chips in 2020. That year, only 5.9 percent of semiconductors ($8.3 billion) used in China were manufactured domestically, according to a report by U.S.-based semiconductor market research company IC Insights. In October last year, IC Insights warned that the Chinese regime believes it can solve its problem of not being able to produce leading-edge semiconductors through reunification with Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as a part of its territory even as the self-governing island is a de facto independent country with its own democratically elected officials, military, and currency. Currently, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, and Samsung in South Korea are the only companies in the world capable of making the most advanced five-nanometer chips. TSMC is scheduled to produce the next-generation three-nanometer chips in the second half of this year. A chip by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) at the 2020 World Semiconductor Conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, on Aug. 26, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) As chips get smaller in size, they deliver more performance-per-watt, meaning that they run at a faster speed while consuming less power. The paper recommends that Taiwan destroy facilities belonging to TSMC in the face of a Chinese invasion, given that the Taiwanese chipmaker is Chinas most important supplier. The challenging aspect of the strategy would be to make the scorched-earth strategy credible to the Chinese regime, according to the papers authors. If China suspects Taipei would not follow through on such a threat, then deterrence will fail, they explain. The authors recommend that Taiwanese authorities set up an automatic mechanism to destroy TSMCs plants, to be triggered once an invasion [by Beijing] was confirmed. Without Taiwanese chips, Chinas economy would take a hit and Beijing would be unable to maintain sustained economic growth, hurting the Chinese Communist Partys legitimacy to rule mainland China, according to the paper. The purpose here must be to convince Chinese leaders invading Taiwan will come at the cost of core national objectives: economic growth, domestic tranquility, secure borders, and perhaps even the maintenance of regime legitimacy, the authors add. The authors offered several other recommendations that could further deter China from invading Taiwan. These include the United States threatening to lead a global sanction campaign against any chip exports to China, or giving a green light for U.S. allies such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia to develop their own nuclear weapons, if the invasion takes place. If penalties for invading Taiwan can be made severe and credible enough, Beijing could still be deterred from choosing such a course of action, the paper states. The authors also note that they were told by a Chinese analyst with ties to Chinas navy that Beijings goal for a successful invasion of Taiwan was 14 hours, and Beijing estimated that it would take 24 hours for the United States and Japan to respond. If this scenario is close to being accurate, Chinas government might well be inclined to attempt a fait accompli as soon as it is confident in its relative capabilities, the authors write. In October last year, Taiwans defense minister warned that the Chinese regime will be capable of mounting a full-scale invasion of the island by 2025. If Taiwan fell to China, a successful democracy would be extinguished, and Beijings geopolitical position in East Asia would be enhanced at the expense of the United States and its allies, the authors write. U.S. Forest Service firefighter Ben Foley lights backfires to slow the spread of the Dixie Fire, a wildfire near the town of Greenville, Calif., on Aug. 6, 2021. (Fred Greaves/Reuters) Tree Falling on PG&E Electric Line Started Northern Californias Dixie Fire in July: Officials Officials in California on Tuesday said that wildfires that scorched across northern parts of the state last summer were caused when a tree fell on an electrical line owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). In a statement, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said that following a meticulous and thorough investigation, it had determined that the Dixie Fire was caused by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) located west of Cresta Dam. Last Julys wildfire, known as Dixie Fire, burned a total of 963,309 acres across the counties of Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama, destroyed 1,329 structures, and damaged 95 additional structures, according to officials. Cal Fire said it had forwarded its report to the District Attorneys Office in Butte County, where the fire began. The Dixie Fire started on July 13 last year in Feather River Canyon southeast of Lassen Volcanic National Park and forced thousands of people to flee their homes while strong winds and extreme drought conditions plagued the regions. Multiple firefighters were injured while battling the blaze but no civilians were injured. The Dixie Fire reached 100 percent containment on Oct. 26, 2021. In a statement on Tuesday, PG&E said the tree that struck the power line was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines. As we shared in our public statement in Chico in July after the start of the Dixie Fire, a large tree struck one of our normally operating lines, the statement read. Taking a bold step forward, PG&E has committed to burying 10,000 miles of lines in addition to the mitigations included in PG&Es 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Regardless of todays finding, we will continue to be tenacious in our efforts to stop fire ignitions from our equipment and to ensure that everyone and everything is always safe, the company said. This is not the first time that equipment from utility company PG&E has been blamed for starting wildfires in California. In 2020, PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a devastating 2018 wildfire in Northern California known as Camp Fire that destroyed much of the town of Paradise. At the time, PG&E said in a statement: Our hearts are with the communities impacted by the Camp Fire. The loss of life and property is staggering. We are supporting communities and local agencies as they work to recover. Last year, the County of Sonoma, City of Santa Rosa, Town of Windsor, City of Cloverdale, and City of Healdsburg announced they had reached a collective $31 million settlement with PG&E for public and natural resource injuries and damages caused by the 2019 Kincade Fire, which started on Oct. 23, 2019. The Kincade Fire burned approximately 77,758 acres, destroyed 374 structures and forced nearly 200,000 residents to leave their homes. PG&E also agreed to pay $125 million in fines and penalties under a settlement reached with the California Public Utilities Commissions Safety and Enforcement Division over the Kincade Fire. Earlier last year, PG&E emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which the company said marked the beginning of PG&Es next chapteras a fundamentally improved company and the safe and reliable utility that its customers, communities and California deserve. Trump Ramps Up Endorsements for Candidates With Strong Stances on Election Integrity Former President Donald Trump is increasingly endorsing candidates for state and national office who align with his views on election integrity, according to a review of the nearly 90 endorsements Trump doled out since leaving office earlier last year. Of the 41 candidates Trump endorsed since the off-year election on Nov. 2, 36 had either taken decisive action to side with Trump on election integrity or had received an endorsement featuring an explicit reference to their stance on the issue. That makes for a rate of nearly 90 percent in the seven weeks since Nov. 2, a sharp increase from the Trump endorsements leading up to that date. Of the 48 candidates Trump endorsed between Jan. 25 and Nov. 2, roughly half met the same criteria on election integrity. The focus on election integrity is no surprise considering that the issue has taken on paramount significance for Trump from the early days of the aftermath of the 2020 election. The former president devoted a large portion of his first public speech since leaving the White House to the issue and has not toned down his scrutiny of election irregularities since. Its, I think, the number one issue, Trump said at a rally on Nov. 5. There has been a lot of cheating in elections over the years, but its never been like this. They just went crazy. And they did because they had no idea that we were going to get so many votes. Trump has endorsed nine of 147 Republican members of Congress who voted on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 to object to the counting of the presidential electors from Arizona and Georgia. The former president has also endorsed a number of state-level lawmakers. In most cases, he made explicit references to the candidates stance on election integrity in his formal endorsement statement. In cases when he did not, the candidates have made their position on the issue clear on their campaign websites. In Michigan alone, Trump has endorsed 10 candidates for the states legislature as well as the Republicans running for secretary of state and attorney general, all with direct references to their strong stances on election integrity. Super Lawyer Matthew DePerno is running for Attorney General in the Great State of Michigan. He has defended the Constitution for 20 years, and has been on the front lines pursuing fair and accurate elections, as he relentlessly fights to reveal the truth about the Nov. 3rd Presidential Election Scam, reads a typical election-integrity-related endorsement from Trump. Trumps focus on the state-level candidates in Michigan is likely linked to his frustration with the progress of the election inquiry in the state. Trump voiced his vexation on Dec. 21, blaming the lack of progress on Republican RINOs in the Michigan House and Senate who dont want to touch the subject. Although election integrity emerged as the top issue for Trump after the 2020 election, his concern about voter fraud dates back years. Trump claimed that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 election. Shortly after taking office in 2017, he established an election integrity task force, which ultimately folded after Democrat-controlled states refused to share voter rolls and other data. The former presidents recent endorsements are also a reflection of his warnings to the Republican party that perceived systemic election issues may dampen voter turnout unless the GOP moves swiftly to rectify the system. If we dont solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in 22 or 24, Trump said in a statement on Oct. 13. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do. Democrats decry Trumps election integrity rhetoric as the Big Lie and generally label all of his concerns as being false and debunked. While a number of Trumps claims do fall into that category, the validity of many others has yet to be determined. Trump has been pushing for state-level audits both in the states where he challenged the outcome of the 2020 election and beyond. A review of the 2020 election in Wisconsin conducted by a conservative public interest legal firm and released earlier this month found that while there was no evidence of outright fraud or so-called late-night ballot dumps, more illegal votes were almost certainly cast in the contest than Joe Bidens official margin of victory. In late September, the Republican-ordered audit of the 2020 election in the states most populous county found only minor discrepancies in the final official vote count but reported a number of inconsistencies. Trump has issued a number of endorsements to candidates who dont align with his views on the 2020 election. Among these is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who openly criticized Trumps conduct tied to the 2020 election. Grassley didnt join a handful of Republican Senators on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 in objecting to the counting of the electoral vote. Trump is the de-facto leader of the Republican Party and any candidate with his endorsement is virtually assured to sail to victory in the primary election. His endorsement track record in general elections is likewise impressive. According to Ballotpedia, in 2020, 141 of the 183 candidates Trump endorsed triumphed in their races. Archbishop Desmond Tutu holds a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva after Israel blocked a UN human rights fact-finding mission led by Tutu to Beit Hanun on the Gaza Strip, on Dec. 11, 2006. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images) Tutu Leaves Outstanding Human Rights Legacy, but His Antisemitism Shouldnt Be Overlooked Commentary Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace prize and a central figure in South Africas anti-apartheid movement, died at age 90 on Dec. 26. As befitted his historical stature, the New York Times accorded generous wordage to his obituary. Archbishop Tutus calls for economic sanctions were instrumental in amassing the international pressure that forced an end to an odious system of institutionalized racism. Among his many outstanding accomplishments, Tutu served as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, using his influential position to urge what he called the principle of restorativerather than retributivejustice. He stood firmly against violence and urged blacks and whites to bridge the chasm between them. He spoke his often-discomfiting truths to black leaders, as well as white. As the Times put it, he was a spellbinding preacher, his sermons laced with his hallmark wit and humour, ever upbeat, showcasing his winning effervescence, while inviting his audience into a jubilant bond of fellowship. More! Tutu was a committed husband and father. He was modest, punctual, appreciative of bellhops, uncomfortable with limousines. He illustrated childrens books. In spite of his sufferings, he did not allow himself to hate his enemies. Indeed, he was generous in forgiving his enemies. My goodness, was there ever such a paragon of ethical and moral leadership? Well, not quite. Nobody is completely flawless, and Archbishop Tutus otherwise pristine copybook does display one rather unattractive stain. But you would look in vain for it in the fulsome New York Times obituary. So we turn now to Alan Dershowitzs obituary, published by the Gatestone Institute. Dershowitz acknowledges that Tutu is a symbol of reconciliation, but he was also an unregenerate antisemite. He did not even trouble to veil his antisemitism as mere anti-Zionism. Tutu made his distaste for Jews clear in his discourse, with the use of classic antisemitic tropes like Jewish arrogance, power, and money. Tutu minimized the suffering of Holocaust victims, asserting that the gas chambers made for a neater death than apartheid did. He complained about the Jewish Monopoly of the Holocaust, demanding that its victims forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust, even though he himself did not forgive the Jews for persecuting others. He not only believed in antisemitism, he actively promoted and legitimated Jew-hatred among his many followers and admirers around the world, Dershowitz writes. Tutu likened Zionism to racism, recalling the infamous 1975 United Nations Zionism is Racism resolution, which was passed, but eventually revoked. He accused Israeli Jews of doing things that even Apartheid South Africa had not done. He compared Israel to Hitlers Germany, as well as to the Soviet Union, predicting Israel would bit[e] the dust, as the two other evil regimes did. He demanded boycotts of Jewish academics in Israel, but not Muslim or Christian Israelis. Such a distinction speaks to Jew hatred, not anti-Zionism. But when accused of antisemitism, Dershowitz reports, Tutu would often flippantly respond, Tough luck, or My dentists name is Dr. Cohen. NYT did allude to the fact that Tutu once urged the Cape Town Opera to refuse to perform the (Jewish) George Gershwins opera Porgy and Bess in Tel Aviv, but not as an example of antisemitism. Here is how they put it: In 2010 [Archbishop Tutu] unsuccessfully urged a touring Cape Town opera company not to perform in Israel, invoking South Africas struggle against apartheid in criticizing Israels policy toward Palestinians. He said that the companys production of Porgy and Bess should be postponed until both Israeli and Palestinian opera lovers of the region have equal opportunity and unfettered access to attend performances. Note the word criticizing which hardly characterizes Tutus abuses of the Jewish state. They make it out to be a perfectly normal position to link Palestinian Authority residents access to Tel Aviv operas to South Africas apartheid regime, even though Israeli Arabs had free access to the performance. Here is Dershowitzs treatment of the same incident: [Tutu] urged the Cape Town Opera to refuse to perform George Gershwins Porgy and Bess in Tel Aviv and called for a total cultural boycott of Jewish Israel (my emphasis), while encouraging performers to visit the most repressive regimes in the world. The call for a boycott of Jewish Israelis is a critical feature of the story that NYT skipped. A call for a boycott is a call for deligitimation. It is one of the tactics that brought down South Africas apartheid regime. All of Tutus accusations against Jews and Israel were demonstrably baseless canards, but ordinary antisemites believe them, because it gives them comfort to think their inchoate hatred is justified. It is tiresome to be forced to adduce evidence that Israel is not an apartheid state, but here is a case where needs must. Arab Israelis enjoy full citizenship in Israeli society. There are Arab justices on the Supreme Court, and Arab political parties (an Arab Israeli now sits in the cabinet). About 20 percent of doctors in Israel and about half of pharmacists are Arab, in positive disproportion to their numbers. They treat everyone, whether Jewish, Muslim, or Druze. The list could go on and on. Such facts make a mockery of the very word apartheid in the mouth of a survivor, let alone a hero of apartheids demolition. Yet Archbishop Tutu had no qualms about weaponizing the word for hateful purpose. He knew very well that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, that the Israeli government is not guilty of censorship of their media, as he claimed (quite the contrary, but the Palestinian media are censored), and that Muslim Israelis enjoy equality rights that Christians in Muslim countries can only dream of. So it is especially shamefula disgrace to the anti-apartheid movementthat Tutu would use his celebrity and lend his pulpit to bruit the kind of hateful messaging that one associates here with the white-supremacist dregs of society. Dershowitz concludes by asking, at a time of increasing antisemitism in the world, that any decision on canonization of Archbishop Tutustatues or other forms of homagetake his decidedly mixed legacy into consideration. This is naturally for South Africans to decide. Personally, I would be very surprised if this particular form of bigotry were to be any impediment whatsoever to Tutus lavish memorialization. Antisemitism is not like other hatreds. Not only because it is the oldest, but because it is the easiest to ignore, the easiest to exploit, the easiest to forget, and the easiest to forgive. Why? Like all antisemites, Tutu had a ready explanation: Whether Jews like it or not, they are a peculiar people. They cant ever hope to be judged by the same standards which are used for other people. For people who are not antisemites, the ancient question remains unanswered. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid leaves after a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in central London on Dec. 14, 2021. (Tolga Akmen /AFP via Getty Images) UK Activist Against CCP Virus Vaccines Charged After Being Arrested Outside Health Secretarys Home A 60-year-old man has been charged after he was arrested outside Health Secretary Sajid Javids home in London. Geza Tarjanyi, a campaigner against CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccines and the UK governments pandemic policy, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday, charged with having an article with intent to destroy or damage property under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. The Metropolitan Police didnt release any details on the article. Tarjanyi was released on bail and is due to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on Feb. 1. The Lancashire activist reportedly knocked on the door at Javids home on Monday and served his young daughter with a warning about the vaccines, a tactic he had used on medical broadcaster Dr. Hilary Jones last year, when he pushed a leaflet into Joness letterbox with a wooden spatula. A short video online appears to show police officers knocking what looks like a spray can out of Tarjanyis hand before handcuffing him. He told the officers that he wanted to be arrested, before turning to his cameraman, saying: Lets see if I get my day in court. This is Sajid Javids house. Hes now been served papers. Hes now been put on notice. Get this to every MP in the country. Tarjanyi previously followed and filmed Englands Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tamboth of whom regularly appear with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in COVID-19 press briefingsin the streets in two separate incidents, accusing them of lying to the nation about COVID-19 and threatened, All of you liars will be going to prison for genocide. In a video dated Oct. 28, 2021, Tarjanyi was shown filming himself walking to Joness house in Kent, and pushing through the door his Yellow Card Leaflet with information on informed consent and alleged side effects of the CCP virus vaccines printed on the front, and assertions such as vaccinated people are dangerous for others on the back. The activist said in the video that the tactic was aimed at creating a debate. Labours shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said it was completely unacceptable that anti-vaxxers turned up at Javids home. Best wishes to the Health Secretary and his family. They shouldnt have to deal with this, he wrote on Twitter. It comes after Javid said he was appalled by the vile behaviour of protesters who disrupted a test and trace centre in Milton Keynes on Dec. 29. In an email to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said, We keep all available evidence under review and we will continue to follow the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the future of our COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Epoch Times has reached out to Tarjanyi for comment. This report has been updated with the response from the DHSC. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual press conference to update the nation on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Downing Street briefing room in central London, on Jan. 4, 2022. (Jack Hill/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) UK Government Refuses to Scrap Green Levies Amid Soaring Energy Prices The UK government has rejected calls from Conservative lawmakers to cut green levies and other taxes to ease the pressure on British households amid soaring energy prices. Households are expected to see a steep rise in energy costs in April as suppliers are due to increase prices after the cost of gas in wholesale markets rose by more than 500 percent in less than a year. In a letter published in The Sunday Telegraph, the lawmakers from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, argued that the cost of the UK governments climate policy was partly to blame for the rising energy costs. The letter urged the government to remove the environmental levies on domestic energy, which it said amount to 23 percent of electricity bills, and to cut VAT on energy bills, which will mean a 5 percent reduction in energy prices. But Downing Street on Tuesday defended the green levies and blamed the energy price rises on volatile global gas prices. Prime Minister Boris Johnsons official spokesman said, The exposure to volatile global gas prices underscores the importance of our plan to build a strong, home-grown renewable energy sector to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Its right that we invest in this and ultimately bring down the cost of renewable energy sources while supporting lower-income and vulnerable households with their energy bills, he said. Number 10 also rejected the call to remove VAT from domestic fuel bills, saying it would not necessarily cut costs for consumers. Speaking at a Downing Street briefing on Tuesday, Boris Johnson said removing VAT is a bit of a blunt instrument, as the difficulty is that you end up also cutting fuel bills for a lot of people who perhaps dont need the support in quite the direct way that we need to give it. He said he appreciates the difficulties that people are facing because of the increase in gas prices and is not ruling out further measures. The main opposition Labour Party criticised the prime minister for going back on his promise made during the 2016 Brexit campaign to cut VAT on household energy bills. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: Boris Johnson promised not once but three times to cut VAT on household energy bills during and after the Brexit referendum campaign. Yet now hes happy to go back on his word, and is trying to muddy the waters on a change that would help ease the burden on households facing soaring energy bills. PA Media contributed to this report. United and Spirit Airlines Increase Pay for Pilots and Flight Attendants to Offset Labor Shortages The airlines announced the temporary pay bumps for select staff members on Friday In the wake of a holiday season full of flight cancellations across the U.S., airlines are doing what they can to keep their employees happy and working. For United and Spirit, that means a temporary pay bump for their pilots and flight attendants. Business Insider reported that United pilots who work additional flights through January 29 will receive triple pay, and Spirit flight attendants will take home double pay through January 4. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant continues to wreak havoc when it comes to air travel. Not only can crew members expect mass delays and cancellations (20,000 since Christmas Eve alone), but, increasingly, theyre also subjected to the whims of unruly passengers who frequently refuse to follow masking policies. Related: Disgruntled Customers Sound Off on Southwest Airlines Amid Cancellations In a letter circulated on Friday and obtained by Insider, Uniteds Senior Vice President for Flight Operations Brian Quigley informed pilots of the triple pay opportunity. Thank you all for your hard work and professionalism during this holiday season, he wrote. We continue to do everything we can to take care of our customers during this challenging time, and today Im happy to share a significant update: We worked with the ALPA to provide additional compensation for pilots. Spirit Airlines staff were notified of pay incentives on Friday via their union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. All flight attendants, regardless of how you have obtained your pairing, will be receiving 200 percent pay for any pairing that touches Dec. 28 through Jan. 4, the AFA-CWA said in a statement. Despite airlines best efforts and new CDC quarantine guidelines, nationwide flight cancellations continue with no clear end in sight. According to FlightAware, todays travel disruptions already include 1,040 delays and 1,193 cancellations. Related: American Airlines Has Cancelled More Than 2000 Flights Since Friday A health worker shows a vial of China's Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19 at a health centre in La Paz, Bolivia, on March 1, 2021. (Aizar Raldes/AFP via Getty Images) Vaccine Mandates Dividing Bolivia, Sparking Protests and Legal Action Protest groups in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and La Paz organized demonstrations against two hardline anti-COVID-19 decrees issued by the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party. Both mandates, which took effect on Jan. 1, outline vaccination requirements and dictate that residents must be inoculated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus or present a negative PCR test to enter any public spaces. The MAS announced the decrees on Dec. 28. Subsequently, opposition parties filed legal action against the government in constitutional courts across the country. These [government] orders are in direct violation of Bolivias constitution, specifically part two of article 44, attorney Carlos Choque told The Epoch Times. Article 44 of Bolivias constitution explicitly states that no person shall be subjected to scientific or medical experiments without his or her consent. The decrees came as an end-of-year push to boost the nations vaccination rates against the CCP virus. Bolivia has one of the lower vaccination rates in Latin America, with only 40.4 percent of the countrys population registered as fully immunized. By contrast, 66 percent of neighboring Perus population is fully inoculated, while Chile has managed to vaccinate 87.3 percent of its people. The CCP virus has killed 19,733 people in Bolivia since January 2020, according to World Health Organization data. Among those supporting the protest movement are six farmers unions in La Paz, which historically have been ardent supporters of the MAS party and President Luis Arce. On Jan. 3, union leaders, representatives of the evangelical church, doctors, and civic organizers in El Alto filed a popular action appeal against the decrees in the constitutional court of La Paz. The court will have 10 days to decide whether to accept the appeal, which rejects the required digital vaccination card for entry to areas such as supermarkets, banks, and places of worship. Union leaders in La Paz also asked for the immediate dismissal of the minister of health, Jeyson Auza, for not consulting with the people before issuing decrees 4640 and 4641. The same group also threatened Deputy Minister of Consumer Protection Jorge Silva, who made a statement on Dec. 26 suggesting jail time up to 10 years for those who violate the mandates. Silva quickly rescinded his statement the following day due to an avalanche of social pressure and personal threats from farmers unions in El Alto and La Paz. So far, representatives from 20 rural provinces in La Paz [department] have said their people wont comply with the orders, Choque said. The decrees also prevent unvaccinated employees who have in-person jobs from going to work. Regarding the appeal, Dr. Guery Cordero said: We summon the minister of justice to tell us how is it fair to require a license to buy food? And to the minister of labor, how is it fair that a person, simply because they do not have a card, cannot carry out their work? On Jan. 3, members of the womens activist group Ana Barbaalong with the Creemos, a right-wing political alliance, Comunidad Ciudadana, a centrist coalition, and Crucena Parliamentary Brigadefiled actions against the MAS government in the constitutional court of Sucre. The parties that filed also claimed violation of their constitutional rights. With these impositions of the national government through the Ministry of Health, human freedoms are being violated, trampling the political constitution of the state and international treaties, said Pamela Flores, a spokesperson for the movement. For that reason, we ask for repeal [of the decrees]. In response to the multiple appeals, the nations minister of justice, Ivan Lima, said he regretted the protest movements and legal actions. He said they intend to confuse the population, the majority of which he said have no issues complying with the orders. The argument is there would be a violation of rights to health and international regulations, prohibiting Bolivians from having the vaccination plan the national government has proposed, which is not evident, Lima said. He reiterated that those who chose not to receive the vaccine had the option to pay for a PCR test, which costs about $120 and must be obtained within 48 hours, to enter public facilities. Protesters opposed to the mandate in El Alto swarmed one of the citys vaccination points on Dec. 28 after the announcement of the decrees. Angry citizens threatened to destroy all the vaccine doses at the facility and physically attacked health care personnel. On the other side of the country, peaceful marches against the decrees took place at the 14 de Septiembre Plaza in Cochabamba, and also in Santa Cruz, on Dec. 30. You cant tell people they have to be vaccinated or lose their ability to work or buy food. This violates our basic human freedoms, Santa Cruz resident Alejandro Garcia told The Epoch Times. White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 4, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) White House Says It Expects Progress With Russia in Talks, Calls Some Russian Proposals Not Viable The White House said it expects to make progress with Russia during talks next week, but that some of Moscows proposals are not viable. The two countries have scheduled three sets of talks to take place in Europe. The meetings start on Jan. 10 in Geneva with talks between U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and her Russian counterpart, to be followed by a meeting of the NATORussia Council two days later. Then on Jan. 13, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will meet to discuss broader European security. The United States will be represented by its ambassador to the organization, Mike Carpenter. The talks are taking place as Russia has amassed troops at its border with Ukraine in recent weeks, with estimates of as many as 100,000 along the border and in Russian-annexed Crimea. White House press secretary Jen Psaki at a press briefing on Jan. 5 blamed Russia for the rise in tensions with Ukraine and said the United States also plans to raise the issue of past grievances with Russia. Over the past two decades, it is Russia that has invaded two neighboring countries, interfered in many other elections, used chemical weapons to attempt assassinations on foreign soil, and violated international arms control agreements, she said. Last month, Moscow submitted draft security documents demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. Without being specific, Psaki said progress is possible on some of Moscows proposals while others arent worth discussing. President [Joe] Biden has made clear that we can make progress on some issues while others are not viable, said Psaki. Were not responding to them point by point, and I dont expect we will as part of these negotiations, because in our experience, you dont make actual progress negotiating in public, and also because many of the proposals dont merit such response. Psaki said it continues to be the U.S. position that borders shouldnt be redrawn by force and that countries have the sovereign right to determine who they associate with. Psaki also says the United States will also seek to support progress on the Minsk accords, which seek to end violence in Ukraines Donbas region, which is now under de facto control by Russia-backed separatists who rose up against Kyiv in 2014. Biden has spoken directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin twice in recent weeksonce virtually and once over the phone. On the calls, Biden urged Putin to deescalate tensions with Ukraine and made clear that the United States and its allies would respond with severe sanctions if Russia further invaded Ukraine, according to the White House. Biden has said that sending troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion is not on the table. However, White House officials have said other measures could include additional defensive material to the Ukrainians and the fortification of NATO allies on Russias eastern flank with additional capabilities if Russia decides to invade. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Washington on Jan. 5. The two presented a unified front in saying Russias military buildup near Ukraines border poses an immediate and urgent challenge to European security and that any intervention would draw severe consequences. The severity of any response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine hinges largely on Germany, as Europes biggest economy. Blinken said gas wont likely flow through a yet-to-be-approved Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. The pipeline is set to carry 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany every year if approved by regulators. Baerbock didnt specifically address the question of whether the pipeline would be operationalized in the event of a Russian intervention. However, she said the new German government would abide by an agreement signed last summer with Washington that says Russia will not be allowed to use energy as a political weapon against Europe. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A sign is displayed at the entrance of the headquarters for Chicago Public Schools on Jan. 5, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) White House Wants Schools to Stay Open, Including in Chicago President Joe Bidens administration has publicly opposed the Chicago Teachers Unions decision for teachers to stop teaching in person, pitting the Democrat against many of his supporters. [The president] agrees with medical, scientific, and education experts that because of the historic work weve done, we are more than equipped to ensure schools are open, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington. Were going to keep our children and educators, who selflessly serve their community, safe, but ensure that children are not enduring the mental health impacts of children not being in school, that there are not gaps in learning. This includes schools everywhere, including in Chicago. The Chicago Teachers Union voted on Jan. 4 against going to school. Teachers tried forcing a shift to virtual learning, but city leaders instead canceled classes in response to the vote, referring to the effort as an illegal work stoppage. Right now, going into schools puts us at risk, puts our students and families at risk, of contracting the coronavirus, Jesse Sharkey, president of the union, told reporters in a call on Jan. 5. Psaki declined to answer directly when asked whether the White House had heard from Chicago educators about specific needs to teach in person, but said the administration has been in regular contact with stakeholders such as principals, teachers, and parents on the topics of school closings and reopenings. The vast majority of schools remain open. According to school and community events data platform Burbio, approximately 4,561 schools had disrupted classes this week, out of approximately 98,000 in the country. A sign on the fence outside of Lowell Elementary School welcomes students back to school before the Chicago Teachers Union voted to stop going to work, in Chicago on Jan. 5, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Those disruptions include schools that closed temporarily due to a jump in COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Omicron, a new variant of the virus, has caused a spike in cases across the country. Studies indicate that the variant better evades the protection from both vaccines and prior infection than earlier strains. Schools can use funds from the American Rescue Plan, which Biden signed after Congress approved it in 2021, to equip classrooms to teach in person safely, Psaki said. We want schools to be open. The president wants them to be open, she said. Some districts, including Chicago, used the money for other purposes, including critical race theory training. The situation in Chicago is murky for the rest of the week. Classes were canceled for just one day, but the union appears poised to refuse to return to the classroom until its demands are met. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, told parents that she was doing everything she could to keep our students in school, where they belong, learning. The Interpretive Center at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site will be closed to the public beginning March 1 to facilitate $5 million in capital improvement projects at the site. The projects, which will be managed by the Illinois Capital Development Board, are funded through Gov. J.B. Pritzkers bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan and are the first in nearly a decade. The work is estimated to last at least 12 months. During the closure, the driveway leading into the site will be closed and no public access will be available to the main parking lot and surrounding area. The Monks Mound parking lot and trails north of Collinsville Road will remain open. Walking tours of the site may resume when the weather allows in the spring while work on the Interpretive Center project is underway. For the Intelligencer LITCHFIELD, IL HSHS St. Francis Hospital proudly welcomed Alayah Reign Jackson as the first baby born at the hospital in 2022. She was born at 1:07 p.m. on January 1 at the Family Maternity Center; weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long. Alayahs proud parents are Rudie Jackson and LaDarius Dunlap of Carlinville, Illinois. For others expecting in 2022, St. Francis offers a wide range of services for mothers and infants, and the prenatal class schedule for 2022 is now available on our website at www.stfrancis-litchfield.org under Classes and Events. EDITORS NOTE: The Intelligencer requests briefs be submitted at least 10 days prior to the desired publication date. Due to the volume of community-submitted briefs, the content may be published within 10 days of submission. Holidays and weather forecasts may impact some events. The Intelligencer cannot guarantee that submission will be published. G.L.E.N. Committee Meeting 7-8 p.m. at Glen Carbon Village Hall Council Chambers. 151 North Main Street, Glen Carbon. Edwardsville Recreation, Arts, & Special Events Board 5 p.m. at the Governor Edwards Conference Room. City of Edwardsville. Edwardsville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee 5 p.m. at Edwardsville Council Chambers. 118 Hillsboro Ave, Edwardsville. Thursday, Jan. 6 NAMI Meeting 7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net. Chicken Dinner Every Thursday 4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774 Friday, Jan. 7 Fish Fry Every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774 Fish Fry 4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051 Monday, Jan. 10 Edwardsville Human Relations Committee Meeting 5 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Edwardsville Ordinance Committee Meeting 6 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Tuesday, Jan. 11 River Kayaker Adventures with Perry Whitaker 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. at the Old Bakery Beer Company, Alton. 400 Landmarks Blvd. Sierra Club Piasa Palisades Group Speakers Series. Perry Whitaker is the Missouri state director for the American Canoe Association and a Missouri Master Naturalist, and expert on the confluence of the Missouri River near St. Louis, to the confluence of the Ohio River at Cairo, IL, referred to as the Middle Mississippi. Come early around 6 p.m. for dinner and meet the speaker. Masks are required in the restaurant except while eating/drinking. A ZOOM registration option is available via https://www.sierraclub.org/illinois/piasa-palisades. Contact Chris Krusa on 410-490-5024. Cribbage Club 6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Rd., Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618)978-1664 for more information. American Legion Post 199 meeting 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 199 at 58 S. State Rt. 157. All legion members are encouraged to attend the meetings. Non-member visitors are welcome. Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday 4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774 Edwardsville Public Services Committee Meeting 4:30 p.m. in Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Edwardsville Public Safety Committee Meeting 5:30 p.m. in the Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Wednesday, Jan. 12 Historic Preservation Commission 7 p.m. at Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Thursday, Jan. 13 NAMI Meeting 7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net. Chicken Dinner Every Thursday 4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774 Edwardsville Finance Committee Meeting 4 p.m. in Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Edwardsville Administrative and Community Services Committee 5 p.m. in the Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Friday, Jan. 14 Fish Fry Every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774 Fish Fry 4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051 Saturday, Jan. 15 Goshen Winter Market 10-noon in the expansion parking lot on St. Louis Street. Outdoors. Monday, Jan. 17 Woodlawn Cemetery Board 7 p.m. in the Woodlawn Chapel. All are invited to attend, whether you are a lot owner or have considered purchasing a lot. Tuesday, Jan. 18 Cribbage Club 6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Rd., Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618)978-1664 for more information. Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday 4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774 Edwardsville-SIUE Community Destination Group 6 p.m. in Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Edwardsville City Council 7 p.m. at Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Wednesday, Jan. 19 Glen Carbon Cool Cities Committee Meeting 7-8 p.m. at Village of Glen Carbon - Senior Center, 157 North Main Street, Glen Carbon. Edwardsville Plan Commission 7 p.m. at Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Thursday, Jan. 20 Edwardsville Cool Cities Initiative Advisory Committee Meeting 6 p.m. at Governor Edwards Conference Room, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. Edwardsville Land Use Committee 6 p.m. at Council Chambers, 118 Hillsboro Ave., Edwardsville. NAMI Meeting 7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net. Chicken Dinner Every Thursday 4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774 Friday, Jan. 21 Fish Fry Every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774 Fish Fry 4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051 Ongoing Events Al-Anon For information call 618-463-2429. For more information, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org. Winter Reading Challenge Begins Dec. 1 - Jan. 31 at the Edwardsville Public Library. Read books, earn badges and be entered into prize drawings on Beanstack. This challenge is for all ages, 0-109. To register visit www.edwardsvillelibrary.org. The Nigerian muslim cleric who advocates for amnesty for the bandits, Sheik Ahmad Gumi has called on the Nigerian military to provide evidence of the killing of two notorious bandits at Zamfara forest last week. Tukur Mamu, the media consultant to the cleric, told newsmen in Kaduna that only dialogue can end banditry and not force. He said, The simple question is that we should ask ourselves from these reports that they are saying that theyve bombarded this camp and that camp, is there any evidence on the ground? There is a particular forest we visited in Niger State. The whole of the settlement had been bombarded. This settlement has nothing to do with bandits. In fact, they showed us two wells full of innocent people, dead, casualties of these bombardments. Thats exactly what these bandits were telling us. They said whenever we hear the sound of an aircraft, we run to our caves and then run. If they will succeed in killing anybody, it is the small children, the wives or the cows. Thats their own testimony. So, you can imagine a country where, for example, bandits would gather in a forest and be celebrating. You dont even have the intelligence to track them and eliminate them. Then, you say you will succeed in killing them. I hear them yesterday celebrating the reported death of bandit leader. So, for example, if you kill one bandit leader and another one emerges, what benefit did you derive? For example, you killed Dogo Gide, a person more dreaded than him emerged. When they killed Buharin Daji, Turji emerged. So, whats the success there? And for us to even be celebrating. There is nothing to celebrate, the only thing we can celebrate is that if our military succeeds in crushing them all and they cannot. It was Lupita Amondi Nyong'o, a Kenyan-Mexican actress, who said, What colonialism does is cause an identity crisis about one's own culture. For me, I would appropriate the expression as, What RELIGION does is cause an identity crisis about one's own culture. Religion has infiltrated the Yoruba culture and it has corruptly eaten deeply into its fabrics to the extent that our cultural clothes are now shredded. Culture, they say, is the way of life of a people. And It has been categorically stated that the greatness of Africa lies in its culture and not in its science or technology. Every culture has its modalities of doing things to recreate history, to follow tradition, to show class/rank, or to ensure orderliness and so on. One of the most impressive displays of culture among the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria is resident in its kingship process, from the emergence to the end of a kings reign. The sacredness of being a king in Yoruba land, traditionally, removes an Oba from the realm of a mere mortal and reverently places the king on the same pedestal as the gods; he becomes custodians of art and culture. Thus, he gets the cognomen, Kabiyesi Oba alaase ekeji Orisa, the unquestionable king and deputy god. The aforementioned cognomen points to the fact that a pastor or an imam has no reason to become a real Yoruba King except he agrees to go through the traditional processes of becoming a king which begins from the Ifa Consultation, the Kingmakers input, the Ipebi rituals and so on. Similarly, the burial of a king has its sacred processes too. From the announcement of his death, which is not expected to be done by an ordinary person, to his burial, there are rites that are expected to be performed. Little wonder we do not say, Oba ku the king is dead. Rather, we say, Oba waja The king is in the ceiling. All of the aforementioned are some of the reasons the Yoruba traditional systems and values are clothed in reverence and admiration. Contrastingly, in the last two months, the manner of the burial of two eminent kings, Soun of Ogbomoso and more recently Olubadan of Ibadan, in Yorubaland is both desecration and degradation to our culture and traditions as both kings were hurriedly buried in the Islamic way and have the pictures of their remains circulated in the media. This visibly explains to us that our culture has lost its vigour. As schemed by religion, the traditional systems created by our forebears have been jettisoned for western cultures and foreign religions. Consequently, we no experience cultural decay and a breakdown of order and values inherent in our traditional systems. Incontrovertibly, once one's culture is lost, one's soul is missing and one's future is in peril. This is the situation we have found ourselves in. Little wonder a former Governor once promoted chiefs to the rank of kings to prove points or whatever a disregard to the Yoruba culture. The chicken has come to roost as observers who had commented that the Oba elect is not qualified to be the next Olubadan may be right as their reasons are solid and sensible. Sadly, religion Islam and Christianity has dealt devastating blows on our cultural and traditional systems. It has infiltrated them and diluted them in a manner that has made them, almost, lose their potency and poise. The burial of both kings is equivalent to the burial of our culture. I would not blame them as I find solace in a saying that goes, Aladalu Ewa nika loon sooto The seller already told you it is an Adalu, a mixed grill. Therefore, if you chew on a stone in it, you wouldnt be surprised. I blame our traditional institutions and traditionalists who have failed to ensure that all the requirements that are needed to be fulfilled before a person becomes an Oba are fulfilled. Overall, to avoid the devastatingly impending perilous periods, we have got to start reorientating and imbibing our cultural values in our people. The words of the late Professor Akinwunmi Isola, in his book, Making culture memorable: essay on language culture and development are useful here. He submitted: This power of overwhelmingly familiar phenomena to benumb our perception and and compromise our recognition provides dangerous environment for careless or criminal tolerance that allows atrophy, decay and stagnation to set in. Perhaps, this is why most otherwise intelligent and patriotic Nigerians do not, in at least, feel disturbed today that all aspects of our cultural heritage continue to suffer neglect, corruption, bastardisation and demonisation to such an extent that they are now in danger of disappearing. In other words, our traditional rulers and the traditional institutions owe us the duty to protect our culture and tradition from being destructed by westerners and foreign culture. The mode of burying a king should be completely explained to a king before his enthronement; if he is not satisfied with it, he should leave it for whoever is ready Folorunso, Fatai Adisa writes in from Abeokuta. [email protected] 08168380837 BIMSTEC or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation has 7 members - India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The grouping is more than 20 years old and was formed in 1997. The last summit took place in Kathmandu in 2018 with PM Modi and other member-leaders attending the meet. BIMSTEC region has huge prospects for economic cooperation. Sri Lanka is the chair of the grouping and had earlier proposed holding a virtual summit on 9th December which has now been postponed. According to the media reports, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, better known as BIMSTEC, is likely to hold a summit of the heads of governments in Sri Lanka on March 30 in a hybrid setting providing scopes for both in-person and virtual participation. Sri Lanka is a founding member of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC). Since its inception in 1997, Sri Lanka has been an active member of the Multilateral Forum. The archipelago presided over for the first time between 2002-2003, during which time Colombo promoted member states' political commitments to strengthen sub-regional cooperation. As of 2016, BIMSTEC members accounted for only 17.4 percent of the total trade in Colombo trade goods. On the other hand, Bangladesh maintains friendly ties with almost all the neighbouring nations. This allows the country to play a bigger role in regional affairs. Its imports from BIMSTEC accounted for only 23 per cent of its total imports and Sri Lankan exports to BIMSTEC members accounted for only 7 per cent. Moreover, India contributes more than 70 per cent of Sri Lanka's trade with BIMSTEC. In parallel with the slow progress of BIMSTEC, Sri Lanka's cooperation with BIMSTEC members has grown in place of snails. In this context, Sri Lanka has been the Chairman of BIMSTEC from 2018-2020. Following which, Sri Lanka has the opportunity to ensure rapid cooperation between the member states of the Gulf region. During the Fourth Summit, the former President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, emphasized that BIMSTEC countries share shared aspirations for growth, development, trade and technology, and that Sri Lanka would facilitate this natural platform for the implementation of regional connectivity and economic cooperation. Actually, BIMSTEC has an important role to play in the regional trade area. All member states including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should reap the benefits and exchanges this regional advantages. The BIMSTEC region has huge prospects for economic cooperation much of which still remains unexplored and unexploited. Five members of the seven-member international organisation have already confirmed their participation in the summit, called by Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according tomedia reports. The countries that conveyed their confirmation are Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Bangladesh and India, the two other members of the regional group of the countries around the Bay of Bengal, are expected to formally confirm their participation soon as the host, Sri Lanka, the outgoing chair of the group, sought concurrence of all member countries discretely about holding the meeting on March 30, media report said. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to join the summit, to be held in Colombo. It is yet to be decided whether she will travel to Sri Lanka or join the meeting virtually. Foreign ministers and foreign secretaries of the BIMSTEC member countries are scheduled to meet on March 28 and 29 respectively for facilitating decision making at the summit on March 30. The heads of the governments of the BIMSTEC member countries are expected to approve a charter for the organisation in the meeting after 24 years of its journey. The member countries have completed the negotiation of the BIMSTEC charter and it is expected to be signed in the forthcoming fifth summit with participation of the heads of the governments in Colombo, BIMSTEC secretary general Tenzin Lekphell said in October. The Colombo summit, the fifth meeting of the heads of the governments, was postponed twice in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. In addition to the BIMSTEC charter, three other legal instruments are expected to be signed at the summit. These are a BIMSTEC convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, a memorandum of association on the establishment of BIMSTEC technology transfer facility in Colombo and a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation between diplomatic academies and training institutions of the member countries. Bangladesh as the lead country for Trade, Investment and Development is strongly committed to strengthen BIMSTEC cooperation in this field. There is the importance of making all entities of the BIMSTEC process fully functional and operational. The BIMSTEC process needs concerted and quicker efforts and more intense engagements amongst the member states. It is imperative to forge more realistic partnership and shared endeavours to prosper together through exploitation of the full potential of this region. The summit is also expected to reconstitute and rationalise 14 areas of cooperation into seven sectors, where each sector will be led by a member country. The foreign secretaries met 21 times, foreign ministers 17 times and heads of governments four times since the establishment of the BIMSTEC 24 years ago in 1997, while security advisers met thrice since 2017. Thailand is scheduled to take over the responsibilities of the BIMSTEC chair in the fifth summit in Sri Lanka. BIMSTEC has identified 13 priority sectors, including trade and investment, transport and communication, counter-terrorism and transnational crimes, energy, climate, agriculture, poverty alleviation, tourism, public health and people-to-people contact. Bangladesh is the lead country for three areas trade, investment, and climate, and has reiterated its fullest cooperation in this regard during the successive BIMSTEC ministerial meetings and summits. According to media reports, in the current structure of bilateral trade among these countries, we see that most of the BIMSTEC members have experienced a considerable rise in bilateral trade over the years. A larger volume of exports was observed in the case of Thailand's exports to India (US$ 5.5 billion in 2015); India's exports to Sri Lanka (US$ 4.4 billion), Bangladesh (US$ 3.4 billion), and Nepal (US$ 2.6 billion); and Myanmar's exports to Thailand (US$ 3.3 billion) and India (US$ 1.3 billion). Overall, India and Thailand are two major economies - both in terms of export and import - while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar are three major economies in terms of import. The bilateral trade record of BIMSTEC countries indicates that the existing pattern of trade is heavily influenced by geographical proximity, relative size of the economies, and predominant trade routes. BIMSTEC has received greater attention in the context of progressing cooperation in the region. In addition to high-level diplomatic engagements, substantial steps have been taken towards cooperation in a wide range of areas. In the fourth BIMSTEC summit meetingwhich was held in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, in August 2018member countries signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection to enhance energy cooperation. This is expected to expedite the buying and selling of electricity between the countriesincluding those not directly bordering each otheronce the cross-country grid infrastructure is in place. We expect tangible progress to be made in the field of energy cooperation in 201923. New ground is also being broken in the security arena, as evidenced by the successful hosting of the first-ever joint military exercise between India and other BIMSTEC countries in September 2018. Each of the 14 areas of cooperation under BIMSTEC is led by a particular country. That relating to security is headed by India and covers counterterrorism and transnational crimes. We expect that India will continue pushing for greater security cooperation, particularly on counterterrorism. Furthermore, it is likely that in the next few years, member countries will undertake full ratification of conventions on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and cooperation in combating international terrorism. The most significant breakthrough, however, is expected to be in connectivity. Five of the seven BIMSTEC member countries share a border with India, which includes the busiest land-customs checkpoint in Asia: The Petrapole-Benapole checkpoint between India and Bangladesh. Despite this, intra-regional trade accounts for only 5% of the grouping's total trade; poor road connectivity is one of the main reasons. We expect progress to be made on transport connectivity over the 201923 forecast period. In particular, the two main agreements, the BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement and the BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreementwhich are aimed at facilitating trade and transport linkages between member countriesare likely to be finalised over the next five years. Despite the strong political thrust in favour of BIMSTEC, the organisation still faces manpower constraints and limited resources. This will be addressed partly by member countries' increased commitment towards financial and human resources. Furthermore, areas such as negotiating a free-trade agreementtraditionally the focus of organisations that advocate regional cooperationwill remain on the backburner in 201923. Nevertheless, the importance of BIMSTEC will continue to grow, with India relying heavily on it to further its regional agenda. However, the upcoming BIMSTEC summit will ensure to create a common regional platform to address some common regional problems. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as regional stakeholders have some common agenda such as strengthening connectivity, growing trade, tackling covid-19, terrorism, climate change, resolving and meditating Rohingya refugee crisis between Myanmar and Bangladesh etc. The upcoming BIMSTEC summit will provide the benefits for all regional states including Myanmar and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should fully utilize the potential. The former attorney general of Kenya , Charles Njonjo who died on 2nd January 2022 at the age of a hundred years was a perfect example of well personified autor-acism. He was a black person who unapologetically hated black people with passion. He hated his fellow black men and women not on the basis of their character but by basing on colour of their skin. Njonjo could not shake his hand with black people because they are presumably dirt. He preferred a sanitized and purified atmosphere because black Kenyans would have possibly breathed out contaminated air into it. According to Njonjo , the white British can not breathe out to contaminate the atmosphere, they are only blacks who do this . When he was in South Africa as a student of law , Njonjo preferred supporting the anti African apartheid policy in contrast to his college mates in the likes of Dennis Brutus, Masinde Muliro and Ezekia Mphalele who formed student associations to struggle against racial brutality in Apartheid. Why Njonjo avoided the timely freedom movements was based on his sham conscience that such associations would make him to mix with black people from poor families and non royal families. In the social world , a person who hates people of his own race is known as an auto-racist, thus Njonjo was an auto-racist as well as an auto classist megalomaniac because he hated people of his own class on the mistaken assumption that he was too important to mix with the poor, a social vice we describe as megalomania in the language of science of human behaviour. Sometimes ago, Professor Austin Bukenya wrote in the 'Saturday Nation' at Nairobi , that Robert Mugabe was a megalomaniac, but no, Mugabe was a very sober freedom fighter who only succumbed to the sysyphus syndrome in his old age. The really megalomaniac of Africa was Charlese Mugane Njonjo of Kenya . In fact history of Kenya's struggle against colonialism confirms that Njonjo used to overtly think that he was too important to fight for useless things like Freedom from Colonialism. Njonjo's megalomania was at its highest stage when he dismissed all Kenya's local languages including his mother tongue ; Kiguyu as primitive but he coronated himself as a king of Queen's English. The English that still he could not speak and write properly. When the the money-centric system of Kenya 's politics worked for Njonjo to become a member of Parliament for Kabete Constituency, he preferred to be referred to as a the Duke of Kabeteshire, but not an MP for that area. This made Njonjo to serve only one term as an MP for that area. This weakness of having very strong low opinion about others, especially his fellow black people, made Njonjo to disregard the lawfully elected President Daniel Toroitich arap Moi as a passing cloud. It was this mentality that made Njonjo to participate conspicuously in a very ill-prepared coup attempt that took place in 1982.The coup flopped and left Njonjo at the mercy of Moi.Moi forgave Njonjo . The only reason why Njonjo doubted Moi's capacity to lead Kenya was nothing else other than Njonjo's traditional syndrome that because Moi was not a son of a king, hence he could not lead Kenya. Njonjo himself was a son of a colonial chief. Njonjo grew up during the times of Anti-colonial African politics when all elites and educated Africans like Amilcar Cabral, Nkrumah, Nyerere, Kaunda and Toure were revolutionary in intellectual disposition and anti-colonial in social orientation. But surprisingly, Njonjo was substantially a diehard anti-communist and Pro-colonialist lover of public offices who dismissed Julius Nyerere of Tanzania as a president of a man eat nothing country. Reading Political psychology in the literary works of Frantz Fanon would readily tell us nothing about Njonjo other than to establish him as a paranoid who lived under torment of the paranoia fuelled fear of the British colonial machinery. In his internal being, Njonjo believed that no African Country can defeat Britain's colonial intentions. This was the fear inculcated to Njonjo by British controlled colonial education in Kenya. This fear thrived in Njonjo because of his characteristic natural snobbery and extreme sense of selfishness. And indeed this fear was the later substratum on which thrived negrophobia in Njonjo's socialization in his adult life. Alexander Opicho writes from Lodwar, Kenya [email protected] gmail.com January 5, 2022, will mark four years since American University of Nigeria (AUN)s Vice President Sisiku AyukTabe and his colleagues were illegally seized by Nigerias notoriously corrupt and ruthless paramilitary police unit known as SARS and handed over to Cameroon. Though the Nigerian Federal High Court in Abuja later ruled that their arrest and refoulement violated Nigerian and international law, they remain imprisoned. On this somber anniversary, Nigerian and international academics and human rights leaders have issued a statement (printed in full below) demanding that Nigeria and Cameroon respect the High Court decision and immediately return AUNs Vice President and his colleagues to their families and students. They are asking faculty, staff, students, and human rights supporters worldwide to add their voices to this call. You can do this by contacting your lawmakers using the actionnetwork.org forum. Please choose the link that corresponds with your country of residence: United States: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/join-the-call-return-the-vice-presiden... Canada: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/canada-join-the-call-for-the-return-of... United Kingdom: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/uk-join-the-call-for-the-return-of-the... Germany: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/de-join-the-call-for-the-return-of-the... South Africa, Finland and other nations: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/join-the-call-for-the-return-of-the-vi... If your country is not listed above in specific and you would like to help develop a campaign focused on your countrys lawmakers, please email us at [email protected] Please pass this message along to human rights forums you are connected with! CALL FROM NIGERIAN AND INTERNATIONAL ACADEMICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LEADERS: Return the Vice President of American University of Nigeria and his Colleagues, abducted by SARS January 5, 2022, will mark four years since American University of Nigeria (AUN)s Vice President and his colleagues were illegally seized by Nigerias notoriously corrupt and ruthless paramilitary police unit known as SARS[1]. The victims, leaders of the Ambazonian refugee community in Nigeria who have come to be known as the Nera 10, were meeting at the Nera Hotel to plan a meeting with the UNHCR regarding the plight of tens of thousands of newly arrived refugees from Ambazonia (also known as English-speaking or Southern Cameroons) who had been pushed across the border by attacks on their communities by the Cameroon military[2]. Full names and positions of the SARS abductees: Assistant Vice President of Marketing & Recruitment at AUN Sisiku AyukTabe Assistant Professor of Computing, Director of the Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness, & Vice Chair of the Institutional Review Board at AUN Dr. Fidelis Ndeh-Che Head of the Surgery Unit of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University Prof. Augustine Awasum Associate Professor of Geology, Ahmadu Bello University Dr. Henry Kimeng Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics, Yaradua University Dr. Cornelius Kwanga Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bayero University Dr. Egbe Ogork Union organizer and Leader of the Teachers Unions & the Federation of Parent Teachers Union (CAPTAC) Mr. Wilfred Tassang Human Rights lawyer and Legal Workers Organizer Barrister Shufai Berinyuy Human Rights lawyer and Legal Workers Organizer Barrister Eyambe Elias Civil Society leader Dr. Nfor Ngalla Nfor SARS was apparently acting in a back-room arrangement with the regime in next door Cameroon, which is the longest running dictatorship on earth and a French neocolonial regime [3]. After holding these educators and civil rights leaders for three weeks, SARS illegally handed them to the Cameroon regime in violation of their fundamental human rights and the international legal principle of non refoulement, which asserts that refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom[4-7]. Fourteen months later, in a sharp rebuke to the SARS and the Nigerian administration, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, issued a ruling that this abduction of the Nera 10 had violated Nigerian and international law [8]. The Court ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to effect their immediate and unconditional release and return to Nigeria, and make a payment of two hundred million Naira (about five hundred thousand US Dollars) to each for aggravated damages. Yet, nearly three years later no action has been made to implement the High Courts decision. Instead, the Cameroon regime has continued and escalated a campaign of massacres, mass arrests, torture, arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances of teachers, students, and civil society leaders from the targeted community. Activists on the ground estimate at least 3000 university lecturers, students, lawyers, trade unionists, human rights activists and journalists are being held in horrendous conditions in various detention facilities across the territory controlled by Cameroon. They are being detained arbitrarily and many have spent years in prison without being charged or tried, with many reported cases of torture, squalid conditions, health neglect, and outright disappearances. On this somber anniversary, we, the undersigned, demand that Nigeria and Cameroon respect the March 1, 2019, Abuja High Court decision, which is inline with their international human rights and humanitarian obligations, and immediately return AUNs Vice President Sisiku AyukTabe and his colleagues to their families and students. We further call on faculty, staff, students, and human rights supporters worldwide to contact their elected officials and ask that they: Publicly and strongly condemn the blatant violations of the fundamental rights of AUN Vice President Sisiku AyukTabe and his colleagues. Publicly demand that Cameroon and Nigeria be blocked from accessing your tax money and other public support until they comply with their international human rights and humanitarian obligations as detailed in the March 1, 2019, Nigerian Federal High Court decision. Yours faithfully: Omoyele Sowore, Sahara Reporters Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA Dr. Uju Agomoh, Executive Director, Prisoners Rehabilitation And Welfare Action (PRAWA) and former Council Member National Human Rights Commission & Special Rapporteur Police, Prison and Detention Centre (Nigeria) Femi Falana, Esq, Human Rights lawyer, International Bar Association (IBA) Abdul Oroh, Esq, Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Nigeria Prof. Patrice Nganang, Stony Brook University, USA Prof. Chris W J Roberts, Political Science, University of Calgary, Canada Prof. Matt Meyer, Senior Research Scholar, University of Massachusetts-Amherst Resistance Studies Initiative and Secretary General, International Peace Research Association (IPRA) Endowed Professor Stellan Vinthagen, University of Massachusetts, Amherst REFERENCES: 1. Nigerias Police Brutality Crisis: Whats Happening Now www.nytimes.com/article/sars-nigeria-police.html 2. 'This is a genocide': villages burn as war rages in blood-soaked Cameroon www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/30/cameroon-killings-esc... 3. For the sake of Cameroon, life-president Paul Biya must be forced out www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/02/for-the-sake-of-cameroon-life-pres... 4. UNHCR condemns forced returns of Cameroon asylum-seekers from Nigeria www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2018/2/5a731fcf4/unhcr-condemns-forced-re... 5. Amnesty International on Cameroon: Ten arrested Anglophone leaders at risk of unfair trial and torture if deported from Nigeria www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/01/cameroon-ten-arrested-anglophone-... 6. US Department of State on the forcible return of refugees by Nigeria to Cameroon www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/02/277988.htm 7. Rights groups condemn deportation of academics and others www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180221064526769 8. Nigerian High Court Ruling on the case of the forcibly return to Cameroon of the Vice President of American University of Nigeria in Yola, Sisiku AyukTabe, and his colleagues ambazoniapocs.net/sites/default/files/NIgerianFederalCourtJUDGMENT%202.pdf Government backs bill to police NGO income BANGKOK: The cabinet has tentatively agreed to a bill requiring non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to declare their financial sources or risk prosecution. charity By Bangkok Post Wednesday 5 January 2022, 10:01AM Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana. Photo: Bangkok Post Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said yesterday (Jan 4) the cabinet agreed in principle with the bill after it was vetted by the Council of State, the governments legal arm. The cabinet has now assigned the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to conduct a public hearing on the bill, reports the Bangkok Post. After that, it will be returned to the cabinet which will decide whether to approve it or not. If approved, the bill will be forwarded for deliberation in parliament. Mr Thanakorn said the bill was conceived in the best interests of the public and its scrutiny was above board and transparent since it will be subject to a public hearing. The bill stipulates the formation of a committee chaired by the social development and human security minister to recommend tax incentives for NGOs and their donors. However, NGOs will be required by law to disclose mission statements and the sources of their funding. The bill would prohibit them from engaging in activities detrimental to national security or social harmony. If they obtain overseas funding, they must list the names of the financial sources and furnish details of the bank accounts used for receiving the money. Spending plans will also need to be explained to ensure money is not used for the purpose of influencing state power or pandering to the interests of a political party. Records of funding and expenses during each calendar year over at least three years will have to be kept for official auditing. Any NGOs that break the law would have their activities suspended. They would also be liable for criminal action. Civil groups led by the Peoples Movement for a Just Society (P-move) say the bill reflects the governments aim to control the civil sector. Phuket closes Seven Days campaign with one death, 27 injured PHUKET: Phuket concluded the Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign for the New Year last night with one death and 27 people admitted to hospital for injuries sustained in 28 accidents. transportSafetyaccidentsdeath By The Phuket News Wednesday 5 January 2022, 03:46PM Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, confirmed the tally this morning (Jan 5). Photo: PR Phuket The campaign ended at midnight last night (23:59pm Jan 4). Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, confirmed the tally at the daily briefing for the Seven Days campaign this morning (Jan 5) at the meeting room of the Phuket Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket) on the third floor of the new Phuket Provincial Hall. Also present was DDPM-Phuket Chief Udomporn Kan, who reported that three accidents resulting in three people being admitted to hospital for their injuries were recorded during the 24-hour period of yesterday, the final day of the campaign. From the accident statistics, it was found that the number of accidents decreased from last year due to the post-COVID-19 situation, but the risk behaviour that causes accidents and the highest offences aire still the same: not wearing a helmet, driving faster than the law and drunk driving, Maj Gen Sermphan said. During the Seven Days of Danger campaign for New Year 2021, Phuket officials recorded 1 dead and 36 people injured in 35 accidents. All sectors must proceed with campaigns to create awareness among people to know how to prevent and reduce accidents more than ever, by emphasising the loss of life and property of oneself and family is important, Maj Gen Sermphan noted. And all parties need to analyse the real cause leading to accidents, to prevent more accidents both during normal days and during the coming festivals, he added. According to a report released by DDPM-Phuket, the three recognised accidents yesterday occurred in Muang District and Thalang. Maladeng Arong, 48, fell off his motorbike unassisted in front of the Bangma Lao Mini Mart in Sakhu at 3:30pm. His head hit the ground and he was not wearing a helmet. He was knocked unconscious, but remembers the incident, said the report. He had not been drinking alcohol, the report noted. He was driving at normal speed on the left side of the road when the accident happened, but he does not have a drivers license, the report added. Mr Maladeng suffered abrasions all over the body, swelling to the head and was experiencing pain to his collarbone, and was taken to Thalang Hospital for treatment. In Wichit, two men were injured. Wichian Sakulpuek, 74, fell off his motorbike at the Naka Intersection on Wirat Hongyok Rd, at 9:35pm He was not wearing a helmet, but was not rendered unconscious and was able to remember the accident, the report said. Mr Wichian was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town for treatment. Earlier in the day, Phongphat Klongthanyakon, 29, fell off his motorbike in front of the Napha Construction Materials store on Chao Fa East Rd in Baan Khoktanode, Chalong, at 1:15pm. He was not wearing a helmet, but his head did not hit the ground. However, he suffered an injury below his right knee that left his leg deformed, said the report. Mr Phongphat was taken to Chalong Hospital then later transported to Vachira Phuket Hospital for further treatment. Throughout the campaign, motorbikes were the most common vehicle involved in accidents. Of note, while officials have reconised one death during the road-safety campaign, no details of the accident have been released, other than that the victim was male. (See report here.) TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS Meanwhile, police reported 1,961 inspecting vehicles yesterday, levying 677 fines and/or charges as follows: Not wearing a helmet 307 cases Riding unsafe or modified motorcycles 23 cases Drunk driving 2 cases Not wearing seat belts 25 cases No drivers license 245 cases Exceeding the speed limit 0 cases Violating traffic signals 25 cases Driving against the traffic direction 33 cases Dangerous overtaking 4 cases Using a mobile phone while driving 13 cases In total throughout the campaign, from Dec 29-Jan 4, police reported inspecting 11,239 vehicles and levying 2,975 fines and/or charges, as follows: Tourists return to Maya Bay PHUKET: Maya Bay has reopened to tourists, with the number of visitors limited to just 375 at a time and visits limited to one hour only. Wednesday 5 January 2022, 05:14PM The bay was reopened on Jan 1, with tourists allowed to visit from Jan 2. Photo: Krabi PR Tourists have returned to the beach at Maya Bay. Photo: Krabi PR Tourists have returned to the beach at Maya Bay. Photo: Krabi PR Tourists have returned to the beach at Maya Bay. Photo: Krabi PR Tourists have returned to the beach at Maya Bay. Photo: Krabi PR Krabi Governor Phutthiphong Sirimat and Pramote Kaewnam, Chief of Hat Noppharat Thara Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, led a ceremony to officially reopen the-world renowned beach on New Years Day. Maya Bay reopened to tourists on January 1 as a New Years gift to the people in accordance with the governments policy," Mr Pramote explained. Tourists have been allowed onto the beach since last Sunday (Jan 2). Since then, most of the tourists have been Thais, Mr Pramote said. More and more foreign tourists are coming in, which is now full of reservations to visit the bay all day, he said. The number of tourists allowed onto the beach is limited to 375 at a time, and visits are restricted to one hour only, to avoid congestion and maintain the sustainability of natural resources, Mr Pramote said. The beach is open to visitors each day from 7am to 6pm. Tourists arrive on the island via a dock built by the national park at Loh Samah Bay, on the other side of the island, and walk the few hundred metres across the island to visit the beach made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. Boats are not allowed to enter the bay, but may hover at the entrance so tourists can enjoy the view. In order to be allowed to join a tour to visit the bay, which has been closed for three years to allow the environment to recover from heavy tourism, people must register through the QueQ app (on Google Play and Apples App Store). Of note, the National Park listings on the app are in Thai language only. Closing the bay for restoration has been a success because the ecosystem around the beach is better. A large number of Blacktip reef sharks have returned to Maya Bay, Mr Pramote said. Swimming in Maya Bay is strictly prohibited to avoid the dangers of blacktip reef sharks, he added. The opening of the bay is strictly under the measures to prevent COVID-19 in accordance with the measures of the Ministry of Public Health, Mr Pramote said. All tour guides must be fully vaccinated and must ensure that tourists have their temperatures checked before allowing them to join a tour to visit the beach, he added. We also require that all visitors help keep Maya Bays beach clean, he said. On Demand We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet. In-Room VDO The decentralized energy system at Fort Knox is the only one of its kind DoD-wide. Running at a much higher efficiency level than its centralized counterparts, the installation system is a much greener solution to power distribution. Contributed photo Small town independent pharmacies are struggling to survive in Connecticut and the nation. Earlier this year, Langs Pharmacy closed both of their locations in Wilton and Weston after years of struggling with unfair business practices by the insurance providers/pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and numerous other independent pharmacies, throughout the state, have followed suit in recent years. Whats going on? It appears theres been a fundamental change in the business and regulatory environment within which independent pharmacies operate. One of the unfortunate side effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the rapid consolidation and corporatization of our healthcare system. This phenomenon can readily be seen in the hospital sector, where mergers, often in the name of cost savings, have led to patients paying more. Gage Deiser, Ariana Lovitt and Maddie Alexander are reporters for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. Editor's note: This story as originally published Jan. 5 incorrectly characterized Hamilton County Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush's testimony before a House committee as saying the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department had not processed gun license applications due to backlogs. A spokeswoman for Quakenbush said the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department processed all applications that it received and Quakenbush was referring to departments other than the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. The story also incorrectly reported Quakenbush testified the current licensing application system encourages complacency by law enforcement; Quakenbush instead testified that the current system could encourage complacency. In addition, the original story misstated the cause of George Floyd's death. This error has been fixed. In the Press Corps of the Indiana Statehouse in downtown Indianapolis, in an office lovingly called "the Shack," the journalism majors of Franklin College's Pulliam School of Journalism work alongside the best reporters in the state, digging into the behind-the-scenes stories of Indiana politics. We're a student newsroom, but our work doesn't sit on a professor's desk. We create content five days a week for this website and 35 professional media partners around the state. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Cloudy skies with periods of light rain this afternoon. High 17C. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 9C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. ALTON A spectacular display of angels of all sizes and variety of origin was presented over the holidays at Main Street United Methodist Church. Second-generation Duke Bakery owner Mike Doucleffs late wife, Susan Doucleff, 76, who died Dec. 18, collected the more than 260 angels starting about 40 years ago in the early 1980s, her husband said. The display was taken down this week, but is planned again during the 2022 holiday season. I probably started the collection when I married my wife. She was the first angel of the collection, said Mike Doucleff, 75, now retired, but who visits the Alton bakery at 819 Henry St., on the corner of 9th Street, nearly every day. Now the Doucleffs daughter and her husband, Amy and Ben Hollis, run Duke Bakery. Shed collect, whether on her travels or walking down the street, he recalled about his wife. She took a small extra suitcase when she traveled or may have mailed them, if not too far away in another country. Susan Doucleff found angels everywhere. She would look in catalogues that came in the mail, especially during the Christmas season, her husband recalled. Down the street there was a bible store and my wife, on her walk, they would give her an angel occasionally. There was Alices Resale Shop, and shed see my wife and tell her she had an angel. She got them from her travels, magazines, friends, gifts from her parents, and Id see one that I thought would be a nice addition to her collection. He said the couple displayed the collection throughout their home after Thanksgiving, but the last few years it became harder. She loved her church, Main Street United Methodist, and I thought it appropriate to donate to the church, Doucleff said. I think people really enjoy seeing the angels. The magnitude of the collection, in the churchs Wadlow Hall, is, just, overwhelming, with different configurations, sizes, dress, he said. When the children were in town for the funeral, they had no idea of the magnitude of this. Susan Doucleff also collected nativity scenes. Along with the angels, theres numerous nativity scenes, a dozen or so, said Mike Doucleff, of which he also donated. He hopes the angel display will become a regular exhibit at the church at 1400 Main St., Alton. Thats my hope, to make it a yearly exhibit, at least after Thanksgiving, he said. Doucleffs mother and father, Chris and Helen Doucleff, started Duke Bakery in 1951. They already owned Duke Beverages in a building behind the present Duke Bakery, which is now the bakerys warehouse. His father used to deliver wholesale bread in the 1920s. I came back to the bakery business in 1970 for 51 years, longer now than my parents, said Doucleff, who shows up practically every day, though he doesnt work physically at the bakery counter these days. Dad always wanted to own a bakery, Doucleff recalled. The building at Ninth and Henry became available in the late 50s, it used to be a grocery store. Dad had the opportunity to buy it and convinced my mother, his wife, and they were running both the beverage business and the bakery about five years simultaneously. When Coca Cola, Pepsi and other big beverage companies became popular, the family concentrated on the bakery. I literally grew up in it because I was five years old when they opened Duke Bakery, Doucleff said. The family business at the corner of 9th and Henry will be 80 years this year. Im proud to say, on that corner with the beverage plant, weve been on that corner since 1942, Doucleff noted. EDWARDSVILLE A Madison man was charged Tuesday in two separate Metro East deaths. Larry Lovett, 39, of Madison, was charged Tuesday with multiple counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ahmaad Nunley in August and Andre Hutson on Dec. 7. Charges were filed Dec. 13 for Hutsons murder and Dec. 15 for Nunleys, but had been suppressed. Both were unsealed Tuesday after Lovett was taken into custody in St. Louis County, where he remains in custody awaiting extradition to Madison County. Violent criminals must be stopped, Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said in a released statement. The states attorneys office continues to focus on combating violent crime and keeping relentless pressure on those who sow fear and death in Madison County," Haine said. "Thanks to excellent police work, we have charged the defendant in the murders of Ahmaad Nunley and Andre Hutson. The Major Case Squad, Granite City Police Department and Madison Police Department deserve special praise here for their dogged determination in these investigations. Lovett was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm in Nunleys murder. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon in Hutsons murder. He is being held on $5 million bond for Nunleys death and $3 million bond for Hutsons death. In both cases, others had previously been charged in connection to the deaths. Mantia Johnson Jr., 34, of Granite City, and Clyde Leonard, 37, of Houston, were indicted Sept. 16 on multiple felony charges in Nunleys death. Johnson, who was originally charged Aug. 6, was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, both Class M felonies; attempted first degree murder, a Class X felony; aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class 1 felony; and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 2 felony. An additional charge of aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony, was added in the indictment. The incident occurred in the early-morning hours of Aug. 2. Nunley and another victim were discovered to have been shot multiple times and were taken to a St. Louis hospital where Nunley died from his injuries. William A. Jenkins, 44, of Madison, was charged Dec. 13 with three counts of first-degree murder, all Class M felonies; attempted armed robbery, a Class 1 felony; and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 3 felony in Hutsons death. At about 11:48 p.m. Dec. 7, Madison Police received a 911 call about a shooting and a male subject down in the 1700 block of Wayne Lanter Avenue. The victim, later identified as Hutson, 38, of St. Louis, was pronounced dead at the scene and the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was activated to investigate the incident. According to court documents, Hutson died during an attempted robbery. ALTON Birds of Squalor will have its Carrion EP Release Show Saturday at The Conservatory, featuring Haze Bond and The Dead Roses. Formed in 2017 as a three-piece punk rock band, Birds of Squalor has evolved into a five-piece alternative band co-founded by Jack Irvin, formerly of Bethalto and now of Phoenix, Arizona, who was lead/rhythm guitar and backup vocals. Irvin is back in town for the show, and hes on the new EP. He, his brother, Brad, on bass and their friend, drummer Ryan McIntire, comprised the original trio. New guitarist Brock Bates replaces Jack Irvin in the current lineup, but Irvin who also is celebrating his 28th birthday Friday will play at the Carrion EP Release Show. Birds of Squalor also features Jamie Dunn from North Carolina who came to the Riverbend to expand his opportunities on vocals/guitar; Chris Vandehey of Moro on lead/rhythm guitar and backup vocals; Joe Moiser of Granite City on bass; and Nathan Nate Diggs, of Arnold, Missouri on drums/percussion. The show starts at 7 p.m. at The Conservatory, 554 E. Broadway, in Alton. Admission is free; doors open at 6 p.m. Local favorites The Dead Roses and the Edwardsville band, Haze Bond, will open the show. There also will be food from Big Boys Q, operated by Ron Boles and his wife, Jimi Jo Sinks, of Alton. Birds of Squalor have played together all over the Metro East and St. Louis metro area, including Bushfest and the Trinity River Festival last year. Carrion is the bands first EP. They also produced and released their own music video in 2021. The evolution to a five-piece band began one night when Vandehey was at a restaurant talking about music with Irvin. He asked if I knew anyone who played bass; I did, Vandehey recalled. I joined as a fill-in. Then the drummer, Ryan, had to move away, up north. We called in my buddy, Nate Diggs, on drums, and had Joe join as bass, Vandehey said. We could write more intricately as a full five-piece band. We found Jamie Dunn at Ragin Cajun in Alton on open mic night, which he also runs. The resourceful group produces their own material, including vlogs; they are set to release a documentary about the studio recording of Carrion on Monday following the Saturday EP release show. Vandehey has his own video production company, Connect Video based in St. Louis. The vlogs worked really well with the documentary, Vandehey said. We had about a year of vlogs since January 2021. I was like, we finally got a real full band here; lets take it to the next level. Missouris bipartisan redistricting commissions had one job to do. The state Constitution requires each commission to submit a tentative map on new House and Senate districts by a Dec. 23 deadline. They failed. The Senate panel remained deadlocked and did not produce a proposed map by the deadline. The House panel took a novel approach to partisan discord. Instead of no map, this panel submitted two separate maps: a Republican version and a Democratic one. Some might portray this not-one-but-two approach as a Solomonic compromise, but really its a cop-out on par with voting all of the above on something or just shrugging your shoulders and saying, whatever. Instead of a tough call, these commissioners on the House panel made two easy ones. The Missouri Constitution makes it clear these citizen commissions, made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, are supposed to submit one tentative map for each chamber in the General Assembly by the deadline. The commissions have until the end of January to submit a final plan, otherwise, the Missouri Supreme Court will appoint a six-judge panel to draw up maps. This means its possible each panel could regroup and get the job done by the final deadline. Dont hold your breath. Judges had to draw Missouris House maps after commissioners failed to agree on plans in 2001 and 2011. The Senate process was particularly messy 10 years ago when the first panel failed to reach an agreement and the judges map got overturned in court. A second commission was formed and completed redistricting. The partisan disagreement appears to center on high-growth areas like Columbia and Springfield, but the outcome will have some impact on St. Joseph. Both tentative House maps stick with three representatives for St. Joseph, but the east side district in both versions swings south to rural Platte County and no longer includes Andrew County. That would mean Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, who lives in Andrew County, may no longer represent St. Joseph after 2022 if a version of these maps stands. A Senate map also could bring changes to the district that includes Buchanan and Platte counties. Because of Platte Countys population growth, some of the possibilities discussed in the Senate commission hearings split off Platte County and lump Buchanan County with Clinton County or Andrew County. There have to be new maps, based on the 2020 Census, by the time candidate filing begins in February. People need to know who theyre voting for and candidates have to know who they will represent. It will get done, but so far there is little about this process that should fill Missourians with confidence. EDWARDSVILLE Three Collinsville residents have been charged with gun-related felonies after allegedly firing an AK-style weapon in an unsafe manner. Richard K. DeChiara, 33, of Collinsville, was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon and unlawful use of weapons, both Class 3 felonies, and reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony. Shane A. Youngblood, 34, of Collinsville, was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 2 felony, and reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. Ryan L. Huston, 36, of Collinsville, was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony. According to court documents, on Jan. 1 the DeChiara and Youngblood allegedly were found to have a Norinco MAK-90, a Chinese-made semiautomatic version of the AK-47, and to have recklessly discharged the rifle in a densely-populated area. Huston allegedly recklessly discharged a Glock handgun. In addition, DeChiara was found to be in possession of a suppressor, or silencer, and several other guns. DeChiara has a 2013 felony conviction for false report of a vehicle theft out of Madison County, and Youngblood has a felony conviction for residential burglary out of Washington County, Illinois in 2012, making both ineligible to possess weapons. Bail was set at $75,000 each for DeChiara and Youngblood, and $20,000 for Huston. Four other felony weapons charges were filed Jan. 3 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office: Demetrius J. Terrell, 37, of Madison, was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm while within 1,000 feet of a school, a Class X felony, and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison Police Department. According to court documents, on March 24 Terrell allegedly shot at another person within 1,000 feet of Mt. Nebo School. Also, on April 9 he allegedly was found to have fired shell casings and .45 caliber ammunition. He has a 2010 Madison County conviction for burglary, making him ineligible to possess weapons. Bail was set at $30,000. James C. Nicholas Jr., 45, of Godfrey, was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 3 felony; and domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Jan. 2 Nicholas allegedly was found to have a Springfield Armory XD-40 .40 caliber handgun after he allegedly pushed a household or family member down and shoved her in the chest. Nicholas has a 2006 St. Louis County conviction for distribution/delivery/manufacture/production or attempt to or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, making him ineligible to possess weapons. Bail was set at $25,000. Christopher A. Bell, 32, of Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On Dec. 31 Bell allegedly was found to have a Glock P80 9 mm handgun. He has a 2017 St. Clair County conviction for aggravated domestic battery, making him ineligible to possess weapons. Bail was set at $45,000. Myron D. Mitchell, 31, of Alton, was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On Jan. 1 Mitchell allegedly was found to be firing a firearm in a reckless manner. Bail was set at $15,000. Submitted SOUTH ROXANA An officer involved shooting Tuesday night in South Roxana is under investigation by the Illinois State Police. According to South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles, South Roxana Police responded Tuesday night to a disturbance in the 100 block of Rose Avenue where, during the call, a responding police officer fired his weapon, striking a person involved in the disturbance. SPRINGFIELD State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has filed legislation that would incentivize Illinois employers to hire qualified veterans and active-duty military members' spouses. While Illinois already has effective policies combatting veteran unemployment, these policies omit the spouses of veterans and active-duty military members, said Stuart. Military spouses have high levels of unemployment and expanding who qualifies for key tax credits will help encourage businesses to hire active-military members and veterans spouses. Stuart has filed House Bill 4223, which amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. The amendment expands employer tax credits to include veterans spouses, and active-duty military members and their spouses. Under current law, the only employees that an employer can claim the tax credit for are veterans. Spouses of veterans or active-duty military members face many of the same employment challenges as their partners, said Stuart. The rate of unemployment for military spouses is around 25% and most struggle to maintain full or part-time employment given moving and military schedules. Military members and their spouses make joint financial sacrifices to serve our country, and they deserve recompense for that. MADDY BARRETTE, Chariho, Softball, Sophomore; Barrette hit a two-run single in the seventh inning, lifting Chariho past Cumberland. For the week, Barrette was 4 for 8 with three RBIs and a double in three games. MADDIE STEPSKI, Stonington, Softball, Senior; Stepski hit two home runs in back-to-back games for the Bears. In three games during the week, she was 10 for 13 with four homers, two doubles and 12 RBIs. Stepski is hitting .750 for the season with 22 RBIs and six home runs. MICHAEL POOLE, Westerly, Baseball, Freshman; Poole struck out 14 Rogers batters to earn his second win of the season. Poole pitched a four-hitter and allowed just one earned run. For the season, Poole has 19 strikeouts in 12 innings with a 1.14 ERA. SEAN BERGEL, Wheeler, Baseball, Sophomore; Bergel pitched a complete-game two-hitter in a 1-0 win against Putnam. Bergel struck out seven and did not walk a batter. He is 2-1 with a 1.68 ERA this season. Vote View Results Criminals are running 'scam schools' on the internet, teaching budding swindlers how to steal bank details and use them to splurge on major retailers' goods. Conmen sell detailed step-by-step guides one named the 'Fraud Bible' and individual online tutorials to help new scammers cash in on the multimillion-pound black market trade, an undercover Mail investigation has found. Students learn how to send spam text messages, purporting to be from companies such as the Royal Mail and PayPal, which link to fake bank websites. The aim is to trick targets into handing over their account and card information and other personal details. Swag brag: Swindlers use images of wads of cash like these to advertise their lessons They are taught to use the plundered financial details to buy goods online from retailers including John Lewis, Harvey Nichols, PrettyLittleThing and Selfridges. These goods are usually then sold on via eBay or other internet marketplaces meaning many consumers buying from these sites will unwittingly be purchasing goods bought with stolen funds. Our investigation also revealed: Scam schools sell 'how to' guides for Universal Credit fraud, fuelling a benefits fraud epidemic costing taxpayers billions of pounds a year. The fraudsters openly boast about their crimes on social media, showing off about making 5,000 a day and posting videos of themselves with luxury goods bought using the stolen money. They also teach customers how to use stolen bank details to take out 5,000 loans charged to the victim, and how to move money from victims' accounts to cryptocurrency accounts, which the crook can then make off with. Online credit card fraud, which is worth almost half a billion pounds a year, is fuelled by a commodity that scammers call 'fullz', which includes a victim's credit card number, full name, address, phone number, date of birth, bank account number and sort code. Fullz and other details such as national insurance and driving licence numbers are openly traded on messaging service Telegram, in groups with names including Legal Fraudsters, Fraud Boys, Frauding UK and GB Only Fraudsters, which have thousands of members. These criminal marketplaces are also used by scammers who make additional profit by teaching others to learn the tricks of their illicit trade for a price. For 205, paid via Bitcoin, one fraudster who advertised lessons in these groups provided us with the software to create real-looking spam phishing text messages. These linked to fake web pages for banks and payment companies, and are used to trick victims into passing over their personal and banking details. He said he would teach us to use these texts in a three-day crash course. In a call he explained: 'If I should send you a text when I'm spamming, it's going to feel legitimate. It will show you HSBC or Barclays, for example.' He said this was the technique used in the fake PayPal and Royal Mail scam text messages which exploded during lockdown. 'Have you received a spam message recently? [The software] will make it look real.' He sent a list of more than 50 mobile phone numbers he planned to target as a demonstration during the tutorials, explaining: 'We are going to spam as much as we can bro. Don't worry bro.' The reporter ended the communication before a full lesson began. Other scammers-turned-teachers explain how to use these stolen bank details to buy from major retailers without getting caught by fraud checks, in a technique known as 'clicking'. Designer goods: Fraudsters post videos of luxury goods bought using the stolen money One fraudster, who calls himself tee.clickz and rocket20, has a video on TikTok advertising: 'lessons, fullz, bins and methods'. His TikTok biography says: 'Never work a 9-5 again.' For 200 he offers a dossier which he called the 'Fraud Bible', with techniques to defraud 20 brands, detailing tried and tested tips such as which type of card and delivery option to use, and the maximum cost of purchase that can be made with each retailer without raising the alarm. It claims to have methods to be used on a range of major stores including Givenchy, John Lewis, End, Louis Vuitton and Farfetch. The advice includes: 'Once shipped, repeat on the same card to rinse or use a different card. From here just sell the items on eBay or any designer-based market app.' It warns that retailers often text or call buyers as part of fraud checks, 'so be sure the phone number you enter during checkout is one you control'. The Fraud Bible also features 'refund' scams with methods of claiming cashback from major retailers. These include standard email formats expressing faux outrage that an ordered item did not arrive and demanding that 'something is done immediately in order to rectify this situation'. How cruel delivery text scam cost me all of my life savings Text scam: Actress Emmeline Hartley Actress Emmeline Hartley described her horror at being 'scammed out of every penny I had' after falling for a fake Royal Mail text. The 28-year-old from Birmingham, was duped by the message which claimed she owed a 2.99 'postage fee' for a package to be delivered. She clicked on the link in the text which led to a website that mimicked the real Royal Mail page, and submitted her bank details. The next day, a man pretending to be from her bank phoned and said they had identified suspicious activity on her account and convinced her to transfer all her cash to another account to 'protect' it. Emmeline says: 'I grew up with the internet and consider myself to be pretty tech-savvy. 'But the reality is that anyone can get caught out if the scammers get them at a vulnerable moment. 'In my case, the text came through when I was rushing to meet a friend with my phone on two per cent, so I wasn't thinking clearly. 'The text said that I had to pay an additional postage fee because someone had sent me a parcel, which seemed plausible as my birthday was coming up. 'When I clicked the link, the site was identical to the Royal Mail one they'd even set up redirects so the URLs looked right on the pages I checked.' The following day, the fake bank representative called to make false claims about suspicious payments. Emmeline says: 'I said that the transactions weren't authorised by me, and they asked if I could think of a time when someone could have got my details. I then recalled the text. 'From then on I was at their mercy when someone tells you your money is at risk, all you care about is keeping it safe. 'I wasn't thinking clearly and he convinced me to transfer all the money to a different account. 'We went through all the security steps even the number he called from matched the one on my bank website.' Emmeline transferred 1,000 her entire savings but realised it was a scam when they also tried to get her to move her overdraft. She says: 'They're master manipulators and know exactly how to prey on your panic, so teaching people how to do it is horrible. 'The people who sell these scam lessons are lower than low. 'I really think more needs to be done by social media platforms because at the moment it seems to be far too easy to sell these scams online.' The British Retail Consortium said retailers spent 160 million on cyber security in 2019/20, the most recent figures available. The lessons also included a guide for 'noobies', or new scammers, explaining in simple language how the frauds are carried out, alongside a glossary of the terms. Scammers also apply for and pocket payday loans using the details of a victim who has a 'good credit score'. They put the cash onto a virtual prepaid bank card, which has fewer checks and does not require facial recognition. The Fraud Bible explains: 'When applying for the virtual card, fill in the victim's accurate information including their address etc. 'Once approved you will have access to your virtual card right away. You can now apply for loans and get them deposited into your virtual bank account.' Also included is a guide to a 'Universal Credit Method' for benefits fraud, which advises: 'Don't ever pick up the phone calls like a dweeb!'. Instead 'chill and chat' through the Universal Credit online messaging system. Other tips to 'stay safe' when 'clicking' also posted on the TikTok page are: only using public wifi such as Starbucks', having a separate burner phone or laptop, regularly switching sim cards and deleting your cookies and cache before 'clicking'. He advises selling the stolen goods on eBay, but advertises his swag on his TikTok page, which has videos of a Gucci pouch which he ordered from Flannels and then sold for 200 less than a third of its retail cost. When asked why they are so cheap, he replies, with a laughing emoji, 'I click them. Basically getting them for free'. And he advertises his scam school with images of luxury items including Nike trainers, Louis Vuitton bags and Gucci pouches, in an advert saying: 'Wanna start clicking?' It adds: 'Message for Fraud Bible 100+ methods.' Scam artist tee.clickz - who has millions of followers - has a video on TikTok advertising: 'lessons, fullz, bins and methods'. His TikTok biography says: 'Never work a 9-5 again' On TikTok he also posted a video of a day in the life of a 'clicker', featuring the fraudster collecting wedges of cash from banks and showing off a Rolex watch, eating in high-end restaurants and apparently emptying a victim's online bank account. The soundtrack to the video is a rap entitled London Scammer, with the lyrics: 'I see it, I want it, I click it.' For 20 he later provided online tutoring, in which he answered our questions about the scam. When asked where to get 'fullz', he directed us to a second scammer who offered to sell us seven hacked full card, bank and personal details of UK victims for 150. We declined. A spokesman for banking trade body UK Finance says: 'Customers are legally protected against losses caused by unauthorised card fraud and the industry is taking action on all fronts to stop fraud from happening. Banks constantly monitor for suspicious transactions and are introducing an extra layer of authentication for online payments to keep customers safe from fraud.' An eBay spokesman says: 'We do not allow stolen property to be sold on eBay. 'We have dedicated teams who work closely with law enforcement to prevent and disrupt illegal activity and investigate sellers who may be in breach of this policy, so that the appropriate action can be taken.' TikTok removed the videos after it was alerted by the Mail. A spokesman says: 'The safety and wellbeing of our community is a top priority. Our guidelines make clear that we do not allow content that promotes or enables criminal activities. Through a combination of technology and human moderation we remove content that breaches these guidelines.' investigations@dailymail.co.uk Punishments are draconian in the US for corporate wrongdoing, unlike the UK, which is paradise island for the reckless, the incompetent, the charlatans, the sailors too close to the wind and the hype-merchants. Decades in prison are looming for Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, who has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud against investors along with three charges of wire fraud. Holmes must have been highly plausible. Those who backed her firm, which purported to have a test that could detect a variety of conditions from just a few drops of blood, included media mogul Rupert Murdoch and tech tycoon Larry Ellison. Guilty: Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud against investors The case raises interesting questions over where boasting and over-confidence ends and deception begins. These are highly pertinent in Silicon Valley, where exaggerated claims are common currency. Who is a snake-oil salesman and who is the next Steve Jobs? Possibly even the individuals themselves dont know. At least the US justice system acts as a credible deterrent for those tempted to cross the line. One of those who passed away in 2021 was the infamous Bernie Madoff, who passed himself off as a legitimate asset manager while running a gigantic Ponzi scheme. He died in prison, having been sentenced to 150 years. Domestic goddess Martha Stewart served time too, for felony charges related to a share sale, albeit just five months in a facility known as Camp Cupcake, but even so. The campaign to strip Tony Blair of his knighthood is a reminder that a similar demotion was one of the few penalties inflicted on the British bankers responsible for the credit crisis. Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, had his gong forcibly removed. But he is still in receipt of a handsome pension, courtesy in large part of British taxpayers, who were forced to bail out the bank he broke. There seems to be a distinct lack of appetite to investigate disasters, which means those at the helm walk away scot-free. Even when there is no suggestion of criminal accusations, such a culture of impunity is galling for victims. The City watchdogs probe into the downfall of fund manager Neil Woodfords investment empire chugs along after more than two years, with no answers whilst our anti-hero is looking to start again. At HBOS, there is still no sign of a report into senior managers five years after a probe was launched and 13 years after the bank had to be rescued. Whenever there is talk of harsher penalties for corporate malfeasance, there are cries that it will spawn witch-hunts and deter talented people from taking top jobs. What nonsense: there is no shortage of CEO candidates in the US. Time we got tough. Tempus fugit Its hard to believe now, but once upon a time a Blackberry was the ultimate business status symbol. Harder still to imagine was the time pre-Blackberry when we could switch off on holidays because there was no little red light flashing to alert us to email messages. So addictive were the handsets they were named Crackberries, and in 2005, the then FT journalist Lucy Kellaway wrote a satire on corporate life Who Moved My Blackberry? For anyone still using one, they will begin to stop working this week as the software supporting them is turned off, consigning them to history along with the Psion Organiser, the Amstrad and the Filofax. A reminder of how quickly technology moves came for me over the holidays when I watched The Wire, a mere 20 years or so after it was first released. A couple of young stevedores at Baltimore docks steal some Japanese cameras and are amazed there is no need for film: cue wry smiles. For Kodak, once synonymous with photography, it was no laughing matter: its botched response to the shift to digital plunged it from dominance to bankruptcy. Kodak has since attempted various activities from cryptocurrency to pharmaceuticals but never regained its status. Another famous name, Gieves and Hawkes, the Savile Row tailor that dressed everyone from Lord Nelson to Noel Coward, has been put into liquidation after 250 years, though the name may live on. Even that marker of manly authority, the suit, may be in danger of extinction, judging by the attire of CEOs I speak to on Zoom. A new year reminds us how time flies. It should remind bosses that yesterdays lucrative craze is tomorrows nostalgia. The London stock market started the new year with a bang as fears about the severity of the Omicron variant began to subside. The FTSE 100 hit new post-pandemic highs after investors took their cue from signs that, although cases are surging, the strain is milder than its predecessors. Airline stocks took off as traders bet that harsh restrictions are less likely to be brought in and that people will still be itching to visit loved ones or go on holiday. New high: Airline stocks took off as traders bet that harsh restrictions are less likely to be brought in and that people will still be itching to visit loved ones or go on holiday The Footsie climbed 1.6 per cent, or 120.61 points, to 7505.15, crossing the 7,500-point threshold for the first time in around two years. And the FTSE 250 gained 1.8 per cent, or 415.84 points, to 23896.65. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: There is no sign of an extended new year hangover for the UK markets. The gains for oil firms, airlines and hotel, pub and restaurant operators reflect diminished investor concern about the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Wizz Air was the top riser in the FTSE 350 after stellar December passenger figures, even though Omicron put many off travelling. Stock Watch - Sigmaroc Investors cheered after building materials group Sigmaroc bought Johnston Quarry Group and Guiting Quarry for 35.5million. A total of eight quarries and two processing sites have been bought, spread across the South West, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire. The stones extracted include Cotswold Ironstone and Bath stone, used in upmarket housing developments. Sigmaroc will buy two more quarries by mid-2024 for 14.5million. Shares rose 7.8 per cent, or 6.5p, to 90p. The Hungarian budget airline, which does most of its business flying into eastern Europe, flew 2.6m travellers last month with its planes 75 per cent full. This was around 80pc of the 3.3m it carried in December 2019. Wizz reports its passenger numbers as booked seats, rather than the total number of people who actually travelled but it indicates that demand is picking up. Shares soared 12.2 per cent, or 512p, to 4700p. British Airways-owner IAG was hot on its heels, rising 11.3 per cent, or 16.04p to 158.82p, as analysts at Citi said long-haul airlines are likely to outperform short-haul carriers. IAG and its peers are more likely to benefit from the recovery in corporate travel and people wanting to visit friends and family, Citi said. This didnt dampen the appetite for other holiday groups, with Tui up 10.4 per cent, or 24.1p, to 255.5p and Easyjet jumping 9.2 per cent, or 51.4p, to 607.4p. Other travel and leisure stocks were also on the up as hopes grew that the economy will continue to recover. Premier Inn-owner Whitbread rose 4.6 per cent, or 139p, to 3134p, while Upper Crust-owner SSP gained 7.3 per cent, or 17.4p, to 257.5p. Despite the optimistic outlook, Dim T and Wildwood-owner Tasty revealed the damage done to its festive trading in the wake of Plan B restrictions. The AIM-listed group, which has 54 pizza joints and Asian fusion eateries, said trade was considerably weaker than anticipated after advice to work from home kicked in on December 13 and deterred festive bookings. Tasty, which rose 2.4 per cent, or 0.13p, to 5.25p, said trading for the six months before December was extremely encouraging, but 2022 will not be without its challenges. Covid testing firms Omega Diagnostics (down 11.2 per cent, or 3.05p, to 24.2p) and Novacyt (down 7.1 per cent, or 26.1p, to 343.35p) tumbled even though demand for tests is likely to be high for weeks to come. The pair were some of the biggest stock market gainers in 2020 after they mobilised rapidly to battle the pandemic. Elsewhere, tech-focused government contractor Capita capped off another sale in its bid to raise 700million from disposals in 2021 and the first half of 2022. Shares rose 5 per cent , or 1.84p, to 38.34p after the 62million deal to sell its Secure Solutions and Services business to NEC Software Solutions UK. The division provides software to the justice and emergency services sectors. By the end of last year the group, which runs everything from collection of the BBC licence fee to operating Government and council call centres, had agreed deals worth at least 643million. Britain has always been the bastion of open, free-trading economies. As an island nation, we know our prosperity is underpinned by doing business across the globe. Last year, foreign direct investment created more than 55,000 jobs in the UK and was worth nearly 4billion to the economy benefiting communities across the country. We attract investment from around the world thanks to our approach to innovation, competitive tax environment, lack of red tape and our skilled workforce. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured) says the government with use the new National Security and Investment Act bolsters to block deals that pose a security threat And having unshackled ourselves from EU rule for good, we of course want to strengthen our position as one of the most attractive places in the world to do business and invest. While we pride ourselves on being open for business, one fact must never be forgotten: our economic security is dependent on our national security. So, while this Government welcomes the vast majority of foreign direct investment, under no circumstances will we allow deals to be made that compromise this countrys national security or the safety of our people. In recent years, hostile actors have been seeking to undermine British interests by structuring sensitive deals to hide who is behind them and acquiring assets such as a businesss treasured intellectual property. Such behaviour left unchecked can leave Britain vulnerable to disruption, unfair leverage and espionage. It is crucial, therefore, that the Government has the tools at our disposal to combat these threats coming from ever more determined overseas actors. But as they have grown more cunning, we have made our defences stronger. From today, new laws have come into place that shore up our national defences against malicious investment bringing our powers, which were nearly 20 years old, in line with those of some of our closest allies such as the US and Australia. The new National Security and Investment Act bolsters our powers so we can investigate any kind of qualifying transaction that raises a national security risk. The laws mean investors and businesses must tell Government about certain types of proposed deals in particularly sensitive areas of the economy, such as in artificial intelligence and the civil nuclear sector. If we believe a deal poses a threat to our national security, we will be able to add conditions to it, such as altering the amount of shares an investor is allowed to acquire or restricting access to commercial information. In extreme cases, we will be able to block the deal completely. This landmark law not only significantly upgrades our decades-old screening powers, but gives investors additional certainty and clarity as we enshrine our status as a global champion of free trade and investment. Most transactions will be unaffected by these new powers, and businesses and investors will be able to proceed quickly and with certainty in the knowledge that the Government will not revisit a transaction once cleared unless false or misleading information was provided. The British public rightly expect their safety and security to be the Governments number one priority, and we will always put them first. Were sending a crystal clear message to overseas investors: the UK is open for business, but if you seek to threaten the safety of the British people we will move to protect our interests. The National Security and Investment Act protects our open, trading economy and ensures there is no hiding place for those who would do us harm. Rolls-Royce is a step closer to mending its balance sheet after the 90million sale of its Norwegian engine-making business. The FTSE 100 group, whose finances were ravaged by the pandemic, has sold Bergen Engines to British group Langley in a deal first announced in August. The Norwegian government vetoed an earlier buyer, Russian group TMH, on national security grounds because of its links with Vladimir Putin. Repair job: The sale of its Norwegian engine-maker will help Rolls-Royce fix its battered balance sheet Rolls aims to sell 2billion of businesses to claw its way out of debt and get its credit rating back up to an investment-grade level. Its shares rose 3.4 per cent, or 4.2p, to 127.08p. The Derby-based engineer was hammered by the slump in international travel when the pandemic broke out it earned around half of its income from servicing engines on long-haul planes. With flights grounded for months, the company racked up billions in losses and began burning through cash. To combat the crisis, it cut 9,000 jobs from its 52,000-strong workforce and raised 5billion. All three major credit rating agencies Moodys, S&P and Fitch Ratings slashed its credit rating to below investment grade, curtailing the number of firms that can invest in it. Last August it revealed a first-half profit of 114million, and in February it will report its full-year figures. Bergen makes engines and technology for boats, as well as for Norways navy. Since 1946 it has supplied more than 7,000 engines to customers, 4,000 of which are still in operation. In March, Norway said a takeover would have been of significant military strategic interest to Russia, and would have boosted Russian military capabilities. TMH is controlled by Iskander Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev, who have ties to the Russian president. The deal comes as the UK yesterday introduced more stringent rules on foreign takeovers that could see more blocked by the Government. The National Security and Investment Act means investments and mergers in 17 sensitive areas of the economy such as defence and artificial intelligence will automatically be scrutinised. The deal with Langley values Bergen at 53million, though the 90million Rolls will receive includes cash and debt. Rolls has sold another division, a Spanish arm called ITP Aero which makes parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon, for 1.4billion to private equity predator Bain Capital. Langley has around 4,600 staff, while Bergen has 900. Langley makes handling equipment including for the Ministry of Defences submarine missile loading facility. Transport group Go-Ahead has halted the trading of its shares after it failed to file its financial results. The business, which operates some of the UKs key rail and bus routes, was plunged into crisis last year after the Government uncovered a 25million breach of its Southeastern railway franchise agreement. Go-Ahead was stripped of the contract to operate the commuter line in September, after it emerged that it had not declared more than 25million of taxpayer funding which should have been returned. All stop: Transport group Go Ahead was plunged into crisis last year after the Government uncovered a 25m breach of its Southeastern railway franchise agreement Though the money has now been paid back, Go-Ahead referred itself to the Serious Fraud Office and its finance boss stepped down with immediate effect. In an announcement to investors yesterday, Go-Ahead said its auditor Deloitte needed more time to finalise its financial results for the year ending July 3. City rules state that a firm only has six months to file those statements, before its shares must be suspended from trading. Go-Ahead said it intends to request a restoration of the listing when the results are filed, and that it was working closely with Deloitte to ensure they were published as soon as possible hopefully before the end of the month. The Southeastern franchise runs vital commuter routes connecting London with Kent and East Sussex. It was run by Govia, a joint venture majority-owned by Go-Ahead and minority-owned by French group Keolis, before being taken over by the Governments operator of last resort in October. The pair are still running another rail contract, Govia Thameslink, which operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express trains. Go-Ahead also has a vast bus network, operating routes in towns and cities across the country. The issue which landed Go-Ahead in trouble was variable track access charges fees that Southeastern pays to a group of private investors in return for using the high-speed tracks known as HS1. Under the terms of the contract, the Government pays Southeastern a fee, which it passes on to HS1. Any extra cash left over was meant to be returned to the tax man, but this was withheld. Errors have been identified dating back as far as 2014. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps slammed Go-Ahead, saying there was clear, compelling and serious evidence that Southeastern railway has breached the trust that is absolutely fundamental to the success of our railways. And critics have called for the firm to be stripped of its other contracts. Go-Aheads chairman, Clare Hollingsworth, apologised to the Government, saying she recognised that mistakes have been made. The shares were suspended at 667p, down 68.8 per cent from two years ago. It's nearly three weeks since the Bank of England increased the base rate from 0.1 pc to 0.25 per cent but not a single big bank is paying savers a penny more. And there is no guarantee that they will as High Street banks continue to turn their backs on savers who have money in their easy-access accounts. Two of the big banks are also now no longer interested in taking on new customers, instead allowing only their current account customers to open an easy-access savings account. Experts predict that the big banks will not raise their rates at all this year even if base rate rises further, as expected This is a complete turnaround from when these giants were keen to attract money and paid competitive rates. Experts even predict that they will not raise their rates at all this year, even if the Bank of England base rate rises further as experts expect. It means savers will continue to earn a derisory 0.01 per cent on easy-access accounts with the big banks Barclays, Lloyds (including Halifax), HSBC and NatWest (including Royal Bank of Scotland) while other banks pay as much as 0.71 pc. The big banks know savers will often simply open a savings account with their current account provider rather than seek out better deals, so they have no need to compete for funds. And they are already awash with money, having benefited from 187 billion savings accumulated since the start of the pandemic and, before that, being able to borrow at rock-bottom rates from the Bank of England. Despite their miserly rates, they have not seen any substantial outflow of funds. Two of the big banks are also now no longer interested in taking on new customers, instead allowing only their current account customers to open an easy-access savings account They hold around two-thirds of the total 974 billion sitting in easy-access accounts. James Blower, founder of consultancy Savings Guru, says: Big banks have so much cash they have no need to put rates up at all this year and likely beyond that. He adds: The best thing customers of the big clearing banks can do is switch to better accounts. With the best rate at 0.71 per cent, there is a significant uplift on offer. NatWest and RBS only let their current account holders open their Instant Saver accounts, paying 0.01 per cent. The banks Digital Regular Saver, also exclusively for current account holders, pays a much better 3 .But you can only put in up to 50 a month and the most you can hold in the account is 1,000. While it suits those looking to get on the savings ladder, it does little for people who have already built up a nest egg. The Premium Saver and Savings Builder both paying as little as 0.01 per cent are also limited to current account holders. HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds still allow you to open a savings account even if you do not have a current account with them. But they, too, are not competing for your money and are unlikely to do so soon. They only pay 0.01 per cent, yet you can earn as much as 0.71 per cent with Investec Online Flexi Saver and 0.67 per cent with Shawbrook Easy Access account. A NatWest spokesman says: We are focused on our purpose of supporting our customers improving their financial capability. Part of that is helping 2 million of our customers start to save by 2023. We will continue to develop our products to help customers thrive. sy.morris@dailymail.co.uk Instant unlimited access to all of our content on tillamookheadlightherald.com. The Headlight Herald E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) Robbie Steiding sits on the lap of Albert Einstein during a 1946 secret visit that Einstein made to Western Maryland. The famous scientist was invited by Robbies father, John Steiding of Midland, to vacation at Deep Creek Lake. Barre, VT (05641) Today Overcast with rain showers at times. High around 55F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Cloudy with showers. Low 44F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. remaining of SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Kingsport, TN (37660) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High 81F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. During the Civil War, famous novelist Louisa May Alcott, author of the book Little Women, volunteered to be a nurse on her 30th birthday, Nov. 29, 1862. She received her orders on Dec. 11 to report to a hospital in Georgetown, outside of Washington. North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile off its east coast on Wednesday, just hours before South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a rail line he hopes will eventually connect the divided Korean peninsula. North Koreas first launch since October underscored leader Kim Jong Uns New Year vow to bolster the military to counter an unstable international situation amid stalled talks with South Korea and the United States. The presumed missile was fired around 8:10 a.m. (2310 GMT) from an inland location, over the east coast and into the sea, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. Hours later, Moon visited the South Korean east coast city of Goseong, near the border with the North, where he broke ground for a new rail line that he called a stepping stone for peace and regional balance on the peninsula. In remarks at the ceremony, Moon acknowledged the launch raised concerns of tensions, and called for North Korea to make sincere efforts for dialogue. We should not give up the hope for dialogue in order to fundamentally overcome this situation, he said. If both Koreas work together and build trust, peace would be achieved one day. The apparent missile launch by the nuclear-armed North highlighted the challenges Moon faces in his push to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough before his five-year term ends in May. Reconnecting the two Koreas by rail was a central issue in meetings between Kim and Moon in 2018, but those efforts went nowhere as talks aimed at convincing North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons in exchange for easing international sanctions faltered in 2019. Kims New Year speech made no mention of efforts by South Korea to restart negotiations or offers by the United States to talk, though analysts noted that doesnt mean he has closed the door on diplomacy. VERY REGRETTABLE South Koreas National Security Council convened an emergency meeting, expressing concern the launch came at a time when internal and external stability is extremely important and calling on North Korea to return to talks. Japans defence minister said the suspected ballistic missile had flown an estimated 500 km (310 miles). read more Since last year, North Korea has repeatedly launched missiles, which is very regrettable, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. The missile was fired from Jagang Province on the northern boder with China, South Koreas JCS said, the same province where North Korea tested its first hypersonic missile in September. U.N. Security Council resolutions ban all ballistic missile and nuclear tests by North Korea, and have imposed sanctions over the programmes. In state media summaries of a speech Kim gave ahead of the New Year, the North Korean leader did not specifically mention missiles or nuclear weapons but said national defence must be bolstered. For several weeks, North Korean troops have been conducting winter exercises, South Korean military officials have said. Our military is maintaining readiness posture in preparation for a possible additional launch while closely monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the United States, the Souths JCS said in a statement. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea has become even more isolated, imposing border lockdowns that have slowed trade to a trickle and have prevented in-person diplomatic engagements. It has also stuck to a self-imposed moratorium on testing its largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or nuclear weapons. The last tests of ICBMs or a nuclear bomb were in 2017, before Kim met with then U.S. President Donald Trump. But Pyongyang has continued test firing a variety of new, short-range ballistic missiles, including one launched from a submarine in October, arguing it should not be penalized for developing weapons that other countries already possess. MISSILE DEVELOPMENT In a report last month, the U.S. governments Congressional Research Service concluded North Korea was continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defences. Just hours after the North Korean launch, Japan announced its foreign and defence ministers would hold talks with U.S. counterparts on Friday. Speaking at a regular news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged all parties to bear in mind the bigger picture, cherish the hard won peace and stability on the peninsula and stick to the use of dialogue and consultation to reach political settlement. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesdays launch. At a regular news briefing on Monday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price reiterated the U.S. desire for dialogue with North Korea, saying Washington had no hostile intent and was prepared to meet without preconditions. SOURCE: REUTERS Work started so quietly that the news barely made the paper. "Without ceremony, without the tension which might be expected in the culmination of a dream of years, operators swung two big steam shovels into action at Lime Point, digging a pit for the Marin county shore anchorage," the San Francisco Chronicle announced on page 19 of the Jan. 6, 1933 edition. And, with that, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge had officially begun. Although the actual groundbreaking ceremony would take place a month later, Jan. 5, 1933 is the official birthday of California's most beloved span. That day, 100 workers on the San Francisco and Marin sides of the bridge started digging the massive holes that would host the two anchorages. They'd eventually excavate 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt; By the end of the first six months, the Marin (north) tower was already done. MORE: Underrated San Francisco landmarks every local should visit at least once The bridge was seen not just as a great California accomplishment, but as a great international one. In February of 1933, the Sotoyome Scimitar of Healdsburg wrote that the bridge would be a "key link in the projected 'all-coast' highway system, eventually to stretch magnificently from South America to Alaska." The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote. Even though that lofty goal didn't quite pan out nearly a century later, there's nothing to disappoint about the Golden Gate. When the bridge opened to traffic on May 28, 1937, it was then the longest suspension bridge in the world; New York City's Verrazano Narrows eclipsed it in 1964. The Golden Gate Bridge was also finished ahead of schedule and under budget a feat that's hard to imagine happening today. To see rare photos of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, click through the gallery above. ALBANY If we could give David Soares a belated Christmas gift, it would have to be a box filled with a virtue Albany County's district attorney lacks: courage. If that sounds harsh, consider: When has Soares been willing to go after a big fish? When has he prosecuted someone whose power and influence presents a risk to his own? Soares' office is just a few blocks from a state Capitol where corruption has at times been blatant. Yet Soares, a Democrat first elected in 2004, has never shown any interest in ruffling state political feathers, even as other prosecutors have charged and convicted lawmaker after lawmaker. NXIVM was headquartered in Colonie, yet Soares never cared to confront the cultish organization, despite ample evidence including abundant reporting by this newspaper that something was clearly wrong. Instead, he allowed senior NXIVM loyalist Kristin Keeffe to work at his office in her attempt to bring a case against one of the group's enemies. It was federal prosecutors in Brooklyn who ultimately filed racketeering, sex trafficking and child exploitation charges against leaders of the group. Soares likewise failed to get grand juries to indict the police officer who shot Ellazar Williams in the back in 2018, despite video evidence showing that the teenager was fleeing; the four officers whose needless aggression with Tasers led to the death of a mentally ill Dontay Ivy on a chilly night in Arbor Hill received similar treatment. The pattern is clear. If a case promises to be difficult or controversial, you can bet Soares will crumble and a trial will be avoided. So, it was no surprise to learn this week that he'd decided against prosecuting Andrew Cuomo on a charge that the former governor groped Brittany Commisso in the Executive Mansion. Few who have followed Soares' career believed he would prosecute the case. Doing so, after all, would have been completely out of character. The district attorney happily hunts critters but puts down his rifle when big game wanders into view. Yes, similar criticism could be leveled at other district attorneys. Yes, the odds of a Cuomo conviction may have been long, given the millions of dollars our former governor has at his disposal. Yes, cases that essentially pit one person's word against another's are especially challenging for prosecutors. But Soares in a statement told us he found Commisso to be "cooperative and credible," while also claiming he remains "deeply troubled by allegations like the ones at issue here. Such conduct has no place in government or in any workplace." If all that is true, why not go forward with the case? What's the worst that would have happened? Soares' office might have lost, but so what? He might have inconvenienced a once-powerful and potentially vengeful man but, again, so what? If Soares believes Commisso, he should have assumed a jury would feel the same way and taken a chance on her behalf. If he is "troubled" by such cases, he should have stuck his neck out for women who have been victimized. He should have let the taxpaying citizens of New York see the evidence for themselves. The assumption here isn't that Cuomo is guilty. He denies Commisso's allegations and deserves due process. But it would have been gratifying, for once, to see a big name called to answer in a local court. It would have been nice to see Soares show some moxie. It's worth remembering that Commisso, who worked as an executive assistant to Cuomo, was and remains fully willing to go forward with the case and repeat her claims in court. It takes no small amount of courage to step forward with an accusation against a powerful governor. It would have been so much easier for the 33-year-old to say nothing. And yet she's still speaking out. Commisso on Tuesday issued a scathing statement, saying Soares' decision "highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward" while calling it "just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better." Commisso has backbone. You wonder if Soares is envious. "She is very concerned about seeking justice," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple told me in November, adding that he believed the case against Cuomo was strong. It was Apple's office that initially filed the complaint charging the former governor with misdemeanor forcible touching. In the months since, there has been confusion and debate over whether the filing which seemed to take Soares by surprise was premature and therefore an Apple error. Maybe it was. Maybe the sheriff shouldn't have gone ahead without consulting the district attorney. But if the charge was against one of the minnows normally prosecuted in Albany City Court, Soares wouldn't have blinked. There would have been no risk, no publicity, no exposure. It would have been, ho-hum, business as usual. But a charge against Cuomo ... well, that was something different entirely. That's a case calling for grit and fortitude. That's a case requiring something the Albany County district attorney clearly lacks. Courage. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill When Kim Reed graduated from Siena College, she moved to New York City to acquire a master's degree in social work from New York University, but she also left the Capital District for some excitement. I was a social worker making very little money, said Reed, a Shenendehowa graduate who also has family in Clifton Park. I loved helping people and listening to their stories, but I also wanted some glamour. This was New York, one of the most exciting cities in the world, and I was very poor with a big student loan payment. Reed eventually found that excitement working part-time as a hostess at Babbo, an exclusive restaurant located on the northwest corner of Washington Square Park. I didnt know it when I first began working there, but Babbo was one of the most difficult restaurants to get into and arguably one of the most difficult in the world. It was a place even A-list celebrities might have trouble getting in. Babbo was one of the restaurants owned by famous chef Mario Batali and his business partner Joe Bastianich. As a hostess I worked from 5:30 till after 11 p.m., and this was after my full-day as a social worker. It was exciting to see so many celebrities and eventually I began to observe Marios executive assistant. She had the job I really wanted. All the VIP customers knew her and gave her a hug like she was an old dear friend. These were people I was too intimidated to even talk to, and I wanted to one day have that kind of power. Eventually, when the job as Bastianichs assistant became available, Reed applied for it and got it. She has recently published her first book Workhorse (Hachette Books) about her 17-year career working in the frenetic New York City restaurant scene, and how sometimes what you wish for in life can consume you. Reed admits to being the kind of person who likes to latch on to someone who is taking all the risks, but it took a personal cost. It allows me to go along for the ride, which is what happened when I worked with Joe (Bastianich). I met famous people, spent summers in Milan, and ate at some of the greatest restaurants in the world. I became addicted to being indispensable. Joe was always busy with all his side projects, and I was the person working out all the details. It was like a drug, but what I was chasing after was taking me further and further away from what really mattered to me like good friendships, a relationship and a weekend where I didnt have to constantly check my phone for a work email. In the book Reed describes how she began to physically and emotionally burn out. I knew I was working too hard, but I tried to ignore that voice in my head until I began to suffer physically. We talk about burnout a lot these days, but whats not mentioned is how long it takes to recover. At times even today Reed feels some regrets about the things she lost because she was working so much. Part of why I worked so hard and sacrificed so much was because I felt I needed to do that to deserve my seat at the table. When I look back I know Im ultimately the one who created much of that stress. We all have some control over our circumstances, and its up to us to get out of unhealthy situations. As she was writing this book it occurred to her that her time as a social worker prepared her perfectly to be an executive assistant to someone like Joe Bastianich. Working so closely with wealthy entrepreneurs who live lives of go, go, go, more, more, more is not a normal life. As a social worker I also worked at times with very energetic people that had no boundaries. I had to be constantly on a go, go, go awareness with them, so my perception of normal was warped. In 2017 several women accused Batali of sexual misconduct, and this past year Bastianich, Batali and their management company settled a lawsuit for $600,000 for fostering a hostile environment that permitted a sexualized culture of misconduct and harassment at the New York City restaurants. In my 17 years working with him there may have been three times when Mario said something that made me cringe. The scandal was horrible especially for the women who bravely came forward with their stories. I feel some guilt that the signs of his abuse were there but no one called him out on his behavior. I was also shocked after all the allegations came out how defensive so many people were about Mario, even referring to him as a genius. Were living in a paradigm shift about how men treat women, and its long overdue. During her school years, Reed loved to write, but she never had any confidence or belief she could do it professionally. In 2017, when I was burned out from the job, I started a blog where I was going to interview other executive assistants and soon realized I wasnt interested in that. One day she was sitting at a coffee shop and wrote for 45 minutes about some of the people she had met in the restaurant business. It just poured out of me, and thats when I realized what I wanted to write about, the highs and the lows of what my career had been. It was cathartic to write it all out. Im definitely going to continue writing and maybe one day it will be my full-time job. Today, Reed is still working as an executive assistant but in the finance industry, and her job has a healthier work-life balance. She has not heard or spoken to Bastianich since the summer. He knows I was writing the book. I didnt go out of my way to highlight anyones shortcomings but found it necessary to write an honest account of my experiences. Joes written three memoirs. He knows the drill. ALBANY Kevin Skeen picked up the phone at home when a customer called him around 8:30 p.m. Monday. A car had just crashed through his storefront on North Pearl Street. I thought he was just joking until he Facetimed me, Skeen said. It looks pretty bad though. A man fleeing Albany County sheriff's deputies crashed into the store at 87 N. Pearl St., forcing it to close for weeks. The crash comes less than three weeks after another crash involving sheriff's deputies in the city led to calls from the citys police union to pause deputy patrols in the city over safety concerns, and was at least the third crash involving deputies in the city in the last month. Sheriff Craig Apple did not return requests for comment. Mayor Kathy Sheehans office did not return a request for comment. Mike Delano, president of the police union, confirmed the circumstances of the crash and said the union wanted to reiterate its concerns about the safety of officers and the public when it came to police pursuits. Thats normally a very busy intersection so were thankful no one was injured, he said in a statement. Skeen said the crash damaged several of his coolers. Hes also waiting on an engineer to assess the building for possible structural damage. Food Near Me opened this past May, offering homemade food, sandwiches, and other items, along with household basics. The store filled part of the hole left when the Walgreens down the street closed. In November, Skeen offered free Thanksgiving dinners to customers and has started a GoFundMe to help raise money for educational opportunities for city students. Skeen said he didnt have much more information on what happened. He learned of the chase when the Times Union called him. The issue of deputies conducting pursuits in the city came to the surface last month when the city police union requested changes after a Dec. 13 crash sent two people to the hospital, including the driver who fled a traffic stop. Apple sent patrols into the city in the summer of 2020 to help deal with mounting gun violence, as well as the city police department's lack of officers. The deputies returned this past May and Apple said he will continue the patrols until the police department is back to normal staffing levels. The union said it had previously brought its concerns about the deputies to the departments leaders and Sheehans office without a change. After the Times Union questioned the department on communication between the two law enforcement agencies, Police Chief Eric Hawkins said there would be a meeting to hash out the issue. The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote. Last week, Hawkins said his staff and Apples staff had not yet sat down to talk due to the holiday week, but that the two leaders had talked several times. A city police spokesman said Tuesday the two departments command staffs were working out scheduling issues to find a time to meet. Both departments follow similar rules for car chases. They can be started at an officer or deputys discretion and they are supposed to alert a supervisor. That supervisor can then tell them to end the chase or allow it to continue. The city police department has typically taken the approach to not continue car chases except in the most serious cases, or when there is a threat to public safety. The city police union argues that its officers do not always know what deputies are doing or when theyve initiated chases because the two departments use different radio channels and its officers are too busy answering calls. Apple previously said he believes the union should be able to hear his deputies transmissions. The union disagreed, calling it a safety issue. It pointed to a Dec. 21 crash involving an SUV that fled a deputy and clipped a car on Lark Street near Spruce Street before crashing into a playground in Sheridan Park. The police union said the crash happened near a city police officer who was on patrol but unaware there was a chase going on. Apple has said his patrols, largely focused on vehicle and traffic violations, have made the city safer by taking guns and drugs off the street. "We're going to continue to do what we've been doing," he told the Times Union last month. "If we upset a few police officers along the way, I can't apologize for that." NORTH GREENBUSH The footage opens with the filmmaker shooting out of a car window, fences and a house slipping by as the video's house-music soundtrack pulses. The video cuts to rapid shots of at least two people slapping up racist stickers at the Rensselaer Technology Park. Only their hands are visible, giving thumbs-up signs. "Attention White Folks!" reads one sticker, the letters superimposed over a map of New York state. "Join us in activism! Make your ancestors proud - They built this for you!" Other stickers rail against "white guilt" or point to the state's changing demographics as a rallying point. All the stickers include QR codes and URLs pointing readers to further information. The stickers drew the attention of local police who are investigating their placement as vandalism with one police leader calling the the duo "cowards" for not showing their faces on the recording. The video includes a caption announcing it was White Lives Matter New York's first rally of 2022, stating activists were people "sick of seeing their homeland taken and their voices ignored." "By continuing Our push forward via peaceful activism and positive action we can see Our futures saved and order made from the chaos we find Ourselves surrounded by," the caption continues. The video was posted Monday on the WLM (White Lives Matter) New York channel on Telegram, the encrypted messaging app and social media platform. The channel, which was created in April 2021, has 222 subscribers. Monday's video was viewed 1,719 times by late Wednesday morning. North Greenbush police are now investigating the incident at the tech park, which is owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with the help of RPI's Department of Public Safety, according to North Greenbush Police Chief David Keevern. At least two people posted at least 10 pieces of propaganda at the park, Keevern said, which he called a "weird place" to propagate the racist message, since it would only reach a few people a day. "I can say, most unequivocally, that we don't want them in our community - even if it's just two people," he said. Whoever posted the propaganda could be charged with misdemeanor criminal tampering, according to Keevern. He called the propagandists "cowards" for not showing their faces in the video, adding he did not know the chances of finding them, "but we'd like to." Keevern said he was unaware of the group before the propaganda was posted. White Lives Matter is a loose group first formed in Texas about seven years ago whose leaders are associated with neo-Nazi groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. Other neo-Nazi and racist groups have used the slogan. Michael Richardson, a Columbia County-based activist and creator of Hate Watch Report, which monitors extremism in the region, said White Lives Matter attempted to hold a set of rallies last April around the country, but the events turned out to be "duds." However, Richardson said the incident on Monday meant the organization, or at least its New York chapter, "was beginning to gel." The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote. Richardson said there were three reasons why people post racist propaganda. First, like any graffiti, it can make one's mark and "put their brand out there," Richardson said. Secondly, it can be done to "piss people off." The third reason for posting propaganda was to "see if there's any interest out there," Richardson said. Patriot Front, described as an American white supremacist group, and the U.K.-based White Rose group post stickers and flyers for this reason. "That's what they're doing," Richardson said of the video's creators. "They're recruiting." The stickers at Rensselaer Tech Park follow White Lives Matter propaganda being found at the state-owned Charles Flood Wildlife Management Area north of Hudson in Columbia County. An environmental conservation officer removed a sticker found on a state Department of Environmental Conservation sign at the park, according to the agency. The officer did not find any other propaganda upon investigating other parks in the county, according to the DEC, which issued a statement calling the defacement of government property "unacceptable," adding that the agency would continue to investigate. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which owns the Rensselaer Technology Park, declined comment for this article through a spokesman. ALBANY The fate of how many hours a farm laborer can work before qualifying for overtime took a step forward this week during the first of three public hearings on the issue. The three-member Farm Laborer Wage Board is conducting the hearings this month as it helps decide whether state's recently implemented 60-hour overtime threshold should be lowered to the 40-hour work week that has applied to the rest of the labor force for roughly 80 years. Two more hearings are planned for Jan. 18 and 20. During Tuesday's hearing, Brenda McDuffie, chair of the board and president of the Buffalo Urban League, also highlighted an issue that must be resolved: What qualifies as a small farm? It was McDuffie's lone question during roughly three hours of public comment. The other two members of the state-created board represent special interests, David Fisher, president of the New York Farm Bureau, and Denis Hughes, former president of the New York state AFL-CIO. McDuffie's question came after the son of a dairy farmer in Lewis County, who is opposed to lowering the overtime threshold, conceded that if it will be changed, smaller farms should be exempted. The farmer's son, Zachary Makuch, who is also a high school teacher, said he would consider a dairy farm somewhere around 500 to 900 cows as small, particularly if family owned. There are 625,000 dairy cows among the 3,600 dairy farms in New York, according to state data. New York dairy farms yielded $2.7 billion in gross income in 2020. More than 96 percent of New York dairy farms had herd sizes of fewer than 1,000 cows, according to the most recent federal data from 2017, but more than half of the state's cows are on the 4 percent of farms with more than 1,000-plus cows. The state is a top-level producer of many dairy products in the country and has remained so throughout the initial implementation of a 60-hour overtime threshold, although smaller farms have threatened they may close if the threshold is lowered to a 40-hour work week. McDuffie asked Makuch to submit "any additional information on your definition by dollars, because we have a wide variety of farms to consider." Other farmers offered that if the board lowers the threshold, it should follow California's plan and slowly phase in a 40-hour overtime threshold. McDuffie briefly referenced the California model during her closing remarks. The board could recommend phasing in a 40-hour threshold by farm size and by year. Most farm owners who testified called for the overtime threshold to not be lowered. Republican lawmakers, including ranking leaders on agricultural committees, spoke in support of those farmers. A few advocates and academics spoke in favor of lowering the threshold to a 40-hour work week for farm laborers. Two farm owners, who are young and new to the industry, advocated at the hearing for lowering the threshold. One of the farmers said she already runs her farm under the 40-hour work week and it posed no hardship to her. The voice most absent from the hearing were that of farm laborers the subject of the hearing. A handful of those laborers, most of whom spoke in Spanish, commented on the overtime threshold. Most spoke in favor of lowering the threshold, discussing equity and their own health. Others offered views against the threshold, while some appeared alongside their farm's owners. Over the first year of the state's 60-hour overtime threshold for farm workers, farms saw a modest growth in income and the amount of people the farms employed remained steady, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Labor and presented at the start of the hearing. Without government money to subsidize the farms through the coronavirus pandemic, though, the farms would have seen a drop in income. The state's data did not present a similarly bleak outcome regarding the 60-hour overtime threshold that an agriculture industry report by Farm Credit East predicted. A report out of Cornell University, which relied on some Farm Credit data, showed that laborers would receive more money under the new threshold and farms experience modest decreases in overall income. Both the Farm Credit East and Cornell University reports were touted by the agricultural industry and Republican lawmakers. The Cornell University report was widely cited by farmers and lawmakers during the public hearing, particularly what the report said about the thoughts of H-2A seasonal workers. Cornell denied the Times Union's request for a copy of a blank survey that was provided to the workers. The lead researcher on the state-funded report told the newspaper that he was unsure whether the international workers were informed that minimum wage was set to rise in the state and what is the minimum wage in other states. Farmers, including leaders in their respective sectors, warned that not only would the 40-hour threshold hurt their bottom line and threaten the vitality of their businesses, but it could also lead to challenges over providing food for pantries and shelters. Fisher, of the Farm Bureau, looked to have one farmer highlight that point further. It was Fisher's lone comment during the hearing. Completely absent from the first hearing were Democratic lawmakers who pushed for the legislation to create the wage board and lower the overtime threshold. Republican Assembly members Steve Hawley and Chris Tague, and state Sen. Geogre Borrello, spoke in favor of holding the overtime threshold. Their points echoed sentiments that New York Republican congressmen made more than 80 years ago when advocating against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fair Labor Standards Act, which would go on to establish a federal minimum wage and 40-hour work week. May I say that the cow cannot be regulated by any law you may pass here, Republican U.S. Rep Francis D. Culkin of Oswego said in Congress in 1937. She gives down her milk at 6 oclock in the morning. You can pass laws until hell freezes over and you cannot change that. ... So I say, for Gods sake ... do not attempt to invade the God-given province of the cow by this legislation. The New Deal era legislation carved out farm workers and housekeepers, following pressure from Southern Democrats, who represented those industries, which oftentimes was filled by workers who are Black. New York Department of Agriculture and Markets recently acknowledged in a report that the farmers of color have experienced both explicit and implicit forms of discrimination and racism" and looked to remedy the situation, particularly for those who own farms. ALBANY Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday revealed more details on her plan to replace New Yorks much-criticized ethics enforcement body with a new entity possessing "real teeth one that answers to New Yorkers and not politicians." Hochuls plan would abolish the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, created in 2011 by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature, and replace it with a new, five-person entity that would enforce the New Yorks ethics and lobbying laws. The new watchdog panel Hochul did not suggest a name would draw its membership from a group of 15 deans of state-accredited law schools or their designees, according to the plan outlined in Hochuls State of the State briefing book. Five members of that larger group would serve on the panel on a rotating basis. The members would select a chair and each would be paid a reasonable per diem for their participation. Decisions would be made by majority vote replacing the special voting rules governing JCOPE, which Hochul's State of the State outline said were a large part of the body's dysfunction. Hochul's press secretary, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said there are 15 state-accredited law school deans in New York. So under the plan, there's no need for the Legislature or governor to make appointments. In the plan Hochul unveiled, it's not clear whether existing JCOPE staff would be replaced. Hochuls 237-page briefing book does not mention either the state inspector generals office or the Legislative Ethics Commission two other state government enforcement bodies that have faced criticizm for lack of independence from the governor and Legislature, respectively. If the Legislature agrees to Hochuls plan to replace JCOPE, the proposal could significantly improve the poor reputation of ethics enforcement in New York, a deficit blamed for the series of scandals that have rocked Albany. In August, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid a spate of controversies, including a lucrative book deal that the ethics panel's staff approved last year. The two legislative leaders that hashed out the proposal creating JCOPE in 2011 Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos later went to prison as a result of sprawling federal public corruption convictions. Some existing members of the Legislature have arguably benefited from the lack of independent ethics scrutiny, and might resist Hochuls effort. Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie has been largely silent on efforts to reform New York's ethics oversight structure. Democrats in the state Senate, led by Senate Majority Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins, have proved more willing. The Senate conference passed a package of bills during the 2021 legislative session seeking to reform the ethics panel, and Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger has pushed a constitutional amendment to replace JCOPE. Krueger was consulted by Hochul's office about the governor's new proposal. JCOPE consists entirely of commissioners appointed by the politicians it regulates, and the structure has allowed New York's most powerful to appoint their own allies to the panel. Six members are appointed by the governor and the other eight by leaders of the Legislature, a structure that has frequently raised questions about JCOPEs independence, particularly during Cuomo's tenure. Under its special voting rules, a small number of commissioners have been able to kill investigations into the politicians that appointed them. Unlike JCOPE, the new entity would be subject to state Freedom of Information and Open Meetings laws. During its decade of existence, the current ethics panel's staff and its commissioners especially those appointed by Cuomo have insisted that matters be discussed during the commissions closed-door, executive sessions. Hochul's plan released this week said that has created the potential for unnecessary secrecy or at least the perception that the body has something to hide. The new watchdog she envisions would hold all votes in public, and due-process hearings would also be public. Hochuls proposed legislation would also bar members of the new ethics body from communicating with outside parties regarding any potential or ongoing investigation a provision that would reduce politicians ability to influence the direction of the new panel. A violation of the new rule would subject the offender to possible sanctions. The government-reform group Reinvent Albany said it "strongly supports" Hochul's proposal, calling it by far the most important ethics reform Hochul can champion this year. "Inevitably, the governors proposal will be criticized for putting so much trust in law school deans and their designees as ethics commissioners," Reinvent Albany said in a statement following Hochul's speech. "But until the Legislature produces a realistic approach for appointing an equally independent ethics commission, we are going to be working for the governors law school dean plan." Not everyone had such a rosy assessment. A now-defunct enforcement body once widely viewed as effective, the state Lobbying Commission, at one point included only a single attorney among its six commissioners, and had a more diverse set of voices, including a newspaper publisher and a movie theater operator. David Grandeau, an attorney who served as the body's executive director from 1995 through 2007, said the body was effective in part because those non-lawyer commissioners had "common sense" and simply "did what was right." He said a major problem with JCOPE is that its commissioners are mostly attorneys and that the new commission proposed by Hochul could have the same issue. "For lawyers, everything is about avoiding making a decision, giving yourself outs, giving yourself options," Grandeau said. ALBANY Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered her first State of the State address on Wednesday, pledging to restore the public's trust in government through term limits and ethics reforms, and by implementing a sweeping agenda to combat gun violence, improve the health care industry, expand educational opportunities, take further steps on the climate crisis and prop up the agricultural industry. "What I am proposing is a whole new era for New York," Hochul said in the Assembly chamber. "The days of governors disregarding the rightful role of this legislature are over. The days of the governor of New York and mayor of New York City wasting time on petty rivalries are over. The days of New Yorkers questioning whether their government is actually working for them are over." The speech was delivered to a sparsely populated Assembly chamber; Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie announced shortly before the speech that he would not attend due to a positive COVID-19 test. Out of a nod toward history, Hochul returned the delivery of the address to the Assembly chamber. She also became the first woman to deliver the State of the State in New York. Hochul, who was sworn in as governor five months ago after former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned in a swarm of controversies, delivered her speech as New York is facing a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, backlash over vaccine mandates, increased gun violence and an historic number of residents departing for other states. "My agenda reflects my belief that we cannot allow the virus to grip us so tightly that it constrains us from looking to the future," Hochul said. "If we can't embrace the possibilities that come out of times like these, then we fail to honor the legacy of the daring, visionary New Yorkers who came before us." Hochul faces a potential Democratic primary this June, but the candidate that was once viewed as her stiffest competition, state Attorney General Letitia James, had already bowed out of the race. James, in the chamber alongside other leadership, applauded Hochul's speech at its conclusion. With the apparent absence of a more competitive, high-profile primary, Hochul delivered a slate of policies and plans welcomed by Democratic advocates. The governor called for the passage of the "Clean Slate Act," which would seal certain felony records after a specific amount of years, but did not directly advocate for the passage of two notable parole bills. Hochul called for a "jails to jobs" initiative that would seek to improve re-entry programs. In her prepared remarks released prior to her address, Hochul added that she wants to "build that brighter future" and that that she will use "my power in the Office of the Governor to build the solutions to allow New Yorkers to move over, under, and through the obstacles that have been put in their way." The 63-year-old former congresswoman, who had maintained an at times icy and arms-length relationship with Cuomo while serving as his lieutenant governor since 2015, promised to "jump-start" the state's ailing economy and transform New York into the most "business-friendly and worker-friendly" state in the nation. Drawing on her life experience as the granddaughter of a migrant farm worker who left South Dakota and became a steel worker in Buffalo, Hochul sought to assure New Yorkers that great things are ahead despite nation-leading population decline experienced over the last year. "To those who left temporarily because of the pandemic, or are trying to decide their next steps during these uncertain times, I have one message: You do not want to miss what is about to happen next," Hochul said. "Right now, in real time, we are building a new New York worthy of your talents and ambitions." Earlier in the day, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt declared the population decline the "greatest threat to New York state and our future viability." Ortt, later in the day, said he appreciated that Hochul recognized the issue, but Ortt added, "now you got to see a change in policies and a change in reasons to why they are leaving." Among the issues, Ortt and Republicans offered was the need to be more aggressive toward its response to bail changes. An initial review of the state's data by the Times Union showed about 4 percent of people out on bail changes were later arrested on a violent felony, or about 3,500 cases in a 12-month window. Hochul avoided the use of the word "bail" both in her 34-minute speech and the 237-page State of the State book. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday afternoon there was "no desire at this point" to make changes to bail laws. Stewart-Cousins was most focused on the governor's plans to expand voting rights at a time when certain Republican-led states are creating more restrictions around elections. "We're talking about education, housing, climate change, gun safety," Stewart-Cousins said. "It's hard to prioritize; for us we always start with voting actions because we pay homage to those who have cast their votes and allowed us the privilege of serving." One proposal that was celebrated by many lawmakers across the aisle: to once again allow bars and restaurants to sell alcohol with takeout and delivery orders. Takeout alcohol is one of six initiatives in what is described as a billion-dollar proposal to aid small businesses across the state, especially restaurants devastated by the pandemic. The speech was embraced by Democratic lawmakers, including Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, the longest serving member in the Legislature who is set to retire at the end of his term. Out of 52 State of the State addresses he has attended, Gottfried said this was "the best of them all." With the state reeling from a surge in crime that was exacerbated by the pandemic, the governor also said that more resources will be devoted to law enforcement efforts but also to pre-trial initiatives intended to help individuals get off that path. Critiques of the state's bail laws included a lack of resources for people who were released before their case disposition, which the pre-trial services may address. A major focus for Hochul is on tracing and removing illicit guns from streets, while also spending more money toward stemming gun violence with a community-based response. "Many factors contribute to our streets feeling less safe, including the very real uptick in gun violence since the start of the pandemic," Hochul said. "Fighting gun violence is critical, but we must address other factors contributing to tthe pervasive unease many are feeling on our streets." Hochul is looking to increase support systems for people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges. She included in her plans a proposal to increase affordable housing. Jolie Milstein, president and CEO of New York State Association for Affordable Housing, said she was thrilled with the governors message on housing. Hochul said a combination of state money and private investment totaling $25 billion would be funneled into the housing plan. The money will pay for the creation or preservation of 100,000 units of low-income housing in both urban and rural communities and another 10,000 supportive units, where people with mental illnesses and other disabilities can receive support while living independently. Hochuls attention to housing in her speech was a note of good news amid a new COVID-19 surge, the end of the eviction moratorium and a new infusion of rental assistance money that fell far short of Hochuls request, Milstein said. The governor had asked for nearly a billion in re-distributed aid from the federal government, but only $27 million is coming, Milstein said. Hochuls speech also addressed sustainability by pledging to electrify 50,000 homes (replacing gas, oil and propane-powered appliances with electric) and promised to introduce more innovation to affordable housing, potentially with modular net-zero housing production, multi-family buildings using mass timber framing and construction using 3D printing. Hochul also pledged to grow the health care workforce by 20 percent over the next five years. Her plans include paying for certain educational training at state and city universities if the graduate then stays in New York for their job. It also factors in a $4 billion investment in supporting wages. It also calls for increasing the ability for health care workers to relocate in New York. The governor sketched out plans to increase enrollment by one-third at state universities through an array of avenues. She called for tax cuts for the middle class, slightly ahead of when they were scheduled to go into effect prior to 2025. And Hochul said she plans to provide funding for small businesses and restaurants, as they look for ways around the latest wave of the pandemic. She also is looking to spend $1 billion on building out broadband access to increase economic opportunity. On the environment, Hochul pledged up to a $500 million investment in offshore wind, which could create 2,000 "good-paying green jobs." It is intended to position the state as the leader on the Eastern Seaboard in the offshore wind energy market. Hochul will also push for all new building construction to be at zero emissions by 2027. Hochul included certain tax credits for farmers, some of which may be related to potential changes in the overtime threshold for farmworkers. The New York Farm Bureau, which is against lowering the overtime threshold, nonetheless applauded Hochul's "sweeping investments for agriculture." A host of funding opportunities to bolster the state's food supply was included in the address. The address included the expected outline of Hochul's desire to overhaul the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a call for term limits on statewide elected officials and a state-level voting rights act. The address, as is typical for a State of the State, "touched on many laudable topics, but provided limited details," Blair Horner, executive director of the good-government New York Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement. He expects more information to be released in Hochul's budget, which is scheduled to come out later this month. In the Capital Region, Hochul wants to merge the College of Nanonscale Science and Engineering with the University at Albany; support University at Albany to develop a national-class research and teaching university with $500 million in annual research funding; complete the Albany Skyway; replace the "Civil War-era" Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge to Rensselaer; and rebuild the Wadsworth Center laboratory into a "world-class campus" that "reflects lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic." While the Capitol buzzed with lawmakers, albeit a limited number of people overall because of the omicron variant of COVID-19, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside on the west lawn. Many waved American or "don't tread on me" flags. Others clutched signs that pushed back on what some there believe is government overreach involving mandates intended to stem the spread of COVID-19. The rally could be heard from within the Capitol as the governor delivered her address. Steve Barnes and Leigh Hornbeck contributed reporting. ALBANY The state's nation-leading population decline was at the top of the list of priorities for Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and the state Senate's Republican leaders as the first day of the new legislative session began Wednesday. "The greatest threat to New York state and our future viability is the loss of human capital," Ortt said during a news conference inside the Capitol on Wednesday morning, ahead of Gov. Kathy Hochul's first State of the State address. Ortt, and fellow members of the Senate Republican Conference, hung their concerns about the direction of New York on its population decline. From July 2020 to July 2021, New York's population fell by 319,020 people, which was the largest decline of any state, according to recently released Census Bureau estimates. Senate Republicans attributed their top-level policy concerns high taxes, cashless bail, the handling of the pandemic, job access, broadband access and veterans, elder care and mental health services as reasons why they say New York has experienced substantial population decline. The 352,000 people that moved out of New York last year, according to the Census Bureau, set a record for the state in out-migration, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. "We lack opportunities," state Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, said. He called for universal access to cell and broadband service, the latter of which he said he doesn't have at home. State Sen. Sue Serino, R-Hyde Park, highlighted shortfalls she sees in the elder care system. She also called for greater access to mental health and opioid recovery treatments. She wants to double the funding for certain veterans assistance groups. Orrt dialed in on changes to the state's bail laws. He positioned the down-ballot Democratic losses in Nassau County on state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who was an author of the bail changes and was running for district attorney. "The voters have spoken loud and clear across the state on where they stand on criminal justice," Ortt said. Ortt, standing behind a podium with the placard "Take Back New York," leaned on the state Republican Party's mantra of "ending one party rule." The electoral map is bound to change for the upcoming June primaries and November general elections, which could factor into the political calculus. The Democratic majority are set up to draw new political boundaries after the Independent Redistricting Commission failed to deliver a single, unified map earlier this week. Regardless of the outcome of the redrawn Assembly and Senate districts, Ortt said he is confident that his party is "on the right side of issues." "No matter what they try to draw," Ortt said, "they can't run from their record." Visiting access at all six Saolta hospitals has been limited due to the rising number of Covid cases in the community. The University Health Care Group released a statement informing visitors about the limited access at Roscommon University Hospital, Mayo University Hospital, Galway University Hospital (UHG and Merlin Park), Letterkenny University Hospital and Sligo University Hospital. Visits to these hospitals must be arranged by family members or visitors by contacting the relevant ward or unit in advance. An EU Digital Covid Certificate, HSE Covid-19 Vaccination Record or other proof of immunity will be requested at the entrance, as well as photo ID. Exemptions from these requirements can be granted on compassionate grounds. Children cannot visit the hospitals unless agreed in advance on compassionate grounds with the ward or unit manager. Arrangements for nominated support partners to access maternity wards are in place. Any visitors to the hospitals must complete a Covid-19 screening checklist and follow public health advice, such as wearing a surgical face mask and washing/sanitising hands regularly. Sorry, but the ranting about the THE CAPITOL INSURRECTION ANNIVERSARY is already going over like lead balloon. Even Prez Trump is opting out of the hype . . . 'I don't think that's a good idea': GOP shudders at Trump Jan. 6 speech And those were the members who decided to even talk about it. While Trump plans to defend the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol nearly a year ago at a press conference Thursday, Senate Republicans largely prefer to ignore him, still seeing scant purpose in provoking a prickly Trump, even a year after he's left office. Meanwhile, our local newspaper still holds up an old photo for dramatic effect and forgets that progressive talking point from TV studios on the coasts haven't really worked to move the crowd in Missouri. Rather than try something new . . . They're still letting Anderson Cooper do most of their thinking. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . . The fist is still in the air: Little Lies of Jan. 6 US Capitol riot scarier than ever OPINION AND COMMENTARY The images from that day are back on our screens and phones, a nightmare on a sickening, unstoppable loop. Screams, shouts, fistfights - and gunfire. Police battling red-hatted, placard-waving insurrectionists. Breaking glass. Smoke. Members of Congress and other workers scurrying for a place to hide. Meanwhile, local rubes who traveled for this panty raid riot continue to confront legal trouble and, hilariously, haven't garnered much sympathy or support from their right-wing pals: Today the Kansas City newspaper mourns the loss of a denim brand which mistakenly believed that charging 100 bucks for jeans was a viable biz model. I guess it's a captivating story for rapidly aging hipsters but TKC just can't get into it and it kills our will to compete . . . After all these years we'd much rather consider the antics of plus-sized Brazilian hotties and their promotional content. Still, there are a few items we want to discuss for the mid-morning . . . Meanwhile, here's a headline that features the newspaper showing their disdain for readers: Washed out: The mystery behind the demise of iconic Kansas City brand Baldwin Denim More in a bit . . . The local pandemic news isn't looking good as public health guidance seems to be confusing quite a few people and creating a sense of paralysis for local life. In thiscompilation we focus on local mainstream media links and offer a metro view of the ongoing pandemic throughout Kansas City. Check it . . . Omicron variant is here whether we like it or not, Kansas City area health expert says KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 is not the news people want to hear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a number of maps on its website. The county by county map shows that community transmission of the coronavirus throughout nearly all of Kansas is high, which is what's in red. Kansas City-area schools face 2nd semester COVID-19 decisions KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As students return to school from winter break, districts are discussing COVID-19 protocols. Avery Foster, a freshman at Shawnee Mission East High School, told KSHB 41 News she is disappointed in the actions taken by her school district, or lack thereof in her eyes. Hundreds line up for free COVID-19 tests in Overland Park Hundreds of people on Tuesday showed up for free same-day, PCR COVID-19 tests near 151st and Metcalf Avenue. MyHomeLabs offered the tests for free for one-day as a service to the community. The demand was huge after the holidays, just days before students and staff return to school."Absolutely shocking," said Jerred Mann, CEO and co-founder of MyHomeLabs. Children's Mercy Hospital reports record level of Covid-19 patients KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- The number of patients hospitalized at Children's Mercy with Covid-19 is 27 right now. That's the highest it has been at any time during the pandemic. The high this summer was 22. It seems surprising, but the hospital reported that on Monday, Dec. COVID-19 cases nearly triple in Missouri; double in Kansas, Kansas City area in December KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The number of new COVID-19 cases in Missouri nearly tripled and cases in Kansas as well as the seven-county Kansas City region nearly doubled in December, a surge fueled by holiday gatherings and the arrival of the omicron variant. Biden to address American public on omicron variant as COVID cases soar: Live updates President Joe Biden will address the American public Tuesday about the omicron variant as COVID-19 cases continue multiplying to record levels following the holidays. Nearly 1 in 100 Americans have tested positive for the virus in just the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. COVID case counts may be losing importance amid omicron | AP News The explosive increase in U.S. coronavirus case counts is raising alarm, but some experts believe the focus should instead be on COVID-19 hospital admissions. And those aren't climbing as fast. Dr. Anthony Fauci, for one, said Sunday on ABC that with many infections causing few or no symptoms, "it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases." Covid Science: Virus leaves antibodies that may attack healthy tissues Jan 3 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. U.S. reports over 1 million new daily Covid cases as omicron surges The U.S. reported a record number of new Covid cases on Monday, with over one million new infections. A total of 1,082,549 new coronavirus cases were reported on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country. CDC adds testing guidance to shortened Covid isolation recommendation after facing criticism The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amended its controversial Covid-19 isolation guidance on Tuesday after coming under pressure for cutting quarantine time in half, saying people who have recovered from the virus and have isolated for at least five days can take a rapid test if they want. Why are so many vaccinated people getting COVID-19 lately? | AP News Why are so many vaccinated people getting COVID-19 lately? A couple of factors are at play, starting with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Omicron is more likely to infect people, even if it doesn't make them very sick, and its surge coincided with the holiday travel season in many places. NY COVID hospitalizations top 10K for first time since early days of pandemic The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID-19 has surpassed 10,000 for the first time since May 2020, state officials said. The soaring number comes as the Omicron variant continues to ravage the Empire State, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that the new strain may account for up to 99 percent of all cases in the region, NBC-TV said in a report Tuesday. Map: 7 straight days of record-setting Covid case counts Welcome to The Data Point, a series from the NBC News Data Graphics team that explains a slice of the latest news through charts and visuals. Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country are breaking records day after day as the omicron variant rages on. Developing . . . In this collection we offer a quick glimpse at local COVID news and dire declarations from medical pros. Check TKC pandemic news gathering . . . Overwhelmed hospitals call for emergency declarations in Kansas, Missouri KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Doctors from throughout the region Wednesday called for the community to do more to slow what they're calling the most severe surge in COVID-19 illnesses since the pandemic started. Doctors say increasing numbers of critically ill COVID-19 patients in hospitals affect access to healthcare for everyone. KC area hospitals hold joint news conference as COVID hospitalizations rise: "We are at a critical juncture." KANSAS CITY METRO (KCTV) -- Chief medical officers from hospitals around the Kansas City metro and outside of it held a joint news conference Wednesday morning about the rising number of COVID hospitalizations, as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread. Looking for a free COVID-19 test Wednesday? Consider a drive north from KC If you're looking for a free COVID-19 test on Wednesday, you might consider a short drive north from Kansas City to Albany, Missouri. The Tri-County Health Department is promoting a free testing event at the Albany Fire Department from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.During the current omicron surge, testing events have experienced long waits around both Kansas and Missouri. North Kansas City extends school mask mandate KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Students who attend school within the boundaries of North Kansas City will continue wearing masks to class. The city council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to extend the current order through Feb. 5. This decision comes as many districts moved in the opposite direction, making masks optional for students after the Kansas City, Missouri, mandate expired on Jan. Shawnee Mission students back at school Wednesday, as schools grasp with mask policies and rising COVID hospitalizations OVERLAND PARK, KS (KCTV) -- Shawnee Mission students will return from Winter Break on Wednesday, with masks required for pre-K and elementary school students and staff. Face coverings are optional, though, for those in the district's middle and high schools. COVID-19 tests elusive, with Kansas City residents lined up for appointments, walk-ins KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The market for COVID-19 tests is extremely competitive, especially after the holiday season. Appointments for same-day testing remain elusive while walk-in centers were slammed on the first Monday of the new year. But those tests are already showing the climbing case totals going into 2022. Kansas City metro set a new record for COVID cases after the holidays: 'This is a dangerous moment' A record 2,016 new COVID-19 cases in the Kansas City metro area were reported by the Mid-America Regional Council on Tuesday. The count includes cases that were not reported during the long New Year's holiday weekend. Developing . . . Kansas City politicos have the future planned out quite nicely. Luckily . . . Our KICK-ASS BLOG COMMUNITY helps us unpack a great deal of hype behind the scenes deals. Here's the word . . . KCMO Councilman and Mayor Pro-Tem Kevin McManus made a political deal with Quinton Lucas. If Lucas wins a 2nd term as Mayor, he will endorse McManus to be his successor. No other KCMO Councilmember appears to be raising significant funds to challenge Lucas in 2023. He's a peek at council dude McManus and his plans for a bright future . . . A few more interesting facts . . . Mayor Q still lists his residence near 18th & Vine on his campaign finance reports . . . That's a different story then what he has shared with his social media audience. Of course there is time to amend and we're sure his heart is pure. Nevertheless . . . The reality here is that Mayor Q will likely win another term without any serious challenge and mean Internets comments aren't enough to fight the power of an incumbent. To be fair . . . There is nobody outside of the Kansas City Star offices who EVER considered the Mayor a serious contender for Senate. The bright side: Mayor Q is truly unpopular with police, the Northland and taxpayer hawks . . . And so anybody brave enough to challenge him might find some semblance of support in a long shot bid. Even better . . . Anybody who has ever worked with Mayor Q knows that he has a propensity for saying one thing and then doing something completely different. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . . KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas says he plans to run for reelection KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mayor Quinton Lucas told an audience on a Facebook chat Tuesday night, he plans to run for a second term as Kansas City's mayor. "I like being mayor, I'm planning to run for reelection," Lucas said during the community Facebook chat on Tuesday. "Look, I love Kansas City. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says he'll run for reelection Jeff Roberson Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas SOURCE: Jeff Roberson Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he plans to run for reelection.The mayor said he would run for another term while answering a question during a Facebook live to talk about the past year in Kansas City and what is ahead this year for the city."I like being mayor. Quinton Lucas announces run for re-election as Kansas City mayor in 2023 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas said he intends to run for re-election as mayor in 2023. That announcement came out of a Facebook Live chat Tuesday night. Lucas has been online a lot this week, waiting out his COVID-19 isolation. Developing . . . The Indy Autonomous Challenge will make history as it hosts a head-to-head, high-speed autonomous race car competition at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas this Friday January 7. The Autonomous Challenge @ CES,a first-of-its-kind for autonomous racing (a head-to-head passing competition), will take place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The event will be limited to CES attendees and transportation will be available from the LVCC to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> The primary goal of this competition is to advance technology that can speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Designed by university teams, these enhancements will lead to increased safety and performance in motorsports as well as all modes of transportation. Our university teams have proven that they can advance autonomous technology by setting world records with high-speed laps. Now on the biggest technology stage at CES 2022 they will take it to the next level with a head-to-head passing competition, says Paul Mitchell, president and CEO of Indy Autonomous Challenge organizers Energy Systems Network. The Consumer Technology Association and CES 2022 play a central role in advancing and showcasing autonomous technology worldwide, so we cant think of a better partner for this next step of the competition. Record exhibitor numbers CES organizer, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), has announced that the transportation and automotive sector has achieved record growth at the event with over 180 companies exhibiting from the transportation and vehicle technology industry for 2022, including Daimler AG, Fisker, General Motors, Turing Auto, Waymo. Transportation exhibitors are being housed in the Las Vegas Convention Centers newly opened West Hall Furthermore, General Motors (GM) chair and CEO Mary Barra is delivering the opening keynote at the event later today, sharing GMs vision for mass adoption of electric vehicles. She will show how technology and the all-electric era will create opportunities for mobility experiences to serve the planet and the people. Barra joins T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert as a keynote speaker, who will focus on the rapid roll-out of 5G as one of the key ingredients for driving the future of many industries including transportation and smart cities and will eventually underpin the global economy. The last year has shown us the critical role connectivity plays in our lives for consumers, businesses and society as a whole, says Sievert. As the nations 5G leader, T-Mobile is driving a transformation in wireless communications. I cant wait to keynote CES 2022 and showcase new ways this 5G network is unleashing game-changing innovations both now and in the future! A version of this preview feature first appeared in the December 2021 edition of TTi magazine The hottest luxury destination in the Caribbean, Tamarind Hills, on the idyllic island of Antigua, garners global attention among celebrity travelers looking for privacy and discretion (TRAVPR.COM) USA - January 5th, 2022 - New York City, January 5, 2022: Tamarind Hills has hosted a revolving door of elite celebrities looking for privacy, exclusivity, and luxury this winter season. Many top names from the world of sports, movies and other media have enjoyed the Caribbeans most prestigious resort of distinction. With discreet concierge services from private chefs to private helicopter transfers, Tamarind Hills combination of location, discretion and indulgent amenities have caused a ripple through the celebrity circles of North America and the UK. Tamarind Hills has rapidly grown its international reputation on offering luxury that matters to a clientele that has become increasingly savvy and shrewd when choosing a resort by focusing on luxury that is relevant for todays discerning traveler. Places where privacy, authenticity and unparalleled services converge. Add a location between two of the most famous beaches on Antigua, Ffryes and Darkwood Beaches, and endless ocean views, and its easy to see how discriminating guests gravitate to this exclusive enclave. With a policy that emphasizes the privacy of its guests, Tamarind Hills GM Keith Martel would not comment on names or backgrounds of his celebrity guests, only that he and his team stand ready to accommodate any request to help make their experience both exceptional and memorable. In early 2022, Tamarind Hills will open a world-class restaurant with a wrap-around pool and exclusive bar overlooking Ffryes Beach. Theyre currently welcoming suggestions for the Tamarind Hills exclusive cocktail. Antigua & Barbuda has long been singled out as one of the worlds most romantic destinations of the world. The island nation has unparalleled history, extraordinary nature, and authentic local culture experiences. Antiguas strong sense of place and authenticity separates it from many islands in the Caribbean that have lost their sense of place and unique identity. Antigua and Barbuda maintain a genuine and welcoming cultural and natural heritage. Tamarind Hills Resort sits at the pinnacle of the Antiguan luxury experience. With exquisite attention to detail and such amenities as a private chef, helicopter transfers and expansive private villas that make you feel instantly at home, and an unparalleled location overlooking the best beaches on the island, its no wonder it has captivated the attention of the luxury-minded travelers looking for privacy, discretion, and an ultimate experience. ### Top boutique NYC marketing and communications agency lands event planning and execution for a groundbreaking and important global travel soiree (TRAVPR.COM) USA - January 5th, 2022 - Top boutique NYC marketing and communications agency lands event planning and execution for a groundbreaking and important global travel soiree New York City, January 5, 2022: With so much of the worlds attention on the global travel market as it navigates the moving target of covid, its easy to miss great stories of two historically disparate countries, with a long history of conflict, coming together to show the world solidarity. As the groundswell of interest in Dubai and Israeli travel from the United States has rallied in the of rapidly spreading vaccinations, many intrepid travelers are looking for unique and authentic experiences as they gaze across the horizon to plan their next getaway. This exclusive took place December 15, 2021, at 48 Wall Street, in the famed Bank of New York headquarters. The soaring space features original artwork and art deco lighting, evoking an ambience of old-world elegance from a bygone era in NYC. There was an Israeli wine tasting, a henna-tattoo station, and passed hors doeuvres with origins from both countries. The unique space and atmosphere made this the most coveted networking event for the travel trade and media for the 2021 event season. The intoxicatingly beautiful landscapes and welcoming cultures that make up Israel and Dubai have an historic and magical appeal for travelers looking for distinctive and exceptional experiences. To bring this groundbreaking event to life, the co-host countries chose the travel event experts at Waynes World Media (WWM), an award-winning marketing communications agency. WWM has been at the leading edge of innovative and highly successful digital and traditional media campaigns for travel clients spread across Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Caribbean. Waynes World Media has also developed a reputation for memorable roadshows and events that become the must attend events for both travel and consumer trade. We were excited to help these two amazing countries have a successful and historic event showcasing both the best of their notable travel products and experiences, and the extraordinary partnership between the two countries, noted Wayne V. Lee, Jr., President of Waynes World Media. When two countries such as these come together for the common good, its inspiring for the world. Were excited to celebrate that moment in time and shine a spotlight on this remarkable event. Israel has long been one of the singular destinations of the world, with unparalleled history and immersive, unforgettable nature and outdoor travel experiences. Israels strong sense of place and authenticity keeps the destination atop the list of savvy US travelers looking to explore an exceptional and distinctive corner of the world. Dubai, the crown jewel of the middle east, has erupted onto every must visit list in the last 10-years. With a distinctive blend of ultra-modern and centuries old traditions, its one of the most unique experiences on the planet. In addition to their array of innovative traditional and fully integrated digital marketing programs and campaigns, including advertising, creative, social, content, media buying and branding, and their trademarked Destination Takeover, Waynes World Media has been delivering unparalleled and unforgettable travel events and roadshows for high-profile destinations for more than a decade. ### Local members of the state legislature said they were not informed about Vision Together 2025s discussions about possibly bringing Afghanistan War refugees to Johnstown and Cambria County. And now state Reps. Jim Rigby and Frank Burns, along with state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., find themselves fielding questions from constituents with no answers to provide. Terre Haute, IN (47803) Today Sunshine early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low around 60F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch. After blaming last weeks botched effort to distribute 500,000 test kits before New Years Eve on a local wholesaler, Gov. Ned Lamonts administration said Tuesday that it is still engaged in talks with the company to deliver tests to the state. Lamonts office also sought Tuesday to clarify what it said was a misstatement by the governor: Neither the governor nor the states top health official had seen pictures of the tests readied for shipment to Connecticut. Pictures had been mentioned by both officials on consecutive days as evidence that the state had a deal in place for the tests. Copies of a purchase order and other procurement documents provided by Lamonts office over the weekend identify the states source for the doomed shipment as Jack Rubenstein CT, LLC, based in Glastonbury. The point-of-contact listed on the documents is the companys owner, Jeffrey Barlow. Barlow and a Lamont spokesperson said Tuesday that discussions were ongoing between the two sides regarding future shipments of testing kits. Im still working diligently on finding kits for them, so Id rather spend my time there, Barlow said Tuesday when reached by Hearst Connecticut Media Group and asked about the companys initial deal to provide testing kits last week. Lamont declined to publicly identify the company during a press conference last week when he announced the shipment of tests failed to arrive, though he and other officials repeatedly accused the states supplier of misleading them to believe that the tests were being loaded on a plane bound for Connecticut. During the Thursday press conference, Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani went so far as to say the companys misrepresentations included photographs sent to state officials, a claim that Lamont then picked up on the next day when speaking to reporters in New Britain. You know that we were told in no uncertain terms, even with pictures, that the tests were in the plane, Lamont said Friday. Max Reiss, Lamonts spokesperson, said Tuesday that the governor had spoken Friday based on his muddy understanding of the situation at the time. What was represented was that the tests were confirmed for CT but that there were delays getting them in the shipping pipeline, like we said last week. The photo was of what CT would be receiving, what the packaging looked like of iHealth kits, Reiss wrote in a text message. There was never a photo of cases on a plane or anything like that. Neither Reiss nor Barlow gave more details and Reiss declined to say whether the administration had lingering concerns about working with Barlow. The company did deliver 15,000 tests last Thursday by FedEx, which the state distributed through social service agencies, including shelters and Connecticut Foodshare. When asked whether Lamonts depiction of the companys supposed deal to provide the state with 500,000 test kits was accurate, Barlow said he had not seen the governors remarks and ended the phone call. Details about the failed deal remain murky. House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he was told by the Lamont administration that the state was out-bid by another buyer seeking a similarly large shipment of tests. Lamont has repeatedly referred to the wild west of the market for tests, as states, nations and corporations vie for product. Connecticut reported purchasing more than $14.9 million worth of medical supplies from the Glastonbury company between April and December 2020, according to vendor data from the Office of State Comptroller. The state did not report doing any business with the company during the five previous fiscal years before the pandemic. Barlow, a graduate of Tulane University, told the schools alumni association last year how he had a light-bulb moment, to sell equipment such as masks to Connecticut after the pandemic disrupted his existing business of importing consumer electronics from China. It definitely was a learning curve for me, Barlow told the alumni group. You have to learn quickly to listen and talk to people and try to understand both the customer side and the supplier side and learn about the different products and levels. When youre placing orders of millions of units at a time, you want to make sure youre getting the right product for what the customers require. Barlow did not say Tuesday how many tests he hoped to acquire for the state, or what happened to the original shipment expected last week. The purchase order provided by the state shows the price of the total order of tests kits 1.5 million, each with a pair of tests, with 1 million of those to be delivered in January was $18.54 million. When asked last week whether he would ever work with the company again, Lamont said he did not know and that he was focused on the issue at hand, of finding another supply of tests. As of Tuesday, the state had received 1.1 million tests, including a CVS shipment. Many were distributed by cities and towns and others are going to schools and child care centers. Former Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee boss Brian Lewis believes newly elected president Diane Henderson has the credentials to serve in that capacity. Lewis says Henderson has the experience since she has been an athlete and also in-charge of sporting bodies. Habari Kama Hizi Zinapatikana UDAKU SPECIAL App, Download HAPA Bure: Link here>>> Msanii Rosa Ree amepata Mchongo wa kushiriki Kwenye Show Kubwa ya Marekani inayoitwa 90 Day Fiance inayorushwa na TLC , Unaambiwa Toka ameanza kuonekana huko Wamerekani Wamedata nae , Nimekuwekea makala mbali mbali na Comments Kutoka huko Marekani: Hot Tanzanian hip hop artist Rosa Ree captured the attention and interest of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days viewers after her personality shined through during her meeting with Usman Umar and Kim Menzies in Zanzibar. Hot Tanzanian hip hop artist Rosa Ree captured the attention and interest of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days viewers after her personality shined through during her meeting with Usman Umar and Kim Menzies in Zanzibar. Before the meeting, Kim had reservations about the situation and was guarded and upset because she felt threatened. All that changed when Rosa Ree turned out to be very gracious and warm toward Kim and very receptive and supportive of Usman and Kims relationship. Rosa Ree was already big in Africa and had a large following of her own with 2.6 million followers on Instagram before the latest episode and now it appears that she has a wealth of 90 Day Fiance fans as well. Rosa Ree is popular with 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days fans after the latest episode A Reddit thread was started celebrating Rosa Ree and the way she handled the meeting with Usman and Kim and took the time to make Kim not feel threatened. The thread shared a photo of Rosa Ree as the subject with the caption, Rosa Ree Oh my (heart eyes emoji). The comments section lit up with 90 Day fans who shared their opinions on Rosa Rees time on the episode. One person described, Shes super beautiful and very charismatic! Also, I love her voice and demeanor. This was a smart PR move, as it will expose her to a large demographic. (It seems like she already had brand deals and success as an influencer based on Instagram.) I am sorry she had had to entangle herself with the mess of Usman but glad that shell reap the benefits! She handled the situation very well! Someone else shared, I was like damn, hope a collab with Usman doesnt mess up her career over there. She seems out of his league in every sense. Will 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days viewers see Rosa Ree again? Rosa Ree told Usman that she could provide the dancers he was looking for in his music video shoot in Tanzania. With that said, its possible that Rosa Ree will make an appearance at the shoot since she is lending out some of her people. Another cameo by Rosa Ree would more than likely be welcomed by Before the 90 Days fans who seem to have attached to her charisma. Another two members of LPR and DPR terrorist organizations have been sentenced in Ukraine to 10 years in prison. Thats according to the Security Service of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports. "The SBU counterintelligence says two militants of illegal armed groups, the so-called" LPR/DPR," were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. The militants had been fighting against Ukraine for four years," the statement said. It is established that in 2014, two Ukraine nationals joined the ranks of terrorist organizations and took up arms against the forces of the Anti-Terrorist / Joint Forces Operation in eastern Ukraine and fired on the positions of the Ukrainian military. Read also: SBU blocks 59 cyberattacks on government agencies in Dec 2021 The participation of the convicts in the battles across Donetsk and Luhansk regions has been properly documented. The court found both militants guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 Article 258-3 (terrorism) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The verdict has come into force. Both convicts have been put on a wanted list. The pre-trial investigation was run by the SBU unit in Lviv region under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor's office. As reported by Ukrinform, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Chernivtsi sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison a member of the "DPR" terrorist organization, who shelled the Ukrainian Army positions operating a Grad multiple rocket launcher. According to the inquiry, a Donetsk native, call sign "Korsa," in 2014 joined the illegal armed group "Golden Eagle 3rd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, created based on the so-called Bezler Group. Since then, the convict has been involved in terrorism. Read also: Nearly two dozen Russian diplomats exposed as spies in Ukraine over past seven years Commanding an artillery division, she led the shelling of positions of the Armed Forces and volunteer military formations with "Grad" MLR systems near Ilovaisk, Debaltseve, Vuhlehirsk, Marynivka, and Avdiyivka in Donetsk region, which resulted in mass casualties. The court found Korsa guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, sentencing her to 12 years in prison. The convict has been hiding from justice in the temporarily-occupied parts of Donetsk region. The woman has been declared wanted. im The leaders of the military intelligence of Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey agreed to deepen cooperation. "The other day, head of the domestic military intelligence, Brigadier General Kyrylo Budanov made a visit to the Republic of Turkey and met with his Turkish counterpart, Lieutenant General Rafet Dalkiran," the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted on Facebook. The military intelligence leaders of the two countries discussed the state and trends of the security situation in the world, the Black Sea region, and around Ukraine, considered current and future threats to national security of both countries, their sources, escalation risks, and possible neutralization measures. In addition, an agreement was reached to deepen and intensify cooperation between Ukrainian and Turkish military intelligence. As reported, Ukraine and Estonia step up cooperation in the field of border protection. ol Hong Kong: Elderly home vaccination day held Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong today visited an elderly home in Mong Kok to take a closer look at the implementation of the Assess & Vaccinate Programme for residents' early vaccination. The elderly home held a COVID-19 vaccination day this morning. Dr Law first chatted with residents and healthcare workers. He then learnt more about the preparatory work prior to the vaccination day. Dr Law emphasised that in the face of the more transmissible mutant strains, relying on younger citizens alone to get vaccinated in building an immune barrier within the household is no longer sufficient to protect the elderly. He pointed out that the elderly's vaccination therefore provides them with the highest, most prudent and most effective protection. He called on the management of residential care homes for active participation in the programme to provide early vaccination and enhanced protection for residents. Under the programme, the Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) will conduct health assessments for unvaccinated residents. Upon confirmation that the residents are suitable for receiving the Sinovac vaccine, and their family members do not clearly oppose vaccination, VMOs will provide vaccination under residents' informed consent or that of their legal guardians. About 80 residents received their vaccination in this round of the programme. Together with residents vaccinated earlier, more than 70% of residents in the elderly home have received vaccination. The Labour & Welfare Bureau noted that the vaccination arrangements under the programme have been smooth so far and no residents have complained of feeling unwell. From the implementation of the programme on September 29, 2021, till January 2, about 5,300 residents had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine through the outreach services. This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Minister of Energy German Galushchenko during a meeting with the U.S. Charge d'Affaires ad interim in Ukraine Kristina Kvien discussed the issue of Ukraine's sustainable heating season in the face of energy aggression unleashed by Russia. Thats according to the governments press service, Ukrinform reports. Galushchenko recalled that the Russian Federation had blocked coal supplies to the country by rail. Ukraine has shifted to other sources of imports as currently, the main coal supply route is by sea, the report reads. The parties also discussed the current situation of a significant reduction in the volume of Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine. The minister of energy noted that the main burden throughout the heating season 2021-2022 is borne by the nuclear plants operator, NNEGC Energoatom. Therefore, in this context, the parties discussed cooperation in ensuring reliable and uninterrupted operation of Ukrainian NPPs during the heating season, including technical support and stable replenishment of fuel reserves. For her part, Kvien assured that the United States remained ready to assist Ukraine in ensuring the stability of energy supplies, in particular, for nuclear energy, and strengthening Ukraine's energy security. Petro Kotin, President of NNEGC Energoatom, who partook in the meeting, thanked the American side for the support and reaffirmed readiness of the company's experts for further cooperation with U.S. counterparts. The participants of the meeting paid special attention to the issue of synchronization of Ukraine's united power system with the European ENTSO-E. As Ukrinform reported earlier, on December 31, Kvien said the United States and Ukraine could be proud of this year's achievements in security, prosperity, reform, and health care for the well-being of citizens. im In 2021, exports of Ukrainian goods reached a record $68.24 billion, the highest figure since 2012. As the press service of the Ministry of Economy informs, Ukraine had similar figures in 2011 ($68.39 billion) and in 2012 ($68.81 billion). Such export results are of great importance for the budget of Ukraine. When Ukrainian producers sell their goods abroad, we receive an inflow of foreign currency, which allows us to finance import costs without destabilizing the foreign exchange market and accumulate international reserves to strengthen the stability of the economy. Moreover, additional export proceeds increase budget revenues and, consequently, opportunities for financing social expenditures and development programs, said First Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko. Currently, the figures do not include data from the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, and temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In 2021, the turnover of goods in Ukraine totaled $141.54 billion, up 36.71% compared to 2020. The value of exported goods in absolute terms increased by $19.05 billion. As a reminder, the exports of goods in 2020 decreased by 1.7% ($862.8 million) compared to 2019 and totaled $49.2 billion. ol The first visit by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, to the zone of Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict in Donbas, scheduled for January 5, is part of a package to deter Russia from further aggression. This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a comment to Ukrinform on Monday, January 4. The foreign minister recalled that in November 2021, Ukraine proposed that a comprehensive package of measures be adopted to deter Russia from a new wave of war in Europe, which includes the political, economic, and security levels. Read also: EU foreign policy chief arrives in Ukraine "My trip to Donbas with Mr. Borrell will be the first visit of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to the zone of Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict in Donbas throughout all the years of Russian aggression. This should also be considered as part of a deterrence package. This is a timely visit, which is a concrete manifestation of support for Ukraine and solidarity with Ukrainians living in the war zone in Donbas," Kuleba said. He thanked the EU foreign minister for the clear signals about Russia's aggressive actions and its unacceptable demands, which the EU High Representative voiced in a series of recent interviews. "The European Union has taken a principled public stance in support of Ukraine and international law, and this is an important result of our multiple diplomatic contacts last year," said the foreign minister. Kuleba noted that the main challenge for the EU now was to reach a consensus on a package of economic sanctions against Russia needed to contain aggression. "We will talk about this with my colleague," the minister assured. Commenting on the third level of the comprehensive deterrence package, military supplies to Ukraine, Kuleba said that although the EU is not a security alliance, Ukrainian diplomacy has achieved an important result to have Ukraine join the European Peace Fund and receive EUR 31 million to strengthen the Army. "This is concrete assistance to our Armed Forces. A strong Ukraine is not just a strong army, and the EU can do a lot here. Therefore, our talks will also focus on very specific decisions aimed at strengthening Ukraine's security, improving the welfare of Ukrainians, and further European integration of our nation," the minister said. According to Kuleba, the best response to Vladimir Putin would be to pass a positive political decision in the EU on granting Ukraine membership in the bloc. "This decision is overdue, and it is in the strategic interests of security and prosperity in Europe," he said. Dmytro Kuleba assured that in general partners support for Ukraine is growing, and "it is not only about the right signals, but also the right actions." As Ukrinform reported earlier, on January 4-6, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, is paying a third visit to Ukraine at the invitation of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. On January 5, the heads of Ukrainian and European diplomacy will visit the demarcation line in Luhansk region, where they will be briefed about the current security situation in the zone of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. im Josep Borrell intends to submit proposals to the European Union to launch an EU military advisory and training mission in Ukraine. This was stated by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in an interview with Germanys Welt, Ukrinform reports. According to Borrell, Brussels is mulling to establish an EU Military Advisory and Training Mission Ukraine to have European military instructors train Ukrainian Army commanders. "We have already assessed on the spot what Ukrainians need, how we can really help, how much such a mission costs, and who can take part in it. I will soon put forward a proposal to the EU member states," Borrell said. Asked whether the EU should support Ukraine more, Borrell said the EU had provided billions of euros in financial support to Kyiv over the recent years, constantly expanding mutual trade and developing economic relations. "Last week, I decided to support the Ukrainian army with another EUR 31 million. This is aimed at improving logistics skills and combating cyber attacks," the High Representative said. He also reminded that since 2014, more than 80 people have been working in EUAM Ukraine helping to reform the civil security sector, including the police and the prosecutor's office. This will help make Ukraine more resilient to internal and external threats, the diplomat added. He did not answer the question of how likely Russia is to invade Ukraine, noting only that European and American intelligence agencies are working out all possible scenarios. "A military invasion cannot be completely ruled out, but there are many other scenarios, of which Im also concerned, even though they are less extreme," Borrell said. Among such options, he called the destabilization of the Ukrainian government through hybrid tactics, further escalation in the east of the country, and the reduction of gas transit to Europe. The High Representative of the European Union also commented on the scheduled talks between the United States and Russia: "We do not want and should not be an unbiased spectator, over whose head decisions are made." According to him, it is about how the EU can join the talks between Washington and Moscow on de-escalation around Ukraine and security guarantees demanded by Russia. According to Borrell, if Russia wants to talk about security in Europe, such talks make sense only if the EU participates. "Anyone who wants to negotiate the future security architecture in Europe must, of course, also talk to Europeans. European security is about us. America and Russia (or NATO and Russia) cannot just negotiate this even if Moscow imagines it this way Russia seeking to negotiate a European security architecture without involving the European Union is absurd. We will not accept this. Nothing is decided about us without our presence," the diplomat said, emphasizing that there can be no Yalta 2. Borrell also pointed out that for the first time Russia presented its proposals in the form of an agreement. "Demands for security guarantees and the cessation of EU and NATO enlargement are a purely Russian agenda with absolutely unacceptable conditions, especially in view of Ukraine," he said. He assured that the EU could not compromise on fundamental principles: "The territorial integrity of the country and the right of a sovereign nation to decide independently on cooperation with other nations or alliances these principles are not negotiable." As reported, Josep Borrell is paying a visit to Ukraine on his first foreign trip this year. Photo: European Union im Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavsky agreed on joint steps to deter Russia from further aggression. "The chief Ukrainian and Czech diplomats coordinated the positions of Ukraine and the Czech Republic against the background of Russia's aggressive actions and ahead of a series of diplomatic contacts between the US, NATO, OSCE, and the Russian Federation... Jan Lipavsky reaffirmed that the Czech Republic remained a reliable friend of Ukraine and stood firmly on the side of the Ukrainian people in their struggle to protect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The ministers agreed on joint steps to deter Russia from further aggression," the Foreign Ministry's press service informed following the telephone conversation between the ministers. As noted, the parties also agreed on a joint visit of the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia to Ukraine in February. In addition, the conversation focused on the preparations of the Czech Republic for its European Union presidency in the second half of 2022. Lipavsky assured Kuleba that Ukraine's European integration will be an important priority of the Czech Republic's EU presidency and expressed support for the format of the Associated Trio of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. The chief Ukrainian and Czech diplomats paid special attention to the situation in Central Europe and the ways to strengthen relations between Central European countries. Moreover, the ministers discussed the development of the Crimea Platform. Lipavsky assured Kuleba of the Czech Republic's full support for this important international format. ol Ukrainian citizens should refrain from traveling to Kazakhstan because of the mass protests that have erupted in that country, the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan has said. "Due to the imposition of a state of emergency in the city of Almaty, the Almaty and Mangistau regions from January 5 to January 19, 2022, we recommend refraining from arriving in Kazakhstan," the statement said. Ukrainians who already stay in Kazakhstan should refrain from visiting the sites of mass gatherings during the state of emergency in the country. The diplomatic mission also published the hotline number of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan +7(705)7556610, which can be contacted if necessary. Protests have been taking place in western Kazakhstan since January 2. Mass rallies began in Zhanaozen, Mangistau region due to a double increase from 2022 in the price of liquefied gas, which is used to fill up most cars in the region. In connection with the mass protests, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed decrees introducing a state of emergency in the Mangistau region and the city of Almaty from January 5. On January 5, the Kazakh president dismissed the government. op Discussions of a common line between the United States, Germany, and the EU in general on Russia are among top agenda issues during German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbocks visit to the United States on January 5. The diplomat noted this before the start of her first working trip to Washington, Ukrinform reports. "[T]he strength of the transatlantic alliance cannot be measured in terms of tanks and missiles, but first and foremost by how well we pull together when it comes to the crunch when we are called to defend basic tenets of international law and have to stand up for our common values. We are determined to work together to protect the peaceful European order, "Baerbock said. She noted that the joint message of Europeans and the U.S. administration regarding Russia is unmistakable: "Russias activities come with a clear price tag, the only way out of the crisis is via dialogue. We have repeatedly emphasized this to the Russian Government in no uncertain terms over the past days and weeks. Now we are entering a crucial phase, in which key talks are planned at different levels. And even though the discussion formats may vary, our messages as transatlantic partners to the government in Moscow are always the same, said Germanys top diplomat. She stressed the importance of transatlantic ties and the fact that the more difficult the times we live in, the more important strong partnerships are, and Europeans have no stronger partner than the United States. This applies not only to current political and security issues, but also to the economy and global issues such as tackling the climate crisis. Baerbock added that many issues had already been discussed with her U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken at the G7 summit in Liverpool late last year. She also noted that the partners in the EU and the G7 are united by the goal of strengthening democracies and making them more resilient to internal and external threats. The program of Baerbocks one-day visit, which is taking place the day before the first anniversary of the Capitol attack, also includes a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Among the topics of discussion is Germany's presidency in the G7 this year. im Five Nuclear Powers have issued a joint statement. Why have the permanent members of the UN Security Council reaffirmed their commitment to the non-use of nuclear arms? The statement by the five nuclear powers, permanent members of the UN Security Council, to prevent a war between such powers and reduce strategic risks has not aroused much interest among the press and political experts, with the exception of Russia. So the question arises, what exactly caused the powers to sign the statement right now? What has united fierce rivals the United States, China, France, Britain, and Russia so quickly, practically without prior negotiations, in these more than tense days? The statement of the Five was preceded by an ultimatum put forward by one Since there is nothing new in the statements text, which only reaffirms a number of previously concluded treaties and agreements of nuclear powers, a natural question arises whats happened recently that has forced the nations with the strongest military potential to reaffirm their commitment to peace? The answer becomes clear if we read the reports coming from the Russian media, which strongly emphasize that its Russia who initiated the statement. Russia, which has long come under economic sanctions for its aggressive policies toward its neighbors, this year sharply raised tensions with the West and recently put forward a number of unprecedented demands to the United States and NATO. Russia's leadership, which has violated multiple international laws and moral norms, demands "security guarantees" that, if provided, would mean the de-facto dissolution of NATO and the limitation of the allies sovereignty. Flags of UN's nuclear powers Not to engage in conspiracy theories, let's turn to facts which is the most reliable option in such conditions. During a phone call between the U.S. and Russian leaders, whose details havent been made public, the American president, as per the White House spokesmen, rejected the Russian ultimatum. At the same time, the two agreed to continue negotiations as the situation must somehow be normalized. Earlier, Joe Biden suggested this must be done within three to four weeks the term that expires late January. Russia's initiative on a joint statement as an attempt to "save their face" Talking and negotiating is always better than arguing and fighting because this would be a possible conflict involving the world's largest nuclear arsenals. The problem is that after announcing their ultimatum tothe West and the United States as the undisputed leader of the democratic world, it is now very difficult for Russia to back down from these demands, as this would mean losing face in a show of own helplessness. A peculiar detail: when threatening the West, Russia isnt talking about an armed conflict with western powers, while rattling sabers and threatening the invasion of Ukraine, which is not a NATO ally or a member of any other defense alliances. For an outside observer, this looks pathetic and ridiculous, but, unfortunately, its Ukraine where Russia is threatening to test its military might in a major confrontation with NATO. Therefore, prompt support for the statement on the prevention of nuclear war may well be a diplomatic move by the West to allow Russia to retreat while "saving face." On the other hand, why wouldn't nuclear powers reassure each other with guarantees of non-use of nuclear arms? After all, this is better than not doing so, especially in the current global situation. An important nuance that political experts pointed out was that the statement was not joined by other powers also holding nuclear weapons India, Pakistan, and the DPRK, as well as Israel, which is also considered a member of the "nuclear club", but has never officially confirmed it possesses the bomb. The statement with such a set of signatories may mean that the world's most powerful states (the United States and Russia together own 90% of the world's nuclear arsenal) are ready to agree on security guarantees for each other, although not in the format of dividing the spheres of influence and a new Yalta, but only reaffirming the existing world order. In some ways, this is confirmed by the information policy of the four signatories. The document and initiative are mostly discussed in Russia, which proves its importance for domestic audiences. Everyone else almost ignored him. For example, the Chinese media simply stated that such a statement was signed, paying much more attention to the preparations for the Olympics and mutual congratulations with a number of governments (including Ukraine) on the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Ukrainian interest, risks, and prospects How can this relate to the key Ukrainian interest of today, which is will the West make concessions to Russia at the expense of Ukraines interests? It seems that it cant. An extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers is scheduled for January 7 to discuss Russia's threat to Ukraine and efforts to counter it; talks between American and Russian diplomats in Geneva are scheduled for January 9-10; a meeting of the Russia-NATO Commission will be held in Brussels on January 12; and OSCE consultations on the Ukraine issue will be held in Vienna on January 13. By all indications, the Kremlin should expect no profit off these contacts as its ultimatum will be rejected, albeit in a very rounded diplomatic wording. So the statement of the five can be used by Putin and his team for an elegant (as they believe) walk-back. Anders Fogh Rasmussen In an interview with Politico on January 4, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Jens Stoltenberg's predecessor as NATO Secretary General, said: [W]e should end Putins de facto veto on Ukraine and Georgias Euro-Atlantic aspirations, achieved by fomenting low-level conflicts in these countries, the intensity of which he turns up and down to suit his agenda." Rasmussen emphasized: "We promised both Georgia and Ukraine seats at the NATO table in 2008, and its time we set out an action plan to realize our promise. If necessary, we can do this with a proviso stating that NATOs Article 5 only covers the territory under the control of Kyiv and Tbilisi, but NATO cannot have an open-door policy on enlargement in which it continues to allow Putin to act as the doorman." Through the former NATO chief, former Danish prime minister and ex-aide to the Ukrainian president, the West is sending a clear signal to Russia that blackmail will not pass, NATO will do as it sees fit and ignore Russian threats. As for the restriction on Article 5, let the Kremlin see it as a temporary concession. Former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Kunadze believes that "in general, the current Russian endeavor has very little chance of success, while the likelihood of its complete failure is very high... In short, we need an elegant way out of the situation to talk about how the Russian president, who is never wrong, has defeated everyone, again. The first step towards a new victory is the statement of the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, adopted on Russias initiative, about the need to prevent nuclear war and the inadmissibility of an arms race." The reaction of Belarus to the "statement of the five" is another indirect evidence of this. Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said the "Nuclear Five" had, in fact, reached a consensus that there could be no winners in a nuclear war and that it must never be unleashed. () And here we cant but appreciate the large-scale work carried out by our Russian colleagues as the initiators of this document. " Against the background of previous statements by Belarus on its readiness to allow Russia's nuclear weapons on its territory, such support for the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons looks very eloquent, especially given that Belarus and Russia formally constitute a virtual Union State. The situation remains tense, and the recent withdrawal of 10,000 Russian troops from the Ukrainian border doesnt mean de-escalation. Perhaps this could be done only to create an appearance that the U.S. President's demand for de-escalation is being met BEFORE de-escalation talks begin. But more than 100,000 Russian forces remain in close proximity Ukraines borders. Lets hope that this time, too, the strength and motivation of Ukraines Army and the western powers commitment to the agreements reached will turn Russia away from trying to deal with the "Ukraine issue" militarily. Dmytro Redko, Kyiv Ukraine and India have significant potential for cooperation in the field of military-technical cooperation, energy security and overcoming the energy crisis, combating the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. According to Ukrinform, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said this at a meeting with Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy on the occasion of the conclusion of the latter's diplomatic term, the NSDC's press service said. Danilov said that priority areas of bilateral cooperation also included joint efforts in the field of climate change and environmental protection. Both parties noted the successful partnership and discussed prospects for practical cooperation, in particular, in the security sector, agriculture, pharmaceutical and titanium sectors, etc. According to the parties, it is important to continue to develop scientific and technical cooperation between Ukraine and India. "We are on the verge of major changes in bilateral cooperation," the press service quoted Danilov as saying. Danilov thanked Satpathy for his efforts to intensify and develop relations between the two countries and wished him success in his further activities. op Ukraine and the European Union share the same view that Russia has no right to divide Europe into areas of influence and it has no right of vote in determining the nature of relations between Ukraine and the EU. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this at a joint briefing with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Stanytsia Luhanska on Wednesday, January 5, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "I would like to emphasize that Ukraine and the EU share the same view that Russia has no right to divide Europe into areas of influence and determine where, how and when the European Union is going to enlarge and what kind of relations Ukraine and the EU should have. This is a relationship exclusively between Kyiv and Brussels, and Moscow has no right of vote here," Kuleba said. He noted that today the EU High Representative was able to see firsthand and feel the devastating consequences of the conflict in Donbas, started by Russia, as well as Ukraine's efforts to end the war. Kuleba said that representatives of the Ukrainian Joint Forces had briefed Borrell in detail on systemic violations of the Minsk agreements by Russia. "Ukraine and the EU now face one task: to help de-escalate the situation through diplomatic means and for Moscow to reduce tensions and abandon its aggressive intentions. We are systematically working to deter Russia and, of course, one of the elements of this deterrence package is the preparation of new painful sanctions against Russia," he said. Kuleba thanked the EU and personally Borrell for supporting Ukraine in this security situation and for supporting the ambitious reform program being implemented by the country. "We are really stronger when we work on this together with the European Union," he said. op President Volodymyr Zelensky has assured the public of the reliability of all vaccines against COVID-19 currently available to Ukrainians and vowed their sufficient amount for revaccination purposes. He wrote about this in an oped for Decembers special edition of the Novoe Vremya magazine, released on Wednesday, Ukrinform reports. "Ukraine has offered its citizens a variety of vaccines to choose from. Not all countries can boast of the same. Ukrainians have access to American, European, and Chinese shots all of them reliable. We will also have sufficient potential for revaccination. We will provide the most effective drugs for COVID-19 treatment all recognized worldwide," the president wrote. According to the Ukrainian leader, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to determine exactly how many waves of the pandemic will come before the world defeats COVID-19, but only a full vaccination course for the vast majority of population will be a prerequisite for leaving quarantine behind. In addition, the head of state stressed that the trend for 2022, which is already being observed in major economies, suggests that societies lagging behind in vaccination will also lag behind in economic development. But it takes more than a government to influence peoples consciousness, to protect themselves and their loved ones by vaccinating," Zelensky added. Therefore, for Ukrainian business owners, opinion leaders, and chiefs of religious communities, as well as all those responsible for their families wellbeing, its critical to promote vaccination. As Ukrinform reported earlier, 4,571 daily COVID-19 cases were confirmed across Ukraine over the past 24 hours, with 1,366 patients hospitalized, 273 declared dead, and 8,439 recovered. im Royce E Josey, 91, of Milledgeville,went to meet Jesus on Sunday, April 24. He was born on Sept. 13, 1930, to Lee Roy and Alva Josey in Milledgeville, one of four children. Royce was a veteran of the Korean War, where he served honorably in the Army as a lineman from 1951-1953. He told the t (@FahadShabbir) Washington, Jan 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2022 ) :The United States on Wednesday condemned North Korea's firing of a suspected ballistic missile and urged Pyongyang to sit down for talks. "This launch is in violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and poses a threat to the DPRK's neighbors and the international community," a State Department spokesperson said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on them to engage in dialogue," he said. The spokesperson also said that the US commitment to defend both South Korea and Japan, two treaty-bound allies, was "ironclad." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are already set to meet virtually Thursday for regular security talks with their Japanese counterparts. They will be joined by the new US ambassador to Tokyo, Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who was confirmed by the Senate despite opposition. President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly said it is open to talks with North Korea, which has pursued a series of mostly low-level projectile launches. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un held three high-profile meetings with Biden's predecessor Donald Trump but the unusual personal diplomacy did not bring any lasting agreement. The South Korean military said the North fired what is "presumed to be a ballistic missile" towards the sea east of the peninsula from Jagang province, which borders China. (@Aneesah05582539) A Sufi festival would be held here at F-9 Park on Friday, with the aim of celebrating rich culture and wonderful teaching of Sufism with talks, featuring practices and Sufi performances ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2022 ) :A Sufi festival would be held here at F-9 Park on Friday, with the aim of celebrating rich culture and wonderful teaching of Sufism with talks, featuring practices and Sufi performances. According to organizer Murtaza Khan this is an opportunity to experience Sohbat Zikr and Sama for the Sufi aspirants novices or simply those who want to learn about Sufism. At speakers circle participant would meet with scholars and discuss and hear their personal stories of self discovery and growth on the path of spirituality and healing. A poetess, artist and a writer of a book "The Burning Champa by Zuka" Dewan e Zahra will be sharing her story about how her favourite sufi poets and saint like Rabia Basri and Rumi, literature, art, music and intentional creativity helped her in her 25 year struggle with Bipolar 2. The in-charge of the Center of Excellence in Gender Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University Fatimah Ihsan will shed light on some core teaching of Shaykh Ebrahim. A French cultural anthropologist Laurence Zahara Lecuyer will also participate in the festival. She has done PhD in anthropology and her fields of research cover Sufi practices in South Asia and comparative religions. A visual artist Amira Farooq will tell about the power of crystals and how they can aid in healing and her own journey of self-healing. She has organized multiple solos and group shows in Lahore, Karachi and Melbourne. A specialist in Neuro Linguistic Programing and author of Pakistan's first ever Energy Healing Cards Deck, "Raise Your Vibration" Aiysha Mirza will also participate in the event. Sufi artists, performers, Dhool and Dhamaal by Wajdani Nasir Sain, Qawali by the Saami brothers will be present at the event to give the real feel of sufi culture. DR Congo's armed forces said Wednesday they had killed 18 militiamen and lost two soldiers in an ambush in a troubled region in the country's eastern highlands Bukavu, DR Congo, Jan 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2022 ) :DR Congo's armed forces said Wednesday they had killed 18 militiamen and lost two soldiers in an ambush in a troubled region in the country's eastern highlands. Major Dieudonne Kasereka, the army's spokesman in South Kivu province, said a unit of reinforcements came under attack while travelling though the village of Kagogo in Uvira district on Tuesday morning. The assailants were "militiamen of the Makanika-Twigwaneho coalition," he said referring to an armed group claiming to represent the Banyamulenge -- Congolese Tutsis of Rwandan heritage. "In the exchange of fire, the army killed 18 militiamen," while two soldiers died and five were seriously wounded, he said. More than 120 armed groups are active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to monitors, many of them a legacy of regional wars that raged in the 1990s. The Makanika-Twigwaneho are led by an army colonel, Michel Rukundo Makanika, who deserted in early 2020 and set up a force in the Fizi highlands of South Kivu. The area is the site of long-running feuds over land and resources between the Banyamulenge on one side and the Bembe, Fuliro and Nyindu groups on the other. Clashes between Banyamulenge combatants and the Congolese army have increased in recent months. On December 28, a colonel and three soldiers, as well as 12 militiamen, were killed. South Korea has grounded its entire fleet of advanced F-35 fighter jets, officials said Wednesday, pending a probe into a dramatic emergency landing Seoul, Jan 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2022 ) :South Korea has grounded its entire fleet of advanced F-35 fighter jets, officials said Wednesday, pending a probe into a dramatic emergency landing. After the landing gear on a South Korean F-35A stopped working during a major systems malfunction, the pilot chose not to eject and instead landed the jet on its belly -- walking away without any injuries. The heart-stopping incident on Tuesday, at an air force base in the west of the country, has prompted a probe during which South Korean F-35s will be grounded. "With the investigation under way, the entire (F-35) fleet is suspended from flying," a defence ministry official told AFP. South Korea ordered 40 F-35A variants from its American maker Lockheed Martin in 2014, receiving the first batch five years later. Republic of Korea Air Force vice chief of staff Shin Ok-chul shared the dramatic details at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday. The F-35A was flying at low altitude when the pilot heard bangs, prompting him to check aircraft systems, Shin told lawmakers. "All systems had stopped working except flight controls and the engine," he said, adding that the pilot then chose not to eject and decided to attempt a belly landing. The military sprayed a special foam on the runway at the air force base to prevent an explosion from the friction caused by the plane making contact with the surface at high speed, Shin said. He said it was the first time a belly landing was attempted in an F-35. The supersonic F-35 Lightning II is one of the most potent and agile fighters in the world, featuring stealth technology and advanced communications. Lincoln, RI (02865) Today Cloudy with occasional showers this afternoon. High 58F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Occasional rain. Low around 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. County Total (+New) Recovered Active Deaths (+New) Vaccination Rates Calhoun 4,094 (+26) 3,900 155 39 53.91% DeWitt 3,137 (+11) 2,932 119 86 46.44% Goliad 711 (+9) 646 37 28 43.51% Jackson 2,833 (+1) 2,745 36 52 45.99% Lavaca 3,413 (+18) 3,165 148 100 45.17% Matagorda 6,604 (+43) 6,040 402 162 49.09% Refugio 1,250 (+6) 1,177 42 31 55.10% Victoria 13,707 (+152) 12,939 409 359 51.15% Wharton 6,713 (+53) 6,182 338 193 52.97% 9-County Total 42,462 (+319) 39,726 1,686 1,050 49.26% As of Monday, the hospitalization rate for COVID-19 patients in Victorias trauma service area was 5.4%, according to the state health department. Nine ICU beds were available in the trauma service area, which includes Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Lavaca and Victoria counties. Hospitalization data is delayed by one day. For the sake of providing readers with a clearer understanding of the current state of COVID-19 in their communities we have added a new column to show active cases in our daily COVID-19 case counts. The Victoria Advocate gathers all of its COVID-19 data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. Some data reported to the state is occasionally delayed, which can occasionally result in a large increase in new total cases when the cases are finally reported. When the Victoria Advocate reports new total cases, not all of those new cases are necessarily active cases, but rather that number reflects new cases added to the total number of cases reported in a county since the beginning of the pandemic. You can read more about how the state gathers its data here. In an ambitious push to expand its digital currency, Chinas central bank has launched a trial version for its digital yuan via a wallet app. The app is now available on Chinas Android and iOS app stores and will allow users to open a digital yuan wallet and use the currency as official payment in stores and restaurants. Previously, only select users could use the app on an invitation basis, but now it is open and free for anyone in China to download. However, new user registrations are limited to designated cities undergoing digital yuan trials. Cities participating in the trials include Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao, and Dalian, as well as venues for this years upcoming Winter Olympics, scheduled to begin on Feb. 4 in Beijing. The digital yuan or e-CNY, is a digital version of Chinas sovereign currency and has been in the works since 2014. Developed by the Digital Currency Research Institute under the Peoples Bank of China, the digital yuan is intended to eventually replace Chinese banknotes and coins currently in circulation. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, e-CNY is issued and controlled by the Peoples Bank of China. The digital currency has also not been officially rolled out on a national basis and no timeline has been announced for when this would take place. Prior to the launch, Chinese authorities conducted a number of trials in the form of lotteries where users in certain cities were given a small amount of digital currency to spend. Some retailers, such as e-commerce company JD.com and gaming platform Tencent group, have also accepted it as payment in the past year. PARIS, FRANCE OCTOBER 17: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of digital cryptocurrency coins sit on display in front of a Chinese flag on October 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) Increasing digitalization The digital launch comes just weeks ahead of the Lunar New Year, when people in China customarily exchange monetary gifts in the form of red envelopes, known as hong bao in Chinese. The envelopes are meant to signify good fortune and prosperity in the coming year. However, commercial digital payment methods such as Ant Groups Alipay and Tencent Holdings WeChat Pay both of which allow users to load their accounts, transfer money, and make payments via QR codes or NFC are already highly popular, giving consumers few incentives to switch to the new digital yuan app. According to Mu Changchun, head of the Digital Currency Research Institute, about 140 million Chinese residents opened a digital yuan account as of October 2021, with accumulated transactions reaching 62 billion yuan (US$9.7 billion) since launch. In contrast, Alipay, owned by Chinas largest e-commerce group Alibaba Group, reported 1.3 billion new user registrations in July 2020. Payments made through Alipay totalled 118 trillion yuan by the end of June that year, according to data from Ant Group. In hopes of enticing users to try the new digital yuan app, Chinese authorities have been giving away electronic cash through raffles. In October 2020, the city of Shenzhen issued 50,000 digital red packets containing 200 yuan each. Two months later, Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, offered a total of 20 million digital yuan to 100,000 residents. Risks of e-CNY Experts argue that Chinas new currency launch may involve risks that could affect the global economy. According to a report by a working group tasked with evaluating e-CNY, it is necessary to guard against the misuse of e-CNY in illegal and criminal activities, such as tele-fraud, internet gambling, money laundering, and tax evasion. The new currency could also be a means for the Chinese government to trace its users spending patterns, thereby identifying more effective ways to gain control over its citizens. China has been no stranger in overstepping on users data privacy. Recently, Chinese mobile giant Huawei has been accused of violating users personal data by tracking and sharing intelligence-gathering and biometric tracing with the Chinese government. READ MORE: Chinese Tech Giant Huawei Linked to Surveillance Operations and Intelligence Gathering: Report Following in the footsteps of the United States, Japan is considering limiting exports of AI-powered facial recognition tech to China in a bid to prevent such technologies from being used to monitor and persecute ethnic minorities in the country. Beijing is known to use facial recognition to control the movement of Uyghurs, an ethnic minority from the Xinjiang region. A report from Nikkei Asia revealed that Tokyo plans on partnering with Europe and the United States on planning out the export restriction. Japans foreign exchange laws strictly regulate the export of commercial products and weapons that have potential military applications, threatening international security and world peace. Such sales have to be approved by the trade minister. Some argue the language of the law can be interpreted to cover human rights. But further discussion is needed to determine whether technologies that contribute to rights violations can be restricted in this way. Tokyo will hold talks with American and European partners to consider what products and technologies pose a threat. Products such as circuit boards are already subject to export restrictions as they could be diverted to military use, according to the media outlet. Koichi Hagiuda, Japans minister for economy, trade, and industry, said that the government is looking at how the EU approaches the issue to use as a reference on how Tokyo will proceed with restricting exports of facial recognition tech. Tokyos decision on the issue will greatly affect local companies like NEC that provide powerful facial recognition tech. The company has sold over 1,000 biometric ID systems in over 70 nations and has been at the top in facial recognition accuracy rankings several times. The EU and the U.S. both took action last year to restrict the sale of surveillance equipment to China. The EU restrictions became active in September. It requires authorities to examine relevant transactions on a case-by-case basis. In December, Washington sanctioned eight entities, prohibiting U.S. individuals and entities from investing in them. These entities were accused of actively supporting biometric surveillance and tracking of minorities in China, specifically the Uyghurs. The sanctioned companies include facial recognition tech companies like Cloudwalk, Megvii, Netposa, and Yitu. Todays action highlights how private firms in Chinas defense and surveillance technology sectors are actively cooperating with the governments efforts to repress members of ethnic and religious minority groups Treasury remains committed to ensuring that the U.S. financial system and American investors are not supporting these activities, Brian E. Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement on Dec. 16. Japans move to restrict facial recognition tech exports comes as the technology is getting widely implemented in the country itself. Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the administration had installed facial recognition cameras. Since March last year, the use of facial recognition technology by police has increased even though critics warned that the move risks turning the country into a surveillance state. The Japanese police are following the rules set by the National Public Safety Commission when it comes to handling data involved in the use of the tech. Commercially, Japan is moving ahead with a facial recognition payment system, according to a report by Biometric Update. Thirty-one companies from a variety of industries in Japan have formed a group to consider optimal legal and regulatory frameworks for systems that allow consumers to pay for products and services by looking into a camera. Users will register their face biometrics through a website to use the system, says the report. Kazakhstan is currently experiencing the worst unrest the former Soviet republic has seen in more than a decade. Violence has erupted in the largest city of Almaty and several other cities as protestors demonstrate against a near doubling in fuel prices while showing disapproval for the countrys ruling party. On Wednesday, Jan. 5, protestors reportedly stormed the presidential residence and the Almaty mayors office, setting both ablaze, Fox News reported. Demonstrators were witnessed carrying clubs and shields as they stormed the mayors office, according to earlier reports in Kazakh media. The government has been compelled to resign, though its not clear whether this gesture will amount to much, as Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Toyakev condemned the protests as terrorist action and requested military aid from the CSTO, an alliance led by the Russian Federation. Police opened fire on some protestors at the presidential palace before fleeing, representing an escalation in violence after authorities and protestors had repeatedly clashed in recent days. Authorities have reportedly deployed water cannons in freezing weather, tear gas and concussion grenades against the protestors. Reports have surfaced that protestors have broken into the Almaty office of the Russia-based Mir television and radio company as well as the building housing the Kazakh national broadcaster. The government has resigned in response to the unrest while the president vowed to enact harsh measures in an attempt to quell the violence and regain control. A state of emergency has been declared for the entire nation. Russian peacekeepers Following the announced government resignation, President Tokayev, said ministers would remain in their roles until a new Cabinet is formed, muddying the waters over whether the resignation would have any significant effect. On Wednesday night, Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), an alliance to which Kazakhstan belongs, announced they would send troops to the country to help stabilize it after Tokayev appealed to the alliance for help. The CSTO includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. All members of the CSTO were part of the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991. The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the planned deployment, but Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin, had said that other countries should avoid interfering in Kazakhstans internal affairs. Leonid Kalashnikov, a Russian lawmaker, told Interfax that CSTO forces would mostly focus on protecting Kazakh infrastructure and that they would stay for as long as the president of Kazakhstan believes it necessary. Russia has a long border and extensive economic ties with its neighbor. Global watchdog organization Netblocks has said that the countrys internet has been blocked. Regularly accessible Kazakh news sites have become inaccessible. Network data from NetBlocks confirm a significant disruption to internet service in Kazakhstan from the evening of Tuesday 4 January 2022, progressing to a nation-scale communications blackout on Wednesday afternoon, the organization states on its website. Protesters now storming the main government building in Kazakhstans largest city Almaty. pic.twitter.com/lemKcpILL8 Patrick Reevell (@Reevellp) January 5, 2022 According to a video posted to Twitter, the Kazakh military is struggling to contain the unrest, and some military personnel have even been detained by violent anti-government protestors. Unrest spreading The unrest is not contained to Almaty but has spread across numerous cities across the massive Central Asian country. On Jan. 4, reporter Thomas van Linge posted to Twitter, Anti-government protests are spreading and growing across #Kazakhstan tonight. Protests initially started in Zhanaozen over a rise in fuel prices but are now taking place in several cities, including capital Almaty. Reports have surfaced indicating that the Almaty airport, the largest in the country, was occupied by force by a contingent of 45 men. It is not clear if operations have been affected. In the city of Atyrau police forces are said to have walked off the job and joined the protestors. #Kazakhstan : police forces in the city of #Atyrau are walking out of the police station to join hands with the protesters standing outside. pic.twitter.com/O4ANL2uC3g Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) January 5, 2022 Government distrust Although the protests began over soaring costs of liquefied gas which is widely used as a vehicle fuel in the nation the unrest has evolved to address a wider discontent for the ruling party that has been in power since the nation gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Kazakhstan, the ninth-largest country in the world, has extensive oil reserves that make the nation both strategically and economically important. However, despite the nations vast mineral wealth, discontent over poor living conditions has spread in some parts of the country. The protests began on Sunday in the city of Zhanaozen where resentment of the government was strong following a 2011 oil-worker strike which resulted in at least 15 people being fatally shot. Large demonstrations then broke out in the nations capital, Nur-Sultan and in Almaty, the countrys largest city and former capital. Addressing the nation on Wednesday, President Tokayev said We intend to act with maximum severity regarding law-breakers, adding that police have lost their lives in the clashes. Reports have surfaced stating eight police and national guard troops have died and 317 have been injured so far due to the unrest. #Kazakhstan : streets of #Almaty flooded with thousands of people. These are the biggest protests in Kazakhstan in years. #zhanaozen2022 pic.twitter.com/NrSzMWIFAO Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) January 4, 2022 Leo Timm contributed to this report. On Jan. 2, during an anti-lockdown protest march in Amsterdam, police used excessive violence employing K-9 teams, riot police, provocateurs, and water cannons against peaceful, unarmed citizens. Images of violent clashes rocked the planet in the aftermath of what could have been the greatest peaceful protest march in the Netherlands history. Dutch police fighting Covid:pic.twitter.com/9ibSqnJDZr Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 2, 2022 The incident spurred Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, to invite the victims of police violence to step forward and report their cases. In a tweet posted on Jan. 2, he said, In preparation for my official visit in 2022 to #Netherlands, #Poland & #France focusing on #PoliceViolence, I invite victims, witnesses & NGO to submit verifiable evidence (Eng/Fre) on this & other incidents: Prelude to violence During the days leading up to Jan. 2, some major organizations like the conservative Forum for Democracy party backed the authorized gathering. However, the gathering was called into question when riot-police unions announced a strike for the day of the protests, citing low wages and high work stress. This led Amsterdams Mayor Femke Halsema to curtail the demonstration to 3,500 participants. However, she later banned it altogether, citing COVID-19 concerns and blasted the marchs organizers for their unwillingness to cooperate and come to an agreeable solution. Thousands of demonstrators gather at Museumplein to protest against the covid-measures, on Jan. 2, 2022, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organizers of a demonstration against Dutch Covid measures called for the event to go ahead despite the Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, canceling it due to a strike by riot police. (Image: SANNE DERKS/Getty Images) Notwithstanding the alleged strike, there was an abundant supply of riot police teams present, some consisting of members of the Royal Marechaussee, an elite military troop, while some other units were jean-clad operatives in riot gear wearing unofficial insignia on their sleeves. Some fear these troops belonged to the notorious Eurogendfor forces, a supra-national army especially dedicated to suppressing opposition during uproars. Mostly they are deployed on foreign soil and, purportedly, have a license to kill when it comes to opponents who resist their arrest. Suspicion was further fanned by the fact that some officers, reportedly, didnt speak Dutch or English. Ricardo Baretzky, President of the European Centre for Information Policy and Security ECIPS and CYBERPOL voiced his concerns on his LinkedIn page over these troops that do not owe any responsibility to any government, stating: I have seen these types of pre-civil war conditions in many countries such as Ukraine, South Africa and others in the past where State security dressed as police participate by presidential orders in particular when leaders can no longer escape their demons of accountability. This is a strong indicator that the Dutch military is divided from the rest and leaders are no longer in control of the situation on the ground. For those who dont know, the civil code used when state security are involved are that of wearing jeans with police badging, a police jacket and or a badge, normally in groups of 10 to 12 to be visible to the real police at all times. Its clear that on sunday past there were at least one such group with the police and fuelling the unrest. A good way to notice this is that they group together separate from the real police and those in full uniform always walk backwards when the Bandits step in. Present also were the notorious Romeos, civilian agent-provocateurs who have attended numerous Netherlands protests over the past two years. They operate by randomly attacking people, and last year one of them was witnessed pushing an elderly lady under an approaching police van during protests at The Hague. Wat is de geweldsinstuctie vandaag @POL_Amsterdam ? Is je mond nog steeds je krachtigste wapen. Of mag er gewoon op los geslagen worden?#Museumplein @POL_Lnd_Eenheid pic.twitter.com/VfU937xzBf Eleanor Exposing Wonderland (@ExposingWonderl) January 2, 2022 Despite the ban by Mayor Halsema, some 200,000 people showed up at the protests centered around the Museum Square area where most of the atrocities took place, the organizers reported. Dutch national broadcaster NOS said some 2,000 people attended the demonstrations. The crackdown Other video footage near Museum Square clearly shows how riot police members stepped aside and a group of jean-clad fighters stepped forward and instigated a fight by suddenly attacking a group of veteran soldiers who had positioned themselves between the police and the protestors acting as a protective shield. Police attacking veterans that try to keep protesters and police separated. #Amsterdam https://t.co/KaxTJyQRfu PASHKA (@CryptoPashka) January 2, 2022 A still from this police attack made headlines with the Telegraaf newspaper that commented that protesters completely lost it and went berserk, stating that the veterans were a bunch of self-proclaimed imposters. More violent outbursts The polices display of violence is reminiscent of the violent clashes between police and rioters in Rotterdam on Nov. 19. Four rioters were reportedly shot and killed, although police to date deny any casualties have taken place. READ MORE: Violent Clashes Erupt in Rotterdam Over Lockdown Restrictions, 3 Feared Dead Its unknown whether those casualties include the case of one person who was allegedly run down by a police van and dragged over 50 meters before the car came to a standstill. Melzer also reposted to Twitter images of a gruesome event that took place in The Hague last year that depicted an unarmed dissident lying on the ground trying to ward off a charging police dog while being kicked and beaten by riot police amidst what he called one of the most disgusting scenes of police brutality I have seen since GeorgeFloyd! URGENT @DutchMFA: This is one of the most disgusting scenes of #PoliceBrutality I have seen since #GeorgeFloyd! These officers & their superiors must be prosecuted for the crime of #torture! THIS SAVAGERY MUST STOP HERE & NOW! I will send an official protest note shortly! https://t.co/GdGwRlDNup Nils Melzer (@NilsMelzer) January 3, 2022 In a statement, police officials said they regretted Melzers rebuke stating that Melzer based his judgment on just a few images without considering the overall context. They even announced to file a complaint against Melzer, although its not clear on what grounds. According to some, protesters at the gathering remained calm and peaceful and won a psychological victory by not resorting to violence. According to the organizers, the activists have become even more determined to turn the tide against the COVID-19 measures imposed by the Dutch authorities. On this edition of Straight Talk Africa, host Hayde Adams and her guests discuss the significance of European and U.S. museums returning African art and objects looted during colonial times. Guests include Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba, an African art curator at New Orleans Museum of Art, Dan Hicks, professor and author of The Brutish Museums and Oluwatoyin Sogbesan, a cultural historian and curator. China is transforming Kenya and the rest of Africa through infrastructure projects and investments. Many Africans welcome the developments, while others worry about Beijing's motives and the long-term impact on their countries. With China's Belt and Road initiative bringing temporary workers from the world's most populous country, neighborhoods such as Kilimani in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, are filled with billboards in Mandarin for Chinese-run casinos, karaoke centers and traditional Chinese medicine clinics. Such areas have not been officially dubbed "Chinatown" yet. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a visit, January 4 to 7, to the East African countries of Kenya, Eritrea and Comoros. Wang's efforts to strengthen ties support the Belt and Road initiative goal of enhancing China's land and sea trade in Asia, Europe and Africa. Positive views Africans have taken a mostly positive view of the Asian newcomers. A recent survey conducted by Afrobarometer of 34 African countries from 2019 to 2020 found that while some were concerned about being heavily indebted to China, 63% of Africans viewed China as a positive external influence on the continent. In comparison, 60% and 57% viewed as a positive influence the United States and United Nations agencies, respectively. China's presence can be seen throughout Nairobi. Construction projects are ubiquitous, and every neighborhood seems to be reinventing itself with apartment blocks and malls erected in months, sometimes weeks. Many Kenyans say the Chinese are largely responsible for such development. The Chinese presence in Kenya is a net positive, said Tyson Nuthu, who works at the rock climbing gym Climb BlueSky. "The traffic is something we all complain about. Projects like the Nairobi Western Bypass alleviate the problem. Driving to Lukenya (Nairobi's closest outdoor crag) has been better since Mombasa Road is almost completed," he said in a phone interview with VOA. "Plus, I think seeing a different work ethic is good for Kenyans. It drives up the competition a bit." Speaking last month at the site of the Nairobi Expressway toll road, a Chinese-backed infrastructure project, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said his country's relationship with China is "mutually beneficial that is, based on win-win." He said an improved infrastructure would make life easier for people and was "key" to Kenya's economy. Critics of Chinese presence For years, however, analysts have speculated about China's intentions on the African continent, with some accusing it of "malicious" behavior. In 2011, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described China's actions as "new colonialism." Chinese infrastructure deals are secretive and bad for the local economy, some critics contend. Laura Otieno, a civil engineer on the Nairobi Western Bypass, which circumvents traffic congestion in the capital city, works mainly with Chinese firms. In an interview with VOA, she said it had taken her some time to overcome the cultural differences and language barrier when working with the Chinese. "For the most part, we get along," Otieno said. "But what I don't like is that we celebrate their holidays, such as Chinese New Year. Why should we? We're in Kenya." Meanwhile, Paul Chepsoi, program director at Endorois Welfare Council, a community-based human rights organization in Nakuru, has doubts about China's intentions abroad. "I once attended a meeting where a Chinese investor was present," Chepsoi said in an email interview with VOA. "At some point, I raised my hand to ask a question on how the community will benefit from the natural resource he intended to collect from the community. He totally ignored my question." Soft power diplomacy Yuan Wang, a fellow at the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program, said in a phone interview with VOA that "China is relatively new to this game of facilitating cultural exchange and the overall diplomacy space." She added, "The different culture of 'doing the work' rather than 'saying the things' contributes to the perception that China lacks diplomacy." In 2017, at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping described China's expansion strategies, saying, "We will strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges with other countries, giving prominence to Chinese culture while also drawing on other cultures." Xi also talked about improving the "capacity for engaging in international communication so as to tell China's stories well; present a true, multidimensional, and panoramic view of China; and enhance our country's cultural soft power." Beijing has embarked on this mission through a variety of initiatives that have included donating 200,000 doses of Sinopharms COVID-19 vaccines to Kenya in September 2021 and launching opportunities such as the Silk Road Global News Awards, a contest for Kenyan journalists that bestows cash prizes on winners. The Chinese embassy also regularly cultivates China-Kenya relations. Its website states that even as the world undergoes major transformations, the embassy "remains committed to promoting the long-term and healthy growth of China-Kenya relations and protecting the lawful rights and interests of overseas Chinese nationals." In African countries, including Kenya, China has established Confucius Institutes, which teach Chinese language and culture in foreign universities. The institutes are largely funded by the Chinese Education Ministry. Some students worry that the institutes are self-censoring, deliberately avoiding subjects that are politically sensitive in China. In addition, a report to the U.S. Senate found that Confucius Institute funding comes with strings that can compromise academic freedom. The Chinese instructors, for example, sign contracts with Beijing pledging not to damage Chinas national interests. There is also the annual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the training of nearly 1,000 African journalists. But some see the latter effort as questionable, given China's reputation for censorship. Effectiveness of China's efforts Mario Esteban, a senior analyst focusing on Chinese foreign policy at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said in a phone interview with VOA that China's focus on infrastructure projects has helped it burnish its reputation. Kenyans using roads or schools can see the direct benefits of a Chinese presence. "In terms of soft power, quite a lot of Africans believe that the Chinese are a useful partner," Esteban said. Chepsoi remains skeptical about China's intentions toward his country. "Most developed countries have been using this soft power approach for a long time that's why their economies have doubled at the expense of developing countries," he said. The Chinese embassy in Nairobi did not respond to multiple requests for comments for this story. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says a scathing report by an inquiry into state graft marks "the end of an era" of corruption. But analysts say it's only the beginning of efforts needed to restore public trust in South Africa's political institutions. For more than three years, South Africans watched the public proceedings of a national inquiry into graft under the tenure of former President Jacob Zuma. Thats why its findings of systemic corruption released by Justice Raymond Zondo late Tuesday didnt come as a surprise. Instead, the public is waiting to see what comes next. Narnia Bohler-Muller is a professor with South Africas Human Sciences Research Council. Now people want to see consequences and accountability," she said. "People are losing trust in government and in democracy, so we don't want to go to a point beyond no return. I do really think that we may be saved by a response that is going to be a proper implementation plan and action. If that doesn't happen, then I dont know, then we will not be living in a democracy. She says public trust in government has been on the decline since 2009 coinciding with Zumas time in office. The new report focused on corrupt contract tenders and political kickbacks in relation to South African Airways, the state revenue agency and public procurement. It recommended prosecution against former high-ranking lawmakers and their public and private sector affiliates. But charges may not come swiftly. Olwethu Majola, a lawyer and doctoral candidate in criminology at the University of Cape Town, says further investigations need to take place. We're going to see law enforcement, such as the police or special investigative unit, conducting their own investigations based on the preliminary commission. Depending on how far or how long it takes for investigations to be concluded, perhaps within, you know, two years, we can see charges being brought against individuals, she said. Majola says the former president will be among those to face prosecution. Zuma was already found guilty of contempt of court last year for failing to appear before the inquiry. He has long denied any wrongdoing and called the inquiry biased. Zuma maintains a loyal following of supporters who dont want to see the former leader imprisoned. In addition to consequences, the inquiry has also made recommendations to prevent state graft, including the formation of an independent corruption agency. Richard Chelin is a senior researcher on organized crime for the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. The key question is political interference," she said. "How do you create a body that is so independent? How do you fund such a body? Which is very difficult. I think these are the struggles that a lot of the anti-corruption, that is faced globally is how do you maintain independence? And who do they answer to? The public still has months to wait for any government action. Two more reports from the inquiry will be released in the coming weeks. President Cyril Ramaphosa will then deliver the full report to parliament by the end of June before implementing its recommendations. Experts say that militants linked to the Islamic State terror group appear to be planning more deadly attacks in Syria this year. The assessment comes after an increase in IS activities in recent weeks, including two strikes claimed by the group against its foes in the war-torn country's eastern and central regions. Late Sunday, five Syrian government soldiers were killed, and 20 others wounded when IS militants attacked their military bus on a highway in Syrias desert region, the state-run SANA news agency reported on Monday. IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh, reportedly used missile artillery in the strike that targeted the Syrian military convoy. On the same day, the extremist group claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. An SDF official confirmed the attack to local media but said there were no casualties on their side. This could be a slow buildup for the militant group in the coming months, Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at the New York-based Soufan Center, told VOA. IS is a group that is highly opportunistic. They're going to look to exploit the missteps and mistakes of other governments in the region, he said. Despite losing nearly all the land they once controlled, IS militants continue to launch massive attacks against their opponents in Syria and Iraq. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 600 people were killed in dozens of IS attacks last year in Syria. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, told VOA that IS will likely remain a major security challenge for the opposing Syrian forces in the new year. Last year, we witnessed a steady rise in attacks claimed by Daesh whether in areas controlled by the [Syrian] regime or the SDF. So naturally we should expect more such sophisticated attacks in the new year, he said. In its annual report released on Monday, the SDF said it carried out 115 security operations against IS cells in northeast Syria in 2021. Those raids were conducted either independently or in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition against IS, the SDF reported. According to the Kurdish-led military alliance, last years operations resulted in the dismantling of more than 90 terror cells and the arrest of around 800 IS suspects. Analyst Clarke said local security dynamics on the ground in Syria havent changed. The Islamic State has a lot of enemies, the SDF, the Syrian regime; none of that has changed, he said. Everybody is still against ISIS, which the group uses in its propaganda to rally the troops and keep morale up. Clarke added that the group has some challenges to encounter, including generating momentum over a sustained period of time. There were two major attacks in Syria, but can they string together? Can they keep it up for a week or several weeks? Is that something thats part of a strategy? he asked. This story originated in VOAs Kurdish service. President Joe Biden has directed his administration to buy an additional 10 million courses of Pfizers COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, bringing the total to at least 20 million courses, as part of his strategy to combat omicron. He addressed the American public Tuesday as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surge to record levels following the holidays. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. President Joe Biden has gotten the same troubling questions from worried world leaders, ones that he never thought he would hear. "Is America going to be all right?" they ask. "What about democracy in America?" While Biden has tried to offer America's allies assurances, he has only occasionally emphasized the gravity of the threat to democracy from the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the repeated lie from the man he defeated, Donald Trump, that the 2020 election was stolen. And he's not discussed the very real concerns about a growing collection of insurrection sympathizers installed in local election posts and changes by Republicans to election laws in several states. Now, as the anniversary of that deadly day nears, the Democratic president is being urged to reorder priorities and use the powers of his office to push voting rights legislation that its adherents say could be the only effective way to counter the rapidly emerging threats to the democratic process. The tension in Biden's approach reflects his balancing of the urgent needs of Americans to make progress on the highly visible issues of the coronavirus pandemic and the economy and the less visible, but equally vital, issue of preserving trust in elections and government. The president plans to deliver a speech on January 6 focused on sustaining democracy voting rights won't be part of the remarks but will be the topic of another speech soon, White House aides said. In his recent commencement address at South Carolina State University, Biden's tone on the need for voting rights legislation took on added urgency. "I've never seen anything like the unrelenting assault on the right to vote. Never," Biden said, adding, "This new sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and sadly, it is unprecedented since Reconstruction." And the world is taking notice. Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also has said that the riot at the Capitol has altered the view many countries have of the United States. "January 6 has had a material impact on the view of the United States from the rest of the world, I believe from allies and adversaries alike," Sullivan said recently at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Allies look at it with concern and worry about the future of American democracy. Adversaries look at it, you know, more sort of rubbing their hands together and thinking, 'How do we take advantage of this in one way or another?'" In contrast, Republicans in numerous states are promoting efforts to influence future elections by installing sympathetic leaders in local election posts and backing for elective office some of those who participated in the insurrection. White House officials insist Biden's relative reticence should not be interpreted as complacency with the growing movement to rewrite history surrounding the January 6 riot. Rather, they say, the president believes the most effective way to combat Trump, election denialism and domestic extremism is to prove to the rest of the country and to the world that government can work. "I know progress does not come fast enough. It never has," Biden said last fall. "The process of governing is frustrating and sometimes dispiriting. But I also know what's possible if we keep the pressure up, if we never give up, we keep the faith." In Biden's view, many of Trump's voters didn't wholly embrace Trumpism. Instead, Trump exploited long-standing dissatisfaction with the nation's political, economic and social systems to build his coalition. So Biden tailored his first-year domestic agenda to combating what he believed to be the root causes of the unease the shaky economy and the pandemic's drag on it essentially to prove that government can work effectively. He has directed federal law enforcement to shore up security at national institutions and improve communication systems and procedures that were in part to blame for U.S. Capitol Police being left overwhelmed for hours during the mob assault. The Justice Department has undertaken the largest prosecution in its history, charging more than 700 defendants and still looking for more. But it is voting rights that many Democrats and activists concerned about what may happen in 2022 and beyond are urging the president to make a key priority. "The insurrection was part of a larger movement to suppress elections and overthrow our democracy," said Christina Baal-Owens, a longtime organizer and the executive director of Public Wise, a group that researches and publishes information on candidates running for office who support the election lies. Baal-Owens said efforts to discredit election integrity not only galvanize Trump supporters, they also make other voters less likely to vote. "We know we've done some research on trust in the system if voters don't trust elections, they may not vote," she said. "This is part of a larger movement of voter suppression and why it's so necessary for Biden to speak out." The House has approved far-reaching voting rights legislation, but Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have been impediments, saying they oppose changing Senate rules to get around a GOP filibuster of the bill. That legislation would restore the Justice Department's ability to review changes to election laws in states with a history of discrimination, a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. According to the Brennan Center, 19 states have recently passed laws making it harder to vote. Manchin and Sinema have helped draft separate voting rights legislation, but it lacks enough Republican support to overcome the filibuster. "People are taking sides as opposed to looking at what the institutional threats are to maintaining our democracy," said Democratic Representative Peter Welch of Vermont, a candidate to replace Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who announced his retirement. Welch was at the Capitol on January 6, and the violence that day is etched in his memory. "The norms that have been the bedrock of our democracy, the free and peaceful transition of power and the renunciation of violence, they've been shattered," he said. After Biden's speech in South Carolina, Senate Democrats renewed their push to pass voting rights legislation early in 2022. And the president said in an interview with ABC that he supported creating an exception to the Senate filibuster if that's what it takes to pass voting rights legislation. For Biden, who served four decades in the Senate, it was a remarkable concession and underscored the gravity of the threat. And, he acknowledged, he knows the world is watching to see how the nation responds and wondering if the country's democracy will survive. "Did you ever think you'd be asked that question by another leader?" Biden said. U.S. President Joe Biden will use the first anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot to speak bluntly about the impact of the shocking event and to lay responsibility at the feet of former President Donald Trump, the White House said Wednesday. I would expect that President Biden will lay out the significance of what happened at the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. And he will forcibly push back on the lie spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters, as well as distract from his role in what happened. So, he will, of course, speak to the moment, to the importance in history of the peaceful transfer of power, of what we need to do to protect our own democracy and be forward-looking, but he will also reflect on the role his predecessor had. Vice President Kamala Harris will give remarks alongside Biden on Thursday morning. When asked if Biden would identify Trump by name during his speech to Congress, Psaki demurred. Well see, she said. Were finalizing the speech. But I think people will know who hes referring to. Also Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed that Justice Department prosecutors will pursue perpetrators at any level responsible for the riot. He did not name any individuals who may face prosecution, but said: There can be no different rules for the powerful and the powerless. Late Tuesday, Trump suddenly canceled a Thursday evening press conference at his Florida estate, where he also intended to speak about the deadly attack on the Capitol that led to at least five deaths and more than 130 injuries and saw more than 720 participants charged with crimes. Trump said he would instead discuss important topics at a January 15 rally in Arizona. In a statement, Trump accused the congressional committee investigating the event of showing total bias and dishonesty. He maintains that the November 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud and that he actually won. There is no evidence to support that claim. On Wednesday, Trumps eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted that he believes the congressional select committee currently investigating the events of January 6 is a sham. Democrats across the country are destroying the rule of law by using their power in government to illegally target, bully and harass their political enemies, he said. Public opinion polls have shown about 70% of Republicans do not consider Bidens election win legitimate. The pro-Trump mob stormed the seat of Congress as lawmakers inside were meeting to certify election results. They overpowered the massively outnumbered Capitol Police officers on duty, smashing windows, erecting a gallows and vandalizing the historic building, and sending lawmakers fleeing for safety. Some rioters said they were seeking out specific individuals in particular, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Mike Pence. VOA attempted to contact two associates of Pence in an effort to find out whether he had any plans on Thursday. They did not respond. Only hours later, after federal law enforcement agencies and the military arrived to reestablish control of the Capitol, were the members of Congress able to complete their work and certify Bidens election win, setting the stage for his inauguration weeks later. Four Trump supporters died on the day of the assault, and a Capitol Police officer died the next day. The mob injured dozens of officers, and in the months since the attack. four officers have died by suicide. Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, told Agence France-Presse that Trumps campaign is unprecedented in U.S. history. No former president has attempted to do so much to discredit his successor and the democratic process, Tobias said. While Biden prepares to lay blame for the insurrection on Trump, some Republican lawmakers accuse Democrats of attempting to channel fallout from the riot for partisan ends. Authorities in India's capital Delhi on Tuesday ordered people to stay home over coming weekends, with COVID-19 cases quadrupling in a week. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the most senior elected official in the capital's administration, was one of the 37,379 new COVID-19 cases reported in India in the space of 24 hours. Kejriwal, who announced his infection the day after addressing an election rally without a mask, is among scores of political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding events across India in front of large crowds. In the northeastern Manipur state, Modi addressed several hundred people at an election rally, many sitting in close proximity with their masks pulled down. In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling party and opposition groups also held big gatherings where many went without masks. Mega-rallies last year helped the delta variant to wreak havoc in India, and with several state elections due in coming months, health experts and the public are growing worried. India's daily case load was the highest since September and experts suspect the highly transmissible omicron variant has begun to overtake delta, although hospital admissions have not jumped yet. Delhi is reporting more than 4,000 cases a day, and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said although most patients were showing mild or no symptoms and recovering fast, people would be required to stay indoors on Saturdays and Sundays. On weekdays, most offices will have to ensure that half their employees work from home, he told a media briefing. Delhi, India's financial capital Mumbai and the technology hub Bengaluru have already imposed curbs on movement during the night, and some cities have also closed schools and colleges. Kejriwal, who addressed a rally in the state of Uttarakhand, said on Twitter he had isolated at home with mild symptoms and urged anyone he had recently been in contact with to do likewise and take a test for COVID-19. The federal government has encouraged local authorities to impose movement curbs if more than 5% of COVID-19 tests are positive. Delhi registered a 6% infection rate on Monday. India has so far recorded 482,017 official deaths from COVID-19. One a year after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, hundreds of people are still awaiting trial for their alleged role in the riot, while 155 others have pleaded guilty. As VOA's Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, the pending cases are just one part of the effort to hold responsible parties accountable for the attack. Produced by: Katherine Gypson As a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic looms in India, driven by the omicron variant of coronavirus, authorities have begun giving shots to 15 to 18 year olds. There was enthusiasm and a sense of relief among teenagers as they lined up outside medical centers and in schools where vaccines are being given about 10 million got a shot since the start of the week. I feel more confident that I can now go out. I used to feel so scared when I went to school that I may get COVID and carry the infection to my parents and neighborhood, said Ajay Verma, a high school student. The inoculation drive for youngsters got underway amid an exponential jump in COVID-19 cases in mega cities like Delhi and Mumbai. After seeing a dramatic decline for months, India reported 58,000 cases Wednesday -- a sevenfold jump in just a week. That has prompted authorities to impose fresh restrictions officials in the capital, New Delhi, have announced a weekend curfew and closed gyms and movie theaters. In Mumbai, authorities said they will consider imposing a lockdown if daily cases cross the 20,000 mark. The city recorded more than 10,000 cases Tuesday. Schools that reopened just months ago have again closed for in-person classes in many places. That has created fresh anxiety among youngsters in a country where school closures lasted for nearly a year-and-a-half -- longer than in much of the world. Online school, it gets lonely. Schools in person is always much more fun so I am looking forward to it when it is safe, says Sania Gupta, a high school student in Gurugram, a business hub adjoining New Delhi. Indias inoculation drive began early last year, but even as several countries around the world have been vaccinating young children, health authorities had said they want to inoculate all adults before expanding the program. About two thirds of Indias adults have been fully vaccinated, while 90% have received one shot. However, in the country with the largest estimated adolescent population in the world, calls were growing to also protect younger people, especially as India has an adequate vaccine supply. Sooner or later a wider population needs to be vaccinated, specially in India, where adults constitute only 63% of the total population, unlike some countries, such as Europe, where adults are around 80% of population, said Chandrakant Lahariya, a public health expert. So even if we vaccinate all adults, nearly one-third of the country is still unprotected. India has more than 120 million people between 15 and 19 years old, according to the country's 2011 census. And while adolescents have largely escaped the brunt of the pandemic, several countries have seen infections rising among children. India, which has counted the second highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world, will also begin administering booster shots to health care workers and senior citizens with comorbidities starting Monday. The expanded inoculation drive is raising hope that the country will not experience the devastation that was triggered by the delta variant last year when hundreds of thousands of daily infections overwhelmed hospitals and led to crippling shortages of oxygen. At that time much of the country was unvaccinated. Unlike the delta wave, where high proportion of infected individuals would require hospitalization, oxygen, and intensive care beds, in omicron the current evidence says infection is mostly mild and severe disease is mostly linked to pre-existing high-risk conditions or unvaccinated individuals, said Lahariya. So, in that backdrop, cases might rise and that theoretically might be classified as a fresh wave, but the impact is not likely to be the same, he pointed out. That is what high school students getting shots are hoping as they yearn to resume a semblance of normalcy -- an estimated 200 million children have been affected due to school closures in India. I want schools to reopen so that I can get back into the habit of studying, said high school student, Amit Sahu. I just could not concentrate at home. Its a sentiment that many echo. Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, declared a nationwide state of emergency and appealed to the Russia-led regional security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), to assist Kazakhstan in responding to what he called a "terrorist threat." The CSTO agreed and will send peacekeeping troops to Kazakhstan, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the council's chairman, said Thursday. Thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings in an unprecedented wave of unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation that was sparked by a fuel price increase. The angry demonstrators, some of whom were armed with rubber truncheons, sticks and shields, set fire Wednesday to a presidential residence and the mayor's office in the country's largest city, Almaty, where protesters also seized control of the airport, prompting the temporary suspension of all flights. Police engaged in pitched battles with the protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds but were largely unsuccessful. The Interior Ministry said eight police and National Guard troops have been killed and 317 people wounded during the unrest. Communications monitors reported a national-scale internet blackout, while RFE/RL journalists in the country said both internet and telephone services had deteriorated markedly. Tokayev said what he called foreign-trained "terrorists and bandits" were seizing buildings, infrastructure, and weapons in Kazakh cities. They had taken control of the Almaty airport and five aircraft there, including foreign planes, the president said, as he made a second televised speech in the space of a few hours on Wednesday. "It is actually no longer a threat, it is an undermining of the integrity of the state. And, most importantly, it is an attack on our citizens who are asking me to help them urgently," Tokayev said. Tokayev sacked the government earlier Wednesday and later declared the state of emergency in a bid to squelch the protests, which erupted in the western region of Mangystau three days ago over a sudden hike in prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a popular fuel used in vehicles in the country, along with general discontent over issues such as corruption, unemployment, and low wages. "As president, I am obliged to protect the safety and peace of our citizens, to worry about the integrity of Kazakhstan," he said. In a major move to distance himself from the past, Tokayev also removed his predecessor, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbaev, from the powerful post of head of the country's Security Council. Nazarbaev had retained wide authority through the post since stepping down in 2019 as president after three decades in power, the last Soviet-era Communist Party boss still ruling an ex-Soviet state. Some protesters laid the blame for many of the country's problems on him, with demonstrators in the city of Taldykorgan, the capital of Almaty Province, toppling a statue of the former leader. Violence was also reported Wednesday in the northern city of Aqtobe, where police fired tear gas at protesters who tried to enter the regional government building by force. An RFE/RL correspondent at the scene saw several people with leg injuries. Protests in Kazakhstan Protests also continued in other cities and towns, including Aqtau, Zhanaozen, and Oral, where dozens of people were reportedly detained. Limits appeared to have been imposed on the internet to interrupt the ability of demonstrators to mobilize, with web monitoring group NetBlocks reporting a nationwide "blackout." Messenger apps Telegram, Signal, and WhatsApp were all said to be unavailable in Kazakhstan, while the website of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service and those of independent media that reported on the protests also appeared to be blocked. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 200 people were detained during a previous night of unrest in Almaty and elsewhere, but observers say that number appears to be underestimated. Cabinet resignation A decree order published on the presidential website on the morning of January 5 said Tokayev had accepted the resignation of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Asqar Mamin, in line with the constitution. First Deputy Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov was appointed as interim prime minister, and current members of the government will continue their duties until a new cabinet is formed, according to the order. Before its resignation, the government announced it was restoring the price cap of 50 tenge ($0.11) per liter on LPG, or less than half the market price, in Mangystau. Demonstrators in Aqtau and Zhanaozen argued that the removal of some officials wouldn't bring lasting results and called for the dissolution of parliament, where no genuine opposition political forces are represented, and new limits to presidential powers, among other things. Zhanaozen was the scene of a 2011 police crackdown against oil workers protesting pay and working conditions that claimed the lives of at least 16 of them. In addition to replacing the prime minister, Tokayev appointed a new first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB) to replace Samat Abish, a nephew of Nazarbaev. Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Presse-Agentur and Reuters. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared a two-week state of emergency in the Central Asian nation's biggest city Almaty and in the western Mangistau province where protests turned violent, his office said early Wednesday. The move includes an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, movement restrictions, and a ban on mass gatherings, according to documents published on the president's website. "Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal," Tokayev said in a video address a few hours earlier. "The government will not fall, but we want mutual trust and dialog rather than conflict." As he spoke, police in Almaty used tear gas and stun grenades to stop hundreds of protesters from storming the mayor's office, a Reuters correspondent reported from the scene. The oil-rich country's government announced late on Tuesday it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of fuel at the start of the year. Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on January 1. Price spike After the price of the fuel spiked, rallies involving thousands of people erupted on January 2 in the town of Zhanaozen, an oil hub and site of deadly clashes between protesters and police a decade ago. Demonstrations spread to other parts of surrounding Mangistau province and western Kazakhstan, including provincial center Aktau and a worker camp used by sub-contractors of Kazakhstan's biggest oil producer, Tengizchevroil. The Chevron-led venture said output had not been affected. In Almaty, police appeared to have taken control of the main square shortly after deploying flashbang grenades, according to online video streams from the area. But explosions were heard for hours on nearby streets and in other parts of the city. Videos published online showed torched police cars in the city, as well as armored vehicles moving through one of its main thoroughfares. On Tuesday evening, the government announced it was restoring the price cap of 50 tenge (11 cents) per liter, or less than half the market price, in Mangistau province. Public protests are illegal in the country of 19 million unless their organizers file a notice in advance. Tokayev, the hand-picked successor of Soviet-era Communist boss Nursultan Nazarbayev who stepped down in 2019, faces no political opposition in parliament. The president said on Twitter on Tuesday that he would hold a government meeting the following day to discuss the protesters' demands. He urged protesters to behave responsibly. Nigerian security forces have rescued nearly 100 people, including babies, who were kidnapped and held by armed gangs in the countrys northwest Zamfara state. Nigerian police say their release Tuesday was unconditional and that no ransom was paid. While their freedom was welcomed, critics say authorities are not doing enough to improve security in the volatile region. A total of 97 victims were rescued in two raids carried out by security forces on forest hideouts, where local criminal gangs or bandits held them captive. Officials initially liberated 68 captives in the Shinkafi area and later rescued another 29 from a forest hideout elsewhere. Police authorities said the abductees who were rescued include 19 infants between two and seven months old, and 16 other children. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and men were also rescued. Zamfara state's police spokesperson, Shehu Mohammed, said many of the kidnap victims had been held for up to three months. "On 3rd January 2022, police operatives received an intelligence report that some kidnap victims were being stranded in the bush. On receipt of that information, our police operatives in collaboration with the genuine repentant bandits and vigilante group swung into action," Mohammed said. All the hostages were examined at the state hospital and later handed over to the state government in Gusau, the state capital. Mohamed said they are expected to be reunited with their families later Wednesday. Nigerian police and the army have been cracking down on criminal gangs that attack communities and schools and take away captives, holding them for ransom. Mohammed said a state-led police response on Tuesday evening stopped bandits from attacking another community, after a fierce exchange of gunfire. But security expert Kabiru Adamu says such rescue operations are too expensive to maintain. He said "there's room for improvement but first of all, the operations are not sustainable. Nigeria is facing some very serious economic circumstances. These operations are very expensive so they're not likely to remain for too long. Previously such operations have been conducted but they'll stop them after a while." Since last year, bandits have increasingly targeted schools, snatching 1,440 students nationwide and some teachers, according to the United Nations childrens agency, UNICEF. In many cases, families had no choice but to pay ransom to recover their loved ones, despite pleas from the government not to pay. For just a moment, immediately following the January 6 assault on the United States Capitol last year, it was possible to imagine that the events of that day would shock the country back to political normalcy. In the hours after the mob of insurrectionists, spurred on by false assertions from former President Donald Trump about a stolen election, was driven from the Capitol, it was possible to imagine that the shocking scenes of violence in the seat of the American government would force the country to reassess what counts as acceptable political discourse. It was possible to imagine that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was correct when he came to the Senate floor later that night and declared, Our democratic republic is strong. In the weeks and months that followed the attack, however, optimism about the state of democracy in the U.S. has become increasingly difficult to maintain. Public polling indicates that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe U.S. democracy is in crisis and at risk of failing. And even more alarming is that nearly one-third of Americans now say that political violence is sometimes a justifiable response. Political pressure In the face of Trumps repeated false claims about the election being stolen from him, senior officials in the Republican Party who had criticized the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol went silent, and those who excused or even justified the actions of the rioters were amplified. Today, public opinion polling indicates the overwhelming majority of self-identified Republican voters in the U.S. now believe, despite copious evidence to the contrary, that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent, and that President Joe Biden was illegitimately elected. The most recent poll by the University of Massachusetts put the percentage of Republicans who believe the election was fraudulent at 71%, accounting for about 33% of the population overall. The reaction from Republican state legislatures was predictable, according to Susan Stokes, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and the director of the Chicago Center on Democracy. Once you get your election base believing that the presidential election was stolen from their side, you have a very strong constituency in favor of changing election laws, she told VOA. Restrictive voting laws At the state level last year, Republican-led legislatures began passing a raft of new election laws. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a Washington-based think tank, 19 states have passed 33 laws that restrict access to the ballot. Other Republican-controlled states passed laws designed to take authority over election administration away from secretaries of state or local elections officials and place it in the hands of lawmakers themselves. This happened particularly in places like Georgia and Arizona, Republican-leaning states that voted for Biden in 2020. In both states, Republican election officials vouched for the integrity of the 2020 election results in the face of Trumps false claims of fraud. The actions by Republican state legislatures may assuage the concerns of some portion of their political base about the integrity of election results, but that will come at the cost of creating increased doubt among Democrats. This will be especially acute in states like Georgia, Arizona, and Texas, where Democrats have been improving their election performance in recent years, but Republicans still control the state legislature. Those states have passed laws that Republicans claim are common sense fixes to the election process but Democrats say are aimed at restricting ballot access and weakening them politically. Other state-level changes Not all changes to state laws this year restricted voting. In many states, mostly controlled by Democrats, new laws were passed expanding access to the ballot. These changes included increasing the opportunities voters have to cast a ballot ahead of election day, greater access to mail-in voting, simplified voter registration rules, wider use of drop boxes for absentee voting, and improved assistance for voters whose primary language is not English. While the changes will be broadly supported by Democratic voters, virtually all of these measures are criticized by prominent Republicans Trump chief among them as making election fraud easier to perpetrate. While there is no evidence that fraud has played a significant role in any national election in recent history, the changes are likely to cement the belief among many in the GOP that election results in states run by Democrats cannot be trusted. A dangerous area We're getting to a point where there's a lot of reasons for both sides to be discounting election results at the national level, said Seth Masket, director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver. That's a very dangerous area, a fragile area, for democracy to find itself, Masket told VOA. It's caused other countries, other democracies, to collapse. Stokes, of the University of Chicago, agreed that the nightmare scenario for the U.S. is an outcome where, whatever the result of a presidential election, large segments of the population view the outcome as not just disappointing, but illegitimate. Pointing to polling data that demonstrates an increased belief that political violence might be acceptable, Stokes said, We have a lot of people out there in the public who think that violence is justified, and a smaller number, certainly, who would actually act on that. But it doesn't take that many people to lead to a very violent situation, and possibly a situation of armed civil conflict. A voice of optimism I think we should be concerned whenever there are attacks on the internal operations of our republic, said Mary Frances Berry, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, an attorney, and the former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. So, we're right to be concerned, but we shouldn't get frightened, or overly concerned. Berry told VOA the U.S. has faced democratic crises in the past and survived. As recently as 2000, she pointed out, it was Democrats who were insisting that former President George W. Bush was illegitimately elected. Democratic lawmakers, some still in Congress, demanded that then-Vice President Al Gore refuse to certify the election results in the Senate. Thats the same demand that the crowd of rioters at the Capitol on January 6 were making of then-Vice President Mike Pence. In both cases, the vice presidents performed their constitutional duties and oversaw the certification of election results in which they had suffered defeat. We have short memories, Berry said. But if we remember things, it will make us less frightened. Pakistans military confirmed Wednesday it is acquiring multirole J-10 fighter jets from China in response to a buildup of rival Indias air force. This is a step to upgrade our air force fleet and get the best possible technology available because we know what kind of technology is being acquired on the other [Indian] side, Army spokesman Major-Gen Babar Iftikhar told a news conference. The J-10 is a single-engine fighter jet that reportedly has been in use by Chinas People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) since 2005. Iftikhar spoke just days after Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad disclosed the purchase of the Chinese jets at a public event, saying they will serve as a counterweight to Indias deployment of French Dassault Rafale aircraft. Indias contract to purchase 36 of the French fighters was first announced in 2015. India's Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt told reporters in late July that 26 of the aircraft had been delivered, with the remainder expected by the end of 2021. Our adversary is continuously procuring latest equipment on one pretext and the other. Any conventional imbalance in this region is very dangerous, Iftikhar warned. That is something that is going to lead us into a race for procuring more equipment. The army spokesman declined to say how many of the aircraft are being bought. Last week, Ahmed told reporters a full squadron of 25 Chinese J-10 planes will take part in the Pakistan Day military parade on March 23. The interior minister said the flyby ceremony of J-10 jets is going to be performed by the Pakistan Air Force in response to Rafale. Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two over the disputed Kashmir territory, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. China has officially not commented on the sale of the jets to Pakistan. Recent Israeli media reports said J-10 jets are believed to be based on technology developed by Israel Aircraft Industries in the 1980s before it halted the project a few years later because of mounting costs. U.S.-made F-16 fighter planes form a crucial part of Pakistans Air Force fleet and are considered a counterweight to the Rafale jets India has purchased from France. But analysts say Islamabads often strained ties with Washington in recent years have prompted the South Asian nation to increasingly rely on close ally China to augment Pakistans defenses. Iftikhar said Wednesday that negotiations were also under way with China to procure new Z-10 attack helicopters. Hopefully we will be getting some gunships from there, he said. The general confirmed that Pakistan was exploring other options instead of buying 30 T-129 combat helicopters from Turkey under a contract the two countries signed in 2018. As far as the Turkish deal is concerned, we have moved on, Iftikhar said when asked whether the contract was still intact. T-129 helicopter gunships are powered by a U.S.-made engine and the U.S. refusal to grant Turkey export licenses for engines led to the cancellation of the reported $1.5 billion deal. The Pakistani air force fleet also contains single-engine JF-17 fighter jets jointly produced by Pakistan and China. Editor's note: Paragraph 15 of this story has been updated to include clarification from the army spokesperson. Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for coronavirus, a top aide tweeted on Wednesday, after several people around him were infected. "The President feels good, is not seriously ill and is under constant medical supervision," top aide Pawel Szrot said in a tweet. He said the president was in isolation. Duda also caught coronavirus in October 2020. Poland has reported a lower number of new COVID-19 infections in recent days, but reporting is likely to have been influenced by a reduction in testing over the holidays. The Omicron variant has yet to gain a foothold in Poland. The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday it was responsible for around 2.5% of infections, but it was expected to become dominant by the end of the month. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed Wednesday that Justice Department prosecutors will pursue officials at any level responsible for last Januarys riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol. We will follow the facts wherever they lead as long as it takes, Garland told Justice Department lawyers and staff a day ahead of the one-year anniversary of the hours-long storming of the Capitol, the building often viewed around the world as the symbol of American democracy. Garland said more than 725 people who participated in the riot have been arrested, some charged with assaulting police, smashing windows and doors and ransacking congressional offices, delaying lawmakers from certifying that Trump had lost his 2020 reelection bid. Garland did not name any targets of the ongoing investigation but said, The actions we have taken so far will not be our last. There can be no different rules for the powerful and the powerless, he said. Some Democratic lawmakers have begun to complain about the pace of the investigation and called for Trump and key aides to be held accountable for their attempts last January 6 to block congressional certification that Democrat Joe Biden had won the November presidential election. But Garland said, A full accounting (of how the January 6 assault on the Capitol was planned and unfolded) does not suddenly emerge. He said prosecutors have no agenda or assumptions but have no higher priority than learning all they can about the riot. We will follow the money we will follow the facts, Garland said. The Justice Department has given no public indication of the extent to which it might attempt to hold Trump and his political allies accountable for the riot. At a rally near the White House on January 6, 2021, before the riot unfolded, Trump urged thousands of supporters to go to the Capitol and fight like hell to stop lawmakers from certifying Bidens victory. Trump made the baseless claim at the rally, as he does to this day, that the vote count was fraudulent and cheated him out of a second four-year term. Numerous recounts in key political battleground states have shown the initial vote counts were highly accurate and that any limited errors would not have changed the outcome in Trumps favor. A select House of Representatives committee is investigating the riot and is in a legal fight with Trump over whether he must turn over key phone calls records and documents that might shed light on his actions leading up to and during the chaos at the Capitol. A U.S. appellate court in Washington has ruled that the investigative committee has a uniquely vital interest in seeing any documents related to the riot and its planning, but Trump has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the lower courts ruling, saying his White House documents should be shielded from public release. The committees chairman, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, told news talk shows Sunday that the nine-member committee is particularly interested in learning why Trump resisted entreaties from his daughter, Ivanka Trump, Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials for more than three hours to call off the protest. Eventually, Trump released a short video calling for the rioters to leave the Capitol, adding, We love you; you're very special." In the video, Trump mentioned the false conspiracy theory that he actually won the election, saying, "I know your pain; I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace." After the Capitol was cleared of protesters, Congress certified Bidens election victory in the early hours of January 7. Trump initially announced he would hold a news conference Thursday on the one-year anniversary of the rioting but called it off late Tuesday and said he will talk about it at a political rally on January 15. Trump says he is considering whether to mount a 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House. Of the more than 725 people arrested so far, 225 have been charged with assault or resisting arrest. More than 75 of those were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon against police officers. Prosecutors say that 140 U.S. Capitol Police and Washington city police were injured during the attack. So far, prosecutors in Washington say about 165 individuals have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, from misdemeanors to felony obstruction, with 70 defendants receiving some kind of sentence. Of those, 31 people were ordered jailed, and 18 were sentenced to home detention, with the remaining 21 defendants placed on probation. Some trials of defendants contesting charges against them are scheduled for next month. U.S. and coalition forces are striking back following a series of rocket and drone attacks on bases in Syria and Iraq by militias linked to Iran. The U.S.-led coalition Wednesday accused Iranian-backed militias of targeting Green Village, a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) base in northeastern Syria that hosts coalition troops, with eight rounds of what it described as indirect fire. A coalition statement said its forces responded quickly by firing artillery at the launch site, near the town of Mayadin. Other accounts from the region, posted to social media, suggested U.S. and coalition forces also launched a series of airstrikes to target other possible launch sites and militia members. U.S. officials refused to comment on the possibility of ongoing operations but said the U.S. and coalition are ready to respond to the escalating attacks by Iran-linked groups. "Our coalition continues to see threats against our forces in Iraq and Syria by militia groups that are backed by Iran, U.S. Major General John Brennan, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, said in a statement. "The coalition reserves the right to defend itself and partner forces against any threat and will continue to do everything within its power to protect those forces," he added. Wednesdays counterstrikes against suspected Iranian-backed militias came a day after coalition forces in the region launched preemptive strikes after seeing indications attackers were preparing to launch an attack on the SDF base. Separately Wednesday, Iraqi military officials confirmed an attack on Ain al-Asad air base in Iraqs Anbar province, the second in as many days. The officials said attackers launched five rockets at the air base, which hosts some U.S. troops, but that all five rockets fell short of the bases perimeter. The Qassim al-Jabarin Brigade, an Iraq-based Shiite militia, claimed the attack late Wednesday, saying the rocket barrage accurately hit its target, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist media. The militia also threatened continued attacks until the United States suffers a humiliating exit from all Iraqi lands. Analysts say the brigade is thought to be a front for the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia. One day earlier, the U.S. coalition confirmed shooting down two explosives-laden drones before they could reach al-Asad. Another two suicide drones were shot down Monday, on the second anniversary of a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport, which is also used by the international coalition. At the Pentagon Wednesday, press secretary John Kirby told reporters the uptick in attacks by militias suspected of working with Iran was not unexpected. Bottom line is, we had been thinking and preparing for the possibility of stepped-up attacks at the end of December, Kirby said, noting the increase could be related to the anniversary of the strike that killed Soleimani or to the U.S. mission in Iraq officially transitioning from a combat mission to an advise-and-assist mission at the end of the year. The threat is growing in specificity and precision, he added. Our commanders are living and breathing that dynamic situation and are encouraged, and we're seeing them do this, to change their own tactics, techniques and procedures as appropriate. The U.S. has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and fewer than 1,000 in Syria, according to the U.S. Defense Department. Speaking in Tehran on Monday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran would take revenge for Soleimanis death if former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are not prosecuted. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. The United States and Germany reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity on Wednesday, warning of "massive" and "severe consequences" if Russia invades neighboring Ukraine. The renewed warning comes days ahead of scheduled U.S.-Russia talks in Geneva next week. "Both Germany and the United States see Russia's actions toward Ukraine as an immediate and urgent challenge to peace and stability in Europe," said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. "We condemn Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's borders as well as Moscow's increasingly harsh rhetoric." Blinken later added: "If Russia nonetheless chooses to escalate, we will respond swiftly." During her first trip to Washington as Germany's foreign minister, Baerbock warned further Russian actions against Ukraine would "come with a clear price tag." The top U.S. diplomat added that Europe can use Nord Stream 2, an undersea pipeline linking Russia and Germany, as leverage against Russia. "If Russia renews its aggression toward Ukraine, it would certainly be difficult to see gas flowing through it in the future," said Blinken. The U.S. is putting pressure on Germany to block Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as part of potential sanctions that would be implemented if Russia invades Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under pressure from allies and members of his coalition government, including Baerbock, leader of the country's Green Party, to withhold any formal approval for Russian natural gas to be transported through Nord Stream 2. "We (will) take effective measures together with our European partners should Russia use energy as a weapon or should it continue its aggressive acts against Ukraine," Baerbock said. U.S. officials have said there is a strong consensus with European counterparts "on specific packages of severe consequences for Russia" if Moscow were to escalate against Ukraine. Blinken waived Nord Stream 2 sanctions in May, a few months before the $11 billion pipeline was finished, on the grounds its completion was a "fait accompli." His decision drew criticism from Republicans and some Democrats, but Blinken sought to assuage congressional critics, saying the Biden administration would respond if the Kremlin sought to leverage gas exports as a political weapon. Many fear the pipeline will deepen Europe's energy dependence on Russia, allowing Russia to bypass Ukraine when it supplies energy to Western European markets, depriving Kyiv of much-needed transit fees. Western allies fear that Moscow, which has amassed 100,000 troops along Ukraine's eastern flank, is preparing to invade the onetime Soviet republic. Russia is seeking assurances that NATO won't accede to Ukraine's request for membership in the West's military alliance and will pull back its military involvement in Central and Eastern Europe. Russian officials said President Vladimir Putin warned Biden during a phone call last week that any tough new sanctions imposed on Russia "would be a colossal mistake that would entail grave consequences, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. has been dispatching small arms and ammunition to Ukraine, along with Javelin anti-tank missiles that it says should be used only in defense. Ukraine is not a member of NATO but has petitioned to join the alliance for more than a decade, a stance that has long angered Russia. The United States and Japan are expected to hold virtual talks this week in which they will renew their vow to secure the Indo-Pacific region amid growing challenges from China and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi on Thursday for the virtual U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee ("2+2") meeting. "During the meeting, the delegations will discuss ways the United States and Japan can strengthen our alliance to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and other global challenges," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. The meeting comes the same day that Japanese and Australian leaders are expected to sign a new security agreement aimed at setting out for the first time a framework for the countries' defense forces to work together. When asked about the emerging security agreements among Japan, Australia, India and the United States informally known as "the Quad" China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday expressed wariness. Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters during a regular briefing that Beijing believes state-to-state cooperation should improve "mutual understanding and trust among countries in the region" and safeguard regional peace and stability, rather than targeting or undermining the interest of any third party. Japan-US ties The first "2+2" meeting in 2022 between the United States and Japan comes shortly after Blinken's in-person talks with Hayashi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministerial meeting in December in Liverpool, England. G-7 countries had called on North Korea for a "complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment" of all unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea launched an apparent ballistic missile in Pyongyang's first weapons test of the new year, according to reports by South Korea and Japan. The U.S. has said it continues to consult closely with South Korea and Japan and other partners to seek a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy. "We have no hostile intent towards the DPRK. We are prepared to meet without preconditions," Price said Tuesday in response to questions from VOA. He was referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea. Meanwhile, U.S. and Japanese officials have voiced opposition to Chinese activities seen as attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo by force in the East and South China seas, while declaring the importance of "peace and stability" across the Taiwan Strait. As Japan is set to review its national security and defense posture in 2022, some experts say rising threats from China are driving the U.S. and Japan to strengthen military collaboration. A few weeks ago, U.S. Marines and members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force launched their largest bilateral training exercise of the year, known as Resolute Dragon 2021. That exercise took place at multiple training locations across Japan from December 4 to 17. "There is no question that Japan is gearing up to do more in a Taiwan contingency," Mike Green, the senior vice president for Asia at Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA on Wednesday. While Japan's pacifist constitution imposes restrictions that prevent the island nation from getting involved in a potential military conflict outside its own territory, such as near the Taiwan Strait, Green said developments in recent years have pushed Japan to make a gradual shift. "That shifted first with the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis, when China's PLA (People's Liberation Army) launched missiles and exercises in the vicinity of Japanese islands. That crisis propelled the first revision of bilateral defense guidelines to deal with contingencies in the region." At that time, the U.S. dispatched two carrier battle groups to waters surrounding Taiwan as China conducted missile tests during the run-up to Taiwan's first democratic presidential election. In 2015, Green added, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe changed his interpretation of the constitution and passed legislation allowing "collective self-defense" with the U.S., which removed the major obstacle to doing more. Washington and Tokyo are discussing an early visit by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White House, which would be his first summit with U.S. President Joe Biden since becoming Japan's leader in October. U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman will step down from his post this month after more than nine months in the job, and David Satterfield, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Turkey, will take up the role, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Feltman, a veteran U.S. diplomat, assumed the post in April and quickly found himself in the middle of two major crises - Ethiopia's deepening civil war between forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the army of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, as well as a military coup in Sudan in October. The news of his departure, which was not previously reported, came before he heads to Ethiopia on Thursday to meet with senior government officials about the peace talks as part of Washington's latest push to bring an end to the conflict. Feltman, 62, said a "sense of duty" brought him out of "quasi-retirement" following more than 25 years as an American diplomat with postings to the United Nations, Middle East and North Africa. Feltman took the role with an intention to serve for less than a year, a source familiar with the matter said. The source said Satterfield will provide continued U.S. focus, necessary because of ongoing instability and inter-connected challenges in the region. The State Department declined to comment. Feltman has faced strong headwinds to progress. The year-long war between Ethiopia's government and the leadership of the northern Tigray region, among Africa's bloodiest conflicts, has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions and sparked famine. In Sudan, protests have continued for weeks including on Tuesday, two days after the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. He served from 2019 until the coup and was reinstated on Nov. 21 in an agreement with the military widely rejected by protesters. Satterfield, a veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service with more than four decades of experience, has had a challenging post as U.S. ambassador in Turkey, where he navigated a strained bilateral relationship between the two NATO allies. Prior to Ankara, he served in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Tunisia and Syria, among others, and worked twice as the top U.S. diplomat at the State Department for Middle East affairs in an acting capacity. Turkey's increasing drone exports, most recently to Ethiopia, will be a common thread in Satterfield's old and new roles. Washington in December raised with Turkey its sales of armed drones to Ethiopia. Sources said there was mounting evidence the government used the weapons against rebel fighters. U.S. forces in Iraq thwarted a second explosives-laden drone attack in as many days Tuesday, as U.S. forces in Syria destroyed what was believed to be an enemy rocket launch site. Two drones approaching Ain al-Asad Air Base were shot down outside the bases vicinity without casualties early this morning, the official Twitter account for the international military coalition in Iraq posted Tuesday, referring to an Iraqi base that houses U.S. and coalition troops. Two other suicide drones were shot down Monday near Baghdad International Airport, which is also used by the international coalition. Mondays unmanned aerial attack came on the second anniversary of a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Images of one of the downed drones from Mondays attack showed the words Soleimanis revenge painted on the wings. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters the attacks used similar tactics, techniques and procedures seen from Iranian-backed militia groups who have targeted U.S. and coalition troops in the past. These kinds of attacks are very much in keeping with the kinds of attacks we've seen from Iran-backed militias in Iraq and in Syria, and so obviously our working level assumption is that that such groups were responsible for these, but I don't want to speculate beyond that, Kirby said in response to a question from VOA. Speaking in Tehran on Monday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran would take revenge for Soleimanis death if former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are not prosecuted. In eastern Syria, the U.S. military said it hit a rocket launch site Tuesday that it believed was going to be used to attack a nearby U.S. military facility known as Green Village. Clearly, our men and women remain in harm's way, and we have to take that threat very seriously. We always have the right of self-defense, Kirby said, adding that he was not in a position to assign specific attribution to those responsible for the rocket launch site. Here is a summary of Uyghur-related news around the world in the past week. Muslims in West speak up for Uyghur cause While many Muslim majority countries remain silent on China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, Muslim organizations in the West have become advocates for Uyghur rights. US increases pressure on China Lobbying efforts by advocates may have contributed to the wave of U.S. pressure on Beijing over human rights violations against Tibetans and Uyghurs. Why US Is Raising Pressure on China Over Treatment of Tibetans, Uyghurs Rights group demands answers from IOC The Coalition to End Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region is asking the International Olympic Committee for the sourcing of its official clothing for next month's Winter Olympic Games in China. The IOC has not given any direct answers. Uyghur activists file criminal complaint Reuters is reporting that Uyghur activists in Turkey filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office. It accuses 112 Chinese officials of committing genocide and crimes against humanity and detaining Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in camps in Xinjiang. China did not comment but has denied similar accusations in the past. Tesla criticized over showroom launch in Xinjiang Activists called on U.S. electric car maker Tesla to close its newly opened showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the U.S. accuses China of genocide against Uyghurs. Beijing denies the accusations. News in brief Radio Free Asia has confirmed that a Uyghur historian and editor of a Beijing-based government magazine, who disappeared more than three years ago, was arrested by Chinese authorities. Abliz Orhun, editor-in-chief of Xinjiang Regional Historiography magazine in Beijing, was taken from his workplace in Beijing and sent back to Xinjiang, where the local police wanted him, citing his involvement in a "local case." Quote of note "It's important that all American Muslims stand together in fighting this genocidal campaign." Robert McCaw, government affairs director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, in an interview with Axios The White House and the United Nations on Wednesday urged Kazakh authorities to show "restraint" in dealing with violent civil unrest, as the government there declared a state of emergency after protests. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the United States supports "calls for calm" and said protesters should be able to "express themselves peacefully," urging the authorities "to exercise restraint." The United Nations also called for all parties to "exercise restraint, refrain from violence and promote dialogue." U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the international body was following events in the Central Asian country "with concern." Kazakhstan declared a nationwide state of emergency Wednesday after protests over a fuel price hike erupted into clashes and saw demonstrators storm government buildings. Psaki said, "crazy Russian claims" about a U.S. hand behind the mass demonstrations are "absolutely false and clearly a part of the standard Russian disinformation playbook." Watch related video by Anna Rice and Alex Yanevskyy: The country has been roiled by protests since the start of the year, which escalated Wednesday into clashes with police. Authorities cut internet and mobile phone access nationwide and earlier declared states of emergency in the epicenters of the rallies financial capital Almaty and the Mangystau province as well as in the capital Nur-Sultan, where no demonstrations have so far been reported. The state of emergency was later extended across the entire ex-Soviet country. Mozambiques President Filipe Nyusi and his wife Isaura Nyusi have gone into isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. According to a presidential media statement, President Nyusi and his wife are not showing any symptoms but have gone into isolation as a precaution. Mozambiques Minister of Health Armindo Tiago said on state Radio Mozambique late Monday that the positive diagnosis was confirmed after a rapid test for the new coronavirus. He says his excellency the president of the republic and his wife decided to carry out a test for SARS-CoV-2 for precautionary reasons. It was a rapid test, says Tiago, and the rapid test was positive. Due to it being a rapid test, he says, they will carry out a PCR test for confirmation. Tiago did not reveal the where the countrys first family are isolating but said they would be watched by a team of doctors. In a media statement, President Nyusi renewed his appeal for compliance with COVID measures to prevent and combat the pandemic. He urged all citizens over 18 years of age to get vaccinated. Mozambique has seen a surge in coronavirus infections in recent weeks with daily confirmed infections averaging 3,000, the highest figure during the pandemic. Mozambiques official death toll from the virus stands at over 2,000 people from nearly 200,000 reported infections. More than 700 illegal immigrants were arrested in South Africa and deported between Sunday and Monday following a crackdown on Zimbabweans and other nationals, according to an online publication, Sunday World. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told the online publication that police and immigration officers arrested 337 and 437 illegal immigrants on Monday and Sunday respectively. He was quoted as saying all the arrested immigrants, including Zimbabweans, were deported. Zimbabwes state controlled media reports that more than 600 locals, who attempted to illegally cross the South Africa border, were deported and handed over to security agents. The Chronicle also reports that police are attempting to retrieve the bodies of three men believed to have drowned along the flooded Limpopo River. They were reportedly attempting to illegally cross the South African border. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. An early performance of American Utopia: Unplugged. Photo: Shira Friedman When the first wave of the coronavirus hit New York in early 2020, it shuttered Broadway indefinitely. Doors wouldnt partially reopen until the summer of 2021, returning to full-scale only by October. Well, that return to normal was short-lived; by mid-December, both the city and state had logged a record number of positive cases, fueled by the arrival of Omicron. Broadway was starting to go dark again. Testing sites had hours-long waits. But American Utopia, despite its many temporarily fallen brethren in the Theater District, kept its lights on at the St. James, thanks to the creative ingenuity of its maestro, David Byrne, and musical director, Mauro Refosco: Working together remotely and in-person, the duo were able to reconfigure the show into an unplugged and unchained version on the fly that could successfully utilize their now vastly reduced crew. It was a little chaotic, Refosco recalls of the teams early days before being presented with this alternate idea. One by one, the cast started to get positive tests. It came to the point where there were no more understudies. Would they still be able to perform 17 songs, hell, any songs, with half of the performers out? What ensued was a legitimately once-in-a-lifetime five-day slate of American Utopia shows, running from December 28 through January 2 and marking perhaps the most exclusive series of performances Byrne has done since Stop Making Sense. (But unlike Stop Making Sense, these unplugged shows werent even recorded for posterity.) Old songs were out; new songs were in. The dominant instrument was the drums. The surprise inclusion of Life During Wartime had people dancing in the aisles, fire-marshal requests be damned. That any of this occurred at all, though, is whats most remarkable, given the cast and crew had only a six-day head start. To learn more about the feat, Refosco walked Vulture through the preparations in the week after pulling it off, while Byrne rested up before the show reopens (plugged back in) on January 5. December 2325, preparations David came to me and reminded me that we performed at Carnegie Hall a few years ago. It was very acoustic. It was just David playing guitar and singing, and I was playing a little percussion with him. He said, We did this once, and there were some benefits, and we did it really well. Maybe we could do that again? I was like, Wow, that would be amazing. We could use some of the songs that we already know from the show, and David has so many songs in his Talking Heads and solo catalogue. He was like, Lets do it. Ill come up with a set list and send it to you tonight. We started this communication for us to work back-and-forth. He set up a Dropbox and put in songs to create a set list. First it was a list of songs he was thinking about and then I started mapping the songs with the personnel that we had and the instruments they could play. So on the 23rd, David sent an email that said, Working on the set list. Ill send it tomorrow in the morning. I received it on the 24th at precisely 3 a.m. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day working on that. He also sent it to our guitarist and bass player. We started working on the music on our own on those two days. I was doing the Christmas thing with my kids and also doing the music on my own. Once I had an arrangement for the songs, on Christmas Day, I sent it to the drummers. December 2627, rehearsals We all met in person at the theater. We had a list of songs that we were planning to do, but not the order in which to do them. So we went song by song so David could refresh his memory on how to play them. He was going to play much more guitar; he basically played guitar for every song. He had to relearn a few things; its not like hes playing those songs every day. The moment you step onstage, even if youre feeling a bit insecure with the arrangement, it just comes to you. It comes out. You have to trust yourself and trust the group that its going to be great. David was super happy. The idea of singing songs that were different from the American Utopia set list got him excited. We had another song we tried out that we ended up not using Buck Naked, one of his songs from 1994. We realized it didnt really fit the set list. Behind the scenes at the St. James Theatre during rehearsals. Julie DeVore. Behind the scenes at the St. James Theatre during rehearsals. Julie DeVore. We only had our essential crew in the theater with us. We had four drummers, one backing vocalist, a bass player, a guitar player, and David. We concentrated on the music. There was a lot to learn and achieve in such a short time. Because of union regulations, the rehearsals were really time constrained. We had three and a half hours in the afternoon, a dinner break, and then another three and a half hours in the evening. We had seven hours each day. David was in such good spirits. Patient zero, percussionist Gustavo Di Dalva, was scheduled to come back on the 28th, after his quarantine was over. So he was able to rehearse with us that day and perform with us at night. Patient two, vocalist Tendayi Kuumba, was able to come back on the 31st. It was nice that some people were able to return during those days. December 28, opening night We werent absolutely 100 percent sure how the arrangements would be, but it just comes to you. We had an afternoon rehearsal, and in that time, we went through the beginnings and endings of songs. How are we going to finish this? What instrument should have the last sound? We were more specific about the songs now. Once we did that, we went to our dressing rooms and got ready. On our first night, some people still had music stands to have a couple of notes to remember things. We had to. It was just too much to remember at the time. There were a few bumps in the road. David forgot some lyrics. One of the drummers forgot little breaks or parts. But it felt like making music. The audience understood that. They were getting something special. After the show, David was like, Actually, that went really nicely! He doesnt pump fists or anything like that. I kind of did that with the drummers, just to give off the best vibes. December 29January 2, evolving We had notes for one another. We kept the spirit of, We have to do this better. The stage is empty. Were carrying the instruments. We were thinking in terms of, During this song the drummers can come down the stage, and, During this song the guitarists can go up the stage. The possibilities were so big. Even up to our last day, we were tweaking things. The one thing I insisted on was losing the music stands. David did by the second show. The drummers also, they all trusted themselves. They were all gone by Friday. It made us feel alive. David mentioned that American Utopia is a reflection of what this country has been going through these past few years. But American Utopia: Unchained was a reflection of the week of what this country was going through. David could have easily been like, Oh, yeah, lets just call our show off for a couple of weeks and stay home and watch Netflix. Instead, he was like, We can do something else. Lets try this and give it a shot. That was the boost of leadership we all got from him. Related Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images Rapper Pooh Shiesty, legal name Lontrell D. Williams, pleaded guilty to a firearms conspiracy charge after allegedly shooting two men at a Florida hotel in October 2020, according to a report from the Department of Justice in Miami and Rolling Stone. Federal prosecutors have also dropped three other charges due to the guilty plea; if the charges were kept, Williams couldve faced a life sentence in prison. The prosecutors recommended a sentence of just over eight years for the Memphis rapper in a non-binding deal that may change in a future sentence hearing. Magistrate Judge Lauren Fleischer Louis explained that if Chief Judge K. Michael Moore decided on a harsher sentence in the forthcoming hearing, it will not be grounds to withdraw [Williamss guilty] plea. The guilty plea does help Williams standing as it takes three points off his total when determining his sentencing. Williams was allegedly involved in a shooting of two men during a street purchase of marijuana and high-end sneakers, according to a Miami federal court judge in July 2021. He was held without bond following his arrest and has been in custody for seven months. Williams released a single in December titled Federal Contraband (Freestyle) and encourages fans to write to him in jail on Instagram. Aint too long till shiestman home wrote the rapper two days before Christmas. Photo: HBO Max This interview has been edited and condensed. It contains numerous Station Eleven spoilers, particularly about Goodbye My Damaged Home, the seventh episode. When Mackenzie Davis and Matilda Lawler get on our Zoom call, they look accidentally the same. Lawler, on winter break from seventh grade, has her hair pulled up and is wearing a blue Captain Underpants T-shirt under a blue hoodie. Davis is also in blue a denim button-down worn over a T-shirt and also has her blonde hair pulled up, a few tendrils framing her face in a way that matches Lawler. Side by side on the screen, they look like they could be related. Which is appropriate since, in Station Eleven, adapted by showrunner Patrick Somerville from Emily St. John Mandels novel, they are supposed to be the same person. Lawler plays Kirsten, the postapocalyptic dramas protagonist, a young girl dealing with the shocking first days of a pandemic while staying with Jeevan (Himesh Patel), a friendly caretaker she has just met, and his brother, Frank (Nabhaan Rizwan). Davis plays Kirsten 20 years later, when the flu is no longer a danger but the world that exists has been altered irrevocably by it. In the seventh episode of Station Eleven, Goodbye My Damaged Home, the two Kirstens finally interact with each other when the elder is shot with poisoned darts. In a not-quite-alive, not-quite-dead state of consciousness, older Kirsten is able to talk to her younger self and observe the final days she spent with Jeevan and Frank in their apartment, preparing to perform a play based on the comic Station Eleven. Its a very emotional episode in an already emotional series. During the call, Davis and Lawler discussed the surreality of filming it and the rest of Station Eleven during an actual pandemic and why Davis couldnt stop crying while working on the HBO Max show. There was also some debate about how to pronounce the name Kirsten, a subject Davis has very strong feelings about. You dont have any scenes together until episode seven, but did you have any conversations early on about playing this character at different ages and how you might try to show some connectivity between the two? Mackenzie Davis: Not at all. I mean, Matilda kind of originated the character, which also feels right to me. I dont think youre one person in your entire life. There are through-lines. I think the casting is incredible with Matilda and me, and there are really subtle strains between the two of us. But she really originated it because she was shooting it first, a few months before me, and then in reality, a whole year before me. I really got to know her through the dailies and watching her work from afar. It wasnt until we came back to resume shooting in January 2021 that we had any sort of meetings and getting-to-know-each-other time. The gift of episode seven is Im just sort of watching in a corner and getting to experience this real-time accounting of fundamental trauma in my life. Matilda Lawler: I think the first time we met was actually at the camera test. Within the first few minutes, we started playing the mirror game. You know that game? Yeah. M.L.: It was weird. We just started doing that. And we were actually pretty good at it, I must say. I know you started filming these episodes in early 2020, and then things shut down because of the pandemic; then you started again in the beginning of 2021. How much were you able to shoot before you had to pause things? M.L.: We filmed episode one and three, I think, with Hiro Murai. Then everything shut down, and we filmed the rest in Toronto. It must have been surreal to go back to work and film a show about a pandemic while experiencing one. Matilda, did that enhance your work because you had this immediate frame of reference, or did it make it harder emotionally? M.L.: I think it enhanced it a bit. Obviously, it was really difficult, like putting something youve been experiencing for a whole year into a show. I dont know if that makes any sense, but I could relate personal things I was experiencing to Kirsten. I do think that helped maybe all of us because we all could actually relate in some way even though it was hard. M.D.: It definitely amplified the connection to the material, to put it lightly. Its funny, obviously, when we were on hiatus and I was speaking to Patrick all the time that summer about our experiences, like collecting data for the show and what were going to put into it. In the end, anything specific felt kind of meaningless, especially since our show was about the aftermath. My most resonant experience of the pandemic still but especially that first March, April, May, June of last year when we were really locked inside was this relationship to memory and place that Id never really experienced before. I kept touching things and having really intense flashbacks to walking down the street with strawberries in Budapest or going to a tapas bar in Madrid or being in Vancouver just these sort of lives that had been lived. These things felt so distant and far away but also like they were still ongoing. I dont know if its on purpose or not, but with the time jumps, it feels like the show echoes this sort of displaced relationship to time that I felt was, on reflection, the most intense part of the pandemic. I said something similar in my review of the show that I think one thing everybody has felt during COVID is our sense of time is completely disrupted. The show really captured that feeling. M.D.: And they all feel like past lives or that theyre going on, like, Maybe Im still doing that thing in that country and also simultaneously in this city. Theres a scene in episode seven in which young Kirsten, Jeevan, Frank, and older Kirsten are watching a news report that says Chicagos basically destroyed. Then, Matilda, you start singing The First Noel. Why do you think your character does that, and what were you thinking about when you were playing that? M.L.: I feel like, as people, we always try to bring a bit of joy into any situation. Its kind of like a mechanism. In that moment, we were all feeling so much; the worlds ending on TV. I think Kirsten felt it was important to bring a little moment of joy and make everyone recognize that even though the whole world is ending, they still have each other. Mackenzie, in that scene, as adult Kirsten, youre crying. I was thinking about what your character would be thinking about M.D.: I feel so bad. Its so different from what Matilda was thinking, but it also makes sense, the way you feel as a child and the way you feel as an adult. Watching it, I was like, Oh my God, Ive been taking care of other people my whole life, and I never got to process my own trauma. Im seeing this life-changing apocalypse unfold before my 10-year-old eyes, and my first response is to take care of the grown-ups in the room. I thought that was the saddest sort of thing I could see. She really needed to be taken care of in that moment. Its beautiful, and the impulse is gorgeous, but I do think it spoke to a longer and broader pattern of Kirsten compartmentalizing trauma for the sake of moving forward. I think this whole episode is about the two Kirstens or Keer-stans taking care of each other in a lot of ways. M.D.: Your pronunciation was correct. I fought very hard for it to be Ker-sten. Wait, Ker-sten or Keer-sten? M.D.: Well, I think its Ker-sten, but by the time I showed up, it was already Keer-sten. Its an in-joke with us, of me constantly yelling about them for calling her Keer-sten. M.L.: For the read-through of the very first episode, I was saying I was Ker-sten. M.D.: Because thats how its spelled. M.L.: And then Himesh picked up on that, too. But then Patrick was like, Keer-sten. M.D.: Its not. Its not right. And Im going to use any PR opportunity to bring it to light. Theres a conversation between the two Kirstens where, Mackenzie, you say you can stay longer in the apartment because the poison hasnt gotten to your heart yet. What do you think was her motivation for wanting to stay? Is it because she wants to be able to say good-bye to Frank? At first, it seems like she thinks she could change the outcome because shes trying to urge her younger self not to wait around to do the play. M.D.: I think its like exposure therapy for her. She hasnt thought about this in a long time. The Hamlet thing makes it seem like shes returning to these feelings all the time, but in my mind, it was the first time these thoughts had barreled back and caught her unaware like this shift in her life where the past was rearing its head and couldnt be contained anymore. Everything shes done in her life has moved forward: create, take care, defend against danger. Then suddenly there was this inescapable opportunity beckoning her to see what story shed been telling herself about what happened for the past 20 years, which was Frank died because I put on a play. I dont think she knows at first shes going to stay there the whole time. Its a strange sister-mother thing being alongside young Kirsten: wanting to reparent myself through trauma in a time when I was just screaming in a heating closet by myself and didnt have anyone sitting with me. I get the opportunity to sit with myself and talk myself through the trauma. There is one scene in which youre both standing face to face talking to each other. In the side shot, you can see its just such great casting because, to go back to your mirror game, you do look like mirrors of each other. Were you able to look at what had just been shot and see that? Or did you not realize it until later? M.L.: For me, I didnt really realize it until later, watching it back, because on set, I dont watch myself. Do you not watch yourself because you dont want to mess with your performance? M.L.: Yeah. I have trouble watching myself. Sometimes its helpful if you can see yourself as a different person. Youre like, Okay, try to watch yourself like youre not yourself. But thats hard for me. I mean, even right now, I dont know if you realize M.D.: I just thought the same thing. We look so similar. Why do you think it was so important to Kirsten to do the performance of the scene from the Station Eleven comic? M.L.: I think about that a lot. There are multiple reasons. One of them is that it was kind of a good-bye. They were all moving together, and I feel like they all sensed it was about to be a good-bye. Also it was to make sense of the situation, too, because Station Eleven represents Kirsten, and it represented their story at the time and throughout. M.D.: I hadnt thought about it before, but theres a nice sort of kinship between putting on the play and understanding that now is the time for good-bye. And then the scene with Matilda and Himesh in the parking lot, when she decides to go along with the lie that her parents texted Frank. Theres this really subtle empath to her that understands the right route to go. Its based on an extreme sensitivity to a situation and timing. And it feels like she follows that intuition with Jeevan to come to the house. With the play, even though she spent the rest of her life thinking it was her fault everybody died, Frank was never coming with them. She created this space to have closure where there should not be closure because theyre fleeing for the rest of their lives. Theres a lovely symmetry there, I think. At the end of the play, the intruder comes in and stabs Frank. Mackenzie, youre there, and youre observing the stabbing. Did you try to play that a few different ways? Initially, youre passively observing it, and then you start to back away, and then we can see the emotional impact its having on you. M.D.: I dont remember. In terms of playing it, I always forget that stuff. But I know my understanding of it was that it was important for her to bear witness to this thing and to understand what had happened to her from a grown-ups point of view. But then that obviously becomes too much to handle in the end. I struggled with that episode because I was just crying so goddamn much, where I was like, Oh, God, youve got to be doing something else here, Mackenzie. It was a really intense thing to visualize and experience, the whole apartment scene. I think there were moments where I was grasping at more stoicism. When you say you were crying a lot, did you feel like it was happening organically and it was something you couldnt control? M.D.: Yeah. I cant say enough about how thats not my party trick or skill set. Thats not ever been something Ive been able to summon effortlessly or be like, I dont know why I keep crying. I understand when its necessary, but generally, Im like, Tears arent important. Feelings are important. Dont focus on the material output; focus on how you feel in a thing. Anyway, this episode in particular, and this show in general, I was like a passenger on the watery ride and had to stop it a lot of the time because I found that nothing lost its emotional weight for me in the six months of shooting, plus the year and a half before. It hit me all the time with the same potency, which has not happened to me before. Do you think that was at least in part because of the circumstances of real life and the way that intersected with this story? M.D.: Yeah, but I also had it beforehand. I mean, it definitely got more acute. Its so funny how much Shakespeare meta text there is in the play within the play. It felt like we were in the pandemic, playacting our pandemic. I would yell at Patrick because I wasnt like, This is so cool! Im crying all the time. I was like, What sorcery have you put into this text? Why am I crying all the time? The pandemic portrayed is much more extreme than our own, but there are still these moments in the series that resonate so much. One of them is in this episode when Kirsten and Jeevan are talking about what they would have done differently if they had known the flu was coming. Theyre talking about spending time with people they love or saying good-bye. For viewers to watch that, especially now, I think its extra poignant because so many people want to be with their loved ones during the holiday season, and now theyre afraid again because of Omicron. Is viewer reception something you think about? M.D.: We didnt know if this was a good time for the show to come out. Obviously, it became even more poignant because of the wave of Omicron running through everybody in America and the rest of the world right now. But its hard to know if this is a show you would want to sit and watch over the holidays with your family, if it would be a salve or if the idea would be so triggering and volatile people wouldnt even explore it. The great shock of my life is that everybodys digging into this pandemic show during our current era. Im so happy that people are. At the time of making it, I wasnt sure if it was just opening deeper wounds for me or if it was healing. And now that its done and honestly, with the reception being so positive it does feel like closure in this really nice way. What do you think, Matilda? M.L.: I feel like it gave me a feeling of closure. It felt like I was understood and all of the things weve been experiencing are kind of understood, in a way in this piece of art. I was worried that people were going to be like, I dont want to watch this. This is bringing up traumatic memories for me. I think it is, for sure, but at the same time, its also bringing some type of healing or some feeling like youre understood. Im sure there are some people who will feel like you said, that they just cant handle it right now for different reasons. My personal feeling was that it was healing because it goes off into the future and shows you a path where people are able to survive and be there for each other. M.D.: It feels like the way Contagion was quite comforting in the early days of the pandemic. Wed never known less about something globally as we did with COVID, and it was nice to at least have a map of like, All right, it gets bad, but in the end, its okay. If that was the worst version, Station Eleven is how the future could still be sort of rich and beautiful. Hopefully, its not a map of our experience with COVID, but I think its comforting to look toward something and gauge your own experience against it. Any kind of story is helpful in a crisis. And you created one for everybody else. M.D.: Its amazing how comforting it is to have somebody like a narrator tell you something with the beginning, middle, and end. Because not knowing the end is the thing thats most distressing. The one good thing I can say about this season is that I really like Lisa Vanderpumps new role as a general friend and adviser to the group. Instead of being the imperious overseer of the staff at SUR, she is the older, wiser friend who helps these reality-TV wraiths that she spawned from her own handbag of hate. Its like Shark Tank, except every idea is stupid and no one wants to work. Its like shes the host of Sloth Tank. She patiently sits while Katie and Adriana tell her they want to open a sandwich shop that is unapologetically feminine (good idea) called Something About Her (bad idea). For some reason, the only word I can imagine coming after Something About Her is farts, and that is not a good look for a sandwich shop, to think that it is going to give you enough gas for three Cadillac SUVs. Lisa and Ken, a recipe for Spotted Dick dated 1492, also stop by the Schwartz & Sandys progress party in an old Mexican restaurant where there are dead la cucarachas on the floor. Sandoval just wants to tell all of his friends about the giant archway that is going over the bar and how hes going to lower the cavernous ceilings to make it seem more like a lounge. He wants them to ooh and aah at his vision like hes Dr. Frank N. Furter unveiling his blond Adonis to a crowd in tights and party hats. Instead, Lisa and Ken are like, Thats a bad idea. They are going to lose a ton of money. They are dopes. I like that Lisa, a real successful adult, is here to tell us that were not fools, that these people are making crazy mistakes based on their own hubris. Just because theyre famous, this wont automatically work, right? Just because we watch them on TV doesnt mean that well plop down $50 for a mediocre craft cocktail with pineapple juice and ginger and sliders made from sirloin offcuts they got for half-price at a meat market. Right? RIGHT?! Haha. JK. Ill be at the Schwartz & Sandys opening no matter how many arches and light displays they have. What Im saying is that I like that Lisa is involved in a way that seems logical, like theyre not stretching too far to keep her included in these peoples lives, and that she seems to be offering them sound business advice with a heaping side of cheeky puns. I hope this isnt all being engineered so that she can swoop in at the last minute and save the Toms from themselves. After all, whenever you kick the hatchlings out of the nest, you have to watch a couple of them Jackson Pollack on the forest floor. Just ask Meemaws Beer Cheese. Some other things happen in this episode too. Lala tells us she wont give blowies anymore since having a child and that, right there, is the reason I will never have a child, other obvious reproductive factors be damned. Schwartz and Sandoval cuck each other by posting pictures of their hangouts with DJ James Kennedy and Brock Budgie Smuggler, respectively. (Does anyone know Brocks last name? He seems like such a large person he doesnt need one, or maybe he sat on it and crushed it? I dont know.) Raquel, a miniature pinscher in a Girl Boss sweater, talks about how I dont know anything about flowers except they make every party pretty, which just makes my job easy and I thank you for this, Raquel. However, the episode is really taken over by the continued insanity of Brocks wedding plans for Scheana. I have never cringed harder when he shows up to pick up her 12.97-carat diamond, which is really just a pink gemstone and not a diamond at all, and then he has to split it between three cards, and even then, he is so overjoyed when all the transactions go through that he does a Leprechaun in the Hood jig right there in the jewelry store. Brock, my man, my morsel, my Crunch on Sunset steam-room fantasy. Maybe you shouldnt be dropping $25K on a ring right now when you owe your fiancee $10K in start-up costs for your already obsolete home-workout app and you can hardly afford the hair ties to keep your man mane out of your matcha latte. Since Brock is the sole conductor of the bad-idea train, he has given up the last episodes idea of a shotgun guerrilla wedding for a shotgun guerrilla wedding at someone elses engagement party. I mean, who is this guy? An Australian Connor Roy? Because Brock cant afford an engagement ring without resorting to a Fonzi scheme (that is a Ponzi scheme but if youre on television), he couldnt afford the $20K it would cost to pull off his event without Randall and Lala or production paying for it, which seemed to be his angle. His plan, instead, is to go on the totally sponsored trip to Santa Ynez (with a Y!) for James and Raquels engagement party and marry Scheana there in secret. He tells this to Ariana and Sandoval, and theyre like, Yeah, James can never find out. He will rend the globe asunder if he finds out. And theyre right. How can Brock not see this? Its sort of like getting the room next to the honeymoon suite and then trying to fuck louder than the just-married couple while telling everyone that you were trying to keep it down. No one wants a headboard rattler like Brock ruining their engagement party. Whats even crazier is that everyone knows this is a bad idea; everyone knows that James will go all Fukushima, and no one just flat out tells this guy, No. This is a bad idea, dont do it. They just tell him that James can never know, but they all know this will be on TV at some point and James will find out. Are they just hoping that he wont care by the time he notices? That he wont care that he and Raquel planned this whole party at a venue and then Brock is just using a little corner of it because he thought it would be nice and memorable and free for his marriage? The stupidity of this move can only be explained by shouting Duh duh duh in a mocking voice while hitting yourself on the head with your closed fist, which is exactly what James does to Brock at the Schwartz & Sandy dead cock-a-roach party. Brock is talking to James about how he was going to quit weed, and James said he was having a stressful time with everything that was going on and someone at SUR testing positive for COVID (was this episode a HIPAA violation?) that he still hadnt quit smoking weed. Brock says, I get how thats frustrating, but like I would just say because I was stressed out and I couldnt handle the pressure That is when James blows up and tells Brock that is not the truth and to shove that idea up his ass. Well, James did just say he was stressed out and thats why he couldnt handle quitting weed, but whatever. He doesnt know the truth. He doesnt know himself. He doesnt know how to treat people or how to have his response fit whatever perceived slight just happened. We know this. This is nothing new. It is as old as the goat-cheese-ball crust on the SUR menus. It turns out that Brock is just mad that James wont come to his photo shoot, and James is mad that Brock isnt hanging out with him. Its as if James just pushes people away with his abuse, and then when they back away, he sees it as an excuse to abuse them even further. Its an unvirtuous cycle, and we have seen it in so many iterations that it is nothing short of exhausting. And the Toms, newly reconciled, watched all this, wondering if this is how they will one day end. If their friendship will be torn asunder by petty squabbles? Schwartz looked at Sandoval while this was happening, looked deep into his eyes, and imagined something else. He imagined that their friendship bracelets werent just little ties but ropes. Long, multicolored strands of macrame that he could use to tie Sandoval to his bed, each of his limbs knotted to a post, his naked body stretched out like an empty California pool, and he was the skateboarder who got to play in it all day, riding up and down its concrete ridges, placing his hands on its firm, craggly parts to do tricks, showing off his skills to the one man in his life that matters until he finally collapses in a soggy, sweaty heap, gasping for breath and hoping the afternoon would never end. That is what Schwartz was thinking as the two stood behind the bar, and he slowly slipped his right hand into Sandovals left-back jean pocket, trying to make the whole world melt away. FILE Generic police image. Anderson County authorities confirm 2-year-old Marlee Sills, of Belton, South Carolina, died from injuries sustained after being shot by a BB gun on January 5. Decatur, IL (62521) Today A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers this afternoon. High 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 57F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Decatur, IL (62521) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Rain. Low 57F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Placeholder while article actions load At some point after he became chief surgeon in Napoleons army, Dominique Jean Larrey started walking across blood-soaked battlefields to pick out those among the wounded who could still be saved, usually by instant amputation of limbs. In time, he developed a system of sorting and separating trier in French the casualties. Ignoring rank and nationality, he considered only those who had the greatest chance of surviving. His method became known as triage. In worst-case scenarios, triage is nowadays accepted almost universally as necessary and justified. And yet, the idea still rests on an act of cruelty cruel both to a victim and to the doctor having to make the decision. It often necessitates allowing one human being to die in order to ration the care that might let another live. The current pandemic is a worst-case scenario. On-and-off for almost two years, doctors and nurses in some places have had to make traumatizing choices about life and death. Sometimes they had too many Covid patients for too few ventilators; other times too many with SARS-CoV-2 to be able to treat those dying from cancer or other diseases. Now the omicron variant which appears to be somewhat milder but much more infectious threatens to overwhelm hospitals yet again. Advertisement Against that backdrop, nine Germans have done us all a favor by starting an overdue debate. They brought a case to the constitutional court in Karlsruhe, arguing that during triage situations they risked discrimination, and therefore death. Thats because they suffer from disabilities. One, aged 30, had a stroke just after birth and cant walk, stand or speak. Others have atrophied spinal muscles that complicate breathing. The oldest is a septuagenarian who has heart disease and diabetes. Under existing guidelines in Germany, issued by a medical association, disabilities should in theory be irrelevant during triage as is the case with age, sex or ethnicity. The only thing that matters is whether one individual patient in a specific situation with a specific ailment stands a better chance of being saved than another. In practice, however, doctors under pressure are apt to view the frailties of disabled people as comorbidities, and thus relevant. Nancy Poser, one of the plaintiffs, explained the situation this way: If she had a heart attack and showed up in the hospital in her wheelchair, shed get a worse triage score than a smoker simultaneously arriving with Covid-19. Hed get a bed; she wouldnt. She would have to die, exactly that. Advertisement Last week, the judges in Karlsruhe ruled for the plaintiffs by requiring parliament to swiftly pass legislation that will govern the triage decisions to come. Ruling discrimination unconstitutional is the easy part, of course. The hard part will be enacting laws that give doctors legal security and simultaneously make sense in the real world, rather than just causing new problems. As the discussions heat up, some pundits are already demanding making triage more fair overall. Theres danger in that goal. We cant agree on whats fair even in other policy areas, such as taxation, and certainly wont in this context. Start with this hottest potato how doctors should treat unvaccinated patients in triage. Almost nine in ten of those hospitalized in Germany with SARS-CoV-2 are people who havent had their shots. If they had all been inoculated, intensive care units would never have come under such pressure and there wouldnt be a need for triage at all. Advertisement To some people, this suggests that vaccinated patients, other things being equal, should get dibs, and the unvaccinated should wait for beds. Martin Hoffmann, a philosophy professor, emphasizes that this wouldnt be about punishing the unvaccinated. It would simply take into account that the vaccinated have already taken an (admittedly tiny) risk that of adverse reaction to the jab to protect themselves and others. The unvaccinated havent, and must therefore accept more risk subsequently. This logic may make intuitive sense, but intuition can be a bad guide to triage laws. Any consideration of vaccination status, like disability, would open Pandoras box. Just as Larrey didnt take rank into account, medical staff must never mix quasi-moral judgments into their decisions that is, how deserving a patient may be, based on previous behavior. Otherwise, doctors would set precedents that could in time lead to a new debates about whose life is worth living. The German parliament and other legislatures should therefore clarify that the allocation of scarce medical care must be based solely on the merits of each individual case and the relative likelihood of success, always with the goal of maximizing lives saved. Only medical staff can make these decisions. Advertisement But to ensure that even under pressure and ambiguity no discrimination takes place, parliament could require doctors to seek additional and independent opinions perhaps from a medical board that can be contacted around the clock. This would add bureaucracy, but might prevent some bad calls. That leaves the thorny issue of those unwilling to get vaccinated. Triage is not the place to deal with it. But society is justified in trying to prevent the worst-case scenarios that lead to triage in the first place. Provided shots can be made available to all, democratically elected legislatures are therefore well within their rights to mandate vaccination. Like every doctor, Dominique Jean Larrey would have preferred to treat every single victim on the battlefield. Our overall goal in policy today must be to keep that option alive by making triage unnecessary wherever possible, so that doctors can care for all patients. Advertisement More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: A Fourth Shot Against Omicron? Dont Count It Out: Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli Omicron Is Just the Latest Covid Variant Until the World Is Immune: David Fickling Lessons From Europes Response to Omicron: Lionel Laurent and Bobby Ghosh This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. Hes the author of Hannibal and Me. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Americas schoolchildren have suffered terrible harm during the pandemic, and the damage has fallen heaviest on poor children from Black and Latino communities. Data from across the country make that fact painfully clear. Tragically, its about to get worse. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Chicago teachers decision to walk out on their students and refuse to return to the classroom Wednesday is a profoundly troubling abdication of duty that should be met with public outrage and national opposition to its spread. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez have rightly insisted that schools reopen for in-person instruction after a two-week holiday break. Teachers and students have an enormous amount of catching up to do, as they do across the country. Remote schooling has been a colossal failure for Americas most vulnerable students. In Chicago, fewer than one in five third graders met state standards in math and reading last spring. In other words: More than 80% of students are failing to achieve basic proficiency in the two most important skills determining their life trajectories and career success. Advertisement Pre-pandemic, the scores were still disturbingly low but almost twice as high: About 40% met standards in reading, and about 33% met them in math. As scores have gone from intolerably bad to exceedingly worse, most of the citys 330,000 students, 83% of whom are Black or Latino, are at risk of falling into the abyss. At this rate, it is a cold, hard and shameful truth that these students are on track for failure never acquiring the skills they need to gain entry into either professional jobs, including teaching, or trade-based careers. The result, of course, is a perpetuation of intergenerational poverty. These are not things we like to say out loud. But decades of experience tell us they are true. To begin changing them, we need to say loudly and clearly as Democrats, Republicans and independents that teachers are essential workers, we need them physically present in classrooms, and we will not stand for walkouts. Advertisement At the same time, we should stop using the phrase remote learning. Remote languishing is closer to the truth, as parents know all too well. They are justly furious that schools have left their children to flounder through virtual classes. Sadly, its not just Chicago where teachers are staying home. Unions in other cities have also pushed districts to return to virtual classes and succeeded. It increasingly seems as though unions view in-person instruction as an optional part of a teachers job and too many Democratic elected officials are going along with it. Democrats who think they can outsource their education policy to the teachers unions need only look to Virginias recent elections to see how that goes. Of course, teachers should not come to work if they are sick or test positive. And they deserve access to high-quality masks and other protections. As Lightfoot has noted, the city has spent over $100 million to mitigate the virus spread in schools. Many other districts have also made major investments in school safety. Advertisement We know from two years of data that transmission in schools has been low. While the omicron variant is challenging that, the best evidence indicates that vaccination is highly effective at preventing serious illness, and teachers across the nation, including in Chicago, have high rates of vaccination, to their credit. Its good to see Lightfoot and other mayors like New York Citys newly sworn-in leader, Eric Adams doing right by students by insisting on in-person instruction. Thats a welcome change from a year ago. As unions push back, they must stand firm and we must give them our full support. At the same time, the pandemic has made clear that Americas public-education system is fundamentally broken. Our goal should not be to return to normal not when the normal state of affairs was school failure, especially for the vast majority of Americas black and Latino children. We must aim much higher, and that requires us to act much more boldly. Advertisement Last month, I announced a $750 million initiative to create 150,000 classroom seats by opening and expanding more high-quality public charter schools. Public charter schools give far greater autonomy to principals and teachers in exchange for far greater accountability and they give students and parents an alternative to failing traditional schools in their communities. All children deserve to attend a first-rate school, no matter their race, ethnicity or family income. And all children deserve to have teachers at the front of their classrooms who demand excellence from them and help them fulfill their potential. We all know what an incredible difference great teachers make in the lives of young people I know I certainly do. There are many great teachers in Americas public schools. They deserve a system that supports them and demands as much from their colleagues as they give to their students every day. Advertisement Chicagos students badly need their teachers back. And Americas children need more schools that never quit on them. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Michael R. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, and UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder, commanded headlines and magazine covers as an executive worth billions. Just convicted for financial fraud, she is no less spellbinding in defeat. Hers is the story that launched a thousand articles as well as several podcasts, books and movies. Shes fascinating because we cant decide what to make of her. A manipulative villain? A credulous ingenue? A perpetrator or a victim? Public opinion may never be settled. But one notion Id like to see fizzle is that prosecutors held Holmes to an unfair standard because shes a woman. Its true, as my colleague Parmy Olson points out, that Silicon Valley has a well-established fake-it-till-you-make-it culture. Some male entrepreneurs do engage in puffery to attract investments for their startups. But that doesnt make Holmess conviction for fraud evidence of a gender-based double standard. If anything, its a reminder that there are justifiable limits to what executives can say especially in industries such as health care. Advertisement For another, its possible that the narrow result of the jurys decision convicting on only four of 11 charges indicates that Holmes still managed to catch a break. Corporate history is littered with male executives who went to jail for wrongdoing, from Jeffrey Skilling to Bernie Madoff to Martin Shkreli. And prosecutors in the Holmes trial presented ample evidence that she knowingly lied about her product. But Holmess lawyers and Holmes herself, on the witness stand did an impressive job of softening her image and blunting the prosecutions impact. To do this, Holmes and her team played on sympathetic gender stereotypes portraying her variously as an ingenue who didnt understand the limitations of her companys technology, a victim of sexual and emotional abuse and a young mother. (Holmess defense lawyers invoked these gender archetypes much more skillfully and subtly than did the legal team of Ghislaine Maxwell, which hamfistedly compared her to the biblical temptress Eve. It didnt work.) Of course, human beings are complex, and Holmes may in fact be all of those things. She is also, now, a former chief executive officer convicted of misleading investors about her company. It is infantilizing to suggest that she didnt know what she was doing, or that she was a corporate figurehead without any real agency or knowledge of the company she founded. Advertisement Yes, its true that women as a group are held to higher standards in business and that their errors are judged more harshly. Several academic studies have shown that womens mistakes incur stronger penalties, especially in male-dominated fields. But that doesnt make Holmes a specific woman in a specific set of circumstances an example of the phenomenon. It stretches the definition of euphemism to call Holmess decade of lies a mistake. Thats not to say that sexism played zero role in the Theranos saga. Without the startup worlds sexism, Elizabeth Holmes may never have become the darling of magazine covers or the TED stage. In a world where female founders get funded at the rate they deserve, her success would not have been so unusual, and therefore not so newsworthy. In a world where racism and ageism werent rampant, other female founders those not young, blonde and white and whose products actually, you know, worked might commandeer more magazine covers. In a more meritocratic world, the kind of tokenism that led to Holmess meteoric rise outstripping her products utility would not exist. The lesson to take from her conviction is not that women face a double standard we already know that but that the image Holmes managed to convey was a mirage. Advertisement Its the old double bind of male-dominated jobs: To seem competent, a woman has to dial down her femininity. But if she wants to be likeable, she has to emphasize that femininity and to be successful she must be liked. That creates whats known as the warmth-competence paradox: For a woman to succeed, likability is essential. For men, its optional. Holmes mastered that warmth-competence tightrope-walk. She managed to create a public persona that was a perfect blend of masculine and feminine, adopting black turtlenecks and a baritone voice, while sporting red lipstick and being publicly vulnerable about her fear of needles. In hindsight, it may look hopelessly contrived. How could anyone have believed it? But the more important question is: Why are so many women still expected to walk this tightrope? It was wrong to hold up Elizabeth Holmes as an exemplar of female leadership when she was a darling of the business world. It would be wrong now to make her an example of how women are held to an unfair standard. Let her instead remind us that our image of the ideal female leader has all the subtlety of a straitjacket. Advertisement More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: Fake It Till You Make It Will Live On After Theranos: Parmy Olson Theranos Directors Pay No Price for Holmess Fraud: Timothy L. OBrien Holmes Verdict Sends a Mixed Message to Investors: Stephen L. Carter This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Sarah Green Carmichael is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion. She was previously managing editor of ideas and commentary at Barrons, and an executive editor at Harvard Business Review, where she hosted the HBR Ideacast. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load By the time Brits returned from the long New Years weekend, well over 600,000 people had signed a petition seeking to deny former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair the knighthood he was awarded in the Queens New Years honors list. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Blair hardly needs a Sir to secure his place in history. He won three successive elections (two by landslides), the only leader in Labour party history to do that. He veered his moribund party away from a bankrupt ideology of nationalizations and high taxes. He built schools and hospitals, instituted the minimum wage, expanded gay rights, brokered peace in Northern Ireland and presided over uninterrupted economic growth. He also forged a close partnership with two American presidents from opposing parties. To many outside of Britain and certainly to many Americans, given his stature in the U.S. denying him an honor now seems a tad ungrateful. Why so much hate? Advertisement If this were an exam question requiring a one-word answer, it would be, of course, Iraq. The petition accuses Blair of war crimes, which says something about the depth of animosity many Brits still feel about the 2003 intervention to overthrow Saddam Hussein. It was an unpopular war, prosecuted on faulty intelligence of weapons of mass destruction and peddled to the British public through Blairs silky communications skills. The misleading presentation to the United Nations by President George W. Bushs highly respected secretary of state, Colin Powell, on Iraqs purported WMD stocks was ultimately what convinced many of the case to go to war. But the British prime ministers support was key to ensuring a measure of multilateral backing. For that he was derided as Bushs poodle. Americans may have appreciated his loyalty, but for many Brits, such subservience for what they saw as so unjust a cause was unforgivable. While Americans remained divided on Iraq (with 45% saying it was a mistake, compared to 59% of Brits a decade after the intervention), their sentiment was not like the British sense of betrayal and anger. Perhaps Americans agreed with Blair that even if the intelligence was wrong, history would forgive them for removing so depraved a dictator. Either way, Blair enjoyed a reputation abroad that he could only dream of at home in the years after he left office. Advertisement Can the Iraq war alone explain the depth of animosity so many Brits still feel toward Blair? After a seven-year-long inquiry into the intervention, John Chilcot indeed found that Blair made his case for war on beliefs, not facts. But he did not uphold the most serious and persistent accusation against Blair that his deception was deliberate. Yet, like Americans who see red when it comes to Bill and Hillary Clinton, such nuances dont cut it with Blairs detractors. Their minds were made up long ago. Some of the anger is classic displacement. The left-most wing of Labour resents Blair for stripping them of their status and changing their party, while hes hated by many Conservatives for stealing some of Margaret Thatchers free-market clothes and keeping them out of power for a decade. There is an argument that the Blair (and Clinton) derangement syndrome signifies an entrenched distrust of moderate politicians who proclaim a brand of new party politics. Their rejection is a sign of our hyper-polarized world. Consider how the backlash against former presidential candidate and first lady Hillary Clinton prefigured the rise of Donald Trump. In the same way, Boris Johnson was the ultimate foil to Blairs New Labour project, and Brexit seemingly the final nail in the coffin. Advertisement But an abandonment of the center isnt a very satisfying explanation either for views toward Blair. Keir Starmer has put the Labour Party back into Blair territory and Johnson has brought his party to the left on economic policy. The U.S. is more complicated and more fragmented, but the big problem with Hillary Clinton was never that she was too centrist so much as that she was never sufficiently trusted. A politician seen to lack both competence and trustworthiness becomes not just a disappointment or even a liability, but a threat. Blair, it must be said, did himself no favors early in his post-premier career, earning hefty consulting fees from advising foreign dictators on top of the usual lucrative speaking circuit. Once people decided they couldnt trust Blair, everything he did became a confirmation of their conviction. Thats a shame, really. Blair was a significant figure in British politics who deserves recognition for what he achieved, despite his failings. Indeed, parts of Johnsons own leveling-up agenda and attempts to reach across political boundaries echo the Blair playbook. And in a sort of third career as a policy wonk, he has contributed thoughtfully to debates on a range of issues from Brexit to vaccines to the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Work from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has often led the policy debate during the pandemic. Advertisement The current spat over Blairs appointment to the Most Noble Order of the Garter the oldest chivalric order anywhere may seem much ado about an anachronistic tradition. But it carries symbolic heft: Among the members of the order, directly chosen by the Queen (and not to number more than 24), 68-year-old Blair is the youngest and remains at the forefront of policy debate. It raises his profile and gives him an elevated platform. His non-profit work and advocacy may yet earn him new admirers even if he cant win back some of the trust lost during his years in office. It will no doubt fuel the occasional chatter about a comeback to politics. That makes the Queens gambit in knighting Sir Tony much more than just payment for services rendered. Boris Johnson not yet a Sir aspires to at least match Blairs longevity and better his policy record for radicalism and results. As a communicator, he is in his own league. But he is now fumbling badly. As the debate around Blairs legacy shows, trust, once lost, is rarely regained. Admiration and adulation can quickly turn to anger. More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: Advertisement Shoplifting Is Scaring Retailers. Wall Street Should Worry Too: Andrea Felsted As Omicron Overwhelms Hospitals, We Must Talk About Triage: Andreas Kluth Fake It Till You Make It Will Live On After Theranos: Parmy Olson This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Democrats intend to bring their voting rights agenda to the Senate floor this month. One bill theyre backing would restore provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that have been stripped out by the Supreme Court, making that landmark laws protections against racial discrimination almost impossible to enforce. The other is a grab-bag of measures called the Freedom to Vote Act, which would make voting easier and gerrymandering harder, and would also provide new ways to fight misconduct in counting the vote. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has floated a Jan. 17 vote on an exception to Senate rules dubbed a carve-out that would give legislation designed to ensure democracy protection from filibusters, meaning that such bills could be considered and passed with simple majority support. So far, it still seems unlikely that Schumer can find the votes. West Virginias Joe Manchin, who negotiated the Freedom to Vote bill with other Democrats, has been reluctant to support changes to Senate procedures, at least not without bipartisan support that isnt going to materialize, saying on Tuesday that anytime theres a carve-out, you eat the whole turkey. In other words, that any small change to the filibuster, which kills most legislation that doesnt have 60 votes, would eventually end it. Congress scholar Sarah Binder responded on Twitter: Talking turkey about the filibuster! Manchin is right on the mark that its a slippery slope towards majority rule with each carve out (or nuclear bomb). But also true that it can take a heck of a long time to finish off the bird! Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained that changing the filibuster rules amounts to genuine radicalism. Democrats, he said: Want to turn the Senate into the House. They want to make it easy to fundamentally change the country. The question, however, is who the real radicals are. Advertisement Senate procedures have already been changed over the last 30 years, and McConnell has been the most important leader in those changes. Once upon a time in the 1980s, say the filibuster was used rarely, mainly to force negotiations. Thats changed. Since 2009, minority parties have created a true 60-vote Senate, in which everything is filibustered, which means that almost all regular legislation and even most amendments must clear that threshold. The real radicalism is filibustering everything. Especially doing so to kill bills rather than to gain negotiating leverage. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman note in the Washington Post how the extraordinary thing isnt so much that Democrats cant come up with the votes to change Senate procedures so that voting rights bills can pass with simple majorities, but that Republicans are simply rejecting any election reform at all (with one exception, Alaskas Lisa Murkowski). Id go farther than Sargent and Waldman, because what really should be shocking isnt just Republican opposition, but that theres not even any hint of a counteroffer. Thats the radicalism: The filibuster used not to negotiate, but to block. And what are they blocking? The last time the Voting Rights Act was renewed, in 2006, the vote in the Senate was unanimous. Republicans proudly (and accurately!) liked to brag that their party was an important part of the coalition that passed the original Voting Rights Act in 1965 over the objections of Southern Democrats. Now, after the Supreme Court has struck down key enforcement provisions, Republicans are simply against repairing it. Advertisement The other bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, has plenty of legitimately controversial items in it, including a campaign-finance plan that Id expect Republicans to oppose. But theres no alternative Republican voting bill. No offer to, say, add a voter ID provision and subtract out campaign finance and maybe redistricting changes in order to win Republican votes. Nope. They have the filibuster, and theyre going to use it, and thats the end of the story. McConnell can say that eliminating the filibuster would be a drastic change. But he and hes the one most responsible, even though senators from both parties have gone along with it has already made todays Senate almost unrecognizable to anyone who knew it in the 1970s and 1980s. The best change in the Senate would be to return to a system where filibusters are used rarely, and mainly as bargaining leverage. But senators seem to have little interest in that kind of reform, and so eventually the filibuster will die and there will be nothing radical about that. The question now is whether Democrats will start the ball rolling while they could still benefit from it. Advertisement This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Chinese companies in need of capital have long headed to the U.S. stock market to tap deep-pocketed investors, raising more than $100 billion in first-time share sales over the past two decades. The money flow was profitable for company founders, bankers, early investors and new shareholders. All this has changed due to actions by both countries. Ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc. said it would withdraw from the New York exchange, a stunning reversal as it yielded to demands from Chinese regulators. 1. What action did the U.S. take? Under a law signed by President Donald Trump a month before he left office, Chinese companies may face delisting starting in 2024 if they refuse to show financial information to American regulators. Rules developed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to carry out that law require that audits done for Chinese companies be made available for inspection by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a quasi-governmental body created by Congress two decades ago to improve the integrity of audits. China has refused to let the PCAOB examine audits of its firms, citing national security concerns. The SEC said that while more than 50 jurisdictions work with the PCAOB to allow the required inspections, two historically have not: China and Hong Kong. Advertisement 2. What action did China take? New rules unveiled in December require all Chinese companies seeking initial public offerings or additional share sales abroad to register with the securities regulator. The requirements apply to new shares only and wont affect the foreign ownership of companies already listed overseas. This category includes e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which raised $25 billion in a 2014 debut listing on the New York Stock Exchange, at the time the worlds biggest-ever IPO. Any firm whose listing could pose a national security threat wont be allowed to proceed. Those in industries banned from foreign investment need to seek a waiver before listing. Companies holding data on at least 1 million people seeking foreign listings also have to undergo cybersecurity and national security reviews. That word choice, in final rules published Jan. 4, has raised hopes that those seeking to list in Hong Kong could be exempted. 3. Why is China doing this? Advertisement Many of Chinas technology firms have near-monopolies in their fields and vast pools of user data, and the Chinese Communist Party appears intent on making sure sensitive data cant be accessed by foreign regulators. In June, Didi had rankled Beijing by proceeding with its U.S. IPO -- shepherded by a whos who of Wall Street banks -- even after authorities had expressed concerns over its data security practices. More broadly, the Communist Party appears intent on reining in tech billionaires such as Jack Ma and Pony Ma, whose companies became the largest private enterprises in China with the aid of foreign capital, and hold great sway over nearly every aspect of modern life. Tamping the tycoons swagger also aligns neatly with President Xi Jinpings push to promote common prosperity and better harness big data, a strategic asset in Chinas showdown with America. 4. Whats been the impact? Days after Didis IPO, Chinas cybersecurity regulator told app stores to remove the companys app, citing serious violations on the collection and usage of personal information. Didis share price fell as much as 25% on the first trading day after that. Shareholders sued the company, as well as its directors and underwriters, claiming Didi failed to disclose talks it was having with Chinese authorities about its compliance with cybersecurity laws. Didi said Dec. 2 that it will file for a delisting of its American depositary shares from the New York Stock Exchange and start work on a Hong Kong share sale. It said it would ensure that the U.S. stock will be convertible into freely tradable shares on another internationally recognized stock exchange. Meanwhile, other companies were said to have shelved or delayed their U.S. IPO plans, including health-care firm LinkDoc Technology Ltd., bike-sharing company Hello Inc. and audio-sharing platform Ximalaya Inc. RoboSense, a Chinese developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars, decided to list in Hong Kong instead, following others like Lalamove and Xiaohongshu. Advertisement 5. Is China trying to discourage foreign ownership? Quite the opposite. China has opened the door to full foreign ownership of financial services companies and local banks in recent years, though strict limits remain on foreign investment in certain areas such as internet, transportation, mining and media companies. The so-called variable interest entity (VIE) structure was developed as a way around those limits. Under a VIE, which was pioneered by now-private Sina Corp. in 2000, a Chinese company receives foreign investment via a shell company incorporated in a place such as the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands, outside the purview of Chinese regulators. Legally shaky and hard to understand, this solution nonetheless proved acceptable for years to U.S. investors, Wall Street and the Communist Party alike -- until now. 5. What could be coming next? Advertisement Stocks worth almost $200 billion currently listed only in the U.S. may need to relocate to exchanges in Hong Kong or the mainland soon, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Potential candidates include Pinduoduo Inc. and Nio Inc. One expert predicts the U.S. wont have any major Chinese listings within the next five to 10 years. In November, a commission created by the U.S. Congress to track and anticipate threats from China recommended prohibiting U.S. investment in VIEs linked to Chinese entities or, at the least, more prominently flagging the risks involved to investors. The SEC is already asking more detailed questions of Chinese firms about offshore corporate structures before it will consider allowing them to go public in the U.S. China stopped short of a ban on VIEs when it unveiled its sweeping regulations governing overseas share sales at the end of 2021, but the rules make the structure less relevant because such listings will also be supervised by Beijing. (Updates with final data security rules in section 2) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Like many Americans, curators at the National Museum of American History were shocked last Jan. 6, when a procedural vote representing the peaceful transfer of power devolved into a violent insurrection. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight At dawn the next day, they went to work. One curator scoured the Mall for remnants of the uprising, gathering items that included discarded placards and a small whip shoved into a trash bin. As the country marks the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the museum continues to collect objects. Included in the 80 already acquired are handmade signs saying Drain the GOP and We demand a fair election!, military insignia from those who protected the Capitol in the months after the attack, a protective vest worn by a freelance photojournalist and the suit a congressman from New Jersey wore when he helped clean up the debris. Dozens more items are in the process of being accessioned. Advertisement The effort is one of the most challenging and most significant undertaken by the countrys flagship history museum. If we believe that United States history and teaching it, saving it, preserving it and sharing it can help continue the democratic experiment, which is still one of the longest-running in the history of the world, then it is one of the most challenging times, museum director Anthea Hartig said. Curators are working with law enforcement and political partners to acquire other artifacts, including the official tally of the vote that certified the 2020 election and pieces of evidence being used in the investigations, Hartig said. The coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing federal criminal investigation and the work of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol have slowed their work, Hartig said. But they are confident that more will be acquired. Seeing those objects the homemade, the handmade, whatever they are and knowing what happened that day and knowing that we are still trying to understand what happened that day, is incredibly powerful, Hartig said. It will help future generations understand how fragile democracy is, and certainly was that day. Collecting is a laborious process that requires a steady stream of phone calls, texts and email messages as well as Zoom and in-person meetings, said Shannon Perich, curator of the History of Photography Collection, who began crafting a collecting plan on Jan. 6. Early networking led her to freelance photographer Madeleine Kelly, 24, now a graduate student based in Germany, who donated the protective vest she wore when she was attacked with a knife by a woman upset that Kelly was photographing participants faces. Advertisement Kelly said it is surreal to think her name and story are now part of the museum. I have mixed feelings, Kelly said about her donation. Something terrible happened to me for this to happen. Its kind of indescribable in a weird way. Kelly flew to Washington from Denver on the morning of Jan. 6 to cover what she thought would be a march and protests. It was the first time she wore the vest, which she had bought for about $650 to replace an older one. She layered it over one jacket and under another, she said, to try to be inconspicuous. Despite being ripped by a knife, the vest is still usable, Kelly said. But her grandmother wants to buy her a replacement. My grandmother said it was too good an opportunity to pass up, Kelly said. The vest illustrates the role of photography and the experiences of photographers, central themes of Jan. 6, Perich said. When we collect for a story, we look for objects that have multiple perspectives, she added. Kellys vest also contributes to stories about women in journalism, about the vital role of journalism in society and about its dangers. The fact that photographers needed military-grade protective gear is important to document, she said. District resident Pat Savoy emailed military history curator Frank Blazich and offered the National Guard insignia that Savoys son, Noah, had collected while he was providing refreshments to those who guarded the perimeter. Blazich wanted the patches and pins for several reasons: They show how security was needed for the inauguration and for months afterward, and they represent units from across the country and from combat operations in Afghanistan and Syria. Essentially the same men and women who went overseas for the war on terror to defeat threats to our nations security now found themselves guarding their nations Capitol from domestic threats, Blazich said. The museum is not planning an exhibition on the events of Jan. 6 in the near future, Hartig said, but it is digitizing the items to make them accessible online, a priority during the pandemic, when museum visits have decreased. In addition, she said curators are still working out how to frame the story. Initially they thought they would feature some of the protest signs in the exhibition on American democracy, which has a rotating roster of protest posters from various events. Advertisement We decided no, we cant put those side by side. The March on Washington in 1963, the Poor Peoples Campaign, whatever march it is, you pick one, was not intended to violently overthrow the nations Capitol and to interrupt the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Its a good time to be slightly cautious and to give ourselves a bit of space and grace, Hartig added. We are not shying away from telling the story, or from how important it is to document it. But we dont even have a shared common language about what happened that day. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load In recent years, NPR has taken pride in its efforts to diversify its ranks of on-air hosts, with the hiring of many Black and Latino journalists to lead its signature news programs, including voices such as Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, Noel King, Michele Norris and Audie Cornish. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight But now the public-radio giant is contending with an exodus of the very same talent. On Tuesday, it was Cornish, the co-host since 2012 of NPRs daily newsmagazine, All Things Considered, who announced she would be leaving at the end of the week, destination unspecified. I have never considered the host chair a tenured position, she said, though many of her predecessors have enjoyed decades-long runs in the job. Its time for me to try my hand at new journalism projects and embark on new adventures. Other prominent on-air personalities of color to depart NPRs airwaves recently include Weekend Edition Sunday host Garcia-Navarro, who left in September to host a New York Times podcast; Morning Edition host King, who left in November for Vox Media; and former 1A host Joshua Johnson, who joined MSNBC. Advertisement In addition, NPR has in recent months lost the stars of two weekly programs and podcasts Maddie Sofia (who hosted the science program Short Wave) and Shereen Marisol Meraji of Code Switch, which discusses race in America. Some see a pattern and a problem. Cornishs announcement, in particular, unleashed a public airing of grievances from within NPR about its treatment of minority journalists. If NPR doesnt see this as a crisis, I dont know what itll take, tweeted Ari Shapiro, Cornishs All Things Considered co-host. He wrote that the organization was hemorrhaging hosts from marginalized backgrounds. Shapiro quoted a tweet from September by another NPR program host, Sam Sanders, who name-checked recently departed staffers and commented, Look at all the incredibly talented hosts from marginalized backgrounds whove left @npr recently . . . I believe in the mission of public radio; this trend is antithetical to that mission. Advertisement Garcia-Navarro tweeted, Im sad to see this happening but it is not unexpected. She and Sanders declined to elaborate, as did Cornish. NPRs chief spokeswoman, Isabel Lara, said Tuesday the Washington-based organization regrets losing familiar journalists, although she pointed to other journalists of color who are filling the ranks of the departed. Among them, she cited Scott Tong, the co-host of NPR and WBURs daily Here and Now program, and Morning Edition co-hosts A Martinez and Leila Fadel. Martinez was appointed in May, and Tong was named in June. Fadel, a former Washington Post reporter, was named last week. Lara contended that many of those whove left were scooped up by deep-pocketed companies that are building podcasting businesses in direct competition with NPR. It used to be that hosting a newsmagazine at NPR was the pinnacle of radio journalism, she said. Now there are so many opportunities at Apple, Audible, Netflix, the New York Times and others creating audio-news and nonfiction programming divisions. Its a very competitive landscape. Advertisement But Garcia-Navarro pointedly disputed this in her tweet. People leave jobs for other opportunities if they are unhappy with the opportunities they have and the way they have been treated, she wrote. Despite giving unprecedented opportunities to women since its founding in 1970, NPR has struggled for many years to diversify its audience and provide alternative perspectives. It hired its first African American host of All Things Considered, Michele Norris, in 2002 (Norris is now a columnist for The Post). It launched but canceled programs aimed at minority audiences, such as News and Notes, and Tell Me More, the latter hosted by Michel Martin, who went on to become the weekend host of All Things Considered. People of color make up 42 percent of NPRs podcast listening audience, and 21 percent of its radio audience, according to data compiled by ratings firm Nielsen for NPR and shared last year with The Post. NPR has grown its podcasting arm in recent years, which executives have said helps fulfill the organizations goal to reach younger, more diverse audiences. Advertisement But people familiar with NPR say its management hasnt done enough to provide opportunities to minority journalists, especially women. Jenna Weiss-Berman, co-founder of the podcast company Pineapple Street Studios, has poached several people from public broadcasting, and every single time, what they tell me is, I have no creative freedom, I feel disrespected, she said. Some have big names in the industry but work on short-term contracts; others complain theyve been denied the opportunity to develop new programs or podcasts even when they devote their free time to it. Theyre just told no so much when it comes to anything creative, said Weiss-Berman, who worked in public radio for 10 years and at BuzzFeeds audio division before starting her company. When youre told no a lot, and you see another opportunity where you might be told yes a little more, youre going to take it. Advertisement Public-media executives often assume shes paying significantly more to hire away their employees. She says thats not the case. Celeste Headlee, who has hosted several public radio programs and written extensively about race in the industry, said she couldnt speak to the specific reasons individual hosts have left but called the departures concerning. Its so common for companies to put resources into recruiting people of color and then put no resources into really retaining them or supporting them in the roles they have so that they will continue with the organization. She said she regularly hears from public-radio staffers of color who say they deal with daily slights and resistance to their ideas, despite a sense they got their jobs to help expand the audience. But Headlee who founded a nonprofit for minority public-radio employees credited John Lansing, NPRs president and chief executive, for being dead serious about solving these issues. She added: If there ever was a chance for our industry to move forward, now is the time. Advertisement NPR employees raised questions about the exodus of women of color during an all-staff meeting last month headed by Lansing, who is generally well-regarded within the organization. But he received a cool reception when he told employees that turnover was common in the news media and that NPR couldnt stand in the way of staffers seeking greater opportunities elsewhere, according to one participant. There seemed to be a lack of acknowledgment that when people leave its because theyre not getting something they need in-house and they dont see a path, said this staffer, who was not authorized to speak to the news media. Referring to Cornish, the staffer said: Theres a lot of confusion that again were seeing another talented host walking out the door . . . for unspecified opportunities. Theres concern that this is not treated or viewed by leadership as the crisis that it is. Lara declined to characterize the issue as a crisis or problem but acknowledged that it was important to maintain a diverse workplace. NPRs internal statistics show that its workforce is 62 percent White, 15 percent Black/African American, 12 percent Asian American and 7 percent Latino or Hispanic. GiftOutline Gift Article Dr. Thom was born in Felixstowe, England, and came to the Washington area in 1979. She did research at Georgetown University Medical Center before she joined GWU in 1986. Her research focused on pregnancy and the clinical care of mothers and infants. She did a major study of in utero surgery for spina bifida that was called the study of the year by the Society for Clinical Trials. She received GWUs Distinguished Researcher Award in 2020 and continued working until this year. Placeholder while article actions load correction A previous version of this article incorrectly said Prince Georges County police Cpl. Michael A. Owen Jr. was fired. He was suspended without pay. Months before Cpl. Michael A. Owen Jr. fatally shot a man in handcuffs, the Prince Georges County Police Departments early-warning system flagged him as an officer who might be headed for trouble. Owen triggered the system by using force twice in quick succession last summer. But his supervisors werent formally notified until January. And they had not taken action by Jan. 27, when Owen killed William Green in the front seat of his police cruiser, sparking outrage in Maryland that was amplified by the national reaction to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. With law enforcement agencies across the country under pressure to improve officer training and oversight, Owens case is a cautionary tale of missed opportunities, the limits of early-warning systems and the danger of relying on police officers to report for themselves when they are stressed or struggling. Owens supervisors were unaware he had sought workers compensation for psychological difficulties stemming from a fatal shooting early in his career, department officials say, even though Owen was supposed to notify them. Over the next decade, Owen used force against civilians at least nine times, according to a Washington Post examination of his career. Twice last year, videos taken as Owen was arresting people show him with his hands on their necks. Criminal charges against some of the people Owen arrested over the years were dropped because he didnt show up in court. Department officials say Owen, who was suspended without pay after the Green shooting, has not been found at fault in any of the cases identified by The Post. He is charged with murder and being held without bond; his trial date has not been set. Advertisement Owens lawyer, Thomas Mooney, said he has not examined previous uses of force by Owen closely enough to comment on specific instances. But he said such interactions can be routine. Being a police officer is a tough job, and they deal with people who act erratically and unusually and aggressively all the time, Mooney said. So he finds himself the subject of an investigation because somebodys complaining thats every police officer in the county thats on the streets. Experts agree that for an officer to accumulate use-of-force encounters, and even complaints, over the years does not necessarily indicate bad behavior. But they say an officers repeated failure to appear in court can be a sign of trouble. They also say the sluggish pace of the early-warning system is a significant problem that jeopardizes both officers and civilians on the streets. Advertisement Thats far too long a lag time to get to these officers who might be in immediate distress, said Christopher Harris, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell who has studied early-intervention systems and advised police departments on using them. And this officer might have been, given the claims that he filed and some of the other history that he had. In the wake of Floyds killing in May, the Maryland legislature is debating ways to hold officers more accountable, and a Prince Georges County task force is scrutinizing police hiring, training and use of force. State Del. Alonzo T. Washington (D-Prince Georges), who is co-leading the county task force, said the group will study ways to prevent officer misconduct, including the early-warning system, which is supposed to track uses of force, complaints against officers, missed court appearances and other potential indicators. This system should be up-to-date and run on time, Washington said. Advertisement In reference to Greens shooting, he added: This type of case worries Prince Georgians every day that its going to happen to their son, their daughter, their father, their sister or their brother. Violent encounters The last 911 response of Owens career came in late January. Police were called after a Buick driven by Green slammed into several cars near the D.C. border. Police suspected the 43-year-old was on drugs. Owen got Green out of the car, cuffed his hands behind his back and placed him in the cruiser to wait for a drug recognition expert, according to police records and interviews. The former officer is accused of firing seven shots a few minutes later, six of which hit Green, still handcuffed in the front seat. Green, a father of two who worked as a Megabus luggage loader, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The next day, Owen was booked into jail. Advertisement Owen, according to his attorney, told authorities hed feared for his life because Green attempted to obtain my firearm. Prosecutors say there is no evidence Green posed a serious threat. It is not publicly known how many other times Owen used force, because the Prince Georges police department does not disclose the reports that such incidents generate. The Posts review relied primarily on searching for arrests by Owen in court records. One incident occurred less than a month before Green was killed. Again, the civilian was in handcuffs. On Dec. 29, tow-truck business operator Jerry Costen was helping his niece with her broken-down car in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Fort Washington. A man came toward them, appearing wounded. Costen, 42, yelled at his son to call 911. The teen ran to a car to grab a phone, but officers were already arriving, having been summoned by someone else. Advertisement A video taken by Costens daughter, obtained by The Post, shows an unidentified officer pointing a gun at Costens running son, and Costen striding toward them, yelling, Thats my son, man! Hes 16 years old! As the officer yells for everyone to get on the ground, Owen walks over and grabs Costen. The officers put Costen and his son in handcuffs. Why are you locking me up? Costen says. For what? Owen, who is 6-foot-3 and weighs 279 pounds, eventually pushes the increasingly agitated Costen against a patrol car. Costen can again be heard on the video yelling, For what? Owen pulls Costen to the ground and presses his fingers to either side of Costens neck, ordering him to calm down. Costen screams until Owen releases the pressure. Costen was charged with assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and failure to obey a lawful order. The police report says he attempted to head-butt [Owen] and spat on him as Owen was walking him toward the cruiser. The video does not appear to show that behavior. Advertisement Costens niece, Krytiseya Jordan-Worthy, was charged with resisting arrest, failure to obey a lawful order and disorderly conduct. She filed an affidavit in court saying she was punched and slammed to the ground by another officer during the arrest. Nearly a year earlier, Owen wrapped his hands around a mans neck during an altercation that followed a traffic stop. Jonathan Harris, 27, was driving a car with no tags. He was on probation, records show, after pleading guilty to theft and second-degree assault in a 2014 case. Video of the Jan. 3, 2019, arrest, taken by Harris and obtained by The Post, shows officers pulling Harris out of his car and Owen pinning Harris to the pavement, his hands around Harriss neck. Department policy prohibits chokeholds. Police officials said they had not seen the video or received any formal complaints about the arrest. Advertisement Harris, who declined to comment, faces a charge of failure to obey a lawful order. But prosecutors intend to drop the charge, states attorneys office spokeswoman Denise Smith said, because the case did not meet elements required for the offense. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Costen and Jordan-Worthy in February after reviewing evidence, including the video. Police officials told The Post that the incident leading to their arrests is under investigation. Costen and Jordan-Worthy, who have filed complaints with the department and are represented by lawyers, declined to comment. Warning signs The incidents that triggered the departments early identification system happened last summer. On July 13, 2019, Owen was dispatched to a Temple Hills home where Devonne Gaillard Jr., 29, was arguing with his girlfriend. Advertisement He wanted to talk to me, and I didnt want to talk to him no more, so I walked away, Gaillard said. When I turned my back, he grabbed me and slammed me on my neck. Gaillards arrest report, written by another officer, said Gaillard had balled his fists, advanced and made evasive movements. He was charged with disorderly conduct and failure to obey a lawful order. Prosecutors dropped the charges in February because of Owens involvement in the case. Gaillard said he didnt file a complaint because doing so seemed pointless. Im a young black man with long dreadlocks. They dont want to hear nothing I got to say. On July 31, officers pursued a man on a suspected stolen motorcycle, who crashed and fled. Owen found him, and there was a brief struggle, according to a police report. Owen had drawn his gun. As he tried to re-holster it, he accidentally fired. No one was hit. It took the early-warning system, which relied on information being compiled by hand and entered into a database, months to create the flag, police officials say. Owens supervisors werent notified until January. Their deadline to meet with Owen and decide whether counseling, training or other actions were warranted was Feb. 29 a month after Owen shot Green. The whole point of having the early intervention is you help the officer when they seem like theyre in distress, before things get worse, said Harris, the University of Massachusetts professor. Former Prince Georges County police chief Hank Stawinski who ordered Owen arrested after the January shooting told The Post that he understood the system was too slow and had been working to upgrade it. We were moving to fix those deficiencies, Stawinski said in an interview before his resignation in June. Maj. James McCreary, who heads the departments internal affairs division, told the county task force in August that police officials are working to make the system much faster. So if theres an early-warning violation, as soon as we see it we can push it out to the district commanders, he said. Still, department officials say its not clear that quicker action would have prevented Greens shooting. Owens supervisors have to review each use of force and could have acted if they found his actions concerning. After firing his gun in July 2019, Owen was required to complete judgment enhancement shooting training and meet with a department psychologist, all of which happened within a week, department officials say. Psychological issues Owen had filed a workers compensation claim the previous March saying the impact of a years-old injury was worsening. Paperwork on the claim, obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request, is redacted and does not reveal the nature of Owens difficulties. But the documents say he was being treated by psychiatrist Patrick Sheehan, who has extensive experience diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder among police officers. And Owens sister, Venesha Owen, told The Post her brother suffered from PTSD. Sheehan declined to comment. The claim sought additional compensation for a partial disability claim Owen filed years earlier. But the date listed on the initial claim doesnt match either of the shootings attributed to Owen before he shot Green. The first happened weeks after Owen graduated from the police academy in 2010. He said he fired at a would-be mugger while off duty, according to a police account, apparently missing his target. A second came in 2011, after Owen left a Toys for Tots event at police headquarters. As he was driving in Landover, he saw a man lying in a front yard and stopped to see if he needed help, according to the police departments written account. That account says the man, Rodney Deron Edwards, pulled a gun on Owen, prompting him to fire his own weapon. Edwards, 35, was killed. Department officials said a loaded handgun was found at the scene, and court records show Edwardss criminal history included gun charges. Police officials deemed the shooting justified, though Edwardss family members dispute that. His uncle Henry Edwards said he doesnt believe his nephew whose hand was disabled from an accident had a gun on him or would have posed a threat to Owen. Hes not going to pull no gun on no police officer, Henry Edwards told The Post. The next October, Owen filed the claim saying he had suffered harm due to a fatal shooting of suspect on Nov. 29, 2010. Edwards was killed Dec. 17, 2011. Officials say they have no record of a shooting involving Owen on the 2010 date. Owens workers compensation attorney, John Hall, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the date discrepancy. The Maryland Workers Compensation Commission awarded Owen payments to compensate him for a permanent partial disability, records show. The amount of the award, which would be in addition to Owens regular pay, was redacted. Owen remained on duty. Owens claim said he notified a police captain of his difficulties, as required by the department. But police spokeswoman Christina Cotterman said the captain was not notified. That means that while some parts of the county bureaucracy were aware of the claim, Owens supervisors according to the department were not. The Department is currently investigating how he was able to circumvent the internal process and go directly toward workers compensation, Cotterman said in an email. The required notification would have put the Department in a position to track this issue. When Owen sought additional payments last year, the commission agreed. Cotterman said the police department is considering whether to incorporate data from workers compensation records into its early-warning system. Experts say the more indicators a system relies on, the better it can detect potential problems. At no point has the Department been made aware that any medical professional representing any party in this matter concluded that Corporal Owen was not fit for duty or posed any threat to himself or the community, Cotterman said. Court no-shows Other Prince Georges residents who had encounters with Owen over the years have accused him of brutality and a lack of professionalism. Several who were arrested by Owen, and accused of aggressive behavior toward him, had charges dropped because Owen failed to show up for court proceedings another indicator of potential trouble that the warning system tracks. He put me in a headlock and started slinging me on my porch, said Bernard Lewis of Temple Hills, who was arrested by Owen in 2013. He dragged me down the steps and put me in handcuffs on the ground. He put his hand on the back of my head and pushed my face in the dirt. Owen had approached Lewis, then 17, and several friends because he thought they appeared suspicious, according to a police report. Owen ended up arresting Lewis on charges of assault, failure to obey a lawful order and disorderly conduct, saying the teen had taken an aggressive stance with clinched fists, punched him in the chin and tried to grab his gun. Lewis, now 25, denies punching Owen, grabbing at his gun or acting aggressively. The charges were dropped after Owen didnt appear in court. Lewis sued Owen for false arrest, but the suit was dismissed because he had waived the right to sue while getting the arrest expunged. Cotterman said Owen also triggered the early-warning system in 2016 by failing to appear in court on two occasions. She said a Maryland law protecting personnel records prevents her from providing more detail or saying whether the department took action. But The Post found two people arrested by Owen that year whose charges were dropped when he did not show up. One was a woman pulled over for traffic violations and arrested for a suspended license. Owen added charges of assault and attempted escape, writing in an arrest report that she spit at him as they traveled along Interstate 495 in his patrol car, became extremely violent and began attempts to exit. The woman, who spoke on the condition that she not be identified because she finds the arrest humiliating, denies being violent or trying to escape. This man, from the jump, was very nasty, she said. I kept telling him how unfit of an officer I felt that he was, how unprofessional he was. The woman said her insults seemed to trigger Owen. He jerked the car to a stop and reached over and pulled me toward him and strangled me, telling me dont disrespect him, dont talk back to him. I had three court dates, but he never showed, the woman said. The charges were dropped. The woman said she filed a complaint and spoke with police internal affairs investigators but never heard back. Department officials said Maryland law prohibits them from confirming or discussing such complaints. One evening later that year, Owen encountered a Hyundai Santa Fe that had run off the road. He wrote in a police report that the driver refused commands to get out of the car, started yelling profanities at me and then charged toward Owen, swinging clenched fists. Owen wrote that he took the man to the ground and arrested him on a charge of disorderly conduct. The man, Wayne Jones, is a sergeant with the University of the District of Columbia police force. He disputed Owens story. I didnt charge him, he didnt handcuff me, he didnt throw me to the ground or none of that, Jones, 66, said in an interview. Jones said he worked the night before the incident, spent that day in court, then fell asleep behind the wheel on the way home. Just before the court date, Jones said, he got a call from Owen, who said not to worry. He said, Im not even going to show up. You didnt do anything, and I dont want to be there to have to answer any questions. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Senior Biden administration officials have concluded that the governments Jan. 6 preparations were hampered by a lack of high-level information-sharing and a failure to anticipate how bad the day could be lessons they say they are applying today in an effort to prevent another such attack. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Those conclusions, described by people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss how the federal government is trying to improve security a year after the insurrection, are not formal findings, the officials said. But they offer a kind of road map for how the Biden White House is attempting to prevent similar assaults on the democratic functions of government. The bottom line, we concluded, was there was insufficient information-sharing and coordination that was raised up to higher levels, and that needed to change, said one senior administration official. There was also insufficient anticipation of the kinds of things that could happen, the official added. Officials said they conducted the analysis not as a form of finger-pointing at the U.S. Capitol Police or the FBI each of which has been faulted for failing to understand the threat they were facing on Jan. 6 but to be better prepared to prevent future violence or unrest. Advertisement While inspectors general at multiple agencies have launched exhaustive autopsies of what the government did wrong and right in the lead-up to Jan. 6, most of those reviews are not complete. In the meantime, the Biden administration has to make decisions about how to better guard the country against spasms of politically motivated violence, a year after a mob seeking to overturn Joe Bidens defeat of Donald Trump breached the walls of the Capitol and assaulted hundreds of police. The details shared by the senior officials include new training exercises and regular cross-agency meetings to compare information. They paint the fullest picture to date of what the White House believes went wrong before and during the riot, and steps the administration is taking to both head off future attacks and respond more effectively if they happen. Liz Sherwood-Randall, President Bidens homeland security adviser, said that since the inauguration, we have worked hard to improve coordination, information-sharing, planning and preparation for a range of events and contingencies to ensure public safety. We are stronger today than we were a year ago though we can never be complacent about the threats that we face from abroad and at home. Experts caution that the next such crises may not be in Washington, or involve organized groups. The Washington Post has catalogued numerous instances in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 when red flags warning of violence were quickly dismissed by the FBI. The Post also examined how Capitol Police officers were unprepared for a mob assault on the legislative branch. Advertisement A year later, officials say the threat picture for the area is much less alarming. In a statement, the FBI said the agency currently does not have any information indicating specific or credible threats regarding the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. As always, we remind members of the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. In an effort to keep senior officials on top of security threats in Washington, Bidens National Security Council oversees weekly discussions among federal law enforcement agencies to discuss planned events such as protests and any related information that points to possible violence. Officials review what permits have been granted, threat reports within the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and any indicators of concern such as travel reservations or hotel bookings to see if there might be a surge of people coming to town and how to adequately posture for that, a second senior administration official said. Advertisement The officials insisted that the administration aims to encourage free speech, while also being prepared for the possibility that such events can devolve into violence or attract people intent on perpetrating violence against protesters. We certainly invite First Amendment activity and welcome it, one official said. The challenge that we have is that, yes, sometimes these activities turn violent, either because the protesters themselves seek violence or because there are counterprotests. Colin P. Clarke, a senior researcher at the security consulting firm the Soufan Group, said the Biden administration was generally correct in its conclusions about what to change to better secure the nations capital and the rest of the country including by acknowledging the threat posed by domestic extremists. The biggest change between the Trump administration and the Biden administration is that the Biden administration actually acknowledged there is such a thing as far-right terrorism and hired people who know the issue, Clarke said. Advertisement If you look at the forensics of all the things that went wrong that day, I think it is right to focus on the information-sharing part, and thats one of the most important strategies to prevent it from repeating. After Jan. 6, Clarke said, he feared far worse violence would occur in 2021, and was pleasantly surprised when that did not happen. Biden administration officials said they conducted tabletop exercises and simulations one in May and another in late September designed to stress-test the ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to respond effectively to crises in the capital region. For the two decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, such exercises and drills often focused on the possibility of an internationally inspired terrorist attack. But the scenarios practiced by the Biden administration last year, one of which involved roughly 80 agencies, envisioned scenarios far closer to what happened on Jan. 6. In a May exercise, a protest on the National Mall became violent and worsened when social media drew more people into the sprawling, fast-moving conflict. The September scenario involved simulated protests around the steps of the Supreme Court, followed by clashes that spread through the area, crossing the jurisdictional lines of various law enforcement agencies. The first exercise was a tabletop simulation held at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a military base in Virginia, hosted by the Defense Department. It included the threat of a homemade bomb another echo of Jan. 6. On that day, an unidentified person planted pipe bombs outside the national Democratic and Republican party headquarters. FBI investigators are still trying to identify and arrest the would-be bomber. Advertisement The second effort, conducted this fall in McLean, Va., was a virtual reality exercise stretched out over a week in which clashes outside the Supreme Court spread to other jurisdictions, requiring different agencies to communicate quickly and respond effectively to stem the violence, officials said. The second senior official said the Biden administration drew a number of lessons from the simulations: among them that agencies need to improve their communications technology to deal with rapidly changing events, and that it is crucial to have a unified command structure to manage law enforcement responses to major incidents. Security experts in and outside government said one area of ongoing concern is that despite all the efforts to improve security in the nations capital, the next outbreak of violence may occur elsewhere. Advertisement Clarke, the security researcher, said organizations such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are well aware that they are now the subject of intense FBI investigation since Jan. 6. I think were far more concerned about the far-right ecosystem producing the next Timothy McVeigh, he said, referring to the ex-soldier and security guard responsible for the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. Lone wolf types, who may be waiting for their opportunity to act. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load BOULDER, Colo. There is an asphalt line that joins this citys two recent tragedies, binds them in an awful coincidence that will forever shape life here. Highway 93 runs northwest to Boulder from Louisville and Superior, a pair of comfortable suburbs that burned in a rare winter wildfire last week. Many of those who lost homes drove the road to shop here at King Soopers, where in March a 21-year-old man allegedly killed 10 people with an assault rifle in the markets grocery aisles. The past year has injected a sense of unnerving randomness to a city that prides itself on a self-confident graciousness and compassionate politics. Not immune from natural disasters or crime, Boulder and its southern suburbs nonetheless have found a new challenge rooted in uncertainty and shared pain after twin calamities, one the result of a gun the city tried to ban and another the product of a fast-changing climate. Advertisement The challenges ahead are daunting, namely how to replace 1,000 or so destroyed homes in a housing market that is pinched and pricey. Even where to build and what materials to use are being rethought by Colorado officials, who, in the words of Boulders mayor, are working in the new world of climate change and reexamining neighborhoods that no one ever thought would burn. Its been an incredibly difficult year, and these events have been layered upon the pandemic that everyone has been experiencing, Mayor Aaron Brockett said. The King Soopers shooting shook us to the core, and that took place within a mile or two from where the fire started. The thing that gets us all through it is coming together to help each other. The Marshall Fire started the day before New Years Eve on the grassy plains south of Boulder, burning hot and fast with hurricane-force winds pushing it toward suburbs never before at risk from fire. More than 30,000 people were evacuated along traffic-filled suburban streets, many named for songbirds, passing as they fled an elementary school named Fireside in a cruel reminder these neighborhoods were never meant to burn. Advertisement Happy Holidays, the sign on the schools marquee still reads. There are few trees in Louisville (pronounced Lewisville) and Superior, a sharp contrast from the towns that burn in California, some built deep into dry forests and up sere hillsides. But, like much of the West, Colorado is suffering through a deep drought, and at the time the fire sparked, for reasons still under investigation, no measurable amount of snow had fallen in this Rocky Mountain town in the shadow of the sheer, now snow-tipped Flatirons. We can see some real basic elements at play, said Maxwell Boykoff, a professor and chairman of the University of Colorado at Boulders environmental studies department. There have been warnings for years of these low-probability, high-consequence events and now we see they are becoming much more frequent. Advertisement Boykoff talked about the basic ingredients that made the plains around Boulder primed for fire, the same wet springs, dry winters that have made much of the American West far more susceptible to burns in recent years. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in Boulder County, Colo., after multiple grass fires were spread by 90 mph gusts on Dec. 30. (Video: The Washington Post) Four of Colorados five largest wildfires have occurred since 2018. This one burned about 1,000 homes and more than 100 businesses, a Target, movie theaters, strip malls and family-owned restaurants, making it the worst in state history and, like the King Soopers shooting, raising again the question of where safety here is assured anymore. Going forward there are materials that can be used for building that are less flammable and thats what we have to think about, Boykoff said. But there is this path dependency on what we have done that we still rely on. Whats critically important is that we integrate the lessons we have learned and not just let them pass by. The snow began falling as Louisville and Superior burned, another climate oddity that has complicated the investigation into the cause and the search for two people who remain missing. Homes still smolder, revealing hot spots that fire crews have yet to fully extinguish. On Tuesday, the return of high winds alarmed fire officials, who worried that fanning embers in the neighborhoods could again spark flames. Advertisement Rex and Barba Hickman have lived for 23 years along West Mulberry Street in Louisville. The couple, famous for their Christmas decorations more than 30,000 red lights strung from a choke cherry tree in their front yard had just completed a renovation that added a cabin-style space in the back of the house that quickly became a place for friends to gather and have a glass of wine. The house is a black pit now. Rex, a retired financial adviser, picked through the remains of a safe on a chilly, but sunny afternoon, finding with good humor a few melted gold coins and the ashes of passports and deeds and other documents. It was the most beautiful house in the world, Barba said, a place where they raised two kids. The fire swept up so quickly the couple looked outside after a police warning and could hardly see the sky. They put on ski goggles to protect against the ashes and embers and shuttled to the car with what they could gather in a few short, frightening minutes. Advertisement The winds were so strong the firefighters just couldnt keep up, Barba said. We couldnt see anything, not even the fire itself. The flames tore down Mulberry, destroying homes along Vista Lane and Tanager and Warbler courts. The Hickmans are without a home indefinitely even as they plan, Barba says, to rebuild right here again. Thats the challenge were going to be dealing with over the next two years, and that really is the timeline were looking at to rebuild, Brockett, the mayor, said. We need this interim housing and were going to have to get creative. Housing stock in Boulder and the greater Denver area is low and prices are high. Boulder County grew more than 12 percent over the past decade, according to the 2020 Census, helping drive up the median home price in the city by 13 percent to nearly $900,000. Advertisement Nearby Denvers expansion has been even more striking. The city grew by more than 20 percent over the past decade, adding nearly 120,000 new residents. Denver home prices have jumped more than 20 percent over the past year. This isnt going to be easy, but were going to find places for these folks, Brockett said. We really want to find places for folks to live their normal lives as much as possible and that means living as close to where they lived before, living close to their schools. Federal emergency officials have begun passing out housing vouchers and cash cards, and Boulder County has opened a one-stop shelter for services and beds for those who have lost everything. Even public officials are reeling a bit from the past year. The Boulder King Soopers thats the first grocery store you come to from the neighborhoods that burned, said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), a Boulder native. Theres this air of unreality about it still, just still so hard to believe that happened and now theres this connection. Polis has been present here since the fires, delivering a hopeful, look-ahead message with a barely disguised face full of grief. He is not a flashy leader, preferring to have the experts deliver the information, and he is preoccupied by the chain of events around the fire. He cites fire burn statistics of recent years off the top of his head, including the 600,000 acres of Colorado wildland that burned in 2020. Advertisement This was just 6,000 acres, Polis said of the Marshall Fire. But far more buildings were destroyed and lives upturned because of the density of this being in an urban and suburban area. So this is very different from the devastating fires that burned so much land, he added. This was residential and just hours before people began celebrating New Years Eve. Then there are those who were spared, their homes intact, standing next to a neighbors ruins. A quixotic wind drives flames along odd courses, here and across the West, so cruel luck, along with skilled firefighting, can often mean the difference between a spared home and homelessness. Chris Raker moved into 145 Tanager Ct. six weeks ago with a roommate. He is 31 and works as a quality assurance officer for a food company. The wind started on Thursday morning, then the smoke poured down Mulberry and the side street he lives on. Gusts were picking up patio furniture, hurling tables and chairs across the street and down the road. Looking out his window, he saw a family at the end of the street packing a car and leaving, as embers began raining down into his yard. Advertisement So we left, too, Raker said. They piled into his Hyundai coupe and left for his roommates sisters house, where they watched the fire move down their street on an iPhone connected to their Ring doorbell camera. Youd think a small grass fire, no problem, Raker said. But it was the wind. His house was spared. At least four homes on a patch of land between Tanager and Warbler courts burned all the way through the basements, cars stuck inside garages, brick chimneys standing sentry, the ubiquitous, eerie landmarks of the Wests post-fire landscapes. Fire hoses melted in the streets. Ornaments hung from oak and cottonwood trees remained hanging on charred branches, some melted into distorted shapes. Smoke from various ruins rose from pockets where a living room or kitchen once stood, hot spots that fire officials continue to monitor and douse. One house on Warbler Court was still framed in sky blue-painted wood, the opening to a garage. All else was black. Theima Sandvan lives next door, an original owner in a subdivision built 35 years ago. Her home was spared, she said, by the heroics of three neighbors who hosed down her house and those around it, keeping the embers off. Were going to have a huge block party when this all opens up again, Sandvan said. But for now I have survivors guilt. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Suspected ballistic missile launched Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight North Korea launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile Wednesday, authorities in Seoul and Tokyo said, just days after outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to make a final push for peace with the Kim regime. Pyongyang fired a suspected ballistic missile off North Koreas east coast at roughly 8:10 a.m. local time, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. The joint chiefs said intelligence agencies in Seoul and Washington were cooperating on further analysis of the apparent weapons test. Numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, though Pyongyang has repeatedly violated them. North Korea last conducted a weapons test on Oct. 19, when the nuclear-armed country fired a short-range ballistic missile from a submarine. Advertisement Earlier this week, Moon promised to use his two months left in the office to pursue a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang. If an opportunity arises, our government until the end of my term will seek the normalization of inter-Korean relations and a path to an irreversible peace, Moon said in his New Years address on Monday. Moon has been pursuing an end-of-war-declaration between the United States and the two Koreas in a bid to revive stalled negotiations over nuclear weapons between North Korea and the United States. Pyongyang has called such a declaration premature, while Washington has expressed reservations about the details of any such resolution. Min Joo Kim and Julia Mio Inuma 2 drones targeting U.S. forces are destroyed Two explosives-laden drones targeting an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops in the western province of Anbar were destroyed Tuesday, according to an official with the U.S.-led international coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq. Advertisement It was the second such attempted attack coinciding with the anniversary of the 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general near the Baghdad airport. On Monday, two armed drones were shot down as they headed toward a facility housing U.S. advisers at the Baghdad airport. According to the coalition official, the fixed-wing drones rigged with explosives in Tuesdays attack attempt were engaged and destroyed by defensive capabilities at the Ain al-Asad air base. In Mondays attack, the drones were shot down by the C-RAM defense system, and there were no reports of damage or injuries. No group asserted responsibility, although one of the wings of the drones had the words Soleimanis revenge painted on it, according to the coalition and Iraqi officials. The 2020 U.S. drone strike near Baghdads airport killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of Irans elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Advertisement Pro-Iran Shiite factions in Iraq have vowed revenge for the killings. The U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission supporting Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State last month. About 2,500 troops will remain as the coalition shifts to an advisory mission. Associated Press South Africa Parliament blaze contained: Authorities said they had finally contained a fire at South Africa's Parliament complex after a second-day flare-up that destroyed the lower house. A 49-year-old man accused of setting the fire appeared in court to face five charges, including arson and possession of an explosive device. An attorney for suspect Zandile Christmas Mafe said he would plead not guilty. The fire broke out Sunday. By Monday, authorities had withdrawn some firetrucks and said they were putting out embers, only for the flames to flare up again. Advertisement Israel set to lift restrictions on same-sex surrogacy: Israel's health minister said same-sex couples will be able to have children through surrogate mothers in Israel starting next week, following a Supreme Court decision last year. The court in July annulled parts of a surrogacy law that prevented gay couples from having children through a surrogate in Israel and said the change would take six months to come into effect to allow for the establishment of professional guidelines. Under the previous regulations, Israeli same-sex couples looking to become parents could not engage a surrogate and were often deterred by the costs of finding one abroad. From news services GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) announced Tuesday that she will not run for reelection, in the 25th retirement by a House Democrat as the party faces tough odds in the midterm elections. Lawrence, 67, is a four-term member of Congress and serves as vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee. She has spent three decades in public service. In 2001, she became the first woman and African American to win election as mayor of Southfield, Mich. Today, after reflecting on my journey and, oh my goodness, what a journey and having conversations with my family, I am announcing that I will not be seeking reelection to Congress, Lawrence said in a video she posted to her official Twitter account Tuesday night. This year marks my 30th year in elected public service, and I've had the good fortune of serving Michiganders on the local and national level. After reflecting on my journey & having conversations with my family, I'm announcing that I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. pic.twitter.com/QBmdExSKaj Brenda Lawrence (@RepLawrence) January 5, 2022 Lawrence noted that she will serve out the remainder of her current term and thanked the people of Michigans 14th District who placed their trust and vote in me in me, just a little Black girl from the east side of Detroit. Advertisement You made me your congresswoman, she said. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to be your voice in Congress and to fight for our communities and issues in Washington, D.C., on a national platform. Late last month, Michigans independent redistricting commission approved new maps that will define the states congressional districts for the next 10 years. The state will have 13 districts, one less than it currently has. A group of current and former Black lawmakers plans to file a lawsuit to block the implementation of the new maps, arguing that they violate the U.S. Voting Rights Act and the Michigan Constitution in part because the state will no longer have two majority-minority congressional districts, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. In her video announcing her retirement, Lawrence alluded to the battle over the states new districts, emphasized the importance of representation, and urged voters to continue supporting Black candidates. Advertisement As we have a new redistricting map, a new generation of leaders will step up, Lawrence said. We need to make sure our elected officials in Michigan and across the country look like our communities. It is not lost on me that Im currently the only Black member of the Michigan congressional delegation, in both the House and the Senate. Earlier Tuesday, another prominent Black lawmaker, Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), announced that he will retire after 30 years in Congress. Lawrence said that while she is not certain what her next step will be, her journey is far from over and that public service will be the guiding light. Republicans cited Lawrences retirement as a signal that Democrats are worried about their partys midterm prospects. It sure seems like a lot of senior House Democrats dont think theyll be in the majority after the midterm elections, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg said in a statement. Advertisement Lawrences Democratic colleagues hailed her work on Capitol Hill and in her community. Over her four terms in the House, Congresswoman Lawrence has been a force for equality and justice for all, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement Wednesday. As a leader of the Democratic Womens Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the powerful Appropriations Committee, she has long fought to lift up working women and communities of color from better maternal health care, to more apprenticeship opportunities, to action on gun violence, and more. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said in a statement that with Lawrences retirement, Congress is losing an incredible public servant, trailblazer and leader. We have worked together on so many issues, including launching the transformative community behavioral health initiative that is bringing mental health and addiction resources to Michiganders, Stabenow said. While I will miss working with my dear friend in 2023 and beyond, I know she will do so much good in Michigan in whatever she chooses to do next. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load Former president Donald Trump has canceled the news conference he planned to hold on Jan. 6 to mark the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. In a statement released Tuesday by his Save America PAC, Trump blamed the media and the bipartisan congressional committee that is investigating the attack. Trumps lawyers are fighting the panels efforts to obtain his records. In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in ArizonaIt will be a big crowd! Trump said. The former president had been planning to speak at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida on Thursday night. Committee members said on Jan. 2 that they had "firsthand testimony" confirming former president Donald Trump watched the Capitol riot on TV as it unfolded. (Video: The Washington Post) Advertisement According to a person familiar with the matter, Trump wanted to make a scene and deride reporters at the event but had been told repeatedly by his advisers that it could be the kind of coverage he doesnt want. Trump also did not know exactly what he wanted his message to be, and his team was taken aback by how many reporters were planning on attending, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. It was going to be awful, awful press, a Trump adviser said. The adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly about deliberations surrounding the event, said Trump had originally announced the news conference on a lark and without a plan in place. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Advertisement The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was launched by a mob trying to stop the confirmation of Joe Bidens electoral college win. It resulted in five deaths and injured about 140 members of law enforcement. In his statement, Trump perpetuated his widely debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen, the false allegation that spurred many of his supporters to invade the Capitol. This is the Democrats Great Cover-Up Committee and the Media is complicit, Trump said, adding, Why is the primary reason for the people coming to Washington D.C., which is the fraud of the 2020 Presidential Election, not the primary topic of the Unselect Committees investigation? This was, indeed, the Crime of the Century. In recent days, some Senate Republicans had voiced unease about Trumps plans for a news conference on the anniversary of the attack. Hopefully his comments will be helpful, not harmful, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday. GiftOutline Gift Article Nearly six months after the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, no large nation has come forward with a bolder climate plan, and none of the worlds top emitters has committed to doing so this year. An hour beforehand, as red dirt blew hard in our faces, Josie turned to me, spitting out dirt, and asked: So Margaret, where do you see yourself in five years? The next long university break, we flew to Perth, hitchhiked to Kalgoorlie, and then tried to make our way up north to the town of Leinster and across to Geraldton. Miners told us it was possible, but it was a stupid plan. We waited eight hours on the side of the road, smoking rollies when we didnt normally smoke and drinking all our water plus a bottle of Erin Cream. Wed endured a dust storm and an ants nest before a man pulled up amazed and said: What the hell are you doing out here? We did all of it, and for a young person whod spent most of her life living in small rural towns it was a mixture of shock and awe. On our own and with just enough money to scrape by on, the trip raised in me the possibility of a bigger life. In 1990, my cousin and I hitchhiked from Adelaide up the Stuart Highway to Darwin. I was 19, Josie was 21. Our intention was to catch a flight to Kupang, Timor, and then make our way in eight weeks across the islands to Bali, where wed find a flight back to Darwin, hitch back down the highway again and return to Melbourne in time for the uni semester to begin. Afterward, we made our way back down to Perth, up to Broome and across to Darwin the ride in a brown Valiant with three blokes wed met in the backpackers. Windows down, Pink Floyd blaring, we drank cask wine and sped with wild abandon across glorious Kimberley skies. Down the Stuart again and back to university. Repeat the following semester break and the next and - when wed graduated - overseas. Out of all our adventures and mishaps and laughs, I keep coming back to the hitchhiking. Sitting there, on the side of the road with my cousin, sometimes for hours in the hot sun, waiting. What did we talk about on those long days? I dont remember being bored. We sometimes made up dances for each other and performed them in the middle of the road. We sang a lot from the Jesus Christ Superstar movie, Whats the buzz, tell me whats happening, whats the buzz ... and we talked - about life, about the future, about families and about nothing at all. Sometimes I would tell stories and Josie would listen, nodding her head. She might ask a question about a character or say what she liked about the plot. Sometimes the stories went on for weeks today I have no idea what they were about. The people we hitched with were mostly good. We favoured lifts with truckies, because they had a place to be and deadlines to meet. Young, single men were OK, more than two men were generally not. Older people in caravans rarely picked us up and to this day I have an aversion to the motorhome. The lifts we enjoyed most were with older women. These were rare, but oh, it felt so safe and relaxed to be with ladies who could be our mothers, who admonished us for hitchhiking and then let us sleep in the back seat. No need to be upbeat, engaging and funny all the time with them. The Book of Boba Fett Disney+, on demand A lot has happened in the decades since we all sat, wide-eyed, in the cinema as the screen lit up with the words A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away .... Since then, the scale of the Star Wars franchise has sometimes seemed overwhelming. Movie piled upon movie, trilogy piled upon trilogy, action sequence piled upon action sequence. And way too many toys for one (big) little kid to collect. Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) on the mean streets of Tatooine. Credit:Lucasfilm At the same time, the Star Wars universe still seems preciously small. It is not as big as Doctor Who, which is onto its umpteenth Doctor and having churned out seasons of episodes every year since 1963, barring what we politely call its interregnum in the 1990s. And it is not as big as Star Trek, which has cranked out a dozen or more movies and now close to 10 television series spin-offs, going boldly in every direction. Star Wars, in contrast, at least in the live action realm, has just 11 movies to its name (13 if you include the two Ewok-themed telemovies). And on top of that, a scant few new additions, notably Jon Favreaus masterwork western-thriller, The Mandalorian. Though more are coming: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka and others. The paucity of live action Star Wars perhaps explains why even its worst iterations, such as 1978 shocker Star Wars Holiday Special, still fascinate us, even after all these years. Also, real life, even the real lives of great women, is mostly boring. Would you watch three seasons of a show in which Emily Dickinson sits alone at her desk scratching out verse with a pencil? But there are telling emphases in these shows and equally telling excisions. This new breed of heroine is ambitious and sex positive, with impeccably modern politics. Rather than understanding these women as products of their time, we make them creatures of ours. This new breed of heroine is ambitious and sex positive, with impeccably modern politics; Chloe Fineman, Anna Baryshnikov and Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson. Credit:Apple TV+ Schwartz told me that she understands the impulse to sex up historical women. It lavishes attention on them, correcting the dismissiveness of earlier historians. But that then has the collective effect of making these women less interesting and less honest in who they were within their periods, she said. At least Dickinson, created by Alena Smith, plays with this dishonesty purposefully and boldly, taking the wildness and desire that suffused Emily Dickinsons poetry, if not her life, and externalising it through scenes in which Hailee Steinfelds Emily twerks at house parties and takes carriage rides with Wiz Khalifas Death. The real Dickinson was introverted and, despite her on-trend eyebrows, not a particular beauty. Loading In terms of being a cool girl, I dont really know if she was, said Monica Pelaez, a Dickinson scholar who has advised the show. She chose to seclude herself. The historical Dickinson doesnt seem to have dressed as a man or protested as an eco-warrior or taken multiple lovers or heaved her bosom in a daring red dress. But her poetry and letters conjure vivid emotional states, so Dickinson colours Emilys life with this dynamism, colliding reality and fantasy. What the show does is bring that sensibility from her poetry and dramatise it, Pelaez said. The Emily who emerges is confident, career-minded, fascinating to men and women, a corrective to previous works (even recent ones like Terence Davies 2016 movie A Quiet Passion) that ignored the queerness her letters and poems suggest. But while Dickinson seems acutely aware of the sociopolitics of 19th-century New England, the show often argues for Emilys exceptionalism by differentiating her and to a lesser extent her sister, Lavinia (Anna Baryshnikov), and sister-in-law, Sue (Ella Hunt) from the other women of Amherst, Massachusetts. Rather than looking for solidarity among the women of her progressive community, Emily emphasises this difference. Im just not made for traditional feminine handicrafts, she complains during a sewing circle scene, the implication being that women who are made for them dont deserve a prestige TV series. Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson. Credit:Apple TV+ In this way Emily resembles Catherine, of The Great. Created by Tony McNamara (who also co-wrote the lightly counterfactual battling-British-royals comedy The Favourite), the series stars a luminous Elle Fanning as a German princess who arrives at the Russian court as a teenager and promptly claims the tsardom for herself. Liberated from chronology and fact, the comedy-drama twiddles the timeline of Catherines career and marriage. (Lets just say that the real Peter struggled to consummate their relationship and the Peter of The Great, played by Nicholas Hoult, does not.) Bright, colourful and cruel, like a dish of poisoned candies, the show occasionally portrays Catherine as naive. But she learns fast, and her emergent politics and commitment to hustle are beautifully modern. She wants to end Russias wars, free its serfs, teach women to read, inoculate her subjects. (This is more or less true of the historical Catherine.) And in her ball gowns? An absolute smoke show. The legacy of the real Catherine, who came to the throne not as a dewy teenager but as a more seasoned 33-year-old, was of course more complicated. She actually increased serfdom, said Hilde Hoogenboom, a professor of Russian who has translated Catherines memoirs. Hoogenboom describes The Great as the Disneyfication of the real Catherine. To make her a fairytale princess, the series also insists on differentiating Catherine from the other women at court, representing her as a savvy It Girl, more beautiful and powerful than her peers. Bitch, one noblewoman sneers. Empress bitch, Catherine corrects her. The real Catherine was different. (And as someone who routinely elevated her lovers and male allies, not so big on sisterhood.) But she was one of several 18th-century female heads of state, including Empress Elisabeth, her immediate predecessor, a fact that The Great conveniently elides. Instead it presents Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) as a dithery nymphomaniac, raising Catherine up by pushing Elizabeth and her underwear down. Six, created by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, puts its women in competition even more explicitly, structuring the show as an American Idol-style vocal contest. A blingy take on trauma porn, it demands that each woman sing not about her character or integrity but about the wrongs she suffered at Henrys meaty hands. Here are the rules, as detailed in the opening number: The Queen who was dealt the worst hand / The Queen with the most hardships to withstand / The Queen for whom it didnt really go as planned / Shall be the one to lead the band. Before ending in a mostly empty gesture of solidarity, Six simplifies and updates many of these women, turning Anne Boleyn, an astute political player, into a foxy goodtime girl, framing Katherine Howard, a blatant victim of abuse, as a barely legal tease. (Lock up your husbands, lock up your sons / K-Howard is here, and the funs begun. ) The costume design, in a nod to pop norms, sexualises each woman, coupling their worth with their hotness. In her song, Katherine Parr, Henrys widow, reminds listeners of her accomplishments: I wrote books, and psalms, and meditations, / Fought for female education / So all my women could independently study scripture / I even got a woman to paint my picture / Why cant I tell that story? Well, why cant she? Instead, the songs from Six centre the womens relationships to Henry, emphasising his attraction to them (or rejection of them) over any of the wives accomplishments. The things that these women were doing should be of historical interest, regardless of whether or not they were all married to this (expletive) dude, said Jessica Keene, a history professor who studies the Tudor period. This substitution of sexuality for excellence can extend even into more enlightened shows. That sewing circle episode of Dickinson includes a dynamic cameo from Sojourner Truth, played by writer and talk show host Ziwe. Because Dickinson remains exquisitely self-aware, it jokes about Ziwes youthful appearance (Im roughly 66, but I look good as hell) and Truths 19th-century sex bomb vibe (Oh, theyre going to know Im a woman in this dress). But the real Sojourner Truth, who came to public life in middle age, didnt lead with sex. Corinne T. Field, who has written on Truth, described her as a figure who critiqued girlish beauty and sexuality. Her whole public career is built as someone who had already aged beyond youth and was occupying a position of power and charisma that did not rely on girlish beauty, Field said. I asked Field what we miss when Dickinson depicts a woman like Truth this way. An investment in intergenerational networks of mutual care, Field said without pausing. We need to think about how you sustain female empowerment over the course of a whole life. Helen Mirren in the 2019 miniseries Catherine The Great, which is more accurate historically but less fun. Credit:Sky Atlantic If creators, even creators with explicitly feminist aims like Smith and Moss, believe that audiences wont pay attention to female protagonists absent of youth and beauty, they will likely frame empowerment narrowly. And maybe thats necessary on some level. The recent and more accurate versions like A Quiet Passion, 2019s Catherine the Great and this years Anne Boleyn tend to be less fun. If girlbossification is the price to elevate female historical figures to the mainstream consciousness, so be it, Schwartz said. Could that be why many men dont say sorry as often? University of Queensland clinical psychology senior lecturer Dr James Kirby says there might be several reasons. Saying sorry can be perceived as a weakness, which would chip away at their masculine status, he says. Also, men high in traditional masculinity value not showing emotions, and when saying sorry we often show sadness, regret, remorse. Others can avoid saying sorry because they dont want to be perceived as making a mistake or having done something wrong. In these instances, some people can see themselves as a bad person if they have to say sorry. Part of this could be down to the history of the word sorry. It comes from the Old English word sarig, meaning distressed, grieved, full of sorrow which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic sairiga-, meaning painful. Emeritus professor Roland Sussex, from the University of Queenslands School of Languages and Cultures, explains that in other languages, such as Russian, there can be a direct link between sorry and guilt. But even in the English language, there can be a difference in how sorry is interpreted. In Canada, for example, sorry doesnt necessarily mean someone is guilty. The Apology Act even states that just because someone says theyre sorry doesnt mean theyre legally guilty. Loading Of course, some people say sorry far more than others. Writing for Psychology Today, Dr Amanda Rose a US professor at the University of Missouri explains upbringing plays a role. According to Rose, women are usually raised to say sorry to maintain relationships and show sympathy for another person in other words, to show care. Men, on the other hand, are typically taught to only apologise when theyve done something wrong. Could something else be going on psychologically for those of us who say sorry a lot? Says Dr Kirby: Often that can be just a personality difference, just a super conscientious person or maybe family upbringing. Others can say sorry heaps to not appear threatening to others. Some people who are very anxious and insecure can say sorry a lot. Professor Bastian says over-apologising can be because of societal expectations or a sign of a lack of confidence. But the more you use the word, the less impact it may have. There are other risks. John Hall, author of Top of Mind, says saying sorry too much and for things we have little control over can make some people think less of us. In The Power of an Apology, author Beverly Engel warns excessively apologising can be interpreted as an invitation to treat us poorly. Still, Professor Bastian stresses that saying sorry a lot isnt necessarily a bad thing. Research shows its a sign of inner strength, intelligence, empathy and is a desirable leadership trait. Its actually not a very psychologically or reputationally expensive thing to apologise, but people think it is, Bastian says. Not saying sorry can even impede our happiness, Bastian says. He adds that apologising can help remove feelings of guilt or shame we might otherwise bottle up inside. Dr Kirby agrees. Saying sorry can be very therapeutic. But people can be very afraid of saying sorry. Loading So is there a right way to say sorry? As Dr Harriet Lerner author of Why Wont You Apologize: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts told NPR, a good apology needs to be sincere. Its also important to be vulnerable, she says, and listen to the other person. With stories about people not apologising for bad behaviour in the news regularly, clearly some of us need to learn to say sorry more and better. As for myself, Ive been trying to only apologise when its really important for things Ive actually done or said versus things I have no control over and really mean it when I say it. That way, my apologies might be interpreted as more sincere and go further in mending relationships. Of course, the worst option would not be wearing anything at all. But if youve got a cloth mask, its not going to provide that high degree of filtration, she said. While it might stop really large droplets potentially being inhaled or exhaled, we know that we generate aerosols that are incredibly small (they can be less than five microns) and so aerosols that small will likely not be trapped in a cloth mask efficiently. Ms Cole said surgical masks had better filtration, but did not fit snugly to the face. The single-use respirator masks are still fairly widely available in Australia, though they are more expensive than surgical masks (three P2 masks at Bunnings cost $11.50), prompting calls by Ms Cole and others for them to be discounted by the government. Air-quality scientist Professor Lidia Morawska suggested subsidies for respirator masks, at least for a short time. She said with so many infections, high-quality masks were now one of the critical measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 Australia. Earlier this week, the head of Monash Universitys epidemiological modelling unit, Associate Professor James Trauer, called for high-quality masks to be widely distributed to the public. Loading Occupational physician Malcolm Sim, who has served on infection control groups for the state and federal governments, said he didnt believe subsidising respirator masks was the highest priority, given the competing demands for funding. He said would probably rank support for rapid antigen tests higher. But Professor Sim said people should wear a face mask that fitted tightly, especially when going into aged care, prisons or in other indoor environments where they are close to others. I see so many people who wear just ordinary masks incorrectly under the chin, under their nose theyve got big gaps at the side, they flip over the straps and cross them over and create a big gap at the side. Professor Sim said he was also concerned people still didnt understand the higher risk posed by indoor environments. It does worry me a little to see restaurants where people are sitting down eating and drinking, talking loudly, in fairly close proximity, he said. Im all for the hospitality sector to be given a boost because its really suffered over the last two years, but thats probably one of your higher-risk situations. When used by frontline workers, P2 and N95 masks require fit testing to ensure they create a firm seal on a persons face, but Ms Cole said when used by the public it was only necessary for people to find the model with the best fit for them. Such masks are not appropriate for those with beards. Ms Cole said that when buying a respirator mask, people should look for the code AS/NZS 1716 to ensure they met the Australian standard, or NIOSH to indicate they had been approved by US regulators. For those concerned about the cost and environmental impact of single-use masks, she said, N95 and P2 masks could be repeatedly reused by the public in a community setting (for example, until the elastic breaks) and there were reusable elastomeric respirators that were incredibly effective. Asked if the government had any advice to the public about how to choose the most protective mask, the federal Health Department provided a link to a list of guidance from the governments Infection Control Expert Group. The group has previously underplayed the importance of airborne spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, and lagged behind key global organisations in updating its advice. In some published advice from the group, masks are described as an extra precaution with the key advice being to wash or sanitise your hands, physically distance and use the COVIDSafe app. The advice also says people should make sure [the mask] covers your nose and mouth, and fits snugly under your chin, over the bridge of your nose and against the sides of your face. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established 50 years ago by four young Aboriginal men, Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey, Michael Anderson and Bert Williams, in protest at the governments treatment of Aboriginal people. They called for land rights, the protection of Aboriginal sacred sites, and proper compensation for lands not returned. Indigenous protestors highlighted the violence of colonisation, theft of Aboriginal land and the risk that posed to Aboriginal culture. They succeeded in drawing many supporters, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and meeting prime minister Gough Whitlam, highlighting the recognition of Aboriginal people as people with rights to land and culture. The tent embassy in 1972, re-erected in the afternoon after police tore it down in the morning. Credit:Fairfax Media This is a proud history of Aboriginal activism that shaped national consciousness and united Aboriginal people across the country in our justice claims. It showed survival and resistance, as protesters stood their ground against police violence when the government ordered the embassy be disbanded. It is now a powerful symbol of Aboriginal sovereignty. In the early 90s, as a young Noongar law student, I travelled to Canberra to the Tent Embassy protesting against the Western Australian governments treatment of Aboriginal youth through laws known as three strikes. These laws still exist and result in mandatory incarceration for property related offences. They explain why Aboriginal child and youth incarceration is so high in WA and the Northern Territory, about double that of the national average, which is also shocking. I took several young people with me who were at risk of such laws, and we sought refuge at the embassy to highlight nationally what was happening. At the Tent Embassy I met people who had very senior reputations as fighters for Aboriginal justice, Isobel Coe and Kevin Gilbert, who talked about colonisation without treaty and what this meant now: that our sovereignty as Aboriginal people has never been ceded and that Australia was acquired unlawfully under international law and the Law of Nations. Mr MacKenzie implored the chair of the UK inquiry, Sir Brian Longstaff, to recommend the Australian government order an independent judicial inquiry with powers to investigate both CSL and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, which administered the contaminated products. Victims in Australia deserve the opportunity to be heard, to find out the truth about what happened to them, and for reparations to be made to the fullest possible extent. Since 2017, the UK inquiry has been investigating what has been dubbed a horrific human tragedy and the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service (NHS). Substantial compensation schemes for victims are already operating in a string of countries, including Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Mr MacKenzie led lobbying efforts which resulted in a senate inquiry in Australia in 2004. It did not recommend a national compensation scheme for victims, finding it was not in their best interests. It did recommend the establishment of a body to deliver targeted financial assistance to victims, a recommendation Mr MacKenzie dubbed very positive. However, absolutely nothing came of this, he told the UK inquiry. The only apology that had ever been offered, was the extremely qualified and legalistic one spoken in the mediation. The apology ignored1350 haemophiliacs who had been infected with hepatitis C while being treated for their blood clotting disorders, Mr MacKenzie said He became overwhelmed by despair following the senate inquiry, believing his groups campaign for justice had been an abject failure. A number of key campaigners were dying. I became affected by the ongoing difficulties and injustice experienced by so many people, and I was particularly affected by the deaths and the sense of helplessness, he told the UK inquiry. I thought that I, personally, had failed and let down all the infected blood victims. However, Mr MacKenzie was galvanised by British MP Andy Burnham, who used his valedictory speech in 2017 to demand an inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal, describing it as a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale. An inquiry was ordered by ten-Prime Minister Theresa May just months later, after Mr Burnham threatened to turn evidence he had received over to the police. Loading Mr MacKenzie said Mr Burnhams speech greatly inspired me to take up the fight again on behalf of Australian infected blood victims. I started seeing that I was not entirely to blame for failing to achieve financial assistance and help for victims. That this fight was bigger than me. Mr MacKenzie was born in the UK and migrated to Australia aged four, where he developed severe aplastic anaemia, which required multiple blood transfusions. After acquiring hepatitis C from one of the transfusions, he has spent much of his adult life too ill to work. Hepatitis is a major cause of liver disease and cancer, as well as fatigue, malaise and mood changes. The death of a 55-year-old Perth grandmother on Christmas Eve after she collapsed days earlier in extreme heat while working at a commercial laundry is being investigated by WorkSafe. Zenaida Fabian had been working 60-hour weeks over six days at the South Pacific Laundry plant in Maddington when she collapsed about 8.20pm on December 22, according to the United Workers Union and CFMEU. The mother of three died two days later in a Perth hospital intensive care unit where it was discovered she had experienced a blood clot and cerebral aneurysm. Her husband Allan Fabian told WAtoday on Tuesday she didnt have any pre-existing conditions before she collapsed at work, but while in hospital the doctor and neurologist discovered she had an undiagnosed condition. Three men have been arrested over an alleged plot to smuggle almost $100 million worth of methamphetamine into Western Australia. The men, aged 31, 32 and 35, were arrested on December 30 after Australian Border Force officers found 99 kilograms of drugs hidden in a 550 kilogram shipment of latex bed pillows on December 17. Border Force and Australian Federal Police officers were watching as two men allegedly picked up the boxes of pillows on December 29 and took them to a property in Maddington. They were met by two other men, and the group allegedly unloaded the boxes into a shipping container. Australia is on track to give 60 million COVID-19 vaccines to developing nations by the end of this year as aid groups call on Canberra to lift its commitments to help stamp out more deadly variants of the virus. Australia has now shared more than 17.5 million doses the majority of which have been locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines with the Pacific and south-east Asia. Over 2.35 million doses of Pfizer were shipped to Cambodia last week. The tally has been boosted by a shipment of 4.5 million Pfizer doses to south-east Asian nations last week, including more than 2.35 million doses of Pfizer to Cambodia, through an initiative with UNICEF. Cambodia has so far mostly received vaccines from China during the pandemic and last week marked the first Australian donation of COVID vaccines to the country. Indonesia has received the most vaccines from Australia with 5.69 million, followed by Vietnam with 5.16 million, Cambodia 2.35 million, just over one million each for Laos and Fiji, and 777,850 for East Timor. Australians would be forgiven for thinking that their nations relationship with Europe is in tatters after the cancellation of the $90 billion French submarine contract. French President Emmanuel Macron still isnt over what his government labelled a stab in the back, while negotiations over a free trade deal with the European Union were halted amid the submarine announcement fallout. Personal animosity between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and French President Emmanuel Macron set back the Australia-EU relationship in 2021. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Rightly or wrongly, Australias decision to cancel the French contract and build nuclear submarines with the United States and Britain sent a signal that it preferred to partner with its traditional Anglo-Saxon allies. Adding to these tensions, Europe last year racheted up its pressure on Australia to do more on climate change. But there are signs that the relationship between the EU and Canberra could blossom more than ever in 2022. And the biggest driver is China. Almaty: Russia and its allies said they would send troops to help Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev quell protests after anti-government demonstrators seized official buildings and a major airport in the biggest challenge to the Central Asian countrys leadership in decades. The announcement, made in the early hours of Thursday, came after Kazakh authorities imposed a nationwide state of emergency and sent military units to fight what Tokayev called terrorist bands. In the countrys largest city and former capital, Almaty, demonstrators had seized the international airport and set fire to the presidential residence and city hall. Authorities later said the airport had been retaken, Interfax reported. Riot police officers stand ready to stop demonstrators during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Credit:AP Citing threats to the national security and sovereignty of Kazakhstan caused in part by intervention from abroad, the six-nation Collective Security Treaty Organisation decided to deploy peacekeeping forces for a limited period with the goal of stabilising and normalising the situation in the country, according to the brief statement posted at 1.20am Moscow time on the Kremlin website. It didnt include any details on the size of the deployment or which countries would send troops. The CSTO is dominated by Russia and also includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Hong Kong: Flights from eight countries, including Australia, the US and Britain, have been banned from entering Hong Kong for two weeks from this Friday. Hong Kong also tightened restrictions on Wednesday as authorities feared a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has banned flights from some countries and tightened restrictions as Omicron threatens to take hold. Credit:AP The restrictions were announced as health authorities scoured the city for the contacts of a COVID-19 patient, some of whom had been aboard a Royal Caribbean ship that was ordered to cut short its cruise to nowhere and return to port. Incoming flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States, including interchanges, would be banned from January 8 to January 21, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told reporters. London: Emma Watson has been accused of anti-Semitism by Israels former ambassador to the United Nations over a post supporting Palestinian protesters. The actress, 31, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film franchise, reposted an image to her 64.2 million followers of a pro-Palestinian protest featuring a banner saying solidarity is a verb. She captioned the Instagram post with a quote on the meaning of solidarity by Sara Ahmed, a feminism and critical race theory academic. Danny Danon, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN, tweeted: 10 points from Gryffindor [one of the four houses of Hogwarts School in Harry Potter] for being an anti-Semite. The current ambassador, Gilad Erdan, added: Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality. New York: A US judge on Tuesday appeared sceptical of a bid by Britains Prince Andrew to dismiss Virginia Giuffres lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17 and being trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan is assessing a 2009 settlement agreement in Florida between Epstein and Giuffre that the 61-year-old princes lawyers have said shields Andrew, The Duke of York, from claims by the 38-year-old Giuffre. Prince Andrews lawyers argue that Virginia Giuffre is merely seeking another payday. Credit:Getty Images The agreement included a general release that would forever discharge various people who could have been included as a potential defendant in a civil lawsuit Giuffre filed against Epstein that she settled for $US500,000. Settlements of US civil lawsuits can restrict plaintiffs from pursuing further litigation, even against third parties. Washington: US President Joe Biden has told schools they should remain open after thousands of classrooms shut down just as students were due to return and the nation recorded more than 1 million COVID cases in one day. Tensions between teachers, parents and governments erupted after some districts temporarily switched to remote learning, reigniting anger over one of the most polarising debates in the US since the pandemic began: whether children should be in classrooms as coronavirus cases soar. Thousand of classes across the US have been shut down again as coronavirus cases reach record highs. Credit:AP In Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union voted to switch to remote learning until cases substantially subside or union leaders approve an agreement for safety protocols with the district, the AP reported. Earlier, union members accused the citys high-profile mayor, Lori Lightfoot, of failing to have an adequate COVID-19 plan for schools. American democracy has always been uneven. A nation founded on dispossession and enslavement, still grappling with the living legacies of those terrible injustices, cannot honestly call itself a true democracy. It was not until the 1960s that the United States took genuine steps towards inclusive democracy, with the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. Half a century later, those hard-won victories now face the biggest threats of their relatively short existence. The anniversary of the January 6 invasion of Congress finds US democracy in a dangerous place. Credit:AP As the US commemorates the first anniversary of the failed coup attempt of January 6, 2021, the focus is overwhelmingly on how to stop those threats from being realised. The signs arent exactly heartening. Right-wing media continues to promote the big lie about the 2020 election, very deliberately laying the groundwork for the next one, voting rights reform is wobbling, and the almost daily revelations from the January 6 congressional investigation are having very little impact. Meanwhile, the big reforms that need to happen to strengthen American democracy from the Supreme Court, to voting rights, to media control are either stalling or not on the agenda. Brasilia: Brazils hospital system may be at risk as a surge of influenza courses through the country just as the Omicron strain takes hold. Some people have been hit by back-to-back infections - or even come down with both at the same time in whats been dubbed flurona. There have been a few cases in at least three states so far and experts say that number is likely to grow as Omicron, a more contagious variant of coronavirus, becomes more prevalent. In the Middle East, Israel has reported its first case of the combination diagnosis, a pregnant woman unfortunate enough to catch both diseases at once. Brazils hospitals are braced for patients who are battling two viruses simultaneously. Credit:Getty Images Its not a surprise considering there are two highly infectious viruses circulating in Brazil at a time when people are being less careful with the use of masks and social distancing, said Jean Gorinchteyn, the health secretary for the state of Sao Paulo, one of the three states that have reported cases of simultaneous infections. Kye Parsons is the editor of WBOC.com. He came to WBOC with several years experience as an award-winning journalist on Delmarva. Prior to entering the world of multimedia, he worked as a newspaper editor and reporter. E-mail him at kparsons@wboc.com . Follow Kye Parsons Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Rosemary Allen becomes first woman to serve as president of Georgetown College UK employee fired after being charged with breaking into more than 800 dorm rooms Allentown, PA (18103) Today Mostly cloudy with a lingering shower very early or a pop-up shower later in the afternoon; some afternoon sun developing. . Tonight Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east. Reading, PA (19601) Today Mostly cloudy with a lingering shower very early or a pop-up shower later in the afternoon; some afternoon sun developing. . Tonight Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east. WhatsOnStage's lead critic Sarah Crompton has plenty of productions to look forward to in 2022, but which ones find themselves at the top of her most anticipated list? I think I've seen every production of this Caryl Churchill classic since it premiered 20 years ago with Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig, as a father and his sons. Decades haven't altered its impact; it constantly surprises. Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu take the roles in this revival directed by Lyndsey Turner. Old Vic, from January 24 James McAvoy in Cyrano de Bergerac Marc Brenner Jamie Lloyd's production of Martin Crimp's free adaptation of Edmond Rostand's classic about the warrior poet with a big nose, was one of the sexiest and most absorbing productions of 2019. Its return, complete with a revelatory performance by James McAvoy in the title role, is sure to be a highlight of this year. Harold Pinter Theatre, from February 3, then Theatre Royal Glasgow, from 18 March An Unfinished Man My new year's resolution is to go to see theatre in places I find hard to reach by public transport. Too often such venues drop off my radar, but I am determined to make a point of getting to this enterprising east London venue for a new play by the consistently interesting Channel 4 playwright bursary winner Dipo Baruwa-Etti, directed by Taio Lawson. The Yard, from February 12 Ironically best known for the cheery musical Matilda, Dennis Kelly is one of the most provocative and bleakest of playwrights and this new show, about a city under attack from a nuclear blast, sounds like an intriguing addition to his dark oeuvre. It's directed by Lyndsey Turner, who is having a busy 2022. Theatre Royal Stratford East, from February 25 Straight Line Crazy Ralph Fiennes Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage A new play by David Hare is always an event. This one, which is about Robert Moses, the man whose questionable vision reshaped New York from the 1930s to the 1960s, tackles the resonant themes of power, racism and the weaknesses of democracy when faced with a charismatic believer. It stars Ralph Fiennes and is directed by Nicholas Hytner. Bridge Theatre, from March 16 Ruth Wilson Matt Crockett The last time director Ivo Van Hove and actress Ruth Wilson collaborated was on an unforgettably committed and radical Hedda Gabler. Their take on Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice looks unmissable, not least because this monologue about a woman saying farewell to her former lover, with its themes of loneliness and depression, seems so relevant to our times. Harold Pinter Theatre, from March 17 Punchdrunk's The Burnt City My second new year's resolution is to be less wary of immersive theatre, which always worries me. There's no better way to get over that aversion than with a new show from Punchdrunk, who are returning to London for the first time since 2014 to tell us the story of the Fall of Troy, transposed to a future parallel world. Woolwich Works, from March 22 Marys Seacole The UK premiere of new play from Jackie Sibblies Drury, whose Fairview fiercely challenged white audiences about how they see the world. This one, also directed by Nadia Latif, takes the subject of Mary Seacole, the pioneering Jamaican nurse who worked in the Crimean War, and puts the whole idea of biography under a new lens. It sounds fascinating. Donmar Warehouse, from April 15 Mark Rylance in Jerusalem Simon Annand Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem is arguably the best play of the 21st century so far, a work whose importance and resonance has only increased since its premiere in 2009. This revival is once again directed by Ian Rickson, with Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook returning to the roles they created. I can't wait to see it again. Apollo Theatre, from April 16 Oklahoma! The 2019 Broadway cast of Oklahoma! Little Fang Photo The arrival on the London stage of Bartlett Sher's sumptuous production of My Fair Lady (at the Coliseum from May 7) is exciting, but the production that knocked me for six when I saw it in New York, was Daniel Fish's revisionist take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic which transforms the way you see and hear its familiar tunes. Young Vic, from April 26 The House of Shades Anne-Marie Duff Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage Thanks to Covid, Beth Steel's play which spans five decades of lives and deaths in one family and through them tells the story of changing attitudes in industrial Britain, didn't get to the stage last year. Now it arrives, still starring Anne-Marie Duff and directed by Blanche McIntyre, and it still feels like an event from the woman whose Wonderland promised so much. Almeida Theatre, from May 7 The Father and the Assassin For sheer scope, you've got be interested in Anupama Chandrasekhar's new play whose subject is the story of Nathuram Godse, the man who murdered Gandhi. Slightly worryingly, it's in the Olivier, which has traditionally been an inhospitable environment for new work, but reassuringly it's directed by Indhu Rubasingham whose three previous collaborations with Chandrasekhar have yielded rich rewards. National Theatre, from May 12 Legally Blonde I have a very soft spot for Legally Blonde, the musical about fashion-conscious sorority girl Elle Woods who determines to win back her boyfriend's love and respect by overcoming stereotypes and taking on a Harvard law degree. Directed by Lucy Moss, who co-created Six, it should be the perfect way to celebrate the venue's 90th anniversary. Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, from May 13 Amy Adams Second Half Productions Another year, another production of Tennessee Williams' play about family dysfunction and the unbearable sadness of being. This one, however, is directed by Jeremy Herrin and stars Amy Adams, as an unusually young matriarch. It also features two versions of the narrator Tom in the shape of Paul Hilton and Tom Glynn-Carney. Duke of York's Theatre, from May 23 Rock/Paper/Scissors This ambitious celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sheffield Crucible takes the form of three new plays by Chris Bush performed across the Crucible, Lyceum, and the Studio simultaneously, with the cast dashing from one setting to another to tell the story of a family that go to war across the generations. Sheffield Theatres, from June 14 The Day of the Triffids is making its way to a stage near you. Platform 4's Tiffids! promises "a gig theatre adventure", fusing music, text and visual imagery, based on John Wyndham's seminal Cold War novel. Creator Catherine Church has gender-swapped the main protagonist from Bill to Jill for this adaptation and, according to the press release, has "cut out many of the outdated comments the book indulged in", updating the source material for the 21st century. Church commented: "None of us knew how weirdly prescient this piece would be the novel essentially asks the question what would you do if a deadly germ invaded the world? Would you stay in your immediate community? How would it make you feel about the many things we take for granted? How would it change your priorities in life etc etc? All of these questions are covered in the novel - finally, finally we get to perform this live.quite a challenge with the amount of sci fi instruments on stage from a Moog to a Theramin to a Harmonium to a Dulcimer and loads and loads of wacky samples and 1950s B Movie inspired sounds!" In preparation for the production, Platform 4 interviewed members of the community at Highcliffe allotments about their own memories of Wyndham's book as well as their opinions on climate change and weeds. Their answers have helped to shape Church's adaptation. The tour launches at Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry on 26 February, before heading to Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Exeter, Winchester, Chichester, Salisbury, Cambridge, Birmingham, Hampshire, New Milton, London and Colchester. Quincy, IL (62301) Today Partly cloudy early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain this afternoon. High 64F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight A steady rain this evening. Showers with perhaps a rumble of thunder developing overnight. Low near 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Planning and Monitoring (P&M) Officer, Cotabato City, Philippines Organization: UNICEF Philippines Country: Philippines Field location: Cotabato City Office: UNICEF in Cotabato City Closing date: Sunday, 9 January 2022 General Description of assignment title: Planning and Monitoring (P&M) Officer Assignment country: Philippines Expected start date: 01/03/2022 Sustainable Development Goal: PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS Volunteer category: National UN Volunteer Specialist DoA reserved for persons with disabilities: No Host entity: UNICEF Philippines Type: Onsite Duration: 24 months (with possibility of extension) Number of assignments: 1 Duty stations: Cotabato City Details Mission and objectives UNICEF works to promote and protect the rights of every Filipino child, with a particular focus on those who are most vulnerable and disadvantaged. We work with the Philippine government to improve national policies, programmes and services for children and adolescents. Together with partners, we address common barriers to the realization of their rights. Context The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to childrens rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions her or his rights are violated. Equity accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations. (Visit: https://www.unicef.org/philippines/) Task description Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Monitoring & Evaluation Officer or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Planning and Monitoring Officer will: Planning: Provide technical support as necessary to the process of developing and monitoring Annual Work Plans, including reporting on progress of the equity and gender marker as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Guidance of UNICEF. Provide technical support as necessary in organising and managing annual/mid-year/mid-term/end term country programme reviews ensuring consistency with objectives and goals set out in the Country Programme documents and contribute to the Annual Management Plan. Prepare required documentations/materials/data to facilitate planning, monitoring and reporting. Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and other stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate and build their capacity for planning and monitoring. Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned from programme implementation for integration into broader knowledge development planning and management efforts. Provide technical support in the organization, administration and implementation of capacity building initiatives, including partnerships with training and academic institutions, to enhance the competencies of Partners/stakeholders across programme sectors in planning and monitoring in support of programmes/projects. Develop training materials for training activities, and revise and update them as necessary. Monitoring Support the programme components to effectively monitor and report on the intersectoral programme results/ cross sectoral programme component results and field office results to facilitate programme coherence and convergence where appropriate. Provide technical support to ensure data collection and disaggregation (gender, disability, age group) are in line with MFO requirements for donor reporting. This will include UNICEFs Level 3 Monitoring of Results with Equity System (MoRES) regular data collection and analysis. Provide technical support to the maintenance of Mindanao Field Office Database to effectively monitor and report on the intersectoral programme results. Participate in field monitoring using prescribed monitoring tools (for assurance visits, FGDs, KIIs etc.) and prepare field visit reports upon return to Mindanao Field Office. Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems for monitoring. Provide support to sound analysis and data for reporting to UNICEF and donors including age and gender disaggregated data, drafting donor reports and proposals and programme documents as required. c3eFR4b Dh7qKS Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor. Results/expected outputs: As an active UNICEF team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNICEF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: To contribute to increasing efficiency in planning and monitoring at the UNICEF Mindanao Field Office and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by providing professional and technical support in overall programme implementation. Eligibility criteria Age: 27 - 80 Nationality Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment. Requirements Required experience 3 years of experience in programme development and implementation including planning and monitoring activities. o Professional technical knowledge/expertise in data collection, demography, statistics, and data management. o At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred. Languages: Fluency in English (verbal and written) and Filipino. Good written and spoken skills in the language of the humanitarian operation and knowledge of another UN language an asset. Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel; Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications especially in Excel and Microsoft Access and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment. Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines. Sound security awareness. Have affinity with or interest in UNICEF volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System. Area(s) of expertise Development programmes, Crisis and emergency response Driving license Languages Filipino, Level: Fluent, Required English, Level: Fluent, Required Required education level Bachelor degree or equivalent in development planning, monitoring, survey implementation, social sciences, advanced statistical research, or other relevant technical field. An advance University degree will be considered an asset. Competencies and values Professionalism: demonstrated understanding of operations relevant to UNICEF; technical capabilities or knowledge relevant or transferrable to UNICEF procedures and rules; discretion, political sensitivity, diplomacy and tact to deal with clients; ability to apply good judgement; Integrity: demonstrate the values and ethical standards of the UN and UNICEF in daily activities and behaviours while acting without consideration of personal gains; stand by decisions that are in the organizations interest even if they are unpopular; take prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behaviour; does not abuse power or authority; Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, mixed-gender environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity; sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age; commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of UN operations; Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environment. Communication: good spoken and written communication skills, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to communicate and empathize with staff, military personnel, volunteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse backgrounds; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups; Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards UNICEFs mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values. Other information Living conditions and remarks As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. -National UN Volunteer Specialist receives approximately PHP 36,997.67 as Monthly Living Allowance. -Provided with assignment travel cost and entry lumpsum if applicable. -Enrolled in health, life, disability insurance. -Applicable dependents (primary family unit, up to 3) are eligible for health insurance. -Entitled to annual leave, 2.5 days per month. -Provided with exit lumpsum to support transition at the end of assignment. For more information about UNV Conditions of Service and Entitlements, please refer to the following: -https://www.unv.org/become-volunteer/volunteer-your-country -https://www.unv.org/sites/default/files/unvpf/UNVcos2021%20Complete%20hi-res-final_compressed_30.08.2021.pdf Inclusivity statement United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a persons race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status. Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1641238452679 Willmar, MN (56201) Today Cloudy. High 47F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 35F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Map data: 2022, Google The property located on 33 Niantic River Road in Waterford was sold on December 1, 2021. The $524,000 purchase price works out to $366 per square foot. The house built in 1977 has an interior space of 1,430 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, two baths, a underground/basement, and two parking spaces. The unit sits on a 21,344 square-foot lot. Additional houses have recently been sold close by: Winchester, VA (22601) Today Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High around 75F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 47F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Its not every day that a seven-month-old Winnipeg business gets featured at a red carpet award show. So, its understandable that Robert Young assumed an email invitation to attend the MTV Movie & TV Awards was a scam. Its not every day that a seven-month-old Winnipeg business gets featured at a red carpet award show. So, its understandable that Robert Young assumed an email invitation to attend the MTV Movie & TV Awards was a scam. "I was just about to reply that the Nigerian prince already has my money," says the local author and owner of Writers & Rockers Coffee Company. "But I didnt, I just kind of left it." Turns out, the offer was legitimate and then some. Youngs coffee beans will be included in the gift bags and brewed for the celebrity lounge at both the MTV awards, set to take place in May, and the Grammy Awards, scheduled for later this month. The latter was a last-minute ask. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Writers & Rockers Coffee Company owner Robert Young thought the MTV awards show invitation was spam. Then, the Grammys also called. "Late Thursday, they called in a panic that their coffee supplier for the Grammys had backed out," Young says. "So, were going to be providing coffee for that, too." In less than a week, hes come up with a special blend for the annual music celebration: a mix of the companys existing roasts inspired by Canadian bands like Trooper, Harlequin and The Pumps. "Western Canadian rockers will be represented at the Grammys," Young says. That is, if the show goes on. The awards were cancelled last year owing to the pandemic and there is growing speculation that the event will be postponed this year due to the rise of the Omicron variant. Young says he supports a possible date change and is just happy to have his product included in such a prominent event. I still dont think its sunk in. Its not something I would have ever dreamt of. Robert Young "I still dont think its sunk in," he says. "Its not something I would have ever dreamt of." Writers & Rockers started as a hobby while he was writing a new book and has turned into a full-time endeavour. The company sources beans from Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Kenya and Young has created nearly a dozen coffee blends named after well-known music, books and literary phenomenon. Try our Dish The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. Dish arrives in your inbox every other Friday. See sample. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Ironically, coffee something that usually fuels his work has put a dent in his writing practice. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Writers & Rockers Coffee Company owner Robert Young has created nearly a dozen coffee blends named after well-known music, books and literary phenomenon. "I havent had much chance to write," he says, adding that hes currently working on a Winnipeg-based murder mystery novel. "Everything has been so busy." While Young doesnt think hell get many orders from customers in Beverly Hills following any award show appearances, he says having his beans at the Grammy and MTV events will add to the businesss credibility. A limited run of the Writers & Rockers Grammy blend will be available for purchase locally through writersandrockerscoffee.com or at Radiance Gifts on Corydon Avenue, which Young runs with his wife. Hes also working on two special movie- and television-themed blends ahead of the MTV awards. eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @evawasney REGINA - Jim Clifford kept his two children home from school this week despite Saskatchewan being the only province in Canada not to extend the holiday break for students in the face of surging COVID-19 cases driven mainly by the Omicron variant. A nurse clinician prepares a syringe with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Regina General Hospital in Regina on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell REGINA - Jim Clifford kept his two children home from school this week despite Saskatchewan being the only province in Canada not to extend the holiday break for students in the face of surging COVID-19 cases driven mainly by the Omicron variant. Clifford, who has a seven-year-old in Grade 2 and a five-year-old in kindergarten, said the decision was tough, but he wanted them to have their second dose of vaccine before sending them back. "They're young enough that missing a week isn't going to be detrimental and they get a week of antibodies," Clifford said in a phone interview from his home in Saskatoon. His kindergartner can't sit still for online classes and his seven-year-old son doesn't enjoy learning virtually, so the family is treating the extra time off as an extended vacation with less TV, as well as French and reading lessons peppered throughout. Clifford said part of the decision was based on what every other province has done delay the post-holiday return to schools. "We have a government here that seems to be doing absolutely nothing, and that's also really concerning," Clifford said. "You wonder what's the scientific evidence that's being put in front of (Ontario Premier) Doug Ford to make these decisions, and how is it different than what's being put forth to our cabinet?" The Saskatchewan Party government said it's resuming in-class learning because it's important for childrens mental health and development. The province is encouraging students and staff to take rapid tests before attending school. More than 1.4 million tests have been distributed through elementary schools and an additional 250,000 tests were recently sent to schools, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education. Staff have access to disposable medical grade surgical masks and millions of dollars have been allocated for air purification upgrades at schools, she added. Last week, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said case numbers are not at a level where schools need to close. "We have always seen 15 to 20 per cent of cases transmit in schools. The rest are household and community exposures. With Omicron it's nothing different, but rate of transmission may increase," Shahab said. Cases are climbing after a short-lived decline in November following the province's fourth wave, which was fuelled by the Delta variant and mainly affected the unvaccinated. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan reported 1,954 new cases of COVID-19 over a four-day period for a total of 4,062 active cases. The Ministry of Health said the Omicron variant was behind 95 per cent of new cases. In September, as the fourth wave intensified and well before Omicron was discovered, Shahab warned residents of a winter of misery if cases weren't pushed down. "That winter of misery is here," Nazeem Muhajarine, an epidemiologist based in Saskatoon, said Tuesday as he suggested Saskatchewan is entering its fifth wave. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We will be seeing numbers that we have not seen before in daily new cases in Saskatchewan. We are no different really than any other province," Muhajarine said. He said the government's decision to keep schools open is "a really big risk" and added that measures need to be placed on gathering sizes and more education provided an how to use rapid tests. Despite cases rising, Clifford plans to send his kids back to school next week. "If we're not going to do any of the things that would make it safer, that would help flatten the curve, then it's hard to see how shutting the schools in and of itself is going to solve the problem if the gyms and bars and nightclubs are still open," he said. "I don't think we've made the better decision than parents who have kids in schools. We're all in an impossible situation." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2022. MONTREAL - In the wake of a party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, flight attendants are demanding stronger action from government and carriers to ensure health and safety on board amid the Omicron surge. A Sunwing Boeing 737-800 passenger plane prepares to land at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Wednesday, August 2, 2017. In the wake of a wild party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, flight attendants are demanding stronger action from government and carriers to ensure health and safety on board amid the Omicron surge.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov MONTREAL - In the wake of a party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, flight attendants are demanding stronger action from government and carriers to ensure health and safety on board amid the Omicron surge. Videos of the Dec. 30 charter flight shared on social media show unmasked passengers in close proximity, singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats. Some clutched bottles of vodka and rum while others vaped and snapped selfies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in Wednesday, saying he's "extremely frustrated" with the actions of the young travellers, some of whom appear to be Quebec social media influencers. "It's a slap in the face to see people putting themselves, putting their fellow citizens, putting airline workers at risk by being completely irresponsible," he said at a news conference in Ottawa. "I can assure you that this is a situation that Transport Canada takes extremely seriously and we are definitely following up on that." Wesley Lesosky, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) airline division, which represents some 15,000 employees at 10 carriers, says the incident underscores the need for greater protections for flight attendants. Governments should work to speed up access to booster shots for flight crews and airlines should scale back service in the aisles to limit flight attendants exposure to the virus, he said in a phone interview. "We are frontline workers, we're in the air, we're in an enclosed environment," Lesosky said. Ottawa should also mandate a rapid test closer to the time of departure on most flights, he added, on top of the currently required molecular test taken up to 72 hours before takeoff by passengers entering Canada. "The government comes out with many recommendations; recommendations don't have teeth," Lesosky said. The Transport Department said Canada has some of the "most stringent penalties" on the continent. "The department continues to strictly enforce all measures, including masking requirements, and more than 600 investigations have taken place, some of which have resulted in the issuance of monetary penalties," spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu said in an email. Non-compliance with COVID-19 or air safety regulations can result in passenger fines of up to $5,000 per offence. Between April 12, 2020, and Dec. 30, 2021, authorities issued 2,342 fines against international travellers who arrived without a valid pre-entry test and 956 more for those who refused testing on arrival, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Rena Kisfalvi, who heads the CUPE local representing about 1,000 Sunwing flight attendants, says her employer is the only major Canadian airline that does not offer rapid tests to cabin crews, a measure she believes should be mandatory. Up to 50 per cent of her colleagues have had to call in sick over the past month due to potential COVID-19 symptoms, Kisfalvi said in a phone interview. "I've spent my entire morning mitigating crew members who are now booking off. One has just been rushed to the hospital in Edmonton. This a problem," she said Tuesday. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra as well as the health and public safety ministers said in a release Tuesday that officials in their departments will immediately launch an investigation into the Sunwing incident, citing "unacceptable behaviour and cases of non-compliance with mask wearing and other air safety requirements." The ministers and Sunwing both said the "health and safety" of flight crews and passengers are a "top priority." Sunwing, which resumed commercial flights in November after grounding its fleet for eight months, said it cancelled the group's return flight from Cancun scheduled for Wednesday, saying the unruly behaviour had contravened several federal aviation regulations as well as public health rules. Air Transat has refused to transport the passengers. Compliance with mask rules has been a massive issue over the past year that has caused a tremendous amount of aggressive behaviour from passengers toward cabin crews, said Kisfalvi. Im not sure where Transport Canada is on this. Why havent you done more? she asked. In the 12 months between December 2020 and November 2021, 1,452 passengers refused to wear a face mask, according to Transport Canada's monthly aviation compliance reports. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Conservative transport critic Pierre Poilievre called on the government to demand Sunwing repay the federal funds it received over the past year. "It just seems that all the elites are able to get on planes and go to fancy places and enjoy wonderful vacations with no masks on, giving sloppy kisses to each other and pounding back bottle after bottle of high-priced champagne, laughing at what they consider to be the little people who are back home paying the price of this pandemic," Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa. Its about time that we stand up to this hypocrisy and punish companies that facilitate it. Under a pair of deals announced in February and June respectively, Ottawa agreed to lend Sunwing up to $375 million and a further $100 million to provide refunds to customers whose trips were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2022. With files from Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong authorities announced a two-week ban on flights from the United States and seven other countries and held 2,500 passengers on a cruise ship for coronavirus testing Wednesday as the city attempted to stem an emerging omicron outbreak. A passenger looks out from the Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship docked at Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Thousands of passengers were being held Wednesday on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus testing after health authorities said multiple passengers were linked to a recent omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong authorities announced a two-week ban on flights from the United States and seven other countries and held 2,500 passengers on a cruise ship for coronavirus testing Wednesday as the city attempted to stem an emerging omicron outbreak. The two-week ban on passenger flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States will take effect Sunday and continue until Jan. 21. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam also announced that restaurant dining will be forbidden after 6 p.m. for two weeks starting Friday. Game arcades, bars and beauty salons must also close during that period. We have to contain the pandemic to ensure that there will not be a major outbreak in the community again, Lam said at a news conference, adding that the city is on the verge of another surge. The measures came as new omicron clusters have emerged over the past week, many linked to several Cathay Pacific crew members who broke isolation rules and dined at restaurants and bars in the city before testing positive. Hong Kong has reported 114 omicron variant cases as of Tuesday, with most being imported. On Tuesday, it reported its first untraceable case in nearly three months, which authorities said was likely caused by the omicron variant. Hong Kong officials have moved swiftly to block the spread of the variant, locking down residential buildings where people have tested positive and mass-testing thousands of people. That includes about 2,500 passengers who were being held Wednesday on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus tests, after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to an omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back. Authorities forced the Royal Caribbeans Spectrum of the Seas ship, which departed Sunday on a cruise to nowhere, to return a day early on Wednesday, according to a government statement. Shelley Cook | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The ship returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday morning and passengers were held onboard for most of the day while they awaited testing. One passenger, Claudy Wong, said Royal Caribbean had tried its best to follow pandemic regulations. The pandemic has gone on for so long, actually passengers like us who board the cruise are already prepared for such situations to happen, Wong said. Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the nine guests were immediately isolated and all tested negative, and that the company was working closely with authorities to comply with epidemic prevention policies and regulations. It said guests who were on the affected ship would receive a 25% refund on their cruise fare. The ships next sailing on Thursday was also canceled because the crew must undergo testing, and those guests will receive a full refund. The city has reported a total of 12,690 confirmed coronavirus infections as of Tuesday, including 213 deaths. Federal officials are adding more COVID-19 rapid tests to Canada's arsenal as surging infections from the Omicron variant push some public sectors to the brink. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on as Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam appears via videoconference at a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic, Tuesday April 6, 2021 in Ottawa. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning for the first federal COVID-19 update of the new year, as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant pushes provincial and territorial case numbers to record highs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Federal officials are adding more COVID-19 rapid tests to Canada's arsenal as surging infections from the Omicron variant push some public sectors to the brink. Health care is facing serious pressures around the country because front-line staff are unable to work as they wait for delayed test results or are isolating with infections. Other sectors, including education and recreation, are also noting significant staff shortages. In Manitoba, the Winnipeg Police Service declared a state of emergency Wednesday. The service said 170 personnel were booked off on leave related to COVID-19. Calgary police also warned of staffing pressures after 36 members tested positive and an additional 35 members were in isolation. Ontario, Quebec and other provinces recently shortened the length of isolation periods for infected people by half to five days as a way to offset the impacts of similar staffing situations in a multitude of sectors. Many jurisdictions are also looking to the swell of rapid tests expected to be delivered in the coming weeks to tackle the infectious Omicron variant while keeping the economy functioning. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said 140 million tests are to be distributed to provinces and territories on a per-capita basis this month. That's four times the number delivered in December, he said, and would allow every Canadian to have one test per week in January. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, seen via videoconference, participate in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang However, each province is distributing the rapid tests differently and not everyone has the same access. Ontario's pop-up model for rapid tests has been widely criticized for having long lines and not nearly enough supply. The situation has played out similarly in other provinces where there are significant delays to getting lab test results, but no widespread way to get or purchase rapid tests. The federal Opposition accused the Liberal government of failing to get rapid tests to Canadians. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole suggested Canada Post could have been used many months ago. "Before Christmas, it was like the 'Hunger Games' trying to get a rapid test in Canada," O'Toole said during a Facebook Live Wednesday. "There should have been hundreds of millions of these tests being used already over the course of the last year." Despite those concerns, distribution will remain up to provinces, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during the first federal COVID-19 update of the new year. "Different regions in this country are facing very different situations," he said. In a familiar routine, Ontario reintroduced restrictions Wednesday. Restaurants, gyms, cinemas and other indoor venues were forced to close, while retail stores and personal care services were limited to half capacity. Schools were closed provincewide and all non-urgent scheduled surgeries were halted. Ontario reported 2,081 people in hospital with COVID-19 up from 1,290 people the previous day and 288 patients in intensive care. Elsewhere, Quebec reported 39 more deaths and an increase of 158 hospitalizations for a total of 1,750. Quebec Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said classes will resume on Jan. 17 as planned, but the province will distribute packages with five COVID-19 self-tests to all primary and secondary students in January and February to try to control infections in schools. "Our schools are and will be safe," he said. With regions of the country restricting molecular lab tests to prioritize high-risk people, including health workers, there is no telling how many COVID-19 cases there truly are in Canada. Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, said officials are still monitoring the spread of the virus and public health can still track trends and identify community spread. "We are doing more daily tests than any other period during this pandemic," Tam said. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Trudeau said he understands people are frustrated as the country closes in on two years of the pandemic. "There have been moments of more intensity and moments of less, but I think everyone was hoping we would be in a much better place right now," he said. In fact, Trudeau added, things are different. Canadians are practised in what needs to be done to slow the virus's spread, vaccination rates are high and there will be a significant supply of rapid tests. "There is no magic bullet on this. None of us want to be here right now, but we know what to do to get through it." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2022. With files from Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa and Jacob Serebrin in Montreal LONDON (AP) Health authorities across the U.K. simplified COVID-19 testing requirements on Wednesday, a move designed to cut isolation times for many people and that may ease the staffing shortages that are hitting public services from hospitals to garbage collection amid an omicron-fueled surge in infections. Britain's Labour leader Keir Starmer makes his keynote speech in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2021, setting out his party's ambition for a new Britain. (Jacob King/PA via AP) LONDON (AP) Health authorities across the U.K. simplified COVID-19 testing requirements on Wednesday, a move designed to cut isolation times for many people and that may ease the staffing shortages that are hitting public services from hospitals to garbage collection amid an omicron-fueled surge in infections. In another effort to bolster the economy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that pre-departure tests for people traveling to England will no longer be required because the omicron variant is so prevalent that travel restrictions meant to contain its spread are now meaningless. The tests had discouraged people from traveling overseas for fear they would get stuck abroad. The moves came as the Cabinet backed Johnson's decision not to impose any further restrictions despite record COVID-19 infection levels. With indications that omicron is less severe than earlier variants and widespread vaccination curtailing serious illnesses, the government is sticking with light-touch controls imposed in mid-December. All these measures are balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with COVID without letting our guard down," Johnson told lawmakers. The U.K. Health Security Agency said that from Jan. 11 people in England who test positive using a rapid lateral flow test will no longer need to confirm the result with a PCR test if they are asymptomatic. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during a coronavirus media briefing in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Johnson sees no need for further restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus' omicron variant, his spokesman said ahead of a press conference on Tuesday. Amid indications that omicron may produce milder illness than earlier variants and the success of a nationwide vaccine booster program, the government believes the existing level of controls is still appropriate. (Jack Hill, Pool Photo via AP) The temporary move, which also was used early last year, will cut the time people who record a positive lateral flow test but don't have COVID-19 symptoms need to self-isolate. They will no longer need to wait for the result of a PCR test and then begin another seven days of isolation. While cases of COVID continue to rise, this tried-and-tested approach means that LFDs (lateral flow devices) can be used confidently to indicate COVID-19 infection without the need for PCR confirmation," said Jenny Harries, the agency's chief executive. Health authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland quickly followed suit, with Northern Ireland making the change immediately. Scotland and Wales plan to introduce it starting Thursday. Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the move made sense. When the prevalence is high, and it is incredibly high at the moment, almost everyone who tests positive with a lateral flow test will be a true positive," Edmunds said. There is really no need to confirm this with a PCR, a step that not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere." But he cautioned that the change will mean authorities have less data about the spread of different variants as PCR swabs are used for genotyping and sequencing to identify different mutations. The change also will mean that daily updates on confirmed cases which come from PCR tests "may need more careful interpretation, he said. A pedestrian passes a COVID testing facility that has been set up at St.George's Hospital in London, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. The NHS is expected to come under increasing pressure over the next few weeks from the Omicrom virus variant. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Confirmed new infections over the last seven days jumped 40% from a week earlier, according to the latest government statistics. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, tested positive for the coronavirus and missed the chance to grill Johnson about the governments COVID-19 policies on Wednesday. A string of National Health Service local organizations have declared "critical incidents" in recent days amid staff shortages. Hospitals in the Greater Manchester region said they would pause some non-urgent surgeries amid the rising impact of COVID-19 and worker absences. Gillian Keegan, a junior minister at the U.K. Ministry of Health, acknowledged the strain in an interview with the BBC. Right now, they are under extreme pressure with the omicron variant, with the number of positive cases and the increase in hospitalizations, and at this point in (winter) time when they always have extreme pressure," Keegan said. There have also been cuts to train services and garbage is piling up on some city streets because of sanitation staff shortages. NHS Confederation Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told the BBC he would support the new testing regime if scientists deem it safe. Hospitals who have declared critical incidents, for example, are essentially reaching out to staff who are on leave, on rest days or even recently retired and asking them to come back to wards, so the situation is desperate," Taylor said. "Any way of getting staff back into hospital is a good thing." An ambulance service in northeast England began advising patients with non-life-threatening conditions over the New Year's weekend to ask a relative to drive them to a hospital as waiting times for ambulances rose because of staff shortages and extra demand. It is still taking us too long to get an ambulance to patients. Unfortunately, due to this, patients remain at risk, which is unacceptable," North East Ambulance Service medical director Mathew Beattie said Wednesday. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. He stressed, however, that "we would never ask anyone to drive themselves to hospital with a life-threatening illness. Opposition politicians and some public health experts have pressed the government to tighten restrictions on business and personal interactions as omicron sweeps across the country. Johnson has resisted their calls after almost 100 of his partys lawmakers opposed mask requirements and other infection-control measures imposed last month. ___ Mike Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. Register nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., left, assists COVID-19 patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., in an isolation room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. If he returns home, Rutherford said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so, too. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for COVID-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patients two-thirds in some places are testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons. At the same time, hospitals say the patients arent as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units arent as full, and ventilators arent needed as much as they were before. The pressures are neverthless prompting hospitals to scale back non-emergency surgeries and close wards, while National Guard troops have been sent in in several states to help at medical centers and testing sites. Nearly two years into the pandemic, frustration and exhaustion are running high among health care workers. This is getting very tiring, and Im being very polite in saying that, said Dr. Robert Glasgow of University of Utah Health, which has hundreds of workers out sick or in isolation. Clinical Nurse Supervisor Melinda Chapin, of Holderness, N.H., left, communicates through glass from inside a COVID-19 isolation room with registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., right, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergency despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year. But the hospitalization numbers do not tell the whole story. Some cases in the official count involve COVID-19 infections that weren't what put the patients in the hospital in the first place. Dr. Fritz Francois, chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said about 65% of patients admitted to that system with COVID-19 recently were primarily hospitalized for something else and were incidentally found to have the virus. At two large Seattle hospitals over the past two weeks, three-quarters of the 64 patients testing positive for the coronavirus were admitted with a primary diagnosis other than COVID-19. Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said the rising number of cases like that is both good and bad. The lack of symptoms shows vaccines, boosters and natural immunity from prior infections are working, she said. The bad news is that the numbers mean the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, and some percentage of those people will wind up needing hospitalization. This week, 36% of California hospitals reported critical staffing shortages. And 40% are expecting such shortages. An unidentified COVID-19 patient is attached to life-support systems in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Some hospitals are reporting as much as one quarter of their staff out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill, the California Hospital Associations vice president for policy and leader on pandemic matters. In response, hospitals are turning to temporary staffing agencies or transferring patients out. University of Utah Health plans to keep more than 50 beds open because it doesn't have enough nurses. It is also rescheduling surgeries that arent urgent. In Florida, a hospital temporarily closed its maternity ward because of staff shortages. In Alabama, where most of the population is unvaccinated, UAB Health in Birmingham put out an urgent request for people to go elsewhere for COVID-19 tests or minor symptoms and stay home for all but true emergencies. Treatment rooms were so crowded that some patients had to be evaluated in hallways and closets. As of Monday, New York state had just over 10,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19, including 5,500 in New York City. Thats the most in either the city or state since the disastrous spring of 2020. New York City hospital officials, though, reported that things havent become dire. Generally, the patients arent as sick as they were back then. Of the patients hospitalized in New York City, around 600 were in ICU beds. Were not even halfway to what we were in April 2020, said Dr. David Battinelli, the physician-in-chief for Northwell Health, New York states largest hospital system. Registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., left, tends to COVID-19 patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., right, in an isolation room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergency despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Similarly, in Washington state, the number of COVID-19-infected people on ventilators increased over the past two weeks, but the share of patients needing such equipment dropped. In South Carolina, which is seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases and a sharp rise in hospitalizations, Gov. Henry McMaster took note of the seemingly less-serious variant and said: Theres no need to panic. Be calm. Be happy." Amid the omicron-triggered surge in demand for COVID-19 testing across the U.S., New York City's Fire Department is asking people not to call for ambulance just because they are having trouble finding a test. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new or expanded testing sites in nine cities to steer test-seekers away from ERs. About 300 National Guard members are being sent to help out at those centers. In Connecticut, many ER patients are in beds in hallways, and nurses are often working double shifts because of staffing shortages, said Sherri Dayton, a nurse at the Backus Plainfield Emergency Care Center. Many emergency rooms have hours-long waiting times, she said. We are drowning. We are exhausted, Dayton said. Doctors and nurses are complaining about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a crisis, despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases. In the past, we didnt have the vaccine, so it was us all hands together, all the support. But that support has kind of dwindled from the community, and people seem to be moving on without us, said Rachel Chamberlin, a nurse at New Hampshire's Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Edward Merrens, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, said more than 85% of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. Several patients in the hospital's COVID-19 ICU unit were on ventilators, a breathing tube down their throats. In one room, staff members made preparations for what they feared would be the final family visit for a dying patient. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. One of the unvaccinated was Fred Rutherford, a 55-year-old from Claremont, New Hampshire. His son carried him out of the house when he became sick and took him to the hospital, where he needed a breathing tube for a while and feared he might die. If he returns home, he said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so too. I probably thought I was immortal, that I was tough, Rutherford said, speaking from his hospital bed behind a window, his voice weak and shaky. But he added: "I will do anything I can to be the voice of people that dont understand youve got to get vaccinated. Youve got to get it done to protect each other." ___ Casey reported from Boston and Thompson from Sacramento. Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Bobby Calvan in New York City contributed to this report. VICTORIA - Homeowners in British Columbia whose property is valued at just under $2 million will still be eligible for the annual homeowner grant. Snow-covered houses and the downtown skyline are seen with the North Shore mountains in the distance in Vancouver on Thursday, December 30, 2021. Those who own a home in British Columbia valued at just under $2 million will still be eligible for the annual homeowner grant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck VICTORIA - Homeowners in British Columbia whose property is valued at just under $2 million will still be eligible for the annual homeowner grant. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The provincial government announced Wednesday it has raised the grant threshold to $1.975 million for this year. The government says in a news release that the new cap will ensure 92 per cent of residential properties are covered, lowering the amount of taxes people pay on their principal residence. Those who own and live in their homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Capital Regional districts are eligible for the $570 basic grant, or up to $845 for those with a disability or who are 65 and older. The basic grant for those in northern and rural areas is $770, or $1,045 for those who are disabled or over 65. The B.C. assessment authority released property valuations this week, showing increases in almost every part of the province. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2021. TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (21,039.66, down 196.86 points.) The Toronto-Dominion Bank. (TSX:TD). Financials. Up 60 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $99.95 on 15.7 million shares. Crescent Point Energy Corp. (TSX:CPG). Energy. Up 24 cents, or 3.3 per cent, to $7.44 on 13.4 million shares. Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 26 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $33.41 on 11.8 million shares. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Denison Mines Corp. (TSX:DML). Materials. Up 11 cents, or 5.9 per cent, to $1.99 on 9.5 million shares. Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 69 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $50.23 on 9.4 million shares. Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX:BTE). Energy. Up five cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $4.04 on 9.4 million shares. Companies in the news: Sunwing Airlines In the wake of a party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, flight attendants are demanding stronger action from government and carriers to ensure health and safety on board amid the Omicron surge. Videos of the Dec. 30 flight shared on social media show unmasked passengers in close proximity, singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats. Some clutched bottles of vodka and rum while others appeared to smoke e-cigarettes and take selfies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in Wednesday, saying he's "extremely frustrated" with the actions of the young travellers, some of whom appear to be Quebec social media influencers. Wesley Lesosky, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees airline division, which represents some 15,000 employees at 10 carriers, says the incident underscores the need for greater protections for flight attendants. Governments should work to speed up access to booster shots for flight crews and airlines should scale back service in the aisles to limit flight attendants exposure to the virus, he said in a phone interview. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2022. DETROIT (AP) U.S. new vehicle sales rebounded slightly last year from 2020s dismal numbers, but were still about 2 million below the years before the coronavirus pandemic. FILE - A pair of 2021 Ford Mustang Mach E are displayed for sale at a Ford dealer on Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Wexford, Pa. U.S. new vehicle sales rebounded slightly last year from 2020s dismal numbers, but forecasters expect them to be more than 2 million below the years before the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File) DETROIT (AP) U.S. new vehicle sales rebounded slightly last year from 2020s dismal numbers, but were still about 2 million below the years before the coronavirus pandemic. The reason? Although there are plenty of customers who want to buy new vehicles at hefty prices, there still aren't enough computer chips for the industry to fully crank up its factories. So supplies are short, prices are high, and many customers can't get what they want. Sales hit just over 15 million vehicles in 2021, up 3.4% from 2020, the year the pandemic took hold in the U.S. Demand is not off at all, said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Cox Automotive. What is off is sales, because the inventory doesn't exist. Cox expects 2021 sales to be 14.9 million vehicles, up 2.5% from 2020, the year the pandemic hit the U.S. and forced the industry to shut down for eight weeks. But over the five years before the pandemic, sales averaged 17.3 million. Among the hardest hit by the chip shortage was General Motors, which was unseated by Toyota last year as the nation's top-selling automaker for the first time. GM on Tuesday reported that last year's U.S. sales fell 13% from 2020 levels to just over 2.2 million. Toyota, on the other hand, saw its sales rise 10.4% to just over 2.3 million. Like other automakers, GM was forced to temporarily close factories during the year as it struggled to get semiconductors, especially early in the year. Krebs said she isnt sure if GM will be able to dislodge Toyota this year because Toyota has managed the chip shortage better and has a faster distribution. GM diverted limited chip supplies to higher-margin pickup trucks and full-size SUVs, boosting the company's bottom line, spokesman Jim Cain said. Early last year, GM forecast pretax earnings of $10 billion to $11 billion, but expects to finish the year around $14 billion, he said. The company, Cain said, expects the chip shortage to ease this year, with more available in the second half. Among other automakers reporting full-year sales numbers were Ford with a 7% year-over-year decline, Stellantis with a 2.2% drop, and Subaru with sales falling 4.6% below 2020. Honda posted an 8.9% increase, while Hyundai saw a 23.3% jump. Nissan sales also rose, by 8.7%, while Volkswagen Group posted an 11.7% increase, according to Motor Intelligence. Analysts and industry executives say although chip supplies are improving, its not certain when they'll get back to pre-pandemic levels. The average gas-powered vehicle has about 1,000 chips, and electric vehicles can have more than double that number. IHS Markit analyst Phil Amsrud, who follows automotive chips, said supplies won't improve immediately. We're seeing 2022 as being an improvement over 2021, but it's not going to start January third or fourth, he said, adding that the second half should be better than the first. There are signs that the number of vehicles on dealer lots is growing, though. It rose to more than 1 million last month for the first time since August, Krebs said. But that's still 1.5 million below 2020 and 2.5 million fewer than in 2019. Cox is predicting that U.S. new vehicle sales sales will increase by more than 1 million this year, to around 16 million. Amsrud attributed the vehicle inventory growth more to automakers managing the chip shortage better, rather than any dramatic growth in chip supplies. Like GM, many have allocated chips to build more expensive models. David Kelleher, owner of a Stellantis dealership in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, said he doesn't see much change in auto sales and prices this year or next, but he's happy with that. He's making record profits, selling just about every vehicle he gets at sticker price, while customers are happy to find vehicles. They're also getting high prices for trade-ins because used car prices have skyrocketed. Owners have an average of $10,199 worth of equity in their trades, 83% higher than a year ago, J.D. Power said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The customer right now just wants the (good) experience and the car, Kelleher said. If you have the car and you get them the car, they're going to be happy with you. In normal times, Kelleher would have 750 vehicles for sale on his lot. Now he's got 12. But he isn't paying interest on the inventory and has been able to cut advertising 30%. Randy Parker, Hyundai's U.S. sales chief, said dealers got better at selling over the internet when the pandemic started, and they're skilled at getting customers to wait until the exact vehicle they want arrives from the factory. "We've gotten a lot better at pre-selling our inbound pipeline," he said. Because of strong demand and low supplies, J.D. Power says the average new vehicle price rose to $45,743 in December, 20% higher than a year ago and the first time it finished above $45,000. Sales of fully electric vehicles rose 87.9% for the year to nearly 489,000, but they still accounted for only 3.2% of the market. Sedans definitely aren't driving new vehicle demand. J.D. Power reports that SUVs and pickup trucks accounted for a record 80.2% of new vehicle sales in December. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday. FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2019, file photo, Pacific Gas & Electric vehicles are parked at the PG&E Oakland Service Center in Oakland, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday. The blaze was caused by a tree hitting electrical distribution lines west of a dam in the Sierra Nevada, where the blaze began on July 13, according to investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. FILE - This Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, aerial photo provided by the United States Forest Service Lassen National Forest shows the Great Basin Team 1 Air Attack operations on the Dixie Fire on the Horton Ridge in Plumas County, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer's Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (Great Basin Team 1 Air Attack Operations/U.S. Forest Service via AP, File) The finding was no surprise. PG&E already had indicated its equipment may have been involved in the Dixie Fire, which burned nearly 1 million acres (3,900 square kilometers) in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties. It was the second-largest fire in state history and the latest of several of California's largest and deadliest blazes to be blamed PG&E equipment over the last decade. This tree was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines," PG&E said in a statement. Regardless of todays finding, we will continue to be tenacious in our efforts to stop fire ignitions from our equipment and to ensure that everyone and everything is always safe. PG&E also touted its plan, announced in July, to bury about 10,000 miles (16,100 kilometers) of its distribution and transmission lines at a projected cost of $15 billion to as much as $30 billion. CEO Patti Poppe's announcement came just days after the utility alerted regulators to the company's possible involvement in the Dixie Fire. Previous PG&E regimes have staunchly resisted plans to bury long stretches of power lines because of the massive expense, most of which will be shouldered by customers. PG&E said only that burying the lines will take several years, but getting the job done within the next decade would require a quantum leap. In the few areas where PG&E has already been burying power lines, it has completed about 70 miles (123 kilometers) annually. In the shorter term, the utility has taken to pre-emptively shutting off power to thousands and in one case, millions of customers during periods of hot, dry weather coupled with high winds that can knock down trees or hurl branches into power lines. PG&E equipment has been blamed for several of Californias deadliest wildfires in recent years at the same time as drought and heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires fiercer and harder to fight in the American West. Last September, PG&E was charged with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes because its equipment sparked the Zogg Fire in September 2020 that killed four people and burned about 200 homes west of Redding. Investigators blamed a pine tree that fell onto a PG&E distribution line. The company could be heavily fined if convicted. Shasta and Tehama counties have sued the utility alleging negligence, saying PG&E had failed to remove the tree even though it had been marked for removal two years earlier. The utility said the tree was subsequently cleared to stay. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. It was one in a slew of legal actions against the nations largest utility, which has an estimated 16 million customers in central and Northern California. The utility pleaded guilty in 2019 to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for a 2018 blaze ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid that nearly destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. PG&E also filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after that blaze and others were blamed on its aging equipment. The utility emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 and negotiated a $13.5 billion settlement with some wildfire victims. But it still faces both civil and criminal actions from other fires. The company has pleaded not guilty to Sonoma County criminal charges over the 2019 Kincade Fire, which injured six firefighters, choked local skies for two weeks and forced nearly 200,000 residents from their homes. Last fall, PG&E reached a $125 million settlement agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission over that fire. Cal Fire said Tuesday that its investigative report on the Dixie Fire was sent to the Butte County district attorneys office, which will determine whether criminal charges should be filed. LAS VEGAS (AP) Thousands of people have gathered in Las Vegas for a tech conference thats been scaled back because of COVID-19 pandemic precautions. The Sony Vision-S 02 electric SUV is debuted during the Sony news conference at the CES tech show, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Joe Buglewicz) LAS VEGAS (AP) Thousands of people have gathered in Las Vegas for a tech conference thats been scaled back because of COVID-19 pandemic precautions. The floors of the CES gadget show opened Wednesday with conference attendees required to wear masks and show proof of vaccination. We know that this CES is going to be different, said Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association, the events organizer. He spoke during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the show. The trade group hasnt disclosed attendance numbers but said it expects tens of thousands of people for the multi-day event, though not nearly as many as the 170,000 who showed up for the last physical CES two years ago. This year's expo features 2,300 exhibitors from 19 countries, CTA said. A number of big tech companies pulled out ahead of the show amid concerns about the rapid spread of the omicron coronavirus variant. Some of those companies are still participating digitally. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The Sony Vision-S 02 electric SUV is debuted during the Sony news conference at the CES tech show, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Joe Buglewicz) General Motors CEO Mary Barra spoke virtually from Detroit for a keynote talk Wednesday. A last-minute cancellation took celebrity Paris Hilton off the schedule for an in-person panel discussion Wednesday about the digital assets known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Some people were surprised that Hilton wasn't there, said Amy Stroud, an NFT enthusiast who was in the standing-room-only crowd. No explanation was given for the absence, Stroud said. Over the last two weeks, Nevada has reported an average of 2,029 new coronavirus cases per day the highest 14-day moving average in more than a year. The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases rose 76% over the preceding two weeks to 1,184 on Tuesday. About one in six hospital beds in the state are taken up by COVID-19 patients. Kyra Morgan, Nevadas state biostatistician, noted last week in an update about the pandemic in Nevada that while most indoor mask requirements remain in place, businesses are subject to fewer restrictions than at this time last year. CES organizers encouraged but did not require attendees to get tested for COVID-19 before arriving. But attendees got an extra when picking up their conference badges a complimentary test kit made by Abbott Laboratories, whose CEO Robert Ford is scheduled to give a keynote talk Thursday. The conference is also providing on-site testing for people with symptoms and reporting those results to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Swedens public health authorities on Wednesday advised restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centers to ask their customers to show digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting next week. Britta Bjorkholm of the Public Health Agency of Sweden speaks during a press conference on COVID-19, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday Jan. 5, 2022. Public health authorities in Sweden have authorized restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centers to ask their customers to show digital proof of vaccination against the coronavirus starting next week. The recommendation from the Swedish Public Health Agency isnt a legal requirement but voluntary guidance for businesses. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT via AP) COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Swedens public health authorities on Wednesday advised restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centers to ask their customers to show digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting next week. The recommendation from the Swedish Public Health Agency isnt a legal requirement but voluntary guidance for businesses. Swedens digital certificates only show vaccination status not proof of a negative test or recent recovery from COVID-19. As of Jan. 12, locations can introduce certificates as entry requirements in more activities where the risk of spreading of the infection is great, Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said. Besides restaurants, they include cultural venues such as museums and theaters, leisure facilities such as gyms and swimming pools, and long-distance public transportation, the government said in a statement. Currently, the passes only are used for public gatherings and indoor events of more than 100 people. The spread of COVID-19 is increasing in Sweden. We need to be prepared to quickly introduce more accurate infection-control measures, Hallengren said. Sweden reported a record-smashing 17,320 new daily cases on Wednesday. For most of the pandemic, Sweden stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response. The Scandinavian country never went into a lockdown or closed businesses, relying instead on citizens sense of civic duty to control infections. Authorities have emphasized individual responsibility instead of government health measures. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Authorities urged residents again Wednesday to get vaccinated. Public Health Agency official Britta Bjorklund said during a news conference that there is a 12 times higher risk for the unvaccinated to become seriously ill and be in need of medical care. Official figures show that 85.9% of the population age 12 and over have received a first shot, while 82% have had two jabs. In addition, 30.9% of people age 18 and over have had a third shot. In November, Sweden introduced a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate for public gatherings and events with more than 100 people indoors. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic LONDON (AP) Health authorities across the U.K. simplified COVID-19 testing requirements on Wednesday, a move designed to cut isolation times for many people and that may ease the staffing shortages that are hitting public services from hospitals to garbage collection amid an omicron-fueled surge in infections. Britain's Labour leader Keir Starmer makes his keynote speech in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2021, setting out his party's ambition for a new Britain. (Jacob King/PA via AP) LONDON (AP) Health authorities across the U.K. simplified COVID-19 testing requirements on Wednesday, a move designed to cut isolation times for many people and that may ease the staffing shortages that are hitting public services from hospitals to garbage collection amid an omicron-fueled surge in infections. In another effort to bolster the economy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that pre-departure tests for people traveling to England will no longer be required because the omicron variant is so prevalent that travel restrictions meant to contain its spread are now meaningless. The tests had discouraged people from traveling overseas for fear they would get stuck abroad. The moves came as the Cabinet backed Johnson's decision not to impose any further restrictions despite record COVID-19 infection levels. With indications that omicron is less severe than earlier variants and widespread vaccination curtailing serious illnesses, the government is sticking with light-touch controls imposed in mid-December. All these measures are balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with COVID without letting our guard down," Johnson told lawmakers. The U.K. Health Security Agency said that from Jan. 11 people in England who test positive using a rapid lateral flow test will no longer need to confirm the result with a PCR test if they are asymptomatic. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during a coronavirus media briefing in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Johnson sees no need for further restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus' omicron variant, his spokesman said ahead of a press conference on Tuesday. Amid indications that omicron may produce milder illness than earlier variants and the success of a nationwide vaccine booster program, the government believes the existing level of controls is still appropriate. (Jack Hill, Pool Photo via AP) The temporary move, which also was used early last year, will cut the time people who record a positive lateral flow test but don't have COVID-19 symptoms need to self-isolate. They will no longer need to wait for the result of a PCR test and then begin another seven days of isolation. While cases of COVID continue to rise, this tried-and-tested approach means that LFDs (lateral flow devices) can be used confidently to indicate COVID-19 infection without the need for PCR confirmation," said Jenny Harries, the agency's chief executive. Health authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland quickly followed suit, with Northern Ireland making the change immediately. Scotland and Wales plan to introduce it starting Thursday. Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the move made sense. When the prevalence is high, and it is incredibly high at the moment, almost everyone who tests positive with a lateral flow test will be a true positive," Edmunds said. There is really no need to confirm this with a PCR, a step that not only wastes time but costs a lot of money and uses up laboratory resources that could be better used elsewhere." But he cautioned that the change will mean authorities have less data about the spread of different variants as PCR swabs are used for genotyping and sequencing to identify different mutations. The change also will mean that daily updates on confirmed cases which come from PCR tests "may need more careful interpretation, he said. A pedestrian passes a COVID testing facility that has been set up at St.George's Hospital in London, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. The NHS is expected to come under increasing pressure over the next few weeks from the Omicrom virus variant. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Confirmed new infections over the last seven days jumped 40% from a week earlier, according to the latest government statistics. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, tested positive for the coronavirus and missed the chance to grill Johnson about the governments COVID-19 policies on Wednesday. A string of National Health Service local organizations have declared "critical incidents" in recent days amid staff shortages. Hospitals in the Greater Manchester region said they would pause some non-urgent surgeries amid the rising impact of COVID-19 and worker absences. Gillian Keegan, a junior minister at the U.K. Ministry of Health, acknowledged the strain in an interview with the BBC. Right now, they are under extreme pressure with the omicron variant, with the number of positive cases and the increase in hospitalizations, and at this point in (winter) time when they always have extreme pressure," Keegan said. There have also been cuts to train services and garbage is piling up on some city streets because of sanitation staff shortages. NHS Confederation Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told the BBC he would support the new testing regime if scientists deem it safe. Hospitals who have declared critical incidents, for example, are essentially reaching out to staff who are on leave, on rest days or even recently retired and asking them to come back to wards, so the situation is desperate," Taylor said. "Any way of getting staff back into hospital is a good thing." An ambulance service in northeast England began advising patients with non-life-threatening conditions over the New Year's weekend to ask a relative to drive them to a hospital as waiting times for ambulances rose because of staff shortages and extra demand. It is still taking us too long to get an ambulance to patients. Unfortunately, due to this, patients remain at risk, which is unacceptable," North East Ambulance Service medical director Mathew Beattie said Wednesday. Shelley Cook | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. He stressed, however, that "we would never ask anyone to drive themselves to hospital with a life-threatening illness. Opposition politicians and some public health experts have pressed the government to tighten restrictions on business and personal interactions as omicron sweeps across the country. Johnson has resisted their calls after almost 100 of his partys lawmakers opposed mask requirements and other infection-control measures imposed last month. ___ Mike Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic HONOLULU (AP) U.S. public health officials on Tuesday began investigating how civilians have been affected by the leakage of petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water from a Navy fuel storage facility. HONOLULU (AP) U.S. public health officials on Tuesday began investigating how civilians have been affected by the leakage of petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water from a Navy fuel storage facility. The Hawaii state Department of Health said it asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to conduct the study. The department said the officials will survey civilians living in homes served by the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water distribution system. They will also try to reach people who may have been exposed to contaminated water at work or school. The Navy's water system serves some 93,000 people in residential homes, offices, elementary schools and businesses in and around Pearl Harbor. Starting in late November, about 1,000 people complained that their tap water smelled like fuel or reported physical ailments like nausea and rashes after ingesting it. Shortly after the Navy said it detected petroleum in a drinking well that serves its water system. Navy officials say they believe leaks from its Red Hill tank farm near Pearl Harbor polluted the well. Dr. Diana Felton, the state toxicologist, said its vital that authorities track how the incident affected all Hawaii residents. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Meanwhile, Hawaii's congressional delegation urged the Navy to comply with a Monday order from the Hawaii Department of Health to drain fuel from the tanks to protect Oahu's drinking water. Defueling safely will require a coordinated effort, and the delegation will do everything possible to support this effort, they said in a statement. "Clean drinking water is essential to our health and safety, and our future we all agree this cannot be compromised for anything. The delegation consists of four members, all Democrats: U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono and U.S. Reps. Ed Case and Kaialii Kahele. So far only the Navy's water system has been affected by the contamination. But Honolulu's water utility draws from the same aquifer as the Navy, and Hawaii officials are concerned leaks will contaminate its water too. The Red Hill facility holds 20 giant underground tanks built into the side of a mountain during World War II. Each tank is roughly the height of a 25-story building. Collectively, they can hold up to 250 million gallons (946 million liters) of fuel, though two of the tanks are now empty. The tank farm sits just 100 feet (30 meters) above the aquifer shared by the Navy and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. It supplies petroleum to all branches of the military. MONTREAL - Passengers who filmed themselves partying maskless aboard a chartered Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Mexico last week have become pariahs and now face being stranded after two more airlines announced Wednesday they will not fly them home to Canada. A Sunwing Boeing 737-800 passenger plane prepares to land at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Wednesday, August 2, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov MONTREAL - Passengers who filmed themselves partying maskless aboard a chartered Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Mexico last week have become pariahs and now face being stranded after two more airlines announced Wednesday they will not fly them home to Canada. Following Sunwing's cancellation of the return charter flight from Cancun scheduled for Wednesday, Air Transat and Air Canada both said they will refuse to carry the passengers, who were called "idiots" Wednesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Air Transat said on Twitter the "disruptive passengers" from the Sunwing flight had been trying to return home on its flights, but they were denied boarding based on the company's obligation to ensure passenger and crew safety. Air Canada issued a statement saying that "to the extent that we can identify the passengers who were part of the group, Air Canada is denying boarding to ensure the safety of other passengers and its crew." Among those looking for a way home is Rebecca St-Pierre, a 19-year-old student from Trois-Rivieres, Que., who said she feels abandoned, not knowing how she'll pay for her hotel room as her stay is extended indefinitely. She said she tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday and is now in isolation in Tulum, south of Cancun. She estimated that about 30 others on the flight have tested positive. "The organizer just left everybody. I don't know who's still here. All the flights have been cancelled," an emotional St-Pierre told The Canadian Press. St-Pierre said she won the free trip in a contest on Instagram and had never previously heard of the organizer, who identifies himself on social media as James William Awad. "I was expecting a relaxing week, where I was going to be careful," she said. "But this turns out to be an expensive trip for something that was supposed to be free." Videos of the Dec. 30 flight shared on social media show passengers not wearing masks as they gather in close proximity, singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats. In one video, a large bottle of vodka appears to be passed among passengers, and later a woman appears to be smoking an electronic cigarette. St-Pierre acknowledged that the videos give an accurate picture of what went on during the five-hour flight to Cancun. "There was no social distancing I think people were doing drugs," St-Pierre said. She said that ahead of the scheduled return trip, some people were putting Vaseline up their noses in an attempt to thwart COVID-19 testing. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino issued a joint statement late Tuesday saying they had directed their departments to investigate. The statement said passengers who violated Transport Department regulations could face fines of up to $5,000 per offence. It also warned that anyone giving false information to a Canadian government official could face fines of up to $750,000, six months in jail or both. An aviation expert said he hopes the Transport Department investigation will shed light on why the pilot didn't request an emergency landing after the crew lost control of the passengers. "We live in a world where pseudo-influencers think they are above everything, but a plane 30,000 feet above the ground can be extremely dangerous," said Mehran Ebrahimi, who heads an aerospace industry research unit at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Imagine if people decided, for fun, to play with the door? A plane is not a cottage you rent where you can do everything you want." Awad wrote on Twitter Wednesday that a "simple party" on a plane was behind the controversy. I will take a moment to sit down and rethink everything, he said. Especially how I can do things better next time." Awad, who operates 111 Private Club, organized the trip including a group of social media "influencers" and reality TV stars, such as Karl Sabourin from the popular Quebec show "Occupation Double," and Sandrine Seguin and Anna-Maelle Laprise, who both appeared on the province's version of "Love Island." Trudeau called the passengers' conduct irresponsible and a "slap in the face" to everyone who has been following public health restrictions. In French, he referred to the passengers as "idiots" and "barbarians." "Like all Canadians who've seen the videos, I'm extremely frustrated," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Jan. 5, 2022. Federal officials are adding more COVID-19 rapid tests to Canada's arsenal as surging infections from the Omicron variant push some public sectors to the brink. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on as Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam appears via videoconference at a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic, Tuesday April 6, 2021 in Ottawa. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning for the first federal COVID-19 update of the new year, as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant pushes provincial and territorial case numbers to record highs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Federal officials are adding more COVID-19 rapid tests to Canada's arsenal as surging infections from the Omicron variant push some public sectors to the brink. Health care is facing serious pressures around the country because front-line staff are unable to work as they wait for delayed test results or are isolating with infections. Other sectors, including education and recreation, are also noting significant staff shortages. In Manitoba, the Winnipeg Police Service declared a state of emergency Wednesday. The service said 170 personnel were booked off on leave related to COVID-19. Calgary police also warned of staffing pressures after 36 members tested positive and an additional 35 members were in isolation. Ontario, Quebec and other provinces recently shortened the length of isolation periods for infected people by half to five days as a way to offset the impacts of similar staffing situations in a multitude of sectors. Many jurisdictions are also looking to the swell of rapid tests expected to be delivered in the coming weeks to tackle the infectious Omicron variant while keeping the economy functioning. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said 140 million tests are to be distributed to provinces and territories on a per-capita basis this month. That's four times the number delivered in December, he said, and would allow every Canadian to have one test per week in January. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, seen via videoconference, participate in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang However, each province is distributing the rapid tests differently and not everyone has the same access. Ontario's pop-up model for rapid tests has been widely criticized for having long lines and not nearly enough supply. The situation has played out similarly in other provinces where there are significant delays to getting lab test results, but no widespread way to get or purchase rapid tests. The federal Opposition accused the Liberal government of failing to get rapid tests to Canadians. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole suggested Canada Post could have been used many months ago. "Before Christmas, it was like the 'Hunger Games' trying to get a rapid test in Canada," O'Toole said during a Facebook Live Wednesday. "There should have been hundreds of millions of these tests being used already over the course of the last year." Despite those concerns, distribution will remain up to provinces, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during the first federal COVID-19 update of the new year. "Different regions in this country are facing very different situations," he said. In a familiar routine, Ontario reintroduced restrictions Wednesday. Restaurants, gyms, cinemas and other indoor venues were forced to close, while retail stores and personal care services were limited to half capacity. Schools were closed provincewide and all non-urgent scheduled surgeries were halted. Ontario reported 2,081 people in hospital with COVID-19 up from 1,290 people the previous day and 288 patients in intensive care. Elsewhere, Quebec reported 39 more deaths and an increase of 158 hospitalizations for a total of 1,750. Quebec Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said classes will resume on Jan. 17 as planned, but the province will distribute packages with five COVID-19 self-tests to all primary and secondary students in January and February to try to control infections in schools. "Our schools are and will be safe," he said. With regions of the country restricting molecular lab tests to prioritize high-risk people, including health workers, there is no telling how many COVID-19 cases there truly are in Canada. Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, said officials are still monitoring the spread of the virus and public health can still track trends and identify community spread. "We are doing more daily tests than any other period during this pandemic," Tam said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Trudeau said he understands people are frustrated as the country closes in on two years of the pandemic. "There have been moments of more intensity and moments of less, but I think everyone was hoping we would be in a much better place right now," he said. In fact, Trudeau added, things are different. Canadians are practised in what needs to be done to slow the virus's spread, vaccination rates are high and there will be a significant supply of rapid tests. "There is no magic bullet on this. None of us want to be here right now, but we know what to do to get through it." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2022. With files from Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa and Jacob Serebrin in Montreal The children of a woman shot to death in Flin Flon early New Years Day keep asking for her. The children of a woman shot to death in Flin Flon early New Years Day keep asking for her. Catherine Morin, 26, was killed when she answered the door at a friends home in the northern Manitoba city at about 1 a.m. supplied Catherine Morin. "She had three beautiful kids. Theyre going to be so lost without her," said a friend, who wanted her name withheld. "How does one explain where their mom is and why she was taken away?" She said a family member tried to explain some of that to Morins daughter and two sons. "They understand, but they dont understand," she said Tuesday. "You cant fill that void of what they are going through. The family is trying to be so strong right now. "Theyre taking this really hard. The whole community is in mourning. Were all trying to come together for the family." She described Morin as a "free spirit" and dedicated mother. "She had a beautiful smile and a beautiful soul," the friend said. "She was an innocent victim in this whole thing. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time." Morin died at the scene after she and a 47-year-old man from The Pas, were shot at a home on Bellevue Avenue. supplied Xander Tardiff. Morin, who was originally from nearby Denare Beach, Sask., and had been hired as a housekeeper at a local hotel, was shot when she opened the door, her friend said. Moring was Manitobas first homicide victim of 2022. The injured man was taken to hospital in stable condition. RCMP officers were already patrolling the area for a suspect in a shooting that had occurred about an hour earlier in Creighton, Sask., which is just across the border from Flin Flon. At about 12:05 a.m., a 24-year-old man from Cranberry Portage was shot outside a community hall on Main Street in Creighton. He was in stable condition when he was taken to hospital. A wedding was held at the hall that night. RCMP said officers had confirmed both shootings were targeted and linked to one suspect. Police declined to comment Tuesday on a potential motive or provide further details of the shootings. Friend Loreena Hrechka has set up an online GoFundMe page to help to pay for funeral costs and support Morins children. "I want the world to know she was an amazing person and she did not deserve this," said Hrechka. "Her laugh lit up an entire room. She was an amazing mother. "She had three babies that now have no mom. Weve got to think about them and help in their future." After linking the shootings, police launched a large-scale ground and aerial search in both provinces checking several locations in Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach while asking the public for help to locate the suspect. The search involved Manitoba RCMPs emergency response team, canine unit and air services, and Saskatchewan RCMPs critical incident response team. Xander Tardiff, 18, was arrested without incident in the Aspen Grove area of Flin Flon at about 11:30 p.m. New Years Day. Tardiff, who is from Flin Flon, was charged with second-degree murder and five weapon offences, including discharging a firearm with intent and possession of a firearm while prohibited. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. He appeared in The Pas provincial court Tuesday and was remanded in custody, a clerk said. He is scheduled to return to court Feb. 7. Tardiff was due to appear in a provincial court in La Ronge, Sask., for charges related to the Creighton shooting. Court records show Tardiff was pending on charges in Manitoba at the time of the homicide. They include carrying a concealed weapon and related weapon offences for an alleged incident on June 20, 2021, and failing to comply with conditions of a release order in July 2021. With files from Dean Pritchard chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @chriskitching MANITOBA Public Insurance is threatening to sue the Winnipeg Free Press over a column critical of the public insurer and the Tory government for using excess Autopac revenue to pay for the escalating cost of driver and vehicle licensing. MANITOBA Public Insurance is threatening to sue the Winnipeg Free Press over a column critical of the public insurer and the Tory government for using excess Autopac revenue to pay for the escalating cost of driver and vehicle licensing. In a letter dated Dec. 22, a lawyer for MPI and CEO Eric Herbelin alleges a Dec. 17 column by Dan Lett titled Tories rob Crowns, hoodwink public contained defamatory material and MPI gave notice it intended to sue the newspaper for defamation. The lawyer said the alleged defamatory statements included that MPIs plan to use Autopac revenue surpluses was done in an improper manner and it tried to hide the plan from the public, MPI had acted in "an immoral, dishonest and possibly illegal manner," and the MPI action was a "scam." The lawyer said MPI and its CEO request a retraction and apology and if not "MPI will be seeking damages commensurate with the harm which has been caused to its reputation." Free Press editor Paul Samyn said "the public only learned about MPIs move to use ratepayers money to subsidize what was once a government responsibility because of the Free Press, and thats why this latest legal threat is so concerning. "Brian Pallister tried this tactic when we reported facts about his Costa Rican tax bill that he didnt like. I would have hoped MPI would have learned attempts at libel chill will not stop the Free Press from doing our job and delivering journalism that Manitobans deserve." The Free Press first reported in October that MPI had used $113 million in excess vehicle insurance revenue to pay for operating costs and information technology upgrades at driver and vehicle licensing instead of issuing rebates to drivers or reducing the cost of insurance. Critics have argued the licensing costs should have been paid for by the government using taxpayer money and not from vehicle insurance premiums paid by MPI ratepayers. The plan, which was disclosed by Herbelin at a Crown corporations meeting in June, was created by MPI and approved by both MPIs Tory-appointed board and Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton. The Public Utilities Board recently found it was improper for MPI to divert money instead of issuing rebates and rate cuts and should also have disclosed its plan to ratepayers. The PUB, which regulates rates, admitted it didnt have the power to order MPI to return the money to vehicle owners. Brian Smiley, a spokesman for MPI, said "as this is now a legal matter, MPI respectfully has no comment to provide." In a statement, Wharton said "under the leadership of CEO, Eric Herbelin, MPI has accomplished many achievements. "They are a true partner with the province, especially while Manitobans have dealt with the ongoing global pandemic. MPI continues to pivot in order to provide service to their customers during these challenging times, while also continuing to decrease rates and providing rebates of approximately $500 million since the start of COVID-19. "As Crowns minister, I have very much appreciated the collaborative and transparent partnership as well as the dedication and integrity of MPI, the board of directors, board chair, and CEO." Opposition parties were united in saying MPI has no business threatening the newspaper with a lawsuit. MLA Mintu Sandhu, the NDP critic for MPI, said the lawsuit threat shows "we may have a new premier, but its clear nothing has changed. "The Pallister-Stefanson PCs continue to politically interfere in our Crowns and attack the freedom of the press. Instead of looking out for ratepayers and letting journalists do their jobs, the PCs are making life more expensive for regular families and lashing out at media when they dont like what they read," Sandhu said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Dougald Lamont, leader of the Manitoba Liberal party, said "this is not an appropriate use of ratepayers money. "MPI shouldnt be threatening to sue anybody. This was fair comment." Lamont also said the original Free Press column didnt target MPI. "The real target is the PCs," he said. "The Tories have been looting our Crown corporations for political purposes. "They are trying to act like these are government departments, but they are not." kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Changes to isolation rules that allow health-care staff with COVID-19 to return to work six days after testing positive have sparked new concerns employees could catch and spread the virus while on the job. Changes to isolation rules that allow health-care staff with COVID-19 to return to work six days after testing positive have sparked new concerns employees could catch and spread the virus while on the job. Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said nurses are afraid they will not have enough time to isolate and recover from COVID-19 because Shared Health changed quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated health-care providers on Monday. "This is a symptom of how desperately short we are right now for health-care workers, for nurses," Jackson said. "(Nurses) are concerned that this is going to cause more of a spread, more of a risk for patients and residents in long-term care facilities, and clients in primary care health clinics. "Its worrying that were in a position where were having to do that," she said. On Monday, Shared Health began permitting fully vaccinated health workers with lingering symptoms, but no fever for 24 hours, to go back to work six days after testing positive for COVID-19. Fully vaccinated workers do not have to test negative and do not have to be cleared by occupational and environmental safety and health before returning to their job. The highly contagious Omicron variant is behind most new cases, and nurses are worried staff could be infectious when they return and quickly spread the virus in the workplace, Jackson said. "People are vaccinated, theyre masking, theyre handwashing and theyre still contracting COVID," Jackson said. More than 400 health workers caught COVID-19 between Dec. 19 and 25. About half of them are estimated to have been exposed to the virus at work, Shared Health reported last week. The health authority was unable to say on Tuesday how many more employees had tested positive for COVID-19 since Christmas. Jackson said the nurses union will monitor whether COVID-19-positive members are pressured to work after their isolation period. "We need to see how this rolls out because we are between a rock and a hard place. Were in a critical nursing shortage, were in a pandemic that is now really emphasizing how bad this nursing shortage is, and were in a position where employers are really being pushed to scramble to find out how theyre going to provide care," Jackson said. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 204 president Debbie Boissonneault said health-care support workers have also expressed concern they will be put at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 on the job under the new isolation protocol. "If people are still sick, they should be staying home," Boissonneault said. "If theyre still coughing, if theyre still having symptoms, they could still be transmitting something." Staff who return to work after a recent COVID-19 diagnosis must take meal breaks away from colleagues and physically distance when not wearing masks. Boissonneault said those requirements will be difficult to meet. "Not every place has that ability to space," Boissonneault said. "Its great to say that you will keep them in their own area and designate them a spot, but its not always possible." She questioned why members who have been placed on unpaid leave for refusing to disclose their vaccination status or take regular rapid tests have not been called back to work while vaccinated staff with lingering symptoms are free to return. "If theyre going to bring people back, then they should allow these people to come back to work too," she said. As of Tuesday, 125 health workers had been placed on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with public health orders that require them to share their vaccination status or have a negative rapid test within 48 hours of beginning their shift. To date, 28 staff initially placed on unpaid leave have resigned and 38 have returned to work. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Another 1,576 health workers continue to take regular rapid tests. Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, described the policy change as a "yet another quick fix" to address the staffing crisis. "Were hearing theres a lot of confusion and concern on the front line, not just about this new protocol, but the complete lack of support from government and Shared Health," Moroz said. "After almost two years into this pandemic, we seem to be back where we started." In a statement, a spokesman for Shared Health said the shortened isolation period for health-care staff is based on evidence that the Omicron variant is most infectious early in the course of the illness, roughly one to two days before symptoms appear and for two to three days afterward. "Health-care workers have been wearing personal protective equipment, including medical-grade respiratory protections appropriate to the care setting and type of care they are providing, since early in the pandemic," the statement said. "With significant community spread and high test positivity, its extremely important that vigilant use of PPE in addition to all other infection prevention and control protocols like hand hygiene, enhanced cleaning, and physical distancing remain in place." danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca They are a culinary staple as integral to many a Manitoba Christmas dinner as homemade stuffing and cranberry sauce. They are a culinary staple as integral to many a Manitoba Christmas dinner as homemade stuffing and cranberry sauce. But when Donald and Doreen Bryks freshly frozen batch of homemade perogies absolutely, positively had to be delivered overnight to their son in Toronto, Federal Express didnt live up to its famous promise. Federal express didn't live up to its overnight delivery promise to get a freshly frozen batch of homemade perogies to Toronto. (Boris Minkevich / Winnipeg Free Press files) Instead, the eight-dozen pockets of doughy goodnesss arrived four days later, Dec. 21, 2020, a thawed-out mess that went straight to the garbage bin. And when FedEx refused to compensate the Bryks for the botched delivery, Donald Bryk took the corporate behemoth to court and won. "I guess they really dont care if a guy like me gets his nose out of joint there are thousands of people who dont bother," said Bryk, a retired Court of Queens Bench judge. "When you are charging a premium for a specific service and you arent delivering that service and then say they arent even going to give you your money back, it really upset me. As a consumer I thought it was a terrible way to conduct business and I wanted to bring it to somebodys attention." Retired judge Donald Bryk sent eight-dozen pockets of perogies to their son in Toronto, but they didn't get there until four days later. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press) Bryk said he is still awaiting payment of the $604.75 judgment he won in small-claims court last October. "First off, it was, Oh yeah, we will get it out as soon as we get a copy of the judgment, and then three weeks later they said the money is coming from (their) head office in Memphis, and four weeks later there is still nothing," he said. "It is kind of exasperating." The story starts Dec. 17, 2020, with Donald Bryks visit to a FedEx shipping agent on Portage Avenue. Bryk said he was provided three options for delivery of his prized package, which also included gifts for his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Bryk said he chose the "Priority Overnight" option, price tag $111, which a customer-service agent told him would see the package delivered to his sons doorstep no later than 3 p.m. the following day. "My son rearranged his schedule to make sure he would be at home to receive it and then nothing," Bryk said. "I must have spent six or seven hours on the phone on the weekend trying to contact somebody to find out where it was." When Federal Express Canada rejected his claim for compensation, he filed a small-claims lawsuit against them, alleging they reneged on their promise of a money-back guarantee. In a statement of defence, Federal Express countered that its money-back guarantee was subject to its "terms and conditions" found on its website, which stipulated that the guarantee is suspended during "peak periods" such as Christmas. The company also cited the impact of the pandemic. All of which means nothing, Bryk argued, if a customer is not advised of the terms and conditions at the time they purchase the service. Bryk sued Fedex and won for breach of contract when they failed to deliver a package of perogies to his son in Toronto by the contracted next day 3 p.m. delivery. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press) "Its pretty basic contract law," he said. "I wouldnt mind so much if I had been made aware of the terms and conditions, then I could say no thanks, whats the point? But not even being informed of the terms and conditions and being told they are taking your money on that basis?" A hearing officer who adjudicated the matter accepted the FedEx employee was fully aware Bryks package contained perishable items and did not discuss or provide any written terms and conditions. "I accept (Bryk) entered into a contract and terms and conditions are the ones he was aware of at the time of the agreement," the hearing officer said. Terms and conditions "were not presented, discussed nor accepted at the time of the agreement and cannot arbitrarily be added to the contract after the fact." Bryk sought an additional $1,000 in general damages for "anxiety, frustration and disappointment" suffered by his family. "I am not of the view that the claimants frustration amounts to a level of distress sufficient to warrant an award of general damages," the hearing officer ruled. Federal Express Canada did not provide a comment in time for deadline Tuesday. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca Sarah Doucet is glad the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit, compensating numerous former students for intimate photos allegedly taken by a former dance instructor at its school but says it was never about money. Sarah Doucet is glad the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit, compensating numerous former students for intimate photos allegedly taken by a former dance instructor at its school but says it was never about money. "It was to make sure this never happened again," Doucet, 50, said Tuesday. "Thats the bottom line. "I started the class action after the Crown in Winnipeg said it wasnt a winnable case so in 2015, we were told no (criminal) charges. But he would have gotten away with it and nothing would have changed. "What he did should never have happened." The RWB has agreed to pay $10 million in return for dismissing all claims against the ballet and its former employee, Bruce Monk. The bulk of the funds will go to students who were allegedly photographed by Monk in a private setting between 1984 and 2015, when he was let go shortly after the allegations surfaced. An approval hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11. In a statement, RWB artistic director and chief executive officer Andre Lewis said the issue "was brought to light several years ago, thanks to the courage of former students." "Out of respect for the legal process and the privacy of all parties involved, we are unable to comment further on details of the case until after the settlement hearing. The safety of our students, staff and dancers remains the highest priority for us and we continue to work with organizations like the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to ensure our policies and procedures at the RWB do all they can to provide a safe environment for everyone," Lewis said. Toronto-based lawyer for the plaintiffs, Margaret Waddell, said the settlement comes little more than a month before the civil suit was scheduled to go to trial Feb. 14. Waddell said she doesnt know exactly how many former students will be compensated; people who are part of the class action didnt have to be identified until a judge agrees with the terms of the settlement. The settlement applies to students who were at the school between 1984 and 2015 who were photographed by Bruce Monk (above) in a private setting during that period. (Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press files) "Our best guess is in the 200 to 250 range," she said. "This went on for 25 to 30 years, and 10 students get in there (the school) each year." Damages will be paid out based on an individuals experience, Waddell said.. A claims administrator will determine the amount based on trauma to the person and the eligibility of those who have filed a claim. Family members of affected students will also be eligible for payments up to $2,500. "This should have been a safe environment (for the students)," said Waddell. "One of the positive things is the school has put in internal procedures and a reporting system. Everything that was lacking for a safety system is in force now. It is one of the things Sarah and the others wanted so it could never happen again." Doucet was in her teens when she attended to the ballet school. Monk persuaded her to let him take semi-nude photos of her, and she later learned he had distributed the pictures, she said. After she left the Winnipeg school, she suffered a broken neck in a vehicle collision when she was 18 and was told by doctors she would never dance again. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Finally, another doctor said I could listen to my body," she said. "I moved to Montreal and danced in contemporary dance until I retired a few years ago." Many involved in the class action continued to dance, but there were others who hung up their ballet slippers after what they experienced, Doucet said. Several people, including herself, were prepared to testify at the trial, but "it is a massive relief" it will no longer be necessary, she said. "I dont know what I would say to him it would be full of expletives," said Doucet. "Maybe I wouldnt say anything to him. "We were pursuing dreams. You dont choose dance, dance chooses us. This will always be with me, but I do have the closure I needed. I hope the other dancers and family have it, too." kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Waverley Wests newest seasonal skating rink sits alongside Winnipegs largest mosque, open to anyone looking to get outside and hit the ice. Waverley Wests newest seasonal skating rink sits alongside Winnipegs largest mosque, open to anyone looking to get outside and hit the ice. Manitoba Islamic Association board chairman Idris Elbakri has built a skating rink in his backyard every winter for a few years for his children. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic last year, a conversation began between city councillors and the Muslim organization to set up a similar recreation space in the Winnipeg Grand Mosque parking lot, but plans fell through. Regardless, it got people thinking, and Elbakri took his backyard building skills and several volunteers from the mosques community and opened the simple rink to the public Monday. "With just some volunteer work and experience from building our own backyard rinks, we thought wed go just a little bigger and try to make it happen and, fortunately, we were able to pull it off," Elbakri said Tuesday. It was a golden opportunity for Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who put in $1,000 toward the project through community initiative funding provided by the city. "Theres so much new development out there, and we dont have our community centre in the heart of the community for all these new developments, theres not really many (rinks)," said Lukes. St. Norbert-Seine River Coun. Markus Chambers also contributed to the project. The community rink is open to all, and visitors are welcome to stay as long as they want the Manitoba Islamic Association just asks people follow COVID-19 safety precautions and stay safe. "We ask that people wear appropriate protective gear but everyones welcome to skate," Elbakri said. "Were hoping to do some functions where we give out hot chocolate to folks and just invite our neighbours and the community to enjoy it." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In just the short time the rink has been open, a makeshift warming tent was constructed Monday evening. "Thats exactly what were looking for, just for people to enjoy it, to hopefully uplift our spirits a little bit," Elbakri said. "And we also want the mosque to be a place where people feel welcomed and supported, and this is just one way of doing that." Lukes called the rink an opportunity for people who may not visit the mosque otherwise to get to know their neighbours. "We have so many new Canadians in the Waverley West ward who want to try skating and everything, and thats fantastic," she said. "And from my perspective, the mosque is one of the most open communities, the mosque has done incredible outreach, and I think this is just another fantastic opportunity to meet the community." malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca If First Nations residents choose to raise a glass of water to toast a historic court decision delivered last week, many will only be able to fill their glass with water thats bottled or melted from snow. Perhaps appropriate wording for such a toast might be: We now have hope that access to safe water will soon be as simple as turning on a tap. If First Nations residents choose to raise a glass of water to toast a historic court decision delivered last week, many will only be able to fill their glass with water thats bottled or melted from snow. Perhaps appropriate wording for such a toast might be: "We now have hope that access to safe water will soon be as simple as turning on a tap." $8-billion drinking water settlement long overdue for First Nations MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The Federal Court of Canada and Manitobas Court of Queens Bench have jointly approved an $8-billion agreement to bring safe drinking water to First Nations and compensate community members who have lived without it for years. Posted: 1:57 PM Dec. 29, 2021 In what is being described as an historic settlement, the Federal Court of Canada and Manitobas Court of Queens Bench have jointly approved an $8-billion agreement to bring safe drinking water to First Nations and compensate community members who have lived without it for years. The long overdue agreement represents what many hope will be a turning point for Canada and First Nations, Manitoba Queens Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said in a written decision. Read Full Story The $8-billion agreement "represents what many hope will be a turning point for Canada and First Nations," Manitoba Court of Queens Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said. In a joint decision released Dec. 28, his court, and the Federal Court of Canada, approved the agreement to bring drinking water to First Nations, and to compensate community members who have had no running water for many years. The money will go to First Nations that have been subject to long-term drinking-water advisories of one year or longer, beginning in 1995. At least $6 billion is earmarked to bring safe drinking water to reserves over the next nine years, and $1.5 billion is to compensate individual community members who have been deprived of clean water. Chief Justice Joyal spoke accurately when he called the agreement "long overdue." It has sometimes seemed the fight to get safe water has moved at the speed of glacial ice. A Free Press investigation in 2010 and 2011, titled "No Running Water," exposed appalling conditions on Manitoba First Nations. Newspaper staff visited six First Nations over the course of seven months to chronicle the perilous living conditions of residents struggling with poor water and sewage service. The investigation found more than 3,000 First Nations homes in this province did not have clean running water, many in the Island Lake region of northeastern Manitoba. Nearly half of the regions 10,000 residents collected water for daily use from nearby lakes and communal taps. One story described how, with no toilets, residents either walked to outhouses on freezing winter nights or resorted to using an indoor bucket, dumping its contents outside in the morning. Some of the germ-laden refuse washed into the lake, after soaking ground near where children play. Skin conditions and chronic diarrhea are common in homes where its hard to find enough water to keep clean. But sometimes the results are more deadly, such as when superbug infections and killer flus are involved. The investigation revealed more than 40 per cent of the homes on Canadian First Nations without running water were in Manitoba, even though Manitoba has only 15 per cent of the countrys reserve housing stock. The "No Running Water" series sparked interest from academics, human-rights groups and politicians, and was used as a resource by researchers from a variety of fields to collaborate with First Nations communities to address the issues of safe water and sanitation. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Chief Justice Glenn Joyal. Although the $8-billion agreement approved last week would seem to be a substantial sum, water and sewer infrastructure is costly in communities where pipes skirt bedrock, and heavy equipment and bulky supplies must be moved in by winter roads, which are sometimes open only a few weeks a year. Also, many existing First Nations homes must undergo major renovations to add plumbing and sewage and water storage tanks. The construction challenge of bringing safe water to remote communities is substantial, but its essential to finally end this countrys shameful record of neglecting some First Nations to the point that residents need to use buckets as toilets. Belatedly, Canada is trying to do better. Last weeks court decision will let the money flow. The next challenge is to make the water flow. The spread of COVID-19 may be out of control, but the Manitoba government isnt ready to move to a code-red pandemic response or the lockdowns that go with it. The spread of COVID-19 may be out of control, but the Manitoba government isnt ready to move to a code-red pandemic response or the lockdowns that go with it. "Case numbers are on the rise but case numbers maybe mean something different with this variant," Premier Heather Stefanson said Tuesday. She said shes listening to public health officials who are tracking Omicrons health outcomes in other jurisdictions. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Heather Stefanson speaks at a press conference in Winnipeg on Tuesday. "Theres been preliminary results showing its not as severe as the previous Delta variant," she said on a day when Manitoba reported 1,757 new COVID-19 infections and a record-high test positivity rate of 39 per cent. Anything above five per cent indicates the virus is spreading out of control, public health experts have said since the start of the pandemic. "Its all about What does this mean to our hospital numbers?" Stefanson said. "What does this mean for our ICU numbers? We need to keep laser-focused on that," the premier said. "It seems that some people are getting the Omicron variant that are not getting the severe outcome. Some dont even get symptoms." It seems that some people are getting the Omicron variant that are not getting the severe outcome. Some dont even get symptoms. Premier Heather Stefanson On Tuesday, 23 more Manitobans who had contracted the virus were being treated in hospital than one day earlier, but the number of people in intensive care with COVID-19 held steady at 32. The provinces pandemic dashboard indicated 251 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals. "Its an evolving situation," said deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal, who attended Tuesdays news conference remotely. Theyre watching other jurisdictions where Omicron took hold earlier and expect to have information related to severe outcomes and hospitalizations next week, he said. They wont move Manitoba into a code red and impose more restrictions such as ordering non-essential businesses to close unless its necessary, Atwal said. We dont have crystal balls. Were doing the best we can with the information and the resources we have to try and keep Manitobans safe, and to ensure that were able to partake in those activities that we enjoy. Deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal The provinces colour-coded pandemic response system says "critical" code-red restrictions could be imposed if extensive community transmission of COVID-19 is occurring and not contained, there are widespread outbreaks and new clusters that cannot be controlled through testing and contact tracing, or the virus is being transmitted at levels that public health and the health system deem concerning or critical. "Were going to continue to look at the evidence, and when further information is available and announcements are ready to be made, we will make those announcements," Atwal said. The ever-changing virus and its variants are "challenging," he said. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP MLA Uzoma Asagwara: We are in a state of crisis." "We dont have crystal balls. Were doing the best we can with the information and the resources we have to try and keep Manitobans safe, and to ensure that were able to partake in those activities that we enjoy." NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the criteria for calling a COVID-19 code red is here and now. "We are in a state of crisis," the former nurse said. The MLA for Union Station called out the Progressive Conservative government for not equitably distributing KN95 masks and rapid tests to Manitobans, especially those most vulnerable to severe outcomes of COVID-19. "So far what we havent seen is this government ensure that people have access to the things they need to be safe and the government proactively planning to protect its citizens," Asagwara said. So far what we havent seen is this government ensure that people have access to the things they need to be safe and the government proactively planning to protect its citizens." NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara Until that happens, Manitoba needs to move to code red on the pandemic response system and impose further restrictions, said Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont. "We know that people want to go back to school. We know people want to go back to work and go back to their normal lives. The reality is Manitoba is not in a position to do that safely right now," he said. "We have to protect the health-care system because were only a few people away from the ICU being overloaded. Once the health-care system cant function properly, thats when deaths start to go up," he said. "Its not just COVID that kills people, its that COVID takes people out of caring, so that you do not have enough people to feed and give water to people in personal care homes. We do not want a repeat of Maples," he said referring to the Maples Personal Care Home, where an outbreak killed 56 residents in late 2020. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The majority of Manitoba students will learn from home for the first week of classes in 2022, so schools can tighten restrictions and plan for staffing shortages in the event large numbers of teachers catch COVID-19 or need to isolate. The majority of Manitoba students will learn from home for the first week of classes in 2022, so schools can tighten restrictions and plan for staffing shortages in the event large numbers of teachers catch COVID-19 or need to isolate. Provincial officials announced Tuesday what they are calling a "phased-in approach" to resuming in-person classes, in anticipation all students will be back in K-12 buildings Jan. 17. Teachers will be the first to return Jan. 6 the original lesson start date, before the province later postponed it until Jan. 10 amid surging Omicron variant cases to prepare for a new week-long online learning stint. Only the early years children of critical service workers, high-risk learners, and students of all ages with special learning needs will be invited back to in-person schooling next week. Child care facilities can remain open, although they are encouraged to prioritize children of critical service workers. "We know that our youth learn best in a classroom setting; it is our goal to ensure they can return to the classroom as quickly as possible," Premier Heather Stefanson told reporters, during an afternoon news conference with the education minister and deputy chief provincial public health officer. Stefanson said education stakeholders requested additional time to prepare for changes to restrictions and contingency plans for staffing. Education minister Cliff Cullen (left), deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal (on screen), and Premier Heather Stefanson speak at a press conference announcing a week of remote learning. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press) Starting Jan. 17, schools will be downgraded to restricted (code orange) on the provinces pandemic response system requiring removal of furniture in classrooms to allow for two metres of physical distancing to the greatest extent possible. All staff will also be required to wear medical masks for the foreseeable future and students must wear well-fitting masks with at least three layers. Education Minister Cliff Cullen said the week-long remote learning period will allow for more time to distribute personal protective equipment and rapid antigen tests, ensure public health officials can continue to assess the impact of Omicron, and provide staff and students with added time to get follow-up COVID-19 vaccine doses. "This phased-in approach will allow school divisions and schools to have more time to prepare operational plans, including planning for potential staffing shortages and expected absenteeism due to isolation requirements," said Cullen. He suggested the approach will ensure in-person learning continues for all students in the longer-term. Cullen pledged an unspecified number of rapid tests will be deployed to schools, particularly those with high case counts, as well as more than five million masks for children and adults, which will be delivered over the next eight weeks. To date, 550,000 rapid tests have been distributed to K-6 students in the province. Among other COVID-19 protocols, the province will continue after-hours vaccination clinics in schools for students, staff and community members. The novelty of remote learning has long worn off, nearly two years into the pandemic, said Tiffany Cheng, a Grade 12 student at Glenlawn Collegiate in Winnipeg who is hopeful in-person classes will resume this month so she can finish off high school face-to-face. Education stakeholders requested additional time to prepare for changes to restrictions and contingency plans for staffing, said Premier Heather Stefanson (right). (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press) "In-person learning has helped my mental health. Online, I feel like everyone is so isolated and not everyone is as outgoing (in classes)," said the 17-year-old. Heaven Nandwal, also in her senior year at Glenlawn, echoed those sentiments, but she said she understands why the province has announced the buffer period. Heaven, 17, said she hopes to return Jan. 17 and, in doing so, will be extra cautious about keeping her mask on whenever possible. Critics were quick to call out the province for failing to keep schools open for face-to-face learning when provincial officials have long suggested schools should be the last thing to close amid the pandemic. "Here we are in January 2022 more than 20 months into the pandemic and were still having this conversation about what a safe school looks like," said Nello Altomare, NDP education critic. Chris Eccles, a Grade 5/6 classroom teacher in Winnipeg, said he is frustrated the province did not introduce greater restrictions weeks ago, so students could safely resume in-person classes after the winter break. The educator said he was annoyed to learn the province was distributing N95 masks in Liquor Marts rather than classrooms last month. "Coming out of winter break, it usually takes a good week to get students back into work-mode and if theyre still at home, and a lot of them, unfortunately, wont be fully supervised I dont anticipate a lot getting done," added Eccles. Both the Manitoba Teachers Society and Safe September MB, a grassroots group that advocates for additional COVID-19 safety measures and funding in schools, have called on the province to supply schools with N95 masks to address the new highly transmissible variant of the virus. Tiffany Cheng (left) and Heaven Nandwal are hopeful they will be able to safely finish their senior year at Glenlawn Collegiate this spring. When asked about N95 masks, Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitobas deputy chief provincial public health officer, said three-layer masks provide good protection when they are worn properly and there is a tight seal. "I think were going to be looking at a January that will keep everybody on our toes the whole entire education system, Manitoba, Canada, everyone." Nathan Martindale, vicepresident of the Manitoba Teachers Society "You can have the best mask available but if you dont use it properly, if youre not washing your hands regularly, youre not making sure that theres a nice seal there, the use of that mask actually likely increases ones risk of getting COVID," said Atwal. Nathan Martindale, vice-president of the Manitoba Teachers Society, said the union is pleased the province has listened, in part, to its calls to action. While no teacher wants to be doing remote learning, Martindale said educators are in favour of what is safest for students and staff alike. "I think were going to be looking at a January that will keep everybody on our toes the whole entire education system, Manitoba, Canada, everyone," said Martindale. "I dont want to make a prediction, but were taking it week-by-week at this point." A total of $63 million was earmarked for COVID-19 expenses such as ventilation upgrades and masks in schools in 2021-22. Cullen also announced Tuesday up to $80 million will be distributed to divisions to address pressures, including wage agreements for teachers. with files from Dylan Robertson and Carol Sanders maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Nearly two dozen Manitobans have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours as the province reported 1,757 new infections Tuesday. Nearly two dozen Manitobans have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours as the province reported 1,757 new infections Tuesday. The provinces pandemic dashboard indicates 251 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals as of Tuesday morning, an increase of 23 from Monday. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES Premier Heather Stefanson will be at a news conference at 2 p.m. to provide an update on return-to-school plans. The number of people in intensive care with COVID-19 held steady at 32. The deaths of two more Manitobans with the virus were also reported Tuesday, bringing the pandemic death toll to 1,400. Public health did not provide any details about the two people. Of the new cases, 1,350 were in Winnipeg. However, that number was an undercount due to significant backlogs in laboratory processing of tests, delays in data entry and the expanded use of rapid tests, results of which are not reported by public health. Interlake-Eastern reported 152 cases, followed by Southern Health with 122 new infections, 73 in Prairie Mountain and 60 in the Northern Health region. The five-day provincial test positivity rate was 39.5 per cent as of Tuesday, setting a new pandemic record; 4,424 tests were processed Monday. Premier Heather Stefanson, Education Minister Cliff Cullen and deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal were scheduled to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. to provide an update on return-to-school plans. Students were scheduled to return to class next Monday after a winter break lengthened due to uncertainty surrounding the Omicron COVID-19 variant. This afternoons new conference will be the first time government health officials have addressed the public since last Thursday when Shared Health executives outlined plans to prepare the acute-care system for a surge in hospitalizations as the number of health-care workers infected with the virus continues to increase. Stefanson last held a new conference on Dec. 27 with chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin to announce a reduction in public gathering sizes and a curfew on liquor sales in restaurants and bars. Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont called for Manitoba to be moved to code red on the pandemic response system Tuesday during a virtual news conference. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We know that people want to go back to school. We know people want to go back to work and go back to their normal lives. The reality is Manitoba is not in a position to do that safely right now," he said. The Progressive Conservative government, he said, hasnt provided enough N95 masks and rapid tests to keep those who need them safe and slow the transmission of the highly contagious Omicron variant. "We cannot wait until our health-care system fails again as it did in the third wave before we act." Lamont said hes hearing from health-care workers, teachers and early childhood educators calling for a lockdown. "We have to protect the health-care system because were only a few people away from the ICU being overloaded. Once the health-care system cant function properly, thats when deaths start to go up," he said. Staff Minnesota State College Southeast has announced the appointment of Dr. Rita Rahoi-Gilchrest as Dean of Faculty and Academic Operations. In this role, she works with faculty in liberal arts and sciences as well as career and technical programs on student success, assessment, quality improvement, articulation agreements, accreditation/certification, course and curriculum development, online education, performance evaluation, and professional development. Dr. Rita Rahoi-Gilchrest not only brings deep experience as a faculty member and administrator, she also brings a focus on student success which supports the culture of MSC Southeast, said Chad Dull, Vice President of Student Success. I am delighted to be fully engaged in supporting the mission, vision, and values of MSC Southeast, where I am finding among faculty, staff, and students true passion for compassion in all we do, said Dr. Rahoi-Gilchrest. Dr. Rahoi-Gilchrest comes to MSC Southeast with 13 years of experience in higher education administration and management and more than 25 years of experience in teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. She is a recognized expert in Quality Matters online education and the author of numerous academic publications. From 2000-2021, she held a number of faculty and leadership positions at Winona State University, most recently serving as the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Prior to that appointment, Dr. Rahoi-Gilchrest had served for three years as the interim associate dean and taught in Healthcare and Leadership Administration as well as in Communication Studies. She began her career in higher education at Ohio University in 1995 and has since taught at University of Missouri St. Louis; Norwegian Business School (BI), Oslo, Norway; Saint Marys University, Winona; and the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Dr. Rahoi-Gilchrest earned a B.A. in Organizational Communication and Public Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and both a masters degree and a Ph.D. in Interpersonal Communication (now Communication Studies) at Ohio University. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Photo by Chris Rogers Shawn Beier, one of the owners of Central Square, shows off a classroom-turned-apartment. The first tenants of the former Central Elementary School moved in last month. A New Lisbon man who allegedly broke into a pharmacy and stole 1,000s of pills is charged with multiple felonies, including burglary and drug charges. Anthony Arcuri, 34, of New Lisbon is charged with felony burglary of a building or dwelling, four counts of felony possession of narcotic drugs, misdemeanor criminal damage to property, misdemeanor theft, and two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. If convicted he faces up to 12 years and six months in prison or a fine of up to $25,000, or both, on the burglary charge and up to three years and six months in prison or a fine of up to $10,000, or both, on each of the felony drug charges. According to the criminal complaint: At about 11:20 p.m. Oct. 19 Officer Jason Einwich of the New Lisbon Police Department was dispatched to a pharmacy on South Adams Street in New Lisbon for multiple motion alarms and a witness 911 call of glass breaking and a dark clothed subject entering the pharmacy. The reporting party stated they were watching the subject leave the pharmacy pushing a large object down the sidewalk. As Einwich arrived on scene he observed a male wearing a mask and dark clothing pushing a wheeled container partially covered by a blanket. Einwich activated his squad emergency lights and ordered the subject to stop and show his hands. The subject was slow to comply but did cooperate before trying to turn around and pull away. The subject continued to verbally resist as Einwich waited for backup to arrive. Asked what his name was the male stated Anthony Arcuri. Einwich knew Arcuri from prior professional contacts. Arcuri was transported to the Juneau County Jail. The cart Arcuri was pushing was determined to be from behind the pharmacy counter. The cart was still locked and officers believed it contained various prescription schedule II narcotic medications. As the cart was not entered or damaged New Lisbon Police Chief Kyle Walker requested the manager of the pharmacy to perform an inventory of the medication so the items could be returned for daily operations. Inside the cart Arcuri was in possession of 679 pills of Adderall in various strengths, 1,002 tablets and capsules of amphetamine salts in various strengths, 214 capsules of amphetamine/dextroamphetamine of various strengths, 1,574 capsules of methylphenidate in various strengths, 508 capsules of dexmethylphenidate of various strengths, 42 patches of fentanyl in various strengths, 1,233 tablets of hydrocodone of various strengths, 572 tablets of hydrocodone/acetamin of various strengths, 171 capsules of hydromorphone of various strengths, 93 tablets of methadone, 609 tablets of morphine of various strengths, 1,110 tablets of oxycodone of various strengths, and 875 tablets of lisdexamfetamine of various strengths. In total the contents of the cart held 19 different variants of schedule II narcotics and a combined pill count of 8,972. Arcuri is scheduled for a plea hearing March 22 at the Juneau County Justice Center. Reach Christopher Jardine on Twitter @ChrisJJardine or contact him at 608-432-6591. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever. KANKAKEE, Ill. A police officer who was killed at a northern Illinois hotel pleaded for her life before a man allegedly shot her with her own gun after she was disarmed during a struggle, a prosecutor said. Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, were shot on Dec. 29 while investigating a noise complaint regarding dogs barking in a parked car outside a Comfort Inn. Bailey remained hospitalized Monday and is "fighting for his life," Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe said during a bond hearing for Xandria Harris. Rowe said during Monday's hearing that Harris' co-defendant, 25-year-old Darius Sullivan, had his own gun and used it to shoot Bailey in the head after the officers knocked on the pair's hotel room door, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Rowe said Sullivan then allegedly shot at Rittmanic as she tried to run away before he chased her down a hallway and pinned her against a door. As Sullivan and Rittmanic scuffled, he said Sullivan called out to Harris and she helped him disarm Rittmanic. Rowe said the encounter was captured on Rittmanic's body camera. He said Sullivan and Harris then allegedly stood over Rittmanic pointing guns at her as she lay on the floor, already shot once. "Sgt. Rittmanic was pleading with them to, 'Just leave, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,'" Rowe said. "She was desperately pleading for her life." While Harris held Sullivan's gun, Sullivan allegedly fired two shots from what prosecutors believe to be Rittmanic's gun, striking the sergeant in the neck area, Rowe said. Sullivan and Harris are charged with fatally shooting Rittmanic, 49, and critically wounding Bailey, 27. Sullivan, who was arrested in Indiana, is fighting extradition to Illinois. In a statement released through the Illinois State Police, Rittmanic's family said she sought to meet people where they were in life and work with them to find solutions. To her, the job was about making the community safe for everyone, and she believed that "just because you can, doesn't mean you should," the statement said. "If she pulled over a single mother without a $1 to her name but clearly had violations, she would consider the long-term consequences of creating more debt to someone that is already impoverished," Rittmanic's family said. The Bradley Police Department said Rittmanic was a 21-year law enforcement veteran who served as an Iroqouis County deputy before she joined the Bradley department in 2007. Rittmanic was a published poet, amateur photographer and film producer for family, police and community events, the department said. She met her wife, with whom she was an avid dog rescuer, in 1999, and they were married in 2011. Rowe said his office will seek life sentences on the state charges. He has asked the Justice Department to review the case with the intention of pursuing federal death penalty charges. Illinois is not a death penalty state. Rowe said in a news release that there is "recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty for the murder of a law enforcement officer and also precedent for pursuing it in "non-death penalty states." A message seeking additional comment was left for Rowe on Tuesday by The Associated Press. Chandler Halderson was living a lie, the prosecution in his murder trial said Tuesday, about having a job, going to school and having a better job waiting for him in Florida. And when his father figured it out, the prosecution claims, Halderson decided to kill him and his mother and get rid of their bodies, first in the family fireplace and then around southern Wisconsin and then he lied about that, too. Halderson, 23, presented himself to the world as a soon-to-be graduate of a renewable resources engineering program at Madison Area Technical College with a job at American Family Insurance but a better one waiting for him at Elon Musks SpaceX, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said in his opening statement. Halderson went so far as to fabricate dozens if not hundreds of emails between him and MATC and American Family in an attempt to justify the story he was telling the world, including to his father, Bart Halderson, who was starting to ask questions about why his son never seemed to have any money, Brown said. Then Bart Halderson, posing as his son during a phone call with a front-line worker at MATC last summer, discovered Chandler hadnt been going to school, Brown said. He let Chandler know of the call, Brown said, and told him of a meeting hed scheduled between the two of them and MATC officials for 3 p.m. on July 1. Realizing he was about to be exposed, Chandler shot his father in the back in the Windsor home they shared with Chandlers mother, Krista Halderson, just before that meeting was to begin, the prosecution contends. He killed Krista Halderson when she returned home a few hours later, Brown said, and then spent the next five days trying to dispose of their bodies before filing falsified missing persons reports with the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7. A lot of cases begin with a murder. This one is just a small piece of the puzzle, Brown told the 18-member jury during his hour-plus opening statement. Chandler spun an amazing web of lies. In her own opening statement, defense attorney Catherine Dorl called her client just a normal kid who liked to play video games and didnt kill his parents, and raised the possibility that no one will ever know how Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, died. They simply dont know what happened, she said of the prosecution, and leaned heavily in her own 10-minute opening statement on the jurys responsibility to presume her client innocent, urging them to put aside their emotions when viewing disturbing evidence and to rely on logic. It is not a jurors job to be a story collaborator, she said. Dont assume anything. Assumption is the mother of all mistakes, she said. Look for whats missing. Look for alternate explanations. Dorl said the states witnesses and the evidence would not be hotly contested by the defense and that its not possible to know how Bart and Krista Halderson might have responded to Chandlers lies. She also made clear that, at the end of the trial, defense attorneys could stand before the jury conceding that the state did convict Chandler of some crimes, but not murder. Reported missing Brown said Chandler went to the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7 with an unlikely and sometimes shifting story, telling deputies his parents had been picked up early on the morning of July 2 by an unknown couple for a trip to the family cabin in Langlade County, about three hours away. Chandler said they took a number of tools, including a hatchet and gas cans to fill up a chainsaw, Brown and witnesses said Tuesday, as well as an unusually large amount of alcohol and several thousand dollars in cash. Chandler later told investigators hed only heard from them one time since a July 4 text from his mother saying they were going to attend a parade in White Lake that day, according to Brown and the criminal complaint in the case. The prosecution contends Chandler sent that text to himself from his mothers phone, which investigators found hidden in a shoe in the familys garage, according to Brown, and the parade had actually been on July 3. During testimony Tuesday, the prosecution played body camera footage from the Langlade County Sheriffs Office as they helped Chandlers older brother, Mitchell Halderson, and his girlfriend investigate whether anyone was at the family cabin on Sawyer Lake in the days after Chandler said his parents went missing. Deputies entered the cabin and two outbuildings on the property but found no evidence that anyone had been there, according to the footage. Mitchell Halderson testified that it would have been very unusual for his parents to go out of town without his mother telling anyone, and that while his parents drank, they were not heavy drinkers and not known to gamble. Among the 12 witnesses called by the prosecution Tuesday were six deputies or detectives who worked on the case, including Dane County deputy Josh Seeley, who said during a visit to the familys home after Chandler filed the missing persons reports that Chandler seemed aloof, and to me there was no sense of urgency about his parents disappearance. Deputy Hayley Collins-LeFevre testified that she found it odd that Chandler went into detail about helping his parents pack for their trip and about medical issues the two had, but couldnt say who theyd left with on July 2 or when. Body parts found Brown said Chandler spent part of the Fourth of July weekend cutting up his parents and burning their body parts in the family fireplace, where investigators found a tape measure, presumably to measure what would fit, and a piece of a human skull. He had burned his parents heads in that fireplace, he said. He said testimony would show that eventually Chandler realized a fireplace isnt hot enough to destroy human remains, and so decided to dump most of his fathers body on land in rural Dane County owned by the partner of his girlfriends mother, and parts of his mother on land along the Wisconsin River near Prairie du Sac that hed visited before in the past to swim and hang out with friends. Investigators would later find Barts torso on a part of the Dane County property a witness saw him near, Brown said. And while investigators have searched multiple locations, including a landfill, nothing more than Kristas legs have been recovered, Brown said. Kristas former boss and friend at Zimbrick Automotive, Curtis Van Pelt, described her in testimony as a kind, warm and conscientious person who uncharacteristically didnt schedule to have time off Friday, July 2, or Monday, July 5, and didnt call to say she wasnt coming in. Daniel Kroninger, who used to work with Krista at Zimbrick last year, said that if she had had plans to visit the cabin over the holiday, she would have shared them with co-workers, but she didnt. He said he went to the Halderson home on July 2 to check on Krista and Chandler answered the door with a bandage on one of his toes and a story about how there was blood all over the place because hed broken part of the fireplace glass cover while playing with the family dogs. He said Chandler texted him two days later to ask if he and his girlfriend could join him and his girlfriend to socialize, and the two came over later that night. Mitchell Halderson described his father as sometimes absent from the family as he and his brother were growing up because he was working a lot, and his mother as a stay-at-home mom while her sons were younger and a helicopter parent, but that both were good and caring parents. Chandler Halderson is charged with two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person. The trial continues Wednesday and is expected to last about three weeks. An attorney for Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich is asking a judge to impose sanctions on the special investigator leading the Republican-ordered review into the 2020 election, saying Michael Gableman has made incorrect statements and should take out full-page newspaper ads to correct the record. Genrich attorney Jeffrey Mandell made the request in a filing Tuesday in a case brought by Gableman in Waukesha County Circuit Court. Gableman is trying to force Genrich and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway to answer questions behind closed doors related to the ongoing investigation. He asked the judge to jail them if they did not comply. Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, did not return messages Wednesday seeking comment. Gableman was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to investigate the election at a cost of $676,000 to taxpayers. His contract expired last month, but Vos has said the review will likely go longer and cost more money. Gableman made a baseless claim at a pro-Donald Trump rally in 2020 that the election in Wisconsin had been stolen by bureaucrats. He has met with and hired people who formerly worked for Trump and espoused conspiracy theories about the election to work with him on the investigation. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes, an outcome that has withstood recounts and numerous lawsuits. An Associated Press review of battleground states contested by Trump, including Wisconsin, found too few cases of possible fraud to have affected the outcome. Gableman subpoenaed Genrich, Rhodes-Conway and the mayors of Racine, Milwaukee and Kenosha in October, but shortly afterward agreed to put off his interviews with them if the cities provided election-related information he had requested. Gableman argues in his lawsuit that Genrich and Rhodes-Conway did not appear for depositions on Nov. 15, but the mayors argue Gableman had agreed to postpone those interviews. The mayors have said they turned over requested information to Gableman and the understanding was the interviews were not necessary. Mandell said in Tuesdays court filing that Gablemans attempt to force Genrich to submit to questioning was frivolous and rife with factual errors and misleading statements. Mandell asked that Judge Ralph Ramirez impose a number of sanctions on Gableman, including taking out full-page ads in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal and the Green Bay Press-Gazette acknowledging that he made inaccurate statements to the state Assembly elections committee about Genrichs response to the subpoena. Mandell also asked that Gableman be ordered to testify before the committee that it was inaccurate for him to have said previously that Genrich violated a lawful obligation to provide testimony. Mandell is also asking that Gableman be fined, be required to take at least three hours of continuing education classes on legal ethics and have no further communication with Green Bay city officials and employees. A hearing in that case is set for Jan. 21. Another lawsuit, brought by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, seeks to block a subpoena from Gableman seeking records and a closed-door interview with the states top elections administrator, Meagan Wolfe. Dane County Judge Rhonda Lanford has said she will issue a ruling by Monday. Last week, Gableman issued additional subpoenas to Madison officials and a Democratic board member for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. A state Department of Justice attorney sent Lanford a letter on Tuesday, saying additional legal action related to the latest subpoenas may be coming depending on how the judge rules on the earlier ones. Republicans introduced a legislative package Tuesday that would divert around $25 million in federal COVID-19 relief money toward recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. The package is likely to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has rejected similar measures by lawmakers to direct federal spending in the past. It comes as Wisconsin law enforcement agencies are experiencing what GOP lawmakers Tuesday called a 10-year low in staffing levels. Lawmakers and officers attributed the staffing challenges to public sentiment against police after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, as well as messaging by government figures and statewide labor shortages. Today, Im proud to stand with our law enforcement officers across Wisconsin as we work to refund rather than defund the police, said Rep. William Penterman, R-Columbus. Specific bill language was not made available Tuesday, but Penterman said the package proposes $5,000 bonuses to all new law enforcement officers in Wisconsin; a signing bonus that would provide $1,000 for each year of work experience to officers relocating to Wisconsin from out of state, capped at $10,000; and $2,000 bonuses for officers already in Wisconsin, Penterman said, adding that some of the money would come from local agencies. We cant serve the people, we cant do the things that our community needs us to do and wants us to do unless we have people filling those positions, said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, vice president of the Badger State Sheriffs Association. Evers office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The governor has in the past rejected a range of Republican bills aimed at dictating the use of federal coronavirus funds. Other bills in the package would reimburse trainees for police academy costs, require two technical colleges to introduce a police academy class for aspiring part-time officers and create a matching grant program for small law enforcement agencies to equip and train officers, said Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake. Crime is unfortunately on the rise in Wisconsin and the number of officers on our streets is at the lowest it has been in over a decade, Dallman said in a statement. This bill package helps to restore the dignity and respect that our finest men and women of law enforcement deserve. Homicides are at a five-year high, with 302 in 2020 and 185 in 2019, according to Wisconsin Department of Justice data. Aggravated assault is also at a five-year high, though the numbers of other crimes like larceny, theft and robbery are the among the lowest they have been in five years. In response to the package announcement, Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, pointed toward the GOP-led Legislatures rejection of Evers proposal in the states previous two biennial budgets for increased funding for cities and counties for services including law enforcement. After a decade of underfunding local law enforcement and municipal services, Republicans are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for the consequences of their decisions, Hintz said. A Dane County judge on Tuesday ordered Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and his attorney to sit for depositions as part of a liberal watchdog groups lawsuit seeking public records related to the ongoing GOP-ordered review of the 2020 election. Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn, who last week expressed confusion over how so few documents were produced from the first three months of former state Supreme Court justice Michael Gablemans ongoing probe, denied a request by attorneys for Vos and his attorney, Steve Fawcett, seeking to block the depositions. She ordered the two to meet with attorneys for American Oversight to provide additional details on how officials responded to the groups multiple requests for public records and answer questions about whether additional documents exist and have been withheld or were destroyed. The citizens of Wisconsin deserve the truth, Bailey-Rihn said. Either these records exist or they dont. The case is one of three ongoing lawsuits brought by American Oversight following requests for records filed last year pertaining to Gablemans review. Attorneys for American Oversight have asked that Vos be held in contempt for not releasing the records sooner. All of this requires some follow-up, said Christa Westerberg, an attorney for American Oversight. An attorney for Vos, Ronald Stadler, has said all available documents have been provided. On Tuesday, he said American Oversights claims of additional documents are based on suspicion. He described the lawsuit last week as a backdoor discovery attempt. This is a fishing expedition, Stadler said Tuesday. The depositions, which are not open to the public, have been scheduled for Jan. 12. Bailey-Rihn said questions must focus on documents requested by American Oversight and what efforts were made to locate the documents. Bailey-Rihn has also scheduled a hearing for Jan. 24 to find out how thoroughly Vos and Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel searched for records ordered to be released in a previous court decision almost two months ago. Bailey-Rihn has asked that a records custodian testify at the hearing. American Oversights lawsuits are part of a growing list of court battles surrounding Gablemans inquiry, which focuses on some of the procedures voters and clerks relied on for casting and processing ballots. Vos, R-Rochester, has allocated $676,000 in taxpayer money for the review, which has already run longer than projected and will likely end up costing more. In another sign of a prolonged investigation, Gableman last week issued new subpoenas to officials with the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a handful of cities, including Madison, seeking emails, voting machine information and other election-related documents. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford plans to rule by Monday on whether Gableman has the authority to demand a private, in-person interview with Wisconsin elections administrator Meagan Wolfe. That case follows Democratic Attorney General Josh Kauls October request for a restraining order against subpoenas issued by Gableman seeking election-related documents and the Wolfe interview. In another case, a Waukesha County judge last month scheduled a hearing for Jan. 21 on Gablemans request that the Waukesha County sheriff compel the mayors of Madison and Green Bay to meet with him or else face possible jail time. Reviews of the election by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty found no evidence of widespread fraud but did lead to recommendations on how elections can be improved. The commission earlier this month took the first steps in writing administrative rules on a number of issues raised in the Audit Bureau report, including rules regulating the use of ballot drop boxes and what missing information clerks can fill in on absentee ballot envelopes. A recount and court decisions have affirmed that President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. An analysis by The Associated Press found only 31 potential cases of voter fraud in Wisconsins 2020 election, which represents less than 0.15% of Bidens margin of victory. Republicans in the state Senate plan to reintroduce a handful of election-related measures some similar to bills vetoed last year by Gov. Tony Evers that would place restrictions on absentee ballots, among other measures. In a Wednesday interview with the Wisconsin State Journal, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, also said addressing the states workforce challenges will be a top priority in the coming session. He also said it was unfortunate that former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman called on a fellow Republican state senator to resign after she criticized Gablemans review of the 2020 election. While specific bill language was not available, LeMahieu said the package of election-related measures will likely be based on last years report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election but did make recommendations on how elections can be improved. Some bills will be very similar to a package of election-related measures vetoed by Evers back in August, he added. LeMahieu said he expects to see bills in the coming session that would require most people who are indefinitely confined unable to get to the polls by themselves to provide a photo ID to vote and prohibit clerks from correcting errors or filling in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes, among other measures. Those are some of the topics that the Audit Bureau flagged and topics that well be putting before the governor again, LeMahieu said. It will be interesting to see, with the lens of a nonpartisan agency suggesting these changes, if the governor will veto them again, even though I think he sort of indicated he plans on it. Evers office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The Democratic governor vetoed a package of six election-related bills back in August that he described at the time as anti-democratic. The GOP-authored bills would have imposed a litany of restrictions on voters and elections administration. Among them were measures restricting who can return an absentee ballot on behalf of a voter, limiting the use of indefinitely confined status when applying for absentee ballots, and prohibiting clerks from correcting minor errors on absentee ballot application materials. Democracy isnt something that just happens for us, we choose to make it every day, Evers said in a statement when he vetoed the bills last year. When I ran for this office, I promised that Id work to protect the right of every eligible person to vote. LeMahieu said he hopes Evers will change his mind on some of the bills based on recommendations made by the Audit Bureau and conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which also found no evidence of widespread fraud but did encourage improvements to election administration. Hopefully this creates more weight and Evers takes these bills seriously this time and doesnt just fall into the partisans on his side to veto them automatically without taking a serious look at them, he said. Elections rules LeMahieu also expressed support for a request made last week by Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who co-chairs the Legislatures GOP-led joint rules committee, calling for motions to force the Wisconsin Elections Commission to quickly create rules for missing information on absentee envelopes, along with rules for ballot drop boxes. A meeting has not been scheduled on the matter. The bipartisan Elections Commission voted in early December to begin the administrative rule-making process for several recommendations in the Audit Bureaus report. The rule-making process can take as long as 13 months to complete and requires approval from the governor and a Republican-controlled rules committee. The commission will vote in future meetings on specific rule proposals. In addition to the Audit Bureaus report, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, hired Gableman last year to review the 2020 election. Vos has allocated $676,000 in taxpayer funds to the effort, but has said additional costs could accrue. LeMahieu said he is interested to see what information comes from Gablemans inquiry, but also pushed back against his comment last month that Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, should resign from the Legislature. Gablemans comments, made at a Chippewa County Republican Party event, came after Bernier, a former clerk, called for the review to wrap up sooner rather than later, while raising concerns of ongoing questioning of the 2020 election. Its definitely not helpful when Gableman calls on a sitting senator to resign, LeMahieu said. That was really unfortunate. Workforce bills LeMahieu said the Senate also plans to move forward soon a package of bills aimed at addressing the states persistent workforce challenges, which were present before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development reported last month that the states unemployment rate had dropped to 3% in November, according to preliminary data, matching the previous record low set in November 2018. Despite the positive trend, state officials have said Wisconsin is still about 100,000 jobs below where it was before the pandemic. The states aging population has caused the workforce to flatten out over time and it threatens to shift downward by as early as 2035, he added. Maybe some have retired early but theres other people sitting on the sidelines so we need to do what we can legislatively to incentivize people back into the workforce, to make it easier for them to get back into the workforce and to make it harder for them to stay on unemployment insurance, LeMahieu said. The package of workforce bills could be finalized in the coming week or two, he added. New York State has adopted the CDCs test to stay recommendation to schools. It allow exposed students to stay in school provided they follow strict guidelines. Science and security: W&M alum George Miller awarded John S. Foster Medal George Miller 67, M.S. 69, Ph.D. 72 was recently honored with the John S. Foster Medal for his contributions to national security. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption The following story originally appeared in as an online exclusive for the W&M Alumni Magazine. - Ed. Stepping onto William & Marys campus in 1963, George Miller had no intention of coming back for two additional degrees and staying almost a decade in Williamsburg. Originally a chemistry major, Miller took a physics class his sophomore year and was hooked. Fast-forward 58 years, and he is now the recipient of the prestigious John S. Foster Medal an honor which recognizes innovative leadership in providing a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent to ensure international peace and strategic stability. My sophomore year, I had a class with Bob Welch, who ended up being my Ph.D. advisor. He was a wonderful person, a fantastic teacher, and I found the subject so interesting, says Miller. The relationships I made with my professors in undergrad carried over into graduate school. The size and quality of the physics department were a perfect fit. Miller also appreciated the foundation W&M gave him in the liberal arts. All of the liberal arts subjects are essential to understanding how the world works and how to think about the world. For my job, you need to have an understanding of history, of governments and societies, of people. All of those things are incredibly important, says Miller. After his doctorate, Miller joined the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California as a physicist. In 1980, he was promoted to program leader for all thermonuclear design and computational physics development. In 1985, he became an associate director in charge of the nuclear weapons program. He left the West Coast for Washington, D.C., in 1989 to serve as the special scientific adviser on weapons activities to Secretary of Energy Adm. James Watkins. Most of my work in the Lab was highly technical. When you work in Washington, a lot of the efforts are centered around communication and collaboration. It was a very valuable experience; you learn how the various national security elements of the Federal Government actually mesh together, says Miller. Miller returned to the Lab in 1990, serving as associate director for Defense and Nuclear Technologies, associate director for national security and associate director for National Ignition Facility Programs. Miller then served as Lab director from 2006 to 2011. His original assignment at Livermore was in one of the nuclear weapons design divisions and he stayed closely associated with the nuclear weapons program for about 20 years, eventually broadening into the other aspects of national security in which the lab is engaged. The National Ignition Facility that was under construction while he was the associate director. My original intention when hired was to only stay on the West Coast for a few years and then move back east. I enjoyed the work so much, I decided to stay, says Miller. Many of the Laboratorys programs, including climate science, non-proliferation, energy security and biology, are outgrowths of the nuclear weapons programs; they are connected at the basic science and technology level. Starting in the nuclear weapons program, you quickly become engaged in the broad aspects of national security. Its strange to think about, but nuclear weapons are something we actually use every day, in the sense that every day they help to deter aggression. Due to his outstanding contributions to this field, exceptional leadership in scientific, technical and engineering development and policy formulation in support of U.S. nuclear security, Miller was this years recipient of the John S. Foster Medal. According to a press release by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recipients display the same qualities that have distinguished Foster throughout his career: strong national security and programmatic focus, inspiring leadership and team-building mentorship, scientific innovation, keen judgment and integrity. In his decades working at the lab, Millers job has evolved as world powers have shifted. Our relationship with the Soviet Union involved competition on many levels, and after its demise there were hopes for a very different kind of relationship the Laboratory interacted with our counterparts in Russia and developed many cooperative projects. Today, there are many similarities between our relationship with the Soviet Union and our current relationship with Russia, says Miller. Strategic deterrence has always involved the integration of conventional forces: nuclear, economic and political capabilities. It was never just nuclear. Today, you have to add space, cyber, biological and more. During the Cold War, we could focus primarily on the Soviet Union. The country was united in addressing that threat, and we had a huge economic advantage not so today. We are faced with a host of other countries and groups that are seeking to undermine the rule-based, democratic world order we helped create at the end of World War II. The country is horribly divided and focused inward, unable to even agree on the threats posed by climate change or pandemics. Today in retirement, Miller stays busy as a member of the STRATCOM Strategic Advisory Committee. He enjoys traveling with his wife and spending time with his grandchildren. He also comes to Williamsburg frequently as a member of the Graduate Studies Advisory Board. Its a great incentive to come back to campus. I try to provide some insight and advice from my experiences. Meeting some of the current students is always a real pleasure. Ultimately, its great to be able to give back to the College, says Miller. He and his wife, Sue, are creating the George H. Miller Physics Student Research Endowment through their estate plans, which will provide for faculty-advised undergraduate summer research opportunities in the physics department. Miller sums up all of this in one of his favorite quotes by John Adams. It reads: Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not. That is really at the heart of what this country is. People who are willing to dedicate themselves to the greater good and service to our country. I think this issue was brought out very clearly to me while at W&M and with my work at the Lab, says Miller. Photo taken on April 1, 2020 shows humanitarian aid from China at the Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine. [Xinhua/Li Dongxu] BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Tuesday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Xi said China-Ukraine relations have maintained a sound and steady momentum of development since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, noting that the two countries have deepened political mutual trust, carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields and strengthened people-to-people and cultural exchanges, which have improved the well-being of the two peoples. A container is unloaded from a container train from China's Wuhan in Kiev, Ukraine, July 6, 2020. [Xinhua/Sergey Starostenko] Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and Ukraine have supported each other and worked together to fight the pandemic, demonstrating the profound friendship between the two peoples, Xi said. Xi also stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of the two countries' strategic partnership, and stands ready to work with Zelensky to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to push for more results in bilateral ties as well as cooperation in various fields for the benefit of the two countries and their people. A container train from China's Wuhan is welcomed upon its arrival in Kiev, Ukraine, July 6, 2020. [Xinhua/Sergey Starostenko] In his message, Zelensky said that over the past 30 years, the development of Ukraine-China relations has maintained a positive momentum with close exchanges at all levels and fruitful practical cooperation between the two countries. He also said that the Ukrainian side has been fully confident in the broad prospect of the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, and is willing to continuously deepen the traditional friendship of the two peoples, strengthen cooperation in various areas and push forward the strategic partnership between the two sides. (Source: Xinhua) BASF agrees to divest its manufacturing site in Quincy, Florida and the associated attapulgite business for a purchase price of $60 million to Clariant. LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY/CHARLOTTE, US: BASF has reached an agreement to divest its manufacturing site in Quincy, Florida and the associated attapulgite business for a purchase price of $60 million to Clariant. The Quincy mining facility employs around 75 employees and manufactures clay-based mineral products used in a variety of industrial applications. BASFs attapulgite business generated sales of approximately $36 million in 2020. The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2022. BASF acquired the site as part of the Engelhard acquisition in 2006. It is operated by the dispersions & resins division of BASF. Based on an in-depth review, it was determined that the future of the site and the attapulgite business would be best secured by a divestiture to a company with experience and expertise in mining. BASF divests the site in Quincy and at the same time enters into a long-term supply agreement for attapulgite with Clariant, that will allow us to continue to support and grow with our customers in the paints, coatings, and construction markets which are core to the success of our business, said Denise Hartmann, senior vice president of BASFs Dispersions & Resins business in North America. Worldofchemicals News Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, is seen during a news conference in July at a train station in Chicago. Over 100m announced to will help make schools and colleges in Wales Covid-secure This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 5th, 2022 Schools and colleges will receive 103 million in Welsh Government funding, as learners return for the January term. 50m will be provided via local authorities through the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme. The funding will help schools carry out capital repair and improvement work, with a focus on health and safety measures, such as improving ventilation. The funding will also be used to support decarbonisation. 45m of revenue funding will also help support school budgets, assisting schools as they continue to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and to prepare for the requirements of the new curriculum. An additional 8m will be provided to further education colleges, to ensure learning can continue safely and ensure the most disadvantaged learners are not further impacted by the pandemic. Jeremy Miles, the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, said: I know schools and colleges have faced a very difficult time and everyone across the workforce has worked incredibly hard to meet the challenges of the pandemic. This funding will further support our schools and colleges to keep settings as Covid-secure as possible. While we want to support the sector in recovering from the pandemic, we also have to make sure we continue to plan for the future, and help all education settings across Wales fulfil our collective goals of making Wales a net-zero nation. The funding announced today will help us to ensure sustainability across the sector be that the environmental sustainability achieved through decarbonisation, or sustainability in provision. Vital service for vulnerable women opens new contact centre in Wrexham This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 5th, 2022 A vital service protecting vulnerable women across North Wales is opening two new contact centres in Wrexham and Bangor to reach out to those in need. The North Wales Womens Centre, in Rhyl, was forced to close its doors during lockdown, preventing women using its drop-in service. Now the Centre has re-opened and is launching its new Pathfinder offices in Wrexham and Bangor and that has been welcomed by Womens Centre Managing Director Gemma Fox. The Pathfinder programme, which aims to help women at risk of offending, has been commissioned and paid for by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin. It provides early intervention and support to vulnerable women, often with issues such as alcohol and substance misuse, mental health problems and family relationships, to reduce the number in the criminal justice system while helping them live safer, healthier lives. Gemma Fox said: These are places which are welcoming, warm, friendly places where women who have been through trauma can be reassured and have confidential conversations in a safe environment. We know these centres can encourage women to rebuild their lives and without the help of the Commissioner we just wouldnt have been able to go ahead with the plans The return to face to face work will encourage women to seek out support again as during the pandemic that personal contact couldnt be there. We are beginning to see an increase in demand and are expecting this to grow with the developing economic fallout of the pandemic and drops in benefits. North Wales Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Wayne Jones said: We are very keen to support the ongoing work of the Centre to divert women out of the criminal justice system whenever possible. We know the impact a sentence can have on a family and thats why we want to continue our support and we welcome the fact that the Centre is opening new bases in Wrexham and Bangor to make its services more accessible to women across North Wales. I know from my own experience how very, very helpful these services are to women at risk including those who come to the Centre and want to change their lives. They have an excellent record of supporting women who are in difficult situations and in diverting them away from prison. Covid has brought extra challenges with the reduction in face to face meetings but they have continued to do excellent work and its great that they can now develop services across North Wales. Yvonne Wild, Project Manager at the Centre, said: Women come to us through different routes, not just referrals from police or those who have committed offences, but those also at risk of offending. Theyre often those who are homeless or with alcohol or drug problems, victims of domestic abuse and those in financial difficulty, particularly with the reduction in Universal Credit. There are also people who have lost jobs, especially in an area like Rhyl which is one of the most deprived in Wales, but also in Bangor and in Wrexham where we get the most referrals. There has been an increase in the numbers seeking support with domestic abuse and housing problems that we are dealing with and it hasnt helped that women have not been able to call in during lockdown. However we were delighted to restart our Wednesday drop in service in Rhyl in September where women can call by without an appointment. To contact the North Wales Womens Centre and for support go to https://northwaleswomenscentre.com/ or call 01745-339331. For more information on the work of the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner go to https://www.northwales-pcc.gov.uk/en/home.aspx Eric Adams took the oath of office as the 110th mayor of the largest city of the United States at a ceremony on January 1, just after the annual Times Square countdown ushering in the New Year. The new mayor lost no time in emphasizing his loyalty to Wall Street, pledging that the citys public schools would remain open despite the unprecedented wave of COVID-19 infection spawned by the Omicron variant. Interviewed on ABC television a day after assuming office, Adams told parents of small children to fear not sending them back. The stats are clear. The safest place for children is inside a school. This as child hospitalizations have surged to record levels, the city reported nearly 40,000 new cases in a single day. New York City Mayor Eric Adams wears a surgical mask while hugging a commuter on the subway as the Omicron variant spread through the city on his first day in office on January 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) While professing concern for the obstacles facing young people confined to remote learning, Adams laid heaviest stress on the child care problems facing parents. He thus revealed the primary reason for the drive to keep the schools open: to keep the parents at their jobs and the citys business establishment satisfied. The former Brooklyn borough president is the citys second African American mayor. He began his career as a Republican in the 1990s and spent 22 years in the police department. New York is back, he exclaimed demagogically after taking the oath. A day later he declared that the pandemic insults our very nature as New Yorkers and that the city can and should be the center of the universe again. Adams has been greeted warmly by the financial and political establishment, including the corporate media, big names on Wall Street and trade union operatives. Dominant sections of the ruling class approve of Adams combination of identity politics with subservience to the rich. He ran as a moderate, using pseudo-lefts like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a foil. He pointed to the uptick in gun violence in the city to run on a law-and-order platform and secure the endorsement of Rupert Murdochs New York Post. The citys massive working class majority was not impressed. Adams narrowly won the Democratic primary last June, and the voter turnout on Election Day in November was 23 percent. This was a record low and even three percentage points lower than the figures for the 2013 and 2017 elections won by Bill de Blasio. Even though he won the general election by a large margin, Adams won office with the support of only 15 percent of eligible voters. The new mayors priorities are clearly reflected in his major appointments. David Banks, an old friend of Adams and the founder and head of an all-boys network of public schools, the Eagle Academy for Young Men, will be the new Schools Chancellor. While the Eagle schools are part of the public school system, they also have some characteristics of privately-run and publicly-funded charter schools. While not officially segregated, they are focused on an Afro-centric approach. Both Banks and Adams have supported charters, which have been used to undermine public education in major cities around the country. Adams was expected to name Philip Banks, the brother of the new Schools Chancellor, to the post of deputy mayor for public safety, but the appointment has been delayed and possibly scuttled in amid questions surrounding Banks retirement from his top post in the police department in 2014. Corruption allegations surfaced but were later dropped. For the new police commissioner, Adams has, as promised, chosen a woman. The appointee is Keechant Sewell, who had been chief of detectives in neighboring Nassau County. Sewell is also African American and grew up in the Queensbridge housing project, in the borough of Queens. The new mayor has stressed his police background while also claiming that he is the first working class mayor of New York. He has spelled out his law-and-order program on several fronts. First, he is bringing back the plainclothes anti-crime unit in the police department that was disbanded in 2020 and was notorious for abuse, particularly of young black men. The names of the victims of plainclothes detectives are well known in New York and beyond. Among them are Amadou Diallo in 1999, Sean Bell in 2006 and Eric Garner in 2014. Adams, who has made much of his opposition to the slogan of defund the police, claims that he will deploy the units to get guns off the street and achieve both justice and public safety. The actual role of the NYPD exposes the fraud of this claim. Another proposal is the return of solitary confinement in the citys jails, which Adams proposes to call punitive segregation. The name change cannot disguise the nature of this shift. When some members of the City Council raised objections, however, Adams reply was extremely significant: I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the people of this city. And when you do that, then you have the right to question me on safety and public safety matters. This is language that can and will be used to erect a virtual mini-police state. It was echoed, in almost identical language, by the notorious longtime fascistic head of the Patrolmens Benevolent Association in New York, Patrick Lynch. After the appointment of Sewell was announced, Lynch issued a statement declaring, We welcome Chief Sewell to the second-toughest policing job in America. The toughest, of course, is being an NYPD cop on the street. There is also a sinister parallel between Adams claim that New York should be the center of the universe again and the slogan of Donald Trump, Make America Great Again. New York was the center of the universe for the super-rich and their upper middle class hangers-on. It was never that paradise for the working class and less so than ever during the first two decades of the 21st century. Adams, as a Democratic stooge of the ruling class, is pledging to do his all to defend their power and wealth. He comes to office amidst a growing mood of anger and opposition in the working class in response to the surge of the Omicron variant. The pandemic is a prime cause of the citys persistently high rate of unemployment, now officially at 9.4 percent. This is double the current national rate, but it does not count the vast numbers of workers and youth who have left their jobs because of the pandemic or who have stopped looking for work. The citys homelessness epidemic continues at record levels, and it includes an estimated 100,000 homeless school-age children. The citys hospitals, already exhausted after nearly two years of the pandemic, are in danger of collapse in the face of the Omicron variant, while the citys multimillionaires and billionaires have added to their mountains of wealth. The trade unions are an inseparable part of the Democratic hierarchy now presided over by Adams. Among his biggest trade union backers are Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, both of which endorsed him before the June primary. What have the workers these organizations claim to represent received in return? The transit workers have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, and many hotel workers have seen their jobs completely disappear. The stage is set for enormous struggles. What is underscored is the urgency of the fight for the political independence of the working class, breaking from the unions and the Democrats, and establishing rank-and-file committees to lead the fight against COVID-19 and all the attacks on jobs, social services and living standards. The World Socialist Web Site interviewed epidemiologist and biostatistician Professor Adrian Esterman, the current chairperson of biostatistics at the University of South Australias department of Clinical & Health Sciences. Esterman has over 40 years experience, having worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva and Copenhagen as a consultant statistician and 14 years as principal epidemiologist with the South Australian Health Commission. He is a statistical reviewer for the Medical Journal of Australia and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, and regularly writes for the Conversation, medium.com and the Guardian. The following is an edited version of our discussion with Professor Esterman. World Socialist Web Site: Just before Christmas you wrote an article headlined Our leaders are living in wonderland if they think COVID case numbers dont matter. Could you elaborate? Adrian Esterman: We have both our Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Brad Hazard, the health minister in New South Wales, saying that the emphasis now should be on hospitalisations and ICU [Intensive Care Units] rather than on cases. In other words, we have to learn to live with COVID and therefore case numbers dont matter. Professor Adrian Esterman (Source: University of South Australia) But if the multiplications on the number of Omicron cases are done then our hospital system will be swamped. Were already seeing that in NSW. Supposing 5 percent of those infected end up in hospital, and were now getting up to 20,000 cases a day, thats 1,000 hospitalisations per day. What health system can cope with that? In addition, a reasonable proportion of those who get infectedno matter what their symptoms are or even if they dont have any symptoms at allend up with long-term health problems, which we call colloquially Long Covid. If you have 20,000 people infected a day and just say 5 percent have long-term health problems thats a lot of people hitting the health system in a year or two. WSWS: The government initially said people should only be concerned about hospitalisation rates. Thats now been changed to declaring we should take notice of the numbers in ICUs. AE: Yes. Then theyll start saying dont worry about ICUs but look at the numbers on respirators, and later say, dont be concerned about the numbers on respirators but the number of deaths. They completely forget about Long Covid, that our hospitals are desperately struggling with huge caseloads and that health staff are getting burnt out, not only because of workloads but because theyre getting infected and going into quarantine. Now is the time to reduce case numbers, not ignore them. What we have here is a delicate balance. Its like a set of scales. On one side, you have infections and on the other you have public health measures. When the two are balanced you have an endemic situation, and an effective reproduction number of 1. This means that the disease is always around, that youre living with it, but effectively under control. Currently the scales are heavily on the side of transmission and the best way of bringing it into balance is by increasing public health measures. Instead of this, NSW is removing public health measures. Sensible people, sensible governments around the world would be increasing public health measures. WSWS: But public health measures are being reduced, not just in NSW but across Australia and internationally. AE: Yes, thats right. Boris Johnson has said today that he will not be introducing any public health measures. Yet UK case numbers are now getting up to 200,000 a day and the National Health Services there is falling around its ears. This is like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. WSWS: Youve spent your life working in this field. What do feel when you hear these responses? AE: All you can do is get the message out there. These things are quite complicated, especially on modelling, and the general public does not have a clue on how to read or interpret a report on modelling. Whats required is for governments to give out simple, easy to understand health messages, but Australian governments are not doing it. Thats why its up to people like me to convey to the public the truth of whats really happening. I get satisfaction that I have an awful lot of Twitter followers who listen to me when I tell them that governments are not doing a good job. Changing the definition of what is a close contact is to reduce pressures on testing stations, but it assumes that people have Rapid Antigen Tests which they dont. This was a ridiculous decision and when you hear things like this, we just shake our heads and keep trying to get the correct messages out there. WSWS: Are scientists being marginalised here? AE: No, I dont think were being marginalised. There are many people like us working in the public health system and generally good leaders in Australia pay attention to their public health officials. In New South Wales, however, they are totally ignoring this advice. NSW has always been pro-business and has consistently refused to go into lockdown when the other states and territories did and got cases down to zero. When it was eventually dragged kicking and screaming into lockdown it was only a half-hearted lock down and then started seeding cases into Victoria and across the country. The NSW government had a lot to answer for. WSWS: How reliable are the current figures, given that Australian governments are now discouraging people from getting PCR tests? AE: Theres always been a lot of discussion of what constitutes hospitalisationssome states and territories include hospital in the home, others dont. This brings me to another point. There is no national definition for these things. When I first came to Australia in 1981 there wasnt even a national data collection for health. It wasnt until years later that we got the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to collect this information from each state and territory. What was needed from the beginning, even before this current pandemic, was a national centre for communicable diseases, independent of government. The federal government is responsible under the constitution for laws relating to quarantining. Youd think that they would take responsibility for a national approach to a major epidemic, but instead Scott Morrison said he wanted the states and territories to look after their own. Theres no national approach. There are different definitions for things, different ways of calculating, different contact-tracing systems that dont talk to each other, different border regulations and different testing situations. The list just goes on and on. The whole thing is an absolute mess. Right from the start its been an utter shambles and a failure of government, with each state and territory doing its own thing. We now have Labor saying it would be willing to establish an Australian version of the CDC [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and establish quarantine stations, but when and if it got into power theres no guarantee it would enact those things. WSWS: What do you think of Chief Medical Officer Paul Kellys comment that his number one Christmas present would be if everyone got Omicron or Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard saying today that everyone will get the virus? AE: These are very irresponsible comments. The fact is not everyone will get COVID. Ive not had flu in 30 years because I have a flu jab every year. To say that everyone will get COVID is simply nonsense, and it frightens people. What youll have is everyone will be either infected or vaccinated. We know that if youre not vaccinated theres a very high chance youll be infected. Ive no idea whats behind these statements, Im not in the minds of these people, but they need to refrain from making such statements. If everyone is going to get it then let it rip through the population. This is what the discussion about herd immunity was all about. They also forget that a lot of people have impaired immune systems or are frail and elderly and will be killed and up to 30 percent who catch and survive will have long-term health problems. WSWS: Government responses to COVID are driven by big business demands that there not be any lockdowns. AE: Lockdowns, of course, are only one public health measure. They are many other measures that can be used which dont particularly impact on business. For example, reducing the time for the booster shot down to three months has no impact on business and yet they are waiting until the end of January. I dont buy this argument that theres nothing that can be done because it might impact on business. Public health measures, such as mandated face mask wearing, which does not impact on business, improved ventilation, which may incur an initial cost, and other measures that can be introduced and ramped with no real impact on business, and yet they are not being done. One single public health measure cannot stop the virus but a combination will work. In public health we use the Swiss cheese metaphor. Swiss cheese is full of holes, but the holes dont interline and so when you bunch together various slices you effectively block transmission. South Australia and Western Australia successfully got down to zero cases, albeit with Delta. It will be harder with Omicron but I believe we could have kept it at zero cases in Australia, but it wasnt possible because NSW refused. Countries like China can do it because they can shut down whole cities, which is good in terms of public health but not from the standpoint of how authoritarian a regime is. Vietnam also did well, which has a socialist government, but a benign government and it does its best to help the people. In 2020 they did extremely well in keeping COVID cases low but now they have massive case numbers. WSWS: We wouldnt agree with your description of China or Vietnam as socialist countries, but their responses did show that elimination is possible. AE: Im not sure how youd describe these governments. Because Im apolitical Ill praise any government that does its best for its people and criticise any government that doesnt. I dont care what the political persuasion of that government is. WSWS: You recently told the media that the NSW could easily hit 100,000 daily cases by the end of January, that it would not be able cope with the wave of hospitalisation and that something has to change. What changes are necessary? AE: The Netherlands has reintroduced lockdown and, as we know, lockdowns do work. Australia will be reluctant to go into lock down again but Portugal, which has much higher vaccination rates than Australia, is having to boost public health measures. We must do this across the country to flatten the curve and reduce the peak load on the health system. NSW will be forced to do this. Its health system simply cannot manage the caseloads and that situation is going to happen very soon. No matter what they say about not doing anything, they will have to. My question is why on earth arent they doing it now? Wednesday marks the grim milestone of a thousand days of Julian Assanges continuous incarceration in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison. In that time, the WikiLeaks publisher and journalist has only left the foreboding prison walls, located on a windswept plain on the bleak outskirts of London, to be brought before British courts that have trampled on his democratic and legal rights. For 50 weeks, or 350 days, Assange was held on the basis of trumped-up bail offences, dating back to 2012. The charges were completely illegitimate, given that Assanges application for political asylum had been approved and upheld by the United Nations after they were laid. Since the bail sentence elapsed, the WikiLeaks publisher has been held on remand, convicted of no crime. His ongoing and indefinite detention serves only to facilitate a US extradition request, aimed at prosecuting Assange for exposing American war crimes, with the charges carrying a maximum-sentence of 175-years imprisonment. Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison in 2019 The extradition request is the pseudo-legal figleaf for a US government plot to destroy Assange and WikiLeaks. This has included illegal spying on his communications with lawyers, and, as was revealed late last year, plots to kidnap or assassinate the journalist while he was a political refugee in Ecuadors London embassy. The US case has been condemned by innumerable civil liberties and human rights organisations as a frontal assault on press freedom and a transparent political prosecution. Despite all this, the extradition request was allowed by a complicit British High Court last November. Assange faces the prospect of continued indefinite detention in Belmarsh or being put on a plane to be handed over to the US government agencies that plotted his murder. The dire predicament underscores the urgency of building an international movement of the working class to demand Assanges immediate freedom and the denial of extradition. Belmarsh was established in 1991, to hold category A prisoners accused of violent crimes, including murder, rape and terror offences. The facility was first dubbed Britains Guantanamo Bay in the early 2000s, because it was used to detain inmates without charge, indefinitely and in almost total isolation, on the basis of extraordinary anti-terror laws passed after 9/11. Since then, official and independent reports have documented high levels of violence at the prison, including on the part of staff, and frequent denials of prisoners basic rights. The most recent report based on unannounced visits to Belmarsh by the Chief Inspector of Prisons last July and August found a deterioration in conditions on a number of fronts. Its introduction stated: The prison had not paid sufficient attention to the growing levels of self-harm and there was not enough oversight or care taken of prisoners at risk of suicide. Urgent action needed to be taken in this area to make sure that these prisoners were kept safe. The comment is particularly significant, given Assanges documented history of medical issues, including suicidal depression, stemming from his decade-long persecution. At least four prisoners had taken their own lives since the previous unannounced visits in 2018. The 52% of prisoners who were not working were spending 23 hours a day locked in their cells while the education block, gym and library had sat empty and unused for more than a year, the report stated, in reference to the situation facing the majority of prisoners, including Assange. In 2018, the Chief Inspector deemed that prisoner safety was reasonably good, despite independent reports to the contrary. Even that official judgement has been downgraded in the 2021 report, with outcomes for prisoners deemed not sufficiently good. A quarter of prisoners said they felt unsafe. The Inspector found: The use of force had increased since our last inspection. Staff did not routinely activate body-worn video cameras during incidents. Due to the lack of video footage to support staff statements, we could not be assured that the use of force was necessary in all cases. The report goes on to document other abysmal conditions, including rusted shower blocks and cells and a lack of cleaning products provided to most inmates. The conditions were graphically documented by Assanges fiance Stella Moris in a Twitter post on new years eve. It included a minute and a half of audio recorded inside Assanges cell, with a continuous cacophony of agitated shouting and barking dogs, presumably those of the prison guards. Moris captioned the post: What does New Year's Eve sound like from Julian #Assange's cell in Belmarsh prison? Just like it sounded on Christmas Day and every day since he was imprisoned on 11 April 2019. Assanges imprisonment has continued unabated, even as United Nations official Nils Melzer found in June 2019 that it constituted a new form of the protracted, state inflicted psychological torture to which he had been subjected over the past decade. For more than two years hundreds of doctors have repeatedly demanded that Assange be released to a university teaching hospital or freed, warning that otherwise he may die in prison. Moris has confirmed that Assange suffered a minor stroke last October. And Belmarsh authorities have repeatedly found Assange to be at risk of self-harm or suicide. In January 2021, a British Magistrates Court blocked Assanges extradition on narrow medical grounds, finding that it would be oppressive because his health issues, together with the draconian conditions in American prisons, would likely claim his life. It nevertheless denied a bail application, leaving Assange in the appalling conditions of Belmarsh. At hearings on a US appeal to that verdict, the High Court similarly accepted the medical evidence provided by Assanges defence. The High Court, however, not only sanctioned Assanges ongoing detention, but upheld the US appeal, allowing extradition, on the basis of fraudulent and self-contradicting assurances from the American authorities that the conditions of Assanges imprisonment would not be so bad as claimed by the defence. Late last month, Assanges lawyers filed an application to appeal that ruling. In a public statement, Moris explained: On December 10th, the High Court upheld the Magistrates Courts assessment, based on the evidence before her, that there was a real risk that, should Julian Assange be extradited to the United States, he would be subjected to near total isolation, including under the regimes of SAMs (Special Administrative Measures) and/or ADX, (administrative maximum prison) and that such isolation would cause his mental condition to deteriorate to such a degree that there was a high risk of suicide. These findings led the lower court to block the extradition under s. 91 of the Extradition Act, which bans oppressive extraditions. However, the High Court overturned the lower courts decision to block the extradition, based solely on the fact that after the US lost the extradition case on January 4th 2021, the US State Department sent a letter to the UK Foreign Office containing conditional assurances in relation to Julian Assanges placement under SAMs and ADX. The assurances letter explicitly states in points one and four that the United States retains the power to impose SAMs on Mr. Assange and to designate Mr. Assange to ADX should he say or do anything since January 4, 2021 that would cause the US government to determine, in its subjective assessment, that Julian Assange should be placed under SAMs conditions and/or in ADX Florence. These conditional assurances alone were considered sufficient by the High Court to overturn the lower courts decision. Not only were the assurances conditional, they were also issued by the government that has been exposed to have spied on Assange and plotted his extrajudicial kidnapping or murder. By rights, this evidence alone should have resulted in the extradition application being summarily dismissed. Assanges persecution, however, is supported by the British authorities, and other US allies, including the Australian government, because it is the spearhead of a broader campaign to suppress widespread anti-war sentiment and to create a precedent for political frame-ups and persecution. Moris and other prominent Assange supporters have pointed to this broader context in recent days. They have noted the contrast between the knighthood of former British Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government participated in the invasion of Iraq, claiming at least a million lives, and the imprisonment of Assange, who exposed so many of the crimes of that illegal war. Assanges ongoing detention and the High Court ruling again demonstrate that his freedom can only be won through a political struggle against the entire capitalist establishment. Such a fight must be based in the working class, which is entering into struggle against the very governments spearheading Assanges persecution. The current COVID-19 outbreak is vastly exceeding levels previously seen in Australiamore new infections have been reported since Christmas Day than in the preceding two years. As a result, health systems are already at breaking point, prompting urgent warnings from doctors and nurses that unless immediate action is taken, the hospitals will collapse as the testing regime already has. Australia-wide, more than 30 percent of COVID-19 tests reported today were positive, resulting in almost 65,000 new cases. More than 35,000 of these were in NSW, 17,636 were in Victoria and 6,781 in Queensland. Across the country, 19 COVID-19 deaths were reported today, the highest number since late October, 2,964 people are hospitalised, 195 are in intensive care units (ICUs), and 56 require ventilation. Liverpool Hospital [Photo credit: Sydney South West Area Health Service] Already, three major Melbourne hospitals warned Monday that people should not present at their emergency departments unless absolutely necessary, because the facilities were already overwhelmed. Medical experts, however, are warning that the current tsunami of infections will result in an even greater surge of hospitalisations over the coming month. Senior emergency doctor Stephen Parnis told the Age: Ive got real trepidations about what next week will look like. Almost 1,500 people are currently hospitalised with COVID-19 in New South Wales (NSW), and more that 2,500 health workers are furloughed due to infection or isolation, as of December 30. With the NSW hospital system crippled by staff shortages, COVID-positive health care workers are reportedly being called back to work, despite the massive risk of infection posed to patients and other workers. The Guardian yesterday stated it had been contacted by multiple nurses from public hospitals across NSW who said management had informed them that health workers who had tested positive could return to work. Some of these nurses were reportedly ordered to treat patients who did not have COVID-19, even though the workers were displaying obvious symptoms, including coughing and sneezing. While this is not officially condoned by NSW Health, the groundwork was laid by the decision on December 31 to allow asymptomatic health workers who were close contacts of COVID-19 cases to leave isolation and attend work without a PCR test. The crisis has led countless health workers to voice their opposition, on social media and in the corporate press, to the reckless actions of Australian governments allowing the pandemic to rage. Twitter user @carly_solstice, a registered nurse (RN) from Sydney, urged readers: Please don't believe the premier when he says hospitals are coping. She continued: Nurses are being forced to take a dangerous amount of patients because there is no staff. My advice to the public? Don't get sick right now. Nurses are not angels. Were humans trying to do a difficult and sometimes wonderful job. But we cant do the impossible. We cant care for more patients than is physically possible. The NSW government must come up with a plan to fix the staffing crisis. THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE! The reality is that, far from developing a plan to address the catastrophic situation, the NSW government, like its state, territory and federal counterparts, Liberal-National and Labor alike, has proceeded with the criminal let it rip reopening drive while tearing down what remains of the testing and contact tracing infrastructure. Also on Twitter, @ABertwhistle wrote: Im in a rehab ward and we are working short-handed, too. Weve resorted to calling in staff who worked last night to 7am this morning to come to work from 3pm this afternoon. @Jodavis167 tweeted: I am an after hours manager and every time I ask someone to work another overtime [shift], I break a little bit more. Then having to listen to the government say we are coping is crushing. I am beyond furious. Sydney critical care RN @HRHMHowler wrote: Horror night shift. 1:11 ratio. Three RNs down and replaced with one AIN [assistant in nursing]. One death. No breaks on a 12 hour shift. No time for a bathroom break. At 3am, one of the patients made all of us a cup of tea and brought it to us on her walker. One anonymous Sydney COVID nurse told the ABC: The staff shortages are just proving to be crippling, there's never a shift that I'm coming onto which isn't short staff[ed]. Another Twitter user, @rpcounat, an emergency room doctor, wrote: Words from an ED nurse. 6am. COVID cardiac arrest. Im broken. I havent had a mouthful of water for 18 hours. I can't do this anymore. Now theres not enough staff for day shift. We cant cover the department. The doctor continued: I am beyond angry at what is happening to critical care nursing staff. Furious. Livid. That government policy settings are crushing them, leaving them in tears, making them leave. The physician countered the claims made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, backed by the Victorian Labor government, the NSW administration and the Murdoch press, that most COVID patients were being hospitalised for an unrelated condition. She wrote: the vast majority of patients we admit with COVID are being admitted FOR COVID. This disingenuous change in definition doesnt stop the burden on COVID wards, nor the number of beds needed, staff needed, processes, policies, PPE. Its a political definition. A Sydney medical specialist told the World Socialist Web Site this morning that 21 patients are currently being treated for COVID-19 in his hospitals ICU. Of these, six were intubated and two require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, one of them a pregnant young woman. The doctor said: Thats just the ICU. The emergency department is turning away people with mild symptoms. Bear in mind they're sick enough to present to hospital in the first place. Ambulance Victoria issued a code red in the Melbourne metropolitan region shortly after midnight this morning due to extreme demand. Ambulance services in NSW are also under extreme pressure. Paramedics reported yesterday that all three ambulance crews from Lithgow had been sent to Sydney, 150 kilometres away, leaving the regional centre uncovered. Ambulance dispatcher Pat Duggan wrote on Facebook: The gaslighting about the state of the health system needs to stop... the were busy but coping is nonsense. Clearly in response to mounting unrest among health workers, the unions have in recent days issued mealy-mouthed denunciations of the crisis. NSW Nurses and Midwives Association General Secretary Brett Holmes acknowledged in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that the relaxing of health regulations in mid-December has made what would have been a difficult situation worse. Holmes did not call for a reversal of these measures or the implementation of a lockdown to stem rampant community transmission. Instead, the union has called for cash incentives to force exhausted nurses to cancel their leave and return to work. Last week, Holmes tacitly endorsed nurses who were close contacts returning to work, saying: In the best possible world this change should not have been needed but we have a situation where COVID-19 is compromising our health staff such that the system cannot continue to operate. Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes told the ABC on Monday that NSW was paying the price for under-investment in health. The reality is, the health unions have enforced stagnant wages, with decades of sell-out enterprise and industrial agreements. Over the same period, they have collaborated hand-in-glove with governments slashing funding to public health, while doing everything they can to suppress any opposition from workers. With infections continuing to increase rapidly, even as many Australians are unable to get tested, the already disastrous situation in the nations hospitals will only get worse in the coming weeks, leading to hundreds, if not thousands, of additional deaths. This crisis is entirely the product of the criminal reopening policies of every Australian government, in line with the demands of big business that all public health measures must be abandoned and lockdowns avoided, whatever the cost to human health and lives. The opposition of healthcare workers can only go forward through a rebellion against the unions, which have functioned as the enforcers and apologists of this profit before lives program. Rank-and-file committees, independent of these corrupt organisations, must be formed by nurses and doctors at every hospital to share information, defeat government and health department attacks and to reach out to other sections of the working class. This struggle must be guided by the fight for the elimination of the virus, including through the closure of non-essential workplaces, with full compensation for workers and small businesspeople. A central component of this fight is the demand for a massive expansion of the public healthcare system. This is incompatible with the dictatorship of the financial elite, and raises the need for a socialist perspective, which places health and lives above profit. To take forward the international fight for elimination, the WSWS has called a Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian health workers who are prepared to contribute to this critical inquiry should contact the SEP today. Sony Music Group announced December 16 that it had acquired musician-songwriter Bruce Springsteens entire recorded music and songwriting catalogs through separate agreements. The deal includes more than 300 songs and 20 studio and 23 live recordings spanning five decades of a career that began with the release by Columbia Records in 1973 of Springsteens debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Columbia was sold to Sony Music Group by CBS Records Group in 1988. In the press release, Springsteen said, I am one artist who can truly say that when I signed with Columbia Records in 1972, I came to the right place. During the last 50 years, the men and women of Sony Music have treated me with the greatest respect as an artist and as a person. Im thrilled that my legacy will continue to be cared for by the Company and people I know and trust. Bruce Springsteen receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House from President Barack Obama in 2016 Springsteen, 72, is one of the most popular recorded music and live performance artists of the past half century. At Columbia he has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, 64 million in the US. According to ChartMasters, Springsteen is the 19th most popular artist in the world. Although Sony did not disclose details of the Springsteen deal, its value was estimated at $550 million by two anonymous individuals who were briefed on it. The two parts of the deal transfer ownership rights of the recorded studio and live music masters catalog, as well as the underlying musical compositions and lyrics catalog, from Springsteen to Sony. The Sony-Springsteen deal is likely the largest ever signed by a popular music artist. Other artists who have recently sold all or part of their music include Taylor Swift ($300 million in November 2020), Bob Dylan ($300 million in December 2020), Neil Young ($150 million in January 2021), Paul Simon ($250 million in March 2021), David Crosby (undisclosed amount in March 2021) and Tina Turner ($50 million in October 2021). Lindsay Buckingham, Mark Ronson, Chic, Barry Manilow and Blondie have reportedly also entered into such deals. On Monday, the estate of David Bowie (who died in 2016) sold the British-born rock stars publishing rights to Warner Chappell Music for an estimated $250 million. Sting is expected to make an announcement soon of a $250 million music catalog deal with Universal Music Publishing. As we noted at the time of Bob Dylans sale of his catalog in 2016, The whole business is quite degrading. One can feel the corporate grip tightening over artists and artistic life as a whole. The publishing rights purchases come at a time when genuinely independent, oppositional and rebellious art is badly needed. The phenomenon of successful artists selling their music catalogs to giant media conglomerates has different sides to it. The first driver of these mega deals is the consolidation and monopolization of the global media industries. According to Motley Fool, that process has left just six companies controlling more than 90 percent of everything read, watched or listened to by the public. Those companies are Comcast, Walt Disney, Viacom CBS, AT&T, Sony and Fox. Within the record industry, the Big 3 labels own 80 percent of all music content. Combined revenue for Sony (SMG), Universal (UMG) and Warner (WMG), according to Music Business Worldwide, is $2.5 million per hour and they are expected to have finished 2021 with $20 billion in sales from recorded music, publishing and merchandise. A second aspect of the catalog acquisition spree is the financialization of the music business and the consequent bidding up of the value of music rights by powerful investment groups. A report in the New York Times on the Springsteen deal quotes Barry M. Massarsky, an economist who specializes in calculating the value of music catalogs on behalf of investors. Massarsky told the Times, In the last year alone, we did 300 valuations worth over $6.5 billion. The advent of paid streaming media services has revived the revenues of the music industry since the unlicensed MP3 digital music file distribution cut income from CDs by more than half between 2005 and 2015. The Times article continues, Streaming and the global growth of subscription services like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube have turned the industrys fortunes around. One result is a spike in the pricing of catalogs of music rights to both recordings and to the songs themselves. This has brought a massive infusion of cash from moneyed interests, New investors, including private equity firms, have poured billions of dollars into the market, viewing music royalties as a kind of safe commodityan investment, somewhat like real estate, with predictable rates of return and relatively low risk, the Times reports. The sell-off of creative works has also been accelerated by the circumstances facing artists due both to macro-economic forces and the pandemic. While the portion of music dollars that accrue to the artists has been falling in the environment of digital streaming, their ability to earn an income from live shows has also largely dried up since early 2020. As the WSWS explained at the time of Dylans sale, the present situation is felt most severely by those artists now barely able to make ends meet. However, it also has affected many popular musicians as well, more than a few in their late 70s and early 80s. When asked about Dylans catalog deal, Crosby, 80, tweeted at the time, for example, I am selling mine also ... I cant work ... and streaming stole my record money ... I have a family and a mortgage and I have to take care of them so its my only option ... Im sure the others feel the same. There are also artistic and ideological questions involved. In many cases, the radicalism of the musicians youth wore off a long time ago. The artists anti-establishment, anti-corporate instincts have given way to an acceptance of the status quo. Very few have qualms these days about selling out or cashing in. It is not astonishing, but neither is it edifying. Springsteenwith an estimated net worth of $650 million before signing the deal with Sony, including a $28 million 127-acre horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey and a $14 million 4.5-acre compound in Beverly Hills, Californiawas clearly not in need of money and apparently decided that this was the best time to benefit from the rising music catalog market. The Boss has presented himself throughout his career as an everyman who represents the gritty, hard-scrabble standpoint of blue-collar America. His songs, especially those on his first five studio albums, to some extent reflected the aspirations, disappointments and feelings of his working class upbringing in Monmouth County, New Jersey. While there has always been an element of populist impersonation in Springsteens lyrics and in his presentation of himself, he wrote some memorable songs that were backed up by the excellent E Street Band specializing in what became known as the Jersey Shore sound (a la Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes). The mix of rock, R&B and doo wop, which included horns, piano and electric guitar, blended with the sentiments expressed in songs like Growing Up (1973), Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Thunder Road (1975), Factory (1978) and The River (1979), and resonated with audiences looking for a socially conscious, even angry voice. However, despite media efforts to present him as an intransigent rebel, Springsteens rise to superstardom was accompanied by an increasing conservatism that aligned with the Democratic Party and its rightward trajectory in recent decades. Springsteen ended up squarely in the camp of leading Democrats and campaigned publicly for presidential candidates John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Although he failed to directly support Joe Biden in 2020, Springsteen abandoned his previous refusal to allow his creative works to be used for advertising purposes and participated in a 30-second television spot entitled The Middle, sponsored by automaker Jeep/Stellantis during the Super Bowl last February. Developed in part as a response to the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, Springsteen said in the commercial, we need the middle and the very soil we stand on is common ground. There were clear references to the campaign waged by the Biden White House for unity with the Republican Party and those who tried to stop his certification as president with fascistic mob violence. Bruce Springsteen in Jeep commercial during Super Bowl LV [YouTube, Jeep] In early 2021, Springsteen went farther down this road of healing America in a collaboration with Obama on the production of a podcast series and coffee table book entitled, Renegades: Born in the USA. Produced by the Obama family media company Higher Ground Productions, the project was an effort to generate illusions in the political establishment by drawing supposed parallels between Springsteens music and the bogus reformism contained in Obamas writings. Springsteens infatuation with Obama is not the final word on him as an artist. However, it is hard to imagine that an individual, supposedly possessing artistic sensitivity and, moreover, attuned to the people, who cannot see through the cynical (and fairly transparent) fraud of Obamania is going to be able to help the public with much of anything. In this context, it is not surprising that Springsteen would have no problem selling the rights to his artistic works to a global media monopoly for a half-billion dollars. Canadas federal government reported 322,362 active COVID-19 cases across the country as of January 4, up by around 100,000 in just four days. Underscoring the rapidity with which the Omicron variant is spreading, the current number of infected people amounts to close to 15 percent of the 2.3 million positive cases detected since the pandemic began two years ago. This catastrophic situation, which is already producing a dramatic rise in hospitalizations and deaths, is the product of the criminal policies pursued by the ruling elite. The federal and provincial governments have openly embraced the fascistic policy of herd immunityi.e., the claim that the pandemic can be ended by allowing enough people to get infected and build up collective immunity. Governments have cut quarantine periods to ensure big business has a ready supply of workers and restricted COVID-19 testing to conceal the scale of mass infection from the public. In Ontario, Health Minister Christine Elliott reported Tuesday that 1,290 people are currently receiving hospital care for COVID-19, up by a staggering 163 percent compared to the 491 receiving treatment a week ago. Of these, 266 patients are currently in intensive care, up from 187 a week earlier. Clinical staff care for a patient with coronavirus in the intensive care unit at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England, May 5, 2020 (Credit: Neil Hall Pool via AP) The Ontario Science Advisory Table estimates that only one in five infections is being detected by the authorities. Based on Elliotts announcement of 11,352 new infections yesterday, that would mean that the true figure of daily infections is close to 60,000 in Ontario alone. At a press conference Monday, Premier Doug Ford declared that Ontarios hospitals could be left short by thousands of beds in a matter of weeks. Under pressure from widespread public outrage over his governments mishandling of the pandemic and the mounting Omicron catastrophe, Ford was compelled to announce a two-week delay to the reopening of schools for in-person learning. Delays of at least a week to school reopenings have also been announced in British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. Omicron is taking a particularly devastating toll on children. On Christmas Day, 12 children aged 10 or under were admitted to hospital in Quebec, a single-day record since the beginning of the pandemic. As of early January, 149 children aged nine or under had been admitted to hospital since the beginning of Quebecs fourth wave of infections. This includes a two-month-old baby who died of COVID-19 at Montreals Sainte-Justine hospital on December 16. Even though the Omicron wave is only in its early stages, hospitals are already reporting being overwhelmed by the rapid increase in patients. William Osler Health System, which oversees Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area, declared a code orange yesterday for the first time during the pandemic. Code orange is declared when demand for patient care outstrips a hospitals capacity. In Quebec, more than 440 staff members at Quebec City's Quebec-Universite Laval hospital have been infected with COVID-19, with another 400 isolating due to possible exposure. The hospital will cut medical appointments and operating room activities by half as of today. This unfolding health care catastrophe is not primarily the product of the extremely infectious Omicron variant, but the ruling elites criminal response to its emergence. A little over three months ago, the Trudeau Liberal government returned to office after Septembers federal election proclaiming that the pandemic was entering its end game. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the gutting of what little remained of financial support for workers, claiming that the provision of a mere C$300 per week to workers in a lockdown was the final pivot of the governments pandemic response. Freeland insisted that the benefit would only be paid to workers facing 14 days of consecutive lockdown ordered by an employer or provincial government, before subsequently relenting and allowing workers who lost their jobs due to the imposition of capacity limits to access the benefit. In October, Ford declared his reopening roadmap for Ontario, which included the elimination of all public health measures, including mask wearing, by March 2022. Following the designation by the World Health Organization of Omicron as a variant of concern in late November, Trudeau waited almost three weeks before making a public statement to the population on his governments response. No serious measures were taken to contain the more infectious variant, which can evade the immunity provided by vaccines. The let-it-rip strategy was endorsed by all parliamentary parties, including the Conservatives, New Democrats, and Bloc Quebecois. After voting for an extension to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), a slush fund for corporations that has seen the government pay them almost C$100 billion since the pandemic began, and to cut financial support to workers to just C$300 per week, the House of Commons voted unanimously to take a six-week Christmas break. A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released Tuesday revealed that the CEWS helped Canadas top 100 CEOs reach one of their best years for annual compensation in 2020, with average earnings of C$10.9 million. Thirty-five of the companies, or more than one third, examined in the study received payments under the wage subsidy scheme. The Liberal governments indifference to Omicrons spread has encouraged the far-right advocates of herd immunity to double down on their murderous strategy. Both Ontario and Quebec have cut the isolation period from ten to five days, following a decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDCs move has no basis whatsoever in public health, but was rather a direct response to the pleas of airline executives to help guarantee their bumper profits during the holiday season amid mass staff absences. Meanwhile, Ontario has restricted PCR testing to those individuals deemed high risk, meaning that the true extent of virus transmission is unknown. The callous indifference to human life that pervades governments and their public health officials across Canada was summed up in comments by British Columbias provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry. A reviled figure due to her refusal to acknowledge that COVID-19 is transmitted through fine aerosols which linger in the air, Henry enthused that BCs highest numbers of daily infections since the pandemic began was a positive development, a new game paving the way to an endemic state. The way the virus is changing with Omicron, that is leading us to that place sooner, she claimed. The type of illness its causing, with most of us being protected through vaccination, means that we are going to get to that place. This rehash of the constant propaganda from the corporate-controlled media about Omicron being a friendly mutant producing mild symptoms is nothing short of sociopathic. It contemptuously dismisses the experience of the viruss deadly evolution to date, which has been worsened due to the pursuit of the policy of mass infection. The emergence of the more infectious Omicron was made possible because ruling elites internationally gave the Delta variant free rein to spread. Henrys prescriptions will produce a similar catastrophe by encouraging the emergence of potentially more-infectious and more-virulent strains. The herd immunity advocates could not care less for the more than 30,300 Canadians who have already lost their lives, and thousands more who will follow in the months to come if governments have their way. They are likewise indifferent to the plight of hundreds of thousands crippled by Long COVID. According to Alberta Health Services, some 68,200 people in the province have contracted or will develop Long COVID. Given that Albertas 4 million inhabitants account for just over 10 percent of the Canadian population, it is likely that hundreds of thousands of people across the country suffer from Long COVID. My COVID just didnt go away, Lisa Lauzon, a long-distance runner who contracted COVID-19 in April 2021, told CTV News. I had to relearn how to breathe. One of the biggest learning curves is accepting being able to work within your energy envelope. The alternative to the health and social crisis produced by the ruling elites policies is the fight for a strategy to eliminate COVID-19. Workers must demand the immediate shutdown of all nonessential businesses with full compensation for all workers affected. A comprehensive program of testing, contact tracing, the isolation of infected people, the provision of high-quality PPE, and mass vaccination must be implemented until community transmission is reduced to zero. These policies, which mean a direct challenge to the prioritization of corporate profits over human lives, can only be enforced through a mass movement led by the working class. On Tuesday night, Chicago teachers voted overwhelmingly not to return to in-person classes and to move all learning online in the third largest school district in the US. The action is part of a growing movement of educators throughout the country to demand the shutdown of schools as the COVID-19 pandemic surges out of control. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced late Tuesday night that the vote to stop the reopening of schools after winter break passed by 73 percent. The CTUs House of Delegates voted to hold the membership-wide ballot earlier on Tuesday. The CTU structured the language, however, to allow the rapid reopening of schools. The vote calls for no in-person work until January 18 or until the citys COVID-19 infection rate falls below the threshold set by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) last year, whichever comes first. Contact tracing case data from Illinois Department of Public Health web site, January 4, 2022 (idph.state.il.us) Illinois is experiencing record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 infections, fueled by the spread of the Omicron variant, including a growing number of child infections. On December 30, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker advised hospitals to cancel non-emergency operations in order to free up space for a further increase in infections. The Democratic Party, which controls Chicago politics, has pushed aggressively for the reopening of schools. Prior to the vote on Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady spoke to the media to threaten and berate teachers for considering action to save lives. Lightfoot declared that teachers should not be in a position to shut down a whole school system, for what? On Tuesday night, following the vote, the CPS issued a statement announcing that classes would be cancelled and that there will be no remote learning. The CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has declared that teachers who do not report to school will not be paid, essentially declaring a lockout. Lightfoot, who led the charge on behalf of the Biden administration in January 2021 for the reopening of schools to in-person learning, waited until after the winter holidays last month, many weeks after the latest surge had begun, to declare that some businesses are encouraged to check patrons vaccination cards beginning January 3, but no other restrictions will be implemented. With utter cynicism, Martinez has cited the refusal of the city administration to put in place any restrictions on businesses as a rationale for keeping schools open as well. He told the New York Times, If they shut down the restaurants, they shut down all the events, every component of the city and state, then hey, Im not going to put my families at risk, Im not going to force them to take their children to school. But short of that, what is the logic of thinking that somehow shutting down schools is going to help this pandemic? The Lightfoot administration, along with city governments and the Biden administration, is pushing the lie that schools are not a significant source of transmission. The Illinois Department of Public Healths data refutes this, showing that the overwhelming sources of COVID-19 infections, more than 44 percent, are schools. In every way, the response of the city administration to the Omicron surge, as is the case throughout the country, has been catastrophic. Over the winter break, CPS distributed 150,000 take-home COVID-19 tests to students in neighborhoods where outbreaks had been identified, and families were instructed to drop off tests at the nearest FedEx dropbox. Images circulated on social media of FedEx dropboxes that were buried in heaps of test envelopes. Media reported close to one-third of those tests had results that had to be invalidated. Fewer than half, just 34 percent, of kids aged five to 11 in Chicago have received a first dose of the vaccine. In the days before Christmas, many parents searched for available vaccination appointments but could not find any. Whatever their lying justifications, the campaign to reopen schools is dictated by one consideration and one consideration only: to return children to unsafe classrooms so their parents can continue to work in unsafe workplaces, churning out profits for the ruling class. Chicago teachers have taken a courageous stand in defense of the lives and health of children, educators and the community as a whole. The Chicago Teachers Union, however, is working closely with the Lightfoot administration to try to smother opposition to in-person learning. From the start of the pandemic, CTU and its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, has maintained the fiction that in-person learning could be made safe as the pandemic raged. As opposition to reopening surged in early 2021, the CTU suppressed a powerful strike movement, telling teachers that there was no way to fight the reopening, that a strike would be too difficult, that teachers would scab on one another, and that Lightfoots plans were to become reality. In the summer, the AFT campaigned aggressively for the reopening of schools, with AFT President Randi Weingarten traveling the country as part of a Back to School for All tour. The CTU has floated proposals that would keep schools open unless there is a high threshold of positivity among school staff. It has also proposed inadequate mitigation measures, like the provision of KN95 masks to teachers and staff and the return of a daily health questionnaire. All of these would be designed as palliatives to justify the reopening of schools. At a public address on Thursday, CTU President Jesse Sharkey exuded complacency, declaring, Its likely Omicon is gonna peak, a very high peak, and then decline just as rapidly. I think were looking at a short term, temporary pause to in-person instruction. The action taken by Chicago teachers must become the starting point for a nationwide fight by educators, in alliance with parents, students and the entire working class, to shut down in-person learning as part of a broader strategy to eliminate the virus and save countless lives. To enforce a change in policy, the World Socialist Web Site calls on Chicago teachers to join the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, founded last year against the reopening drive by the Democrats with the assistance of the CTU. The committee must link up the struggle of teachers in Chicago with that of teachers in New York City, Detroit and cities throughout the country, where committees have also been formed against the unsafe reopening of schools. These committees are guided not by what is good for big business, but what is necessary to save lives and prevent the lifelong debilitation of children. The necessary measures to contain the pandemicuniversal testing, contact tracing, isolation of infected patients, masking and vaccinationsmust be implemented alongside a shutdown of schools and nonessential workplaces to cut off the chain of viral transmission and the allocation of full income to all workers affected. Chicago teachers have taken a stand for lives over profit! It must be developed into a nationwide, and indeed international, struggle of the working class to end the pandemic once and for all! For assistance in forming a rank-and-file committee, visit wsws.org/edsafety fill out the form below. Britain passed the horrific milestone of 200,000 COVID cases in a single day Thursday, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in a Downing Street press conference that he would do nothing to combat the pandemic. No further restrictions will be imposed to prevent the spread of the virus, he said. On the contrary, We have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again. We can keep our schools and our businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus. The almost 220,000 cases (218,724) were up more than 60,000 on the previous day. Due to the unhindered circulation of the Omicron variant, over 1.2 million have been infected in Britain in just the last seven daysan increase of 60 percent week-on-week. Britain is second globally only to the United States (3,264,875) in the number of officially recorded infections over the last week. However, the US population is five times as large. The UKs 17,751 cases per million over the last seven days is almost double that of the US, with 9,777 per million. People queuing this week outside a COVID test centre in east London (Credit: WSWS Media) Fully 20 percent of Britains population have been infected with a disease which has killed over 173,000 people. The 909 people who have died in the last seven days was up by 51.8 percent on the previous week. Even Johnsons number-one yes man, Chief Medical Office Sir Chris Whitty, felt obliged to point out, The idea that this is a mild disease as opposed to less likely to be hospitalised I think is easily demonstrated to be incorrect. While 200,000 plus cases is the new daily benchmark, this is likely only the tip of the iceberg as the UKs track-and-trace system is in chaos. Statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter, a member of the governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), told BBC Radio on New Years Eve, We should take (daily case data) with a pinch of salt because we dont actually count reinfections and testing is limitedpeople are finding it more difficult to find tests. Normally the number of cases are around half the number of infections, so we could be talking about half a million new infections per day. According to new data, it is estimated that up to 15 percent of all new Omicron infections were among people who had already been infected with another variant, which are not recorded in the official statistics. The surge is bringing the under-resourced and understaffed National Health Service (NHS) to its knees. Nearly one in 10 NHS staff were off sick over the New Year, with 50,000 at home either sick with COVID or self-isolating. This is as 14,126 people were in hospital with COVID on December 31, up 5,600 on the previous week. Thousands more are likely to have been admitted since then. On Tuesday, another two NHS Trusts, Morecambe Bay and Blackpool teaching hospitals, which provide services for hundreds of thousands of people, joined at least six others who have declared critical incidents in the last few days. A Morecambe Bay Trust internal memo spoke of relentless and sustained pressure caused by unprecedented staff absences that would see operations and appointments cancelled and staff redeployed, reported the Guardian. With public sector managers told to prepare for a scenario in which up to 25 percent of the 5.6 million-strong public sector workforce are at home isolating, Johnson offered only to prioritise just 100,000 key workers who will take daily lateral flow tests to catch infections earlier, but not until January 10. The government will officially review its Plan B measures today, but the Downing Street press conference was organised to reassure the corporations that nothing would change. As Johnson said in the press briefing, Lockdowns are not cost-free. Everyone in ruling circles, including the Labour Party and trade unions who endorse these murderous policies, is singing from the same sheet. A Financial Times editorial Tuesday spelled out, The world must learn to live with Covid this year. It declared, Whatever slim chance we might have had at the beginning of 2020 to eliminate Covid-19 has long gone. Efforts to control the pandemic have been justified so far in the context of a global health emergency but they cannot continue indefinitely. The Daily Telegraph, which functions as the Conservative governments house organ, congratulated Johnson in its New Years Day editorial for his refusal to implement any restrictions to stop the spread of the disease: One thing is clear: the country cannot be trapped for ever in a damaging cycle of repeated lockdowns, in which it is considered legitimate for governments to shut down society and the economy whenever they or their scientific advisers consider it to be necessary. As many have been arguing since early 2020, at some point we will have to find an accommodation with the virus and learn to live with its effects. The Guardian employed the services in an op-ed of Dr. Raghib Ali, a clinical epidemiologist who wrote, Sadly Covid is not going away permanently, but we can be optimistic that 2022 will be the year the pandemic ends and it becomes an endemic disease here and in most countries thanks to the very high levels of population immunity we now havethrough a combination of vaccination and natural infection. He concluded, there is a realistic prospect that 2022 will be the year we can begin to live with the virusand without the fear of both Covid and lockdowns that has haunted us for the past two years. In its article, the FT advised that booster jabs be abandoned as we cannot expect to keep jabbing people every four to six months for very long in the face of new variants. We will have to rely on the immunity provided by annual inoculations and by repeated exposure to what will sooner or later become an endemic infection. Within a day, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told the Telegraph that he did not presently support a further, fourth, booster shot for the entire population. It depends if your goal is to stop all infections But that is wrong. The goal is to prevent severe disease and protect health systems around the world. We cant vaccinate the planet every four to six months. Its not sustainable or affordable, he blurted out. No measures that in any way hinders the profit accumulation of big business can be tolerated by the ruling elite. Any mitigation, no matter how minor and ineffectual, must be done away with in the pursuit of a policy of endemic COVID. This week, as millions of schoolchildren and hundreds of thousands of staff return to classrooms, the most right-wing sections of the Tory Party are railing against the tyranny of wearing masks in corridors and classrooms and calling for the slashing of the period of self-isolation. The government has already reduced the isolation period from 10 to seven days for those with COVID, if they test negative on a lateral flow on day six and seven. Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education select committee, said this week, The most important priority the Government should have is to keep children in school If that means reducing the quarantine period from seven days to five days so more teachers can be in school, its absolutely something they should consider. And the Government should seriously consider applying this to children so they can get back to learning again. Tory MP Miriam Cates called for the ridiculous mass testing of 1215-year-old children as they return to class to be abandoned, as it totally lacks common sense. Omicron is hospitalising more children than at any previous stage in the pandemic. On Tuesday, SafeEdforAll (Safe Education for All) group member @TigressEllie posted data showing that an additional 114 children were admitted to hospital overnight. The majority (75) of these aged were aged 0-5 and therefore totally unvaccinated. This takes total child COVID hospital admissions to 14,115. In a series of television appearances Sunday, the senior Democrat and Republican on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol confirmed that open, televised hearings on the attempted coup would be held within months, if not weeks, and that there was substantial evidence of the personal involvement of then President Donald Trump in the attack. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) appeared on several Sunday morning television interview programs. These programs focused on the upcoming anniversary of the violent attack by Trump supporters seeking to block congressional certification of Trumps defeat in the 2020 presidential election and allow him to remain in office as a president-dictator. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell after a House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Jim Bourg/AP) The Meet the Press program on NBC was entirely devoted to January 6, and began with a lengthy and biting video depiction of the preparation and carrying out of the insurrection and Trumps central role in it. The narrative by host Chuck Todd was unusually explicit (for the American media) in describing the attack as a violent effort to overturn a free and fair election, in support of unconstitutional legal strategies to declare President Trump re-elected that were devised by Trumps own political advisers and aides. The attack was not merely an explosion of violence among Trump supporters summoned to a rally outside the White House Todd said, but the result of post-election planning by anti-democratic forces at the highest levelup to and including the then sitting president of the United Statesto overturn the election and subvert the will of the American people. Todd then retraced the events from the November 3, 2020 election, won handily by Democratic candidate Joe Biden, through January 6, 2021, the date set by law for Congress to certify the result of the Electoral College vote, won by Biden by a margin of 306 to 232. Representative Thompson discussed Trumps own conduct on January 6, including 187 minutes during which he watched his supporters storm the Capitol and rampage through the halls, calling out death threats against Vice President Mike Pence, who had declined to block certification, admitting that he had no authority to do so, and searching for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats. According to Thompson, the committee had received documents and testimony from individuals who made calls trying to get some semblance of response out of the White House. But for that 187 minutes, nothing happened the president was told, You need to say directly to your people to go home. Leave the Capitol.And so it took over 187 minutes to make that simple statement. Somethings wrong with that. Trump made several video appeals that were not broadcast, before the one made public that grudgingly urged his supporters to leave the Capitol, while declaring his solidarity with them. Thompson said the unused video takes were in the possession of the National Archives and are among the documents that Trump has sought to withhold. Last week Trump filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, after lower courts turned down his bogus claim of executive privilege. President Biden has waived executive privilege for all documents relating to January 6, and Trump, as an ex-president, has no authority to invoke it against that determination by the current president. Both Thompson and Cheney appeared on ABCs This Week program, hosted by George Stephanopoulos. Asked what his greatest concern was from the evidence collected by the committee, Thompson replied that the January 6 attack appeared to be a coordinated effort on the part of a number of people to undermine the election of November He added, it could be people in the executive branch. It could be people in the Department of Defense, some state characters, some nonprofits, and some very wealthy individuals who wanted to try to finance this undermining of our democracy. Cheney focused on Trumps failure to call off the attack for three hours, while, according to his own aides, he was glued to the television watching the violence unfold. We know, as you know well, that the briefing room at the White House is just a mere few steps from the Oval Office, she said. The president could have at any moment, walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop. He could have told them to stand down. He could have told them to go homeand he failed to do so. Its hard to imagine a more significant and more serious dereliction of duty than that. When Stephanopoulos asked whether this constituted criminal negligence, Cheney replied that she and Thompson agreed that there were potential criminal statutes at issue here, and that Congress might have to legislate to increase the penalties for such negligence. She continued, I think its also important for the American people to understand how dangerous Donald Trump was. We know as he was sitting there in the dining room next to the Oval Office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television, to tell people to stop Any man who would not do so, any man who would provoke a violent assault on the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, any man who would watch television as police officers were being beaten, as his supporters were invading the Capitol of the United States, is clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again. Cheney has been far more explicit about the ongoing threat to democracy from a Trump-dominated Republican Party than any figure in the Democratic Party. This includes Biden, most importantly, who constantly appeals for bipartisan cooperation from his Republican colleagues, even while they pay homage to the ex-president who denies Bidens own legitimacy and plots to return to the White House through a 2024 election rigged by state Republican Party attacks on voting rights, if not sooner. Thompson also appeared on the CNN program State of the Union, while Cheney was interviewed on Face the Nation on CBS. The two committee leaders thus spoke on four of the five Sunday morning programs, excepting only the pro-Trump Fox News. Thompson told CNN that Trump was seeking to block the committee from seeing initial tapes of a January 6 video in which he addressed his supporters inside the Capitol. He said he believed the courts would uphold the committees right to have access to tapes showing the president of the United States seeing the Capitol of the United States under siege by people he sent to the Capitol and did nothing during that time. While the purpose of the committee was not to conduct a criminal investigation, he continued, if they did uncover evidence we will make the referral to the Department of Justice. Thompson gave more details of the upcoming public hearings, saying, we will look at some of those state and local election officials who, as you know, are charged with conducting the elections to determine whether or not the elections were fraudulent, whether or not they determined that fraud occurred. We will also talk to some government officials, some who actually said to this administration, we can find nothing wrong with the elections. As you know, there were some people in the Department of Justice who said to former President Trump that, if you politicize the Department of Justice, were not going to leave, because thats not who we are. So, we will look at that and we will talk again to individuals who came to Washington under various circumstances. But we will tell the story. We will talk to the National Guard people who, as you note, sat for over three hours ready to come help the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police defend the Capitol, but they were not authorized to go. He said this evidence would show what happened on that day wasnt a comedy of errors, but a planned, coordinated effort. Cheney, appearing on CBS, reiterated her characterization of Trump as an ongoing threat to democracy. This is a man who has demonstrated that hes at war with the rule of law. Hes demonstrated that hes willing to blow through every guardrail of democracy. And he can never be anywhere near the Oval Office again. Hes demonstrated a complete lack of fitness for office. The remarks of Thompson and Cheney suggest that the public hearingsassuming they actually come to passcould produce significant revelations about the role of Trump himself and his closest aides, as well as Pentagon officials like then acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller in the events of January 6. But no action will be taken, either by the Democratic-controlled Congress or the Biden administration, to punish these top-level conspirators or block the ongoing threat of further fascist attacks on democracy and constitutional rights. The Biden White House has already intervened to bar committee access to several hundred documents of the Trump White House, citing national security grounds, and Thompson, Cheney and other members of the committee have accepted this. In his television appearances Sunday, Thompson sought to avoid questions about whether Republican members of Congress had directly assisted the rioters attacking the Capitol and whether those who refused to testify before the committee voluntarily would be subpoenaed. Neither Thompson, nor Cheney, nor their media interviewers seemed interested in pursuing such issues as the degree of high-level military cooperation with the attack on the Capitol, through the deliberate withholding of National Guard troops who were loaded onto buses and ready to go. In one suggestive exchange on CNN, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican who had offered National Guard troops to defend the Capitol as soon as the violence began, was asked whether he had been asked to provide evidence and information to the January 6 committee. He replied, Interestingly, I have not heard from the committee. Hogan sent Maryland State Police as soon as he could, but had no authority to send the National Guard across state lines without a request from the Pentagon. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy did not respond to a request for approval for two and a half hours, during which the rioters were rampaging through the Capitol hunting for members of Congress. Thousands of cruise ship crews and passengers around the world are threatened by the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Following the hasty reopening of the cruise ship industry after the global shutdown in 2020, during which at least 70 people died and approximately 200,000 crew members were left stranded around the world, another wave of infection threatens to destabilize the industry. Only this time, the corporate establishment is determined to keep operations running no matter the cost to human life and health. This situation poses the urgent need for cruise industry workers to take independent action to protect their health and lives through the building of independent workers committees to monitor the health and safety of the population and protect lives. No confidence can be placed in the rapacious cruise ship operators or their paid political operatives. The US Biden administration and governments throughout the world are minimizing the dangers posed by Omicron in order to justify a policy of profits before health and safety. The American political establishment has ruthlessly fought to keep businesses and schools open while infections continue to spiral out of control, hospitalizations and deaths rise, while the full long-term health effects of COVID still remain largely unknown. Symphony of the Seas (Darthvadrouw/Wikimedia Commons) Capitalist governments globally have followed the lead of their American counterparts. Australia and New Zealand, whose administrations once pursued a Zero COVID approach, have abandoned this strategy in favor of letting the virus rip through the population. The national government of Mexico, with a population of 126 million and nearly 300,000 COVID-19 deaths, recently undermined the decision of the Jalisco state administration to block cruise ships with infected passengers. Instead, it announced that the country would wholly allow asymptomatic cruise travelers entry, even if they have tested positive for coronavirus. Notwithstanding the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) latest guidance on cruise shipsitself riddled with loopholes and contradictions which allow widespread underreporting and circumvention of restrictionsthis American health agency has made significant capitulations to Wall Streets demand that the population should learn to live with the virus. In the midst of an explosive surge of the new variant, the CDC recently reduced the number of recommended days for infected individuals to quarantine from 10 which was itself a reduction from the originally recommended 14to a mere five days. Additionally, the CDC has played an instrumental role in ensuring that schools and workplaces remain open while the pandemic rages. Multimillionaire Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO Richard D. Fain has ominously hailed Omicron as a major step toward COVID-19 becoming endemic rather than epidemic. In no uncertain terms, this spells his endorsement of a sustained future of mass infection, death and uncertainty for the vast majority of working people, including cruise ship employees, who because of the nature of their work are particularly exposed. With over 800,000 total COVID-19 deaths in the US and nearly 5.5 million dead worldwide, calls for the viruss endemicity are nothing short of criminal. Wall Street has responded with a callous indifference to the current tumult in the cruise ship industry. Confident that the banks and the government will do everything in their power to protect investments, it sees the current CDC ruling as only a small obstacle to the continued bolstering of stock prices. A January 1 article in Barron s financial news cited a travel industry analyst bemoaning the new health recommendations while simultaneously exuding confidence that the cruise companies have pretty sufficient liquidity buffers to get through this. The analyst continued, [t]he view is that the CDC does not derail the second half of 22 and 23 recovery. The cruise industrys strategy for weathering the Omicron storm has been to downplay the variants threat to operations, falsely portraying its severity as minimal. It has touted existing shipboard mitigation measures, such as masking, vaccination requirements, sanitation and extremely limited social distancing, as a sufficient bandage for the effects of the explosive global health crisis. Claims that the viruss spread on ships is minimal have already been undermined by recent reports of thousands of positive cases across dozens of ships the world over. Furthermore, even if it were true that a lessened severity of Omicron would lead to fewer deaths in the environment of a cruise shipitself an unfounded claim considering the alarming warnings by prominent epidemiologists as well as the relative newness of the situationthe consequences of wide transmission of COVID-19 on board will inevitably be disastrous. As has been the case in workplaces across the globe, the effects of a renewed surge of the coronavirus on cruise ships will inevitably include the following: Personnel shortages due to quarantine and medical disembarkation, which will lead to increased workloads for already overworked crews Sudden changes in route and itinerary, which will disrupt the flow of goods and supplies, as well as the embarkation/disembarkation schedule of workers and passengers, further burdening crews Shoreside supply and distribution disruptions, which will stress fragile on-board systems Influxes of new patients to onboard medical facilities, which will strain and overwhelm limited shipboard hospital systems and staff Shoreside hospital strain, which will likely create further itinerary disruptions and compound shipboard medical system stress Sudden changes in already capricious crew privileges, including shore leave, communication and recreation Separation of crew and passengers from their friends, family, and colleagues due to medical isolation and shoreside quarantine Financial strain on passengers and crew due to medical and work disruptions Widespread lack of communication of vital information for the execution of duties In contrast to the criminal indifference of Wall Street and the corporate elite, cruise ship workers have an urgent need to protect the health, safety and well-being of their colleagues, families and guests. They must form rank-and-file safety committees to build the leadership of the struggle for basic human rights and workplace conditions both onboard and in their home countries. Such committees must take as a starting point the unconditional prioritization of human life over corporate profit and will act as central networks for the distribution of vital information among rank-and-file shipboard crew and passengers. These organizations must be run democratically and intimately connected with other workers committees in industries and countries across the world. They must fight to enforce measures to protect the health and safety of crews and passengers, including the suspension of operations with full financial compensation to crew members if conditions warrant. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) will provide theoretical and practical political guidance to these organizations, and the WSWS will publish important updates, statements and briefings in relation to their struggles. The latest wave of COVID-19 in the US is wreaking havoc across the state of Florida with the Omicron variant of the virus fueling a record-shattering spike in cases, which is pushing the states hospital system to its breaking point and risks causing a massive death toll. Like every region nationwide, Florida saw an explosive growth in infections amid the Christmas and New Years holidays, as political figures encouraged millions to travel across the country and gather together despite the threat of the Omicron variant, which was first identified in November. The current wave is also occurring as Floridas school districts press forward with the reopening of schools this week, a move that will lead to classrooms becoming super spreaders for the more transmissible variant and threaten the lives of millions of educators, students, and their families. On Monday, Florida reported a record 85,707 new infections from a backlog of case totals, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). People wait in line in their cars to be tested for COVID-19 at Zoo Miami on January 3, 2022, in Miami, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Although the CDC reported multiple days of cases instead of a single-day increase, it was the largest multi-day increase of newly reported cases since the pandemic began in March 2020. The CDC reported 254,814 new cases in Florida last week, with a positivity rate of more than 20 percent. The last multi-day record was set during the height of the Delta wave in August when 56,036 cases were reported. This was the same month Florida began reporting cases by the case date rather than the date the case was logged into the health system, resulting in a number of cases back-filling over several days. This was a crucial factor in greenlighting the resumption of in-person learning in schools and a significant maneuver on the part of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who has worked to cover-up the health crisis engulfing the state from the outset. Mondays CDC calculations also added 61 deaths to Floridas toll. The state has recorded 22 deaths and 53,195 cases per day on average in the past seven days. The state now stands at 4,308,534 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 62,541 deaths, the third largest totals in the nation, and the seven-day case average is the highest its ever been. COVID-19 cases in Florida have risen by 948 percent in just the past two weeks. Thousands of people across the state, fearful over the rapid rate of transmission, are desperately seeking to get tested for the virus, but even this is proving tremendously difficult. In Tallahassee, the states capital, images in the local press showed long lines and traffic jams in COVID-19 testing sites. Lines of cars were seen backed up for blocks in both directions at a location outside Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Universitys (FAMU) testing site Monday as dozens of people waited to get tested. Tanya Tatum, director of FAMUs student health services, told the Tallahassee Democrat: We are extremely busy and backed up. Tatum noted that last week the number of people tested at that site and another drive-through site nearby doubled in just a week. This prompted both locations to move to an appointment-only system instead of accepting walk-ins. The lack of accessible testing sites is forcing many to inundate hospitals just to get tested. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Capital Regional Medical Center saw an influx of people trying to get tested in their emergency rooms. That prompted both hospitals to ask the public to get tested elsewhere to avoid stretching their resources. In the face of the alarming numbers, the DeSantis administration and its hand-picked public health experts remain committed to the policy of herd immunity, which means allowing the virus to rip through the population unchecked, no matter the costs in human life, to maintain the flow of profits for the corporations and financial elite. Under this doctrine, workers are being told their lives and those of their children should be sacrificed so that the population can learn to live with the virus and that they should not expect any public health measures be taken to stop the spread of the disease. This ideology found a sinister expression on Monday at a press conference where DeSantis and Floridas Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo rejected the fears surrounding COVID-19 as exaggerated and denounced Floridians for demanding testing. Ladapo said the Florida Department of Health (FDH) was now working to unwind the testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to, unfortunately, get most of the country in over the last two years. Instead of ramping up testing to deal with the Omicron surge, the FDH will instead issue guidance that prioritizes so-called high-value COVID testing that is likely to change outcomes, which means only testing those who are at risk of complications from the virus or already displaying symptoms. This is a signal from the highest public health authority in the state that the government is dropping any pretense of taking preemptive action to detect, let alone suppress, the growth of infections and inform the public of the dangers posed by the virus. Ladapo went on to trivialize what he saw as low-value testingi.e., testing for asymptomatic individuals who can still transmit the virus. Combining anti-vaccination skepticism with a fascistic opposition to public health measures, the surgeon general said: Its really time for people to be living, to make the decisions they want regarding vaccination, to enjoy the fact that many people have natural immunity, and to unwind this preoccupation that only COVID is determining the boundaries and constraints and possibilities of life. The surgeon general, who is also a proponent of the reactionary Great Barrington Declaration manifesto, voiced the type of homicidal arguments that have been used to justify the mass infection of children, whom he falsely presented as less vulnerable to COVID-19 than older adults. High-value testing is testing that is likely to change outcomes, right? So if your grandmother gets a test, thats a much more valuable test than the 8-year-old third graders that Los Angeles County is sending in to get weekly testing, said Ladapo. This was declared while pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 have jumped five-fold this month in both New York and Washington, D.C., while countries throughout Europe are seeing record numbers of children hospitalized from the virus. According to data from the CDC, 1,040 children have now died from COVID-19 in the US, with the majority of these deaths, 540, having occurred in the past four months as students were herded back into overcrowded and COVID-infested classrooms. Many epidemiologists and other scientists greeted Ladapos announcement with condemnation over its unscientific character. Florida International Universitys infectious disease specialist, Dr. Aileen Marty, responded: Some percentage of those individuals will get severely ill. Number two: theyll continue to spread it to individuals who are more sensitive to severe disease and number three: youll have more possibility of forming another worse variant. For months the DeSantis administration has put in effect policies aimed at reducing testing across the state. DeSantis and Ladapo greenlighted the closures of several mass state-testing sites earlier in the pandemic when cases began to decline. Rather than operating state-run mass testing sites, counties and private organizations are supplied with their own materials to run their own sites, a measure that has proven highly inefficient given the onslaught of cases. Now with access to testing virtually unavailable for masses of people and with sites that are open being crushed with rising demand, the surgeon general and the administration are exploiting the shortage of tests to abandon testing altogether, under the pretext that the revised testing guidelines will help relieve the pressure placed on crippled testing sites. The policy shift outlined by the surgeon general is to require that people whove contracted the virus wait until they are showing symptoms and be hospitalized after they have fallen gravely ill. Such a position is guaranteed to lead to ever-higher rates of transmission, as workers who are unaware of being COVID-positive will continue to go to work and spread the disease to others, while also bringing the virus home to their families and surrounding communities. Moreover, the infection of large swaths of people will place greater strain on the states unprepared health care system, with hospitals already reaching a breaking point. A harbinger of whats in store came on Tuesday, when Cross Health Hospital in Fort Lauderdale was forced to temporarily close its maternity ward due to staff shortages related to recent outbreaks of COVID-19. A Walmart in Hialeah, a city in Miami-Dade County, temporarily closed its doors to allow cleaning crews time to sanitize the building after a COVID outbreak had exposed countless workers. The move to downplay and cover-up the exponential increase of COVID-19 infections is not limited to pseudoscientists like Ladapo and the Republican Party. The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden has directed the CDC to implement protocols that would direct states to limit daily case reporting through discussions with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. The move is a part of the governments strategy to shut down reporting of individual cases and is a rehash of former President Donald Trumps demand that federal and state governments reduce testing to reduce confirmed cases. Although the number of coronavirus tests over the holidays was significantly lower, and health departments only reported a fraction of cases to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the 7-day incidence level rose again in the last six days. On Tuesday, it officially stood at 239.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. The RKI reported 30,561 new infections and 356 additional deaths. In fact, the figures are many times higher. Before the beginning of the new year, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democratic Party, SPD) explained that the real data is probably two to three times higher [than] the incidence rates we are recording currently. With a value between 460 and 700, the incidence level is thus already far above the previous peak value of the fourth wave. In addition, there is the massive spread of the even more infectious Omicron variant. Since 15 November, the RKI has officially recorded over 30,000 infections of this variant. On Monday alone, 3,524 more people were infected with Omicron, an increase of 13 percent over the previous day. Nationwide, the variant already accounts for almost one-fifth of infections. However, due to the low genetic sequencing rate in Germany, the number of unreported cases is much higher. A look at the pandemic in neighbouring European countries and internationally shows the explosive nature of the Omicron wave. In Denmark, one of the first countries to be hit by Omicron, the 7-day incidence level is currently 2,505. In France, where Omicron has become the predominant variant in recent days, the incidence level is 1,665. Crowded underground in Berlin on November 12 (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) In the UK, the numbers are also exploding, reaching new highs every day. On Friday alone, there were 190,000 cases in one day. Hospital admissions are at their highest levels since January. In the US, there is currently an almost vertical rise in the number of cases: Within 24 hours, there were 440,000 new infectionsmore than twice as many as at the peak of the pandemic so far. In Germany, the situation in hospitals is already dire. The adjusted hospitalisation rate is about seven, which corresponds to 5,000 to 6,000 hospitalisations per week. The number of patients receiving intensive care continues to exceed 4,000. This threatens to increase significantly with the Omicron variant and to rupture hospital capacities. The RKI estimates the risk to the health of all those not triple-vaccinated as high to very high. This currently applies to over 60 percent of the population. The ruling class knows what a disaster the spread of Omicron will bring. A very high burden of disease from Omicron is to be expected, according to the latest paper from the Conference of State Prime Ministers. The sharply rising numbers of infections and their consequences could thereby reach a level that would restrict the functioning of critical infrastructure (KRITIS, including hospitals, police, fire brigades, emergency services, telecommunications, electricity and water supply and the corresponding logistics). In its first statement, the federal governments expert council on COVID-19 warned that the high incidence of infection meant a relevant part of the population will be simultaneously ill and/or in quarantine. Instead of taking the necessary measures to protect the health and lives of hundreds of thousands, the ruling class is responding with regulations that do everything to keep workers at work, enabling the maximising of profits. For example, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrats) is planning to shorten the quarantine period. At the next federal-state meeting on Friday there will definitely be new decisions, because we have to think about how to change the quarantine regulation, Lauterbach explained in an interview with broadcaster RTL/ntv on Sunday evening. Last week, the US government reduced the quarantine period from 10 to only five days. On Sunday, France followed suit and reduced quarantine for fully vaccinated infected persons to seven days and, for those with a negative rapid test, down to even five. For fully vaccinated contacts, quarantine will be waived completely. The measures will further fuel the already massive spread of Omicron. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has been known that infected people can transmit the virus even if they display no symptoms. Serious scientists castigate the measures. Berlin microbiologist and global health expert Timo Ulrichs told rbb-Inforadio he was looking with concern at the government parties plans to shorten the quarantine period. If we end quarantine too early, people may still be contagious and pass on the virus in the final phaseand maybe we shouldnt do that, he said. Federal and state governments are pursuing a deliberate policy of mass infection. After the Christmas holidays, schools are starting back with in-person teaching with full class sizes. This week, pupils in Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia must return to school. The remaining federal states of Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein will follow next week. We must do everything we can to keep schools open, wrote Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (Liberal Democratic Party, FDP) on Twitter. Face-to-face teaching was a question of equal opportunities, and she cynically wished all pupils, parents and teachers a good and safe start. Indeed, returning to overcrowded classrooms without air filters is a recipe for mass infection. This is not about equal opportunities but about keeping children in schools so that their parents can be forced to work. A look at the stock markets shows in whose interest such policies are being implemented. At over 16,000 points, Germanys DAX stock index is approaching a new all-time high in the new year. While the majority of the population faces income losses and layoffs and has had to risk life and health at work, the top 10 percent continue to enrich themselves from the pandemic and mass deaths. The murderous profits-before-lives policy underlines that the fight against the pandemic requires a struggle against the capitalist profit system and its political representatives. The working class must intervene in the political arena as an independent force and take the fight to end the pandemic into its own hands. It must be based on the following principles formulated by the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) at the turn of the year in its Open Letter to the Working Class: The Texas electricity grid remains vulnerable to severe winter weather events almost a year after the deadly winter storm Uri caused widespread blackouts and killed an estimated 700 people last February. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has repeatedly claimed that the utility system will be able to withstand a major storm. During a press conference in early December with Peter Lake, chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the two men issued a guarantee that Texans lights will not go out this winter. But it has become increasingly clear that these claims have no substance. Power lines in Houston, Texas, on February 16, 2021. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Data released by Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and analyses by industry experts shows that the Texas electric grid is still unprepared for severe winter weather. And recent reporting from the Texas Tribune revealed that Abbott only met with industry leaders several weeks after the press conference, failing to validate his claims before announcing them publicly. Abbotts promise that lights will stay on this winter is a political move meant to bolster his reelection campaign for 2022. He has gambled on the possibility that severe weather will not impact the electric grid, hoping he will be able to take credit for improving the system and rectifying the disaster of February 2021. It is no coincidence that Democrat Beto ORourke announced his candidacy for Governor in mid-November. ORourke has been a vocal critique of Abbotts handling of the winter disaster, making the blackouts a central focus of his campaign so far. This promise is dangerous, potentially deadly, said ORourke after Abbotts press conference. Experts continue to warn that Texas could face another grid failure the next time we experience an extreme weather event. Abbott and his appointees shouldnt be betting our lives on the weather. With 60 percent of Texas voters voicing disapproval of the states handling of the issue, according to a University of Texas/ Texas Tribune Poll in October, both candidates will be seeking to capitalize on whatever the winter season holds in store for the electric grid. Abbott even went as far as to intervene in the Association of Electric Companies of Texas (AECT), requesting them to put a positive spin on the condition of the grid weatherization. On December 8, the same day as Lakes press conference, AECT released a statement detailing preparation plans for winter weatherization but stopped short of making any claims about the ability to withstand severe winter weather this year. Several electric companies have made advances in updating their equipment in preparation for a major winter storm. However, natural gas companies, which supply nearly 45 percent of the energy for electricity production, have largely not. This is due to a loophole in recent Texas legislation mandating winter weather improvements in the electric grid that allows gas companies to claim an exemption to the new regulations. Rules enacted by the Public Utility Commission allow gas utility companies to submit an exemption request detailing their inability to comply with the new regulations and plans to weatherize in the future. Additional regulations by the Texas Railroad Commission, which is in charge of regulating the natural gas sector, are written to mandate weatherproofing by 2023 but also allow gas companies to opt out of the regulations by declining to register as critical infrastructure. Texas lawmakers, Republican and Democrat alike, claimed to be astonished to learn that the legislation they themselves had passed included these loopholes. During a Texas Senate committee hearing in the fall of 2021 with Railroad Commission executive director Wei Wang, senators lambasted the director for failing to enforce utility weatherization. Wang, however, informed the senators that his commission had simply written their rules to mirror the language of the law passed earlier that year. As a result, Texas has done next to nothing to weatherize the gas supply system, according to Doug Lewin, an Austin-based energy consultant interviewed by the Texas Tribune . We dont have a regulatory system in place that holds the industry accountable. That is the problem, Lewin continued. It's not a technology or engineering problem. Its a regulatory problem. The collapse of the natural gas supply chain was a significant factor in causing the rolling blackouts that affected much of the state last February. During the storm up to half of the states gas supply was incapacitated due to frozen equipment and weather conditions. Notably, many gas utilities were unable to function due to power outages caused by the shortage of gas, resulting in a feedback loop of inadequate supplies of fuel and electricity. Given the poor state of weatherization in Texas, it is no wonder that ERCOTs own projections show that even a weaker storm than the one last year could cause widespread blackouts. ERCOTs most severe projection for this winter estimates that Texans will demand 73,000 megawatts at any given time. Yet experts say Texas required 77,000 megawatts to keep the lights and heat on during winter storm Uri. While ERCOT predicts a low probability of its worst case scenario occurring, in four out of the five scenarios considered, the grid would be short by a significant amount of power. With severe winter weather becoming a more and more common occurrence in Texas due to the impact of climate change, the states regulators and utility companies are playing a dangerous game of chance that could cost lives. A lack of data from regulators and industry sources makes it impossible to know how many facilities have been weatherized, but reports indicate that the industry as a whole is woefully unprepared. According to Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, more than 1,000 facilities have handed in the paperwork to be registered as critical infrastructure. This is up from 60 last year, and those facilities would be bound by the law to make winter weather improvements. However, that 1,000 is out of over 250,000 across the state. Without any official data about how many facilities are actually prepared for another major winter storm, Texans are left in the dark about whether the electric grid will survive another significant weather event. This is the conclusion of a two part series. The first part was published on January 4, 2022. Many already fortified camps are being reinforced. An Al Jazeera article published in May revealed that grey walls, three metres (10 feet) high, are being built around the Ritsona refugee camp near Athens and there are plans to construct walls around another 24 camps on the Greek mainland. The new Moria researchers note the EU Human Rights Agencys stipulation that any camp for migrants should be planned to allow asylum applicants to move freely inside the camp and to come and go (if necessary, facilitated through public transport). They continue, The reality is that the camp can be left with a chip card between 08:00 and 20:00. However, not always. People tell us that their way is often blocked. There would be a bus, but it is very expensive compared to the monthly support payment. Exactly: 1.60 euros per trip to the next town. However, people only get 75 euros per month. An armed police officer stands guard at the new closed monitored facility for migrants and refugees in Zervou village, on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Greece, October 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) Children should not be exposed to prison-like fencing and should not witness violence, says the EU agency, but as the researchers note, The reality: spikes on the wire mesh, which is also stretched around the playground. The researchers list the array of monitoring technology being used in the island camps. Included are 112 cameras for the grounds, 55 turnstiles with chip cards, 20 cameras with motion analysis, 94 cameras for entrances and exits. The motion analysis cameras are listed under a section of the equipment categorised as Behaviour analysis. Across the islands and the northern and southern Greek mainland, there are 473 cameras in the Perimeter Structure Protection Subsystem. Alongside the cameras are the 473 speakers for the loudspeaker system. Further monitoring of the island camps is carried out by seven drones. In the northern Greek mainland, 16 drones are used, with the same number monitoring southern Greecea total of 39 drones. Greeces National Migration Strategy 2020-21 may have never been made public were it not obtained and published by a journalist. The PowerPoint document also mentions another system, Hyperion, which uses a two-factor authentication process to control entry and exit of camp inmates and NGO workers. The presentation reveals that the closed detention centres on the islands will be surrounded by a NATO style double fence with a six metre wide road separating each individual fence. A Guardian newspaper analysis published December, Fortress Europe: the millions spent on military-grade tech to deter refugees, provided further details of the Greece/EU operation against immigrants. It noted, Greece deploys thermal cameras and sensors along its land border with Turkey, monitoring the feeds from operations centres, such as in Nea Vyssa, near the meeting of the Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian borders. Along the same stretch, in June, Greece deployed a vehicle-mounted sound cannon that blasts deafening bursts of up to 162 decibels to force people to turn back. Some of the most sophisticated technology available on the planet is being used to monitor and prevent desperate people fleeing war zones and oppressive regimes from entering the EU. Refugees and migrants trying to enter the EU by land or sea are watched from the air. Border officers use drones and helicopters in the Balkans, while Greece has airships on its border with Turkey. The most expensive tool is the long-endurance Heron drone operating over the Mediterranean. Frontex awarded a 100m (91m) contract last year for the Heron and Hermes drones made by two Israeli arms companies, both of which had been used by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. Capable of flying for more than 30 hours and at heights of 10,000 metres (30,000 feet), the drones beam almost real-time feeds back to Frontexs HQ in Warsaw. What is being carried out against migrants and refugees recalls the police state methods of the Nazis, except the Gestapo appear almost amateurish in comparison to the lengths gone to by the EU in hunting down their quarry. The Guardian reports, EU air assets are accompanied on the ground by sensors and specialised cameras that border authorities throughout Europe use to spot movement and find people in hiding. They include mobile radars and thermal cameras mounted on vehicles, as well as heartbeat detectors and CO2 monitors used to detect signs of people concealed inside vehicles. Screenshot of French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's tweet showing entrance of "Closed Controlled Access Center of Samos" After visiting the Samos camp in October, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted video footage of masses of barbed wire fence surrounding it, and its entrance with a sign above reading, in Greek and English, Closed Controlled Access Center of Samos. Unable to contain himself, Darmanin added the comment, We want the Greek model to be applied in other Mediterranean countries, such as Italy, Spain, Malta. He enthused, This impressive camp was designed as a waiting center and allows the Greeks to hold their borders well. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary of Britains Conservative government who is currently pushing through some of the most draconian anti-immigration legislation anywhere on the planet, also takes her inspiration from the Greek/EU camps. In August, during a two-day visit to Greece, Patel met immigration officials in Athens and went on patrol with the coastguard off Samos to appraise the methods used to prevent small boat crossings. She also visited the about-to-go operational detention camp on the island. Tweet by Notis Mitarachi/Ministry of Migration and Asylum showing UK Home Secretary Priti Patel during her visit to the camp on the island of Samos (Credit: Notis Mitarachi/Ministry of Migration and Asylum) An article published last month in the pro-Conservative Telegraph reported, Priti Patel is planning a Greek-style crackdown on migrants, with new restrictions on asylum seekers amid an escalating European crisis. Channel migrants held in [the UKs] new purpose-built reception centres will have to obey strict rules or risk losing their right to claim asylum. The Home Secretary plans to model the centres on the camps for asylum seekers being built by Greece, where migrants face routine checks on their movements along with curfews to prevent absconding. The report cited a UK government source who said, If they breach the rules, it could affect their asylum claim You would be told that you would have to be in by this time. Thats fair rules for operating if you provide food and accommodation. The Greeks have things like timings. Over the past decade many of the continents borders have seen the erection of unpassable boundaries between countries. In its survey of Fortress Europe, How 1,800km of walls and fences are keeping desperate migrants out, the Telegraph noted, Thirty-two years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, there are now 1,800km of walls and fences either built or under construction on Europes borders. That is the equivalent of almost 12 new Berlin Walls Vast financial resources are being ploughed into keeping out a few thousand desperate and vulnerable people fleeing devastated homelands, ruined by decades of war and imperialist intrigues in which the EU powers have played a central role. The survey notes, Alongside physical walls there are also burgeoning reinforcements for the fortress. Frontex, the EUs bloc-wide border force and coast guard, is growing at pace. Frontex was established in 2005 with a budget of 6 million, which will rise in 2027 to 543 million. Its manpower is set to jump sevenfold over the same period, from 1,400 staff. The monstrous persecution of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers taking place in Europe is part of an international phenomenon, with the main imperialist powers overseeing savagery everywhere. The global character of this war on the most vulnerable and impoverished sections of the international working class demonstrates that it is a product of the crisis of the world capitalist system. The Greek detention camps are atrocities, and their creation as part of the reinforcement of Fortress Europe is central to the police surveillance state policies being enacted by governments of all political stripes continent-wide. The techniques developed are already being deployed against the working class as a whole and will be used with increased regularity and severity. The working class must mobilise its collective strength in opposition to the dictatorial agenda of the EU and its constituent governments, and oppose the ongoing and relentless persecution of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Against the division of the continent into competing nation states, and borders constructed of barbed wire and concrete walls, the working class must expropriate the super-rich, banks and corporations and reorganise the economy on a socialist basis. This is the perspective of the United Socialist States of Europe fought for by the International Committee of the Fourth International. Concluded. Chicago mayor threatens locked out teachers with legal action, as entire political establishment mobilizes behind school reopening The Chicago Public Schools cancelled classes for the second day on Thursday, following the vote by teachers to reject in-person education and demand remote learning. The entire political establishment and media have launched a full court press attacking the teachers courageous decision to stop the spread of COVID-19, which directly challenges the ruling classs policy of mass infection and death. During a Wednesday evening press conference, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the city has filed an unfair labor action complaint and is threatening further legal measures to try to force teachers and students back into unsafe schools. She claimed that the action by teachers was an unlawful, unilateral strike. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot [Credit: AP Photo/Jim Young, File] Speaking on behalf of the banks and big business, Lightfoot declared: We will not pay you for an unlawful strike. We will not pay you to abandon your post and your children at a time when they and their families need us most. She added, We are standing firm and we are going to fight to get our kids back to in-person learning. Period. Full stop. The Chicago city government has the full backing of the Biden administration and the Republican Party. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the country is more than equipped to ensure schools are open ... including in Chicago. Biden has campaigned aggressively for the full reopening of schools despite the massive surge in new COVID-19 cases and record hospitalizations of children. For his part, Donald Trump issued a statement declaring that what is happening in Chicago with all the school closures is devastating. He added, Educate our children in person or give every dollar spent on education directly to the students so they can get out of these failing government schools! Lightfoot has claimed that teachers are doing real harm to students. In fact it is the ruling class policy of mass infection that has done irreparable harm to children, many who have seen their loved ones, teachers, and friends get sick and die as the federal government and state and city leaders encouraged a deadly disease to rip through the country. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday that the CTU had not seen enough movement on CPS proposals to reach an agreement. The CTU is trying to find some agreement with the schools that will justify forcing teachers back to work, as it did in the Spring of last year. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez indicated that the district was working on a remote learning plan, but that any remote days would have to be made up, that is, tacked onto the end of the school year. Parents received notification from the district that starting Friday, January 7, students may return on a school-by-school basis and would be contacted by their school principals. Martinez said on Wednesday, We still believe that the right approach is not a district-wide hammer that does a brush across the entire system calling the schools unsafetheres no evidence to show thatand instead making sure we address individual issues at schools. There is widespread support for keeping Chicago children and youth home and out of mass infection environments. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, children 17 and under have the highest per capita daily COVID-19 case rate, at 205.4 per 100,000 as of January 1. Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Alison Arwady announced yesterday that the city had no rapid tests available and will not for at least two weeks, referring to supply chain issues. A CPS principals survey indicated that, for the more than 100 schools responding, about 34 percent of students stayed home on Monday, January 3, the first day back after winter break, before the vote by teachers and the lockout by CPS. We should be out with the teachers too: Detroit teachers, autoworkers back Chicago educators The stand taken by the Chicago teachers to demand virtual only schools to protect lives has inspired educators and workers across the US and internationally. Casey Williams, a high school science teacher in Detroit, told the World Socialist Web Site, My heart goes out to the teachers and staff in Chicago. Shame on those who decided their lives were expendable! How could you force students and teachers back into unsafe conditions? The situation is even more unsafe than ever before. This foolhardy move is a clear attempt to maintain the status quo, keep kids in school, not for education, but to keep parents at work, making a profit for the big corporations. These are the same corporations who have purchased our politicians and unions. Kudos to Chicago teachers who have said, No more! We want to teach. We love our kids, but we need to all be safe while doing it. The Chicago teachers intended to teach remotely, but the district locked them out! What does this tell us? The Chicago district does not want education and safety, they want control and warehousing of children. Way to make it obvious! Educational professionals everywhere must take a stand. You are more valuable than they credit you for. Protect yourself, because corporate greed is more than happy to gamble your life, and that of our elderly and medically fragile. The science shows this virus persists as an aerosol in rooms where the infected have been breathing and talking. Therefore, whole classrooms, grocery stores and factories can be infected rapidly when people simply breathe in that room too. The overcrowded ICUs decreased ventilator availability can lead to that patients death. But more concerning, for the entire human family, is the mutation of this virus. Most of those mutants will not be viable, but the ones that are viable could become the next variant. Those new forms of the virus may one day be so different from the current form that our vaccines will no longer be effective, taking us back to start of 2020 in the fight against a new virus. It is best to do a two-month lockdown now, save lives, and prevent the creation of a more dastardly virus. A young autoworker at the Stellantis (Chrysler) Warren Truck Assembly Plant in suburban Detroit said, What the Chicago teachers are doing is good. They are protecting the kids. Im with them. I have kids, and I don't want to bring Covid home to them. At our plant people are being forced to work when they are positive. The plants should absolutely be closed. We should be out with the teachers too. The more people that get together the better. Thousands of students and faculty take a stand against the University of Michigans return to in-person learning Thousands of students and staff are once again taking a stand at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor against the schools reckless decision to reopen for in-person classes on Wednesday. The decision to reopen the campus comes in the face of skyrocketing local infections and hospitalizations from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. On January 3, two days before classes were set to begin in-person, over 500 faculty and graduate student instructors attended an all-instructors meeting held online to discuss an initiative called the e-pivot, a transition to online instruction in opposition to the universitys forced return to in-person classes. Close to 600 participants and other supporters pledged to make the pivot to online instruction in their classes. The meeting follows the publication of an open letter to President Schlissel and Provost Susan Collins on December 17, which argues for a two-week delay of in-person instruction. As of Wednesday morning, the letter had been signed by 1,520 faculty, students and staff. The letter begins: We write to urge the University of Michigan administration to reconsider our plans for the winter semester. It seems clear that bringing students, faculty, and staff back to campus directly after a week of holiday activities that typically include numerous gatherings of friends and relatives and often take place in crowded venues is a recipe for a major COVID outbreak in the first week or two of classes. What is critical, the letter continues, is to act now and not wait until a last-minute decision is forced upon us by circumstances. Full article Detroit teacher: Its like they want to normalize [death] and make this the new way of life Jeff, a Detroit Public Schools teacher, spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of the ruling class. The city is planning on reopening schools to in-person learning, but it has delayed the start date until January 14. In response to comparisons of the death toll from COVID-19 in the US to deaths in World War I and the Civil War, Jeff said, Were surpassing all these numbers, and they are ignoring it. Its like they want to normalize it and make this the new way of life. Its crazy. What does live with Covid even mean? It sounds like the same exact thing were dealing with, but were supposed to ignore it. But how do we live with something with this many deaths and cases! Its way more serious than the flu. If a disease like this is going to affect even the brain, learning, IQ, why are we putting children at risk? So many new cases are being caused in schools. They first said kids cant get it, but as soon as you open the schools, we have all these children with cases. Isnt the definition of insanity when you keep doing the same thing but expect a different outcome? It doesnt make any sense. I agree 100 percent with a lockdown. I think thats the only way you can get rid of something like this. Ive read about New Zealand, where they had a lockdown and have had a small number of cases by comparison. To me its shocking to hear that the US leads the world in cases. They just say: This is the new normal! Just get used to it! For big business, corporations, its all about the economy. I agree with the three demands in the open letter [from the Socialist Equality Party]. Small business owners need to be protected too. The billionaires are still getting money. On a proposal from the city to close Detroit schools for three more days beyond January 14, Jeff replied: What good is three days going to do? Its not going to help anyone if we get kids together on Thursday instead of Monday. What good is it going to do? Ive always agreed that we need a system that prioritizes life over profit. This is such a clear statement from the government that we cant shut down the economy. They just came out and said it. I dont think either party prioritizes life over the economy. I would align myself with the Democratic Party, but I dont see any difference in the way that the pandemic has been handled. Their approach in talking about it is just different. Both parties represent the rich. One comes straight out and says it, and the other beats around the bush. We have a variety of people at our school. We have a group of teachers who think we have to make this the new normal, because the kids cant socialize or learn well on virtual. Which I agree with, but I think if we did a lockdown we really could stop this thing in a couple of months, and just have a short term inconvenience in exchange for a real long term solution. Biden administration backs reopening of schools after Chicago teachers vote to reject in-person learning White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reiterated the Biden administrations demand for the reopening of schools to in-person learning Wednesday, following a vote by Chicago teachers to shift to online instruction. We know they can be opened safely, and were here to help make that happen, Psaki said when asked about developments in Chicago. Chicagos Democratic mayor, Lori Lightfoot, denounced teachers for fear-mongering and hysteria on Tuesday evening, in advance of the vote by 20,000 educators in the countrys third largest school district. The courageous action to stop mass infection received the support of 73 percent of educators voting on Tuesday evening. It is part of a growing movement throughout the country to demand the shutdown of schools as the COVID-19 pandemic surges out of control. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez has put teachers on no pay status and locked them out of their Google accounts, preventing them from communicating with parents and students. The district announced it will provide an update by 5 pm Central Time today on further plans to force the reopening of schools. The citys COVID-19 positivity rate was above 23 percent on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant spreads without restraint. Most children in Chicago are not vaccinated, as is the case in the US as a whole, and child hospitalizations have surged to record levels. According to the states public health department, schools are the single largest means of COVID-19 spread in the state of Illinois. Contract tracing case data from Illinois Department of Public Health web site, January 4, 2022 (idph.state.il.us) Other school districts in the Chicago area have reopened with low staffing levels due to widespread illness and staff burnout, creating dangerous, crowded situations where no learning can take place. An Elgin teacher commented on Facebook: We had 44 teachers out today at our high school, and we were begged to cover teachers' classes all day long. They still didnt close the school, instead corralling the kids together into the auditorium to be supervised by administrators. The Democratic Partys efforts to reopen schools, led by Lightfoot since early 2021, have relied on open lying and intimidation. On Tuesday, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Alison Arwady repeated the fiction that schools, which are centers of transmissible disease in every other instance, are somehow safe spaces from COVID-19. She claimed COVID-19 acts like the flu in children, including the unvaccinated, saying, And we dont close schools for the flu. CPS CEO Martinez announced Tuesday that he thinks a positivity metric for teachers and staff can be agreed on this week that will allow individual classrooms and schools to go remote. The numbers being floated are absurdly high, including 25 percent. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is working to get teachers back into classrooms as soon as possible. The Tuesday vote was structured to allow the rapid reopening of schools, calling for no in-person work until January 18 or until the citys COVID-19 infection rate falls below the threshold set by the Chicago Public Schools last year, whichever comes first. CTU President Jesse Sharkey said at a press conference Wednesday morning that negotiations would resume as early as this afternoon with the aim of reopening the schools as quickly as possible. If you want to get us back in school quicker, provide testing, he said. For assistance in forming a rank-and-file committee, visit wsws.org/edsafety Chicago teachers vote to reject return to in-person learning as COVID-19 cases surge On Tuesday night, Chicago teachers voted overwhelmingly not to return to in-person classes and to move all learning online in the third largest school district in the US. The action is part of a growing movement of educators throughout the country to demand the shutdown of schools as the COVID-19 pandemic surges out of control. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced late Tuesday night that the vote to stop the reopening of schools after winter break passed by 73 percent. Illinois is experiencing record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 infections, fueled by the spread of the Omicron variant, including a growing number of child infections. On December 30, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker advised hospitals to cancel non-emergency operations in order to free up space for a further increase in infections. The Democratic Party, which controls Chicago politics, has pushed aggressively for the reopening of schools. Prior to the vote on Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady spoke to the media to threaten and berate teachers for considering action to save lives. Lightfoot declared that teachers should not be in a position to shut down a whole school system, for what? On Tuesday night, following the vote, the CPS issued a statement announcing that classes would be cancelled and that there will be no remote learning. The CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has declared that teachers who do not report to school will not be paid, essentially declaring a lockout. Full article Michigan teachers discuss collective action to close schools Michigan teachers took part in an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon to organize collective action to close schools and stop the spread of COVID-19. The meeting, sponsored by the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, included a large number of educators, parents and young people from Detroit and other Michigan school districts, as well as teachers from Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York. Also participating was a leader of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee in the United Kingdom, where 218,000 new COVID-19 infections were recorded Tuesday. The emergency meeting was held as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported that the state saw 61,235 new cases and 298 deaths between last Thursday and Monday. The seven-day average of 12,929 daily cases was a record and up 87 percent from the previous week. In its first report of 2022, the DHHS reported that 3,999 Michigan residents were hospitalized with COVID-19. This includes 96 children, the highest number since the pandemic began. K-12 schools continue to be the largest source of COVID-19 outbreaks in the state, with 22 new outbreaks and 333 continued outbreaks traced to classrooms, according to a new report posted Monday. As bad as this is, the full impact of the travel and family gatherings over the holidays has not yet been felt. Full article K-12 schools reopen as Omicron surges throughout the US South Amid the record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States and throughout the world due to the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, infections are on the rise again in states across the Southern US just as K-12 schools reopen for the spring semester. While the Biden administration falsely claims to follow the science, it has totally abdicated responsibility for the health and well-being of students and staff as they resume in-person instruction amid what many scientists are predicting will be a tsunami of infection for both the unvaccinated and vaccinated. In a meeting with the nations governors on December 27, President Biden told them, There is no federal solution to the ongoing crisis of the pandemic. He continued, This gets solved at the state level. Governors and state legislatures across much of the South have banned or impeded policies and procedures that allow schools to enforce even the most limited mitigation measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, testing, and limiting attendance to indoor events. Full article Eric Adams takes office as Mayor of New York City, pledging to keep schools open amidst record COVID-19 infections Eric Adams took the oath of office as the 110th mayor of the largest city of the United States at a ceremony on January 1, just after the annual Times Square countdown ushering in the New Year. The new mayor lost no time in emphasizing his loyalty to Wall Street, pledging that the citys public schools would remain open despite the unprecedented wave of COVID-19 infection spawned by the Omicron variant. Mayor-elect Eric Adams (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Interviewed on ABC television a day after assuming office, Adams told parents of small children to fear not sending them back. The stats are clear. The safest place for children is inside a school. This as child hospitalizations have surged to record levels, the city reported nearly 40,000 new cases in a single day. While professing concern for the obstacles facing young people confined to remote learning, Adams laid heaviest stress on the child care problems facing parents. He thus revealed the primary reason for the drive to keep the schools open: to keep the parents at their jobs and the citys business establishment satisfied. Full article Michigan teachers took part in an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon to organize collective action to close schools and stop the spread of COVID-19. The meeting, sponsored by the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, included a large number of educators, parents and young people from Detroit and other Michigan school districts, as well as teachers from Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York. Also participating was a leader of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee in the United Kingdom, where 218,000 new COVID-19 infections were recorded Tuesday. The emergency meeting was held as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported that the state saw 61,235 new cases and 298 deaths between last Thursday and Monday. The seven-day average of 12,929 daily cases was a record and up 87 percent from the previous week. In its first report of 2022, the DHHS reported that 3,999 Michigan residents were hospitalized with COVID-19. This includes 96 children, the highest number since the pandemic began. K-12 schools continue to be the largest source of COVID-19 outbreaks in the state, with 22 new outbreaks and 333 continued outbreaks traced to classrooms, according to a new report posted Monday. As bad as this is, the full impact of the travel and family gatherings over the holidays has not yet been felt. Second-graders listen to a lesson at Paw Paw Elementary School on December 2, 2021 in Paw Paw, Michigan. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) In opening Tuesdays meeting, World Socialist Web Site reporter Zac Corrigan reviewed the explosive spread of the Omicron variant, which the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington predicts could cause three billion infections around the world over the next three months, including one million cases a day in the United States. Pointing to the recent decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce the number of quarantine days from 10 to five, Corrigan said the Biden administration had abandoned any pretense of stopping the spread of the pandemic and had fully adopted the homicidal herd immunity policy. He made clear that Michigans Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has made no secret that keeping schools open is key to keeping workers on the job and producing profits. This includes the auto industry, where large numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths have led to labor shortages. Corrigan cited the Michigan state governments website on school policy, which declared, Without schools, our economy cant function at full capacity. Parents rely on schools to provide safe places for children to learn and thrive so that they may go to work. While the website states, Nothing can replace the value of placing our trained, talented educators in a room with students, Whitmer just signed a Republican-backed bill that allows districts to use school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other non-teaching staff to replace sick teachers so schools can be kept open. So much for the claims by the politicians that they are concerned about the academic and emotional well-being of children, Corrigan stated. He explained that the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee was completely independent of the unions, which are collaborating with the Biden administration to keep the schools open. The committee, Corrigan said, was demanding the closure of all schools and non-essential business, the allocation of billions of dollars for remote learning and to compensate workers and small business owners affected by the temporary closures, and the deployment of the full arsenal of public health measures, including universal testing, contact tracing, quarantining and mass vaccinations, in order to cut off the chain of viral transmission and eliminate COVID-19. His remarks were followed by the comments of Phyllis Steele, a Detroit teacher and chair of the committee, who denounced the lie that children were virtually unaffected by COVID-19. She pointed to the recent deaths of five children in the state, which brought the total to 39 since the outbreak of the pandemic, along with 196 cases of the devastating Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Facing the prospects of mass absenteeism and fearing an expansion of opposition, which began before the holiday break with protests by Detroit high school students and sickouts by teachers, Detroit Public Schools Community District officials announced Monday that the states largest district would shift to virtual learning through January 14. Announcing the decision, DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti cited Detroits test positivity rate of 40 percent. School employeeswho must be vaccinated by February 18have a positivity rate of nearly 20 percent, district officials reported. Several other Michigan districts, including Pontiac, Flint, Lansing, Hamtramck and Harper Woods, are temporarily going to remote learning, while schools in Southfield, just north of Detroit, will remain closed until next week. These moves, Steele said, were aimed at mitigating the anger of educators, parents and students. State and union officials, she said, were far more worried about a contagion of teacher sickouts and strikes spreading across the state and the country than the deadly impact of COVID-19. But that was exactly what was needed to close the schools and save lives. A report was also given on the situation facing Chicago teachers, who voted by a margin of 73 percent Tuesday night to demand remote-only classes starting on Wednesday. WSWS reporter Kristina Betinis said district officials planned to cancel all classes and essentially lock out the teachers for engaging in a supposed illegal strike. Teachers and parents, she said, will not find leadership in the Chicago Teachers Union, which betrayed a similar struggle last winter and collaborated with Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reopen the schools. Betinis concluded, What is needed is a society-wide political strike to unite educators with all workers to close the schools and non-essential businesses and save lives. During the discussion, a Detroit teacher who was involved in a sickout at The School at Marygrove early last month and is active in the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee commented, I am impressed by this organized and data-driven meeting. You can stand up and do something. We felt physically unsafe after the Oxford high school shootings and because of the spread of COVID. We organized outside of our union and carried out a sickout. We organized in Zoom meetings and outlined our demands for safety protections and virtual learning. They did not meet all our demands, but almost the whole staff called in sick and we showed educators can stand up and fight. Sickouts and other job actions now had to be spread across the district and the state. A teacher from the Howell school district in Livingston County, west of Detroit, said that she and many other educators and students were suffering from COVID-19 infections. Right-wing groups, she noted, were claiming that COVID is fake, and vaccines were filled with microchips. Two epidemiologists from the county health department quit because they wouldnt say that getting infected is like getting protected by a magical force field, so we could all play together. She added, Teachers are speaking out against this, but the union is telling us not to talk out. She said that she and other teachers were seeking to organize sickouts to demand mask mandates and remote learning. A teacher from Brooklyn, New York and a member of the New York Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee said educators had been hoping for changes with the election of the new mayor Eric Adams. But instead, we got the absolute opposite. He claims the schools are the safest places for kids to be and that they have to stay open. District officials, she said, had essentially dropped their mitigation theater. There is no social distancing, students are shoulder-to-shoulder and classes are as big as ever. My building has no ventilation, and I was given an inefficient air purifier and told to keep the windows openwhen its 20 degrees outside! She added, The mayors lies about the schools being the safest places are based on the inadequate testing. Students need to get permission from parents to be tested. In my school only 10 out of 300 got permission and the same ones have been tested again and again. Teachers are outraged. We get no leadership from the union. So, we have decided to take measures into our own hands and call a sickout. A teacher from Philadelphia and member of the Pennsylvania Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee said teachers at his school organized a sickout and forced the closure of the school before Christmas after the tragic death of 17-year-old student Alayna Thatch from COVID-19. Commenting on the action, a parent and member of the Pennsylvania committee said, What happened in Philadelphia showed that teachers must take the initiative and organize rank-and-file committees in your school or workplace. These committees have to be independent, and they have to be worker-led. Political strikes must be focused against the profit system and for life, he concluded. Summing up the meeting, Zac Corrigan called on educators to join and build the growing network of national and international educators rank-and-file committees and to provide evidence to the Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic. A major storm system swept across the United States Capital Region early Monday, resulting in numerous deaths, power outages and turmoil for residents trapped by the inclement weather. COVID-19 testing centers were closed, leaving thousands without access to basic health care as the Omicron variant surges in the nations capital and surrounding states. According to the Washington Post, Washington D.C. and Virginia had COVID-19 test positivity rates at 19 percent in the last week of December, with Maryland only slightly lower at 14 percent. Travel throughout the region ground to a halt as icy roads led to scores of vehicle crashes across the region, according to the Post. A collision between a passenger vehicle and a snowplow in Montgomery County, Maryland led to the deaths of three passengers and left another in critical condition. A winter storm delivers heavy snow to the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) A 50-mile stretch of I-95 between Exit 104 in Ruther Glen and Exit 152 in Dumfries, Virginia was closed Monday, resulting in thousands of vehicles stranded in dangerous freezing weather, some for over 24 hours after Virginia State Police reported hundreds of accidents caused by vehicles going too fast for conditions on roads. InsideNOVA reported passengers stranded without access to food, water or medication as exits closed and traffic ground to a standstill. Can someone please send help? Im starting to feel very weak, tweeted one diabetic commuter to Virginias Democratic governor Ralph Northam after spending 18 hours stuck without insulin. Others evinced shock and anger that the state National Guard had not yet been activated to deal with the emergency situation. By 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the highway remained closed with thousands still stranded. Northam defended his administrations contemptuous response, calling the event a perfect storm that could not have been predicted, although it had been predicted days in advance. Marcie Parker of Virginias Department of Transportation also sought to deflect blame for the states inaction, declaring Tuesday that anticipated snowfall rates were faster than anticipated [sic], while ludicrously suggesting that pre-salting the highway would not have been effective because the snow was mixed with rain. The sudden snowfall follows one of the warmest December months in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region, with temperatures reaching 60 degrees in parts of the area just a day before the storm. We can expect more frequent and severe extreme weather events associated with climate change, in the form of winter storms, floods, wildfires, etc, stated Mark Abkowitz, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University to The Hill. Abkowitz called for transportation agencies to expand their thinking into how to be resilient to these types of future scenarios. Compounding the difficulties, numerous jurisdictions reported significant staffing shortages caused by first responders catching COVID-19. The Post called the lack of systematic road clearing situation in Arlington, Virginia almost absurdist. Arlington County officials in Northern Virginia reported that efforts to clear roads of snow and ice were currently impacted by COVID19-related staffing shortages. The largest snowfall occurred in southern New Jersey and Delaware, with Atlantic County, New Jersey seeing nearly 14 inches of snow at Atlantic City International Airport. The Washington D.C. region and its environs received between five and 10 inches. The snow resulted in thousands of flight cancellations throughout the region. This was compounded by many thousands of flights being grounded due to staff shortages caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. According to FlightAware, nearly 3,000 domestic and 4,800 international flights were canceled on the east coast Monday. In addition to travel delays, broad swathes of the population lost power throughout the region. According to the Post, widespread outages were reported as far south as Georgia, with Virginia and Maryland seeing the brunt of the impact. Over 220,000 were left without power as Dominion Energy warned customers of the possibility of being without power for multiple days. Nearly 37,000 homes went without power in Maryland on Monday. The heavily-wooded region frequently has suffered outages as poorly-managed vegetation falls on power lines. Amid the record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States and throughout the world due to the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, infections are on the rise again in states across the Southern US just as K-12 schools reopen for the spring semester. Daily new cases have been at record highs for weeks and, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, a staggering 1.08 million new cases were officially recorded in the US on Monday, by far the highest daily total for any country since the start of the pandemic. Data from the last week of December showed a 58 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations of school-aged children nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fewer than 25 percent of children under the age of 18 are fully vaccinated, with children 5 years old and younger ineligible to be vaccinated. The reopening of schools during the current surge will compound the tragedy of pediatric illness and death due to COVID-19 in the new year. Students sit in an Algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school, in Miami Lakes, Florida on August 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) An alarming rise in child cases occurred during the last week in December, just before schools reopened from the winter holiday. Data from the American Association of Pediatrics shows 324,340 new cases during the week ending December 30. Over 20,000 of those cases occurred in Southern states in HHS Region 4, which includes states in the Southeast and Deep South. Pediatric hospitalizations have also skyrocketed by over 114 percent across the US, as the CDC notes an average of 672 hospitalizations among children on any given day during the week ending January 2. While the Biden administration falsely claims to follow the science, it has totally abdicated responsibility for the health and well-being of students and staff as they resume in-person instruction amid what many scientists are predicting will be a tsunami of infection for both the unvaccinated and vaccinated. In a meeting with the nations governors on December 27, President Biden told them, There is no federal solution to the ongoing crisis of the pandemic. He continued, This gets solved at the state level. Governors and state legislatures across much of the South have banned or impeded policies and procedures that allow schools to enforce even the most limited mitigation measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, testing, and limiting attendance to indoor events. Despite the precipitous acceleration of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in school-aged children, schools throughout the Southern states are returning to in-person instruction with few if any adjustments to the protocols that were in place to protect staff and students before the winter holiday. In Florida, cases have surged over 500 percent in the past two weeks as average daily new cases hover around 43,000. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the 4th largest district in the US with nearly 350,000 students, resumed in-person classes Monday. Due to the recent surge in cases, the district updated their safety protocols on December 31, merely issuing a mask mandate for all staff while keeping masks optional for students. Citing Republican Governor Ron DeSantiss order that wearing masks is optional for students, the district recommends cloth face coverings for students despite the recent recommendation from scientists for the use of N-95 masks. On January 1, Georgia reported over 18,880 new cases, a record figure during the entire pandemic. In the seven days leading up to December 30, new cases in children aged 0-4 increased 231 percent; new cases in the 5-17 age range increased 193 percent in the same period. A little more than half of the population in the state is fully vaccinated. There has been a statewide ban on mask mandates in Georgia, but due to the surge, Republican Governor Brian Kemp recently allowed individual school districts to require that staff and students wear masks. The states largest school district, Atlanta Public Schools, has a 58 percent vaccination rate. In light of the record-breaking surge in cases, Atlanta and surrounding school districts have returned to remote learning for the first week of the new semester. Last week, Louisiana saw a 150 percent increase of COVID-19 hospitalizations and record numbers of new infections. Jefferson Parish saw a 223 percent rise in new cases in the week ending December 29, while hospitalizations increased by 142 percent. Only 50 percent of all Louisianans are fully vaccinated. As of December 30, Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards has not reinstated a mask mandate, although schools in New Orleans continue to have a mask requirement for staff and students. As of this week, masks will be required in all Jefferson Parish government buildings regardless of vaccination status. Jefferson Parish Schools, the largest school district in the area, resumed instruction in a mask-optional setting. In Tennessee, the test positivity rate is now 34 percent, climbing at a rate more than twice as fast as any other point in the pandemic, according to the Tennessee Department of Public Health. Pediatric hospitalizations jumped 66 percent in the five days from December 24 to December 29. Children between the ages of 0-17 make up 22 percent of new infections in Shelby County, where Memphis, the largest city in the state, is located. In August 2021, Shelby County Schools sued Republican Governor Bill Lee for the right to impose a mask mandate in schools after the Governor signed an executive order allowing parents to opt out of masking. Only 50 percent of the county is fully vaccinated. While Memphis students will resume instruction wearing masks, municipal schools in the county still enforce mask optional policies. Currently, only 5 out of 95 Tennessee counties mandate masks in schools. South Carolina presently has a 30 percent test positivity rate. Republican Governor Henry McMaster issued a ban on mask mandates in schools which was subsequently blocked in federal court. Currently, 55 percent of South Carolinians are fully vaccinated. In Greenville County, the largest school district in the state, masks are required for anyone showing COVID symptoms. Otherwise, the districts Continuity of Service Plan states that Students, employees, and visitors may choose to wear masks within GCS facilities. The district has also grotesquely applied the recent CDC changes in quarantine and isolation guidelines for adults to school children as well. Students who test positive for COVID-19 or are exposed to infected classmates may return to campuses after five days. Alabama is also seeing record COVID-19 case numbers, with a test positivity rate of 38.5 percent. All 67 counties in the state are experiencing high levels of community transmission. The current surge has forced multiple school districts in the state to begin the semester with remote learning this week. During the week prior to winter holiday, there was a 25 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in schools. Alabamas Republican Governor Kay Ivey has imposed no requirement for masking or other safety protocols in schools. In Texas, COVID-19 hospitalizations have more than doubled over the past week due to the ongoing surge in cases, while the test positivity rate in the state is over 34 percent. Pediatric COVID-19 cases have risen upwards of 22 percent in some counties since December 25, yet students and staff are back in classrooms with no new measures to limit the spread of Omicron. Multiple school districts, including Round Rock Independent School District in Austin, reopened schools this week despite overwhelming numbers of staff out sick with the virus. Governor Abbott has banned school districts from implementing mask mandates in schools, though some districts have defied his order. The ruling elite has doubled down on measures to keep the economy open regardless of the amount of death or mass infection. As Drs. Walensky and Fauci mince words about the cause of the steep rise in pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations, children in the Southern US are crowding back into school buses and classrooms with fewer protections against a more highly transmissible virus than at any other point of the pandemic. The only way the pandemic will be brought to an end is through the independent mobilization of educators, school staff, parents, and the broader working class against the murderous policies of the ruling elite. At every step of the way, the teachers unions have facilitated the homicidal school reopening campaign. Educators and school staff must take the initiative and form their own rank-and-file committees in every school district, to unify with educators and workers across the US and internationally. Greetings to the Soviet workers, collective farmers, soldiers of the Red Army and sailors of the Red Navy! Greetings from distant Mexico where I found refuge after the Stalinist clique had exiled me to Turkey and after the bourgeoisie had hounded me from country to country! Dear Comrades! The lying Stalinist press has been maliciously deceiving you for a long time on all questions, including those which relate to myself and my political co-thinkers. You possess no workers press; you read only the press of the bureaucracy, which lies systematically so as to keep you in darkness and thus render secure the rule of a privileged parasitic caste. Those who dare raise their voices against the universally hated bureaucracy are called Trotskyists, agents of a foreign power; branded as spies-yesterday it was spies of Germany, today it is spies of England and France-and then sent to face the firing squad. Tens of thousands of revolutionary fighters have fallen before the muzzles of GPU Mausers in the USSR and in countries abroad, especially in Spain. All of them were depicted as agents of Fascism. Do not believe this abominable slander! Their crime consisted of defending workers and peasants against the brutality and rapacity of the bureaucracy. The entire Old Guard of Bolshevism, all the collaborators and assistants of Lenin, all the fighters of the October revolution, all the heroes of the Civil War, have been murdered by Stalin. In the annals of history Stalins name will forever be recorded with the infamous brand of Cain! Revolution Was Not Made for Bureaucrats The October revolution was accomplished for the sake of the toilers and not for the sake of new parasites. But due to the lag of the world revolution, due to the fatigue and, to a large measure, the backwardness of the Russian workers and especially the Russian peasants, there raised itself over the Soviet Republic and against its peoples a new oppressive and parasitic caste, whose leader is Stalin. The former Bolshevik party was turned into an apparatus of the caste. The world organization which the Communist International once was is today a pliant tool of the Moscow oligarchy. Soviets of Workers and Peasants have long perished. They have been replaced by degenerate Commissars, Secretaries and GPU agents. But, fortunately, among the surviving conquests of the October revolution are the nationalized industry and the collectivized Soviet economy. Upon this foundation Workers Soviets can build a new and happier society. This foundation cannot be surrendered by us to the world bourgeoisie under any conditions. It is the duty of revolutionists to defend tooth and nail every position gained by the working class, whether it involves democratic rights, wage scales, or so colossal a conquest of mankind as the nationalization of the means of production and planned economy. Those who are incapable of defending conquests already gained can never fight for new cries. Against the imperialist foe we will defend the USSR with all our might. However, the conquests of the October revolution will serve the people only if they prove themselves capable of dealing with the Stalinist bureaucracy, as in their day they dealt with the Tsarist bureaucracy and the bourgeoisie. Stalinism Endangers the Soviet Union If Soviet economic life had been conducted in the interests of the people; if the bureaucracy had not devoured and vainly wasted the major portion of the national income; if the bureaucracy had not trampled underfoot the vital interests of the population, then the USSR would have been a great magnetic pole of attraction for the toilers of the world and the inviolability of the Soviet Union would have been assured. But the infamous oppressive regime of Stalin has deprived the USSR of its attractive power. During the war with Finland, not only the majority of the Finnish peasants but also the majority of the Finnish workers, proved to be on the side of their bourgeoisie. This is hardly surprising since they know of the unprecedented oppression to which the Stalinist bureaucracy subjects the workers of near-by Leningrad and the whole of the USSR. The Stalinist bureaucracy, so bloodthirsty and ruthless at home and so cowardly before the imperialist enemies, has thus become the main source of war danger to the Soviet Union. The old Bolshevik party and the Third International have disintegrated and decomposed. The honest and advanced revolutionists have organized abroad the Fourth International which has sections already established in most of the countries of the world. I am a member of this new International. In participating in this work I remain under the very same banner that I served together with you or your fathers and your older brothers in 1917 and throughout the years of the Civil War, the very same banner under which together with Lenin we built the Soviet state and the Red Army. Goal of the Fourth International The goal of the Fourth International is to extend the October revolution to the whole world and at the same time to regenerate the USSR by purging it of the parasitic bureaucracy. This can be achieved only in one way: By the workers, peasants, Red Army soldiers and Red Navy sailors, rising against the new caste of oppressors and parasites. To prepare this uprising, a new party is needed-a bold and honest revolutionary organization of the advanced workers. The Fourth International sets as its task the building of such a party in the USSR. Advanced workers! Be the first to rally to the banner of Marx and Lenin which is now the banner of the Fourth International! Learn how to create, in the conditions of Stalinist illegality, tightly fused, reliable revolutionary circles! Establish contacts between these circles! Learn how to establish contacts through loyal and reliable people, especially the sailors, with your revolutionary co-thinkers in bourgeois lands! It is difficult, but it can be done. The present war will spread more and more, piling ruins on ruins, breeding more and more sorrow, despair and protest, driving the whole world toward new revolutionary explosions. The world revolution shall reinvigorate the Soviet working masses with new courage and resoluteness and shall undermine the bureaucratic props of Stalins caste. It is necessary to prepare for this hour by stubborn systematic revolutionary work. The fate of our country, the future of our people, the destiny of our children and grandchildren are at stake. Down With Cain Stalin and his Camarilla! Down With the Rapacious Bureaucracy! Long Live the Soviet Union, the Fortress of the Toilers! Long Live the World Socialist Revolution! Fraternally, LEON TROTSKY May, 1940 WARNING! Stalins press will of course declare that this letter is transmitted to the USSR by agents of imperialism. Be forewarned that this, too, is a lie. This letter will reach the USSR through reliable revolutionists who are prepared to risk their lives for the cause of socialism. Make copies of this letter and give it the widest possible circulation. L.T. A woman getting a Covid-19 test at a drive through testing center in North Bergen of New Jersey, on December 22, 2021 SMA POLL SEXIEST TOP CHEF Getty Gordon Ramsay isn't going anywhere. The British celebrity chef, 55, stars in a slew of television projects from Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell & Back, and his new series Next Level Chef airing on Fox alone, to his Nat Geo show, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, and the dozens of shows and specials he leads overseas. Add to that the 50+ restaurants he owns and operates around the world, the collection of 26 cookbooks he's published, and his popular TikTok page, and it's safe to say Ramsay's plate is pretty darn full. But one thing he isn't cooking up anytime? Retirement. In an interview with Thrillest published on Monday, Ramsay insists that he has no plans of slowing down. "You have not seen the end of me," the star told the publication. "Do not underestimate the power of an old man." The topic came up when Ramsay was asked about the possibility of wrapping Hell's Kitchen after its upcoming 21st season. "Can I keep going?" Ramsay wondered. "I got consumed in this business in my early 40s. And then, how do I claw time back to become super strong and fit? I started taking up triathlons and I did my first Ironman at the age of 43 in Hawaii. And so now at 55, I'm fit as a fiddle. And I can go for another 30 seasons. Trust me." RELATED: Gordon Ramsay Gets a Taste of His Own Medicine as TikToker Roasts His Grilled Cheese Recipe RELATED: Gordon Ramsay Says His 'Best Meal' Was the One He Made for Princess Diana He certainly still has more he wants to accomplish. He tells Thrillist that he hopes to work with Bobby Flay, the one celebrity chef he's tried to collaborate with to no avail due to scheduling conflicts. "I'd make him cook off with me first and I know I would cook him under the table, head start included," Ramsay says, in his signature brash style of playful taunting. "Bobby, I'm waiting!" Story continues But until then, he has his hands full with Next Level Chef, the first cooking competition series he's created in more than 12 years. The show features 15 contestants with different skill levels competing in challenges for a $250,000 prize on a massive tri-level set, with three kitchens of varying quality and ingredients stacked upon one another. Ramsay, who also executive produces, is mentoring, alongside Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais (the winner gets to apprentice under them). The show, which premiered on Fox earlier this month, was born from Ramsay's mind during the pandemic, in an attempt to combine the professional cooking world (as seen on Hell's Kitchen), the amateur world (as seen on MasterChef), and that social media phenomenon (as he's learned about now through TikTok). "Everybody's cooking now. Everybody's a critic," Ramsay said. "And I had this crazy idea: My career started in the basement. And when I won my third Michelin star, I got to the very, very top but I still had those cuts of fish and meat that I still have heavily featured on my menu out of respect from starting from the bottom, from a braised oxtail to a mackerel that's not as glamorous as tuna. So, three kitchens stacked on top of one another, three incredible mentors. And then there were the sparks that flew when we put social media cooks together with professional chefs watching them argy-bargy in the kitchen, it's brilliant." RELATED: Gordon Ramsay's New Restaurant Has a $106 Burger Here's What's on It No matter how good the chefs do, it's safe to say they won't make a better burger than In-N-Out does, according to Ramsay. A burger connoisseur himself, Ramsay was sure to tell Thrillist that he far prefers burgers from the fast food restaurant chain over the ever-popular Shake Shack. "No offense to my friend Danny Meyer of Shake Shack, but it's an In-N-Out burger, all the way," Ramsay said, when asked to choose between the two. "Especially when it's freshly cooked and served animal style. Nothing better." Next Level Chef airs Wednesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Fox. Hawaii is eliminating the need for domestic travelers to fill out an online health form prior to arrival, making it a little easier to visit the islands going forward. As of this week, travelers heading to Hawaii from another U.S. state or territory are no longer required to fill out the State of Hawai'i Travel and Health Form as part of the state's Safe Travels program, according to Hawaii's COVID-19 website. Previously, the form would need to be filled out 24 hours before departure in order to receive a QR code through email, which would be used at the airport to verify a passenger's Safe Travels Hawai'i information. Hawaii will still allow domestic travelers to visit quarantine-free if they show proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test. In addition to eliminating the health form, Hawaii also shortened its isolation and quarantine policies this week to be more in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new rules, which went into effect on Monday, will allow those who were fully vaccinated within the last six months (or two months for Johnson & Johnson) or who are boosted to skip quarantine if they have been exposed to a known positive case. Those who test positive must isolate for at least five days and until they are no longer symptomatic. A stretch of Wailea Beach and the Pacific Ocean are visible in front of the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in Wailea, Hawaii, Sftm/Gado/Getty Images "We are adopting the CDC recommendations as one part of [our effort] to blunt the current very rapid spread of the Omicron variant. These guidelines are practical to implement, making it easier for people to do the right thing," State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said in a statement, adding, "There is still much we do not know about transmission dynamics of the Omicron variant. We will continue to follow the science." While the process of getting to Hawaii may be easier, several islands are still implementing strict measures. The state has lifted capacity restrictions on bars and restaurants that require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter, which directly applies to Honolulu and Maui where people must show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter many indoor venues. Story continues And starting Saturday, Maui's Mayor Michael Victorino will change the definition of "fully vaccinated" to include a booster shot. "This change affects what the Department of Health considers 'high risk' businesses in Maui County, including restaurants, bars, and gyms," Victorino said in a statement. "Science says that after the second shot of Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations or the single Johnson and Johnson shot vaccinations weaken after about six months. This rule change recognizes that and requires that businesses ensure that patrons are fully vaccinated or have proof of a negative COVID test within 48 hours." Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram. Kourtney Kardashian shared throwback photos from her 2005 vacation to Cabo with sisters Kim and Khloe. (Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic) Kourtney Kardashian is ringing in the new year with memories of a vacation past. The Poosh founder who lately has been using her social media to share photos of herself and newly minted fiance Travis Barker took to Instagram Wednesday to post some throwback pics of herself with sisters Kim and Khloe from their 2005 trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Momager Kris also makes an appearance in the slideshow. The photos are a true blast from the past and include Kourtney sporting a leopard print bikini, Kim rocking bangs, and Khloe with dark locks. In fact, the photos are such a throwback that they werent even taken on an iPhone in one photo, Khloe is holding a digital camera. Kourtneys followers loved the series of photos. One commented, You look the same! Didnt change at all. Another added, Def the most interesting to look at, a reference to that time Kim criticized Kourt on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. (Technically, Kim said she was the least exciting to look at, but for some reason, the word interesting stuck among fans of the show.) Though Kourtney posted these photos from her 2005 trip to Cabo, she recently came back from the hot spot. She posted photos from her vacation with Barker and their respective kids in November, which included a few bikini pics and enviable shots of their glam resort. The family even went horseback riding together on the beach. Of course, those vacation photos wouldnt be complete without one picture of Kourtney and Barker kissing, which she captioned Life with you. Kourtney and the rest of the Kardashian family may be celebrating the past and present, but theyre also looking towards the future. The first teaser for their upcoming Hulu series, The Kardashians, just dropped, hinting at a next chapter for the famous family, who said goodbye to their E! series last year. By the end of day three of deliberations in the Elizabeth Holmes trial, the jury had already decided to find the fallen Theranos founder guilty of defrauding investors who had poured millions of dollars into the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup, according to one juror who spoke with ABC News in an exclusive interview. And yet, the group grappled for several more days over whether to convict or acquit Holmes who faced 11 counts of fraud on three other counts also related to investors, juror No. 6, Wayne Kaatz, said. "We were very saddened. We thought we had failed," Kaatz, 64, said, referring to the moment when, hours before the jury announced its verdict on Monday, he and his fellow jurors sent the court a note that they had reached an impasse on those three counts. Judge Edward J. Davila instructed them to continue deliberating, but by Monday afternoon, the eight men and four women maintained they still could not come to a unanimous consensus. At around 4 p.m., after seven days of deliberations, spanning two weeks, which included Christmas and New Year's, the jury convicted Holmes on four counts of fraud against investors. They found her not guilty on four other counts, regarding patients who took Theranos blood tests. A mistrial was declared on the counts on which the jurors could not agree. PHOTO: Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans walk outside the federal court after she was found guilty on 4 of 11 accounts faced in her fraud trial in San Jose, California, Jan. 3, 2022. (Nick Otto/AFP via Getty Images) "Everyone spoke their mind, and we were all still exactly where we all were when we started, and we had nowhere else to go, nothing else to say. That's why we came in with the verdicts we did," Kaatz said. "It's tough to convict somebody, especially somebody so likable, with such a positive dream," he added, noting he voted guilty on the three counts on which the jury could not agree. "[We] respected Elizabeth's belief in her technology, in her dream. [We thought], 'She still believes in it, and we still believe she believes in it.'" Kaatz, a daytime Emmy-award-winning TV writer from Aptos, California, who built a camaraderie with his fellow jurors over the four-month-long trial, often putting puzzles together with them during breaks or watching on as others swapped their turkey, ham, or roast beef sandwiches, said the decision to convict Holmes on four counts hinged on a few key elements. Story continues For one, Holmes bore ultimate responsibility for information disseminated to investors, Kaatz said, noting that the one-time CEO "owned everything." "Everything went through her," he said. "She had final approval." MORE: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes convicted on 4 counts of fraud The jury also found Holmes' seven days of testimony to be largely non credible. The 12 members ranked each witness's testimony one through four, with one being non credible and four being the most credible, Kaatz said. Holmes scored a two, he told ABC News. A few government witnesses, on the other hand, including former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff who testified that, during the period in which Holmes was raising money from investors, he had apprised her of the dysfunction in the company's clinical lab had scored as high as a four. No one scored as low as one. Kaatz also said that, early on in their deliberations, the jury had decided to acquit Holmes on all four counts of fraud against patients, because the CEO was "one step removed" from the alleged victims, and thus the jury didn't feel they were directly defrauded. Although the 12 were mostly confined to the jury box in Davila's fifth-floor courtroom throughout the trial at Robert F. Peckham Federal Courthouse in San Jose, California, they had a bit more freedom to move around in an adjacent courtroom, where they deliberated. PHOTO: Wayne Kaatz on his deck in Aptos, California, Jan 4. 2022. Kaatz served on the jury that convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes of several counts. (Miles Cohen/ABC News) One juror, who always arrived early, assumed the judge's chair throughout the discussions. Others took the seats stationed at the two attorney tables. Some chose to sit in a similar jury box to the one they had been seated in during witness testimony, Kaatz said, adding that he claimed a first row seat on an audience bench. One of the first things the jurors did when they arrived at court on Dec. 20, the day they began their deliberations, was to select a foreman. Kaatz nominated juror No. 2, whom he described as one of the younger members of the group, but nonetheless "very mature and organized." "He said, 'I'm not against it,'" Kaatz told ABC News, adding that the vote for their leader was unanimous. They then took an anonymous poll to gauge where each one stood on every count leveled against Holmes. The jurors scribbled their first passes at a verdict on scraps of paper and then shared the results. The votes were mixed, Kaatz said. MORE: Closing arguments to begin in Elizabeth Holmes trial The 12 then laid out a "timeline of events" on a chalkboard, to which they stuck note papers with "relevant points of evidence." Despite their disagreement on some elements of the case, the group got along famously, Kaatz said, adding that he is proud to have work alongside his peers, many of whom were juggling jobs and family obligations at the same time. On Tuesday afternoon, a day after his role in the rare takedown of a Silicon Valley CEO ended, Kaatz slumped back in his living room chair. "It was an honor. It was a duty," he said. "I did it. I'm done." EXCLUSIVE: Juror speaks out after convicting Elizabeth Holmes originally appeared on abcnews.go.com On Jan. 4, Alamogordo Youth Services Librarian Ami Jones switched her cloth face mask for a clear face shield to read about robots to the children and parents in attendance. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Alamogordo Public Library holds Preschool Story Time. The story time ends with a craft based on the day's story time theme. "We do stories, we do crafts that somewhat have to do with the stories," Jones said. "We try to make them open-ended like this so the kids can just play with scissors. They can play with markers, glue dots, feathers, pom poms, just to let them experiment." Alamogordo Youth Services Librarian introduces that the topic of the January 4, 2022 preschool story time is robots. The books read included "Robot Zombie Frankenstein by Annette Dauphin Simon and "Robot in Love" by T. L. McBeth. When story time was over, the children and their parents had a craft. This time it was decorating empty tin cans to look like robots. "Let's make a mess!" Jones said as the preschool and baby participants and their parents moved to the craft tables. From April 2021: Alamogordo Public Library reopens to public April 12 Parents help their children make robots out of empty cans at Alamogordo Public Library during preschool story time on January 4, 2022. Following story time, the participant make a craft to take home. Preschool Story Time was a mainstay at Alamogordo Public Library for years, however, when COVID-19 pandemic came to New Mexico in March 2020, the event along with many other services were canceled, postponed or otherwise modified. As of Jan. 4, Otero County has had 9,345 positive COVID-19 cases reported by state health officials. Since March 2020, there were 146 Otero County deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 8,372 people reportedly recovered, according to the New Mexico Department of Health. By following health guidelines like mask wearing and social distancing, library officials believed the event could be resumed safely. More: Otero County Road Department ready for winter weather "We started back up with our in-person story times in September 2021," Jones said. "We try to work social distancing in and make sure everybody's wearing a mask to keep everyone safe." Story continues The Alamogordo Public Library requires everyone above age 2 to wear a mask, Jones said. Alamogordo Youth Services Librarian Ami Jones reads "Robot Zombie Frankenstein" by Annette Dauphin Simon at the January 4, 2022 preschool story time. There is a STEAM project planned each month where participants make a craft project based on science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM). The January Preschool Story Times events are from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Jan. 6, 11, 13, 25, 27. Events on Jan. 18 and 20 are for the Toddler STEAM projects. For more information call Alamogordo Public Library at 575-439-4140. Want to see more local news coverage? Why not subscribe? Click here to subscribe. Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter. This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: 'Let's make a mess':pre-school story time at Alamogordo Public Library Qatar Airways is turning 25 and is celebrating its big anniversary with a major sale that will have travelers excited to traverse the globe in style. Those looking to get in on the deal will book a 2022 vacation with flights starting at only $625 roundtrip in economy and $2,260 in business class, the airline shared with Travel + Leisure. To take advantage, travelers must book by Jan. 10 and travel by Oct. 31. "The past 25 years in service is a testament to our 25 years of innovation," Craig Thomas, Vice President of Sales Americas, told T+L. We are proud to be an airline travelers can rely on to deliver an unforgettable travel experience, with the highest health and safety standards for our passengers and Cabin Crew. Head off to see the pyramids and snack on foul in Cairo or take in the thriving art scene in Beirut with flights starting under $700 from cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Splurge on a dream vacation to the Maldives from Boston, or relax on some of the best beaches in the world with a trip to the Seychelles from Chicago all for under $800. Airbus A350 Qatar Airlines. Aircraft at Fiumicino International Airport. Rome (Italy) Massimo Insabato/Getty Images Those looking to go all out can book a trip in one of the airline's Qsuites voted the best business class in the world in 2021 complete with sliding doors for privacy (and social distancing), on-demand dining, and turn down service for the lie-flat beds. In addition to the sale, Qatar is celebrating its anniversary by giving travelers 2,500 bonus Qmiles if they sign up for the airline's Privilege Club with the promo code "FLYQR22." Ahead of its anniversary, Qatar introduced new fare classes last year, giving customers more cost flexibility. The airline's new unbundled Economy Lite and Business Lite fares put Qatar more in line with the "basic economy" option many U.S. airlines offer, but still come with perks like free checked baggage. Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram. Popeyes' plans for world domination continue with another major international expansionand it's a homecoming of sorts. The chain announced it will be taking its famous fried chicken to a country where fried chicken reigns supreme: South Korea. RBI International, the parent company of Popeyes, will be partnering with franchisor Silla Group to bring hundreds of the chain's locations to Korea in the coming years. The first one, according to the press release, is slated to open later this year. RELATED: 7 Major Changes Popeyes Made in 2021 "We are thrilled to launch Popeyes with the Silla Group subsidiary. We have strong confidence in the group and are pleased to announce exciting plans to bring our iconic Louisiana-style chicken to one of the largest chicken QSR markets in the world" said David Shear, president of RBI International. The chicken chain will feel right at home in a market where almost a third of all chicken consumed is fried. According to MoonKyung Lee, senior managing director of Silla Group's F&B Division, it is also one of the largest and fastest-growing fast-food categories in the country. However, the chain will also face stiff competition from the 50,000 fried chicken restaurants already operating in South Korea. The chain has been on an expansion spree, recently announcing several first-time franchising deals across the globe. In 2021 alone, it struck deals to enter the United Kingdom, Romania, France, and India, and to expand in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Other international expansions over the past years include Spain, Switzerland, China, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Besides its global growth plans, the chain has had an eventful year domestically. It added several popular items to its menu, launched its first-ever celeb collaboration, and rolled out a long-awaited loyalty program that helps customers earn points toward free food. For more, check out: And don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to get the latest restaurant news delivered straight to your inbox. A Long Island biology teacher is facing felony charges after allegedly administering a COVID-19 vaccination to a 17-year-old student in her home. According to the Nassau Police Department in New York, 54-year-old Laura Park Russo injected the teenager with the vaccine despite reportedly having no medical qualifications to do so. Afterward, the boy went home and told his mother, who alerted authorities about Russos actions. The mother had not given permission or authority to have her son injected with a Covid Vaccine and called police, the police department said. After a thorough investigation, police said, they found out Russo is not a medical professional or authorized to administer vaccines. Russo, who worked at Herricks High School at the time of the incident, was arrested on New Years Eve. She was charged with unauthorized practice of a profession, which carries up to four years in prison, if shes convicted. Superintendent Fino Celano of Herricks Public Schools told The Washington Post that Russo has been reprimanded for her actions. The individual in question is a district employee who has been removed from the classroom and reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation, Celano said. As this is a matter of personnel, the district has no further comment, he added. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Making memories as a family is perhaps one of the best parts of being a parent, and thats something Tori Spelling knows very well. Spelling took to Instagram over the holiday weekend to share the annual tradition she celebrates with her five kids each year, and its truly the best way to see how fast theyve all grown up. Spelling shared a photo of her crew all bundled up in winter gear in the snow in Lake Arrowhead Village, California, revealing that shes taken the same photo of her kids each year for the past 13 years. My 5 little cuties snowbound she captioned the adorable shot, adding, In Lake Arrowhead Village. Same pic Ive taken for 13 years. Love my big beautiful family. They teach me everyday how to be the human I want to be. Love you Liam @liammcdermott2007 , Stella @stella_mcdermott08 , Hattie, Finn, and Beau. More from SheKnows Spellings husband, Dean McDermott, wasnt with them in the photo, as he shared on Instagram that hes sick as a dog battling pneumonia. He sent well wishes to fans and followers, writing in his caption, Happy New year Everyone!!! Im down but not out!! Pneumonia sucks, but Im not going to let it dampen my spirits!! I hope your 2022 is full of love, light and prosperity. Much love to you all. Click here to read the full article. In recent years, Spelling has indeed shared the familys fun holiday memories over the years. Back in 2020, she shared photos of the couples youngest son, Beau, having fun in the snow. In her caption, she wrote, We go to Lake Arrowhead every year. Its always been a family tradition. And, with 5 young kiddos its pretty amazing to be able to take a short 2 hour road trip and instantly be in the beautiful mountains and snow. It was amazing this year to see Beau really understand the family trip and enjoy making memories in the snow with his siblings and friends, and staying at one of our fave places @lakearrowheadresortandspa. Story continues In 2019, she shared a festive shot of the entire family together in the towns Santa Village, writing, What a great family day of adventures, festivities, and treats! Who doesnt love a little Christmas 365 days a year? Seems like this bunch has the best family memories to look back on, and what better way to capture those precious moments than with a photo every year? These are some of the reality-TV alumnae we love to follow as they tackle motherhood. Launch Gallery: These Famous '90s Supermodels Are All Moms Now Best of SheKnows Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Often with the possibility of lengthy prison sentences hanging over them, it's rare for defendants to take their cases to trial at the federal level. The Pew Research Center found that 90 percent of the federal criminal cases that were resolved in 2018 ended with the defendant pleading guilty, while 8 percent had the charges dropped. Just 2 percent opted to go to trial. And of that small group, the vast majority (83 percent) were found guilty. So, a Springfield man was facing long odds when he went to trial last month to fight a federal charge of conspiring to sell large amounts of meth. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri had accused the man of conspiring with two others to distribute 500 grams or more of meth in Greene and Lawrence counties in a case that involved large shipments of meth being mailed from Arizona to southwest Missouri. The man maintained his innocence and rolled the dice by going to trial last month, even though losing would have meant a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. On Dec. 9, a jury found the man not guilty on all charges. Joshua Roberts, the man's attorney, said his client was moved to tears when the jury's verdict was read. Roberts said the recent acquittal is believed to be just the second not guilty verdict in a federal criminal trial in southwest Missouri in the last decade. The man's two co-defendants in this case each pleaded guilty, and one of them testified against him. A spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri did not provide a statement about the case by press time. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Jury hands down rare 'not guilty' verdict for Springfield man in federal drug trial The Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Iraq's military said a Katyusha rocket struck a base housing U.S. troops at Baghdad's international airport on Wednesday, according to reports, but no injuries are reported. Officials said in a statement that a rocket launcher with one rocket was found in a residential district in western Baghdad, according to The Associated Press. The report added that the district has been used in the past by Iran-backed militias to fire rockets at Baghdad's international airport. The incident comes after two attempted drone attacks on U.S. forces Monday and Tuesday. An official with the U.S.-led international military coalition confirmed an attempted attack on the Ain al-Asad air base west of Baghdad on Tuesday, according to Reuters. One day earlier, a similar attack was attempted, but the armed drones were shot down. U.S. officials believe that attacks on American forces are likely to rise in the days after the second anniversary of the death of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, Reuters reported. Pro-Iran Shiite factions in Iraq have vowed retribution for the assassination and have demanded the exit of U.S. forces from Iraq. Around 2,500 troops are still said to be in the country after the U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission last month, the AP noted. Former President Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020, near the Baghdad airport. The Pentagon at the time said it carried out the mission because Soleimani was "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region" and was "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more." WASHINGTON Brandon Trosclair saw the legal fight taking shape months ago, back when President Joe Biden first outlined the idea of requiring millions of American workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing. The Louisiana businessman, who employs nearly 500 people at more than a dozen grocery stores, was among the first to sue in federal court one of a series of challenges to the vaccine-or-testing mandate that some experts say has raised the most important legal question posed during the pandemic. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in challenges to two federal vaccine requirements on Friday at a time when the omicron variant is causing infections to soar. "It's none of my business as an employer to get into the medical decisions of my employees," said Trosclair, a second-generation grocer and former Republican candidate for state legislative office. "I just thought it was incredibly wrong to put that burden on the employer as well as ... on the employee." Legal experts predict Trosclairs argument will resonate with the high court, where conservatives now enjoy a 6-3 advantage. While the justices have repeatedly turned away challenges to state and local COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the Biden administration is all but guaranteed to face a tougher reception. 'Prodigious': Judge Tatel leaves mark on influential federal appeals court Wave: Biden braces for a wave of legal challenges to workplace COVID-19 vaccine rule Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said he anticipates "major pushback" from the courts conservatives. "Having said that," he added. "I dont think there should be." Brandon Trosclair, who employs nearly 500 people in grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi, was among the first to sue the Biden administration over its COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing mandate. State v. federal Asserting that "our patience is wearing thin" with Americans who have not gotten the vaccine, Biden announced in November that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would use its authority to regulate "substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful" to require employers with 100 or more employees to stand up vaccine-or-testing programs. Story continues The requirement, which the administration estimates would cover two-thirds of the nations private workforce, is set to take effect Feb. 9. Large businesses that refuse to comply with the mandate face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. The Supreme Court will also hear arguments Friday in a challenge to the administrations vaccine mandate for health workers who are employed at facilities that accept federal funding, such as through Medicare. The Biden administration has estimated that separate requirement will affect roughly 10 million workers. Maine: Supreme Court wont stop COVID vaccine mandate for Maine health workers New York: Supreme Court refuses to block New York's COVID-19 vaccine mandate Federal courts have long recognized the power state and local governments have to regulate public health. But the federal government is a different story. "There are certain powers that are reserved to the states and this goes all the way back to our nation's founding," said Zack Buck, a University of Tennessee College of Law professor who specializes in health law. "That means that when it comes to public health authority, the state is often the entity that has the ability to enforce vaccination mandates. And that's why these federal vaccination mandates become much more interesting, much more unsettled." The Supreme Court this year has repeatedly declined to take up challenges to vaccine mandates in Maine, New York and at a public university in Indiana. Most of those cases were focused on whether states could impose such mandates without including an exemption for religious objections. The high court's nine justices have all been vaccinated and court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said Tuesday that all had also received a booster shot. Preparing a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Chicago on Nov. 5, 2021. Wide implications If the Biden administration convinces the court that the federal government has a role to play in vaccine-or-testing requirements, then the debate will likely turn to a second critical question: whether Congress gave power to federal agencies to act on their own. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 allows OSHA to craft an emergency rule, or emergency temporary standard, when a "grave danger" exists that could expose workers to "substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards." Much of the legal wrangling in the case has involved whether the law allows OSHA to regulate a virus as a dangerous workplace substance. The litigation raises fundamental questions about an agencys power that could have implications far beyond the pandemic, experts say. Some conservatives on the court, such as Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, have long opposed allowing federal agencies to promulgate regulations without specific authority from Congress. A ruling in the vaccine cases, in other words, could affect other agencies ability to issue regulations on the environment, say, or telecommunications. Its a question that came up last summer in another COVID-19 controversy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had imposed a moratorium on evictions under a 1944 public health law that gives the government broad power to address public health emergencies. But the law doesnt specifically allow for an eviction freeze. And so the Supreme Court ruled the CDC couldn't enforce its moratorium. "It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken," a majority of the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. "But that has not happened. Instead, the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination. It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts." Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, which is representing Trosclair, said the outcome in the eviction moratorium case is the "model" for what opponents of the vaccine policies are hoping for this time. The vaccine policies, Suhr said, have "far more economic and everyday impact than the eviction moratorium." President Joe Biden discusses the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 on Nov. 3, 2021. Lower courts split Federal appeals courts have split over the OSHA and health care worker requirements. The New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked implementation of the OSHA regulation in November, calling it "staggeringly overbroad." But weeks later, the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit lifted that order with a 2-1 majority finding the rule appeared to be within the agencys power. On hold: Federal appeals court keeps Biden COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing rule on hold Reinstated: Federal appeals court reinstates Biden COVID-19 vaccine mandate Lower courts have also disagreed over the legality of Bidens mandate for health care workers, with the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit allowing the requirements to continue but the 8th and 5th Circuits blocking its enforcement. Both regulations are now on an unusual procedural course at the Supreme Court, scheduled for oral argument even though the challenges are emergency appeals. The court rarely sets arguments for such cases and often disposes of them without a formal written opinion. The arguments will now give the justices a chance to air their thoughts publicly on vaccine requirements for the first time since the pandemic began. "This is perhaps the most important case in the pandemic era," Gostin said. "The justices couldnt give short shrift to the president's signature effort to keep Americans safe." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden COVID vaccine mandates may face pushback from Supreme Court House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi reconvenes the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Tuesday to vote on judicial appointments, $119 million in federal COVID-aid spending and veto overrides. PROVIDENCE On their first day back from a six-month break, Rhode Island lawmakers approved and Gov. Dan McKee signed into law $119 million in federal windfall spending, including a flurry of election-year "bonuses" for select groups of workers. They confirmed a passel of new judges and also overrode two of McKee's vetoes, including one of a bill guaranteeing the payment of auto-body shop markups pushed by a persistent State House lobby that parceled out more than $99,000 in political donations last year. In the Senate, the returning lawmakers found rapid COVID-19 test kits on their office desks, which they were asked to take before coming to the Senate floor, with no reported positives. The House opted not to do so. More about 'auto body shop' bill: Will lawmakers override McKee's 'auto body shop' veto? What will it mean for insurance premiums? House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi explained in an opening-day email to colleagues: "Like many of you, I have been disheartened by the reports that our constituents are forced to wait in long lines at state-run COVID testing sites, and I share their frustration that they are waiting far too long to receive test results. "I dont think it is prudent at this time to be distributing test kits to our members at the State House." The most contentious issue of the day: masks. Political Scene: RI legislature reopens Tuesday with votes on spending, veto overrides The Democrats, who hold a 98-to-15 majority in the two chambers, wore masks, as they have through months of off-session committee hearings. The leader of the tiny House GOP caucus protested the requirement in advance. Anticipating the issue, Shekarchi sent out an email on Dec. 20 that offered "those who do not comply with the mask mandate ... seating in the House gallery," with accommodations to allow them to speak during debate and voting. With a newborn in intensive care,RI Senator tries and fails to get OK to vote by proxy Story continues From left, Republican Representatives Brian Newberry, David Place and Justin Price stand for the opening invocation and pledge in the House on Tuesday. Place and Price did not mask for the session. But House GOP Leader Blake Filippi of Block Island wrote back, "The Minority Caucus has determined that maskless House members may not be involuntarily relegated to the House gallery. "They have a right to conduct legislative business on the House floor. No rule of the House can de facto usurp this right." Instead of relegating maskless Republicans to the galleries, Filippi suggested any Democrat who is uncomfortable go to the House gallery, which "would be safer for them: away from the bulk of members, regardless of masks. " In the end, however, only three of the eight House Republicans present went maskless. Even Filippi wore a mask. When asked why, he said: "I am being polite and we are in close quarters ... and I am choosing to wear this mask out of my own volition. I am not wearing it because of any unlawful executive orders or any dictates from the speaker. "This is my personal choice," he said. But a handful of lawmakers seated near unmasked Republicans Justin Price, David Place and Robert Quattrocchi moved into empty seats elsewhere. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi chats with Rep. Teresa Tanzi at the opening of Tuesday's House session. Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D- South Kingstown, was among them. "In a public health emergency, with rising [COVID] rates'' and surging hospitalizations, "I think it is in everyone's best interest, regardless of their political ideology, to comply," she said. "And frankly, I am disgusted that my seatmates in the Republican Party care so little about our hospital workers ... [and] their co-workers," she said. And so the 2022 legislative session began with a significant number of lawmakers absent 10 in the 75-member House, 7 in the 38-member Senate including several believed to be out with COVID. In his welcome back speech, Speaker Shekarchi lauded the opening day approval of "the first down-payment on $1.1 billion dollars in federal funds that will boost our economy and assist families and businesses." Looking ahead to the next six months, Shekachi said: "A good deal of our work - as was the case last year - will focus on the health and economic issues related to the pandemic, which still has us in its grip." "We are presented with an historic opportunity to make critical long-term investments to ensure our state is in a better place for everyone. Including businesses, workers, families, children and seniors for decades to come," he said. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio presides on Tuesday, the first day back after the annual six-month hiatus. In his own opening day speech, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio predicted the legalization of recreational use of marijuana this year. He also promised: "We will put Rhode Island on a path to achieve universal pre-k within five years...Reinvest in the Care Economy, including through tuition forgiveness for those who enter fields such as nursing and teaching...Consider a comprehensive package of climate jobs legislation...replacing lead pipes, repairing deficient dams, and protecting against sea level rise...[and continue to invest in] affordable child care and affordable housing." Federal money The spending bill McKee signed into law earmarks the first 10% of Rhode Island's $1.13 billion in federal American Rescue Plan dollars to a plateful of broadly described efforts, from "affordable housing" to "small business relief." In September, McKee proposed spending $113 million of the state's federal windfall on, among other things, $2,000 retention bonuses for childcare workers and $45 million in assistance for small businesses. Lawmakers kept most of McKee's proposal and added $6 million to the childcare-worker program, bringing the total price tag to $119 million and boosting the maximum bonus from $2,000 to $3,000 per worker, per year. But with most states having spent at least some of their federal aid months ago, some senators argued that the $119 million burst of spending now is too little, too late. Sen. Cynthia Mendes, an East Providence Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor, asked: "Who among us can say that this is enough and on time to our constituents, to public school teachers right now, to our essential workers who never got hazard pay, to service providers plugging in the gaps?" The spending package also includes $12.5 million for $700-per-month retention bonuses for Department of Children, Youth and Family direct-care workers. Sen. Jonathan Acosta, D-Central Falls, argued that the childcare worker bonuses which will be paid out in twice-a-year installments, also should have been monthly. "What is going to happen is the people who need money now won't get it and we won't stave off the workforce hemorrhaging in childcare and other sectors of the economy," Acosta said. Acosta and Mendes ultimately voted for the spending bill, which passed the Senate and the House unanimously. There's a deal: Here's what we know about the plan to begin spending COVID relief in RI The small business aid includes $32 million in aid to businesses with less than $1 million in revenue hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other pieces of the spending plan include $15 million for affordable housing developers, and $13 million for the hospitality industry. Judicial appointments The Assembly confirmed five of McKee's appointment to lifetime judgeships and approved two new magistrates. The judges are Kevin McHugh in Superior Court; Jeanine Perella McConaghy and Shilpa Naik in Family Court; William J. Trezvant in District Court and George J. Lazieh in Workers' Compensation Court. The magistrates are Gina K. Lopes and William P. Rampone. Veto overrides Rep. William O'Brien makes a point during debate on the Insurance Unfair Claims Settlement Act. The lawmakers overrode two of the governor's summer vetoes, including one obliging the state's auto insurers to pay auto-body shop markups and a less controversial measure creating a registry for Airbnb, Vrbo and other short-term rentals bedeviling communities like Newport. Of the auto-body shop bill, McKee's veto message said: "The National Association of Insurance Commissioners ... ranks [Rhode Island] 7th in the nation for highest auto insurance premiums. As we look to restart our economy after the pandemic, we cannot implement measures that may drive costs even higher for consumers and small businesses." The brother of one of Shekarchi's former clients Johnston body shop owner and developer Thomas Casale led a campaign for the override that included the submission of an op-ed to The Journal. The op-ed said, in part: "The governor was mistaken ... The act does not add any new costs at all. Payment of industry standard markup and sublet services have always been honored by most insurance companies. "However, a small number of mostly out-of-state insurers take their customers premium payments, but after an accident, they want to get away without paying for what is necessary to repair the vehicle." The auto body shop owners also handed out at least $99,050 in political donations between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2021. The vast majority of those dollars went to state lawmakers. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI lawmakers return for '22 session, consider federal windfall, vetoes President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Nevada on Saturday to attend the late Sen. Harry Reids funeral, the White House announced Tuesday. The memorial service is scheduled for Saturday morning at the Smith Center in downtown Las Vegas. Reids body will then be returned to Washington, where he will lie in state in the Capitol on Jan. 12. The former Democratic Senate majority leader, who was the longest-serving senator in Nevadas history, died last week at 82 after battling pancreatic cancer. Biden and Reid served alongside each other in the Senate for 22 years. During the two decades we served together in the United States Senate, and the eight years we worked together while I served as Vice President, Harry met the marker for what Ive always believed is the most important thing by which you can measure a person their action and their word, Biden said last week in a statement on Reids passing. Under Reids leadership in the Senate, former President Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act became law. Obama is also expected to attend and deliver a eulogy on Saturday. This report, our first ever, is intended to show the results of our work as journalists in 2021, providing independent, evidence-based reporting to inform our democracy. We held the powerful to account, exposed injustices, shared lifesaving information, celebrated the best of our communities and partnered with you our valued readers to make a difference. Our team of reporters, photojournalists, videographers and editors set out to provide news and information that mattered to you. We produced in-depth investigations that influenced state policies, kept you up to date on COVID-19 news and vaccination clinics to help you and your family stay safe, and led a reader-donation campaign that will help feed thousands of our neighbors struggling through uncertain times. Our journalism lifted the voices of those whove felt powerless and added fresh perspectives to the news. We dug through public records, pressed decision-makers for answers and interviewed and photographed people who shared stories of loss, faced homelessness, survived trauma and inspired change. Often, too, we asked you to join us in the work, whether in voting for the best-performing student-athletes, sending us recipes, grading the Green Bay Packers, remembering 9/11, or sharing Thanksgiving gratitude. Read the full report here. Thanks to all those who participated in those efforts, and to our subscribers. Without you, this work wouldnt have been possible. You have a stake in our future and the future of this community, and we want you to know we take your trust in us seriously. Please drop me a line at 920-431-8392 or mtreinen@gannett.com if you have questions, concerns or suggestions. Wed like to also thank Report for America for partnering with us to fund two full-time reporters covering rural Wisconsin and Indigenous communities. In the coming year, were planning coverage that: Helps our readers understand demographic changes in their communities Keeps tabs on schools as students recover from pandemic learning losses Offers expert insights that can improve your personal finances Focuses attention on a crisis in child care Takes a candid look at inequities that keep people from living up to their full potential Covers the 2022 local, legislative and congressional elections with an emphasis on issues that matter to you Story continues Mark Treinen, News Director Stock the Shelves helps our neighbors struggling through uncertain times Over the month of October, journalists across the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin wrote 44 stories about hunger, food insecurity, pandemic assistance and the people working in local communities to help their neighbors in need. Giving readers this information is central to our mission as an independent news organization providing fact-based reporting from our communities and readers responded. This year's donations to Stock the Shelves totaled more than $163,000. That money will provide 652,332 meals. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin distributes food based on where the donations come from, meaning local dollars help your neighbors. Were fortunate to have such great partners in Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and local credit unions, who work tirelessly to help support this effort. Since 2010, more than $5 million has been raised to combat hunger through this program. Volunteer Cheryl Schettl restocks bins and grocery carts for clients Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, at the Salvation Army food pantry temporarily located at 338 Pearl Ave. in Oshkosh, Wis. Were also grateful that our readers saw our coverage of the hunger issue and gave to Stock the Shelves. We know there are many options for charitable giving, and were thrilled so many included this campaign among them. And remember: The need doesnt end in October. Please consider supporting Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin with your time, talent and dollars all year long. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Stock the Shelves: Portage County pantries saw record need last year, and it hasn't gone away READ THE SERIES HERE: Want to help send food to those in need? Stock the Shelves donation window open during October COVID-19 reporting helps answer your big questions while supplying useful information about accessing services In dozens of reports throughout the year, we provided information for readers they couldnt find anywhere else. This included in-depth reports as well as quick-hit information on where to find local resources and assistance on an issue where things often changed at a moments notice. We explained how the state Supreme Courts decision to end Wisconsins face-covering mandate would affect mask requirements in your communities; provided an exclusive look inside an overwhelmed intensive care unit amid another surge of COVID-19 patients; investigated the cause of vaccine hesitancy in the two Wisconsin counties with the lowest rates of COVID-19 shots, as well as among Black and Latino communities; and addressed the body-mass shame that was keeping some of the earliest eligible Wisconsin residents from getting vaccinated. Andy Hammond receives his first dose of the Moderna vaccine from Kevin Rosteing, M.D. at the Winnebago County Health Department vaccination clinic at Sunnyview Expo Center on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, in Oshkosh, Wis. We provided practical information and kept updated lists: whos newly eligible for vaccines, where to get yourself or your kids vaccinated locally, and how and where to get your booster. We shared the experiences of local people who suffered serious bouts with COVID, and of those who lost loved ones to the disease. Moreover, we provided facts to cut through misinformation and disinformation that downplayed the consequences of its spread and treatment. As this report was being prepared, local communities were seeing another sharp increase in cases along with the emergence of the omicron variant. This is a story that we will continue to monitor closely in 2022. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Where can I get the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine for my child in central Wisconsin? READ ABOUT IT HERE: Stevens Point area back-to-school guide: Mask requirements, start dates, COVID-19 safety protocols READ ABOUT IT HERE: Central Wisconsin COVID-19 weekly roundup: Portage County has 912 active cases Ethans Law closes loophole in foster care law that was exposed by dogged reporting Before reporter Doug Schneider investigated the abuse and death of 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz, Wisconsin law contained a loophole that allowed people convicted of child abuse to serve as foster parents. If they managed to get the court to change their record to reflect a lesser charge as foster parent Timothy Hauschultz had prospective caregivers could evade the red flag of child abuse. After his initial reporting in late 2020 on Ethans foster placement, Schneider kept a focus on the related criminal cases in 2021 as legislators, including Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, and Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, took notice of the hole in the law. Schneider also tracked the lawmakers progress as their concerns turned into a bill, and as the bill turned into Ethans Law, signed by Gov. Tony Evers, which closes a gap that allowed kids to be placed with a convicted child abuser. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signs a bill dubbed Ethan's Law prohibiting people with child abuse convictions from serving as foster parents. Evers was accompanied at the signing Thursday, July 15, in Madison by Andrea Everett, left, whose son Ethan Hauschultz was killed under foster care in Manitowoc County. Bill sponsors Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, second from left, and Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, right, also attended. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Gov. Tony Evers signs 'Ethan's Law,' honoring Manitowoc boy slain after being placed with man who'd admitted child abuse READ ABOUT IT HERE: The lonesome death of Ethan Hauschultz READ ABOUT IT HERE: Manitowoc County foster brother sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing boy, 7, in Ethan's Law case Investigative reporting on clergy abuse accusations prompts wider probe by Wisconsin attorney general An investigative report from late 2020, about the death by suicide of a man who said multiple priests sexually assaulted him as a student, led to further coverage in 2021 and helped to inspire a campaign for statewide action on clergy abuse. The activist group known as Nates Mission, named for Green Bay native Nathan Lindstrom, pressured state Attorney General Josh Kaul to launch an investigation of sexual assault allegations and potential cover-ups within Wisconsin churches. That investigation started after a series of reports from USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin about the secrecy and trauma that survivors of sexual abuse said they experienced after reporting allegations to Catholic diocese leaders. For some, it took decades to see their abusers brought to justice. For Lindstrom, the rejection he felt after he persisted with his accusations became overwhelming. He died by suicide in March 2020, after St. Norbert Abbey told him his allegations were not credible and withdrew monthly payments it had been making for his mental health needs. Melissa Samuels, friend of Nate Lindstrom and Green Bay resident, protests along Webster Avenue outside St. Norbert Abbey on June 6, 2020, at the De Pere-Allouez border. Lindstrom, 45, said three priests sexually abused him as a teen; he died by suicide in March 2020. As of November, there had been about 180 reports to the AG's office as part of its investigation. At least two cases have been referred to local prosecutors for potential criminal charges, both in Brown County. About 40% of the people who reported to the states new clergy abuse hotline had not reported to a law enforcement agency or a religious entity before. READ ABOUT IT HERE: First came sex abuse allegations at the abbey. Then secret payments. Then a suicide. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Flanked by victims of priests, Attorney General Josh Kaul announces probe of clergy sex abuse READ ABOUT IT HERE: Wisconsin clergy abuse review shows power of independent inquiry National Coming Out Day coverage tells stories about living true lives A team of three reporters, three photojournalists and an editor shared stories from the LGBTQ community that had rarely been told publicly before as a way to mark National Coming Out Day in October. Our journalists spoke with seven people from a variety of backgrounds about when, why and how they first acknowledged they were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. For some, the journey was a smooth transition, filled with love and support. For others, the journey continues, having lost friends and family members along the way. They all agreed that coming out was the best way the only way they could live their true lives. Keaton Duffeck is a freshman at the University of WisconsinOshkosh, Fox Cities Campus. Keaton first came out to his mother at age 14, and to his father later at age 16 . He is pictured here at Diverse and Resilient Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, in Appleton, Wis. One reader wrote afterward that realizing that coming out does not require booking a U-haul to move to a city typically thought of as a LGBTQ safe haven makes the coming out process much less isolated. Thank you for using your time and talents to bring a little visibility to these stories and helping make things just a little bit easier for people struggling with their identities to find their own flavor of happiness. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Coming Out Day 2021: Wisconsin LGBTQ residents share their stories 9/11 at 20: Remembering the day that changed the world through multiple perspectives Twenty years later, the memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the aftermath remain fresh for many of our readers. To mark the solemn anniversary of the attack, readers from all over the state sent stories and memories from that unforgettable day. They included the memories of a Sheboygan teacher trying to calm schoolchildren and a Wisconsin Rapids teacher trying to find a way to talk to kindergartners about shocking images on TV. There were a pair of campers who emerged from the woods days afterward to experience delayed shock, and a woman who as a young, pregnant mother waited three days for her husband to make it home from his New York office. As one reader told us, The world changed that week forever. A small remembrance parade and ceremony were held on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, on Drew Street and City Park in Appleton to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The world changed in some unique ways for Wisconsin residents who are Muslim American, and we spoke with many on the 20th anniversary. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, they experienced personal assaults, harmful stereotyping and alienating rhetoric as they lived and served in their communities. Some hid their backgrounds, cut their beards, removed their head-coverings, altered their names or retreated from society. Yet they turned those moments into education, not just for others who benefited from a better understanding of the Muslim faith and its followers, but for themselves. "I think that as a Muslim community we definitely have become much more aware and much more politically active and politically involved," Janan Najeeb, president of Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition and founder of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, told us. "Because we realize if we don't present our narratives, there are enough people out there that don't like us that would prefer to create the narrative that they want." READ ABOUT IT HERE: Wisconsin's Muslim Americans address post-9/11 Islamophobia through community, civic engagement READ ABOUT IT HERE: Wisconsin remembers: From classrooms to hospitals to farm fields, here's how 9/11 news unfolded in our state A tragic trend hits close to home: Four members of same Wisconsin National Guard unit die by suicide The tragic trend of active service members and veterans dying by suicide hit home when in November we published the results of an investigation into the deaths of four Wisconsin Army National Guard members from the same unit. These citizen-soldiers hailed from Appleton, Oshkosh, Nichols and Waunakee. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin investigation chronicled how four Wisconsin Guardsmen died by suicide in a five-month span in 2020 and early 2021 after serving in Afghanistan. The investigation also detailed how Guard leaders and lawmakers have failed to keep pace with the distinct mental health burden facing the force. Linda Collison, Kathy Richley and Juli Olson hold posters of their sons, Logan Collison, Eric Richley and Evan Olson, at a memorial march in October in Madison. The suicide rate in the National Guard is higher on average over the past five years than the rate among full-time and reserve military personnel. In 2020, 120 Guard members nationwide died from suicide, up from 90 the year before. Guard leaders will not release the numbers of suicides by state, citing privacy concerns. In response to our reporting, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has asked the head of the force to release specific numbers of deaths and provide details about how the Guard can provide better care for its members. In a December letter to Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Baldwin cited several findings and possible reforms highlighted in our investigation last month, including the need for a one-stop shop of mental health resources tailored to the force. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Four Wisconsin National Guardsmen went to Afghanistan together. All returned home safely. Within months, all took their own lives. READ ABOUT IT HERE: Sen. Tammy Baldwin presses National Guard leader for answers, data about the high suicide rate in the force Wisconsinites have unique skill: They can bounce back from anything To mark the first anniversary of COVID-19's arrival in Wisconsin, reporters at the Stevens Point Journal, along with their colleagues at several other USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin papers, developed a series of stories under the tagline Resilient, which celebrated Wisconsinites' ability to bounce back under any circumstances. Trevor Roark signals a turn while on a delivery route in February in Stevens Point. Roark started Curbwise, a delivery service using a specialized tricycle, after he lost his job as a program manager for UWSP Adventure, a travel program at the university, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trevor Roark of Stevens Point was one of those people who turned lemons into lemonade after he just shy of his 10th anniversary at work lost his job as a program manager for University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Adventure Tours, where he had helped students navigate the thrills of world travel. Not long after, Roark realized he could be his own boss by forming a new business that would require a bunch of sweat equity, be good for the planet, and have relatively small upfront costs. In September, the avid cyclist and longtime bicycle commuter and advocate launched Curbwise LLC, a year-round bicycle delivery service. Between his unorthodox tricycle and a sturdy trailer, Roark delivers food and groceries, nonperishable boxed goods, supplies, equipment, books and more all across the city. Roark's customer base steadily increased, and he's partnered with businesses with a similar people- and environment-centered approach, including the Stevens Point Area Co-op, a handful of organic farmers and Kindred Spirit Books. Like the story about Roark, the other stories in the series introduced readers to Wisconsinites who were doing more than just surviving a year without parallels in recent history. They were persevering, thriving, supporting communities and setting examples, showing that life could go on and be fulfilling even in a time of lockdowns and uncertainty. Trevor Roark shares a laugh with Laura Schmollinger after delivering her food on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, in Stevens Point, Wis. Roark lost his job as a program manager for UWSP Adventure, a travel program at the university, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and started a meal delivery service using a specialized tricycle.Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin READ ABOUT IT HERE: He lost his job in mid-pandemic. But Trevor Roark of Stevens Point bounced back with a pedal-powered business. MORE FROM THE SERIES: Resilience of a 'half-lunged badass': Cancer didn't stop UWSP runner Kalena Clauer, and neither has the pandemic A steady, resilient hand': Educating during the pandemic changed how SPASH history teacher connects with students Murals around Stevens Point help amplify diverse voices, celebrate women For many people, public art is a welcome diversion from the gray tones and hard angles of city architecture. For others, its a bit of whimsy. For some, its a celebration of the diversity of perspective that makes the country unique. Thats part of why the Stevens Point Journal wrote two stories in 2021 about the new art popping up around the city and in Portage County to crystalize the artists intent and help bring awareness to the reason behind the colors. Stevens Point spray paint artist Stephon Kiba Freeman holds his daughter, Soraiya, on July 2 next to his mural at Worzalla publishing in Stevens Point. Freeman draws much of his inspiration, including for this project, from his daughter and how she perceives the world, he said. For Stevens Point artist Stephon Kiba Freeman, his mural on the side of Worzalla publishing was an ode to reading. The mural is 20 feet high and 94 feet wide and features a silhouette of a girl reading a book while standing on a stack of books, with six vibrantly colorful panels depicting settings from the books she reads behind her. Kiba Freeman dedicated more than 100 hours to creating the piece, and attributed its creation in part to his muse: his 2-year-old daughter, Soraiya. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, a mural of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Stevens Point artist Jessie Fritsch stands among eight new pieces that feature quotes from women with marginalized backgrounds and celebrate the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed a womans right to vote. Artist Jessie Fritsch poses for a portrait in front of her mural of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, October 8, 2021, in downtown Stevens Point, Wis. Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Fritsch said she also had people come up to her and express emotion over the mural and how much Ginsburg means to them. She said community members' reactions drove her to learn more about the late Supreme Court justice so she could engage more in conversations. In telling these stories, the Journal was able to take a moment to magnify the voices of these community members and mark for history the intent of the art they created. READ ABOUT IT HERE: What do all those new murals around Stevens Point mean? For the artists, the work amplifies voices and celebrates women READ ABOUT IT HERE: Stevens Point artist Stephon Kiba Freeman completes his largest work yet, an ode to reading A mural of Cuban-American-French writer Anais Nin painted by Kristin Thielking, Keven Brunett and their 15-year-old daughter Rowen. The mural is located along the Green Circle Trail under the County HH Bridge in Stevens Point. This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Stevens Point Journal journalism shows impact of community reporting Fyke A 34-year-old man who admitted to taking a 14-year-old girl from her home in Georgia last year and taking her to Lubbock where he sexually abused her was sentenced in December to 30 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix on Dec. 16 handed down the maximum sentence to Robert Fyke, who pleaded guilty in August to a count of production of child pornography. Hendrix also ordered Fyke to 15 years of supervised release. Fyke was initially faced additional counts of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and enticement and attempted enticement of a minor. However, those charges were dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea to the production of child phonography charge. The charges against Fyke, who was arrested June 17, stems a missing persons investigation into the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl from Dekalb County, Georgia. During the investigation, the girl's cell phone was tracked to Fyke's home in Lubbock. When police went to Fyke's home, the girl was not there. However, Fyke reportedly admitted to starting an online relationship with the girl via the KiK social media app that turned sexual, according to documents filed in federal court. Fyke told investigators that on May 15 he traveled to Georgia where he picked up the girl and brought her to Lubbock. He initially told investigators he believed the girl was 19 years old, though said she looked at least three to four years younger than that. However, he later admitted during a lie-detector test to knowing she was 14 when he met her. Fyke admitted to sexually abusing the girl during the trip to Lubbock and while she stayed with him. Forensic investigators also found sexually explicit images of the girl on Fyke's phone, the documents state. Fyke said the girl was with him for more than a month before leaving him on June 11 for someone else, saying she may be in Pennsylvania or Connecticut. Story continues During his interview with investigators, Fyke was allowed to use his phone to contact the girl, who replied that she was fine. That same day, law enforcement in Connecticut found the girl and arrested 35-year-old Wayne Marcell, who faces federal charges of sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child pornography and transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. His case is still pending, according to court records. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock man who sexually abused teen sentenced to 30 years in prison Former president Donald Trump's decision to abruptly cancel his Jan. 6 counter-programming event has left key allies Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon fuming. Responding to reports that Trump was pressured into canceling by several allies in his inner circle, the pair suggested the ex-president is surrounded by insufficiently pro-MAGA individuals, and that he should put his once-slated presser back on the books immediately. There are still too many people around Donald John Trump that are not Trumpers, Navarro complained Wednesday morning on Bannon's WarRoom: Pandemic podcast. Bad personnel is bad policy is bad politics, he continued. He is surrounded by people who just go against his gut, and he just doesn't trust his gut. The press conference was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon, on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which violently attempted to overthrow the 2020 election on Trumps behalf. Revealed: Sean Hannitys Other Desperate Texts About Jan. 6 The event was set to be held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, but was suddenly canceled on Tuesday afternoon. In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the Jan 6 Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, Jan 15, in ArizonaIt will be a big crowd!" Trump wrote in a statement. However, further reporting from Axios later revealed that the ex-president was pressured by several informal advisers, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), to nix the counter-programming. The person who should be holding a press conference tomorrow, above anybody, pounding on the frickin tableparticularly given [the] cesspool in Georgia, the cesspool of Arizonais Donald John Trump, Navarro complained, referring to the surreptitiously filmed videos that fueled the baseless allegations of widespread fraud even in Republican-leaning states. Story continues Trump, Trump, Trump, Bannon interjected. He needs to stand up for himself, Navarro continued. And fire half the people down there, by the way! Call the press conference, Bannon urged Trump while telling the ex-president not to listen to guidance from Ingraham or Graham, and lets play the tape from Georgia. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. - STG completes acquisition of Kantars Reputation Intelligence business alongside investments in PRgloo and Onclusive - The three businesses merge forming a new standalone company which adopts the name Onclusive reflecting inclusive and globally scalable strengths of the newly combined offer - New company provides clients with expanded geographical footprint in Europe and the US and portfolio of industry-leading media monitoring, measurement and workflow management solutions LONDON, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, leading technology investor Symphony Technology Group "STG" completes its acquisition of Kantars Reputation Intelligence business, and with it announces the additional purchases of PRgloo and Onclusive. Together the three businesses merge to create a new global media monitoring, measurement, and workflow management partner for PR and communications. The new standalone company will operate under the name Onclusive reflecting the inclusive and scalable nature of its newly combined offer and its commitment to accelerating investment in tech-powered platforms and solutions. The company builds on the consultative strengths and scale of Europes largest media monitoring and analysis provider, Kantar Reputation Intelligence; UK-based PRgloos industry-leading media relations and workflow management platform and US-based Onclusives AI technology and data science. Commenting on the new company, Chief Commercial Officer of the newly-formed Onclusive, Petra Masinova explained: "Weve always admired each others strengths and weve increasingly teamed up on programmes to help solve clients needs. Today we accelerate our natural evolution to become one company, amplifying our strengths and supporting our clients with leading insights, technology and expertise together under one roof." Dan Beltramo, Chief Innovation Officer of the new Onclusive, also praised the union: "Onclusive is a technology and innovation pioneer in media monitoring and analytics while Kantar Reputation Intelligence is a leader in customer service with top-tier European coverage and market-leading insights capabilities. It brings us scale and ambition for global leadership." Story continues Samantha Deeks, VP Customer Experience at new Onclusive added: "Building on PRgloos customer-centric design approach, were delighted to work with like-minded industry leaders to build a scalable and agile business; one which actively listens and responds to the needs of its clients as they navigate an increasingly complex communications environment." Managing Director at STG, J.T. Treadwell, said: "Last year STG made clear its intention to create a market leading insights and software company through the proposed acquisition of Kantar Reputation Intelligence. Completing that acquisition is a major first step and the additional capabilities brought by Onclusive and PRgloo widen the scope of our commitment to providing best-in-class solutions for PR and Communications teams, both now and in the future." Onclusive will serve more than 9,000 clients, including many of the worlds biggest brands, across 130 markets. The company has over 1,100 employees based in the USA, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Australia. Onclusive North America Managing Director, Sean ONeal, continued: "Our clients were our matchmakers they told us they wanted one trusted partner to help them access and integrate our combined best-in-class services. We listened and from today Onclusive will help every client from small enterprises to multi-national public and private organisations shape, manage and evaluate their communications strategies." From today, clients can access the new Onclusives full range of services, supporting them at every stage of the communications cycle. Existing services continue uninterrupted. About Onclusive Onclusive is a global partner for PR and Communications success. We bring together Kantar Reputation Intelligence, the largest media monitoring and measurement service in Europe, with the best-in-class tools of PRgloo, and Onclusives own powerful AI and data science. Our technology, insights and expertise make sense of the fractured, fast-moving media world, helping you manage, monitor and measure your communications activity. Elevate your performance and prove and improve your value with Onclusive on your side. About STG Partners STG is a private equity partner to market leading companies in software, data analytics and software-enabled technology services sectors. The firm brings expertise, flexibility, and resources to build strategic value and unlock the potential of innovative companies. Partnering to build customer-centric, market leading portfolio companies, STG seeks to create sustainable foundations for growth that bring value to its companies. The firm is dedicated to transforming and building outstanding technology companies in partnership with leading management teams. STG and its predecessor, Symphony Technology Group ("Symphony"), have managed approximately $6 billion in total capital. For more information, please visit stgpartners.com Kantar Reputation Intelligence The leader in earned media tracking and measurement in Europe. Reputation Intelligence provides trusted insights on corporate, PR and brand coverage in 130+ markets to brands can understand and manage how audiences and influencers see them, globally and locally. Onclusive Empowers the worlds leading brands and agencies to modernize communications, increase performance and demonstrate value. The inventors of PR Attribution and Power of Voice, Onclusive measures the true impact of earned, owned and social content on a companys bottom line. PRgloo The complete media relations platform. PRgloo combines easy to use tools with exceptional analysis to make PR professionals lives easier by giving them the tools they need to do their jobs well. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104005044/en/ Contacts For further information contact Corey Herscu for Onclusive (North America) 416-300-3030 corey@verbfactory.com onclusiveteam@firstlightgroup.io +44 020 36177240 Learn more at: future.onclusive.com You are the owner of this article. Murdered, missing and mysterious deaths of Indigenous girls and women on or near the Yakama Reservation and in urban areas: Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form One of the gaggle of Republicans hoping to seize the 4th District congressional seat now occupied by U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., is limping toward the 2022 primary after a self-inflicted bullet wound to his foot this week. Thats assuming, of course, that patrons of the 4th District care as much as they say they do about responsible spending of tax dollars and integrity among elected officials. Brad Klippert, a Kennewick state representative, is one of three state lawmakers who took a taxpayer-sponsored field trip to South Dakota last summer to hear My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell explore debunked and laughable conspiracy theories during a three-day livestreamed Cyber Symposium. Lindell, a diehard devotee of Donald Trump, unsurprisingly disgraced himself with the seminar, which had promised irrefutable evidence that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election. (Spoiler alert here: Lindell had no such proof and no, Trump didnt win. Joe Biden beat him by 7 million popular votes and trounced him in the Electoral College, 306-232.) The South Dakota gathering took a cringeworthy turn when some of Lindells own experts admitted that the data he was citing added up to nonsense. Mustve been humiliating. Klippert ought to be embarrassed, too. After 60 failed lawsuits and countless lies that are so farfetched that theyd be amusing if so many people werent falling for them, youd think a guy like Klippert, who holds a masters degree, would be smarter than that. And if he had a shred of respect for his constituents in the 8th Legislative District, hed pay back his share of the $4,361 the wild goose chase cost taxpayers and apologize for such poor judgment. Were not holding our breath, though. After recounts backed Bidens win, and a riot at the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6 that threatened this countrys democracy, the Make America Great Again crowd has clearly shown us who they are. The only flag to which they pledge allegiance has Trumps name on it. For better or worse, Klippert who says hes been shut out of in-person meetings at the Capitol because of vaccine requirements seems to be a proud member of that group. We cant help but wonder how he sleeps at night after using voters own money to try to circumvent their will. Maybe he needs a new pillow. For those of you old enough to remember the debate over single-sex education, and how VMI fo New Home for the New Year: Local agency assists immigrants settling in the Triad The government is inviting bids to disburse 140 billion forints (EUR 380.1m) in support for boosting business research, development and innovation, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said. The grant scheme covered by the GINOP Plus economic and innovation programme will provide RDI support to hundreds of Hungarian companies, Varga said on Facebook. Companies can bid for funding for the development of new products, technologies and services, experimental developments, industrial research, asset procurement and market entry, the minister said. Helping Hungarian companies make progress in RDI remains an important goal following the successful relaunch of the economy, Varga said, adding it was crucial to allow businesses to stay competitive in a changing global economic environment. MTI Photo: Szilard Koszticsak The highly mutated Omicron variant now accounts for more than 11% of new Covid infections in Hungary, data from the National Public Health Centre (NKK) show, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Tuesday. Traces of the coronavirus in sewage are on the rise in Hungary, after falling or stagnating in previous weeks, the governments official website for pandemic news said. Altogether 83 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 2,429 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Tuesday. So far 6,268,108 people have received a first jab, while 5,986,342 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 3,184,580 Hungarians have received a booster jab. The number of active infections went down to 100,247, while hospitals are treating 3,335 Covid-19 patients, 316 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 1,264,709 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 39,517. Fully 1,124,945 people have made a recovery. In addition to successful medical interventions, healing requires the spirit to relax and recharge. A soothing environment, personalized attention, dependable care these are the added values that help our recovery. We asked Zsofia Meszaros, customer relations manager at Dr. Rose Private Hospital, what makes a private healthcare service really stand out? Why is a client relations manager necessary in a private health care facility? We are committed to providing a higher level of service to our customers, which is why we need an independent, customer-centric approach within management. Representing this approach, I manage Dr. Rose Private Hospitals telephone customer service, its three-story reception, the team that liaises with health insurers, the colleagues who organize the surgeries, and the client billing team - practically everyone who meets our clients as a non-healthcare worker within our institution. What makes the care you receive as a patient visiting a private hospital different? Perhaps the most important feature of private healthcare is that we have the opportunity for personal contact and care. What sets us apart from others is the great emphasis on perfecting this care. From the very first moment, from the appointment, we pay attention to personal needs and our customers benefit from the extra care, for example, we create the opportunity for them to rest while waiting, to make confidential phone calls or to work - we make sure everyone has a personalized service from the very first moment. How is this achieved? With countless little things and attention during care. For example, if someone has already visited us, their phone number is listed in our system, and we can greet them by their name when they call, so the conversation begins more pleasantly. When visiting in person, we pay the utmost attention to discretion regarding our customers personal data, as well as complete discretion during payment, which takes place at a separate pay desk. We do not use impersonal patient journey management systems, instead our colleagues accompany patients to the examinations. We also pay attention to a clients food allergy, and we even have an independent process so that if someone went to a particular doctor for a previous years screening, as far as possible they should see the same doctor the following year. And naturally, if someone arrives with small children or limited mobility, our staff will be waiting in our parking lot to help with their arrival. Why is this attitude considered important? Our customers require attention, and it feels great for them to receive it. We respect their requests and in many cases, we refine our processes to make cooperation even more convenient and natural. Do you also measure how well your clients are feeling? Where the customer is the focus, it is important that well-functioning, automated processes are in the background, and we regularly examine, measure and check these processes. It is true of any service process that we share a negative opinion about a service much more easily than a positive experience. We concentrate on getting to know the opinions of all our clients. Upon completion of medical examinations or interventions we send an online patient satisfaction questionnaire to all our patients. What are you curious about in the questionnaire? In the questionnaire we ask about the quality of information and the helpfulness of the staff working in the call center, and about discretion, orderly appearance, helpfulness and clear communication in connection with the reception. In addition to our doctors orderly appearance, helpfulness and comprehensible communication, our clients also rate their professional competence. In the same way, we ask about the work of our night and day nursing staff. Extremely important is the series of questions about the condition of our services, regarding waiting times, cleanliness and the quality of food and drink. We examine a separate set of questions for outpatient care and inpatient care, and our patients can rate our various services on a 10-point satisfaction scale, with 10 being the best value. How do customers rate Dr. Rose? The results of the examined areas attain an average of 9.57 in the case of outpatient care and 9.73 for inpatient care, and we are especially proud of the question regarding how much the respondents would recommend us to their friends and acquaintances. On average, their support for our hospital was 9.25 points for outpatient services and 9.65 points for inpatient services. To find out more about what kind of problems may lie behind the excellent results, we further analyze the data: respondents who give a value of less than 7 for various aspects can provide their contact information so that we can get in touch with them to have the opportunity to get to know about the problematic details. What conclusions are drawn from the results of the questionnaires? Perhaps the most important thing is to improve our internal processes: we discuss the problems and suggestions for improvement with the department heads in a weekly meeting. The responses and opinions received are analyzed each day by the director of nursing and I, and management receives a report every six weeks on the results of the elapsed period. We consider it important to analyze and evaluate different situations. Are the results used for employees further training? Successful patient satisfaction indicators are only created if colleagues are informed, prepared, and knowledgeable about our services and problem-solving opportunities. Therefore, we hold regular operational consultations and training between the related areas, and we also take care of the stress management of our employees. The result of this, the quality of care, is perceived by our clients every day. But our ultimate goal is for all our clients, both those who have come to us for ten years and those who come to our institution for the first time, to feel amidst our pleasant surroundings, that they can heal well with us. Click here to virtually visit Dr Rose Private Hospital YORK Last summer, it was announced Nebraska, along with a number of other states, received a $26 billion agreement with pharmaceutical distributors, which is to be dispersed to bring relief to people across the country who are struggling with opioid addiction. It has been determined that York Countys share of that settlement money will likely be in the range of $125,000 over the course of a number of years. I visited with outside counsel on this, Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier told the county board members during their recent meeting. We have three choices we can say no to receiving the money, we can accept the money or we can transfer it to someone else. The attorney general would like most counties to get on board. We can accept the money and then in the future decide what to do with it, like give it to Four Corners to help with addiction and awareness programs as an example. Or maybe another local entity to help with issues like that in the county. This is sort of like when there was the tobacco settlement money, years ago, offered Commissioner Bill Bamesberger. That money is what started and continues to pay for our health departments. They agreed to accept the money and inherently be part of the attorney generals lawsuit settlement. It is expected conversations will be held in the future as to what the money will be used for locally. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A bill for the upcoming legislative session gives students the ability to take school districts to court if they encounter someone of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room or restroom. District 4 Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Florence, is the prime sponsor of the bill. Rapid City state legislators District 33 Rep. Taffy Howard, District 35 Rep. Tina Mulally and District 30 Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller are three of the nine lawmakers listed as sponsors of HB 1005. The bill would give students the ability to sue a school district if: * The student encounters a member of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room, or restroom located in a public school building that has been designated for exclusive use by members of the students sex. * An employee of the district gave the member of the opposite sex express permission to use the shower room, changing room, or restroom. * The use was permitted in accordance with a school district policy. If a student were to prevail in court, they would be entitled to recover economic and non-economic damages, together with costs and reasonable attorney's fees, the bill reads. The same concept would apply to hotel rooms used during school activities. If students are required to be provided overnight sleeping accommodations for a school district sponsored or sanctioned event, rooms must be designated for use by members of the same sex. If any student is unable or unwilling, for any reason, to use a multi-occupancy room for overnight sleeping accommodations, in accordance with the designation set forth in this section, that student may file, with the school administrator, a request for reasonable accommodation. For purposes of this section, a reasonable accommodation includes assigning the student to a single room for overnight sleeping accommodations, the bill states. Nothing in this section precludes the use of a room for overnight accommodations by members of the same immediate family. HB 1005 gives a student private cause of action against a school district (that) expressly permits a student of the opposite sex to utilize, for overnight sleeping accommodations, a room that has been designated for use exclusively by members of the same sex. The bill states that any student unable or unwilling to use one of the designated multi-occupancy (spaces) has the option to file a request for a reasonable accommodation, which includes access to a single-occupancy shower room, changing room, or restroom, but does not include access to a multi-occupancy shower room, changing room, or rest room, which has been designated for the exclusive use of members of the opposite sex. Students whose requests for a reasonable accommodation are denied may appeal the decision to the school districts superintendent, then further appeal that decision to the school board. When contacted for comment on the proposed legislation, neither Deutsch, Howard, Mulally or Frye-Mueller could be reached. The legislative session begins on Jan.11. Following up on his earlier criticism of Republican Rep. Don Bacon for voting to enact the Biden administration's infrastructure bill, former President Donald Trump issued a statement Monday asking: "Anyone want to run for Congress against Don Bacon in Nebraska?" Bacon will be seeking his fourth term in metropolitan Omaha's swing congressional district this year. In 2016, Bacon defeated one-term Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford and he has subsequently been reelected twice by narrow margins. A month ago, Trump called for "a good and SMART America First Republican Patriot" to challenge Bacon in the 2nd District's GOP primary election in May. Bacon was on a list of Republicans targeted by Trump for voting for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Trump is also seeking GOP challengers for Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach the former president. "Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts and known losers," the former president said. RINO is an acronym for Republicans In Name Only. Bacon's campaign fired back at the first shot with a statement declaring that the congressman "has a strong record of delivering results for the people of Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District." The closely divided district is regarded as a swing district; it handed a presidential electoral vote to Democratic candidates in 2008 and 2020. Sen. Deb Fischer was among 19 Senate Republicans who also voted for the infrastructure bill. Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon New Delhi: With the rising demand for employees in the IT industry, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is inviting applications from fresh graduates who completed their BSc and BCA courses for the post of GenC Programmer Trainee. Candidates who passed out in 2020 and 2021 are eligible for applying to the job posts. The last day to apply for the job at the New Jersey-based technology company for the role of GenC Programmer Trainee is January 6, 2021. Candidates who are pursuing PG courses are not eligible for the post, Mint reported. GenC Programmer Trainee Salary at Cognizant Technology Solutions Cognizant Technology Solutions is reportedly offering a starting package of Rs 2.5 lakh to candidates who will be hired for the role of GenC Programmer Trainee at the company. GenC Programmer Trainee Job Eligibilty Candidates who completed their BCA, B. Sc. courses in fields such as IT/ Computer Science/ Computer Technology/ Mathematics/ Physics/ Chemistry/ Statistics in 2020 or 2021 are eligible for applying for the job of GenC Programmer Trainee. Moreover, candidates who have consistently scored a minimum of 60% in X, XII, Diploma, and UG are only eligible for the job. Candidates shouldn't have any standing arrears in their current education. Moreover, applicants having a gap of more than two years in their education are not allowed to apply for the job. Current employees of Cognizant cannot apply for the mentioned job. Also Read: Vivo V23 series with colour changing back panel launched in India: Price, features, specs All the hired employees are required to relocate to any location in India. They will also be asked to work in any shift/domain. The job profile includes interpreting functional requirements and low-level design; developing simple level coding components. Also Read: Urbanac Building Technologies begins Biz Life projects acquisition under UP RERA Live TV #mute New Delhi/San Francisco: Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is quite popular for his unconventional approach towards business and social media. Musk has taken to Twitter to reveal how he chose Ashok Elluswamy from India to work as an autopilot team director at his electric vehicle company. Elluswamy was actually the first employee to be hired for Tesla's Autopilot team, with Musk actually using Twitter to ask people to apply for the role back in 2015. "I tweeted that Tesla is about to launch an auto pilot team. Through that tweet, Ashok was the first to be selected in the auto pilot team," Musk said in a tweet. Elon on Teslas Autopilot team: Ashok is actually the head of Autopilot engineering. Andrej is director of AI; People often give me too much credit & give Andrej too much credit. The Tesla Autopilot AI team is extremely talented. Some of the smartest people in the world. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/a6vJ64aphG Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 29, 2021 Before joining Tesla, he has worked with WABCO Vehicle Control System and has interned with Volkswagon Electronic Research Lab. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai and a Master's degree in Robotics System Development from Carnegie Mellon University. As per a LinkedIn endorsement from Elluswamy's professor at CMU, John Dalon, he was one of the top students and showed initiative in learning a wide variety of topics. Recently, Musk tweeted that he is hiring Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers who are passionate about solving day-to-day problems through AI. "As always, Tesla is looking for hardcore AI engineers who care about solving problems that directly affect people's lives in a major way," Musk tweeted along with a link to apply for the job. Interested candidates can apply by filling in fields like name, email, exceptional work done in software, hardware or AI, dropping their resume in the PDF format and hitting the Apply option. In a 2014 interview, Musk said he looked for "evidence of exceptional ability" in a potential employee, rather than a degree from a prestigious university. "There is no need even to have a college degree at all, or even high school," Musk said during an interview with the German automotive publication Auto Bild about his hiring preferences more broadly. Live TV #mute Bathinda: Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said the BJP is the only party that can take care of the state's security and economic challenges and he slammed Congress and AAP for making poll promises which can't be fulfilled. Amarinder Singh also claimed his party's alliance with the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt for the next year's Assembly polls is in the national and state's interest. The former chief minister had formed his own party, Punjab Lok Congress, after quitting the ruling Congress in the state following his unceremonious exit as the CM last year. Addressing a public meeting after inducting Congress leader Raj Numberdar into his party in Bathinda, Singh said Punjab faces multiple challenges, particularly on the security and economic front. "I found the BJP as the only party that can take care of both things," he said as he welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur on Wednesday. He said having known Prime Minister Modi for a long time, he had seen him concerned about Punjab and the Punjabis. Thankyou Bathinda for all your love and support! pic.twitter.com/iuA2Rz0uLf Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) January 4, 2022 Later addressing a press conference, the former CM lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu for taking people of the state "for a ride" by making promises which they knew cannot be fulfilled. Referring to Sidhu's poll promises he made to women and girl students, Singh wondered whether he realised their financial implications. "The cumulative debt of Punjab is already about Rs 5 lakh crore and I do not know from where Sidhu and Kejriwal will get the money to support these schemes," he said, adding that Sidhu a month ago had opposed freebies announced by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Arvind Kejriwal. Sidhu does not have a permanent stand on anything, he added. On the distribution of tickets for the polls, he said winnability will be the sole criterion for choosing candidates and the process has already begun as the three parties have started negotiations. On the chief ministerial face, he said it will be a collective decision of the alliance partners. He further said a few weeks ago he had written to the prime minister, seeking a special package of Rs 1 lakh crore package for Punjab for agriculture diversification, which could be given over a period of five years, Rs 20,000 crores every year. He said this can be specifically used for encouraging and promoting the cultivation of pulses as India imported pulses worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore every year. "If we grow pulses here, we can save enormous foreign exchange besides saving water table that is fast depleting due to the widespread cultivation of paddy," he added. Replying to a question that Channi had been accusing him of non-performance, he said the CM, as well as Congress leaders, are seeking votes showing the Congress government's performance of five years, of which four and a half years he was at the helm. "You ask them, if I did not perform, why are they seeking votes for the past five years and not their own three months alone," he asked. Live TV Chennai: The `Amma Mini Clinics, which were launched months before the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections, are being closed, as Tamil Nadu Health Minister MA Subramanian said that these clinics were temporary. The doctors recruited to work in the clinics are being deployed in works related to battling the COVID-19. The health minister told the media here on Tuesday, "Amma Mini Clinics were temporary, and the doctors who were recruited for it will be deployed by the state health department in works related to battling the third COVID-19 wave." On COVID-19 situation in the state, Subramanian said "Chief Minister MK Stalin himself went out to distribute free masks where he urged people to wear them or else, fine will be imposed." A day before on Monday, CM Stalin reportedly said that though the infection rate due to Omicron is high, vaccination provides a shield from this new variant. "According to medical experts, Omicron is spreading fast. Though the Omicron infection rate in Tamil Nadu is high, vaccination will shield one from this virus. People should maintain social distancing and must wear masks," CM Stalin is quoted as saying by ANI report. According to the CM`s instruction, Siddha medicine is being provided to patients. During the second wave of COVID-19, there are 89 Siddha COVID care centres in the city with 7448 beds, where over 28,000 patients were treated in these centres. Notably, Amma Mini clinics were launched to provide free health consultations to people belonging to poor and marginalised sections in Tamil Nadu. The then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had inaugurated the first of the few clinics in Chennai. These mini-clinics were aimed at reducing the burden on overcrowded hospitals and to ensure that the people living in slums are provided with healthcare facility just by a walk or by commuting through cycle. Each of these clinics had a doctor, nurse and a medical nurse and a medical assistant. Active Covid-19 infections surge to 12,412 Five districts, including Chennai, accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday as Tamil Nadu continued to witness a surge with 2,731 fresh cases being reported, pushing the tally to 27,55,587, according to the state health department data. The report said that nine more people succumbed to the contagion, taking the toll to 36,805. Notably, those who tested positive on Tuesday included 48 returnees from domestic and overseas locations. Meanwhile, 674 people recovered from the disease and were discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 27,06,370 leaving 12,412 active infections. A total of 1,03,798 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5,78,57,004. The sharpest increase in fresh infections was reported from Chennai with 1,489 cases, followed by Chengalpet 290, Tiruvallur 147, Coimbatore 120 and Vellore 105, while the remaining was spread across other districts, said the health department bulletin. (With Agency Inputs) Live TV NEW DELHI: Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech on Wednesday got 'in principle' approval from the country's drug regulator to test nasal COVID-19 vaccine as a booster shot. India's drug regulator DCGI on Wednesday granted approval to Bharat Biotech for conducting late-stage trials of its nasal COVID-19 vaccine to be used as a booster shot, according to news agency ANI. According to reports, DCGI's Subject Expert Committee (SEC) has granted 'in principle' approval to Bharat Biotech for the conduct of 'Phase III superiority study & Phase III booster dose study' for its intranasal COVID vaccine. The DCGI has also directed the vaccine maker to submit protocols for approval. The Covaxin manufacturer has earlier proposed the booster dose for those who have been already been inoculated against COVID with Covishield and Covaxin vaccines. Bharat Biotech aims to conduct clinical trials on 5,000 subjects (50 per cent vaccinated with Covishield and 50 per cent vaccinated with Covaxin). This comes at a time when 243 new cases of highly transmissible Covid variant Omicron were detected in the last 24 hours, taking India`s Omicron tally to 2,135 cases. Of these, 828 people have recovered from the new strain so far. Maharashtra and Delhi continue to be the worst-hit states with this new variant. Among the states and union territories (UTs) that have reported the Omicron infection so far, Maharashtra tops the list with 653 cases of this variant. Of them, 259 patients have been discharged as per the health ministry data on Wednesday. The state alone has reported 85 new Omicron cases in the last 24 hours. With 82 cases of Omicron variant detected in the last 24 hrs, Delhi`s tally has reached 464. The national capital has the second-highest cases of Omicron infection. However, 57 of them have been discharged from the hospital. Delhi is followed by Kerala with 185 Omicron cases. The Union health ministry on Wednesday morning said that the Omicron infection has so far spread into 24 states and UTs. Live TV New Delhi: Giving clarity on booster shots for Covid-19, the Centre noted that the precautionary dose of Covid vaccine for healthcare and frontline workers as well as those above 60 years with comorbidities will be same as the first two doses of the vaccine. "Precautionary COVID-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously. Those who've received Covaxin will receive Covaxin, those who've received primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield," said Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog. Though Dr Paul had earlier said that there was no problem in principle to mix and match, it seems that the Indian government has not taken any decision on mix and match of vaccines in India yet. The Centre on Wednesday also said the upsurge of COVID-19 cases is happening in cities and the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain. The government, however, said there is no need to panic and one must be alert, disciplined and prepared, adding that the country will face this phase of the pandemic as well. "Upsurge of infections is happening in cities. Omicron is the predominant circulating strain and mass gatherings need to be avoided to reduce the speed of the spread of infection. There has been a surge in Covid cases globally whereas 25.2 lakh cases were recorded globally on January 4, the highest ever since the onset of the pandemic," officials said. "India reported over 6.3 times rise in Covid cases in the last eight days. There has been a sharp rise in case positivity from 0.79 per cent on December 29 to 5.03 per cent on January 5," they said. They said six states/UTs now have over 10,000 active Covid cases. It further stated that Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat are emerging as states of concern due to the surge in COVID-19 cases. "A total of 28 districts are reporting over 10 per cent weekly Covid positivity, while 43 districts are reporting weekly positivity between 5-10 per cent," the officials said. Also read: Eligible for home isolation in Covid-19? Check Centre's fresh guidelines - 10 points The Centre added that 1.06 crore or 14.3 per cent of India's adolescents aged 15-18 years have been administered the first dose of Covid vaccine. An estimated 7,40,57,000 adolescents in the age group 15-18 years are there in the country and are eligible for vaccination, it said. It added that relatively less hospitalisation has been observed in countries reporting the surge in Omicron cases. (With Agency inputs) Live TV Kolkata: In a massive spike in Covid-19 cases, West Bengal reported 14,022 fresh cases on Wednesday. This is 4,949 more than previous day, and the tally has now jumped to 16,78,323, the Health Department informed. Capital Kolkata reportedly saw a single day spike of 6,170. Containment zones in Kolkata increased from 25 to 48 due to the increase in Covid-19 patients. West Bengal government on Wednesday announced postponement of the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival, scheduled to begin from January 7, because of the COVID surge in the state as well as the rest of the country. The state reported 17 deaths and 6,438 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Earlier, in view of the evolving Covid situation and rising number of new cases in Kolkata, BJP national president JP Nadda's scheduled visit to West Bengal on January 9-10 was postponed, the state's BJP unit informed. Earlier, as many as 37 people, including 28 medical students of the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in West Bengal`s Siliguri tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Speaking to ANI, Dr Sanjay Mallick, Medical Superintendent, and Vice-Principal, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital informed that 28 medical students, 7 nursing staff and 2 medical staff have been tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. "Situation is very alarming because the number of cases is increasing rapidly. We are still working with a full team of doctors. But if they get affected, there might be a problem in running the hospital," he said. Live TV New Delhi: On the precipice of the third wave of COVID-19, a large number of doctors and paramedics in Delhi are turning out to be coronavirus positive, which might put the city's health infrastructure under severe strain, experts said on Tuesday (January 4, 2022). Even though the Delhi government repeatedly stressed that most cases this time would be mild or asymptomatic not requiring hospitalisation, data shows an uptick in the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and those requiring oxygen and ventilator support. Experts said that since the highly transmissible Omicron variant is going to infect people in a never-seen-before number, those requiring medical care in hospitals will also be proportionate. 50 doctors test COVID-19 positive at AIIMS, 26 at Safdarjung Hospital At least 50 doctors have tested COVID-19 positive at AIIMS in Delhi while 26 have been diagnosed with the disease at the Safdarjung Hospital, officials said. Forty-five healthcare workers, including 38 doctors, have contracted COVID-19 at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the last few days, according to an official. At the North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run Hindu Rao Hospital at least 20 doctors have contracted COVID-19 while at the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Hospital it is seven, sources said. Over 5,000 COVID-19 cases in Delhi Delhi reported 5,481 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest since May 16, with a positivity rate of 8.37 per cent, and three more fatalities due to the viral disease. Delhi Health Bulletin - 4th January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/tOkpHSJW2R CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 4, 2022 In view of the alarming spike in cases, the AIIMS administration has cancelled the winter vacation of its faculty members. "It is to inform that the competent authority has decided to cancel the remaining part of the winter vacation -- from January 5 to 10 -- due to ongoing COVID-19 and Omicron pandemic. All faculty members are requested to join back their duty with immediate effect," read an office memorandum issued on January 3. Officials at the Safdarjung Hospital said at least 26 doctors from the departments of gynaecology, medicine and microbiology have been infected and are in isolation. Their contacts are being traced. 7 doctors at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital contract coronavirus in two days Seven doctors at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, the largest healthcare facility of the Delhi government, have tested positive for coronavirus in the last two days, Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Ritu Saxena said, adding three of them have been kept in a special ward and the rest are in home isolation. Dr Madhu Handa, the Medical Director of Moolchand Hospital, said four resident doctors and at least five nurses have tested COVID-19 positive in a week. "The other doctors have to manage somehow, do double shifts. Sometimes, we hire more doctors. As for nurses, we have to manage or nursing third-year students are pulled into duty," he said. Increase in hospitalisations may put healthcare staff under strain Dr B L Sherwal, the medical director of the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, said a few doctors are testing COVID-19 positive every day and the number is likely to rise in the coming days. "The number of hospitalisations has so far remained low, but it is going to increase and put the healthcare staff under strain. Doctors, nursing staff, laboratory technicians, paramedical staff form one of the most vulnerable groups. A large number of healthcare staff members are getting infected will compound the situation," he said. Dr Sherwal said the city government has trained 5,000 youths as medical assistants and they will be deployed if the need arises. The city government had last month ordered medical superintendents and directors of all state-run hospitals to hire manpower in anticipation of a surge in infections. Had warned government of a healthcare crisis Dr Manish Jangra, President of the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association, said they had warned the government of a healthcare crisis and requested it to expedite the NEET-PG 2021 counselling. "The hospitals are operating with two-third of their staff. The situation will spiral out of control at the peak of the wave. Resident doctors are already struggling with burnout," he said. Dr Arun Kumar Sharma from the Community Medicine department of University College of Medical Sciences said the number of hospitalisation is likely to increase proportionately and a large number of doctors getting infected can lead to a temporary crisis even if they develop mild symptoms. "The burst in cases among doctors in Nalanda (Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Bihar's Patna) is due to the Omicron variant which has been causing only mild disease. "Nonetheless, these doctors will also have to isolate themselves for seven to 10 days. So, it can definitely lead to a temporary crisis in hospitals," he said. Dr Sharma suggested that hospitals create a "buffer stock of doctors" which can be deployed in such a situation. "Also, COVID-19-appropriate behaviour will have to be strictly implemented in hospitals, dispensaries and clinics. The entry of patients in such places should be regulated according to the space available to ensure social distancing," he said. Patients in hospitals increasing in Delhi Government data showed the number of patients in hospitals in Delhi has increased from 247 on January 1 to 531 on January 4. In the last three days, the number of patients on oxygen support has increased from 94 to 168 and those on ventilators from four to 14. Delhi Health Bulletin - 1st January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/LOl8BEKOZW CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 1, 2022 Delhi Health Bulletin - 3rd January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/RWJQ0clxhI CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 3, 2022 Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier said his government is ready to handle up to one lakh COVID-19 cases a day in a worst-case scenario. The Centre's coronavirus task force head Dr V K Paul had in December warned India could witness 14 lakh cases a day if the Omicron variant surge is not slowed. Live TV New Delhi: India witnessed an unprecedented lapse in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security after his convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes in Punjabs Ferozepur. Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Wednesday (January 5) analysed whether the incident was a mere security lapse or the Congress government wanted to insult PM Modi. Or --- was it a conspiracy to kill him? PM Modis cavalcade was stuck for 20 minutes on a flyover near Hussainiwala in Punjabs Ferozepur. It is to be noted that this place is only 10 kilometres away from Pakistan. Hundreds of people present around shot the video of the PMs convoy on their phones. What is worrying is that someone could have shot him from such a close range. India lost two former PMs due to a security lapse. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by the Khalistani forces of Punjab, while Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by another terrorist organization LTTE. This incident has raised significant questions about the government of Punjab and its intention. PM Modi, who was supposed to visit the National Martyrs Memorial located in Hussainiwala village of Ferozepur before attending a poll rally, was earlier scheduled to reach this memorial by helicopter. However, due to bad weather and rain, it was decided that the PM will reach Ferozepur by road. As per the protocol, the DGP of Punjab Police was informed that PM Modi would reach Ferozepur by road, who in turn assured that the police would make all the security arrangements. Although, from videos accessed by us, buses and other vehicles could be seen parked around the PMs car. In another video, it is clearly visible that at some distance from this flyover, farmers were demonstrating in large numbers carrying flags of farmer organisations. Questions are being raised as under the protocol - when the PM visits any state, he is received by the CM, State Secretary and DGP of that state. In case the CM is absent, the State Secretary and the DGP are definitely present. However, none of the three were at the airport to welcome him. Therefore, questions are also being raised from this that why Punjab's State Secretary and DGP did not follow the protocol and why they were not with the Prime Minister's convoy? This shows that the Punjab Police failed to make necessary security arrangements for the PM's convoy. Live TV New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday requested the Supreme Court to allow commencement of the counselling for NEET-PG saying doctors concerns for counselling are genuine. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre told a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, "Let us proceed with the counselling. We are at a point where counselling is stuck. We need doctors and their concerns are genuine. As a society, we cannot go into lengthy arguments now." Mehta sought permission from the Court to proceed with the counselling for the current academic year while the criteria and other aspects can be heard in detail and decided by the Court later. Resident doctors have been protesting against the delay in the NEET-PG counselling. Earlier, the apex court had asked the Centre to put on hold the counselling for NEET-PG until it decides the validity of the Centre`s decision to introduce OBC and EWS reservation in All India Quota (AIQ). It had said that NEET-PG counselling will not start without its approval as the court is examining a plea against the Centre`s decision for medical admission. Today, the Bench heard arguments on petitions challenging the Centre`s decision to introduce OBC and EWS reservation in NEET All India Quota. The arguments will continue tomorrow as well. Senior advocate Shyam Divan and Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioners, put forth their arguments against the Centre`s decision of providing reservation to OBC and EWS category. On December 31, the Centre filed an affidavit stating that it has decided to stick to the existing criteria of Rs 8 lakh annual income limit for determination of 10 per cent EWS reservation with respect to the ongoing admissions to the NEET postgraduate courses. The Centre has informed the apex court that an Expert Committee constituted by the government to reassess the criteria, suggested that the existing criteria may be continued for ongoing admissions while the revised criteria suggested by the Committee may be adopted from the next admission cycle. Changing the EWS criteria midway will lead to complications, the Committee has opined while recommending the introduction of revised EWS criteria from the next academic year. The affidavit has stated, "The Central government has decided to accept the recommendations of the Committee including the recommendation of applying the new criteria prospectively."The three-member committee was constituted by the Centre after the apex court had expressed serious reservations about whether any study was conducted at all before fixing the Rs 8 lakh limit for determining EWS. The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Centre and Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) July 29, 2021 notice providing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) and 10 per cent for Economic Weaker Sections (EWS) category for the admission in the NEET for all medical seats. The July 29 notice provide 27 per cent reservation for OBC and 10 per cent for the EWS category in 15 per cent UG and 50 per cent PG All India Quota (AQI) seats (MBBS, BDS and MD, MS, MDS) with effect from the current academic session 2021-22. On October 21, the Bench had asked the Centre whether it would like to revisit the limit of Rs 8 lakh annual income, fixed for determining the EWS category for reservation in NEET admissions for medical courses. It had asked the Centre whether any exercise was undertaken before fixing a limit of Rs 8 lakh annual income for determining the EWS category. Live TV New Delhi: In revised guidelines for home isolation of mild or asymptomatic cases of Covid-19, the Union health ministry on Wednesday (January 5) said that patients under home isolation will stand discharged after at least seven days from testing positive and no fever for three successive days. Here are some of the guidelines issued by the Ministry: 1) People should not rush for self-medication, blood investigation or radiological imaging like chest X-ray or CT scan without consultation of treating medical officer. 2) Steroids are not indicated in mild disease and should not be self-administered; overuse and inappropriate use of steroids may lead to additional complications 3) Treatment for every patient needs to be monitored individually as per the specific condition of the patient concerned and hence generic sharing of prescriptions should be avoided 4) Patients under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least seven days have passed from testing positive and no fever for three successive days, but they shall continue wearing masks. Earlier, the duration of home isolation ended after 10 days of onset of symptoms. 5) There is no need for re-testing after the home isolation period is over. 6) Asymptomatic contacts of infected individuals need not undergo Covid test and monitor health in home quarantine. 7) Information floating through social media, mentioning non-authentic and non-evidence based treatment protocols, can harm patients. Misinformation leading to creation of panic and in-turn undertaking tests and treatment which are not required has to be avoided. 8) District administration under the overall supervision of the State Health Authority shall be responsible for monitoring patients under home isolation. 9) Elderly patients aged more than 60 years and those with co-morbid conditions such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart disease, Chronic lung/liver/ kidney disease, Cerebrovascular disease, shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer 10) Patients suffering from immune compromised status (HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not recommended for home isolation; they shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer. Assessment of the patients by teams concerned Teams (ANM, sanitary inspector, MPHW etc) shall be responsible for initial assessment of the patient and whether the requisite facilities are there for home isolation. The health worker should contact the patient daily, preferably in-person or over telephone/ mobile, and obtain the details of temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation, patients overall wellness and worsening of signs/symptoms. The teams may also provide home isolation kits to the patient/caregiver as per the policy of the state government. The kit may contain masks, hand sanitisers, paracetamol along with a detailed leaflet to educate patients and family members in local language. The surveillance teams shall also undertake patient education on the disease, its symptoms, warning signs, COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and need for vaccination for all eligible members. Listing the responsibilities of district/sub-district control room, the guidelines stated that they will be made operational and their telephone numbers well publicised so that people under home-isolation may contact the control rooms for seamless transfer of patients through ambulance from home to the dedicated hospital. Definition of asymptomatic and mild cases According to the guidelines, asymptomatic cases are laboratory confirmed cases who are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent. Clinically assigned mild cases are patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent. The patient should be clinically assigned as mild/ asymptomatic case by the treating Medical Officer to be eligible for home isolation. Further, a designated control room contact number at the district/sub district level shall be provided to the family to get suitable guidance for undertaking testing, clinical management related guidance, assignment of a hospital bed, if warranted. "Such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and for quarantining the family contacts," they said. (With PTI inputs) Live TV New Delhi: The Goa government has decided to shut schools for Classes 8 to 12 and colleges till January 26 amid surge in COVID-19 cases. A circular was issued by state Education Director Bhushan Savaikar in this regard. "As Covid-19 cases are rising in the state, it is decided by the competent authority that the educational institutions from Std VIII and XII will remain closed with immediate effect up to January 26. The students in the age group of 15 to 18 years of St. IX to XII may be called in the school for vaccination purposes only by following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour," the circular read as per IANS. The classes will be held online, it added. The decision was taken after a meeting of the COVID-19 Task Force on Monday to review the situation in the state. Dr Shekhar Salkar, a member of Task Force told ANI, "After the meeting of the COVID Task Force, it has been decided to close physical sessions for classes 8 and 9 till January 26. Students of classes 10 to 12 have to come only for the vaccination. Colleges will also remain closed till January 26." On Monday, the Goa government imposed a night curfew in the state. The curfew will be enforced from 11 pm to 6 am. Meanwhile, Goa registered 592 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, while the total coronavirus tally reached 1,82,793. The death toll increased to 3,525, as per the health department. (With agency inputs) Live TV New Delhi: Dr N K Arora, the chairman of the COVID-19 working group of the NTAGI, has said that India is witnessing the third Covid-19 wave and the new Omicron variant accounts for over 50% of new cases. Dr Arora said that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is accounting for more than 50 per cent of the fresh cases of the infection in the major Indian cities. This massive surge in the number of cases over the last one week is indicative of a third wave of the pandemic, which is being witnessed in several other countries, Dr N K Arora added. While noting that Omicron is being detected in most of the states in the country, Arora said, "The galloping increase in the number of Covid cases over the last one week is indicative of the third wave, as is being seen in several other countries across the globe." He, however, stressed that there is no need to panic. Arora said over 80 per cent of the people in the country have been infected with the virus naturally, more than 90 per cent of the adults have received at least one dose of an anti-Covid vaccine and over 65 per cent are fully vaccinated. "If we look at the behaviour of the Omicron wave in South Africa, where it rapidly increased, in two weeks, the number of cases started coming down and most of the cases were either asymptomatic or had a mild illness, along with the decoupling of the total number of Covid cases vis-a-vis those requiring hospitalisation. All these factors indicate that the Omicron wave in South Africa may soon subside," he said. There are some epidemiological similarities between South Africa and India. The natural infection rates in both countries are very high, Arora pointed out, adding that however, the immunisation rates in India are several folds higher. "In view of this, we may see a somewhat similar pattern in India as far as the third wave is concerned. "Looking at the behaviour of the Covid infection in the last seven to 10 days in India, I feel that we may be in for a third wave peak very soon," he said. Arora, however, asserted that there is no need to press the panic button. "Those who are yet to take the vaccine or are partially immunised should get the jab for protection against severe disease and hospitalisation. Also, one should strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour," he said. A total of 1,892 Omicron cases have so far been detected across 23 states and Union territories in the country and of the patients, 766 have either recuperated or migrated, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday. Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of 568 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi (382), Kerala (185), Rajasthan (174), Gujarat (152) and Tamil Nadu (121). With 37,379 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 3,49,60,261, while the number of active cases of the infection has gone up to 1,71,830, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. Live TV On Wednesday (January 5), PM Narendra Modi's Punjab visit was cut short after a "major security lapse" as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters, prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek an immediate report from the state government and strict action against those responsible. But there have been incidents in the past where prime ministers in India faced security lapses. Here's taking a look at Prime Minister Security Breach incidents that have taken place over the years: Febuary 2019: An apparent security breach took place at Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally at Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas, some 100-odd km from the city in West Bengal. The breach, which led to a stampede-like situation, forced the Prime Minister to cut short his speech to 20-odd minutes, before the SPG whisked him away. The crowd, consisting mostly of Matuas - a Hindu refugee community predominant in the North 24 Parganas and neighbouring Nadia districts of the state - broke the barricades and headed towards the stage. The security zone was breached. May 2018: A man claiming to be Prime Minister Narendra Modis fan managed to cause a big security breach by breaking through Special Protection Groups security cover moments after the conclusion of the Visva-Bharati convocation December 2017: SSP Love Kumar has suspended two policemen for the security lapse. The suspended policemen were sub Inspector Dilip Singh and police driver Jaipal. They were in the vehicle ahead to lead the prime minister's motorcade, PRO in the SSP's office Manish Saxena said. The two policemen took a wrong turn as a result of which the prime minister's cavalcade was caught in traffic for two minutes near Mahamaya Flyover, Noida. Traffic policemen then rushed and cleared the route for smooth passage. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had sought explanation from the officials about the security breach and sought a detailed report of lapse and action. December 2014: Three policemen, including a police inspector and two constables, were found guilty on charges of negligence that led to the breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security cover during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Maharashtra government on October 31. Former BJP activist Anil Mishra, 39, had managed to climb on to the podium, barely a few metres from Modi on October 31. After another BJP activist Sanjay Bedia brought the matter to the polices attention, Mishra was arrested by the Marine Drive police and booked under sections 170 (impersonating as a public servant) and 447 (criminal trespass) of the Indian Penal Code on November 7. During the inquiry, a list was drawn up of policemen who were deputed at those entry and exits points of the stadium through which the PM and other VVIPs had passed. They also identified points at which Mishra managed to slip through the security cordon. Officers manning the spots were identified, said sources. December 2010: Kerala government denied that there was any breach of security during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state. A private car almost entered the road through which the PM's convoy was moving, leading to a scare. State home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the Assembly that when police personnel in the pilot car of the convoy noticed the private vehicle, they turned it away and it did not pose any security threat. November 2006: The Prime Minister's Office has asked for an explanation from the Kerala government on the security breach that occurred when the convoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to a screeching halt after the pilot car took a wrong route. The prime minister arrived at Thiruvananthpuram on a Tuesday night at 9.35 pm and the security lapse took place while he was being driven to Raj Bhavan, the state governor's official residence. The National Security Guards (NSG) director has also reportedly asked for an explanation from Kerala's Director General of Police Raman Srivastava. July 2006: In a serious breach of security, three youngsters drove upto one of the inner gates of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence. They were later detained by the police. The Office of Prime Minister has denied reports of a security breach. A boy and two girls, in a black luxury car, drove up to the alighting point at the Prime Minister's 7, Race Course residence, after passing through the security cordon at the main gate. Live TV Hyderabad: Paracetamol or pain killers are not recommended for teenagers after being vaccinated with Covaxin, vaccine maker Bharat Biotech clarified on Wednesday (January 5) . "We have received feedback that certain immunisation centres are recommending taking 3 paracetamol 500 mg tablets along with Covaxin for children. No paracetamol or painkillers are recommended after being vaccinated with Covaxin," the Hyderabad-based company said. The firm said through its clinical trials spanning 30,000 individuals, approximately 10-20% of individuals reported side effects. "Most of these are mild, resolve within 1-2 days, and do not require medication. Medication is only recommended after you consult a physician," it said. "Paracetamol was recommended along with certain other Covid-19 vaccines and is not recommended for Covaxin," it added. Covid-19 vaccination for children in the age group of 15-18 years began across the country on January 3. The children are being administered the first dose of Covaxin. During the first three days, over 1.06 crore children received the jab. Earlier, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised states and Union Territories to provide separate vaccination centres, session sites, queue and different vaccination teams for the 15-18 year age group to avoid the mixing-up of vaccines. The Drugs Controller General of India granted emergency use authorisation to indigenously-developed Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for children above 12 years with certain conditions on December 24. (With IANS inputs) Live TV New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today (January 5, 2022) visit Ferozepur in Punjab to lay the foundation stone for various development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. This, notably, is PM's first visit to the state since repealing the farm laws and as per a few reports, it is being opposed by some farmer unions. According to officials, around 10,000 security personnel have been deployed in the district ahead of the Prime Minister's visit and an anti-drone team has also been deployed in the border district. As per the Prime Minister's Office, these projects include Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway; four laning of Amritsar Una section; Mukerian - Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line; PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway The 669-kilometre long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway will be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore and will halve travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra. The Greenfield Expressway will connect key Sikh religious sites at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the holy Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra. The expressway is said to also connect key economic centres like Ambala Chandigarh, Mohali, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in the states and UTs of Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Four-laning of Amritsar Una section The four-laning of the Amritsar Una section will be done at the cost of around Rs 1,700 crore. The 77-kilometre long section is part of the larger Amritsar to Bhota corridor spanning across the longitudinal expanse of Northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, connecting four major national highways, namely Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar Economic Corridor, DelhiAmritsarKatra Expressway, North-South Corridor and Kangra-Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla Corridor. It is said to help in improving the connectivity of religious sites at Ghoman, Shri Hargobindpur and Pulpukta Town (home to the famous Gurudwara Pulpukta Sahib). Mukerian - Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line Prime Minister Modi will also lay the foundation stone of a new Broad Gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara of around 27 km in length. It will be built at a cost of over Rs 410 crore and the railway line will be an extension of the Nangal Dam-Daulatpur Chowk railway section. It is said to provide an all-weathered means of transportation in the area. This project also holds strategic importance as it will serve as an alternative route to Jammu and Kashmir, joining the existing Jalandhar-Jammu Railway line at Mukerian. It will prove especially beneficial for the people of Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Una in Himachal Pradesh and will give a further boost to tourism in the region. PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of new medical infrastructure in three towns of Punjab. The 100 Bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur, will be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore and will provide services in 10 specialities including Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology, ENT and Psychiatry-Drug De-addiction. Two new medical colleges at Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur Two medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur will be developed at a cost of around Rs 325 crore each and with a capacity of about 100 seats. These colleges have been approved in Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme Establishment of new medical colleges attached with district/ referral hospitals. A total of three Medical Colleges have been approved for Punjab under this Scheme. The college approved at SAS Nagar in Phase-I is already functional. Live TV New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was travelling by road in Punjab on Wednesday (January 5), was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to blockade by some protesters, an incident the Union Home Ministry described as a "major lapse" in his security. In a statement, the Home Ministry said that after the "major security lapse" in the prime minister's travel in Punjab, his convoy decided to return. The ministry also asked the Punjab government to fix responsibility for the lapse and take strict action, the statement said. "MHA is taking cognisance of serious security lapse in PM's security, has sought a detailed report from Punjab govt," said the MHA. The prime minister was on his way to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala from Bathinda when the incident occurred. After major security lapse in PM's travel in Punjab, his convoy decided to head back to Bathinda airport, the MHA informed. Here is the statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the PM Modi's Punjab visit: "Today morning PM landed at Bathinda from where he was to go to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. When the weather didn`t improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than 2 hours. He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police. Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM. The PM's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to Punjab Government. As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport." Security breach in PM Narendra Modi's convoy near Punjab's Hussainiwala in Ferozepur district. The PM's convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/xU8Jx3h26n ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 BJP chief JP Nadda said that it was "sad that PMs visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted... the State Police was instructed to prevent people from attending the rally...CM Channi refused to get on phone to either address the matter or solve it." Meanwhile, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced from the stage that PM Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Punjab's Ferozepur to address a rally "due to some reasons". Live TV New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday (January 5) launched an all-out attack on the Congress over the breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security in Punjab, alleging it wanted to physically harm him as repeated defeats in elections have taken the party on the path of "insanity". Top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, lashed out at the Congress, which is in power in the state, over the incident. Nadda accused the Congress of trying "all possible tricks to scuttle" Modi's programmes, including a rally, in the state. Union Minister Smriti Irani asked whether the Congress leaders were "happy that the prime minister was on the verge of death". Hitting out at the state government after Modi's rally was called off and another programme disrupted as protesters blocked his route breaching the security protocol, Nadda said what is extremely worrisome is that the incident was also a big security lapse. In his tweets, Shah said, what was witnessed in the state is "Congress-made" and a trailer of how this party thinks and functions. "Repeated rejections by the people have taken them on the path of insanity. The topmost echelons of the Congress owe an apology to the people of India for what they have done," he said. Noting that his ministry has sought a detailed report on the security breach in Punjab, Shah said such dereliction of security procedure in the prime minister's visit is totally unacceptable and that accountability will be fixed. Modi's Punjab visit was cut short as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Union Minister Smriti Irani blasted the Congress alleging planted political instruments were given political patronage by the party's government in Punjab to breach Modi's security. "Never before in the history of our country has a state government knowingly constructed a scenario where the prime minister of the country will be brought in harm's way," she said. "The Congress failed in its murderous intentions on the holy land of Punjab... Congress leaders were expressing joy over the prime minister's security breach. Were they happy that Prime Minister Modi was on the verge of death?" Irani posed. Hitting out at the Punjab government, she alleged police functionaries were "directed to breach the security of the prime minister and cause him physical harm". In a series of tweets, Nadda sought to put the state government in a dock over its alleged lapses. "Protestors were given access to the Prime Minister's route while the Punjab CS (chief secretary) and DGP gave assurances to SPG that the route is clear. To make matters worse, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi refused to get on the phone to either address the matter or solve it. The tactics used by the Congress government in Punjab would pain anyone who believes in democratic principles," he said. Nadda alleged that the state police was instructed to prevent people from attending Modi's rally and a large number of buses were stranded because of the high-handedness of the police in connivance with the protesters. In doing so, they did not bother that the prime minister was to pay tributes to Bhagat Singh and other freedom fighters and lay the foundation stone for key development works, the BJP chief said. "By their cheap antics, Congress government in Punjab has shown that they are anti-development and have no respect for freedom fighters too," he said, alleging it was done as the ruling party in the state fears a resounding defeat in the upcoming Assembly polls. "It is sad that the prime minister's visit to launch development projects worth thousands of crores for Punjab was disrupted. But we will not let such cheap mentality hinder the progress of Punjab and will continue the effort for the development of Punjab," Nadda said. Chief Minister Channi on Wednesday expressed regret after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cut short his visit to the state, but asserted that there was no security lapse. Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Nadda should stop indulging in blame game and the BJP should instead introspect its "anti-farmer" attitude. He alleged that lack of crowd at Modi's rally was a factor being the prime minister calling off his trip. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who is from Punjab, said what happened in the state was a matter of shame for the Channi government. He alleged Channi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu had joined hands with subversive and anti-national forces to foil the democratic right of the prime minister and the BJP to address public meetings. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, "It is shameful that all this happened under the nose of the state government which intentionally let their guard down." "There is clearly an intentional Congress hand behind this incident with senior party leaders like Rahul and Sonia Gandhi not condemning the security breach," he alleged. Punjab MP Som Prakash said, "Congress is so full of hatred for Modi that it played with his security. In fact it is playing with national security." BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh said, "Politicisation of administration and police reaches new low under Congress in Punjab today. After the Emergency in 1975, it has committed the second grave mistake today. Hon'ble PM's security was compromised. Congress and the leadership will pay for this heavily in days to come." Live TV The Maharashtra police today took the custody of hate-speech accused Hindu seer Kalicharan Maharaj from their Chhattisgarh counterparts, days after a FIR was filed against him in Pune. Following the transit remand granted by a court at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, the religious leader was brought to Pune where he was produced in a court. "We have taken the custody of Kalicharan from Chhattisgarh Police and he is being brought to Pune," an official from Khadak police station said. The Pune police had registered the case against Kalicharan Maharaj, right-wing leader Milind Ekbote, Captain Digendra Kumar (retired) and others for allegedly making inflammatory speeches during an event here and hurting religious sentiments. The event, 'Shiv Pratap Din', was organised by Ekbote-led outfit Hindu Aghadi outfit on December 19, 2021 to celebrate the killing of Mughal commander Afzal Khan by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Later, the case was registered against the seer and others at Khadak police station under IPC Sections 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging religious feelings of any class), 298 (deliberate intention of wounding religious feeling of any person) and 505 (2) (false statement, rumor made in place of worship, etc, with intent to create enmity, hatred or ill-will). As per the FIR, all the accused allegedly made inflammatory speeches with an intention to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims and Christians and to create a communal rift between people. Kalicharan Maharaj is also facing cases in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra for his alleged derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi during an event in Raipur. He was last week arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police from Madhya Pradesh in connection with that case. Live TV New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday (January 5) refuted allegations of security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Ferozepur. Expressing regret that PM Modi had to curtail his Punjab visit, Channi said, The prime minister was to visit for the inauguration (of development projects) and address a political rally. We regret that he had to return due to the blockade en route. After all, he is the prime minister of the country. We respect him. There is a democratic system and federal system," the Punjab CM was quoted as saying by PTI. PM Modis cavalcade was stranded for around 20 minutes near Hussainiwala in Ferozepur today due to a blockade by some protesters. Calling it a "major lapse" in the PMs security, the Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report from the Punjab government regarding the incident. Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, the Punjab CM claimed he was not intimated of the route change of the PMs convoy. "We had asked them (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions and protests. We had no information of his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM visit," he was quoted as saying by ANI. Channi added, "If there were any security lapses during PM Modi`s visit today, then we will conduct an inquiry. There was no danger to the Prime Minister. We had asked them (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions & protests. We had no information of his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM visit: Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi pic.twitter.com/TYxRlNL5lt ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a sharp attack at the grand old party sought an apology from topmost echelons of the Congress for "what they have done". In a tweet, Shah wrote, Todays Congress-made happening in Punjab is a trailer of how this party thinks and functions. Repeated rejections by the people have taken them to the path of insanity. The topmost echelons of the Congress owe an apology to the people of India for what they have done. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a detailed report on todays security breach in Punjab. Such dereliction of security procedure in the Prime Ministers visit is totally unacceptable and accountability will be fixed, he added in another tweet. Earlier in a statement, the Home Ministry said after the "major security lapse" in the PM's travel near Punjab's Hussainiwala, his convoy decided to return. The ministry directed the Punjab government to "fix responsibility for the lapse and take strict action", the statement said. (With agency inputs) Live TV New Delhi: Renowned social worker Sindhutai Sapkal on Tuesday (January 4, 2022) died following a heart attack at a private hospital in Pune. Sapkal, who was fondly known as 'orphan children's mother', passed away aged 74. "She had undergone a hernia surgery one and a half months ago and recovery was very slow. She died of a heart attack around 8 pm," said Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, Medical Director of the hospital. Paying tribute to Sapkal, President Ram Nath Kovind said that her life was an inspiring saga of courage, dedication and service. "She loved & served orphaned, tribals and marginalised people. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2021, she scripted her own story with incredible grit," he tweeted. The life of Dr Sindhutai Sapkal was an inspiring saga of courage, dedication and service. She loved & served orphaned, tribals and marginalised people. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2021, she scripted her own story with incredible grit. Condolences to her family and followers. pic.twitter.com/vGgIHDl1Xe President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) January 4, 2022 Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that many children could lead a better quality of life due to Sapkal's efforts. "Dr Sindhutai Sapkal will be remembered for her noble service to society. Due to her efforts, many children could lead a better quality of life. "She also did a lot of work among marginalised communities. Pained by her demise. Condolences to her family and admirers. Om Shanti," he tweeted. Sapkal, a Padma Shri awardee, was born on November 14, 1948, in the Wardha district of Maharashtra. She was reportedly forced to drop out of school after she had passed 4th class. At around the tender age of 12, she was married to a 32-year-old man. After she gave birth to three children, her husband abandoned her even when she was pregnant. According to reports, her own mother and the village where she had grown up refused to help, forcing her to beg to raise her daughters at one point. She then overcame these circumstances and started working for orphans. Having raised over 1,050 orphan children, she could boast of having 207 sons-in-law and 36 daughters-in-law. Besides the Padma award, she received more than 750 awards and honours. In 2010, a Marathi biopic on her, "Mee Sindhutai Sapkal" was also released. It, notably, was selected for world premiere at the 54th London Film Festival. (With inputs from PTI news agency) Live TV KASHMIR: In a major breakthrough, at least three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists were gunned down by the security forces after a pre-dawn encounter broke out in the Chandgam village of Pulwama district in South Kashmir on Wednesday. Sharing more details, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, "3 JeM terrorists have been killed in an encounter with security forces in Chandgam, Pulwama. One of them is a Pakistani national. Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including 2 M-4 carbines and 1 AK series rifle has been recovered from them.'' #UPDATE | Three JeM terrorists killed in an encounter with security forces in Chandgam, Pulwama. One of them is a Pakistani national. Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 2 M-4 carbines & 1 AK series rifle recovered: IGP Kashmir ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022 Kashmir Zone Police had earlier tweeted, #Encounter has started at Chandgam area of #Pulwama. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow. Sharing more details, a J&K police official has earlier informed, On a specific input of presence to terrorists in the village, a joint cordon and search operation was launched in the midnight. As the search party cordoned the suspected place and asked the trapped terrorists to surrender, they opened fire which was strongly retaliated and an encounter started. Sources initially said that there were inputs about 2-3 terrorists hiding in the area but the actual number can only be ascertained once the operation concludes. Its the fifth encounter in the first five days of New Year 2022. In the last four encounters in Kashmir, the security forces have managed to kill as many as 5 terrorists among them 4 were associated with LeT/TRF. The Jammu and Kashmir Police had on January 1, 2022, said that one of the slain terrorists killed in the December 30 Anantnag encounter could possibly be Samir Dar, the last surviving terrorist involved in the 2019 Pulwama attack. IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that the picture of one of the terrorists killed in Anantnag matches with Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s top commander Samir Dar. As as many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the attack on February 14, 2019, in Pulwama. Live TV Tesla Inc's ability to design components in-house gave the automaker agility in making tweaks to parts and coping with supply chain issues that hit other automakers much harder, sources and experts said. Tesla boosted its deliveries by 87% to a record high in 2021, pushing its shares up over 13% on Monday. Here are some of the ways Tesla navigated supply chain challenges. HOW TESLA COPED WITH THE GLOBAL CHIP SHORTAGE Tesla told some customers they could take vehicle delivery with some missing parts, such as Bluetooth chips and USB ports. Tesla also removed some features such as radar sensors and lumbar support for front passenger seats, which made the car less complicated to build. Tesla also increased vehicle prices to address higher costs, including "expedite costs" for parts. American consumers have to wait for seven months if they order a Model Y version, whose prices went up 18% last year. Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tesla was also able to substitute alternative chips for some that were in short supply. Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said Tesla's ability to rewrite software to support the new chips in 2-3 weeks was impressive. Also read: Tesla delivers close to 1 million cars in 2021 becoming world's biggest EV maker HOW TESLA IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER AUTOMAKERS Tesla designs more hardware and writes more software than many rivals, which rely on auto suppliers. Musk has called the company "absurdly vertically integrated compared to other auto companies." "We design circuit boards by ourselves, which allow us to modify their design quickly to accommodate alternative chips like powerchips," a Tesla insider said. In-house engineers design the bulk of the complex software that runs the Tesla vehicles, which Musk has described as a "computer on wheels". Some traditional automakers are also conservative about modifying chips or using different chip factories, because of a risk associated with the change, Kevin Anderson, Principal Consultant at Write-Tek, said. "They have been burned many times in the past and unintended consequences of those changes. A company like Tesla doesn't have that long experience," he said. Also read: Norway's Electric Vehicle sales now at 65 percent of total car sales HOW MUCH IS TESLA VERTICALLY INTEGRATED? Tesla also designs the chips used in its driver assistant systems and makes parts ranging from seats to battery cells in-house. It also owns its own direct sales, service and charging networks. "We're designing and building so much more of the car than other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who will largely go to the traditional supply base and like I call it, catalog engineering. So it is not very adventurous," Musk said. Ambrose Conroy, CEO of Seraph Consulting, said: "They control what's going on in that vehicle at a level that no other automaker wants to do it. It is much more aligned to the integration that Henry Ford had originally with the Model T." HOW TESLA SECURED CHIP ORDERS In 2020, many automakers cut chip orders as the pandemic and lockdown measures hit demand. But Tesla never reduced its production forecast with suppliers, since it expected rapid growth, which helped it weather the chip shortage, Tesla chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn has said. "They've just been smarter about it than other companies in terms of making sure there's buffer stock," a Tesla supplier executive said. Tesla's direct ties with chip suppliers allowed it to move faster than traditional automakers, which rely on first-tier suppliers who have relationships with chipmakers, Anderson said. Live TV #mute Tata Altroz has been received well within the buyers community looking to buy a premium hatchback. However, lack of automatic gearbox has forced many prospective buyers to move away from Altroz and look for other options like the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai i20, Volkswagen Polo among others. A report now mentions that Tata has confirmed on Twitter that they will soon launch an automatic transmission for Altroz. Tata Motors is expected to use a dual-clutch automatic transmission in the Altroz. This transmission will be a 7-speed unit and is expected to be launched in the next 3 to 4 months. Tatas DCT transmission is expected to be mated with the turbo engine variant of the Altroz. The 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine generates 110 PS of power and 140 Nm of torque. At the moment, this turbo engine is only available with a 5-speed manual transmission. There are no other changes expected to the Altroz other than its DCT transmission. Also read: Tata records highest ever EV sales, Nexon becomes best-selling SUV Tata Altroz's safety rating for adult occupants is 5 stars, and it is the only premium hatchback to score maximum points in Global NCAP crash tests across India. Tata Motors plans to offer a CNG version of Altroz in addition to the automatic variant. The CNG option could be offered on the mid spec XT variant and above variants and could fetch a premium over the regular petrol manual variant of Rs 30-50k.As part of its electric vehicle lineup, Tata Motors will launch the Altroz EV this year, after introducing the Tigor EV in 2021. Live TV #mute New Delhi: Actor Arjun Kapoor never minces his words when sharing his feelings and emotions. The Sundeep Aur Pinky Faraar actor in an interview has said that he hates creating a fake perception of one happy family on his bond with half-sisters Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor. The actor said that there is mutual respect between them but they do not live under one roof. The good part is that they respect me and I respect them. I do tend to bully in the sense that I do tend to troll them from time to time because I have a snarky sense of humour and I do tend to crack a few extra jokes, Arjun told Masala.com. Arjun Kapoor and sister Anshula Kapoor are producer Boney Kapoors kids from his first marriage with Mona Shourie. Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor are Boneys kids from his second marriage to actress Sridevi. Arjun started bonding with Janhvi and Khushi after Sridevis sudden death in 2018. Talking about his bond with them, Arjun said, About advice, we dont live together now so were not discussing everything on a day-to-day basis. I hate creating this fake perception that we have are one happy family living under the roof and discussing everything. We have discussed many things, and we continue to do that. But its still a very intimate space for us to come out so openly and speak about. I am somebody who believes in letting people do what they choose to do. I dont interfere. But yes, if one of them comes to me to talk about something, Im always there to give my two cents on my experience. Arjun Kapoor was last seen in Disney plus Hotstar Bhoot Police along with Saif Ali Khan, Yami Gautam and Jacqueline Fernandes. He will next be seen in Mohit Suris Ek Villain Returns along with John Abraham, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria. New Delhi: Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, reports suggest that a staff member of Amitabh Bachchan has tested positive for the virus. A BMC official confirmed on Wednesday that a staff member at one of megastar Amitabh Bachchan's bungalows has tested positive for COVID-19, according to PTI. Big B in his blog on Tuesday informed that he is dealing with some "domestic COVID situations", saying he will connect with his fans later. The BMC official said that out of 31 staff members of both of the veteran star's bungalows, Pratiksha and Jalsa, one tested positive during the routine COVID-19 tests. Routine COVID-19 tests of the staffers were conducted from Amitabh Bachchan's team, the officer added. "The staff has been quarantined at CCC-2 (COVID Care Center-2) of the BMC," he said. He further added that the positive staff is asymptomatic. Another senior official said that as per the guidelines they have followed COVID-19 protocol that includes contact tracing, testing and home quarantine of close contacts. Amitabh Bachchan, who regularly updates his fans about his personal and professional life through his blog, wrote a cryptic one-line text on the platform on Tuesday. "Dealing with some domestic COVID situations .. Will connect later," the 79-year-old actor, who got fully vaccinated in May 2021, wrote. Following this post, fans of the screen icon flooded the comments section, sending wishes for the family and requesting him to take care. In 2020, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, actor-daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and his granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan had tested positive for coronavirus. (With PTI inputs) NEW DELHI: Star comedian and TV host Kapil Sharma will be seen in a special for Netflix titled 'I'm Not Done Yet', which is slated to premiere on January 28. The show marks Kapil's first comedy special with the streaming giant. On Wednesday, Kapil took to Instagram and shared the update about his special with his followers. "Let's meet on 28th January on your Netflix screen with my first stand-up special 'Kapil Sharma: I'm not done yet'," he wrote. He also shared the official teaser of the special. "I have been working in the industry for over 25 years now, and I have been working for 15 years on TV now. Actually, I have never taken comedy seriously because we as Punjabis are joking around all the time. It comes naturally. I didn`t know it was something you could get paid for," Kapil introduced himself in the video. The comedian shared a glimpse of his stand-up in which he referred to his infamous tweet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he accepted was a drunk tweet. "I left for the Maldives instantly, I lived there for 8-9 days. The moment I reached Maldives, I asked them for a room with no internet. They asked, 'Have you got married?' I replied, 'No, I just tweeted'. "My stay costed me Rs 9 lakhs, which I didnt even spend on my education. That one line costed me that much," Kapil Sharma revealed, adding, "I want to sue Twitter." He said the microblogging site should have warned his followers that it is a 'drunk tweet'. He concluded by mentioning that while some of the tweets are his responsibility, others are results of liquor brands. The 2016 tweet to the PM had Kapil complaining about BMC. His tweet read, "I am paying Rs 15 cr income tax from last 5-year n still i have to pay 5 lacs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi." The actor-comedian was in the news for the unauthrized costruction at his Andheri property. BMC local ward office -K-west, claimed that the actor had built an additional second floor and also extended parts of the structure at his Andheri propert. Later, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis replied to Kapil Sharma's tweet saying 'they will take strict action against the culprit'. Meanwhile, Kapil is currently busy working with 'The Kapil Sharma Show', which is produced by Salman Khan. Apart from his show, Kapil has also featured in in movies such as 'Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon' and 'Firangi', among others. Live TV Madrid: Seems like Spanish actor Esther Acebo, who is best known for her role in the popular show 'Money Heist', follows Indian culture. A picture has been doing the rounds on the internet in which Esther can be seen standing by one of her home's walls that has a huge portrait of Lord Ganesha. Isn`t it surprising? Reportedly, Esther's viral pictures are snapshots from an Instagram live she did recently. Proud moment for India __ Spanish actress @EstherAcebo to international fame for her role as Monica Gaztambide aka #Stockholm in the hit @netflix series #MoneyHeist. who is proudly displaying vedic pictures of lord #Ganesha at her home in one of her video pic.twitter.com/i3HAq92iri ___ ___________ _____ (@the_wings_2002) January 5, 2022 Many social media users praised Esther after seeing the picture of the Hindu deity at her home. "Proud moment for India," a netizen commented. "Thank you for beautifully showcasing Indian culture in Spain," another one wrote. For the unversed, Esther played the role of Monica Gaztambide (Stockholm) in 'Money Heist'. Live TV New Delhi: Indias largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has enhanced the limit on IMPS transactions from Rs 2 lakh upto Rs 5 lakh. Though the bank will charge customers along with GST on IMPS through bank branches from next month, there will be nil charges on transactions through Digital Channels, said SBI. In an aim to encourage customers to adopt digital banking, SBI has not levied any Service Charges on IMPS transactions upto Rs. 5 lacs, done through Internet banking/Mobile Banking including YONO. In case of Branch Channels, there has been no change in the service charges for IMPS done through the Branch Channel in the existing slabs. However, a new slab for 2,00,000 to 5,00,000 has been added and the proposed service charges for this slab is 20 + GST w.e.f 01.02.2022, SBI said in a statement. Check out State Bank of Indias IMPS charges effective from 01 February 2022 Slab Transactions at Branches Transactions through Net Banking / Mobile / YONO Existing Revised w.e.f. 01.02.2022 Upto Rs 1000 Nil No Change NIL Above 1000/- and upto 10,000/- 2 + GST Above 10,000/- and upto 1,00,000/- 4 + GST Above 1,00,000/- and upto 2,00,000/- 12 + GST Above 2,00,000/- and upto 5,00,000/- (New slab) N.A. 20 + GST Check out State Bank of Indias NEFT transaction charges lab Transactions through Branches Transactions through Net Banking / Mobile / YONO Upto Rs 10000 2 + GST NIL Above 10,000/- and upto 1,00,000/- 4 + GST Above 1,00,000/- and upto 2,00,000/- 12 + GST Above 2,00,000/- 20 + GST Check out State Bank of Indias RTGS transaction charges Slab Transactions through Branches Transactions through Net Banking / Mobile / YONO Above 2,00,000/- and upto 5,00,000/- 20 + GST NIL Above 5,00,000/- 40 + GST The service charges on IMPS are in line with the Service Charges on NEFT/RTGS transactions, SBI has said. Live TV #mute New Delhi: Pankaj Bansal, Director of M3M India, India's leading real estate developer and largest developer of retail space in North India, is confident of speedy revival of real estate sector post Covid slowdown, and is aggressive on FDI inflow in the sector, reported news agency IANS. "The retail segment has been on the investors' radar as it is providing great investment opportunities to a wider spectrum of small to large investors. As part of NCR, Gurugram seems to be leading the retail sector. M3M India itself is today the largest developer of retail space in North India by delivering over 4 million square feet of retail space in one of the most promising growth areas of Gurugram. Overall, the Company has delivered a staggering 20 million square feet of realty space. The DPIIT report on flow of FDI in construction sector, and interest of institutional investors in real estate is very encouraging. This I believe will make the business more competitive, delivering better value to buyers and investors," Pankaj Bansal told IANS. The real estate sector is also looking forward to the upcoming Union Budget and expecting few key relaxation in taxes to boost the sector and make it more affordable. "We are now eagerly awaiting Union Budget and expecting a dynamic favourable policy, for not just retail, but also for the housing sector. As the entire sector is focused to contribute at least 13% in India's GDP by 2025 and reach market size of USD 1 trillion, I am sure the Government must be also looking to present few essential concessions and relaxations in the Union Budget 2022," says Pankaj Bansal. The real estate is ranked third among the 14 major sectors in terms of direct and indirect or induced impact on all the sectors of the economy. Pankaj Bansal added, "Market is constantly expanding. There is tremendous growth opportunities for small and mid-level retail investors who are going to make the market more accessible to a wider audience. Even the co-living market in the top 30 cities, primarily metros, is set to grow almost double -- to about USD 14 billion from the current size of USD 6.70 billion. Boost in real estate sector, which is second largest sector in terms of employment generation, only after agriculture, will further create jobs." Going by recent report by Savills India, the real estate demand for data centres is also increasing -- by 15-18 million square feet by 2025. Moreover in the Q3 of FY 2021, housing sector stood at 62,800 units, which is an increase by 113% YoY across all the top seven cities, as compared with 29,520 units in the Q3 of 2020. In the seven cities, Mumbai accounted for 33% of total sales and NCR 16%. According to JLL Report, during the month of January -- March 2021 quarter, NOIDA accounted for 55% of the net absorption, followed by Gurugram at 38%. Delhi-NCR has also been witnessing sharp increase in demand for office space. "The ambitious 100 smart cities project by Government of India is not only going to be a great opportunity for the real estate sector, it will also pave way for many world-class developments in key emerging markets, by capable real estate developers who are exploring 'smart' and new age innovations to bring in new ways of living habitats," says Pankaj Bansal. The central government has given impetus to the sector by deciding to build 20 million affordable houses in urban areas across the country by the end of FY 2023. This is being done under the PM Narendra Modi's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. With IANS Inputs Live TV #mute New Delhi: Italian police has caught a top mafia fugitive who had been on the run for nearly 20 years thanks to the help of the Google Maps app, an investigator told Reuters on Wednesday. After a two-year investigation, Gioacchino Gammino, 61, was tracked down in Galapagar, Spain, where he lived under a fake name. The town is close to the capital Madrid. A Google Maps street view picture portraying a man who looked like him in front of a fruit shop was key in triggering a deeper investigation. "The photogram helped us to confirm the investigation we were developing in traditional ways," Nicola Altiero, deputy director of the Italian anti-mafia police unit (DIA), said. Gammino, a member of a Sicilian mafia group dubbed Stidda, had escaped Rome`s Rebibbia jail in 2002 and in 2003 had been sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder committed several years earlier. Also Read: Budget expectations: Microfinance institutions seek extension of credit guarantee scheme till FY2023 Altiero said Gammino is currently under custody in Spain and they hope to bring him back to Italy by the end of February. Reuters was unable to locate a representative of Gammino to comment. Also Read: LIC Policy: Invest Rs 252 per day to get Rs 20 lakh on maturity, check details Live TV #mute LONDON: The World Health Organization (WHO has issued a fresh warning saying that the spiralling Omicron cases around the world could increase the risk of the emergence of newer and more dangerous variants. While the new Omicron variant is spreading like a wildfire around the world and does not seem to be much more serious than initially feared, WHO Senior Emergency Officer Catherine Smallwood has sounded an alarm that a surge in infection rates could have the opposite effect. The more Omicron spreads, the more likely it is to be transmitted and replicate. Currently, Omicron is deadly and potentially deadly probably a little less than Delta. Whats next? Who will tell you to throw it away, Smallwood said in an interview, according to a California Times report. Due to its less severity, the scientists are hoping that Omicron could possibly overcome the pandemic and bring life back to normal. But, according to Smallwood, more than 100 million COVID cases have been enrolled in Europe since the start of the pandemic, and more than 5 million new cases were enrolled in the last week of 2021. We are at a very dangerous stage and we are seeing a very significant increase in infection rates in Western Europe, the full impact of which is not yet clear, she said. The warning comes at a time when French researchers have detected a new Covid variant, probably of Cameroonian origin, and have temporarily named it as `IHU`. The new variant from the lineage named B.1.640.2 is believed to have infected 12 people in the country, according to a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study supported by the French Government. It has 46 mutations and 37 deletions. France reported a record-smashing 271,686 daily virus cases on Tuesday as omicron infections race across the country, burdening hospital staff and threatening to disrupt transport, schools and other services. The French government is straining to avoid a new economically damaging lockdown and is instead trying to rush a vaccine pass bill through parliament in hopes that it is enough to protect hospitals. Meanwhile, the omicron variant accounted for 95% of new coronavirus infections last week, according to US health officials' latest estimates. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention posted its newest estimates Tuesday. The CDC uses genomic surveillance data to make projections about which versions of the COVID-19 viruses are causing the most of the new infections. The latest estimates suggest a dramatic swing - in just one month - in which version of the coronavirus is most abundant. Beginning in late June, the delta variant was the main version causing US infections. The CDC said more than 99.5% of coronaviruses were delta as recently as the end of November. Live TV Woburn, MA (01801) Today Cloudy with occasional showers. High 56F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low around 45F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Sobre el inicio de la tercera ola, el ministro Cevallos indico: "Se han incrementado los casos de #COVID19, pero no la mortalidad. La mayoria de pacientes en UCI no estan vacunados. Por eso es importante vacunarse y recibir su refuerzo". pic.twitter.com/unURTLn6bu 10:15 | Lima, Dec. 8 The presentation took place during a special ceremony on Tuesday. The Mummy of Cajamarquilla will be given a special place at Casona Real a historic venue at San Marcos University. The place will also house the funerary contexts and artifacts that have been and will be found in Cajamarquilla. Yomira Huaman, a graduate of archeology who discovered the mummy, confirmed that the skeletal remains were found inside a burial chamber about 3 meters long and 1.40 meters deep a space accessed via a small staircase. "When we arrived from Huaral, we devoted our time to working in Cajamarquilla and the discovery of the funerary context took place in the eighth of ten excavation units that we set up. It was difficult to remove the mummy. It took us two or three days to do so, and we wanted it to remain intact," she pointed out. After confirming that the mummy would be between 800 and 1,200 years old, Huaman affirmed that this discovery confirms that Cajamarquilla was an important site for ancient Peruvians. "It was a great commercial emporium, as Dr. Ruth Shady (discoverer of the city of Caral) would say," she remarked. The researcher revealed that other baled funeral contexts were found at the site, including those of a girl and another person. "We want to continue researching in Cajamarquilla and contribute to archeology," she said. (END) MAO/RMB/MVB Premier @MirtyVas: En el Consejo de Ministros, uno de los principales puntos abordados ha sido como controlar la tercera ola y garantizar salud a la poblacion en estas circunstancias. Queremos transmitir un mensaje de precaucion y de tranquilidad para enfrentar la pandemia. pic.twitter.com/c53xFcTN0w Hoy, el Presidente de la Republica, @PedroCastilloTe, y otras altas autoridades del Estado, participaron de la juramentacion del magistrado Augusto Ferrero Costa como presidente del @TC_Peru. pic.twitter.com/lZLdq4lcvy ?El presidente @PedroCastilloTe y la jefa de Gabinete, @MirtyVas, lideraron esta manana, una importante sesion con el Consejo de Ministros para definir las nuevas medidas que se estableceran frente a la tercera ola de la pandemia del COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/uR9GEEvQDo Esta noche, el ministro de Salud, Hernando Cevallos, anuncio que el numero de casos de COVID-19 se ha duplicado en Lima Metropolitana y ha aumentado en mas del 50% a nivel nacional, lo que confirma que la tercera ola de la #COVID19 ha empezado en el pais. pic.twitter.com/CxWBpMgksb " " The Bullseye Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus soror) is bright yellow/orange with purple claws and a characteristic blue bullseye dot on each side of its body. Wikimedia Commons (CC BY SA 3.0) Being called a shrimp doesn't exactly make you known for having sizable strength or an intimidating presence. But there's one little weird wonder of the sea the pistol shrimp that crushes the stereotype in a dramatic way. It's so powerful it not only shoots and annihilates its prey; it has thrown the U.S. Navy off track, landed a superhero role on Netflix and even helped researchers make strides in fighting climate change. Pistol shrimp, also known as snapping shrimp, earn their sea cred by creating something that's seemingly childlike and innocuous: bubbles. But these definitely aren't your ordinary bubbles they make a sound louder than a gun and generate massive amounts of heat. Pistol shrimp "shoot" these deadly bubbles to kill prey, jackhammer into rock to create burrows or protect said burrows from other, jealous shrimp. They have no need for a fancy holster or to stock up on ammo their gun is built right into their one, oversized snapper claw that can grow to be half the size of their tiny body. The monstrous sound isn't actually caused by the parts of the claw impacting each other. As the shrimp open their large snapper claw, water fills the small crook. Upon closing the claw with impressive force, a plunger-like piece shoots the water out at speeds as fast as a car traveling down the highway. This creates a powerful bubble that not only kills what's in its path but creates a ridiculously loud sound when it pops. Here are six fun facts about the pistol shrimp: Advertisement 1. Their Bubble Bullets Are Louder Than a Gun and Hotter than Lava These sharp-shooting crustaceans are far from quiet their bubbles have measured in at 218 decibels, which is louder than a speeding bullet. To us humans the sound isn't actually that loud, but that's due to the blast only lasting a tiny fraction of a second. When the bubble pops, it generates heat that reaches 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,427 degrees Celsius), four times hotter than lava. The heat dissipates at rapid speed so there are no lasting effects (except to the unfortunate small creature that felt its burn). Advertisement 2. They (Almost) Interfered with WWII The powerful pistol shrimp threw an unlikely wrench into the U.S. Navy's defense plan during World War II. The snap-crackle-pop sound began interfering with sonar used to detect enemy ships, causing the sailors to bring in researchers from the University of California Division of War Research. Luckily they sorted out the source and recorded the shrimp's sounds to train sonar operators to recognize them as sea denizens rather than enemies. Yet while at times troublesome to us humans, the sound created by pistol shrimp isn't always problematic. It can reflect the health of the coral reef since lots of hunting means lots of life and a balanced ecosystem. The noise can also help other sea creatures navigate the area. Advertisement 3. Their Snapping Mechanism Helps Researchers Create a Source of Clean Energy Pistol shrimp are inspiring researchers in England as they work to replicate the process that heats up the sun, fusion power, to create an abundance of clean, safe energy giving a big boost to the fight against climate change. Fusion power needs a high-velocity projectile to create a shockwave and collapse a plasma-filled cavity, and the pistol shrimp are the only creatures on Earth who naturally have such powers. Advertisement 4. They Can Regrow a Lost Appendage AND Switch Weapon Hands The monstrous snapper claw indeed does all the dirty work, but the smaller claw has some superpowers of its own. If attacked, pistol shrimp will let go of their huge snapper for self-preservation. Luckily, they'll not only grow a new one; their original small pincer will begin to transform itself into a large snapper claw. This gives them a head start in getting back on the path to shooting bubbles. " " Researchers named a newly discovered species of pistol shrimp after their favorite British rock band Pink Floyd. The Synalpheus pinkfloydi boasts a bright pink snapping claw and makes its home (and colorful fashion statement) in the Pacific waters off the coast of Panama. Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) Advertisement 5. Despite Their Reputation for Danger, They Can Be Quite Cooperative Many species of pistol shrimp live in clusters, likely as a form of protection. And a few species work together with other types of animals. Pistol shrimp are known to give gobies, a type of small fish, a place to live in exchange for help watching out for danger. Pistol shrimp most often live in coral reefs and beds of sea grass. Duck your head under water in temperate and tropical regions, and you'll likely hear from one of the more than 600 species that exist around the globe. Advertisement 6. Netflix Gave Them a Starring Role as a Superhero In the film "Project Power," created by Netflix, the character played by Jamie Foxx is granted a few minutes of pistol shrimp power to turn raindrops into high-speed jets that decimate anything in their path. Who knew such a little critter could make such a big impact on the big screen? There's no doubt these gun toting invertebrates are a standout under the sea. Whether they're shooting the enemy or playing nice with their allies, they're one of nature's loudest and most fascinating critters. Next time you're in tropical waters, dip down and enjoy the sounds of the curious, crackling chorus. Now That's Interesting Size does indeed matter in the world of the pistol shrimp. Its powerful snapper claw can deter predators looking to steal the shrimps burrow and a larger claw also makes males more attractive to females, suggesting greater suitability as a mate. A key group of the world's major oil producers has agreed to increase output moderately next month. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies (OPEC+) decided on Tuesday to raise production in February by additional 400,000 barrels per day (bpd). The decision was widely expected for two main reasons - crude supply disruptions in Libya - one of Africa's leading exporters - and the limited impact of the Coronavrius Omicron variant on the market. Rystad Energy's analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen said OPEC+ was confident in part because global transport data suggested Omicron had not yet significantly impact oil demand. "Ongoing (oil production) outages in Libya, struggling production recovery in Nigeria, and reduced expectations for Russian production capacity add bullish weight to the scale from the supply side," he said, according to Reuters. Viktor Katona, analyst at JBC Energy, told CGTN. "In terms of consumption the impact of Omicron has been significantly less - roughly half of what it was with Delta", "Essentially we are still firing on all cylinders in terms of global demand. The world has already run down its crude stocks that it had previously. We just need the oil to come back at some point." Thus, OPEC's latest decision was unavoidable in order to keep the oil market balanced. Furthermore, U.S. crude reserve release and a possible Iran nuclear deal would only play a minor role in the OPEC decision-making for the upcoming months. "Even if a (nuclear) deal is concluded, it still takes roughly six months until that deal reaches a point where Iran can actually export its crude." Katona assumed that this year the world will do a "better job handling the pandemic" and therefore supply and demand for crude oil should steadily rise - a positive outlook for the oil market, post-pandemic. In 2020, OPEC+ saw record production cuts of 10 million bpd. Then, last year, the price of Brent crude rose 50 percent, and was still trading above $80 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Europe's natural gas market has been at the centre of an energy crisis, with prices quadrupling compared to last year. But a recent decision by the European Commission to define natural gas as a green or sustainable source of energy could help, according to Katona. Nevertheless, "Europe still needs to find those providers that would be big enough to accommodate Europe's interest," he said. Uncertainty remains over issues such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany as well as commitments to Gazprom - the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe. So geopolitical concerns could mean an additional burden to the already pandemic-hit energy market. CGTN YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Minister of Healthcare announced that she will issue an order next Monday mandating the COVID-19 health pass which would require people to produce either a recent negative test result or a COVID-19 vaccination certificate upon entering restaurants or other leisure venues. Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan said at the Cabinet meeting that she will issue the order on January 10 but it will come into effect after 15 days. The order will require people who want to enter restaurants, bars or cafes or cultural venues to produce either proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative PCR test results administered within the last 72 hours, or a rapid test result administered in the last 24 hours. YEREVAN, 5 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 5 January, USD exchange rate up by 0.36 drams to 482.55 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.60 drams to 545.52 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.07 drams to 6.37 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.60 drams to 652.94 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 107.01 drams to 28102.68 drams. Silver price down by 2.76 drams to 355.12 drams. Platinum price up by 259.33 drams to 15126.48 drams. YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. On Christmas Eve, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan congratulated all Armenians on Christmas. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan citied the Psalms of David, asking the Lord to save Armenia and Artsakh from all hardships. Dear compatriots, its Christmas Eve, and I want to congratulate Christmas with the Psalms. In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me! Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you. Deliver Armenia and Artsakh, O God, from all their troubles! Merry Christmas, Pashinyan said in his congratulatory message. YEREVAN, 5 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. A state of emergency has been declared throughout Kazakhstan, ARMENPRESS reports "Mir 24" TV channel informed, citing "Sputnik Kazakhstan". According to TASS, eyewitnesses reported that protesters in Almaty seized the building of the local headquarters of the National Security Committee. Earlier, the protesters set fire to Almaty's Branch of National TV Channel of Kazakhstan. They also stormed the former president's residence in the former capital, Almaty, as well as the Almaty administration building. Protests in Kazakhstan began on January 2 over the sharp rise in liquefied natural gas prices in the southwestern cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau. Two days later, riots broke out in Almaty, where police used light and sound grenades to disperse the crowd, as in other cities. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is likely to post a record fourth-quarter profit thanks to solid demand for server memory chips and higher margins in contract manufacturing, analysts' estimates showed. Operating profit for the world's biggest memory chip and smartphone maker likely hit 15.2 trillion won ($12.7 billion) in the quarter ended December, according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 14 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate. That would be up 68% from 9.05 trillion won a year earlier and narrowly beat the previous Q4 record profit of 15.15 trillion won reported in 2017. Samsung Electronics' shares have climbed about 12% in the last two months in anticipation of higher memory chip prices this year, boosted by new data centres and demand for videos, games, conferencing and other streaming services. "Contrary to previous concerns, the semiconductor industry is likely to see demand increase significantly from customers in both memory and non-memory sectors," said Jeff Kim, analyst at KB Securities. "As of December, major data centre companies in North America such as Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have steadily increased their memory chip orders ... And Samsung's foundry business appears to have won two years' worth of orders until 2023." This view was supported by its peer Micron Technology Inc's stronger-than-expected earnings results in December and its positive forecast for the following quarter. Samsung's chip contract manufacturing business, which competes with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has also seen sharply improved profitability from the previous quarter to reach an operating margin between 10% and 20% due to more deliveries and higher prices, analysts said. Samsung's overall Q4 chip profit is likely to reach 9.7 trillion won, more than double the previous year's 3.85 trillion won, according to an average forecast of five analysts. Story continues The South Korean tech giant will announce preliminary results on Friday. For Samsung's mobile business, which was recently merged into a single Device Experience (DX) division with TV and home appliances, analysts said shipments likely rose slightly from the previous quarter due to easing component shortages. The mobile business likely reported an operating profit of about 3 trillion won, up about 24%, according to five analysts' averaged forecasts. Market participants will be tuning into Samsung's full results later this month for any updated impact on its Xian NAND flash chip manufacturing facilities, after the company said it would temporarily adjust operations there due to strict COVID-19 curbs in the Chinese city. Data firm TrendForce said last week Samsung's Xian plant was manufacturing without significant disruptions for now. ($1 = 1,193.0000 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Stephen Coates) An upstate farmer has been picked to lead the New York Farm Service Agency. The Biden Administration has appointed Jim Barber as the new State Executive Director for the USDA New York Farm Service Agency, where he served in the same role for eight years in the Obama administration. According to a news release, during his previous tenure, Barber made improvements in the Farm Loan program by increasing efficiency and took efforts to reach out to minority farmers and involve underserved communities in FSA programs, including setting up urban farms in New York City and improving outreach to Native American nations across the state. Barber, a Cornell University graduate and fifth-generation farmer in the Schoharie County town of Middleburgh, ran an unsuccessful campaign against Peter Oberacker for the state's 51st Senate District in 2020. As state director, he will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of FSA programs to agricultural producers in New York, including commodity, conservation, credit and disaster assistance programs. Individuals selected to serve as FSA State Executive Directors are incredible public servants who have a proven track record when it comes to their commitment to advance their states and communities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. Each will serve on the frontlines, carrying out USDAs mission at the state level and ensuring the voice of each and every USDA customer is heard. We are fortunate to have each of these talented individuals at this critical time for farmers and producers and rural communities across America. The mission of the Farm Service Agency is to assist farmers, ranchers, foresters and agricultural partners through the effective, efficient and equitable delivery of federal agricultural programs. The agency said that it offers producers a strong safety net through the administration of farm commodity and disaster programs and that through conservation programs, works to preserve and protect natural resources and provides credit to agricultural producers who are unable to receive private, commercial credit, including targeted loan funds for beginning, underserved, women and military veterans involved in production agriculture. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Gov. Kathy Hochul's 2022 legislative agenda includes the pursuit of a federal clean hydrogen hub in New York with regional locations across the state, including Auburn. Hochul, according to the State of the State booklet released in advance of her address on Wednesday, will direct three agencies Empire State Development, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the New York Power Authority to establish a green hydrogen hub in New York and compete for a share of more than $8 billion in federal funding. The federal infrastructure legislation signed by President Joe Biden in November sets aside the funding for the creation of four clean hydrogen hubs. According to the law, the energy secretary will solicit proposals for the hubs and set a deadline for submissions. Within one year, at least four hubs will be selected. There are criteria for the proposed hubs, including geographic diversity each hub "shall be located in a different region of the United States," the law states and feedstock diversity. Under the latter, hubs should demonstrate how clean hydrogen can be produced from other sources, including renewable energy and fossil fuels. According to the Department of Energy, the clean hydrogen hubs are part of a $21.5 billion investment in clean energy demonstration and research hubs that aim to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. "With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, America's scientists and researchers will have the resources they need to demonstrate these clean energy breakthroughs and prove them out at scale," the department said. In New York, Hochul's clean hydrogen hub proposal would feature regional locations across the state, including sites in Albany, Auburn, Buffalo and New York City. In addition to the federal funding available, a minimum of $1 billion in non-federal private and public monies will be invested in the research centers. Hochul made clean hydrogen a focal point of her State of the State agenda. She wants the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the state Department of Public Service and NYSERDA to develop clean hydrogen regulations. She also supports the establishment of green hydrogen microgrids, which could serve as backup electricity sources during power outages. Hochul's plans also include $27 million for hydrogen innovation, a green hydrogen prize program to support companies looking to expand in New York, and a green hydrogen demonstration for district heating and cooling. "With green hydrogen proudly made in New York our state can power more neighborhoods with clean energy day and night, while creating yet more jobs in a high-growth industry," Hochul writes in her State of the State book. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 8 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gov. Kathy Hochul's resolutions for the new year include a two-part effort aimed at corruption in state government, and we hope both will get the support they need to become law. The governor kicked off the year by saying that she will propose a constitutional amendment to impose a limit of two four-year terms on the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller. At the same time, she wants the Legislature to bar those officials from earning money outside their government salaries, with the exception of academic positions approved by an ethics board. Strictly limiting outside income is a commonsense means of cutting back on conflicts of interest for politicians, and the idea has been heralded for years as an important part of a larger effort to root out corruption. Term limits would ensure that no single person carries too much influence for too long a period of time. The saga of Andrew Cuomo illustrates the value of both. The three-term governor is said to have run his office in an intimidating fashion and several people have accused him of unchecked violations of ethical and legal conduct. And while Cuomo's book deal may be the most obvious example of cashing in on an elected office, we don't need to look back any more than just a few years to recall cases of Albany politicians with great influence being indicted, convicted and imprisoned for stuffing cash into their pockets while in office. We've clearly seen over the years how stifling it can be to progress when political leaders hold onto power decade after decade, so it makes good sense to ensure power does not become too entrenched in one person at the state's highest offices. And it's well past time to fix the reality that these officials can today legally profit off the work they are paid to do by taxpayers. "With these bold reforms," Hochul said, "we will ensure New Yorkers know their leaders work for them and are focused on serving the people of this state. She's not the first leader in the state capital to say as much. The hard part will be getting the Legislature to go along, and it's going to take more than one new year's resolution to make that happen. We urge her to keep pressing the issue so that something concrete may finally come of it. The Citizen Editorial board includes president and director of local sales and marketing Michelle Bowers, executive editor Jeremy Boyer and managing editor Mike Dowd. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Shanghai (Gasgoo)- GAC AION, the NEV-dedicated wholly-owned subsidiary of GAC Group, plans to build its second car manufacturing plant with a designed capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year. This proposal has been approved by GAC Group's board of directors. According to GAC Group's statement, construction of the new plant is set to be completed in December 2022. The total investment of 1.81 billion yuan ($284.828 million) should be all raised by GAC AION itself. GAC AION claimed in last April that it was about to upgrade the existing plant with the aim to double the annual capacity to 200,000 units. Thus, the NEV manufacturer will be capable of outputting 400,000 vehicles per year once both plants become fully operational. In December 2021, GAC AION saw its retail sales soar 119% over a year ago to 16,675 units. For the year of 2021, the company also boasted a 119% year-on-year surge with 123,660 vehicles sold. AION LX PLUS; photo credit: GAC AION Unveiled at the Auto Guangzhou 2021, the AION LX PLUS will hit the market on Jan. 5. The model impresses the public with an operational range of up to 1,008km under the China light duty vehicle test cycle (CLTC). GAC AION recently saw its registered capital grow to 6 billion yuan ($944.183 million) from 1.419 billion yuan ($223.294 million), according to the corporate database Tianyancha, indicating the company has fulfilled its internal capital restructuring. Flagstaff high school students will have the chance to apply for a new music scholarship this month. Started by Bob and Pina Miller in memory of their son, the Haven Walker Music Scholarship Fund is meant to help local instrumental musicians afford lessons. Haven Walker was a musician in the Flagstaff community, playing guitar and sarod in a number of bands before his death in February of 2020. Pina Miller said the scholarship was established as a way to honor Walker and his love of music. We thought this would be a great way to pay tribute and honor the memory of our son by helping the community with this scholarship, she said. In partnership with the Flagstaff Music Festival, a nonprofit, the Millers will be offering five $1,000 scholarships to local high school students to encourage their passion for music. They say the scholarships will be awarded based on talent, financial need and a demonstrated commitment to music. Bob Miller described potential recipients as talented Flagstaff high school students who are in financial need and could not afford to pay for lessons. At least half of the funds for each scholarship will be put toward music lessons for instrumental musicians. Vocal musicians will not be eligible for this years scholarships, but students who go to charters or are home schooled are also encouraged to apply. The Millers have been working on this intensely since June, and said they were excited to be able to offer the scholarship finally. Applications will be open Jan. 15-26. After being reviewed by an advisory board of local musicians and music teachers, the five recipients will be announced in late March. The idea is that each scholarship recipient will have a mentor who will work with that student and come up with a good plan to maximize the use of the $1,000, Bob Miller said. [The scholarship] for financially needy talented musicians of any instrument at all -- doesnt matter whether its classical, jazz, rock 'n' roll or bluegrass. The Millers hope to have each of the scholarship recipients play at the award ceremony in the spring. They also plan to grow the fund over time, adding additional and larger scholarships. Pina Miller said they had supported Walker in his music education since he was the age of 13, making sure he had access to instruments and music lessons. Walker made two pilgrimages to India to study the sarod under Ali Akbar Kahn, she said, and performed with artists such as David Lindley. He got into quite a few different rock 'n' roll bands, Bob Miller said. Huck Freely, Eaten by Ants -- they had very funny names. A release announcing the scholarship called Walker an amazing musician, son, father and friend to all. He was a staple for 20 years in the Flagstaff music scene, playing guitar, sarod and crossing many music genres, it said. His untimely passing has us mourning still, but his legacy will continue through this new scholarship fund. More information, including application instructions, can be found at flagstaffmusicfestival.com/#apply. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Foreign interference in other countries judicial matters should be off limits since it poisons international relations and can lead to significant mistrust, writes Azza Radwan Sedky Even prior to the trial of three Egyptian nationals in Cairo late last year, the German government predicted that things would go awry, presuming that the verdicts would be a foregone conclusion. It sounded the alarm in a threatening tone. The upcoming pronouncement of a judgement on 20 December 2021 in the trial of the lawyer Mohamed Al-Baqer will show where the human rights situation in Egypt is heading, the German government said, also calling on the Egyptian government to ensure a fair trial and to release those charged. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry immediately rejected Germanys blatant and unjustified interference in the countrys internal affairs in a statement, adding that it would be better for the German government to heed its own internal challenges rather than to impose its guardianship on others. The Foreign Ministry stressed that assuming a specific outcome [of the trial] is utterly and categorically rejected as it represents a derogation of the judiciary, justice and the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers that are stipulated in the Constitution. The wording that the German government used in its statement was unsound since ensuring a fair trial does not necessarily entail releasing those charged. There should be fair trials, but their outcome should never be assumed. It would have been more direct and straightforward of Germany to call on the Egyptian government to free the detained though that is not Germanys prerogative, and the case has nothing to do with the German government. Once the verdicts were handed down, no further statements came from the German government. However, soon afterwards another foreign power chose to react. US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price expressed his disappointment at the Egyptian judicial rulings. Journalists, human rights defenders and others seeking to peacefully exercise their freedom of expression should be able to do so without facing criminal penalties, intimidation, harassment or any other form of reprisal, he said. In reply, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said that it is not permissible to address such judicial issues in any political framework or to link them to the course of relations between the two countries because of the unjustified complications that this would entail. It is absolutely not appropriate to comment in any way on, or refer to, rulings issued by the judiciary in the implementation of laws that are based on irrefutable, conclusive evidence within the framework of a fair, impartial and independent judicial process, he said. The issue here concerns the consequences of such preemptive judgements on the part of foreign powers. Should they interfere in other countries domestic affairs and their handling of various issues and challenges? The answer is that undoubtedly interference in other countries judicial matters should be off limits. In essence, meddling is a method of political manipulation. These foreign powers believe that they are licenced to judge other countries and that it is within their rights to dictate to them. Well, they are not, and it isnt. Only if the rights of a third party, a third country, for example, are being taken advantage of, or if the foreign power itself is being infringed upon, should there be any encroachment or infringement. Interference can never be warranted indiscriminately. Egypt would never give itself the right to violate another countrys judgements or criticise its judicial system by speaking ill of its legal verdicts or predicting them to be ungrounded or unjustified. So, why should other countries give themselves that right? According to the Washington-based National Museum of American Diplomacy, the United States supports defenders of freedom in their efforts to establish democracies in their own countries and assists newly formed democracies in following democratic principles. This in itself is dubious since it is unclear how the US can aid countries in establishing democracies without meddling. Does this aim give the US the right to infringe upon a nations judicial system? It goes without saying that the US and Germany in their preemptive judgements on last years case were trying to maintain their dominance, telling Egypt what to do and dictating their views on Egyptian judicial verdicts before and after they were released. In the larger scheme of things, interference and meddling can poison international relations and cause an unnecessarily inflamed discourse that can often lead to mistrust. More importantly, in some cases diplomatic pressure on the part of foreign powers has even led to more substantial reactions such as interventions. The majority of interventions fail miserably. All nations sovereignty and equality are enshrined in the United Nations Charter. No one country should enforce its ways on other countries even if it is a world power. According to the Chinese Peoples Daily newspaper, the chaos and mess stirred up by such political manipulations will never cover up the fact that the US is trying to gain hegemonic control of other countries. Numerous hard facts have proved that the US is the main culprit threatening global political security as it has frequently interfered in and subverted other countries regimes, regarding such misdeeds as tools of foreign policy and causing a large number of tragedies that have plunged people into great misery and suffering, it said. There are times when intervention may become a necessary option, especially when humanitarian crises are about to unfold. But that is not to say that enforcing ones views and ways over others is an acceptable choice. * The writer is the author of Cairo Rewind on the First Two Years of Egypts Revolution, 2011-2013. *A version of this article appears in print in the 6 January, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Update: 05-01-2022 | 16:40:35 Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks (IPs) has focused on organizing and developing emulation movement of good and creative workers, contributing to increasing productivity, good quality, efficiency, guaranteeing stable working environment conditions, increasing incomes for workers. Over 1,000 projects and initiatives The good and creative workers' emulation movement is regularly and continuously launched by the grassroots trade unions in enterprises, closely follows the goals and performs production business and political tasks in each enterprise. This movement at all levels of Trade Unions in Binh Duong Industrial Parks have attracted the participation of a large number of union members and workers. There were more than 1,000 projects, finished projects, innovative projects, useful solutions that have been practically applied and gained high results, bringing total economic benefit of over VND 500 billion for businesses. Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks commends and rewards union members and workers who achieved excellent results in the emulation movement "Good, creative workers". For example, Vu Nam Hung, Production Manager of Toung Loong Company (Viet Huong Industrial Park), had many initiatives, including the initiative replacing boilers using oil raw materials by wood materials to reduce, lower product costs, ensure safety as operating, and minimize labor accidents. Each year, this initiative saves the company nearly 90 million VND. Dinh Sy Nhan, Manager of Welding Workshop, Asama Vietnam Company (Song Than 2 Industrial Park) is also a person with many creative initiatives, in which there was an initiative to increase productivity. This initiative also improved safety, and reduced occupational accidents of workers as operating machines. With this initiative, he helped saving over 1 billion VND per year for the company. Luu Thi Loan, Head of Production Department, Triumph International Vietnam Company (Song Than Industrial Park 1), also had initiatives of technical improvement for her the company, helped to increase product output, shorten delivery time, total reduction time is 9.6 hours/working day, bringing more than 210 million VND/year to the business. To strongly arouse the emulation spirit Dao Tran Dong, Vice Chairman of Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks, said that Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks launched many emulation movements, in which the focus is on the movement of good creative workers, which is actively responded by grassroots unions, creating a spread and becoming a mass movement among workers in industrial zones. Thereby, it has strongly aroused the spirit of patriotic emulation, dynamism, creativity, overcoming difficulties in production labor, successfully completing assigned tasks, contributing to minimizing the rate of defective goods and raw material redundancy in the production process, reducing product costs, being well received and trusted by consumers. This emulation movement has helped enterprises to develop product diversification and increase competitiveness in the commodity market, create more jobs, stable income, strengthen commitment of workers, for example, grassroots trade unions of Toung Loong Company, Asama Company, Sao Viet Joint Stock Company, Astro Company, Triumph Vietnam Company In the past 5 years, Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks had 7 projects that received certificates of merit of the Prime Minister, 60 individuals received certificates of merit of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, 299 advanced examples received certificates of merit of Provincial People's Committee and Provincial Labor Confederation. Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks also praised and rewarded 1,304 individuals. According to Dong, in order to continue maintaining and well implementing patriotic emulation movements among workers, Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks continues to enhance propagation and education among trade union members, workers in order to for them to well aware of the purpose and meaning of emulation movements in the new period. Contents of emulation movements must closely follows the situation and conditions of each type of business. Besides, Trade Union of Binh Duong Industrial Parks regularly monitors and make summaries of the movement, promptly praises and rewards collectives and individuals having outstanding results, to create motivation; promptly encourage workers to spread the emulation spirit among workers; thereby contributing to completing of targets of enterprises. Reported by Do Trong - Translated by Ngoc Huynh Passengers line up at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Queens, New York City, US, Dec 26, 2021. [Photo/Agencies] The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article on Wednesday entitled "The Olympics Are Coming to China. So Is Omicron." It seemingly portrays a scenario where the Omicron variant is wreaking havoc in China. Throughout the article lies an ignoble wish that China surrender to the Omicron variant. However, China's effective measures won't turn ineffective under such a naive smear. Neither will the US' ugly COVID-19 fight become lauded when China sees only a small scale of new infections. When the Delta variant raged around the world, China managed to put it under control in a short time. It will be a similar story for Omicron within China's borders. But how has the US performed? Even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's anti-China trip was cut short because of US' inability to fight the virus effectively. The idea that China will successfully host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, despite the Omicron virus, gnaws at the heart of some American elites. But the US, with "the most resilience" against the COVID-19, had better think about how to survive this most recent wave. Remember the well-known satirical song "Blame Canada" from the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut? If the US continues on its downward path, sooner or later there will be another song entitled "Blame China." China has confirmed two imported Omicron infection cases, but the Chinese people didn't bat an eyelid because they are confident that each time a small-scale outbreak occurs, it is put under control. The people are confident that their normal life won't be affected, nor will the upcoming Winter Olympic Games be impacted. Obviously, the WSJ is not that confident. Why? The reason lies in the US' ineptitude surrounding the COVID-19 fight, which began about two years ago, continues today, and will go on in the future. In other words, the US has surmounted none of the obstacles in its battle against the epidemic. According to the BNO News, the US reported 243,619 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the biggest one-day increase since January. The WSJ's article actually reflects a situation, the same old situation in fact: The West always holds onto its own experiences while judging China, even if proven unfeasible time and time again. Even today, the US still refuses to admit that China has done a better job in the COVID-19 fight than they have. They still think that the clear examples of normal life in China are fake. They see everything as propaganda. But if the US is given a chance to propagate its own epidemic fight, what will it say? Maybe that it's most resilient country in pandemic even though more than 800,000 innocent Americans have died due to COVID-19. The WSJ clamored on in the article, "The problem for the Olympics is that China remains focused on cases as the most important metric, at a time when the Omicron variant is almost certain to increase the raw number of infections around the world." Feeling that's not enough, it then continued, "China appears to be uniquely vulnerable against Omicron because of its low levels of existing natural immunity among more than one billion people and its heavy reliance on a vaccine that research suggests will be ineffective against this extraordinarily contagious variant." Reading these statements, people can see that the WSJ is really concerned about how to smear China's dynamic zero-case policy in different sensational ways - the Winter Olympic Games is just another disguise the West media make use of. To the country with its National Mall filled with hundreds of thousands of white flags, we say, save it. Just stop badmouthing China and stay away from what is none of your business. By Ma Lu, Global Times A senior citizen in Nanjing made a young resident take off his cosplay attire on Monday, because it had "Tokyo" emblazoned on it. His action, however, showcases more than just a generation gap. It mirrors many Chinese people's sentiments toward Japan at a time when bilateral ties are not particularly getting better. It is not easy for residents of Nanjing, where 300,000 lives were lost in the massacre after Japanese troops captured the city on Dec 13, 1937, to so easily forget their gory past. No wonder, some senior citizens pulled up the young man for wearing the wrong costume. It's all right for the young to play cosplay games, but for someone's attire to scream "Tokyo" at a public place in Nanjing just days after the city marked the eighth National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims on Dec 13 is certainly being insensitive. The young sure need to be conscious about a painful chapter in history in which so many Chinese lives were lost, and doing so does not mean propagating hatred. Chinese people certainly don't hate the Japanese people. That so many young people in China are fond of the Japanese cartoon culture is proof of that. Instead, it is some Japanese politicians and right-wing scholars who should take the blame. They have tried to whitewash history and even visited Japan's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 class-A war criminals and is a symbol of Japanese militarism. Such action is irresponsible, dangerous and provocative for Chinese people. What's worse, the Japanese government toes the US administration's policy of containing China and interfering in its domestic affairs, further straining ties between the two Asian neighbors. It's high time for the hawkish Japanese politicians to correct their approach toward China and respect people's sentiments. Any community outside Lincoln and Omaha city limits is eligible to participate by hosting a blood drive in support of the Hometown Heroes campaign. There is no limit to the number of blood drives your community can hold. Awards will be allocated based on the total collections combined. Based on the success of your communitys blood drive(s), youll have the opportunity to direct up to $1,200 toward funding a charity in your community. Awards may not be directed to the organization sponsoring the drive, nor used for a general fund. To get started, email us at blooddrives@ncbb.org or call 402-486-9414. Or visit NCBB.ORG/HEROES to learn more. [This is the fifth in a series that will probably be VERY intermittent, if I remember to post at all. I've long known that while I have given my share of 10-out-of-10 ratings for movies over the years, in almost every case, those movies are fairly old. By rough count, I have only given the top rating to 17 non-documentaries from the 21st century. (For some reason, I don't have a problem giving tens to new documentaries.) So I got this idea to go back and revisit movies of relatively recent vintage that I gave a rating of 9, to see if time and perspective convinced me to bump that rating up to 10. Of course, it's always possible I'll drop the rating, but time will tell.] Back in 2018, I wrote: I would argue that Michael B. Jordan overcomes Boseman's excellence. I am a longtime fan of Jordan's, so I may be too biased. But he is so great as Killmonger that he breaks through the attempt to make the character into a villain. Yes, Killmonger is a sociopath, but ... OK, I know there is no "but" for some people, but like Nicholson's Joker, Jordan commands the screen with such intensity that I found myself rooting for him, despite the way in the end the film denounces Killmonger. It is like those 30s gangster movies, where the bad guy had to die in the last scene, but when you walked out of the theater you remembered the excitement of the film's first 85 minutes, not the required comeuppance. The time around, the loss of Chadwick Boseman is deeply felt ... it's impossible not to see T'Challa and ignore the fact that Boseman was working so hard even as he knew he had cancer. Hindsight influences how we see the past, and in the final scenes of Black Panther, I thought he looked gaunt. But I didn't notice back in 2018, and I suspect I imagined it in 2022. Nonetheless, Boseman was suffering during the production of the film, and while that in itself isn't a guarantee of a great performance, the fact that Boseman gave a great performance while he had cancer is simply remarkable. Watching this time, I remained extremely impressed by Michael B. Jordan ... when am I not impressed by him? But I wouldn't say now that he was the dominant actor in the movie. In fact, it's a great thing we have, to see two dynamic performers going up against each other like Jordan and Boseman do here. I can't say it was robbery that Boseman didn't get the Best Actor Oscar ... oddly, I still haven't seen any of the five nominees. Nor have I yet seen any of the Supporting Actor nominees, so while I think Jordan was worthy, I can't make the proper comparisons. I should note that I watched something of a special version this time. Originally, we saw it in IMAX in a theater. Recently, Disney Plus has begun offering a handful of Marvel films in what they call "IMAX Enhanced". Essentially, it changes the aspect ratio to match that of IMAX. In the case of Black Panther, this isn't true for the entire movie, but rather for specific scenes. The transition was seamless ... in fact, I barely noticed, which may or may not be an argument in its favor. Black Panther remains the best of the Marvel movies. Of the ones that have been released since then, only Shang-Chi comes close. But, as good as it is, I don't think it quite makes it to the pantheon of greatest films. I am sticking with 9/10 in this case. Hong Kong: Basic Law quiz to be held The Education Bureau today held a launch and books giving ceremony to kick start the eighth inter-school quiz on the Basic Law to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It also issued a circular memorandum to all primary and secondary schools in the city to encourage schools and students participation, as well as to promote national education in schools. Addressing the ceremony, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said he was thankful for the supporting organisations backing. One of the organisations donated a reader titled National Laws Applicable to HKSAR: A Student Guide to all primary and secondary schools offering local curriculum in Hong Kong for their reference. The reader covers the Constitution, the Basic Law and the National Security Law, enabling students to deepen their understanding of the inseparable relationship between the country and the Hong Kong SAR, and to develop a sense of social responsibility and national identity and an affection for Hong Kong, as well as to widen their international perspectives. Having received the reader on behalf of the schools, Mr Yeung distributed it to the representatives of school councils and school heads associations. While this publication can be used as reading material for preparing for the competition this year, school principals are also encouraged to make good use of it to promote national education in schools, he said. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong SAR, this years quiz questions surround the historical developments and achievements since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, the constitutional relationship between our country and the Hong Kong SAR, and Hong Kongs development since its return to the motherland. This is done with a view to enhancing students sense of belonging to our country and their sense of national identity, the bureau noted. The city-wide inter-school Basic Law competition consists of the primary and secondary sections. Schools may enrol from January 10 to 21 via Hong Kong Education Citys website. The heats will be carried out online from February 14 to 21, while the final will be held in June. This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Billings School District is firming up its plan to remove mask requirements for the start of the second semester, according to a recent newsletter from Superintendent Greg Upham. The new mask-optional semester would allow for students to study virtually if they choose, as 108 students have done this fall, said Randy Russell, a K-12 executive director. In his most recent letter to district residents, Upham said a lawsuit filed to halt the district's existing masking mandate is still pending. Plaintiffs in the suit have asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to halt forced masking of children until the lawsuit can be concluded. If the legal process orders the masking policy be lifted prior to Jan. 17, 2022, it is important that our families who rely on face coverings have the opportunity to participate in the alternative educational options, Upham wrote. The letter outlined instructions for those planning to study virtually. Students in grades K-5 should contact their principal by Jan. 14 to register, receive information, and to check out a Chromebook. Those in grades 6-12 should also enroll by contacting their principal by Jan. 28. About 15 students have so far opted to study virtually and about 15 students have opted to transfer from virtual to in-person learning, said Russell. Anjuli Ross, who is the 6-12 APEX (online program) coordinator for the Billings School District, expects to see about 70 students under her supervision. Students must commit for the semester should they choose to study virtually, she said. Ross is one of two coordinators for the district. She meets daily with groups of students divided by grade level, going over general information, and then meeting with students individually from her computer. Also known as mentors, the two coordinators act as liaisons between the third-party educators, the district, parents, and school counselors. They troubleshoot technology problems and help students with assignments, said Ross. Students who choose to study virtually do so for a variety of reasons, she said, some of which are COVID-19 related and some are not. Its very independent. But they have the support of a live tutor, they have their APEX instructor email, and my support, said Ross. All teachers in the program are certified Montana instructors, but they arent necessarily located in the state, said Ross. The courses are individual-learner, meaning that the class is not live and materials are provided to students. The mentors are teachers from the district who transferred roles. Long-term substitutes were hired to fill their former positions, said Ross. This type of third-party, virtual learning has evolved from initially retaining classroom rosters as they were when schools shut down in response to COVID-19, to then structuring Billings staff to teach online, to now hiring third-party educators to teach the shrinking group of students who prefer to study remotely. When the district was online for the 2020 to 2021 academic year, up to 110 staff were hired for the year, said Russell, when educators were making classes as small as they could to best engage with students. District administrators identified the risk of the omicron variant in the safe return to school and in a continuity of services plan that was updated Dec. 17. In the last month, a new variant (omicron) has been identified worldwide, but its impact and presence is still unknown for Yellowstone County at the time of this update. Love 5 Funny 2 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 18 Deandre Gulley sat in a Yellowstone County courtroom on Dec. 22 facing a murder charge. Beside him sat his two court-appointed defense attorneys who had traveled nearly 500 miles from Kalispell to argue several motions related to his charges. One of those motions was to have the charges dismissed, arguing Gulley had not been granted his constitutionally-protected right to a speedy trial. He had been arrested in early 2020 and has been sitting in jail since. One of the reasons it has taken so long to set a trial date for Gulley is that it has taken so long for the state's Office of Public Defender to assign him defense counsel. Gulleys very unspeedy trial is not unique. The state's OPD is understaffed and so overwhelmed with cases that a Billings judge recently found the office's director in contempt of court for not assigning defense attorneys to suspects fast enough. Some of those suspects languishing in jail could be innocent, the judge said, something a trial would speedily bear out. The OPD in Billings faces a perfect storm of compounding problems. A rising crime rate along with courts slowed by the lingering pandemic have increased caseloads. Management upheaval, along with comparatively low salaries and constantly increasing caseloads have added to turnover and shortages. OPD's main trial division in Billings, for example, is budgeted for 27 attorneys. In late December, it had 22. Some of its problems could be remedied with more money to hire more attorneys at better pay. But, there doesn't seem to be the political will for that. Not many politicians want to stand before the Legislature and ask for more tax money to better defend people charged with crimes, even if constitutionally obligated to do so. Public defenders, and the attorneys the office contracts with, are some of the lowest paid attorneys in Montana. According to a 2019 survey, public defenders in the state started off around $63,000 a year, about $13,662 less than the average of every other attorney working for the State of Montana. By contrast, a deputy county prosecutor in the state can be paid as much as $103,000 a year. Months without an attorney Gulley has apparently not been an easy client to work with. A few of his attorneys have withdrawn from his case. Some of his attorneys quit OPD altogether. Since being arraigned in Yellowstone County District Court in March 2020 for the murder of Shane Nez Perce outside Lees Saloon, Gulley has gone through five public defenders. The two from Kalispell are his sixth and seventh, according to Reintsma. Judge Michael Moses has not yet ruled on the speedy trial motion in his case. During Gulley's December hearing before Judge Moses, Jim Reintsma, who then managed the OPD conflict office in Billings, testified to why it took 85 days to assign Gulley a new public defender. He said there aren't enough defenders in his office qualified to handle murder cases, and he could not find an outside contract lawyer willing to take the case. Two private attorneys in Billings were willing to take the case, but not at OPD's contract rate of $56 an hour, Reintsma told the judge. Unable to change the rate, Reintsma finally convinced the Kalispell-based public defenders to represent Gulley. In contempt of court In September, Yellowstone County District Judge Donald Harris held the director of OPD in contempt of court and ordered that all qualified cases appearing in his court be assigned an attorney within three business days. (Multiple requests for interviews and comment from OPDs trial division administrator Brian Smith and director Rhonda Lindquist were referred to Department of Administration spokesperson Belinda Adams. Adams never replied to multiple voicemail messages and emails requesting interviews, comment and clarification since the original hearing in September. A call to Governor Greg Gianforte's spokesman Travis Hall also went unanswered as of press time.) Harris expressed concern the county's jail was overcrowded, cases faced constant delays and OPD's own clients were being harmed by a lack of effective counsel. And some are innocent, Harris said, referring to potential inmates who may be wrongfully accused, I dont want to overlook that. Following the hearing, Harris ordered OPD to pay a $500 fine for each case in which an attorney was not assigned in a timely manner, at the time a total of more than $15,000. The fine would also be applied to future appointment delays, he warned in a standing order. An 'untenable' catch-22 OPD responded to the judge's order by implementing a new system assigning a public defender to every new client appearing before any of Yellowstone Countys eight judges. It's a decision that poorly addresses one problem and creates another. In response to the new system, six public defenders in the Billings office wrote a letter to OPD regional director Eldena Bear Dont Walk and Brian Smith on Sept. 13, 2021. The lawyers called the situation untenable and highlighted concerns they would be unable to provide the thoroughness and preparation necessary to represent their clients. Signatories to the letter were attorneys David Garfield, Sarah Snow Kottke, Elitza Z. Miltcheva, Natasha Hammack, Blaine McGivern and Greg Tomicich. The Billings Gazette obtained and confirmed the letter from sources within the county courthouse. To ensure our ability to exercise these professional standards in each case, our workload must be controlled so that each matter can be handled competently, wrote the attorneys, quoting from the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct which governs attorney in the state. Despite your best efforts, no solution recently proposed or implemented can adequately remedy the catastrophic legal, ethical and moral consequences that are threatened by our unmanageable and unrelenting caseloads. Despite the implementation of the policy of assigning one lawyer to a specific judge, OPD still failed to assign attorneys within the three-business-day period. In response, Judge Harris issued a second order to show cause in November and held further contempt proceedings on Dec. 20 to decide on 17 new cases. Two of those cases had gone more than 45 and 85 days without an assigned attorney, the judge alleged. The judge did not immediately rule after the Dec. 20 hearing. All judges issue standing order But Harris' contempt order isnt the only looming cloud for OPD in Billings. On Dec. 13, all eight Yellowstone County District judges signed a standing order requiring the regional Office of the Public Defender to appoint an attorney to each case within three business days. Montanas Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to counsel and to a speedy trial, the judges wrote. To preserve those fundamental rights, [Montana law] requires the immediate assignment of public defenders in criminal cases when the assignment is ordered by a court. It is unclear whether the standing order will lead to more contempt proceedings or fines in other courtrooms, but it does bind OPD to the three-business-day timeframe in all local felony proceedings. Triggering the eight-judge standing order was an increasing use of judicial substitutions against Harris, according to those familiar with the order. In District Court, a defendant is entitled to a judicial substitution within 10 days of arraignment. Prior to September, substitutions were rare. But since Harris held OPD in contempt, it has substituted a judge 13 times in Yellowstone County, according to the Clerk of Court. Twelve of those substitutions swapped Harris for a different judge. The single remainder substituted Judge Mary Jane Knisely. In the seven months prior to August 2021, no judicial substitutions were made in the county, according to the Clerk of Court. The recent uptick in substitutions is not necessarily a retaliatory measure against Harris as much as it is an economic measure taken by OPD to minimize the number of $500 fines. Each judicial substitution costs OPD a comparatively smaller $100 non-refundable filing fee paid to the Clerk of Courta net savings of $400 per client for every case the office is unable to assign within three days. OPDs administrative policies were updated in November 2017, and allow public defenders to make substitutions on behalf of their clients, but those procedures require the lawyer consult with their clients to discuss the reason the attorney believes a substitution is necessary, the benefits, disadvantages and risks relevant to the situation and the clients objectives. A form memorializing the consultation is supposed to be kept on record with the lawyers supervisor, according to OPD procedural policies published on their website. The root of the problem To measure the amount of work a public defender is carrying, OPD uses a formula that assigns an hourly number to each type of case. For example, a murder case carries a case weight of 100 hours, while a misdemeanor might carry a case weight of less than five hours. A lawyers ballpark case weight in a given month is supposed to be about 120 hours depending on experience. When the entire office monthly average for the primary public defenders office reaches 150 case-weight hours, the office goes into overflow until the case weights are reduced, according to Reintsma. During overflow, every new case that month is automatically assigned to the conflict office. For Billings and the surrounding area, the conflict office employed 2.5 full-time attorneys during 2021. When those attorneys reached their case-weight limit, the clients were sent to contract attorneys. If there are no willing contractors, the cases were usually left unassigned until an attorney could be found. That system was triggered in April when the main office in Billings became overwhelmed. About that same time, both managing attorneys for the main regional office and the regional conflict office resigned from OPD. Jim Reintsma was promoted to the conflict office manager and was left holding the bag for hundreds of cases sent to his office through the overflow system. As he struggled to find contract attorneys to take on the offices excess clients, Reintsma began sending regular emails to the countys judges informing them of the backlog. It was Reintsmas July 31 email cited by Harris that triggered the original order to show cause. Reintsma wrote to the judge informing him he had 663 unassigned cases on his plate. The judge responded in his finding of contempt, I want to make it clear that in this county [assigning a public defender] is not an option. There simply has to be a solution to this, its a money solution and I know the money is there. Reintsma says he was barred by OPD leadership from sending further emails apprising the judges of OPDs internal situation. He has since resigned as the conflict office manager and has sent OPD notice of his resignation. Reintsma said he was fed up with leadership, which he felt created a "toxic" work environment that drove off countless years of institutional knowledge. A fair wage It is widely accepted among attorneys in Yellowstone County that OPD lacks competitive salaries for their full-time lawyers and contractors. In the Billings area, a private defense attorney could reasonably bill $200 an hour for their services. Full-time public defenders on the other hand start off making $63,024 a year or just over $30 an hour. The highest paid public defenders make $82,401 per year before adding longevity and other factors, per the states OPD collective bargaining agreement. Those higher paid attorneys make $39.61 an hour. Those hourly rates dont include the advantages of working for the state, which includes health care, retirement and other benefits along with indemnification from lawsuits and professional support for continuing education. But the average salary for OPD in 2019 was $76,878 or more than $13,000 below the states average attorney pay across all other departments. By comparison, the most a county attorney in Montana can pay a deputy prosecutor is $103,000 per year. The average salary for lawyers at the Montana Justice Department in 2019 was $91,508. Those include similar public employee benefits. OPD pays contract attorneys just $56 an hour, a rate well below the states market rate for private attorneys. That number was reduced from $62 an hour in 2017 when the state faced massive budget cuts. Contractors working for the state at the time sued to reverse the decision, but were unsuccessful. The federal governments contract rate for public defense attorneys is more than $150 an hour. A need for cash During the 2021 Legislative biennium, OPD's Lindquist and Smith asked the legislature for $750,000 to help clear a backlog of 100 cases by paying contract attorneys $75 an hour just for those cases. The legislature did not act on the request. Since September, the legislature has continued to figuratively hold up their hands and tell OPDs leadership they were unaware when the session ended that OPD was at risk of a constitutional crisis. OPDs leadership contends the situation was a surprise to them as well. In November, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced he was sending $1.5 million in COVID relief funds to the Billings public defender office, but did not directly address how the money would be used. OPD did hire a contract manager for the Billings area to alleviate the burden of finding contractors. Requests for information to DoA about how OPD was spending the infusion of cash were not returned. A constitutional crisis The right to have an attorney represent a suspect, if they can't afford one, is protected under the due process clause of the Sixth Amendment. But the Billings situation is not the first time the state has faced a constitutional crisis due to a lacking public defense. Prior to 2003, public defense fell to the counties to hire and pay, but a lack of funding and quality of representation in some counties led the American Civil Liberties Union to sue, forcing Montanas legislature to take responsibility and consolidate public defense under the Office of the State Public Defender, overseen at the time by a commission. In 2019, the legislature eliminated the commission and replaced it with a single director. Rhonda Lindquist became OPDs first and only director so far. But OPDs failure to appoint lawyers quickly is also an ethical conundrum. Adequate legal assistance of counsel is an abstract left open to wide interpretations. According to the US Supreme Courts decision in Strickland v. Washington, ineffective assistance of counsel is grounds for overturning a conviction only if a trial lawyers performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsels unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. But few cases in Montana have been overruled for such a reason. The Montana Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions, lists just one case on its website where a defendant was given a new trial in part due to ineffective assistance of counsel. One reason for a lack of appeals based on counsel may be due to plea deals. Plea agreements are often negotiated between public defenders and prosecutors for a number of reasons. OPDs clients take those deals for an equally vast number of reasons. And most cases prosecuted in Yellowstone County end in plea agreements regardless of whether the defendant has a private attorney or public defender. No publicly available evidence proves, or even suggests, an OPD client has been harmed by ineffective assistance in Billings. And aside from Gulley, no other cases face the threat of dismissal on speedy trial grounds. But as backlogs in cases and overburdened attorneys continue to be a problem in the county the risks of wrongful conviction, unjustified plea agreements, or even just unnecessarily long pretrial incarcerations, increase with time. Asked if every OPD client was getting their constitutional due, Reintsma replied with a flat, "No, they're not." Pressed to estimate how many clients he felt were getting their constitutional right to effective counsel, he responded, "That's a mean question." Pressed further he added, "I would say under the current caseloads in Billings less than 50% are getting [adequate counsel]... and that's not due to the attorneys not trying. That is simply a lack of time due to a lack of resources." Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 4 Sad 4 Angry 17 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Canada geese perch on ice shelves along the Clark Fork River and fluff up their down jackets against the cold. Its been quieter in recent weeks for geese and men along the stretch of river near Perkins Lane. Phase 3 of Superfund cleanup began there in spring and will move incrementally along the river and eventually end about half-way to the Galen Road. Phase 3 work continued through summer and fall and just recently paused for the Christmas and New Years holidays. The project is said to be ahead of schedule, but with a lot of excavation and hauling remaining. During summer and fall, trucks fitted with side dump trailers waited as excavator operators filled the trailers with contaminated soils. The trailer loads were hauled a comparatively short distance and dumped in a repository in the Opportunity Ponds. The company doing the work was Missouri River Contractors and its employees labored long hours during the summer days of prolonged light. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is the lead agency for the Clark Fork site. It consults with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and coordinates with the state Natural Resource Damage Program. Tim Reilly, an environmental scientist with DEQ, is the new project manager for the upper Clark Fork cleanup. He reported Tuesday that about 260,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils and materials have been transported to the repository in the Opportunity Ponds. Roughly 300,000 cubic yards remain to be removed, Reilly reported. The contractor is currently ahead of schedule, he said. DEQ anticipates completing Phase 3 cleanup in 2022. Longtime DEQ employee Joel Chavez has served as project manager of the Clark Fork cleanup. He also supervised the remediation of Silver Bow Creek west of Butte, a project whose outcome was generally celebrated transforming a nearly lifeless stream to a recovering ecosystem. Chavez retired Dec. 31. There has been controversy about previously completed cleanup work along the Clark Fork River. Some observers have felt the DEQs approach has been too aggressive, leading to removal of metals-tolerant riparian vegetation and of stream bank structures favored by the rivers declining population of brown trout. The DEQ has responded by saying the agency saves vegetation and river structures conducive to trout habitat when and where it can, noting, however, that its primary mission is to remove contamination. The EPAs Clark Fork River Operable Unit stretches from the rivers headwaters near Warm Springs to the former Milltown Reservoir east of Missoula. But the majority of the cleanup will occur from Warm Springs downstream to Garrison a section of roughly 45 miles referred to as Reach A. Pollutants include heavy metals cadmium, copper, zinc and lead and arsenic. A catastrophic flood in 1908 washed contaminants downstream. The target is removal of tailings in the streambanks and floodplain that harbor the contamination from historic mining, milling and smelting activities upstream by the Anaconda Company. The tailings and toxic sediments have accumulated along the river for more than 100 years. Atlantic Richfield purchased the Anaconda Co. in 1977. Three years later, Congress passed the legislation creating the federal Superfund program. And Atlantic Richfield became responsible for addressing the massive pollution left behind by the once-powerful company that mined and smelted ore. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 A lack of signatures has ended an effort to reverse a new state law and once again require any proposed nuclear power project to be put to a public vote. Carole Mackin of the Peoples Power League, which was the driving force behind Ballot issue #7, IR-126, filed in May with the Montana secretary of states office, said there was not simply enough time to gather the nearly 35,000 signatures needed to get the referendum on the November ballot. The referendum was found insufficient Oct. 29, the Montana secretary of states office said. Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, the sponsor of House Bill 273 that the Peoples Power League opposed, said he would like to meet with Mackin to discuss nuclear power, adding he shares some of her concerns. He said he opposes uranium or plutonium reactors as well. It is win-win, and the winner there is Montana, he said. Mackin said Tuesday in an email that Republican legislators apparently had no idea that in repealing I-80, they were repealing the 50-megawatt exception it contained. She said I-80 was designed to regulate mega-Three Mile Island-type reactors. She did not comment on Skees' offer to talk. In 1978, the People's Power League got a ballot referendum passed that put proposed nuclear power plants up to a public vote. It was overturned by HB 273 in the 2021 Legislature, and the governor signed the bill into law. Skees, in arguing for HB 273, said it still leaves the decision of nuclear power plants in the hands of the Montana citizenry, but through its elected officials. He said lawmakers could have more deliberative, focused discussion. Those who opposed HB 732 said it was overreaching and went against the will of the people. He said the proposed referendum by the Peoples Power League was an example of the very thing he warned about while arguing in favor of HB 732, that radical elements on the both sides would spend money to sway voters. Mackin said in an earlier interview she had suspected from the beginning there was not enough time to get all the signatures. She also said she would focus on making nuclear reactors an election talking point, noting that Skees is running for a Public Service Commission seat. Also running for that seat are Republican Joe Dooling and Democrat Kevin Hamm, both of Helena. "I will make sure this comes up during the election," she said. Skees said Monday the nuclear power industry has made great strides in terms of safety. HB 273 was often mentioned in the same breath during the legislative session as Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Terry Gauthier, R-Helena, which required a legislative committee to review over the interim the possibility of small modular nuclear reactors. Gauthier has said the small modular nuclear reactors will fit into the footprint of the coal-fueled Colstrip Power Plant and the turbines can be fitted with the new reactors. Talen Energy and Puget Sound Energy shut down Colstrip units 1 and 2 in early 2020 because they were no longer economically viable. Units 3 and 4 remain in operation, though four of the power plant's owners face coal power bans in Washington and Oregon beginning in 2025. Gauthier's resolution states the closure of coal-fired power plants will result in negative impacts on the Colstrip community, and coal-fired boilers could be replaced by an advanced nuclear reactor that would provide clean, well-paying jobs. Skees said Colstrip is a community begging for a new type of industry and he is working with federal lawmakers on getting a federal grant to build a small, modular nuclear reactor. Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Longtime Montana newspaper reporter, editor and owner Dan Burkhart died on Dec. 28 at his book-stuffed home along Fiddler Creek. He was really hoping hed live long enough to see the hummingbirds return in spring, said friend Jim Baken, a Billings artist and retired Rocky Mountain College professor. Burkharts rural home was nicknamed the Hummingbird Ranch because of all the feeders he had placed around the property for the tiny nectar sippers. Their arrival and departure were noted each year in a log Burkhart kept. The Painesville, Ohio, native succumbed to cancer after deciding to end chemotherapy. This fall, after regaining strength, he took a train trip with his wife, Theresa, and friends back East to see the fall colors and dine on lobster. It was nice to see him check some things off his bucket list, Baken said. Stillwater Burkhart left an indelible mark on the small world of Montana newspapers. In 1976 he moved to the state and purchased the Absarokee newspaper, eventually buying the papers in Bridger, Columbus and Red Lodge. Columbus librarian Larry Olson was hired by Burkhart in 1983 to photograph and write about school sports. I think he was a very intense man, Olson said. It was really important for him to get a story out that was correct. He was not mean intense, but demanding. After working together for two-and-a-half years, the men became friends. Olson recalled asking Burkhart to help him tow an old Honda car home for parts to rebuild another vehicle. He agreed. As Olson towed the beater car down the road, an enduring image was burned into his mind. He could see Burkhart, a scarf around his neck blowing in the wind, aviator goggles protecting his eyes and a huge grin on his face as a cold wind poured into the windowless Honda. It was probably 15-below zero, Olson recalled. Of course he was cold, but he was having a ball. He loved those kinds of adventures. Now looking from his Big Timber home toward the Beartooth Mountains under which Burkhart lived, Olson said the view is forever grayer. His scotch-loving, dandy of a friend who would shower and put on cologne and a silk scarf before elk hunting is gone. Bozeman In 1990, Burkhart sold the Carbon County News and Stillwater County News and moved to Bozeman where he worked as assistant editor at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Tracy Ellig was a newly minted reporter when he hired on at the paper in 1994. One of his assignments was a Memorial Day story about a World War II veteran who had survived the Bataan Death March. It was a three-day interview, the first time the soldier had recounted the tale to anyone. Ellig came back to the newsroom with a gigantic story and Burkhart ran it in full, across the front page and the jump page, taking hell from his boss for its length. Its the one story Ellig received more feedback on than any other in his career. Dan knew thats how it would be received, he said. As an editor he was more than an advocate. He knew in his DNA what made a story. That carried over outside of the newspaper, too, Ellig said. I think that Ive never met anyone in my life who so enjoyed hearing and telling a good story, he said. Dan was the kind of guy who could tell a story in a way that would make everyone stop and hang on every word. His real gift was to tell a story amidst friends, he added. His stories were ribald. They were not kid friendly. Billings In 1996, Dan and Theresa left Bozeman for Nebraska where he worked as managing editor at the North Platte Telegraph. A year later they returned to Absarokee, purchasing the Stillwater Lodge which they operated until 2021. It was also in 1997 when Burkhart began working as a reporter for the Billings Gazette, his stories bylined as the Gazette Beartooth Bureau. He covered everything from government mismanagement to shootings and sheepherders, but his lyrical writing style took center stage in his feature stories. In a 1999 story about four Roscoe artists, he wrote: Some fall days when she could hear the faint flick of canary-colored aspen leaves and see the clouds unfurl like great ship sails above the Beartooths, Aylett Irving rejoiced for the sound of the voice on the telephone. The story later describes the artists' work: They painted with sight and sound, touch and taste, and what they painted humbled them. The world is too beautiful for words, they thought, but perhaps with the human eye and the human heart, they could hint at its glory and dignity. In the spring of 2000, while on a road trip to Havre with Baken, he penned a travelogue illustrated by Bakens sketches. He wrote: This is how time passes from Billings to Havre: Jim Baken talks about his inventions and his art as he drives his van. He'd like to escape this engine propulsion, he says. But still be able to cover ground fast. Of his inventions, then, there is the 'boing' shoe, a leaf spring contraption allowing the wearer to hop across vast terrain. Imagine an earthscape like the moon where gravity is defied as people in 'boing' shoe leggings bounding over coulees, vaulting like pronghorns across the prairie, he says. Or consider his dog legs, meant to be fitted over arms so humans can be four-legged. Baken had a hard time recalling the reason for the trip an art reception at the H. Earl Clack Museum but was clear on the details of stopping in the cafe at Grass Range for lunch, the bar in Harlem and the visit with artist John Well Off Man who painted with a nail. Tom Tollefson, a former Gazette editor, worked with Burkhart and other bureau reporters. Dan was curious, gregarious, skeptical, generous, hard-working, Tollefson wrote in an email. He loved the Stillwater Valley and its people, and he loved newspapering. As his onetime editor at The Gazette, I also can tell you he was a tireless defender of his own sentences. Ohioan Born on Dec. 6, 1947, Burkhart was 74 when he died. He was the fourth of seven children born to Lou and MaryLou (Logan) Burkhart. A competitive multi-sport athlete in high school, he attended Bethany College in West Virginia, working on ore freighters in the summers while studying toward degrees in journalism and theology, according to his obituary. After college, Dan worked for the Indiana Center on Law and Poverty where he published the organizations newsletter and developed press policies. On May 24, 1986, he married Theresa Vandersnick and became stepfather to her children, Kevin and Davey Oltrogge. In 2000, he worked as the director of News and Information for Rocky Mountain College before becoming director of Volunteers of America Northern Rockies from 2013 to 2015. It was while at Rocky that Burkhart met Barb Skelton, where she has been instrumental in the colleges equine program. Together, they developed the nonprofit Horses Spirits Healing, to focus on helping veterans and their families through equine therapy. So in lieu of flowers Burkhart requested he be remembered through donations to www.horsesspiritshealing.org. He was such a thinker, such a thoughtful person, Skelton said. Burkhart also cared deeply about the environment, taking daily walks with his dogs around his Fiddler Creek home, she said. He was so proud of the beauty that god gave us. Its a big hole in everyones hearts that hes left, and a big hole in the community, she said. Friends It was in 1975, after Baken left the Navy and returned to his hometown of Absarokee, that he became friends with Burkhart. I was always interested in people who had been places and had stories to tell, he said. Burkhart regaled him with tales of traveling around the West to meet novelist and countercultural figure Ken Kesey and famed nature photographer Ansel Adams. He made it a point to pop in and visit interesting people all across the West, Baken said. Carried by his charm and a baritone voice, Burkhart easily won over Bakens mother and became an adopted member of the family. He was a newspaper man through and through, Baken said. He was a gifted writer and had a gifted intellect. He was a natural storyteller. Love 10 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 3 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. I was nine years old, in fourth grade, when John F. Kennedy was sworn in as Americas 35th president. Our teacher had brought a radio into the classroom so my schoolmates and I could listen to the ceremony, probably the first time I would have been old enough to really understand the event and the words spoken there. I knew that Kennedy had been the youngest man ever elected to the White House, and that many spoke of him as representing a new generation of leadership. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, he said, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. He clearly knew that the world of 1961 was a dangerous place, that America had enemies, and that we dare not tempt them with weakness. But he also looked for a path forward through the Cold War, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. It was near the end of Kennedys speech when he delivered what may have been the most famous statement of his presidency: And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. Simple words. Though I was just a fourth-grader, I was able to understand that the new president was calling on me to help in whatever way I could to protect America against what he called the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. He summoned all Americans, not just those able to fight in armies. He knew that some of those "common enemies would only be defeated through the power of our everyday lives through working hard and collaborating with one another, through our determination to learn, through the kindness and respect with which we treat one another. He was calling on me even as a nine-year-old to live my best life. I needed to be helpful, respectful, brave. I needed to do big things when I could, but I needed to do the little things upon which big things are built be kind to strangers, tell the truth, never put up with racism, and always work for the common good. Even at that age, I had seen news coverage of lynchings and other racial violence in my country. Even at that age, I knew that there was a lot of poverty in America. Even at that age, I knew that my country wasnt perfect. And the new president was asking my help. Just as Kennedy would take on the common enemies of man, I could also take on those common enemies even as a nine-year-old. In order to make America a better place, I could conduct myself responsibly and be a good citizen. I could love justice, be a peaceable neighbor, and never lose hope of changing things for the better. I learned at that age that I could do these things, through the course of a lifetime, to make my country a better place. Steve Paulson is retired and living in Billings. Love 10 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 An Alberta clipper weather system that moved out of the Northern Rockies and into North Dakota on Tuesday ended a short reprieve from the frigid, snowy conditions of the previous week. Bismarck saw high temperatures of 23 on Sunday and 20 on Monday -- relatively balmy conditions compared to the subzero highs and life-threatening wind chills that blanketed the state last week. But Tuesday saw temperatures fall into the single digits during the day, along with snow and strong winds that caused disruptions across the state. "A quick-hitting storm will march from the Northern Plains into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes through Wednesday evening, bringing along a swath of powdery snow and blustery conditions," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham wrote. The North Dakota Highway Patrol restricted travel for oversize vehicles in the southwestern counties of Bowman and Slope on Tuesday due to poor weather and road conditions. The state Department of Transportation closed its Motor Vehicle office in the town of Bowman at midday. Travel alerts were in place for most counties, including Burleigh and Morton. Areas of blowing and drifting snow were reported across the state. A semitrailer went out of control on an icy Interstate 94 between Casselton and West Fargo in Cass County, crossed the median and rolled across the westbound lanes about 2 miles west of Mapleton, blocking the roadway, the patrol reported. Traffic was detoured for more than an hour at midday. No one was hurt. The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks announced it was closing its campus at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with plans to reopen at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Bismarck-Mandan was expected to get only an inch or two of snow from the system. Totals up to 5 inches were forecast in northeastern North Dakota. The National Weather Service posted a blizzard warning for the east and for the James River Valley in the southeast; a winter weather advisory for the central part of the state, including Bismarck-Mandan; and a wind chill advisory for the west. "In the wake of the snowfall, cold and blustery conditions are in store behind this storm, so residents and travelers to the area will need to be properly bundled up," Buckingham said. The frigid arctic air that will surge into the Northern Plains is expected to last through the rest of the workweek, with subzero highs and lows through Friday morning, according to the weather service. The high temp in Bismarck-Mandan on Thursday is forecast to reach only minus 10 degrees. Wind chills as cold as minus 50 will blanket the state. Wind chills in the Bismarck-Mandan area are forecast around minus 40. The weekend should be nicer, with highs in Bismarck-Mandan reaching around 20 degrees on Saturday, slipping to the single digits on Sunday, and rebounding to around 20 for the start of the next workweek. Reach Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or blake.nicholson@bismarcktribune.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Local Weather Get the daily forecast and severe weather alerts in your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Several rail cars caught fire after at least 11 cars of a BNSF train derailed near Burlington early Sunday, but no injuries were reported. The railroad said in a statement that the train derailed between Minot and Des Lacs, North Dakota, around 1 a.m. Sunday, and railcars containing paper products and frozen foods caught fire. BNSF said railcars carrying hazardous materials on the train did not leave the tracks and had been pulled away from the fire. Burlington Fire Chief Karter Lassman said a couple homes near the derailment were evacuated Sunday morning as a precaution. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation A high school biology teacher in Long Island was arrested after administering a Covid vaccination to a 17-year-old student. The boy, who is a friend of the teacher's son, received a dose of the Johnson & Johnson shot in her living room. But the teacher, 54-year-old Laura Russo, isn't medically qualified to administer vaccines, according to The Washington Post, and she injected the teen without his parents' consent. When he went home, he told his mother, who called the police. From The Washington Post: After a year and a half of off and on COVID restrictions, many of us have turned to planning our next vacation. And if youd rather pay for your next trip with points and miles instead of dollars, then this may be the right time for you to take a look at the best travel rewards cards. Best Flexible Points Card : Chase Sapphire Preferred : Chase Sapphire Preferred Best Airline Card : FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard : FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard Best Hotel Card : World of Hyatt Credit Card : World of Hyatt Credit Card Best Premium Card : Capital One Venture X : Capital One Venture X Best No-fee Card : Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card : Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card Best Small Business Card: Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Repair companies can help you repair and improve your credit so you can apply for the credit card of your choice. Bad credit can weigh you down. Find out what credit repair can offer you. Best Flexible Points Card: Chase Sapphire Preferred This card offers Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which can be transferred to a participating airline or hotel partner that best meet your needs, such as United, Southwest, JetBlue and Hyatt hotels. Or, your rewards can be redeemed directly for travel reservations made through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Pros: 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening Earn double points for dining and travel expenses Transfer points to airline and hotel partners, or book travel directly through Chase Ultimate Rewards Cons: $95 annual fee 1:1 transfer rate to Marriott and IHG doesnt offer much value This card sets the standard for flexible points as its Ultimate Rewards program allows you to transfer your rewards to several high-value travel partners. This card currently offers 60,000 bonus points after you use it to spend $4,000 on purchases within first three months of account opening. Youll earn double points on all travel and dining purchases, and 1 point on all other purchases. Best Airline Card: FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard What if you could fly with a discount carrier, but enjoy more perks and benefits than youd receive from a legacy airline? Thats the benefit of the FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard. Pros: Earn 40,000 bonus miles after paying the annual fee and spending just $500 on purchases within 90 days of account opening, and another 20,000 miles after spending a total of $6,000 on purchases within six months of account opening. Every dollar you spend earns one mile towards elite status Earn a $100 Flight Voucher every account anniversary after spending $2,500 or more on purchases during your cardmembership year Earn 5x miles on eligible Frontier purchases, and 3x miles at restaurants Cons: Until you reach elite status, expect numerous fees when you fly Frontier for things other airlines often include $79 annual fee (waived the first year) Frontier is a discount carrier based in Denver, but they are one of the fastest growing airlines in the U.S. with service to over 100 destinations in the U.S., the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. The Frontier Airlines Mastercard is unique among airline credit cards in that it counts every dollar spent as a mile that can be used towards elite status. The first tier of status is reached after earning 20,000 miles from flying, after spending $20,000 on your card, or after 25 flight segments annually. Benefits of this first tier of elite status include advanced seat assignment, free carry-on bag and priority boarding at participating airports, saving you plenty of money on the extra fees normally charged. This card does have a $79 annual fee, but thats more than justified by the $100 flight voucher you earn every year (after using the card to spend $2,500 or more annually). Best Hotel Card: World of Hyatt Credit Card The World of Hyatt loyalty program is way of ahead of its competitors and this card is the best way to enjoy premium card benefits. Pros: Earn up to 60,000 bonus points after meeting purchase requirements Receive a free-night-stay certificate each year, and a second after spending $15,000 in a calendar year Receive entry level status and earn night stay credits towards higher status 4x points at Hyatt plus 2x points on transit, restaurants, flights, fitness clubs and gyms Cons: $95 annual fee Hyatt has moved to a more dynamic award pricing system which will charge more points for the most desirable properties during peak travel. The World of Hyatt card really lets you unlock more value from the popular loyalty program, as it offers plenty of bonus points, free-night-stay certificates and credits towards elite status. To start, you can earn up to 60,000 bonus points; earn the first 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within three months of account opening and another 30,000 points more by earning 2x points per dollar spent on purchases (up to $15,000) within first six months of account opening. You also get a free-night-stay certificate each year, and a second certificate after spending $15,000 in a calendar year (on Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resorts). Other benefits include entry-level Discoverist status plus an annual five qualifying night credits each year, and two additional qualifying night credits when you spend $5,000 on your card. Award nights start at 5,000 points, but I find that most mid-tier properties in small and medium sized cities require 8,000 15,000 points per night, which is still reasonable. That said, Hyatt is moving to a more dynamic pricing system later this year, which will charge more points during peak seasons and fewer points during periods of low-occupancy. Theres a $95 annual fee for this card. Daily Money Every day we publish the latest news, stories, and content on the financial topics that matter. This is your daily guide to all things personal finance. Best Premium Card: Capital One Venture X Rewards This new card offers double miles on all purchases, and comes with an excellent array of cardholder benefits. Pros: Earn 100,000 bonus miles, worth $1,000 in travel statement credits or 100,000 airline miles, after spending $10,000 on purchases within six months of account opening. Earn 5x on flights and 10x on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One. $300 annual travel credit and $200 vacation rental credit. Miles are worth one cent each towards travel statement credits, or transfer 1:1 to over 15 airline and hotel partners. Numerous travel benefits including Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership and access to Capital One lounges. Free cards for additional authorized cardholders. Cons: $395 annual fee The new Capital One Venture X Rewards is a great card for frequent travelers who want to earn valuable rewards and enjoy premium benefits. You can earn 100,000 Capital One Miles after spending $10,000 within six months of account opening. This card also offers 10x points for hotel and car rentals and 5x on airfare when you purchase travel through Capital One. You also receive a $300 annual travel credit and a $200 credit towards a vacation rental. Miles can be redeemed for one cents each as travel statement credits or can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. Benefits include a $100 credit towards the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership and access to the new Capital One airline lounges. Theres a $395 annual fee for this card, and no foreign transaction fees. Best No-fee Card: Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card The VentureOne Rewards Card is a great travel rewards card with no annual fee that offers you travel statement credits and the ability to transfer your miles to airline and hotel programs. Pros: Earn 25,000 bonus miles, after spending just $500 on purchases within first three months of account opening. Earn 1.25 miles on all purchases that can be redeemed as statement credits towards travel purchases or transferred to participating airline and hotel programs at a 1:1 ratio. No annual fee Cons: You only earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent Capital One offers this no-fee version of its flagship Venture Rewards cards with real value to those who want a travel rewards card without an annual fee. This card offers 20,000 bonus miles (worth $200 in travel statement credits) after spending $500 in new purchases within first three months of account opening. Youll earn 1.25 miles per dollar spent, and miles are worth one cent each as statement credits towards any travel purchase you make with your card. Alternatively, you can transfer your rewards to participating airline miles or hotel programs, giving you additional redemption options. Capital One miles transfer to most airline programs at a ratio of 2:1.5, but they recently added several new airline transfer partners with a more favorable 1:1 ratio. Best Small Business Card: Chase Ink Business Preferred The Ink Business Preferred card offers you plenty of opportunities to earn valuable Ultimate Rewards Points on frequent business purchases. Pros: Receive 100,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on purchases within three months of account opening Earn 3x points on up to $150,000 spent each year on business categories such as telecommunications, shipping, advertising and travel Rewards are earned in the Ultimate Rewards Program and can be transferred to participating airline miles or hotel points Includes several travel insurance and purchase protection benefits Cons: $95 annual fee If youre looking to leverage your small business purchases to earn travel rewards, then this is the card for you. Youll begin with the chance to earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Then youll earn 3x points on up to $150,000 spent each year in combined business categories such as internet, cable and phone, shipping, advertising (made with social media sites and search engines), and travel purchase. Points are worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed directly for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, or they can be transferred to participating airline miles or hotel partners. Theres a $95 annual fee for this card. A credit repair company could improve your chances of getting approved. Credit Repair companies, like Credit Saint, specialize in finding and helping you remove mistakes on your report to help you improve your credit. Frequently asked questions about travel credit cards: Q. Should I get a travel rewards card if I carry a balance? As with any rewards credit card, travel rewards cards are best used by those who avoid interest by paying their balance in full. Those who are unable to do that should focus on finding a low interest-rate credit card that doesnt offer travel rewards. The exception could be a small business owner that uses a credit card as a short term line of credit in order run his or her business. Q. Should I start earning travel rewards now, even if I wont be traveling until later this year or next year? The best time to start earning travel rewards is long before you actually plan on using them. Thats because it will take time to receive the card, qualify for a bonus and receive the bonus points. Plus, it may take even longer to earn any additional points or miles you need for your next trip. Finally, youll likely want to book your trip several months before you plan on traveling. Q. What happens to your airline miles or hotel points earned from your credit card if you cancel the card? Frequent flyer mile and hotel cards award points or miles in programs operated by airlines and hotel chains. Once those rewards are in your airline or hotel account, they are subject to the rules of that program, regardless of whether you keep the card. But when the rewards are with a program operated by the card issuer, then they could be forfeited if you cancel the card and dont have another card that is part of the same program. Q. Which is best, airline miles, hotel points or flexible rewards? These travel rewards programs all have their strengths and weakness, and the right program for you will be the card that offers the most value per dollar spent on purchases. Hotel rewards tend to be the most flexible, while airline miles can still offer plenty of value if you understand how each program works. Flexible points programs can offer the best of both airline and hotel programs, but theyll lack the company-specific perks that airline and hotel cards offer. How we chose the best travel rewards cards To find the best travel rewards cards, we first divided the market into the six most popular types of cards. Then we looked at the travel rewards credit cards offered by all of the major card issuers. Each of their travel rewards credit card offers were examined and compared to other travel rewards cards. We focused at the initial bonus offered, bonus rewards for certain purchases and travel specific features and benefits. The winners were the cards that offered the most valuable rewards and benefits in each category. More from Money: Copyright 2021 Ad Practitioners, LLC. All Rights Reserved. This article originally appeared on Money.com and may contain affiliate links for which Money receives compensation. Opinions expressed in this article are the author's alone, not those of a third-party entity, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For more information, read Moneys full disclaimer. Workers at a Starbucks store in Buffalo that last month became the chain's only company-operated U.S. store to be organized walked out Wednesday to protest what they viewed as unsafe Covid-19 levels that have left the location short-staffed. Michelle Eisen, a barista and 11-year employee at the Elmwood Avenue store, said about one-third of the location's workers are in self-isolation because they tested positive for Covid-19 or were exposed to the virus. "The business needs are not our concern; our fellow employees' safety is our concern. My safety is my concern," she said. "And until something is done, we don't feel comfortable going back to that." Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges said it is his understanding that one Elmwood employee has tested positive. The Elmwood store closed for the day Wednesday following the protest, he noted. Borges said Starbucks has rolled out additional steps to keep employees safe and comply with the latest federal guidelines. That includes allowing stores to adjust service options based on case counts and the virus' effect in the market. Retail leaders, he said, are allowed to modify operations locally including temporarily closing a store, changing a store's hours or adjusting to grab and go based on data they have access to on community spread, partner exposures, mandates and health guidance. Starbucks on Monday moved to grab-and-go operations across its 20 corporate-owned stores in the Buffalo market, which Borges said significantly reduces the number of employees needed in a store. Starbucks recently said it is requiring its U.S. workers to be fully vaccinated by Feb. 9 or be tested weekly for Covid-19, in line with the coming federal vaccine-or-test requirement for private employers with at least 100 workers. Borges said Starbucks is asking employees to self-disclose their vaccination statuses. The company also will be following recent CDC guidance that shortens the isolation window for employees who test positive to five days, down from 10 days. Employees who test positive are eligible to be fully paid for up to two self-isolation periods. Eisen and Starbucks Workers United members said Wednesday they want better notification from Starbucks of potential Covid-19 exposures. Borges said the chain must protect an individual's privacy but is following federal guidelines to notify employees who may have been a close contact of someone who tested positive. Eisen also said Starbucks' policy doesn't allow workers to refuse service to those who show up without a mask, in violation of the statewide mask mandate. Borges said the chain does not mandate employees to enforce the mask mandate, seeking to avoid creating tension. Instead, he said, Starbucks has given employees options of what to do in those situations, from suggesting the customer wear a mask to asking the customer to wait outside so their order can be brought to them. "We don't want to put our partners in a position where they have to demand something of the customer, and the customer gets upset," Borges said. Union update Wednesday's protest was the latest showdown between the Buffalo workers and the massive coffee chain, which has nearly 9,000 company-operated stores across the country, employing a total of 235,000 people. Employees at the Elmwood store voted 19-8 to join a union, results that were released Dec. 9. The National Labor Relations Board certified the union's victory about a week later. NLRB certifies union's win at Elmwood Starbucks store Efforts continue to unionize three additional Buffalo-area Starbucks stores, amid ongoing wrangling over last week's election results. Voting results for two other local stores, in Hamburg and in Cheektowaga, ended up with objections filed from both sides, which are still being reviewed by the NLRB. What the Elmwood victory also did was kick off a wave of union activity at other Starbucks stores across the country. That includes ongoing efforts at stores in Mesa, Ariz., Boston, Tennessee and Seattle. In addition, a store in Chicago reportedly requested a union certification vote in recent days. Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com. Buffalo Next Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gov. Kathy Hochul is aiming to grow the state's health care workforce by 20% over the next five years, with a proposed $10 billion in investments to reach that goal. "We simply do not have enough health care workers in our hospitals, or in our long-term care facilities, in our ambulances, or in the homes of our loved ones," Hochul said in her State of the State address on Wednesday. Hochul said the state needs to "stop the current hemorrhaging of health care workers." To achieve the target of increasing the health care workforce by 20%, Hochul proposed investments including: $2 billion to support health care wages. $2 billion to support health care and mental hygiene worker retention bonuses. That includes bonuses of up to $3,000 to full-time workers who stay in their positions for one year, and pro-rated bonuses for employees working fewer hours. $500 million for cost-of-living adjustments, to help raise wages for human services workers. $2 billion for health care capital infrastructure and improved lab capacity. Hochul also proposed making it easier for doctors and nurses to practice with their existing licenses in New York State, expanding medical institutions' training capacity and workforce development efforts to attract new talent. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated a shortage of health care workers locally. The pandemic hastened the departure of thousands of health care workers, some out of health concerns and others over rising stress levels associated with their jobs. With hundreds of jobs unfilled, local hospitals have been forced to operate with fewer staffed beds and curtail some services, despite offering thousands of dollars in signing bonuses to new hires and, in some cases, paying hefty premiums in the battle to land traveling workers from staffing agencies. Matt Glynn Buffalo Next Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Eric Feldstein knows it is meaningful to be named M&T Bank's Western New York regional president, responsible for the bank's hometown market. Feldstein, 48, will step into the role of regional president in March. He will succeed Shelley Drake, who is retiring after a 50-year career at M&T, including serving as regional president since 2017. Feldstein will also retain his current role as head of business banking for M&T. M&T has 17 regional presidents across its territories. The regional model allows for local decision-making about charitable contributions, business credit and marketing. The bank's eight-county Western New York region encompasses about 8,000 employees and 66 branches. As someone who grew up outside of Rochester, graduated from the University at Buffalo and raised his two children here, the new appointment is personally significant to him, too. "This is home to me," he said. "So supporting our communities, not-for-profits, business community, it's something that I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of. And I'm truly excited about the rebirth of Western New York and M&T's continued support and investment in the region." "Western New York is unique," said Mike Keegan, M&T executive vice president and head of community markets. "Eric grew up there. He understands it, and he's going to make sure we deliver for that community with what they need." As head of business banking, Feldstein was at the forefront of M&T's efforts in the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal financial lifeline during the pandemic. All told, M&T provided $9.9 billion worth of PPP funding to more than 58,000 businesses. Feldstein said he looks back with pride on the PPP, not only for the small businesses' resilience, but the long hours and commitment put in by M&T employees. "It was to preserve that next job, to support those clients in need, when they looked to us and needed us most," he said. Keegan said Feldstein's PPP team came through at a critical moment, by helping small businesses worried about their survival. "It was probably the biggest emotional draw to why people take on the role of being a banker," he said. Feldstein said his new role as regional president also means a lot to him personally. He watched his wife, Brenda, who emigrated from Brazil, overcome challenges and launch an apparel business, Fofa Brazil Jeans, in Williamsville. "I saw the power and the empathy of the Western New York business community," he said. "We saw business owners, customers, chambers, organizations come to proactively support my wife without asking for anything in return." Feldstein said he considers Drake a mentor, and looks forward to working alongside her as he transitions into his new job. "I have a lot to learn from her, and the impact she has had on this Western New York region is just enormous," he said. Matt Glynn Buffalo Next Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Shelley Drake has built a 46-year career at M&T Bank. Now she has a new responsibility, as Western New York region president. In that role, she will manage middle market banking in a region encompassing 77 offices in eight counties. Drake will also remain president of the M&T Charitable Foundation, which last year distributed $28 million in grants to non-profit organizations across the bank's territory. "She is one of the most experienced commercial bankers we have at M&T Bank, where she has worked with customers and non-profit organizations over the years, and where she always puts the best interests of customers first," said Robert G. Wilmers, M&T's chairman and CEO. Drake, one of 17 regional presidents within the bank, described commercial lending activity in the Western New York region as good, but not robust. "I think we've seen growth in certain industries, but it's been relatively flat in others." Drake said there are signs things are changing, with new developments on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. "I think Buffalo is far more vibrant than it has been, and there's always room for more growth," she said. Her first job with M&T was promoting the bank's Empire cards to merchants. Drake earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Buffalo. She serves on the boards of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and the Great Lakes Health System. She described her family as an "M&T family," since her husband, whom she met at the bank, and her son work there, too. Jeff Wellington had served as Western New York region president and area executive. Wellington was region president since 2003, and will remain area executive, with expanded responsibilities in commercial banking. Drake will continue to report to Wellington. Western New York's health care workers are testing positive for Covid-19 in greater numbers than ever before, dealing another blow to a battered industry already grappling with major staffing issues. More than 700 local health care employees and likely more were not at work Tuesday due to Covid-19, forcing providers to weigh further service reductions if the situation worsens while relying even more heavily on their healthy, but overtaxed, staff. At Erie County Medical Center, nearly 100 employees are out with Covid-19. More than 300 are on the shelf at the much-larger Kaleida Health, while about 200 Catholic Health employees are out. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center also is dealing with what one executive called "an unprecedented level" of cases, with 60 employees testing positive in just a three-day span last week. At Buffalo Medical Group, a multispecialty medical practice, more than 60 of its 1,000 employees are out with Covid-19. Those cases have a lingering effect, too, since workers who test positive must isolate for at least five days possibly longer if their cases are severe. That isolation period was shortened late last month by state and federal officials, who sought to avoid exacerbating staffing challenges already plaguing hospitals, nursing homes and other critical industries. Erie County sets record for daily Covid cases as Omicron takes hold The county's Health Department confirmed 1,137 cases for Thursday, crushing the previous pandemic daily high of 981 cases on Dec. 3. Concerns remain, however, especially as New York tries to preserve staffed hospital bed capacity. It is why Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the state Health Department and New York National Guard will partner to train soldiers to become certified emergency medical technicians. But that will take time: Two pilot classes for 80 National Guard personnel start Wednesday, which means those service members won't be available for clinical deployment until February once they complete the required 180 hours of training. More immediately, the state has received some federal help and is sending a 23-member Department of Defense medical response team to ECMC. As it is, the highly contagious Omicron variant already is driving Covid-19 cases to record levels and, in turn, pushing hospitalizations at or near last winter's peak. And it is not yet clear when this wave will crest. What providers are seeing Even before researchers identified the first case of Omicron in Western New York on Dec. 22, area health care executives had expressed concern about the highly transmissible Omicron's ability to cause breakthrough infections within a burnt-out workforce. That is exactly what's happened. "We're having more positives, more work absences and necessitated quarantines than we've ever had," said Dr. Robert Zielinski, associate medical director of Buffalo Medical Group. "That's pretty much been everybody else's experience, I think, as well." The more than 60 employees out in quarantine as of Monday is "way more than we've had at any point in the pandemic," he noted. That's put a strain on the medical group's operations department, which is monitoring employees who test positive and checking in on their symptoms. Zielinski noted that the group has a nurse who is maintaining a database to keep track of those workers. "They can't just tell people, 'OK, it's Monday, you're out this week. We'll see you next Monday,' " he said. "They have to be reassessed and monitored." In good news: Zielinski said 90% of the medical group's staff is vaccinated, and the employee cases tend to be brief and relatively mild. Therefore, the group isn't seeing long-term absences or illnesses so far, he noted. ECMC, which employs more than 3,000 people, also is seeing a record number of cases among workers. ECMC had 94 employees out Monday due to Covid-19, spokesperson Peter Cutler said. Just a few days earlier, on Dec. 30, 106 ECMC employees were out due to the virus. During previous waves, Cutler said, the Buffalo hospital usually never saw more than 50 employees out at a given time. At Kaleida Health, 318 of its roughly 10,000 employees were out due to Covid-19 as of Tuesday, said Michael Hughes, the system's chief administrative officer. At Catholic Health, which had about 200 employees out Tuesday, spokesperson JoAnn Cavanaugh said positive cases among the health system's almost 10,000 workers more than doubled from week to week during the last three weeks of December. "Hospital staffing is also a challenge as, like other hospitals nationwide, more caregivers are testing positive for Covid-19," she said. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center also is experiencing "an unprecedented level of Covid-19 positive cases among our clinical staff, including providers, nursing and patient support services," Chief Medical Officer Dr. Boris Kuvshinoff wrote in an email to employees Monday, which was reviewed by The Buffalo News. In a prior email Dec. 29, Kuvshinoff advised employees that Roswell Park had 60 workers test positive since Dec. 26. "As with all other organizations in our region, we are not immune to the impact of the rising number of cases in the community," Roswell Park said in a statement. "We continue to meet the needs of our cancer patients by taking diligent steps to keep our campus safe, including aggressive testing of our staff and patients, as we've done from the beginning of the pandemic." How providers are adapting The pandemic has repeatedly forced employers, especially those in health care, to pivot on a dime. The rapid increase in employee cases is the latest hurdle. At Roswell Park, it is constraining the center's ability to provide the typical staffing levels, especially in its inpatient units, Kuvshinoff said in the email Monday. He advised providers to "please make every attempt to discharge patients as soon as clinically feasible," consider whether outpatient-in-a-bed cases could be sent home the same day and identify elective procedures or treatments that could be deferred for the next few weeks. Many hospitals across Western New York, and the state, have been in that position for quite some time. For example, ECMC in September voluntarily suspended inpatient elective surgeries and reduced hours at its outpatient clinics, so staff could support inpatient care in the main hospital. It also closed two units at its Terrace View Long-Term Care Facility, also struggling to staff as many beds. ECMC, which has had an average of just 2% of its staffed hospital beds available over the last seven days, per state data, also is one of the 21 hospitals across the state currently subject to a state order pausing nonessential procedures to preserve bed capacity. In a new measure, ECMC shifted to a more restrictive visitor policy Friday suspending almost all inpatient visitation with the exception of medically necessary or end-of-life situations in an effort to protect vulnerable patients, as well as frontline employees from avoidable exposure. ECMC to suspend almost all patient visitation due to Omicron surge The medical facility announced Wednesday that it will suspend all inpatient visitation, starting Friday, except when it is medically necessary or for family members or legal representatives of patients in imminent end-of-life situations. At Buffalo Medical Group, the increased employee cases have further strained staffing and forced some workers to scramble to cover more responsibilities, Zielinski noted. But so far, the group hasn't had any major service disruptions. A big reason why: Buffalo Medical Group has been invested in telehealth since the beginning of the pandemic, he said, and it can now leverage that capability immediately. For example, Zielinksi said providers who have tested positive but only have minor symptoms canceled in-person visits but have been able to work from home and do telehealth visits. Similarly, patients who have been ill have been able to flip their scheduled visit over to a virtual appointment, where appropriate. "That's been a help in being able to maintain a reasonable level of services," he said. But Zielinski also believes this wave's peak hasn't been reached yet, with the region in for a rough few weeks as it reckons with a post-holiday surge. The key for employers will be flexibility, a theme throughout the pandemic. "There's a certain amount of guarded optimism that it's going to be really rough in January, but it's also hopefully the beginning of the end," Zielinski said. "And we'll get into a more steady state, lower-level endemic phase rather than this pandemic crisis we've had." Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com. Buffalo Next Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Now it's Kathy Hochul's turn. New York's rookie governor, after unexpectedly assuming Albany's top job last August, takes the state's biggest stage Wednesday with her first State of the State address, getting the chance to face her critics and spell out an agenda aimed at winning a full term in November. Already she is proposing populist ideas rooted in reform, and already her potential rivals in the Democratic and Republican parties are taking aim. She has avoided outright politicking, and will likewise Wednesday while conducting one of Albany's time-honored rituals, but she is expected to hone a theme to be examined and dissected by supporters and opponents alike. Amid the pomp and ceremony of the State of the State, the message Hochul delivers from the Assembly rostrum will mirror the one she will spread this fall along the campaign trail. "First and foremost, she's doing a tremendous job," said Jeremy J. Zellner, Erie County Democratic chairman and a Hochul supporter. "That proves her credibility." Earlier this week she proposed reforms like term limits for statewide officials, and Zellner said he expects even more from the governor's 1 p.m. speech. Zellner noted her promise to restore "confidence" in state government when she took office on Aug. 24, following Andrew M. Cuomo's scandal-induced resignation, and the county party leader thinks she will build on that theme. "She will project that government is changing and that people should have confidence in government," he said. "And there's no better person to do that than Kathy." As far as her opponents are concerned, the campaign is very much underway. Democrats who have declared their candidacy for governor, like Rep. Thomas R. Suozzi of Nassau County and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, are carving out their campaign platforms, with Suozzi mounting a sharp early attack. Suozzi on Tuesday outlined to reporters statewide a detailed agenda to fight crime, pointing to worrisome homicide rates in New York City and also upstate cities like Buffalo and Rochester. He proposed granting judges more discretion when setting bail while remaining cognizant of the need for reform, providing more technical assistance to smaller police departments, encouraging gun buy back programs, promoting more community policing programs, and integrating social services into schools to head off problems related to drugs, alcohol and mental health. Suozzi, who has emerged as Hochul's most vocal intraparty rival and whom he calls the state's "interim governor," continued his criticism of the sitting governor's approach to crime. "I'm shocked to see the governor has been in office as long as she has and hasn't made this a priority," the congressman said. Suozzi has also criticized Hochul's approach to Covid-19 concerns, accusing her of failing to adequately plan for anticipated virus spreads over the holidays. "She has delayed and mismanaged the response to Covid," he said. "There is no comprehensive plan." And he continues to hammer her on other fronts. "When Hochul came into office, she promised a new era of transparency, but that was a lie," he tweeted Tuesday, citing a recent Daily News story. "She has raised $100,000 per day, everyday, since she has been in office, and the money has been raised by lobbyists. We deserve better." Suozzi concentrates his barbs on the sitting governor because, at the moment, she occupies a position of strength. Just about all polls show her basking in strong approval numbers as she successfully raises campaign funds and enjoys the advantage of incumbency. State Democratic Chairman Jay S. Jacobs has announced his support for her, as have many upstate committees and unions. All of this has also fueled an aggressive Republican attack on the new governor, providing a hint of how the party expects to confront her this fall. State Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy has consistently accused of Hochul of being "in over head" while handling the state's response to Covid-19. "First, she comes out with a ridiculous mask mandate that will crush New York small businesses," Langworthy said in a December letter to supporters. "Then after counties pushed back, she immediately folded and said she wouldn't force them to comply. She is weak, not ready to lead, and doesn't have the experience or competence to be the Chief Executive of the Empire State." Rep. Lee Zeldin of Suffolk County, considered the front runner for this year's Republican nomination for governor, is slated to offer his response to Hochul's speech Wednesday afternoon. He has been relentless in his criticism, such as his Tuesday ridicule of her new term limits proposal. Hochul set to propose term limits for statewide officials Under her plan, statewide elected officials governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller would be limited to two consecutive terms, or a total of eight years, in the job. "During the reign of three-term Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Yorkers witnessed firsthand the rampant abuse and corruption that is born out of a system of limitless power," Zeldin said. "Yet, Cuomos Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul stood idly by in pathetic silence. When it was politically expedient to ride Andrew Cuomos coattails to a third term as his lieutenant governor, she was mum on term limits." But Zellner thinks Hochul is setting exactly the right tone as she lays out her priorities and charts a course for her campaign. Her likability, Zellner predicted, will highlight her initial State of the State. That stands in stark contrast to her predecessor, he added. "She understands it's not just ruling with an iron fist," he said. "It takes building confidence among her colleagues in government and the public to work together to get things done. That's night and day from what it was with Gov. Cuomo." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Since March 2020, 1,617 patients and 2,785 employees at New York States 24 psychiatric centers have been infected with Covid-19. During that time, 53 of those patients and 12 state employees have died of the virus. According to the state Office of Mental Health, those infected with Covid-19 included a total of 58 patients and 122 employees from two state facilities in Buffalo the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and the Western New York Childrens Psychiatric Center. With those numbers in mind, state officials say they are carefully limiting visits from parents, spouses and other loved ones to psychiatric patients in Buffalo and across the state. For the patients and their families, the lack of human interaction has been painful. Oh God, visitors are important, said Bill Sutherland, a former patient who spent 20 years in state mental health facilities before his release from the Buffalo Psychiatric Center last February. The pandemic has been terrible for patients. You need special permission for each visit, and there are a lot of restrictions you need to work through to get it approved. In Sutherlands view, it shouldnt be any harder to visit a psychiatric patient than it is to visit a regular hospital patient or someone who is in prison. He said he has spoken to some of his former fellow patients who rarely get visitors because of the restrictions. State officials are trying to balance the need for safety with the wishes of family members who miss having frequent visits with patients, James Plastiras, spokesman for the state Office of Mental Health, said on Sunday. The infection control measures ... have helped us protect our employees and the 11,367 patients served in our psychiatric centers since March of 2020, Plastiras said on Sunday. Our visitation guidelines allow visitation for any patient when visitation is critical to the patient's health and well-being or is part of their treatment plan. According to visitation guidelines for the state psychiatric centers, visitors must have proof of their vaccination status or proof of a negative Covid-19 test. Plastiras said the precautions are based on recommendations from the state Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some restrictions have been put on visits at hospitals and state prisons due to the recent alarming rise in Covid-19 infections. State prisons currently allow prisoners to have visits from people who show up during visiting hours with proof of being fully vaccinated or proof of a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of the visit. Visiting rooms are limited to half-capacity to allow social distancing. Erie County Medical Center announced last week that it was temporarily suspending visits to patients unless the visits were medically necessary, or patients were facing end-of-life circumstances. On Sunday, two Buffalo area women who have a close relative in the Buffalo Psychiatric Center told The News they are not allowed to visit without getting permission in advance from the staff. The staff at Buffalo Psychiatric is helpful and respectful. ... Theyre as accommodating as they can be with the regulations they have from the state, but it usually takes at least a week to get an answer when we request a visit, said one of the women, Angela Stranahan. You cannot just show up and ask to visit. I havent seen him since August, and I miss him, said the other woman, Diane Cameron. She added that Stranahan and another relative were permitted to visit the patient in December. We all understand that Covid is dangerous and there is a need for reasonable caution. But with the Covid numbers so high in Erie County, you have to jump through so many hoops to arrange a visit, Cameron said. Visits last an hour and no physical contact is allowed, Cameron said. "These restrictions have been in effect for a long time, since before vaccines were available," Stranahan said. The two women spoke on the condition that the patient would not be named by The News. They said the patient does not want it known in the community that he is undergoing mental health treatment. Visits from family and friends play a huge role in the treatment of psychiatric patients, according to local patient advocates. Covid has had an enormous impact on our societys mental health, and the restrictions that our psychiatric inpatient settings are facing make it difficult for everyone, said Melinda DuBois, executive director of the Mental Health Advocates of Western New York. These facilities are trying their best to provide the care and treatment needed for those living in their facilities, and these restrictions make it harder for the families, the staff, and most of all, the person requiring the treatment. DuBois said she and others in her organization have heard from a number of family members of psychiatric patients who have expressed frustration with the visitation situation. Having the support of a loved one face to face is extremely important to recovery. The isolation that everyone has experienced that has lasted almost two years has contributed greatly to the rise in mental health concerns, said Stacie Dziwulski, child and family support director for the agency. Limited hours and numbers of visitors only adds to the stress and anxiety of the patients and their families. State Sen. Samra Brouk, chair of the Senate Committee on Mental Health, told The News she is aware of the concerns about visitation and is working on the issue with the Office of Mental Health. The large number of Omicron Covid-19 infections throughout the state has made the issue more challenging, she said. According to Plastiras, the steps taken by the state include required vaccinations for employees, unless an employee has an approved reason for avoiding vaccines; regular testing and masking for patients and employees; and expanded use of telehealth services and virtual visits. There are currently 4,172 patients in the 24 state psychiatric centers, including 229 at the Buffalo center on Forest Avenue and 18 at the children's facility in Buffalo. As of Monday, the state said there were 501 employees and 177 patients statewide with active Covid cases. Sutherland, the former psychiatric center patient, said he understands why the state tries to protect patients and employees from Covid-19. But believe me, when you are in a psych center, it can be a very dark place, he said. I dont know if I could have made it through those 20 years without all the visits I had with my dad. You need to be with people who love you and care about you. You need hugs. The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. War spews hell in all directions. Just ask the guys at Talon Anvil, a secret U.S. strike cell recently exposed by the New York Times as a unit with a reputation for ignoring the rules of engagement and killing lots and lots of civilians with drone strikes as it plays war with ISIS. Part of the problem, a source told the Times, is that the daily demands of overseeing strike after strike seemed to erode operators perspective and fray their humanity. In other words, participating in the endless U.S. war on terror turned them into terrorists, e.g.: Early one morning, as a Predator drone circled over the Syrian farming town of Karama, the operators focused on a particular building that they decided, with virtually no evidence, was an enemy training center and dropped a 500-pound bomb through the roof. As the smoke cleared, a former officer told the Times, his team stared at their screens in dismay. The infrared cameras showed women and children staggering out of the partly collapsed building, some missing limbs, some dragging the dead. The intelligence analysts began taking screenshots and tallying the casualties. They sent an initial battle damage assessment to Talon Anvil: 23 dead or severely wounded, 30 lightly wounded, very likely civilians. Talon Anvil paused only long enough to acknowledge the message, the former officer said, then pressed on to the next target. Oh, the frayed humanity! Heres what did not occur: the operators looking at what they had just done from the viewpoint of the victims. That would have amounted to more than simply dismay. Doing so is almost incomprehensible. Imagine a bomb suddenly piercing your roof in the middle of the night. Imagine your children suddenly dead, your arm or leg missing Oops. My point here is that war is a collective enterprise. Multiply this incident by the size of the U.S. military budget virtually half the countrys discretionary spending, around a trillion dollars annually, all told. And the money is always there, ready and waiting for the security state to consume. The unending lie is that it keeps us safe. Imagine, once again, women and children staggering out of the partly collapsed building, some missing limbs, some dragging the dead, and savor the safety you now have. When we wage war, we dehumanize then kill a specific segment of humanity. In the process, we fray our own humanity; we become less human ourselves, and thus more in sync with the evil we claim to be obliterating. This is whats happening to us right now. Robert Koehler, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago journalist and editor. Does three strikes in federal court mean the Seneca Nation has struck out in its dispute over casino revenue sharing? Theres no such thing as a sure bet in the gambling world, but we think the smart money is on yes. The Nation is running out of ways to circumvent its obligation to pay the money it owes to New York State. U.S. District Judge William M. Skretnys ruling against the Senecas last month should be the last straw. The Senecas owe about $450 million in revenue-sharing funds that the Nation stopped paying in 2017, claiming that when its casino compact with the state was automatically renewed in 2016, the contract did not spell out that the payments would continue. That oversight in the pacts wording did not mean that the agreement which runs through 2023 relieved the Senecas of their responsibility to pay the state 25% of the slot machine proceeds from their casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca. The compact included a stipulation that disputes between the Senecas and New York State would be settled through binding arbitration. The revenue disagreement went to a three-person arbitration panel, which in 2019 ruled in the states favor. The Senecas insisted they were not bound by the binding part of arbitration and went to court to appeal the decision. After a federal court ruled to uphold the arbitrators decision, the Senecas took their case to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which in February 2021 ruled against the Senecas, affirming the arbitration panels ruling. The Senecas filed a motion in September with U.S. District Court in Buffalo, asking Skretny to halt enforcement of the judgment against them. The Senecas had obtained letters from federal officials questioning the legality of the revenue-sharing agreements. Skretny ruled in December that legal concerns raised by the U.S. Interior Department were not on solid ground. Further, the judge wrote that vacating the judgment against the Senecas would impose a hardship on the state, which has been waiting to receive the disputed payments for more than four years. Buffalo and Niagara Falls depend on their shares of casino revenue to fortify their budgets. The mayors of those cities were measured in their words when commenting last week, but both Byron W. Brown and Robert M. Restaino made it clear that its time for the Senecas to pay up. Brad Maione, a spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission, was more direct. The Nation has exhausted all of its appeals, the Judgment is final, and the Nations most recent effort to manufacture an extrajudicial avenue for delay has been denied, Maione said. The Nation should not continue to circumvent the Judgment or avoid its clear obligations to make its revenue sharing payments. Just two years remain on the gaming compact. We have noted before that the Senecas strategy may be to link the back payments to negotiations over a new pact. Both New York State and the Seneca Nation profit from their relationship but the state would need to be convinced that the Senecas are trusted partners before entering into a new deal. The evidence for that is shaky. As Niagara Falls Restaino points out, the payment issue needs to be cleared up soon so that negotiations on a new compact can proceed. If youre going to have that conversation six months before the compact expires, it is not going to be done well. ... This chapter needs to be closed and we need to move on, Restaino told The News. We could not agree more. Its up to the Senecas to do the right thing. Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing. When we were younger, my father would sometimes gather up a handful of his Martin urchins, for a brief ride, to visit his parents, Emmanuel (Manny) and Mary Tevington Martin. They lived in a two-story frame dwelling at 207 Amber St., a few miles from our home on Seneca Parkside. We always enjoyed visiting Pa and Ma, as we called them. They were near the end of a very long span of years and had all manner of interesting stories for us. They had been born in the early 1880s, before automobiles, airplanes and a whole host of modern inventions arrived on the American scene. We would listen to them in rapt attention and remember. Pas grandparents had arrived on these shores in the late 1840s, fleeing the famine in Ireland. His grandfather had been a Great Lakes sailor and his own father a slate roofer in Buffalos First Ward. What fascinated us most though was the presence of a brass spittoon, alongside Pa's chair. Occasionally, he would lean over and expectorate a gob of tobacco juice into the shiny, brass container. We had never before seen anything like this, or knew anyone else who had. The spittoon had the dull sheen of burnished copper, with a wide-open mouth, like a vase for flowers. Chewing tobacco was a habit that Pa had picked up during a lifetime working as a scooper on Buffalos waterfront. Many of the immigrant Irish found work there. They were issued wooden shovels and daily descended into the bowels of the continuous array of grain ships then arriving from the Midwest. A spark from a steel shovel might have ignited the dusty grain boats, like a giant bomb. These were the days before the Welland Canal, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario and then on to the St. Lawrence Seaway project, which opened up the Great Lakes and the vast interior of the United States to the Atlantic Ocean. The hardy lads would shovel the dusty grain into large buckets, which would be then hoisted by derricks and emptied into waiting train cars, for shipment all along the Eastern coast of the United States. During a long day of dusty, hard labor, the men needed something to keep their airways and mouths lubricated. The easy solution was to carry a hardened plug of tobacco in your back pocket. The occasional chaw, of this acrid substance, would keep the mouth full of tobacco juice. At Christmastime, we would offer up to Pa a wrapped block of tobacco. It was about the size of a deck of cards. It only cost us 20 cents then, so even we could afford the gift. I remember the name of the brand. It was marked Elephant, with a small picture of that great beast on the packages cover. Ma was a gentle soul and never complained about the mess or odor of the tobacco. She knew how hard Pa had worked all of his life and what small pleasures he had. One of them was sending cousin Jimmy Ryan to the corner saloon for a growler of beer. It was an open bucket, filled with draft beer. The men had developed a taste for it, alongside of the tobacco, and for the very same reasons. It was a bit of ease after a long day of shoveling grain. We treasured these last few years that these much-loved grandparents had to give to us and long remembered the stories that they passed on to us. And I will always remember that brass spittoon and think of it, and Ma and Pa, when I see some Western movie where a similar vessel sits in a saloon, waiting for cowboys to use it like Pa did. A few years ago, the idea of a company moving its manufacturing operations to North America to save money would have been unthinkable. But as we enter the third year of the pandemic, its happening. Across the home category, brands as diverse as Amazon staple mDesign to direct-to-consumer furniture brand Whom Home and luxury to-the-trade company Atelier Purcell are all doubling down on North American manufacturing in a bid to circumvent the global supply chain crisis. The time that shipping containers are sitting at American ports is insane, and once the goods make it off the ship, the cost of freight is through the roof, says Alexander Purcell, the founder of Atelier Purcell, which has traditionally split its production between the U.S., Vietnam and Europe. We did an overhaul and looked at where we could produce specific frames and finishes in the U.S. at a six-week lead time. Previously, Atelier Purcell had shipped much of its often customized merchandise directly from overseas manufacturers, while a few simpler pieces like dining chairs had components flat-packed and sent to the U.S. for assembly before shipping to the customer. Now, more of the brands bespoke upholstery will be done in the Bay Area, and many of its case goods will be produced in Minnesota. The decision stemmed in part from a realization that many designers currently care more about reasonable lead times than they do about customization, leading Atelier Purcell to increase the number of in-stock pieces it produces. As we have more in stock, designers are happy to take it at the moment, says Purcell. We had planned on starting a quick-ship program anyways. Over the course of the last year, we saw this opportunity to adjust the infrastructure and begin to start building the stock and building it closer to where the bulk of our end users are, which cuts down on delivery time. Spurred on by the pandemic home boom, Jonathan Bass, the CEO of direct-to-consumer furniture brand Whom Home and Innova Luxury Group (which handles white-label production for 1stdibs, Nordstrom and West Elm, among others), doubled the size of his companys factory in Mexico last year, bringing its floor space to 400,000 square feet. Bass says that Mexico, where Innova and sister brand PTM Images have been manufactured since 2010, has long been out of favor in the furniture industry, existing in a limbo between cheaper production in Asia and the more luxury Made in America status. But he sees that tide turning as companies are realizing the benefits of producing closer to the end consumer (Innovas factories sit just a few miles from the Arizona border) while also mitigating the growing labor shortage in the U.S. The U.S. furniture industry continues to be pummeled by a lack of skilled workers combined with rising wages, says Bass. Its very competitive to keep a steady workforce domestically, and I see that leading more companies to Mexico. Getting operations set up in Mexico, however, can take several years. Thats an investment of time and money that not all brands are in a position to make, leading many to plunge ahead in the U.S. despite increased cost and the potential scarcity of workers. Luxury kitchen and bath fabricator Italkraft and trade furniture brand Sherrill have both opted to expand their American manufacturing. The former opened its first U.S.-based manufacturing facility in Miami in December, and the latter spent $2.96 million to convert a 140,000-square-foot former warehouse into a new facility for custom upholstery production. Sherrills endeavor is set to create some 90 new jobs, though Dax Allen, the vice president of marketing, admits that the labor shortage is a real challenge for the North Carolinabased company. Being at the higher end, you do need a more skilled workforce, he says. Sherrill has taken to offering signing bonuses to attract new talent, and the competitive job market has led the company to highlight benefits like health insurance and paid time off, which it has always offered but never previously felt the need to market. The brand is also partnering with the Catawba Valley Furniture Academy in Hickory, North Carolina, offering scholarships to help build up the regions talent pool. Theres a good living that can be made in the furniture industry, says Allen. Were trying to attract people and help them understand that this is a solid career where you can have a nice lifestyle. The American labor shortage hasnt stopped e-commerce home goods brand mDesign from its reshoring efforts either. While CEO Stacey Renfro acknowledges that some of the companys partner plants have had to reconfigure shifts to make up for a dwindling workforce, she says this hasnt impeded productionand certainly didnt keep the company from moving an additional 10 percent of its plastic manufacturing from China to Ohio in 2021. MDesign previously worked with three U.S.-based plastic factories to produce its assortment of affordable storage, decor and furniture, but its manufacturing partnerships more than tripled in 2021. Renfro says the company plans to move other material production, such as wire, to the U.S. in 2022. Until last year, it would never have been cost-effective to move operations like these out of China, she says. I do think its a larger trend across every industrynot just reshoring in the U.S., but getting out of China generally. I know other companies are looking seriously at Mexico. Its not just about the cost anymore. The goal now is to get production closer to distribution and meet the surging demand. Every company wants that capability. Homepage photo: A CNC machine in a furniture factory | Romaset/AdobeStock VANCOUVER, British Columbia, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX:CS) announces that, further to its news release dated November 30, 2021 (the "Release"), it has filed technical reports for Mantos Coppers Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines entitled "Mantos Blancos Mine NI 43-101 Technical Report Antofagasta / Region de Antofagasta, Chile" and "Mantoverde Mine and Mantoverde Development Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Chanaral / Region de Atacama, Chile" (the "Reports"). The reports are effective November 29, 2021 and were independently prepared by NCL, Golder Associates and GT Metallurgy in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 and can be found on the Companys website at www.capstonemining.com and under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. There are no material differences in the information in the Reports and the information contained in the Release. ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP. On November 30, 2021, Capstone Mining and Mantos Copper announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). Upon completion of the Transaction, the new Company would be renamed Capstone Copper Corp. (Capstone Copper). Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone owns 100% of Santo Domingo, a large scale, fully permitted, copper-iron-gold project in Region III, Chile, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CS. Story continues Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This document contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events and the impacts of the ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the filing of a final base shelf prospectus, future offerings of securities and updated technical reports or technical information. In addition, the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations are unknown at this time, including Capstones ability to manage challenges and restrictions arising from COVID-19 in the communities in which Capstone operates and our ability to continue to safely operate and to safely return our business to normal operations. The impact of COVID-19 to Capstone is dependent on a number of factors outside of our control and knowledge, including the effectiveness of the measures taken by public health and governmental authorities to combat the spread of the disease, global economic uncertainties and outlook due to the disease, and the evolving restrictions relating to mining activities and to travel in certain jurisdictions in which we operate. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipates", "approximately", "believes", "budget", "estimates", expects", "forecasts", "guidance", intends", "plans", "scheduled", "target", or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "be achieved", "could", "may", "might", "occur", "should", "will be taken" or "would" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "anticipated", "expected", "guidance" and "plan". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations and closure of mining projects, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, Capstones ability to acquire properties for growth, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, market access restrictions or tariffs, changes in general economic conditions, availability of water, accuracy of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licenses and permits from governmental authorities and potential legal challenges to permit applications, contractual risks including but not limited to, our ability to meet the completion test requirements under the Cozamin Silver Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, our ability to meet certain closing conditions under the Santo Domingo Gold Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, acting as Indemnitor for Minto Exploration Ltd.s surety bond obligations post divestiture, impact of climate change and changes to climatic conditions at our Pinto Valley and Cozamin operations, changes in regulatory requirements and policy related to climate change and GHG emissions, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of Capstone relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs, increased cost of reclamation, challenges to title to our mineral properties, increased taxes in jurisdictions the Company operates or is subject to tax, changes in tax regimes we are subject to and any changes in law or interpretation of law may be difficult to react to in an efficient manner, maintaining ongoing social license to operate, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry including but not limited to competition for skilled labour, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions and new technology into our operations, cybersecurity threats, legal proceedings, and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Companys public filings, including the Shelf Prospectus, which are filed and available for review under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. CAUTIONARY NOTE TO UNITED STATES INVESTORS REGARDING PRESENTATION OF MINERAL RESERVE AND MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATES As a British Columbia corporation and a "reporting issuer" under Canadian securities laws, we are required to provide disclosure regarding our mineral properties in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. In accordance with NI 43-101, we use the terms mineral reserves and resources as they are defined in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards on mineral reserves and resources (the "CIM Definition Standards") adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. In particular, the terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve", "probable mineral reserve", "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" used in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, are Canadian mining terms defined in accordance with CIM Definition Standards. These definitions differ from the definitions in the disclosure requirements promulgated by the SEC. Accordingly, information contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies reporting pursuant to SEC disclosure requirements. United States investors are also cautioned that while the SEC will now recognize "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources", investors should not assume that any part or all of the mineralization in these categories will ever be converted into a higher category of mineral resources or into mineral reserves. Mineralization described using these terms has a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and feasibility than mineralization that has been characterized as reserves. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to assume that any "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", or "inferred mineral resources" that we report are or will be economically or legally mineable. Further, "inferred resources" have a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. Therefore, United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of the inferred resources exist. In accordance with Canadian rules, estimates of "inferred mineral resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances where permitted under NI 43-101. NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 43-101 COMPLIANCE Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, Annual Information Form and news releases (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. The disclosure of Scientific and Technical Information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Carlos Guzman, RM CMC, FAusIMM, Principal, Project Director, NCL, Gustavo Tapia, RM CMC, Metallurgical and Process Consultant, GT Metallurgy, and Ronald Turner, MAusIMM CP(Geo), Golder Associates all Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104006060/en/ Contacts Jerrold Annett, SVP, Strategy and Capital Markets 647-273-7351 jannett@capstonemining.com Kettina Cordero, Director Investor Relations & Communications 604-262-9794 kcordero@capstonemining.com Republicans introduced a legislative package Tuesday that would divert around $25 million in federal COVID-19 relief money toward recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. The package is likely to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has rejected similar measures by lawmakers to direct federal spending in the past. It comes as Wisconsin law enforcement agencies are experiencing what GOP lawmakers Tuesday called a 10-year low in staffing levels. Lawmakers and officers attributed the staffing challenges to public sentiment against police after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, as well as messaging by government figures and statewide labor shortages. Today, Im proud to stand with our law enforcement officers across Wisconsin as we work to refund rather than defund the police, said Rep. William Penterman, R-Columbus. Specific bill language was not made available Tuesday, but Penterman said the package proposes $5,000 bonuses to all new law enforcement officers in Wisconsin; a signing bonus that would provide $1,000 for each year of work experience to officers relocating to Wisconsin from out of state, capped at $10,000; and $2,000 bonuses for officers already in Wisconsin, Penterman said, adding that some of the money would come from local agencies. We cant serve the people, we cant do the things that our community needs us to do and wants us to do unless we have people filling those positions, said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, vice president of the Badger State Sheriffs Association. Evers office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The governor has in the past rejected a range of Republican bills aimed at dictating the use of federal coronavirus funds. Other bills in the package would reimburse trainees for police academy costs, require two technical colleges to introduce a police academy class for aspiring part-time officers and create a matching grant program for small law enforcement agencies to equip and train officers, said Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake. Crime is unfortunately on the rise in Wisconsin and the number of officers on our streets is at the lowest it has been in over a decade, Dallman said in a statement. This bill package helps to restore the dignity and respect that our finest men and women of law enforcement deserve. Homicides are at a five-year high, with 302 in 2020 and 185 in 2019, according to Wisconsin Department of Justice data. Aggravated assault is also at a five-year high, though the numbers of other crimes like larceny, theft and robbery are the among the lowest they have been in five years. In response to the package announcement, Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, pointed toward the GOP-led Legislatures rejection of Evers proposal in the states previous two biennial budgets for increased funding for cities and counties for services including law enforcement. After a decade of underfunding local law enforcement and municipal services, Republicans are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for the consequences of their decisions, Hintz said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Boy group BTS is currently one of the most in-demand acts in the world. Group endorsements and collaborations, like the McDonalds BTS meal and the BTS edition of Samsungs Galaxy S20+, often result in a significant increase in online searches for the brands. Its also no secret that members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook each have a huge influence on brand reputation, with sales for products shooting up whenever they are associated with them. Though the group last visited the Philippines in 2017 when they held their Wings tour in Manila and filmed a Summer Package special in Coron, Palawan, their presence has endured through their many commercial endorsements with McDonalds and Smart Communications in the past two years of the pandemic. This month, they appear on the cover of fashion magazine LOfficiel Philippines. Done in collaboration with Louis Vuitton, the shoot and series of interviews were first published as a joint cover in the Korea editions of Vogue and GQ, as well as across several titles, including the Hong Kong and Singapore editions of Vogue and the Australian edition of GQ (titles also under publishing giant Conde Nasts umbrella) and Harpers Bazaar Indonesia. When we interviewed LOfficiel Philippines publisher Chica Villarta last year ahead of their launch in the country, we asked about the strategy of placing celebrities on the cover. Villarta referred straight away to the success of BTSs previous covers with major print titles like Esquire, WSJ Magazine, and Variety: Imagine in a world where everyone was on digital, a print magazine had to reprint because their choice of cover was very deliberate and I think thats also best practice that we want to do at LOfficiel Philippines, she said. READ: LOfficiel Philippines: On fashion and fandom in the digital age This month, Villarta and the rest of the LOfficiel team finally get to cross BTS off their cover wishlist with their forthcoming Mens Special Edition, out Jan. 17. The issue, which features two covers and over 60 pages of BTS content, was first teased on their social media pages a day after Christmas. Filipino ARMYs were quick to take the hint after seeing a video of the LOfficiel logo appearing over a lilac background and scored with a classical version of the groups single Butter appear on the publications Instagram. Below, LOfficiel Philippines publisher Chica Villarta tells CNN Philippines Life about how the #BTSxLVbyLOPH partnership came to be. Congratulations to the team on the new issue! BTS is a major get, and notoriously difficult cover stars to book. How did L'Officiel Philippines manage to strike the deal with Louis Vuitton to become the only publication in the country to publish this shoot? Thank you! Weve been trying to find ways to reach BTS since we started, specifically through their local endorsements at one point since our launch Im sure Ive mentioned this desire to Louis Vuitton Philippines, although Im sure we expressed it as a kind of it would be nice sentiment as opposed to a formal proposal, given that were talking about the most in-demand artists in the world. Its long been established as well something we discussed in our [previous] CNN Philippines Life interview that part of our cover strategy is to featuring Korean artists as our way of capturing the pulse of the worldwide audience, so through our nine months I think weve successfully established that kind of reputation with our audience, and the brands that observe our next moves. So I guess you can say that this partnership was kind of hanging in the air for a while, and when the opportunity to syndicate the BTS shoot was open, LOfficiel Philippines was top of mind over at Louis Vuitton. For that were very grateful. I'm also curious about your thoughts on Louis Vuittons deal with this shoot given your experience in the industry and status as L'Officiel Philippines publisher. I know that it's common for Conde Nast to cross publish photos between their different titles, and for luxury brands to sponsor shoots. But this BTS shoot I feel is different because it seems that they really went all out for it, with them gracing the main cover of several Vogue and GQ editions, along with other publications not under the Conde Nast umbrella like L'Officiel Philippines and Harper's Bazaar Indonesia. What do you think this says about the evolution of the publishing industry and the way brands work with magazines? Ive been in the business of branded content for a decade, even back when people thought that all magazine work was all editorial and to this day, its never considered a glamorous or romantic part of publishing or any kind of media. But now, rather than advertising partnerships being automatically dismissed as intrusive or inauthentic, if done well, brands are now considered as valuable subject experts for a vast number of editorial themes in our case, fashion. Aside from being trusted wells of information, brands like Louis Vuitton now have become great storytelling partners that breathe insight and depth to our magazine covers. In 2020, Louis Vuitton just celebrated their 200th year in fashion. And though nobody wanted or expected it to happen, the launch of the BTS x Louis Vuitton shoot also happened just a few weeks after the death of Virgil Abloh. As a fashion magazine title, featuring BTS on the cover is our way of commemorating the enduring 200-year legacy of Louis Vuitton, and at the same time, a bittersweet tribute to Virgils last runway collection with the fashion house. Were glad to have paid homage to him in this way. Thats why I think that the #BTSxLVbyLOPH partnership is a beautiful practice of how magazines can harmoniously collaborate with brands: through our BTS covers and the cover stories that come with them, there are already so many layers of stories to discover: a rare look into the individual minds and current aspirations of the most successful musical group of today, the vibrant legacy of one of the most prestigious French fashion houses, and a posthumous tribute to a modern fashion phenom. The Men's Special Edition of L'Officiel Philippines has two cover options which feature over 60 pages of BTS content. Photo from L'OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES/INSTAGRAM What can you tell us about the content can we expect from the 60+ pages of BTS? You previously said that L'Officiel PH is all about "being able to provide what fans want." Will there be an exclusive cover story (or even exclusive photos) different from the ones published in GQ/Vogue/Harper's Bazaar Indonesia that Filipino ARMYs can look forward to? Filipino ARMYs can rest assured that we absolutely tried our best to request for an exclusive interview, but at the time, the boys were already on their rare extended vacation. While the images and cover stories are shared throughout all major global publications, were very happy to provide an extensive number of pages for fans to enjoy this is our longest cover story to date at 60+ pages. Moreover, we know the struggle of Filipino fans to order international publications whenever their idols appear in, say, Korean or USA covers shipping alone can get very pricey. Were glad to offer local availability of the shoot theyve been seeing all over online. The day we launched the BTS covers, we saw tweets from local fans saying how happy they are that they no longer have to spend thousands to get their hands on a physical copy of this shoot. That alone makes us feel very fulfilled and motivated to provide more and better covers for Filipino fans this year ahead. I noticed that previous L'Officiel PH print cover stories have not been posted online. Will this be the same for the BTS cover? And if so, what was the rationale behind this print-only decision? And now that the magazine has published quite a few issues, would you say that the strategy has been working? Yes, we always want to keep some content exclusive for print precisely because they are meant to be enjoyed that way. As we mentioned in our previous interview, we want each LOfficiel Philippines magazine to feel like a collectible and that includes allowing our audience to take in our content in such a fully immersive and experiential way that they can feel the magazines pages in their hands, view the images in full size and color without having to zoom in, and immerse themselves fully in our stories without the intrusion of a notification or the need for internet connection. I can liken this to fans still raring to get a physical copy of their idols newest album even if the songs are already available online. While the digital and physical realms are both valuable to the fan experience, having the album in this case, the print magazine in your hands is a really different high. The January issue is a Men's Special Edition issue and outside of L'Officiel PH's usual seasonal publication schedule. Would it be okay if you outline the process of putting this particular issue together? Was it similar or different to the process of making a regular issue? We often joke around about how the entirety of LOfficiel Philippines is proof that working-from-home works. (Laughs) Without revealing much about our workflow, Id say the only major adjustment we had to make was producing two print issues consecutively. Our machine is structured to create quarterly print releases apart from our regular digital churn, and not long ago, we had just worked on and subsequently launched our December print issue. So upon confirmation [of] our BTS x Louis Vuitton partnership, we already knew we would be working outside of our regular routine, instead of sort of kicking it back until the New Year. But all is well and good at the LOPH HQ having BTS on cover was definitely up there in our list of dreams, and were happy to achieve it in less than one year in. Your previous full pop group cover was the idol group WayV in 2020, which was a cover that attracted the group's fans from all over the world. Now that pre-orders for this issue are ongoing, how would you project the success of this latest issue? More than being extremely talented musicians and very effective brand endorsers, BTS is a group that has transformed the lives of so many people for the better especially during this pandemic. They are amazing role models to people of all ages, and they have infused so much positivity in millions of peoples lives, both through the glaring manifestations of their hard work and simply just by being themselves. That said, its no surprise to me that this print issue is gearing to be our most successful one yet. *** Order the L'Officiel Philippines January 22 Men's Special Edition here. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) A popular amusement park in Pasay City will soon begin welcoming visitors again after more than two years. Star City management announced Wednesday it will be having its soft opening on Friday, Jan. 14. "The long wait is finally over! Star City will be reopening this Jan. 14, 2022," it wrote on Facebook. The park will be open to the public from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. "Star passes" or tickets will be sold online at 400 each, although the management has yet to announce the rest of the details. Star City shut down in October 2019 after the hours-long fire that gutted several attractions within the amusement park. Meanwhile, Enchanted Kingdom in Laguna is temporarily halting its operations until "at least" Jan. 16 in light of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country. "Although Alert Level 2 and/or 3 allows #EnchantedKingdom to operate on a limited capacity, management has decided to voluntarily suspend its operations for the safety and health of both our guests and staff," it said in a post. EK management said customers who booked via its online store "may rebook your tickets any time before the ticket validity end date." "Continue to follow precautions and be safe, everyone. Thank you for your understanding, [....] and we hope to see you all again soon," it added. The theme park made the announcement on Jan. 5, when the country recorded 10,775 new COVID-19 cases, almost double the number of fresh infections during the previous day. The figure also marks the highest single-day increase since Oct. 10 last year. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 4) The Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has filed a complaint against the so-called "Poblacion girl" and eight others for allegedly violating the government's quarantine protocols. The CIDG lodged the complaint before the Makati City Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday. Social media went abuzz in the past couple of days after reports of a coronavirus-positive woman skipping quarantine surfaced. According to officials, the person identified as Gwyneth Anne Chua was supposed to undergo isolation at a Makati hotel, but instead managed to visit the city's Poblacion area where she attended gatherings. Several of her contacts have also caught COVID-19, authorities said. RELATED: 7 close contacts, 1 secondary contact of 'Poblacion girl' positive for COVID-19 DILG Chua's parents, boyfriend, and some hotel staff were also named in the complaint. The CIDG said there was accountability on the part of Chua's loved ones for "tolerating" and not reporting the action. The CIDG cited violations of sections of Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act. In an earlier statement, it said that the respondents failed to comply with the following: quarantine/isolation order or directive duly issued by a public health authority, and terms and conditions of the quarantine or isolation order issued by such. Bribery, other angles Asked about possible bribery, the CIDG said these reports would still have to be investigated. "Sa ngayon, 'yun ay mga impormasyon na nais naming i-patuloy ang masusing pag-iimbestiga. Para [kung] may mga perang dumaan sa kamay ng mga taong involved dito sa ating pagi-imbestiga, ay mapatawan din ng kaukulang kaso," PNP CIDG Director MGen. Albert Ferro said in a press conference. [Translation: For now, those are information that we would still like to thoroughly investigate. If money was involved in the incident, then those involved would face the appropriate cases.] Ferro added they would still have to look into the angle of the parties having an accomplice. He said based on initial evidence, authorities did not see whether Chua spoke to other employees, except for those at the front desk. The CIDG reminded the public to continue following COVID-19 measures or face the consequences of their actions. "We are in a nation of laws, and we will allow the process of law to run its course," Ferro stressed. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The Department of Tourism on Wednesday suspended the accreditation of Berjaya Makati Hotel for its failure to stop a returning Filipino from skipping the mandatory quarantine in the facility. The DOT said it also revoked Berjayas permit as a multiple-use hotel and imposed a fine "equivalent to twice the rack rate of its most expensive room." The DOT said Berjaya admitted that based on their security camera footage, the hotel staff did not attempt to stop Gwyneth Anne Chua from leaving nor called the authorities to report the quarantine breach. "The statements made by the hotel management and its public apology were 'an admission of, not just the facts of the incident, but as well as their lapses in their responsibility, the DOT added. The hotel is given 15 days to appeal the decision of DOT. Chua, who arrived in the Philippines on Dec. 22 from the United States, skipped her five-day quarantine in Berjaya Makati Hotel 15 minutes after checking in. She partied in Poblacion, Makati City the same night. She later tested positive for COVID-19 and infected at least seven of her close contacts. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed charges against Chua, her parents, personnel of Berjaya, and others for violating health protocols. Berjaya is only one of the hotels reportedly involved in absentee quarantine scheme, according to Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat. (CNN) -- Walmart has been swept up in controversy in China after one of its retailers was accused of removing products sourced from Xinjiang. It's more evidence of how difficult it has become for Western businesses to navigate international politics in China. The firestorm began late last month when people on Chinese social media began accusing Sam's Club, the warehouse retailer owned by Walmart, of removing all Xinjiang-sourced products from its app in the country. Criticism exploded, eventually leading a top Chinese anti-graft agency Friday to accuse Sam's Club of "stupidity" and "shortsightedness." "Pulling all products from a region without a good reason hides a hidden agenda," the ruling Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement, adding that Sam's Club would "get a taste of its own medicine." There's still a lot that's unclear about the allegations against Walmart and Sam's Club in China. When asked by CNN Business on Monday about the dispute, Walmart declined to comment. A 'self-deceiving excuse' The controversy started late last month when some Chinese users posted on social media that they couldn't find Xinjiang-sourced products on the Sam's Club app. This was around the same time that US President Joe Biden signed into law new rules that effectively ban imports of products made in Xinjiang over longstanding concerns about alleged forced labor. "I can't find any of Xinjiang's food products that I used to buy on Sam's Club, including their famous red dates, raisins and apples," one user posted December 22 in a snack discussion group on Douban.com, a Chinese movie reviewing and social networking site. "At the same time last year, these products were everywhere. But now I can't find even one. It's hard to believe they are not doing this on purpose." The user's comments were echoed by many others who mentioned similar experiences. Discussion quickly spread to other social media platforms, including Weibo and social e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu. As those claims were blowing up online, Guancha.cn, a nationalistic Chinese news site, cited customer service representatives from Sam's Club as saying that products sourced from Xinjiang were "sold out." Reached by phone this week, a Sam's Club customer service representative told CNN Business that Xinjiang-sourced products were unavailable "mainly because of the storage situation." "At present, stores will also provide some similar goods for customers to choose," the representative said. The company did not give any more details. Chinese authorities have expressed skepticism about those reasons. In Friday's statement, the CCDI accused Sam's Club of trying to "muddle through" the controversy using ambiguity. "Anyone with any knowledge of chain inventory management will realize that pulling all Xinjiang products off the shelves because of 'inventory' is a self-deceiving excuse," the agency said. "To maintain the regular operation of Sam's Club, how could it happen that all products from Xinjiang were out of stock?" The agency added that Walmart "must show sufficient sincerity" if it wants to gain a "firm foothold" in China. The country is one of Walmart's largest international markets. Not the only brand Walmart is not the only Western brand that has been ensnared over a dispute about human rights in Xinjiang, where up to 2 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to have been placed in detention centers across the region, according to the US State Department. China has repeatedly and forcefully denied abusing the Uyghur people or using them to perform forced labor, instead saying that Uyghurs are being taken to re-education camps in order to prevent religious extremism and terrorism. China has also criticized Western companies that are cutting ties with Xinjiang, after facing pressure from governments or investors at home to do so. Last month, Intel apologized in China following a backlash over a directive to suppliers not to source products or labor from the Xinjiang region. And last March, H&M, Nike, Adidas and other Western retailers were threatened with a boycott because of the stand they had taken against the alleged use of forced labor to produce cotton in Xinjiang. H&M was even dropped by major Chinese e-commerce stores. In July, the European fashion retailer reported a more than 20% fall in China sales following the boycott. Still other firms have continued to do business in the region. Tesla, for example, just opened a new showroom in Xinjiang's capital city of Urumqi. -- CNN's Beijing bureau, Jill Disis, and Selina Wang contributed to this report. (CNN) Troubled Chinese real estate developer Evergrande is trying to reassure investors about the impact of an official order to demolish a few dozen buildings in China. Chinese media reported over the weekend that authorities in Hainan province a tropical resort island off the coast of southern China had ordered Evergrande to demolish 39 buildings, saying that the building permits had been illegally obtained. The company acknowledged the order in a post on WeChat on Monday night, but added that it did not affect other buildings in the same property project, which involve some 61,000 property owners. The 39 buildings are part of Evergrande's gigantic Ocean Flower Island project in Hainan, in which the company has invested nearly $13 billion over the last six years. The company suspended trading in its shares in Hong Kong on Monday. In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the company said it would resume trading, and confirmed that it would "actively communicate" with authorities about the Ocean Flower Island project and "resolve the issue properly." Shares surged as much as 10% after trading started in early afternoon, before paring gains. They were last up 1.3%. In Tuesday's filing, Evergrande also said it has achieved contracted sales of 443.02 billion yuan ($70 billion) for 2021. That was down 39% from 2020's sales figure. And regarding liquidity, the company said it would continue to "actively maintain communication with creditors, strive to resolve risks and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties." Evergrande which was China's second largest property developers by sales in 2020 is reeling under more than $300 billion of total liabilities. It has been scrambling for months to raise cash to repay lenders, and the company's chairman Xu Jiayin has been reportedly selling off personal assets to prop up its finances. But that doesn't seem enough to avoid default. In December, Fitch Ratings declared that the company had defaulted on its debt, a downgrade the credit ratings agency said reflected Evergrande's inability to pay interest due that month on two dollar-denominated bonds. Analysts have been long concerned that a collapse by Evergrande could trigger wider risks for China's property market, hurting homeowners and the broader financial system. Real estate and related industries account for as much as 30% of the country's GDP. The US Federal Reserve warned in November that trouble in Chinese real estate could damage the global economy. There's already plenty of evidence that Beijing is taking a leading role in guiding Evergrande through a restructuring of its debt and sprawling business operations. But analysts warned, though, that the real estate crisis remains a looming threat for China. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Evergrande has been ordered to demolish 39 buildings in Chinese resort." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) At least five Cabinet members leading the government's COVID-19 response have recommended the expansion of Metro Manila mayors' policy to restrict the movement of unvaccinated individuals. Presidential adviser for COVID-19 response Vince Dizon said he, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano, and National Task Force Against COVID-10 Chairperson Delfin Lorenzana agreed that the policy ordering the unvaccinated to stay at home should be adopted throughout the country. Dizon described the policy as a "bold move" from the local chief executives in Metro Manila. "We are recommending that this policy in NCR also be adopted by the entire country, even in areas na hindi pa nagsu-surge dahil alam naman po natin it is really just a matter of time na itong Omicron ay kumalat na sa buong bansa," he said. [Translation: We are recommending that this policy in NCR also be adopted by the entire country, even in areas not yet seeing a surge. We know it's just a matter of time until Omicron spreads in the country.] All 17 mayors in Metro Manila signed a resolution this week to restrict the mobility of unvaccinated individuals for as long as the capital region is under Alert Level 3. The policy will ban the unvaccinated from dining in public places, entering malls, and riding public transport for leisure. The government is hopeful it will meet its missed target of fully inoculating 54 million Filipinos this week. Galvez said several areas in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other parts of the country also need to raise the number of booster doses administered. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) At-home antigen test kits will soon be approved in the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Wednesday. He said the Health Department already asked the Food and Drug Administration to revise the Certificate of Product Registration of approved antigen tests, allowing these to be used at home. All the antigen tests currently approved by the FDA are only administered by laboratories and healthcare professionals. "The demand for this is really great, admittedly, but we have to educate the people how to do it correctly. I've prodded [former FDA director Eric Domingo] to make sure that the CPR of the currently available antigen test kits will be revised to include the home conduct, home testing, using antigen test kits, because now, it's still done mostly, officially in a lab set-up," Duque said. On Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reiterated the proper use of antigen test kits at the right time for a more accurate result. She said antigen is better used to check a symptomatic patient for COVID-19 infection. A negative antigen test of a person who is neither exposed to an infected person nor symptomatic is unreliable. Infectious diseases specialist Dr Rontgene Solante welcomes the DOH's recommendation. He said at home antigen test kits would come in handy in earlier contact tracing and treatment of the patient. "I advocated for the home testing, especially for those having symptoms. The advantage there, if you are symptomatic, if you test and you are positive , you can isolate yourself, you can do contact tracing early on and prevent the transmission compared to going out and having the RT PCR [test]," Dr. Solante said. On mass testing Meanwhile, Duque explained mass testing is not feasible at the moment. He said it would incur the government expenses of about 400 million pesos to test 200,000 people every day-a total of 12 billion in a month. "How I wish I could give all of this for free. Mahirap din kasi [it's difficult], it's going to suck a great deal of our limited resourcesmauubos dun pa lang sa [it will just be used up for] testing yet testing is just a small component of the broad front of interventions," he said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The Hong Kong government has banned flights from the Philippines and seven other countries amid fears of a fifth wave of infections with growing Omicron cases. In a virtual briefing on Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said flights from the following countries will not be allowed from Jan. 8 to 21: Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, United Kingdom, and the United States. The Hong Kong leader said imposing the travel ban is crucial to prevent the further spread of Omicron, a new COVID-19 variant that is believed to be more infectious than Delta. Lam noted that "most" of Hong Kong's imported cases come from these countries. The official is hoping the measure could "drastically cut down" imported cases. Last week, the Philippines confirmed its three local cases of the Omicron variant, prompting government officials to place the capital under the stricter Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3 to 15. "My view is that given the very dire situation of the pandemic, we have to grasp this critical moment. We have to contain the pandemic to ensure there will not be a major outbreak in the community again," she said. "The situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating. Without this measure, the public health would be in jeopardy and our previous efforts would be in vain. We have to take this action," Lam said. On Dec. 31, Hong Kong reported its first Omicron cases. Lam said the Hong Kong government will tighten its social distancing measures to stamp out the spread of the new variant. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) President Rodrigo Duterte and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra disagreed on the liability of the hotel that failed to stop one of its guests from skipping mandatory quarantine protocols. Duterte believes hotels used as isolation facilities cannot be held liable for breaches in quarantine protocol. He said hotels don't have the power to prevent travelers who will skip their mandatory quarantine, so he believes it's not "legally correct" to go after hotel management. The president added hotels cannot be burdened with such task when it's supposed to be the job of the government. "We cannot transfer the power now of even stopping if they would want to, if they would insist to go out. Only government can enforce it and we have not even to the extent of delegating them the powers to stop them physically. So that would be a messy thing to do," he said in a taped address on Tuesday. RELATED: Duterte orders deployment of police in quarantine facilities Justice Secretary Guevarra pointed out that hotel quarantine facilities can be made accountable under the law on mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases. "There is a provision there on non-cooperation as part of prohibited acts, Mr. President. And it seems to me that non-cooperation on the part of certain entities, which are charged with a duty to respond to the pandemic, may also be punishable," he replied. Duterte then asked Guevarra if hotel personnel can physically stop their guests from leaving. The latter answered that the management can enforce ways to ensure only guests with emergencies can exit the hotel when they are supposed to be isolating while waiting for a negative COVID-19 test result. Gwyneth Anne Chua, who traveled to the US and arrived back in the country on December 22, was able to leave her quarantine room in Berjaya Hotel in Makati City 15 minutes after checking in. She partied in the city's hip area of Poblacion the same night. She later tested positive for COVID-19 and infected at least seven of her close contacts. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group already filed charges against Chua, her parents, personnel of Berjaya, and others for violating health protocols. The Department of Tourism on Wednesday also suspended the accreditation of and fined Berjaya Hotel for its lapses. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) OCTA Research on Wednesday said the demand for COVID-19 tests is increasing as cases steadily rise in Metro Manila, evidently putting pressure on testing laboratories. OCTA Fellow Guido David said Metro Manila reached a new high of 40% positivity rate as of Wednesday morning. "We're seeing a 40% positivity rate and that is a major concern right now. The highest positivity rate has been 34% already. Now it's a new high and that means, there's now a strain in the testing system of Metro Manila," he told CNN Philippines. He said antigen testing is a good option, especially during a surge, due to its accessibility, short result wait time, and lower cost. "I know that the RT-PCR testing is limited in terms of capacity. We saw that during the surge last year, the Delta surge. But we can augment this with antigen testing," David added. While the RT-PCR remains to be the gold standard in tests, the Department of Health (DOH) advises the use of antigen tests on individuals who are symptomatic or exposed to a positive case. For those taking antigen tests, the DOH said a positive result means you likely have COVID-19. If negative but symptomatic, you need to isolate and get an RT-PCR test. If you're a close contact but without symptoms, you have to be tested on the fifth day with RT-PCR. If you were not exposed and have no symptoms, then an antigen test is unreliable. The department said the DOH, the Food and Drug Administration, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and other experts, are looking into the possible use of antigen self-test kits. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a television interview, said they are determining the right test to use at the right time to ensure there are no inaccurate results. The country's positivity rate stands at 31.7% as of Wednesday afternoon, which means almost 1 in 3 people tested for COVID-19 turned out infected. New COVID-19 infections nationwide soared to 10,775 nearly double the count on Tuesday, bringing the total to 2,871,745. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) All government officials, including their immediate family members, will have to waive their right under the bank secrecy law if Senator Manny Pacquiao gets elected as president. In his statement Wednesday, Pacquiao said he will also push for the publication of their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs), "except the details that may be deemed as breach of their privacy and personal data." "Hindi lang ako [ang] pipirma ng waiver sa bank secrecy. Maging mga kasamahan ko sa gobyerno [I will not be the only one to sign a bank secrecy waiver. Even my colleagues in government], they will be asked to sign the waiver before they can be appointed," he said. "Pati SALN, hindi ito itatago sa publiko [SALNs will also be published]. As public servants, we should be transparent and accountable," Pacquiao added. Republic Act 1405, or the Bank Secrecy Law, protects all deposits of "whatever nature" in banks in the country. It prohibits any person, subject to exceptions, from disclosing any information relative to one's deposits. Further, to ensure zero corruption in his administration, the presidential aspirant said his Cabinet members will go through regular performance audits. He will likewise mandate the creation of a "Mega Prison" (MP), which shall serve as the main detention facility for corrupt officials. The statement said it would have its own hospital for those who would secure court approval for hospital arrest, as well as a "small hut" for prisoners who would be placed under house arrest. It added that the facility will be equipped with mobile phone jammers and surveillance cameras, while prison officers will closely be monitored to ensure they are "not giving anyone special treatment." "We have seen how they (government officials) were able to manipulate the justice system, so that they can still live comfortably and easily," Pacquiao said without mentioning any names. "May props pang mga wheelchair. 'Yung iba, may sakit daw, pero noong nakalaya na sila, biglang naging healthy sila. Mawawala na lahat 'yan sa ating MP dahil kumpleto na ito." [Translation: Some even use wheelchairs as props. Others say they are sick, but once they get out of jail, they suddenly become healthy. Those will no longer work once we establish MP as its facilities are already complete.] "We will have an all-out war against corruption. Titiyakin natin na magsasama-sama ang mga kawatan sa kulungan. Walang makakaligtas [We will see to it that all erring officials would rot together in jail. No one will be spared]," he noted. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) The countrys new COVID-19 cases surged to 10,775 on Wednesday, almost twice the number logged the day before, according to the Department of Health. This is the highest single-day rise since Oct. 10, and it pushed the overall tally to 2,871,745. However, the DOH noted nine testing laboratories failed to submit their latest data. On average, it said these nine facilities contributed 2.2% of all samples tested and 5.3% of all positive results in the last two weeks. The DOH bulletin also showed 44,643 coronavirus tests were reported on Jan. 3. The positivity rate was at 31.7% up from Tuesdays 26.5% which means nearly 1 in 3 people tested that day turned out infected. This is a record high, suprassing the 29.4% logged on Sept. 9, when the country was battling with the surge caused by the Delta variant. Last week, the positivity rate was just at 4.5%, while it was 0.9% two weeks back. To show adequate testing and that transmission has been controlled, US nonprofit Covid Act Now has recommended a positivity rate below 3%, while the World Health Organization has set the ideal percentage to below 5%. Active cases are also highest since Nov. 2, accounting for 39,974 or 1.4% of the total. The DOH said 1,294 of these currently ill patients manifest no symptoms, while 33,866 have symptoms tagged as mild; 2,983 as moderate; 1,512 as severe; and 319 as critical. The department added that of the newly reported cases, 99% or 10,688 were detected over the past 14 days. Metro Manila, now classified as at critical risk for COVID-19, was still the top contributing region with 7,420 more virus-hit residents. Calabarzon came next with 1,719, followed by Central Luzon with 798. READ: DOH: NCR now at critical risk, Region 4A under high-risk Another 605 patients were also added to the survivor count, which climbed to 2,780,109. Meanwhile, 58 more fatalities were confirmed for a total of 51,662. Of the 58 deaths, the DOH said eight occurred in December, another eight in November, 24 in October, 15 in September and three in August. After final validation, it added that it reclassified as deaths 57 cases previously declared as recoveries. It also removed 39 duplicates from the total case count, along with 110 cases found to have tested negative. Some of the back-up 911 dispatch equipment for Columbus, Platte County and a number of other entities in the region is due for a move and an update. "I'm the chairman of the East Central 911 board," Platte County Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer said. "Right now there are (several) counties that are participating in the interlocal that created the board. We share 911 host services." East Central 911 currently includes Saunders County; Butler County; the Columbus/Platte County Joint Communications Center (JCC), which also dispatches for Polk County; Hamilton County, which also dispatches for Merrick County; Boone County, which also dispatches for Nance County; and finally the Grand Island/Hall County Emergency Communications Center. Those entities share 911 equipment under the East Central 911 board's interlocal agreement. It's a cost-saving measure. "Instead of each county having all of their equipment in the back room and spending millions of dollars on equipment, we're sharing the expensive equipment and then we're all connected to it remotely," Hofbauer said. The East Central 911 board has existed for about six years, Hofbauer said, and is currently being refreshed. As part of that process, the Region 26 Council and Custer County are looking to join East Central 911. The equipment shared under the East Central 911 interlocal agreement is currently located, or 'hosted,' in two places. One host is near Wahoo in Saunders County and the other is in Columbus. "The plan is to move the Saunders host to Grand Island and keep the Columbus host where it's at," Hofbauer said. There are a number of reasons for moving the equipment from Wahoo to Grand Island, primarily the need for reliable central heating and cooling. Fluctuations in temperature can wreak havoc on the sensitive equipment at the host locations, which is exactly what happened near the end of September in 2021 when an air conditioning failure caused 911 service disruptions in Butler, Polk and Saunders counties. East Central 911's equipment is getting old and will need to be replaced soon, so if there was ever a good time to make the move, it's now. The upcoming planned equipment upgrades are projected to cost East Central 911 more than $300,000. At a Dec. 30 Joint Communications Committee meeting in Columbus, JCC Director Rachel Pensick said the East Central 911 entities split the cost of the shared equipment based on how many dispatcher positions each has. The equipment will be paid for over a period of five years, but the majority of the cost will be due from the various East Central 911 entities in the first year. Pensick said the Columbus/Platte County share is about $33,000 over all five years, with roughly $26,000 expected due the first year. "84% of that $26,000 should be coming from set aside funds," Pensick said on Dec. 30. Pensick and Hofbauer both separately acknowledged that, across the state, the Nebraska Public Service Commission is encouraging the regional model exemplified by the East Central 911 interlocal agreement. "Although we have the ability to use our funds to pay for it, it's basically an unfunded mandate," Columbus Mayor Jim Bulkley said at the Dec. 30 meeting. Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at molly.hunter@lee.net. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The first boy and first girl born in 2022 have been welcomed at Columbus Community Hospital. The very first baby, a boy named Enzo Gutierrez Carrillo, came into this world on Jan. 2 at 2 a.m. weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is the son of Danais Carrillo Torres and Michael Gutierrez Nunez of Columbus. The parents, who are originally from Cuba, noted their surprise at Enzo being the first baby of the New Year. We werent expecting it, the couple said, as translated from Spanish. Enzo joins an older sibling, Angelo, who is 11. Nunez is employed at Cargill while Torres is a stay at home mom. Torres, who was set to be released on Tuesday with Enzo, said she was looking forward to taking her new child home. Were very happy and eager to go home, Torres said, as translated from Spanish. Addison Tate Lovell became the first girl born in 2022 on Jan. 3 at 10:03 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. Addison is the first child of Amanda Bennett and Jonathan Lovell of Columbus. Bennett is a Seward native while Jonathan is originally from Columbus. The couple noted they were surprised upon hearing they had the first baby girl of the year. We were kind of joking about it, Bennett said, adding they thought there would be another baby to be the first born in 2022. They were unaware the hospital recognized both the first boy and first girl, she said. The new parents said they were feeling nervous about taking Addison home. Both Bennett and Addison had been set to be released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon. I feel more confident than I did when I was pregnant, Bennett said. I definitely had a lot of worries. But, she added, they have a good support system from family and friends. We got some good advice and tips, Jonathan said. Bennett is a registered nurse at Columbus Family Practice. She graduated from nursing school this past May. Jonathan is employed at Gilmore and Associates in Columbus. I'm excited to take her home, show her where she's going to live, Bennett said. Both sets of couples received a bouquet of gift cards the gift cards valued at about $50 each for having the first babies of the year. The first babies of the year also received swaddle blankets designating them as a 2022 baby Enzo received a blue blanket while Addison wore her pink one on Tuesday. The family of the first baby in 2021 received a years supply of diapers and a Pack N Play while the surprises in previous years have included gift baskets. Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A pair of Lakeview High School graduates said their upcoming album, Happy Trails, is in a way a credit to their high school band teacher William Boucher. Married couple Travis and Becky Koester who comprise the music duo, Beck and Tall said through Boucher, they developed a love of music and ultimately met one another through high school band. Now, Becky and Travis who are currently based in Northwest Arkansas - are excitedly awaiting the release of their new album, Happy Trails, a collection of country-western music. The album comes out Friday. Happy Trails will be available through streaming platforms iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play and more. Travis said the album consists of 10 songs with an emphasis on Western music and is a take on old cowboys and cowgirls like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Carolina Cotton and Patsy Montana. The album is also a collection of cover songs, traditional cowboy ones and originals, he added. We just want to of course keep some of the past alive and make people smile with music that is family-friendly for all ages during this difficult time in history, said Travis. The Beck and Tall name comes from the pairs nicknames, as well as a turn of phrase of the saying beck and call, said Becky who goes by Beck. She added Travis received the nickname Tall because hes quite a bit taller than her, making her always look up at him while they play. Becky and Travis - who have been married for 20-plus years - previously played together in the band, The Time Burners, which was mostly a rockabilly group. However, they decided to split off to become a duo to focus on country-western music. Travis a 1996 Lakeview graduate started playing until he was 15 while Becky who graduated from Lakeview in 1998 began music in the fifth grade. Becky said when they met in band, they discovered they had a love of a variety of different genres. He loved the blues while she enjoyed big band and polka music, she added. Travis can play bass, guitar and drums while Becky can play percussion, bass kazoo, as well as sing. Like their band teacher before them, Travis and Becky are getting the younger generation into music. The Koesters had help on the album from 10-year-old Ayla Hollman, who is the daughter of fellow Lakeview grad, Travis Hollman. Ayla played violin/fiddle on Why Dont You Love Me, by Hank Williams. Travis Koester said Hollman and he have a deep appreciation for music and recording with a friendship thats been ongoing over the past 20 years. So when Hollman told Travis about Aylas playing ability, Travis said he and Becky wanted her on the record. She has a bright future and it's so important to keep kids involved in music. I think that's why Beck and I have a deep appreciation for Mr. Boucher, Travis said. He let me explore musically and taught me to just be yourself and most importantly have fun. Andrew Kiser is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at andrew.kiser@lee.net. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Nebraska Public Service Commission awarded $17.8 million in grants to internet providers through the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program to connect nearly 12,400 homes across the state to high-speed internet. On a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Crystal Rhoades of Omaha dissenting, the commission approved a total of 60 grant applications from 19 companies in the launch of the two-year program created by the Legislature in 2021. Sponsored by Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson at the request of Gov. Pete Ricketts, the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act (LB388) appropriated $40 million over two years to expand access to broadband capable of download/upload speeds of 100/100 megabits per second (Mbps). "I'm really happy with what we ended up doing and how the process worked for the time we had," said Commissioner Dan Watermeier, who represents eight counties in Southeast Nebraska. Watermeier said the Public Service Commission worked quickly after the funding was appropriated to set up an application process that opened in October. Seventy-six applications totaling $31 million were submitted, Watermeier said, and a review of the projects began in November. The commission upheld several challenges against applications in areas where companies said they were already providing internet service to that specific area, or already had a plan to provide high-speed internet service in the near future a process that drew criticism from some providers. Seven proposed projects were challenged because they overlapped with another company's existing service area where fiber is being installed, or where a fiber project was planned, the commission said in its order. Although a majority of the commission signed off on the plan, both those that supported it and the commissioner who voted against it said changes will be needed for future grant cycles. Commissioner Mary Ridder, who represents western Nebraska, wrote in a concurring opinion "it became apparent the challenge process would need further adjustment prior to the next round of grants." The rules set by the commission side with challenges if locations in the project area are already being served by speeds of 100/20 Mbps, Ridder said, to avoid an "overbuild" of internet services. "Here is the rub. Not all areas in those projects are receiving 100/20 Mbps," Ridder wrote. In an interview, Watermeier said the commission wants to be careful not to provide taxpayer dollars to one company that wants to build into an area if another company has already privately invested in broadband services there. "It's difficult to be perfect, but we have done a responsible thing with the taxpayers' money to not just allow companies to overbuild," Watermeier said. Rhoades said the commission denied too many grants based on the challenges in the first round of applications, relying on incomplete information from the challenging companies in doing so. Instead of showing which locations in a project area were served by what download and upload speeds, the challenging companies submitted maps that showed the route the high-speed fiber line took through a community, she said. By not showing which homes had access to 100/20 Mbps, Rhoades said the challengers' maps often supported the application more than their own appeal, and urged the commission to re-review all of the challenges. "Simply put, the commission did not follow our own process," she wrote. "We failed to consider the speed data submitted by the applicants, and information provided by customers and elected officials who live in the area. "As a result, service will not be provided to many locations which should have been able to receive it," Rhoades added. Watermeier and Cullen Robbins, director of telecommunications and the Nebraska Universal Service Fund at the Public Service Commission, said several measures were built into the program to ensure internet providers are expanding broadband access across the state. Recipients will receive one-fourth of the funding 30 days from being awarded the grant, one-fourth of the funding in September, and the remaining amount once they submit all invoices within 90 days of completing the project. The Public Service Commission will review labor and material expenses, as well as speed test data from a specified number of locations prior to approval of the final half of the funding, Robbins said. A project that is expected to provide 100/100 Mbps broadband service to 50 homes would need to provide speed results from five randomly selected locations, while those serving 51-500 locations would need to sample 10% of the locations served. Projects reaching more than 500 homes would need to provide speed data from 50 locations, according to the commissions order. Speed tests that do not reach the benchmark set forth in state statute would be required to file a proposal on how to remedy the deficiency, and provide further speed tests to prove the home is then served by high-speed internet. Robbins said he expects the roughly 12,400 locations identified by the project applicants will have high-speed internet before the July 5, 2023, deadline set forth by the commission. Near Lincoln, approved projects include extending high-speed service into the Eagle, Holland, Martell and Sprague areas. Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Since the Biden administration hasnt indicated that it will shift in its Southwest border policy, the U.S. can expect the surge of illegal crossers to continue throughout 2022. If change is coming, it will take the direction of even more illegal immigrants entering, and being released clandestinely in some cases into the interior. During 2021s last days, a border report revealed that the commonly cited illegal immigrant encounters of 1.7 million, the highest total since at least 1960, may be significantly understated. Border patrol agents assigned to the nine Southwest sectors said that they apprehended more than 1.9 million migrants who illegally crossed the shared border with Mexico between ports of entry during 2021. Many if not most of the 1.9 million surrendered to agents and were released, a practice known as catch and release. Another estimated 500,000 aliens avoided apprehension, the so-called got-aways, and snuck into the U.S. interior. Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sanction the worst imaginable human and drug traffickers, who ply their billion-dollar trades with few consequences. In December, agents came upon a stolen commercial tractor-trailer perilously overloaded with 52 people from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who had illegally crossed into the U.S. and were headed north. Other Customs and Border Protection encounters involved an SUV with seven Mexicans, and another vehicle with 12 Mexicans and Guatemalans inside, all being trafficked north from the southern border. Two days before Christmas, Eagle Pass Station agents arrested a Honduran national convicted in 2018 of sexual assault of a child, and sentenced to four years in prison. After serving only two years, the Honduran was deported, but reentered illegally. Agents said that their interactions with dangerous criminals occur daily. Assuming the status quo and theres every reason to expect Biden and Mayorkas will continue their unconstitutional border agenda exactly as they did in 2021 by the time Bidens first term ends in 2025, nearly 10 million released illegal immigrants and 2 million got-aways will have merged into the general population. Thats millions of newcomers who will need to be provided for in a nation that has nearly 40 million Americans, about 11.4 percent of the total population, who live below the $26,695 poverty line for a four-person family. The border is a mess, and no one knows better than Mustafa Joseph, a ten-year veteran agent who recently resigned in disgust. In his letter to Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, Joseph called out the Supreme Court, in disarray, on constitutional clarity issues, presumably regarding immigration. Summing up his conclusion that most Americans came to months ago, Joseph wrote: The undocumented have gone from a fear of infringing the law to brazenly inquiring about whats taking so long with their right to unconditional assimilation. Have we become Handmaids to their cause? Incomprehensible Particularly as the concept of law becomes an increasingly nebulous moving target. To Joseph, his job, and the U.S. government in general, is unrecognizable. In closing, Joseph wished his former boss, Ortiz, good luck dealing with the deck of cards hes been dealt. Americans who value sovereignty are rooting for Ortiz and all dedicated border patrol agents. A Rasmussen poll taken in December found that most rated 2021 as the worst year ever, and are ready to move on to better times. The nations collective hope is that the White House shares citizens disappointment with 2021s failures, and will take giant steps forward to make 2022 a better year. Enforcing immigration laws at the border is a good place to start. Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Its Pennsylvania Farm Show time again! Many area residents look forward to the return of this magnificent eventthe largest indoor agricultural exposition under one roof in the nation. Now in its 106th year, the Pennsylvania Farm Show will run from Saturday through Jan. 15, and will be held at the PA Farm Show Complex, located at 2300 N. Cameron St., in Harrisburg. If you go, youll get to experience those delicious farm show shakes, watch a rodeo demonstration, and find out who bakes the best apple pie, but youll also get to hear some live music from the Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band. The Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band, featuring siblings Autumn and Canyon Moore, will be playing on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Lancaster Farming Stage and again on Monday at 4 p.m. at the Main Hall Stage. During both sets, audiences will get to hear the musical styles, such as bluegrass, gospel, country and hoedowns, that have traditionally been a part of rural culture. Beyond playing music, the members of Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band also square dance and will participate in the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show Square Dance Competition, which will be held on Monday at 7 p.m. in the New Holland Arena. The Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band has been performing together since 2009. Autumn, 19, is currently attending Penn State University, and Canyon, 17, is a junior in high school and taking dual enrollment courses at HACC. Autumn plays mandolin, bass and guitar, Canyon the guitar, and both of them sing. Always interested in helping their peers to develop an appreciation for the music and dance that they love, Autumn and Canyon are part of a nationwide group called Tomorrows Bluegrass Stars and take every opportunity to perform at a music festival geared toward showcasing young musicians. When not playing music, their interests range from square dancing to raising animals and many other activities Autumn and Canyon Moore are no strangers to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. This is the 12th year that theyll return to participate in the Square Dance Competition. The competition is a multi-age affair, but Autumn says its amazing how many young participants the square dance draws. Its a lot of 4-H kids and some home school groups, but really just kids that want to meet other people and have fun, she said. Autumn and Canyon are part of the Juniata County Hillbillies who they say are sending five squares of dancers to the Pennsylvania Farm Show this year. We all got the music and set of calls ahead of time and have been practicing, she said. During the competition, the caller generally follows what youve practiced but sometimes you have to watch out as they might throw in something different! Theyve always come home with first place ribbons, Autumn reported. During the Square Dance Competition, the participants dance to recorded music, but Canyon says the music is very similar to what they play in the Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band. Its all a blend of bluegrass, country and gospel music, he said. Autumn says they have been playing music and dancing for so long that the relationship is very clear to her. You cant really have square dancing without music, and when you are playing the music, youre thinking how it would be like to dance to it, she said. You always need to make it dance-able. Autumn has also served this year as a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Junior Committee, a group of young people who are organizing events to help get more youth involved in the Farm Show. Activities planned include square and swing dancing to be held Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 5:30 p.m., and line dancing to be held on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 5:30 p.m. Both events will be held in the New Holland Arena. For more information about Buffalo Mountain Bluegrass Band, visit www.buffalomountainbluegrass.com. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Farm Show including schedule and parking details, visit www.farmshow.pa.gov. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Press Release January 5, 2022 Angara on the rising cases of COVID: We all have a shared responsibility to prevent the spread of the virus Amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country, Senator Sonny Angara reminded the public to remain vigilant and to take the necessary steps to protect them from possible infections. Alarmed by the spike in new COVID cases over the past few weeks, Angara renewed his call for all those who have yet to receive their vaccinations to avail of the free doses already. The Department of Health (DOH) has noted that 85 percent of patients with severe COVID-19 in the intensive care units of hospitals are unvaccinated. "Nakakaalarma ang panibagong pag angat ng mga kaso ng COVID sa bansa. Ayon sa mga eksperto, ang bagong COVID variant na Omicron ay mas nakakahawa kaya mas mainam na ang lahat ay magkaroon ng proteksyon sa pamamagitan ng pagbakuna kontra sa COVID-19," Angara said. "Sapat naman ang supply ng bakuna sa bansa ngayon at ito ay bibigay na libre ng ating pamahalaan. Malinaw din ang datos na nagpapatunay na mas ligtas ang taong bakunado kesa sa hindi kaya wala talagang dahilan para hindi pa sumailalim sa pagpapabakuna," Angara added. As the sponsor of Republic Act 11525 or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, Angara said there should be no letup in the efforts of the DOH and the local government units to educate the people about the safety, efficacy and benefits of the vaccines in order to encourage the unconvinced to get vaccinated already. Angara also urged the parents of minors to have their children vaccinated already, particularly those aged 12 to 17. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for minors aged five to 11 and the rollout of the inoculation for this age group should come soon. "Our goal is to have most, if not all, of the population vaccinated. The government poured in a significant amount of resources to boost the country's supply of vaccines and this is being done to ensure that all Filipinos are protected from COVID-19," Angara said. Apart from getting vaccinated, Angara reminded the public to continue observing the minimum health protocols whenever they have to go out of their homes. "Kahit nabakunahan na tayo ay kailangan pa din sundin ang mga health protocols kabilang na ang pagsuot ng face mask. We all have a responsibility to prevent the spread of COVID and it all starts by getting vaccinated," Angara said. "Sundin natin ang mga patakaran ng bawat lungsod at kung maaari ay 'wag na lumabas kung hindi naman kinakailangan. Ayaw na natin maranasan ulit ang mga mahihigpit na lockdown kung saan lahat tayo ay apektado," Angara added. Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences on Wednesday looked to debunk a number of spotted lanternfly myths that have been spreading online nearly as rapidly as the insect itself. The invasive bug first appeared in Berks County in 2014 and has since spread across eastern and central Pennsylvania, with the 2021 quarantine zone including Cumberland, Perry, Dauphin, Franklin, York, Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Adams County is the only county in the Midstate yet to be added to the quarantine zone. Given that the spotted lanternfly is a relatively new insect, the college said myths have been spread online, especially social media, regarding what they do to how to kill them. The college said there have been four myths that have persisted. One is that spotted lanternflies kill all plants and trees. According to Kelli Hoover, professor of entomology and among the Penn State scientists studying the pest, said the insects feed on more than 100 species of trees and other plants, but recent discoveries show they rarely kill them. The only exceptions to that are cultivated grapes and Ailanthus altissima, known as tree of heaven, which is a noxious and invasive weed tree. Hoover said, however, that a large number of spotted lanternflies feeding on one tree will affect or stress that tree, which could make it more susceptible to other stressors, such as disease, other insect pests or drought. To what degree a large group of spotted lanternflies affect trees is being studied. Another myth is that the spotted lanternfly is no longer present in certain areas. Though more Cumberland County residents, especially those on the West Shore and in Mechanicsburg, saw larger populations of the insect this past year, other areas in the quarantine zone did not report as many sightings in 2021. Despite fewer sightings, scientists say the insect is still likely in those areas. Horticulture extension educator Emelie Swackhamer said that while several factors may influence insect populations including parasites, predators and efforts to reduce population the more plausible reason is food. We believe they leave an area when they have depleted their food source and need to find a better one, Swackhamer said. This behavior might explain why in areas where populations were high, there are not many the following year. After trees recover, high populations might come back. The third myth is that homemade sprays are safe and effective. Such homemade remedies bandied around on the internet include the use of dish soap, glass cleaner, vinegar, salt, garlic and chili/cayenne peppers. However, Swackhamer said some home remedies, such as dish soap, can hurt beneficial insects and other animals, as well as plants and trees. Research is also recommended to those who opt for or hire professionals to use insecticides given those safety risks. The recommended method of getting rid of spotted lanternflies remains to be simply destroying the egg masses, swatting the insects, using mechanical traps and removing tree of heaven weeds. The last myth researchers wanted to address was that spotted lanternflies are harmful to humans, pets, livestock and structures. The college said despite the annoyance they cause with their sheer numbers, the spotted lanternflies are not known to bite, sting or attack people, pets or livestock. Spotted lanternflies have piercing-sucking mouthparts that function like a tiny straw, but these mouthparts are not capable of penetrating human or animal skin, said Julie Urban, associated research professor of entomology at Penn State. There's no evidence to support claims that the insect may be toxic to pets, she said. Some tests have been done, and to our knowledge, spotted lanternflies do not harbor cantharidin, a harmful substance that is present in some other insects, Urban said. In the meantime, its important to observe pets closely to keep them from eating any insects, including spotted lanternflies. Aside from toxicity concerns, insects with tough wings and exoskeletons can be difficult for any animal to digest in large quantities. Spotted lanternflies are not known to cause damage to buildings or properties, though they do leave behind a sugary excrement called honeydew, which promotes the growth of sooty mold and could attract other insects. For more information about spotted lanternflies, check out the Penn State Extension website. Email Naomi Creason at ncreason@cumberlink.com or follow her on Twitter @SentinelCreason Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PITTSBURGH A meteor that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Years Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons (27,216 kilograms) of TNT, officials said. NASA's Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday a reasonable assumption of the speed of the meteor at about 45,000 mph (72,420 kph) would allow a ballpark estimate of its size as about a yard in diameter with a mass close to half a ton (454 kilograms). If not for the cloudy weather, NASA said, it would have been easily visible in the daytime sky maybe about 100 times the brightness of the full moon. A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart, enabling the estimates. National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan told the Tribune-Review that satellite data recorded a flash over Washington County shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday and officials believed it was due to a meteor falling through the atmosphere. Hefferan said a similar event occurred Sept. 17 in Hardy County, West Virginia. Residents in South Hills and other areas reported hearing a loud noise and feeling their homes shaking and rattling. Allegheny County officials said they had confirmed that there was no seismic activity and no thunder and lightning. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Ameren should close its second-largest coal-fired power plant sooner than proposed, the U.S. Department of Justice said in recent court filings. The electric utility offered to close the giant Rush Island Energy Center in Jefferson County by March 2024. But DOJ lawyers said in a court filing last week that the companys proposal runs astray. They recommended that the utilitys latest motion be denied, and accused the company of pitching a drawn out plan that it engineered for itself. The legal saga at Rush Island goes back more than a decade, when illegal modifications were made to the 1970s-era plant that enabled Ameren to run the facilitys generators more, and emit more pollution. In recent years, multiple court rulings against Ameren left it with a decision to either install expensive pollution controls estimated to cost up to $1 billion, or to close Rush Island ahead of its 2039 schedule. The DOJs recent brief, filed Dec. 28, responded to an Ameren motion to close the power plant by 2024, 15 years earlier than initially planned. The filing seemed to signal that the decade-long legal battle surrounding the facility sparked by years of Clean Air Act violations and excessive pollution was nearing a conclusion. The court squabbles have now pivoted to when and how the plants closure should take place and whether it should happen largely on Amerens terms or based on those of a federal court in St. Louis. An Ameren spokesman said that the companys legal team has until the end of the week to reply to the new filing. Marty Lyons, the newly appointed CEO of the company, said last month it remains committed to reliable and affordable electric service, while reducing emissions and building on our longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship. The DOJs response to Amerens motion was joined by the Sierra Club, which intervened in the case as another plaintiff. Ameren was supposed to install pollution controls called scrubbers by March 2024. But now that the company has said it wont install the technology and will instead retire the plant the DOJ said compliance can occur much more quickly. DOJ lawyers argued that the need for prompt compliance is particularly acute in this case, citing court findings that the plants excessive release of pollutants like sulfur dioxide poses irreparable harms to residents of downwind communities, including increased risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, asthma, hardened arteries and premature deaths. Ameren said it will determine an appropriate retirement date, informed by an ongoing study about electric reliability conducted along with the regional grid overseer, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO. The DOJ countered that it is up to the Court, not Ameren to set the deadline for when Rush Island shuts down calling it an extraordinary request to leave that power in the hands of the utility. The DOJ said that Ameren has already told MISO it should assume a relatively distant retirement date at least 18 months away, for the purposes of conducting the grid reliability study. But the company has also acknowledged that MISO only requires about six months of advance notice for a proposed retirement, the filing says. Tripling the minimum time for Rush Islands retirement notice may suit Amerens interests, but any delay in the plants shutdown will come at the expense of human health and welfare, DOJ lawyers wrote. The filing said Ameren could have reached out to MISO sooner to evaluate potential retirement. Ameren fails to acknowledge that these potential delays are entirely of its own making, the DOJ filing said. The company first raised the possibility of the plants retirement in 2018, the DOJ said. In 2019, it was instructed to evaluate Rush Islands fate by utility regulators at the Missouri Public Service Commission, but waited another two years to even preliminarily reach out to MISO. The DOJ also raised questions about how much Rush Island should be allowed to operate between now and its retirement. Should limits be imposed to minimize the plants pollution? Should just one of its two units be allowed to run? Should use be confined to the summer air-conditioning season when electricity demand is pushed to its highest levels of the year? Though still heavily reliant on coal power, Ameren has made significant commitments to renewable energy, including a plan unveiled last year to funnel $8 billion toward wind and solar projects over the next two decades. The company also accelerated aims to reduce carbon emissions, and reach net-zero by 2050. Rush Islands legal fate could advance both objectives. When Ameren announced last month that it would retire the plant, the company said the move will be in the best interests of the public and all involved. It pointed to a newly approved financing policy in the state, called securitization, that lets utilities close coal plants and direct investment toward alternatives, like renewable energy projects, that stand to generate cheaper power and reduce costs for captive customers. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A 62-bed shelter has opened its doors on the grounds of the former Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington to help meet a growing need in the community to provide temporary housing for the homeless. The now-vacant 98-bed osteopathic hospital located at the corner of Weber and Wallace roads closed its doors in January 2016, just nine months after BJC HealthCare purchased the property and ultimately consolidated operations into Parkland Health Centers Liberty Road campus. The Mineral Area Regional Medical Center property and buildings were eventually purchased by local businessman Sharo Shirshekan who in turn donated it to East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA). While there are plans to repurpose the former medical facility into a regional behavioral health center, the homeless shelter occupies what was previously used as the hospitals maintenance building. It sits behind the main hospital structure and to the left of the Farmington Oaks Senior Center. "Mr. Sharo Shirshekan was generous enough to renovate this building for us, said Nicolle Hahn, EMAA Community Services program director. It has this large dining room. We dont have a full kitchen, but our goal is that we will be reaching out to churches to help us provide meals using a rotation schedule. "So far, for the last three nights, we have had meals provided for the clients. Well provide them with a continental breakfast and then theyll be on their own for lunch, but well have some things if they need them. Each bedroom at the shelter has three to four beds with a full set of bed linens. The handicapped rooms have three beds to allow them to navigate wheelchairs and other aids. There are storage bins under the beds where they can keep personal items; a bulletin board on the wall for announcements, rules and messages; and a small desk area. There are also hallway bathroom/shower areas. According to Hahn, the buildings new interior looks completely different than it did prior to Shirshekans renovation work. When I first walked into this building, it had shelves, tools, and all sorts of stuff, she said. There is no doubt in Hahns mind that the shelter is something the community needs now more than ever before. Before we started working with the homeless population when the Uplift Day Center became a thing last summer people in this community had been talking about the homeless and knew that there were some, but we were seeing about 10 to 15 clients a day, she said. Then last year when we began to provide housing because it was so cold and we had received a grant and were able to put people up in hotels, we ended up at our highest number of 65 people in St. Francois County at one point in time in February 2021. "And so, we knew we had a higher population than we even thought there was. And theyre really good at staying in places where people dont really see them. Some stand on the corner, but theres a lot of people who are out in the woods or in smaller spots in town or find spots where they dont feel theyre going to be seen. Asked how a homeless person can find a temporary home at the shelter, Hahn said, They work with our day center staff which currently for the next few days will still be at the Uplift Day Center by the senior center. "Eventually, our hope is to move everything down here. You would just come to this building. We would do an intake and referral and we would go through with the client all of their needs, what resources they do have, what resources we need to connect them with and then we would work with the resources the agency has as well as resources within the community. Through this project and through what weve been calling Dream Big St. Francois County, we have been able to partner with many organizations to learn about the services and get everybody together to say, OK, this person can help with this, and this organization can help with this. And so, when somebody comes in, it may not even just be EMAA resources we connect them to. It might be other resources as well. After they come in and do that intake and referral, well see if theyre eligible for a homelessness voucher through HUD. Maybe they have an eviction record we might be able to work with Legal Aid of Southern Missouri and work to get that eviction off their record. Or can we find a landlord who accepts the HUD program? "We also do Medicaid expansion education through our agency. Even today one of our staff is over there talking to clients about if they are eligible, how to help them get health insurance. We also have somebody who does the Affordable Care Act, and we can sign them up for that. It just depends. We look at their whole intake. We ask them questions sometimes hard questions to help us understand where theyre coming from and how to be as self-sufficient as they can be. Hahn said that the length of time that a person can stay at the shelter depends on their circumstances, but the shelter is not intended to be a long-term solution for homelessness. She added that the shelters greatest need is volunteers. Volunteers to help, Hahn said. Whether that be serving food, helping us keep things clean, answer the phone talking to clients, signing them in and out anything like that we can use volunteers for. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the shelter or they can contact me at (573) 431-5191, ext. 1105 or email me at nhahn@eastmoaa.org. We do have to do a background check because of our grant policy and things like that. Once we do that, we will train them in how to do what weve asked them to do over here. There will be two staff here all the time that is our goal and plan. Keri McCrorey, East Missouri Action Agency executive director, expressed a mixture of excitement and a little bit of fear with the opening of the homeless shelter. Because were stepping into a new world here, she said. We couldnt thank Mr. Shirshekan enough for everything that hes done. He built this building for the homeless. He has a very big heart for the homeless. I dont want to speak for him, but Ive just never met anyone quite like him. "Its just been an awesome experience that weve developed this relationship with Mr. Shirshekan. He puts God first in everything that he does and he will tell you that Dont thank me, thank God. God is using him, and he is allowing God to use him. Without that, we wouldnt be where we are today. Im so thankful hes provided this for us. East Missouri Action Agency has never done anything like this before. Ive been in the business for 32 years now. We did have a shelter in Elvins at one point. It was really two apartments, but it was for homeless people. It wasnt of this magnitude, of course. I oversaw that shelter. My former boss, Bill Bunch, led the effort to get it funded. This isnt really new to me, but the scale of it is new. "Of course, weve done a lot of different research and best practices on how the best way is to operate an emergency shelter. Everybody does it different, and so were trying to take the different pieces of the things that weve learned by visiting different shelters and make it what it needs to be to be a best practices home. And what does McCrorey see as the big picture for the homeless shelter and other plans for using the former medical center? I think the big picture is that were really trying to provide total care on this campus, she said. If somebody comes in like Mr. Shirshekan says theyre broken people and theyre hurting, so we really want to provide care to them and get them to a point where they are able to hold down a job, able to have their own apartment just be able to be a functioning member of society. "We want to be a part of that. There are a lot of hurting people in this community, as well as other communities. We oftentimes want to other people. By othering them it distances us from them because we dont believe we could ever be in that kind of situation and thats the furthest thing from the truth. We want people to realize that this is a community project. This is not an EMAA project. Yes, we are overseeing it. Yes, we are organizing it, but this is about making our community better, and we need the communitys help because the more we come together as a tight-knit community who support each other, the better outcomes we can have for the people we are serving. "We need volunteers, we need monetary donations. Weve estimated there are enough churches in St. Francois County to provide meals where they dont have to provide them once a month or once every couple of months and a dinner meal just a hot meal for people. Without their support, EMAA can only do so much and so its really important that people understand this is about making their community better. Shared Blessings, a non-profit transitional homeless shelter, has been operating in Bonne Terre since 2005 and can house about 35 individuals. Kevin R. Jenkins is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-783-9667 or kjenkins@farmingtonpressonline.com Love 20 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 6 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. UPDATED: 7:00 p.m. Around 2,700 Dominion Energy customer in Charlottesville and 17,700 in Albemarle County remained without power Tuesday evening amid snowfall and freezing. Dominion Energy has struggled to restore power to residents of Central Virginia after a mixture of rain and snowfall created hazardous conditions for much of the region. Despite the high numbers out in the Charlottesville area the vast majority of customers in the counties of Buckingham, Fluvanna and Louisa were without power Tuesday evening, as, according to Dominion, the region had "been particularly impacted by this historic event where damage is the most severe and road conditions are treacherous." According to Dominion's outage map, many of the affected areas are expected to receive power again by the 11 p.m. Tuesday. According to a news release from the city of Charlottesville, the Public Works day team was able to make significant progress towards improving road conditions and clearing right-of-way issues Tuesday. Another full team will resume work at 7 a.m. Wednesday and work to clear intersections and provide additional removal for remaining secondary routes. A modified night team will operate Tuesday and actively work on clearing remaining snow issues and responding to any refreezing concerns, according to the release. Bridges, overpasses and ramps will be a priority. "We appreciate our public works team working diligently to make our streets safe!" the release reads. UPDATED: 4:20 p.m. Dominion Energy is urging patience as its employees work to restore power to more than 100,000 people across the state. According to an outage map, the majority of those without power are within Central Virginia, including 20,000 in Albemarle County and 4,000 in Charlottesville as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. In a Facebook post, Dominion acknowledged the "hundreds of messages from customers sharing anger and frustration, questioning when there will be an update on when their power will be restored." To provide updated restoration times, Dominion's patrollers must be able to reach worksites and assess damage, the post reads. "Our crews are working as quickly as they can to safety navigate icy roadways, road closures, downed trees and tree limbs," the post reads. "In some localities the damage is so severe that some areas are not even accessible by foot, in those cases we are using drones to assess." More crews from across the country and more than 800 mutual aid contractors will be joining Dominion to assist with restoration efforts and, in total, Dominion said it has restored power to restored service to 72% of the 400,000 customers affected. "We know that you are tired and cold, and it is extremely difficult to be without power during this time," the post reads. Outages can be reported and checked here >> dominionenergy.com/outages Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, also provided updates for constituents, detailing the situation in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon. "Crew are focused today on mainline circuits the grid's major arteries," Hudson wrote. "They aim to have that work completed by 9 pm tonight. Most of the work in Charlottesville-Albemarle will be done tomorrow (Wednesday)." According to Hudson, if residents don't see an estimated time of return (ETR) posted yet, they should plan for the strong chance that their ETR won't be posted until Wednesday morning and power may not be restored until Wednesday or Thursday. "Remember that our power grid is like our roadways, with interstates, highways, local roads, & little spurs. Progress on big parts can put thousands back on line," Hudson wrote. "Further out progress comes in slower, smaller parts. Contractors from 7 states are pitching in, so lots of [workers are] on it." UPDATED: 3:30 p.m. With power out and temperatures expected to fall below freezing for the second-straight night, several communities are opening shelters and stations for residents to warm themselves and recharge their phones and devices. The warming station at the Stanardsville Volunteer Fire Company will now be an overnight shelter, officials announced this afternoon. Cots and blankets will be provided from the American Red Cross and snacks, water and Gatorade will also be provided. Those seeking shelter should leave pets at home and bring necessary medications and additional blankets and pillows and food, if they want. A microwave will be available. Masks and hand sanitizer will be provided and residents may charge electronics, stop by for food and fill water containers. For transportation to the shelter, contact (540) 219-3534 Madison County opened a shelter today at the Madison Firehouse, in Madison, citing nearly half of its population being without power. The County currently has approximately 48% of its citizens without power, officials said in the shelter announcement. Should you leave your residence, please ensure all heating sources and cooking appliances are turned off. Please use caution with generators. Louisa County opened a shelter at the Holly Grove Fire Department. Orange County has opened shelters at Locust Grove Elementary School, Prospect Heights Middle School and the Gordonsville Volunteer Fire Company. The University of Virginia opened Newcomb Hall until 5 p.m. and Clemons Library until 6 p.m. for people to use to get warm and charge devices Tuesday. _______________________________________ UPDATED: 12:15 p.m. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative officials say mutual-aid electric workers from Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, Florida and other states are arriving to help the utility restore power in Greene, Madison, Orange and Louisa counties. But officials say there may more days of dark and cold for customers before all have their power back online. Crews and contractors continue to assess damage, make repairs and restore service after [an historic winter storm] toppled trees, downed power lines and damaged electric equipment, said Casey Hollins, the utilitys managing director for communications and public relations. This multi-day restoration effort will be especially difficult due to the expected below-freezing temperatures over the coming nights, and [the utility company] urges member-owners to seek shelter or make alternative arrangements. Hollins said repair crews will be investigation outages along west U.S. 33 in Louisa County; Bakers Store and Route 601 in Orange County; and Holly Hill and Toms Road in Greene County. We recognize this outage is having a significant impact on so many of our members, Hollins said. Our crews, contractors and other employees are thinking of our member-owners as we all work together to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. REC provides electric service to over 170,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. UPDATED: 11:30 a.m. With power out and temperatures down, Fluvanna County officials are opening an emergency warming station for the cold and powerless at the Fluvanna County High School. The site is expected to be up, running and warming by 12:30 p.m. and will remain open as long as power is out and temperatures are low. Face masks will be required while in the warming station due to COVID-19 concerns. Access to the center at the high school is via the side doors near the staff parking lot. No transportation is available to the site, but those needing warming are welcome to bring their vehicles, officials said. Station guests are encouraged to bring their own cell phone chargers, snacks, medication, and bedding material, if they anticipate staying overnight, said Debbie Smith, County Emergency Management Coordinator. For more information, call (434) 591-1995. _____________________________________________ Nearly all of Louisa County was without power Tuesday morning along with half of Albemarle and Fluvanna counties, a slight improvement from Monday when a winter storm dropped several inches of snow on Central Virginia. As crews work to restore power, they are facing road closures and downed trees. Scottsville Road in Albemarle County was closed from Carters Mountain to Red Hill in both directions because of downed power lines. In Louisa County, U.S. 522, also called Cross County Road, was closed near Route 657 because of a tractor-trailer crash involving downed power lines. The Virginia Department of Transportations Culpeper office said on social media that there were thousands of downed trees down in the Charlottesville area, many of which were tangled with utility lines. With below freezing temperatures Tuesday morning, emergency management officials urged motorists to stay off the roads this morning until the ice melts. Dominion Energy officials said online that the winter storm was one of the top five worst winter storms in the companys history with 390,000 customers losing power at some point. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative said Monday evening that it took a direct hit from the winter storm, which caused more than 600 individual instances of damage and knocked out the power for more than 90,000 people, according to a news release. They expect outages to persist through the end of the work week and encouraged people to see shelter or make alternative arrangements. Electrical crews from Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Georgia and Florida will travel to the area to help REC make repairs and restore power. In Fluvanna County, where 53% of energy customers were without power, an emergency warming station has been opened at Fluvanna County High School. The school should open by 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and will remain open as needed, according to a news release from Fluvanna County officials. Station guests are encouraged to bring their own cell phone chargers, snacks, medication, and bedding material if staying overnight. Transportation to the shelter will not be provided. The high school is at 918 Thomas Jefferson Parkway in Palmyra and masks are required. Enter the school using the side doors near the staff parking lot. About 2,700 Dominion Energy customer in Charlottesville and 17,700 in Albemarle County remained without power Tuesday evening amid snowfall and freezing temperatures, and utility companies serving the region asked for patience. Dominion Energy, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Central Virginia Electric Cooperative have struggled to restore power to residents of Central Virginia after a mixture of rain and snowfall created hazardous conditions for much of the region. Despite the high outage numbers in the Charlottesville area, the vast majority of customers in the counties of Buckingham, Fluvanna and Louisa were without power Tuesday evening. According to Dominion, the region had been particularly impacted by this historic event where damage is the most severe and road conditions are treacherous. According to Dominions outage map, many of the affected areas are expected to receive power again late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Dominion Energy is urging patience as its employees work to restore power to more than 100,000 people across the state. In a Facebook post, Dominion acknowledged the hundreds of messages from customers sharing anger and frustration, questioning when there will be an update on when their power will be restored. To provide updated restoration times, Dominions patrollers must be able to reach worksites and assess damage, the post reads. Our crews are working as quickly as they can to safely navigate icy roadways, road closures, downed trees and tree limbs, the post reads. In some localities the damage is so severe that some areas are not even accessible by foot, in those cases we are using drones to assess. More crews from across the country and more than 800 mutual aid contractors will be joining Dominion to assist with restoration efforts. We know that you are tired and cold, and it is extremely difficult to be without power during this time, the post reads. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative officials said mutual-aid electric workers are coming from Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, Florida and other states are arriving to help them restore power in Greene, Madison, Orange and Louisa counties. But officials say there may more days of dark and cold for customers before all have their power back online. Crews and contractors continue to assess damage, make repairs and restore service after [an historic winter storm] toppled trees, downed power lines and damaged electric equipment, said Casey Hollins, the utilitys managing director for communications and public relations. This multi-day restoration effort will be especially difficult due to the expected below-freezing temperatures over the coming nights, and [the utility company] urges member-owners to seek shelter or make alternative arrangements. Hollins said repair crews investigated outages along west U.S. 33 in Louisa County; Bakers Store and Route 601 in Orange County; and Holly Hill and Toms Road in Greene County. We recognize this outage is having a significant impact on so many of our members, Hollins said. Our crews, contractors and other employees are thinking of our member-owners as we all work together to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. REC provides electric service to over 170,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. According to a news release from the city of Charlottesville, the Public Works day team was able to make significant progress toward improving road conditions and clearing right-of-way issues Tuesday. Another full team will resume work at 7 a.m. Wednesday and work to clear intersections and provide additional removal for remaining secondary routes. A modified night team was to operate Tuesday and actively work on clearing remaining snow issues and responding to any refreezing concerns, according to the release. Bridges, overpasses and ramps will be a priority. Nearly all of Louisa County was without power Tuesday morning along with half of Albemarle and Fluvanna counties. With power out and temperatures expected to fall below freezing for the second straight night, several communities opened shelters and stations for residents to warm themselves and recharge their phones and devices. The warming station at the Stanardsville Volunteer Fire Company is serving as an overnight shelter, officials announced Tuesday. Cots and blankets were provided from the American Red Cross and snacks, water and Gatorade were also provided. Those seeking shelter were told to leave pets at home and bring necessary medications and additional blankets and pillows and food, if they wanted. With power out and temperatures down, Fluvanna County officials are opening an emergency warming station for the cold and powerless at the Fluvanna County High School. The site will remain open as long as power is out and temperatures are low. Madison County opened a shelter at the Madison Firehouse, in Madison, citing nearly half of its population being without power. The county currently has approximately 48% of its citizens without power, officials said in an announcement. Should you leave your residence, please ensure all heating sources and cooking appliances are turned off. Please use caution with generators. Louisa County opened a shelter at the Holly Grove Fire Department. Orange County has opened shelters at Locust Grove Elementary School, Prospect Heights Middle School and the Gordonsville Volunteer Fire Company. The University of Virginia opened Newcomb Hall and Clemons Library during the day on Tuesday for people to use to get warm and charge devices. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Tyler Hammel Reporter Tyler is a reporter for the Daily Progress. You can reach him at (434) 978-7268 Follow Tyler Hammel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Press Release January 5, 2022 De Lima named anew as one of Sheroes of the Year For the fifth time since 2016, Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima is named as among the "5 Sheroes of 2021" or Women Heroes by the RINJ Foundation for her continued defense of human rights, which has become "legendary" in the past years. The RINJ Foundation, a Canada-based private, non-profit association of humanitarians listed with the United Nations, cited De Lima next to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who is first on the list of 2021 Sheroes. "In the Philippines, opposition members are either killed, or tied up in legal knots and sent to jail. There now is no political opposition in the Philippines, except [Sen.] Leila de Lima. One of the strongest opposition voices in the Philippines, is an indefatigable defender of human rights, Shero Leila de Lima," said RINJ NGO worker in Manila, Karina Angeles. Last Dec. 31, 2021, the RINJ Foundation, through a popular women magazine, Feminine-Perspective Magazine (FPMag), published its list of prominent and empowered women who continue to inspire thousands of people globally for their work, principles and advocacies. Aside from De Lima and Pres. Tasi Ing-wen, also included in the list are Hong Kong-based Canadian pop star and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho; US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and British-Iranian teacher and communications specialist Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. "Sadly, three of this year's women who smooth the path of humanity for a future of innovation, opportunity & safety of children and their families, are held in prison or on bail by brutal authoritarian regimes. Two more are thriving national assets and Sheroes in their own countries," said Katie Alsop, a founding director of RINJ Women. De Lima has been detained since Feb. 24, 2017 over trumped-up drug charges based mostly on testimonies of convicted felons, while Nazanin was first sentenced to five years in prison on a trumped-up national security charge after a reported unfair trial in Sept. 2016. Ho, who was accused of conspiring to publish seditious comment about the Communist Party of China, was only recently released from prison on bail. RINJ described De Lima as a Senator seeking a second six-year term in 2022 whose "fight for Filipino human rights is relentless and has become legendary these past five years." In naming De Lima as among the 2021 Women Sheroes, Angeles notably shared that, "with more thousands of extrajudicial killings and countless more murders unexplained, just about everyone's life in the Philippines has been touched negatively by this brutal dictatorial criminal government." Despite her continued unjust detention, De Lima continues to reap awards and citations here and abroad recognizing her outstanding fight for justice and human rights no matter the cost. "I am deeply grateful and humbled to be included once again as one of the RINJ Foundation's Sheroes of the Year. This means a lot to me. I thank you and all kindred spirits around the world for your constant support for our shared causes. With you, I am not alone and become stronger each day," De Lima said. The Corvallis City Council unanimously allocated $30,000 for the Corvallis Police Department to use to remove abandoned/disabled recreational vehicles from city streets. The Monday, Jan. 3 discussion and vote followed a report from Corvallis police Chief Nick Hurley, who said his department currently is working on nine RV cases. The city removed five such vehicles in 2019, none in 2020 (when illegal camping enforcement was suspended) and 12 in 2021. The vehicles were described as too dilapidated to be resold. The plan is to tow and dispose of them. A key issue in the debate focused on how to fund the effort. The council landed on the funding to be split equally between mayor-City Council discretionary funds and the general fund contingency fund. The original resolution called for all $30,000 to be allocated from mayor-council discretionary funds, but several councilors expressed concerns about the council paying the full cost. Ward 4s Gabriel Shepard moved to amend the resolution and split the allocation. The amendment passed on a 7-2 vote, with Jan Napack (Ward 1) and Andrew Struthers (Ward 9) voting in opposition. In other business councilors: Unanimously approved receipt of a public art piece that will be placed in the new second-floor area of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library when the construction is completed in March. The piece, called "She Rose from the Sea," was created by Corvallis native Dale Donovan and Kalapuya elder Don Day of Stayton. It is intended to be floor-standing and is made of clay tile, petrified wood and arrow heads that decorate a cedar image of Marys Peak. The Marys Peak Alliance and the Marys Peak Group of the Sierra Club purchased the installation, which is being donated to the library. The piece was created in 2018 as part ARTscend Marys Peak program. The Marys Peak Alliance took Donovan and about 40 other artists up to Marys Peak and gave them one day to work on an art project on the summer solstice. The art was later displayed at eight local galleries. Initiated a process that could allow Oregon State University to move forward with plans to modify some on-campus streets. Councilors responded positively to OSUs report on the issue, which noted the key goals of improving connections for bikes, pedestrians and buses while continuing to provide access to service vehicles. We want to make it easier for people to get to and around campus without using a private vehicle, said Bob Richardson, the universitys land use manager, and this ties in with the citys goals as well. Heard a report from City Manager Mark Shepard on the annual setting of the city's transit operations fee, which is tied to gas prices in Oregon. The average price in Oregon was $3.44 per gallon in 2021, which means the fee, paid by city property owners, will rise from $2.75 per month to $3.44 per month, effective Feb. 1. The projected $204,000 in additional fee revenue brings the annual total from the fee to $895,300. The total operating budget for the transit system is $4.7 million in this fiscal year. Shepard also noted the initiation of renewal talks with Northwest Natural concerning the utility's franchise agreement with the city. The agreement is set to expire Jan. 1 with city officials hoping to conclude negotiations on a new deal by December. NW Natural currently pays the city $600,000 per year, which represents 5% of gross sales to customers within the service area. Councilors and the staff report both noted the need to keep in mind concerns about greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas. Dozens of communities nationwide have banned natural gas infrastructure in new development. Contact reporter James Day at jim.day@lee.net or 541-812-6116. Follow at Twitter.com/jameshday or gazettetimes.com/blogs/jim-day. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Former Republican congressman and 2008 U.S. Senate nominee Bob Schaffer on Tuesday endorsed Republican Gino Campana in the GOP primary for the seat held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Press Release January 5, 2022 De Lima laments Duterte decision to veto establishment of Human Rights Institute Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima expressed dismay over the decision of Mr. Duterte to veto the establishment of a Human Rights Institute (HRI) in this year's record P5.02-trillion National Budget. De Lima, former Chairperson of the Commission of Human Rights (CHR), said Duterte ended his term the way he started it: with disdain and disregard for human rights in our country. "When he started his term, he had his allies in Congress attempt to defund the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Now, he tries to undo a human rights-related initiative agreed on by both chambers of Congress that he had no control over," she said. "For Duterte to veto even a harmless provision in the General Appropriations Act shows his "allergy" for everything remotely related to the promotion of human rights," she added. Duterte signed on December 30, 2021, the proposed P5.024 trillion National Budget this year, which is now known as Republic Act No. 11639 or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2022. Documents containing the Duterte administration's last GAA reportedly showed that among the five budget items vetoed by the President was the special provision for the Human Rights Institute. CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said in a statement that the HRI is a project that would allow the Commission to fulfill its mandate on human rights research and information dissemination - as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. "The Human Rights Institute is an office created by the CHR in furtherance of its mandate to make human rights education more accessible to the people at no additional/separate cost to the government. It merely seeks to organize existing efforts to make them more effective and efficient," De Lima explained. The lady Senator from Bicol stressed that Duterte's last veto message does nothing except betray his anti-human rights mindset. "Kung hindi para sa kapakanan niya at ng mga alipores niya, balewala ang karapatang-pantao," said she. "Para sa trying-hard maging diktador, sila lang ang may karapatan. Hindi na ako magugulat pag maging bukambibig niya ang 'human rights' sa kanyang pagmumura pag umusad na ang mga kaso laban sa kaniya ng mga biktima ng mga pang-aabuso ng kaniyang rehimen," she added. Qatars telecoms company Ooredoo and Hong Kongs CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd has completed the $6 billion merger of their Indonesian telecom businesses after securing all shareholder and regulatory approvals. The deal will make the merged entity, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, the countrys second-biggest telecoms company after state-backed Telkomsel. The government has already given the merger principal approval in November. "The new second-largest mobile telecoms company in the country, with an estimated annual revenue of approximately US$3 billion, will be able to compete and create additional value for all shareholders, customers, and for Indonesia," said a press release. Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison will be jointly controlled by Ooredoo Group and CK Hutchison with a 65.6% shareholding. It will remain listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange under the ticker ORDS, with the Government of Indonesia retaining a 9.6% shareholding, PT Tiga Telekomunikasi Indonesia holding a 10.8% shareholding, and other public shareholders holding approximately 14.0%. After the merger, Indosat must increase its tower sites by at least 11,400 by 2025 and expand its cellular services to cover a minimum of 7,660 more villages or districts by 2025, Indonesian communication minister Johny G. Plate said. Vikram Sinha, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Indosat Ooredoo since 2019, will lead Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Nicky Lee has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison. Ahmad Abdulaziz Al-Neama and Eyas Assaf have joined the Ooredoo Group. Following a competitive auction process, Latvian fixed broadband operator Tet is acquiring 100% of Telias local B2B unit Telia Latvija for EUR10.75 million (US$12.1 million). The deal is subject to regulatory clearances but is expected to close in Q2 2022. Telias wholly owned subsidiary Tilts is a minority shareholder in Tet, holding 49% of the unit with the Latvian government controlling the majority 51% stake. Telia also holds a controlling stake in Latvian mobile provider LMT. Tet provides TV and broadband services to consumers and enterprises. The companys CEO Uldis Tatarcuks noted that the acquisition of Telia Latvija would bolster this offering. Telias Latvian chief Andreas Ekstrom stated that the operator group would continue contributing to the digitalisation of Latvia with our engagement in Tet and LMT. The Ghana Smart Cities Project has been given an official go-ahead after last years provisional authorization. Ghanas National Communications Authority (NCA) has granted full nationwide authorisation to Celltel Networks Limited, a wholly-owned Ghanaian company acting as an internet and public data service provider, to roll out the project, at an estimated cost of $300 million, in collaboration with various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies across the country. The NCA announcement says that Celltel is authorized to use 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands nationwide and VSAT Network Class 3 (1-49 terminals) nationwide to provide access to its clients. According to the local news site GhanaWeb, Celltel will need to start operations within two years of getting a written go-ahead. The company is also required to pay an annual fee on 20 June every year to keep the authorisation active. The eventual aim is to offer affordable subscription Wi-Fi packages. The project promises a nationwide Wi-Fi service that would come with Celltel-branded smart handheld desktop and home devices for subscribers. Celltel has apparently already done preliminary work with strategic partners to install infrastructure and manufacture devices. Collaboration on co-location and infrastructure sharing are part of the rollout plans. There have also been pilots of the Wi-Fi service. As well as the subscription service, Celltels offering promises to provide specific solutions for health, education, security, religious and other institutions across the country, working with identifiable groups to provide tailor-made packages to suit their needs. On my way to the airport at four oclock in the morning, I was considering my choice of flight departure time. I did this to myself last weekend when I flew to Dallas. I scheduled myself on super early flights. I was getting up at three oclock in the morning. For me, thats a bedtime, not a This week, the Florida Department of Healths administrator for the Jackson County Health Department shared some information she recently provided to staff in a recent email to her team. We are seeing quickly rising infections and it is critical that we all reevaluate our protective measures, she told staff. On a positive note, many of these infections are mild and we are not seeing the same rise in hospitalizations. That said, it is imperative that we consider those who may not be able to survive exposure. According to Martin, the spike came the week of Dec. 24-30, 2021, when 217 new cases were reported. That represents an 18.9 percent positive rate of the individuals tested whose results were reported to the health department in that time frame. In the previous week, from Dec. 17-23, there were only 20 new cases, for a 2.8 percent positive rate among those tested with results reported to the health department. As of early Monday afternoon, the county had 370 active cases in play, but that number is extremely fluid, Martin says, changing constantly. The rise in cases was not a surprise to health officials. We did expect a spike at gathering times like holidays, both in COVID and in flu cases, and in everything else (contagious), Martin said. She told staffers they should not come to work if theyre sick, adding that if you have any question about whether your symptoms warrant remaining home, contact your supervisor immediately. Martin also advised that CDC guidance has changed to include quarantine guidance for those not fully vaccinated, and provide a set of vaccine-status definitions. This change means you may be subject to quarantine if you have not received a booster dose within the last six months, she added. Recently, the CDC changed their guidance regarding isolation and quarantine times as well as who is now considered fully vaccinated, the email states. She says individuals considered fully vaccinated are those who: Have received the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer vaccine within the last six months; or received the Johnson & Johnson shot within the last two months; or received a booster shot within the last six months. Fully vaccinated individuals are not required to quarantine if they are a close contact of a positive case, but should wear a mask for 10 days, she said. Individuals considered unvaccinated are those that have not received any Covid-19 vaccine. Individuals considered not fully vaccinated are those that received their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine over six months ago and are not boosted; and those that received Johnson & Johnson vaccine over two months ago, the email continues. Individuals not considered fully vaccinated will need to quarantine for five days from date of exposure to positive case and then wear a mask for an additional five days. If unable to quarantine, a mask must be work for 10 days. School-aged children who are close contacts are not required to quarantine at all, regardless of vaccine status, as long as they are symptom-free. Individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days or who have tested positive for antibodies in the past 90 days do not need to quarantine after exposure to a positive individual. Anyone testing positive should isolate for five days. If symptoms resolved on day five, return to regular activities wearing a mask for an additional five days. Campbellton lost on government log Campbellton is among ten tiny Florida towns which may have lost out on revenue sharing funds because the federal government apparently doesnt know they exist. Campbellton Mayor Woodrow Porter informed by the Floridan of an Associated Press report that his city was one of the ten cities in Florida eligible for federal funds but apparently overlooked by the U.S. Treasury Department says he was under the impression from correspondence his community would receive some of the funds. A Campbellton businessman informed of the oversight said, Well, the Internal Revenue Service knows where Campbellton is. Thats the government, the reimbursement department cant find us but the collection department sure as heck can.Jackson County Floridan, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1973 Prisoner upkeep costly The cost of keeping a prisoner for one week at the Jackson County Prison Camp has risen to $158. That figure was revealed by Commission Chairman M.A. Schack at a recent commission meeting. Schack reported to fellow board members he had compiled figures on the prison facility which show the yearly cost of keeping one inmate, at the present rate of use, is $8,228.15 per prisoner per year. Only one employee of the prison camp earns more per week than the expense of keeping a prisoner per week, Schack declared, and that is Captain Hill. Dennie Hill is the prison camp superintendent.Jackson County Floridan, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1973 Ticket office entered at park; safe stolen The ticket office at the gate of the Caverns State Park in Marianna was broken into sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, according to Jackson County Sheriff Ronnie Craven. Craven said the safe, which contained $198, was taken and later recovered by investigators northeast of Greenwood, about one-fourth mile south of SR 165, on a dirt road. Officers said the safe door had been peeled open.Jackson County Floridan, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1973 Like JCFloridan on Facebook. Follow @JCFloridanNews on Twitter. Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) announced as 2022 began that the integration of Gulf Power into the company is now complete. With former Gulf Power customers in Northwest Florida now being served under Florida Power & Light Company brand. An approved plan aligning FPL and Gulf Powers rates and tariffs went into effect this week. Productivity improvements at Gulf Power since its acquisition by NextEra Energy, FPLs parent company, are expected to reduce annual operations and maintenance expenses in 2022 by $86 million which, on a scale-adjusted basis, is the equivalent of saving nearly $1 billion at FPL, FPL said in a press release. FPL also projects long-term combined system benefits of approximately $1.5 billion as a result of power generation upgrades already underway, a new transmission line physically connecting both utility systems and the ability to dispatch from, and plan for, a common fleet of power generation resources. In total, combining the two companies and operating as a single utility system is projected to save customers more than $2.8 billion over the lifetime of these assets. Customers in Northwest Florida will benefit from increasingly more affordable electric bills as part of the companys approved four-year rate plan, said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. Since the acquisition of Gulf Power in 2019, our team has worked tirelessly to identify and implement productivity improvements and integrate the two companies, improving reliability roughly 50 percent and reducing the carbon dioxide emissions rate nearly 30 percent in just three years. Todays milestone is the next step in continuing to build a more resilient and sustainable energy future all of us can depend on, including future generations. The company went on to advise in the release that FPL will rebrand Gulf Power office buildings, trucks and uniforms with the FPL logo over the coming months. During this transition period, customers may see employee uniforms and vehicles with either the FPL logo or Gulf Power logo. The companys four-year rate plan, unanimously approved by the Florida Public Service Commission in October 2021, went into effect on Jan. 1. The plan unifies the rates and tariffs of FPL and Gulf Power and supports FPLs continued long-term investments in infrastructure, clean energy and innovative technology including the largest solar buildout in the U.S., the press release stated. In recognition of the initial difference in the costs of serving the existing FPL and Gulf Power customers, the settlement agreement implements a transition rider/credit mechanism to address those differences in a reasonable manner for all customers. The transition rider/credit will decline to zero over a five-year period, at which point rates would be fully aligned by Jan. 1, 2027. Under the plan, company officials said, FPLs typical 1,000-kWh residential bill is projected to remain well below the national average and among the lowest in Florida through 2025. For customers in Northwest Florida, a typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is projected to decline over the next four years. To learn more about the plan, visit www.FPL.com/answers. As of Monday of this week, the release stated, all customers have been able to visit FPL.com and log in with their existing username and password to manage their account. The FPL Mobile App will also be available for download to provide customers with instant, secure access to their accounts, while on the go. In addition, customers will be able to report an outage through FPL.com and the new FPL Mobile App, the release also stated. In the release, FPL encouraged customers to be on the lookout for potential scams. Scammers continue to aggressively target utility customers using phones, emails and in-person visits. Be wary of suspicious activity and learn how to spot a scam, the release stated. The company reminds its customers and others to: Hang up if you get a suspicious call from someone claiming to be from FPL. The caller ID may even display FPLs or Gulf Powers name. Never share personal information. Do not pay over the phone if the caller is asking for immediate payment only with a prepaid card or wire transfer to avoid disconnection. Ask to see identification if someone comes to your door or into your yard and claims to represent FPL or Gulf Power. All company employees carry a photo identification badge. Contact FPL at 800-225-5797 to report a scam or confirm information if you are in doubt about anything you receive by mail or email. After a scam incident, customers should also contact their local police department, the Florida Attorney General Office at www.MyFloridaLegal.com or the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.ftc.gov. Press Release January 5, 2022 Bong Go appeals for greater vigilance and cooperation in the face of increasing COVID-19 cases and threat of Omicron variant Senator and Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography Christopher "Bong" Go urged Filipinos to be more cautious and to continue strictly adhering to the health and safety protocols as there have been an increase in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant have been confirmed in the Philippines. As of January 1, the Department of Health has detected 14 cases of Omicron variant throughout the country. Three of the cases are local, with two from Bicol and one from Metro Manila, and the rest are imported. The health department also noted that there is a "high possibility" of local transmission of the said variant. "As the holiday season draws to a close, everyone is reminded to remain vigilant as we continue to battle COVID-19. It is important to understand that the health protocols will only work if every person remains disciplined and cooperative," Go emphasized. He warned that noncompliance with the protocols and other requirements will be strongly dealt with, in accordance with the law. "Huwag muna tayong makumpiyansa dahil delikado pa rin ang panahon lalo na at may mga bagong variant ng COVID-19 gaya nitong Omicron," said Go. "Sayang 'yung naumpisahan natin -- ang magandang takbo ng ating COVID-19 response at vaccine rollout -- kung magiging kampante muli tayo," he added. The senator renewed his appeal to Filipinos to get inoculated as soon as possible. He also urged those eligible to get their booster shots. "Magpabakuna na sa kanilang pinakamalapit na vaccination site upang makuha ang proteksyon na kailangan laban sa patuloy pa ring kumakalat na COVID-19 na sakit at iba't ibang variants nito," stressed Go. "Libre naman po ang bakuna mula sa gobyerno. Paraan din ito upang maprotektahan ang inyong mga pamilya at mga komunidad," he added. DOH revealed on Saturday that data from hospitals in the National Capital Region showed that 85 percent of those in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who require ventilators are unvaccinated. Due to the spike in new COVID-19 cases, calls to the hospital referral system have also doubled. On Sunday, the country registered 4,600 new cases, up from less than 500 new cases per day in early December. Go assured that the government is using every available tool to prepare for a possible new wave of infections and protect the economy from its damaging effects. The government moved swiftly and raised the alert level status in Metro Manila from Level 2 to Level 3 from January 3 to 15. "Pabilisin pa natin ang pag-deploy ng mga bakuna sa buong bansa upang mas maaga nating ma-attain ang ninanais nating herd immunity sa gitna ng iba't ibang pagsubok na dala ng pandemya at ang pag-usbong ng mga bagong variants ng COVID-19," Go said. As of January 1, the country has administered a total of 108,757,357 doses of vaccines. A total of 49,797,374 Filipinos are fully vaccinated while 57,147,099 have received their first doses. A total of 1,812,884 booster shots have been administered. "Please remember that the government cannot do this alone. We need your cooperation in ending this pandemic, just as we need your help in continuing our collaborative work in the community in light of the multiple crises that we are facing," he ended. The latest coronavirus variant is spreading across Alabama like wildfire, the states health officer said Tuesday. The omicron variant is so contagious that Dr. Scott Harris said it is likely most of the states residents could become infected at some point. Omicron is more contagious than delta and far more contagious than the original virus that sparked a global pandemic nearly two years ago. Really the take home point from whats going on right now is the omicron variant that is becoming the predominant variant in this country is incredibly contagious, Harris said during a media briefing. It is much more contagious than the delta variant. It is many times more contagious than anything we have seen before and it is just spreading like wildfire. It will infect everyone in this state at some point probably, or most of them. Harris urged residents who can to get vaccinated and get a booster shot as a means to protect themselves from COVID-19. Being fully vaccinated and boosted seems to protect most people against serious illness or hospitalization or death, Harris said. If data out of other countries hold true, omicron may end up being a less severe variant as far as illness goes. That, Harris said, would be the good news. An analysis out of the United Kingdom has suggested the omicron variant resulted in death about half as often as the delta variant. Here in Alabama, our experience with delta was about 2% of all people died who were infected with that, Harris said. If only 1% of people infected with omicron die, Harris said, thats still 10 times the rate of deaths from influenza. We certainly hope that its less serious overall, he said. The omicron variant was first identified in late November, and Harris said the Alabama Department of Public Health doesnt have a lot of good data yet because the variant is so new. But in just a few short weeks, the number of COVID cases has climbed and put each of Alabamas 67 counties at the highest risk for community transmission. Alabamas positivity rate the percentage of tests that return positive reached a new record on Tuesday at 38.5%, and nearly four out of every 10 tests reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health are positive for the virus. Since reported tests do not include at-home antigen tests, Harris said the numbers of positive tests are likely much higher. Daily case numbers are the highest they have been since the pandemic began in March 2020 ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 a day over the past seven days, Harris said. Hospitalizations also shot up during the recent holidays and 1,249 people were hospitalized across the state as of Tuesday. Compared to other COVID surges, the number of hospitalizations would normally be manageable, but Harris said the states hospitals have seen an increase in health care workers who have become infected or exposed. Plus, he said, its flu season. Alabama still ranks low when it comes to COVID vaccinations 2.23 million people fully vaccinated and 2.74 million people having received one or more doses of vaccine. There have been about 600,000 third doses and booster shots given in the state. Treatments such as monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs have been challenging, as has getting enough testing supplies during the latest surge in cases, Harris said. Omicron does not respond to the most predominant monoclonal antibody therapies used in the U.S., but it does respond to a therapy called sotrovimab, which is produced by GlaxoSmithKline. However, supply is very limited Alabamas weekly allocation of sotrovimab is currently 420 doses, Harris said. Alabama has also received 780 courses of the oral antiviral drug Paxlovid, produced by Pfizer, and the state is set to receive more than 3,000 courses of an oral antiviral drug produced by Merck. The antiviral pills are taken at home multiple pills taken twice a day over five days. A course of the Merck drug is a total of 40 capsules over five days, according to the Food and Drug Administration. A Paxlovid course consists of 30 tablets over five days. Theres not nearly enough to go around, Harris said. There are currently no public health orders in effect in Alabama, and except for school buses and other federal programs, local school districts have been left to make their own choices on mask mandates and other protective measures. And while COVID may be here to stay, Harris said its a mistake to compare COVID to the flu because even milder variants can cause more deaths than the flu. Vaccinations and limiting the spread of the virus is the only way to protect those who are most vulnerable, he said. This is absolutely not the same as the flu, Harris said. At the same time, we may just have to accept that were going to be dealing with it and thats exactly what were trying to do. Peggy Ussery is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at aussery@dothaneagle.com or 334-712-7963. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Dothan metro area ranked among the top 15 in the continental U.S. as a top destination in 2021, according to an annual report from moving company United Van Lines. The 45th Annual Movers Study, which tracks the companys data for state-to-state migration patterns, indicated Americans were on the move to lower-density areas and to be closer to their families throughout last year. Dothan was the highest ranked Alabama metro in the study for the percentage of new arrivals, ahead of Huntsville, landing at No. 11 nationally. In Dothan, 70% of moves involved people arriving rather than leaving, reported United Van Lines. Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba said he was pleasantly surprised by the findings shortly after learning of the data on Tuesday and pointed to a few factors he believes contributed to the pattern. Geographically, were in close proximity to beaches and lakes and not too far from some major cities, Saliba said. So they get the benefit of having some of the things big cities have to offer without living in a big city, some that experience increasingly challenging situations. So were kind of like the best of both worlds. Saliba also pointed to Dothans historically low-cost of living, a big selling point for young families, as well as a growing and diverse business community. United Van Lines listed some reasons for why people chose to move to or from each state. In 2021, the most popular reason to move to Alabama was for a job, with 45% of respondents listing that as the reason for their move. Nearly 27% of movers came here for family, the second most popular reason. But jobs and family were also big reasons why people moved away from Alabama. There was one big reason why people moved to the Yellowhammer State that wasnt also a reason to move away: retirement. More than 16% of people who moved into Alabama came here to retire compared to just 9% of people who moved out. Dothan has a fast-growing medical community in terms of hospitals, specialty care, assisted living, and nursing homes a draw for retirees. Saliba said the study brings attention to the citys aging infrastructure, particularly in regards to highways and roads maintained by state and federal governments. We need to make sure we maintain them, get good lighting on those that are coming into the city, Saliba said. We are a growing region, not just the city of Dothan, but Houston, Dale, and Henry counties. It brings attention to that. We have needs and the Department of Transportation should take notice of that. Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Parker said the study revealed good news for the Dothan area market. He said the new data complements what the chamber already knows about the Dothan area that it boasts a positive business climate, available housing, access to high-quality healthcare, good infrastructure, and recreation amenities that attract people to want to live, work, and retire in the area. Weve got good capacity to grow, so we hope to see the trend continue, Parker said. Parker said the chambers priority is getting more industrial buildings, site availability, and infrastructure to recruit more business opportunities to the area and spur more job creation. Overall, Alabama remained a popular destination in 2021 as it ranked No. 6 in the study. Of the top ten inbound states, six Vermont, South Dakota, West Virginia, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho are among the 20 least densely populated states in America, with less than 100 people per square mile. Sable Riley is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at sriley@dothaneagle.com or 334.712.7915. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com . Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Happy New Year. It is election year in the good ole Heart of Dixie. Alabama, like a good many southern states, has our monumental political year in what the nation refers to as the off-year or midterm election year cycle. This reference is, of course, to the presidential election being the main political event. Thus, the last presidential race being 2020 and the next main presidential race being 2024. Most states have their gubernatorial election year at the same time as the presidential contest. We are different; we have our big year in off-years. This new year of 2022 will see our constitutional offices up for election, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, state treasurer, secretary of state, and state auditor. Not only do the governor and all constitutional offices run this year, but so do all 67 sheriffs and all 140 legislative and state senate seats. The governors race has historically been the premier political race in Alabama politics. It is the pinnacle or brass ring of our political world. Therefore, we old time political folks refer to this year as the gubernatorial year. Qualifying began Jan, 4 and ends Jan, 28. The GOP and Democratic Primary elections will be May 24. The runoff election is set for June 21. The winner of the Republican Primary will be elected governor. Winning the GOP nomination for statewide office in Alabama is tantamount to election. No serious candidate would run as a Democrat. It was thought that Gov. Kay Ivey would coast to reelection with only token opposition. After all, polling reveals that she is one of the most popular incumbent governors in the country. She has done a good job as governor and will be tough to beat. However, in recent weeks two viable candidates have announced that they are running for governor. Lynda Lindy Blanchard and Tim James are attempting to outflank her on the right. These two are viable candidates for one reason they have individual wealth, which allows them the ability to acquire name identification and voter approval. Lindy Blanchard launched a campaign for our open U.S. Senate seat in early 2021. However, by years end she flipped a switch and moved to the governors race. Her only claim to being qualified to run for governor is that she bought an ambassadorship to Slovenia in the administration of former president Donald Trump. Her only hope for the governors race is that she can wish for Trump to endorse her, although this would probably not be enough. As a lame duck who has been out of the White House for over a year and whose popularity is waning, his nod may not be as important as once thought. Blanchards only calling card is that she flashed $5 million on her senate campaign filing reports. It remains to be seen if indeed she spends that much of her own money on an uphill race for governor. Tim James is making his third race for governor. He is the son of two-time governor Fob James. Tim is a likeable fellow, is extremely conservative, and harps on fringe social issues like outlawing Yoga in schools. He, like Blanchard, possesses the main ingredient to make himself a viable candidate. He has some personal wealth and if he indeed spends some of his money, he can garner a certain segment of the vote. If Kay Ivey sticks to her knitting, stays home and governs, and looks gubernatorial and does not beat herself, she will more than likely prevail. The big question is can this full field of candidates, including Tim James, Lindy Blanchard, Stacy George, and Dean Odle, force Kay Ivey into a runoff or will she defeat the field without a runoff like she did in 2018? That question will be answered on May 24. The power of incumbency will be omnipotent in the other statewide constitutional offices. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth will be reelected with no or token opposition. The same applies for Attorney General Steve Marshall. He will be reelected to another four-year term unscathed. Interestingly, Ainsworth and Marshall are from the same North Alabama County of Marshall. Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will escape opposition and will be reelected to that important state post for another four years. State Treasurer Young Boozer will coast to reelection, probably unopposed. The power of incumbency prevails in the Heart of Dixie in 2022. However, we will have a doozy of a contest for our open United States Senate Seat, which we will discuss next week. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabamas leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us. Whip up some popcorn and pull up a chair Alabamas political theater is about to get weird. The primary elections in May will be here in the blink of an eye, and every elected office in the state will be on the ballot, so incumbent posturing is inevitable. When the state legislature convenes next week, look for knee-jerk legislation addressing hot-button issues, such as bills banning critical race theory, a curriculum that has not and is not currently taught in Alabama schools. This election years regular legislative session could be particularly lively because lawmakers have about $1.5 billion in pandemic relief funds at their disposal, and there may well be a free-for-all as challenged lawmakers jockey to direct funds in a way that gives them the most credit. Legislative leaders have already identified potential projects such as broadband expansion and sewer projects just the sort of largesse constituents back home welcome. Most people are against such pork spending except when its their elected official bringing the bacon back to their local district, and thats understandable. However, in doing so with this particular pig, lawmakers are losing sight of the intent of the $2.2 billion Congress allocated to our state. Pandemic relief funds have loose restrictions, if any, but the intent was to bring back jobs and address economic trouble created by the pandemic. When the first installment of the funding arrived, legislators committed to bulk of it to building new prisons a necessary capital project, but not one that can be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. There will always be infrastructure needs like roads, broadband expansion, and sewer improvements. Thats what taxes are supposed to fund. If lawmakers want to curry favor with voters, theyll direct pandemic relief funds to small businesses in ways that will create jobs and shore up their footing, and/or address the economic devastation of individuals whose job loss may have resulted in foreclosure or worse. A medic is seen inside a laboratory to analyze coronavirus-infected samples in HCMC, June 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa Most Omicron infections in Vietnam have no symptoms, and the variant is less likely to damage lungs, says deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son. Son said the number of Omicron Covid-19 cases in Vietnam is too small for the health sector to draw any specific conclusions on the new strain. For now, there is very little data to compare it with the Delta variant, but all Omicron cases isolated and treated in Vietnam are asymptomatic, and this could be because this strain causes less damage to the lungs, affecting the upper respiratory tract, mainly, he told VnExpress Tuesday. Vietnam has found 25 people with Omicron so far, all arriving from abroad. No locally transmitted case has been detected. Of these, the five cases confirmed in HCMC on January 1 all had a low virus concentration. They stayed asymptomatic and tested negative after five-seven days. Some relatives living with the patients have not got infected. The first case of Omicron infection in Vietnam, a person arriving in Hanoi from the U.K., was discharged from hospital last Sunday after two weeks of treatment, during which he did not show any symptoms. Several studies published in December by different universities have found Omicron to be less severe on the lungs than previous variants of the novel coronavirus. A study conducted on animal and human tissue published on December 31 by the Berlin Institute of Health said Omicron produced less-damaging infections, often limited largely to the upper airway: the nose, throat and windpipe, and the variant did much less harm to the lungs, whereas previous variants would often cause scarring and serious breathing difficulties. The U.K. Health Security Agency announced on Jan. 1 that it had analyzed more than a million Covid-19 cases and found the risk of hospitalization from Omicron was three times lower than that of the Delta variant. Commenting on the rate of spread and the risk of community infection caused by the Omicron strain in Vietnam, Deputy Minister Son said that all Omicron infections so far have been detected in isolation areas and were under control. "We can also be more secure now that we have the Covid-19 vaccine," he said. Vietnam has already allowed administration of the third vaccine shot to adults three months after their second shot. The Ministry of Health had said in December that the risk of Omicron penetrating and then spreading in Vietnam is "very high." It had required authorities in cities and provinces to strengthen pandemic prevention and control measures including tightened inspection of foreign arrivals. All samples suspected to be infected with the new variant must be sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute for gene sequencing, the ministry said. Health experts had also said that Vietnam should beef up its healthcare system, ensuring that medical centers are well-equipped and can up their capacity, so as to avoid an Omicron-triggered overload because this variant was said to be more contagious than previous strains, including the Delta variant. Tran Dac Phu, a senior advisor with the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, said too many cases could lead to a situation in which severely ill patients are unable to access proper treatment in time, leading in turn to a high fatality rate. After it was first detected in South Africa late November, the Omicron variant had been identified in 110 countries and territories as of Dec. 22. Turn back or it will be shot down: Vietnam Airlines flight threatened A satellite photo of Vietnam Airlines Flight VN5311 landing at Fukuoka Airport after being diverted by a shoot down threat as it flew to Hanoi, January 5, 2022. Photo courtesy of FlightRadar A Vietnam Airlines aircraft flying from Japans Narita airport to Hanoi was diverted to another Japanese airport after a caller threatened that it would be shot down over Tokyo Bay. At 11.10 a.m., about 40 minutes after the flight had taken off with 47 passengers, three pilots and 12 attendants on board, the airlines office in Japan received a call from a man who spoke Japanese but claimed to be American. "Flight VN5311 had better turn back to Narita or it will be shot down when passing Tokyo Bay," the anonymous caller threatened. When the call receiver asked the man to repeat the message, he said: "I am preparing to shoot VN5311 when it flies above Tokyo Bay. It had better turn around." The Japan office called Vietnam Airlines headquarters in Hanoi, which then reported the call to Japanese authorities, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) and an agency of the Ministry of Public Security. The airline also called an urgent meeting of its emergency and anti-terrorism task force. With permission from Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh and Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The, the CAAV directed Vietnam Airlines to ask for Japanese authorities permission to land the aircraft at Fukuoka Airport. The aircraft landed at Fukuoka safely at 1.02 p.m. Japanese authorities visited the airport and spoke to the flight crew and passengers to evaluate the situation. After finding no unusual signs and deeming it safe to proceed, VN5311 was allowed to depart Fukuoka for Hanoi. The aircraft landed in Hanoi at 6:12 p.m. (Hanoi time). VN5311 was the first regular flight between Vietnam and Japan after a hiatus of almost two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers get off a Vietnam Airlines plane arriving from Cambodia at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC on January 1, 2021, the first regular commercial flight to Vietnam in two years. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Airlines Aviation officials and travel firm representatives say the partial resumption of commercial international flights after a hiatus of nearly two years has happened just in time. On January 1, a VN582 flight from Cambodias Phnom Penh with 121 passengers on board landed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC, marking the first regular commercial flight of Vietnam's aviation after nearly two years. The national flag carrier said it will operate a flight from Hanoi to Tokyo Wednesday, with round-trip tickets costing over $1,200 per person. Vietnam Airlines has begun selling tickets to Seoul, Vientiane, Singapore, Taipei and San Francisco. A representative of budget carrier Vietjet Air said it would resume its Hanoi-Tokyo route Thursday with two-way tickets costing over VND18 million ($790). Vietjet Air will also fly once a week between Hanoi and Taipei every Saturday, HCMC-Taipei every Wednesday and HCMC and Singapore every Sunday. Another budget carrier, Bamboo Airways, plans to operate its first regular flight on the Hanoi-Taipei route Wednesday, with two-way tickets costing around VND17 million. Really necessary Bui Doan Ne, general secretary of the Vietnam Aviation Business Association (VABA), said that the resumption of regular commercial flights on the first day of the New Year was a positive sign for the aviation industry. "The reopening of regular flights was really necessary at this time. If the country is slow in resuming international flights, it would suffer huge economic damage and the recovery of the aviation market would be slower than that of foreign giants." To ensure the dual goal of both economic development and epidemic prevention, it is perfectly reasonable to choose markets from countries and territories with good disease control and high vaccination rates as now, Ne said. Vietnam Airlines CEO Le Hong Ha has also said that the resumption would provide more business restoration opportunities to the aviation and tourism industries, which have been heavily affected by the pandemic. Ha noted that international organizations including the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have forecast that the domestic aviation market will recover around 2023 and the international segment market would bounce back in 2024. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, deputy marketing head of major travel firm Vietravel, said the outlook for the year has been brightened by the resumption of regular flights. His company plans to start outbound tours this month to Thailand, Dubai, Europe, and the U.S. where Vietnamese are exempt from quarantine requirements, she said. Under the current regulations, fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from Covid-19 arriving in Vietnam only need to self-isolate for three days, instead of the earlier requirement of spending a week at centralized quarantine facilities. All arrivals, except children below two, must have tested negative for the novel coronavirus using the PCR method within 72 hours before departure. Due to the emergence of new variant Omicron, all passengers are now required to undergo rapid Covid testing upon landing at the Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat Airports. Vietnam had closed its borders and grounded all regular international flights in March 2020, only allowing in its nationals and foreign experts, investors and highly skilled workers coming by special flights. In the 16 months since the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election in Belarus, the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka systematically decimated Lukashenkas political opponents, civil society, independent media, and virtually all other independent voices in the country through a series of sham, closed trials. Those accused were invariably found guilty of trumped-up charges and sentenced to long prison terms. On December 14, six more influential opposition figures were convicted of various crimes and remanded to prison. Popular YouTube blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, who was arrested in May 2020 after he announced his intention to run against Lukashenka for the Belarusian presidency, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for organizing mass unrest and inciting hatred, among other charges. After Mr. Tsikhanouskis arrest, his wife, human rights activist Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, ran in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election as the main opposition candidate. Opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich received 14 years in prison. Bloggers Vladimir Tsyganovich and Ihar Losik, who also worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, were each sentenced to 15 years, while Tsikhanouski associates Artyom Sakov and Dmitry Popov were sentenced to 16 years. The United States condemns todays politically motivated convictions of Belarusian opposition figures Syarhey Tsikhanouski, Mikalai Statkevich, Radio Liberty journalist Ihar Losik, and others in judicial proceedings that do not conform to the rule of law, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a written statement. Belarus has obligations under international law, as well as commitments as an OSCE participating State, to respect the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal, as well as the rights of the individual to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Regrettably, these sentences are further evidence of the regimes disregard for these international obligations as well as for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Belarusians. The Belarusian people deserve better, said Secretary Blinken. We reiterate our call for the Lukashenka regime to end its crackdown on members of civil society, independent media, the political opposition, athletes, students, legal professionals and other Belarusians; to immediately release all of the more than 900 political prisoners, including Mr. Tsikhanouski, Mr. Losik, Mr. Statkevich, and others; to engage in a genuine dialogue with the democratic forces and civil society; to hold free and fair elections under international observation; to stop its cruel exploitation of vulnerable migrants; and to respect its obligations under international law. Department 1 Judge Kriston Hill Dec. 27 Amy Catherine Mariluch, 45, of Elko pleaded no contest conspiracy to commit embezzlement, was given a suspended sentence of one year in jail, was ordered to serve 90 days in jail and was placed on probation for one year. Department 2 Judge Al Kacin Dec. 6 Maribel Calderon, 41, of Tucson, Arizona, pleaded guilty to battery on an officer and was sentenced to 26 days in jail. Dec. 9 Bobbye Lynn Carlson, 26, of Twin Falls, Idaho, pleaded no contest to attempted possession of a credit card or debit card without cardholders consent was given a suspended sentence of one year in jail, ordered to pay $62 restitution to the victim and placed on probation for one year. - Bobbye Lynn Carlson, 26, of Twin Falls, Idaho, pleaded no contest to attempted burglary of a motor vehicle, and was given a suspended sentence of 12 to 30 months in prison and placed on probation for 18 months. - Bobbye Lynn Carlson, 26, of Twin Falls, Idaho, pleaded no contest to attempted burglary of a motor vehicle and was given a suspended sentence of 12 to 30 months in prison, was ordered to pay $199 to the victim and was placed on probation for 18 months. - Cayla Marie Quinonez, 22, of Elko pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance, was given a suspended sentence of 120 days in jail and was placed on probation for one year, and was further ordered to serve 26 days in jail for contempt of court for failing to appear for sentencing. Department 3 Judge Mason Simon Dec. 13 Raj Naresh Duggal, 59, of India pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit battery, was sentenced to one year in jail and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. - Joshua Dee Gonzales, 29, of Salt Lake City, Utah, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 103 days in jail. - Jose Alonso Vazquez-Roblez, 26, of San Quintin, Mexico, pleaded guilty to concealing or destroying the evidence of the commission of a felony, was given a suspended sentence of one year in jail, was placed on probation for one year, and was ordered to forfeit a firearm to law enforcement and serve 10 days in jail. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Press Release January 5, 2022 Gordon hits recent killings of mayor, prosecutor Re-electionist Senator Richard J. Gordon today denounced the recent assassination of former Anda, Pangasinan Mayor Aldrin Cerdan and Trece Martires Assistant City Prosecutor Edilbert Mendoza. Gordon, who chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, decried the growing impunity over the unabated killings in the country where criminals have become brazen in carrying out their nefarious activities. "We strongly condemn the recent spate of killings and we expect that the Philippine National Police would put a stop of these senseless killings and run after criminal syndicates and their paid assassins," he said. "Nakalulungkot ang ganitong klaseng patayan na parang naging mura ang buhay ng tao. Inaasahan ko na ang ating kapulisan ay patuloy naghahanap ng hustisya para sa mga biktima dahil ang pagkitil sa buhay ay hindi kailanman katanggap-tanggap," he added. The two killing incidents happened within a day of each other, with the first incident happening on New Year's Eve and the other one occurring on New Year's Day. Last Dec. 31, Mendoza was reported to have been out in his yard exercising with a jump rope when the gunman shot the assistant special prosecutor at the back of his head, killing him instantly. Cerdan was killed on Jan. 1 when he and a former bodyguard reportedly had a heated argument before the mayor was shot by an M-16 rifle. He was rushed to the town's rural health unit before expiring. Gordon, a lawyer by profession, noted the risks that members of the judiciary are enduring daily and hoped that his proposed measure on Judiciary Marshals now awaiting penultimate action becomes a law very soon. "That's why we filed Senate Bill 1947 to give protection to the country's judicial workers and their families. They risk their lives to seek justice, and yet they pay the price for merely fulfilling their public mandate," he added. "We hope that Mendoza's killing is the last involving any member of the judiciary as we aspire a future of protecting members of the judiciary and their families," he added. The Judicial Marshals Bill aims to improve the administration of justice in the country, as about 160 judges, lawyers, and court personnel have been slain since 1999. The measure seeks to create the Judiciary Marshals, a body primarily responsible for the safety and protection of the Judiciary's members, officials, personnel, and property, including the integrity of the courts and their proceedings. Last Nov. 8, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on third reading which also aims to conduct threat assessments and launch investigations on crimes and other offenses committed against employees of the judiciary and court property. It may be recalled that Gordon is also a noted victim of politically-motivated violence when his father, the late Olongapo mayor James L. Gordon, was assassinated in 1967, following several failed attempts. Then a rising star at Proctor and Gamble, Gordon shifted to pursuing law to seek justice for his father's murder, sparking a five decade-long political career that started as the youngest delegate in the 1971 Constitutional Convention. ELKO One year after the Fourth Judicial Court added a third department, the three judges are settling into new roles. Since the election of former Elko County Public Defender Kriston Hill to Department 1, former Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to Department 3, and reelection of Department 2 Judge Al Kacin last year, all three have solidified their commitment to serving the community. Since taking office, both of the other district court judges have been extremely helpful and supportive, Simons said. The judges work closely together, convening for monthly judicial meetings, making changes to our local court rules, addressing outstanding issues, and working to improve the operations of the court. Kacin, who was selected as the first Chief Judge of the Fourth Judicial District Court on Dec. 21, explained the addition of a third district judge has been helpful to the Fourth Judicial Court and essential for the public we serve. The Departments sorted out their caseloads throughout the year and distributed various judicial duties among all three judges. Hill was assigned a large guardianship and probate caseload, including felony DUI diversion court, with cases previously assigned to Department 1 transferred to Simons Department 3. Kacin retained the Adult Drug Court, civil cases, and domestic relations proceedings initiated before 2021. In May, Simons became the juvenile judge who facilitates child welfare and juvenile delinquency cases. The redistribution of cases was due to Hills previous work as Elko County Public Defender. It prompted her ethical obligation to disqualify herself from presiding over any criminal cases assigned to her office, Kacin said. He said about 15% of his court calendar included jury trials, and another 24% was dedicated to preparing those cases. Additionally, the lions share of his time was spent catching up on a backlog of jury and bench trials caused by delays from the pandemic. Kacin credited Simons and Department 3 for contributing to a more manageable calendar and caseload. The bottom line is that my caseload would have been unmanageable had Department 3 not been created and occupied by a district judge this year, Kacin said. It has permitted Elko Countys general jurisdiction court to hold trials quicker and dispose of cases somewhat faster during a pandemic year that saw total case filings rise. In 2020, the Fourth Judicial District had 1,985 filings for criminal, civil, family, juvenile and reopened cases with a 97% disposition rate, according to the Annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary. In 2021, the report stated the district had a combined total of 1,996 cases at a 98% disposition rate. I anticipate that our disposition rate will increase as we further cull the backlog of jury trials, which are generally the most time-consuming proceedings the general jurisdiction court conduct, Kacin said, and we make other efforts to manage the caseload more efficiently. In 2022, Department 2 will be taking residence inside the former Washington Federal bank building across the street from the Elko County Courthouse. Kacin said he was very eager to move in because his court needed the space for jury selection and trials. Its a large space and should be renovated by the end of the first quarter of 2022, Kacin said, noting he has had to hold jury selection at the Elko Convention Center due to the cramped courtroom that Department 2 occupies now. A judge should be near his or her chambers to work on trial-related and other matters as they come up during jury trials, Kacin explained. Our judges will be able to dispose of such matters more efficiently if they can hold jury trials in a courtroom attached to judicial chambers. Next year, Department 1 will move into Kacins offices and courtroom after he moves into the former bank building, which Hill welcomes after a year of moving her courtroom to various locations throughout the Elko County Courthouse, settling in a remodeled conference room. Almost a year into the job, and Department 1 still does not have actual court space, Hill said. The other judges have been generous with their courtroom and very accommodating, but they have their own busy calendars. Elko County Commissioners have discussed the possibility of constructing a new judicial complex to house Justice and District courts, but Kacin said the former bank was a much-needed stop-gap facility. He thanked the Commissioners for providing it to the court and offered its use to other judges who may need to conduct jury selection for their trials. The building will not include customary court-related fixtures such as a large bench, counsel tables and barriers. That will make it easier to repurpose once a judicial building is constructed, Kacin said. First-year on the job Hill and Simons were elected to the bench in 2020 for Departments 1 and 3, respectively, and each called their first year a learning experience. My first year on the bench has been extremely challenging but incredibly rewarding, Hill said. Its such an honor to serve the people of Elko County. Simons, who previously served as Elko Justice of the Peace, agreed. My first year on the District Court bench has been a true honor and a tremendous learning experience. I was fortunate to recruit a talented team, and their support and professionalism have been invaluable during this transition. Their first year included organizing a backlog of cases due to the pandemic among the three judges. Because Hill recused herself from many criminal cases, and Simons presided over some as Justice of the Peace, those were transferred to Kacins court. For Hill, she worked to fulfill one of her campaign promises. With great confidence, I can say that Department 1 is much more efficient than it has been in many years. She said probate orders are signed the same day as the hearing instead of weeks, and uncontested divorces are signed within the same week instead of months. The court has held hearings on countless motions that have been pending for years, Hill continued. That includes a habeas pending for nine years, and also a custody motion pending for three years. Hill pointed to the success of Department 1 even as courtroom proceedings were placed in various locations. Despite the constant struggle to find court space, Department 1 is diligently handling cases, she said. As Juvenile Judge, Simons supervises Family Court, Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Detention Center. My prior experience serving as Court Master for the Fourth Judicial District Court has proven invaluable, Simons said. We have a talented leadership team at the Juvenile Center that has made my job easier. Moving to the District Court, Simons said the cases he handles now involve weighty matters of law that affect the lives of our community. These include complicated civil disputes, difficult family matters and serious criminal issues that could result in a lengthy prison sentence, Simons explained. These cases often involve novel issues of law and sometimes require extensive research. The coming year could also see some fallout from legislative changes to probation violations that passed in 2018. Hill described how the law has significantly tied the hands of judges and probation officers. Assembly Bill 236 took effect on July 1, 2020, as part of an overhaul of the states criminal justice system. It requires the courts to set aside, dismiss or defer judgments of conviction and place defendants who have a mental illness or substance abuse issues and are on probation. Prior to the change, any violation of the terms of probation could result in probation being terminated and the person sent to prison, Hill explained. Now, probation can only be revoked after a non-technical violation or after a series of technical violations when graduated sanctions have been imposed. Technical violations include committing a new felony or gross misdemeanor. Non-technical violations include failing a drug test, failing to complete Adult Drug Court or other substance recovery program, or being charged with a new misdemeanor. The Adult Drug Court has also seen reduced application rates due to the decriminalization of marijuana and the lessening of penalties for certain crimes, Kacin added. In my experience, people with high risk and high needs do not have as much incentive to apply to a program as rigorous as Adult Drug Court when they are not facing as much time behind bars should probation be revoked, he explained. After a year sitting on the District Court bench, Simons said he recognizes the significance of each case that he presides over. The seriousness of the work we are called on to perform is not lost on the Court, he said. Im grateful for the trust and confidence the Elko County voters placed in me by selecting me to serve in this important role. I take that trust very seriously. Hill agreed, noting that she has encountered some very complex legal issues this last year, and I welcome the challenge. The things Ive learned this year are too numerous to list, and learning new things is my favorite part of this job, Hill said. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve my community, and we will continue to make great strides in resolving cases and continue to manage new cases appropriately. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ELKO An Elko man with a lengthy criminal record was arrested Dec. 31 after police identified him as a suspect in the theft of tools from a civil engineering firm. Wade A. Knight Jr., 33, of Elko was charged in a felony warrant with grand larceny and booked into Elko County Jail on $20,000 bail. City police were called to the business on Nov. 2 after a truck was broken into and more than $7,000 worth of survey tools stolen. The investigating officer recognized Knight from video surveillance at the business. Knight has been arrested more than three dozen times since 2008, according to Elko County Jail records. He was one of four people arrested in a July 2006 incident in Spring Creek. One of the men with him fired shots into a house during a confrontation over a money dispute, then-Sheriff Neil Harris reported. Knight, then 17 years old, originally faced multiple charges including attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon. The charges were reduced in a plea agreement to burglary and principal to discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. He was sentenced to 2-5 years in prison in August 2008, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections. Knights other arrests include drug possession in April 2009; domestic violence in October 2011; kidnapping in April 2012; open and gross lewdness, convicted person failure to register, and violation of a temporary protective order in August 2012. He was arrested in February 2013 after Elko police officers spotted him in a Jeep that got stuck near Riverview Park and determined it had been stolen. That October he was found guilty by a jury of possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He was sentenced to 16-48 months in prison. Knight was arrested again in February 2019 on a robbery charge at Walmart. Police said they were called to the store when a shoplifter attempted to make off with a cart full of items. A female employee attempted to stop him and he allegedly knocked her to the ground as he fled. Police: Alleged shoplifter left trail of items in Walmart parking lot ELKO An Elko man who has been arrested 15 times in the past three years was booked into Elko County Jail Tuesday on a robbery charge. Knight was arrested about four hours later in the Burger King parking lot off Mountain City Highway. He was booked on charges of robbery, felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of a hypodermic device, false statement to obstruct a public officer, and resisting a public officer. He pleaded guilty that November to petit larceny and was ordered by Elko Justice Court to serve 10 days in jail. He was arrested again in January 2020 at Elko County Jail on a felony warrant for battery by a prisoner and fighting or challenging to fight. He pleaded guilty to battery in February and was ordered to serve an additional 180 days in jail. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 5 ELKO Yes, no and maybe were the responses given by three Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidates who were invited to participate in a debate on Jan. 21 sponsored by fellow candidate Joey Gilbert. North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee confirmed on Tuesday he would attend the forum, according to his campaign. Mayor John Lee will be there and he looks forward to sharing his vision for Nevada with the great people of Elko, said campaign manager Scott Scheid in a statement to Elko Daily. In a letter to debate coordinator Paul White, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardos campaign declined the invitation, stating we will only be considering debate invitations following the close of Nevadas candidate filing deadline on March 18. Staffers with former senator Dean Hellers campaign said Whites invitation had been received and was being reviewed, but no decision whether to attend or not has been made. Mr. Heller has a very busy schedule, like all the other candidates, so we are taking a look at it, said campaign communications director Jack Finn. This leaves Lee and debate sponsor Gilbert the only two candidates confirmed to participate in what was billed Monday as a four-city tour including Reno, Las Vegas and Henderson. The four candidates were listed as the top four contenders in polling. A Nevada Independent poll in October listed Heller as the frontrunner with 31%, Lombardo second at 23%, Gilbert third at 11% and Lee fourth at 3%. GOP candidates not listed on a promotional flyer for the debate include Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, retired Air Force officer Thomas Heck, venture capitalist Guy Nohra and business owner and surgeon Fred Simon. The Las Vegas Sun reported in December that political analysts stated incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolaks chances to retain office were projected as a Toss Up, with Lombardo becoming a strong contender. On Jan. 1, The Hill listed Sisolak as one of the seven most vulnerable governors seeking reelection in 2022. Nevadas Republican and Democrat primaries are scheduled for June 14. Love 1 Funny 5 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 The China-Laos Railway performed well in the transport of both passengers and goods over the last month, boosting tourism, trade and bilateral exchanges. [Photo by Zhang Weiming/For chinadaily.com.cn] The newly opened China-Laos Railway has seen progress in passenger and cargo movements, boosting domestic tourism along the railway and promoting logistics between China and ASEAN countries. As of Monday, a month after the cross-border railway began operations, the line has handled 670,000 passenger trips and 170,000 metric tons of cargo, according to the China State Railway Group, the national railway operator. It has played a positive role in improving travel conditions for people in both countries and promoting economic trade between China and Laos, the group said in a statement. On Dec 3, the railway began its maiden journey from Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province, to Vientiane, the Lao capital. The launch was witnessed by President Xi Jinping and his Lao counterpart, Thongloun Sisoulith, via video link. The railway, a flagship project borne out of mutually beneficial cooperation efforts between the two countries, will serve as an effective channel facilitating greater economic and trade flow, balanced development and cultural exchanges. The 1,035-kilometer line, which runs through lush tropical mountains and across the Mekong River, has shortened the journey from Kunming to Vientiane to about 10 hours. Due to COVID-19 containment measures, cross-border railway services are not yet available for passengers, but the line has already proved its capability to transport cargo and promote trade between the two nations. The train service has become a top choice for people from both countries. On the Chinese side, the demand for passenger service has been growing. The number of daily trips started from 19,000 and reached a high of 33,000 at its peak over the past month. On its peak day, it operated 63 trips, providing domestic service every 30 minutes. The Chinese section handled 620,000 passenger trips during that period. The Lao section also saw growing demand, having handled 50,000 trips as of Monday. Daily passenger trips rose from about 1,000 at the beginning of operation to a peak of 2,600. During holidays and weekends, the demand for the service in Laos further increased. During the New Year's Day holiday, two additional trips were added from Vientiane to Boten, a Laotian border city. According to the railway operator, more passengers have been buying tickets to travel to Xishuangbanna and Puer-both stops along the railway-since the line opened. The freight train services can carry cargo from Kunming to Vientiane in as little as 30 hours, reducing transportation costs and time compared with roads, according to the railway group. The railway has boosted China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation and has enabled more enterprises to benefit. The line has operated 380 cargo services since its opening, transporting 170,000 metric tons of products. About 70 of those services are international and have hauled more than 50,000 tons of cargo across the border. The variety of goods has expanded from rubber and fertilizer to automobiles, textiles, vegetables and flowers. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (centre) and NA Vice Chairmen at the session. (Photo: VNA) The documents are on the fiscal and monetary policies to support the socio-economic recovery programme; an investment policy for the eastern wing of the North-South expressway in the 2021-2025 period; amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Public-Private Partnership, the Law on Investment, the Biding Law, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, and the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments; and the piloting of several special policies and mechanisms for the development of Can Tho city. Under a proposal on a draft resolution on the fiscal and monetary policies to support the socio-economic recovery programme, the Government suggested an additional overspending of the State budget of 240 trillion VND (10.54 billion USD) in two years of 2022-2023, with 102.8 trillion VND in 2022, raising it for the year to 5.08 percent of the GDP, 1.1 percent higher than the estimates approved by the NA. Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The underlined the need to invest in the construction of the road, elaborating that the system, which plays a significant role in the countrys socio-economic development as well as security and defence, can be considered the most important corridor in the national transport infrastructure network. The eastern wing will have a total length of 2,063km, of which 478km have been put into operation, 829km invested, and 756km yet to be, he noted. Meanwhile, Minister of and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung highlighted that Can Tho is the centre of the Mekong Delta region, helping connect Vietnam with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. He said that with its location in the middle of the two most dynamic economic-urban corridors in the region the Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho and the Hau River (An Giang-Can Tho-Soc Trang), Can Tho city plays the role of an important transit centre for road, waterway, railway and aviation transport systems. It is also a locality of strategic importance in defence and security of the whole region. As scheduled, on January 4 afternoon, the lawmakers will discuss in groups on the draft resolution on the fiscal and monetary policies to support the socio-economic recovery programme./. Illustrative image. (Photo: tapchicongthuong.vn) Nguyen Nam Hai, vice president of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), said the country remains the second largest exporter of the drink in the world, second only to Brazil, accounting for 8.3 percent of the global market share. Coffee is one of the six agricultural products that bring back over 3 billion USD per year for Vietnam. It is now present in more than 80 countries and territories, mainly the European Union (EU), the US, Russia, Japan, and the UK. Yet, the value of coffee is not high as most of it is exported raw. According to Vicofa, the average price for a tonne of processed coffee is nearly 3,600 USD while that of coffee beans is only about 2,400 USD. To improve the situation, enterprises have promoted processing instead of exporting coffee beans. Currently, roasted and instant coffee is accounting for 9.1 percent of the total exports, creating opportunities for the industry as Vietnam is penetrating deeper into the international market through free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Europe-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The EU is Vietnams largest coffee market, accounting for 40 percent of the country's total volume and 38 percent of the total value. It is followed by the Association of Southeast Asia Nations with 13 percent. Over the past five years, the export value to the EU has reached between 1.2 billion - 1.4 billion USD per year. Vietnamese coffee also accounts for 30 percent of the total coffee import of China- the worlds most populous market. For the next 10 years, Vicofa aims to raise coffee export turnover to between 5 and 6 billion USD, Hai said, adding that the export of processed will be increased for a higher added value. According to Vicofa, the country has 97 coffee processing establishments with a total designed capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. Contest launched to promote Vietnams traditional Lunar New Year Illustrative image (Photo: vietnamnet.vn) The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has launched a contest themed Yeu tet que nha Yeu ban sac Viet to popularise inspirational stories as the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival is approaching, reported Vietnam News Agency. The contest offers a chance for Vietnamese people to share memorable moments, cultural identities and traditional customs of localities across the country during the Tet festival. It is expected to contribute to introducing and disseminating Vietnams traditional Lunar New Year to the domestic and international communities. Vietnamese citizens aged 18 and above are encouraged to join the contest. The organising board will present three first prizes worth 10 million VND (439 USD) each, five second prizes worth 5 million VND each, 10 third prizes worth 2 million VND each. and 15 consolation prizes worth 1 million VND each. UK wooden furniture imports from Vietnam soar by 35.7% With the UKs imports of wooden furniture from the Vietnamese market surging by 35.7% to reach 303.7 million USD during the past 10 months of 2021, local firms can enjoy huge opportunities to promote the export of products to the UK market, reported VOV News. Photo for illustration. (Source: VOV) According to statistics compiled by the International Trade Center (ITC), the UKs wooden furniture imports in the 2016 to 2020 period reached 5.17 billion USD per year, with an average annual growth of 2.7%. During the reviewed period, the UK's import value of the product edged up by 39.3% to reach 4.03 billion USD compared to the same period from last year, despite the complicated developments linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK mainly imported living room and dining room furniture, as well as wooden frame chairs and kitchen furniture. These appear to be positive signs which have opened up greater export prospects for Vietnamese firms to the demanding market moving forward. Most notably, the UKs wooden furniture import value from the nation accounts for only small proportion of the countrys total imports, which has also created opportunities for Vietnamese products to make further inroads into this market. Moreover, the impact of the UKs departure from the EU has posed a number of challenges in terms of trade ties between the UK and the bloc, resulting in British businesses actively seeking new supply sources and markets, including Vietnam. Vietnams seafood sector maintains exports to key markets Processing seafood for export at Hai Nam Corporation in Binh Thuan Province (Photo: nhandan.com.vn) Vietnams seafood sector in 2021 was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but, with the bold efforts of farmers, producers and relevant agencies, the sector still met its export target, especially in maintaining exports to key markets, reported Nhan Dan News. For aquaculture, the supply of juveniles, feed and medicine was disrupted; enterprises found it hard to purchase raw products due to social distancing measures while costs rose sharply due to higher costs of transport and coronavirus testing. In addition, importing countries increased their requirements on quality, quarantine, fishing, processing, packaging, and customs procedures, including China and the US, which imposed a great number of non-tariff measures on Vietnamese seafood. Furthermore, the measure of three on-sites was highly impractical to seafood processors. In August 2021, only about 30-40% of seafood companies in the southern region were operating while another 30-40% had to suspend their operations, especially in Tien Giang, Can Tho, Hau Giang and Dong Thap. An estimate by VASEP, which represents seafood producers and exporters, showed that only 30-40% of seafood enterprises were capable of recovering in the post-distancing period at that time. As a result, seafood exports in August reached only 595.3 million USD, down 30.3% from the previous month and 26.9% year-on-year. But growth picked up in the final two months of 2021, helping the sectors full-year export revenue reach 8.89 billion USD, up 5.7% compared to 2020 and equivalent to 104.6% of the target. According to Tran Cong Thanh, Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), the seafood sector was able to maintain its exports and markets for the following reasons: First of all, the government introduced many synchronous and prompt policies to address the difficulties facing enterprises such as prioritising vaccination for seafood workers and traders so as to stabilise the supply, processing and export chain. Notably Resolution 128 on adapting to COVID-19 in a safe and flexible manner has basically addressed many difficulties in the production and export of seafood companies. Second is the effort and dynamism of enterprises in adapting to the new situation so as to not cause disruptions to the production chain. Factories strictly complied with the governments regulations and guidelines and proactively formulated plans to live safely with the pandemic. Enterprise owners proactively proposed vaccinating seafood workers and allowing workers already inoculated with at least one dose to return to work, helping factories soon restore their production capacity. Thirdly, the signed free trade agreements created many opportunities for Vietnamese seafood to increase its market shares in the US and the EU, particularly in Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, which are major seafood importers. The reopening of Vietnams main seafood importers and rising global demand for seafood, especially in the final months of 2021, enabled Vietnams seafood sector to accelerate and fulfil its full-year target. According to IPSARD, Vietnam is taking advantage of tariff preferences effectively to enhance Vietnams competitiveness in major markets and look for new potential market. For markets such as the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea, the tariffs on Vietnamese seafood are at around 0-5.2%, while seafood from competitors India and China is subject to tariffs of 0-10.7% and 0-10.8%, respectively. Such figures show that Vietnams seafood has an edge over competitors in terms of tariffs in major markets of the world. Sapa welcomes nearly 20,000 visitors during New Year holidays On top of the Fansipan Mountain in Lao Cai (Photo: VNA) Sapa township a famous tourist destination in the northern province of Lao Cai welcomed 17,346 visitors during the three-day solar New Year holiday (January 1-3), Vietnam News Agency quoted saying of head of the Culture-Information Office of the township Hoang Thi Vuong. Vuong said that revenue from tourism activities during the holidays reached 46 billion VND (2.01 million USD), up over 7.8 billion VND (341,281 USD) compared to the Christmas holidays (December 24-26). Although the number of tourists was equivalent to only 30 percent of that in the same time last year, the results showed signs of recovery of Sapa tourism after a tough year due to impacts of COVID-19, she said. As part of efforts to promote the "Lao Cai-Safe Destination trademark, local authorities and businesses have applied effective measures to ensure epidemic and transport safety, environmental sanitation and food safety for tourists. Alongside, local travel firms have offered various promotion programmes to attract tourists. On average, Sapa welcomed about 4,000 - 5,000 visitors each day, with many hotels fully booked during weekends. Sapa has long been among the countrys leading destinations. Of note, young people accounted for more than 70 percent of tourist arrivals to the town last year./. Goods transport at Saigon Newport Corporation (Photo: VNA) According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, this was a miracle amid the COVID-19 pandemic when the market demand dropped and the container crisis prolonged. The ministry attributed the results to the Vietnam-UK Free Trade Agreement, which took effect temporarily from January 1, 2021 and officially from May 1, 2021. Specifically, in the first 11 months of 2021, Vietnam earned 5.24 billion USD from exporting goods to the UK. Strong rise was seen in exports of steel, rubber, farm produce, rattan products, peppercorn and pottery products. Meanwhile, Vietnam imported over 778 million USD worth of goods from the UK, up 27.3 percent year on year, mostly metal, telephones and accessories, garment and textile materials, leather and footwear, medicine and completely-built-up cars./. He made the statement during his virtual talks with Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (PCC) and Head of the PCC Commission on Organization, on January 4. The Vietnamese and Lao Party Central Committee Commissions on Organizations sign a cooperation deal. (Photo: VNA) During the talks, Mr. Sisay Leudetmounsone congratulated the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam on its success, and Ms. Truong Thi Mai on being elected to the Politburo, Secretary of the PCC and Head of the PCC Commission on Organization. He also celebrated the great, comprehensive and historically significant achievements that Vietnam has won in the doi moi process. The achievements of Vietnam are a great source of encouragement and lessons for Laos in the cause of national construction and development. For her part, Ms. Mai congratulated Laos on important achievements in recent years, expressing her belief that under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the Lao people will continue to achieve many new and greater achievements. Emphasizing that Vietnam-Laos relations continue to be consolidated and strengthened in all fields, making an important contribution to maintaining the stability and development of each country, Ms. Mai said that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and many difficulties, the leaders of the two parties and countries still conduct meetings, contacts, phone calls and talks in various flexible forms. Ms. Mai and Mr. Sisay Leudetmounsone discussed and agreed on the direction of cooperation in the coming time. In which, the two sides agreed to regularly exchange information and share experiences on Party building and political system building; strengthen cooperation, maintain the exchange of high-level and department-level delegations of the two commissions; promote the dissemination of the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos among cadres, Party members and people; jointly participate in and well organize activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in 2022. At the end of the talks, the two commissions leaders signed a deal on cooperation between the two commissions in the 2022-2026 period./. The Prime Minister asks for promoting vaccination against COVID-19. (Photo: VGP) The Government Office has issued Official Letter 9656/VPCP-KGVX conveying the direction of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on COVID-19 prevention and control. Specifically, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the Minister of Health to direct a meeting with experts, coordinate health forces and the army to more strongly promote the vaccination against COVID-19, ensuring safety, science and efficiency. The Prime Minister also asked for specifical report on vaccines injected and received in January 2022, a plan to ensure that enough vaccines are given to children aged 12 years and older to complete the 3rd dose in the first quarter of 2022, ensuring the target which has been directed by the Prime Minister./. Hong Kong: Air change in eateries meeting held A working group on air change or air purifiers in catering premises held a meeting yesterday to offer views on anti-epidemic strategies in response to the latest epidemic development. Noting that over the past two weeks, multiple confirmed COVID-19 patients had visited a number of restaurants during their incubation or infectious period, among which a cluster was found in one of the restaurants, working group chairman Prof Yuen Pak-leung said: The working group is highly concerned about the incident and has examined during the meeting the relevant information such as the implementation of air change and air purifiers at the restaurant concerned, the seating distribution of the confirmed cases and the duration of their stay. As it is a tradition for families and friends to dine together during the Lunar New Year, the risk of virus transmission may further increase. The working group reminded licensees/operators of catering premises as well as the public to remain vigilant in adopting epidemic control measures. Operators of dine-in catering premises also need to ensure that the air change per hour is sufficient and fresh air supply is evenly distributed in the seating areas and individual compartments. According to the working group's A Guide on Compliance with the Requirement on Air Change/Air Purifiers in Seating Areas of Dine-in Catering Premises issued last year, registered specialist contractors (ventilation works category) can adopt improvement measures to increase the air change per hour in the seating areas and individual compartments at dine-in catering premises. Operators of these premises can seek advice from their ventilation contractors regarding balanced fresh air supply, Prof Yuen noted. The guide also mentioned that catering premises operators are required to place the air purifiers in suitable places following the manufacturer manual and the ventilation contractors recommendations, and ensure proper operation, maintenance and repair of the air purifiers to reduce the virus transmission risk. The guide formulated by the working group has played certain roles in reducing the risk of virus transmission. The working group will continue to closely monitor the epidemic developments in Hong Kong and other places, and will provide suggestions on the updates of the guide when necessary, added Prof Yuen. Meanwhile, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department has issued advisory letters to operators of catering premises and reminded them again during inspections that they must properly switch on, operate, maintain and repair the air purifiers. The working group expressed hope that the catering trade, other sectors and the general public would continue to comply with the regulations on the prevention and control of disease in a concerted and persistent manner to protect personal and public health. Citizens are encouraged get vaccinated as early as possible, the working group added. This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Press Release January 5, 2022 Pangilinan: 2022 na, mag free mass testing na SENATOR Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Wednesday reiterated his earlier call to have a free mass testing in the wake of the ongoing upsurge of Covid-19 cases in the country. The lawmaker believes that the spike can be a result of the national government's decision to loosen restrictions in the past months, which resulted in increased mobility of people. "We are now seeing another surge of the Covid-19 cases at hindi malayo na dahil ito sa mas mabilis na kumalat na Omicron variant. To better manage the spread of this variant, my position remains the same: free mass testing," Pangilinan said. "Napakaraming tao ang may sakit ngayon at dahil flu season, hindi sila sigurado kung may Covid ba sila or wala. Hindi rin sila makapagpa-test sapagkat napakamahal ng RT-PCR sa ating bansa at sino ba ang gustong gumastos ng tatlong libo para lang sa test? We have to encourage our people to get tested and we can only do if Covid testing is free," he added. The lawmaker's newest call for free mass testing came amid an alarming upsurge in new infections after the observance of the holiday season. He made the same call in March 2020 and again in March 2021. "Nakakabahala na nakapagtala tayo ng 26.2% infection rate base sa 24,855 samples na na-proceso nitong linggo. On Tuesday, there are 5,434 additional cases, the highest number we have since October 23," Pangilinan said. "Sa tinatakbo ng active cases, hindi malayong pumalo ulit ng 10,000 cases per day dito sa ating bansa. Let us not wait for this to happen. Kailangang may aksyon kaagad," he added. According to Pangilinan, it is not enough to bring the country back to a stricter quarantine restriction without putting in place effective measures that will address the ongoing battle against the deadly virus. Apart from free mass testing, Pangilinan likewise calls on the government to fast-track the scheduling of booster shots. "Hindi sapat na kapag mataas ang cases ng Covid ay lockdown lang ang solusyon. Bukod sa ating ekonomiya, mga ordinaryong mamamayan ang nagdurusa at nawawalan ng pagkakakitaan," Pangilinan lamented. "Nawa'y pabilisin din ng ating pamahalaan ang pagbibigay ng booster shots sa ating mga kababayan. Makakatulong ito na pababain ang posibilidad ng hospitalization kung mahawa man sila ng virus," the lawmaker added. Meanwhile, with the confirmation that some branded paracetamols are out of stock as a result of "increased demand", Pangilinan urged Filipinos to purchase generic drugs in the meantime. "There is a confirmation that some branded medicines are out of stock right now because of increased demand. With the colder weather we are facing, it is possible that some of us contract colds and flu," Pangilinan said. "Since some over-the-counter branded medicines are currently out of stock, generic drugs should be an alternative. But of course, you need to consult with your doctors first and refrain from self-medicating," he added. Pangilinan also called on local manufacturers to hasten the replenishment of these important medicines as the health sector could not afford to have a separate outbreak other than the Covid. Consul General of Vietnam in Osaka Nguyen Hong Ha speaking at the event through the Internet (Photo: baoquocte.vn) The event, which was held in both person-to-person and virtual forms, was attended by representatives of Hokuriku Economic Union, JICA Hokuriku and nearly 30 leaders of member businesses. Speaking at the event, Consul General of Vietnam in Osaka Nguyen Hong Ha highly appreciated and thanked the Investment Promotion Business Association between Hokuriku and Vietnam for its efforts in maintaining and promoting relations between Hokuriku and Vietnam over the past years. He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government is promoting the implementation of the policy of living together with COVID-19 pandemic, realizing the dual goal of "fighting against COVID-19 pandemic while maintaining stable socio-economic development" and there are many positive signals showing that Vietnam continues to be an attractive and safe destination, of interest to foreign investors. In addition, Consul Le Huy Hoang directly attended and presented about the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and Vietnam's economy and prospects in the future. Speaking at the event, Mr. Mitani Mitsuru, Chairman of Mitani Sangyo Company and President of the Investment Promotion Business Association between Hokuriku and Vietnam, highly appreciated Vietnams investment environment and expressed confidence in the cooperation prospects between Hokuriku region and Vietnam in the future. He said that Japanese businesses should target many localities of Vietnam, not just big cities. In addition, Mr. Mitani wants to soon organize Hokuriku business delegation to visit Vietnam and welcome Vietnamese business delegations to visit and study business and start-up in Hokuriku. The Investment Promotion Business Association between Hokuriku and Vietnam was established on October 20, 2017, with the aim of promoting investment between businesses, strengthening economic relations between Vietnam and Japan, through human resource and economic exchange activities on the basis of promoting the economic strengths of Hokuriku and Vietnam./. Leaders of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam and Vietjet congratulate the first international flight (Photo: VNA) According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Tokyo, the majority of overseas Vietnamese in Japan are happy that the government of Vietnam has resumed flight routes to this Northeast Asian country, creating favorable conditions for them to have the opportunity to return home to celebrate Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) with their families. I hope that in 2022, Vietnam Airlines will reopen international routes, including routes to Japan. This is a condition for trade activities between the two countries to take place more smoothly and overseas Vietnamese also have the opportunity to return to Vietnam to celebrate Tet, Mr. Phan Trung Hieu, an overseas Vietnamese living in Japans Saitama province, shared. Along with overseas Vietnamese, many Japanese businesses also welcomed Vietnams decision. They also hope that the Japanese Government will soon allow Vietnamese interns to come to this country to work. Our biggest wish is that Vietnamese interns can soon come to Japan to work," said Mr. Mikio Kesagayama, President of the Tokyo Business Information Consultancy Cooperation Association (TICC). He emphasized: "the current working environment in Japan is an indispensable environment for Vietnamese interns." According to Mr. Mikio, TICC has accepted Vietnamese interns since 1999. As of February 2020, TICC has received a total of about 2,000 Vietnamese interns. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, TICC has taken many measures to protect Vietnamese interns against the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure jobs for them./. Passengers at Tan San Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City (Source: https://nld.com.vn) The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has just issued urgent guidelines for a five-step quarantine procedure for arriving passengers amid the emergence of the Omicron variant in Vietnam. The self-quarantine area (including homes, hotels, offices, dormitories, guest houses) must meet the standards required by the Ministry of Health, reported VNA. If the accommodation fails to meet these criteria, incoming passengers will have to go into concentrated quarantine facilities. The document also states that passengers arriving in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat International Airport must comply with a five-step procedure as follows: Step 1: Register a Personal QR code, which can be created using the PC-COVID app or the HCM City COVID-19 Safety Portal at https://antoan-covid.tphcm.gov.vn. It is advised that passengers should register for the code before boarding their plane to Vietnam. Step 2: Test for SARS-CoV-2 immediately upon arrival The Tan Son Nhat International Airport will set up a rapid-testing area for SARS-CoV-2, and coordinate with international airlines to instruct people to test for the coronavirus at the airport. The Personal QR code will be used to provide information to the testing unit. If the result is positive, the passenger will be taken for RT-PCR testing. HCM City Centre for Disease Control (CDC) will work with the 115 Emergency Centre to transport the patients to field hospitals for quarantine and treatment. If the test result is negative, the airport and the airlines will guide the person to continue with the procedure to leave the airport for their residence. Step 3: After arriving at the accommodation, passengers must strictly comply with the 5K regulations The transporting vehicle must only include the driver and the passenger. In the case when there are people who come to pick up the passengers, they must not sit in the same vehicle (except for when the arrival is a foreigner who needs an interpreter). The transporting vehicles for passengers must refrain from stopping and parking along the route. In case of emergency when the vehicle needs to pull up, safety measures for COVID-19 prevention and control must be taken. Step 4: Monitor and declare health conditions on a daily basis The place of accommodation must register the new arrivals Personal QR Codes immediately upon arrival. Health declarations and confirmation of accommodation must be reported on a daily basis during the quarantine period. New arrivals must also practise the 5K measures. If they experience symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, fever, difficulty in breathing, sore throat), they must immediately report to the local medical centre for treatment. Regarding the period of quarantine: For arriving passengers who are fully inoculated or recovered from COVID-19, they must monitor their own health status, refrain from coming into contact with other people, and must not leave their accommodation for three days after the arrival date. For those who are not vaccinated or fully inoculated, they must stay in their accommodation for seven days after the arrival date. For arriving passengers who are under 18 or over 65, pregnant women, or have underlying health conditions (but dont have to be monitored and receive treatment from medical facilities), they can go into quarantine with their guardians/caretakers. The guardians/caretakers must be fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. They are also required to sign a statement on their voluntary quarantine after receiving an explanation on the risk of transmission. They must also comply with the regulations on testing and pandemic prevention and control, the same as the new arrivals. Step 5: Conduct RT-PCR testing during the quarantine period at the accommodation If the test result returns negative for SARS-CoV-2, the person will have to continue monitoring their health status for 14 days after their arrival. If the result returns positive, the testing unit must report to the HCM City CDC to transfer the sample to HCM City Pasteur Institute for genomic sequencing. Local medical centres where the patients are in quarantine will also be notified to transfer the infected to Field Hospital No. 12 (for those with no to mild symptoms) or HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases (for those with signs of respiratory failure). Vietnam so far has reported 20 Omicron infections, all imported cases which were all immediately quarantined upon arrival and reportedly all asymptomatic or mild cases. Six of them, including five in HCM City and one in Hanoi (Vietnam's first confirmed Omicron patient) have been given the all-clear after testing negative for coronavirus./. People take photos in the snow after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow storms on the U.S. East Coast are a major reason for the cancellation of thousands of flights in the country on Monday, in the meantime causing severe power outage in several states and forcing the federal government in Washington, D.C. to close for the day. More than 20 million people are under winter storm alerts on Monday, with snow totals in the nation's capital mostly ranging from five to 10 inches. As the snow came to an end in the afternoon in the D.C.-Virginia-Maryland region, the highest total was recorded in Glendie in Virginia's Stafford County with 13.4 inches, according to data from the National Weather Service. The severe winter weather, coupled with the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, led to thousands of delays and cancellations of flights. Total delays of flights within, into or out of the United States surpassed 6,000 in late afternoon on Monday, with total cancellations of this category topping 3,000, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Air traffics were hardest hit at the Ronald Reagan National Airport in D.C. (DCA) and the Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland (BWI). The DCA, where snow total reached 6.7 inches, canceled 358 departing flights and 330 incoming flights Monday, making up 86 percent of all flights originating from the airport for the day and 76 percent of all flights arriving at the airport, FlightAware's data showed. The Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stops earlier in the day for flights bound for the DCA and the BWI. Both restrictions were lifted in the afternoon. The heavy snowfall also caused large-scale power outages across states on the East Coast, from Maryland in the north all the way down to Georgia in the South. Combined, Virginia and Maryland reported over half a million outages, according to data tracked by PowerOutage.US. The governors of Maryland and New Jersey briefed their respective residents on the weather condition and emergency response, with Governor Larry Hogan urging "Marylanders in affected areas to stay off the roads," and Governor Phil Murphy calling the storm "really the most significant" snow event in the southern part of New Jersey in almost four years. A seven-year-old in Townsend, Tennessee, and five-year-old in DeKalb County were killed as a result of trees falling onto their homes amid the heavy snow. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, meanwhile, said on Twitter in the afternoon that the District's cold weather emergency alert will remain effective until further notice. She told a press conference earlier in the day that all library sites will be closed for distribution of at-home COVID-19 tests for the remainder of the day, potentially further complicating the pandemic situation in which residents were already grappling with a surge in caseload. The inclement weather also forced the federal government to close for the day. Instead of holding a scheduled vote on whether to confirm Gabriel Sanchez as a judge for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, California, the Senate convened only briefly on Monday -- with only two Democratic senators present -- and delayed the first vote of the year until Tuesday. Enditem A snowman is seen in front of the Washington Monument after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) The White House is seen after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) The U.S. Capitol Building is seen after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) People play in the snow after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) The White House is seen after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) A statue is covered with snow after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) A snowplow works near the White House after a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) Travelers wait in line for a shuttle bus to travel between terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Jan. 3, 2022. Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) Travelers wait in line for COVID-19 testing at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Jan. 3, 2022. Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) Travelers are seen at Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Jan. 3, 2022. Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) Travelers are seen at Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Jan. 3, 2022. Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) Travelers are seen at Terminal 4 of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Jan. 3, 2022. Travel troubles in the United States continued on Monday as an East Coast storm approaches, leaving nearly 1,500 U.S. flights canceled as of late Sunday, according to the flight-tracker FlightAware. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) Editor: ZAD EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has said that the purpose of his visit to Ukraine is to demonstrate the European Union's support for the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "With Russia's increased military build-up, I am here to show EU support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to support sustained reform efforts that are key for resilience," Borrell wrote on Wednesday evening. Kuleba to participate in meeting of NATO-Ukraine Commission on Jan 10 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will take part in a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission on Monday, January 10. "No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. On January 10 I will visit Brussels for a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. Part of a wide diplomatic effort to deter further Russian aggression," Kuleba said on Twitter. Ukrainian Embassy urges Ukrainians to refrain from traveling to Kazakhstan in connection with introduction of state of emergency Citizens of Ukraine are asked to refrain from traveling to Kazakhstan in connection with the introduction of a state of emergency in the period from January 5 to January 19, 2022, the Embassy of Ukraine in Kazakhstan said. "In connection with the introduction of a state of emergency from January 5 to January 19, 2022 in Almaty, Almaty and Mangystau regions, we recommend that you refrain from arriving in Kazakhstan, and citizens in Kazakhstan should refrain from visiting crowded places during the state of emergency in the country," the Embassy said on its Facebook page. As reported, protest rallies against the sharp increase in prices for liquefied gas began in Kazakhstan in Zhanaozen (a city in Mangystau region in western Kazakhstan) on January 2. They then escalated into massive protests across the country with economic and political demands. On January 4, protesters clashed with security officials in Almaty. President of the country Kassym-Jomart Tokayev introduced a state of emergency in Almaty, Mangystau and Almaty regions for the period until January 19 and a curfew, which will operate from 23:00 to 07:00. On the morning of January 5, the government of Kazakhstan was dismissed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recommends that Ukrainians in Kazakhstan should not leave their place of residence unless absolutely necessary and always have identity documents with them. "In connection with the events in a number of regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recommends that Ukrainian citizens who are on the territory of this country should constantly monitor information about the development of the situation, exercise increased vigilance and caution, strictly follow the instructions and orders of representatives of local authorities and law enforcement agencies, not leave their place of residence unless absolutely necessary, and always have identity documents with them," the MFA press service said. In addition, citizens of Ukraine are encouraged to register in the electronic system Friend. In case of circumstances requiring immediate consular assistance, you should immediately contact the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Kazakhstan (tel.: +7 705 755 66 10, e-mail: emb_kz@mfa.gov.ua, consul_kz@mfa.gov.ua) or call a round-the-clock hotline of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine: +38 044 238 16 57, e-mail: cons_or@mfa.gov.ua. Earlier, the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan urged Ukrainians to refrain from arriving in Kazakhstan due to the introduction of a state of emergency from January 5 to January 19, 2022 in Almaty, Almaty and Mangistau regions. Rallies against a sharp rise in liquefied gas prices first started in Zhanaozen, a city in Mangistau region in western Kazakhstan, on January 2, then escalating into mass protests with economic and political demands across the country. Clashes between protesters and the police occurred in Almaty on January 4. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree early on Wednesday morning, introducing a state of emergency, from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., in Almaty and Mangistau and Almaty region until January 19. The Kazakh government resigned in the early hours of Wednesday as well. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has announced that he will now lead the national security council, which was previously led by former head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev. "As the head of state and, from this day, as chairman of the Security Council I intend to take maximally tough action," Tokayev said in a statement broadcast on the state television channel Khabar 24 on Wednesday. Poe on the Central Bank Governor of the Year Awards Sen. Grace Poe congratulates Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno for being recognized as the Global Central Banker of the Year 2022 by The Banker, an international banking, finance and business magazine by the Financial Times. The global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has put an enormous stress on the Philippine banking and economic sectors. Nevertheless, our country has once again proven its resiliency as it continues to rebound, thanks in large part to the implementation of much-needed banking and economic reforms. From a 9.6-percent dip in 2020, the country recorded a significant growth in gross domestic product with 12 percent and 7.1 percent in the second and third quarter of 2021, respectively. Among the important reforms introduced were the digitalization of banking systems which will bring more Filipinos into the formal banking sector and aid local payment providers through the use of digital QR codes for payments, the implementation of more conducive mergers and acquisition environment between banking institutions, and more funding for green projects spearheaded by the Green force, an 18-agency technical working group headed by the BSP. These were made possible through the hard work of our dedicated officials at the BSP under the capable leadership of Governor Diokno. May this recognition assure our business leaders and investors that the Philippines has turned the corner and is on a steady path to recovery. Any military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and a severe cost, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell has said. "Our main interest, our main concern, our main purpose is to try to de-escalate tensions through these negotiations and others that will follow. But also through strong stance and firm position to support Ukraine. These things have to go hand in hand. The willingness to escalate to dialogue, to avoid increased tensions, to seek solutions, but with firm stance and a strong commitment, that any further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost," Borrell told media during a briefing in Luhansk region on Wednesday. He said the EU is coordinating with NATO and other like-minded partners for the de-escalation and full implementation of the Minsk agreements. Ukraine and the EU are faced with the task of using diplomatic means to help Russia reduce tensions and abandon aggressive intentions, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said. "Now Ukraine and the EU are faced with one task, to help diplomatically de-escalate the situation and the fact that Moscow would reduce tension and abandon its aggressive intentions. We are systematically working to contain Russia, and one of the elements of this containment package is to prepare new painful sanctions on Russia," Kuleba told journalists in Luhansk region on Wednesday. He said that Ukraine is devoted to diplomacy and committed to the implementation of the Minsk agreements and a political settlement of the conflict. "The EU stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in countering Russia's aggressive policies. This is not only political support, but also very practical solutions. For example, the EU recently attracted Ukraine to the European Peace Fund, within which EUR 31 million will go to strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This support is aimed at strengthening Ukraine's ability to defend itself, since Ukraine is committed to diplomacy and committed to the implementation of the Minsk agreements and a political settlement of the conflict," Kuleba said. The minister said that during the visit, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell received a detailed briefing from the Joint Forces on systemic violations of the Minsk agreements by Russia. Kuleba also drew attention to the fact that Borrell became the first high representative of the EU for foreign and security policy, who visited the zone of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) has invested more than $1.2 million in projects and startups in the MedTech and HealthCare industries. The company told Interfax-Ukraine agency with reference to Executive Director Volodymyr Kostiuk, Farmak began investment activity in the venture capital market in 2020. "The decision to invest in startups was made as one of the strategic directions of business development. We are interested in areas at the intersection of advanced express diagnostics, digital medicine, interactive patient engagement, allowing us to diagnose and predict possible health problems. And if they are found, then using biomedical and computational technologies to determine the causes and recommend solutions to eliminate them," Kostiuk said. He noted the readiness of Farmak to invest in the growth of these startups, to participate in their development to the level of a successful business, and "the development of internal startups can be one of the driving forces behind the development of science in the country." Kostiuk also said that in 2020, the pharmaceutical company financed the first project from the Ukrainian company ComeBack Mobility, which developed intelligent attachments for crutches. They are designed to control the load during the rehabilitation during the diseases and injuries of the lower extremities. Having analyzed the venture capital market in Ukraine and abroad, Farmak chose several more startups for investment in 2021. "Some projects were initially tested in their own production. For example, MedTech-startup DrugCard first began to provide Farmak with services related to the automation of pharmacovigilance processes as a contractor. Since we understand that this solution for the automatic monitoring of medical literature, designed to help pharmaceutical companies reduce costs, optimize routine processes and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in pharmacovigilance, we decided to invest in this startup," Kostiuk said. He said that the DrugCard platform has already implemented continuous monitoring of medical literature, reports of adverse reactions, their analysis and exchange with E2B (R2)/(R3)/CIOMS regulators, integration with medical registries and dictionaries, reports for regulatory authorities, as well as compliance module and compliance with current regulatory requirements for validation. In addition, last year, Farmak invested in Cambrian Biopharma, the U.S. biotech startup, which is developing innovative drugs to combat the biological factor of aging, treat and prevent age-related diseases and increase life expectancy. Cambrian is currently developing 14 new therapeutic drugs. As reported, JSC Farmak at the end of 2020 saw a net profit of about UAH 1.138 billion, which is almost 7.8% more than in 2019 (UAH 1.056 billion). The company's net profit at the end of 2019 amounted to UAH 1.056 billion, which almost coincided with the figure for 2018 UAH 1.05 billion, and at the end of 2018, net profit increased by 25.16%. Farmak is the leader in the pharmaceutical market with a 5.9% share in value terms. It manufactures medicines in all 14 therapeutic groups. Among the main directions are anti-cold, endocrinological, gastroenterological, cardiological, neurological portfolios. Every year Farmak introduces about 20 new modern complex-component drugs to the market. Currently, there are about 100 drugs in development. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed the law "On amendments to Article 11 of the law of Ukraine 'On state support of cinematography in Ukraine' on the elimination of technical and logical inconsistencies'" No. 1985-IX, which the parliament adopted on December 17 last year. As reported on the website of the head of state on Wednesday, the document will unblock the implementation of a number of rights of foreign subjects of cinematography, in particular, the right to receive a state subsidy to return part of the qualified costs incurred in the production of a film in Ukraine. "This will help attract foreign investment to Ukraine, create new jobs, improve the professional level of Ukrainian specialists in this area, international cooperation of filmmakers, develop infrastructure and tourism," the message says. As reported, the Verkhovna Rada supported corresponding bill No. 6265 with 298 votes. According to the explanatory note to the bill, it eliminates technical errors made during the amendment of the law on state support of cinematography in Ukraine on the provision of state subsidies to return part of the qualified costs incurred by a foreign subject of cinematography in the production (creation) of a film in Ukraine. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla and South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda signed on Thursday a cooperation protocol to convert gasoline-powered vehicles in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh to run on natural gas. Work on the New Administrative Capital continued throughout the year, with the project now due to be inaugurated in mid-2022 Government offices and state employees will start a gradual relocation to the Government District of the New Administrative Capital later this month, beginning with a six-month experimental phase during which government buildings and electronic systems will be tested. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has described the inauguration of the New Administrative Capital and the relocation of government employees as marking the birth of a new republic and a new era of modern governmental work. The project is an integral component of Egypt Vision 2030 which aims to improve the quality of life of citizens and expand urban areas to cater for Egypts rapidly growing population. The experimental phase has been delayed by almost a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the soft opening of the New Administrative Capital will now take place mid-2022, Khaled Al-Husseini, Spokesperson of the New Administrative Capital for Urban Development Company, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Located between the Cairo-Suez and Cairo-Ain Sokhna roads, 60 km away from downtown Cairo, the new capital will house 6.5 million people when completed. Under construction since 2015, it is planned to cover 184,000 feddans (720 sq km), nearly twice the area of Cairo. Ninety-five per cent of work on the Government District has been completed and by the end of 2021 all ministry headquarters will be ready to be handed over, said Al-Husseini. In a November statement, the cabinet made it clear that the transfer of state employees to the new capital will be implemented gradually, and that government offices that deal directly with the public will not be transferred to the new capital for the time being. The New Administrative Capitals Government District comprises 10 ministerial complexes that will house 34 ministries, the cabinet headquarters, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Built on 1.5 million square metres, it will host 50,000 employees when it is fully officially operational in 2022. The ongoing construction of the Government District is being overseen by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority in partnership with private and public sector firms. The project has provided 100,000 job opportunities. The inauguration of the Government District will not be limited to opening new buildings for ministries, but it will be linked to a new vision, a modern electronic system, and different work mechanisms, said Al-Husseini. IT skills were among the criteria for selecting the 50,000 employees who will be relocated, and many of them have already received training. The initial, experimental phase will not involve the inauguration of housing projects for the soon-to-be relocated employees since they are not yet complete, Al-Husseini noted. The first phase of a housing development for government workers in neighboring Badr City includes 376 residential buildings, comprising 9,024 housing units, each between 115 to 120 square metres. The project is being built at a cost of LE3.2 billion. Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli has said state employees who have their workplace relocated to the New Administrative Capital can choose between receiving a transport or a housing allowance. Employees can secure an apartment in Badr City with a LE110,000 down payment 25 per cent of the discounted propertys cost with the balance paid in installments. According to official statements, the average cost of constructing an apartment is LE700,000. Employees who are unable to move to Badr City will receive a transport allowance, starting at LE2,000 per month. Interest in housing units being built in the New Administrative Capital has increased, head of Smart Step real-estate company Maged Ashour told the Weekly. Demand is being fed by the imminent inauguration of the new capital, and by competition among real estate developers who are offering a range of payment options. The price per metre for housing ranges from LE10,000 to LE14,000 for half-finished units, and from LE14,000 to LE16,000 for fully-finished ones. The new capital will be connected to Greater Cairo by Egypts first monorail train, and its first Light Rail Transit (LRT). Until they come into operation, employees will rely on a network of shuttle buses. The monorail will consist of two lines. The first 56.5km line will be served by 22 stations and connect the New Administrative Capital with the east of Cairo and Nasr City. The second, covering 42km and served by12 stations, will begin from 6 October city. They are being constructed at a cost of 2.7 billion euros. The two lines will connect with Cairos underground network. When complete, a commuter from 6 October will be able to take the monorail to Mohandessin, change to the third metro line and travel to Nasr Citys Cairo Stadium, and then take the second monorail east to the New Administrative Capital. The first phase of the Nasr City monorail is scheduled to be operational in June 2022. The first phase of the light train is due to open in March 2022, and will connect with the third line of the Cairo underground network at Adli Mansour station in eastern Cairo. It will link the cities of Cairo, Obour, Shorouk, Mostaqbal, Badr, and 10 Ramadan with the New Administrative Capital, and will have 16 stations over its 90 km length. The New Administrative Capital, the spokesperson said, will be Egypts first smart city to come on line though 13 others are under construction, including New Alamein, New Mansoura, East Port Said, Nasser City in western Assiut, and New Ismailia. They are being developed by the Ministry of Housing, in conjunction with the New Urban Communities Authority. The 14 smart cities, which are planned to house 14 million people and provide six million permanent jobs, are being developed to the highest standards of sustainability, using renewable and recyclable materials, and with a careful eye kept on reducing energy consumption and waste and protecting the environment. In the New Administrative Capital, Al-Husseini said, the parking system will be based on an application that will inform citizens of available parking spots. Traffic will be monitored by thousands of cameras: the first phase of the new capital, according to Al-Husseini, already has 6,000 advanced cameras installed, able to track vehicles and save facial images, while drones will be used for continuous monitoring and to help in dealing with accidents. The new capital also includes an Arts and Culture District built on 127 feddans and is home to theatres, cinemas, libraries, museums, and an opera house. The opera house was inaugurated in mid-November by the prime minister who attended a concert performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the 80-year-old celebrated maestro Riccardo Muti. The New Administrative Capital also boasts a Central Business District (CBD) centred on 20 skyscrapers. The CBD is being built by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, one of the largest construction companies in the world, in cooperation with the Ministry of Housing, represented by the New Urban Communities Authority. It will include the 78-storey Iconic Tower which, at almost 400 metres, is set to be the tallest building in Africa. Work on the tower began in May 2018 with the digging of the foundations. In September, the cabinet announced that it had received an offer from a Chinese company to operate and manage the CBD which the government is studying before giving a final decision. Representatives of the Chinese company expect the CBD to attract a host of international companies, said a cabinet statement. Investments in the CBD total $3 billion. *A version of this article appears in print in the 23 December, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: France will order companies to impose at least three work-from-home days a week for employees whenever possible to stem a fifth wave of Covid infections, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Monday. The new measure, which will be in place for at least three weeks, is one of several announced after a crisis cabinet meeting on the new Omicron variant, which is again threatening to overwhelm hospitals. The meeting came after France reported Saturday over 100,000 daily Covid cases, a record since the pandemic erupted nearly two years ago, with many experts warning the number would rapidly increase over the coming weeks. "It all seems like a never-ending movie... but today thanks to our collective mobilisation, we are one of the most vaccinated countries in the world," he said at a press conference in Paris. The pillar of France's Covid fight would remain a push for widespread vaccination, he said, which could allow the government to avoid more restrictive measures like curfews or business closures that could pummel the economy. Castex said the country's "health pass" for access to restaurants, cinemas and more would now only be available to fully vaccinated people -- a recent negative Covid test for the unvaccinated will no longer be valid. He also said that standing would be prohibited in cafes and bars, where only table seating will be permitted, for three weeks -- though he held off on a curfew for New Year's Eve festivities. Several French media reports had suggested such a move was under consideration. Currently 78 percent of the country has had at least one shot, a figure the government says represents 90 percent of those eligible -- currently everyone older than five. Castex also reiterated a call for people to get booster shots, which will now be available just three months after receipt of the initial injections. Minister Tests Positive The average number of daily Covid deaths in hospitals has jumped to 162 each day, with the toll in France now 122,642 victims since the start of the pandemic. And the new measures came as Environment Minister Barbara Pompili announced on Twitter that she had tested positive for Covid after coming down with symptoms, and was self-isolating. Face masks, already required in most indoor public spaces, could soon be mandatory outdoors on city streets as well, Castex said. And capacity limits will be reimposed for concerts, sporting matches and other events at 2,000 people indoors, and 5,000 outside -- with no standing areas allowed. No eating or drinking will be authorised in theatres, sporting venues, cinemas or public transport, including long-distance train travel, he added. But the government held off on postponing a return to class for students on January 3 after the holidays, a measure sought by some 50 doctors and health workers in an open letter published over the weekend. And in a bid to avoid labour shortages in essential sectors such as education and health care as the number of cases soars, Castex said the government would soon reduce the number of quarantine days required for fully vaccinated people who are exposed to infected individuals. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypts parliament the House of Representatives will reconvene on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss a new legislative agenda, on top of which is a General Unified Planning Law that aims to streamline the countrys economic policies and engage the private sector in the countrys economic development. The law, approved by the Senate on 7 November, primarily addresses how the countrys socio-economic development plans are drawn up. A report prepared by the Houses Budget Committee said the draft law shows the rules and methods upon which the countrys sustainable development plans are prepared at both the national and governorate levels, putting into account that the current 1973 planning law states that the public sector is the main player in economic development. But under the new law, the private sector will be entrusted with implementing at least 25 percent of the countrys economic development investments, the report pointed out. Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said said the new general planning law reflects Egypts current public-private partnership in achieving the countrys 2030 sustainable development plans. It also encourages decentralisation and gives local councils a greater role in mapping out economic development plans, said El-Said. The report said the new law aims to set up a Higher Council for Planning and Sustainable Development. This council, which will be headed by the president of the republic, will help create coordination among all state authorities and the private sector when it comes to forging economic planning policies, said the report, adding that the council will make sure that no development projects are implemented without making sure first that they are economically feasible. The Houses agenda of debate on Tuesday will also include taking a final vote on six laws that were approved in principle by MPs over the last few weeks. The list includes laws on general unified finance, the regulation and promotion of the use of financial technology (FinTech) in non-banking financial activities, the transfer of a part of the money of private funds and accounts to the state treasury, the setting up of the renewable energy authority, the regulation of the performance of universities, and the regulation of the performance of the academy of arts. On Wednesday, the House will also discuss a law on merging the Fund of Improving Egyptian Cotton into the Cotton Research Institute affiliated with the Agricultural Research Centre. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's parliament approved on Wednesday three laws related to economic activities; namely on regulating and promoting the use of financial technology (FinTech) in non-banking financial activities, allowing the finance ministry to transfer money from private funds and accounts into the state treasury, and setting up a renewable energy development authority. The FinTech law aims to widen the scope of electronic non-banking financial activities with the objective of cutting the costs of services provided by these activities, as well as promoting the role of Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority in making sure that non-banking financial activities observe transparency and rational governance. The second law allows the finance ministry to legally transfer part of the proceeds of private funds and accounts and the surplus achieved by public institutions on 30 June 2021 to the state treasury. The law aims to support the state budget in terms of generating additional financial resources necessary to implement public projects and services. The third law seeks to cancel the Hydraulic Electric Power Stations Authority and transfer its assets to the Renewable Energy Utilisation and Development Authority, which will be responsible from now on for implementing all kinds of electric generation projects, including the ones built on Nile River waterfalls. The House also approved Wednesday amending two laws on regulating the performance of universities and the Academy of Arts. The two laws allow experienced professors who reach retirement age to remain in service and get an adequate financial bonus plus their pension. The law allows emeritus professors to get the same financial privileges granted to the university's teaching board, with the exception of holding administrative posts. On Wednesday, the House also approved all the articles of the new General Unified Economic Planning law, which aims to streamline the methods of preparing the country's state budget in terms of observing the principles of transparency, diversity, decentralization and impartiality. Finally, MPs provisionally approved amending the law regulating the performance of the Cotton Improvement Fund. The Fund will be merged into the Cotton Research Centre, which is affiliated with the Agricultural Research Centre. House speaker Hanafi Gibali has said the House's coming upcoming sessions will be held on 23 January. Search Keywords: Short link: Ismailiia criminal court sentenced on Wednesday Abdel-Rahman Nazmy nicknamed Dabour to death for decapitating his neighbour and attempting to murder two others in October of 2021. The ruling is not final and can be appealed. This comes a month after the court sought - per Egyptian law - the non-binding opinion of Egypts Grand Mufti on the preliminary death sentence passed down onto Nazmy. Egyptians on social media platforms were horrified when videos and photos appeared online showing a young man brutally attacking and beheading an older man with a cleaver in broad daylight on a public street in the Suez Canal city. In November, the General Prosecution referred Nazmy to an urgent trial over charges of deliberate murder, abusing drugs, and possession of a cold weapon with the aim of disturbing public order. According to a statement released by the prosecution, people injured during the incident as well as ten eye witnesses have identified the culprit as Nazmy, who admitted to the murder crime as well as abusing different types of drugs on the same day of the crime. Medical reports have affirmed that Nazmy does not suffer from any psychological or mental disabilities, the prosecution added. Search Keywords: Short link: The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi announced that it is postponing the 22nd annual Crystal Ball Gala due to COVID. The chartered Boeing 737 plunged into the Red Sea on January 3, 2004, just minutes after take-off from the coastal resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with all on board perishing, including 134 French citizens. Mohamed Nour, managing director of the low-cost airline at the time, is the first person to be charged after years of investigations into the causes of the accident. After long refusing French judicial summons, Nour agreed to appear before a judge for questioning in September, when he was named an official witness in the case. But in December the judge notified Nour that he would be charged with involuntary manslaughter, the legal source said, confirming a report in Le Parisien newspaper. An expert report from 2009 found that the pilots aboard were inadequately trained and suffering from fatigue due to their intense working hours in the weeks leading up to the accident. France's aviation authority, the BEA, also determined that the pilot had suffered "spatial disorientation" before the crash, meaning he was unable to properly assess the plane's speed or altitude. That led prosecutors to drop the case in 2016, saying a trial was unnecessary as the pilots were among the dead. The move infuriated many victims' families, who in 2019 secured a reopening of the investigation with a Paris appeals court. "Over 18 years of proceedings, we have often asked the judiciary to investigate the airline's directors," Isabelle Manson, president of a victims' association, told AFP. She welcomed the decision to charge Nour, saying the judge now overseeing the inquiry "is not afraid to press ahead." Aside from the French victims, those who died in the crash also included one Japanese, one Moroccan and 13 Egyptian crew members, according to remarks made by former Egyptian civil aviation minister Ahmed Shafeeq and reported by the guardian. Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and former French president Jacques Chirac exchanged condolences in a phone call following the accident. The Egyptian authorities, with the assistance of French technical equipment, retrieved the victimes' bodies. Flash Airlines has since been liquidated, according to media reports. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Egypt will receive some 1.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Spain via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative, the Spanish embassy in Cairo announced on Wednesday. The shipment is part of a coronavirus vaccine grant to Egypt that was announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during his visit to Cairo in early December, the embassy said. With the arrival of this batch of vaccines, Madrid will have delivered more than 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Egypt. Of this total, Egypt received a shipment of over 1.27 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in December, and another 204,000 doses of the same vaccine in November, the Spanish embassy said. The embassy added that Egypt is the worlds largest recipient of COVID-19 vaccines donated by Spain, which reflects the good relations between the two countries. Egypts acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said on Wednesday during the weekly cabinet meeting that Egypt has so far received 122.2 million doses, whether as fully manufactured vaccines of different types or as raw materials used to produce vaccines locally. Abdel-Ghaffar added that 57.4 million doses have been used as first and second jabs, and that the remaining doses number 64.8 million. Search Keywords: Short link: Acting health minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said on Wednesday that Egypt has so far received at total of 122.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. In a presentation on the latest developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic during the weekly cabinet meeting in Cairo, Abdel-Ghaffar said that 57.4 million doses have been administered, leaving 64.8 million in stock, since the start of Egypts mass vaccination in January 2020. Egypt is currently administrating Sinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The minister also said that vaccination centres have been increased to 1,400, including 324 in hospitals, 180 centres for travellers, and 243 at youth centres. Abdel-Ghaffar also revealed that the 12 to 15 age group has received 144,700 vaccine doses, and the 15 to 18 age group has received 1.2 million doses. Egypt expanded the age of vaccination to include both the 12-15 and 15-18 age groups in November 2021. On 29 December, Egypt announced that it had administered more than 21 million second vaccine shots since the country started its vaccination campaign. When it comes to the COVID-19 treatments, Minister Abdel-Ghaffar said Egypt will receive Pfizers Paxlovid pills required for the treatment of 20,000 coronavirus patients, as well as AstraZenecas Evusheld coronavirus antibody required to treat 50,000 patients. The acting health minister also said that three local companies will produce Mercks Molnupiravir coronavirus drug. The three drugs all obtained the authorisation of the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in December. Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said that Egypt is keen to offer full support to Chad during its current transitional phase and to develop relations between the two countries on various levels. President El-Sisi received on Wednesday President of the Chadian Transitional Military Council Mohamed Idriss Deby at Cairo's Ittihadiya Presidential Palace. After the death of Chadian president Idriss Deby, the power was handed over to his son, Mohamed Idriss Deby, to lead an 18-month transitional government. During the meeting, El-Sisi asserted Egypt's keenness on promoting security, intelligence and military cooperation with Chad to counter terrorism and extremist ideology, Egypts presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement. The meeting touched promoting bilateral cooperation between Egypt and Chad, mainly through activating a joint committee, with President El-Sisi affirming Egypts keenness to continue cooperation with the Chadians in the capacity-building area. Several regional issues of mutual interest were discussed in the meeting, including developments in Libya, with both sides agreeing on the importance of developing a clear mechanism as part of the political process to ensure removing all armed foreign elements from the country. Deby hailed the close relations that bind the two countries, affirming Chads keenness to activate and promote bilateral cooperation with Egypt, Rady added. He also expressed his deep appreciation for the support that Egypts people and leadership have offered to his country during the current critical stage and in many fields, most notably the capacity-building area to help it achieve its aspirations for development. Search Keywords: Short link: The U.S. led-coalition in Syria struck several launch sites for short-range rockets believed to be intended for attacks on an installation used by U.S. troops in eastern Syria, officials said Tuesday. The strikes against the launch sites apparently were conducted by U.S. forces, but a statement issued by the coalition did not specify who carried them out. The statement offered few details beyond saying the sites "posed an imminent threat in the vicinity of Green Village, Syria,'' and were struck in self defense. Green Village, just east of the Euphrates River, is an installation used by some of the several hundred U.S. forces in Syria. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said airstrikes were not used against the launch sites. He did not elaborate. "One of the reasons these sites were hit was we had reason to believe that they were going to be used as launch sites for attacks on Green Village,'' Kirby said. "So clearly our men and women remain in harm's way and we have to take that threat very seriously and we always have the right of self defense.'' Kirby said he could not comment on which group may have intended to use the rocket sites. The pre-emptive attack on the sites followed two separate incidents this week in Iraq in which explosives-laden drones were shot down before they could attack an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops in western Iraq and a facility housing U.S. advisers at Baghdad airport. Commenting on those drone incidents in Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, Kirby said the United States has not conclusively determined who was behind them, but he added, "these kinds of attacks are very much in keeping with the kind of attacks we've seen from Iran-backed militias in Iraq and in Syria, and so obviously our working-level assumption is that such groups were responsible for these.'' A January 2020 U.S. drone strike at Baghdad's airport killed Gen. Qassim Soleimani, who was the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Pro-Iran Shia factions in Iraq have vowed revenge for the killings. The United States has about 2,500 troops in Iraq acting as trainers and advisers to Iraqi security forces. Search Keywords: Short link: Forces of Yemen's internationally recognized government have reclaimed large swaths of territory in a southern province from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, government officials said Wednesday. The push in the southern province of Shabwa comes amid heavy airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis elsewhere in Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa. The rebels have also stepped up their cross-border attacks, using ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones to target Saudi Arabia. The Houthis recently also seized an Emirati ship in the Red Sea off the contested city of Hodeida. A Yemeni military spokesman, Mohammed al-Naqib, said the troops' advance in Shabwa aims to cut supply lines for the Houthis who have been attacking the key city of Marib, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, since early last year. Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis took Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition, entered the war months later to try restoring the government to power. The war created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the country to the brink of famine. Government troops, aided by allied Giants Bridges, swept through Shabwa earlier this month, retaking most of the Usailan district from the Houthis. Al-Naqib said they also pushed through the nearby Bayhan district, retaking several villages. A spokesman for the rebels did not answer phone calls seeking comment. A Houthi media office said the Saudi-led coalition launched dozens of airstrikes on the rebels in Usailan and Bayhan. Fighting has also escalated since November around the city of Hodeida, in a setback to the UN-brokered cease-fire in 2018 that ended fighting over the strategic port. The Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday called for the Houthis to release the Emirati ship Rwabee, warning that it would attack ports used by the rebels to seize the vessel, a move that would likely further undermine the cease-fire in Hodeida. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations was following ``with concern'' reports of the vessel's seizure ``in what the Houthis have described as Yemeni waters.'' The rebels, meanwhile, accused the Saudi-led coalition Wednesday of preventing a fuel vessel from entering Hodeida despite receiving UN clearances. Essam al-Mutawakel, the spokesman for rebel-run Yemen Petroleum Company, said the coalition diverted Splendour Sapphire to the Saudi city of Jizan. He said the ship carries 24,189 tons of mazut, a low-quality fuel oil. There was no immediate comment from the coalition. Search Keywords: Short link: Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating, his chief of staff Pawel Szrot said on Wednesday. "The president is fine, has no severe symptoms and is under constant medical care," Szrot said on Twitter. Szrot said the president had received three Covid vaccine doses in April, June and December of last year. Poland's health ministry on Wednesday reported a daily increase of 17,196 cases and 632 Covid-linked deaths. Poland has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe -- around 63 percent of the adult population -- and one of the highest mortality rates but there are few restrictions or vaccine requirements in place. Health Minister Adam Niedzielski also on Wednesday warned that he expected a peak of cases later in January and said the government was readying itself for a potential "catastrophic scenario". "We are preparing for the Omicron attack," he said. Search Keywords: Short link: After the historical inauguration of the Sphinx Avenue last November, Luxor saw many significant cultural events including, on 12 December, the Faculty of Fine Arts Silver Jubilee celebration. Presided over by the facultys popular dean Ahmed Mohie, the three-day, impressively well organised event featured artists and scholars from Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan, Iraq and France. It included a group exhibition by 120 graduates and professors with a folk dance for the opening. Among the highlights of the latter was a 35 by 50 cm abstract drawing in ink on paper by the celebrated artist and graphics professor Salah Al-Meligi, a veteran of both the Luxor and Zamalek art colleges. It features lines, blocks and circles reflecting a far-fetched political theme. The rise and fall, or the construction and deconstruction of a block or line captured my mind in the time when Egypt was under the control of Muslim Brotherhood, before the 30 June Revolution, Al-Meligi says. Another highlight is the Luxor graduate and Assiut assistant professor Beshoy Zarehs 90 by 90 cm acrylic on canvas portrait of a woman that seems to mimic the Fayoum mummy portraits. I am greatly inspired by Luxors ancient Egyptian and Coptic legacy, he said. This portrait is inspired by Nout, goddess of the sky, and her custom of devouring of the reddening sun at the end of each day in order to give birth to the white sun at the start of the next. On the second days programme was a workshop by cartoonist Amr Fahmi and a lecture by Al-Meligi. The 2009 Luxor graduate and current teaching assistant Ahmed Saber, who lives and works in this open museum, feels it is a blessing: It always inspires me with ways to rework ancient symbols into a modern visual context. My graduation project, a 7.5 by 3.5 m mural that places the goddess Maat in the crowded city streets, was inspired by the goddess of justice, and my work from then on has drawn on the symbols and techniques of ancient Egyptian art as well as the modern traditions of Luxor residents. Both Saber and Zareh lamented the lack of strong galleries in Upper Egypt. At the closing ceremony, held at the Luxor Cultural Centre, university President Mohamed Azouz announced that the celebration would be ongoing, with new events on the first Thursday of each month. Former faculty dean and Luxor-based artist Mohamed Orabi praised the international Luxor Painting Symposium, whose 14th round closed on 20 December, stressing its contribution to Luxors cultural life. Another important initiative, inaugurated by Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem on 25 December, is the UNESCO-restored Hassan Fathi village in Gorna, first established by the great architect in 1948, on the west bank of the Nile. It boasts an old theatre, a gallery, a souk and a mosque. *** Back in Cairo, Luxor University professor Ali Hassans exhibition Safe Haven (13 November-9 December) was one of last years more popular shows. A 1997 Zamalek college graduate, Hassan chose to relocate to Luxor, and much of his work is inspired by the city. His 2016 exhibition at the Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum, Earth Sequence, zeroed in on the landscape to show the farmers rituals and their connection with the land in an abstracted style. Safe Haven featured 48 mostly large paintings in oil, on paper as well as canvas, mixing realist with expressionist even Fauvist elements to critique womens treatment in Upper Egypt, the safe haven being the prison to which many of them are confined. The project began in June 2020 after one of his female students, Arwa, began to recount her dreams to him, describing the restrictions that her typical southern family placed on her. One painting shows a girl with a motorbike Arwa has always wanted to ride one standing stock still in a room. Other paintings show the aquarium fish and chickens the girl raises, transformed into ferocious monsters as they appeared in her nightmares. It happened that in the morning Arwa would wake up to find dead fish that had leapt out of the glass vessel onto the floor, Hassan says. And this is exactly what she aspired to doing; breaking the limits of the box to which she was confined in order to love. In Temporary Marriage, the girl can be seen in her grandmothers wedding gown: It is one of the girls dreams to be a bride and wear a white dress like her grandmothers in old photos. But in her nightmares wolves would tear it off her body. For this painting I had the dress designed by a female dressmaker in Upper Egypt before my student wore it to model for me. The exhibition also featured paintings of wild cats creeping around a dark forest, huge birds and fantastic creatures. I wanted the viewers to face this tense situation psychologically, Hassan says, to be disturbed and motivated. *** Another Luxor-inspired event is the Jordanian artist Mohamed Al-Jalouss first solo exhibition at the Picasso Gallery, The Magic of the West Bank of Luxor (9-30 January). Al-Jalous has painted cities like Al-Salt, Nablus and Jaffa. *A version of this article appears in print in the 6 January, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: The inaugural edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival (RedSeaIFF, December 6-15), which ran in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia under the slogan Waves of change, was the most important Arab cinematic event of 2021. The event is part of the enormous change taking place in Saudi Arabia traditionally the most conservative Arab-Muslim society for a few years now, which involved unprecedented freedoms for women and much cultural activity, with cinemas, previously prohibited, opening everywhere in the country and a great deal of support for the Arab and African as well as the Saudi film industries. In many ways the first RedSeaIFF was the crowning glory of those efforts. Scheduled to launch last year but postponed due to the Covid pandemic, RedSeaIFF featured 138 films from 67 countries in 34 languages, 27 of them Saudi. 38 per cent of these films are directed by women, whose role it sought to emphasise in every way. According to RedSeaIFF Managing Director Shivani Pandya, Celebrating the contribution of women to cinema is central to the mission of the festival. We are honoured to be able to give a platform to local emerging female directors, writers and actors, who have been crucial in the development and progression of the Saudi film industry. Beyond this, we are thrilled to be able to honour the contribution of women to Arab and international cinema, through specific tributes and masterclasses, and are inspired by these women and the work they have done to lead the empowerment of women in our industry. At the opening ceremony, hosted by the Saudi actor Yaqoub Al-Farhan and the Saudi actress-filmmaker Fatima Al-Banawi, the festival honoured three outstanding women for their extraordinary contribution to cinema and to drive the festivals mission to celebrate incredible women in film: multi award-winning filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, Academy Award and BAFTA nominated French actress Catherine Deneuve and acclaimed Egyptian actress Laila Elwi. Al-Mansour is not just one of the most prominent names in Saudi film, she also pioneered championing female empowerment across the region. Her debut feature, the multi-award winning Wadjda (2012), was the first film ever to be shot in the kingdom. She has since gone on to direct internationally, making films like Mary Shelley (2017) and Nappily Ever After (2018), before returning with the Saudi film The Perfect Candidate (2019). I am incredibly honoured to come home to Saudi Arabia for the first round of the Red Sea International Film Festival, Al- Mansour said. Those of us who worked tirelessly with dreams of cinema finding a home here know what a truly monumental event this is for the kingdom, the region and the world. I believe strongly in the power of art to foster positive development and opportunity in our society and hope that this festival serves as a strong foundation for a burgeoning industry that will nurture and amplify our stories and dreams well into the future. When I started making films years ago, the idea of working as a director seemed outlandish." "But I knew that the world was curious to hear from us, to hear our side of the story, and that films from our part of the world would strike a chord with audiences everywhere. Now, returning home as an honouree at our first film festival feels just as unbelievable. It is an incredible honour for me, and such a wonderful opportunity to see the best of up-and-coming talent from the region. The world is still eager to hear from us, and I am so excited to see the infrastructure of a film industry being built to help realise our cinematic visions. I am so excited to see what comes next. Deneuve, celebrated for performances in 8 Women (2002), Repulsion (1965), Belle de Jour (1967), Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Indochine (1992), for which she was nominated for the 1992 Academy Award for Best Actress, also won two out of 14 Cesar Award nominations and the Venice Film Festivals prestigious Volpi Cup for Best Actress, as well as many other international awards. I am especially grateful for this honour, she said, and the opportunity to be a part of this wider celebration of the contribution of women to cinema. I hope that this acknowledgement of the contribution of women in cinema continues to underscore the importance of having a strong female presence both in front of and behind the camera. Elwi, who has starred in over 70 films and received numerous awards across the world, is perhaps best known for Love Cinema (2004), Too Little Love... Too Much Violence (1995) and Girls in Love (2004). Both she and Youssra, another iconic Egyptian film star, gave masterclasses discussing their careers. For his part Mohamed Al-Turki, chairman of the RedSeaIFF Committee, said, It is a true honour to host such a wealth of both international and Arab talent at our festival, in a celebration of filmmaking unlike any other that the kingdom has seen before. The festival is a watershed moment for our burgeoning Saudi film industry. Out of the new wave of Saudi work, RedSeaIFF celebrated two feature films by multiple emerging female filmmakers. In Becoming, financed by the Saudi Red Sea Foundation, five shorts come together under an Untitled Omnibus Feature to realise nuanced reflections on woman-centred narratives. The five directors are Hind Alfahhad, Jowaher Alamri, Noor Alameer, Sara Mesfer and Fatima Al-Banawi. In Quareer, another five Saudi women Ragheed Al-Nahdi, Norah Almowald, Ruba Khafagy, Fatma Alhazmi and Noor Alameer explore themes of abandonment, neglect, control, abuse and shame in a conservative society. The cast and crew of the five short films are made up of students and graduates of the Cinematic Arts programme run by Effat University in Jeddah, the first film school of its kind in the kingdom. The Bachelor of Science in Cinematic Arts, a four-year programme for students interested in higher studies in cinematography, film and media production, is the first and only university degree of its kind. Starting in 2022, 20 years after it was established, the programme initially a female-only course will be open to men as well. Another five films by Saudi women in the New Saudi, New Cinema section include My Vibe, a documentary film by Faizah Ambah, who also contributes a short narrative film, Nour Shams to the same section. Both films deal with everyday life in the directors hometown, Jeddah. In My Vibe, when cinema comes to the old neighbourhoods of Jeddah, the lives of three teenagers are forever changed by the experience. However, Nour Shams is about a female Uber driver who is also a single mother forced to choose between being separated from her son and giving up her passion for African desserts. Lina Malaika and David Dargs Maskoon, another short fiction film, is about an American archaeologist working alongside the Saudi Ministry of Culture on excavations in Al-Balad, Jeddah. Strange events including the discovery of an ancient box and an unnerving encounter with a local antique dealer make her increasingly uneasy. There is also The Palm Witch, a short animation by Hala Alhaid about two friends in the old city of Riyadh who set out in search of their lost pet. Whisper Down the Lane is an experimental short by Raghad Albarqi, which takes us on a linear journey that follows a series of interconnected phone calls between five individuals, eventually escalating into a bigger conflict. The film explores the concepts of communication, self-destruction, and their domino effect. Optimism about RedSeaIFF and a Saudi discourse profoundly different from what has been coming out of the kingdom for decades is widespread. The prominent Egyptian director Khairi Bishara, who was invited on the occasion of the restoration of some of his most important films by the Red Sea Foundation, likened RedSeaIFF to a resounding revolution. It does not seem to me that life begins here from scratch after the announcement of the major changes in the direction of the kingdom, but it seemed as if there were tens or even hundreds of young people ready for this moment, which means that whatever the motive behind what they call waves of change, the popular basis is there and will remain and will grow and impose itself. Among the award-winning films at RedSeaIFF is You Resemble Me, a feature film by Dina Amer, the Egyptian-American filmmaker, journalist and producer of Jehane Noujaims Emmy-winning documentary The Square (2013). You Resemble Me, which won the Audience Award, takes place during the bombing attacks in Paris in 2015, when a young woman called Hasna Ait Boulahcen is arrested and identified as Europes first female bomber. Amer interviewed her friends and family; she has since reimagined her story, beginning with her wrenching separation as a child from her sister when they were placed with different foster families. Three actresses play the troubled adult Boulahcen, reflecting her sense of fractured identity as she searches for something to do that will make her feel she belongs. For my film to be screened in the heartland of Islam is crucial, Amer says, in the place where Islam began and from which it moved to the rest of the world where the Message of the Prophet Mohamed was altered into very different interpretations to create a radical ideology that really has nothing to do with the true Islam that billions of people all over the world practise. For Saudi Arabia to accept my film is a very strong sign that Islam has nothing to do with those radical ideologies. It is a dream come true. As a Muslim woman I never thought I might live to see this. Antoine Khalifa, Director of Arab Programmes at RedSeaIFF, feels it is especially significant that Haifaa Al-Mansour should be honoured. Through the themes and issues that concern Saudi society and Saudi women as she tackled them in her films, it seems to me she could see the change many years before it happened. This change that she has always been a part of by inspiring dozens of Saudi female filmmakers from different generations whose works we see today in the same festival. This is evidence that there are no limits to inspiration, determination and development. *A version of this article appears in print in the 6 January, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: It is not a particularly festive Christmas that the Copts of Egypt are celebrating today, notably because of the restrictions resulting from the winter surge in Covid-19. However, Christmas this year has been marked, as has been the case over the past five years, with an announcement of the restoration of several churches and the registration of others under construction nationwide. For Egypts Coptic Church, and perhaps for the overwhelming majority of Copts, this is no small thing. It is a gesture that is as celebrated as the tradition of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to attend Christmas Mass in Cairo, started in January 2015 only six months after he became president. These two things have been as celebrated as the decision that former president Hosni Mubarak made in December 2009 to add Christmas Day to the list of national holidays that had never previously included any Christian feasts. Unlike the date of Jesus crucifixion, his birth date is not contested by the Islamic authorities, whose green light is a constitutional sine qua non for any decision on official holidays. However, over the past five years, Easter Sunday has been a de facto day off as it comes between the Friday-Saturday weekend and the Monday of Sham Al-Nessim, an official holiday that all Egyptians celebrate with the advent of spring. Mohamed Afifi, a professor of modern and contemporary history at Cairo University and a researcher on the history of the Copts, said it was a matter of time and of incremental civil-society pressure. In a sense, Afifi said, it had been in the interest of Mubarak to make Christmas an official holiday in 2009, as it was perhaps in the interest of the current political dispensation to court the Coptic Church. However, he argued that none of these gestures would have been possible had it not been for societal consent, the latter being the outcome of lobbying by societal and political figures. Speaking in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly on the occasion of Coptic Christmas, Afifi said that intellectuals in Egypt, believing deeply in the principle of equal citizenship, had worked hard to support and welcome such decisions. But there had also been moments of disarray, he said. There have been ups and downs. However, these were not always reflected in the daily life of Egyptians who would not all be swayed by moments of political difficulty, Afifi argued. DIFFICULTIES Over the past 11 decades, Egypt has sometimes come close to Coptic-Muslim confrontation and then seen a U-turn, Afifi said. I dont like to use the term civil strife because I dont think it applies in the case of Egypt as Egyptians do not have different ethnicities, he said. In 1910, Ibrahim Al-Wardani assassinated then Coptic prime minister Boutros Ghali Pasha. This sad and lamentable assassination was not designed to manifest anti-Coptic sentiments on the part of Al-Wardani, however. It was a political assassination designed to protest against widely contested positions, Afifi said. But it coincided with a debate over Egypts association with the declining Ottoman Empire, and there was a moment of polarisation, with angry calls being made for a Coptic Conference and an Islamic Conference and so on, however. Yet, it is difficult to separate Egyptians in a faith-based manner because what all Egyptians share starts from their common historic association with the Valley of the Nile and includes their otherwise almost identical social norms. It is very difficult to think of long-term civil strife in Egypt, Afifi said. Whenever there is an issue of national concern, Egyptians, with or without sentiments of religion, will inevitably tend to come together, he said. In the run-up and during the demonstrations of the 1919 Revolution, there was a moment of civil unity, for example, he added. Public debate, at least in Cairo and other big cities, over Al-Wardanis action was quickly silenced. Sheikh Mustafa Al-Qayati and Archbishop Sergious for months exchanged places at Al-Azhar and in downtown Cairo churches to express their support for the calls of freedom made in the 1919 Revolution. From then on, Afifi said, there was a significant political movement, which came with the growing role of the Wafd Party, that allowed for a wide and visible political role for the Copts and for Muslims. This lasted for a few decades, and there were the parallel political roles of Mustafa Al-Nahhas and Makram Ebeid, he added. During the rise of the Free Officers before the 1952 Revolution, Afifi said, there was an inevitable decline in the role of Copts, as they have more often than not opted not to join clandestine movements, Afifi said. Any movements that the Copts opted for were very few and strictly religious, unlike the case of the Free Officers who were predominantly Muslims and certainly were opposed to the state as it then existed. Around that time, there were Coptic members of other clandestine movements of Communist or even Fascist inclinations, but these were mostly Copts from wealthy families, and they were an exception, he argued. It would also be untrue to disconnect the Free Officers from any association with the Muslim Brotherhood. It is not just former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser who had an association with the Muslim Brotherhood at that time, as others did too, Afifi said, including Hussein Al-Shafei, Kamaleddin Hussein, Anwar Al-Sadat, and others. This made it unlikely that there would be the inclusion of the Copts in the Free Officers. Later, Nassers enormous popularity as president made up for this, Afifi said, adding that Nasser had worked on securing a close rapport with head of the Coptic Church Pope Kyrollos. During these years, it was less common to see Copts in top state positions compared to under the monarchy. However, he added, the Copts were a lot more inclined to pursue successful professional careers, which also made them perhaps less interested in abandoning those careers in favour of state jobs. The nationalisations hurt a lot of wealthy Copts, and there was perhaps a lot more interest in rebuilding lost financial capacity, either in or outside Egypt, rather than in pursuing an association with the state, he added. Moreover, Afifi said, with the elimination of what could be called a public political sphere as a result of the abolition of political parties under Nasser, there was no room for anyone, Copts or Muslims, to have a prominent role if it was not with the consent of the state at the time. The military defeat of 1967 then broke national dreams and prompted a sudden rise in Islamist feeling. As a result, the Copts were left with defeated faith in the present and growing fears over the future. It was a moment of considerable Coptic migration, Afifi said. This was a moment when some Egyptian Copts decided to give their children English Christian names. So instead of Boutros there were lots of Peters, along with Johns and Carolines and so on, he added. DECISIVE MOMENTS Subsequent years leading up to the October War in 1973 were a time for healing wounds and not for creating more wounds over differences. However, Afifi said, with the rise of Islamist sentiments in the second half of the 1970s, it was definitely an alarming moment for many Copts, made worse by the falling out between the head of the Coptic Church at the time Pope Shenouda and Sadat. We started to see dividing lines of faith, especially in the more economically challenged quarters, manifested in the choice of the names of children. We saw a lot of Coptic names and a lot of names from the Arab Gulf. Instead of names that carry no religious identification like Dalia, Sherine, Wael and Tarek, we got into the Boutros, Kyrollos, Girgis, Hozaifa, and Rouqaiya phase, he stated. This was effectively the moment that many Copts chose to exit the stage, not just politically but also socially, Afifi said. He added that given the isolation imposed by Sadat on Pope Shenouda in the early 1980s, this was a moment like no other in the contemporary history of Copts, who feared for themselves in a way that might have been worse than following the election of Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi as president in 2012. When Pope Shenouda came out of isolation during Hosni Mubaraks rule, he made the decision to keep up a peaceful and distant relation with the state. This was always the case even during the worst attacks against the Copts in 1990s, Afifi argued. He said that the generally little influence that the political parties had during these years had made the Coptic interest in playing a role in those parties limited, whether in the New Wafd Party or the leftist Tagammua. However, for the most part, the Copts were almost all beyond the walls of the Church, physically and not metaphorically, because even when they wanted to gather to express themselves it was outside the walls of the Church, Afifi said. The 25 January Revolution in 2011, Afifi said, was another decisive moment for at least the younger generation of Copts. It is important to note that for Copts and for Muslims, the January Revolution was first and foremost an act of the younger generation. In 2011, the younger generation of Egyptians was perfectly capable, due to the IT revolution and social media, to connect beyond the walls without religious apprehensions, he argued. It was a curious moment of history in many ways. It was almost a moment of turning the page. Mubarak had been ousted, and not long afterwards Pope Shenouda passed away, and there was the younger generation hoping for a new future, Afifi said. Some Copts say that they opted for a U-turn as early as October 2011 after the Maspero incidents, when some young Copts, including Mina Daniel, a prominent figure in the January Revolution, got into a violent confrontation with the then law-enforcing agencies that left close to 30 Copts dead. Some say the wish for a U-Turn occurred on the day Morsi was elected. Others say it was in April 2012 when the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya came under attack. For Afifi, these were all moments of Coptic and Muslim fear and agony. Those were moments when the positions of the radical Islamists were being threaded into Egyptian society, he argued. This was manifested during the 30 June demonstrations, when there was a very visible Coptic presence side by side with the Muslim presence, he said. Unlike the Coptic presence in the January Revolution, which was mostly of younger men and women, on 30 June there was a very strong presence of older Copts, including housewives and grandparents, he added. Afifi argued that 30 June brought together those who opposed the January Revolution with those who wished for an early ouster of Morsi, whether or not they supported the January Revolution. It was a moment of an affirmative Coptic presence for the obvious and perfectly legitimate reason that the Copts feared more than anyone else the continued rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, he said. He said that the rule of Morsi had brought back fears relating to the 1970s to the 1990s and the worst incidents of attacks against Copts and open calls for anti-Coptic discrimination. It had also brought back memories of the Middle Ages, when Copts were said to be forced by Muslims into humiliating acts like walking strictly on the left side of the road or being forced to ride their donkeys backwards. But it was never Muslims who forced Copts into these practices, but rather the soldiers of the rulers who would also force Muslim citizens to perform such practices, he said. It is also important to note that 30 June was never a Coptic moment but was rather an Egyptian moment with a pronounced Coptic presence, he added. After the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood, many Egyptians opted out of politics, like some Muslim Egyptians did, including some who were at the forefront of the January Revolution, Afifi said. And with political space being effectively suspended, he added, there has been no particular Coptic activism outside the walls of the Church that Pope Tawadros has seemed happy to gather the Copts behind. During the Mubarak years, the state was happy to deal with the Copts through the head of the Coptic Church. This was regained in a way after 2013, but with a lot more gestures from the state towards the Copts, like the renovation and registration of churches and the presence of the head of state at the Coptic Christmas Mass, which really brings joy to the Copts, Afifi argued. While the history of Copts over the past century has never been on a path of its own, a grievance remains in questions of Coptic representation in the wider culture and school curricula. I am not talking about political representation because clearly this too has improved significantly during the past five years. I am rather talking about cultural and media representation and the representation of the history of the Copts, and for that matter of all Christians, in Egyptian school curricula, Afifi said. In general, he said, there had been little space in literary production for Coptic content. Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz includes a prominent Coptic character, Riad Kaldas, in his novel Al-Sokariya (Sugar Street), presenting him as engaging in conversation with Kamal Abdel-Gawwad, the protagonist. Other references in contemporary literature include the works of Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid and Alaa Al-Aswany, in addition to the works of Coptic Alexandrian writer Edward Kharrat and Naim Sabri, who was born to a Coptic family in the predominantly Coptic Cairo neighbourhood of Shobra, just like Afifi himself. The TV dramas of writers Osama Anwar Okasha and Wahid Hamed also have some Coptic representation; but in general this does not seem to be very vocal and it tends to present some stereotypes, Afifi said. The Tales of Youssef Tadros by author Adel Esmat is perhaps one of the more pronounced texts dealing with Coptic representation in literature. Again, it is an incremental effort, on two sides really, the side of society to encourage full Coptic engagement and the side of the Copts to come forward without misgivings. Afifi believes there is room to include a lot more on the history of the Christians of Egypt in the school history curriculum. I would not subscribe to the idea of teaching students about the Coptic Era in Egyptian history, which is basically a reductionist reference to the six centuries before the arrival of Islam in Egypt. It is reductionist because it assumes that after the arrival of Islam the Copts, or for that matter the Christians, of Egypt were on the margins, which is absolutely not true, Afifi said. Some of the most important Coptic volumes, including those by the Awlad Al-Assal, which defends the Christian faith and establishes Church regulations, were written in the 13th century, for example. The Coptic Synaxarium, a compilation of saints, starts in the fourth and continues through at least the seventh century. While I think we should allow children to read more and learn more about the role of Christians, especially Copts, who always were the majority of Egyptian Christians, in the making of collective Egyptian history, I dont think we need to label eras by religious association, either as Christian or Muslim. I think it makes more sense to talk of the Byzantine era and Fatimid rule rather than of the Coptic era or of Islamic rule, he said. There is also a need to re-engage the Coptic language, based on ancient Egyptian, and not see it only as an element of the Coptic Orthodox faith. It is such a pity that we give it so little attention, he argued. Teaching religion in schools Afifi believes deserves an alternative approach. It is one thing to teach history and another to teach religion in the way it is done now, he said. There is already some confusion between teaching religion and teaching the history of the followers of a certain faith. I think there should be another way to teach children about their religion without making it part of the school curriculum. School should be about the things that we all share and we can all discuss, Afifi said. I remember Pope Shenouda used to say that the ultimate moment of equal citizenship was the one when graduates of secondary schools apply to university. At that moment, only their grades should get them in or deny them the discipline they wish to study. This should be the spirit around which education should be based, he added. Afifi is convinced that the history of Christianity merits more attention, especially in university departments and not just at undergraduate level. When Afifi started a PhD in the mid-1980s about the Christians of Egypt under Ottoman rule, he was one of very few graduate students to approach this theme. Today, he is proud to say, there are many graduate students, both Muslims and Christians, who are interested to learn more about the story of Egypts Christians, especially the Coptic majority. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 January, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: Horn Lake Police reported only nine complaints over the New Year holiday about fireworks and no violations of the new ordinance. Scientists are studying autism-causing genes or trying to figure out how various genes work together to cause the condition. Jake Litvag leaned in for a closer look as a lab mouse scurried around an enclosure, stopping to sniff a large block. Hi, Jakob 1. Im Jake, the 16-year-old said, naming the little furry creature engineered to have the same genetic abnormality he has. That mouse and its lab-grown relatives are the first in the world to mirror the missing gene that causes Jakes autism. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis bred the mice, and grew stem cells derived from Jakes blood, to study and find ways to treat his rare disorder and look for answers to the larger puzzle of autism. Jakes family raised money for the early research, which scientists then parlayed into a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to delve more deeply into Jakes gene, one of more than 100 implicated in autism. They hope to find points of convergence that could someday help people with all forms of the neurodevelopmental condition Jake knows he inspired their work. And thats helped him see autism as something to be proud of rather than something that makes him different from other kids. His parents, Joe and Lisa Litvag, figured meeting the scientists and the mice would show him firsthand what he had brought into being. Oh wow. Cool! Jake said as he watched a mouse climb down a pole while others scampered in a bin. Walking out of the lab, tears welled up in Lisa Litvags eyes as she thought about the language within her sons cells helping other kids. Were deeply proud and humbled to be part of this, said Joe Litvag. What do we live this life for? Its ultimately to try to, in one way, shape or form, be of service to others. JAKES GIFT The Litvags realized early on that Jake wasnt reaching childhood milestones. He couldnt walk without assistance until he was 4. He struggled to string sentences together in first grade. At first, no one could pin down why. Jake had a mix of different traits. He was hyperactive and impulsive but also social, warm and funny. It took until he was 5 to get a firm diagnosis of autism. Around that time, the Litvags heard that child psychiatrist Dr. John Constantino, an expert on the genetic underpinnings of autism, was giving a talk at the Saint Louis Science Center. They decided to go in the hopes of meeting him. They did, and he began seeing Jake as a patient. About five years later, Constantino proposed genetic testing. It revealed the missing copy of the MYT1L gene believed to cause one out of every 10,000 to 50,000 autism cases. Having an extra copy can cause schizophrenia. The finding brought the family peace. Theyd heard lots of people say autism was mostly caused by external factors, like birth trauma. For a long time, Lisa Litvag said, I thought it was something that I did. Actually, a large multinational study suggests that up to 80% of the risk for autism can be traced to inherited genes. One of the big things it did for us as a family is it made us realize that its nothing that we did wrong, Joe Litvag said. Its just that people are born all the time with genetic differences. The couple, whose younger son Jordan doesnt have the condition, talked openly with Jake about his autism and tried to bolster his self-esteem when he worried about being seen as different. They sent him to a small private school that tailors its curriculum to each childs learning abilities. And they encouraged his social tendencies, cheering him on when he and some classmates formed a band, the Snakes. We never wanted him to feel there was shame around his diagnosis, Lisa Litvag said. We continued to kind of reinforce that this is a superpower, you are special, you are awesome and because you have autism, there are gifts you have to give other people. GIFTS BLOSSOM When Constantino suggested studying the little-understood MYT1L gene, the Litvags enthusiastically agreed to help. Constantino who is on the local board of a group theyve long been active in called Autism Speaks asked if theyd be interested in raising money for early research. Joe Litvag, an executive in the live music industry, and Lisa Litvag, a partner in a marketing firm, reached out to family and friends and raised the $70,000 needed in about six months. With half the money, researcher Kristen Kroll and her team reprogrammed cells from Jakes blood into induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be prodded into becoming various cell types. With the other half, scientist Joseph Dougherty and his team followed the blueprint of Jakes genome and induced his mutation in mice using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. Like the people theyre meant to model, mice with the mutation tended to be more hyperactive than siblings without it, running around their cages much more. They were nonetheless generally heavier, especially the first generation of mice. They had slightly smaller brains and a little less of the white matter that speeds communication between different brain regions. Since starting the research about three years ago, scientists have bred around 100 mice with Jakes mutation and are now using the great-great grandchildren of the first one they engineered. They recently published about the mice in the journal Neuron. While scientists cant go back and see how Jakes brain developed, Dougherty said, mice allow them to watch the mutation play out through generations. A GIFT IN RETURN Dougherty and his colleagues hope what they learn about how MYT1L functions ultimately leads to medicines or gene therapies that improve or even correct the problems the mutation causes. They are sharing their findings with scientists studying other autism-causing genes or trying to figure out how various genes work together to cause the condition. According to the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, more than 100 genes have strong evidence linking them to autism and a growing list contains several hundred more genes thought to be linked to the condition. In cases where autism is caused by a single gene, Dougherty said that gene probably does many things to brain development. A key to understanding autism overall is to find one or two things shared across different forms of autism - which could then be targets for treatment. Though not everyone with autism wants treatment, Dougherty said it could help those who do. Since the research began, Dougherty has been writing notes to the Litvags explaining the latest discoveries. But as a lab scientist, hes mostly removed from the people sparking the research and first met the family when they were invited by the school to visit in December. After meeting the mice, they stopped into another lab, where Jake peered through a microscope at his blue-stained stem cells. Thats me! Thats cool stuff. I never saw anything like that in my life, he said, stepping back to lean into his dad, who pulled him close. Dougherty used the visit as an opportunity to share some news, a gift of sorts that he wanted to tell the family in person. The missing gene doesnt seem to shorten life. The mice live 2 to 3 years, the same as their siblings. So, a normal life span? Joe Litvag asked hopefully. Yes, Dougherty answered. As far as we can tell, identical. I know thats a big relief, too. Joe Litvag turned to his son. So Jake, maybe you will live to be 100. I will be 112! Jake replied with a grin. Search Keywords: Short link: Rivals for the traditional fattah dish on the Coptic Christmas dinner table abound, telling a story about the evolution of Egyptian culture It is a very busy evening for the upscale Maadi grocery shop on the weekend separating the beginning of the New Year and the advent of Coptic Christmas that Egypt celebrates on 7 January. Nevine, a housewife in her late 40s, is going through her shopping list. She is done with the meat, the poultry and the pastas. It is now time to go through the cheese section and then to leave the grocery shop to the patisserie to order cakes and cookies. Cheese is essential on my dinner table for Christmas. I get a wide range. I love cheese and I observe the fast, but also my children and my husband who do not observe the fast are always delighted to indulge in the cheese platter that I put on the table. It is a particular element of my table that is also appreciated by my brother and sisters and their spouses and children, Nevine said. The devout Copts of Egypt observe an over 50-day fast before they celebrate Christmas on 7 January. Unlike lent, for this fast they are allowed to eat fish but they have to refrain from dairy, poultry and meat. For Christmas dinner, which traditionally takes place after the end of midnight service, they are allowed to indulge. Well, we dont necessarily wait until the end of the full [Christmas] mass. This used to be the case before, but it has been changing a lot, Nevine added. During the life of her parents, both very observing Coptic Orthodox, Nevine and her siblings would not have even entertained the thought of sitting down to the Christmas dinner before the early hours of 7 January. They had to attend the full mass and then go home for the dinner. Things change a bit with times; today we start a bit earlier and in fact we have a very different menu for our Christmas dinner, she added. Before which is until the late 1980s Nevines family would have the very traditional Christmas dinner that almost everyone had. It was essentially about fattah (a layered mix of rice, toasted slices of baladi bread, dipped in meat broth and splashed with fried garlic) and meat which was either simply boiled or boiled and then fried in ghee, she recalled. A few years down the road, by the mid-1990s, Nevine saw her mother adding a rich dessert, usually a fruit or chocolate cake. And she would always put some kahk el-Eid, Egyptian style Christmas cookies filled with Turkish delight, processed dates or nuts and coated with powdered sugar. Then, the dinner menu expanded to include favourite dishes of family members that were not allowed during the fast, including macarona bechamel (a derivative of lasagna with thick white sauce), fried chicken and chicken soup with fried orzo. Things change; the very menus change and evolve. When we were young, chicken would be generally boiled and fried or grilled or roasted. Today, we have endless chicken recipes, including Chinese ones, Nevine said. She was actually planning chicken with soy sauce and noodles for her dinner table this Christmas. Nadia, a Coptic lady in her late 60s from the more traditional Zeytoun neighbourhood, acknowledges the changes in the Christmas dinner menu. Nadia and her husband and children still attend the Christmas mass until the very end. However, what they eat for dinner is not confined to fattah and meat. We have been watching TV and learning new recipes and doing them especially to please the children and the grandchildren, Nadia said. Nadias Christmas dinner does not have a cheese platter or assorted gateaux soirees; and they have no room for recipes of Chinese cuisine. However, they have place for saniyet kobeiba (baked minced meat and cracked wheat), potatoes stuffed with minced meat and topped with bechamel and mahshi fetaryi (vegetables stuffed with rice and minced meat and cooked with ghee). For dessert, Nadia usually gets rice pudding from her Muslim neighbour. It is a tradition in our apartment building. The Muslims give the Christians rice pudding for the feast and we offer them fried fish for the second day of Eid after Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month) because they dont traditionally eat fish in Ramadan, she said. The changes in the components of Christmas dinner also been a function of waves of migration Copts embarked upon since the late 1960s. Those who went to live in North America or Europe have been coming back with their recipes when they visit for the holidays. Hoda, a resident of Heliopolis in her early 70s, has seen her Christmas dinner table feature stuffed baked turkey and apple pies since Hany, her brother, who had lived in the US for close to 40 years, came back with his wife to retire in Egypt. Our Christmas dinner was never very traditional because we in Heliopolis have lived for long with Christians from the Levant, and also with Europeans. So for us it was never really fattah and boiled fried meat. There was always kobeiba and zucchini with bechamel and there was always a chocolate cake from Groppi (an old Heliopolis patisserie), Hoda recalled. Now, Hoda and her family go for the Christmas dinner at her brothers. So there is really everything; it is quite diverse now for us, she added. But in the 1950s, as today, we always had a real lovely banquet for Christmas. That is the tradition that we have always observed, and we still do, Hoda said. Feasting banquets have always been an Egyptian tradition since the times of the Pharaohs, according to an article published by Salima Ikram in the most recent issue of RAWI, Egypts heritage review. Writing under the title of Abundant delicacies and flowing wine, Ikram described how banquets in ancient Egypt celebrated a variety of occasions, including religious festivals, with lavish and sometimes special menus. Entire oxen were roasted together with ducks, geese, pigeons and various other foul, Ikram wrote. According to Ikram, stews of meat were cooked and different types of bread accompanied by a profusion of fresh vegetables and fruits Cakes and confectioneries using dates and honey, as sweetening agents, were also served. Sometimes fish was served, baked, boiled or grilled but rarely, as it was considered more of everyday food not fit for special occasions, she wrote. Ikram added that pigs would not necessarily appear on banquet menus given that they were considered to be a lesser status meat in ancient Egypt. According to a separate article by Cornelia Roner in the same issue of RAWI, the status of pigs changed during the Greco-Roman period, as the new residents of the country introduced their culture, foods and recipes. A recipe of pork from the era shows the use of a wide variety of herbs and spices, Roner added. In a period of changing fashion and traditions, food trends in Egypt mirrored diverse influences around the Mediterranean, Roner wrote. Roner added that olive oil found its way next to traditional oils extracted from radish and sesame. Wine red and white found a more prominent place on the tables of Egyptians during the Greco-Roman period, as they slowly took over from beer, the more common drink for most Egyptians, including during festive banquets. With the Arab conquest, Nawal Nasrallah wrote in a subsequent article in RAWIs issue dedicated to "Egypts culinary history, that it was a new gastronomic phase. The Arab conquest of Egypt played a major role in adding to its already abundant harvests by introducing important crops such as rice, sugarcane and citrus fruits, Nasrallah wrote. She added that along with the new crops, the Arab conquest brought new recipes, as Egypt was gradually becoming home to Turks, Kurds, Moroccans, Sudanese, Persians, Iraqis and more. This, Nasrallah reminded, was what brought dishes like Moroccan Kouskous or a Kurdish recipe for a whole lamb roast to the Medieval Egyptian cookbook. And food continued to travel to Egypt, and so did recipes, according to an article by Alan Mekihail in same issue of RAWI. By the mid-15th century, Mekhail wrote, Egypt came to have crops that came from the New World. This included corn, tomatoes and potatoes, and of course new recipes came along. RAWIs issue on Egypts culinary history qualifies the 19th century as definitive in the history of Egyptian cuisine, as waves of Syrio-Lebanese migration began, particularly with the persecution of Christians in Ottoman Syria. The arrival of waves of Greeks and Italians, who came looking for better economic prospects, and of Armenians who were escaping the genocide in the early 20th century, added to the multiplicities of cuisine of Egypt, the editors of RAWI remind. Cities turned into cosmopolitan hubs with people of multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds living together in the same buildings, the editors write. Egyptian families would send over a plate of ashoura, kahk or bisara and likely get back some Greek fasolada or perhaps artichokes with fava beans a popular dish during Jewish Passover and Coptic Lent, the issue added. While Levantine, Greek and Italian culinary culture were most influential with regular Egyptians, French culture was to have a greater effect with the Turko-Circassian ruling class and Egyptian notables. These influences would continue throughout the 19th and early decades of the 20th century until the later introduction of canned and frozen foods, both local and imported, that allowed for yet another wave of culinary innovation and diversity. Oh absolutely; this is how I am planning my mushroom, walnut and parmesan salad, my steamed Brussels sprouts and homemade pecan pie for the dinner on Monday night, Nevine said. Of course, we have our local varieties of mushrooms. But in some supermarkets we get imported ones too, and the pecans are imported. The world is changing and so are our menus. Especially those that we cook for special occasions where family and friends get together, she added. Search Keywords: Short link: Former President Donald Trump has canceled a press conference he had planned to hold in Florida on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Trump said in a statement Tuesday evening that he would instead be discussing his grievances at a rally he has planned in Arizona later this month. Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. [File Photo: AP/Evan Vucci] Trump had been expected to use the press conference to rail against the congressional committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power, and to repeat his lies about the 2020 election. Trump continues to falsely insist that the election was stolen and that the real insurrection was on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, the day Democrat Joe Biden won the votes that led to his 306-232 Electoral College victory. Federal and state election officials, Trumps own attorney general and numerous judges including some he appointed have all said repeatedly that the election was fair and that there is no credible evidence of serious fraud. In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona, Trump wrote. The event would have been Trump's second press conference since leaving office. While he has been banned from Twitter and other social media outlets, he has appeared regularly on conservative news outlets and held numerous rallies and other events. KYODO NEWS - Jan 5, 2022 - 22:05 | All, Japan, Coronavirus Japan confirmed a total of 2,638 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, surpassing the 2,000 mark for the first time in over three months and sparking concerns about what may be a sixth wave of COVID-19 infections in the country amid the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Of the tally, Okinawa accounted for 623 new infections, with Gov. Denny Tamaki set to request that the central government declare a quasi-state of emergency in the southern island prefecture from Sunday to the end of the month. In Tokyo, the metropolitan government reported 390 more COVID-19 cases Wednesday, up from 151 the previous day and hitting the highest level in three months. Related coverage: All U.S. forces' personnel to take virus test after arrival in Japan The Omicron variant accounted for 17 of the cases, with all those infected asymptomatic or exhibiting only mild symptoms. The heavily mutated variant has been confirmed in at least 37 of Japan's 47 prefectures. The Okinawa government plans to file the request for a fresh quasi-state of emergency on Thursday. Following consultations with Cabinet ministers and public health experts, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to decide Friday on the planned enforcement of emergency measures, according to government sources. Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, the junior coalition partner of Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters that if the central government decides to impose quasi-emergency measures in Okinawa, it should also consider doing the same in other areas like Tokyo and Osaka where infections are also rapidly increasing. The daily tally for Osaka Prefecture totaled 244, making it the first time that it has exceeded 200 since Oct. 6. The central government is also considering declaring a quasi-state of emergency in the western Japan prefectures of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi for the same period as stipulated in Okinawa's planned declaration. While acknowledging that the infection situation in Okinawa already warrants a full state of emergency, Tamaki expressed caution about the potential impact on the local economy of such a decision. The Okinawa government will make a final decision at a taskforce meeting Thursday on what measures will be implemented as the prefecture's daily figure exceeded 600 for the first time since Aug. 28. Infections have been rising since a cluster of cases at one of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa last month. The Okinawa government believes the resurgence of the virus in the prefecture is due to the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus spreading from U.S. military facilities. Okinawa's cumulative Omicron cases stood at 135 as of Tuesday. KYODO NEWS - Jan 4, 2022 - 22:37 | All, Japan A southwestern Japan hospital where women can give birth anonymously said Tuesday that a teenage girl who gave birth in December has become the first person to use the system, the only one of its kind in the country. Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture, which became the first facility in Japan to offer so-called confidential births in December 2019, said the girl only disclosed her identity to the head counselor of the hospital and has already been discharged. The hospital decided to introduce anonymous births amid a rising number of women choosing to deliver without medical assistance to keep their pregnancies a secret. But the system has yet to be legislated in Japan due to numerous issues such as how to register the child. The hospital said that the girl, who lives in western Japan, had expressed hope the child would be raised by another person through special adoption. She left an envelope containing copies of her identification cards for the child to open in the future if he or she wished, as well as a letter addressed to the child, it said. The girl exhibited strong love for her child and her intention to return to the hospital, leaving the possibility that she may reveal her identity in the future, according to the hospital. The girl had consulted the hospital last November over concerns that her relationship with her mother would be severed if her mother found out about the child. Under a German system legally introduced in 2014, pregnant women can anonymously give birth at a hospital after revealing their identity only to a pregnancy counselor outside the hospital. The children are allowed to know their mother's identity once they turn 16 years old. "The mother and child are safe. There have been other similar consultations and we will continue this initiative," Takeshi Hasuda, the hospital's director, said at a press conference. A Justice Ministry official said that a child born in Japan will generally be able to acquire Japanese nationality and have a family registry created even if his or her parents are unknown. Regarding this specific case, "it will be handled individually," the official said. Jikei Hospital in 2007 also set up a baby hatch, called "konotori no yurikago" (stork cradle) and modeled after Germany's Baby Box, to prevent women in cases of unwanted pregnancy from killing babies or abandoning them in unsafe conditions. A total of 159 babies had been accepted through the hatch by fiscal 2020. KYODO NEWS - Jan 5, 2022 - 15:07 | All, Japan At least 12 regional banks in Japan have introduced a system to monitor ship-to-ship transfers of cash and gold earned through illicit means as part of their efforts to combat money laundering, bank officials said Wednesday. The introduction of the system of IHS Markit, an information-providing firm headquartered in London, comes as an intergovernmental body tasked with combating money laundering and terrorist funding has indicated Japanese regional banks' anti-money laundering measures were insufficient. According to its 2021 report on Japan, the Financial Action Task Force said some financial institutions in the country other than megabanks have a limited understanding of money laundering and terrorism financing risks that have become a global issue. The 12 banks which introduced the system include Hiroshima Bank, Hyakujushi Bank and Fukuoka Financial Group Inc., with many based in areas where shipbuilding and shipping business prosper. The monitoring system allows them to confirm locations and speeds of ships, as well as changes in waterlines of vessels which indicate loading and offloading of cargos, via satellites and antennas installed in various locations. The system alerts its users when the speed of a vessel dips below its setting. U.S. and European financial institutions as well as major Japanese institutions started introducing the monitoring system after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States as part of their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing measures. Among the 12 regional banks, Iyo Bank in Ehime Prefecture in western Japan, where the country's leading shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding Co. is located, introduced the system in 2019 as the lender has many shipping firms as clients. The bank monitors maritime activities of large vessels on computer screens. "We have been closely monitoring vessels cruising around countries that are subject to U.N. sanctions," an official of the bank said. Among such countries, North Korea, sanctioned for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, was accused by Japan and other countries of smuggling petroleum products through illicit shipments in a report submitted in 2020 to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on North Korea. Yamaguchi Financial Group Inc., meanwhile, has been monitoring some 200 vessels operated by clients of affiliated banks with focus on activities in the Sea of Japan, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. "Regional banks' measures to combat money laundering have steadily made progress," said an official of Japan's Financial Services Agency. KYODO NEWS - Jan 5, 2022 - 23:38 | All, World, Japan North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, its first launch of a projectile since last October, the Japanese and South Korean governments said, a move likely to prompt Tokyo to further study acquiring enemy base strike capabilities. Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters the projectile was likely launched from an inland area of North Korea toward the east and was presumed to have landed outside the Japanese exclusive economic zone. Kishi said the latest launch follows the launch by Pyongyang of some 40 missiles since May 2019 to ramp up the development of its missile technology. Kishi said details of the launch are still under analysis but if the warhead flew on a normal trajectory, it would have traveled about 500 kilometers. "Given these situations, we will consider all options, including the possession of so-called enemy base strike capabilities, and will continue to work to drastically strengthen our defense ability," Kishi said. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after the missile launch it is deplorable that North Korea has repeatedly launched missiles since last year, adding Japan will tighten surveillance on projectiles from the country. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from Jagang Province in the northern part of North Korea around 8:10 a.m. The Japanese government said the launch took place three minutes earlier. The U.S. government called the projectile a ballistic missile and condemned the move. "This launch is in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to the DPRK's neighbors and the international community," a State Department spokesperson said, referring to the acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. U.N. Security Council resolutions ban Pyongyang from employing ballistic missile technology. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command separately said in a statement that the missile launch "highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK's illicit weapons program" and emphasized that the U.S. defense commitment to Japan and South Korea remains "ironclad." According to South Korea's Foreign Ministry, Noh Kyu Duk, the country's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, had a phone conversation with Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea, and the two shared their analysis of the missile launch. South Korea's National Security Council also held an emergency meeting on the launch and officials at the meeting stressed the importance of resuming talks with North Korea to relieve tensions between the two Koreas, according to the Unification Ministry in a statement. Regarding Japan's defense capabilities, the country currently does not have a system of equipment to attack enemy bases, but Kishida said last year in a policy speech that Tokyo will consider acquiring such a capability with North Korea's missile development and China's maritime assertiveness in mind. Japan will collaborate closely with the United States, South Korea, and other countries concerned, and make every effort to collect and analyze relevant information and monitor the situation, Kishi said. However, strained relations between Tokyo and Seoul over wartime issues have been a headache for the United States. Both countries are key allies of Washington, particularly in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile development threats. North Korea last launched a projectile in October 2021, when it test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, adding to concern over the nuclear-armed nation's technological advances in hard-to-intercept weapons. Pyongyang test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles from a rail-based system in mid-September last year, and launched what its state-run media said was a newly developed hypersonic missile later in the same month. The reclusive country is also believed to be developing missiles that can fly along irregular trajectories to make them difficult to intercept with a conventional missile defense system. Related coverage: North Korea's Kim vows to boost agriculture, defenses amid uncertainties Japan retracts claim North Korea fired 2 ballistic missiles on Oct. 19 North Korea says latest SLBM test not targeted at U.S., South Korea Iranian people attend a gathering to mark top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani's second martyrdom anniversary in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2022.(Iranian Presidential Website/Handout via Xinhua) BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- What the United States really cares about is no more than the rules that meet its needs and serve its interests, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Tuesday. According to reports, the Iranian public recently gathered at events to honor Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was killed in a U.S. airstrike two years ago. Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) previously condemned the U.S. assassination as an act of state terrorism. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the people responsible should face justice for their actions. In response, spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news briefing that the assassination of Qassem Soleimani is another example of how the United States has wantonly undermined the norms governing international relations based on the UN Charter. It is also one of the war crimes the United States has committed through abuse of force. The United States could go as far as performing the "targeted killing" of a sovereign state's military leader through terrorist means in violation of international law, and also killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians around the world. All these illegal and brutal acts in the eyes of people around the world have been hidden by the United States behind the facade of "the rules-based international order" as it claims, Wang said. He stressed that the United States repeats the mantra of "upholding the rules-based international order," but facts have proved time and again that what the U.S. side really cares about is no more than the rules that meet its needs and serve its interests. "What it is committed to is nothing but an order that maintains the U.S. hegemony and enables it to override the international community. But such rules and order that violate international law will not be accepted by the people in Iran, the Middle East and the rest of the world," Wang said. A staff member monitors the operation of loading gears at a loading station of a coal mine in Erdos, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Nov. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Zhipeng) HOHHOT, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China is estimated to have produced more than 1.05 billion tonnes of coal in 2021, a rise from 1.006 billion tonnes in 2020, said the regional energy bureau. Inner Mongolia ranked first in China in terms of its coal delivery volume to other provincial-level regions last year. As a major coal production area in China, the region plays a significant role in ensuring coal supplies in the country. Entering the winter heating season and faced with increasing prices of energy resources in the international market, China has adopted a raft of measures to stabilize energy supply and expand coal production capacity. The monthly coal output in Inner Mongolia during the last quarter of 2021 exceeded 100 million tonnes, a record high in the past three years, providing 53 million tonnes of coal for power generation in 18 provincial-level regions across the country. Your browser does not support the video tag. Video: The United States shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases on Monday amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Xinhua) On Monday, the United States shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and government decisions to ease prevention and control measures in the country. More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since late summer. NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- As the United States sees new records of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations with the surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, large parts of the country are increasingly intimidated by the virus and schools are caught in a predicament. Medical workers wheel a patient into Maimonides Medical Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, Dec. 14, 2021. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua) ALARMING FIGURES More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, according to official data, the highest number since late summer when the Delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases. The figure reflected the 27 percent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week. Average daily new deaths from COVID-19 declined by 8 percent. Hospitalization numbers better capture the pandemic's impact than infection figures, Anthony Fauci, the U.S. president's chief medical adviser, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. The worst day of the pandemic for hospitalizations was Jan. 14, 2021, with more than 142,000. Also on Monday, the United States shattered a single-day record with over 1 million COVID-19 cases amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and government decisions to ease prevention and control measures in the country. As of 0500 GMT Tuesday, the country registered about 1.07 million confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Wall Street Journal reported that "the U.S. reported a record 1.08 million COVID-19 infections on Monday as most states worked to clear backlogs after pausing during the New Year's holiday." The new record pushed the seven-day average of daily reported infections to 480,273, nearly double the peak reached at the height of last winter's case surge. So far, the United States has remained the country worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths. Shoppers wearing face masks purchase clothes at a shopping mall in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the United States, Nov. 26, 2021. (Photo by Monica McGivern/Xinhua) SOUTHERN SURGE The United States is heading into the third year of the coronavirus pandemic with the extremely contagious Omicron variant poised to ignite a firestorm of infection across the Southeast after exploding through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, reported The Washington Post on Tuesday. "Lower vaccination rates and fewer mask and vaccine mandates have created a much different environment for the Omicron variant to spread in the South, leaving experts unsure whether outbreaks will end up deadlier than in the North," said the report. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the states experiencing the sharpest increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations since Christmas, and "the situation may only get worse, as initial outbreaks in metropolitan areas spread to more poorly vaccinated rural regions," it said. Georgia has shattered records, with nearly 1 in 3 tests coming back positive in the last week of December, and in metro Atlanta, nearly half of tests were positive. New daily infections in Florida have hit an average of about 43,000, far above the peak of 23,000 reached during the Delta variant surge in the summer. In the meantime, Louisiana also has surpassed daily infection records set during its summer surge, with 12,500 cases reported on Thursday, which state officials said was nearly twice the record established in August. David Rubin, who monitors coronavirus trends nationally for PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he expects the Southeast to be a major driver of the nation's cases this month. "We are going to continue to have waves in the new year that I think will become lesser in amplitude over time," said Rubin. Students wearing face masks attend an in-person class in a school in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on April 13, 2021. (Xinhua) SCHOOL REOPENING Amid the pandemic surge, the first physical CES electronics show in two years will kick off this week in Las Vegas, though organizers have shortened the tech event by a day, and several major companies have pulled out. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds, and shortened to five months the time required between the second dose of the vaccine and a booster. Amid the booster stimulus, a majority of schools across the country are reopening for in-person learning this week despite the Omicron surge, mindful of the academic, logistical and social-emotional disruptions that remote education inflicted last year and determined to avoid a repeat. However, "the Omicron surge threatens to upend any sense of peace in the nation's education system," reported The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that after a holiday break that saw COVID-19 cases spike unrelentingly, a small but growing list of districts moved temporarily to remote learning for more than 450,000 children. "Districtwide closures, even those that last for a week or two, are a step backward after months in which classrooms largely remained open," said the report. There were growing fears from parents and educators that more districts would soon turn to remote learning, even though in-school transmission of COVID-19 has been limited. Official data last week showed that pediatric hospital admissions had reached a record high in the United States. The hospitalizations are primarily among unvaccinated people -- cumulative hospitalization rates through November are about 10 times higher for unvaccinated children ages 12 to 17. Containers are seen at the Pasir Panjang container terminal in Singapore on Aug. 17, 2020. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) As the world's second largest economy which possesses very strong bases in consumption, production and innovation, China will provide the anchor mechanism for RCEP, said Professor Lawrence Loh, director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore's Business School. SINGAPORE, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- China will provide an anchor mechanism for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade pact which came into force on Jan. 1, a Singaporean scholar said recently. As the world's second largest economy which possesses very strong bases in consumption, production and innovation, China will provide the anchor mechanism for RCEP, said Professor Lawrence Loh, director of Center for Governance and Sustainability at National University of Singapore's Business School. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Loh added that "there's a lot to gain for all parties concerned riding on China as the anchor country in this agreement." The timing of RCEP taking effect could not have come at a better time, as "we are on the verge of moving from pandemic to endemic," Loh said. The logic underlying RCEP is very strong and compelling, due to its robust focus on trade and investment and some other correlated issues such as intellectual property rights, which will definitely invigorate and revitalize many economies. It is very essential to keep the free flow of goods and services, so all the economies can benefit from cross-interactions and navigate out of this crisis of COVID-19, he noted. Aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2021 shows a view of the China-Singapore Nanning logistics park under construction in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua) China has adopted strong domestic measures to control COVID-19 for the past two years, providing a solid basis for the revitalization of its economy, he said. Besides China, RCEP groups all 10 ASEAN countries, plus Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, "which are the most influential parts of the Asia-Pacific," he said, adding that the formation is very difficult to replicate in other parts of the world. RCEP members are a very formidable combination to enhance the economic recovery effort, "because you have everybody in the team." The regional trade pact has gained rapid acceptance from its member countries, and this has led specifically to the reduction in the tariffs being levied on imports, which enables many countries now access key markets. RCEP has a diversity of economies in different stages of development, so the stronger economies like China can help the emerging economies, in the meantime, the stronger economies can also benefit from the process due to a new demand by the new markets, Loh said. The collaboration between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) already has a very strong history, and RCEP is "an additional dimension." People walk out of the venue of the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Lu Boan) From the digital perspective, China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and RCEP are very compatible and mutually complementary for all the participants, especially during the strengthening of the digital silk road. The flow of goods and services can be enhanced and facilitated by digital means. At the same time, the connectivity in communications to advance trade can also add to the vitality of the BRI, Loh said. RCEP can actually give rise to a new digital economy in the region and bring up a new digital era in the Asia-Pacific, he pointed out. Given the current supply chain disruption problem, "I see the potential of the RCEP becoming an Asia-Pacific super supply chain," he said, adding if any parts of the supply chain gets stopped, other countries can come in to patch up. As the biggest free trade agreement, RCEP will actually create a very powerful method that could be a role model for many other free trade areas and free trade agreements in the world, the professor said. RCEP will provide a very assuring foundation for many of the economic relations to continue to take place, despite the current tensions in the world brought about by some of the major countries, Loh said. RCEP will benefit the 15 member countries and the value will "flow" to other countries around the world as the latter will also be able to benefit from the vibrant dynamism of the region, Loh concluded. Sudanese citizens demonstrate on the street in Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) Sudan's ongoing political crisis casts a shadow on its already fragile economy, as shown by the slump in the exchange rates of the Sudanese pound against major foreign currencies following Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's resignation. KHARTOUM, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The impact of the resignation of Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok will spill over from politics to the country's already fragile economic situation, Sudanese analysts said Tuesday. In an obvious sign, after months of recovery and stability, the exchange rates of the Sudanese pound started to decline again against major foreign currencies, especially the U.S. dollar, two days after the resignation. Dealers in the foreign exchange market said the exchange rate of one U.S. dollar registered 457 Sudanese pounds in the parallel market on Tuesday compared to 450 pounds during the past days. Also, the exchange rate of one Saudi Riyal registered 121 Sudanese pounds, while one UAE Dirham registered 122 pounds and one Euro 516 pounds, the dealers added. A vendor sells bananas in Bahri town, north of Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) On Tuesday, the Central Bank of Sudan set the exchange price of the U.S. dollar at 439,55 Sudanese pounds for the sale against 436,27 pounds for purchase. Abdul-Khaliq Mahjoub, a Sudanese economic analyst, told Xinhua that "with the continued political crisis, the local currency is expected to continue declining in the coming period of time." "For over two months, there has been no executive government running the country, and it is natural for the economy and the national currency to decline," he said. Sudanese citizens demonstrate on the street in Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) The Sudanese authorities have not yet been able to approve the 2022 budget, and as a result of the scarcity of resources, the authorities are moving towards lifting subsidies from vital sectors, including gases and bread, and also decided to implement a new increase in electricity prices by more than 600 percent. Recently, Sudan's finance minister Jibril Ibrahim reportedly said, "We have abandoned our 2022 growth plans and are building a worst-case scenario via depending on limited resources." Sudanese economic analyst Ashraf Zain Al-Abidin, speaking to Xinhua, urged the authorities to search for resources that would not burden the citizens. "The authorities should search for other resources and diversify the sources of revenue. It cannot be at the expense of the average citizens," said Al-Abidin. Sudanese citizens demonstrate on the street in Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) "After Hamdok's exit, we do not expect the major countries and international financial institutions to help Sudan," he said, adding that the United States and international agencies suspended aid with hundreds of millions of dollars to Sudan, while Sudan's debt relief process under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative of the International Monetary Fund halted. Sudan has been undergoing an economic crisis since the secession of South Sudan in 2011, due to which Sudan lost 75 percent of its oil revenues. In 2012, Sudan approved five packages to remove bread and fuel subsidies, which sparked a series of protests. In December 2018, worsening economic conditions sparked popular protests across Sudan, leading to the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Photo taken on Nov. 21, 2021 shows the signing ceremony of a political declaration between General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan (C) and then Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (R) in Khartoum, Sudan. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) The transitional government, which was formed in 2019 and headed by Hamdok, began implementing a structural reform, monitored by the International Monetary Fund, in a bid to get exemption from foreign debts. On Jan. 2, Hamdok announced his resignation in the wake of a political crisis in the country. Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after the general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government. On Nov. 21, Al-Burhan and then removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a political declaration, which included reinstating the latter as prime minister, but the deal has failed to calm the streets. A batch of China's Sinopharm vaccine is transported at the Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, March 19, 2021. (Photo by Roman/Xinhua) BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Zhaparov, on Wednesday exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China and Kyrgyzstan have always upheld the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, as well as win-win cooperation, and achieved rapid development of bilateral relations. The two countries, he added, have reached a new height of their comprehensive strategic partnership, and set a good example for the international community in fostering a new type of international relations. Aerial photo taken on Aug. 11, 2018 shows the roads built by the China Road & Bridge Corporation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (Xinhua/Zhang Ruoxuan) The development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations not only benefits the two countries and their people, but also contributes to peace and stability in Central Asia, Xi said. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations, and stands ready to maintain close contact with Zhaparov and further promote bilateral ties. He suggested that the two sides take the 30th anniversary as a new starting point to enhance their strategic mutual trust, deepen Belt and Road cooperation, and lift the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels. Actors perform during the "Kyrgyzstan Day" event at the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) In his message, Zhaparov said that in the past 30 years, the two countries have successfully established a comprehensive strategic partnership and made remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields. The Chinese government has provided important support for Kyrgyzstan's efforts to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, he noted. Zhaparov also thanked Xi for his personal attention to the development of the Kyrgyzstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership, saying that he is ready to work with China to further deepen bilateral ties, and spare no effort to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation. Photo taken on Jan. 4, 2022 shows a flag installation ceremony to mark the start of the responsibilities of the five countries as non-permanent members of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York. Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday began to assume responsibilities as non-permanent members of the Security Council. (Xinhua/Xie E) UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday began to assume responsibilities as non-permanent members of the Security Council. Their two-year term officially started on Jan. 1. But Tuesday is the first working day of the council for 2022 after the Christmas and New Year break. A flag installation ceremony was held to mark the start of their responsibilities. Kazakh UN ambassador Magzhan Ilyassov, who presided over the ceremony, congratulated the five new council members and wished them success in realizing their priorities in their two-year term. The flag installation ceremony for new Security Council members was initiated by Kazakhstan. "We believe that 2022 is a year of hope for all of us and for our world organization," said Ilyassov. "Global peace, security and further sustainable development will largely depend on the decisions of the Security Council, the UN system and our other close partners." Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul, in her capacity as president of the Security Council for the month of January, welcomed the new members. "The (COVID-19) pandemic is not the only challenge facing us. We find ourselves, at the beginning of 2022, at a volatile moment of increasing violence and geopolitical tension worldwide," she said. "The international community is confronted with numerous conflicts -- both new and protracted, which demand our robust council response -- one based on a renewed commitment to multilateralism, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and respect for human rights, as stipulated by the UN Charter." She said the Security Council must be measured by its actions. "It is my hope that the council, with aid and support of the new members, will act decisively this year to deliver on its mandate to uphold international peace and security," she said. The permanent representatives of the five new council members made short speeches before they installed their respective national flags outside the Security Council Chamber. The five countries replaced Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, and Vietnam. The 15-member Security Council has five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly. Five non-permanent members are replaced every year. India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway are in the middle of their two-year term as non-permanent members. Enditem Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul, in her capacity as president of the Security Council for the month of January, welcomes the new members during a flag installation ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 4, 2022. Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday began to assume responsibilities as non-permanent members of the Security Council. (Xinhua/Xie E) Kazakh UN ambassador Magzhan Ilyassov presides over a flag installation ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 4, 2022. Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday began to assume responsibilities as non-permanent members of the Security Council. (Xinhua/Xie E) Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul, in her capacity as president of the Security Council for the month of January, holds a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on Jan. 4, 2022. Norway, which serves as president of the Security Council for the month of January, will prioritize the issue of women, peace and security in the council's work, said the Norwegian UN ambassador on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xie E) Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul, in her capacity as president of the Security Council for the month of January, holds a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on Jan. 4, 2022. Norway, which serves as president of the Security Council for the month of January, will prioritize the issue of women, peace and security in the council's work, said the Norwegian UN ambassador on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xie E) A child arrives at a vaccination clinic with her parents in Toronto, Canada, on Nov. 25, 2021. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua) Mahamud said that the Omicron variant could overtake other strains in a matter of weeks, especially in areas with a large number of susceptible people - primarily those who are unvaccinated. GENEVA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Although most people recover from COVID-19 within five to seven days of the onset of symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) still recommends a 14-day quarantine, an official from the organization told a press briefing on Tuesday. However, said Abdi Mahamud from WHO's COVID-19 Incident Management Support Team, states must make decisions about the duration of quarantine based on their individual situations. In countries with low infections, a longer quarantine time could help keep case numbers as low as possible, he explained. In places with runaway cases, however, shorter quarantines may be justified in order to keep countries running, he added. The WHO official told journalists that it was possible to be infected by both influenza and COVID-19. However, since the two are separate viruses that attack the body in different ways, there is "little risk" of them combining into a new virus. A sign reading "It is forbidden to enter without a mask" is seen on a door at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, on Dec. 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Shadati) According to the WHO, as of Dec. 29, 2021, some 128 countries had reported cases of the Omicron variant. In South Africa, which had seen a sharp increase in cases followed by a relatively rapid drop-off, hospitalization and death rates have remained low. However, the situation will not be the same in other countries, Mahamud said. "While the latest studies all point to the fact that the Omicron variant affects the upper respiratory system rather than the lungs, which is good news, high-risk individuals and the unvaccinated could still get gravely ill from that variant," he added. Mahamud said that the Omicron variant could overtake other strains in a matter of weeks, especially in areas with a large number of susceptible people - primarily those who are unvaccinated. In Denmark, he said, it had taken two weeks for case numbers to double with the Alpha variant, whereas with the Omicron variant, it had taken just two days. "The world has never seen such a transmissible virus," he said. The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization is set to meet on Jan. 19 to review the situation. Topics on the agenda for discussion include the timing of boosters, the mixing of vaccines and the composition of future vaccines. People walk past a poster of mandatory wearing of face masks in the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong) BRUSSELS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Following a break over the holiday season, European countries are witnessing skyrocketing new COVID-19 infections as the Omicron variant continues its onslaught across the continent. SURGING NUMBERS France, Greece and Croatia have broken new COVID-19 case records while the two neighboring countries of the Netherlands and Belgium have seen infection rates hiking significantly by 35 percent and 79 percent respectively. In Greece, despite a tightening of measures during the holiday season, cases have skyrocketed. The National Public Health Organization (EODY) confirmed on Tuesday 50,126 infections within 24 hours, an all-time high. Greek experts expect the number to continue rising this month, with daily cases possibly reaching 80,000 in the coming days. In Hungary, official data on Wednesday showed 5,270 new infections in a 24-hour span, more than doubling the figures recorded in the previous few weeks. Reportedly in a "community spreading" phase, Finland reported 38,700 new COVID-19 cases in the past seven days, compared to 19,600 new cases in the previous week. Despite vaccination campaigns and anti-pandemic measures including closures and lockdowns, the peak of new infections has yet to come in some European countries, experts say. "The peak of the pandemic has not been seen in Finland as of yet," said Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, senior expert at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Dutch experts think that the peak will arrive at the end of January. "But it is not clear how high that peak will be," said Dutch epidemiologist Susan van den Hof. OMICRON, HOLIDAY GATHERINGS BLAMED Official data showed that the surge of new COVID-19 infections was largely fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and the situation was worsened by gatherings during the holiday season. EODY President Theoklis Zaoutis told reporters that more than 70 percent of new cases in Greece's five big regions are infections with the highly contagious Omicron variant. The Spanish Ministry of Health said the Omicron variant is now responsible for 43 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Spain. In Hungary, the Omicron virus variant is also spreading fast. The Hungarian government said on its official website on Wednesday that the variant is responsible for more than 11 percent of new infections. Croatian Minister of Health Vili Beros said Omicron is the reason for the increased number of infections while other factors include the gatherings for New Year's Eve, as well as non-compliance with measures. Polish Minister of Health Adam described the increase in the country as a temporary situation caused by the holiday season and the increasing number of tests performed. Hungarian healthcare expert Zsombor Kunetz told Xinhua that the government should do more to counter the Omicron variant. "As I have been saying before, what the government should do to stop the pandemic are the following: mandatory vaccination, mandatory use of FFP2 mask in crowded places indoors, and 2G rules except for workplaces, public transportation, and grocery stores. Only vaccinated individuals should be allowed to any other locations," said Kunetz. VACCINATION In order to counter the spread of the Omicron variant, officials and experts have once again made appeals for people to get vaccinated as soon as possible. French Health Minister Olivier Veran stressed the importance of vaccination, saying it helps prevent severe symptoms whereas an unvaccinated person, when infected, will likely need to be hospitalized. To fight the pandemic, Hungarian authorities have decided to start another special vaccination program in January, following a successful one started in November, in which people can get the jab without prior registration or appointment. German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach stressed that although the risk of illness caused by infection with the Omicron variant has been "significantly less dangerous," this is not a reason to "lift the alarm," especially for those who have not been vaccinated. Croatian Minister of Health Vili Beros also said it is extremely important that citizens are vaccinated, especially with the third dose. Omicron is highly contagious, but its impacts on those vaccinated will be much milder, said Beros, adding that it is especially necessary to vaccinate citizens over 65 years of age. Alemka Markotic, director of the Croatian Clinic for Infectious Diseases, said that double or even triple infections are not uncommon, and more severe clinical scenarios can be expected in such cases. That is why citizens should be vaccinated against the flu, and continue to be vaccinated against the COVID-19, said Markotic. Enditem WARSAW, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Polish government has signed deals with several local companies to build a wall along its border with Belarus, Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik announced on Tuesday. The barrier is built on the basis of a law on border security that came into force last October. The law was voted through parliament as a reaction to large numbers of migrants attempting to cross into Poland from Belarus. The barrier will consist of 5-meter tall steel posts with barbed wire on top, stretching for over 186 km. "A special task force was set up to make preparations for the construction of the protective border wall," Wasik said, adding that the signing of the contracts marked the completion of the first phase of the project. At a cost of around 1.6 billion zloty (395 million U.S. dollars), the barrier is slated to be completed by June this year. Enditem PANAMA CITY, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Panamanian authorities on Tuesday handed over to U.S. officials a former Colombian military officer implicated in the July 7 assassination of then Haitian president Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, according to the Panamanian National Immigration Service. Mario Antonio Palacios was detained Monday night at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, after his deportation flight from Jamaica to Colombia made a stopover. His arrest obeyed an Interpol warrant apparently requested by the United States. Sources said that upon arriving in Panama, the suspect indicated his willingness to surrender to the authorities to be sent to the United States. Palacios was arrested in October in Jamaica, where he reportedly entered illegally from the Dominican Republic. Enditem New Delhi: OnePlus 7T was recently launched in India. The key features on OnePlus 7T smartphone include a 6.55-inch full-HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate and a waterdrop-style notch, a 3,800mAh battery, a triple rear camera setup and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ SoC. On the competition front, OnePlus 7T is up against Oppo Reno 2 in India. Therefore, News Nation brings to you the comparison of OnePlus 7T and Oppo Reno 2 on the basis of specifications, features and price. OnePlus 7T OnePlus 7T features a 6.55-inch full-HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, a pixel density of 402ppi, a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, as well as support for sRGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts. The display of OnePlus 7T comes equipped with a new tech to block 40 percent of blue light. It also bears Corning Gorilla Glass on both the front and back panels. OnePlus 7T supports dual-SIM (Nano) technology and it runs on OxygenOS 10.0, based on Android 10. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ SoC, paired with Adreno 640 GPU and 8GB RAM as standard. However, OnePlus 7T offers 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.0 2-lane storage. On the imaging front, OnePlus 7T comes equipped with a triple rear camera setup that houses a 48-megapixel OIS-assisted main camera with 1/2-inch Sony IMX586 sensor along with a 16-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom. Also, there is a 16-megapixel sensor for selfies on the front. OnePlus 7T packs a 3,800mAh battery and it supports Warp Charge 30T fast charging technology. Connectivity options on the smartphone include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C (v3.1 Gen 1) port. Sensors on the newly-launched premium phone include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, electronic compass, sensor core and a proximity sensor. The device measures 160.94x74.4x8.13mm and it weighs 190 grams. It also has an in-display fingerprint scanner. The smartphone also carries dual stereo speakers, haptic vibration, gestures and on-screen navigation support, noise cancellation support and Dolby Atmos support features. It also retains the iconic Alert Slider. The price for 8GB + 128GB storage variant of OnePlus 7T in India has been set at Rs 37,999. On the other hand, the 8GB + 128GB storage variant of OnePlus 7T costs Rs 39,999. OnePlus 7T is offered in Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue colour options in a new matte frosted glass look. Oppo Reno 2 Oppo Reno 2 features a 6.55-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,400 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 93.1 percent and Gorilla Glass 6 protection. However, the rear panel is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 730G paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 inbuilt storage. Oppo Reno 2 runs Color OS 6.1 based on Android Pie. The smartphone also has a new visual design, gestures and Game Space for enhanced gaming experience. Oppo Reno 2 comes equipped with quad camera setup that includes a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor, assisted by a 13-megapixel telephoto lens, 8-megapixel wide-angle shooter and a dedicated 2-megapixel monochrome lens. On the front, there is a 16-megapixel camera for selfies. The Oppo Reno 2 comes preloaded with Hyper Boost 2.0, Frame Boost and Touch Boost technologies to deliver a smooth user experience. Besides, the phone packs a 4,000mAh battery that supports VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 tech. It also packs the G3 optical in-display fingerprint sensor. Oppo Reno 2, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, has been priced at Rs 36,990. Oppo Reno 2 is available in two colour options i.e. Ocean Blue and Luminous Black colour options. New Delhi: After spending more than 50 days under house arrest, following scraping of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, political leaders of Kashmir will be released in a phased manner after proper analysis, said Farooq Khan, Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Governor. Yes, one by one after analysis of every individual, they will be released, Khan said when asked to comment on the future course of action regarding the detention of Kashmiri leaders. The statement comes a day after their Jammu counterparts were released. After the Centre announced on August 5 scrapping of the provisions of Article 370, several politicians were placed under house arrest. Political leaders like National Conference chief and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and J&K Peoples Conference leader Sajjad Gani Lone have been under house arrest since August 5. Nearly 400 politicians were either placed under house arrest or detained after the Modi government and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory and Ladakh Union Territory. Over 250 petitions have been filed against the preventive detention orders against prominent political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. Petitions have also been filed in the Supreme Court against the detentions. Earlier on Wednesday, leaders of non-BJP parties in Jammu claimed that the administration has lifted the nearly two-month-long restrictions imposed on them, even as officials said these were only self-imposed curbs. "We were told by a station house officer that restriction on me has been lifted and I can move freely," senior Congress leader and former minister Ramnan Bhalla told PTI. National Conference (NC) leader and former legislator Devender Singh Rana said, "Police have told me that I am now free to take part in any political activity as restrictions imposed on us are being lifted." The other leaders who made similar claims are Javed Rana, S S Salathia and Sajjad Kitchloo of the NC, Vikar Rasool of the Congress and Harshdev Singh of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP). However, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma told PTI that these leaders were never detained and were free to participate in political activities. "We never restrained them... They were under self-imposed restriction," he said. With Agency Inputs For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is all set to file a chargesheet on Friday against separatists; Yasin Malik, Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, All Party Hurriyat Conference general secretary Masarat Alam and Shabir Shah, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly receiving funds from Pakistan. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday will visit activists on indefinite hunger strike at Wayanad in Kerala, who are protesting against traffic restriction along NH 766 connecting Kerala and Karnataka through Bandipur Tiger Reserve. Here are all the LIVE updates: 14:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Sen And Other Celebs Booked For Letter To PM Modi Over Mob Lynching An FIR was lodged against nearly 50 celebrities, including Anurag Kashyap, Ramchandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concern over the growing incidents of mob lynching, police said. The case was lodged after an order was passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate Surya Kant Tiwari two months ago on a petition filed by local advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha. 14:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis files his nomination from Nagpur South West. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was also present on the occassion. 14:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court seeks response from CBI on a plea of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram against the order of the Delhi High Court that dismissed his bail plea in INX Media case. Court issued notice to the CBI and asked it to file reply on October 15. 12:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra: Bombay High Court has dismissed all petitions against BMC decision which allowed felling of more than 2700 trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest for metro car shed. 12:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 12:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his wife Amruta sought blessings of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and his wife Kanchan, earlier today, before Fadnavis left to file his nomination from Nagpur South West. 12:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Former CM of Haryana & Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda files his nomination from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi. 11:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 17 hand grenades recovered near LoC in Poonch Army and police personnel launched a joint search operation in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district and recovered 17 hand grenades on Friday, a senior police officer said. A search operation was launched on specific information in Kharagali area of Loran border belt and a hideout was busted, he said. Seventeen hand grenades were recovered, he said adding it appears they were 3-4 months old. 11:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PMC Bank: ED raids 6 locations, slaps money-laundering charge The ED on Friday raided six locations in Mumbai and adjoining areas and registered a money-laundering case to probe alleged fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank case, officials said. They said the raids were being conducted after a criminal compliant was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the central agency. 10:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tejas Express: UP CM Yogi Adityanath Flags Off Lucknow-Delhi Train Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday flagged off the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express. The Tejas Express is the first train of Indian Railways that will be fully run by its subsidiary Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The commercial run would start from Saturday onwards. 10:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 3 Drown, More Than 20 Missing After Boat Capsizes In Bihar At least three persons drowned while more than 20 others went missing after a boat carrying close to 80 people capsized in the Mahananda river in Katihar district, police said on Friday. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Barsoi, Pankaj Kumar said the incident took place on the Bihar-Bengal border at about 8.15 pm on Thursday night close to Jagannathpur Ghat when residents of Wajidpur village here were returning after shopping in Rampur Haat market of the adjoining state, situated right across the river. 10:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Anti Corruption Bureau conducted a raid at residence of Motor Vehicles Inspector A Siva Prasad, in Kurnool, for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets. ACB has identified assets worth more than Rs 20 cr at 5 different locations, including a locker in Uganda. 10:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold road shows & rallies in Maharashtra and Haryana from 10th to 19th October, as part of election campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in the two states. 10:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PMC Bank matter: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), on the basis of FIR of Economic Offences Wing (EOW). 10:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Former CM of Haryana and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda perform hawan, ahead of filing his nomination from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi for the upcoming elections to the legislative assembly of Haryana. 10:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Bangladesh Has No Problem With NRC, Was Assured By PM Modi In New York: Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who is on a four day visit to India on Thursday said she was satisfied with implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam after Prime Minister Narendra Modis assurance her on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that Bangladesh should not be worried about the issue. I dont see any problem. I had a talk with Prime Minister Modi. Everything is OK, the Indian Express quoted Hasina as saying. Ties between India and Bangladesh have been on an upswing in the last few years. Read more... 10:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra Polls: BJP Releases Fourth List, No Ticket For Vinod Tawde Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2019: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its fourth list of seven candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls. BJP has announced tickets to Rohini Khadse from Muktinagar, Sunil Rane from Borivali, Rahul Narvekar from Colaba, Parag Shah from Ghatkopar East, Pradeep Padole from Tumsar, Charan Singh Thakur from Katol and Rahul Dhikale from Nashik East seats. While the list features only seven names, it is quite significant as it confirms four BJP stalwarts and sitting MLAs in the state- Eknath Khadse, Prakash Mehta, Raj Purohit and Vinod Tawade - will not get the ticket this time. Read more... 10:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maoists kill two policemen in Jharkhand Two policemen were killed when Maoists opened fire on security forces in Ranchi district in Jharkhand on Friday, a senior police officer said. Following a tip that members of the banned CPI (Maoist) group had gathered near Dassam falls between Bundu and Namkum, security forces rushed to the area around 4 am, Additional Director General of Police Murari Lal Meena told news agency PTI. "The Maoists opened fire on the security forces and two of our district jawans suffered bullet injuries. While one jawan was declared brought dead at the hospital, another succumbed during treatment," the ADGP said. The security forces retaliated but there was no report of any casualty from the other side, Meena said adding search operations are under way. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday formally announced BJP-Shiv Sena alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls. Addressing a joint press conference in Mumbai, Fadnavis said that it is "Hindutva ideology" the binds the BJP and the Shiv-Sena. As per the poll pact reached between the two parties, the BJP will fight the on 150 seats, while the Shiv Sena will contest 124 seats. The remaining 14 seats will go to other smaller allies. However, Fadnavis ducked the question on CM face of the alliance, saying "why are you in so much hurry." The Mahrashtra cheif minister said that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance worked during the Lok Sabha elections and that why both parties decided to continue it in the Assembly polls as well. "Hindutva ideology binds us," he added. Also Read | Maharashtra Assembly Polls: BJP To Contest 150 Seats, Shiv Sena Gets 124, Rest Goes Into Others' Account Fadnavis exuded confidence that the 'Mahayuti' alliance comprising BJP, Sena and other parties will get an unprecedented victory in the upcoming Maharashtra elections. Fadnavis said Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, will win the Worli seat Assembly poll by polling the highest number of votes. To a query on why some senior leaders, including cabinet ministers were not fielded by the BJP, Fadnavis said, "nobody has been dropped, they have only been reassignedresponsibilities" and added that all rebel BJP candidates will be asked to withdraw from the poll arena in the next two days. "In the coming days we will ask all the rebel candidates to withdraw and this will be done with the rebel candidates of each party of grand alliance.If they dont comply then they will not get any position in any of our alliance parties," the Maharashtra CM said. New Delhi: Aarey Protests Highlights: Twenty-nine people, including six women, were arrested on Saturday in connection with the protest against the cutting of trees in Aarey Colony, a police official said. Those arrested are among the 60 people earlier detained by police. Section 144 has also been imposed around the colony. After several of them were detained, Aarey protesters shifted to Powai Lake to discuss next course of action. The MMRCL had started hacking trees from Friday to make way for a car shed of Mumbai Metro, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and activists challenging the decision to allow felling of trees in the prime green lung of the city. However, hundreds of environmental activists gathered in Aarey Colony and protested. They tried to stop the authorities from chopping down the trees. Of over 2,600 trees which are to be felled, about 300 had been cut by Friday night, activists alleged. Videos of tree-felling went viral on social media. 5.00 pm Green activists suffered a second jolt in two consecutive days when the Bombay High Court on Saturday refused to stay ongoing felling of trees at Mumbai's prominent green lung, Aarey Colony, to make way for a proposed metro car shed. 4:30 PM 29 protesters arrested from Mumbai's Aarey colony have been sent to judicial custody by the Borivali Court. 3:00 PM Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar backed felling of trees at Aarey Colony in north Mumbai, saying as per the High Court ruling it is "not a forest area". "The High Court has ruled yesterday that it is not a forest. You can't fell anything that is forest," he said at a press conference, stating that people had also protested felling of trees for Delhi Metro. "There was a need to fell 20 to 25 trees for setting up the first metro station in Delhi and then also people had similarly opposed it. But for each tree that was cut five saplings were planted," he said. Javadekar said the forest cover in the national capital has increased since then and public transport system has also improved. "This is the mantra of 'vikas bhi, paryavaran ki suraksha bhi' (development with environment protection)," he said. 2:40 PM Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray asks CM Fadnavis to look into the matter of cased being filed against the protestors. These protestors cant be arrested and filed cases with. Its a shame if we do that. I call out and request @CMOMaharashtra to look into this and ask the police to not put any cases for people with love for the environment. Wed be hypocritical then at the @UN if we do this. https://t.co/tEFOvB0gNd Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) October 5, 2019 2:00 PM Twenty-nine people, including six women, were arrested on Saturday in connection with the protest against the cutting of trees in Aarey Colony, a police official said. Those arrested are among the 60 people earlier detained by police. "We have arrested 29 protesters. Six of them are women. Some of them had manhandled and beaten the police personnel deployed in Aarey Colony and obstructed them from discharging their duty," the police official said. 1:15 PM Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam questioned the hurry to impose Section 144 and lathi charge on activists. "Development must have a human face. What is the hurry to impose Section 144? Lathi charge on activists is unnecessary and I condemn it," Nirupam said. 1:05 PM Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will hold a press conference over the Aarey matter. Thackeray said he will talk about what is happening. He also promised action against 'murderers of trees' once their government comes in power. 1:00 PM Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi is currently outside Samta Nagar Police station in Mumbai. She was earlier detained by the police earlier today following protests in Aarey. Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi outside Samta Nagar Police station; she was detained by the police earlier today following protests in #AareyForest. pic.twitter.com/7JjopNFotT ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2019 12:30 PM Congress leader Millind Deora has supported the protests in Aarey calling the felling of trees 'a major setback for Mumbai'. The brutal felling of trees at Aarey is a major setback for Mumbai. Its like repeatedly stabbing yourself in the lungs! When cities destroy coastlines & green cover, theyre advancing the doomsday clock#AareyAiKaNa #AareyForest #Aarey Milind Deora aaaaaa aaaaa (@milinddeora) October 5, 2019 11:30 AM Here's how Priyanka Chaturvedi was detained by police while trying to visit Aarey protest site. 11:20 AM Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has also been detained by Mumbai Police. Priyanka Chaturvedi was trying to make her way in the Aarey colony area when she was detained. I have been forcibly evicted by the cops and I wasnt even breaking the law! The cops in the car wont even tell me where I am being taken ... this is insane @MumbaiPolice Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) October 5, 2019 On my way to #aarey and main entry points to the site have been blocked by Mumbai Police! #SaveAarey Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) October 5, 2019 10:35 AM According to ANI, entry into Aarey from Marol Maroshi Road has been restricted after Section 144 has been imposed in the area. 10:00 AM Mumbai Police PRO said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in the area near the metro-rail project site in Aarey. Police have currently cleared the area of protesters. 8:00 AM Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, who is contesting the assembly election from Worli this year, also tweeted and slammed Mumbai Metro for their actions. The vigour with which the @MumbaiMetro3 is slyly and swiftly cutting down an ecosystem in Aarey is shameful and disgusting. How about posting these officials in PoK, giving them charge to destroy terror camps rather than trees? Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) October 4, 2019 A project that should be executed with pride, the Metro 3, @MumbaiMetro3 has to do it in the cover of the night, with shame, slyness and heavy cop cover. The project supposed to get Mumbai clean air, is hacking down a forest with a leopard, rusty spotted cat and more Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) October 4, 2019 However, one of petitioners in the matter asked Aaditya to 'walk the talk'. Stalin D, member of NGO Vanaskakti, said, "Why can't the Environment minister under your party stop the work since there is a clear violation of terms of MPCB consent to establish? You can LEGALLY stop the work. Are you willing to walk the talk, Sir? Call me if you are." Why can't the Environment minister under your party stop the work since there is a clear violation of terms of MPCB consent to establish? You can LEGALLY stop the work. Are you willing to walk the talk Sir? Call me if you are. Stalin (@GreenStalin) October 5, 2019 7:30 AM Several tweets lambasted the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation over the issue. MLA leader Jignesh Mevani also took to Twitter and appealed people to resists the illegal action. "Urgent request to Mumbaikars: Authorities have already started cutting trees in Aarey after the order passed by the BHC today. Citizens are reaching Aarey forest to stop this. I request Mumbaikars to reach and resist this move right now," he tweeted. 7:00 AM Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Menon Sharma said tree cutting was a violation of the poll code in force for the October 21 Assembly elections. Reacting to the cutting of trees at Aarey in the night, AAP leader she said, "This is Aarey being cut right now, in the dead of the night by the coward looter Devendra Fadnavis." 1. This is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct enforced during Elections which forbids new orders 2. The order was uploaded by BMC only today so it is deemed as an order today. They cant paas such orders during MC 3. The rule is that cutting begins after 15 days of being uploaded. They have begun hacking with a few hours 4. As a rule, trees are not cut in the night. This government has gone mad with power and greed. The opposition is dead. The Shivsena has sold itself 6:00 AM People gathered in protest at Aarey forest against the felling of trees on Friday night. They were later removed by the police. Mumbai: People gathered in protest at #AareyForest against the felling of trees there,earlier tonight. They were later removed from spot by police. Bombay HC has dismissed all petitions against BMC decision which allowed felling of more than 2700 trees there, for metro car shed. pic.twitter.com/6uoAeW4Cdw ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2019 #WATCH: People gathered in protest at #AareyForest against the felling of trees there, earlier tonight. They were later removed from spot by police. Bombay HC has dismissed all petitions against BMC decision which allowed felling of more than 2700 trees there, for metro car shed. pic.twitter.com/saT4MaHWsq ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2019 5:00 AM The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest area and also declined to quash a BMC decision allowing felling of over 2,600 trees in the suburban green zone for a metro car shed. A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and environment activists related to Aarey Colony in Goregaon, a major green lung of the metropolis. The division bench dismissed a plea by the city-based NGO Vanshakti to declare Aarey Colony a forest area. "The issue is pending before the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. Hence, we are dismissing the petition on the principle of commonality and not on merits," the court said. It also dismissed a petition filed by activist Zoru Bathena seeking that Aarey be declared a floodplain and challenging the civic body's approval to Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to cut 2,656 trees in Aarey Colony to set up a car shed. The bench imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Shiv Sena corporator Yashwant Jadhav, who had filed a plea against the approval granted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's tree authority. Jadhav is a member of the tree authority. New Delhi: Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with the INX media case, has been referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a medical check up after he complained of stomach ache, reported news agency ANI. According to the agency, he has not been admitted to the hospital yet. Chidambaram is in the custody since his arrest by the CBI on August 21. On Friday, he had moved to the Surpeme Court against Delhi High Court's September 30 verdict dismissing his bail plea. The top court, taking note of his plea, issued a notice to the CBI, asking it to respond on Chidambaram's plea seeking bail in the INX Media corruption case. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister. Thereafter, the ED lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017. Also Read | Jolt For Activists As Bombay High Court Refuses To Stay Felling Of Trees In Aarey Colony At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidmabaram referred to the high court's September 30 verdict and said that the high court had applied three tests-- flight risk, tampering of evidence and influencing witness-- while deciding the bail petition. Sibal said that on two counts, flight risk and tampering of evidence, the high court has ruled in favour of Chidambaram, while on the third count of influencing witnesses, the verdict has gone against the senior Congress leader. "This is concerning the CBI case. What has happened to the ED's case," the bench asked Sibal and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who was also representing Chidambaram. Sibal and Sighvi told the bench that they would take 30 minutes to argue the matter. The bench told Mehta to file the response on behalf of the CBI and posted the mater for hearing on October 15. Mehta told the court that he would file response on behalf of CBI by October 14. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Assam TET Admit Card is soon going to be released and the exam is going to be held on November 10. All candidates who applied for the Assam TET exam can visit the official website, i.e. ssa.assam.gov.in for latest updates. Earlier, the exam was scheduled for October 20 and the admit cards were supposed to be released on September 30, 2019 or October 1, 2019. In the meantime, before the admit card is released, candidates can download the syllabus of medium wise TET for Graduate Eligibility Test from the official website of Assam TET. The overview of the syllabus is mentioned below: General Studies/Current Affairs : 50 MCQs of 50 marks Pedagogy & General English: 100 questions of 100 marks Bengali Subject for Bengali Medium TET/ Manipuri subject for Manipuri Medium TET/ Hindi subject for Hindi medium TET/Bodo subject for Bodo medium TET/ Assamese subject for Assamese medium TET: 100 questions of 100 marks. All candidates can check the medium wise syllabus for the exam on the official website, i.e. ssa.assam.gov.in. In case the website is working, candidates are advised to stay calm and visit the website in some time. Assam TET Paper 1 and Paper II will be conducted for Lower Primary Level and Upper Primary Levels respectively. The time duration of the Assam TET exam will be of 2 and a half hours. Though the syllabus of the exam says 120 questions will be asked, however according to the new syllabus the paper II will have 200 questions. New Delhi: Indian Air Force released a promotional video showcasing the story of the Balakot airstrike from earlier this year. On Ferbruary 26, IAF had launched an airstrike targeting a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The video was released by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria at a press confrence ahead of the Indian Air Force Day, which falls on October 8. Air Chief Marshal Bhaduria clarified that the video footage in the promotional video was not actually from February 26. The promotional video features shots of fighter jets taking off, dropping missiles and radars zooming in to targets. Meanwhile, the video voiceover that talks about how the Indian Air Force avenged the Pulwama terror attack. The voiceover is accompanied by visuals of IAF pilots in a briefing room. The pilots are then seen running out to their Mirage-2000 fighter jets and taking off. This is followed by visuals of air traffic control centres as well as shots of radars zooming in to potential targets. The video also shows the story of the February 27 dogfight between Indian and Pakistani fighter jets with visuals of MiG-21 fighter jets taking off from a runway. #BREAKING | Indian Air Force releases first video of Balakot air strikes - Watchhttps://t.co/OFNq8y4WIb pic.twitter.com/aC7lYCz4WP News Nation (@NewsNationTV) October 4, 2019 The Balakot airstrike took place around two weeks after a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed a car full of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Forty CRPF jawans were killed in the attack. On February 26, the Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jets took off from various airfields in India. The fighter jets launched smart bombs that targetted Jaish-e-Mohammad's largest terror facility, located in Balakot in Pakistan's Kyber Pakhtunwa. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Amid US-Iran tensions, economic crisis are deepening now in Lebanon after Washington slapped sanctions on the Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned they could soon expand to its allies. The Trump administration has intensified sanctions on the Lebanese militant group and institutions linked to it to unprecedented levels, targeting lawmakers for the first time as well as a local bank that Washington claims has ties to the group. We have taken more actions recently against Hezbollah than in the history of our counterterrorism program, Sigal P Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, said in the United Arab Emirates last month. Mandelker said Washington is confident the Lebanese government and the central bank will do the right thing here in making sure that Hezbollah can no longer have access to funds at the bank. Hezbollah, whose Arabic name translates into Party of God, was established by Irans Revolutionary Guard after Israels invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The group, which enjoys wide support among Lebanons Shiite community, runs institutions such as hospitals, clinics and schools. Today, it is among the most effective armed groups in the Middle East with an arsenal more powerful than that of the Lebanese army, and has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assads forces in that countrys civil war. Last year, the relations between Washington and Tehran soared after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear accord with Iran, negotiated under former president Barack Obama. The United States also imposed sanctions on Irans sovereign wealth fund, whose board of trustees includes President Hassan Rouhani, as well as Etemad Tejarate Pars, a company that the Treasury Department said had sent money internationally on behalf of Irans defence ministry. Earlier, Trump while addressing the UNGA had already ruled out any possibility of easing economic pressure on Iran. Tensions between Iran and US ratcheted up after the Trump administration announced that it would unilaterally force all countries to stop buying Irans oil, which is its major export. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Thursday became the fifth Supreme Court judge to recuse himself from hearing a plea filed by civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who has challenged the Bombay High Court order refusing to quash an FIR lodged against him in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. On September 30, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had recused himself from hearing Navlakha's plea. Later on October 1, the three judges of a bench -- justices NV Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and BR Gavai -- had also recused themselves from hearing the matter. When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday before a bench comprising justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and S Ravindra Bhat, justice Bhat recused himself from hearing the case. When the bench was informed by Navlakha's counsel that the three-week protection given to him by the Bombay High Court was expiring on Friday, the bench said his petition would be heard by another bench on Friday. The Maharashtra government had earlier filed a caveat in the matter seeking to be heard before any orders are passed. On September 13, the high court had refused to quash the FIR lodged against him in the 2017 Bhima- Koregaon case and for having alleged Maoist links, noting that there was prima facie substance in the case. The high court had said, "Considering the magnitude of the case, we feel a thorough investigation is required". The high court had, however, extended the protection from arrest to Navlakha for a period of three weeks to enable him to approach the Supreme Court to file an appeal against its order. The FIR was lodged against Navlakha and others by the Pune Police in January 2018 after the Elgar Parishad held on December 31, 2017 that had allegedly triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima in Pune district the next day. The police have also alleged that Navlakha and other accused in the case had Maoist links and were working towards overthrowing the government. Navlakha and the other accused were booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code. Besides Navlakha, four others -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj, are accused in the case. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Toronto: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's main political rival in elections this month holds dual Canadian-US citizenship, but a spokesman for Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer said on Thursday that he recently embarked on the process of renouncing his American citizenship. Scheer and the Conservative party have criticized previous party leaders for holding dual citizenship in the past. Scheer said he visited the US Embassy in Ottawa just before the election began in August to say he was renouncing his citizenship and is currently awaiting confirmation from the embassy after filing paperwork. Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann said Scheer and his sisters received US passports as children but Scheer has not renewed his as an adult. Scheer's said his father was born in the US and immigrated to Canada. It was always my intention to do it, he said. Scheer said he has filed US tax returns. The Globe and Mail first reported the news of his dual citizenship. Over a million Canadians hold dual citizenship - it's part of what makes Canada great. But none have hidden that fact when running to be Prime Minister, Liberal party spokeswoman Zita Astravas said in a statement. Andrew Scheer has been fundamentally dishonest with Canadians about who he is. In 2005, Scheer criticized Canada's then-governor general, Michaelle Jean, for having dual Canadian-French citizenship. "He was hypocritical in his attack on Michaelle Jean and it is good that it is now exposed," said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. But Wiseman said he didn't think Scheer's dual citizenship will have much effect on public opinion, noting many Canadians have dual citizenship. Scheer also said Thursday that he opposes abortion but would not reopen debate on Canada's law allowing abortions. He had dodged the question after being grilled by Trudeau at a debate Wednesday night ahead of the October 21 parliamentary elections. Scheer has also been criticized for saying on his resume that he previously worked as an insurance broker. He was not. Scheer has since said he received his accreditation and worked in an insurance office for six or seven months before leaving prior to completing the licensing process. He has also been questioned about whether he got his university degree in Saskatchewan or Ottawa. He hid facts about his career and education, and now he's been caught hiding his American citizenship even while ridiculing others for holding dual citizenship, Astravas said. The 40-year-old Scheer is a career politician who was elected to Parliament when he was 25. Stretched and padded CVs is what you get from life-long politicos that want to hide that they've been life-long politicos, Wiseman said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: At least six persons drowned while more than 20 others went missing after a boat carrying close to 80 people capsized in the Mahananda river in Katihar district, police said on Friday. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Barsoi, Pankaj Kumar said the incident took place on the Bihar-Bengal border at about 8.15 pm on Thursday night close to Jagannathpur Ghat when residents of Wajidpur village here were returning after shopping in Rampur Haat market of the adjoining state, situated right across the river. "Prima facie, it appears to be a case of overloading. The boat had a capacity of 40 passengers but was carrying almost double the number. So far three unidentified bodies of an elderly man, a woman and a child have been recovered, the DSP said. Many of those riding the boat either swam to safety or were rescued by onlookers. About two dozen people are yet to be traced ... professional divers have been deployed for the purpose, he added. Incessant rains have brought normal life to standstill killing more than 40 people in the last nine days in Bihar. Heavy rains have thrown normal life out of gear affecting rail traffic, healthcare facilities and schools in the state. Streets of capital Patna are flooded with water and National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to conduct rescue operations in the city. However, relief and rescue operations are in full swing in Bihar, and waters are being pumped out on a war footing. According to the state disaster management department, a total of 14 districts have been hit by flood-like situation caused by torrential rainfall in the past few days, most of these situated along the Ganga. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) directors Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, accused of loan default, in connection with the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank scam have been sent to police custody till October 9. Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan were arrested by police on Thursday. Police have also frozen their assets. According to the FIR registered against them, they had taken a loan worth Rs 3,337 crore from the PMC bank which later turned into NPA. Few of the senior bank officials, including directors of the PMC bank were also involved in the fraud. Before taking them into the custody, Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing slueths had interrogated them. This is the first arrest in the mega PMC bank scam case. On Monday, the police had filed an FIR against the former bank management and promoters of HDIL and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Based on a complaint by RBI-appointed administrator, the city police's Economic Offences Wing filed a first information report (FIR) in the case for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against the officials. As per initial investigations, the bank's losses since 2008 were Rs 4,355.46 crore, the police said. The bank's former chairman Waryam Singh, managing director Joy Thomas and other senior officials, along with the directors of HDIL had been named in the FIR. Explaining the modus operandi of the case, the FIR said HDIL promoters allegedly colluded with the bank management, to draw loans from the bank's Bhandup branch. Despite non-payment, the bank officials did not classify the loans as non performing advances and intentionally hid the information about the same from RBI. They also created fictitious accounts of companies which borrowed small sums of money, and created fake reports of the bank to hide from the regulatory supervision, it said. The FIR has been filed under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant or banker), 420 (cheating), and 465, 466 and 471 (related to forgery) of the Indian Penal Code along with 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy). The bank, which has 137 branches and over Rs 11,000 crore in deposits, has been put under restrictions since last week after the RBI discovered certain financial irregularities in the functioning of the multi-state lender. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: Senior Indian lawyer Harish Salve has endorsed India's decision to revoke Article 370 to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, saying the government has cut the Gordian Knot. He described Pakistan's reaction to the move as a sign of "complete bankruptcy" because Kashmir is an integral part of India where they were "squatting". Tensions between the two countries have spiked since India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian ambassador. Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue after India withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, but New Delhi has asserted the abrogation of Article 370 was its "internal matter". Salve said: "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is Indian, they (Pakistan) are squatting there. If there is any disputed territory (in the region), it is PoK. The Kashmir Constitution says Kashmir is an integral part of India, not just the Indian Constitution. Kashmir being an integral part of India has never been in doubt, except in certain Pakistani minds." Describing himself as a "long-time votary" of getting rid of Article 370, the senior lawyer noted: "I think it was a mistake to allow it and a bigger mistake to allow it to fester. Some time, you had to cut the Gordian Knot and the government has done it. The only way it could have been done is by one shot. "The suggestion that it should have been a discussion is nonsense because even the slightest mention of 370 would evoke very trenchant and militant criticism. India has done the right thing," Salve, who represented India at the International Court of Justice in Kulbhushan Jadhav's case, said. In reference to the legal challenge over the issue, he added: ?The Supreme Court of India will hear and decide if there was anything wrong. But the way it has been portrayed by Pakistan shows their complete bankruptcy of the mind.? Salve was speaking to reporters at the Indian High Commission in London following a landmark judgment by the Royal Courts of Justice earlier in the day in favour of the Indian government in relation to funds associated with the Nizam of Hyderabad dating back to Partition in 1947. As a key member of the legal team on behalf of India, the lawyer hailed the verdict as an important endorsement of India's long-held stance against Pakistan in the UK court. "It was a wrongful claim by Pakistan which had to be fought. We fought that claim and won it," Salve said, in reference to the 35 million pounds held in a London bank account which will now be shared between the Nizam of Hyderabad's heirs and the Indian government based on a confidential agreement struck between the parties. "Historians will be interested in seeing Pakistan's open acceptance that they were supplying arms. It is an interesting dimension which has publicly been acknowledged," he said, in reference to one of the arguments used by Pakistan as part of its claim for the funds. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Team India had high hopes from the bowlers after being bowled out for 202 runs on the first day of the Test match being played in Johannesburg. At the same time, the African team was also expecting a big innings from its captain Dean Elgar and Keegan Pietersen. Captain Elgar and Keegan Pietersen pulled out the first hour of the day very well, but Shardul Thakur bowled brilliantly and brought Team India back in the match once again. On the basis of Shardul's bowling, Team India piled up South Africa for 229 runs. At the same time, till the end of the second day's play, they have taken a lead of 58 runs. South African batsmen started their innings very carefully, Keegan Pietersen batted brilliantly and scored the first half-century of his Test career. But, as soon as the ball came in the hands of Shardul Thakur, the South African batsmen kept getting out. Thakur sent the wickets of Dean Elgar, Keegan Pietersen and Raisey Von Derdsen to the pavilion before the lunch break. Shardul, playing the role of an all-rounder, continued to wreak havoc with his ball even after lunch as a bowler and took 7 wickets in the African innings. Shardul Thakur also became the first Asian player to take 7 wickets in an innings in South Africa. Along with this, Shardul also gave the best performance of his career. Shardul took 7 wickets for 61 runs in South Africa's first innings. Apart from Shardul, Mohammed Shami took 2 and Jasprit Bumrah took 1 wicket. At the same time, in the second innings, the first wicket of Team India fell for just 24 runs, Rahul returned to the pavilion after scoring 8 runs. At the same time, Mayank Agarwal was dismissed after scoring 23 runs. At present, Cheteshwar Pujara 35 and Ajinkya Rahane are on the crease after scoring 11 runs and Team India has got a lead of 58 runs. Bangladesh create history, beat New Zealand in Tests for the first time in 21 years Haryana and U Mumba draw in Pro Kabaddi League Ex-flight steward turned entrepreneur Amit B Wadhwani celebrates his birthday in a grand manner Kazakh: Following three days of protests in Kazakhstan, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the resignation of the administration. People have been demonstrating against rising energy prices. According to RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued a decree on January 5 accepting the government's resignation. On an interim basis, the President has nominated Alikhan Smailov, the deputy Prime Minister, as the new Prime Minister. The incumbent members of the government will continue to serve until a new administration is formed, according to the proclamation. Murat Nurtileu was designated as the first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee by the President in a separate decree. Krymbek Kusherbaev was also removed of his duties as Secretary of State by the President. The President's response came following accusations that security forces used stun grenades to stop people from entering Almaty's mayor's office on January 4. According to the news source, after police cars were attacked, police deployed tear gas to disperse protesters on the square. Imran Khan's party attempted to keep foreign accounts under wraps. France witness first ever 271,686 new Covid cases in single day Libyan Parliament calls for new date for presidential elections In the last 24 hours, at least five people were killed and seven others were injured in two separate car incidents in Pakistan, according to local media. According to reports, an ambulance skidded in the snow and crashed into a river in the Lower Dir area of the country's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing four people and wounding six more. Local media claimed that a lorry toppled in Chunian city in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, killing one person and injuring another. Road accidents are common in Pakistan, owing to poorly maintained automobiles, deteriorating roads, and a lack of attention to road safety measures. Average life expectancy in Tibet rises to 72.19 years Kazakhstan Prez Accepts Govts Resignation Amid Protests Over Gas Price Hike Covid cases in Australia increasing, putting a strain on the health system. Pakistan: seven person were killed and five others were injured in two different accidents in Pakistan In the last 24 hours, according to reports. According to local media, seven members of a family were killed after a fire broke out in a village on the fringes of Toba Tek Singh district in the country's eastern Punjab province on Wednesday. The disaster occurred while the victims were sleeping, killing all of the family members in the residence, according to rescue workers. There were five females among the deceased. In a separate incident, five people were injured when a bomb exploded in a residence in Quetta, Pakistan's southwestern metropolis. According to reports, the explosion was caused by a gas leak in the house, injuring everyone in the family, including three children. Pak again raises J&K issue at UN Pakistan: 5 people have been killed in road accidents Pakistan became hell for minorities, now Hindu businessman shot dead Islamabad: A 44-year-old Hindu businessman Sunil Kumar was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Anaj Mandi of Sindh province of Pakistan. According to local media reports from Pakistan, on January 2, soon after the brutal murder, Hindus gathered outside a local police station to stage a sit-in. During the protests, there is a demand for the immediate arrest of the killers of the Hindu businessman. The city has been shut down due to this incident. Significantly, in recent years, violence against minorities and their places of worship has increased significantly in Pakistan. Many such incidents have been seen on a daily basis, such as vandalizing the houses of Hindus for raping and kidnapping women. This happens especially with women belonging to Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities. Along with this, vandalizing the temple, damaging it has become a common occurrence in Pakistan. There have been many occasions when Pakistan has faced international criticism for failing to protect the rights of minorities, but even after this, the Imran Khan government has not taken any strong steps for the protection of minorities in the country. Let us tell you that last month a Pakistani journalist had revealed how hatred against Hindus is spread in the educational institutions of the country. He made this remark after the brutal murder of a Sri Lankan manager on charges of blasphemy in Sialkot, Punjab province of Pakistan. Padma awardee booked for 'raping' adopted minor girl in Assam The young man used to cut trees and sell them, angry people committed murder Padma awardee man raped daughter, now FIR registered" The Pakistan Supreme Court has denied the government's request to halt the demolition of Karachi's Madina Mosque. The Pakistan attorney general appeared on behalf of the government in a matter involving the demolition of encroachments in Karachi and requested the apex bench court to rethink the order to destroy the Madina Mosque on Tariq Road. A mosque, shrine, and cemetery erected on 'amenity parks' property near Tariq Road in Karachi were ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court last week. "The court has been asked to review its December 28 decision," the attorney general stated, adding that "religious tensions were increasing as a result of the court's ruling, and the mosque's destruction was raising many questions." Gulzar Ahmed, Pakistan's Chief Justice, stated that the government could offer alternate land for the mosque if it so desired, adding that "I have seen a park in the [mosque's] position with my own eyes." The attorney general maintained that he was aware that it was the duty of the federal and provincial governments to provide land for the mosque. According to the article, he demanded that the SC reconsider its decision. "All we can do is order a delay of the mosque's demolition until a new location is found," the top justice responded. 5.8-magnitude quake jolts central Indonesia Chinese president signs an order mobilizing troops for military training N.Korea fired a possible ballistic missile: Japan A new edition of the Daily App Quiz has started on the E-commerce platform AMAZON. Amazon online shopping platform is offering a great opportunity to win Rs 15,000 on Amazon Pay Balance in its Quiz today. These quizzes are available on Amazon's mobile app. Let us tell you that this daily quiz starts every day at 8 a.m. and lasts till 12 p.m. The quiz consists of 5 questions of General Knowledge (GK) and Current Affairs. To win a lot of such rewards, you must answer all the questions asked in the quiz properly. Each question asked between quizzes contains four options. How to play Quiz? If your phone doesn't have Amazon app, you'll need to download it first to play quizzes. You'll need to sign in after downloading and installing. Then open the app and scroll down the home screen. Where at the bottom you will find the banner of 'Amazon Quiz'. Here are five questions from today's quiz as well as their answers. So go and win 15,000 Amazon Pay Balance. Question 1. Israel opened its embassy in which country for the first time in 2021? Answer: Bahrain. Question 2. Which electric car was driven by President Joe Biden a few days ago? Answer 2 - GMC Hamar. Question 3. Which 'computer accessory' was released by Apple a few days ago, which gave a funny reaction on Twitter? Answer 3 - Polishing fabric. Question 4. This scene represents a famous literary character. Which famous actor has played this role on the big screen? Answer 4 - Johnny Depp. Question 5. What is the name of this traditional dress from Japan? It means "something to wear". Answer 5 - Kimono. Keep these essential gadgets with you amid increasing corona cases Airtel users take advantage of this offer today, otherwise the process will be over Amazon giving 10,000 chances to win, just have to do it NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with his Maldivian Foreign Minister, Abdulla Shahid, to explore bilateral cooperation. The External Minister called the Maldives' Foreign Minister to wish him a happy New Year, and the two talked on mutual benefits and bilateral issues, according to the External Minister's office. Jaishankar later greeted, "In my conversation with FM Abdulla shahid, I recognised the significant progress made in bilateral collaboration. Its reciprocal benefits are readily apparent. I sent my New Year's greetings to the Maldives' people and government ".. This discussion is crucial since Abdulla Shahid was just elected President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where India controls a number of vital positions. Abdulla served as Speaker of the Maldives Parliament from 1995 to 2018. He was a member of Parliament from 1995 to 2018. The Maldives' proximity to India's west coast, where it is only 70 nautical miles from Minicoy and 300 nautical miles from India's west coast, and its location at the crossroads of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean, as well as the possibility of allowing a third country's naval presence in the area, endow it with significant strategic significance for India. Tourist arrivals in Maldives' increase 138 percent in 2021 Disha reached Maldives for holiday before New Year, shared pictures Govt keen to work towards transformative economic growth: EAM Jaishankar " " The book believed to be world's oldest mulitpage book contains six bound sheets of 24-carat gold, with illustrations of a mermaid, horse-rider, harp and soldiers. Ivorrusev/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia At Bulgaria's National Museum of History, there lives a book comprising six pages of beaten 24-carat gold covered with Etruscan script, one of the few writing systems scholars have yet to decipher. It features illustrations of a horse-rider, a mermaid, a harp and soldiers [source: BBC News]. According to reports, the book, exhibited in 2003, was estimated at about 2,500 years old. It was found along the Strouma River in southwestern Bulgaria in an old tomb, and was donated to the museum by the finder, who remained anonymous. Its age and authenticity were confirmed by two independent scientists, whose names also remain unknown. Advertisement This book is often cited as the world's oldest book because it is the oldest book containing several pages that we know about. There are older pages around but not bound together in a book. But the case isn't closed. The question of what is the oldest book in the world will likely never be answered. First, there's the question of what exactly is a book. Books are slippery artifacts. Think of your favorite novel. It has a physical presence, a specific shape and form that fits on a shelf and requires dusting. It also has a nonphysical form the story itself, what it means to you and the memories and enjoyment it conjures. So is the book a mere physical presence, or is the content more important than the shape? Or do they both play a role? Take it a step further and ask what if your favorite book wasn't printed but handwritten, would it still be a book? What about if you read it on an electronic device? If printing defined what a book was, then the oldest book would be the Gutenberg Bible, printed in about 1450. Of course, that was printed with moveable type. Chinese cultures were printing pages of booklike structures using carved wood plates and simple presses hundreds of years before Gutenberg. Now take the Egyptian pharaohs. Their scribes were creating songs and prayers to them close to 3,000 years ago, but these were on papyrus scrolls, which could be considered a book, albeit with only one very long page. "These are questions scholars are still wrestling with," said Laurent Ferri, curator of rare books and manuscripts at Cornell University whom we interviewed in 2010. "For me, a book would be defined by having a binding and supporting a world view." By this definition, the collection of clay tablets maintained by Cornell also the largest collection in the world wouldn't be considered the world's oldest books. They aren't bound, and most are legal proceedings or financial accountings and do not espouse a worldview. With his own definition in mind, Ferri said his bet on the oldest books in the world would be Homer's "Iliad," and the "Epic of Gilgamesh." Indeed, the British Museum's version of the Gilgamesh tale, written on clay tablets, dates to about the seventh century B.C.E. However, the tablets aren't bound, so they're technically not a book, but they do come close, especially in the sense they propose a certain view of the world. But we don't really know when the stories started or how they evolved. "This is another situation to consider," Ferri said. "These (two stories) are the product of a very long oral tradition. We know roughly when the text was fixed, but the stories pre-existed the physical book." And so the questions turn. Some people think the Bible was written shortly after the world was created, making it the oldest book. Yet biblical scholars know the books that make up the Bible were written over many centuries and that many of the stories included in it were set down centuries after the events they recorded happened. Bringing religion, or worldviews, into the question begets more twists and turns. The I Ching, the foundation book for Taoist philosophy, was allegedly written by Lao-Tze more than 2,000 years ago. Pharaonic texts exist with a similar vintage. There are likely other more obscure religions that claim to have a toehold in centuries further in the past and that their more recent printings are merely modern manifestations of ancient texts. For Ferri, the quest for the world's oldest book is just that a quest. "If you find the oldest book you find the oldest truth, the oldest revelation," he said. "This is a revelation of original things; this is what humans always look for. So, we ask the questions again and again, 'What is the oldest?" So, the question of what is the world's oldest book will likely never be answered conclusively, and this may not be a bad thing. The simple asking of the question seems to lead to insight, whether from an archaeological perspective or a philosophical perspective. And it addresses the ultimate point of books (whether they're on clay tablets or online), summed up by Ferri: "We wouldn't be human without books." Advertisement Originally Published: Mar 23, 2010 SEAL Awards recognizes Atlas Renewable Energy with its Business Sustainability Award in the Environmental Initiatives Category MIAMI,, Jan. 4, 2022 /CNW/ -- Atlas Renewable Energy, a global renewable energy generation company, has been recognized as SEAL Awards' Business Sustainability winner under the Environmental Initiative Award Category. Atlas was recognized for its environmental activity to preserve and protect the Howler Monkey species near its 444MW photovoltaic project La Pimienta, located in Mexico's municipality of Carmen in the state of Campeche. SEAL awards Atlas Renewable Energy its Business Sustainability Award in the Environmental Initiatives category The program consists of three main environmental benefits including the conservation of 300 hectares of secondary vegetation of the evergreen forest patches in the area, the creation of biological corridors to connect the forest patches that surround the solar plant, and the conservation of the Black Howler Monkey Habitat, which is an endangered species that has been red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC). "Helping preserve biodiversity and improve local species' habitats near our renewable energy projects is of utmost importance and this is always taken into consideration in the design phase of a project," said Eddaly Cuesta, ESG Manager for Colombia and Mexico at Atlas Renewable Energy. "Seeing this program develop from a basic idea to a program with tangible results is very fulfilling from both a personal and professional perspective. Everything was possible thanks to the great leadership within Atlas, which understands that protecting and preserving biodiversity is an essential part of the development of our projects." The environmental initiative aligns with Atlas' ESG pillar for biodiversity protection which intends to help protect and maintain environments and species near our renewable energy projects. With this, Atlas aims to motivate others within the industry and foster even more commitment toward the preservation and conservation of species and habitats. Within this pillar, Atlas has executed reforestation activities, donated seedlings, held workshops for environmental education, and has helped toward the conservation of different species across Chile, Brazil, and Mexico. Story continues "We have a commitment as clean energy generators to provide power and to do so as sustainably as possible. Taking care of the ecosystems in which we operate is a priority for Atlas, not because it is required but because it's the right thing to do. That's why we often go above and beyond local regulations and do more than what is expected in this sense. I'm very proud of what Atlas has achieved, and the support from the other divisions within the company, such as EPC and Development, which have been fundamental in the materialization of this program", said Maria Jose Cortes, Head of ESG at Atlas Renewable Energy. "Thank you SEAL Awards for this recognition and thank you to our trusted partners such as BIOS, ERM, Ecology Institute AC, and IDB Invest for being such an important element during the development and execution of this initiative." The first phase of the project, which consisted of the relocation of individual howler monkeys and the creation of corridors to connect forest patches, is well underway. Currently, the program is moving into phase two, which consists of monitoring the Black Howler monkey population for the next couple of years to ensure their wellbeing, executing reforestation actions and preserving the forest patches that continue to be connected by the biological corridors. "The environmental merits of renewable energy are consistent and obvious," said Matt Harney, Founder of SEAL Awards. "Our judging panel found Atlas' prioritization of conservation and biodiversity in its La Pimienta Solar Project to be unique and exemplary. We encourage all renewable energy developers to model this conservation-centric approach." About Atlas Renewable Energy Atlas Renewable Energy is a renewable energy generation company that develops, builds, and operates renewable energy projects with long-term contracts across the Americas. The current company portfolio is 2.2GW of contracted projects in development, construction, or operational stages, and aims to expand by an additional 4GW in the next years. Launched in early 2017, Atlas Renewable Energy includes an experienced team with the longest track record in the solar energy industry in Latin America. The company is recognized for its high standards in the development, construction, and operation of large-scale projects. Atlas Renewable Energy is part of the Energy Fund IV, founded by Actis, a leading private equity investor in the energy sector. Atlas Renewable Energy's growth is focused on the leading emerging markets and economies, using its proven development, commercialization, and structuring know-how to accelerate the transformation toward clean energy. By actively engaging with the community and stakeholders at the center of its project strategy, the company works every day to provide a cleaner future. To know more about Atlas Renewable Energy, visit: www.atlasrenewableenergy.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719663/Atlas_Renewable_Energy.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1441896/Atlas_Renewable_Energy_Logo.jpg Contact: Dave Chambers / +44 (0)75 5788 7405 / dchambers@headlandconsultancy.com Atlas Renewable Energy Logo (PRNewsfoto/Atlas Renewable Energy) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/atlas-renewable-energy-recognized-by-seal-awards-for-environmental-initiative-with-primates-301453649.html SOURCE Atlas Renewable Energy Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2022/04/c3058.html Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 5, 2022) - BAROYECA GOLD & SILVER INC. (TSXV: BGS) (the "Company") is pleased to announce further assay results from its phase 1 drilling program at its flagship Atocha high-grade silver project in Tolima, Colombia. The Company issued the results of its first two holes from the program in its news release dated November 16, 2021, some of the results of which are repeated below for continuity purposes. The focus of this release is the results from holes three through seven. The Company has completed one additional hole (hole eight) for which the Company is currently awaiting assay results and is drilling hole nine at the time of writing this press release. Baroyeca has drilled eight holes at La Ye as part of an ongoing drill program which has to date covered approximately 200m of strike length of the vein corridor from its north-easternmost end. Drilling has already identified one high-grade mineralized zone or shoot near surface at La Ye that will be followed at depth in future delineation drilling campaigns once the company identifies and prioritizes other high-grade mineralized zones in different vein sets. Phase 1 drilling started targeting the San Antonio vein as the primary master vein at La Ye, which is an approximately 4 meter wide breccia/vein zone comprised of two larger (0.5 to 1 meter) well developed parallel quartz-sulfide rich veins located at the edges of the vein zone, that includes a dense set of veinlets and spur veins between them. There is also a parallel vein situated 25m to the north of the San Antonio vein, intersected in holes 3 to 8 at shallow depths, and several other narrow veins parallel to the San Antonio vein toward the south (footwall), that are producing anomalous values. These secondary veins have been mapped and can be followed at surface toward the southwest, in which direction the Company's drill program is intended to proceed. Drilling is following these veins as linked structures probably forming an echelon pattern of shoots within them along the main shear/vein corridor. Story continues Holes AT-21-01 and 02 were drilled targeting the northeastern end of the most prominent San Antonio central vein zone of La Ye vein system (see Company's press release November 16, 2021). Hole AT-21-01 intersected 1.1m (*) averaging 890 g/t AgEq, including a 0.50m interval of 1,137.05 g/t AgEq. Immediately below the main vein, were a series of thinner veins and spurs as part of the main vein zone, that included 1.05m averaging 159 g/t AgEq. Hole AT-21-02 intersected the same vein at 85.70m and returned 2,233.5 g/t AgEq for an interval of 0.80m, and a second zone immediately below that returned 373 g/t AgEq over 0.90m, which correlates with the previous hole. Holes 3 and 4 were drilled along strike toward the southwest targeting the same San Antonio vein and another parallel vein set to the north that came in the upper part of both holes. This parallel vein returned 316.03 g/t AgEq over 0.50m in hole AT-21-03 and 236.32 g/t AgEq over 0.25m in hole AT-21-04. The equivalent to the San Antonio vein in hole AT-21-03 returned 551.30 g/t AgEq over 0.50m and split in two narrow segments in hole AT-21-04 of 158.89 g/t AgEq over 0.20m and 101.81 g/t AgEq over 0.30m. Holes AT-21-05 and 06 were directed eastwards to reach the lower downdip projection of the San Antonio Vein next to hole AT-21-01 and between AT-21-01 and 03 to fill the gap, and to see the effect of a NW-SE fault. Hole AT-21-05 intersected the shallow parallel vein returning 190.6 g/t AgEq over 0.40m and followed intersecting the richer San Antonio vein below that returned 561.08 g/t AgEq over 0.55m in the upper part of the vein and two contiguous intervals of 772.45 AgEq over 0.40m following 345.93 g/t AgEq over the next 0.40m in line with the intersects of holes AT-21-01 and 02. Hole AT-21-06 sucessfully intersected the shallow northern vein returning 404.23 g/t AgEq over 0.50m and the two veins part of the San Antonio vein (See photo 1) returning 221.20 AgEq over 0.0.60m following 240.08 g/t AgEq over the next 0.30m. Hole AT-20-07 intersected the same sequence of veins with 384.40 g/t AgEq followed by 400.30 g/t AgEq over 0.50m Table 1. Au and Ag drill core assay results Hole # From (m) To (m) Interval (*) Au ppm Ag ppm AgEq ppm AT-21-01 84.00 84.50 0.50 13.11 153.8 1,137.05 84.50 85.10 0.60 4.519 364 702.93 87.35 87.90 0.55 1.163 24.1 111.33 87.90 88.40 0.50 2.605 17.4 212.78 AT-21-02 85.70 86.50 0.80 20.14 723 2,233.50 88.10 89.00 0.90 1.289 276.5 373.18 AT-21-03 38.50 39.00 0.50 0.127 306.5 316.03 62.50 63.00 0.50 1.305 11.8 109.68 65.80 66.30 0.50 3.736 271.1 551.30 AT-21-04 41.30 41.55 0.25 0.176 251 263.32 52.80 53.10 0.30 0.379 42.2 68.73 59.20 59.40 0.20 2.047 15.6 158.89 63.32 63.62 0.30 0.373 75.7 101.81 AT-21-05 67.10 67.50 0.40 1.112 107.2 190.60 85.40 85.95 0.55 2.529 371.4 561.08 85.95 86.30 0.35 0.183 53.8 67.53 86.30 86.70 0.40 0.273 56.8 77.28 86.70 87.10 0.40 4.146 461.5 772.45 87.10 87.50 0.40 1.411 240.1 345.93 AT-21-06 49.50 50.00 0.50 0.908 6.4 74.50 50.00 50.50 0.50 3.011 178.4 404.23 60.80 61.40 0.60 0.884 154.9 221.20 62.75 63.05 0.30 1.173 152.1 240.08 82.70 83.20 0.50 1.807 127.5 135.53 AT-21-07 47.50 47.70 0.20 0.984 310.6 384.40 51.70 52.20 0.50 2.084 244 400.30 64.10 64.50 0.40 0.63 53.9 101.15 (*) True thickness to be further calculated with additional drilling from different orientations. AqEq converted using a silver to gold ratio of 75:1 assuming recoveries of 100%. Figure 1. Plan view of first 8 drill holes at La Ye vein system, including drill intercept highlights and surface vein traces with rock/outcrop locations with assay results (AgEq). To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7881/109056_032263d12408d8fc_001full.jpg Drill hole AT 21-08 has been completed and samples submitted to SGS for preparation and analysis. At the date of this news release, the Company is still awaiting the results of their analysis from SGS. The ninth hole is underway as part of Baroyeca's initial 2,500m phase 1 drilling program at the La Ye vein system, targeting three silver-gold bearing vein zones at depth which have been mapped at surface. Photo 1. AT-21-06. Multiple parallel mineralized veins as part of San Antonio master vein at La Ye target. To view an enhanced version of Photo 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7881/109056_032263d12408d8fc_002full.jpg Raul Sanabria, P.Geo., President of Baroyeca commented: "We are pleased to see more high-grade results coming from ongoing drilling on the La Ye vein system. We have confirmed the presence of multiple stacked parallel vein sets and are progressing to establish the geometry of the shear corridor which hosts the mineralized zones within them. Our systematic approach to delineating the structure by moving along its strike length is allowing us to much better determine the distribution of ore shoots, vein bulging and vein splays. Drilling continues to move along toward the southwest where the vein splays into a wider zone and where we found higher grades in outcrop and float at surface." QA/QC Rock samples are shipped by transport truck in sealed woven plastic bags to SGS sample preparation facility in Medellin, Colombia for sample preparation and analysis. Baroyeca implements QA/QC best practices and per every 21 samples, three certified control samples are inserted (one blank, one standard and one field duplicate). SGS operates according to the guidelines set out in ISO/IEC Guide 25. Gold is determined by fire-assay fusion of a 50 g sub-sample with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Samples that return values >10 ppm gold from fire assay and AAS are determined by using fire assay and a gravimetric finish. Silver is analyzed by inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy, following multi-acid digestion. Silver is determined by ore grade assay for samples that return >500 ppm. About Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on high-grade silver and gold projects located in Colombia. Baroyeca's flagship asset is the high-grade Atocha Silver-Gold Project located in Tolima Department, Colombia. The Company also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Santa Barbara Property, Bolivar Department, Colombia, which is renowned for its high-grade gold mineralization and vein density. Current exploration activities on the Santa Barbara Property involve the bulk sampling of vein structures, which material then feeds into a trial production facility which has consistently been producing gold for over a year. The revenue from the sale of produced gold defrays part of the operating costs. The Company is planning to expand these activities. The Company's Board and senior management are committed to creating shareholder value through the discovery process, careful allocation of capital, and environmentally and socially responsible mineral exploration. Qualified Person Raul Sanabria, M.Sc., P.Geo., President of Baroyeca Gold & Silver Inc. and a qualified person ("QP") as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release. Annual Meeting Update The Company held its Annual General Meeting of shareholders by telephone conference call on December 31, 2021, with voting conducted by submission of proxies. The business presented to the Meeting was all routine in nature and all matters were approved by the shareholders. Raul Sanabria, Richard Wilson, Douglas Eacrett and William Carr were re-elected as directors for the ensuing year. BAROYECA GOLD & SILVER INC. Per: "Raul Sanabria" Raul Sanabria, President FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Wilson - (604) 351-3599 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109056 WESTMINSTER, Colo., January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After over 1,000 structures were destroyed in the Marshall and Middle Fork Fires, many are left struggling to pick up the pieces as they try to file claims with their insurance companies. Most are unaware that a local advocate who can guide them through the arduous process is only a phone call away. Public adjusters are certified professionals who advocate for the insured, handling every aspect of a property owners insurance claim. Because they are insurance experts, they are almost always able to negotiate a better claim than a property owner could on their own. The assistance of a public adjuster can also take the stress of dealing with an insurance company off the property owners shoulders. "While insurance companies provide their own adjuster, many people are not aware that insurance companies have one primary goal: to maximize their profits," Adjusters International/Matrix Business Consulting CEO and President Scott deLuise said. "You wouldnt go to court without a lawyer. You wouldnt consummate a real estate transaction without a realtor. Going toe to toe with an insurance company alone just doesnt make sense. We act as your private adjuster." For deLuise, these fires were close to home. "I live just east of the area affected by the fires.," he said. "My team and I understand the local landscape, and we are ready to help. Insurance companies motivations create a conflict of interest the more they pay out in claims, the less profit they make. As public adjusters and members of the local community, our motivations align with yours, and we will fight to get you everything you are owed." In addition to founding and serving as President and CEO of AIMBC, deLuise is a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member), a commercial real estate broker, the founder and chairman of the Rocky Mountain Association of Public Insurance Adjusters and the immediate past president of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters. Story continues Certified public adjusters at Adjusters International/Matrix Business Consulting, a family-operated public adjusting firm based in Colorado, are ready to help those dealing with the fires devastation on local communities. The team has more than 75 years of experience assisting property owners and has handled wildfire claims from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, including after the Atlas Fire, Camp Fire, Hayman Fire, Fourmile Canyon Fire, Glass Fire, Tubbs Fire and most recently in Colorado, the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome and Calwood Fires. To learn more about how a public adjuster can help property owners recover, call AIMBC at 888-317-2519. About Adjusters International/Matrix Business Consulting Adjusters International/Matrix Business Consulting was founded by Scott and Jan deLuise to assist policyholders in preparing, filing and adjusting their insurance claims. The firms highly experienced team combines complementary backgrounds in real estate, accounting, law and property restoration. To learn more about how a public adjuster can help after property loss, visit https://www.ai-mbc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005897/en/ Contacts Eli Kapsack eli@redbanyan.com (954) 642-2434 ext. 111 TPG investment to fuel next stage of growth and expansion for Confluent, building on its strong foundation as a leading partner to medical device manufacturers SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. & SAN FRANCISCO, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Confluent Medical Technologies ("Confluent"), a leading materials science, development and manufacturing partner to medical device manufacturers ("OEMs"), today announced that TPG Capital, the private equity platform of alternative asset management firm TPG, has agreed to make a majority investment in the company. TPG Capital joins existing investor Ampersand Capital Partners ("Ampersand"), which will retain a substantial minority interest in Confluent. Confluent supports the design, development and manufacturing of life-saving implants, minimally invasive delivery systems and other medical devices utilized in some of the most innovative and technologically challenging applications in the medical device industry. Confluent provides a broad range of capabilities including developing and manufacturing components, delivery systems and finished devices for medical device OEMs in many of the fastest growing healthcare subsectors, including neurovascular, structural heart, electrophysiology, aortic intervention, peripheral vascular and ENT. Confluent is a strategic partner to a diverse customer base, which includes many of the worlds leading medical device OEMs as well as innovative small- and mid-sized companies, typically working with customers across the entire product life cycle. "Confluents depth of expertise in Nitinol processing and other complex modalities, differentiated manufacturing capabilities and unique end-to-end integration have positioned the company as a trusted design and manufacturing partner to OEMs for many of the most complex implantable products," said Kendall Garrison, Partner at TPG Capital. "With an accomplished management team, robust pipeline, and long track record of product innovation, we believe the company is positioned to build on its market-leading reputation for quality and execution in some of the highest growth medical device end-markets. We look forward to working with Dean, the entire management team, and Ampersand to further invest in Confluents growth," continued John Schilling, Partner at TPG Capital. "Confluent has grown substantially over the course of its ten-year partnership with Ampersand, and with the additional support and expertise of another leading healthcare investor like TPG, we are confident that we will continue to build upon our existing platforms and drive new opportunities for growth," said Dean Schauer, President and CEO of Confluent. "Medical device OEMs are increasingly looking for trusted partners to support the design and manufacturing of essential products and components, and we look forward to continuing to build upon our highly specialized materials science, engineering and manufacturing capabilities to further support our customers." Story continues Trevor Wahlbrink, Partner at Ampersand added, "Ampersand has thoroughly enjoyed its longstanding and successful partnership with the Confluent team. We are extremely pleased to add TPG to our partnership as we continue Confluents winning strategy of applying materials science to medtech innovation." TPG Capital is one of the most active and experienced investors in healthcare private equity, with a history of partnering with innovative companies in the medical device and contract development and manufacturing spaces, including investments in companies such as BVI Medical, Exactech, Biomet, Fenwal, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) and Adare Pharmaceuticals. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel to Confluent in this transaction. About Confluent Medical Confluent Applies Materials Science to MedTech Innovation. Confluents engineered solutions to the most challenging design problems enable our OEM medical device customers to offer life-saving products. Our customers rely on Confluent for materials science and associated manufacturing expertise which is critical to the function and value of their most demanding, high growth products proprietary expertise which spans processing of high purity Nitinol, ultra-high density knitting of biomedical textiles and precision laser treatment of specialty polymers. Confluent partners with leading OEMs to create a selective product portfolio which includes such complex applications as transcatheter heart valves, neurovascular implants, endovascular stent grafts and advanced smart catheters. With facilities in Fremont and Laguna Niguel, California; Warwick, Rhode Island; Windham, Maine; Austin, Texas; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and San Jose, Costa Rica, Confluent has earned the confidence of the leaders in the medical device community through a proven track record of innovative materials science, engineering and manufacturing. For more information, visit confluentmedical.com. About TPG TPG is a leading global alternative asset management firm founded in San Francisco in 1992 with $109 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams in 12 offices globally. TPG invests across five multi-product platforms: Capital, Growth, Impact, Real Estate, and Market Solutions and our unique strategy is driven by collaboration, innovation, and inclusion. Our teams combine deep product and sector experience with broad capabilities and expertise to develop differentiated insights and add value for our fund investors, portfolio companies, management teams, and communities. For more information, visit www.tpg.com or @TPG on Twitter. About Ampersand Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm with more than $2 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm's core healthcare sectors. Additional information about Ampersand is available at ampersandcapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005247/en/ Contacts For Confluent Brittany.Mai@ConfluentMedical.com For TPG Leslie Shribman and Courtney Power media@tpg.com To get a roundup of TechCrunchs biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for January 4, 2022! Yesterday we noted that startup news was kicking off the year a little light, but that that would change quickly. And change it has. In the following we have IPO news, robot news, canned-water startup news, acquisitions and more. Lets go! Alex The TechCrunch Top 3 Justworks valuation could top $2B in IPO: The first of the anticipated 2022 technology IPOs dropped a price range this morning, meaning that the public offering season is officially underway. SMB HR-focused Justworks valuation could scoot past the $2 billion mark, by our reckoning, when it starts to trade (we presume) later this month. For its investors, the price appears to be a win. Joe Lonsdales bad tweets get him in trouble: After diving into the issue of disparate investment totals for different groups of people, 8VCs Joe Lonsdale has been trying to walk back his comments on Twitter. Its not really working, as he appears to have said what he thinks. And folks in venture are not thrilled, Natasha reports. Google confirms $500M buy of Israeli cybersecurity startup: Reports that U.S. search giant Google was buying Israeli startup Siemplify have been confirmed, TechCrunch writes. Sources close to the deal confirmed the price, even if Google is staying mum on how much it dished out for the company. Startups/VC Before we dive into startup news about individual companies, a few notes. First, while tech stocks have taken a hammering in recent weeks, it appears that the private markets are full-steam ahead. Theres risk there. Looking abroad, we also have notes up on fintech in Africa and how dominant the single startup category is proving to be. And Refinery Ventures new fund is all about getting startups to their Series A, Christine Hall reports. Now, the rest of it: Why is canned water so expensive to sell? Thats my question regarding the news that Liquid Death just raised a $75 million round. Dont get me wrong, water is fine, and death-themed water is right up my heavy metal alley. But the sheer amount of capital that is flowing into tech-light businesses is confusing. That said, I am here to support any brand that leans into metal music as far as Liquid Death has, per its merch page. Robot bar carts are here to help: Labrador Systems multiyear project to build a robot for moving things about a home is coming to fruition, TechCrunch reports. We clapped eyes on the device back in 2020, meaning weve been waiting for it to come out for some time. Per our reporting, the companys Retriever robot offers assistance for elderly users and people with limited mobility. Thats rad. Skydio launches refined drone model: U.S. drone startup Skydio has updated its Skydio 2 drone to the Skydio 2+, which brings with it longer flight range, more battery life and new software. Skydio captured attention with its drones that follow and film their owners. Great, now my meditation app wants me to actually do things: Calm, best known as one of the major meditation mobile apps, is expanding into other areas of self-care. And now, we dont mean extra wine on Monday mornings. Instead, Calm has put together what it calls Daily Move videos that will help its users move. Bold from a company that made its bread to date on helping people sit still. But because you have to do both to be sane, I have learned, Calm could be onto something here. Lets see how the new content performs in-market. Recorded Future spends $65M on SecurityTrails: Heres a neat little startup deal. Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, has purchased SecurityTrails, a company that we report collects and maintains vast amounts of current and historical internet records, such as domain name records, registration data and DNS information, giving organizations visibility into what their threat attack surface is. Atmosphere raises $100M: OK, this one is cool. Atmosphere is a startup that creates video content at times sans sound for broadcast in public places like bars, restaurants and doctors offices. Think of the visual version of the music you hear in elevators. Get it? The companys new round was 80% equity, 20% debt. Story continues And from the what did you expect file, Starlink is shedding Indian staff after it was told to stop operating in the country without a license. AWS will buy a SaaS company, and other 2022 enterprise predictions a hand holding a crystal ball Image Credits: Tyler E Nixon (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Yesterday, TechCrunch reporter Ron Miller shared his predictions for enterprise companies this year. As he noted, making enterprise forecasts is tricky: In 2021, who expected Salesforce to snap up Slack for almost $28 billion, or that Jeff Bezos would hand over the reins of Amazon to Andy Jassy? "I sure didnt see that coming, and Im betting most people didnt," wrote Ron. "The tech world moves so quickly, its often hard to keep up." With "the usual caveats," his prognostications encompass ongoing supply chain issues, the impacts of increased regulatory oversight in Europe and the U.S., and his thoughts on a M&A market where table stakes are measured in the tens of billions. His boldest, spiciest take? Salesforce was quiet in 2021, busy closing the Slack deal. It wont be too unrealistic to expect something in 2022. Maybe something SaaS-y like Zoom, Box or Dropbox. Maybe Benioff finally gets Twitter, a company he desperately wanted in 2016, as Casey Newton suggested in The Platformer this week. (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Big Tech Inc. There are two topics to hit on today from Big Tech. The first is from Amazon, and the rest is a huge pile of reporting on whats going on at CES this year. First, Kindle: Kindles future in China is fading: The Amazon e-reader has been in the Chinese market for nine years, but supply of its devices is drying up in the country. Given the broader push by the Chinese government to control media of all sorts, the move is not a surprise. After all, even a smaller Kindle library is still a lot of books. And, well, open inquiry is not really ascendant in the Chinese market these days thanks to the Chinese Communist Party. And from CES: Read more about CES 2022 on TechCrunch TechCrunch Experts dc experts Image Credits: SEAN GLADWELL / Getty Images TechCrunch wants you to recommend growth marketers who have expertise in SEO, social, content writing and more! If youre a growth marketer, pass this survey along to your clients; wed like to hear about why they loved working with you. If you're curious about how these surveys are shaping our coverage, check out this article on TechCrunch+ from Miranda Halpern: 10 growth marketing experts share their 2022 predictions and New Years resolutions. New agreement feeds booming consumer demand for great-tasting plant-based foods VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Daiya Foods , the most trusted North American dairy-free cheese brand and pioneer of delicious plant based products, shared more details today about a new sales and distribution partnership with Hyundai Green Food to meet the growing appetite for plant-based foods in South Korea. Hyundai Green Food will lead the sales and distribution of Daiyas line of premium plant-based foods in South Korea, featuring over 15 delicious dairy-free formats to meet booming consumer demand. Under the new agreement, Hyundai Green Food will lead the sales and distribution of Daiya's line of premium plant-based foods, which includes over 15 dairy-free formats including cheeze blocks, shreds, slices, sticks and cream cheeze style spreads. Hyundai Green Food will also carry Daiya's plant-based meal products like pizza and burritos, and frozen desserts, as well as shelf-stable products like mac & cheeze, deluxe cheeze sauces and dairy-free salad dressings. A mix of Daiya's delicious dairy-free products is available now, through Hyundai's 20 stores and e-commerce channels, carrying frozen skus including: Daiya Frozen Dessert Bars (Classic Vanilla Bean and Salted Caramel Swirl); Daiya Cheezecake (New York Cheezecake and Chocolate Cheezecake); as well as the shelf-stable Daiya Dairy-Free Dressings (Homestyle Ranch, Creamy Caesar, Hon'y Mustard). In March, phase two of the roll-out will see Hyundai Green Food store locations, grocery channels, e-commerce and natural independent stores carrying: Daiya dairy-free Cutting Board Shreds (Mozzarella Style, Cheddar Style, and Cheddar & Mozza Style Blend); plant-based Slices (Cheddar Style, Swiss Style and Provolone Style); Blocks (Medium Cheddar Style and Smoked Gouda Style). The final phase of the roll-out, planned for April, will feature Daiya products through Hyundai's food services division, bringing even more dairy-free and plant-based options to restaurants and quick serve operations. "Since 1968 Hyundai Green Food has been a leading food distributor and catering company in South Korea. Given Daiya is a plant-based food industry leader, known as an original innovator of delicious dairy-free cheeze foods, they are an ideal partner to provide South Koreans with delicious food choices," shared Byungchul Park, Senior Executive Manager of Hyundai Green Food. Story continues "Daiya's new sales and distribution partnership with Hyundai Green Food is another example of our pledge to invite people to gather around the table to enjoy deliciously dairy-free food that is good for people and planet," said Walter Alvarenga, International Business Director with Daiya Foods. "Hyundai Green Food is an ideal partner to help action Daiya's vision to earn a place on daily menus with plant-based food innovation that exceeds expectations for taste and texture, with appeal for recipe use and broad availability at home or when dining away from home. The fact that Hyundai Green Food shares an alike vision for access to great tasting plant-based options makes our partnership all the more important." Daiya products deliver the unexpected joy of delicious plant-based eating with options for meal occasions throughout the day. Daiya is always innovating with a commitment to change how the world eats by positively impacting people and planet. Daiya currently operates in over 20 countries globally and will continue to expand into key international markets. The company offers a diverse portfolio of products that are Vegan, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO Project Verified, Certified Plant-Based and free of artificial preservatives and artificial ingredients. Booming demand for plant-based foods In 2020, the Korea Vegetarian Union (KVU) reported that there are about 500,000 strict vegans living in South Korea and about 1.5 million people pursue similar plant-based diets. The KVU estimates that there may be as many as 10 million flexitarians in the country, which represents nearly 20 per cent of South Korea's total population. In order to meet with growing demand for plant-based foods, Korea's vegan market has been expanding. About Daiya Daiya Foods was founded in 2008 out of a love for food and a commitment to healthy living. Daiya is one of the founding members of The Plant Based Foods Association-US and Canada. Daiya was voted Most Trusted Dairy-Free Cheese Brand in the U.S. and Canada in 2021 and was recognized by PEOPLE Magazine for the PEOPLE Food Awards 2021. Today, Daiya remains passionate about championing delicious plant-based food that is dairy, gluten, soy and peanut free. Its line of premium plant-based foods, like Burritos, Frozen Desserts, Pizzas, Cheezecakes, Plant-Based Cream Cheeze, and wonderful cheese alternatives, including Blocks, Shreds, Slices and Sticks, are available in the dairy case and freezer aisle. Daiya also has a line of shelf-stable products like its Mac & Cheeze, Cheeze Sauce and Dairy-Free Dressings. Daiya's products are available across North America and internationally in Australia, Belgium, Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dubai, Ecuador, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and more destinations to come. For further information, visit www.daiyafoods.com or follow on Instagram , Facebook or LinkedIn . About Hyundai Green Food Since 1968 Hyundai Green Food has been a leading food distributor and catering company in South Korea. For 40 years now, they have provided food service and retail support for customers. Hyundai Green Food started off as Geum Gang, an industrial development in the food industry, and now as Hyundai Green Food, they are one of the leading companies to occupy a major share of the contracted food service market in Korea. The company is dedicated to help consumers enjoy a satisfying meal, even when they are not at home, and also provides meals to employees of global corporations and patients at hospitals. Hyundai Green Food values nature and health with a goal to create a future where more people in the world may enjoy more food with more convenience. For further information visit Hyundai Green Food New Logo Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1719094/Daiya_Family_Shot.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1660791/Daiya_Logo.jpg SOURCE Daiya Foods About 20 years ago, Kelly Mays found herself bouncing from place to place after her abuser who she said was stalking her at the time because she broke up with him would damage whatever home she tried to settle in. I moved probably half a dozen times. I ended up being homeless. I was couch surfing and I was a single parent at the time," said Mays, 47, of Westland. She found herself evicted and permanent housing became elusive. In Michigan, 36% of women and about a quarter of men experienced some form of intimate partner violence which is abuse or aggression within a romantic relationship according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Safe shelter is crucial for people fleeing domestic violence. But the acute shortage of affordable housing in Michigan makes it more difficult for survivors of abuse to find a home to call their own. Housing helps survivors regain their footing. However, finding affordable units is one of the biggest barriers survivors face. Some organizations across southeast Michigan offer supportive housing and wraparound services, like helping clients with security deposits and employment assistance, but they say that demand for housing outweighs supply. Housing is the one thin line between being able to move forward or having to go back to an unsafe situation, said LaTonya Shephard, residential survivor advocate and team lead at First Step in Wayne County, a nonprofit providing services for victims of domestic and sexual violence. Survivors need refuge beyond temporary shelters. Oftentimes, lower incomes and the shortage of affordable units stand in the way of taking that next step. This can force a person back to their abuser or to couch hop or live in their cars, advocates said. More: Domestic violence survivors reveal intimate details of abuse, how they got out Opinion: From trauma to triumph, Detroit Free Press reporter survives domestic violence Thats what many survivors faced when they left Turning Points shelter, said Sharman Davenport, CEO of the Macomb County organization that serves people facing domestic violence and sexual assault. Story continues Sharman Davenport, the president and CEO of Turning Point, outside one of the 12 apartments in Mt. Clemens on December 16, 2021, that her organization has for victims of domestic violence. With affordable housing hard to find, people seeking to leave abusive relationships are searching to have a safe home of their own. Turning Point offers transitional and rapid rehousing for these survivors. One of Davenports goals when she came into her role 3 years ago was to develop a housing program. Last year, Turning Point received grants to launch two housing programs that would fully cover clients' costs for up to two years or help with rent payments for a year, while also offering case management and counseling. Our demand at this point is pretty high. We're really looking for more units, Davenport said. To date, Turning Point is helping to house 30 individuals in units across the county and is working to assist an additional 20 clients. A look inside and one of the 12 apartments on December 16, 2021, that Sharman Davenport, the president and CEO of Turning Point, has for victims of domestic violence. With affordable housing hard to find, people seeking to leave abusive relationships are searching to have a safe home of their own. Turning Point offers transitional and rapid rehousing for these survivors. The goal: guide survivors and their children toward financial and emotional stability, so they can start living a life, as Davenport puts it, "free of violence." Survivors face a barrage of barriers Domestic violence is one of the main causes of homelessness among women and their children, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports upwards of 50% of all homeless women said that domestic violence was the immediate reason for their housing insecurity. At some point in their lives, more than 90% of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse, a NNEDV fact sheet notes. Intimate partner violence is a pattern of abusive behavior, said Aimee Nimeh, president and CEO of HAVEN in Oakland County, which also runs a transitional housing program. Clients get help with rent payments, security deposits and finding permanent housing. Abusers do more than strike their victims. They may control finances, making it harder for their victims to build credit, or work. And so when victims leave and attempt to secure a roof over their head, they don't have financial resources to do so. If you have been living in a situation where somebody's been sabotaging your credit, has been sabotaging your ability to have employment and to have access to your own money, then that can be a really difficult transition to make, Nimeh said. Survivors may come to agencies with just the clothes on their backs, little in the bank and without important documents, like Social Security cards and IDs. "Sometimes they've had to quit jobs because the perpetrator of their intimate partner violence knows where they work ... so they're coming in with very little income on hand, and having a housing stock that's priced way out of their range is a challenge," said Celia Thomas, chief operating officer for Detroit-based Alternatives for Girls. Since last year, the nonprofit has helped domestic violence survivors in Detroit and Wayne County with legal advocacy, food assistance and housing. Usually, housing is a need among so many other needs, said Nimeh of HAVEN. Housing is 'paramount' to safety The demand for housing programs is high, especially with emergency shelters at capacity. The average shelter stay is 60 days but it can take anywhere from six to 10 months to land housing, the NNEDV reports. Safe and affordable housing is paramount to keeping survivors safe, said Nimeh. A look inside and one of the 12 apartments on December 16, 2021, that Sharman Davenport, the president and CEO of Turning Point, has for victims of domestic violence. With affordable housing hard to find, people seeking to leave abusive relationships are searching to have a safe home of their own. Turning Point offers transitional and rapid rehousing for these survivors. Even organizations helping survivors struggle to locate places at the right price and landlords willing to rent out their properties. Overall, Michigan has a lack of affordable housing. Seventy-three percent of extremely low income families those with annual incomes of $25,750 or less for a family of four spend more than half of their income on housing, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition analysis. There are 35 affordable and available units per 100 extremely low income households in the state, making Michigan one of 13 states below the national average. In other words, the state needs roughly 200,000 units for these households. Metro Detroit alone needs 100,000 units, the coalition estimated. "Being able to find good, quality safe housing in the city is challenging because the prices of rental properties are going up, the prices of good quality rental properties are skyrocketing," Thomas said of Detroit's market, adding that the city is not alone. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Detroit is $990, according to the real estate website Zumper. Advocates say wraparound services, such as employment assistance, should be paired with housing help. A look inside and one of the 12 apartments on December 16, 2021, that Sharman Davenport, the president and CEO of Turning Point, has for victims of domestic violence. With affordable housing hard to find, people seeking to leave abusive relationships are searching to have a safe home of their own. Turning Point offers transitional and rapid rehousing for these survivors. Any one of us is a paycheck or a situation away from losing our housing, said Shannon Smith, director of Housing and Community Development at Lighthouse, a social services nonprofit in Oakland County. 'Nowhere for me to stay' Organizations have also been struggling to find landlords willing to rent out their properties, said Nagham Dabaja, a coordinator for the Survivors of Violence Empowerment program at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), which offers a 24-month transitional housing program. Agencies cannot guarantee that clients will stay during the full leasing period, and so that may mean a month-to-month tenancy, Dabaja said. Some landlords may want rental income to come directly from renters, and not the agencies helping them. Others may worry that abusers could show up to the property itself and cause problems. Thats something Mays, a professional counselor at a mental health care nonprofit and a slam poet, is all too familiar with. One abuser from two decades ago would prevent her from staying in one place too long, forcing her to move about half a dozen times. "There was nowhere for me to stay," she said. Years later, a different abuser sent her to the hospital on her child's first birthday. He kicked her so many times, she said, that she was left partially deaf in one ear. Her abusers, she said, would use manipulation tactics: If she talked to male waiters at a restaurant, shed have to pay for her own meal, not eat at all or take it to go; if she didnt act right, one abuser would take the car that was under his name away from her. Mays, who relied on HAVEN to get back on her feet a decade ago and who now speaks to other survivors through the agency, says there is a huge connection between safety and home for those facing domestic violence. A lot of times they stay because homelessness seems a lot more frightening than the violence that they know," she said. How to get help First Step: 734-722-6800; www.firststep-mi.org/ Turning Point: 586-463-6990; turningpointmacomb.org/ ACCESS: 833-782-6348; bit.ly/ACCESSprogram HAVEN: 248-334-1274 or 877-922-1274; www.haven-oakland.org/ For a full list of ways to get help by county, go to bit.ly/domesticviolenceprograms The U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233 Nushrat Rahman covers issues related to economic mobility for the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Detroit as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact Nushrat: nrahman@freepress.com; 313-348-7558. Follow her on Twitter: @NushratR. Sign up for Bridge Detroit's newsletter. Become a Free Press subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Domestic violence survivors struggle to find affordable housing IDB Invest PIC 1 To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest, CEO. To the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest, CEO. To the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO image2 To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest, CEO. To the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest, CEO. To the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO IDB Invest supports the expansion of infrastructure to close the digital divide in Colombia IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, participated in a guarantee line of up to COP625,000 million for the benefit of Tigo Colombia, a subsidiary of Millicom. To the left, James P. Scriven, IDB Invest CEO and to the right, Mauricio Ramos, Millicom CEO Through this operation, IDB Invest will issue one or more letters of standby credit (CCSB) to eligible local banks, such as Bancolombia, in order to cover Tigo's obligations to cover guarantees issued in favor of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTIC) and the Single Fund for Information and Communication Technologies (FonTIC). The guarantee line will have an availability of ten and a half years and a tenor of up to two years for each letter of credit issued. This project seeks to increase access and connectivity to mobile broadband, in addition to increasing opportunities for the most vulnerable sectors of Colombia, helping to close the digital gap. At Millicom | TIGO we are committed to continuing our investment to build digital highways throughout Latin America, which is essential in order to grow our economies and connect our communities to the digital world, said Mauricio Ramos, CEO of Millicom. We celebrate the fact that IDB Invest shares this vision with us. Quality broadband connectivity has a direct and indirect impact on activity and competitiveness, facilitates job creation, and improves productivity in urban and rural areas. This project demonstrates IDB Invest's determined commitment to reduce the digital divide in the region and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, said James P. Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest. This guarantee line will support the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure that TIGO will carry out in 177 localities that did not have access to mobile services with broadband connection. The operation also seeks to upgrade the mobile service from 2G or basic 3G to 4G broadband for 340 municipalities in Colombian territory. Story continues Compliance with the Environmental and Social Action Plan As a consequence of IDB Invest's participation in the project, Tigo agreed to comply with the Environmental and Social Action Plan (PAAS). The company is taking appropriate measures to advance its efforts to adopt best practices in its operations, including the development of an external complaints system and improvements in third-party contracting procedures to ensure that contractors appropriately manage environmental risks as well as occupational health and safety risks. IDB Invest, through its advisory services, is working with Tigo to maximize the impact of this transaction on rural populations. IDB Invest will help Tigo support the activation of digital agricultural productivity (such as climate monitoring and information services) for small rural businesses and the digital delivery of opportunities in basic services, such as telehealth or virtual education, for rural populations and those connected for the first time. The project will be implemented in phases, beginning with a pilot in strategic rural areas and in alliances with key actors in the area that have the capacity to connect on site and carry out the necessary activities. This operation is expected to contribute to four United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): End of poverty (SDG 1), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and Partnerships to achieve the goals (SDG 17). About BID Invest IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, is a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector. IDB Invest finances sustainable companies and projects to achieve financial results and maximize economic, social and environmental development in the region. With a portfolio of US$13.1 billion in assets under management and 385 clients in 25 countries, IDB Invest provides innovative financial solutions and advisory services that respond to the needs of its clients in a variety of sectors. About Tigo Tigo is a leading provider of Telecommunications services in Colombia with more than 10 million mobile subscribers, 1.7 million fixed residential customers, and more than 3,800 employees as of December 31 2020. Tigo is owned by subsidiaries of Millicom International Cellular, S.A. and Empresas Publicas de Medellin. IDB Invest PIC 1 image2 Attachments [January 05, 2022] Redbrick Acquires Delivra, Leader in Email and Marketing Automation Redbrick announces the acquisition of Delivra, a provider of advanced email marketing automation, helping businesses engage in meaningful conversations with customers through email and SMS marketing strategies. The announcement marks Redbrick's second major acquisition in the past two years, with Delivra becoming the fifth company within the Redbrick portfolio. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211220005125/en/ "Delivra offers in-depth knowledge in supporting digital entrepreneurs and SMBs with the delivery of marketing content through automated and personalized emails. Through the combination of Leadpages, a no-code website builder, and Delivra's late-stage funnel capabilities, Redbrick's portfolio is growing with the potential to support entrepreneurs through the digital space with a full suite of conversion tools," said Tobyn Sowden, CEO of Redbrick. Over the last 20 years, Delivra has helped businesses execute effective multi-channel marketing campaigns. Its expansive user base sends 200 million messages per month on average, reaching a global network of contacts. Delivra provides a platform for bsiness owners to increase real-time engagement with their customers through features like advanced segmentation and automated user funnels. "We are excited to join the Redbrick team and bring the strengths of their robust portfolio as a whole to our customers," said Barbara Berry, CEO of Delivra. "With our combined digital marketing expertise, we are well-positioned to provide entrepreneurs and small businesses with a full suite of tools they can use to cultivate meaningful relationships with new and existing customers." This acquisition will allow Redbrick to extend its reach and step toward the goal of growing its offerings that empower digital entrepreneurs. The current Redbrick portfolio includes Leadpages, the no-code website and landing-page builder, which supports entrepreneurs in building a digital presence for their brands. Delivra's customer retention and lead generation capacity complements the Leadpages service and will play a key role in expanding Redbrick's ability to offer a full range of digital products and services. Since being founded in 2011, Redbrick has built, acquired, and scaled its portfolio companies Leadpages, Shift, Rebase, and Assembly, expanding into a recognized innovator and multinational name. The Delivra acquisition represents a strategic addition to Redbrick's portfolio and a testament to the Canadian-grown company's accelerating rise in the North American tech sphere. For more information, visit delivra.com and rdbrck.com About Delivra Delivra, a CM Group brand, is an email marketing software provider helping businesses execute effective multi-channel marketing campaigns. For more than 15 years, Delivra has been known for its industry expertise and unrivaled customer success. By helping businesses engage in meaningful conversations with customers through email and SMS, the Delivra software empowers organizations with tangible results. Delivra has implemented dynamic marketing solutions for thousands of companies through its full suite of professional services including strategic campaign consulting, email design, content and more. About Redbrick Redbrick is the parent organization to a portfolio of disruptive digital companies that grow through innovative product development, results-driven marketing, and a model of shared services with strategic executive oversight. Redbrick and its operating companies-Assembly, Shift, Rebase, and Leadpages-excel at innovating their industries and getting in front of the very people who want their products. Founded in 2011, the Victoria, B.C. company was recently ranked 5th Fastest-Growing Company in Canada, and 2nd in Software by PROFIT 500. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211220005125/en/ [ Back To SIP Trunking Home's Homepage ] FORT WORTH, Texas, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jet Health Inc., a leading regional provider of home health and hospice services, announced today the acquisition of Blessings Hospice, an Arlington, Texas-based hospice company. Blessings Hospice has been serving patients throughout Arlington since its 2019 founding. The acquisition marks Jet Healths fifth hospice-related acquisition. It furthers the Companys strategy to add hospice services to its current home health offering in the various markets it serves. It is another example of the Companys expertise in identifying key, quality partners with which to align and completing complementary acquisitions to grow its business in strategic markets. "The acquisition of Blessings Hospice allows Jet Health to expand its services in a rapidly growing market where we currently serve patients. This acquisition will broaden our footprint throughout Texas, which is not only home to our headquarters but also five additional locations from which we currently operate, providing home health and hospice services. We will seamlessly incorporate Blessings Hospice into our thriving network as we strive to continually make a difference in more lives through our services offering," said Stacie Bratcher, Jet Healths chief executive officer. Blessings Founder and Owner James Santiago added: "Jet Health is the perfect partner for Blessings Hospice. Their mission, approach and focus on patient-centric care is directly in line with that of our organization. With Jet Healths resources and operational acumen, we can now touch many more patients throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Funding for the transaction was provided by SV Health Investors and Health Enterprise Partners. Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth acted as legal counsel to Jet Health. About Jet Health Fort Worth, Texas based Jet Health, Inc. is a home health and hospice provider offering skilled nursing care, physical, speech and occupational therapy, medical social services, hospice and personal care services. The Company operates from locations in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Idaho. Founded in 2016, Jet Health continues to build its business through organic growth, strategic acquisitions and de novo development in target markets. Jet Health leverages local brands and operating expertise while sharing best practices across its companies while centralizing back office functions. For more information, visit https://jethealthinc.com or connect with the Company on LinkedIn. Story continues View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005368/en/ Contacts For Further Information, Contact: At the Company: Jim Glynn, 949-525-5610, info@jethealthinc.com Media Contact: Susan Turkell, 303-766-4343, sturkell@pairelations.com Brent Sergot Headshot Brent Sergot has been named president of Southeast Toyota Distributors Brent Sergot has been named president of Southeast Toyota Distributors Deerfield Beach, Fla., Jan. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brent Sergot has been named president of Southeast Toyota Distributors, a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises. In addition to leading the companys daily operations, Sergot also now holds the title of executive vice president of JM Family and is a member of the parent companys Executive Management Team, which oversees the development and implementation of the companys long-range planning and strategies for future growth. A JM Family associate since 2001, Sergot has held various leadership positions within the organization and its subsidiaries, including director of National Remarketing for World Omni Financial Corp., president of DataScan and group vice president of Originations for Southeast Toyota Finance. He most recently served as senior vice president and assistant general manager of Southeast Toyota Distributors, where he worked closely with partners at Toyota Motor North America while being mentored by outgoing president, Ed Sheehy, in preparation for this new role. After years of learning our businesses and embracing our culture, Brent is prepared for this next step and will continue the innovative, dealer-driven work that has propelled Southeast Toyota Distributors for more than 50 years, said Brent Burns, president and CEO of JM Family. Prior to joining JM Family, Sergot was already an established automotive thought-leader, having made his mark at various industry organizations focusing on wholesale, remarketing, fleet and retail. He received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and currently resides in Delray Beach, Florida with his wife Joanna. Ed Sheehy, who joined Southeast Toyota Distributors in 1999 as vice president of Marketing and had been at the helm since 2008, retired following an impactful 22-year tenure with the company. Story continues Ed has been respected and admired for his unmatched understanding of the automotive industry, his dedication to our partners at Toyota and our dealer network, and to their success. His strong leadership and his steadfast commitment to our culture and to all of us have helped us grow and succeed, said Burns While few could fill the void left by Ed, we are confident in Brents ability to write our next chapter and lead us into the future of the automotive industry. About Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC Southeast Toyota Distributors is the worlds largest independent distributor of Toyotas. The company distributes vehicles, parts and accessories to 177 Toyota dealerships in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. Dealers in this region sell approximately 20% of all Toyotas sold in the country. Headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida, its vehicle processing facilities are located in Jacksonville, Florida and Commerce, Georgia. Southeast Toyota Distributors is a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises, Inc., a privately held company with $18 billion in revenue and more than 4,500 associates. JM Family has earned various awards for its culture, products and services, including 23 consecutive years on Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Interact with JM Family on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. About JM Family Enterprises, Inc. JM Family Enterprises, Inc. was founded by automotive legend, Jim Moran in 1968. It is a privately held company with $18 billion in revenue and more than 4,500 associates. Rooted in automotive and united in its strong culture and core values, JM Family is in the business of helping other businesses succeed. As a long-term partner, it is invested in its companies, associates and its communities. Driven by exceptional performance, current subsidiaries are in the automotive, financial services and franchising industries. Its family of companies includes: Southeast Toyota Distributors, JM&A Group, World Omni Financial Corp. (dba Southeast Toyota Finance), JM Lexus, DataScan and Home Franchise Concepts. JM Family has earned various awards for its culture, products and services, including 23 consecutive years on Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Interact with JM Family on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Attachment CONTACT: Lauren Fyke JM Family Enterprises 954-420-3279 lauren.fyke@jmfamily.com Protests across Kazakhstan have left at least eight dead and hundreds injured, officials claimed, after the presidential residence was engulfed in flames and armed protesters stormed another government building. Demonstrations in the central Asian country turned violent on Wednesday amid anger at a rise in fuel prices. Almaty airport was seized earlier in the day and a state of emergency declared following the worst unrest for more than a decade. The White House has said it is monitoring the unrest. The protests began on Sunday in Zhanaozen, a city in the west, spreading across the country and on Tuesday large demonstrations broke out in the capital, Nur-Sultan. Although they started over a near-doubling of prices for a type of liquefied gas that is widely used as vehicle fuel, the size and rapid spread of the unrest suggest they reflect wider discontent in the country that has been under the rule of the same party since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Key Points Presidential residence in Kazakhstans largest city engulfed in flames' State of emergency declared as president vows to act with maximum severity' Kazakh president seeks help from Russia-led security bloc 16:23 , Tom Batchelor Hello and welcome to The Independents rolling coverage of the continuing unrest in Kazakhstan triggered by anger at rising fuel prices and wider resentment at the countrys government. Presidential residence in Kazakhstans largest city engulfed in flames' 16:28 , Tom Batchelor Protests in Kazakhstan began on 2 January and have since boiled over into violence across the country. Here is the Associated Press report: The presidential residence in Kazakhstans largest city has been engulfed in flames and armed protesters have stormed another government building, according to news reports, as demonstrations sparked by a rise in fuel prices escalated sharply. In response to the protests, the government resigned and the president vowed to take harsh measures to quell the unrest. Late in the day on Wednesday, Kazakh news sites became inaccessible, and the global watchdog organisation NetBlocks said the country was experiencing a pervasive internet blackout. Story continues But Russias Tass news agency reported from Kazakhstan that the presidential residence in Almaty, where thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside, was on fire and that the citys main administration building, which includes the mayors office, was burning from top to bottom hours after demonstrators broke in. Many of the demonstrators who converged on the mayoral office carried clubs and shields, according to earlier reports in Kazakh media. State of emergency declared as president vows to act with maximum severity' 16:34 , Tom Batchelor Kazakhstan has declared states of emergency in the capital, the main city and provinces. In a televised statement to the nation on Wednesday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that we intend to act with maximum severity regarding law-breakers. Police have tried to turn back demonstrators with water cannon, tear gas and concussion grenades. Mr Tokayev said police had been killed in clashes with demonstrators, but there were no immediate casualty figures for police or civilians. In the statement, he also promised to make political reforms and announced that he was assuming the leadership of the national security council. Almaty airport seized and flights suspended 16:40 , Tom Batchelor Protesters seized control of the airport of Kazakhstans biggest city Almaty on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. All flights to and from Almaty are temporary cancelled, the source said. Reports said at least 45 people were at the airport and that staff had left as the site was taken over by protesters. Full story: Kazakhstan unrest over fuel price rise 16:46 , Tom Batchelor Here is my colleague Rory OSullivan with the full, developing story on Kazakhstans rapid descent towards unrest. Kazakhstan protesters seize Almaty airport amid unrest over fuel price rise Jazeera Airways becomes first to cancel flights to Almaty 16:52 , Tom Batchelor Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways on Wednesday suspended flights to Kazakhstans biggest city Almaty as violent protests against the government there continued across the country. We will provide an update on our operations when we have further information,aAA an airline spokesperson said by email. The Gulf carrier typically operates weekly flights to Almaty, its only destination in the Central Asian country. Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and flydubai, which operate regular flights to Kazakhstan, separately said they were monitoring events in the country. Tracking app FlightRadar24 showed there were no airborne aircraft en route to or from Almaty airport on Wednesday afternoon (close to midnight local time). Powerful ex-leader Nazarbayev is main target of Kazakhs' anger 17:15 , Tom Batchelor Nursultan Nazarbayev, stripped on Wednesday of his role as head of Kazakhstans powerful Security Council amid violent street protests, has dominated his vast oil-producing Central Asian nation since before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Reuters reports. Some protesters have chanted slogans against the 81-year-old former president during days of unrest triggered by a fuel price rise that on Wednesday brought the Cabinets resignation. Despite quitting the presidency in 2019 and bequeathing power to a hand-picked successor, Mr Nazarbayev remained the real power in the land. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced in a televised address on Wednesday that he would now head the State Security Committee but made no mention of Mr Nazarbayev, who has not been seen or heard from for days. Mr Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan with an iron hand for nearly three decades, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in the energy and metal sectors and skilfully balancing ties with powerful neighbours Russia and China. But the former steelworker brooked no dissent and drew criticism from Western countries and human rights groups who accused him of rolling back post-Soviet democratic freedoms. His family is believed to control much of the Kazakh economy. Kazakhstan unrest in photos 17:23 , Tom Batchelor Smoke rises from the city hall building during a protest in Almaty (AP) Protesters took to the street during a rally over a hike in energy prices in Almaty (EPA) Riot police officers prepare for violent skirmishes (EPA) This image grab shows protesters near an administrative building in Almaty (AFP via Getty Images) Riot police block a street after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in the capital until 19 January (EPA) Putin discusses unrest with Kazakh and Belarusian presidents 17:42 , Tom Batchelor Vladimir Putin has discussed the unrest in Kazakhstan with the countrys president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The Russian president has also spoken with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko about the situation the Belarusian news agency Belta said. Belarus is separated from Kazakhstan by more than 1,00km of Russian territory. White House monitoring unrest as US urges calm 17:52 , Tom Batchelor The White House has urged calm and restraint in reaction to protests in Kazakhstan, which it said officials were monitoring. White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said Russian accusations that the United States had instigated the unrest was absolutely false. Why are violent protests rocking Kazakhstan? 18:08 , Tom Batchelor When and where did the violence start, what are the protesters demands and how have the authorities responded? For answers to these questions and more, here is our explainer on the fast-moving situation in Kazakhstan. Why are violent protests rocking Kazakhstan? Kazakh president fires powerful security chief 18:30 , Tom Batchelor Kazakhstans president has fired the powerful head of the countrys security council in an attempt to calm the worst unrest to rock the Central Asian nation for more than a decade. Protesters, initially angered by a New Years Day fuel price rise, have stormed and torched public buildings and chanted slogans against security chief Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has retained wide authority despite stepping down as president in 2019 after nearly three decades at the helm. Mr Nazarbayevs hand-chosen successor as president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said in a national televised address that he had taken over as head of the State Security Committee, a post that had been retained by Mr Nazarbayev. Eight killed and 317 injured - report 19:12 , Tom Batchelor Eight security personnel have been killed and a further 317 injured, reports suggest, while no figures have been given for deaths and injuries of those protesting. Russias state-owned Sputnik news agency quoted the Kazakh interior ministry as saying the police and national guard troops were killed and injured in several regions on Tuesday and Wednesday. The unrest is the worst in Kazakhstan since 2011, when at least 14 protesters were killed by police during a strike by oil workers in the western city of Zhanaozen. Security forces use stun grenades in Kazakhstan protest crackdown 19:20 , Tom Batchelor Kazakh president seeks help from Russia-led security bloc 19:47 , Tom Batchelor Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appealed to a Russia-led security bloc to assist Kazakhstan in overcoming what he called a terrorist threat. The comments came as Mr Tokayev made a second televised speech in the space of a few hours. He said what he described as foreign-trained terrorist gangs were seizing buildings, infrastructure and weapons. They had taken control of the airport in the biggest city, Almaty, and five aircraft there, including foreign planes, he said. It is actually no longer a threat, it is an undermining of the integrity of the state and most importantly it is an attack on our citizens who are asking me... to help them urgently, Tokayev said. Almaty was attacked, destroyed, vandalized, the residents of Almaty became victims of attacks by terrorists, bandits, therefore it is our duty... to take all possible actions to protect our state. Mr Tokayev said he had appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military alliance of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Protests extend into evening in Almaty 20:32 , Tom Batchelor Protesters take part in a rally over a hike in energy prices in Almaty (AFP via Getty Images) Riot police officers are seen in a street in Nur-Sultan (Turar Kazangapov/TASS) The protests were sparked by rising fuel prices on January 2 in the towns of Zhanaozen and Aktau in western Kazakhstan (Turar Kazangapov/TASS) People take part in a rally in Almaty (Yerlan Dzhumayev/TASS) Key facts about Kazakhstan 21:03 , Tom Batchelor Here are some basic facts about the country. DUBLIN, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Mexico Life Insurance - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into Mexican life insurance segment. It provides values for key performance indicators such as gross written premium, penetration, and premium accepted and cession rates during the review period (2016-2020) and forecast period (2020-2025). The report also analyzes distribution channels operating in the segment, gives a comprehensive overview of Mexican economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country. The report brings together The publisher's research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations, and recent changes in the regulatory structure. Key Highlights Key insights and dynamics of Mexican life insurance segment. A comprehensive overview of Mexican economy, government initiatives and investment opportunities. Mexican insurance regulatory framework's evolution, key facts, taxation regime, licensing and capital requirements. Mexican life insurance industry's market structure giving details of lines of business. Mexico's life insurance reinsurance business's market structure giving details of premium accepted along with cession rates. Distribution channels deployed by Mexican life insurers. Details of the competitive landscape and competitors' profiles. Scope It provides historical values for Mexican life insurance segment for the report's 2016-2020 review period, and projected figures for the 2020-2025 forecast period. It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in Mexican life insurance segment, and market forecasts to 2025. It profiles the top life insurance companies in Mexico and outlines the key regulations affecting them. Story continues Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary Economy Overview Regulatory and Compliance Key Market Trends Summary Trends and KPIs Key Trends by Line of Business Life Insurance Pension Insurance Distribution Channels Competitive Landscape Competitor Profiles Reinsurance Regulatory and Compliance Competitor Profiles Insurtech Appendix Companies Mentioned MetLife Seguros BBVA Bancomer Grupo Nacional Provincial Citibanamex Seguros Seguros Monterrey New York Life Seguros Banorte Pensiones Banorte Allianz Mexico Profuturo GNP Pensiones Zurich Santander Seguros For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/49m77v View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005513/en/ Contacts ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Braun Intertec, a Minneapolis-based engineering, consulting and testing firm with offices throughout the United States, is pleased to announce the appointment of Braun Intertec Vice President Nathan McKinney, PE, and a Fortune 500 company growth and business strategist Julie L. Moore to the company's board of directors. "I am pleased to welcome Nate and Julie to our board of directors," says Braun Intertec CEO, Jon Carlson. "They are both accomplished business leaders who will provide strategic guidance to our company and team of senior leaders as we pursue our vision of becoming the consultant and employer of choice." McKinney joins as an internal director who also serves as a vice president at Braun Intertec. He is the technical practice leader for the firm's engineering division and works to continuously strengthen the technical excellence of the firm's engineering and testing practices. As an engineer, McKinney has been directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the engineering and testing division at Braun Intertec for more than 18 years and has held various leadership positions across the Upper Midwest region. Moore joins the Braun Intertec board of directors as an external director who has served as a business strategist and general manager in four Fortune 500 companies and the largest direct marketing agency in the world. She brings 15 years of board service along with broad general management, deep marketing expertise, long-range planning, acquisition and integration strategies and experience in global brand development. Most recently, she served as senior vice president of global marketing and strategy for Ecolab Inc. About Braun Intertec Based in Minneapolis, employee-owned Braun Intertec is a premier engineering, environmental consulting and testing firm with more than 1,000 employees located in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. Story continues Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nathan-mckinney-pe-and-julie-l-moore-appointed-to-braun-intertec-board-of-directors-301455014.html SOURCE Braun Intertec Utility crews continued working Tuesday to restore electricity to thousands of homes in the Fredericksburg area while thousands of motorists became trapped on a frozen stretch of Interstate 95 during a winter storm that encased the region in ice and snow. Lanes in both directions of Interstate 95 became blocked across a 40-mile stretch through the Fredericksburg area after a truck jackknifed Monday morning. That set off a chain-reaction series of crashes, stranding motorists on the highway. There have been no reports of serious injuries or deaths, but the interstate was eventually closed as crews worked to remove many vehicles and to clear away ice and snow Tuesday afternoon. Traffic spilled over onto U.S. 1 and State Route 3, causing backups there. Area hotels filled up as many motorists exited the backup. VDOT Fredericksburg District Engineer Marcie Parker wrote in a press release that the situation on I-95 was unprecedented. We continue to steadily move stopped trucks to make progress toward restoring lanes, Parker said. In addition to clearing the trucks, we are treating for snow and several inches of ice that has accumulated around them to ensure that when the lanes reopen, motorists can safely proceed to their destination. Gov. Ralph Northam said in a 4 p.m. press conference with VDOT, Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management that state agencies were prepared for the storm that was predicted, but instead Mother Nature sent a foot of snow to the Fredericksburg area. VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich said that crews could not adequately pre-treat I-95 prior to the storm because of the rain that fell Sunday night. Rain would have washed all of the chemicals and salt off the road and provided no additional protection, he said. Brich said traffic continued to flow on the interstate until around midnight Monday, when it came to a standstill. A decision was made to close the interstate to all traffic Tuesday morning. Brich said 52 snow plows, nine motor graders and 16 wreckers have been targeting the I-95 corridor in both directions between mile markers 110 and 143 for snow removal, while 30 Virginia State Police troopers have been assigned to the corridor to redirect traffic and distribute food, water, blankets and medicine to stranded motorists as needed. Officials at the afternoon news conference said about 50-60 vehicles were still on the interstate after being abandoned. A VDOT spokeswoman later said about 20 vehicles remained. Meanwhile, thousands of households in the area were still without power the day after a winter storm buried the Fredericksburg region under heavy, wet snow. National Weather Service estimates ranged from 7 to 11 inches, with an unofficial report of up to 14 inches in Spotsylvania County. Almost 90,000 households in the area were still without power Tuesday afternoon, according to outage maps reported by Dominion, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative and Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative. Utility companies are estimating that it may be several days until all power is fully restored. Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said the company had restored power to 281,000 customers across the state as of Tuesday afternoon. He said about 400,000 customers statewide experienced power outages beginning early Monday morning, making this one of the top 5 winter storms in Dominion Energy Virginias history. Dominion reported progress in the Fredericksburg region: Stafford outages were down to about 28,000 around 7 p.m. Tuesday afternoon from about 44,000 Monday evening. It reported just under 7,500 outages in Spotsylvania, just under 3,000 in Fredericksburg and just under 2,700 in King George as of 7 p.m. Tuesday. Slayton said the majority of customers will have power restored by late Wednesday eveningwith some outage restoration extending into Thursday. He said crews must work slowly and cautiously because the heavy snow burdens tree limbs and causes them to fall, creating hazardous working conditions. The Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, which reported about 2,500 outages in Stafford, King George and Westmoreland counties, cited similar difficulties, saying it had to bring in contractors to help clear trees that were blocking restoration efforts. The damage has been incredible, the release said. In a short stretch of power line, there were more than five different large trees on the lines. Some roads also remain impassable by bucket trucks and larger equipment that is needed to complete restorations. The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative reported 16,425 outages in Spotsylvania as of 7 p.m., just under 8,500 in Caroline County and about 7,800 in Orange County. While temperatures Tuesday warmed up into the 40s, they were expected to drop into the 20s Tuesday night, creating threatening conditions for those without power. Spotsylvania and King George counties opened warming shelters for residents Monday and Stafford, Caroline and Fredericksburg opened shelters on Tuesday. Spotsylvanias shelter is located at 8720 Courthouse Road and will remain open until a decision is made that it is no longer needed, county spokeswoman Michelle McGinnis said. McGinnis said there have been about 20 residents using the countys warming shelter for most of the day. King Georges warming shelter is at the Citizens Center, 8076 Kings Highway. County residents without running water can refill containers at the shelter or at any county fire station. Carolines warming center opened at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the School Annex building, located at 16221 Richmond Turnpike in Bowling Green. It will stay open until 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a county alert. Stafford County opened a warming center at Stafford High School from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., but stranded individuals could stay overnight. Fredericksburgs warming center at James Monroe High School opened at 4 p.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 8 p.m. Wednesday. Matt Addis, general manager of the Hampton Inn and Suites Fredericksburg at Celebrate Virginia, located at 1080 Hospitality Lane in Stafford, said the calls seeking a vacant room have been basically non-stop since the snow began to fall. All of the hotels around here are sold out at this point due to the storm, said Addis. We have people cancelling, but a lot of locals are trying to find a place to stay and keep warm. Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia State Police advised motorists to stay off I-95, which closed in both directions through the Fredericksburg region on Tuesday. Stafford County Fire Chief Joseph Cardello said from midnight Monday through Tuesday afternoon, his crews had answered 267 service calls, about five times their typical amount. Stafford County Sheriffs Maj. Shawn Kimmitz said county deputies had already logged 1,183 emergency calls as a result of the blizzard through Tuesday afternoon, compared with a typical day of about 150. McGinnis said the Spotsylvania Sheriffs Office received 1,011 storm-related calls for assistance between midnight on Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Spotsylvania Fire and Rescue received 628 calls in that time frame. Cardello said motorists are still taking to the regions roadways, failing to heed warnings from state and local officials to stay off the roads. He said as a result of the storm, many roads have been reduced to one lane and when a vehicle stalls at the head of that queue, it can back up traffic or make it impossible for emergency crews to get through. People just need to stay home until this event is over with, said Cardello. Thatll give VDOT a chance to get the roads straight, Dominion [Power] time to get the power back on. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. AdeleUphaus I have covered education, local government and social services for the Free Lance-Star since 2016. Follow AdeleUphaus Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today CCTV: Japan has seen another spike in COVID-19 cases recently. Denny Tamaki, Governor of Japans Okinawa prefecture, said the US military has spread the Omicron variant to the prefecture, and that he was outraged because the infections among the personnel in the US military camp have spilled over to the local civilian population. He also renewed the call that US military personnel should no longer be exempted from Japans quarantine rules. Do you have any comment? Wang Wenbin: I noted relevant reports. This is not an isolated incident as clusters of cases in US military bases overseas have posed severe threats to local peoples life and health. Spread of infections has also been caused by US military personnel in the ROK and Germany. US soldiers stationed overseas have overridden laws of host countries, defied and disobeyed local anti-pandemic protocols in disregard of local peoples life, health and right to public health. Time and again they have become COVID-19 superspreaders across the world. How ironic it is when the US claims to be leading global COVID-19 response. COVID-19 protocols should be applied without exception, be it a place or a person. The US should deeply reflect on the negative impact of its acts on global anti-pandemic cooperation. It should enforce strict restraint on US military overseas, show respect and a sense of responsibility toward the health of people around the world, instead of setting a bad example in the global fight against COVID-19. Yonhap News Agency: According to reports, the DPRK fired an unidentified projectile into the sea east of the Korean Peninsula this morning. This second launch came 78 days after it test-fired a ballistic projectile. Do you have any comment? Wang Wenbin: We noted relevant reports. The peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula doesnt come easily and should be all the more cherished. Under the current circumstances, all relevant parties shall bear in mind the overall interests, speak and act prudently, adhere to the right direction of dialogue and consultation, and work together to promote the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue. Kyodo News: Lithuanian President said on January 4 that the governments decision to allow Taiwan to open a representative office under the name of Taiwan was a mistake. The Taiwan authorities said Lithuania is facing comprehensive pressure from China and Taiwan strongly condemns that and firmly supports Lithuania. Do you have any comment? Wang Wenbin: Recognizing ones mistake is a step in the right direction, but it is more important to take actions to redress the erroneous act of creating the false impression of one China, one Taiwan and come back onto the track of upholding the one-China principle. I also want to point out that the ins and outs of how China-Lithuania relations encountered setbacks are very clear. Looking for excuses for ones erroneous act does not help to solve the problem or improve China-Lithuania relations. We also have this stern warning for the Taiwan authorities that seeking Taiwan independence and secession is doomed to fail. South China Morning Post: According to recent reports, Ambassador Zhang Ming, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, will be the next Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Can you confirm this? Wang Wenbin: In accordance with relevant SCO rules and as approved by the SCO Heads of State Council, Mr. Zhang Ming assumed the post of SCO Secretary-General on January 1 in 2022 for a term of three years. Secretary-General Zhang Ming is a veteran diplomat with rich experience in multilateral diplomacy. It is believed that Secretary-General Zhang Ming, like his predecessors, will work to bring the SCO to new heights. As the host country of the SCO Secretariat, China will stay committed to supporting the work of the Secretariat and the Secretary-General. We are ready to work with all parties to carry forward the Shanghai spirit, deepen cooperation in political, security, economy and trade, connectivity, cultural, people-to-people and other fields, to build a closer SCO community with a shared future and contribute the SCO strength to promoting peace and development in the region and beyond. Bloomberg: Australia and Japan are going to sign a treaty that will further strengthen their defense and security cooperation during a leaders summit on Thursday. The agreement is the first of its type for Japan, other than a similar deal with the US, and marks a step closer in a relationship that is already referred to as a quasi alliance. Does the ministry have a comment? Wang Wenbin: We always believe that state-to-state exchanges and cooperation should be conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and trust among countries in the region and safeguarding regional peace and stability, rather than targeting or undermining the interests of any third party. The Pacific Ocean is vast enough for the common development of countries in the region. Along the same line, peace and stability in the Pacific depends on the joint efforts of countries in the region. We hope that the Pacific will be an ocean of peace, not a place to make waves. Nebraska lawmakers are expected to spend much of the 60-day session deliberating how to spend more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money. On the first day of the 2022 lawmaking session, senators began crowding around the funding spigot with their ideas of how to spend what some have called "once-in-a-lifetime" money. The projects ranged from helping pay for new University of Nebraska facilities, providing grants to farmers and ranchers, retaining teachers and furthering cancer research. Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, who is running for the NU Board of Regents to represent western Nebraska, introduced a bill (LB703) appropriating $25 million in federal funds for an "agricultural innovation facility" to be built at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. That facility, which NU President Ted Carter said could become home to the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Agriculture if approved, would serve as a companion to a 100,000-square-foot U.S. Department of Agricultural Research Center approved by Congress. Williams' bill stipulates the funds would not be appropriated unless NU provided a match, either from private donations or other sources. Omaha Sen. Robert Hilkemann also sponsored legislation (LB721) requesting $60 million in federal stimulus funds to help establish a University of Nebraska Medical Center Rural Health Complex in Kearney. NU has pledged to raise $25 million in private funds to support what Carter has called "UNMC West," which would be located at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward introduced a bill (LB766) with 20 co-sponsors requesting $15 million for pancreatic cancer research at UNMC. Kolterman's wife, Suzanne, died of pancreatic cancer in 2017. Several senators sponsored bills designating money for agriculture. Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams wants to appropriate $10 million to expand precision agriculture in Nebraska (LB761) by creating a grant program for farmers wishing to expand the use of wireless equipment, or deploy smarter irrigation and livestock systems, or use drones. Dorn also requested a $5 million appropriation of federal funds to the Department of Health and Human Services (LB760) for the purchase of one-time equipment like ambulances, defibrillators and other lifesaving-equipment for rural rescue squads. Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth introduced a bill (LB755) that would direct $10 million to the Department of Agriculture to help small and midsize meat processors expand their operations. A $75 million grant program (LB783) proposed by Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte would help pay for construction of new beef slaughter and packing plants. Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue sponsored a bill (LB696) to appropriate an unspecified amount of stimulus money to the Nebraska Department of Education to help retain educators across the state. Kolterman entered a bill (LB699) to direct $100 million to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development "for enhancing innovation and technology infrastructure." Other legislation introduced on Wednesday: CONSENT: Blood sponsored a bill (LB692) creating a civil penalty for individuals who did not receive verbal consent to remove a condom during sexual intercourse. ALTEN: The Bellevue senator also sponsored two bills in response to the environmental crisis at AltEn, the ethanol plant near Mead that used pesticide treated seed as a biofuel source. The first (LB694) extends the statute of limitations for action to be brought following injuries or deaths caused by toxic chemicals, while the second (LB695) would prohibit cities and counties from granting conditional use permits to property owners who are delinquent on their property taxes. GLUCOSE MONITORING: Kolterman sponsored a bill (LB698) adding glucose monitoring devices to the list of devices covered by Medicaid. TAX INCREMENT FINANCING: Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk introduced a bill (LB713) prohibiting TIF from being used in redevelopment projects where a casino or licensed horse racing track is going to be built. ABORTION ACCESS: Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt sponsored a bill (LB715) ending the prohibition of insurance coverage for abortion care, as well as legislation (LB716) allowing qualified medical practitioners to perform abortions. ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling brought a bill (LB781) banning abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected during an ultrasound. LINE OF DUTY: The compensation for public safety officers killed in the line of duty in 2022 would be raised from $50,000 to $250,000, under a bill (LB717) from Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld. TAX DEDUCTION FOR RENTERS: Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington entered a bill (LB740) giving renters an income tax deduction equal to rent paid on their primary residence up to $3,000. MARRIAGE LICENSES: Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill (LB745) removing reference to "husband" and "wife" on marriage licenses and certificates issued by Nebraska and replacing them with "Spouse 1" and "Spouse 2." STEM CELLS: Health care workers would be required to tell patients receiving stem cell treatments that those treatments are "not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," under a bill (LB753) introduced by Sen. John Arch of La Vista. COLLECTIONS REFERRAL: Sen. Jen Day of Gretna brought a bill (LB772) prohibiting health care providers from referring a bill stemming from a sexual assault-related examination or treatment to a collection agency. CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon introduced a bill (LB773) that would allow Nebraskans to carry a concealed handgun without requiring them to complete a background check, pay a fee, or take a class. WIND TURBINE DISPOSAL: Brewer also sponsored a bill (LB774) making it illegal to dispose of wind turbine blades and their components in a landfill. DIGITAL ARCHIVE: Brewer also introduced a bill (LB777) requiring the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission to create and maintain a digital archive of legislative coverage. EARLY VOTING: The period for early voting or requesting an absentee ballot would be reduced from 35 days to 22 days before a statewide primary or general election, under a bill (LB785) from Groene. Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Afghanistans embassy in Rome says it was forced to call Italian police for help after a sacked Afghan diplomat attacked the ambassador. The embassy said in a statement on January 5 that the former diplomat -- identified as Mohammad Fahim Kashaf -- entered the embassy building a day earlier claiming he had been named ambassador by Taliban militants, who seized power from the government in August. The statement said Kashaf attacked the ambassador in the presence of an embassy employee but the ambassador defended himself and called the Italian police." Kashaf was escorted by police out of the embassy, it added. The embassy in Italy, like many of Afghanistans other diplomatic missions, remains in limbo with most staff still loyal to the Western-backed government toppled by the Taliban. According to the statement, Kashaf had lost his job recently due to a "lack of commitment to national values and the values of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the internationally recognized name of the country. The Taliban calls the country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In Kabul, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Taliban-led government denied Kashaf's appointment as ambassador but also said he had not been dismissed. Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the ministrys records showed Kashaf was appointed first secretary at the embassy in Rome in December 2020, with a contract valid until December next year. "But the ministry has also not appointed him as ambassador of the Afghan Embassy in Rome. Kashaf's contract is valid, and his termination is illegal, Balkhi said in a statement. The Taliban-led government, which is not recognized by any country, hasnt appointed new diplomatic representatives to most Afghan diplomatic missions abroad. With reporting by AFP and BBC Pashto Nearly all King Soopers employees in the Colorado Springs area joined their counterparts from metro Denver in approving a strike against the Denver-based grocery chain after their contracts expire Saturday. The vote came as negotiations continue between King Soopers and the United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7 with talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. In three voting sessions Monday, Local 7 said 95% of retail employees and 97% of meat department employees in the Springs supported a possible strike over alleged unfair labor practices. Denver area members approved a strike nearly unanimously in voting Sunday. Approval for a strike doesn't mean a walkout will happen as soon as the contract expires at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, but union leaders now have the authority to launch a strike if no agreement is reached. Some Local 7 contracts, including one covering meat department workers in Colorado Springs, don't expire until Feb. 19. Talks continued for more than two months after a previous agreement expired in 2019 and Local 7 hasn't conducted a strike since members walked off the job at Safeway for 1 months in 1996. Both sides appear to be preparing for a strike. King Soopers is advertising for "temporary workers as a precautionary measure due to a potential labor dispute with UFCW Local 7," offering $18 an hour in pay. Local 7 posted a flyer on its website telling members it will pay them $160 a day if they picket full time and $80 for part-time picketing with an $800 weekly maximum and $100 a week for those who refuse to cross a picket line. If there is a strike, it won't cover all King Soopers stores the company's store in Monument and a City Market in Woodland Park are not represented by Local 7. The union also is still negotiating with Safeway, with talks scheduled through Saturday, and hasn't yet scheduled a strike vote for members who work for that chain. Local 7 and King Soopers began negotiating in October, but the talks became contentious last week when the union filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that King Soopers violated its contract by paying third-party contractors higher rates to stock shelves. King Soopers denied the allegations and said it was "disappointed" Local 7 went to court. The day after the lawsuit was filed, King Soopers proposed to increase union member wages $145 million during the next four years, saying the offer would increase hourly wages for 75% of employees to more than $18 and more than half would earn more than $20 an hour. The union rejected the offer, alleging members would pay higher health care premiums and face reduced benefits if they accepted the offer. "King Soopers and its leadership continue to neglect and ignore the voices of the union and its employees," Local 7 President Kim Cordova said Monday in a news release announcing the Denver area strike votes. "King Soopers and City Market have missed a golden opportunity to show workers and customers that as the industry leader, they want to make their stores the best places to work in Colorado." Local 7 is seeking a $6 an hour pay increase for King Soopers and City Market employees. The union said in an Oct. 21 letter to members that it has demanded the two chains, both owned by Cincinnati-based grocery giant Kroger, "significantly increase the bottom and top (pay) rates to keep up with Denvers new minimum wage ($15.87 an hour) and to keep up with the high cost of living in Colorado." Besides its 17,000 members at King Soopers and City Market and workers at Safeway and Albertsons, Local 7 also represents employees at health care provider Kaiser Permanente, the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, three marijuana operations, and barbers at the Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and Peterson and Buckley Space Force bases in Colorado Springs and Denver. Colorado is on track to receive roughly $385 million as part of legal settlements reached with Johnson & Johnson and three of the country's largest drug distribution companies over their role fueling the opioid epidemic, the Colorado Attorney General's Office said Tuesday. The sum represents Colorado's share of the payout in a $26 billion class action lawsuit expected to be finalized later this year. Every county in Colorado and nearly every municipality have agreed to the settlements and a plan to distribute the funds, Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a release. By bringing together this amazing level of local government support well in advance of the Jan. 26 sign-on deadline, Colorado is demonstrating its collaborative solving problem culture and commitment to combating the opioid epidemic," Weiser said in a statement. "As a result, we as a state will be poised to act on our opioid response plan as soon as settlement dollars come to our state." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 7,600 Coloradans died from opioid overdoses from 2000 to 2020, with untold thousands more suffering from addiction. Preliminary data released last month showed the state's death toll from overdoses in 2021 is on track to eclipse the previous year's total. According to the distribution agreement, most of the funds from the settlements are destined to be used for drug treatment, recovery, prevention, education and harm reduction programs. Money should start arriving later this year, with the majority of dollars from Johnson & Johnson paid out during the first three years of a nine-year schedule. Funds from the drug distributors will be paid over 18 years, Weiser's office said. The state has already received roughly $8.2 million from a nearly $10 million settlement reached with consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for its role "turbocharging" the opioid epidemic by helping drug manufacturers market the drugs and profit from the epidemic, Weiser's office told Colorado Politics. Weiser led a multi-state lawsuit that resulted a year ago in a $573 million settlement with McKinsey. In a statement in July last year announcing the finalization of a nationwide settlement agreement to resolve opioid-related claims, Johnson & Johnson said it is "not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing and the company will continue to defend against any litigation that the final agreement does not resolve." Johnson & Johnson said it no longer sells prescription opioid medications in the U.S. as part of its "ongoing efforts to focus on transformational innovation and serving unmet patient needs." The company added that its drugs accounted for less than 1% of total opioid prescriptions in the U.S. Weiser on Monday praised representatives from local governments, including Colorado Counties Inc. and the Colorado Municipal League, for their work developing the joint framework, which required "significant participation" by local entities in order for all involved to receive maximum payments. The framework, released by the Attorney General's Office last summer, will also govern distribution of any money resulting from future settlements involving the opioid crisis. "This kind of collaboration and partnership is how government should work and is something the attorney general modeled well," said John Swartout, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc., in a statement. Colorado Municipal League executive director Kevin Bommer thanked Weiser for brokering the agreement and called its execution "state-local partnership at its best." People incarcerated in a state correctional facility wont be able to visit their families or friends in person for at least the next two weeks effective Tuesday, according to a announcement from the Colorado Department of Corrections. Due to the highly contagious nature of the omicron variant, along with staff shortages arising from COVID-19 and virus positivity in facilities, the state corrections department announced in an update posted to their website that all in-person visitation had been canceled effective Jan. 4. That decision, which department spokeswoman Annie Skinner said was made by department officials with input from local public health agencies, would be reevaluated in two weeks. All of our decisions are being based on science right now, and what the science is showing is that omicron spreads very quickly, she said. Unfortunately, the best science is showing us we need to try to eliminate people that don't need to be in the prison from coming in the prison right now. The departments update also said that some operations would be modified or halted, and Skinner added that while those operations wouldnt include essential services, they may include classes or other types of programming incarcerated residents might normally engage in. Those modified or halted operations, she said, would be implemented based on the needs of each facility, but generally would be implemented due to staff shortages stemming from positive cases of or exposure to COVID-19. According to data as of Tuesday afternoon from Skinner, 374 staff members were out due to positive tests, symptoms, and quarantines. That number, she said, has risen every day. Across all state correctional facilities, Skinner said there were 248 active cases in residents as of Tuesday. Among the facilities which have seen recent outbreaks, according to department data, were the Sterling Correctional Facility, the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, and the Buena Vista Correctional Complex. Those facilities had seen 26, 14, and five active cases as of Dec. 29, respectively. Statewide, Coloradans have seen the omicron variant skyrocket to become the most dominant variant of COVID-19. For the week of Dec. 19, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data, the omicron variant accounted for more than 91% of the states cases. Colorado's also recently seen some of the highest numbers in the pandemic. Between Dec. 29 and Dec. 31, Colorado saw its record for the most cases of the virus reported in one day set and broken three times, eventually landing on a total number of daily cases over 11,000, The Gazette reported. Skinner said the state corrections department has taken several steps to curb the pandemic in their facilities, including requiring staff to wear masks inside facilities and offices, be tested daily with Binax tests and weekly with polymerase chain reaction tests, and giving masks and offering vaccines to residents. Skinner said the department also moved its intake facility to a layout more conducive to quarantining in Canon City, and requires residents to test and quarantine for two weeks before moving into a facility. Over the next two weeks, the department said, video visitation, phone calls, and normal mail will still be available for residents still hoping to connect with people outside their facility. Our goal is always to try to allow for inmates to maintain connection with their family, Skinner said. We obviously want to be able to get that up and running as soon as we can, but we also really want to make sure that we're keeping our staff safe and our incarcerated population safe, and also the friends and family that come to visit. Most Colorado school districts are bringing students back to the classroom this week as scheduled, even as the state reports a record number of COVID cases. Theyre also bracing for staffing shortages and asking families to be flexible, patient, and prepared. On Monday, at least three Denver schools Northfield High School, Lake Middle School and Denver Montessori Junior/Senior High School had announced temporary shifts to remote learning this week as staff members called in sick, and district officials said some classes and grades will also be remote this week. But those will be the exception, not the norm, said Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero. What we do in person cannot be replaced, and we have worked incredibly hard to remain in person, and we have been successful, he said. The omicron variant presents new challenges. We do know that sporadic shifts to remote learning will happen, but it will not be a systemwide closure. This is not March 2020. School leaders around the state said they now have nearly two years of experience operating schools amid a pandemic that they can apply to the current surge, which is breaking all previous records in terms of cases and test positivity, an indication of how widely the virus is circulating. The spike in cases Colorado averaged more than 7,200 cases a day over the last week has not led school districts to delay the start of the spring semester, which begins Tuesday for many districts. Were going to stay the course and continue to take the virus seriously, said Matt Jenkins, a spokesman for the Montrose School District in western Colorado, which doesnt currently have any unexpected staff absences. But reflecting Colorados system of local control, in which the state provides guidance but school districts largely chart their own course, different communities are taking different approaches, with some encouraging better-quality masks and tightening quarantine rules and others dispensing with quarantine in hopes of keeping more people in the classroom. In more conservative El Paso County, the local public health department no longer requires close contacts in school settings to quarantine, unless they live in the same household as someone who tests positive. While health officials there continue to encourage quarantine, some districts, such as the 9,600-student Widefield district, dont plan to ask students to quarantine anymore, whether they are or arent wearing a mask. Colorado Springs 11 District spokeswoman Devra Ashby said the district will reopen schools with masks optional for students and staff, but said the school board may discuss the issue during its Wednesday afternoon work session. The 24,000-student district began the year without a mask mandate, instituted one in September, and lifted it Dec. 13. Ashby said some parents have called asking to switch their children to remote learning because theyre fearful about COVID infections. While the district does have two online schools, one for K-8 and one for grades 6-12, she said district officials cant accommodate flipping back and forth. To help with in-person staff shortages, Ashby said central office staff are prepared to cover classrooms in the event of teacher absences. She said those ready to be deployed as emergency subs include everyone from facilities workers to video production staff. Its not optimal obviously, she said. Were doing everything possible to keep our kids in schools. The 6,200-student Montrose district signed up in December for the states school-based rapid testing program and continues to encourage masks and vaccination, but doesnt require them. Denver, in contrast, doesnt participate in the state testing program but does require masks for everyone and vaccines for staff. Aurora, Westminster, and Sheridan, all districts that serve diverse working-class communities, also require staff to be vaccinated. Many Colorado school districts including Douglas County, Cherry Creek, and Westminster in the metro area, Mesa County on the Western Slope, and Eagle County Schools in Colorados ski country are taking advantage of new federal guidance that allows people who are vaccinated to return to work after five days if theyre asymptomatic, as well as shortening quarantine for exposed people. Marrero said Denver also plans to adopt shorter quarantines, though as of Monday night, the district had yet to publicly release its new rules. Rob Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, the teachers union, said shorter quarantines are acceptable, as long as nobody feels pressured to return to work when theyre still sick. Hed feel more comfortable, though, if the district also asked for a negative test before asking teachers to return to work early. What we dont want is someone to come back too early and infect others and cause more cases and more closures, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, last updated Dec. 29, still calls for people in school settings to isolate for 10 days after the onset of symptoms or a positive test. However, Colorados state health department quickly adopted the five-day guidance, and many school districts have followed suit. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment did not respond Monday to questions seeking clarification on school quarantines. Mesa County District 51 Assistant Superintendent Brian Hill said that as in the fall, he expects continued staffing shortages this winter, but he hopes a switch to five-day quarantines for exposed staff and students will ease the impact. Weve actually adjusted our protocols to match what (the CDC) has, he said. Whether or not that helps the staff and students return earlier , well see. The 21,000-student Mesa County Valley School District 51, based in Grand Junction, has kept school buildings open since the fall of 2020 and plans to continue that effort amid the omicron wave, Hill said. Its always a concern when theres a new variant, he said. We were the first to have the delta variant in the state last spring We had to make some adjustments there, but were hoping omicron wont (have) as big of an impact as delta. As before winter break, masks for students and staff are highly encouraged but optional, Hill said. Exceptions include when theres a COVID case in an elementary school classroom or a test-positivity rate above 2% in a particular school. Those situations trigger a 14-day mask requirement. In Larimer County in northern Colorado, the Poudre, Thompson, and Estes Park school districts are sticking with a 10-day isolation period before people who test positive can return to school. They are shortening the quarantine period to five days for people whove had close contact with a COVID-positive individual. However, people who previously had COVID and those who were vaccinated more than six months ago but have not received a booster shot will no longer be excused from quarantines a response to the highly contagious omicron variant sickening more vaccinated people. Poudre district spokeswoman Madeline Noblett said the new quarantine rules could mean increased staff absences in the coming weeks, but that staff absences reported for Tuesdays return have not reached a concerning level. She said as part of the districts effort to recruit and retain staff, especially classroom aides, bus drivers, custodians, and food service workers, the district began giving those employees a $300 monthly incentive payment in December, with plans to continue the payments through May. Like many districts, Poudre now recommends KN95 masks for students and staff. The district has a limited stock of KN95 masks that will go to staff this semester. Many districts are encouraging students and staff to get tested, but it doesnt appear that any Colorado district is requiring that students test negative to come to school. The surge driven by the omicron variant has strained the states testing capacity, with long waits at many testing sites and delays in shipping rapid tests to households. Colorado school leaders say they expect an impact from the high number of cases. In a letter to Douglas County families just before New Years, Superintendent Corey Wise told parents to expect more sick staff having to isolate until they recover, with cascading effects on school services, including changes to remote learning and cancelation of bus routes, sports, and before- and after-school programs. Please be prepared and ready for transitions as a result of positive COVID cases, Wise wrote. A district spokeswoman said the district has substitutes available for nearly all vacancies this week and is monitoring the situation. The 67,000-student Douglas County district, southeast of Denver, used federal relief money to purchase 3,750 air purifiers that it hopes will limit spread in classrooms. Under the direction of a newly elected school board, masks are now optional in the district. Other districts sounded more optimistic notes, with Westminster touting its vaccine mandate for staff and a strong contract tracing program that we believe keeps our schools safe. A spokesperson for Westminster schools said that 30 people called in sick Monday, roughly 3% of staff. Principals are preparing for more absences but hope to cover them with existing staff. Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, the states largest teachers union, said teachers already experienced a challenging fall semester, and it doesnt look like things are going to get easier. Despite the worry and stress, the unifying thing that everyone agrees on is we want in-person learning, she said. If we want to stay in-person learning, we need to do those mitigation measures, and we need to do them with fidelity. There are things the state can do, but we also need that community commitment that were going to do everything we can to keep our schools safe. Chalkbeat reporters Jason Gonzales and Yesenia Robles contributed to this report. The man accused of going on a shooting rampage across Denver and Lakewood on Monday had gun safes insides the walls of his former home, which was raided by law enforcement shortly after he moved out, the home's current owner said Tuesday. RTHK: UK Covid infections rising at fastest ever rate: PM Britain on Wednesday reported record Covid-19 prevalence for the last week of 2021, with one in 15 people in England infected, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said cases were increasing at the fastest rate ever. The increasing number of cases has put huge strains on public services such as hospitals, which face staff shortages and growing admissions. Johnson has resisted imposing stringent lockdown measures in England. Instead, he has bet that a vaccine booster drive and caution among the population will be enough to constrain the latest wave of infections, despite the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. More than 220,000 Covid-19 cases were recorded on one day in the last week, and the provision of services and testing capacity is increasingly under strain. "We are experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases that we have ever known," Johnson told lawmakers "And potentially of greatest concern, case rates are now rapidly rising among the older and more vulnerable, including doubling every week among those over 60, with the obvious risk that this will continue to increase the pressures on our NHS (health service)." In England, the estimated Covid-19 prevalence was one in 15 for the week ending December 31 more than 6 percent of the population and up from an estimate of one in 25 for the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said. ONS figures also showed record prevalence in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, whose governments follow their own policies on combating the pandemic and generally have stricter measures. Scotland and Wales showed prevalance of one in 20 and Northern Ireland one in 25. In all, an estimated nearly 3.75 million people were infected across the United Kingdom. The death toll from the pandemic is nearly 150,000 people. The Omicron variant has had the biggest impact in London, where one in 10 people tested positive. However Johnson reiterated that England could ride out the surge in Covid-19 infections without shutting down the economy, thanks to vaccinations and evidence that Omicron is milder than previous variants, even there is substantial disruption from staff absences as people self-isolate. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2022-01-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Contracts For Oct. 12, 2021 No applicable data. Contracts For Oct. 13, 2021 No applicable data. Contracts For Oct. 14, 2021 The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $131,660,582 modification (P00007) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001918D0113). This modification exercises an option to provide P-8A Poseidon CFM56-7B27A/3 and CFM56-7B27AE engine depot-level maintenance and repair in support of the Navy, the government of Australia, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Atlanta, Georgia (97%); and Seattle, Washington (3%), and is expected to be completed in October 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. StandardAero Inc., San Antonio, Texas, is awarded a $101,397,381 modification (P00016) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, time and materials, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001918D0110). This modification exercises an option to provide P-8A Poseidon CFM56-7B27A/3 and CFM56-7B27AE engine depot-level maintenance and repair in support of the Navy, the government of Australia, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (86%); Cincinnati, Ohio (11%); and San Antonio, Texas (3%), and is expected to be completed in October 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. AAR Government Services Inc., Wood Dale, Illinois, is awarded an $85,030,595 modification (P00014) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, time and materials, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001918D0111). This modification exercises an option to provide P-8A Poseidon aircraft depot scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, depot in-service repair/planner and estimator requirements, technical directive incorporation, airframe modifications, aircraft on ground support, and removal and replacement of engines in support of the Navy, the government of Australia, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is expected to be completed in October 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 15, 2021 The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $14,456,362 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00055) to a previously awarded contract (N0001916C0032). This modification adds scope to provide test and engineering support necessary to complete the development of the Next Gen Jammer-Mid Band system in support of the phased replacement of the AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System currently mounted to the EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (95%); and St. Louis, Missouri (5%), and is expected to be completed in September 2022. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,037,639 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 18, 2021 BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $137,119,008 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering and integrated product support, technical data and configuration management, and technical and project management in support of life cycle management of legacy, current, and future command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems and subsystems for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Webster Outlying Field, Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in October 2026. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042122D0002). National Technical Systems (NTS), Camden, Arkansas, is awarded a $9,961,646 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for rapid energetic systems response testing support. Work will be performed in Camden, Arkansas, and is expected to complete October 2026. Fiscal 2022 Navy working capital funding of $500 will be obligated on the first task order at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.sam.gov website with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00174-22-D-0001). Contracts For Oct. 19, 2021 BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $154,107,055 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering support for the rapid integration of command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems onboard small and large craft, commercial and militarized vehicles, transit cases, mobile communications, fixed base stations, command centers, and intelligence systems in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Webster Outlying Field, Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (56%); and Jacksonville, Florida (44%), and is expected to be completed in October 2026. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042122D0001). Contracts For Oct. 20, 2021 Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a not-to-exceed $206,832,036 undefinitized modification (P00012) to a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (0097) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001914G0020). This modification adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, detailed aircraft modification execution planning and technical data packages in support of modifications to the F-35 developmental test fleet aircraft. These modifications are necessary to support flight tests for the F-35 developmental test fleet and for the capabilities delivered under the F-35 Block 4 modernization in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60%); Patuxent River, Maryland (20%); and Edwards Air Force Base, California (20%), and is expected to be completed in December 2025. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $5,000,001; fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000,001; and non-U.S. DOD participant funds in the amount of $2,202,771 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $14,102,675 modification (P00001) to a firm-fixed-price order (N0001921F0718) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001919G0029). This modification exercises options to procure four retrofit kits and associated system engineering support for the incorporation of 34 deployable configuration changes into CH-53K System Demonstration Test Article 1-4 Aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (80%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (20%), and is expected to be completed in November 2023. Fiscal 2022 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $14,102,675 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 21, 2021 No applicable data. Contracts For Oct. 22, 2021 No applicable data. Contracts For Oct. 25, 2021 Chemring Australia Pty Ltd., Lara, Victoria, Australia, is awarded a $19,689,472 modification (P00001) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001921C0081). This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of 9,728 MJU-68/B Flare Infrared Countermeasures, to include 7,256 for the Navy; 1,152 for the Air Force; 528 for the government of Norway; 336 for the government of Japan; 312 for the government of Netherlands; and 144 for the government of Italy in support of the F-35 Lightning II program. Work will be performed in Lara, Victoria, Australia (47%); San Diego, California (28%); Toone, Tennessee (24%); and Braeside, Victoria, Australia (1%), and is expected to be completed in November 2022. Fiscal 2022 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $14,678,048; fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $2,331,648; fiscal 2021 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $8,096; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $2,671,680 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 26, 2021 General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, is awarded a $39,959,262 modification (P00029) to a previously awarded, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (W15QKN15D0001). This modification exercises an option to provide integrated logistics support services for Foreign Military Sales customers using Navy procured defense articles including weapon systems, various aircrafts, and other components in support of the International Sustainment Department and the Naval Air Systems Command. Work will be performed in California, Maryland (28%); Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (21%); Arlington, Virginia (6%); Patuxent River, Maryland (5%); Jacksonville, Florida (5%); Lexington Park, Maryland (4%); Fredericksburg, Virginia (3%); Fairfax, Virginia (2%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2%); San Diego, California (2%); Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2%); Lemoore, California (1%); King George, Virginia (1%); Warrenton, Virginia (1%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (1%); Charlotte, North Carolina (1%); Jacksonville, North Carolina (1%); New Bern, North Carolina (1%); Pensacola, Florida (1%); Tucson, Arizona (1%); Washington, District of Columbia (1%); Jackson, Louisiana (1%); Glassboro, New Jersey (1%); Dover, Delaware, (1%); Houston, Texas (1%); Seattle, Washington (1%); Kuwait City, Kuwait (1%); Tokyo, Japan (1%); Cairo, Egypt (1%); Cours, France (1%); and Taipei, Taiwan (1%), and is expected to be completed October 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded an $11,055,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price modification (P00006) to a previously awarded contract (N0001920C0030). This modification adds scope to modify the existing Tomahawk Block IV system level and box level automated test equipment (ATE) to ensure compatibility with the modernized anti-jam GPS receiver (AGR), and to address obsolescence and/or software maintenance requirements needed to be compatible with the Tomahawk Block IV recertification and modernization programs. This modification also provides for the production of five ATE test stations for verification of performance characteristics of the modernized AGR missile. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (70%); and Tucson, Arizona (30%), and is expected to be completed in July 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,055,000 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 27, 2021 General Atomics, San Diego, California, is awarded a $20,549,597 firm-fixed-price modification (P00070) to a previously awarded contract (N0001914C0037). This modification exercises options to procure 18 Advanced Arresting Gear Water Twister (WT) Mod-II shipsets for Navy Gerald R. Ford-class Aircraft Carriers 78, 79, and 80. Additionally, this modification provides for the development of logistics support products and the execution of engineering change proposals related to WT Mod-II as approved by the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment Program Decentralized Change Control Board. Work will be performed in Tupelo, Mississippi (55.8%); San Diego, California (26.1%); Chicago, Illinois (3.6%); Dayton, Ohio (2.2%); Spring Grove, Illinois (2.1%); Cleveland, Ohio (2.8%); Placentia, California (1.3%); Malvern, Pennsylvania (1.3%); Birmingham, Alabama (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (3.8%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. Fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,549,597 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 28, 2021 Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California, is awarded a $20,565,741 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00003) to a previously awarded contract (N0001921C0053). This modification exercises options to provide non-recurring engineering, associated technical, financial, and administrative data required to deliver Next Generation Jammer low-rate initial production ship-sets. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (82%); and Forest, Mississippi (18%), and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Fiscal 2022 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,565,741 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Contracts For Oct. 29, 2021 Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $38,348,155 cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive-fee, cost reimbursable modification (P00021) to a previously awarded contract (N0001921C0020). This modification exercises options to provide logistics support for the repair and replenishment of parts and consumables for the F-35 aircraft in support of the Marines, Navy, and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (57%); Orlando, Florida (26%); Greenville, South Carolina (11%); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (4%); and El Segundo, California (2%), and is expected to be completed in December 2021. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $23,903,316; fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,291,481; and non-U.S. DOD participant funds in the amount of $4,153,358 will be obligated at time of award, $34,194,797 which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missile and Defense, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $37,341,149 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00007) to a previously awarded contract (N0001920C0071). This modification adds scope to procure Operation Flight Software Version 9.5 and to provide support for various hardware and software risk reduction efforts in support of the AIM-9X system improvement program for the Navy and the Air Force. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (87%); and Goleta, California (13%), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $1,450,000; and fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $30,439,628 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification (P00018) to a previously awarded contract (N0001920C0037). This modification exercises options to provide operation and maintenance support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development labs in support of testing developed configurations across the F-35 platform for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $12,472,427; fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Air Force) funds in the amount of $12,472,427; and non-U.S. DOD participant funds in the amount of $5,494,774 will be obligated at time of award, $24,944,854 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Technologies, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $19,595,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification (P00016) to a previously awarded contract (N0001919C0079). This modification adds scope to integrate, produce, qualify, test and field Maritime Strike Tomahawk seeker suites and all subsystems required to provide midcourse and terminal guidance to a modernized tactical Tomahawk missile for prosecution of maritime targets from surface and subsurface platforms. The procured quantity of seeker suites will be installed in recertified Tomahawk missiles for the Navy. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (42%); Boulder, Colorado (21.62%); Dallas, Texas (16.57%); North Logan, Utah (9.24%); Pontiac, Michigan (5.56%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (5.01%), and is expected to be completed in October 2024. Fiscal 2021 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $19,595,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Over $26.6 million has been donated Tuesday to help those impacted by the Marshall fire after the blaze burned more than 6,000 acres and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and businesses across Boulder County. Verified GoFundMe accounts for individual households have raised $14.6 million as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the company. In addition, the Boulder County Wildfire Fund has received over $12 million in donations as of Tuesday morning. More than 43,000 donors have contributed to the fund, Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of the Community Foundation Boulder County, said during a news conference. "Our community is navigating an unimaginable tragedy right now," Hernandez said. "The care you're showing is a comfort." Hernandez said the foundation board approved the immediate, direct distribution of $5 million to those whose homes were destroyed or damaged by the fire. In addition, $500,000 will be directly distributed to evacuees. The county's disaster assistance center will disburse the funds. In the foundation's 30-year history, this is only the sixth time it has activated an emergency fund, Hernandez said. Four of the emergency funds have been activated in the last two years. "Tens of thousands of people have poured their love, their philanthropy into us, so that we can pour that love into you," Hernandez said. "We are committed and accountable to you, our community, and we'll be with you every step of the way as we rebuild." After sparking on Thursday, the Marshall fire became the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, destroying at least 991 structures and damaging another 127 in Superior, Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County. Firefighters reached 100% containment on the perimeter of the blaze Monday evening, ending the fire's spread at 6,026 acres, according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management. Crews expect to be done mopping up hot spots by the end of the week, said Vaughn Jones, wildland fire management section chief with the Division of Fire Prevention and Control. In Louisville, residents were still under a water boil order Tuesday, officials said. Drinking water is expected to be back online by Sunday. Free bottled water was distributed at the Louisville Public Library on Tuesday and at the Louisville Recreation Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. Repairs were underway for homes that experienced power outages and other losses of service. By Tuesday afternoon, Comcast restored service to 85% of the 13,000 customers impacted by the Marshall fire, according to the company. Xcel Energy said electricity had been restored for all homes outside of the burn path. Company officials have assessed the hundreds of homes inside the burn path and, if restoration was possible without further repairs, they have restored electricity. For gas, service for 10,000 of the 13,000 interrupted homes has been restored. A disaster assistance center opened Monday to help those impacted by the blaze with filing claims for property loss, as well as providing financial and food assistance, hotel vouchers, mental health support and transportation. As of Tuesday, 250 people have registered for aid from Federal Emergency Management Agency at the center and another 370 people have registered online, said Garry Sanfacon, Boulder County's disaster recovery manager. In addition, over 150 people have come to the center for other services. "The disaster assistance center is a one-stop shop for everyone that was impacted by the fire," Sanfacon said. "Anyone who's been evacuated whether you lost your home, whether it was partially damaged, whether you're a renter this a spot where you should be going to get services." The center is in Lafayette at 1755 S. Public Road and will operate from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day for several weeks. The recovery website is boco.org/marshallfire. Anyone looking for opportunities to volunteer to assist with fire recovery is asked to sign up for the volunteer newsletter at coloradoresponds.org. Centura Health is collecting item donations at CHPG Church Ranch Primary Care in Westminster, Urgent Care Indian Peaks in Frederick and Centura Health Headquarters in Centennial. The donation centers will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday until Jan. 14. Tuesday's news conference brought no updates on the cause of the fire or the search for two people in the area who have been reported missing. On Monday, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said it could be weeks or months before the public gets any information on either investigation. A woman from Louisville and a man from the Marshall area were reported missing after the fire. On Sunday, a third person who was also missing and feared dead was found alive. With weather forecasts calling for snow and "dangerously low temperatures," National Western Stock Show officials canceled the downtown parade and an event planned at McGregor Square in Denver on Thursday. "We will not risk animal safety with slick streets," President and CEO Paul Andrews said Tuesday. "Being right isnt always popular; and being popular isnt always right. We made the right decision, although a very tough one here." The parade was canceled for the same reason in 2016. The tradition began in 1984. Horse experts have said the rubber covers used to protect horses' hooves on pavement become hardened in the cold, and thus slippery. "After meeting with weather professionals, veterinarians, livestock and horse experts, we have decided to cancel the parade this Thursday," Andrews said in a statement. "The forecast calls for snow Wednesday evening and continuing through the night. The larger problems are the single-digit temperatures and high winds making for icy conditions. "Due to the risk for the parade entries traveling to Denver in high-profile vehicles hauling animals and hitches, as well as the risk for the animals along the parade route, the decision has been made to cancel." Metro Moves: Lucchese rides into Denver After the 2021 show was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, many were looking forward to this year's kickoff parade, where longhorn steers march down 17th Street and end up in the lobby of the posh Brown Palace Hotel. First responders were going to be this years grand marshal a first, instead of one or two people serving as grand marshal. While the 16-day show opens Saturday morning at the Stock Show grounds and Denver Coliseum, Friday is going to be a big day with the ribbon cutting for the new stockyards and the Colorado State University Spur campus, which hosts an event for the new Vida building Friday afternoon. Theres also high national interest livestock owners from 42 states registered to show animals at the 2022 show, which runs through Jan. 23. More than 700,000 people are expected to participate in the celebration of agriculture, rodeo, commerce and Western heritage, Andrews said. Funding for National Western Center Arena fails; $260 million in other bonds pass "Start with the grand opening of the new stockyards. That alone makes this year's ticket a historic keepsake," Andrews said previously, noting the last time the show had a stockyard grand opening was in 1906. "These stockyards will forever change the way livestock are marketed in the United States," he said. It was another busy and productive day for the James Webb Space Telescope team. Today's objective, deploy the Secondary Mirror and make sure it's latched. Here's the full update from NASA. Secondary Mirror Deployment Confirmed Today, Webb teams successfully deployed the observatory's secondary mirror support structure. When light from the distant universe hits Webb's iconic 18 gold primary mirrors, it will reflect off and hit the smaller, 2.4-foot (.74-meter) secondary mirror, which will direct the light into its instruments. The secondary mirror is supported by three lightweight deployable struts that are each almost 25 feet long and are designed to withstand the space environment. Specialized heating systems were used to warm up the joints and motors needed for seamless operation. "Another banner day for JWST," said Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, as he congratulated the secondary mirror deployment team at the Mission Operations Center in Baltimore. "This is unbelievable...We're about 600,000 miles from Earth, and we actually have a telescope." The deployment process began at approximately 9:52 a.m. EST, and the secondary mirror finished moving into its extended position at about 11:28 a.m. EST. The secondary mirror support structure was then latched at about 11:51 a.m. EST. At approximately 12:23 p.m. EST, engineers confirmed that the structure was fully secured and locked into place and the deployment was complete. "The world's most sophisticated tripod has deployed," said Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for Webb at Goddard. "That's really the way one can think of it. Webb's secondary mirror had to deploy in microgravity, and in extremely cold temperatures, and it ultimately had to work the first time without error. It also had to deploy, position, and lock itself into place to a tolerance of about one and a half millimeters, and then it has to stay extremely stable while the telescope points to different places in the sky - and that's all for a secondary mirror support structure that is over 7 meters in length." Next Webb will deploy an important radiator system known as the aft deployable infrared radiator (ADIR), which helps shed heat away from its instruments and mirrors. Learn more about Webb's deployment timeline online. Watch a replay of the live broadcast for the Secondary Mirror deployment MIRI Instrument Marks a First Milestone in Space While the Webb team was tensioning the sunshield, other activities were also taking place among the instruments. One milestone: unlocking the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Contamination Control Cover. We've asked Gillian Wright, European principal investigator for MIRI, to tell us about it. "MIRI has a Contamination Control Cover, because the constraints of its extra-cold operating temperature mean that it is not possible to include other means of dealing with ice contamination, such as heaters for sensitive components. For launch it was safest to have this cover locked, and the timing for operating it is driven by the temperatures of the observatory." "To unlock the cover, we first had to power on our Instrument Control Electronics and confirm that they were functioning correctly. Then the commands to the cover could be sent. After successfully completing the tests and unlocking the cover, the instrument control electronics were then powered off before the next steps on the sunshield tensioning activities. This key step for MIRI was monitored remotely by team members in Europe, ready to provide assistance if it were needed." "The picture here shows tired and happy MIRI team members at the Mission Operations Center in Baltimore, after completing this first of the many MIRI commissioning steps. The MIRI Contamination Control Cover will be closed in the next few days to protect the optics from any possible contaminants as the observatory cools. It will then be reopened much later in the timeline, when MIRI has cooled to its operating temperature of just 7K and is ready to look out at the sky." Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. On Jan. 6, Democrat politicians in Washington on Capitol Hill and around the country gathered and went public to shamefully exploit the annive The criteria (design constraints) used for the search of the launch windows included minimum delta-V budget, solar elevation of 3050 during the lunar surface operation, and reentry flight range of 5600 km7100 km. The actual launch day was November 24, 2020. The flight sequence for the launch window, November 24, 2020, is displayed in the figure. CREDIT SpaceScience & Technology In the early morning of November 24, 2020, the Chang'E 5 lunar probe was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center and successfully executed a 23-day journey of lunar sample return (LSR) mission. In a review paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, Dr. Zhong-Sheng Wang and his colleagues from the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, addresses three key orbit design technologies in the Chang'E 5 mission, including orbit design for lunar orbit rendezvous and docking (RVD), orbit design for precision lunar landing and inclination optimization, orbit design for Moon-to-Earth transfer. First, an overview of the Chang'E 5 mission profile is presented. The Chang'E 5 spacecraft was composed of four modules: an orbiter, a lander, an ascent module, and a reentry capsule. After the spacecraft completed a 112-hour Earth-to-Moon transfer, two lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuvers were conducted within a one-day interval between the two LOIs, followed by the process of which the spacecraft entering a near-circular lunar orbit with an altitude of approximately 200km. After approximately 8 hours, the lander and ascent module assembly was separated from the orbiter and reentry capsule assembly. Approximately one day after the second LOI, the lander and ascent module assembly performed two consecutive descent maneuvers (DM) in order to lower its perilune altitude to 15km. One day after the DMs, the assembly made a powered descent to land at the expected location in the Storm Ocean. After landing process, the lunar sample collecting operation was conducted. Two days later, the ascent module was launched from the lunar surface. Within only two days, four maneuvers were conducted by the ascent module before the initial aim point was achieved, when the ascent module was flying in a 210km210km circular orbit, 50km ahead of the orbiter along-track. The orbiter also performed four phasing maneuvers between the separation of the two assemblies and the lunar launch, in order to ensure that it arrived at the desired orbital location at the prescribed time of the initial aim point. The far-range, close-range, and docking operations were completed in approximately 3.5 hours after the initial aim point, followed by the transfer of the lunar sample from the ascent module to the reentry capsule. Subsequently, the ascent module was separated from the orbiter and reentry capsule assembly and eventually collides with the Moon surface, whereas the assembly continued to fly in a circular lunar orbit of altitude 210 km. After approximately 5-6 days, two trans-Earth insertion (TEI) maneuvers were conducted with a one-day interval between them, and the orbiter and reentry capsule assembly enters the Moon-to-Earth transfer orbit. After 4-5 days, the reentry capsule was separated from the orbiter, reentered the atmosphere, and shortly landed in the chosen landing field of Inner Mongolia. Afterwards, Dr. Wang focused on three main challenges in the orbit design for the precision lunar landing, the lunar orbit rendezvous and docking and the Moon-to-Earth transfer. For a successful descent and precision landing at the desired location on the lunar surface, appropriate values of the altitude and argument of latitude (AOI) at the descent point have to be achieved, and when the lander touch downs on the lunar surface, the intended landing site reaches the descent trajectory plane with the spin of the Moon. In the Chang'E 5 mission design, two key elements were identified in the orbit control strategy for precision lunar landing. One element is a two-to-two maneuver for targeting the descent point conditions to ensure the correct latitude of the landing site and descent point altitude are achieved, and the other element is an orbit plane adjustment maneuver for achieving the desired longitude of the landing site. The objective of the orbit design for the RVD phasing stage of the Chang'E 5 mission was for the prescribed AOL to be achieved by the ascent module in the circular orbit of altitude 210km at the prescribed time of the initial aim point; in addition, the orbiter was required to execute several maneuvers before the lunar ascent of the ascent module to ensure that it arrives at the prescribed AOL in the circular orbit of altitude 200 km at the same prescribed time of the initial aim point; moreover, the ascent module must be 50km ahead of the orbiter along-track at the time of the initial aim point. To overcome tracking difficulties and satisfy the design constraints, the lunar orbit design method based on tracking analysis is employed. Furthermore, the orbit scheme is optimized in terms of the number of maneuvers, maneuver sequence, and maneuver position to achieve the minimum total delta-V, considering the tracking constraints. After the lunar orbit RVD operation is completed, the orbiter and reentry capsule assembly is flying in a near circular lunar orbit. After approximately six days, the assembly enters the escape trajectory by performing a few TEI maneuvers and continues to fly in the Moon-to-Earth trajectory. The optimization of the TEI strategy is a classical orbit design problem in lunar exploration missions and was critical to the accomplishment of the Chang'E 5 mission. However, the structure of the orbiter, having a much lighter mass than that in the early mission stage, would be prone to dynamic excitation when subjected to a large thrust, which would lead to poor attitude control during the TEI maneuver and high risk of orbit control failure. Therefore, a two-impulse TEI strategy was chosen to be utilized, in which case a short thrust duration was expected for each maneuver when using an engine with a small thrust magnitude. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Alan Gottlieb is editor of Denver-based public education watchdog boardhawk.org. Gottlieb covered Denver Public Schools as a newspaper reporter in the mid-1990s, worked as an education program officer for The Piton Foundation and co-founded Education News Colorado and Chalkbeat. Colorado Springs-area homebuilding dipped in 2021, though the pace of construction remained strong last year on a historical basis. Building permits issued for the construction of single-family, detached homes in El Paso County totaled 4,354 last year, a 3.2% decline from the 4,497 permits issued in 2020, according to a report this week from the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. Despite last year's drop, 2021 was the first time the area has recorded more than 4,000 single-family, detached permits in back-to-back years since more than 5,000 permits were issued in each of 2004 and 2005, Regional Building figures show. Like the resale side of the local housing market, homebuilding was fueled last year by a strong economy, the Pikes Peak region's growing population and buyers who took advantage of low mortgage rates, industry experts have said. "Considering all of the challenging headwinds we had in producing homes for 2021, it was a good year for our industry," said Chad Thurber, president of Vantage Homes and board president of the Housing & Building Association of Colorado Springs, referring to supply chain and labor problems that builders confronted last year. Single-family, detached homes houses separated from each other and typically with front and back yards made up nearly 86% of all single-family residential building permits issued last year in El Paso County. Townhomes and duplexes that share common walls weren't included in the figure reported by The Gazette. If they were added to the mix, El Paso County residential building permits would have totaled 5,072 in 2021, an increase of four over 2020, according to the Regional Building Department. Homebuilding remains a key part of the Colorado Springs-area economy and is watched closely by economists and government officials. The industry employs thousands of people in the trades, such as carpenters, drywallers, electricians and plumbers; they spend their paychecks on groceries, appliances, TVs, cars and other items that help support area businesses. Colorado Springs and other local governments, meanwhile, levy a sales tax on the purchase of building materials, which pumps millions into their budgets and helps pay for roads, public safety and other basic services. Last year was another record-setter for Colorado Springs-area home sales and prices as rock-bottom mortgage rates and a desire for home ownership continued to fuel a furious demand for local housing. Sales of single-family and patio homes totaled 18,159 in 2021, surpassing the previous year's record high of 17,337, according to a December market trends report released Tuesday by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. "It's unbelievably strong," Joe Clement, broker-owner of Re/Max Properties in Colorado Springs, said of the local market. "I'm looking at this chart and it shows 18,159 addresses got sold through the (Multiple Listing Service) in 2021. That's the largest that number's ever been." But a strong demand also has led to sharp price increases. In December, the median price of homes sold during the month rose 18.4% to $450,000 when compared with the same month of the previous year, according to the Realtors Association's report. December's median tied the area's record high price, which was first set in June. Local median prices now have risen on a year-over-year basis each month since December 2014, Gazette historical data show a seven-year streak. What's more, year-over-year prices have risen on a percentage basis by double digits for 18 straight months, dating to July 2020. Mortgage rates continue to help drive the interest in housing, industry experts have said. Thirty-year, fixed-rate loans climbed to a nationwide average of 3.11% last week, and weekly rates have exceeded the 3% mark nearly every week since mid-October, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. Despite that uptick, rates in the 3% neighborhood remain historically low and attractive to buyers. How low? Twenty years ago, long-term, fixed-rate mortgages averaged more than 7% during the last week of 2001, Freddie Mac figures show. Forty years ago at the end of 1981, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged just over 17%. But it's not just demand that has sent prices soaring. Colorado Springs continues to wrestle with a shortage of homes for sale, a problem that's plagued the Pikes Peak region and other markets for two to three years. In December, the supply of Colorado Springs-areas homes listed for sale at month's end totaled just 659, a roughly two-week supply based on the number of available properties and the pace of recent sales, the Realtors Association report showed. On the one hand, December's listings were up by nearly 25% when compared with the same month in 2020. And yet, December inventories routinely topped 2,000 and even 3,000 in the years before the Great Recession. The home shortage and ongoing demand have led to bidding wars among buyers, many of whom submit offers that exceed a seller's asking price by thousands of dollars. The market's been a boon for sellers, but a source of soul-crushing disappointment for many buyers who can't find a home to purchase, area real estate agents have said. And don't expect those trends to change in 2022, Clement said. The area needs more newly built homes to come on the market to help boost the overall supply and slow the increase in prices, he said. He's not optimistic the shortage will ease anytime soon. "It's the same issue that we've had for the last couple of years: It's inventory," Clement said. "I don't see how we can all of a sudden pull out of that unless they (homebuilders and developers) start getting development plans approved in two weeks or something and they could start building like crazy and try to catch up. But that ain't going to happen." The Realtors Association market trends report tracks home sales handled by its member agents; it doesn't include homes sold by individuals. Most home sales take place in El Paso County, with the rest in Teller and a handful of Front Range counties. Registration is open for Practical Farmers of Iowas 2022 annual conference, Facing the Horizon, which will take place Friday-Saturday, Jan. 21-22 at the Iowa State Center Scheman Building on the Iowa State University campus in Ames. All are welcome to attend. The conference will reflect on the challenges farmers have faced over the past two years while inspiring new ideas and horizons of possibility for improving farms and communities going forward. According to the press release, with more than 60 farmer-led sessions, including general sessions, roundtables and lighting talks spanning the agricultural spectrum, there is something for everyone. Full details are at practicalfarmers.org/2022-annual-conference. Conference highlights include: A Friday keynote by restoration biologist Laura Jackson, director of the Tallgrass Prairie Center at University of Northern Iowa and co-author, with Dana Jackson, of the book The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems. Laura has been on the UNI faculty since 1993, teaching courses in conservation biology, applied ecology and environmental studies. Lauras keynote The Past, Present and Future Iowa Landscape will explore Iowas rich past, the story it tells about the Iowa of today and how together, even in the face of climate change, we can move towards a common horizon in an ecosystem that will provide joy and sustenance to future generations. Sixty-one sessions on topics that span the agricultural spectrum. Full tracks of concurrent sessions featuring farmers as presenters are offered for conventional and organic field crops, small grains, horticulture, livestock and on-farm habitat. Additional sessions are planned specifically for landowners, non-farmers and beginning farmers. Spanish-language sessions, offered either bilingually or with Spanish interpretation available. An afternoon of storytelling by PFI farmers sharing skillfully narrated true stories. Livestreaming of selected sessions, free breakfast on Saturday morning and a silent auction of special experiences offered by PFI farmers and members. A local foods lunch on Saturday, along with snacks sourced from PFI members and local businesses. Certified crop advisor credits for 56 sessions. Many opportunities to network including through a new PFI Faces photo board and a message board where guests can post advertisements, pop-up meeting ideas, invitations and other notes to one another. Presentation of PFIs 2022 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award. According to the press release, the cost is $75 per day for non-PFI members, or $55 per day for PFI members. For those with PFI farm and household or lifetime memberships, one ticket covers up to 10 people listed on the membership. Rates increase after the pre-registration deadline of Thursday, Jan. 13, after which all registrations are walk-in only. The student rate is $30, regardless of membership status, which covers entry for both Friday and Saturday with a valid student ID. Scholarships are available for aspiring or beginning farmers who have not previously attended a PFI conference. Farmers who are Black, Indigenous, Latino or who belong to other historically underserved or marginalized groups as well as farmers who are military veterans or have limited resources are encouraged to apply. COVID-19 Policy: In keeping with current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, properly worn face masks will be required indoors for all attendees over age three, regardless of vaccination status, except when actively eating or drinking. More details about the COVID-19 safety precautions being taken at the conference are at practicalfarmers.org/2022-annual-conference/overview. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Heading into 2022 Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel hopes to continue on the city's positive momentum from 2021. To open the first Mason City City Council meeting of 2022 on Tuesday night, Schickel gave his annual "State of the City" address, highlighting three areas that the city succeeded in building on in 2021, and which the city looks to continue improving in 2022. Schickel first addressed public safety, highlighting that Mason City became one of the first cities in Iowa to "substantially" increase pay and benefits for officers in its police department. Schickel also pointed to the recent surge of police officer hires, with the city recently bringing in eight new officers, cutting the deficit of officers needed in the department down to five. "Were blessed to live in a community that has strong support for law enforcement," Schickel said. "We plan to be back up to full strength soon. Meanwhile, our sincere thanks to all the police officers, particularly the police officers who had to work overtime during this period." Schickel then pivoted to the second area of focus for Mason City in 2022: combating the worker shortage. "Our next priority is solving this issue (worker shortages) that's facing communities across Iowa. I know and the city council here knows that its making everyone here anxious, from business managers to everyday shoppers," Schickel said. "Stated plainly, we currently have more jobs than people ... Mason City needs to attract more people to fill the great job opportunities." Schickel stated that to address the worker shortage, the city needs to expand housing options in "clean, attractive and affordable housing." Some housing projects mentioned by Schickel included over 100 apartments coming to downtown Mason City in the future, and the finalization of the city's strategic housing plan. Mason City Council approves step toward new 102-unit downtown apartment complex The council also heard about two other housing projects and plans to reconstruct Highway 65 in town. Lastly, in the lengthiest portion of the address, Schickel discussed the continuing effort from the city to renew the downtown area. Schickel called attention to several projects ongoing in Mason City including the YWCA renovations, Highway 122 repairs and the Hyatt Place hotel, which Schickel noted would be the first new downtown hotel in Mason City in a century. "Everyone is frustrated with the delays, none more so than myself, the city council member and our city staff. Obviously it has taken longer than hoped," Schickel said of the Hyatt Place project. "History gives a little perspective. As mentioned, the last time a new hotel was built downtown was one hundred years ago. This indicates its a big and difficult and complicated undertaking. If it were easy, it would have been done a long time ago." In Schickel's 2020 "State of the City" he said the coming decade would be a "decade of doing," and to end his 2022 address he again referenced the city's intention to "do" heading into the new year. "We have a wonderful partnership with citizens, an outstanding city council and city workers who shine as public servants. Chamber Director Robin Anderson likes to point out that that we need dreamers and we need doers, but mostly we need dreamers who are doers. In Mason City we're blessed to have all three," Schickel said. "Let us resolve in the new year that we are too great a community to limit ourselves to small dreams. In the new year, let's renew our belief that we can make a difference in our community." Zach Dupont's five faves for 2021 It's tough, as a newbie in Mason City, to select five top stories from a year that you've on Zachary Dupont covers politics and business development for the Globe Gazette. You can reach him at 641-421-0533 or zachary.dupont@globegazette.com. Follow Zachary on Twitter at @ZachNDupont Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. If your New Year's Resolution was to give more time to your community, look no further than the Humane Society of North Iowa (HSNI). HSNI has been closed since Sept. 10 due to staff shortages. Appointments are required to visit furry friends looking for a new home. "We'd like to open as soon as possible, we just need people," said Executive Director Sybil Soukup. Their plans to open by December 2021 have pushed forward into 2022, as they seek at least five new staff members before reopening to the public. HSNI is hiring two to three animal caretakers. Animal caretakers are responsible for the general care and monitoring of the animals at the Humane Society. They spend the most time with animals, caring for them, feeding and exercising, cleaning kennels, and keeping records of their day-to-day well-being. This position is great for those who love animals and aren't afraid to get dirty. HSNI is also hiring two customer service assistants. These employees work at the front desk, assisting customers, volunteers, and potential adopters. Customer service assistants also help with socializing and animal care as needed. Applications can be found on the Humane Society's website. Five employees may not sound like a lot, but for small businesses, the loss of one creates a heavy burden to shoulder for the rest. "Two (customer service assistants) doesn't seem like a big deal for companies with over 100 people, but there's only four employees currently working the front desk, so if anyone is gone, there's very few to pick up the slack" said Soukup. Above all, the animals come first, and if that means closing in order to keep them safe and healthy, they're always willing to make that sacrifice, Soukup said. HSNI has remained quieter since COVID-19 first hit in 2020, not attending events or having fundraisers as they did in years' past. It has been isolating on the outskirts of Mason City. "Other humane societies in the area have decided to remain by-appointment indefinitely, but we want to fully open again," said Soukup, and it is optimism that keeps her undaunted by private sector wages as she searches for workers. An animal caretaker must love animals, and be willing to get dirty for $10 an hour. "It's always been my dream to work with animals," employee Laura Schotanus said as she cuddled a little grey kitten. "When I got the opportunity I had to take it." Schotanus has been with HSNI for seven years, and she loves every day. For people looking to help, but who cannot donate their time, HSNI is looking for messengers to spread awareness. Soukup encouraged people to go on Facebook and share the Humane Society's posts, tell friends and family looking for work they can spend their day with animals if they'd like, or adopt a new friend. Gretchen Burnette is a Weeklies Editor and Daily Reporter at the Globe Gazette. You can reach her by phone at 641.421.0523 or at Gretchen.Burnette@GlobeGazette.com Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Donald Charles Benjegerdes September 29, 1933-December 31, 2021 MASON CITY-Donald Charles Benjegerdes, 88, of Mason City, IA passed away Friday, December 31, 2021, at his home. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, January 7, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N Pennsylvania Ave, with Rev. Dan Gerrietts officiating. Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service. Per church guidelines masks will be required for the service and visitation. Interment will follow in the Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the family of Donald Benjegerdes. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.majorericksonfuneralhome.comDon, as he was known to his family and friends, was born September 29, 1933, the eldest son of Walter H. and Florence I. Benjegerdes. He attended country school and graduated from Manly High School. In 1956, Don graduated from Iowa State College with a bachelor's degree in agriculture. While at Iowa State, he was active in Army ROTC. In June of 1954, while attending summer camp training, Don met his future wife, Clara Faye Kafer (Bobbie), at a YMCA mixer dance. It was love at first site. On May 19, 1956, they were married at the First Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. Don was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the US Army and was stationed in San Francisco, CA where the couple spent the first years of their marriage. Don served in active duty from 1955 - 1957. In 1958, they moved back to Iowa to begin their farm life together and celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Becky Sue. Betsy Lou came along two years later. Don enjoyed camping, fishing, storytelling, card playing, and morning coffee with the guys. He worked side by side with his brother Jim for over forty years as they farmed together. Don loved to involve his wife and two daughters in farm work and was fond of saying, I know you're happy because you're working. After retirement he enjoyed woodworking and making things with and for his grandchildren in his shop. He was a devoted husband, a favorite uncle, a beloved grandfather, a cherished brother, and the best father two girls could ever have. Donald C. Benjegerdes is survived by, Bobbie, his wife of sixty-six years, daughters Becky (Tony) Wendler, Betsy (Gary) Triebwasser; five grandchildren Robert (Naomi) Yanike, JohnRoss (Brandy) Wendler, Karis Yanike, James (Sarah) Wendler, and Karl Yanike; by six great grandchildren Caleb (12), Reagan (11), Michael (5), Jack (5), Ronin (2) and Adam (2); and by his brother, Jim (Carolyn) Benjegerdes and their children Lesley, Craig and Karl and their families. He was preceded in death by his father, Walter, his mother, Florence, and his niece, Valerie Benjegerdes. He will be truly missed by all those who knew him. Arrangements are being handled by Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 North Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, Iowa 50401; 641-423-0924, www.majorericksonfuneralhome.com DES MOINES -- Businesses in Iowa would not be allowed to require their employees to receive vaccinations -- for COVID-19, the measles or any other disease -- nor would they be allowed to require their patrons to wear face coverings under state legislation proposed Tuesday. The bill has been introduced by Iowa Rep. Jon Jacobsen, R-Council Bluffs, and is supported by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, who chairs the House committee on state government. Were certainly not anti-vax. Were just for medical freedom, Jacobsen said during a news conference at the Iowa Capitol. Kaufmann presented the proposal in a similar light. He said he believes Iowans should be free to get the COVID-19 vaccine if they choose, but said Iowans should not be required to get it. We are pushing medical freedom, Kaufmann said. Thats what the crux of the bill is. Hopefully this thing can become law. Infectious disease and public health experts have said the COVID-19 vaccines are the best tool to reducing the impact of the pandemic, which is nearing its two-year anniversary in Iowa. Some businesses -- particularly in the health care industry, like hospitals -- are already requiring their workers to receive the virus vaccine. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and other GOP legislative leaders, who have agenda-setting majorities in the Iowa Legislature, said earlier Tuesday that they believe it is prudent to await court decisions on several challenges to federal vaccine mandates before state lawmakers begin pursuing state-level legislation. Reynolds, House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, and Senate Majority Whip Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, discussed potential vaccine mandate legislation at a legislative preview forum hosted by the Iowa Capitol Press Association. I think we need to wait, Reynolds said. Jacobsen said he believes that time will arrive sooner than later anyway, that the courts will soon rule on those federal mandates. The mandates proposed by Democratic President Joe Bidens administration, which are being challenged in the courts, would require all health care workers, all federal contractors and all workers at businesses with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or else be tested regularly. Jacobsen said his proposed legislation would not impact schools, which he said would still be allowed to require some vaccinations as they do already for young students. The 2022 session of the Iowa Legislature begins Monday. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Registration is open for the 2022 cohort of the River District Association Dream Launch Bootcamp. Since the start of the program in 2019, more than 200 individuals have participated in some or all the classes. The bootcamp is for entrepreneurs who wish to learn more about opening, owning and operating a business in the Dan River Region. Its also open to current business owners who would like to expand as well as those who would like to audit the courses to prepare for potentially opening a business in the future. There is no cost to participate. Those interested can register at https://tinyurl.com/RDADreamLaunch2022 until Jan. 14. The six sessions are on Tuesdays, starting Jan. 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. via Zoom. An optional pre-learning session hosted by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research covering Excel will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan 18, and the Zoom registration link will be shared with all registrants. Additionally, on March 8, the association is offering a new educational session for food and beverage related businesses. The workshop will be optional for all Dream Launch participants but required for those wishing to pitch specifically to open a food and beverage business. Panelists from Virginia ABC, the health department and planning and zoning will be available. Local entrepreneurs with an interest in learning more about opening a food and beverage business are also welcome to attend. This workshop is free but requires separate registration, which will be open at a later date. Entrepreneurs or existing businesses who complete the Dream Launch Bootcamp will be able to participate in either the Dream Launch Pitch (if opening a brick and mortar business in the River District) or the Rev-Up Pitch (if opening a brick and mortar business in Pittsylvania County or in Danville outside the River District) providing entrepreneurs in Danville/Pittsylvania County the opportunity to tap into more than $300,000 in grant awards and other incentives. The support of Dream Launch on both the local and state level really speaks to the quality of the program and all the partners involved said Diana Schwartz, executive director of the River District Association, without collaboration with our many partners, the program would not be successful. Also, there are two new partnerships with traditional lending institutions to provide additional access to capital through cash awards and lines of credit to both Dream Launch and Rev-Up Pitch participants. Lines of credit from both institutions are subject to credit underwriting and approval. Virginia Health Commissioner Norman Oliver, who has led the state's health agency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, will step down from the post next week at the urging of Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. Oliver, who had expressed interest in continuing to run the Virginia Department Health into the new administration in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, told staffers during a call Wednesday he had been formally notified of Youngkin's decision by the incoming governor's transition. Oliver will leave his post Jan. 14, the day before Youngkin's inauguration, according to two people familiar with the call. It's not clear who will replace Oliver, or who will serve as the next health secretary. Youngkin's transition did not respond to a request for comment. Virginia, like the rest of the nation, is facing a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths fueled by the highly infectious omicron variant. The decision is not entirely surprising given Youngkin's criticisms of the state's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he has described as heavy-handed. Youngkin opposes vaccine mandates and has criticized mask mandates, public restrictions on businesses and curfews. Oliver was a key adviser to Gov. Ralph Northam as the administration weighed its public restrictions. In line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Oliver in August issued a mask mandate for the state's K-12 schools, which Youngkin has criticized and vowed to undo - even as COVID-19 cases surge here. Despite their differences, Oliver said in an interview last month that he wished to remain in his job to provide continuity at VDH as the pandemic continues to rage, and to finish overseeing key operational improvements at the agency, including technical improvements the way it analyzes public health data. "Were now in a position where that work really reeds to continue with the pandemic still raging," Oliver said last month. "Were also thinking about ways to improve public health and build the public health system that this state deserves. I feel that's work I started and that Id like to see through to the end." Oliver and the state's health agency have fielded significant criticism over its handling of the pandemic. Still, Virginia has fared better than other states, particularly its neighbors to the south when it comes to rates of infection and death. Early on, a lack of coordination with private testing vendors stunted the states ability to test enough Virginians for the virus, which left the state in the dark about its spread and about deadly consequences in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Throughout 2020, the state faced criticism from the business community over restrictions that it thought changed too suddenly, and without much clarity. The state later stumbled as it began to distribute vaccines at a slower rate than any of its neighbors and almost every other state delaying safety for vulnerable Virginians. Consistently, people of color had a harder time accessing resources and information to fend off illness or economic struggle. Among its successes, Virginia now ranks 10th among states in people who are fully vaccinated, and hospitals here have not overflowed to the point of deploying the state's emergency plan for alternate health care facilities. In a statement, Oliver said it had been an honor to serve as commissioner. "For the past two years, Virginia has faced the biggest public health crisis of our lifetime," he said. "My sincerest thanks to the thousands of Virginia Department of Health employees who have labored day in and day out during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep the Commonwealth safe. "My sincerest thanks to Governor Northam for his leadership and for making sure we had the tools to do our job. We are working with Governor-elect Youngkins team to ensure an orderly transition. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday named Andrew Wheeler, who rolled back environmental safeguards as head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump, as secretary of natural resources. The choice drew outrage from Democrats and environmental groups. Youngkin, who takes office Jan. 15, also announced that he wants Michael Rolband, founder of the company Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., as his choice to head the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is under the natural resources secretary. One Democratic senator, Scott Surovell of Fairfax County, suggested that Republicans should join Democrats in the Senate in killing the nomination, the first Cabinet pick of the incoming Republican governor to draw controversy. Youngkins pick for Secretary of Natural Resources is simply unacceptable," said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. "As head of EPA under former President Trump, Wheeler did nothing more than cater to corporate polluter interests time and time again, putting their welfare ahead of our environment and Americans health. This is hands down the most extreme nomination for an environmental post in Virginias history and the absolute worst pick that the Governor-elect could make." Surovell tweeted: "I know he's new to Virginia government and all but @GlennYoungkin does understand cabinet secretaries require General Assembly approval - right?" In an interview, Surovell noted that three former EPA administrators who served under Republican presidents expressed concerns in 1019 about the agency's close ties to industry, including Wheeler's status as a former coal lobbyist in charge of the agency. I would hope in Virginia there would be bipartisan opposition to choosing him," Surovell said. Democrats hold a 21-19 edge in the state Senate. Republicans will take control of the House Jan. 12, with a 52-48 edge. It is rare, but not unprecedented, for the legislature to reject a governor's appointee. In 2006 House Republicans rejected Gov. Tim Kaine's choice of Daniel LeBlanc, former head of the state AFL-CIO, as secretary of the commonwealth. LeBlanc opposed the state's right-to-work law. In February 2014 Republicans in the legislature rejected Gov. Terry McAuliffe's nomination of Boyd Marcus for a spot on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Marcus, a longtime GOP strategist, worked for Democrat McAuliffe's campaign in 2013. Virginia needs a diverse energy portfolio in place to fuel our economic growth, continued preservation of our natural resources, and a comprehensive plan to tackle rising sea levels," Youngkin said in a statement. "Andrew and Michael share my vision in finding new ways to innovate and use our natural resources to provide Virginia with a stable, dependable, and growing power supply that will meet Virginias power demands without passing the costs on to the consumer." Matthew Strickler was the natural resources secretary during most of Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's term. Rolband will replace David Paylor as DEQ director. Environmentalists frequently complained that the DEQ under Paylor was a rubber stamp for permit requests, including from the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project and the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. Paylor was first appointed to the job in 2006 by Kaine and served under four governors. Youngkin, in his statement, commended Paylor as an "invaluable public servant" and wished him well. Rep. Don Beyer, D-8th, was among Democrats upset by the Wheeler announcement. Andrew Wheeler is one of the worst people the Governor-elect could have chosen for this job," Beyer said in a statement. Wheeler "led the implementation of an EPA dirty air initiative his own agency estimated would lead to 1,400 premature deaths and breathing problems in thousands of people, many of them children. He led the Trump Administrations efforts to dismantle environmental protections, selling out the American people and the EPAs very mission to benefit corporate polluters. He violated the Trump Administrations ethics pledge." Flamboro Downs would like to remind all horse racing participants looking to enter the backstretch area that, as per the Ontario government mandate, the use of the enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code will be require at the security check point. The QR code can be used digitally or by printing a paper copy. There will no outdoor viewing area for patrons at this time. Flamboro Downs welcomes people to watch live racing and replays for free at flamborodowns.com. MARTINSVILLE, Va. The Virginia Supreme Court did on Tuesday what a redistricting commission failed to do when it established new voting districts for the Senate and House of Delegates of Virginia and for Virginias representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives. The redrawing of the political maps occurs every 10 years, but the Commission on Redistricting failed to agree on maps for both Congress and the General Assembly this time, so by law the state Supreme Court took over the responsibility. Sean Trende and Bernard Grofman, nominated by each political party, were appointed special masters with the task of creating the new maps. The men submitted a 63-page memo along with the maps stating the new district lines do not favor either party. We believe that one reason for employing redistricting commissions, however, is to minimize the power of politicians over the drawing of lines, the memo said. According to the court order the final maps were approved, adopted and made effective immediately. Martinsville and Henry County are now in two districts instead of three in the Virginia House of Delegates. Previously, District 14, represented by Danny Marshall (R-Danville), included the southern portions of Henry and Pittsylvania counties and the city of Danville. District 9, represented by outgoing Charles Poindexter (R-Franklin County) who was defeated in November by Wren Williams (R-Patrick County), included the western portion of Henry County and Patrick and Franklin counties. District 16, represented by Les Adams (R-Chatham), covered the city of Martinsville and the northern portions of Henry and Pittsylvania counties. Now, about two-thirds of Henry County, with the exception of the westernmost third, and all of the city of Martinsville along with three-fourths of Pittsylvania County, excluding the southeast quarter and the city of Danville, are in District 48. The western third of Henry County and all of Patrick, Floyd and Carroll counties are in District 47. In the State Senate, District 7 is represented by Bill Stanley (R-Franklin County) and included the city of Martinsville along with the counties of Henry and Patrick, parts of Carroll, Franklin, Halifax, and Pittsylvania counties and part of the city of Danville. The new District 7 still includes Martinsville and Henry and Patrick counties, but now also covers all of Floyd, Carroll, and Greyson counties and about half of Wythe County. Perhaps the new map that most resembles the old one is the U.S. House of Representatives Congressional District 9, represented by Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). Previously, District 9 covered the western part of Martinsville and Henry County and then reached to the westernmost part of the state and just north of Salem. Also, Congressional District 5, represented by Bob Good (R-Evington, previously covered the eastern part of Martinsville and Henry County and then reached four more counties to the east and pushed northward through the Shenandoah Valley and nearly to Washington D.C. Redistricting cuts District 5 out of the Martinsville and Henry County area and makes all of the western part of the state as far east as Henry County and as far north as Craig County and most of Bedford County under District 9. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Betty White died of natural causes and did not receive a COVID booster shot a few days before her death, contrary to online rumors, her friend and agent Jeff Witjas said Monday. "That's just not true 100% not true," Witjas told the New York Daily News in a phone call. White, who died either Thursday night or Friday at age 99, had been staying close to home during the pandemic, Witjas said. He debunked claims circulating on social media regarding a quote attributed to "The Golden Girls" star in which she said, "Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today," supposedly uttered by White on Dec. 28. The memes about White being affected by the COVID-19 booster shot have proliferated online, with posts such as a tweet sharing the fabricated quote and captioned, "Died 3 days later! Coincidence," according to The Associated Press. The posts come with a link to an article in a Minnesota news outlet, Crow River Media, carrying the title, "Betty White: I'm lucky to still be in good health." The article itself says nothing about a booster shot, AP said. The rumors are all not true, said Witjas, a longtime friend of White. He added that he had no idea of White's vaccination status overall. "But I do know for a fact that a booster was not involved at all in Betty's passing," Witjas told the Daily News. "That seems to be the story out there, and it's just not true. Betty passed due to natural causes." He said she had been "well taken care of" by people who were supremely careful about their shots. "People can do what they want to do. But they shouldn't hang it on Betty for any reason. It's just not right. It's not her legacy," Witjas said. "She was never a political person when she lived. I would certainly hate to see her become politicized in passing." "Betty always spoke the truth," Witjas said. "I as her agent always spoke the truth with her. It's not going to stop now." He also expressed worry that people might be deterred by the false reports. "If people truly believe that Betty passed away because of a COVID shot, a booster, they're not going to go out and get it," Witjas said. "Today you can attribute anything to anybody, and make it true. But I don't want that to be done to Betty," he said. "Unless it's true. But in this case it's not true." White's death came just 18 days before what would have been her 100th birthday. Her death was mourned widely by celebrities and animal rights groups, and everyone in between. None of North Carolinas school districts have switched to remote instruction at a time when some schools across the nation are pausing in-person classes due to the surge in COVID-19 cases. A total of 3,713 schools across the United States are closed in the first week of January, according to Burbio, which tracks school closings. But thats not happening in North Carolina, with some school leaders pointing to a new state law that limits their ability to go to remote classes even as new cases of COVID-19 are at record levels. Senate Bill 654 says individual schools or classes can only switch to remote instruction if COVID-19 exposures lead to not having enough staff or too many students quarantined. The law says in-person instruction must resume once theres enough personnel or the required student quarantines are completed. Due to Senate Bill 654, our school board does not have the legal authority to change to remote learning for our whole school district, Bettina Umstead, chairwoman of the Durham school board, tweeted Sunday. The law does not give us the ability to pre-emptively close, but only as a response to COVID-19 situations, according to Crystal Roberts, a Durham Public Schools spokeswoman. Under the law, which was passed in August, school districts must report to the state Department of Public Instruction within 72 hours if theyve shifted any classes or schools to remote instruction because of COVID-19. None of the states 115 school districts have reported any shifts, according to DPI. Groups want to keep schools open The nationwide school closures have caused some parent groups, including Children First North Carolina, to issue a joint statement this week urging schools to stay open. These groups also opposed the earlier school closures during the pandemic. Between a crushing epidemic of learning loss and deteriorating mental health, kids are suffering even more today than in 2020, according to the joint letter. We cannot move backwards: we must move forward and restore normalcy, which centers on in-person school for all kids across the country, in educational environments devoid of unnecessary restrictions on children. Schools in North Carolina and nationally saw a major drop in student test scores last school year. Some North Carolina lawmakers and parents wanted to avoid a repeat of last school year when they said districts waited too long to switch from online classes back to in-person instruction. Students in some districts went more than a year before resuming in-person classes. Limited reasons for COVID closure SB 654 allows for two kinds of remote-learning days. One section gives school districts up to five days of remote learning for when schools are unable to open due to severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations. But DPI guidance tells schools that this section is intended for traditional reasons for school closures. The other section in the law deals specifically with switching to remote classes due to COVID-19. The DPI form for reporting closures due to COVID-19 tells districts that insufficient personnel or required student quarantines are the only reasons that a school may close and revert to virtual learning. The law still makes it possible for a district to go fully remote, according to Blair Rhoades, a DPI spokeswoman. If there is district-wide spread, a district could make the determination for schools, but as stated in the SafeSchools Toolkit, safe in-person instruction remains the priority, Rhoades said in an email. But Rick Su, a UNC Law School professor who specializes in state and local government law, said it creates a much higher bar for school districts now. It severely hampers going remote unless there are these specific conditions, Su said in an interview. A general concern about escalating case counts is not one of those conditions. Removing school board discretion On Tuesday, the Cumberland County school system opted to stay with in-person instruction. Switching the entire district to remote instruction for the rest of the week had been one of the options. Our understanding is that the entire district could move to remote instruction in the event of an emergency, Lindsay Whitley, a Cumberland County school district spokeswoman, said in an email. However, since we had adequate staff to proceed with in-person learning, we did not have to go down that road. The district left open the option of moving individual schools and classes to remote instruction, though. SB 654 was approved as part of a wide-ranging COVID-19 bill. Other provisions include requiring school boards to hold monthly votes on their face mask policies. Unless the law is changed, Su said that in his opinion it makes it almost impossible for school districts to go fully remote. What this law signifies to me is we dont want school boards to have a lot of discretion with COVID, Su said. Kane Tanaka of Japan, the world's oldest living person, turned 119 years old on Sunday, according to a Twitter post published by her great-granddaughter, Junko Tanaka. "Great achievement. (Kane Tanaka) reached 119 years of age," Junko tweeted, with a photograph of her great-grandmother, whom she saw in December. "I hope you'll continue to live life cheerfully and to the fullest." Junko shared a photo on Twitter of two commemorative Coca-Cola bottles that Tanaka was given for her birthday, the labels personalized with her name and age. "Birthday gift 1: Introducing the presents received for Kane's birthday. Really appreciate this gift. Coca-Cola company made a commemorative birthday bottle. It seems (Kane) is still drinking Coca-Cola as usual," Junko tweeted. Junko spoke to CNN in March 2021, when her great-grandmother was preparing to carry the Olympic torch ahead of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. She started the Twitter account in January 2020 to commemorate Tanaka's life. "I might be biased because I'm related to her but I think it's kind of amazing I wanted to share that with the world and for people to feel inspired and to feel her joy," Junko said. Born in 1903, Tanaka married a rice shop owner at the age of 19 and worked in the family store until she was 103. Tanaka has lived through a multitude of historical events, surviving two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu. Her life has spanned 49 Summer and Winter Olympic Games. "I don't remember her talking much about the past ... She's very forward thinking she really enjoys living in the present," Tanaka's grandson, Eiji Tanaka, told CNN last year. Tanaka is living in a nursing home in Fukuoka prefecture. Her family said she keeps her mind and body engaged by doing math and remaining curious. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as the world's oldest living person in 2019. In September 2021, Spain's Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia became the oldest living man at 112 years old. He was born in 1909 and endured the Spanish Civil War, working as a shoemaker. He said the secret to a long life is "a quiet life... and do not hurt anyone," according to a press release from Guinness World Records. Tanaka received congratulatory messages from Twitter users on her birthday. "It's awesome that at 119 years old she can look straight at the camera and make a peace sign," said Twitter user @TuNatoron. "Congratulations!! Please always stay healthy," said Mee-san, another Twitter user. Now that the House has voted to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt for refusing to appear before the Jan. 6 select committee, Washington insiders are gripped in a typical, inside-the-Beltway dilemma: Whether or not the Justice Department should file criminal charges against him. After all, unlike Steve Bannon, Meadows was a member of the executive branch and can therefore claim executive privilege. Are you kidding? Of course, the DOJ should file criminal charges against Meadows, just as they did against Bannon. It doesnt matter where Meadows worked. White House aides arent above the law. Refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena is a crime. Interfering with an election is a crime. Attempting to overthrow the government is a crime. And theres substantial evidence that Meadows is guilty of all three. The more we learn about his involvement in the events between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021, the clearer it is that Meadows was more than Trumps chief of staff. He was Trumps enabler-in-chief. After Donald Trump himself, Mark Meadows was most responsible for the greatest assault on our democracy since the Civil War. Any doubts that Meadows played a central role in the Jan. 6 insurrection vanished when Rep. Liz Cheney, co-chair of the select committee, read aloud frantic texts sent to Meadows while the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was underway: texts from members of the presidents family, members of Congress and anchors on Fox News pleading for Meadows to persuade Trump to call off the armed mob. And what did Meadows do? Nothing. Actually, Meadows role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election started long before that. It was Meadows who initiated and joined in the Jan. 2 phone call to Georgias Brad Raffensperger in which Trump demanded that the secretary of state find 11,780 votes. And, as has been duly reported, rather than serve as a watchdog, dismissing a pile of nutty conspiracy theories flooding the White House, Meadows took every one of them seriously, convinced Trump to take them seriously, and pressured administration officials to investigate them and take action. In his book Betrayal, for example, ABCs Jonathan Karl reveals a particularly wacky theory which became known as #ItalyGate that military satellites in Italy were being deployed by two Italian prisoners to rig voting machines in the U.S. As Karl reports, it was a crazy QAnon conspiracy theory which should have been laughed at, yet Meadows asked both acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller to investigate the nonsense. Karl was also the first to report Meadows role in pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College count on Jan. 6. In what is now an infamous memo, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis argued that because there had been (baseless) challenges to election results in six states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin Pence could rule that electoral votes from those states not be counted, thereby throwing the election to Trump. Again, rather than doing his job and dismissing the memo as blatantly unconstitutional, Meadows sent it to Pence with the implied message: This is what the president wants you to do. The Washington Posts Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker, in their book I Alone Can Fix It, also document Meadows willingness to feed Trump bogus theories of election fraud. On one occasion, he told Trump hed learned that tens of thousands of illegal aliens had voted in Arizona. Trump blew up and ordered a full investigation which turned up nothing. The so-called illegal aliens were actually U.S. citizens living overseas who had cast legal ballots. Every step of the way, in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election from filing 65 frivolous lawsuits, to spreading false election theories, to putting the squeeze on state election officials, to pressuring Mike Pence, to inviting his supporters to Washington, to stirring up the mob on the morning of Jan. 6, to standing by and doing nothing while they were attacking the Capitol Meadows was by Trumps side, encouraging him and enabling him. Charge Mark Meadows with a crime? For Attorney General Merrick Garland, this should be a no-brainer. Its not enough to go after the foot soldiers who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6. Its important to hold responsible those who planned and inspired the attack, starting with Donald Trump and Mark Meadows. Its a disgrace that Garland hasnt already filed criminal charges against both. Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of the new book, Trump Must Go: The Top 100 Reasons to Dump Trump (And One to Keep Him. RALEIGH Thanks to state Sen. Jeff Jackson bowing out of North Carolinas Democratic primary, the 2022 field for U.S. Senate is coming into focus. We now have a likely nominee (Cheri Beasley) facing one of three prominent Republican candidates: Pat McCrory, Ted Budd or Mark Walker. Each seeks to replace three-term U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, whos retiring this year. Before winning the seat, Burr served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Budd is a sitting House member, Walker a former member. You might think the House represents a common path to a Senate seat in North Carolina. I did, too, until I examined the electoral history. It turns out since the 1913 passage of the 17th Amendment, which made senators elected by voters rather than state legislatures, only one person whose highest previous office was the U.S. House has ever won a Senate seat. That was Richard Burr himself, in 2004. Three other North Carolinians winning elections for Senate had previously been congressmen, too: Furnifold Simmons (a senator from 1901-1931), Clyde Hoey (1945-1954) and Sam Ervin (1954-1974). But each served in statewide office before their Senate victories: Simmons in the U.S. Senate by legislative election, Hoey as North Carolinas governor and Ervin as a justice on the state Supreme Court. There were also two former congressman, William Umstead (1946-1948) and Jim Broyhill (1986), who got appointed to the nations upper chamber but never won a Senate election. Speaking of Ervin, he represents the path that Beasley, a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, is now attempting to tread. As for former Gov. Pat McCrory, if he wins hell join four other governors in accomplishing such a feat: Hoey, Melville Broughton (1948-1949), Kerr Scott (1954-1958) and Terry Sanford (1986-1993). Out of the 20 folks whove been popularly elected to the Senate from North Carolina, then, most took a political path other than those represented by this years major candidates. Like Simmons, Lee Overman (1903-1930) had previously served in the U.S. Senate via legislative election. For Willis Smith (1950-1953), Kay Hagan (2009-2015) and Thom Tillis (2014-present), their highest prior office was state legislator. Robert Morgan (1975-1981) was the states attorney general. Jesse Helms (1973-2003) was a former Raleigh city councilman. Robert Reynolds (1932-1945) had been a district attorney. And six North Carolina members Josiah Bailey (1931-1946), Everett Jordan (1958-1973), John East (1981-1986), Lauch Faircloth (1993-1999), John Edwards (1999-2005) and Elizabeth Dole (2003-2009) held no elective office before winning Senate races. Other than preparing you to win a trivia contest, why do I offer this historical account of our Senate elections? Because it serves to illustrate just how wild and unpredictable North Carolinas political contests can be. Why is Burr the only person to leap successfully from U.S. House to U.S. Senate? I dont see a clear answer to that question. With constant media appearances and elections every two years, House members can build name recognition and strong networks of supporters but largely within just one part of the state. Politicians elected statewide would seem to have an obvious advantage over them. Still, Hagan and Tillis came straight out of the legislature, and quite a few senators had never run successfully for any office before winning their Senate races. I suspect our sample size is just too small, and our political conditions too changeable, to come up with any hard-and-fast rules. The broadcast media-driven Senate campaigns of the late 20th and early 21st centuries were vastly different affairs than, say, the Willis Smith-Frank Porter Graham race of 1950. And the truth is that there really havent been that many representatives willing to give up usually safe House seats to run in North Carolinas usually competitive Senate contests. That having been said, I wonder if perhaps the dysfunction now plaguing Congress will make it harder going forward for House members to win statewide. Across the partisan spectrum, voters appear deeply disenchanted with Washington. They may prefer to send a fumigator, not a legislator. John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member and author of the novel Mountain Folk, a historical fantasy set during the American Revolution (MountainFolkBook.com). It was an act of country love. This is what we have repeatedly been told about the insurrection at the Capitol, one year ago this week. The claim began, as brazen lies so often seem to, with Donald Trump. These are the things and events that happen, he said, when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. This is what he tweeted that evening. After the walls were scaled and the windows smashed, after the bones were broken and the blood spilled, after the lawmakers were barricaded and the vice president fled, after the building was ransacked and the wall smeared, after the shot was fired and the woman died, after a day that will absolutely live in infamy, that was his response: Great patriots had done all this after being cheated out of their votes. It was a statement of such stunning mendacity a year later, there is still zero evidence of meaningful election fraud that you dared to hope even so-called conservatives would reject it. But the Republican Party is where moral courage goes to die, so in the ensuing year, Trumps canard has become coin of the realm on the right. Rep. Paul Gosar has described as peaceful patriots the architects of the worst attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812. Tucker Carlson called them solid Americans. Sen. Ron Johnson said they were people that love this country. The right has doggedly resisted the idea of holding accountable the man Trump who called the rioters together, who exhorted them like Vince Lombardi in a pregame speech and aimed them like a gun at the heart of American democracy. This refusal to impose consequences, combined with the passage of laws designed to restrict Democratic-leaning voters access to the polls and the installation of Trump loyalists in positions of authority over state elections strongly suggests that the events of Jan. 6 will ultimately prove to be not an isolated event, but a dress rehearsal for something far worse. Because you see, they love America so. Oh, and their votes were stolen. On this first anniversary, it seems appropriate indeed, necessary to call that claim out for the despicable crock it is. You know whos had their votes stolen? Actually, really stolen? Women, who had no federally guaranteed right to vote until the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, Asian Americans, who did not enjoy full access to voting rights until the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, and African Americans, whose voting rights were broadly denied until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and, even so, are still threatened to this very day. And you know who loved America? They did. They loved it enough to spend decades arguing with it, working through its courts, demanding it venerate its own ideals. They never stormed the Capitol. They loved America enough to believe in it. So it is beyond galling to hear these gangsters of democracy, these spoiled brats who attacked the seat of government because, heaven forfend, they lost an election, lauded as avatars of country love. No, they are avatars of cowardice, the fear of demographic change. And love? They love the braying of the fascist, the easy answers of the demagogue, the reasoning of the mob, the justice of fists and force, the powerless silence of the disfavored and despised. They dont love America. They love an America that does not exist. Yet. Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 3511 NW 91st Ave., Miami, FL 33172. Readers may contact him at lpitts@miamiherald.com. Submit an Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. Obituaries submitted by family members are also accepted pending proper verification of the death. Submit an Obituary By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Iranian Oil Minister Javad Ovji has said that at present, 4 - 4.5 million cubic meters of gas per day are imported from Turkmenistan to Iran under the swap supply agreement signed by Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan, Day.az has reported. The minister noted that gas imports ensure the stability of the gas market in the country. To recall, after a meeting with the Turkmen delegation led by Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in October 2021, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Ovji announced Tehran's intention to pay the gas debt to Turkmenistan. It should be noted here that due to Iran's debt Turkmengaz has stopped gas deliveries to Iran since January 2017. After the talks, during Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev's visit to Iran, an agreement was reached on the swap of gas supplies to Azerbaijan via Iran from Turkmenistan. On November 28, 2021, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement on swapping gas supplies in Ashgabat. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi. The agreement envisages deliveries of 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters of gas each year, with Turkmenistan supplying gas to Iran and Iran delivering an equal quantity of gas to Azerbaijan. Thus, under the trilateral deal, Turkmenistan will sell 5-6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Azerbaijan. These volumes are expected to increase in the future. Turkmenistan is the world's fifth-largest gas reserves according to OPEC and fourth-largest according to BP. Iran is firmly in second place in both rankings. Azerbaijan ranks 21st and 13th on these lists, respectively. Experts have warned that ISIS mercenaries are planning to launch more deadly attacks in Syria during 2022, according to a report by "Voice of America" website. This warning comes after an increase in ISIS attacks in recent weeks, including 2 strikes claimed by ISIS in the eastern and central regions. On Monday, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint of Syrian Democratic Forces, in Deir al-Zor. On the same day, five soldiers of Damascus government forces were killed and 20 wounded on late Sunday, when ISIS mercenaries attacked their military bus on a highway in Syrian Desert, according to Damascus government news agency (SANA). Buses transporting forces of Damascus government are frequently attacked. Last October, 14 soldiers were killed and 3 others were wounded when two explosive devices exploded targeting their bus. In this context, Kolin Klark, a senior researcher at New York-based Sovan Center, told the radio, "The local security dynamics on the ground in Syria have not changed." He stressed that "nothing has changed, everyone is still against ISIS." ISIS, which took control of parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, lost all the territory it controlled in 2019. According to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 600 people were killed in dozens of attacks carried out by ISIS last year in Syria. Ramy Abd al-Rahman, director of SOHR, said: "Last year, we witnessed an increase in attacks claimed by ISIS, whether in areas controlled by regime or SDF, so it is normal to expect more complex attacks in 2022." Sh-S ANHA As a new year begins, its a good time to take a moment to reflect on last year. Our community started 2021 in the second year of the pandemic and coming off a spike in COVID-19 cases. Pfizers vaccine was released toward the end of December 2020 to huge demand, and the local vaccination team began what would turn into a yearlong (and counting!) mission to get shots in arms to everyone in our community. The local vaccination team, which includes staff from Lewis and Clark Public Health, PureView Health Center, St. Peters Health, Rocky Mountain Development Council (RMDC), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, the Helena Indian Alliance, and many others, worked long hours to put together drive-thru and mobile clinics to provide lifesaving vaccine to thousands and thousands of individuals. The first clinics were limited to critical health care workers and other first responders, but future clinics would soon serve tens of thousands of our community members from all over the tri-county area. To say the rollout of vaccine clinics marked a chaotic and stressful time for the local vaccination team is an understatement. At first, our countys allotment of vaccines was sparse. The team knew demand far outpaced supply. Staff needed to figure out how to take hundreds of appointments fairly and equitably. Those who made (or tried to make!) appointments in the early days of our clinics probably remember the mad scramble to get an appointment: waiting for the website to become available, then crashing, the endless clicks, the spinning cursor, the tied-up phone lines, and busy signals. In the early days of registration, a few were lucky enough to get an appointment, while many others were forced to wait for another chance. The drive-thru clinics proved an enormous success, due in large part to the local vaccination team and volunteers. Clinic volunteers offered up thousands of combined hours to serve our community. In addition to the nurses and doctors who administered shots, hundreds of volunteers helped direct traffic, checked appointments, passed out paperwork, and performed many other tasks to ensure each clinic ran as smooth as possible. Volunteers from RMDC took to the phones in the early days of our clinics, serving as our first call center and providing appointments for our most at-risk residents. Our drive-thru clinics were revered by many and adopted as best practice by other counties across the state. Thats not to say everything always went as planned. On one occasion, a huge snowstorm snarled and delayed delivery of hundreds of doses of vaccine to our county. The planning team took the chance to continue with a drive-thru event not knowing if the vaccine would make it in time. Then, like a miracle, the shipment arrived on the morning of the clinic, with only a few hours to spare, and all the doses were administered to hundreds of waiting community members who were none the wiser to the behind-the-scenes drama. As the months went by, more and more of our citizens received their first and second doses of vaccine, and - coupled with masking and physical distancing - our COVID-19 infections began to fall. Stress levels eased as millions of vaccinated and protected Americans ventured back out into the world. The drive-thru and mobile clinics ended and demand for vaccines fell. Later last summer, buzz started about a new COVID-19 variant called delta. At first, nobody knew precisely how delta spread or the severity of disease it caused. We soon had our answer - delta is more transmissible and deadly. Whats more, breakthrough infections among the vaccinated rose, albeit with far less severe disease, hospitalizations, and death than those who couldnt or didnt get vaccinated. Fairly quickly, COVID-19 infections began to rise once again, peaking in late October. Sadly, this spike resulted in a critical strain on our local health care providers, taxing an already strained and exhausted group of frontline health care workers. Crisis standards of care were implemented in response. News broke in the fall regarding boosters and our drive-thru clinics sprang back to life, providing shots to thousands of residents in the county and giving our community a much-needed boost in the fight against delta. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, things are both looking a bit more hopeful and daunting. Were watching to see how the omicron variant will affect our community. Providing vaccine to the rural parts of our county remains a challenge. But theres also hope. There are new anti-viral drugs on the horizon which could curb the worst symptoms of the virus and- working in conjunction with the protective aspects of the vaccines - could greatly limit hospital visits and deaths. While 2021 was stressful, the team at Lewis and Clark Public Health continues to stay committed and have hope for our community, our state, and our nation. It is a pleasure to serve the people of Lewis and Clark County. We wish everyone a wonderful and safe and a happy 2022. Drenda Niemann is the health officer for Lewis and Clark Public Health. The recreational cannabis market in Montana topped $1.5 million in sales in its first weekend, according to the state revenue department. With a statewide 20% sales tax on recreational cannabis, that opening weekend haul $1,566,980 amounts to $313,396 in tax revenue for the state. The Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division tallied a combined total of $1,999,597 with recreational and medical sales last Saturday and Sunday. The 4% tax on the $432,617 in medical sales provided an additional $17,305 in tax revenue to the state. The rollout of the adult-use program went off without any issues from the departments supported IT systems," Cannabis Control Division Administrator Kristan Barbour said Tuesday in an email. "We were able to successfully verify with (the) industry that our licensing and seed to sales systems were working on Friday to ensure a successful launch on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. The successful launch was a result of staffs hard work and planning over the past six month to meet the challenges of implementing HB 701. House Bill 701 was the state Legislature's framework for the recreational cannabis market and the revenue department's role in that system. Missoula, Yellowstone, Park and Dawson counties have each implemented an additional 3% local sales tax in recent elections. Those taxes, however, do not go into effect until 90 days after the elections to implement the tax, and do not factor into the weekend sales numbers. Recreational cannabis sales went live in 29 counties on New Year's Day, while 27 continue a ban on recreational cannabis. The arrangement is a feature of the regulatory framework passed by the state Legislature: whether or not a county allows recreational cannabis sales depends on whether the county approved the legalization ballot initiative in the 2020 election. This split was not projected to crater the state's potential tax revenue windfall, however, with roughly 90% of the state population located in the so-called "green" counties. The Governors Office of Budget and Program Planning projected $130 million in recreational sales in 2022, climbing to $195.5 million in 2023 once the moratorium on new businesses ends. Because the Department of Revenue does not track consumer data on recreational cannabis sales, purchases by out-of-state residents are unknown. The first $6 million in tax revenue will pour into the Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) Fund, a new substance use disorder treatment and addiction recovery program. The fund was first proposed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, who listed it among his list of accomplishments during his first year in office at a press conference Tuesday. "We took steps to combat the drug epidemic, created the Heart Fund and Angel Initiative, to help folks struggling with addiction to get the treatment they need," Gianforte said. Of that first $6 million pool, $500,000 will be allocated to Indian Health Services in Montana. Once the HEART Fund bucket is filled, 20% of the remaining funds go to Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks to fund wildlife habitat; state parks, trails and nongame wildlife accounts each receive 4%; 3% goes to a special state account for veterans and surviving spouses; $150,000 goes to the Montana Board of Crime Control and the rest goes to the state general fund. Pepper Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild and the face of the legalization campaign in 2020, said the industry anticipated a "healthy opening." "This is a great start to what will prove to be a significant tax contribution from Montana's cannabis industry," Petersen said. Deputy Montana State News Bureau Chief Tom Kuglin contributed to this story. Love 11 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 5 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Montana Supreme Court last week reversed a Miles City man's 80-year prison sentence and attempted deliberate homicide conviction, finding prosecutors presented insufficient evidence during his trial in 2019. Banner Lee Boyd, 44, remains imprisoned at Crossroads Correctional Center near Shelby on a 10-year sentence for assaulting a police officer on the night he was kicked out of a bar in July 2018. Supreme Court Justice Ingrid Gustafson wrote the majority opinion. Justice Jim Rice wrote a stern dissenting opinion, arguing the court should not make its own inferences from the evidence to overturn a jury's verdict. According to the court filings, Boyd was asked to leave the Olive Bar in Miles City on July 27, 2018. He did, although in the process he got into a verbal confrontation with the bar owner that spilled out onto the street. Boyd eventually left but told the bar owner, "I will be back." After Boyd walked across the street to his second-floor apartment, a Miles City police officer arrived and began speaking with the bar owner. The bar owner called up to Boyd and told him to come down and speak with the officer, according to court documents. Boyd did come down, and after some discussion got into a scuffle until a few bar patrons ran over to help the officer subdue Boyd. Once in handcuffs and the backseat of the police car, the officer found a 10-inch knife concealed in Boyd's pants. The bar owner, still at the scene, asked Boyd what he was planning to do with it. "Stab you in the heart," Boyd told the bar owner, according to charging documents. A jury convicted Boyd in February 2019 for assaulting a police officer and attempted deliberate homicide, and Boyd appealed. The Montana Supreme Court wrote in its Dec. 28 opinion that Boyd did not return to confront the bar owner but instead obliged the bar owner's call to come back down to the street. The justices wrote they were "not convinced" that the only thing standing between Boyd and the bar owner's killing was the police officer who arrived. Additionally, the threat to stab the bar owner in the heart came only after Boyd was already detained, the court said. "A conviction for attempted deliberate homicide requires more than possibly threatening to kill someone and then standing outside your house with a knife concealed down your pants," the justices wrote. "Boyd may have been prepared to kill Nelson, but he did not make an attempt to complete the crime and there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction in this case." In his dissenting opinion, Rice said the jury was entitled to drawing its own conclusion from the evidence that Boyd, by going to his apartment to retrieve the knife, had set in motion his alleged intent to commit the homicide. The order sends the case back to district court with instructions to the judge to dismiss the attempted homicide charge. The justices also instructed the judge to strike a number of conditions they said were improperly imposed while shaping the terms of Boyd's possible parole. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 4 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Donations this year came through Red Kettles donations, mail appeals, special gifts and fundraising events. The donations not only helped families through the holidays, but will provide assistance throughout the year, according to local Salvation Army administration. It is humbling to see the support of our community," said Kyle Karsten, director of development. "You do not reach a goal like this without generous donations throughout the year. It was that support along with the final two days of bell ringing that pushed us past this years goal. The Red Kettles, the Salvation Army's iconic holiday symbol, were located in outside Hobby Lobby, Farm and Fleet, Rural King, Sams Club, Kroger, and both Walmart locations, with more than 100 volunteers filling nearly 700 hours. It was all support, no matter the size of the donation, that helped us reach our goal, said Lt. Kenesa Debela, Corps Officer of the Decatur Salvation Army. The Salvation Army credits volunteers, businesses, schools, churches and service groups for the reaching its goal. There were so many who gave their personal donation to help raise these needed funds that support our programs that make such an impact in this community, said Lt. Shanell Debela, Corps Officer of the Decatur Salvation Army. This community is amazing. I cannot thank our community enough for the support it gives us at Christmas each year and really all year long. Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR The gunshot wounds suffered by a 3-year-old Tuesday night likely came from a weapon fired by someone inside the house he was in, Decatur police said. "Upon further investigation and the interviewing of witnesses, it was determined that the firearm used was likely fired from inside the residence, by an occupant of the house," Decatur police Sgt. Steven Carroll said in an updated news release. "This investigation continues and other witnesses are being sought at this time." Carroll said officers were called to Decatur Memorial Hospital around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a child suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. The child had been brought to the hospital by private vehicle. Carroll said initial interviews sent police to the 500 block of West Sawyer Street where the victim and family members had been. It was there police discovered a residence that has been struck by gunfire. Anyone with information about this crime or other felony crimes is encouraged to contact the Decatur Police Department at 217-424-2711 or Crime Stoppers at 217-423-8477. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR Due to the number of staff members who tested positive for COVID-19, Decatur Public Schools on Tuesday announced a temporary suspension of in-person learning at two schools. The American Dreamer STEM Academy and Franklin Grove Elementary School will have virtual learning from Wednesday, Jan. 5, through Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 17. In-person learning for these students will resume on on Tuesday, Jan. 18. "We understand that this late notice will be an inconvenience for many families. However, we have gotten notice throughout the day today about the number of staff members at these two schools who have tested positive for COVID," said the district in a Facebook post. "We believe that this measure is the best course of action to protect the health and safety of our entire school community." The remaining district schools will return to class Wednesday, as planned, following the holiday break. The district urges students with COVID symptoms or who have tested positive to stay home. The news comes a day after Macon County reported 960 new positive COVID cases during the past week. School districts across the country, including Peoria schoosls, have delayed reopening after the holidays or shifted to remote learning as infection rates have climbed. In a separate Facebook post, the school district said it couldn't initiate district-wide virtual learning because it is "still under the mandate from the Governor and (Illinois State Board of Education) that students attend school in person." American Dreamer and Franklin Grove students will be able to pick up their devices from school Wednesday morning during regular school hours and they are expected to sign into Google Classroom or Seesaw everyday for live instruction. There may be instances where students do not receive live instruction, but the district said the goal is to provide students with as much live instructions as possible. Additionally, the Extended Day programs for before- and after-school and all extra-curricular activities, including sports, will not be offered during this timeframe at either school. "Were asking families of American Dreamer and Franklin Grove students to please stay home as much as possible during this time to help contain the potential spread of the COVID virus," the district said. "If your student begins to experience symptoms, please consult a healthcare provider and notify the school office as soon as possible. Its vital that you inform the school if your student has symptoms or tests positive for COVID." Breakfast and lunch packages will also be provided to students at both schools and more information on how to opt-in will be sent out Wednesday. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. By Trend Global wheat prices reached the top level over the past eight years despite expectations of record production, Trend reports. The adverse weather conditions observed in the Northern Hemisphere in the spring and summer of last year caused fears about the harvest reduction in 2021. High prices and limited supply from Russia, the world's leading wheat supplier, due to the introduction of export duties, as well as a sharp increase in transport costs, keep prices high. Data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange show that soft winter wheat prices have set a record, surpassing $8 a bushel (0.027 tons) for the first time since 2012. Due to the rise in grain prices, experts also predict a rise in the cost of food throughout the world. So, in Romania in November 2021, the price of grain was about 33.7 percent higher than in November 2020, and 55.7 percent more than in November 2019. In Turkey, the wholesale grain price for 2021 was set at 2,450 Turkish liras ($196), but is currently priced at 3,720 Turkish liras ($297) per ton. The import price of grain, mainly from Russia, is $340-350 per ton. As a result of statistical calculations carried out from September 2020 through September 2021, some rate of change in grain prices was observed in Spain. Prices for soft wheat vary from 185 to 255 euro per ton, for durum wheat - from 285 to 420 euro per ton, for barley - from 155 to 230 euro per ton, for corn - from 180 to 275 euro per ton. In Croatia, the price of grain in October last year increased by 52 percent compared to September - October 2020 and amounted to 179 kuna (7.5 kuna = one euro) per kilogram. The 2022 will be remembered by the world as a post-pandemic period, and the rise in prices is inevitable amid growing demand and a decrease in the manufacturing of grain, food and other essential products. Major producers of flour and bread made an appeal regarding price changes in Azerbaijan. "Currently, given the need to continue the activities of flour producers and imports of wheat to provide the country with this strategic food product, there is a need to adjust flour prices in line with current global wheat prices in order to prevent the threat of a shortage. A 50-kg sack of flour can grow in price to 36 manat ($21), and, consequently, the price of a traditional loaf of bread will grow by a maximum of 10-15 gapik (5.8-8.8 cents)," the appeal said. According to the appeal, due to the ongoing global negative processes, uncertainty, pressure on production and the supply chain, as well as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, food prices have sharply increased in the world. These processes have also affected the cost of food wheat, which is imported to Azerbaijan from Russia. "Due to the rise in prices on the Russian market, these products are supplied to Azerbaijan at higher prices. Besides, the introduction of a high export duty from February 2021 in Russia also seriously affects the rise in prices," the appeal further said. "In December 2021, the average monthly export price of one ton of milling wheat in Russia grew by 58.7 percent compared to the same period in 2019 and by 33.1 percent compared to December 2020." "To reduce the negative impact of the global rise in prices on the Azerbaijani market, the state has provided great support to importers and producers of flour throughout the year," the appeal reminded. "Realizing our important role in the food supply of citizens, we declare that if the price of flour is brought in line with the current price of milling wheat, well mobilize all efforts so that the price of bread and flour products doesnt rise higher than the specified level before the grain harvesting and procurement season in 2022," the appeal authors said. The rise in prices on the world market isnt limited to grain, including wheat. Global prices for dairy products in November 2021 increased by 3.4 percent compared to October and by 19.1 percent compared to the same month in 2020. Global vegetable oil prices rose to a record high in October but declined slightly (0.2 percent) in November. Despite the fact that prices for meat products on the world market in November 2021 decreased by 0.9 percent compared to October, this figure is 17.6 percent higher than in the same period in 2020. DECATUR A burglar who told a resident of a Decatur house hed just broken into whatever is in my pocket is mine was sent to prison for three years on Tuesday. Adam S. Martin, 42, appeared in Macon County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary. The plea was part of a deal negotiated by defense attorney Caleb Brown that saw an additional burglary charge and two counts of violating orders of protection dismissed. A sworn Decatur police affidavit about the case said Martin was arrested in the early morning hours of Oct. 14 after he had broken into a house in the 4000 block of Buckingham Drive. The affidavit said this is the home of a 68-year-old man who had previously obtained an order of protection against Martin. Police said the man had not been home at the time but a 68-year-old woman with slow mobility issues had been there and had seen Martin moving about the house. She then discovered $175 was missing from a wallet. (She) stated she confronted Martin about the missing money and he advised her something similar to Whatever is in my pocket is mine, said Officer Aaron Jostes, who signed the affidavit. Martin was stopped by police walking away from the house and prosecutors told Judge Jeffrey Geisler that Martins pockets also contained collectible coins and jewelry he had stolen from the residence. And, in an unrelated case, Geisler also sentenced a female Decatur burglar to a four-year prison term on Tuesday. Jamie I. Justice, 39, had pleaded guilty to one count of residential burglary in a plea deal negotiated by Brown, who was also her defense attorney. Three additional charges of theft were then dismissed by the judge. Prosecuting, Assistant Macon County States Attorney Tim Tighe said Justice had been arrested after the Sept. 4, 2019, burglary targeting the Oakridge Drive home of a woman aged over 60. (The victim) had told police that she suspected the defendant Jamie Justice had done it because she knew her and she had taken things from her before but (the victim) had not reported it. Tighe said Justice had stolen jewelry and a computer and was tracked down and caught after police traced the stolen computer to a Decatur pawn shop. Detectives pulled video surveillance from the store which clearly showed Justice pawning the device. Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Cloudy with gusty winds. A stray thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. One of the proposed maps for redistricting for the city of New Braunfels. This years Washington County Business Challenge has launched. This competitive, six-week training program is in its ninth year and will award over $32,000 in cash and services to startups and expanding businesses within the towns of Abingdon, Damascus and Glade Spring and the county. The mission of the challenge is to foster small business development and job opportunities. To date, more than 130 business owners have participated, with 45% starting or expanding businesses, which resulted in job growth and increased tax revenue. The program, which begins Jan. 18, will be a virtual-only weekly event. The challenge is a collaborative effort of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Community Capital and Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator. This year, the Emory & Henry School of Business has increased the 2022 Entrepreneurship Award. In addition to $5,000 cash and support from the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator, the winner will receive mentorship, tuition assistance and the opportunity for three employees to attend Emory & Henrys Small Business Growth Program. This award is given to an enterprise or individual that demonstrates current or potential impact in Washington County. There will be two $5,000 first-place awards, two $2,500 second-place awards and two $500 third-place awards. Other awards include: First Community Bank will award $1,500 for the best pitch and $1,000 to the best business plan. Comfort Suites will award $1,000 for the most knowledgeable business idea. Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator will award half-price rent for one year for the first-place startup business and first-place existing business winners. The Washington County Chamber of Commerce will award four one-year chamber memberships to all first- and second-place winners. Mike Spiegler, principal partner in Spiegler and Blevins CPAs, will contribute one year of CPA services. John Martin, partner at Penn Stuart, will contribute the business startup formation documents to the winning contestant. BRISTOL, Va. In a letter asking state and federal officials for help with the citys troubled landfill, Bristol Virginia City Manager Randy Eads admitted that steps taken thus far havent solved its odor problems. Widespread complaints about foul odors and related health concerns sparked $2.8 million worth of work at the landfill throughout 2021, but, in the end, the smell remains. On Monday, Eads submitted a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Director David Paylor seeking expert assistance and funding. Currently the city has taken all corrective actions recommended to solve the odor issue. Citizens of our community are still experiencing the malodors emanating from the citys landfill, Eads wrote, adding the widespread problem is creating a lower quality of life for residents. After a series of complaints surfaced in December 2020, the city retained Draper Aden Associates and SCS Services to study the landfill and suggest changes. The initial recommendation was to remove excessive amounts of water in the landfill, but that provided no relief. The next recommendation was for the city to invest in drilling 21 new gas wells in the landfill and connecting each to the landfills system to collect gases escaping into the atmosphere. That work was completed, along with cleaning out and reconnecting existing wells, installing a series of pumps to get water out of the wells and myriad other changes, but the odor remains and appears to have worsened and spread, based on widespread comments on social media. The city has listened to and implemented the recommendations suggested by our experts and the regulatory agencies in order to correct the odors. Today the odors still exist and, without further expert advice, I do not foresee the odors being eliminated in the near future, Eads wrote. The city wanted to complete and evaluate all work recommended by its consultants before reaching out for assistance, Eads wrote. Expectations in recent months were that the work would result in a significant improvement by years end, but that didnt happen. The city is respectfully requesting the Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to take a more active role in seeking experts to educate the city council and management team members on how to rectify the odor situation, Eads wrote. The city is also requesting additional funding to compensate experts and to complete the necessary work to eliminate the odor in Bristol and the surrounding region. Both agencies are already well aware of the citys landfill woes. DEQ has been working with the city on multiple fronts for more than a year and issued multiple notices of violation for city shortcomings. The EPA has twice sent representatives to Bristol who took multiple air samples from the impacted areas both last summer and fall. U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-9th, is drafting a letter to EPA to encourage it to help on this issue, and his office is looking for other ways to be helpful, spokesman Kevin Baird said Tuesday. State Del. Israel OQuinn, R-Bristol, said Tuesday he hopes both agencies will respond. Hopefully, between those two agencies, they can offer potential solutions and hopefully some funding as well to help get over this hump, OQuinn said. Certainly, it affects both sides of the line making this a federal issue. I am hopeful they will both be willing to come to the table, work together and help the city come up with what is going to have to be a creative solution. Theres still hope that whats been done will have more significant impact, but thats probably not a long-term solution to the overall problem, OQuinn said. It is a very, very complicated problem, and oversimplifying it and saying close the gates is the solution is absolutely flat-out wrong. It will take something much more creative and probably much more expensive. While calibration of the 21 new wells is still ongoing which is what OQuinn is referring to city officials are concerned it wont be the solution. The citys experts and others not associated with the city have advised that if the newly installed gas wells do not work then plan B would be to add more gas wells, Eads wrote. This suggestion may very well be the case. However the city doubled the number of gas wells in our landfill and residents have not seen an improvement. Before the city expends additional taxpayer dollars on additional gas wells that may not improve the odor situation it is the citys opinion that our regulatory agencies provide us a path forward or provide us with appropriate expertise to resolve this matter. 276-645-2532 Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Its about time, but its not enough. The city of Bristol, Virginias letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is a good move. The city has finally raised its hand and asked for help. The problem is the letter once again leaves out the people most adversely affected by the continued stench of the landfill. In the letter, the city asks for expert advice and additional funding to battle the landfill odors but barely mentions how the stench has greatly deteriorated the quality of life for residents and asks for no aid or remedies for the citizens in Virginia and Tennessee affected by the problem. The news from the letter for those whose homes are regularly invaded by the stench is not encouraging. What the city tried has not worked. The city is not confident that more gas wells are the answer, and the city has no idea how long it will take to fix this issue. The letter gives those seeking relief from the nightly invader no hope. For people who own property or go to church or school in the affected areas, it is certainly not how they wanted to begin 2022. The city does not ask for any aid or funding for those people on the front lines fighting the battle against the stench every day. It has spent more than $2.8 million to fix the problem but not a dime to help those impacted. Again, city officials ignore the residents of Virginia and Tennessee when they could have asked for funding for air purifiers or temporary housing. Just because no one has shown the emissions cause long-term health issues does not make living with them any more pleasant. Solving the problem causing the odors should absolutely be the citys top priority, but if aid is not provided to the residents, that community may not be there by the time the problem has been solved. Its good to see the city of Bristol, Virginia is finally taking this situation seriously enough to admit it has a problem it cant handle. Now, the city manager needs to write a similar letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to request help for the citizens affected by the problem as well. Am I the only reader of this newspaper who is reluctant to willingly accept the path the GOP is taking in many states by erecting as many obstacles to the ballot as possible? The results of these actions make it possible America will become an authoritarian type of government. The actions of many state legislators are to make laws that will give them the right to declare votes illegal, thus giving them power to discard or change the vote. There is an unhealthy relationship between a segment of the voting public and former President Trump. I fear they are following blindly Trumps undemocratic philosophy and his bizarre conspiracies of his stolen election, persuading people to not trust election results. America has been labeled a vanishing democracy. The Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol was planned by the previous administration actually to subvert the election results. The Stop the Steal destruction was, as we are now told, a practice in overthrowing our rightly elected government, the destruction of our democracy. Both of Tennessees senators, Blackburn and Hagerty, and our representative, Harshbarger, all voted against the infrastructure bill, which provides much-needed funds to improve many projects in every state, including Tennessee. Both Blackburn and Hagerty have become advocates for Trump and verbally criticized the 13 Republican representatives who voted for this bill. When the money is available, they will be taking the credit. Voting rights advocates are being ignored. Many election officials have been threatened with their lives for the work they did in providing honest overseeing of the last election. The integrity of the vote and the safety of the voter and those who work elections should always be protected in order to preserve our democracy. The seriousness of this matter cannot be minimized. This letter is in response to Your View appearing on the Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, editorial page written by Joshua Slagle. Elected officials do not inherit problems. They are elected to solve problems. Yes, the chatter needs to stop and legal action taken by the citizens in the Twin Cities of Bristol. A class action lawsuit should be taken against the City of Bristol, Virginia; Virginia Municipal League Insurance Programs (VMLIP Liability); and the State of Virginia EPA department. For the last 42 years, I lived in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. This past June, after retiring, I moved back to my home in Sullivan County, Tennessee. After returning home, I traveled to Exit 7 near I-81 only to endure the smell from the landfill. I choose not to shop that area; instead, I travel to Johnson City. But the industrious people of Bristol who endure the smell daily need more than consultants who bring no solutions. Yes, Im not familiar with the actual facts, but I know one fact: The City of Bristol, Virginia stinks. (That will make a nice welcome sign for the city.) I believe Bristol, Virginia should do the following: first, sell the dump to a private party (Waste Management, etc.); second, close the dump and seal with an earthen cap; third, truck all future trash to an EPA-approved managed landfill. The City of New York sends trash to Amelia, Virginia. The landfill is owned and operated by Waste Management. Duke Power sends coal ash from North Carolina to this same landfill; no odor problems occur at that landfill. The City of Petersburg, Virginia, sold the city-owned landfill to a private company. That landfill is located next to South Park Mall and Interstate 95. It is now a large mountain of trash with no odor problems. The City of Virginia Beach placed an earthen cap over its city-owned landfill and turned the landfill into a park called Mount Trashmore. Someone should/could consult with the City of Virginia Beach for a solution. The city has proven they should not oversee a landfill. The casino is not going to cure the landfill issue. In fact, the casino will add to the problem. The good people of Bristol deserve better, and giving the elected officials and a paid city manager a pass will only exacerbate the problem. Revenue that is derived from the landfill operation should be returned to the citizens of Bristol for enduring the smell. As another year comes to a close, we reflect on the events that shaped the dairy industry in 2021. Challenges remained, with high production costs, proposed regulations, and continued struggles associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there were also reasons to celebrate, as some events returned after a year-long hiatus, awards were distributed to dairy leaders, and dairy cattle research and dairy product innovation keep moving our farms forward. Our Hoards Dairyman editorial team is honored to be news source for our readers. We are thankful for the opportunity to share stories and information focusing on current events, herd health, financials, dairy products, and more through the print magazine and our electronic newsletter. Below are five of our top read Hoards Dairyman Intel items from 2021: Could artificial insemination become illegal? A few of our most read Hoards Dairyman Intel articles revolved around a 2021 ballot initiative that would have made artificial insemination illegal in the state of Colorado. This article shared background information on that proposed initiative. Fortunately, the next month it was struck down by a unanimous vote by the Supreme Court. The reason behind soaring component levels A number of consultants noticed milkfat and protein levels climbing in some of their herds during the spring of 2021, reaching well above historic levels. One of our guest writers with an extensive background in dairy cattle nutrition discussed the possible reason why in this article. Dairy lost a Lyon of a leader One of our top read articles honored a dairy leader who passed away in 2021. Tom Lyon was a strong believer in science and education, and throughout his long career in the dairy industry, he served several roles. He was credited with developing Cooperative Resources International, or CRI, the organization that combined a cattle breeding cooperative and a dairy records cooperative. Champions named at World Dairy Expo With the cancellation of the 2020 show, World Dairy Expo returned in 2021 with much anticipation from both participants and visitors. While attendance was down from years before, cattle show entries were strong, and winners from each breed along with a Supreme Champion were selected from the 2,340 head that were shown. Milk crates are trending for the wrong reasons The internet can be a fantastic way to promote dairy, but sometimes social media trends turn sour. A popular challenge on TikTok in 2021 had a connection to dairy people stacked milk crates in the shape of a pyramid and tried to climb over it. This activity was quickly deemed dangerous by health professionals and was eventually banned from the social media platform. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2021 December 30, 2021 By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) increased oil transportation via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline by 64.3 percent in 2021, local media sources have reported. During the last year, SOCAR exported 1.7 million tons of oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline. "Transneft's oil transit from Azerbaijan to the port of Novorossiysk amounted to 1.7 million tons of oil in 2021. At that, 84,760 tons of Azerbaijani oil was exported through this route in December," the statement reads. In January 2021, SOCAR and Russia's Transneft signed a deal to pump over 1 million tons of oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2021. It should be noted that no crude oil was transported via this pipeline from Azerbaijan in January, as all SOCAR volumes were transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that passes through Turkey. SOCAR resumed the oil exports via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline on February 15. Azerbaijan has been transporting its oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline since 1997. The maximum capacity of the pipeline is 105,000 barrels per day. The pipeline has three pump stations - Sangachal, Sumgayit and Siyazan. The diameter of the pipeline is 530 mm, and the length of the pipeline is 1,330 km, out of which 231 km is the Azerbaijani section. In 2020, SOCAR reduced its exports via this route by 30 percent to around 613,000 tons of oil. SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. The company owns two refineries in Azerbaijan, one in Turkey, as well as networks of petrol stations in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Romania and Switzerland. Border Guard Service produces almost 2,000 coils of barbed wire that will go to border with Belarus The State Border Guard Service has manufactured almost 2,000 coils of barbed wire at its own facilities, the service's website said on Wednesday. "To date, three lines have been assembled in the deployed production, which make it possible to produce wire fences of the Egoza type and mesh netting. The necessary staff of a back-up team has also been formed, working in shifts," Head of the State Border Guard Service Serhiy Deineko said during a visit to a workshop for production of barbed wire, deployed in the main center for training personnel. According to him, the wire produced will be sent for installation on the border with Belarus. "Such work is extremely urgent. Considering a need for quick and efficient arrangement of the border, these barriers are one of the elements of organizing tasks in accordance with a plan of engineering arrangement. Today they are already used in areas requiring priority arrangement," the head of the service said. To ensure uninterrupted production of Egoza, about 300 tonnes of raw materials were purchased at the expense of the reserve fund of the State Budget, and more than 200 tonnes of raw materials were received by border guards from a number of organizations, the report says. The service also stressed that due to possible migration flows from Belarus, Ukraine has significantly intensified the arrangement of the northern section of the border: since November of last year, tens of kilometers of barriers have been arranged. Some 30 established engineering groups of border guards are constantly working. In addition, about 1,500 coils of Egoza spiral barbed wire were also received from local self-government bodies, representatives of the public, and charitable organizations for arrangement of the border. As reported, in November, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocated UAH 175 million for the implementation of priority measures to eliminate the consequences of a social emergency related to complication of a situation on the Ukrainian-Belarusian part of the state border. To strengthen the protection of the state border with Belarus, UAH 214 million were allocated, including UAH 76 million for the State Border Guard Service to strengthen vulnerable sections of the border and the purchase of barbed wire. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Department of Agriculture, along with the University of Illinois Extension, is hosting Certified Livestock Manager Training and Testing Workshops. Both online and in-person options will be offered to provide Illinois livestock producers the manure management training they need to meet the requirements of the state's Livestock Management Facilities Act. For the first time the Certified Livestock Manager testing will be available in Spanish. This option will be offered for both our in-person and online exams. "This partnership, between the IDOA and the University of Illinois Extension, provides the tools, education, and training for our state's certified livestock managers to become skilled in best management practices," said IDOA Director Jerry Costello II. "The goal is for our livestock facilities to be good neighbors and stewards of the land." To attend an in-person workshop, registration is required at go.illinois.edu/CLMT. Registration will be open one month prior to the workshop date, and class size is limited in some locations. All participants are required to wear a mask in order to comply with COVID-19 safety precautions. The 2022 workshop dates and locations are: Jan. 18, Effingham County Extension Office, Effingham Feb. 1, IDOA Building auditorium, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield Feb. 15, Livingston County Extension Office, Pontiac Feb. 23, Bank of Springfield Center, Springfield. These will have the same format as previous workshops starting at 9 a.m., except the Feb. 23 session at the Illinois Pork Expo, which will start at noon. The training lasts 3 1/2 hours, and after the workshop, those with over 1,000 animal units will be required to take a paper exam. The training manual Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship Curriculum is available for free at go.illinois.edu/manual. Producers also have the option of taking online training that consists of nine modules of 10- to 20-minute videos that can be viewed at an individuals own pace. Those who have more than 1,000 animal units may take the exam online. Multiple attempts on the online exam are allowed. Producers with less than 1,000 AUs will work through the lessons only. Having more than 1,000 AUs requires completing the lessons and passing the online exam. The certification exam has been updated for the 2022 season with 50 questions on both the paper-based and online exams. An individual must answer 70% of the questions correctly to pass. You can create an account and get access to the online training at go.illinois.edu/CLMT. University of Illinois Extensions in-person or online training fee is $40 and IDOAs certification fee is $30. Any questions relating to the CLMT program can be directed to Nesli Akdeniz at neslihan@illinois.edu or 217-300-2644. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Never having received an email from the White House, it was a surprise, and particularly on Sunday night, with a major announcement by the President and two members of his cabinet for 5 a.m. Monday morning. The initial curiosity was how did they get my email address, which is probably not easily guessed. But that concern faded when the topic of the news release and the significance of the message quickly appeared. Hold the presses, an old newspaperman might say, as he adjusted his visor and tightened the bands on his sleeves. The President was addressing a major thorn in the side of agriculture, along with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland. On the surface that hints that someone is in trouble and there may be jailtime. Fortunately, it is not a farmer. One of the biggest issues today in agriculture links livestock operators with consumers and has meatpackers in the middle. The Big 4 are Tyson, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef. They control 80% of the beef in the grocery store meat case, and 55% to 85% of the pork and poultry. Thumping their chests, they have market power. The White House news release said, When dominant middlemen control so much of the supply chain, they can increase their own profits at the expense of both farmers who make less and consumers who pay more. Most farmers now have little or no choice of buyer for their product and little leverage to negotiate, causing their share of every dollar spent on food to decline. Fifty years ago, ranchers got over 60 cents of every dollar a consumer spent on beef, compared to about 39 cents today. Similarly, hog farmers got 40 to 60 cents on each dollar spent 50 years ago, down to about 19 cents today. While there were no outright accusations in the White House announcement, Attorney General Garland indicated there would be investigations to determine if the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was violated or whether there were any issues with the Packers and Stockyards Act administered by the USDA. Although livestock operators and consumers may seemingly get financially stung, the major losses could be to small livestock slaughter houses and local meat packers. Most smaller towns had one years ago, but their numbers have diminished because large packers were offering to pay more for livestock on the hoof, until the locals closed for lack of business. Secretary Vilsack said his agency would offer increased funding for programs that would benefit small, local packing plants which are on the financial ropes due to the dominance from the major companies. Those initiatives included $275 million for loans at low rates to support plant upgrades and expansions. The program also included loan guarantees to local banks that wanted to participate in the financing arrangements for their customers. USDA funds would also be available for employee training, and other workforce development in local areas with small plants. Bi-partisan efforts in Congress have attempted to resolve the issues, but there has been too much gristle to succeed. Stu Ellis is an observer of the Central Illinois agriculture scene. In addition to his weekly column, you can view his From The Farm and Harvest Heritage reports on WCIA 3 News. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 KANKAKEE, Ill. A police officer who was killed at a northern Illinois hotel pleaded for her life before a man allegedly shot her with her own gun after she was disarmed during a struggle, a prosecutor said. Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, were shot on Dec. 29 while investigating a noise complaint regarding dogs barking in a parked car outside a Comfort Inn. Bailey remained hospitalized Monday and is "fighting for his life," Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe said during a bond hearing for Xandria Harris. Rowe said during Monday's hearing that Harris' co-defendant, 25-year-old Darius Sullivan, had his own gun and used it to shoot Bailey in the head after the officers knocked on the pair's hotel room door, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Rowe said Sullivan then allegedly shot at Rittmanic as she tried to run away before he chased her down a hallway and pinned her against a door. As Sullivan and Rittmanic scuffled, he said Sullivan called out to Harris and she helped him disarm Rittmanic. Rowe said the encounter was captured on Rittmanic's body camera. He said Sullivan and Harris then allegedly stood over Rittmanic pointing guns at her as she lay on the floor, already shot once. "Sgt. Rittmanic was pleading with them to, 'Just leave, you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't, please don't,'" Rowe said. "She was desperately pleading for her life." While Harris held Sullivan's gun, Sullivan allegedly fired two shots from what prosecutors believe to be Rittmanic's gun, striking the sergeant in the neck area, Rowe said. Sullivan and Harris are charged with fatally shooting Rittmanic, 49, and critically wounding Bailey, 27. Sullivan, who was arrested in Indiana, is fighting extradition to Illinois. In a statement released through the Illinois State Police, Rittmanic's family said she sought to meet people where they were in life and work with them to find solutions. To her, the job was about making the community safe for everyone, and she believed that "just because you can, doesn't mean you should," the statement said. "If she pulled over a single mother without a $1 to her name but clearly had violations, she would consider the long-term consequences of creating more debt to someone that is already impoverished," Rittmanic's family said. The Bradley Police Department said Rittmanic was a 21-year law enforcement veteran who served as an Iroqouis County deputy before she joined the Bradley department in 2007. Rittmanic was a published poet, amateur photographer and film producer for family, police and community events, the department said. She met her wife, with whom she was an avid dog rescuer, in 1999, and they were married in 2011. Rowe said his office will seek life sentences on the state charges. He has asked the Justice Department to review the case with the intention of pursuing federal death penalty charges. Illinois is not a death penalty state. Rowe said in a news release that there is "recent precedent" for pursuing the federal death penalty for the murder of a law enforcement officer and also precedent for pursuing it in "non-death penalty states." A message seeking additional comment was left for Rowe on Tuesday by The Associated Press. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Its time to start panicking about the possibility of losing democracy in the United States. A host of bills are being passed in electoral battleground states, many of which are controlled by GOP-majority legislatures and governors. They seek either to keep liberal-leaning constituencies from voting or, more nefariously, to let election officials overturn accurate results. In Texas, a new law, according to The Texas Tribune, specifically targets voting initiatives used by diverse, Democratic Harris County, the states most populous, by banning overnight early voting hours and drive-thru voting both of which proved popular among voters of color last year. And Republican legislators in Ohio have introduced a bill that would shorten early voting, ban returning ballots via drop boxes, and limit acceptable forms of voter ID. Georgias secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger who, following the 2020 election, repeatedly refused Donald Trumps call to find enough votes to overturn Joe Bidens victory is facing a Trump-endorsed primary challenger whod be far more amenable to doing so. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is also facing a primary challenge, from Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue, for similarly sinister reasons. In short, Republicans across the country are working to ensure that the next time a would-be autocrat like Donald Trump tries to snatch victory from electoral defeat, he succeeds. All of this is well documented. Recent weeks have seen a surge in coverage of Republican-led efforts to further undermine democracy. An extensively reported piece by Barton Gellman in The Atlantic has perhaps the most jarring headline: Trumps Next Coup Has Already Begun. Another ominous op-ed, 18 Steps to a Democratic Breakdown, ran in the Dec. 10 issue of The Washington Post. Democracy is unraveling before our eyes, and time is running out to do anything about it. To protect democracy against these predations, we first need to pass a new federal Voting Rights Act. There is simply no time to individually fight, through courts or ballot boxes, all of the state and local laws that are loosening our already-faltering grasp on majority rule. Weve been on this slippery slope for some time. In 2013, a Supreme Court ruling effectively retired the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which mandated that states with a history of discrimination against minority voters have electoral changes approved by the federal government. Now, as Old South states like Georgia are moving toward a system that would let election officials steal elections by disenfranchising voters and threatening to delegitimize results, were seeing how wrong that ruling was. And these latest state measures, however incremental, are edging the United States toward an autocratic abyss. Its time to stop playing games. We need to pass a federal voting rights law that supersedes the state and local laws further shredding our already-frayed democracy. There is still hope. On Dec. 13, the Democratic governors of 17 states signed a letter urging the U.S. Senate to act on voting rights, including codification of a law the House passed in August, named for the late John Lewis, to restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A few days later, President Joe Biden followed suit, rightly accusing the GOP of an unrelenting assault on voting. This must get done, whatever it takes. Likely, it will mean sidestepping the filibuster, as happened with the recent measure to increase the debt ceiling. Obstinate Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema must get on board or watch as U.S. democracy is dealt a potentially fatal blow. The clock is ticking. Christopher Dale (@ChrisDaleWriter) of Little Falls, New Jersey, writes on society, politics and sobriety-based issues. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In perhaps the saddest statement since Jan. 6 on the state of American Democracy, Republican lawmakers across the country have been asked to say three simple words: Joe. Biden. Won. But they just cant bring themselves to do it, even though Biden beat President Donald Trump by more than 7 million popular votes and trounced him in the Electoral College toll. In other words, those GOP lawmakers refuse to recognize the will of the people. Which means they no longer recognize democracy. An October poll found that nearly a third of Republican respondents said violence may be necessary to put Trump back in power. Which means those Republicans no longer recognize democracy as the only correct way to install leaders and peacefully transfer power. Sales of firearms in America are skyrocketing. Forbes reports that more than 30 million guns were purchased in America in 2020 and 2021, a record-setting trend that suggests some people are preparing for violence. These are frightening times for anyone paying attention to the trends. The storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 was the starkest example of a willingness to use violence to achieve what a free election couldnt. Before insurrectionists attacked from the outside, a few members of Congress inside had forwarded to the White House an elaborate scheme to effectively stage a military-backed coup to keep Trump in power. The scheme, outlined in a 36-slide PowerPoint presentation, concocted a story of electronically cast votes manipulated by China to tilt the vote toward Biden. The scheme called for nullifying all votes cast electronically. Trump would declare a state of emergency and federalize the National Guard in all 50 states to conduct a new presidential vote. Only paper ballots would be counted, and ballots deemed counterfeit would be thrown out. The result, the PowerPoint document states: Trump wins!! But it required Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 to refuse certification of Bidens victory. Pence said he wouldnt cooperate, prompting Trump to tweet during the insurrection: Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution. Active-duty members of the U.S. military participated in the Jan. 6 assault. Months later, the commanding general of the Oklahoma National Guard publicly questioned a directive from his commander in chief. When one side comes this close to abandoning the fundamental pillars upon which this nation is founded, the question becomes more than just theoretical: Can American democracy, or America itself, survive if this radical faction doesnt come to its senses? St. Louis Post-Dispatch Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 No judge should preside over a case in which he has a financial interest. Period and end of story. Theres no one alive Republican, Democrat, independent who could disagree with that statement. As such, The Wall Street Journals finding that 131 judges had heard 685 lawsuits from 2010 to 2018 involving companies in which either they or a family member owned shares of stock sent up a real red flag. An obvious response: This is an outrage. Something needs to be done about this. Well, maybe. But acting quickly without thinking this through fully would be unwise in the extreme. When John Roberts, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, issued his year-end report on the judiciary, he addressed the matter head on. And the solution, as is so often the case, is not as simple as it might seem at first blush. Wrote Roberts: The judiciarys power to manage its internal affairs insulates courts from inappropriate political influence and is crucial to preserving public trust in its work as a separate and coequal branch of government. In other words, get Congress involved, and things could get awfully messy. Roberts came to the Supreme Court in 2005 as an institutionalist, someone whod be looking to protect both the high court and the whole of the federal judiciary from the raging partisan battles of the day. Over the years since, he has maintained and strengthened that view, even as partisanship in the Congress and across the land has grown fiercer and has gotten more deeply entrenched. But imagine that the Congress, no matter which party is in the majority, decides to pass a bill meant to ensure that no judge who owns shares of stock in a company, or who has a family member who does, can hear a case involving that company. Would this necessarily improve things, or might there be unintended consequences? Given that, according to Roberts calculations based on The Wall Street Journals own data, fully 99.97% of all federal cases over the nine years studied were free of any potential financial conflict, its entirely possible that a new law would be something of a solution in search of a problem. Yes, 100% should be the goal, but with Congress so often less than fully competent these days, getting lawmakers involved in the judiciary may well be not only unnecessary, but also unwise. The Republican (Springfield, Mass.) Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 One image haunts Torry Ingram that of his mother, Pamela Ingram Smith, pinned in an overturned car, a stranger holding her hand, as Smith said over and over again, Help me. Those would be her last words, Ingram told a judge in Forsyth Superior Court before the woman accused of killing his 63-year-old mother was sentenced Tuesday to a minimum of 10 years in prison. Chelsea Victoria Martin Wiles, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, driving while impaired, driving while her license was revoked and several other charges connected to the crash that killed Smith on April 18, 2020. A Forsyth County prosecutor said Wiles, going more than 80 mph, crossed the center line and crashed into Smiths car, sending it airborne briefly. Smiths car flipped and landed in a ditch. Wiles had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11% three and-a-half hours after the crash. The legal limit is 0.08%. Her license had been revoked for a prior conviction of driving while impaired in October 2018. Judge Julia Lynn Gullett of Forsyth Superior Court consolidated the charges and sentenced Wiles to a minimum of 10 years, five months, and a maximum of 13 years, six months in prison. Wiles was sentenced to four months on the DWI, which will be served at the same time as the sentence she received for the second-degree murder conviction. Wiles apologized to Smiths family, saying, I want you all to know Im very sorry I would trade places with her if I could. I really would. Torry Ingram said her apology doesnt mean much to him. I wish my mom had mitigating factors, he said. I wish my mom had a stack of medical documents. Ingram told the judge that he doesnt like that his mother, who singlehandedly raised him and older brother Rodney Ingram, is dead; he doesnt like that he found out his mother died while in Dallas, Texas, and he had to catch the earliest flight to Winston-Salem, leaving behind his wife and 6-month-old child; he doesnt like that the hole in his stomach only grew as he learned how his mother died. I dont like this broken heart you left me with, he told Wiles, who wiped tears from her eyes. Im not mad. Im not sad. Im just left with a broken heart. According to Assistant District Attorney Matt Breeding, Wiles (who went by Chelsea Byrd at the time she was arrested but has since gotten married) was driving north on N.C. 66 near Alaska Road in Walkertown just before 7 p.m. on April 18, 2020. Smith was driving south on the same road. The speed limit was 35 mph, and the road curves around the time you get to Alaska Road. Breeding said Wiles was speeding and had crossed the double-yellow center line into the southbound lane, passing several cars. Thats when she crashed into Smiths car. Data taken from both cars showed that five seconds before the collision, Wiles was going 82 mph, Breeding said. About a second before the crash, Wiles was going 78 mph and there was no evidence that she applied her brakes. At the time of the crash, Smith was turning her steering wheel left as she was going into the curve but quickly steered right in an effort to avoid the crash, Breeding said. Dan Wanderman, Wiles attorney, said Wiles had struggled with anxiety and depression for years and self-medicated, using alcohol. That doesnt excuse what happened but helps to explain it, he said. Wiles voice trembled throughout the proceeding. Sitting in the second row was her husband, who had their son in a baby stroller. He pushed the stroller back and forth during the hearing to soothe the toddler. Rodney Ingram told the judge that just before his mother died, he was released from prison, where he had served 12 years. His mother kept telling him they needed to spend more time together, but Rodney Ingram said he had just gotten married. You took my mama and it hurts, he told Wiles. Thats all I have to say. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. By Trend The representative office of Russian Lukoil PJSC - Lukoil Absheron Exploration Limited has been registered in Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the State Tax Service. The affiliate company was registered at the same legal address as another subsidiary of Lukoil-Azerbaijan PJSC, in the Sabail district of Baku. Elnur Gurbanov is the legal representative of Lukoil Absheron Exploration Limited. Lukoil is one of the largest publicly vertically integrated oil and gas companies in the world, accounting for about two percent of world oil production and about one percent of proven hydrocarbon reserves. When winter break for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools started on Dec. 22, Forsyth County reported 129 new cases of COVID-19 and a test positivity rate of about 9%. The pandemic landscape has changed dramatically during the two-week break, which ended Tuesday. Fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant and holiday gatherings, the countys COVID metrics have taken a worrisome turn, mirroring national trends. On Tuesday, the county reported 498 cases with a 22.3% positivity rate. The return of more than 50,000 students to school buildings on Wednesday is sure to impact the countys case rate, said Joshua Swift, the director of the Forsyth County Department of Public Health. But I believe kids need to be in school, and we need to do it as safely as possible, Swift said. Indoor masking, which has been in place in local schools since the start of the school year, will be vital, he said. Dr. David Priest, an infectious disease doctor at Novant Health, Inc., said he also favors keeping children in school and called on parents to be smart about their childrens health. If they have symptoms of COVID or any infectious disease, they need to stay home and hopefully, we can manage these next few weeks as omicron peaks, he said Tuesday. Though some large school districts around the country are switching to remote learning, nearly every school district in North Carolina is starting with in-person learning. According to a state law passed in August, school districts can temporarily switch to remote instruction if they have insufficient staffing or a large number of students in quarantine. Tricia McManus, the superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, said keeping students in school is important. The local school district saw a dramatic drop in test scores last year, due in large part to the disruption in learning brought on by the pandemic. We know most students learn best in person, at school, she said. We are doing everything possible to keep our schools safe and open so students can continue learning. We are reinforcing masking mandates and guidelines, we are training our principals and school leaders (Tuesday) on the changes and giving them lots of updated information on the latest recommendations from the CDC and from NCDHHS. McManus said vaccines, more information about the virus and more resources on how to fight the virus put the school district in a better position to keep students in school this year. It is imperative our students continue learning and we will do everything possible to keep that happening safely at school, she said. The school district, in partnership with the county health department, will begin a pilot testing program at 15 schools in the next two weeks. The program will offer onsite testing for students and staff who are symptomatic. Swift said Tuesday that the health department will use contract nurses and volunteers to operate the program. Details about the program will be announced in the coming days, the school district said Tuesday. Kody Kinsley, who took over as state health secretary on Jan. 1, said Tuesday that DHHS will continue to review its in-classroom guidance for K-12 schools in light of the omicron variant. He said the current guidance has proven effective, especially when masking guidelines are in place and more 5- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated. He said there are plans to meet with several school boards later this week. The local school board will hold its monthly vote on its masking policy at its meeting on Jan. 11. The school board has voted for indoor masking since the school year started, and its unlikely it would change course in the middle of a surge. The state requires school boards to hold a monthly mask vote. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, the chairwoman of the board of the N.C. Black Repertory Company and the executive producer of the National Black Theatre Festival, died Monday. She was 76. Sprinkle-Hamlin stepped into her leadership roles within the N.C. Black Repertory Company immediately following the 2007 death of her husband, Larry Leon Hamlin. He founded the company and produced its first festival in 1989. Nigel Alston, the executive director of the N.C. Black Repertory Company, said that Sprinkle-Hamlin will be remembered for continuing her husbands vision for the National Black Theatre Festival. After Larry died in 2007, people wondered if it would continue or not, Alston said. It has thrived since 2007. The festival, with its theme of An International Celebration and Reunion of Spirit, showcases top Black theater companies from across the United States and abroad. The six-day event attracts nearly 65,000 people every two years to Winston-Salem. The 2019 festival was the largest event in the companys history, generating more than $10 million for the Piedmont Triad economy, the NBTF said at that time. Sprinkle-Hamlin and other company officials were disappointed when the 2021 NBTF was postponed until August 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alston said. Sprinkle-Hamlin and other organizers had been planning for this years festival, which is scheduled for Aug. 1-6, since last year, Alston said. The festivals organizers will stage a special event to honor Sprinkle-Hamlin at this years NBTF, Alston said. Definitely, there will be something, Alston said. What that will be is too early to tell. Sprinkle-Hamlins family declined to reveal her cause of death. We cant describe the pain and loss we are feeling right now with Sylvias passing, Sprinkle-Hamlins family said. We are grateful for the outpouring of love from the local community and the Arts community from around the country and the world. Chase Law, the president and chief executive of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, also issued a statement Tuesday about Sprinkle-Hamlin. We were saddened to learn of the passing of Mrs. Sylvia Hamlin, an icon within the Winston-Salem arts and cultural sector, Law said. Its a huge loss for our entire community. As a visionary, she and her husband, Larry, created something that has had and continues to have an impact on theatre both locally and nationally, Law said. (The) Arts Council will continue to help keep her legacy alive. She will be missed. Sprinkle-Hamlin retired in December 2019 after a 40-year career with the Forsyth County Public Library system. When she was named director in 2000, Sprinkle-Hamlin became the first African American and the first woman to head the county library system. Sprinkle-Hamlin oversaw the librarys transformation to the digital age, where people are as likely to download materials as to check out books. She was among the county leaders who supervised the two-year, $28 million rebuilding of the Central Library on West Fifth Street in Winston-Salem. Forsyth County Manager Dudley Watts said the Central Library project, which was completed in 2017, was a source of personal pride for Sprinkle-Hamlin. The colorful building with lots of light and creative spaces is a reflection of her personality. Watts said. She was the epicenter of creative partnerships and reached in to all communities through their branches to meet patrons needs. She was funny and demanding at the same time. My best memories of her where when we disagreed on something and somehow found a way to laugh hysterically about it, Watts said. Damon Sanders-Pratt, deputy Forsyth County manager, said he worked directly with Sprinkle-Hamlin in her role as library director for more than 15 years. When Sylvia assumed the directors role, she replaced a well-regarded leader in the North Carolina library profession, a daunting task, Sanders-Pratt said. Sylvia not only maintained the momentum of the library system, but as (the) library director, she and her team guided the system to new levels in service, technology and facilities. Sylvia led one of county governments most popular services, (and) was a champion of diversity, and a favorite daughter in the Forsyth County community, Sanders-Pratt said. Her accomplishments and recognitions as a librarian and arts icon were substantial. Sprinkle-Hamlin received a bachelors degree in education from Winston-Salem State University and a masters degree in library science from Clark Atlanta University. She began her career as a childrens librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia. From there, she accepted a position as an information specialist at the Benjamin Banneker Urban Center and then as an instructional media center director for the Philadelphia Public Schools. In 1977, she returned home to Winston-Salem, where she worked as the assistant director and public service librarian at Winston-Salem State University. She also owned and operated a small business, Fashion Two-Twenty Cosmetics. Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin leaves behind an incredible legacy as a respected national leader in championing both of her dual passions, as a librarian and an advocate of the arts, said Mark Owens, the president and chief executive of the Greater Winston-Salem Inc. Our community is a better place because of her dedication to the National Black Theatre Festival and the N.C. Black Repertory Company as well as the many local organizations where she volunteered her time over many years. Her impact in Winston-Salem will be lasting, and her memory will be treasured, Owens said. 336-727-7366 @fdanielWSJ 336-727-7299 @jhintonWSJ Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Fran Daniel Follow Fran Daniel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Margaret Reist Local government reporter Margaret Reist is a recovering education reporter now writing about local and county government and the people who live in the city where she was born and raised. Follow Margaret Reist Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today The mayor will welcome the new year with several changes to her staff. Three of Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Bairds four aides left for new jobs in the waning days of 2021 all the result of new opportunities, said Jennifer Brinkman, the mayors chief of staff. Kate Bolz, the former state senator Gaylor Baird hired as her aide for economic development in December 2020, announced her departure last month when President Joe Biden named her as Nebraskas USDA rural development director. Two other aides who have worked with Gaylor Baird since she was elected in 2019 Kevin Cass and Adelle Burk have also left to pursue other opportunities. Both Cass and Burke worked on Gaylor Bairds campaign. One of the three vacant aide positions has been filled, Brinkman said. Mairead Safranek, who was already working in the city's communications division, will begin her new job Thursday. While her role is still being defined, she will focus primarily on communications and initiatives related to engaging Lincoln residents, similar to the work Cass did. One other leadership position thats yet to be filled more than a year after the previous department head left is finance director, a position that goes through a traditional hiring process, unlike aides, who serve at the pleasure of the mayor. David Young, the citys chief information officer, has been acting finance director since Brandon Kauffman left in November 2020 for a job at the Kansas Turnpike Authority. In the initial search process, the citys top finalist dropped out after his personal circumstances changed. Brinkman said theyll be evaluating the job in the coming months but are pleased with Youngs leadership over the past year. Its likely they will focus first on a replacement for another department head: longtime Lincoln-Lancaster County Human Resources Director Doug McDaniel, who announced his retirement in November. The best of 2021 Since the advent of a new year often means pondering the one were leaving by making lists best-read, most-watched, biggest events, best photographs I called Lincoln City Libraries Director Pat Leach and asked for a list of the most checked-out books in 2021. The top adult book overall: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, a work of fiction that takes place in Texas during the Great Depressions Dust Bowl era, when the books heroine must choose whether to fight for the land she loves or head west in search of a better life. The most popular adult nonfiction book was Robert Kolkers Hidden Valley Road: Inside The Mind of an American Family, which was the One Book-One Lincoln choice. One of the One Book-One Lincoln runners-up, Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi, also made the fiction top 10. Top 5 lists These were the top books checked out from city libraries in 2021: Non-fiction Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson A Promised Land by Barack Obama Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, 1990-" (includes several volumes) Fiction The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Sooley: A Novel by John Grisham Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi Young adult fiction The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins Run, Hide, Fight Back by April Henry The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard The books listed include only books checked out from the library, not downloads. And how many books are available for checkout will affect the totals. Library staff make educated guesses on what will be popular, Leach said, but if they undershoot, it affects how many times a book is checked out. And books that come out late in the year may not get checked out as much. Still, its an interesting list. Leach noted the popular nonfiction selections show the interest in race and politics. Among them: Barack Obamas A Promised Land, Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins and WWII Heroes by Tim Brady, and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson, which examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America. The adult fiction titles also include Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. There are some that are a bit older, such as Tara Westovers Educated. And the author that blows everybody else out of the water is Jeff Kinneys kids series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The different titles take up the first 11 spots in kids books checked out a cumulative total of 3,262 times. The series has been a strong gateway book for reluctant readers, but has been very popular across the board, Leach said. The young adult fiction book that left the shelves most frequently was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. Its a dystopian action-adventure novel and probably contributing to its popularity is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy. Saving the Pershing mural A small group determined to save the 763,000-piece mural on the facade of Pershing Center is moving forward with the first step. The Omaha company it has hired to analyze whether the mural can be safely removed and restored Jensen Conservation Services will begin its work next week. The company will remove a 4-square-foot piece to analyze on Jan. 11 work that was supposed to begin a week earlier but was postponed because of freezing temperatures. Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan ranked first among the top exporters of fuel and lubricants to Georgia in January-November 2021, Day.az has reported. During the reported period, Georgia increased imports of fuel and lubricants from Azerbaijan by 6.5 percent to $340.9 million. Thus, Azerbaijan ranked first in fuel and lubricants exports to Georgia, followed by Russia with $239.6 million and Turkmenistan with $175.7 million. At the same time, Georgia increased imports of fuel and lubricants from Azerbaijan by 15.1 percent in November, compared to the same month of 2020, and by 2.5 percent compared to October 2021, and totaled $41 million. It should be noted that Georgia's total imports of fuels and lubricants in January-November 2021 increased by 35.4 percent to $1.1 billion compared to the same period in 2020. Azerbaijan and Georgia are cooperating in various fields of economy. Earlier this year, Azerbaijan and Georgia have signed several cooperation agreements within the framework of a meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. The volume of the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $684.8 million, with exports accounting for $591.8 million and imports for $92.9 million in January-November 2021. Azerbaijan was Georgias main bitumen supplier in 2020, accounting for 63.8 percent of this country's total imports of bitumen. At the same time, Azerbaijan was the largest diesel fuel supplier to Georgia in 2020 as well, accounting for 19.4 percent of total imports. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan was Georgias largest electricity supplier in 2020, accounting for 45 percent or 726 million kWh of the countrys total electricity import. Crystal Pepsi, the quirky, failed, clear cola from the 1990s is back but it won't be available to buy. Here's how you can get it. The Nebraska Public Service Commission awarded $17.8 million in grants to internet providers through the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program to connect nearly 12,400 homes across the state to high-speed internet. On a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Crystal Rhoades of Omaha dissenting, the commission approved a total of 60 grant applications from 19 companies in the launch of the two-year program created by the Legislature in 2021. Sponsored by Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson at the request of Gov. Pete Ricketts, the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act (LB388) appropriated $40 million over two years to expand access to broadband capable of download/upload speeds of 100/100 megabits per second (Mbps). "I'm really happy with what we ended up doing and how the process worked for the time we had," said Commissioner Dan Watermeier, who represents eight counties in Southeast Nebraska. Watermeier said the Public Service Commission worked quickly after the funding was appropriated to set up an application process that opened in October. Seventy-six applications totaling $31 million were submitted, Watermeier said, and a review of the projects began in November. The commission upheld several challenges against applications in areas where companies said they were already providing internet service to that specific area, or already had a plan to provide high-speed internet service in the near future a process that drew criticism from some providers. Seven proposed projects were challenged because they overlapped with another company's existing service area where fiber is being installed, or where a fiber project was planned, the commission said in its order. Although a majority of the commission signed off on the plan, both those that supported it and the commissioner who voted against it said changes will be needed for future grant cycles. Commissioner Mary Ridder, who represents western Nebraska, wrote in a concurring opinion "it became apparent the challenge process would need further adjustment prior to the next round of grants." The rules set by the commission side with challenges if locations in the project area are already being served by speeds of 100/20 Mbps, Ridder said, to avoid an "overbuild" of internet services. "Here is the rub. Not all areas in those projects are receiving 100/20 Mbps," Ridder wrote. In an interview, Watermeier said the commission wants to be careful not to provide taxpayer dollars to one company that wants to build into an area if another company has already privately invested in broadband services there. "It's difficult to be perfect, but we have done a responsible thing with the taxpayers' money to not just allow companies to overbuild," Watermeier said. Rhoades said the commission denied too many grants based on the challenges in the first round of applications, relying on incomplete information from the challenging companies in doing so. Instead of showing which locations in a project area were served by what download and upload speeds, the challenging companies submitted maps that showed the route the high-speed fiber line took through a community, she said. By not showing which homes had access to 100/20 Mbps, Rhoades said the challengers' maps often supported the application more than their own appeal, and urged the commission to re-review all of the challenges. "Simply put, the commission did not follow our own process," she wrote. "We failed to consider the speed data submitted by the applicants, and information provided by customers and elected officials who live in the area. "As a result, service will not be provided to many locations which should have been able to receive it," Rhoades added. Watermeier and Cullen Robbins, director of telecommunications and the Nebraska Universal Service Fund at the Public Service Commission, said several measures were built into the program to ensure internet providers are expanding broadband access across the state. Recipients will receive one-fourth of the funding 30 days from being awarded the grant, one-fourth of the funding in September, and the remaining amount once they submit all invoices within 90 days of completing the project. The Public Service Commission will review labor and material expenses, as well as speed test data from a specified number of locations prior to approval of the final half of the funding, Robbins said. A project that is expected to provide 100/100 Mbps broadband service to 50 homes would need to provide speed results from five randomly selected locations, while those serving 51-500 locations would need to sample 10% of the locations served. Projects reaching more than 500 homes would need to provide speed data from 50 locations, according to the commissions order. Speed tests that do not reach the benchmark set forth in state statute would be required to file a proposal on how to remedy the deficiency, and provide further speed tests to prove the home is then served by high-speed internet. Robbins said he expects the roughly 12,400 locations identified by the project applicants will have high-speed internet before the July 5, 2023, deadline set forth by the commission. Near Lincoln, approved projects include extending high-speed service into the Eagle, Holland, Martell and Sprague areas. Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sen. Tom Briese of Albion will introduce a bill on Thursday's first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol designating voter fraud as a felony in Nebraska subject to a prison term. But Briese said Wednesday that his purpose in proposing the legislation is to "enhance public confidence" in the election system, not to suggest he agrees with critics who believe the 2020 presidential election results were corrupted by fraud. "I choose to believe in the integrity of our election system," Briese said. "It's the bedrock of our government (and) the cornerstone of our democracy." However, Briese noted, "the anniversary of Jan. 6 really tends to reinforce the concerns that many folks have over the integrity of our election process." Briese, an Albion farmer, is a Republican member of the nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature who is serving his second term after being re-elected in 2020 without opposition. During an interview in his Capitol office on Wednesday, he said he has been approached by some constituents who question the results of the 2020 presidential election. "Some folks believe there was fraud last year; I don't believe it occurred, absent compelling evidence," Briese said. The anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington while Congress was in the process of certifying the election of President Joe Biden in his contest with then-President Donald Trump "serves to remind us that voter fraud or voter manipulation, real or imagined, poses a grave threat to the future of our democratic republic," Briese said. "I believe it's imperative we take steps to both enhance the public's confidence in the integrity of our election process and to further ensure voter fraud does not occur in our state." Enhancing the penalty for voter fraud to a Class II felony -- from its current criminalization in Nebraska as misdemeanors or lesser Class IV felonies -- should help deter any such conduct, Briese said. "And, perhaps more importantly, will give Nebraskans added confidence in the integrity of the elections in our state." Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The 2022 Legislature launched its 60-day session on Wednesday with a reminder of its nonpartisan origin 85 years ago and recognition of its founding father, George W. Norris. The ceremonial beginning came on "George W. Norris Day" in Nebraska. The business of the 2022 session began shortly after the 10 a.m. opening with the introduction of bills to be considered during the election-year session that is scheduled to adjourn on April 20, three weeks before the May 10 primary election. Sen. John McCollister of Omaha read the address that Norris, the former five-term U.S. senator from Nebraska who changed his party registration from Republican to nonpartisan during the administration of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, delivered to the opening session of the new one-house, nonpartisan legislature in 1937. "You are members of the first legislature of Nebraska to hold your positions without any partisan political obligation to any machine, to any boss, or to any alleged political leader," Norris said at the time. Nebraska voters approved adoption of the state's unique one-house, nonpartisan Legislature in 1934. After serving five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Norris lost his bid for a sixth Senate term in 1942. Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Im a year out from graduating college here in Lincoln, and Im encountering the issue that many of my peers are, the brain drain that is killing Nebraska. There has been a lot of investment in the state to bring students here to study, but its been a losing battle to get us to stay. A big reason for this is that outside of Lincoln and Omaha, there arent many opportunities or attractions for recent college graduates or those with skills outside of being connected directly to agriculture. While that industry is still the lifeblood of the state, the exodus of students from the state is only hindering our progress. Candidate Jim Pillen hits it on the head when he discusses the need for broadband infrastructure, which allows numerous other industries to spread across the state, easing the tax burden on our farmers and growing rural communities. Jim and I both see this as the best way to keep skilled Nebraskans in the state, improve the flawed tax system and inject youth into the western communities. Ryan Secord, Lincoln Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 E.J. Dionne, in column in the Dec. 30 Journal Star stated that the Freedom To Vote Act and Voting Rights Advancement Act should be passed by Democrats. Both FTVA and VRAA should be known as Benefit Corrupt Politician Acts. The 2005 Carter-Baker Commission (also known as the Commission on Federal Election Reform) was not formed by President George W. Bush. CBC was created by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker. The CBC report suggested required use of photo IDs and cleaning voter files of ineligible, duplicate, fictional and deceased voters to decrease the possibility of fraud in our elections. A recent Rasmussen poll found 80% of all voters support photo IDs. Forty-six European countries have voter ID. Canada requires a photo ID, while Mexico requires a voter ID with photo and thumb print. When Mexico decreased voter fraud, voter participation was increased from 59% to 68%. Thirty-five European countries do not allow absentee voting. Ten countries require a person to be present and provide a photo ID to obtain an absentee ballot. In 1975, France banned all forms of absentee voting because of the amount of fraud that France found in all forms of absentee voting. That French law included mail-in-ballots. France banned ballot harvesting, which allows a third party to know how a vote is cast, allowing voter intimidation and possible payment for that vote. With loose voting laws, a country opens its self-up to probable vote-fraud and political-corruption. With mail-in voting, a country guarantees vote fraud and almost certain political corruption! Richard Pullman, Hallam Love 3 Funny 5 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 MOUNT PLEASANT Police are looking for a man who pointed a gun at an employee of the Burger King along Highway 20 (Washington Avenue) just east of Interstate 94 on Tuesday, the Mount Pleasant Police Department reported. According to the MPPD, at around 3:54 p.m. Tuesday, the man pointed a handgun at an employee working the drive-thru window and also shot the employees car in the parking lot before fleeing. Officers from the MPPD and the Racine County Sheriffs Office responded to the area and secured the scene, but the suspect was not found. The MPPD reported that the incident stemmed from an altercation over food service ... the incident at this time appears to be an isolated incident with no greater threat to the general public. No one was injured during these reckless actions. To share information regarding the incident, the MPPD can be contacted at 262-884-0454 (option No. 4), or by contacting Crime Stoppers of Racine County at 262-636-9330 or through racine.crimestoppersweb.com. Killing in Milwaukee Police do not believe that the incident is related to the killing of a 16-year-old Burger King worker in Milwaukee during an apparent robbery that occurred two days prior, Sgt. Jason Vaccaro of the MPPD said in an email. At this time we have no linking information or belief that the incidents are connected. This appears to be an isolated incident at our BK location, Vaccaro said. Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson called the killing a horrible tragedy. He said that the teenager, Niesha Harris-Brazell, appeared to be a hard-working teenager with a bright future. The shooter in that case likewise remains at large. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 After extending winter break by two days to fight the current COVID-19 surge, Racine Unified School District students will return to classrooms Wednesday, Jan. 5. On Saturday, RUSD announced the change of plans, since students had been expected to return Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were no further changes. At this time, we are planning to welcome students back to school tomorrow, RUSD spokesperson Stacy Tapp said in an email to a reporter at 3:37 p.m. Tuesday. That decision comes over the protests of Racine Educators United, the union for RUSD educators, which is urging for learning to be entirely virtual for the time being. REU safety measures Racine Educators United called for the following to be implemented in the Racine Unified School District as students prepare to return to school for the spring 2022 semester. A short-term return to virtual learning until the explosion of positive COVID cases in our community subsides Provision of N-95 masks Robust and equitable access to vaccines and mandated regular testing available at all sites Extended paid COVID leave for employees who test positive or must care for household members who test positive Re-establishment of gating criteria grounded in science and data to provide clarity to staff and the community-at-large Clear, transparent, and timely COVID-related communication to all stakeholders Under no circumstances, should staff and families be subjected to unsafe teaching and learning conditions that put the larger community at further risk when essential functions of this work can be done more safely remotely, an REU press release said. The sooner (the) spread of the virus is controlled, the sooner we can safely reunite our school communities. In a text to a reporter, REU President Angelina Cruz said the union is calling for virtual learning to keep students and staff safe. And until more safety measures are put into the place. And the numbers are the worst theyve ever been. Kenosha Unified After hearing from about three-dozen residents and district staffers, Kenosha Unified officials also opted to stay the course and keep schools open as the latest omicron variant sweeps through the region, filling hospital beds at previously unseen rates in its wake. The KUSD School Board on Monday held a special meeting to deliberate on Better Together, the plan that has been frequently revisited during the 2021-22 school year in response to pandemic-related mitigation measures. Mirroring past meetings when Better Together was under review, the board received an earful from speakers on both sides of the argument regarding mitigation measures. At the end of Mondays meeting, one speaker was removed from the room after making frequent outbursts. School Board President Yolanda Adams made a motion and received support from all of her elected colleagues to maintain in-person learning, while simultaneously making adjustments to the virtual option that has been available in limited instances this school year. KUSD will be making a virtual option available for the first time this school year for elementary students and is giving middle schoolers the opportunity to transition to the virtual option already in place. No additional changes are being implemented at high schools at this time. If the parents are really concerned about safety, this gives them another option, Adams said. At the heart of the meeting was an appeal from the Kenosha Education Association, that districts teachers union, to go entirely virtual into the foreseeable future. Superintendent Bethany Ormseth, however, said the administrative team was not recommending any changes at this time. KEA President Kendra Koeppen-Mulwana was among the speakers who weighed in on the districts next stage of mitigation measures during a lengthy public comment portion of the meeting agenda. We feel that now is the time to be proactive, Koeppen-Mulwana said of the rationale behind asking to go virtual. She described the request as a short-term pivot and asked the district to invest in high-grade KN95 masks, routine testing and other ramped-up protocols. Heated parental debate The public comment portion of Mondays Kenosha agenda was, at times, heated, with a number of parents expressing wariness with the prospect of once again shutting school down and having to make adjustments to accommodate for the virtual changes and the prospect of increased in-person attendance requirements. This will never end, parent Shawn Faulkner said. Masks and vaccines should not be a passport to an education. But the board also heard from a number of concerned parents who asked to keep public safety front and center in their decision-making processes. We need to take a step back and assess this thoughtfully, parent Brenda Dahl said. Kari Brownholland, another parent, offered similar sentiments. The pandemic is not over, she said. We want it to be, we wish it were, but its not. I beg you to talk to the Department of Public Health. Please keep our community safe. While Adams motion garnered support, one other board member, Tony Garcia, made an unsuccessful attempt at going in the opposite direction and make mask wearing optional. He also said he was not supportive of a virtual option. Im tired of having to walk in here with a mask, Garcia said. I do not believe in virtual learning. That does not work. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry released a plan Wednesday that he said would strengthen democracy, his first major policy proposals of the campaign timed to the anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Lasry is one of several Democrats running for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, of Oshkosh. Lasry, who is on leave from his job as an executive with the Milwaukee Bucks, said the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol was "something that has never been seen in the United States" and "the continued assault on the very fundamental tenets of American democracy has not ended." His plan includes ending the filibuster in the U.S. Senate; passing voting-rights acts; banning political gerrymandering; making it easier to vote through automatic voter registration; supporting making Washington, D.C., a state; and allowing the citizens of Puerto Rico to have "self-determination" on whether to become a state. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, another Democratic candidate for Senate, released a similar plan in December that called for expanding voter rights, eliminating partisan gerrymandering, making Election Day a national holiday and ending the filibuster. Johnson did not return messages seeking comment on Lasry's plan. Johnson said in December that he would be making an announcement soon on whether he is seeking a third term. "Ron Johnson isn't just a bad Senator, he is a threat to our democracy," Lasry said in his policy plan announced Wednesday. "He isn't only dangerous for Wisconsin, but for the entire country." Lasry supports eliminating the filibuster rule in the Senate, which has led to the proposed John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act being stalled. The measure, which Barnes also supports, would restore parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Other Democrats running for Senate include state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski; Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson; Millennial Action Project founder Steven Olikara; and Wausau physician Gillian Battino. Several of the other Democratic candidates have voiced support for ending the filibuster and making other changes that Lasry and Barnes compiled in their democracy-focused packages. The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will advance to the general election. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 POLITICS The brand name of Cao Phong oranges well preserved through sustainable cultivation (HBO) - Since its brand name was firmly established, Cao Phong orange has maintained its reputation and competitive edge in the face of various market challenges and disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Owner of Thanh Loan Clean Oranges Shop, at Cao Phong Township (Cao Phong) prepares a box of oranges to fill an order from Thai Nguyen Province. Establishing the legal identity, positioning the brand name Cao Phong boasts the favourable soil and climatic conditions for orange cultivation. After years of development and expansion, Cao Phong orange is well-known all over the North, gradually spreading its presence in other parts of the country thanks to effective intensive farming, diversified and productive seedlings, with abundant harvests of excellent oranges with unique taste resulting in a variety of certifications and awards. Most remarkably, on November 5, 2014, the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technologies) awarded the "Cao Phong'' geographical indication (GI) certification for the districts orange-related products. Accordingly, Cao Phong orange is provided with brand-name protection in all over the country, joining the list of 39 Vietnam products with GIs protected in the European Union. Originating from a mountainous district, Cao Phong orange has become a source of pride for the whole province. With the GI, the reputation of Cao Phong orange really took off, creating credibility among customers as one of the "golden brand-name of Vietnam agriculture. Cao Phong is currently home to 1,917.29 hectares of citrus plants farming, including 1,530.36 hectares for orange trees. 2021-2022 harvests are set to exceed 22,000 tons. The district government continues to implement measures in maintaining the brand-name, from supervising, checking, monitoring the production process in accordance with VietGAP standards, to highlighting the roles of GI control Board, Cao Phong Orange Businesses Society. Central government and provincial relevant agencies also provide assistance in the management of GIs, consumption networking and quality improvements. Brand-name value asserted during challenges Faced with dual challenges of the pandemic and competition, Cao Phong local authority has promulgated directions in adopting active, flexible and creative adjustments in production and business models. Simultaneously, more support is provided in expanding consumption networks through a variety of offline and online trading platforms by Post Office and Viettel with scenarios for orange markets in various COVID-19 situations./. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova The Russian Ethnographic Museum will hold a large-scale exhibition on the theme of arts and crafts and the culture of the Russian people in Baku. The exhibition is expected to open at the National Carpet Museum this fall. The museum visitors will be able to enjoy the Russian traditional costumes of the early 20th century. Natalia Shabelskaya's extensive collection also includes colorful headdresses, silk scarves, samples of old embroidery and much more. In the mid-February 2021, the Russian Ethnographic Museum hosted an exhibition "Weaving the thread of fate into the carpet ... Decorative and applied art of Azerbaijan" prepared in partnership with the National Carpet Museum. The exposition displayed over 100 exhibits, including 40 carpets and carpet products as well as other works of decorative and applied art by Azerbaijani artists of the 19th20th centuries. Russian and Azerbaijani experts conducted research on the samples of the Azerbaijan's carpet weaving and decorative and applied art stored at the Russian Ethnographic Museum. The most interesting ones were selected for the exhibition. The Russian Ethnographic Museum also presented a family project "Flying Carpet: Journey to the East" which provided insight into Azerbaijani culture and traditions, as well as the symbolism of oriental ornaments and carpet making techniques. Saying current law needlessly exposes law-abiding citizens to potential prosecution, Republicans in the state Legislature want to allow people licensed to carry a concealed weapon to keep the weapon in their vehicles while on school grounds. If it passes, the bill would almost certainly be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a former school superintendent who has pushed for stricter rather than more lenient gun laws. The bill would lump Wisconsin among more than a dozen states that permit people licensed to carry a concealed weapon to keep their firearms in vehicles on school grounds. Co-author Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said at an Assembly Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing Wednesday that concealed carry licensees often have to go out of their way to drop their guns off at home to avoid bringing them onto school grounds, which currently constitutes a felony. Jacque conceded he knew of no cases in which someone lawfully carrying such a weapon had been prosecuted under those circumstances. While the bills critics did not appear at the public hearing Wednesday, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin executive director Debra Cronmiller said in a statement, We believe that local school policy regarding weapons on school grounds is sound and helps protect our children. No guns should be allowed on school property to ensure maximum safety. That sentiment was echoed by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, which said in a statement, The WASB opposes any initiatives at the state level that would legalize any further ability for anyone, with the exception of sworn law enforcement officers, to bring a weapon or possess a weapon, concealed or otherwise, in school zones. Places of worship Also Wednesday, the Assembly State Affairs Committee passed on a party-line vote a second bill allowing conceal carry licensees to bring firearms into places of worship on private school grounds if the facilities management allows them. Rep. Treig Pronchinske, R-Mondovi, said at a December hearing that the bill would provide peace of mind for those who may fear persecution for their faith. At that hearing, Pronchinske pointed to an incident two years ago in Texas, where a West Freeway Church of Christ volunteer security guard pulled out his gun to shoot and kill an active gunman who had killed two people, putting an end to a shooting that could have led to more deaths. Guns are already permitted in places of worship at the discretion of management, as long as they are not on private school grounds. Gun control Speaking against the bill, Wisconsin Catholic Conference executive director Kim Vercauteren in December said the bill would lead to more violence if it gets signed into law. As a greater prevalence of guns is associated with greater numbers of accidental or unintentional firearm injuries and deaths, it is imperative that great care be exercised to mitigate the presence of firearms where vulnerable, impressionable children are present, she said. Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have clashed on gun control legislation in the past. For example, in 2019 Evers called his first special session encouraging legislators to consider and pass two bills with widespread voter support that would have increased background checks and allowed judges to take guns away from owners they deemed risky. Republican leaders called the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights and ended the special session just seconds after it began. Editor's note: This story corrects the name of a state representative who commented at a December hearing. It was Rep. Treig Pronchinske, R-Mondovi. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A Dane County judge on Tuesday ordered Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and his attorney to sit for depositions as part of a liberal watchdog groups lawsuit seeking public records related to the ongoing GOP-ordered review of the 2020 election. Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn, who last week expressed confusion over how so few documents were produced from the first three months of former state Supreme Court justice Michael Gablemans ongoing probe, denied a request by attorneys for Vos and his attorney, Steve Fawcett, seeking to block the depositions. She ordered the two to meet with attorneys for American Oversight to provide additional details on how officials responded to the groups multiple requests for public records and answer questions about whether additional documents exist and have been withheld or were destroyed. The citizens of Wisconsin deserve the truth, Bailey-Rihn said. Either these records exist or they dont. The case is one of three ongoing lawsuits brought by American Oversight following requests for records filed last year pertaining to Gablemans review. Attorneys for American Oversight have asked that Vos be held in contempt for not releasing the records sooner. All of this requires some follow-up, said Christa Westerberg, an attorney for American Oversight. An attorney for Vos, Ronald Stadler, has said all available documents have been provided. On Tuesday, he said American Oversights claims of additional documents are based on suspicion. He described the lawsuit last week as a backdoor discovery attempt. This is a fishing expedition, Stadler said Tuesday. The depositions, which are not open to the public, have been scheduled for Jan. 12. Bailey-Rihn said questions must focus on documents requested by American Oversight and what efforts were made to locate the documents. Bailey-Rihn has also scheduled a hearing for Jan. 24 to find out how thoroughly Vos and Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel searched for records ordered to be released in a previous court decision almost two months ago. Bailey-Rihn has asked that a records custodian testify at the hearing. American Oversights lawsuits are part of a growing list of court battles surrounding Gablemans inquiry, which focuses on some of the procedures voters and clerks relied on for casting and processing ballots. Vos, R-Rochester, has allocated $676,000 in taxpayer money for the review, which has already run longer than projected and will likely end up costing more. In another sign of a prolonged investigation, Gableman last week issued new subpoenas to officials with the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a handful of cities, including Madison, seeking emails, voting machine information and other election-related documents. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford plans to rule by Monday on whether Gableman has the authority to demand a private, in-person interview with Wisconsin elections administrator Meagan Wolfe. That case follows Democratic Attorney General Josh Kauls October request for a restraining order against subpoenas issued by Gableman seeking election-related documents and the Wolfe interview. In another case, a Waukesha County judge last month scheduled a hearing for Jan. 21 on Gablemans request that the Waukesha County sheriff compel the mayors of Madison and Green Bay to meet with him or else face possible jail time. Reviews of the election by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty found no evidence of widespread fraud but did lead to recommendations on how elections can be improved. The commission earlier this month took the first steps in writing administrative rules on a number of issues raised in the Audit Bureau report, including rules regulating the use of ballot drop boxes and what missing information clerks can fill in on absentee ballot envelopes. A recount and court decisions have affirmed that President Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. An analysis by The Associated Press found only 31 potential cases of voter fraud in Wisconsins 2020 election, which represents less than 0.15% of Bidens margin of victory. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 On Christmas Day, when most of us were attending church services or enjoying the company of family and friends, dozens of area men and women were responding to a call to action. An autistic man had walked away from a group home in Rochester that morning and had gone missing, sparking concern for his safety. First-responder agencies from Racine, Milwaukee, Walworth and Kenosha counties were searching that afternoon, and into that evening, for John J. Egan, 43, around the W.R. Wadewitz Nature Camp on Buena Park Road just outside Waterford. John is autistic and goes on daily walks in the Waterford/Rochester area, the initial news release stated. He often engages in conversation with people he sees while on these walks. He is not known to be aggressive. The Racine County Sheriffs Office sent an update at about 8:30 p.m. more than 12 hours after Egan had last been seen that he had been found alive and well. It was a happy ending for a group of people whose workdays dont always have happy endings. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians: These are the people who show up on the worst days of our lives. They are the people who run toward what the rest of us are running from. In light of the way a dedicated group of people spent Christmas Day, were using this space to say to our first responders: Thank you. We all sleep better knowing that youll be there for us if we need you. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 1. Yes. Raising the bar for future developments will boost the citys housing market. 2. Yes. It will help in newer areas, but more needs to be done to change Killeens image. 3. No. The new standards will just slow down homebuilding and drive away developers. 4.No. The ordinance will do little more than drive up the price of new homes in the city. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say what the effect will be until they have been in place for a while. Vote View Results Killeen, TX (76540) Today Windy with thunderstorms this afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilov Azerbaijani artist Narmina Najafova has showcased her art pieces in Turkey. The exhibition features over 34 paintings most of which are beautiful still lifes and picturesque landscapes. Speaking about her first personal exhibition, Narmina Najafova said that she has always wanted to share her art with others, Trend Life reported. Narmina Najafova also expressed her hope to showcase her art in every corner of Azerbaijan. She thanked everyone who attended the exhibition and supported her. Narmina Najafova is a member of the UNESCO's Union of Artists. She studied the art of painting for two years under the guidance of the two talented artists Esmira Gul and Rafig Aziz. Over this time, Narmina Najafova has created around 60 art works. Her art teachers has always supported her creative path. The works presented at the exhibition aroused great interest among the guests of the event. LINCOLN A Kearney woman has been sent to federal prison for 12 years after selling 1 pounds of methamphetamine in Kearney. Nicole T. Beattie, 29, of Kearney, also known as Nicole T. Burr, was sentenced Monday in U.S. Federal District Court in Lincoln for felony possession of meth with the intent to distribute 50 grams (1.76 ounces) or more of the drug, and 50 grams or more of a meth mixture. She had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge. She must serve a five-year term of supervised release after serving her sentence. Beattie will be allowed to participate in a residential drug treatment program and participate in vocational and educational training. According to court records, she will be serving her time at a federal prison in West Virginia. There is no parole in the federal system. On Oct. 29, 2020, members of the Central Nebraska Drug and Safe Streets Task Force served a search warrant at a house Beattie rented in the 1200 block of 12th Avenue. Federal court records say Kearney Police found Beattie, Craig Marsh, 33, and Jeremy Gerdes, 37, all of Kearney, in a bedroom and saw two lines of suspected meth in the room on a table. During the search officers found a police radio, security camera, loaded handgun magazine, a meth pipe, bags of suspected meth and $2,850. They also found a 9mm handgun in an air register. In a bathroom police found a case containing two bags containing 382 grams (13.47 ounces) of meth, of which 338 grams (11.92 ounces) was actual meth, records say. In another bedroom KPD found a digital scale, suspected meth residue, a meth pipe and plastic bags. The substance was sent to the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab where it tested positive for meth. In November, Gerdes was sentenced to four years in federal prison for felony possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine mixture. He must serve a five-year term of supervised release after serving his sentence. Records dont indicate where Gerdes is serving his time, other than a federal facility as close as possible to Kearney. Marshs case is pending in federal court. Lucille Lu and Joseph Chub Bruha are being remembered for their love of Hillsboro and education through a recently established scholarship in their name. Created by their daughter, Patti Bruha, the scholarship honors the lives of a couple married for 73 years who gave back to their community and country, and who ran a successful local business. After serving in the U.S. Army, Chub returned home and met the love of his life, Lucille. Together they managed a plumbing and heating business in Hillsboro. Chub was a Mason, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and a volunteer firefighter. Chub and Lu were longtime members of the First Congregational Church in Hillsboro. Lu taught Sunday school, was a member of Eastern Star, and a Brownie and Girl Scout leader for many years, while teaching generations of people how to knit. Their biggest sense of pride was Patti, who they helped through college and pharmacy school. The couple passed away in 2019 and 2020. My parents lived their entire lives in Hillsboro and were very supportive of further education whether it be at the college level or technical school, says Patti. They were extremely proud of the many local students who expanded their knowledge and were successful in their respective fields. The scholarship will begin its awards this spring and will serve as educationally meaningful support for years to come. The Hillsboro Excellence in Education Fund advisory board also serves as the advisory board to the Hillsboro Scholarship Fund which provides scholarships to graduating seniors of Hillsboro High School. The Fund oversees the Picha Memorial Endowed Scholarship, the Wolfenden Scholarship and is proud to announce the newly established Joseph Chub and Lucille Lu Bruha Scholarship Fund. The Hillsboro EIE and Scholarships are components of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin (CFSW.) CFSW encourages the creation of scholarship funds that benefit students from a designated school or a particular area of its service region. Scholarship funds can be set up to help students pursue a particular course of study or attend a specific school, regardless of its location. Donors decide the name and purpose of the fund and may specify selection criteria such as academic achievement and financial need. A scholarship fund can be created in name of the donor, family, company, or someone the donor wishes to honor, and grants from the fund in perpetuity. Donors who prefer anonymity can choose names that reflect their funds charitable purposes. Scholarship Funds can be started quickly and easily with a minimum gift of $25,000. Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin serves to match charitable donors with the needs of communities in nine southern Wisconsin counties, including Rock, Walworth, Crawford, Iowa, Lafayette, Green, Grant, Sauk and Vernon. The Foundation is a 501(3) charitable organization with assets in excess of $80 million. For more information on the Hillsboro Excellence in Education Fund or Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, call Donor Services Representative Dave Murphy at 608-758-0883, Extension 7010 or visit www.cfsw.org. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Do you keep a diary? Some people make a New Years resolution to start writing a diary, a record of their days. The museums collections contain a most unusual sort of diary it is actually a scrapbook, but a real scrap book, a book full of scraps. These are scraps of cloth, fabric from the clothing once worn by Lucy Dawson of Viroqua. The book could be thought of as a diary, following 10 years of one womans life through the clothing she wore. Lucy was born Nov. 16, 1865, in Viroqua, to John and Martha (Ady) Dawson. She had an older brother Miles, and a younger brother John Jeremiah, usually called Jerre. The earliest date in the scrapbook is 1890. In those days, a lot of clothing was made individually for a person, not mass-produced and sold in stores, so these scraps possibly came from the bolts of cloth that were purchased to make Lucys clothes. I dont know if she made the clothing herself, or if she hired someone to sew it for her. The scraps of cloth are pasted to the page, often with notations about what each was made into, and occasionally where and when the garment was worn. A piece of black satin is labelled, black dress that did the Grand Tour in 1890. Wealthy young people from the United States often went on a long trip to Europe, called the Grand Tour, when they finished their schooling. Also in the museums collections is Lucys two-volume travel diary written during her Grand Tour, April through August 1890. The books are covered in burgundy velvet. Burgundy must have been one of her favorite colors, because the scrapbook includes pieces of burgundy cloth and ribbon labelled, favorite tailor suit worn at Madison while visiting the Bs in February 1891. She also had a burgundy gown made in 1898, and a burgundy blouse in 1899. It appears that both Lucy and younger brother Jerre attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in the late 1800s. The notation, Alumna lunch at Drake, June 1892, class day exercises, is written in the scrapbook next to scraps of cream-colored cloth, flower-print cloth, lavender satin ribbon, and white lace. Lucys father sold insurance, and Lucy joined him in the insurance agency of John Dawson & Company as a junior partner. No more special occasions are marked in the book after 1892, so maybe she now settled down to a life of work. Light blue patterned cloth made a jacket in 1893, and thick woven material of cream and grey and gold was fashioned into a gown in 1895. A scrap of red plaid is labelled, shirt waist 1896. Waist or shirtwaist was a term for what we would now call a blouse. A lavender and white print is labelled, wrapper in 1898. A wrapper was a loose garment designed for comfort and worn at home. Two plaid skirts were made for her in 1900, one of red, green, and gold plaid, and the other of cream, beige, and rose plaid. 1900 is the latest date in the scrapbook. Lucy never married, and lived at home with her parents and younger brother. She led a busy life as an insurance agent, an advocate for womens suffrage, and as a volunteer for many organizations including the public library, the local schools, and the Red Cross. Lucy Dawson died in 1931 and is buried in the Viroqua Cemetery. We have only black-and-white photographs of her, but her scrapbook reveals that she lived a vivid, colorful life. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The following people have been charged with felonies in La Crosse County Circuit Court: Devon E. Knapp, 22, La Crosse, has been charged with threatening a law enforcement officer. According to the criminal complaint, Knapp threatened to stab a La Crosse police officer who was attempting to arrest him during a Dec. 15 disorderly conduct incident. He was released after posting a $1,000 cash bond. Cody M. West, 18, La Crescent, Minnesota, has been charged with operating a vehicle without the owners consent. According to the criminal complaint, West stole a vehicle in La Crescent Dec. 19 and was involved in a hit-and-run crash in La Crosse the same day. He is free on a $1,000 signature bond. Kyle J. Morgan, 34, Rockland, has been charged with burglary. According to the criminal complaint, Morgan broke into a Bangor business Dec. 18 and stole $450 from a locked coin box. He is free on a $2,500 signature bond that includes a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Devin M. Gage, 28, Winona, Minnesota, has been charged with identity theft for financial gain. According to the criminal complaint, Gage was paid $1,441 by a website after he posted sexually explicit videos of a woman without her consent. Attempts by police to contact Gage have been unsuccessful, and a warrant for his arrest was issued Dec. 20. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A recently opened apartment building in La Crosses Powell-Poage-Hamilton Neighborhood could get four additional units after efforts to fill commercial space on its first floor were unsuccessful. The proposal from Farnam Flats crossed the desks of the City Plan Commission and Judiciary and Administration Committee on Tuesday, and both bodies approved the rezoning after some debate. The 46-unit apartment complex opened early last year, and while its first floor was intended for commercial use, the owners stated they have not had anyone interested in opening up shop. In a letter to the city, Farnam Flats officials said a commercial use would have been a bonus for the neighborhood and its tenants. But to date there has been no interest in the space mostly due to the current economic climate created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new plans would construct four additional apartments on the buildings first floor, according to the plans. The apartment complex is a project with the Joint Development Corporation (JDC), which is a partnership between Gundersen Health System and the city of La Crosse. The development agreement for Farnam Flats required the JDC to market the first floor commercial space through the end of 2021 and then convert to residential if unsuccessful. Officials saw the decision as a double-edged sword since new apartments would add much-needed housing to the area, but would squash an opportunity to add something such as a grocery store in the neighborhood, which is considered a food desert. I am personally very concerned, said commissioner James Cherf. He said he was also concerned of what potential impact upcoming construction to South Avenue would have to other commercial spaces in the area. Cherf said, I think this makes sense to a developer who wants to get rent churning out of these spaces, but does it really make sense for the neighborhood? I dont think so. Council member Scott Neumeister said, We called this. He said when the council first approved the Farnam Flats project he and others doubted that developers could lease the commercial space because of the rent, which at the time was set at $20 per square foot, officials said. It seemed like the writing was on the wall back then, Neumeister said. Farnam Flats officials worked with two commercial brokers and the La Crosse Area Development Corporation to try and fill the space. The city said it also worked with the group to make sure grant opportunities were known. Shawn McAlister of Premier Hotel Properties, which manages Farnam Flats, said through their brokers they were advised to lower rent to $18 per square foot. But the group was never able to negotiate any details with a potential tenant because no one ever inquired. We just had zero interest whatsoever, McAlister said. Through all of that I do truly believe that they put their best effort in, said city planner Andrea Trane. Commissioner Elaine Yager echoed the difficulties COVID-19 has had on businesses, saying it has been challenging for new businesses, especially those related to food, to start up. While I understand everyone wanting to deny this, I also understand their side of it, that theyre trying to make it a useful space, she said. And I dont know if they can do that in a commercial realm anytime soon. More housing itself was not a downside, and Mayor Mitch Reynolds said that the building has had no issue filling its apartments. It was full immediately, he said, saying he expects the additional units to fill up quickly, too. I think that should be an indication of the demand for housing in our community. Additionally, Reynolds said that there are ongoing discussions within the JDC to develop a market-style sandwich shop near South Avenue and Green Bay and 7th Streets, lending some relief to the food-scarce neighborhood. Floor plans submitted to the city show that the four new Farnam Flats units would include one studio apartment, two one-bedroom units, and a two-bedroom, two-bath unit. The existing lobby, elevator, communal restrooms and community room space intends to remain untouched by the new design, the plans show. The plan would include both interior and exterior changes to the building. Deck railings would be added to the two existing outside-access doors that face Farnam Street and would connect to the two-bedroom and one of the single bedroom units. Paneling would be added to the bottom of what would have been floor-length storefront windows and additional windows will be added and doors removed elsewhere. Five existing parking stalls that were intended to be used by employees of any potential commercial operations would then be used for the new residential units. A vote to deny the Farnam Flats rezoning failed in the City Plan Commission. It passed later, with Cherf and commissioner Jacob Sciammas opposed. J&A passed it unanimously without discussion. The rezoning now heads for the La Crosse Common Council next Thursday for a final vote. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. HOLMEN When Ben Wilson started working for Kwik Trip a week out of high school in 1999, the company operated 289 retail outlets. Two decades later, Wilson is a Kwik Trip district leader, and he spoke to his fellow employees Wednesday as the convenience store chain opened its 800th store. Kwik Trip celebrated its latest milestone in Holmen, where the La Crosse-based company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store opened for business Dec. 30 at the Hwy. 53-35 interchange on the villages north side. Wilson has witnessed the companys rapid growth firsthand. The only reason we get to stand here at Kwik Trips 800th location is because were blessed with the best owners you could ever ask for, Wilson said. Kwik Trip was founded in 1965 by Don Zietlow, who still serves as the companys president and CEO. Zietlow said its still a priority to maintain the business model of a privately held, family-owned company. The company employs 32,000 people. Over the years, Ive seen a lot of companies get sold, especially in the La Crosse market, and the people who made those companies lost their jobs, Zietlow said. One of our visions is to keep growing this company so that when (employees) come to work here, they can also retire from here. He said the business remains committed to sharing 40% of pre-tax profits with its employees. The banks and the accountants say we cant do it, but we manage to do it, Zietlow said. Its not a gift to our co-workers; they earn every penny of it. The Holmen Kwik Trip is described as a Generation 3 store with 9,000 square feet. Kwik Trip food service district leader Ryan Levendoski appreciates having more retail space and more product. The kitchen has more room for fryers, dishwashers and storage, Levendoski said. Efficiency-wise, its a lot better. Kwik Trip owns its own dairy and bakery and has limited its expansion to within 300 miles of La Crosse to ensure fresh products can reach any of its stores within a day. However, Kwik Trip community relations manager David Ring said lots of expansion opportunities still exist, including the Dakotas and Michigans upper peninsula. We have a lot of opportunity to expand our footprint, even in Wisconsin, Ring said. Were opening a significant amount of stores in 2022. The company opened its first store in Eau Claire in 1965. Kwik Trip opened its first La Crosse store in 1970 and moved its corporate offices to La Crosse in 1973. It reached 100 stores in 1986 and 400 in 2013. Kwik Trip already has two stores in Holmen, but village president Patrick Barlow said the location near the villages industrial district will boost the local economy. Were so happy to have this store become an anchor for that area of growth that we hope to see flourish in the next few years, Barlow said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Columbia County officials are investigating the deaths of three people in Lodi 23 years ago. In August 1998, Cheryl Cady, 45, was preparing for another year working as a teaching assistant at Lodi High School. Bria Meitner, 11, was set to start sixth grade in a few weeks and Cory Cole was getting ready for another year at Carroll College in Waukesha. All three were found dead in their Lodi home and the cause of death was determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning. Columbia County Sheriff Detective Captain Jason Kocovsky said the investigation has been re-opened so law enforcement can find out what happened 23 years ago. Over the past 23 years the question has always remained; what really happened that caused the carbon monoxide deaths, Kocovsky said in an email. Law enforcement suspect foul play may have been involved. In December Columbia County Sheriff Roger Brandner announced a new investigative team is working on the 1998 case. He said the new team is using new technology, re-interviewing neighbors and family friends and going over the case to try and get answers on what happened. Brander said in a statement the department was reaching out directly to the community to see if there is anything that may have been overlooked. If you have information Please contact Detective Captain Jason Kocovsky, if you have any information regarding this investigation at 608-742-4166 ext. 3302. Today, we are appealing directly to those who knew Cheryl, Cory, and Bria. You may have known them at work, in school, from activities, or in the neighborhood, Brandner said. Conversations you participated in, observations you made, or any knowledge you have regarding them, may be important to the investigation. Learning more about who they were as individuals helps us develop a deeper understanding of their relationships, challenges, and goals for the future. We are asking you to contact us and share your information. Brandner is asking anyone with information to contact the Sheriffs Office. For those who have already been interviewed, we thank you for your patience as we will be asking for your help again as we continue to search for answers. Wed like to thank the community for their continued support and look forward to the new insight you will provide, Kocovsky said. We would like the community to know even if you think the information you have is not important or relevant to what occurred, we encourage you to come forward and let us make that determination. Newspaper articles published in 1998 and 1999 report the deaths were caused by a car running in the homes garage as the three victims were upstairs. All three were found inside the home on Clar-Mar Drive shortly after 1 p.m. Aug. 22, 1998. The Wisconsin State Journal reported a neighbor had been called by Larry Meitner, Cadys ex-husband. The neighbor entered the home, found the three and attempted to revive them. Cady was found in the bathroom of the home while Cory Cole and Bria Meitner were in their bedrooms above the garage. Larry Meitner had called the neighbor after his daughter Bria Meitner didnt show up in Waunakee for her visit. In 1998 investigators were looking into medical, divorce and school records of involved parties to see if there was anything that could help them find answers. Vern Gove worked as a detective for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office 23 years ago. He told the Wisconsin State Journal in 1998 the department had interviewed over 70 residents in Harmony Grove while canvassing the neighborhood and more than 25 family and friends of the victims. In 1998, authorities were able to establish that Cheryl Cady was the last person seen driving the car that was left running in the homes garage. However, they had no proof she left it running. When police arrived on the scene the car was no longer running. A year after the deaths, Gove told the State Journal he wasnt sure the case would ever be solved and that they had investigated all possibilities including accident, suicide or homicide. Authorities did say there was no suicide note found inside the home and there were no signs of a struggle. In March 1999, investigators were looking into running a test at the Harmony Grove home to see how fast the carbon monoxide could have gone from the closed basement garage into the rooms the where the three victims were found. Weather was an issue for the test as Aug. 22, 1998, was a hot day with temperatures in the 90s and conditions were much cooler seven months later. Update: The National Weather Service in State College issued a hazardous weather outlook beginning today. The advisory warns motorists of "hazardous travel conditions" on Friday morning. Snow is expected in Lancaster County on Thursday and there's a good chance the county will see accumulations of more than an inch. Some areas in the county could see between 1 to 6 inches of snow during a 15-hour window Thursday night into Friday morning. It also depends on how an incoming storm approaches the region, according to Kyle Elliott, director of the Millersville University Weather Information Center. "A shift in the (storm's) track could be the difference between 1-3 inches and 3 to 6 inches," Elliott said. He added that the storm's intensity also could determine how much snow falls in the county. Given that the storm is still a few days away, Elliott said it is tricky forecast an exact amount of snow. As far as what to expect for an average snowfall, there's "still quite a bit of uncertainty," Mike Colbert said, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College. Colbert said that Lancaster County will likely get between 2 to 4 inches of snow, aligning with Elliott's outlook. "Higher terrain in the southern and eastern parts of Lancaster County, like Welsh Mountain, has the best chance to receive 3 to 6 (inches)," Elliott said. National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook on Wednesday morning to warn motorists that light snow accumulation could result in hazardous travel conditions on Thursday evening and into Friday morning. Currently, NWS says there's a 90% chance of snow on Thursday night. "There looks to be about a 15-hour window where snow could fall, between 8 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday," Elliott said. He expects about 8 to 10 hours of snowfall to happen in that period. Colbert said a majority of the snowfall will happen before sunrise on Friday. The snow will likely stick around for a while, too, as temperatures are expected to be around 32 on Friday. "The Friday commute will definitely be a tricky one," Elliott said, warning commuters to take extra caution, especially between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. Friday afternoon will also be windy, with average wind gusts around 15-20 mph, Colbert said. Some gusts could reach upward of 30 mph. "That'll put wind chills in the mid-teens," Colbert said. And that will only go down heading into the weekend. Colbert estimated Saturday will feel like 10 degrees, factoring in the wind chill. This storm system is different than the one that covered parts of Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey on Monday, but it does emphasize the impacts snowstorms can have based on their track and intensity. As of Tuesday afternoon, the storm was relatively weak in intensity, but showing a progressive pattern, according to Elliott. However, that could all change. Elliott said that if the storm tracks 25 to 50 miles northwest or gains in intensity, that could be the difference between 1-3 inches of snow and 3-6 inches of snow for the entire county. "This is our best set-up this season (for accumulating more than an inch of snow)," Elliott said. "But things are shifting fast." President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order declaring 2022 a Year of Shusha in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azertag reported on January 5. Taking into consideration the historical significance of Shusha for the people of Azerbaijan, its high cultural and spiritual value, 2022 was declared the Year of Shusha in the country. The Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to develop an action plan for the Year of Shusha. Lancaster County school officials say they are prepared to shift to virtual learning or even close a school -- if the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases extends to their students and staff. If we see a high number of staff who need to either quarantine or who are isolated due to illness, such that our staffing numbers will be so low that we feel like we cant safely open the school, that would be a case where we would close a school, Adam Aurand, School District of Lancaster spokesperson, said Tuesday. Then we would look at targeting certain classrooms if theres an outbreak. SDL schools were closed to students Monday so officials there could assess staffing levels and give teachers time to prepare lesson plans for substitute teachers or a switch to remote learning. Students returned to school Tuesday. Other school districts including Penn Manor, Warwick and Donegal have shared virtual learning plans with students, parents and staff as the countys seven-day COVID-19 case average continues to skyrocket to unprecedented levels. The rate of new cases reached about 877 per day as of Monday, according to data from the state Department of Health. Before the most recent surge, the pandemic peak was about 429 cases per day in December 2020. Unlike last year, districts dont have a specific number from the state that would mandate closures or remote instruction. Theres no hard number, Conestoga Valley School District Superintendent Dave Zuilkoski said Tuesday. It varies on the amount of teachers and what kind of coverage we can shift. He added that the district saw a number of staff, faculty and students test positive, but that didnt impact the ability to deliver instruction. The district has learned to adjust and modify their lessons so students can complete work online, if needed, Zuilkoski said. Conestoga Valley also reset its COVID-19 dashboard to zero cases following the break. Zuilkoski said cases over the break were added to the total number but do not impact the current positive case numbers because those cases would not have been in close contact with others in the district. Ephrata Area School District, on the other hand, kept its COVID-19 dashboard updated throughout the break. Superintendent Brian Troop said the number of absences in the past two days were not much greater than absences prior to the break. We haven't seen an uptick compared to the few weeks before the holidays, but we were seeing higher levels of absences in those weeks as well, Troop said. It's not a typical January, as far as attendance goes, but it's not inconsistent with what we were seeing in December. The district is prepared to shift to remote instruction if positive case numbers in a certain building account for more than 5% of the population. If more than 3% of the building has tested positive, a mask requirement will return for a 2-3 week period or until cases drop. For example, at least 10 positive cases at Akron Elementary School would result in a temporary mask mandate. No plans are in place to shift to remote learning as a preventive measure, Troop said. We're doing everything we can to have our buildings to remain open and be able to offer face to face instruction, Troop said. That's the best way for a majority of our students to engage with their learning. Similarly, Penn Manor Superintendent Mike Leichliter said district schools are committed to in-person learning but have been approved to continue offering its virtual programming, if necessary. Staff and students were reminded to take laptops home if a shift would occur. Penn Manor didnt have higher than expected absences Monday, Leichliter added. About 40 teachers called out sick Tuesday, he said. Normally, the district can fill more than 90% of those vacancies with substitutes, but only 80% of the absences were filled Tuesday. The surges weve seeing - for the most part - we havent been impacted by that, Leichliter said. The number of cases weve been seeing, I think are a great result of whats in the community. We have not seen much spread at all in our schools. And, despite a mask optional policy, Leichliter said he has seen more teachers and students wearing masks after the holiday break. Representatives from Eastern Lancaster County, Elizabethtown Area and Solanco school districts did not respond to requests for comment for this story. When John Bey started as interim chief of the Lancaster City Bureau of Police in December 2020, he made it known he wanted to drop the interim from that title and be hired for the job officially. Im not here to keep the seat warm, Bey told LNP | LancasterOnline at the time. Six months later, Mayor Danene Sorace made it official: The retired Pennsylvania State Trooper was appointed permanent chief after a nationwide search that involved a recruiting firm and a community review board. Ultimately, she said, it was her decision. Since Bey joined the department, Sorace said last month, he has delivered consistent progress on our shared vision of building a stronger relationship between the police and the community they serve and advancing 21st century policing practices. Under his leadership weve grown our Police Social Worker program and enhanced accountability through internal affairs and policy assessments. Hes also a natural collaborator with others, which comes out in many ways, including enhanced city recruitment efforts and internal partnerships relative to housing, community engagement, and more. City council President Ismail Izzy Smith-Wade-El said he was proud of the work the council and the community have been doing to redefine how we do public safety in the City of Lancaster. And a big part of that is bringing Chief Bey on. Smith-Wade-El said he hears positive reviews of Bey when he is out talking to people in the city. People like that Bey reinstated bike patrols, Smith-Wade-El said, along with the departments participation in a program in which mental health therapists from Blueprints for Addiction Recovery in West Lampeter Township accompany police officers on certain calls. Another plus cited by Smith-Wade-El: increased accountability, most notably demonstrated in October, when two officers were fired for submitting falsified COVID-19 vaccination cards. People want law enforcement that is accountable to them as individuals in their community and to interact with them not only when there is a crime or a crisis, Smith-Wade-El said. I certainly don't think we are all the way home, but I am proud to have Chief Bey as a partner moving us forward. Hired amid tumult Bey, 57, discussed his first year on the job in an interview last month. My first year goal was to just complete an assessment of the department to integrate myself with my command staff, with the city administration, and with our police officers here, and just bring some stability to the department because it was a tumultuous year prior to me getting here, Bey said. Sorace named Bey interim chief following the October 2020 departure of Jarrad Berkihiser after Sorace said she came to doubt that Berkihiser shared her vision for the direction of the department. That came after a summer of protests nationally and in Lancaster, where city officers were criticized for how they responded to protests sparked by the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police officer. And it followed the police shooting death of Ricardo Munoz, a man with a history of mental illness who came at a police officer while armed with a knife on Sept. 13, 2020, an event that sparked another round of protests in the city. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams concluded that the officer was justified in using deadly force against Munoz and the police department said the officer followed department policies and training. Given the circumstances under which Bey joined the department, he said if there was any griping about him, he didnt hear it. I can't pretend to be able to influence essentially 220 people, Bey said. So it has to trickle down. I have to trust my captains, who bought into me as chief, that they go out and they take our message that it's a team effort, he said, referring to captains Richard Mendez, patrol; Mike Winters, criminal investigative; and Kevin Fry, administrative services. Bey said his biggest challenge was being the new guy in an established organization. I'm coming in as the new person, full of ideas and bringing change, to try to create some type of a paradigm shift in the culture of the department that in my opinion benefits the organization, benefits the city, benefits everyone, he said. Part of that shift, Bey said, was to enhance community engagement, which he said the department was already doing. Theres a national narrative that this is not a sexy job anymore. So I think some of the things that have occurred across the nation, and here as well, kind of overshadowed our engagement efforts. I think we were also victims of our own poor marketing, he said. Bey is hiring a communications manager to work on social media and share what the department is doing in terms of community engagement, he said. Seeking diversity A major goal for 2022 is recruiting women and minorities to become police officers a challenge for departments nationwide. Bey cautioned efforts may not have immediate returns. Among the entire department police, crossing guards and staff the department has 58 females: two Asian, six Black, 18 Hispanic and 32 white, and 139 males: eight Black, 12 Hispanic and 119 white. Even though things have improved immensely over the past 30 years, there still has to be a concerted effort to reach in and grab people of color and females by the hand and talk to them about a career in law enforcement, Bey said. Bey discussed how he became a police officer. I had no aspirations to get into law enforcement. I went to college to become a newscaster, he said. But a friend wanted to become a state trooper, so Bey went and took the test with him. I did well, and he didn't Next thing I know, I'm sitting in a state police academy, Bey said. But I had three years of military under my belt prior to that, so it was an environment that I was familiar with. I always say, The State Police Academy brought the trooper out in me. Bey said others can find a calling in policing. My advice is that if you really want to effect real change, real systemic change, you have to do it internally. Come aboard the police department, and effect change and be that role model, he said. And then if you really want to impact your police department in your community, get promoted and put yourself in a position to write policy and hold people accountable to existing policies. That's how you effect change. Collaboration As for other changes, Bey said hes tried to work cooperatively with other city departments, such as on housing and code enforcement issues. For example, Bey said, if officers respond to a domestic disturbance call and see the house is illegally converted to apartments, they will report that to housing. Similarly, if officers see exposed wiring or lack of smoke detectors, they can report that to code enforcement or the fire department, which can then provide smoke detectors. It's about improving the quality of life. And so we know that when the quality of life is improved, there's a proportional impact on crime, Bey said. Interorganizational cooperation was something practiced in the state police, Bey said, and he stressed it when he was Middletowns chief. And, he noted, Sorace was interested in it, too, across city government. There was some cooperation when he arrived, he said, but it could certainly be improved upon, and so I came in just made a conscious effort to try to make that happen. Bey said he wants the community to know that they have very dedicated and professional police officers in this department who care and they want to be of service to the community, why else would they be here? (And) that we're all human beings and sometimes we fall short. None of us walk on water. There's only one person in history who walked on water, and he doesn't work here. We're all humans and sometimes we fall short, but we're going to hold our folks accountable. Update: Eric E. Adams was found safely around 7:35 p.m. Tuesday, East Earl Township police said in a news release. Previously reported: East Earl Township police are searching for a man who has been missing for the past week. No one has had contact with Eric E. Adams since Dec. 28, police said in a news release Tuesday. Adams, 54, has not reported for work, which is unusual, police said. He also left many of his belongings at his place of employment. Adams does not have a permanent residence and often stays at a local hotel, which told police he had not checked in recently. His cellphone is no longer in service. Adams drives a maroon 2016 Ford Mustang with Pennsylvania license plates. The vehicle is also missing, police said. A police desk sergeant said Adams is about 5-foot-6-inches, around 150 pounds and has blue eyes and gray hair. It was not known what he was last seen wearing. Adams, who works in East Earl Township, is not believed to be in immediate danger, the desk sergeant said. The desk sergeant was unable to provide any additional information. Anyone who has seen Adams or has information as to his whereabouts is urged to contact East Earl Township police at 717-354-2211 or 717-355-5302. Representatives from Chick-fil-A revealed some more details about a plan to build its largest facility in Pennsylvania on West Airport Road in Manheim Township, including the capacity for three drive-thru lanes. But it suffered a setback in those plans. After a 90-minute hearing, the township's zoning hearing board approved 3-2 a motion to grant only two aspects of the Chick-fil-A's zoning request and without the most important stipulation a variance to allow a drive-thru. The property at 100 W. Airport Road sits in both an industrial zone and an overlay district, which provides an additional layer of standards. The board granted Chick-fil-A permission to operate a restaurant on the site in both the industrial zone and overlay district, but without a drive-thru. Speakers from Chick-fil-A presented their case for several zoning variances that would provide the necessary space for a three-lane drive-thru that would be able handle 75 cars at once. They stressed the larger property would operate much differently than the location at the Belmont Shopping Center, which has caused congestion headaches on Fruitville Pike. A Chick-fil-A study found that in one day in September, the line of cars had grown to 55, extending out into the turning lanes on the street a familiar site for many area motorists. But two residents and a neighbor to the site, Ephrata National Bank, raised concerns about the effect of a drive-thru business in the area. You need to show that the use will not impair the use of the adjacent property, said Seth Hiller, an attorney representing Ephrata National Bank at the zoning hearing. Chick-fil-A's presentation didnt do that, he said. The plan from the Atlanta-based fast-food chain calls for demolishing the former Hosss Family Steak & Sea House at 100 W. Airport Road and replacing it with a new Chick-fil-A building. Justin Thornton, a civil engineering consultant for Chick-fil-A, said the 2.5-acre site at Airport Road and Lititz Pike would use the companys most recent store designs, which allow faster and more efficient food delivery times, particularly at the drive-thru. A canopy would cover cars in the drive-thru lanes near the store, he said, and the stores workers would use iPads to take orders and deliver them to cars directly, rather than direct cars to a single pick-up window the method used at the Fruitville Pike location. But the zoning board did not approve the variances that would provide the necessary space for such a large drive-thru operation. Chick-fil-A has 30 days to file an appeal on the decision. A zoning variance is needed when a characteristic of a proposed building or property doesnt comply with municipal zoning rules. According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Lititz Pike at Airport Road averages 20,400 vehicles a day. The consumer demand at the Fruitville Pike location seemed to catch its owners by surprise. After it opened in 2018, the developer of the shopping center, R.J. Waters & Associates, paid for two different widenings of the driveway that leads to the Chick-fil-A drive-thru in hopes of improving traffic flow. Hosss Steak & Sea House closed in February when the property was sold for $1.6 million to Joe Deerin, a Lancaster real estate developer at Deerin Cos. At the time a spokesman for Hosss said the restaurant was closed because of an unsolicited buy offer that was too good to turn down. Chad Umble contributed reporting to this story. Editor's note: this story originally ran on Oct. 30, 2021. Mike Peinovich walks confidently onto a stage as a large audience chants his name, their voices echoing off the weathered sides of a historic barn. Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike! He quickly shakes the hand of a man standing at the podium, pats him on his back and pulls a copy of his speech from his jacket pocket. Quieting his supporters with a wave, Peinovich dives into a 30-minute speech declaring the establishment of a political party whose platform is to preserve and protect the white European majority in the United States. The white race is under attack, Peinovich said, rallying the crowd. We are announcing the formation of a new political party, a new political vehicle that is going to fight for you, for white rights, for our people in America and the world. The new partys enemy, he said, is capitalism, Zionism and the international Jewish oligarchy. These are the people that are oppressing us. That rally announcing the creation of the National Justice Party, captured in a video posted online by its organizers, happened right here in Lancaster County 14 months ago. It was held in a historic barn on Millersville Pike just outside Lancaster city. The gathering of some of the nations most notorious white supremacists here, which went largely unnoticed at the time by neighbors and law enforcement, suggests the group sees this traditionally conservative region as fertile ground for recruiting new members as the population grows more ethnically and politically diverse, experts said. You cannot have a nation of justice, a nation of liberty, without a white majority forever, Peinovich announced to raucous applause from the crowd in the barn, also stating that races dont necessarily need to mix together all the time. That the National Justice Party chose a small, suburban Lancaster County barn to launch its organization also raises scores of questions - some of which can be answered and some of which remain a mystery despite months of research and reporting for this story. All of those questions, however, circle back to Charles Bausman, a figure with ties to the Stop the Steal movement who has spent much of his adult life in Russia. Bausman quietly settled in Lancaster, the home of his ancestors, in late 2018, months after penning a lengthy essay on the Jew taboo that drew international backlash. Why Lancaster? While its unclear what role Bausman intends to play as the group travels the country seeking new members -- and potential influence in electoral politics -- Bausman, who is the publisher and editor of the pro-Kremlin website Russia Insider, openly discusses his ties to the partys founding members and his general support for many of their political and social views. Their criticism of Jews is fair and well-reasoned, Bausman said, although he also said the nascent political partys members are not as Christian-centered as he would like. [Whos Charles Bausman? A closer look at the pro-Putin blogger who moved to Lancaster] Both Peinovich and fellow party founder Joseph Jordan, using the respective pseudonyms of Mike Enoch and Eric Striker, have published essays on Russia Insider. Bausman made appearances on Peinovichs Fash the Nation podcast, he said in an October 2020 interview with LNP|LancasterOnline. (Bausman's ties to alt-right media platforms run by Peinovich and others was first reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center in early Oct. 2020.) And soon after Bausman purchased the nearly five-acre property at 1630 Millersville Pike for $450,000 in 2020, he allowed white nationalists to list it as a home address. Party founder Gregory Conte is currently living at the property, Bausman said in an interview with LNP|LancasterOnline this month. William Von Diez, a former leader in the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, registered to vote in Lancaster County in February 2020, with the farm listed as his address. Norman Trey Garrison, who had been editor of The Lancaster Patriot before LNP|LancasterOnlines reporting identified him as the host of a white-nationalist podcast on Peinovichs The Right Stuff network, is also listed as living on the property in court papers related to his recent DUI case. [Who's behind Lancaster Patriot? An alt-right podcaster from Texas, investigation shows] Neither Peinovich nor Conte responded to requests for comment. In an October 2020 interview, Bausman lied to LNP|LancasterOnline about his knowledge of the party rally and his association with other white nationalists. He said he did not know where the Peinovich speech was given and denied being in attendance. Not that I'm aware of, Bausman said last year when asked if the event was in Lancaster County. I think something in the speech said something about New England. Peinovich quote You cannot have a nation of justice, a nation of liberty, without a white majority forever." -- Mike Peinovich, chairman of the National Justice Party When confronted with contrary evidence in an interview earlier this month, Bausman initially continued to deny the event was hosted on his property. But he eventually conceded that one of (The Right Stuff members) said, Can we use your barn for an event? and I said, Fine with me. [How we confirmed a barn in Lancaster County was used for a 2020 white nationalist rally] He also said he was at the barn for Peinovichs speech and that there were about 100 people there. I didnt want to draw attention to a situation where other people can get in trouble, he said, explaining why hed initially concealed his connection with the event. Aerie Perliger, a professor of criminology and justice at the University of Massachusetts who researches political extremism and far-right politics, said the August 2020 gathering of white nationalists in Lancaster County was an example of overlapping political grievances and racial tensions. As communities become more culturally and ethnically diverse, he said, some worry that will translate into political diversity, creating support for more liberal values that could jeopardize their conservative majority. The danger, Perliger said, is that political polarization can help one group dehumanize the other side or portray the other side in absolute terms that sometimes can justify even violence. If you believe the other side wants to see the destruction of America, if you believe the other side is not really part of your community, is not part of what America should be, it's easy for them to marginalize other groups and in some cases even justify violence against other groups, he said. Most activities by white nationalists have been happening in blue states with substantial rural areas, Perlinger said, adding he is not surprised the party chose Pennsylvania for its launch. The party also lists its mailing address as a post office box in Butler, a city in rural western Pennsylvania. Lancaster County political leaders and law enforcement, however, said they were shocked to learn the rally was held here. I unequivocally condemn white supremacy and this gathering in the harshest terms possible, said Iber Guerrero Lopez, vice chairman of the Lancaster Township board of supervisors. Theres absolutely no room for white nationalists in Lancaster Township, and quite frankly, to advance white racial superiority is a poor, pathetic, and an evil use of the first amendment. Its a sad day when you find out that hate and bigotry were welcomed onto the property in question. Lancaster Township will always be an inclusive, welcoming and tolerant municipality; that type of disgusting ideology has no home here. The township manager, Bill Laudien, said officials there learned of the rally from an LNP|LancasterOnline reporter researching this story. We condemn in strongest terms the hate filled rhetoric that we have heard. There is no place for this in our community or any other community, he said. Diane Topakian, chair of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee, said she was disturbed to learn about the rally and the partys beliefs. All Americans should be horrified by these beliefs. We must use every opportunity to oppose this rhetoric and be vigilant, she said. Republican Committee of Lancaster County chairman Kirk Radanovic voiced similar distaste. These comments are absolutely appalling and disgusting, he said. We join with our Jewish friends and neighbors to strongly condemn the creation of this party, and the comments at this event. We continue to be proud of the work President Trump did to support the Jewish community and our allies in Israel. Those who attended this event and those who will join this party, are not welcome in the Republican Party or in Lancaster County." The Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, when contacted for this story, was unable to provide information on whether the party or its founders are monitored by statewide law enforcement. The diversification of Lancaster County Lancaster County, particularly the urban core including the city and surrounding municipalities, has become increasingly diverse in recent decades, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2000, Lancaster Townships population was 84.1% white. Two decades later, in 2020, only 57% of the nearly 19,000 residents were white, according to census data. The suburb has also tipped blue after decades of voting for Republicans. A majority of voters there backed Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the last two presidential contests, for example; in 2000, they backed Republican George W. Bush. The county has followed the same trend, albeit more slowly. Republicans made up 61% of registered voters 20 years ago; they make up 51% today. Alexander Reid Ross, a doctoral fellow at the United Kingdom-based Center for Analysis of the Radical Right and author of Against the Fascist Creep, has been following the activities of Peinovich and other National Justice Party members for years. He said he sees the group as part of a broader effort to shift America toward right-leaning, populist governance like that of Victor Orbans Hungary. Theyre trying to create a populist radical right party in the United States thats more hard line than the Republican framework, Ross said. I think theyre doing Lancaster because theyre trying to cultivate a rural following, because thats effectively what (Prime Minister Victor) Orban did in Hungary get a diehard following in rural areas and use that to subvert the liberalism of the urban core and then single handedly dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Ross was referring to the definition of liberalism as the political philosophy that values individual rights, civil liberties, democracy and free enterprise, not the definition meaning left-leaning politics. National Justice Party & its founders Carla Hill, the associate director of the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism, said the ADL has been tracking the party since August 2020 and had tracked many of its members before then. She said the group espouses typical white-nationalist ideology; the party believes immigration must be curtailed or stopped to ensure whites retain a majority because thats how the country was founded. Our concern would be this very vitriolic antisemitism that they express, she said. The ADL is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization founded in 1913 to combat antisemitism. jordan quote "The Jew is the virus that launches many infections against our national bodys White blood cells ... we must eliminate this virus before it brings about our Demise. -- National Justice Party founder Joseph Jordan, writing under the pseudonym Eric Striker" Party chairman Peinovich was a speaker at the 2017 Unite the Right'' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he introduced former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Peinovich said in a 2017 interview with The New Yorker that he had an intense, personal antipathy for Jews and repeatedly has been photographed and videotaped preforming the Sieg Heil Nazi salute. Party founder Jordan, who writes under the name Eric Striker, once wrote in The Daily Stormer that the Jew is the virus that launches many infections against our national bodys White blood cells ... we must eliminate this virus before it brings about our Demise. The Daily Stormer is a white-supremacist website that and message board that often includes advocacy for a second genocide of Jewish people. Excerpts of the National Justice Party platform These excerpts include the first five points of the National Justice Partys platform, which was largely outlined in a speech Aug. 15, 2020, in Lancaster County. You can read the full platform here. The United States of America will be declared an outpost of Western civilization and a state dedicated to its European-heritage population and their posterity. It will be the policy of the state to set immigration and natal policy that will ensure a permanent European majority. The rights of historic minority populations will be respected. We demand the extension of the 1964 Civil Rights act to provide equal protections and privileges to the White majority, or the act must be repealed. We support the nationalization and strategic break ups of banks, mass media, and monopolistic corporations in order to create public accountability and guarantee that they serve the nation first. We support a two percent ceiling on Jewish employment in vital institutions so that they better represent the ethnic and regional population balance of the country. We support the sacred rights of free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association. Political views will not be censored by the state or any large private concerns. It will be illegal for any employer to retaliate against workers for political activism and expression outside the workplace. -- SOURCE: nationaljusticeparty.com/platform/ Other members have made more explicit connections between their beliefs and the kind of antisemitism and white supremacy espoused in Hitlers Nazi Germany. Greg Conte, the party founder now living at the Bausman farm, used his channel on Telegram - a messaging service created by a Russian entrepreneur - to praise American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. In another message to his 1,400 subscribers, he wrote, Its sad that Hitler didnt win. In a speech at a July gathering of the party, party founder Warren Balogh uses the phrase hail victory, which is the English translation of the Nazi chant Sieg Heil. Balogh attended the Bausman farm rally and was introduced on the stage alongside his father, Alan Balogh. As he introduced the partys platform at the Bausman farm rally, Peinovich made no attempt to hide the partys view that whites are superior and Jews are to blame for societys ills. He called former President Donald Trump, who he admitted previously supporting, the most Jewish president ever who is in the pocket of Jared Kushner and Zionist Jews. Trump was a fake who did nothing to help the white people he vowed to support, Peinovich said. There's one other huge problem with the GOP, Peinovich said at one point in the speech. Jews? a crowd member yells. You beat me to it, Peinovich laughs. Now theyre the party of Zionism. In laying out the partys principles, which include promoting the rights of white workers and implementing true immigration reform, he calls for a legal designation declaring the United States a European-majority country. We need to unify as a race and as a people and fight for our prosperity and for our rights and for our right to this country which we founded! he said. Whats next? Hill, the Anti-Defamation League researcher, said the party has spread its message mainly through its podcasting network and posting their speeches online, but that they havent taken much public action beyond that. However, party founders have made some notable connections within white-supremacist circles, she said. The partys recent involvement in a documentary connects them with groups which, the ADL said, consider themselves vigilante soldiers standing guard against a perceived existential threat to their white future. They also appear to be connected to Thomas Rousseau, the leader of the white nationalist group Patriot Front, who has been keeping a low profile for the past few years but was seen in a video of the partys meeting on July 24. So if they have the ear of these active clubs and the ear of Patriot Front, that's some of the most active groups, Hill said. It makes them have more influence. Although Bausman said Conte is still living at the property on Millersville Pike, most of the groups members seem to have moved on from Lancaster County. Recordings of recent speeches show their meetings are being held somewhere in the Midwest. While its difficult to gauge the size of the partys membership, the groups Telegram channel had fewer than 9,000 followers as of this week. Peinovich, in a documentary released earlier this month, said the goal of the party is to gain support by focusing on divisive social issues like race and LGBTQ issues. They hope to nominate candidates for elected office and usurp the Republican Party as the voice of conservatives. We want to agitate, Peinovich said. Because right now, we dont have much power. What success will they have as a political party? Ross, of the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right, said he is skeptical if that is their real goal. I think what they really want to do is promote a law-and-order framework that assembles around antisemitism in order to then force the Republican Party to embrace open antisemitism as well, or at least to kind of move toward the antisemitic framework. COMING MONDAY: A look at the pro-Russia blogger's activities, online and in person, between the 2020 election and the Capitol riot. When: Manheim Borough Council reorganization meeting, Jan. 3. What happened: District Judge Scott Albert administered the oath of office to reelected council member Brad Roth and recently elected council member James Blanck. A lifelong Manheim area resident and 16-year resident of the borough, Blanck is an automotive technician at Hondru Ford of Manheim. Council vacancy: Borough Manager Jim Fisher said council has been notified that Andy Sensenig, who was elected to fill a Ward 1 council seat, will not be accepting the position. Sensenig was seated as a member of the Manheim Central school board Dec. 1. In accordance with state Borough Code, council has 30 days, or until Feb. 3, to appoint a resident to fill the position. The resident must be from the boroughs 1st Ward. Council leaders: Council selected new leaders. Noah Martin will serve as president, while Jared Longenecker will serve as vice president. Both Martin and Longenecker began their council tenure in 2020. Blanck was named president pro tempore. Quotable: Im relatively new to council and appreciate the opportunity to serve (as president). I have two young boys at home, and I think about them and how their lives will be impacted when we vote on various issues. Im excited about the future of the borough; theres a lot going on and we have an excellent staff to help us, Martin said. Borough commissions: Anthony Haldeman and Carol Phillips, who also serves on council, were reappointed to four-year terms on the planning commission. Shawn Hayduk was appointed to a five-year term on the zoning hearing board. Kelli Nachbar was appointed to serve a four-year term on the shade tree commission. Former council member Jean Gates was reappointed to serve a two-year term on the shade tree commission. Other vacancies: A vacancy exists on the boroughs historic commission, and two residents are needed to serve as borough representatives on the Manheim Area Water and Sewer Authority board. Residents interested in volunteering to serve in these positions or the vacant council position should send a letter of interest to Fisher at Manheim Borough Office, 15, E. High St., Manheim, PA or via email at JimFisher@manheimboro.org. THE ISSUE: Thursday is the one-year anniversary of the violent attack in which an estimated 2,000 people broke into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and temporarily interrupted Congress role in the peaceful transfer of power, as prescribed in the U.S. Constitution. Earlier on that Jan. 6, many of those attackers had been whipped into a frenzy by a speech from then-President Donald J. Trump, who had lost a free and fair election to President-elect Joe Biden two months earlier. Trump has never accepted the results of the November 2020 election. He and his supporters, including some Republican lawmakers, have falsely asserted that the election was fraudulent. On Jan. 6, 2021, their constant drumbeat about the Big Lie resulted in a mob of insurrectionists viciously assaulting members of law enforcement; threatening the lives of Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress; scrawling Murder the media on one Capitol door; and attempting to fully upend American democracy. They did not succeed, but repercussions of that tragic day resonate one year later. Much has been written about the storming of the U.S. Capitol in this newspaper and elsewhere. The coverage is important. Jan. 6 was a pivotal date in American history that must not be forgotten or downplayed. The full story of how the attack was planned and unfolded which is still being investigated by Congress and the Justice Department must be told widely and taught in schools, if democracy is to prevail. We wont rehash all of the gut-wrenching, infuriating details that have come to light in the past 12 months. But we do want to reiterate some indisputable facts and some of this Editorial Boards key stances related to the insurrection, before turning to a discussion of where we go from here. The 2020 presidential election was deemed to be fair, legitimate and secure by judges appointed by Trump; by numerous Republican elections officials, including those in Lancaster County; and by Trumps own attorney general and former election cybersecurity chief. No evidence has been found of any election irregularities or fraud significant enough to have altered the outcome in Pennsylvania or any other state. Anything counter to the above statement is working in service of the Big Lie. Endless court challenges, the promotion of baseless conspiracy theories, state-level audits, and certain proposals to fix state election laws are all part of a strategy to sustain the false idea that Trump won and gin up distrust in our elections. The Republican elected officials who tried to undo the results of the 2020 election and have, in ways small and large, promoted the Big Lie share in the responsibility for what took place on Jan. 6. They have helped the partisan fissure in America transform into a gaping chasm. We believe them to be unfit to hold office. The U.S. House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack is doing important and necessary work. As we wrote on Dec. 19, it is trying to save our republic from danger and from bitter partisans who disdain the objective truth. As Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who co-chairs the committee, has noted, If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic, undermining the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democratic system. We will face the threat of more violence in the months to come, and another Jan. 6 every four years. That last point by Cheney is crucial. We are not alone in worrying that the actions of Trump and his supporters leading up to Jan. 6 were practice for overturning future elections a playbook for a coup. Barton Gellman wrote for The Atlantic in early December that the next attempt to overthrow a national election might rely on subversion more than violence, although each will have its place. If the plot succeeds, the ballots cast by American voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. Thousands of votes will be thrown away, or millions, to produce the required effect. The winner will be declared the loser. The loser will be certified president-elect. The prospect of this democratic collapse is not remote. That too-real scenario should terrify every American citizen, regardless of political party. So, what can be done? For starters, there is more that Congress can and should do. Protecting American elections includes making the acts of registering to vote and casting a ballot easier and more accessible for all. We expressed our concern throughout 2021 with proposals by some state legislatures including Pennsylvanias that would make it harder for Americans to vote. These anti-democratic state laws and proposals could be countered to some degree if Congress passes the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Doing so may require the overhaul or elimination of the Senate filibuster, which must not continue to stand in the way of necessary steps to protect democracy. Talking to each other Thats what Congress must do. But what can we do? Americas partisan fracture that was widened on Jan. 6 and divides us now is greater than at perhaps any time since the Civil War. Its splintering communities, school boards, neighborhoods and even families. It wont be resolved if everyone remains within their own bubbles and the comfort of their own narratives and social media feeds. In Sundays coverage of the Jan. 6 anniversary, LNP | LancasterOnlines Dan Nephin noted that one local woman who went to Washington, D.C., a year ago said she did so because no one will listen to us. She declined to give her name. We wanted to listen to their stories, Nephin continued, describing this newspapers reporting efforts. But they either didnt respond to messages or declined to comment. Thats disappointing. And it shows the steepness of the challenge people face in trying to talk to each other. Healthy conversations will require honesty from both sides. And they will require a genuine desire to listen. Maybe it starts with simply giving each other a chance, however difficult it might be to step outside our comfort zone. A nudge might be all we need. If we start talking, the results might surprise us. A new study, detailed in The Atlantic last month, seemed to show that Americans on both sides of the political spectrum often overestimate how radical the other side is. Democracy ... requires at least some level of mutual comprehension, Victoria Parker wrote in that Atlantic piece. No matter where people are on the political spectrum, they ought to know whom theyre fighting with and what theyre even fighting about. We found two interesting examples of groups giving people that necessary nudge. One is Make America Dinner Again (makeamericadinneragain.com), which invites small groups of people holding different political views to have dinner together online, during the COVID-19 pandemic and find ways to move forward with respectful conversations. A similar effort, touted in letters to the editor from Mary Theresa Webb, is the Braver Angels Lancaster County Alliance. Its Facebook page describes it as a grassroots movement working to unite the nation, (which) rejects extreme polarization as a new norm and catalyzes civil civic discourse. We applaud these and other efforts to get people conversing meaningfully. We want to hear your ideas on how people can bridge the gap and start talking with each other, rather than at each other. Please email a letter to the editor (no more than 250 words) to LancasterLetters@lnpnews.com or mail to: Letters, c/o LNP, P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster PA 17608-1328. Include the tag Conversations 2022. In a moment when democracy is imperiled and a somber anniversary reminds us of what the worst-case scenario might look like, we look forward to your thoughts. Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), ADIO Catalyst and Wageningen University and Research, has completed the first edition of its Level Up project that enables SMEs and startups to scale and reach new heights. The first version of the programme saw 10 shortlisted agritech companies go through 5-weeks of training and mentorship, before a final pitching day where Circa BioTech, a food waste management solution, and CODE Three Fourteen Technologies, a company that helps increase agricultural yield, were established as the winning companies. Alia Al Mazrouei, Advisor to the Chairman of the Department of Economic Development, stated: "We congratulate Circa BioTech and CODE Three Fourteen Technologies for coming out at the top for this edition of Level-Up. The programme was developed to provide a complete ecosystem to help SMEs and startups seize new opportunities and continue to excel post-pandemic. "Covid-19 has changed how the world works and while most of these companies recognise the urgency of reinventing their business models to remain competitive and propel growth, they need assistance in navigating this uncharted territory. Level Up brings seamless access to new markets, technologies, and expertise to entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs - who are at the very heart of Abu Dhabis economy." The initiative is designed to operate in consecutive stages, each lasting from 2 to 4.5 months according to specialised sectors. The format includes two months of learning and mentorship, a forum and demo day, and two meetup events. Apart from agriculture technology, other sectors to be covered in upcoming editions include finance, ICT, health services, biopharma, tourism and real estate. Through the emergence of innovative and modern solutions, this part of the programme will play a crucial role in increasing productivity, protecting ecosystems, enhancing local production, reducing waste in the agriculture sector, improving nutrition, and creating potential partnerships to diversify food sources in the country. 21 Abducted Schoolchildren Rescued in Northwestern Nigeria At least 21 schoolchildren in Nigeria have been rescued hours after they were abducted by armed groups in the West African countrys troubled northwestern region, police said. The schoolchildren were abducted on Friday while they were traveling with their teacher from the Bakura area to an Islamic school in neighboring Katsina state, police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said in a statement over the weekend. Security forces responded and rescued the 21 students and are currently working to rescue the remaining victims and apprehend the perpetrators, Shehu said. ADVERTISEMENT He did not say how many hostages are still being held but said the assailants seized travelers from as many as five vehicles, suggesting there are many more still in captivity. Children have often been targeted in northwestern Nigeria in attacks by armed groups on rural communities far from the protection of security forces who are often outgunned and outnumbered. A day after the attack on the schoolchildren, the Nigeria Air Force launched successful airstrikes targeting the camps of the gunmen in Zamfara state, senior official Edward Gabkwet told The Associated Press on Monday. He said the number of those killed in the airstrikes has not been confirmed. We are going to go after each and every one of them (the gunmen) until all Nigerians feel safe to go about their normal businesses, he said. On Sunday, another group of bandits killed six rural residents in several attacks in Kaduna state which neighbors Nigerias capital city, according to Samuel Aruwan, the state commissioner for internal security. The large bands of assailants mostly consist of young men from the Fulani ethnic group, who had traditionally worked as nomadic cattle herders and are caught up in a decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and grazing land. ADVERTISEMENT The gunmen _ in groups of more than 150, according to Katsina Governor Aminu Masari _ appear to be increasingly organized and well-armed, despite moves by Nigerian authorities to stem the violence including recently designating them as terrorist organizations. After over 46 years in leadership with the BBA, I feel now is the time for new leadership to oversee the organizations day-to-day operations, said Cooper. It is and always will be a true commitment and my special purpose in life of serving African Americans and business owners, in addition to others. I look forward to assisting the Board in whatever way I can with the transition to building a stronger organization with the commitment to service young African Americans entrepreneurs because they are our future, stated the veteran community leader, who will transition to president emeritus and chairman of the BBA Board. ADVERTISEMENT In addition, it is my intention to offer all support to the incoming Interim President Sarah R. Harris in a way that affords her the opportunity to lead without encumbrances. From over 20 years of working with and knowing Ms. Harris, I have personally witnessed her demonstrate a strong commitment to the BBA, which makes me confident in supporting this transition, added Cooper. Harris, the publisher of Suite Life SoCal magazine, is a longtime BBA advocate who has worked closely with Cooper for several years. Also, BBA board members indicated full support of Harris and expressed confidence that she will help usher in the new era of the Black Business Association in a way that both honors what the previous leadership built and makes room for the next phase the organizations evolution. Regarding her appointment, Harris said, Having worked with Mr. Cooper for more than two decades and embracing the same passion for seeing Black and minority-owned businesses flourish, it is my honor to be entrusted with helping to shape the next chapter of the BBA to realize its full potential and engage with a new generation of business owners. Having the support of the Board and a host of community leaders fills me with an immense amount of gratitude. I am definitely ready to get to work to deliver some amazingly innovative programs and to be a formidable advocate leader for more equitable opportunities for minority and women small business owners. On Thursday, February 24, the BBA Board will host a tribute reception to salute Cooper for his lifetime of work that he calls his special purpose in being of service to others. The event will include the 2022-2023 Board of Directors Installation Ceremony. For more information or details regarding the BBAs Tribute Reception, visit the BBAs website at www.bbala.org or email [email protected] FDA Expands Pfizer Boosters For More Teens as Omicron Surges The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12. Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older, and federal regulators on Monday decided theyre also warranted for 12- to 15-year-olds once enough time has passed since their last dose. But the move, coming as classes restart after the holidays, isnt the final step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to recommend boosters for the younger teens. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDCs director, is expected to rule later this week. ADVERTISEMENT The FDA also said everyone 12 and older whos eligible for a Pfizer booster can get one as early as five months after their last dose rather than six months. FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said in a statement the agency made its decision because a booster may help provide better protection against both the delta and omicron variants, especially as omicron is slightly more resistant to the vaccine-induced antibodies that help fend off infection. Real-world data from Israel tracked more than 6,300 12- to 15-year-olds who got a booster there at least five months after their second Pfizer dose and found no serious safety concerns, the FDA said. Likewise, the FDA said even more data from Israel showed no problems with giving anyone eligible for a Pfizer booster that extra dose a month sooner than the six months that until now has been U.S. policy. Vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness from any type of COVID-19. But health authorities are urging everyone whos eligible to get a booster dose for their best chance at avoiding milder breakthrough infections from the highly contagious omicron mutant. Children tend to suffer less serious illness from COVID-19 than adults. But child hospitalizations are rising during the omicron wave most of them unvaccinated. ADVERTISEMENT The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is the only U.S. option for children of any age. About 13.5 million 12- to 17-year-olds _ just over half that age group _ have received two Pfizer shots, according to the CDC. For families hoping to keep their children as protected as possible, the booster age limit raised questions. The older teens, 16- and 17-year-olds, became eligible for boosters in early December. But original vaccinations opened for the younger teens, those 12 to 15, back in May. That means those first in line in the spring, potentially millions, are about as many months past their last dose as the slightly older teens. As for even younger children, kid-size doses for 5- to 11-year-olds rolled out more recently, in November and experts say healthy youngsters should be protected after their second dose for a while. But the FDA also said Monday that if children that young have severely weakened immune systems, they will be allowed a third dose 28 days after their second. Thats the same third-dose timing already recommended for immune-compromised teens and adults. Pfizer is studying its vaccine, in even smaller doses, for children younger than 5. Sudans PM Announces Resignation Amid Political Deadlock Sudans Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his resignation Sunday amid political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests following a military coup that derailed the countrys fragile transition to democratic rule. Hamdok, a former U.N. official seen as the civilian face of Sudans transitional government, had been reinstated as prime minister in November as part of an agreement with the military following the October coup. In that time he had failed to name a Cabinet and his resignation throws Sudan into political uncertainty amid uphill security and economic challenges. In a televised national address Sunday, Hamdok called for a dialogue to agree on a national charter and to draw a roadmap to complete the transition to democracy in accordance with the 2019 constitutional document governing the transitional period. ADVERTISEMENT I decided to return the responsibility and declare my resignation as prime minister, he said, adding that his stepping down would allow a chance for another person to lead the nation and complete its transition to a civilian, democratic country. He did not name a successor. The prime minister said his efforts to bridge the widening gap and settle disputes among the political forces have failed. He warned that the ongoing political stalemate since the military takeover could become a full-blown crisis and damage the countrys already battered economy. I tried as much as I possibly could to prevent our country from sliding into a disaster. Now, our nation is going through a dangerous turning point that could threaten its survival unless it is urgently rectified, he said. The October coup had upended Sudans plans to move to democracy after a popular uprising forced the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019. Four months after al-Bashirs ouster, the generals and the protesters reached a power-sharing deal to rule the country through elections in 2023. However, military-civilian ties have been frayed by the military takeover that has threatened to return Sudan to international isolation. ADVERTISEMENT Hamdoks resignation comes amid a heavy security crackdown on protesters denouncing not only the takeover but the subsequent deal that reinstated him and sidelined the pro-democracy movement. He was returned to office in November amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight led by him. I have had the honor of serving my country people for more than two years. And during his period I have sometimes done well, and I have sometimes failed, Hamdok said. The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, an umbrella group of Sudanese political parties and pro-democracy organizations, has rejected the November deal and sa remains committed to ending military rule. The alliance accused Hamdok of allowing the military to dominate the government, and continued to organize anti-coup street protests which were met with heavy crackdown. Over the past two weeks, there was increasing speculation that he would step down. National and international efforts have failed to convince him to stay in office. The U.S. State Department urged on Twitter Sudans leaders to set aside differences, find consensus, and ensure continued civilian rule following Hamdoks resignation. It also called for the appointment of the next premier and Cabinet to in line with the (2019) constitutional declaration to meet the peoples goals of freedom, peace, and justice. Its time for the deployment of an international mediator who can do the job Hamdok was incapable of finding political compromise between the military, the street and the FFC, to rewrite a roadmap for going forward, said Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. State Department official and Sudan expert at the Atlantic Councils Africa Center Hours before Hamdoks resignation speech, Sudanese security forces violently dispersed pro-democracy protesters, killing at least three people, according the the Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement. The group said dozens of protesters were injured. The protests came despite tightened security and blocked bridges and roads in Khartoum and Omdurman. Internet connections were also disrupted ahead of the protests, according to advocacy group NetBlocs. Authorities have used such tactics repeatedly since the Oct. 25 coup. Sundays fatalities have brought the death toll among protesters since the coup to at least 57, according to the medical group. Hundreds have also been wounded. Allegations surfaced last month of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape by security forces against female protesters, according to the United Nations. The ruling sovereign council has vowed to investigate violence against the protesters. On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged security forces to immediately cease the use of deadly force against protesters and to hold those responsible for violence accountable. We do not want to return to the past, and are prepared to respond to those who seek to block the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a civilian-led, democratic government, he added. Tesla, ODP rise; Applied Therapeutics, Newmont fall Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Monday: Tesla Inc., up $143 to $1,199.78. The electric vehicle maker gave investors an encouraging report on vehicle deliveries in 2021. ADVERTISEMENT The Container Store Group Inc., up $1.23 to $11.21 The storage and organization products retailer is buying Closet Works for $21.5 million. ODP Corp., up $2.43 to $41.71. The office supply retailer is selling its CompuCom Systems subsidiary to an affiliate of Variant Equity. NIO Inc., up $1.79 to $33.47. The China-based electric vehicle maker reported strong deliveries for December. ADVERTISEMENT Applied Therapeutics Inc., down $2.73 to $6.22. The biopharmaceutical companys potential treatment for the rare disease Galactosemia faces delays. Bank of America Corp., up $1.69 to $46.18. Banks gained ground on rising bond yields, which allows them to charge more lucrative interest on loans. Newmont Corp., down $1.04 to $60.98. Gold prices fell and weighed down the gold producer. AT&T Inc., up 83 cents to $25.43. The telecommunications company, along with Verizon, rejected a request by the U.S. government to delay the rollout of its 5G wireless technology. UCLA Study Shows Fast Food Workers at High Risk of Contracting COVID-19 Fast food workers are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 in addition to facing difficult work conditions during the pandemic, a new UCLA Labor Center study published today reveals. The report provides an in-depth portrait of COVID-19 safety compliance through the lens of fast food workers accounts and testimonies. There are nearly 150,000 restaurant workers in the fast food sector in Los Angeles, according to the study. A vast majority of those workers are women and people of color who have been on the frontline of enforcing COVID-19 protocols. The report finds many fast food workers do not receive the workplace protections to which they are legally entitled despite working the frontline roles during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter of fast food workers contracted COVID-19 in the last 18 months, and less than half were notified by their employees after they had been exposed to COVID-19. ADVERTISEMENT More than half of workers felt that employers didnt address their needs after they spoke up, and some even faced retaliation for doing so, Tia Koonse, report author and Legal and Policy Research Manager at the UCLA Labor Center, said in a statement. COVID-19 safety protocols like paid sick leave reduce the incidence of frontline food service employees working while they are sick, but these measures have been insufficient in this sector. Only 47% of fast-food workers received paid sick leave when they or their coworkers contracted the virus. Violations of labor standards within fast food restaurants have increased and worsened during the pandemic, according to the study. Almost two- thirds of workers have experienced wage theft, and over half have faced health and safety hazards on the job, amounting to injuries to 43% of workers. Fast-food workers have showed up every day of the COVID-19 pandemic, risking our lives to keep our stores open and our communities fed, Los Angeles McDonalds worker Angelica Hernandez said in a statement. The companies we work for have called us essential, but this report shows they think were disposable and that theyve decided keeping us in unsafe and unsanitary conditions is worth it for higher corporate profits. But we wont be silent my co-workers and I will continue to fight for better working conditions and a voice on the job, so that our families and our communities can feel safe and thrive. Saba Waheed, author of the report and research director at the UCLA Labor Center, said the study shows fast food workers face an array of workplace challenges that extend beyond COVID-19. Half of the fast-food workers we surveyed also experienced verbal abuse, and over a third experienced violence such as threats, racial slurs, and even assault, Waheed said in a statement. And this is on top of dealing with wage theft, insufficient hours, and other health and safety hazards. The pandemic lifted up how essential this workforce is, and we need to address the deeper structural problems in the sector. ADVERTISEMENT Researchers note, given that fast food workers are principal stakeholders, their expertise should guide oversight and standards in the fast food industry. Findings in the study show that workers seek greater decision- making power and authority over their work conditions without fear of repercussion. Fast food workers, many who are people of color, have served on the frontlines throughout the almost two years of this unprecedented pandemic, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, First District, said in statement. And while essential, many of these workers have been treated as if they are dispensable. Ensuring worker protections is key in making sure our most vulnerable and underrepresented community members are safe and healthy. With another COVID-19 surge beginning in Los Angeles County, attributed to the Omicron variant, this report is of utmost importance. As Supervisor to the First District, I remain fully committed to lifting the voices of those often overlooked the safety of our communities depends on it. The report is based on 417 surveys and 15 interviews with workers, and expands on an industry analysis conducted earlier this year on working conditions in fast food restaurants. The research for the report, Fast-Food Frontline: COVID-19 and Working Conditions in Los Angeles, was developed in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Labor Center, UCLA Labor Occupational Health and Safety Program and UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program. The study was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Wednesday, January 5, 2022 The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility has imposed a public censure for an attorney's "conflict of interest by engaging in sexualized conversation and conduct" with a domestic relations client. The attorney had plead guilty to simple assault for intentional or knowing physical contact with a client that would be considered by a reasonable person as "extremely offensive or provocative." (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2022/01/the-tennessee-board-of-professional-responsibility-has-imposed-a-public-censure-for-an-attorneys-conflict-of-interest-by-enga.html Edenred, the UAE's largest salary processing provider, has announced the appointment of Wael Fakharany as Managing Director effective immediately. Previously Omnix Internationals CEO, Wael Fakharany will now be responsible for running all facets of the business at Edenred in the region and empowering the UAE companies to pay their employees on time, securely and easily. Fakharany has held several executive positions at IBM, 3Com, and Oracle. Having spent more than nine years at Google Middle East in various roles, he is highly recognized among MENAs top most influential leaders in advancing technology and transforming millions of lives. Pierre Gagnoud, Regional Director for South Europe, Middle East and Africa of Edenred said: I would like to welcome Wael to Edenred UAE. His experience will be a key asset to reinforcing our leadership in UAE and continuing our expansion across the rest of the Middle Eastern region. Wael Fakharany added: I am delighted to join Edenred UAE and I am committed to ensure financial inclusion and digital onboarding for both the banked and unbanked population. Edenred is a regional leader in the payroll industry and UAEs largest salary processing provider with digital innovative solutions, great ambitions and international committed teams. Edenred UAE provides a complete solution of financial inclusion for employees, offering technology-driven solutions to corporations and their employees through C3Pay card, C3Pay mobile app and Edenred Payroll Portal. As FinTechs continue to grow in the UAE, more customers will take part in a digital revolution. FinTech companies like Edenred help increase financial services uptake among the unbanked and underbanked population in the UAE, making financial services accessible to all. TradeArabia News Service A former refugee has become the first Cambodian American mayor in the United States. Sokhary Chau was chosen Monday by a majority of city councilors in Lowell, Massachusetts, to serve in the citys top position. He also became the citys first Asian American mayor. The 49-year-old Chau is a federal government employee who works for the U.S. Social Security Administration. After being officially sworn in, Chau said, God bless America, right? I was a refugee, now Im mayor of a major city in Massachusetts. He added, I dont know if that could happen anywhere else in the world. Im still trying to absorb it. He also spoke about his familys efforts to escape Cambodia under the extreme rule of the communist Khmer Rouge. Chau said his father, who was a captain in the Cambodian army, was executed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 during the countrys civil war. He said that his mother, who died last year, was able to keep her seven children alive for four years, surviving landmines, jungles, hunger, sickness and uncertainty in order to get them safely to the U.S. While living in refugee camps, Chau said his family imagined America as a nation with streets paved with gold. While this was not true, he said the U.S. is a land that makes democracy possible through a system of checks and balances. Chau said America also represents values such as fairness and equality. Lowell, Massachusetts was an early center of Americas cloth industry. Many immigrants from Europe and Latin America came to the city over generations. Today, the citys population of 115,000 is nearly 25 percent Asian. Lowell is also home to the nations second-largest Cambodian community after Long Beach, California. Chau is among a growing list of Cambodian American officeholders in Massachusetts. The state has at least two other city councilors, a school committee member and two state lawmakers. All of them are from Lowell. As a proud Cambodian American, I am standing on the shoulders of many immigrants who came before me to build this city," Chau said. Chaus family first settled in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was nine years old. They received assistance from the Catholic Church and this experience led the family to become Christians. His family arrived in Lowell in the mid-1980s and some of Chaus older brothers and sisters got jobs in local factories. Chau decided to continue his studies and later earned a scholarship to attend school in nearby Andover. Later, he was accepted to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received another scholarship. He studied economics and political science. Before running for office, Chau worked mostly in the financial services industry. His election comes after Michelle Wu was sworn in as the mayor of Boston last November. Wus parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan. She is Boston's first woman and first person of color elected to the office. Im Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________ Words in This Story absorb v. give full attention to something jungle n. an area of land, usually in tropical countries, where trees and plants go close together uncertain adj. not sure or not able to decide about something pave v. to cover a path or road with stones, bricks, concrete, etc. check n. something that stops or limits another thing proud adj. very happy and pleased because of something you have done, something you own, someone you know or are related to scholarship n. an amount of money that is given by a school or an organization to a student to help pay for the student's education When the coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China, North Korea closed its borders faster than almost any other country. The secretive nations weak health care system would face major problems dealing with a large disease outbreak. But nearly two years later, North Korea still appears to have few tools other than lockdowns to fight the coronavirus pandemic. North Korea has refused offers of COVID-19 vaccines from other countries. It has also rejected the United Nations-supported COVAX vaccine supply program. The World Health Organization says North Korea is one of only two countries that has not yet started vaccination campaigns. The other is Eritrea. Instead, North Korea has continued border closures and enforced severe travel restrictions within the country. Some observers question North Koreas claims that it has completely kept the coronavirus out of the country. But experts do admit that the early lockdown orders likely prevented pandemic deaths. It works, lets face it. North Korea is able to seal its borders very tightly and control movement. And we know these viruses cannot infect others when they cant move, says Kee Park. He is a North Korea expert at the Massachusetts-based Harvard Medical School. But as North Korea enters year three of its lockdown, signs of economic problems are developing. Basic food supplies are now too costly for poorer people in the country. Outside humanitarian aid, an important part of North Koreas economy, has been reduced. The economy has taken a major hit, says Lee Sang Yong. He is chief editor of the Daily NK, a publication based in Seoul, South Korea. Ordinary people now eat only two meals per day instead of three. And the ratio of rice to corn they consume is 3 to 7 instead of 7 to 3. Its clear the economic situation is getting worse, Lee said. Many experts say the situation cannot continue for much longer. We are not sure how long they can continue and endure these kinds of difficulties, said Park Won Gon, a professor at Seouls Ewha University. He added, Many people, especially so-called experts on the North Korean economy, are saying next year, probably in the first halfwill be the deadline. There are signs that North Korea is trying to open its border to trade with China, its main economic partner. Satellite photos show North Korea is building several centers to improve safety measures in its import operations. Kee Park says any wider opening with China may be tricky, since both countries are using a zero COVID approach. North Korea has expressed worry about the effectiveness and side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine that COVAX has provided. It is also concerned about foreign aid workers who would be necessary to carry out a vaccine campaign. North Korea could attempt to get COVID-19 treatment pills instead of vaccines. Some observers say the pills could be especially useful in countries that do not have enough vaccines. But in a pandemic likely seen as a threat to the rule of Kim Jong Un, the leader may instead feel the need to show more control. And that means the lockdown may continue. Im Jonathan Evans. William Gallo reported on this story for VOA News. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. _______________________________________________ Words in This Story lockdown n. an emergency in which people are not permitted to freely move about an area because of danger seal v. to close off an area or container ordinary adj. not special, different, or unusual in any way consume v. to use something such as a product, energy, fuel, etc. endure v. to experience for a long time pill n. a small, rounded object that you swallow and that contains medicine or vitamins As schools open after the holiday vacation, school officials must again decide whether to keep students away. The Omicron version of the coronavirus is spreading quickly. Cases in the United States have doubled in a short period. In December, President Joe Biden announced renewed efforts to get more Americans vaccinated and to get booster shots. In addition, he announced expanded COVID-19 testing partly paid for by the government. However, he also urged schools to remain open. Biden said more vaccines are available to children and there is federal support for schools. Last year, we thought the only way to keep children safe was to close their schools, Biden said. Today we know more and we have the tools to keep schools open. But schools are still closing. Burbio is a company that tracks school closures in the U.S. As of Monday afternoon, it found 2,753 schools that have closed or changed to online classes this week. When the Delta variant was spreading in late August, 792 schools closed to in-person classes. Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer booster shot for children as young as 12. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 13.5 million 12 to 17-year-olds have received two Pfizer shots. That is just over half of children in that age group. Hospitalizations among children, who have been vaccinated at lower rates, are also rising. But early research suggests that Omicron is a less severe version of the disease. A third shot of vaccine, the booster shot, also appears to be effective at fighting off the new version of the coronavirus. In late December, the CDC changed its guidelines about quarantining if someone is infected with the Omicron variant. Now, those infected with Omicron are requested to stay isolated for five days, instead of 10 as suggested earlier. Shorter isolation time may make it easier for schools to stay open. Students infected with Omicron would miss just five days of class. The CDC and Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona support test-to-stay policies for schools. Such a policy calls for students to remain in school after they come in contact with a student with the virus if tests show they are not infected. Some schools have required students to quarantine for several days before returning to class. This is welcome news to principals, who are dealing with lengthy and disruptive quarantines, said the National Association of Elementary School Principals in a statement about the CDC guidelines. Even as the pandemic continues to pose new challenges, we must remain laser-focused on ensuring students are attending in-person schooling when it is safe to do so. But some school districts were not prepared for the increase in coronavirus cases. Detroit schools in Michigan are closed this week through Wednesday to test all school workers for the virus. But students will not be attending online classes because some students do not have computers, district superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a written statement. Closing schools will give them a chance to have as much of a COVID free working environment as possible while possibly preparing students for a laptop distribution process during the end of the week. Chicago is the countrys third-largest school district. Officials there announced the purchase of 100,000 laptop computers over the holidays in case they are needed for learning at home in January. District leaders said they hope to avoid closing all schools in the area. The Chicago Teachers Union supports temporarily halting in-person learning. It also supports new safety measures, like COVID-19 tests showing students are not infected before they can return to school. In Floridas Miami-Dade County, testing has shown that one in four people have been infected with the coronavirus. The school system announced Thursday that all school workers must wear face coverings at school. Students are strongly encouraged to wear them. A state law prevents school districts from requiring face coverings for students. Cardona wrote in a message to districts that 99 percent of schools were open in-person in December, compared with 46 percent last January. The goal remains to keep all schools open for in-person learning five days a week throughout the 2021-22 school year and beyond, he said. Im Dan Novak. Dan Novak wrote this story for VOA Learning English with additional reporting from The Associated Press and Education Week. Editors note: A previous version of this story contained an error about the number of school disruptions. There were 2,753 schools that closed or changed to online classes they did not change to in-person classes. Quiz- More Questions for Schools as COVID-19 Cases Rise Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz __________________________________________________________ Words in This Story booster shot n. an extra amount of a substance (called a vaccine) that is injected with a needle into a person or animal to help protect against a particular disease track v. to follow and observe, especially in an effort to find evidence isolation n. the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others quarantine n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading principal n the person in charge of a public school disruptive adj. preventing things from carrying on in a normal way laser-focused adj. paying very close attention to something district n. an area established by a government for official government business distribute v. to give or to send to people; to give out encourage v. to make someone more likely to do some action Last January, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump carried out a deadly attack and occupation of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The violence took place as lawmakers were meeting to officially declare Joe Biden, a Democrat, the winner of the 2020 presidential election. This January, teachers across the United States are deciding how to teach and talk about the attack. What students learn may depend on where they live. In an area outside Boston, Massachusetts, history teacher Justin Voldman said his students will spend the day of January 6th writing about what happened and talking about how a democracy can be easily damaged. Voldman said he feels lucky to teach in a state where most people are Democrats. There are other parts of the country where ... I would be scared to be a teacher, he said. Liz Wagner is a social studies teacher near Des Moines, Iowa. The state increasingly votes Republican in local and national elections. She got an email from an administrator last year, warning teachers to be careful in how they present the discussion of the violence. Some of Wagner's students questioned her last year when she described what happened on January 6th as an insurrection. She answered by having the students read the dictionary definition for the word. This year, she said she will probably show students videos of the protest and ask them to write about what the images show. This is kind of what I have to do to ensure that Im not upsetting anybody, Wagner said. Talking about what happened on January 6th is increasingly difficult for teachers. They must decide how or whether to educate their students about the event. And the lessons sometimes depend on whether they are in a state that is majority Democratic or majority Republican. Facing History and Ourselves is a nonprofit group that helps teachers with difficult lessons on subjects such as the Holocaust. Immediately after last years riot, it offered suggestions on how to talk about the event with students. Abby Weiss oversees the development of the groups teaching tools. In the year since the attack, she said, Republican lawmakers in some states have pushed for legislation to limit the teaching of material that explores how race and racism influence American politics, culture and law. Racial discussions are hard to avoid when talking about the riot; white supremacists were among those who broke into the Captiol building. Anton Schulzki is president of the National Council for the Social Studies. He is also a teacher in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He said students are often the ones bringing up racial issues during his lessons. Last year, he had just begun discussing the riot when one of his students said, You know, if those rioters were all Black, theyd all be arrested by now. Paula Davis is a middle school teacher in rural Indiana. She is also an area leader for Moms for Liberty, a group whose members have protested face coverings and vaccine requirements in recent months. She mostly teaches math and English and does not plan to discuss January 6th in her classroom. But she said for teachers who do teach about the event, it is important not to show any bias. Bias is a tendency to believe that some people or ideas are better than others. It usually results in treating some people unfairly. If it cannot be done without bias, Davis said of the lessons, then it should not be done. There is no way middle school teacher Dylan Huisken will avoid the issue in his classroom in Bonner, Montana. He said he plans to use the anniversary to teach his students to use their voice by doing things like writing to lawmakers. He added that not teaching about the attack suggests to students that the civic ideals we teachdont have any real-world application. Im Ashley Thompson. The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story dictionary - n. a reference book that contains words listed in alphabetical order and that gives information about the words' meanings, forms, pronunciations, etc... ensure - v. to make (something) sure, certain, or safe tendency - n. a quality that makes something likely to happen or that makes someone likely to think or behave in a particular way ideal - n. an idea or standard of perfection or excellence white supremacist - n. a person who believes that the white race is better than all other races and should have control over all other races application - n. the use of an idea, method, law, etc., in a particular situation or for a particular purpose Plastic waste in the worlds oceans is affecting marine life in new and unusual ways, researchers reported recently. A group of U.S. and Canadian scientists found that some species are living on a huge area of plastic garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean. The team discovered animals such as oceanic barnacles and crabs living alongside coastal barnacles and anemones. Linsey Haram of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center was the lead writer of the report that appeared recently in the publication Nature Communications. We expected to find oceanic marine species that have adapted on plastics, but we were...surprised to discover coastal marine species as well, Haram said. It is not known how some coastal marine life got out into the ocean, added Haram. They may already be out there settling on the plastics, but most likely they are beingtransported from the coast on floating debris, she told VOA. Debris is another term for waste. The study looked at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California. The patch, or area, is more than 1.5 million square kilometers. It is mostly plastic waste. The debris includes large amounts of very small pieces of plastic, along with water bottles, toothbrushes and fishing gear. The garbage is drawn together in circular ocean flows called gyres. The plastics can float together like that for years. Amy Uhrin is chief scientist of the Marine Debris Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington. The size of the patch can change depending on the wind and ocean currents, Uhrin told VOA. The Ocean Voyages Institute in Sausalito, California, is a nonprofit group that works to remove garbage from the ocean. It gave the researchers the debris needed for the study. Ocean Voyages President Mary Crowley said a large ship with special equipment pulls tons of garbage from the patch. She said the effort seeks especially to remove the very harmful elements like plastic fishing nets that still catch and kill whales, dolphins and turtles. The researchers were surprised by what they found. What has been most eye-opening is that the coastal marine species were not only thriving but reproducing, Haram said. However, many questions are still unanswered. How do you survive being on a piece of plastic in the middle of the ocean? asks Greg Ruiz of the Smithsonians Environmental Research Center and a writer of the report. The coastal species may be creating their own ecosystem on the plastic debris, Ruiz said. Fish and bird waste in the water may provide food. We also want to figure out how the coastal and oceanic species are interacting since they are competing for limited space on the objects, Haram said. They could be using each other as a source of food. There is also some concern that some of the creatures may become invasive species. We want to know if other coastal marine life are on plastics in all of the five main ocean gyres worldwide, Haram said. Ruiz added, were concerned that coastal organisms from different regions could form colonies and spread disease to other marine life, including fish. Im John Russell. VOA News reported on this story. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story garbage -- n. things that are no longer useful or wanted and that have been thrown out species n. biology : a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus adapt v. to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation thrive v. to grow or develop successfully : to flourish or succeed LEXINGTON The Dawson County Commissioners held off on reinstating a COVID-19 leave policy during their meeting on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. Reinstating the policy was a topic of discussion during the Dec. 15 meeting. Back in June 2020, the commissioners approved a policy that employees were not charged PTO if they or someone close to them tested positive for COVID-19. In June 2021, the commissioners voted to terminate the policy, citing the low case numbers during the summer and vaccines were widely available. However, Nebraskas COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths reached their highest rate before vaccines were available in mid-December. The surge was the most extended the state has seen since the pandemic began, with hospitalizations plateauing at a high level during much of September and October before beginning a steep climb in the last month. The discussion on Dec. 15, among the commissioners, was whether or not to reinstate the leave policy, given the current situation. Commissioner Rick Zarek said if someone is doing all they can to protect themselves; masking, full vaccination, etc., they shouldnt have to use their PTO if they do end up contracting COVID-19. There was some discussion about making the COVID-19 leave policy open to those who are fully vaccinated, similar to how employees receive an insurance benefit if they exercise through the YMCA or dont smoke. Commissioner P.J. Jacobson was clear he did not want this to be a mandate on employees. Commissioner Zarek said, Anything we can do to encourage employees to protect themselves will pay dividends. The idea being if an employee does what they can to protect themselves from COVID-19, the county will aid them if they do still contract the virus. The situation locally did slightly improve last week to allow the Two Rivers Public Health Department, which oversees Dawson County, to lower their COVID-19 risk dial into the elevated risk level after 14 weeks at the severe level. Two Rivers did note COVID-19 test positivity is high in Dawson County, at 15 percent. During the Dec. 30 meeting, Commissioner Zarek made a motion that would have approved one of the three COVID-19 leave policy options. However, no other commissioners seconded the motion and it failed. Chairman Bill Stewart said he spoke with several department heads at the court house prior to the Dec. 30 meeting and there was little interest in reinstating the leave policy. The situation also changed when on Dec. 27, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced shortening the COVID-19 isolation period from ten days, to five days. People with COVID-19 should isolate for five days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by five days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter, according to the CDC. Chairman Stewart said ultimately he and the other commissioners were not ready to approve a leave policy yet. Moving on to other agenda items, the commissioners approved transferring Cozads Big Es Keno ownership to Shelby Dyches-Chandler. TNT Cyber Solutions appeared with a statement of work, and giving the commissioners an update on recent activity. It was voted to authorize Chairman Stewart to sign the statement. Salaries were set for deputies, clerk, the jail and elected official salaries were set for the years 2023-2026. Sheriff Ken Moody was set to appear with bids for three investigators vehicles, but the bids had not come in yet and the item was tabled until the next meeting. Dan Schwartzkopf, with the Jones Group, appeared with the employee health insurance update for the commissioners. Lapwai, ID (83501) Today Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. High 59F. NE winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 43F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the Great Arab Minds initiative backed by an AED100 million ($27.2 million) fund. The initiative will be driven by and headquartered at the Museum of the Future, the Emirates new global scientific landmark, with a committee of four Emirati Ministers who will develop a system to identify and highlight the extraordinary thinkers and talents that the initiative will support. The fund will be headquartered at the Museum of the Future, the Emirates new global scientific landmark, and will support local and global partnerships in fostering research, development and innovation. Great Arab Minds is the Arab worlds largest movement designed to search for exceptional talents among Arab scientists, thinkers, and innovators across key fields, aiming to highlight and celebrate leading thinkers in the region and inspire young people with their example. It will work with regional and global partners to develop and maximise the positive impact of their ideas and work. The five-year initiative will focus on fields including physics and mathematics, software and data science, economics and higher education and research. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: "Today we launch a new project to search for 1,000 Great Arab Minds in the fields of physics and mathematics, software and data science, economics and higher education and research. Great minds built Arab civilization - today I believe we have the talent to build a better world. "We will accelerate the Emirates' role as an incubator for fostering Arab and global talent. We built the Museum of the Future as a global hub for scientists, thinkers and innovators - it is the ideal headquarters for a fund to develop the potential of our region's finest minds, he added. The Committee leading Great Arab Minds is Chaired by Mohammad Al Gergawi, President of the Museum of the Future, Minister if Cabinet Affairs, and Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency; Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications; and Shamma Al Mazrui, Minister of Youth. Great Arab Minds aims to search for leading Arab minds and creative talents, shed light on their achievements, and invest in their capabilities and ideas. It aims to celebrate their work and inspire young people with their example. The fields of focus of Great Arab minds are selected based on the potential for future development in key areas of innovation to drive development and economic growth. More details about the Great Arab Minds project will be announced over coming weeks, including information about each of the paths as well as processes for nomination and registration, a statement said. TradeArabia News Service Research shows that people who have flow as a regular part of their lives are happier and less likely to focus on themselves. Yulkapopkova/E+ via Getty Images New years often come with new resolutions. Get back in shape. Read more. Make more time for friends and family. My list of resolutions might not look quite the same as yours, but each of our resolutions represents a plan for something new, or at least a little bit different. As you craft your 2022 resolutions, I hope that you will add one that is also on my list: feel more flow. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyis research on flow started in the 1970s. He has called it the secret to happiness. Flow is a state of optimal experience that each of us can incorporate into our everyday lives. One characterized by immense joy that makes a life worth living. In the years since, researchers have gained a vast store of knowledge about what it is like to be in flow and how experiencing it is important for our overall mental health and well-being. In short, we are completely absorbed in a highly rewarding activity and not in our inner monologues when we feel flow. I am an assistant professor of communication and cognitive science, and I have been studying flow for the last 10 years. My research lab investigates what is happening in our brains when people experience flow. Our goal is to better understand how the experience happens and to make it easier for people to feel flow and its benefits. Flow can arise when playing games or engaged in artistic pursuits, like writing, photography, sculpting and painting. Somyot Techapuwapat/Moment via Getty Images What it is like to be in flow? People often say flow is like being in the zone. Psychologists Jeanne Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi describe it as something more. When people feel flow, they are in a state of intense concentration. Their thoughts are focused on an experience rather than on themselves. They lose a sense of time and feel as if there is a merging of their actions and their awareness. That they have control over the situation. That the experience is not physically or mentally taxing. Most importantly, flow is what researchers call an autotelic experience. Autotelic derives from two Greek words: autos (self) and telos (end or goal). Autotelic experiences are things that are worth doing in and of themselves. Researchers sometimes call these intrinsically rewarding experiences. Flow experiences are intrinsically rewarding. What causes flow? Flow occurs when a tasks challenge is balanced with ones skill. In fact, both the task challenge and skill level have to be high. I often tell my students that they will not feel flow when they are doing the dishes. Most people are highly skilled dishwashers, and washing dishes is not a very challenging task. So when do people experience flow? Csikszentmihalyis research in the 1970s focused on people doing tasks they enjoyed. He studied swimmers, music composers, chess players, dancers, mountain climbers and other athletes. He went on to study how people can find flow in more everyday experiences. I am an avid snowboarder, and I regularly feel flow on the mountain. Other people feel it by practicing yoga not me, unfortunately! by riding their bike, cooking or going for a run. So long as that tasks challenge is high, and so are your skills, you should be able to achieve flow. Flow occurs when a tasks challenge and ones skills at the task are both high. Adapted from Nakamura/Csikszentmihalyi, CC BY-NC-ND Why is it good to feel flow? Earlier I said that Csikszentmihalyi called flow the secret to happiness. Why is that? For one thing, the experience can help people pursue their long-term goals. This is because research shows that taking a break to do something fun can help enhance ones self-control, goal pursuit and well-being. So next time you are feeling like a guilty couch potato for playing a video game, remind yourself that you are actually doing something that can help set you up for long-term success and well-being. Importantly, quality and not necessarily quantity matters. Research shows that spending a lot of time playing video games only has a very small influence on your overall well-being. Focus on finding games that help you feel flow, rather than on spending more time playing games. A recent study also shows that flow helps people stay resilient in the face of adversity. Part of this is because flow can help refocus thoughts away from something stressful to something enjoyable. In fact, studies have shown that experiencing flow can help guard against depression and burnout. Research also shows that people who experienced stronger feelings of flow had better well-being during the COVID-19 quarantine compared to people who had weaker experiences. This might be because feeling flow helped distract them from worrying. What is your brain doing during flow? Researchers have been studying flow for nearly 50 years, but only recently have they begun to decipher what is going on in the brain during flow. One of my colleagues, media neuroscientist Rene Weber, has proposed that flow is associated with a specific brain-network configuration. Supporting Webers hypothesis, studies show that the experience is associated with activity in brain structures implicated in feeling reward and pursuing our goals. This may be one reason why flow feels so enjoyable and why people are so focused on tasks that make them feel flow. Research also shows that flow is associated with decreased activity in brain structures implicated in self-focus. This may help explain why feeling flow can help distract people from worry. Weber, Jacob Fisher and I have developed a video game called Asteroid Impact to help us better study flow. In my own research, I have participants play Asteroid Impact while having their brain scanned. My work has shown that flow is associated with a specific brain network configuration that has low energy requirements. This may help explain why we do not experience flow as being physically or mentally demanding. I have also shown that, instead of maintaining one stable network configuration, the brain actually changes its network configuration during flow. This is important because rapid brain network reconfiguration helps people adapt to difficult tasks. A player controls a spaceship to collect crystals and avoid asteroids in a video game called Asteroid Impact. Jacob Fisher via https://github.com/asteroidimpact/asteroid_impact_py3 What more can the brain tell us? Right now, researchers do not know how brain responses associated with flow contribute to well-being. With very few exceptions, there is almost no research on how brain responses actually cause flow. Every neuroscience study I described earlier was correlational, not causal. Said differently, we can conclude that these brain responses are associated with flow. We cannot conclude that these brain responses cause flow. Researchers think the connection between flow and well-being has something to do with three things: suppressing brain activation in structures associated with thinking about ourselves, dampening activation in structures associated with negative thoughts, and increasing activation in reward-processing regions. Id argue that testing this hypothesis is vital. Medical professionals have started to use video games in clinical applications to help treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Maybe one day a clinician will be able to help prescribe a Food and Drug Adminstration-approved video game to help bolster someones resilience or help them fight off depression. That is probably several years into the future, if it is even possible at all. Right now, I hope that you will resolve to find more flow in your everyday life. You may find that this helps you achieve your other resolutions, too. ___ Richard Huskey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. ___ Columbia County officials are investigating the deaths of three people in Lodi 23 years ago. In August 1998, Cheryl Cady, 45, was preparing for another year working as a teaching assistant at Lodi High School. Bria Meitner, 11, was set to start sixth grade in a few weeks and Cory Cole was getting ready for another year at Carroll College in Waukesha. All three were found dead in their Lodi home and the cause of death was determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning. Columbia County Sheriff Detective Captain Jason Kocovsky said the investigation has been re-opened so law enforcement can find out what happened 23 years ago. Over the past 23 years the question has always remained; what really happened that caused the carbon monoxide deaths, Kocovsky said in an email. Law enforcement suspect foul play may have been involved. In December Columbia County Sheriff Roger Brandner announced a new investigative team is working on the 1998 case. He said the new team is using new technology, re-interviewing neighbors and family friends and going over the case to try and get answers on what happened. Brander said in a statement the department was reaching out directly to the community to see if there is anything that may have been overlooked. If you have information Please contact Detective Captain Jason Kocovsky, if you have any information regarding this investigation at 608-742-4166 ext. 3302. Today, we are appealing directly to those who knew Cheryl, Cory, and Bria. You may have known them at work, in school, from activities, or in the neighborhood, Brandner said. Conversations you participated in, observations you made, or any knowledge you have regarding them, may be important to the investigation. Learning more about who they were as individuals helps us develop a deeper understanding of their relationships, challenges, and goals for the future. We are asking you to contact us and share your information. Brandner is asking anyone with information to contact the Sheriffs Office. For those who have already been interviewed, we thank you for your patience as we will be asking for your help again as we continue to search for answers. Wed like to thank the community for their continued support and look forward to the new insight you will provide, Kocovsky said. We would like the community to know even if you think the information you have is not important or relevant to what occurred, we encourage you to come forward and let us make that determination. Newspaper articles published in 1998 and 1999 report the deaths were caused by a car running in the homes garage as the three victims were upstairs. All three were found inside the home on Clar-Mar Drive shortly after 1 p.m. Aug. 22, 1998. The Wisconsin State Journal reported a neighbor had been called by Larry Meitner, Cadys ex-husband. The neighbor entered the home, found the three and attempted to revive them. Cady was found in the bathroom of the home while Cory Cole and Bria Meitner were in their bedrooms above the garage. Larry Meitner had called the neighbor after his daughter Bria Meitner didnt show up in Waunakee for her visit. In 1998 investigators were looking into medical, divorce and school records of involved parties to see if there was anything that could help them find answers. Vern Gove worked as a detective for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office 23 years ago. He told the Wisconsin State Journal in 1998 the department had interviewed over 70 residents in Harmony Grove while canvassing the neighborhood and more than 25 family and friends of the victims. In 1998, authorities were able to establish that Cheryl Cady was the last person seen driving the car that was left running in the homes garage. However, they had no proof she left it running. When police arrived on the scene the car was no longer running. A year after the deaths, Gove told the State Journal he wasnt sure the case would ever be solved and that they had investigated all possibilities including accident, suicide or homicide. Authorities did say there was no suicide note found inside the home and there were no signs of a struggle. In March 1999, investigators were looking into running a test at the Harmony Grove home to see how fast the carbon monoxide could have gone from the closed basement garage into the rooms the where the three victims were found. Weather was an issue for the test as Aug. 22, 1998, was a hot day with temperatures in the 90s and conditions were much cooler seven months later. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gorenje, a leading European manufacturer of high-quality home appliances and consumer electronics, has been awarded the consumer-friendly brand label by the Dubai Economic Department (DED). With a history spanning more than 60 years, Gorenje has established itself as one of the most socially responsible brands from Europe with several innovations and quality awards to its name. Gorenje is committed to manufacturing high-quality domestic appliances that are environment-friendly, while maintaining its reputation for luxurious and durable consumer products. As Gorenje constantly strives to stay at the forefront of customer excellence while adding value, we are pleased to have been acknowledged by DED and to have received this award, which is a testament to our efforts to stay consumer-centric, said Jason Ou, Managing Director of Gorenje Gulf, part of Hisense Middle East and North Africa. This award helps brands ensure top-notch service and consumer-friendliness, while enabling them to intensify their competitiveness and strengthen their relationship with consumers. Launched by the Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in Dubai Economy in 2019, the award aims to continuously enhance consumer protection in the private sector and improve customer experience across retailing and services in Dubai. Under this standardisation, businesses are part of an integrated system that seeks to elevate customer experience and service through periodic assessment. Brands must maintain a service channel that incorporates a consumer-friendly approach at each touchpoint of the customer journey including service provision and marketing in a bid to enhance customers experiences with the brand. Since 2018, Gorenje has been a part of Hisense, one of the world's leading electronics and white goods manufacturers, headquartered in China. Hisense was awarded the same prestigious, consumer-friendly business certificate in 2019. Gorenje aims to continue to increase its distribution and service networks as well as create compelling value for its consumers. With efforts by its technical team and insights from its Gulf office, Gorenje has been able to engineer products to match local needs, thereby increasing brand acceptance in the Middle East region. Committed to delivering an enhanced customer experience that exceeds expectations with every product and delivering comprehensive and satisfying experiences to the end users, Gorenje continues to ensure best-in-class service is available for its customers along with cutting-edge technology, superior performance, elegant and sophisticated design, and enduring reliability, while bringing smart technologies to everybodys life and making life simplified. Gorenje endeavours to keep on pursuing various technological innovations to bring and enhance new and unique experiences to its UAE consumers.-- TradeArabia News Service A Rock County man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing his 97-year-old grandmother last year, and a judge ruled a mental disease rendered him not legally responsible for the crime. Jamie B. Beggs, 37, was homeless and living with his grandmother, Kathleen N. Beggs, when he stabbed and strangled her on June 14 at her home in the town of Center, about 12 miles west of Janesville. Beggs pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree intentional homicide. Under the terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors also agreed with the findings of a doctor who diagnosed Beggs with schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar type, which rendered him not legally responsible for killing his grandmother. According to a criminal complaint, when police sought a DNA sample from Beggs on the day that another relative found Kathleen Beggs body, Beggs questioned why he was being charged with murder. Theres no homicide, Beggs said, the complaint states. Its a martyr man. Huh? Shes a saint, man. Shes a (expletive) saint. Shes a saint now. She got (expletive) sainthood. I saved her (expletive) soul. Really? And youre going to charge me with murder? A family member appearing in court Tuesday said the family is hoping Beggs gets a lifetime commitment to control by the state Department of Health Services, and that he is kept in an institution for 25 years. Thats kind of where our family is at, she said. Jamie would get the help he needs and we feel like we have justice. Under state law, with a finding that he is not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Beggs can be placed under the control of DHS for the rest of his life. He would likely be placed initially in an institution, like the Mendota Mental Health Institute, but state law allows him to petition for conditional release every six months. In order to be released he would have to prove he is no longer a danger to himself or others or a threat to cause property damage. The length of his commitment to DHS will be decided at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 26 before Rock County Circuit Judge Barbara McCrory. Beggs family is expected to make a statement at that hearing. Asked if the prescribed drugs hes taking interfered with his ability to understand Tuesdays proceedings, Beggs said he is taking mental health medications, but I dont think I really need them to understand, but theyre not hurting me. According to the complaint, one of Kathleen Beggs sons came to the home and encountered Jamie Beggs outside, who asked the man if he could see demons. The man later found his mother in the garage, covered in coats and blankets. When sheriffs deputies arrived, Beggs was holding his head in both hands and saying, The demons are in my head. She couldnt take it. Beggs later told deputies that his grandmother had now become a saint and that the murder charge against him was bogus, the complaint states. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Stoughton man said a built gun misfired and went off inside his apartment on New Years Eve, striking and killing his friend, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court. Isaiah T. Ruffins was charged Tuesday with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Fredrick D. Davis Jr., of Beloit, in an incident Friday afternoon that went from playing fighting between two 19-year-old friends to a tragic accident, according to the complaint and statements made at Ruffins court appearance. Stoughton police responded to the apartment in the 300 block of Olson Court a little after 5 p.m. to find Davis with a single gunshot wound to his chest. He died at UW Hospital three hours later. A built gun also referred to as a ghost gun is assembled from individual firearm parts purchased online, often without serial numbers. Ruffins appeared in court by video on Tuesday, where Dane County Court Commissioner Mark Fremgen agreed to release an emotional Ruffins on a signature bond. Assistant District Attorney Colleen Lennon had asked for $30,000 bail, citing the seriousness of the reckless homicide charge but conceding that Ruffins has no prior criminal convictions. Public defender Guy Cardamone, however, said that the lack of prior convictions and Ruffins other positive attributes that hes working to support a young daughter favored a signature bond. Cardamone also argued that after the shooting, Ruffins called 911, turned over the gun to police and cooperated with officers who responded. By all accounts, this was an accident, not an intentional act, Cardamone said. Keysha Johnson, the mother of Davis, said she has no hard feelings for Isaiah because what happened was a freak accident. We dont want to see him punished because of a freak accident, she said. According to the criminal complaint: Davis, Ruffins and a third man were hanging out at Ruffins apartment, playing video games and smoking marijuana. Before the shooting, Ruffins told police, Davis was playing with the handgun and handed it back to him, where it sat on Ruffins lap for half an hour to an hour. The two discussed whether the gun was assembled correctly as they heard a jingling inside the firearm, which Ruffins said had previously misfired once or twice before at a firing range. Later, Davis playfully tossed a plastic food storage container at Ruffins head, the third man told police. Ruffins then pulled back the slide on the gun as it was pointed toward Davis when the weapon fired, the man told police. Ruffins said he and Davis would often play fight, telling police thats how we play. Ruffins told police he did not rack the slide, but the gun went off as he set it down on a countertop. When police arrived, Ruffins girlfriend was pressing a towel to Davis, who was the godfather to the couples child, according to the complaint. She told police she was getting ready for the evening with headphones on when the gun fired. As she tended to him, she told police, Davis said to her, Its going to be OK. She said Ruffins was freaking out on the phone as he spoke with a 911 dispatcher. Ruffins handed an officer the handgun and a magazine and went to the Stoughton Police Department to be interviewed. State Journal reporter Ed Treleven contributed to this report. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Edgewood College is delaying the start of most spring semester classes by about a week due to the omicron variant driving a record-setting surge of COVID-19 cases across the country. The colleges academic calendar originally called for in-person undergraduate classes to begin Jan. 18. But officials on Wednesday said they are pushing back the start date by four school days, to Jan. 24, in the hope that delaying will buy some time for the surge in omicron cases to decline. This change represents an effort to balance our commitment to our face-to-face undergraduate experience with our commitment to the safety of all of our community, President Andrew Manion said in a statement. While this adjustment creates more work for some of us, I am very grateful for all the efforts being made to serve our students. Students return to dorms will also be delayed unless they request permission based on individual circumstances, college spokesperson Ed Taylor said. Edgewood College reported 50 COVID-19 cases among students and employees in the fall semester when all undergraduate courses were taught in person. Officials plan for all undergraduate courses to again be offered face to face. The calendar adjustment does not affect graduate courses, some of which are offered online. Nor does it affect the rest of the semesters schedule, Manion said. Lost class time will be made up class by class during the semester. Marquette University, the states largest private university, also announced a delayed start to its spring semester on Wednesday. Classes will begin Jan. 24 instead of the week of Jan. 17. The Milwaukee institution has also decided to require students get the booster shot. Thats in addition to the vaccine mandate it already imposed for the fall semester. These actions will offer more opportunities to get vaccinated or boosted, move us past the expected local Omicron peak in mid-January, and give us additional time to prepare ourselves and campus for the spring semester, Marquette University President Michael Lovell said in a message to campus. UW-Madisons semester starts Jan. 25. There are no changes to campus operations at this time, university spokesperson Meredith McGlone said Wednesday. Madison Area Technical College classes are scheduled to start Jan. 18, a plan that remains in place, MATC spokesperson Bill Bessette said Wednesday. About 70% of spring semester classes have an in-person component or are fully in-person, while 30% of classes will be offered remotely, according to Provost Turina Bakken. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A federal judge has dismissed one of two lawsuits filed by a group opposed to basing F-35 fighter jets in Madison. Safe Skies Clean Water sued the National Guard Bureau in December, claiming it failed to study and account for the effects of 27 construction projects being undertaken as the 115th Fighter Wing prepares Truax Field to host the new planes. In an order released Wednesday, Judge William Conley sided with the National Guard, ruling the agencys environmental assessment of the projects met the standards of federal environmental law. Regulators approve $162M wind farm purchase; first project approved under 2010 siting rule Red Barn is the first wind farm permitted under wind siting rules the PSC drafted in 2010 in an effort to make the process easier for developers. The Air Force last year selected the 115th Fighter Wing as one of two units to get the next batch of the roughly $90 million F-35s, which will replace the current fleet of aging F-16s. The first planes are scheduled to arrive next year. Safe Skies Clean Water asked the court to block construction and require the guard to complete a full review of the projects, which are expected to cost up to $60 million. The group alleged the military disregarded the potential for the projects to worsen the impact of toxic forever chemicals that have been found in soil and groundwater under the base and are believed to be connected to contamination of Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and at least one Madison municipal well. Safe Skies argued the guard should have prepared an environmental impact statement rather than the more cursory environmental assessment that was done, and that the projects should have been reviewed under the environmental impact statement the Air Force prepared for the F-35 basing decision, which is the subject of a separate lawsuit by the group. But Conley ruled the group failed to show the guard did not take a hard look at the environmental impacts and rejected the notion that the assessments were improperly segmented, noting some of the construction projects were proposed as early as 2012 and were considered necessary to support the 115ths current mission regardless of the F-35 deployment. Appeal possible Kathleen Henry, an attorney for Safe Skies Clean Water, said the group is disappointed with the ruling and weighing our options for appeal. Spokesperson Steve Klafka said Conleys ruling will adversely affect the thousands of people who live near Truax Field, many of whom are low-income and families of color. Safe Skies believes a more thorough evaluation of the noise impacts of fighter jet training was needed, including one that addressed effects on mental and physical health, as well as the education of area children, Klafka said. Future noise concerns could scuttle housing along planned transit corridor A stretch of East Washington Avenue soon to be served by rapid transit is ripe for redevelopment. But the arrival of F-35 fighter jets in 2023 could subject much of the area to unhealthy levels of noise. A spokesperson for the Wisconsin National Guard declined to comment, noting that neither the state nor the 115th Fighter Wing were named as defendants. Citing the potential for appeal, National Guard Bureau spokesperson Wayne Hall said, It would be inappropriate for us to comment on matters of pending litigation. Ground broken Contractor J.H. Findorff & Son broke ground in August on a $9 million flight simulator building, one of seven construction projects now underway, said Capt. Leslie Westmont, spokesperson for the 115th Fighter Wing. The simulator was not one of the projects addressed in the environmental assessment. Madison unlikely to ban future housing in area to be affected by F-35 jet noise A developer has revived rejected plans after City Council work group said it won't pursue a ban on future housing in an area that could be affected by noise from the jets. Safe Skies contends that construction on the base will further distribute PFAS compounds, which have been linked to cancer, liver disease and reproductive problems. It has been almost four years since the Department of Natural Resources informed the 115th Fighter Wing, along with the Dane County Regional Airport and the city of Madison, that they were responsible for PFAS contamination on and around the base. The National Guard agreed to take the lead on the required investigation, but under the federal process it could be 12 years before cleanup begins. The guard plans to hold a public meeting on the cleanup at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Area Technical Colleges Mitby Theatre, 3550 Anderson St. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Dane County Board will see a lot of turnover this spring as 11 incumbents including some longtime board members have decided not to run for reelection, according to candidate paperwork filed Tuesday. Thats 30% of the current board that wont be running. And many of the incumbents have competition. Weve gotten a number of challengers during the last two days, said Sup. Jeremy Levin, 10th District, who decided not to run for reelection so he could spend more time with his family. Personal reasons, pandemic challenges and the shakeup from redistricting were some of the reasons why County Board members left. Because of redistricting, which redrew the lines for all of the Dane County Board districts, all 37 seats on the board are up for election this year. Of those, 12 will potentially be competitive races. Not all of the candidates who have filed to run have met the requirements to be placed on the ballot yet. In two of the competitive races, no incumbent is running, so two newcomers will face off against one other. Regardless of the outcomes, there will be a lot of new faces on the board. Newcomers are running unopposed for eight of the open seats. We have an incredible group of candidates who have stepped up to replace these folks, Dane County Board Chair Analiese Eicher said. The caliber of folks who are seeking public office in Dane County is just, its impressive. Certainly there will be some things to learn, but you have that with every new board. Im looking forward to it. But Eicher said its hard to see County Board members go, especially those that shes worked with for years. Sups. Dorothy Krause and Carl Chenoweth, who both decided not to run again, have been on the board for 10 years. Sups. Shelia Stubbs, Carousel Bayrd and Levin have been on the board for 16 years. These are folks that I have known for a very long time who I enjoy working with, Eicher said of those leaving. I thank each and every one of them for their service to our county. Stubbs, who is also a state representative, said the main reason she decided not to run for reelection to the County Board is that she wants to focus on her work at the state level. Ive been a mover and a shaker. Ive called people out, Stubbs said. Ive done so much in 16 years. But its just the right timing for me. Its a great opportunity for someone new to come in and do this work. Bayrd said shes leaving because she wants to focus on her work as an attorney for the nonprofit law firm Community Justice, Inc., particularly the groups new eviction defense program. She decided two years ago that she would end her time on the board now, and she said shes proud of what she accomplished. Bayrd was a staunch advocate of criminal justice transformation, and led the way for the county to eliminate frivolous fines and fees for families, defendants and inmates. Eicher said Bayrd and Stubbs were absolute giants, particularly in the criminal justice reform space. Sup. Tim Rockwell, 19th District, who just joined the board in the summer, said hes stepping away from the County Board because he and his wife are expecting a baby in March. With two kids under 2 Id like to focus on them, Rockwell said, noting that he would have loved to run again. Levins main reason for not running again is spending more time with his 4-year-old and 1-year-old sons. He said he was disappointed with the countys redistricting process, but he was planning to leave the board anyway before that happened. He said some of the neighborhoods were split up, so he wouldnt necessarily be representing the same people if he ran again. Impact of new lines Eicher said redistricting creates a natural turnover point. Some board members get redrawn into a new district, and the changes can push some to decide not to run again. This years redistricting put a few incumbents in the same districts, meaning two County Board colleagues would have had to run against one other. But at least one person in each of those pairings decided not to run. Stubbs said being in the same district as Sup. Chuck Erickson, 13th District, did not influence her decision to leave the board. Bayrd said another reason some may have left is the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and online meetings. She said she supports the countys decision to remain digital, but it makes it hard to develop relationships with colleagues and staff. It also makes it hard to take some of the anger expressed by some residents. People express their emotions. People yell at us. And thats OK, Bayrd said. Its hard to absorb that anger when youre sitting in the dark in your house by yourself. Change welcome Eicher said shes excited for the new members to join the county board. Asked what races she thinks residents should watch, Eicher said a handful of candidates seem to be supported by anti-mask, anti-public health organizations. She said she noticed some of those organizations on the paperwork filed by some candidates, but declined to specify which candidates. Eicher said incumbents will be ready to defend their seats against that new crop, as well as defending the decisions of the Public Health department and the board. None of the County Board races have three candidates, so there wont be a primary. The election is April 5. Its going to be a busy spring, Eicher said. State Journal reporter Lucas Robinson contributed to this report. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry released a plan Wednesday that he said would strengthen democracy, his first major policy proposals of the campaign timed to the anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Lasry is one of several Democrats running for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, of Oshkosh. Lasry, who is on leave from his job as an executive with the Milwaukee Bucks, said the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol was "something that has never been seen in the United States" and "the continued assault on the very fundamental tenets of American democracy has not ended." His plan includes ending the filibuster in the U.S. Senate; passing voting-rights acts; banning political gerrymandering; making it easier to vote through automatic voter registration; supporting making Washington, D.C., a state; and allowing the citizens of Puerto Rico to have "self-determination" on whether to become a state. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, another Democratic candidate for Senate, released a similar plan in December that called for expanding voter rights, eliminating partisan gerrymandering, making Election Day a national holiday and ending the filibuster. Johnson did not return messages seeking comment on Lasry's plan. Johnson said in December that he would be making an announcement soon on whether he is seeking a third term. "Ron Johnson isn't just a bad Senator, he is a threat to our democracy," Lasry said in his policy plan announced Wednesday. "He isn't only dangerous for Wisconsin, but for the entire country." Lasry supports eliminating the filibuster rule in the Senate, which has led to the proposed John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act being stalled. The measure, which Barnes also supports, would restore parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Other Democrats running for Senate include state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski; Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson; Millennial Action Project founder Steven Olikara; and Wausau physician Gillian Battino. Several of the other Democratic candidates have voiced support for ending the filibuster and making other changes that Lasry and Barnes compiled in their democracy-focused packages. The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will advance to the general election. The GOP-controlled Legislature would have final say over how the governor spends federal funds allocated to Wisconsin under a constitutional amendment proposed this week by Senate Republicans. Another proposed resolution would require Wisconsin to adopt Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, for the states biennial budgeting process, rather than use current cash accounting practices. As constitutional amendments, the measures would need to pass the Senate and Assembly in two successive sessions before being decided by voters in a general election. The governor cannot veto a constitutional amendment. Currently, the governor has sole discretion over how federal funds are spent. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers office did not respond to a request for comment. There has been a growing push among legislative Republicans seeking more control over how the executive office doles out federal funds primarily in recent years as the federal government pumped billions in stimulus dollars into the state to help address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is not meant to pick on Gov. Evers at all. Obviously (former Republican Gov. Scott Walker) and previous governors also had federal funds and they also didnt include consultation with the Legislature and we dont know who the governor is going to be in 2022 and beyond, said Sen. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, who has co-authored the resolutions. So this is not a personal attack on Gov. Evers ... its just good governance reform. The Legislature passed statutes in the 1930s to hand over control of federal funds to the governors office as federal dollars flowed into the state near the end of the Great Depression, according to a report provided to Kooyenga last month from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau. The proposal would prohibit any executive branch official or department from allocating any federal dollars without first securing approval from a legislative committee, which Kooyenga said would likely be the GOP-led budget committee. It doesnt slap down the governor, it slaps down the Legislature, Kooyenga said. It says, All right, Legislature, you need to do your job and you need to be involved in the process alongside the governor to help direct where this federal money should go. Evers vetoed legislation last February that would have provided the Legislatures budget committee veto power over the use of federal COVID-19 funds. Two months later, the governor vetoed a similar measure that would have given the Legislature control over how federal coronavirus stimulus dollars are spent. Its been unfortunate through this entire pandemic that the federal government has given so much spending power to one person in the state of Wisconsin and not those of us who are closest to our districts to try to find solutions on how to spend that money, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said Wednesday. Republicans have also introduced a number of failed bills seeking to direct the use of federal funds to matters ranging from broadband expansion to mental health programs in schools, while Evers has laid out his own plan for allocating those dollars. A new package proposed Tuesday, which also is likely to be vetoed by Evers, would allocate about $25 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. Wisconsin received close to $2.5 billion in federal relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act. All told, the state has been allocated more than $4.5 billion in federal coronavirus stimulus funds. Of those funds, more than $2 billion has been spent on state emergency response efforts, public health measures and economic support programs, according to a breakdown provided by the governors office in August. GAAP accounting The Wisconsin Constitution requires state government to balance its budget. But it only must do so under so-called cash accounting practices a less-expansive view of the state budget that doesnt fully account for future expenses to which the state has committed. The state started to also use the GAAP system in the 1989-90 period. It takes into account commitments made in one budgeting cycle that wont be paid until a following cycle. The difference is how expenditures are accounted for in the two approaches. Using GAAP, commitments are incurred when they are made, while cash accounting does not identify those as expenditures until they are actually paid. Kooyenga said the proposed constitutional amendment would require GAAP practices to be cemented into the constitution. Requiring the use of GAAP accounting to balance the state budget is an idea that has been toyed with in the past, with Walker vowing to shift to the practice before taking office in 2011. While that never came to fruition, Evers, who is running for a second term this fall, said the idea of using GAAP accounting was something to work towards before taking office in early 2019. Kooyenga, along with Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, an accountant who has co-authored the latest proposal, broached a similar constitutional amendment back in 2012 that cleared the Assembly, but failed to advance in the Senate. It essentially takes the accounting tricks off the table and it requires you to use honest accounting, Kooyenga said of the latest proposal. Officials have said the states budget surplus would ease the transition from cash accounting to the formal use of GAAP. I think the only reason we can have this discussion right now is since we have made such great strides in Wisconsin over the last decade in responsible budgeting and not pushing off current obligations to make them future obligations, LeMahieu said. Kooyenga said if both proposals pass the Assembly and Senate in two sessions, they could come before voters by the 2024 presidential election. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Republicans in the state Senate plan to reintroduce a handful of election-related measures some similar to bills vetoed last year by Gov. Tony Evers that would place restrictions on absentee ballots, among other measures. In a Wednesday interview with the Wisconsin State Journal, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, also said addressing the states workforce challenges will be a top priority in the coming session. He also said it was unfortunate that former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman called on a fellow Republican state senator to resign after she criticized Gablemans review of the 2020 election. While specific bill language was not available, LeMahieu said the package of election-related measures will likely be based on last years report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election but did make recommendations on how elections can be improved. Some bills will be very similar to a package of election-related measures vetoed by Evers back in August, he added. LeMahieu said he expects to see bills in the coming session that would require most people who are indefinitely confined unable to get to the polls by themselves to provide a photo ID to vote and prohibit clerks from correcting errors or filling in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes, among other measures. Those are some of the topics that the Audit Bureau flagged and topics that well be putting before the governor again, LeMahieu said. It will be interesting to see, with the lens of a nonpartisan agency suggesting these changes, if the governor will veto them again, even though I think he sort of indicated he plans on it. Evers office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The Democratic governor vetoed a package of six election-related bills back in August that he described at the time as anti-democratic. The GOP-authored bills would have imposed a litany of restrictions on voters and elections administration. Among them were measures restricting who can return an absentee ballot on behalf of a voter, limiting the use of indefinitely confined status when applying for absentee ballots, and prohibiting clerks from correcting minor errors on absentee ballot application materials. Democracy isnt something that just happens for us, we choose to make it every day, Evers said in a statement when he vetoed the bills last year. When I ran for this office, I promised that Id work to protect the right of every eligible person to vote. LeMahieu said he hopes Evers will change his mind on some of the bills based on recommendations made by the Audit Bureau and conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which also found no evidence of widespread fraud but did encourage improvements to election administration. Hopefully this creates more weight and Evers takes these bills seriously this time and doesnt just fall into the partisans on his side to veto them automatically without taking a serious look at them, he said. Elections rules LeMahieu also expressed support for a request made last week by Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who co-chairs the Legislatures GOP-led joint rules committee, calling for motions to force the Wisconsin Elections Commission to quickly create rules for missing information on absentee envelopes, along with rules for ballot drop boxes. A meeting has not been scheduled on the matter. The bipartisan Elections Commission voted in early December to begin the administrative rule-making process for several recommendations in the Audit Bureaus report. The rule-making process can take as long as 13 months to complete and requires approval from the governor and a Republican-controlled rules committee. The commission will vote in future meetings on specific rule proposals. In addition to the Audit Bureaus report, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, hired Gableman last year to review the 2020 election. Vos has allocated $676,000 in taxpayer funds to the effort, but has said additional costs could accrue. LeMahieu said he is interested to see what information comes from Gablemans inquiry, but also pushed back against his comment last month that Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, should resign from the Legislature. Gablemans comments, made at a Chippewa County Republican Party event, came after Bernier, a former clerk, called for the review to wrap up sooner rather than later, while raising concerns of ongoing questioning of the 2020 election. Its definitely not helpful when Gableman calls on a sitting senator to resign, LeMahieu said. That was really unfortunate. Workforce bills LeMahieu said the Senate also plans to move forward soon a package of bills aimed at addressing the states persistent workforce challenges, which were present before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development reported last month that the states unemployment rate had dropped to 3% in November, according to preliminary data, matching the previous record low set in November 2018. Despite the positive trend, state officials have said Wisconsin is still about 100,000 jobs below where it was before the pandemic. The states aging population has caused the workforce to flatten out over time and it threatens to shift downward by as early as 2035, he added. Maybe some have retired early but theres other people sitting on the sidelines so we need to do what we can legislatively to incentivize people back into the workforce, to make it easier for them to get back into the workforce and to make it harder for them to stay on unemployment insurance, LeMahieu said. The package of workforce bills could be finalized in the coming week or two, he added. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA), Etisalat, and Trend Micro have announced the launch of Cyber Eye, an initiative designed to strengthen the Abu Dhabi Government entities cybersecurity capabilities. Cyber Eye will employ first of its kind technology and systems to identify cyber threats in real time and take effective and proactive actions to mitigate risks and increase protection, further strengthening the security of Abu Dhabi government entities digital assets, reported state news agency WAM. Dr. Mohamed Abdelhameed Al Askar, Director-General of ADDA, said: "ADDA is keen to strengthen collaboration ties between the public and private sectors, and to work with strategic partners such as Etisalat and Trend Micro as these collaborations are vital in providing basic technological knowledge, and the expertise necessary to enhance cybersecurity capabilities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. "Today, we embark on a new, safer digital journey," Dr. Al Askar added. "One where cybersecurity takes a central position in our digital transformation strategy. As we move forward, we are incorporating best-in-class solutions to protect government infrastructure and ensure the integrity and safety of all its digital assets. We will be working closely with our partners Etisalat and Trend Micro to unify incident management and prevention across all departments." Abdulla Ebrahim Al Ahmed, Senior Vice President, Government Sales, Etisalat, said: "Etisalat is committed to developing digital security solutions as part of our strategy to 'drive the digital future to empower societies'. Through the work on the 'Cyber Eye' initiative, we will enhance our contribution to achieving the government vision in securing the highest level of digital security. This is a one element in the nation's digital transformation strategy. This agreement further underlines the confidence in Etisalat's digital solutions to both public and private sectors, and our capabilities in the field of cybersecurity. The Initiative will strengthen the position of Abu Dhabi and the UAE as an innovation and advanced technology hub." Dr. Moataz BinAli, VP and Managing Director, Mena, Trend Micro, said: "A proactive, integrated system such as the one we will build through the Cyber Eye initiative will enable government decision-makers to step up their defence of digital services and Trend Micro remains dedicated to the support of ADDA on its digital transformation journey. Our leading-edge cybersecurity innovations and strategies are carefully designed to protect enterprises of all industries and scales from the harmful elements in the digital wilds, so they can keep on innovating and building a strong digital economy." The Cyber Eye initiative also addresses the issue of infrastructure visibility and will promote standards and methods to enhance controls and capabilities for the purposes of optimising resilience across government entities. Such methods will also allow technology teams to detect threats more quickly, including the most advanced attacks. A recent KPMG survey of UAE business stakeholders showed concern about the rise of cybercrime during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 61 percent of respondents were concerned about phishing scams, 54 percent were worried about email spamming, and 42 percent dreaded a ransomware incident. Regional government authorities have often been prime targets of cybercriminals, prompting this collaboration between ADDA, Etisalat and Trend Micro on Cyber Eye. The initiative will take advantage of intelligence-driven methodologies to enhance the maturity and effectiveness of the government in cybersecurity. Public Health Madison and Dane County said Tuesday it is expanding COVID-19 testing hours this week at its South Park Street clinic as the number of cases in Wisconsin hit 8,058, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began. The expanded testing will result in more than 1,700 additional appointments, Public Health said. The clinic at 2230 S. Park St. in Madison will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day this week, including Sunday. Normally the clinic closes at 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. and is not open on Sundays. Public Health spokesperson Morgan Finke said the change was made to meet the high demand for testing in Dane County as the more contagious omicron variant continues to spread. We are pulling out all the stops to make this happen, bringing in emergency overtime staff to meet the need, Finke said. An extra 216 appointments were made available each day Tuesday through Friday, and another 648 new appointments were made available for Sunday. Thats a total of 1,728 additional testing times. The additional appointments opened up on Public Healths website Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m. People can schedule a time online at go.madison.com/covid-test. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Less than a year after canceling former President Donald Trumps remain in Mexico policy toward migrants attempting to enter the U.S., the Biden administration has started enforcing it again all too reluctantly. Restoring the policy is a necessary step toward gaining control over the crisis at the countrys southern border. The administration should work with Mexico to make it more efficient and humane. Under Trumps policy, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (or MPP), migrants who were apprehended at the border were required to stay in Mexico while they waited for their cases to be heard. Between 2019 and 2021, about 70,000 people were returned to the Mexican side of the border. Those whose cases made it to the front of the queue were allowed to enter the U.S. for court hearings, but had to return to Mexico until a final determination was made about their status. Theres evidence this policy yielded results. Apprehensions on the southwestern border fell 30% in its first year. The U.S. also appears to have expedited the processing of claims for those in the program. Because of a backlog of 1.3 million immigration cases, migrants in the U.S. can go years before their first court date. By comparison, more than half of all MPP cases were completed by February 2021. Even so, the program wasnt without flaws. Critics faulted the administration for failing to provide adequate transportation for migrants to make court hearings; as a result, thousands lost their asylum cases in absentia and were deported. Those waiting in Mexico endured harsh living conditions ... with little protection from the weather, gangs and human traffickers. According to Human Rights First, at least 1,550 documented cases of violence occurred against people enrolled in MPP, including murder, rape and kidnapping. President Joe Biden instructed federal immigration agencies to stop enrolling migrants into MPP and allow those in Mexico to wait in the U.S. while their cases were processed. In August, a federal judge found that the administration had improperly rescinded the policy and ordered it reinstated, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court. In the meantime, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported the highest-ever number of migrant encounters this year. The Biden administration in November announced plans to restart MPP. The White House insists, however, that it is not doing so eagerly. The administration asked the Supreme Court to revisit its earlier ruling and allow the administration to rescind the policy. That would be misguided. Rather than send mixed messages about its commitment to MPP, the administration should focus on making it more effective. It should expand coordination with the Mexican government to provide temporary housing and bolster security for those sent back across the border. It should provide additional incentives for Mexico to allow migrants to work, open bank accounts and access health care while they wait for their hearings. Limiting the distance asylum seekers have to travel for court appearances would bolster their chances of receiving a fair hearing. The administration should also increase the number of immigration judges assigned to the border and provide courts with the resources necessary to meet the governments goal of resolving MPP claims within 180 days. ... Bidens rush to undo any immigration policies associated with his predecessor has contributed to upheaval at the border and encouraged more people to risk their lives trying to reach the U.S. In the process, it has undermined public support for the comprehensive immigration reforms the country needs. Strengthening MPP, rather than discarding it, is the best way to restore confidence in the governments ability to administer a more fair and orderly system. Dont Look Up, Adam McKays dark comedy released on Netflix just before Christmas, has gotten an enormous amount of attention, despite most film critics tending to agree it doesnt hold together too well artistically, even as some welcome it for its propagandistic value. As youd expect from the creator of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, nothing about the film is subtle. A giant asteroid is barreling toward Earth, and both the media and Washington are incapable of taking the threat seriously. McKay and the story co-creator, David Sirota, have been very clear about what theyre up to. Clearly, McKay tells GQ, the movie is an analogy or an allegory for the climate crisis. After the Netflix release, McKay took to Twitter: Loving all the heated debate about our movie. But if you dont have at least a small ember of anxiety about the climate collapsing (or the US teetering) Im not sure Dont Look Up makes any sense. Its like a robot viewing a love story. WHy ArE thEir FacEs so cLoSe ToGether? That tweet is probably funnier than any line in the movie. But its also ironic, given that the reason the film fails as political satire is that McKay is more like that robot than he realizes. There are three flaws to this allegory. He gets the media, politics and the effect of climate change wrong. McKay told NPR that he joined with Sirota to write the movie because, Were both incredibly frustrated with the lack of coverage of the climate crisis. You know, its usually the fourth or fifth story. Its never the right tone, which should be much more urgent. Really? Where do these guys get their news? Many news outlets have full-time reporters dedicated to climate change. Just last year ABC News and CNN created full-time climate change news teams. The Washington Post and the New York Times were already there. In April, Time magazine ran another of many cover stories on climate change showing a burning map of the world under the headline, Climate Is Everything. In 1989, Time skipped Person of the Year and made Endangered Earth the Planet of the Year. In McKays movie, what is supposed to be the New York Times drops its coverage of the planet-killing asteroid story when it fails to get good web traffic. Do I really need to be the one to defend the New York Times from this idiotic insinuation? Like a robot watching the news, McKay watches the near-daily coverage of climate change and says, wHeRE IS tHE cLImATE HySTeria!?! Then theres politics. Meryl Streeps entertaining take on a female President Trump scores some points, but Trump isnt president. Joe Biden is, and he calls climate change an existential threat all the time. And hes not alone. Sirota wrote speeches for Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2020, and his old boss routinely said that kind of thing, too as did virtually all the Democratic presidential nominees. And its not just rhetoric; were spending vast sums of money and reorganizing the missions of many government agencies to deal with the existential threat of climate change. But heres the funny thing: Climate change is not an existential threat like a planet-killing asteroid, which lets just admit would make for great TV. Not even according to the United Nations IPCC, whose worst-case scenarios for climate change, as terrible as some are, manifest themselves over a century and would not end all life here. McKay and Co. are free to disagree about the aptness of their analogy. In the movie, the only way to stop the asteroid is to push it off course by aiming nuclear weapons at it. Some argue that in real life, the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to use nuclear power. Sanders and many of his Democratic colleagues oppose that which is odd if you actually believe we have no time to waste to save the planet. Finally, its worth asking: Is McKay helping? Unlike an incoming asteroid, climate change requires sustained and sustainable intergenerational consensus. Chastising people who agree with him because they fall short of his peak hysteria and demonizing everyone else seem like exactly the kind of self-indulgence thats made for satire. Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch: @JonahDispatch. It is January 2022. After all the emotions between Thanksgiving and Christmas, many of us are ready to take a breath and relax. However, by the middle of the month, the activity around Boise will drown out any peace remaining from the holiday season. The Idaho Freedom Foundation continues to find fault with just about everything. The drumbeat from Northern and Eastern Idaho did not stop during the holiday seasonwhich includes the celebration of Christmas. They celebrate when one of their disciples gains distinction by getting a headline in the news. The legislators who gather this year will have no trouble finding their offices, the restrooms, and the best places for lunch near the Capitol. They are all old hands this second of two terms until the people vote again on their performance. Unfortunately, the prevailing thought among too many legislators is regressive. They yearn for a government size that suited an agricultural, sparsely populated country. They harken back to the debates over our constitution and accept the false narratives that it establishes a limited government, that Christian Theology formed our law, and that freedom means individual choice in every action. Given the historical background they accept, it is understandable that they underestimate the current expectations all citizens have for their government. When we consider that we all desire simplicity in our lives, a rational stand might be to limit the reach of government, but that cannot meet the needs of our population. The big news about our exciting times is that Idaho now has an unprecedented budget surplus. That is partly due to a very conservative FY 2022 spending plan. It is also due to the refusal of legislators to want to tackle many of Idahos pressing problems. Many legislators believe that a budget surplus indicates that taxes are too high. There is understandable tension between urban and rural areas in Idaho and the entire nation. I grew up in Denver, the most densely populated capital city in Colorado. Residents of the more rural areas and those who lived across the mountains constantly complained that Denver got all the benefits of taxes and attention from the state government. I thoughtlessly dismissed them. It is easy to dismiss the concerns we dont share with others. Life experiences away from my place of birth gradually made me realize that I could not judge others opinions with certainty without thoroughly understanding their point of view. Considering what I know of other points of view for this legislature and its deliberations, I want to state my preferences for the session. First, and most important is, to allocate the surplus to government programs and not tax rebates. Bolster the rainy-day fund. Establish a grant fund for school districts that need to kick-start a program, repair a facility, add more technology in classrooms. Establish health-care scholarships for providers who pledge to practice in rural areas. Fix more roads. As I said, we have a surplus because we were conservative in funding at the beginning of the fiscal year. That wisdom now means we know how much more we can spend before July 1, 2022. Examine property taxes and what they are supposed to fund. Give relief to those who need it because of fixed incomes or low incomes sufficient for current tax levies plus their house payment. For investors, higher value is good. The higher property tax is the cost of doing business. They dont deserve relief. Take the chokehold off local government and allow them to set property taxes and exemptions at the city and county level. Local option taxes allow the citizens of a specific area to approve those things they are willing to pay more taxes for. There are overlapping committees considering local government and taxation. I would like to see a robust rural caucus that brings their concerns to the public and the legislature. Urban dwellers do not understand peoples concerns in less populated areas. Since print and broadcast media are headquartered in cities, urban concerns dominate the news media. Our legislature must concentrate on funding state government and passing just laws. It does not need to fight the culture wars or legislate individual virtue. Linda Brugger, retired from the Air Force Reserve, leaning Democrat and community activist can be reached at IdahoAuthor@outlook.com. Love 7 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC), the public utility company of Gulf country, announced Wednesday its subsidiary signed an agreement to acquire 40% stake in energy investment company Nebras Power for $530 million, Reuters reports. Raslaffan Operating Company made the offer to buy the stake from Qatar Holding, a unit of Qatars sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, QEWC said in a bourse statement. The operation gives full control of the company by QEWC which already owns 60 per cent of shares of the firm. The transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent which includes regulatory approvals and notifications from other foreign jurisdictions where Nebras is present. The U.S and European Union Tuesday warned the Sudanese military against the appointment of one its own as Prime Minister as civil Premier Abdallah Hamdok resigned amid protests against the junta, reports say. US, Britain and Norway and the EU will not support a prime minister or government appointed without the involvement of a broad range of civilian stakeholders, the countries forming a Troika on Sudan said in a joint statement. Unilateral action to appoint a new prime minister and cabinet would undermine those institutions credibility and risks plunging the nation into conflict, the statement added. Hamdok resigned Sunday indicated that he had failed to find a compromise between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy movement. The resignation came following days he was reinstated after he ousted one month ago. OPEC has appointed Kuwaits oil veteran Haitham al-Ghais as its new Secretary general, as the bloc and its allies are hoping that a volatile oil market will be tamed enough to allow a return to pre-pandemic production levels. Ghais, forme Kuwaits OPEC governor from 2017 to June 2021, will assume office from August 2022 and will replace Mohammad Barkindo, following his choice by acclamation at delegates meeting on Jan. 03. Currently serving as deputy managing director for International Marketing at KPC, Mr Al Ghais chaired the Joint Technical Committee [JTC] of the Declaration of Co-operation [DoC] in 2017 and subsequently served as a member of the JTC until June 2021, OPEC said in a statement. The new top diplomat of the global oil organization said one his top priorities would be to preserve and nurture OPECs ties with Russia and that his diplomatic background, having served in Kuwaits foreign ministry and been the son of a career diplomat, would be an asset to him in the role. Outgoing Barkindo from Nigeria is credited for forging ties with Russia and other non-OPEC members. In a statement, OPEC hailed Barkindo for being instrumental in expanding OPECs historical efforts to support sustainable oil market stability through enhanced dialogue and cooperation with many energy stakeholders. Contrary to all expectations, the president of the Transitional Military Council, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, has announced that the inclusive national dialogue in Chad will take place on February 15. However, the Council of Ministers had adopted a roadmap that called for the political dialogue to be held between November and December 2021. The dialogue, which is supposed to be open-ended, is expected to lead to the drafting of a new constitution, which will then be submitted to all Chadians in a referendum. Free, transparent and democratic general elections should also follow. At the headquarters of the coordination of citizen actions Wakit Tama, they demand the modification of the transition charter before the organization of this political consultation. Former opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo, now vice-chairman of the organizing committee for the inclusive national dialogue, is calling for restraint on the part of his former companions. The February 15 date set for the start of this political mass is conditional on the holding of a pre-dialogue between the government and political-military forces, scheduled for mid-January in Doha, Qatar. AlUla, the Saudi Arabian city of heritage and culture, will host Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria and Alta Gioielleria in a unique and elegant fashion show on January 27, 2022 as part of AlUla Moments festivals season. In addition to the show, Dolce&Gabbana will exhibit the one-of-a-kind collection in Maraya, the worlds largest mirrored building, which will be open for visitors to experience from January 28 to 31, 2022. The guests will have the opportunity to visit the exclusive space, meet the Dolce&Gabbana premiere and master tailor and get their choices from the unique and customised collection. The event represents a new stage in the creative path that Dolce&Gabbana started in 2012 with the first Alta Moda Collection, which has been presented through the years in some of the most fascinating Italian and worldwide locations. This has been a journey to discover craftsmanship and pay homage to the most beautiful, poetic and passionate creations that are shaped by human hands. The fashion show will take place during the Ikmah Fashion Cavalry Show, an event during Winter at Tantora, the first festival in the Kingdom celebrating heritage, culture and music. Ikmah Fashion Cavalry Show is a special exhibition celebrating the extraordinary spirit and tradition of Arabian horses, famous all over the world for their unparalleled beauty and elegance. Jabal Ikmah, considered one of the main historical and archaeological sites in AlUla, will witness a special evening dedicated to handmade fashion design creativity with an all-Mediterranean flavour. Jabal Ikmah, a mountain near the ancient city of Dadan - the capital of the ancient Dadanite and Lihyanite Kingdoms - has been described as a huge open-air library with historical inscriptions and rock art. The Ikmah Fashion Cavalry Show has been conceived and produced by Balich Wonder Studio. The show will showcase a full parade of 12 Arabian horses with customised horse accessories and attire, highlighting the harmony between horses and models and impressing the attendees with a unique show. Winter at Tantora runs from December 21, 2021 to February 12, 2022, offering both international and local visitors an exciting six weeks of music, cultural and equestrian events. Winter at Tantora is the first festival of AlUla Moments which include three other distinctive festivals: AlUla Arts, AlUla Skies, and AlUla Wellness festival.-- TradeArabia News Service Four people have been arrested in the wake of an attack in which six people died and homes were burned in Lamu County, a coastal region of Kenya bordering Somalia, police said Tuesday. One man was beheaded and five were shot or burned to death in the attack in this very rural area, about 420 kilometers from the capital Nairobi. The county of Lamu, where the tourist island of the same name is located, has already been the scene of several attacks and the local authorities first suspected on Monday the Islamist rebels Shebab, without excluding other tracks as a land dispute. The attack has not been claimed at this time. The investigation is progressing well and so far four people are in custody. There will be more arrests, national police spokesman Bruno Shioso said. It has been established for the time being that the attack is linked to local conflicts over land, he added, noting that such incidents are not uncommon in the area. Shioso said police are trying to establish whether another incident that occurred Monday night in a nearby area, about which he gave no details, was related to the attack. In the first attack, which took place between Sunday night and Monday morning, the attackers beheaded an elderly man, then looted his house, and shot and killed another man whose body was found on the side of a road, police said. Further on, the bodies of four other men were found burned, with their hands tied, and could not be identified, according to a police report. People queue at a walk-in COVID-19 testing site in Melbourne, Australia Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Australia on Wednesday saw sharply rising COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations and long queues at testing centers as it continued to battle the rapid spread of the virus in most states. Credit: Joel Carrett/AAP Image Australia on Wednesday saw another jump in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and long queues at testing centers as it continued to battle the rapid spread of the virus in most states. The country recorded more than 64,000 cases, up from 47,000 a day earlier, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison met virtually with the national cabinetthe leaders of Australia's states and territoriesto discuss how to respond to almost daily records in new cases and rising pressure on hospitals. Morrison has faced increasing calls to make rapid antigen tests available free to relieve pressure on PCR testing centers, many of which have been forced to close after reaching capacity. People who have been tested often face long waits for results from overburdened laboratories. Speaking to reporters after the national cabinet meeting, Morrison said state premiers and first ministers opposed universal free tests. But more than 6 million Australians including seniors and others on welfare or with low incomes will be eligible for up to 10 free tests every three months. Free tests also are available to those who have symptoms or are deemed close contacts. Among other measures to alleviate pressure on PCR testing centers, Morrison said those who return a positive rapid antigen test no longer need to have a PCR test to confirm the result. New South Wales, the country's most populous state, saw a record 35,054 new cases on Wednesday as it awaits the arrival of 50 million rapid antigen tests ordered by the state government. State Premier Dominic Perrottet urged residents not to seek PCR tests unless necessary, adding that the arrival of the rapid testing kits expected next week would "significantly assist." Victoria reported 17,636 cases, a state record, and Queensland saw 6,871 cases. The case numbers do not necessarily reflect the true spread of the virus as they only count the number of recorded cases. Hospitalizations nationwide stood at 2,990 on Wednesday, with 196 patients in intensive care. Both numbers were higher than the previous day, when 2,684 hospitalizations were recorded, with 183 people in intensive care. Morrison said Australia is not alone in experiencing shortages of rapid antigen tests because of supply problems caused by the spread of omicron worldwide. He said around 200 million rapid antigen tests are on their way to Australia but until they arrive "tension" will continue in the testing system. "We are not on our own in dealing with this. Other countries, most countries around the world, are dealing with exactly the same problems," Morrison said. 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Though cannabis is often associated with "the munchies" in popular culture, University of Toronto researcher Justin Matheson is asking whether cannabinoidsnaturally occurring compounds in the plantcan actually be used to treat obesity. "On the surface, the research seems a bit paradoxical," says Matheson, who earned a Ph.D. from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine's department of pharmacology and toxicology in 2020 and is now completing a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Translational Addiction Research Laboratory at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "But what my supervisor [Professor Bernard Le Foll, chair of addiction psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine] and others have found is that people who use cannabis regularly actually have lower BMI, lower risk of obesity and a lower of risk of diabetes then people who don't use cannabis." Matheson is one of the inaugural cohort of the Toronto Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Consortium (TC3) fellows. He recently spoke to writer Gabrielle Giroday about his work and the fast-growing field of cannabis- and cannabinoid-related health research. What interested you in this area of research? My work is largely focused on substance use and addictions. For my doctorate, I focused on sex and gender and how they impact cannabis use. For example, I published a paper in 2019 looking at how smoking cannabis affected young adults of different sexes. Before this project, I was already very interested in investigating addiction to cannabis and looking at how cannabinoids can be used to treat substance use disorders. As for this current research, there are interesting parallels between obesity and overeating, and addiction or substance use disorders. Both involve harmful behavioral patterns that lead to excessive intake of food or psychoactive drugs. It's a new area that deserves further exploration. Can you explain your approach? This research will include a randomized controlled trial that will look at if nabilonea synthetic cannabinoid drugcan reduce body weight in adults with obesity. We are recruiting a sample of 60 people who have obesity and randomizing them to receive either a high dose of the drug nabilone, a low dose, or a placebo. Participants will be 25 to 45 years old. Nabilone will be taken as an oral capsule. It's very similar to THC, which is the active component of cannabis, but it's a little structurally different. The study participants will be taking nabilone daily over the course of 12 weeks. During that period, we'll be monitoring the patients' body weight as well as other measures to see if there are any adverse effects of the nabilone. In the research, we're not just trying to see if the cannabinoid drug can reduce body weight in adults who are obese, but we're also trying to understand why. We'll do this by using neuroimaging, measuring changes in the gut microbiome, and measuring cannabinoids in the blood and different hormones. We're also taking measures of participants' brain activity at the baseline, before they enter treatment and at the end of the 12 weeks. Specifically, we're interested in seeing how the neural response to food images changes over the course of treatment. We've started recruiting participants to take part of the research, and we're hoping to finish the trial in two years. What do you hope to achieve through this work? Nabilone is similar to THC. And we know cannabis actually is pro-appetitein that it increases appetite. In the past, cannabis has been associated with "the munchies" and been used by people with wasting syndromes or who are having problems with appetite. So, on the surface, the research seems a bit paradoxical. But what my supervisor Le Foll and others have found is that people who use cannabis regularly actually have lower BMI, lower risk of obesity and a lower of risk of diabetes then people who don't use cannabis. This research will be a first-in-human trial to see if administering nabilone will lead to a lower body weight in adults who are obese, which would replicate animal findings and which would be line with what we're seeing in epidemiological data. We don't know what we'll find yet. How will you measure the effects of nabilone on each participant? The endocannabinoid systemwhich is the body's innate system that underlies the effects of cannabinoidsis a system that is very much involved in all sorts of brain processes such as our perceptions of pleasure and reward. So, we think it's possible our research might find that nabilone reduces participants' responses to food images, which is why we're doing neuroimaging of participants' brains. Plus, there is also an interesting relationship between cannabinoids and gut bacteria, so we want to measure the gut microbiome to see whether that changes with treatment. Research has found that people with obesity tend to have higher levels of endocannabinoids, which are the body's own cannabinoid compounds. We believe that taking nabilone, or any cannabinoid drug, over a period of time might disrupt endocannabinoid levels, which could be one way that nabilone leads to a reduction in body weight. How would you describe the field of cannabis or cannabinoid research these days? I think cannabis and cannabinoid research has changed, especially after legalization. It's definitely a really growing field and I feel lucky I entered the field when I did in 2015three years before legalization happened. I still think there's still a lot of stigma around cannabis use. This affects the participants I work with, who often use cannabis or have a cannabis use disorder. Hopefully, with legalization, this will change. I think it's a really exciting time to be doing cannabis research, especially because there are a lot of misconceptions. It seems to be a very polarizing topic. You have cannabis advocates who present it as a "cure-all drug," and then you have prohibitionists, who argue it's bad and harming people and should be illegal. To me, it's somewhere in the middle. There are a lot of misconceptions in the research community and in the general public, which is why the field is so fascinating and why it's where I want to take the rest of my career. Explore further Higher frequency cannabis use tied to demographic factors Northeastern community members receive a first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Cabot Testing Center. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University As the U.S. enters its third year of the pandemic, COVID-19 cases are at an all-time high thanks to the highly transmissible omicron variant. Unlike earlier phases of the pandemic, large-scale government interventions such as lockdowns and business closures have fallen offeven as the country logs record-breaking caseloads by the day. Health officials and the public at large are now leaning heavily on the protections conferred by the vaccines to keep hospitalizations and deaths at bay. That's why many are scrambling to get boosted. But those with compromised immune systems fear a second or third shot may not induce an immune system response adequate to provide protection, leading some to seek out unauthorized fourthand even fifthshots. With the rise in omicron, U.S. officials have been talking about the need for a second booster, or a fourth shot, to follow the two-dose regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna plus the initial booster. Which begs the question: Is it possible to overstimulate the immune system with too many jabs? "Theoretically, if you give too many vaccines in too short a time period, it can decrease or dampen the immune response, rather than increase it," says Todd Brown, vice chair of the Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems at Northeastern. That means that the immune system may be less likely to respond to other threats due to the repeated activation, Brown says. Both types of shotsmessenger RNA (mRNA) and viral vectorwork to get the immune system to recognize a threat without actually infecting a person with a virus or other pathogen. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which are mRNA vaccines, teach cells to create a portion of the coronavirus spike protein, which then triggers the immune system to respond so that it's ready if the real virus shows up. The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is a viral vector vaccine, trains the body's defense network in a similar way, but uses a deactivated virus to do so instead of genetic material. In order for the immune system to recognize and ward off the actual coronavirus, it must have a reserve of memory lymphocytes, called the B cells and T cells. The vaccinated immune system uses these cells to help create neutralizing antibodies. Once the vaccine has trained the immune system, these memory cells remain dormant in the body for long periods of time. "What you want is to get the 'memory' part of your immune system to work, so the B cells and the T cells," Brown says. "Your immune system is not just antibodies." How long these antibodies last, and whether a person is capable of producing them in the first place, all depends on immune system function. Some immunocompromised patients, despite being "triple vaxxed," still haven't been able to produce enough antibodies to ward off the virus. These concerns and others have led some people to find creative, albeit unauthorized, ways to receive added doses within relatively short periods of time, the New York Times reported on Monday, which goes against the current guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But elsewhere in the world, new research is emerging about the potential efficacy of a second booster. On Sunday, Israel approved a fourth jab in the 60-plus population, which would be administered four months after the third shot. Israeli officials on Tuesday shared preliminary evidence from a study showing that the fourth shot generated "a fivefold jump" in antibody production one week after administration. Some public health officials have criticized the move as premature, adding that further allocation of boosters would divert resources away from efforts to provide shots to underserved parts of the world. Also, there is not enough evidence supporting a change in the current guidance in the U.S., says Mansoor Amiji, university distinguished professor of pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering at Northeastern. The safety and efficacy of a second booster remains an open question, Amiji says, noting that there are more risks associated with repeated boosting in shorter periods of time, including dampening the immune response. That means fewer T cells and B cells, and less antibody production. "The concern is when you start to dose these vaccines at a very short frequency, not only will your cells be exposed to a lot more mRNA than usual, but there are potential adverse side-effects," Amiji says. "Depending on how many of these doses you administer, you could risk building a tolerance" to the vaccines. Nurses look at a screen near rooms with patients suffering from COVID-19, in the ICU unit at the Charles Nicolle public hospital, in Rouen, France, April 15, 2021. France is rolling out a new rule that will allow health workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate. The extraordinary stop-gap measure is an attempt to address staff shortages at hospitals caused by an unprecedented explosion in virus infections. Credit: AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File France is allowing health care workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate, an extraordinary stopgap measure aimed at easing staff shortages at hospitals and other facilities caused by an unprecedented explosion in cases. The special exemption to France's quarantine rules being rolled out to hospitals, elderly care homes, doctors' offices and other essential health services testifies to the growing strain on the French medical system by the fast-spreading omicron variant. It is a calculated risk, with the possibility that health care workers with COVID-19 could infect colleagues and patients being weighed against what the government says is a need to keep essential services running. Outside the health sector, for those not covered by the special exemption, France's quarantine rules require at least five days of self-isolation for the fully vaccinated who test positive. For the unvaccinated, self-isolation is at least seven days. Governments and industries have warned that isolation rules are creating staff shortages across a range of sectors as the omicron variant causes surges in infections in many countries. In some places, quarantines have been shortened, including France, to get workers back to their posts. But in Europe, France appears to be alone in now also opening up the possibility for health care personnel to work while infected. There are increasing signs that the variant causes less-severe disease. But the deluge of infections is still sending increasing numbers of people to hospitals, putting those institutions under pressure, especially when medical workers are absent, too. French hospital authorities said the new flexibility from self-isolation would help them plug staffing holes if and when they open up. A nurse cares for a patient inside an operating room now used for COVID-19 patients at Bichat Hospital, AP-HP, in Paris, April 22, 2021. France is rolling out a new rule that will allow health workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate. The extraordinary stop-gap measure is an attempt to address staff shortages at hospitals caused by an unprecedented explosion in virus infections. Credit: AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File "If the system becomes very strained and 50% of our staff are positive, the less symptomatic will come to work because the patients will still need to be cared for," said Dr. Marc Leone, head of anesthesiology at the North Hospital in the southern city of Marseille. "But we're not in that situation yet," he said. The new rules were detailed in a Health Ministry alert message that was addressed Sunday to hospitals, care facilities and health authorities and was seen by The Associated Press. The changes are being rolled out this week. The ministry alert said France's deluge of virus infections poses "a major risk of disruption to the offer of care." It described the measure as "exceptional and temporary" and said it will be lifted when the system isn't so saturated with virus cases. The exemption opens the possibility for doctors, hospital staff, and those working with the disabled and other vulnerable people to stay on the job despite testing positive, on condition that they are fully vaccinated and aren't coughing and sneezing. In the Paris region, hospitals said the measure could be applied as a last resort if infected staff are urgently needed to help keep services open and if they volunteer to work. "If they are tired, have a scratchy throat and prefer to stay at home, nobody will force them to come to work with COVID," said Romain Eskenazi, communications director for two hospitals in the French capital's northern suburbs. Professor Remi Salomon, a commission president for the Paris hospitals' authority, said that while staff absences are "a major problem," allowing infected staff to work is "extremely hard to implement." Nurses care for a patient with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Dec. 31, 2021. France is rolling out a new rule that will allow health workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate. The extraordinary stop-gap measure is an attempt to address staff shortages at hospitals caused by an unprecedented explosion in virus infections. Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File "Health workers say to themselves, 'I'm scared of transmitting the virus to patients,'" he told broadcaster France Info. The Health Ministry instructions say that, where possible, the infected workers shouldn't be in contact with unvaccinated patients or those at greater risk of severe illness with COVID-19. The ministry said they also must limit as much as possible their interactions with colleagues and cannot take part in shared activities where face masks are removed, such as breaks for food and drinks. With Europe's highest number of confirmed daily virus cases, France is in an increasingly challenging position. France's average daily case load has more than doubled in a week, and the country reported a record 332,252 daily virus cases Tuesday as the omicron variant burdens hospital staff and threatens to disrupt health care, transportation, schools and other services. More than 20,000 people are hospitalized with the virus in France, a number that has been rising steadily for weeks but not as sharply as infection rates. COVID-19 patients fill more than 72% of France's ICU beds, and the once-renowned health care system is again showing signs of strain. Most virus patients in ICUs are not vaccinated, though 77% of the population has had at least two doses. More than 124,000 people with the virus have died in France, among the world's higher recorded death tolls. Explore further France sees record 271,000 coronavirus cases in single day 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: i viewfinder/Shutterstock If you have a cold, don't ask your doctor for antibioticsthat's the golden rule. They're for bacterial infections, not viral ones. We're told not only that they won't work, but that by using antibiotics when they aren't needed, we're helping bacteria become resistant to them. Yet in a recent study conducted in an Egyptian hospital, we showed that treating moderate-to-severe COVID patients with either one of two antibiotics (ceftazidime or cefepime, in combination with a steroid) resulted in similar recovery times compared to patients given standard treatment. This standard treatment, authorized by the Egyptian government and approved by the World Health Organization, was made up of at least seven different medications, suggesting that treating COVID with antibiotics could be a much simpler way of making people better. Yet by doing this, we went against the established medical convention that antibiotics aren't for viruses. So why did we break this rule? Necessity the mother of invention Traditionally, creating new drugs to treat diseases takes a long time. Trying to develop a new treatment can take years, costs a lot of money, and has a very low success rate. Nevertheless, this process is generally acceptable when targeting common diseases. However, this time-consuming process is not viable when there is a high threat posed by an emerging infectious disease, such as Zika, Ebola, Mers and now COVID. Without quick action or effective treatments that are ready to go, emerging diseases can evolve into pandemics that take a lot of lives. There have been hundreds of millions of confirmed cases of COVID, for example, and over 5.4 million deaths globally. Because of this, when faced with a new threat, drug developers and major pharmaceutical companies look for quicker alternatives to the typical drug-development process. One practical strategy is drug repurposing. This is where drugs already created and approved for one use are tested to see if they can also help treat the new disease. As the drugs have already been shown to be safe, and plenty is known about how they work, this is potentially a much less risky and time-consuming way of coming up with a treatment for the new disease. It's a strategy that's been used often in the pastand one my colleagues and I wanted to try to use it during COVID because of the pressing need. Finding a new purpose Drug repurposing begins by using computer-based techniques to model how existing drugs and the new disease-causing agentin this case the coronavirusmight interact. Drugs that show promise are then tested in real-life lab studies to validate the computer's findings and confirm that they could be of clinical use. With a viral disease like COVID, a drug considered for repurposing should show one of these three qualities: it should either be able to inhibit one or more stages of the coronavirus's replication cycle; relieve the bad effects of the virus; or manipulate the immune system so that the body can deal with the virus. And surprisingly, antibiotics are often the substances that show potential. Although viruses are different to bacteria, they are sometimes also susceptible to antibiotics. The statement that antibiotics don't work against viruses doesn't apply 100% of the time. For example, in response to the Zika crisis five or so years ago, an American study evaluated more than 2,000 drugs already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to see if they could potentially be safely used in pregnancy against the virus. The study found that the antibiotic azithromycin could reduce the proliferation of the virus in the brains of unborn children, thus potentially protecting against microcephaly, a condition caused by the virus in newborns. Separately, testing also showed that the antibiotic novobiocin had a strong antiviral effect against the Zika virus. And a 2016 drug-repurposing study conducted in Thailand identified minocycline as a promising antiviral drug against dengue virus, with this antibiotic inhibiting the virus's growth at various stages of its life cycle. All of these studies gave us confidence that repurposing antibiotics as COVID treatments was a plausible idea. But why ceftazidime or cefepime? Research had already shown that a number of antibiotics were good at stopping the coronavirus reproducing in lab testsincluding ceftazidime and others of the same class, which is known as "beta-lactams." We therefore knew this drug class had potential. And when we ran computer simulations of how ceftazidime and cefepime (another beta-lactam) would interact with the virus, they were both effective at disrupting its protease, a key enzyme the virus uses to reproduce. Ceftazidime and cefepime are also broad-spectrum antibiotics that are widely used to treat critically ill patients who pick up infections in hospital. As COVID patients often end up with other infections at the same time, we also thought these drugs might help badly ill patients by clearing other infections they might have, helping prevent conditions such as pneumonia. However, it isn't clear how much of the antibiotics' effect in our Egyptian hospital study was down to clearing coinfections versus how much was due to them attacking the coronavirus directly. Indeed, the notion that beta-lactams have antiviral properties is based on computer simulations and lab experimentsit hasn't been definitively proven. Nevertheless, our work has made a good case that these drugs can fight the coronavirus. While we still need to use antibiotics carefully, they might therefore have a role to play against COVID in the future. Explore further Medicine that treats gout could also battle COVID-19 This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain University at Buffalo scientists who do the genomic sequencing of the SARS-CoV2 virus in Erie County are seeing omicron cases increase, an indication that the region is exhibiting a similar trajectory to national trends. And despite reports of a quick omicron spike in other countries, the UB scientists note that there are reasons why that may not be the case here. Based on a batch of 344 samples taken through Dec. 21, the researchers report that the level of omicron in the region at that time was approximately 18 percent. Omicron was detected in deidentified samples provided by KSL Diagnostics, Catholic Health and Kaleida. "This was nearly spot on with the national average of 22 percent omicron for that period," said Jennifer Surtees, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, who leads the sequencing effort. "It is important to note that the sequencing data are not real-time data and that the actual levels of omicron are likely significantly higher." As of Dec. 25, omicron represented an estimated 58.5 percent of variants in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it continues to climb. "Our scientists are continuing to track the incidence of COVID-19 in our community, providing crucial public health information to officials and providers alike," said Allison Brashear, MD, UB's vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School. "We know the omicron COVID-19 variant is more transmissible than other variants, and it is highly likely that this variant is responsible for the recent substantial and stark increase in COVID-19 cases in Erie County," said Erie County Commissioner of Health Gale Burstein, MD, also a clinical professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School. Higher hospitalizations are likely Surtees noted that with such high numbers of omicron in Western New York, it is entirely likely that the sheer numbers will likely lead to higher hospitalizations, even though many people don't experience severe illness. "With so many COVID-19 cases being diagnosed, hospitals are strained, partly as a result of capacity in terms of beds, but more importantly because staff are getting infected and getting sick," she said. "As we move further into this wave, hospitalizations will continue to increase because of the sheer number of people being infected." Surtees pointed out a key difference between the U.S. and South Africa, which has reported a quick peak and lower virulence. "The population in South Africa is just younger than in the U.S. and we know that younger people are less likely to get seriously ill from SARS-CoV-2 infection, although some definitely do," she said. For these reasons, public health officials are once again urging people to do everything they can to limit the spread. "We are asking people to continue to make choices that protect your health and those around you," said Burstein. "Get vaccinated and boosted, wear masks with tight seal to the face, practice social distancing, and stay home and away from others when sick. And please, if there are people in your lives who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age, immunocompromising conditions or vaccination status, make those good choices to protect them, too." Surtees stressed the importance of what's known as the "Swiss Cheese" model of preventing infection, which combines all these approaches: "Get vaccinated. Wear good maskscloth masks alone are no longer good enough. Avoid large gatherings, especially indoors when masks cannot be used at all times. Get tested regularly. And recognize that rapid antigen testing is not perfect and can lead to false negatives. "A combined approach to preventing infection is best and will lower your risk significantly," she said. Tom Russo, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School, agreed. "Behavior is a critical factor that influences the likelihood of getting infected. Please avoid indoor situations when interacting with individuals outside of your household where masks cannot be used at all times. This usually occurs when eating/drinking is involved. Although the risk of infection is less outdoors, it can still occur when people are close together for a prolonged period of time. Please be careful and use good judgment." Concerns are growing about what looms ahead in the next few weeks based on the increased transmissibility of omicron and evidence that incidence of the variant is continuing to rise. Increased incidence Surtees explained that evidence of the increased incidence of omicron is based, in part, on the presence of what's known as the S gene dropout. "Certain types of PCR tests amplify three different genes from the SARS-CoV-2 genome to test for the virus," she said. One of those genes is the S gene, which encodes the spike protein. She explained that when there are small deletions within the spike gene, as is the case with omicron, the short nucleic acids called primers, which are used to amplify the genes, are unable to recognize the S gene, so it isn't amplified. "In other words, it will test positive for the other two genes in the test, but there won't be amplification of the S gene," Surtees said. "The S gene dropout is therefore a useful proxy for omicron," she said, "and it allows us to predict the level of omicron from certain PCR tests, which is closer to real time than sequencing, which currently takes about a week." Not all testing sites use tests that exhibit the S gene, but KSL Diagnostics, a UB testing partner, does. Since May 2020, KSL Diagnostics has been conducting between 15 and 20 percent of COVID-19 PCR testing in Western New York. "In the first two weeks of December, we saw just a handful of S dropouts, accounting for less than 5 percent of the positive samples," said Lakshmanan Suresh, Ph.D., founder and managing partner of KSL Diagnostics Inc. "The S dropouts started increasing dramatically from the third week of December, and as of today, over 95 percent of the positive samples in our lab are this type," he continued. "Based on what I am seeing out of our lab, I would say that the predominant variant circulating in our community is the omicron variant." 'Do not equate omicron with the common cold' Symptoms of the omicron variant include sore throat, nasal congestion, fatigue, headache, fever and loss of the ability to taste or smell; in short, they can mimic those of any respiratory virus, but Russo cautioned: "Do not equate omicron with the common cold. Although early data suggests omicron may be less virulent than earlier variants, this is still a potentially lethal virus. And even so-called 'mild' infections can be pretty miserable." He added that those at highest risk for developing severe disease or a bad outcome from omicron include the unvaccinated, the immunocompromised, pregnant women, seniors and those with significant underlying disease, especially if not boosted. Russo noted that people tend to be concerned primarily with the immediate consequences of COVID-19 (mild disease versus hospitalization and death). "However, it is clear that 'long COVID' can be very problematic in carrying on with the daily activities of living," he said. "Possible long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection that may not be clinically apparent for years or decades is a real concern. Therefore, your best strategy is to not get infected." Credit: Chinnapong/Shutterstock The widespread deaths of the elderly in care homes that occurred as a result of poor decisions by government at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed the lack of knowledge about how the care sector works. COVID also highlighted the challenges of managing public services and responding to ongoing uncertainty. This includes ensuring that different, but related, services such as health and social care, join up successfully. The idea to integrate public services has been a trend across western Europe relatively long before the pandemic. In Scotland, for example, a flagship social policy centers on the need to integrate social care, historically managed by local government, with healthcarehistorically managed by the NHS. The desire to integrate these two key services has been ongoing since 2016, commanding widespread political support. Europe-wide research, including some from Scotland, has highlighted the leadership and management challenges around the issue. From these studies, seven key lessons have emerged will help to ensure the successful integration of two of our most important public services. 1. Proper political support is required Without sufficient central government support, innovative and creative attempts to integrate often failas happened with the UK's Sure Start children's centers. A program designed to improve the prospects of children in deprived areas, its ring-fenced budget was removed and the initiative suffered from cuts. This led to a sharp fall in the numbers of children attending and benefiting from Sure Startmany of whom lived in the poorest areas of the country. This is what happens when governmentcentral or localtakes a hands-off approach to the integration of health and social care and bears no responsibility for its progress (or lack of it) at local level. Government must be held to account for the way it rolls out and maintains national public policies. 2. Community involvement is key Support from local groups and community involvement is a predictor for success in integrating these services. Although health and social care partnership areas can help local groups and organizations work together (there are 31 in Scotland, for example), concerns have emerged over quality and accountability of services once they are outsourced to other sectors, such as voluntary or private. But outsourcing is commonplace within health and social care, and is how public services are often managed. There must be better government oversight of the outsourcing process, and acknowledgement of how communities themselves can shape health and social care. 3. Professionals must be prepared to integrate Sometimes those working in health and social care are reluctant to integrate. Professional boundaries relating to differences in status can create friction. Differing health backgroundssome based on medical training and some based on social care trainingare often barriers to professionals coming together. A mismatch in cultures, behaviors and understanding of services can create a divide between health and social care. This in turn, makes it harder to establish a clear purpose and agree on longer-term objectives for integration. Multi-agency team managers need to reach out to the local community to develop broader partnerships. It is also important to provide staff development opportunities, working across this divide to improve understanding of other disciplines. 4. Shared values and goals are fundamental For services to work together successfully, there needs to be a common purpose. Strong, effective partnerships depend on the commitment of those taking part. Defining a clear purpose at all levels is key, as well as clarifying roles and responsibilities to engender trust, understanding and respect. 5. Clarity: accountability, communication and data sharing Strong relationships and effective communication are key to successful integration. In practice this means both at worker-to-worker level and worker-to-client level. Collaborating and sharing relevant information between agencies requires shared management systems with common IT systems and formal agreements on things such as data sharing and constructive performance management systems. 6. Short-term funding doesn't work A long-term funding model is crucial for effective inter-agency working. For integration to work, there needs to be sustained funding through budget sharing, realistic staffing and timescaleswith time built in for planning, and proper support. Insecure funding is a barrier in the long-term. Currently, the integration of health and social care in Scotland, for example, doesn't have a sustainable funding model due to the state of public finances (which are linked to austerity measures), coupled with the high costs of an aging population. 7. People need to know if they're getting it right Developing the skills of managers in health and social care is important because not everyone possess the tools to evaluate what actually works. Often there is heavy focus on performance monitoring over investigating the actual changes that have emerged from integration initiatives. National government agencies which regulate and inspect health and social care need to provide practical ongoing research support to help professionals continue their learning and access the expertise and resources they need to know what works. When it comes to integrating public services, the "how" is just as important as the "why," and strong leadership is important. Policymakers need to listen to those on the frontline and demonstrate that their knowledge and experience are valued. For the general public, integrating these two services will mean receiving joined-up care and support when they need it most. Explore further Integrating medical and social care This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., right, steps out of an isolation room where where Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., left, recovers from COVID-19 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. If he returns home, Rutherford said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so, too. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for COVID-19, putting more strain on the system. And a surprising share of patientstwo-thirds in some placesare testing positive while in the hospital for other reasons. At the same time, hospitals say the patients aren't as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units aren't as full, and ventilators aren't needed as much as they were before. The pressures are neverthless prompting hospitals to scale back non-emergency surgeries and close wards, while National Guard troops have been sent in in several states to help at medical centers and testing sites. Nearly two years into the pandemic, frustration and exhaustion are running high among health care workers. "This is getting very tiring, and I'm being very polite in saying that," said Dr. Robert Glasgow of University of Utah Health, which has hundreds of workers out sick or in isolation. Registered nurse Emily Yu, left, talks to Paul Altamirano, a 50-year-old COVID-19 patient, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year. But the hospitalization numbers do not tell the whole story. Some cases in the official count involve COVID-19 infections that weren't what put the patients in the hospital in the first place. Dr. Fritz Francois, chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said about 65% of patients admitted to that system with COVID-19 recently were primarily hospitalized for something else and were incidentally found to have the virus. At two large Seattle hospitals over the past two weeks, three-quarters of the 64 patients testing positive for the coronavirus were admitted with a primary diagnosis other than COVID-19. Patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., who is recovering from COVID-19, speaks on a telephone with a reporter from The Associated Press from an isolation room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. If he returns home, Rutherford said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so, too. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said the rising number of cases like that is both good and bad. The lack of symptoms shows vaccines, boosters and natural immunity from prior infections are working, she said. The bad news is that the numbers mean the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, and some percentage of those people will wind up needing hospitalization. This week, 36% of California hospitals reported critical staffing shortages. And 40% are expecting such shortages. Some hospitals are reporting as much as one quarter of their staff out for virus-related reasons, said Kiyomi Burchill, the California Hospital Association's vice president for policy and leader on pandemic matters. In response, hospitals are turning to temporary staffing agencies or transferring patients out. Edward Merrens, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, visits COVID-19 patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., right, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. If he returns home, he said, Rutherford promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so, too. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne University of Utah Health plans to keep more than 50 beds open because it doesn't have enough nurses. It is also rescheduling surgeries that aren't urgent. In Florida, a hospital temporarily closed its maternity ward because of staff shortages. In Alabama, where most of the population is unvaccinated, UAB Health in Birmingham put out an urgent request for people to go elsewhere for COVID-19 tests or minor symptoms and stay home for all but true emergencies. Treatment rooms were so crowded that some patients had to be evaluated in hallways and closets. As of Monday, New York state had just over 10,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19, including 5,500 in New York City. That's the most in either the city or state since the disastrous spring of 2020. New York City hospital officials, though, reported that things haven't become dire. Generally, the patients aren't as sick as they were back then. Of the patients hospitalized in New York City, around 600 were in ICU beds. Edward Merrens, a chief clinical officer, is interviewed by The Associated Press, in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne "We're not even halfway to what we were in April 2020," said Dr. David Battinelli, the physician-in-chief for Northwell Health, New York state's largest hospital system. Similarly, in Washington state, the number of COVID-19-infected people on ventilators increased over the past two weeks, but the share of patients needing such equipment dropped. In South Carolina, which is seeing unprecedented numbers of new cases and a sharp rise in hospitalizations, Gov. Henry McMaster took note of the seemingly less-serious variant and said: "There's no need to panic. Be calm. Be happy." Amid the omicron-triggered surge in demand for COVID-19 testing across the U.S., New York City's Fire Department is asking people not to call for ambulance just because they are having trouble finding a test. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new or expanded testing sites in nine cities to steer test-seekers away from ERs. About 300 National Guard members are being sent to help out at those centers. Register nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., left, assists COVID-19 patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., in an isolation room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. If he returns home, Rutherford said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so, too. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne In Connecticut, many ER patients are in beds in hallways, and nurses are often working double shifts because of staffing shortages, said Sherri Dayton, a nurse at the Backus Plainfield Emergency Care Center. Many emergency rooms have hours-long waiting times, she said. "We are drowning. We are exhausted," Dayton said. Doctors and nurses are complaining about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a crisis, despite day after day of record COVID-19 cases. "In the past, we didn't have the vaccine, so it was us all hands together, all the support. But that support has kind of dwindled from the community, and people seem to be moving on without us," said Rachel Chamberlin, a nurse at New Hampshire's Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Edward Merrens, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, said more than 85% of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. Clinical Nurse Supervisor Melinda Chapin, of Holderness, N.H., left, communicates through glass from inside a COVID-19 isolation room with registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., right, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergencydespite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Registered Nurse Morgan Flynn prepares to enter a patient's room in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergencydespite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne An unidentified COVID-19 patient is attached to life-support systems in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospitals like this medical center, the largest in New Hampshire, are overflowing with severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients from northern New England. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Registered nurse Nvard Termendzhyan helps Linda Calderon, a 71-year-old COVID-19 patient, sit up at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File Registered nurses Sarah Carr, top left, and Lindsay Holloran, right, are suited up with protective gear before entering a patient's room at the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergencydespite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., left, tends to COVID-19 patient Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., right, in an isolation room at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Doctors and nurses, once lauded for their service, complain about burnout and a sense their neighbors are no longer treating the pandemic as a health emergencydespite day after day of record COVID-19 cases in the state. Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne Several patients in the hospital's COVID-19 ICU unit were on ventilators, a breathing tube down their throats. In one room, staff members made preparations for what they feared would be the final family visit for a dying patient. One of the unvaccinated was Fred Rutherford, a 55-year-old from Claremont, New Hampshire. His son carried him out of the house when he became sick and took him to the hospital, where he needed a breathing tube for a while and feared he might die. If he returns home, he said, he promises to get vaccinated and tell others to do so too. "I probably thought I was immortal, that I was tough," Rutherford said, speaking from his hospital bed behind a window, his voice weak and shaky. But he added: "I will do anything I can to be the voice of people that don't understand you've got to get vaccinated. You've got to get it done to protect each other." Explore further U.S. hospitals seeing record numbers of young COVID patients 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Researchers from King's College London have shown that there are variations in how a brain chemical called GABA regulates the processing of visual stimuli. The study showed that when autistic people are given a drug that activates GABA targets, their visual processing becomes more like that of non-autistic people. Published in Science Translational Medicine, this research has defined a novel way to identify potential new interventions which may be useful in autism, and how to measure individual responses. The study was part funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Center. Autistic people process sensory information differently from people who are not autistic. These differences may contribute to the sensory sensitivities which can be distressing for some autistic people. Before this study little was known about the brain basis of visual processing differences observed in autistic people. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a chemical messenger in the brain that regulates the activity of nerve cells in the central nervous system. Genetic and post-mortem research has indicated that there are differences in parts of the GABA pathway between autistic and non-autistic people, but no-one has directly tested the theory that there are differences in how the GABA system functions in the living human brain in autistic people. The study used electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from the region of brain which processes vision to measure the activity of the adult brain in response to a series of visual stimuli with high and low contrast. The responses were captured with and without a drug called arbaclofenwhich switches on GABA type B receptors. 30mg of arbaclofen disrupted visual processing in non-autistic adults; whereas 30mg of arbaclofen adjusted visual processing in autistic adults so it was more like that of the non-autistic group at baseline. According to researchers, this could mean arboclofen could potentially help with the difficult visual symptoms experienced by some people with autism. Joint first authors were Dr. Andreia Pereira, who recently completed her Ph.D. and Dr. Qiyun Huang, a Research Associate, at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London. Dr. Huang said: "We have known for some time that the GABA pathways in the brain might play a role in the way autistic people process visual information and the behaviors that rely on this information. What we have in this study is the first direct evidence that a specific visual response in the human brain is regulated by GABA, but quite differently in neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals. By measuring how this visual response is changed, we can potentially identify promising new interventions." Senior and Corresponding author Grainne McAlonan, Professor of Translational Neuroscience at IoPPN and theme lead for Child and Neurodevelopment Disorders at the NIHR Maudsley BRC said: "Our approach pioneers a new way to assess whether there is a difference in the function of brain chemical pathways responsible for processing sensory information in autism, and whether those pathways can be altered. This work may help us screen potential interventions which might be useful in autism before embarking on expensive large-scale clinical trials. It also suggests that we should investigate arbaclofen's effects on clinically relevant sensory symptoms which can be very debilitating for some autistic people. Importantly, we have been able to identify which individuals have a brain response to arbaclofen, and this may also help us avoid including people in clinical trials who are unlikely to respond to the medication being tested. The over-arching goal is to increase choices for autistic people and to better tailor interventions to those most likely to benefit." Joint senior author Declan Murphy, Professor of Translational Neurodevelopment at IoPPN said: "This is an excellent example of neuroscience research providing new insights which could improve future clinical trials in autism. Later stage clinical trials that have tested new medicines in large numbers of autistic people have so far been unsuccessful, because participants have diverse difficulties and biology. Better understanding of brain chemistry in neurodiverse individuals could help provide a more personalized and effective way to assess new therapeutic options." Explore further New study clarifies sensory processing in autistic children More information: GABAB receptor modulation of visual sensory processing in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder, Science Translational Medicine (2022). Journal information: Science Translational Medicine GABAB receptor modulation of visual sensory processing in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder,(2022). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abg7859 Buoyed by a steady increase in tourist arrivals, Sri Lanka presented the countrys tourism roadmap on the Expo 2020 Sri Lanka National Day which was celebrated on January 3 at the Expo Media Centre in Dubai. The event was led by Minister of Foreign Affairs G. L. Peiris, Minister of Tourism & Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga, and Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism and Commissioner General for Expo 2020 Dubai Kimarli Fernando, among others. It shed light on Sri Lankas readiness for growth and revival of the tourism industry post-pandemic. The National Day also attracted visitors with colourful cultural performances performed at the Al Wasl Plaza situated at the Stage of Nations, the Expo Media Centre said in a statement. Inbound tourism in Sri Lanka is booming due to the successful vaccination programme. As a result, the country is witnessing a decline in Covid-19 infections, with over 85 per cent of the eligible population from the island nations 21.9 million being vaccinated. In addition, the administering of booster Pfizer vaccines is rapidly progressing, with priority being given to personnel from the travel industry. During the event, Fernando said: Sri Lanka has recovered post-pandemic with confidence, and the country is now steadily moving forward, prioritising its tourism sector in the interests of the country and travel-hungry tourists. We are honoured to be awarded the Safe Travel Stamp by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and World Travel & Tourism Council in 2021. The destination is fully operational for vaccinated as well as non-vaccinated tourists, with a set of health & safety protocols to follow: - Vaccinated travellers do not need on-arrival PCR tests and can stay at any type of accommodation. - Non-vaccinated travellers need a Covid-19 test on arrival and must stay in a Flexible bio-bubble with all facilities of the hotels made available and the ability to visit approved tourist sites. - All visitors must pay local Covid-19 insurance of $12 with one month cover of $50,000 Sri Lankas large forest cover accounts for around 30% of its landmass, and with waterways hidden inland, the country is a haven for those seeking to to heal from the stresses of modern living. Recognised as one of the Worlds Top Wellness Destinations in 2021 by the Global Wellness Institute, it is the perfect wellness getaway destination with Ayurveda treatment and Yoga meditation offered by most tourist resorts. In addition, there are forest lodges and hermitages where one can be one with nature. As a pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka has unique cultural and geological features. Our country has blue water beaches, rich cultural heritage, national parks and avenues for adventurous outings. A holiday in Sri Lanka is no longer an on-screen experience due to a pandemic. We are open and greeting visitors with a warm Ayubowan, added Fernando to conclude the event. Travellers planning a holiday can visit the Sri Lanka Pavilion in the Opportunity District at Expo 2020 Dubai for more information and guidance. Visitors can also relish Ceylon Tea served with warm hospitality. Further, the Pavilion offers prizes through a raffle draw, including airline tickets to the country courtesy of Sri Lankan Airlines and gem-studded jewellery through Gem and Jewelry Authority.-TradeArabia News Service Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The school closures in spring 2020 had a negative effect on the health and well-being of many young people. But homeschooling also had a positive flipside: Thanks to sleeping longer in the morning, many teenagers reported improved health and health-related quality of life. The study authors from the University of Zurich therefore believe school days should begin later in the morning. The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of all schools nationwide from 13 March to 6 June 2020. According to multiple studies, symptoms of depression and anxiety among young people increased during this time, while satisfaction and quality of life decreased. The schoolchildren were also less physically active and spent more time sitting in front of screens. Now, a study by the University of Zurich (UZH) has shown that the homeschooling phase also had a positive effect on the health and well-being of many teenagers. "The students got about 75 minutes more sleep per day during the lockdown. At the same time, their health-related quality of life improved significantly and their consumption of alcohol and caffeine went down," says the study's co-leader Oskar Jenni, UZH professor of developmental pediatrics. Because they no longer had to travel to school, they were able to get up later. More sleep on school days improves young people's health-related quality of life The researchers conducted an online survey with 3,664 high school students in the Canton of Zurich during the lockdown, asking about their sleep patterns and quality of life. They then compared the answers with a survey from 2017 with 5,308 young participants. The results showed that during the three months in which the schools were closed, the adolescents got up around 90 minutes later on school days, but went to bed only 15 minutes later on averagemeaning their total amount of sleep increased by about 75 minutes a day. On weekends, there was little difference in the sleep times of the two groups. The students in the lockdown group rated their health-related quality of life higher, and the amount of alcohol and caffeine they reported consuming was less than the pre-pandemic group. "Although the lockdown clearly led to worse health and well-being for many young people, our findings reveal an upside of the school closures which has received little attention until now," says Jenni. Unique opportunity to investigate the effect of later school starting times Sleep deficits in adolescents can lead to general tiredness, anxiety and physical ailments. These in turn have a detrimental effect on cognitive functions such as concentration, memory and attention, making it significantly harder to function in everyday life. The early start of the school day in Switzerland conflicts with the natural, biologically determined sleeping habits of teenagers. Because they have to get up early for school, many young people therefore suffer from chronic lack of sleep. The topic has recently made its way onto the political agenda in several cantons across the country. "Our findings clearly indicate the benefit of starting school later in the morning so that youngsters can get more sleep," says Jenni. He speculates that the positive effects on health and health-related quality of life would have been even greater had there not also been the negative effects of the pandemic on mental health. The research was published in JAMA Network Open. Explore further Study finds later school start times prevent sleep deprivation for parents of middle and high school students More information: Joelle N. Albrecht et al, Association of Adolescent Sleep Duration During COVID Pandemic High School ClosureEffects of homeschooling on adolescents' sleep and health, JAMA Network Open (2022). DOI: 10.100/jamanetworkopen.2021.42100 Journal information: JAMA Network Open Joelle N. Albrecht et al, Association of Adolescent Sleep Duration During COVID Pandemic High School ClosureEffects of homeschooling on adolescents' sleep and health,(2022). DOI: 10.100/jamanetworkopen.2021.42100 A new study by National Jewish Health finds moving middle and high school start times later helps parents of adolescents get the sleep they need. Credit: National Jewish Health A new study by researchers at National Jewish Health finds that parents of adolescents got more sleep when middle and high schools start about an hour later, while the sleep habits of parents of younger children were unaffected by earlier elementary school start times. The study is the first-ever to examine parent sleep as an outcome for changing school start times. National Jewish Health partnered with the Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) in Arapahoe County near Denver, to examine the impact of adjusting the school district's start times, with elementary schools starting an hour earlier, while high schools started 70 minutes later and middle schools were delayed 50 minutes. Researchers surveyed parents and conducted focus groups on how the adjustments affected their sleep and daily routine. "We know adolescents are sleep deprived. We know that early school start times are a major factor contributing to it, but kids don't live in a vacuum; they live within a very complex family system. So, it was important to look at parents' sleep and how this policy change impacted the entire family," said Lisa Meltzer, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist at National Jewish Health and lead author of the study. Parents of elementary school students moved both bedtimes and wake times slightly earlier without any significant impact to their sleep duration. Parents of middle and high school students were not staying up any later at night, but were able to sleep later in the morning with the later start times. "For some parents, it was just nine or 10 minutes, but for others, it was up to 25 minutes a night," Dr. Meltzer said. "Over the course of the week, even 10 minutes a night can add up and become almost an extra hour of sleep per week." Although the benefits of later school start times for teens are well-documented, researchers at National Jewish Health are the first to study how these changes also help parents improve their sleep habits, providing benefits to the whole family. Credit: National Jewish Health The percentage of parents who reported getting sufficient sleep, defined as at least seven hours for adults, also increased for parents who had children in middle or high school, with fewer parents reporting being tired during the day. "Parents were really feeling the benefits of not having to wake up as early, drag their kids out of bed, and try and get them to school on time," Dr. Meltzer said. "A lot of parents said that it not only helped their sleep, but also it helped make their morning routine easier, and I think those improvements to the way families function are really important as well." That was certainly the case for Kelly Osuna, who has two teenage boys at home and also interacts with classrooms full of teens as a high school Spanish teacher at Overland High School in the CCSD. "It used to be a constant struggle getting the students in my first class to come in ready to learn. They were constantly nodding off, and it was really hard for them to focus on what I was teaching," Osuna said. "After start times were adjusted to later in the morning, I noticed a big difference in the mood that kids come to school in, and I think other districts would see that too, if they made the same switch." Osuna says she's able to sleep an hour later than she used to and that her mornings are much calmer these days. Teenagers are not biologically meant to rise early, but most middle and high schools still start their day before 8:30 a.m. A new study by National Jewish Health explored how school start times affect the whole family and found that parents get more sleep when middle and high schools start about an hour later. Credit: National Jewish Health "We actually have time to eat breakfast together before we go to school." Osuna said. "And I notice that I still have some energy at the end of the day. I'm not dragging like I used to, so that helps our family time in the evening." Experts acknowledge that there are challenges to swapping school start times. Bus routes and extracurricular schedules would need to be modified and families would have to make adjustments based on what time their child began and ended their day. However, Dr. Meltzer says it is well worth the effort to figure out the logistics of changing school start times for the health and wellbeing of students and their families. "Three out of four teens in America right now are getting less than seven hours of sleep a night, and early school start times are one of the major contributing factors," Dr. Meltzer said. "We know that insufficient sleep is associated with several health problems, including obesity and high blood pressure, and is very strongly associated with mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. It also impacts their ability to pay attention and learn in school, which is critical in order for kids to be successful." Research has shown that adolescents are not biologically equipped to rise early in the morning, as the sleep hormone melatonin is released about two hours later in the day during puberty. California recently passed a state law that will go into effect next school year requiring high schools to start at 8:30 a.m. or later. Experts are hoping that the mounting evidence on the benefits of this change will urge districts across the country to implement similar changes. Explore further During COVID, students taking courses online got a lot more sleep More information: Lisa J. Meltzer et al, Impact of changing school start times on parent sleep, Sleep Health (2021). Lisa J. Meltzer et al, Impact of changing school start times on parent sleep,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2021.08.003 A neutrophil showing behavior associated with cardiovascular injury. Credit: CNIC Scientists led by Dr. Andres Hidalgo at the Centro Nacional de Investigadores Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have discovered that the immune system's circulating neutrophils acquire different behavior patterns during inflammatory processes. The study, published in Nature, identifies a harmful neutrophil behavior associated with cardiovascular disease. The study provides important information that could lead to new treatments to minimize the consequences of myocardial infarction. Neutrophils are immune cells that form the first line of defense in the body but that can also damage healthy cells, including cells in the cardiovascular system. "Several studies have linked the presence of neutrophils in blood to a higher risk and severity of cardiovascular disease," said first author Georgiana Crainiciuc. However, Crainiciuc also pointed out that it is not possible to protect the cardiovascular system simply by removing neutrophils, as this would "leave the body defenseless against any pathogens that threaten it." To resolve this problem, the authors sought to identify the specific types of neutrophils that cause vascular injury. The researchers analyzed cells by high-resolution intravital microscopy, a technology that allows the visualization of cells within the blood capillaries of live animals. The scientists designed a highly novel computational system that allowed them to analyze how cells behave in vessels through simple measures of changes in size, shape and movement. This analysis identified three neutrophil behavior patterns during inflammatory processes but showed that only one of them, characterized by large size and proximity to the vessel wall, is linked to cardiovascular injury. Scientists led by Dr. Andres Hidalgo at the Centro Nacional de Investigadores Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have discovered that circulating neutrophilsa type of immune cellacquire different behavior patterns during inflammatory processes. The study, published in Nature, identifies a harmful neutrophil behavior associated with cardiovascular disease. Credit: CNIC The Fgr molecule Combining this computational system with massive genetic analysis in animal models, the authors were able to identify the molecules responsible for the harmful neutrophil behavior. The team found that the cause of this pathological behavior is a single molecule, Fgr. This discovery provides the key to selecting highly effective drugs able to prevent inflammation and cell death after a myocardial infarction. "The idea now is to continue with further tests and analysis needed to convert this into a clinical treatment for patients," added Crainiciuc. The scientists believe that the study signals a major advance not only toward improved treatment of cardiovascular disease, but also in the methodology for analyzing immune cells. "With current techniques, researchers can analyze of a large number of genes and molecules per cell, and this has enabled the discovery of numerous cell populations associated with the development of disease," explained co-first author Dr. Miguel Palomino-Segura. Nevertheless, he added, "our model is unique because it allows the identification of cells not from their genetic profile but from their activity during a disease. This is a completely new approach to the study of immune processes that exploits the dynamism of the disease state to generate new information." Example of neutrophils (red) within a blood capillary (blue) captured by intravital microscopy. Credit: CNIC "The key to this approach is the ability of neutrophils to change their shape, activity and capacity to migrate in a matter of seconds. These rapid changes can only be captured under the microscope," said Dr. Hidalgo. To extract the full potential of these images, the research team collaborated with engineers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, who developed new computer vision techniques for taking measurements in living tissues. The study also required intense efforts to develop the computational capacity needed to systematically combine and compare the huge datasets derived from thousands of cells. "This technology has been applied to other kinds of data, but this is the first example of its use to treat microscopy data, and the results have been surprising," said Jon Sicilia, co-author and bioinformatician in charge of the analytical part of the project. The authors hope that this new methodology will find application in other scientific arenas. "The idea now is to apply this technology in other settings, such as infection or cancer, in which immune cells also play a critical role in disease progression," said Palomino-Segura. Explore further The unexpected repair function of neutrophils More information: Andres Hidalgo, Behavioural immune landscapes of inflammation, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04263-y Journal information: Nature Andres Hidalgo, Behavioural immune landscapes of inflammation,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04263-y Provided by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (F.S.P.) Sweden's public health authorities on Wednesday advised restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centers to ask their customers to show digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting next week. The recommendation from the Swedish Public Health Agency isn't a legal requirement but voluntary guidance for businesses. Sweden's digital certificates only show vaccination statusnot proof of a negative test or recent recovery from COVID-19. As of Jan. 12, locations can introduce certificates as entry requirements "in more activities where the risk of spreading of the infection is great," Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said. Besides restaurants, they include cultural venues such as museums and theaters, leisure facilities such as gyms and swimming pools, and long-distance public transportation, the government said in a statement. Currently, the passes only are used for public gatherings and indoor events of more than 100 people. "The spread of COVID-19 is increasing in Sweden. We need to be prepared to quickly introduce more accurate infection-control measures," Hallengren said. Sweden reported a record-smashing 17,320 new daily cases on Wednesday. For most of the pandemic, Sweden stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response. The Scandinavian country never went into a lockdown or closed businesses, relying instead on citizens' sense of civic duty to control infections. Authorities have emphasized individual responsibility instead of government health measures. Authorities urged residents again Wednesday to get vaccinated. Public Health Agency official Britta Bjorklund said during a news conference that "there is a 12 times higher risk for the unvaccinated to become seriously ill and be in need of medical care." Official figures show that 85.9% of the population age 12 and over have received a first shot, while 82% have had two jabs. In addition, 30.9% of people age 18 and over have had a third shot. In November, Sweden introduced a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate for public gatherings and events with more than 100 people indoors. Explore further Sweden joins European trend, adopts COVID vaccination pass 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The highly-contagious omicron variant now accounts for most new cases in the United States. And with a surge in COVID-19 cases and intense demand for scarce at-home rapid testswhich don't differentiate between variantsAmericans experiencing COVID-like symptoms are scrambling to figure out whether they've contracted omicron, a previous variant, or just a seasonal cold. Judith O'Donnell, the chief of infectious disease at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, spoke to The Inquirer about the latest surge and how omicron symptoms differ among vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What are the symptoms of Omicron? We're still seeing the usual list of symptoms that we would expect with COVID-19: fever, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, and then loss of smell and taste. Sometimes congestion, runny nose, sometimes nausea and vomiting and sometimes diarrhea. I think what we are experiencing, though, is for people who are vaccinated, or vaccinated and boosted, we're not seeing as much fever, if any, as opposed to an unvaccinated person. There's been some reporting in the scientific literature that when patients are vaccinated, or vaccinated and boosted, the symptoms in general are much milder. They're more consistent with a typical cold. There's a lot of talk in the media about getting a lot more runny noses, or congestions. That does seem to be shown in some of the early scientific studies. Why does Omicron seem to cause more mild cases? There's the question ofare these [milder cold symptoms] related to the variant? Or are they related to the fact that many individuals who are experiencing an infection with omicron are either vaccinated, vaccinated and boosted, or in some parts of the world, like South Africa [where the variant was first identified], they've already had natural immunity from a prior infection? It may not be the variantit may just be us, as humans, because we now have immunity to COVID-19 as a virus, and as a result, our bodies have some prior experience with it. So we're experiencing the infection more like a common cold. What are the symptoms of Omicron in an unvaccinated person? In the unvaccinated, Omicron looks very similar to Delta and all the prior variants and the original strain. It can land you in the hospital if you're unvaccinated and can lead to ICU care or death. It should not be taken as, "it's just a cold" for everyone, because that's not the case at all. In an unvaccinated person, omicron is quite capable of and is actually causing pneumonia. People are coming in with shortness of breath due to pneumonia, just like it has with prior waves and prior variants. What should vaccinated people experiencing COVID symptoms know? Vaccinated people who have cold symptoms, nasal congestion, runny noses, sore throats, but aren't experiencing feverif you're vaccinated and boosted, and those are the symptoms you're having, you may have COVID-19. It's so prevalent across our region that it's spreading efficiently and widely. I'd encourage them to try to test themselves. At this point, given you're vaccinated and boosted, this is going to be a mild illness. They should consider this great news, because they did get vaccinated and boosted, and it's allowed them to have a COVID-19 infection that is mild. And they'll recover in a week or so, just like with other common cold symptoms. I encourage everyone to get vaccinated and boosted, if they haven't yet. 2022 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Over the past three decades, efforts to improve the results of standard treatment for patients with severe aplastic anemia have been largely unsuccessful. The phase III RACE trial, sponsored by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), published on January 6, 2022 by the New England Journal of Medicine, now demonstrates that adding eltrombopag to standard immunosuppressive treatment is safe and increases response rates in patients with this rare, yet potentially fatal disease. Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) is a rare hematological disease in which the bone marrow does not produce enough new blood cells. In the past 50 years the EBMT has greatly contributed to identifying effective treatments for this disease, which was almost always fatal in the 1970s. Nowadays SAA can be treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or for patients who are not eligible to receive a transplantation, with immunosuppressive treatment. The most commonly used immunosuppressive regimen includes horse ATG (hATG) in combination with cyclosporine A (CsA). However, about 35% of patients do not respond to treatment, or respond only partially or late to treatment. Furthermore, one third of responders may eventually relapse, and another third may require chronic immunosuppressive treatment to maintain adequate blood counts. Eltrombopag was developed to stimulate thrombopoiesis but it was subsequently shown to restore trilineage hematopoiesis. "A previous single-arm study suggested the efficacy of eltrombopag in addition to standard immunosuppressive treatment in untreated patients with severe or very severe aplastic anemia, but more robust data was needed before a change in standard treatment of patients with severe aplastic anemia could be considered," explains Regis Peffault de Latour, co-lead investigator, professor and head of the French Reference Center for Aplastic Anemia and PNH at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, France. He adds, "We are very excited that the results of the RACE trial now confirm that adding eltrombopag to standard immunosuppression leads to significantly quicker and better response rates compared to standard immunosuppressive treatment alone." The RACE trial was sponsored by the EBMT, Europe's collaborative peer network of professionals working in the field of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy, with an unrestricted grant from Novartis, Pfizer and Alexion. The international, investigator-driven, open-label, phase III, randomized trial evaluated 197 patients with SAA. Patients were aged 15 years or older, had acquired SAA, and had not received prior immunosuppressive treatment. Patients were randomized to receive either standard immunosuppression (hATG 40 mg/kg x4d and CsA 5 mg/kg/d) or standard immunosuppression + eltrombopag at the dose of 150 mg/d from day +14 until 6 months (or 3 months, in case of early complete response). The primary endpoint of the study is complete response (CR) at 3 months, with CR being defined as hemoglobin 10 g/dL, neutrophil count >1,000 /L, and platelet count >100,000/L, according to standard international criteria. It was shown that three months after the treatment start, patients who received the combination of hATG, CsA and eltrombopag had a significantly higher complete response rate compared to patients treated with hATG and CsA alone. These higher response rates were sustained at 6 months follow-up (overall response of 41% with standard treatment versus 68% with standard treatment + eltrombopag. Moreover, the median time to first response was 9 months with standard treatment versus 3 months with standard treatment + eltrombopag. In addition, eltrombopag was generally well-tolerated, with a similar occurrence of adverse events in the two treatment arms. Adding eltrombopag to standard immunosuppressive therapy significantly improved event-free survival. According to Antonio M. Risitano, co-lead investigator, professor and head of the Hematology and the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Ospedale Moscati in Avellino, Italy: "This is important because this means the patient had a response to treatment at 6 months, did not relapse, did not require further treatment for aplastic anemia including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation." Eltrombopag has stem cell stimulatory properties that could potentially lead to secondary malignancies. Patients were asked to provide baseline, six months, and two-year bone marrow samples, which were analyzed for the frequency and variant allele frequency of somatic myeloid-associated mutations. Austin Kulasekararaj, co-author and hematologist at King's College Hospital in London, UK, explains, "RACE trial shows that somatic mutations were not increased in patients receiving eltrombopag compared to those receiving the standard treatment. Although these results are promising, they do not enable to draw definitive conclusions on the risk of myeloid malignant transformation because the follow-up of two year[s] is too short." A long-term follow-up study is planned to further explore the clinical relevance of this finding. For now, the authors warn treating physicians not to overinterpret the presence of somatic mutations and that therapeutic decisions, e.g., to proceed with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, should be made only in the presence of robust clinical indications. In summary, this prospective randomized trial demonstrates that the addition of eltrombopag to standard treatment is beneficial in severe aplastic anemia, by inducing a response that is of higher quality and occurs faster without increasing toxicity. "These data position this triple therapy as the new standard of care for SAA patients who are not eligible for transplantation," concludes Carlo Dufour, co-senior author, professor and head of the Hemato-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Department in G. Gaslini Childrens' Research Hospital, Genova, Italy. "Also, I am very proud that we have shown that it is possible to run large, academic, investigator-initiated randomized trials in rare diseases in collaboration with many expert centers in Europe with a direct benefit for our patients." Explore further EBMT trial shows improvements in treatment of severe aplastic anemia Provided by European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation A medical worker prepares to perform nasal tests, at a COVID-19 testing site, in Nantes, western France, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez, File Like many people, Alberto Perez of Madrid used a home test to discover that his headache and cold-like symptoms were caused by COVID-19. Unable to contact his local health center, where calls went unanswered and online appointments were booked up for the following week, he turned to a hospital emergency room for confirmation. After waiting three hours to be seen, health workers there agreed with his self-diagnosis but provided no PCR test to ensure a more reliable result. "The nurse seeing me said that, because I had not lost my sense of taste or smell, I had the omicron variant," said Perez, 39, who works as an online game developer in the Spanish capital. "But how could she know?" Overwhelmed by people wanting tests, requiring medication or needing certificates to excuse their absence from work, primary health care services in Spain are operating well past their limit during the current phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The omicron variant has fueled the latest surge of infections, although data shows it produces less-severe disease than earlier strains. Family doctors are usually the first stop for health care in Europe. They and primary care nurses are viewed as vital to helping prevent sickness, keeping the pressure off hospitals and providing continuity of care. Nurse Marie-Laure Satta caresses her face during a pause in her New Year's Eve shift in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Dec. 31, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File In a country that only a few weeks ago thought itself relatively safe because more than 80% of the target population is fully vaccinated, the mounting workload in Spain has prompted doctors and nurses to cancel regular checkups for conditions other than COVID-19 and postpone visits to vulnerable people at home. On Tuesday, Spanish hospitals cared for nearly 13,000 COVID-19 patientsthe highest number since February. Nearly 2,000 were in ICUs, the most in almost five months. Because Perez's positive test had been taken at home, neither the hospital nor his local health center would spare the much-needed resources to give him a PCR test. The PCR samples can be sequenced to determine virus variants, something nobody did with Perez or with many thousands of other positive cases from home tests in Spain. Suzanne, 5, is tested for COVID-19 in Albigny-sur-Saone, outside Lyon, central France, Jan. 4, 2022. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File "You are left with the feeling that there are no resources, that they have no people, and that all they do is cover up the reality by sending people home," Perez said. Caroline Berchet, a health economist at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, says primary health care in Europe has been underfunded and understaffed for a long time. The pandemic has simply exposed the resulting frailties in the system. "Investment in primary health care is not enough across Europe" and beyond, Berchet said. In the 38 OECD member countries, which include the United States, on average only 13% of health spending in 2019 was devoted to primary health care, compared with 28% on in-patient care. "Primary health care requires better funding and investment in all (OECD) countries," she said, to ensure more staff, more training, better pay and working conditions, and a more flexible delivery of care. People queue outside a local health center in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Spain is especially feeling the crunch. Credit: AP Photo/Paul White Paloma Repila, a spokeswoman for SATSE, the biggest Spanish union representing nurses, said that fewer hospitalizations in the current surge mean that many people with milder symptoms are having a "brutal impact" on local health centers. "Infection rates are so high that we are taking the pandemic out of the health care setting and we are asking people to be their own carers," she said. "Individual responsibility is great, but asking people to self-diagnose, to deal with their own medical leave and to be left without any follow-up by professionals, is extremely worrisome." In France, years of funding cuts to the public health system are blamed for shortages of doctors in rural areas. There's a similar problem in Italy, where general practitioners are feeling the weight of the latest surge as well as the burdens of increased paperwork to certify people are safe to return to work and school, officials say. People wearing face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 queue for a COVID-19 test at La Paz hospital in Madrid, Spain, Dec. 28, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Spain is especially feeling the crunch. Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File Repila, the Spanish union spokeswoman, said authorities should be worried about the consequences. "If you take the test at home, what variant of the virus do you have? We don't know," she said. "Everything, including the length of self-isolation periods, is being decided based on sequencing that isn't happening." Even the daily figures that provide headlines and inform the response by experts and policymakers are once again out of sync, like they were at the beginning of the pandemic. That's because home test results are not being reported to overwhelmed health centers, either because phones are not being answered, because there are no appointments, or because people are simply not bothering. Health Minister Carolina Darias last week appealed for people to report their positive tests, even when they show no symptoms or if they decide to stay at home with mild ones. People line up at a rapid swab testing site in Rome, Dec. 30, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File Unions and other professional groups say medical personnel cannot cope with the number of phone calls, video-assisted consultations and requests for tests, advice, treatment or issuing certificates for people who need to justify an absence from work. Contact tracing, once viewed as a key to halting the pandemic, is something that has been long forgotten. Primary care has been out of the media and public attention for much of the pandemic, when most of the concern was focused on the capacity to cope with the flow of patients into hospitals and intensive care units. But labor groups and professional associations say the problems began much earlier, the result of years of underfunding that has led to many temporary contracts for medical staff and poor health facilities. After the 2008 European debt crisis, a conservative government in Spain imposed strict austerity measures that meant significant budget cuts for the public health system. Similar cuts occurred elsewhere in Europe. A nurse waits for a blood sample analysis in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Dec. 31, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File People queue outside a local health center in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Spain is especially feeling the crunch. Credit: AP Photo/Paul White People wearing face masks queue for a COVID-19 test at La Paz hospital in Madrid, Spain, Dec. 28, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Spain is especially feeling the crunch. Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File Cars line up at a rapid swab testing drive-thru site in Rome, Dec. 30, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus walk along a commercial street in downtown Madrid, Spain, Dec. 8, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Spain is especially feeling the crunch. Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File People line up outside a pharmacy for COVID-19 swab tests, in front of Milan's Duomo gothic cathedral, Italy, Dec. 23, 2021. An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File Spain's center-left Socialist government last month unveiled a plan to improve the quality and accessibility of primary health care in the next two years. Critics said the move was overdue. Ten days after completing his quarantine at his Madrid home, Perez, the online game developer, kept testing positive with home kits but was still struggling to get an appointment with his general practitioner. His health center, which he finally reached by phone, told him to stay home for the New Year's holiday, and offered a phone call the following week. "There are no doctors or nurses and then we are left to deal with this on our own," Perez said. "How is that not linked?" 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. ZAMBOANGA CITY Eight villages in the southern Philippine province of Sulu are now free from the influence of the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf... WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- That sing-song speech parents use when talking to their babies is universal, and infants tend to prefer it. So, when a baby doesn't seem to engage with this melodic "motherese," or baby talk, it can be an early sign of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Researchers at the University of California, San Diego used numerous techniques to pinpoint brain areas responsible for a childs reaction to baby talk -- like doggie for dog or horsie for horse. This new study, which combined state-of-the-art brain imaging, eye-tracking and clinical testing, opens the door toward precision medicine in autism, said senior author Eric Courchesne, a professor of neuroscience and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence at UCSD. The researchers hoped to gain objective insights into how the brain is developing in children with autism. For the first time, we are seeing what the possible brain impact is for children with autism who fail to pay attention to social information," Courchesne said in a university news release. The investigators suspected that little ones with ASD experience impaired development of innate mechanisms that respond to baby talk. To test this, they conducted a series of tests involving 71 toddlers and 14 adults. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure sleeping toddlers' brain activity in response to baby talk and other speech. The researchers also assessed the youngsters' social and language development and used eye-tracking technology to measure their responses to women speaking baby talk as well as to non-speech computer sounds and images. Toddlers with ASD have been found to show less interest in social activities and stimuli that would normally attract a young child's attention, such as watching other kids play, sing or dance. This study also found different responses among typically developing youngsters and those with ASD. Those children with the poorest neural responses to baby talk displayed the most severe social symptoms, poorest language outcomes and most impaired behavioral preference and attention toward baby talk. By comparison, infants and toddlers with typical development showed the strongest responses and affinity to baby talk. The researchers confirmed the findings by correlating eye-gaze patterns to brain and behavior responses. The superior temporal cortex, a brain area that processes sounds and language, responded more weakly to baby talk and emotion speech in children with ASD. The opposite was true among typically developing children, though eye-tracking found strong brain activation and interest in baby talk in some toddlers with ASD. "The fact that a few children with autism did show strong brain activation and good attention to motherese speech is encouraging for two reasons: First, because it suggests that these particular toddlers with autism are likely to have good outcomes, said study co-author Karen Pierce, a professor of neurosciences at UCSD and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence. "And second, it suggests a novel area for treatment." The authors said their findings could lead to development of diagnostic tools and biomarkers for early identification of ASD. The study was published Jan. 3 in Nature Human Behavior. More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on autism spectrum disorder. SOURCE: University of California San Diego Health, news release, Jan. 3, 2022 You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.